Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Writing a thesis differently

Abstract In this paper we explore the contributions that Deleuze and Guattari have made to thinking/writing language and how these ideas can be put to work in producing a doctoral thesis. We contribute to the field of work within what Patti Lather and Elizabeth St Pierre have called the “post-qualitative” movement, where researchers attempt to “imagine and accomplish an inquiry that might produce different knowledge and produce knowledge differently”. We attempt to rethink the thesis text, using a language where language always falls apart, a way of talking/writing/reading about presentation of research within a doctoral thesis that will provide the writermachine a space to “pass”. The paper will provide some ideas and ways forward for writers who are attempting to deterritorialize research, who are attempting to experiment with new representational forms.
Intact Microtubules Support Adenovirus and Herpes Simplex Virus Infections

ABSTRACT Capsids and the enclosed DNA of adenoviruses, including the species C viruses adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) and Ad5, and herpesviruses, such as herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), are targeted to the nuclei of epithelial, endothelial, fibroblastic, and neuronal cells. Cytoplasmic transport of fluorophore-tagged Ad2 and immunologically detected HSV-1 capsids required intact microtubules and the microtubule-dependent minus-end-directed motor complex dynein-dynactin. A recent study with epithelial cells suggested that Ad5 was transported to the nucleus and expressed its genes independently of a microtubule network. To clarify the mechanisms by which Ad2 and, as an independent control, HSV-1 were targeted to the nucleus, we treated epithelial cells with nocodazole (NOC) to depolymerize microtubules and measured viral gene expression at different times and multiplicities of infections. Our results indicate that in NOC-treated cells, viral transgene expression was significantly reduced at up to 48 h postinfection (p.i.). A quantitative analysis of subcellular capsid localization indicated that NOC blocked the nuclear targeting of Ad2 and also HSV-1 by more than 90% at up to 7 h p.i. About 10% of the incoming Texas Red-coupled Ad2 (Ad2-TR) was enriched at the nucleus in microtubule-depleted cells at 5 h p.i. This result is consistent with earlier observations that Ad2-TR capsids move randomly in NOC-treated cells at less than 0.1 μm/s and over distances of less than 5 μm, characteristic of Brownian motion. We conclude that fluorophore-tagged Ad2 and HSV-1 particles are infectious and that microtubules play a prominent role in efficient nuclear targeting during entry and gene expression of species C Ads and HSV-1.
Non-Alzheimer's disease—related memory impairment and dementia

Although Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common cause of memory impairment and dementia in the elderly disturbed memory function is a widespread subjective and/or objective symptom in a variety of medical conditions. The early detection and correct distinction of AD from non-AD memory impairment is critically important to detect possibly treatable and reversible underlying causes. In the context of clinical research, it is crucial to correctly distinguish between AD or non-AD memory impairment in order to build homogenous study populations for the assessment of new therapeutic possibilities. The distinction of AD from non-AD memory impairment may be difficult, especially in mildly affected patients, due to an overlap of clinical symptoms and biomarker alterations between AD and certain non-AD conditions. This review aims to describe recent aspects of the differential diagnosis of AD and non-AD related memory impairment and how these may be considered in the presence of memory deficits.
Paddling based Microrobot for Capsule Endoscopes

Recently, the capsule endoscope can be widely used for the diagnosis of digestive organs. It is passively moved by the peristaltic waves of gastro-intestinal tract and thus has some limitations for doctor to get the image of the organ and to diagnose more thoroughly. As a solution of these problems, therefore, a locomotive mechanism of capsule endoscopes has being developed. Our proposed capsule-type microrobot has synchronized multiple legs that are actuated by a linear actuator and two mobile cylinders inside of the capsule. By the novel kinematic relation between the legs and the mobile cylinders, the microrobot can easily move forward in the gastro-intestine. For the feasibility test of the proposed locomotive mechanism, a series of experiments were carried out including in-vitro and in-vivo tests. Based on the experimental results, we conclude that the proposed locomotive mechanism is not only easy to be used for micro capsule endoscopes but also effective to move inside of intestinal tract.
MD Study of Solution Concentrations on Ion Distribution in a Nanopore-Based Device Inspired from Red Blood Cells

A molecular dynamics model of a nanopore-based device, which is similar to the nanopores in a cell membrane, was used to determine the influence of solution concentration on radial ion distribution, screening effects, and the radial potential profile in the nanopore. Results from these simulations indicate that as the solution concentration increases, the density peaks for both the counterion and coion near the charged wall increase at different speeds as screening effects appeared. Consequently, the potential near the charged wall of the nanopore changed from negative to positive during the simulation. The detailed understanding of ion distribution in nanopores is important for controlling the ion permeability and improving the cell transfection and also the design and application of nanofluidic devices.
Serial Measurements of Apoptotic Cell Numbers Provide Better Acceptance Criterion for PBMC Quality than a Single Measurement Prior to the T Cell Assay

As soon as Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) are isolated from whole blood, some cells begin dying. The rate of apoptotic cell death is increased when PBMC are shipped, cryopreserved, or stored under suboptimal conditions. Apoptotic cells secrete cytokines that suppress inflammation while promoting phagocytosis. Increased numbers of apoptotic cells in PBMC may modulate T cell functions in antigen-triggered T cell assays. We assessed the effect of apoptotic bystander cells on a T cell ELISPOT assay by selectively inducing B cell apoptosis using α-CD20 mAbs. The presence of large numbers of apoptotic B cells did not affect T cell functionality. In contrast, when PBMC were stored under unfavorable conditions, leading to damage and apoptosis in the T cells as well as bystander cells, T cell functionality was greatly impaired. We observed that measuring the number of apoptotic cells before plating the PBMC into an ELISPOT assay did not reflect the extent of PBMC injury, but measuring apoptotic cell frequencies at the end of the assay did. Our data suggest that measuring the numbers of apoptotic cells prior to and post T cell assays may provide more stringent PBMC quality acceptance criteria than measurements done only prior to the start of the assay.
Formation and Evolution of Galactic Halos in Clusters of Galaxies

We investigate effects of time evolution of a rich cluster of galaxies on its member galactic halos in the standard cold dark matter (SCDM) universe using high resolution N-body simulations. We identify several hundred galactic halos within the virial radius of our simulated cluster. We also find that a large number of halos have been tidally disrupted at z=0. Therefore we improve a method of deriving merging history trees of galaxies taking account of tidally stripped galaxies. The main results are as follows: (1) At high redshift (z≃2), the mass function of the galactic halos that are in the cluster at z=0 is very similar to that obtained in the field region and agrees well with the Press-Schechter mass function. (2) The mass function of cluster galaxies that consist of both galactic halos and tidally stripped galaxies has hardly evolved since z≃2. This mass function at z=0 is well represented by the Press-Schechter mass function at z=2. (3) At high redshift (z>3), in the region that becomes the cluster, the fraction of galaxies that have undergone recent merger is larger than that in the field. After z~3, however, it rapidly decreases and becomes smaller than that in the field. (4) The fraction of strongly stripped galaxies among the cluster galaxies begins to increase from z≃0.5. At z=0, a clear correlation appears between this fraction and the distance from the center of the cluster. (5) Tidally truncated halos have steeper outer profiles than those of the model of Navarro, Frenk, & White.
A Hitchhiker's Guide to Choosing Parameters of Stochastic Kronecker Graphs

Graph analysis is playing an increasingly important role in science and industry. Due to numerous limitations in sharing real-world graphs, models for generating massive graphs are critical for developing better algorithms. In this paper, we analyze the stochastic Kronecker graph model (SKG), which is the foundation of the Graph500 supercomputer benchmark due to its many favorable properties and easy parallelization. Our goal is to provide a deeper understanding of the parameters and properties of this model so that its functionality as a benchmark is increased. We develop a rigorous mathematical analysis that shows this model cannot generate a power-law distribution or even a lognormal distribution. However, we formalize an enhanced version of the SKG model that uses random noise for smoothing. We prove both in theory and in practice that this enhancement leads to a lognormal distribution. Additionally, we provide a precise analysis of isolated vertices, showing that the graphs that are produced by SKG might be quite different than intended. For example, between 50% and 75% of the vertices in the Graph500 benchmarks will be isolated. Finally, we show that this model tends to produce extremely small core numbers (compared to most social networks and other real graphs) for common parameter choices.
Material Classification Using Color and NIR Images

Material classification is becoming more important in computer vision and digital photography applications, which require accurate classification of objects present in the imaged scene. This is a very challenging task because the sheer diversity of scene content and lighting conditions decreases the usefulness of many color- and texture-based features used in image classification. In this work, we investigate the potential offered by using information outside of the visible spectrum, specifically the near-infrared (NIR). The difference in the NIR images’ intensities is not just due to the particular color of the material, but also absorption and reflectance characteristics of the colorant. This relative independency of NIR and color information makes NIR images a prime candidate for classification. The database, on which the training and testing were conducted, consists of textile, tile, linoleum and wood samples. To classify the materials, visible and NIR images were analyzed according to their lightness, texture, and color. The analysis results were the input to a classifier in form of feature vectors. The results show that our database is classified almost exactly. Comparing with visible-only features, wood and textile samples were better classified due to the additional information the NIR images provide.
Supersymmetric AdS5 solutions of M-theory

We analyse the most general supersymmetric solutions of D = 11 supergravity consisting of a warped product of five-dimensional anti-de Sitter space with a six-dimensional Riemannian space M6, with 4-form flux on M6. We show that M6 is partly specified by a one-parameter family of four-dimensional Kähler metrics. We find a large family of new explicit regular solutions where M6 is a compact, complex manifold which is topologically a 2-sphere bundle over a four-dimensional base, where the latter is either (i) Kähler–Einstein with positive curvature, or (ii) a product of two constant-curvature Riemann surfaces. After dimensional reduction and T-duality, some solutions in the second class are related to a new family of Sasaki–Einstein spaces which includes . Our general analysis also covers warped products of five-dimensional Minkowski space with a six-dimensional Riemannian space.
Sure Interpolation and Its Application to Hierarchical Threshold Secret Sharing Scheme

A threshold secret sharing scheme permits a secret to be shared among participants in such a way that only qualified subsets of participants can recover the secret. Threshold secret sharing is useful in management of cryptographic keys. Based on Birkhoff interpolation, Tassa has proposed an ideal hierarchical threshold secret sharing scheme. Then based on Sure interpolation and participants' identity, we present another ideal hierarchical threshold secret sharing scheme. Sure interpolation is simple and easy interpolation method to use in hierarchical threshold secret sharing scheme. At last, we analyze the ideal threshold secret sharing scheme based on Sure interpolation, which is more easy and simple to compute and implement in the real life.
Architectural support of multiple hypervisors over single platform for enhancing cloud computing security

This paper presents MultiHype, a novel architecture that supports multiple hypervisors (or virtual machine monitors) on a single physical platform by leveraging many-core based cloud-on-chip architecture. A MultiHype platform consists of a control plane and multiple hypervisors created on-demand, each can further create multiple guest virtual machines. Supported at architectural level, a single platform using MultiHype can behave as a distributed system with each hypervisor and its virtual machines running independently and concurrently. As a direct consequence, vulnerabilities of one hypervisor or its guest virtual machine can be confined within its own domain, which makes the platform more resilient to malicious attacks and failures in a cloud environment. Towards defending against resource exhaustion attacks, MultiHype further implements a new cache eviction policy and memory management scheme for preventing resource monopolization on shared cache, and defending against denial of resource exploits on physical memory resource launched from malicious virtual machines on shared platform. We use Bochs emulator and cycle based x86 simulation to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of MultiHype.
Theoretical studies of the optical spectra and EPR parameters for VO2+ ions in Zn(antipyrine)2(NO3)2

The optical spectrum band positions and EPR parameters (g factors g//, g and hyperfine structure constants A// and A) for VO 2+ ions in Zn(antipyrine)2(NO3)2 are theoretically studied from the complete diagonalization (of energy matrix) method (CDM) and the perturbation theory method (PTM). In the two methods, the contributions from the spin–orbit (SO) coupling of central 3d n ion and ligand are taken into account. The theoretical results from both methods are not only consistent with the experimental values, but also close to each other. The results are discussed.
Edge-localized image sharpening via reassignment with application to computed tomography

Traditional filtering methods operate on the entire signal or image. In some applications, however, errors are concentrated in specific regions or features. A prime example is images generated using computed tomography. Practical implementations limit the amount of high frequency content in the reconstructed image, and consequently, edges are blurred. We introduce a new post-reconstruction edge enhancement algorithm, based on the reassignment principle and wavelets, that localizes its sharpening exclusively to edge features. Our method enhances edges without disturbing the low frequency textural details.
Complete Axiomatization for the Bisimilarity Distance on Markov Chains

In this paper we propose a complete axiomatization of the bisimilarity distance of Desharnais et al. for the class of finite labelled Markov chains. Our axiomatization is given in the style of a quantitative extension of equational logic recently proposed by Mardare, Panangaden, and Plotkin (LICS'16) that uses equality relations t =_e s indexed by rationals, expressing that "t is approximately equal to s up to an error e". Notably, our quantitative deductive system extends in a natural way the equational system for probabilistic bisimilarity given by Stark and Smolka by introducing an axiom for dealing with the Kantorovich distance between probability distributions.
Fourier Power Spectrum Characteristics of Face Photographs: Attractiveness Perception Depends on Low-Level Image Properties

We investigated whether low-level processed image properties that are shared by natural scenes and artworks – but not veridical face photographs – affect the perception of facial attractiveness and age. Specifically, we considered the slope of the radially averaged Fourier power spectrum in a log-log plot. This slope is a measure of the distribution of special frequency power in an image. Images of natural scenes and artworks possess – compared to face images – a relatively shallow slope (i.e., increased high spatial frequency power). Since aesthetic perception might be based on the efficient processing of images with natural scene statistics, we assumed that the perception of facial attractiveness might also be affected by these properties. We calculated Fourier slope and other beauty-associated measurements in face images and correlated them with ratings of attractiveness and age of the depicted persons (Study 1). We found that Fourier slope – in contrast to the other tested image properties – did not predict attractiveness ratings when we controlled for age. In Study 2A, we overlaid face images with random-phase patterns with different statistics. Patterns with a slope similar to those in natural scenes and artworks resulted in lower attractiveness and higher age ratings. In Studies 2B and 2C, we directly manipulated the Fourier slope of face images and found that images with shallower slopes were rated as more attractive. Additionally, attractiveness of unaltered faces was affected by the Fourier slope of a random-phase background (Study 3). Faces in front of backgrounds with statistics similar to natural scenes and faces were rated as more attractive. We conclude that facial attractiveness ratings are affected by specific image properties. An explanation might be the efficient coding hypothesis.
Estimating Trajectories of Energy Intake Through Childhood and Adolescence Using Linear-Spline Multilevel Models

Background: Methods for the assessment of changes in dietary intake across the life course are underdeveloped. Methods: We demonstrate the use of linear-spline multilevel models to summarize energy-intake trajectories through childhood and adolescence and their application as exposures, outcomes, or mediators. The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children assessed children’s dietary intake several times between ages 3 and 13 years, using both food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and 3-day food diaries. We estimated energy-intake trajectories for 12,032 children using linear-spline multilevel models. We then assessed the associations of these trajectories with maternal body mass index (BMI), and later offspring BMI, and also their role in mediating the relation between maternal and offspring BMIs. Results: Models estimated average and individual energy intake at 3 years, and linear changes in energy intake from age 3 to 7 years and from age 7 to 13 years. By including the exposure (in this example, maternal BMI) in the multilevel model, we were able to estimate the average energy-intake trajectories across levels of the exposure. When energy-intake trajectories are the exposure for a later outcome (in this case offspring BMI) or a mediator (between maternal and offspring BMI), results were similar, whether using a two-step process (exporting individual-level intercepts and slopes from multilevel models and using these in linear regression/path analysis), or a single-step process (multivariate multilevel models). Trajectories were similar when FFQs and food diaries were assessed either separately, or when combined into one model. Conclusions: Linear-spline multilevel models provide useful summaries of trajectories of dietary intake that can be used as an exposure, outcome, or mediator.
Different Sets of Post-Embryonic Development Genes Are Conserved or Lost in Two Caryophyllales Species (Reaumuria soongorica and Agriophyllum squarrosum)

Reaumuria soongorica and sand rice (Agriophyllum squarrosum) belong to the clade of Caryophyllales and are widely distributed in the desert regions of north China. Both plants have evolved many specific traits and adaptation strategies to cope with recurring environmental threats. However, the genetic basis that underpins their unique traits and adaptation remains unknown. In this study, the transcriptome data of R. soongorica and sand rice were compared with three other species with previously sequenced genomes (Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, and Beta vulgaris). Four different gene sets were identified, namely, the genes conserved in both species, those lost in both species, those conserved in R. soongorica only, and those conserved in sand rice only. Gene ontology showed that post-embryonic development genes (PEDGs) were enriched in all gene sets, and different sets of PEDGs were conserved or lost in both the R. soongorica and sand rice genomes. Expression profiles of Arabidopsis orthologs further provided some clues to the function of the species-specific conserved PEDGs. Such orthologs included LEAFY PETIOLE, which could be a candidate gene involved in the development of branch priority in sand rice.
Pediatric Medicine Development: An Overview and Comparison of Regulatory Processes in the European Union and United States

Pediatric legislation in the US and the EU is driving pediatric product development on an international scale. To facilitate harmonization and global development of pediatric medicines, it is important to understand the legislative requirements that must be met along with incentives that exist in the US and the EU to include pediatric patients in therapeutic clinical trials. Although there are many similarities, differences exist. This review is an effort to enhance understanding of the pediatric legislation in both regions. It is intended as an overview to supplement the region-specific legislation and guidance documents that are available on the websites of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Despite differences, the goal of the legislation in both the EU and the US is to incentivize and require timely, ethical, and sound scientific development of pharmaceutical products for the pediatric population and to provide information for their safe and effective use.