Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A model of information systems operation and maintenance process complexity

This paper proposes a model of information systems operation and maintenance process complexity. It defines three metrics which include execution complexity, information complexity and flow complexity; presents formal definition and calculation method of these metrics; describes the process of evaluation; and analyzes the influence of the automation level, information sharing and workflow structure of the process on complexity, thereby proposing some methods for optimizing the process, including complexity hot-spot analysis, public activity extraction, common information convergence, and branch rearrangement. This model measures not only the operational complexity but also the structural complexity of the non-serial operation and maintenance process. Measurement indicators are simple and universal, and can reflect the characteristics inherent in the operation and maintenance process. Therefore, this model can be used to analyze, evaluate and optimize the complexity of the information systems operation and maintenance process, thus improving efficiency and quality of operation and maintenance.
In vitro Bioaccessibility of Carotenes: Influence of microstructure in tomato and carrot as modified by processing

Carotenes are a group of fat-soluble pigments in many fruits and vegetables associated with several important biological effects, like protection against the development of some forms of cancer and cardiovascular disease. The carotene bioavailability in plant foods, i.e. the fraction of ingested carotenes taken up and utilised in the body, is often increased by processing. The increased bioavailability is often ascribed to changes in the microstructure, but few studies have investigated this in detail. The aim of the present work was to evaluate how different types of thermal and mechanical processing, and addition of dietary fat, affected the bioaccessibility of the carotenes lycopene, α-carotene and β-carotene in tomato and carrot, and whether this could be linked to structural changes. An in vitro approach was applied in order to screen a large number of processing parameters. The in vitro models mimicked different parts of the human gastrointestinal tract, and were used to assess the carotene release from the food matrix, micellar incorporation and cellular uptake. The predictive value of the in vitro models was evaluated by comparison with the in vivo bioavailability of β-carotene and lycopene from the same fruit and vegetable soups as measured in a human intervention study. The in vitro bioaccessibility of carotenes from carrot and tomato was generally improved by thermal and mechanical processing, and this could be linked to a reduction in cell wall integrity. High-pressure homogenisation (HPH) of carrot, causing extensive cell wall disintegration, and addition of 5% olive oil gave the highest in vitro bioaccessibility of α- and β-carotene. For these samples, the micellar incorporation of β-carotene was up to 69% of the total content. In addition, in vitro results for β-carotene were consistent with in vivo bioavailability. A combination of thermal and mechanical processing of tomato significantly increased the in vitro release of lycopene, but attempts to further increase the bioaccessibility by a second thermal treatment or by HPH were not successful. Consequently, the micellar incorporation remained below 22%, even with an addition of 5% olive oil. Furthermore, the in vitro models used to assess lycopene bioaccessibility could not predict in vivo measurements. In conclusion, processing conditions that reduced the cell wall integrity of tomato and carrot had a large positive effect on the in vitro bioaccessibility of carotenes and, with respect to β-carotene, also suggested an improved bioavailability as measured in humans.
BelRed: Constructing GPGPU graph applications with software building blocks

Graph applications are common in scientific and enterprise computing. Recent research studies used graphics processing units (GPUs) to accelerate graph workloads. These applications tend to present characteristics that are challenging for single instruction multiple data (SIMD) computation. To achieve high performance, prior work studied individual graph problems, and designed device-specific algorithms and optimizations to achieve high performance. However, programmers have to expend significant manual effort, packing data and computation to make such solutions GPU-friendly. Usually, they are too complex for regular programmers, and the resultant implementations may not be portable nor perform well across platforms. To address these concerns, we present a library of software building blocks, BelRed1 which allows programmers to build GPGPU graph applications with ease. BelRed is based on the prior research of graph algorithms in linear algebra, and is implemented and optimized for the GPU platform. BelRed currently is built on top of the OpenCL framework. It consists of fundamental building blocks necessary for graph processing. This paper introduces the library and presents several case studies on how to leverage it for a variety of representative graph problems. We evaluate application performance on an AMD GPU and investigate optimization approaches to improve performance.
Using Soil Water and Canopy Temperature to Improve Irrigation Scheduling for Corn

With declining well capacities in the Central High Plains resulting from withdrawals exceeding recharge in the Ogallala aquifer, producers will need to adopt advanced irrigation scheduling to maintain productivity with limited water. A study was conducted to assess the effect of irrigation scheduling approaches based on plant water stress sensing, soil water sensing, and climate (ET), or a combination of these methods on corn growth, yield, and water productivity of two hybrids (conventional and drought tolerant), seasonal crop water use, and total irrigation applications. The study involved five irrigation scheduling treatments applying 80% of full irrigation and a control (full irrigation) treatment and two corn hybrids arranged in a split-plot design. Results indicate there were no significant differences in yield among irrigation scheduling methods (p-value=0.38). However, there were significant differences in yield between conventional and drought tolerant corn hybrids (p-value=0.003), on average there was a 20% yield advantage for the conventional hybrid. There were no-significant interactions between irrigation scheduling and corn hybrid (p-value=0.48). Treatment T2 based on crop water stress sensing using the Time Temperature Threshold used 11% more water compared to the standard irrigation scheduling method based on neutron probe monitoring (T1) but resulted in the highest yield for the drought tolerant corn (189 bu/ac). Treatment 3 that triggered irrigation based on soil water sensors resulted in 22% more water applied compared to the standard method, but also resulted in the highest yield (219 bu/ac) for the conventional corn hybrid. Yields appear to have been affected by hail damage that occurred earlier in the season (at growth stage V14) resulting in reduced canopy cover as quantified through leaf area index measurements. Residual soil water effects from a previous study also influenced yields, with treatments located in high water level areas producing higher yields compared to those in low water level locations. Preliminary data indicates that soil-based, plant-based, and/or climate based irrigation scheduling can result in improved crop water productivity particularly under non-ideal growing environments where external abiotic and biotic factors could influence in-season crop water use. Matching irrigation applications with crop use under non-ideal environments could help producers to maintain profitability and conserve water. Integrating soil and plant water status monitoring with the scientifically robust ET-based scheduling could encourage more producers to adopt irrigation scheduling through visual illustrations of root water uptake.
On the connection between Benguela and equatorial Atlantic Niños and the role of the South Atlantic Anticyclone

For the eastern tropical Atlantic two recurring El Nino-like phenomena with high interannual SST anomalies have been described, one centered in the equatorial region as part of the Atlantic zonal mode and one off Angola referred to as Benguela Nino. Both events are supposed to be generated not locally but by a relaxation of the trade winds in the western equatorial Atlantic. Here the connection between SST variations in the two regions is investigated with observational data sets as well as ocean model simulations. They are correlated to such an extent that joint events should rather be viewed as one Atlantic Nino. An intriguing feature, counterintuitive in view of the remote forcing mechanism, is that SST anomalies off Angola precede those in the equatorial Atlantic. We show this behavior to be related to the difference in thermocline depths and a different seasonality of interannual SST variability in the two regions. While Benguela Ninos peak in austral fall due to the Angola Benguela Front being located furthest to the south and high interannual variability in coastal Kelvin wave activity, warm events at the equator are phase-locked to austral winter when the thermocline is shallow. Perturbation experiments confirm the importance of remote forcing from the equator for SST variability off Angola and demonstrate the leading role of wind stress in the generation of SST anomalies in the eastern tropical Atlantic. These wind stress variations are shown to be linked to fluctuations in the strength of the South Atlantic Anticyclone, a connection that might be important with respect to the predictability of Atlantic Ninos.
Generalized Proportional Integral Control for a Robot with Flexible Finger Gripper

Abstract In this paper a Generalized Proportional Integral output feedback control scheme is proposed for grasping tasks. We have designed a flexible finger gripper mounted at the tip of a rigid arm which can grasp and move objects from a place to other so that a bending force control of the flexible gripper is combined with a position control of the rigid arm. Experiments are presented to verify the goodness of the proposed control law.
Association of IGF1 gene haplotypes with high myopia in Chinese adults.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of high myopia with common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IGF1, IGFBP3, and IGFBP4 genes in a Chinese population. METHODS For our case-control study, we recruited 600 unrelated participants: 300 case participants with high myopia (-8.00 diopters or less) and 300 emmetropic controls (within ±1.00 diopter). Twenty-one tag SNPs were selected from these candidate genes and were genotyped. Genotype data were analyzed by logistic regression. Multiple comparisons were corrected by running 15 000 permutations of case-control status. RESULTS Although we did not find any significant association for IGF1 SNPs using single-marker analysis, we identified many windows with haplotype frequencies significantly different between case participants and control participants using a variable-sized sliding-window strategy. In particular, the most significant association was shown by a 3-SNP window consisting of rs12423791, rs7956547, and rs5742632 (omnibus test: asymptotic P(asym) = 3.70 × 10(-9) and empirical P(emp) = 6.67 × 10(-5)). There were 3 high-risk haplotypes: CAC (P(asym) = 2.35 × 10(-6); odds ratio [OR], 5.06), GAT (P(asym) = 3.56 × 10(-4); OR, 3.18), and GGC (P(asym) = 2.25 × 10(-3); OR, 25.10). There was 1 protective haplotype: GAC (P(asym) = 8.43 × 10(-4); OR, 0.63). On the other hand, our single-marker and haplotype analyses did not show any significant association for IGFBP3 and IGFBP4. CONCLUSIONS IGF1 haplotypes are associated with genetic susceptibility to high myopia in Chinese adults, whereas IGFBP3 and IGFBP4 are unlikely to be important in the genetic predisposition to high myopia. CLINICAL RELEVANCE IGF1 is associated with high myopia, and identifying the causal variants is important for understanding the underlying mechanisms.
The role of a cohort in the design and evaluation of pervasive systems

In this paper, we describe a new methodology for the design and evaluation of pervasive systems. We have recruited a cohort of 30 participants who are engaging with an interdisciplinary pervasive computing project Cityware over 3 years. The cohort has been selected in order to represent a broad mix of ages and technological abilities so as to increase the ecological validity of evaluation of systems and applications developed in Cityware. We discuss some of the techniques and methods that we have been able to employ as a result of maintaining this group of participants and illustrate how their data feeds into Cityware studies and applications. While the costs of recruiting and maintaining a cohort such as this are relatively high, the benefits in terms of the depth, richness and validity of results produced in this way are considered to be significant. We discuss this in terms of the potential for new designs, the type of data one can collect and engagement within the city.
Cytoarchitecture of the lateral ganglionic eminence and rostral extension of the lateral ventricle in the human fetal brain

The fetal development of the anterior subventricular zone (SVZ) involves the transformation of radial glia into neural stem cells, in addition to the migration of neuroblasts from the SVZ towards different regions in the brain. In adult rodents this migration from the anterior SVZ is restricted to the olfactory bulb following a rostral migratory stream (RMS) formed by chains of migratory neuroblasts. Similar to rodents, an RMS has been suggested in the adult human brain, where the SVZ remains as an active proliferative region. Nevertheless, a human fetal RMS has not been described and the presence of migratory neuroblasts in the adult remains controversial. Here we describe the cytoarchitecture of the human SVZ at the lateral ganglionic eminence late in the second trimester of development (23–24 weeks postconception). Cell organization in this region is heterogeneous along the ventricular wall, with GFAP‐positive cells aligned to the ventricle. These cells coexpress markers for radial glia like GFAPδ, nestin, and vimentin. We also show the presence of abundant migratory neuroblasts in the anterior horn SVZ forming structures here denominated cell throngs. Interestingly, a ventral extension of the lateral ventricle suggests the presence of a putative RMS. Nevertheless, in the olfactory bulb neuroblast throngs or chain‐like structures were not observed. The lack of these structures closer to the olfactory bulb could indicate a destination for the migratory neuroblasts outside the olfactory bulb in the human brain. J. Comp. Neurol. 519:1165–1180, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Bacterial profile of Blood Stream infections and Antibiotic resistance pattern of Isolates

Blood samples from 2542 clinically diagnosed cases of septicemia were processed. Out of these 946 (76.55%) were from pediatric deptt and rest from other deptts. Growth was obtained in 509(20.02%) cases . Candida spp were isolated from 23 (4.57 ) cases Out of 486 bacterial isolates 52.67 % were gram positive bacteria whereas 47.33% were gram negative bacilli . Staph aureus 133 (27.37%)was the predominant organisms followed by CONS 98 (20.1%). Amongst gram negative organisms Enterobacter 69 (14.19 %) was the most predominant followed by Esch Coli 45 (9.27 %) Pseudomonas 37 (7.62 %) and Acinetobacter spp 34 (6.69 %). Amongst gram positive organisms maximum resistance was seen with Ampicillin (74.61%) and Erythromycin (69.67 %). Most of the gram negative bacilli were MDR (71%). Maximum resistance was observed with Ampicillin (86.1% ) cephalexin (68.07%) and piperacillin (57.71%). Most successful drugs were Amikacin,gentamicin and cefotaxime. 34.35% of the isolates were ESBL producers.
On the Roles of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Dna2p and Flap Endonuclease 1 in Okazaki Fragment Processing*

Short DNA segments designated Okazaki fragments are intermediates in eukaryotic DNA replication. Each contains an initiator RNA/DNA primer (iRNA/DNA), which is converted into a 5′-flap and then removed prior to fragment joining. In one model for this process, the flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) removes the iRNA. In the other, the single-stranded binding protein, replication protein A (RPA), coats the flap, inhibits FEN1, but stimulates cleavage by the Dna2p helicase/nuclease. RPA dissociates from the resultant short flap, allowing FEN1 cleavage. To determine the most likely process, we analyzed cleavage of short and long 5′-flaps. FEN1 cleaves 10-nucleotide fixed or equilibrating flaps in an efficient reaction, insensitive to even high levels of RPA or Dna2p. On 30-nucleotide fixed or equilibrating flaps, RPA partially inhibits FEN1. CTG flaps can form foldback structures and were inhibitory to both nucleases, however, addition of a dT12 to the 5′-end of a CTG flap allowed Dna2p cleavage. The presence of high Dna2p activity, under reaction conditions favoring helicase activity, substantially stimulated FEN1 cleavage of tailed-foldback flaps and also 30-nucleotide unstructured flaps. Our results suggest Dna2p is not used for processing of most flaps. However, Dna2p has a role in a pathway for processing structured flaps, in which it aids FEN1 using both its nuclease and helicase activities.
Left ventricular to right atrial shunt (Gerbode defect): congenital versus acquired

Introduction Congenital left ventricular to right atrial (LV-RA) shunt (Gerbode defect) is rare, while acquired LV-RA shunt has been increasingly reported. As yet, systematically incorporated data of the LV-RA shunt have not been presented. Aim To present the clinical features, diagnostic challenge and management strategies of congenital and acquired LV-RA shunts. Material and methods The data source was based on a comprehensive literature retrieval of the LV-RA shunt in the period 1990–2013. Results In comparison with the acquired Gerbode defect, the congenital Gerbode defect group of patients were younger and were associated more often with additional congenital disorders. Previous cardiac surgery and infective endocarditis were the two major aetiologies of the occurrence of the acquired shunts. Paravalvular abscess was associated in 10.2% and atrioventricular block in 13.6% of the acquired group patients. Transoesophageal echocardiography showed a higher diagnostic accuracy, lower missed diagnosis and lower inclusive diagnosis rates, in comparison to transthoracic echocardiography, but the misdiagnosis rates of the two modalities did not differ from each other. Four (4.5%) of the acquired group patients were complicated by atrioventricular block following surgical or interventional closure of the shunt. Eight (9.1%) patients died in the acquired group, but no patient died in the congenital group. Conclusions The diagnosis of an LV-RA shunt is quite challenging, especially in the context of coexisting abnormalities including an additional intracardiac shunt, tricuspid regurgitation, pulmonary artery hypertension and infective endocarditis, which have to be carefully differentiated from the shunt by further investigations. A better control of infective complications and careful manoeuvres during surgery may help to keep the LV-RA-sensitive septum intact.
A Robust Iterative Filtering Technique for Data Aggregation in Wireless Sensor Networks

Aggregation has been known to be majorly vulnerable to node compromising attacks. Since WSN are usually unattended, they are highly susceptible to such attacks. Thus, determining trustworthiness of data and reputation of sensor nodes has become crucially important for WSN. Iterative filtering algorithms deem great promise for such a purpose. Such algorithms concurrently aggregate data from multiple sources & provide trust assessment of these sources, usually in a form of similar weight factors allotted to data provided by each source. In concern with the security, we proposed improvement for iterative filtering techniques by rendering an initial approximation for such algorithms which makes them not only collusion robust, but also faster converging. It is conceived that so modified iterative filtering algorithms have a great latent for implementation in the future WSN. We extended the IF algorithms with a novel approach for collusion detection and revocation based on an initial approximation of the aggregate values as well as distribution of differences of each sensor readings.
Dielectric Properties of Skeletal Muscle during Ischemia in the Frequency Range from 50 Hz to 200 MHz

Abstract: The complex dielectric properties of canine skeletal muscles were measured at 25 °C during ischemia in the frequency range from 50 Hz to 200 MHz. The dielectric spectrum of skeletal muscle shows an α‐dispersion below 1 kHz and a β‐dispersion with a relaxation frequency of about 100 kHz. The α‐dispersion disappears between 450 and 500 min of ischemia time, the same time during which mechanical contraction was observed, and was restored later. During ischemia, the β‐dispersion is shifted continuously to higher frequencies; and at frequencies above 50 MHz, a decrease of the real part of the dielectric permittivity was measured. The dielectric loss factor decreases during ischemia at frequencies below 500 kHz, only interrupted by a short increase, coinciding with the disappearance of the α‐dispersion. The principal processes that happen during ischemia inside the skeletal muscle tissues were studied with the help of a model especially designed to simulate membrane effects on the dielectric spectrum. The disappearance of the α‐dispersion is explained by an increase of conductivity in the membrane of the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Shifting β‐dispersion to higher frequencies is a result of metabolically produced ions and therefore increasing conductivity of the intracellular medium. Decreasing dielectric permittivity at frequencies above 50 MHz and decreasing dielectric loss factor at low frequencies are caused by the cell edema.
Design and Implementation of Mesh RAID with Multiple Parities in Virtual Large-Scale Disks

Recently, the demand of low cost large scale storages increases. We developed VLSD (Virtual Large Scale Disks) toolkit for constructing virtual disk based distributed storages, which aggregate free spaces of individual disks. However, in order to construct large-scale storage, more than or equal to 3 fault tolerant RAID is important. In the previous work we proposed Mesh RAID that is 3 fault tolerant orthogonal RAID. And, we implemented Mesh RAID using VLSD. Mesh RAID is not tolerant of only disk fault but also tolerant of string fault. In addition, we also proposed Composite RAID, which is an easy implementation of complex RAID system by combining VLSD classes. We also implemented Composite RAID based Mesh RAID. In this paper, we propose Mesh RAID MP(Multiple Parities), which has multiple fault tolerance using multiple parities. Specifically, we design and implement MeshRAID2P. Furthermore, we employ RAID DP, which has row parity and diagonal parity, as 2FT RAID.