Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cellular Automata as Acceleration Kernel of Interconnection Network Simulation

Drastic growth in the number of processor cores in state-of-the-art supercomputers is increasing difficulties in discussing and designing efficient architectures. One of the toughest problems is interconnection network (ICN) archi- tecture that is severely responsible to both performance and costs. For the coming exa-scale supercomputers and beyond, a significant breakthrough is expected in discussing ICN methods. This paper presents a novel ICN simulation method by introducing cellular automaton (CA) principle. Through a three-step discussion in introducing CA, the proposed method can offer a powerful simulation engine. Evaluation results reveal the significant speedup of simulation time with precise simulation results. Furthermore, our preliminary implemen- tation in GPGPU shows about sixteen times acceleration from commercial four-core processors.
Effects of intensity of agronomic practices on a soil ecosystem

The combination of several measures (organic matter accumulated, soil porosity, field soil respiration, CO 2 evolved during incubation, and mineral N released) shows clearly that soil biological activity was enhanced in the systems that minimized tillage. Surprisingly, the abundance of earthworms, which are considered very sensitive to damage by tillage, did not always follow the same pattern. We do not know the reason for the response of earthworms, but in part it may have been an artifact of the interaction of the collection technique with soil properties such as infiltration rate and temperature. The most dramatic improvement in porosity, organic matter accumulation and N mineralization ability came from five years' continuous growth of grass sod, underscoring the potential role of grass in sustainable cropping systems and the value of grass for soil conservation and improvement.
Oxidative Stress Causes Renal Dopamine D1 Receptor Dysfunction and Salt-Sensitive Hypertension in Sprague-Dawley Rats

Renal dopamine plays an important role in maintaining sodium homeostasis and blood pressure (BP) during increased sodium intake. The present study was carried out to determine whether renal dopamine D1 receptor (D1R) dysfunction contributes to increase in salt sensitivity during oxidative stress. Male Sprague-Dawley rats, divided into various groups, received tap water (vehicle); 1% NaCl (high salt [HS]); l-buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), an oxidant; and HS plus BSO with or without Tempol, an antioxidant, for 12 days. Compared with vehicle, HS intake increased urinary dopamine production and decreased basal renal Na/K-ATPase activity but did not affect BP. BSO-treated rats exhibited oxidative stress and a mild increase in BP. In these rats, D1R expression and G protein coupling were reduced, and SKF38393, a D1R agonist, failed to inhibit Na/K-ATPase activity and promote sodium excretion. Concomitant administration of BSO and HS caused oxidative stress, D1R dysfunction, and a marked increase in BP. Although renal dopamine production was increased, it failed to reduce the basal Na/K-ATPase activity in these animals. Treatment of BSO plus HS rats with Tempol decreased oxidative stress and restored endogenous, as well as exogenous, D1R agonist-mediated Na/K-ATPase inhibition and normalized BP. In conclusion, during HS intake, the increased dopamine production via Na/K-ATPase inhibition prevents an increase in BP. During oxidative stress, D1R function is defective, and there is mild hypertension. However, in the presence of oxidative stress, HS intake causes marked elevation in BP, which results from a defective renal D1R function leading to the failure of dopamine to inhibit Na/K-ATPase and promote sodium excretion.
NMR comparison of in vitro digestion of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese aged 15 and 30 months

The content of essential amino acids is an important aspect for determining the nutritional value of food proteins, but their digestibility is also a key property, deeply affected by food processing. The production of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is closely related to the nutritional quality of the final product; in particular the high digestibility of its proteins is claimed to be proportional to cheese aging. Two different kinds of Parmigiano Reggiano, young (aged 15 months) and old (aged 30 months), were separately digested using an in vitro system that simulates digestive processes in the mouth, stomach and small intestine. Samples were collected at different stages of digestion and the process of protein hydrolysis was explored and compared by low‐field (LF) and high‐resolution (HR) NMR, together with other biochemical methods. HR‐NMR allowed to simultaneously observe the quantity of free amino acids, peptides and proteins, also giving for these latter qualitative information about their dimension. LF‐NMR, instead, gave the possibility to observe digestion with no treatments whatsoever, thus representing a technique suitable for on‐line measurements. The results pointed out that cheeses with different aging times, although starting from distinct initial compositions, conclude digestion in a similar way, in terms of free amino acids and small organic compounds, but evolve with different kinetics of hydrolysis and peptide formation, discriminating the young from the old cheese. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Occurrence and outcome of delirium in medical in-patients: a systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND Despite the acknowledged clinical importance of delirium, research evidence for measures to improve its management is sparse. A necessary first step to devising appropriate strategies is to understand how common it is and what its outcomes are in any particular setting. OBJECTIVE To determine the occurrence of delirium and its outcomes in medical in-patients, through a systematic review of the literature. METHOD We searched electronic medical databases, the Consultation-Liaison Literature Database and reference lists and bibliographies for potentially relevant studies. Studies were selected, quality assessed and data extracted according to preset protocols. RESULTS Results for the occurrence of delirium in medical in-patients were available for 42 cohorts. Prevalence of delirium at admission ranged from 10 to 31%, incidence of new delirium per admission ranged from 3 to 29% and occurrence rate per admission varied between 11 and 42%. Results for outcomes were available for 19 study cohorts. Delirium was associated with increased mortality at discharge and at 12 months, increased length of hospital stay (LOS) and institutionalisation. A significant proportion of patients had persistent symptoms of delirium at discharge and at 6 and 12 months. CONCLUSION Delirium is common in medical in-patients and has serious adverse effects on mortality, functional outcomes, LOS and institutionalisation. The development of appropriate strategies to improve its management should be a clinical and research priority. As delirium prevalent at hospital admission is a significant problem, research is also needed into preventative measures that could be applied in community settings.
The Undeclared Sector, Self-Employment and Public Policy

PurposeViewing undeclared work as low-paid exploitative organised employment conducted under sweatshop conditions, public policy has widely treated this illegitimate sphere as a hindrance to development and actively pursued its deterrence using stringent regulations and punitive measures to change the cost-benefit ratio for those considering participation in such endeavour. In this paper, however, the intention is to evaluate critically this portrait of the nature of undeclared work and resultant public policy approach.DesignTo evaluate this representation of undeclared work and consequent public policy approach, empirical evidence is reported from 861 face-to-face interviews in English localities.FindingsThe finding is that the majority of undeclared work is undertaken on a self-employed basis by people who have identified an opportunity to provide a good or service and are taking a calculated risk in order to fulfil others needs.Research limitationsFuture research will need to further investigate this relationship between self-employment and the undeclared sector.Practical implicationsIdentifying that the undeclared sphere is predominantly composed of self-employed endeavour, a call is made for greater emphasis in public policy on developing initiatives to legitimise this illegitimate self-employment, rather than simply deterring such work. ValueBy re-reading the nature of undeclared work as primarily composed of self-employed activity, it highlights the need for public policy to stop treating undeclared work purely as something to be deterred and for more emphasis to be put on developing enabling initiatives to help such workers formalise their business ventures.
Autoantibodies to the Nuclear Sp100 Protein in Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and Associated Diseases: Epitope Specificity and Immunoglobulin Class Distribution

Sp100, a protein with a dot‐like intranuclear localization in immunofluorescence microscopy, is a major target for patient autoantibodies in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and occasionally in rheumatic disorders. The human Sp 100 cDNA has recently been cloned, and the deduced amino acid sequence was found to contain sequence similarities with an MHC class I domain and several transacting regulatory proteins, including HIV‐1 nef proteins. In this study, recombinant Sp100 fusion proteins were used to differentiate the immunoglobulin isotypes and to map the epitopes involved in the anti‐Sp100 autoimmune response. PBC patients developed IgG as well as IgM and/or IgA class anti‐Sp100 autoantibodies whereas most patients with rheumatic diseases developed IgG class autoantibodies only. For epitope mapping, truncated versions of the Sp100 protein were probed for immunoreactivity in ELISA and immunoblotting. With 55 sera, 17 different reaction patterns were obtained, and at least three non‐overlapping major autoantigenic domains were recognized by the majority of sera. One domain, which contains the sequence similarity with HIV nef proteins, was recognized by all anti‐Sp100 sera and harbours multiple, in part discontinuous, epitopes. These data demonstrate a heterogeneous and patient‐specific anti‐Sp100 autoimmune response which is antigen‐driven and, at least in terms of isotype composition, different in PBC and non‐PBC patients.
Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946-1950

The Chinese Civil War was one of the key conflicts of the twentieth century. The Communist victory determined Chinese history for several generations, and defined international relations in East Asia during the Cold War and after. Despite its importance and scope-its battles were the largest military engagements since World War II-until now remarkably little has been known about the war, and even less about its effects on the societies that suffered through it. This major new history of the Chinese Civil War attempts to answer two central questions: Why was the war fought? What were the immediate and the lasting results of the Communists' victory? Though the book highlights military matters, it also shows how campaigns were mounted alongside profound changes in politics, society, and culture-changes that ultimately contributed as much to the character of today's China as did the major battles. By analyzing the war as an international conflict, the author explains why so much of the present legitimacy of the Beijing government derives from its successes during the late 1940s, and reveals how the antagonism between China and the United States was born.
Thyroid functions in aging men.

Several changes in thyroid functions have been described in elderlies and have been largely attributed to concomitant thyroid illnesses. The extent to which aging per se contributes to these changes remains to be elucidated. To obviate the fallacies produced by inclusion of hospitalised patients as in many of the earlier studies, we have conducted the present study in nonhospitalised, healthy aged individuals, so as to assess the thyroid functions' in a disease and medication free elderly population.
Enhancement of Information Transmission Efficiency by Synaptic Failures

Many synapses have a high percentage of synaptic transmission failures. I consider the hypothesis that synaptic failures can increase the efficiency of information transmission across the synapse. I use the information transmitted per vesicle release about the presynaptic spike train as a measure of synaptic transmission efficiency and show that this measure can increase with the synaptic failure probability. I analytically calculate the Shannon mutual information transmitted across two model synapses with probabilistic transmission: one with a constant probability of vesicle release and one with vesicle release probabilities governed by the dynamics of synaptic depression. For inputs generated by a non-Poisson process with positive autocorrelations, both synapses can transmit more information per vesicle release than a synapse with perfect transmission, although the information increases are greater for the depressing synapse than for a constant-probability synapse with the same average transmission probability. The enhanced performance of the depressing synapse over the constant-release-probability synapse primarily reflects a decrease in noise entropy rather than an increase in the total transmission entropy. This indicates alimitation of analysis methods, such as decorrelation, that consider only the total response entropy. My results suggest that synaptic transmission failures governed by appropriately tuned synaptic dynamics can increase the information-carrying efficiency of a synapse.
Three-Dimensional Link Theory and Invariants of Plane Curve Singularities.

This book gives a new foundation for the theory of links in 3-space modeled on the modern developmentby Jaco, Shalen, Johannson, Thurston et al. of the theory of 3-manifolds. The basic construction is a method of obtaining any link by "splicing" links of the simplest kinds, namely those whose exteriors are Seifert fibered or hyperbolic. This approach to link theory is particularly attractive since most invariants of links are additive under splicing. Specially distinguished from this viewpoint is the class of links, none of whose splice components is hyperbolic. It includes all links constructed by cabling and connected sums, in particular all links of singularities of complex plane curves. One of the main contributions of this monograph is the calculation of invariants of these classes of links, such as the Alexander polynomials, monodromy, and Seifert forms.
Consumption, Down Payments, and Liquidity Constraints

ONE FREQUENTLY CITED EXPLANATION for the empirical failure of the orthodox life cycle-permanent income hypothesis (LC/PIH) is the presence of binding liquidity constraints. ' Households' inability to borrow and lend at the same interest rate or to borrow the desired quantity can distort household consumption profiles, depressing consumption during periods when constraints bind. Whether or not liquidity constraints bind has important implications for the sensitivity of consumption to fluctuations in income, the neutrality of government debt, and the structure of taxation. Despite the potential importance of liquidity constraints in understanding macroeconomic behavior, there has been comparatively little research into the effect of specific constraints on consumption. One area of consumer behavior where liquidity constraints arguably may be important is in housing decisions and mortgage markets. Households wishing to own a first home must accumulate a down payment in order to qualify for a mortgage loan. Currently, for conventional mortgages in the United States, most lending institutions require between S percent and 20 percent of the purchase price of the home put down in advance of the purchase.2 Without access to private gifts or loans, many
The role of free radicals and antioxidants in reproduction

Purpose of review This review summarizes the role of free radicals and oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of human reproduction. Recent findings An extensive review of the literature on the role of oxidative stress in influencing assisted reproduction and its outcome is described in this article. Free radicals or reactive oxygen species mediate their action through many of the proinflammatory cytokines and this mechanism has been proposed as a common underlying factor for endometriosis, ovarian cancer, polycystic ovary disease, and various other pathologies affecting the female reproductive process, as highlighted in this review. Oxidative stress, sperm DNA damage, and apoptosis have been implicated in male infertility. Elevated reactive oxygen species levels correlate with the poor fertility outcomes seen in the assisted reproductive technology setting. Summary Oxidative stress has been implicated in male and female infertility, including fetal dysmorphogenesis, abortions, and intrauterine growth restriction. Accurate evaluation of seminal oxidative stress by standardized assays may help in the diagnosis and management of male infertility. There is evidence in the literature on the beneficial effects of oral antioxidant supplementation in male infertility. Current ongoing trials will provide answers on the safety and effectiveness of antioxidants in improving maternal and fetal outcomes. Further studies need to be conducted to determine if antioxidant supplementation will prevent fetal developmental defects in high-risk pregnancy with diabetes.
Customer‐supplier relations and the diffusion of employee relations changes

Describes the utility of supply chain partnerships as a mechanism for the diffusion of change in employee relations. Uses case study and survey evidence to explain the means by which this can be achieved. Examines data relating to both customer and supplier organizations in the manufacturing sector. Concludes that the customer‐supplier relationship can act as an agent of change in human resource management, particularly as they do not need to be artificially created, and can reach “peripheral” as well as “core” firms. Suggests that the local economic development agencies may be able to encourage the formation of networks of organizations in a particular industry and promote the spread of innovations in employee relations in this way.
PD-L 1 interacts with CD 80 to regulate graft-versus-leukemia activity of donor CD 8 + T cells

Programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) interacts with programmed death-1 (PD-1) and the immunostimulatory molecule CD80 and functions as a checkpoint to regulate immune responses. The interaction of PD-L1 with CD80 alone has been shown to exacerbate the severity of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), whereas costimulation of CD80 and PD-1 ameliorates GVHD. Here we have demonstrated that temporary depletion of donor CD4+ T cells early after hematopoietic cell transplantation effectively prevents GVHD while preserving strong graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effects in allogeneic and xenogeneic murine GVHD models. Depletion of donor CD4+ T cells increased serum IFN-g but reduced IL-2 concentrations, leading to upregulation of PD-L1 expression by recipient tissues and donor CD8+ T cells. In GVHD target tissues, the interactions of PD-L1 with PD-1 on donor CD8+ T cells cause anergy, exhaustion, and apoptosis, thereby preventing GVHD. In lymphoid tissues, the interactions of PD-L1 with CD80 augment CD8+ T cell expansion without increasing anergy, exhaustion, or apoptosis, resulting in strong GVL effects. These results indicate that the outcome of PD-L1–mediated signaling in CD8+ T cells depends on the presence or absence of CD4+ T cells, the nature of the interacting receptor expressed by CD8+ T cells, and the tissue environment in which the signaling occurs. Research Article Immunology Transplantation
Modelling Turkish Migration to Germany

This study develops a time series model of Turkish migration to Germany for the period 1963-2004 using the cointegration technique. A single cointegrating relation between the migration flow variable and the relative income ratio between Germany and Turkey, the unemployment rates in Germany and Turkey, and the trade variable, that captures intensity of bilateral economic cooperation, is found. By including the trade variable in the empirical migration function we investigate whether trade and migration are complements or substitutes: a question on which the theoretical literature does not provide a definite answer. Our results support the former view.
Farmers' Motivations for Adopting Conservation Practices along Riparian Zones in a Mid-western Agricultural Watershed

In the agricultural Mid-west, riparian corridors are vital for protecting biodiversity and water quality. The cumulative management decisions of hundreds of private landowners have a tremendous impact on this riparian zone. This study of 268 farmers in a typical Mid-western watershed in Michigan looked at farmer's motivations for adopting conservation practices, their current management practices along their rivers and drains as well as their future management plans. The results of the study showed that farmers are intrinsically motivated to practise conservation by such factors as their attachment to their land, rather than by motivations such as receiving economic compensation. Farmers are also likely to engage in conservation practices that make their farm appear well-managed. Furthermore, those farmers with strong intrinsic motivations were likely to adopt conservation practices that protect streams, such as maintaining a woody vegetative buffer or practicing no-till farming. This study shows that protecting riparian resources in agricultural watersheds requires strategies for conservation that respect farmers' attachment to their land and their desire to practise good stewardship.
Almonds classification using supervised learning methods

Digital image processing techniques are commonly employed for food classification in an industrial environment. In this paper, we propose the use of supervised learning methods, namely multi-class support vector machines and artificial neural networks to perform classification of different type of almonds. In the process of defining the feature vectors, the proposed method has relied on the principal component analysis to identify the most significant shape and color parameters. The comparative analysis of considered classification algorithms has shown that the higher levels of accuracy in almond classification are attained when support vector machine are used as the basis for classification, rather than artificial neural networks. Moreover, the experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed method exhibits significant levels of robustness and computational efficiency to facilitate the use in the real-time applications. In addition, for the purpose of this paper, a dataset of almond images containing various classes of almonds is formed and made freely available to be used by other researchers in this field.
Optimal control of multi-missile system

The minimum-time synchronous control problem of multi-missile system is considered. By normalizing the time variable, the original time optimal problem is transformed into a usual two-point boundary value problem, which can be solved via numerical methods. In order to reduce the computational burden of the numerical solving method, a combined control strategy is proposed. At first, the states and control inputs are optimized with a few discrete points, and the continuous control inputs are generated by linear interpolation. When the states of missiles are close enough, a simple consensus protocol is adopted. The computational burden can be reduced dramatically with the proposed control strategy. An example is given to illustrate the efficiency and validity of the proposed method.