Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Process Barrier for Predictable and Repeatable Concurrent Execution

We study on how to design, debug and verify and validate (V&V) safety-critical control software running on shared-memory many-core platforms. Managing concurrency in a verifiable way is a certification requirement. The presented process barrier is a simple concurrency control mechanism that guarantees deadlock-freedom by-design and temporal separation of tasks, while allowing non-conflicting tasks to run in parallel. It is placed in a lock-free task queue (LFTQ) and a group of processors are allocated to compete to dequeue and execute the tasks registered in the LFTQ. The process barrier consists of a checker and limiter pair. A process that dequeues the checker monitors for completion of preceding tasks in the LFTQ that conflicts with a subsequent task in the LFTQ. The process dequeues the paired limiter from the LFTQ upon completion. All other processes that find the limiter at the head of the LFTQ periodically checks if the head of the LFTQ points to subsequent tasks which happens after the process that took the checker task dequeues the limiter. The mechanism manages concurrent execution of the registered tasks that conflict on data, shared resources and execution order in a way that becomes conflict equivalent to sequential execution. The trace of the concurrent execution and the consequent program state is repeatable. We can reuse existing toolchains for single-core platforms for debugging, testing and V&V. The temporal behavior of the concurrent execution becomes predictable and the worst-case execution time (WCET) of it is bounded.
Performance Analysis of Online Social Platforms

We introduce an original mathematical model to analyze the diffusion of posts within a generic online social platform. Each user of such a platform has his own Wall and Newsfeed, as well as his own self-posting and re-posting activity. As a main result, using our developed model, we derive in closed form the probabilities that posts originating from a given user are found on the Wall and Newsfeed of any other. These probabilities are the solution of a linear system of equations. Conditions of existence of the solution are provided, and two ways of solving the system are proposed, one using matrix inversion and another using fixed-point iteration. Comparisons with simulations show the accuracy of our model and its robustness with respect to the modeling assumptions. Hence, this article introduces a novel measure which allows to rank users by their influence on the social platform, by taking into account not only the social graph structure, but also the platform design, user activity (self-and re-posting), as well as competition among posts.
An Improved Uncertainty Propagation Method for Robust I-vector Based Speaker Recognition

The performance of automatic speaker recognition systems degrades when facing distorted speech data containing additive noise and/or reverberation. Statistical uncertainty propagation has been introduced as a promising paradigm to address this challenge. So far, different uncertainty propagation methods have been proposed to compensate noise and reverberation in i-vectors in the context of speaker recognition. They have achieved promising results on small datasets such as YOHO and Wall Street Journal, but little or no improvement on the larger, highly variable NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation (SRE) corpus. In this paper, we propose a complete uncertainty propagation method, whereby we model the effect of uncertainty both in the computation of unbiased Baum-Welch statistics and in the derivation of the posterior expectation of the i-vector. We conduct experiments on the NIST-SRE corpus mixed with real domestic noise and reverberation from the CHiME-2 corpus and preprocessed by multichannel speech enhancement. The proposed method improves the equal error rate (EER) by 4% relative compared to a conventional i-vector based speaker verification baseline. This is to be compared with previous methods which degrade performance.
Longitudinal Changes in Semantic Concreteness in Semantic Variant Primary Progressive Aphasia (svPPA)

Abstract This study examines longitudinal changes in the concreteness of nouns produced by human patients with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA). Cross-sectional studies show that patients with svPPA demonstrate severe loss of concrete noun knowledge linked to atrophy of the left ventral temporal lobe. It is unknown how disease spread and duration affect the magnitude of the concreteness impairment in svPPA. We evaluate longitudinal spoken production of concrete nouns in svPPA, and relate this to changes in longitudinal MRI measures of gray matter (GM). Noun concreteness in svPPA is compared to that of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) patients, who typically demonstrate highly concrete speech. We elicited naturalistic speech samples at two time points (time 1 and time 2) in patients with svPPA (n = 11) and bvFTD (n = 15) through descriptions of the Cookie Theft picture and evaluated each spoken noun for concreteness. Compared to bvFTD patients whose noun production remained highly concrete throughout the testing period, mixed-effects models revealed that noun concreteness significantly decreased as disease progressed in svPPA. We also measured longitudinal changes to GM in a subset of svPPA patients (n = 7), who showed significant decline in the left and right temporal and frontal regions. Regression analyses revealed that longitudinal GM atrophy in the right fusiform and parahippocampal gyri and the left superior temporal gyrus was related to decreasing noun concreteness. These results suggest that progressive atrophy of the ventral temporal lobe in svPPA contributes to declining concrete noun production over time.
The UARS Microwave Limb Sounder version 5 data set: Theory, characterization, and validation

[1] This paper describes the latest and (for most products) definitive data set from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). MLS data have formed the basis of numerous studies, and the version 5 data, produced using more advanced algorithms than earlier versions, represent a significant improvement in quality and scientific applicability for most of the MLS data products. The version 5 data include midstratospheric to lower mesospheric temperature and geopotential height (the latter is a new product from MLS), water vapor from the upper troposphere to the mesosphere, stratospheric and mesospheric ozone, and stratospheric nitric acid, chlorine monoxide, and methyl cyanide (also a new product). The vertical retrieval grid over the stratosphere and lower mesosphere has been doubled, to six surfaces per decade change in pressure (∼2.5 km), compared to three surfaces per decade in previous versions. The accuracy and precision of lower stratospheric ozone, chlorine monoxide, and nitric acid have been improved. For each product, a description of relevant changes to the algorithms is given, along with an update on its validation, a description of the accuracy, precision, and vertical resolution of the data, and information on what quality control methods to apply when using the data.
A laboratory investigation of the ice nucleation efficiency of three types of mineral and soil dust

Abstract. Surface-collected dust from three different locations around the world was examined with respect to its ice nucleation activity (INA) with the ETH Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber (PINC). Ice nucleation experiments were conducted with particles of 200 and 400 nm in diameter in the temperature range of 233–243 K in both the deposition nucleation and condensation freezing regimes. Several treatments were performed in order to investigate the effect of mineralogical composition, as well as the presence of biological and proteinaceous, organic and soluble compounds on the INA of mineral and soil dust. The INA of untreated dust particles correlated well with the total feldspar and K-feldspar content, corroborating previously published results. The removal of heat-sensitive proteinaceous and organic components from the particle surface with heat decreased the INA of dusts. However, the decrease in the INA was not proportional to the amount of these organic components, indicating that different proteinaceous and organic species have different ice nucleation activities, and the exact speciation is required in order to determine why dusts respond differently to the heating process. The INA of certain dusts increased after the removal of soluble material from the particle surface, demonstrating the low INA of the soluble compounds and/or the exposition of the underlying active sites. Similar to the proteinaceous organic compounds, soluble compounds seem to have different effects on the INA of surface-collected dusts, and a general conclusion about how the presence of soluble material on the particle surface affects its INA is not possible. The investigation of the heated and washed dusts revealed that mineralogy alone is not able to fully explain the observed INA of surface-collected dusts at the examined temperature and relative humidity conditions. The results showed that it is not possible to predict the INA of surface-collected soil dust based on the presence and amount of certain minerals or any particular class of compounds, such as soluble or proteinaceous/organic compounds. Instead, at temperatures of 238–243 K the INA of the untreated, surface-collected soil dust in the condensation freezing mode can be roughly approximated by one of the existing surrogates for atmospheric mineral dust, such as illite NX. Uncertainties associated with mechanical damage and possible changes to the mineralogy during treatments, as well as with the BET surface area and its immediate impact on the number of active sites (ns,BET), are addressed.
Non-wage benefits, corporate ownership and firm performance in post-communist economies: evidence from Ukraine

Abstract The economic reforms in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe have fundamentally reshaped ownership and governance of economic production, notably through the privatization of former state-owned enterprises. These reforms were expected to transform management practices by displacing ‘cradle-to-grave’ welfare arrangements administered by state-owned enterprises. Using data drawn from two large samples of Ukrainian establishments, we investigate, in two different time points, the relationship between non-wage benefits and firm performance during the period of transition to a market economy (1994–2004). We found that non-wage benefits continued to be a critical feature of HRM practices in Ukraine during this period, and were positively associated with firm performance.
Shifting Paradigms: Using Strategic Foresight to Plan for Security Evolution

Everyone wants to know the future. Exploring the future is not to make predictions, but to anticipate which futures might happen, so we may make better decisions today. The foresight process is a tool which enables researchers to become more attuned to the future; the foresight process is designed to help anticipate emerging trends, rather than be surprised by dramatic change. This paper identifies possible futures in two ways: extrapolating from the present into the future, and starting from future states to reconstruct how they might be arrived at from the current state. The result is 12 fresh scenarios and 13 new paradigms.
The effect of delay time to internal fixation of the femoral neck fractures on development of femoral head avascular necrosis

Nasser Sarrafan, Seyed Abdolhossein Mehdi Nasab, Mohammad Ali Ghasemi, Rohollah Nazari 1 Professor of Orthopedic Surgery – Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Emam Khomeini Hospital, Azadegan Street, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran 2 Professor of Orthopedic Surgery – Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Emam Khomeini Hospital, Azadegan Street, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran 3 Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery – Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Emam Khomeini Hospital, Azadegan Street, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran 4 Orthopedic Surgeon – Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Emam Khomeini Hospital, Azadegan Street, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
A Survey on Machine Learning Based Requirement Prioritization Techniques

Software is becoming a need of today's business and everyday tasks. However, building software that fulfils its user's need is not an easy task. It is deemed important to properly elicit and prioritise the requirements of users and these prioritized requirements should be implemented in the system to offer purposeful software to users. Requirements prioritization is a complex and trivial task. Lately machine learning had been used to automate the process of requirements prioritization. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyse the existing techniques of requirements prioritization that are based on machine learning.
Assessing the Effectiveness of Direct Data Merging Strategy in Long-Term and Large-Scale Pharmacometabonomics

Because of the extended period of clinic data collection and huge size of analyzed samples, the long-term and large-scale pharmacometabonomics profiling is frequently encountered in the discovery of drug/target and the guidance of personalized medicine. So far, integration of the results (ReIn) from multiple experiments in a large-scale metabolomic profiling has become a widely used strategy for enhancing the reliability and robustness of analytical results, and the strategy of direct data merging (DiMe) among experiments is also proposed to increase statistical power, reduce experimental bias, enhance reproducibility and improve overall biological understanding. However, compared with the ReIn, the DiMe has not yet been widely adopted in current metabolomics studies, due to the difficulty in removing unwanted variations and the inexistence of prior knowledges on the performance of the available merging methods. It is therefore urgently needed to clarify whether DiMe can enhance the performance of metabolic profiling or not. Herein, the performance of DiMe on 4 pairs of benchmark datasets was comprehensively assessed by multiple criteria (classification capacity, robustness and false discovery rate). As a result, integration/merging-based strategies (ReIn and DiMe) were found to perform better under all criteria than those strategies based on single experiment. Moreover, DiMe was discovered to outperform ReIn in classification capacity and robustness, while the ReIn showed superior capacity in controlling false discovery rate. In conclusion, these findings provided valuable guidance to the selection of suitable analytical strategy for current metabolomics.
Artificial intelligence in medical imaging of the liver

Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning algorithms, is gaining extensive attention for its excellent performance in image-recognition tasks. They can automatically make a quantitative assessment of complex medical image characteristics and achieve an increased accuracy for diagnosis with higher efficiency. AI is widely used and getting increasingly popular in the medical imaging of the liver, including radiology, ultrasound, and nuclear medicine. AI can assist physicians to make more accurate and reproductive imaging diagnosis and also reduce the physicians’ workload. This article illustrates basic technical knowledge about AI, including traditional machine learning and deep learning algorithms, especially convolutional neural networks, and their clinical application in the medical imaging of liver diseases, such as detecting and evaluating focal liver lesions, facilitating treatment, and predicting liver treatment response. We conclude that machine-assisted medical services will be a promising solution for future liver medical care. Lastly, we discuss the challenges and future directions of clinical application of deep learning techniques.
Impact of design and length on the accuracy of closed tray transfer copings

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of two closed-tray transfer copings for implant impressions (a new design vs. an old design) in two different lengths (short and long). Material and Methods Four groups of transfer copings (NS - new short, NL - new long, OS - old short and OL - old long) were tested. An epoxy resin model was prepared of missing teeth 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6. Two Alpha-Bio analogues were placed in position of teeth 1.4 and 1.6, at a 10o angulation. Two calibrated operators took 10 closed-tray impressions for each group with polyether in a Rim-Lock impression tray. Results After measuring and comparing impressions, a significant difference was found between the two new transfer copings and the old short transfer coping. Conclusions The new transfer coping design significantly improved impression accuracy. An adequate transfer coping design for the closed-tray impression technique can help to achieve clinically acceptable impressions for two-unit implant supported bridges. Key words:Closed tray, impression coping, transfer coping, implant impression.
Extraosseous Ewing’s Sarcoma of the Parapharyngeal Space - A Rare Entity - with Review of Literature

Introduction: Extraosseous Ewing’s sarcoma (EES) of the head and neck region is a rare occurrence, and Ewing’s sarcoma of the parapharyngeal space is even rarer. To the best of our knowledge, only three cases of EES of the parapharyngeal space have been reported in the literature. Case Report: We report a rare case of EES of the parapharyngeal space in an 8-year-old girl. She presented with complaints of earache, difficulty in breathing and swallowing and bleeding from the mouth. Investigations revealed a large parapharyngeal mass causing narrowing of the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal airway with skeletal and lung metastasis. Biopsy from the parapharyngeal mass was suggestive of malignant small round cell tumor. The patient was treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but developed brain metastasis and succumbed to disease approximately 1 year after diagnosis. Herein, we describe the characteristic clinicopathological features and treatment with a comprehensive review of the literature. Conclusion: EES in this unusual location behaves aggressively, with a high rate of recurrence and distant metastasis. Aggressive multimodal treatment comprising of multi-agent chemotherapy, surgical resection if feasible, and radiotherapy should be considered.
Interdisziplinäre Plastische Chirurgie – Chancen, Voraussetzungen und Hemmnisse der Rekonstruktiven Mikrochirurgie an Kliniken der Maximalversorgung

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Für eine zeitgemäße sowie bestmögliche interdisziplinäre Behandlung von komplexen Weichteildefekten nach ausgedehnten Traumata, tiefgreifenden Infektionen sowie Tumorentfernungen ist eine eigenständige Infrastruktur für Plastische Chirurgie heutzutage essentiell. Diese Arbeit soll den Stellenwert der rekonstruktiven Mikrochirurgie an einem Universitätsklinikum in der interdisziplinären Zusammenarbeit aufzeigen. Methoden 2018 wurden bei 47 Patienten an einem Standort 50 freie mikrochirurgische Defektrekonstruktionen durchgeführt. Die Daten der Patienten wurden retrospektiv nach Demographie, Komorbiditäten, perioperativen und postoperativen Details, interdisziplinärer Zusammenhang, Hospitalisierung, Komplikationen sowie Endergebnissen untersucht. Ergebnisse Es wurden 50 freie Lappenplastiken nach komplexen Traumata (23,4 %), Infektionen (25,5 %), Tumorresektionen (42,6 %), pAVK (4,2 %) sowie sekundären Lymphödemen (4,2 %) durchgeführt. Bei 76,6 % der Patienten erfolgte eine mikrochirurgische Defektdeckung in der interdisziplinären Zusammenarbeit, bei denen in 89,2 % mindestens zwei verschiedene operative Fachbereiche beteiligt waren. 43,2 % der Lappenplastiken wurden postoperativ auf einer nicht plastisch-chirurgischen Station betreut. Schlussfolgerung Die rekonstruktive Plastische Chirurgie hat einen zentralen Stellenwert in der Behandlung von komplexen chirurgischen Defektrekonstruktionen. Zusätzlich leistet sie einen großen Beitrag in der Behandlung von Komplikationen anderer Fachgebiete. Aufwändige mikrochirurgische Verfahren benötigen eine entsprechende Infrastruktur und strukturelle Unabhängigkeit. Aus diesem Grunde sollte an allen Kliniken der Maximalversorgung eine eigenständige sowie entsprechend personell besetzte Plastische Chirurgie vorhanden sein. Dies ist bedauerlicherweise auch 25 Jahre nach Einführung des Fachgebiets Plastische Chirurgie in Deutschland immer noch nicht der Fall und bedarf einer Änderung.
Title Calderón Preconditioned PMCHWT Equations for AnalyzingPenetrable Objects in Layered Medium

We study Calderón preconditioners for analyzing electromagnetic scattering by penetrable objects in a layered medium. To account for the scattering effects of the multilayered background, the layered medium Green’s function is adopted in the Poggio–Miller–Chang–Harrington–Wu–Tsai (PMCHWT) method. However, similar to the free-space case, the spectrum of the resulting equation is undesirable. This leads to a slow convergence of an iterative solver, especially when the geometry is densely meshed. To improve the convergence, a highly effective preconditioner is proposed. Different from its free-space counterpart, the preconditioning operator is constructed based on the Calderón identities for inhomogeneous medium. To reduce the relatively high construction cost of the preconditioning operator, several alternative simplified schemes are proposed and analyzed. Finally, the performances of different preconditioners are examined and compared carefully through different numerical examples. It is shown that the convergence of the PMCHWT system in a layered medium can be significantly improved by using the proposed Calderón preconditioners.
Effects of Task-Oriented Training in Water on Balance and Gait in Patients with Hemiplegia

Purpose This study investigated the effects of task-oriented training in water on balance and gait in patients with hemiplegia. Methods Thirty-one patients with hemiplegia were randomly assigned into three groups: conventional therapeutic exercise (CTE), single-task training (STT), and dual-task training (DTT). The CTE group performed general exercise therapy, and the STT and DTT groups performed single-task and dual-task training, respectively, in the water. All groups performed the therapy five times a week, for 4 weeks. Results All groups showed significant difference in the timed up and go test (TUG), Berg balance scale (BBS), functional gait assessment (FGA), and weight-bearing deviation (WBD) within the group. Only the BBS showed significant difference between the DTT and CTE groups. Conclusion Task-oriented training in water was effective to improve balance and gait in patients with hemiplegia and dual-task training in water is more effective in some cases.