Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circles, posts and privacy in egocentric social networks: An exploratory visualization approach

The users in Online Social Networks (OSN) may share private information with wrong friends. One approach to tackle this issue is by applying community discovery methods in egocentric networks to automatically generate friend circles for the user. There is however a discrepancy between the predicted circles and the circles that the user has in mind. A deep rooted reason is that it only makes sense when the circles are considered under certain usage. We designed and implemented an exploratory visualization tool that can help users determine the visibilities of their online posts. More specifically, we first examined the state-of-the-art community discovery methods for egocentric networks, then proposed a new visualization design with fine-grained control for the user to interact with the circles and make visibility decisions. Finally, we conducted an experimental user study evaluating the usefulness of this design.
Modulation of AKR1C2 by curcumin decreases testosterone production in prostate cancer

Intratumoral androgen biosynthesis has been recognized as an essential factor of castration‐resistant prostate cancer. The present study investigated the effects of curcumin on the inhibition of intracrine androgen synthesis in prostate cancer. Human prostate cancer cell lines, LNCaP and 22Rv1 cells were incubated with or without curcumin after which cell proliferation was measured at 0, 24, 48 and 72 hours, respectively. Prostate tissues from the transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate (TRAMP) model were obtained after 1‐month oral administration of 200 mg/kg/d curcumin. Testosterone and dihydrotestosterone concentrations in LNCaP prostate cancer cells were determined through LC‐MS/MS assay. Curcumin inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis of prostate cancer cells in a dose‐dependent manner. Curcumin decreased the expression of steroidogenic acute regulatory proteins, CYP11A1 and HSD3B2 in prostate cancer cell lines, supporting the decrease of testosterone production. After 1‐month oral administration of curcumin, Aldo‐Keto reductase 1C2 (AKR1C2) expression was elevated. Simultaneously, decreased testosterone levels in the prostate tissues were observed in the TRAMP mice. Meanwhile, curcumin treatments considerably increased the expression of AKR1C2 in prostate cancer cell lines, supporting the decrease of dihydrotestosterone. Taken together, these results suggest that curcumin's natural bioactive compounds could have potent anticancer properties due to suppression of androgen production, and this could have therapeutic effects on prostate cancer.
Pulmonary Circulation Transvascular Fluid Fluxes Do Not Change during General Anesthesia in Dogs

General anesthesia (GA) can cause abnormal lung fluid redistribution. Pulmonary circulation transvascular fluid fluxes (JVA) are attributed to changes in hydrostatic forces and erythrocyte volume (EV) regulation. Despite the very low hydraulic conductance of pulmonary microvasculature it is possible that GA may affect hydrostatic forces through changes in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), and EV through alteration of erythrocyte transmembrane ion fluxes (ionJVA). Furosemide (Fur) was also used because of its potential to affect pulmonary hydrostatic forces and ionJVA. A hypothesis was tested that JVA, with or without furosemide treatment, will not change with time during GA. Twenty dogs that underwent castration/ovariectomy were randomly assigned to Fur (n = 10) (4 mg/kg IV) or placebo treated group (Con, n = 10). Baseline arterial (BL) and mixed venous blood were sampled during GA just before treatment with Fur or placebo and then at 15, 30 and 45 min post-treatment. Cardiac output (Q) and pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) were measured. JVA and ionJVA were calculated from changes in plasma protein, hemoglobin, hematocrit, plasma and whole blood ions, and Q. Variables were analyzed using random intercept mixed model (P < 0.05). Data are expressed as means ± SE. Furosemide caused a significant volume depletion as evident from changes in plasma protein and hematocrit (P < 0.001). However; Q, PAP, and JVA were not affected by time or Fur, whereas erythrocyte fluid flux was affected by Fur (P = 0.03). Furosemide also affected erythrocyte transmembrane K+ and Cl−, and transvascular Cl− metabolism (P ≤ 0.05). No other erythrocyte transmembrane or transvascular ion fluxes were affected by time of GA or Fur. Our hypothesis was verified as JVA was not affected by GA or ion metabolism changes due to Fur treatment. Furosemide and 45 min of GA did not cause significant hydrostatic changes based on Q and PAP. Inhibition of Na+/K+/2Cl− cotransport caused by Fur treatment, which can alter EV regulation and JVA, was offset by the Jacobs Stewart cycle. The results of this study indicate that the Jacobs Stewart cycle/erythrocyte Cl− metabolism can also act as a safety factor for the stability of lung fluid redistribution preserving optimal diffusion distance across the blood gas barrier.
CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots for bio-application

Quantum dots, with functional group on surfaces, can be attached to bio-molecules to form quantum-dots/bio-molecule complex. With their excellent photo-electronic properties, quantum dots are now widely used to label the bio-molecules and highlight a cell's nucleus and microtubule fibers. They may also be used to control and operate the bio-molecules. We investigate the synthesis of the CdSe/ZnS core- shell quantum dots. To make the quantum dots water-soluble, the TOPO, TOPSe, and HAD ligands on the surface of CdSe/ZnS QDs were replaced by mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA). The MUA-coated quantum dots are dispersible in water. For the use in biology, it is required that the quantum dots, when surrounded by a bio-environment, have high quantum yield and long fluorescence lifetime. Our study indicates that quantum yield of the core-shell quantum dots exceeds 60% and fluorescence lifetime of the electrons in the excited state is around 20 nano seconds. The CdSe/ZnS core/shell structure is very stable. No significant fluorescence decay is observed with a prolong excitation by a 365 nm ultro-violet light source of 30 mW. Here the function of the ZnS is two-fold: as both the barrier and the passivation layer for the CdSe quantum dots. In addition, the S-2 bonds are bio-active, which form stable bonding to bio-molecules.
A Hierarchy-to-Sequence Attentional Neural Machine Translation Model

Although sequence-to-sequence attentional neural machine translation (NMT) has achieved great progress recently, it is confronted with two challenges: learning optimal model parameters for long parallel sentences and well exploiting different scopes of contexts. In this paper, partially inspired by the idea of segmenting a long sentence into short clauses, each of which can be easily translated by NMT, we propose a hierarchy-to-sequence attentional NMT model to handle these two challenges. Our encoder takes the segmented clause sequence as input and explores a hierarchical neural network structure to model words, clauses, and sentences at different levels, particularly with two layers of recurrent neural networks modeling semantic compositionality at the word and clause level. Correspondingly, the decoder sequentially translates segmented clauses and simultaneously applies two types of attention models to capture contexts of interclause and intraclause for translation prediction. In this way, we can not only improve parameter learning, but also well explore different scopes of contexts for translation. Experimental results on Chinese–English and English–German translation demonstrate the superiorities of the proposed model over the conventional NMT model.
Indexing Multi-Dimensional Uncertain Data with Arbitrary Probability Density Functions

In an "uncertain database", an object o is associated with a multi-dimensional probability density function(pdf), which describes the likelihood that o appears at each position in the data space. A fundamental operation is the "probabilistic range search" which, given a value pq and a rectangular area rq, retrieves the objects that appear in rq with probabilities at least pq. In this paper, we propose the U-tree, an access method designed to optimize both the I/O and CPU time of range retrieval on multi-dimensional imprecise data. The new structure is fully dynamic (i.e., objects can be incrementally inserted/deleted in any order), and does not place any constraints on the data pdfs. We verify the query and update efficiency of U-trees with extensive experiments.
Experimental investigations into the mechanical properties of the collagen fibril- noncollagenous protein (NCP) interface in antler bone

Antler is an extraordinary bone tissue that displays significant overall toughness when compared to other bone materials. The origin of this toughness is due to the complex interaction between the nanoscale constituents as well as structural hierarchy in the antler material. Of particular interest is the mechanical performance of the interface between the collagen fibrils and considerably smaller volume of non-collagenous protein (NCP) between these fibrils. This paper directly examines the mechanical properties of isolated volumes of antler using combined in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM)-scanning electron microscopy (SEM) experiments. The antler material at the nanoscale is approximated to a fiber reinforced composite, with composite theory used to evaluate the interfacial shear stresses generated between the individual collagen fibrils and NCP during mechanical loading.
Programming with time: cyber-physical programming with impromptu

The act of computer programming is generally considered to be temporally removed from a computer program's execution. In this paper we discuss the idea of programming as an activity that takes place within the temporal bounds of a real-time computational process and its interactions with the physical world. We ground these ideas within the con- text of livecoding -- a live audiovisual performance practice. We then describe how the development of the programming environment "Impromptu" has addressed our ideas of programming with time and the notion of the programmer as an agent in a cyber-physical system.
The Compression of Bonded Rubber Blocks

Experimental measurements are described of the load-deflection relations for rubber blocks having a wide range of thicknesses and varied shapes of cross-section. An approximate theoretical treatment is presented for classically small compressions of circular discs and infinitely long rectangular bars. The measured stiffnesses for small compressions are shown to be in good agreement with the theoretical predictions for a vulcanizate containing no carbon black, and, when an empirically obtained modification is made for thixotropic effects, for vulcanizates containing various quantities of carbon black. The behaviour under moderately large compressions is also examined.
Query encrypted databases practically

The cloud database services are attractive for managing outsourced databases. However, the data security and privacy is a big concern hampering the acceptance of cloud database services. A straightforward way to address this concern is to encrypt the database, but an encrypted database cannot be easily queried. In this demo paper, we demonstrate that aggregate SQL queries with range conditions can be performed efficiently over encrypted databases, without decrypting the databases first, by using our new homomorphic encryption scheme. The techniques in this paper can be applied to existing Database Management Systems (DBMSs). Moreover, the techniques do not need to predetermine the maximum sum and number of data in one database table column. These features make our technologies suitable to manage long-standing and large encrypted databases.
Performance analysis of the energy efficient clustering models in wireless sensor networks

In wireless sensor networks, energy-oriented routing and data aggregation methods are being developed owing to the fact that sensor nodes have limited energy and memory capacity. Cluster-based heterogeneous routing protocols, a popular part of routing technology, have proven effective in topology management, energy consumption, data collection or fusion, reliability, or stability in a distributed sensor network. In this paper, SEED (sleep-wake energy balanced distributed) algorithm was compared with both clustering methods such as, LEACH, mod-LEACH and PEGASIS for homogeneous sensor networks and SEP, DEEC and CEEC for heterogeneous sensor networks in terms of the number of alive nodes in the network and the number of packets sent to the base station (BS) as two different scenarios. Simulation results clearly demonstrate that the SEED algorithm is more robust than the other three methods and increases the network efficiency.
BN type inclusions formed in high Cr ferritic heat resistant steel

Abstract Scanning electron microscopy observations of fractured steel rod samples were made to clarify the formation and dissolution behaviour of boron nitrides in high Cr ferritic heat resistant steels during heat treatment at high temperature. A large number of coarse size BN type inclusions of 2 to 5 μm were distributed at the bottom of the dimples. They did not dissolve during annealing at 1150°C. However, they had a tendency to begin dissolving and reducing its particle size with time at 1200°C and dissolved completely in a short time at 1250°C. From the chemical analyses of boron and nitrogen in many high Cr heat resistant steels and SEM observations of their fractured samples, critical boron and nitrogen concentrations for the formation of coarse size BN type inclusions of 0·001%B and 0·015%N were found, and the solubility limit of BN was represented as log [%B]=−2·45log [%N]−6·81 at 1150°C.
Dietary fiber content influences soluble carbohydrate levels in ruminal fluids

The soluble carbohydrate concentration of ruminal fluid, as affected by dietary forage content (DFC) and/or ruminally undegradable intake protein content (UIPC), was determined. Four ruminally cannulated steers, in a 4 × 4 Latin square design, were offered diets containing high (75 % of DM) or low (25 % of DM) DFC and high (6 % of DM) or low (5 % of DM) UIPC, in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Zinc-treated SBM was the primary UIP source. Soluble hexose concentration (145.1 μM) in ruminal fluid (RF) of steers fed low DFC diets exhibited a higher trend (P = 0.08) than that (124.5 μM) of steers fed high DFC diets. UIPC did not modulate (P = 0.54) ruminal soluble hexose concentrations. Regardless of diet, soluble hexose concentration declined immediately after feeding and did not rise until 3 h after feeding (P < 0.0001). Cellobiose (≈90 %) and glucose (≈10 %) were the major soluble hexoses present in RF. Maltose was not detected. Soluble glucose concentration (13.0 μM) was not modified by either UIPC (P = 0.40) nor DFC (P = 0.61). However, a DFC by post-prandial time interaction was detected (P = 0.02). Pentose concentrations were greater (P = 0.02) in RF of steers fed high DFC (100.2 μM) than steers fed low DFC (177.0 μM). UIPC did not influence (P = 0.35) soluble pentose concentration. The identity of soluble pentoses in ruminal fluid could not be determined. However, unsubstituted xylose and arabinose were excluded. These data indicate that: (i) soluble carbohydrate concentrations remain in ruminal fluid during digestion and fermentation; (ii) slight diurnal changes began after feeding; (iii) DFC influences the soluble carbohydrate concentration in RF; and (iv) UIPC of these diets does not affect the soluble carbohydrate concentration of RF.
Community mining in signed networks: A multiobjective approach

Community detection in signed complex networks is a challenging research problem aiming at finding groups of entities having positive connections within the same cluster and negative relationships between different clusters. Most of the proposed approaches have been developed for networks having only positive edges. In this paper we propose a multiobjective approach to detect communities in signed networks. The method partitions a network in groups of nodes such that two objectives are contemporarily optimized. The former is that the partitioning should have dense positive intra-connections and sparse negative interconnections, the latter is that it should have as few as possible negative intra-connections and positive inter-connections. We show that the concepts of signed modularity and frustration fulfill these objectives, and that the maximization of signed modularity and the minimization of frustration allow to obtain very good solutions to the problem. An extensive set of experiments on both real-life and synthetic signed networks shows the efficacy of the approach.
Opposing expression gradients of calcitonin‐related polypeptide alpha (Calca/Cgrpα) and tyrosine hydroxylase (Th) in type II afferent neurons of the mouse cochlea

Type II spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) are small caliber, unmyelinated afferents that extend dendritic arbors hundreds of microns along the cochlear spiral, contacting many outer hair cells (OHCs). Despite these many contacts, type II afferents are insensitive to sound and only weakly depolarized by glutamate release from OHCs. Recent studies suggest that type II afferents may be cochlear nociceptors, and can be excited by ATP released during tissue damage, by analogy to somatic pain‐sensing C‐fibers. The present work compares the expression patterns among cochlear type II afferents of two genes found in C‐fibers: calcitonin‐related polypeptide alpha (Calca/Cgrpα), specific to pain‐sensing C‐fibers, and tyrosine hydroxylase (Th), specific to low‐threshold mechanoreceptive C‐fibers, which was shown previously to be a selective biomarker of type II versus type I cochlear afferents (Vyas et al., ). Whole‐mount cochlear preparations from 3‐week‐ to 2‐month‐old CGRPα‐EGFP (GENSAT) mice showed expression of Cgrpα in a subset of SGNs with type II‐like peripheral dendrites extending beneath OHCs. Double labeling with other molecular markers confirmed that the labeled SGNs were neither type I SGNs nor olivocochlear efferents. Cgrpα starts to express in type II SGNs before hearing onset, but the expression level declines in the adult. The expression patterns of Cgrpα and Th formed opposing gradients, with Th being preferentially expressed in apical and Cgrpα in basal type II afferent neurons, indicating heterogeneity among type II afferent neurons. The expression of Th and Cgrpα was not mutually exclusive and co‐expression could be observed, most abundantly in the middle cochlear turn.
Multi-version indexing and modern hardware technologies: a survey of present indexing approaches

Characteristics of modern computing and storage technologies fundamentally differ from traditional hardware. There is a need to optimally leverage their performance, endurance and energy consumption characteristics. Therefore, existing architectures and algorithms in modern high performance database management systems have to be redesigned and advanced. Multi Version Concurrency Control (MVCC) approaches in data-base management systems maintain multiple physically independent tuple versions. Snapshot isolation approaches enable high parallelism and concurrency in workloads with almost serializable consistency level. Modern hardware technologies benefit from multi-version approaches. Indexing multi-version data on modern hardware is still an open research area. In this paper, we provide a survey of popular multi-version indexing approaches and an extended scope of high performance single-version approaches. An optimal multi-version index structure brings look-up efficiency of tuple versions, which are visible to transactions, and effort on index maintenance in balance for different workloads on modern hardware technologies.
Caspase-independent programmed cell death triggers Ca2PO4 deposition in an in vitro model of nephrocalcinosis

Nephrocalcinosis involves the deposition of microscopic crystals in the tubular lumen or interstitium. While the clinical, biochemical, and genetic aspects of the diseases causing nephrocalcinosis have been elucidated, little is known about the cellular events in this calcification process. We previously reported a phenomenon involving the spontaneous formation of Ca2PO4 nodules in primary papillary renal cells from a patient with medullary nephrocalcinosis harboring a rare glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) gene variant. We also demonstrated that cultivating GDNF-silenced human kidney-2 (HK-2) cells in osteogenic conditions for 15 days triggered Ca2PO4 deposits. Given the reportedly close relationship between cell death and pathological calcification, aim of the present study was to investigate whether apoptosis is involved in the calcification of GDNF-silenced HK-2 cells under osteogenic conditions. Silenced and control cells were cultured in standard and osteogenic medium for 1, 5, and 15 days, and any Ca2PO4 deposition was identified by means of von Kossa staining and environmental SEM (ESEM) analyses. Based on the results of annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) analysis, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, the silenced cells in the osteogenic medium showed a significant increase in the percentage of cells in the late phase of apoptosis and an increased Ca2PO4 deposition at 15 days. The results of quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) of BAX and BCL2, and in-cell Western analysis of caspases indicated that the cell death process was independent of caspase-3, -6, -7, and -9 activation, however. Using this model, we provide evidence of caspase-independent cell death triggering the calcification process in GDNF-silenced HK-2 cells.
Ethical implications of analyzing opinions, emotions and interactions in social media

The development of Artificial Intelligence techniques for human language processing implies not only new opportunities for research and industry, but also new responsibilities that the NLP and Computational Linguistics community as a whole must carefully take care of. At the same time, the availability of these tools is itself an opportunity for analysing human biases and preventing abuses by social media users. This position paper proposes an holistic reflection on the opportunities and risks brought about analysing human expressions in interaction, with the main aim of highlighting the need to acquire a new awareness of the possible non-ethical uses of automatic human-processing tools and the potential of their ethical uses.