Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pelican: A Building Block for Exascale Cold Data Storage

A significant fraction of data stored in cloud storage is rarely accessed. This data is referred to as cold data; cost-effective storage for cold data has become a challenge for cloud providers. Pelican is a rack-scale hard-disk based storage unit designed as the basic building block for exabyte scale storage for cold data. In Pelican, server, power, cooling and interconnect bandwidth resources are provisioned by design to support cold data workloads; this right-provisioning significantly reduces Pelican's total cost of ownership compared to traditional disk-based storage. Resource right-provisioning in Pelican means only 8% of the drives can be concurrently spinning. This introduces complex resource management to be handled by the Pelican storage stack. Resource restrictions are expressed as constraints over the hard drives. The data layout and IO scheduling ensures that these constraints are not violated. We evaluate the performance of a prototype Pelican, and compare against a traditional resource overprovisioned storage rack using a cross-validated simulator. We show that compared to this overprovisioned storage rack Pelican performs well for cold workloads, providing high throughput with acceptable latency.
Modeling Intuitive Decision Making in ACT-R

One mode of human decision-making is considered intuitive, i.e., unconscious situational pattern recognition. Implicit statistical learning, which involves the sampling of invariances from the environment and is known to involve procedural (i.e., non-declarative) memory, has been shown to be a foundation of this mode of decision making. We present an ACT-R model of implicit learning whose implementation entailed a declarative memory-based learner of the classification of example strings of an artificial grammar. The model performed very well when compared to humans. The fact that the simulation of implicit learning could not be implemented in a straightforward way via a non-declarative memory approach, but rather required a declarative memorybased implementation, suggests that the conceptualization of procedural memory in the ACT-R framework may need to be expanded to include abstract representations of statistical regularities. Our approach to the development and testing of models in ACT-R can be used to predict the development of intuitive decision-making in humans.
A Churn for the Better: Localizing Censorship using Network-level Path Churn and Network Tomography

Recent years have seen the Internet become a key vehicle for citizens around the globe to express political opinions and organize protests. This fact has not gone unnoticed, with countries around the world repurposing network management tools (e.g., URL filtering products) and protocols (e.g., BGP, DNS) for censorship. Previous work has focused on identifying how censorship is performed. However, there is no major studies to identify, at a global scale, the networks responsible for performing censorship. Also, repurposing network products for censorship can have unintended international impact, which we refer to as "censorship leakage". While there have been anecdotal reports of censorship leakage, there has yet to be a systematic study of censorship leakage at a global scale. In this paper, we combine a global censorship measurement platform (ICLab) with a general-purpose technique -- boolean network tomography -- to identify which AS on a network path is performing censorship. At a high-level, our approach exploits BGP churn to narrow down the set of potential censoring ASes by 97%. We identify 108 censoring ASes and find that the censorship introduced by 32 of the 108 censoring ASes has an impact on users located outside of the jurisdiction of the censoring AS, resulting in the leaking of regional censorship policies.
Spatial Color Image Databases Summarization

This paper presents a finite discrete mixture model based on both the Dirichlet and the multinomial distributions to add spatial information to color histograms. The estimation of the parameters and the determination of the number of components in our model are based on the classification expectation-maximization approach and the integrated complete likelihood criterion, respectively. The developed model is applied with success for color images databases summarization.
Role and results of cortical mastoidectomy and endolymphatic sac surgery in Menière's disease

Abstract It is almost impossible to establish the natural history of Menière's disease and, by the same token, it is difficult to confirm the efficacy of endolymphatic sac surgery. The authors doubt the logic of sac operations. Only two controlled trials of sac surgery have been found and both cast doubt upon its value. There do not appear to be any controlled trials indicating that it works. In 14 cases of incapacitating Menière's disease, where vestibular nerve section was indicated, cortical mastoidectomy was offered and accepted in the expectation that two-thirds might be spared the more major procedure. In the event, the vertigo was controlled in eight out of 14 (57 per cent), the remaining six (43 per cent) requiring more major surgery. A surgical model illustrates that, of themselves, these results are essentially meaningless in assessing the efficacy of cortical mastoidectomy in Menière's disease. Until all cases in a community are considered and followed-up, we shall be in doubt about the value of sac surgery and most other treatments of Menière's disease.
Quantitative DTI Assessment in Human Lumbar Stabilization Muscles at 3 T

Objectives To characterize diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tensor eigenvalues (&lgr;1, &lgr;2, &lgr;3), fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, and radial diffusivity in healthy lumbar musculature. Methods Seventeen healthy subjects (10 men, 7 women; mean age, 28 ± 7 years) were scanned using a 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging. Axial DTI was performed using 15 diffusion directions (b = 400 mm2/s) at the L4 level. Oswestry Low Back Pain and Godin Physical Activity questionnaires were administered to rule out underlying lower back problems. Results Skeletal muscle DTI metrics were similar to those previously published. All measurements showed low coefficients of variation, except for quadratus lumborum. Laterality was not significant. Significant sex differences were observed in the quadratus lumborum (P < 0.05). Significant correlations were found between subjects’ weight and body mass index with fractional anisotropy and &lgr;1 of the multifidus muscles. Conclusions The DTI metrics in paraspinal muscles can be reliably measured and are influenced by body mass index and weight but not by age or physical activity.
Linear Social Interactions Models

This paper provides a systematic analysis of identification in linear social interactions models. This is a theoretical and econometric exercise as the analysis is linked to a rigorously delineated model of interdependent decisions. We develop an incomplete information game for individual choice under social influences that nests standard models as special cases. We consider identification of both endogenous and contextual social effects under alternative assumptions regarding an analyst’s a priori knowledge of social structure or access to individual-level or aggregate data. Finally, we discuss potential ramifications for identification of endogenous formation of social structure.
Planetary Period Oscillations in Saturn's Magnetosphere: Cassini Magnetic Field Observations Over the Northern Summer Solstice Interval

We determine properties of Saturn's planetary period oscillations from Cassini magnetic measurements over the ~2‐year interval from September 2015 to end of mission in September 2017, spanning Saturn northern summer solstice in May 2017. Phases of the northern system oscillations are derived over the whole interval, while those of the southern system are not discerned in initial equatorial data due to too low amplitude relative to the northern, but are determined once southern polar data become available from inclined orbits beginning May 2016. Planetary period oscillation periods are shown to be almost constant over these intervals at ~10.79 hr for the northern system and ~10.68 hr for the southern, essentially unchanged from values previously determined after the periods reversed in 2014. High cadence phase and amplitude data obtained from the short‐period Cassini orbits during the mission's last 10 months newly reveal the presence of dual modulated oscillations varying at the beat period of the two systems (~42 days) on nightside polar field lines in the vicinity (likely either side) of the open‐closed field boundary. The modulations differ from those observed previously in the equatorial region, indicative of a reversal in sign of the radial component oscillations, but not of the colatitudinal component oscillations. Brief discussion is given of a possible theoretical scenario. While weak equatorial beat modulations indicate a north/south amplitude ratio >5 early in the study interval, polar and equatorial region modulations suggest a ratio ~1.4 during the later interval, indicating a significant recovery of the southern system.
Urinary Peptide Profiling to Differentiate between Minimal Change Disease and Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis

Background Minimal change disease (MCD) and primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) are the main causes of primary idiopathic nephrotic syndrome in children and adults, with diagnosis being essential for the appropriate choice of therapy and requiring renal biopsy. However, the presence of only normal glomeruli on renal biopsy of FSGS patients may lead to the misclassification of these patients as having MCD. The aim of this study was to (i) compare the peptide profile of MCD and FSGS patients with that of a group of healthy subjects, (ii) generate and validate a class prediction model to classify MCD and FSGS patients and (ii) identify candidate biomarkers of these glomerular entities by analysis of the urinary peptidome. Methods The urinary peptide profile was analyzed by magnetic bead-based technology combined with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry in 44 patients diagnosed of MCD (n = 22) and FSGS (n = 22). The resulting spectra were compiled and analyzed using ClinProTools software. Results A class prediction model was developed to differentiate MCD and FSGS patients. The validation of this model correctly classified 81.8% (9/11) of MCD patients and 72.7% (8/11) of FSGS patients. Moreover, the signal with m/z 1913.60, identified as a fragment of uromodulin, and the signal with m/z 2392.54, identified as a fragment of alpha-1-antitrypsin, showed higher and lower peak areas, respectively, in FSGS patients compared with MCD patients. Conclusions The simple, non-invasive technique described in the present study may be a useful tool to help clinicians by confirming diagnoses achieved by renal biopsy, thereby reducing misdiagnoses and avoiding the implementation of inappropriate therapies.
Sustained Ventricular Tachycardia in Apical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Midcavitary Obstruction, and Apical Aneurysm

The prevalence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is estimated at 1:500 in the general population. Of these patients, approximately 1% develops midcavitary obstruction and subsequent apical aneurysm. We present a brief review of the literature on apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) using a rare case‐based example. The etiology for apical aneurysm development is unclear but is thought to extend from apical fibrosis and necrosis secondary to subendocardial ischemia. The lifetime risk of cardiovascular death in patients with HCM is 2%. However, the risk may be higher in patients with apical aneurysms. Definitive therapy involves implantation of an automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator, since medical therapy has variable success.
Super-Resolution Image Reconstruction based on 2D Cosparse Regularisation and Self Similarity Features

Many applications have benefited from powerful super-resolution (SR) imaging model, and it is challenging when the missing information in the input low resolution (LR) image. In this paper, we propose a new method to reconstruct a high resolution (HR) image from a low resolution (LR) image based on two dimensional (2D) co-sparse method. The new framework is consisted of three parts. Firstly, divide the nonlinear feature of input LR image into the feature of linear subspaces and learned the LR-HR dictionaries to reduce the artifact. Secondly, 2D co-sparse regularization and self-similarity are developed to strengthen and enhance the image structure. Finally, principal component analysis (PCA) technique is used to reduce the noise in a HR patches. The final SR image can be achieved by reconstructed all HR patches. Simulation results demonstrated a better reconstruction on real image in terms of PSNR and SSIM values, and achieves various improvements compared with other methods.
Cigarette smoking in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder: a report from the International College of Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders (ICOCS)

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) showed a lower prevalence of cigarette smoking compared to other psychiatric disorders in previous and recent reports. We assessed the prevalence and clinical correlates of the phenomenon in an international sample of 504 OCD patients recruited through the International College of Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders (ICOCS) network. Cigarette smoking showed a cross-sectional prevalence of 24.4% in the sample, with significant differences across countries. Females were more represented among smoking patients (16% vs 7%; p<.001). Patients with comorbid Tourette’s syndrome (p<.05) and tic disorder (p<.05) were also more represented among smoking subjects. Former smokers reported a higher number of suicide attempts (p<.05). We found a lower cross-sectional prevalence of smoking among OCD patients compared to findings from previous studies in patients with other psychiatric disorders but higher compared to previous and more recent OCD studies. Geographic differences were found and smoking was more common in females and comorbid Tourette’s syndrome/tic disorder.
Mighty Minipig in Fight Against Cardiovascular Disease

A cloned transgenic minipig model of hypercholesterolemia and accelerated atherosclerosis could accelerate discovery of new therapies for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. A cloned transgenic minipig model of hypercholesterolemia and accelerated atherosclerosis could accelerate discovery of new therapies for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (Al-Mashhadi et al., this issue).
Central Pulse Pressure Is an Independent Determinant of Vascular Remodeling in the Retinal Circulation

Pulse pressure has been recognized as a risk factor for stroke. Moreover, it was shown that central pulse pressure relates more strongly to vascular disease and outcome than (peripheral) brachial pulse pressure. Because vascular remodeling in the retinal circulation mirrors the 1 in the cerebral circulation and represents an easy, noninvasive possibility to assess microvascular changes in humans, we analyzed the impact of central pulse pressure on retinal vascular structure in humans. The study cohort comprised 135 nondiabetic patients across a wide range of blood pressure values. Parameter of retinal arteriolar remodeling (wall-to-lumen ratio) was assessed noninvasively and in vivo by scanning laser Doppler flowmetry. Central pulse pressure and augmentation index normalized to a heart rate of 75 beats per minute were assessed by pulse wave analysis. Central pulse pressure correlated with wall-to-lumen ratio (r=0.302; P<0.001), central augmentation index normalized to a heart rate of 75 beats per minute correlated with wall-to-lumen ratio (r=0.190; P=0.028), and in accordance pulse pressure amplification (peripheral pulse pressure/central pulse pressure) was negatively correlated with wall-to-lumen ratio (r=−0.223; P=0.009). In contrast, central mean arterial pressure was not correlated with wall-to-lumen ratio (r=0.110; P=0.203). Multiple regression analysis revealed an independent relationship between wall-to-lumen ratio and central pulse pressure (&bgr;=0.277; P=0.009), but not with other classical cardiovascular risk factors. Thus, central pulse pressure, indicative of changes in large conduit arteries is an independent determinant of vascular remodeling in small retinal arterioles. Such a relationship indicates a coupling and crosstalk between the microvascular and macrovascular changes attributable to hypertension.
An Approach to Deformable Object Tracking in Video

Object tracking refers to spotting the presence of one or more objects of interest in each frame of a video. The task of object tracking is mainly useful in visual surveillance and scene understanding applications. With the increasing availability of rich video contents, new application areas are emerging every day. Generally, object tracking plays an intermediate role in many such applications. Several techiques can be found in literature but the basic evaluation and choice parameter that many applications consider include fast execution speed and automatic operation of the tracking method. There remains a tradeoff between accuracy and execution speed for the object tracking methods. Further it is true that in today’s applications the most important category of objects is human himself. This paper proposes a technique for human detection and tracking in video. The proposed method is accurate and efficient in execution speed. Several experimental results presented in the paper demonstrate novelty of method. General Terms Pattern Recognition, Security, Algorithms.
Hands-on speech science exhibition for children at a science museum

In previous studies, we developed several physical models of the human vocal tract, reporting that they are intuitive and helpful for students studying acoustics and speech science. Furthermore, we designed a sliding vocal-tract handicraft model at a science workshop, enabling children to make their own vocal-tract model with a sound source. Additionally, at various science museums, we supervised several exhibitions where children were presented with simple speech production demonstrations using physical models of the human vocal tract. In addition to these hands-on activities, we arranged an exhibition at another science museum where children could learn more about speech by analyzing their own voices, observing sound spectrograms, and synthesizing a speech sound by concatenating pre-printed, short duration spectrograms using Digital Pattern Playback (DPP). In this paper, we reported and discussed another hands-on speech science exhibition for children. In this exhibition, children 1) produced vowels using vocal-tract models, 2) observed a waveform and its spectrogram, and 3) used their own voices with DPP. We confirmed that this combination has a synergistic effect on education in acoustics and speech science.
Three-Dimensional Geometry of the Tricuspid Annulus in Healthy Subjects and in Patients With Functional Tricuspid Regurgitation: A Real-Time, 3-Dimensional Echocardiographic Study

Background— Most rings currently used for tricuspid valve annuloplasty are formed in a single plane, whereas the actual tricuspid annulus (TA) may have a nonplanar or 3-dimensional (3D) structure. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the 3D geometry of the TA in healthy subjects and in patients with functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR). Methods and Results— This study consisted of 15 healthy subjects and 16 patients with functional TR who had real-time 3D echocardiography. With our customized software, 8 points along the TA were determined with the rotated plane around the axis at 45°intervals. The TA was traced during a cardiac cycle. The distance between diagonals connecting 2 points was measured. The height was defined as the distance from the plane determined by least-squares regression analysis at all 8 points. Both the maximum (7.5±2.1 versus 5.6±1.0 cm2/m2) and minimum (5.7±1.3 versus 3.9±0.8 cm2/m2) TA areas in patients with TR were larger than those in healthy subjects (both P<0.01). Healthy subjects had a nonplanar-shaped TA with homogeneous contraction. The posteroseptal portion was the lowest toward the apex from the right atrium, and the anteroseptal portion was the highest. In patients with functional TR, the TA was dilated in the septal to lateral direction, resulting in a more circular shape than in healthy subjects. A similar 3D pattern was observed in patients with TR, but it was more planar than that in healthy subjects. Conclusions— Real-time 3D echocardiography showed a complicated 3D structure of the TA, which appeared to be different from the “saddle-shaped” mitral annulus, suggesting an annuloplasty for TR different from that for mitral regurgitation.
The Final Link: Tapping the Power of Chemical Genetics to Connect the Molecular and Biologic Functions of Mitotic Protein Kinases

During mitosis, protein kinases coordinate cellular reorganization and chromosome segregation to ensure accurate distribution of genetic information into daughter cells. Multiple protein kinases contribute to mitotic regulation, modulating molecular signaling more rapidly than possible with gene expression. However, a comprehensive understanding of how kinases regulate mitotic progression remains elusive. The challenge arises from multiple functions and substrates, a large number of “bystander” phosphorylation events, and the brief window in which all mitotic events transpire. Analog-sensitive alleles of protein kinases are powerful chemical genetic tools for rapid and specific interrogation of kinase function. Moreover, combining these tools with advanced proteomics and substrate labeling has identified phosphorylation sites on numerous protein targets. Here, we review the chemical genetic tools available to study kinase function and identify substrates. We describe how chemical genetics can also be used to link kinase function with cognate phosphorylation events to provide mechanistic detail. This can be accomplished by dissecting subsets of kinase functions and chemical genetic complementation. We believe a complete “chemical genetic toolbox” will ultimately allow a comprehensive understanding of how protein kinases regulate mitosis.
Immunoglobulin G antibodies directed against protein III block killing of serum-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae by immune serum

Neisseria gonorrhoeae that resist complement-dependent killing by normal human serum (NHS) are sometimes killed by immune convalescent serum from patients recovering from disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI). In these studies, killing by immune serum was prevented or blocked by IgG isolated from NHS. Purified human IgG antibodies directed against gonococcal protein III, an antigenically conserved outer membrane protein, contained most of the blocking activity in IgG. Antibodies specific for gonococcal porin (protein I), the major outer membrane protein, displayed no blocking function. In separate experiments, immune convalescent DGI serum which did not exhibit bactericidal activity was restored to killing by selective depletion of protein III antibodies by immunoabsorption. These studies indicate that protein III antibodies in normal and immune human serum play a role in serum resistance of N. gonorrhoeae.