Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of CFTR and Mucoid Phenotype on Susceptibility and Innate Immune Responses in a Mouse Model of Pneumococcal Lung Disease

Recent studies have reported the isolation of highly mucoid serotype 3 Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) from the respiratory tracts of children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Whether these highly mucoid Sp contribute to, or are associated with, respiratory failure among patients with CF remains unknown. Other mucoid bacteria, predominately Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are associated with CF respiratory decline. We used a mouse model of CF to study pneumococcal pneumonia with highly mucoid serotype 3 and non-mucoid serotype 19A Sp isolates. We investigated susceptibility to infection, survival, and bacterial counts from bronchoaviolar lavage samples and lung homogenates, as well as associated inflammatory cytokines at the site of infection, and lung pathology. Congenic CFTR–/– mice and wild-type (WT)-mice were infected intranasally with CHB756, CHB1126, and WU2 (highly mucoid capsular serotype 3, intermediately mucoid serotype 3, and less mucoid serotype 3, respectively), or CHB1058 (non-mucoid serotype 19A). BAL, lung homogenates, and blood were collected from mice 5 days post-infection. Higher CFU recovery and shorter survival were observed following infection of CFTR–/– mice with CHB756 compared to infection with CHB1126, WU2, or CHB1058 (P≤0.001). Additionally, CFTR–/– mice infected with CHB756 and CHB1126 were more susceptible to infection than WT-mice (P≤0.05). Between CFTR–/– mice and WT-mice, no significant differences in TNF-α, CXCL1/KC concentrations, or lung histopathology were observed. Our results indicate that highly mucoid type 3 Sp causes more severe lung disease than non-mucoid Sp, and does so more readily in the lungs of CFTR–/– than WT-mice.
Performance Evaluation of Cauchy Reed-Solomon Coding on Multicore Systems

We have evaluated the performance of Cauchy Reed-Solomon (CRS) encoding of data blocks with sizes 32 kB to 256 MB. The performance measurements are done on an Intel processor with 4 cores and integrated graphics support. We also used an AMD graphics card in our performance evaluations. Three versions of the CRS algorithm are developed: one sequential version and two OpenCL versions. The OpenCL versions have been targeted to the CPU, the integrated GPU and the AMD graphics card. The measurements show that the graphics card performs better than CPU for large buffers. However, the highest throughput is obtained for one of the CPU versions and moderate buffer sizes (around 1 MB).
Two Simultaneous Leaks Isolation in a Pipeline by Transient Responses

This paper presents a procedure to isolate two simultaneous leaks in a pipeline using the parameter estimation framework with a reduction in the research interval of the four unknown parameters when only pressure and flow rate are measured at the extremes of the line. Considering the steady state parameter Zeqwhich characterizes the subset of two indistinguishable leaks, a family of dynamic models with constraints is obtained. This family, called F, allows to reformulate in a simple way the leaks identification task in which diverse off-line optimization algorithms can be used to solve it. The formulation of the optimization task with constraints is the main contribution of this work. The advantages of the family F in term of the search interval reduction are discussed using the parameters of a water pilot pipeline of 135m long in which the L2norm of the upstream flow error is minimized using real data.
The valley Hall effect in MoS2 transistors

Using the valleys in monolayer MoS2 The electronic structure of the two-dimensional material MoS2 has two distinct “valleys” of energy that may help to carry information in future electronic devices. Mak et al. observed the so-called valley Hall effect in a monolayer of MoS2. The electrons from different valleys moved in opposite directions across the sample, with one valley being overrepresented with respect to the other. The scientists achieved this by shining circularly polarized light on the material, which created an imbalance in the population of the two valleys. The findings may enable practical applications in the newly formed field of valleytronics. Science, this issue p. 1489 Circularly polarized light is used to induce valley-specific transport in a monolayer of molybdenum disulfide. Electrons in two-dimensional crystals with a honeycomb lattice structure possess a valley degree of freedom (DOF) in addition to charge and spin. These systems are predicted to exhibit an anomalous Hall effect whose sign depends on the valley index. Here, we report the observation of this so-called valley Hall effect (VHE). Monolayer MoS2 transistors are illuminated with circularly polarized light, which preferentially excites electrons into a specific valley, causing a finite anomalous Hall voltage whose sign is controlled by the helicity of the light. No anomalous Hall effect is observed in bilayer devices, which have crystal inversion symmetry. Our observation of the VHE opens up new possibilities for using the valley DOF as an information carrier in next-generation electronics and optoelectronics.
Visual IoT Security: Data Hiding in AMBTC Images Using Block-Wise Embedding Strategy †

This study investigates combining the property of human vision system and a 2-phase data hiding strategy to improve the visual quality of data-embedded compressed images. The visual Internet of Things (IoT) is indispensable in smart cities, where different sources of visual data are collected for more efficient management. With the transmission through the public network, security issue becomes critical. Moreover, for the sake of increasing transmission efficiency, image compression is widely used. In order to respond to both needs, we present a novel data hiding scheme for image compression with Absolute Moment Block Truncation Coding (AMBTC). Embedding secure data in digital images has broad security uses, e.g., image authentication, prevention of forgery attacks, and intellectual property protection. The proposed method embeds data into an AMBTC block by two phases. In the intra-block embedding phase, a hidden function is proposed, where the five AMBTC parameters are extracted and manipulated to embed the secret data. In the inter-block embedding phase, the relevance of high mean and low mean values between adjacent blocks are exploited to embed additional secret data in a reversible way. Between these two embedding phases, a halftoning scheme called direct binary search is integrated to efficiently improve the image quality without changing the fixed parameters. The modulo operator is used for data extraction. The advantages of this study contain two aspects. First, data hiding is an essential area of research for increasing the IoT security. Second, hiding in compressed images instead of original images can improve the network transmission efficiency. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.
On non-cooperative location privacy: a game-theoretic analysis

In mobile networks, authentication is a required primitive for the majority of security protocols. However, an adversary can track the location of mobile nodes by monitoring pseudonyms used for authentication. A frequently proposed solution to protect location privacy suggests that mobile nodes collectively change their pseudonyms in regions called mix zones. Because this approach is costly, self-interested mobile nodes might decide not to cooperate and could thus jeopardize the achievable location privacy. In this paper, we analyze the non-cooperative behavior of mobile nodes by using a game-theoretic model, where each player aims at maximizing its location privacy at a minimum cost. We first analyze the Nash equilibria in n-player complete information games. Because mobile nodes in a privacy-sensitive system do not know their opponents' payoffs, we then consider incomplete information games. We establish that symmetric Bayesian-Nash equilibria exist with simple threshold strategies in n-player games and derive the equilibrium strategies. By means of numerical results, we show that mobile nodes become selfish when the cost of changing pseudonyms is small, whereas they cooperate more when the cost of changing pseudonyms increases. Finally, we design a protocol - the PseudoGame protocol - based on the results of our analysis.
A context detection approach using GPS module and emerging sensors in smartphone platform

Nowadays smartphones are equipped with various sensors and powerful processing modules, and are accessible to flexible communication networks, thus enabling complex applications such as context awareness, activity recognition, health care monitoring and so forth. These applications typically require contextual information to optimize the effectiveness, e.g. indoor/outdoor identification. This paper develops an indoor/outdoor detection method based on a generic smartphone platform, utilizing the information extracted from the internal clock, GPS module and light intensity sensor. The vote principle is used in the detection. The approach has been tested in multiple locations in order to evaluate performance. This includes residences, office space, roads, restaurants, markets and so forth. Two kinds of detection results consisting of static and walking scenarios are shown in the paper. This method can output detection results with good accuracy in both day and night and all weather conditions. The approach can operate on different smartphone profiles from low-end to high-end. An optimized method also presents for some advanced smartphones with GPS satellite signal noise ratio output, which has been shown more effective in real-time response and detection accuracy.
Influence of Rosiglitazone on the Expression of PPARγ, NF-κB, and TNF-α in Rat Model of Ulcerative Colitis

Aim. To observe the disease activity index (DAI) and the colonic mucosa damage index (CMDI), detect the colonic mucosal expression of PPARγ, NF-κB, and TNF-α in rats with ulcerative colitis (UC), and to investigate the protective role of rosiglitazone in UC. Methods. Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into three groups: a control group, a rosiglitazone treatment group, and a UC model group. Rats were sacrificed on days 7, 14, 21, or 35 following administration of treatment after enema and DAI, CMDI and colonic expression of PPARγ, NF-κB, and TNF-α were assessed. Results. In the UC model group, DAI, CDMI and the colonic expression of NF-κB and TNF-α increased significantly compared to the control group at all timepoints, but PPARγ decreased significantly. Furthermore, in the rosiglitazone treatment group, DAI and CMDI decreased significantly on the 14-day, 21-day, and 35-day timepoints compared to the UC model group; the colonic expression of NF-κB and TNF-α decreased compared to UC model group at all timepoints, but the PPARγ expression increased significantly. Conclusions. Rosiglitazone can alleviate colonic mucosal inflammation and have the protective role on UC by upregulating PPARγ expression and downregulating NF-κB and TNF-α expression.
Lysine Residues Are Not Required for Proteasome-Mediated Proteolysis of the Auxin/Indole Acidic Acid Protein IAA11[OPEN]

Ubiquitin attachment to nonlysine sites on a transcriptional repressor implies a diversity in ubiquitination linkages. Although many ubiquitin-proteasome substrates have been characterized in plants, very little is known about the corresponding ubiquitin attachment(s) underlying regulated proteolysis. Current dogma asserts that ubiquitin is typically covalently attached to a substrate through an isopeptide bond between the ubiquitin carboxy terminus and a substrate lysyl amino group. However, nonlysine (non-Lys) ubiquitin attachment has been observed in other eukaryotes, including the N terminus, cysteine, and serine/threonine modification. Here, we investigate site(s) of ubiquitin attachment on indole-3-acetic acid1 (IAA1), a short-lived Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) Auxin/indole-3-acetic acid (Aux/IAA) family member. Most Aux/IAA proteins function as negative regulators of auxin responses and are targeted for degradation after ubiquitination by the ubiquitin ligase SCFTIR1/AFB (for S-Phase Kinase-Associated Protein1, Cullin, F-box [SCF] with Transport Inhibitor Response1 [TIR1]/Auxin Signaling F-box [AFB]) by an interaction directly facilitated by auxin. Surprisingly, using a Histidine-Hemaglutinin (HIS6x-HA3x) epitope-tagged version expressed in vivo, Lys-less IAA1 was ubiquitinated and rapidly degraded in vivo. Lys-substituted versions of IAA1 localized to the nucleus as Yellow Fluorescent Protein fusions and interacted with both TIR1 and IAA7 in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) two-hybrid experiments, indicating that these proteins were functional. Ubiquitination on both HIS6x-HA3x-IAA1 and Lys-less HIS6x-HA3x-IAA1 proteins was sensitive to sodium hydroxide treatment, indicative of ubiquitin oxyester formation on serine or threonine residues. Additionally, base-resistant forms of ubiquitinated IAA1 were observed for HIS6x-HA3x-IAA1, suggesting additional lysyl-linked ubiquitin on this protein. Characterization of other Aux/IAA proteins showed that they have diverse degradation rates, adding additional complexity to auxin signaling. Altogether, these data indicate that Aux/IAA family members have protein-specific degradation rates and that ubiquitination of Aux/IAAs can occur on multiple types of amino residues to promote rapid auxin-mediated degradation.
Diseases of the Retinal Pigment Epithelium-Photoreceptor Complex in Nonrodent Animal Models

Book Overview: The retinal pigment epithelium is a critical tissue within the eye. It lies directly behind the retina, where it provides metabolic support to the photoreceptors and controls their local environment. As a result, the RPE is vital to retinal function, but also a site of aging and disease that cause dysfunction and visual loss. This book brings together comprehensive reviews of basic and clinical science concerning the RPE. It is organized to juxtapose chapters on RPE disease with chapters on the underlying pathophysiology. These include up-todate accounts of growth factors, laser effects, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, Bruch's membrane pathology, as well as new diagnostic tools such as ocular coherence tomography, in vivo imaging of lipofuscin and nonphotic electrical responses. Other chapters cover pharmacology and toxicology, mechanisms of retinal adhesion and detachment, RPE pigments and transport, congenital and dystrophic diseases, animal models of RPE disease, and different aspects of age-related macular degeneration. The history and evolutionary aspects of the RPE are also presented. The contributing authors are experienced clinicians and eminent basic scientists who work on this critical part of the eye. The book will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in the eye, and a necessity for specialists in the fields of retinal physiology and retinal disease. Disciplines Eye Diseases | Medicine and Health Sciences | Ophthalmology | Veterinary Medicine This book chapter is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/vet_papers/111
Video Generation Using 3D Convolutional Neural Network

Recently, content generation using neural network has been widely studied. Motivated by this recent progress, we studied the generation of videos using only a label as input. In our method, we iteratively minimize two objective functions at the same time : an objective function to evaluate how close the video is to the target class and another to evaluate how natural-appearing the video is. Our proposed method uses the cross-entropy error between the target label and the output of 3D convolutional neural network (C3D) as the objective function for evaluating how close the video is to the target class and uses the Euclidean distance between the input video and the video decoded from our temporal convolutional auto-encoder ("tempCAE") as the objective function for evaluating how natural-appearing the video is. We conducted an experiment evaluating the generated videos using a crowdsourcing service and confirmed the utility of our method.
Zinc oxide nanoparticles

The invention relates to a method for producing zinc oxide nanoparticles having an average particle size in the range of from 3 to 50 nm. Said method is characterized by reacting in step a) one or more precursors for the nanoparticles in an alcohol to give the nanoparticles, b) terminating, once the absorption edge has achieved the desired value in the UV/VIS specter of the reaction solution, growth of the nanoparticles by adding at least one modifier which is a precursor for silica, optionally c) modifying the silica coat by adding at least one additional surface-modifying agent selected from the group comprising organofunctional silanes, quaternary ammonium compounds, phosphonates, phosphonium and sulfonoium compounds or mixtures thereof, and optionally d) removing the alcohol from step a) and replacing it by another organic solvent. ; The invention also relates to the nanoparticles so obtained and to their use for UV protection in polymers.
Region-based tone mapping for efficient High Dynamic Range video coding

In this paper, we address the problem of efficient High Dynamic Range (HDR) video coding. For this purpose, we introduce a new representation which segments the HDR image into low-range and highrange regions which are independently tone mapped. This representation allows preserving more information, leading to a higher visual quality of the reconstructed HDR image.
Work-Family Conflict and Social Support: A Study o f Female Secretaries in Malaysia

ABSTRAK Terdapat semakin ramai wanita yang telah berkahwin terlibat dalam tenaga buruh dan mempunyai tanggung jawab di tempat kelja dan di rumah secara serentak. Dengan ini mereka sering mengalami konflik antara peranan kerja dan keluarga. Penyelidikan ini mengkaji intensiti konflik antara peranan kelja dan keluarga yang dialami oleh setiausaha wanita di negeri Selangor, Malaysia. Penyelidikan ini juga menganalisis sokongan sosial yang diterima di tempat kelja daripada ketua dan rakan sekerja, dan di luar tempat kelja daripada suami serta rakan-rakan dan saudara-mal·a. Data telah diperolehi daripada 120 setiausaha dengan menggunakan borang soal selidik yang diisi sendiri. Setiausaha dalam penyelidikan ini mengalami konflik kerja-keluarga dengan intensiti yang berbeza dalam usaha mereka untuk memenuhi tuntutan yang bercanggah bagi peranan kerja dan keluarga. Mereka menerima sokongan sosial yang paling sedikit daripada ketua dan paling banyak daripada suami. Implikasi hasil kajian bagi wanita beke'ja yang sudah berkahwin, dari segi kemudahan, perkhidmatan sokongan dan sokongan sosial dibincang.
Inflammation by Triggering TLR7 Redirects Th2-Mediated Murine Lung (9-Benzyl-2-Butoxy-8-Hydroxyadenine) Modified Adenine

Substitute adenine (SA)-2, a synthetic heterocycle chemically related to adenine with substitutions in positions 9-, 2-, and 8- (i.e., 9-benzyl-2-butoxy-8-hydroxyadenine), induces in vitro immunodeviation of Th2 cells to a Th0/Th1 phenotype. In this article, we evaluate the in vivo ability of SA-2 to affect Th2-mediated lung inﬂammation and its safety. TLR triggering and NF- (cid:1) B activation by SA-2 were analyzed on TLR-transfected HEK293 cells and on puriﬁed bone marrow dendritic cells. The in vivo effect of SA-2 on experimental airway inﬂammation was evaluated in both prepriming and prechallenge protocols by analyzing lung inﬂammation, including tissue eosinophilia and goblet cell hyperplasia, bronchoalveolar lavage ﬂuid cell types, and the functional proﬁle of Ag-speciﬁc T cells from draining lymph nodes and spleens. SA-2 induced mRNA expression and production of proinﬂammatory (IL-6, IL-12, and IL-27) and regulatory (IL-10) cytokines and chemokines (CXCL10) in dendritic cells but down-regulated TGF- (cid:2) . Prepriming administration of SA-2 inhibited OVA-speciﬁc Abs and Th2-driven lung inﬂammation, including tissue eosinophilia and goblet cells, with a prevalent Foxp3-independent regulatory mechanism. Prechallenge treatment with SA-2 reduced the lung inﬂammation through the induction of a prevalent Th1-related mechanism. In this model the activity of SA-2 was route-inde-pendent, but adjuvant- and Ag dose-dependent. SA-2-treated mice did not develop any increase of serum antinuclear autoantibodies. In conclusion, critical substitutions in the adenine backbone creates a novel synthetic TLR7 ligand that shows the ability to ameliorate Th2-mediated airway inﬂammation by a complex mechanism, involving Th1 redirection and cytokine-mediated regulation, which prevents autoreactivity. The Journal of Immunology, 2009, 182: 880–889.
Restrictive emotionality, perceptions of therapy and help-seeking intentions in males receiving psychological services

The degree to which men's current or most recent access to professional psychological help was influenced by others, and who influenced them was investigated. The role of restrictive emotionality and alexithymia in therapy engagement, and future independent help-seeking intentions were also assessed. Seventy-three males currently accessing, or who had recently accessed a mental health service, completed a questionnaire that asked about their decision to seek help, difficulty or discomfort with emotions, engagement in therapy, perceptions of treatment helpfulness and future help-seeking intentions. Ninety-six percent of participants reported their decision to seek help was influenced by others, with G.P.'s, and intimate partners most influential. Thirty-seven percent indicated that without this influence, they would not have sought help. Restrictive emotionality, alexithymia and the degree of influence provided for the current or most recent episode of professional help were all unrelated to future help-seeking intentions. Once in therapy, restrictive emotionality and alexithymia were both related to perceptions of treatment helpfulness, but had only a small relationship with therapeutic bond. Therapeutic bond predicted perceptions of treatment helpfulness, and both variables were related to future help-seeking intentions. Perceptions of treatment helpfulness did not mediate the relationship between bond and future help-seeking intentions.
Android science: conscious and subconscious recognition

How can we develop a robot that can naturally interact with people? One approach is to build an android whose appearance and movements are very humanlike. People anthropomorphize objects for communication. Therefore, we can use androids as a testbed for studying human–human and human–machine interactions. This novel research approach is called android science. In android science, the methods of engineering and cognitive science converge. Roboticists attempt to build very humanlike robots based on knowledge from cognitive science, while cognitive scientists employ robots to verify cognitive hypotheses about human beings. This paper proposes the framework of android science, introduces the androids we have developed, and discusses conscious and subconscious human recognition of these androids as a fundamental issue for android science.
Characterization of a small plasmid from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and its use for shuttle vector construction

A 2.3-kb plasmid present in about 20 copies per genome was identified in extracts of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans G100A and designated pBG1. It appears to be unable to replicate in Escherichia coli. Although composite plasmids of pBG1 inserted into pTZ18U are stable in E. coli, few if any pBG1-specific transcripts are detectable. The plasmid sequence reveals several features typical of the origin of replication of non-ColE1 enterobacterial plasmids as well as several potential open reading frames. This small replicon has been shown to support the replication of recombinant plasmids in D. desulfuricans G100A and Desulfovibrio fructosovorans. A conjugable shuttle vector has been constructed.