Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FAST: A fuzzy-based adaptive scheduling technique for IEEE 802.16 networks

Since the IEEE 802.16 first standard was proposed in 2004 to provide broadband wireless service, the standard has not only been widely studied, but also broadly commercialized. The current IEEE 802.16-2009 standard document specifies five Quality of Service classes. As is typical with most standards, IEEE 802.16 does not require the use of a specific scheduler. In this paper, we first evaluate the performance of four popular schedulers. By analyzing the results, we highlight that no single scheduler type performs the best in all traffic situations; however, we shown that there exist the most favorable scheduler type in each situation. Based on this rationale, our idea is to propose an adaptive scheduling schema where the scheduler is dynamically chosen based on the current traffic context, such as the number of flows of each Quality of Service class. We investigate this approach and evaluate its performance against existing static schemas. The results show that our approach presents some interesting performances in terms of throughput, delay, and packet loss ratio regarding state of art approaches.
Investigation of autonomous docking strategies for robotic operation on intervention panels

This paper presents a localization strategy for an AUV which autonomously docks on intervention panels. A brief review of past research and working solutions of docking motivates the proposed choice of the strategy. It combines a ranging sonar localization technique featuring a modified particle filter at large distance and a visual model-based pose estimation using on-board camera at close distance to the docking panel. The particle filter solution is enhanced for effective exploration of the vehicle states without increasing the computational demand. It operates in an environment with a known map and has a real-time performance. The pose recognition algorithm derives from POSIT and is optimized for robustness. The visual docking utilizes a set of point-light markers which guarantees good accuracy at a large range of angles. Mentioned strategies are proven in a number of simulations as well as practical tests.
Evaluation of Cross-Calibrated 68Ge/68Ga Phantoms for Assessing PET/CT Measurement Bias in Oncology Imaging for Single- and Multicenter Trials

Quantitative PET imaging is an important tool for clinical trials evaluating the response of cancers to investigational therapies. The standardized uptake value, used as a quantitative imaging biomarker, is dependent on multiple parameters that may contribute bias and variability. The use of long-lived, sealed PET calibration phantoms offers the advantages of known radioactivity activity concentration and simpler use than aqueous phantoms. We evaluated scanner and dose calibrator sources from two batches of commercially available kits, together at a single site and distributed across a local multicenter PET imaging network. We found that radioactivity concentration was uniform within the phantoms. Within the regions of interest drawn in the phantom images, coefficients of variation of voxel values were less than 2%. Across phantoms, coefficients of variation for mean signal were close to 1%. Biases of the standardized uptake value estimated with the kits varied by site and were seen to change in time by approximately ±5%. We conclude that these biases cannot be assumed constant over time. The kits provide a robust method to monitor PET scanner and dose calibrator biases, and resulting biases in standardized uptake values.
High-Mobility Group Box 1 Activates Integrin-Dependent Homing of Endothelial Progenitor Cells

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are recruited to ischemic regions and improve neovascularization. Integrins contribute to EPC homing. High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a nuclear protein that is released extracellularly on cell necrosis and tissue damage, eliciting a proinflammatory response and stimulating tissue repair. In the present study, we investigated the effects of HMGB1 on EPC homing. EPCs express the HMGB1 receptors RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end products) and TLR2 (Toll-like receptor 2). EPC migration was stimulated by HMGB1 in a RAGE-dependent manner. In addition, the HMGB1-induced migration of EPCs on fibronectin and fibrinogen was significantly inhibited by antibodies against &bgr;1 and &bgr;2 integrins, respectively. Short-term prestimulation of EPCs with HMGB1 also increased EPC adhesion to endothelial cell monolayers, and this effect was blocked by antibodies to &bgr;2 integrins or RAGE. HMGB1 increased EPC adhesion to the immobilized integrin ligands intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and fibronectin in a RAGE-dependent manner. Strikingly, HMGB1 rapidly increased integrin affinity and induced integrin polarization. Using intravital microscopy in a tumor model of neovascularization, prestimulation of EPCs with HMGB1 enhanced the initial in vivo adhesion of EPCs to microvessels and the recruitment of EPCs in the tumor tissue. In addition, prestimulation of EPCs with HMGB1 increased the homing of EPCs to ischemic muscles. In conclusion, these data represent a link between HMGB1 and integrin functions of EPCs and demonstrate that HMGB1 stimulates EPC homing to ischemic tissues. These results may provide a platform for the development of novel therapeutic approaches to improve EPC homing.
Linked internet UI: a mobile user interface optimized for social networking

This paper presents the Linked Internet UI Concept, or LinkedUI for short, as a holistic user interface concept to facilitate social interaction on mobile devices. It aggregates social events from social networking services and communication channels and uses hypertext navigation for presentation and interaction. We describe the concept design principles, highlights of the design, and the prototype implementation. We conducted a user study to compare LinkedUI with the benchmark of web applications running in a web browser to follow their friends' activities in Twitter and Flickr and two other optional services on mobile devices. The study results reveal that the users performed tasks faster in LinkedUI and also liked it more than the benchmark. These findings support the design principles of LinkedUI in facilitating social interaction via mobile devices.
Transmission stage investment of malaria parasites in response to in-host competition

Conspecific competition occurs in a multitude of organisms, particularly in parasites, where several clones are commonly sharing limited resources inside their host. In theory, increased or decreased transmission investment might maximize parasite fitness in the face of competition, but, to our knowledge, this has not been tested experimentally. We developed and used a clone-specific, stage-specific, quantitative PCR protocol to quantify Plasmodium chabaudi replication and transmission stage densities in mixed-clone infections. We co-infected mice from two strains with an avirulent and virulent parasite clone and found competitive suppression of in-host (blood-stage) parasite densities and generally corresponding reductions in transmission stage production, with the virulent clone obtaining overall competitive superiority. In response to competitive suppression, there was little evidence of any alteration in transmission stage investment, apart from a small reduction by one of the two clones in one of the two host strains. This alteration did not result in a competitive advantage, although it might have reduced the disadvantage. This study supports much of the current literature, which predicts that conspecific in-host competition will result in a competitive advantage and positive selection for virulent clones and thus the evolution of higher virulence.
Cell Type-Specific Regulation of Immunological Synapse Dynamics by B7 Ligand Recognition

B7 proteins CD80 (B7-1) and CD86 (B7-2) are expressed on most antigen-presenting cells and provide critical co-stimulatory or inhibitory input to T cells via their T-cell-expressed receptors: CD28 and CTLA-4. CD28 is expressed on effector T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs), and CD28-dependent signals are required for optimum activation of effector T cell functions. CD28 ligation on effector T cells leads to formation of distinct molecular patterns and induction of cytoskeletal rearrangements at the immunological synapse (IS). CD28 plays a critical role in recruitment of protein kinase C (PKC)-θ to the effector T cell IS. CTLA-4 is constitutively expressed on the surface of Tregs, but it is expressed on effector T cells only after activation. As CTLA-4 binds to B7 proteins with significantly higher affinity than CD28, B7 ligand recognition by cells expressing both receptors leads to displacement of CD28 and PKC-θ from the IS. In Tregs, B7 ligand recognition leads to recruitment of CTLA-4 and PKC-η to the IS. CTLA-4 plays a role in regulation of T effector and Treg IS stability and cell motility. Due to their important roles in regulating T-cell-mediated responses, B7 receptors are emerging as important drug targets in oncology. In this review, we present an integrated summary of current knowledge about the role of B7 family receptor–ligand interactions in the regulation of spatial and temporal IS dynamics in effector and Tregs.
Robust Implementation in Direct Mechanisms

A social choice function is robustly implementable if there is a mechanism under which the process of iteratively eliminating strictly dominated messages lead to outcomes that agree with the social choice function for all beliefs at every type profile. In an interdependent-value environment with single-crossing preferences, we identify a contraction property on the preferences which together with strict ex post incentive compatibility is sufficient to guarantee robust implementation in the direct mechanism. Strict ex post incentive compatibility and the contraction property are also necessary for robust implementation in any mechanism, including indirect ones. The contraction property requires that the interdependence is not too high. In a linear signal model, the contraction property is equivalent to an interdependence matrix having all eigenvalues smaller than one. Copyright 2009, Wiley-Blackwell.
Continuous Learning of Simple Visual Concepts Using Incremental Kernel Density Estimation

In this paper we propose a method for continuous learning of simple visual concepts. The method continuously associates words describing observed scenes with automatically extracted visual features. Since in our setting every sample is labelled with multiple concept labels, and there are no negative examples, reconstructive representations of the incoming data are used. The associated features are modelled with kernel density probability distribution estimates, which are built incrementally. The proposed approach is applied to the learning of object properties and spatial relations.
Antidepressants Self-Poisoning in Suicide and Suicide Attempt: Acute Toxicity and Treatment

It is estimated that a quarter of the patients that have been diagnosed with major depression attempt suicide during their lifetime, and 15% of these patients ultimately die from suicide. Antidepressants have been shown to be a highly effective treatment for depression; paradoxically, to achieve compliance, physicians must give patients access to a toxic drug, and a possible suicide method (Gunnell & Frankel, 1994; White, Litovitz & Clancy, 2008; Wong et al., 2010).
Antibiotic prophylaxis for bacterial infections in afebrile neutropenic patients following chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND Bacterial infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in neutropenic patients following chemotherapy for malignancy. Trials have shown the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in decreasing the incidence of bacterial infections, but not in reducing mortality rates. OBJECTIVES This review aimed to evaluate whether antibiotic prophylaxis in afebrile neutropenic patients reduced mortality when compared to placebo or no intervention. SEARCH STRATEGY Electronic searches on The Cochrane Cancer Network Register of Trials (2004), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library Issue 4, 2004), MEDLINE (1966 to 2004) and EMBASE (1980 to 2004) and abstracts of conference proceedings; references of identified studies; the first author of each included trial was contacted. SELECTION CRITERIA RCTs or quasi-RCTs comparing different types of antibiotic prophylaxis with placebo or no intervention, or another antibiotic to prevent bacterial infections in afebrile neutropenic patients. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two authors independently appraised the quality of each trial and extracted data from the included trials. Relative risks (RR) or average differences, with their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated. MAIN RESULTS One hundred trials (10,274 patients) performed between the years 1973 to 2004 met inclusion criteria. Antibiotic prophylaxis significantly decreased the risk for death when compared with placebo or no intervention (RR, 0.66 [95% CI 0.54 to 0.81]). The authors estimated the number needed to treat (NNT) in order to prevent 1 death from all causes as 60 (95% CI 34 to 268). Prophylaxis resulted in a significant decrease in the risk of infection-related death, RR 0.58 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.74) and in the occurrence of fever, RR 0.78 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.82). A reduction in mortality was also evident when the more recently conducted quinolone trials were analysed separately. Quinolone prophylaxis reduced the risk for all-cause mortality, RR 0.52 (95% CI, 0.37 to 0.84). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Our review demonstrated that prophylaxis significantly reduced all-cause mortality. The most significant reduction in mortality was observed in trials assessing prophylaxis with quinolones. The benefit demonstrated in our review outweighs harm, such as adverse effects, and development of resistance, since all-cause mortality is reduced. Since most trials in our review were of patients with haematologic cancer, prophylaxis, preferably with a quinolone, should be considered for these patients.
Nameless, painless

De Bruijn indices are a well known technique for programming with names and binders. They provide a representation that is both simple and canonical. However, programming errors tend to be really easy to make. We propose a safer programming interface implemented as a library. Whereas indexing the types of names and terms by a numerical bound is a famous technique, we index them by worlds, a different notion of index that is both finer and more abstract. While being more finely typed, our approach incurs no loss of expressiveness or efficiency. Via parametricity we obtain properties about functions polymorphic on worlds. For instance, well-typed world-polymorphic functions over open λ-terms commute with any renaming of the free variables. Our whole development is conducted within Agda, from the code of the library, to its soundness proof and the properties of external functions. The soundness of our library is demonstrated via the construction of a logical relations argument.
The Effectiveness of Gaseous Formaldehyde Decontamination Assessed by Biological Monitoring

The results of seven years experience of the effectiveness of routine gaseous formaldehyde decontamination of rooms, filter canisters and biological safety cabinets at ambient temperature are reported. The effectiveness of each decontamination was monitored biologically by the inactivation of Bacillus stearothermophilus spores at five locations in rooms and biological safety cabinets and at two locations in filter canisters. A greater than 104 reduction in viability was achieved for each group of five spore tests in 92% of room decontaminations and each group of five spore tests in 81% of biological safety cabinet decontaminations, and a greater than 104.7 reduction for both spore tests in 83% of filter canister decontaminations. This long-term study of 2,308 routine formaldehyde decontaminations of varying spaces in practical situations demonstrates the reliability of the procedure. The results confirm that previously-described methods can be applied with confidence for routine decontaminations of laboratory facilities and equipment.
A mean-field model for conductance-based networks of adaptive exponential integrate-and-fire models

Voltage-sensitive dye imaging (VSDi) has revealed fundamental properties of neocortical processing at mesoscopic scales. Since VSDi signals report the average membrane potential, it seems natural to use a mean-field formalism to model such signals. Here, we investigate a mean-field model of networks of Adaptive Exponential (AdEx) integrate-and-fire neurons, with conductance-based synaptic interactions. The AdEx model can capture the spiking response of different cell types, such as regular-spiking (RS) excitatory neurons and fast-spiking (FS) inhibitory neurons. We use a Master Equation formalism, together with a semi-analytic approach to the transfer function of AdEx neurons. We compare the predictions of this meanfield model to simulated networks of RS-FS cells, first at the level of the spontaneous activity of the network, which is well predicted by the mean-field model. Second, we investigate the response of the network to time-varying external input, and show that the mean-field model accurately predicts the response time course of the population. One notable exception was that the “tail” of the response at long times was not well predicted, because the mean-field does not include adaptation mechanisms. We conclude that the Master Equation formalism can yield mean-field models that predict well the behavior of nonlinear networks with conductancebased interactions and various electrophysiolgical properties, and should be a good candidate to model VSDi signals where both excitatory and inhibitory neurons contribute.
Bordetella parapertussis PagP Mediates the Addition of Two Palmitates to the Lipopolysaccharide Lipid A

ABSTRACT Bordetella bronchiseptica PagP (PagPBB) is a lipid A palmitoyl transferase that is required for resistance to antibody-dependent complement-mediated killing in a murine model of infection. B. parapertussis contains a putative pagP homolog (encoding B. parapertussis PagP [PagPBPa]), but its role in the biosynthesis of lipid A, the membrane anchor of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), has not been investigated. Mass spectrometry analysis revealed that wild-type B. parapertussis lipid A consists of a heterogeneous mixture of lipid A structures, with penta- and hexa-acylated structures containing one and two palmitates, respectively. Through mutational analysis, we demonstrate that PagPBPa is required for the modification of lipid A with palmitate. While PagPBB transfers a single palmitate to the lipid A C-3′ position, PagPBPa transfers palmitates to the lipid A C-2 and C-3′ positions. The addition of two palmitate acyl chains is unique to B. parapertussis. Mutation of pagPBPa resulted in a mutant strain with increased sensitivity to antimicrobial peptide killing and decreased endotoxicity, as evidenced by reduced proinflammatory responses via Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) to the hypoacylated LPS. Therefore, PagP-mediated modification of lipid A regulates outer membrane function and may be a means to modify interactions between the bacterium and its human host during infection.
A Motor-Gradient and Clustering Model of the Centripetal Motility of MTOCs in Meiosis I of Mouse Oocytes

Asters nucleated by Microtubule (MT) organizing centers (MTOCs) converge on chromosomes during spindle assembly in mouse oocytes undergoing meiosis I. Time-lapse imaging suggests that this centripetal motion is driven by a biased ‘search-and-capture’ mechanism. Here, we develop a model of a random walk in a drift field to test the nature of the bias and the spatio-temporal dynamics of the search process. The model is used to optimize the spatial field of drift in simulations, by comparison to experimental motility statistics. In a second step, this optimized gradient is used to determine the location of immobilized dynein motors and MT polymerization parameters, since these are hypothesized to generate the gradient of forces needed to move MTOCs. We compare these scenarios to self-organized mechanisms by which asters have been hypothesized to find the cell-center- MT pushing at the cell-boundary and clustering motor complexes. By minimizing the error between simulation outputs and experiments, we find a model of “pulling” by a gradient of dynein motors alone can drive the centripetal motility. Interestingly, models of passive MT based “pushing” at the cortex, clustering by cross-linking motors and MT-dynamic instability gradients alone, by themselves do not result in the observed motility. The model predicts the sensitivity of the results to motor density and stall force, but not MTs per aster. A hybrid model combining a chromatin-centered immobilized dynein gradient, diffusible minus-end directed clustering motors and pushing at the cell cortex, is required to comprehensively explain the available data. The model makes experimentally testable predictions of a spatial bias and self-organized mechanisms by which MT asters can find the center of a large cell.
Decision Modeling of Disagreements

Purpose. To identify core disagreements between pediatric hematologists who would treat children with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) on initial presentation (“Treaters”) and those who would treat by observation (“Observers”), to determine whether each group’s preferred stance was consistent with each individual’s detailed perceptions, and to identify key variables in each stance. Methods. A decision model was constructed in collaboration with experts, and a detailed questionnaire was presented to a nationally representative committee of 25 pediatric hematologists. A full decision tree was specified for each respondent. Results. Nineteen (76%) experts responded; based on preference for initial treatment, 9 were Treaters and 10 Observers. Of the 30 probability/effectiveness variables, 8—almost all concerning treatment effectiveness—had at least one statistically-significant difference between the 2 groups regarding low, best, or high estimates. To convince Observers that treatment is effective would take a clinical trial with between 39 000 and 87 000 participants; to convince Treaters that treatment is not effective enough, between 97 000 and 114 000 participants. Observers’ calculated numbers needed to treat (NNTs) of about 150 000 are more consistent (P = 0.0023) with their elicited maximum NTTs of about 500. Conclusion. Physicians not specifically trained provided enough data to specify complete individual decision models. From the estimates provided, no practical clinical trial could convince hematologists who would treat children on initial presentation with ITP just to simply observe them or could convince those who would just observe to instead treat with available agents. Perceived burdens could be better characterized, perhaps by including parental perceptions and preferences.
Solving Generalized Semi-Markov Decision Processes Using Continuous Phase-Type Distributions

We introduce the generalized semi-Markov decision process (GSMDP) as an extension of continuous-time MDPs and semi-Markov decision processes (SMDPs) for modeling stochastic decision processes with asynchronous events and actions. Using phase-type distributions and uniformization, we show how an arbitrary GSMDP can be approximated by a discrete-time MDP, which can then be solved using existing MDP techniques. The techniques we present can also be seen as an alternative approach for solving SMDPs, and we demonstrate that the introduction of phases allows us to generate higher quality policies than those obtained by standard SMDP solution techniques.