Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Specificity of human lymphocyte complement receptors

Erythrocytes, bone marrow-derived lymphocytes, monocytes, and granulocytes were shown to have a receptor activity for C4. Theis C4 receptor activity was studied in relation to the previously identified C3b and C3d receptors. By assay for inhibition of rosette formation by fluid-phase complement (C), only two different lymphocyte C receptors were demonstrated. The immune adherence receptor, the only one of the two shared in common with erythrocytes, was specific for C4 or the C3c region of C3b, but was unreactive with C3d. The other lymphocyte receptor, the C3d receptor, was specific for C3d fragments, but would also react to a lesser extent with the C3d region of uncleaved C3b. ThC3d receptor did not react with either C3c or C4. This specificity of the C3d receptor allowed certain cells which contained only C3d receptors to form rosettes with EAC1-3b and EAC1-3d, but not with EAC14. However, because C3d receptors bound EAC1-3d or C3d fragments more firmly than they did EAC1-3b or C3b fragments, many other types of cells containing only C3d receptors, formed rosettes with EAC1-3d but not with EAC1-3b. Erythrocytes and those lymphocytes which contained only immune adherence receptors, formed rosettes with EAC14 and EAC1-3D but not with EAC1-3d. A double-label assay was devised for the simultaneous detection of both types of C receptors on individual lymphocytes. This assay involved fluorescence labeling of one of the two C receptors with soluble C fragments in combination with the usual rosette method for labeling the other type of C receptor. With this double-label assay, it was observed that the two different lymphocyte C receptors capped independently and thus were located on different molecules which could each move through the fluid membrane matrix independently of the other.
Climate Change and Ecosystems of the Southwestern United States

Arid desert ecosystems of the western United States are particularly susceptible to climate change and climate variability. Plants and animals in this region live near their physiological limits for water and temperature stress. Slight changes in temperature or precipitation regimes or a change in the frequency and magnitude of extreme climatic events could therefore substantially alter the composition, distribution, and abundance of species, as well as the products and services that arid lands provide. In the United States, arid lands are located in the subtropical hot deserts of the Southwest, comprised of the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts, and the temperate cold deserts of the Intermountain West. Annual precipitation is low (<400 mm), but the seasonality of precipitation differs substantially among hot deserts (Fig. 1). The Mojave Desert is dominated by winter precipitation; thus biological activity is greatest during the cool season. The Chihuahuan Desert is dominated by summer precipitation with biological activity during hotter conditions. The hottest of the three deserts, the Sonoran, is intermediate, receiving both winter and summer precipitation. Each of these deserts is characterized by low productivity and slow plant growth, both of which are primarily water-limited. Vegetation communities are typically desert scrub, shrub– steppe, or desert grassland/savanna and are home to charismatic plants, including saguaro cacti, organ pipe cacti, and Joshua trees. The Chihuahuan Desert is the largest desert in North America, stretching from the southwestern United States deep into the Central Mexican Highlands. It has been classifi ed by the World Wildlife Fund as a Global 200 Ecoregion, a science-based global ranking of the Earth’s most biologically outstanding habitats. Arid lands currently provide a variety of products and services, including a large ranching industry, wildlife habitat, plant and animal diversity, regulation of water fl ow and quality, opportunities for outdoor recreation, and open spaces for expanding urban environments.
Implementation of First Order Algebraic Estimators for Numerical Filtering and Derivation Applications

This paper investigates the use of algebraic estimators for numerical filtering and derivation applications. After giving some explanations for the choice of the estimator order, we focus on the order one. The frequency and time responses are compared with standard filtering and derivation methods, including the Kalman filter. These estimators are finally implemented and tested with real sensor signals. Results show that for quite equivalent performances, Kalman filter is less time consuming, while the first order algebraic filter is easier to implement without a priori knowledge on the signal.
A comparison of the activities of lacticin 3147 and nisin against drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus species.

OBJECTIVES Our goal was to compare the activities of lacticin 3147 and nisin, two of the most well characterized lantibiotics, against antibiotic-resistant staphylococci and enterococci. METHODS We determined the MICs of lacticin 3147 and nisin for 20 strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), 20 strains of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), 6 strains of S. aureus with intermediate resistance to vancomycin (VISA), 5 strains of heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (hVISA) and 4 strains of S. aureus that are susceptible to methicillin. RESULTS Lacticin 3147 displayed potent activity against VRE with MIC values between 1.9 and 7.7 mg/L, and varying levels of activity against S. aureus strains (MRSA, 1.9-15.4 mg/L; laboratory strains, >or=15.4 mg/L; hVISA, 15.4-30.9 mg/L; VISA, >or=61.8 mg/L). Nisin was more active against the S. aureus strains in general (MRSA and laboratory strains, 0.5-4.1 mg/L; VISA and hVISA, 2 to >or=8.3 mg/L), but was less effective than lacticin 3147 against VRE (2 to >or=8.3 mg/L). CONCLUSIONS Nisin is more effective against S. aureus whereas lacticin 3147 possesses greater potency against VRE. The modifications responsible for the vancomycin-resistant phenotypes of hVISA and VISA strains also provide protection against the two lantibiotics.
Parametrized Verification Diagrams

This paper introduces parametrized verification diagrams (PVDs), a formalism that allows to prove temporal properties of parametrized concurrent systems, in which a given program is executed by an unbounded number of processes. PVDs extend general verification diagrams (GVDs). GVDs encode succinctly a proof that a non-parametrized reactive system satisfies a given temporal property. Even though GVDs are known to be sound and complete for non-parametrized systems, proving temporal properties of parametrized systems potentially requires to find a different diagram for each instantiation of the parameter (number of processes). In turn, each diagram requires to discharge and prove a different collection of verification conditions. PVDs allow a single diagram to represent the proof that all instances of the parametrized system for an arbitrary number of threads running concurrently satisfy the temporal specification. Checking the proof represented by a PVD requires proving only a finite collection of quantifier-free verification conditions. The PVDs we present here exploit the symmetry assumption, under which process identifiers are interchangeable. This assumption covers a large class of concurrent systems, including concurrent datatypes. We illustrate the use of PVDs in the verification of an infinite state mutual exclusion protocol.
Microshape Control, Riblets, and Drag Minimization

Relying on the rugosity effect, we analyse the drag minimization problem in relation to the microstructure of the surface of a given obstacle. We construct a mathematical framework for the optimization problem, prove the existence of an optimal solution by $\Gamma$-convergence arguments, and analyze the stability of the drag with respect to the microstructure. For Stokes flows we justify why rugosity increases the drag, while for Navier--Stokes flows we give some numerical evidence supporting the thesis that adding rugosity on specific regions of the obstacle may contribute to decreasing the drag.
Deligne groupoid revisited

We show that for a differential graded Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ whose components vanish in degrees below -1 the nerve of the Deligne 2-groupoid is homotopy equivalent to the simplicial set of $\mathfrak{g}$-valued differential forms introduced by V.Hinich.
Block Ciphers And

This report gives a basic introduction to block cipher design and analysis. The concepts and design principles of block ciphers are explained, particularly the class of block ciphers known as Feistel ciphers. Some modern block cipher cryptanalysis methods are demonstrated by applying them to variants of a weak Feistel cipher called Simplified TEA (STEA), which is based on the Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA).
Neuronal Correlates for Preparatory Set Associated with Pro-Saccades and Anti-Saccades in the Primate Frontal Eye Field

Diversity in behavioral responses to sensory stimuli has been attributed to variations in preparatory set. Variability in oculomotor responses toward identical visual stimuli has been well documented, but the neuronal processes underlying this variability are poorly understood. Here, we report evidence for set-related activity for saccadic eye movements in single neurons in the frontal eye field (FEF) in monkeys trained on a task in which they either had to look toward a visual stimulus (pro-saccade) or away from the stimulus (anti-saccade) depending on a previous instruction. A portion of FEF neurons were identified as neurons projecting directly to the superior colliculus (SC) with antidromic activation techniques. Saccade-related neurons in the FEF had lower prestimulus and stimulus-related activity on anti-saccade trials compared with pro-saccade trials. The level of prestimulus activity correlated with saccadic reaction times, express saccade occurrence, and errors in the anti-saccade task. In addition, saccade-related activity in the FEF was higher for pro-saccades than for anti-saccades. These results demonstrate that the direct descending pathway from the FEF to the SC carries preparatory set-related activity for pro-saccades and anti-saccades. The results also provide insights into the neuronal basis of variations in saccadic reaction times and in the control of the prepotent response to glance to a flashed stimulus.
A Utility-Based Web Content Sensitivity Mining Approach

Abnormal remarks on World Wide Web, such as violence, threat, superstition, etc. may disturb the social order and public morality. Most traditional methods filter a page as long as it contains a keyword in a predefined blacklist. Such methods cannot provide a quantitative measure of how sensitive the content is. In this paper, we propose a utility-based Web content sensitivity mining approach. Utility is viewed as the measure of how sensitive a page is. It allows the Internet regulators to take different operations according to different sensitivity values. We apply our approach on a real-world Web dataset. It identified a number of sensitive Web pages that traditional frequency-based methods failed to find. By varying the sensitive values of the keywords, different sets of high sensitivity keywords were discovered.
The Effects and Antecedents of Conflict in Free and Open Source Software Development

Conflict is an important group process, and more so in self-organizing teams with fluid boundaries and high possibility for turnover. We empirically investigate different types of conflict in Free and Open Source Software development teams, their antecedents and impact on developers&' sustained participation. Following a survey of 222 FOSS developers, we find conflict to have an overall negative effect on developer retention. Furthermore, different types of conflict have varying impact on outcomes. In particular, only normative conflict levels negatively impact intention to remain in a FOSS project. Both normative and process conflict negatively affect perceptions of team performance, while the co-occurrence of task and process conflict exacerbate negative effects on outcomes. Though we find structural factors like task interdependence and geographical distribution increase overall conflict levels in FOSS teams, participatory decision-making and a transformational leadership style have an ameliorating effect. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
2-D angle of arrival estimation using a one-dimensional antenna array

In this paper, a two-dimensional (2-D) angle of arrival (AOA) estimator is presented for vertically polarised waves in which a one-dimensional (1-D) antenna array is used. Many 2-D AOA estimators were previously developed to estimate elevation and azimuth angles. These estimators require a 2-D antenna array setup such as the L-shaped or parallel antenna 1-D arrays. In this paper a 2-D AOA estimator is presented which requires only a 1-D antenna array. This presented method is named Estimation of 2-D Angle of arrival using Reduced antenna array dimension (EAR). The EAR estimator utilises the antenna radiation pattern factor to reduce the required antenna array dimensionality. Thus, 2-D AOA estimation is possible using antenna arrays of reduced size and with a minimum of two elements only, which is very beneficial in applications with size and space limitations. Simulation results are presented to show the performance of the presented method.
Simulation and feasibility analysis: Hierarchical Energy Efficient Routing Protocol (HEERP) for Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless sensor network is a network of sensing devices or nodes which have a limited power supply and processing capability. It is the sensor nodes which sense the environment and report the information gathered from the monitored region to the “sink” or the base station [1]. However the data transferred in a simple WSN is not on the basis of priority, therefore high priority data which needs immediate attention may get delayed due to congestion as a result the throughput, reliability and quality of data is affected. This paper proposes “Hierarchical Energy Efficient Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Network” (HEERP) through prioritization which provides a congestion free energy efficient path to urgent data packets, as a result of which the best path always remains available for the transmission of critical or high priority data. Simulation results show that HEERP results in low end to end delay, low packet delay variation time or jitter resulting in transfer of high quality sample, low packet loss ratio and high throughput and low utilization of energy as compared to simple WSN, resulting in maximized lifetime of the network.
Error Probability Analysis of Binary Asymmetric Channels

In his world-famous paper of 1948, Shannon defined channel capacity as the ultimate rate at which information can be transmitted over a communication channel with an error probability that will vanish if we allow the blocklength to get infinitely large. While this result is of tremendous theoretical importance, the reality of practical systems looks quite different: no communication system will tolerate an infinite delay caused by an extremely large blocklength, nor can it deal with the computational complexity of decoding such huge codewords. On the other hand, it is not necessary to have an error probability that is exactly zero either, a small, but finite value will suffice. Therefore, the question arises what can be done in a practical scheme. In particular, what is the maximal rate at which information can be transmitted over a communication channel for a given fixed maximum blocklength (i.e., a fixed maximum delay) if we allow a certain maximal probability of error? In this project, we have started to study these questions. Block-codes with very short blocklength over the most general binary channel, the binary asymmetric channel (BAC), are investigated. It is shown that for only two possible messages, flip-flop codes are optimal, however, depending on the blocklength and the channel parameters, not necessarily the linear flipflop code. Further it is shown that the optimal decoding rule is a threshold rule. Some fundamental dependencies of the best code on the channel are given. Block-codes with a very small number of codewords are investigated for the two special binary memoryless channels, the binary symmetric channel (BSC) and the Z-channel (ZC). The optimal (in the sense of minimum average error probability, using maximum likelihood decoding) code structure is derived for the cases of two, three, and four codewords and an arbitrary blocklength. It is shown that for two possible messages, on a BSC, the so-called flip codes of type t are optimal for any t, while on a ZC, the flip code of type 0 is optimal. For codes with three or four messages it is shown that the so-called weak flip codes of some given type are optimal where the type depends on the blocklength. For all cases an algorithm is presented that constructs an optimal code for blocklength n recursively from an optimal code of length n− 1. In the situation of two and four messages, the optimal code is shown to be linear. For the ZC a recursive optimal code design is conjectured in the case of five possible messages. The derivation of these optimal codes relies heavily on a new approach of constructing and analyzing the code-matrix not row-wise (codewords), but column-wise. Moreover, these results also prove that the minimum Hamming distance might be the wrong design criterion for optimal codes even for very symmetric channels like the BSC.
Design and Comparison of Three 20-Gb/s Backplane Transceivers for Duobinary, PAM4, and NRZ Data

A full study of three data formats including duobinary, PAM4, and NRZ is proposed to estimate the performance of the corresponding transceivers under different conditions. Transceiver prototypes designed and optimized for the three signalings are presented to evaluate their performance as well as the feasibility. The three transceivers have been tested thoroughly in Rogers and FR4 boards. Fabricated in 90-nm CMOS technology, all three transceivers achieve error-free operation with 20-Gb/s 2 31-1 PRBS data over 40-cm Rogers and 10-cm FR4 channels. General comparison reveals that the NRZ data still achieves the best performance at 20 Gb/s.
PicoRadio: Ad-hoc wireless networking of ubiquitous low-energy sensor/monitor nodes

One of the most compelling challenges of the next decade is the solution of the "last meter" problem, which extends the network into the end-user data-collection and monitoring devices. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities of a "PicoRadio Network" that supports the assembly of an an-hoc wireless network of meso-scale, low-cost and low-energy sensor and monitor nodes.
Face Recognition Using Modular Locality Preserving Projections

Facial-image data are always distributed in the high-dimensional space, which makes it difficult to use for accurate face recognition. Recently, many manifold learning methods have been proposed to reduce the dimensionality of the image data. In this paper, a novel method, named Modular Locality Preserving Projection (Modular LPP), is proposed. This proposed method is derived from the LPP methods, and is designed to handle face images with various illuminations and facial expressions. In the proposed method, the face images are divided into smaller sub-images and the LPP approach is applied to each of these sub-images. As some of the local facial features of an individual do not vary even when the lighting directions and facial expressions vary, the proposed method is expected to cope with these variations. The Modular LPP and its variant are compared with LPP, based on the Yale and YaleB face database. Experimental results show the significant improvement of our proposed algorithm.
Levels of vancomycin in cerebrospinal fluid of adult patients receiving adjunctive corticosteroids to treat pneumococcal meningitis: a prospective multicenter observational study.

BACKGROUND Evidence from a recent randomized controlled trial suggests that dexamethasone as adjunct therapy in adult pneumococcal meningitis reduces mortality and neurological sequelae. However, adding dexamethasone has the potential to reduce penetration of vancomycin into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We sought to determine concentrations of vancomycin in serum and CSF of patients with suspected or proven pneumococcal meningitis receiving dexamethasone to assess the penetration of vancomycin into the CSF during steroid therapy. METHODS In an observational open multicenter study, adult patients admitted to the intensive care unit because of suspected pneumococcal meningitis received recommended treatment for pneumococcal meningitis, comprising intravenous cefotaxime (200 mg per kg of body weight per day), vancomycin (administered as continuous infusion of 60 mg per kg of body weight per day after a loading dose of 15 mg per kg of body weight), and adjunctive therapy with dexamethasone (10 mg every 6 h). Vancomycin levels in CSF were measured on day 2 or day 3 of therapy and were correlated with protein levels in CSF and vancomycin levels in serum (determined at the same time as levels in CSF). RESULTS Fourteen patients were included. Thirteen had proven pneumococcal meningitis; 1 patient, initially suspected of having pneumococcal meningitis, was finally determined to have meningitis due to Neisseria meningitidis. Mean levels of vancomycin in serum and CSF were 25.2 and 7.2 mg/L, respectively, and were positively correlated (r=0.6; P=.025). A positive correlation was also found between the ratio of vancomycin in CSF to vancomycin in serum and the level of protein in CSF (r=0.66; P=.01). CONCLUSIONS Appropriate concentrations of vancomycin in CSF may be obtained even when concomitant steroids are used. Dexamethasone can, therefore, be used without fear of impeding vancomycin penetration into the CSF of patients with pneumococcal meningitis, provided that vancomycin dosage is adequate. This study is registered at http://www.ClinicalTrials. gov/ (registration number NCT00162578).
Lock-Free Red-Black Trees Using CAS

The negative side-effects of using lock-based synchronization mechanisms are well known and include unexpected scheduling anomalies such as priority inversion and convoying as well as unnecessary synchronization overhead and the potential for deadlock. Despite these drawbacks, the use of lock-free techniques has not gained widespread acceptance. The reasons for this lack of acceptance include the complexity of hand-crafting lock-free algorithms for complex data structures and the relative inefficiency of the algorithms resulting from the use of generic methods for converting sequential algorithms into lock-free concurrent ones. Given these factors, we believe that the best approach is to create a library of efficient lock-free data structures that can be easily employed by others. For such a library to be successful, however, it must be based on synchronization primitives that are generally available on a wide range of machine architectures. In this paper, we describe the implementation of efficient lock-free algorithms for operating on a type of balanced binary search tree — red-black trees. Such tree structures are of potential importance in a wide range of search-based applications (including text mining and nucleotide sequence matching) that are being implemented on shared memory parallel machines. Our algorithms require only the widely available CAS (Compare And Swap) synchronization primitive.
Gaze-enhanced scrolling techniques

Scrolling is an essential part of our everyday computing experience. Contemporary scrolling techniques rely on the explicit initiation of scrolling by the user. The act of scrolling is tightly coupled with the user? s ability to absorb information via the visual channel. The use of eye gaze information is therefore a natural choice for enhancing scrolling techniques. We present several gaze-enhanced scrolling techniques for manual and automatic scrolling which use gaze information as a primary input or as an augmented input. We also introduce the use off-screen gaze-actuated buttons for document navigation and control.