Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Det. (Distance Encoded Tree): A Scalable Visualization Tool for Mapping Multiple Traits to Large Evolutionary Trees

Evolutionary biologists are often interested in finding correlations among biological traits (or attributes) across a number of species, as such correlations may lead to testable hypotheses about the underlying function. Because some species are more closely related than others, computing and visualizing these correlations must be done in the context of the evolutionary tree that relates the species. Although dozens of visualizations for correlated traits have been developed over the decades, the recent explosive growth in the number of traits and species has created a need for a visualization that can scale to dozens of traits mapped to thousands of species and their evolutionary tree to allow the interactive exploration of complex interactions. In this paper, we introduce Det. , called detective, an evolutionary tree visualization that allows biologists to see multiple attributes of leaf nodes. We describe a new tree layout algorithm to represent different branch lengths and several visualization and intereaction techniques to address user requirements. We also report informal feedbacks we collected from evolutionary
Cormorant: towards continuous risk-aware multi-modal cross-device authentication

Nowadays, people own and carry an increasing number of mobile devices, such as smartphones and smartwatches. Since these devices store and provide access to sensitive information, authentication is required to prevent unauthorized access. Widely used mechanisms like PIN and password, however, don't scale well with the growing number of devices and interactions. We present the preliminary design of Cormorant, an extensible, risk-aware, multi-modal, crossdevice authentication framework that enables transparent continuous authentication using different biometrics across multiple trusted devices.
XSOFT: A generic software teaching and learning model

The attitude of software learning by students relies on transforming the Learning Model consistently into Software Development Model. The effort and time taken for development of different phases of software, has few issues, in particular, the principles and practices to be followed in academia. To address these issues, a generic software teaching and learning model called eXtreme Software Teaching (XSOFT) is proposed by integrating the essence of the Extreme Programming (XP) method with COSMIC FFP (Common Software Measurement Integration Consortium Full Function Point) Standards. The effectiveness of this proposed model was tested on real time projects assigned to students as a realistic study by selecting them with equal skill and knowledge on programming. They were divided into two groups, such as Pair Programmers and Solo Programmers. The performances of these groups are measured with respect to the trade in person‐days using XSOFT. The empirical results show that the assessment of person‐days are less on pair programming than solo programming and effective programming skill is found with pair programmers. In addition, the robustness of this model are confirmed by the results of another real time project as case study. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 23:432–442, 2015; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.21613
Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase-Dependent Interleukin-1α Intracrine Signaling Is Modulated by YopP during Yersinia enterocolitica Infection

ABSTRACT Yersinia enterocolitica is a food-borne pathogen that preferentially infects the Peyer's patches and mesenteric lymph nodes, causing an acute inflammatory reaction. Even though Y. enterocolitica induces a robust inflammatory response during infection, the bacterium has evolved a number of virulence factors to limit the extent of this response. We previously demonstrated that interleukin-1α (IL-1α) was critical for the induction of gut inflammation characteristic of Y. enterocolitica infection. More recently, the known actions of IL-1α are becoming more complex because IL-1α can function both as a proinflammatory cytokine and as a nuclear factor. In this study, we tested the ability of Y. enterocolitica to modulate intracellular IL-1α-dependent IL-8 production in epithelial cells. Nuclear translocation of pre-IL-1α protein and IL-1α-dependent secretion of IL-8 into the culture supernatant were increased during infection with a strain lacking the 70-kDa virulence plasmid compared to the case during infection with the wild type, suggesting that Yersinia outer proteins (Yops) might be involved in modulating intracellular IL-1α signaling. Infection of HeLa cells with a strain lacking the yopP gene resulted in increased nuclear translocation of pre-IL-1α and IL-1α-dependent secretion of IL-8 similar to what is observed with bacteria lacking the virulence plasmid. YopP is a protein acetylase that inhibits mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase)- and NF-κB-dependent signal transduction pathways. Nuclear translocation of pre-IL-1α and IL-1α-dependent secretion of IL-8 in response to Yersinia enterocolitica infection were dependent on extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p38 MAP kinase signaling but independent of NF-κB. These data suggest that Y. enterocolitica inhibits intracellular pre-IL-1α signaling and subsequent proinflammatory responses through inhibition of MAP kinase pathways.
The Neuroimmunology of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a polygenic, multi-factorial disorder and a definitive understanding of its pathophysiology has been lacking since it was first described more than a century ago. The predominant pharmacological approach used to treat SCZ is the use of dopamine receptor antagonists. The fact that many patients remain symptomatic, despite complying with medication regimens, emphasises the need for a more encompassing explanation for both the causes and treatment of SCZ. Recent neuroanatomical, neurobiological, environmental and genetic studies have revived the idea that inflammatory pathways are involved in the pathogenesis of SCZ. These new insights have emerged from multiple lines of evidence, including the levels of inflammatory proteins in the central nervous system of patients with SCZ and animal models. This review focuses on aberrant inflammatory mechanisms present both before and during the onset of the psychotic symptoms that characterise SCZ and discusses recent research into adjunctive immune system modulating therapies for its more effective treatment.
Assessing Ozone-Related Health Impacts under a Changing Climate

Climate change may increase the frequency and intensity of ozone episodes in future summers in the United States. However, only recently have models become available that can assess the impact of climate change on O3 concentrations and health effects at regional and local scales that are relevant to adaptive planning. We developed and applied an integrated modeling framework to assess potential O3-related health impacts in future decades under a changing climate. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration–Goddard Institute for Space Studies global climate model at 4° × 5° resolution was linked to the Penn State/National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model 5 and the Community Multiscale Air Quality atmospheric chemistry model at 36 km horizontal grid resolution to simulate hourly regional meteorology and O3 in five summers of the 2050s decade across the 31-county New York metropolitan region. We assessed changes in O3-related impacts on summer mortality resulting from climate change alone and with climate change superimposed on changes in O3 precursor emissions and population growth. Considering climate change alone, there was a median 4.5% increase in O3-related acute mortality across the 31 counties. Incorporating O3 precursor emission increases along with climate change yielded similar results. When population growth was factored into the projections, absolute impacts increased substantially. Counties with the highest percent increases in projected O3 mortality spread beyond the urban core into less densely populated suburban counties. This modeling framework provides a potentially useful new tool for assessing the health risks of climate change.
The TeleGuard trial of additional telemedicine care in CAD patients. 2 Morbidity and mortality after 12 months

Summary In the TeleGuard trial, 1500 patients with established coronary artery disease (CAD) were recruited and randomized to control or intervention groups. Patients in the intervention group were equipped with a 12-lead event recorder and could contact a call centre and transmit an ECG whenever they wished. In a 12-month study, the composite endpoint (all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, re-hospitalization or re-vascularization) was seen in 40% of the intervention patients and in 38% of the control patients. In both groups, approximately 40% were re-hospitalized. In total, 73 patients experienced re-vascularization, 75 showed an infarction and 33 died. Equipping CAD patients with a 12-lead ECG device and providing a telemedicine centre with 24-hour availability did not decrease risk for the composite endpoint (re-hospitalization, re-vascularization, (subsequent) myocardial infarction and/or death). It is likely that the clinical pathway used in the telemedicine centre led to an increased hospital admission rate in the intervention group.
Parallel calibration method for phased array antennas with orthogonal and nonorthogonal codes

In this paper, a parallel calibration method based on the Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) scheme is proposed for satellite-borne phased array antennas. The theoretical analysis of the relationship between the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and the calibration accuracy with orthogonal codes is provided in detail. Then we generalize the conventional code-division calibration scheme by suppressing the multiple access interference (MAI) from the use of nonorthogonal codes. Finally, simulation results demonstrate that the accuracy of the proposed calibration method with nonorthogonal codes is in good agreement with that of orthogonal codes and it can reach the theoretical lower bound.
Pixel-based skin segmentation in psoriasis images

In this paper, we present a detailed comparison study of skin segmentation methods for psoriasis images. Different techniques are modified and then applied to a set of psoriasis images acquired from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, with aim of finding the best technique suited for application to psoriasis images. We investigate the effect of different colour transformations on skin detection performance. In this respect, explicit skin thresholding is evaluated with three different decision boundaries (CbCr, HS and rgHSV). Histogram-based Bayesian classifier is applied to extract skin probability maps (SPMs) for different colour channels. This is then followed by using different approaches to find a binary skin map (SM) image from the SPMs. The approaches used include binary decision tree (DT) and Otsu's thresholding. Finally, a set of morphological operations are implemented to refine the resulted SM image. The paper provides detailed analysis and comparison of the performance of the Bayesian classifier in five different colour spaces (YCbCr, HSV, RGB, XYZ and CIELab). The results show that histogram-based Bayesian classifier is more effective than explicit thresholding, when applied to psoriasis images. It is also found that decision boundary CbCr outperforms HS and rgHSV. Another finding is that the SPMs of Cb, Cr, H and B-CIELab colour bands yield the best SMs for psoriasis images. In this study, we used a set of 100 psoriasis images for training and testing the presented methods. True Positive (TP) and True Negative (TN) are used as statistical evaluation measures.
Re-conceptualizing college and university teaching through the lens of adult education: regarding undergraduates as adults

In this paper, I advocate for enhancing critical thinking skill development in undergraduate education by taking advantage of the increased experiential maturity of today's students. I argue that many undergraduates are in fact ‘adults’, by virtue of their age or experiential maturity, and they should be educated as such. Undergraduates who have not yet transitioned into ‘adulthood’ would also benefit greatly from exposure to the adult education teaching techniques that emphasize critical thinking development. The demographics of higher education today demand a reexamination of outdated pedagogical practices. Considering college and university students to be the adults that most of them are, or soon will be, would more effectively educate all of today's undergraduate students.
Uncalibrated visual servoing for full motion dextrous robot systems with tracking cameras

Visual servoing methods are reviewed along with their limitations in low-cost uncalibrated situations. A description of the camera model is then given including an overview of visual Jacobian calculations. The problem of selecting suitable gains for implementation in real-time is developed. The model system used is of the anthropomorphic service robot HERMES. It is highly nonlinear and redundant with 6-DOF in the camera system and 6-DOF in each of its two arms. The selection of gains is difficult due to the nonlinearity of the Jacobian over the complete robot. A conservative controller for the camera is developed and a single measure for gripper orientation is outlined along with its limitations. Two solutions to the problems of alignment in visual servoing over a large workspace are given. The first approach weights the alignment heavily during the initial stages, and the second one uses a starting point grid derived by "visually voxellating" the workspace. Results of exhaustive and local motion tests are then given. The proposed alignment method improved the visual servoing alignment performance.
The relationship of oral health literacy and self-efficacy with oral health status and dental neglect.

OBJECTIVES We examined the associations of oral health literacy (OHL) with oral health status (OHS) and dental neglect (DN), and we explored whether self-efficacy mediated or modified these associations. METHODS We used interview data collected from 1280 female clients of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children from 2007 to 2009 as part of the Carolina Oral Health Literacy Project. We measured OHL with a validated word recognition test (REALD-30), and we measured OHS with the self-reported National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey item. Analyses used descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate methods. RESULTS Less than one third of participants rated their OHS as very good or excellent. Higher OHL was associated with better OHS (for a 10-unit REALD increase: multivariate prevalence ratio = 1.29; 95% confidence interval = 1.08, 1.54). OHL was not correlated with DN, but self-efficacy showed a strong negative correlation with DN. Self-efficacy remained significantly associated with DN in a fully adjusted model that included OHL. CONCLUSIONS Increased OHL was associated with better OHS but not with DN. Self-efficacy was a strong correlate of DN and may mediate the effects of literacy on OHS.
3-Amino-1,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole (Trp-P-1) inhibits the removal of both cyclobutane dimers and (6-4) photoproducts from the DNA of ultraviolet-irradiated E. coli.

Heterocyclic amines have been isolated from cooked foods and found to be mutagens and carcinogens. Among them, 3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole (Trp-P-1) and 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole (Trp-P-2) were also found to enhance UV-induced mutation frequencies in Escherichia coli at the concentrations where they were neither toxic nor mutagenic by themselves. Using an immunological method recently developed to detect UV-induced DNA damage, we investigated the inhibitory effect of Trp-P-1 on the removal of both cyclobutane dimers and (6-4)photoproducts from the DNA of UV-irradiated E.coli. Cells repaired 60% of the initial cyclobutane dimers within 30 min and 75% at 120 min after UV-irradiation. Furthermore, the same cells repaired 90% of the initial (6-4)photoproducts within 30 min. On the other hand, Trp-P-1 clearly showed inhibition of repair of both photolesions in a concentration-dependent manner. The levels of repair inhibition by Trp-P-1 were almost the same between cyclobutane dimers and (6-4)photoproducts. These results suggested that the enhancing effect of Trp-P-1 on UV-induced mutagenesis in E.coli stemmed from the inhibition of the removal of photolesions from the DNA.
DCM Flyback PFC converter with optimum utilization control of switching cycles

The discontinuous current mode (DCM) flyback power factor correction (PFC) converter features zero-current turn-on for the switch, no reverse recovery in the secondary diode and constant frequency operation. However, due to DCM, the energy transfer does not cover the whole switching cycle, the peak and RMS values of the inductor current are large, which also occurs to the switch and diode. This increases not only the current stress of the power components but also the conduction and switching turn-off loss, which lowers the efficiency of the converter. An optimum utilization control of switching cycles (OUCSC) is proposed in this paper. The efficiency is improved as the critical inductance is increased and the peak and RMS current values are therefore decreased. The proposed method also achieves an output voltage ripple or an output storage capacitance reduction. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the method.
Professional Governance and Public Control

Governments across the western world face new demands to achieve greater efficiency and responsiveness in public services. The transformations are most radical and challenging in healthcare where both cost effectiveness and patient safety are major issues. Drawing on the National Health Service in the UK and the corporatist system in Germany, this article compares the dynamics of changing governance and public control in the context of different national and institutional arrangements. The analysis is based on studies carried out by each of the authors and secondary sources. The article addresses three issues: transformations in the governance of physicians who held a dominant position in healthcare; policies to promote the role of service users in defining the `public interest' and influencing the decisions of providers; and the professionalization and regulation of a broader range of health professions. The comparison between the two countries illustrates different institutional pathways to change and different conceptualizations of the `public interest' and how it is represented. This demonstrates that not only the government and service users, but also a variety of professional groups, in advancing their own professional projects, may still fundamentally shape the nature and form of public control and new governance practices.
Toward a grammar and rhetoric of visual opposition

Traditionally, "opposition" has played a central role in how classical rhetoric defines, conducts, and structures both its subject matter and its methods. ' "The subjects of [rhetorical] deliberation," writes Aristotle, "are such as seem to present us with alternative possibilities" (1357a). These alterative possibilities, structured as opposites, precede-as well as proceed from-the study of rhetoric. For example, stasis theory assumes that people find themselves opposed, actually or potentially, to other people in their interests, desires, and motives and that they require the means, or method, to clarify this opposition even as they seek to move beyond it toward consensus. To provide these means, stasis theory posits a heuristic set of categories-of Being, Quantity, Quality, Place, for example-designed to help disputants identify and evaluate the issues in any given case, chiefly by establishing the relative merit of the oppositions underpinning the contested issues: Only those cases whose points of conflict are sufficiently clear-i.e., are well formulated and resting on sufficiently common grounds-should go forward for debate and adjudication. Equally, opposition plays a key role in structuring the canons of rhetoric and, consequently, in structuring rhetoric as both a theoretical and a practical art. Within the canon of inventio, for example, we find appeals to the "advantageous" paired with the "disadvantageous," "possibility" with "impossibility," "guilt" with "innocence," "praise" with "blame"; within dispositio, we find confirmatio paired with refutatio; within elocutio, we find a whole range of figures-from epanalepsis to antimetabole to isocolon-capable of pairing terms into stylistic antitheses; and, finally, within memoria and actiopronuntiatio, we find a spectrum of normative terms marked, at either extreme, by pairs such as "natural" and "artificial," "open" and "closed," "high" and "low," and the like. Clearly, opposition is one of the key terms, if not a governing principle, of classical rhetorical theory and practice. But what of its role in contemporary rhetorical theory? In the critical analysis of visual, rather than verbal or written, texts? In images that seek identification rather than overt persuasion?
Port‐wine stains unresponsive to pulsed dye laser: explanations and solutions

The flashlamp‐pumped pulsed tunable dye laser has represented a significant advance in the treatment of port‐wine stains (PWS). However, not all patients will respond. In this review, the clinical features influencing the response of PWS to the pulsed dye laser will be discussed. Theoretical and clinical data are presented to explain why not all PWS will respond to this laser. Methods to overcome the problems of non‐responding PWS are suggested, including new treatment devices and techniques.
Neural Mechanisms of Lumbar Pain

This article discusses neuroanatomic and neurophysiologic bases for low back pain. Evidence for the existence of pain generators in facet, disc, muscle, nerve roots, and dorsal root ganglia are discussed. Mechanisms that may explain the persistence of pain, including neurogenic and non-neurogenic inflammation and central sensitization, are also presented.
Recognizing events with temporal random forests

In this paper, we present a novel technique for classifying multimodal temporal events. Our main contribution is the introduction of temporal random forests (TRFs), an extension of random forests (and decision trees in general) to the time domain. The approach is relatively simple and able to discriminatively learn event classes while performing feature selection in an implicit fashion. We describe here our ongoing research and present experiments performed on gesture and audio-visual speech recognition datasets comparing our method against state-of-the-art algorithms.
An Agent-Based System to Support Assurance of Security Requirements

Current approaches to evaluating security assurance either focus on the software development stage or at the end product software. However, most often, it is after the deployment or implementation phase that specified security requirements may be violated. This may be due to improper deployment of the security measures, environmental hazards or to the fact that the assumptions under which the security requirements have been specified have become invalid. As such, this paper proposes an approach (supported by a system) which will complement security requirements engineering methodologies by gathering continuous evidence to inform on whether the security requirements elucidated during system development stage have been correctly implemented and as such, they can be relied upon to effectively protect system assets at runtime. We use Secure Tropos methodology to highlight the security assurance case and elicit the features of our security assurance evaluation system. We further depict the security assurance evaluation through an example based on firewalls configurations.