Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Greedy Resource Occupancy Threat in Dynamic Spectrum Access

Recently, security issues in dynamic spectrum access (DSA) received more and more attention. One type of threat, which we call the greedy resource occupancy, has long been ignored so far. Specifically, a secondary user (SU) may greedily occupy spectrum for a long time, which makes other SUs suffer additional waiting time to access the spectrum and leads to congestion or breakdown. In this paper, we investigated the DSA networks with greedy users. The primary user's privilege of accessing the networks at any time is also taken into account. Accordingly, the process of DSA is treated as a privilege-existing multidimensional queueing process. First, we propose an analysis framework for the queueing system and exploit it to investigate impacts of greedy SUs (GSUs) on system performance, i.e., the queue size and waiting time in queue. Second, we propose a wavelet based method to detect the greedy resource occupancy threat quickly. Since a sudden change in average occupancy time of the GSU will produce dramatic performance degradation, the GSU prefers to increase his occupancy time in a gradual manner to avoid the easy detection. Third, to protect honest SUs from being affected by GSUs, a protection strategy is put forward, and the system performance with the strategy has also been analyzed by the queueing analysis. Last, we conduct numerical analyses to demonstrate explicit impacts of GSUs on the system performance as well as efficacy of the protection strategy. We also carry out simulations on the detecting approach, and the results verify effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed approach.
Synchrony through twice-frequency forcing for sensitive and selective auditory processing

Male mosquitoes detect flying females using antennal hearing organs sensitive to nanoscale mechanical displacements and that harbor motile mechanosensory neurons. The mechanisms supporting neuronal motility, and their function in peripheral sensory processing, remain, however, puzzling. The mechanical and neural responses reveal a transition that unmasks the onset of synchronization between sensory neurons. This synchronization constitutes an unconventional, mechanically driven, process of communication between sensory neurons. Enhancing auditory sensitivity and selectivity, synchronization between mechanosensors in the mosquito arises from entrainment to twice-frequency forcing and is formally analogous to injection-locking in high-power laser technology. This discovery opens up the enticing possibility that other sensory systems, even nonsensory cell ensembles, coordinate their actions through mechanical signaling.
Thinking styles and emotional states of male and female prison inmates by mental disorder status.

OBJECTIVES This study explored criminal thinking styles and feelings of aggression and hopelessness among male and female inmates who reported mental disorders and those who did not. METHODS A total of 4,204 respondents (3,986 males and 218 females) who were expected to be released from prison within 24 months completed an hour-long audio computer-assisted self-interview survey that included the Beck Hopelessness Scale, Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire Short-Form, and Criminal Sentiments Scale-Modified. Weights were constructed to adjust the sampled population to the full population of the prison. RESULTS A mental disorder was reported by 19.8% of male and 46.1% of female participants, with 6.6% of males and 19.4% of females reporting a serious mental disorder. The criminal thinking patterns of male and female inmates who reported mental disorders were consistent with those of inmates who reported no mental disorders; however, levels of criminal attitudes were significantly higher among males reporting serious mental disorders than males reporting other mental disorders or no disorders. Inmates reporting mental disorders scored significantly higher on measures of aggression and hopelessness. CONCLUSIONS Results of this study suggest that inmates who report mental disorders have antisocial attitudes consistent with inmates who do not report mental disorders but have levels of aggression and hopelessness that are higher than their counterparts who do not report mental disorders. These findings are vital to the development of evidence-based interventions that respond accurately and holistically to the complex constellation of needs among persons with mental disorders who are involved in the justice system.
Relative contribution of the dorsal raphe nucleus and ventrolateral periaqueductal gray to morphine antinociception and tolerance in the rat

The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is embedded in the ventral part of the caudal periaqueductal gray (PAG). Electrical or chemical activation of neurons throughout this region produces antinociception. The objective of this manuscript is to determine whether the ventrolateral PAG and DRN are distinct antinociceptive systems. This hypothesis was tested by determining the antinociceptive potency of microinjecting morphine into each structure (Experiment 1), creating a map of effective microinjection sites that produce antinociception (Experiment 2) and comparing the development of antinociceptive tolerance to repeated microinjections of morphine into the ventrolateral PAG and DRN (Experiment 3). Morphine was more potent following cumulative injections (1.0, 2.2, 4.6 & 10 μg/0.2 μL) into the ventrolateral PAG (D50 = 3.3 μg) compared to the lateral (4.3 μg) or medial DRN (5.8 μg). Antinociception occurred following 94% of the morphine injections into the ventrolateral PAG, whereas only 68.3% and 78.3% of the injections into the lateral and medial aspects of the DRN produced antinociception. Repeated microinjections of morphine into the ventrolateral PAG produced tolerance as indicated by a 528% difference in potency between morphine and saline pretreated rats. In contrast, relatively small changes in potency occurred following repeated microinjections of morphine into the lateral and medial aspects of the DRN (107% and 49%, respectively). These data indicate that the ventrolateral PAG and DRN are distinct antinociceptive structures. Antinociception is greater with injections into the ventrolateral PAG compared to the DRN, but this antinociception disappears rapidly because of the development of tolerance.
Incidence and risk factors for surgical infection after total knee replacement

Surgical site infection (SSI) after total knee replacement (TKR) is a devastating complication. We performed a retrospective study of all consecutive TKRs performed during a 2-y period. Surgical site infection (SSI) was defined by standard criteria. All patients were examined 1 y following surgery. Of 180 patients undergoing TKR, 10 (5.6%) developed a superficial (3, 1.7%) or deep (7, 3.9%) SSI. Two independent risk factors for SSI were detected: left knees became infected more often (9/92, 9.8%) than right knees (1/88, 1.1%) (Relative Risk 6.7±95% CI 1.7–26.8); and 7/72 (9.7%) patients receiving a type-1 prosthesis developed infection versus 3/104 (3.1%) receiving a type-2 prosthesis (RR 4.7, 95% CI 1.18–18.4). Investigation of the operating room revealed 3 problems: there was significant traffic through the door on the left of the patient; a non-standard horizontal-flow air conditioner had been installed above that door; a tool-washing sink was in use on the other side of that door. Infection control guidelines were rehearsed: the sink was removed, the air conditioner was disconnected, and the door was locked. In a prospective survey performed 2 y later only 1/45 patients (2.2%) undergoing TKR developed a superficial SSI (p=0.5). Correction of independent risk factors for infection following TKR led to a decrease in SSI rate.
Letter Transpositions within Morphemes and across Morpheme Boundaries

Recent evidence has revealed conflicting results regarding the influence of letter transpositions during the recognition of morphologically complex words. While some studies suggest that the disruption of the morpheme boundary through across-boundary transpositions (e.g., dar nk ess) leads to the absence of masked transposed-letter (TL) priming, other studies have found that TL priming occurs independently of whether or not letters have been transposed across the boundary. We conducted three experiments to test whether the difference between TL- within and TL-across priming is modulated by (a) the transposition of internal versus external letters of the stem (Experiment 1), (b) the overall proportion of affixed trials (Experiment 2), or (c) the relative frequency between prime and target (Experiment 3). The results revealed equal TL-within and TL-across boundary priming across all three experiments, which adds to previous findings suggesting that across-boundary transpositions do not interfere with the recognition of morphologically complex words.
Private Information Retrieval With Side Information

We study the problem of Private Information Retrieval (PIR) in the presence of prior side information. The problem setup includes a database of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> independent messages possibly replicated on several servers, and a user that needs to retrieve one of these messages. In addition, the user has some prior side information in the form of a subset of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M$ </tex-math></inline-formula> messages, not containing the desired message and unknown to the servers. This problem is motivated by practical settings in which the user can obtain side information opportunistically from other users or has previously downloaded some messages using classical PIR schemes. The objective of the user is to retrieve the required message with downloading minimum amount of data from the servers while achieving information-theoretic privacy in one of the following two scenarios: (i) the user wants to protect jointly the identities of the demand and the side information; (ii) the user wants to protect only the identity of the demand, but not necessarily the side information. To highlight the role of side information, we focus first on the case of a single server (single database). In the first scenario, we prove that the minimum download cost is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K-M$ </tex-math></inline-formula> messages, and in the second scenario it is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lceil K/(M+1)\rceil $ </tex-math></inline-formula> messages, which should be compared to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> messages—the minimum download cost in the case of no side information. Then, we extend some of our results to the case of the database replicated on multiple servers. Our proof techniques relate PIR with side information to the index coding problem. We leverage this connection to prove converse results, as well as to design achievability schemes.
Habitual fish consumption and risk of incident stroke: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC)–Norfolk prospective population study

Abstract Objectives To examine the association between fish consumption and stroke risk. Design Prospective population cohort study. Setting Norfolk, UK cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC–Norfolk). Subjects Subjects were 24 312 men and women aged 40–79 years who had no previous history of stroke at baseline. Methods Fish consumption was assessed using a food-frequency questionnaire at baseline in 1993–1997 and stroke incidence ascertained to 2004. Results A total of 421 incident strokes were identified (mean follow-up=8.5 years, total person-years=209 238). There were no significant relationships between total fish, shellfish or fish roe consumption and risk of stroke in men and women after adjusting for age, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, smoking, cholesterol, diabetes, physical activity, alcohol consumption, fish oil supplement use and total energy intake using Cox regression analyses. Oily fish consumption was significantly lower in women who subsequently had a stroke (odds ratio (OR) for consumers vs. non-consumers=0.69, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.51–0.94, P=0.02). The trend in men was similar but not significant (OR for consumers vs. non-consumers=0.88, 95% CI 0.65–1.19, P=0.41). Conclusions There was no consistent relationship between fish consumption and stroke in this British population. Inconsistencies in the observed health effects of fish consumption in different populations may reflect different patterns and type of fish consumed and preparation methods.
Mild Hyperhomocysteinemia and Hemostatic Factors in Patients with Arterial Vascular Diseases

Summary Mild hyperhomocysteinemia, due to genetic or to environmental factors, is now recognized as a risk factor for premature arterial disease, including peripheral arterial occlusion, thrombotic stroke and myocardial infarction. It is defined by either an increased level of fasting homocysteine or by an increased level after loading with methionine, which is more frequently altered than the former. We studied the hemostatic parameters in 88 patients with premature arterial disease (mean age 43 ± 11 years). We confirmed previously known hemostatic alterations described in vascular patients when compared to controls, but found that, among patients, some of these parameters were more altered in hyperhomocysteinemic patients. When fasting homocysteine was increased, higher alterations were found in factors VIIIc, von Wille- brand and thombin-antithrombin complexes were more elevated. When post-methionine load homocysteine was increased, alterations in fibrinolytic parameters were more pronounced.
Interferon and cytotoxic chemotherapy for the treatment of post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorder

Abstract: Interferon‐α and cytotoxic chemotherapy may be effective treatment modalities for the post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. Interferon‐α may result in a complete response in up to 40% of patients, while chemotherapy may be effective in 75% of those failing local surgical excision, a reduction in immunosuppression, and an antiviral agent. Interferon may be used early after diagnosis in patients with relatively slowly growing tumors. Chemotherapy should be selected for patients with bulky, rapidly growing malignancies. The toxicity of chemotherapy may be minimized by discontinuing maintenance immunosuppression during chemotherapy, administering GCSF, and providing antimicrobial prophylaxis. Rejection is minimized by the reintroduction of maintenance immunosuppression when the patient is no longer neutropenic.
Constrained feedback control of discrete-time systems decribed by ARMA models

In this paper the problem of determination of bounded output-feedback control laws which stabilize multivariable discrete-time systems described by ARMA models is investigated. The proposed approach is based upon the properties of polyhedral positively invariant sets with respect to this class of systems. In the first part of the paper, necessary and sufficient conditions for the positive invariance of polyhedral sets are established. Then, conditions guaranteeing the existence of a solution to the constrained control problem are developed. Finally, it is shown that a solution to this problem can been obtained by solving a linear programming problem.
Concentrations of Glycolytic Enzymes and Other Cytosolic Proteins in the Diffusible Fraction of a Vertebrate Muscle Proteome*

We used a novel microvolumetric technique based on protein diffusion to characterize the subproteome of muscle that consists of diffusible proteins, including those involved in cell metabolism. Muscle fiber segments were mechanically demembranated under mineral oil and transferred into drops of relaxing solution. After the fiber segment was depleted of diffusible proteins, the content of each drop and residual segment was analyzed by one-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Proteins were identified through peptide mass fingerprinting and quantified using purified protein standards. Ten of the most abundant cytosolic proteins, distinguished by their ability to readily diffuse out of the skinned fiber, were glycolytic enzymes whose concentrations ranged from 2.6 ± 1.0 g liter−1 (phosphoglucose isomerase) to 12.8 ± 1.1 g liter−1 fiber volume (pyruvate kinase). The concentrations of the other five most abundant cytosolic proteins were as follows: glycogen phosphorylase, 6.0 ± 2.3 g liter−1; phosphoglucose mutase, 2.2 ± 0.2 g liter−1; adenylate kinase, 1.6 ± 1.3 g liter−1; phosphocreatine kinase, 6.6 ± 2.6 g liter−1; and parvalbumin, 0.7 ± 0.4 g liter−1. Given the molecular weight and subunit number of each enzyme, the combined concentration of the 15 most abundant cytosolic proteins was 82.3 g liter−1; the volume fraction was 0.093. The large volume fraction of diffusible proteins favors nonspecific interactions and associations, particularly if the glycolytic enzymes and diffusible phosphocreatine kinase are restricted to the I-band as previous studies suggest. The relative molar concentration of glycolytic enzymes is roughly consistent with a stoichiometry of 1:2 for enzymes catalyzing the hexose and triose sugar reactions, respectively, a stoichiometry that may favor metabolic channeling of intermediates during glycolysis. Our results indicate that subcellular fractionation of muscle proteins, in which cytosolic constituents are distinguished by their ability to diffuse readily from demembranated cells, is a promising microvolumetric technique that allows conclusions to be drawn about native protein-protein interactions based on concentration and stoichiometry.
Modulating the release kinetics through the control of the permeability of the layer-by-layer assembly: a review

The layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technique has emerged as a simple and versatile method for coating biological and non-biological templates for various biomedical applications. A promising avenue of this technique lies in the encapsulation of drugs and other biological substances for controlled release. Fundamental studies of LbL assembly on flat surfaces have provided a sound understanding of film deposition theory and its pertinence to ionic and molecular transport and diffusion through polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) films. However, there is a lack of information on the permeability of three-dimensional PEM shell systems. In either PEM films or shells, it has been shown that drug release is a function of the ionic strength, pH and/or multilayer thickness. This report aims to provide an overview of the physicochemical parameters affecting the permeability of two- and three-dimensional multilayer shells, including ionic strength, layer number and pH. Furthermore, their synergic effect on loading and release of biologically active molecules from LbL multilayers are discussed.
In silico mining of microsatellites in coding sequences of the date palm (Arecaceae) genome, characterization, and transferability1

Premise of the study: To complement existing sets of primarily dinucleotide microsatellite loci from noncoding sequences of date palm, we developed primers for tri- and hexanucleotide microsatellite loci identified within genes. Due to their conserved genomic locations, the primers should be useful in other palm taxa, and their utility was tested in seven other Phoenix species and in Chamaerops, Livistona, and Hyphaene. Methods and Results: Tandem repeat motifs of 3–6 bp were searched using a simple sequence repeat (SSR)–pipeline package in coding portions of the date palm draft genome sequence. Fifteen loci produced highly consistent amplification, intraspecific polymorphisms, and stepwise mutation patterns. Conclusions: These microsatellite loci showed sufficient levels of variability and transferability to make them useful for population genetic, selection signature, and interspecific gene flow studies in Phoenix and other Coryphoideae genera.
Fish tooth δ18O revising Late Cretaceous meridional upper ocean water temperature gradients

The oxygen isotope composition of fossil fi sh teeth, a paleo– upper ocean temperature proxy exceptionally resistant to diagenetic alteration, provides new insight on the evolution of the low- to middlelatitude thermal gradient between the middle Cretaceous climatic optimum and the cooler latest Cretaceous period. The new middle Cretaceous low to middle latitude thermal gradient agrees with that previously inferred from planktonic foraminifera δ 18O recovered from Deep Sea Drilling Project and Ocean Drilling Program drilling sites, although the isotopic temperatures derived from δ 18O of fish teeth are uniformly higher by ~3–4 °C. In contrast, our new latest Cretaceous thermal gradient is markedly steeper than those previously published for this period. Fish tooth δ18O data demonstrate that low- to middle-latitude thermal gradients of the middle Cretaceous climatic optimum and of the cooler latest Cretaceous are similar to the modern one, despite a cooling of 7 °C between the two periods. Our new results imply that no drastic changes in meridional heat transport are required to explain the Late Cretaceous climate. Based on climate models, such a cooling without any change in the low to middle latitude thermal gradient supports an atmospheric CO2 decrease as the primary driver of the climatic evolution recorded during the Late Cretaceous.
Context-sensitive machine learning for intelligent human behavior analysis

Intelligent automatic human behavior analysis is an essential precondition for conversational agent systems that aim to enable natural, emotionally sensitive human-computer interaction. This thesis focuses on automatic verbal and non-verbal behavior analysis and introduces novel speech processing and machine learning architectures that are capable of inferring the spoken content as well as the affective state from the speech signal.
Autoantibodies to heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins

Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) are among the most abundant proteins in the eukaryotic cell nucleus and play a direct role in several aspects of the RNA life including splicing, export of the mature RNAs and translation. To date, ∼30 proteins have been identified. A growing body of evidence points to hnRNPs as an important target of the autoimmune response in rheumatic diseases. Autoantibodies to A and B proteins of the hnRNP complex have been detected in late 1980s in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). Beyond their role as diagnostic test in clinical practice, these autoantibodies are starting to be regarded as important tools to obtain deeper insight into the pathogenesis of autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Furthermore, new anti-hnRNP antibodies have been recognized in the last ten years extending the spectrum of anti-hnRNP reactivity in different autoimmune disorders.
BIOACCUMULATION OF HEAVY METALS IN FISH (HYDROCYNUS FORSKAHLII, HYPEROPISUS BEBE OCCIDENTALIS AND CLARIAS GARIEPINUS) ORGANS IN DOWNSTREAM OGUN COASTAL WATER, NIGERIA

In this study accumulation of some heavy metals Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni) and Lead (Pb) in the operculum, gills, heart, kidney, muscle and vertebrae were determined in some fishes (Hydrocynus forskahlii, Hyperopisus bebe occidentalis and Clarias gariepinus) collected from fishermen around Ogun estuary. The accumulation of the metals in different organs showed significant differences (P H. bebe occidentalis > C. gariepinus and the pattern of distribution was Ni > Cr > Co > Cd > Pb for all the fish species. The levels of Ni and Cr in this study were higher than the maximum permissible limits (FAO, UNEP, FEPA and WHO) for human consumption and that of Cd, Pb and Co were still lower. Safe disposals of domestic sewage and industrial effluents as well as enforcement of laws enacted to protect our environment are therefore advocated.