Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LAVA: secure delegation of mobile applets: design, implementation and applications

Mobile agents are tasks or processes which can be autonomously delegated or transferred from one network node to another: This distributed computing paradigm is modern and powerful. Many network-based applications have been developed or designed under this model. The application areas include, for example, intelligent agent, network and system management, web-based mobile applets, electronic commerce and more recently, active networking. While offering a new attractive paradigm over the Internet, this mobile agent technology introduces significant new security threats. For example, a malicious agent with certain access rights might be able to destroy critical information on the nodes it visits. LAVA is a proposed architecture to facilitate secure delegation of executable code. In this paper we present this architecture, its design, and our prototype implementation. One SNMP network management application has been developed on top of the LAVA prototype.
Information theoretic analysis of pulmonary stretch receptor spike trains.

Primary afferent neurons transduce physical, continuous stimuli into discrete spike trains. Investigators have long been interested in interpreting the meaning of the number or pattern of action potentials in attempts to decode the spike train back into stimulus parameters. Pulmonary stretch receptors (PSRs) are visceral mechanoreceptors that respond to deformation of the lungs and pulmonary tree. They provide the brain stem with feedback that is used by cardiorespiratory control circuits. In anesthetized, paralyzed, artificially ventilated rabbits, we recorded the action potential trains of individual PSRs while continuously manipulating ventilator rate and volume. We describe an information theoretic-based analytical method for evaluating continuous stimulus and spike train data that is of general applicability to any continuous, dynamic system. After adjusting spike times for conduction velocity, we used a sliding window to discretize the stimulus (average tracheal pressure) and response (number of spikes), and constructed co-occurrence matrices. We systematically varied the number of categories into which the stimulus and response were evenly divided at 26 different sliding window widths (5, 10, 20, 30,., 230, 240, 250 ms). Using the probability distributions defined by the co-occurrence matrices, we estimated associated stimulus, response, joint, and conditional entropies, from which we calculated information transmitted as a fraction of the maximum possible, as well as encoding and decoding efficiencies. We found that, in general, information increases rapidly as the sliding window width increases from 5 to approximately 50 ms and then saturates as observation time increases. In addition, the information measures suggest that individual PSRs transmit more "when" than "what" type of information about the stimulus, based on the finding that the maximum information at a given window width was obtained when the stimulus was divided into just a few (usually <6) categories. Our results indicate that PSRs provide quite reliable information about tracheal pressure, with each PSR conveying about 31% of the maximum possible information about the dynamic stimulus, given our analytical parameters. When the stimulus and response are divided into more categories, slightly less information is transmitted, and this quantity also saturates as a function of observation time. We consider and discuss the importance of information contained in window widths on the time scales of an excitatory postsynaptic potential and Hering-Breuer reflex central delay.
Development of Principle B in Russian: Coindexation at LF and Coreference

This article presents evidence in the development of Russian for a theory that says that children at a terrain age know a syntactic principle (Principle B of the Binding Theory) that governs the distribution of pronouns but that they do not know a pragmatic or semantic principle (Principle P) that restricts the situations in which NPs may be contraindexed. The major result concerns Russian possessive pronouns that must be disjoint from subject antecedents. We show that this result follows from the raising of pronouns at Logical Form together with Principles B and P. The prediction thus is that children who do not know Principle P will accept this sentence. We experimentally confirm this result. We also predict that children will reject sentences with possessive pronouns that are bound by quantifiers. We also confirm this prediction. Along the way we replicate in Russian known results in English and other languages. The pattern of results provides strong support for the Principle P/modularity theory.
Bringing the outside world into an intensive English programme

This article describes the efforts of an intensive English programme to design a class that addressed the challenges of bringing authentic English into the curriculum. This class exposed students to a variety of authentic English language input, while providing support. Through this class, students volunteered with various community organizations. These placements were linked with the curriculum of our intensive English programme. This hybrid class consisted of class meetings, electronic discussions, the community placement, paper journals, a final reflection paper, and a capstone experience.
The Natural Mutation Encoding a C Terminus-Truncated 5-Hydroxytryptamine2B Receptor Is a Gain of Proliferative Functions

Although potentially implicated in several physiological functions, few functional mutations have been identified in the human 5-hydroxytryptamine (HT)2B receptor gene. A heterozygous mutation R393X in the 5-HT2B receptor was recently identified in a patient diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension after intake of the anorexigenic dexfenfluramine. Although reported to generate a lack of function, this C terminus-truncated 5-HT2B receptor should somehow affect transduction pathways relevant to pulmonary hypertension. In our study, we investigated putative modifications in transduction of the R393X-mutated 5-HT2B receptor. In stably transfected cells, we confirmed the loss of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate stimulation caused by the Gαq uncoupling, despite conserved ligand affinity between the normal and mutated receptors. We also observed a partial loss of nitric-oxide synthase stimulation. However, the truncated R393X receptor presented 1) a strong gain of efficacy in cell proliferation as assessed by mitogen-activated protein kinase activity and thymidine incorporation, 2) a preferential coupling to Gα13 as shown by blocking antiserum, and 3) an apparent lack of internalization upon agonist stimulation as observed by confocal microscopy. This work demonstrates that, in the 5-HT2B receptor, the C terminus, including the palmitoylation and phosphorylation sites, is absolutely required for proper transduction and internalization. For the first time, we show that the lack of C terminus can generate a switch of coupling to Gα13, a reduced NO synthase activation, and an increase in cell proliferation. All these modifications are relevant in pathophysiological vasoconstriction.
Anticipatory gene regulation driven by maternal effects in an insect–host system

Abstract Adaptive mechanisms involved in the prediction of future environments are common in organisms experiencing temporally variable environments. One of these is AGR (anticipatory gene regulation); in which differential gene expression occur in an individual, triggered by the experience of an ancestor. In this study, we explored the existence of AGR driven by a maternal effect, in an insect–host system. We analyzed gene expression of detoxifying systems in aphids across two generations, by shifting mothers and offspring from chemically defended to nondefended hosts, and vice versa. Then, we measured fitness (intrinsic rate of increase) and the relative abundance of transcripts from certain candidate genes in daughters, using RT‐qPCR (quantitative reverse‐transcription PCR). We found AGR in most cases, but responses varied according to the system being analyzed. For some pathways (e.g., cathepsins), the experience of both mothers and offsprings affected the response (i.e., when both, mother and daughter grew in the defended host, the maximum response was elicited; when only the mother grew in the defended host, an intermediate response was elicited; and when both, mother and daughter grew in a nondefended host, the response was undetectable). In other cases (esterases and GSTs), gene over‐expression was maintained even if the daughter was transferred to the nondefended host. In spite of these changes at the gene‐regulatory level, fitness was constant across hosts, suggesting that insects keep adapted thanks to this fluctuating gene expression. Also, it seems that that telescopic reproduction permits aphids to anticipate stressful environments, by minute changes in the timing of differential gene expression.
An Ecological Critique of the Sensory Conflict Theory of Motion Sickness

In this article we present a critique of the sensory conflict theory of motion sickness. We discuss three forms of sensory conflict that are believed to exist: input conflict, output conflict, and expectancy violation. We argue that any concept of sensory conflict necessarily entails the violation of internal expectations and, hence, that the three forms of conflict are logically identical. In the motion sickness literature, it is implicit that the expected pattern is one in which the inputs of the visual, vestibular, and somatosensory systems are redundant. We argue that an expectation of redundancy cannot plausibly result from interaction with the environment. We review data indicating that nonredundant patterns of intermodal stimulation lead to adaptive changes in the control of behavior; this implies that the calculation of nauseogenic conflict must be unrelated to the control of behavior. Moreover, we argue that no single pattern of sensory stimulation, redundant or otherwise, can serve as a reliable.
IEEE TENCON - 2008 Modernizing a legacy system to SOA - Feature analysis approach

With the introduction of revolutionary concept of software-as-a-service, for a number of industries, corporate IT strategy has shifted from a silo mentality with independent and self-contained operating products to a more integrated service vision. However the fact remains that legacy systems with their native operating platforms are still the lifeblood of business. They often represent years of intellectual capital, millions of dollars in investment and represent a vault of undocumented business processes. One of the biggest challenges being faced by the IT divisions today is to review the structure of legacy systems to bring them onto the service oriented computing paradigm. This paper presents our analysis and experience at Broadridge in modernizing a large scale legacy system to a service oriented environment. Feature analysis techniques were employed for the reverse engineering phase since the output of this technique would produce requirement artifacts that will be a natural fit into the SOA based forward engineering phase.
Quantitative Evaluation and Uncertainty Assessment on Geostatistical Simulation of Soil Salinity Using Electromagnetic Induction Technique

Diagnosis of soil salinity and characterizing its spatial variability both vertically and horizontally are needed to establish control measures in irrigated agriculture. In this regard, it is essential that salinity development in varying soil depths be known temporally and spatially. Apparent soil electrical conductivity, measured by electromagnetic induction instruments, has been widely used as an auxiliary variable to estimate spatial distribution of field soil salinity. The main objectives of this paper were adopted a mobile electromagnetic induction (EMI) system to perform field electromagnetic (EM) survey in different soil layers, to evaluate the uncertainty through Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) and Ordinary Kriging (OK) methods, and to determine which algorithm is more reliable for the local and spatial uncertainty assessment. Results showed that EM38 data from apparent soil electrical conductivity are highly correlated with salinity, more accurate for estimating salinity from multiple linear regression models, which the correlation coefficient of 0 - 20, 20 - 40, 40 - 60 and 60 - 80 cm were 0.9090, 0.9228, 0.896 and 0.9085 respectively. The comparison showed that the prediction accuracy of two methods also displays good performance for soil salinity, the estimation precision of IDW method (with E = 0.8873, 0.9075, 0.8483 and 0.901, RPD = 9.64, 8.01, 8.17 and 11.23 in 0 - 20, 20 - 40. 40 - 60 and 60 - 80 cm soil layers, respectively) was superior to that of OK (with E = 0.8857, 0.872, 0.8744 and 0.8822, RPD = 9.44, 7.83, 8.52 and 10.88, respectively), but differences of two methods in predictions are not significant. The obtained salinity map was helpful to display the spatial patterns of soil salinity and monitor and evaluate the management of salinity.
Intersecting hypersurfaces in dimensionally continued topological density gravitation

We consider intersecting hypersurfaces in curved spacetime with gravity governed by a class of actions which are topological invariants in lower dimensionality. Along with the Chern–Simons boundary terms there is a sequence of intersection terms that should be added in the action functional for a well defined variational principle. We construct them in the case of Characteristic Classes, obtaining relations which have a general topological meaning. Applying them on a manifold with a discontinuous connection 1-form we obtain the gravity action functional of the system and show that the junction conditions can be found in a simple algebraic way. At the sequence of intersections there are localized independent energy tensors, constrained only by energy conservation. We work out explicitly the simplest nontrivial case.
Caring with confidence for Huntington's disease

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a psychoeducational support group for informal carers of people with Huntington's disease (HD). Design/methodology/approach – A clinical intervention was designed by a specialist HD service in consultation with HD carers, building on resources from a generic programme for carers, to meet the specific needs of HD families. A mixed methods, repeated measures design was used to examine any potential benefits this had on carer confidence and quality of life, and to ascertain the most beneficial aspects of the programme. Findings – At the end of the group, participants reported feeling more confident in caring for relatives with HD. Carers reported that gaining new information and being with other carers was helpful. Research limitations/implications – Although participant numbers were small, this pilot indicates that informal carers of HD patients appear to value psychoeducational support delivered in a group format. Evaluation of this type.
Plasmodium falciparum kelch 13: a potential molecular marker for tackling artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites

Although artemisinin combination therapies have been deployed as a first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria in almost all endemic countries, artemisinin-resistant parasites have emerged and have gradually spread across the Greater Mekong subregions. There is growing concern that the resistant parasites may migrate to or emerge indigenously in sub-Saharan Africa, which might provoke a global increase in malaria-associated morbidity and mortality. Therefore, development of molecular markers that enable identification of artemisinin resistance with high sensitivity is urgently required to combat this issue. In 2014, a potential artemisinin-resistance responsible gene, Plasmodium falciparum kelch13, was discovered. Here, we review the genetic features of P. falciparum kelch13 and discuss its related resistant mechanisms and potential as a molecular marker.
Involvement of BDNF/TrkB and ERK/CREB axes in nitroglycerin-induced rat migraine and effects of estrogen on these signals in the migraine

ABSTRACT Migraine is a highly prevalent headache disorder, especially in women. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor tropomyosin receptor kinases (TrkB), as well as extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and its downstream target c-AMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) are strongly associated with the transmission of nociceptive information. However, the involvement of these substances in migraine has rarely been examined. In the present study, intraperitoneal injection of nitroglycerin (NTC) successfully induced rat migraine attack, as evidenced by behavioral testing. The location and abundance of these substances in the migraine model were determined by immunohistochemistry, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays (ELISA). Results showed that BDNF, TrkB, phosphor(p)-ERK and p-CREB were up-regulated in the brain neurons of both male and female rats with NTG-induced migraine compared to non-migraine control, whereas their expression levels were decreased in headache-free intervals of the migraine compared to migraine attacks. Estrogen is an important contributor to migraine. Female ovariectomized rats showed significant reduction in the expression of BDNF, TrkB, p-CREB and p-ERK in both attacks and intervals of NTG-induced migraine, relative to rats that have their ovaries. But, intraperitoneal administration of exogenous estrogen recovered their expression in ovariectomized rats. Collectively, this study unveiled a positive correlation of BDNF/TrkB and ERK/CREB axes in NTG-induced migraine and promoting effects of estrogen on their signals in the migraine. These findings contribute to further understanding the pathogenesis of migraine in the molecular basis. Summary: This study unveiled a positive correlation of BDNF/TrkB and CREB/ERK axes in NTG-induced migraine and the promoting effects of estrogen on their signals in the migraine.
Quasi-fluid-mechanics-based quasi-Bayesian Crame/spl acute/r-Rao bounds for deformed towed-array direction finding

New quasi-Bayesian (hybrid) Crame/spl acute/r-Rao bound (CRB) expressions are herein derived for far-field deep-sea direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation with a nominally linear towed-array that 1) is deformed by spatio-temporally correlated oceanic currents, which have been previously overlooked in the towed-array shape-deformation statistical analysis literature, 2) is deformed by temporally correlated motion of the towing vessel, which is modeled only as temporally uncorrelated in prior literature, and 3) suffers gain-uncertainties and phase-uncertainties in its constituent hydrophones. This paper attempts to bridge an existing literature gap in deformed towed-array DOA-estimation performance analysis, by simultaneously a) incorporating several essential fluid-mechanics considerations to produce a shape-deformation statistical model physically more realistic than those previously used for DOA performance analysis and b) rigorously derive a mathematical analysis to characterize quantitatively and qualitatively the DOA estimation's statistical performance. The derived CRB expressions are parameterized in terms of the towed-array's physically measurable nonidealities for the single-source case. The new hybrid-CRB expressions herein derived are numerically more stable than those in the current literature.
Dok-1 negatively regulates platelet integrin αIIbβ3 outside-in signalling and inhibits thrombosis in mice

Summary Adaptor proteins play a critical role in the assembly of signalling complexes after engagement of platelet receptors by agonists such as collagen, ADP and thrombin. Recently, using proteomics, the Dok (downstream of tyrosine kinase) adapter proteins were identified in human and mouse platelets. In vitro studies suggest that Dok-1 binds to platelet integrin β3, but the underlying effects of Dok-1 on αIIbβ3 signalling, platelet activation and thrombosis remain to be elucidated. In the present study, using Dok-1-deficient (Dok-1-/-) mice, we determined the phenotypic role of Dok-1 in αIIbβ3 signalling. We found that platelets from Dok-1-/- mice displayed normal aggregation, activation of αIIβ3 (assessed by binding of JON/A), P-selectin surface expression (assessed by anti-CD62P), and soluble fibrinogen binding. These findings indicate that Dok-1 does not affect “inside-out” platelet signalling. Compared with platelets from wild-type (WT) mice, platelets from Dok-1-/- mice exhibited increased clot retraction (p < 0.05 vs WT), increased PLCγ2 phosphorylation, and enhanced spreading on fibrinogen after thrombin stimulation (p < 0.01 vs WT), demonstrating that Dok-1 negatively regulates αIIbβ3 “outside-in” signalling. Finally, we found that Dok-1-/- mice exhibited significantly shortened bleeding times and accelerated carotid artery thrombosis in response to photochemical injury (p < 0.05 vs WT mice). We conclude that Dok-1 modulates thrombosis and haemostasis by negatively regulating αIIbβ3 outside-in signalling. Supplementary Material to this article is available online at www.thrombosis-online.com.
Data mining in sport : A neural network approach.

Data Mining techniques have been applied successfully in many scientific, industrial and business domains. The area of professional sport is well known for the vast amounts of data collected for each player, training session, team, game and season, however the effective use of this data continues to be limited. Many sporting organisations have begun to realise that there is a wealth of untapped knowledge contained in their data and there is an increasing interest in techniques to utilize the data. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of neural networks (NNs) to assist in the data mining process for the talent identification problem. Neural networks use a supervised learning approach, learning from training examples, adjusting weights to reduce the error between the correct result and the result produced by the network. They endeavour to determine a general relationship between the inputs and outputs provided. Once trained, neural networks can be used to predict outputs based on input data alone. The neural network approach will be applied to the selection of players in the annual Australian Football League (AFL) National Draft. Results from this study suggest that neural networks have the potential to assist recruiting managers in the talent identification process.
Broad versus narrow personality measures and the prediction of behaviour across cultures

Measures of several personality variables, from both within and beyond the domain of the Big Five personality factors, were used to predict a variety of complex behaviour outcomes of some social and cultural significance (e.g. alcohol consumption and grade point average). Analyses focused on replicated predictions across participants in four countries (Canada, England, Germany, and Finland) and on the relative predictive accuracies of narrow trait predictors versus broad factor predictors. The results indicated substantial consistency in those predictions across cultures for several of the criteria. Furthermore, the narrow traits were able to account for more criterion variance than were the broad factors underlying those traits. Our data contraindicate the increasingly common practice of using only a few personality factor measures to predict complex human behaviours. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Interpreting Structures in Man-made Scenes - Combining Low-Level and High-Level Structure Sources

Recognizing structure is an important aspect of interpreting many computer vision domains. Structure can manifest itself both visually, in terms of repeated low-level phenomena, and conceptually, in terms of a highlevel compositional hierarchy. In this paper, we demonstrate an approach for combining a low-level repetitive structure detector with a logical high-level interpretation system. We evaluate the performance on a set of images from the building façade domain.