Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Forwarding on Gates architecture: Flexible placement of QoS functions and states in internetworks

A main driver of Future Internet applications and services is Quality of Service (QoS). Current Internet technologies provide no suitable QoS support for end-to-end connections due to several drawbacks of IntServ and DiffServ. In this article, we propose the “Forwarding on Gates” (FoG) architecture, which answers the QoS questions by the help of a new inter-network architecture. It applies its own new network protocol, which was designed to handle IntServ and DiffServ in an integrated way. FoG supports resource reservations for QoS guarantees in IntServ scenarios and prioritized traffic in DiffServ scenarios as well as a combination of both. As core advantage, the QoS support of FoG works in a scalable way by allowing a network to move QoS states and delegate decisions about the QoS usage to the entities demanding for QoS. This article describes the architecture, its network protocol, and solutions for interoperability with current networks. The evaluation includes theoretical descriptions of network configurations for a use case not supported by IP. Moreover, simulations show that the protocol overhead is comparable to IPv6, although packets can select QoS explicitly. Measured routing graph sizes for various setups show the flexibility of the FoG architecture.
Beta Cell Dysfunction, Insulin Resistance and Impaired Insulin Sensitivity in Obese Adolescents

Authors Dakshayani Patlolla*, Aparna Varma B Department of Biochemistry, Mediciti Institute of Medical Sciences *Corresponding Author Dakshayani Patlolla Department of Biochemistry, Mediciti Institute of Medical Sciences Abstract Introduction: Changes in food consumption and health habits that have developed over the last three decades, the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents has increased in both developed and developing countries. This has led to a striking worldwide increase in the rate of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the adolescent age group. Materials and Methods: In the present study, a total of sixty seven subjects were studied comprising of 36 obese adolescents (15 males, 21 females) and 31 (16 males, 15 females) apparently healthy normal weight adolescents of age group between 17-19 years. In all the subjects BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference was measured, GTT was done, and the serum concentrations of fasting glucose, 2 hr glucose and fasting insulin were estimated. Further HOMA-IR, GF/IF, QUICKI, HOMA%B were calculated. Results: Increased insulin concentrations was observed in obese individuals (18.18±1.29) when compared to non obese individuals (9.41±3.19). Significantly higher HOMA-IR (3.97±2.61 vs 1.97±0.69) (p<0.001) and HOMA%B (269.32±147.02 vs 173.07±92.94) (P<0.01) were observed in obese individuals when compared to non obese individuals. GF/IF (6.31±3.25 vs 10.26±4.18) (p<0.001) and QUICKI (0.32±0.02 vs 0.35±0.02) (p<0.001) were significantly lower in cases when compared to controls. BMI was positively correlated with insulin resistance (r= 0.536, p<0.001) and negatively correlated with insulin sensitivity (r=-0.545, p<0.001) and both were found to be statistically significant. The odds of developing insulin resistance and impaired insulin sensitivity is 6.86 and 5.33 times respectively more in obese when compared to non obese individuals. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that both insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity predict conversion to diabetes in obese adolescents. Improving insulin resistance may be crucial for the prevention of both type 2 diabetes and premature cardiovascular diseases in this young population at risk. Lifestyle measures have to be taken to improve IR.
The impact of anxiety on memory for details in spider phobics

According to the attentional narrowing account of emotional memory, physiological arousal results in attention being directed towards central rather than peripheral characteristics of the situation. Consequently, memory for central details would be relatively good, whereas memory for peripheral information would be impaired. The present experiment sought to test this attentional narrowing hypothesis under highly stressful conditions. Spider phobics and low-fear controls were confronted with a large live spider, eliciting high levels of emotion in the phobic group. Afterwards, subjects' memory for the experimental situation was tested. On a cued recall test, phobics displayed a poor memory for peripheral detail information relative to control subjects. There were no differences between phobics and controls with respect to central detail information. Thus, the present data provide partial support for the attentional narrowing account of emotional memory. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Karyotypes of some species of Cestrum, Sessea, and Vestia (tribe Cestreae, Solanaceae)

Abstract The somatic chromosomes of Cestrum bigibbosum Pittier, C. buxifolium Kunth, Sessea corymbosa Goudot ex Taylor and Phillips and Vestia foetida (Ruiz et Pav.) Hoffmanns, were examined by classical staining. The number 2n = 2x = 16 was found for all species. The total genome length ranged from 57.70 to 92.09 μm and the average chromosome length from 7.21 to 11.51 μm. Karyotypes were notably symmetrical. Haploid karyotype formulae were 8 m pairs (C. bigibbosum, V. foetida) or 7 m + 1 sm pairs (S. corymbiflora, C. buxifolium). Except Sessea corymbiflora in which satellites were not visualized, the remaining species showed one satellited pair. The species can be distinguished by a combination of karyotype formula, karyotype length, and the position of satellites in a particular chromosome pair. Karyotype diversification in tribe Cestreae is suggested to have been accompanied by a tendency towards slight asymmetry and increased genome length.
Impact des schedulers sur la prédictibilité dans les GPU

Les GPU sont des architectures massivement multicoeurs gerant plusieurs dizaines de milliers de threads concurrents. Cette concurrence, maintenue par le biais de differents schedulers, est necessaire pour conserver de bonne performance mais nuie a la predictibilite. Dans ce travail nous proposons une mesure de la predictibilite ainsi que les tests CUDA permettant de s'approcher de cette mesure. Enfin nous donnons des mesures de predictibilite lie aux schedulers de warp et de block pour differentes architectures Nvidia allant du G80 au K10.
An Optimal Linear Control Design for Nonlinear Systems

This paper studies the linear feedback control strategies for nonlinear systems. Asymptotic stability of the closed-loop nonlinear system is guaranteed by means of a Lyapunov function, which can clearly be seen to be the solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation thus guaranteeing both stability and optimality. The formulated Theorem expresses explicitly the form of minimized functional and gives the sufficient conditions that allow using the linear feedback control for nonlinear system. The numerical simulations the Duffing oscillator and the nonlinear automotive active suspension system are provided to show the effectiveness of this method.
Evaluation of antitumour action of Ganoderma lucidum extract in hepatocarcinoma mice

The present study shows the protective effects of the Ganoderma lucidum aqueous crude extract (GLE) against mice liver cancer. The mice were randomized into four groups, namely, controls and tumor bearers that were G. lucidum extract- treated or untreated. Tumor bearers were inoculated intraperitoneally (ip) with 108 Yoshida AH-130 ascites hepatoma cells, whereas the controls received saline alone. The treatment began 1 day after tumor cell inoculation, and continued for 14 days. Administration of G. lucidum extract reduced the tumour weight of G. lucidum-treated groups in a dose dependent way (1.627 ± 0.135, 1.142 ± 0.144 versus 2.163 ± 0.316) as compared to model control group. The inhibition rate was 24.84, and 47.31 by G. lucidum extract administration at concentrations of 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight, respectively. Results of this investigation justify continuing with further studies of G. lucidum extract components to develop chemoprevention strategies as an option in the treatment of cancer. Key words: Liver cancer, mice, Ganoderma lucidum, interleukin-2, antitumour.
Real-time detection of application-layer DDoS attack using time series analysis

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are one of the major threats to the current Internet, and application-layer DDoS attacks utilizing legitimate HTTP requests to overwhelm victim resources are more undetectable. Consequently, neither intrusion detection systems (IDS) nor victim server can detect malicious packets. In this paper, a novel approach to detect application-layer DDoS attack is proposed based on entropy of HTTP GET requests per source IP address (HRPI). By approximating the adaptive autoregressive (AAR) model, the HRPI time series is transformed into a multidimensional vector series. Then, a trained support vector machine (SVM) classifier is applied to identify the attacks. The experiments with several databases are performed and results show that this approach can detect application-layer DDoS attacks effectively.
General Response Formula for Fractional 2D Continuous-Time Linear Systems Described by the Roesser Model

Abstract: A new class of fractional two-dimensional (2D) continuous-time linear systems is introduced. The general response formula for the system is derived using a 2D Laplace transform. It is shown that the classical Cayley-Hamilton theorem is valid for such class of systems. Usefulness of the general response formula to obtain a solution of the system is discussed and illustrated by a numerical example.
PRODUCTIVITY EFFICIENCY OF THE SYSTEMIC BANKS: EVIDENCE FROM GREECE

This study delves into the productivity efficiency of Greek systemic banks for the years 2013 and 2014, that is, the two years following the recapitalization process of the Greek banking system. Greece’s ongoing debt crisis has severely inflicted domestic banks by causing significant losses in their bond portfolio through the PSI scheme. The immediate consequences were loan portfolio restructurings and capital injections from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) in order to rebuild the banking system. Employing Data Envelope Analysis to test banking efficiency, we calculate the Malmquist productivity indices for the post-recapitalization period. Our results display that all Greek systemic banks enjoy a remarkable productivity increase of 17.3% according to the geometric mean approach and 18% according to the weighted mean approach.
Susceptibility pattern of anti-candida drugs in the pediatric patients with acute leukemia

Background: Pediatric patients on chemotherapy are vulnerable to invasive fungal infection especially Candida spices. Resistance to antifungal agents has increased in Candida spp. , especially in non-albicans species. This study aims to assess the susceptibility of Candida spp. strains isolated from children with acute leukemia less than 18 years. Materials and Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted during March 2011 to March 2012. Participants were 188 children aging from 1 month to 18 years, who had acute leukemia, were admitted in Amir Oncology Hospital affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Science, Shiraz, Iran. Identification of Candida strains was performed using germ tube and chlamydospore production tests on an Application Programming Interface (API) 20 C AUX yeast identification system. Susceptibility testing for 7 antifungal agents was performed by the agar-based E-test method. Fungal cultures were carried out from nose, oropharynx, stool, and urine specimens. Results: A total of 229 yeasts were isolated. C. albicans was the most common species found, followed by C. krusei, C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, and other Candida species. Candida glabrata was the most highly resistant of the yeasts isolated, being 100% resistant to fluconazole and itraconazole, 88% to posaconazole, and 75% to amphotericin B and ketoconazole. Conclusion: In this study, caspofungin was the most effective antifungal agent against the colonized Candida spp. found, followed by conventional amphotericin B. Knowledge about susceptibility patterns of colonized Candida spp. can be of help to clinicians managing pediatric patients on chemotherapy.
Evolutionary software for autonomous path planning

This research project demonstrated the effectiveness of using evolutionary software techniques in the development of path-planning algorithms and control programs for mobile vehicles in radioactive environments. The goal was to take maximum advantage of the programmer's intelligence by tasking the programmer with encoding the measures of success for a path-planning algorithm, rather than developing the path-planning algorithms themselves. Evolutionary software development techniques could then be used to develop algorithms most suitable to the particular environments of interest. The measures of path-planning success were encoded in the form of a fitness function for an evolutionary software development engine. The task for the evolutionary software development engine was to evaluate the performance of individual algorithms, select the best performers for the population based on the fitness function, and breed them to evolve the next generation of algorithms. The process continued for a set number of generations or until the algorithm converged to an optimal solution. The task environment was the navigation of a rover from an initial location to a goal, then to a processing point, in an environment containing physical and radioactive obstacles. Genetic algorithms were developed for a variety of environmental configurations. Algorithms were simple and non-robust strings of behaviors, but they could be evolved to be nearly optimal for a given environment. In addition, a genetic program was evolved in the form of a control algorithm that operates at every motion of the robot. Programs were more complex than algorithms and less optimal in a given environment. However, after training in a variety of different environments, they were more robust and could perform acceptably in environments they were not trained in. This paper describes the evolutionary software development engine and the performance of algorithms and programs evolved by it for the chosen task.
Monetary Policy Analysis in Backward-Looking Models

In this paper, I investigate quantitatively how sensitive a typical backward-looking model used in monetary plicy analysis is to the Lucas critique. To do this, I use an equilibrium business cycle model with a Taylor-type rule for nominal money growth. The backward-looking model displays considerable parameter instability, both from a statistical and economic point of view, when the parameters in the estimated monetary policy ruel change. THe findings suggest that the robustness of the conclusions in the literature on the relative merits of an alternative monetary policy rules should be checked in an equilibrium framework.
Development of a Fluorescent Multiwell Assay for Evaluating the Capacity of the Ciliated Protozoan Tetrahymena for Bacterivory in Water Samples

Bacterivory by ciliates in various water ecosystems, both natural and artificial, plays a significant role on the microbial population composition and consequently affects water quality. A convenient, rapid and inexpensive methodology to evaluate the capacity of the ciliate protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila for bacterivory was developed utilizing fluorescent protein expressing bacteria (FPEB) in a microtitre plate fluorimeter. Bacterivory was correlated with a loss in fluorescence measured in the fluorimeter and confirmed by fluorescence microscopy showing that the FPEB were engulfed during the assay and subsequently lost their fluorescence, whereas Cytochalasin B, a known inhibitor of phagocytosis, prevented a decrease in relative fluorescence units (RFUs). The ciliate bacterivory (CB) assay has a great dynamic range allowing the assay to be performed with a variety of predator:prey concentrations. A model toxicant, CuCl 2 , known to have a toxicological impact on protozoa and often present in different types of wastewater, resulted in measurable decreases in bacterivory. As well, starvation of Tetrahymena for 24 h resulted in reduced bacterivory. In the future, the CB assay could be developed for water monitoring purposes to rapidly assess water samples for the capacity to support bacterivory as an indicator of ecosystem health.
Demonstrating a System for Efficient and Sustainable Road Freight Based on Dynamic Power Supply

To meet the new constraints faced by road freight in terms of significantly lowering or reducing CO2 emissions, high fuel costs and improved air quality an Electric Road System (ERS), based on an Overhead Contact Line (OCL)-hybrid heavy duty vehicle (HDV), has been designed, developed, tested and demonstrated. The ERS demonstrated has twice the energy efficiency of conventional diesel HDVs and enables the use of renewable energy. The technological development was made possible by combining expertise from rail electrification, electric drives and a newly developed active current collector for dynamically connecting to the OCL and receiving a continuous supply of electricity to power the vehicle’s engine and to store energy onboard. The research project demonstrated that a hybrid truck can run in pure electric mode without any change in the operations for the driver and without any concessions on truck performance. The ERS infrastructure was successfully integrated into a highway environment, e.g. adjusting for low clearances and road signs. The result was the first fully operable prototype on a test track with dedicated infrastructure. Since mid-2011 it has been undergoing testing and demonstration. During trials, the OCLhybrid prototypes demonstrated full performance and suitability for everyday use – regardless of the environmental and load conditions. In addition to providing highly promising results in terms of technology, the tests also demonstrated benefits to the environment and economy. The ERS combines the technology of the road with the technology of the vehicle to form one system. It can be integrated with existing infrastructure, thus making it much easier and cheaper to implement and maintain. Lower energy consumption yields lower operating costs and the resulting savings can finance the infrastructure investment, especially on heavily trafficked routes, such as port-to-rail connections near metropolitan areas. These aspects will be further demonstrated on public road projects in Sweden and California, with operations commencing in the first half of 2016. This paper presents the latest available results and points the way to a heavy duty road freight system with full electric power and full flexibility.
Integrating brand and marketing perspectives in M&A

Marketing and branding issues are broadly ignored in the current M&A literature. Even though some recent studies empirically prove their importance, large-scale studies on this topic are practically nonexistent. Against this background the authors develop an integrative research model that connects marketing and brand issues from the premerger phase (market relatedness and brand relatedness) with central constructs of the post-merger phase (marketing integration and brand integration) and M&A performance. The theoretical framework was tested empirically across a sample of 72 M&A transactions in the German-speaking part of central Europe. The results give clear evidence that market relatedness and brand relatedness influence the degree of marketing integration, which in turn influences M&A performance. Brand relatedness has a direct impact on M&A performance, and brand integration strategy negatively influences M&A performance. No significant relationship between brand relatedness and brand integration strategy is found.
Use of oregano (Origanum onites L.) essential oil as hatching egg disinfectant

This study was carried out to determine whether oregano (Origanum onites) essential oil works as a disinfectant for hatching egg obtained from broiler breeder flock. Oregano essential oil was applied at two doses 0.55 and 0.75 μl/cm and two exposure times, 3 and 6 h. The formaldehyde treated eggs were used as positive control and untreated eggs used as negative control. After chemical analysis, the main constituents of oregano essential oil were carvacrol, linalool, para-cymene and -terpinene. The lowest microbial counts on eggs were obtained from oregano essential oil. Microbial inhibition increased with the increasing essential oil concentrations. Essential oil exposure times had no significant effects on microbial counts. Essential oil fumigation lowered middle embryonic mortality and discarded chick rate, but increased early and late embryonic mortalities compared to formaldehyde treatment. Essential oil doses significantly affected late embryonic mortality, discarded chicks rate, contamination rate, hatchability of fertile egg, body weight at 21 and 42 days, body weight gain and total feed consumption. But, early and middle embryonic mortality were not significantly affected by treatments. These results imply that oregano essential oil had great potential for hatching egg disinfectant and it could be used as natural egg disinfectant.
Livelihood Strategies in the Rural Kenyan Highlands

The concept of a livelihood strategy has become central to development practice in recent years. Nonetheless, precise identification of livelihoods in quantitative data has remained methodologically elusive. This paper uses cluster analysis methods to operationalize the concept of livelihood strategies in household data and then uses the resulting strategy-specific income distributions to test whether the hypothesized outcome differences between livelihoods indeed exist. Using data from Kenyaâ€™s central and western highlands, we identify five distinct livelihood strategies that exhibit statistically significant differences in mean per capita incomes and stochastic dominance orderings that establish clear welfare rankings among livelihood strategies. Multinomial regression analysis identifies geographic, demographic and financial determinants of livelihood choice. The results should facilitate targeting of interventions designed to improve household livelihoods.
HCCI engine – a preliminary analysis

This paper briefly describes history of origin, worldwide research work results, advantages and problems following from specific combustion process, typical for HCCI engines which is so different from well known and widely used spark and diesel engines. More than twenty years left since the HCCI concept was first proposed and demonstrated and steady progress has been made in developing the technology. Previous and current research works in the world have indicated that engine working in HCCI mode can be supplied by means of different fuels at extremely low emissions and high efficiencies. All world observations have been included and described in current work.
Stabilization of Descriptor System via a Non-Classical Variational Approach

The project of this paper is to present asymptotic stabilization controller feedback for descriptor system with non-classical variational approach, it should be mentioned that the sufficient conditions presented in this paper are dependent of the original system matrices and independent of the partion of the original descriptor system. Keywords: Consistent Initial Condition, C-Controllable, Descriptor System, Non-classical Variational Approach, Regular System.