Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Collaborative Rapid Persona-Building Workshop: Creating Design Personas with Health Researchers

In the HealthMap project for People With HIV, (PWHIV) designers employed a collaborative rapid 'persona-building' workshop with health researchers to develop patient personas that embodied patient-centred design goals and contextual awareness from a variety of qualitative and quantitative data. On reflection, this collaborative rapid workshop was a process for drawing together the divergent user research insights and expertise of stakeholders into focus for a chronic disease self-management design. This paper discusses, (i) an analysis of the transcript of the workshop and, (ii) interviews with five practising senior designers, in order to reflect on how the persona-building process was enacted and its role in the HealthMap design evolution. The collaborative rapid persona-building methodology supported: embedding user research insights, eliciting domain expertise, introducing design thinking, facilitating stakeholder collaboration and defining early design requirements. The contribution of this paper is to model the process of collaborative rapid persona-building and to introduce the collaborative rapid persona-building framework as a method to generate design priorities from domain expertise and user research data.
Stereospecific and Redox-Sensitive Increase in Monocyte Adhesion to Endothelial Cells by Homocysteine

Objective—Previous studies have shown that elevated homocysteine (Hcy) levels promote the development of atherosclerotic lesions in atherosclerosis-prone animal models. There is evidence that oxidant stress contributes to Hcy’s deleterious effects on the vasculature. The accumulation and adhesion of monocytes to the vascular endothelium is a critical event in the development of atherosclerosis. We investigated the effects of Hcy on the interaction between human endothelial cells (EC) (EC line EA.hy 926 and primary human umbilical vein EC [HUVEC]) and the monocytic cell line THP-1, and the impact of vascular oxidant stress and redox-sensitive signaling pathways on these events. Methods and Results—L-Hcy, but not D-Hcy, increases the production of reactive oxygen species inside EC, enhances nuclear factor(NF)-&kgr;B activation, and stimulates intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) RNA transcription and cell surface expression. This leads to a time- and dose-dependent increase in monocyte adhesion to ECs. Pretreatment of ECs with superoxide scavengers (MnTBAP and Tiron) or with an inhibitor of NF-&kgr;B activation abolished Hcy-induced monocyte adhesion, ICAM-1 expression, and nuclear translocation of NF-&kgr;B. Conclusions—These findings suggest that reactive oxygen species produced under hyperhomocysteinemic conditions may induce a proinflammatory situation in the vessel wall that initiates and promotes atherosclerotic lesion development.
Computer science research in Malaysia: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the publications of, and the citations to, the current staff of 19 departments of computer science in Malaysian universities, and to compare these bibliometric data with expert peer reviews of Malaysian research performance.Design/methodology/approach – This paper searches citation of the Scopus and Web of Science databases.Findings – Both publication and citation rates are low, although this is at least in part due to some Malaysian universities having only a teaching function. More of the departments' publications were identified in Scopus than in Web of Science, but both databases were needed for comprehensive coverage. Statistically significant relationships were observed between the departments' publication and citation counts and the rankings of the departments' parent universities in two evaluations of the research performance of Malaysian universities.Originality/value – This is the first comparison of bibliometric and peer‐review data for Malaysia.
Differences in cell-to-cell spread of pathogenic and apathogenic rabies virus in vivo and in vitro

Pathogenic parental rabies virus and apathogenic variant virus were shown to differ in their ability to infect neurons in vivo and neuroblastoma cells in vitro. After intracerebral inoculation, the distribution of infected neurons in the brain was similar for both viruses, but the rate of spread throughout the brain, the number of infected neurons, and the degree of cellular necrosis were much lower in the case of apathogenic virus. After adsorption to mouse neuroblastoma cells, apathogenic virus was less rapidly internalized than pathogenic virus, and cell-to-cell spread of apathogenic variant virus was completely prevented by the addition of rabies virus-neutralizing antibody, whereas the spread of pathogenic virus was not affected.
On the Convergence of Alternating Minimization for Convex Programming with Applications to Iteratively Reweighted Least Squares and Decomposition Schemes

This paper is concerned with the alternating minimization (AM) method for solving convex minimization problems where the decision variables vector is split into two blocks. The objective function is a sum of a differentiable convex function and a separable (possibly) nonsmooth extended real-valued convex function, and consequently constraints can be incorporated. We analyze the convergence rate of the method and establish a nonasymptotic sublinear rate of convergence where the multiplicative constant depends on the minimal block Lipschitz constant. We then analyze the iteratively reweighted least squares (IRLS) method for solving convex problems involving sums of norms. Based on the results derived for the AM method, we establish a nonasymptotic sublinear rate of convergence of the IRLS method. In addition, we show an asymptotic rate of convergence whose efficiency estimate does not depend on the data of the problem. Finally, we study the convergence properties of a decomposition-based approach designed t.
Flip Feng Shui: Hammering a Needle in the Software Stack

We introduce Flip Feng Shui (FFS), a new exploitation vector which allows an attacker to induce bit flips over arbitrary physical memory in a fully controlled way. FFS relies on hardware bugs to induce bit flips over memory and on the ability to surgically control the physical memory layout to corrupt attacker-targeted data anywhere in the software stack. We show FFS is possible today with very few constraints on the target data, by implementing an instance using the Rowhammer bug and memory deduplication (an OS feature widely deployed in production). Memory deduplication allows an attacker to reverse-map any physical page into a virtual page she owns as long as the page’s contents are known. Rowhammer, in turn, allows an attacker to flip bits in controlled (initially unknown) locations in the target page. We show FFS is extremely powerful: a malicious VM in a practical cloud setting can gain unauthorized access to a co-hosted victim VM running OpenSSH. Using FFS, we exemplify end-to-end attacks breaking OpenSSH public-key authentication, and forging GPG signatures from trusted keys, thereby compromising the Ubuntu/Debian update mechanism. We conclude by discussing mitigations and future directions for FFS attacks.
Nonlinear constitutive formulation for a finite deformation beam model based on the mixing rule for composites

Constitutive nonlinearity for beam models has been traditionally described by means of concentrated and distributed models, in the most cases, formulated assuming infinitesimal deformation. The concentrated models consider elastic elements equipped with plastic hinges at the ends. In the case of distributed plasticity models, inelasticity is evaluated at a fixed number of points on the cross sections and along the beam axis. These points corresponds to of fibers directed along the axis. Therefore, this approach is referred as fiber approach. Additionally, two versions of the models can be defined: the displacement based method, which is based on the interpolation of the strain field along the elements and force based method which obtains the sectional forces and moments interpolating the nodal values and satisfying the equilibrium equations even in the inelastic range. Both approaches are affected by the strain localization phenomenon when materials with softening behavior are employed and, therefore, the whole structural response becomes mesh dependent if no appropriate corrections are considered. On the another hand, one of the most invoked geometrically exact formulations for beams in finite deformation is that of Simo which generalize to the 3–D dynamic case the formulation developed by Reissner. Only a few works have developed fully geometrical and constitutive nonlinear formulations for beams, but they have been mainly focused on plasticity. Recently, Mata et.al. [14, 15] have extended the formulation due to Reissner-Simo for considering and arbitrary distribution of composite materials on the cross sections for the static and dynamic cases. The displacement based method is used for solving the resulting nonlinear problem. Thermodynamically consistent constitutive laws are used in describing the material behavior of simple materials and the parallel version of the mixing rule is used for composites. In this work a detailed presentation of the implementation of the mixing rule for the treatment of constitutive nonlinearity in the Reissner–Simo formulation for beams is presented. Finally, several numerical examples validating the proposed formulation are given.
Appearance-based Active, Monocular, Dense Reconstruction for Micro Aerial Vehicles

In this paper, we investigate the following problem: given the image of a scene, what is the trajectory that a robot-mounted camera should follow to allow optimal dense depth estimation? The solution we propose is based on maximizing the information gain over a set of candidate trajectories. In order to estimate the information that we expect from a camera pose, we introduce a novel formulation of the measurement uncertainty that accounts for the scene appearance (i.e., texture in the reference view), the scene depth and the vehicle pose. We successfully demonstrate our approach in the case of real-time, monocular reconstruction from a micro aerial vehicle and validate the effectiveness of our solution in both synthetic and real experiments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work on active, monocular dense reconstruction, which chooses motion trajectories that minimize perceptual ambiguities inferred by the texture in the scene.
Mechanisms of Activation of Cardiac Glycogen Phosphorylase in Ischemia and Anoxia

The effects of ischemia and anoxia on cardiac adenosine 3′, 5′-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) concentration, glycogen phosphorylase activity ratio (−5′-AMP: +5′-AMP), phosphorylase kinase activity ratio (pH 6.8:8.2), and myocardial contractility (left ventricular dP/dt) were studied in an open-chest rat heart preparation. Ischemia produced by termination of coronary blood flow increased cyclic AMP from 0.55 to 0.77 μmoles/kg in 5 seconds and phosphorylase from 0.14 to 0.57 in 20 seconds. Anoxia induced by breathing N2 increased cyclic AMP from 0.50 to 0.62 μmoles/kg in 10 seconds and phosphorylase from 0.14 to 0.65 in 30 seconds. Phosphorylase kinase increased with ischemia but did not change with anoxia. Beta-receptor blockade with practolol prevented the rise in cyclic AMP and phosphorylase kinase but blocked the increase in phosphorylase only in ischemia. Myocardial contractility declined precipitously during the first 20 seconds of anoxia. Epinephrine (0.1 μg/kg) caused an increase in cyclic AMP comparable to that elicited by anoxia, and it produced an increase in dP/dt during N2 breathing. These results suggest that in the intact working heart ischemia induces phosphorylase a formation through a cyclic AMP-dependent transformation of phosphorylase kinase; however, in anoxia phosphorylase a formation depends only on the regulation of the catalytic activity of phosphorylase kinase without conversion of this enzyme to its activated form. An increase in cyclic AMP during anoxia is not associated with a positive inotropic response even though such a response is obtained with epinephrine. Factors other than the elevation of myocardial cyclic AMP may be limiting in the control of both cardiac glycogenolysis and inotropic state.
Aristolochic acid nephropathy and the peritoneum: Functional, structural, and molecular studies.

BACKGROUND Aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN) is a rapidly progressive interstitial nephropathy linked to the exposure to aristolochic acid (AA) and characterized by extensive fibrosis and urothelial atypia. Although the fibrotic process has been documented in extrarenal tissues, the involvement of the peritoneum, as well as the efficacy of peritoneal dialysis in AAN patients, remain uncertain. METHODS The structure of the peritoneal membrane and the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), collagen type III, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and aquaporin-1 (AQP1) were investigated in peritoneal biopsies from an index AAN patient, four other AAN patients, four regular peritoneal dialysis patients, and two controls. Similar methods were used to investigate a rabbit model of AAN after intraperitoneal exposure to high-dose AA. AA-DNA adducts were screened by 32P-postlabeling analysis. RESULTS The AAN patients had renal failure, renal fibrosis, and urothelial atypia. The peritoneum of AAN patients had a normal structure, lacked cellular atypia, and, in comparison with regular peritoneal dialysis patients and controls, did not show abnormal regulation of fibrotic and endothelial markers. Furthermore, specific AA-DNA adducts were not identified in the peritoneum of AAN patients. In contrast, AA-DNA adducts were detected in peritoneal and kidney tissues of all exposed rabbits, and one of them developed a malignant mesothelioma. CONCLUSION These data demonstrate the lack of fibrotic and vascular alterations and the absence of cellular atypia in the peritoneum from AAN patients. Thus, peritoneal dialysis should not be discouraged in these patients. Nevertheless, studies in a rabbit model of high-dose AA exposure may suggest a potential risk of peritoneal malignancy.
Buffer Management and Scheduling for Enhanced Differentiated Services

A novel framework, called JoBS (Joint Buffer Management and Scheduling), is presented for reasoning about relative and absolute per-class service differentiation in a packet network without information on traffic arrivals. JoBS has two unique capabilities: (1) JoBS makes scheduling and buffer management decisions in a single step, and (2) JoBS supports both relative and absolute QoS requirements of classes. JoBS is presented in terms of the solution to an optimization problem. Numerical simulation examples, including results for a heuristic approximation of JoBS, are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach and to compare JoBS to existing methods for loss and delay differentiation.
Meta-analysis for pathway enrichment analysis when combining multiple genomic studies

MOTIVATION Many pathway analysis (or gene set enrichment analysis) methods have been developed to identify enriched pathways under different biological states within a genomic study. As more and more microarray datasets accumulate, meta-analysis methods have also been developed to integrate information among multiple studies. Currently, most meta-analysis methods for combining genomic studies focus on biomarker detection and meta-analysis for pathway analysis has not been systematically pursued. RESULTS We investigated two approaches of meta-analysis for pathway enrichment (MAPE) by combining statistical significance across studies at the gene level (MAPE_G) or at the pathway level (MAPE_P). Simulation results showed increased statistical power of meta-analysis approaches compared to a single study analysis and showed complementary advantages of MAPE_G and MAPE_P under different scenarios. We also developed an integrated method (MAPE_I) that incorporates advantages of both approaches. Comprehensive simulations and applications to real data on drug response of breast cancer cell lines and lung cancer tissues were evaluated to compare the performance of three MAPE variations. MAPE_P has the advantage of not requiring gene matching across studies. When MAPE_G and MAPE_P show complementary advantages, the hybrid version of MAPE_I is generally recommended. AVAILABILITY http://www.biostat. pitt.edu/bioinfo/ CONTACT ctseng@pitt.edu SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Tree-based reliable multicast in combined fixed/mobile IP networks

This paper proposes a solution to delivering multicast data reliably not only to/from fired hosts but also to/from mobile hosts in combined fixed/mobile IP networks, particularly with regard to the per-source shortest path multicast routing protocol and remote subscription option in the IETF mobile IP multicast standard. We propose exploiting tree-based error recovery, well-established concept for reliable multicast in fixed networks, where a hierarchical logical tree of a source and receivers is constructed over which the responsibility of error recovery is distributed. We introduce a new entity named ARMM (Agent for Reliable Mobile Multicast) located at each cell of the wireless/mobile networks. Each ARMM participates in a logical tree as a parent of mobile hosts in the corresponding cell. It is responsible for retransmission and requesting for retransmission on behalf of the mobile hosts. With aid of ARMM, the proposed scheme features (1) adaptive reconstruction of logical trees due to host mobility, (2) retransmission to mobile hosts via optimal routes, (3) abstracting a group of mobile hosts into a single ARMM (and thus reducing logical tree maintenance overhead), (4) efficient use of wireless bandwidth for retransmission, and (5) low processing burden on mobile hosts themselves. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme provides higher scalability than a scheme applying a generalized tree-based reliable multicast in mobile environments.
The Effect of Recorded Maternal Voice on Perioperative Anxiety and Emergence in Children

This study was performed to test if hearing a recorded maternal voice reduces anxiety, emergence agitation and anaesthetic requirements in children. With written informed consent, children scheduled for cardiac catheterisation under intravenous ketamine anaesthesia and their mothers (n=46) were randomly assigned to either the mother-voice (MV) or control group. While the MV group (n=23) listened via headphones to a recording of their mothers’ voices during the perioperative period, the control group (n=23) wore headphones with no auditory stimulation. Ketamine requirements and haemodynamics were recorded. Anxiety of the patients and the parents were measured before and after the procedure with the modified Yale preoperative anxiety scale and Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, respectively. Emergence agitation was graded. The demographic and haemodynamic data were comparable, except for a longer procedure time in the MV group. Mothers’ State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was not different preoperatively between the groups. Mothers’ state and trait anxiety was lower after the procedure in the MV group compared with the preoperative values. In the control group only maternal state anxiety was diminished after the procedure. There was no significant group difference with respect to ketamine requirement (5.1±1.9 mg vs 4.9±1.6 mg, P=0.645). The anxiety score of children was lower in the MV group before the procedure (modified Yale preoperative anxiety scale score 35±12 vs 28±9, P=0.038), but there was no significant difference postoperatively. Emergence agitation was attenuated in the MV group (P=0.005).
Analyzing the Vascular Architecture of the Free TRAM Flap Using Intraoperative Ex Vivo Angiography

Background: Using ex vivo intraoperative angiography to analyze 14 flaps from 12 breast reconstruction patients, the authors investigated the vascular architecture of free transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (TRAM) flaps nourished by the deep inferior epigastric artery. Methods: Contrast medium was injected through the deep inferior epigastric artery and flaps were radiographed to observe their vascular patterns. Results: TRAM flaps showed one or two segmental arteries stained on their ipsilateral side (zones 1 and 3) and serving as the flap’s axial artery. These segmental arteries directly connect to the large perforators (axial perforators) and emerge not only from the paraumbilical perforators but also from the caudal branches of the deep inferior epigastric artery. Arterial density is always lower in the contralateral area (zones 2 and 4) than in the ipsilateral area (zones 1 and 3). Conclusions: Because the cephalic half of zone 2 and all of zone 4 remain unstained, these areas are prone to skin or fat necrosis, especially in high-risk patients. Ex vivo angiography, by providing specific information about the individual flap and by reflecting its flow physiology, enables one to observe and to chart the vascular architec-ture of free TRAM flaps nourished by the deep inferior epigastric artery.
Creep of binary Ni-rich NiTi shape memory alloys and the influence of pre-creep on martensitic transformations

Abstract The present work represents an exploratory study of creep in a Ni-rich NiTi shape memory alloy (50.7 at.% Ni) in the temperature range 470 – 530 °C at stresses between 90 and 150 MPa. Creep of Ni-rich NiTi alloys is characterized by stress exponents of 2 (for the minimum creep rate data) and of 4.7 (for creep rates measured after 10% of accumulated strain). During creep, Ni4Ti3 precipitates (which nucleate and grow during heating under a small pre-load) coarsen. The interparticle spacing increases and this is why the resistance of the material to creep decreases. It was not possible to rationalize this creep softening on the basis of a traditional Orowan process. Instead a wrapping process, where particles were wrapped in by migrating sub-grain boundaries, was observed. The sharp minima in the creep curves and the strain dependence of the stress exponent as observed in the present study can be rationalized on the basis of an initial climb controlled bypassing of particles followed by this wrapping process, which becomes more intense as interparticle spacings increase. When comparing crept materials with materials which were aged at the same temperature for the same time there only is a small difference between the corresponding differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) charts. Therefore we conclude that the precipitation and coarsening of Ni4Ti3 particles during creep is more important in affecting DSC chart features than the evolution of a creep dislocation structure.