Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling Energy Consumption in High-Capacity Routers and Switches

Routers and switches are major contributors to the energy consumption of modern networks. Today, many energy efficiency metrics for these high-capacity devices are coarse-grained, i.e., based upon a single energy per bit value given at peak load or averaged over several specific loads. In this paper, we develop a new power model and a vendor-agnostic methodology that permits quantifying the energy efficiency of Internet equipment at a more fundamental level, i.e., at the granularity of per-packet processing, and per-byte store and forward packet handling operations. We demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed technique by applying it to various types of routers and switches. We describe how our technique can be used to accurately estimate the network-wide energy footprint incurred when accessing different applications. We offer our method as a valuable framework against which the energy efficiency of current and future generation of load-proportional Internet equipment can be benchmarked.
A location aid reliable broadcast/multicast MAC protocol

To improve the efficiency of reliable broadcast/multicast MAC protocol in wireless multihop network, a location aid reliable broadcast/multicast MAC protocol was brought forward. Using the neighbor geographical location information, according to the principle of equivalent collision region, the protocol could reduce the redundant nodes from receivers, which is unnecessary for acknowledgement. Thus get the minimum acknowledgement nodes set. Extensive analysis and simulation results validate the reliability and efficiency of our reliable broadcast/multicast MAC protocol.
Political institutions, lobbying and corruption

Abstract Although firms use various strategies to try to influence government policy, with lobbying and corruption chiefly among them, and political institutions play an important role in determining policy choices, very little research has been devoted to these topics. This paper tries to fill this gap. Using cross-country enterprise-level data, it investigates (1) the effect of a key political institution, namely electoral rules, on the probability that a firm engages in lobbying activities and (2) the impact of lobbying on influence, accounting for corruption and political institutions. The main conclusion is that lobbying is a significantly more effective way of generating political influence than corruption, and that electoral rules are a key mediating political institution. Our baseline estimate is that the probability of influencing government policy is 16% higher for firms that are members of lobbying groups than for those firms that are not.
Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with a History of Myocardial Infarction and Stroke

Background: There is a lack of the generic data comparing the influence of different diseases on health-related quality of life (HrQoL) in a representative sample of primary care patients. Methods: Patient data were collected in the DETECT (Diabetes Cardiovascular Risk Evaluation: Targets and Essential Data for Commitment of Treatment) study including 55,000 patients. Results: 3,109 patients (33.3% female) with myocardial infarction (MI), stroke or both were compared to patients with a wide range of other diagnoses. Stroke and MI patients revealed a lower HrQoL as compared to patients with other diagnoses. Stroke was associated with strongest quality of life reduction. Multivariate analysis revealed several different determining factors. Conclusions: The reduction of HrQoL of patients with MI and stroke is primarily determined by the CNS insult. These data provide further evidence that early diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular risk factors is essential to reduce subsequent stroke.
Challenges in medical education: training physicians to work collaboratively.

I n an ideal setting, generalists and specialists collaborate to provide quality care to individual patients and patient populations covered by a variety of health care plans. To accomplish this, generalists and specialists must each understand the other’s domain and area of expertise. In many managed care settings, generalists must expand competencies. In turn, specialists must understand the extent of care generalists can provide. 1 Skills required for both groups include incorporating population-based, costeffective, and evidence-based medicine into daily practice. 2–4
When Could the Administration of Furosemide Be Avoided?

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether some parameters of the basic renogram allow one to omit the administration of furosemide in cases of hydronephrosis. Materials and Methods One hundred thirty-seven children (274 kidneys) referred for uni- or bilateral hydronephrosis were evaluated retrospectively. In all children additional furosemide challenges followed by postmicturition views were acquired because of unsatisfactory renal emptying. The patients were categorized into 2 groups according to the residual renal activity on the postmicturition view: those with good emptying (R−) of both kidneys, for which the administration of furosemide was considered of no influence, and those with partial or no emptying of at least 1 kidney (R+). The renogram parameters chosen for predicting R+ and R− were time to maximum (Tmax), output efficiency at 20 minutes (OE20), and normalized residual activity at 20 minutes (NORA20). For each parameter, the number of children was then calculated, for whom the administration of furosemide could have been omitted. Results A total of 112 children were categorized as R− and 25 as R+. The cutoff values for 100% negative predictive value of Tmax, OE20, and NORA20 were 4.5 minutes, 66%, and 1.45 respectively. Application of these cutoff values for the parameters yields, in retrospect, 6 (4%), 29 (21%), and 22 (16%) children respectively for whom administration of furosemide could have been omitted. Conclusion On the basis of OE20 and NORA20, the administration of furosemide could have been omitted in a substantial number of patients, despite unsatisfactory renal emptying on the basic renogram.
The cost-constrained web replica placement design in computer networks - an approximate approach

Paper deals with the resource replication problem which often must be solved in wide area network design process. It is important especially for big wide area networks, in which huge amount of data is exchanged between users and servers. Then replication of resources (for example servers) may prevent decreasing the quality of service in the network. Connecting replica to a node of the network is connected with some connecting cost. In practice, the connecting costs are often limited. Then, in the paper, an approximate algorithm for simultaneous serverpsilas replication, capacity and flow assignment problem with limited cost of connecting replica to the nodes of WAN is presented. Important and useful part of the paper are the results of computational experiments performed with the proposed algorithm. Important properties of the considered problem have been described. They may be helpful for planning and optimizing of WAN. Analysis of quality of the approximate solutions is also reported in the paper.
Defense against DoS Attack using Monitoring Node

Consider a scenario where a sophisticated jammer jams an area in which a single-channel random access based wireless sensor network operates. The jammer controls the probability of jamming and the transmission range in order to cause maximal damage to the network in terms of corrupted communication links. The jammer action ceases when it is detected by the network and a notification message is transferred out of the jammed region. In this paper introduce a network defense policy node for monitoring the jammer in order to overcome from attack to network. The monitoring node misleads the jammer that the server is down but actually the server is not down. This paper provides valuable insights about the structure of the jamming problem and associated defense mechanisms for achieving desirable performance.
Reduction of Secondary Lobes in Aperture Synthesis Radiometry

In a synthetic aperture radiometer, the sidelobe level is determined by the shape of the synthetic pattern, which, in turn, depends on the window used to weight the visibility samples. Reduced sidelobes are obtained when the weighted visibility is smooth with no abrupt changes in the entire spatial frequency domain. Since standard 2-D windows have circular symmetry, the sidelobes are reduced if visibility samples are chosen only within a circle. This technique has been successfully tested with Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity data, demonstrating an important reduction of sidelobes with some degradation of spatial resolution.
Frequent HIV testing among participants of a routine HIV testing program

Massachusetts developed a routine HIV testing program in four sites from January–September 2002. Of the 2,502 patients tested, 453 (18.1%) reported ≥2 HIV tests within the prior three years. In multivariate analyses, frequent HIV testing was associated with younger age (18–30 years, OR = 1.42), a history of injection drug use (OR = 6.35), and men who had sex with men (OR = 3.49). Participants who reported multiple sexual partners (OR = 2.17) and high risk sexual behavior (OR = 2.02) were significantly more likely to have had a prior HIV test. Patients whose HIV risk was unknown had the highest association with frequent testing (OR = 13.18). Because characteristics of frequent HIV testers may inform behavioral interventions, there is a need to understand the motivation for repeatedly accessing HIV testing services.
Prolonged alteration of renin responsiveness after spironolactone therapy. A cause of false-negative testing for low-renin hypertension.

AMONG patients with essential hypertension, a subset has been recognized as having characteristically low plasma renin activity (PRA). PRA is subnormal not only under ordinary circumstances but also under conditions designed to stimulate renin secretion. Thus, in this group of patients, plasma renin activity remains low even in response to the combined stimuli of furosemide and the assumption of upright posture.1 , 2 The correct identification of patients with the syndrome of "low-renin essential hypertension" is useful because chronic therapy with the mineralocorticoid antagonist, spironolactone, has repeatedly been shown to lower the blood pressure of patients with this condition.2 3 4 5 6 As the hypertension .
TWEAK Induces Angiogenesis and Proliferation of Endothelial Cells*

TWEAK is a recently described member of theTumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) ligand family whose transcripts are present in a wide variety of human tissues (Chicheportiche, Y., Bourdon, P. R., Xu, H., Hsu Y. M., Scott, H., Hession, C., Garcia, I., and Browning, J. L. (1997)J. Biol. Chem. 272, 32401–32410). TWEAK is a weak inducer of apoptosis in transformed cells when administered with interferon-γ or cycloheximide (Chicheportiche, Y., Bourdon, P. R., Xu, H., Hsu Y. M., Scott, H., Hession, C., Garcia, I., and Browning, J. L. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 32401–32410; Masters, S. A. , Sheridan, J. P., Pitti, R. M. , Brush, A. G. , and Ashkenazi, A. (1998) Curr. Biol.8, 525–528) and also promotes IL-8 secretion in cultured cells. We report here that picomolar concentrations of recombinant soluble TWEAK induce proliferation in a variety of normal human endothelial cells and in aortic smooth muscle cells and reduce culture requirements for serum and growth factors. Blocking antibodies to VascularEndothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) do not significantly inhibit TWEAK-induced proliferation, indicating that TWEAK does not function indirectly through up-regulation of VEGF. Pellets containing TWEAK induce a strong angiogenic response when implanted in rat corneas, suggesting a role for TWEAK in vasculature formation in vivo.
Helmet legislation and admissions to hospital for cycling related head injuries in Canadian provinces and territories: interrupted time series analysis

Objective To investigate the association between helmet legislation and admissions to hospital for cycling related head injuries among young people and adults in Canada. Design Interrupted time series analysis using data from the National Trauma Registry Minimum Data Set. Setting Canadian provinces and territories; between 1994 and 2003, six of 10 provinces implemented helmet legislation. Participants All admissions (n=66 716) to acute care hospitals in Canada owing to cycling related injury between 1994 and 2008. Main outcome measure Rate of admissions to hospital for cycling related head injuries before and after the implementation of provincial helmet legislation. Results Between 1994 and 2008, 66 716 hospital admissions were for cycling related injuries in Canada. Between 1994 and 2003, the rate of head injuries among young people decreased by 54.0% (95% confidence interval 48.2% to 59.8%) in provinces with helmet legislation compared with 33.1% (23.3% to 42.9%) in provinces and territories without legislation. Among adults, the rate of head injuries decreased by 26.0% (16.0% to 36.3%) in provinces with legislation but remained constant in provinces and territories without legislation. After taking baseline trends into consideration, however, we were unable to detect an independent effect of legislation on the rate of hospital admissions for cycling related head injuries. Conclusions Reductions in the rates of admissions to hospital for cycling related head injuries were greater in provinces with helmet legislation, but injury rates were already decreasing before the implementation of legislation and the rate of decline was not appreciably altered on introduction of legislation. While helmets reduce the risk of head injuries and we encourage their use, in the Canadian context of existing safety campaigns, improvements to the cycling infrastructure, and the passive uptake of helmets, the incremental contribution of provincial helmet legislation to reduce hospital admissions for head injuries seems to have been minimal.
Parallel deep neural network training for LVCSR tasks using blue gene/Q

While Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have achieved tremendous success for LVCSR tasks, training these networks is slow. To date, the most common approach to train DNNs is via stochastic gradient descent (SGD), serially on a single GPU machine. Serial training, coupled with the large number of training parameters and speech data set sizes, makes DNN training very slow for LVCSR tasks. While 2nd order, data-parallel methods have also been explored, these methods are not always faster on CPU clusters due to the large communication cost between processors. In this work, we explore using a specialized hardware/software approach, utilizing a Blue Gene/Q (BG/Q) system, which has thousands of processors and excellent interprocessor communication. We explore using the 2nd order Hessian-free (HF) algorithm for DNN training with BG/Q, for both cross-entropy and sequence training of DNNs. Results on three LVCSR tasks indicate that using HF with BG/Q offers up to an 11x speedup, as well as an improved word error rate (WER), compared to SGD on a GPU.
Contact Inhibition: Also a Control for Cell Proliferation in Unicellular Algae?

According to traditional views, the proliferation of unicellular algae is controlled primarily by environmental conditions. But as in mammalian cells, other biological mechanisms, such as growth factors, cellular aging, and contact inhibition, might also control algal proliferation. Here we ask whether contact inhibition regulates growth in several species of unicellular algae as it does in mammalian cells. Laboratory cultures of the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum lima (Ehrenberg) Dodge show contact inhibition at low cell density, so this would be an autocontrol mechanism of cell proliferation that could also act in natural populations of P. lima. But, Synechocystis spp. , Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Bohlin), Skeletonema costatum (Greville), and Tetraselmis spp. do not exhibit contact inhibition in laboratory cultures because they are able to grow at high cellular density. Apparently their growth is limited by nutrient depletion or catabolite accumulation instead of contact inhibition. Spirogyra insignis (Hassall) Kutz, Prorocentrum triestinum Schiller, and Alexandrium tamarense (Halim) Balech show a complex response, as they are able to grow in both low and high cell density medium. These results suggest that contact inhibition is more adaptative in benthic unicellular algae.
Lebensqualität und Lebenserwartung am malignen Lymphom erkrankter Hunde unter Chemotherapie

Zusammenfassung Gegenstand und Ziel: Der Erfolg palliativer Chemotherapien bei Hunden mit malignem Lymphom wurde insbesondere in Bezug auf die Lebensqualität der Tiere evaluiert. Zudem wurden Faktoren erfasst, die für die Besitzer bei der Einschätzung der Lebensqualität ihrer Tiere sowie für ihre Gesamtbewertung der Therapie eine entscheidende Rolle spielten. Material und Methoden: Die retrospektive Befragung mittels eines Fragebogens bezüglich Krankheitsverlauf und Therapie ihrer Tiere richtete sich an 207 Hundebesitzer, deren Hunde in den letzten 13 Jahren zur Chemotherapie in der Medizinischen Kleintierklinik der LudwigMaximilians-Universität München vorgestellt worden waren. Ergebnisse: 123 Besitzer (59,4%) beantworteten den Fragebogen. Bei 64 Hunden (53,3%) ließ sich aus Sicht der Besitzer mit der Chemotherapie eine Verbesserung der Lebensqualität erreichen. Nur bei 24 Hunden (20,0%) kam es zu einer Verschlechterung der Lebensqualität, die in direktem Zusammenhang mit dem Remissionsstatus und Nebenwirkungen der Chemotherapie stand. Die Remissionsrate der Hunde lag bei 83,7%. Schlussfolgerung: Der Großteil der Besitzer (65,0%) war zufrieden mit der Chemotherapie. 90 Besitzer (73,2%) würden sich erneut für eine solche Behandlung entscheiden, wobei insbesondere die Lebensverlängerung ein wichtiges Entscheidungskriterium darstellte. Klinische Relevanz: Bei Tumorpatienten, die eine palliative Chemotherapie erhalten, muss die Lebensqualität konstant überwacht werden. Nur so kann sie bei der Auswahl geeigneter Chemotherapie-Protokolle helfen und zusätzlich Besitzer und Tierarzt die Entscheidung für den weiteren Verlauf der Therapie erleichtern.
Spectral properties and dynamics of gold nanorods revealed by EMCCD‐based spectral phasor method

Gold nanorods (NRs) with tunable plasmon‐resonant absorption in the near‐infrared region have considerable advantages over organic fluorophores as imaging agents due to their brightness and lack of photobleaching. However, the luminescence spectral properties of NRs have not been fully characterized at the single particle level due to lack of proper analytic tools. Here, we present a spectral phasor analysis method that allows investigations of NRs' spectra at single particle level showing the spectral variance and providing spatial information during imaging. The broad phasor distribution obtained by the spectral phasor analysis indicates that spectra of NRs are different from particle to particle. NRs with different spectra can be identified in images with high spectral resolution. The spectral behaviors of NRs under different imaging conditions, for example, different excitation powers and wavelengths, were revealed by our laser‐scanning multiphoton microscope using a high‐resolution spectrograph with imaging capability. Our results prove that the spectral phasor method is an easy and efficient tool in hyper‐spectral imaging analysis to unravel subtle changes of the emission spectrum. We applied this method to study the spectral dynamics of NRs during direct optical trapping and by optothermal trapping. Interestingly, different spectral shifts were observed in both trapping phenomena. Microsc. Res. Tech. 78:283–293, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
GABAA Receptor Internalization during Seizures

Summary: A rapid modification in the postsynaptic γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABAA) receptor population occurs during the prolonged seizures of status epilepticus (SE). This rapid modification contributes to a reduction in GABA‐mediated inhibition and the development of benzodiazepine pharmacoresistance. Previous hypotheses to explain the modification have included an alteration in the structural composition or posttranslational modification of the receptors. In a cultured hippocampal neuron model, we found that there was differential subcellular distribution of GABAA receptor subunits and that the constitutive internalization of GABAA receptors containing a β2/3 subunit was rapid and activity‐dependent. Based on this finding, we posit that an activity‐dependent increase in the rate of internalization of synaptic GABAA receptors during SE contributes to the reduction in inhibitory transmission and the development of benzodiazepine pharmacoresistance.
Chronic kidney disease progression in native and transplant kidneys

Purpose of reviewThe present review addresses the recent literature demonstrating important differences in the rate of progression of kidney function decline between transplant recipients and patients with native kidney disease. It also highlights the need for prospective studies to determine the importance of nonimmune factors that are established risk factors for progression of native kidney disease in the transplant setting. Recent findingsTransplant recipients establish modest levels of kidney function but have rates of kidney function decline that are slower than those in patients with native kidney disease. Continued improvements in long-term graft survival have not been achieved despite significant advances in immunosuppression. There is increasing observational evidence that nonimmune factors that play a causal role in progression of native kidney disease may also be important determinants of allograft decline. There are fundamental differences between transplant recipients and patients with native kidney disease that preclude extrapolation of evidence from native kidney disease to the transplant setting. SummaryTransplant recipients are a unique group of chronic kidney disease patients. Prospective studies to determine the importance of nonimmune factors such as hypertension, proteinuria, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and anemia in the transplant setting are needed.
Effects of third-order torque on frictional force of self-ligating brackets.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of third-order torque on frictional properties of self-ligating brackets (SLBs). MATERIALS AND METHODS Three SLBs (two passive and one active) and three archwires (0.016 × 0.022-inch nickel-titanium, and 0.017 × 0.025-inch and 0.019 × 0.025-inch stainless steel) were used. Static friction was measured by drawing archwires though bracket slots with four torque levels (0°, 10°, 20°, 30°), using a mechanical testing machine (n = 10). A conventional stainless-steel bracket was used for comparison. RESULTS were subjected to Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-tests. Contact between the bracket and wire was studied using a scanning electron microscope. RESULTS In most bracket-wire combinations, increasing the torque produced a significant increase in static friction. Most SLB-wire combinations at all torques produced less friction than that from the conventional bracket. Active-type SLB-wire combinations showed higher friction than that from passive-type SLB-wire combinations in most conditions. When increasing the torque, more contact between the wall of a bracket slot and the edge of a wire was observed for all bracket types. CONCLUSIONS Increasing torque when using SLBs causes an increase in friction, since contact between the bracket slot wall and the wire edge becomes greater; the design of brackets influences static friction.