Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards categorical cryptography Dusko Pavlovic

Cryptography is a theory of secret functions. Category theory is a general theory of functions. Cryptography has reached the stage where its structures often take several pages to define, and even its formulas sometime run from page to page. Category theory has some complicated definitions as well, but one of its specialties is taming the flood of structure by diagrams and layering. Cryptography seems to be in need of high level methods, whereas category theory always needs concrete applications. So why is there no categorical cryptography? One reason may be that the foundations of modern cryptography are laid over probabilistic polynomial-time Turing machines, and category theory does not have a good handle on such things. On the other hand, these foundations might be the very reason why the details of cryptographic constructions often resemble low level machine programming. I present some preliminary results of an effort to present the basic cryptographic concepts categorically. It turns out that the standard security definitions can be characterized by simple commutative diagrams. Some security proofs become modular. The work is at an early stage, and did not yield any new cryptographic results yet, but the approach seems natural, leads to some interesting new ideas and structures, and invites more work.
Surface modification, functionalization and bioconjugation of colloidal inorganic nanoparticles

Inorganic colloidal nanoparticles are very small, nanoscale objects with inorganic cores that are dispersed in a solvent. Depending on the material they consist of, nanoparticles can possess a number of different properties such as high electron density and strong optical absorption (e.g. metal particles, in particular Au), photoluminescence in the form of fluorescence (semiconductor quantum dots, e.g. CdSe or CdTe) or phosphorescence (doped oxide materials, e.g. Y2O3), or magnetic moment (e.g. iron oxide or cobalt nanoparticles). Prerequisite for every possible application is the proper surface functionalization of such nanoparticles, which determines their interaction with the environment. These interactions ultimately affect the colloidal stability of the particles, and may yield to a controlled assembly or to the delivery of nanoparticles to a target, e.g. by appropriate functional molecules on the particle surface. This work aims to review different strategies of surface modification and functionalization of inorganic colloidal nanoparticles with a special focus on the material systems gold and semiconductor nanoparticles, such as CdSe/ZnS. However, the discussed strategies are often of general nature and apply in the same way to nanoparticles of other materials.
Properties of y-Aminobutyric Acid Receptor / Ionophore Proteins from Crayfish Muscle

863 suggested that the excitatory receptors for dopamine in the snail nervous system involve cyclic AMP. The postsynaptic response to the inhibitory neurotransmitter y-aminobutyric acid was analysed in vitro in the abdominal muscle of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii. The physiological mechanism has been studied at the level of intact cells by determining quantitatively the stimulation of 36C1-permeability by y-aminobutyrate. The biochemical mechanism has been studied at the level of the membrane receptor/iono-phore proteins, assayed by binding of radioactively labelled y-aminobutyrate and the y-aminobutyrate synaptic antagonist, picrotoxinin. When incubated at room temperature in Van Harreveld's solution, small strips of superficial abdominal flexor muscle accumulated 36Cl-with a tt of 2.5min t o a n equilibrium space of 700ml/kg wet tissue weight. This is opposed t o a much smaller space of 62ml/kg occupied by radioactively labelled sucrose, inositol or propionate. During 15s exposures t o 36Cl-, chloride uptake was 131 f4ml/kg (n = 60). The presence of y-aminobutyrate (2 0 0 ~ ~) increased this chloride uptake to 177+4ml/kg (n = 48). y-Aminobutyrate did not alter uptake of propionate, sucrose, or inositol. Larger doses of y-aminobutyrate, or preincubation of the tissue for 5-l0min with y-aminobutyrate (1 mM), did not change the increase in chloride uptake induced by 200p~-y-aminobutyrate, indicating that the response seen is rapid and is the maximal obtainable under these conditions, and that no desensitization is observed.
Arabidopsis WUSCHEL Is a Bifunctional Transcription Factor That Acts as a Repressor in Stem Cell Regulation and as an Activator in Floral Patterning[W]

Most transcription factors act either as activators or repressors, and no such factors with dual function have been unequivocally identified and characterized in plants. We demonstrate here that the Arabidopsis thaliana protein WUSCHEL (WUS), which regulates the maintenance of stem cell populations in shoot meristems, is a bifunctional transcription factor that acts mainly as a repressor but becomes an activator when involved in the regulation of the AGAMOUS (AG) gene. We show that the WUS box, which is conserved among WOX genes, is the domain that is essential for all the activities of WUS, namely, for regulation of stem cell identity and size of floral meristem. All the known activities of WUS were eliminated by mutation of the WUS box, including the ability of WUS to induce the expression of AG. The mutation of the WUS box was complemented by fusion of an exogenous repression domain, with resultant induction of somatic embryogenesis in roots and expansion of floral meristems as observed upon ectopic expression of WUS. By contrast, fusion of an exogenous activation domain did not result in expanded floral meristems but induced flowers similar to those induced by the ectopic expression of AG. Our results demonstrate that WUS acts mainly as a repressor and that its function changes from that of a repressor to that of an activator in the case of regulation of the expression of AG.
GM-CSF Production Allows the Identification of Immunoprevalent Antigens Recognized by Human CD4+ T Cells Following Smallpox Vaccination

The threat of bioterrorism with smallpox and the broad use of vaccinia vectors for other vaccines have led to the resurgence in the study of vaccinia immunological memory. The importance of the role of CD4+ T cells in the control of vaccinia infection is well known. However, more CD8+ than CD4+ T cell epitopes recognized by human subjects immunized with vaccinia virus have been reported. This could be, in part, due to the fact that most of the studies that have identified human CD4+ specific protein-derived fragments or peptides have used IFN-γ production to evaluate vaccinia specific T cell responses. Based on these findings, we reasoned that analyzing a large panel of cytokines would permit us to generate a more complete analysis of the CD4 T cell responses. The results presented provide clear evidence that TNF-α is an excellent readout of vaccinia specificity and that other cytokines such as GM-CSF can be used to evaluate the reactivity of CD4+ T cells in response to vaccinia antigens. Furthermore, using these cytokines as readout of vaccinia specificity, we present the identification of novel peptides from immunoprevalent vaccinia proteins recognized by CD4+ T cells derived from smallpox vaccinated human subjects. In conclusion, we describe a “T cell–driven” methodology that can be implemented to determine the specificity of the T cell response upon vaccination or infection. Together, the single pathogen in vitro stimulation, the selection of CD4+ T cells specific to the pathogen by limiting dilution, the evaluation of pathogen specificity by detecting multiple cytokines, and the screening of the clones with synthetic combinatorial libraries, constitutes a novel and valuable approach for the elucidation of human CD4+ T cell specificity in response to large pathogens.
Increased Ser-10 Phosphorylation of Histone H3 in Mitogen-stimulated and Oncogene-transformed Mouse Fibroblasts*

When the Ras mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway of quiescent cells is stimulated with growth factors or phorbol esters, the early response genes c-fosand c-myc are rapidly induced, and concurrently there is a rapid phosphorylation of histone H3. Using an antibody specific for phosphorylated Ser-10 of H3, we show that Ser-10 of H3 is phosphorylated, and we provide direct evidence that phosphorylated H3 is associated with c-fos and c-myc genes in stimulated cells. H3 phosphorylation may contribute to proto-oncogene induction by modulating chromatin structure and releasing blocks in elongation. Previously we reported that persistent stimulation of the Ras-MAPK signaling pathway in oncogene-transformed cells resulted in increased amounts of phosphorylated histone H1. Here we show that phosphorylated H3 is elevated in the oncogene-transformed mouse fibroblasts. Further we show that induction of rasexpression results in a rapid increase in H3 phosphorylation. H3 phosphatase, identified as PP1, activities inras-transformed and parental fibroblast cells were similar, suggesting that elevated H3 kinase activity was responsible for the increased level of phosphorylated H3 in the oncogene-transformed cells. Elevated levels of phosphorylated H1 and H3 may be responsible for the less condensed chromatin structure and aberrant gene expression observed in the oncogene-transformed cells.
A multi-variate weighted interpolation technique with local polling for bayer CFA demosaicking

Gradient-based Spatial demosaicking techniques have gained prominence in literature for their superior reconstruction capabilities. This paper presents a novel algorithm in this class with several key contributions. It introduces variables operating at various lattice levels of the Color Filter Array (CFA) data. It also employs a Square-On-Point (SoP) neighborhood, a corrective term and localized polling to reduce reconstruction errors thus improving image perception. The proposed algorithm is compared to other contemporary methods and an appreciable improvement in performance has been noted through Matlab simulation. To provide a robust analysis, two performance metrics (CPSNR and SSIM) are used over two distinct image sets.
Online The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs A framework for security requirements engineering

This paper presents a framework for security requirements elicitation and analysis, based upon the construction of a context for the system and satisfaction arguments for the security of the system. One starts with enumeration of security goals based on assets in the system. These goals are used to derive security requirements in the form of constraints. The system context is described using a problem-centered notation, then this context is validated against the security requirements through construction of a satisfaction argument. The satisfaction argument is in two parts: a formal argument that the system can meet its security requirements, and a structured informal argument supporting the assumptions expressed in the formal argument. The construction of the satisfaction argument may fail, revealing either that the security requirement cannot be satisfied in the context, or that the context does not contain sufficient information to develop the argument. In this case, designers and architects are asked to provide additional design information to resolve the problems.
Heritability, covariation and natural selection on 24 traits of common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) from a field experiment

This study explored genetic variation and co‐variation in multiple functional plant traits. Our goal was to characterize selection, heritabilities and genetic correlations among different types of traits to gain insight into the evolutionary ecology of plant populations and their interactions with insect herbivores. In a field experiment, we detected significant heritable variation for each of 24 traits of Oenothera biennis and extensive genetic covariance among traits. Traits with diverse functions formed several distinct groups that exhibited positive genetic covariation with each other. Genetic variation in life‐history traits and secondary chemistry together explained a large proportion of variation in herbivory (r2 = 0.73). At the same time, selection acted on lifetime biomass, life‐history traits and two secondary compounds of O. biennis, explaining over 95% of the variation in relative fitness among genotypes. The combination of genetic covariances and directional selection acting on multiple traits suggests that adaptive evolution of particular traits is constrained, and that correlated evolution of groups of traits will occur, which is expected to drive the evolution of increased herbivore susceptibility. As a whole, our study indicates that an examination of genetic variation and covariation among many different types of traits can provide greater insight into the evolutionary ecology of plant populations and plant–herbivore interactions.
On Index Policies for Restless Bandit Problems

In this paper, we consider the restless bandit problem, which is one of the most well-studied generalizations of the celebrated stochastic multi-armed bandit problem in decision theory. In its ultimate generality, the restless bandit problem is known to be PSPACE-Hard to approximate to any non-trivial factor, and little progress has been made on this problem despite its significance in modeling activity allocation under uncertainty. We make progress on this fundamental problem by showing that for an interesting and general subclass that we term RECOVERING bandits, a surprisingly simple and intuitive greedy policy yields a factor 2 approximation. Such greedy policies are termed index policies, and are popular due to their simplicity and their optimality for the stochastic multi-armed bandit problem. We develop several novel techniques in the design and analysis of the index policy. Our algorithm proceeds by modifying the constraints to the dual of a well-known LP relaxation to the restless bandit problem. This is followed by a structural characterization of the optimal solution by using both the exact primal as well as dual complementary slackness conditions. This yields an interpretation of the dual variables as potential functions from which we derive the index policy and the associated analysis. We believe such techniques will be of independent interest in related stochastic scheduling problems. The RECOVERING bandit problem strictly generalizes the stochastic multi-armed bandit problem, and naturally models multi-project scheduling where the state of a project becomes increasingly uncertain when the project is not scheduled. Such a notion is similar to (but not quite the same as) the notion of a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP). ∗Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104-6389. Email: sudipto@cis.upenn. edu. Research supported in part by an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, and NSF Award CCF-0644119. †Department of Computer Science, Duke University, Durham NC 27708-0129. Email: kamesh@cs.duke.edu. Research supported in part by NSF award CNS-0540347. ‡Duke University, Durham NC 27708. Email: peng.shi@duke.edu. This research was supported by the Duke University Work-Study Program and by NSF award CNS-0540347. ar X iv :0 71 1. 38 61 v1 [ cs . D S] 2 5 N ov 2 00 7
Prenatal Evaluation, Imaging Features, and Neurodevelopmental Outcome of Prenatally Diagnosed Periventricular Pseudocysts

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Periventricular pseudocysts are cystic cavities that lack the ependymal cell lining found in true cysts. The aim of this study was to characterize periventricular pseudocysts and related findings and their neurodevelopmental outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study of periventricular pseudocysts detected prenatally on fetal MR imaging in 26 fetuses. The fetuses were divided into group A (n = 8), which included cases with isolated periventricular pseudocysts, and group B (n = 18), which included cases of periventricular pseudocysts with additional findings. Cases were further subdivided into connatal cysts and subependymal pseudocysts. Data collected included prenatal history, MR imaging features, sonographic follow-up, and neurodevelopmental outcome. RESULTS: All cases in group A (n = 8) had a normal outcome. In group B (n = 18), 6 pregnancies were terminated and 2 had an abnormal outcome. Both cases with an abnormal outcome involved patients with subependymal pseudocysts. No significant association was found between the morphologic features on MR imaging and the neurodevelopmental outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Neurodevelopmental outcome in cases of isolated periventricular pseudocysts detected prenatally appears to be normal. A detailed evaluation should be performed to rule out additional brain findings, chromosomal aberration, and fetal malformation. This evaluation should include the following: maternal TORCH status, detailed fetal sonographic anatomic evaluation, fetal echocardiogram, fetal brain MR imaging, amniocentesis and karyotyping/comparative genomic hybridization, and genetic counseling. Additional findings on MR imaging, including mild-to-moderate dilated ventricles, asymmetric ventricles, or T2 hyperintense signal in the white matter without other findings or major fetal abnormality, appear to be benign. Connatal cysts appear to be benign.
Comparison of Site of Death, Health Care Utilization, and Hospital Expenditures for Patients Dying With Cancer in 7 Developed Countries.

IMPORTANCE Differences in utilization and costs of end-of-life care among developed countries are of considerable policy interest. OBJECTIVE To compare site of death, health care utilization, and hospital expenditures in 7 countries: Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Retrospective cohort study using administrative and registry data from 2010. Participants were decedents older than 65 years who died with cancer. Secondary analyses included decedents of any age, decedents older than 65 years with lung cancer, and decedents older than 65 years in the United States and Germany from 2012. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Deaths in acute care hospitals, 3 inpatient measures (hospitalizations in acute care hospitals, admissions to intensive care units, and emergency department visits), 1 outpatient measure (chemotherapy episodes), and hospital expenditures paid by insurers (commercial or governmental) during the 180-day and 30-day periods before death. Expenditures were derived from country-specific methods for costing inpatient services. RESULTS The United States (cohort of decedents aged >65 years, N = 211,816) and the Netherlands (N = 7216) had the lowest proportion of decedents die in acute care hospitals (22.2.% and 29.4%, respectively). A higher proportion of decedents died in acute care hospitals in Belgium (N = 21,054; 51.2%), Canada (N = 20,818; 52.1%), England (N = 97,099; 41.7%), Germany (N = 24,434; 38.3%), and Norway (N = 6636; 44.7%). In the last 180 days of life, 40.3% of US decedents had an intensive care unit admission compared with less than 18% in other reporting nations. In the last 180 days of life, mean per capita hospital expenditures were higher in Canada (US $21,840), Norway (US $19,783), and the United States (US $18,500), intermediate in Germany (US $16,221) and Belgium (US $15,699), and lower in the Netherlands (US $10,936) and England (US $9342). Secondary analyses showed similar results. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among patients older than 65 years who died with cancer in 7 developed countries in 2010, end-of-life care was more hospital-centric in Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, and Norway than in the Netherlands or the United States. Hospital expenditures near the end of life were higher in the United States, Norway, and Canada, intermediate in Germany and Belgium, and lower in the Netherlands and England. However, intensive care unit admissions were more than twice as common in the United States as in other countries.
Iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm with redundant dictionary for image denoising

Upon the state-of-art technique of image sparse reconstruction, a new image denoising algorithm based on l1-norm model is proposed in this paper. Without using the common transform bases, firstly the redundant dictionary trained by K-SVD algorithm is used as sparse representation for different image models. Then followed by the denoising algorithm consist of fast iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm and least squares solution. The simulation results for both the current l0-norm model based method and the proposed method demonstrate our method is more robust than the current method in terms of the peak signal-to-noise ratio.
Development and validation of a rapid and reliable high-performance liquid chromatography method for methadone quantification in human plasma and saliva

*Corresponding author: Pilar Modamio, Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacotherapy Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Barcelona, Av. Joan XXIII s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain, Phone: +34 93 4024544, Fax: +34 93 4035714, E-mail: pmodamio@ub.edu Eric Miguez-Díez, Cecilia F. Lastra and Eduardo L. Mariño: Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacotherapy Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Francesc X. Arrufat, Montserrat Serra and Sonia Reig: Psychiatry and Mental Health, Consorci Hospitalari de Vic, Barcelona, Spain
LID-senone Extraction via Deep Neural Networks for End-to-End Language Identification

A key problem in spoken language identification (LID) is how to effectively model features from a given speech utterance. Recent techniques such as end-to-end schemes and deep neural networks (DNNs) utilising transfer learning such as bottleneck (BN) features, have demonstrated good overall performance, but have not addressed the extraction of LID-specific features. We thus propose a novel end-to-end neural network which aims to obtain effective LID-senone representations, which we define as being analogous to senones in speech recognition. We show that LID-senones combine a compact representation of the original acoustic feature space with a powerful descriptive and discriminative capability. Furthermore, a novel incremental training method is proposed to extract the weak language information buried in the acoustic features of insufficient language resources. Results on the six most confused languages in NIST LRE 2009 show good performance compared to state-of-the-art BN-GMM/i-vector and BN-DNN/i-vector systems. The proposed end-to-end network, coupled with an incremental training method which mitigates against over-fitting, has potential not just for LID, but also for other resource constrained tasks.
Computational simulations and experimental validation of a furnace brazing process

Modeling of a furnace brazing process is described. The computational tools predict the thermal response of loaded hardware in a hydrogen brazing furnace to programmed furnace profiles. Experiments were conducted to validate the model and resolve computational uncertainties. Critical boundary conditions that affect materials and processing response to the furnace environment were determined. {open_quotes}Global{close_quotes} and local issues (i.e., at the furnace/hardware and joint levels, respectively) are discussed. The ability to accurately simulate and control furnace conditions is examined.