Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aspects of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Pediatric Obesity and Type 1 Diabetes: An Overview of Ten Years of Studies

Obesity and type 1 diabetes (T1DM) are the two most common conditions of altered metabolism in children and adolescents. In both, similar long-term cardiovascular complications are known to occur, mediated in large part by underlying inflammatory and oxidative processes whose biochemical details remain relatively unclear. Through a series of experiments in these patient populations, over the last decade our laboratory has clarified a number of key issues in this field. Interestingly, while obese and type 1 diabetic children often differed in the specific type and magnitude of molecular alterations, in both groups a clear exaggeration of inflammatory and oxidative activation was detected when compared to healthy, age-matched controls. Our main findings include definition of resting and exercise-induced cytokine patterns and leukocyte profiles, patterns of activation of immune cells in vitro, and correlation of the magnitude of observed alterations with severity of obesity and quality of glycemic control. Further, we have identified a series of alterations in growth factor profiles during exercise that parallel inflammatory changes in obese children. This paper offers a concise overview of the salient results from this decade-long research effort.
Surface Mapping Using Image Triplets: Case Studies and Benefit Assessment in Comparison to Stereo Image Processing

Mapping of the Earth’s surface from satellite images is a continuing application in remote sensing, which has been distinctly pushed with the increasing availability of very high-resolution image data. In most of the missions, stereo images can be acquired making 3D mapping from space very attractive, as high accuracy and level of detail become feasible from such data. In this paper, several case studies are presented, which have been applied to stereo pairs acquired by the SPOT sensors as well as the very highresolution Ikonos sensor. As an extension to standard stereo mapping, a 3D mapping approach which makes use of multiple image coverage is presented. For this work, image triplets including multi-sensor data sets have been used to extract 3D topography information and to generate digital surface models. The benefit of this extended approach is comparatively assessed with respect to results achieved from standard stereo mapping.
Breaking Web Applications Built On Top of Encrypted Data

We develop a systematic approach for analyzing client-server applications that aim to hide sensitive user data from untrusted servers. We then apply it to Mylar, a framework that uses multi-key searchable encryption (MKSE) to build Web applications on top of encrypted data. We demonstrate that (1) the Popa-Zeldovich model for MKSE does not imply security against either passive or active attacks; (2) Mylar-based Web applications reveal users' data and queries to passive and active adversarial servers; and (3) Mylar is generically insecure against active attacks due to system design flaws. Our results show that the problem of securing client-server applications against actively malicious servers is challenging and still unsolved. We conclude with general lessons for the designers of systems that rely on property-preserving or searchable encryption to protect data from untrusted servers.
FRIST—flipping and rotation invariant sparsifying transform learning and applications

Features based on sparse representation, especially using the synthesis dictionary model, have been heavily exploited in signal processing and computer vision. However, synthesis dictionary learning typically involves NP-hard sparse coding and expensive learning steps. Recently, sparsifying transform learning received interest for its cheap computation and its optimal updates in the alternating algorithms. In this work, we develop a methodology for learning flipping and rotation invariant sparsifying transforms, dubbed FRIST, to better represent natural images that contain textures with various geometrical directions. The proposed alternating FRIST learning algorithm involves efficient optimal updates. We provide a convergence guarantee, and demonstrate the empirical convergence behavior of the proposed FRIST learning approach. Preliminary experiments show the promising performance of FRIST learning for sparse image representation, segmentation, denoising, robust inpainting, and compressed sensing-based magnetic resonance image reconstruction.
Frequency of Maxillary Sinus Mucous Retention Cysts in a Central Brazilian Population

Statement of the Problem Mucous retention cysts (MRCs) of the maxillary sinus are lesions with undefined pathogenesis. In recent researches, geographical and climatic aspects have been related as risk factors. Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of MRCs of the maxillary sinus using panoramic radiographs. Materials and Method A total of 631 panoramic radiographs were selected from a secondary database from a private radiology clinic and analyzed by two specialists in dental radiology according to gender, age, month, relative air humidity, and mean temperature. Results A total of 87 (6.89%) radiographic images were suggestive of MRCs. Thirty-five MRCs (40.22%) were detected on the right side, 10 (11.49%) on the left side and 42 (48.29%) on both sides. A high frequency was detected in female participants (n=45; 51, 72%), those aged 18-35 years (n=31; 35, 63%) and those from August (n=24; 27.59%) and July (n=22; 25.29%). Conclusion The frequency of MRCs was low, and no statistically significant correlation was found between the prevalence of MRCs and the studied variables with the exception of the mean temperature.
Automated estimation of individual conifer tree height and crown diameter via two-dimensional spatial wavelet analysis of lidar data

We describe and evaluate a new analysis technique, spatial wavelet analysis (SWA), to automatically estimate the location, height, and crown diameter of individual trees within mixed conifer open canopy stands from light detection and ranging (lidar) data. Two-dimensional Mexican hat wavelets, over a range of likely tree crown diameters, were convolved with lidar canopy height models. Identification of local maxima within the resultant wavelet transformation image then allowed determination of the location, height, and crown diameters of individual trees. In this analysis, which focused solely on individual trees within open canopy forests, 30 trees incorporating seven dominant North American tree species were assessed. Two-dimensional (2D) wavelet-derived estimates were well correlated with field measures of tree height (r = 0.97) and crown diameter (r = 0.86). The 2D wavelet-derived estimates compared favorably with estimates derived using an established method that uses variable window filters (VWF) to estimate the same variables but relies on a priori knowledge of the tree height – crown diameter relationship. The 2D spatial wavelet analysis presented herein could potentially allow automated, large-scale, remote estimation of timber board feet, foliar biomass, canopy volume, and aboveground carbon, although further research testing the limitations of the method in a variety of forest types with increasing canopy closures is warranted.
Adaptive cache management for a combined SRAM and DRAM cache hierarchy for multi-cores

On-chip DRAM caches may alleviate the memory bandwidth problem in future multi-core architectures through reducing off-chip accesses via increased cache capacity. For memory intensive applications, recent research has demonstrated the benefits of introducing high capacity on-chip L4-DRAM as Last-Level-Cache between L3-SRAM and off-chip memory. These multi-core cache hierarchies attempt to exploit the latency benefits of L3-SRAM and capacity benefits of L4-DRAM caches. However, not taking into consideration the cache access patterns of complex applications can cause inter-core DRAM interference and inter-core cache contention. In this paper, we contest to re-architect existing cache hierarchies by proposing a hybrid cache architecture, where the Last-Level-Cache is a combination of SRAM and DRAM caches. We propose an adaptive DRAM placement policy in response to the diverse requirements of complex applications with different cache access behaviors. It reduces inter-core DRAM interference and inter-core cache contention in SRAM/DRAM-based hybrid cache architectures: increasing the harmonic mean instruction-per-cycle throughput by 23.3% (max. 56%) and 13.3% (max. 35.1%) compared to state-of-the-art.
Efficient and Expressive Knowledge Base Completion Using Subgraph Feature Extraction

We explore some of the practicalities of using random walk inference methods, such as the Path Ranking Algorithm (PRA), for the task of knowledge base completion. We show that the random walk probabilities computed (at great expense) by PRA provide no discernible benefit to performance on this task, so they can safely be dropped. This allows us to define a simpler algorithm for generating feature matrices from graphs, which we call subgraph feature extraction (SFE). In addition to being conceptually simpler than PRA, SFE is much more efficient, reducing computation by an order of magnitude, and more expressive, allowing for much richer features than paths between two nodes in a graph. We show experimentally that this technique gives substantially better performance than PRA and its variants, improving mean average precision from . 432 to . 528 on a knowledge base completion task using the NELL KB.
You Have Three Tries Before Lockout. Why Three?

It is considered good practice to lock users out if they enter the wrong password three times. This is applied almost universally by systems across the globe. Three tries was probably considered a good balance originally between allowing the legitimate user to make some genuine errors and foiling an attacker. This rule makes sense intuitively yet there is no empirical evidence that three tries is the most efficacious number. It is entirely possible that the number should not be three, but some other number, such as two, five or even seven. It is very hard to test this since attempts could be either a legitimate user attempting to recall his/her password, or an intruder trying to breach the account. If an attacker is allowed more attempts one could imagine the system’s security being compromised. Here we argue for the use of a simulation engine to test the effects of such password-related security measures on the security of the entire eco-system. A simulation approach expedites no-risk empirical testing. We use a simulator called SimPass, which models both user password-related behaviour and potential password-based attacks from within and outside an organization. We provide evidence of the expected security impact of increasing the prevalence of password sharing. That is it will lead to increased use of others’ credentials and a lack of accountability. We then test different settings for locking of accounts after a certain number of failed authentication attempts to determine a potentially optimal setting. We find that a three times lockout policy might well be too stringent and deserves further investigation.
Anti-adipogenic effect of Artemisia annua in diet-induced-obesity mice model

Obesity has increased continuously in western countries during the last several decades and recently become a problem in developing countries. Currently, anti-obesity drugs originating from natural products are being investigated for their potential to overcome adverse effects associated with chemical drugs. Artemisinic acid, which was isolated from the well-known anti-malaria herb Artemisia annua (AA) L. , was recently shown to possess anti-adipogenic effects in vitro. However, the anti-adipogenic effects of AA in animal models have not yet been investigated. Therefore, we conducted daily oral administration with AA water extract in a diet-induced obesity animal model and treated 3T3-L1 cells with AA to confirm the anti-adipogenic effects in the related protein expressions. We then evaluated the physiology, adipose tissue histology and mRNA expressions of many related genes. Inhibition of adipogenesis by the AA water extract was observed in vitro. In the animal model, weight gain was significantly lower in the AA treated group, but there were no changes in food intake volume or calories. Reductions in lipid droplet size and mRNA expression associated with adipogenesis were also observed in animal epididymal fat. This study is the first to report that AA has an anti-obese effects in vivo.
The impact of uterine therapies on reproductive efficiency in Thoroughbred mares; the possible effect of mare age and reproductive status.

To optimise the reproductive effi ciency of Thoroughbred mares, several uterine therapies have been administered during the limited period of the breeding season. Reproductive and treatment records of 253 Thoroughbred mares kept at nine commercial stud farms during the period from 1998 to 2005 were used to assess the incidence of various uterine therapies and their curative effect on the overall reproductive effi ciency of mares. Furthermore, the effects of mare age on the effi cacy of uterine therapy in mares were ascertained. On the basis of type and protocol of uterine therapy application, the mares were grouped as follows: saline/antiseptic lavage, intrauterine infusion of antibiotics and/or parenteral administration of oxytocin and their combinations. The overall incidence of uterine therapy was 18.07% (357) of the 1976 oestrous cycles covered and all the uterine therapies used were equally effi cient regarding reproductive parameters. Out of the total treated cases, 25.21% of the mares received a combination therapy of intrauterine antibiotics, along with oxytocin injections. Further, the incidence of uterine treatment was least (P<0.0001) in mares aged 3-7 years (9.35%) and maiden mares (5.92%). The pregnancy rates at Day 39 post ovulation and foaling rates were higher (P<0.05) in untreated mares than treated mares (46.39 vs. 40.62% and 41.75 vs. 35.85%, respectively) whereas no difference was recorded in terms of overall pregnancy losses (21.95 vs. 18.55%). In treated mares, signifi cantly higher day 39 pregnancy rates and foaling rates were observed in mares aged 3-7 years (47.27 and 41.82%) and maiden mares (60.00 and 60.00%) than in ≥18 years old (22.58 and 12.90%) mares and barren (31.94 and 27.78%) mares, respectively. In conclusion, despite the higher incidence of administration in older and barren mares, *Corresponding author: Dr. Sumeet Sharma, Ph.D Student, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2P5, Canada, E-mail: sumeetsharmapau@yahoo.com
Content extraction using diverse feature sets

The goal of content extraction or boilerplate detection is to separate the main content from navigation chrome, advertising blocks, copyright notices and the like in web pages. In this paper we explore a machine learning approach to content extraction that combines diverse feature sets and methods. Our main contributions are: a) preliminary results that show combining feature sets generally improves performance; and b) a method for including semantic information via id and class attributes applicable to HTML5. We also show that performance decreases on a new benchmark data set that better represents modern chrome.
Relationship between Perceived Empowerment by Employees and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (Case study: Public Organizations in Bojnourd 1 )

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between perceived empowerment by employees and revealed organizational citizenship behavior. The statistical population includes employees of five organizations (1) in Bojnourd. The sample group (n=123) was selected randomly with proportionate stratified sampling method. The result showed that thee is a positive and significant relationship between perceived empowerment components by the employees and organizational citizenship behavior. It is notable that this study is applied type in terms of the goal using descriptive-surveying method.
Dealing with Multi-Scale Depth Changes and Motion in Depth Edge Detection

Sharp discontinuities in depth, or depth edges, are very important low-level features for scene understanding. Recently, we have proposed a solution to the depth edge detection problem using a simple modification of the capture setup: a multi-flash camera with flashes appropriately positioned to cast shadows along depth discontinuities in the scene. In this paper, we show that by varying illumination parameters, such as the number, spatial position, and wavelength of light sources, we are able to handle fundamental problems in depth edge detection, including multi-scale depth changes and motion. The robustness of our methods is demonstrated through our experimental results in complex scenes
Estimating Router ICMP Generation Delays

A number of Internet measurement techniques rely on eliciting ICMP replies from routers inside the network [7], [9]. One question regarding the accuracy of these techniques concerns whether routers introduce delays when generating the ICMPs. We present a technique for estimating these delays. The approach is based on sending packets with spoofed source addresses, some with sufficient TTL to travel all the way to the destination (“direct”), others with a limited TTL that will cause them to be transformed at a given hop into an ICMP Time Exceeded (TE) packet. By spoofing the source address of the probes to match the destination, these TEs are routed identically to how the direct probes are routed. The technique thus allows us to factor out effects due to asymmetric routing or conditions on the return path from a given router back to the source. We have implemented the technique in a tool, fsd (fast-path/slow-path discriminator). In this paper, we discuss an analysis of a set of measurements made using fsd on the NIMI measurement infrastructure [13]. Our analyses provide helpful insight into the question of “what proportion of routers in today’s Internet are slow at generating TE replies? ” Our results indicate that the answer to this question is “few” which implies that tools such as pathchar and treno will not in practice suffer greatly from slow-path/fast-path differences, as has been a concern.
Unemployment persistence

We estimate dynamic panel data models of unemployment incidence for men using the British Household Panel Survey. Econometric issues concerning unobserved individual heterogeneity, genuine state dependence, and the ‘initial conditions’ problem are addressed in detail. We find strong evidence of state dependence consistent with the ‘scarring’ theory of unemployment an individual’s previous unemployment experience has implications for his future labour market experience. This suggests that policies reducing short run unemployment incidence will have longer-run effects by reducing the equilibrium or natural rate of unemployment. JEL Classification: C23, C25, J6, J64
Comparación de métodos de campo en la encuesta

espanolEn este trabajo se presentan los resultados de una investigacion a poblacion general que utiliza conjuntamente una encuesta por correo postal, una encuesta telefonica y una encuesta a traves de Internet. La muestra objeto de estudio recibe la invitaciona cooperar mediante una comunicacion por correo, y es el propio seleccionado el que decide como responder. La nota analiza la calidad de la respuesta (considerando el numero de no respuestas), el tiempo necesario para llevar a cabo el trabajo de campo y el coste de la recogida de informacion. Los resultados desvelan que la realizacion de encuestas via web reducen el tiempo del trabajo de campo, consiguen menor respuesta parcial y presentan un coste ligeramente superior a la encuesta realizada por correo. Ahora bien, la diferente estructura de costes de cada una permite concluir que de haber obtenido el total de los cuestionarios online, la reduccion de costes hubiera supuesto un 18,2%. EnglishThis paper presents the results of a mixed-mode survey of the general population using a combination of postal, telephone, and Internet survey protocols. Potential respondents were invited to participate by ordinary mail and were allowed to choose their preferred response mode. The paper focuses on response quality (taking non-responses into consideration), fieldwork time and data collection cost. The results reveal that the Internet survey produces the lowest rate of non-responses and requires significantly less fieldwork time, although it is slightly more costly than the postal survey. However, when differences in cost structure are taken into account, we find that the same number of completed questionnaires could have been obtained through the Internet alone at a cost that is 18.2% lower than the mixed-mode survey.
Quality Signals? The Role of Patents, Alliances, and Team Experience in Venture Capital Financing

Observable resources, particularly patents, alliances, and team experience, are known to affect a start-up's ability to attract venture capital financing. In this context they potentially fulfill a twofold function: as productive assets and, likely, as signals of characteristics of a venture that are not observable at the time of assessment. In particular, patents, alliances, and team experience may serve as signals of the unobservable quality of a venture's technology. Most existing studies based on firm-level transaction data cannot disentangle signaling from productive effects. Using a conjoint-based survey among 187 European and U.S. venture capitalists, we find they rely on research alliances and, partly, on team experience as signals of technological quality. While patents affect the venture capitalists’ decision making in their property rights function, we find no indication that they serve as technology quality signals.
Iterative hierarchical true motion estimation for temporal frame interpolation

Temporal frame interpolation is an important problem in many areas of modern video processing. However the task of accurate motion estimation for temporal interpolation is an open issue. In this paper we propose a new motion estimation algorithm for motion compensated frame interpolation. The developed algorithm is consistent with the conventional model of true motion and can be considered as a method of local minimization for the optimization problem defined within this model. The evaluation of the algorithm is performed for frame rate up-conversion problem. Simulation results demonstrate performance comparable to existing frame rate up-conversion methods.
Can thin cirrus clouds in the tropics provide a solution to the faint young Sun paradox

[1] In this paper we present radiative-convective simulations to test the idea that tropical cirrus clouds, acting as a negative feedback on climate, can provide a solution to the faint young Sun paradox. We find that global mean surface temperatures above freezing can indeed be found for luminosities larger than about 0.8 (corresponding to � 2.9 Ga and nearly complete tropical cirrus coverage). For luminosities smaller than 0.8, even though global mean surface temperatures are below freezing, tropical mean temperatures are still above freezing, indicating the possibility of a partially ice-free Earth for the Early Archean. We discuss possible mechanisms for the functioning of this negative feedback. While it is feasible for tropical cirrus to completely eliminate the paradox, it is similarly possible for tropical cirrus to reduce the amounts of other greenhouse gases needed for solving the paradox and therefore easing the constraints on CO2 and CH4 that appear to be in disagreement with geological evidence.