Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emerging High Performance Computing Systems and Next Generation Engineering Analysis Applications

This paper provides a high level overview of the intersection between the broad fields of Infrastructure Engineering and Computer Systems Engineering. The last two decades of technical high performance computing (HPC) have been remarkably stable, with high-end scientific and engineering applications able to leverage the increases in performance of commodity processors in massively parallel supercomputers. But issues began to arise with the advent of the dual core processor in 2004. While many commercial workloads and some technical applications such as materials science can still achieve good performance on multi-core processors and many-core based systems, most finite element engineering analysis applications are sensitive to data locality and data movement and thus have difficulty realizing the performance potential of these systems. This paper describes the HPC co-design methodology we are using to guide the development of advanced concepts for HPC computer architectures and future engineering analysis applications that will execute on them.
Contributions of Workflow and Information Flow Studies to Clinical Information Retrieval in Radiology Environments

This paper proposes elements for the effective design and implementation of specialized information systems, specifically those, which are used by professionals from different specialties and with different perspectives for the use of information. The paper is based on an analysis of the information flow in a radiology department. It poses reflections about clinical information retrieval systems based on principles of sharing and use of information scattered in specific subsystems, in order to guarantee the necessary infrastructure for the medical teams to have access to information in real time to make integrated analyses of the clinical state of patients. This investigation is made by using the theoretical framework of Information Science, especially the information cycle, as well as the principles of organization proposed by Information Architecture. The results indicate the need to think about mechanisms for the information management, which should take into account aspects of interoperability of documents and information of different natures, generated in heterogeneous environments. It is possible to conclude that clinical documents are in a constant state of elaboration. Because of this, it requires specific actions in terms of the project and management of information services that deal with documents of such nature.
An efficient voice retrieval system for very-large-vocabulary Chinese textual databases with a clustered language model

This paper presents an accurate and efficient voice retrieval system for very-large-vocabulary Chinese textual databases with a specially-designed clustered language model. To reduce the problems resulted from the complexity of unconstrained speech-input queries for retrieval, the system is completely syllable-based in both speech recognition and database retrieval by properly utilizing the mono-syllabic structure of Chinese language. In addition, it partitions the records in the database into clusters and trains the clustered language model using the clustering results. The proposed clustered language model with its augmented search algorithm are very useful to improve accuracy and speed of the speech retrieval system. In the preliminary tests using an experimental database with about 30,000 bibliographical records, it was found that the present system can accept unconstrained speech-input queries and achieve very good performance.
Clonal expansion of T cells infiltrating in the airways of non‐atopic asthmatics

CD4+ T cells are thought to play an important role in airway inflammation in both atopic and non‐atopic asthma. However, the mechanism by which T cells are activated in non‐atopic asthma, where there is no causative antigen identified, is unknown. To elucidate this issue, we analysed T cell receptor (TCR) Vβ gene clonotypes of T cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) of non‐atopic asthmatics using polymerase chain reaction single‐strand conformation polymorphism (PCR‐SSCP) analysis and a sequencing method. We found that the numbers of TCR Vβ gene clonotypes of T cells in the BALF of non‐atopic asthmatics were significantly increased compared with those of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). We also found that there were several shared amino acid motifs in complementarity‐determining region 3 (CDR3) of TCR Vβ genes from those T cell clones in BALF of non‐atopic asthmatics, whereas these shared motifs were not found in the same Vβ family genes from PBL in the patients. Moreover, a conserved amino acid sequence was detected in two patients who shared a common HLA‐DR allele. These results indicate that the infiltrating T cells in the airways of non‐atopic asthmatics recognize relatively limited epitopes of antigens and are clonally expanded by antigen‐driven stimulation.
The impact of prophages on bacterial chromosomes

Prophages were automatically localized in se‐quenced bacterial genomes by a simple semantic script leading to the identification of 190 prophages in 115 investigated genomes. The distribution of prophages with respect to presence or absence in a given bacterial species, the location and orientation of the prophages on the replichore was not homogeneous. In bacterial pathogens, prophages are particularly prominent. They frequently encoded virulence genes and were major contributors to the genetic individuality of the strains. However, some commensal and free‐living bacteria also showed prominent prophage contributions to the bacterial genomes. Lysogens containing multiple sequence‐related prophages can experience rearrangements of the bacterial genome across prophages, leading to prophages with new gene constellations. Transfer RNA genes are the preferred chromosomal integration sites, and a number of prophages also carry tRNA genes. Prophage integration into protein coding sequences can lead to either gene disruption or new proteins. The phage repressor, immunity and lysogenic conversion genes are frequently transcribed from the prophage. The expression of the latter is sometimes integrated into control circuits linking prophages, the lysogenic bacterium and its animal host. Prophages are apparently as easily acquired as they are lost from the bacterial chromosome. Fixation of prophage genes seems to be restricted to those with functions that have been co‐opted by the bacterial host.
The Development of the Human Foot As a Résumé of Its Evolution

The changes the human foot undergoes during its development are described as indications of structural and functional changes which might have occurred during the evolution of the vertebrate hind foot. The human foot, when compared to other vertebrate feet, appears to be a relatively minor modification of the plantigrade hind foot of the shrew-like insectivores that gave rise to all of the mammals. There is no developmental evidence to indicate that the first toe of the human foot was ever prehensile. Thus, the generally accepted evolutionary view, which depicts the feet of the early ancestors of modern human beings as having ape-like prehensile first toes, is seriously questioned.
Sicherheit in der Künstlichen Intelligenz

Dieses Jahr wurde die Künstliche Intelligenz fünfzig Jahre alt. Aus einem esoterischen Randbereich der Informatik ist eine Kerndisziplin geworden. Techniken der Künstlichen Intelligenz (KI) werden inzwischen in fast allen Gebieten der Informatik eingesetzt. In dem Maße, in dem sich diese Techniken verbreiten, stellt sich verstärkt die Frage nach der Sicherheit. Wenn ich künftig einen Serviceroboter einsetze, wie kann ich sicher sein, dass er mich nicht verletzt? In diesem Artikel stellen wir drei Techniken vor, mit denen das Vertrauen in die Zuverlässigkeit von KI-Systemen erhöht werden kann. Als Beispiele betrachten wir typische KI-Systeme wie Theorembeweiser und Roboter. Für beide ist Sicherheit unerlässlich: ein Theorembeweiser ist nur dann nützlich, wenn wir sicher sein können, dass er nur korrekte Beweise erzeugt (und nicht etwa Widersprüche), und ein mobiler Roboter sollte nicht mit Hindernissen kollidieren.
Long-term administration of testosterone undecanoate every 3 months for testosterone supplementation in female-to-male transsexuals.

CONTEXT The most common treatment regimen in female-to-male transsexuals is administration of short-acting testosterone esters im every 2 wk. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to report the effects of administering long-acting testosterone undecanoate every 3 months on hormonal and clinical changes, mortality, morbidity, and safety during the first year of treatment in female-to-male transsexuals. DESIGN This was a 1-yr observational study. SETTING The setting was an outpatient department at a university hospital. PATIENTS A total of 35 female-to-male transsexuals completed the first year of observation, whereas two patients discontinued the treatment regimen due to serious hypertension. INTERVENTION The intervention was 1-yr im treatment with long-acting testosterone undecanoate every 3 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Gonadotropins, steroid hormones, liver enzymes, lipids, blood and coagulation parameter, body mass index, blood pressure, bone mineral density, and endometrium thickness were measured at the beginning of cross-sex hormone treatment and after 12 months. The mortality, morbidity, adverse effects, and desired clinical changes were recorded. RESULTS There was a significant decrease in LH, prolactin, SHBG, high-density lipoprotein levels, and endometrium thickness, and a significant increase in body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total testosterone and calculated androgens, triglycerides, hemoglobin, and hematocrit levels. No mortality was observed. Two cases of hypertension were noted. The patients reported a desirable increase in libido and clitoral growth. Acne was observed in five patients (14.3%). CONCLUSIONS The treatment of female-to-male transsexuals with long-acting testosterone undecanoate may be a feasible and safe option for testosterone augmentation in these subjects. However, monitoring of blood pressure should not be ignored during the treatment, to identify patients liable to develop hypertension.
Endoscopic Dilatation and Papillotomy of the Accessory Papilla and Internal Drainage in Pancreas Divisum

In the case of pancreas divisum the minute orifice of the minor papilla has offered a special challenge to endoscopic diagnosis and therapy. Here we describe a method for easy cannulation of the minor papilla and drainage of the pancreatic duct. By means of a flexible guide wire and a dilator, the tiny papilla can be simply dilated, enabling papillotomy to be successfully accomplished. This method has been used in six cases without any major complications, and should pave the way for diagnosis and therapy of pancreas divisum.
Understanding p53: new insights into tumor suppression

p53 (aka TP53) is a powerful tumor suppressor, and oncogenic transformation is induced when the ability of p53 to suppress tumorigenesis is compromised. p53 not only prevents tumorigenesis, but also tumor progression, that is, local invasion and distant metastasis. Recently, we showed that cytoplasmic p53 prevents RAS-driven invasion via alteration of actin cytoskeleton remodeling. This follows modulation of mitochondrial integrity. The transcriptional activity of p53 has been restored using small molecules; however, their success as cancer therapies is largely dependent on the status of downstream targets of p53. It is therefore important to elucidate the role of these downstream targets in p53 regulated tumor progression. With the recently described mechanism of tumor suppression highlighting a role of p53’s downstream targets in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton dynamics and lamellipodia formation, we suggest that potential therapeutic targets may be revealed within this mechanism that can be exploited in anticancer therapy.
Evaluación de una aplicación CLAR para la cuantificación del ácido fólico presente en tabletas de un suplemento nutricional

Justificacion : CombiFer® (BioCen, Mayabeque, Cuba) es un suplemento nutricional utilizado en la prevencion de la anemia en las embarazadas que se oferta en tabletas y contiene Trofin deshidratado (BioCen, Mayabeque, Cuba): 300 mg; acido ascorbico (AA): 60 mg; fumarato ferroso (FF): 50 mg; y acido folico (AF): 0.24 mg. Interesa un metodo para cuantificar el AF presente en la tableta. Objetivo : Evaluar una aplicacion de cromatografia liquida de alta resolucion (CLAR) para cuantificar el contenido de AF de la tableta. Material y metodo : Una cantidad de polvo de CombiFer® equivalente al peso promedio de una tableta fue pesada, disuelta en agua destilada, dejada precipitar por gravedad, y redisuelta en agua destilada. Se completaron tres ciclos de solubilizacion-precipitacion por gravedad-resolubilizacion. El precipitado resultante (contentivo de AF + FF) se disolvio con ultrasonido en una mezcla de NaClO4 (7.5 g.L-1) + K2HPO4 (0.6 g.L-1) + Metanol (135 mL) a pH 7.2 durante 3 minutos. Las muestras se analizaron mediante la aplicacion CLAR con una columna de fase reversa C18. Como fase movil se utilizo una mezcla de NaClO4 (9.4 g.L-1) + K2HPO4 (0.75 g.L-1) a pH 7.2 a un flujo de 1 mL.minuto-1. Los eluatos se detectaron a 277 nm. Bajo las mismas condiciones se ensayaron muestras de referencias de AF, FF, Trofin deshidratado, y AA. Resultados : El FF interfirio en la cuantificacion del AF, lo que resulto en bajos contenidos de AF en los tres lotes ensayados: Lote #3001 : 0.034 -/+ 0.002 mg.tableta-1 (14.25% de recobrado); Lote #2 : 0.055 -/+ 0.001 mg.tableta-1 (22.85%); y Lote #3003 : 0.044 -/+ 0.001 mg.tableta-1 (18.59%). Estos resultados pueden deberse al pH acido del medio en el que se produce la separacion del AF que favorece la oxidacion de la molecula. Conclusiones : Bajo las condiciones experimentales utilizadas la aplicacion CLAR evaluada no permite la cuantificacion del AF.
The Effects of Polyethylene Glycol on Gene Expression of Developing White Spruce Somatic Embryos1 212

Somatic embryogenic cultures of white spruce (Picea glauca) represent a valuable system to study molecular mechanisms regulating embryo development because many embryos of defined developmental stages can be generated. The inclusion of polyethylene glycol (PEG) in the maturation medium can improve the number and quality of embryos produced. To learn more about the mechanism of action of PEG, we analyzed transcript profiles of stage-specific embryos matured without (control) or with (PEG treated) PEG. RNA extracted from maturing spruce embryos was analyzed on DNA microarrays containing 2,178 cDNAs from loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). The efficiency of heterologous hybridization between spruce and pine species on microarrays has been documented previously (L. van Zyl, S. von Arnold, P. Bozhkov, Y. Chen, U. Egertsdotter, J. MacKay, R. Sederoff, J. Shen, L. Zelena, D. Clapham [2002] Comp Funct Genomics 3: 306–318). Several pine genes, including the apparent homologs to the Arabidopsis genes ZWILLE, FIDDLEHEAD, FUSCA, and SCARECROW, increased in expression after PEG treatments. These genes are known to be involved in the formation of the embryo body plan and in the control of the shoot and root apical meristems. The increased transcript levels of these genes in immature PEG-treated embryos suggest that PEG may improve the quality of spruce somatic embryos by promoting normal differentiation of the embryonic shoot and root. Changes in the transcript levels of many genes involved in sucrose catabolism and nitrogen assimilation and utilization were also observed between control and PEG-treated embryos.
Morphological and Functional Adaptation of the Maternal Heart During Pregnancy

Background— Pregnancy provides a unique model to study the adaptation of the heart in a physiological situation of transient load changes. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of the left ventricle (LV) in normal, uncomplicated pregnancies while considering the actual LV load and shape. Methods and Results— Serial echocardiographic examinations were performed in 51 women in each pregnancy trimester and 3 to 6 months after delivery. Data from 10 nulliparous, age-matched women were used as the control. Conventional parameters of LV function (ejection fraction) as well as myocardial deformation (strain) were interpreted, taking into consideration maternal hemodynamics and LV shape. Cardiac output increased during pregnancy because of a higher stroke volume in early pregnancy and a late increase in heart rate, whereas total vascular resistance decreased. Progressive development of eccentric hypertrophy was observed, which subsequently recovered postpartum. Sphericity index decreased from the first to the third trimester (1.92±0.17 versus 1.71±0.17) and returned postpartum to values comparable to the control. Although higher LV stroke work was noted toward the third trimester (5.9±1.1 versus 5.3±1.0 Newton meter, P<0.001), ejection fraction showed no significant changes. LV strain decreased significantly in late pregnancy (−19.5±2% to −17.6±1.6%, P<0.001) and returned to baseline values after delivery (−19.5±2%). Conclusions— Pregnancy is a physiological process associated with increased cardiac performance and progressive LV remodeling. These changes are not directly reflected by parameters traditionally considered to describe systolic function, such as ejection fraction and longitudinal deformation. While ejection fraction was insensitive to the functional changes, the transient decrease in longitudinal deformation becomes only plausible when considering the changes in LV geometry.
Being there yet not there: why don’t embodied responses to literary texts jar with one another?

Abstract Language and literature can stimulate the embodied resources of perception. I argue that there is a puzzle about why we experience sequences of these embodied responses as integrated and coherent, even though they are not anchored in space and time by a perceiving body. Some successions of embodied representations would even be impossible in real world experience, yet they can still be experienced as coherent and flowing in response to verbal texts. One possibility is that embodied responses to language are fleeting; they need not be integrated because they do not depend on, or relate to, one another as they would in perception. Yet it is the potential for embodied representations to linger and connect with one another which underlies new and persuasive embodied literary theories of vividness, narrative coherence and metaphor comprehension. Another possibility is that readers anchor their embodied representations in a notional human body, one endowed with superhuman powers, such as omniscience. But this account relies on implausible, post hoc explanations. A third possibility is that integrating embodied representations produced by language need be no more problematic than integrating the deceptively patchy information harvested from the environment by perception, information which gives rise to an experience of the world in rich and continuous detail. Real world perceptual cues, however, sparse though they might be, are still integrated through grounding in specific points in time and space. To explain the integration of embodied effects, I draw on sensorimotor theories of perception, and on Clark’s suggestion (1997, Being There. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) that language can be understood as an additional modality. In this light, the embodied simulations generated by literary texts can be integrated through patterning in a high dimensional, vector space neural architecture, a patterning which recalls real world experience but is specialised to the sustained experience of language itself. This account can help us understand what makes literary experience distinctive and unique.
Codage neural parcimonieux pour un système de vision

Les reseaux de neurones ont connu un vif regain d’interet avec le paradigme de l'apprentissageprofond ou deep learning. Alors que les reseaux dits optimises, de par l'optimisation des parametres necessaires pour realiser un apprentissage, necessitent de fortes ressources de calcul, nous nous focalisons ici sur des reseaux de neurones dont l'architecture consiste en une memoire au contenu adressable, appelees memoires associatives neuronales. Le defi consiste a permettre la realisation d'operations traditionnellement obtenues par des calculs en s'appuyant exclusivement sur des memoires, afin de limiter le besoin en ressources de calcul. Dans cette these, nous etudions une memoire associative a base de clique, dont le codage neuronal parcimonieux optimise la diversite des donnees codees dans le reseau. Cette grande diversite permet au reseau a clique d'etre plus performant que les autres memoires associatives dans la recuperation des messages stockes en memoire. Les memoires associatives sont connues pour leur incapacite a identifier sans ambiguite les messages qu'elles ont prealablement appris. En effet, en fonction de l'information presente dans le reseau et de son codage, une memoire peut echouer a retrouver le resultat recherche. Nous nous interessons a cette problematique et proposons plusieurs contributions afin de reduire les ambiguites dans le reseau. Ces reseaux a clique sont en outre incapables de recuperer une information au sein de leurs memoires si le message a retrouver est inconnu. Nous proposons une reponse a ce probleme en introduisant une nouvelle memoire associative a base de clique qui conserve la capacite correctrice du modele initial tout en etant capable de hierarchiser les informations. La hierarchie s'appuie sur une transformation surjective bidirectionnelle permettant de generaliser une entree inconnue a l'aide d'une approximation d'informations apprises. La validation experimentale des memoires associatives est le plus souvent realisee sur des donnees artificielles de faibles dimensions. Dans le contexte de la vision par ordinateur, nous presentons ici les resultats obtenus avec des jeux de donnees plus realistes etrepresentatifs de la litterature, tels que MNIST, Yale ou CIFAR.
Live non‐invasive Shigella dysenteriae 1 strain induces homologous protective immunity in a guinea pig colitis model

A non‐invasive live transconjugant Shigella hybrid (LTSHΔstx) strain was constructed from a Shiga toxin gene deleted mutant of Shigella dysenteriae 1 by introducing a plasmid vector pPR1347 that carried a lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis gene (rfb and rfc) of Salmonella typhimurium. In guinea pigs, four successive oral administrations of LTSH Δstx showed complete protection against rectal challenge with wild type S. dysenteriae 1 strain. Exponential increase of the serum IgG and IgA titer against lipopolysaccharide of LTSH Δstx was observed during immunization, peaked on day 28 and remained at that level until day 35 after the initiation of the immunization. In intestinal lavage of the immunized animals, significant increase of IgA titer against lipopolysaccharide of LTSH Δstx was also observed. These data suggested that LTSH Δstx could be a useful candidate to induce protective immunity against S. dysenteriae 1 infection.