Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Further analysis on blocking time bounds for partitioned fixed priority multiprocessor scheduling

Partitioned fixed priority scheduling is one of the most comprehensively chosen predictable scheduling in practice. The FMLP+ developed in recent years is a better protocol, which ensures asymptotically optimal O(n) maximum priority-inversion blocking. The constraints under several protocols besides the FMLP+ can be exploited to gain the bound on maximum blocking time. However, the blocking time bounds may be pessimistic under the FMLP+ on the ground that shared resources local to a processor do not incur priority-inversion blocking in some cases. It is possible that a schedulable task set is judged as unschedulable because of the pessimistic values. Based on our analysis, a few constraints was added to compute the maximum blocking time of each task, and then its worst-case response time. The results of our experiments show less pessimism than the existing ones. Meanwhile, we also demonstrate the usefulness of the conclusion that global resource sharing should be transformed into local one where possible.
Thailand -- Tourism and Conflict: Modeling Sentiment from Twitter Tweets Using Naïve Bayes and Unsupervised Artificial Neural Nets

In this paper we mine over 80 million twitter micro logs in order to explore whether data from this social media initiative can be used to identify sentiment about tourism and Thailand amid the unrest in that country during the early part of 2010 and further whether analysis of tweets can be used to discern the effect of that unrest on Phuket's tourism environment. It is proposed that this analysis can provide measurable insights through summarization, keyword analysis and clustering. We measure sentiment using a binary choice keyword algorithm. A multi-knowledge based approach is proposed using, Self-Organizing Maps along with sentiment polarity in order to model sentiment. We develop a visual model to express a sentiment concept vocabulary and then apply this model to maximums and minimums in the time series sentiment data. The results show actionable knowledge can be extracted in real time.
Interlocutions with passive revolution

This article critically engages with debates on uneven and combined development and particularly the lack of attention given in this literature to accounts of spatial diversity in capitalism’s outward expansion as well as issues of Eurocentrism. Through interlocutions with Antonio Gramsci on his theorising of state formation and capitalist modernity and the notion of passive revolution, we draw out the internal relationship between the structuring condition of uneven and combined development and the class agency of passive revolution. Interlocuting with passive revolution places Antonio Gramsci firmly within a stream of classic social theory shaping considerations of capitalist modernity. As a result, by building on cognate theorising elsewhere, passive revolution can then be established as a lateral field of causality that necessarily grasps spatio-temporal dynamics linked to both state and subaltern class practices of transformation in social property relations, situated within the structuring conditions of uneven and combined development.
Reduction of Power Dissipation during Scan Testing by Test Vector Ordering

Test vector ordering is recognized as a simple and non-intrusive approach to assist test power reduction. Simulation based test vector ordering approach to minimize circuit transitions requires exhaustive simulation of each test vector pair. However, long simulation time makes this approach impractical for circuits with large test set. In this paper we present a calculation based approach to faster order test vectors to reduce test power for full scan sequential circuits. Most calculation approaches are for combinational circuits or for sequential circuits but only considering the portion of circuit derived from the primary inputs. The proposed approach exploits the dependencies between internal circuits and transitions at both the primary and state inputs. Experiments performed on the ISCAS 89 benchmark circuits show that the improvement efficiency of the proposed approach can achieve 91.55% and has better performance than the existing calculation based approaches.
Factors Associated with Leishmania Asymptomatic Infection: Results from a Cross-Sectional Survey in Highland Northern Ethiopia

Background In northern Ethiopia the prevalence of visceral leishmaniasis is steadily rising posing an increasing public health concern. In order to develop effective control strategies on the transmission of the disease it is important to generate knowledge on the epidemiological determinants of the infection. Methodology/Principal Findings We conducted a cross-sectional survey on children 4–15 years of age using a multi staged stratified cluster sampling on high incidence sub-districts of Amhara regional state, Ethiopia. The survey included a socio-demographic, health and dietary questionnaire, and anthropometric measurements. We performed rK39-ICT and DAT serological tests in order to detect anti-Leishmania antibodies and carried out Leishmanin Skin Test (LST) using L.major antigen. Logistic regression models were used. Of the 565 children surveyed 56 children were positive to infection (9.9%). The individual variables that showed a positive association with infection were increasing age, being male and sleeping outside [adjusted odds ratios (95% CI): 1.15 (1.03, 1.29), 2.56 (1.19, 5.48) and 2.21 (1.03, 4.71) respectively] and in relation to the household: past history of VL in the family, living in a straw roofed house and if the family owned sheep [adjusted OR (95% CI): 2.92 (1.25, 6.81), 2.71 (1.21, 6.07) and 4.16 (1.41, 12.31) respectively]. Conclusions/Significance A behavioural pattern like sleeping outside is determinant in the transmission of the infection in this area. Protective measures should be implemented against this identified risk activity. Results also suggest a geographical clustering and a household focalization of the infection. The behaviour of the vector in the area needs to be clarified in order to establish the role of domestic animals and house materials in the transmission of the infection.
Hearing Words, Learning Words: How Different Presentations of Novel Vocabulary Words Affect Children’s Incidental Learning

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Children learn most of their vocabulary incidentally, by hearing words used in their environment. This study explored which kinds of presentations of words, without any direct instruction, yielded greater depth of target word knowledge. Changes in 56 kindergartners’ depth of knowledge for each of 23 novel target words (N = 1,288) based on presentation in 1 of 3 conditions (read-aloud, teacher conversation, or both read-aloud and conversation) were explored and compared to control words that were never presented. A 2-level, cross-classification analysis modeled the postintervention score for each word for each child. Children’s word meaning knowledge improved most when words were presented via combined conversations and read-alouds. Vocabulary gains for words presented via conversations differed across classrooms. Practice or Policy: Both teacher conversations and read-aloud presentations of target vocabulary should be used together. Professional development for teachers’ effective vocabulary conversations may be needed.
Nitric oxide: an unconventional messenger in the nervous system of an orthopteroid insect.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a membrane-permeant messenger molecule generated from the amino acid L-arginine. NO can activate soluble guanylyl cyclase leading to the formation of cyclic GMP (cGMP) in target cells. In the nervous system, NO/cGMP signalling is thought to play essential roles in synaptic plasticity during development and also in the mature animal. This paper examines biochemical, cell biological, and physiological investigations of NO/cGMP signalling in the nervous system of the locust, a commonly used neurobiological preparation. Biochemical investigations suggest that an identical enzyme is responsible for both NO synthase (NOS) and NADPH-diaphorase activity after tissue fixation. Immunocytochemical staining of an olfactory center in the locust brain shows that NOS-immunoreactivity colocalizes with NADPH-diaphorase at the cellular level. The cytochemical staining of NO donor and target cells in adult animals suggests functions in olfaction, vision, and sensorimotor integration. During development, NO is implicated in axonal outgrowth and synaptogenesis. The cellular distribution of NO-responsive cells in neural circuits reflects potential functions of NO as a retrograde synaptic messenger, as an intracellular messenger, and as a lateral diffusible messenger independent of conventional synaptic connectivity.
High performance CDR processing with MapReduce

A Call Detail Record (CDR) is a data record produced by telecommunication equipment consisting of detail of call transaction logs. It contains valuable information for many purposes of several domains such as billing, fraud detection and analytical purposes. However, in the real world, these needs face a big data challenge. Billions CDRs are generated every day and the processing systems are expected to deliver results in a timely manner. In our case, the system also has constraint that is running in limited computation resources. We found that our current production system was not enough to meet these needs. We had successfully analyzed the current system bottleneck and found the root cause. Based on this analysis, we designed and implemented a better performance system which is based on MapReduce and running on Hadoop cluster. This paper presents the analysis of previous system and the design and implementation of new system, called MS2. In this paper, we also provide empirical evidence demonstrating the efficiency and linearity of MS2. In a test case of telecommunication mediation system, our test has shown that MS2 reduces overhead by 44% and speedup performance by nearly twice compared to previous system. From benchmarking with several related technologies in large scale data processing, MS2 is also shown to perform better in case of CDR batch processing. Running on a cluster consists of eight core CPU and two conventional disks, MS2 is able to process 67,000 CDRs/second.
Braking and performance characteristics of experienced and inexperienced mountain bikers navigating an isolated off-road turn using a brake power meter

ABSTRACT Using a brake power meter, experienced and inexperienced mountain bikers were tested on an isolated, controlled off-road cycling descent with a turn to determine how riding experience affects the pattern of braking behaviour. Overall braking measurements such as absolute and relative brake work and brake power, as well as brake time, were significantly related to performance time on the track used in this study. Inexperienced mountain bikers displayed greater absolute and relative brake work and brake time, but had lower absolute and relative brake power when compared with experienced mountain bikers, which resulted in a significant performance decrement for inexperienced riders. Experienced mountain bikers concentrated braking efforts to later in the track, which meant that they spent less time at lower speeds. Inexperienced riders displayed a greater reliance on the rear brake, which likely contributed to their overall increased braking variables. The results of this study highlight that differences in braking magnitude and behaviour are attributable to reduced performance on an isolated off-road track with a corner. Inexperienced mountain bike riders may be able to improve their performance by learning braking patterns similar to those of experienced mountain bikers.
Restrictions of nondegenerate Boolean functions and degree lower bounds over different rings

A Boolean function f : {0, 1}<sup>n</sup> → {0, 1} is called nondegenerate if f depends on all its n variables. We show that, for any nondegenerate function f, there exists a variable x<sub>i</sub> such that at least one of the restrictions f<sub>Ix</sub><sub>i</sub><sub>=0</sub> or f<sub>Ix</sub><sub>i</sub><sub>=1</sub> must depend on all the remaining n - 1 variables. We also consider lower bounds on the degrees of polynomials representing a Boolean function over different rings. Let d<sub>q</sub>(f) be the degree of the (unique) polynomial over the ring ℤ<sub>q</sub> exactly representing f. For distinct primes p<sub>i</sub> let m = Π<sup>r</sup><sub>i=1</sub> p<sup>ei</sup><sub>i</sub>. Then, we show that any nondegenerate symmetric Boolean function f must have m · d<sub>p</sub><sub>1</sub>e<sub>1</sub>(f). d<sub>pr</sub>e<sub>r</sub>(f) > n. We use the existence of nondegenerate subfunctions to prove degree lower bounds on random functions. Specifically, we show that m · d<sub>p</sub><sub>1</sub>e<sub>1</sub>(f). d<sub>p</sub><sub>r</sub>e<sub>r</sub>(f) > lg n - 1 holds for almost all f when f is chosen uniformly at random from all n-variate Boolean functions. Our proof uses the second moment method to show that a random f must almost always contain a nondegenerate symmetric subfunction on at least lg n - 1 variables. It follows that an n-variate nondegenerate symmetric Boolean function can have degree o(√(n)) over at most one finite field and that almost all f can have degree o(√(lg n)) over at most one finite field.
Directing And Re-Directing Inference Pursuit: Extra-Textual Influences on Text Interpretation

Understanding a text depends on s reader's ability to construct a coherent interpretation that accounts for the statements in the text. However, a given text does not always imply a unique coherent interpretation. In particular, readers can be steered away from an otherwise plausible explanation for a story by such extra-textual factors as the source of the text, the reading purpose, interruptions during reading, or repeated re-questioning of the reader. Some of these effects have been observed in experiments in cognitive psychology (e.g., Black [1980]). This paper presents a computer program called MACARTHUR that can vary both the depth and direction of its inference pursuit in response to re-questioning, resulting in a series of markedly different interpretations of the same text.
Connections Between Connexins, Calcium, and Cataracts in the Lens

There is a good deal of evidence that the lens generates an internal micro circulatory system, which brings metabolites, like glucose, and antioxidants, like ascorbate, into the lens along the extracellular spaces between cells. Calcium also ought to be carried into the lens by this system. If so, the only path for Ca2+ to get out of the lens is to move down its electrochemical gradient into fiber cells, and then move by electrodiffusion from cell to cell through gap junctions to surface cells, where Ca-ATPase activity and Na/Ca exchange can transport it back into the aqueous or vitreous humors. The purpose of the present study was to test this calcium circulation hypothesis by studying calcium homeostasis in connexin (Cx46) knockout and (Cx46 for Cx50) knockin mouse lenses, which have different degrees of gap junction coupling. To measure intracellular calcium, FURA2 was injected into fiber cells, and the gradient in calcium concentration from center to surface was mapped in each type of lens. In wild-type lenses the coupling conductance of the mature fibers was ∼0.5 S/cm2 of cell to cell contact, and the best fit to the calcium concentration data varied from 700 nM in the center to 300 nM at the surface. In the knockin lenses, the coupling conductance was ∼1.0 S/cm2 and calcium varied from ∼500 nM at the center to 300 nM at the surface. Thus, when the coupling conductance doubled, the concentration gradient halved, as predicted by the model. In knockout lenses, the coupling conductance was zero, hence the efflux path was knocked out and calcium accumulated to ∼2 μM in central fibers. Knockout lenses also had a dense central cataract that extended from the center to about half the radius. Others have previously shown that this cataract involves activation of a calcium-dependent protease, Lp82. We can now expand on this finding to provide a hypothesis on each step that leads to cataract formation: knockout of Cx46 causes loss of coupling of mature fiber cells; the efflux path for calcium is therefore blocked; calcium accumulates in the central cells; at concentrations above ∼1 μM (from the center to about half way out of a 3-wk-old lens) Lp82 is activated; Lp82 cleaves cytoplasmic proteins (crystallins) in central cells; and the cleaved proteins aggregate and scatter light.
Structural characterization of the virulence factor Sda1 nuclease from Streptococcus pyogenes

Infection by Group A Streptococcus pyogenes (GAS) is a leading cause of severe invasive disease in humans, including streptococcal toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing fasciitis. GAS infections lead to nearly 163,000 annual deaths worldwide. Hypervirulent strains of S. pyogenes have evolved a plethora of virulence factors that aid in disease—by promoting bacterial adhesion to host cells, subsequent invasion of deeper tissues and blocking the immune system's attempts to eradicate the infection. Expression and secretion of the extracellular nuclease Sda1 is advantageous for promoting bacterial dissemination throughout the host organism, and evasion of the host's innate immune response. Here we present two crystal structures of Sda1, as well as biochemical studies to address key structural features and surface residues involved in DNA binding and catalysis. In the active site, Asn211 is observed to directly chelate a hydrated divalent metal ion and Arg124, on the putative substrate binding loop, likely stabilizes the transition state during phosphodiester bond cleavage. These structures provide a foundation for rational drug design of small molecule inhibitors to be used in prevention of invasive streptococcal disease.
Haptic-emoticon: Haptic content creation and sharing system to enhancing text-based communication

In this paper, we introduce Haptic-Emoticon, which is used in a text message. It expresses a writer's emotion and/or decorates the message with physical stimulus on a reader's skin. We employ stroking motions for that purpose. The motions are represented as a 2D trajectory so that a writer can create the Haptic-Emoticon with a conventional pointing input device. The input line is recorded as an image data in an existing image format. The Haptic-Emoticon can be shared on Twitter network because it is an image file. By employing Twitter, a worldwide SNS network, as an infrastructure for sharing the Haptic-Emoticon, we expect that users (writers and readers) evaluate their creative works each other. Moreover, by combing it with a Twitter text message, the Haptic-Emoticon could be a context aware haptic content to enrich text-based communication.
Analysis of the bullwhip effect based on different information sharing models

The bullwhip effect brings higher inventory cost and customer service level reduction, which is an amplification of the demand variability because of information distortion in the transmission process. In this paper, for reducing the effect, we analyze comparatively how three information sharing models affect the bullwhip effect, such as order information, demand information, inventory information. And, we also analyze related parameters and present some measures to reduce bullwhip effect.
Implementation and Performance Evaluation of Speaker Adaptive Continuous Hindi ASR using Tri-phone based Acoustic Modelling

Speech interface to computer is the next big step that computer science needs to take for the general users. Speaking in our native language is a natural and effortless task which carried out with great speed and ease. Speech recognition will play an important role in taking technology to common man. The need is not only for speech interface but speech interface in local language like Hindi. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of Hindi Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) by using two most popular feature extraction techniques namely Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) and Perceptual Linear Prediction (PLP) at frontend of ASR. The Hidden Markov Model (HMM) was used at backend of an ASR for Hindi language. The proposed system has been implemented for the continuous Hindi speech using tri-phone based acoustic modelling. For speaker adaptation Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression (MLLR) technique has been implemented in this paper. All experiments were done by using HTK 3.4. 1 (Hidden Markov Toolkit) on Linux environment (Ubuntu 12.05).
Dominant-Negative Suppression of HCN1- and HCN2-Encoded Pacemaker Currents by an Engineered HCN1 Construct: Insights Into Structure-Function Relationships and Multimerization

If, a diastolic depolarizing current activated by hyperpolarization, is a key player in cardiac pacing. Despite the fact that If has been known for over 20 years, the encoding genes, namely HCN1 to 4, have only recently been identified. Functional data imply that different HCN isoforms may coassemble to form heteromeric channel complexes, but little direct evidence is available. Subunit stoichiometry is also unknown. Although the pore region of HCN channels contains the glycine-t yrosine-glycine (GYG) signature motif found in K+-selective channels, they permeate both Na+ and K+. In the present study, we probed the functional importance of the GYG selectivity motif in pacemaker channels by replacing this triplet in HCN1 with alanines (GYG349–351AAA or HCN1-AAA). HCN1-AAA did not yield functional currents; coexpression of HCN1-AAA with wild-type (WT) HCN1 suppressed normal channel activity in a dominant-negative manner (55.2±3.2%, 68.3±4.3%, 78.7±1.6%, 91.7±0.8%, and 97.9±0.2% current reduction at −140 mV for WT:AAA cRNA ratios of 4:1, 3:1, 2:1, 1:1, and 1:2, respectively) without affecting gating (steady-state activation, activation and deactivation kinetics) or permeation (reversal potential) properties. HCN1-AAA coexpression, however, did not alter the expressed current amplitudes of Kv1.4 and Kv2.1 channels, indicating that its suppressive effect was channel-specific. Statistical analysis reveals that a single HCN channel is composed of 4 monomeric subunits. Interestingly, HCN1-AAA also inhibited HCN2 in a dominant-negative manner with the same efficacy. We conclude that the GYG motif is a critical determinant of ion permeation for HCN channels, and that HCN1 and HCN2 readily coassemble to form heterotetrameric complexes.
Special Interest Group Cognitive Radio in 5 G White Paper Novel Spectrum Usage Paradigms for 5

Historically, mm-wave (mmW) communications have been used for point-to-point (P-P) terrestrial and satellite links, and more recently for indoor short-distance communications. New network architectures consisting of interwoven networks will be needed to meet the requirements of 5G, particularly an ever increasing demand for high data rates. It is believed that mmW communications will contribute to 5G thanks to large contiguous and available frequency bands. But just where, how and how much? This chapter discusses the state-of-the-art of mmW communications in terms of spectrum availability, standardization advancements and shortcomings. Some application scenarios are detailed. The use of mmW communications introduces challenges at the physical, medium access and link layers, as well as on the network management level. At last, licensing regimes will call for new sharing rules, particularly in the context of an evolving business ecosystem.