Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social-Loc: improving indoor localization with social sensing

Location-based services, such as targeted advertisement, geo-social networking and emergency services, are becoming increasingly popular for mobile applications. While GPS provides accurate outdoor locations, accurate indoor localization schemes still require either additional infrastructure support (e.g., ranging devices) or extensive training before system deployment (e.g., WiFi signal fingerprinting). In order to help existing localization systems to overcome their limitations or to further improve their accuracy, we propose Social-Loc, a middleware that takes the potential locations for individual users, which is estimated by any underlying indoor localization system as input and exploits both social encounter and non-encounter events to cooperatively calibrate the estimation errors. We have fully implemented Social-Loc on the Android platform and demonstrated its performance on two underlying indoor localization systems: Dead-reckoning and WiFi fingerprint. Experiment results show that Social-Loc improves user's localization accuracy of WiFi fingerprint and dead-reckoning by at least 22% and 37%, respectively. Large-scale simulation results indicate Social-Loc is scalable, provides good accuracy for a long duration of time, and is robust against measurement errors.
Domain-general simulation and planning with physical schemas

Physical schemas are representations of simple physically grounded relationships and interactions such as "move", "push", and "contain". We believe they are the conceptual primitives an agent employs to understand its environment. Physical schemas can be used at varying levels of abstraction across a variety of domains. We have designed a domain-general agent simulation and control testbed based on physical schemas. If a domain can be described in physical terms as agents moving and applying force, it can be simulated in this testbed. Furthermore, we show that physical schemas can be viewed as the basis for abstract plans and a domain-general planner, GRASP. Our simulation and planning system is currently being evaluated in a continuous, dynamic, and adversarial domain based on the game of Capture the Flag. The paper concludes with an example of how GRASP was applied to the problem of Course of Action generation and evaluation.
Airway inflammation, basement membrane thickening and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in asthma

Background: There are few data in asthma relating airway physiology, inflammation and remodelling and the relative effects of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) treatment on these parameters. A study of the relationships between spirometric indices, airway inflammation, airway remodelling, and bronchial hyperreactivity (BHR) before and after treatment with high dose inhaled fluticasone propionate (FP 750 μg bd) was performed in a group of patients with relatively mild but symptomatic asthma. Methods: A double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, parallel group study of inhaled FP was performed in 35 asthmatic patients. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and airway biopsy studies were carried out at baseline and after 3 and 12 months of treatment. Twenty two normal healthy non-asthmatic subjects acted as controls. Results: BAL fluid eosinophils, mast cells, and epithelial cells were significantly higher in asthmatic patients than in controls at baseline (p<0.01). Subepithelial reticular basement membrane (rbm) thickness was variable, but overall was increased in asthmatic patients compared with controls (p<0.01). Multiple regression analysis explained 40% of the variability in BHR, 21% related to rbm thickness, 11% to BAL epithelial cells, and 8% to BAL eosinophils. The longitudinal data corroborated the cross sectional model. Forced expiratory volume in 1 second improved after 3 months of treatment with FP with no further improvement at 12 months. PD20 improved throughout the study. BAL inflammatory cells decreased following 3 months of treatment with no further improvement at 12 months (p<0.05 v placebo). Rbm thickness decreased in the FP group, but only after 12 months of treatment (mean change –1.9, 95% CI –3 to –0.7 μm; p<0.01 v baseline, p<0.05 v placebo). A third of the improvement in BHR with FP was associated with early changes in inflammation, but the more progressive and larger improvement was associated with the later improvement in airway remodelling. Conclusion: Physiology, airway inflammation and remodelling in asthma are interrelated and improve with ICS. Changes are not temporally concordant, with prolonged treatment necessary for maximal benefit in remodelling and PD20. Determining the appropriate dose of inhaled steroids only by reference to symptoms and lung function, as specified in current international guidelines, and even against indices of inflammation may be over simplistic. The results of this study support the need for early and long term intervention with ICS, even in patients with relatively mild asthma.
Phylogenetically-Informed Priorities for Amphibian Conservation

The amphibian decline and extinction crisis demands urgent action to prevent further large numbers of species extinctions. Lists of priority species for conservation, based on a combination of species’ threat status and unique contribution to phylogenetic diversity, are one tool for the direction and catalyzation of conservation action. We describe the construction of a near-complete species-level phylogeny of 5713 amphibian species, which we use to create a list of evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered species (EDGE list) for the entire class Amphibia. We present sensitivity analyses to test the robustness of our priority list to uncertainty in species’ phylogenetic position and threat status. We find that both sources of uncertainty have only minor impacts on our ‘top 100‘ list of priority species, indicating the robustness of the approach. By contrast, our analyses suggest that a large number of Data Deficient species are likely to be high priorities for conservation action from the perspective of their contribution to the evolutionary history.
Health promoting behaviours and lifestyle characteristics of students at seven universities in the UK.

AIMS University students' wellbeing and health promoting and damaging behaviours are important and comprise many parameters. The purpose of this study was to assess a range of health behaviours and lifestyle characteristics of 3,706 undergraduate students from seven universities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We compared differences in these parameters between males and females, and across the participating universities. METHODS A self-administered questionnaire assessed socio-demographic information (e.g., gender, age), nutrition, dietary intake and food consumption patterns, as well as the importance of healthy eating, three levels of physical activity, restful sleep, tobacco smoking, use of illicit substance (recreational drugs), frequency of binge drinking and problem drinking. The data was collected in 2007-2008. RESULTS While females generally reported lower use of tobacco, illicit substances and alcohol (binge drinking/problem drinking) and consumed more fruits and vegetables, male students had a higher level of physical activity, consumed less sweets and had more restful sleep. When lifestyle characteristics of students were compared between the different universities we observed some 'clustering' of the parameters under study, whereby favourable health practices would be exhibited at some universities; and conversely, the clustering of less favourable practices exhibited at other participating sites. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that only a minority of students exhibited positive health practices above recommended levels and the level of binge drinking and problem drinking was high. This calls for increased awareness of university administrators, leaders and policy makers to the risky health habits of their students. The observed clustering effects also indicate the need for local (university-specific) health profiles as basis and guidance for relevant health promotion programmes at universities.
Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors in Turkey: Experiences from 3 Centers

Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are rare tumors of the gastrointestinal system. The most common primary site of GIST is the stomach. The treatment is primarily surgery, and the standard medical therapy is imatinib. Long-term survival can be obtained with good follow-up and treatment. Materials and Methods: In this study, data entry was performed using a web-based patient registry system for patients who were referred to 3 centers and retrospectively were diagnosed with GIST. Results: The study cohort consisted of 249 patients, including 160 men (64.3%) and 89 women (35.7%). The mean age was 59 years (range 21–90 years). Initially, 69.9% of the patients had local disease, while 30.1% had metastatic disease. The tumor was located in the stomach in 45.6% of patients. According to the Fletcher risk classification, the very low risk group included 8 subjects (3.2%), the low risk group included 40 subjects (16.1%), the moderate risk group included 56 subjects (22.5%), and the high risk group included 117 subjects (47%); the unspecified group included 28 subjects (11.5%). Conclusion: These data are important for revealing the clinicopathologic characteristics and survival data of patients with GIST, who are treated and followed up in Turkey.
Circulating miR-25-3p and miR-451a May Be Potential Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Objective There is no effective and reliable biomarker to distinguish benign thyroid nodules from papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC). This study aimed at examining the levels of plasma miRNAs in patients with PTC or benign nodules to explore the potential miRNA biomarkers for PTC. Patients and Methods Genome-wide plasma miRNA expression profiles were determined by the miRNA Microarray and the significantly higher levels of miRNAs were validated in plasma and tissues by quantitative RT-PCR. The levels of two miRNAs were further tested in seven patients before and after tumor excision and the potential values for the diagnosis of PTC were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). Results In comparison with that in the patients with benign nodules, eight significantly higher and three lower levels of plasma miRNAs were detected in the PTC patients. Further validation indicated that the levels of plasma miR-25-3p, miR-451a, miR-140-3p and let-7i were significantly higher in the PTC cases than in those with benign nodules or the healthy controls. Significantly higher levels of miR-25-3p and miR-451a were detected in the thyroid tissues from the PTC patients. The levels of plasma miR-25-3p and miR-451a in seven patients significantly decreased after tumor excision. ROC analyses revealed that the levels of plasma miR-25-3p at cut-off 1.41 and miR-451a at 1.38 had sensitivity of 92.8% and 88.9%, and specificity of 68.8% and 66.7% for distinguishing PTC from benign nodules, respectively. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the levels of plasma miR-25-3p and miR-451a may be valuable for the diagnosis of PTC.
Transcriptional trans-activating function of hepatitis B virus

The ability of hepatitis B virus (HBV) to stimulate the expression of a cellular gene was investigated by using a transient-expression system. A plasmid in which the expression of the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (cat) gene had been placed under the control of the DNA sequences that regulate the expression of the human beta-interferon gene was constructed. In Vero cells, cotransfection of the 2.7-kilobase BglII DNA fragment of HBV together with the test plasmid containing the cat gene resulted in stimulation of the expression of the cat gene. This HBV DNA fragment was specific in its trans-activation; no significant stimulation of CAT activity was observed in constructs when the promoter and enhancer elements were derived from the murine sarcoma viral long terminal repeat, Rous sarcoma virus, BK virus, or simian virus 40. Results of subcloning of the HBV DNA fragment indicate that the trans-activating function resides in a 944-base-pair EcoRV-BglII DNA fragment of the HBV genome that contains the X structural gene and its promoter element. Removal of the promoter from the X structural gene resulted in loss of the trans-activating function. A frameshift mutation within the X gene region also eliminated the trans-activating activity. These results suggest that the X antigen could play a role in HBV infections by activating the expression of cellular genes.
Mixed method approach in designing flight decks with touch screens: A framework

Touch screen technology's first public appearance was in the early 2000s. Touch screens became a part of the daily life with the invention of smartphones and tablets. Now, this technology has the potential to be the next big change in flight deck design. To date, mobile devices are deployed by several air carriers to perform a host of non-safety critical pre-flight and in-flight tasks. Due to high safety requirements requested by authorities, new technologies cannot be adopted as fast as in other settings. Flight deck evolution, which is briefly presented in this paper, is reflecting this natural time delay. Avionics manufacturers are exploring and working on future concepts with touch screen displays. This paper investigates the potential benefits and challenges of touch screen technology on flight decks by means of a variety of qualitative and quantitative research methods (mixed method approach). On the basis of this, a framework was constructed showing the relation between various aspects that could impact the usability of touch screens on the flight deck. This paper concludes with a preliminary questionnaire that can help avionic designers to evaluate whether a touch screen is an appropriate user interface for their system.
Everyday Unfair Treatment and Multisystem Biological Dysregulation in African American Adults

Objective: Increasing evidence suggests that chronic exposure to unfair treatment or day-to-day discrimination increases risk for poor health, but data on biological stress mechanisms are limited. This study examined chronic experiences of unfair treatment in relation to allostatic load (AL), a multisystem index of biological dysregulation. Method: Data are from a sample of 233 African-American adults (37–85 years; 64% women). Perceptions of everyday unfair treatment were measured by questionnaire. An AL index was computed as the sum of 7 separate physiological system risk indices (cardiovascular regulation, lipid, glucose, inflammation, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis). Results: Adjusting for sociodemographics, medication use, smoking status, alcohol consumption, depressive symptoms, lifetime discrimination, and global perceived stress, everyday mistreatment was associated with higher AL. Conclusions: The results add to a growing literature on the effects of chronic bias and discrimination by demonstrating how such experiences are instantiated in downstream physiological systems.
Magel2‐null mice are hyper‐responsive to setmelanotide, a melanocortin 4 receptor agonist

α‐ and β‐melanocyte‐stimulating hormones (MSH) are derived from pro‐opiomelanocortin (POMC) and are the natural agonist ligands of the melanocortin 4 receptor, a key regulator of energy homeostasis. Recent rodent and human data have implicated the MAGEL2 gene, which may regulate activation of POMC neurons, as a significant contributor to the metabolic symptoms observed in Prader–Willi Syndrome (PWS). Firstly, patients with protein truncating mutations in MAGEL2 exhibit numerous clinical characteristics of PWS. Secondly, Magel2‐null mice may not normally activate MC4 receptors, as they are defective in the activation of their POMC neurons and hence may fail to normally release the POMC‐derived MC4 receptor agonist ligands α‐ and β‐MSH. Magel2‐null mice represent a tractable animal model for the metabolic and appetitive imbalance seen in patients with PWS.
The Transcriptome of the Nosocomial Pathogen Enterococcus faecalis V583 Reveals Adaptive Responses to Growth in Blood

Background Enterococcus faecalis plays a dual role in human ecology, predominantly existing as a commensal in the alimentary canal, but also as an opportunistic pathogen that frequently causes nosocomial infections like bacteremia. A number of virulence factors that contribute to the pathogenic potential of E. faecalis have been established. However, the process in which E. faecalis gains access to the bloodstream and establishes a persistent infection is not well understood. Methodology/Principal Findings To enhance our understanding of how this commensal bacterium adapts during a bloodstream infection and to examine the interplay between genes we designed an in vitro experiment using genome-wide microarrays to investigate what effects the presence of and growth in blood have on the transcriptome of E. faecalis strain V583. We showed that growth in both 2xYT supplemented with 10% blood and in 100% blood had a great impact on the transcription of many genes in the V583 genome. We identified several immediate changes signifying cellular processes that might contribute to adaptation and growth in blood. These include modulation of membrane fatty acid composition, oxidative and lytic stress protection, acquisition of new available substrates, transport functions including heme/iron transporters and genes associated with virulence in E. faecalis. Conclusions/Significance The results presented here reveal that cultivation of E. faecalis in blood in vitro has a profound impact on its transcriptome, which includes a number of virulence traits. Observed regulation of genes and pathways revealed new insight into physiological features and metabolic capacities which enable E. faecalis to adapt and grow in blood. A number of the regulated genes might potentially be useful candidates for development of new therapeutic approaches for treatment of E. faecalis infections.
Anal gas evacuation and colonic microbiota in patients with flatulence: effect of diet

Objective To characterise the influence of diet on abdominal symptoms, anal gas evacuation, intestinal gas distribution and colonic microbiota in patients complaining of flatulence. Design Patients complaining of flatulence (n=30) and healthy subjects (n=20) were instructed to follow their usual diet for 3 days (basal phase) and to consume a high-flatulogenic diet for another 3 days (challenge phase). Results During basal phase, patients recorded more abdominal symptoms than healthy subjects in daily questionnaires (5.8±0.3 vs 0.4±0.2 mean discomfort/pain score, respectively; p=<0.0001) and more gas evacuations by an event marker (21.9±2.8 vs 7.4±1.0 daytime evacuations, respectively; p=0.0001), without differences in the volume of gas evacuated after a standard meal (262±22 and 265±25 mL, respectively). On flatulogenic diet, both groups recorded more abdominal symptoms (7.9±0.3 and 2.8±0.4 discomfort/pain, respectively), number of gas evacuations (44.4±5.3 and 21.7±2.9 daytime evacuations, respectively) and had more gas production (656±52 and 673±78 mL, respectively; p<0.05 vs basal diet for all). When challenged with flatulogenic diet, patients’ microbiota developed instability in composition, exhibiting variations in the main phyla and reduction of microbial diversity, whereas healthy subjects’ microbiota were stable. Taxa from Bacteroides fragilis or Bilophila wadsworthia correlated with number of gas evacuations or volume of gas evacuated, respectively. Conclusions Patients complaining of flatulence have a poor tolerance of intestinal gas, which is associated with instability of the microbial ecosystem.
Acoustic Gait-based Person Identification using Hidden Markov Models

We present a system for identifying humans by their walking sounds. This problem is also known as acoustic gait recognition. The goal of the system is to analyse sounds emitted by walking persons (mostly the step sounds) and identify those persons. These sounds are characterised by the gait pattern and are influenced by the movements of the arms and legs, but also depend on the type of shoe. We extract cepstral features from the recorded audio signals and use hidden Markov models for dynamic classification. A cyclic model topology is employed to represent individual gait cycles. This topology allows to model and detect individual steps, leading to very promising identification rates. For experimental validation, we use the publicly available TUM GAID database, which is a large gait recognition database containing 3 050 recordings of 305 subjects in three variations. In the best setup, an identification rate of 65.5% is achieved out of 155 subjects. This is a relative improvement of almost 30% compared to our previous work, which used various audio features and support vector machines.
Proteolytic mechanisms underlying mitochondrial degradation in the ocular lens.

PURPOSE To remove light-scattering structures from the visual axis, all intracellular organelles are eliminated from cells in the center of the developing ocular lens. Organelle degradation is accompanied by an increase in VEIDase (caspase-6-like) activity, but data from caspase-null mice suggest that the lens VEIDase is not caspase-6. The goal of the present work was to identify the lens VEIDase and determine whether it plays a role in organelle breakdown. METHODS The approximate molecular mass of the lens VEIDase was determined by size-exclusion chromatography. Three proteasome inhibitors (NLVS, MG132, and clasto-lactacystin beta-lactone) were tested for their ability to inhibit lens VEIDase activity. Lens lysates were immunodepleted of proteasomes using an antibody against the 20S proteasome. To inhibit the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) in vivo, lactacystin was injected into the vitreous humor of the developing chicken eye. The effect of lactacystin on mitochondrial degradation was assessed by examining the disappearance of succinate-ubiquinone oxidoreductase, an integral protein of the inner mitochondrial membrane. RESULTS The lens VEIDase eluted at approximately 700 kDa from a size-exclusion column and was inhibited by the proteasome inhibitors NLVS, MG132, and clasto-lactacystin beta-lactone. In vivo, the trypsin-like activity of the proteasome was reduced by 60% to 70% after lactacystin injection. Proteasome inhibition was associated with the accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins and reversible opacification of the lens cortex. In lactacystin-injected eyes, the programmed degradation of succinate-ubiquinone oxidoreductase was inhibited in the central lens fiber cells. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that lens VEIDase activity is attributable to the proteasome and that the UPP may function in the removal of organelle components during lens fiber cell differentiation.
Chorioamnionitis: Important Risk Factor or Innocent Bystander for Neonatal Outcome?

Chorioamnionitis as a major risk factor for spontaneous preterm birth, especially at earlier gestational ages, contributes to prematurity-associated mortality and morbidity. A gestation-independent effect of chorioamnionitis on neonatal outcome is much more difficult to assess. The influence of chorioamnionitis on neonatal outcome has become less evident with advances in neonatal care. A short-term beneficial effect of histological, but not clinical chorioamnionitis on incidence and severity of respiratory distress syndrome in preterm infants is evident. This maturational effect is accompanied by a susceptibility of the lung for further postnatal injury, which predisposes for bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Chorioamnionitis is associated with cystic periventricular leukomalacia, intraventricular hemorrhage and cerebral palsy in preterm infants, but its association with noncystic white matter disease is not clear yet. Prenatal inflammation/infection has been shown a risk factor for neonatal sepsis. A single course of antenatal steroids can be regarded safe in clinical as well as histological chorioamnionitis.