Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ultrashort Bowel Syndrome Outcome in Children Treated in a Multidisciplinary Intestinal Rehabilitation Unit

Abstract Aim Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is the leading cause of intestinal failure (IF) in the pediatric population. Our aim was to review long-term outcome of ultrashort bowel syndrome (USBS) in an Intestinal Rehabilitation Unit (IRU). Patients and Methods Retrospective study of patients with USBS (defined as < 10 cm of remnant small bowel) treated between 2000 and 2015. Demographic data, clinical, and treatment variables including parenteral nutrition (PN), surgical techniques, and intestinal transplantation (IT) were analyzed. Results Out of 250 children, 30 referred to the IRU met inclusion criteria. Upon first assessment, patients had a median age of 3 (1–217) months and had undergone 3 (1–6) previous laparotomies that left 5 (0–9) cm of remnant small bowel. The main cause of USBS was neonatal midgut volvulus (50%). Follow-up was 28 (4–175) months. Advanced IF-associated liver disease (IFALD) was documented in 63%. None of the patients achieved digestive autonomy and was consequently considered for IT. One patient was excluded, five died before IT, and three are still on the waiting list. Six patients received an isolated IT, 6 a combined liver IT, and 18 a multivisceral graft. Digestive autonomy was achieved in 71% after 31 (14–715) days after IT and currently 62% are alive and off total PN. A significant drop in IFALD progression prior to IT was observed with the introduction of new lipid emulsions in 2010 (SMOF or Soy oil MCT (mid-chain triglycerides) Olive oil Fish oil). Conclusion A multidisciplinary IRU including an IT program offers a comprehensive approach for patients with IF and is crucial to improve survival rate of USBS. New PN lipid emulsions had an impact on IFALD progression and may eventually reduce overall mortality.
Distributed routing balancing for interconnection network communication

An efficient design of the interconnection network is crucial because of its impact on the parallel computer performance. A high speed routing scheme that minimises contention and avoids the formation of hot-spots should be included in the design. We have developed a new method to uniformly balance communication traffic over the interconnection network called distributed routing balancing (DRB) that is based on limited and load-controlled path expansion in order to maintain a low message latency. The method uniformly distributes the communication load between all links of the interconnection network and maintains latency control provided that total bandwidth requirements do not exceed total available link bandwidth in the interconnection network. DRB defines how to create alternative paths to expand single paths (expanded path definition) and when to use them depending on traffic load (expanded path selection carried out by DRB routing). Some conclusions of the experimentation and comparisons with existing methods are given. It is demonstrated that DRB is a method to effectively balance network traffic.
Texture discriminability in monkey inferotemporal cortex predicts human texture perception

Shape and texture are both important properties of visual objects, but texture is relatively less understood. Here, we characterized neuronal responses to discrete textures in monkey inferotemporal (IT) cortex and asked whether they can explain classic findings in human texture perception. We focused on three classic findings on texture discrimination: 1) it can be easy or hard depending on the constituent elements; 2) it can have asymmetries, and 3) it is reduced for textures with randomly oriented elements. We recorded neuronal activity from monkey inferotemporal (IT) cortex and measured texture perception in humans for a variety of textures. Our main findings are as follows: 1) IT neurons show congruent selectivity for textures across array size; 2) textures that were easy for humans to discriminate also elicited distinct patterns of neuronal activity in monkey IT; 3) texture pairs with asymmetries in humans also exhibited asymmetric variation in firing rate across monkey IT; and 4) neuronal responses to randomly oriented textures were explained by an average of responses to homogeneous textures, which rendered them less discriminable. The reduction in discriminability of monkey IT neurons predicted the reduced discriminability in humans during texture discrimination. Taken together, our results suggest that texture perception in humans is likely based on neuronal representations similar to those in monkey IT.
Astrocytes and oligodendrocytes can be generated from NG2+ progenitors after acute brain injury: intracellular localization of oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2 is associated with their fate choice

Brain injury induces gliosis and scar formation; its principal cell types are mainly astrocytes and some oligodendrocytes. The origin of the astrocytes and oligodendrocytes in the scar remains unclear together with the underlying mechanism of their fate choice. We examined the response of oligodendrocyte transcription factor (Olig)2+ glial progenitors to acute brain injury. Both focal cortical (mechanical or excitotoxic) and systemic (kainic acid‐induced seizure or lipopolysaccharide‐induced inflammation) injury caused cytoplasmic translocation of Olig2 (Olig2TL) exclusively in affected brain regions as early as 2 h after injury in two‐thirds of Olig2+ cells. Many of the proliferating Olig2+ cells reacting to injury co‐expressed chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan neuron/glia antigen 2 (NG2). Using 5‐bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) tracing protocols, proliferating Olig2TLGFAP+BrdU+ cells were observed from 2 days post‐lesion (dpl). Immature oligodendrocytes were also seen from 2 dpl and all of them retained Olig2 in the nucleus (Olig2Nuc). From 5 dpl Olig2TLNG2+GFAP+ cells were observed in the wound and some of them were proliferative. From 5 dpl NG2+RIP+ cells were also seen, all of which were Olig2Nuc and some of which were also BrdU+. Our results suggest that, in response to brain injury, NG2+ progenitors may generate a subpopulation of astrocytes in addition to oligodendrocytes and their fate choice was associated with Olig2TL or Olig2Nuc. However, the NG2+GFAP+ phenotype was only seen within a limited time window (5–8 dpl) when up to 20% of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) cells co‐expressed NG2. We also observed Olig2TLGFAP+ cells that appeared after injury and before the NG2+GFAP+ phenotype. This suggests that not all astrocytes are derived from an NG2+ population.
DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN SERVICE OF INTERACTIVE TEACHING METHODS DIGITALIZIRANA NASTAVNA SREDSTVA U FUNKCIJI INTERAKTIVNIH NASTAVNIH METODA

New teaching strategies include significant use of computers but the effectiveness of those methods based on the use of computers is low if the inclusion of interactive teaching methods and students’ intellectual engagement is ignored. Digital resources are not the ones that affect the learning outcomes but teaching methods that are accompanied by the implementation of various educational technologies. If we just change the media which presents teaching content and thereby keep the same teaching methods as before, the effectiveness of teaching remains the same. Digital resources differ with respect to the potential of creating learning situations. Some digital resources facilitate the implementation of interactive teaching to a greater extent from others. A survey was conducted in Croatia in order to test the effectiveness of one of the strategies involving digital resources. The results indicate that application of appropriate digital resources has a positive effect on learning and acquiring the concepts in physics. The results are an indicator for the research that follows which will examine the teaching method that involves interaction at all stages of teaching process and highlights the use of digital resources as one of the tools for the realization of interactivity and student’s intellectual activity enlargement.
An application server to support online evolution

Most online evolution of an application depends on its runtime environment. This paper addresses how to support online evolution by an application server, which is considered as a third kind of system software, besides OS and DBMS. From the view of requirements, evolutions of software can be divided into four categories: evolutions that do not alter requirements, evolutions that alter functional requirements, evolutions that alter local constraint requirements, and evolutions that alter global constraint requirements. All changes at the requirement level should be mapped to changes at the implementation level. In our approach implementation level entities, such as components and interceptors are responsible for online evolution. Evolutions in implementation level include adding, removing, updating, and reconfiguring the entities. One of the keys to our approach is to carefully distinguish states of components and interceptors, that is, whether they are in a ready, active, executing or evolving state. A well-designed architecture and feasible mechanisms for runtime instance loading are also keys to the solution. Based on this approach, an application server prototype, named PKUAS, has been implemented and is introduced in our paper.
A low-power network-on-chip architecture for tile-based chip multi-processors

Technology scaling of tiled-based CMPs reduces the physical size of each tile and increases the number of tiles per die. This trend directly impacts the on-chip interconnect; even though the tile population increases, the inter-tile link distances scale down proportionally to the tile dimensions. The decreasing inter-tile wire lengths can be exploited to enable swift link traversal between neighboring tiles, after appropriate wire engineering. Building on this premise, we propose a technique to rapidly transfer flits between adjacent routers in half a clock cycle, by utilizing both edges of the clock during the sending and receiving operations. Half-cycle link traversal enables, for the first time, substantial reductions in (a) link power, irrespective of the data switching profile, and (b) buffer power (through buffer-size reduction), without incurring any latency/throughput loss. In fact, the proposed architecture also yields some latency improvements over a baseline NoC. Detailed hardware analysis using placed-and-routed designs, and cycle-accurate full-system simulations corroborate the significant power and latency improvements.
Potential- $K$- Means for Load Balancing and Cost Minimization in Mobile Recycling Network

Cyber-physical systems usually consist of large numbers of spatially distributed autonomous sensors that monitor physical conditions and communicate with a main location. We consider the problem of positioning mobile storage facilities in a recycling network consisting of two types of nodes: collection points (neighborhood recycling bins) and mobile storage centers, and of finding the optimal number of storage centers. Sensors at the collection points monitor and communicate fill levels to a main location, where the collection points are clustered. We present a variation of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$</tex-math></inline-formula>-means, potential- <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$</tex-math></inline-formula>- means, that assigns each cluster to a storage center while balancing the storage center loads. It minimizes the total network cost, for a fixed number of storage centers. The algorithm is based on an analogy with the gravitational force exerted by masses. The “mass” of a cluster is inversely proportional to its current “size. ” An instance is assigned to the cluster whose “mass” minimizes the “gravitational potential” on the instance's position. This decision is a reasonable compromise between instance–cluster distance and cluster “size. ” The proposed algorithm produces smaller total costs than <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$</tex-math></inline-formula>- means. We show that storage center locations affect the total cost, and thus, very significant savings are achieved through this wireless monitoring of the collection points and dynamical positioning of the storage centers.
Application of Graphene FET Nucleic Acid Biosensor in Human Motion Measurement

In order to explore the application of graphene field effect transistor (FET) nucleic acid biosensor, the sensitivity and selectivity of nano FET biosensor detection are improved by the large physical surface ratio, high electron mobility, excellent thermo conductivity and high mechanical strength. The nano-material graphene is applied to the field effect transistor biosensor, and the FET biosensor based on graphene is constructed. In addition, target molecules with specific probes are immobilized on the surface of graphene. The purpose of detecting nucleic acid molecules with high sensitivity and high selectivity can be achieved by detecting the change of electrical signals before and after hybridization and using nucleic acid – nucleic acid molecules hybridization. At the same time, the DNA biosensor can be reused. The reduced graphene oxide (R-GO) field effect transistor DNA biosensor constructed has high sensitivity, high selectivity and reusability. The research results showed that it has a potential application prospect in human motion measurement as a detection tool. To sum up, graphene FET nucleic acid biosensor is suitable for being used in human motion measurement.
Experiences in workflow management for scientific computing

Characteristics of processes in the area of scientific computing demand special modeling and execution capabilities of workflow models and workflow management systems respectively. This concerns especially the modeling of a huge number of workflows in a compact manner and the possibility to change the instances of a workflow during execution. Based on the experiences gathered while modeling the processes in the area of retail research of the largest European market research company, we introduce three new concepts to reach the flexibility needed for workflow management in scientific computing: descriptive workflows, dynamic change, and ad hoc modeling.
Location fingerprinting on infrastructure 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs) using Locus

Location fingerprinting is a technique for location sensing on 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs), using commodity WLAN cards and no additional hardware tags. Location fingerprinting is a two-phase process. First, a radio map of observed signal strength (SS) values from different locations is recorded during an offline calibration phase. Then, in real time, SS values observed at a users mobile device are compared to the radio map values using proximity-matching algorithms in order to infer current user locations. We present Locus, a software-only, platform-independent tool for location fingerprinting on 802.11 WLANs. Locus has an object-oriented design, and is implemented in Java with graphical display in scalable vector graphics (SVG). While several proximity-matching algorithms have been proposed, very little research has evaluated their performance on existing wireless networks. Using Locus as a framework, we compared the performance of two proposed proximity-matching algorithms experimentally and also quantified the variance of observed SS values on five mobile devices. We find that, in practice, due to issues such as access point occlusion from certain locations, in-building interference effects on signal strengths, calibration and signal strength detection difficulties on certain mobile platforms, the behavior of proximity-matching algorithms can be mobile platform and wireless network dependent, and cannot always be generalized.
Efficient Latent Structural Perceptron with Hybrid Trees for Semantic Parsing

Discriminative structured prediction models have been widely used in many natural language processing tasks, but it is challenging to apply the method to semantic parsing. In this paper, by introducing hybrid tree as a latent structure variable to close the gap between the input sentences and output representations, we formulate semantic parsing as a structured prediction problem, based on the latent variable perceptron model incorporated with a tree edit-distance loss as optimization criterion. The proposed approach maintains the advantage of a discriminative model in accommodating flexible combination of features and naturally incorporates an efficient decoding algorithm in learning and inference. Furthermore, in order to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of inference, we design an effective approach based on vector space model to extract a smaller subset of relevant MR productions for test examples. Experimental results on publicly available corpus show that our approach significantly outperforms previous systems.
Toll‐like receptor‐mediated immune responses are attenuated in the presence of high levels of hepatitis B virus surface antigen

It has been recently shown that Toll‐like receptor (TLR) signalling in murine nonparenchymal liver cells (NPCs) is suppressed in the presence of Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg). It is not clear, however, whether this is also relevant for the adaptive immune responses and how this effect is mediated. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from Hepatitis B virus (HBV) patients and controls were stimulated by TLR ligands in the absence or presence of autologous serum. Interestingly, TLR‐mediated cytokine expression (Interleukin‐6 and ‐10) as well as TLR3‐induced interferon (IFN) expression in PBMCs of HBV patients was significantly higher than in the healthy volunteers, showing a negative correlation with the levels of HBsAg. In addition, TLR3‐mediated IFN‐γ production was inhibited in the presence of HBV‐containing serum. To mechanistically analyse this observation, murine Kupffer cells (KCs) and sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) were stimulated with TLR3 ligands in the presence or absence of HBsAg. Mixed lymphocyte reactions were performed to study T‐cell activation induced by TLR‐stimulated NPCs. Gene expression of cytokines and TLR3 was analysed by quantitative rt‐PCR, and activation of transcription factors was assessed by Western blot or reporter gene assays. TLR‐induced expression of interferon γ, interferon sensitive genes and proinflammatory cytokines in murine KCs and LSECs was efficiently suppressed in the presence of HBsAg, whereas the expression of anti‐inflammatory cytokines was enhanced. Activation of NFκB, IRF‐3 and MAPKs in these liver cells was potently suppressed by HBsAg. T‐cell activation mediated through TLR3‐stimulated KCs or LSECs was suppressed by HBsAg which could be reverted by anti‐IL‐10 antibodies. These findings may, at least in part, explain how HBV evades innate and adaptive immune responses to maintain a persistent infection.
Complete Nucleotide Sequences of Two NDM-1-Encoding Plasmids from the Same Sequence Type 11 Klebsiella pneumoniae Strain

ABSTRACT The sequence type 11 Klebsiella pneumoniae strain Kpn-3002cz was confirmed to harbor two NDM-1-encoding plasmids, pB-3002cz and pS-3002cz. pB-3002cz (97,649 bp) displayed extensive sequence similarity with the blaNDM-1-carrying plasmid pKPX-1. pS-3002cz (73,581 bp) was found to consist of an IncR-related sequence (13,535 bp) and a mosaic region (60,046 bp). A 40,233-bp sequence of pS-3002cz was identical to the mosaic region of pB-3002cz, indicating the en bloc acquisition of the NDM-1-encoding region from one plasmid by the other.
Looking into the Crystal Ball: From Transistors to the Smart Earth

Abstraction: reduce thenumber of items by aggre-gating objects and by elimi-nating unnecessary detailswith respect to the goal athand. h Refinement: proceed froman abstract representationof the design towards animplementation by addingdetails.Complexity has been also man-aged by ‘‘construction’’: by con-straining ‘‘artificially’’ the design space (i.e.,imposing regular layout, or synchronous designs),and starting high in the abstraction layers, it ispossibletodefineanumberofrefinementstepsthat go from the initial description to the finalimplementation that can be performed automat-ically with the use of sophisticated tools. Forexample, the digital design flow in use todaymarches from a high-level description of the func-tion to be performed using appropriate languagestowards a synchronous gate-level representationobtained by logic synthesis to a transistor layout,via automatic place and route made possible byrestricting the position of transistors in regularpatterns that are stored in appropriate, fully charac-terized libraries.Figure 4. Platform-based design.Figure 3. The V-diagram.Figure 5. The swarm as a platform (courtesy ofJan Rabaey).
Short-range microwave inverse scattering techniques for image reconstruction and applications

This paper deals with microwave imaging techniques based on electromagnetic inverse scattering and devoted to nondestructive testing, civil engineering, and scientific and medical applications. In particular, the focus is on spatial-domain algorithms for short-range reconstruction of dielectric objects. Some of the most significant approaches recently proposed in the literature are considered and some trends of the present research activity on this topic are briefly discussed, although it is really difficult to establish precise directions for this research, as the range of proposal is now very wide and the related activities evolve rapidly. Finally, two stochastic inversion methodologies are presented and questions concerning their effectiveness in the light of practical applications are addressed.
Trace Elements in Scalp Hair Samples from Patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Background Epidemiological studies have suggested a possible role of trace elements (TE) in the etiology of several neurological diseases including Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Hair analysis provides an easy tool to quantify TE in human subjects, including patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Objective To compare TE levels in scalp hair from patients with MS and healthy controls from the same geographic area (Sicily). Methods ICP-MS was used to determine the concentrations of 21 elements (Ag, Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, Sr, U, V and Zn) in scalp hair of 48 patients with relapsing–remitting Multiple Sclerosis compared with 51 healthy controls. Results MS patients showed a significantly lower hair concentration of aluminum and rubidium (median values: Al = 3.76 μg/g vs. 4.49 μg/g and Rb = 0.007 μg/g vs. 0.01 μg/g;) and higher hair concentration of U (median values U: 0.014 μg/g vs. 0.007 μg/g) compared to healthy controls. The percentages of MS patients showing hair elemental concentrations greater than the 95th percentile of controls were 20% for Ni, 19% for Ba and U, and 15% for Ag, Mo and Se. Conversely, the percentages of MS patients showing hair elemental concentrations lower than the 5th percentile of healthy controls were 27% for Al, 25% for Rb, 22% for Ag, 19% for Fe, and 16% for Pb. No significant association was found between levels of each TE and age, disease duration or Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score. After stratification by gender, healthy subjects did not show any significant difference in trace element levels, while MS patients showed significant differences (p<0.01) for the concentrations of Ag, Cr, Fe, Ni and Sr. No significant differences were also found, at p<0.01, in relation to the use of cigarettes, consume of water, vegetables and place of living. Conclusion The different distributions of TE in hair of MS patients compared to controls provides an additional indirect evidence of metabolic imbalance of chemical elements in the pathogenesis of this disease. The increase in U and decrease in Al and Rb levels in MS compared to controls require further assessments as well as the observed different distributions of other elements.