Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Birefringence Mapping in an Optical Fibre by Using a Polarization-OTDR

We propose a new analysis method of the Rayleigh backscattered field for the measurement of the birefringence spatial distribution in a single-mode optical fiber. The technique is based on a Polarization-OTDR set-up using a rotary linear polariser. We demonstrate that the birefringence distribution may be deduced from the measurement of the round-trip Mueller matrices derived from three POTDR traces corresponding to three different angles (0, π/4, π/8 rad) of the polarizer.
Tipped Off by Your Memory Allocator: Device-Wide User Activity Sequencing from Android Memory Images

An essential forensic capability is to infer the sequence of actions performed by a suspect in the commission of a crime. Unfortunately, for cyber investigations, user activity timeline reconstruction remains an open research challenge, currently requiring manual identification of datable artifacts/logs and heuristic-based temporal inference. In this paper, we propose a memory forensics capability to address this challenge. We present Timeliner, a forensics technique capable of automatically inferring the timeline of user actions on an Android device across all apps, from a single memory image acquired from the device. Timeliner is inspired by the observation that Android app Activity launches leave behind key self-identifying data structures. More importantly, this collection of data structures can be temporally ordered, owing to the predictable manner in which they were allocated and distributed in memory. Based on these observations, Timeliner is designed to (1) identify and recover these residual data structures, (2) infer the user-induced transitions between their corresponding Activities, and (3) reconstruct the devicewide, cross-app Activity timeline. Timeliner is designed to leverage the memory image of Android’s centralized ActivityManager service. Hence, it is able to sequence Activity launches across all apps — even those which have terminated. Our evaluation shows that Timeliner can reveal substantial evidence (up to an hour) across a variety of apps on different Android platforms.
Power Transformer as a Source of Noise

This article presents selected results of analyses and simulations carried out as part of research performed at the Central Institute of Labor Protection – the National Research Institute (CIOP-PIB) in connection with the development of a system for active reduction of noise emitted by high power electricity transformers. This analysis covers the transformer as a source of noise as well as a mathematical description of the phenomenon of radiation of vibroacoustic energy through a transformer enclosure modeled as a vibrating rectangular plate. Also described is an acoustic model of the transformer in the form of an array of loudspeakers.
Efficient estimation of aspect weights

Many websites encourage people to submit reviews of various products and services. We present and evaluate a novel approach to efficiently model and analyze the text within user reviews to estimate how much reviewers care about different aspects of a product (i.e., amenities, food, location, room, etc. of a hotel). Our approach performs statistically quite similar to the best existing method. However, our method for computing aspect weights is a linear time method while the current state of the art solution requires cubic time at best.
Prediction of self-monitoring compliance: Application of the theory of planned behaviour to chronic illness sufferers

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes and asthma are chronic illnesses that affect a substantial number of people. The continued high cost of clinic- and hospital-based care provision in these areas could be reduced by patients self-monitoring their condition more effectively. Such a move requires an understanding of how to predict self-monitoring compliance. Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (TPB) makes it possible to predict those clients who will comply with medical guidelines, prescription drug intake and self-monitoring behaviours (peak flow or blood sugar levels). Ninety-seven clients attending a medical centre located in a large urbanised area of Northern Ireland completed TPB questionnaires. Significant amounts of variance explained by the TPB model indicated its usefulness as a predictor of self-monitoring behaviour intentions in the sample. The results also highlighted the importance of subjective norm and perceived behavioural control within the TPB in predicting intentions. The utility of the TPB in this study also provides evidence for health promotion professionals that costly clinic/hospital treatment provision can be reduced, whilst also being satisfied with ongoing client self-monitoring of their condition.
Characterizing filtered light waves corrupted by phase noise

The phase noise associated with single-mode semiconductor lasers must be accounted for in performance studies of lightwave communication systems. The standard phase noise model is a Brownian-motion stochastic process. Although many analyses of lightwave communication systems have been published, none, to the authors knowledge, has fully adhered to the standard model. The reason is that a proper characterization of filtered lightwave signal had not been achieved. Such a characterization, along with theoretical approaches to obtaining it, is detailed. The authors show, for example, how to generate probability density functions (PDFs) of the magnitude of a filtered laser tone (with special attention to the tail region) and how to analytically represent the characteristic function of the PDF in closed form in the small-phase-noise realm. With the characterization in place, the stage is now set for determining the bit-error rate performance of advanced detection techniques which seek to mitigate the phase noise impairment. >
Are Pericentric Inversions Reorganizing Wedge Shell Genomes?

Wedge shells belonging to the Donacidae family are the dominant bivalves in exposed beaches in almost all areas of the world. Typically, two or more sympatric species of wedge shells differentially occupy intertidal, sublittoral, and offshore coastal waters in any given locality. A molecular cytogenetic analysis of two sympatric and closely related wedge shell species, Donax trunculus and Donax vittatus, was performed. Results showed that the karyotypes of these two species were both strikingly different and closely alike; whilst metacentric and submetacentric chromosome pairs were the main components of the karyotype of D. trunculus, 10–11 of the 19 chromosome pairs were telocentric in D. vittatus, most likely as a result of different pericentric inversions. GC-rich heterochromatic bands were present in both species. Furthermore, they showed coincidental 45S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), 5S rRNA and H3 histone gene clusters at conserved chromosomal locations, although D. trunculus had an additional 45S rDNA cluster. Intraspecific pericentric inversions were also detected in both D. trunculus and D. vittatus. The close genetic similarity of these two species together with the high degree of conservation of the 45S rRNA, 5S rRNA and H3 histone gene clusters, and GC-rich heterochromatic bands indicate that pericentric inversions contribute to the karyotype divergence in wedge shells.
Reduced size of the dendritic tree does not protect Purkinje cells from excitotoxic death

Purkinje cell loss by excitotoxic damage is a typical finding in many cerebellar diseases. One important aspect of this high sensitivity of Purkinje cells to excitotoxic death might be the enormous size of their dendritic tree, with a high load of excitatory glutamate receptors. We have studied whether reduction in the size of the dendritic tree might confer resistance against excitotoxic death to Purkinje cells. We have grown Purkinje cells in organotypic cerebellar slice cultures under chronic activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors or of protein kinase C. Both treatments strongly reduced dendritic tree size. After this treatment, cells were exposed to the glutamate receptor agonist AMPA, which has a strong excitotoxic effect on Purkinje cells. We found that Purkinje cells with small dendritic trees were as sensitive to AMPA exposure as untreated control cells with large dendritic trees. Immunostaining against vesicular glutamate transporter 1 revealed that the small dendritic trees were densely covered by glutamatergic terminals. Our results indicate that the expansion of the dendritic tree and the total number of AMPA receptors per neuron do not play a major role in determining the susceptibility of Purkinje cells to excitotoxic death. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Adiponectin gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to atherosclerosis: A meta-analysis

Previous studies have inspected the associations between Adiponectin (ADIPOQ) 276G/T polymorphisms and atherosclerosis, but the results are inconclusive. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between polymorphism +276 G > T (rs1501299) in ADIPOQ and atherosclerosis. A widespread search was directed to identify all studies on the association of ADIPOQ 276G/T polymorphism with atherosclerosis risk. The fixed effect pooled measures according to odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated in the meta-analysis. Heterogeneity among studies was evaluated using Q test and the I2. Publication bias was estimated using modified Egger's linear regression test and Fuunel plot. Nine studies regarding the associations between the ADIPOQ 276G/T polymorphism and atherosclerosis risk were enrolled in this meta-analysis, including 1959 cases and 3739 controls. The 276G/T polymorphism was not significantly associated with atherosclerosis, yielding pooled ORs of 0.925 (95% CI: 0.728-1.178) and 0.921 (95% CI: 0.804-1.054), for TT versus GG, and TG versus GG, respectively. Significant between-study heterogeneity was not found in our meta-analysis. Furthermore there was no evidence of publication bias in the meta-analysis. The present meta-analysis showed that there is no association between ADIPOQ 276G/T polymorphism and atherosclerosis. High quality studies are still needed to add for more investigation of the association between ADIPOQ 276G/T polymorphisms and atherosclerosis
Remediation of acid mine drainage based on a novel coupled membrane-free microbial fuel cell with permeable reactive barrier system.

In this study, a coupled membrane-free microbial fuel cell (MFC) with permeable reactive barrier (PRB) was reported and its treatment performance and electricity generation for acid mine drainage (AMD) were examined. The pilot-scale continuous flow MFC-PRB was operated for five periods at a hydraulic retention time of 48.0 h, and the average sulphate removal percentages of 51.2%, 39.8%, and 33.1% were obtained in effluent of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 mg/l, respectively. More than 99.5% of the initial concentrations of Cu2+, Zn2+, and Pb2+ were removed, resulting in concentrations of those elements of 0.01-0.05 mg/l in the effluent. The results demonstrated that the MFC-PRB holds a potential capacity for remediation of AMD.
A genotype-phenotype correlation in HNPCC: strong predominance of msh2 mutations in 41 patients with Muir-Torre syndrome

Muir-Torre syndrome (MTS; MIM 158320) is an autosomal dominant predisposition to skin tumours and various internal malignancies. Clinical criteria for a diagnosis of MTS are the synchronous or metachronous occurrence of at least one sebaceous gland neoplasia and at least one internal neoplasm in a patient (regardless of the family history). 1,2 The sebaceous gland neoplasias comprise adenomas, epitheliomas (sebaceomas), and carcinomas. In contrast, the frequent sebaceous gland hyperplasia is not indicative of MTS.2,3 According to Schwartz and Torre,2 the sebaceous neoplasias precede the internal neoplasias or are concurrent with them in 41% of MTS patients. As sebaceous gland neoplasias are rare, MTS should always be suspected when a sebaceous tumour has been diagnosed. Cystic sebaceous neoplasia is probably the most sensitive marker for this tumour predisposition syndrome.2,4–6 Colorectal cancer is by far the most common internal malignancy in MTS patients.7 The spectrum of internal malignancies in MTS is similar to the various tumour entities observed in hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC; MIM 114500). HNPCC is an autosomal dominant cancer predisposition syndrome characterised by early onset of colorectal cancer and other associated tumours.8,9 Several genes underlying HNPCC which are involved in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) have been identified within the last decade.10–13 Germline mutations in the DNA MMR genes were detected in a high proportion of MTS patients, demonstrating that MTS most often represents a phenotypic variant of HNPCC.14,15 Due to the underlying genetic mechanisms of tumourigenesis, tumours of these MTS patients exhibit high microsatellite instability (MSI-H), the characteristic feature of HNPCC tumours.16 Microsatellite analysis in tumour tissue of MTS patients therefore provides a useful tool to pre-select patients for mutation analysis in DNA MMR genes.3 Immunohistochemical testing for expression of the MSH2 and …
Cardiac Pseudosarcomatous Fibromyxoid Tumor: A Review of the Literature

A cardiac pseudosarcomatous fibromyxoid tumor (PFT) is described in a previously healthy 35-year-old man, together with a review of the literature. Pseudosarcomatous fibromyxoid tumor is within the spectrum of inflammatory (myofibroblastic) pseudotumors. It has previously been described predominantly within the genitourinary tract and respiratory tract. Inflammatory pseudotumor is rare as a cardiac tumor, and cardiac PFT is not previously reported. No recurrence or metastatic disease has been reported after resection of PFTs elsewhere in the body, and this tumor seems to have a benign clinical course.
Theoretical study and optimization of a CNG fueling sub-station compressor driven by linear motor

As an important equipment in compressed natural gas fueling sub-station (CNG sub-station), the CNG sub-station compressor compresses natural gas from CNG tube trailer to cascade reservoirs or CNG vehicle. In this paper, a two stage CNG sub-station compressor driven by linear motor was presented. Based on theoretical analysis of the proposed compressor, a mathematical model was developed to optimize the key parameters, which involved four sub modules: piston motion module, two stage compress module, linear motor module, and CNG tube trailer module. Based on the numerical simulation of a CNG sub-station compression process with the presented compressor, an adaptive mechanism of compression ratio and a utilization mechanism of kinetic energy were proposed. Moreover, an improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was introduced to minimize energy consumption and maximize the average capacity of the compressor. The diameters of piston and clump weights of the two stages were optimized by the proposed algorithm. Finally, the performance of conventional solution and optimal solution were compared by simulation.
THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL PROBLEM-SOLVING TRAINING IN SCHOOL ON FOURTH-GRADERS ' HOME BEHAVIOR

School-based interpersonal problem-solving (IPS) training has been widely advanced as a potentially valuable strategy for the primary prevention of adjustment problems among elementary school children. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the effects of IPS training in two schools on 118 fourth-grade children's ability to cope with stressful interpersonal situations, and on their overall behavioral adjustment, as exhibited at home. This study is one of the first IPS evaluations conducted independently of those who designed or implemented the intervention. This is the first study, furthermore, to examine the generalization of schooltrained skills to, and their effects on, behavior in settings outside of school. The Child Interpersonal Problem Solving Rating Scale is offered here as a general measure of uniquely IPS behavior. Subjects exposed to IPS training failed to show significantly more improved adjustment or problem-solving behavior at home than did control subjects. Correlations between IPS and adjustment at home and across school boundaries, however, reveal some important sex differences as well as other complexities. On the positive side, variables that have received little previous attention, such as passive means generation, feelings recognition, the types of consequential thinking (prosocial versus antisocial), variants of alternative solutions, and the face-valid IPS self report, were more strongly related to home behavior than alternative solution or active means generation. However, there appear to be several unexpectedly negative relationships as well. It is concluded that IPS theory will require considerably greater specificity and refinement before consistent programmatic achievements can be attained.
Children online safety

The article provides results of a research study on safety of children on the Internet, and on use of the information-telecommunication technology (ICT) from the aspect of safety. The study was conducted on the elementary school children using paper or web-based questionnaires. It involved 1,232 students from grades one through eight of elementary school (approximately 400 students per survey), ages 7–15. The study was conducted over a period of eight years on three occasions (2008, 2011, and 2015) in elementary school Kastanjer, in Pula, Croatia. Based on the questions and answers, the findings are separated into groups: a) use of ICT among students; b) parents/teachers cooperation and provision of support to children/students in regard to cyber bullying; and c) students' understanding of what constitutes cyber bullying and their response towards unwanted harassment. The results show poor informational literacy of students in terms of safety. Parents need to invest much more effort in recognition of predation and dangers of the ICT use in order to protect their children, and teachers should spend more time and more educational contents related to the elements of cyber bullying and their prevention in order to teach their students.
Serum vitamin A levels in children with protein energy malnutrition.

Protein energy malnutrition (PEM) is central to paediatric mortality in most developing and underdeveloped countries. Deficiency of essential macro molecules such as proteins and weight loss has also been demonstrated in cases of PEM. This study is therefore designed to investigate the effect of malnutrition on serum vitamin A, which is essential for the visual cycle. The serum vitamin A level, serum albumin and body mass index of a total of 197 children was estimated. The test subjects included 99 malnourished children (with protein energy malnutrition) aged between 1-5 years and 98 apparently healthy age-matched children control. The mean ± SD of vitamin A, body mass index (BMI) and albumin of malnourished children (26.7 ± 19.7iu/L, 14.4 ± 3.7kg/m2 and 2.4 ± 0.5 g/dl) were significantly decreased (P<0.05) when compared with the control (128.2 ± 56.9iu/L, 22.7 ± 2.0 kg/m2 and 4.1 ± 0.5g/dl) respectively. The mean levels of vitamin A, BMI and serum albumin of the marasmic children and those suffering from kwashiorkor were both equally significantly decreased (P<0.05) when compared to the controls. When comparison was done between malnourished children suffering from kwashiorkor and the marasmic children, significant decrease (P<0.05) was observed in serum albumin (P<0.05) of children suffering from kwashiorkor but not in serum vitamin A level and BMI. The study shows that vitamin A level is significantly lowered in malnourished children irrespective of the class of protein energy malnutrition and its supplementation is highly recommended for this category of children.
The DNADamage ResponseçRepair or Despair ?

The term ‘‘the DNA damage response’’ (DDR) encompasses a sophisticated array of cellular initiatives set in motion as cells are exposed to DNAdamaging events. It has been known for over half a century that all organisms have the ability to restore genomic integrity through DNA repair. More recent discoveries of signal transduction pathways linking DNA damage to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis have greatly expanded our views of how cells and tissues limit mutagenesis and tumorigenesis. DNA repair not only plays a pivotal role in suppressing mutagenesis but also in the reversal of signals inducing the stress response. If repair is faulty or the cell is overwhelmed by damage, chances are that the cell will despair and be removed by apoptosis. This final fate is determined by intricate cellular dosimeters that are yet to be fully understood. Here, key findings leading to our current view of DDR are discussed as well as potential areas of importance for future studies. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 51:879–889, 2010. VC 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Energy Efficient Distributed Filtering for a Class of Nonlinear Systems in Sensor Networks

In this paper, the distributed filtering problem is investigated for a class of nonlinear systems in the wireless sensor networks. The main goal is to design a set of distributed filters and simultaneously to prolong the lifetime of networks. In order to save limited power in sensors, signal quantization is employed to reduce packet size, where the robust control approach is used to handle the quantization error. Then, the communication rate change is allowed and treated under a switched system model. Sufficient conditions are derived such that the filtering error system is exponentially stable in the mean-square sense and achieves a prescribed H∞ performance level. The filter parameters are determined by solving an optimization problem. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed results is demonstrated by two numerical examples.
dUTP pyrophosphatase expression correlates with a poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignancy with a poor prognosis, partly owing to the lack of biomarkers that support its classification in line with its malignant nature. To discover a novel molecular marker that is related to the efficacy of treatment for HCC and its biological nature, we performed serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) in HCC, normal liver and cirrhotic liver tissues.