Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Security and Performance of Proof of Work Blockchains

Proof of Work (PoW) powered blockchains currently account for more than 90% of the total market capitalization of existing digital cryptocurrencies. Although the security provisions of Bitcoin have been thoroughly analysed, the security guarantees of variant (forked) PoW blockchains (which were instantiated with different parameters) have not received much attention in the literature. This opens the question whether existing security analysis of Bitcoin's PoW applies to other implementations which have been instantiated with different consensus and/or network parameters. In this paper, we introduce a novel quantitative framework to analyse the security and performance implications of various consensus and network parameters of PoW blockchains. Based on our framework, we devise optimal adversarial strategies for double-spending and selfish mining while taking into account real world constraints such as network propagation, different block sizes, block generation intervals, information propagation mechanism, and the impact of eclipse attacks. Our framework therefore allows us to capture existing PoW-based deployments as well as PoW blockchain variants that are instantiated with different parameters, and to objectively compare the tradeoffs between their performance and security provisions.
In Vitro Susceptibility of Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale to Several Antimicrobial Drugs

Abstract As part of the basic characterization of Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale, the minimal inhibitory concentrations of 10 antimicrobial drugs were determined for reference strains and Mexican isolates by a broth microdilution method. For optimal growth of the organisms, a supplemented brain–heart infusion broth was used. The susceptibility of O. rhinotracheale to amoxicillin, enrofloxacin, and oxytetracycline was variable. However, consistent higher minimal inhibitory concentrations values were obtained for gentamicin, fosfomycin, trimethoprim, sulfamethazine, sulfamerazine, sulfaquinoxaline, and sulfachloropyridazine. Obtained results among Mexican isolates indicate a marked antimicrobial drug resistance trend.
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF ASTRONAUTICS 9th IAA SYMPOSIUM ON THE FUTURE OF SPACE EXPLORATION: TOWARDS NEW GLOBAL PROGRAMMES

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Risk Factors for HCV Acquisition Among HIV-Positive MSM in Belgium

Objective:To better understand risk factors for the sexual transmission of hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection among men who have sex with men (MSM). Design:Case–control study among HIV-infected MSM, attending AIDS Reference Centers in Belgium. Methods:Cases were HIV-infected MSM who were diagnosed with HCV between January 2010 and December 2013. For each case, 2 controls were randomly selected among the HIV-positive MSM who tested negative for HCV around the same time as the cases were identified. Consenting participants were interviewed with a questionnaire on risk factors. Medical records were abstracted to document past episodes of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Associations between HCV infection and risk factors were explored using bivariate analysis followed by multiple logistic regression analysis. Results:A total of 52 cases and 90 controls were recruited. In multivariate analysis, douching before anal intercourse [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 9.84, 95% CI: 2.26 to 42.78], fisting (AOR = 3.54, 95% CI: 1.31 to 9.57), having intercourse with HIV-positive men (AOR = 5.51, 95% CI: 1.87 to 16.20), and a documented gonorrhoea or chlamydial infection in the year before inclusion in the study (AOR = 4.50, 95% CI: 1.11 to 18.31) were independently associated with incident HCV infection. Conclusions:Our study confirmed fisting and suffering from other STIs as risk factors for HCV and suggested an increased risk of HCV associated with serosorting. Furthermore, we identified anal douching as being associated with HCV infection. The role that douching plays in the acquisition of HCV infection and other STIs requires further research, as well as the effect of serosorting on STI transmission.
Coronary artery disease pattern: a comparision among different age groups.

BACKGROUND Angiographic studies have shown that the extent of disease and severity is less in younger population with comparatively fewer number of coronary arteries affected than that of older age groups. This study was conducted to compare the pattern of coronary artery disease (CAD) in young adults under 40 years and those more than 40 years of age with significant coronary artery disease on coronary angiography. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted in Angiography Laboratory of Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore,-from 1st April, 2013 to 1st April, 2014. Patients from Angiography Laboratory of Punjab institute of cardiology Lahore were enrolled in the study. A Joint Committee of consultants reported the coronary lesions (stenosis). Single vessel disease (SVD), Double vessel disease (DVD) and Tripple vessel disease (TVD) was noted down. RESULTS Out of total 400, patients of age ≤40 years (Group-A) were 48 (12%) and >40 years (Group-B) were 352 (88%). There were 77% male patients and 22.5% females. Mean age of patients was 52.78±10.02. Significant CAD was present in 48 (10.75%) patients of Group-A and in 306 (76.5%) patients of group-B. Frequency of SVD DVD and TVD in Group-A was 24 (50%), 10 (20.8%) and 9 (18%) respectively while frequency of SVD, DVD and TVD in group-B was 98 (27%), 88 (25%) and 120 (34%) respectively with p-value of 0.002, 0.53 and 0.03 among SVD, DVD and TVD between the two groups. CONCLUSION Young (age <40 years) patients who have coronary artery disease, have less extensive coronary artery disease, with a high incidence of angiographically normal vessels and relative paucity of left main coronary arterial involvement.
Bullying in American Schools: Causes, Preventions, Interventions

Since 1992, there have been 250 violent deaths in schools, and in virtually every one, bullying has been a contributing factor to the violence. As in the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado, most of the students who committed these violent crimes were victims of bullying who decided to get revenge. Such violence has become one of the most serious problems in America today, and both bullies and their victims need help. Chapter One defines bullying as a form of violence among children and discusses characteristics of bullies. Chapter Two identifies myths about bullies and presents research that dispels those myths. Chapter Three considers how serious violence begins with seemingly innocent put-downs and teasing. Chapter Four explores how bullying may indicate the beginning of a generally antisocial and rule-breaking behavior pattern that can extend into adulthood, and presents successful programs and interventions. Chapter Five presents useful solutions and strategies to stop bullying.
1 Structural and Functional Properties of Glutamate Dehydrogenases

Glutamate dehydrogenases are homooligomeric enzymes that catalyse the reversible oxidative deamination of glutamate to 2-oxoglutarate, thereby linking nitrogen metabolism and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Four different classes of the enzyme are known in microbes that differ in size and cofactor specificity. Despite some common features, the kinetic properties of the enzymes from different species vary considerably. We consider the relationship between the sequences, those structures that are available and the enzyme kinetics in the context of the metabolic role of the enzyme.
Improving Rule Set Based Software Quality Prediction: A Genetic Algorithm-based Approach

The object-oriented (OO) paradigm has now reached maturity. OO software products are becoming more complex which makes their evolution effort and time consuming. In this respect, it has become important to develop tools that allow assessing the stability of OO software (i.e., the ease with which a software item can evolve while preserving its design). In general, predicting the quality of OO software is a complex task. Although many predictive models are proposed in the literature, we remain far from having reliable tools that can be applied to real industrial systems. The main obstacle for building reliable predictive tools for real industrial systems is the lackof representative samples. Unlike other domains where such samples can be drawn from available large repositories of data, in OO software the lack of such repositories makes it hard to generalize, to validate and to reuse existing models. Since universal models do not exist, selecting an appropriate quality model is a difficult, non-trivial decision for a company. In this paper, we propose two general approaches to solve this problem. They consist of combining/adapting a set of existing models. The process is driven by the context of the target company. These approaches are applied to OO software stability prediction.
Hypervariability within the Rifin, Stevor and Pfmc-2TM superfamilies in Plasmodium falciparum

The human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, possesses a broad repertoire of proteins that are proposed to be trafficked to the erythrocyte cytoplasm or surface, based upon the presence within these proteins of a Pexel/VTS erythrocyte-trafficking motif. This catalog includes large families of predicted 2 transmembrane (2TM) proteins, including the Rifin, Stevor and Pfmc-2TM superfamilies, of which each possesses a region of extensive sequence diversity across paralogs and between isolates that is confined to a proposed surface-exposed loop on the infected erythrocyte. Here we express epitope-tagged versions of the 2TM proteins in transgenic NF54 parasites and present evidence that the Stevor and Pfmc-2TM families are exported to the erythrocyte membrane, thus supporting the hypothesis that host immune pressure drives antigenic diversity within the loop. An examination of multiple P.falciparum isolates demonstrates that the hypervariable loop within Stevor and Pfmc-2TM proteins possesses sequence diversity across isolate boundaries. The Pfmc-2TM genes are encoded within large amplified loci that share profound nucleotide identity, which in turn highlight the divergences observed within the hypervariable loop. The majority of Pexel/VTS proteins are organized together within sub-telomeric genome neighborhoods, and a mechanism must therefore exist to differentially generate sequence diversity within select genes, as well as within highly defined regions within these genes.
The effects of co-workers’ social undermining behaviour on employees’ work behaviours

This study examines the extent to which trust in co-workers mediates the relationships between co-workers’ social undermining behaviour and employees’ work behaviours. Two structured questionnaires were designed to collect data from employees and their co-workers. The mediating role was investigated using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) from 502 employees in Malaysia. The SEM analysis showed that co-workers’ social undermining behaviour had indirect relationships with employees’ work behaviours via the mediating role of trust in co-workers. The results of this study highlighted the importance of curbing social undermining behaviour in the workplace in order to instil trust among employees and better work behaviours in the workplace.
Eliciting social network data

Although the acknowledgement of the need to study social networks in relation to travel behavior is growing, there is not much experience with collecting social network data in the transportation field yet. This paper aims to contribute to this literature by providing an overview of network elicitation techniques, mostly developed and applied in other fields of research, especially, in sociology. The pros and cons of these elicitation approaches will be discussed as well as some applications in transportation research. This paper ends with drawing some conclusions and discussing issues for further research.
Analysis of the relation of the positive inotropic action of cardiac glycosides to the frequency of contraction of heart muscle.

The effects of several concentrations of acetylstrophanthidin on the force of isometric contraction of isolated atrial and papillary muscle preparations obtained from cats, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits were determined at 15 different frequencies of contraction. Qualitatively similar results were obtained in all species. In strips of cat atrium it was possible to make a detailed analysis of the effect of acetyl-strophanthidin on the determinants of the relationship between the strength of contraction and the interval between contractions. The positive inotropic effect of cardiac glycosides results at least in large part from the increase in the strength of the rested-state contraction. No significant effect on the production or the disappearance of the positive inotropic effect of activation (PIEA) was found. The decay of the negative inotropic effect of activation (NIEA) is apparently greatly accelerated in the presence of cardiac glycosides, but this may also be a reflection of their action on the state determining the strength of the rested-state contraction. Contraction of the muscle is not essential for the appearance of the altered state of the muscle which is produced by the cardiac glycosides and results in increased contractility. The positive inotropic effect of cardiac glycosides persists as long as the drug is present, even in the absence of activity. The magnitude of the increase in the force of contraction produced by optimal concentrations of acetyl-strophanthidin is largely dependent on the strength of contraction in the absence of the drug. The greatest increase in the force of contraction is generally obtained at the lowest point on the interval-force curve, which occurs at widely different intervals in different species and regions of the heart. The increase in force is usually greater in hypodynamic muscle than in fresh muscle. These findings are consistent with the existence of a limit beyond which the force of contraction cannot be raised by cardiac glycosides.
Pursuit and Evasion: Evolutionary Dynamics and Collective Motion

Pursuit and evasion strategies are used in both biological and engineered settings; common examples include predator-prey interactions among animals, dogghting aircraft, car chases, and missile pursuit with target evasion. In this paper, we consider an evolutionary game between three strategies of pursuit (classical, constant bearing, motion camouage) and three strategies of evasion (classical, random, optical-ow based). Pursuer and evader agents are modeled as self-propelled steered particles with constant speed and strategydependent heading control. We use Monte-Carlo simulations and theoretical analysis to show convergence of the evolutionary dynamics to a pure strategy Nash equilibrium of classical pursuit vs. classical evasion. Here, evolutionary dynamics serve as a powerful tool in determining equilibria in complicated game-theoretic interactions. We extend our work to consider a novel pursuit and evasion based collective motion scheme, motivated by collective pursuit and evasion in locusts. We present simulations of collective dynamics and point to several avenues for future work.
Retaining Antiviral Immune Competence Protects from Autoimmune Diabetes While Disruption of the STAT4 Signaling Pathway

The role of the STAT4 signaling pathway in autoimmune diabetes was investigated using the rat insulin promoter lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus model of virally induced autoimmune diabetes. Abrogation of STAT4 signaling signiﬁcantly reduced the development of CD4 1 -T cell-dependent but not CD4 1 -T cell-independent diabetes, illustrating the ﬁne-tuned kinetics involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity. However, the absence of STAT4 did not prevent the generation of autoreactive Th1/Tc1 T cell responses, as well as protective antiviral immunity. Protection from insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was associated with decreased numbers of autoreactive CTL precursors in the pancreas and the spleen and a general as well as Ag-speciﬁc reduction of IFN- g secretion by T lymphocytes. A shift from Th1 to Th2 T cell immunity was not observed. Hence, our results implicate both CTL and cytokines in b cell destruction. Selective inhibition of the STAT4 signal transduction pathway might constitute a novel and attractive approach to prevent clinical insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in prediabetic individuals at risk. The Journal of Immunology, 1999, 163: 5374–5382.
Waveform Contenders for 5G - Suitability for Short Packet and Low Latency Transmissions

In this paper we compare three candidate multicarrier waveforms for the air interface of 5G: filtered CP-OFDM - the choice for 4G, FBMC - heavily discussed in recent years, and Universal Filtered Multi-Carrier (UFMC) - a new contender making its appearance recently. We judge their time-frequency efficiency when transmitting very small bursts (e.g. for machine to machine communications) and under very tight response time requirements (e.g. for vehicle to vehicle communications). While FBMC is very efficient when transmitting long sequences, it suffers when having to transmit short bursts/frames. Due to the cyclic prefix and wide frequency guards, OFDM is rather inefficient. UFMC proofs to be the best choice, here, outperforming OFDM by about 10% in any case and FBMC in case of very short packets while performing similar for long sequences.
Temporoparietal MR Imaging Measures of Atrophy in Subjects with Mild Cognitive Impairment That Predict Subsequent Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a transitional state between normal aging and Alzheimer disease (AD). Our goal was to determine if specific temporoparietal regions can predict the time to progress from MCI to AD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR images from 129 individuals with MCI were analyzed to identify the volume of 14 neocortical and 2 non-neocortical brain regions, comprising the temporal and parietal lobes. In addition, 3 neuropsychological test scores were included to determine whether they would provide independent information. After a mean follow-up time of 5 years, 44 of these individuals had progressed to a diagnosis of AD. RESULTS: Cox proportional hazards models demonstrated significant effects for 6 MR imaging regions with the greatest differences being the following: the entorhinal cortex (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.54, P < .001), inferior parietal lobule (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.64, P < .005), and middle temporal gyrus (HR = 0.64, P < .004), indicating decreased risk with larger volumes. A multivariable model showed that a combination of the entorhinal cortex (HR = 0.60, P < .001) and the inferior parietal lobule (HR = 0.62, P < .01) was the best predictor of time to progress to AD. A multivariable model reiterated the importance of including both MR imaging and neuropsychological variables in the final model. CONCLUSIONS: These findings reaffirm the importance of the entorhinal cortex and present evidence for the importance of the inferior parietal lobule as a predictor of time to progress from MCI to AD. The inclusion of neuropsychological performance in the final model continues to highlight the importance of using these measures in a complementary fashion.
“It's a Race War:” Race and Leisure Experiences in California State Prison

Abstract The purpose of this research study was to use critical race theory to guide the exploration of leisure experiences of men in prison. Ten men reflected upon the time they spent in various California State Prisons, in specific reference to their perceptions of race and power behind bars. The analysis revealed that every decision in prison is made with survival in mind and race is central to determining survival strategies and who has access to power. The system of Racially Organized Prison Politics (ROPP) influenced each and every decision behind bars, including leisure decisions. The supportive themes of indoctrination, maintenance, and structural support were found to reinforce and regulate ROPP. Further research is needed to learn more about the influence of race on institutional support systems.
Capillary Filtration in Venous Hypertension: Evaluation with the Vacuum Suction Chamber Device and Strain-Gauge Plethysmography

The aim of this study was to evaluate local capillary filtration with the vacuum suction chamber (VSC) and the rate of ankle swelling (RAS) in patients with ankle edema due to venous hypertension before and after treatment with oral TTFCA (60 mg tablets twice daily) for 4 weeks. Strain-gauge plethysmography (SGP) was used to assess RAS and local capillary filtration was studied with the VSC (applied on the perimalleolar region); the disappearance of the weal was measured (minutes). Fifty patients with chronic venous insufficiency and edema were included (M:F = 25:25) after informed consent and randomized into a treatment (mean age 43; SD 7) and a control (mean age 44; SD 8) group. Compliance was very good (100% completed the 4-week trial); no side effects were observed. The two groups were comparable for age/sex distribution. Values of RAS and VSC time were comparable in the two groups, at inclusion. After 4 weeks there were no changes in the control group. A significant reduction was observed in the treatment (RAS decreased to 34% of the initial value; the VSC time decreased 48%; p<0.02). Treatment with TTFCA in chronic venous insufficiency is useful as soon as edema is detected to control the progressive alterations leading to ulcerations. This action is produced by complex actions on the microcirculation reducing and controlling edema and modulating collagen synthesis. This results in an improvement of the microcirculation, skin and subcutaneous tissue perfusion and functions.
Physical activity and risk of type 2 diabetes among Native Hawaiians, Japanese Americans, and Caucasians: the Multiethnic Cohort.

BACKGROUND Physical inactivity is an established risk factor for diabetes; however, little is known about this association across ethnic groups with different diabetes risk. Therefore, we evaluated the association between physical activity and diabetes and potential effect modification by ethnicity in the Hawaii component of the Multiethnic Cohort. METHODS Participants, aged 45 to 75 years, were enrolled by completing a questionnaire on demographics, diet, and self-reported weekly hours of strenuous sports, vigorous work, and moderate activity. Among the 74,913 participants (39% Caucasian, 14% Native Hawaiian, 47% Japanese American), 8561 incident diabetes cases were identified by self-report, a medication questionnaire, and through health plan linkages. Cox regression was applied to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) while adjusting for known confounders. RESULTS Engaging in strenuous sports was inversely related to diabetes risk with HRs (4+ hours/week vs. never) of 0.67 (95%CI: 0.57-0.79) in women and 0.80 (95%CI: 0.72-0.88) in men. In stratified analyses, the inverse association was consistent across ethnic groups. The inverse association of vigorous work with diabetes was limited to men, while beneficial effects of moderate activity were observed only in Caucasians. CONCLUSIONS These findings support a role of high-intensity physical activity and ethnic-specific guidelines in diabetes prevention.