Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Possible Protective and Therapeutic Effects of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Compared to Vitamin C in Gentamicin Induced Acute Kidney Injury in adult Rats. A Histological Study

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the possible nephroprotective and therapeutic role of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in comparison to vitamin C in a rat model of gentamicin (GM) induced nephrotoxicity.Materials and Methods: Forty adult male Wistar rats (150-200 gm) were used in this study. Five rats were utilized to obtain BMSCs and thirty-five rats were divided into: Group I: control, Group II (GM): received 100mg/kg GM intramuscularly for 8 days, subdivided into: subgroup IIa (GM toxicity): sacrificed after the last dose of GM; and subgroup IIb (GM recovery): sacrificed 8 days after the last injection; Group III (Protection): subdivided into: subgroup IIIa (BMSCs protection): received a single intravenous (IV) injection of BMSCs with the first dose of GM and subgroup IIIb (Vitamin C protection): received 200mg/kg vitamin C intraperitoneal (IP) for 8 days simultaneously with the daily GM doses; and Group IV (Treatment): subdivided into: subgroup IVa (BMSCs treatment): received single IV injection of BMSCs after the last dose of GM and subgroup IVb (Vitamin C treatment): received 200mg/kg vitamin C IP for 8 days after the last dose of GM. Serum creatinine and urea were measured, and kidneys were processed for histological, immunohistochemical and morphometric studies. Results: GM resulted in vacuolation, desquamation of tubular epithelium, interstitial inflammation, congestion and increased number of PCNA positive cells. Serum creatinine and urea were significantly increased. Vitamin C administration, either as a treatment or protection, significantly ameliorated these changes. Conversely, BMSCs could not prevent the GM toxicity but exerted a therapeutic role. Conclusion: BMSCs had no role in protection against GM nephrotoxicity, whereas, their administration after kidney injury assisted kidney regeneration. However, vitamin C exhibited a dual significant role in prevention and improvement in kidney structure and biochemical results.
Effective Network Defense Strategies against Malicious Attacks with Various Defense Mechanisms under Quality of Service Constraints

How to apply timely and effective defense strategies against attackers while maximizing system survivability is a critical issue for a defender. This paper mathematically models attack and defense scenarios, using various defensive mechanisms during both the planning and defending stages and under quality of service constraints. This model incorporates high degrees of randomness, as attackers are assumed to have incomplete information. Given such non-deterministic problems, this paper identifies the appropriate time for applying defense in depth or resource concentration strategy.
A Treatment Algorithm for the Management of Epistaxis in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia

We examined the management options used for epistaxis of varying severity in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) to develop a treatment algorithm. Fifty patients with HHT were studied from 1991 to 1997 to consider various treatment options and their relative efficacy. There were 28 females and 22 men; their ages ranged from 15 to 85. Follow-up ranged from 6 months to 6 years. A wide variety of treatments had been used (including various forms of cautery, septal surgery, topical and systemic hormones, antifibrinolytic therapy, arterial ligation, laser therapy, and closure of the nostrils). Treatments used during the follow-up period were argon laser therapy (40), systemic estrogen or progesterone (17), septodermoplasty (12), or closure of the nostrils (14). Patients were divided into those with mild to moderate disease (requiring one or no blood transfusions during the course of their illness) and those with severe disease (requiring more than one blood transfusion). Using this broad categorization, those with mild to moderate disease did well with sequential argon laser therapy with or without the adjunct of septodermoplasty or hormone therapy. Those with severe disease did not find argon laser therapy beneficial but found their epistaxis completely stopped with closure of the nasal cavities. Based on these findings, a simple treatment algorithm defines the optimum treatment options for epistaxis in this difficult-to-treat group of patients.
Artificial Bandwidth Extension Using a Conditional Generative Adversarial Network with Discriminative Training

The aim of artificial bandwidth extension is to recreate wideband speech (0 - 8 kHz) from a narrowband speech signal (0 - 4 kHz). State-of-the-art approaches use neural networks for this task. As a loss function during training, they employ the mean squared error between true and estimated wideband spectra. This, however, comes with the drawback of over-smoothing, which expresses itself in strongly underestimated dynamics of the upper frequency band. We previously proposed to tackle this problem by discriminative training, i.e., a modification of the loss function that is designed to improve the separation between fricatives and vowels. Other authors instead took a generative adversarial network (GAN) approach. This was motivated by the fact that GANs demonstrated big reductions of over-smoothing in speech synthesis. In this work, we combine these two approaches. In particular, we show that conditional GANs improve the speech quality by a CMOS score of 0.28 compared to GANs while the combined approach yields an improvement of 0.84.
False path exclusion in delay analysis of RTL-based datapath-controller designs

We present an accurate delay estimation algorithm at the register transfer level. We introduce "resource binding" as an important source of false paths in a register transfer level structure. "Path mismatching" between two path segments may create another type of false path when the data path and controller interact. The existence and creation of such paths and their effect in delay analysis are discussed. We also introduce the Propagation Delay Graph (PDG), whose traversal, for delay analysis, is equivalent to the traversal of sensitizable paths in the datapath.
DETECTING METAMORPHIC VIRUSES USING PROFILE HIDDEN MARKOV MODELS

Detecting Metamorphic Viruses using Profile Hidden Markov Mode ls By Srilatha Attaluri Metamorphic computer viruses “mutate” by changing their struc tu e every time they propagate. Unlike other viruses, they use code obfuscat ion techniques on the body of the virus and do not exhibit a common signature. With the a dv nt of construction kits, it is easy to generate various metamorphic strains of a viru s. Profile Hidden Markov Models (PHMM) are used in Bioinform atics for finding family-related DNA sequences. In this project we analyze and determine whether PHMM can be used to detect metamorphic virus family variants ge nerated from three
Species composition, community and population dynamics of two gallery forests from the Brazilian Cerrado domain

Abstract Background To understand the impacts of global changes on future community compositions, knowledge of community dynamics is of crucial importance. To improve our knowledge of community composition, biomass stock and maintenance of gallery forests in the Brazilian Cerrado, we provide two datasets from the 0.5 ha Corrego Fazendinha Gallery Forest Dynamics Plot and the Corrego Fundo Gallery Forest Dynamics Plot situated in the Bom Despacho region, Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. New information We report diameter at breast height, basal area and height measurements of 3417 trees and treelets identified during three censuses in both areas.
Homocysteine in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in relation to inflammation and B‐vitamin treatment

Objectives: To investigate the effects of treatment with B vitamins on homocysteine (Hcy) levels in patients with RA, and to analyse the relationship between Hcy levels and inflammatory variables, and/or MTX treatment. Methods: Sixty‐two patients with RA and levels of Hcy ≥12 μmol/L were randomized to receive placebo or a combination of vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid. The patients were treated and evaluated in a double‐blind manner over 12 months. Results: The Hcy level decreased significantly in the B‐vitamin treated patients compared with the placebo treated patients. In a simple regression model, the Hcy level at inclusion was associated with IL‐2sRα. In a multiple regression model there was an association between the alteration in Hcy level over 0–12 months and MTX treatment, as well as the alteration in CRP, adjusted for B‐vitamin treatment. Conclusions: In patients with RA, Hcy levels can be reduced by treatment with B‐vitamins. The Hcy levels were related to markers of inflammation and MTX treatment.
Characterization of a Benchmark Database for Myoelectric Movement Classification

In this paper, we characterize the Ninapro database and its use as a benchmark for hand prosthesis evaluation. The database is a publicly available resource that aims to support research on advanced myoelectric hand prostheses. The database is obtained by jointly recording surface electromyography signals from the forearm and kinematics of the hand and wrist while subjects perform a predefined set of actions and postures. Besides describing the acquisition protocol, overall features of the datasets and the processing procedures in detail, we present benchmark classification results using a variety of feature representations and classifiers. Our comparison shows that simple feature representations such as mean absolute value and waveform length can achieve similar performance to the computationally more demanding marginal discrete wavelet transform. With respect to classification methods, the nonlinear support vector machine was found to be the only method consistently achieving high performance regardless of the type of feature representation. Furthermore, statistical analysis of these results shows that classification accuracy is negatively correlated with the subject's Body Mass Index. The analysis and the results described in this paper aim to be a strong baseline for the Ninapro database. Thanks to the Ninapro database (and the characterization described in this paper), the scientific community has the opportunity to converge to a common position on hand movement recognition by surface electromyography, a field capable to strongly affect hand prosthesis capabilities.
Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway is associated with lung metastasis of osteosarcoma in an orthotopic mouse model.

AIM To identify a marker of osteosarcoma metastasis and to inhibit the marker against the invasive ability of an osteosarcoma cell line (143B). MATERIALS AND METHODS Type I insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-1R) and its downstream signalling factors were measured in samples from our orthotopic 143B mouse model by immunohistochemistry. A Matrigel assay was used to assess cell invasion ability under interference. RESULTS All 15 mice had tumour mass at the left tibia. Total IGF-1R, MEK, Akt, p38 and phosphorylated MEK (p-MEK), but not p-Akt and p-p38, were positive in both local tumours and lung secondaries. Leiomyosarcoma controls expressed p-Akt and p-MEK, but not p-p38. The 143B cells treated with U0126, a MEK/ERK inhibitor, had significantly lower in vitro invasion ability compared with controls. CONCLUSION The IGF-1R-MEK signalling pathway, particularly Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK, may play an important role in osteosarcoma lung metastasis, and the targeting MEK/ERK by its specific inhibitor may have a potential use in the effective treatment of osteosarcoma.
Incremental Cost-effectiveness of Pharmacotherapy and Two Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies Compared With Usual Care for Panic Disorder and Noncardiac Chest Pain

Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) of two brief cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)–based interventions and a pharmacological treatment, compared with usual care, initiated in the emergency department (ED) for individuals with panic disorder (PD) with a chief complaint of noncardiac chest pain. A total of 69 patients were followed up to 6 months. The primary outcome variables were direct and indirect costs of treatment and PD severity. Panic management (PM) had an ICER of $124.05, per the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, severity score change (95% confidence interval [CI], $54.63–$314.57), compared with pharmacotherapy (paroxetine), with an ICER of $213.90 (95% CI, $133.51–$394.94), and brief CBT, with an ICER of $309.31 (95% CI, $151.27–$548.28). The pharmacological and CBT interventions were associated with a greater clinical improvement compared with usual care at posttest. PM presented a superior ICER, suggesting that it may be a promising treatment option to implement in EDs.
Advanced Statistical Metrics for Gas Identification System With Quantification Feedback

The pattern recognition problem for real-life applications of gas identification is challenging due to the limited amount of data existing and the sequential variability of the mechanism mostly caused by drift and the real-time detection. These problems are commonly caused by the slow response of most of the gas sensors. In this paper, a novel gas identification approach based on the cluster-k-nearest neighbor (C-k-NN) is introduced. The effectiveness of this approach has been successfully demonstrated on the experimental data set obtained from array of gas sensors. Our classification takes advantages of both the k-NN, which is highly accurate, and the k-means cluster, which is able to reduce the classification time. In order to increase the accuracy rate, a new feature selection method is proposed. The selection of features is based on their ability to separate and distinguish between different classes. Advanced statistical metrics are introduced to quantify the classification contribution of each feature. Mostly, classifiers are suffering from misclassification detection; new statistical metrics are introduced to estimate the exactness of the classifier response, i.e., to detect the misclassification. To enhance the classification performances for gas identification, a new tree classification design is introduced, named tree C-k-NN. In order to assess the technique, experiments were conducted on six different gases. Accuracy rate of 98.7% has been obtained with the C-k-NN and 100% with the tree C-k-NN. The performance of this approach is also validated using three publicly available data sets.
LELA - a natural language processing system for Romanian tourism

This paper presents a commercial semantic-based system for the Romanian tourism. The Lela system exploits both open linked data from Romanian and international sources, and also proprietary databases in the tourism domain. We present the process of creating the linked data set, based on: i) engineering the LELA Romanian tourism ontology, and ii) populating the ontology by linking open data. The system also provides a natural language interface for the Romanian language. The queries are automatically translated into SPARQL based on a controlled vocabulary derived from the Lela ontology.
Improving WLAN location determination system by analyzing human factor effect

This paper presents an improvement of deterministic WLAN location determination system using finite element method for calculated HEF constant, ones to add the last value before decision of conventional method. From the results, when using HEF, constant improved the value before decision position for LLR and RADAR yielded to be obvious. It had minimum error distance below 2 meters.
Service differentiation in broadband wireless access networks with scheduling and connection admission control: a unified analysis

VVe present a unified analytical model for service differentiation in a broadband packet-switched wireless network (e.g., IEEE 802.16) with two types of traffic, namely, the quality-of-service (QoS)-sensitive traffic and the best-effort traffic. While fair scheduling is used to allocate radio resources between these two traffic types, connection admission control (CAC) is employed to limit the number of ongoing connections for QoS-sensitive users so that the performance requirements for the QoS-sensitive traffic can be satisfied. An analytical model is developed assuming a work conserving traffic scheduling in the radio link layer and it also considers multi-rate transmission at the physical layer. Both the packet-level and the connection-level performance measures are obtained. Finally, we apply the concept of utility to obtain user satisfaction as a function of the QoS measures obtained from the analytical model. An optimization formulation is also presented from which the near-optimal solutions for scheduling and CAC parameters can be obtained. The proposed analytical model would be useful for performance analysis and engineering of next-generation broadband wireless networks
Statement of Research

At its core, my research blends Software Engineering principles with Systems Research. In this context currently I am focusing on developing novel algorithms and software-defined techniques to solve a myriad of distributed systems challenges in realizing resilient cyber physical systems. Specifically, the contours of my current research involve addressing challenges in mobile and edge cloud computing, which in turn includes (a) dynamic resource management based on dynamic system model learning, simulation and system actuation, (b) reconciling real-time stream processing, which is required for the distributed Big Data analytics, with data-centric publish/subscribe systems, which is required for information-centric networking, and (c) algorithms and mechanisms for software-defined, resilient infrastructures, which are required to manage and safeguard system resources and applications. An outreach aspect of my current work focuses on using cloud computing technologies for STEM education using real-world problems from my current research as challenge problems for STEM education and collaborative learning. My ongoing and planned research, as presented in this document, has been informed by emerging trends and insights gained from work to date.
Dynamic Adjustments of Cognitive Control: Oscillatory Correlates of the Conflict Adaptation Effect

It is a prominent idea that cognitive control mediates conflict adaptation, in that response conflict in a previous trial triggers control adjustments that reduce conflict in a current trial. In the present EEG study, we investigated the dynamics of cognitive control in a response-priming task by examining the effects of previous trial conflict on intertrial and current trial oscillatory brain activities, both on the electrode and the source level. Behavioral results showed conflict adaptation effects for RTs and response accuracy. Physiological results showed sustained intertrial effects in left parietal theta power, originating in the left inferior parietal cortex, and midcentral beta power, originating in the left and right (pre)motor cortex. Moreover, physiological analysis revealed a current trial conflict adaptation effect in midfrontal theta power, originating in the ACC. Correlational analyses showed that intertrial effects predicted conflict-induced midfrontal theta power in currently incongruent trials. In addition, conflict adaptation effects in midfrontal theta power and RTs were positively related. Together, these findings point to a dynamic cognitive control system that, as a function of previous trial type, up- and down-regulates attention and preparatory motor activities in anticipation of the next trial.
A simple low temperature synthesis route for ZnO–MgO core–shell nanowires

We report a hydrothermal synthesis method for MgO shell coatings directly onto the surface of ZnO nanowire arrays. The entire process can be carried out below 100 °C. The MgO shells are produced by the addition of 10 mM magnesium nitrate with 0.2 M sodium hydroxide in water, resulting in a shell thickness of up to 8 nm, verified by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The viability of the MgO layer as a functional element of optoelectronic devices was tested on solid-state organic hole-transporter based dye-sensitized solar cells. Incorporation of the MgO shell into the solar cell resulted in substantive efficiency improvements of over 400% in comparison to the pristine ZnO nanowire based photovoltaics, indicating that electrons can efficiently tunnel through the ‘insulating’ MgO shell.
Will the Real LHC II Kinase Please Step Forward?

Many laboratories have searched for the protein kinase responsible for phosphorylation of the chloroplast light-harvesting complex of photosynthesis, LHC II. The LHC II kinase provides a vital link in a redox signaling pathway of ecological, developmental, and evolutionary significance. Various candidates for the LHC II kinase, some stronger than others, have come and gone. Recently, a family of three thylakoid-associated kinases (TAKs) has been identified and purified; they too catalyze in vitro phosphorylation of LHC II. The LHC II kinase is part of an integrated network of signal transduction to which input is provided by a number of environmental factors. The implications of understanding these processes stretch beyond the important, central question of how plants adapt their photosynthetic machinery to changing wavelengths of light.
On the error exponent of trellis source coding

In this paper, we develop a single-letter lower bound on the error exponent for the problem of trellis source coding. We demonstrate that for the case of a binary source with the Hamming distortion measure, and for rates close to the rate-distortion curve, this bound is superior to Marton's block-coding exponent, for the same computational complexity.
Strong bottom‐up and top‐down control of early life stages of macroalgae

In contrast to most pelagic primary producers, benthic macrophytes pass through morphologically distinct life stages, which can be subject to different ecological controls. Using factorial field experiments, we investigated how grazing pressure (three levels) and nutrient supply (four levels) interact in controlling the passage of marine macroalgae through an apparent recruitment “bottleneck” at the germling stage. In comparative experiments, we asked whether relative bottom‐up and top‐down effects on early life stages (≪4 week germlings) vary (1) between the eutrophic Baltic Sea and the oligotrophic NW Atlantic, (2) across seasons in the NW Atlantic, and (3) among annual and perennial macroalgae. In both systems nutrient enrichment favored and grazers suppressed recruitment of green and brown annual algae; however, enrichment effects were much more pronounced in the Baltic, whereas grazer effects dominated in the NW Atlantic. Grazers induced a shift from grazer‐susceptible green to more resistant brown algae in the Baltic without reducing total germling density. In the NW Atlantic, grazers strongly reduced overall recruitment rate throughout all seasons. Effects on perennials were similar in both systems with moderate losses to grazing and no effects of nutrient enrichment. Recruit densities and species composition shifted with season in the NW Atlantic. We conclude that the relative effects of grazers and nutrient enrichment depended on the nutrient status of the system, algal life history strategy, and season. Strong bottom‐up and top‐down controls shape benthic community composition before macroalgae reach visible size.