Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Network Traffic Analysis using Traffic Dispersion Graphs (TDGs): Techniques and Hardware Implementation

Monitoring network traffic and detecting unwanted applications has become a challenging problem, since many applications obfuscate their traffic using arbitrary port numbers or payload encryption. Apart from some notable exceptions, most traffic monitoring tools follow two types of approaches: (a) keeping traffic statistics such as packet sizes and inter-arrivals, flow counts, byte volumes, etc., or (b) analyzing packet content. In this work, we propose the use of Traffic Dispersion Graphs (TDGs) as a powerful way to monitor, analyze, and visualize network traffic. TDGs model the social behavior of hosts (“who talks to whom”), while the edges can be defined to represent different interactions (e.g. the exchange of a certain number or type of packets). With the introduction of TDGs, we are able to harness the wealth of tools and graph modeling techniques from a diverse set of disciplines. First, we fully explore the abilities of TDGs as an intuitive and visually powerful tool. Second, we demonstrate their usefulness in application classification and intrusion detection solutions. Finally, we provide a hardware-aware design and implementation for TDG-based techniques. We conclude that TDGs are powerful, useful, and can be implemented efficiently in hardware. They constitute a promising new chapter for network monitoring techniques.
Electromyographic responses of back and limb muscles associated with spinal manipulative therapy.

STUDY DESIGN Ten young, asymptomatic male subjects underwent 11 clinically relevant spinal manipulative treatments along the length of the spine to test the magnitude and extent of reflex responses associated with the treatments. OBJECTIVES To determine the magnitude and extent of reflex responses elicited by spinal manipulative treatments. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Spinal manipulative treatments have been associated with a reflexogenic relief of pain and a loss of hypertonicity in muscles within the treatment area. However, there is no study in which results show the probability of occurrence or the extent of reflex responses during spinal manipulative treatments. METHODS Asymptomatic subjects received spinal manipulative treatments on the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar levels and on the sacroiliac joint. Reflex activities were measured using 16 pairs of bipolar surface electrodes placed on the back and proximal limb musculature. The percentage of occurrence and the extent of reflex responses in the back and proximal limb musculature were determined. RESULTS Each treatment produced consistent reflex responses in a target-specific area. The reflex responses occurred within 50-200 msec after the onset of the treatment thrust and lasted for approximately 100-400 msec. The responses were probably of multireceptor origin and were elicited asynchronously. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study in which results show a consistent reflex response associated with spinal manipulative treatments. Because reflex pathways are evoked systematically during spinal manipulative treatment, there is a distinct possibility that these responses may cause some of the clinically observed beneficial effects, such as a reduction in pain and a decrease in hypertonicity of muscles.
Modeling of diode pumped nanoparticle gas laser

The hybrid gas phase and solid state laser shows its inherent advantages in heat management and high efficiency and compactness, with DPAL becoming a perfect example. However, this kind of laser is limited by concern, for example, narrow absorption linewidth and a series of problems resulting from chemical reactions. As a matter of fact, Prof. Krupke proposed some hybrid gas phase and solid state lasers before DPAL, while they were chemically unfavored. As a newest type of hybrid gas phase and solid state laser, diode pumped nanoparticle gas laser (DPNGL) is a potential candidate in high power laser field. We put forward a rate equation model for Yb3+ doped nanoparticle gas laser, and scattering of nanoparticles at the nano scale is included in this model. In addition, modifications of fluorescence lifetime and laser emission and pump absorption cross section are coupled into this model. Some vital factors are simulated and discussed. The results obtained from the modeling show that the influence of scattering is weak, and the Yb3+ concentration is not necessarily high to achieve a good laser performance. The results are sufficiently positive for DPNGL to be a promising high power laser.
The theory of reasoned action and patient compliance during orthodontic treatment.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) for the prediction and understanding of patients' intention to comply during orthodontic treatment and to analyze the effect of two additional variables in the model, namely perceived behavioral control and anticipated regret. Moreover, (the determinants of) intentions of orthodontic patients to comply during treatment were compared with (the determinants of) intentions of parents to stimulate this cooperation. METHODS A questionnaire was handed out to patients and parents visiting the Department of Orthodontics of the Academic Centre of Dentistry in Amsterdam. In both the patient and parent sample, independent-sample t-tests, correlation analyses and stepwise regression analyses were conducted. Variables in both samples were compared and tested. RESULTS The extended version of the TRA explained 20% of the variance in the patients' intention to comply. The patients' anticipated regret, attitude and motivation to comply were significant determinants of the patients' intention to comply. In addition, the parents' attitude toward compliance was a significant predictor. The role of parents in enhancing patients' intentions to comply cannot be neglected. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that patients' intentions to comply during orthodontic treatment are influenced by factors outside of the TRA. Therefore, it is recommended to develop a new model, in which factors of the TRA are included, which can be used specifically for the study of compliance in orthodontics.
A Proteoglycan-Like Molecule Offers Insights Into Ground Substance Changes During Holothurian Intestinal Regeneration

Extracellular matrix remodeling is an essential component of regenerative processes in metazoans. Among these animals, holothurians (sea cucumbers) are distinguished by their great regenerative capacities. We have previously shown that fibrous collagen as well as other fibrous components disappear from the connective tissue (CT) early during intestinal regeneration, and later return as the organ primordia form. We now report on changes of the nonfibrous component of the CT. We have used Alcian Blue staining and an antibody, Proteoglycan Like-1 (PGL-1), that recognizes a proteoglycan-like antigen to identify the presence of proteoglycans in normal and regenerating intestines. Our results show that early in regeneration, the ground substance resembles that of the mesentery, the structure from where the new intestine originates. As regeneration proceeds, Alcian Blue staining and PGL-1 labeling reorganize, so that by 4 weeks the normal intestinal CT pattern is achieved. Together with our previous findings, the data suggest that CT components that might be detrimental to regeneration disappear early on, while those that might be beneficial to regeneration, such as proteoglycans, are present throughout the regenerative process.
Effects of user mental state on EEG-BCI performance

Changes in psychological state have been proposed as a cause of variation in brain-computer interface performance, but little formal analysis has been conducted to support this hypothesis. In this study, we investigated the effects of three mental states—fatigue, frustration, and attention—on BCI performance. Twelve able-bodied participants were trained to use a two-class EEG-BCI based on the performance of user-specific mental tasks. Following training, participants completed three testing sessions, during which they used the BCI to play a simple maze navigation game while periodically reporting their perceived levels of fatigue, frustration, and attention. Statistical analysis indicated that there is a significant relationship between frustration and BCI performance while the relationship between fatigue and BCI performance approached significance. BCI performance was 7% lower than average when self-reported fatigue was low and 7% higher than average when self-reported frustration was moderate. A multivariate analysis of mental state revealed the presence of contiguous regions in mental state space where BCI performance was more accurate than average, suggesting the importance of moderate fatigue for achieving effortless focus on BCI control, frustration as a potential motivating factor, and attention as a compensatory mechanism to increasing frustration. Finally, a visual analysis showed the sensitivity of underlying class distributions to changes in mental state. Collectively, these results indicate that mental state is closely related to BCI performance, encouraging future development of psychologically adaptive BCIs.
Pleuroscopic cryoprobe biopsies of the pleura: A feasibility and safety study

Flexi‐rigid pleuroscopy is a useful tool in the work‐up of pleural effusions, but pleural biopsy using flexible forceps can be difficult in some patients. This study evaluated the feasibility, safety and diagnostic value of using a flexible cryoprobe to obtain parietal pleural biopsies during pleuroscopy.
Inferring AJ Types for Concurrent Libraries

Data-centric synchronization advocates data-based synchronization as opposed to control-based synchronization. It is more intuitive and can make correct concurrent programming easier. Dolby et al. [9] proposed AJ, a type system for data-centric synchronization, and showed that Java programs can be refactored into AJ. Unfortunately, programmers still have to add synchronization constructs manually (in the form of AJ type annotations), and the burden on programmers is high. In this paper we propose a type inference technique that infers AJ types for concurrent libraries. Our technique significantly reduces the amount of annotations.
Binary Compressive Sensing Via Analog Fountain Coding

In this paper, a compressive sensing (CS) approach is proposed for sparse binary signals' compression and reconstruction based on analog fountain codes (AFCs). In the proposed scheme, referred to as the analog fountain compressive sensing (AFCS), each measurement is generated from a linear combination of L randomly selected binary signal elements with real weight coefficients. The weight coefficients are chosen from a finite weight set and L, called measurement degree, is obtained based on a predefined degree distribution function. We propose a simple verification based reconstruction algorithm for the AFCS in the noiseless case. The proposed verification based decoder is analyzed through SUM-OR tree analytical approach and an optimization problem is formulated to find the optimum measurement degree to minimize the number of measurements required for the reconstruction of binary sparse signals. We show that in the AFCS, the number of required measurements is of O(-nlog(1-k/n)), where n is the signal length and L=k is the signal sparsity level. Simulation results show that the AFCS can perfectly recover all non-zero elements of the sparse binary signal with a significantly reduced number of measurements, compared to the conventional binary CS and l1-minimization approaches in a wide range of signal to noise ratios (SNRs) by using the standard message passing decoder. Finally, we show a practical application of the AFCS for the sparse event detection in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), where the sensors' readings can be treated as measurements from the CS point of view.
Naming Ability Changes in Physiological and Pathological Aging

Over the last two decades, age-related anatomical and functional brain changes have been characterized by evidence acquired primarily by means of non-invasive functional neuroimaging. These functional changes are believed to favor positive reorganization driven by adaptations to system changes as compensation for cognitive decline. These functional modifications have been linked to residual brain plasticity mechanisms, suggesting that all areas of the brain remain plastic during physiological and pathological aging. A technique that can be used to investigate changes in physiological and pathological aging is non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS). The present paper reviews studies that have applied NIBS in younger and older adults and in patients with dementia to track changes in the cerebral areas involved in a language task (naming). The results of this research suggest that the left frontal and temporal areas are crucial during naming. Moreover, it is suggested that in older adults and patients with dementia, the right prefrontal cortex is also engaged during naming tasks, and naming performance correlates with age and/or the degree of the pathological process. Potential theories underlying the bilateral involvement of the prefrontal cortex are discussed, and the relationship between the bilateral engagement of the prefrontal cortex and the age or degree of pathology is explored.
Wetland drying and succession across the Kenai Peninsula Lowlands, south-central Alaska

This study documents the scale and intensity of drying over the last half century in the Kenai Lowlands of south-central Alaska. Using historical aerial photos and field sampling of wetlands, including muskegs, kettle ponds, and closed and open basin lakes, we present data on drying and successional changes in woody vegetation between 1950 and 1996. The results of this study suggest that the Kenai Peninsula is becoming both woodier in its vegetation and drier. A regional analysis of 1113 random points indicated increased forest cover and decreased open and wet areas in both burned and unburned areas between 1950 and 1996. A census of water bodies in three subregions indicates that almost two-thirds of water bodies visited show some level of decrease in spatial area. Over 80% of field sites visited have experienced some level of drying, where vegetation transects indicate substantial invasion into former lake beds by facultative upland plants. These results are consistent with a regional change in climate .
Self-focusing and Raman scattering of laser pulses in tenuous plasmas.

The propagation and self‐focusing of short, intense laser pulses in a tenuous plasma is studied both analytically and numerically. Specifically, pulses of length of the order of a few plasma wavelengths and of intensity, which is large enough for relativistic self‐focusing to occur, are considered. Such pulses are of interest in various laser plasma acceleration schemes. It is found that these pulses are likely to be strongly affected by Raman instabilities. Two different regimes of instability, corresponding to large and small scattering angles, are found to be important. Small‐angle scattering is perhaps the most severe since it couples strongly with relativistic self‐focusing, leading the pulses to acquire significant axial and transverse structure in a time of the order of the self‐focusing time. Thus it will be difficult to propagate smooth self‐focused pulses through tenuous plasmas for distances longer than the Rayleigh length, except for pulse duration of the order of the plasma period.
BACE1 Knock-Outs Display Deficits in Activity-Dependent Potentiation of Synaptic Transmission at Mossy Fiber to CA3 Synapses in the Hippocampus

β-Amyloid precursor protein cleavage enzyme 1 (BACE1) has been identified as a major neuronal β-secretase critical for the formation of β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide, which is thought responsible for the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Therefore, BACE1 is one of the key therapeutic targets that can prevent the progression of AD. Previous studies showed that knocking out the BACE1 gene prevents Aβ formation, but results in behavioral deficits and specific synaptic dysfunctions at Schaffer collateral to CA1 synapses. However, BACE1 protein is most highly expressed at the mossy fiber projections in CA3. Here, we report that BACE1 knock-out mice display reduced presynaptic function, as measured by an increase in paired-pulse facilitation ratio. More dramatically, mossy fiber long-term potentiation (LTP), which is normally expressed via an increase in presynaptic release, was eliminated in the knock-outs. Although long-term depression was slightly larger in the BACE1 knock-outs, it could not be reversed. The specific deficit in mossy fiber LTP was upstream of cAMP signaling and could be “rescued” by transiently elevating extracellular Ca2+ concentration. These results suggest that BACE1 may play a critical role in regulating presynaptic function, especially activity-dependent strengthening of presynaptic release, at mossy fiber synapses.
Affichage d'informations par des impulsions haptiques

Our goal was to find haptic effects that could be used to present information to the user of a haptic pointing device. We present a study on users' ability to discriminate between different effects presented with a PHANToM haptic pointing device. The effects we experimented with were bumps that the user could feel through the PHANToM. The direction and the amplitude of the bumps were manipulated. The results show that the direction is easy to discriminate, but the amplitude is not. Only two levels of amplitude could be reliably discriminated.
The microscopic hardness of bone.

1. In normal bone, microscopic hardness was found to be an accurate and reliable measure of the degree of mineralization. 2. The progression of mineralization that accompanies skeletal maturation was found to be reflected by an increase in the microscopic hardness. After the age of thirty, there was very little variability in the hardness of the diaphyseal cortex or of the ilium. 3. The hardness of cortical bone taken from selected sites within an individual varied widely, but there was very little variability in the hardness of the same bone taken from standard sites in different individuals. 4. The effect of osteoporosis, Paget's disease, rickets, and osteogenesis imperfecta on microhardness was tested on a small nunmber of individuals. 5. Microhardness testing is the only known technique for measuring the microscopic physical effects of variation in the composition of bone.
Altered Local Spatiotemporal Consistency of Resting-State BOLD Signals in Patients with Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizures

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the spatiotemporal Consistency of spontaneous activities in local brain regions in patients with generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS). The resting-state fMRI data were acquired from nineteen patients with GTCS and twenty-two matched healthy subjects. FOur-dimensional (spatiotemporal) Consistency of local neural Activities (FOCA) metric was used to analyze the spontaneous activity in whole brain. The FOCA difference between two groups were detected using a two sample t-test analysis. Correlations between the FOCA values and features of seizures were analyzed. The findings of this study showed that patients had significantly increased FOCA in motor-related cortex regions, including bilateral supplementary motor area, paracentral lobule, precentral gyrus and left basal ganglia, as well as a substantial reduction of FOCA in regions of default mode network (DMN) and parietal lobe. In addition, several brain regions in DMN demonstrated more reduction with longer duration of epilepsy and later onset age, and the motor-related regions showed higher FOCA value in accompany with later onset age. These findings implicated the abnormality of motor-related cortical network in GTCS which were associated with the genesis and propagation of epileptiform activity. And the decreased FOCA in DMN might reflect the intrinsic disturbance of brain activity. Moreover, our study supported that the FOCA might be potential tool to investigate local brain spontaneous activity related with the epileptic activity, and to provide important insights into understanding the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of GTCS.
Epidemiology of cleft lip and palate among Jews and Bedouins in the Negev.

BACKGROUND Clefts of the lip and palate are the most common significant congenital birth anomaly of the orofacial region. The condition may vary from a minor easily correctable cleft to a significant functional and cosmetic incapacitation. This is the first epidemiological study of orofacial clefts in the Negev region in Israel. OBJECTIVES To establish the frequency of cleft lip and palate in the population of the Negev, characterize the demographic features of affected individuals and find possible risk factors, compare the risk in two major population groups: Bedouin and Jewish in a well-defined geographic area, and determine whether there is a change overtime in the birth of babies with facial clefts. METHODS We conducted a retrospective survey of the Soroka Medical Center archives. The sample population comprised all 131,218 babies born at Soroka during the 11 year period 1 January 1996 to 31 December 2006. Statistical tests used Pearson's chi-square test, Student's t-test and Spearman's correlation coefficient test according to the type of parameter tested. RESULTS During the study period 140 babies were born with orofacial cleft. The overall incidence of cleft lip and palate was 1.067/1000. The incidence of facial clefts was 1.54/1000 among Bedouins and 0.48/1000 among Jews (P < 0.001). Cleft palate was significantly more frequent in female than male babies (P = 0.002). Over the study years we found a significant decrease in the incidence of facial clefts in the Bedouin population, with Spearman's correlation coefficient rank -0.9 (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS A significant decrease occurred in the incidence of facial clefts among Bedouin. This change may be attributed to prenatal care in the Bedouin Negev population as part of social and health-related behavior changes. The reduction in rates of congenital malformations, however, does not mean a reduction in the number of cases in a growing population. Also, with a modern western lifestyle, the expectancy and demand for reconstructive facial surgery and comprehensive care for these children are on the rise.
Learning augmented Bayesian classifiers: A comparison of distribution-based and classification-based approaches

The na ve Bayes classifier is built on the assumption of conditional independence between the attributes given the class. The algorithm has been shown to be surprisingly robust to obvious violations of this condition, but it is natural to ask if it is possible to further improve the accuracy by relaxing this assumption. We examine an approach where na ve Bayes is augmented by the addition of correlation arcs between attributes. We explore two methods for finding the set of augmenting arcs, a greedy hillclimbing search, and a novel, more computationally efficient algorithm that we call SuperParent. We compare these methods to TAN; a state-of the-art distribution-based approach to finding the augmenting arcs.