Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Radioimmunoassay of plasma progesterone.

ABSTRACT A radioimmunoassay for the measurement of plasma progesterone is described. The 21-hemisuccinate of 11-desoxycortisol was coupled to human serum albumin using carbodiimide, and the conjugate was used to immunize 2 ewes. The antiserum obtained after 8 months of immunization from one of the ewes was used in the assay procedure. Incubation at 4 C overnight of this diluted antiserum was carried out in the presence of 1,2-3H-17-hydroxyprogesterone. Separation of free from bound hormone was achieved by a dextran-coated charcoal suspension. One ml of plasma or serum, with tritiated progesterone added for recovery, was extracted with ether, then chromatographed on a microcolumn of Celite. Recovery of 3H-progesterone after extraction and chromatography was 84.2±4.8% (sd). The sensitivity varied between 10 and 25 pg of progesterone. Recovery experiments of progesterone added to water and plasma confirmed accuracy. Concentration of progesterone in plasma from men averaged 233±64 (sd) pg/ml and from postmeno.
Optimal discovery with probabilistic expert advice: finite time analysis and macroscopic optimality

We consider an original problem that arises from the issue of security analysis of a power system and that we name optimal discovery with probabilistic expert advice. We address it with an algorithm based on the optimistic paradigm and on the Good-Turing missing mass estimator. We prove two different regret bounds on the performance of this algorithm under weak assumptions on the probabilistic experts. Under more restrictive hypotheses, we also prove a macroscopic optimality result, comparing the algorithm both with an oracle strategy and with uniform sampling. Finally, we provide numerical experiments illustrating these theoretical findings.
Synthesis of phakellistatin 11: a micronesia (Chuuk) marine sponge cyclooctapeptide.

The cyclic octapeptide phakellistatin 11 (1), a constituent of The Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk) marine sponge Phakellia sp. , was synthesized using solid-phase techniques. An initial solution-phase synthesis proved to be inadequate owing to spontaneous deprotection of the Fmoc group at the heptapeptide stage. Using the PAL resin attachment and proceeding from Fmoc-Glu-alpha-allyl ester, linear elongation of the octapeptide was performed until the final unit Pro was added. The allyl ester was removed using Pd(0)[P(C(6)H(5))(3)](4). Cleavage of the final Fmoc group and cyclization with PyAOP provided phakellistatin 11 (1) in 17% overall yield. The synthetic specimen of phakellistatin 11 (1) was found to be chemically but not biologically (cancer cell lines) identical to the natural product. The result suggested a conformational difference or more likely the presence of a trace amount of a highly active antineoplastic agent that binds noncovalently to the natural cyclic octapeptide 1.
Parents and Peers in Social Development: A Sullivan-Piaget Perspective

Most studies of social development in children have relied on the assumption that adults' instructions to children pass on knowledge of the rules of behavior which govern and preserve society. In this volume, James Youniss argues that the child's relations with his or her friends and peers make a distinctive and critically important contribution to social development. While the child's relations with parents and other adults provide a sense of order and authority, peer relations are a source of sensitivity, self-understanding, and interpersonal cooperation. Following a discussion of the views of Harry Stack Sullivan and Jean Piaget, whose theories are synthesized in Youniss's perspective, Youniss presents a wealth of empirical data from studies in which children describe their own views of their two social worlds.
The Trojan Method in Functional Encryption: From Selective to Adaptive Security, Generically

In a functional encryption (FE) scheme, the owner of the secret key can generate restricted decryption keys that allow users to learn specific functions of the encrypted messages and nothing else. In many known constructions of FE schemes, such a notion of security is guaranteed only for messages that are fixed ahead of time (i.e., before the adversary even interacts with the system). This is called selective security, which is too restrictive for many realistic applications. Achieving adaptive security (also called full security), where security is guaranteed even for messages that are adaptively chosen at any point in time, seems significantly more challenging. The handful of known fully-secure schemes are based on specifically tailored techniques that rely on strong assumptions (such as obfuscation assumptions or multilinear maps assumptions). In this paper we show that any sufficiently expressive selectively-secure FE scheme can be transformed into a fully secure one without introducing any additional assumptions. We present a direct black-box transformation, making novel use of hybrid encryption, a classical technique that was originally introduced for improving the efficiency of encryption schemes, combined with a new technique we call the Trojan Method. This method allows to embed a secret execution thread in the functional keys of the underlying scheme, which will only be activated within the proof of security of the resulting scheme. As another application of the Trojan Method, we show how to construct functional encryption schemes for arbitrary circuits starting from ones for shallow circuits (NC1 or even TC0). ∗E-mail: prabhanjan@cs.ucla. edu. This work was done while visiting MIT, and was supported in part by the Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Consortium. †E-mail: zvika.brakerski@weizmann.ac.il. Supported by an Alon Fellowship and by ISF. ‡E-mail: segev@cs.huji. ac.il. Supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) via a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant, by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 483/13), and by the Israeli Centers of Research Excellence (I-CORE) Program (Center No. 4/11). §Email: vinodv@mit.edu. Research supported in part by DARPA Grant number FA8750-11-2-0225, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Research Consortium (CRC), the Qatar Computing Research Institute, Microsoft Faculty Fellowship, and a Steven and Renee Finn Career Development Chair from MIT.
Gang Migration of Virtual Machines Using Cluster-wide Deduplication

Gang migration refers to the simultaneous live migration of multiple Virtual Machines (VMs) from one set of physical machines to another in response to events such as load spikes and imminent failures. Gang migration generates a large volume of network traffic and can overload the core network links and switches in a data center. In this paper, we present an approach to reduce the network overhead of gang migration using global deduplication (GMGD). GMGD identifies and eliminates the retransmission of duplicate memory pages among VMs running on multiple physical machines in the cluster. We describe the design, implementation and evaluation of a GMGD prototype using QEMU/KVM VMs. Evaluations on a 30-node Gigabit Ethernet cluster having 10GigE core links shows that GMGD can reduce the network traffic on core links by up to 65% and the total migration time of VMs by up to 42% when compared to the default migration technique in QEMU/KVM. Furthermore, GMGD has a smaller adverse performance impact on network-bound applications.
Biochemical behavior of N-oxidized cytosine and adenine bases in DNA polymerase-mediated primer extension reactions

To clarify the biochemical behavior of 2′-deoxyribonucleoside 5′-triphosphates and oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODNs) containing cytosine N-oxide (Co) and adenine N-oxide (Ao), we examined their base recognition ability in DNA duplex formation using melting temperature (Tm) experiments and their substrate specificity in DNA polymerase-mediated replication. As the result, it was found that the Tm values of modified DNA–DNA duplexes incorporating 2′-deoxyribonucleoside N-oxide derivatives significantly decreased compared with those of the unmodified duplexes. However, single insertion reactions by DNA polymerases of Klenow fragment (KF) (exo−) and Vent (exo−) suggested that Co and Ao selectively recognized G and T, respectively. Meanwhile, the kinetic study showed that the incorporation efficiencies of the modified bases were lower than those of natural bases. Ab initio calculations suggest that these modified bases can form the stable base pairs with the original complementary bases. These results indicate that the modified bases usually recognize the original bases as partners for base pairing, except for misrecognition of dATP by the action of KF (exo−) toward Ao on the template, and the primers could be extended on the template DNA. When they misrecognized wrong bases, the chain could not be elongated so that the modified base served as the chain terminator.
Service Quality Assessment in Distance Learning

The distance learning sector has despite of fast evolution still some vague areas. This paper addresses the problem area of distance education service quality assessment. Numerous factors, describing education service quality, are divided into two main categories: educational service quality factors and electronic service quality factor that causes the existence of two independent quality assessment approaches. Based on the analysis of these approaches the Kansei concept is offered as the compromise theory taking into account technical, emotional, pedagogical and other aspects of distance learning phenomenon.
Increasing the Accuracy of Mapping Urban Forest Carbon Density by Combining Spatial Modeling and Spectral Unmixing Analysis

Accurately mapping urban vegetation carbon density is challenging because of complex landscapes and mixed pixels. In this study, a novel methodology was proposed that combines a linear spectral unmixing analysis (LSUA) with a linear stepwise regression (LSR), a logistic model-based stepwise regression (LMSR) and k-Nearest Neighbors (kNN), to map the forest carbon density of Shenzhen City of China, using Landsat 8 imagery and sample plot data collected in 2014. The independent variables that contributed to statistically significantly improving the fit of a model to data and reducing the sum of squared errors were first selected from a total of 284 spectral variables derived from the image bands. The vegetation fraction from LSUA was then added as an independent variable. The results obtained using cross-validation showed that: (1) Compared to the methods without the vegetation information, adding the vegetation fraction increased the accuracy of mapping carbon density by 1%–9.3%; (2) As the observed values increased, the LSR and kNN residuals showed overestimates and underestimates for the smaller and larger observations, respectively, while LMSR improved the systematical over and underestimations; (3) LSR resulted in illogically negative and unreasonably large estimates, while KNN produced the greatest values of root mean square error (RMSE). The results indicate that combining the spatial modeling method LMSR and the spectral unmixing analysis LUSA, coupled with Landsat imagery, is most promising for increasing the accuracy of urban forest carbon density maps. In addition, this method has considerable potential for accurate, rapid and nondestructive prediction of urban and peri-urban forest carbon stocks with an acceptable level of error and low cost.
CrowdBrush : A Mobile Photo Editing Application with a Crowd Inside

We present a mobile photo editing application— CrowdBrush, which uses Google Android as front-end platform and Amazon Mechanical Turk as back-end platform. As there are increasingly more images were captured by smart phone these days, providing photo manipulation functions on the mobile phone directly become very important for better user experience. This is because most users want to edit and share their images directly after capturing, without having to copy them to PC. However, current photo editing software on smart phone usually has limited functions due to the restricted input methods on smart phone. Our system aims at providing more advanced photo manipulation features by uploading a user’s image to our backend server, having workers on the internet help to process the image, and then sending the processed result back to the mobile phone. Specifically, we ask workers to perform a rotoscoping task on uploaded images. Rotoscoping is an essential preprocessing step for many visual effects. By having online workers label the objects and background in images, our system can provide various photo editing features which cannot be supported by current mobile photo editing applications. Our evaluation results show that our system can consistently generate high quality rotoscoping results cannot be done by computer vision techniques. The user study reveals important future working directions for users to adopt our system.
Does a Dual Degree Make a Difference in Social Work

Abstract The purpose of this mixed method study was to examine the professional integration of religion and spirituality by two groups of MSW level graduates from a large midwestern private research university with a joint degree program. The Dual Degree group consisted of all graduates with a second master's degree in religion/divinity. The second MSW-only group was a random sample matched by gender and year of graduation with the Dual Degree group. Survey questionnaires were mailed to 124 graduates with a response rate of 65%, or 81 graduates. Forty-five respondents were Dual Degree graduates while 36 had only the MSW. Obtaining advanced university or seminary education in religion is correlated with different perspectives on social work practice. Dual Degree graduates are more likely to ask about client religious views and to have a richer context for practice in this domain.
Video Flashlights: Real Time Rendering of Multiple Videosfor Immersive Model Visualization

Videos and 3D models have traditionally existed in separate worlds and as distinct representations. Although texture maps for 3D models have been traditionally derived from multiple still images, real-time mapping of live videos as textures on 3D models has not been attempted. This paper presents a system for rendering multiple live videos in real-time over a 3D model as a novel and demonstrative application of the power of commodity graphics hardware. The system, metaphorically called the Video Flashlight system, "illuminates" a static 3D model with live video textures from static and moving cameras in the same way as a flashlight (torch) illuminates an environment. The Video Flashlight system is also an augmented reality solution for security and monitoring systems that deploy numerous cameras to monitor a large scale campus or an urban site. Current video monitoring systems are highly limited in providing global awareness since they typically display numerous camera videos on a grid of 2D displays. In contrast, the Video Flashlight system exploits the real-time rendering capabilities of current graphics hardware and renders live videos from various parts of an environment co-registered with the model. The user gets a global view of the model and is also able to visualize the dynamic videos simultaneously in the context of the model. In particular, the location of pixels and objects seen in the videos are precisely overlaid on the model while the user navigates through the model. The paper presents an overview of the system, details of the real-time rendering and demonstrates the efficacy of the augmented reality application.
Tracking human motion and actions for interactive robots

A method is presented for kinematic pose estimation and action recognition from monocular robot vision through the use of dynamical human motion vocabularies. We propose the utilization of dynamical motion vocabularies towards bridging the decision making of observed humans and information from robot sensing. Our motion vocabulary is comprised of learned primitives that structure the action space for decision making and describe human movement dynamics. Given image observations over time, each primitive infers on pose independently using its prediction density on movement dynamics in the context of a particle filter. Pose estimates from a set of primitives inferencing in parallel are arbitrated to estimate the action being performed. The efficacy of our approach is demonstrated through tracking and action recognition over extended motion trials. Results evidence the robustness of the algorithm with respect to unsegmented multi-action movement, movement speed, and camera viewpoint.
Experimental Characterization of UWB Antennas for On-Body Communications

In this paper, the radiation of three types of ultrawideband (UWB) antennas is experimentally characterized for near/on human body scenarios. The transmission performance for vertical and horizontal polarizations is measured at different body orientations. The received pulses are analyzed in the time domain by selecting Dirac impulse and sine-modulated Gaussian monocycle as source pulses. The peak-to-peak amplitudes, fidelity, and stretch ratio of the waveforms of the received pulses are computed based on the measured results. In measurements, three types of UWB antennas are studied, namely an omnidirectional monopole antenna, directional suspended plate antenna, and printed diversity antenna. From the study, it is found that the omnidirectional antenna experiences an increase in the transmission due to the reflections from the body but suffers from narrower horizontal coverage due to a higher attenuation as the body turns away from the transmit antenna compared to the directional antenna. However, the directional antenna is less sensitive to the distance of the antenna away from the body in vertical and horizontal polarizations. The diversity antenna is able to maintain high peak-to-peak amplitudes in the waveforms of received pulses for both polarizations and the high fidelity when it is placed near the body. Therefore, the printed diversity antenna is suitable for on-body-centric communications with improved quality of the overall radio-frequency link.
Model-based monitoring of fouling in a heat exchanger

Fouling is the deposition of undesired material on a heat transfer surface. It significantly decreases the thermal performance of heat exchangers. In this study, a novel method is proposed to monitor fouling in a thermosiphon reboiler. The method combines a physical model and a data-driven model to estimate the heat transfer mechanism. The overall heat transfer coefficient and heat flux are modeled by using physical models. Partial least square regression is used to model the tube-side film heat transfer coefficient. Additionally, a methodology to estimate fouling resistance is presented. The proposed method is demonstrated on a reboiler in a simulated debutanizer column.
Regret on Choice of Colorectal Cancer Screening Modality Was Associated with Poorer Screening Compliance: A 4-Year Prospective Cohort Study

Purpose Very few studies examined the issue of regret on choosing colorectal cancer (CRC) screening tests. We evaluated the determinants of regret and tested the hypothesis that regret over screening choices was associated with poorer screening compliance. Methods A bowel cancer screening centre invited all Hong Kong citizens aged 50-70 years who were asymptomatic of CRC to participate in free-of-charge screening programmes. Upon attendance they attended health seminars on CRC and its screening, and were offered an option to choose yearly faecal immunochemical test (FIT) for up to four years vs. one direct colonoscopy. They were not allowed to switch the screening option after decision. A self-administered, four-item validated survey was used to assess whether they regretted over their choice (> 2 = regretful from a scale of 0 [no regret]-5 [extreme regret]). A binary logistic regression model evaluated if initial regret over their choice was associated with poorer programme compliance. Results From 4,341 screening participants who have chosen FIT or colonoscopy, 120 (2.8%) regretted over their decision and 1,029 (23.7%) were non-compliant with the screening programme. Younger subjects and people who felt pressure when making their decision were associated with regret. People who regretted their decision were 2.189 (95% C.I. 1.361-3.521, p = 0.001) times more likely to be non-compliant with the programme. Conclusions This study is the first to show that regret over the initial CRC screening choice was associated with later non-compliance. Screening participants who expressed regret over their choice should receive additional reminders to improve their programmatic compliance.
Taxonomy for QoS specifications

It is becoming increasingly commonplace for multiple applications with different quality of service (QoS) requirements to share the resources of a distributed system. Within this environment, the resource management algorithms must take into account the QoS desired by applications and the ability of the system resources to provide it. We present a taxonomy for specifying QoS for the different components of a distributed system, from the applications down to the resources. We specify QoS as a combination of metrics and policies. QoS metrics are used to specify performance parameters, security requirements and the relative importance of the work in the system. We define three types of QoS performance parameters: timeliness, precision, and accuracy. QoS policies capture application-specific policies that govern how an application is treated by the resource manager. Examples of such policies are management policies and the levels of service. We explore each of these components of the QoS taxonomy in detail.
Responsiveness of IGF‐I and IGFBP‐3 to therapeutic intervention in children and adolescents with Crohn's disease

Abnormal linear growth is common in childhood and adolescent Crohn's disease. We have studied the concentrations of the inflammatory marker CRP and of serum IGF‐I and IGFBP‐3 in patients with active Crohn's disease and have assessed the changes in these parameters during therapeutic intervention with enteral nutrition or intestinal resection.
Parcellating an Individual Subject's Cortical and Subcortical Brain Structures Using Snowball Sampling of Resting-State Correlations

We describe methods for parcellating an individual subject's cortical and subcortical brain structures using resting-state functional correlations (RSFCs). Inspired by approaches from social network analysis, we first describe the application of snowball sampling on RSFC data (RSFC-Snowballing) to identify the centers of cortical areas, subdivisions of subcortical nuclei, and the cerebellum. RSFC-Snowballing parcellation is then compared with parcellation derived from identifying locations where RSFC maps exhibit abrupt transitions (RSFC-Boundary Mapping). RSFC-Snowballing and RSFC-Boundary Mapping largely complement one another, but also provide unique parcellation information; together, the methods identify independent entities with distinct functional correlations across many cortical and subcortical locations in the brain. RSFC parcellation is relatively reliable within a subject scanned across multiple days, and while the locations of many area centers and boundaries appear to exhibit considerable overlap across subjects, there is also cross-subject variability—reinforcing the motivation to parcellate brains at the level of individuals. Finally, examination of a large meta-analysis of task-evoked functional magnetic resonance imaging data reveals that area centers defined by task-evoked activity exhibit correspondence with area centers defined by RSFC-Snowballing. This observation provides important evidence for the ability of RSFC to parcellate broad expanses of an individual's brain into functionally meaningful units.