Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collagen fiber sliding during ligament growth and contracture

It is hypothesized that the sliding of collagen fibers past one another plays an important role in changes of ligament length during growth or contracture. To explore this possibility, we used the fluorescent dye dichlorotriazinyl fluorescein to stain collagen fibers perpendicular to their orientation in a rat medial collateral ligament model. Growth, contracture, and control models (with rats weighing 50–75 g in the first and 500–600 g in the latter two groups) were studied. In the contracture model, the medial collateral ligament was transected distally. Marking sutures were used to verify the presence of growth or contracture in each medial collateral ligament. Fluorescence photomicrography after 2 weeks demonstrated stained collagen fibers protruding from either side of the original mark as one would expect, in either growth or contracture, if the fibers slid past one another and away from their initial location during changes in length. By measuring the initial and final widths of the growth and contracture model marks and correlating them to controls that had minimal growth (rats grow throughout their life) and were free of contracture, we have provided evidence that collagen sliding plays a significant role in changes in ligament length.
The Psychological Mechanism Underlying Communication Effects on Behavioral Intention: Focusing on Affect and Cognition in the Cancer Context

This study theorized the relationship among information exposure, affect, cognition, and behavioral intention by constructing a comprehensive model that combines an integrative model, media effects studies, and the risk-as-feelings hypothesis. Specifically, in the cancer context, we examined how exposure to information is associated with affect and cognition, which influence behavioral intention. A two-wave survey about stomach cancer was conducted among Korean people aged 40 or older (n = 1,130 at Wave 1 and 813 at Wave 2). Exposure to cancer information was positively associated with affective (cancer fear), affective-cognitive (cancer worry), and cognitive (risk perception) conditions at Wave 1, which predicted screening intention at Wave 2. However, cancer fear reduced screening intention, unlike cancer worry and cancer risk perception, which increased screening intention. While cancer risk perception influenced screening intention indirectly through norm, cancer fear and cancer worry had a direct impact on screening intention.
BDBComp: building a digital library for the Brazilian computer science community

We report initial efforts towards building BDBComp, a digital library for the Brazilian computer science community. BDBComp is based on a number of standards (e.g., OAI, Dublin Core, SQL) as well as on new technologies (e.g., Web data extraction tools), which allowed fast and easy prototyping. We focus on architectural issues and specific challenges faced during the construction of this digital library as well as on proposed solutions.
Effect of Mechanical Stimulation on Osteoblast- and Osteoclast-Like Cells in vitro

Bone-forming osteoblasts and bone-resorbing osteoclasts play an important role during maintenance, adaptation and healing of bone, and both cell types are influenced by physical activity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of a narrow mechanical stimulation window on osteoblast- and osteoclast-like cells. Primary human cells were cultured on a bone-like structure (dentine) and three-point bending with approximately 1,100 microstrain was applied to the dentine at varying frequencies (0.1 and 0.3 Hz) and duration (1, 3 and 5 min daily over 5 days) resulting in different patterns of mechanical stimulation of osteoblast- and osteoclast-like cells. The longest stimulation (5 min at 0.1 Hz) induced a significant increase in osteoblast alkaline phosphatase activity and a significant decrease in osteoprotegerin (OPG) production, and resulted in a significant increase in the soluble receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (sRANKL)/OPG ratio towards sRANKL in comparison to the unstimulated osteoblast-like cells. All stimulations caused a significant decrease in collagen type 1 synthesis. Stimulation for 1 min at 0.3 Hz decreased the fusion and resorption activity of the osteoclast-like cells. These results demonstrate a direct effect of mechanical stimuli on osteoblast-like cells as well as on osteoclast formation and activity in vitro. The change in the sRANKL/OPG ratio towards the stimulation of osteoclastogenesis stresses the necessity to investigate the effect of the same stimulation parameter on the co-culture of both cell types.
The Extra Loop Distinguishing POR from the Structurally Related Short-chain Alcohol Dehydrogenases Is Dispensable for Pigment Binding but Needed for the Assembly of Light-harvesting POR-Protochlorophyllide Complex*

We have recently discovered a protochlorophyllide (Pchlide)-based light-harvesting complex involved in chlorophylla biosynthesis. This complex consists of the two previously identified NADPH:protochlorophyllide oxidoreductases (PORs), PORA and PORB, their natural substrates (Pchlide b and Pchlidea, respectively), plus NADPH. These are all held together in a stoichiometry of five PORA-Pchlide b-NADPH complexes and one PORB-Pchlide a-NADPH complex in the prolamellar body of etioplasts. The assembly of this novel light-harvesting POR-Pchlide complex (LHPP) requires both the proper interaction of the PORA and PORB with their cognate substrates as well as the oligomerization of the resulting POR-pigment-NADPH ternary complexes into the native, lipid-containing structure of the etioplast. In this study, we demonstrate that the conserved extra sequence that distinguishes PORA and PORB from the structurally related short-chain alcohol dehydrogenases, is dispensable for pigment binding but needed for the assembly of LHPP. As shown by in vitro mutagenesis, deleting this extra sequence gave rise to assembly-incompetent but pigment-containing PORA and PORB polypeptides.
The Research and Amelioration of Pattern-matching Algorithm in Intrusion Detection System

This paper makes a summary of pattern matching algorithm in Intrusion Detection System: KMP algorithm, BM algorithm, BMH algorithm, BMHS algorithm, AC algorithm and AC-BM algorithm. The performances of various algorithms are analyzed, and then through the experiment data is verified. Last an improved algorithm based on AC-BM algorithm is proposed. The improved algorithm constructs pattern tree based on binary tree, and it can reduce the time. In addition, the algorithm increases the moving distance of pattern tree, reduces the comparing times by using the bad-character rule of improved BMHS algorithm. Experiments show that the improved algorithm can accelerate the matching speed and has a good time performance.
Replication of Genome Wide Association Studies on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Susceptibility Loci in a Chinese Population

Background Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified three loci (rs17401966 in KIF1B, rs7574865 in STAT4, rs9275319 in HLA-DQ) as being associated with hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-related HCC) in a Chinese population, two loci (rs2596542 in MICA, rs9275572 located between HLA-DQA and HLA-DQB) with hepatitis C virus-related HCC (HCV-related HCC) in a Japanese population. In the present study, we sought to determine whether these SNPs are predictive for HBV-related HCC development in other Chinese population as well. Method and Findings We genotyped 4 SNPs, rs2596542, rs9275572, rs17401966, rs7574865, in 506 HBV-related HCC patients and 772 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients in Han Chinese by TaqMan methods. Odds ratio(OR)and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated by logistic regression. In our case-control study, significant association between rs9275572 and HCC were observed (P = 0.02, OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.56–0.95). In the further haplotype analysis between rs2596542 at 6p21.33 and rs9275572 at 6p21.3, G-A showed a protective effect on HBV-related HCC occurrence (P<0.001, OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.52–0.84). Conclusion These findings provided convincing evidence that rs9275572 significantly associated with HBV-related HCC.
Analysis of Seismic Electromagnetic Phenomena Using the FDTD Method

Anomalous electromagnetic (EM) phenomena of the ultra-low frequency (ULF) and the extremely low frequency (ELF) prior to or during earthquakes are analyzed using the geodesic finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm and accurate geological EM data. Firstly, the underground EM eruption caused by the earthquake physical process is simulated, and its effects on the surface EM field are analyzed.Based on a series of simulations, a new explanation to the former observed ULF and ELF anomalies prior to and during earthquakes is proposed. Thereafter, to explain the enhancement of the Schumann resonances (SRs) observed in recent years, localized D-region ionospheric anomalies and background lightning noises are added simultaneously into the earthquake EM simulations, and the results are discussed. Finally, the general rules of seismic EM phenomena in the frequency range 0-40 Hz are summarized, and potential earthquake prediction methods are suggested.
Using Three States for Binary Consensus on Complete Graphs

We consider the binary consensus problem where each node in the network initially observes one of two states and the goal for each node is to eventually decide which one of the two states was initially held by the majority of the nodes. Each node contacts other nodes and updates its current state based on the state communicated by the last contacted node. We assume that both signaling (the information exchanged at node contacts) and memory (computation state at each node) are limited and restrict our attention to systems where each node can contact any other node (i.e., complete graphs). It is well known that for systems with binary signaling and memory, the probability of reaching incorrect consensus is equal to the fraction of nodes that initially held the minority state. We show that extending both the signaling and memory by just one state dramatically improves the reliability and speed of reaching the correct consensus. Specifically, we show that the probability of error decays exponentially with the number of nodes N and the convergence time is logarithmic in N for large N. We also examine the case when the state is ternary and signaling is binary. The convergence of this system to consensus is again shown to be logarithmic in N for large N, and is therefore faster than purely binary systems. The type of distributed consensus problems that we study arises in the context of decentralized peer-to-peer networks, e.g. sensor networks and opinion formation in social networks - our results suggest that robust and efficient protocols can be built with rather limited signaling and memory.
A Randomized Trial of Standardized Nursing Patient Assessment Using Wireless Devices

A complete and accurate patient assessment database is essential for effective communication, problem identification, planning and evaluation of patient status. When employed consistently for point-of-care documentation, information systems are associated with completeness and quality of documentation. The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of a randomized, cross-over study conducted to evaluate the adequacy of a standard patient assessment module to support problem identification, care planning and tracking of nursing sensitive patient outcomes. The feasibility of wireless devices to support patient assessment data collection at the point-of-care was evaluated using wireless PDAs and tablet PCs. Seventy-nine (79) nurses from two patient care units at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA) were recruited into the study and randomized to complete patient assessment using wireless or paper devices. At the end of six weeks, nurses who where randomized to the paper assessment module were assigned to a device and those who used a device were assigned to paper for an additional six weeks. Impact was evaluated with regard to data capture, workflow implications and nurse satisfaction. Findings suggest that a standard patient assessment set promotes patient sensitive and quality data capture, which is augmented by the use of wireless devices.
A Micro-Machined Microphone Based on a Combination of Electret and Field-Effect Transistor

Capacitive-type transduction is now widely used in MEMS microphones. However, its sensitivity decreases with reducing size, due to decreasing air gap capacitance. In the present study, we proposed and developed the Electret Gate of Field Effect Transistor (ElGoFET) transduction based on an electret and FET (field-effect-transistor) as a novel mechanism of MEMS microphone transduction. The ElGoFET transduction has the advantage that the sensitivity is dependent on the ratio of capacitance components in the transduction structure. Hence, ElGoFET transduction has high sensitivity even with a smaller air gap capacitance, due to a miniaturization of the transducer. A FET with a floating-gate electrode embedded on a membrane was designed and fabricated and an electret was fabricated by ion implantation with Ga+ ions. During the assembly process between the FET and the electret, the operating point of the FET was characterized using the static response of the FET induced by the electric field due to the trapped positive charge at the electret. Additionally, we evaluated the microphone performance of the ElGoFET by measuring the acoustic response in air using a semi-anechoic room. The results confirmed that the proposed transduction mechanism has potential for microphone applications.
Semantic Structure from Correspondence Analysis

A common problem for clustering techniques is that clusters overlap, which makes graphing the statistical structure in the data difficult. A related problem is that we often want to see the distribution of factors (variables) as well as classes (objects). Correspondence Analysis (CA) offers a solution to both these problems. The structure that CA discovers may be an important step in representing similarity. We have performed an analysis for Italian verbs and nouns, and confirmed that similar structures are found for English.
Process space-based scientific workflow enactment

In the scientific field, workflow technology is often employed to conduct computer simulations or computer supported experiments. The underlying IT infrastructure typically comprises resources distributed among different institutes and organisations all over the world. Traditionally, workflows are executed on a single machine while the invoked software is accessed remotely. This approach imposes many drawbacks which are outlined in this paper. To address these weaknesses, we investigate the application of decentralised workflow enactment in the scientific domain. In this context, we explore the employment of process spaces, a middleware for the decentralised execution of workflows. Furthermore, we propose the combination of process spaces with the concept of data references to increase the overall performance of distributed simulations based on workflows. The considerations are discussed with the help of a scenario that calculates and visualises the ink diffusion in water over a period of time.
Ruin Analysis in the Constant Elasticity of Variance Model

We give results on the probability of absorption at zero of the diffusion process with non-Lipschitz diffusion coefficient dXt = µXtdt + σX γ t dBt, with X 0 = K, and 1/2 ≤ γ < 1. In finance this is known as the Constant Elasticity of Variance Model and our results give information on the time to ruin τ 0 = inf{t : Xt = 0}. We show that P (τ 0 ≤ T) > 0 for all T , give the probability of ultimate ruin, and establish asymptotics lim K→∞ 1 K 2(1−γ) log P(τ 0 ≤ T) = −    µ σ 2 [1−e −2µ(1−γ)T ] , µ = 0 1 2σ 2 (1−γ)T , µ = 0. In addition we find an approximation to the most likely paths to ruin. The asymptotics in K is obtained by proving the Large Deviations Principle (LDP) and solving a control problem. The LDP for diffusions with a singular and only Hölder continuous diffusion coefficient requires additional efforts especially due to the absorption at zero of the underlying processes. We give a direct proof of LDP with many details of independent interest.
Exploring the Assessment of and Relationship Between Elementary Students’ Scientific Creativity and Science Inquiry

The purposes of this study were to (a) develop and validate instruments to assess elementary students’ scientific creativity and science inquiry, (b) investigate the relationship between the two competencies, and (c) compare the two competencies among different grade level students. The scientific creativity test was composed of 7 open-ended items designed to assess divergent creativity and 2 open-ended items to assess convergent creativity. The science inquiry tests were composed of an open-ended inquiry (O-inquiry) test and a multiple-choice inquiry test (M-inquiry). The aforementioned instruments were verified with satisfactory validities and reliabilities in a pilot study. A total of 321 elementary students from grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 participated in the study to determine the performance differences detected by these instruments. It was found that both convergent and divergent creativity were significantly (p < .001) related with O-inquiry and M-inquiry. Analyses of variance revealed that there were significant grade-level main effects for scientific creativity and science inquiry. Post-hoc pair-wise comparisons revealed significant gaps between the 3rd graders’ performances on scientific creativity and science inquiry and the performances of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Implications for curricular design and science teaching are discussed.
Performance and security analysis of Gait-based user authentication

Verifying the identity of a user, usually referred to as user authentication, before granting access to the services or objects is a very important step in many applications. People pass through some sorts of authentication process in their daily life. For example, to prove having access to the computer the user is required to know a password. Similarly, to be able to activate a mobile phone the owner has to know its PIN code, etc. Some user authentication techniques are based on human physiological or behavioral characteristics such as fingerprints, face, iris and so on. Authentication methods differ in their advantages and disadvantages, e.g. PIN codes and passwords have to be remembered, eye-glasses must be taken off for face authentication, etc. Security and usability are important aspects of user authentication. The usability aspect relates to the unobtrusiveness, convenience and user-friendliness of the authentication technique. Security is related to the robustness of the authentication method against attacks. Recent advances in electronic chip development offer new opportunities for person authentication based on his gait (walking style) using small, light and cheap sensors. One of the primary advantages of this approach is that it enables unobtrusive user authentication. Although studies on human recognition based on gait indicate encouraging performances, the security per se (i.e. robustness and/or vulnerability) of gait-based recognition systems has received little or no attention. The overall goal of the work presented in this thesis is on performance and security analysis of gait-based user authentication. The nature of the contributions is not on developing novel algorithms, but rather on enhancing existing approaches in gait-based recognition using small and wearable sensors, and developing new knowledge on security and uniqueness of gait. The three main research questions addressed in this thesis are: (1) What are the performances of recognition methods that are based on the motion of particular body parts during gait? (2) How robust is the gait-based user authentication? (3) What aspects do influence the uniqueness of human gait? In respect to the first research question, the thesis identifies several locations on the body of the person, whose motion during gait can provide identity information. These body parts include hip, trouser pockets, arm and ankle. Analysis of acceleration signals indicates that movements of these body segments have some discriminative power. This might make these modalities suitable as an additional factor in multi-factor authentica-
Why georeferencing matters: Introducing a practical protocol to prepare species occurrence records for spatial analysis

Abstract Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are widely used to understand environmental controls on species’ ranges and to forecast species range shifts in response to climatic changes. The quality of input data is crucial determinant of the model's accuracy. While museum records can be useful sources of presence data for many species, they do not always include accurate geographic coordinates. Therefore, actual locations must be verified through the process of georeferencing. We present a practical, standardized manual georeferencing method (the Spatial Analysis Georeferencing Accuracy (SAGA) protocol) to classify the spatial resolution of museum records specifically for building improved SDMs. We used the high‐elevation plant Saxifraga austromontana Wiegand (Saxifragaceae) as a case study to test the effect of using this protocol when developing an SDM. In MAXENT, we generated and compared SDMs using a comprehensive occurrence dataset that had undergone three different levels of georeferencing: (1) trained using all publicly available herbarium records of the species, minus outliers (2) trained using herbarium records claimed to be previously georeferenced, and (3) trained using herbarium records that we have manually georeferenced to a ≤ 1‐km resolution using the SAGA protocol. Model predictions of suitable habitat for S. austromontana differed greatly depending on georeferencing level. The SDMs fitted with presence locations georeferenced using SAGA outperformed all others. Differences among models were exacerbated for future distribution predictions. Under rapid climate change, accurately forecasting the response of species becomes increasingly important. Failure to georeference location data and cull inaccurate samples leads to erroneous model output, limiting the utility of spatial analyses. We present a simple, standardized georeferencing method to be adopted by curators, ecologists, and modelers to improve the geographic accuracy of museum records and SDM predictions.
Broadband Video Streaming during Backhaul Wimax Handovers

— Broadband Video Streaming (BVS) with selective retransmission trades a reduced but acceptable video quality during IEEE 802.16e (WiMAX) hard handover (HHO) for improved end-to-end latencies. BVS comes in two forms: selective and unselective retransmission when packet loss occurs. Both forms promise better video quality if an HHO occurs than UDP transport or traditional congestion-controlled streaming. If a vertical handover occurs, the unselective form of BVS is preferable. Both variations are intended for IPTV content management networks, which reduce BVS retransmission latency by the proximity of the server 1 .