Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased Circulating miR-21 Levels Are Associated with Kidney Fibrosis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of noncoding RNA acting at a post-transcriptional level to control the expression of large sets of target mRNAs. While there is evidence that miRNAs deregulation plays a causative role in various complex disorders, their role in fibrotic kidney diseases is largely unexplored. Here, we found a strong up-regulation of miR-21 in the kidneys of mice with unilateral ureteral obstruction and also in the kidneys of patients with severe kidney fibrosis. In addition, mouse primary fibroblasts derived from fibrotic kidneys exhibited higher miR-21 expression level compared to those derived from normal kidneys. Expression of miR-21 in normal primary kidney fibroblasts was induced upon TGFβ exposure, a key growth factor involved in fibrogenesis. Finally, ectopic expression of miR-21 in primary kidney fibroblasts was sufficient to promote myofibroblast differentiation. As circulating miRNAs have been suggested as promising non-invasive biomarkers, we further assess whether circulating miR-21 levels are associated with renal fibrosis using sera from 42 renal transplant recipients, categorized according to their renal fibrosis severity, evaluated on allograft biopsies (Interstitial Fibrosis/Tubular Atrophy (IF/TA). Circulating miR-21 levels are significantly increased in patients with severe IF/TA grade (IF/TA grade 3: 3.0±1.0 vs lower grade of fibrosis: 1.5±1.2; p = 0.001). By contrast, circulating miR-21 levels were not correlated with other renal histological lesions. In a multivariate linear regression model including IF/TA grade and estimated GFR, independent associations were found between circulating miR-21 levels and IF/TA score (ß = 0.307, p = 0.03), and between miR-21 levels and aMDRD (ß = −0.398, p = 0.006). Altogether, these data suggest miR-21 has a key pathogenic role in kidney fibrosis and may represent a novel, predictive and reliable blood marker of kidney fibrosis.
Does Culture Matter ? An Examination of Information Systems Planning in the Subsidiaries of Multinational Firms

Hofstede's national culture model has been applied in prior research to better understand the management of multinational firms. That research suggests that national culture may influence the information systems planning autonomy of the subsidiaries of multinational firms. A postal survey of 130 chief information officers and 103 senior non-IS managers of U.S. subsidiaries of such firms collected data to test hypotheses based on the model. Structural equation modeling using PLS-Graph 3.0 revealed that Individualism-Collectivism and Masculinity-Femininity predicted IS planning autonomy in general, whereas those dimensions plus Uncertainty Avoidance predicted it for particular IS planning phases. IS planning autonomy (as rated by the CIOs) predicted IS planning effectiveness (also as rated by the CIOs), which in turn predicted IS contribution (as rated by the senior non-IS managers). The findings demonstrate the relevance of the national culture model to IS planning effectiveness and IS contribution. They also suggest to subsidiary managers that an understanding of the national culture of their parent firm can help them gain an insight into the parent's management perspective.
Malware Detection in Smartphone Using Hidden Markov Model

In recent years, smart phone technology is becoming increasingly popular. The dangers of mobile phone malwares are becoming more and more serious. In this paper we present a new mobile smartphone malware detection scheme based on Hidden Markov Model (HMM) which is different from the traditional signature scanning methods. Firstly, we monitor the key press and system function call sequence, and take the key press as hidden state. After decoding HMM model, abnormal process can be detected using the matching rate of HMM output to the actual key press sequence. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively detect mobile malwares.
Compromising statistical databases responding to queries about means

This paper describes how to compromise a statistical database which <italic>only</italic> answers queries about arithmetic means for query sets whose cardinality falls in the range [<italic>k, N</italic> - <italic>k</italic>], for some <italic>k</italic> > 0, where <italic>N</italic> ≥ 2<italic>k</italic> is the number of records in the database. The compromise is shown to be easy and to require only a little preknowledge; knowing the cardinality of just one nonempty query set is usually sufficient. This means that not only count and sum queries, but also queries for arithmetic means can be extremely dangerous for the security of a statistical database, and that this threat must be taken into account explicitly by protective measures. This seems quite important from a practical standpoint: while arithmetic means were known for some time to be not altogether harmless, the (perhaps surprising) extent of the threat is now shown.
Global Numerical Optimization by Using an Improved Immune Algorithm

An improved immune algorithm, named the Taguchi-immune algorithm (TIA), is proposed to solve global numerical optimization problems with continuous variables based on both the features of a biological immune system and the systematic reasoning ability of the Taguchi method. In the TIA, the clonal proliferation within hypermutation for several antibody diversifications and the recombination by using the Taguchi method for the local search are integrated to improve the capabilities of exploration and exploitation. The systematic reasoning ability of the Taguchi method is executed in the recombination operations to select the better genes to achieve the potential recombination, and consequently enhance the TIA. The proposed TIA is effectively applied to solve 15 benchmark problems of global optimization with 30 or 100 dimensions and very large numbers of local minima. The computational experiments show that the proposed TIA not only can find optimal or close-to-optimal solutions but also can obtain both better and more robust results than the existing improved genetic algorithms reported recently in the literature. Therefore, the TIA can be more robust, statistically sound, and quickly convergent for solving the global numerical optimization problems.
Theoretical Approach of Search of Missing Values in Data Set using Data Mining

The uncontrollable expansion of the information over the internet creates a critical job to discover which information is supportive or useful for a particular user. This paper proposes a new filtering technique using rough set and clustering technique to seek out the nearest neighbor, So that the user can get the right choice for the collection of the objects which are appropriate for them. In this paper, we are going to find out missing values in data set by using data mining specifically with the help of filtering technique that uses a membership function which is a unique suggesting approach by combining the marking, trait, likes and features of user’s information about items. Our approach moves towards the state of the art suggesting system, and reduce the recorded problems. Filtering technique suggest items by taking in to order of the taste of users, under the supposition that users will be attracted by a particular item that users alike to them have rated highly. To our best information, this is the unique study of integrating traits and likes of user’s information converted into a missing value for the development of suggesting manager.
Effect of Written Emotional Expression on Immune Function in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection: A Randomized Trial

Objectives To determine whether writing about emotional topics compared with writing about neutral topics could affect CD4+ lymphocyte count and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral load among HIV-infected patients. Methods Thirty-seven HIV-infected patients were randomly allocated to 2 writing conditions focusing on emotional or control topics. Participants wrote for 4 days, 30 minutes per day. The CD4+ lymphocyte count and HIV viral load were measured at baseline and at 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after writing. Results The emotional writing participants rated their essays as more personal, valuable, and emotional than those in the control condition. Relative to the drop in HIV viral load, CD4+ lymphocyte counts increased after the intervention for participants in the emotional writing condition compared with control writing participants. Conclusions The results are consistent with those of previous studies using emotional writing in other patient groups. Based on the self-reports of the value of writing and the preliminary laboratory findings, the results suggest that emotional writing may provide benefit for patients with HIV infection.
God, Fine-Tuning, and the Problem of Old Evidence

The fundamental constants that are involved in the laws of physics which describe our universe are finely tuned for life, in the sense that if some of the constants had slightly different values life could not exist. Some people hold that this provides evidence for the existence of God. I will present a probabilistic version of this fine-tuning argument which is stronger than all other versions in the literature. Nevertheless, I will show that one can have reasonable opinions such that the fine-tuning argument doesn't lead to an increase in one's probability for the existence of God. 1. The fine-tuning argument2. Objective versus subjective probability3. Observational selection effects4. The problem of old evidence5. Against the fine-tuning argument6. Many universes The fine-tuning argument Objective versus subjective probability Observational selection effects The problem of old evidence Against the fine-tuning argument Many universes
Model-based reconstruction of magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique that is used to obtain images of soft tissue throughout the body. Since its development in the 1970s, MRI has gained tremendous importance in clinical practice because it can produce high quality images of diagnostic value in an ever expanding range of applications from neuroimaging to body imaging to cancer. By far the dominant signal source in MRI is hydrogen nuclei in water. The presence of water at high concentration (-50M) in body tissue, combined with signal contrast modulation induced by the local environment of water molecules, accounts for the success of MRI as a medical imaging modality. As opposed to conventional MRI, which derives its signal from the water component, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) acquires the magnetic resonance signal from other chemical components, most frequently various metabolites in the brain, but also signals from tumors in breast and prostate. The spectroscopic signal arises from low concentration (-1 10mM) compounds, but in spite of the challenges posed by the resulting low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the development of MRS is motivated by the desire to directly observe signal sources other than water. The combination of MRS with spatial encoding is called magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). MRSI captures not only the relative intensities of metabolite signals at each voxel, but also their spatial distributions.
Lesson Learned from ExoMars Locomotion System Test Campaign

A mobile surface element is required in the frame of the ESA ExoMars mission for exploring Mars in order to investigate the environment and to search for evidence of life [1]. The mobility aspect is important in terms of range and duration and was investigated by Oerlikon Space AG and its team during the phase B1 of the ExoMars project. An important outcome of this activity is the manufacture and testing of a full scale rover breadboard. The breadboard mass was scaled down to 93.5kg in order to take into account the martian gravity. It is a 6 wheel drive, 6 wheel steered vehicle based on a three bogie suspension configuration. Despite the heavy payload and high location of the CoM, the vehicle is able to withstand a tilt of 40° in any direction without losing its stability. The passive suspension and flexible wheel design allows the traverse of obstacles with sizes of at least the wheel diameter (25 cm) on Mars representative soil. The locomotion level test activity was conducted on the Rover Chassis Evaluation Tool (RCET) ESA test facility developed by Oerlikon and located in their premises. This test facility consists of a 20 square meter testbed featuring Mars representative soil (i.e. soft sand) [2]. A novel measurement system was developed in order to reconstruct the drawbar pull capability at different slippage values. Obstacles as well as slopes were accommodated during the test and the vehicle performance measured. These values represent the key traverse-related mission requirements. The success of individual traverses as well as the energy, speeds, and trajectory errors on the overall vehicle were recorded. As a result of the testing program the team consolidates their understanding of the locomotion behavior and the effect of innovative development like flexible wheels, side grousers and the three bogies passive suspension system. The large amount of data coming from position sensors, force torque sensors and accelerometers are valuable for predicting the performance of the future flight model and to improve the accuracy of simulations tools. The paper presents the results of the extensive testing activity carried out with the ExoMars locomotion subsystem breadboard, the lesson learned and preliminary correlation exercise of the simulation tools.
The Effect of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy on Myofascial Pain Syndrome

Objective To investigate the effect of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) on myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). Method Thirty patients with MPS in trapezius muscle were randomly divided into two groups, ESWT group (n=15), and trigger point injections (TPI)+transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) group (n=15). For a total of 3 weeks, ESWT was undertaken with 1,500 pulse each time at one week interval totaling 4,500 pulse, TPI for once a week totaling three times and TENS for five times a week totaling three weeks. Results The changes in pain threshold (lb/cm2) showed the values of 6.86±1.35 before first therapy, 11.43±0.27 after first therapy, and 12.57±0.72 after third therapy, while TPI+TENS group showed the values of 6.20±1.92 before first therapy, 8.80±0.48 after first therapy, and 9.60±2.19 after third therapy, and the changes between the groups were significantly different (p=0.045). The changes in visual analog scale were estimated to be 6.86±0.90 before first therapy, 2.86±0.90 after first therapy, and 1.86±0.69 after third therapy in case of ESWT group, whereas the figures were estimated to be 7.20±1.30 before first therapy, 4.60±0.55 after first therapy, and 2.80±0.84 after third therapy in case of TPI+TENS group, and the changes between the groups were significantly different (p=0.010). The changes in McGill pain questionnaire (p=0.816) and pain rating scale (p=0.644) between the groups were not significantly different. The changes in neck ROM were also not significantly different between the groups (p>0.05). Conclusion The ESWT in patients with MPS in trapezius muscle are as effective as TPI and TENS for the purpose of pain relief and improving cervical range of motion.
Rapid Reshaping of Human Motor Generalization

People routinely learn how to manipulate new tools or make new movements. This learning requires the transformation of sensed movement error into updates of predictive neural control. Here, we demonstrate that the richness of motor training determines not only what we learn but how we learn. Human subjects made reaching movements while holding a robotic arm whose perturbing forces changed directions at the same rate, twice as fast, or four times as fast as the direction of movement, therefore exposing subjects to environments of increasing complexity across movement space. Subjects learned all three environments and learned the low- and medium-complexity environments equally well. We found that subjects lessened their movement-by-movement adaptation and narrowed the spatial extent of generalization to match the environmental complexity. This result demonstrated that people can rapidly reshape the transformation of sense into motor prediction to best learn a new movement task. We then modeled this adaptation using a neural network and found that, to mimic human behavior, the modeled neuronal tuning of movement space needed to narrow and reduce gain with increased environmental complexity. Prominent theories of neural computation have hypothesized that neuronal tuning of space, which determines generalization, should remained fixed during learning so that a combination of neuronal outputs can underlie adaptation simply and flexibly. Here, we challenge those theories with evidence that the neuronal tuning of movement space changed within minutes of training.
Joint Source and Relay Design for Multiuser MIMO Nonregenerative Relay Networks With Direct Links

In this paper, we investigate joint source precoding matrices and relay processing matrix design for multiuser multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) nonregenerative relay networks in the presence of the direct source-destination links. We consider both capacity and mean-square-error (MSE) criteria subject to the distributed power constraints, which are nonconvex and apparently have no simple solutions. Therefore, we propose an optimal source precoding matrix structure based on the point-to-point MIMO channel technique and a new relay processing matrix structure under the modified power constraint at relay node, based on which a nested iterative algorithm of jointly optimizing sources precoding and relay processing is established. We show that the capacity-based optimal source precoding matrices share the same structure with the MSE-based matrices and so does the optimal relay processing matrix. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the existing results.
Angular Momentum Transport by Nonlinear Hydrodynamic Turbulence in Protoplanetary Disks

The velocity uctuations in a spherical shell arising from sinusoidal perturbations of a Keplerian shear ow are studied numerically by means of fully 3D nonlinear simulations. The investigations are performed at quite high Reynolds numbers, i.e. 3000 < Re < 5000. We nd Taylor-Proudman columns of large eddies parallel to the rotation axis for suu-ciently strong perturbations. This nonlinear instability sets in at critical amplitudes with "crit / Re ? 1. The whole ow turns out to be almost axisymmetric and nonturbulent exhibiting, however, a very rich radial and latitudinal structure. The Reynolds stress hu 0 r u 0 i is positive in the entire computational domain, from its Gaussian radial proole a positive viscosity-alpha of about 10 ? 4 is derived. Our simulations reveal, however, that these structures disappear as soon as the perturbations are switched oo. The decay of energy and enstrophy is used for comparison with homogeneous turbulence.
‘In this house we believe in fairness and kindness’: Post-liberation politics in Australia's same-sex marriage postal survey

In December 2017, Australia legalized same-sex marriage (SSM), following a 13-year ban and a drawn-out postal survey on marriage equality that saw campaigners mobilize for a ‘Yes’ vote on a non-binding poll. Through a discourse analysis of the Yes and No campaigns’ television and online video advertisements, we demonstrate how the Yes campaign was symptomatic of what we call a ‘post-liberation’ approach that saw SSM as the last major hurdle for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) politics. While the No campaign linked SSM to gender fluidity, transgender identity, and sex education programmes, in contrast the Yes campaign limited itself to narratives around love and marriage. In not attending to the link between sex, gender and sexuality, the Yes campaign narrowed the possibilities of the debate, preserving existing White heteronormative expectations of gender and sexuality. We contrast the debate that unfolded during the postal survey to the Australian Gay Liberation movement of the 1970s, the latter of which was able to successfully and radically challenge similarly homophobic campaigns. Rather than relying on ‘palatable’ or mainstream ideas of equality, love and fairness, Gay Liberation in Australia embraced the radical potential of LGBTIQ activism and presented a utopian, optimistic vision of a transformed future. Here we suggest that we can learn from the history of campaigns around sexuality, to understand what was ‘won’ in the SSM debate, and to better develop strategies for change in the future.
Regulation of Thyroid Hormone-, Oestrogen- and Androgen-Related Genes by Triiodothyronine in the Brain of Silurana tropicalis

Amphibian metamorphosis is an excellent example of hormone‐dependent control of development. Thyroid hormones (THs) regulate almost all aspects of metamorphosis, including brain development and larval neuroendocrine function. Sex steroids are also important for early brain function, although little is known about interactions between the two hormonal systems. In the present study, we established brain developmental profiles for thyroid hormone receptors (tralpha and trbeta), deiodinases (dio1, dio2 and dio3), aromatase (cyp19) mRNA and activity, oestrogen receptors (eralpha and erbeta), androgen receptor (ar) and 5α‐reductases (srd5alpha1 and srd5alpha2) mRNA during Silurana (Xenopus) tropicalis metamorphosis. Real‐time reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction analyses revealed that all of the genes were expressed in the brain and for most of the genes expression increased during development, with the exception of dio2, srd5alpha1 and srd5alpha2. The ability of premetamorphic tadpoles to respond to exogenous THs was used to investigate the regulation of TH‐ and sex steroid‐related genes in the brain during development. Exposure of premetamorphic tadpoles to triiodothyronine (T3; 0, 0.5, 5 and 50 nm) for 48 h resulted in concentration‐dependent increases in trbeta, dio2, dio3, eralpha and erbeta. Expression of srd5alpha2 showed large increases (six‐ to 7.5‐fold) for all three concentrations of T3. No changes were detected in dio1, ar and cyp19 transcript levels; however, cyp19 activity increased significantly at 50 nm T3. The results obtained suggest that expression of TH‐related genes and er during development could be regulated by rising levels of THs, as previously documented in Lithobates (Rana) pipiens. The positive regulation of srd5alpha by T3 in the brain suggests that endogenous TH levels help maintain or control the rate at which srd5alpha mRNA levels decrease as metamorphosis progresses. Finally, we have identified sex steroid‐related genes that are responsive to T3, providing additional evidence of crosstalk between THs and sex steroids in the tadpole brain.
Multi-modal human state perception for pervasive computing

Pervasive/ubiquitous computing is anywhere and anytime human-centered services based on human's needs accordingly. Multi-modal human state perception for necessary context awareness is a key issue to build such a "human-centered" pervasive computing environment. In this paper, we design and implement a platform for human visual and physiological perception which gives human identity facial expression and physiological information directly. By integrating and modeling the face and physiological state information, we can also have some possible deep emotion information. These contexts are used for further pervasive computing applications such as healthcare