Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Microchip Approach for Practical Label-Free CD4+ T-Cell Counting of HIV-Infected Subjects in Resource-Poor Settings

Simple affordable CD4 cell counting is urgently needed to stage and monitor HIV-infected patients in resource-limited settings. To address the limitations of current approaches, we designed a simple, label-free, and cost-effective CD4 cell counting device using microfluidic technology. We previously described the fabrication of a microfluidic system for high-efficiency isolation of pure populations of CD4+ T cells based on cell affinity chromatography operated under controlled flow. Here, we compare the performance of a microfluidic CD4 cell counting device against standard flow cytometry in 49 HIV-positive subjects over a wide range of absolute CD4 cell counts. We observed a close correlation between CD4 cell counts from the microchip device and measurements by flow cytometry, using unprocessed whole blood from HIV-positive adult subjects. Sensitivities for distinguishing clinically relevant thresholds of 200, 350, and 500 cells/μL are 0.86, 0.90, and 0.97, respectively. Specificity is 0.94 or higher at all thresholds. This device can serve as a functional cartridge for fast, accurate, affordable, and simple CD4 cell counting in resource-limited settings.
Mobile robot localization via outlier rejection in sonar range sensor data

Localization is an important ability for a mobile robot. The probabilistic localization method becomes more popular because of the ability of representing the uncertainties of the sensor measurements and inaccuracy environments, robust solutions for a wide perspective of localization problem. The particle filter is one of the Bayesian-based methods. In this study, data taken by sonar range sensor is used to localize mobile robot. Sonar range sensors suffer from wrong reflection effects which may cause outliers. Also, outliers may occur in the particle filter process. In this study, a new sensor model Repealing Range Sensor Model (R2SM) is proposed and integrated to particle filter to reduce the effects of outliers. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method, Grubbs' T-Test, a well-known outlier rejection method, is implemented. Experiments show that results of the proposed approach are comparable to the results of the Grubbs' T-Test in terms of Localization Success Ratio (LSR) and Number of Iterations (NOI) required for localization. The main advantage of the proposed R2SM is that it does not require any additional information such as critical value table. This provides more flexible outlier rejection approach.
Detection of Solar-like Oscillations in the G5 Subgiant μ Her

A clear detection of excess of power, providing a substantial evidence for solar-like oscillations in the G5 subgiant μ Her, is presented. This star was observed over seven nights with the SARG echelle spectrograph operating with the 3.6 m Italian TNG Telescope, using an iodine absorption cell as a velocity reference. A clear excess of power centered at 1.2 mHz, with peak amplitudes of about 0.9 m s−1 in the amplitude spectrum is present. Fitting the asymptotic relation to the power spectrum, a mode identification for the l = 0, 1, 2, 3 modes in the frequency range 900-1600 μHz is derived. The most likely value for the large separation turns out to be 56.5 μHz, consistent with theoretical expectations. The mean amplitude per mode (l = 0,1) at peak power results to be 0.63 ms−1, almost 3 times larger than the solar one.
A Security Design Pattern Taxonomy based on Attack Patterns - Findings of a Systematic Literature Review

Department of Business Informatics - Software Engineering, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, Linz, Austriaandreas.wiesauer@jku.at, johannes.sametinger@jku.atKeywords: security design pattern taxonomy, security design patterns, attack patterns, literature reviewAbstract: Security design patterns are proven solutions to security problems in a given context with constructive mea-sures of how to design certain parts of a software system. The literature contains numerous deﬁnitions, ex-amples, and taxonomies of such patterns. There are also a few quality criteria for them. We suggest a newtaxonomy based on attack patterns in order to enhance applicability of security design patterns especially fornon-experts in software security. We further suggest a combined consideration of attack patterns, securitydesign patterns and test cases for the validation and evaluation of security design patterns.
Ranked answer graph construction for keyword queries on RDF graphs without distance neighbourhood restriction

RDF and RDFS have recently become very popular as frameworks for representing data and meta-data in form of a domain description, respectively. RDF data can also be thought of as graph data. In this paper, we focus on keyword-based querying of RDF data. In the existing approaches for answering such keyword queries, keywords are mapped to nodes in the graph and their neighborhoods are explored to extract subgraph(s) of the data graph that contain(s) information relevant to the query. In order to restrict the computational effort, a fixed distance bound is used to define the neighborhoods of nodes. In this paper we present an elegant algorithm for keyword query processing on RDF data that does not assume such a fixed bound. The approach adopts a pruned exploration mechanism where closely related nodes are identified, subgraphs are pruned and joined using suitable hook nodes. The system dynamically manages the distance depending on the closeness between the keywords. The working of the algorithm is illustrated using a fragment of AIFB institute data represented as an RDF graph.
The Role of Semantic History on Online Generative Topic Modeling

Online processing of text streams is an essential task of many genuine applications. The objective is to identify the underlying structure of evolving themes in the incoming streams online at the time of their arrival. As many topics tend to reappear consistently in text streams, incorporating semantics that were discovered in previous streams would eventually enhance the identification and description of topics in the future. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model is a probabilistic technique that has been successfully used to automatically extract the topical or semantic content of documents. In this paper, we investigate the role of past semantics in estimating future topics under the framework of LDA topic modeling, based on the online version implemented in [1]. The idea is to construct the current model based on information propagated from topic models that fall within a “sliding history window”. Then, this model is incrementally updated according to the information inferred from the new stream of data with no need to access previous data. Since the proposed approach is totally unsupervised and data-driven, we analyze the effect of different factors that are involved in this model, including the window size, history weight, and equal/decaying history contribution. The proposed approach is evaluated using benchmark datasets. Our experiments show that the embedded semantics from the past improved the quality of the document modeling. We also found that the role of history varies according to the domain and nature of
Motion-based object detection using 3D wave digital filters

This paper is focused on the separation of three-dimensional signals due to different velocity or directional components, more precisely detecting moving objects in visual scenes by means of linear multidimensional filters. While soundness of results obtained by similar systems developed in the past has been convincing, interest in those systems declined to the reduced computational power of contemporary computers. Recent advances in computation speed as well as design and implementation of integrated circuits and hardware architectures allow hardware realization of the above mentioned velocity filters for real-time processing. We present wave digital filter (WDF) structures adapted to the detection of objects moving in a certain direction at a given speed. These filters have been successfully tested on sequences showing crossing pedestrians recorded by a vehicle-mounted camera.
Da capo con scala: design and analysis of a scala benchmark suite for the java virtual machine

Originally conceived as the target platform for Java alone, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) has since been targeted by other languages, one of which is Scala. This trend, however, is not yet reflected by the benchmark suites commonly used in JVM research. In this paper, we thus present the design and analysis of the first full-fledged benchmark suite for Scala. We furthermore compare the benchmarks contained therein with those from the well-known DaCapo 9.12 benchmark suite and show where the differences are between Scala and Java code---and where not.
Distribution discontinuities detection using algebraic technique for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio

In this paper1, we propose a new Spectrum Sensing technique for spectrum distribution discontinuities detection using algebraic detection (AD). The presented mathematical background leading to such technique is based on operational calculus and differential algebra which offers a new stand point in sensing theory. Even if this background is quite heavy, the sensing algorithm related to this technique is nevertheless very simple and remains with extremely low complexity, comparable even to the Energy Detection technique (ED). Simulations results show good performance of the proposed technique in terms of reliability and accuracy with low complexity and good robustness in noisy context.
A Literature Survey on Fitts’ Law and its Applications

The way of pointing a target object and the movement time of the pointer lead to a challanging problem in HCI. A large number of seminal paper have been proposed towards this. Moreover, the HCI community uses few formulas, and are related to Fitts’ law . Few are derived from Shannon’s information theory. This paper introduces a survey on Fitts’ law and its derivatives. Finally, we study the various application of Fitts’ law in HCI.
Comparison of the induction motor simulation models — analytical and FEM — in drive system controlled with direct torque control

Coupled FEM and system simulator is used to analyze direct torque controlled frequency converter fed standard 15 kW squirrel-cage induction motor. The waveforms of the stator currents are analyzed in frequency domain. The performance of the FEM - motor model is compared with analytical motor model and the results are verified by measurements.
Quantum Multiple-Valued Decision Diagrams Containing Skipped Variables

Quantum multiple-valued decision diagrams (QMDD) are data structures that enable efficient representation and manipulation of unitary matrices representing reversible and quantum circuits. QMDDs are of the form of a rooted, directed, acyclic graph with initial and terminal vertices where each vertex is annotated with a variable name representing a circuit line. Directed paths from the intial to a terminal vertex can be represented as a sequence of variable names in the order in which they appear in the path. The existence of QMDD paths that do not contain all variable names, or “skipped variables”, has direct ramifications in the formulation of synthesis and other algorithms for reversible and quantum logic. Skipped variables are generally rare and tend to appear in quantum circuits that are intended to operate using superimposed values on the control lines. We have found that a unitary matrix representing a circuit whose QMDD contains skipped variables is likely to exhibit a specific anomaly when decomposed into a cascade of unitary matrices using the Reck-Zeilinger-BernsteinBertani algorithm.
IL-10-Producing Regulatory T Cells Cells and Promote Tolerance through Function as Regulatory Antigen-Presenting Cytokine Expanded Myeloid Precursors

The initiation of graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) after stem cell transplantation is dependent on direct Ag presentation by host APCs, whereas the effect of donor APC populations is unclear. We studied the role of indirect Ag presentation in allogenic T cell responses by adding populations of cytokine-expanded donor APC to hemopoietic grafts that would otherwise induce lethal GVHD. Progenipoietin-1 (a synthetic G-CSF/Flt-3 ligand molecule) and G-CSF expanded myeloid dendritic cells (DC), plasmacytoid DC, and a novel granulocyte-monocyte precursor population (GM) that differentiate into class II (cid:1) ,CD80/CD86 (cid:1) ,CD40 (cid:2) APC during GVHD. Whereas addition of plasmacytoid and myeloid donor DC augmented GVHD, GM cells promoted transplant tolerance by MHC class II-restricted generation of IL-10-secreting, Ag-speciﬁc regulatory T cells. Importantly, although GM cells abrogated GVHD, graft-vs-leukemia effects were preserved. Thus, a population of cytokine-expanded GM precursors function as regulatory APCs, suggesting that G-CSF derivatives may have application in disorders characterized by a loss of self-tolerance. The Journal of Immunology, 2005, 174: 1841–1850.
The love of a good narrative: Textuality and digitality

It has often been observed that Alice Munro is a master of narrative complexity. "The love of a good woman", in particular, is a story that challenges conventional notions of structure in short fiction through digression or deferral, discontinuity, layering, and so on. Ross (2002) rightly observes that conventional theories of reading fail to get at the process involved in achieving successful "apprenticeship" with Munro's short fiction. This paper explores the intricacies of Munro's creative craft as exemplified in "The love of a good woman" and proposes an approach to facilitating students' engagement with complex narratives. Through creative writing in a computer-based "wiki" environment, it is argued, we encourage students to undertake the project of "layering" narrative and of establishing and interrogating complex narrative relations. This creative exercise, in turn, may facilitate their understanding of short fiction such as Munro's.
Poster : HoneyDroid-Creating a Smartphone Honeypot

Attacks against smartphones are becoming commonplace today, especially since they are connected to the Internet at all times. Current attacks range from worms and botnets [9], to user installed Trojans [8]. New vulnerabilities in smartphones emerge fast particularly since today’s smartphones are based on common software libraries such as the Linux kernel or the WebKit browser engine. In order to keep up with new attack trends we believe that it makes sense to adopt the honeypot scheme for smartphones. Honeypot: a computer system, built and deployed just for the goal of being attacked and compromised in order to study new attacks and to serve as an early warning system. In the past honeypots and honeynets (a network of honeypots) [10], [1], [5] have shown to efficiently detect scanning worms and attacks that exploit vulnerabilities.
Politics and Banking: Ideas, Public Policy, and the Creation of Financial Institutions

ing public policies aimed at protecting wildlife. Tzoumis argues for the following conclusions from her study of these three environmental issues. First, the evolution of the definition of an issue in Congress can be tracked over time, and changes in tone or redefinition of the issues can be discerned and measured. The three models of policy definitions are associated with distinct political relationships. Second, contrary to the hypothesis that nonlegislative hearings might provide a forum for competing definitions of an issue, such hearings did not play a significant role in shifting the baseline definition. More important in explaining those shifts were the adaptation of committees to new definitions and the introduction of new committees to address the issue. Third, environmental problems are not locked into the same issue definition over time. The Great Lakes issue, for example, initially followed the dominance issue model but eventually shifted to the bounded issue model, and that has led to positive policy outcomes attributed to a more stable policy-making environment. Tzoumis also suggests that the way in which a natural resource is defined has consequences for its management and its sustainability. A bounded issue, she argues, is the optimal path an issue can take; a dominance issue model may lead to overconsumption, and a valence issue model can be useful in making a strong case for preservation. But the bounded issue model suggests a balance between human consumption and resource preservation that leads to sustainability. Students of Congress will find this book useful in its longitudinal study of hearings as a key institution of Congress and in its exploration of how the definition of issues changes over time. Students of natural resource policy will be able to explore the evolution of natural resources and how changes in scientific research, public awareness, and policy goals are reflected in congressional hearings.
Using Domain Specific Question Answering Technique for Automatic Railways Inquiry on Mobile Phone

Today in the world of mobile revolution it is very important to provide information access at anywhere anytime. Accessing information using internet on mobile phones is limited in use due to many restrictions of small devices. Short message service which is easier, faster, reliable and available in all networks can be combined with a powerful method of artificial intelligence: question answering to facilitate information access on mobile phone. This paper discusses issues in development of an application which access information from remote sources on mobile using SMS. It also presents a model design for domain specific question answering on mobile which access information from sample database for automatic railway inquiry.
On Extending Semantic Matchmaking to Include Preconditions and Effects

Central to the notion of dynamic binding and loose coupling that underlie service-oriented architectures is dynamic service discovery. At the heart of most service discovery mechanisms is a matchmaking algorithm that matches a semantic query to a set of compatible web service advertisements. These advertisements also describe service semantics as a set of OWL-S terms. Most current matchmaking algorithms are based on semantic matching of input and output terms alone. However, a complete description of the service profile also includes preconditions and effects and in order to find a true match the matchmaker needs to match on these aspects of the advertisement as well. In this paper, we make the case for augmenting existing matchmaking algorithms with preconditions and effects in the context of Web Services. Further, we propose an algorithm for condition matching that is layered on the top of input-output term matching that overcomes the limitations of existing work. Although the problem of condition matching is NP-Complete, we can overcome this limitation by using a set of heuristics that gives us results in polynomial time. We also analyze complexity of the algorithm by comparing it with brute force approach of matching. We show that our algorithm yields results more efficiently than brute force matching but with the same accuracy.
Reinforcement Learning by Value Gradients

The concept of the value-gradient is introduced and developed in the context of reinforcement learning. It is shown that by learning the value-gradients exploration or stochastic behaviour is no longer needed to find locally optimal trajectories. This is the main motivation for using value-gradients, and it is argued that learning value-gradients is the actual objective of any value-function learning algorithm for control problems. It is also argued that learning value-gradients is significantly more efficient than learning just the values, and this argument is supported in experiments by efficiency gains of several orders of magnitude, in several problem domains. Once value-gradients are introduced into learning, several analyses become possible. For example, a surprising equivalence between a value-gradient learning algorithm and a policy-gradient learning algorithm is proven, and this provides a robust convergence proof for control problems using a value function with a general function approximator.
Lasp-1 binds to non-muscle F-actin in vitro and is localized within multiple sites of dynamic actin assembly in vivo

Lasp-1 has been identified as a signaling molecule that is phosphorylated upon elevation of [cAMP]i in pancreas, intestine and gastric mucosa and is selectively expressed in cells within epithelial tissues. In the gastric parietal cell, cAMP-dependent phosphorylation induces the partial translocation of lasp-1 to the apically directed F-actin-rich canalicular membrane, which is the site of active HCl secretion. Lasp-1 is an unusual modular protein that contains an N-terminal LIM domain, a C-terminal SH3 domain and two internal nebulin repeats. Domain-based analyses have recently categorized this protein as an epithelial representative of the nebulin family, which also includes the actin binding, muscle-specific proteins, nebulin, nebulette and N-RAP. In this study, we show that lasp-1 binds to non-muscle filamentous (F) actin in vitro in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. In addition, we provide evidence that lasp-1 is concentrated within focal complexes as well as in the leading edges of lamellipodia and the tips of filopodia in non-transformed gastric fibroblasts. In actin pull-down assays, the apparent Kd of bacterially expressed his-tagged lasp-1 binding to F-actin was 2 μM with a saturation stoichiometry of ∼1:7. Phosphorylation of recombinant lasp-1 with recombinant PKA increased the Kd and decreased the Bmax for lasp-1 binding to F-actin. Microsequencing and site-directed mutagenesis localized the major in vivo and in vitro PKA-dependent phosphorylation sites in rabbit lasp-1 to S99 and S146. BLAST searches confirmed that both sites are conserved in human and chicken homologues. Transfection of lasp-1 cDNA encoding for alanine substitutions at S99 and S146, into parietal cells appeared to suppress the cAMP-dependent translocation of lasp-1 to the intracellular canalicular region. In gastric fibroblasts, exposure to the protein kinase C activator, PMA, was correlated with the translocation of lasp-1 into newly formed F-actin-rich lamellipodial extensions and nascent focal complexes. Since lasp-1 does not appear to be phosphorylated by PKC, these data suggest that other mechanisms in addition to cAMP-dependent phosphorylation can mediate the translocation of lasp-1 to regions of dynamic actin turnover. The localization of lasp-1 to these subcellular regions under a range of experimental conditions and the phosphorylation-dependent regulation of this protein in F-actin rich epithelial cells suggests an integral and possibly cell-specific role in modulating cytoskeletal/membrane-based cellular activities.
Mobility management in wireless ATM networks

Mobile ATM offers a common wired network infrastructure to support mobility of wireless terminals, independent of the wireless access protocol. In addition, it allows seamless migration to future wireless broadband services, such as wireless ATM, by enabling mobility of end-to-end ATM connections. In spite of the diversity in mobile networking technologies (e.g., cellular telephony, mobile-IP, packet data services, PCS), all of them require two fundamental mechanisms: location management and handoff. This article describes different schemes for augmenting a wired ATM network to support location management of mobile terminals and handoff protocols for rerouting a connection data path when the endpoint moves. A prototype implementation of mobile ATM integrating mobility support with ATM signaling and connection setup, is presented. It shows how mobile ATM may be used to provide mobility support to an IP terminal using non-ATM wireless access.