Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing for interaction between APOE ε4, sex, and lifestyle on cognitive abilities

Objective To test for interactions between APOE ε4 genotype and lifestyle factors on worse cognitive abilities in UK Biobank. Methods Using UK Biobank cohort data, we tested for interactions between APOE ε4 allele presence, lifestyle factors of alcohol intake, smoking, total physical activity and obesity, and sex, on cognitive tests of reasoning, information processing speed, and executive function (n range = 70,988–324,725 depending on the test). We statistically adjusted for potential confounders of age, sex, deprivation, cardiometabolic conditions, and educational attainment. Results There were significant associations between APOE ε4 and worse cognitive abilities, independent of potential confounders, and between lifestyle risk factors and worse cognitive abilities; however, there were no interactions at multiple correction-adjusted p < 0.05, against our hypotheses. Conclusions Our results do not provide support for the idea that ε4 genotype increases vulnerability to the negative effects of lifestyle risk factors on cognitive ability, but rather support a primarily outright association between APOE ε4 genotype and worse cognitive ability.
A GPU-Based, Three-Dimensional Level Set Solver with Curvature Flow

Author(s): Lefohn, Aaron; Whitaker, Ross T. | Abstract: Level set methods are a powerful tool for implicitly representing deformable surfaces. Since their inception, these techniques have been used to solve problems in fields as varied as computer vision, scientific visualization, computer graphics and computational physics. With the power and flexibility of this approach; however, comes a large computational burden. In the level set approach, surface motion is computed via a partial differential equation (PDE) framework. One possibility for accelerating level-set based applications is to map the solver kernel onto a commodity graphics processing unit (GPU). GPUs are parallel, vector computers whose power is currently increasing at a faster rate than that of CPUs. in this work, we demonstrate a GPU-based, three-dimensional level set solver that is capable of computing curvature flow as well as other speed terms. Results are shown for this solver segmenting the brain surface from an MRI data set.
A dual-boost converter with zero voltage transition

This paper proposes a novel soft-switching dual-boost converter which is composed of two shunted elementary boost converters and an auxiliary inductor. This converter is able to turn on both the active power switches at zero voltages to reduce their switching losses and evidently raise the conversion efficiency. Since the two parallel-operated elementary boost converters are identical, operation analysis and design for the converter module becomes quite simple. A laboratorial test circuit is built and the circuit operation shows satisfactory agreement to the theoretical analysis. The experimental results show that this converter module performs very well with the output efficiency as high as 95%.
DNA damaging agents and p53 do not cause senescence in quiescent cells, while consecutive re-activation of mTOR is associated with conversion to senescence

When the cell cycle is arrested, growth-promoting pathways such as mTOR (Target of Rapamycin) drive cellular senescence, characterized by cellular hyper-activation, hypertrophy and permanent loss of the proliferative potential. While arresting cell cycle, p53 (under certain conditions) can inhibit the mTOR pathway. Senescence occurs when p53 fails to inhibit mTOR. Low concentrations of DNA-damaging drugs induce p53 at levels that do not inhibit mTOR, thus causing senescence. In quiescence caused by serum starvation, mTOR is deactivated. This predicts that induction of p53 will not cause senescence in such quiescent cells. Here we tested this prediction. In proliferating normal cells, etoposide caused senescence (cells could not resume proliferation after removal of etoposide). Serum starvation prevented induction of senescence, but not of p53, by etoposide. When etoposide was removed, such cells resumed proliferation upon addition of serum. Also, doxorubicin did not cause senescent morphology in the absence of serum. Re-addition of serum caused mTOR-dependent senescence in the presence of etoposide or doxorubicin. Also, serum-starvation prevented senescent morphology caused by nutlin-3a in MCF-7 and Mel-10 cells. We conclude that induction of p53 does not activate the senescence program in quiescent cells. In cells with induced p53, re-activation of mTOR by serum stimulation causes senescence, as an equivalent of cellular growth.
Sources of increased variability in HMM synthetic voices

The paper presents a study on the effect of different methods of coding the STRAIGHT aperiodicity coefficients and models of the vocal tract on the quality of synthetic speech generated using HMMs. Three different coding schemes were implemented in the HTS synthesis system: the classic coding of the mean value in five frequency sub-bands, Mel-cepstral coefficients, and a simple unit selection method. The effect of removing the energy and spectral tilt from the speech spectrum, and modeling them independently from the vocal tract was also studied. Five systems were trained using the ARCTIC_SLT database to test the proposed methods. The synthetic voices were evaluated in three subjective listening tests.
How Risky Are Social Networking Sites? A Comparison of Places Online Where Youth Sexual Solicitation and Harassment Occurs

OBJECTIVE. Recently, public attention has focused on the possibility that social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are being widely used to sexually solicit underage youth, consequently increasing their vulnerability to sexual victimization. Beyond anecdotal accounts, however, whether victimization is more commonly reported in social networking sites is unknown. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS. The Growing up With Media Survey is a national cross-sectional online survey of 1588 youth. Participants were 10- to 15-year-old youth who have used the Internet at least once in the last 6 months. The main outcome measures were unwanted sexual solicitation on the Internet, defined as unwanted requests to talk about sex, provide personal sexual information, and do something sexual, and Internet harassment, defined as rude or mean comments, or spreading of rumors. RESULTS. Fifteen percent of all of the youth reported an unwanted sexual solicitation online in the last year; 4% reported an incident on a social networking site specifically. Thirty-three percent reported an online harassment in the last year; 9% reported an incident on a social networking site specifically. Among targeted youth, solicitations were more commonly reported via instant messaging (43%) and in chat rooms (32%), and harassment was more commonly reported in instant messaging (55%) than through social networking sites (27% and 28%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS. Broad claims of victimization risk, at least defined as unwanted sexual solicitation or harassment, associated with social networking sites do not seem justified. Prevention efforts may have a greater impact if they focus on the psychosocial problems of youth instead of a specific Internet application, including funding for online youth outreach programs, school antibullying programs, and online mental health services.
Public health concerns for neighbors of large-scale swine production operations.

This article provides a review and critical synthesis of research related to public health concerns for neighbors exposed to emissions from large-scale swine production operations. The rapid industrialization of pork production in the 1990s produced a generation of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) of a size previously unseen in the U.S. Recent research and results from federally sponsored scientific symposia consistently indicate that neighbors of large-scale swine CAFOs can experience health problems at significantly higher rates than controlled comparison populations. Symptoms experienced by swine CAFO neighbors are generally oriented toward irritation of the respiratory tract and are consistent with the types of symptoms among interior confinement workers thathave been well documented in the occupational health literature. However, additional exposure assessment research is required to elucidate the relationship of reported symptoms among swine CAFO neighbors and CAFO emissions.
Ambulatory Stress Monitoring with Minimally-Invasive Wearable Sensors

Chronic stress can have serious health consequences, and is a leading risk factor for heart diseases, diabetes, asthma and depression. This article presents a minimally-invasive and wireless wearable sensor platform that can be used to monitor a number of physiological variables known to correlate with stress. We discuss the system design and sensor selection, both of which were guided as a tradeoff between information content and wearability. The platform is thoroughly evaluated through a battery of tests that elicit mental workload and physical activity, as well as through subjective assessments of comfort. Our results indicate that the sensor system is responsive to three broad types of factors: mental workload, posture and physical activity. We also describe a system-identification method that improves detection of mental stress by removing respiratory influences on heart rate.
Auditory Icons: Using Sound in Computer Interfaces

Carroll and Campbell have exercised themselves over a straw man not subscribed to by us. In doing so, they have misrepresented our position and even the statements in our paper. In reply, we restate as clearly as we can the position for which we actually did and do argue and give examples of their misrepresentations. The underlying issue seems to concern the advantages of using technical psychological theories to identify underlying mechanisms in human-computer interaction. We argue that such theories are an important part of a science of human-computer interaction. We argue further that technical theories must be considered in the context of the uses to which they are put. Such considerations help the theorist to determine what is a good approximation, the degree of formalization that is justified, the appropriate commingling of qualitative and quantitative techniques, and encourages cumulative progress through the heuristic of divide and conquer.
Preconditioning Stem Cells for In Vivo Delivery

Abstract Stem cells have emerged as promising tools for the treatment of incurable neural and heart diseases and tissue damage. However, the survival of transplanted stem cells is reported to be low, reducing their therapeutic effects. The major causes of poor survival of stem cells in vivo are linked to anoikis, potential immune rejection, and oxidative damage mediating apoptosis. This review investigates novel methods and potential molecular mechanisms for stem cell preconditioning in vitro to increase their retention after transplantation in damaged tissues. Microenvironmental preconditioning (e.g., hypoxia, heat shock, and exposure to oxidative stress), aggregate formation, and hydrogel encapsulation have been revealed as promising strategies to reduce cell apoptosis in vivo while maintaining biological functions of the cells. Moreover, this review seeks to identify methods of optimizing cell dose preparation to enhance stem cell survival and therapeutic function after transplantation.
Uncovering the dependence of maximum particulate and gaseous air pollutant concentrations on wind directions by nonparametric regression

In a recent study by Henry et al. (2002), nonparametric regression was successfully applied to determine the relationship between the concentration of air pollutants and wind direction. A similar but modified method is applied here to identify wind directions with maximum average concentrations of particulate (PM10, particle number concentration) and gaseous air pollutants (e.g. NOx, CO, O3, NMHC). The outputs of the described method are smooth curves and associated confidence bands. In this study, nonparametric regression models are used to verify the site characterisation scheme within the Swiss national air pollution monitoring network (NABEL) and to study the impact of nearby sources.
An Extended Approach to Personalize the Web Search by Measuring the User Relevance

Current methodologies in personalizing the web search include number of hits on a link by the user, inbound links and user profiling which are independent of user's action. In this paper we present a new dimension of attributes which can be used to get more personalized search results. These attributes are based on the user actions after he/she has opened the given link. The attributes include actions like saving/printing/bookmarking the document etc. which are clear indicators of user relevance. Simulation and experimentation of the same using a web search interface and comparison of search results using precision and recall graphs showed an average of 22% improvement in the relevance of the search results returned, ranging from 0-60% for different weighting models.
Megafires and Smoke Exposure under Future Climate Scenarios in the Contiguous United States

Over the past several years, large highintensity fires, or “megafires,” have set records for the greatest burn area and most costly fires in several U.S. states. In a short period of time, very large wildfires (VLFs) can release many tons of fine particles and other pollutants that are hazardous to human health. Observed increases in VLF occurrence have heightened concerns about widespread air quality impacts. In addition, VLF occurrence is expected to increase in many regions of the United States as the future climate in those regions is likely to be warmer and drier. The danger of smoke exposure from future VLFs depends on several spatial factors, including the likelihood of VLF occurrence, fuel loading and consumption, emission rates, air transport patterns, and population density.
Discriminatory Components for Pattern Classification

The pattern recognition literature is replete with the use of principal component analysis in the interpretation and analysis of data. However, in the specific case of classification, especially of biomedical patterns, this pre-processing method, which transforms possibly correlated features into a new set of uncorrelated variables, must be used with caution since a principal component, which may account for significant variance in the data, is not necessarily discriminatory. To compensate for this deficiency, we present a novel classification method using an adaptive network of fuzzy logic connectives to select the most discriminatory principal components. We empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of this method using a benchmark combination of a conventional classifier and principal
Effect of EndoActivator and Er,Cr:YSGG laser activation of Qmix, as final endodontic irrigant, on sealer penetration: A Confocal microscopic study

Background Through chemomechanical debridement of the root canal is a primary requisite for successful endodontic therapy. Thus the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of using QmiX alone, QmiX with EndoActivator and QmiX with Er,Cr:YSGG laser for final irrigation on sealer penetration into the dentinal tubules. Material and Methods 75 extracted human mandibular premolar teeth were treated with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) irrigation. The samples were divided into 5 groups according to the final irrigation solution used: (1) 17% EDTA and 2.5% NaOCl, (2) QmiX (3) QmiX with Er,Cr:YSGG laser and (4) QmiX with EndoActivator (5) 2.5%NaOCl. All teeth were obturated using cold lateral condensation technique with gutta percha and AH 26 sealer (Dentsply; DeTrey,Konstanz, Germany) labeled with Rhodamine B dye. The teeth were sectioned at distances of 2 and 5 from root apex. Total percentage and maximum depth of sealer penetration were measured using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Results Results of one way Anova analysis showed that there was a significant difference in the percentage and depth of sealer penetration among all groups at 3 and 5 mm level sections (P < .05). Within the groups maximum sealer penetration was recorded for Er,Cr:YSGG laser activated group. Greater depth of sealer penetration was recorded at 5mm as compared to 3mm in all the groups. Conclusions Activation of QMix using EndoActivator and Er,Cr:YSGG laser enhanced the sealer penetration at apical and middle third. Thus Er,Cr:YSGG laser and EndoActivator may act as an appropriate adjunct during chemomechanical preparation of the root canal. Key words:EndoActivator, Er,Cr:YSGG laser, Qmix, confocal microscopy, sealer penetration.
Predicting Micro-catchment Ponded Infiltration Dynamics

Rainfall and concentrated flow experiments were carried out on seven micro-catchments (MCs) that were designed to represent a rangeland restoration strategy using the Vallerani Plow. Prediction of infiltration rates within catchments is necessary to quantify potential benefits of restoration in a modeling framework. 3-D models of MC geometry and continuous stage measurements were used to calculate infiltration rates from field data. Soil samples and Guelph Permeameter (GP) measurements were collected to parameterize a predictive infiltration model. A 2-D simplified cross-section was developed to represent the MCs in Hydrus 2D/3D. The model domain was set up to mimic field simulations, and allowed for rainfall, evaporation, and timevarying ponded water levels. The antecedent rainfall and ponded water levels that were specific to each MC were applied in Hydrus models over a 400-minute simulation. Predicted velocity of water across the catchment boundary was averaged by depth intervals and multiplied against the surface area of that interval to calculate a volumetric flow rate. The soil at the field site had highly variable conductivity, both vertically within the soil profile and between sites. Consequently, four separate models of changes in conductivity with depth were evaluated, resulting in 28 total model runs. Model results were compared to measured infiltration data for six time intervals after the catchment was filled and began draining. The magnitude of predicted volumetric flow rates was highly variable and dependent on the Ks profile used. Use of the maximum field measured conductivity in the Hydrus model provided the best results, though it underpredicted measured flow rates by an average of 12%. Underprediction is likely due to preferential pathways that are not considered in the uniform flow model, the small size of GP measurements relative to the MC and use of a 2-D model to represent 3-D flow. Many opportunities exist to expand the modeling approach to test hypotheses on rangeland erosion and infiltration dynamics, and to develop optimal configurations of MCs at sites being considered for mitigation.
Quality Control of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes Grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition

Vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) has been proposed as a promising material for electrical interconnection and heat dissipation, because of its high electrical and thermal conductivity. Defects and impurities in synthesized VACNT, however, lead to unsatisfactory performance in these applications. To improve the quality of VACNT, we systematically studied the effects of various growth parameters on the quality of VACNT, including growth temperature, the amount of water vapor, carbon source, and hydrogen gas. By tailoring these parameters, we successfully synthesized high-quality VACNTs that were confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. These findings might be helpful for the applications of VACNT in many fields. VACNT-based thermal interface material was successfully made and a low thermal resistance of ~9.0 mm2KW-1 suggests VACNTs' promising potentials in current demanding thermal management.
Present‐Day Deformations of the Jura Arc Inferred by GPS Surveying and Earthquake Focal Mechanisms

This study presents a compilation of more than 40 years of seismotectonic data, including 54 computed focal mechanisms, combined with 15 years of GPS data coming from a dense network of 35 permanent GPS stations within the Jura arc and its vicinity. These data are compared to previous available geomorphological, geophysical, and structural studies in order to discuss the 3D distribution of the deformation within the Jura arc. GPS data show coherent schemes in terms of velocities and allowed to discriminate between two provinces (NE of the belt and in its front/foreland). They also constrain a low but significant overall strain tensor with a NNW‐SSE shortening of 2.16 nanostrain/year associated with an ENE‐WSW extension of 0.44 nanostrain/year. The seismotectonic approach is based on a data set of 2,400 events and 54 focal mechanisms. Inversions of the focal mechanisms both globally and in homogeneous sectors highlight a general strike‐slip deformation regime, with sigma1 oriented NW‐SE and sigma3 oriented NE‐SW. We discriminate two different sectors in terms of basement/cover (un)coupling: (1) potentially decoupled deformation between the basement and the sedimentary cover in the NE part; and (2) coupled deformation in the sedimentary cover and its basement in the Jura foreland.
Cloud Computing and Information Technology Strategy

Cloud computing represents a new paradigm that enables the utility computing model in which computing resources are offered and consumed as a service on demand, pay as you go, in a model similar to that of electricity. The objective of this work is to identify threats and opportunities of the cloud computing model and its influence on the strategy of companies that consume Information Technology. To do so, a survey was conducted with leading IT executives from 64 medium and large companies in Brazil. We noticed the influence of cloud computing in migrating the focus of the corporate IT departments to the management of services and contracts, resulting into the demand for professionals with IT analyst integrated and business profiles.
Rapid Communication: Oxidative Stress Induces Apoptosis in Embryonic Cortical Neurons

Abstract: Glutamate‐induced glutathione depletion in immature embryonic cortical neurons has been shown to lead to oxidative stress and cell death. We have used this in vitro model to investigate the mechanism(s) by which free radicals induce neuronal degeneration. We find that glutathione depletion leads to hypercondensation and fragmentation of chromatin into spherical or irregular shapes, a morphologic signature of apoptosis. These morphologic changes are accompanied by laddering of DNA into multiple oligonucleosomal fragments and can be prevented by the antioxidants idebenone and butylated hydroxyanisole. Cell death induced by glutathione depletion can also be prevented by inhibitors of macromolecular synthesis. Taken together, these observations suggest that oxidative stress can induce apoptosis in neurons.
Fuzzy K-mean Clustering Via Random Forest For Intrusiion Detection System

— Due to continuous growth of the internet technology, there is need to establish security mechanism. So for achieving this objective various NIDS has been propsed. Datamining is one of the most effective techniques used for intrusion detection. This work evaluates the performance of unsupervised learning techniques over benchmark intrusion detection datasets. The model generation is computation intensive, hence to reduce the time required for model generation various feature selection algorithm has been used. Problems with k-mean clustering are hard cluster to class assignment, class dominance, and null class problems. From experimental results it is observed that for 2 class datasets filtered fuzzy random forest dataset gives the better results. It is having 99.2% precision and 100% recall, So it can be summarize that proposed statistical model is giving better performance better results than existing clustering algorithm.