Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stabilization of serum alkaline phosphatase in hemodialysis patients by implementation of local chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorder management strategy: A quality improvement study

Background The aim of this study is to narrow the gap between global guidelines and local practices, we recently established domestic recommendations by adapting the international guidelines for management of chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorder (CKD-MBD) in patients on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). This study was undertaken to determine whether application of this guideline adaptation was associated with improved serum mineral profiles in patients with CKD-MBD. Methods A total of 355 patients on MHD were enrolled from seven dialysis units. After adhering to our strategy for one year, serum phosphorus, calcium, intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), and alkaline phosphatase (AP) levels were compared with the baseline. The endpoint was improvement in the proportion of patients with serum mineral levels at target recommendations. Results The median serum phosphorus level and proportion of patients with serum phosphorus within the target range were not changed. Although the median serum calcium level was significantly increased, the proportion of patients with serum calcium within the target range was not significantly affected. The proportion of patients with serum iPTH at the target level was not altered, although the median serum iPTH was significantly decreased. However, both median serum AP and the proportion of patients with serum AP at the target level (70.4% vs. 89.6%, P < 0.001) were improved. Conclusion In our patients with MHD, serum mineral profiles were altered and the serum AP level stabilized after implementing our recommendations. Long-term follow-up evaluations are necessary to determine whether uremic bone disease and cardiovascular calcifications are affected by these recommendations.
Data Visualization of FADEC Software Engineering Information Technology

With the rapid development of information technology, the traditional industry is changing dramatically. There are big opportunities in the domain Aerospace & Aviation at the same time. As the core software of the aero engine control unit, FADEC software is a kind of safety critical software which the processes of its development must do the compliance of RTCA DO-178C [1], and cost-effective of its development is a grand challenge.Information technology provides a new method for impoving the efficiency of safety critical software[2]. Through information technology, some tasks of software development were automatically run by machines, such as source code building, static analysis and unit test of source code and so on.Because of the particularly of FADEC software, all run tasks needs to meet strict process specifications in order to ensure high guality of software[3]. Meanwhile, the construction of information has invested huge costs to ensure the stability and reliability of the environment which was depended by autorun tasks. As an information-based builder of software engineering, we need to be able to master the effectiveness of information technology to software development.This paper introduces a method to measure information technology effect based on data classification, collection and visualization. Through the data Visualization, the software support team and the R&D team will be able to cooperate more efficiently and improve efficiency of FADEC software project.
AutoPUT: an automated technique for retrofitting closed unit tests into parameterized unit tests

Parameterized unit testing is a promising technique for developers to use to facilitate the understanding of test codes. However, as a practical issue, developers might not have sufficient resources to implement parameterized unit tests (PUTs) corresponding to a vast number of closed unit tests (CUTs) in long-term software projects. Although a technique for retrofitting CUTs into PUTs was proposed, it imposes a laborious task on developers to promote parameters in CUTs. In this study, we propose a fully automated CUT-PUT retrofitting technique (called AutoPUT), which detects similar CUTs as PUT candidates by comparing their code structures. It then identifies common procedures and unique parameters to generate PUTs without degradation in terms of code coverage as compared with original CUTs. From the results of our case-study experiments on open-sourced software projects, we found that AutoPUT fully automatically generated 204 PUTs in 8.5 hours. We concluded that AutoPUT can help developers maintain test suites for building reliable software.
A Design Framework for Processing-In-Memory Accelerator

With increasing performance mismatch between processor and memory, “memory wall” has become the bottleneck of the entire computing system. In order to bridge the gap, processing-in-memory (PIM) has been revisited as a viable option to overcome the challenge, with various researches from devices to system. In this paper we present a complete design framework for PIM based acceleration with energy efficiency and performance improvement. The framework covers system level design and prototype architecture and software stack support to enable hardware accelerator design and optimization. It is also featured with configurability, easy access and effective evaluating and profiling. In the experiments, we analyzed a convolutional neural network to identify the least energy-efficient operation and replaced that by PIM acceleration. The experimental results show that the proposed accelerator is able to achieve up 6-9X performance gain for matrix multiplication as well as 10-15X energy improvement compared to conventional CPU-only implementation.
The role of advertising through social networks to promote brand equity

Article history: Received April 17, 2012 Accepted 11 June 2012 Available online June 12 2012 Social networks are online gathering places for people who would like to share their interests and activities. In this context, advertising through social networks is one of the most important topics in the field of marketing and brand that has been considered only in few studies. This study examines the impact of advertising on brand equity through social networks in the beverage industry (PepsiCo). This research study was to survey and collect data from the a standard questionnaire. PepsiCo brand, which is a well known beverage industry worldwide is selected for the proposed study of this paper. Thus, all customers of Pepsi products in city of Tehran are considered as statistical research community and a sample size of 385 people is selected for the proposed study. In order to analyze the data, we use structural equations method and certified factor analysis. The results of our survey indicate that advertisement on social networks has a positive impact in this industry. Based on the results of our survey, we realize that there are some positive relationship between social network advertisement and quality perception, brand loyalty, brand awareness and brand association when the level of significance is one percent. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Transcription Factor Zfx Regulates Peripheral T Cell Self-Renewal and Proliferation

Peripheral T lymphocytes share many functional properties with hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), including long-term maintenance, quiescence, and latent proliferative potential. In addition, peripheral T cells retain the capacity for further differentiation into a variety of subsets, much like HSCs. While the similarities between T cells and HSC have long been hypothesized, the potential common genetic regulation of HSCs and T cells has not been widely explored. We have studied the T cell-intrinsic role of Zfx, a transcription factor specifically required for HSC maintenance. We report that T cell-specific deletion of Zfx caused age-dependent depletion of naïve peripheral T cells. Zfx-deficient T cells also failed to undergo homeostatic proliferation in a lymphopenic environment, and showed impaired antigen-specific expansion and memory response. In addition, the invariant natural killer T cell compartment was severely reduced. RNA-Seq analysis revealed that the most dysregulated genes in Zfx-deficient T cells were similar to those observed in Zfx-deficient HSC and B cells. These studies identify Zfx as an important regulator of peripheral T cell maintenance and expansion and highlight the common molecular basis of HSC and lymphocyte homeostasis.
A Survey on Agent-based Simulation Using Hardware Accelerators

Due to decelerating gains in single-core CPU performance, computationally expensive simulations are increasingly executed on highly parallel hardware platforms. Agent-based simulations, where simulated entities act with a certain degree of autonomy, frequently provide ample opportunities for parallelisation. Thus, a vast variety of approaches proposed in the literature demonstrated considerable performance gains using hardware platforms such as many-core CPUs and GPUs, merged CPU-GPU chips as well as Field Programmable Gate Arrays. Typically, a combination of techniques is required to achieve high performance for a given simulation model, putting substantial burden on modellers. To the best of our knowledge, no systematic overview of techniques for agent-based simulations on hardware accelerators has been given in the literature. To close this gap, we provide an overview and categorisation of the literature according to the applied techniques. Since, at the current state of research, challenges such as the partitioning of a model for execution on heterogeneous hardware are still addressed in a largely manual process, we sketch directions for future research towards automating the hardware mapping and execution. This survey targets modellers seeking an overview of suitable hardware platforms and execution techniques for a specific simulation model, as well as methodology researchers interested in potential research gaps requiring further exploration.
Memory Corruption Detecting Method Using Static Variables and Dynamic Memory Usage

Memory fault detection has been continuously studied and various detection methods exist. However, there are still remains many memory defects that are difficult to debug. Memory corruption is one of those defects that often cause a system crash. However, there are many cases where the location of the crash is different from the actual location causing the actual memory corruption. These defects are difficult to solve by existing methods. In this paper, we propose a method to detect real time memory defects by using static global variables derived from execution binary file and dynamic memory usage obtained by tracing memory related functions. We implemented the proposed method as a tool and applied it to the application running on the IoTivity platform. Our tool detects defects very accurately with low overhead even for those whose detected location and the location of its cause are different.
Uremic pruritus and associated factors in hemodialysis patients: A multi-center study

Background Uremic pruritus is a common and disturbing problem in hemodialysis patients. Although its pathogenesis is not completely understood, it is thought to be multifactorial. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors of uremic pruritus in hemodialysis patients. Methods A total of 249 patients from four dialysis centers were included in this study. Data were collected using a questionnaire, the visual analogue scale, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. We investigated whether socio-demographic and biochemical parameters were correlated to uremic pruritus. Results Pruritus was present in 53.4% of the hemodialysis patients. The mean visual analogue scale severity was 6.47 ± 1.56. Patients with white blood cell (WBC) counts > 6.7 × 103/μL had 1.73 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.360–2.888; P = 0.036) more pruritus than did those with WBC counts < 6.7 × 103/μL. Patients with dry skin were 0.2 times (95% CI, 0.070–0.182; P = 0.028) more likely to suffer from very severe pruritus than were those with normal skin. Conclusion Uremic pruritus remains a serious problem in dialysis patients. The WBC level and presence of dry skin are thought to be among its causes. Therefore, data regarding the possible risk factors of uremic pruritus must be followed closely in patients at risk.
A distributed online certificate status protocol for named data networks

The Named Data Network (NDN) is a research activity towards the Internet of the Future, aiming to provide named content regardless location, application, or transport protocol. To secure content distribution, NDN uses a security model in which contents are digitally signed by their producers. Consumers must retrieve public keys to validate a content's signature, and need to check the validity status of those keys before using them. Traditional public key infrastructures use Certificate Revocation Lists (CRL) and the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) to disseminate key status information. However, such systems must be adapted to work on the NDN architecture. This paper proposes a replication system approach to disseminate key status information in NDN, regardless the key management system adopted. Replication techniques improve robustness, reduce convergence time, and improve key status availability throughout the network. Main results show a significant reduction in response time for consulting a key status, when compared to retrieving it from the original data producer.
Automatic synthesis of swarm behavioural rules from their atomic components

This paper presents an evolutionary computing based approach to automatically synthesise swarm behavioural rules from their atomic components, thus making a step forward in trying to mitigate human bias from the rule generation process, and leverage the full potential of swarm systems in the real world by modelling more complex behaviours. We identify four components that make-up the structure of a rule: control structures, parameters, logical/relational connectives and preliminary actions, which form the rule space for the proposed approach. A boids simulation system is employed to evaluate the approach with grammatical evolution and genetic programming techniques using the rule space determined. While statistical analysis of the results demonstrates that both methods successfully evolve desired complex behaviours from their atomic components, the grammatical evolution model shows more potential in generating complex behaviours in a modularised approach. Furthermore, an analysis of the structure of the evolved rules implies that the genetic programming approach only derives non-reusable rules composed of a group of actions that is combined to result in emergent behaviour. In contrast, the grammatical evolution approach synthesises sound and stable behavioural rules which can be extracted and reused, hence making it applicable in complex application domains where manual design is infeasible.
A novel join technique for similar-trend searches supporting normalization on time-series databases

A time-series is defined to be a real-number sequence that is monitored in accordance with a particular time interval. To index a large volume of time-series data without excessive dimensionality expansions, the DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) technique is widely accepted. It is a challenging task to support fast similarity searches on normalized time-series without false dismissals. Here, the normalization pre-processing on time-series is vital for similar-trend searches that are tackled in our work. To address this problem, we locate multiple sub-queries within a given user query, and map them into points in the normalized DFT index space. Then, a joinlike operation is executed using those points and newly computed Euclidian (similarity) distances. We propose a new cost function utilized for deciding sub-queries that may have the smallest intersection in the index space. With this approach, we can enhance the query performance significantly. Through performance evaluation, it is verified that our approach can reduce the query processing time by about 62%, compared to existing one.
A discount ordering strategy in two-level supply chain: A case study of textile industry

Article history: Received March 10, 2012 Received in Revised form April, 15, 2012 Accepted 20 May 2012 Available online May 29 2012 Supplier selection, inventory management and optimal lot sizing has been one of the most important issues in many industries especially in production planning issues associated with texture industry. The proposed model of this paper first introduces an algorithm to choose the best supplier and it determines the optimal lot size using discount strategy. The proposed model of this paper considers different influencing factors such as location, quality of materials, cost, and mutual trust for supplier selection, determines their relative importance weights and then a discounting method is used to determine the ordering lot-size. The preliminary results indicate that the proposed model of this paper can be implemented in texture industry, very efficiently since the ordering discount policy is not sensitive to changes on inventory holding and setup expenditures. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
A Semantics for Hybrid Iteration

The recently introduced notions of guarded traced (monoidal) category and guarded (pre-)iterative monad aim at unifying different instances of partial iteration whilst keeping in touch with the established theory of total iteration and preserving its merits. In this paper we use these notions and the corresponding stock of results to examine different types of iteration for hybrid computations. As a starting point we use an available notion of hybrid monad restricted to the category of sets, and modify it in order to obtain a suitable notion of guarded iteration with guardedness interpreted as progressiveness in time - we motivate this modification by our intention to capture Zeno behaviour in an arguably general and feasible way. We illustrate our results with a simple programming language for hybrid computations and interpret it over the developed semantic foundations.
Expression and (Lacking) Internalization of the Cell Surface Receptors of Clostridioides difficile Toxin B

Toxin-producing strains of Clostridioides difficile and Clostridium perfringens cause infections of the gastrointestinal tract in humans and ruminants, with the toxins being major virulence factors, essential for the infection, and responsible for the onset of severe symptoms. C. difficile toxin A (TcdA) and toxin B (TcdB), and the large cytotoxin (TpeL) from C. perfringens are single chain bacterial protein toxins with an AB-like toxin structure. The C-terminal delivery domain mediates cell entry of the N-terminal glycosyltransferase domain by receptor-mediated endocytosis. Several cell surface proteins have been proposed to serve as toxin receptors, including chondroitin-sulfate proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4), poliovirus receptor-like 3 (PVRL3), and frizzled-1/2/7 (FZD1/2/7) for TcdB and LDL-receptor-related protein-1 (LRP1) for TpeL. The expression of the TcdB receptors was investigated in human intestinal organoids (HIOs) and in cultured cell lines. HIOs from four human donors exhibited a comparable profile of receptor expression, with PVRL3, LRP1, and FZD7 being expressed and CSPG4 and FZD2 not being expressed. In human epithelial Caco-2 cells and HT29 cells as well as in immortalized murine fibroblasts, either receptor FZD2/7, CSPG4, PVRL3, and LRP1 was expressed. The question whether the toxins take advantage of the normal turnover of their receptors (i.e., constitutive endocytosis and recycling) from the cell surface or whether the toxins activity induce the internalization of their receptors has not yet been addressed. For the analysis of receptor internalization, temperature-induced uptake of biotinylated toxin receptors into immortalized mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and Caco-2 cells was exploited. Solely LRP1 exhibited constitutive endocytosis from the plasma membrane to the endosome, which might be abused by TpeL (and possibly TcdB as well) for cell entry. Furthermore, internalization of CSPG4, PVRL3, FZD2, and FZD7 was observed neither in MEFs nor in Caco-2 cells. FZD2/7, CSPG4, and PVRL3 did thus exhibit no constitutive recycling. The presence of TcdB and the p38 activation induced by anisomycin were not able to induce or enhance CSPG4 or PVRL3 uptake in MEFs. In conclusion, FZD2/7, CSPG4, and PVRL3 seem to serve as cell surface binding receptors rather than internalizing receptors of TcdB.
Safe Reduced Models for Probabilistic Planning

Reduced models allow autonomous agents to cope with the complexity of planning under uncertainty by reducing the accuracy of the model. However, the solution quality of a reduced model varies as the model fidelity changes. We present planning using a portfolio of reduced models with cost adjustments, a framework to increase the safety of a reduced model by selectively improving its fidelity in certain states, without significantly compromising runtime. Our framework provides the flexibility to create reduced models with different levels of detail using a portfolio, and a means to account for the ignored details by adjusting the actions costs in the reduced model. We show the conditions under which cost adjustments achieve optimal action selection and describe how to use cost adjustments as a heuristic for choosing outcome selection principles in a portfolio. Finally, we present empirical results of our approach on three domains that includes an electric vehicle charging problem using real-world data from a university campus.
Integrating Reuse into the Rapid, Continuous Software Engineering Cycle through Test-Driven Search

Today's advanced agile practices such as Continuous Integration and Test-Driven Development support a wide range of software development activities to facilitate the rapid delivery of high-quality software. However, the reuse of pre-existing, third-party software components is not one of them. Software reuse is still primarily perceived as a time-consuming, unsystematic and ultimately, discontinuous activity even though it aims to deliver the same basic benefits as continuous software engineering - namely, a reduction in the time and effort taken to deliver quality software. However, the increasingly central role of testing in continuous software engineering offers a way of addressing this problem by exploiting the new generation of test-driven search engines that can harvest components based on tests. This search technology not only exploits artifacts that have already been created as part of the continuous testing process to harvest components, it returns results that have a high likelihood of being fit for purpose and thus of being worth reusing. In this paper, we propose to augment continuous software engineering with the rapid, continuous reuse of software code units by integrating the test-driven mining of software artifact repositories into the continuous integration process. More specifically, we propose to use tests written as part of the Test-First Development approach to perform test-driven searches for matching functionality while developers are working on their normal development activities. We discuss the idea of rapid, continuous code reuse based on recent advances in our test-driven search platform and elaborate on scenarios for its application in the future.