Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Failure Analysis for Distributed Computing Environments

Distributed computing systems cover a broad range of computing infrastructures, which are heterogeneous, inter-connected and architected around stack-based deployments. Failure occurrences within such tightly-coupled systems while are expected, do not easily lend to predictive modeling due to the complex interactions between interconnected service layers. This work examines service level instabilities, occurring within data centers, participating in (HEP) scientific research. We present a stability measure based on which a failure event selection process is deployed to detect periods of instability within individual data centers. Experts recognize that understanding conditions for failure is crucial when designing recovery procedures. For distributed computing systems risk and failure analysis facilitates implementation of measures for service availability, subsystem recovery and network redundancy.
Who cares? Die Bedeutung der informellen Pflege durch Erwerbstätige in Deutschland

The daughter and son who take care of their parents or look after their neighbor who is no longer mobile while working at the same time: informal care is a central pillar of the German care system - particularly with regard to the aging population and the resultant increase in the demand for care. Between five and six percent of all adults regularly provide informal care according to DIW Berlin's calculations for the years 2001 to 2012 on the basis of data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). Around 60 percent of these women and men are of working age. The proportion of people in employment among all informal carers below 65 years of age has risen from just under 53 to almost 66 percent. The increase was greater among full-time than part-time employees although those in full-time work combine caregiving and career significantly less frequently on average. The question arises how work and caregiving could be better reconciled because the need for (informal) care will continue to increase due to demographic change. The present report shows that informal carers are less satisfied in general and also with social security than those who do not provide informal care. However, the data give no indication that working at the same time amplifies this effect. Die Tochter und der Sohn, die neben der Arbeit ihre Eltern pflegen oder sich um ihre nicht mehr mobile Nachbarin kummern: Informelle Pflegetatigkeiten sind eine zentrale Stutze des deutschen Pflegesystems - insbesondere angesichts der alternden Bevolkerung und des damit einhergehenden steigenden Pflegebedarfs. Zwischen funf und sechs Prozent aller Erwachsenen leisten regelmasig informelle Pflege, wie das DIW Berlin auf Grundlage von Daten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) fur die Jahre 2001 bis 2012 berechnet hat. Rund 60 Prozent dieser Frauen und Manner sind im erwerbsfahigen Alter. Der Anteil der Erwerbstatigen an allen informell Pflegenden unter 65 Jahren ist von knapp 53 auf fast 66 Prozent gestiegen. Bei den Vollzeitbeschaftigten war der Anstieg starker als bei den Teilzeitbeschaftigten, wenngleich Vollzeitbeschaftigte im Durchschnitt wesentlich seltener Pflege und Beruf kombinieren. Es stellt sich die Frage, wie Erwerbs- und Pflegetatigkeit besser miteinander vereinbart werden konnen. Denn der Bedarf an (informeller) Pflege wird infolge des demografischen Wandels weiter steigen. Der vorliegende Bericht zeigt, dass informell Pflegende allgemein und mit der sozialen Sicherung weniger zufrieden sind als Personen, die keine Pflege leisten. Allerdings geben die Daten an dieser Stelle keinen Hinweis darauf, dass eine gleichzeitige Erwerbstatigkeit diesen Effekt verstarkt.
Staging and treatment of advanced esophageal cancer

Purpose of review To evaluate the recent developments in treatment of advanced esophageal cancer since January 2004. Recent findings Today's stage-adjusted treatment of advanced esophageal cancers requires a meticulous diagnostic work-up. The use of standard staging tools (endoscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, computed tomography) is increasingly supplemented with additional use of positron emission tomography with fluoro-desoxyglucose. Positron emission tomography with fluoro-desoxyglucose improves detection of systemic metastases, but assessment of locoregional lymph node metastases remains poor. Multimodal (especially neoadjuvant) strategies have gained far-reaching impact on advanced esophageal cancer treatment: A recent meta-analysis of randomized trials suggests a survival benefit at 3 years with preoperative radio-chemotherapy compared with surgery alone. Patients who respond to neoadjuvant treatment appear to benefit most from subsequent surgical resection. This makes response evaluation and prediction most desirable. Positron emission tomography with fluoro-desoxyglucose appears to provide reliable information on response as early as 14 days after initiation of treatment. Several studies have contributed to controversies regarding surgical technique (e.g. extent of lymphadenectomy, shape of gastric tube, location of anastomosis). Surgical complications have been directly correlated with long-term prognosis. In patients with systemic metastases, all therapeutic attempts remain palliative. In a multicenter trail, investigating the best palliation of dysphagia, brachytherapy was found superior over placement of self-expanding metal stents. Summary Positron emission tomography with fluoro-desoxyglucose is established as an additional staging tool and appears useful for response prediction during multimodal treatment. Brachytherapy should be considered as an alternative to stent placement for palliation of dysphagia.
Protamine: A Review of its Toxicity

The prospective human studies considered above reveal that in some patients protamine is associated with decreases in SBP and SVR, especially when administered rapidly. Cardiac output increases reflexly, except perhaps in patients with less compliant ventricles, which are more dependent on preload to maintain stroke volume. In the latter, decreases in filling volume associated with protamine can lower CO. Regardless of the rate of administration, protamine does not produce predictable, acute increases in PAP, although increases in PAP may occur during idiosyncratic reactions (see the section on idiosyncratic reactions below). Left atrial or aortic administration of protamine may not confer protection from its hemodynamic or idiosyncratic sequelae (see below). Little evidence exists to conclude that protamine directly depresses contractility of the human heart.
A Simple Switching Control Technique for Improving Light Load Efficiency in a Phase-Shifted Full-Bridge Converter with a Server Power System

In phase-shifted full-bridge (PSFB) converter, using discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) is one of the most effective ways to improve efficiency in the light load condition. DCM of the PSFB converter allows getting reduced the duty ratio and zero voltage switching (ZVS) in the light load condition. Because of its simplicity, commercial IC adapted DCM by turning-off synchronous rectifiers (SRs). However, turning-off SRs causes large conduction losses in body diodes of SRs, and ZVS condition or optimized dead time are not defined yet. This letter proposes to use “AND-gated” control signals for SRs to reduce conduction losses in body diodes. Also, the ZVS condition is presented to design dead time easily. The feasibility of the proposed technique has been verified with 90-265 Vac input, 400 V link voltage, and 12V/750 W output server computer power supply system.
Polarimetric SAR and oil spill observation

A study on the use of SAR fully polarimetric data for oil spill observation is accomplished. The study makes use of the parameters of the <;H/A/Alpha> Cloude-Pottier decomposition and the extended Bragg scattering model. Experiments are accomplished over SIR-C/X-SAR C-band data.
New Block Triangular Preconditioners for Saddle Point Linear Systems with Highly Singular (1,1) Blocks

We establish two types of block triangular preconditioners applied to the linear saddle point problems with the singular (1,1) block. These preconditioners are based on the results presented in the paper of Rees and Greif (2007). We study the spectral characteristics of the preconditioners and show that all eigenvalues of the preconditioned matrices are strongly clustered. The choice of the parameter is involved. Furthermore, we give the optimal parameter in practical. Finally, numerical experiments are also reported for illustrating the efficiency of the presented preconditioners.
Similar striatal D2/D3 dopamine receptor availability in adults with Tourette syndrome compared with healthy controls: A [11C]‐(+)‐PHNO and [11C]raclopride positron emission tomography imaging study

Pharmacological and anatomical evidence implicates striatal dopamine receptors in Tourette syndrome (TS). Nevertheless, results of positron emission tomography (PET) studies of the dopamine system in TS have been inconsistent. We investigated striatal D2/3 dopamine receptors in TS using the radioligands [11C]raclopride and [11C]‐(+)‐PHNO, an agonist that binds preferentially to D3 receptors, thus allowing higher sensitivity and measurement of receptors in a high affinity state. Eleven adults with TS and 11 matched healthy control (HC) participants underwent [11C]raclopride and [11C]‐(+)‐PHNO PET scans. General linear model was used for voxelwise contrasts of striatal binding potentials (BPND) between TS and HC participants. Analysis of variance was performed to investigate main effect of radioligand. In addition, BPND values were extracted for ventral, motor, and associative striatum. Finally, we examined the relationship between BPND measures and symptom severity in TS participants. Main effects analyses showed that [11C]‐(+)‐PHNO BPND was higher in ventral striatum, whereas [11C]raclopride BPND was higher in motor and associative striatum. There were no significant group differences between TS and HC. Furthermore, TS and HC participants had similar [11C]‐(+)‐PHNO and [11C]raclopride BPND in the three striatal subregions. Moreover, there was no significant correlation between BPND and symptom severity. TS and HC participants had similar striatal D2/3 receptor availability measures. These results challenge the assumption that striatal dopamine receptors have a major role in the pathophysiology of TS. Consistent with previous findings, [11C]‐(+)‐PHNO localized preferentially to ventral striatal, D3 receptor‐rich regions, in contrast to [11C]raclopride, which localized preferentially in the dorsal striatum. Hum Brain Mapp 36:2592–2601, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Adaptive Hybrid Transmission Mechanism for On-Demand Mobile IPTV Over WiMAX

In this paper, we propose an Adaptive Hybrid Transmission (AHT) scheme for on-demand mobile IPTV service over broadband wireless access network (i.e. mobile WiMAX, 802.16e). Proposed algorithm utilizes hybrid mechanism which combines multi-channel multicasting and unicast scheme to enhance not only service blocking probability but also reduce overall bandwidth consumption of the wireless system which has very limited resources compared to wired networks. An adaptive resource allocation algorithm is also proposed, and is shown to achieve minimum blocking probability. In order to evaluate the performance, we compare proposed algorithm against traditional unicast and multicast schemes.
Recommender systems challenge 2012

The Recommender System Challenge 2012 invited participants to work on two tracks with real-world datasets and to submit their contributions that would be related to specific problem contexts. First of all, it asked participants to develop new algorithms and to compare them to other algorithms in given settings; in addition, it asked participants to explore with new recommendation methods, services, as well as added-value services related to recommendation.
SBAS/INS Hybridization Simulation and Performance Analysis

An inertial navigation system/satellite based augmentation system (INS/SBAS) hybridization model has been built to analyze the performance of the system, using Kalman filter to estimate the system errors and calibrate the INS errors. Comparison was made between the original INS position data obtained from a flight test and the hybridized position data. Figures obtained from hybridization simulation have been plotted, with the explanation and conclusion got from the simulation.
Chandra Observations of Low Velocity Dispersion Groups

Deviations of galaxy groups from cluster scaling relations can be understood in terms of an excess of entropy in groups. The main effect of this excess is to reduce the density and thus the luminosity of the intragroup gas. Given this, groups should also show a steep relationship between X-ray luminosity and velocity dispersion. However, previous work suggests that this is not the case, with many measuring slopes flatter than the cluster relation. Examining the group LX-σ relation shows that much of the flattening is caused by a small subset of groups that show very high X-ray luminosities for their velocity dispersions (or vice versa). Detailed Chandra study of two such groups shows that earlier ROSAT results were subject to significant (~30%-40%) point-source contamination but confirm that a significant hot intergalactic medium is present in these groups, although these are two of the coolest systems in which intergalactic X-ray emission has been detected. Their X-ray properties are shown to be broadly consistent with those of other galaxy groups, although the gas entropy in NGC 1587 is unusually low, and its X-ray luminosity is correspondingly high for its temperature when compared with most groups. This leads us to suggest that the velocity dispersion in these systems has been reduced in some way, and we consider how this might have come about.
Long-term treatment for venous thromboembolism

Anticoagulation is the corner stone of therapy for venous thromboembolism. The optimal duration of this therapy depends on the balance between the risk of recurrent thrombosis if anticoagulants are stopped, and the risk of bleeding if patients remain on treatment. The risk of recurrence is low if thrombosis was precipitated by a major reversible risk factor such as surgery. Patients with idiopathic thrombosis (no apparent risk factor) and those with persistent risk factors (eg, cancer), have a high risk of recurrence. Some hereditary (eg, protein C, protein S or antithrombin deficiency; homozygous factor V Leiden) and acquired (eg, antiphospholipid antibodies) thrombophilic states are also risk factors for recurrence. Three months of anticoagulation is recommended when the risk of recurrence is low, whereas the duration of therapy should be extended to 6 months or longer when this risk is high, depending on the balance between the risk of reccurence and the risk of bleeding in each individual patient. Heparin preparations, at doses intermediate to those used for the acute treatment of venous thromboembolism and for primary prophylaxis, are an alternative to oral anticoagulants during the maintenance phase of treatment.
The TRANSFAC project as an example of framework technology that supports the analysis of genomic regulation

Since its beginning as a data collection more than 20 years ago, the TRANSFAC project underwent an evolution to become the basis for a complex platform for the description and analysis of gene regulatory events and networks. In the following, I describe what the original concepts were, what their present status is and how they may be expected to contribute to future system biology approaches.
Adaptive Distributed Power Control in Ad Hoc Networks with Different Controlling Node Connectivity Criteria

This paper introduces a distributed power control scheme for ad hoc networks (a network where there is no fixed infrastructure). The transmission power of a mobile terminal is controlled in an attempt to maintain a target signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at one or more other nodes. The lack of any centralised controller implies a distributed scheme needs to be implemented, with all the power control decisions done locally at each node. Various methods of determining controlling node connectivity are presented, and several power adjustment schemes are simulated.
Object detection and tracking in RGB-D SLAM via hierarchical feature grouping

We present an object detection and tracking framework integrated into a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) system using an RGB-D camera. We propose a compact representation of objects by grouping features hierarchically. Similar to a keyframe being a collection of features, an object is represented as a set of segments, where a segment is a subset of features in a frame. Just like keyframes, segments are registered with each other in a map, which we call an object map. We use the same SLAM procedure in both offline object scanning and online object detection modes. In the offline scanning mode, we scan an object using an RGB-D camera to generate an object map. In the online detection mode, a set of object maps for different objects is given, and the objects are detected via appearance-based matching between the segments in the current frame and in the object maps. In the case of a match, the object is localized with respect to the map being reconstructed by the SLAM system by a RANSAC registration. In the subsequent frames, the tracking is done by predicting the poses of the objects. We also incorporate constraints obtained from the objects into bundle adjustment to improve the object pose estimation accuracy as well as the SLAM reconstruction accuracy. We demonstrate our technique in an object picking scenario using a robot arm. Experimental results show that the system is able to detect and pick up objects successfully from different viewpoints and distances.
A user-friendly SSVEP-based brain–computer interface using a time-domain classifier

We introduce a user-friendly steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain–computer interface (BCI) system. Single-channel EEG is recorded using a low-noise dry electrode. Compared to traditional gel-based multi-sensor EEG systems, a dry sensor proves to be more convenient, comfortable and cost effective. A hardware system was built that displays four LED light panels flashing at different frequencies and synchronizes with EEG acquisition. The visual stimuli have been carefully designed such that potential risk to photosensitive people is minimized. We describe a novel stimulus-locked inter-trace correlation (SLIC) method for SSVEP classification using EEG time-locked to stimulus onsets. We studied how the performance of the algorithm is affected by different selection of parameters. Using the SLIC method, the average light detection rate is 75.8% with very low error rates (an 8.4% false positive rate and a 1.3% misclassification rate). Compared to a traditional frequency-domain-based method, the SLIC method is more robust (resulting in less annoyance to the users) and is also suitable for irregular stimulus patterns.
Recent trends in child restraint practices in the United States.

OBJECTIVE To assess the success of recent outreach activities to promote appropriate child restraint in motor vehicles by examining trends in restraint types used by children under age 9 in 3 large regions of the United States. METHODS Cross-sectional study was conducted of children who were under age 9 and in crashes of insured vehicles in 15 states, with data collected via insurance claims records and a telephone survey. A probability sample of 8730 crashes involving 10,195 children, representing 128 291 crashes involving 149,820 children, was collected between December 1, 1998, and November 30, 2002. Parent report was used to determine restraint type used in the crash. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the secular trend of restraint type use. RESULTS Overall, for children under age 9, seat belt use decreased significantly from 49% to 36% between 1998 and 2002; for 7- and 8-year-olds, from 97% to 92%; and for 3- to 6-year-olds, from 63% to 34%. Concurrently, gains were achieved in overall child restraint use from 49% to 63%, for 7- and 8-year-olds, from 2% to 5%; and for 3- to 6-year-olds, from 35% to 65%. Child restraint use remains stable for children from birth to 2 years of age (from 97% in 1998 to 98% in 2002). Both the use of child safety seat and belt positioning booster seat increased significantly, whereas shield booster seat use decreased significantly. CONCLUSION Although considerable achievements have been realized over a short period of time, substantial inappropriate restraint still remains: 62% of children aged 4 to 8 remain inappropriately restrained in adult seat belts. Parents hear safety messages when they are relevant to their children. As a result, sustained efforts about appropriate restraint must continue to maintain and improve the gains achieved in appropriate child restraint use. The additional benefits realized by recent changes in child restraint laws remain to be evaluated.
Volitional Change in Children With Autism: A Single-Case Design Study of the Impact of Hippotherapy on Motivation

Autism is a prevalent developmental disorder that affects numerous aspects of a child's daily functioning, including but not limited to communication, social interaction, cognitive functioning, motor functioning, and sensation. The many impairments that characterize autism also have the potential to affect a child's volition, defined by the Model of Human Occupation as a child's interests, self-efficacy, and motivation to engage in new activities. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of a 16-week hippotherapy program on the volition of three children with autism. Using the Pediatric Volitional Questionnaire, two occupational therapists rated the three participants’ volition at three timepoints—before, during, and after the hippotherapy program. Visual analysis of the data using methods derived from single-subject design research revealed an increase in participants' volition over time. The study provides preliminary evidence that improved volition may be an important and under-recognized benefit of hippotherapy for children with autism.
A Recombinant Human Parainfluenza Virus Type 3 (PIV3) in Which the Nucleocapsid N Protein Has Been Replaced by That of Bovine PIV3 Is Attenuated in Primates

ABSTRACT The shipping fever (SF) and Kansas (Ka) strains of bovine parainfluenza virus type 3 (BPIV3) are restricted in their replication in rhesus monkeys 100- to 1,000-fold compared to human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV3), and the Ka strain also was shown to be attenuated in humans. To initiate an investigation of the genetic basis of the attenuation of BPIV3 in primates, we produced viable chimeric HPIV3 recombinants containing the nucleoprotein (N) open reading frame (ORF) from either BPIV3 Ka or SF in place of the HPIV3 N ORF. These chimeric recombinants were designated cKa-N and cSF-N, respectively. Remarkably, cKa-N and cSF-N grew to titers comparable to those of their HPIV3 and BPIV3 parents in LLC-MK2 monkey kidney and Madin-Darby bovine kidney cells. Thus, the heterologous nature of the N protein did not impede replication in vitro. However, cKa-N and cSF-N were each restricted in replication in rhesus monkeys to a similar extent as Ka and SF, respectively. This identified the BPIV3 N protein as a determinant of the host range restriction of BPIV3 in primates. These chimeras thus combine the antigenic determinants of HPIV3 with the host range restriction and attenuation phenotype of BPIV3. Despite their restricted replication in rhesus monkeys, the chimeric viruses induced a level of resistance to HPIV3 challenge in these animals which was indistinguishable from that conferred by immunization with HPIV3. The infectivity, attenuation, and immunogenicity of these BPIV3/HPIV3 chimeras suggest that the modified Jennerian approach described in the present report represents a novel method to design vaccines to protect against HPIV3-induced disease in humans.