Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy Consumption in Optical IP Networks

As community concerns about global energy consumption grow, the power consumption of the Internet is becoming an issue of increasing importance. In this paper, we present a network-based model of power consumption in optical IP networks and use this model to estimate the energy consumption of the Internet. The model includes the core, metro and edge, access and video distribution networks, and takes into account energy consumption in switching and transmission equipment. We include a number of access technologies, including digital subscriber line with ADSL2+, fiber to the home using passive optical networks, fiber to the node combined with very high-speed digital subscriber line and point-to-point optical systems. In addition to estimating the power consumption of today's Internet, we make predictions of power consumption in a future higher capacity Internet using estimates of improvements in efficiency in coming generations of network equipment. We estimate that the Internet currently consumes about 0.4% of electricity consumption in broadband-enabled countries. While the energy efficiency of network equipment will improve, and savings can be made by employing optical bypass and multicast, the power consumption of the Internet could approach 1% of electricity consumption as access rates increase. The energy consumption per bit of data on the Internet is around 75\bm muJ at low access rates and decreases to around 2-4 \bm muJ at an access rate of 100 Mb/s.
HLA matching for simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation in the United States: a multivariable analysis of the UNOS data.

BACKGROUND As the incidence of diabetic nephropathy increases, especially in minority populations, more simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPK) transplants are being performed both in the United States and worldwide. The role of matching on SPK outcomes and organ allocation remains controversial. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the influence of HLA matching using currently employed criteria on 5-year SPK graft survival. METHODS We performed an analysis of all 3,316 SPK transplants performed in the United States reported to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) between December 31, 1988 and December 31, 1994. Kaplan-Meier unadjusted 1- and 5-year graft survival with log rank comparisons and Cox multivariable regression models that adjusted for 12 confounding variables were used to analyze the influence of HLA matching on outcomes. RESULTS Despite low-grade HLA or DR matching or high levels of common reactive groups (CREG) mismatching, 1- and 5-year allograft survival rates were 90% and 78% for kidney, and 85% and 75% for pancreas transplantation. CONCLUSIONS SPK transplantation is associated with excellent outcomes independent of the level of HLA matching. These data support the hypothesis that SPK transplants need not be allocated based on matching criteria, thus minimizing organ ischemia time and promoting a more racially equitable allocation for SPKs in the US today.
The biological variation of sex hormone-binding globulin in type 2 diabetes: implications for sex hormone-binding globulin as a surrogate marker of insulin resistance.

Quantitative determination of insulin resistance is technically demanding and expensive. We have recently shown (1) that insulin resistance determined using the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) has a significantly greater biological variability in individuals with type 2 diabetes than in healthy ones. A surrogate marker of insulin resistance that was reproducible, stable, and easily measured would be invaluable for both research and clinical practice, particularly for following insulin-sensitizing therapy, such as metformin and the thiazolidinediones. A low sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) concentration reflects hyperinsulinemic insulin resistance and has been proposed as such a surrogate measure (2–4). This study aimed to compare the biological variation of SHBG and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes to determine the potential for SHBG as a surrogate marker of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes. Subjects were initially recruited for a study to assess the biological variation of insulin resistance in individuals with type 2 diabetes (1). Postmenopausal Caucasian subjects ( n = 12) with type 2 diabetes (median age 62 years, range 50–73, and median BMI 31.6 kg/m2, range 25.1–35.7) and 11 age- and weight-matched, healthy, postmenopausal Caucasian control subjects …
Will rising CO2 and temperatures exacerbate the vulnerability of trees to drought?

Large-scale tree dieback events are increasing in frequency around the world, with many of them attributed to the effects of climate change-related droughts (i.e., droughts that co-occur with heat stress) (Adams etl. 2010 a , Allen etl. 2010 a ). As mean global temperatures are expected to rise by 2–4 °C in the next 85 years (Christensen et al. 2007) and elevated tem-peratures are correlated with higher vapor pressure deficits and evaporative driving forces (Oishi et al. 2010), we may expect a rise in tree mortality due to drought in a warmer future. However, climate warming is mainly driven by rising atmospheric CO
Unveiling Weaknesses of Booters Based on their Business Model Analysis

Internet has become an important service that is part of everyday human life. Distributed Denial of Service(DDoS) attacks disrupts this service. To perform these attacks specialized knowledge is needed, however there is a new phenomenon, DDoS is now available also to the layman. Booters offer to customers a way to perform DDoS attacks without needing specific knowledge. To mitigate this threat the goal of this paper is to unveil weaknesses of Booters by researching their market using business models. Therefore, we analyse the Booters internal environment, their external environment and their customers. In summary, this paper highlights weaknesses of the Booter market that can be used to mitigate them.
Impact of Irradiation Time on the Hydrolysis of Waste Activated Sludge by the Dielectric Heating of Microwave

The effects of initial solid concentration and microwave irradiation (MWI) time on the hydrolysis of waste activated sludge (WAS)were investigated. MWI time strongly influenced WAS hydrolysis for all initial solid concentrations of 8.20, 31.51, and 52.88 g VSS/L. For all WAS, the volatile suspended solids (VSS) solubilization degree ranged from 35.6% to 38.4% during a total MWI time of 10 min. Solublechemical oxygen demand (SCOD) concentration increased at a rate proportional to the decrease of VSS during the MWI. However, the clearly different VSS solubilization patterns that were observed during the MWI were explained by the 2-step hydrolysis of WAS, consisting of the initial disintegration of the easily degradable part of the sludge, followed by the subsequent disintegration of the hardlydegradable part of the sludge. WAS hydrolysis rates for 3 to 6 min of MWI were significantly lower than those for less than 3 min, or more than 6 min. From these results, 3 min MWI time and WAS of 31.51 g VSS/L (centrifugal thickener WAS) showed the most efficienthydrolysis of WAS at 36.0%. The profiles of total nitrogen (T-N) concentrations corresponded well to the SCOD increases in terms of the empirical formula of bacterial cell mass (C5H7O₂N). The negligible T-N increase and pH decrease during WAS hydrolysis by MWI will allowthe application of this process to subsequent biological processes, such as anaerobic digestion.
Heme oxygenase-1 is upregulated in the kidney of angiotensin II-induced hypertensive rats : possible role in renoprotection.

In this study, we investigated the regulation and physiological role of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in the kidney of rats with hypertension. Rats were continuously administered either angiotensin II (Ang II) or norepinephrine with an osmotic minipump for up to 7 days. Ang II infusion decreased the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) as determined through creatinine clearance (3.2+/-0.2 versus 1.2+/-0.2 mL/min with Ang II infusion, P<0.01) and increased proteinuria (9. 7+/-1.3 versus 28.1+/-7.2 mg/d with Ang II infusion, P<0.01). In contrast, norepinephrine did not alter these laboratory values. Ang II infusion significantly increased HO-1 expression in mRNA (442+/-98% of control at day 5, P<0.01) and protein levels (314+/-49% of control at day 5, P<0.01). Immunohistochemistry showed that in the kidney of normotensive rats, HO-1 was expressed mainly in the basal side in the renal tubules. After Ang II infusion, HO-1 staining was more extensively dispersed in the tubular epithelial cells. The intraperitoneal administration of zinc protoporphyrin, an HO inhibitor, to Ang II-infused rats further decreased GFR (0.8+/-0. 1 mL/min) and increased proteinuria (52.5+/-13.0 mg/d). In contrast, the administration of hemin, an HO inducer, ameliorated the Ang II-induced decrease in GFR (2.4+/-0.2 mL/min) and increase in proteinuria (9.3+/-4.5 mg/d). These data suggest that HO-1 upregulation in the kidney of Ang II-induced hypertensive rats may exert a renoprotective effect against Ang II-induced renal injury.
Antioxidant activities of mucilages from different Taiwanese yam cultivars

The antioxident effects of crude mucilages (CM) and partially purified mucilages (PPM) from three different Taiwanese yam cultivars—including Dioscorea alata L. cv. Tainong 1 (TN1), Dioscorea alata L. cv. Tainong 2 (TN2), and D. alata L. var. purpurea (Roxb.) Ming-Jen (MJ)—were evaluated, including 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, hydroxyl radical, and superoxide radical scavenging activities Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometry was used to measure hydroxyl radical scavenging activities. The IC 50 stands for the concentration required for 50% scavenging activity. The IC 50 of CM and PPM against DPPH radical was 0.329, 0.279; 0.547, 0.653; and 0.847, 0.631 mg/ml, respectively, for TN1, TN2 and MJ. The IC 50 of CM and PPM against hydroxyl radical by spectrophotometry was 0.668, 1.146; 1.461, 1.096; and 0.946, 1.554 mg/ml, respectively, for TN1, TN2 and MJ. The IC 50 of CM and PPM against superoxide radical was 0.802, 0.368; 0.681, 0.258; and 0.086, 0.148 mg/ml, respectively, for TN1, TN2 and MJ. Using ESR to detect hydroxyl radicals, the IC 50 of PPM against hydroxyl radical was 0.083, 0.47, and 0.004 mg/ml, respectively, for TN1, TN2 and MJ. The results demonstrated that different cultivars of yams exhibited different antioxidant ability, and the purification process was able to partially increase the antioxidant activity of the mucilage polysaccharide. Taken together, these results suggest that mucilage polysaccharides of the yam tuber might play an important role on antiradicals and antioxidants.
Design of Virtual Laboratory Workbench Using Unified Modeling Language

Modeling is proven well-accepted engineering technique. Engineers study models to assess the impact of environmental forces and anticipate the behavior of actual structures. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has become the standard for documentation and high-level design. There are lacks of any UML guidance, manual or application notes that would be useful for creating laboratory practices. In this paper the principal approach of design of virtual laboratory workbench using UML is presented. The software package LabVIEW is chosen to create virtual instruments (VIs) that support the laboratory practice. To illustrate applicability of presented approach the application layer of the magnetic hysteresis is created. The design and implementation of this virtual workbench are based on concept of virtual instrumentation and UML modeling.
A randomized, double-blind, controlled trial of consensus interferon in the treatment of chinese patients with chronic hepatitis C

OBJECTIVE:Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have an increased risk of developing cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. Consensus interferon (CIFN) offers sustained clinical efficacy to patients studied in the Western countries. This randomized, double-blind, controlled trial in 75 Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis C compared treatment with CIFN or placebo to determine whether CIFN had efficacy and safety in Chinese patients similar to that in Western patients.METHODS:Patients were randomized to receive CIFN (3 μg or 9 μg) or placebo given subcutaneously 3 times/wk for 24 wk, followed by 24 wk of observation. Efficacy was assessed by normalization of serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and clearance of serum HCV RNA concentrations to undetectable levels by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction.RESULTS:There was a greater benefit with CIFN 9 μg than with CIFN 3 μg or placebo. At the end of 24 wk of treatment, the ALT response was 64%, 38.5%, and 8.4% for the 9-μg, 3-μg, and placebo-treated groups, respectively. After an additional 24 wk of observation, sustained ALT responses were 44%, 23.1%, and 12.5% for the 9-μg, 3-μg, and placebo-treated groups, respectively. HCV RNA clearance at the end of treatment was 56%, 42.3%, and 4.2%; and after 24 wk of additional observation, 40%, 11.5%, and 0% for the 9-μg, 3-μg, and placebo-treated groups, respectively. There were no unexpected adverse reactions to CIFN.CONCLUSIONS:The results show that administration of CIFN subcutaneously at 9 μg 3 times a week is safe and can effectively reduce serum ALT and HCV RNA concentrations in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis C.
Primary vertebral osteosarcoma: imaging findings.

PURPOSE To evaluate patient age and sex and location and imaging appearances of primary vertebral osteosarcoma (PVOS) compared with histologic subtypes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Retrospective review (1915-2001) of imaging findings in patients with histologically proved primary osteosarcoma of vertebral column was performed. Two radiologists in consensus reviewed findings for location, origin site, matrix pattern, and spinal canal invasion and compared them with histologic subtypes. Radiation-induced, Paget, metastatic, and multifocal osteosarcoma were excluded. RESULTS Of 4,887 osteosarcoma cases, 198 (4%) were PVOS arising from vertebral column. There were 103 female and 95 male patients (age range, 8-80 years; median age, 34.5 years). Involvement included cervical (27 patients), thoracic (66 patients), lumbar (64 patients), and sacral (41 patients) spine. Adequate imaging findings were available in 69 patients, and involvement of two levels was seen in 12 (17%). In nonsacral spine, most tumors (44 cases) arose from posterior elements, with partial involvement of vertebral body. Lesions confined to vertebral body were less frequent (12 cases). Sacral tumors involved body and sacral ala. The most common histologic subtypes were osteoblastic (47 patients), chondroblastic (12 patients), telangiectatic (four patients), fibroblastic (four patients), small cell (one patient), and epithelioid (one patient). The majority (55 cases) demonstrated osteoid matrix mineralization; 17 showed marked mineralization. Five cases with marked mineralization were confined to vertebral body, with "ivory vertebra" appearance. Purely lytic pattern was seen in 14 (20%) cases. Lytic pattern was seen in four (100%) telangiectatic, three (75%) fibroblastic, three (25%) chondroblastic, three (6%) conventional osteoblastic, and one (100%) small-cell subtypes. Invasion of spinal canal was common (84% of cases). Appearance simulating osteoblastoma without soft-tissue mass was present (seven cases). Pathologic compression fractures were identified (seven patients). CONCLUSION This study provides age and sex distribution and location and imaging features in a large series of PVOS.
THE FUNDAMENTAL GROUP AND SEIFERT-VAN KAMPEN’S THEOREM

The fundamental group is an essential tool for studying a topological space since it provides us with information about the basic shape of the space. In this paper, we will introduce the notion of free products and free groups in order to understand Seifert-van Kampen’s Theorem, which will prove to be a useful tool in computing fundamental groups.
Current diagnosis and therapy of complex regional pain syndrome: refining diagnostic criteria and therapeutic options

Complex regional pain syndrome is a clinically challenging entity both in terms of accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. Complex regional pain syndrome is a post-traumatic painful neurologic syndrome involving the somatosensory, sympathetic and often the somatomotor systems. This complex condition consists of local neurogenic inflammation out of proportion to injury; severe pain in the skin, subcutaneous tissues and joints; and a central hyperexcitability that is often compounded with a sympathetic component. The syndrome is multifaceted manifesting both central and peripheral neurologic pathophysiology, frequently including a prominent psychosocial component. The wide array of possible patient presentations and antecedent pathologies also complicate successful treatment. To further add to the clinical challenges of complex regional pain syndrome, the epidemiology and natural history of complex regional pain syndrome are only partially known; evidence concerning complex regional pain syndrome treatment has grown slowly, due in large part to the vagaries of diagnosis; and research data – when they are available – are difficult to interpret. Thus, in spite of our evolving understanding of this neurologic disorder, in many cases complex regional pain syndrome remains difficult to diagnose and treat successfully.
Development of visual callosal connections in neonatally enucleated rats

The present report extends previous descriptions of the mature distributions of callosal cells and axonal terminations in rats monocularly or binocularly enucleated at birth. It also describes the time course of callosal development in these animals, and establishes the age at which eye removal ceases to alter the normal course of callosal development.
YIN-Bird: Improved Pitch Tracking for Bird Vocalisations

Pitch is an important property of birdsong. Accurate and automatic tracking of pitch for large numbers of recordings would be useful for automatic analysis of birdsong. Currently, pitch trackers such as YIN can work with carefully tuned parameters but the characteristics of birdsong mean those optimal parameters can change quickly even within a single song. This paper presents YIN-bird, a modified version of YIN which exploits spectrogram properties to automatically set a minimum fundamental frequency parameter for YIN. This parameter is continuously updated without user intervention. A ground truth dataset of synthetic birdsong with known fundamental frequency is generated for evaluation of YIN-bird. Listener tests from expert birders described the synthetic samples as “sounding like original & can hardly tell it is synthetic”. Gross pitch error on whistles and trills were reduced by up to 4%. An analysis of nasal sounds shows the challenge in accurate pitch tracking for this syllable type.
Constructing multidimensional spanner graphs

Given a connected graph G=(V,E) with positive edge weights, define the distance dG(u,v) between vertices u and v to be the length of a shortest path from u to v in G. A spanning subgraph G' of G is said to be a t-spanner for G if, for every pair of vertices u and v, dG'(u,v)≤t·dG(u,v). Consider a complete graph G whose vertex set is a set of n points in and whose edge weights are given by the Lp distance between respective points. Given input parameter ∊, 0<∊≤1, we show how to construct a (1+∊)-spanner for G containing edges in time. We apply this spanner to the construction of approximate minimum spanning trees.
Exercise training improves neurovascular control and calcium cycling gene expression in patients with heart failure with cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Heart failure (HF) is characterized by decreased exercise capacity, attributable to neurocirculatory and skeletal muscle factors. Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and exercise training have each been shown to decrease muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) and increase exercise capacity in patients with HF. We hypothesized that exercise training in the setting of CRT would further reduce MSNA and vasoconstriction and would increase Ca2+-handling gene expression in skeletal muscle in patients with chronic systolic HF. Thirty patients with HF, ejection fraction <35% and CRT for 1 mo, were randomized into two groups: exercise-trained (ET, n = 14) and untrained (NoET, n = 16) groups. The following parameters were compared at baseline and after 4 mo in each group: V̇o2 peak, MSNA (microneurography), forearm blood flow, and Ca2+-handling gene expression in vastus lateralis muscle. After 4 mo, exercise duration and V̇o2 peak were significantly increased in the ET group (P = 0.04 and P = 0.01, respectively), but not in the NoET group. MSNA was significantly reduced in the ET (P = 0.001), but not in NoET, group. Similarly, forearm vascular conductance significantly increased in the ET (P = 0.0004), but not in the NoET, group. The expression of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (P = 0.01) was increased, and ryanodine receptor expression was preserved in ET compared with NoET. In conclusion, the exercise training in the setting of CRT improves exercise tolerance and neurovascular control and alters Ca2+-handling gene expression in the skeletal muscle of patients with systolic HF. These findings highlight the importance of including exercise training in the treatment of patients with HF even following CRT.
An Examination of the Globalisation of Authorship in Publishing in 20 Leading Marketing Journals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the global contribution of academics to marketing literature between 1999 and 2003, based on an examination of the location of academics institution of employment, as reported in published works. The data is used to evaluate the global dispersion of publishing.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses the method of content analysis where the authorship of all articles in 20 leading marketing journals between 1999 and 2003 is examined. An empirical examination of performance was undertaken across geographic regions. There was also an examination of whether the quality of journal affected regional performance.Findings – The research found that there is a significant “bias” of authorship within the 20 journals examined, with the majority of works published by academics at institutions in North America. There is some variation in regional performance based on the type of journal examined.Research limitations/implications – There was no attempt to empiricall.
An image compression algorithm for wireless endoscopy and its ASIC implementation

This paper proposes an image compression algorithm for wireless capsule endoscopy with high compression rate, low computation complexity and high quality. By analyzing the WCE images properties, the algorithm proposes a color space transform to de-correlate the R-G1-G2-B color components in the Bayer pattern image. Then a 4×4 integer Discrete Cosine Transformation is adopted to reduce the spatial redundancy in the image with the consideration of its low complexity. For increasing compression rate furthermore, run-length encoding on four adjacent blocks is proposed. The compression rate and peak signal-to-noise of the image compression algorithm are 93.6% and 40.9dB respectively. Its corresponding pipeline hardware architecture with distributed storage is also proposed for minimizing the memory size and reducing power consumption. The ASIC design of the compressor has been implemented in a 0.18 μm CMOS process, whose area is 1.5mm × 2.0mm and power consumption is 1.03mW at 2 fps with 480×480 resolution.