Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship between Free Press and Under-Reporting of Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries with Data from Representative National Indicators, 2015: Focusing on the Lethality Rate of Occupational Injuries among 39 Countries

The epidemiology of occupational injuries is reported worldwide, but suspicions of under-reporting prevail, probably associated with free press. We examined the association between freedom of the press and lethality rate of occupational injuries based on the most comprehensive International Labour Organization database on labour statistics (ILOSTAT) among 39 countries. The occupational injury indices, national indicators, and information on freedom of the press in 2015 were sourced from ILOSTAT, World Bank open data, World Health Organization and Freedom House. The lethality rate was the number of fatal occupational injuries per 10,000 total occupational injuries. The relationship among fatal and total occupation injury rates, lethality rate, and national statistics were analysed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients. Multivariable linear regression models with bootstrap estimation to manage non-normality determined freedom of the press associated with lethality rate. Freedom of the press was significantly correlated with fatal and total occupational injury rate and lethality rate of occupational injuries. Adjusting for national indicators, only freedom of the press was associated with lethality rate per 10,000 occupational injuries in the report of ILOSTAT. The lethality rate of occupational injury reported by each country might not reflect the actual lethality, but under-reported nonfatal occupational injuries, probably relating to freedom of the press.
Seasonal Effect on the Flexibility Assessment of Electrical Demand

With the modernization of the electricity grid, the role of the demand side becomes more vital to balance the mismatch between supply and demand. Demand flexibility assessment is a key aspect to design and initiate demand response (DR) programs. In particular, flexibility assessment of the residential electrical demand is important due to the diversity of energy usage of the residents during different time slots of a day. In this paper, results of the flexibility assessment of aggregate electrical demand are provided for different seasons by using a flexibility indicator based on the binomial probability distribution model. The information extracted from this analysis gives a comparison of demand flexibility for different seasons of the year, which is beneficial for a system operator or an aggregator to design and carry out DR programs.
A Strong Designated Verifier Proxy Re-Signature Scheme for IoT Environments

With the rapid popularization of the Internet of Things (IoT) in our daily lives, the communication security and identity privacy of IoT devices must be ensured. However, traditional authentication mechanisms utilized in IoT cannot completely ensure a user’s privacy when his/her messages are routed via an untrusted intermediate device. Strong designated-verifier proxy re-signature (SDVPRS) is a new cryptographic technology that combines the advantages of strong designated verifier signature and proxy re-signature. Therefore, SDVPRS is considered to be a better approach to maintain data integrity and protect the identity privacy of the signer in a resource-limited IoT device. Nevertheless, designing a secure SDVPRS scheme without random oracles is still a challenging task. In this paper, we mainly focus on such a construction by providing a new method. We first provide the formal definition of SDVPRS and its security model. Then, we present the first SDVPRS scheme, which is bidirectional, multi-use and non-transferable, and we prove its security under the standard complexity assumptions in the standard model. The analysis results show that our SDVPRS scheme can not only protect the privacy of the signer’s identity, but also provide non-delegatability for signature verification. We present an example of potential application to environmental monitoring systems using our SDVPRS scheme.
Variations of Intracellular Ca2+ Mobilization Initiated by Nanosecond and Microsecond Electrical Pulses in HeLa Cells

<italic>Goal:</italic> Herein, the variations in transient Ca<sup>2+</sup> mobilizations in HeLa cells exposed to a single, non-thermal pulsed electric field (PEF) are described. <italic>Methods:</italic> Three PEF waveforms categorized by pulse duration and intensity were used to deduce the kinetics involved in Ca<sup>2+</sup> mobilization. A fast microscopic fluorescent imaging system and a fluorescent molecular probe were used to observe transient intracellular Ca<sup>2+</sup> mobilization after pulse exposure. The sources and pathways in the transient Ca<sup>2+</sup> mobilizations were investigated using an inhibitor of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP<sub>3</sub>R) on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) along with a Ca<sup>2+</sup>-free buffer. <italic>Results:</italic> When exposed to the 10-<italic>μ</italic>s-long PEF, the Ca<sup>2+</sup> concentration increased mainly at the cathodic region near the membrane. However, Ca<sup>2+</sup> concentration increased at both anodic and cathodic regions when Na<sup>+</sup> concentration in the buffer was reduced. Ca<sup>2+</sup> concentration increased only in the presence of extracellular Ca<sup>2+</sup>. <italic>Conclusion:</italic> These results suggest that the 10-<italic>μ</italic>s PEF takes a large amount of extracellular Na<sup>+</sup> into the cell through the electropermeabilized plasma membrane, especially at the anodic side, resulting in the suppression of the Ca<sup>2+</sup> influx. On the contrary, the 20-ns-long PEF increased Ca<sup>2+</sup> concentration in the surrounding region of the nucleus only in the presence of extracellular Ca<sup>2+</sup>. The PEF exposure with inhibition of the IP<sub>3</sub>R indicates that increased Ca<sup>2+</sup> ions are released from the ER via the activated IP<sub>3</sub>R. <italic>Significance:</italic> These mechanisms could induce specific cell responses, such as Ca<sup>2+</sup> oscillations, Ca<sup>2+</sup> waves, and Ca<sup>2+</sup> puffs.
Sen4Rice: A Processing Chain for Differentiating Early and Late Transplanted Rice Using Time-Series Sentinel-1 SAR Data With Google Earth Engine

Accurate spatio-temporal information about rice growth is an important factor for agronomic management and regional grain yield estimation. In this letter, a unified framework for monitoring and mapping of rice using dense time-series of Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is proposed. A processing chain for such dense time-series Sentinel-1 images is developed with the Google Earth Engine’s cloud computing platform. A dense time-series analysis of backscatter response of rice with different management practices is analyzed. Subsequently, the early and late transplanted rice is classified using a clustering algorithm within this platform. The proposed approach is used to monitor different cultivars of rice in three districts in the state of West Bengal, which is one of the major rice growing regions in India. The classification accuracy is assessed across 150 validation points spanning multiple blocks for the 2017 monsoon season. The Sentinel-1 SAR images acquired up to the early vegetative stage for rice have provided satisfactory classification accuracy with an overall accuracy >85% with $\kappa \sim 0.86$ across different management practices throughout the region.
Development of an LC–Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method for the Quantitative Analysis of Hercynine in Human Whole Blood

Given that the peculiar redox behavior of ergothioneine involves a rapid regeneration process, the measurement of its precursor and redox metabolite hercynine could be particularly useful in assessing its role in oxidative stress or other biological processes. Thus, a LC-MS/MS method for the determination of hercynine concentrations in whole blood was developed. After lysis of red blood cells by cold water, samples were filtered on micro concentrators at a controlled temperature of 4 °C. The clear filtered fluid was then treated with diethylpyrocarbonate to derivatize hercynine for the analysis by LC-MS/MS. The derivatized analyte was isocratically separated as a carbethoxy derivative on a C18 column with a mobile phase of an aqueous 0.1% v/v formic acid and acetonitrile (95:5). Effluents were monitored by MRM transitions at m/z 270.28→95 and 273.21→95 for hercynine and its deuterated counterpart, respectively. No cross-talk between MRM transitions was observed and a good linearity was found within a range of 35–1120 nmol/L. The LOD and LOQ were, respectively, 10.30 and 31.21 nmol/L with an intraday and intermediate precision below 7%. The average hercynine concentration in whole blood from 30 healthy male volunteers (aged 77 ± 12 years) was 178.5 ± 118.1 nmol/L. Overall, the method is easy to perform, allowing a rapid and accurate assessment of whole blood concentrations of hercynine.
Zoonotic Endocarditis in a Man, the Netherlands

In 2017, endocarditis caused by Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus was diagnosed in a man in the Netherlands who had daily contact with horses. Whole-genome sequencing of isolates from the man and his horses confirmed the same clone, indicating horse-to-human transmission. Systematic reporting of all zoonotic cases would help with risk assessment.
Biobanking Organoids or Ground-State Stem Cells?

Autologous transplantation of human epidermal stem cells cultured in Green’s method is one of the first examples of utilizing adult stem cells in regenerative medicine. Using the same method, we cloned p63-expressing distal airway stem cells and showed their essential role in lung regeneration in a mouse model of acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, adult stem cells of columnar epithelial tissues had until recently evaded all attempts at cloning. To address this issue, we developed a novel technology that enabled cloning ground-state stem cells of the columnar epithelium. The adaption of this technology to clone stem cells of cancer precursors furthered our understanding of the dynamics of processes such as clonal evolution and dominance in Barrett’s esophagus, as well as for testing platforms for chemical screening. Taken together, the properties of these ground-state stem cells, including unlimited propagation, genomic stability, and regio-specificity, make them ideal for regenerative medicine, disease modeling and drug discovery.
A Fast and Efficient Double-Tree RRT$^*$-Like Sampling-Based Planner Applying on Mobile Robotic Systems

As a variant of rapidly exploring random tree (RRT), RRT<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^*$</tex-math></inline-formula> is an important improvement of sampling-based algorithms. Although it can provide a feasible planning solution with a higher quality, more resources on optimization are required, resulting in a very slow convergence rate, which cannot satisfy the real-time requirements of most autonomous systems. In this paper, we propose a novel approach of RRT<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^*$</tex-math></inline-formula> in collaboration with a double-tree structure to separate the extension and optimization procedure. In our algorithm, the original RRT is employed to explore the unknown environment and to search feasible connecting areas, represented by piecewise lines. Different from the method of anytime RRT<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^*$</tex-math></inline-formula>, the RRT phase in our method is to find different homotopic paths during each iteration. Thereafter, a modified RRT<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^*$</tex-math></inline-formula> is used to obtain an optimal solution. Simulation results on two benchmarks demonstrate an improved performance of our approach in comparison with the original RRT<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^*$</tex-math></inline-formula> and its variants (e.g., DT-RRT). An additional evaluation on two real robotic systems further proves the efficiency of our approach.
The prognostic value of proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression in colorectal cancer

Background: A number of studies have attempted to determine the prognostic significance of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), but the reports are controversial and inconsistent. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to clarify the value of PCNA in CRC prognosis. Methods: A systematic search of relevant studies was performed in 4 electronic databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science until February 2018. Hazard ratios (HRs) combined with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to evaluate the relationship of PCNA expression with overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and disease-free survival (DFS). Results: A total of 1372 CRC patients in 14 studies were identified eventually in our meta-analysis. The pooled HRs demonstrated that CRC patients with high PCNA expression was significantly correlated with poor OS (HR = 1.81; 95% CI: 1.51–2.17; P = .000), CSS (HR = 1.99; 95% CI: 1.04–3.79; P = .037); but not significantly with DFS (HR = 2.48; 95% CI: 0.98–6.26; P = .055). Sensitivity analysis showed the pooled HRs for OS, CSS, and DFS were stable when the included studies were removed one by one. Conclusion: Our meta-analysis suggested that high PCNA expression was associated with poor prognosis, and it could serve as a reliable and prognostic biomarker in CRC patients. More large-scale studies are needed to further support the conclusion.
A thermo-sensitive fluorescent agent based method for excitation light leakage rejection for fluorescence molecular tomography

Fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) is widely used in preclinical oncology research. FMT is the only imaging technique able to provide 3D distribution of fluorescent probes within thick highly scattering media. However, its integration into clinical medicine has been hampered by its low spatial resolution caused by the undetermined and ill-posed nature of its reconstruction algorithm. Another major factor degrading the quality of FMT images is the large backscattered excitation light component leaking through the rejection filters and coinciding with the weak fluorescent signal arising from a low tissue fluorescence concentration. In this paper, we present a new method based on the use of a novel thermo-sensitive fluorescence probe. In fact, the excitation light leakage is accurately estimated from a set of measurements performed at different temperatures and then is corrected for in the tomographic data. The obtained results show a considerable improvement in both spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy of FMT images due to the proper correction of fluorescent signals.
Design and Implementation of Backstepping Controller for Tilting Thruster Underwater Robot

A new motion control approach for an underwater robot with four tilting thrusters is proposed and investigated in this paper. The tilting thruster arrangement results in over actuated system which carries out six degree of freedom (DOF) motion with four rotatable thrusters. The dynamic model developed for the robot has a highly nonlinear thrust vector map because of tilting angles. Backstepping control, a non-linear control method is applied to this robot model for continuous tilting motion. The system stability is guaranteed, and the tracking errors asymptotically converge to zero by Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, numerical simulations illustrate the performance of the derived cascaded tracking control technique.
Self-Tuning RFID Tag: A New Approach for Temperature Sensing

This paper aims to present a further exploration on a new concept regarding the operation of an ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor tag. Exploiting the antenna of a UHF RFID tag as a temperature transducer and a UHF RFID chip with self-tuning capabilities as the means of communication, a UHF RFID tag can operate as a very low-power sensor with high read range and small size. The antenna of the tag is taking advantage of the intrinsic characteristics of the used substrate to vary its overall complex impedance according to temperature. These changes of the impedance of the antenna are leading the self-tuning circuit of the used RFID chip to self-tune and based on the value it acquires an estimation of the sensed temperature can be made. This paper also reports a design and a set of measurements of a UHF RFID tag transformed to act as a temperature sensor. This concept is further explored for the assessment of the contribution of each of the constituents of the UHF RFID tag, i.e., antenna and UHF RFID chip, to the sensing procedure. This paper is accompanied by the simulation of a designed 3-D model of the UHF RFID sensor tag and by sets of measurement of the impedances of the UHF RFID chip and of the antenna.
Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control From the Practical Aspects

In this paper, important issues that could come up in practice of active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) due to a common assumption and some inevitable practical restrictions are investigated. The main idea behind ADRC is modeling effects of both internal uncertainties and external disturbances as an extra state called the total disturbance which is timely estimated. In the majority of recent works, it is assumed that time derivative of total disturbance is bounded. First we prove that, beside the system characteristics, the validity of this assumption strongly depends on the tuning parameters, even in the case of simple classes of linear second-order systems. Thus, one should be careful upon making this common assumption independent from the tuning parameters. Then, the effect of imperfections imposed by sensor dynamics, measurement noise, actuator saturation, and discrete implementation are thoroughly studied. It is shown that these imperfections could crucially affect the control performance. Furthermore, a tuning method, with a higher degree of freedom, is proposed involving the stability considerations in its design procedure. The given theoretical analyses are supported via both simulation and experimental results. The discussed issues are recommended to be carefully considered by experts and practitioners of ADRC.
Simultaneous Control of Interlayer Exchange Coupling and the Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya Interaction in Ru-Based Synthetic Antiferromagnets

We present a Ru-based synthetic antiferromagnet (SAF) made with asymmetric ferromagnetic building blocks (Pt/Co/Ir or Ir/Co/Pt) to couple their interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) with strong interlayer exchange coupling (IEC). This combination may lead to new types of antiferromagnetic domain walls (DWs), which are conceptually presented in this letter. These include an energetically frustrated configuration and an “isolated” spin chain where a net magnetization exists only at the DW. While most SAF designs incorporate a Co/Ru/Co IEC layer, chiral SAFs require Pt and/or Ir at the Ru/Co interface. In all cases except Pt/Ru/Pt, a significant IEC field is preserved over a range of Ru thicknesses, with the largest occurring for Ir/Ru/Ir. These results demonstrate that ferromagnetic film stacks with purportedly strong DMI can be incorporated into SAFs without compromising IEC.
Viable Computation of the Largest Lyapunov Characteristic Exponent for Power Systems

Stochastic Differential Algebraic Equations (SDAEs) are used to model power systems. However, there is no universally accepted method to properly evaluate the stability of such models. The theoretical and numerical aspects of the computation of the largest Lyapunov Characteristic Exponent (LCE) for power systems with the inclusion of stochastic processes is discussed as a method to provide a measure of stability. A semi-implicit formulation of power systems is employed in order to exploit parallelism, sparsity and to have low memory requirements. Three case studies are considered, two based on the IEEE 14-bus system as well as a 1,479-bus model of the all island Irish transmission grid.
β-actin regulates a heterochromatin landscape essential for optimal induction of neuronal programs during direct reprograming

During neuronal development, β-actin serves an important role in growth cone mediated axon guidance. Consistent with this notion, in vivo ablation of the β-actin gene leads to abnormalities in the nervous system. However, whether β-actin is involved in the regulation of neuronal gene programs is not known. In this study, we directly reprogramed β-actin+/+ WT, β-actin+/- HET and β-actin-/- KO mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEFs) into chemically induced neurons (CiNeurons). Using RNA-seq analysis, we profiled the transcriptome changes among the CiNeurons. We discovered that induction of neuronal gene programs was impaired in KO CiNeurons in comparison to WT ones, whereas HET CiNeurons showed an intermediate levels of induction. ChIP-seq analysis of heterochromatin markers demonstrated that the impaired expression of neuronal gene programs correlated with the elevated H3K9 and H3K27 methylation levels at gene loci in β-actin deficient MEFs, which is linked to the loss of chromatin association of the BAF complex ATPase subunit Brg1. Together, our study shows that heterochromatin alteration in β-actin null MEFs impedes the induction of neuronal gene programs during direct reprograming. These findings are in line with the notion that H3K9Me3-based heterochromatin forms a major epigenetic barrier during cell fate change.
Revocable Session Key Generation Using Combined Fingerprint Template

Ensuring network and information security is one of the top most concerns related to data transmission. Cryptography is most effective solution for secure data transmission. Efficient cryptographic method depends on cryptographic key and its management. Traditional cryptography faces many problems such as difficulty in memorizing random keys and key storage in network. Linking biometric traits of a person with cryptography overcomes these limitations. Different biometrics that can used are fingerprint, iris, face etc. To address the limitations, biometric and cryptography is combined to develop Crypto Biometric Systems which uses biometric traits to protect or generate the cryptographic key. But key generation based on biometric has problems with privacy of biometrics and revocability of biometric. Hence, there is a need to generate an efficient crypto biometric system which satisfies privacy and revocability of biometric data. This paper is to generate crypto-biometric key from cancellable fingerprint template of both users participating in the communication. Cancellable transformation is performed based on triangulation feature set construction to ensure privacy of fingerprint template. Cancellable fingerprint templates of both sender and receiver are safely transmitted to one another using LSB steganography. Fusion technique at feature level is used in concatenation of both templates to create a combined template. Combined template elements are shuffled using shuffle key and applying hash on the shuffled element set generates the unique session key. To add revocability and key diversity shuffle key update phase is implemented. Increasing security demands shifted the focus from single biometrics to multibiometrics. In this method, multiple fingerprints of a user is used for key generation which overcomes and resolves issues in single biometric systems.