Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epigenetic Signatures May Explain the Relationship between Socioeconomic Position and Risk of Mental Illness: Preliminary Findings from an Urban Community-Based Sample

Low socioeconomic position (SEP) has previously been linked to a number of negative health indicators, including poor mental health. The biologic mechanisms linking SEP and mental health remain poorly understood. Recent work suggests that social exposures influence DNA methylation in a manner salient to mental health. We conducted a pilot investigation to assess whether SEP, measured as educational attainment, modifies the association between genomic methylation profiles and traumatic stress in a trauma–exposed sample. Results show that methylation × SEP interactions occur preferentially in genes pertaining to nervous system function, suggesting a plausible biological pathway by which SEP may enhance sensitivity to stress and, in turn, risk of posttraumatic stress disorder. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Biodemography and Social Biology for the following free supplemental resource: Supplementary tables of full model and functional annotation clustering results. ]
A perspective on bridging scales and design of models using low-dimensional manifolds and data-driven model inference

Systems in nature capable of collective behaviour are nonlinear, operating across several scales. Yet our ability to account for their collective dynamics differs in physics, chemistry and biology. Here, we briefly review the similarities and differences between mathematical modelling of adaptive living systems versus physico-chemical systems. We find that physics-based chemistry modelling and computational neuroscience have a shared interest in developing techniques for model reductions aiming at the identification of a reduced subsystem or slow manifold, capturing the effective dynamics. By contrast, as relations and kinetics between biological molecules are less characterized, current quantitative analysis under the umbrella of bioinformatics focuses on signal extraction, correlation, regression and machine-learning analysis. We argue that model reduction analysis and the ensuing identification of manifolds bridges physics and biology. Furthermore, modelling living systems presents deep challenges as how to reconcile rich molecular data with inherent modelling uncertainties (formalism, variables selection and model parameters). We anticipate a new generative data-driven modelling paradigm constrained by identified governing principles extracted from low-dimensional manifold analysis. The rise of a new generation of models will ultimately connect biology to quantitative mechanistic descriptions, thereby setting the stage for investigating the character of the model language and principles driving living systems. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Multiscale modelling at the physics–chemistry–biology interface’.
Drivers of Information Quality on Blogs: The Case of Business Events

With the exponential growth of online content in general and social media in particular, quality of content has important business implications. Hence, the often heard phrase – “content is king”. While the importance of information quality is well established, the question of what factors drive content quality has received limited attention. In this exploratory study, we seek to understand the drivers of information quality on blogs in the context of business events. We posit that event characteristics (information needs) and firm characteristics (firm visibility) jointly influence blog information quality. Our empirical analysis shows that quality of information is high where information needs are high and mixed results regarding the relationship between information quality of blog content and firm visibility.
Mirau-based full-field time-domain optical coherence tomography using Ce3+ :YAG crystal fiber light source

Based on single-objective construction utilizing high brightness Ce3+:YAG single-clad crystal fiber light source, this Mirau-based full-field time-domain optical coherence tomography with circular polarization incident light represents deeper penetration in scattering medium. Using objective-changeable ability of home-designed Mirau objective, this system provides different applications, like biological tissue and single cells, by different spatial resolution with corresponding dynamics. High quality image relying on less ghost image and near common-path interference was demonstrated under this compact and power-stable system.
High Performance Communication and Navigation Systems for Interplanetary Networks

The increasing development of technologies enabling efficient space exploration and data communications has recently fostered a number of scientific missions, aimed at supporting the research in the field of geology and astronomy. To this end, the design of an effective telecommunication infrastructure is the challenge offered to research scientists and space engineers. In particular, the definition of a network architecture suitable to support both communication and navigation services is of paramount importance for future space missions. In this view, this paper reviews protocols and architectures presently used in space missions and proposes improved transmission strategies, relying upon a packet-layer coding approach, which is expected to improve the overall performance.
SPIKE: A novel session key management protocol with time-varying secure cluster formation in wireless sensor networks

In this paper we propose Symmetric Parallel Immalleable Key Establishment (SPIKE), a novel session key distribution protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). In the protocol, each node before being deployed sets up a secret key with a central Key Management Server (KMS). After deployment, when a node wants to initiate a secure session with another node, both nodes, in parallel, turn to KMS for mutual authentication. The symmetric authentication steps are designed carefully to thwart several types of security breaches present in WSN environment such as Man-in-the-Middle attack, Replay attack, Amplification attack, Sybil attack, Denial of Service (DoS) attack. After verification, KMS generates and dispatches the session key to both nodes, simultaneously. Each session key is valid for a certain period. Later when a node wants to communicate with another node which is already part of some secure communication group, KMS includes the new node also in the same session. This incrementally builds up a group of nodes forming a connected component of the original network graph, all sharing the same session key. In terms of the key storage requirement per node, exactly one session key needs to be maintained in a node at any given instance. This is independent of the network size and the number of concurrent sessions active on that node. In the server side too, session key maintenance overhead becomes minimal as the protocol assigns the same key to all the nodes belonging to a connected component.
Soil–structure interaction effects on seismic behaviour of multistorey structures

This paper addresses the behaviour of multistorey structures considering soil–structure interaction under earthquake excitation. To this end, samples 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 storey RC plane frames corresponding to aspect ratios (h/ℓ) of 1/3, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are designed based on Turkish Seismic Design Code and analysed in time domain with incremental dynamic analysis. Inelastic displacement ratios and strength reduction factors are investigated for designed sample plane frames for 64 earthquake motions recorded on different site conditions such as rock, stiff soil, soft soil and very soft soil. According to the analysis result, strength reduction factors of sample buildings considering soil–structure interaction are found to be smaller than design strength reduction factors, given the current seismic design codes. This condition leads to an unsafe design and non-conservative design forces. Besides, inelastic displacement ratios of fixed-base and interacting cases are found to be quite different especially for periods shorter than . 5 s.
Analysis of friendship network from MMORPG based data

This work analyzes friendship network from a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). The network is based on data from a private server that was active from 2007 until 2011. The work conducts a standard analysis of the network and then divides players according to different groups based on their activity. Work checks how friendship network can be correlated to the clan (a self-organized group of players who often form a league and play on the same side in a match) network. Main part of the work is the recommendation method for players that are not part of any clan and it is based on communities of friendship network.
Distance Preserving Graph Simplification

Large graphs are difficult to represent, visualize, and understand. In this paper, we introduce â€œgate graphâ€ - a new approach to perform graph simplification. A gate graph provides a simplified topological view of the original graph. Specifically, we construct a gate graph from a large graph so that for any â€œnon-localâ€ vertex pair (distance greater than some threshold) in the original graph, their shortest-path distance can be recovered by consecutive â€œlocalâ€ walks through the gate vertices in the gate graph. We perform a theoretical investigation on the gate-vertex set discovery problem. We characterize its computational complexity and reveal the upper bound of minimum gate vertex set using VC-dimension theory. We propose an efficient mining algorithm to discover a gate-vertex set with guaranteed logarithmic bound. The detailed experimental results using both real and synthetic graphs demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach.
The Diaphragm and Lubricant Gel for Prevention of Cervical Sexually Transmitted Infections: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background We evaluated the effectiveness of the Ortho All-Flex Diaphragm, lubricant gel (Replens®) and condoms compared to condoms alone on the incidence of chlamydial and gonococcal infections in an open-label randomized controlled trial among women at risk of HIV/STI infections. Methods We randomized 5045 sexually-active women at three sites in Southern Africa. Participants who tested positive for curable STIs were treated prior to enrollment as per local guidelines. Women were followed quarterly and tested for Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) or Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) infection by nucleic-acid amplification testing (Roche Amplicor®) using first-catch urine specimens. STIs detected at follow-up visits were treated. We compared the incidence of first infection after randomization between study arms in both intent-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol populations. Findings Baseline demographic, behavioral and clinical characteristics were balanced across study arms. Nearly 80% of participants were under 35 years of age. Median follow-up time was 21 months and the retention rate was over 93%. There were 471 first chlamydia infections, 247 in the intervention arm and 224 in the control arm with an overall incidence of 6.2/100 woman-years (wy) (relative hazard (RH) 1.11, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.93–1.33; p = 0.25) and 192 first gonococcal infections, 95 in the intervention arm and 97 in the control arm with an overall incidence of 2.4/100wy (RH 0.98, 95%CI: 0.74–1.30; p = 0.90). Per protocol results indicated that when diaphragm adherence was defined as “always use” since the last visit, there was a significant reduction in the incidence of GC infection among women randomized to the intervention arm (RH 0.61, 95%CI: 0.41–0.91, P = 0.02). Interpretation There was no difference by study arm in the rate of acquisition of CT or GC. However, our per-protocol results suggest that consistent use of the diaphragm may reduce acquisition of GC. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00121459 [NCT00121459]
A 10-bit 25-MS/s 1.25-mW Pipelined ADC With a Semidigital Gm-Based Amplifier

A semidigital Gm-based amplifier is proposed for a low-power pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The amplifier performs a class-AB operation by smoothly changing between a comparator-like semidigital driver and a continuous-time high-gain amplifier according to the input voltage difference. A 10-bit pipelined ADC with 2.5-bit/stage architecture is implemented in a 0.13- CMOS. The ADC consumes 1.25 mW at a sampling rate of 25 MS/s and achieves a Nyquist-rate figure-of-merit of 139 and 232 fJ/c-s without and with power consumption from a resistor ladder, respectively.
Puberty, statural growth, and growth hormone release in children with cerebral palsy.

OBJECTIVE Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are smaller than normally growing children. The association between the growth hormone (GH) axis and growth in children with CP during puberty is unknown. We compared growth and markers of the GH axis in pre-pubertal and pubertal children with moderate to severe CP and without CP over a three-year period. STUDY DESIGN Twenty children with CP, ages 6-18, Gross Motor Function Classification System levels III-V, were compared to a group of sixty-three normally growing children of similar age. Anthropometry, Tanner stage, bone age, and laboratory analyses were performed every six months for three years. Laboratory values included spontaneous overnight GH release, fasting IGF-1 and IGFBP-3. Repeated measures models were used to evaluate interactions among Tanner stage and group (children with CP vs. reference children), taking into account gender, age, and nutritional status. RESULTS Children with CP grew more slowly than those without CP at all Tanner stages (p<0.01). Patterns of IGF-1 and GH secretion in children with CP were similar to those of the reference group; however, the concentrations of IGF-1 (p<0.01) and GH (p<0.01) were lower in girls with CP, with a similar trend for boys (p=0.10 and 0.14, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Diminished circulating IGF-1 and GH concentrations may explain the differences in growth between the two groups.
Synthesis of CdSe Quantum-Dots-Sensitized TiO2 Nanocomposites with Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity

CdSe Quantum Dots (QDs) sensitized TiO2 photocatylysts were synthesized by a facile sol-gel method at room temperature. The effects of CdSe QDs concentration on the properties of the photocatalysts were studied by XRD, BET, SEM, UV/vis. The photocatalytic performance was investigated by degrading methylene blue (MB) under halogen-tungsten lamp irradiation. The results revealed that the catalysts doped with CdSe QDs show large surface area, small crystal size and narrow band gap. The catalysts doped with 0.05% CdSe QDs possessed the best activity, and the degradation efficiency of methylene blue (MB) is up to 99.2% within 180 min.
Automated characterization of arrhythmias using nonlinear features from tachycardia ECG beats

Arrhythmias are abnormal heartbeat rhythms, categorized as either harmless or life-threatening. Commonly, elderly people are more vulnerable to life-threatening arrhythmias, namely Atrial Fibrillation (A-Fib), Atrial Flutter (AFL) and Ventricular Fibrillation (V-Fib). Electrocardiogram (ECG) is the primary diagnostic tool that can be used to detect and diagnose cardiac abnormalities including serious arrhythmias. Therefore, using ECG signal beats, we have proposed a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system for automated diagnosis of serious arrhythmias. The ECG beats are analyzed using thirteen nonlinear features namely, Shannon entropy, Fuzzy entropy, Tsallis entropy, approximate entropy, Permutation entropy, Modified Multi Scale entropy, Wavelet entropy, Sample entropy, Renyi entropy, Signal Energy, Fractal Dimension, Kolmogorov Sinai entropy and Largest Lyapunov Exponent. Subsequently, the extracted features are ranked using ANOVA and subjected to automated classification using the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Decision Tree (DT) classifiers. In addition, the extracted features are trained and tested with ten-fold cross validation analysis. DT classifier yielded 96.3% accuracy, 99.3% sensitivity and 84.1% specificity with 14 features and the KNN classifier yielded 93.3% accuracy, 97.5% sensitivity and 75.3% specificity using 12 features. Positively, the proposed CAD system is able to assist the clinical staff in the arrhythmias diagnosis by making the process faster and simpler. Consequently, the necessary treatments can be given expeditiously.
A Mobile-Specific Failure Classification and Its Usage to Focus Quality Assurance

The use of mobile applications for business tasks calls for effective quality assurance during development to prevent potential failures of the mobile application and the consequential costs depending on the business process. Failures of mobile applications are different from failures of desktop applications (e.g., Due to context dependencies) and no sufficient knowledge exists regarding typical failure patterns and their consideration in quality assurance. Based on a literature review and project experiences, this contribution describes typical failures arising during and after the development of mobile applications. These failures have been classified, including the relationships to their typical fault aspects. This enables to focus quality assurance activities, resulting in higher effectiveness of quality assurance.
One Size Does Not Fit All: Profiling Personalized Time-Evolving User Behaviors

Given the set of social interactions of a user, how can we detect changes in interaction patterns over time? While most previous work has focused on studying network-wide properties and spotting outlier users, the dynamics of individual user interactions remain largely unexplored. This work sets out to explore those dynamics in a way that is minimally invasive to privacy, thus, avoids to rely on the textual content of user posts---except for validation. Our contributions are two-fold. First, in contrast to previous studies, we challenge the use of a fixed interval of observation. We introduce and empirically validate the "Temporal Asymmetry Hypothesis", which states that appropriate observation intervals should vary both among users and over time for the same user. We validate this hypothesis using eight different datasets, including email, messaging, and social networks data. Second, we propose iNET, a comprehensive analytic and visualization framework which provides personalized insights into user behavior and operates in a streaming fashion. iNET learns personalized baseline behaviors of users and uses them to identify events that signify changes in user behavior. We evaluate the effectiveness of iNET by analyzing more than half a million interactions from Facebook users. Labeling of the identified changes in user behavior showed that iNET is able to capture a wide spectrum of exogenous and endogenous events, while the baselines are less diverse in nature and capture only 66% of that spectrum. Furthermore, iNET exhibited the highest precision (95%) compared to all competing approaches.
Probabilistic Rateless Multiple Access for Machine-to-Machine Communication

Future machine-to-machine (M2M) communications need to support a massive number of devices communicating with each other with little or no human intervention. Random access techniques were originally proposed to enable M2M multiple access, but suffer from severe congestion and access delay in an M2M system with a large number of devices. In this paper, we propose a novel multiple access scheme for M2M communications based on the capacity-approaching analog fountain code to efficiently minimize the access delay and satisfy the delay requirement for each device. This is achieved by allowing M2M devices to transmit at the same time on the same channel in an optimal probabilistic manner based on their individual delay requirements. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a near optimal rate performance and at the same time guarantees the delay requirements of the devices. We further propose a simple random access strategy and characterize the required overhead. Simulation results show that the proposed approach significantly outperforms the existing random access schemes currently used in long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) standard in terms of the access delay.
Parametric Analyses of High-Temperature Data for Aluminum Alloys

Optical microscopy is one of the most valuable--but under utilized--tools for analyzing fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites. This hands-on instructional book covers everything; sample preparation, microscopic techniques, and applications. The power of optical microscopy to study the microstructure of these heterogeneous, anisotropic materials is illustrated with over 180 full color images. This book is designed as an instructional reference for preparing fiber-reinforced polymeric-matrix composite materials for examination by optical microscopy and the techniques of optical microscopy used for analysis. It is also meant to be a teaching tool for those who want to learn more about the microstructure of these heterogeneous and anisotropic materials. The content is also appropriate for experienced microscopists or metallurgists who become involved in the preparation and analysis of polymeric composites. This book begins with an introduction to fiber-reinforced polymer-matrix composite materials that focuses on the microstructure and morphology of these unique materials. In the following chapters, the authors explain the materials, equipment, and procedures of how to prepare composite samples, followed by the illumination and contrast techniques of optical microscopy. Included in these chapters are the methods and reagents that are used to bring out distinct features in composite materials, such as different phases and areas of degradation or damage. Also included are details of how to prepare special composite materials having vast differences in hardness and material properties. The remaining chapters present various topics of studies of fiber-reinforced polymeric composite materials that have been performed by using optical microscopy.
Prototyping with microsoft .net gadgeteer

Microsoft . NET Gadgeteer is a new prototyping platform that makes it easier to construct, program and shape new kinds of computing objects. It is comprised of modular hardware, software libraries and 3D CAD support. Together, these elements support the key activities involved both in the rapid prototyping and the small-scale production of custom embedded, interactive and connected devices. We propose to organize and run a studio at TEI 2010 where participants are introduced to the platform and its capabilities. Participants will work in groups, assembling electronic modules, writing software and designing a case or enclosure for their device. The end-result will be that each group develops a fully functional device, which can be exhibited at the TEI demo session.
Counterparty Risk for Credit Default Swaps: Markov Chain Interacting Intensities Model with Stochastic Intensity

We analyze the counterparty risk for credit default swaps using the Markov chain model of portfolio credit risk of multiple obligors with interacting default intensity processes. The default correlation between the protection seller and underlying entity is modeled by an increment in default intensity upon the occurrence of an external shock event. The arrival of the shock event is a Cox process whose stochastic intensity is assumed to follow an affine diffusion process with jumps. We examine how the correlated default risks between the protection seller and the underlying entity may affect the credit default premium in a credit default swap.