Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Developing Automated Bifurcation Angle Measurement Algorithm for Retinal Image Analysis

Retina and its vascular network have unique branching characteristics morphology. The abnormalities in the vascular pattern of the retina, such as vessel shape, branching pattern, width, tortuosity, or the appearance of retinal itself, may be associated with the occurrence of retinopathy or cardiovascular diseases. This paper is focus on the development of an algorithm to measure bifurcation angle of the retinal for image analysis. From survey, there is still lack of automation for bifurcation angle measurement. Thus this initial work investigates and proposes the key steps for bifurcation measurement process. The key steps of the proposed method include segmentation of the region of interest (ROI), tracing the vessels that are needed for angle determination and lastly determine the bifurcation angle by using the dot product of the traced boundaries. The results are compared with the manual measurement of the bifurcation angle using quantitative and qualitative measurement. The experimental results show promising result of the proposed method in automating the measurement of bifurcation angle of retinal. Recommendation for room of improvement is also discussed in the paper.
Australia’s ‘Better Access’ scheme: Has it had an impact on population mental health?

Background: Australia introduced the Better Access scheme in late 2006, which resulted in a large increase in the provision of mental health services by general practitioners (GPs), clinical psychologists, other psychologists and allied health professionals. It is unknown whether this increase in services has had an effect on the mental health of the population. Methods: The following data were examined: per capita use of mental health services provided by GPs, clinical psychologists, other psychologists, allied health professionals and psychiatrists from 2006 to 2015 according to the Australian Government Department of Human Services; prevalence of psychological distress in adults (as measured by the K10) from National Health Surveys in 2001, 2004–2005, 2007–2008, 2011–2012 and 2014–2015; and the annual suicide rate from 2001 to 2015 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Results: The large increase in the use of mental health services after the introduction of the Better Access scheme had no detectable effect on the prevalence of very high psychological distress or the suicide rate. Conclusion: Better Access has not had a detectable effect on the mental health of the Australian population.
The changes of systemic immune responses during the neuroprotection induced by remote ischemic postconditioning against focal cerebral ischemia in mice

ABSTRACT Objective: Remote limb ischemic postconditioning (RIPostC) protects the brain from damage induced by transient focal ischemia/reperfusion. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Methods: RIPostC induced by 10 min of occlusion and another 10 min releasing of blood flow for three cycles in the hind limbs was performed immediately after the reperfusion in a focal ischemia mice model. Neurological scores, immune cell population in the blood, spleen and lymph node, and inflammatory factors in the blood and brain were analyzed 2 days after the reperfusion. Results: Our results demonstrate that RIPostC reduced cerebral injuries and improved neurological functions 2 days after reperfusion. RIPostC significantly inhibited the reduction in the percentage of CD4 T cells in the spleen and lymph node, CD8 T cells in the blood and lymph node, and natural killer T (NKT) cells in the spleen by flow cytometry analysis. RIPostC attenuated the increase of B cells and NK cells in the spleen and noninflammatory monocytes in the blood. The cytokine assay showed that RIPostC decreased the elevation of IL-10, IL-6, and TNF-α in the blood after ischemia. The quantitative real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) results indicated that the mRNA level of IL-4 in the brain increased in the middle cerebral artery occlusion mice after RIPostC treatment. Conclusions: The present study indicates that there were significant changes of inflammatory responses during the neuroprotection induced by RIPostC in stroke mice.
Lipase‐catalyzed hydrolysis of (R,S)‐2,3‐diphenylpropionic methyl ester enhanced by hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin

The enantioselective hydrolysis of (R,S)‐2,3‐diphenylpropionic methyl ester ((R,S)‐2,3‐2‐PPAME) catalyzed by lipase to (R)‐2,3‐diphenylpropionic acid ((R)‐2,3‐2‐PPA) was studied in an aqueous system. The catalytic effects of different types of lipase were compared, and Candida antarctica lipase A (CALA) with higher catalytic activity and enantioselectivity was selected. Hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (HP‐β‐CD) was added to the aqueous system to increase the solubility of 2,3‐2‐PPAME, which resulted in an increase of 35.56% in substrate conversion remaining the high enantiomeric excess. The factors influencing the substrate conversion and the optical purity of product such as temperature, pH, concentrations of CALA and HP‐β‐CD, substrate loading, and reaction time were optimized. The optimal conditions for this reaction were obtained, including pH of 5.5, 30 mg/mL CALA, 25 mmol/L HP‐β‐CD, 0.12 mmol substrate, temperature at 60 °C, agitation speed at 400 rpm, and 48 h for reaction time. Under these optimal conditions, the substrate conversion was up to 44.70% and the optical purity of the product (R)‐2,3‐2‐PPA was up to 98.20%. This work provides an efficient alternative method for lipase‐catalyzed enantioselective hydrolysis of 2,3‐2‐PPAME to (R)‐2,3‐2‐PPA by β‐cyclodextrin inclusion in an aqueous reaction system of hydrolysis. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 34:1355–1362, 2018
Developing a model to predict unfavourable treatment outcomes in patients with tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus co-infection in Delhi, India

Background Tuberculosis (TB) patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection have worse TB treatment outcomes compared to patients with TB alone. The distribution of unfavourable treatment outcomes differs by socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, allowing for early identification of patients at risk. Objective To develop a statistical model that can provide individual probabilities of unfavourable outcomes based on demographic and clinical characteristics of TB-HIV co-infected patients. Methodology We used data from all TB patients with known HIV-positive test results (aged ≥15 years) registered for first-line anti-TB treatment (ATT) in 2015 under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) in Delhi, India. We included variables on demographics and pre-treatment clinical characteristics routinely recorded and reported to RNTCP and the National AIDS Control Organization. Binomial logistic regression was used to develop a statistical model to estimate probabilities of unfavourable TB treatment outcomes (i.e., death, loss to follow-up, treatment failure, transfer out of program, and a switch to drug-resistant regimen). Results Of 55,260 TB patients registered for ATT in 2015 in Delhi, 928 (2%) had known HIV-positive test results. Of these, 816 (88%) had drug-sensitive TB and were ≥15 years. Among 816 TB-HIV patients included, 157 (19%) had unfavourable TB treatment outcomes. We developed a model for predicting unfavourable outcomes using age, sex, disease classification (pulmonary versus extra-pulmonary), TB treatment category (new or previously treated case), sputum smear grade, known HIV status at TB diagnosis, antiretroviral treatment at TB diagnosis, and CD4 cell count at ATT initiation. The chi-square p-value for model calibration assessed using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test was 0.15. The model discrimination, measured as the area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve, was 0.78. Conclusion The model had good internal validity, but should be validated with an independent cohort of TB-HIV co-infected patients to assess its performance before clinical or programmatic use.
Effect of Selected Commercial Plasticizers on Mechanical, Thermal, and Morphological Properties of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/Poly(lactic acid)/Plasticizer Biodegradable Blends for Three-Dimensional (3D) Print

This paper explores the influence of selected commercial plasticizers structure, which are based on esters of citric acid, on mechanical and thermal properties of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/Poly(lactic acid)/Plasticizer biodegradable blends. These plasticizers were first tested with respect to their miscibility with Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/Poly(lactic acid) (PHB/PLA) blends using a kneading machine. PHB/PLA/plasticizer blends in the weight ratio (wt %) of 60/25/15 were then prepared by single screw and corotating meshing twin screw extruders in the form of filament for further three-dimensional (3D) printing. Mechanical, thermal properties, and shape stability (warping effect) of 3D printed products can be improved just by the addition of appropriate plasticizer to polymeric blend. The goal was to create new types of eco-friendly PHB/PLA/plasticizers blends and to highly improve the poor mechanical properties of neat PHB/PLA blends (with majority of PHB) by adding appropriate plasticizer. Mechanical properties of plasticized blends were then determined by the tensile test of 3D printed test samples (dogbones), as well as filaments. Measured elongation at break rapidly enhanced from 21% for neat non-plasticized PHB/PLA blends (reference) to 328% for best plasticized blends in the form of filament, and from 5% (reference) to 187% for plasticized blends in the form of printed dogbones. The plasticizing effect on blends was confirmed by Modulated Differential Scanning Calorimetry. The study of morphology was performed by the Scanning Electron Microscopy. Significant problem of plasticized blends used to be also plasticizer migration, therefore the diffusion of plasticizers from the blends after 15 days of exposition to 110 °C in the drying oven was investigated as their measured weight loss. Almost all of the used plasticizers showed meaningful positive softening effects, but the diffusion of plasticizers at 110 °C exposition was quite extensive. The determination of the degree of disintegration of selected plasticized blend when exposed to a laboratory-scale composting environment was executed to roughly check the “biodegradability”.
Towards a Network-Based Framework for Android Malware Detection and Characterization

Mobile malware is so pernicious and on the rise, accordingly having a fast and reliable detection system is necessary for the users. In this research, a new detection and characterization system for detecting meaningful deviations in the network behavior of a smart-phone application is proposed. The main goal of the proposed system is to protect mobile device users and cellular infrastructure companies from malicious applications with just 9 traffic feature measurements. The proposed system is not only able to detect the malicious or masquerading apps, but can also identify them as general malware or specific malware (i.e. adware) on a mobile device. The proposed method showed the average accuracy (91.41%), precision (91.24%), and false positive (0.085) for five classifiers namely; Random Forest (RF), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Decision Tree (DT), Random Tree (RT) and Regression (R). We also offer a labeled dataset of mobile malware traffic with 1900 applications includes benign and 12 different families of both adware and general malware.
TREM‐1 Attenuates RIPK3‐mediated Necroptosis in Hyperoxia‐induced Lung Injury in Neonatal Mice

Abstract Hyperoxia‐induced injury to the developing lung, impaired alveolarization, and dysregulated vascularization are critical factors in the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD); however, mechanisms for hyperoxia‐induced development of BPD are not fully known. In this study, we show that TREM‐1 (triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1) is upregulated in hyperoxia‐exposed neonatal murine lungs as well as in tracheal aspirates and lungs of human neonates with respiratory distress syndrome and BPD as an adaptive response to survival in hyperoxia. Inhibition of TREM‐1 function using an siRNA approach or deletion of the Trem1 gene in mice showed enhanced lung inflammation, alveolar damage, and mortality of hyperoxia‐exposed neonatal mice. The treatment of hyperoxia‐exposed neonatal mice with agonistic TREM‐1 antibody decreased lung inflammation, improved alveolarization, and was associated with diminished necroptosis‐regulating protein RIPK3 (receptor‐interacting protein kinase 3). Mechanistically, we show that TREM‐1 activation alleviates lung inflammation and improves alveolarization through downregulating RIPK3‐mediated necroptosis and NLRP3 (nucleotide‐binding oligomerization domain‐like receptor containing pyrin domain 3) inflammasome activation in hyperoxia‐exposed neonatal mice. These data show that activating TREM‐1, enhancing angiopoietin 1 signaling, or blocking the RIPK3‐mediated necroptosis pathway may be used in new therapeutic interventions to control adverse effects of hyperoxia in the development of BPD.
Boost Chopper Implementation based on Variable MPPT Duty Cycle Control Applied to Photovoltaic Systems

Photovoltaic systems have a slow dynamic of convergence towards the maximum power point (MPP), especially those equipped with boost converters based on Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm. The target of this paper is the definition of a faster maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method involving less ripples based on a modified algorithm of the most popular Perturb and Observe technique. An adaptive duty cycle is proposed and implemented in the u-controller (PIC16F877A). The detailed study of the soft and hardware parts show the achieved improvements. Indeed, the experimental results are closely similar to the simulation ones and confirm the faster convergence of the proposed method.
Marine Floating Raft Aquaculture Dynamic Monitoring Based on Multi-source GF Imagery

Marine floating raft aquaculture is widely distributed along the coast of the country, which has a significant impact on the marine environment, transportation and economy. The distribution area of marine aquaculture changes dynamically with the maturity of the aquaculture. A variety of marine aquaculture types have different characteristics on different remote sensing images. GF-1/2 high space resolution optical remote sensing images have a very significant ability to monitor seaweed and kelp cultivation. GF-3 is the first commercial C-Band multi-polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite that was launched by China. The characteristics observed by both all-day and all-weather observation depict significant advantages of national sea area use dynamic monitoring. GF-3 can effectively detect the distribution of shellfish cultures, but does not show any visible in optical images. The structure of marine aquaculture and remote sensing image feature are first analyzed. Then, the dynamic change of distribution area are monitored through different GF satellite data. The effectiveness of GF image are demonstrated in some major aquaculture areas.
Fetal Brain Infection Is Not a Unique Characteristic of Brazilian Zika Viruses

The recent emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV) in Brazil was associated with an increased number of fetal brain infections that resulted in a spectrum of congenital neurological complications known as congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). Herein, we generated de novo from sequence data an early Asian lineage ZIKV isolate (ZIKV-MY; Malaysia, 1966) not associated with microcephaly and compared the in vitro replication kinetics and fetal brain infection in interferon α/β receptor 1 knockout (IFNAR1−/−) dams of this isolate and of a Brazilian isolate (ZIKV-Natal; Natal, 2015) unequivocally associated with microcephaly. The replication efficiencies of ZIKV-MY and ZIKV-Natal in A549 and Vero cells were similar, while ZIKV-MY replicated more efficiently in wild-type (WT) and IFNAR−/− mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Viremias in IFNAR1−/− dams were similar after infection with ZIKV-MY or ZIKV-Natal, and importantly, infection of fetal brains was also not significantly different. Thus, fetal brain infection does not appear to be a unique feature of Brazilian ZIKV isolates.
A New Framework for the Agile Software Development Method

In the present scenario the software development industry is inculcating new methodologies for the agile type software development. So this made the place for the development of various type methodologies that support agile type development. In this paper we will proposed a new type of framework that support the agile type development. This model follow the concept of MVC framework which is divided into major three part i.e. Model, View and Control. This proposed framework will support the secure requirement gathering and also support the customer oriented priority. Here the customer himself design the user interface and make the UI so there is zero chance of rejection or minimise use, hence making the software development more easy and error free.
Evaluation of Machine Learning Techniques for ECG T-Wave Alternans

This paper presents the evaluation of T-wave alternans (TWA) detection based on machine learning techniques. F1-score metric was used for optimal features set selection. KNN, LR, RFC, SVC classifiers were evaluated as a part of TWA detection system. T-criteria was proposed as justification approach to select optimal features number based on classifiers performance. Designed optimal TWA classification system was evaluated on PhysioBank database and classification F1-score about 89% was obtained for RFC classifier.
Optimized Self-Healing of Networked Microgrids using Differential Evolution Algorithm

A framework for the independent Networked Microgrids (NMGs) in an transformative manner was proposed in this work. NMGs comprises of multiple Microgrids (MGs) are linked by a typical bus for supporting and interchanging the electric power with one other in this suggested configuration. It consists of normal and selfhealing mode. These NMGs contain a two layer cyber communication network for information exchange and coordinate the self-healing process. Each MG contain a lower layer and operation of each MG are scheduled by energy management system (EMS). A number of EMS are linked by the upper layer for global optimization and communication. The aim of the first (normal) mode of performance is to schedule the dispatchable distributed generators (DGs) and loads to minimizing the operating cost and to minimize the supply and demand imbalance of each MG. This scheme switches to self-healing (next) mode when a fault or deficiency in generation happens in any one MG. The intention of self-healing mode of operation is to support the faulted portion of the system by the local power production capabilities of other normally operating MGs in an optimal cost. A Differential Evolution (DE) Algorithm is utilized to share the portion of required power support to each MG in a scattered manner. The demanded power support will be provided by the resultant overall power output of NMGs. The efficiency of the scheduled methodology was demonstrated by the following test cases.
Oxytocin, vasopressin, and primate behavior: Diversity and insight

It has become increasingly clear that the nonapeptide hormones oxytocin and vasopressin have more diverse behavioral and physiological effects across species and across individuals than was initially recognized. To reflect this variation, we would like to introduce our Special Issue, entitled Oxytocin and Vasopressin in Primate Behavior, by celebrating the diversity that is found across the articles within it. While every article directly addresses the topic of this Special Issue, they also vary in many characteristics: the species studied, the methods used, and the perspectives taken. By highlighting the interesting ways in which these articles differ from one another, we can gain unique insights into the subject that ties them together: our understanding of oxytocin and vasopressin and the behavior of primates. Nonhuman primates are critical intermediates between rodents and humans and are the best models for human biology and behavior, especially with respect to complex cognitive social constructs, such as visual social attention, face processing, and vocal communication. While rodent studies have laid an important and foundational framework for our understanding of nonapeptides, brains, and behavior, these studies cannot fully recapitulate human phenomena. Therefore, we hope the articles presented here contribute to a greater understanding on the role of oxytocin and vasopressin in primate physiology and behavior and help to further advance the application of this knowledge to human biology.
Genome-wide association study reveals new loci involved in Arabidopsis thaliana and Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) interactions in the field.

The genetic architecture of plant response to viruses has often been studied in model nonnatural pathosystems under controlled conditions. There is an urgent need to elucidate the genetic architecture of the response to viruses in a natural setting. A field experiment was performed in each of two years. In total, 317 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions were inoculated with its natural Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV). The accessions were phenotyped for viral accumulation, frequency of infected plants, stem length and symptoms. Genome-wide association mapping was performed. Arabidopsis thaliana exhibits extensive natural variation in its response to TuMV in the field. The underlying genetic architecture reveals a more quantitative picture than in controlled conditions. Ten genomic regions were consistently identified across the two years. RTM3 (Restricted TEV Movement 3) is a major candidate for the response to TuMV in the field. New candidate genes include Dead box helicase 1, a Tim Barrel domain protein and the eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF3b. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report the genetic architecture of quantitative response of A. thaliana to a naturally occurring virus in a field environment, thereby highlighting relevant candidate genes involved in plant virus interactions in nature.
Clustering of Text Streams via Facility Location and Spherical K-means

Spherical k-means is a fast and effective method for clustering text documents in their directional representation over a unit hypersphere. Current needs of text clustering are related to clustering of streams. Due to memory restrictions, fast and effective methods are required that incur less space complexity. Few research works exist that have adapted spherical k-means to streaming text data, but recorded performance is not satisfactory for novelty detection imbalanced cluster structure. This paper presents streaming spherical k-means with associated facility location costs. Arriving documents are detected as new topic or join an existing depending on these costs.
An Analysis of the Security of Compressed Sensing Using an Artificial Neural Network

Compressed sensing (CS) schemes have been used in a wide number of applications in practice. Recently, they have been proposed for use in encryption algorithms because of their properties. In this paper, we present an empirical security analysis of compressed sensing-based encryption. Using a neural network model, we will show that the security of this type of encryption can be compromised. We consider at least three different scenarios in which an attack could occur causing partial information about the plaintext to be revealed without knowledge of the CS secret key.