Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retinoid X receptor-γ and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ expression predicts thyroid carcinoma cell response to retinoid and thiazolidinedione treatment

Poorly differentiated, metastatic thyroid cancer is difficult to treat. These tumors often do not concentrate radioactive iodine and may require chemotherapy, which is suboptimal and toxic. Nuclear hormone receptors peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and retinoid X receptor (RXR) are variably expressed in thyroid carcinoma cell lines. Expression of these receptors may predict thyroid cancer cell response to treatment with rexinoids and thiazolidinediones. We studied three thyroid carcinoma cell lines: BHP 5-16 (PPARγ−/RXRγ+), BHP 2-7 (PPARγ±/RXRγ−), and DRO-90 (RXRγ+/PPARγ+). BHP 5-16 (RXRγ+) cells treated with rexinoid had decreased proliferation to 69 ± 6% growth compared with vehicle. BHP 2-7 (PPARγ+) cells treated with thiazolidinedione had no decrease in cellular proliferation. DRO-90 (RXRγ+ and PPARγ+) cells had 36 ± 10%, 15 ± 3%, and 13 ± 4% growth when treated with rexinoid, thiazolidinedione, or a combination, respectively. We next investigated the role of apoptosis in the ligand-responsive BHP 5-16 and DRO-90 cells. BHP 5-16 cells underwent no significant apoptosis with rexinoid (1 μmol/L). DRO-90 cells, however, had 3.6 ± 1.3% apoptotic cells with vehicle, 13 ± 3.5% with rexinoid (1 μmol/L), 18 ± 4% with thiazolidinedione (1 μmol/L), and 28 ± 6% with combination treatment (1 μmol/L), suggesting that apoptosis plays a major role in this anaplastic cell line and that the effects of the two ligands are additive. We conclude that receptor expression is necessary for inhibition of thyroid carcinoma growth with ligand treatment but may not be sufficient for response. Additionally, expression of both RXRγ and PPARγ may be necessary for maximal growth inhibition by ligands and may be required for the increased apoptosis.
Generating network attack graphs for security alert correlation

Most network administrators have got the unpleasant experience of being overwhelmed by tremendous unstructured network security alerts produced by heterogeneous network devices. To date, various approaches have been proposed to correlate security alerts, including the adoption of network attack graphs to clarify their causal relationship. However, there still lacks an operational method to generate attack graphs tailored for alert correlation, especially in large scale network environments. In this paper, we propose a kind of attack graph which can be built in polynomial time using an intuitive object-oriented method. Based on the graph, a criterion is given out to correlate security alerts into scenarios. As practice, a prototype system is implemented to testify the feasibility of the approaches.
In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Polyherbal Formulation against Russell's Viper and Cobra Venom and Screening of Bioactive Components by Docking Studies

The present study emphasizes to reveal the antivenom activity of Aristolochia bracteolata Lam. , Tylophora indica (Burm.f.) Merrill, and Leucas aspera S. which were evaluated against venoms of Daboia russelli russelli (Russell's viper) and Naja naja (Indian cobra). The aqueous extracts of leaves and roots of the above-mentioned plants and their polyherbal (1 : 1 : 1) formulation at a dose of 200 mg/kg showed protection against envenomed mice with LD50 doses of 0.44 mg/kg and 0.28 mg/kg against Russell's viper and cobra venom, respectively. In in vitro antioxidant activities sample extracts showed free radical scavenging effects in dose dependent manner. Computational drug design and docking studies were carried out to predict the neutralizing principles of type I phospholipase A2 (PLA2) from Indian common krait venom. This confirmed that aristolochic acid and leucasin can neutralize type I PLA2 enzyme. Results suggest that these plants could serve as a source of natural antioxidants and common antidote for snake bite. However, further studies are needed to identify the lead molecule responsible for antidote activity.
Analysis and modeling of control tasks in dynamic systems

Most applications of evolutionary algorithms deal with static optimization problems. However, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in time-varying (dynamic) problems, which are typically found in real-world scenarios. One major challenge in this field is the design of realistic test-case generators (TCGs), which requires a systematic analysis of dynamic optimization tasks. So far, only a few TCGs have been suggested. Our investigation leads to the conclusion that these TCGs are not capable of generating realistic dynamic benchmark tests. The result of our research is the design of a new TCG capable of producing realistic nonstationary landscapes.
The Measurement Of The Level Of Compassion Of Nurses In Operating Room

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the compassion levels andthe factors that affect the compassion levels of the operating room nurses,which is an important part of the surgical process. Methods: This descriptivestudy was conducted with 236 nurses working in the operating rooms of publicand private hospitals between December 2017 and January 2018, whichallowed the study to be carried out in Istanbul. The Compassion Scale and theIndividual Information Form were used to collect data. The SPSS 23 forWindows computer program was used to analyze the frequency, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis H Test, Result: 47.1% of the operating roomnurses were male and 52.9% were female. The mean total score of theoperating room nurses Compassion Scale was 3.92 ± 0.85. According togender, kindness, common humanity, mindfulness, disengagement and totalcompassion level in male; ? ndifference and separation were higher in female (p<0.05). According to marital status, the size of indifference was higher inmarried, all other dimensions were higher in single nurses. Conclus? on: In thelight of the findings obtained from the study, it can be said that the highestaverage score can be taken from the scale, and the compassion levels of theoperating room nurses are high.Keywords: Nursing, care, compassion, operating room nurses
Automatic annotation and semantic retrieval of video sequences using multimedia ontologies

Effective usage of multimedia digital libraries has to deal with the problem of building efficient content annotation and retrieval tools. MOM (Multimedia Ontology Manager) is a complete system that allows the creation of multimedia ontologies, supports automatic annotation and creation of extended text (and audio) commentaries of video sequences, and permits complex queries by reasoning on the ontology.
In Search of “Better-than-DCT” Unitary Transforms for Encoding of Residual Signals

It is well known that the discrete cosine transform (DCT) closely approximates the optimal Karhunen-Loève transform (KLT) under the first-order stationary Markov condition with a strong inter-pixel correlation. However, if the inter-pixel correlation is weak or becomes negative, transforms other than the DCT would possibly become better. In this letter, we present a design framework for finding new unitary transforms according to two principles: 1) they are indeed more efficient than the DCT in encoding of signals with a weak or negative inter-pixel correlation (e.g., the residual signals after motion-compensation or intra- prediction) and 2) each has a fixed transform matrix (i.e., signal-independent) and can be implemented as efficiently as the DCT. Some of the new transforms will be used to demonstrate an improved R-D performance in the video coding scenario.
Mimetic desire and mirror neurons: the consciousness of workplace bullying

Workplace bullying is important to business and government, because it has a real impact on unfortunate casualties’ wellbeing and organizations’ benefits. Studies into the causes and outcomes of workplace bullying with a focus on the key psychodynamic factors underlying harassment and the subsequent results are rare. This paper applies Rene Girard’s mimetic desire theory to clarify the elements and non-cognizant components associated with “interdividual” connections prompting aggression for the victim by the harasser. The disclosure of mirror neurons affirms that mimetic desire grows unwittingly through a mediator of the mimetic brain. Mimetic desire theory helps to recognize and understand that the destructive patterns of behavior and emotional responses to situations leading to moral harassment is a direct consequence of the mimetic rivalry between the bully and the victim. The unconscious mechanism is then brought up to the consciousness. The bully and the victim can avoid becoming entrapped within dysfunctional and toxic relationships such as bullying. The use of the mimetic desire concepts also enables human resources managers, bystanders, and practitioners to better deal with protagonists. This can help minimize or eliminate workplace bullying.
Low Power and High Speed Multi Threshold Voltage Interface Circuits

Employing multiple supply voltages (multi- VDD) is an effective technique for reducing the power consumption without sacrificing speed in an integrated circuit (IC). In order to transfer signals among the circuits operating at different voltage levels specialized voltage interface circuits are required. Two novel multi-threshold voltage (multi-Vth) level converters are proposed in this paper. The new multi-Vth level converters are compared with the previously published circuits for operation at different supply voltages. When the circuits are individually optimized for minimum power consumption, the proposed level converters offer significant power savings of up to 70% as compared to the previously published circuits. Alternatively, when the circuits are individually optimized for minimum propagation delay, the speed is enhanced by up to 78% with the proposed voltage interface circuits in a 0.18- mum TSMC CMOS technology.
KRIT1 Regulates the Homeostasis of Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species

KRIT1 is a gene responsible for Cerebral Cavernous Malformations (CCM), a major cerebrovascular disease characterized by abnormally enlarged and leaky capillaries that predispose to seizures, focal neurological deficits, and fatal intracerebral hemorrhage. Comprehensive analysis of the KRIT1 gene in CCM patients has suggested that KRIT1 functions need to be severely impaired for pathogenesis. However, the molecular and cellular functions of KRIT1 as well as CCM pathogenesis mechanisms are still research challenges. We found that KRIT1 plays an important role in molecular mechanisms involved in the maintenance of the intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) homeostasis to prevent oxidative cellular damage. In particular, we demonstrate that KRIT1 loss/down-regulation is associated with a significant increase in intracellular ROS levels. Conversely, ROS levels in KRIT1−/− cells are significantly and dose-dependently reduced after restoration of KRIT1 expression. Moreover, we show that the modulation of intracellular ROS levels by KRIT1 loss/restoration is strictly correlated with the modulation of the expression of the antioxidant protein SOD2 as well as of the transcriptional factor FoxO1, a master regulator of cell responses to oxidative stress and a modulator of SOD2 levels. Furthermore, we show that the KRIT1-dependent maintenance of low ROS levels facilitates the downregulation of cyclin D1 expression required for cell transition from proliferative growth to quiescence. Finally, we demonstrate that the enhanced ROS levels in KRIT1−/− cells are associated with an increased cell susceptibility to oxidative DNA damage and a marked induction of the DNA damage sensor and repair gene Gadd45α, as well as with a decline of mitochondrial energy metabolism. Taken together, our results point to a new model where KRIT1 limits the accumulation of intracellular oxidants and prevents oxidative stress-mediated cellular dysfunction and DNA damage by enhancing the cell capacity to scavenge intracellular ROS through an antioxidant pathway involving FoxO1 and SOD2, thus providing novel and useful insights into the understanding of KRIT1 molecular and cellular functions.
Evaluating detection of near duplicate video segments

The automatic detection of near duplicate video segments, such as multiple takes of a scene or different news video clips showing the same event, has received growing research interest in recent years. However, there is no agreed way of evaluating near duplicate detection algorithms. This makes it very hard to compare the performance of different algorithms, even if they are applied to the same data set. In this paper we have implemented several evaluation measures found in literature and we apply them to real algorithm outputs and a simulated result data set. We then calculate the correlation between the results obtained with the different measures in order to investigate whether they can be compared or not. The results show that the correlation between the measures is some cases quite low, and some measures are especially sensitive to certain types of deviations from the ground truth. However, a group of precision/recall type measures and two others are clearly correlated, though with moderate correlation coefficients. We also analyze the correlation between these measures and the subjective human judgment of the number of repeated segments in summary videos.
YUCCA auxin biosynthetic genes are required for Arabidopsis shade avoidance

Plants respond to neighbor shade by increasing stem and petiole elongation. Shade, sensed by phytochrome photoreceptors, causes stabilization of PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR proteins and subsequent induction of YUCCA auxin biosynthetic genes. To investigate the role of YUCCA genes in phytochrome-mediated elongation, we examined auxin signaling kinetics after an end-of-day far-red (EOD-FR) light treatment, and found that an auxin responsive reporter is rapidly induced within 2 hours of far-red exposure. YUCCA2, 5, 8, and 9 are all induced with similar kinetics suggesting that they could act redundantly to control shade-mediated elongation. To test this hypothesis we constructed a yucca2, 5, 8, 9 quadruple mutant and found that the hypocotyl and petiole EOD-FR and shade avoidance responses are completely disrupted. This work shows that YUCCA auxin biosynthetic genes are essential for detectable shade avoidance and that YUCCA genes are important for petiole shade avoidance.
Being Small for Gestational Age: Does it Matter for the Neurodevelopment of Premature Infants? A Cohort Study

Background Whether being small for gestational age (SGA) increases the risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcome in premature infants remains controversial. Objective to study the impact of SGA (birthweight < percentile 10) on cognition, behavior, neurodevelopmental impairment and use of therapy at 5 years old. Methods This population-based prospective cohort included infants born before 32 weeks of gestation. Cognition was evaluated with the K-ABC, and behavior with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Primary outcomes were cognitive and behavioral scores, as well as neurodevelopmental impairment (cognitive score < 2SD, hearing loss, blindness, or cerebral palsy). The need of therapy, an indirect indicator of neurodevelopmental impairment, was a secondary outcome. Linear and logistic regression models were used to analyze the association of SGA with neurodevelopment. Results 342/515 (76%) premature infants were assessed. SGA was significantly associated with hyperactivity scores of the SDQ (coefficient 0.81, p < 0.04), but not with cognitive scores, neurodevelopmental impairment or the need of therapy. Gestational age, socio-economic status, and major brain lesions were associated with cognitive outcome in the univariate and multivariate model, whereas asphyxia, sepsis and bronchopulmonary dysplasia were associated in the univariate model only. Severe impairment was associated with fetal tobacco exposition, asphyxia, gestational age and major brain lesions. Different neonatal factors were associated with the use of single or multiple therapies: children with one therapy were more likely to have suffered birth asphyxia or necrotizing enterocolitis, whereas the need for several therapies was predicted by major brain lesions. Discussion In this large cohort of premature infants, assessed at 5 years old with a complete panel of tests, SGA was associated with hyperactive behavior, but not with cognition, neurodevelopmental impairment or use of therapy. Birthweight <10th percentile alone does not appear to be an independent risk factor of neurodevelopmental adverse outcome in preterm children.
How Partnership Behaviour Evolves in Networks

Networks have become the dominant life form in many organizational settings. Most studies of relationships in networks focus on the dyadic interaction between two agents. However, work on enactment, sensemaking, path dependency, and social figuration processes (by Weick, Elias, and others) suggests that complex networks cannot be exclusively understood in terms of dyadic relationships. This paper therefore explores emergent processes of enactment and sensemaking in network settings by means of an agent-based model. In particular, we develop an agent-based model of a two-tiered supply network of ten firms with heterogeneous dispositions towards partnership. This model serves to explore the interaction between disposition, sensemaking and behaviour in a network. The simulation results exhibit strong path dependency effects and, in a highly stylised manner, capture the emergent process of enactment and retrospective sensemaking. An important finding is that path dependency effects occur in response to so-called life events (e.g. a calamity that disrupts the flow of products). Our findings also imply that inner dispositions may not determine the actual behaviour emerging over time in complex and turbulent (supply) networks. This raises questions regarding network research that focuses on dyadic relationships studied by means of cross-sectional data.
Acting your avatar’s age: effects of virtual reality avatar embodiment on real life walking speed

ABSTRACT When immersive virtual reality users employ digital self-representations, i.e., avatars, they may be subject to the Proteus effect. This effect describes changes in attitudes and behaviors in accordance with identity cues derived from the employed avatar’s appearance, which can persist after leaving virtual reality. Individual reactions to the experience can affect the strength of observed Proteus effects. Especially the experienced illusions of body ownership of avatars and of being in the virtual environment (spatial presence) have been discussed in this context. This study investigated a Proteus effect of avatar age on post-embodiment walking speed, with special focus on how body ownership and spatial presence moderated this effect. Participants who had previously embodied older avatars took significantly longer to walk a set distance than either young avatar or control group participants. This was only apparent during the first half of the walking phase, which may indicate fast decay rates of the effect after embodiment ended. The reported body ownership could not be shown to impact the strength of the Proteus effect. Participants reporting more pronounced spatial presence were subject to stronger Proteus effects, with only the two-thirds of the sample with higher spatial presence showing evidence of the effect.
Hyperspectral image unmixing using manifold learning methods derivations and comparative tests

In hyperspectral image analysis, pixels are mixtures of spectral components associated to pure materials. Although the linear mixture model is the mostly studied case, nonlinear techniques have been proposed to overcome its limitations. In this paper, a manifold learning approach is used as a dimensionality-reduction step to deal with non-linearities beforehand, or is integrated directly in the endmember extraction and abundance estimation steps using geodesic distances. Simulation results show that these methods improve the precision of estimation in severely nonlinear cases.
The X-Ray Spectra of Black Hole X-Ray Novae in Quiescence as Measured by Chandra

We present Chandra observations of black hole X-ray novae V404 Cyg, A0620-00, GRO J1655-40, and XTE J1550-564 in quiescence. Their quiescent spectra can be well fitted by a power-law model with number slope α ~ 2. While a coronal (Raymond-Smith) model is also a statistically acceptable representation of the spectra, the best-fit temperatures of these models is ~5 times higher than that seen in active stellar coronae. These four spectra of quiescent X-ray novae are all consistent with that expected for accretion via an advection-dominated accretion flow and inconsistent with that expected from a stellar corona. This evidence for continued accretion in quiescence further strengthens the case for the existence of event horizons in black holes. Both A0620-00 and GRO J1655-40 were fainter than in previous observations, while V404 Cyg was more luminous and varied by a factor of 2 in a few kiloseconds. A reanalysis of the X-ray data for XTE J1550-564 shows that (like V404 Cyg and A0620-00) its luminosity exceeds the maximum prediction of the coronal model by a large factor. The 0.3-7 keV luminosities of the four sources studied are in the range from ~1030 to 1033 ergs s-1.
Friction laws for elastic nanoscale contacts

The effect of surface curvature on the law relating frictional forces F with normal load L is investigated by molecular dynamics simulations as a function of surface symmetry, adhesion, and contamination. Curved, non-adhering, dry, commensurate surfaces show a linear dependence, F L, similar to dry flat commensurate or amorphous surfaces and macroscopic surfaces. In contrast, curved, non-adhering, dry, amorphous surfaces show F L2/3 similar to friction force microscopes. Curved lubricated or contaminated surfaces show again different behaviour; details depend on how much of the contaminant gets squeezed out of the contact. The shear stress distribution in the contact is highly non-uniform in all cases, i.e. it is seen that the friction force in the lubricated case is mainly due to atoms at the entrance of the tip.
A Nonparametric Sequential Test for Online Randomized Experiments

We propose a nonparametric sequential test that aims to address two practical problems pertinent to online randomized experiments: (i) how to do a hypothesis test for complex metrics; (ii) how to prevent type 1 error inflation under continuous monitoring. The proposed test does not require knowledge of the underlying probability distribution generating the data. We use the bootstrap to estimate the likelihood for blocks of data followed by mixture sequential probability ratio test. We validate this procedure on data from a major online e-commerce website. We show that the proposed test controls type 1 error at any time, has good power, is robust to misspecification in the distribution generating the data, and allows quick inference in online randomized experiments.