Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prenatal and early postnatal lead exposure in mice: neuroimaging findings.

BACKGROUND Childhood lead exposure has been linked to adult gray matter loss accompanied by changes in myelination and neurochemistry noninvasively revealed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods. However, the extent, duration and timing of lead exposure required to produce such imaging changes in humans are difficult to ascertain. METHODS To determine if such changes are related to early exposure to low levels of lead, we treated mouse dams with 0, 3, or 30 ppm of lead acetate in drinking water for 2 months prior to mating through gestation until weaning of the offspring at post-natal day 21. Two male and two female pups from each litter were imaged at post-natal day 60. Volumetric, diffusion tensor imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) measurements were obtained using a seven Tesla Bruker animal MRI scanner. RESULTS Postnatal blood lead levels were identical between groups at the time of imaging. No effects of lead exposure were detected in the volumetric or MRS data. Mean diffusivity in the hippocampus showed significant effects of lead exposure and gender. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that low-level, gestational lead exposure in a mouse model produces minimal changes observed by MRI.
Alpha Rhythm Percentage Maintained During 4‐ and 12‐ Hour Feedback Periods

&NA; This experiment used Kamiya's feedback method (1) to induce electroencephelographic (EEG) alpha rhythm in experimental subjects. We first selected naturally high alpha subjects from a five hour conditioning procedure and subsequently reinforced high and then low amounts of alpha rhythm in them during two separate 12‐hour periods. We had no idea whether the production and maintenance of either alpha rhythm or nonalpha EEG activity over such a prolonged period was possible, or which of these functions might prove more difficult for high alpha subjects. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine, amongst selected high alpha subjects, how much alpha time they could produce during extended conditioning sessions and to observe the effects of maintaining either alpha or nonalpha EEG activity.
Novel measurement matrix optimization for source localization based on compressive sensing

As a promising theory to recover sparse signal from data samples acquired below the Nyquist rate, compressive sensing (CS) has been drawing pervasive interest in the past decade. In this paper, we explore the compressive sensing potentials for the near-field multiple acoustic-source localization. A novel localization scheme is designed by introducing the optimization of the measurement matrix to enforce the restricted isometry property (RIP) and maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Monte Carlos simulations have been carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed new scheme. Compared to other existing localization techniques, our scheme exhibits superior performances.
Crystal violet staining to quantify Candida adhesion to epithelial cells

Abstract In vitro studies of adhesion capability are essential to characterise the virulence of Candida species. However, the assessment of adhesion by traditional methods is time-consuming. The aim of the present study is the development of a simple methodology using crystal violet staining to quantify in vitro adhesion of different Candida species to epithelial cells. The experiments are performed using Candida albicans (ATCC 90028), C. glabrata (ATCC 2001), C. parapsilosis (ATCC 22019) and C. tropicalis (ATCC 750). A human urinary bladder epithelial cell line (TCC-SUP) is used. Yeast and epithelial cells were stained with crystal violet, epithelial cells were then destained using intermediate washing, and the dye in the yeast cells was extracted with acetic acid. The method was validated for the different Candida reference species by comparison with traditional microscope observation and enumeration. The method was then used to assess Candida adhesion to epithelial cells and also to silicone. For all Candida spp. high correlation values (r2= 0.9724–0.9997) between the number of adherent yeasts (microscope enumeration) and absorbance values were obtained for an inoculum concentration >106 cells/mL. The proposed technique was easy to perform and reproducible, enabling the determination of adhesion ability of Candida species to an epithelial cell line.
20 Tap Reconfigurable IIR Filter using Fully Parallel MAC Algorithm

The paper introduces designing of MAC 20 tap IIR filter based on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The implementation is based on Multiply Add and Accumulate algorithm (MAC) unit which plays important role in many of the DSP aplications.MAC unit is used for best performance digital signal processing system. The designed filter has been synthesized on Digital Signal Processor (DSP) slice based FPGA to perform multiplier function of MAC unit. The proposed filter is implemented on two FPGA devices Xilinx’s Spartan-3E, xc3s500e-4fg320 and Vertex 2P, xc2vp30-5ff896 and compared on the basis of Direct-form I IIR and Direct–Form II IIR structure for hardware resource utilization as well as speed. The hardware result shows that the proposed low pass butterworth filter designed on spartan3E with Direct I Form 19.03% faster than that designed on vertex2p with Direct form II structure.
Improvements and generalisations of signcryption schemes

In this work, we study the cryptographic primitive: signcryption, which combines the functionalities of digital signatures and public-key encryption. We first propose two generic transforms from meta-ElGamal signature schemes to signcryption schemes. These constructions can be thought of as generalisations of the signcryption schemes by Zheng and Gamage et al. Our results show that a large class of signcryption schemes are outsider IND-CCA2 secure and insider UF-CMA secure. As a by-product, we also show that the meta-ElGamal signature schemes, for which no previous formal security proofs have been shown, are UF-CMA secure. We then propose a modification of one of the transforms in order to achieve insider IND-CCA2 security in addition to insider UF-CMA security. This modification costs just one extra exponential operation. In particular, we can apply this modification to the Zheng signcryption scheme to make it fully insider secure. Finally, we propose a generic transform from a two-key signcryption scheme to a one-key signcryption scheme while preserving both confidentiality and unforgeability. Our result shows that if we have an insider IND-CCA2 and UFCMA secure two-key signcryption scheme, then it can be turned into an insider IND-CCA2 and UF-CMA secure one-key signcryption scheme. We also show that an insider IND-CCA2 and UF-CMA secure one-key signcryption scheme induces a secure combined public-key scheme; that is, a combination of a signature scheme and a public-key encryption scheme that can securely share the same key pair. Combining previous results suggests that we can obtain a large class of insider secure one-key signcryption schemes from meta-ElGamal signature schemes, and that each of them can induce a secure combined publickey scheme.
Somewhat Homomorphic Encryption

Homomorphic Encryption (HE) is a way that encrypted data can be processed without being decrypted first. An encoded message is sent to a third-party, who performs an operation on the received message and sends back the result. The original requester can decode that result to get the result of their original query, while the third-party who processed the data has no idea what the query or result actually was.
Effect of Manipulated State Aggression on Pain Tolerance

Swearing produces a pain lessening (hypoalgesic) effect for many people; an emotional response may be the underlying mechanism. In this paper, the role of manipulated state aggression on pain tolerance and pain perception is assessed. In a repeated-measures design, pain outcomes were assessed in participants asked to play for 10 minutes a first-person shooter video game vs a golf video game. Sex differences were explored. After playing the first-person shooter video game, aggressive cognitions, aggressive affect, heart rate, and cold pressor latency were increased, and pain perception was decreased. These data indicate that people become more pain tolerant with raised state aggression and support our theory that raised pain tolerance from swearing occurs via an emotional response.
Top-down batch-fabricating bottom-up self-assembles for region-selective multi-functionalization of microfluidic chips

In this study, we propose and develop a novel technology to top-down batch-fabricate bottom up SAMs(self-assembled mono-layers) for sequentially patterning region-selective flow-guide surface-functionalizations of micro-flow chips. Using IC-like masked photolithographic process, different segments of micro-channel chips are surface-modified with different molecule-layers for designated fluidic properties, such as hydro(oleo)-phobicity, hydro(oleo)-philicity, or other bio/chemical functions like repellence of nonspecific bio-adsorption. By using this technology, wafer-level region-selective multiple modifications for microchannel-chips are experimentally implemented and the designated flow-guide and chemical-exaction functions are demonstrated.
Optimal Resource Allocation for Energy Efficient Transmission in DSL

Vectoring is a well-known technique to mitigate multi- user interference in the downlink Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) transmission. While effective in canceling interference, vectoring does incur major computational overhead, resulting in significant energy consumption when the number of lines is large. To facilitate energy efficient transmission, a mechanism called discontinuous operation (DO) has been recently proposed. In this paper, we consider the key resource allocation problems in DSL: given the transmission opportunities, determine the optimal DO transmission scheme, and optimally adjust an existing DO transmission scheme for energy saving consideration. We formulate these problems and propose efficient real- time algorithms to solve them to global optimality. Simulation results are shown to demonstrate the efficiency and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Identification of Bacteria in Biofilm and Bulk Water Samples from a Nonchlorinated Model Drinking Water Distribution System: Detection of a Large Nitrite-Oxidizing Population Associated with Nitrospira spp

ABSTRACT In a model drinking water distribution system characterized by a low assimilable organic carbon content (<10 μg/liter) and no disinfection, the bacterial community was identified by a phylogenetic analysis of rRNA genes amplified from directly extracted DNA and colonies formed on R2A plates. Biofilms of defined periods of age (14 days to 3 years) and bulk water samples were investigated. Culturable bacteria were associated with Proteobacteria and Bacteriodetes, whereas independently of cultivation, bacteria from 12 phyla were detected in this system. These included Acidobacteria, Nitrospirae, Planctomycetes, and Verrucomicrobia, some of which have never been identified in drinking water previously. A cluster analysis of the population profiles from the individual samples divided biofilms and bulk water samples into separate clusters (P = 0.027). Bacteria associated with Nitrospira moscoviensis were found in all samples and encompassed 39% of the sequenced clones in the bulk water and 25% of the biofilm community. The close association with Nitrospira suggested that a large part of the population had an autotrophic metabolism using nitrite as an electron donor. To test this hypothesis, nitrite was added to biofilm and bulk water samples, and the utilization was monitored during 15 days. A first-order decrease in nitrite concentration was observed for all samples with a rate corresponding to 0.5 × 105 to 2 × 105 nitrifying cells/ml in the bulk water and 3 × 105 cells/cm2 on the pipe surface. The finding of an abundant nitrite-oxidizing microbial population suggests that nitrite is an important substrate in this system, potentially as a result of the low assimilable organic carbon concentration. This finding implies that microbial communities in water distribution systems may control against elevated nitrite concentrations but also contain large indigenous populations that are capable of assisting the depletion of disinfection agents like chloramines.
Medical and nursing students attitudes towards interprofessional education in Nepal

In order to elicit the attitudes of final year medical and 3rd year undergraduate nursing students, towards interprofessional education (IPE), a survey using a 25-item questionnaire and a five-point Likert scale design was administered to a convenience sample of 60 students. In addition, two focus group discussions were carried out, one in each student group, using a topic guide. The findings suggest that the majority of the students were aware about the concept and importance of IPE. The learning reported by participants reflected two main issues: participants emphasized firstly the importance of communication skills, both with other professionals and with patients, and secondly the development of increased awareness of others' roles. Research has demonstrated the importance of learning together as well as learning from and about different professionals within the context of a shared learning experience. Respondents should undertake appropriate skills development in IPE and be provided with knowledge and experience to ensure that they are adequately equipped to work with or learn from one another.
Grocery Purchasing in the Food Desert Environment: Constraints Outweigh Preferences

Data show that the food desert environment is correlated with high risk of diet-related illness in low-income urban communities. Using an empirical model of grocery purchasing decision processes, we explained how specific components of the economic and structural environment influenced purchasing decisions that conflicted with shoppers understanding of healthy eating. In this paper we describe how the policy environment and suppliers influence purchasing; why interventions to increase healthy purchases must be designed using an understanding of food desert system dynamics; and why several intervention approaches are incomplete. We recommend a complex of evidence-based strategies to facilitate healthy purchasing in urban American food deserts.
Pre‐Fermentation of a Low‐Strength Meat‐Processing Wastewater in an Upflow Sludge Blanket Reactor

Pre‐fermentation of low‐strength wastewater from a meat processing facility (at 20 °C) was studied. A laboratory‐scale upflow sludge blanket (USB) reactor was used for the experiments; 10 different operating conditions were tested with regard to the hydraulic residence time (HRT). At HRTs from 0.4 to 2.4 hours, the USB reactor produced effluent with acetate chemical oxygen demand from 82 to 100 mg/L. At HRTs shorter than 0.4 hours and upflow velocities greater than 0.5 m/h, biomass washout was observed. At HRTs longer than 2.4 hours, acetate concentration in the effluent and acetate production efficiency decreased. The transformation of organic nitrogen to ammonia‐nitrogen occurred simultaneously with acetate production. Minimal accumulation of biomass in the USB reactor was observed. Pre‐fermentation of the low‐strength industrial wastewater in the USB reactor could be beneficial for biological nitrogen removal. The produced acetate is directly available for denitrification and the transformed ammonia‐nitrogen is directly available for nitrification in the subsequent wastewater treatment steps.
Focality Assessment in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation With Double and Cone Coils

Summary: To evaluate the performance with respect to selectivity of the effect of the wings bending in the cone coil relative to the double coil in transcranial magnetic stimulation. The focal area and the width vector of the central lobe of the induced electrical field distributed along an elliptic surface approximating the cortex were computed for four coil models. The models represented the real coils, the double B70 and the cone B80 Medtronic, and their corresponding simulated flat coils (B70flat and B80flat). A response function was evaluated in 10 subjects for distal and proximal muscles of the upper limb by stimulation of the motor cortex along a line approximating the central sulcus. The width of the response function, at the level of the center of gravity, provided a quantitative measure for coil focality. The focal area for B70, B70flat, B80, and B80flat calculated from the model was 31.4, 32.2, 94.4, and 50.6 cm2, respectively. The width of the central lobe along the stimulation line was: 36.2, 37, 46, and 48.6 mm, respectively. Mean values of focality measure obtained experimentally were in distal muscles, 5.06 RPU (relative position units) for B70 and 5.99 RPU for B80; in proximal muscles, 4.11 RPU for B70 and 5.13 RPU for B80, with a mean RPU value of 11.13 mm. The difference, a 19% focality measure increase in B80 relative to B70 in distal muscles, was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The focality was demonstrated to be highest for the double coil. The width of the central lobe of the induced electrical field distribution is well reflected in the width of the response function. The increase in B80 is mainly due to wing geometry and relative placement of wings and is not due to the wing bending. The width of the central lobe characterizes the spread of the induced current below the wing junction, and it is a better focality estimator than the focal area for cone coils.
Cnr protein, the negative regulator of bacteriophage P4 replication, stimulates specific DNA binding of its initiator protein alpha

Bacteriophage P4 DNA replication depends upon the phage-encoded alpha protein, which has DNA helicase and DNA primase activity and can specifically bind to the replication origin (ori) and to the cis replicating region (crr). The P4 Cnr protein functions as a negative regulator of P4 replication, and P4 does not replicate in cells that overexpress cnr. We searched for P4 mutants that suppressed this phenotype (Cnr resistant [alpha cr]). Eight independent mutants that grew in the presence of high levels of Cnr were obtained. None of these can establish the plasmid state. Each of these mutations lies in the DNA binding domain of gp alpha that occupies the C terminus of the protein. Five different sequence changes were found: T675M, G732V (three times), G732W (twice), L733V, and L737V. A TrxA-Cnr fusion protein does not bind DNA by itself but stimulates the ori and crr binding abilities of alpha protein in vitro. The alpha cr mutant proteins were still able to bind specifically to ori or crr, but specific DNA binding was less stimulated by the TrxA-Cnr protein. We present evidence that Cnr protein interacts with the gp alpha domain that binds specifically to DNA and that gp(alpha)cr mutations impair this interaction. We hypothesize that gp alpha-Cnr interaction is essential for the control of P4 DNA replication.
On the negative selection and the danger theory inspired security for heterogeneous networks

Aspirations for a boundless communication paradigm for future generation networks have changed the conventional way of looking at network security. With such a vision, security techniques should not only be securing local end-users but also be protecting entire networks from malicious adversaries. Unfortunately, providing security protection for such gigantic networks is a very challenging task. Based on the analogous relationships of various cell interactions in a metabolic network and a complex heterogeneous network, we explore the possibilities of human immune system (HIS) inspired anomaly detection for protecting interworked heterogeneous networks. In light of this, the applicability of two key schools of thought on how the HIS detects anomalies; namely, the Negative Selection (NS) and the Danger Theory (DT) are discussed in this article. While the NS theory is the traditional understanding of anomaly detection in the HIS, the DT is a radical new concept that challenges the main fundamentals of the NS theory, which is currently being hotly debated among immunologists. Based on this, the article highlights the applicability and the limitations of these two theories in detecting malicious anomalies in heterogeneous networks. From our analysis, we establish a doctrine that the DT outperforms its counterpart (the NS theory) in detecting anomalies in a complex heterogeneous network. Our analysis also indicates that the DT inspired anomaly detection is efficient in detecting malicious network adversaries and updating network segments that are under attack, thereby increasing the survivability of heterogeneous networks.
A Physical-Layer Network Coding aware distributed scheduling policy

Physical-Layer Network Coding (PLNC) was first introduced as a solution to increase the throughput in simple bidirectional communication schemes. Unlike most wireless communication techniques which try to avoid collisions, PLNC allows two simultaneous transmissions to a common receiver. In this work, we propose a MAC layer distributed and realistic scheduling policy targeting PLNC based networks. In order to easily operate in large ad-hoc networks, our solution is completely decentralized and runs in constant time. By basing the transmission priority of every node on the queue sizes of its local neighbors and PLNC opportunities, our solution ensures high throughput when compared to classical interference-free scheduling. Both our theoretical analysis corroborated by our simulation results highlight that the proposed algorithm outperforms existing scheduling policies with throughput gains of around 35%.
The impacts of unique service resources and habit on e-service loyalty in a highly competitive market

– The purpose of this study is to seek to quantify how unique service resources and consumer habit affect e-service loyalty (e-loyalty) in a highly competitive market. This study is grounded on Chinese social networking service (SNS) industry. A resource-based view is introduced as an alternative perspective to understand building consumer loyalty in e-service contexts. , – A research framework is developed by reviewing prior literature. An online survey is conducted to collect research data. Based on 221 valid responses, the research model is tested by using partial least squares path modeling technique. , – The features of market environments affects the loyalty of consumers to e-service providers. Consumers become mercenary in highly competitive and low differentiation e-service markets like Chinese SNS industry. The interaction of satisfaction and switching cost affects loyalty. Satisfied consumers can be either loyal or not loyal to a service provider depending on their level of switching cost, but unsatisfied consumers will have no loyalty. In addition, users are loyal to a SNS partly because it is their habit to use the service. Our study suggests that relying on consumer satisfaction to build e-loyalty may be problematic and risky. , – The study represents an attempt to introduce the resource-based view to e-loyalty research. The research highlights the importance of habit in building consumers’ e-service satisfaction and loyalty and contributes to new insights on the importance of industry environment in determining e-service satisfaction–loyalty relationship based on studying consumers in a highly competitive market.