Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of psychosocial wellbeing and biological stress processes in linking type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease

Type II diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Evidence suggests that psychosocial stress is involved in both conditions but the biological pathways involved are poorly understood. This PhD investigated the role of psychosocial wellbeing and stress-related biological processes in diabetes. Studies 1 and 2 used acute laboratory stress testing to assess biological stress responses in people with diabetes. Studies 3 and 4 used data from a large population dataset to assess associations between cortisol and diabetes. Study 1 tested the notion that people with diabetes experience stress-related disturbances across multiple biological systems, coupled with heightened life stress. A comparison of laboratory stress responses in people with diabetes and matched controls was conducted. The results suggested that people with diabetes have dysregulated biological responses to stress and increased exposure to life stress. Study 2 assessed whether hostility (a psychosocial factor) exaggerated the pattern of disturbances in stress responsivity seen in Study 1, looking at the diabetes group alone. The findings suggest that high hostile individuals with diabetes have heightened inflammatory stress responses and blunted cortisol stress responses in comparison to low hostile individuals. Studies 3 and 4 assessed neuroendocrine disturbances in diabetes using Whitehall II study data. Study 3 assessed whether daily cortisol output differs between people with and without diabetes cross-sectionally. The findings suggested that people with diabetes have a flatter slope in cortisol output combined with heightened evening cortisol concentrations. 4 Following on from this Study 4 used a prospective approach to assess whether components of daily cortisol output are linked to future diabetes in an initially healthy sample. The results suggested that raised evening cortisol levels are predictive of new onset diabetes over a 9 year follow-up period. In combination, these studies contribute to the literature linked diabetes with poor psychosocial wellbeing and stress-related alterations in biological processes.
XACML policy integration algorithms: not to be confused with XACML policy combination algorithms!

XACML is the OASIS standard language for the specification of authorization and entitlement policies. However, while XACML well addresses security requirements of a single enterprise (even if large and composed by multiple departments), it does not address the requirements of virtual enterprises built through collaboration of several autonomous subjects sharing their resources. In this paper we highlight such limitations and we propose an XACML extension, the policy integration algorithm, to address them. In the paper we also discuss in which respect the process of comparing two XACML policies differs from the process used to compare other business rules.
Probabilistic Model Checking of Pipe protocol

Pipe protocol, proposed by Zhao [1] in early 2013, is one application layer protocol and one way to establish the Internet of Things, under which can different kinds of hardware platforms communicate with each other faster and more safely. As an upper layer protocol, Pipe protocol doesn't define details, but during the implementation, probabilistic and nondeterministic behaviors, such as data loss and external choice, are possible to happen. In this paper, we use probabilistic model checker, PRISM, to construct the probabilistic Pipe protocol as Probabilistic Timed Automata (PTAs), then verify some useful time-bounded properties, written in Probabilistic Computation Tree Logic (PCTL), like, “Maximum probability that the pipe is shut down after Source node sends all 5 data packets within 50 μs”. The results show that the data loss probabilities, number of data and deadline should be restricted suitably if we require the maximum probability of the goal reaches some value. Our model is proved to be meaningful and we can give helpful suggestions to improve the implementation of Pipe protocol.
An Evaluation of TCP Vegas by Live Emulation

Since it was published in no one has implemented deployed and published a successful enhancement to Van Jacobson s Slow Start ow control algorithm for wide area TCP networks that is backwards compatible with existing implementations No one until Brakmo O Malley and Peterson who claim their TCP Ve gas modi cations yield both simultaneous throughput improvement and increased network e ciency This pa per presents evidence that the Vegas performance en hancements to TCP ow control proposed do not al ways simultaneously yield both increased throughput and decreased load on the network We arrived at this conclusion by conducting experiments on an emulated wide area network that we constructed This paper re views the Vegas algorithm describes our network emu lator and contrasts our experimental results with those of Brakmo et al
On detecting note onsets in piano music

This paper presents an overview of our researches in the use of connectionist systems for transcription of polyphonic piano music and concentrates on the issue of onset detection in musical signals. We propose a new technique for detecting onsets in a piano performance. The technique is based on a combination of a bank of auditory filters, a network of integrate-and-fire neurons and a multilayer perceptron. Such a structure introduces several advantages over the standard peak-picking onset detection approach and we present its performance on several synthesized and real piano recordings. Results show that our approach represents a viable alternative to existing onset detection algorithms.
Stabilizing Distributed R-Trees for Peer-to-Peer Content Routing

Publish/subscribe systems provide useful platforms for delivering data (events) from publishers to subscribers in a decoupled fashion. Developing efficient publish/subscribe schemes in dynamic distributed systems is still an open problem for complex subscriptions (spanning multidimensional intervals). We propose a distributed R-tree (DR-tree) structure that uses R-tree-based spatial filters to construct a peer-to-peer overlay optimized for scalable and efficient selective dissemination of information. We adapt well-known variants of R-trees to organize publishers and subscribers in balanced peer-to-peer networks that support content-based filtering in publish/subscribe systems. DR-tree overlays guarantee subscription and publication times logarithmic in the size of the network while keeping space requirements low (comparable to distributed hash tables). The maintenance of the overlay is local and the structure is balanced with height logarithmic in the number of nodes. DR-tree overlays disseminate messages with no false negatives and very few false positives in the embedded publish/subscribe system. In addition, we propose self-stabilizing algorithms that guarantee consistency despite failures and changes in the peer population.
Lexical acquisition at the syntax-semantics interface : diathesis alternations, subcategorization frames and selectional preferences

ion Substance Artifact Location NOWSD 0.9 36.4 1.3 1.6 SPass 0.2 54.3 0 5.2 FirstS 1.0 38.6 1.3 0.3 COMB 0.4 54.1 0.5 0 types. PTCMs particularly tended to be less specific than ATCMs. Preference models at the PP slot suffered more from sparse data than subject and direct object slots. This was because the slot is less prevalent to start with, and also because the noun lemmas were considered with respect to the preposition as well as the verb. In the following section we use the percentage of root cuts across our sample of verbs to demonstrate the general tendency for increased specificity with WSD. We do this for the three different slots, model types and WSD options. 3.6. 2 Percentage of Root Cuts In this section, we list the percentage of cuts at the dummy root for the different slots, model types and WSD options. A cut at the dummy root indicated that any preferences were not large enough for detection with the MDL technique. The percentage of (dummy) root cuts are displayed for the object slot in table 3.7, for the subject slot in 3.8 and for the PP slot in 3.9. In each of these tables the model types and WSD options are given. FirstS reduced the number of root cuts observed for all slots and all model types. SPass did not do much to alleviate the problem of root cuts. This was because there were no preferences available for WSD from the first acquisition cycle for disambiguation of the argument head data. For ATCMs Chapter 3. Word Sense Disambiguation for Selectional Preference Acquisition 78 Table 3.7: Percentage of root cuts with different WSD options, direct object Model NOWSD SPass FirstS COMB PTCMs 36 36 (08) 31 31 (16) ATCMs 26 22 18 17 LLRTCMs 16 16 11 11 Table 3.8: Percentage of root cuts with different WSD options, subject Model NOWSD SPass FirstS COMB PTCMs 41 41 (13) 39 39 (15) ATCMs 22 20 20 20 LLRTCMs 28 27 21 21 Table 3.9: Percentage of root cuts with different WSD options, PP Model NOWSD SPass FirstS COMB PTCMs 76 76 (21) 65 65 (40) ATCMs 67 65 48 51 LLRTCMs 59 56 39 39 Chapter 3. Word Sense Disambiguation for Selectional Preference Acquisition 79
Stroke Rehabilitation Reaches a Threshold

Motor training with the upper limb affected by stroke partially reverses the loss of cortical representation after lesion and has been proposed to increase spontaneous arm use. Moreover, repeated attempts to use the affected hand in daily activities create a form of practice that can potentially lead to further improvement in motor performance. We thus hypothesized that if motor retraining after stroke increases spontaneous arm use sufficiently, then the patient will enter a virtuous circle in which spontaneous arm use and motor performance reinforce each other. In contrast, if the dose of therapy is not sufficient to bring spontaneous use above threshold, then performance will not increase and the patient will further develop compensatory strategies with the less affected hand. To refine this hypothesis, we developed a computational model of bilateral hand use in arm reaching to study the interactions between adaptive decision making and motor relearning after motor cortex lesion. The model contains a left and a right motor cortex, each controlling the opposite arm, and a single action choice module. The action choice module learns, via reinforcement learning, the value of using each arm for reaching in specific directions. Each motor cortex uses a neural population code to specify the initial direction along which the contralateral hand moves towards a target. The motor cortex learns to minimize directional errors and to maximize neuronal activity for each movement. The derived learning rule accounts for the reversal of the loss of cortical representation after rehabilitation and the increase of this loss after stroke with insufficient rehabilitation. Further, our model exhibits nonlinear and bistable behavior: if natural recovery, motor training, or both, brings performance above a certain threshold, then training can be stopped, as the repeated spontaneous arm use provides a form of motor learning that further bootstraps performance and spontaneous use. Below this threshold, motor training is “in vain”: there is little spontaneous arm use after training, the model exhibits learned nonuse, and compensatory movements with the less affected hand are reinforced. By exploring the nonlinear dynamics of stroke recovery using a biologically plausible neural model that accounts for reversal of the loss of motor cortex representation following rehabilitation or the lack thereof, respectively, we can explain previously hard to reconcile data on spontaneous arm use in stroke recovery. Further, our threshold prediction could be tested with an adaptive train–wait–train paradigm: if spontaneous arm use has increased in the “wait” period, then the threshold has been reached, and rehabilitation can be stopped. If spontaneous arm use is still low or has decreased, then another bout of rehabilitation is to be provided.
CD26/DPP-4 inhibition recruits regenerative stem cells via stromal cell-derived factor-1 and beneficially influences ischaemia-reperfusion injury in mouse lung transplantation.

OBJECTIVES The CD26 antigen is a transmembrane glycoprotein that is constitutively expressed on activated lymphocytes and in pulmonary parenchyma. This molecule is also identified as dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) that cleaves a host of biologically active peptides. Here, we aimed to identify an important substrate of CD26/DPP-4-stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1/CXCL12)-as a key modulator for stem-cell homing together with its receptor CXCR4 in response to ischaemic injury of the lung. METHODS Orthotopic single lung transplantation (Tx) was performed between syngeneic C57BL/6 mice. Inhibition of CD26/DPP-4 activity in recipients was achieved using vildagliptin (10 mg/kg, every 12 h) subcutaneously, and 6 h ischaemia time was applied prior to implantation. Forty-eight hours after Tx, lung histology, SDF-1 levels (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) in lung, spleen and plasma, and expression of the SDF-1 receptor CXCR4 in blood and lung were assessed. Homing of regenerative progenitor cells to the transplanted lung was evaluated using fluorescent-activated cell sorting. RESULTS Compared with untreated lung transplanted mice, systemic DPP-4 inhibition of Tx recipients resulted in an increase in protein concentration of SDF-1 in plasma, spleen and lung. Concordantly, the frequency of cells bearing the SDF-1 receptor CXCR4 rose significantly in the circulation and also in the lungs of DPP-4-inhibited recipients. We found co-expression of CXCR4/CD34 in the grafts of animals treated with vildagliptin, and the stem-cell markers Flt-3 and c-kit were present on a significantly increased number of cells. The morphology of grafts from DPP-4 inhibitor-treated recipients revealed less alveolar oedema when compared with untreated recipients. CONCLUSIONS Targeting the SDF-1-CXCR4 axis through CD26/DPP-4 inhibition increased the intragraft number of progenitor cells contributing to the recovery from ischaemia-reperfusion lung injury. Stabilization of endogenous SDF-1 is achievable and may be a promising strategy to intensify sequestration of regenerative stem cells and thus emerges as a novel therapeutic concept.
Sexual talk with the spouse: Sarcastic or Soothing?

Abstract Background : Sexual talk with spouse has a dual role: it can lead to either compatibility and satisfaction or harassment and separation between the couple . This article explores the concept and dimensions of sexual talk with the spouse. Method : This qualitative study with a conventional content analysis was conducted in 2014 and 2015 wherein 26 Iranian married men and women were individually interviewed. Results: Sexual talk with the spouse is the conversation about planning, performance and evaluation of sexual relationship that leads to sexual agreement, intimacy, resolving the existing problems and greater sexual compatibility and satisfaction of the couple. Sexual talk should be romantic, pacific, clear, continuous, with admiration and without shame, sarcasm, anger, comparison, reproach. Couples can express their views about the partner's sexual behavior, but expressing partner's incurable physical problems is not helpful. Shyness, fear of being stigmatized as impolite and promiscuous, fear of being rejected or breaking pride, to expect the spouse to read minds, lack of opportunities, presence of children and failing to receive sexual conversation skills from adolescent are among the main barriers against sexual talk with the spouse conclousion : Sexual talk with the spouse is necessary throughout the marital life: During the early days of marriage, in order to attain initial sexual coordination and agreement and to avoid early divorce and after several years of marriage, in order to give variety and freshness in relationship and to resolve the problems. Funding: This article is part of a PhD dissertation results. It is a proposed research and funded by research deputy of nursing and midwifery School of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Its ethical code is SBMU2.REC. 1394.73. Keywords : sexual talk, sexual satisfaction, sexual compatibility, sexual agreement, sex education, Qualitative study
Factors associated with adolescent online and land-based gambling in Canada

Abstract Background: With the development of new gambling technology, and increased internet accessibility, online gambling has rapidly emerged as a new gambling market. Governments in numerous jurisdictions have moved to legalize online gambling, yet little is known about the impact of online gambling availability particularly for adolescents. To date, few studies have identified the characteristics of adolescent online gamblers and even fewer have looked at whether these characteristics differ from land-based adolescent gamblers. This study examined socio-demographic and factors associated with online gambling for adolescents and compared this to land-based gamblers to examine whether the profile of online gamblers are unique. Method: Data for the current study comes from the 2012–2013 Youth Gambling Survey (YGS) (n = 10 035) and consists of students in Grades 9 to 12 from three Canadian provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Results: Compared to adolescents who did not have a gambling problem, those who had low to moderate (OR = 2.21, p < .001) or high problem gambling severity (OR = 13.60, p < .001) were significantly more likely to gamble online. Adolescents who played free games were also significantly more likely to gamble online (OR = 2.75, p < .001). Females were significantly less likely to gamble online compared to males (OR = 0.31, p < .001). Other than gender, problem gambling severity and playing free games, when compared to land-based adolescent gamblers, the profile of online gamblers are not that different. Conclusions: Current prevention efforts for adolescents should focus on gambling across modalities.
A Global Optimization Algorithm for Real-Time On-Board Stereo Obstacle Detection Systems

A fast and robust stereo algorithm for on-board obstacle detection systems is proposed. The proposed method finds the optimum road-obstacle boundary which provides the most consistent interpretation of the input stereo image pair. Global optimization combined with a robust matching measure enables stable detection of obstacles under various circumstances, such as heavy rain and severe lighting conditions. The processing time for VGA size image pair is about 15 msec on a 3.6 GHz pentium IV processor, which is fast enough for realtime applications.
Connected Corticospinal Sites Show Enhanced Tuning Similarity at the Onset of Voluntary Action

Corticospinal (CS) pathways provide the structural foundation for executing voluntary movements. Although the anatomy of these pathways is well explored, little is known about spinal decoding of parametric information transmitted via this route during voluntary movements. We addressed this question by simultaneously recording cortical and spinal activity in primates performing an isometric wrist task with multiple targets while measuring CS interactions. Single-pulse cortical stimulation effectively produced a short-latency (presumably monosynaptic) spinal response and thus revealed functionally connected CS sites. Spinal and cortical neurons recorded from connected CS sites showed alignment of directional-torque tuning that peaked at torque onset, consistent with the enhanced cortical drive active during this period. This increased tuning similarity was accompanied by an increased trial-to-trial covariability of firing. Whereas functional CS interactions were dynamic, the efficacy of cortical stimulation was unaffected by the motor state. These results suggest that around the onset of motor action there is a period of facilitated information transfer during which cortical command has greater efficacy in recruiting spinal neurons with matching tuning properties. Dynamic alignment of response properties may form the basis for a spinal readout mechanism of descending motor commands in which directional-torque is a parameter that is preserved across interacting CS sites.
Quantum Groups

These notes correspond rather accurately to the translation of the lectures given at the Fifth Mexican School of Particles and Fields, held in Guanajuato, Gto. , in December~1992. They constitute a brief and elementary introduction to quantum symmetries from a physical point of view, along the lines of the forthcoming book by C. G\'omez, G. Sierra and myself.
The impact of a two-path radio environment on bit error rate in UMTS networks

In wireless communication systems, the receiver receives signals from one source or multiple sources. The latter is known as a quasi-synchronous transmission. The same signal from multiple sources with different propagation delays causes dispersion of transmission pulses, thus increasing the delay spread of the transmission. In analogue systems, this results in ghosting effects, whereas digital environments suffer from severe intersymbol interference (ISI). The effects of ISI on digital communication systems are critical, as it degrades the system performance, especially in the absence of equalization. This paper analyses the effects on third generation (3G) WCDMA-FDD mobile networks of the presence of multiple broadband repeaters in the system.
Shaking and speech-smile vowels classification: An attempt at amusement arousal estimation from speech signals

In this paper, we present our work on speech-smile/shaking vowels classification. An efficient classification system would be a first step towards the estimation (from speech signals only) of amusement levels beyond smile, as indeed shaking vowels represent a transition from smile to laughter superimposed to speech. A database containing examples of both classes has been collected from acted and spontaneous speech corpora. An experimental study using several acoustic feature sets is presented here, and novel features are also proposed. The best configuration achieves a 30.1% error rate, hence well above chance.
An Agent-Based Data-Generation Tool for Situation-Aware Systems

This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a simulator that generates plausible data for the debugging and testing of situation-aware monitoring systems. The use of simulated data is necessary because there is very little sensor-level behavioural-data available in the literature and, moreover, these data are very specific of the set-up used to collect them, i.e. the kind of sensors, the people behavior and age, the environment characteristics, and so on. Moreover, data collection requires a long time since the phenomena we are interested in last months or years. The use of a tool like Repast has substantially sped up the design and implementation phase while still achieving the necessary time performance and quality of the data generated.
Watermarking Scheme in Wavelet Domain Based on Wavelet Threshold Estimators

Watermark detection can be considered as an estimation problem in which the watermark sequence has to be estimated from a possibly distorted image. In this paper, we use wavelet threshold estimation for extraction of watermark sequence. The correlation matching is then used for checking for the presence of the watermark. It is shown that the performance of this method is superior to that of correlation matching. The watermark embedding is performed in wavelet domain