Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental analysis of bruises in human volunteers using radiometric depth profiling and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

We combine pulsed photothermal radiometry (PPTR) depth profiling with diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) measurements for a comprehensive analysis of bruise evolution in vivo. While PPTR enables extraction of detailed depth distribution and concentration profiles of selected absorbers (e.g. melanin, hemoglobin), DRS provides information in a wide range of visible wavelengths and thus offers an additional insight into dynamics of the hemoglobin degradation products. Combining the two approaches enables us to quantitatively characterize bruise evolution dynamics. Our results indicate temporal variations of the bruise evolution parameters in the course of bruise self-healing process. The obtained parameter values and trends represent a basis for a future development of an objective technique for bruise age determination.
CD44: molecular interactions, signaling and functions in the nervous system

CD44 is the major surface hyaluronan (HA) receptor implicated in intercellular and cell-matrix adhesion, cell migration and signaling. It is a transmembrane, highly glycosylated protein with several isoforms resulting from alternative gene splicing. The CD44 molecule consists of several domains serving different functions: the N-terminal extracellular domain, the stem region, the transmembrane domain and the C-terminal tail. In the nervous system, CD44 expression occurs in both glial and neuronal cells. The role of CD44 in the physiology and pathology of the nervous system is not entirely understood, however, there exists evidence suggesting it might be involved in the axon guidance, cytoplasmic Ca2+ clearance, dendritic arborization, synaptic transmission, epileptogenesis, oligodendrocyte and astrocyte differentiation, post-traumatic brain repair and brain tumour development.
A sensor-utility-network method for estimation of occupancy in buildings

We introduce the sensor-utility-network (SUN) method for occupancy estimation in buildings. Based on inputs from a variety of sensor measurements, along with historical data regarding building utilization, the SUN estimator produces occupancy estimates through the solution of a receding-horizon convex optimization problem. State-of-the-art on-line occupancy algorithms rely on indirect measurements, such as CO2 levels, or people counting sensors which are subject to significant errors and cost. The newly proposed method was evaluated via experiments in an office building environment. Estimation accuracy is shown to improve significantly when all available data is incorporated in the estimator. In particular, it is found that the average estimation error at the building level is reduced from 70% to 11% using the SUN estimator, when compared to the naive approach that relies solely on flow measurements.
Media network as a service

The videoconferencing industry is undergoing the most substantial change in a decade. Demand for advanced collaboration functionality and the highest quality of media presentation is meeting the requirement for Internet-based "over the top" communication, allowing unlimited communication between the organizations and individuals. We claim that these two contradictory requirements are best conciliated through deployment of a cloud service with elements of Network and Infrastructure as a Service required to support global videoconferencing. The operational architecture we present enjoys the full benefits of the cloud networking model, including elastic scaling, on-demand resource availability, and a no-capex service model. The videoconferencing infrastructure requirements on the application level, and the quality requirements on the network level, are addressed in the single platform, opening new optimization possibilities. We describe the network-level wide-area routing and service discovery mechanisms we have deployed to improve the videoconferencing user experience through reduction of communication delay and packet loss. We further describe the service economy model, discussing the key trade-offs relevant for network cloud operations.
A Generic Model of Undesired Biodiversity: Temporal and Spatio-Temporal bifurcations

The human activity (e.g. fish farming) may result in the supply of undesired species (with poor heredity) to the wild, which may deteriorate the quality of the wild species of the same kind or even cause their extinction. We present a generic three-variable model focused on this problem. The model includes wild and cultivated preys and predators. The coexistence of these species is predicted to be possible provided that the supply of the cultivated preys is below the critical value. If this condition is not fulfilled, the wild preys asymptotically disappear. In the case of temporal mean-field kinetics, this transition representing mathematically a saddle-node bifurcation depends on the rate constants of the steps describing the interplay of the species. In the spatio-temporal case with the supply of undesired species at the boundary of the habitat, the situation depends also on the rate of migration of species and the habitat size.
Supplementary Information for “ Efficient Characterization of High-Dimensional Parameter Spaces for Systems Biology ”

Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 3 Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland 4 School of Computer and Communication, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland 5 The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States of America 6 Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America
Residents of mutual help recovery homes, characteristics and outcomes: Comparison of four US ethnic subgroups

This study compared the characteristics and outcomes of four ethnic groups living in mutual help recovery homes. The sample consisted of 524 Caucasian, 305 African American, 31 Latino/a and 17 American Indian (AI) participants. This article includes a short review of relevant literature on AIs and substance use, provides an analysis of characteristics and outcomes of four ethnic groups and includes a discussion of the implications of the findings for knowledge of patterns of use among AIs. The AIs were more likely to report being on parole or probation and being referred for aftercare by the legal system. Additionally, AIs reported greater disharmony within their recovery residences than Caucasians, but there were no significant ethnic differences in baseline length of stay in Oxford House, length of alcohol or drug sobriety or substance use outcomes 4 months after the baseline assessment.
Swarm Chemistry Evolving

1. There are now two categories of particles, active (moving and interacting kinetically) and passive (remaining still and inactive). An active particle holds a recipe of the swarm (i.e., a list of kinetic parameter sets) in it (Fig. 1(a)). 2. A recipe is transmitted from an active particle to a passive particle when they collide, making the latter active (Fig. 1(b)). 3. The activated particle differentiates randomly into a type specified by one of the kinetic parameter sets in the recipe given to it (Fig. 1(c)). 4. Active particles randomly re-differentiate with small probability.
Security Analysis of a Threshold Proxy Signature Scheme

The t-out-of-n threshold proxy signatures allow an original signer to delegate his signing capability to a group of proxy signers, and t or more proxy signers can generate valid signatures by cooperating. Recently, Liu and Huang proposed a variant of threshold proxy signature scheme in which all proxy signers remain anonymous. The authors claimed their construction satises unforgeability, proxy signer’s deviation, identiability, undeniability and veriability. In this paper, however, we show that their scheme does not provide the proxy signer’s deviation and identiability requirements. Keyword : proxy signature, threshold proxy signature, anonymous, proxy signer’s deviation, identiability
Effects of boron compounds on the bonding strength of phenol-formaldehyde and melamine-formaldehyde adhesives to impregnated wood materials

Wood materials are increasingly being used in the construction of structural beams, sports equipment, etc. This study was carried out to determine the bonding strength of phenol-formaldehyde (PF) and melamine-formaldehyde (MF) adhesives to impregnated wood materials. For this purpose, brutia pine (Pinus brutia Ten) and elm (Ulmus compestris L.) woods were impregnated with borax (Bx), boric acid (Ba), Bx + Ba (wt:wt 50:50%), di-ammonium phosphate (D), [D + (Bx + Ba)]/(50 + (25 + 25%), w/w) and Tanalith-C 3310 (T-C 3310) using the vacuum method according to ASTM-D 1413-76. The effects of wood species, impregnating material and type of adhesive on the bonding strength were determined. The highest shear strength (11.09 N/mm2) was obtained from elm wood control (i.e., without any impregnating materials) samples with MF; thus, the impregnation process negatively affected the adhesive bonding strength. Impregnating materials, especially those containing oily or similar solutions such as T-C 3310, are not advised for wood elements which are subjected to shear.
Respiratory symptoms and functions in barn workers.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM The presented study was undertaken to investigate the respiratory health problems in family barns with one or more cows and at least one family member working in the barn. METHODS 150 workers (128 female, 22 male) from 4 villages of Yığılca district near the city of Düzce in north-west Turkey were enrolled in this study between October - December 2011. An Occupational and Environmental Chest Diseases questionnaire developed by the American Thoracic Society, pulmonary function test, physical examination and investigation for nasal eosinophil were performed in all subjects. RESULTS The mean age of workers was 47.7 ± 14.2 years. Cough was present in 24% of subjects. The rates of phlegm, wheezing, chest tightness and dyspnea were 13.3%, 6%, 6% and 27.3%, respectively. Obstructive ventilatory pattern was observed in 37 workers (24.6%). 43 workers (28.6%) showed restrictive ventilatory pattern. Nasal eosinophilia was detected in 47.3% (71/150) of the subjects. Pulmonary functions of workers with nasal eosinophilia did not differ from the other workers. There were statistically significant negative correlations between the duration of working in barns and respiratory functions. CONCLUSIONS Pulmonary functions of barn workers have been found to be decreased related to the duration of barn working. Furthermore, respiratory symptoms increased in relation with both barn working and biomass consumption. Precautions should therefore be taken to ventilate both barns and houses.
Theoretical analysis of the General Transfer Function GSC

In recent work we considered the use of a microphone array located in a reverberated room where general acoustic transfer functions (ATFs) relate the source signal and the microphones for enhancing a speech signal contaminated by interference. The resulting frequency-domain algorithm enables dealing with a complicated ATF in the same simple manner as Griffiths & Jim GSC algorithm deals with delay-only arrays. In this contribution a general expression of the enhancer output is derived. This expression is used for evaluating two figures of merit, i.e., noise reduction ability and the amount of distortion imposed. The performance is shown to be dependent on the ATFs involved, the noise field and the quality of estimation of the ATF ratios. Analytical performance evaluation of the method is obtained. It is shown that the proposed method maintains its good performance even in the general ATF case.
A Missing PD-L1/PD-1 Coinhibition Regulates Diabetes Induction by Preproinsulin-Specific CD8 T-Cells in an Epitope-Specific Manner

Coinhibitory PD-1/PD-L1 (B7-H1) interactions provide critical signals for the regulation of autoreactive T-cell responses. We established mouse models, expressing the costimulator molecule B7.1 (CD80) on pancreatic beta cells (RIP-B7.1 tg mice) or are deficient in coinhibitory PD-L1 or PD-1 molecules (PD-L1−/− and PD-1−/− mice), to study induction of preproinsulin (ppins)-specific CD8 T-cell responses and experimental autoimmune diabetes (EAD) by DNA-based immunization. RIP-B7.1 tg mice allowed us to identify two CD8 T-cell specificities: pCI/ppins DNA exclusively induced Kb/A12–21-specific CD8 T-cells and EAD, whereas pCI/ppinsΔA12–21 DNA (encoding ppins without the COOH-terminal A12–21 epitope) elicited Kb/B22–29-specific CD8 T-cells and EAD. Specific expression/processing of mutant ppinsΔA12–21 (but not ppins) in non-beta cells, targeted by intramuscular DNA-injection, thus facilitated induction of Kb/B22–29-specific CD8 T-cells. The A12–21 epitope binds Kb molecules with a very low avidity as compared with B22–29. Interestingly, immunization of coinhibition-deficient PD-L1−/− or PD-1−/− mice with pCI/ppins induced Kb/A12–21-monospecific CD8 T-cells and EAD but injections with pCI/ppinsΔA12–21 did neither recruit Kb/B22–29-specific CD8 T-cells into the pancreatic target tissue nor induce EAD. PpinsΔA12–21/(Kb/B22–29)-mediated EAD was efficiently restored in RIP-B7.1+/PD-L1−/− mice, differing from PD-L1−/− mice only in the tg B7.1 expression in beta cells. Alternatively, an ongoing beta cell destruction and tissue inflammation, initiated by ppins/(Kb/A12–21)-specific CD8 T-cells in pCI/ppins+pCI/ppinsΔA12–21 co-immunized PD-L1−/− mice, facilitated the expansion of ppinsΔA12–21/(Kb/B22–29)-specific CD8 T-cells. CD8 T-cells specific for the high-affinity Kb/B22–29- (but not the low-affinity Kb/A12–21)-epitope thus require stimulatory ´help from beta cells or inflamed islets to expand in PD-L1-deficient mice. The new PD-1/PD-L1 diabetes models may be valuable tools to study under well controlled experimental conditions distinct hierarchies of autoreactive CD8 T-cell responses, which trigger the initial steps of beta cell destruction or emerge during the pathogenic progression of EAD.
Data driven approach to attack detection in a cyber-physical smart grid system

Smart grid infrastructure is an integration of advanced communication, sensing and computing techniques into the existing physical electrical grid. It is emerging as a critical cyber-physical system (CPS) infrastructure. CPS comes across as systems with a tight integration between the physical and the cyber layers in addition to the communication network. This exposes it to a risk of mis-operation when subjected to false or malicious data injection from intruders or adversaries. In order to address this issue, this paper proposes a data analytics based cyber defense strategy of a substation automation system (SAS) by developing an intelligent module which uses Support vector machine (SVM) along with Principal component analysis (PCA). We propose a two stage approach for detecting the false data injection by an intruder into the system. First stage reduces the high dimensional dataset to a lower dimension using PCA and the second stage uses SVM on the reduced dataset for detecting the malicious attempts of introducing false data into the system. The proposed module uses the measurement values received from the Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). Upon receiving a fault signal, the protection system initiates checks on incoming data patterns and compares it with the behavior of system dynamics. Using data analytics tools the fault condition signaling is classified as actual (real) fault or false (fake) fault with malicious intentions. The proposed methodology is demonstrated on three bus power network.
Etiology of dental erosion--intrinsic factors.

Dental erosion due to intrinsic factors is caused by gastric acid reaching the oral cavity and the teeth as a result of vomiting or gastroesophageal reflux. Since clinical manifestation of dental erosion does not occur until gastric acid has acted on the dental hard tissues regularly over a period of several years, dental erosion caused by intrinsic factors has been observed only in those diseases which are associated with chronic vomiting or persistent gastroesophageal reflux over a long period. Examples of such conditions include disorders of the upper alimentary tract, specific metabolic and endocrine disorders, cases of medication side-effects and drug abuse, and certain psychosomatic disorders, e.g. stress-induced psychosomatic vomiting, anorexia and bulimia nervosa or rumination. Based on a review of the medical and dental literature, the main symptoms of all disorders which must be taken into account as possible intrinsic etiological factors of dental erosion are thoroughly discussed with respect to the clinical picture, prevalence and risk of erosion.
Multidisciplinary evaluation of diabetic impotence.

Patients referring to the Urology and/or Endocrinology Departments of Ankara Medical School with complaints of diabetes mellitus (DM) and related complications were evaluated during the last year. A detailed history was obtained and all of the patients were questioned especially about sexual function problems. Following this evaluation, all patients were divided into two main groups, i.e. patients with sexual disorders, and those with normal sexual function. Factors such as BPH, cerebrosclerosis and other important vascular-neurologic pathologies which may play a role in the etiology of impotence were excluded from the study and 38 patients with sexual dysfunction and 15 with normal sexual activities have undergone further evaluation. Following routine blood and urine analyses, serum hormone levels (testosterone, FSH, LH, prolactin) were determined. Penile color-flow doppler analysis, cavernosometry, cavernosography, bulbocavernous reflex latency time and evaluation of somatosensory evoked potentials were performed. Additionally, all patients were evaluated from the psychiatric aspect using the Hamilton depression scale and MMPI questionnaire. The presence of vascular or neurologic pathology in 89.4% of our patients and of both pathologies in 39.4% of the patients, indicated the importance of multifactorial evaluation of diabetic impotence in order to plan a complete and efficient therapy program.
Reduced Sodium Current in Purkinje Neurons from NaV1.1 Mutant Mice: Implications for Ataxia in Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy in Infancy

Loss-of-function mutations of NaV1.1 channels cause severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI), which is accompanied by severe ataxia that contributes substantially to functional impairment and premature deaths. Mutant mice lacking NaV1.1 channels provide a genetic model for SMEI, exhibiting severe seizures and premature death on postnatal day 15. Behavioral assessment indicated severe motor deficits in mutant mice, including irregularity of stride length during locomotion, impaired motor reflexes in grasping, and mild tremor in limbs when immobile, consistent with cerebellar dysfunction. Immunohistochemical studies showed that NaV1.1 and NaV1.6 channels are the primary sodium channel isoforms expressed in cerebellar Purkinje neurons. The amplitudes of whole-cell peak, persistent, and resurgent sodium currents in Purkinje neurons were reduced by 58–69%, without detectable changes in the kinetics or voltage dependence of channel activation or inactivation. Nonlinear loss of sodium current in Purkinje neurons from heterozygous and homozygous mutant animals suggested partial compensatory upregulation of NaV1.6 channel activity. Current-clamp recordings revealed that the firing rates of Purkinje neurons from mutant mice were substantially reduced, with no effect on threshold for action potential generation. Our results show that NaV1.1 channels play a crucial role in the excitability of cerebellar Purkinje neurons, with major contributions to peak, persistent, and resurgent forms of sodium current and to sustained action potential firing. Loss of these channels in Purkinje neurons of mutant mice and SMEI patients may be sufficient to cause their ataxia and related functional deficits.
Enhancement of Attraction of Alpha-Ionol to Male Bactrocera latifrons (Diptera: Tephritidae) by Addition of a Synergist, Cade Oil

Abstract Male lures are known for many tephritid fruit fly species and are often preferred over food bait based traps for detection trapping because of their high specificity and ability to attract flies over a wide area. Alpha-ionol has been identified as a male lure for the tephritid fruit fly Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel). The attraction of this compound to male B. latifrons individuals, however, is not as strong as is the attraction of other tephritid fruit fly species to their respective male lures. Cade oil, an essential oil produced by destructive distillation of juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus L.) twigs, synergizes the attraction of α-ionol to male B. latifrons. Catches of male B. latifrons at traps baited with a mixture of α-ionol and cade oil were more than three times greater than at traps baited with α-ionol alone. Substitution of α-ionol + cade oil for α-ionol alone in detection programs could considerably improve the chance of detecting invading or incipient populations of B. latifrons. However, detection programs should not rely solely on this lure but also make use of protein baited traps as well as fruit collections. Further work with fractions of cade oil may help to identify the active ingredient(s), which could help to further improve this male lure for B. latifrons.
Design of the Two Parallel Inverter Modules by Circular Chain Control Technique

This paper presents the design technique of two parallel inverters. The parallel inverter can be shared the power with efficiently. The proposed technique is presented using the circular chain control (3C) to manage two parallel inverters operation. The inverter control is used by dsPIC 30F4011. The two set of 50 watt inverter are prototyped. The flowchart of operating condition is proposed to maintain the power sharing and the system efficiency. The simulated result using Simulink program confirms the agreement with the experimental results.
Effects of passive smoking on blood pressure and aortic pressure waveform in healthy young adults--influence of gender.

AIMS Passive smoking impairs the elasticity of the aorta in patients with coronary heart disease. We therefore studied the effect of passive smoking on wave reflection in the aorta, a marker of arterial stiffness, in healthy subjects. METHOD We examined the effects of acute exposure to passive smoking on blood pressure and the aortic pressure waveform in healthy young men (n = 10) and women (n = 11), aged 26 +/- 5 years (mean +/- SEM) compared with 12 healthy controls, aged 24 +/- 2 years (six female) who were exposed to room air. The aortic pressure waveform was derived with radial applanation tonometry (SphygmoCor, AtCor Medical, version 6.2) and the augmentation index, a measure of arterial wave reflection in the aorta, calculated. Blood pressure (Omron Model HEM-705 CP, Omron Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) and augmentation index were measured at baseline, 15, 30 and 60 min after exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (carbon monoxide 25-30 p.p.m. for 60 min) or room air. RESULTS Passive smoking was associated with an increase in brachial (124 +/- 4-137 +/- 3 mmHg, P < 0.01) and aortic systolic blood pressure (110 +/- 3-123 +/- 4 mmHg, P < 0.01) at 60 min in the male subjects only. The augmentation index increased from -1.7 +/- 5 to 14 +/- 5 at 60 min (P < 0.001) only in the male subjects. The transit time of the pulse did not change significantly. The change in augmentation index was independent of the increase in blood pressure. Brachial and aortic diastolic blood pressure and heart rate did not change significantly in either male or female subjects. No haemodynamic changes were observed in the control group. CONCLUSIONS Acute exposure to passive smoking has a deleterious effect on the arterial pressure waveform in healthy young males but not in females, suggesting a possible protection of female gender from functional changes in arteries.