Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Forschungsberichte der Fakultät IV — Elektrotechnik und Informatik BufferBloat: How Relevant? A QoE Perspective on Buffer Sizing

Despite decades of operational experience and focused research efforts, standards for sizing and configuring buffers in network systems remain controversial. Recently, the debate has focused on the claim that excessive buffering (i.e., bufferbloat) can “lead to network-crippling latency spikes” [1] which severely impact Internet services. In this paper, we systematically examine the implications of buffer sizing choices from the perspective of end users. To assess user perception of application quality under various buffer sizing schemes we employ Quality of Experience (QoE) metrics contextualized in the familiar framework of systems theory. We evaluate these metrics over a wide range of end-user applications (e.g., web browsing, VoIP, and RTP video streaming) and workloads in two realistic testbeds emulating access and backbone networks. The main finding of our extensive evaluations is that network workload, rather than buffer size, is the primary determinant of end user QoE. Our results also highlight the relatively narrow conditions under which buffer bloat seriously degrades QoE i.e., when buffers are oversized and sustainably filled.
Efficient don't care computation for hierarchical designs

In this paper, we describe a BDD-based hierarchical don't care computation algorithm. In contrast to traditional don't care computation techniques, our method retains the hierarchy in the design netlist during the don't care computation. Although this may reduce some of the flexibility inherent in the optimization process, it allows our technique to handle large designs. Our method computes don't cares at input and output interfaces of different modules in the hierarchy by an image computation process. In case an exact image cannot be computed, our method computes the largest approximate image. Once the don't cares at the input and output interfaces are computed, the hierarchical instances are optimized separately using a traditional optimization flow. Experimental results demonstrate that our technique can achieve a 36% reduction in literal count for large hierarchical designs, with reasonable runtimes. Our method can complete for several examples in which flattened optimization fails
A generalized approach for the control of micro-electromechanical relays

MEMS (Micro-Electromechanical Systems) is an area of research and applications that is becoming increasingly popular. It's mainly concerned with integrating micro-mechanical transducers with micro-electronic circuits on common substrates, traditionally silicon, through micro-fabrication. Instead of traditionally having the transducer and the communicating (or control) circuit as two separate entities, MEMS miniaturizes and combines them on a single chip, giving it several advantages, saving space, money, and increasing the sensitivity and accuracy of the integrated system. A micro-electromechanical relay is a type of MEM devices that is becoming increasingly important in a wide range of industries such as the computer industry, the medical industry and the automotive industry, to name a few. However, micro-relays, both electrostatic and electromagnetic, share a common dynamic structure that causes an unfavorable phenomenon called pull-in in which the movable electrode comes crashing down to the fixed electrode once it reaches a certain gap spacing, possibly damaging the relay and creating undesirable output effects. To eliminate this phenomenon and have better control over the switching of the micro-relays, improving transient response and output error, a feedback control scheme is desired. In this work, it is shown that voltage-controlled electromechanical micro-relays have a common dynamic structure allowing for the formulation of a generalized model. It is also shown that openloop control of MEM relays naturally leads to pull-in during closing. An attempt has been made to control the relays eliminating this phenomenon and tracking a command signal that dictates the motion of the movable electrode over time with improved transient response. In doing so, two control schemes were adopted, a Lyapunov-based and a feedback linearization-based one. Simulation results clearly show the superiority of the closed-loop control compared to the openloop one. It's also shown that the Lyapunov-based controller was limited in the extent to which it
The life span of naive alpha/beta T cells in secondary lymphoid organs

We have determined the life span of naive CD4-8+ T cells in T cell receptor transgenic mice. We find that such cells do not divide in secondary lymphoid organs in both normal euthymic mice and T cell- deficient mice. By both continuous labeling and by chasing pulse- labeled cells, we find that the minimum life span of the naive T cells is in the order of 8 wk.
VEGF is required for dendritogenesis of newly born olfactory bulb interneurons

The angiogenic factor vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF) has been shown to have a role in neurogenesis, but how it affects adult neurogenesis is not fully understood. To delineate a role for VEGF in successive stages of olfactory bulb (OB) neurogenesis, we used a conditional transgenic system to suppress VEGF signaling at the adult mouse sub-ventricular zone (SVZ), rostral migratory stream (RMS) and OB, which constitute the respective sites of birth, the migration route, and sites where newly born interneurons mature and integrate within the existing OB circuitry. Following the development of fluorescently tagged adult-born neurons, we show that sequestration of VEGF that is constitutively expressed by distinct types of resident OB neurons greatly impaired dendrite development in incoming SVZ-born neurons. This was evidenced by reduced dendritic spine density of granule cells and significantly shorter and less branched dendrites in periglomerular neurons. Notably, the vasculature and perfusion of the SVZ, RMS and OB were not adversely affected when VEGF suppression was delayed until after birth, thus uncoupling the effect of VEGF on dendritogenesis from its known role in vascular maintenance. Furthermore, a requirement for VEGF was specific to newly born neurons, as already established OB neurons were not damaged by VEGF inhibition. This study thus uncovered a surprising perfusion-independent role of VEGF in the adult brain, namely, an essential role in the maturation of adult-born neurons.
The Nature and Dynamics of Internet Pornography Exposure for Youth

We examined exposure to Internet pornography before the age of 18, as reported by college students (n = 563), via an online survey. Ninety-three percent of boys and 62% of girls were exposed to online pornography during adolescence. Exposure prior to age 13 was relatively uncommon. Boys were more likely to be exposed at an earlier age, to see more images, to see more extreme images (e.g., rape, child pornography), and to view pornography more often, while girls reported more involuntary exposure. If participants in this study are typical of young people, exposure to pornography on the Internet can be described as a normative experience, and more study of its impact is clearly warranted.
Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acid in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Meta-Analysis

A meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation (n-3 PUFAs) in lowering liver fat, liver enzyme (alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) levels), and blood lipids (triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein (HDL), and low density lipoprotein (LDL)) in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Methods. MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, Science Citation Index (ISI Web of Science), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were searched for relevant randomized controlled trials on the effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in patients with NAFLD from inception to May 2015. Ten studies were included in this meta-analysis. Results. 577 cases of NAFLD/NASH in ten randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. The results of the meta-analysis showed that benefit changes in liver fat favored PUFA treatment, and it was also beneficial for GGT, but it was not significant on ALT, AST, TC, and LDL. Conclusions. In this meta-analysis, omega-3 PUFAs improved liver fat, GGT, TG, and HDL in patients with NAFLD/NASH. Therefore, n-3 PUFAs may be a new treatment option for NAFLD.
Generation of Eosinophils from Cryopreserved Murine Bone Marrow Cells

Eosinophils are produced in the bone marrow from CD34+ eosinophil lineage–committed progenitors, whose levels in the bone marrow are elevated in a variety of human diseases. These findings suggest that increased eosinophil lineage–committed progenitor production is an important process in disease-associated eosinophilia. The pathways central to the biology of the eosinophil lineage–committed progenitor remain largely unknown. Thus, developing new methods to investigate the regulators of eosinophil lineage–committed progenitor differentiation is needed to identify potential therapeutic targets to specifically inhibit eosinophil production. We tested cytokine regimens to optimize liquid cultures for the study of eosinophil lineage–committed progenitor and eosinophil precursor differentiation into mature eosinophils. Stem cell factor (but not fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand) was required for optimal yield of eosinophils. Furthermore, we evaluated the effects of cell preservation and scale on the culture, successfully culturing functional eosinophils from fresh and frozen murine bone marrow cells and in a standard-sized and 96-well culture format. In summary, we have developed an adaptable culture system that yields functionally competent eosinophils from murine low-density bone marrow cells and whose cytokine regime includes expansion of progenitors with stem cell factor alone with subsequent differentiation with interleukin 5.
Performance Analysis of Broadcasting Real-Time Data Placement over Wireless MultiChannels

In this paper composite mobile environments, modeled by overlap service areas are taken for performance analysis of a wireless multiple channel link. The accurately approximated Gamma distributions is used to obtain analytical expressions for performance metrics such as average real-time miss rate and outage probability. The equivalent probability distribution function of client request to channel hopping is approximated. In the analysis multiple channel model based on currently transmitting is considered over independent and not identically distributed wireless channels. In addition the performance of currently transmitting is compared with the mobile user mobility. The numerical results are validated by Monte-Carlo simulations. It is shown that for broadcasting real-time data placement, this contribution is very useful and efficient for exact performance analysis and design of wireless multi-channel links.
The hearing trousers pocket: activity recognition by alternative sensors

In daily life, mobile phones accompany the user permanently and are worn often in the front pocket of the trousers. The sensors included in today's mobile phones can hence be used for ubiquitous assistance. For instance, the acceleration sensor could be used for analysis of the person's bodily activity, or the microphone can be used to analyze the environmental noise levels. A possible sensor fusion provides additional and assured environmental and context information. This work presents new methods of activity recognition by acceleration and sound sensors by means of sensors included in commercially available smart phones during everyday life. We could identify that sounds provide valuable additional information on a user's situation that allow to better asses a person's current context.
A Creative Ontological Analysis of Collective Imagery during Co - Design for Service Innovation

This paper describes an ontological attempt in the understanding of codesign activity in the wild within the context of service innovation. The research has an aim to analyse the transformation of ideas during co-design by examining informal data from a workshop that inspired villagers in Turkey to innovate collaboratively. Contrary to the often process-oriented analysis of co-design activity, the workshop facilitates designing by envisioning and enacting participants’ collective imagery in physical forms in an iterative cycle of deconstruction, construction and reconstruction. We report an understanding of the ontology established to describe and analyse the informal data collected from the physical forms of collective imagery. A machine learning approach is used to underpin assumptions made in the understanding of the activity based on the ontology. The analysis suggests the frequency and relevancy of ideas significantly influenced the possibility that an idea will become part of a design solution. An evaluation of the machine learning analysis delivers insights into the understanding of data collected during co-design in the wild.
A Fresh Look at Permission

This article examines the concept of permission by reviewing how it has been defined thus far in the literature. The idea of developing the utility of the concept as a process for clinical practice is introduced. A discussion about how an integrative framework and developmental thinking can be used as a check system for creating effective permission transactions is presented. Positioning permission transactions to be well received by the client can effectively challenge introjected messages in the Parent ego state, enhance Adult ego state functioning, and give the Child ego states just enough nurturing and protection to generate a shift to catharsis.
The effect of a school-based educational intervention on menstrual health: an intervention study among adolescent girls in Bangladesh

Objectives To assess the impact of a school-based menstrual education programme on: (1) menstrual knowledge, beliefs and practices, (2) menstrual disorders experienced, and (3) restrictions on menstruating adolescents. Design Intervention study. Setting Araihazar area, Bangladesh. Participants 416 adolescent female students aged 11–16 years, in grade 6–8, and living with their parents. Interventions A school-based health education study conducted from April 2012 to April 2013. Primary and secondary outcome measures We randomly selected 3 of 26 high schools in the study area. We delivered 6 months of educational intervention by trained (by an obstetrician and gynaecologist) research assistants (RAs) on menstrual hygiene among school girls. RAs read the questionnaire and participants answered. The changes in knowledge, beliefs and practices regarding menstruation, menstrual disorders experienced, and the restrictions and behaviours practiced by menstruating adolescents were compared between the baseline and the follow-up assessments. Results After health education, participants reported a significant improvement (p<0.001) in ‘high knowledge and beliefs’ scores compared to baseline (51% vs 82.4%). Significant improvement was also observed in overall good menstrual practices (28.8% vs 88.9%), including improvements in using sanitary pads (22.4% change after the intervention), frequency of changing pads/cloths per day (68.8%), drying the used absorbent (77.6%), methods of disposing of the used absorbent (25.5%), and cleaning of genitalia (19.2%). During the follow-up, the participants reported significant improvements in the regularity of their menstrual cycle (94.5% vs 99.5%) and fewer complications during menstruation (78.6% vs 59.6%). Conclusions The programme produced significant changes in the knowledge, beliefs and practices of menstrual hygiene, complications from lack of hygiene, and the behaviour and restrictions of the menstruating adolescents. These results demonstrate the feasibility of implementing a health education programme for adolescents on menstrual hygiene in secondary schools serving rural Bangladesh.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Safe Exploration Techniques for Reinforcement Learning – an Overview

We overview different approaches to safety in (semi)auto-nomous robotics. Particularly, we focus on how to achieve safe behavior of a robot if it is requested to perform exploration of unknown states. Presented methods are studied from the viewpoint of reinforcement learning, a partially-supervised machine learning method. To collect training data for this algorithm, the robot is required to freely explore the state space – which can lead to possibly dangerous situations. The role of safe exploration is to provide a framework allowing exploration while preserving safety. The examined methods range from simple algorithms to sophisticated methods based on previous experience or state prediction. Our overview also addresses the issues of how to define safety in the real-world applications (apparently absolute safety is unachievable in the continuous and random real world). In the conclusion we also suggest several ways that are worth researching more thoroughly.
Respiratory disease and panic attacks among adults in the United States.

OBJECTIVE To determine the association between respiratory disease and panic attacks among adults in the US population. METHOD Data were drawn from the Midlife Development in the United States Survey (n = 3,032), a representative sample of adults aged 25 to 74 years. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between self-reported respiratory and other lung disease and panic attacks, major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and alcohol/substance use disorders. RESULTS After adjusting for demographic characteristics, comorbid mental disorders, and comorbid physical disorders, self-reported respiratory disease (ie, asthma, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema) was associated with a significantly increased likelihood of panic attacks (odds ratio, 1.7; confidence interval, 1.2 to 2.4). Other self-reported lung disease was also associated with a significantly increased odds of panic attacks (odds ratio, 2.3; confidence interval, 1.2 to 4.2), and having both self-reported respiratory disease and another lung disease was associated with increased likelihood of panic attacks (odds ratio, 4.1; confidence interval, 1.7, 9.9). These associations also persisted after adjusting for demographic characteristics, comorbid mental disorders, and physical comorbidity. CONCLUSION These findings are consistent with and extend previous clinical and epidemiologic data by showing a specific association between self-reported respiratory disease and panic attacks among adults. Future studies that investigate the relationship between respiratory disease and panic attacks, and other mental disorders, using prospectively collected data on respiratory functioning, may help to improve our understanding of the mechanism of this association.
Scalable Graph Building from Text Data

In this paper we propose NNCTPH, a new MapReduce algorithm that is able to build an approximate k-NN graph from large text datasets. The algorithm uses a modified version of Context Triggered Piecewise Hashing to bin the input data into buckets, and uses an exhaustive search inside the buckets to build the graph. It also uses multiple stages to join the different unconnected subgraphs. We experimentally test the algorithm on different datasets consisting of the subject of spam emails. Although the algorithm is still at an early development stage, it already proves to be four times faster than a MapReduce implementation of NN-Descent, for the same quality of produced graph.
Efficient Motif Discovery for Large-Scale Time Series in Healthcare

Analyzing time series data can reveal the temporal behavior of the underlying mechanism producing the data. Time series motifs, which are similar subsequences or frequently occurring patterns, have significant meanings for researchers especially in medical domain. With the fast growth of time series data, traditional methods for motif discovery are inefficient and not applicable to large-scale data. This work proposes an efficient Motif Discovery method for Large-scale time series (MDLats). By computing standard motifs, MDLats eliminates a majority of redundant computation in the related arts and reuses existing information to the maximum. All the motif types and subsequences are generated for subsequent analysis and classification. Our system is implemented on a Hadoop platform and deployed in a hospital for clinical electrocardiography classification. The experiments on real-world healthcare data show that MDLats outperform the state-of-the-art methods even in large time series.
VP2P: A Virtual Machine-Based P2P Testbed for VoD Delivery

Recent advances in P2P technology have made it a viable alternative for the delivery of rich media by both content and service providers. However, to better understand and utilize P2P technologies in building a scalable media distribution platform, the nature of the underlying network must be taken into consideration. Although many P2P simulations have been conducted previously, very few were evaluated on a real P2P testbed with the properties of the physical network in mind. In this paper, we describe VP2P, a virtual machine-based P2P testbed, which supports P2P studies with the consideration of typical service provider networks. We use four fully equipped MacPro's to emulate 32 peers in the current implementation. Experiments of three P2P algorithms for Video On Demand (VoD) services: BitTorrent, Toast, and Zebra, were run on the testbed. We discuss the rationales behind the hardware and software architecture of VP2P, report our results, and conclude with lessons learned and future directions for VM-based testbeds.
Intersecting motivations for leaving abusive relationships, substance abuse, and transactional sex among HIV high-risk women

Background Women bear a significant burden of the HIV epidemic in the United States. Women classified as ‘HIV high-risk’ often bring co-existing histories of intimate partner violence (IPV), drug use, and transactional sex. To help inform future comprehensive HIV prevention strategies, we aimed to explore common motivating reasons and barriers to leaving and/or terminating engagement in each of these risk-promoting situations. Methods Between August and November 2014, in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 HIV high-risk women in Atlanta, Georgia who had experienced IPV in the previous 12 months, and used drugs and/or engaged in transactional sex in the previous five years. Participants were asked about histories of IPV, drug use, and/or engagement in transactional sex, and the motivating reasons and barriers to terminating each. Results Women reported a range of motivating reasons for leaving IPV, drug use, and transactional sex. Overlapping themes included impact on children, personal physical health/safety, and life dissatisfaction. Financial need was identified as a common barrier to leaving. Conclusions Future HIV prevention research should further explore the perceived impact of IPV, drug use, and transactional sex on physical health/safety, life dissatisfaction, one’s children, and financial need as motivators and barriers to reducing upstream HIV risk.
Optimal Performance Study of IEEE 802.11 DCF with Contention Window

The IEEE 802.11 protocol has achieved worldwide acceptance with WLANs with minimum management and maintenance costs. In order to maximize the throughput, stations had to spend many times to find out the best contention window. In this paper, we modified the Wang¡¦s model and took account of the freezing of the back off counter when channel is busy. In the modified model, it is easily to obtain the optimal contention window for a given network scale. The selection of optimal contention window is just based on the network scales. Simulation results showed that the throughput is the same as Wang¡¦s. But, the optimal contention window is less than Wang¡¦s.