Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Model-based Prognostics with Fixed-lag Particle Filters

Model-based prognostics exploits domain knowledge of the system, its components, and how they fail by casting the underlying physical phenomena in a physics-based model that is derived from first principles. In most applications, uncertainties from a number of sources cause the predictions to be inaccurate and imprecise even with accurate models. Therefore, algorithms are employed that help in managing these uncertainties. Particle filters have become a popular choice to solve this problem due to their wide applicability and ease of implementation. We present a general model-based prognostics methodology using particle filters. In order to provide more accurate and precise estimates, and, therefore, more accurate and precise predictions, we investigate the use of fixed-lag filters. We develop a detailed physics-based model of a pneumatic valve, and perform comprehensive simulation experiments to illustrate our prognostics approach. The experiments demonstrate the advantages that fixed-lag filters may provide in the context of prognostics, as measured by prognostics performance metrics.
Diagnosis, epidemiology and pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus: An update for psychiatrists

Background Diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disorder characterised by persistent hyperglycaemia. The prevalence of diabetes is increased in people with schizophrenia. Aims To provide an update of current thinking in diabetes for practising psychiatrists. Method Literature review. Results Diabetes is a costly condition in individual, social and economic terms, and the global burden of diabetes is increasing in most populations. The insidious onset and asymptomatic nature of diabetes results in many people remaining undiagnosed and at great risk of developing life-threatening vascular complications. Lifestyle and pharmacological interventions can reduce incident diabetes and delay its progression. Conclusions Public health policies are urgently required to encourage people to follow a healthy lifestyle. Primary prevention strategies for diabetes should target individuals at especially high risk of developing type 2 diabetes, including those with severe mental illness.
A Multi-Layer Approach to Superpixel-based Higher-order Conditional Random Field for Semantic Image Segmentation

Superpixel-based Higher-order Conditional random fields (SP-HO-CRFs) are known for their effectiveness in enforcing both short and long spatial contiguity for pixelwise labelling in computer vision. However, their higher-order potentials are usually too complex to learn and often incur a high computational cost in performing inference. We propose an new approximation approach to SP-HO-CRFs that resolves these problems. Our approach is a multi-layer CRF framework that inherits the simplicity from pairwise CRFs by formulating both the higher-order and pairwise cues into the same pairwise potentials in the first layer. Essentially, this approach provides accuracy enhancement on the basis of pairwise CRFs without training by reusing their pre-trained parameters and/or weights. The proposed multi-layer approach performs especially well in delineating the boundary details (boarders) of object categories such as "trees" and "bushes". Multiple sets of experiments conducted on dataset MSRC-21 and PASCAL VOC 2012 validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed methods.
Intracranial Injection of AAV Expressing NEP but Not IDE Reduces Amyloid Pathology in APP+PS1 Transgenic Mice

The accumulation of β-amyloid peptides in the brain has been recognized as an essential factor in Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Several proteases, including Neprilysin (NEP), endothelin converting enzyme (ECE), and insulin degrading enzyme (IDE), have been shown to cleave β-amyloid peptides (Aβ). We have previously reported reductions in amyloid in APP+PS1 mice with increased expression of ECE. In this study we compared the vector-induced increased expression of NEP and IDE. We used recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors expressing either native forms of NEP (NEP-n) or IDE (IDE-n), or engineered secreted forms of NEP (NEP-s) or IDE (IDE-s). In a six-week study, immunohistochemistry staining for total Aβ was significantly decreased in animals receiving the NEP-n and NEP-s but not for IDE-n or IDE-s in either the hippocampus or cortex. Congo red staining followed a similar trend revealing significant decreases in the hippocampus and the cortex for NEP-n and NEP-s treatment groups. Our results indicate that while rAAV-IDE does not have the same therapeutic potential as rAAV-NEP, rAAV-NEP-s and NEP-n are effective at reducing amyloid loads, and both of these vectors continue to have significant effects nine months post-injection. As such, they may be considered reasonable candidates for gene therapy trials in AD.
Analysis of ESPRIT based joint angle-frequency estimation

High-resolution parameter estimation techniques have been applied to jointly estimate multiple signal parameters. We consider the problem of determining the directions and center frequencies of a number of narrow-band sources in a certain frequency band of interest. We present a joint angle-frequency estimation method, based on the multidimensional ESPRIT algorithm. A perturbation error analysis gives bounds on the parameter estimates, and provides optimal values for the temporal and spatial smoothing parameters. The analysis is shown to be consistent with simulation results.
Reference ranges for midupper arm circumference, upper arm muscle area, and upper arm fat area in US children and adolescents aged 1-20 y.

BACKGROUND Midupper arm circumference (MUAC) has long been used in anthropometric assessments of nutritional status in field settings, especially in emergency situations, but percentile ranges for healthy, well-nourished children are currently unavailable. OBJECTIVE We developed reference curves for MUAC and derived measures of arm muscle area (AMA) and arm fat area (AFA) on the basis of the population used in the current CDC body mass index growth charts. DESIGN We analyzed cross-sectional MUAC and triceps (triceps skinfold thickness) data from 32,952 US children aged 1-20 y. Generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape were used to calculate semiparametric smoothed percentiles and L, M, and S coefficients needed for z-score estimation by age and sex. Equations were developed with the use of the height-for-age z score (HAZ) to adjust for the associations of stature with upper arm measures. RESULTS MUAC increased with age steadily throughout the growing period. For children <5 y old, lower percentile ranges varied markedly across age and sex such that the single cutoff (<11.5 or 12.5 cm) for field screening of acute malnutrition did not track along the same percentile. AFA and AMA growth patterns exhibited sex-specific trends including multiple distinct age-related inflections that were more pronounced in males for AFA-for-age than in females. HAZ and age were substantially and independently related with all arm measures. CONCLUSIONS The new reference percentile ranges for midupper arm measures for healthy children provide a useful nutritional assessment tool in a wide variety of settings. Height status (HAZ) has complex independent associations with arm measures irrespective of the distributional ranking by age and sex. Prediction equations that account for these effects further extend the practical use of the new curves.
Protein Nucleocapsid Protein Chaperoning of Nucleic Acids at the Heart of HIV Structure , Assembly and cDNA Synthesis

Jean-Luc Darlix, Marcelo Lopez Lastra, Yves Mély, Bernard Roques. 1 LaboRetro, Unité de Virologie Humaine, INSERM #412 ENS de Lyon, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon, France. jldarlix@ens-lyon.fr. 2 Biochemistry Department, McIntyre Medical Sciences Bldg. , McGill University, 3655 Promenade Sir William Osler, H3G1 Y6, Montreal, Canada. 3 Laboratoire de Pharmacologie et Physicochimie des interactions cellulaires et moléculaires, UMR 7034 du CNRS, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Louis Pasteur, 74 route du Rhin, 67401 Illkirch, France. 4 Département de Pharmacochimie Moléculaire et Structurale, INSERM #266, Faculté de Pharmacie, 4 avenue de l'Observatoire, 75270 Paris, France.
Rotavirus epidemiology in Vellore, south India: group, subgroup, serotype, and electrophoretype

Rotaviruses were detected in 163 of 916 (17.8%) specimens collected from children under 3 years of age with gastroenteritis in Vellore, South India, between August 1983 and July 1985. Rotaviruses were detected throughout the study period, with a peak prevalence in December to February (winter) and June to August (southwest monsoon season). A total of 117 rotavirus strains were tested for subgroup, serotype, and rotavirus double-stranded RNA electrophoretic migration pattern; 24.8% of the strains were subgroup I, 69.2% were subgroup II, and 6.0% were neither subgroup I nor subgroup II. Subgroup I and II strains were circulating concurrently throughout the study. Of the 117 rotavirus strains, 32 (27.4%) were serotyped; 15 were serotype 1, 3 were serotype 2, 2 were serotype 3, and 12 were serotype 4. Three serotypes were circulating concurrently during the periods of peak rotavirus prevalence. In 100 of the 117 strains (85.4%) an RNA pattern was detected. One unusual subgroup I group A rotavirus with a long migration pattern and four atypical rotaviruses serologically related to group C were also detected.
Manufacturer-Dealer Relationships. The Influence of Trust and Commitment to Technological Interface Adoption

The steep increase in the number and variety of exchange relations, the increased complexity and uncertainty of the business environment cannot be managed without the presence of interpersonal and/or interorganizational trust and relationship commitment. Manufacturer firms have to pay close attention to developing and maintaining relationship commitment and dealers’ trust. The value of such efforts is the most apparent when high levels of competition threaten market shares and the stability of the dealers’ network. This empirical study shows that trust and relationship commitment are important assets for the technological interface adoption and bring significant savings for the manufacturer and dealer.
Predicting Physico-Chemical Properties of Alkylated Naphthalenes with COSMO-RS

COSMO-RS, the Conductor-like Screening Model for Real Solvents, has been used to predict a set of basic partition coefficients of 22 (alkylated) naphthalenes. To validate the approach, methyl-, dimethyl-, and ethylnaphthalenes have been chosen, according to the availability of experimental data. Then, predictions have been extended to diisopropylnaphthalenes. Given the model's expected uncertainty intervals, COSMO-RS predictions of aqueous solubilities, (subcooled) vapor pressures, Henry's law constants, as well as octanol-water partition coefficients, are in agreement with available literature data. Simultaneous overestimation of aqueous solubilities and vapor pressures of comparable magnitude leads to partial error cancellation in the Henry's law constants. Based on physico-chemical property data obtained with COSMO-RS, the Mackay Level III fugacity model, a steady-state, non equilibrium, and regional-scale model, has been applied to exemplary evaluate the tendency of 2,6-diisopropylnaphthalene to migrate between media by modelling emissions to each individual medium and calculating the amount present at steady state.
The importance of blood lipids in the association between BMI and blood pressure among Chinese overweight and obese children

Abstract We aimed to examine the contribution of blood lipids to the association between BMI and blood pressure (BP) in children with overweight and obesity. Data were collected in elementary and high schools of Chaoyang District, Beijing, China in 2012. Participants’ weight, height, BP and fasting plasma lipid profile were measured by standard protocols. Mediation analysis was used to examine the mediation role of blood lipids on the relation between BMI and BP, with age included as a covariate. We found that in boys 8·29 % (mediation effect=0·106, P=0·012) of the association between BMI and systolic BP was mediated through TAG. TAG mediated 12·53 % (mediation effect=0·093, P=0·018) and LDL-cholesterol mediated 7·75 % (mediation effect=0·57, P=0·046) of the association between BMI and diastolic BP was mediated by TAG and LDL-cholesterol, respectively. However, blood lipids did not show the mediation effect in girls. Our findings suggested that there was a sex difference in the contribution of blood lipids to the association between BMI and BP. Controlling TAG or LDL-cholesterol may be beneficial for reducing the risk of the BMI-related high BP in overweight boys; however, this outcome is not the case when controlling TAG or LDL-cholesterol in girls. This study may provide clues to explore the underlying mechanism of the association between obesity and hypertension.
Differential dynamics of the serotonin 1 A receptor in membrane bilayers of varying cholesterol content revealed by all atom molecular dynamics simulation

The serotonin1A receptor belongs to the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and is a potential drug target in neuropsychiatric disorders. The receptor has been shown to require membrane cholesterol for its organization, dynamics and function. Although recent work suggests a close interaction of cholesterol with the receptor, the structural integrity of the serotonin1A receptor in the presence of cholesterol has not been explored. In this work, we have carried out all atom molecular dynamics simulations, totaling to 3 ms, to analyze the effect of cholesterol on the structure and dynamics of the serotonin1A receptor. Our results show that the presence of physiologically relevant concentration of membrane cholesterol alters conformational dynamics of the serotonin1A receptor and, on an average lowers conformational fluctuations. Our results show that, in general, transmembrane helix VII is most affected by the absence of membrane cholesterol. These results are in overall agreement with experimental data showing enhancement of GPCR stability in the presence of membrane cholesterol. Our results constitute a molecular level understanding of GPCR-cholesterol interaction, and represent an important step in our overall understanding of GPCR function in health and disease. Abbreviations: CRAC: cholesterol recognition/interaction amino acid consensus; GPCR: G protein-coupled receptor; RMSD: root mean square deviation; RMSF: root mean square fluctuation; POPC: 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine
F-bounded polymorphism for object-oriented programming

Bounded quantification was introduced by Cardelli and Wegner as a means of typing functions that operate uniformly over all subtypes of a given type. They defined a simple “object” model and used bounded quantification to type-check functions that make sense on all objects having a specified set of “attributes. ” A more realistic presentation of object-oriented languages would allow objects that are elements of recursively-defined types. In this context, bounded quantification no longer serves its intended purpose. It is easy to find functions that makes sense on all objects having a specified set of methods, but which cannot be typed in the Cardelli-Wegner system. To provide a basis for typed polymorphic functions in object-oriented languages, we introduce F-bounded quantification. Some applications of F-bounded quantification are presented and semantic issues are discussed. Although our original motivation was to type polymorphic functions over objects, F-bounded quantification is a general form of polymorphism that seems useful whenever recursive type definitions and subtyping are used.
Serum IgG Responses and Seroconversion Patterns to Cryptosporidium gp15 among Children in a Birth Cohort in South India

ABSTRACT The correlates of protective immunity to cryptosporidiosis are not well understood. This study was conducted to assess the effect of maternal serum IgG against Cryptosporidium gp15 on responses to this antigen in children with (cases) and without (controls) PCR-confirmed cryptosporidial diarrhea. Maternal sera (n = 129) and sera from cases (n = 39) and controls (n = 90) collected at 3.5, 9, and 24 months of age were tested for serum IgG against Cryptosporidium gp15 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Seroconversion patterns were evaluated by estimating probabilities of seroconversion along three time points based on the transition pathways by using a first-order Markov chain process and empirical Bayesian estimates. There was no difference in serum IgG levels or seropositivity rates to gp15 between cases and controls across all time points in children or in IgG levels to this antigen between mothers of cases and controls. The most common transition pathway can be described as a seronegative child at 3.5 months who seroconverts at 9 months and remains seropositive at 24 months. This pattern remained stable irrespective of the serological status of the mother or the case or control status of the child. Children were most likely to be exposed to Cryptosporidium for the first time between the ages of 3 and 9 months, and most of the children seroconverted by 24 months. The high degree of seroconversion among control children is suggestive of high rates of asymptomatic transmission in this region.
Software Maintenance Expert System (SMXPERT) - a Decision Support Instrument

Maintaining and supporting the software of an organization is not an easy task, and software maintainers do not currently have access to tools to evaluate strategies for improving the specific activities of software maintenance. This article presents a knowledge-based system which helps in locating best practices in a software maintenance capability maturity model (SM mm). The contributions of this paper are: 1) to instrument the maturity model with a support tool to aid software maintenance practitioners in locating specific best practices; and 2) to describe the knowledge-based approach and system overview used by the research team.
Study of Pressure Distribution in Compliant Contact Wheels for Robotic Surface Finishing

This paper investigates the compliance characteristics of contact wheels in robotic finishing process, especially pressure distribution – a key parameter for material removal. The current study tackles this problem by developing finite element models of compliant contact wheels to predict pressure distribution with respect to various tool-workpiece scenarios. These models are further verified using pressure film sensors with flat and serrated contact wheels mounted on a robot.
Stochastic Least-Squares Petrov-Galerkin Method for Parameterized Linear Systems

We consider the numerical solution of parameterized linear systems where the system matrix, the solution, and the right-hand side are parameterized by a set of uncertain input parameters. We explore spectral methods in which the solutions are approximated in a chosen finite-dimensional subspace. It has been shown that the stochastic Galerkin projection technique fails to minimize any measure of the solution error [20]. As a remedy for this, we propose a novel stochastic least-squares Petrov--Galerkin (LSPG) method. The proposed method is optimal in the sense that it produces the solution that minimizes a weighted l2-norm of the residual over all solutions in a given finite-dimensional subspace. Moreover, the method can be adapted to minimize the solution error in different weighted l2-norms by simply applying a weighting function within the least-squares formulation. In addition, a goal-oriented semi-norm induced by an output quantity of interest can be minimized by defining a weighting function as a linear functional of the solution. We establish optimality and error bounds for the proposed method, and extensive numerical experiments show that the weighted LSPG methods outperforms other spectral methods in minimizing corresponding target weighted norms.
Hepatocellular carcinoma-targeted nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Nanocarriers, such as liposomes, have the potential to increase the payload of chemotherapeutic drugs while decreasing toxicity to non-target tissues; such advantageous properties can be further enhanced through surface conjugation of nanocarriers with targeting moieties. We previously reported that SP94 peptides, identified by phage display, exhibited higher binding affinity to human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than to hepatocytes and other normal cells. Here, we confirm the tumor-targeting properties of SP94 peptide by near-infrared fluorescence imaging. Non-targeted PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin (LD) and SP94-conjugated PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin (SP94-LD) were compared by assessing pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution, and antitumor efficacy in xenograft-bearing mice, in order to investigate the effectiveness of SP94-mediated targeting for cancer therapy. SP94-LD demonstrated a significant increase in drug accumulation in tumors, while its plasma residence time was the same as its non-targeted equivalent. Consistent with this result, conjugation of targeting peptide SP94 enhances the therapeutic efficacy of liposomal doxorubicin in mouse models with hepatocellular carcinoma xenografts. Furthermore, combination targeted therapy exhibited a significant enhancement against orthotopic tumor growth, and markedly extended the survival of mice compared with all other treatments. Our study shows that SP94-mediated targeting enhances antitumor efficacy by improving tumor pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution, allowing large amounts of antitumor drugs to accumulate in tumors.
Seven years of postseismic deformation following the 2003 Mw = 6.8 Zemmouri earthquake (Algeria) from InSAR time series

We study the postseismic surface deformation of the Mw 6.8, 2003 Zemmouri earthquake (northern Algeria) using the Multi‐Temporal Small Baseline InSAR technique. InSAR time series obtained from 31 Envisat ASAR images from 2003 to 2010 reveal sub‐cm coastline ground movements between Cap Matifou and Dellys. Two regions display subsidence at a maximum rate of 2 mm/yr in Cap Djenet and 3.5 mm/yr in Boumerdes. These regions correlate well with areas of maximum coseismic uplifts, and their association with two rupture segments. Inverse modeling suggest that subsidence in the areas of high coseismic uplift can be explained by afterslip on shallow sections (<5 km) of the fault above the areas of coseismic slip, in agreement with previous GPS observations. The earthquake impact on soft sediments and the ground water table southwest of the earthquake area, characterizes ground deformation of non‐tectonic origin. The cumulative postseismic moment due to 7 years afterslip is equivalent to an Mw 6.3 earthquake. Therefore, the postseismic deformation and stress buildup has significant implications on the earthquake cycle models and recurrence intervals of large earthquakes in the Algiers area.
Securing Communication in MQTT enabled Internet of Things with Lightweight security protocol

This paper proposes a security algorithm for Internet of Things (IoT) using simple lightweight cryptographic operations. The main advantage of the proposed algorithm is the simplicity, energy efficiency and the speed of algorithm such that it can be computed quickly using a low-power microcontroller. The encryption of the sensed data is performed using simple operations so as to consume smaller amount of node energy. To test the effectiveness, of the proposed algorithm, an experimental rig is set up to implement the proposed algorithm. The analysis confirms that the proposed algorithm provides end-to-end encryption and imparts security against likely attacks such as brute force attack, spoofing attack, and has small code footprint. It is envisaged that the algorithm can be very useful in securing message transmissions in Internet of Things.