Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Scheduling divisible loads on star and tree networks: results and open problems

Many applications in scientific and engineering domains are structured as large numbers of independent tasks with low granularity. These applications are thus amenable to straightforward parallelization, typically in master-worker fashion, provided that efficient scheduling strategies are available. Such applications have been called divisible-loads because a scheduler may divide the computation among worker processes arbitrarily, both in terms of number of tasks and of task sizes. Divisible load scheduling has been an active area of research for the last 15 years. A vast literature offers results and scheduling algorithms for various models of the underlying distributed computing platform. Broad surveys are available that report on, accomplishments in the field. By contrast, We propose a unified theoretical perspective that synthesizes previously published results, several novel results, and open questions, in a view to foster hover divisible load scheduling research. Specifically, we discuss both one-round and multiround algorithms, and we restrict our scope to the popular star and tree network topologies, which we study with both linear and affine cost models for communication and computation.
Estradiol affects extracellular leptin:adiponectin ratio in human breast tissue in vivo.

CONTEXT Exposure to sex steroids is associated with increased breast cancer risk, and adipokines, leptin and adiponectin have been implicated in cancer progression. However, it is not known whether sex steroids affect adipokine secretion in breast tissue. OBJECTIVE To elucidate the role of estrogen and tamoxifen on adipokine release in normal human breast tissue and breast cancer. SETTING AND DESIGN Microdialysis sampling was used to collect extracellular in vivo leptin and adiponectin from normal human breast tissue in premenopausal healthy volunteers during the menstrual cycle and in postmenopausal women before tamoxifen treatment and after 6 weeks of treatment. In women with breast cancer, microdialysis was performed intratumorally before surgery. In addition, whole normal breast tissue biopsies were cultured ex vivo, and murine breast cancer models were evaluated. RESULTS In normal breast tissue, plasma estradiol negatively correlated with local extracellular adiponectin levels (r = -0.34; P < .05) and positively correlated with leptin (r = 0.37; P < .05) and leptin:adiponectin ratio (r = 0.38; P < .05). In postmenopausal women, tamoxifen treatment increased adiponectin (P < 0.05) and decreased leptin (P < .01) and the leptin:adiponectin ratio (P < .01). These in vivo results were confirmed in breast tissue biopsies cultured ex vivo. In patients with breast cancer, extracellular leptin was higher (P < .01) and adiponectin lower (P < .05) in tumors than in normal adjacent breast tissue. In a murine model of breast cancer, estrogen exposure increased leptin secretion (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Estrogen exposure may have a critical role in the regulation of adipokines in human breast tissue and may serve as therapeutic targets for treatment and prevention.
New optimal solution to disjoint set K-coverage for lifetime extension in wireless sensor networks

Lifetime extension is a fundamental concern in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) owing to the limited energy of each sensor. Random and dense deployment of sensors in many applications impose some coverage redundancy in WSNs, which motivates methods to avoid such redundancy for extending the overall lifetime of the networks. An effective method for this purpose is to divide the sensors into a maximum number of disjoint groups called covers, each of which can cover all targets, so that only one cover is active at any time. The problem of obtaining the maximum number of covers has been proved to be NP-hard. In this study, an optimal method is proposed for the problem. The proposed method is based on the transformation of the problem into the well-known Boolean satisfiability (SAT) problem. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method is superior to existing genetic (GAMDSC) and heuristic (MCMCC) methods. Moreover, as an optimal algorithm, it guarantees obtaining an optimum solution, whereas the existing (meta)heuristic algorithms do not. In addition, we extend the proposed method to the K-coverage problem, where each target is supposed to be covered by at least K number of nodes.
Dynamic ridesharing with intermediate locations

Ridesharing concerns people that are willing to intelligently ride in order to save money and protect environment. The idea is based on a better use of private car. More precisely, it aims to bring together individuals that share, even partially, a trip. In the recurring ridesharing problem, when an offer is matched with a demand, the driver picks-up the rider at his starting location, drops him off at his ending location and continues to his target location. This approach lacks of flexibility and misses some possible matchings. In this paper, we propose a new ridesharing approach in which a driver and a rider accept to meet in an intermediate starting location and to separate in another intermediate ending location. This allows to reduce both the driver's detour and the total travel cost. We propose exact and heuristic methods to compute meeting points that minimize the total travel cost of the driver and the rider. We analyze their empirical performance on a set of real road networks consisting of up to 3,5 million nodes and 8,7 million edges. Our experimental analysis shows that our heuristics provide efficient performances within short CPU times and improves the recurring ridesharing approach.
Towards standard semantic image annotation and search

The amount of images, taken by digital cameras, quickly becomes unmanageable. The solution is semantic image search that requires semantically annotated images. MPEG-7 is a standard for multimedia content description usage. We have implemented semantic image search web application by using Caliph, eXist and OpenLaszlo open source tools. We explore requirements for standard semantic image annotation and search.
A Process Quality Improvement Mechanism for Reducing the Risk of CI Environment

In the age of fast evolution, software development project must accept many challenges of unpredicted requirements change and new technology environment. Software development processes should have adjustable and extendable features to meet the multifaceted needs of the users. Iterative and Incremental Development (IID) is a practical approach to overcome the various challenges of software development. However, continuous testing and building new versions need to spend more time and human resources that is a major obstacle of IID. The other, the iterative operations must have a sound communication skills. Lack of standard version control and intercommunication manner often lead to failure of software project. High quality Continuous Integration (CI) environment can effectively make up the defects of IID. In this paper, CI environment and advantages are deeply surveyed. In order to overcome the defects of IID, CI environment needs combine the perfect procedures and qualified tools, and concretely enhance the quality of CI environment. Based on the process quality measurement model, this paper proposes the Process Quality Improvement Mechanism (PQIM). Applying PQIM, in software development, the processes problems and the CI environment quality defects can identify timely and indeed revise to reduce the risk of
Investigation of Vehicles as Probes Using Global Positioning System and Cellular Phone Tracking: Field Operational Test

This paper reports on the first phase of the location technology evaluation for probe vehicles. Two technologies were evaluated, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and the cellular phone tracking technology developed by US Wireless. Although GPS has shown great potential for vehicle probes, much of the previous research is theoretical in nature. Very little work has been done in the areas of experimental research, implementation or deployment. Most of the field tests were anecdotal; a systematic approach is highly desired to develop a vehicle probe system that is reliable and efficient for traffic management. If GPS is widely deployed in cellular phones, as GTE in 1998 predicted would happen, GPS technology will become even more attractive and realistic for vehicle probe activities. A custom software package was developed as part of this project in order to conduct the technology evaluation. The software, the Travel Information Probe System (TIPS) maps positions of probes of arbitrary accuracy to an embedded Geographical Information System (GIS) in order to determine the path the probe took. Once the path has been determined, the software calculates the travel time for each road segment traversed. The preliminary analysis of two Bay Area counties showed that accurate location technologies are capable of producing travel time information for nearly all roads. A technology with 20-meter accuracy can produce data for 99.2% of road segments and 98.9% of the freeway segments in the two counties studied.
A framework for hardware cellular genetic algorithms: An application to spectrum allocation in cognitive radio

The genetic algorithm (GA) is an optimization metaheuristic that relies on the evolution of a set of solutions (population) according to genetically inspired transformations. In the variant of this technique called cellular GA, the evolution is done separately for subgroups of solutions. This paper describes a hardware framework capable of efficiently supporting custom accelerators for this metaheuristic. This approach builds a regular array of problem-specific processing elements (PEs), which perform the genetic evolution, connected to shared memories holding the local subpopulations. To assist the design of the custom PEs, a methodology based on highlevel synthesis from C++ descriptions is used. The proposed architecture was applied to a spectrum allocation problem in cognitive radio networks. For an array of 5×5 PEs in a Virtex-6 FPGA, the results show a minimum speedup of 22× compared to a software version running on a PC and a speedup near 2000× over a MicroBlaze soft processor.
Predictive properties of impaired glucose tolerance for cardiovascular risk are not explained by the development of overt diabetes during follow-up.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) at baseline to coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality at follow-up, and to analyze whether the relationship is independent of the subsequent development of diabetes during follow-up. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A baseline screening survey for diabetes was performed in 1987 using a 2-h 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. A total of 1234 men and 1386 women aged 45-64 years, who were free of diabetes at baseline, were followed up for 10 years. During the follow-up, 153 subjects had an incident CHD event, 224 died, and 100 deaths were due to cardiovascular causes. Multivariate adjusted (adjusted for age, sex, waist-to-hip ratio, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and smoking) hazard ratio (HR) was estimated using Cox regression analysis. RESULTS In subjects who had IGT at baseline and who did not progress to diabetes during the follow-up, the multivariate adjusted HR (95% CI) was 1.49 (0.95-2.34) for CHD incidence, 2.34 (1.42-3.85) for CVD mortality, and 1.65 (1.13-2.40) for all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS Baseline IGT was an independent risk predictor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and for total mortality, which was not confounded by the subsequent development of overt diabetes.
Deep and Superficial Fibers of the Lumbar Multifidus Muscle Are Differentially Active During Voluntary Arm Movements

Study Design. A cross-sectional study was conducted. Objective. To determine the activity of the deep and superficial fibers of the lumbar multifidus during voluntary movement of the arm. Summary of Background Data. The multifidus contributes to stability of the lumbar spine. Because the deep and superficial parts of the multifidus are near the center of lumbar joint rotation, the superficial fibers are well suited to control spine orientation, and the deep fibers to control intervertebral movement. However, there currently are limited in vivo data to support this distinction. Methods. Electromyographic activity was recorded in both the deep and superficial multifidus, transversus abdominis, erector spinae, and deltoid using selective intramuscular electrodes and surface electrodes during single and repetitive arm movements. The latency of electromyographic onset in each muscle during single movements and the pattern of electromyographic activity during repetitive movements were compared between muscles. Results. With single arm movements, the onset of electromyography in the erector spinae and superficial multifidus relative to the deltoid was dependent on the direction of movement, but the onset in the deep multifidus and transversus abdominis was not. With repetitive arm movements, peaks in superficial multifidus and erector spinae electromyography occurred only during flexion for most subjects, whereas peaks in deep multifidus electromyography occurred during movement in both directions. Conclusions. The deep and superficial fibers of the multifidus are differentially active during single and repetitive movements of the arm. The data from this study support the hypothesis that the superficial multifidus contributes to the control of spine orientation, and that the deep multifidus has a role in controlling intersegmental motion.
Bone Remodeling in Post-menopausal Osteoporosis

Bone mass in the skeleton is dependent on the coordinated activities of bone-forming osteoblasts and bone-resorbing osteoclasts in discrete bone multi-cellular units. Remodeling of bone in these units is important not only for maintaining bone mass, but also to repair microdamage, to prevent accumulation of too much old bone, and for mineral homeostasis. The activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts are controlled by a variety of hormones and cytokines, as well as by mechanical loading. Most importantly, sex hormones are very crucial for keeping bone mass in balance, and the lack of either estrogen or testosterone leads to decreased bone mass and increased risk for osteoporosis. The prevalence of osteoporotic fractures is increasing dramatically in the Western part of the world and is a major health problem in many countries. In the present review, the cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling bone remodeling and the influence of sex hormones on these processes are summarized. In a separate paper in this issue, the pathogenesis of post-menopausal osteoporosis will be compared with that of inflammation-induced bone remodeling, including the evidence for and against the hypothesis that concomitant post-menopausal osteoporotic disease influences the progression of periodontal disease.
'Dominating-set-based' searching in peer-to-peer networks

The peer-to-peer network for sharing information and data through direct exchange has emerged rapidly in recent years. The searching problem is a basic issue that addresses the question “Where is X”. Breadth-first search, the basic searching mechanism used in Gnutella networks [4], floods the networks to maximize the return results. Depth-first search used in Freenet [3] retrieves popular files faster than other files but on average the return results are not maximized. Other searching algorithms used in peer-to-peer networks, such as iterative deepening [9], local indices [9], routing indices [2] and NEVRLATE [1] provide different improved searching mechanisms. In this paper, we propose a dominating-set-based peer-to-peer searching algorithm to maximize the return of searching results while keeping a low cost for both searching and creating/maintaining the connected-dominating-set (CDS) of the peer-to-peer network. This approach is based on random walk. However, the searching space is restricted to dominating nodes. Simulation has been done and results are compared with the one using regular random walk.
Transport of alpha-p-nitrophenylgalactoside by the lactose carrier of Escherichia coli

alpha-p-Nitrophenylgalactoside was found to be accumulated by the lactose transport-system of Escherichia coli. This fact may help to resolve the differences in the reported number of sugar binding sites of the lactose transport protein in nonenergized and energized membrane vesicles.
Microstructure and viscoelastic behaviors of graphene/PMMA nanocomposites

The microstructure and viscoelastic behaviors of graphene filled poly(methyl methacrylate) nanocomposites (graphene/PMMA) have been investigated. The composites were prepared by in situ polymerization method with graphene weight fraction from 0.1 to 1 wt. %. The microstructures were observed by transmitted polarization microscope (TPM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The viscoelastic behaviors characterized by storage modulus and loss tangent were measured by dynamic nanoindentation method. The effects of graphene content and force frequency on the viscoelastic behaviors were studied and discussed according to the features of microstructures and mobility of molecular chains. The graphene nanosheets with an average diameter of about 8.6 micrometers are found to disperse homogeneously in the PMMA matrix. The interface between graphene and PMMA is strong and few defects are observed in the impact fracture surfaces of the composites. The results indicate that the microstructure and viscoelastic properties of PMMA polymer are significantly improved by adding a low content of graphene.
Rate based congestion control for multicast ABR traffic

We present an end to end rate control algorithm for multicast (point to multipoint) ABR service in ATM networks. The algorithm is the multicast extension of the SP-EPRCA unicast (point-to-point) congestion control algorithm proposed by Mascolo et al. (see Proceedings of INFOCOM'96, vo1.2, p.569-76). The goal is to control the multicast input rate in order to achieve high bandwidth utilization without overflowing any queue along the multicast tree. The straightforward approach would be to consider a multicast connection as a superposition of unicast connections, and to compute the multicast input rate as the minimum among all unicast input rates. The main problem is the congestion caused by feedback traffic from the multiple destinations. To solve this problem, we show how feedback information cells can be intelligently "merged" at each multicast tree "fork" without losing essential information needed by the control algorithm placed at the source. The algorithm proposed inherits all properties from the unicast SP-EPRCA.
Translating Collocation using Monolingual and Parallel Corpus

In this paper, we propose a method for translating a given verb-noun collocation based on a parallel corpus and an additional monolingual corpus. Our approach involves two models to generate collocation translations. The combination translation model generates combined translations of the collocate and the base word, and filters translations by a target language model from a monolingual corpus, and the bidirectional alignment translation model generates translations using bidirectional alignment information. At run time, each model generates a list of possible translation candidates, and translations in two candidate lists are re-ranked and returned as our system output. We describe the implementation of using method using Hong Kong Parallel Text. The experiment results show that our method improves the quality of top-ranked collocation translations, which could be used to assist ESL learners and bilingual dictionaries editors. Keyword: collocation, statistical machine translation, computer-assisted translation
Evolution of cerebral infarct volume assessed by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND Knowledge of the natural evolution of ischemic brain lesions may be a crucial aspect in the assessment of future stroke therapies. OBJECTIVE To establish daily changes of ischemic cerebral lesion volume using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Referral center. PATIENTS AND METHODS Serial magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed in consecutive untreated stroke patients. The baseline scan was obtained within 48 hours after symptom onset; subsequent scans, 12 to 48 hours, 3 to 4 days, 5 to 7 days, and 30 days after baseline. Lesion volumes were measured on each scan by 2 independent observers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Daily change in lesion volume. RESULTS A total of 112 magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained in 24 patients. An early increase in lesion volume was seen in all patients. Maximum lesion volume was reached at a mean of 74 hours. Lesion volumes increased by a mean (+/- SEM) of 21% +/- 12% during day 2 and 10% +/- 12% during day 3. No significant change occurred during day 4. During days 5, 6, and 7, statistically significant mean (+/- SEM) decreases of 6% +/- 8%, 3% +/- 4%, and 4% +/- 5%, respectively, were observed. CONCLUSIONS Ischemic lesions follow a relatively consistent pattern of growth during the first 3 days and subsequent decrease in size. These data in conjunction with data regarding the evolution of lesion volume during the first 24 hours after symptom onset may be useful in the design of pilot studies of therapies for acute stroke.
Neural analysis of sound frequency in insects

Insects, like other hearing animals, must extract information from the sounds they hear so that they may respond appropriately. One parameter of sound that carries information is its frequency content. Insects analyze sound frequency to identify mates, to judge the distance to potential competitors, and to detect predators and prey. We review how frequency is analyzed in the insect nervous system, focusing on two taxa in which this problem has been studied most intensively, katydids and crickets. BioEssays 21:295–303, 1999. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The European Heart Rhythm Association symptom classification for atrial fibrillation: validation and improvement through a simple modification

Aims To validate the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) symptom classification in atrial fibrillation (AF) and test whether its discriminative ability could be improved by a simple modification. Methods and results We compared the EHRA classification with three quality of life (QoL) measures: the AF-specific Atrial Fibrillation Effect on QualiTy-of-life (AFEQT) questionnaire; two components of the EQ-5D instrument, a health-related utility which can be used to calculate cost-effectiveness, and the visual analogue scale (VAS) which demonstrates patients' own assessment of health status. We then proposed a simple modification [modified EHRA (mEHRA)] to improve discrimination at the point where major treatment decisions are made. quality of life data and clinician-allocated EHRA class were prospectively collected on 362 patients with AF. A step-wise, negative association was seen between the EHRA class and both the AFEQT and the VAS scores. Health-related utility was only significantly different between Classes 2 and 3 (P < 0.001). We developed and validated the mEHRA score separating Class 2 (symptomatic AF not limiting daily activities), based on whether the patients were ‘troubled by their AF’ (Class 2b) or not (Class 2a). This produced two distinct groups with lower AFEQT and VAS scores and, importantly, both clinically and statistically significant lower health utility (Δutility 0.9, P = 0.01) in Class 2b than Class 2a. Conclusion Based on patients' own assessment of their health status and the disease-specific AFEQT, the EHRA score can be considered a useful semi-quantitative classification. The mEHRA score has a clearer separation in health utility to assess the cost efficacy of interventions such as ablation, where Class 2b symptoms appear to be the appropriate treatment threshold.