Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weibull-like Model of Cancer Development in Aging

Mathematical modeling of cancer development is aimed at assessing the risk factors leading to cancer. Aging is a common risk factor for all adult cancers. The risk of getting cancer in aging is presented by a hazard function that can be estimated from the observed incidence rates collected in cancer registries. Recent analyses of the SEER database show that the cancer hazard function initially increases with the age, and then it turns over and falls at the end of the lifetime. Such behavior of the hazard function is poorly modeled by the exponential or compound exponential-linear functions mainly utilized for the modeling. In this work, for mathematical modeling of cancer hazards, we proposed to use the Weibull-like function, derived from the Armitage-Doll multistage concept of carcinogenesis and an assumption that number of clones at age t developed from mutated cells follows the Poisson distribution. This function is characterized by three parameters, two of which (r and λ) are the conventional parameters of the Weibull probability distribution function, and an additional parameter (C0) that adjusts the model to the observational data. Biological meanings of these parameters are: r—the number of stages in carcinogenesis, λ—an average number of clones developed from the mutated cells during the first year of carcinogenesis, and C0—a data adjustment parameter that characterizes a fraction of the age-specific population that will get this cancer in their lifetime. To test the validity of the proposed model, the nonlinear regression analysis was performed for the lung cancer (LC) data, collected in the SEER 9 database for white men and women during 1975–2004. Obtained results suggest that: (i) modeling can be improved by the use of another parameter A- the age at the beginning of carcinogenesis; and (ii) in white men and women, the processes of LC carcinogenesis vary by A and C0, while the corresponding values of r and λ are nearly the same. Overall, the proposed Weibull-like model provides an excellent fit of the estimates of the LC hazard function in aging. It is expected that the Weibull-like model can be applicable to fit estimates of hazard functions of other adult cancers as well.
Robust discrimination of permanent scatterers using Cameron Decomposition

One of the main difficulties encountered in Differential Interferometry (DInSAR) applications is temporal and spatial decorrelation over time. Single pixels, called Permanent Scatterers (PS), overcome this difficulty since they are coherent over time and over wide look-angle variations. Permanent Scatterers identification using interferographic techniques is unfeasible since they require the use of many acquisitions. Samsonov and Tiampo have presented a technique that selects Permanent Scatterers by analyzing their Polarization Phase Difference (PPD). The PPD approach would work just fine looking for single bounce scatterers because they are invariant to any initial arbitrary rotation between the scatterer and the radar Line of Sight (LOS). We propose to replace the PPD technique with Cameron’s Coherent Target Decomposition (CTD) because it is more accurate in finding the single and double bounce scatterers as it eliminates the initial orientation angle of the scatterer. Additionally, Cameron’s CTD is capable of recognizing more scattering mechanisms which means that more pixels, depending on their amplitude and stability over time, can be classified as Permanent Scatterers. A sample scene of fully polarimetric SAR image depicting the San Francisco bay was employed for experimentation. Our results demonstrate the superiority of the Cameron's CTD approach compared to PPD’s approach for the selection of pixels classified as Permanent Scatterers.
Continuous space language models for the IWSLT 2006 task

The language model of the target language plays an important role in statistical machine translation systems. In this work, we propose to use a new statistical language model that is based on a continuous representation of the words in the vocabulary. A neural network is used to perform the projection and the probability estimation. This kind of approach is in particular promising for tasks where a very limited amount of resources are available, like the BTEC corpus of tourism related questions. This language model is used in two state-of-the-art statistical machine translation systems that were developed by UPC for the 2006 IWSLT evaluation campaign: a phraseand an n-gram-based approach. An experimental evaluation for four different language pairs is provided (translation of Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic and Italian to English). The proposed method achieved improvements in the BLEU score of up to 3 points on the development data and of almost 2 points on the official test data.
Paleomagnetic and geochemical evidence for a pre-Triassic age for the Lower Amaranth Member of the Williston Basin of Manitoba (Canada)

Paleomagnetic and geochemical data obtained from six wells in southwestern Manitoba indicate that the Lower Amaranth redbeds were deposited earlier than Jurassic or Triassic, the most commonly cited depositional ages for this formation in the Williston Basin. The magnetization is carried primarily by detrital specular and pigmentary hematite and occasionally magnetite. Inclination-only analysis of paleomagnetic data (83 specimens from 60 plugs) indicates two possible depositional magnetization ages: Devonian–Pennsylvanian (D, found in very few samples) or Carboniferous to Permian, as suggested by the inclination and the polarity of the most predominant magnetization (B). An isolated magnetization (C) could be a mid-Jurassic to Neogene localized fluid flow remagnetization event. The oxygen and carbon isotope values of dolomite (–6.45‰ to 0.30‰ Vienna PeeDee Belemnite (VPDB) δ18O, –1.57‰ to 5.44‰ VPDB δ13C; n = 18) indicate that dolomitization could have occurred anytime between Carboniferous and Jurassic.
Validation of an in vitro digestive system for studying macronutrient decomposition in humans

In vitro digestion systems have proven to be powerful tools for understanding and monitoring the complex transformation processes that take place during digestion. In this study, human digestion was simulated with a three‐step in vitro process that was validated in depth by choosing pasteurized milk as an example of a complex food matrix. The decomposition of the macronutrients was followed over the entire digestive process to the level of intestinal enterocyte action, using protein and peptide analysis by SDS‐PAGE, reversed phase HPLC, size exclusion HPLC, and LC‐MS. The mean peptide size after in vitro digestion of pasteurized milk was 5–6 amino acids. Interestingly, mostly essential amino acids (93.6%) were released during in vitro milk digestion, a significantly different relative distribution compared to the total essential amino acid concentration of bovine milk (44.5%). All triglycerides were degraded to free fatty acids and monoacylglycerols. Herein, we present a human in vitro digestion model validated for its ability to degrade the macronutrients of dairy products comparable to physiological ranges.
ACTIVE: Abstract Creative Tools for Interactive Video Environments

Full-body, unencumbered, gestural interfaces o er new possibilities for computer painting tools. However, traditional painting metaphors and current gestural input technology are not well suited to one another; the user cannot be tracked with su cient accuracy to support brush-like or pen-like painting. Our approach to this problem has been to interpose di erent layers of abstraction between input gestures and painting actions. We illustrate this approach with two sample applications implemented in the context of the MIT Media Lab's Interactive Video Environment.
An Antinoise Method for Hyperspectral Unmixing

In this letter, we propose an antinoise method for hyperspectral unmixing. In the antinoise method, all noises are addressed. The following techniques are applied: 1) an endmember dictionary is constructed first to initialize the solution; 2) an approximated L0 norm constraint is employed to prune the dictionary and fulfill the sparse coding; and 3) the Itakura-Saito divergence, instead of the Square of Euclidean Distance divergence, is utilized to construct a novel optimization function. The experimental results on both synthetic and real hyperspectral data sets demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.
Predictable Migration and Communication in the Quest-V Multikernel

Quest-V is a system we have been developing from the ground up, with objectives focusing on safety, predictability and efficiency. It is designed to work on emerging multicore processors with hardware virtualization support. Quest-V is implemented as a"distributed system on a chip"and comprises multiple sandbox kernels. Sandbox kernels are isolated from one another in separate regions of physical memory, having access to a subset of processing cores and I/O devices. This partitioning prevents system failures in one sandbox affecting the operation of other sandboxes. Shared memory channels managed by system monitors enable inter-sandbox communication. The distributed nature of Quest-V means each sandbox has a separate physical clock, with all event timings being managed by per-core local timers. Each sandbox is responsible for its own scheduling and I/O management, without requiring intervention of a hypervisor. In this paper, we formulate bounds on inter-sandbox communication in the absence of a global scheduler or global system clock. We also describe how address space migration between sandboxes can be guaranteed without violating service constraints. Experimental results on a working system show the conditions under which Quest-V performs real-time communication and migration.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Adverse Childhood Events, and Buccal Cell Telomere Length in Elderly Swiss Former Indentured Child Laborers

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with increased risk for age-related diseases and early mortality. Accelerated biological aging could contribute to this elevated risk. The aim of the present study was to assess buccal cell telomere length (BTL) – a proposed marker of biological age – in men and women with and without PTSD. The role of childhood trauma was assessed as a potential additional risk factor for shorter telomere length. The sample included 62 former indentured Swiss child laborers (age: M = 76.19, SD = 6.18) and 58 healthy controls (age: M = 71.85, SD = 5.97). Structured clinical interviews were conducted to screen for PTSD and other psychiatric disorders. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was used to assess childhood trauma exposure. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to measure BTL. Covariates include age, sex, years of education, self-evaluated financial situation, depression, and mental and physical functioning. Forty-eight (77.42%) of the former indentured child laborers screened positive for childhood trauma, and 21 (33.87%) had partial or full-blown PTSD. Results did not support our hypotheses that PTSD and childhood trauma would be associated with shorter BTL. In fact, results revealed a trend toward longer BTL in participants with partial or full PTSD [F(2,109) = 3.27, p = 0.04, η2 = 0.06], and longer BTL was marginally associated with higher CTQ scores (age adjusted: β = 0.17 [95% CI: −0.01 to 0.35], t = 1.90, p = 0.06). Furthermore, within-group analyses indicated no significant association between BTL and CTQ scores. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study exploring the association between childhood trauma and BTL in older individuals with and without PTSD. Contrary to predictions, there were no significant differences in BTL between participants with and without PTSD in our adjusted analyses, and childhood adversity was not associated with BTL. Possible explanations and future research possibilities are discussed.
An efficient authentication protocol for integrating WLAN and cellular networks

Cellular (3G or 2.5G) networks provide wider service areas and ubiquitous connectivity with low data rates. WLAN networks offer higher data rates and the easy compatibility of wired Internet, but cover smaller areas. 3G and WLAN possess complementary properties. Integrating 3G and WLAN networks may offer subscribers high-speed wireless data services and ubiquitous connectivity. For integrating two different networks, there are several problems should be concerned, such as authentication, billing, quality of service, and seamless roaming between 3G and WLAN networks. In this paper, we address the authentication problem and propose an efficient authentication protocol to let 3G subscribers can connect WLAN with higher data rate. Certainly, the protocol is also suitable for 2.5G. The authentication protocol utilizes a one-time password approach to authenticate subscribers. It can withstand guessing, replay and impersonation attacks. A simulation result is given to validate our protocol.
A Semantically Enhanced Approach to Determine Textual Similarity

This paper presents a novel approach to determine textual similarity. A layered methodology to transform text into logic forms is proposed, and semantic features are derived from a logic prover. Experimental results show that incorporating the semantic structure of sentences is beneficial. When training data is unavailable, scores obtained from the logic prover in an unsupervised manner outperform supervised methods.
Data rate maximization for terahertz communication systems using finite alphabets

With the emergence of numerous novel data-intensive applications, the demand on fast wireless access for huge data file transfer and fast mobile data access is growing rapidly. Following this trend, the “Terabit era” is expected to become a reality in the near future. Terahertz (THz) technology is promising as an enabler due to its unique features, among others such as extremely high bandwidth, resistance to eavesdropping and minimal risk to human health. However, a number of technical hurdles need to be overcome to achieve such ultra-fast data rate of Terabit-per-second (Tbps) in the THz spectrum. In this work, a fundamental insight into the modulation scheme design is aimed to be established for THz communication systems. A strategy for transmission scheme selection and a corresponding efficient power allocation algorithm are proposed. Bounds on the maximum distance are determined for which data rates in the order of Tbps can be achieved. The results provide a fundamental insight into the selection of THz transmission schemes for given performance requirements.
A Geometric Theory of Feature Selection and Distance-Based Measures

Feature selection measures are often explained by the analogy to a rule to measure the "distance" of sets of features to the "closest" ideal sets of features. An ideal feature set is such that it can determine classes uniquely and correctly. This way of explanation was just an analogy before this paper. In this paper, we show a way to map arbitrary feature sets of datasets into a common metric space, which is indexed by a real number p with 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞. Since this determines the distance between an arbitrary pair of feature sets, even if they belong to different datasets, the distance of a feature set to the closest ideal feature set can be used as a feature selection measure. Surprisingly, when p = 1, the measure is identical to the Bayesian risk, which is probably the feature selection measure that is used the most widely in the literature. For 1 1 exhibit stronger correlation than the Bayesian risk.
Identification of Grb2 As a Novel Binding Partner of  Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Receptor I

Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) is a proinflammatory cytokine. Its pleiotropic biological properties are signaled through two distinct cell surface receptors: the TNF receptor type I (TNFR-I) and the TNF receptor type II. Neither of the two receptors possesses tyrosine kinase activity. A large majority of TNF-α–dependent activities can be mediated by TNFR-I. Recently, c-Raf-1 kinase was identified as an intracellular target of a signal transduction cascade initiated by binding of TNF-α to TNFR-I. However, the mechanism engaged in TNF-α–dependent activation of c-Raf-1 kinase is still enigmatic. Here we report that the cytosolic adapter protein Grb2 is a novel binding partner of TNFR-I. Grb2 binds with its COOH-terminal SH3 domain to a PLAP motif within TNFR-I and with its NH2-terminal SH3 domain to SOS (son of sevenless). A PLAP deletion mutant of TNFR-I fails to bind Grb2. The TNFR-I/Grb2 interaction is essential for the TNF-α–dependent activation of c-Raf-1 kinase; activation of c-Raf-1 kinase by TNF-α can be blocked by coexpression of Grb2 mutants harboring inactivating point mutations in the NH2- or COOH-terminal SH3 domain, cell-permeable peptides that disrupt the Grb2/TNFR-I interaction or transdominant negative Ras. Functionality of the TNFR-I/Grb2/SOS/Ras interaction is a prerequisite but not sufficient for TNF-α–dependent activation of c-Raf-1 kinase. Inhibition of the TNFR-I/FAN (factor associated with neutral sphingomyelinase) interaction, which is essential for TNF-α–dependent activation of the neutral sphingomyelinase, either by cell-permeable peptides or by deletion of the FAN binding domain, prevents activation of c-Raf-1 kinase. In conclusion, binding of the Grb2 adapter protein via its COOH-terminal SH3 domain to the nontyrosine kinase receptor TNFR-I results in activation of a signaling cascade known so far to be initiated, in the case of the tyrosine kinase receptors, by binding of the SH2 domain of Grb2 to phosphotyrosine.
MTHFR polymorphisms and breast cancer risk

Introduction Two functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene, C677T and A1298C, lead to decreased enzyme activity and affect chemosensitivity of tumour cells. Material and methods We evaluated these two common polymorphisms and breast cancer risk association in an Iranian sporadic breast cancer population-based case-control study of 294 breast cancer cases and 306 controls using a PCR-RFLP-based assay. Results Analyses of affected and controls show that homozygote genotype MTHFR 677CC has the highest frequency in both groups (28.3% in patients and 25.3% in control group). Genotype MTHFR 677CT and genotype MTHFR 1298AC were found to be statistically significant risk factors in our population (odds ratio: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.019-2.513, p = 0.041; and odds ratio: 2.575, 95% CI: 1.590-4.158, p = 0.001 respectively). Conclusions We can conclude based on the results of our study that a significant association between breast cancer and C677T and A1298C polymorphism might exist.
A Heuristic Method for Power Control of Femtocells in LTE Networks

In two-layer heterogeneous femtocell networks co-channel interference is a limiting factor for the overall system performance. In this study, a power management scheme for femtocells in a heterogeneous network, based on the well-known simulated annealing optimization algorithm, is employed to control the transmission power of the femtocell base stations to mitigate the co-channel interference among the neighboring femtocells. The simulation results show that the femtocell average power consumption is reduced whereas any noticeable signal-to-interference plus noise ratio degradation doesn't exist for the femtocell users. Thus, power management is an effective solution to mitigate the co-channel interference for the femtocell users.
Data Portraits and Intermediary Topics: Encouraging Exploration of Politically Diverse Profiles

In micro-blogging platforms, people connect and interact with others. However, due to cognitive biases, they tend to interact with like-minded people and read agreeable information only. Many efforts to make people connect with those who think differently have not worked well. In this paper, we hypothesize, first, that previous approaches have not worked because they have been direct -- they have tried to explicitly connect people with those having opposing views on sensitive issues. Second, that neither recommendation or presentation of information by themselves are enough to encourage behavioral change. We propose a platform that mixes a recommender algorithm and a visualization-based user interface to explore recommendations. It recommends politically diverse profiles in terms of distance of latent topics, and displays those recommendations in a visual representation of each user's personal content. We performed an" in the wild" evaluation of this platform, and found that people explored more recommendations when using a biased algorithm instead of ours. In line with our hypothesis, we also found that the mixture of our recommender algorithm and our user interface, allowed politically interested users to exhibit an unbiased exploration of the recommended profiles. Finally, our results contribute insights in two aspects: first, which individual differences are important when designing platforms aimed at behavioral change; and second, which algorithms and user interfaces should be mixed to help users avoid cognitive mechanisms that lead to biased behavior.
Determining the use and value of social support in Telerehabiliation Interventions for individuals with Multiple Sclerosis: A narrative synthesis review

Background: Telerehabilitation has been identi ﬁ ed as an effective treatment that promotes exercise rehabilitation in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). Social support is recognised as a core element of such interventions. However further research is needed to consider the role and value of different social support domains. Aim: Review available literature to assess and synthesise the use and value of social support within telerehabilitation interventions for individuals with MS. Method: A narrative synthesis was conducted. A systematic search of included articles was conducted. Electronic databases were searched from inception to January 2017. Other search methods were undertaken. Evaluation and synthesis of included articles utilised risk of bias assessment and a 4-stage synthesis process. Main Results: A total of fourteen studies, involving 718 participants (505 female, 213 male; aggregated mean age 47.6 years) with MS, were included. Esteem support was the most frequently reported method of social support, followed by informational, emotional and tangible. It would appear social support can be bene ﬁ cial in assisting participants to adhere to treatment interventions. Visual feedback may be directly bene ﬁ cial to improve impaired balance in individuals with MS. A model for future interventions is provided. Conclusions: Social support appears to increase the adherence of participants with MS to telerehabilitation interventions. Unique ﬁ ndings provide an indication for the direction and content of future interventions. Further research is necessary to ascertain the optimal types and frequencies of social support delivery and its effect on health outcomes for participants with MS.
User authentication in Social Networking Sites using face recognition

Now-a-days Social Networking Sites (SNS) are increasingly gaining its importance to share thoughts, views, culture, status, image, video etc. in various domains such as academics, religion, politics, research and development. Apart of these strengths of SNS it has one major disadvantage which is inefficient authentication of user login. Due to this various types of fake message, personal or national threats, non-social activities, vulgar and harassing figures and videos etc. are posted by some imposters or non social personals. To the best of our knowledge there is no any technique reported in the literature to solve this very big social problem. To defeat this attack we have prepared our own SNS with embedding of face recognition technique at the time of registration of login in the site. Four holistic based algorithms PCA, LDA, ICA and SVM are used for evaluation and found very promising results ranges 79.77% ~ 93.10% at various protocols.