Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Approach for the Analysis of Security Standards for Authentication in Distributed Systems

In this paper, we present our analysis of the leading standards for authentication in distributed systems and the inference rule used for our analysis. The inference rule here is similar to that used in the finite proof system of [3] and thus, is of the same family. However the rule of [3] can only reveal vulnerabilities of simpler protocols similar to Woo and Lam. Our inference rule proved that Kerberos version 5 remains vulnerable in scenarios of an attacker having reasonable communication and computational power especially in a single broadcast network. This vulnerability can aid a masquerade participating in the protocol. We also prove the possibility of a masquerade attack when an intruder participates in the SAML protocol. Though our inference rule, as part of our pre-emptive protocol tool is still in early stages of development, it has the potential to reveal subtle flaws that may not be detected by inference rules of the same family.
Descending Inputs to Spinal Circuits Facilitating and Inhibiting Human Wrist Flexors

Recently we reported in humans that electrical stimulation of the wrist extensor muscle extensor carpi radialis (ECR) could facilitate or suppress the H reflex elicited in flexor carpi radialis (FCR), for inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) of 30 ms or 70 ms, respectively. The facilitation at 30 ms may be produced by both flexor afferents and extensor Ib afferents acting on a spinal circuit; the origin of the suppression at 70 ms is less certain. In this study, we investigated possible descending inputs to these systems. We used magnetic stimulation of the contralateral primary motor cortex, and click sound stimulation, to activate the corticospinal and the reticulospinal tracts respectively, and measured the effects on the H reflex conditioned by ECR stimulation. Corticospinal inputs reduced both the 30 ms facilitation and 70 ms suppression, indicating corticospinal inhibition of both circuits. By contrast, we failed to show any effect of clicks, either on the H reflex or on its modulation by ECR stimulation. This suggests that click-activated reticulospinal inputs to these circuits may be weak or absent.
Theoretical investigation of ferroic instabilities in confined geometries and distorted lattices

In this thesis, we present a theoretical study of two types of ferroic instabilities: the ferroelectric instability in novel confined geometries and magnetic instabilities controlled by the distortion of the underlying crystal lattice. On the one hand, we consider in detail the ferroelectric instability, specifically, in the nanotubes and the spherical nanoshells and develop a phenomenological theory for describing such an instability. We determine how the emergence of polarization is affected bythe thickness of the nanoparticle, the dielectric properties of the surrounding media and the interfacial boundary conditions. We finnd an intriguing topological finite-size effect that can promote an unexpected competition between two different types of distribution of polarization - irrotational and vortex-like - in the ultra-thin limit. One the other hand, we employ a different formalism to investigate the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the rare-earth manganites. Specifically,we conduct a theoretical investigation from first-principles calculations. First, we predict a pressure-induced A-AFM insulator to FM metal transition on EuMnO3 under hydrostatic pressure, that is unprecedented in the multiferroic rare-earth manganites RMnO3. This investigation is extended to the study to the epitaxial strain effects on both EuMnO3 and TbMnO3 thin films. We show that epitaxial strain generates a much richer phase diagram compared to hydrostatic pressure. We predict novel magnetically-induced insulator { metal and polar { non-polar transitions. More specifically, we find that both the multiferroic E-AFM order and the polar metallic E*-AFM state are stabilized in TbMnO3 by means of epitaxial strain. In the contrast, we find a novel epitaxial-strain-induced multiferroic E-AFM state in EuMnO3 that cannot be obtained by means of just hydrostatic pressure.
Nationwide Trends in Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis Among Privately Insured Children and Non-Elderly Adults in the United States, 2007-2014.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Epidemiologic analyses of acute pancreatitis (AP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP) provide insight into causes and strategies for prevention and affect allocation of resources to its study and treatment. We sought to determine current and accurate incidences of AP and CP, along with the prevalence of CP, in children and adults in the United States. METHODS We collected data from the Truven MarketScan Research Databases of commercial inpatient and outpatient insurance claims in the United States from 2007 through 2014 (patients 0-64 years old). We calculated the incidences of AP and CP and prevalence of CP based on International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision diagnosis codes. Children were defined as 18 years or younger and adults as 19 to 64 years old. RESULTS The incidence of pediatric AP was stable from 2007 through 2014, remaining at 12.3/100,000 persons in 2014. Meanwhile, the incidence for adult AP decreased from 123.7/100,000 persons in 2007 to 111.2/100,000 persons in 2014. The incidence of CP decreased over time in children (2.2/100,000 persons in 2007 to 1.9/100,000 persons in 2014) and adults (31.7/100,000 persons in 2007 to 24.7/100,000 persons in 2014). The prevalences of pediatric and adult CP were 5.8/100,000 persons and 91.9/100,000 persons, respectively, in 2014. Incidences of AP and CP increased with age. We found little change in incidence during the first decade of life but linear increases starting in the second decade. CONCLUSIONS We performed a comprehensive epidemiologic analysis of privately insured, non-elderly adults and children with AP and CP in the United States. Changes in gallstone formation, smoking, and alcohol consumption, along with advances in pancreatitis management, may be responsible for the stabilization and even decrease in the incidences of AP and CP.
SIDE: Representation Learning in Signed Directed Networks

Given a signed directed network, how can we learn node representations which fully encode structural information of the network including sign and direction of edges? Node representation learning or network embedding learns a mapping of each node to a vector. The mapping encodes structural information on network, providing low-dimensional dense node features for general machine learning and data mining frameworks. Since many social networks allow trust (friend) and distrust (enemy) relationships described by signed and directed edges, generalizing network embedding method to learn from sign and direction information in networks is crucial. In addition, social theories are critical tool in signed network analysis. However, none of the existing methods supports all of the desired properties: considering sign, direction, and social theoretical interpretation. In this paper, we propose SIDE, a general network embedding method that represents both sign and direction of edges in the embedding space. SIDE carefully formulates and optimizes likelihood over both direct and indirect signed connections. We provide socio-psychological interpretation for each component of likelihood function. We prove linear scalability of our algorithm and propose additional optimization techniques to reduce the training time and improve accuracy. Through extensive experiments on real-world signed directed networks, we show that SIDE effectively encodes structural information into the learned embedding.
The Influence of Body Mass Index on Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: Does the Obesity Paradox Really Exist?

Purpose Obesity influences risk stratification in cardiac surgery in everyday practice. However, some studies have reported better outcomes in patients with a high body mass index (BMI): this is known as the obesity paradox. The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of diverse degrees of high BMI on clinical outcomes after cardiac surgery, and to assess the existence of an obesity paradox in our patients. Methods A total of 2,499 consecutive patients requiring all types of cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass between January 2004 and February 2009 were prospectively studied at our institution. Patients were divided into four groups based on BMI: normal weight (18.5–24.9 kg∙m−2; n = 523; 21.4%), overweight (25–29.9kg∙m−2; n = 1150; 47%), obese (≥30–≤34.9kg∙m−2; n = 624; 25.5%) and morbidly obese (≥35kg∙m−2; n = 152; 6.2%). Follow-up was performed in 2,379 patients during the first year. Results After adjusting for confounding factors, patients with higher BMI presented worse oxygenation and better nutritional status, reflected by lower PaO2/FiO2 at 24h and higher albumin levels 48h after admission respectively. Obese patients showed a higher risk for Perioperative Myocardial Infarction (OR: 1.768; 95% CI: 1.035–3.022; p = 0.037) and septicaemia (OR: 1.489; 95% CI: 1.282–1.997; p = 0.005). In-hospital mortality was 4.8% (n = 118) and 1-year mortality was 10.1% (n = 252). No differences were found regarding in-hospital mortality between BMI groups. The overweight group showed better 1-year survival than normal weight patients (91.2% vs. 87.6%; Log Rank: p = 0.029. HR: 1.496; 95% CI: 1.062–2.108; p = 0.021). Conclusions In our population, obesity increases Perioperative Myocardial Infarction and septicaemia after cardiac surgery, but does not influence in-hospital mortality. Although we found better 1-year survival in overweight patients, our results do not support any protective effect of obesity in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.
B-cell receptor reconstruction from single-cell RNA-seq with VDJPuzzle

The B-cell receptor (BCR) performs essential functions for the adaptive immune system including recognition of pathogen-derived antigens. Cell-to-cell variability of BCR sequences due to V(D)J recombination and somatic hypermutation (SHM) necessitates single-cell characterization of BCR sequences. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) presents the opportunity for simultaneous capture of the BCR sequence and transcriptomic signature for a detailed understanding of the dynamics of an immune response. We developed VDJPuzzle 2.0, a bioinformatic tool that reconstructs productive, full-length B-cell receptor sequences of both heavy and light chains. VDJPuzzle successfully reconstructs BCRs from 98.3% (n=117) of human and 96.5% (n=200) from murine B cells. 92.0% of clonotypes and 90.3% of mutations were concordant with single-cell Sanger sequencing of the immunoglobulin chains. VDJPuzzle is available at https://bitbucket.org/kirbyvisp/vdjpuzzle2
Store operated calcium entry is altered by the inhibition of receptors tyrosine kinase

SOCE (Store-Operated Calcium Entry) is the main mechanism by which external Ca2+ enters into non-excitable cells after endoplasmic reticulum emptying. It is implicated in several processes such as proliferation and migration. Alterations in SOCE could initiate or support the development of hallmarks of cancer. In this project, we showed that disruption of the EGFR/ErbB2-dependent signalling by lapatinib and CP-724714, two inhibitors of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK), dramatically reduced the amplitude of the SOCE in breast cancer cells. LY294002 and MK2206, two inhibitors of the PI3K/Akt pathway, mimicked the effect of the inhibition of EGFR/ErbB2. In contrast, inhibitors of the MAPK pathway had no effect on SOCE. The involvement of EGFR/ErbB2 receptors and the PI3K/Akt pathway in the regulation of SOCE was confirmed in other cell lines derived from various cancer types. All these results showed that SOCE is positively regulated by the PI3K/Akt pathway and that this effect may be suppressed by the inhibition of the upstream RTKs. Inhibition of SOCE might therefore contribute to the anticancer effects of RTK inhibitors.
Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells from the Adult Human Spinal Cord Are Multipotent and Self-Renewing and Differentiate after Transplantation

Neural stem/progenitor cell (NSPC) transplantation is a promising therapy for spinal cord injury (SCI). However, little is known about NSPC from the adult human spinal cord as a donor source. We demonstrate for the first time that multipotent and self-renewing NSPC can be cultured, passaged and transplanted from the adult human spinal cord of organ transplant donors. Adult human spinal cord NSPC require an adherent substrate for selection and expansion in EGF (epidermal growth factor) and FGF2 (fibroblast growth factor) enriched medium. NSPC as an adherent monolayer can be passaged for at least 9 months and form neurospheres when plated in suspension culture. In EGF/FGF2 culture, NSPC proliferate and primarily express nestin and Sox2, and low levels of markers for differentiating cells. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) promotes NSPC proliferation and significantly enhances GFAP expression in hypoxia. In differentiating conditions in the presence of serum, these NSPC show multipotentiality, expressing markers of neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP) significantly enhances neuronal differentiation. We transplanted the multipotent NSPC into SCI rats and show that the xenografts survive, are post-mitotic, and retain the capacity to differentiate into neurons and glia. Together, these findings reveal that multipotent self-renewing NSPC cultured and passaged from adult human spinal cords of organ transplant donors, respond to exogenous factors that promote selective differentiation, and survive and differentiate after transplantation into the injured spinal cord.
Improving Word Embedding Compositionality using Lexicographic Definitions

We present an in-depth analysis of four popular word embeddings (Word2Vec, GloVe, fastText and Paragram) in terms of their semantic compositionality. In addition, we propose a method to tune these embeddings towards better compositionality. We find that training the existing embeddings to compose lexicographic definitions improves their performance in this task significantly, while also getting similar or better performance in both word similarity and sentence embedding evaluations. Our method tunes word embeddings using a simple neural network architecture with definitions and lemmas from WordNet. Since dictionary definitions are semantically similar to their associated lemmas, they are the ideal candidate for our tuning method, as well as evaluating for compositionality. Our architecture allows for the embeddings to be composed using simple arithmetic operations, which makes these embeddings specifically suitable for production applications such as web search and data mining. We also explore more elaborate and involved compositional models. In our analysis, we evaluate original embeddings, as well as tuned embeddings, using existing word similarity and sentence embedding evaluation methods. Aside from these evaluation methods used in related work, we also evaluate embeddings using a ranking method which tests composed vectors using the lexicographic definitions already mentioned. In contrast to other evaluation methods, ours is not invariant to the magnitude of the embedding vector, which we show is important for composition. We consider this new evaluation method, called CompVecEval, to be a key contribution.
Are Canadians more willing to provide chest-compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)?-a nation-wide public survey.

BACKGROUND Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) improves the likelihood of survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), yet it is performed in only 30% of cases. The 2010 guidelines promote chest-compression-only bystander CPR-a change intended to increase willingness to provide CPR. OBJECTIVES 1) To determine whether the Canadian general public is more willing to perform chest-compression-only CPR compared to traditional CPR; 2) to characterize public knowledge of OHCA; and 3) to identify barriers and facilitators to bystander CPR. METHODS A 32-item survey assessing resuscitation knowledge, and willingness to provide CPR were disseminated in five Canadian regions. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize response distribution. Logistic regression analysis was applied to assess shifts in intention to provide CPR. RESULTS A total of 428 completed surveys were analysed. When presented with a scenario of being a bystander in an OHCA, a greater proportion of respondents were willing to provide chest-compression-only CPR compared to traditional CPR for all victims (61.5% v. 39.7%, p<0.001), when the victim was a stranger (55.1% v. 38.8%, p<0.001), or when the victim was an unkempt individual (47.9% v. 28.5%, p<0.001). When asked to describe an OHCA, 41.4% said the heart stopped beating, and 20.8% said it was a heart attack. Identified barriers and facilitators included fear of litigation and lack of skill confidence. CONCLUSIONS This study identified gaps in knowledge, which may impair the ability of bystanders to act in OHCA. Most respondents expressed greater willingness to provide chest-compression-only CPR, but this was mediated by victim characteristics, skill confidence, and recognition of a cardiac arrest.
Shear bond strength of ceramic fused to CAD-CAM milled alloys

Background This study evaluated the metal ceramic bond strength of cast Ni-Cr, cast Co-Cr, sintered Co-Cr and milled Co-Cr alloys to ceramic through two application procedures including the ceramic layering technique and ceramic pressed-on technique. Material and Methods Ceramic materials (Ø 8 mm, 1.5 mm thickness) were veneered by either the layering or pressed-on technique to cast Ni-Cr, cast Co-Cr, sintered Co-Cr and hard milled Co-Cr alloy disc (12 × 12 × 0.5 mm) (n=15). All specimens were treated with a thermal cycle process for 500 cycles at the temperature between 5 °C and 55 °C with immerse time of 30 seconds and 5 seconds for specimen transfer. The shear bond strength was determined on a universal testing machine at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. The de-bonding surfaces were examined under visual inspection and SEM. The metal ceramic interface of specimens for each group was examined in SEM and EDS. The means of bond strength were compared using two-way ANOVA followed by post-hoc Tukey HSD multiple comparison test to determine for statistically significant difference at 95% level of confidence. The Weibull analysis was used for determination survival probability of shear bond strength. Results The bond strength of ceramic to sintered Co-Cr alloys was higher than that to others metal alloys. The metal-ceramic mean bond strength was significantly higher for the ceramic pressed-on technique than that of the ceramic layering technique for all tested alloys (p<0.05). Weibull analysis of the shear bond strength indicated that the sintered Co-Cr alloys veneered with heat pressed ceramic provided the highest characteristic strength of metal ceramic bond. Conclusions The sintered Co-Cr alloys significantly contributed the appropriate bond strength for metal ceramic. Ceramic pressed-on was a reliable technique to enhance bond strength for fabrication the metal ceramic restoration. Key words:Bond strength, sintered alloy, milled alloy, Co-Cr alloys, metal ceramic.
Effects of Concord grape juice on ambulatory blood pressure in prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension.

BACKGROUND Consumption of flavonoid-containing foods may be useful for the management of hypertension. OBJECTIVE We investigated whether 100% Concord grape juice lowers blood pressure in patients with prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension. DESIGN We conducted a double-blind crossover study to compare the effects of grape juice (7 mL · kg⁻¹ · d⁻¹) and matched placebo beverage on 24-h ambulatory blood pressure, stress-induced changes in blood pressure, and biochemical profile. Participants consumed each beverage for 8 wk with a 4-wk rest period between beverages. They ceased consumption of grapes and other flavonoid-containing beverages throughout the study. RESULTS We enrolled 64 otherwise healthy patients taking no antihypertensive medications (31% women, 42% black, age 43 ± 12 y). Baseline mean (± SD) cuff blood pressure was 138 ± 7 (systolic)/82 ± 7 (diastolic) mm Hg. No effects on the primary endpoint of 24-h mean systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, or stress-induced changes in blood pressure were observed. A secondary endpoint was nocturnal dip in systolic pressure. At baseline, nocturnal pressure was 8.3 ± 7.1% lower at night than during daytime. The mean nocturnal dip increased 1.4 percentage points after grape juice and decreased 2.3 percentage points after placebo (P = 0.005). Fasting blood glucose was 91 ± 10 mg/dL at baseline for the entire cohort. Glucose decreased 2 mg/dL after consumption of grape juice and increased 1 mg/dL after consuming the placebo (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS We observed no effect of grape juice on ambulatory blood pressure in this cohort of relatively healthy individuals with modestly elevated blood pressure. Secondary analyses suggested favorable effects on nocturnal dip and glucose homeostasis that may merit further investigation. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00302809.
Insulinotropic Effect of S-Allyl Cysteine in Rat Pups

S-Allyl cysteine (SAC) is found in garlic and has been reported to exert antidiabetic and antiobesity properties in drug-induced adult experimental models of metabolic dysfunction, but its potential beneficial effects in high-fructose diet neonatal rat models have not been determined. This study investigated the potential prophylactic effects of SAC in high-fructose diet fed suckling rat pups modelling human neonates fed a high-fructose diet. Four-day-old male (n=32) and female (n=32) Wistar rat pups, were randomly assigned to and administered the following treatment regimens daily for 15 days: group I, distilled water; group II, 20% fructose solution (FS); group III, SAC; group IV, SAC+FS. The pups’ blood glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, plasma leptin and insulin concentration, liver lipid content, and liver histology were determined at termination. In female rat pups, orally administered SAC prevented FS-induced hypoinsulinemia but significantly increased (P≤0.05) liver lipid content. Oral administration of SAC significantly increased (P≤0.05) plasma insulin concentration and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance in the male pups. The potential sexually dimorphic effects of SAC (insulinotropic effects in male pups and protection of female pups against fructose-induced hypoinsulinemia) suggest that SAC could be potentially exploited as an antidiabetic and insulinotropic agent. Caution should, however, be exercised in the use of SAC during suckling as it could result in excessive liver lipid accumulation and insulin resistance.
Migration Patterns of Double-Crested Cormorants Wintering in the Southeastern United States

Abstract. Migration patterns of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) wintering in the southeastern U.S. are poorly understood. Movement data were analyzed from 28 cormorants captured in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi and equipped with satellite transmitters. Four (three immature, one adult) cormorants did not migrate and stayed in the southeastern U.S. throughout the year. During spring, cormorants captured in Alabama migrated east of the Mississippi River and primarily west of the Appalachian Mountains. Cormorants from Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi migrated north along the Mississippi River Valley, the Missouri River Valley and/or the Ohio River Valley. The earliest departure for spring migration was 26 March, whereas the latest departure was 12 May. Adult cormorants departed for spring migration earlier than immature cormorants. The average departure date for fall migration was 1 October. Mean duration of spring migration was twelve days, and cormorants traveled an average of 70 km per day.