Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fuzzy based task prioritization and VM migration of deadline constrained tasks in cloud systems

In the past few years Cloud Computing has become one of the prominent areas of research supporting huge number of distributed applications. Cloud computing can be treated as a way of having utility computing which provides large amount of resources with the help of service providers. There exists a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between cloud service provider and service requester. Cloud being a virtualized environment provides Virtual Machines as processing elements. The workflow with number of tasks will be submitted to cloud by end users. These tasks will be run on VMs for completion of given job. For real time tasks meeting of deadlines is the Quality of Service (QOS) requirement. In this paper we have used the fuzzy logic based approach to improvise the performance of dead line constrained tasks. Fuzzy logic has been applied at two levels, first at the level of assigning priorities to jobs and second on deciding the VM migrations based on the overloaded situation. Over loading of VMs is a common situation in cloud as resources are shared among multiple users. With the virtualization technology, hardware resources of a physical machine are shared among various processing elements i.e. VMs. This resource sharing results in uncertain performance of Virtual Machines because of resource interference between VMs. In this paper fuzzy logic based approach was chosen because it provides a way to represent uncertainty in the dynamic environments like cloud using smaller search areas. With the usage of fuzzy logic it is possible to bring in the performance improvement and hence to improve the quality of service (QOS) as a part of Service level agreement.
Pharmacokinetic Studies of Factor VIII in Chinese Boys with Severe Hemophilia A: A Single-Center Study

Background: Although much attention has been paid to the pharmacokinetics (PKs) of different factor VIII (FVIII) concentrates in persons with hemophilia A (HA), limited information is available in young boys with severe HA. In this study, we aimed to assess the PK parameters of FVIII products in boys with severe HA in China. Methods: A total of 36 boys (plasma-derived [pd]-FVIII, n = 15; recombinant [r] FVIII, n = 21) were enrolled between January 2015 and May 2016 in Beijing Children's Hospital. PK characteristics of FVIII products were studied according to a reduced 4-sampling time point design (1 h, 9 h, 24 h, and 48 h postinfusion). Results: The mean FVIII half-life (t1/2) was 10.99 ± 3.45 h (range 5.52–20.02 h), the mean in vivo recovery (IVR) was 2.01 ± 0.42 IU/dl per IU/kg (range 1.24–3.02 IU/dl per IU/kg) and mean clearance (CL) of FVIII is 4.34 ± 1.58 ml·kg−1·h−1 (range 2.29–7.90 ml·kg−1·h−1). We also analyzed the influence of several parameters that potentially modulate FVIII PK. The age was closely associated with FVIII half-life (R2= 0.32, P < 0.01). The t1/2 of FVIII increased by 0.59 h per year. Besides age, von Willebrand factor antigen (VWF:Ag) also was associated with FVIII half-life (R2= 0.52, P < 0.01). Patients with blood Group O had a shorter FVIII half-life than patients with non-O blood group (9.40 ± 0.68 h vs. 12.3 ± 0.79 h, t = 2.70, P = 0.01). The FVIII IVR correlated with age (R2= 0.21, P < 0.01) and VWF:Ag level (R2= 0.28, P < 0.01). CL rates were faster in young patients and in those with low-VWF:Ag levels. CL rates of FVIII are higher in blood Group O versus non-blood Group O persons (5.02 ± 0.38 vs. 4.00 ± 0.32 ml·kg−1·h−1, t = 2.53, P = 0.02). Conclusions: Chinese boys with severe HA have similar PK values to other ethnic groups and large differences in FVIII PK between individual patients. Age, blood group, and VWF:Ag levels are important determining factors for FVIII CL.
Snowball: Extracting Causal Chains from Climate Change Text Corpora

Unpacking causal relationships is essential for developing solutions for managing climate risks that threaten sociopolitical stability. However, the automatic discovery of complex causal chains among interlinked events and their participating actors within large corpora is not well studied. Previous studies on extracting causal relationships from text were based on laborious and incomplete hand developed lists of causal verbs, such as "causes" and "results in". Such approaches result in limited recall because standard causal verbs may not generalize well to accommodate surface variations in texts when different keywords and phrases are used to express similar causal effects. This paper presents a Snowball system to generalize <Subject, Verb, Object> triplets extracted from corpora of online news articles, and cluster them into higher-level concepts without drift. We start with a seed set of causal verbs and apply a concept generalization technique to extract causal chains and their participating actors. Our novel algorithms overcome surface variations in written expressions of causal relationships and discover the domino effects between climate events and human security. Unlike prior studies, our semi-supervised approach alleviates the need for labor intensive keyword list development and annotated datasets. Experimental evaluations by domain experts achieve an average precision of 82%, a significant improvement from prior work. Qualitative assessments of causal chains show that results are consistent with the 2014 IPCC report illuminating causal mechanisms underlying the linkages between climatic stresses and social instability.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation Promotes Gastric Emptying by Increasing Pyloric Opening Measured with Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Background Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an emerging electroceutical therapy for remedying gastric disorders that are poorly managed by pharmacological treatments and/or dietary changes. Such therapy seems promising since the vagovagal neurocircuitry controlling the enteric nervous system strongly influences gastric functions. Methods Here, the modulatory effects of left cervical VNS on gastric emptying in rats was quantified using a 1) feeding protocol in which the animal voluntarily consumed a post-fast, gadolinium-labeled meal and 2) newly developed, robust, sensitive and non-invasive imaging strategy to measure antral motility, pyloric activity and gastric emptying based on contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computer-assisted image processing pipelines. Key Results VNS significantly accelerated gastric emptying (control vs. VNS: 24.9±3.5% vs. 40.7±3.9% of meal emptied per 4hrs, p<0.05). This effect resulted from a greater relaxation of the pyloric sphincter (control vs. VNS: 1.4±0.2 vs. 2.5±0.5 mm2 cross-sectional area of lumen, p<0.05), without notable changes in antral contraction amplitude (control vs. VNS: 30.6±3.0% vs. 32.5±3.0% occlusion), peristaltic velocity (control vs. VNS: 0.67±0.03 vs. 0.67±0.03 mm/s), or frequency (control vs. VNS: 6.3±0.1 vs. 6.4±0.2 cpm). The degree to which VNS relaxed the pylorus positively correlated with gastric emptying rate (r = 0.5465, p<0.01). Conclusions & Inferences The MRI protocol employed in this study is expected to enable advanced preclinical studies to understand stomach pathophysiology and its therapeutics. Results from this study suggest an electroceutical treatment approach for gastric emptying disorders using cervical VNS to control the degree of pyloric sphincter relaxation. Key Points Vagus nerve stimulation is emerging as a new electroceutical therapy for treating gastric disorders. However, its underlying mechanism(s) and therapeutic effect(s) remain incompletely understood. Vagus nerve stimulation significantly accelerated gastric emptying by promoting the relaxation of the pyloric sphincter. MRI offers high spatial and temporal resolution to non-invasively characterize gastric motility and physiology in preclinical animal models.
A Compact Low-Power Biquad for Active- $RC$  Complex Filter

A low-power complex filter based on high-efficient biquad is presented under low-voltage application in this brief. In order to achieve higher shift frequency, one improved biquad is proposed to overcome the essential limitation of the original structure. It costs less power and becomes more compact compared to the Tow Thomas biquad. In order to further reduce the power consumption, an amplifier suitable for low-voltage application is employed. To overcome the variation of resistance and capacitance, a simple on-chip tuning strategy through the calibration of resistor is integrated. To validate the improved biquad, a fourth-order complex filter is fabricated in TSMC 0.13 ${\mu }\text{m}$ standard RFCMOS technology. The measured results show that the complex filter consumes 0.5 mA with a 0.7-V power supply. It is centered at 1.65 MHz with 0.9-MHz −0.5 dB-bandwidth and the image rejection is about 18.33 dB with the voltage gain of 8.1 dB.
Water Dynamics of the Root Zone: Rhizosphere Biophysics and Its Control on Soil Hydrology

Approximately 40% of total terrestrial precipitation transits the tiny volume of rhizosphere soil around plant roots before being transpired, making it one of the most hydrologically active regions of the biosphere. This study considers several findings at the root–soil interface that affect our understanding of water retention and flow in the root zone and hence the water relations of all vegetated soil profiles. Imaging methods, including neutron radiography and light transmission, are illuminating the dynamics of water content around plant root systems. These methods, together with studies on samples of mucilage and mucilage‐compound‐amended soils, have provided increasing evidence that rhizosphere hydraulic properties differ from those of bulk soil. Changes in soil structure due to root growth, rhizodeposition, and repeated drying cycles change the pore size distribution and coat soil particles with organic compounds. Some of these compounds exhibit hydrophobic or hydrophilic behavior, depending on the soil water content, giving rise to the hysteretic‐like behavior in the rhizosphere that has been observed in dynamic image sequences. Data from studies that consider the water retention properties of maize (Zea mays L.) mucilage from primary and nodal roots together with polymer gels are compared to consider the likely impact of mucilage on soil water release. Roots often generate and are intimately associated with flow paths for water and solutes in the soil, and vegetation is well known to exert a major influence on catchment hydrology. The potential use of vegetation to manage hydrologic processes at field scale is considered briefly as a way of influencing water outflow rates and engineering soils for particular purposes.
Suspected Chorioamnionitis and Myometrial Contractility: Mechanisms for Increased Risk of Cesarean Delivery and Postpartum Hemorrhage

Objective: Chorioamnionitis is associated with an increased risk of cesarean delivery and uterine atony. We hypothesized that the onset of maternal fever is temporally associated with decreased uterine contractility. Study Design: Retrospective cohort. Setting: Academic center. Patients: Term participants who developed a fever in the setting of an intrauterine pressure catheter. Main Outcome Measure: Montevideo units (MVUs) and oxytocin dose at time 0 (first oral temperature ≥38°C) and in the five 1--hour blocks preceding and following T0. Analysis: Montevideo units relative to the onset of fever. Results were adjusted for oxytocin dose and parity in a mixed-effects model. Results: One hundred participants were included. Uterine contractility was maintained for 2 hours after the onset of maternal fever but thereafter significantly and steadily declined by an average of 6.9 ± 3.2 MVU/h (P = .03), despite the absence of a parallel decline in oxytocin exposure. Multiparas and nulliparas showed a similar pattern of waning uterine contractility. Patients who delivered vaginally maintained contractility, while those who delivered via cesarean had diminishing contractility (P = .01). The postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) rate (postpartum bleeding requiring treatment) was 32%. Conclusions: A decline in myometrial contractility occurs 2 hours following the onset of maternal fever. Increased risk of cesarean delivery appears to be directly associated with waning uterine contractility and decreased uterine responsiveness to oxytocin. Clinically, close attention should be given to maintaining adequate uterine contractions following a diagnosis of suspected chorioamnionitis. The likelihood of successful vaginal delivery may decrease over time, and the risk of PPH is clinically significant.
A State Space and Density Estimation Framework for Sleep Staging in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Objective: Although the importance of sleep is increasingly recognized, the lack of robust and efficient algorithms hinders scalable sleep assessment in healthy persons and those with sleep disorders. Polysomnography (PSG) and visual/manual scoring remain the gold standard in sleep evaluation, but more efficient/automated systems are needed. Most previous works have demonstrated algorithms in high agreement with the gold standard in healthy/normal (HN) individuals—not those with sleep disorders. Methods: This paper presents a statistical framework that automatically estimates whole-night sleep architecture in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)—the most common sleep disorder. Single-channel frontal electroencephalography was extracted from 65 HN/OSA sleep studies, and decomposed into 11 spectral features in 60 903 30 s sleep epochs. The algorithm leveraged kernel density estimation to generate stage-specific likelihoods, and a 5-state hidden Markov model to estimate per-night sleep architecture. Results: Comparisons to full PSG expert scoring revealed the algorithm was in fair agreement with the gold standard (median Cohen's kappa = 0.53). Further, analysis revealed modest decreases in median scoring agreement as OSA severity increased from HN (kappa = 0.63) to severe (kappa = 0.47). A separate implementation on HN data from the Physionet Sleep-EDF Database resulted in a median kappa = 0.65, further indicating the algorithm's broad applicability. Conclusion: Results of this work indicate the proposed single-channel framework can emulate expert-level scoring of sleep architecture in OSA. Significance: Algorithms constructed to more accurately model physiological variability during sleep may help advance automated sleep assessment, for practical and general use in sleep medicine.
FPGAs: Architekturen, Systeme und Schaltungspartitionierung

Seit ihrer Markteinführung 1985 haben sich Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) in zahlreichen Einsatzgebieten bewährt. Vom Einsatz als preiswerte Logikbausteine in Standardprodukten mit geringer bis mittlerer Stückzahl bis hin zum Rapid-Prototyping und zur funktionalen Schaltungsverifikation reicht die Bandbreite ihrer Verwendungsmöglichkeiten. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird zunächst ein Überblick über die Architekturen aktueller FPGAs gegeben. Weiter werden Systeme für das Prototyping und die Schaltungsverifikation vorgestellt, welche aus mehreren FPGAs bestehen. Für diese Systeme ist eine Schaltungspartitionierung, d. h. die Aufteilung der abzubildenden Gesamtlogik in Blöcke, notwendig. Dabei findet jeder Block Raum in einem FPGA. Die erforderlichen Partitionierungsverfahren werden im Rahmen dieses Beitrages zusammen mit aktuellen Arbeiten zur architekturbezogenen Partitionierung vorgestellt.
Radiographic Effectiveness of Resin Infiltration in Arresting Incipient Proximal Enamel Lesions in Primary Molars.

PURPOSE The purpose of this split-mouth, randomized, prospective clinical trial was to evaluate radiographically the effectiveness of resin infiltration, as an adjunct to standard-of-care preventive measures compared to standard-of-care preventive measures alone, in arresting the progression of non-adjacent, incipient, proximal enamel lesions in primary molars 24 months after treatment. METHODS The study included a total of 45 healthy five- to eight-year-olds who had been diagnosed radiographically with at least two non-adjacent, incipient, proximal enamel lesions in primary molars (90 lesions). Test group lesions were treated using resin infiltration followed by five percent topical sodium fluoride (NaF) application versus five percent NaF alone in the control group. The alpha level was set at 0.05. RESULTS The children were examined after six, 12, 18, and 24 months. Twenty-five subjects were examined at the 24-month follow-up visit, At which time 10 of the 25 test lesions (40 percent) showed caries progression while 18 of the 25 control lesions (72 percent) showed caries progression (P=0.04). CONCLUSION Resin infiltration as an adjunct to standard-of-care preventive measures is significantly more effective radiographically in reducing the progression of non-adjacent, incipient, proximal enamel lesions in primary molars compared with standard-of-care preventive measures alone after 24 months.
Role of anaerobes in polymicrobial communities and biofilms complicating diabetic foot ulcers

Infected tissues in the feet of people with diabetes in the form of a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) present a complex pathology for clinicians to manage. This is partly attributed to the multi‐factorial nature of the disease, which may include; altered foot architecture leading to excessive plantar pressures and frictional forces peripheral arterial disease and loss of protective sensation. In addition, to the above co‐morbid variables, it is understood that a delayed wound healing state may be perpetuated by the presence of microorganisms residing in the wound tissue. The microbiology of chronic DFUs has often been reported as being polymicrobial. Of growing interest is the presence and potential role of anaerobic microorganisms in the pathology of DFUs and how they may contribute to the infective process or delayed healing. The presence of anaerobes in DFUs has been greatly underestimated, largely due to the limitations of conventional culture methods in identifying them from samples. Advancements in molecular and microscopy techniques have extended our view of the wound microbiome in addition to observing the growth and behaviour (planktonic or biofilm) of microorganisms in situ. This review paper will reflect on the evidence for the role and significance of anaerobes in DFUs and infection. A focus of this review will be to explore recent advancements in molecular genomics and microscopy techniques in order to better assess the roles of anaerobic bacteria in chronic DFUs and in biofilm‐based wound care.
Advanced self-tuned pitch angle control based on fuzzy logic for grid connected variable-speed wind turbine system

Recently, wind energy sources have been attracted considerable attention due to the lack of sustainable energy resources and the environmental policy imposed worldwide. As the infiltration of wind turbines into the electric grid progressively increased, the impact of wind turbine systems on the electric grid stability becomes a considerable concern for network operators. One of the major problems incorporated with wind energy systems is the gravitational and centrifugal loads which cause exhaustion of the wind turbine blades, which consequently reduce the quantity of extracted power and reduce the life span of the whole wind turbine system. Adequate pitch angle-controlled technique will tune the attack angle of a wind turbine rotor blade into or out of wind waves. In this study, a proposed pitch angle control approach based on Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) is implemented to cope with the nonlinear characteristics of the wind turbine, moreover, decrease the stress on the blades. An analytical model of 1.5 MW wind turbine with pitch angle-controlled system is developed and compared with conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. The simplified model is implemented in MATLAB environment, and the results are carried out to prove the optimum response of FLC to regulate the pitch control system, as well as, minimizing the turbulence and the variability associated with the wind turbine system.
The Role of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 Signaling in Atherogenesis

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of global mortality and atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of most CVD. However, the molecular mechanisms by which cardiovascular risk factors promote the development of atherosclerosis are not well understood. The development of new efficient therapies to directly block or slow disease progression will require a better understanding of these mechanisms. Accumulating evidence supports a role for endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in all stages of the developing atherosclerotic lesion however, it was not clear how ER stress may contribute to disease progression. Recent findings have shown that ER stress signaling through glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3α may significantly contribute to macrophage lipid accumulation, inflammatory cytokine production and M1macrophage polarization. In this review we summarize our knowledge of the potential role of ER stress-GSK3 signaling in the development and progression of atherosclerosis as well as the possible therapeutic implications of this pathway.
Understanding the Impact of IT Affordances and Social Tie Strength in Online Social Commerce

The increased popularity of social media and bid data development have led to online social commerce (OSC), in which users can take advantage of functionalities from both social network sites (e.g., "like" button in Facebook) and e-commerce platforms (e.g., payment tools in Amazon) to select products and make purchase decisions. Additionally, user can take advantage of big data generated from user content to make purchase decisions. This research-in-progress paper proposes a theoretical model, combining social tie strength, information technology affordances, and well-recognized e-commerce capabilities, to explore their combined effects. Therefore, we can further understand how users' product selection behavior is influenced by OSC. In this paper, we create an original instrument to measure the extent to which IT affordances are available, and adapt part of existing items to measure social tie strength by using a card sorting method and big data analysis. Future work and potential contributions are discussed.
Scabiosa stellata L. Phenolic Content Clarifies Its Antioxidant Activity

The phenolic profile of Scabiosa stellata L. , a species used in Moroccan traditional medicine, is disclosed. To obtain that profile the species extract was analyzed by ultra-high-performance chromatography coupled to photodiode-array detection and electrospray ionization/ion trap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-DAD-ESI/MSn). Twenty-five phenolic compounds were identified from which isoorientin and 4-O-caffeoylquinic acid can be highlighted because they are the major ones. The antioxidant activity was significantly controlled by the fraction type, with the n-butanol fraction showing the highest antioxidant activity (FRS50 = 64.46 µg/mL in the DPPH assay, FRS50 = 27.87 µg/mL in the ABTS assay and EC50 = 161.11 µg/mL in the reducing power assay). A phytochemical study of the n-butanol fraction was performed, and some important flavone glycosides were isolated. Among them the tamarixetin derivatives—the less common ones—can be emphasized. This phytochemical study and polyphenolic profile can be correlated with S. stellata extracts in vitro antioxidant activity. Moreover, it can be regarded as an evidence of its medicinal use and can incentivize its consumption.