Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy Aware Resource Management for MapReduce Jobs with Service Level Agreements in Cloud Data Centers

Clouds which continue to garner interest from practitioners in industry and academia require effective energy aware resource managers to leverage processing power of underlying resources while minimizing energy consumption in global data centers. We devise a novel Energy Aware MapReduce Resource Manager for an open system, called EAMR-RM, that can effectively perform matchmaking and scheduling of MapReduce jobs each of which is characterized by a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for performance that includes a client specified execution time and a deadline such that energy consumption is minimized. Results of the discrete event simulation-based performance analysis demonstrate that the proposed technique can effectively satisfy SLA requirements while achieving up to a 45% reduction in energy consumption compared to approaches which do not consider energy in resource management decisions.
A topic modeling toolbox using belief propagation

Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) is an important hierarchical Bayesian model for probabilistic topic modeling, which attracts worldwide interests and touches on many important applications in text mining, computer vision and computational biology. This paper introduces a topic modeling toolbox (TMBP) based on the belief propagation (BP) algorithms. TMBP toolbox is implemented by MEX C++/Matlab/Octave for either Windows 7 or Linux. Compared with existing topic modeling packages, the novelty of this toolbox lies in the BP algorithms for learning LDA-based topic models. The current version includes BP algorithms for latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), authortopic models (ATM), relational topic models (RTM), and labeled LDA (LaLDA). This toolbox is an ongoing project and more BP-based algorithms for various topic models will be added in the near future. Interested users may also extend BP algorithms for learning more complicated topic models. The source codes are freely available under the GNU General Public Licence, Version 1.0 at https://mloss.org/software/view/399/.
Shifting From Fear to Self-confidence: Body Mapping as a Transformative Tool in Music Teacher Education

Fear and lack of self-confidence toward music teaching are frequently experienced by many Bachelor of Education teacher candidates when they imagine themselves as future elementary general music teachers. Integrating visual art body mapping in elementary music methods fosters a unique opportunity to identify and interrogate musical experience. Findings from a 2-year narrative inquiry reveal how body mapping provides a window into music teacher identity through understanding the role of musical experience in teacher candidates’ daily lives. Body mapping becomes a transformative tool in music teacher education to move teacher candidates from embodied fear to increased self-confidence in shaping future teaching practice.
Cloud Server Benchmarks for Performance Evaluation of New Hardware Architecture

Adding new hardware features to a cloud computing server requires testing both the functionalities and the performance of the new hardware mechanisms. However, commonly used cloud computing server workloads are not well-represented by the SPEC integer and floating-point benchmark and Parsec suites typically used by the computer architecture community. Existing cloud benchmark suites for scale-out or scale-up computing are not representative of the most common cloud usage, and are very difficult to run on a cycle-accurate simulator that can accurately model new hardware, like gem5. In this paper, we present PALMScloud, a suite of cloud computing benchmarks for performance evaluation of cloud servers, that is ready to run on the gem5 cycle-accurate simulator. We demonstrate how our cloud computing benchmarks are used in evaluating the cache performance of a new secure cache called Newcache as a case study. We hope that these cloud benchmarks, ready to run on a dual-machine gem5 simulator or on real machines, can be useful to other researchers interested in improving hardware micro-architecture and cloud server performance.
Binding site on human C‐reactive Protein (CRP) recognized by the Leukocyte CRP‐receptor

C‐reactive protein (CRP), the prototypical inflammatory acute phase reactant in humans, interacts with monocytes and neutrophils via a specific receptor. To map the site on CRP recognized by the CRP receptor (CRP‐R), synthetic peptides corresponding to the surface region on each of the five identical subunits were tested as competitors vs. [125l]‐CRP for cell binding. A peptide of residues 27–38 (TKPLKAFTVCLH) efficiently inhibited CRP binding when compared to other nonoverlapping peptides. This peptide was termed the cell‐binding peptide (CB‐Pep). The F(ab′)2 of an IgG Ab to the CB‐Pep specifically inhibited CRP binding upon reacting with the ligand. Competitive binding studies with synthetic peptides truncated from either the NH2‐ or COOH‐terminus of the CB‐Pep revealed that the minimum length recognized by the CRP‐R consisted of residues 31–36: KAFTVC. Conservative substitutions of residues within the CB‐Pep indicated that the four residues AFTV were critical for CRP‐R binding. The CB‐Pep also inhibited induced superoxide generation by HL‐60 granulocytes. The minimum length required for the inhibition was also KAFTVC; however, only Phe‐33 and Leu‐37 were critical residues in this assay. Anti‐CB‐Pep IgG Ab reacted more extensively with heat‐modified CRP, suggesting that an altered conformation of CRP is preferentially recognized by the CRP‐R. The results suggest that this contiguous sequence on a β‐strand on one face of each of five subunits of the CRP pentamer serves as a unique recognition motif for inflammatory leukocytes. J. Cell. Biochem. 64:140–151. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Symbolic and Substantive Evaluative Research

A study of professional employees in two large treatment-oriented organizations reveals a contradiction between the avowed objectives of program research and the acceptance of its findings by those engaged in the program.1 The ideology of science, which favors the interpretation and communication of research results, often conflicts with organizational mores. These mores favor symbolic research-the ritualistic avowal of the worthwhileness of research about agency problems, coupled with objections to its substance-the advancement of knowledge. Even those expressing a high priority for the use of agency funds or staff time to do research were reluctant to interpret or publish research findings. Interpretation readiness was greater for "encouraging findings" than for "discouraging findings. " Only a minority expressed an attitude favorable to taking the risks which are believed to exist when information with evaluative implications is widely disseminated. Joseph W. Eaton is professor of social work research and sociology, University of Pittsburgh.
Automatic alignment of large-scale aerial rasters to road-maps

This paper introduces a practical approach to register large-scale GIS imagery to a database of road vectors automatically. The proposed approach breaks the global alignment problem into a set of localized domains (tiles). Within each tile, the displacement between imagery and vectors is approximated by a translation. Finally, a global thin-plate-spline warp based on these local approximations is applied to register the imagery to the vector data. The critical step in this approach is a fully automatic algorithm to compute the best imagery-to-vectors translation within a tile. The proposed algorithm performs vector-guided extraction of road features, aggregates features obtained in the neighborhood of multiple vectors, and then estimates the best translation through a least-squares optimization applied to a selected subset of the aggregated features. It also computes a confidence value for each processed image tile, so that a human operator can easily find out the places where the automatic approach has encountered difficulties, if necessary. The algorithm has been tested on hundreds of production satellite images of different countries. It has correctly registered over 80 percent of the imagery, and consistently reported low confidence values for the rest.
Helicobacter pylori VacA Activates NF‐κB in T Cells via the Classical but not Alternative Pathway

Background: Helicobacter pylori secretes vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA) that damages the gastric epithelium by erosion and loosening of tight junctions. VacA has also immunosuppressive effects, inhibiting interleukin (IL)‐2 secretion by interference with the T cell receptor/IL‐2 signaling pathway. This study investigated the effect of VacA on gene expression of T cells.
Cluster-based multifactor dimensionality reduction method to identify gene-gene interactions for quantitative traits in genome-wide studies

One of the main challenges in genome-wide association studies is finding gene-gene interactions for complex diseases. For binary traits, multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) has been proposed as a non-parametric approach for identifying gene-gene interactions. However, few statistical methods are currently available for determining the genetic interactions associated with quantitative traits such as blood pressure, body mass index, and patient survival times. To address this problem, we propose a new method termed clustering MDR (CL-MDR). In the CL-MDR method, we first apply a clustering technique as a dimensionality reduction step. By comparing the ratios of two classes in each multifactor cell to the ratio from the whole data, each genotype combination is classified as high-risk or low-risk. Evaluation processes are conducted as in the standard MDR method to identify the best combination for representing interactions between genes. The proposed method was investigated through simulation studies, which showed that CL-MDR successfully identified genetic interactions associated with a quantitative trait.
Efficiency and Fairness in Distributed Wireless Networks Through Self-interference Cancellation and Scheduling

Handling interference is one of the major challenges in the design of multi-user distributed wireless systems. In current systems, interference is managed through carrier sensing mechanisms such as CSMA/CA and through MAC algorithms based on random back-off. However, the asymmetry in channel sensing inevitably causes degraded throughput and fairness issues, such as those caused by hidden terminal problems. We propose ContraFlow, a solution based on self-interference cancellation and innovative scheduling mechanisms that increases spatial reuse, eliminates hidden terminals, and rectifies decentralized coordination inefficiencies among nodes, thereby improving fairness. Self-interference cancellation is a technique allowing a node to cancel its own transmitted signal and hence to successfully receive data while transmitting on the same channel. We demonstrate the feasibility of such techniques in a low power WPAN setting, using Lyrtech software-defined radios. Self-interference cancellation repairs carrier sensing, making it possible to successfully eliminate hidden terminal problems, even when using current multi-user MAC protocols; but it also provides the opportunity to design new distributed MAC scheduling algorithms that increase the spatial reuse and solve most of the fairness problems associated with current algorithms. We use simulations to illustrate the performance gains achieved when ContraFlow is used and we obtain both a throughput increase over current systems, as well as a significant improvement in fairness.
miR-150 inhibits proliferation and tumorigenicity via retarding G1/S phase transition in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Cancer cells are characterized by a pathological manifestation of uncontrolled proliferation, which results in tumor formation. Therefore, it is necessary to improve understanding of the underlying mechanism of cell cycle control. Here, we report that miR-150 is downregulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues and cells. Upregulation of miR-150 suppresses nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell proliferation and induces G1/S arrest in vitro, and inhibits tumorigenesis in vivo. Conversely, silencing miR-150 yields the opposite effect. Our results further demonstrate that miR-150 retards nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell proliferation and G1/S transition via targeting multiple cell cycle-related genes, including CCND1, CCND2, CDK2 and CCNE2. Therefore, our results uncover a novel mechanistic understanding of miR-150-mediated tumor suppression in NPC, which will facilitate the development of effective cancer therapies against nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Philosophic Implications of the Ecological Crisis: The Authoritarian Challenge to Liberalism

The rather voluminous writings on the ecological problem have failed so far to examine the philosophical implications of the crisis. The author of this article views the problem in the theoretical perspective of liberalism and its institutional expression in the American constitution and reflects on its responsibility for the failure of contemporary measures to protect the environment. Though she does not presume to offer a solution, she suggests ways of thinking about man's relationship to nature and calls attention to insights offered by the classical tradition that are relevant to the need for proper limits of human action prerequisite for a solution of the ecological problem.
Rod-Like Microglia Are Restricted to Eyes with Laser-Induced Ocular Hypertension but Absent from the Microglial Changes in the Contralateral Untreated Eye

In the mouse model of unilateral laser-induced ocular hypertension (OHT) the microglia in both the treated and the normotensive untreated contralateral eye have morphological signs of activation and up-regulation of MHC-II expression in comparison with naïve. In the brain, rod-like microglia align to less-injured neurons in an effort to limit damage. We investigate whether: i) microglial activation is secondary to laser injury or to a higher IOP and; ii) the presence of rod-like microglia is related to OHT. Three groups of mice were used: age-matched control (naïve, n=15); and two lasered: limbal (OHT, n=15); and non-draining portion of the sclera (scleral, n=3). In the lasered animals, treated eyes as well as contralateral eyes were analysed. Retinal whole-mounts were immunostained with antibodies against, Iba-1, NF-200, MHC-II, CD86, CD68 and Ym1. In the scleral group (normal ocular pressure) no microglial signs of activation were found. Similarly to naïve eyes, OHT-eyes and their contralateral eyes had ramified microglia in the nerve-fibre layer related to the blood vessel. However, only eyes with OHT had rod-like microglia that aligned end-to-end, coupling to form trains of multiple cells running parallel to axons in the retinal surface. Rod-like microglia were CD68+ and were related to retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) showing signs of degeneration (NF-200+RGCs). Although MHC-II expression was up-regulated in the microglia of the NFL both in OHT-eyes and their contralateral eyes, no expression of CD86 and Ym1 was detected in ramified or in rod-like microglia. After 15 days of unilateral lasering of the limbal and the non-draining portion of the sclera, activated microglia was restricted to OHT-eyes and their contralateral eyes. However, rod-like microglia were restricted to eyes with OHT and degenerated NF-200+RGCs and were absent from their contralateral eyes. Thus, rod-like microglia seem be related to the neurodegeneration associated with HTO.
Synergistic Effect of Ultrasound and Hematoporphyrin on Sarcoma 180

The antitumor effects of combined use of ultrasound (US) and a photosensitizer, hematoporphyrin (Hp), were determined in mice bearing sarcoma 180. In order to find the optimum timing of the US irradiation after the administration of Hp, the Hp concentrations in the tumor and in the plasma were determined and were analyzed pharmacokinetically. Antitumor effects were evaluated by measuring the tumor size and the tumor weight. Hp alone showed no antitumor effect but US alone showed a slight antitumor effect. The combined treatment with US and Hp showed marked synergistic effects on sarcoma 180 (inhibition ratio was 74% of the control). From these results, the enhancement of antitumor effect is thought to be caused by the sensitization of tumor cells to US mediated by Hp.
Miniaturized 2.4 GHz antenna and path loss investigations for metal containers monitoring

This paper presents a future terminal antenna to enhance the performance of wireless container monitoring systems. It first introduces an optimized design that is experimentally validated for Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) technology taking into account the harsh environment of containers. The proposed antenna exhibits excellent performance next to the container in terms of return loss, gain, and bandwidth. Further, deterministic and stochastic path loss models for inter-container link budget calculations are used to illustrate the impact of the optimized antenna on path loss and attainable maximum ranges.
Recurrence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to examine rates and factors associated with recurrence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among women with a history of GDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We conducted a systematic literature review of articles published between January 1965 and November 2006, in which recurrence rates of GDM among women with a history of GDM were reported. Factors abstracted included recurrence rates, time elapsed between pregnancies, race/ethnicity, diagnostic criteria, and, when available, maternal age, parity, weight or BMI at the initial and subsequent pregnancy, weight gain at the initial or subsequent pregnancy and between pregnancies, insulin use, gestational age at diagnosis, glucose tolerance test levels, baby birth weight and presence of macrosomia, and breast-feeding. RESULTS—Of 45 articles identified, 13 studies were eligible for inclusion. After the index pregnancy, recurrence rates varied between 30 and 84%. Lower rates were found in non-Hispanic white (NHW) populations (30–37%), and higher rates were found in minority populations (52–69%). Exceptions to observed racial/ethnic variations in recurrence were found in cohorts that were composed of a significant proportion of both NHW and minority women or that included women who had subsequent pregnancies within 1 year. No other risk factors were consistently associated with recurrence of GDM across studies. The rates of future preexisting diabetes in pregnancy, socioeconomic status, postpartum diabetes screening rates after the index pregnancy, and the average length of time between pregnancies were generally not reported. CONCLUSIONS—Recurrence of GDM was common and may vary most significantly by NHW versus minority race/ethnicity.
The Design and Evaluation of Auditory Access to Spreadsheets

This project is concerned with the development and evaluation of an integrated approach to sound-based access to spreadsheets. The primary target user population is visually impaired users, employing speech-based screen readers as their main means of accessing the data. Other users may benefit from the approach in situations where sound may provide an effective alternative or complementary means of exploring complex data relationships, when the visual interface being employed is too small to afford effective spreadsheet display or in monitoring situations where the visual attention of users must be employed elsewhere. The paper begins with an introduction to the use of spreadsheets by visually impaired users, including the current state of auditory interfaces as provided by commercial screen reader (SR) systems. The development of a prototype system to enhance speech-based access through the use of data sonification is described. The results of a number of detailed evaluations are discussed, drawn from a number of “real work” situations. The paper concludes with an examination of the issues arising from the evaluations, and a program of future research.
Patterns of electroconvection in a nematic liquid crystal

We present a survey of pattern formation in electroconvection of the nematic liquid crystal 4-ethyl-2fluoro-4 8-[2-(trans-4-pentylcyclohexyl)-ethyl] biphenyl~I52! as a function of three control parameters: the applied voltage, applied frequency, and electrical conductivity of the sample. The patterns are dominated by oblique-roll states. Over the lower range of conductivity, the initial transition is a supercritical Hopf bifurcation which leads to four degenerate modes: right- and left-traveling zig and zag rolls. For higher values of the conductivity, the primary instability is a subcritical bifurcation to a single set of stationary oblique rolls. The convecting states exhibit a rich variety of patterns as a result of the interactions between the four modes, including states of spatiotemporal chaos and localized states. @S1063-651X~98! 08301-9#
Recanalization of Extracranial Internal Carotid Artery Occlusion after i.v. Thrombolysis for Acute Ischemic Stroke

Background Although extracranial internal carotid artery (e-ICA) occlusion is a common pathology in patients undergoing intravenous thrombolysis for treatment of acute ischemic stroke, no data on e-ICA recanalization rate or potential effects on outcome are yet available. Methods and Results This study included 52 consecutive patients with e-ICA occlusion and ischemic stroke undergoing standard intravenous thrombolysis. The rate of e-ICA recanalization was 30.8% [95%CI, 18.2–43.3], documented at 3.5 [2.0–11.8] (median [IQR]) days after stroke, as compared to 8.6% [95%CI, 3.5–13.7] in a series of 116 consecutive patients with symptomatic e-ICA occlusion not undergoing thrombolysis (P<0.001 for difference). Functional outcome three months after stroke did not significantly differ for those with or without e-ICA recanalization following intravenous thrombolysis (modified Rankin scale ≤2: 31.3% vs. 22.2%, odds ratio 1.6 [95%CI, 0.4–5.9], P = 0.506). In patients with e-ICA occlusion of atherothrombotic origin, recanalization resulted in most instances in residual high-grade stenosis (13 of 14). Conclusions Recanalization of e-ICA occlusion after stroke thrombolysis occurred in about one third of patients. Although e-ICA recanalization had no significant effect on patient outcome, control sonography in the early days after thrombolysis is recommended for the detection of potential residual e-ICA stenosis.
An intelligent power amplifier MMIC using a new adaptive bias control circuit for W-CDMA applications

A high-linearity and high-efficiency MMIC power amplifier is proposed that adopts a new on-chip adaptive bias control circuit, which simultaneously improves efficiency at the low output power level and linearity at the high output power level. The adaptive bias control circuit detects the input power level and supplies a low quiescent current of 16 mA at the low output power level and an increased current up to 90 mA according to the increased power level adaptively. The intelligent W-CDMA power amplifier using the adaptive bias circuit exhibits an improvement of average power usage efficiency of more than 1.93 times, and an adjacent channel leakage ratio by 4 dB at the output power of 28.3 dBm.