Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VisABAC: A Tool for Visualising ABAC Policies

Authoring and editing access control policy can be a complex and cognitive demanding task, especially when dealing with a large number of rules and attributes. Visualisation techniques are known to be helpful to users analysing intricate data, and can, in some contexts, help decreasing the cognitive load. In this paper, we propose a new tool, VisABAC, which enables the visualisation of attribute based access control policies using the Circle Packing method. We used a participatory design, following a survey of existing visualisation methods in access control. VisABAC is designed as a web-page component, developed in Javascript using the D3.js library, and as such is easily usable without requiring any particular setup. In addition to presenting VisABAC, we demonstrate its usability by conducting a controlled experiment with 32 participants, asking them to change some attribute values in order to obtain a given decision for a policy, and measuring the time taken by participants to conduct these tasks (the faster, the better). We show a small to medium effect size (d = 0.44), thus indicating that VisABAC is a promising tool for authoring and editing access control policies.
Nitrate Intake and the Risk of Thyroid Cancer and Thyroid Disease

Background: Nitrate is a contaminant of drinking water in agricultural areas and is found at high levels in some vegetables. Nitrate competes with uptake of iodide by the thyroid, thus potentially affecting thyroid function. Methods: We investigated the association of nitrate intake from public water supplies and diet with the risk of thyroid cancer and self-reported hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism in a cohort of 21,977 older women in Iowa who were enrolled in 1986 and who had used the same water supply for >10 years. We estimated nitrate ingestion from drinking water using a public database of nitrate measurements (1955–1988). Dietary nitrate intake was estimated using a food frequency questionnaire and levels from the published literature. Cancer incidence was determined through 2004. Results: We found an increased risk of thyroid cancer with higher average nitrate levels in public water supplies and with longer consumption of water exceeding 5 mg/L nitrate-N (for ≥5 years at >5 mg/L, relative risk [RR] = 2.6 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.1–6.2]). We observed no association with prevalence of hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. Increasing intake of dietary nitrate was associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer (highest vs. lowest quartile, RR = 2.9 [1.0–8.1]; P for trend = 0.046) and with the prevalence of hypothyroidism (odds ratio = 1.2 [95% CI = 1.1–1.4]), but not hyperthyroidism. Conclusions: Nitrate may play a role in the etiology of thyroid cancer and warrants further study.
Research on Composite Material Pressure Hulls Based on Approximation

Considering the advantages of high strength-to-density and high stiffness-to-density of fiberreinforced composite material,a filament-wound composite pressure hull with metal linger reinforced with inner ring-frames is proposed in this paper.Approximation technology combined with finite element analysis is used to research this kind of structure.The relevance between the fiber percentage and structure performance factors is obtained.Besides,the effect on critical buckling pressure with different layer angles are studied as an design reference for this kind of pressure hulls.
The Reality of Myoelectric Prostheses: Understanding What Makes These Devices Difficult for Some Users to Control

Users of myoelectric prostheses can often find them difficult to control. This can lead to passive-use of the device or total rejection, which can have detrimental effects on the contralateral limb due to overuse. Current clinically available prostheses are “open loop” systems, and although considerable effort has been focused on developing biofeedback to “close the loop,” there is evidence from laboratory-based studies that other factors, notably improving predictability of response, may be as, if not more, important. Interestingly, despite a large volume of research aimed at improving myoelectric prostheses, it is not currently known which aspect of clinically available systems has the greatest impact on overall functionality and everyday usage. A protocol has, therefore, been designed to assess electromyographic (EMG) skill of the user and predictability of the prosthesis response as significant parts of the control chain, and to relate these to functionality and everyday usage. Here, we present the protocol and results from early pilot work. A set of experiments has been developed. First, to characterize user skill in generating the required level of EMG signal, as well as the speed with which users are able to make the decision to activate the appropriate muscles. Second, to measure unpredictability introduced at the skin–electrode interface, in order to understand the effects of the socket-mounted electrode fit under different loads on the variability of time taken for the prosthetic hand to respond. To evaluate prosthesis user functionality, four different outcome measures are assessed. Using a simple upper limb functional task prosthesis users are assessed for (1) success of task completion, (2) task duration, (3) quality of movement, and (4) gaze behavior. To evaluate everyday usage away from the clinic, the symmetricity of their real-world arm use is assessed using activity monitoring. These methods will later be used to assess a prosthesis user cohort to establish the relative contribution of each control factor to the individual measures of functionality and everyday usage (using multiple regression models). The results will support future researchers, designers, and clinicians in concentrating their efforts on the area that will have the greatest impact on improving prosthesis use.
Resource Allocation in Multi-Hop OFDMA Wireless Backhaul Networks With Cooperative Relaying

An optimal resource allocation strategy for OFDMA multi-hop wireless backhaul networks is considered. A cross-layer optimization problem is formulated that maximizes the balanced end-to-end throughput under the routing and the PHY/MAC constraints. A dual method is employed to solve the problem efficiently and optimally by decoupling it into different layers as well as into different OFDM tones. A cooperative relaying technique is incorporated into the framework to improve the performance. Mutual interference between the links is explicitly modeled to allow maximal spatial reuse of the spectral resources, and half-duplex operation of the radios is assumed. The numerical results exhibit how the bottleneck phenomenon typical in multi-hop backhaul networks can be alleviated by the proposed techniques to yield significant improvement in the throughput.
Fracture-induced formation of parallel silicone strips

This study reports the generation of periodic parallel silicone strips by simply peeling a silicone sheet, oxidized by UV/ozone, from its bonded substrate. This spontaneous formation of strips is initiated by a mixed mode of separation along the peeling direction and subsequent channeling of initiated cracks. The periodicity of the strips is tuned by the bending strain acting on the silicone sheet during peeling, and the regularity and the locus of failure are determined by the extent of oxidization.
ECrits — Visualizing Support Ticket Escalation Risk

Managing support tickets in large, multi-product organizations is difficult. Failure to meet the expectations of customers can lead to the escalation of support tickets, which is costly for IBM in terms of customer relationships and resources spent addressing the escalation. Keeping the customer happy is an important task in requirements engineering, which often comes in the form of handling their problems brought forth in support tickets. Proper attention to customers, their issues, and the bottom-up requirements that surface through bug reports can be difficult when the support process involves spending a lot of time managing customers to prevent escalations. For any given support analyst, understanding the customer is achievable through time spent looking through past and present support tickets within their organization; however, this solution does not scale up to account for all support tickets across all product teams. ECrits is a tool developed to help mitigate information overload by selectively mining customer information from support ticket repositories, displaying that data to support analysts, and doing predictive modelling on that data to suggest which support tickets are likely to escalate.
Towards fully instrumented and automated assessment of motor function tests

Quantitative assessment of mobility and motor function is critical to our understanding and treatment of musculoskeletal and neurological diseases. Instrumented tests augment traditional approaches by moving from a single, often subjective, performance metric to multiple objective measures. In this study, we investigated ways of automatically capturing motor performance by leveraging data from a network of six wearable sensors worn at five different locations by 17 healthy volunteers while performing a battery of motor function tests. We developed a framework to segment motor tasks, e.g. walking and standing up, from 3D acceleration and angular velocity data, and extracted features. Results were compared to clinical test scores and manual annotations of the data. For the best performing sensors, we achieved a rate of correct classification of 82 to 100% and mean temporal accuracy of 0.1 to 0.6 s. We provided guidelines on sensor placement to maximize accuracy of the motor assessment, and a better interpretation of the data using our unsupervised subject-specific approach.
Assessment and Response to Intimate Partner Violence in Home Visitation: A Qualitative Needs Assessment With Home Visitors in a Statewide Program

There is growing recognition that home visitation programs serving at-risk families may be an appropriate mechanism for detecting and reducing intimate partner violence (IPV). More research is needed about how home visitors assess and respond to IPV, especially in rural and underserved areas with unique social and geographic challenges. This study describes the qualitative, needs assessment phase of a larger mixed-methods evaluation of IPV assessment, referral processes, and safety planning with clients within a statewide home visitation program. Three focus groups were conducted with home visitors (n = 16) in West Virginia’s Home Visitation Program in May 2015. Home visitors represented four separate home visitation models and provided services across 12 of West Virginia’s 55 counties. Guiding questions focused on home visitors’ current protocol, experiences, barriers, and facilitators to (a) screening and assessment for IPV, (b) making referrals after disclosures of IPV, and (c) developing safety plans with IPV-exposed clients. Barriers identified by home visitors included the nature of assessment tools, issues with service availability and access in rural areas, and lack of education and training surrounding safety planning. Facilitators included building relationships and trust with clients, providing anticipatory guidance when making referrals, and tailoring safety plans to clients’ unique situations. Participants also expressed a critical need to develop procedures for assuring home visitor safety when supporting IPV-exposed clients. These qualitative data highlight issues surrounding the management of IPV in home visitation and have the potential to inform future enhancements to programs that are specifically tailored to the needs of rural, disadvantaged communities.
Molecular identification of the rumen flukes Paramphistomum leydeni and Paramphistomum cervi in a concurrent infection of the red deer Cervus elaphus

Abstract Paramphistomosis, caused by paramphistomid flukes, is a gastrointestinal parasitic disease of domestic and wild ruminants. Originally thought to be limited to the tropics and subtropics, the disease has recently been reported in temperate regions. Here we describe the concurrent infection of a red deer doe (Cervus elaphus) with Paramphistomum leydeni and Paramphistomum cervi. This is the first report of P. leydeni in Croatia. Flukes were identified on the basis of morphological keys (tegumental papillae) and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region 2 in ribosomal DNA. Our results confirm that the absence of tegumental papillae allows P. cervi to be differentiated morphologically from other paramphistomid species in Europe based on incident light stereomicroscopy. Nevertheless the limitations of morphological identification and taxonomic issues suggest that previous findings on paramphistomid infection should be interpreted carefully. The possible worldwide distribution of these pathogens means that paramphistomosis may be more common and its economic impact greater than previously thought.
An Essential Postdevelopmental Role for Lis1 in Mice

Visual Abstract LIS1 mutations cause lissencephaly (LIS), a severe developmental brain malformation. Much less is known about its role in the mature nervous system. LIS1 regulates the microtubule motor cytoplasmic dynein 1 (dynein), and as LIS1 and dynein are both expressed in the adult nervous system, Lis1 could potentially regulate dynein-dependent processes such as axonal transport. We therefore knocked out Lis1 in adult mice using tamoxifen-induced, Cre-ER-mediated recombination. When an actin promoter was used to drive Cre-ER expression (Act-Cre-ER), heterozygous Lis1 knockout (KO) caused no obvious change in viability or behavior, despite evidence of widespread recombination by a Cre reporter three weeks after tamoxifen exposure. In contrast, homozygous Lis1 KO caused the rapid onset of neurological symptoms in both male and female mice. One tamoxifen-dosing regimen caused prominent recombination in the midbrain/hindbrain, PNS, and cardiac/skeletal muscle within a week; these mice developed severe symptoms in that time frame and were killed. A different tamoxifen regimen resulted in delayed recombination in midbrain/hindbrain, but not in other tissues, and also delayed the onset of symptoms. This indicates that Lis1 loss in the midbrain/hindbrain causes the severe phenotype. In support of this, brainstem regions known to house cardiorespiratory centers showed signs of axonal dysfunction in KO animals. Transport defects, neurofilament (NF) alterations, and varicosities were observed in axons in cultured DRG neurons from KO animals. Because no symptoms were observed when a cardiac specific Cre-ER promoter was used, we propose a vital role for Lis1 in autonomic neurons and implicate defective axonal transport in the KO phenotype.
Small-Magnitude Effect Sizes in Epigenetic End Points are Important in Children’s Environmental Health Studies: The Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center’s Epigenetics Working Group

Background: Characterization of the epigenome is a primary interest for children’s environmental health researchers studying the environmental influences on human populations, particularly those studying the role of pregnancy and early-life exposures on later-in-life health outcomes. Objectives: Our objective was to consider the state of the science in environmental epigenetics research and to focus on DNA methylation and the collective observations of many studies being conducted within the Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers, as they relate to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis. Methods: We address the current laboratory and statistical tools available for epigenetic analyses, discuss methods for validation and interpretation of findings, particularly when magnitudes of effect are small, question the functional relevance of findings, and discuss the future for environmental epigenetics research. Discussion: A common finding in environmental epigenetic studies is the small-magnitude epigenetic effect sizes that result from such exposures. Although it is reasonable and necessary that we question the relevance of such small effects, we present examples in which small effects persist and have been replicated across populations and across time. We encourage a critical discourse on the interpretation of such small changes and further research on their functional relevance for children’s health. Conclusion: The dynamic nature of the epigenome will require an emphasis on future longitudinal studies in which the epigenome is profiled over time, over changing environmental exposures, and over generations to better understand the multiple ways in which the epigenome may respond to environmental stimuli. Citation: Breton CV, Marsit CJ, Faustman E, Nadeau K, Goodrich JM, Dolinoy DC, Herbstman J, Holland N, LaSalle JM, Schmidt R, Yousefi P, Perera F, Joubert BR, Wiemels J, Taylor M, Yang IV, Chen R, Hew KM, Freeland DM, Miller R, Murphy SK. 2017. Small-magnitude effect sizes in epigenetic end points are important in children’s environmental health studies: the Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center’s Epigenetics Working Group. Environ Health Perspect 125:–526; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/EHP595
Face Spoofing Detection for Smartphones using a 3D Reconstruction and the Motion Sensors

Face recognition system is proven to be vulnerable to face spoofing attack. Many approaches have been proposed in the literature to resolve this vulnerability. This paper proposes a novel method dedicated to mobile systems. The approach asks users to capture a video by moving the device around their face. Thanks to a 3D reconstruction process, the shape of the object is estimated from the video. By evaluating this 3D shape, we can rapidly eliminate attacks in which a photo of a legitimate face is used. Then, the camera’s poses estimated from the 3D reconstruction is used to be compared to the data captured from the device’s motion sensors. Experimental results on a real database show the efficiency of the proposed approach.
Real-time vision-based surgical tool segmentation with robot kinematics prior

Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery combines the skills and techniques of highly-trained surgeons with the robustness and precision of machines. Several advantages include precision beyond human dexterity alone, greater kinematic degrees of freedom at the surgical tool tip, and possibilities in remote surgical practices through teleoperation. Nevertheless, obtaining accurate force feedback during surgical operations remains a challenging hurdle. Though direct force sensing using tool tip mounted sensors is theoretically possible, it is not amenable to required sterilization procedures. Vision-based force estimation according to real-time analysis of tissue deformation serves as a promising alternative. In this application, along with numerous related research in robotassisted minimally invasive surgery, segmentation of surgical instruments in endoscopic images is a prerequisite. Thus, a surgical tool segmentation algorithm robust to partial occlusion is proposed using DFT shape matching of robot kinematics shape prior (u) fused with log likelihood mask (Q) in the Opponent color space to generate final mask (U). Implemented on the Raven II surgical robot system, a real-time performance robust to tool tip orientation and up to 6 fps without GPU acceleration is achieved.
Resilience and vulnerability in individuals with chronic pain and physical disability.

OBJECTIVE To examine the independent contributions of vulnerability and resilience factors to pain interference, self-efficacy for managing pain, global mental health, and global physical health. RESEARCH METHOD/DESIGN Secondary analysis of baseline data from individuals with a spinal cord injury (n = 73), amputation (n = 33), or multiple sclerosis (n = 82) and chronic pain who participated in a randomized controlled trial comparing 2 chronic pain interventions. Participants completed a comprehensive battery of pain-related outcomes that assessed for both psychosocial assets and maladaptive cognitions and behaviors. RESULTS Results suggested that vulnerability and resilience factors together account for a considerable amount of variance in the physical outcomes, but that neither set of factors was able to make a substantial contribution above and beyond the other. In contrast, for mental health related outcomes, results indicated that resilience factors did make a meaningful contribution above and beyond vulnerability factors, suggesting the important contribution of resilience factors to the psychological experience of chronic pain. CONCLUSIONS The present study suggested a valuable contribution of both resilience and vulnerability factors to pain outcomes, with the additional caveat that resilience factors uniquely impact specific outcomes-particularly those that are more psychosocially focused-above and beyond vulnerability factors. Taken together, this highlights the importance of considering resilience factors in addition to vulnerability factors for individuals with chronic pain. Additional research is needed to explore other factors that could be considered representative of the resilience construct and more attention should be focused on evaluating the effects of interventions that seek to build an individual's assets.
CD8+ T Cells Play a Bystander Role in Mice Latently Infected with Herpes Simplex Virus 1

ABSTRACT Based on an explant reactivation model, it has been proposed that CD8+ T cells maintain latency in trigeminal ganglia (TG) of mice latently infected with herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) [T. Liu, K. M. Khanna, X. Chen, D. J. Fink, and R. L. Hendricks, J Exp Med 191:1459–1466, 2000, doi:10.1084/jem.191. 9.1459; K. M. Khanna, R. H. Bonneau, P. R. Kinchington, and R. L. Hendricks, Immunity 18:593-603, 2003, doi:10.1016/S1074-7613(03)00112-2]. In those studies, BALB/c mice were ocularly infected with an avirulent HSV-1 strain (RE) after corneal scarification. However, in our studies, we typically infect mice with a virulent HSV-1 strain (McKrae) that does not require corneal scarification. Using a combination of knockout mice, adoptive transfers, and depletion studies, we recently found that CD8α+ dendritic cells (DCs) contribute to HSV-1 latency and reactivation in TG of ocularly infected mice (K. R. Mott, S. J. Allen, M. Zandian, B. Konda, B. G. Sharifi, C. Jones, S. L. Wechsler, T. Town, and H. Ghiasi, PLoS One 9:e93444, 2014, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0093444). This suggested that CD8+ T cells might not be the major regulators of HSV-1 latency in the mouse TG. To investigate this iconoclastic possibility, we used a blocking CD8 antibody and CD8+ T cells in reactivated TG explants from mice latently infected with (i) the avirulent HSV-1 strain RE following corneal scarification or (ii) the virulent HSV-1 strain McKrae without corneal scarification. Independently of the strain or approach, our results show that CD8α+ DCs, not CD8+ T cells, drive latency and reactivation. In addition, adoptive transfer of CD8+ T cells from wild-type (wt) mice to CD8α−/− mice did not restore latency to the level for wt mice or wt virus. In the presence of latency-associated transcript (LAT(+); wt virus), CD8+ T cells seem to play a bystander role in the TG. These bystander T cells highly express PD-1, most likely due to the presence of CD8α+ DCs. Collectively, these results support the notion that CD8+ T cells do not play a major role in maintaining HSV-1 latency and reactivation. IMPORTANCE This study addresses a fundamentally important and widely debated issue in the field of HSV latency—reactivation. In this article, we directly compare the effects of anti-CD8 antibody, CD8+ T cells, LAT, and CD8α+ DCs in blocking explant reactivation in TG of mice latently infected with avirulent or virulent HSV-1. Our data suggest that CD8+ T cells are not responsible for an increase or maintenance of latency in ocularly infected mice. However, they seem to play a bystander role that correlates with the presence of LAT, higher subclinical reactivation levels, and higher PD-1 expression levels.