Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Resettably-Sound Resettable Zero Knowledge Arguments for NP

We construct resettably-sound resettable zero knowledge arguments for NP based on standard hardness assumption (the existence of claw-free permutations) in the plain model. This proves the simultaneous resettability conjecture posed by Barak et al. in [FOCS 2001]. Our construction, inspired by the paradigm for designing concurrent zero knowledge protocols, makes crucial use of a tool called instance-dependent resettably-sound resettable WI argument of knowledge (IDWIAOK (and a special-purpose variant), introduced recently by Deng and Lin in [Eurocrypt 2007]). Roughly speaking, for a NP statement of the form x0∨x1, IDWIAOK is an argument for which resettable WI property holds when both x0 and x1 are YES instances, and resettably-sound argument of knowledge property holds when x0 is a NO instance. The heart of the simulator for our protocol is a new technique that allows us to embed the (non-black-box) straight-line simulation strategy in the (black-box) recursive rewinding simulation strategy. 1 The problem and our result It is well known that randomness is essential to zero knowledge proofs/arguments[17]. More- over, in the multi-executions of a zero knowledge protocol, we often require that all parties use independent randomness in each execution for security purpose. This gives rise to natural questions: Is it possible to achieve zero knowledge when the prover uses the same random- ness in multi-executions? Is it possible to achieve soundness when the verifier uses the same randomness in multi-executions? Both questions were resolved in the positive. Canetti et al. [6] put forward and realized the concept of resettable zero knowledge (stronger than the concept of concurrent zero knowledge[12]) argument, which allows an honest prover to use the same random tape in polynomially many executions without sacrificing the zero knowl- edge property; Barak et al. [3] put forward and realized the concept of resettably-sound zero knowledge argument, which allows an honest verifier to use the same random tape in polynomially many executions without sacrificing the soundness property. It should be noted that the above two questions were answered separately : the proof system presented by Canetti et al. is resettable zero knowledge but not resettably-sound, whereas the argument system presented by Barak et al. is resettably-sound but not reset- table zero knowledge. This leaves a challenge in this line of research: Can we construct a single argument system for some nontrivial language that remains resettable zero knowledge and resettably-soundness simultaneously? Indeed, Barak et al. conjectured the following [3]: Simultaneous resettability conjecture: there exist resettably-sound resettable ZK ar- guments for NP. We stress that this conjecture is for the case of argument system (rather than proof system) and non-black box zero knowledge. Previous work [3] showed that, for non-trivial ? submitted on Nov. 18.
Boosting with Confidence Information

Being nervous and anxious is not an abnormal thing. Most everyone will a little nervous prior to that big interview. Most actors/actresses will admit that they have the last minute butterflies prior to their big performance. If you are not able to control the nervousness, however, then that will definitely affect your performance adversely. I would like to offer some of the following tips to help control preinterview nervousness and anxiety and build confidence for a stronger interview.
Electrolyte-Free Water Clearance versus Modified Electrolyte-Free Water Clearance: Do the Results Justify the Effort

Background: Calculation of electrolyte-free water clearance (EFWC) allows for quantification of renal losses of free water and was shown to be helpful in the differential diagnosis of dysnatremias and might help in the correction of the electrolyte disorders. A modified EFWC formula (MEFWC) was described to be more accurate than the conventional one; however, it has never been evaluated clinically. Methods: In order to evaluate the performance of MEFWC compared to EFWC under clinical circumstances, we gathered data from a total of 912 patient days of 138 critically ill patients. EFWC and MEFWC were calculated on the basis of these data. Additionally, from data of critically ill patients, we calculated a prediction of serum sodium based on the Edelman equation using either EFWC or MEFWC and compared results. Results: Altogether, 343 normonatremic, 124 hyponatremic and 445 hypernatremic days were analyzed. Results for EFWC and MEFWC correlated significantly (R = 0.98). In patients with hyponatremia, the absolute difference between EFWC and MEFWC was significantly larger than in patients with normonatremia (437 vs. 256 ml, p < 0.01). The absolute difference between EFWC and MEFWC correlated significantly with the level of serum sodium (R = –0.41). The mean difference in the prediction of serum sodium change as calculated based on the Edelman equation between the formula using EFWC and the formula using MEFWC was 0.7 mmol/l (SD 0.68) and was highest in hyponatremia and lowest in hypernatremia. Conclusion: Results of EFWC and MEFWC were comparable in critically ill patients. Under normal circumstances, the use of the more complicated MEFWC is not justified. In hyponatremia, the difference between EFWC and MEFWC is larger and thus might justify the use of the more complicated formula.
Platinum Priority – Editorial and Reply from Authors Referring to the article published on pp . 562 – 568 of this issue Comparing Prediction Tools

In the current issue of European Urology, Lughezzani et al [1] have performed a thoughtful study that compares the predictive accuracies of three popular tools (Stephenson et al [2], Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment [CAPRA] [3], and D’Amico et al [4]) for preoperatively predicting biochemical recurrence following radical prostatectomy for men with clinically localized prostate cancer. The study nicely highlights the difficulty in assessing the accuracy of prediction models. First, the concordance index [5] is measured and, from that analysis, Stephenson, then CAPRA, and then D’Amico. The attraction of the concordance index is that it is quantifiable, as a single number, and thus useful for ranking tools. The downside of the concordance index is that it does not reflect calibration or clinical usefulness from a decisionmaking perspective (eg, should you base a clinical decision on the tools’ prediction) [6]. Second, calibration was assessed. The upside of looking at calibration is that a very interpretable picture is provided, comparing predicted probabilities versus actual proportions. The downside is that comparisons become difficult because of many points being plotted. Each point has an error, a distance from the 458 line, and our eyes are needed to summarize this evidence among points when using calibration to pick a prediction tool. This is especially complicated with additional points provided by confidence intervals. Moreover, analyst decisions affect the plots: Using more predicted probability subdivisions, and thus more points on a calibration plot, produces more scatter of the points and wider confidence intervals (due to smaller subset sizes). Thus, as a general rule, the calibration plot looks better to the eye if fewer subsets (ie, points) are plotted, even when judging a single prediction model in isolation. Moreover, the choice of the subsets (ie, which cutoffs, such as quartiles, on the predicted probabilities are
Self‐Assembled DNA Hydrogels with Designable Thermal and Enzymatic Responsiveness

or used as a programmable template to direct the assembly of nanoparticles. [ 14–17 ] Recently, the concept of DNA assembly has been expanded to construct “DNA hydrogels”, which are crosslinked networks swollen in an aqueous phase. [ 18–31 ] Though hydrogels have great potential in biological and medical applications, [ 32–36 ] such as drug and gene delivery, biosensing, and tissue engineering, studying the preparation of DNA hydrogels with designable properties is still in its early stages. In the past, several methods have been reported to prepare DNA hydrogels, for example, DNA directly extracted from the nucleus in nature, behaves like a long linear polymer and forms a hydrogel via physical entanglement or by chemical crosslinking of small molecules. [ 18 − 20] Similarly, DNA can be used as a negatively charged polymer and form a complex with cationic (poly)electrolytes through electrostatic interactions. [ 21 , 22 ] However, both methods treated DNA as a polymer and did not take advantage of the self-assembly of DNA into ordered structures, therefore, the resulting hydrogels lacked precise structural control and specifi c responses. Instead of using physical interactions, DNA can be covalently grafted onto synthetic polymers and serve as a cross-linker, the recognition of complementary DNA strands leads to crosslinking of polymer chains and causes hydrogel formation. [ 23 − 28] In general, the preparation of a DNA-polymer hybrid requires laborious modifi cation steps, and an easy and fast strategy to build tailored DNA hydrogels is desired. Luo and his coworkers have developed a new approach to construct
Tuberculosis diagnostics: Challenges and opportunities

Tuberculosis (TB) has been a disease affecting almost all parts of the world since ages. Lot many efforts came in the past for improving diagnosis and treatment. Also, an effective vaccine has been sought after for long. With the emergence of resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causal organisms of tuberculosis, and complexities emerging due to other associated infections and disease conditions, there is a desperate need for further research input in the field. Be it the better medication and care or better resistance management, proper diagnostics holds the key to success. It has been observed that a high burden of the disease was accompanied by resource limitations and poor research set-up. The scenario remained like this for several decades. With the refreshed vision of resourceful countries and funding agencies, funding is being provided in many areas of research in tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment. This review has been written with an aim to bring forth the limitations of available methods in the field of diagnostics and making researchers aware about the changing scenario with better funding opportunities and support. The author visualizes an enthusiasm from all over the world for the development of better modalities and urges scientists to join the struggle at this very perfect time to take the challenge and come forward with innovations in this field.
Hard X-ray and radio observations of Abell 754

We present a long BeppoSAX observation of Abell 754 that reports a nonthermal excess with respect to the thermal emission at energies greater than ~45 keV. A VLA radio observation at 1.4 GHz definitely confirms the existence of diffuse radio emission in the central region of the cluster, previously suggested by images at 74 and 330 MHz (Kassim et al. 2001), and reports additional features. Besides, our observation determines a steeper radio halo spectrum in the 330-1400 MHz frequency range with respect to the spectrum detected at lower frequencies, indicating the presence of a spectral cutoff. The presence of a radio halo in A754, considered the prototype of a merging cluster, reinforces the link between formation of Mpc-scale radio regions and very recent or current merger processes. The radio results combined with the hard X-ray excess detected by BeppoSAX give information on the origin of the electron population responsible for nonthermal phenomena in galaxy clusters. We discuss also the possibility that 26W20, a tailed radio galaxy with BL Lac characteristics located in the field of view of the PDS, could be responsible for the observed nonthermal hard X-ray emission.
Towards Evaluating the Impact of Semantic Support for Curating the Fungus Scientic Literature

We present our ongoing development of a semantic infras- tructure supporting biofuel research. Part of this eort is the automatic curation of knowledge from the massive amount of information on fungal enzymes that is available in genomics. Working closely with biologists who manually curate the existing literature, we developed ontological NLP pipelines, integrated through Web-based interfaces, to help them in two main tasks: spending less time to mine the literature for facts, while also being provided with richer and semantically linked information. An ongoing challenge is to measure precisely how much the developed semantic technologies benet the end users and what their overall impact on the quality of the curated data is. We present preliminary evaluation results that show a signicant reduction in manual curation time.
SignatureSpace: a multidimensional, exploratory approach for the analysis of volume data

The analysis of volumetric data is a crucial part in the visualizationpipeline, since it determines the features in a volume dataset andhenceforth, also its rendering parameters. Unfortunately, volumeanalysis can also be a very tedious and difcult challenge.To cope with this challenge, this paper describes a novel infor-mation visualization driven, explorative approach that allows usersto perform an analysis in a comprehensive fashion. From the orig-inal
Systemic scleroderma in Greece: low mortality and strong linkage with HLA-DRB1*1104 allele

OBJECTIVE Description of Greek patients with scleroderma with reference to (a) major organ disease, (b) autoantibodies, (c) survival rate, and (d) HLA associations. METHODS The clinical files of 254 patients were analysed retrospectively and a standardised clinical chart was completed with age at disease onset, sex, date of first and last visit, clinical and serological findings, organs affected, reasons for death, and HLA class II alleles. HLA class II alleles (DRB1, DQA1, DQB1, DPB1) were determined by polymerase chain reaction amplification using oligopeptide probes. DNA was extracted from 98 patients and 130 Greek controls. RESULTS 124 patients (49%) had limited systemic sclerosis (lSSc), 114 (45%) had diffuse systemic sclerosis (dSSc), and 16 (6%) had overlap syndromes. Patients with dSSc, compared with lSSc, were characterised by a higher prevalence of lung disease (p=0.0011), oesophageal, heart, and peripheral vessel disease (p=0.027, p=0.0025, and p=0.012, respectively). Anticentromere antibodies (ACA) occurred exclusively in lSSc (34%), whereas antibodies to topoisomerase I (anti-topo I) were associated with dSSc (p<0.0001). Anti-topo I were associated with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, oesophageal and peripheral vessel disease (p=0.028, p=0.012, and p=0.01, respectively). The HLA-DRB1*1104 allele was associated with the disease (p<0.0001) and anti-topo I (p<0.001), whereas it was not associated with ACA serum reactivity (p<0.001). Renal disease occurred in 4% of patients with SSc. The estimated survival probability for this cohort of patients with SSc, four years after the first visit, is 94.8%. CONCLUSION SSc among Greek subjects has the same pattern of organ disease as in other white populations. However, the prevalence of kidney disease is low. The HLA class II DRB1*1104 allele is associated with the disease, with anti-topo I, and not associated with ACA serum reactivity.
Data Centric Transfer Functions for High Dynamic Range Volume Data

Creating effective transfer functions for high dynamic range scalar v olume data is a challenging task. For data sets with limited information about their content, deriving transfer functions using mathe matical properties (gradient, curvature, etc.) is a difficult trial and error process. Traditional methods use linear binning to map da t to integer space for creating the transfer functions. In current methods the transfer functions are typically stored in integer lo ok-up tables, which do not work well when the data range is large. We show how a process of opacity guidance with simple use r interface can be used as the basis for transfer function design. Our technique which uses opacity weighted histogram equ alization lets users derive transfer functions for HDR floating point easily and quickly. We also present how to adopt these te chniques for real-time interactive visualization with minimal pre-processing. We compare our techniques with traditional m ethods and show examples.
Blood biochemical and oxidant/antioxidant alterations following stanozolol treatment along with resistance training in rats

This study was designed to determine the effects of anabolic steroid stanozolol (ST) in conjunction with 8 weeks of resistance training on some blood biochemical and oxidant/antioxidant profile in rats. Twenty‐four male rats were divided into four groups of six each: group 1: sedentary + placebo (physiological saline), group 2: training + placebo, group 3: training + ST (2 mg kg−1 b.w.) and group 4: training + ST (5 mg kg−1 b.w.). Erythrocytic activity of glutathione peroxidase was increased significantly in group 4 as compared to control group. Plasma activities of alanine aminotransferase in groups 3 and 4 and also aspartate aminotransferase in group 4 showed significant increase relative to groups 1 and 2. Moreover, alkaline phosphatase and creatine kinase activities increased significantly in groups 3 and 4 in comparison with control group. Elevated values of uric acid were significant in group 4, but not in groups 2 and 3, as compared to control group. Values of other measured parameters did not have significant alterations among experimental groups. Present findings indicate that stanozolol treatment in combination with resistance training induces some side effects especially on liver and muscle as evidenced by alterations in plasma markers of tissue damage.
Phase-contrast microtomography: are the tracers necessary for stem cell tracking in infarcted hearts?

Recent literature has identified innovative approaches of cellular therapy to generate new myocardium involving transcoronary and intramyocardial injection of cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs). One of the limiting factors in the overall interpretation of these preclinical results is the lack of reliable methods for 3D imaging and quantification of the injected cells and for the assessment of their fate within the myocardium. Here, for the first time to the authors’ knowledge, we support by demonstrative experiments the hypothesis that phase-contrast microtomography (PhC-microCT) could offer an efficient 3D imaging approach to track the injected cells within the myocardium, without the need of any cell tracer. This deduction has been validated by several observations: (i) a strong phase-contrast signal was observed in infarcted hearts injected with unlabeled cells; (ii) the PhC-microCT 3D reconstructions of hearts injected with only vehicle saline solution and rhodamine particles, i.e. without CPCs, did not show any contrast; (iii) in the 3D PhC-microCT reconstructions of non infarcted hearts, injected with unlabeled CPCs, the contrast signal of the cells was present but differently distributed; and (iv) the contrast signal of injected cells diminished over time apparently following the same timing of cell engraftment and differentiation, as confirmed in literature by histology and fluorescence analysis. The chance to avoid cell tracers is of paramount interest in determining the fate of transplanted stem cells because the quantification of the signal will not be any more dependent on injected dose, concentration of the tracer, cell proliferation and tracer uptake kinetics.
Neural correlates of tonality in music

The paper presents fMRI results from experiments of subjects listening to musical stimuli. In this study we examine the neural correlates of tonality by presenting a set of stimuli with key changes of different distances along the circle-of-fifths, along with atonal control stimuli. Results are presented using both conventional statistical analysis across subjects, together with experiments using support vector machines. We find that a number of areas are significantly more active for tonal than atonal processing, and further that the response is significantly stronger in some of these areas for more distant key changes.
User-level QoS and traffic engineering for 3G wireless 1×EV-DO systems

Third-generation (3G) wireless systems such as 3G1X, 1×EV-DO, and 1xEV-DV provide support for a variety of high-speed data applications. The success of these services critically relies on the capability to ensure an adequate quality of service (QoS) experience to users at an affordable price. With wireless bandwidth at a premium, traffic engineering and network planning play a vital role in addressing these challenges. We present models and techniques that we have developed for quantifying the QoS perception of 1×EV-DO users generating file transfer protocol (FTP) or Web browsing sessions. We show how user-level QoS measures may be evaluated by means of a Processor-Sharing model that explicitly accounts for the throughput gains from multi-user scheduling. The model provides simple analytical formulas for key performance metrics such as response times, blocking probabilities, and throughput. Analytical models are especially useful for network deployment and in-service tuning purposes due to the intrinsic difficulties associated with simulation-based optimization approaches. © 2003 Lucent Technologies Inc.
Rig Animation with a Tangible and Modular Input Device

We propose a novel approach to digital character animation, combining the benefits of modular and tangible input devices and sophisticated rig animation algorithms. With a symbiotic software and hardware approach, we overcome limitations inherent to all previous tangible devices. It allows users to directly control complex rigs with 5-10 physical controls only. These compact input device configurations - optimized for a specific rig and a set of sample poses - are automatically generated by our algorithm. This avoids oversimplification of the pose space and excessively bulky devices.
Influences of Elastic Parameters on Drag-Reduction Effect in Turbulent Flow of Viscoelastic Fluid

A 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model was refined in the paper based on the k − ε − v ′ 2 ¯ − f turbulence model to simulate the drag reduction (DR) flow in the tube. The influence of elastic parameters on the drag reduction effect was studied using this numerical model and validated by the DNS data. The results showed that DR effect increased with both the relaxation time λ and the maximum extensibility of molecule L . DR effect had an upper limit with the increasing of the maximum extensibility of molecule L . and the growth of relaxation time λ also could enhance that upper limit.
Plasmonics in Sensing: From Colorimetry to SERS Analytics

Additional information available the the chapter Abstract This chapter gives a brief overview of plasmonic nanoparticle (NP)-based sensing concepts ranging from classical spectral-shift colorimetry to the highly active field of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. In the last two decades, colloidal approaches have developed significantly. This is seen with, for example, refractive-index sensing, detection of ad−/desorption and ligand-exchange processes, as well as ultrasensitive chemical sens - ing utilizing well-defined nanocrystals or discrete self-assembled superstructures in 2D and 3D. Apart from individual NPs, the rational design of self-assembled nanostructures grants spectroscopic access to unprecedented physicochemical information. This involves selected research examples on molecular trapping, ligand corona analysis, SERS-encoding, and bio - sensing. The origin of the SERS effect, also in regard to hot spot formation by off-resonant excitation, is reviewed and discussed in the context of the current challenge to formulate a generalized metric for high SERS efficiency. Special emphasis lies in addressing the funda mental design criteria and the specific challenges of these particle-based sensing techniques.