Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cross-Layer Resource Optimization for Wireless Relay Networks Under Dynamic Node Selfishness

In this paper, we investigate the cross-layer resource optimization for wireless relay networks with dynamic node-selfishness information. The degree of intrinsic selfishness (DeIS) and the degree of extrinsic selfishness (DeES) of the relay node (RN) are defined as the effects of its own residual energy resource and the incentive in an incentive mechanism, respectively. A model of two-timescale node-selfishness dynamics is constructed to describe the time-varying characteristics of the RN's DeIS and DeES. Based on the two-timescale node-selfishness dynamics of the RNs, a two-timescale resource-optimization dynamical algorithm (TRODA) is employed to control the transmit powers of both RNs and end users (EU), as well as the flow rates of the data packets injected by all EUs. Meanwhile, the stability and the tracking error of the TRODA under the two-timescale node-selfishness dynamics are analyzed by Lyapunov theory. Our simulation results demonstrate that the two-timescale optimization algorithm is stable and has trivial tracking error.
EQUIVALENCE IN TEST ASSAY METHOD COMPARISONS FOR THE REPEATED-MEASURE, MATCHED-PAIR DESIGN IN MEDICAL DEVICE STUDIES: STATISTICAL CONSIDERATIONS*

In medical device clinical studies, including therapeutic device and in vitro test assay method studies, the investigator is frequently interested in demonstrating the equivalence of clinical response, generally in continuous measurements, between a standard assay method and a new assay method over various occasions or times. The new assay method may be less invasive or more convenient or cheaper to use than the standard assay method. In this paper, several statistical approaches are discussed, including various repeated-measure regression models, the simultaneous 95% confidence interval for paired mean differences derived from Hotelling's multivariate T 2 analysis for repeated-measure, paired data, repeatability and reproducibility studies, and concordance correlation coefficient. * The views expressed are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
New applications of nanoparticles in cardiovascular imaging

Nanotechnology involves working at the atomic, molecular, and macromolecular levels including imaging. Recently, four areas have emerged in cardiovascular imaging: 1. Targeted therapeutics to deliver cardioprotective drugs at the target sites they are needed; 2. Myocardial tissue engineering to replace the defective valves, damaged heart muscle, clogged blood vessels and myocardium; 3. Molecular imaging using “smart” imaging agents in targeted therapeutics and imaging; 4. Biosensors and myocardial diagnostics. Several approaches to nanoparticles i.e. dendrimers, liposomes, polymer delivery molecules, cantilevers, nanoscaffolds, nanofibers are potential candidates in cardiac visualization. The extracellular matrix plays a significant role by chemokines, cytokines and growth factors. The limitations of these emerging techniques and a new possibility of MRI visualization of mouse cardiac atheroma by superparamagnetic iron-oxide gadolinium-apoferritin (SPIOA) and myoglobin (SPIOM), for targeted functional and molecular imaging of atherosclerosis are highlighted in this paper. These emerging techniques provide an opportunity for tracking functional and structural changes in myocardium and heart tissue.
Appearance and Frequency of Gas Interface Artifacts Involving Small Bowel on Rapid-Voltage-Switching Dual-Energy CT Iodine-Density Images.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to describe the appearance and frequency of gas interface artifacts in the jejunum that may mimic severe bowel disease on iodine-density images generated from rapid-voltage-switching dual-energy CT (DECT) scans. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two readers retrospectively reviewed 108 consecutive abdominal rapid-voltage-switching DECT scans to record the presence of image artifacts in jejunal segments with different degrees of gaseous luminal filling, classified as full, partial, or absent. Readers viewed iodine-density images and corresponding 140-kVp and 65-keV virtual monochromatic images and classified the jejunal artifacts on iodine-density images as pseudostratified appearance of the bowel wall, pseudopneumatosis, pseudohyperenhancement, or pseudohypoenhancement. We correlated the presence of the artifacts with clinical features suggesting bowel disease. RESULTS Image artifacts were found in 91 of 108 scans (84.3%), appeared in 148 of 265 jejunal segments (55.8%), and included each type except for pseudohypoenhancement. Artifacts occurred exclusively when gas was present in the bowel lumen and were seen in 59 of 59 (100%) fully gas-distended segments, 89 of 98 (90.8%) partially gas-distended segments, and none of 108 gas-absent segments (p < 0.0001). In fully and partially gas-distended jejunal segments (n = 157), 148 (94.3%) segments had two or more artifacts. None of the patients was found to have clinical bowel-related injury on follow-up of medical records. CONCLUSION Pseudostratified appearance, pseudopneumatosis, and pseudohyperenhancement, but not pseudohypoenhancement, artifacts are common in gas-filled jejunal segments on iodine-density images generated from rapid-voltage-switching DECT scans and are not seen in the corresponding 140-kVp or 65-keV images. Knowledge of the appearance of such iodine-density image artifacts will avoid potential examination interpretation pitfalls.
Mechanisms in protein O-glycan biosynthesis and clinical and molecular aspects of protein O-glycan biosynthesis defects: a review.

BACKGROUND Genetic diseases that affect the biosynthesis of protein O-glycans are a rapidly growing group of disorders. Because this group of disorders does not have a collective name, it is difficult to get an overview of O-glycosylation in relation to human health and disease. Many patients with an unsolved defect in N-glycosylation are found to have an abnormal O-glycosylation as well. It is becoming increasingly evident that the primary defect of these disorders is not necessarily localized in one of the glycan-specific transferases, but can likewise be found in the biosynthesis of nucleotide sugars, their transport to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)/Golgi, and in Golgi trafficking. Already, disorders in O-glycan biosynthesis form a substantial group of genetic diseases. In view of the number of genes involved in O-glycosylation processes and the increasing scientific interest in congenital disorders of glycosylation, it is expected that the number of identified diseases in this group will grow rapidly over the coming years. CONTENT We first discuss the biosynthesis of protein O-glycans from their building blocks to their secretion from the Golgi. Subsequently, we review 24 different genetic disorders in O-glycosylation and 10 different genetic disorders that affect both N- and O-glycosylation. The key clinical, metabolic, chemical, diagnostic, and genetic features are described. Additionally, we describe methods that can be used in clinical laboratory screening for protein O-glycosylation biosynthesis defects and their pitfalls. Finally, we introduce existing methods that might be useful for unraveling O-glycosylation defects in the future.
The Lagrangian Relaxation based resources allocation methods for air-to-ground operations under uncertainty circumstances

The task of assigning weapons and sensors to targets is a crucial one in the military, and it is a resources allocation problem under uncertainty circumstances. Firstly, the integer programm based formal model of resources allocation is put forward. The formulation can be solved using Lagrangian Relaxation (LR) to decouple the multi-target problem into many single-target POMDPs, and they are small enough to solve fastly. Then, the POMDP based single target multi-stage optimization, which reflects the uncertainty in task execution output and decision-making, is bring forward to modeling and solving low level sub-problems. And sub-gradients algorithm is used in top-level search processes to offer the marginal resources price for POMDP sub-problems, so as to coordinate the resources consumption of low level problems. Lastly, the method of construction feasible solutions based on the solutions of Lagrangian dual problem is put forward. Simulation results illustrate the validity of our method.
Surviving in Mountain Climate Refugia: New Insights from the Genetic Diversity and Structure of the Relict Shrub Myrtus nivellei (Myrtaceae) in the Sahara Desert

The identification of past glacial refugia has become a key topic for conservation under environmental change, since they contribute importantly to shaping current patterns of biodiversity. However, little attention has been paid so far to interglacial refugia despite their key role for the survival of relict species currently occurring in climate refugia. Here, we focus on the genetic consequences of range contraction on the relict populations of the evergreen shrub Myrtus nivellei, endemic in the Saharan mountains since at least the end of the last Green Sahara period, around 5.5 ka B.P. Multilocus genotypes (nuclear microsatellites and AFLP) were obtained from 215 individuals collected from 23 wadis (temporary rivers) in the three main mountain ranges in southern Algeria (the Hoggar, Tassili n’Ajjer and Tassili n’Immidir ranges). Identical genotypes were found in several plants growing far apart within the same wadis, a pattern taken as evidence of clonality. Multivariate analyses and Bayesian clustering revealed that genetic diversity was mainly structured among the mountain ranges, while low isolation by distance was observed within each mountain range. The range contraction induced by the last episode of aridification has likely increased the genetic isolation of the populations of M. nivellei, without greatly affecting the genetic diversity of the species as a whole. The pattern of genetic diversity observed here suggests that high connectivity may have prevailed during humid periods, which is consistent with recent paleoenvironmental reconstructions.
Implementing Cross-Device Atomics in Heterogeneous Processors

In this paper we describe how to support atomics across multiple devices in heterogeneous processors. Specifically, this paper provides an overview of how OpenCL 2.0 and Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) atomics are supported on integrated CPU-GPU processors called Accelerated Processing Units (APUs). Recently, the C11 and C++11 standards have introduced atomics and an associated memory model for supporting scalable parallel programming with memory consistency semantics. OpenCL 2.0 revision has extended these atomics for multiple devices each one of which can be a CPU or a GPU. The HSA Foundation in the HSA intermediate language (HSAIL) standard has also included support for various atomic operations that span multiple devices. All of these paradigms enable parallel threads running simultaneously on the CPU and GPU cores to synchronize using atomics that were not possible earlier. In APUs, the CPU and GPU cores are on the same die and can access a unified memory. Hence, such a platform provides an excellent opportunity for showcasing the power of OpenCL 2.0/HSA atomics across devices (henceforth referred to as cross-device atomics). In this work we show how we have added capabilities in our LLVM-based OpenCL compiler and a JIT-like finalizer to support cross-device atomics for APUs. Also, by supporting the new HSAIL atomic virtual operations in our finalizer, we have enabled the capability whereby other high-level languages which translate to HSAIL can support cross-device atomics as part of their evolving language standard. Our compiler is one of the first to support such cross-device atomics.
Draft Genome Sequence of Methanohalophilus mahii Strain DAL1 Reconstructed from a Hydraulic Fracturing-Produced Water Metagenome

ABSTRACT We report here the 1,882,100-bp draft genome sequence of Methanohalophilus mahii strain DAL1, recovered from Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing-produced water using metagenomic contig binning. Genome annotation revealed several key methanogenesis genes and provides valuable information on archaeal activity associated with hydraulic fracturing-produced water environments.
Design of an Agent to Represent Japanese Sign Language for Hearing-Impaired People in Stomach X-ray Inspection

Many hearing-impaired people refuse to go to the hospital for inspecting their stomachs by X-ray, because they can not communicate enough to doctors or technical stuff for the inspection. It is important to develop an agent system to translate automatically between Japanese and sing language. We produce the prototype system of Japanese sign language (JSL) animated on screen in stomach X-ray inspection for hearing-impaired. The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of JSL animation for hearing-impaired people in stomach X-ray inspection, and to improve the system. Agent animation generated by computer represents the instructions of twenty-seven sentences for the inspection by JSL. Twenty-seven subjects participated on the experiment usually interacted with auditory handicapped people using sign language. Subjective evaluation was carried out on JSL agent improved based upon referring to the movement of the signer. The results showed that the comprehensibility of improved JSL agent was higher than that of conventional agents. Some important factors for designing JSL agent were indicated to develop a stomach X-ray inspection system for hearingimpaired people by analyzing the subjective evaluation.
Improving the flow of livelihood information among unemployed youth in an informal settlement of Windhoek, Namibia

Access to information remains circumstantial, even more as it is channeled through ICTs. While technology rich areas have developed well-functioning information dissemination mechanisms, informal settlements lack basic services including information access. Thus, we are investigating how we can ensure that livelihood information reaches the most marginalized people in the informal settlement that would utilize this information to make consequential life changes. We are engaging youth from an informal settlement of Windhoek into discussions, technology explorations and participatory design workshops, to jointly explore the improvement of citizen-based information dissemination. A contextual mapping of the current information flow shows its strengths and weaknesses. While a user, exploration of a digital noticeboard reveals the communities' eagerness to digitally share vital information with their fellow community members.
A concurrent BIST scheme for on-line/off-line testing based on a pre-computed test set

Manufacturing testing is carried-out once in order to ensure the correct operation of the circuit under test right after fabrication, while either periodic off-line testing or concurrent on-line testing is carried-out in order to ensure that the circuit under test continues to operate correctly in field. The utilization of input vector monitoring concurrent BIST techniques provides the capability to perform all types of testing, namely manufacturing, periodic off-line and concurrent on-line. The input vector monitoring concurrent BIST schemes proposed so far have targeted either exhaustive or pseudorandom testing. In this paper a novel input-vector monitoring concurrent BIST scheme based on a pre-computed test set is introduced. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed scheme is the first to be presented in the open literature based on a pre-computed test set that can perform both on line and off-line testing
A clinical and mechanistic study of topical borneol‐induced analgesia

Bingpian is a time‐honored herb in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It is an almost pure chemical with a chemical composition of (+)‐borneol and has been historically used as a topical analgesic for millennia. However, the clinical efficacy of topical borneol lacks stringent evidence‐based clinical studies and verifiable scientific mechanism. We examined the analgesic efficacy of topical borneol in a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled clinical study involving 122 patients with postoperative pain. Topical application of borneol led to significantly greater pain relief than placebo did. Using mouse models of pain, we identified the TRPM8 channel as a molecular target of borneol and showed that topical borneol‐induced analgesia was almost exclusively mediated by TRPM8, and involved a downstream glutamatergic mechanism in the spinal cord. Investigation of the actions of topical borneol and menthol revealed mechanistic differences between borneol‐ and menthol‐induced analgesia and indicated that borneol exhibits advantages over menthol as a topical analgesic. Our work demonstrates that borneol, which is currently approved by the US FDA to be used only as a flavoring substance or adjuvant in food, is an effective topical pain reliever in humans and reveals a key part of the molecular mechanism underlying its analgesic effect.
Optimizing the use of request distribution and stored energy for cost reduction in multi-site internet services

Electricity bills of large-scale Internet services are a major component in overall operating costs [1]. As a result, it is increasingly important to identify cost-reduction approaches, either through reducing energy consumption or by strategically avoiding periods or data centers with the highest electricity costs. The first group of approaches based on reduction of energy consumption has been explored for many years. However, approaches that exploit various types of electricity price variability have been recently proposed. There is a need for a holistic optimization framework to explore various strategies to mitigate exposure to price variation. While prior work has considered independently aspects of spatial price variability (through an intelligent request distribution for multi-site Internet services) and temporal price variability (via energy storage), ours is the first to do both. In this paper, we propose battery-oriented techniques in combination with geographically-distributed request routing, in order to fully optimize the electricity costs of multi-site Internet services exposed to both types of electricity price variations. Furthermore, we present an optimization based framework designed to analyze the cost-saving leverage afforded by the combination of these techniques. By exploring a range of design decisions, such as battery capacity and service level agreement (SLA) requirements, and operating conditions such as common power pricing policies and price variability, we identify which strategies are most effective and under what conditions. For example, across a range of SLAs, our results show that batteries offer roughly 7% additional savings in multi-site environments already implementing intelligent request distribution.
Immune Checkpoint Targets for Host-Directed Therapy to Prevent and Treat Leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis encompasses a group of diseases caused by protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Leishmania. These diseases range from life threatening visceral forms to self-healing cutaneous lesions, and each disease manifestations can progress to complications involving dissemination of parasites to skin or mucosal tissue. A feature of leishmaniasis is the key role host immune responses play in disease outcome. T cells are critical for controlling parasite growth. However, they can also contribute to disease onset and progression. For example, potent regulatory T cell responses can develop that suppress antiparasitic immunity. Alternatively, hyperactivated CD4+ or CD8+ T cells can be generated that cause damage to host tissues. There is no licensed human vaccine and drug treatment options are often limited and problematic. Hence, there is an urgent need for new strategies to improve the efficacy of current vaccine candidates and/or enhance both antiparasitic drug effectiveness and subsequent immunity in treated individuals. Here, we describe our current understanding about host immune responses contributing to disease protection and progression in the various forms of leishmaniasis. We also discuss how this knowledge may be used to develop new strategies for host-directed immune therapy to prevent or treat leishmaniasis. Given the major advances made in immune therapy in the cancer and autoimmune fields in recent years, there are significant opportunities to ride on the back of these successes in the infectious disease domain. Conversely, the rapid progress in our understanding about host immune responses during leishmaniasis is also providing opportunities to develop novel immunotherapy strategies that could have broad applications in diseases characterized by inflammation or immune dysfunction.
Topology Control Modeling and Measurement for Networked Virtual Environments

In this paper we will propose a novel distributed architecture for overlay tree construction in collaborative virtual environments that is unlimitedly scalable due to its fully decentralized nature. The routing issue over this architecture will later be discussed and several forwarding schemes based on distributed hash tables (DHT) will be proposed. One of the main concerns for a routing algorithm is to keep a trade-off between the algorithm locality and the algorithm performance. In a global algorithm where nodes make the forwarding decision based on the information gathered from all other nodes in the network, the routing performance may obviously be better. However such a large group of neighbors result in a large topology discovery cost and huge routing tables when the number of nodes exceeds a certain limit. In this article we will try to find the best trade-off among these factors therefore proposing an optimum neighborhood radius for each node. Finally a comparison will be made regarding path delay criteria among several proposed forwarding schemes at the optimum neighborhood radius point.
Ion channels on silicon

We present results showing that silicon substrates can be used as a universal platform for recording the electrical activity of ion channels inserted into suspended bilayer membranes. The bilayers span 150 μm apertures etched into silicon substrates using standard microelectronics processing techniques. The silicon is oxidized, patterned with a 75 μm thick SU-8 epoxy resist and then coated with a thin layer of polytetrafluoroethylene rendering the surface hydrophobic. Reversible Ag/AgCl electrodes are integrated around the circumference of the opening and provide long-term stable measurements of the ion channel currents. Characteristic measurements of OmpF porin ion channel protein in phospholipid bilayers and α-hemolysin toxin protein in triblock copolymer layers were made. Long-term measurements showed that ion channel activity could be recorded 22 hours after initial formation of a lipid bilayer. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2005. 184]