Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Verified Extensible Library of Elliptic Curves

In response to increasing demand for elliptic curve cryptography, and specifically for curves that are free from the suspicion of influence by the NSA, new elliptic curves such as Curve25519 and Curve448 are currently being standardized, implemented, and deployed in major protocols such as Transport Layer Security. As with all new cryptographic code, the correctness of these curve implementations is of concern, because any bug or backdoor in this code can potentially compromise the security of important Internet protocols. We present a principled approach towards the verification of elliptic curve implementations by writing them in the dependently-typed programming language F* and proving them functionally correct against a readable mathematical specification derived from a previous Coq development. A key technical innovation in our work is the use of templates to write and verify arbitrary precision arithmetic once and for all for a variety of Bignum representations used in different curves. We also show how to use abstract types to enforce a coding discipline that mitigates side-channels at the source level. We present a verified F* library that implements the popular curves Curve25519, Curve448, and NIST-P256, and we show how developers can add new curves to this library with minimal programming and verification effort.
Voting Advice Applications and their effect on voter turnout: the case of the German Wahl–O–Mat

In many states, Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) have become an almost indispensable element within electoral campaigns. Many of these tools are part of civic education projects which are supposed to mobilise voters to go to elections. This paper discusses whether VAAs meet this expectation. Out of a theoretical perspective which combines rational choice arguments with the issue–orientation of voters, the paper makes it plausible why VAAs should have such an impact. The empirical test focuses on the German VAA - the Wahl–O–Mat - before the German Federal Election in 2009, drawing on an online–generated dataset provided by the German Longitudinal Election Study which in large is representative for the German online community. The multivariate analyses indicate that, controlled for the relevant variables, using the Wahl–O–Mat indeed had a significant positive effect on the intention to vote.
Treatment goals, continuity of care, and outcome in a day hospital substance abuse rehabilitation program.

OBJECTIVE Relationships between day hospital treatment goals, self-help group participation, and substance use outcome were examined for 180 alcohol- or cocaine-dependent male patients in a day hospital Veterans Administration substance abuse program. METHOD The primary goals assessed were completion of the day hospital program and participation in posttreatment self-help groups. For subjects who completed the day hospital program, progress toward three other goals was also assessed: decreased denial, endorsement of 12-Step beliefs, and participation in self-help groups during the day hospital program. The outcome measures were urine toxicology and self-reports of alcohol or cocaine use at 4- and 7-month post-intake follow-up interviews. RESULTS Day hospital completion and participation in posttreatment self-help groups predicted better outcome. Self-help participation also predicted outcome after day hospital completion was controlled. Among subjects who completed the day hospital program, the other three goals did not predict substance use outcome. However, involvement with self-help groups during the day hospital program and decreases in denial predicted continued involvement with self-help groups. CONCLUSIONS Patients who complete day hospital substance abuse rehabilitation and then continue to participate in self-help groups are likely to have lower rates of alcohol and cocaine use during follow-up. Furthermore, the beneficial effect of self-help group participation does not appear to be strictly the result of motivation or some other patient characteristic.
Naïve Bayes Classification Approach for Mining Life Insurance Databases for Effective Prediction of Customer Preferences over Life Insurance Products

Prediction analysis is a definite need of any business sector for retaining and attracting the most valuable customers . It is considered as a major challenge facing companies in this information age. Data mining enables companies, in the context of defined business objectives, discover new knowledge, to explore, visualise and understand their data, and to identify patterns, relationships and dependencies that impact on business outcomes.The main focus of this paper concerned with Naive Bayesian classification algorithm for customer classification and prediction on Life Insurance dataset.
Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Non-Receptor Type 22 Modulates NOD2-Induced Cytokine Release and Autophagy

Background Variations within the gene locus encoding protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22) are associated with the risk to develop inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). PTPN22 is involved in the regulation of T- and B-cell receptor signaling, but although it is highly expressed in innate immune cells, its function in other signaling pathways is less clear. Here, we study whether loss of PTPN22 controls muramyl-dipeptide (MDP)-induced signaling and effects in immune cells. Material & Methods Stable knockdown of PTPN22 was induced in THP-1 cells by shRNA transduction prior to stimulation with the NOD2 ligand MDP. Cells were analyzed for signaling protein activation and mRNA expression by Western blot and quantitative PCR; cytokine secretion was assessed by ELISA, autophagosome induction by Western blot and immunofluorescence staining. Bone marrow derived dendritic cells (BMDC) were obtained from PTPN22 knockout mice or wild-type animals. Results MDP-treatment induced PTPN22 expression and activity in human and mouse cells. Knockdown of PTPN22 enhanced MDP-induced activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-isoforms p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase as well as canonical NF-κB signaling molecules in THP-1 cells and BMDC derived from PTPN22 knockout mice. Loss of PTPN22 enhanced mRNA levels and secretion of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8 and TNF in THP-1 cells and PTPN22 knockout BMDC. Additionally, loss of PTPN22 resulted in increased, MDP-mediated autophagy in human and mouse cells. Conclusions Our data demonstrate that PTPN22 controls NOD2 signaling, and loss of PTPN22 renders monocytes more reactive towards bacterial products, what might explain the association of PTPN22 variants with IBD pathogenesis.
Structural Spatial Interaction

This paper identifies a concept of structural spatial interaction. Although it is defined differently from its counterpart of structural unemployment in economics, it attempts to define a similar idea. In economics, the focus is on equilibrium in the supply and demand of labor. In this paper structural interaction is that which minimizes aggregate distance travelled, subject to constraints on origins and destinations. The structural interaction model produces an equilibrium, therefore, in the supply and demand of movers, while identifying a spatially efficient trip distribution. It is portrayed as a type of relaxed interaction model and is illustrated using an example of structural migration with Canadian interprovincial migration data.
Automatic Text Categorization using the Importance of Sentences

Automatic text categorization is a problem of automatically assigning text documents to predefined categories. In order to classify text documents, we must extract good features from them. In previous research, a text document is commonly represented by the term frequency and the inverted document frequency of each feature. Since there is a difference between important sentences and unimportant sentences in a document, the features from more important sentences should be considered more than other features. In this paper, we measure the importance of sentences using text summarization techniques. Then a document is represented as a vector of features with different weights according to the importance of each sentence. To verify our new method, we conducted experiments on two language newsgroup data sets: one written by English and the other written by Korean. Four kinds of classifiers were used in our experiments: Naive Bayes, Rocchio, k-NN, and SVM. We observed that our new method made a significant improvement in all classifiers and both data sets.
Design of Lumped-Component Programmable Delay Elements for Ultra-Wideband Beamforming

We introduce a ladder filter-based programmable time-delay element for beamforming in ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. Such a lumped-element realization becomes possible by approximating e-std as a ratio of polynomials (based on Taylor and Padé expansions). When compared with conventional methods based on the tapped delay-line architecture, the proposed technique achieves lower power dissipation, higher delay range and resolution, and better area efficiency. A prototype delay line designed for the 3.1-10.6 GHz UWB range achieves a delay range of 140 ps and a gain range of -30 dB to +10 dB. Fabricated in a 0.25 μm SiGe BiCMOS process, the delay element occupies an active area of 1 mm2 and consumes 53 mW from a 2.5 V supply. A four-antenna beamforming system using the delay element can achieve a scanning range of ±61° with 0.86 ° resolution for an antenna spacing of 15 mm.
Angiogenesis in Rat Uterine Scar after Introduction af Autological Mesenchymal Stem Cells of Bone Marrow Origin

The results of injecting of autologic mesenchymal stem cells of bone marrow origin (AMSCBMO), transfected by the GFP gene, into the scar of rat uterine horns were studied by methods of light microscopy. After the introduction of AMSCBMO into the formed scar on the right (2 months after the ligation) large groups of blood vessels with cellular elements inside were present; groups like that were not found in the opposite side. Studying unstained sections under reflected ultraviolet light the sufficient bright luminescence in the endothelium and the external membrane of scar vessels was found in uterine horn only on the side of introduction of AMSCBMO. It was concluded that after the introduction of AMSCBMO into the scar tissue they form blood vessels by differentiation into endotheliocytes and pericytes. GFP gene expression not only in endothelium of vessels, but also in their external membrane indicates that differentiation of AMSCMBO is possible in endothelial and in pericytal directions.
Molecular imaging in the eye

Molecular imaging plays an increasingly powerful role in elucidating pathophysiological pathways, in advancing drug discovery and in deciphering developmental processes. Multiple modalities, including optical imaging, ultrasound, nuclear imaging, computed tomography and various techniques of MRI are now being used to obtain fundamental new insights at the cellular and molecular level, both in basic research, using animal models and in clinical studies. In permitting unique optical access, the eye is particularly well suited for molecular imaging, for example, transgenic mice in which the fractalkine receptor is rendered intrinsically fluorescent to allow for in vivo monitoring of myeloid immune cells within the retina and choroid by scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO). Retinal cell apoptosis can be assessed by intravitreal injection of fluorescent-labelled annexin 5 in vivo using a similar SLO technique. Intravital microscopy also allows visualisation of CD11c-positive dendritic cells in transgenic mice expressing yellow-fluorescent protein in these immune cells. Adoptive transfer of fluorescent-labelled transgenic T-cells enables visualisation of infiltration by specific T-cells into various eye compartments. On the other hand, functional imaging can be provided by new MR methodologies: deuterium MRI and diffusion MRI analysis techniques permit dynamic studies of water movement in animal eyes. MRI also enables pharmacokinetic studies on ocular drug delivery and detects biomarkers for treatment efficacy in retinopathies. Undoubtedly, these and further molecular imaging techniques currently being developed will have a fundamental impact on experimental and clinical ophthalmology and thus on our understanding of eye disease and development of therapy in general.
Chapter 22. Tactile Communication of Speech Tactile Communication of Speech Project Staff Measures of Tactual Detection and Temporal Order Resolution in Adults with Profound Hearing Impairment

The long-term goal of this research is to develop tactual aids for persons who are profoundly deaf or deaf-blind to serve as a substitute for hearing in the reception of speech and environmental sounds. This research can contribute to improved speech reception and production, language competence, and environmental-sound recognition in such individuals. This research is also relevant to the development of improved tactual and haptic displays for a broad class of applications (including virtual-environment and teleoperator systems in addition to sensory aids).
A declarative formal approach to dynamic reconfiguration

Self-adapting software adapts its behavior in an autonomic way, by dynamically adding, suppressing and recomposing components, and by the use of computational reflection. One way to enforce software robustness while adding adaptative behavior is disposing of a formal support allowing these programs to be modeled, and their properties specified and verified. We propose FracL, a formal framework for specifying and reasoning about dynamic reconfiguration programs written in a Fractal-like programming style. FracL is founded on first-order logic, and allows the specification and proof of properties concerning both functional concerns and control concerns. Its encoding using the Focal proof framework, enable us to prove FracL soundness and to obtain a mechanized framework for reasoning on concrete architectures.
A rapid mapping approach to quantify damages caused by the 2003 bam earthquake using high resolution multitemporal optical images

This paper aims to reveal a methodology used to quantitatively evaluate the impact of an earthquake on a region, considering multi temporal high resolution optical images. The proposed approach was initiated in the frame of GEODIM Project whose goal is to develop a Romanian downstream emergency response service in order to contribute to current disaster and risk management approach based on Earth observation data. The project is focused on developing experimental processing algorithms and mapping products for natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, landslides) damage assessment in urban areas based on very high resolution optical and SAR satellite imagery acquired worldwide. The prospective scenario considers knowledge discovery from pre and post event satellite images by mapping the extracted data features into semantic classes and symbolic representations like “buildings”, “vegetation”, “streets”, “bare land” and “damaged buildings”, etc.
The MIT lincoln laboratory 2008 speaker recognition system

In recent years methods for modeling and mitigating variational nuisances have been introduced and refined. A primary emphasis in this years NIST 2008 Speaker Recognition Evaluation (SRE) was to greatly expand the use of auxiliary microphones. This offered the additional channel variations which has been a historical challenge to speaker verification systems. In this paper we present the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Speaker Recognition system applied to the task in the NIST 2008 SRE. Our approach during the evaluation was two-fold: 1) Utilize recent advances in variational nuisance modeling (latent factor analysis and nuisance attribute projection) to allow our spectral speaker verification systems to better compensate for the channel variation introduced, and 2) fuse systems targeting the different linguistic tiers of information, high and low. The performance of the system is presented when applied on a NIST 2008 SRE task. Post evaluation analysis is conducted on the sub-task when interview microphones are present.
THREE NEW SPECIES OF DENDROCHILUM (ORCHIDACEAE) AND THEIR PHYLOGENETIC POSITIONS ACCORDING TO PLASTID AND NUCLEAR RIBOSOMAL ITS SEQUENCES

Three new species of the Southeast Asian orchid genus Dendrochilum Blume are described. All three seem to belong to the phenetically defined subgenus Platyclinis (Benth.) Pfitzer. As indicated by the name, D. celebesense H.A. Pedersen & Gravend. originates from Sulawesi. The geographic origins of D. coccineum H.A. Pedersen & Gravend. and D. warrenii H.A. Pedersen & Gravend. , on the other hand, are unknown, but parsimony analyses of sequences of the plastid accD-psaI intergenic spacer and nuclear ribosomal ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region and morphological affinities suggest they should both be counted as members of the Philippine flora.
Signal quality and service quality: a study of local and international MBA programs in Vietnam

Purpose – Although it is well known that firms can use signals to inform consumers about the unobservable aspect of their products or services in a market where asymmetric information exists, research on the relationship between signal quality and service quality is largely ignored. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of signal quality in the quality of Master of Business Administration (MBA) education in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 457 MBA students in both local and international MBA programs in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, was used to test a model that incorporates the relationships between signal quality, program investments, perceived quality, and program loyalty by means of structural equation modeling.Findings – The results of this study indicate that signal quality has a positive impact on program quality. In addition, program investments affect both the signal quality and program quality, and program quality underlies program loyalty. Finally, no significant differe.
An Emotion Regulation Framework for Child Welfare Intervention and Programming

The capacity to regulate emotional states is a key building block of human development and one that is impaired among many children involved in the child welfare system. This article explores how the literature on emotion regulation can inform child welfare practice. While the concept of emotion regulation and its measurement suffer from a number of problems, the literature provides a scientifically validated, if complicated, view of how some children in the child welfare system are left ill prepared to handle their emotions effectively. The article offers a number of concepts that can inform the application of current clinical perspectives in use in child welfare. A number of already-developed clinical protocols to increase emotion regulation competence can be imported into child welfare settings, and the emotion regulation literature offers a rich array of new targets and strategies from which to build new interventions and programs.
Contextual Enrichment and Distribution of Practice in the Classroom

Small scale experiments have led us to believe that teaching a lot in a short time is inefficient, perhaps because it overtaxes student resources. This principle, however, has not been adequately tested in realistic instructional settings. Another untested practical notion derived from psychological theory is that diversifying environmental contexts of teaching and providing contextual aids for the organization of course content can make instruction more effective, particularly when it is massed. These predictions were tested with an 8-hour statistics course, consisting of four videotaped lessons. The lessons were presented either within a single day or over 4 days. Environmental context was either diversified, by teaching the lessons in four different rooms, or was held constant by using a single room setting. Retention was tested 5 days after training in a totally new environment. Field independence of subjects was measured by the Group Embedded Figures test. We found: (1) Distribution of lessons over 4.
Long-term cigarette smoke exposure inhibits histone deacetylase 2 expression and enhances the nuclear factor-κB activation in skeletal muscle of mice

Long-term cigarette smoke induces lung inflammatory injury and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), associated with skeletal muscle inflammation. This study aimed at investigating how cigarette smoke promotes skeletal muscle inflammation and its molecular pathogenesis. Mice were exposed to air or cigarette smoke for 12 or 24 weeks, and C2C12 cells were stimulated with cigarette smoke extract (CSE). The mass and function, myotube formation, inflammatory cytokine production, histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65 expression were detected in the gastrocnemius muscles of mice and C2C12 cells. In comparison with the control mice, cigarette smoke significantly damaged the lung and reduced the gastrocnemius muscle mass and body weights in mice. Cigarette smoke significantly down-regulated myosin heavy chain (MHC)-IIβ and HDAC2 expression, but enhanced NF-κBp65, keratinocyte chemoattractant (KC) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α expression in the gastrocnemius muscles. CSE stimulation significantly inhibited the myotube formation, MyoD and HDAC2 expression, but enhanced NF-κBp65 expression, KC and TNF-α production in C2C12 cells, which were enhanced by HDAC2 knockdown and abrogated by a NF-κB inhibitor. CSE significantly inhibited the interaction of HDAC2 with NF-κBp65, and increased the levels of acetyl-NF-κBp65 in C2C12 cells. These data indicated that cigarette smoke inhibited HDAC2 expression and its interaction with NF-κBp65 to stimulate inflammation, contributing to the pathogenesis of COPD-related skeletal muscle atrophy in mice.
Bacterially-Associated Transcriptional Remodelling in a Distinct Genomic Subtype of Colorectal Cancer Provides a Plausible Molecular Basis for Disease Development

The relevance of specific microbial colonisation to colorectal cancer (CRC) disease pathogenesis is increasingly recognised, but our understanding of possible underlying molecular mechanisms that may link colonisation to disease in vivo remains limited. Here, we investigate the relationships between the most commonly studied CRC-associated bacteria (Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, pks+ Escherichia coli, Fusobacterium spp., afaC+ E. coli, Enterococcus faecalis & Enteropathogenic E. coli) and altered transcriptomic and methylation profiles of CRC patients, in order to gain insight into the potential contribution of these bacteria in the aetiopathogenesis of CRC. We show that colonisation by E. faecalis and high levels of Fusobacterium is associated with a specific transcriptomic subtype of CRC that is characterised by CpG island methylation, microsatellite instability and a significant increase in inflammatory and DNA damage pathways. Analysis of the significant, bacterially-associated changes in host gene expression, both at the level of individual genes as well as pathways, revealed a transcriptional remodeling that provides a plausible mechanistic link between specific bacterial colonisation and colorectal cancer disease development and progression in this subtype; these included upregulation of REG3A, REG1A and REG1P in the case of high-level colonization by Fusobacterium, and CXCL10 and BMI1 in the case of colonisation by E. faecalis. The enrichment of both E. faecalis and Fusobacterium in this CRC subtype suggests that polymicrobial colonisation of the colonic epithelium may well be an important aspect of colonic tumourigenesis.
Programmable at-speed array and functional BIST for embedded DRAM LSI

A new approach to DFT (design for test) for an embedded DRAM LSI is proposed in This work. One powerful BIST engine is implemented on the LSI, which executes not only the array BIST for the DRAM and SRAM macros, but also functional BIST for the whole chip. It was implemented in an embedded DRAM cache LSI which is presented together with measured results.