Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NPCR and UACI Randomness Tests for Image Encryption

The number of changing pixel rate (NPCR) and the unified averaged changed intensity (UACI) are two most common quantities used to evaluate the strength of image encryption algorithms/ciphers with respect to differential attacks. Conventionally, a high NPCR/UACI score is usually interpreted as a high resistance to differential attacks. However, it is not clear how high NPCR/UACI is such that the image cipher indeed has a high security level. In this paper, we approach this problem by establishing a mathematical model for ideally encrypted images and then derive expectations and variances of NPCR and UACI under this model. Further, these theoretical values are used to form statistical hypothesis NPCR and UACI tests. Critical values of tests are consequently derived and calculated both symbolically and numerically. As a result, the question of whether a given NPCR/UACI score is sufficiently high such that it is not discernible from ideally encrypted images is answered by comparing actual NPCR/UACI scores with corresponding critical values. Experimental results using the NPCR and UACI randomness tests show that many existing image encryption methods are actually not as good as they are purported, although some methods do pass these randomness tests.
Consumers’ Acceptance and Use of Information and Communications Technology: A UTAUT and Flow Based Theoretical Model

The world has changed a lot in the past years. The rapid advances in technology and the changing of the communication channels have changed the way people work and, for many, where do they work from. The Internet and mobile technology, the two most dynamic technological forces in modern information and communications technology (ICT) are converging into one ubiquitous mobile Internet service, which will change our way of both doing business and dealing with our daily routine activities. As the use of ICT expands globally, there is need for further research into cultural aspects and implications of ICT. The acceptance of Information Technology (IT) has become a fundamental part of the research plan for most organizations (Igbaria 1993). In IT research, numerous theories are used to understand users’ adoption of new technologies. Various models were developed including the Technology Acceptance Model, Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behavior, and recently, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. Each of these models has sought to identify the factors which influence a citizen’s intention or actual use of information technology. Drawing on the UTAUT model and Flow Theory, this research composes a new hybrid theoretical framework to identify the factors affecting the acceptance and use of Mobile Internet -as an ICT application- in a consumer context. The proposed model incorporates eight constructs: Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Facilitating Conditions, Social Influences, Perceived Value, Perceived Playfulness, Attention Focus, and Behavioral intention. Data collected online from 238 respondents in Saudi Arabia were tested against the research model, using the structural equation modeling approach. The proposed model was mostly supported by the empirical data. The findings of this study provide several crucial implications for ICT and, in particular, mobile Internet service practitioners and researchers
Couple Therapy for Partner Aggression: Effects on Individual and Relational Well-Being

The authors examined degrees to which couple therapy for psychological and mild to moderate physical partner aggression improved partners’ general distrust in each other and their emotional comfort regarding engaging in a conflict-resolution discussion. A secondary analysis was conducted on data from 55 heterosexual couples who sought treatment at a university-based community clinic. Over the course of therapy, participants exhibited decreased general distrust in their partners, as well as decreased anxiety and increased positive moods prior to engaging in the discussion. Individuals’ pre-therapy levels of distrust, anxiety, and positive mood were correlated with their post-therapy levels of those outcome measures, and the male and female partners’ changes in distrust and positive mood were significantly correlated. Greater decreases in female partners’ physical and psychological aggression were associated with greater decreases in male partners’ anxiety, and there was a trend toward a greater decrease in men's physical aggression being associated with a greater decrease in women's distrust. Both men's and women's decreases in physical aggression also were associated with increases in their own anxiety. Couple therapy both reduces partner aggression and increases partners’ perceptions of safety in the relationship, but those changes are not necessarily correlated.
STAIR MATRICES AND THEIR GENERALIZATIONS WITH APPLICATIONS TO ITERATIVE METHODS I: A GENERALIZATION OF THE SUCCESSIVE OVERRELAXATION METHOD∗

Stair matrices and their generalizations are introduced. Some properties of the matrices are presented. Like triangular matrices this class of matrices provides bases of matrix splittings for iterative methods. A remarkable feature of iterative methods based on the new class of matrices is that the methods are easily implemented for parallel computation. In particular, a generalization of the successive overrelaxation (SOR) method is introduced. The SOR theory on determination of the optimal parameter is extended to the generalized method to include a wide class of matrices. The asymptotic rate of convergence of the new method is derived for Hermitian positive definite matrices using bounds of the eigenvalues of Jacobi matrices and numerical radius. Finally, numerical tests are presented to corroborate the obtained results.
Context Familiarity Enhances Target Processing by Inferior Temporal Cortex Neurons

Experience-dependent changes in the response properties of ventral visual stream neurons are thought to underlie our ability to rapidly and efficiently recognize visual objects. How these neural changes are related to efficient visual processing during natural vision remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate a neurophysiological correlate of efficient visual search through highly familiar object arrays. Humans and monkeys are faster at locating the same target when it is surrounded by familiar compared with unfamiliar distractors. We show that this behavioral enhancement is driven by an increased sensitivity of target-selective neurons in inferior temporal cortex. This results from an increased “signal” for target representations and decreased “noise” from neighboring familiar distractors. These data highlight the dynamic properties of the inferior temporal cortex neurons and add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating how experience shapes neural processing in the ventral visual stream.
Distributed load frequency control of electrical power networks via iterative gradient methods

This paper discusses a distributed control for load frequency of electrical power networks based on iterative gradient methods. The control objective is to minimize the quadratic cost function of load frequency control problem, and we apply the distributed control methodology by using iterative gradient methods to complicated large scale electrical power networks. Iterative gradient methods have good flexibility and they are effective for complicated and time-varying distributed power networks. Several numerical simulation results of distributed power network systems including distributed generations, batteries, and renewable energies in order to show the effectiveness of the load frequency control compared with conventional decentralized control and centralized control.
Delinquency in Girls

Relatively little has been written on this subject and the important book &dquo;Delinquency in Girl,r&dquo; by John Cowie, Valerie Cowie and Eliot Slater, (Heinemann, London, i ~68, pp. z2o, 5 os.) contains much original thought and research, in addition to a pains-taking review of the relevant literature. Unfortunately, shortage of space allows to discuss only some of the many stimulating points made by the authors. They rightly state that since society has to care for the maladjusted, it should have a say in the upbringing of children likely to grow up maladjusted, and that quite often strangers may bring up a child more successfully than her own mother. However, since there are not enough good people available, we must endow childcare with higher status and reward it with better pay in order to attract suitable persons. Moreover, the unrealistically high standards of adoption should be adjusted and the absurd situation corrected that, while many children are in dire need of adoptive care, many would-be adopters are rejected for irrelevant reasons. Not more
Aristotle's Ethics: Moral Development and Human Nature

PART I: A DEVELOPMENTALIST INTERPRETATION OF ARISTOTLE'S ETHICAL THEORY 1. The Function Argument 2. Interpretations of the Function Argument 3. Developmentalism PART II: THE RETURN TO ARISTOTLE in the 21st CENTURY 4. Psychology 5. Ethics 6. Law 7. Education.
Salience attribution in addiction and psychosis

Salience attribution, the process by which particular stimuli come to selectively grab one’s attention, is heightened towards drug-associated cues in substance users and irrelevant cues in psychosis. In Chapter 1 I review this literature. Despite their theoretical link and the substantial co-morbidity of substance use in psychotic disorders, the extent to which these processes overlap is not well understood. The aim of this thesis was to investigate their relationship. The ability of drug cues to impact on associative learning processes was examined in Chapter 2 using a newly developed task. Overshadowing by drug cues was found alongside smoking-related attentional bias in abstinent smokers but not in satiated smokers or controls. This overshadowing effect is replicated in Chapter 3 among frequent ketamine users and polydrug-using controls. Ketamine users showed elevated psychotic-like symptoms, a reduction in associative blocking and a stronger impact of drug cues on blocking compared to polydrug controls. These results are indicative of a shared disruption of salience attribution in addiction and psychosis, which I investigated in Chapter 4 among smokers with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Associative blocking was reduced in these individuals compared to control smokers but both groups displayed an absence of blocking towards drug cues. The patient group also showed higher drug-cue attentional bias that correlated with positive psychotic symptoms. In Chapter 5 I examined the role of dopamine in salience attribution in smokers. The dopamine D2/D3 agonist pramipexole (0.5mg) reduced urges to smoke and decreased attentional bias towards smoking-related images relative to monetary images when compared to placebo. In Chapter 6 I discuss the theoretical and clinical implications of these findings. The effects of drug cues on associative learning provide a methodological advance, and these findings offer preliminary support for a link between disruptions of salience attribution in addiction and in psychosis.
Adaptive model-based digital halftoning incorporating image enhancement

This paper describes a new approach to adaptive digital halftoning with the least squares model-based (LSMB) method. A framework is presented for the adaptive control of smoothness and sharpness of the halftone patterns according to local image characteristics. The proposed method employs explicit, quantitative models of the human visual system represented as 2D linear filters (eye filters). In contrast with the standard LSMB method where the single eye filter is employed uniformly over the image, the model parameters are controlled according to local image characteristics for each pixel. Because of the adaptive selection of eye filters for the pixels, image enhancement is incorporated into the halftoning process. Effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through experiments using real data compared with the error-diffusion algorithm and the standard LSMB method.
Multi-ion occupancy alters gating in high-conductance, Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels

In this study, single-channel recordings of high-conductance Ca(2+)- activated K+ channels from rat skeletal muscle inserted into planar lipid bilayer were used to analyze the effects of two ionic blockers, Ba2+ and Na+, on the channel's gating reactions. The gating equilibrium of the Ba(2+)-blocked channel was investigated through the kinetics of the discrete blockade induced by Ba2+ ions. Gating properties of Na(+)- blocked channels could be directly characterized due to the very high rates of Na+ blocking/unblocking reactions. While in the presence of K+ (5 mM) in the external solution Ba2+ is known to stabilize the open state of the blocked channel (Miller, C., R. Latorre, and I. Reisin. 1987. J. Gen. Physiol. 90:427-449), we show that the divalent blocker stabilizes the closed-blocked state if permeant ions are removed from the external solution (K+ less than 10 microM). Ionic substitutions in the outer solution induce changes in the gating equilibrium of the Ba(2+)-blocked channel that are tightly correlated to the inhibition of Ba2+ dissociation by external monovalent cations. In permeant ion-free external solutions, blockade of the channel by internal Na+ induces a shift (around 15 mV) in the open probability--voltage curve toward more depolarized potentials, indicating that Na+ induces a stabilization of the closed-blocked state, as does Ba2+ under the same conditions. A kinetic analysis of the Na(+)-blocked channel indicates that the closed- blocked state is favored mainly by a decrease in opening rate. Addition of 1 mM external K+ completely inhibits the shift in the activation curve without affecting the Na(+)-induced reduction in the apparent single-channel amplitude. The results suggest that in the absence of external permeant ions internal blockers regulate the permeant ion occupancy of a site near the outer end of the channel. Occupancy of this site appears to modulate gating primarily by speeding the rate of channel opening.
A Graph Theoretic Algorithm for Forced Harmonic Input Localization in Large Power Networks

In this paper we consider the problem of localizing inputs in swing dynamic models of large power system networks in the form of forced oscillations with unknown amplitude and frequency. Such harmonic oscillations commonly result from internal failures of control actuators in synchronous machines, and are particularly dangerous because their frequency often lies in the range of the inter-area oscillation modes of the system, resulting in unwanted sub-synchronous resonance phenomena. We first develop the concept of discrete nodal domains for second-order network dynamic systems, and relate these nodal domains to the residues of the system transfer function. Thereafter, we develop a graph-theoretic algorithm based on the magnitude as well as the sign of these residues that detects the location of the forced oscillation input. This algorithm extends our recent work in [1] for first-order consensus networks to second-order oscillatory networks, and shows that if the system has a clustered topology resulting in two-time-scale behavior in the phase oscillations then one can accurately localize the cluster in which the resonance is initiated using the residues of the inter-area modes. Our discussion includes both undamped and weakly damped swing models. We simulate a 60-generator 4-area power system to illustrate the different steps of our algorithm.
Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in health care workers in Abbottabad.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV & HCV) are hepatotropic viruses causing viral hepatitis, chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Modes of infection are more or less similar. HBV is vaccine preventable while HCV is not. They are prevalent in different parts of the world including Pakistan. The rate of prevalence varies from region to region and among different population segments. The present study was planned to see the prevalence of HBV & HVC among health care workers in various hospitals of Abbottabad. METHOD The study was conducted at the District Headquarter Teaching Hospital Abbottabad over a period of one year on 125 health care workers of different categories and either sex. Brief history was taken from each individual and physical examination was performed. Blood samples were taken for HBV and HC serology. Positive sera were confirmed by 3rd generation ELISA. RESULTS As much as 8% individuals were positive for HBV or HCV. HBV alone was seen in 3 out of 10 (30%) individuals. HCV alone was also found in 3 out of 10 (30%) individuals. HBV and HCV co-infection was seen in 4 out of 10 (40%) individuals. Dental procedures, needle prick and surgical procedures were found the common risk factors. Blood transfusion was known in 2 out of 10 (20%) individuals. Family history of hepatitis was not positive in any individual. CONCLUSION Results of the present study differ from those of the previous studies conducted on health care workers in Pakistan.
Automatic Generation of Story Highlights

In this paper we present a joint content selection and compression model for single-document summarization. The model operates over a phrase-based representation of the source document which we obtain by merging information from PCFG parse trees and dependency graphs. Using an integer linear programming formulation, the model learns to select and combine phrases subject to length, coverage and grammar constraints. We evaluate the approach on the task of generating "story highlights"---a small number of brief, self-contained sentences that allow readers to quickly gather information on news stories. Experimental results show that the model's output is comparable to human-written highlights in terms of both grammaticality and content.
Discussing adjuvant cancer therapy.

PURPOSE To document the adequacy of patient information in oncology consultations concerning adjuvant therapy and explore predictors of physician communication patterns, treatment decisions, patient information recall, and satisfaction. PATIENTS AND METHODS Retrospective analysis of audiotapes and verbatim transcripts of 101 initial adjuvant therapy consultations with medical and radiation oncologists was undertaken. Content analysis, data on communication patterns, treatment decisions, patient anxiety, satisfaction, and information recall were collected. Predictors of physician communication, treatment decisions, recall, and satisfaction with the consultation were identified. RESULTS The majority of patients were well informed of their prognosis, benefits and risks of therapy, and alternative management options. Only half were asked about preferences for information or decision-making involvement. Predictors of information detail given include patient sex, age, occupation, and education. Radiation and medical oncologists express prognosis and treatment benefit using similar phrases. When offered the chance to delay decision-making, most patients do so (P <.01). Final treatment decisions appear to be influenced by the presentation of choice in treatment options by the oncologist and whether the treatment decision was made during the initial consultation (P <.01). Information recall was not influenced by communication factors. Patients receiving less detailed information had slightly higher satisfaction with the consultation (P =.03). More anxious patients tended to be less satisfied (P =.07). CONCLUSION The optimal way to discuss adjuvant therapy is undefined. More emphasis can be placed on soliciting patient preferences for information and decision-making involvement and tailoring both to the needs of the individual patient. Providing choice in treatment and delaying decision-making may affect the patient's treatment decision.
Effect of signal peptide alterations and replacement on export of xylanase A in Streptomyces lividans

Starting from its translation initiation site, the Streptomyces lividans xylanase A signal peptide consists of 41 amino acids. This signal peptide was deleted and successively replaced with one of six signal peptides from other enzymes secreted by S. lividans and by a signal peptide from the outer membrane protein (LamB) of Escherichia coli. Deletion of the xylanase A signal peptide or modification of its cleavage site abolished secretion of the enzyme. Replacement with the signal peptides of either xylanase B, cellulase A, mannanase, or acetylxylan esterase produced equivalent amounts of xylanase A, while the signal peptides of cellulase B, xylanase C, and LamB secreted less enzyme than did the wild type. All the clones exhibited the same transcription levels, which indicated that the variations in xylanase production were due to the natures of the signal sequences.
Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus polyadenylated nuclear RNA: a structural scaffold for nuclear, cytoplasmic and viral proteins

Abstract Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) polyadenylated nuclear (PAN) RNA facilitates lytic infection, modulating the cellular immune response by interacting with viral and cellular proteins and DNA. Although a number nucleoprotein interactions involving PAN have been implicated, our understanding of binding partners and PAN RNA binding motifs remains incomplete. Herein, we used SHAPE-mutational profiling (SHAPE-MaP) to probe PAN in its nuclear, cytoplasmic or viral environments or following cell/virion lysis and removal of proteins. We thus characterized and put into context discrete RNA structural elements, including the cis-acting Mta responsive element and expression and nuclear retention element (1,2). By comparing mutational profiles in different biological contexts, we identified sites on PAN either protected from chemical modification by protein binding or characterized by a loss of structure. While some protein binding sites were selectively localized, others were occupied in all three biological contexts. Individual binding sites of select KSHV gene products on PAN RNA were also identified in in vitro experiments. This work constitutes the most extensive structural characterization of a viral lncRNA and interactions with its protein partners in discrete biological contexts, providing a broad framework for understanding the roles of PAN RNA in KSHV infection.
Physiological Characterization of Viable-but-Nonculturable Campylobacter jejuniCells

ABSTRACT Campylobacter jejuni is a pathogenic, microaerophilic, gram-negative, mesophilic bacterium. Three strains isolated from humans with enteric campylobacteriosis were able to survive at high population levels (107 cells ml−1) as viable-but-nonculturable (VBNC) forms in microcosm water. The VBNC forms of the three C. jejuni strains were enumerated and characterized by using 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride–4′,6-diamino-2-phenylindole staining. Cellular volume, adenylate energy charge, internal pH, intracellular potassium concentration, and membrane potential values were determined in stationary-phase cell suspensions after 48 h of culture on Columbia agar and after 1 to 30 days of incubation in microcosm water and compared. A notable increase in cell volume was observed with the VBNC state; the average cell volumes were 1.73 μl mg of protein−1 for the culturable form and 10.96 μl mg of protein−1 after 30 days of incubation in microcosm water. Both the internal potassium content and the membrane potential were significantly lower in the VBNC state than in the culturable state. Culturable cells were able to maintain a difference of 0.6 to 0.9 pH unit between the internal and external pH values; with VBNC cells this difference decreased progressively with time of incubation in microcosm water. Measurements of the cellular adenylate nucleotide concentrations revealed that the cells had a low adenylate energy charge (0.66 to 0.26) after 1 day of incubation in microcosm water, and AMP was the only nucleotide detected in the three strains after 30 days of incubation in microcosm water.