Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Secure Transmit Antenna Selection Protocol for MIMO NOMA Networks Over Nakagami-m Channels

In this paper, we consider a multi-input multioutput (MIMO) nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) network consisting of one source and two legitimate users (LUs), so-called near and far users according to their distances to the source, and one passive eavesdropper, over Nakagami-m fading channels. Specifically, we investigate the cases where the signals of the far user might or might not be successfully decoded at the eavesdropper and the near user. Thus, we aim to design a transmit antenna selection (TAS) secure communication protocol for the network; where, two TAS solutions, namely Solutions I and II, are proposed. Specifically, Solutions I and II focus on maximizing the received signal power between the source and the near user, and between the source and the far user, respectively. Accordingly, exact and asymptotic closed-form expressions for the secrecy outage probability of the LUs and the overall system are derived. Our analytical results corroborated by the Monte Carlo simulation indicate that the secrecy performance could be significantly improved by properly selecting the power allocation coefficients and increasing the number of antennas at the source and the LUs. Interestingly, solution II is shown to provide a better overall secrecy performance over solution I.
Distinct Roles for Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase in B Cell Immune Synapse Formation

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) has a key role in the signaling pathways of receptors essential for the B lymphocyte response. Given its implication in B cell-related immunodeficiencies, leukemias/lymphomas and autoimmunity, Btk is studied intensely and is a target for therapy. Here, using primary B cells from distinct mouse models and the pharmacological inhibitors ibrutinib and acalabrutinib, we report distinct roles for Btk in antigen-triggered immune synapse (IS) formation. Btk recruitment to the plasma membrane regulates the B cell ability to trigger IS formation as well as its appropriate molecular assembly; Btk shuttling/scaffold activities seem more relevant than the kinase function on that. Btk-kinase activity controls antigen accumulation at the IS through the PLCγ2/Ca2+ axis. Impaired Btk membrane-recruitment or kinase function likewise alters antigen-triggered microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) polarization to the IS, B cell activation and proliferation. Data also show that, for B cell function, IS architecture is as important as the quantity of antigen that accumulates at the synapse.
Genetic characterization of parvoviruses in domestic cats in Henan province, China

Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) and canine parvovirus (CPV) infections are highly contagious and cause serious enteric diseases, with high fatality rates of cats and dogs. Given the importance of cats as a potential source of genetic diversity for parvoviruses, parvovirus strains detected in cats with gastroenteritis signs were analysed, and molecular characterisation, sequence analysis and phylogeny were evaluated on the VP2 gene. The results showed that FPV, new CPV-2a, and CPV-2 are co-circulating in the cat population in Henan province of China. Moreover, CPV-2 strains (F2016020, and F2016021) with Ser297Ala substitution in VP2 protein was for the first time detected in cats with clinical gastroenteritis. This study provided new important findings about the evolutionary of parvovirus infection in domestic cats.
The Association Between a Holistic Review in Admissions Workshop and the Diversity of Accepted Applicants and Students Matriculating to Medical School

Purpose The authors tested for an association between the Association of American Medical Colleges’ holistic review in admissions (HRA) workshop and the compositional diversity of medical school accepted applicants and matriculants in schools that held workshops compared with those that did not. Method The authors examined school-level data from 134 medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for the years 2006–2016 using information from the American Medical College Application Service. They used a fixed-effects regression to examine the within-school association between an HRA workshop and four measures of diversity: percent first-generation college student, percent black/African American, percent Hispanic, and overall level of racial/ethnic diversity as measured by a diversity index. Results For schools that held an HRA workshop, descriptive statistics showed higher mean values across all four measures of diversity for the post-HRA workshop period (the HRA implementation period) compared with the preworkshop period (accepted applicants: d = 0.34–0.79; matriculants: d = 0.29–0.73). Analyzing data for all schools, including those that did not hold a workshop, regression models showed that the HRA implementation period was associated with a significant and sustained increase in all four measures of diversity. These findings were consistent for both accepted applicants (P < .01) and matriculants (P < .01). Conclusions The significant increases in all four measures of diversity following an HRA workshop support the conclusion that this workshop was associated with increased compositional diversity at the participating medical schools.
Detection of serum antibodies to Brucella in Russian aquatic mammals

A serologic survey of Brucella infection was performed in Caspian seals (Pusa caspica, n=71), Baikal seals (P. sibirica, n=7), ringed seals (P. hispida hispida, n=6), and beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas, n=4) inhabiting Russian waters, by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using Brucella abortus and B. canis as antigens. The sera of 4 Caspian seals (4%) tested positive for B. abortus. The same sera samples demonstrated weaker yet detectable affinity for B. canis antigens. Several discrete bands against B. abortus and B. canis antigens were detected on Western blot analysis of the ELISA-positive seal sera; the bands against B. canis were weaker than those against B. abortus. The sera of 3 beluga whales (75%) were positive for B. abortus antigens but showed no binding to B. canis antigens in the ELISA. The positive whale sera showed a strong band appearance only against B. abortus antigens in the Western blot analysis. Many detected bands were discrete, while some of them had a smeared appearance. The present results indicate that Brucella infection occurred in Caspian seals and beluga whales inhabiting Russian waters, and that the Brucella strains infecting the seals and the whales were antigenetically distinct.
Sensor-Based Continuous Hand Gesture Recognition by Long Short-Term Memory

This article aims to present a novel sensor-based continuous hand gesture recognition algorithm by long short-term memory (LSTM). Only the basic accelerators and/or gyroscopes are required by the algorithm. Given a sequence of input sensory data, a many-to-many LSTM scheme is adopted to produce an output path. A maximum a posteriori estimation is then carried out based on the observed path to obtain the final classification results. A prototype system based on smartphones has been implemented for the performance evaluation. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is an effective alternative for robust and accurate hand-gesture recognition.
Surprise: unfolding of facial expressions

ABSTRACT Responses to surprising events are dynamic. We argue that initial responses are primarily driven by the unexpectedness of the surprising event and reflect an interrupted and surprised state in which the outcome does not make sense yet. Later responses, after sense-making, are more likely to incorporate the valence of the outcome itself. To identify initial and later responses to surprising stimuli, we conducted two repetition-change studies and coded the general valence of facial expressions using computerised facial coding and specific facial action using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Results partly supported our unfolding logic. The computerised coding showed that initial expressions to positive surprises were less positive than later expressions. Moreover, expressions to positive and negative surprises were initially similar, but after some time differentiated depending on the valence of the event. Importantly, these patterns were particularly pronounced in a subset of facially expressive participants, who also showed facial action in the FACS coding. The FACS data showed that the initial phase was characterised by limited facial action, whereas the later increase in positivity seems to be explained by smiling. Conceptual as well as methodological implications are discussed.
Time-Series 3D Building Change Detection Based on Belief Functions

One of the challenges of remote sensing image based building change detection is distinguishing building changes from other types of land cover alterations. Height information can be a great assistance for this task but its performance is limited to the quality of the height. Yet, the standard automatic methods for this task are still lacking. We propose a very high resolution stereo series data based building change detection approach that focuses on the use of time series information. In the first step, belief functions are explored to fuse the change features from the 2D and height maps to obtain an initial change detection result. In the second step, the building probability maps (BPMs) from the series data are adopted to refine the change detection results based on Dempster-Shafer theory. The final step is to fuse the series building change detection results in order to obtain a final change map. The advantages of the proposed approach are demonstrated by testing it on a set of time series data captured in North Korea.
Effective Mobile Web User Fingerprinting via Motion Sensors

Motion sensors are often equipped on smartphones to enable rich app functionality and interactivity. However, they can also be exploited by attackers as powerful side-channels to compromise users' security and privacy due to the unrestricted sensor data access on modern smartphone platforms. In this paper, we investigate motion sensor based user fingerprinting attacks that can be pervasively performed to severely compromise the privacy of mobile web users. We formulate our user fingerprinting attacks as a typical multi-class classification problem, and design a framework with unified classifiers for effectively performing the attacks. We implement our attacking framework and evaluate it using the motion sensor data collected from 20 volunteers. The evaluation results demonstrate that our attacks are indeed very effective. For example, the user fingerprinting accuracy is higher than 85% by using a classifier unified from seven randomly selected individual classifiers each trained with the motion sensor data of only 10 letter keystrokes.
Oocyte-specific maternal Slbp2 is required for replication-dependent histone storage and early nuclear cleavage in zebrafish oogenesis and embryogenesis

Stem–loop binding protein (SLBP) is required for replication-dependent histone mRNA metabolism in mammals. Zebrafish possesses two slbps, and slbp1 is necessary for retinal neurogenesis. However, the detailed expression and function of slbp2 in zebrafish are still unknown. In this study, we first identified zebrafish slbp2 as an oocyte-specific maternal factor and then generated a maternal-zygotic slbp2 F3 homozygous mutant (MZslbp2Δ4−/−) using CRISPR/Cas9. The depletion of maternal Slbp2 disrupted early nuclear cleavage, which resulted in developmental arrest at the MBT stage. The developmental defects could be rescued in slbp2 transgenic MZslbp2Δ4−/− embryos. However, homozygous mutant MZslbp1Δ1−/− developed normally, indicating slbp1 is dispensable for zebrafish early embryogenesis. Through comparative proteome and transcriptome profiling between WT and MZslbp2Δ4−/− embryos, we identified many differentially expressed proteins and genes. In comparison with those in WT embryos, four replication-dependent histones, including H2a, H2b, H3, and H4, all reduced their expression, while histone variant h2afx significantly increased in MZslbp2Δ4−/− embryos at the 256-cell stage and high stage. Zebrafish Slbp2 can bind histone mRNA stem–loop in vitro, and the defects of MZslbp2Δ4−/− embryos can be partially rescued by overexpression of H2b. The current data indicate that maternal Slbp2 plays a pivotal role in the storage of replication-dependent histone mRNAs and proteins during zebrafish oogenesis.
Differential GNSS and Double Difference Approaches Comparison for High Integrity Railway Location Determination System

This paper deals with the introduction of the satellite navigation into the train control system. That topic has been widely investigated in this last years. To meet the stringent requirements imposed by the railway community the use of an external augmentation and integrity monitoring network is highly recommended. The exploitation of the data acquired by the reference stations can be performed by using a differential approach or by using a double difference approach. In this contribution, we have performed a comparison between these two approaches in the railway domain in terms of both complexity and performances. We made use of real data acquired on field to compare the results achievable with the two techniques and we carried out the SWOT analysis for both of them.
FairSwap: How To Fairly Exchange Digital Goods

We introduce FairSwap -- an efficient protocol for fair exchange of digital goods using smart contracts. A fair exchange protocol allows a sender S to sell a digital commodity x for a fixed price p to a receiver R. The protocol is said to be secure if R only pays if he receives the correct x. Our solution guarantees fairness by relying on smart contracts executed over decentralized cryptocurrencies, where the contract takes the role of an external judge that completes the exchange in case of disagreement. While in the past there have been several proposals for building fair exchange protocols over cryptocurrencies, our solution has two distinctive features that makes it particular attractive when users deal with large commodities. These advantages are: (1) minimizing the cost for running the smart contract on the blockchain, and (2) avoiding expensive cryptographic tools such as zero-knowledge proofs. In addition to our new protocols, we provide formal security definitions for smart contract based fair exchange, and prove security of our construction. Finally, we illustrate several applications of our basic protocol and evaluate practicality of our approach via a prototype implementation for fairly selling large files over the cryptocurrency Ethereum.
The Patterned Structure of Galactoglucomannan Suggests It May Bind to Cellulose in Seed Mucilage1[OPEN]

Galactoglucomannan synthesized by CSLA2 and MAGT1 has a patterned structure that may influence the mode of binding to cellulose fibrils. The interaction between mannan polysaccharides and cellulose microfibrils contributes to cell wall properties in some vascular plants, but the molecular arrangement of mannan in the cell wall and the nature of the molecular bonding between mannan and cellulose remain unknown. Previous studies have shown that mannan is important in maintaining Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seed mucilage architecture, and that Cellulose Synthase-Like A2 (CSLA2) synthesizes a glucomannan backbone, which Mannan α-Galactosyl Transferase1 (MAGT1/GlycosylTransferase-Like6/Mucilage Related10) might decorate with single α-Gal branches. Here, we investigated the ratio and sequence of Man and Glc and the arrangement of Gal residues in Arabidopsis mucilage mannan using enzyme sequential digestion, carbohydrate gel electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry. We found that seed mucilage galactoglucomannan has a backbone consisting of the repeating disaccharide [4)-β-Glc-(1,4)-β-Man-(1,], and most of the Man residues in the backbone are substituted by single α-1,6-Gal. CSLA2 is responsible for the synthesis of this patterned glucomannan backbone and MAGT1 catalyses the addition of α-Gal. In vitro activity assays revealed that MAGT1 transferred α-Gal from UDP-Gal only to Man residues within the CSLA2 patterned glucomannan backbone acceptor. These results indicate that CSLAs and galactosyltransferases are able to make precisely defined galactoglucomannan structures. Molecular dynamics simulations suggested this patterned galactoglucomannan is able to bind stably to some hydrophilic faces and to hydrophobic faces of cellulose microfibrils. A specialization of the biosynthetic machinery to make galactoglucomannan with a patterned structure may therefore regulate the mode of binding of this hemicellulose to cellulose fibrils.
Identifying WeChat Red Packets and Fund Transfers Via Analyzing Encrypted Network Traffic

WeChat is an extremely popular application in China and among the overseas Chinese users, and two widely used features are giving of 'red packet' (a Chinese customary practice of giving money in red envelope) or fund transfer. Investigation of WeChat red packet and fund transfer transactions is an understudied topic, and hence the focus of this paper. Specifically, we analyze the encrypted network traffic involving WeChat red packet and fund transfer transactions. We segment the traffic into several bursts describing the different actions. Then, we extract relevant red packet transaction and fund transfer features from each burst, which are then used to train a learning-based classifier to distinguish between the different bursts. The findings from our evaluation demonstrate that our proposed approach can accurately identify the actions of red packet transactions and fund transfers, as well as accurately predicting the number of red packet transactions and fund transfers.
Utilization of Electrodiagnostic Testing for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by General Practitioners Prior to Hand Surgery Consultation

Background:Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common peripheral mononeuropathy and thus is frequently encountered by general practitioners (GPs). The aim of this study is to investigate the referral pattern of GPs with regard to electrodiagnostic (EDX) testing for suspected CTS prior to hand surgery consultation, as well as to investigate the results of EDX testing for suspected CTS when requested by GPs prior to evaluation by a hand surgeon. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients referred to our hand surgery clinic over a consecutive 2-year period for suspected CTS. Results: A total of 403 patients were referred to our hand surgery clinic from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2017. Of the 403, 295 (73.2%) were referred by GPs. GPs obtained prereferral EDX testing in 198 (67.1%) of these patients. EDX testing confirmed their diagnosis in 177 patients (89.4%). There were 21 patients (10.6%) identified with normal EDX testing and a more likely diagnosis reached based on clinical examination. Conclusions: GPs make up the majority of our referrals for CTS, and they obtain EDX testing prior to consultation in two-thirds of referrals. GPs appear to accurately utilize EDX testing to confirm their diagnosis prior to referral and have a low rate of normal testing where symptoms are more readily explained by an alternative diagnosis.
Neural MultiVoice Models for Expressing Novel Personalities in Dialog

Natural language generators for task-oriented dialog should be able to vary the style of the output utterance while still effectively realizing the system dialog actions and their associated semantics. While the use of neural generation for training the response generation component of conversational agents promises to simplify the process of producing high quality responses in new domains, to our knowledge, there has been very little investigation of neural generators for task-oriented dialog that can vary their response style, and we know of no experiments on models that can generate responses that are different in style from those seen during training, while still maintain- ing semantic fidelity to the input meaning representation. Here, we show that a model that is trained to achieve a single stylis- tic personality target can produce outputs that combine stylistic targets. We carefully evaluate the multivoice outputs for both semantic fidelity and for similarities to and differences from the linguistic features that characterize the original training style. We show that contrary to our predictions, the learned models do not always simply interpolate model parameters, but rather produce styles that are distinct, and novel from the personalities they were trained on.
Two-dimensional plumbum-doped tin diselenide monolayer transistor with high on/off ratio

Doping can effectively regulate the electrical and optical properties of two-dimensional semiconductors. Here, we present high-quality Pb-doped SnSe2 monolayer exfoliated using a micromechanical cleavage method. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement demonstrates that Pb content of the doped sample is ∼3.6% and doping induces the downward shift of the Fermi level with respect to the pure SnSe2. Transmission electron microscopy characterization exhibits that Pb0.036Sn0. 964Se2 nanosheets have a high-quality hexagonal symmetry structure and Pb element is uniformly distributed in the nanosheets. The current of the SnSe2 field effect transistors (FETs) was found to be very difficult to turn off due to the high electron density. The FETs based on the Pb0.036Sn0. 964Se2 monolayer show n-type behavior with a high on/off ratio of 106 which is higher than any values of SnSe2 FETs reported at the moment. The estimated carrier concentration of Pb0.036Sn0. 964Se2 is approximately six times lower than that of SnSe2. The results suggest that the method of reducing carrier concentration by doping to achieve high on/off ratio is effective, and Pb-doped SnSe2 monolayer has significant potential in future nanoelectronic and optoelectronic applications.
Cortical Reshaping and Functional Recovery Induced by Silk Fibroin Hydrogels-Encapsulated Stem Cells Implanted in Stroke Animals

The restitution of damaged circuitry and functional remodeling of peri-injured areas constitute two main mechanisms for sustaining recovery of the brain after stroke. In this study, a silk fibroin-based biomaterial efficiently supports the survival of intracerebrally implanted mesenchymal stem cells (mSCs) and increases functional outcomes over time in a model of cortical stroke that affects the forepaw sensory and motor representations. We show that the functional mechanisms underlying recovery are related to a substantial preservation of cortical tissue in the first days after mSCs-polymer implantation, followed by delayed cortical plasticity that involved a progressive functional disconnection between the forepaw sensory (FLs1) and caudal motor (cFLm1) representations and an emergent sensory activity in peri-lesional areas belonging to cFLm1. Our results provide evidence that mSCs integrated into silk fibroin hydrogels attenuate the cerebral damage after brain infarction inducing a delayed cortical plasticity in the peri-lesional tissue, this later a functional change described during spontaneous or training rehabilitation-induced recovery. This study shows that brain remapping and sustained recovery were experimentally favored using a stem cell-biomaterial-based approach.