Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ABCA: Android Black-box Coverage Analyzer of mobile app without source code

To manage test projects of application under test (AUT) on Android devices, coverage analysis tools for test ade-quacy are still urgently needed. As in other platforms, code coverage is a relatively convincing criterion for confidence that no obvious component part is left untested. With the help of Soot library, we developed a tool, called Android Black-box Coverage Analyzer (ABCA) that can produce source code coverage report on AUT execution while the source code of the AUT is actually not available. Given an Android application package (APK) file (in bytecode), ABCA inserts commands into the APK file to dump cover-age data on executed classes, method names, and source code statements. After exerting a test case on the instru-mented AUT on an Android device, we can then run ABCA in a PC to collect code coverage data of the AUT execution via a USB line connecting the PC and the Android device. After the test session completes, ABCA then generates a re-port on class coverage, method coverage, and line coverage of the original Java source code.
Immobilization of Keratinase from Aspergillus flavus K-03 for Degradation of Feather Keratin

Extracellular keratinase isolated from Aspergillus flavus K-03 was immobilized on calcium alginate. The properties and reaction activities of free and immobilized keratinase with calcium alginate were characterized. The immobilized keratinase showed proteolytic activity against soluble azo-casein and azo-keratin, and insoluble feather keratin. Heat stability and pH tolerance of keratinase were greatly enhanced by immobilization. It also displayed a higher level of heat stability and an increased tolerance toward alkaline pHs compared with free keratinase. During the durability test at 40°C, 48% of the original enzyme activity of the immobilized keratinase was remained after 7 days of incubation. The immobilized keratinase exhibited better stability, thus increasing its potential for use in industrial application.
A detailed analysis of power-supply noise attenuation in bandgap voltage references

This paper discusses the power-supply noise attenuation (PSNA) in the frequency domain of four kinds of bandgap voltage reference that represent the basis of typical voltage references. This performance parameter becomes a fundamental design criterion in high-frequency applications where, due to the reduction in the loop gain, spurious signals coming from the power supply cannot be adequately rejected. Precise and simple models, useful for pencil and paper analysis are hereby developed for the four analyzed topologies and, where possible, compensation techniques are discussed. Moreover, the four topologies are compared in detail highlighting both their main features and drawbacks.
Expression of B-cell activating factor of the tumour necrosis factor family (BAFF) in T cells in active systemic lupus erythematosus: the role of BAFF in T cell-dependent B cell pathogenic autoantibody production.

OBJECTIVES To determine whether B cell activating factor of the tumour necrosis factor family (BAFF) is involved in T cell-dependent B cell pathogenic autoantibody production in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 23 SLE patients were analysed by flow cytometry to examine the intracellular expression of BAFF in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and the surface expression of BAFF-receptor (R) and TACI on CD20+ B cells. Moreover, peripheral blood was used to determine the level of BAFF messenger RNA (mRNA) in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and the level of BAFF-R mRNA in CD20+ B cells. Blocking of BAFF function with TACI-Ig measured anti-double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from patients with active SLE expressed intracellular BAFF whereas those from normal subjects did not. BAFF-R and TACI were expressed on B cells from both normal controls and patients with active SLE and there was no significant difference. CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from SLE patients expressed BAFF mRNA whereas those from normal controls did not. Expression of BAFF-R mRNA in CD20+ B cells showed no significant difference between SLE patients and normal controls. TACI-Ig suppressed spontaneous in vitro T cell-dependent B cell anti-dsDNA antibodies production on active SLE with kidney involvement. CONCLUSIONS BAFF may play a pathogenic role in SLE by stimulating T cell-dependent B cell autoantibodies production. Blockade of BAFF is a promising therapeutic approach for SLE especially in patients with kidney involvement.
Comparing the Bacterial Diversity of Acute and Chronic Dental Root Canal Infections

This study performed barcoded multiplex pyrosequencing with a 454 FLX instrument to compare the microbiota of dental root canal infections associated with acute (symptomatic) or chronic (asymptomatic) apical periodontitis. Analysis of samples from 9 acute abscesses and 8 chronic infections yielded partial 16S rRNA gene sequences that were taxonomically classified into 916 bacterial species-level operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (at 3% divergence) belonging to 67 genera and 13 phyla. The most abundant phyla in acute infections were Firmicutes (52%), Fusobacteria (17%) and Bacteroidetes (13%), while in chronic infections the dominant were Firmicutes (59%), Bacteroidetes (14%) and Actinobacteria (10%). Members of Fusobacteria were much more prevalent in acute (89%) than in chronic cases (50%). The most abundant/prevalent genera in acute infections were Fusobacterium and Parvimonas. Twenty genera were exclusively detected in acute infections and 18 in chronic infections. Only 18% (n = 165) of the OTUs at 3% divergence were shared by acute and chronic infections. Diversity and richness estimators revealed that acute infections were significantly more diverse than chronic infections. Although a high interindividual variation in bacterial communities was observed, many samples tended to group together according to the type of infection (acute or chronic). This study is one of the most comprehensive in-deep comparisons of the microbiota associated with acute and chronic dental root canal infections and highlights the role of diverse polymicrobial communities as the unit of pathogenicity in acute infections. The overall diversity of endodontic infections as revealed by the pyrosequencing technique was much higher than previously reported for endodontic infections.
Self-Adjuvanting Glycopeptide Conjugate Vaccine against Disseminated Candidiasis

Our research on pathogenesis of disseminated candidiasis led to the discovery that antibodies specific for Candida albicans cell surface β-1, 2–mannotriose [β-(Man)3] protect mice. A 14 mer peptide Fba, which derived from the N-terminal portion of the C. albicans cytosolic/cell surface protein fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, was used as the glycan carrier and resulted in a novel synthetic glycopeptide vaccine β-(Man)3-Fba. By a dendritic cell-based immunization approach, this conjugate induced protective antibody responses against both the glycan and peptide parts of the vaccine. In this report, we modified the β-(Man)3-Fba conjugate by coupling it to tetanus toxoid (TT) in order to improve immunogenicity and allow for use of an adjuvant suitable for human use. By new immunization procedures entirely compatible with human use, the modified β-(Man)3-Fba-TT was administered either alone or as a mixture made with alum or monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) adjuvants and given to mice by a subcutaneous (s.c.) route. Mice vaccinated with or, surprisingly, without adjuvant responded well by making robust antibody responses. The immunized groups showed a high degree of protection against a lethal challenge with C. albicans as evidenced by increased survival times and reduced kidney fungal burden as compared to control groups that received only adjuvant or DPBS buffer prior to challenge. To confirm that induced antibodies were protective, sera from mice immunized against the β-(Man)3-Fba-TT conjugate transferred protection against disseminated candidiasis to naïve mice, whereas C. albicans-absorbed immune sera did not. Similar antibody responses and protection induced by the β-(Man)3-Fba-TT vaccine was observed in inbred BALB/c and outbred Swiss Webster mice. We conclude that addition of TT to the glycopeptide conjugate results in a self-adjuvanting vaccine that promotes robust antibody responses without the need for additional adjuvant, which is novel and represents a major step forward in vaccine design against disseminated candidiasis.
A Self-Maintainable View Maintenance Technique for Data Warehouses

Materialised views are important in data warehouses where they are used to speed up query processing in decision support activities. There are many applications, such as those involving financial or stock market data for example, where the base data is volatile and the updates to the materialised views need to be computed efficiently. In such cases, incremental update techniques are often used for performance reasons. In this paper we propose an incremental technique for efficiently maintaining materialised views in these high performance applications by materialising additional relations which are derived from the intermediate results of the view computation. We present an algorithm which uses the operator tree for the view to determine which additional relations need to be materialised in order to maintain the view. We then give an incremental algorithm for maintaining both the view and the additional relations which has several desirable features. Firstly, it is an 'exact change' algorithm. By this we mean that if the deletion of a tuple is produced by our technique then the tuple is guaranteed not to exist in the new view, and likewise, any tuple to be inserted into the view is guaranteed not to exist in the old view. Secondly, the view and the additional relations are self-maintainable. Lastly, our technique allows multiple updates to the base relations and computes the effects of these updates simultaneously to the view.
Remnants of the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy around the Young Globular Cluster Palomar 12

Photometry of a large field around the young globular cluster Palomar 12 has revealed the main sequence of a low surface brightness stellar system. This main sequence is indicative of a stellar population that varies significantly in metallicity and/or age but in the mean is more metal-poor than Pal 12. Under different assumptions for the properties of this population, we find distances from the Sun in the range 17-24 kpc, which encompasses the distance to Pal 12, 19.0 ± 0.9 kpc. The stellar system is also detected in a field 2° north of Pal 12, which indicates it has a minimum diameter of ~0.9 kpc. The orbit of Pal 12, the color-magnitude diagram of the stellar system, their positions on the sky, and their distances suggest that they are debris from the tidal disruption of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy. We discuss briefly the implications for the evolution of Sgr and the Galactic halo.
Secure End-to-End Browsing System with Mobile Composition

To fix the more and more serious leakage problem in remote access to confidential data, the paper designs and implements a secure end-to-end browsing system with mobile composition. It enables mobile-authenticated users to browse confidential files stored at server side using their personal computers securely. The authentication function is in real-time such that the system can stop the browsing function once it detects that the authenticated mobile is out of the communication range of user's personal computer.
Redefining and assessing emotional understanding based on the componential emotion approach

This article reports on a redefinition and a new operationalisation of the construct of emotional understanding based on the componential emotion approach. Emotional understanding was redefined as the ability to understand the likely emotional processes (i.e., appraisals, action tendencies, bodily reactions, expressions, and subjective feelings) that emerge when a person encounters goal-relevant events. In all, 10 emotions were identified to represent the variability in the emotion domain. For each emotion, a scenario was constructed that typically elicits that emotion. For each scenario, participants had to rate the likelihood of five emotions, five appraisals, five action tendencies, five bodily reactions, five expressions, and five subjective feelings. The new instrument, the Components of Emotional Understanding Test–South African Student version, was administered to 132 undergraduate students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the expected one-factorial structure. Emotional understanding correlated positively with verbal cognitive ability, self-report emotional intelligence, and well-being and was negatively correlated with somatic complaints. Moreover, women outscored men, and no difference was observed between respondents with Black African and White cultural backgrounds.
Probabilistic Networks : New Models and New MethodsDavid

In this paper I describe the implementation of a probabilistic regression model in BUGS. BUGS is a program that carries out Bayesian inference on statistical problems using a simulation technique known as Gibbs sampling. It is possible to implement surprisingly complex regression models in this environment. I demonstrate the simultaneous inference of an interpolant and an input-dependent noise level. 1 Traditional regression models and their Bayesian interpretation In traditional regression methods, the interpolant y(x) is represented as a parameterized function y(x; w), and, given data fx n ; t n g N n=1 , the parameters w are optimized to minimize the weighted
Assessing Human Activity in Elderly People Using Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring

The ageing of the population, and their increasing wish of living independently, are motivating the development of welfare and healthcare models. Existing approaches based on the direct heath-monitoring using body sensor networks (BSN) are precise and accurate. Nonetheless, their intrusiveness causes non-acceptance. New approaches seek the indirect monitoring through monitoring activities of daily living (ADLs), which proves to be a suitable solution. ADL monitoring systems use many heterogeneous sensors, are less intrusive, and are less expensive than BSN, however, the deployment and maintenance of wireless sensor networks (WSN) prevent them from a widespread acceptance. In this work, a novel technique to monitor the human activity, based on non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM), is presented. The proposal uses only smart meter data, which leads to minimum intrusiveness and a potential massive deployment at minimal cost. This could be the key to develop sustainable healthcare models for smart homes, capable of complying with the elderly people’ demands. This study also uses the Dempster-Shafer theory to provide a daily score of normality with regard to the regular behavior. This approach has been evaluated using real datasets and, additionally, a benchmarking against a Gaussian mixture model approach is presented.
Web Traffic Logs: An Imperfect Resource for Evaluation

Replaying or simulation using web traffic logs are common methods of evaluating proxy caches. Request traces are also used to characterize typical web workloads. Unfortunately, most common, publicly available request logs have serious deficiencies because of what is omitted from the logs. In this paper we enumerate a number of these deficiencies and examine the benefits of more complete logs. Additionally, we investigate some of the additional insights available from logs containing full content, and how they might apply to content-based prefetching proxies.
ERP software requirement elicitation with reference models

COTS (Commercial off-the-shelf) ERP systems provide a lot of reusable software packages, which accelerate the implementation process to some extent. However they also put enterprises into a dilemma: whether to adapt as-is business processes or to customize software packages. In order to help the enterprises get out of the dilemma, a holistic methodology is proposed to automatically elicit software requirement using reference models as domain knowledge. The methodology involves three phases: business modeling, gap detection and gap bridging. Firstly, VPML is employed to describe as-is business process, Secondly, semantics computing technology is employed to analyze the gap between enterprise needs and COTS software capacity. At last, Goal Reasoning Technology is employed to encourage enterprise users and software vendors take participate in decision making process together. This paper focuses on the method to reason with goal model.
Discreteness Effects in ΛCDM Simulations: A Wavelet-Statistical View

The effects of particle discreteness in N-body ΛCDM simulations are still an intensively debated issue. In this paper we explore such effects, taking into account the scatter caused by the randomness of the initial conditions and focusing on the statistical properties of the cosmological density field. For this purpose, we run large sets of ΛCDM simulations and analyze them using a wide variety of diagnostics, including new and powerful wavelet statistics. Among other facts, we point out (1) that dynamical evolution does not propagate discreteness noise up from the small scales at which it is introduced and (2) that one should aim to satisfy the condition ϵ ~ 2d, where ϵ is the force resolution and d is the interparticle distance. We clarify what such a condition means and how to implement it in modern cosmological codes.
A persistent runtime system using persistent data structures

Many software engineering applications in both conventional and distributed environments require or prefer access to multiple versions of program runtime state. Few such systems are actually used in practice primarily due to time and space overhead incurred during runtime history recording. We describe in this paper a persistent runtime system that supports efficient capture of and access to fine-grained, multiple versions of runtime state along with normal program executions. Our technique is based on recent advance in making data structures persistent and only incurs small time overhead. Its space requirements are optimal in the sense that it stores only the difference of any two consecutive versions of runtime state. To address the issue that the space requirements can still be substantial and unbounded, we provide an approach to scale down the number of versions of runtime state actually recorded. This paper describes the technique, its assumptions, its time and space overhead, the performance results obtained from a persistent runtime system prototype implemented for SETL, and a visual debugger example as an application of the system.
Intracellular recording with low-power low-noise CMOS voltage and current clamp circuits

SILVA, PRADEEP CHARLES. Intracellular Recording with Low-power Lownoise CMOS Voltage and Current Clamp Circuits. (Under the direction of Dr. Kevin Gard.) The measurement and processing of electrophysiological signals is a fundamental task performed by neuroscientists, as a means to gaining an insight into how biological systems respond to external stimuli and communicate with each other. Recently, the advent of microelectrode arrays has created the need to design low-power implantable electronic systems that are capable of recording neural activity while not causing permanent damage to the neural systems under observation. Such systems would prove invaluable in furthering our understanding of the electrical function of neurons in regard to drug interactions and mental functions and their interactions with other neurons and muscles. This work investigates the design of the electronic components of such an implantable recording system. Low-power and low-noise current-clamp and voltage-clamp recording setups are designed. In addition, automated methods to combat the non-idealities in the recording introduced by the presence of electrodes for interfacing with neurons are proposed. Simulations have shown these methods to be effective in reducing the stray capacitance to <1 pF and to achieve 100% series resistance compensation while ensuring closed-loop stability. The power consumed in each of these recording setups is <500 μW . We also propose a system that will enable voltage-clamp controlled current-clamp recordings from cells for the measurement of action potentials or synaptic potentials while allowing the experimenter to determine the averaged membrane potential at which such recordings are performed. This automated and integrated approach to intracellular recording will facilitate the implementation of system-on-chip solutions that can be integrated onto the intracellular electrode. Such configurations would aid neuroscientists in performing accurate and high-throughput experiments in-vitro and ultimately, in-vivo. Intracellular Recording with low-power low-noise CMOS voltage and current clamp circuits
Control of Active and Reactive Power Ripple to Mitigate Unbalanced Grid Voltages

Managing power delivery from distributed generation systems is challenging when the grid voltages are unbalanced, since the negative sequence voltage causes power oscillations at twice the fundamental grid frequency. Current regulation using sequence components can be used to manage these real and reactive power oscillations, and thus help mitigate the unbalanced network voltages. This paper presents a consolidated control scheme using double sequence frame current regulators that can readily adjust between eliminating real or reactive power oscillations created by unbalanced grid voltages, or alternatively can simply balance the three-phase currents. The mitigation influence of these alternative control strategies on unbalanced grid voltages is then experimentally examined for a distribution feeder with a resistive and/or reactive series impedance.