Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increase of microRNA-210, Decrease of Raptor Gene Expression and Alteration of Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Regulated Proteins following Mithramycin Treatment of Human Erythroid Cells

Expression and regulation of microRNAs is an emerging issue in erythroid differentiation and globin gene expression in hemoglobin disorders. In the first part of this study microarray analysis was performed both in mithramycin-induced K562 cells and erythroid precursors from healthy subjects or β-thalassemia patients producing low or high levels of fetal hemoglobin. We demonstrated that: (a) microRNA-210 expression is higher in erythroid precursors from β-thalassemia patients with high production of fetal hemoglobin; (b) microRNA-210 increases as a consequence of mithramycin treatment of K562 cells and human erythroid progenitors both from healthy and β-thalassemia subjects; (c) this increase is associated with erythroid induction and elevated expression of γ-globin genes; (d) an anti-microRNA against microRNA-210 interferes with the mithramycin-induced changes of gene expression. In the second part of the study we have obtained convergent evidences suggesting raptor mRNA as a putative target of microRNA-210. Indeed, microRNA-210 binding sites of its 3’-UTR region were involved in expression and are targets of microRNA-210-mediated modulation in a luciferase reporter assays. Furthermore, (i) raptor mRNA and protein are down-regulated upon mithramycin-induction both in K562 cells and erythroid progenitors from healthy and β-thalassemia subjects. In addition, (ii) administration of anti-microRNA-210 to K562 cells decreased endogenous microRNA-210 and increased raptor mRNA and protein expression. Finally, (iii) treatment of K562 cells with premicroRNA-210 led to a decrease of raptor mRNA and protein. In conclusion, microRNA-210 and raptor are involved in mithramycin-mediated erythroid differentiation of K562 cells and participate to the fine-tuning and control of γ-globin gene expression in erythroid precursor cells.
Metformin added to insulin therapy for type 1 diabetes mellitus in adolescents.

BACKGROUND In adolescents with type 1 diabetes, insulin resistance likely plays a role in the deterioration of metabolic control. In type 1 diabetes, addition of metformin to insulin therapy, to improve insulin sensitivity, has been assessed in a few trials involving few patients or in uncontrolled studies of short duration. No systematic reviews are available up to date to summarize the evidence about metformin addition to insulin therapy in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of metformin added to insulin therapy for type 1 diabetes mellitus in adolescents. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and EMBASE. We also searched databases of ongoing trials, reference lists of relevant reviews, and we contacted experts, authors and manufacturers. SELECTION CRITERIA Any randomised controlled trial (RCT) of at least three months duration of treatment comparing metformin added to insulin therapy versus insulin therapy alone in adolescents with type 1 diabetes was included. Cross-over and quasi-randomised controlled trials were excluded. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two reviewers read all abstracts, assessed quality and extracted data independently. Authors were contacted for missing data. MAIN RESULTS Only two trials (60 participants) investigating the effect of metformin added to insulin therapy for three months in adolescents with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes could be included. Meta-analysis was not possible due to the clinical and methodological heterogeneity of data. Both studies suggested that metformin treatment lowered glycosylated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in adolescents with type 1 diabetes and poor metabolic control. Improvements in insulin sensitivity, body composition or serum lipids were not documented in either study, however, one study showed a decrease in insulin dosage by 10%. Adverse effects were mainly gastrointestinal in both studies and hypoglycaemia in one study. No data on health-related quality of life, all-cause mortality or morbidity are currently available. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS There is some evidence suggesting improvement of metabolic control in poorly controlled adolescents with type 1 diabetes, on addition of metformin to insulin therapy. Stronger evidence is required from larger studies, carried out over longer time periods to document the long-term effects on metabolic control, health-related quality of life as well as morbidity and mortality in those patients.
Formal specification and analysis of JAAS framework

This paper reports on our experience of using Alloy for analysis of system design in regard to changes in the security requirements. It presents some of technical details for the specification and analysis of the JAAS framework. The declarative way of writing specification, together with its analysis mechanism, Alloy is shown useful from a wide variety of viewpoints.
ERK1/2 activation induced by inflammatory cytokines compromises effective host tissue integration of engineered cartilage.

OBJECTIVE Proinflammatory cytokines are known to provoke degradative signaling cascades that promote extracellular matrix disintegration in articular cartilage. Because integration of the repair tissue into the surrounding native cartilage to produce a mechanically stable interface has a profound impact on the viability and functionality of the restored joint surface, this study examined the effects of proinflammatory cytokines on the properties of tissue-engineered cartilage in the context of integration. METHODS Using an established in vitro cartilage defect model, we examined the integration of chondrocyte-laden agarose constructs into native articular cartilage and the biochemical and biomechanical alterations of these implants upon treatment with interleukin 1-beta (IL1-beta) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). Additionally, we probed extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) signaling involvement in response to proinflammatory cytokines. RESULTS The time-dependent accumulation of extracellular matrix and concomitant increase in Young's modulus observed in the absence of cytokines was significantly decreased upon IL1-beta and TNF-alpha treatment. Push-out test showed the highest interface strength in hybrid cultures maintained without cytokines, which was significantly lowered with IL1-beta and TNF-alpha treatment. Histological characteristics of the interface region are consistent with the biochemical findings. Treatment with an inhibitor of ERK pathway antagonized the deleterious effects caused by both cytokines. CONCLUSION This study is the first to show the functional catastrophic effects of IL1-beta and TNF-alpha on the biochemical, structural, and integrative properties of tissue-engineered cartilage and their significant counteraction by the blockade of ERK signaling pathway. With the discovery of new potential chemical entities, ERK inhibitor may emerge as a new therapeutic approach for functional integration and mechanical integrity of an engineered cartilage to the host tissue and, therefore, enhance long-term viability and functionality of the restored joint surface.
LEARNING RATES FOR AUDITORY MENUS ENHANCED WITH SPEARCONS VERSUS EARCONS

Increasing the usability of menus on small electronic devices is essential due to their increasing proliferation and decreasing physical sizes in the marketplace. Auditory menus are being studied as an enhancement to the menus on these devices. This study compared the learning rates for earcons (hierarchical representations of menu locations using musical tones) and spearcons (compressed speech) as potential candidates for auditory menu enhancement. We found that spearcons outperformed earcons significantly in rate of learning. We also found evidence that spearcon comprehension was enhanced by a brief training cycle, and that participants considered the process of learning spearcons much easier than the same process using earcons. Since the efficiency of learning and the perceived ease of use of auditory menus will increase the likelihood they are embraced by those who need them, this paper presents compelling evidence that spearcons may be the superior choice for such applications.
Novel design of fast and compact SHA-1 algorithm for security applications

In this work, a novel architecture of Secure Hash Algorithm-1(SHA-1) for increased throughput and reduced area is presented. Various acceleration techniques are applied such as pre-computation, loop unfolding, and pipelining simultaneously. Carry Save Adder using Carry Lookahead Adder in its final stage is used for multi-input addition function to achieve high performance. The proposed architecture is designed using VHDL language. The synthesis and simulation work is performed in Xilinx ISE Design Suite 13.2 tool. The present implementation of SHA-1 offers better results as compared to previous works.
Surveillance of human-computer interactions: A way forward to detection of users' Psychological Distress

Even today, computer systems are unable to challenge the superiority of humans in their intuitive ability to express, experience, and understand emotions of own-self and others. Computers do not extend emotional support as another human would do. But, Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies and electronic media have significantly altered the sense of ‘Social Interaction’ of humans during last two decades. Now people physically contact computers more than contacting humans. Therefore, it is important to explore how we can use the same medium to enhance individuals' emotional intelligence and regulate unhealthy affective dispositions. During our preliminary study, the sample of undergraduates from two state sector universities in Sri Lanka revealed that the way they work with computer is influenced by the stress at the time. They reported that mostly frequented behaviors include logging in to social networking sites, making typing errors, checking emails, scroll window up and down, and switching between tasks. In this work we will explore a suitable affect sensing model into which these behavioral parameters can be mapped. We propose a software framework to monitor the parameters, analyze them and to support users to recognize how they feel, manage the feelings better, and to encourage them to seek help if they run a risk of getting into a mental health problem.
Whole-Genome Sequence of the Cheese Isolate Streptococcus macedonicus 679

ABSTRACT It is well recognized that Streptococcus macedonicus can populate artisanal fermented foods, especially those of dairy origin. However, the safety of S. macedonicus remains to be established. Here, we present the whole-genome sequence of strain 679, which was isolated from a French uncooked semihard cheese made with cow milk.
Automatically Characterising Components with Concerns and Reducing Tangling

Developing large systems exhibiting a high degree of modularity can be a difficult task even for experienced developers. Hindering modularity has several armful effects, such as decreased readability, higher complexity and difficulties to reuse and evolve components. This paper assists developers to achieve modularity of components by providing a way to automatically characterise the concerns within components according to the APIs they are based on. This allows finding the degree of tangling and scattering of concerns over methods and classes. Moreover, by means of the proposed approach developers are given suggestions on how to reduce tangling of some components, thanks to the use of a metric and refactoring techniques. For systems comprising thousand of classes this is a valuable support, since unassisted developers could miss appropriate refactoring opportunities, due to the large number of details they should take into account.
Bounds for the Security of the Vivaldi Network Coordinate System

Network coordinate systems have gained much attention as they allow for an elegant estimation of distances between nodes in distributed systems. Their most prominent representative is Vivaldi, which is using a mass-spring-damper system to embed peers into a two-dimensional Euclidean coordinate space with an additional height coordinate. In unimpaired overlay networks this simple method leads to a good approximation of pair wise delays. Unfortunately, like most distributed algorithms, Vivaldi is vulnerable to Byzantine failures, leading to possible routing attacks in peer-to-peer systems. Hence, several attack methods and countermeasures have been proposed. In this article, we analyze bounds for protection of Vivaldi network coordinates and show by theory and simulation how triangle inequality violations can be exploited to create instabilities, despite the proposed countermeasures.
Electrolarynx Providing Voice Pitch Pattern

電気人工喉頭音声の不自然性を改善するために, 音声のゆらぎが自然性にどのように寄与するかを調べた. その結果, ピッチパターンについては, 発声直後のピッチ周波数の変化速度が0. 45Hz/msec, 上昇時間は60msec程度が最適であることがわかった. また, 定常部ではピッチを直線的に減少させると自然性が高くなるという評価が得られた. さらに, 音声の自然性には, 波形のゆらぎが大きく寄与していることがわかった. これらの結果に基づき, 自然性を高めるようなピッチパターンが付与された電気人工喉頭を試作した. とれには, ピッチパターン設定の他に使用者が任意にピッチ周波数を制御する機能が付いている. 本装置を使用して単語発声中にピッチ周波数を制御することにより正常音声に近い抑揚を付けることができた.
Perturbation‐independent community development in low‐temperature anaerobic biological wastewater treatment bioreactors

The reproducibility and stability of low‐ temperature anaerobic wastewater treatment systems undergoing transient perturbations was investigated. Three identical anaerobic expanded granular sludge bed‐based bioreactors were used to degrade a volatile fatty acid and glucose‐based wastewater under sub‐ambient (15°C) conditions. The effect of a variety of environmental perturbations on bioreactor performance was assessed by chemical oxygen demand removal. Temporal microbial community development was monitored by denaturation gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA genes extracted from sludge granules. Methanogenic activity was monitored using specific methanogenic activity assays. Bioreactor performance and microbial population dynamics were each well replicated between both experimental bioreactors and the control bioreactor prior to, and after the implementation of most of the applied perturbations. Gene fingerprinting data indicated that Methanosaeta sp. were the persistent, keystone members of the archaeal community, and likely were pivotal for the physical stability and maintenance of the granular biofilms. Cluster analyses of DGGE data suggested that temporal shifts in microbial community structure were predominantly independent of the applied perturbations. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;105: 79–87. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
IDRAAQ: New Arabic Question Answering System Based on Query Expansion and Passage Retrieval

Arabic is one of the languages which are less concerned by researchers in the field of Question Answering. The paper presents core modules of a new Arabic Question Answering system called IDRAAQ. These modules aim at enhancing the quality of retrieved passages with respect to a given question. Experiments have been conducted in the framework of the main task of QA4MRE@CLEF 2012 that includes this year the Arabic language. Two runs were submitted. Both runs only use reading test documents to answer questions. The difference between the two runs exists in the answer validation process which is more relaxed in the second run. The Passage Retrieval (PR) module of our system presents multi-levels of processing in order to improve the quality of returned passage and thereafter the performances of the whole system. The PR module of IDRAAQ is based on keyword-based and structure-based levels that respectively consist in: (i) a Query Expansion (QE) process relying on Arabic WordNet semantic relations; (ii) a Distance Density N-gram Model based passage retrieval system. The latter level uses passages retrieved on the basis of QE queries and re-ranks them according to a structure-based similarity score. Named Entities are recognized by means of a mapping between the YAGO ontology and Arabic WordNet. The experiments that we conducted show that with respect to the accuracy and c@1 measure, IDRAAQ registered encouraging performances in particular with factoid questions. The same experiments allowed us to identify the lacks of the system especially when processing non factoid questions and at the Answer Validation stage. The IDRAAQ system, which is still under construction, will integrate a Conceptual Graph-based passage re-ranking introducing a semantic level to its PR module.
Modified SEPIC DC-to-DC boost converter with high output-gain configuration for renewable applications

This paper articulates the novel topology for modified SEPIC converter and much suitable for renewable energy and high-voltage applications. Power circuit incorporated with one additional inductor and capacitor to the classical SEPIC converter as a voltage lift component. Hence, it overcomes the effect of parasitic effects of the circuit components (MOSFET/passive elements). Conventional DC-DC boost/SEPIC converters are utilized for renewable energy and industrial applications. But they suffer from parasitic effects with reduced output voltage, and limited with low efficiency. Henceforth, these difficulties overcomes with the modified SEPIC converter topology for maximizing the output voltage generation. Numerical simulation outcomes are presented and validate the developed theoretical analysis and the accuracy of modified circuit.
Measuring the impact of HRM on organizational performance

The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of HRM on organisational performance in the context of Greece. Data were collected from 178 organisations using a questionnaire survey in the Greek manufacturing sector, and analysed using the ‘structural equation modelling’ methodology. The results indicated that the relationship between HRM policies (resourcing and development, compensation and incentives, involvement and job design) and organisational performance is partially mediated through HRM outcomes (skills, attitudes, behaviour), and it is influenced by business strategies (cost, quality, innovation). Thus, the contribution of this study for academics and practitioners is that HRM policies associated with business strategies will affect organisational performance through HRM outcomes
Social Media Anomaly Detection: Challenges and Solutions

Anomaly detection is of critical importance to prevent malicious activities such as bullying, terrorist attack planning, and fraud information dissemination. With the recent popularity of social media, new types of anomalous behaviors arise, causing concerns from various parties. While a large body of work haven been dedicated to traditional anomaly detection problems, we observe a surge of research interests in the new realm of social media anomaly detection. In this tutorial, we survey existing work on social media anomaly detection, focusing on the new anomalous phenomena in social media and most recent techniques to detect those special types of anomalies. We aim to provide a general overview of the problem domain, common formulations, existing methodologies and future directions.
Introducing subjectivities in language variation and change

Abstract This volume is devoted both to the theoretical question of which roles subjective processes play in language variation and change (LVC), and to the many methodological questions raised by the study of these subjective processes. Obviously, to talk about ‘subjective’ processes implies that there are also ‘objective’ processes, and more generally it suggests that LVC should be studied in terms of a distinction between the ‘subjective’ and the ‘objective’. Such a distinction is not, however, what we normally meet within the literature, where the factors involved in LVC are commonly divided and grouped in terms like internal versus external, linguistic versus social versus (socio)psychological, macro versus micro, and not to forget, the tripartite division introduced by Labov in his summing up of his own life work: internal versus social versus cognitive (Labov 1994, 2001, forthcoming.).
Compact Wilkinson power divider with simultaneous bandpass response and harmonic suppression

In this paper, an integrated power divider/bandpass filter component is proposed for simultaneous size reduction and harmonic suppression. A stepped impedance interdigital coupling element is used to replace the conventional quarter wavelength impedance transforming section of the Wilkinson power divider, yielding not only selective bandpass response but also good power splitting performance. From the experimental results, the insertion loss of a 2.4 GHz prototype is kept as low as 3.3 dB in the passband, and the isolation is 20.6 dB. The first spurious passband is recorded at 3.4f0. These indexes show the significance of the proposed integrated component.
Pattern recognition using surface electromyography of the anterior temporalis and masseter muscles

Many factors are thought to be involved in the dynamic interplay, or equilibrium between the different components of the masticatory system. Studies have attempted to analyse the normal functional, and parafunctional behaviour of the masticatory muscles. The most widely used treatment mode for parafunctional behaviours is an intra-oral occlusal apppliance (or splint), and the mechanism of action of intra-oral splints remains controversial. There has been no attempt to link muscle activity pattern recognition with the jaw movements produced, or for that matter with the resultant forces developed. Neither has a satisfactory method for pattern recognition been proposed to analyse jaw movement patterns. The aim of this study was to develop a pattern recognition system capable of predicting forceful movements of the jaw using an occlusal appliance, and to develop an analytical methodology for discriminating the features of EMG recordings of the 4 muscles relative to specified intra-oral tasks. The experiments were divided into three main studies: A reproducibility study , in which a subject, using an occlusal splint and performing a series of prescribed movements was recorded using EMG of the anterior temporalis, and masseter muscles bilaterally. This showed that it was possible to identify patterns on a daily basis, and that it was possible to discriminate between different movement directions more reliably than different movement speeds. A pattern recognition study was performed utilizing the previous results, and showed that for the same subject it was possible to predict the movements 98.2% of the time for the 5 day period. The final study involved the pattern recognition for a sample group of 10 subjects, this resulted in a 95.7% success rate overall for movement prediction. This study has shown that using a relatively simple computer algorithm, the smoothed and filtered EMG waveform, and discriminant analysis, it is possible to discriminate between different simulated bruxist-like movements
CLEAR: Covariant LEAst-Square Refitting with Applications to Image Restoration

In this paper, we propose a new framework to remove parts of the systematic errors affecting popular restoration algorithms, with a special focus for image processing tasks. Generalizing ideas that emerged for $\ell_1$ regularization, we develop an approach re-fitting the results of standard methods towards the input data. Total variation regularizations and non-local means are special cases of interest. We identify important covariant information that should be preserved by the re-fitting method, and emphasize the importance of preserving the Jacobian (w.r.t. the observed signal) of the original estimator. Then, we provide an approach that has a "twicing" flavor and allows re-fitting the restored signal by adding back a local affine transformation of the residual term. We illustrate the benefits of our method on numerical simulations for image restoration tasks.