Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FastRAQ: A Fast Approach to Range-Aggregate Queries in Big Data Environments

Range-aggregate queries are to apply a certain aggregate function on all tuples within given query ranges. Existing approaches to range-aggregate queries are insufficient to quickly provide accurate results in big data environments. In this paper, we propose FastRAQ-a fast approach to range-aggregate queries in big data environments. FastRAQ first divides big data into independent partitions with a balanced partitioning algorithm, and then generates a local estimation sketch for each partition. When a range-aggregate query request arrives, FastRAQ obtains the result directly by summarizing local estimates from all partitions. FastRAQ has O(1) time complexity for data updates and O(N/P×B) time complexity for range-aggregate queries, where N is the number of distinct tuples for all dimensions, P is the partition number, and B is the bucket number in the histogram. We implement the FastRAQ approach on the Linux platform, and evaluate its performance with about 10 billions data records. Experimental results demonstrate that FastRAQ provides range-aggregate query results within a time period two orders of magnitude lower than that of Hive, while the relative error is less than 3 percent within the given confidence interval.
Performance analysis of smart audio pre-processing for noise-robust text-independent speaker recognition

This paper presents a study on the performance of a speaker identification system in challenging environmental conditions, such as in the presence of noise and at a distance. We propose a robust speaker recognition algorithm, which includes a smart pre-processing method based on Voice Activity Detection (VAD), capable to boost the system accuracy. Results show that our solution is able to improve the correct classification rate of traditional speaker recognition systems, even in case of distant audio acquisition and noisy environments.
The prevalence and severity of disease-related disabilities and their impact on quality of life in neuromuscular diseases

Abstract Purpose: People with neuromuscular disease experience lower quality of life levels than people from the general population. We examined the prevalence and severity of a broad range of neuromuscular disease-related disabilities and their impact on health-related quality of life. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional postal survey study was conducted among patients diagnosed with neuromuscular disease. Patients completed the Neuromuscular Disease Impact Profile, a disease-related disability impact questionnaire, and two generic health-related quality of life questionnaires: the medical outcome study Short Form Questionnaire and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-bref. The impact of disabilities on quality of life was estimated using multiple regression analyses. Results: Six hundred sixty two patients (68% response rate) completed the questionnaires. There were no differences in quality of life between diagnosis-based subgroups. ‘Impairments in muscle functions’ had the highest prevalence and severity scores in the total sample and diagnosis-based subgroups. Neuromuscular disease-related disabilities showed strong and independent associations with all aspects of health-related quality of life. ‘Impairments in mental functions and pain’ was the most important predictor of health-related quality of life followed by ‘restrictions in participation in life situations’. Conclusions: Although ‘impairment in muscle functions’ is the most prevalent and severe disability, the ‘impairments in mental functions and pain’ have a strong association with health-related quality of life in patients with a neuromuscular disease. Implications for rehabilitation Disease-related disabilities have a strong and independent associations with all aspects of health-related quality of life. Although health-related domains of quality of life are affected by the neuromuscular disease, the general quality of life is quite good. The most prevalent and severe disability in total group and diagnosis-based subgroups is ‘impairments in muscle functions’. The most significant predictor in health-related quality of life is ‘impairments in mental functions and pain’.
User Modeling on Demographic Attributes in Big Mobile Social Networks

Users with demographic profiles in social networks offer the potential to understand the social principles that underpin our highly connected world, from individuals, to groups, to societies. In this article, we harness the power of network and data sciences to model the interplay between user demographics and social behavior and further study to what extent users’ demographic profiles can be inferred from their mobile communication patterns. By modeling over 7 million users and 1 billion mobile communication records, we find that during the active dating period (i.e., 18--35 years old), users are active in broadening social connections with males and females alike, while after reaching 35 years of age people tend to keep small, closed, and same-gender social circles. Further, we formalize the demographic prediction problem of inferring users’ gender and age simultaneously. We propose a factor graph-based WhoAmI method to address the problem by leveraging not only the correlations between network features and users’ gender/age, but also the interrelations between gender and age. In addition, we identify a new problem—coupled network demographic prediction across multiple mobile operators—and present a coupled variant of the WhoAmI method to address its unique challenges. Our extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness, scalability, and applicability of the WhoAmI methods. Finally, our study finds a greater than 80% potential predictability for inferring users’ gender from phone call behavior and 73% for users’ age from text messaging interactions.
T cell subsets and immunoglobulin G levels are associated with the infection status of systemic lupus erythematosus patients

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, autoimmune disorder that affects nearly all organs and tissues. As knowledge about the mechanism of SLE has increased, some immunosuppressive agents have become routinely used in clinical care, and infections have become one of the direct causes of mortality in SLE patients. To identify the risk factors indicative of infection in SLE patients, a case control study of our hospital's medical records between 2011 and 2013 was performed. We reviewed the records of 117 SLE patients with infection and 61 SLE patients without infection. Changes in the levels of T cell subsets, immunoglobulin G (IgG), complement C3, complement C4, globulin, and anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-ds-DNA) were detected. CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ T cell levels were significantly lower and CD8+ T cell levels were significantly greater in SLE patients with infection than in SLE patients without infection. Additionally, the concentrations of IgG in SLE patients with infection were significantly lower than those in SLE patients without infection. However, complement C3, complement C4, globulin, and anti-ds-DNA levels were not significantly different in SLE patients with and without infection. Therefore, clinical testing for T cell subsets and IgG is potentially useful for identifying the presence of infection in SLE patients and for distinguishing a lupus flare from an acute infection.
Pterostilbene increases PTEN expression through the targeted downregulation of microRNA-19a in hepatocellular carcinoma

Pterostilbene (Pter) is reported to exhibit an anticancer effect in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In order to explore the anticancer mechanism in HCC cells, the present study aimed to investigate whether pterostilbene (Pter) may increase phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression through targeted downregulation of microRNA (miRNA/miR)-19a in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle was analyzed in the SMMC-7721 HCC cell line by MTT assays and flow cytometry methods. Cells were divided into five treatment groups: Pter treatment, miR-19a inhibitor transfection, Pter + miR-19a inhibitor, negative control transfection and blank control. The expression of miR-19a and PTEN was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis following treatment. Furthermore, a luciferase reporter gene assay was performed to determine whether the PTEN gene was a direct target of miR-19a. The results demonstrated that Pter treatment or miR-19a inhibitor transfection downregulated miR-19a and induced PTEN/Akt pathway regulation, which led to proliferation inhibition, cell cycle arrest in the S phase, increased apoptosis and reduced cell invasion. These results indicated that Pter may increase PTEN expression through the direct downregulation of miR-19a in HCC. Therefore, miR-19a may have potential as a novel molecular marker for HCC and Pter may be a promising clinical target with the potential to be developed as a HCC therapy.
Adaptable Multimodal Interaction Framework for Robot-Assisted Cognitive Training

The size of the population with cognitive impairment is increasing worldwide, and socially assistive robotics offers a solution to the growing demand for professional carers. Adaptation to users generates more natural, human-like behavior that may be crucial for a wider robot acceptance. The focus of this work is on robot-assisted cognitive training of the patients that suffer from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer. We propose a framework that adjusts the level of robot assistance and the way the robot actions are executed, according to the user input. The actions can be performed using any of the following modalities: speech, gesture, and display, or their combination. The choice of modalities depends on the availability of the required resources. The memory state of the user was implemented as a Hidden Markov Model, and it was used to determine the level of robot assistance. A pilot user study was performed to evaluate the effects of the proposed framework on the quality of interaction with the robot.
Seroprevalence of Mycobacterium bovis infection in warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) in bovine tuberculosis‐endemic regions of South Africa

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused by Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), has been reported in many species including suids. Wild boar are important maintenance hosts of the infection with other suids, that is domestic and feral pigs, being important spillover hosts in the Eurasian ecosystem and in South Africa, warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) may play a similar role in M. bovis-endemic areas. However, novel diagnostic tests for warthogs are required to investigate the epidemiology of bTB in this species. Recent studies have demonstrated that serological assays are capable of discriminating between M. bovis-infected and uninfected warthogs (Roos et al., ). In this study, an indirect ELISA utilizing M. bovis purified protein derivative (PPD) as a test antigen was used to measure the prevalence and investigate risk factors associated with infection in warthogs from uMhkuze Nature Reserve and the southern region of the Greater Kruger National Park (GKNP). There was a high overall seroprevalence of 38%, with adult warthogs having a higher risk of infection (46%). Seroprevalence also varied by geographic location with warthogs from Marloth Park in the GKNP having the greatest percentage of positive animals (63%). This study indicates that warthogs in M. bovis-endemic areas are at high risk of becoming infected with mycobacteria. Warthogs might present an under-recognized disease threat in multi-species systems. They might also serve as convenient sentinels for M. bovis in endemic areas. These findings highlight the importance of epidemiological studies in wildlife to understand the role each species plays in disease ecology.
The polymerisation of emulsion droplets deformed using laser tweezers to create microscopic polymer particles

we were successful in demonstrating that micron-sized oil-in-water emulsion droplets could be deformed using multiple-beam laser tweezers. Altering the relative position of the optical traps deformed a heptane-in-water emulsion droplet into different geometric shapes. The deformations resulted from careful selection of an emulsion system in which the surface of the oil droplets experienced ultralow interfacial tensions. Through experimentation the most suitable emulsion system was composed of the surfactant Aerosol OT, heptane and solution of sodium chloride [2] . The optimum performance of the emulsion was at a temperature of 20°C in composition ratios approaching the phase boundary for microemulsion formation. The shapes could be readily formed with architectures defined by the number and spacing of the optical trapping positions (see Figure 1).
Less effective selection leads to larger genomes

The evolutionary origin of the striking genome size variations found in eukaryotes remains enigmatic. The effective size of populations, by controlling selection efficacy, is expected to be a key parameter underlying genome size evolution. However, this hypothesis has proved difficult to investigate using empirical data sets. Here, we tested this hypothesis using 22 de novo transcriptomes and low-coverage genomes of asellid isopods, which represent 11 independent habitat shifts from surface water to resource-poor groundwater. We show that these habitat shifts are associated with higher transcriptome-wide dN/dS. After ruling out the role of positive selection and pseudogenization, we show that these transcriptome-wide dN/dS increases are the consequence of a reduction in selection efficacy imposed by the smaller effective population size of subterranean species. This reduction is paralleled by an important increase in genome size (25% increase on average), an increase also confirmed in subterranean decapods and mollusks. We also control for an adaptive impact of genome size on life history traits but find no correlation between body size, or growth rate, and genome size. We show instead that the independent increases in genome size measured in subterranean isopods are the direct consequence of increasing invasion rates by repeat elements, which are less efficiently purged out by purifying selection. Contrary to selection efficacy, polymorphism is not correlated to genome size. We propose that recent demographic fluctuations and the difficulty of observing polymorphism variation in polymorphism-poor species can obfuscate the link between effective population size and genome size when polymorphism data are used alone.
Immunoproteomics Analysis of the Murine Antibody Response to Vaccination with an Improved Francisella tularensis Live Vaccine Strain (LVS)

Background Francisella tularensis subspecies tularensis is the causative agent of a spectrum of diseases collectively known as tularemia. An attenuated live vaccine strain (LVS) has been shown to be efficacious in humans, but safety concerns have prevented its licensure by the FDA. Recently, F. tularensis LVS has been produced under Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP guidelines). Little is known about the immunogenicity of this new vaccine preparation in comparison with extensive studies conducted with laboratory passaged strains of LVS. Thus, the aim of the current work was to evaluate the repertoire of antibodies produced in mouse strains vaccinated with the new LVS vaccine preparation. Methodology/Principal Findings In the current study, we used an immunoproteomics approach to examine the repertoire of antibodies induced following successful immunization of BALB/c versus unsuccessful vaccination of C57BL/6 mice with the new preparation of F. tularensis LVS. Successful vaccination of BALB/c mice elicited antibodies to nine identified proteins that were not recognized by antisera from vaccinated but unprotected C57BL/6 mice. In addition, the CGMP formulation of LVS stimulated a greater repertoire of antibodies following vaccination compared to vaccination with laboratory passaged ATCC LVS strain. A total of 15 immunoreactive proteins were identified in both studies, however, 16 immunoreactive proteins were uniquely reactive with sera from the new formulation of LVS. Conclusions/Significance This is the first report characterising the antibody based immune response of the new formulation of LVS in the widely used murine model of tularemia. Using two mouse strains, we show that successfully vaccinated mice can be distinguished from unsuccessfully vaccinated mice based upon the repertoire of antibodies generated. This opens the door towards downselection of antigens for incorporation into tularemia subunit vaccines. In addition, this work also highlights differences in the humoral immune response to vaccination with the commonly used laboratory LVS strain and the new vaccine formulation of LVS.
Augmentation for Time Series Classification using Convolutional Neural Networks

Time series classification has been around for decades in the data-mining and machine learning communities. In this paper, we investigate the use of convolutional neural networks (CNN) for time series classification. Such networks have been widely used in many domains like computer vision and speech recognition, but only a little for time series classification. We design a convolutional neural network that consists of two convolutional layers. One drawback with CNN is that they need a lot of training data to be efficient. We propose two ways to circumvent this problem: designing data-augmentation techniques and learning the network in a semi-supervised way using training time series from different datasets. These techniques are experimentally evaluated on a benchmark of time series datasets.
Internet-based interventions for postpartum anxiety: exploring health visitors’ views

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to explore health visitors’ (HVs) views on the acceptability and potential implementation of internet-based postpartum anxiety interventions in their practice. Background: Internet-based self-help has been shown to be effective and acceptable for postpartum depression. Recently, an internet-based intervention has been developed for postpartum anxiety. Before implementing new anxiety interventions in postpartum care, it is important to determine the acceptability and ways of implementing such interventions. This study therefore explored HVs’ views on this, as they are the some of the key healthcare professionals supporting women postpartum. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 HVs across the UK. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Five themes emerged – suitability; benefits; concerns; importance of one-to-one support; implementation. Internet-based interventions were seen as suitable as an additional option for a sub-group of postpartum women. Identified benefits included increased availability of a treatment tool for postpartum anxiety and treatment anonymity and flexibility. Reported concerns were the women’s state of mind, decreased human and professional contact, as well as IT access and literacy and language skills. HVs considered the most feasible way to implement internet-based interventions would be to have flyers for HVs to include with other information provided after birth or to hand out and discuss during their visits. The need for sufficient evidence of treatment efficacy and appropriate training was highlighted. Conclusion: This study highlights the opportunities and challenges that need to be considered before implementing internet-based interventions for postpartum anxiety in the postpartum care.
Human dengue virus serotype 2 neutralizing antibodies target two distinct quaternary epitopes

Dengue virus (DENV) infection causes dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. It is estimated that a third of the world’s population is at risk for infection, with an estimated 390 million infections annually. Dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV2) causes severe epidemics, and the leading tetravalent dengue vaccine has lower efficacy against DENV2 compared to the other 3 serotypes. In natural DENV2 infections, strongly neutralizing type-specific antibodies provide protection against subsequent DENV2 infection. While the epitopes of some human DENV2 type-specific antibodies have been mapped, it is not known if these are representative of the polyclonal antibody response. Using structure-guided immunogen design and reverse genetics, we generated a panel of recombinant viruses containing amino acid alterations and epitope transplants between different serotypes. Using this panel of recombinant viruses in binding, competition, and neutralization assays, we have finely mapped the epitopes of three human DENV2 type-specific monoclonal antibodies, finding shared and distinct epitope regions. Additionally, we used these recombinant viruses and polyclonal sera to dissect the epitope-specific responses following primary DENV2 natural infection and monovalent vaccination. Our results demonstrate that antibodies raised following DENV2 infection or vaccination circulate as separate populations that neutralize by occupying domain III and domain I quaternary epitopes. The fraction of neutralizing antibodies directed to different epitopes differs between individuals. The identification of these epitopes could potentially be harnessed to evaluate epitope-specific antibody responses as correlates of protective immunity, potentially improving vaccine design.
Review of emerging approaches in non- or minimally invasive glucose monitoring and their application to physiological human body fluids

Diabetes mellitus, commonly referred to as diabetes, is a serious disease in which the body doesn’t produce or properly use insulin so there are high blood sugar levels over a prolonged period which represents one of the major health problems in society and a chronic disease that requires long-term medical attention [1]. Often, diabetes can lead to many serious medical problems. These include blindness, kidney disease, nervous & circulatory system disease, limb amputations, stroke and cardiovascular disease (CVD) [2,3]. According to data from the 2017 National Diabetes Statistics Report, an estimated 30.3 million children and adults in the United States including 7.2 million undiagnosed people 9.5 percent of the U.S. population in 2011 have diabetes and the estimated cost of diabetes-related health care in the United States is risen to approximately $245 billion annually in 2012 from $174 billion in 2007, including $68.6 billion in direct medical costs [4,5]. Diabetes is a disproportionately expensive disease; in the United States in 2012, the individual cost of health care was $13,700 for people with diabetes, while about $7,900 of this amount was attributed to diabetes [5]. The recent multi-center NIH studies have indicated that the health risks associated with diabetes are significantly reduced when the blood glucose levels are well and frequently controlled, indicating that it is prudent to measure the blood glucose as often as five or six times a day. Thus it is very important that proper monitoring be done by diabetics at home or at work [6]. At present all existing methods of home blood glucose monitoring require drawing a blood sample by piercing the skin (typically, on the finger). This method strongly discourages a patients’ compliance and has the serious drawbacks because the procedure is invasive.