Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Title Intrusion detection routers : Design , implementation andevaluation using an experimental testbed

In this paper, we present the design, the implementation details, and the evaluation results of an intrusion detection and defense system for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The evaluation is conducted using an experimental testbed. The system, known as intrusion detection router (IDR), is deployed on network routers to perform online detection on any DDoS attack event, and then react with defense mechanisms to mitigate the attack. The testbed is built up by a cluster of sufficient number of Linux machines to mimic a portion of the Internet. Using the testbed, we conduct real experiments to evaluate the IDR system and demonstrate that IDR is effective in protecting the network from various DDoS attacks.
Exploiting different scales of variability in a generic Eucalyptus species

This paper tackles a simple question: How should we go about starting a breeding program for a generic eucalypt? I posit that the failure of many attempts is directly related to their lack of focus and small population size, which made very difficult to select and breed trees that showed superiority for multiple-traits. I describe the exploitation of variability at three levels: between populations, within populations and within trees. Taking advantage of within-tree variability would make very early selection for intrinsic wood quality feasible. I use stochastic simulation to study the effect of sample size when dealing with a multiple-trait situation. Arising from this analysis I suggest using a strategy based on openpollination, enriched with controlled crosses making use of low cost techniques like Artificially Induced Protogyny. Finally, the testing scheme would target very specific environments, considering that we ought to be breeding niche species that take account of a particular site/environment and a specific end-
Use of information and communication technology (ICT) by extension officers of the tea small holdings development authority of Sri Lanka.

The use of advanced technologies for information dissemination in the tea industry is crucial as tea (Cameliasinensis (L.)Kuntze. ) is one of the major foreign exchange earning agribusinesses in Sri Lanka. This study contributes to understand the present status of information needs, use of information and communication technology (ICT) and the contributory factors for use of ICT among extension workers serving the tea small holders. A survey was conducted with a randomly selected representative sample of 101 extension officers of the Tea Small Holdings Development Authority of Sri Lanka using a pre-tested interview schedule, where the questions were designed to generate information on socio-demography, ICT usage, information needs, perception on usefulness and ease-of-use of ICT, and the actual use of ICT. Most of the respondents were above 36 years old, while 65.3% were with more than 20 years of work experience. The majority (89.1%) have had diploma level education. Extension workers used to frequently access information on fertilizer and agrochemical availability, tea planting materials and general information on tea cultivation. All respondents owned mobile phones while, 95.0% had the access to fixed telephones. Only 36.6%, 38.6%, 47.5% and 5.0% of the respondents had access to Internet, e-mail, VCD/DVD/IMM-CD and facsimiles facilities, respectively. The majority (78.2%) used mobile phones about 4-7 days per week and they had perceived it as highly useful and easy to use material. Besides the high perceived usefulness of Internet, email and VCD/DVD/IMM-CD, use of these facilities was less among older extension workers. There was significant number of respondents who had never undergone any training on ICT use. Regular in-service training and making ICT more accessible can make extension workers more familiar with ICT to get information necessary for their extension activities. Tropical Agricultural Research Vol. 25 (4): 460-475 (2014)
The Amatrice 2016 seismic sequence: a preliminary look at the mainshock and aftershocks distribution

We relocated the aftershocks of the M W 6.0 Amatrice 2016 mainshock by inverting with a non-linear probabilitstic method P- and S-arrival time readings produced and released in near realtime by the analyst seismologists of IGNV on duty in the seismic monitoring room. Earthquakes distribution shows the activation of a normal fault system with a main SW-dipping fault extending from Amatrice to NW of Accumoli village for a total length of 40 km. On the northern portion of the main fault hanging-wall volume, the structure become more complex activating an antithetic fault below the Norcia basin. It is worth nothing that below 8-9 km of depth, the whole fault system has an almost continuous sub-horizontal layer interested by an intense seismic activity, about 2 km thick.
Title High-Rate Space Coding for Reconfigurable 2 x 2 Millimeter-Wave MIMO Systems Permalink

Millimeter-wave links are of a line-of-sight nature. Hence, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems operating in the millimeter-wave band may not achieve full spatial diversity or multiplexing. In this paper, we utilize reconfigurable antennas and the high antenna directivity in the millimeterwave band to propose a rate-two space coding design for 2 × 2 MIMO systems. The proposed scheme can be decoded with a low complexity maximum-likelihood detector at the receiver and yet it can enhance the bit-error-rate performance of millimeter-wave systems compared to traditional spatial multiplexing schemes, such as the Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time Architecture (VBLAST). Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed code and show its superiority compared to existing rate-two space-time block codes.
Application of gradient boosted trees to gender prediction based on motivations of masters athletes

Gradient boosted decision trees are statistical learning ensemble methods that iteratively refit decision tree sub-models to residuals. The aim of this research was to apply gradient boosted decision trees and investigate their ability as statistical techniques to predict gender based upon psychological constructs measuring motivations to participate in masters sports. Comparison was made between previously published research utilizing logistic regression, discriminate function analysis, radial basis functions and multilayer perceptrons with a selection of unboosted and boosted decision tree based models. The tree models selected were J48, C5.0, gradient boosted machine (GBM), XGBoost and LightGBM. The sample consisted of 3928 masters athletes (2010 males) from the World Masters Games, the largest sporting event in the world (by participant numbers). The efficacy of tree based models for prediction in this environment was established with even baseline older implementations, giving higher prediction accuracy than any methods used in prior research. The highest predictive accuracy was achieved using GBM (0.7134), exceeding accuracies of models using XGBoost (0.7012) or LightGBM (0.6904). These two recent implementations of boosting may have given lower predictive accuracy than GBM due to the high dimensionality relative to the number of cases in the data.
Thrombin Receptor Protease-Activated Receptor 4 Is a Key Regulator of Exaggerated Intimal Thickening in Diabetes Mellitus

Background— Diabetes mellitus predisposes to thrombotic and proliferative vascular remodeling, to which thrombin contributes via activation of protease-activated receptor (PAR) 1. However, the use of PAR-1 inhibitors to suppress remodeling may be limited by severe bleeding. We recently reported upregulation of an additional thrombin receptor, PAR-4, in human vascular smooth muscle cells exposed to high glucose and have now examined PAR-4 as a novel mediator linking hyperglycemia, hypercoagulation, and vascular remodeling in diabetes mellitus. Methods and Results— PAR-4 expression was increased in carotid atherectomies and saphenous vein specimens from diabetic versus nondiabetic patients and in aorta and carotid arteries from streptozotocin-diabetic versus nondiabetic C57BL/6 mice. Vascular PAR-1 mRNA was not increased in diabetic mice. Ligated carotid arteries from diabetic mice developed more extensive neointimal hyperplasia and showed greater proliferation than arteries from nondiabetic mice. The augmented remodeling response was absent in diabetic mice deficient in PAR-4. At the cellular level, PAR-4 expression was controlled via the mRNA stabilizing actions of human antigen R, which accounted for the stimulatory actions of high glucose, angiotensin II, and H2O2 on PAR-4 expression, whereas cicaprost via protein kinase A activation counteracted this effect. Conclusions— PAR-4 appears to play a hitherto unsuspected role in diabetic vasculopathy. The development of PAR-4 inhibitors might serve to limit mainly proliferative processes in restenosis-prone diabetic patients, particularly those patients in whom severe bleeding attributed to selective PAR-1 blockade or complete thrombin inhibition must be avoided or those who do not require anticoagulation.
Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels in Drug Discovery

Voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav) control the initiation and propagation of action potential, and thus mediate a broad spectrum of physiological processes, including central and peripheral nervous systems ’ function, skeletal muscle contraction, and heart rhythm. Recent advances in elucidating the molecular basis of channelopathies implicating Nav channels are the most appealing druggable targets for pain and many other pathology conditions. This chapter overviews Nav super family from genetic evolution, distribution, human diseases/pathology association, highlighting the most recent structure function breakthrough. The second section will discuss current small and large Nav modulators, including traditional nonselective pore blockers, intracellular modulators, and extracellular modulators.
FINITE ELEMENT UPDATING USING CROSS-ENTROPY

This paper presents the potential of the cross-entropy method to surmise the properties of a simply supported beam using as input the response of the structure to a moving load. The beam model is discretised into a number of elementary beams with assumed initial statistical distributions of stiffness. Then, an optimisation procedure based on cross-entropy is employed to minimise differences between simulated measurements and the results of the theoretical finite element beam model. The procedure consists of generating a large sample of stiffness distributions for each elementary beam, and selecting those fitting the measured response best. Then, the parameters of the statistical distribution of stiffness assumed for each elementary beam (mean and standard deviation) are updated using the stiffness values of those combinations of elementary beams giving a best solution. It is an iterative procedure where the mean value of each distribution tends towards the true stiffness in successive iterations. The level of accuracy is limited by the quantity and quality of the available measurements. Therefore, the standard deviation of the final stiffness for each beam element (once further iterations do not lead to a reduction of the error) provides an estimation of the reliability of the prediction. Here, the method is demonstrated for the characterisation of the stiffness distribution of a beam from the simulated response to a moving load. First, deflections are calculated using a finite element beam model with assumed initial stiffness properties. There will be a record of simulated responses per measurement point that cross-entropy will try to imitate by adjusting and improving estimations of stiffness in successive iterations. The results show cross-entropy can be used as a valuable tool to estimate structural parameters and it has huge scope for applications in model calibration, bridge weigh-in-motion and monitoring.
STUDENTS’ AWARENESS OF AND ADHERENCE TO ENERGY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SELECTED STUDENTS' HALLS OF RESIDENCE AT KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, GHANA

Energy management is one of the current policy directions of the Ghana government given the increasing challenges associated with energy generation to cope with the growing demand. A conscious attempt at adopting practices aimed at conserving energy is considered a sinequanon to coping with the current energy challenges in Ghana. However, an assessment of the awareness level of energy management practices is yet to be rigorously pursued as an agenda towards energy conservation in institutions and agencies perceived to be high energy consumers. Currently, the increasing growth in student numbers in the universities in Ghana and the high energy demands against the low level of energy generation to cope with these demands needs urgent attention. Consequently, adherence to effective energy management practices among students in these universities is considered a prima-facie in coping with the energy challenges in the country. The aim of this study was to assess the awareness and adherence levels of energy management practices of students in tertiary institutions in Ghana. Using KNUST as a case study, a questionnaire survey was carried out amongst students in residential accommodation on the campus. Subsequently, mean score and one sample t-test analyses were employed to analyze the empirical data elicited. The findings revealed a generally low awareness and adherence level to the critical energy management practices amongst students. These findings have implications for energy policy formulation and innovations towards conservation and management. Keywords: Energy management; Ghana; Hostels; Students
SIRT 1 ameliorates oxidative stress induced neural cell death and is down-regulated in Parkinson ’ s disease

Background: Sirtuins (SIRTs) are NAD+ dependent lysine deacetylases which are conserved from bacteria to humans and have been associated with longevity and lifespan extension. SIRT1, the best studied mammalian SIRT is involved in many physiological and pathological processes and changes in SIRT1 have been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders, with SIRT1 having a suggested protective role in Parkinson’s disease. In this study, we determined the effect of SIRT1 on cell survival and α-synuclein aggregate formation in SH-SY5Y cells following oxidative stress. Results: Over-expression of SIRT1 protected SH-SY5Y cells from toxin induced cell death and the protection conferred by SIRT1 was partially independent of its deacetylase activity, which was associated with the repression of NF-кB and cPARP expression. SIRT1 reduced the formation of α-synuclein aggregates but showed minimal co-localisation with α-synuclein. In post-mortem brain tissue obtained from patients with Parkinson’s disease, Parkinson’s disease with dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease, the activity of SIRT1 was observed to be down-regulated. Conclusions: These findings suggests a negative effect of oxidative stress in neurodegenerative disorders and possibly explain the reduced activity of SIRT1 in neurodegenerative disorders. Our study shows that SIRT1 is a pro-survival protein that is downregulated under cellular stress.
A QUIZZING SYSTEM FOR BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED CANDIDATES

Abstract A major obstacle confronting blind and visually impaired students in their education is the lack of ability to function independently when it comes to certain things like taking exams. This paper is about a voice-enabled quizzing system which will be used to assess the students of a university especially the blind or visually impaired. The system was built on top of the voice over IP (VoIP) technologies in conjunction with an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engine used to transform a speech to its actual text format. Multiple Choice and True/False Question are the only types of question allowed for a quiz; and the interactions with the system are fully operated by voice commands by using a mobile phone, a SIP-enabled device or a SIP-based application to call a number associated to an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) provided with a Voice User Interface (VUI) to manage quizzes as a lecturer and to take quizzes as a student. After the completion of a quiz, the result is provided automatically to the student by audio and email. Immediately after the end date and time set for a quiz is elapsed, an email containing statistical data and the attendants’ results is sent to the lecturer to analyze the performance of the students. However, the lecturer can review the quizzes results anytime by using the Voice User Interface. INTRODUCTION
Classification based on Binary Maximum Entropy Classifiers

This paper presents a strategy based on binary maximum entropy classifiers for automatic sentiment analysis and topic classification over Spanish Twitter data. The developed system achieved the best results for topic classification, and the second place for sentiment analysis in a joint evaluation effort – the TASS challenge (Villena-Román et al., 2012). Different configurations have been explored for both tasks, leading to the use of a cascade of binary classifiers for sentiment analysis and a one-vs-all strategy for topic classification, where the most probable topics for each tweet were selected.
Service Design Against Organised Crime

This paper proposes benefits of using service design against organised crime. As a vehicle to this discussion, the focus is an anti-child-trafficking project at Northumbria University in the UK, involving its multidisciplinary Northumbria Crime Prevention Network. The last 10 years have shown increasing evidence of people trafficking, internationally (DoS, 2010), generally for the purposes of illegal labour and/or sex. A significant fraction of those who are trafficked are children. The majority of these children are in their mid-teens, but some are as young as five years old. The C4 persona-based critical design process, (Hilton, 2008), is proposed to strategically enable a service design approach to counter organised crime, by first developing the required criminal personas in order to use their competitive perspectives in critical review of the preventative initiatives. Opportunities from such a service design approach, to child trafficking for example would include new means of: interruption or redirection of child trafficking services so that these children end up in legitimate care; also the proposition of considering new opportunities and improvements in child trafficking service routes and processes as a means of second guessing how and where Recruiters, Transporters, and Exploiters, (Van Dijck, 2005), might next be found operating, and then through border and security agencies successfully countered.
Assessing the Value of Quality in the Italian Wine Market

The paper aims at: i) understanding to what extent wine experts’ evaluations are influenced by different quality clues ii) assessing the role and effectiveness of different quality clues in the creation of price. To meet these goals we set two independent equations. The first -estimated via an ordered logit- explaining the score obtained by each wine with a bunch of attributes of the wine and of its production process. The second equation is a hedonic price model –estimated via an interval regression- where price is a function of a large number quality clues. The analysis covers 2,523 wines from three Italian Regions as reviewed by Veronelli guide. Results indicates that: i) few attributes seems to systematically impact experts’ judgments; ii) many quality clues are associated with significant price premiums; iii) in some cases consumers give value to quality clues along with experts while in other cases there is no alignment.
QTL mapping of root angle in F2 populations from maize B73 × teosinte Zea luxurians

We evaluated variation in nodal root angle in the genus Zea and performed quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping for the trait. Angle (in degrees) of roots emerging from the second (2nd-root angle) and third (3rd-root angle) nodes from the bottom of shoot showed wide variation in nine accessions; relatively high repeatability was obtained. QTL analyses controlling root angle were performed in the two sets of F2 populations (127 individuals in Trial A and 123 in Trial B) developed from different crossings of maize B73 (deep-rooting) × teosinte Zea luxurians (shallow-rooting). In Trial A, we used an SSR-based map with 107 markers, covering 1,329 cM throughout all ten chromosomes. By composite interval mapping analysis, four QTLs were identified, two on chromosome 10 for 2nd-root angle and one each on chromosomes 2 and 7 for 3rd-root angle. In Trial B, using a 1,397 cM SSR-based map with 92 markers, one QTL was located on chromosome 4 and two on chromosome 7 for 2nd-root angle and one each on chromosomes 2, 4 and 7 for 3rd-root angle. The QTL on chromosome 7 (identified as Qra2nd3rd7.04) was consistently found across the trials. A potential role of the Qra2nd3rd7.04 in controlling angles of nodal roots and thus flooding tolerance was discussed.
Double-Membrane Compartments Structures : a Three-Dimensional Study of Single-and The Transformation of Enterovirus Replication 2011

All positive-strand RNA viruses induce membrane structures in their host cells which are thought to serve as suitable microenvironments for viral RNA synthesis. The structures induced by enteroviruses, which are members of the family Picornaviridae, have so far been described as either singleor double-membrane vesicles (DMVs). Aside from the number of delimiting membranes, their exact architecture has also remained elusive due to the limitations of conventional electron microscopy. In this study, we used electron tomography (ET) to solve the three-dimensional (3-D) ultrastructure of these compartments. At different time points postinfection, coxsackievirus B3-infected cells were high-pressure frozen and freeze-substituted for ET analysis. The tomograms showed that during the exponential phase of viral RNA synthesis, closed smooth single-membrane tubules constituted the predominant virus-induced membrane structure, with a minor proportion of DMVs that were either closed or connected to the cytosol in a vase-like configuration. As infection progressed, the DMV number steadily increased, while the tubular single-membrane structures gradually disappeared. Late in infection, complex multilamellar structures, previously unreported, became apparent in the cytoplasm. Serial tomography disclosed that their basic unit is a DMV, which is enwrapped by one or multiple cisternae. ET also revealed striking intermediate structures that strongly support the conversion of single-membrane tubules into double-membrane and multilamellar structures by a process of membrane apposition, enwrapping, and fusion. Collectively, our work unravels the sequential appearance of distinct enterovirus-induced replication structures, elucidates their detailed 3-D architecture, and provides the basis for a model for their transformation during the course of
Involvement of the Urogenital Tract in Patients with Five or More Separate Malignant Neoplasms

Occurrence of metachronous primary malignant neoplasms (PMN) in five or more different organs and tissue of the same patient is a very rare event. The present paper reports on a female patient who experienced Hodgkin’s disease of nodular sclerotic type (stage IV), carcinoma of the cervix uteri (stage I), adenocarcinoma of the rectum (Dukes A), and a well-differentiated adenocarcinoma of the stomach (pT1) before she demonstrated multicentric transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis and ureter (pT3b G2-3) and of the bladder (pTa G2). Although an increased inherent predisposition of the patient to exhibit those neoplasms, similar to Lynch syndrome II, is to be discussed, her previous treatments with cyclophosphamide and external radiotherapy are likely to explain at least the occurrence of urothelial cancer. However, a report on renal pelvis and ureteral cancer induced by cyclophosphamide or irradiation is a rarity in itself.