Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parallel Irregular Computations Control Based on Global Predicate Monitoring

Global state monitoring can be applied in parallel applications in cluster environments to efficiently control execution of constituent processes. We present an application control method based on global predicate monitoring, used in a parallel system with partially synchronized computer clocks. Thanks to the clock synchronization, the global state construction can be done without big overhead. The proposed control method has been implemented in an enhanced P-GRADE graphical parallel program design system (PS-GRADE). As many irregular computational problems require sophisticated and unpredictable control actions, their implementations can benefit from the proposed control method. The traveling salesman problem and adaptive integration - two irregular applications - have been implemented in PS-GRADE. Obtained results have shown that the control by global predicate monitoring can lead to better parallel application performance and provides a convenient infrastructure for a programmer
Moving the ensemble communication system to NT and Wolfpack

Cornell University has developed a group communications and membership management tool, called the Ensemble system, which provides the basis for introducing guarantees such as reliability, high availability, fault-tolerance, consistency, security and real-time responsiveness into applications that run on clustered parallel computers or high speed networks. Ensemble tools are flexible, extremely transparent, and achieve high performance. Our development started under Unix in 1995, but by 1996 had enlarged to include NT as a primary target. This paper reviews Ensemble and then discusses the technical issues that arose when repositioning it to fit naturally and perform well under NT.
Implementation of High Resolution Whole Genome Array CGH in the Prenatal Clinical Setting: Advantages, Challenges, and Review of the Literature

Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization analysis is replacing postnatal chromosomal analysis in cases of intellectual disabilities, and it has been postulated that it might also become the first-tier test in prenatal diagnosis. In this study, array CGH was applied in 64 prenatal samples with whole genome oligonucleotide arrays (BlueGnome, Ltd.) on DNA extracted from chorionic villi, amniotic fluid, foetal blood, and skin samples. Results were confirmed with Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization or Real-Time PCR. Fifty-three cases had normal karyotype and abnormal ultrasound findings, and seven samples had balanced rearrangements, five of which also had ultrasound findings. The value of array CGH in the characterization of previously known aberrations in five samples is also presented. Seventeen out of 64 samples carried copy number alterations giving a detection rate of 26.5%. Ten of these represent benign or variables of unknown significance, giving a diagnostic capacity of the method to be 10.9%. If karyotype is performed the additional diagnostic capacity of the method is 5.1% (3/59). This study indicates the ability of array CGH to identify chromosomal abnormalities which cannot be detected during routine prenatal cytogenetic analysis, therefore increasing the overall detection rate. In addition a thorough review of the literature is presented.
Pharmacogenetics of the Treatment Response of Age-Related Macular Degeneration with Ranibizumab and Bevacizumab

Abstract Introduction: Age-related macular degeneration is a major cause of blindness among people aged 50 and older in industrialized countries. Anti-VEGF therapy has been tremendously successful in the treatment of neovascular macular degeneration. Examining the pharmacogenetics of patients’ response to the anti-VEGF molecules could allow for a tailored treatment strategy based on patients’ underlying genetics rather than the “one-size fits all” approach currently used. Methods: Review of the English literature for papers examining the pharmacogenetics of treatment response of neovascular macular degeneration to either ranibizumab or bevacizumab. Polymorphisms in CFH, ARMS2, HTRA1 and VEGF A were examined and reviewed. Results: Patients with the high-risk CC genotype in complement factor H (CFH) had a worse response to therapy with ranibizumab and bevacizumab. No clear trends were found with ARMS2, HTRA1 and VEGF A. Conclusions: The goal of personalized medicine is to craft a treatment program that is ideally suited to an individual patient’s disease and genetic make-up rather than simply what works for a large population who share similar disease characteristics. Continued research is needed to achieve this goal for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
4th International Workshop on Personalization Approaches in Learning Environments (PALE 2014) Preface

Personalization approaches in learning environments can be ad- dressed from different perspectives and also in various educational settings, in- cluding formal, informal, workplace, lifelong, mobile, contextualized, and self- regulated learning. PALE workshop offers an opportunity to present and discuss a wide spectrum of issues and solutions. In particular, this fourth edition in- cludes 8 papers dealing with student's performance, modeling the user profile in a standardize way, computing attributes for learner modeling, detecting af- fective states to improve the personalized support, and applying user modeling approaches in new contexts, such as MOOCs and gamified environments.
Improving faint-signal sensitivity of electrolyte-gated carbon nanotube field-effect transistors using external noise

Stochastic resonance (SR) in carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNT-FETs) was investigated to enhance their weak-signal response. When weak pulse trains were applied to the gate of a CNT-FET operating in a subthreshold regime, the correlation coefficient between the input and output voltages increased upon addition of noise with optimized intensity. SR was observed both in air and in solutions. These results indicate that external noise is able to improve faint-signal sensitivity of CNT-FETs. Therefore, CNT-FETs based on stochastic resonance are promising candidates for highly sensitive label-free sensors.
Division of astroblasts and oligodendroblasts in postnatal rodent brain: Evidence for separate astrocyte and oligodendrocyte lineages

What precursor cells are the source of the macroglia generated during postnatal development? In order to answer this question, we studied the expression of glial specific antigens in proliferating neuroglia in postnatal rodent brain and optic nerve. Immunocytochemistry using antibodies to oligodendrocyte (OL) specific markers (sulfatide and galactocerebroside) and an astrocyte (AS) specific marker (glial fibrillary acidic protein) was combined with thymidine autoradiography. During the first week of postnatal development when most ASs are being generated, one third to one half of the proliferating cells in the optic system are positive for glial fibrillary acidic protein after a 1 h injection of thymidine (Skoff, Dev. Biol., 139:149–168, 1990). During the second postnatal week when OLs are being generated, 30 to 100% of the proliferating cells in presumptive white matter tracts are sulfatide positive and at least 10% are galactocerebroside positive. This finding demonstrates that ASs and OLs divide during postnatal development. These results confirm previous electron microscopic autoradiographic studies showing that the vast majority of proliferating cells in postnatal rat optic nerve have the morphologic characteristics of differentiating ASs or OLs (Skoff, J. Comp. Neurol., 169:291–312, 1976). Since proliferating ASs (astroblasts) and OLs (oligodendroblasts) constitute the majority of the dividing cells at the time that ASs and OLs are being generated, these glioblasts must be the major source for the macroglia generated postnatally.
REM sleep and the early development of posttraumatic stress disorder.

OBJECTIVE The potential for chronicity and treatment resistance once posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become established has stimulated interest in understanding the early pathogenesis of the disorder. Arousal regulation and memory consolidation appear to be important in determining the development of PTSD; both are functions of sleep. Sleep findings from patients with chronic PTSD are complex and somewhat contradictory, and data from the acute phase are quite limited. The aim of the present study was to obtain polysomnographic recordings during an acute period after life-threatening experiences and injury and to relate measures of sleep duration and maintenance and the timing, intensity, and continuity of REM sleep to the early development of PTSD. METHOD Twenty-one injured subjects meeting study criteria received at least one polysomnographic recording close to the time of medical/surgical stabilization and within a month of injury. PTSD symptoms were assessed concurrently and 6 weeks later. Sleep measures were compared among injured subjects with and without significant PTSD symptoms at follow-up and 10 noninjured comparison subjects and were also correlated with PTSD severity. RESULTS There was more wake time after the onset of sleep in injured, trauma-exposed patients than in noninjured comparison subjects. Development of PTSD symptoms was associated with shorter average duration of REM sleep before a stage change and more periods of REM sleep. CONCLUSIONS The development of PTSD symptoms after traumatic injury is associated with a more fragmented pattern of REM sleep.
A Novel Graph Based Framework to build Multi Label Text Classifier

Text document is multifaceted object and associated with many properties such as multi labeledness. Under this a single text document can inherently belongs to more than one category simultaneously. Traditional single label and multi class text class ification paradigms cannot efficiently classify such multifaceted text corpus. Through our paper we are proposing a graph based frame work for Multi Label Text Classification paradigm. Representing text documents in the form of graph vertices rather than the vec tor representation like Bag of Words allows pre-computing and storing of necessary information. It also models the relationship between text documents and class labels. We are using semi supervised learning technique in our proposed approach for effectively utilizing labeled and unlabeled data for classification . Our proposed approach promises better classification accuracy and handling of complexity. Our propos ed framework is elaborated on the basis of standard dataset such as Enron, Slashdot, Bibtex and Reuters.
Current Status of Vaccines for Schistosomiasis

SUMMARY Schistosomiasis, caused by trematode blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma, is recognized as the most important human helminth infection in terms of morbidity and mortality. Infection follows direct contact with freshwater harboring free-swimming larval (cercaria) forms of the parasite. Despite the existence of the highly effective antischistosome drug praziquantel (PZQ), schistosomiasis is spreading into new areas, and although it is the cornerstone of current control programs, PZQ chemotherapy does have limitations. In particular, mass treatment does not prevent reinfection. Furthermore, there is increasing concern about the development of parasite resistance to PZQ. Consequently, vaccine strategies represent an essential component for the future control of schistosomiasis as an adjunct to chemotherapy. An improved understanding of the immune response to schistosome infection, both in animal models and in humans, suggests that development of a vaccine may be possible. This review considers aspects of antischistosome protective immunity that are important in the context of vaccine development. The current status in the development of vaccines against the African (Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium) and Asian (S. japonicum) schistosomes is then discussed, as are new approaches that may improve the efficacy of available vaccines and aid in the identification of new targets for immune attack.
CONCEPTS & SYNTHESIS EMPHASIZING NEW IDEAS TO STIMULATE RESEARCH IN ECOLOGY

Today, Antarctica exhibits some of the harshest environmental conditions for life on Earth. During the last glacial period, Antarctic terrestrial and marine life was challenged by even more extreme environmental conditions. During the present interglacial period, polar life in the Southern Ocean is sustained mainly by large-scale primary production. We argue that during the last glacial period, faunal populations in the Antarctic were limited to very few areas of local marine productivity (polynyas), because complete, multiannual sea-ice and ice shelf coverage shut down most of the Southern Ocean productivity within today’s seasonal sea-ice zone. Both marine sediments containing significant numbers of planktonic and benthic foraminifera and fossil bird stomach oil deposits in the adjacent Antarctic hinterland provide indirect evidence for the existence of polynyas during the last glacial period. We advocate that the existence of productive oases in the form of polynyas during glacial periods was essential for the survival of marine and most higher-trophic terrestrial fauna. Reduced to such refuges, much of today’s life in the high Antarctic realm might have hung by a thread during the last glacial period, because limited resources available to the food web restricted the abundance and productivity of both Antarctic terrestrial and marine life.
Some problems related to bisimilarity on BPP Martin Kot

Jančar has in 2003 shown that bisimilarity on Basic Parallel Processes (BPP) can be decided in polynomial space. Bisimilarity is studied on various subclasses of BPP as well. We present summary of known complexity bounds of some such bisimilarity problems. Moreover is here shown that deciding regularity of a BPP is PSPACE-complete. So far this problem was only known to be PSPACE-hard.
Switching on cilia: transcriptional networks regulating ciliogenesis

Cilia play many essential roles in fluid transport and cellular locomotion, and as sensory hubs for a variety of signal transduction pathways. Despite having a conserved basic morphology, cilia vary extensively in their shapes and sizes, ultrastructural details, numbers per cell, motility patterns and sensory capabilities. Emerging evidence indicates that this diversity, which is intimately linked to the different functions that cilia perform, is in large part programmed at the transcriptional level. Here, we review our understanding of the transcriptional control of ciliary biogenesis, highlighting the activities of FOXJ1 and the RFX family of transcriptional regulators. In addition, we examine how a number of signaling pathways, and lineage and cell fate determinants can induce and modulate ciliogenic programs to bring about the differentiation of distinct cilia types.
Heart-targeted overexpression of caspase3 in mice increases infarct size and depresses cardiac function

Up-regulation of proapoptotic genes has been reported in heart failure and myocardial infarction. To determine whether caspase genes can affect cardiac function, a transgenic mouse was generated. Cardiac tissue-specific overexpression of the proapoptotic gene Caspase3 was induced by using the rat promoter of α-myosin heavy chain, a model that may represent a unique tool for investigating new molecules and antiapoptotic therapeutic strategies. Cardiac-specific Caspase3 expression induced transient depression of cardiac function and abnormal nuclear and myofibrillar ultrastructural damage. When subjected to myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury, Caspase3 transgenic mice showed increased infarct size and a pronounced susceptibility to die. In this report, we document an unexpected property of the proapoptotic gene caspase3 on cardiac contractility. Despite inducing ultrastructural damage, Caspase3 does not trigger a full apoptotic response in the cardiomyocyte. We also implicate Caspase3 in determining myocardial infarct size after ischemia–reperfusion injury, because its cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression increases infarct size.
Cooperative Carrier Signaling: Harmonizing Coexisting WPAN and WLAN Devices

The unlicensed ISM spectrum is getting crowded by wireless local area network (WLAN) and wireless personal area network (WPAN) users and devices. Spectrum sharing within the same network of devices can be arbitrated by existing MAC protocols, but the coexistence between WPAN and WLAN (e.g., ZigBee and WiFi) remains a challenging problem. The traditional MAC protocols are ineffective in dealing with the disparate transmit-power levels, asynchronous time-slots, and incompatible PHY layers of such heterogeneous networks. Recent measurement studies have shown moderate-to-high WiFi traffic to severely impair the performance of coexisting ZigBee. We propose a novel mechanism, called cooperative carrier signaling (CCS), that exploits the inherent cooperation among ZigBee nodes to harmonize their coexistence with WiFi WLANs. CCS employs a separate ZigBee node to emit a carrier signal (busy tone) concurrently with the desired ZigBee's data transmission, thereby enhancing the ZigBee's visibility to WiFi. It employs an innovative way to concurrently schedule a busy tone and a data transmission without causing interference between them. We have implemented and evaluated CCS on the TinyOS/MICAz and GNURadio/USRP platforms. Our extensive experimental evaluation has shown that CCS reduces collision between ZigBee and WiFi by 50% for most cases, and by up to 90% in the presence of a high-level interference, all at negligible WiFi performance loss.
MICRODAMAGE HEALING IN ASPHALT AND ASPHALT CONCRETE, VOLUME III: A MICROMECHANICS FRACTURE AND HEALING MODEL FOR ASPHALT CONCRETE

Volume III documents the development of a micromechanics fracture and healing model for asphalt concrete. This model can be used to calculate the density and growth of microcracks during repeated direct tensile controlled-strain loading. The model is based on a relationship among stiffness changes in the mixture as damage occurs, the rate of change in dissipated pseudo strain energy as loading is applied to the samples and as damage occurs, and mixture properties including crack length changes upon loading and mixture cohesive surface energies. The report demonstrates that microcrack growth is the dominate mode of distress at temperatures below 25 deg C and that microcrack healing is the dominate mode of recovery of dissipated pseudo strain energy at these test temperatures. However, at temperatures above about 25 deg C, the predominate mode of distress is plastic damage. Cracking rates during fatigue damage are related to de-wetting cohesive surface energy measurements of the bitumen whereas microcracking healing rates are related to wetting cohesive surface energy measurements of the bitumen. Surface energies of five bitumens with widely different chemical compositions were found to correlate strongly with healing properties as defined by viscoelastic fracture and healing theory.
The value of synovial fluid assays in the diagnosis of joint disease: a literature survey

Objective: To carry out a critical appraisal of the literature in an attempt to assess the current value of synovial fluid (SF) analysis in the diagnosis of joint disease. Methods: A literature search was undertaken using the Medline, Biomed, Bids, Pubmed, and Embase electronic databases using the keywords: synovial fluid (SF) analysis, SF crystals, joint sepsis, acute arthritis, and SF cell counts, cytology, biomarkers, and microbiology. Results: Publications fell into three main categories. Firstly, reports assessing the value of the three traditional assays (microbiology, white blood cell counts, and microscopy for pathogenic crystals). For these quality control evidence was found to be sparse, and tests for sensitivity, specificity, and reliability showed worrying variations. These poor standards in SF analysis may be due to lack of inclusion of some tests within routine pathology services. Secondly, claims for the usefulness of “new” assays (cytology and biochemical markers). For cytology, the supporting evidence was mainly anecdotal and there were no reports on specificity, sensitivity, and reliability. Interpretation difficulties are a major hindrance to the clinical use of biochemical assays, which remain primarily research tools. Finally, work on the diagnostic value of SF analysis in general. The appraisal confirmed that SF analysis remains of major diagnostic value in acute arthritis, where septic arthritis or crystal arthropathy is suspected, and in intercritical gout. Conclusions: Given the importance of SF tests, rationalisation of their use, together with improved quality control, should be immediate priorities. Further investigation is recommended into the contribution of SF inspection and white cell counts to diagnosis, as well as of the specificity and sensitivity of SF microbiological assays, crystal identification, and cytology.
Neural Correlates of Reach Errors

Reach errors may be broadly classified into errors arising from unpredictable changes in target location, called target errors, and errors arising from miscalibration of internal models (e.g., when prisms alter visual feedback or a force field alters limb dynamics), called execution errors. Execution errors may be caused by miscalibration of dynamics (e.g., when a force field alters limb dynamics) or by miscalibration of kinematics (e.g., when prisms alter visual feedback). Although all types of errors lead to similar on-line corrections, we found that the motor system showed strong trial-by-trial adaptation in response to random execution errors but not in response to random target errors. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a compatible robot to study brain regions involved in processing each kind of error. Both kinematic and dynamic execution errors activated regions along the central and the postcentral sulci and in lobules V, VI, and VIII of the cerebellum, making these areas possible sites of plastic changes in internal models for reaching. Only activity related to kinematic errors extended into parietal area 5. These results are inconsistent with the idea that kinematics and dynamics of reaching are computed in separate neural entities. In contrast, only target errors caused increased activity in the striatum and the posterior superior parietal lobule. The cerebellum and motor cortex were as strongly activated as with execution errors. These findings indicate a neural and behavioral dissociation between errors that lead to switching of behavioral goals and errors that lead to adaptation of internal models of limb dynamics and kinematics.
A low-temperature parylene-to-silicon dioxide bonding technique for high-pressure microfluidics

We introduce a new low-temperature (280 °C) parylene-to-SiO2 bonding process with high device yield (>90%) for the fabrication and integration of high-pressure-rated microfluidic chips. Pull tests demonstrate a parylene-to-SiO2 bonding strength of 10 ± 3 MPa. We apply this technique for bonding Pyrex and silicon wafers having multiple metal layers to fabricate standard packaged microfluidic devices. By performing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of electrolyte solutions in such devices, we demonstrate that electrodes remain functional after the etching, bonding and dicing steps. We also develop a high-pressure microfluidic and electrical integration technology, eliminating special fluidic interconnections and wire-bonding steps. The burst pressure of the integrated system is statistically shown to be 7.6 ± 1.3 MPa, with a maximum achieved burst pressure of 11.1 MPa, opening perspectives for high-pressure applications of these types of microfluidic devices.