Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of axenic Pseudomonas fragi and Escherichia coli biofilms that inhibit corrosion of SAE 1018 steel

Corrosion inhibition of SAE 1018 steel by Pseudomonas fragi and Escherichia coli biofilms has been evaluated using batch cultures in rich medium (LB) and seawater‐mimicking medium (VNSS) at 23 °C and 30 °C with or without daily medium replenishment. Biofilm components have been stained simultaneously for polysaccharide (calcofluor) and live and dead cells (Live/Dead Baclit viability kit) and visualized using confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM). Image analysis was used to quantify the relative proportions of live cells, dead cells, polysaccharide and void space in the biofilm. This staining technique and examination of the architecture of biofilms responsible for inhibiting metal corrosion revealed that both Ps. fragi and E. coli produce polysaccharide only in the seawater medium; in rich medium, the biofilm consisted mainly of a layer of sessile cells near the biofilm–metal interface and sparse thick clumps of cells at the biofilm–liquid interface. Biofilms of both strains had a higher proportion of live cells in the rich medium than in the seawater‐mimicking medium at the higher temperature, and more live cells were present at the higher temperature for LB medium. The corrosion inhibition observed (2·3–6·9‐fold in 8 d) was not significantly affected by medium type or replenishment. Increase in the cellular content of the biofilms, as a result of increasing temperature, led to a reduction in corrosion.
Harnessing the Expertise of 70, 000 Human Editors: Knowledge-Based Feature Generation for Text Categorization

Most existing methods for text categorization employ induction algorithms that use the words appearing in the training documents as features. While they perform well in many categorization tasks, these methods are inherently limited when faced with more complicated tasks where external knowledge is essential. Recently, there have been efforts to augment these basic features with external knowledge, including semi-supervised learning and transfer learning. In this work, we present a new framework for automatic acquisition of world knowledge and methods for incorporating it into the text categorization process. Our approach enhances machine learning algorithms with features generated from domain-specific and common-sense knowledge. This knowledge is represented by ontologies that contain hundreds of thousands of concepts, further enriched through controlled Web crawling. Prior to text categorization, a feature generator analyzes the documents and maps them onto appropriate ontology concepts that augment the bag of words used in simple supervised learning. Feature generation is accomplished through contextual analysis of document text, thus implicitly performing word sense disambiguation. Coupled with the ability to generalize concepts using the ontology, this approach addresses two significant problems in natural language processing---synonymy and polysemy. Categorizing documents with the aid of knowledge-based features leverages information that cannot be deduced from the training documents alone. We applied our methodology using the Open Directory Project, the largest existing Web directory built by over 70,000 human editors. Experimental results over a range of data sets confirm improved performance compared to the bag of words document representation.
The Non-Catalytic Domains of Drosophila Katanin Regulate Its Abundance and Microtubule-Disassembly Activity

Microtubule severing is a biochemical reaction that generates an internal break in a microtubule and regulation of microtubule severing is critical for cellular processes such as ciliogenesis, morphogenesis, and meiosis and mitosis. Katanin is a conserved heterodimeric ATPase that severs and disassembles microtubules, but the molecular determinants for regulation of microtubule severing by katanin remain poorly defined. Here we show that the non-catalytic domains of Drosophila katanin regulate its abundance and activity in living cells. Our data indicate that the microtubule-interacting and trafficking (MIT) domain and adjacent linker region of the Drosophila katanin catalytic subunit Kat60 cooperate to regulate microtubule severing in two distinct ways. First, the MIT domain and linker region of Kat60 decrease its abundance by enhancing its proteasome-dependent degradation. The Drosophila katanin regulatory subunit Kat80, which is required to stabilize Kat60 in cells, conversely reduces the proteasome-dependent degradation of Kat60. Second, the MIT domain and linker region of Kat60 augment its microtubule-disassembly activity by enhancing its association with microtubules. On the basis of our data, we propose that the non-catalytic domains of Drosophila katanin serve as the principal sites of integration of regulatory inputs, thereby controlling its ability to sever and disassemble microtubules.
Withdrawal of sulfonylureas from patients with type 2 diabetes receiving long-term sulfonylurea and insulin combination therapy results in deterioration of glycemic control: a randomized controlled trial

Background The benefit of sulfonylureas (SUs) to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus receiving long-term insulin treatment is unclear. This study evaluated glycemic control and beta-cell function after SU withdrawal in these patients. Methods In this 8-week randomized controlled study, patients with type 2 diabetes who had been treated with insulin for at least 3 years plus moderate to high doses of SUs were randomly assigned to withdrawal (n=16) or continuation (n=16) of SUs. Clinical characteristics, glycemic control, hypoglycemic events, and insulin secretion, including homeostasis model assessment of beta-cell function (HOMA-B) score, C-peptide concentration, and Matsuda index, were evaluated at baseline and after 2 and 8 weeks. Results Thirty patients (16 in the SU withdrawal group and 14 in the SU continuation group) completed the study. Median duration of diabetes was 17 (range 5–40) years. Baseline clinical characteristics, glycemic control, and HOMA-B were similar in the two groups, but the mean fasting C-peptide concentration was higher in the SU withdrawal group. After 8 weeks, the SU withdrawal group showed a significant increase in mean glycosylated hemoglobin levels from 7.8%±0.5% (62±5 mmol/mol) to 8.6%±1.2% (71±13 mmol/mol; P=0.002), whereas the SU continuation group showed a slight but not significant increase from 7.7%±0.5% (61±5 mmol/mol) to 7.9%±1.2% (63±13 mmol/mol; P=0.37). Insulin secretion, as measured by C-peptide and HOMA-B, decreased by 18% and 36%, respectively, in the SU withdrawal group. Hypoglycemic events were significantly more frequent in the SU continuation group whereas body weight did not change significantly in either group. Conclusion Withdrawal of SU from patients with type 2 diabetes receiving long-term combination treatment with SU and insulin resulted in deterioration of glycemic control and insulin secretion.
Malfinder: Accelerated malware classification system through filtering on manycore system

Control flow matching methods have been utilized to detect malware variants. However, as the number of malware variants has soared, it has become harder and harder to detect all malware variants while maintaining high accuracy. Even though many researchers have proposed control flow matching methods, there is still a trade-off between accuracy and performance. To solve this trade-off, we designed Malfinder, a method based on approximate matching, which is accurate but slow. To overcome its low performance, we resolve its performance bottleneck and non-parallelism on three fronts: I-Filter for identical string matching, table division to exclude unnecessary comparisons with some malware and dynamic resource allocation for efficient parallelism. Our performance evaluation shows that the total performance improvement is 280.9 times.
Digital visualisation of the process of heating and melting of metal in arc discharge with a non-consumable electrode

Abstract Images of an electric arc, burning in argon, were produced using a digital camera in different wavelength ranges of the visible spectrum. The charts of the thermal fields of the heating spot were constructed and the plasma temperature in the anode section of the arc was calculated. It is shown that the digital technology of producing images in the visible range of the wavelength can be used for analysis of the processes taking place directly in the anode region of the arc and for evaluating the dimensions of the arc column.
Automatic detection of buildings from laser scanner data for map updating

Automatic interpretation of laser scanner data for building detection and map updating was studied. Digital surface and terrain models (DSM and DTM) and an intensity image were created using a helicopter-borne TopEye system recording with 2–3 pulses per m. The DSM was segmented into homogeneous regions using a region-based segmentation method, and the segments were classified as `building , `tree or `ground surface . Height differences between the DSM and DTM, textural characteristics of the DSM and intensity image, and shapes of the segments were used in classification. Building segments were compared with an old building map and further classified as `new building , `enlarged building or `old building . Similarly, building segments derived from the old map were classified as `detected , `partly detected or `not detected . Comparison with an up-to-date building map shows that about 80% of all buildings in the study area were detected from the laser scanner data. For buildings larger than 200 m, the detection percentage was about 90%. Pixel by pixel comparison of the classification result with the reference map shows that 90% of pixels covered with buildings in the map were correctly classified. 85% of building pixels in the classification result were buildings in the reference map. The accuracy measures of the pixel-based comparison also include errors caused by small location differences between the data sources. According to visual evaluation, the most important changes between the laser scanner data and the old map, e.g. new buildings, were detected in change detection. The most problematic buildings for automatic detection were small buildings surrounded by trees.
Compact Tunable Reflection Phase Shifters Using Short Section of Coupled Lines

In the design of reflection-type phase shifters, the coupler that represents the shifter's backbone is usually assumed to be a quarter-wavelength 3-dB coupler. In this paper, a derived theoretical model shows that, for certain values for the odd- and even-mode impedances, a coupled structure with a length that is less than one tenth of a wavelength is sufficient to build a high-performance reflection phase shifter. The presented analysis indicates that reflection phase shifters can be designed with a more compact size and larger phase range compared with the conventional method of using a quarter-wavelength 3-dB coupler. However, the required odd-mode impedance in the proposed design is low (≈10 Ω) , whereas the required even-mode impedance is high (≈200 Ω). To realize those impedances when using parallel-coupled lines, slotted ground and shunt chip capacitor are used. The proposed design is supported by full-wave electromagnetic simulations and measurements. The simulated results show that 0. 085λ coupled structure achieves 255° phase range across 36% fractional bandwidth with less than 1-dB insertion loss and more than 10-dB return loss. In another design, a full-cycle phase range is obtained with less than 1.5-dB insertion loss across the same band by using two 0. 076λ coupled sections. A manufactured prototype for a full-cycle phase range validates the simulation results and, thus, the proposed method.
Service orchestration with OPC UA in a graphical control language

Production plants need to be set up and reconfigured faster to fulfill increasing market demands. Highly flexible automation systems are needed and a promising approach is Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) which has recently received much attention in both academia and industry. OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA), the next generation of the de facto standard for interoperability in the automation domain, has SOA capabilities. In this paper it is presented how SOA service orchestration of OPC UA services can be done conveniently with a graphical control language. Generic support to use OPC UA servers has been integrated into the language and as an example it has been used to control a physical process which has been modeled, encapsulated, and exposed as an OPC UA server by wrapping it with an ethernet capable microcontroller.
High-resolution genetic analysis of the requirements for horizontal transmission of the ESBL plasmid from Escherichia coli O104:H4

Horizontal dissemination of the genes encoding extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) via conjugative plasmids is facilitating the increasingly widespread resistance of pathogens to beta-lactam antibiotics. However, there is relatively little known about the regulatory factors and mechanisms that govern the spread of these plasmids. Here, we carried out a high-throughput, transposon insertion site sequencing analysis (TnSeq) to identify genes that enable the maintenance and transmission of pESBL, an R64 (IncI1)-related resistance plasmid that was isolated from Escherichia coli O104:H4 linked to a recent large outbreak of gastroenteritis. With a few exceptions, the majority of the genes identified as required for maintenance and transmission of pESBL matched those of their previously defined R64 counterparts. However, our analyses of the high-density transposon insertion library in pESBL also revealed two very short and linked regions that constitute a previously unrecognized regulatory system controlling spread of IncI1 plasmids. In addition, we investigated the function of the pESBL-encoded M.EcoGIX methyltransferase, which is also encoded by many other IncI1 and IncF plasmids. This enzyme proved to protect pESBL from restriction in new hosts, suggesting it aids in expanding the plasmid's host range. Collectively, our work illustrates the power of the TnSeq approach to enable rapid and comprehensive analyses of plasmid genes and sequences that facilitate the dissemination of determinants of antibiotic resistance.
Decentralized Feedback Stabilization and Collision Avoidance of Multiple Agents

The navigation function methodology, established in previous work for centralized multiple robot navigation, is extended for decentralized navigation. In contrast to the centralized case, each agent plans its actions without knowing the destinations of the other agents. Asymptotic stability is guaranteed by the existence of a global Lyapunov function for the whole system, which is actually the sum of the separate navigation functions. The collision avoidance and global convergence properties are verified through simulations.
Viability and survival of hNT neurons determine degree of functional recovery in grafted ischemic rats

We recently reported behavioral improvements following intrastriatal transplantation of cryopreserved cultured human neuroteratocarcinoma-derived cells (hNT neurons) in rats with cerebral ischemia induced by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. In the present study, the viability and survival of hNT neurons were evaluated immediately prior to the transplantation surgery and at 3 months post-transplantation in ischemic rats. Cryopreserved hNT neurons were routinely thawed, and trypan blue exclusion viability counts revealed 52–95% viable hNT neurons before transplantation. Monthly behavioral tests, starting at 1 month and extending to 3 months post-transplantation, revealed that ischemic animals that were intrastriatally transplanted with hNT neurons (4000) and treated with an immunosuppressive drug displayed normalization of asymmetrical motor behavior compared with ischemic animals that received medium alone. Within subject comparisons of cell viability and subsequent behavioral changes revealed that a high cell viability just prior to transplantation surgery correlated highly with a robust and sustained functional improvement in the transplant recipient. Furthermore, histological analysis of grafted brains revealed a positive correlation between number of surviving hNT neurons and degree of functional recovery. In concert with similar reports on fetal tissue transplantation, we conclude that high cell viability is an important criterion for successful transplantation of cryopreserved neurons derived from cell lines to enhance graft-induced functional effects.
Constrained deformable superquadrics and nonrigid motion tracking

A physically based approach to the recovery of nonrigid 3-D motion and the tracking of nonrigid objects is presented. The approach makes use of deformable superquadrics, dynamics models that offer global deformation parameters which capture large-scale features and local deformation parameters which capture the details of complex shapes. The equations of motion governing the behavior of the models make them responsive to externally applied forces. The authors extend their prior formulation of these equations to include globally parameterized tapering and bending deformations. They further generalize the formulation to handle physically based point-to-point constraints between models. Such constraints enable one to automatically assemble object models from interconnected deformable superquadric parts. These composite models may be used to track the motions of articulated, flexible objects. <<ETX>>
Multiplexing for Optimal Lighting

Imaging of objects under variable lighting directions is an important and frequent practice in computer vision, machine vision, and image-based rendering. Methods for such imaging have traditionally used only a single light source per acquired image. They may result in images that are too dark and noisy, e.g., due to the need to avoid saturation of highlights. We introduce an approach that can significantly improve the quality of such images, in which multiple light sources illuminate the object simultaneously from different directions. These illumination-multiplexed frames are then computationally demultiplexed. The approach is useful for imaging dim objects, as well as objects having a specular reflection component. We give the optimal scheme by which lighting should be multiplexed to obtain the highest quality output, for signal-independent noise. The scheme is based on Hadamard codes. The consequences of imperfections such as stray light, saturation, and noisy illumination sources are then studied. In addition, the paper analyzes the implications of shot noise, which is signal-dependent, to Hadamard multiplexing. The approach facilitates practical lighting setups having high directional resolution. This is shown by a setup we devise, which is flexible, scalable, and programmable. We used it to demonstrate the benefit of multiplexing in experiments.
Real-time elastography as a noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C Egyptian patients: a prospective study

Background Hepatitis C virus is a worldwide problem. Noninvasive methods for liver fibrosis assessment as ultrasound-based approaches have emerged to replace liver biopsy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of real-time elastography (RTE) in the assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), compared with transient elastography and liver biopsy. Methods RTE, FibroScan and liver biopsy were performed in 50 CHC patients. In addition, aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI) and routine laboratory values were included in the analysis. Results RTE was able to diagnose significant hepatic fibrosis (F ≥2) according to METAVIR scoring system at cut-off value of 2.49 with sensitivity 100%, specificity 66%, and area under the receiver-operating characteristics (AUROC) 0.8. FibroScan was able to predict significant fibrosis at cut-off value 7.5 KPa with sensitivity 88%, specificity 100%, and AUROC 0.94. APRI was able to predict significant hepatic fibrosis (F ≥2) with sensitivity 54%, specificity 80%, and AUROC 0.69. There was a significant positive correlation between the FibroScan score and RTE score (r=0.6, P=0.001). Conclusions Although FibroScan is superior in determining significant hepatic fibrosis, our data suggest that RTE may be a useful and promising noninvasive method for liver fibrosis assessment in CHC patients especially in cases with technical limitations for FibroScan.
Application of LSTM-CNN model to forecast the rise and fall of CSI 300

Stock price prediction has always been a focal issue in the field of quantitative finance. By analyzing historical data related to stock prices, researchers attempt to infer the patterns of stock price changes in order to achieve excess returns. However, due to the influence of multiple factors, traditional linear forecasting models often struggle to provide effective predictions. In recent years, non-linear predictive models using machine learning and deep learning methods have been widely used in quantitative investment. Compared to linear models, these models possess stronger predictive performance, learning ability, and adaptability. This paper conducts an empirical analysis from the perspectives of individual models (CNN model, LSTM model) and the combined CNN+LSTM model. It aims to predict the change of the stocks in the CSI 300 Index and compares the accuracy of their predictions. The results demonstrate that the combined CNN+LSTM model outperforms the individual models in predicting the directional movements of stocks in the CSI 300 Index.
Adaptive distributed mechanism against flooding network attacks based on machine learning

Adaptive techniques based on machine learning and data mining are gaining relevance in self-management and self-defense for networks and distributed systems. In this paper, we focus on early detection and stopping of distributed flooding attacks and network abuses. We extend the framework proposed by Zhang and Parashar (2006) to cooperatively detect and react to abnormal behaviors before the target machine collapses and network performance degrades. In this framework, nodes in an intermediate network share information about their local traffic observations, improving their global traffic perspective. In our proposal, we add to each node the ability of learning independently, therefore reacting differently according to its situation in the network and local traffic conditions. In particular, this frees the administrator from having to guess and manually set the parameters distinguishing attacks from non-attacks: now such thresholds are learned and set from experience or past data. We expect that our framework provides a faster detection and more accuracy in front of distributed flooding attacks than if static filters or single-machine adaptive mechanisms are used. We show simulations where indeed we observe a high rate of stopped attacks with minimum disturbance to the legitimate users.
An Extension of the Vector Space Model for Querying XML Documents via XML Fragments 1

To date, most of the work on XML query and search has stemmed from the document management and database communities and from the information needs of business applications, as evidenced by existing XML query languages such as W3C's XQuery, which is strongly inspired by SQL. We propose here to extend the realm of XML by supporting the information needs of users wishing to query XML collections in a flexible way without knowing much about the documents structure. Rather than inventing a new query language, we suggest to query XML documents via pieces of XML documents or “XML fragments” of the same nature as the documents that are queried. We then present an extension of the vector space model for searching XML collections and ranking search results by relevance