Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Type II Collagen Induces Peripheral Tolerance in BALB/c Mice via the Generation of CD8+ T Regulatory Cells

Antigens introduced into the anterior chamber (AC) of the eye induce a potent form of antigen-specific peripheral immune tolerance termed AC-associated immune deviation (ACAID), which prevents inflammatory immune responses and is characterized by impaired delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses. Type-II collagen (CII) is a fibrillar protein expressed exclusively in cartilage tissues. Although of its clinical relevance to Rheumatoid arthritis, aging, and osteoarthritis, there have been no studies to date to test if CII has the ability to induce ACAID. We hypothesized that ACAID could be generated via AC injection of CII in BALB/c mice. Using a DTH assay, the hypothesis was supported and led to another hypothesis that CII is capable of inducing specific immune tolerance via CD8+ T regulatory cells (Tregs). Thus, we performed functional local adoptive transfer (LAT) assays to examine the regulatory roles of spleen cells, T cells, and CD8+ T cells in the specific immune regulation induced by CII injection into the AC. Results indicated that CII induced ACAID when injected into the AC. Spleen cells of mice injected with CII in the AC significantly suppressed DTH responses. The T cell compartment of the spleen was capable of expressing this suppression. CD8+ Tregs could solely express this CII-driven suppression and even exerted more noticeable suppression than spleen cells or splenic T cells. This study suggests a crucial role for CD8+ Tregs in mediating CII-driven ACAID-mediated immune tolerance. This could have therapeutic implications in Rheumatoid arthritis, aging, osteoarthritis, and other diseases in which CII is involved.
Master Data Management and Data Warehouse: An architectural approach for improved decision-making

In corporate environments it is common to have multiple data sources that represent the same real world entity (such as customers, suppliers, products, etc.). This situation can also occur for external data (social networks, regulatory institutions). The extraction activity has the need to decide among the available sources, how best to obtain a given data. This paper presents an architectural approach to dealing with the problem of multiple data sources with the objective of improving the data quality of a Data Warehouse in conjunction with the presentation of a set of best practices to identify and implement the process of Master Data Management (MDM).
The Modelled Raindrop Size Distribution of Skudai, Peninsular Malaysia, Using Exponential and Lognormal Distributions

This paper presents the modelled raindrop size parameters in Skudai region of the Johor Bahru, western Malaysia. Presently, there is no model to forecast the characteristics of DSD in Malaysia, and this has an underpinning implication on wet weather pollution predictions. The climate of Skudai exhibits local variability in regional scale. This study established five different parametric expressions describing the rain rate of Skudai; these models are idiosyncratic to the climate of the region. Sophisticated equipment that converts sound to a relevant raindrop diameter is often too expensive and its cost sometimes overrides its attractiveness. In this study, a physical low-cost method was used to record the DSD of the study area. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to test the aptness of the data to exponential and lognormal distributions, which were subsequently used to formulate the parameterisation of the distributions. This research abrogates the concept of exclusive occurrence of convective storm in tropical regions and presented a new insight into their concurrence appearance.
Cooperative Defense against DDoS Attacks

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on the Internet have become an immediate problem. As DDoS streams do not have common characteristics, currently available intrusion detection systems (IDS) can not detect them accurately. As a result, defend DDoS attacks based on current available IDS will dramatically affect legitimate trafﬁc. In this paper, we propose a distributed approach to defend against distributed denial of service attacks by coordinating across the Internet. Unlike traditional IDS, we detect and stop DDoS attacks within the intermediate network. In the proposed approach, DDoS defense systems are deployed in the network to detect DDoS attacks independently. A gossip based communication mechanism is used to exchange information about network attacks between these independent detection nodes to aggregate information about the overall network attacks observed. Using the aggregated information, the individual defense nodes have approximate information about global network attacks and can stop them more effectively and accurately. To provide reliable, rapid and widespread dissemination of attack information, the system is built as a peer to peer overlay network on top of the internet.
A comparison of the 40-Hz response in man, and the properties of macaque ganglion cells

Abstract Visually evoked field potentials in human subjects and single-cell responses from retinal ganglion cells in the macaque monkey were compared in closely similar stimulus situations. The classical heterochromatic flicker photometry (HFP) technique was used to measure spectral sensitivity in man, both psychophysically and by recording the 40-Hz response, and to measure the spectral sensitivity of magnocellular (MC-) pathway cells of the macaque. The three measures gave closely similar spectral-sensitivity curves. Close agreement between the three measures was also found when the variable-modulation HFP technique was used to measure spectral sensitivity. When the relative phase between red and green lights was varied, the point of minimum subjective flicker for human observers was close to a sharp minimum found in the amplitude of the 40-Hz response in human and was also close to a minimum in the response of MC-pathway neurons in the monkey. The human 40-Hz response saturated at between 10 and 30% modulation depth, and so did the response of MC-pathway cells in the monkey. The 16-Hz response in human showed none of the above correlations with MC-pathway properties. On the other hand, parvocellular (PC-) pathway cells responded vigorously to constant-luminance, chromatic modulation, at frequencies higher than can be detected by human observers. The human 16-Hz response also was strong in that stimulus situation. In addition, the response of PC-pathway cells on increasing modulation depth showed little saturation, and this behaviour was paralleled by the human 16-Hz response. We conclude that the properties of MC-pathway neurons in macaque are closely similar to the properties of the human 40-Hz response in the respects just described. We suggest that the 40-Hz response may offer a means of objectively isolating and investigating the contribution of the magnocellular stream to cortical activity in human. In contrast, the properties of PC-pathway neurons in macaque are quite different from the properties of the human 40-Hz response, and in several respects resemble the properties of the human 16-Hz response.
In Vitro Effects of Budesonide on Eosinophil-Basophil Lineage Commitment

IL-5 is the primary cytokine that stimulates the production and survival of eosinophils and basophils from progenitor cells. The inhaled glucocorticoid, budesonide, has been shown to exert a therapeutic effect via suppression of eosinophil/basophil progenitors in vivo. Since various steroids have exhibited the ability to enhance eosinophil/basophil progenitor differentiation, we examined the effects of budesonide in vitro. Bone marrow and cord blood samples were obtained and cultured in the presence of IL-5 alone or IL-5 plus budesonide. Eosinophil/basophil colony-forming units were enumerated from cultured nonadherent mononuclear cells and from purified CD34+ cells. CD34+ cells with and without budesonide were also examined for up-regulation of ERK1/2, MAPK and GATA-1 using real time-PCR. Results: i) up-regulation of eosinophil/basophil colony-forming units is due to the direct effects of budesonide on IL-5-stimulated progenitors; ii) GATA-1 is likely involved in the early amplification of eosinophil/basophil progenitor commitment leading to increased differentiation. A potential transcriptional pathway has been identified which may mediate the effects of budesonide on eosinophil/basophil lineage commitment.
Journal of Graph Algorithms and Applications on Cotree-critical and Dfs Cotree-critical Graphs

We give a characterization of DFS cotree-critical graphs which is central to the linear time Kuratowski finding algorithm implemented in PI-GALE (Public Implementation of a Graph Algorithm Library and Editor [2]) by the authors, and deduce a justification of a very simple algorithm for finding a Kuratowski subdivision in a DFS cotree-critical graph.
Attenuated Podoplanin Staining in Breast Myoepithelial Cells: A Potential Caveat in the Diagnosis of Lymphatic Invasion

Although podoplanin expression in breast myoepithelial (ME) cells has been reported to be readily distinguishable from that of lymphatic endothelium (LE), we recently encountered a case in which attenuated expression led to an incorrect interpretation of lymphatic invasion. This prompted us to further analyze the pattern and intensity of podoplanin expression in LE and in ME cells surrounding both non-neoplastic and neoplastic breast epithelium in 42 cases of breast carcinoma. In addition, cases with presumed lymphatic invasion (tumor cells within podoplanin-positive lymphatic-like structures) were further characterized on the basis of histologic review and results of additional endothelial (CD31 and/or CD34) and ME (p63±calponin) immunostains. Normal LE always displayed a strong (3+) linear podoplanin expression pattern, whereas ME cells surrounding non-neoplastic breast epithelium had a granular, branching membranous staining pattern that was either moderate (2+) or strong (3+) in 13 (34%) and 25 (66%) foci, respectively. ME cells surrounding ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) displayed weaker (1+ to 2+) podoplanin expression with 26 (72%) foci showing only a residual thin/discontinuous pattern of expression, whereas the other 10 (28%) foci showed a pattern similar to that around non-neoplastic epithelium. Further evaluation of 10 foci of presumed lymphatic invasion confirmed the presence of lymphatic invasion in 6 (60%) cases, whereas 4 displayed surrounding ME cells and were thus interpreted as DCIS. One case, in which both DCIS and lymphatic invasion were unequivocally present, displayed a few nests of tumor cells surrounded by both podoplanin-positive and p63-positive cells in different areas of the periphery and could not be readily classified. These findings represent an important caveat in the diagnosis of lymphatic invasion and, accordingly, one should always interpret results of podoplanin staining in the context of the histologic appearance and/or consider evaluation of additional endothelial or ME immunostains, especially when the characteristically strong linear pattern of expression of LE is not evident.
Integrating Health Information Technology to Achieve Seamless Care Transitions

Abstract Improving care transitions, or “handoffs” as patients migrate from one care setting to another, is a priority across stakeholder groups and health-care settings and additionally is included in national health-care goals set forth in the National Quality Strategy. Although many demonstrations of improved care transitions have succeeded, particularly for hospital discharges, ensuring consistent, high-quality, and safe transitions of care remains challenging. This paper highlights the potential for health information technology to become an increasing part of effective transitional care interventions, with the potential to reduce the resource burden currently associated with effective care transitions, the ability to spread improved practices to larger numbers of patients and providers efficiently and at scale, and, as health technology interoperability increases, the potential to facilitate critical information flow and feedback loops to clinicians, patients, and caregivers across disparate information systems and care settings.
The Unrecognized Burden of Osteoporosis-Related Vertebral Fractures in Patients With Heart Failure

Background—Heart failure (HF) is associated with several factors that contribute to both reduced bone mineral density and increased risk of osteoporosis-related fractures. Our objectives were to describe the prevalence and predictors of the most common osteoporotic fracture, vertebral compression fractures (VCF), in patients with HF. Methods and Results—We conducted a cross-sectional study in a random sample of patients attending a tertiary care HF Clinic in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. We collected sociodemographic, clinical, medication, and chest radiograph information. Primary outcome was board-certified radiologist–documented VCF on chest radiographs. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine independent correlates of VCF. Overall, 623 patients with HF were included; 32% were over 75 years of age, 31% were women, 65% had ischemic cardiomyopathy, and 38% had atrial fibrillation. Prevalence of VCF was 77 of 623 (12%; 95% confidence interval, 10% to 15%), and 42 of 77 (55%) patients had multiple fractures. Only 15% of those with VCF were treated for osteoporosis. In multivariable analyses adjusted for age, female sex, weight, and medications, the only remaining predictors independently associated with fracture were atrial fibrillation (present in 42 of 77 [55%] of those with VCF versus 197 of 540 [36%] of those without; adjusted odds ratio, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.2 to 3.6; P=0.009) and lipid-lowering drugs (used by 36 of 77 [47%] of those with VCF versus 342 of 540 [63%] of those without; adjusted odds ratio, 0.2; 95% confidence interval, 0.1 to 0.9; P=0.03). Conclusions—About one-tenth of HF patients had a chest radiograph–documented VCF, and half of those with VCF had multiple fractures; most (85%) were not receiving an osteoporosis-specific therapy. A previously unrecognized risk factor—atrial fibrillation—was found to be independently associated with VCF. Chest radiograph reports may represent an important case-finding tool for osteoporosis-specific VCF, particularly in HF patients with atrial fibrillation.
An Improved Adaptive Routing Algorithm Based on Link Analysis

DHT (Distributed Hash Tables) has been applied to the structured P2P system to achieve information retrieval and positioning efficiently. KAD is a large-scale network protocol based on the XOR metric in practice, which uses DHT technology to improve network salability without central server. However, the increasing malicious pollutes routing tables to reduce seriously the query performance. Thus, an improved adaptive algorithm based on social network is proposed in order to improve routing table updating algorithm. Firstly, the data structure of routing table is adjusted to store value of centrality and prestige. Secondly, the request nodes can adaptive select nodes to send messages. Then when a find process is terminated, the node will calculate the two values for all participating nodes using the corresponding centrality and prestige algorithms based on XOR metric. Finally, the node updates the routing table depend on the above result. The above algorithm was implemented in an open source project named LibTorrent to test effectiveness. This experiment last a month to verify the change of the search success ratio in a KAD network with about 30% malicious nodes. The results show that the optimized adaptive routing algorithm can effectively resist the attack for routing table and improve the search success ratio of the node. Moreover, this lightweight algorithm is conducive to the deployment in practice without extra network burden.
PROPERTIES OF STEEL FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE UNDER CYCLIC LOADING

An experimental investigation of the behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete under cyclic compressive loading is presented. Cylindrical specimens were cast using normal- and high-strength concrete mixes, four types of steel fiber, and three different volume fractions. Stress-strain responses were obtained for three cyclic loading regimes as well as for monotonic loading. The envelope curve is shown to govern cyclic response. Toughness under cyclic loading is found to be at least as great as that under monotonic loading. The behavior of fiber reinforced concrete under cyclic loading, when normalized by its monotonic behavior, is very similar to that of plain concrete or concrete confined by steel spirals, indicating that the fibers primarily influence the envelope curve.
Performance analysis and simulation of a new industrial semi-active damper

This paper deals with modeling and control of a semi-active suspension made up with a new industrial semi-active damper, in order to improve comfort and road-holding level of the vehicle. In the past few years, many control strategies have been developed using linear suspension models. A nonlinear model of the industrial damper is developed with physical equations and integrated in a quarter vehicle model. Some tests are done on the real damper in order to validate the model. The comfort and road-holding level of the semi-active suspension are studied using some adapted criteria and compared to the passive ones using simulations. These results emphasize the performances improvement resulting from the control of the damper.
A Note on Probabilistic Assessment of Fault Displacement Hazard

A methodology is presented for the assessment of permanent ground displacement across a fault, due to a slip on that fault caused by an earthquake. Such estimates are important for the design and retrofit of highway bridges and tunnels crossing faults, as well as for other lifelines crossing faults, such as aqueducts, water and gas lines, etc. The methodology is probabilistic, and considers the uncertainty in the scaling laws of the effect as well as the uncertainty in the earthquake occurrence. Besides the earthquake occurrence rates, this model requires probabilities that the rupture affects the site (i.e. breaks the surface and extends to the site), and probability distribution function of the displacement at the surface, given that the earthquake has ruptured the surface. For the latter, a scaling law is used that is consistent with scaling laws for peaks and spectra of strong ground shaking, developed earlier by the authors for Western U.S. Results are presented for two hypothetical faults (Class A and Class B faults in California).
Allocate Capital and Measure Performances in a Financial Institution

This paper provides a model for allocating capital and measuring performances for financial institutions. The methodology relates the economic valuation of the balance sheet to the market value of the firm. In so doing, each business unit is evaluated on an economic basis, and the capital allocated to these units is related to the risk premiums that the market demands. The paper's results have broad applications for corporate managers, risk managers, and other market participants in managing financial institutions to increase shareholders’ value.
Microstructure and mechanical properties of new metastable β type titanium alloy

与优秀力量和韧性的联合称为 TB-13 的新亚稳的类型钛合金成功地被开发。 以便在这新合金上开发一个观点，微观结构和性质上的几个通常使用的热处理的影响被学习。 在对待答案、熄灭的样品，在 480 点的低温度的变老
CodeVizard : Combining Abstraction and Detail for Reasoning About Software Evolution

Understanding and improving software development and maintenance activities are the main objectives of software engineering. Experimental studies have been used extensively to gather data and gain insight into these key points. Often times a large amount of data is collected but there is no strategy in place to analyze this information and extract valuable observations. At the same time the area of information visualization has been steadily growing as analysts start recognizing the power of appropriate visualization. We propose a solution to visualize software evolutionary data in a way that allows analysts to quickly capture interesting patterns and use interactive features to gain further insight to ultimately derive valuable information. The work described in this paper was motivated by concrete issues, researchers of the High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) project were facing when analyzing source code files captured during class experiment with the goal to develop insight into the programming behavior of programmers new to the domain of High Performance Computing (HPC). We developed a visualization tool called CodeVizard, which visualizes metrics that describe important characteristics of the captured source code versions in one panel (metric view) and displays all versions of the source code lined up with transitions describing the kind of maintenance activity each source code line experienced in another panel (code view). The combination of metric view and code view should allow analysts to quickly recognize interesting patterns in the data and to then use detailed information to support or refuse hypotheses.
BRAGG REFLECTION IN OPTICAL WAVEGUIDES

In this dissertation I explore the phenomenon of Bragg reflection in optical waveguides. Two specific waveguide structures are studied in detail: the Bragg fiber and a generic planar waveguide with a Bragg grating etched in it. Bragg fibers can be classified into two groups: the air-core Bragg fiber and the coaxial Bragg fiber. Whereas the former has a plain air core at the center, the latter contains an additional high-index column in the core. Using a perturbative approach I study and compare the dispersion properties of the two types of fibers, with special attention to their potential for truly single-mode transmission. As the result a large single-mode frequency window, which also includes a zero-dispersion point, is found for the TM mode in the coaxial fiber, The air-core Bragg fiber is also studied as a potential candidate for dispersion compensation. It is found that Bragg reflections in the fiber are capable of producing negative dispersion values at least as large-as -20,000 ps/(nm·km), which is a twenty-fold improvement over previous results. The fiber parameters used for this study are somewhat unrealistic however, and further improvement is necessary before a Bragg fiber can be deployed as a Dispersion Compensating Fiber (DCF).
Differentially Private Distributed Optimization

In distributed optimization and iterative consensus literature, a standard problem is for N agents to minimize a function f over a subset of Euclidean space, where the cost function is expressed as a sum Σ fi. In this paper, we study the private distributed optimization problem (PDOP) with the additional requirement that the cost function of the individual agents should remain differentially private. The adversary attempts to infer information about the private cost functions from the messages that the agents exchange. Achieving differential privacy requires that any change of an individual's cost function only results in unsubstantial changes in the statistics of the messages. We propose a class of iterative algorithms for solving PDOP, which achieves differential privacy and convergence to a common value. Our analysis reveals the dependence of the achieved accuracy and the privacy levels on the the parameters of the algorithm. We observe that to achieve ε-differential privacy the accuracy of the algorithm has the order of O(1/ε2).