Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved bioenergetic recovery during experimental ischemia and reperfusion by irradiation

Prolonged ischemia and reperfusion frequently occur during clinical operations. The bioenergetic status decreases during ischemia and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are formed during reperfusion, which may lead to irreversible tissue injury. During prolonged ischemia, such as in complicated microsurgical operations, tissue injury should be minimized to improve the chance of full recovery and function. Irradiation has previously been shown to improve functional recovery of cold-stored rat hearts via conservation of ATP. In this thesis, we used photons at 634 nm produced from a singlet oxygen system to investigate whether irradiation improves the bioenergetic status in skeletal muscle and graft hearts and decreases ROS in monocytes, and thus decreases tissue injury. The effect of irradiation on bioenergetic status was examined in rat rectus femoris muscle in vitro following 5 h ischemia. Phosphocreatine (PCr), ATP and inorganic phosphate (Pi) levels were measured using high resolution 11.75T 31 P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). PCr and ATP were significantly higher in the irradiated groups than in the non-irradiated group, but no difference in Pi was observed. The effect of irradiation on bioenergetic status was examined in rat rectus femoris muscle in vivo following 4 h ischemia and 1 reperfusion. ATP, PCr and Pi levels were measured using 2.35T 31 P MRS. After 4 h ischemia, ATP levels in the irradiated group were significantly higher than in the non- irradiated group, but no difference in PCr/(PCr+Pi) levels were observed. After 1 h reperfusion, ATP and PCr/(PCr+Pi) levels in the irradiated groups were significantly higher than in the nonirradiated groups. Blood-perfusion was measured using laser Doppler flowmetry and did not differ between the groups. The effect of irradiation on xenografts was examined in vivo following heart xenotransplantation from hamster to rat. PCr and ATP levels were measured daily using 2.35T 31 P MRS over 4 days. Irradiation of xenografts before reperfusion preserved the energetic status of hamster grafts, as demonstrated by a significantly higher PCr/ATP ratio in the irradiated group than in the non-irradiated group on the first postoperative day. However, irradiation did not delay the rejection process in this experimental model. Finally, the effect of irradiation was examined in human monocytes. Intracellular ROS, nitric oxide (NO) release and ATP were measured using chemiluminescence assays. iNOS and eNOS mRNA levels were measured using reverse transcription PCR. NO levels were significantly higher in the irradiated group than in the non-irradiated group, but no differences in iNOS or eNOS mRNA were observed. Intracellular ROS release was significantly lower in the irradiated group than in the non-irradiated group, and there was no difference in ATP levels. The salvaging effect of irradiation may have a wide range of clinical applications, for example in complex microsurgery and transplantation surgery.
Genetic differentiation of the pine wilt disease vector Monochamus alternatus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) over a mountain range – revealed from microsatellite DNA markers

Abstract To study the dispersal process of the pine sawyer Monochamus alternatus (Hope) in frontier populations, a microsatellite marker-based genetic analysis was performed on expanding populations at the northern limit of its range in Japan. In Asian countries, M. alternatus is the main vector of pine wilt disease, the most serious forest disease in Japan. Sawyers were collected from nine sites near the frontier of the pine wilt disease damage area. A mountain range divides the population into western and eastern sides. Five microsatellite loci were examined and a total of 188 individuals was genotyped from each locus with the number of alleles ranged from two to nine. The mean observed heterozygosity for all loci varied from 0.282 to 0.480 in the nine sites, with an overall mean of 0.364. None of the populations have experienced a significant bottleneck. Significant differentiation was found across the mountain range, but the genetic composition was similar amongst populations of each side. It is believed that the mountain range acts as a geographical barrier to dispersal and that gene flow without a geographical barrier is high. On the west side of the mountain range, a pattern of isolation by distance was detected. This was likely to be caused by secondary contact of different colonizing routes on a small spatial scale. Based on these data, a process linking genetic structure at local (kilometres) and regional spatial scales (hundreds of kilometres) was proposed.
Rapid membrane permeabilization and inhibition of vital functions of gram-negative bacteria by bactenecins

Bactenecins are a class of arginine-rich antibacterial peptides of bovine neutrophil granules. Two bactenecins with approximate molecular weights of 5,000 and 7,000 designated Bac5 and Bac7, respectively, exert in vitro a potent bactericidal activity toward several gram-negative bacteria (R. Gennaro, B. Skerlavaj, and D. Romeo, Infect. Immun. 57:3142-3146, 1989). We have now found that this activity shows an inverse relationship to the ionic strength of the medium and is inhibited by divalent cations and greatly potentiated by lactoferrin. Under conditions supporting marked bactericidal activity, the two peptides cause a rapid increase in the permeability of both the outer and inner membranes of Escherichia coli, as shown by unmasking of periplasmic beta-lactamase and of cytoplasmic beta-galactosidase. In addition, the two bactenecins inhibit the respiration of E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae but not of Bac5- and Bac7-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, they induce a drop in ATP content in E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and Salmonella typhimurium and a marked decrease in the rates of transport and incorporation of [3H]leucine and [3H]uridine into E. coli protein and RNA, respectively. In general, all these effects become evident within 1 to 2 min and reach their maximal expression within about 5 min. Overall, these data strongly suggest that the decrease in bacterial viability is causally related to the increase in membrane permeability and the subsequent fall in respiration-linked proton motive force, with the attendant loss of cellular metabolites and macromolecular biosynthesis ability.
Determination of Transposition Property of Neomycin , Streptomycin and Trimethprim Resistance Genes in Clinical Isolates of Escherichia coli and Proteus mirabilis

Twenty bacterial isolates were collected from human diarrheal samples and then identified. Seven out of twenty isolates were E. coli and three P. mirabilis . These isolates were checked for their resistance to six antibiotics and two heavy metals ( HgCl2 and Cdcl2). The bacterial isolates showed variation in their resistance to antibiotics and heavy metals.and only one E. coli but all P. mirabilis isolates showed high level of resistance. Transposition induction of genes in the two chosen bacterial isolates was carried out. Our results suggested that in E. coli isolate, neomycin resistance gene was induced to jump and insert itself into chloramphenicol and tetracyclin resistance genes causing them to mutate . in percents reaching 80% and 8% respectively. On the other hand, the streptomycin resistance gene transposition appear to be specific for generating mutations in the heavy metals resistance genes at rates 48% and 100 % respectively. In addition, transposition induction of the above genes in the chosen P. mirbilis isolate seemed to cause mutations in ampicilin, chloramphenicol and tetracyclin resistance genes ranging between 2 and 4 % . ــــــــــــــــ
Syntia: Synthesizing the Semantics of Obfuscated Code

Current state-of-the-art deobfuscation approaches operate on instruction traces and use a mixed approach of symbolic execution and taint analysis; two techniques that require precise analysis of the underlying code. However, recent research has shown that both techniques can easily be thwarted by specific transformations. As program synthesis can synthesize code of arbitrary code complexity, it is only limited by the complexity of the underlying code’s semantic. In our work, we propose a generic approach for automated code deobfuscation using program synthesis guided by Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS). Specifically, our prototype implementation, Syntia, simplifies execution traces by dividing them into distinct trace windows whose semantics are then “learned” by the synthesis. To demonstrate the practical feasibility of our approach, we automatically learn the semantics of 489 out of 500 random expressions obfuscated via Mixed Boolean-Arithmetic. Furthermore, we synthesize the semantics of arithmetic instruction handlers in two state-of-the art commercial virtualization-based obfuscators (VMProtect and Themida) with a success rate of more than 94%. Finally, to substantiate our claim that the approach is generic and applicable to different use cases, we show that Syntia can also automatically learn the semantics of ROP gadgets.
Research on intelligent intrusion prevention system based on Snort

Due to the limitation of the firewall and intrusion detection system in the information security domain, intrusion prevention system (IPS) appeared. It is a new generation information security technology following the firewall and intrusion detection technique. It is also a secure product that protects the network and system in real time from attacking, and now becomes a hotspot of research in network security domain. This article mainly focuses on the support vector machine (SVM) applying to Snort intrusion detection system, then implements a small scale intelligent intrusion prevention system by combining Snort intrusion detection system and firewall.
Parameter Identification for Lugre Friction Model using Genetic Algorithms

Parameter identification for mechanical servo systems with nonlinear friction term is very difficult, and linear identification techniques are not adoptable because that the parameters can not be linear parameterized as well as the local minimum problem. Based on genetic algorithms, this paper presented a two-step offline method for the parameter identification of mechanical servo embedded with LuGre friction model. In the first step, four static parameters were estimated through the Stribeck curve, and in the second step, two dynamic parameters were obtained by the typical limit cycle output of the system. Genetic algorithms with different control parameters and objective functions were used in both steps to minimize the identification errors. At last, the simulation is developed for typical nonlinear mechanical servo systems, and the results have shown that the convergence of identified friction parameters is robust and not affected by the coupling property between the dynamic parameters and static parameters
Support Vector Machines with Genetic Algorithms in Forecasting Electricity Load

Support vector machines (SVMs) have been successfully used in solving nonlinear regression and time series problems. However, the application of SVMs to load forecasting is very rare. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the feasibility of SVMs in forecasting electricity load. In addition, the genetic algorithms are applied in the parameter selection of SVM model. Forecasting results compared with other two models, namely autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and general regression neural networks (GRNN), are provided. The experimental data are borrowed from the Taiwan Power Company. The numerical results indicate that the SVM model with genetic algorithms (SVMG) results in better predictive performance than the other two approaches.
Genetic association mapping under founder heterogeneity via weighted haplotype similarity analysis in candidate genes

Taking advantage of increasingly available high‐density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers within genes and across genomes, more and more genetic association studies began to use multiple closely linked markers in candidate genes. A practical analytical challenge arising in such studies is the possibility that not all case chromosomes have inherited disease‐causing mutations from a common ancestral chromosome (founder heterogeneity). To alleviate the problem, we propose a method that applies a clustering algorithm to haplotype similarity analysis. The method identifies a sequence of nested subsets of case chromosomes by a peeling procedure, where each subset is relatively homogeneous. The average similarity score estimated from each subset in the sequence is compared to that estimated in controls, and a raw (unadjusted for multiple comparisons) P value is obtained. The test for the association between the trait and the candidate gene is based on the minimum raw P value observed in the comparison sequence, with its significance level estimated by a permutation procedure. The method can be applied to both haplotype and genotype data. Simulation studies suggest that our method has the correct type I error rate, and is generally more powerful than existing methods of haplotype similarity analysis. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Robust and efficient pose tracking using perspective-four-point algorithm and Kalman filter

In this paper, we investigate the use of Kalman filter to enable robust tracking based on an efficient pose estimation algorithm, namely the four-point algorithm. Pose estimation is very useful in vision-based system control, for example in automatic driving and virtual reality inputs. Firstly, we have implemented a four-point pose estimation method with a personal computer. This estimation algorithm is supposed to be the method that requires the least number of point features for the generation of a unique solution. On the contrary, existing three-point algorithms may give multiple solutions. Then we have adopted a Kalman filter to enable robust tracking. Kalman filter is computationally efficient and very good at handling noise during tracking. The merge of these two techniques make us able to build a high-speed and yet robust system to be used in a wide variety of real applications. Furthermore, we have shown that a linear Kalman filter can be applied to filter off noises directly from the results of the four-point algorithm. Simulated and real data tests were performed and the results were satisfactory.
EXPERIMENTS WITH SOME MICROORGANISMS WHICH UTILIZE ETHANE AND HYDROGEN

An interesting case of extreme specificity of enrichment and selective culture procedures has recently been described for methane-utilizing bacteria (Leadbetter and Foster, 1958). Obligate methane-utilizing pseudomonads (Pseudomonas methanica) invariably were obtained from inocula from a great many natural sources. A further degree of specificity within the group was encountered; it was found that emergence of particular pigmented varieties, to the exclusion of others, can be predicted if the enrichment and isolation procedures follow a set pattern. Almost as surprising was the ineffectuality of those procedures in evoking the appearance of nonexacting methane-utilizing bacteria of the type that can also grow at the expense of other hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon substrates (Aiyer, 1920; Bokova et al., 1947; Brown and Strawinski, 1957; Hutton and ZoBell, 1949; KaprAlek, 1954; Muinz, 1915; Nechaeva, 1949; Slavnina, 1948; Tausz and Donath, 1930). This paper documents an additional kind of unusual specificity in connection with gaseous hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria. Three significant findings reported are (1) the use of natural gas (in which methane is by far the major component) as a substrate in enrichment cultures led to the isolation of many different ethane-utilizing organisms, but none capable of utilizing methane as the sole hydrocarbon for growth; (2) a majority of the ethane-utilizing bacteria proved to be facultative autotrophs capable of developing at the expense of hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide as the respective sole sources of energy and carbon. A preliminary note on this subject has already been published (Dworkin and Foster, 1957); and (3) a
The rab16B Promoter of Rice Contains Two Distinct Abscisic Acid-Responsive Elements

To localize abscisic acid (ABA)-inducible gene expression of rab16 genes, rab16A promoter was linked to the gusA reporter gene encoding [beta]-glucuronidase and introduced into rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants. The activity of rab16A promoter was induced by ABA and osmotic stresses in various tissues of vegetative and floral organs. In anthers and embryos, rab16A promoter was active in the absence of ABA. To elucidate cis-elements of the rab16 promoter that confer ABA-inducible expression, variously modified 40-bp fragments (-264 to -225) of the rab16B promoter were fused to a truncated (-46 bp) cauliflower mosaic virus 35S minimal promoter, and their activities in protoplasts were analyzed. The transient assays revealed that the 40-bp fragment consists of two separate ABA-responsive elements, motif I (AGTACGTGGC) and motif III (GCCGCGTGGC). Motif I and motif III are both required for ABA induction; however, each can substitute for the other. Further analyses of these motifs indicated that motif III has a distinct DNA sequence specificity as an ABA-responsive element from motif I, suggesting that the two motifs interact with different transcription factors in vivo.
Fully parallel 6T-2MTJ nonvolatile TCAM with single-transistor-based self match-line discharge control

A six-MOS-transistor/two-MTJ-device (6T-2MTJ)-based cell circuit with an autonomous leakage-current control mechanism is proposed and fabricated for a fully parallel nonvolatile TCAM. A diode-connected nMOS transistor is inserted into each cell for match-line discharge control, which enables bit-parallel equality-search operation more than 144 bits. Since each match line is divided into three segments, the activity rate of cells is reduced to 2.8%. This almost eliminates leakage power while maintaining comparable search energy of 1.04 fJ/bit/search in comparison with a CMOS-based TCAM.
Sports Injury Prevention: The Role of the Strength and Conditioning Coach

ABSTRACT PREVENTION OF SPORTS INJURIES IS A PRIORITY FOR SPORT STAKEHOLDERS ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF TRAINING AND COMPETITION. ACHIEVING THIS OBJECTIVE REQUIRES A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH WITH STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACHES PLAYING AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE PROCESS. WHEN CONSIDERING SPORTS INJURY PREVENTION STRATEGIES, THE ROLE OF THE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH CAN EXTEND BEYOND OBSERVING EXERCISE TECHNIQUE AND PRESCRIBING TRAINING TO DEVELOP A ROBUST AND RESILIENT ATHLETE. THIS PAPER PROVIDES STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACHES WITH A BROAD OVERVIEW OF THE SPORTS INJURY PREVENTION PROCESS AND OUTLINES EXAMPLES OF HOW STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACHES CAN WORK TO PROMOTE AND IMPROVE ATHLETE SAFETY.
The Rivermead Assessment of Somatosensory Performance (RASP): standardization and reliability data

Objective: To develop a standardized, clinically relevant, quantitative assessment of somatosensory performance in patients with stroke. Design: Prospective observational study and test evaluation. Setting: Local Oxford hospitals and a regional neurological rehabilitation centre. Subjects: Stroke patients with a ”rst, lateralized acute stroke in hospital, and age-matched control subjects. Method: Each patient was assessed in a structured way using a new battery of formal tests of somatosensory performance. Results: A total of 100 patients and 50 controls were fully investigated. Control subjects performed at or near ceiling on all tests, but patients showed impaired performance on all tests. The Rivermead Assessment of Somatosensory Performance (RASP) showed good intra-rater and inter-rater reliability for all subtests. There were however only weak relationships between scores of sensory impairment and scores of motor impairment or mobility and dependence. Conclusions: The RASP provides a practical and reliable assessment of sensory loss, which provides the clinician with a comprehensive picture of the patient’s performance and can be used to inform and monitor rehabilitation and recovery.
Chemical characterisation and dilute-acid hydrolysis of rice hulls from an artisan mill

The chemical composition of rice hulls produced in an artisan mill and its conversion to fermentable sugars was investigated. The carbohydrate fraction represented 59.2% (w/w) of the dry hulls. Cellulose, with 36.6%, was the main component, followed by xylan with 13.9%. An important contribution of starch (8.7%) was also detected. The content of ash (19.6%) and lignin (15.5%) was comparable with that of rice hulls obtained in industrial mills. Dilute-sulphuric acid hydrolysis at different temperatures, from 160 to 210, was evaluated for production of fermentable sugars. Due to starch hydrolysis, the concentration of glucose in the hydrolysates produced at 160°C was higher than the values that have previously been reported for industrial sorts of rice hulls under comparable conditions. The xylan-to-xylose conversion increased steadily with increase of the temperature and reached a maximum (67.7%) at 190°C. Further increases of the hydrolysis temperature decreased the yield of sugars due to their dehydration to furfural and HMF.
Improving ducting to increase cooling performance of high-end web servers subjected to significant thermal shadowing – an experimental and computational study

A critical requirement in implementation of air cooling for rack mount servers is management of airflow to ensure that all components, especially critical devices such as CPUs, receive adequate flow as per requirement. In addition, component locations within the chassis play a vital role in passage of airflow and affect the overall system resistance. In this paper, sizeable improvement in chassis ducting is targeted to counteract effects of thermal shadowing in a dual-socket Open Compute web server wherein a CPU is located directly downstream from another. An experimentally-calibrated detailed CFD model of the server is deployed to parameterize design and location of the duct with the objective of understanding the effect of flow bypass on CPU die temperatures and fan power consumption. Enhancements achieved are tested experimentally by constructing a prototype of the improved chassis and reported with 23.4-39.6% savings in fan power consumption, 21.6-26% reduction in fan speeds, and 31.3-37.3% savings in flow rate required by the server. 6.4% to 16.7% reduction in acoustics noise levels caused by server fans is also presented.
Web Reviews and Events Matching Based on Event Feature Segments and Semi-Markov Conditional Random Fields

To establish links between a large number ofreviews and events, we propose a web reviews and eventsmatching approach by event feature segments and semi-Markov conditional random fields (CRFs). We extract named entities and verb phrases from reviews as event feature segments. We use semi-Markov CRFs to label the reviews and to recognize event feature segments at the segment level. This approach uses event feature segments to match reviews and events. Therefore, it is more accurate than other approaches which use only named entities to match. We use several feature rules to recognize the variants of named entities, such as abbreviation and acronym. In addition, we use phrase dependency parsing tree to recognize verb phrases. A compositive similarity measurement function is presented to combine similarity results of event feature segments. Experimental results demonstrate that this method can accurately match reviews and events.