Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SQC: secure quality control for meta‐analysis of genome‐wide association studies

Motivation: Due to the limited power of small‐scale genome‐wide association studies (GWAS), researchers tend to collaborate and establish a larger consortium in order to perform large‐scale GWAS. Genome‐wide association meta‐analysis (GWAMA) is a statistical tool that aims to synthesize results from multiple independent studies to increase the statistical power and reduce false‐positive findings of GWAS. However, it has been demonstrated that the aggregate data of individual studies are subject to inference attacks, hence privacy concerns arise when researchers share study data in GWAMA. Results: In this article, we propose a secure quality control (SQC) protocol, which enables checking the quality of data in a privacy‐preserving way without revealing sensitive information to a potential adversary. SQC employs state‐of‐the‐art cryptographic and statistical techniques for privacy protection. We implement the solution in a meta‐analysis pipeline with real data to demonstrate the efficiency and scalability on commodity machines. The distributed execution of SQC on a cluster of 128 cores for one million genetic variants takes less than one hour, which is a modest cost considering the 10‐month time span usually observed for the completion of the QC procedure that includes timing of logistics. Availability and Implementation: SQC is implemented in Java and is publicly available at https://github.com/acs6610987/secureqc Contact: jean‐pierre.hubaux@epfl.ch Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Design and Implementation of High Step-up DC to DC Converter with Soft Switching Method

: This project aims to increase efficiency of high step-up DC to DC converter it acts as a boost converter, it is used in the many battery powered applications. A right aligned modulation has been developed in order to minimize the conduction losses while maintaining soft switching method in MOSFET. In the conventional method, full wave rectifier is used in the secondary side due to that switching losses may occur, instead here, half wave rectifier with capacitors are used. Capacitor performs the filtering so that ripple voltage will be reduced. In addition to phase shift zero voltage switching technique, here zero current switching has been employed. As a result, the proposed converter has reduced switching losses and conduction losses than the conventional type. Also its voltage and current values have increased widely, therefore its power is also increased.
Introductory Chapter: Graphene Oxide: Applications and Opportunities Introductory Chapter: Graphene Oxide: Applications and Opportunities

This chapter aims to introduce the emerging technologies of graphene oxide (GO) in various fields such as industrial, medical, electronics, artificial intelligences, materials and alloys, energy storage devices, optical, physics, mechanical, nanomaterials, and sustainable chemistry. Graphene oxide analogy to graphene was first discovered by chemist Benjamin C. Brodie in 1859 and further quick method was developed by Hummers and Offeman in 1957; globally, the method is known as Hummers’ method [1].
Mechanism of antimicrobial activity and antioxidant activities of the essential oil and the methanolic extract of carum montanum from Algeria

The methanolic extract (ME) of C. montanum obtained by a hydo-alcoholic maceration and its polyphenol content was evaluated by Folin-Ciocalteu method. This extract and C. montanum essential oil (EO)were screened for antimicrobial activity against 21 microbial strains by agar diffusion method. MICs of the EO were determined by the broth micro dilution method. The action mechanism of EO was determined on the susceptible strains by the time kill assay and the lysis experience. Antioxidant properties were studied by both free DPPH radical scavenging and reducing power techniques. The TPC in the ME showed a high level of 101.50 ± 5.33 mg GAE /mg. B. cereus was the most sensitive strain with MIC of 55.5 µg/ml , then K. pneumoniae (111 µg/ml). A remarkable decrease in a survival rate as well as in the absorbance at 260 nm were recorded, which suggest that the cytoplasm membrane is one of the targets of the EO. Antioxidant effects concentration were dependent and IC 50 values were 1.09 ± 0.37 µg/ml for the EO and 65.04 ± 0.00 µg/ml for the ME by DPPH method and a reducing power dose-dependent. In conclusion, C. montanum extracts showed potent which could be exploited in the food industry for food preservation.
Associations between age, cohort, and urbanization with systolic and diastolic blood pressure in China: a population-based study across 18 years

Objective— Little is known about whether large-scale environmental changes, such as those seen with urbanization, are differentially associated with systolic versus diastolic blood pressure, and whether those changes vary by birth cohort. Methods— We used data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, a population-based cohort study of Chinese adults (n=18,976; ages 18–70y) seen a maximum of 7 times over 1991–2009. We used hierarchical multivariable linear models to simultaneously estimate systolic and diastolic blood pressure as correlated outcomes over time, accounting for their physiologic, time-varying correlation. Main exposure variables were urbanicity, age, and birth cohort. Over 18 years of modernization, median systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased by 10 and 7 mm Hg, respectively. Results— Our hierarchical model results suggest greater temporal increases in systolic and particularly diastolic blood pressure at lower versus higher urbanicity. At the same chronological age, for a 10-year difference in birth cohort (i.e., born in 1980s versus 1970s) the adjusted mean diastolic blood pressure was ~3mm Hg higher for the later birth cohort (p<0.001). Pulse pressure (calculated as model-predicted systolic minus diastolic blood pressure) was also higher at low versus high urbanicity. Conclusions— These results suggest increased susceptibility of diastolic blood pressure (and thus peripheral vascular resistance) to environmental change, particularly in younger Chinese adults. Because diastolic blood pressure more strongly predicts cardiovascular disease risk in younger adulthood, hypertension-related health burden in China may increase over time. determinants urbanization using a scale that captures changes across and and health over time, improving upon urban-rural dichotomous
ENVIRONMENTAL FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT IN FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION The United Nations established the period from January 2005 to December 2014 as the Decade of Education for the Sustainable Development (BONIS; COSTA, 2009). Thereunto, the United Nations for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) promoted and required governors, teachers, researchers and observers along the world the improvement and development of inedit strategies related to Education for the Sustainable Development. According to these authors, it is crucial to study the effects of teaching technologies applied to the formation of professionals that will act with multidisciplinarity, including the transversal1 theme Environmental Formation.
Extreme points in medium and high dimensions

The problem of finding the extreme points of a point set in higher dimensions is used in different applications and algorithms. In contrast to constructing the convex hull, this problem can be solved in polynomial time using linear programming. The practical part of this thesis is the implementation of an extreme point package for the CGAL library. In the theoretical part the special case of sparse points in high dimensions and the properties of an on-line setting are examined.
Chemical and Biosensing Applications Based on Graphene Field-Effect Transistors

Moreover, we demonstrate the achievement of electrical detection of biomolecules and their charge types by G-FETs. The Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age. Every global epoch in the history of the mankind is characterized by materials used in it. In 2004 a new era in material science was opened: the era of graphene or, more generally, of two-dimensional materials. Graphene is the strongest and the most stretchable known material, it has the record thermal conductivity and the very high mobility of charge carriers. It demonstrates many interesting fundamental physical effects and promises a lot of applications, among which are conductive ink, terahertz transistors, ultrafast photodetectors and bendable touch screens. In 2010 Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene". The two volumes Physics and Applications of Graphene - Experiments and Physics and Applications of Graphene - Theory contain a collection of research articles reporting on different aspects of experimental and theoretical studies of this new material.
A Framework for Protocol Vulnerability Condition Detection

—Intrusion detection system (IDS) detects an intrusion by comparing with its attack signatures. The generation of IDS signatures is based on the analysis of attack traffic, which is a result of exploiting vulnerabilities in a network protocol. Thus, the protocol analysis becomes an effective method to find out protocol vulnerabilities with regard to IDS. But the problem of protocol analysis in IDS is that how to detect all protocol vulnerability conditions in protocols. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to identify protocol vulnerability conditions by utilizing existing protocol analysis techniques. In particular, there are three major analysis steps in our framework: protocol semantic analysis, protocol implementation analysis and protocol state transition sub-condition analysis. In the final step of our framework, we illustrate the use of deletion, addition and modification operations with the purpose of generating all potential protocol vulnerability conditions from the normal protocol transition conditions. Experimental results show that this framework is encouraging and feasible.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Reduced total energy expenditure and physical activity in cachectic patients with pancreatic cancer can be modulated by an energy and protein dense oral supplement enriched with n-3 fatty acids

The aim of the study was to assess the total energy expenditure (TEE), resting energy expenditure (REE) and physical activity level (PAL) in home-living cachectic patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The influence of an energy and protein dense oral supplement either enriched with or without the n-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and administered over an 8-week period was also determined. In total, 24 patients were studied at baseline. The total energy expenditure was measured using doubly labelled water and REE determined by indirect calorimetry. Patients were studied at baseline and then randomised to either oral nutritional supplement. Measurements were repeated at 8 weeks. At baseline, REE was increased compared with predicted values for healthy individuals (1387(42) vs 1268(32) kcal day (cid:1) 1 , P ¼ 0.001), but TEE (1732(82) vs 1903(48)kcal day (cid:1) 1 , P ¼ 0.023) and PAL (1.24(0.04) vs 1.50) were reduced. After 8 weeks, the REE, TEE and PAL of patients who received the control supplement did not change significantly. In contrast, although REE did not change, TEE and PAL increased significantly in those who received the n-3 (EPA) enriched supplement. In summary, patients with advanced pancreatic cancer were hypermetabolic. However, TEE was reduced and this was secondary to a reduction in physical activity. The control energy and protein dense oral supplement did not influence the physical activity component of TEE. In contrast, administration of the supplement enriched with EPA was associated with an increase in physical activity, which may reflect improved quality of life.
A novel Major Facilitator Superfamily protein at the tonoplast influences Zn tolerance and accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana 1

Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient required by all cells but is toxic in excess. We have identified three allelic Zn-sensitive mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana . The gene, designated ZINC-INDUCED FACILITATOR1 ( ZIF1 ), encodes a member of the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) of membrane proteins which are found in all organisms and transport a wide range of small, organic molecules. Shoots of zif1 mutants showed increased accumulation of Zn, but not other metal ions. In combination with mutations affecting shoot to root Zn translocation, zif1 hma2 hma4 triple mutants accumulated less Zn than the wild type but remain Zn-sensitive, suggesting that the zif1 Zn-sensitive phenotype is due to altered Zn distribution. zif1 mutants were also more sensitive to cadmium but less sensitive to nickel. Pro ZIF1 - GUS fusions were expressed throughout the plant, with strongest expression in young tissues, and predominantly in the vasculature in older tissues. ZIF1 expression was highly induced by Zn and, to a lesser extent, by manganese. A ZIF1-GFP fusion protein localised to the tonoplast in transgenic plants. MTP1 has been identified as a tonoplast Zn transporter and a zif1-1 mtp1-1 double mutant was more sensitive to Zn than either of the single mutants suggesting ZIF1 influences a distinct mechanism of Zn homeostasis. Over-expression of ZIF1 conferred increased Zn tolerance and inter-veinal leaf chlorosis in some transgenic lines in which ZIF1 expression was high. We propose that ZIF1 is involved in a novel mechanism of Zn sequestration, possibly by transport of a Zn ligand or Zn-ligand complex into vacuoles.
The Role of the Prefrontal Cortex and Functional Connectivity during Maritime Operations: An fNIRS study Prefrontal Functional Maritime Operations: An study.

Introduction: Watchkeeping is a significant activity during maritime operations, and failures of sustained attention and decision-making can increase the likelihood of a collision. Methods: A study was conducted in a ship bridge simulator where 40 participants (20 experienced/20 inexperienced) performed: (1) a 20-min period of sustained attention to locate a target vessel and (2) a 10-min period of decision-making/action selection to perform an evasive maneuver. Half of the participants also performed an additional task of verbally reporting the position of their vessel. Activation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) was captured via a 15-channel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) montage, and measures of functional connectivity were calculated frontal using graph-theoretic measures. Results: Neurovascular activation of right lateral area of the PFC decreased during sustained attention and increased during decision-making. The graph-theoretic analysis revealed that density declined during decision-making in comparison with the previous period of sustained attention, while local clustering declined during sustained attention and increased when participants prepared their evasive maneuver. A regression analysis revealed an association between network measures and behavioral outcomes, with respect to spotting the target vessel and making an evasive maneuver. Conclusions: The right lateral area of the PFC is sensitive to watchkeeping and de-cision-making during operational performance. Graph-theoretic measures allow us to quantify patterns of functional connectivity and were predictive of safety-critical performance.
Hypolipidemic Properties of Ethanol Extract of Cyperus rotundus Rhizome

This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Authors GNO, SEA and COU conceptualized and designed the work, wrote the protocol and interpreted the data. Authors GNO, SEA, UVN and ACE anchored the laboratory work, gathered the initial data and performed preliminary data analysis. Author GNO handled the literature searches and produced the initial draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. ABSTRACT This study investigated the effect of ethanol extract of Cyperus rotundus rhizome on hyperlipidemia induced with carbimazole and cholesterol in male wister rats. Acute toxicity analysis with the Cyperus rotundus rhizome extract produced no letality even at higher doses. Hyperlipidemia was induced using 400 mg/kg cholesterol and 2 mg/kg carbimazole. The lipemic control group was administered cholesterol and carbimazole but not the normal control group. Cholesterol and carbimazole administration caused a significant (p = 0.05) increase in the Total Cholesterol, Triglyceride (TG), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), non-High Density Lipoprotein (non-HDL) Cholesterol and LDL/HDL ratio and a significant (p = .05) decrease in the levels of HDL cholesterol in the lipemic control when compared to the normal control. Treatment with ethanol extract of Cyperus rotundus at 250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg and the standard hypolipidemic drug (simvastatin) at 5mg/kg significantly (p = 0.05) reduced total cholesterol, TG, LDL, LDL/HDL ratio, total non-HDL Cholesterol and also significantly (p=.05) increased the level of HDL cholesterol when compared to Original research the non-treatment group (the lipemic control group). Results of the present study indicate that Cyperus rotundus rhizome contains principles that have hypolipidemic potentials and which compare effectively with standard clinically used therapeutic Hypolipidemic agent, simvastatin.
Business Process Speciﬁcation, Veriﬁcation, and 1 Deployment in a Mono-Cloud, Multi-Edge Context

Despite the prevalence of cloud and edge computing, ensuring the satis-17 faction of time-constrained business processes, remains challenging. Indeed, some 18 cloud/edge-based resources might not be available when needed leading to delay-19 ing the execution of these processes’ tasks and/or the transfer of these processes’ 20 data. This paper presents an approach for specifying, verifying, and deploying time-21 constrained business processes in a mono-cloud, multi-edge context. First, the spec-22 iﬁcation and veriﬁcation of processes happen at design-time and run-time to ensure 23 that these processes’ tasks and data are continuously placed in a way that would 24 mitigate the violation of time constraints. This mitigation might require moving 25 tasks and/or data from one host to another to reduce time latency, for example. A 26 host could be either a cloud, an edge, or any. Finally, the deployment of processes 27 using a real case-study allowed to conﬁrm the beneﬁts of the early speciﬁcation and 28 veriﬁcation of these processes in mitigating time constraints violations.
Initial Clinical Results of a Novel Immuno-PET Theranostic Probe in HER2-negative Breast Cancer

Purpose This prospective study evaluated the imaging performance of a novel immunological pretargeting positron-emission tomorgraphy (immuno-PET) method in patients with HER2-negative, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-positive, metastatic breast cancer (BC), compared to computed tomography (CT), bone magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and 18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET (FDG-PET). Twenty-three patients underwent whole-body immuno-PET after injection of 150 MBq 68 Ga-IMP288, a histamine-succinyl-glycine peptide given following initial targeting of a trivalent anti-CEA, bispecific, anti-peptide antibody. The gold standards were histology and imaging follow-up. Tumor standard uptake values (SUV max and SUV mean ) were measured, and tumor burden analyzed using Total Tumor Volume (TTV) and Total Lesion Activity (TLA).
Thermal Environment Simulation of an East-West Street in Taipei

In order to analyse the relationship between street geometry and thermal environment in a city, this study collected data using five thermal comfort measuring instruments and applied computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to determine the relationship between street thermal environment (thermal comfort) and street geometry factors. According to this study’s results, street geometry, wind path, and waste heat of buildings all play very crucial roles with regard to effecting air temperature and thermal comfort conditions in the street. Meanwhile, the data from field work and CFD simulation confirmed that creating more wind paths and mitigating waste heat of buildings may be the best strategies for creating a comfortable thermal environment in the street.
Incorporating aspects of flow theory to design an achievement-oriented interface

The aim of this study was to explore how flow theory could be applied to improve the process for completing an application process to a creative education program. This was done by first formulating an approach inspired by flow theory and characteristics that promotes creativity in digital tools. The question was then explored using research through design with the goal of formulating the aspects of the flow theory inspired approach as generative intermediate level knowledge in the form of guidelines. User centered design was applied during the design process, starting with an empathizing phase where fundamental information about the application process and the users was attained. It went on to explore design implementations based on the flow theory inspired approach during a workshop and then on to creating an interactive prototype which was evaluated by six participants, iterated and tested in a second user evaluation. The findings of the study implicate that incorporating the guidelines in the flow theory inspired approach could be helpful when designing supportive achievement-oriented environments.
Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Summarization of egocentric videos: A comprehensive survey Summarization of egocentric videos: A comprehensive survey

—The introduction of wearable video cameras (e.g. GoPro) in the consumer market has promoted video life-logging, motivating users to generate large amounts of video data. This increasing ﬂow of ﬁrst-person video has led to a growing need for automatic video-summarization adapted to the characteristics and applications of egocentric video. With this paper, we provide the ﬁrst comprehensive survey of the techniques used speciﬁcally to summarize egocentric videos. We present a framework for ﬁrst-person view summarization, and compare the segmentation methods and selection algorithms used by the related work in the literature. Next, we describe the existing egocentric video datasets suitable for summarization, and then the various evaluation methods. Finally, we analyze the challenges and opportunities in the ﬁeld, and propose new lines of research.
Performance Impact Analysis of Application Implemented on Active Storage Framework

— there is a tremendous increase in usage of digital devices and services provided. As the number of users increased so as the proliferation of data and need of information and knowledge. There has been increasing trend in need for storing and processing these growing data. With the development trend in technology, the storage capacity and processing power has kept well improving. But since the computing power is faster than the spinning device, there is a delay of providing data to processing component from the traditional spinning disks. This delay evolves with a Processing – I/O performance gap. This CPU-I/O gap worsens for application which are data intensive. Active storage framework are proposed to minimize this Processing – I/O performance gap. This research paper provides a test bed which analyses the performance impact on the application