Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cognitive Dysfunction and Dementia in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome

Background. Primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS) is a frequent systemic autoimmune disease. In this study, we aimed to explore the cognitive impairment and the correlations with brain MRI. Methods. Twenty-five patients (mean age 55 ± 11.8 years, 21 females) with PSS were prospectively selected and tested with a French translation of the Brief Repeatable Battery for Neuropsychological Examination. The results were compared with the scores for 25 matched patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and 25 controls. Brain lesions were assessed by brain MRI using the Wahlund classification. Results. Fifteen of the 25 PSS patients (60%) presented with cognitive disorders versus 19/25 MS patients (76%). Five patients had dementia in the PSS group. Speed of information processing, attention, immediate and long-term memory, and executive functions were frequently impaired. The mean duration of cognitive complaints was 5.6 ± 6.1 years, and the mean duration of PSS was 15.8 ± 14.0 years. A trend towards a correlation was found between the severity of cognitive impairment and the degree of white matter lesions (WML) (P = 0.03, rho = 0.43). Conclusion. Cognitive impairment—mild or dementia—exists in patients with PSS. Further MRI studies are needed to better understand the precise neural basis of cognitive impairment in PSS patients.
The changes in the effects of temperature and rainfall on cereal crop yields in Sub-Saharan Africa: a country level panel data study, 1989 to 2004

The harsh agro-climatic endowment is among a host of factors underlying the absence of a Green Revolution in Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) since high-yielding agricultural technologies tend to be resource-demanding and thus applicable only to agro-ecologically favorable production environments. While in Asia some empirical studies indicate that the climate sensitivity of major cereal crops has begun to be mitigated and there are now both resource-demanding and resource-efficient types of technologies adopted, in SSA almost no such evidence has empirically been reported to date. This paper uniquely examines the changes over time in the effects of climatic conditions on cereal crop yields in Sub- Saharan Africa from 1989 to 2004. Using a 16-year country-wise panel dataset, the yield equations for five major crops (wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, and millet) are estimated by a combination of two-way fixed effect and sample selection models. It is found that the temperature effect was mitigated for maize and aggravated for millet, whereas the rainfall dependency declined for rice and was augmented for wheat and maize. The results suggest that changes in technologies and other supplementary factors contributed to the changes in agro-climate effects, though the directions of changes are different for different crops, depending on the type of adopted technologies. In addition, on average during the period under study, the temperature effects on cereal yields are generally negative while the rainfall effects are positive except for sorghum and millet.
Dynamic graph connectivity with improved worst case update time and sublinear space

This paper considers fully dynamic graph algorithms with both faster worst case update time and sublinear space. The fully dynamic graph connectivity problem is the following: given a graph on a fixed set of n nodes, process an online sequence of edge insertions, edge deletions, and queries of the form "Is there a path between nodes a and b? " In 2013, the first data structure was presented with worst case time per operation which was polylogarithmic in n. In this paper, we shave off a factor of log n from that time, to O(log^4 n) per update. For sequences which are polynomial in length, our algorithm answers queries in O(log n/\log\log n) time correctly with high probability and using O(n \log^2 n) words (of size log n). This matches the amount of space used by the most space-efficient graph connectivity streaming algorithm. We also show that 2-edge connectivity can be maintained using O(n log^2 n) words with an amortized update time of O(log^6 n).
The security of being grateful: Gratitude promotes risk aversion in decision-making

ABSTRACT Few existing research has tested the effects of gratitude in risk decisions. The current study conducted four experiments with MTurk samples to test the primary hypothesis that gratitude promotes risk aversion in decision making. Results from Study 1 (N = 228) with a measure of dispositional gratitude and Study 2 (N = 125) by priming grateful experience showed that gratitude led to risk aversion, in particular, under gain framing. Study 3 (N = 126) offered an explanation by showing a partial mediation of present focus for the effect of gratitude on risk preference. Study 4 (N = 126) extended the finding to situations where people estimated others’ decisions and showed that gratitude led one to believe that others are risk averse in decision making. These results documented the cognitive benefit of gratitude in decision making and suggested a need to study how discrete emotions, such as gratitude, influence risk decisions.
SMOOVS: Towards calibration-free text entry by gaze using smooth pursuit movements

Gaze-based text spellers have proved useful for people with severe motor diseases, but lack acceptance in general human-computer interaction. In order to use gaze spellers for public displays, they need to be robust and provide an intuitive interaction concept. However, traditional dwell- and blink-based systems need accurate calibration which contradicts fast and intuitive interaction. We developed the first gaze speller explicitly utilizing smooth pursuit eye movements and their particular characteristics. The speller achieves sufficient accuracy with a one-point calibration and does not require extensive training. Its interface consists of character elements which move apart from each other in two stages. As each element has a unique track, gaze following this track can be detected by an algorithm that does not rely on the exact gaze coordinates and compensates latency-based artefacts. In a user study, 24 participants tested four speed-levels of moving elements to determine an optimal interaction speed. At 300 px/s users showed highest overall performance of 3.34 WPM (without training). Subjective ratings support the finding that this pace is superior.
Gabapentinoids for chronic low back pain: a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Introduction Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a common condition and causes significant pain, distress and disability across the world. It is multifactorial in aetiology and is challenging to manage. Although the underlying mechanism of pain is predominantly non-specific, many argue that there is a substantial neuropathic pain element. Neuropathic pain is more severe, with significant disability. Gabapentinoids, including gabapentin and pregabalin, have proven efficacy in some neuropathic pain conditions. Despite no clear evidence, a substantial population of patients with CLBP are treated with gabapentinoids. Objectives We aim to assess whether the use of gabapentinoids is effective and safe in the treatment of predominant CLBP, by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised control trials (RCTs). Methodology We will search the databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane for RCTs published in English language and have used gabapentinoids for the treatment of CLBP. Study selection and data extraction will be performed independently by paired reviewers using structured electronic forms, piloted between pairs of reviewers. The review outcomes will be guided by Initiative on Methods, Measurement and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials guidelines, with pain relief as the primary outcome. We propose to carry out meta-analysis if there are three or more studies in a particular outcome domain, using a random effects model. Pooled outcomes will be reported as weighted mean differences or standardised mean differences and risk ratios with their corresponding 95% CIs, for continuous outcomes and dichotomous outcomes, respectively. Rating of quality of evidence will be reported using GRADE summary of findings table. Discussion The proposed systematic review will be able to provide valuable evidence to help decision-making in the use of gabapentinoids for the treatment of CLBP. This will help advance patient care and potentially highlight limitations in existing evidence to direct future research. Ethics and dissemination Being a systematic review, this study would not necessitate ethical review and approval. We plan to report and publish our study findings in a high impact medical journal, with online access. Trial registration number CRD42016034040.
A Homolog of Subtilisin-Like Proprotein Convertase 7 Is Essential to Anterior Neural Development in Xenopus

Background Subtilisin-like Proprotein Convertase 7 (SPC7) is a member of the subtilisin/kexin family of pro-protein convertases. It cleaves many pro-proteins to release their active proteins, including members of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) family of signaling molecules. Other SPCs are known to be required during embryonic development but corresponding data regarding SPC7 have not been reported previously. Methodology/Principal Findings We demonstrated that Xenopus SPC7 (SPC7) was expressed predominantly in the developing brain and eye, throughout the neural plate initially, then more specifically in the lens and retina primordia as development progressed. Since no prior functional information has been reported for SPC7, we used gain- and loss-of-function experiments to investigate the possibility that it may also convey patterning or tissue specification information similarly to Furin, SPC4, and SPC6. Overexpression of SPC7 was without effect. In contrast, injection of SPC7 antisense morpholino oligonucleotides (MO) into a single blastomere at the 2- or 4-cell stage produced marked disruption of head structures; anophthalmia was salient. Bilateral injections suppressed head and eye formation completely. In parallel with suppression of eye and brain development by SPC7 knockdown, expression of early anterior neural markers (Sox2, Otx2, Rx2, and Pax6) and late eye-specific markers (β-Crystallin and Opsin), and of BMP target genes such as Tbx2 and Tbx3, was reduced or eliminated. Taken together, these findings suggest a critical role for SPC7–perhaps, at least in part, due to activation of one or more BMPs–in early patterning of the anterior neural plate and its derivatives. Conclusion/Significance SPC7 is required for normal development of the eye and brain, possibly through processing BMPs, though other potential substrates cannot be excluded.
Gamma-ray all-sky imaging with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment

The BATSE mission aboard CGRO monitored the whole sky in the 20 keV−1 MeV energy band continuously from April 1991 until June 2000. Although BATSE had very poor intrinsic angular resolution, the data can be used to survey the entire soft gamma-ray sky with <1 ◦ angular resolution and ∼mCrab sensitivity by using the Earth occultation method. This method determines flux by measuring the step in the count rate profile in each BATSE detector as a source rises above or sets below the Earth's limb. A maximum likelihood imaging technique can then be used to build up all-sky maps from the images of the Earth's limb produced by occulting sources. However, since the Earth seen from BATSE has a radius of ∼70 ◦ , the limb images that intersect at the positions of bright point sources have a significant effect over the area of the all-sky map. A method for performing image cleaning on likelihood data has also been developed and is used to effectively remove artefacts from the all-sky maps. This paper describes the "LIMBO" imaging technique and presents preliminary all-sky maps of 25−160 keV emission, the first to be made since the HEAO1-A4 mission of 1978−79.
An investigation on deep learning with beta stabilizer

Artificial neural networks (ANN) have been used in many applications such like handwriting recognition and speech recognition. It is well-known that learning rate is a crucial value in the training procedure for artificial neural networks. It is shown that the initial value of learning rate can confoundedly affect the final result and this value is always set manually in practice. A new parameter called beta stabilizer has been introduced to reduce the sensitivity of the initial learning rate. But this method has only been proposed for deep neural network (DNN) with sigmoid activation function. In this paper we extended beta stabilizer to long short-term memory (LSTM) and investigated the effects of beta stabilizer parameters on different models, including LSTM and DNN with relu activation function. It is concluded that beta stabilizer parameters can reduce the sensitivity of learning rate with almost the same performance on DNN with relu activation function and LSTM. However, it is shown that the effects of beta stabilizer on DNN with relu activation function and LSTM are fewer than the effects on DNN with sigmoid activation function.
Counteraction of the multifunctional restriction factor tetherin

The interferon-inducible restriction factor tetherin (also known as CD317, BST-2 or HM1.24) has emerged as a key component of the antiviral immune response. Initially, tetherin was shown to restrict replication of various enveloped viruses by inhibiting the release of budding virions from infected cells. More recently, it has become clear that tetherin also acts as a pattern recognition receptor inducing NF-κB-dependent proinflammatory gene expression in virus infected cells. Whereas the ability to restrict virion release is highly conserved among mammalian tetherin orthologs and thus probably an ancient function of this protein, innate sensing seems to be an evolutionarily recent activity. The potent and broad antiviral activity of tetherin is reflected by the fact that many viruses evolved means to counteract this restriction factor. A continuous arms race with viruses has apparently driven the evolution of different isoforms of tetherin with different functional properties. Interestingly, tetherin has also been implicated in cellular processes that are unrelated to immunity, such as the organization of the apical actin network and membrane microdomains or stabilization of the Golgi apparatus. In this review, I summarize our current knowledge of the different functions of tetherin and describe the molecular strategies that viruses have evolved to antagonize or evade this multifunctional host restriction factor.
On the Emulation of Stiff Walls and Static Friction with a Magnetically Levitated Input/Output Devic

This technical brief addresses issues of mechanical emulation of stiff walls and stick-slip friction with a 6-DOF magnetically levitated joystick. In the case of stiff wall emulation, it is shown that the PD control implementation commonly used severely limits achievable wall damping and stiffness. It is also shown that the perceived surface stiffness can be increased without loss ofstability by applying a braking force pulse when crossing into the wall. For stick-slip friction, Karnopp's model was implemented using a PD controller within the stick friction threshold. Even though the PD controller allows some motion during the stick phase, the haptic feedback provided is remarkably similar to stick-slip friction.
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF MESSAGE PASSING VS. MULTITHREADING PARALLEL PROGRAMMING PARADIGMS ON MULTI-CORE SYSTEMS

Present and future multi-core computational system architecture attracts researchers to utilize this architecture as an adequate and inexpensive solution to achieve high performance computation for many problems. The multi-core architecture enables us to implement shared memory and/or message passing parallel processing paradigms. Therefore, we need appropriate standard libraries in order to utilize the resources of this architecture efficiently and effectively. In this work, we evaluate the performance of message passing using two versions of the well-known message passing interface (MPI) library: MPICH1 vs. MPICH2. Furthermore, we compared the performance of shared memory using OpenMP that supports multithreading with MPI. The results show that the performance when MPICH2 is used is better than MPICH1. The results indicate that multithreading performs better than message passing.
Exchange Protein Directly Activated by cAMP (EPAC) Regulates Neuronal Polarization through Rap1B

Acquisition of neuronal polarity is a complex process involving cellular and molecular events. The second messenger cAMP is involved in axonal specification through activation of protein kinase A. However, an alternative cAMP-dependent mechanism involves the exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (EPAC), which also responds to physiological changes in cAMP concentration, promoting activation of the small Rap GTPases. Here, we present evidence that EPAC signaling contributes to axon specification and elongation. In primary rat hippocampal neurons, EPAC isoforms were expressed differentially during axon specification. Furthermore, 8-pCPT, an EPAC pharmacological activator, and genetic manipulations of EPAC in neurons induced supernumerary axons indicative of Rap1b activation. Moreover, 8-pCPT-treated neurons expressed ankyrin G and other markers of mature axons such as synaptophysin and axonal accumulation of vGLUT1. In contrast, pharmacological inhibition of EPAC delayed neuronal polarity. Genetic manipulations to inactivate EPAC1 using either shRNA or neurons derived from EPAC1 knock-out (KO) mice led to axon elongation and polarization defects. Interestingly, multiaxonic neurons generated by 8-pCPT treatments in wild-type neurons were not found in EPAC1 KO mice neurons. Altogether, these results propose that EPAC signaling is an alternative and complementary mechanism for cAMP-dependent axon determination. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study identifies the guanine exchange factor responsible for Rap1b activation during neuronal polarization and provides an alternate explanation for cAMP-dependent acquisition of neuronal polarity.
Exploration and analysis of regression test suite optimization

Regression Test Suite Optimization (RTO) is an active research area. A Regression Test Suite is always growing due to changes in software, which increases testing time. To save time and resources optimization of regression test suites is mandatory. Researchers have optimized test suites using conventional and Computational Intelligence based approaches and achieve optimization of regression test suites through selection techniques, minimization or reduction techniques and ranking or prioritization techniques. This paper surveys existing techniques for regression test suite optimization, various tools and mathematical models being used for RTO. During this survey we found many interesting facts about regression test suite optimization that will be shared in the conclusion.
Patterns as Objectives for Level Generation

This paper discusses how to use design patterns in procedural level generation, with particular reference to the classic console game Super Mario Bros. In a previous paper, we analyzed the levels in this game to nd a set of recurring level design patterns, and discussed an implementation where levels were produced from concatenation of these patterns. In this paper, we instead propose using patterns as design objectives. An implementation of this based on evolutionary computation is presented. In this implementation, levels are represented as a set of vertical slices from the original game, and the tness function count the number of patterns found. Qualitative analysis of generated levels is performed in order to identify strengths and challenges of this method.
Complete modelling of AVB in Network Calculus Framework

Audio/Video Bridging (AVB) is an available Ethernet-based standard designed as an affordable network for real-time multimedia streams. There are several studies trying to use this technology as the backbone of embedded real time systems. In the context of critical embedded systems, guarantees on the worst case delay (aka worst case traversal time, WCTT) must be provided. The network calculus is a theory designed to compute such bounds. This article gives a complete and accurate modelling of AVB in the network calculus framework.
ProvDB: A System for Lifecycle Management of Collaborative Analysis Workflows

As data-driven methods are becoming pervasive in a wide variety of disciplines, there is an urgent need to develop scalable and sustainable tools to simplify the process of data science, to make it easier to keep track of the analyses being performed and datasets being generated, and to enable introspection of the workflows. In this paper, we describe our vision of a unified provenance and metadata management system to support lifecycle management of complex collaborative data science workflows. We argue that a large amount of information about the analysis processes and data artifacts can, and should be, captured in a semi-passive manner; and we show that querying and analyzing this information can not only simplify bookkeeping and debugging tasks for data analysts but can also enable a rich new set of capabilities like identifying flaws in the data science process itself. It can also significantly reduce the time spent in fixing post-deployment problems through automated analysis and monitoring. We have implemented an initial prototype of our system, called ProvDB, on top of git (a version control system) and Neo4j (a graph database), and we describe its key features and capabilities.
A hybrid particle swarm optimization and simulated annealing algorithm for job-shop scheduling

It is a NP-Hard problem to obtain optimal solutions to deal with the large-size job-shop scheduling problem (JSSP). In this paper, a new hybrid algorithm based on traditional particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for addressing a JSSP is proposed. Firstly, a particles encoding is designed to reduce the range of solution space. Secondly, a simulated annealing operator combined with local search operator is immersed into the algorithm to extricate itself from local optimal solution, and the performance of the individual search is improved as well. Furthermore, an interference operator is integrated to search the optimal solution by the rapid convergence features. Experimental results based on benchmark problems of LA instances and some FT instances demonstrate that the proposed hybrid algorithm shows higher performance in dealing with the classical large-scale problem than the original design.
CloudSafe: Securing data processing within vulnerable virtualization environments in the cloud

Data protection in public cloud remains a challenging problem. Outsourced data processing on vulnerable cloud platforms may suffer from cross-VM attacks, e.g. side-channel attacks that leak secrecy keys. We design and develop CloudSafe, a general and practical data-protection solution by integrating cryptographic techniques and systematic mechanisms seamlessly to address this issue. CloudSafe first allows a data owner to outsource encrypted data in the cloud. It then employs a cloud-based proxy to re-encrypt stored encrypted data and delivers it to authorized cloud applications upon access requests. To combat cross-VM side-channel attacks, the final data decryption key is one-time use and can be retrieved from the data owner ondemand. Any key leakage after an authorized access cannot compromise data confidentiality. For data sharing, CloudSafe allows authorized applications to efficiently access the protected data. The prototype evaluation demonstrates the efficiency of the scheme towards large-scale cloud applications.