Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional interactions between the Forkhead transcription factor FOXK1 and the MADS-box protein SRF

The combinatorial control of gene expression by the association of members of different families of transcription factors is a common theme in eukaryotic transcriptional control. The MADS-box transcription factors SRF and Mcm1 represent paradigms for such regulation through their interaction with numerous partner proteins. For example, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Mcm1 interacts with the forkhead transcription factor Fkh2. Here, we identify a novel interaction between SRF and the Forkhead transcription factor FOXK1 in human cells. The importance of this interaction is shown for the regulation of the SRF target genes SM α-actin and PPGB. The binding of FOXK1 to the SM α-actin and PPGB promoters requires the presence of SRF on the promoter. FOXK1 acts as a transcriptional repressor and it represses SM α-actin and PPGB expression. Thus FOXK1 represents an additional member of the growing repertoire of transcription factors that can interact with SRF and modulate the transcriptional output from SRF-regulated promoters.
Providing Safe Water: Evidence from Randomized Evaluations

This paper uses a public economics framework to review evidence from randomized trials on domestic water access and quality in developing countries and to assess the case for subsidies. Water treatment can cost-effectively reduce reported diarrhea. However, many consumers have low willingness to pay for cleaner water; few households purchase household water treatment under retail models. Free point-of-collection water treatment systems designed to make water treatment convenient and salient can generate take-up of approximately 60% at a projected cost as low as $20 per year of life saved, comparable to vaccine costs. In contrast, the limited existing evidence suggests that many consumers value better access to water, but it does not yet demonstrate that better access improves health. The randomized impact evaluations reviewed have also generated methodological insights on a range of topics, including (a) the role of survey effects in health data collection, (b) methods to test for sunk-cost effects, (c) d.
Towards a Framework for Supporting Web Search of Complex Objects via Multidimensional Paradigms

In this paper we present WebClustCube, an innovative framework for supporting Web search of complex objects via multidimensional paradigms. WebClustCube focuses on the issue of empowering traditional Web search methodologies by means of novel paradigms. In particular, WebClustCube supports the building and the interactive manipulation of OLAP-enabled Web views over complex objects extracted from distributed databases. The data management, OLAP-like support of WebClustCube is provided by ClustCube, a state-of-the-art framework for coupling OLAP methodologies and clustering algorithms with the goal of analyzing and mining of complex database objects. We complement of analytical contribution by means of a case study that clearly shows the potentialities of WebClustCube in the context of next-generation Web search environments.
MR imaging of pelvic lymph nodes

The occurrence of metastases to pelvic lymph nodes profoundly affects the prognosis of pelvic malignancies, making accurate staging crucial for selecting appropriate treatment. Modalities for the detection of metastatic lymph nodes are lymph node dissection, lymphangiography, and non-invasive techniques such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); the role of these techniques will be reviewed. Although this review will focus on prostate cancer, the statements may be generalised for other malignancies, as the metastases in pelvic lymph nodes have a similar pattern for other tumors.
Iterative Closest Normal Point for 3D Face Recognition

The common approach for 3D face recognition is to register a probe face to each of the gallery faces and then calculate the sum of the distances between their points. This approach is computationally expensive and sensitive to facial expression variation. In this paper, we introduce the iterative closest normal point method for finding the corresponding points between a generic reference face and every input face. The proposed correspondence finding method samples a set of points for each face, denoted as the closest normal points. These points are effectively aligned across all faces, enabling effective application of discriminant analysis methods for 3D face recognition. As a result, the expression variation problem is addressed by minimizing the within-class variability of the face samples while maximizing the between-class variability. As an important conclusion, we show that the surface normal vectors of the face at the sampled points contain more discriminatory information than the coordinates of the points. We have performed comprehensive experiments on the Face Recognition Grand Challenge database, which is presently the largest available 3D face database. We have achieved verification rates of 99.6 and 99.2 percent at a false acceptance rate of 0.1 percent for the all versus all and ROC III experiments, respectively, which, to the best of our knowledge, have seven and four times less error rates, respectively, compared to the best existing methods on this database.
Floorplanning With Wire Pipelining in Adaptive Communication Channels

The recent shift toward wire pipelining (WP) mandated by technological factors has attracted attention toward latency-controlled floorplanning. However, no systematic study has been published so far that takes into account block and logic-delay limitations. This paper aims at filling the gap by showing that block delay can limit and possibly prevent any real gain WP might promise. In this paper, the authors also show how a modified adaptive WP scheme, on the other hand, allows relevant gains. They built a SoC floorplanner based on the use of adaptive and nonadaptive WP, which optimizes the data rate, taking block delay into account. The results of new and old WP techniques applied on benchmarks and on an MPEG decoder are compared to the optimal results obtained when no WP is employed
Some Challenges of Feature-based Class Diagram Merging

In software product line engineering, feature models enable to automate the generation of productspecific models in conjunction with domain “base models” (e.g. UML models). Two approaches exist: pruning of a large domain model, or merging of model fragments. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the merging approach on base models, and how they are made and used. We adopt an empirical method and test the approach on an example. The results show several challenges in the way model fragments are written, the need for new modelling language constructs and tool support.
Selectively protecting error-correcting code for area-efficient and reliable STT-RAM caches

Recent researches on STT-RAM revealed that device scaling makes its write operations unreliable. To mitigate the impact of this problem, this paper proposes a low-cost, ECC-based solution for STT-RAM caches. In particular, it proposes to share storage for ECC among different blocks within a set and to use them only for unsuccessful write operations. Experimental results show that our scheme reduces 74% to 98% of area overhead incurred by the conventional per-block ECC while maintaining system performance and reliability.
Workspace analysis and optimal design of cable-driven planar parallel manipulators

A cable-driven parallel manipulator (CDPM) possesses a number of promising advantages over the conventional rigid-link manipulators, such as simple and lightweight mechanical structure, high-loading capacity, and large workspace. However, the formulations and results obtained for the rigid link manipulators cannot be directly applied to CDPM because of the unilateral property of cables. This paper focuses on the workspace analysis and optimal design of a specific type of CDPM, i.e. a completely restrained symmetric cable-driven planar parallel manipulator (CDPPM). The tension plays a key role in building up the workspace. In the analysis, performance criteria such as tension bound and stiffness condition are considered to construct the feasible workspace. Moreover, simplex search method is employed to obtain the optimal feasible workspace with respect to the locations of the connecting points and suspending points. Computation results have shown that the optimal workspace can be always obtained at configurations where either the base or the platform is degenerated to a line.
Maispion: a tool for analysing and visualising open source software developer communities

We present Maispion, a tool for analysing software developer communities. The tool, developed in Smalltalk, mines mailing list and version repositories, and provides visualisations to provide insights into the ecosystem of open source software (OSS) development. We show how Maispion can analyze the history of medium to large OSS communities, by applying our tool to three well-known open source projects: Moose, Drupal and Python.
A Case Study in Multimodal Interaction Design for Autonomous Game Characters

This paper presents our experience of designing the educational collaborative role-play game ORIENT with a special focus on the multimodal interaction used in the game. The idea behind ORIENT is to try increasing a user’s intercultural empathy through role-play set in a science fiction narrative in which the users have to befriend an alien race, the Sprytes. The Sprytes are virtual characters that communicate with the users through a mix of gestures and natural language. We explain how the choice and design of those output modalities was driven by choice of interaction technology. We also show how the user’s perception of the Spryte’s behaviour could be enhanced through the inclusion of an assistive agent, the ORACLE and report on a small scale evaluation of the system and its interaction technology.
Guff: A Game Development Tool

Due to the real time nature of computer games, the main concerns of game developers have been related to efficiency of algorithm execution and visual presentation, instead of code reusability and maintenance. In order to support these concerns, game developers usually have been implementing all the required functionality to build a game, from scratch, in new projects. However, the complexity in game projects has been increasing over time, rendering such practices infeasible. Then, it is necessary to seek new approaches for game development. This work describes a game development tool (developed for a Master's Thesis), which applies an approach that can address this issue: a framework. The Guff framework is an easy to use tool that features automatic resource management on behalf of the developer, a state machine approach to specify and manage game levels, and extensive employment of free and open source libraries to avoid implementing already available functionalities.
Anti-Inflammatory, Antioxidant, Anti-Angiogenic and Skin Whitening Activities of Phryma leptostachya var. asiatica Hara Extract

This work aimed to assess some pharmacological activities of P. leptostachya var. asiatica Hara. The dried roots of P. leptostachya var. asiatica Hara were extracted with 70% ethanol to generate the powdered extract, named PLE. Anti-angiogenic activity was detected using chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. In vitro anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated via analyzing nitric oxide (NO) content, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophage cells. Antioxidant activity was determined by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in the stimulated macrophage cells. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and -2 (MMP-2) activities in the culture media were detected using zymography. PLE exhibits an anti-angiogenic activity in the CAM assay, and displays an inhibitory action on the generation of NO in the LPS-stimulated macrophage cells. In the stimulated macrophage cells, it is able to diminish the enhanced ROS level. It can potently scavenge the stable DPPH free radical. It suppresses the induction of iNOS and COX-2 and the enhanced MMP-9 activity in the stimulated macrophage cells. Both monooxygenase and oxidase activities of tyrosinase were strongly inhibited by PLE. Taken together, the dried roots of P. leptostachya var. asiatica Hara possess anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and skin whitening activities, which might partly provide its therapeutic efficacy in traditional medicine.
Dynamic task assignment in a multiagent/multitask environment based on module conflict resolution

It is necessary to coordinate multiple tasks in order to cope with larger-scaled and more complicated tasks. However, it seems very hard to accomplish the multiple tasks at the same time. The paper proposes a method to resolve a conflict between task modules through the processes of their executions. Based on the proposed method, the robot can select an appropriate module according to the priority. In addition, we apply the module conflict resolution to a multiagent environment. Consequently, multiple tasks are automatically allocated to the multiple robots. As a task example, a soccer game is selected to show the validity of the proposed method. Real experiments are shown, and a discussion is given.
Low cost FPGA implementation of SPWM using dynamically configurable switching frequency for three phase voltage source inverter

This paper describes the design, implementation and analysis of FPGA based High Frequency Switching Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) generator for the application of three-phase DC/AC inverters using Pipelined CORDIC algorithm. The carrier frequency of up to 4 MHz and operating frequency of 256 MHz is achieved. The switching frequency can be dynamically reconfigurable on real time by the user/external input signal ranging from 312.5 KHz to 256 MHz, which has wide application in the area of DC/AC inverters, thus allowing the flexibility to adapt for different power switching devices which has different non-linear characteristics. The work also includes the analysis of Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) using MATLAB, which shows the reduction in harmonic content. The entire architecture has been implemented by using the smallest FPGA XC6SLX4-TQG144 available in Xilinx Spartan 6 family. The proposed architecture exhibits highest switching frequency, lower power consumption, lower area and generating the stable SPWM waveform by using a low cost FPGA available in the market.
Simultaneous Learning and Alignment: Multi-Instance and Multi-Pose Learning ?

In object recognition in general and in face detection in par- ticular, data alignment is necessary to achieve good classification results with certain statistical learning approaches such as Viola-Jones. Data can be aligned in one of two ways: (1) by separating the data into coherent groups and training separate classifiers for each; (2) by adjusting training samples so they lie in correspondence. If done manually, both procedures are labor intensive and can significantly add to the cost of labeling. In this paper we present a unified boosting framework for simultaneous learn- ing and alignment. We present a novel boosting algorithm for Multiple Pose Learning (mpl), where the goal is to simultaneously split data into groups and train classifiers for each. We also review Multiple Instance Learning (mil), and in particular mil-boost, and describe how to use it to simultaneously train a classifier and bring data into correspondence. We show results on variations of LFW and MNIST, demonstrating the potential of these approaches.
Security audit of data flows across enterprise systems and networks

Enterprise IT environments are heterogeneous and complex with dozens of important software components running on each server and exchanging data with other servers, point of sale terminals, kiosks, door locks, workstations, and other systems. It is necessary to identify and document critical data flows across these systems and networks and create and verify corresponding security perimeters. Thus, newly adopted payment card industry data security standard version 3 requires data flows documentation across systems and networks, which is hard to maintain manually. In this paper, we describe the design of an automated and scalable data flows identification and diagramming system that relies on practical information sources and software and hardware models. As a result, the system can be used for real-life security audit and planning projects in diverse real-life environments. We evaluate it in three enterprise IT environments that belong to various types of industries.
A Framework for Optimizing IP over Ethernet Naming System

Due to the rapid expansion of the technology field. Developing the Internet has become more urgent to meet the needs of the expansion. TCP/IP is the most protocol used in the Internet. It consists from layers, Each layer done its job separately. However these layers susceptible to different attacks and data link layer one of the most layers targeted by attacker, Attack at lower layer may lead to more sophisticated attacks to upper layers like Man in The Middle (MiTM), DNS spoofing and Denial of Service (DoS). Even with encrypted protocols such as HTTPS and SSL. In this paper we discuss security at the Data Link Layer and the attacks depend on the Address resolution protocol (ARP). Moreover proposed an approach to prevent address resolution protocol attacks, finally, we conclude at section 5.
Interleukin-7 Optimizes FOXP3+CD4+ Regulatory T Cells Reactivity to Interleukin-2 by Modulating CD25 Expression

The vast majority of Foxp3 regulatory T cells (Treg) exhibits constitutive expression of CD25 (IL-2Rα), which allows the constitution of the high affinity IL-2Rαβγ receptor, ensuring efficient IL-2 binding by Treg. Maintenance of CD25 expression at Treg surface depends on both cell intrinsic factors and environmental stimuli such as IL-2 itself. Whether other factors can participate to maintenance of CD25 expression in vivo is at present unknown. In the present work we demonstrated that IL-7, a gamma-chain cytokine exerting a crucial role in T cell development and homeostasis, is able and necessary to sustain the expression of high levels of CD25 at Treg surface. We demonstrated that, during in vitro cultures performed in the absence of IL-2, IL-7 is able to sustain CD25 expression at Treg surface through a transcriptional mechanism. By studying mice in which IL-7 signaling is either genetically impaired or increased and by employing adoptive transfer murine models, we demonstrated that IL-7 is necessary for sustained expression of CD25 at Treg surface in vivo. To ascertain the biological impact of IL-7 mediated modulation of CD25 expression, we demonstrated that IL-7 modulation of CD25 expression at Treg surface affected their ability to efficiently bind IL-2 and transduce IL-2 signaling. Finally, we demonstrated that IL-7 dependent modulation of CD25 associated with potentiated IL-2 induced expansion of Treg in vivo. Collectively, our results identify IL-7 as a necessary factor contributing to sustained CD25 expression at Treg surface in vivo thereby affecting their ability to efficiently react to IL-2.
Predictive Validity of the Total Health Index for All-Cause Mortality Assessed in the Komo-Ise Cohort

Background The Total Health Index (THI), a self-administered questionnaire developed in Japan, is used for symptom assessment and stress management of employees and others; however, it has not been reported whether it can predict mortality risk. Methods The THI, with 12 primary and 5 secondary scales, was applied to a cohort consisting of middle-aged residents in Japan. This study, called the Komo-Ise cohort study, was started in 1993. The scale scores were related to 481 deaths from all causes among 10,816 residents over 93 months. The statistics were tested by the Cox hazard model and adjusted for three background variables (sex, age, and district where the subject resided). Results Five of the scales [depression and aggression (primary scales), and psychosomatics, neurotics, and schizophrenics (secondary scales)] indicated significant hazard ratios for mortality. The lowest quintile group of the aggression scale score had the largest hazard ratio of 2.58, compared with the middle quintile group (95% confidence interval: 1.88-3.52). The psychosomatics, neurotic scales and depression scales also had a minimum hazard ratio in the middle quintile group. One of the secondary scales, T1, which represents a somatoform disorder, had a significant linear relationship with the mortality risk, although its proportionality with the cumulative mortality rates was not satisfactory. Conclusions Five scales of the THI were significantly related to mortality risk in the Komo-Ise cohort, which could be used for score evaluation and in the personal health advice system of the THI.
Fuzzy Controlled Hydraulic Excavator with Model Parameter Uncertainty

The hydraulic actuated excavator, being a non-linear mobile machine, encounters many uncertainties. There are uncertainties in the hydraulic system in addition to the uncertain nature of the load. The simulation results obtained in this study show that there is a need for intelligent control of such machines and in particular interval type-2 fuzzy controller is most suitable for minimizing the position error of a typical excavator’s bucket under load variations. We consider the model parameter uncertainties such as hydraulic fluid leakage and friction. These are uncertainties which also depend up on the temperature and alter bulk modulus and viscosity of the hydraulic fluid. Such uncertainties together with the load variations cause chattering of the bucket position. The interval type-2 fuzzy controller effectively eliminates the chattering and manages to control the end-effecter (bucket) position with positional error in the order of few millimeters. Keywords—excavator, fuzzy control, hydraulics, mining, type-2
Temperature Effects in Complementary Inverters Made With Polysilicon Source-Gated Transistors

Through their high gain and low saturation voltage, source-gated transistors (SGTs) have applications in both analog and digital thin-film circuits. In this paper, we show how we can design SGT-based logic gates, which are practically unaffected by temperature variations. We discuss design characteristics, which ensure reliable operation in spite of SGT temperature dependence of drain current, and their implications for manufacturability and large signal operation.
The Impact of Physical Channel on Performance of Subspace-Based Channel Estimation in Massive MIMO Systems

A subspace method for channel estimation has been recently proposed for tackling the pilot contamination effect, which is regarded by some researchers as a bottleneck in massive MIMO systems. It was shown in the literature that if the power ratio between the desired signal and interference is kept above a certain value, the received signal spectrum splits into signal and interference eigenvalues, namely, the “pilot contamination” effect can be completely eliminated. However, in the literature an independently distributed (i.d.) channel is assumed, which is actually not much the case in practice. Considering this, a more sensible finite-dimensional physical channel model (i.e., a finite scattering environment, where signals impinge on the base station (BS) from a finite number of angles of arrival (AoA)) is employed in this paper. Via asymptotic spectral analysis, it is demonstrated that, compared with the i.d. channel, the physical channel imposes a penalty in the form of an increased power ratio between the useful signal and the interference. Furthermore, we demonstrate an interesting “antenna saturation” effect, i.e., when the number of the BS antennas approaches infinity, the performance under the physical channel with P AoAs is limited by and nearly the same as the performance under the i.d. channel with P receive antennas.