Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Location privacy in a digital ecosystem for context-aware applications

Location-based services feature prominently in many digital ecosystem designs. In this paper we present the design of a mobility digital ecosystem for public transportation and campus area networks. We describe four context-aware applications that encourage users to disclose their location: a public transport passenger tracking application; a route-based car-pooling application; an on-campus location-based social networking 'assistant' and a virtual art-gallery tour guide. The location-based service applications offered are intended to drive users into the digital ecosystem and in so doing they share data about their location. This location data can be used to provide value-added services to the users and optimise overall system behaviour. In this paper, we present the architectures of these four applications and address issues concerning privacy, location-identity and uniform standards developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Our applications provide environments that encourage individual interaction and engagement that are self-regulating and self-evolving: these are the key characteristics of a digital ecosystem.
An Emerging Role of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 in Preventing Advanced-Glycation-End-Product-Mediated Damages in Diabetes

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a gut hormone produced in the intestinal epithelial endocrine L cells by differential processing of the proglucagon gene. Released in response to the nutrient ingestion, GLP-1 plays an important role in maintaining glucose homeostasis. GLP-1 has been shown to regulate blood glucose levels by stimulating glucose-dependent insulin secretion and inhibiting glucagon secretion, gastric emptying, and food intake. These antidiabetic activities highlight GLP-1 as a potential therapeutic molecule in the clinical management of type 2 diabetes, (a disease characterized by progressive decline of beta-cell function and mass, increased insulin resistance, and final hyperglycemia). Since chronic hyperglycemia contributed to the acceleration of the formation of Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGEs, a heterogeneous group of compounds derived from the nonenzymatic reaction of reducing sugars with free amino groups of proteins implicated in vascular diabetic complications), the administration of GLP-1 might directly counteract diabetes pathophysiological processes (such as pancreatic β-cell dysfunction). This paper outlines evidence on the protective role of GLP-1 in preventing the deleterious effects mediated by AGEs in type 2 diabetes.
Food allergy to Helix terrestre (snail).

Among the rare foods capable of producing food allergies is the snail (Helix terrestre). The snail is a delicacy eaten in Spain, France and Portugal. This study presents the findings of an allergic study of 10 patients with this infrequent food allergy during the past 10 years. The shock organ in the majority (80%) of these patients was the bronchial tree. Six of them did not have any digestive or skin symptoms which are usually seen in cases of food allergy. All patients manifested the symptomatology after ingestion of Helix terrestre. Two also had reactions after eating Patella vulgata (limpet). The snail and the limpet are within the phylogenetic line of molluscs, i.e. of gastropods. All patients tolerated the ingestion of cephalopods and bivalves which belong to two other phylogenetic lines. Skin tests to seafoods (squids, prawns, lobsters and clams) were negative for all patients. This suggests that the sensitizing antigen is probably a protein found only in gastropod molluscs. Skin tests along with the histamine release test were valid diagnostic methods for this food allergy. The limited bibliography on this subject is probably due to the fact that the consumption of snails as well as limpets is limited to specific geographical areas.
cDNA Microarray Analysis Reveals a Nuclear Factor-κB-Independent Regulation of Macrophage Function by Adenosine

Adenosine is released into the extracellular space from nerve terminals and cells subjected to ischemic stress. This nucleoside modulates a plethora of cellular functions via occupancy of specific receptors. Adenosine is also an important endogenous regulator of macrophage function, because it suppresses the production of a number of proinflammatory cytokines by these cells. However, the mechanisms of this anti-inflammatory effect have not been well characterized. We hypothesized that adenosine may exert some of its anti-inflammatory effects by decreasing activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), because gene expression of most of the proinflammatory cytokines inhibited by adenosine is dependent on NF-κB activation. Using bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages, we found that adenosine as well as adenosine receptor agonists decreased the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, a typical NF-κB-regulated cytokine. This effect of adenosine was not due to an action on the process of TNF-α release, because adenosine suppressed also the intracellular levels of TNF-α. However, cDNA microarray analysis revealed that mRNA levels of neither TNF-α nor other cytokines were altered by adenosine in either LPS-activated or quiescent macrophages. In addition, although LPS induced expression of a number of other, noncytokine genes, including the adenosine A2b receptor, adenosine did not affect the expression of these genes. Furthermore, adenosine as well as adenosine receptor agonists failed to decrease LPS-induced NF-κB DNA binding, NF-κB promoter activity, p65 nuclear translocation, and inhibitory κB degradation. Together, our results suggest that the anti-inflammatory effects of adenosine are independent of NF-κB.
Regulation of Na+, K+ ‐ATPase Isoforms in Rat Neostriatum by Dopamine and Protein Kinase C

Abstract : Our previous studies showed that dopamine inhibits Na+, K+ ‐ATPase activity in acutely dissociated neurons from striatum. In the present study, we have found that in this preparation, dopamine inhibited significantly (by ~25%) the activity of the α3 and/or α2 isoforms, but not the α1 isoform, of Na+, K+ ‐ATPase. Dopamine, via D1 receptors, activates cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinase (PKA) in striatal neurons. Dopamine is also known to activate the calcium‐ and phospholipid‐dependent protein kinase (PKC) in a number of different cell types. The PKC activator phorbol 12,13‐dibutyrate reduced the activity of Na+, K+ ‐ATPase α3 and/or α2 isoforms (by ~30%) as well as the α1 isoform (by ~15%). However, dopamine‐mediated inhibition of Na+, K+ ‐ATPase activity was unaffected by calphostin C, a PKC inhibitor. Dopamine did not affect the phosphorylation of Na+, K+ ‐ATPase isoforms at the PKA‐dependent phosphorylation site. Phorbol ester treatment did not alter the phosphorylation of α2 or α3 isoforms of Na+, K+ ‐ATPase in neostriatal neurons but did increase the phosphorylation of the α1 isoform. Thus, in rat neostriatal neurons, treatment with either dopamine or PKC activators results in inhibition of the activity of specific (α3 and/or α2) isoforms of Na+, K+ ‐ATPase, but this is not apparently mediated through direct phosphorylation of the enzyme. In addition, PKC is unlikely to mediate inhibition of rat Na+, K+ ‐ATPase activity by dopamine in neostriatal neurons.
Recent Progress on PZT Based Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Technologies

Energy harvesting is the most effective way to respond to the energy shortage and to produce sustainable power sources from the surrounding environment. The energy harvesting technology enables scavenging electrical energy from wasted energy sources, which always exist everywhere, such as in heat, fluids, vibrations, etc. In particular, piezoelectric energy harvesting, which uses a direct energy conversion from vibrations and mechanical deformation to the electrical energy, is a promising technique to supply power sources in unattended electronic devices, wireless sensor nodes, micro-electronic devices, etc., since it has higher energy conversion efficiency and a simple structure. Up to now, various technologies, such as advanced materials, micro- and macro-mechanics, and electric circuit design, have been investigated and emerged to improve performance and conversion efficiency of the piezoelectric energy harvesters. In this paper, we focus on recent progress of piezoelectric energy harvesting technologies based on PbZrxTi1-xO3 (PZT) materials, which have the most outstanding piezoelectric properties. The advanced piezoelectric energy harvesting technologies included materials, fabrications, unique designs, and properties are introduced to understand current technical levels and suggest the future directions of piezoelectric energy harvesting.
Lazy Model Expansion: Interleaving Grounding with Search

Finding satisfying assignments for the variables involved in a set of constraints can be cast as a (bounded) model generation problem: search for (bounded) models of a theory in some logic. The state-of-the-art approach for bounded model generation for rich knowledge representation languages like Answer Set Programming (ASP) and FO(ċ) and a CSP modeling language such as Zinc, is ground-and-solve: reduce the theory to a ground or propositional one and apply a search algorithm to the resulting theory. An important bottleneck is the blow-up of the size of the theory caused by the grounding phase. Lazily grounding the theory during search is a way to overcome this bottleneck. We present a theoretical framework and an implementation in the context of the FO(ċ) knowledge representation language. Instead of grounding all parts of a theory, justifications are derived for some parts of it. Given a partial assignment for the grounded part of the theory and valid justifications for the formulas of the non-grounded part, the justifications provide a recipe to construct a complete assignment that satisfies the non-grounded part. When a justification for a particular formula becomes invalid during search, a new one is derived; if that fails, the formula is split in a part to be grounded and a part that can be justified. Experimental results illustrate the power and generality of this approach.
Influence of surface sealant on the color-stability of a composite resin immersed in different beverages.

AIM This study evaluated the influence of surface sealant (Fortify-Bisco) on the color-stability of a composite resin (Charisma-3M) immersed in different beverages. METHODS It was prepared resin specimens with 10 mm-diameter X 2 mm-thickness for each beverage (soft drink, coffee, tea and artificial saliva=control). Specimens were divided in 2 groups (with or without surface sealant) and afterwards divided in 4 subgroups (n=7) according to the immersion solution. After 24 hours, it was started the cycling in the solutions 3 times/day during 5 minutes for 90 days. Opacity (ΔL) and color change (ΔE) of specimens were analyzed with a spectrophotometer (BYK-Gardner) in the different groups in relation to the control group. This handheld portable equipment is unique. RESULTS Composite resin showed statistically significant difference (p<0.05) in the solutions, and coffee promoted the higher color change, followed by tea and soft drink. There was no difference between specimens sealed or not. CONCLUSIONS Therefore, surface sealant was inefficient on the protection against color change and coffee promoted the higher darkening of the specimens.
Second harmonic generation using an electrically controlled asymmetric plasmonic waveguide

ABSTRACT In this study, it was shown that field enhancement in the nonlinear metal-insulator-metal (MIM) plasmonic waveguides can result in a large enhancement of the second harmonic generation (SHG) magnitude as compared with values reported in the literature. The proposed structure has two metals at the top and two metals at the bottom of the crystal. In this structure, a voltage is applied on metals to produce a SHG electrically. Hence, the metals that define the cavity also serve as electrodes capable of generating high direct current electric fields across the nonlinear material. The frequency of a fundamental wave at 458 nm was doubled and modulated in intensity by applying a moderate external voltage to the electrodes, yielding a voltage-dependent nonlinear generation with a higher coupling efficiency. All the simulations here have been calculated by using the finite-element-based commercial COMSOL software.
A zero-overhead self-timed 160-ns 54-b CMOS divider

The authors describe the design of a custom integrated circuit for the arithmetic operation of division. The chip uses self-timing to avoid the need for high-speed clocks and directly concatenates precharged function blocks without latches. Internal stages form a ring that cycles without any external signaling. The self-timed control introduces no serial overhead, making the total chip latency equal just the combinational logic delays of the data elements. The ring's data path uses embedded completion encoding and generates the mantissa of a 54-b (floating-point IEEE double-precision) result. Fabricated in 1.2- mu m CMOS, the ring occupies 7 mm/sup 2/ and generates a quotient and done indication in 45 to 160 ns, depending on the particular data operands. >
Flash crowds and denial of service attacks: characterization and implications for CDNs and web sites

The paper studies two types of events that often overload Web sites to a point when their services are degraded or disrupted entirely - flash events (FEs) and denial of service attacks (DoS). The former are created by legitimate requests and the latter contain malicious requests whose goal is to subvert the normal operation of the site. We study the properties of both types of events with a special attention to characteristics that distinguish the two. Identifying these characteristics allows a formulation of a strategy for Web sites to quickly discard malicious requests. We also show that some content distribution networks (CDNs) may not provide the desired level of protection to Web sites against flash events. We therefore propose an enhancement to CDNs that offers better protection and use trace-driven simulations to study the effect of our enhancement on CDNs and Web sites.
A new understanding of friendships in space: Complex networks meet Twitter

Studies on friendships in online social networks involving geographic distance have so far relied on the city location provided in users’ profiles. Consequently, most of the research on friendships has provided accuracy at the city level, at best, to designate a user’s location. This study analyses a Twitter dataset because it provides the exact geographic distance between corresponding users. We start by introducing a strong definition of ‘friend’ on Twitter (i.e. a definition of bidirectional friendship), requiring bidirectional communication. Next, we utilize geo-tagged mentions delivered by users to determine their locations, where ‘@username’ is contained anywhere in the body of tweets. To provide analysis results, we first introduce a friend-counting algorithm. From the fact that Twitter users are likely to post consecutive tweets in the static mode, we also introduce a two-stage distance-estimation algorithm. As the first of our main contributions, we verify that the number of friends of a particular Twitter user follows a well-known power-law distribution (i.e. a Zipf’s distribution or a Pareto distribution). Our study also provides the following newly discovered friendship degree related to the issue of space: the number of friends according to distance follows a double power-law (i.e. a double Pareto law) distribution, indicating that the probability of befriending a particular Twitter user is significantly reduced beyond a certain geographic distance between users, termed the separation point. Our analysis provides concrete evidence that Twitter can be a useful platform for assigning a more accurate scalar value to the degree of friendship between two users.
Mass‐ and Density‐Dependent Reproductive Success and Reproductive Costs in a Capital Breeder

For capital breeders, mass may affect reproductive potential. Reproductive expenditure may reduce future reproductive potential, particularly when resources are scarce. To test the hypothesis that reproductive success and the costs of reproduction vary according to mass and population density, we analyzed 25 yr of data on bighorn ewes (Ovis canadensis). The number of adult females was first limited by yearly removals, then allowed to triple. We found no survival costs of reproduction for ewes aged 4–7 yr. For ewes aged 8–14 yr, survival was density dependent for barren ewes but not for ewes that weaned lambs. Failure to lamb was rare and negatively correlated with fertility the following year. At low population density, lactation had a negative effect on mass gain but had a limited reproductive cost. At high density, heavy ewes had higher reproductive success than light ewes, and the reproductive cost and somatic costs of reproduction increased. The cost of reproduction was greater for light than for heavy ewes. Survival of weaned lambs to 1 yr was affected by population density but not by maternal mass or previous reproductive success. In large mammals, manipulations of reproductive effort are problematic, but long‐term monitoring of individual mass and reproductive success under varying conditions of resource availability can provide insights into the evolution of life histories.
Effect of Membrane Sweeping at Term Pregnancy on Duration of Pregnancy and Labor Induction: A Randomized Trial

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of sweeping of fetal membranes for induction of labor in uncomplicated term pregnancies. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was performed in 122 pregnant women beyond 39 weeks of gestation with no complications. The women were assigned to have their membranes swept or not (controls) for labor induction. The main outcome measures included duration of pregnancy and possible complications of sweeping of membranes, including rupture of membranes, postpartum infections, and vaginal bleeding. Results: Twenty-one patients did not give birth in our hospital and were, therefore, excluded from the study; 101 women completed the study (51 patients in the control group and 50 women in the study group). There were no statistically significant differences in maternal age, parity, birth weight, and Bishop score in the two groups. The mean interval between sweeping (stripping) and vaginal examination until delivery was 7.7 ± (SD) 6.9 and 7.1 ± 5.6 days in the sweeping and in the control group, respectively (p = 0.61). Of the 101 pregnant women, only 6 patients had premature rupture of membranes (2 in the sweeping group and 4 in the control group). There were no statistically significant differences between these individuals (p = 0.68). Significant vaginal bleeding was not observed in the two groups. Meconium-stained amniotic fluid was seen in 13 women: 8 in the sweeping group and 5 in the control group. There were no statistically significant differences among the women who had meconium-stained fluid in case and control groups (p = 0.39). There were no differences between women who had puerperal fever (3 in the sweeping group and 2 in the control group; p = 0.68). 12 of the 101 women (6 in each group) had cesarean section performed, but there was no difference betweeen the two groups. Conclusion: Sweeping of membranes at 39 weeks of gestation has no significant clinical effect on the duration of pregnancy.
On transcritical states in viscous flow passing the edge of a horizontal plate

This contribution puts forward some recent advances in the rigorous (asymptotic) theory of gravity‐ (and capillarity‐)driven shallow flow of a viscous liquid past a horizontal plate, originating in jet impingement oblique to it. Hence, our concern is twofold: with steady developed flow over the distance from the jet centre to the trailing edge of the plate, referred to as a pronounced hydraulic jump blurred by viscous diffusion; with the predominantly inviscid transcritical limit arising near the edge due to scale reduction given an intrinsic expansive singularity taking place there. In the latter situation envisaged briefly, condensing nonlinear inertial effects, weak time dependence, and (very) weak streamline curvature as the essential ingredients into a distinguished limit demonstrates the generation of a weak (transcritical) hydraulic jump by a plate‐mounted obstacle. (© 2017 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Novel Synthetic Monoketone Transmute Radiation-Triggered NFκB-Dependent TNFα Cross-Signaling Feedback Maintained NFκB and Favors Neuroblastoma Regression

Recently, we demonstrated that radiation (IR) instigates the occurrence of a NFκB-TNFα feedback cycle which sustains persistent NFκB activation in neuroblastoma (NB) cells and favors survival advantage and clonal expansion. Further, we reported that curcumin targets IR-induced survival signaling and NFκB dependent hTERT mediated clonal expansion in human NB cells. Herein, we investigated the efficacy of a novel synthetic monoketone, EF24, a curcumin analog in inhibiting persistent NFκB activation by disrupting the IR-induced NFκB-TNFα-NFκB feedback signaling in NB and subsequent mitigation of survival advantage and clonal expansion. EF24 profoundly suppressed the IR-induced NFκB-DNA binding activity/promoter activation and, maintained the NFκB repression by deterring NFκB-dependent TNFα transactivation/intercellular secretion in genetically varied human NB (SH-SY5Y, IMR-32, SK–PN–DW, MC-IXC and SK–N-MC) cell types. Further, EF24 completely suppressed IR-induced NFκB-TNFα cross-signaling dependent transactivation/translation of pro-survival IAP1, IAP2 and Survivin and subsequent cell survival. In corroboration, EF24 treatment maximally blocked IR-induced NFκB dependent hTERT transactivation/promoter activation, telomerase activation and consequent clonal expansion. EF24 displayed significant regulation of IR-induced feedback dependent NFκB and NFκB mediated survival signaling and complete regression of NB xenograft. Together, the results demonstrate for the first time that, novel synthetic monoketone EF24 potentiates radiotherapy and mitigates NB progression by selectively targeting IR-triggered NFκB-dependent TNFα-NFκB cross-signaling maintained NFκB mediated survival advantage and clonal expansion.