Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ERAOF: A new RPL protocol objective function for Internet of Things applications

Since its definition, RPL (the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks) has been emerging as the standard protocol for routing in Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. RPL is a proactive routing protocol that performs the process of route creation based on Objective Functions (OFs). The OFs are responsible for defining rules and constraints to select the best paths considering different routing metrics. In its definition, RPL does not impose the use of a default OF and indicates that an OF should be selected according to the application. Thus, this paper proposes an Energy Efficient and Path Reliability Aware Objective Function (ERAOF) for IoT applications that requires energy efficiency and reliability in data transmission. The ERAOF is based on the composition of energy and link quality routing metrics. Results show that ERAOF is able to improve the network performance when compared to other OFs available in the literature.
Clinical spectrum and management of ovarian tumours in young girls up to 20 years of age.

BACKGROUND Ovarian tumours are one of the common malignancies all over the world affecting all age groups. This study analyses different clinical presentation and management of ovarian tumours in young girls up to 20 years. METHODS Patients up to 20 years of age admitted with the diagnosis of ovarian tumour were included. Data collected on a proforma. Variables studied included age, presenting symptoms, investigations, surgical findings, type of surgery, histopathology reports and follow-up. The patients with malignant ovarian tumour were followed by oncologist as well as gynaecologist. Data analysis was done on SPSS. RESULTS The mean age was 17.27 +/- 2.46 SD years. The common symptoms included abdominal mass, abdominal pain, urinary problems, menstrual irregularities and generalized malaise. All patients were operated after preliminary investigations. Patients were advised to have follow-up post-operatively after 1 month. The follow up was done by oncologist and gynaecologist. Six patients (12.5%) died and 22 (45.83%) were lost to follow up. CONCLUSION Ovarian tumours are quite common in young girls. Majority of patients seek medical advice once the disease becomes symptomatic, complicated or advanced disease in the case of malignancy. Histopathology of the tumours revealed that epithelial cell tumour is the commonest tumour in contrast to germ cell tumour as reported by world literature.
Is citizen journalism better than professional journalism for fact-checking rumours in China? How Weibo users verified information following the 2015 Tianjin blasts

This article investigates how citizens contribute to rumour verification on social media in China, drawing on a case study of Weibo communication about the 2015 Tianjin blasts. Three aspects of citizen engagement in verifying rumours via Weibo are examined: (1) how they directly debunked rumours related to the blasts, (2) how they verified official rumour messages and (3) how they used Weibo’s community verification function to collectively identify and fact-check rumours. The article argues that in carrying out such activities, ordinary Weibo users were engaging in practices of citizen journalism. Findings from our analysis suggest that even though citizen journalists’ direct engagement in publishing debunking messages was not as visible as that of the police and mainstream media, self-organised grassroots rumour-debunking practices demonstrate great potential. In terms of both the reposts and the positive comments they received, rumour-debunking posts from non-official actors appear to have been given more credibility than those from their official counterparts. In contrast, the official narratives about the Tianjin blasts were challenged, and the credibility of the official rumour-debunking messages was commonly questioned. Nevertheless, this article also shows that Weibo’s community verification system had limited effects in facilitating how Weibo users could collaboratively fact-check potentially false information.
Continuum of cardiovascular performance across a broad range of fitness levels in healthy older men.

BACKGROUND Although it has become clear that habitual exercise in older individuals can partially offset age-associated cardiovascular declines, it is not known whether the beneficial effects of exercise training in older individuals depend on their prior fitness level. METHODS AND RESULTS Ten sedentary men (S), age 60.0 +/- 1.6 years (mean +/- SEM), who were carefully screened to exclude cardiac disease underwent exercise training for 24 to 32 weeks, and eight age-matched endurance-trained men (ET) stopped their exercise training for 12 weeks. All underwent treadmill exercise and rest and maximal cycle exercise upright gated blood pool scans at baseline and after the lifestyle intervention. Before the intervention, the treadmill maximum rate of oxygen consumption (Vo2max) was 49.9 +/- 1.9 and 32.1 +/- 1.4 mL.kg-1.min-1 in ET and S, respectively. During upright cycle exercise at exhaustion, although heart rate did not differ between groups, cardiac index, stroke volume index, ejection fraction, and left ventricular contractility index (systolic blood pressure/end-systolic volume index) all were significantly higher, and end-systolic volume index, diastolic blood pressure, and total systemic vascular resistance all were significantly lower in ET versus S. After the partial deconditioning of ET men, Vo2max fell to 42 +/- 2.2 mL.kg-1.min-1, and training of S increased Vo2max to 36.2 +/- 1.6 mL.kg-1.min-1. Training of S had effects on cardiovascular function that were similar in magnitude but directionally opposite those of detraining ET. All initial differences in cardiovascular performance at peak work rate between S and ET were abolished with the intervention. Across the broad range of fitness levels encountered before and after change in training status (Vo2max of 26 to 58 mL.kg-1.min-1), cardiac index, stroke volume index, end-systolic volume index, ejection fraction, and the left ventricular contractility index were all linearly correlated with Vo2max. CONCLUSIONS Exercise training or detraining of older men results in changes in left ventricular performance that are qualitatively and quantitatively similar, regardless of the initial level of fitness before the intervention.
PASSAT 2.0: A multi-functional SAT-based testing framework

An important step in the manufacturing process is the postproduction test. Here, a test set is applied to each manufactured chip in order to detect defective devices. The test set is typically generated by ATPG (Automatic Test Pattern Generation) algorithms. Classical ATPG algorithms work on a gate-level netlist and use structural knowledge and heuristics to guide the search in order to obtain a test set. Additionally, the use of ATPG is coupled or accompanied by other test techniques to increase the quality and the compaction of the test set. For example, timing-aware ATPG integrates timing information into the search process to guide the heuristic towards determining the longest paths and n-detection test generation is used to increase the detection quality for unmodeled defects. Fault simulation is applied as a post-processing technique to remove detected faults from the fault list and, by this, to decrease the pattern count as well as the overall ATPG run time. Static and dynamic test compaction techniques are further used for test set compaction. All these techniques are well developed. However, solving them separately limits the quality of the results.
Exploring how mindfulness may enhance perceived value of travel experience

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore the effect of tourists’ mindfulness on the perceived value of travel experience (PVTE) through destination images (cognitive, affective, and conative) and tourist experiences. Data (n = 370) were gathered using a self-administered structured questionnaire distributed to travellers departing from Lisbon International airport towards Spain in July 2017. The results show the important role of mindfulness in shaping all dimensions of destination image. Tourist experience acts as a mediator between destination images and PVTE. However, perceived authenticity does not have a moderating, but rather a controlling effect on the relationship between tourist experience and PVTE. From a theoretical point of view, the study makes important contribution in conceptualising the influence of a tourist’s mindfulness on PVTE through destination image components and tourist experience. From a practical perspective, it offers practitioners and DMOs valuable insights into the effective design and implementation of suitable destination marketing activities.
A Prospective Randomized Study Comparing Two Techniques of Perioperative Blood Conservation: Isovolemic Hemodilution and Hypervolemic Hemodilution

We compared hypervolemic hemodilution (HVH) and isovolemic hemodilution (IVH) as means of perioperative blood conservation under standardized conditions. Thirty ASA status I/II adults slated for orthopedic, ear-nose-throat, or general surgery with expected blood loss of >500 mL underwent either IVH (n = 15) or HVH (n = 15). They were hemodiluted to a hematocrit (Hct) of 25% by blood withdrawal and simultaneous polygeline (Hemaccel®) infusion (IVH) or by infusing polygeline without blood withdrawal, thus creating hypervolemia (HVH). Further blood loss to a Hct of 20% was allowed before autologous/allogeneic blood transfusion to aim for a 24-h postoperative Hct of ≥25%. Systolic blood pressure (P = 0.0107) and central venous pressure (P = 0.0281) were significantly higher during HVH. The mean difference (MD) between the target postdilution Hct of 25% and the Hct achieved was not statistically significant in either group (MD [95% confidence interval; CI], 0% [−0.7% to 0.7%] for IVH and 0.6% [−0.1% to 1.3%] for HVH). The actual amount of allogeneic blood used was similar in the two groups, with an MD (95% CI) of −7 (−326 to 312), and was significantly less than the corresponding projected amount (MD [95% CI], −581 mL [−753 to −409 mL] in IVH; −376 mL [−531 to −221] in HVH). The two techniques were similar in time taken (MD [95% CI] = 7 min [−0.5 to 14.5 min]), cost incurred (MD [95% CI] = $1.7 (−$4.10 to $7.50]), and volumes of polygeline used (MD [95% CI] = −6 mL/kg body weight [−16 to 4 mL/kg body weight]). This study found IVH and HVH comparable in significantly reducing perioperative allogeneic blood requirements, time needed, and cost incurred. The formula used for achieving the desired HVH appears promising.
Localization of the Tri-and Digalactosyl Diglyceride in the Thylakoid Membrane with Serological Methods

Abstract Trigalactosyl diglyceride was isolated from leaves of Urtica dioica and characterized by thin layer chromatography, infrared spectroscopy and by its fatty acid composition. An antiserum to the trigalactolipid was obtained by immunization of rabbits. By means of inhibition experiments with oligosaccharides and mono-and digalactosyl glycerol it was demonstrated that the antibodies are directed towards the α-galactosyl-(1 → 6) -α-galactosyl-(1 → 6) -β-galactosyl-(1 → 1) -glycerol configuration of the trigalactosyl diglyceride. Monogalactosyl diglyceride and sulfoquinovosyl diglyce ride do not react with this antiserum. However, a cross reaction was observed with digalactosyl diglyceride. The presence of antibodies to tri-and digalactosyl diglyceride was demonstrated in antisera to different chloroplast preparations of Antirrhinum majus and Spinacia oleracea. The antiserum to the trigalactolipid agglutinates stroma-freed chloroplasts. Membrane fragments obtained by the ultra sonication were precipitated. The antiserum is exhausted by trigalactosyl diglyceride but not by digalactosyl diglyceride or digalactosyl glycerol. The antiserum treated with digalactosyl glycerol and digalactosyl diglyceride also agglutinated stroma-freed chloroplasts. 1 g stroma-freed chloroplasts binds 0.17 g antibodies to trigalactolipid. Membrane fragments bind more antibodies to trigalactolipids than stroma-freed chloroplasts. From the agglutination tests it follows that the antigenic determinants of the trigalactolipid and the digalactolipid are localized in the outer surface as well as in the surface directed towards the inside of the thylakoid membrane.
Increased allelic loss in toluidine blue-positive oral premalignant lesions.

OBJECTIVE Recent studies have shown that a loss of chromosome regions (loss of heterozygosity [LOH]) containing known or presumptive tumor suppressor genes is predictive of the cancer risk of oral premalignant lesions. This preliminary study investigated whether the dye toluidine blue (TB) preferentially stains oral premalignant lesions with LOH. This stain has been used by clinicians to delineate dysplasia/carcinoma in the oral cavity. STUDY DESIGN The study included 32 patients with oral lesions who underwent biopsy after the assessment of TB dye retention. A total of 39 biopsy specimens were examined (14 hyperplastic, 25 dysplastic). Fourteen of the biopsy specimens were TB-negative. The specimens were analyzed for LOH at 10 microsatellite loci on 3 chromosome arms (3p, 9p, and 17p), and the LOH results of TB-positive samples were compared with those that were negative for the tissue staining. RESULTS TB-positive samples had a higher frequency of loss than TB-negative cases for loci on 3p (P = .013) and 17p (P = .049). In addition, more TB-positive cases showed a loss of multiple arms (>2 arms, P = .015), a pattern that has been associated with markedly increased cancer risk. CONCLUSION The study results suggest that TB staining may help identify oral premalignant lesions with increased LOH and increased cancer risk.
Influence of hydrophobic residues on the activity of the antimicrobial peptide magainin 2 and its synergy with PGLa

Magainin 2 (MAG2) and PGLa are two related antimicrobial peptides found in the skin of the African frog Xenopus laevis with a pronounced synergistic activity, which act by permeabilizing bacterial membranes. To probe the influence of hydrophobic peptide–lipid and peptide–peptide interactions on the antimicrobial activity and on synergy, the sequence of MAG2 was modified by replacing single amino acids either with a small alanine or with the stiff and bulky hydrophobic 3‐(trifluoromethyl)‐L‐bicyclopent‐[1.1. 1]‐1‐ylglycine side chain. The minimum inhibitory concentration of 14 MAG2 analogs was strongly influenced by these single substitutions: the antimicrobial activity was consistently improved when the hydrophobicity was increased on the hydrophobic face of the amphiphilic helix, while the activity decreased when the hydrophobicity was reduced. The synergy with PGLa, on the other hand, was rather insensitive to mutations of hydrophobic residues. It thus seems that the antimicrobial effect of MAG2 on its own depends strongly on the hydrophobicity of the peptide, while the synergy with PGLa does not depend on the overall hydrophobicity of MAG2. Copyright © 2015 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Genotype-Based Approach to Assessing the Association between Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms

Measuring the extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is of considerable importance, and many different between SNP association measures including Lewontin’s D′ and Pearson’s correlation coefficient ρ have been proposed. The vast majority of these association measures are based on haplotypes instead of genotypes. If no family data are available, the required additional haplotype estimation step is based on the assumption of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). In this paper we propose to estimate the extent of LD by using a genotype- rather than haplotype-based measure. Furthermore, we require of an appropriate measure of LD that it should remain invariant under the transition from haplotypes to diploid genotypes if HWE holds. We show that Pearson’s ρfulfills this invariance property in contrast to a variety of different LD measures including D′. We derive the asymptotic distribution of the empirical product-moment correlation R for counting variables and construct asymptotically valid confidence intervals using Fisher’s z-transformation. We demonstrate the validity of our approach by a numerical study of the coverage properties. We show that the loss in precision encountered by using genotype rather than haplotype data for estimating the association between SNPs is negligible for practical purposes. We finally illustrate our approach with data from an association study of IL-4 associated phenotypes and polymorphisms from the human IL-4 receptor alpha chain gene (IL4R).
Reliability of Memories Protected by Multibit Error Correction Codes Against MBUs

As technology scales, more and more memory cells can be placed in a die. Therefore, the probability that a single event induces multiple bit upsets (MBUs) in adjacent memory cells gets greater. Generally, multibit error correction codes (MECCs) are effective approaches to mitigate MBUs in memories. In order to evaluate the robustness of protected memories, reliability models have been widely studied nowadays. Instead of irradiation experiments, the models can be used to quickly evaluate the reliability of memories in the early design. To build an accurate model, some situations should be considered. Firstly, when MBUs are presented in memories, the errors induced by several events may overlap each other, which is more frequent than single event upset (SEU) case. Furthermore, radiation experiments show that the probability of MBUs strongly depends on angles of the radiation event. However, reliability models which consider the overlap of multiple bit errors and angles of radiation event have not been proposed in the present literature. In this paper, a more accurate model of memories with MECCs is presented. Both the overlap of multiple bit errors and angles of event are considered in the model, which produces a more precise analysis in the calculation of mean time to failure (MTTF) for memory systems under MBUs. In addition, memories with scrubbing and nonscrubbing are analyzed in the proposed model. Finally, we evaluate the reliability of memories under MBUs in Matlab. The simulation results verify the validity of the proposed model.
Selective Targeting of MAPKs to the ETS Domain Transcription Factor SAP-1*

MAPK pathways play important roles in regulating the key cellular processes of proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. There are multiple MAPK pathways, which are subject to different regulatory cues. It is important that these pathways maintain specificity in signaling to elicit the activation of a specific program of gene expression. MAPK-docking domains in several transcription factors have been shown to play important roles in determining the specificity and efficiency of their phosphorylation by MAPKs. Here we investigate the mechanisms by which MAPKs are targeted to the ETS domain transcription factor SAP-1. We demonstrate that SAP-1 contains two different domains that are required for its efficient phosphorylation in vitro and activation in vivoby ERK2 and a subset of p38 MAPKs. The D-domain is closely related to other MAPK-docking domains, but exhibits a novel specificity and serves to promote selective targeting of ERK2, p38α, and p38β2to SAP-1. A second important region, the FXF motif, also plays an important role in directing MAPKs to phosphorylate SAP-1. The FXF motif promotes targeting by ERK2 and, to a lesser extent, p38α, but not p38β2. Our data therefore demonstrate that a modular system of motifs is responsible for directing specific MAPK subtypes to SAP-1, but also point to important distinctions in the mechanism of action of the D-domain and FXF motif.
Protective Efficacy of Multiepitope Human Leukocyte Antigen–A*0201 Restricted Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Peptide Construct Against Challenge With Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 Tax Recombinant Vaccinia Virus

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia. Multiepitope T-cell vaccines are more likely to generate a broad long-lasting immune response than those composed of single epitopes. We recently reported a novel multivalent cytotoxic T-lymphocyte peptide construct derived from the Tax protein of HTLV-1 separated by arginine spacers that elicited high cellular responses against individual epitopes simultaneously in human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*0201 transgenic mice. We now report the effect of epitope orientation on the processing of the multiepitope construct by 20s proteasomes and the effect of the processing rates on the immunogenicity of the intended epitopes. A positive correlation was found between processing rates and the immunogenicity of the intended epitopes. The construct with the highest immunogenicity for each epitope was tested for protective efficacy in a preclinical model of infection using HTLV-1 Tax recombinant vaccinia virus and HLA-A*0201 transgenic mice. Mice vaccinated with the multiepitope construct displayed a statistically significant reduction in viral replication that was dependent on CD8+ T cells. Reduction in viral replication was also confirmed to be specific to Tax-vaccinia virus. These results demonstrate the activation of Tax-specific CD8+ T cells by vaccination and are supportive of a multivalent peptide vaccine approach against HTLV-1 infections.
Enzootic Transmission of Anaplasma bovis in Nantucket Cottontail Rabbits

ABSTRACT Serological studies of cottontail rabbits sampled from Nantucket Island, Mass. , have suggested exposure to at least two ehrlichiae. The agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (Anaplasma phagocytophilum) is intensely enzootic in rabbits there, but the identity of the other ehrlichial infection remains undescribed. We sampled rabbits over five transmission seasons and tested their blood and tissues for evidence of infection using PCR targeting an Ehrlichia genus-wide 16S rDNA target. Sequence analysis of positive amplicons revealed the presence of Anaplasma bovis, an agent not known to be present in North America. The average annual prevalence of A. bovis within rabbits, as determined by PCR of blood samples, was 18%. Haemaphysalis leporispalustris appears to serve as vector. The public health (human or veterinary) significance of this finding remains speculative.
Spatial sparsity-based blind source separation method including non-negative matrix factorization for multispectral image unmixing

In this paper, we propose an unsupervised spatial method in order to unmix each pixel of a remote sensing multispectral image. This method is related to the blind source separation (BSS) problem, and is based on sparse component analysis (SCA) and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF). Our approach consists in identifying the mixing matrix in the first stages, by using a spatial correlation-based SCA method, combined with clustering. An NMF method is used to extract spatial sources in the last stage. The overall proposed method is applicable to the globally underdetermined BSS model in multispectral remote sensing images. An experiment based on realistic synthetic mixtures is performed to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed approach. We also show that our method significantly outperforms the sequential maximum angle convex cone (SMACC) method.
Automated protein sequence pattern handling and PROSITE searching

The protein sequence searching program Scrutineer has been modified to search for targets from a file. We are distributing a reformatted file of PROSITES which can be read by Scrutineer. In addition, Scrutineer still accepts targets typed in interactively but can now write them out in the format required as input. Since the input format is the same as the output format, target management and re-use is simple.