Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
End-to-End Reliability-Aware Scheduling for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are gaining popularity as a flexible and economical alternative to field-bus installations for monitoring and control applications. For mission-critical applications, communication networks must provide end-to-end reliability guarantees, posing substantial challenges for WSN. Reliability can be improved by redundancy, and is often addressed on the MAC layer by resubmission of lost packets, usually applying slotted scheduling. Recently, researchers have proposed a strategy to optimally improve the reliability of a given schedule by repeating the most rewarding slots in a schedule incrementally until a deadline. This Incrementer can be used with most scheduling algorithms but has scalability issues which narrows its usability to offline calculations of schedules, for networks that are rather static. In this paper, we introduce SchedEx, a generic heuristic scheduling algorithm extension, which guarantees a user-defined end-to-end reliability. SchedEx produces competitive schedules to the existing approach, and it does that consistently more than an order of magnitude faster. The harsher the end-to-end reliability demand of the network, the better the SchedEx performs compared to the Incrementer. We further show that SchedEx has a more evenly distributed improvement impact on the scheduling algorithms, whereas the Incrementer favors schedules created by certain scheduling algorithms.
Absence of altered expression of optineurin in primary open angle glaucoma patients

Purpose To investigate the expression level of the optineurin gene (OPTN) in the blood of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients to determine if altered expression is playing a role in primary open angle glaucoma systemically. Methods Patients (n=47) were eligible for inclusion if they met standard clinical criteria for POAG, including age greater than 40 years, intraocular pressure ≥21 mmHg in at least one eye before treatment, normal-appearing anterior chamber angles bilaterally on gonioscopy, and optic nerve injury characteristic of POAG. Control subjects (n=27) were recruited who were free from glaucoma by examination. DNA from patient was sequenced to look for possible mutations in the coding region of OPTN or its promoter. RNA was extracted from leukocytes of patients and controls and converted to cDNA by reverse transcriptase enzyme, and quantitative PCR was used to assess expression levels of OPTN and the β-globulin gene. The ratio of OPTN expression to β-globulin gene expression for POAG patients was compared to that of controls and to clinical characteristics of POAG patients. Results No mutation(s) were detected in any of the patients after sequencing the full OPTN gene and its promoter region. Mean OPTN (p≤0.35), and β-globulin (p≤0.48) gene expression values were statistically similar in POAG patients and controls. OPTN/β-globulin (p≤0.83) ratios were also indistinguishable between POAG patients and controls. OPTN/β-globulin ratios were not significantly associated with age, sex, or ethnicity of patients within the POAG group. Similarly, OPTN/β-globulin ratios were not significantly affected by ethnicity or clinical parameters related to POAG severity including maximum intraocular pressure, vertical cup-to-disk ratio, static perimetry mean deviation, or static perimetry pattern standard deviation. Conclusions OPTN expression is not altered in the blood of POAG patients, suggesting that OPTN expression is not changed systemically and implying that other mechanisms are involved in POAG pathogenesis.
A new way to protect privacy in large-scale genome-wide association studies

Motivation: Increased availability of various genotyping techniques has initiated a race for finding genetic markers that can be used in diagnostics and personalized medicine. Although many genetic risk factors are known, key causes of common diseases with complex heritage patterns are still unknown. Identification of such complex traits requires a targeted study over a large collection of data. Ideally, such studies bring together data from many biobanks. However, data aggregation on such a large scale raises many privacy issues. Results: We show how to conduct such studies without violating privacy of individual donors and without leaking the data to third parties. The presented solution has provable security guarantees. Contact: jaak.vilo@ut.ee Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Endovascular versus Conventional Open Repair of Acute Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm: Feasibility and Preliminary Results

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of endovascular treatment of acute abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with commercially prepared bifurcated systems. Methods: From January through July 2001, 22 patients (17 men; mean age 73.6 years, range 59–89) were referred with an acute (symptomatic/ruptured) AAA. Six patients were treated with emergent open surgery because of hemodynamic instability, but the other 16 patients underwent computed tomographic angiography with multidirectional reconstruction. Six (27%) aneurysms were suitable for endovascular repair (EVR) and were successfully treated. Procedural variables, morbidity, and mortality were compared between the EVR group and 6 patients of equivalent hemodynamic status from among the conventionally treated patients. Results: There was no mortality in either group. The median aneurysm diameter in the EVR group was 63 mm (range 48–84) versus 80 mm (45–82) in the matched surgically treated AAAs (p=0.628). Procedural duration was 193 minutes (150–265) for the EVR group compared to 203 minutes (130–270) for the matched group (p=0.630). Median blood loss was significantly less (p=0.010) in the EVR group (125 versus 3400 mL). Median length of stay (LOS) in intensive care was 8 hours (0–21) versus 62 hours (48–112) for the surgical group (p=0.004). Hospital LOS was significantly reduced (p=0.024) for the EVR patients (7.5 [2–16] versus 15.5 [10–34] days). Conclusions: Endovascular treatment of acute aneurysm is feasible, and preliminary results are promising.
Comparison of Susceptibility Weighted Imaging and TOF-Angiography for the Detection of Thrombi in Acute Stroke

Background and Purpose Time-of-flight (TOF) angiography detects embolic occlusion of arteries in patients with acute ischemic stroke due to the absence of blood flow in the occluded vessel. In contrast, susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) directly enables intravascular clot visualization due to hypointense susceptibility vessel signs (SVS) in the occluded vessel. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of both methods to determine vessel occlusion in patients with acute stroke. Methods 94 patients were included who presented with clinical symptoms for acute stroke and displayed a delay on the time-to-peak perfusion map in the territory of the anterior (ACA), middle (M1, M1/M2, M2/M3) or posterior (PCA) cerebral artery. The frequency of SVS on SWI and vessel occlusion or stenosis on TOF-angiography was compared using the McNemar-Test. Results 87 of 94 patients displayed a clearly definable SVS on SWI. In 72 patients the SVS was associated with occlusion or stenosis on TOF-angiography. Fifteen patients exclusively displayed SVS on SWI (14 M2/M3, 1 M1), whereas no patient revealed exclusively occlusion or stenosis on TOF-angiography. Sensitivity for detection of embolic occlusion within major vessel segments (M1, M1/M2, ACA, and PCA) did not show any significant difference between both techniques (97% for SWI versus 96% for TOF-angiography) while the sensitivity for detection of embolic occlusion within M2/M3 was significantly different (84% for SWI versus 39% for TOF-angiography, p<0.00012). Conclusions SWI and TOF-angiography provide similar sensitivity for central thrombi while SWI is superior for the detection of peripheral thrombi in small arterial vessel segments.
Corrosion Rate Trajectories of Concreted Iron and Steel Shipwrecks and Structures in Seawater—The Weins Number

Abstract The Weins number (Wn) concept is proposed to predict the long-term corrosion rate of wrought iron and steel in seawater for variable marine environments. Plotted as a function of reciprocal absolute temperature, Weins numbers generate a linear plot from which the corrosion rates are calculated when temperature, oxygen concentration, and concretion thickness are known. Application of the theory of absolute reaction rates is described.
Wet Strength and Antibacterial Performance of Cellulosic Paper Induced by Maleic Anhydride-Acylated Chitosan

Paper sheets were dipped in maleic anhydride-acylated chitosan (MAAC) to enhance their wet strength and antibacterial performance. The wet strength of paper sheets treated with MAAC or chitosan solutions and cured at 90 and 170 °C was investigated. Escherichia coli was used to evaluate the antibacterial performance of the treated paper sheets. The antibacterial performance was determined by measuring the absorbance at 610 nm based on the turbidity of the bacterial suspension on the surface of the treated paper sheets. The MAAC performed better than chitosan in improving wet strength, especially in the case of permanent wet strength. Paper sheets treated with MAAC under certain conditions resulted in 23 to 33% improvements in the permanent wet strength. As a result of the surface treatment, a reduction of at least 80% in E. coli growth was observed. The MAAC was more efficient in inhibiting the growth of E. coli than chitosan.
Regulation of nerve growth factor synthesis and release in organ cultures of rat iris

We studied the synthesis and release of nerve growth factor (NGF) in cultured rat iris with a two-site enzyme immunoassay by measuring the time course of NGF levels remaining in the iris and relased into the medium up to 72 h. For up to 3 h, the NGF levels in the iris did not change significantly. After that, they increased to a maximal level of 350 +/- 30 pg NGF/iris at 19 h, which is 200 times higher than the in vivo content. Between 20 and 72 h in culture, the NGF level decreased to 130 +/- 10 pg NGF/iris, whereas general protein synthesis did not change during that time period. Maximal rate of NGF production (203 pg NGF/h/iris) was seen between 9 and 12 h in culture. In the medium, NGF levels were first detectable after 6 h. Levels then increased with a time course similar to that seen within the iris, reaching a maximal level of 1,180 +/- 180 pg after 19 h in vitro, and then did not significantly change for up to 48 h. The NGF production of the densely sympathetically innervated dilator was three times higher than that of the predominantly cholinergically innervated sphincter. The NGF production was blocked by inhibitors of messenger RNA synthesis (actinomycin D) and of polyadenylation (9-beta-D- arabinofuranosyladenine) as well as by inhibitors of translation (cycloheximide). Monensin, which interferes with the transport of proteins through the Golgi apparatus, decreased NGF levels to 8-12% of controls in the medium, suggesting that the Golgi apparatus is involved in the intracellular processing of NGF.
The role of transition metal ions on HO x radicals in clouds: a numerical evaluation of its impact on multiphase chemistry

A new modelling study of the role of transition metal ions on cloud chemistry has been performed. Develop- ments of the Model of Multiphase Cloud Chemistry (M2C2; Leriche et al., 2001) are described, including the transition metal ions reactivity emission/deposition processes and vari- able photolysis in the aqueous phase. The model is then ap- plied to three summertime scenarios under urban, remote and marine conditions, described by Ervens et al. (2003). Chemical regimes in clouds are analyzed to understand the role of transition metal ions on cloud chemistry and espe- cially, on Hx Oy chemistry, which consequently influences the sulphur and the VOCs chemistry in droplets. The ra- tio of Fe(II)/Fe(III) exhibits a diurnal variation with values in agreement with the available measurements of Fe speci- ation. In the urban case, sensitivity tests with and without TMI chemistry, show an enhancement of OH concentration in the aqueous phase when TMI chemistry is considered.
WHEN LESS IS MORE: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FOR TENACITY ENHANCEMENT BY DIVISION OF CONTACT AREA

Most recent data on hairy systems demonstrated their excellent adhesion and high reliability of contact. In contrast to smooth systems, some hairy systems seem to operate with dry adhesion and do not require supplementary fluids in the contact area. Contacting surfaces in such devices are subdivided into patterns of micro- or nanostructures with a high aspect ratio (setae, hairs, pins). The size of single points gets smaller and their density gets higher as the body mass increases. Previous authors explained this general trend by applying the JKR theory, according to which splitting up the contact into finer subcontacts increases adhesion. Fundamental importance of contact splitting for adhesion on smooth and rough substrata has been previously explained by a very small effective elastic modulus of the fibre array. This article provides the first experimental evidence of adhesion enhancement by division of contact area. A patterned surface made out of polyvinylsiloxane (PVS) has significantly higher adhesion on a glass surface than a smooth sample made out of the same material. This effect is even more pronounced on curved substrata. An additional advantage of patterned surfaces is the reliability of contact on various surface profiles and the increased tolerance to defects of individual contacts.
Core loss measurements of three phase AC induction motor

Core loss measurements at the field level for AC induction motor have been described. The standard requirements is the conventional no-load test to measure the “rotational losses” (sum of the core, friction & windage losses) and stator copper loss. Based on the no-load test several parameters such as the no load resistance, reactance, impedances as well as the per-phase magnetizing current and per-phase core loss current is obtained. Practical setup for loss measurements presented in this study.
Evidence of a Relationship between High Serum Ca 125 and Liver Failure Pattern in Cirrhotic Patients without Ascitis and Jaundice

Sir, CA 125 is an antigenic determinant defined by a monoclonal antibody (OC 125) developed by somatic hybridization of spleen cells from mice immunized with an epithelial ovarian carcinoma cell line. The antigenic determinant is associated with more than 80% of non mucinous epithelial ovarian carcinomas and the main clinical application of the antigen levels lies in monitoring of patients with these types of tumors, becoming a useful parameter correlated with clinical stage (1). In previous studies (2) we have observed high levels of CA 125 in sera of patients with non tumoral pathologies, especially peritonitis and chronic liver diseases (cirrhosis). In these latter, the percentage of positive results (higher than 35 U/ml) was 63.7% (range: 3 to > 5000 U/ml). In order to further clarify the behaviour of serum CA 125 levels in patients with cirrhosis, we planned this study with a control group of 248 HBsAg and HBcAg negative blood donors (109 males and 139 females aged between 17 and 69 years (mean 38)) and a study group of 205 patients (140 males and 65 females), aged from 19 to 81 years, mean 50 yrs, with cirrhosis confirmed by liver biopsy. Fasting blood samples were obtained and sera were frozen at -20°C until further handling. Each sample was measured in duplicate or triplicate. CA 125 was determined by a radioimmunoassay (CIS, France), with a lower limit of sensitivity 1.5 Uz ml. Interand intra-assay coefficients for mean concentrations of 123 (12 times) and 83 Ulml (15 times) were 12.3 and 9.6% respectively. The results were analysed by Mann Whitney's test and the correlation coefficient of Pearson. In the control group serum CA 125 ranged between 1.5 and 75 U/ml; the mean was 6.2 and the standard deviation 4.4 U/m! 20 Ulml was taken as the upper normal level. The distribution of serum CA 125 levels, means, ranges and standard deviations of the study group are shown in the Table I. Serum concentrations above 20 Ulml were observed in 81% of patients, with
MICRONEEDLES: AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO TRANSDERMAL DELIVERY- A REVIEW

Transdermal delivery holds a promising carrier in the transport of drugs to get direct access across the skin deep into the systemic circulation. It has attracted many researchers due to various biomedical advantages. The barrier nature of stratum corneum poses a threat to the drug delivery. However, various attempts have been made to modify this property of the skin and thus, to improve the transdermal delivery. Delivery of drugs via transdermal route has proved to be the convenient route for various clinical implications. Due to the limitation of oral drug delivery and the pain related with the use of needles in case of injections, drug delivery research has tremendously oriented towards the transdermal route The objective of the present review is to focus on the recent innovations in transdermal drug delivery systems which can serve as a platform for the research and development of pharmaceutical drug dosage form for efficient transdermal delivery. It also focuses on the delivery of various therapeutic agents effectively via different carriers emphasizing mainly on the potential role of microneedles as transdermal system. Researches in the past few years showed that microneedles have emerged as a novel carrier and considered to be effective for improved and safe delivery of drugs. Thus, it was concluded that the development of microneedles created a new pathway in the field of drug delivery.
The redox state of the mantle during and just after core formation

Siderophile elements are depleted in the Earth's mantle, relative to chondritic meteorites, as a result of equilibration with core-forming Fe-rich metal. Measurements of metal–silicate partition coefficients show that mantle depletions of slightly siderophile elements (e.g. Cr, V) must have occurred at more reducing conditions than those inferred from the current mantle FeO content. This implies that the oxidation state (i.e. FeO content) of the mantle increased with time as accretion proceeded. The oxygen fugacity of the present-day upper mantle is several orders of magnitude higher than the level imposed by equilibrium with core-forming Fe metal. This results from an increase in the Fe2O3 content of the mantle that probably occurred in the first 1 Ga of the Earth's history. Here we explore fractionation mechanisms that could have caused mantle FeO and Fe2O3 contents to increase while the oxidation state of accreting material remained constant (homogeneous accretion). Using measured metal–silicate partition coefficients for O and Si, we have modelled core–mantle equilibration in a magma ocean that became progressively deeper as accretion proceeded. The model indicates that the mantle would have become gradually oxidized as a result of Si entering the core. However, the increase in mantle FeO content and oxygen fugacity is limited by the fact that O also partitions into the core at high temperatures, which lowers the FeO content of the mantle. (Mg,Fe)(Al,Si)O3 perovskite, the dominant lower mantle mineral, has a strong affinity for Fe2O3 even in the presence of metallic Fe. As the upper mantle would have been poor in Fe2O3 during core formation, FeO would have disproportionated to produce Fe2O3 (in perovskite) and Fe metal. Loss of some disproportionated Fe metal to the core would have enriched the remaining mantle in Fe2O3 and, if the entire mantle was then homogenized, the oxygen fugacity of the upper mantle would have been raised to its present-day level.
How to play almost any mental game over the net - concurrent composition via super-polynomial simulation

We construct a secure protocol for any multiparty functionality that remains secure (under a relaxed definition of security introduced by Prabhakaran and Sahai (STOC '04)) when executed concurrently with multiple copies of itself and other protocols, without any assumptions on existence of trusted parties, common reference string, honest majority or synchronicity of the network. The relaxation of security is obtained by allowing the ideal-model simulator to run in quasipolynomial (as opposed to polynomial) time. Quasipolynomial simulation suffices to ensure security for most applications of multiparty computation. Furthermore, Lindell (FOCS '03, TCC' 04) recently showed that such a protocol is impossible to obtain under the more standard definition of polynomial-time simulation by an ideal adversary. Our construction is the first such protocol under reasonably standard cryptographic assumptions (i.e., existence of a hash function collection that is collision resistent with respect to circuits of subexponential size, and existence of trapdoor permutations which are secure with respect to circuits of quasi-polynomial size). We introduce a new technique: "protocol condensing". That is, taking a protocol that has strong security properties but requires super-polynomial communication and computation, and then transforming it into a protocol with polynomial communication and computation, that still inherits the strong security properties of the original protocol. Our result is obtained by combining this technique with previous techniques of Canetti, Lindell, Ostrovsky, and Sahai (STOC '02) and Pass (STOC '04).
Cellular-Based Immunotherapies for Patients with Glioblastoma Multiforme

Treatment of patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains to be a challenge with a median survival of 14.6 months following diagnosis. Standard treatment options include surgery, radiation therapy, and systemic chemotherapy with temozolomide. Despite the fact that the brain constitutes an immunoprivileged site, recent observations after immunotherapies with lysate from autologous tumor cells pulsed on dendritic cells (DCs), peptides, protein, messenger RNA, and cytokines suggest an immunological and even clinical response from immunotherapies. Given this plethora of immunomodulatory therapies, this paper gives a structure overview of the state-of-the art in the field. Particular emphasis was also put on immunogenic antigens as potential targets for a more specific stimulation of the immune system against GBM.
Polypyrrole/MnO2 composites and their enhanced electrochemical capacitance

The composites of polypyrrole (PPY) and MnO2 have been prepared through chemical oxidation of pyrrole monomer and MnO2 suspension with ammonium peroxysulfate at low temperature. The morphology and structure of materials were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermal gravity analysis - differential thermal gravity (TG-DTG), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. The electrochemical properties of the composite were investigated by galvanostatic charge–discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The specific capacitance of the composite electrode is 352.8 F/g at a current of 8 mA/cm2 in Na2SO4 electrolyte of 0.5 mol/L, which is much higher than that of 246.2 F/g and 103.5 F/g of PPY and MnO2, respectively. A convenient and effective technique has been developed to fabricate composite materials of PPY and MnO2 promising for designing new capacitors. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013