Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Method for Modeling Complex Network Topology of Software Systems

Many large-scale software systems have unprecedented complexity. The basic problem lies in how to construct a complex network topology models that can reflect the complexity of software systems. Based on studying the theory development and application status of complex networks, the complex network topology rules based on component of software system are proposed, the formalized definition of software complex network model is proposed and the application value of software complex network model is prospected. These provide a positive theoretical inspiration and reference value for applying the complex network achievements to the next generation software engineering.
An Adaptive Sigma Point Kalman Filter Hybridized by Support Vector Machine Algorithm for Battery SoC and SoH Estimation

This paper considers the issue of Li-Ion batteries State of Health (SoH) and State of Charge (SoC) accurate and robust estimation for electric vehicle applications. SoC and SoH are two monitoring indicators of primary importance that are used by the Battery Management System (BMS), amongst other benefits, to manage and equalize the battery cells. Improving the estimation precision and reliability of the SoC and the SoH indicators is highly beneficial during operation and maintenance of the vehicle. We propose in this paper a new scheme of SoC and SoH estimation using an hybridization of Kalman filtering, Recursive Least Squares approach and Support Vector Machines learning. The battery SoC and SoH indicators are estimated using an adaptive-Sigma Point Kalman Filter. The battery cell impedance equivalent filter is obtained in real-time by a Recursive Least Square. Furthermore, the cell capacity evolution tracking is achieved by using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) method. Finally, the battery cell capacity and impedance equivalent filter are provided to the SoC estimator in order to update its state and observation models. This architecture yields to a complete SoC and SoH algorithmic solution exhibiting a high level of accuracy and robustness. The SVM method which requires the highest computational load in the architecture is designed to be used only for estimating the variable with the lowest evolution dynamics.
Unsupervised Discovery of Structured Acoustic Tokens With Applications to Spoken Term Detection

In this paper, we compare two paradigms for unsupervised discovery of structured acoustic tokens directly from speech corpora without any human annotation. The multigranular paradigm seeks to capture all available information in the corpora with multiple sets of tokens for different model granularities. The hierarchical paradigm attempts to jointly learn several levels of signal representations in a hierarchical structure. The two paradigms are unified within a theoretical framework in this paper. Query-by-example spoken term detection (QbE-STD) experiments on the query by example search on speech task dataset of MediaEval 2015 verifies the competitiveness of the acoustic tokens. The enhanced relevance score proposed in this work improves both paradigms for the task of QbE-STD. We also list results on the ABX evaluation task of the Zero Resource Challenge 2015 for comparison of the paradigms.
Sparse representation for colors of 3D point cloud via virtual adaptive sampling

Sparse signal representation has proven to be an extremely powerful tool in a wide range of engineering applications. However, most of the existing techniques are designed for regular data (such as audio signals and images/videos) that uniformly lies in regular Euclidian spaces. This paper aims at extending sparse representation for irregular data (such as colors of 3D point clouds) that is defined on irregular domains embedded in Euclidean spaces. Dealing with the irregular structure of such data via a virtual adaptive sampling process, we formulate sparse representation as an ℓ0-norm regularized optimization problem. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithm to a large extent: with the same number of nonzero coefficients, we improve the reconstruction quality up to 5 dB; conversely, fixing the reconstruction quality, our method uses only 55% coefficients. Using compressive sensing theory, we provide an intuitive explanation on how and why our algorithm works well in practice.
Determinants of Cell- and Gene-Specific Transcriptional Regulation by the Glucocorticoid Receptor

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) associates with glucocorticoid response elements (GREs) and regulates selective gene transcription in a cell-specific manner. Native GREs are typically thought to be composite elements that recruit GR as well as other regulatory factors into functional complexes. We assessed whether GR occupancy is commonly a limiting determinant of GRE function as well as the extent to which core GR binding sequences and GRE architecture are conserved at functional loci. We surveyed 100-kb regions surrounding each of 548 known or potentially glucocorticoid-responsive genes in A549 human lung cells for GR-occupied GREs. We found that GR was bound in A549 cells predominately near genes responsive to glucocorticoids in those cells and not at genes regulated by GR in other cells. The GREs were positionally conserved at each responsive gene but across the set of responsive genes were distributed equally upstream and downstream of the transcription start sites, with 63% of them >10 kb from those sites. Strikingly, although the core GR binding sequences across the set of GREs varied extensively around a consensus, the precise sequence at an individual GRE was conserved across four mammalian species. Similarly, sequences flanking the core GR binding sites also varied among GREs but were conserved at individual GREs. We conclude that GR occupancy is a primary determinant of glucocorticoid responsiveness in A549 cells and that core GR binding sequences as well as GRE architecture likely harbor gene-specific regulatory information.
3D ReRAM with Field Assisted Super-Linear Threshold (FASTTM) Selector technology for super-dense, low power, low latency data storage systems

3D Resistive Ram (ReRAM) technology exhibits the best attributes to suit present and emerging non-volatile memory storage applications. However, the major challenge to make ReRAM work in a 3D crossbar array is the integration of a selector device with a ReRAM device. The selector device will need to solve the so called “sneak path” barrier and enable large density memory arrays with low power consumption. Here, we report a Field Assisted Superlinear Threshold (FASTTM) Selector technology that overcomes the sneak path barrier with a selectivity ratio of 10E10. The switching and recover speed, on/off ratio, switching slope, program, erase, and read endurance, and variability of the FASTTM selector will be discussed. Prototype 1S1R devices with the FASTTM selector integrated with a low current ReRAM cell have been demonstrated and characterized. Figure 1 shows the representative I-V characteristics of a ReRAM cell with integrated FASTTM selector.
Evaluation of Understandability of UML Class Diagrams by Using Word Similarity

UML class diagrams representing the static structure of the relations between different concepts existing in a problem are widely used in model-based software development. However, no effective measures of a class diagram's understandability yet exist. We have devised quantitative measures of a class diagram's understandability and evaluated their validity. We obtained strong correlations between the domain experts' subjective evaluations of the understandability of a class diagram and the measurements of our methods. These results indicate that our measures can effectively quantify the understandability of class diagrams.
Compact Representation and Panoramic Representation for Capsule Endoscope Images

A capsule endoscope robot is a miniature medical instrument for inspection of gastrointestinal tract. In this paper, we present image compact representation and preliminary panoramic representation methods for the capsule endoscope. First, the characteristics of the capsule endoscopic images are investigated and different coordinate representations of the circular image are discussed. Secondly, effective compact representation methods including special DPCM and wavelet compression techniques are applied to the endoscopic images to get high compression ratio and signal to noise ratio. Then, a preliminary approach to panoramic representation of endoscopic images is presented.
Tailoring Music Recommendations to Users by Considering Diversity, Mainstreaminess, and Novelty

A shortcoming of current approaches for music recommendation is that they consider user-specific characteristics only on a very simple level, typically as some kind of interaction between users and items when employing collaborative filtering. To alleviate this issue, we propose several user features that model aspects of the user's music listening behavior: diversity, mainstreaminess, and novelty of the user's music taste. To validate the proposed features, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation of a variety of music recommendation approaches (stand-alone and hybrids) on a collection of almost 200 million listening events gathered from \propername{Last.fm}. We report first results and highlight cases where our diversity, mainstreaminess, and novelty features can be beneficially integrated into music recommender systems.
Integrating science and human values for cancer patient care

The burden of cancer continues to increase globally, with substantial personal, societal, and economic consequences. Population growth and aging underlie this increase—a reflection of the effect of population health interventions in the last two centuries. Much of this gain has come through observation, derivation of evidence, and rigorous application of valid science to the public, both healthy and affected by diseases such as cancer. Increasingly, molecular medicine will affect the knowledge of cause and the personalization of therapy. However, science informs the decision-making process and places evidence within the beliefs of individuals and society as they relate to innovation, judgment, and values—the “logic” underlying alignment of conventional and complementary (holistic) care as a basis for compelling, consistent, and confident decisions.
Influence of HIV and HCV on T cell antigen presentation and challenges in the development of vaccines

Some of the central challenges for developing effective vaccines against HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are similar. Both infections are caused by small, highly mutable, rapidly replicating RNA viruses with the ability to establish long-term chronic pathogenic infection in human hosts. HIV has caused 60 million infections globally and HCV 180 million and both viruses may co-exist among certain populations by virtue of common blood-borne, sexual, or vertical transmission. Persistence of both pathogens is achieved by evasion of intrinsic, innate, and adaptive immune defenses but with some distinct mechanisms reflecting their differences in evolutionary history, replication characteristics, cell tropism, and visibility to mucosal versus systemic and hepatic immune responses. A potent and durable antibody and T cell response is a likely requirement of future HIV and HCV vaccines. Perhaps the single biggest difference between the two vaccine design challenges is that in HCV, a natural model of protective immunity can be found in those who resolve acute infection spontaneously. Such spontaneous resolvers exhibit durable and functional CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses (Diepolder et al., 1995; Cooper et al., 1999; Thimme et al., 2001; Grakoui et al., 2003; Lauer et al., 2004; Schulze Zur Wiesch et al., 2012). However, frequent re-infection suggests partial or lack of protective immunity against heterologous HCV strains, possibly indicative of the degree of genetic diversity of circulating HCV genotypes and subtypes. There is no natural model of protective immunity in HIV, however, studies of “elite controllers,” or individuals who have durably suppressed levels of plasma HIV RNA without antiretroviral therapy, has provided the strongest evidence for CD8+ T cell responses in controlling viremia and limiting reservoir burden in established infection. Here we compare and contrast the specific mechanisms of immune evasion used by HIV and HCV, which subvert adaptive human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-restricted T cell immunity in natural infection, and the challenges these pose for designing effective preventative or therapeutic vaccines.
Negligible Pharmacokinetic Interaction of Red Ginseng and Losartan, an Antihypertensive Agent, in Sprague-Dawley Rats

Red ginseng (RG) is one of the top selling herbal medicines in Korea, but is not recommended in hypertensive patients. In this study, the pharmacokinetic (PK) interaction between RG and losartan, an antihypertensive drug, was examined. RG was orally administered for 2 wk to male Sprague-Dawley (S-D) rats at either control (0), 0.5, 1, or 2 g/kg/d for 2 wk. After the last administration of RG and 30 min later, all animals were treated with 10 mg/kg losartan by oral route. In addition, some S-D rats were administered RG orally for 21 d at 2 g/kg followed by losartan intravenously (iv) at 10 mg/kg/d. Post losartan administration, plasma samples were collected at 5, 15, and 30 min and 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h. Plasma concentrations of losartan and E-3174, the active metabolite of losartan, were analyzed by a high-pressure liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometer system (LC-MS/MS). Oral losartan administration showed dose-dependent pharmacokinetics (PK) increase with time to maximum plasma, but this was not significant between different groups. There was no significant change in tmax with E-3174 PK. With iv losartan, pharmacokinetics showed elevation of area under the plasma concentration–time curve from time zero extrapolated to infinitity. There was not a significant change in AUCinf with E-3174 PK. Therefore, RG appeared to interfere with biotransformation of losartan, as RG exerted no marked effect on E-3174 PK in S-D rats. Data demonstrated that oral or iv treatment with losartan in rats pretreated with RG for 2 wk showed that losartan PK was affected but E-3174 PK remained unchanged among different dose groups. These results suggested that RG induces negligible influence on losartan and E-3174 PK in rats.
Oxygen Quenching and Fluorescence Depolarization of Tyrosine Residues in Proteins

We examined the dynamics of oxygen quenching and depolarization of tyrosine fluorescence in small peptides and proteins lacking tryptophan. The oxygenquenching constants and the apparent correlation times for fluorescence depolarization were found to be sensitive to the conformational state of the proteins. For small peptides and random coil proteins, the oxygen bimolecular quenching constants indicated complete accessibility of the tyrosine residues to collisions with oxygen. For folded proteins, the quenching constants were about 2-fold smaller, indicating only limited shielding of the tyrosine residues from oxygen by the protein matrix. We also used the steady state anisotropies, measured under conditions of oxygen quenching, to estimate the motional freedom of the tyrosine residues. For random coil proteins, such as a tyrosine copolymer and histones at low pH, the data clearly indicated that depolarization occurs due to subnanosecond segmental motions of the tyrosine residues which are independent of overall protein rotation. For some folded proteins, including bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor, the data are consistent with, but do not unambiguously demonstrate, motional freedom of the residues. In these cases, energy transfer among tyrosine residues may also contribute to the observed depolarization. Overall, these results indicate that the rate and extent of tyrosine rotation in proteins depend upon the conformation of the protein and the specific protein under observation.
Molecular Bases Underlying the Hepatoprotective Effects of Coffee

Coffee is the most consumed beverage worldwide. Epidemiological studies with prospective cohorts showed that coffee intake is associated with reduced cardiovascular and all-cause mortality independently of caffeine content. Cohort and case-control studies reported an inverse association between coffee consumption and the degree of liver fibrosis as well as the development of liver cancer. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of coffee have been recently confirmed by large meta-analyses. In the last two decades, various in vitro and in vivo studies evaluated the molecular determinants for the hepatoprotective effects of coffee. In the present article, we aimed to critically review experimental evidence regarding the active components and the molecular bases underlying the beneficial role of coffee against chronic liver diseases. Almost all studies highlighted the beneficial effects of this beverage against liver fibrosis with the most solid results indicating a pivot role for both caffeine and chlorogenic acids. In particular, in experimental models of fibrosis, caffeine was shown to inhibit hepatic stellate cell activation by blocking adenosine receptors, and emerging evidence indicated that caffeine may also favorably impact angiogenesis and hepatic hemodynamics. On the other side, chlorogenic acids, potent phenolic antioxidants, suppress liver fibrogenesis and carcinogenesis by reducing oxidative stress and counteract steatogenesis through the modulation of glucose and lipid homeostasis in the liver. Overall, these molecular insights may have translational significance and suggest that coffee components need clinical evaluation.
Automatic Extraction of Sliced Object State Machines for Component Interfaces

Component-based software development has increasingly gained popularity in industry. Although correct component-interface usage is critical for successful understanding, testing, and reuse of components, interface usage is rarely specified formally in practice. To tackle this problem, we automatically extract sliced object state machines (OSM) for component interfaces from the execution of generated tests. Given a component such as a Java class, we generate a set of tests to exercise the component and collect the concrete object states exercised by the tests. Because the number of exercised concrete object states and transitions among these states could be too large to be useful for inspection, we slice concrete object states by each member field of the component and use sliced states to construct a set of sliced OSM’s. These sliced OSM’s provide useful state-transition information for helping understand behavior of component interfaces and also have potential for being used in component verification and testing.
Placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind study of intravenous enalaprilat efficacy and safety in acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema.

BACKGROUND Converting enzyme inhibitors meet most of the criteria required to be used in acute pulmonary edema. However, they could also induce deleterious effects on renal function and electrolytes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single intravenous 2-hour infusion of enalaprilat (1 mg) after an acute pulmonary edema. METHODS AND RESULTS This was a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind study performed in 20 congestive heart failure patients (New York Heart Association class III or IV). Systemic and regional hemodynamic parameters, biological parameters, and blood gases were measured before and repeatedly after the onset of infusion. Compared with placebo, enalaprilat decreased pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (-37% versus -10%, P = .001), diastolic and mean systemic blood pressures (-21% versus 0%, P = .009, and -18% versus -1%, P = .026, respectively), diastolic and mean pulmonary blood pressures (-21% versus -8%, P = .040; -18% versus -9%, P = .046), and brachial and renal resistances (-44% versus -14%, P = .017, and -22% versus -2%, P = .014, respectively); increased brachial and renal blood flows (+77% versus +8%, P = .036, and +12% versus 0%, P = .043, respectively), arterial oxygen tension (+2% versus -16%, P = .041), and arterial oxygen saturation (+1% versus -2%, P = .045); and tended to decrease rate-pressure product (-19% versus -7%, P = .076), increase brachial artery diameter (+13% versus 0%, P = .081), and improve intrapulmonary shunt (-18% versus +16%, P = .080). Enalaprilat did not affect cardiac output or carotid or hepatosplanchnic hemodynamics. CONCLUSIONS Early administration of enalaprilat is effective and well tolerated in acute pulmonary edema.
Does Teacher Preparation Matter for Beginning Teachers in Either Special or General Education?

The current U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) emphasis on the preparation of teachers in content knowledge, and de-emphasis on pedagogy and teaching practicums, constitutes a major issue concerning how best to prepare a sufficient supply of highly qualified teachers. By contrast, federal policy represented by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) emphasizes both full certification and content knowledge. Our research was based on data from the Schools and Staffing Survey for beginning teachers in both special and general education (separately). Results showed that extensive preparation in pedagogy and practice teaching was more effective than was only some or no preparation in producing beginning teachers who (a) were fully certified, (b) secured in-field teaching assignments, and (c) reported being well prepared to teach subject matter and well prepared with respect to pedagogical skills. Thus, contrary to the USDOE perspective emphasizing preparation in content knowledge, extensive preparation in pedagogy and practice teaching contributed to the attainment of the two key NCLB indicators of a highly qualified teacher: full certification and in-field teaching.
Antibacterial Property and Cytotoxicity of a Poly(lactic acid)/Nanosilver-Doped Multiwall Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposite

A novel method was used to synthesize a nanosilver-doped multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT-Ag), and subsequently, the novel poly(lactic acid) (PLA)- and MWCNT-Ag-based biocompatible and antimicrobial nanocomposites were prepared by melt blending. Based on energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry images, an MWCNT-Ag was successfully synthesized. The effect of the MWCNT-Ag on the PLA bionanocomposites was investigated by evaluating their thermal and mechanical properties, antifungal activity, and cytotoxicity. The nanocomposites exhibited a high degree of biocompatibility with the MWCNT-Ag content, which was less than 0.3 phr. Furthermore, tensile strength testing, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and antibacterial evaluation revealed that the tensile strength, thermostability, glass transition temperature, and antibacterial properties were enhanced by increasing the MWCNT-Ag content. Finally, hydrolysis analysis indicated that the low MWCNT-Ag content could increase the packing density of PLA.