Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A mobile Polycystic ovarian syndrome management and awareness system for Gulf countries: System architecture

The diagnosis and management of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is often a complicated process. Recent mobile health technologies are increasingly used in improving the self-management of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension and several studies have proven its efficiency. Further, research has shown that increased awareness of the chronic disease helps the patients to effectively manage their disease and consequently reduce the complications arising due to chronic disease. In this paper, an innovative Mobile Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome management and educational system for women in Gulf Countries is presented. The presented system makes use of mobile health technologies. The aim of the system is to improve the Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome's management and awareness with women and to empower them with relevant knowledge about disease's management and awareness in gulf countries. The proposed system presented in this paper will be tested and evaluated extensively in a randomized controlled trial in Saudi Arabia as case study.
Language Evolution On The Go

Knowing about the evolution of a term can signiﬁcantly decrease time needed for searching for information. It can also aid in quickly getting a broader overview, which is essential when one is on the move. In this paper we present a solution for providing language evolution knowledge “on the go”. We present a mobile interface for easy access and visualization as well as an overview of how this evolution was found.
Musashi2 predicts poor prognosis and invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma by driving epithelial–mesenchymal transition

The high incidence of recurrence and the poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) necessitate the discovery of new predictive markers of HCC invasion and prognosis. In this study, we evaluated the expression pattern of two members of a novel oncogene family, Musashi1 (MSI1) and Musashi2 (MSI2) in 40 normal hepatic tissue specimens, 149 HCC specimens and their adjacent non‐tumourous tissues. We observed that MSI1 and MSI2 were significantly up‐regulated in HCC tissues. High expression levels of MSI1 and MSI2 were detectable in 37.6% (56/149) and 49.0% (73/149) of the HCC specimens, respectively, but were rarely detected in adjacent non‐tumourous tissues and were never detected in normal hepatic tissue specimens. Nevertheless, only high expression of MSI2 correlated with poor prognosis. In addition, MSI2 up‐regulation correlated with clinicopathological parameters representative of highly invasive HCC. Further study indicated that MSI2 might enhance invasion of HCC by inducing epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Knockdown of MSI2 significantly decreased the invasion of HCC cells and changed the expression pattern of EMT markers. Moreover, immunohistochemistry assays of 149 HCC tissue specimens further confirmed this correlation. Taken together, the results of our study demonstrated that MSI2 correlates with EMT and has the potential to be a new predictive biomarker of HCC prognosis and invasion to help guide diagnosis and treatment of post‐operative HCC patients.
Systematic interindividual differences in neurobehavioral impairment from sleep loss: evidence of trait-like differential vulnerability.

OBJECTIVES To investigate interindividual differences in neurobehavioral deficits during sleep deprivation, and to establish to what extent the neurobehavioral responses to sleep loss are a function of sleep history versus trait-like differential vulnerability. DESIGN Individuals were exposed to sleep deprivation on 3 separate occasions in order to determine the stability of interindividual differences in neurobehavioral impairment. SETTING The sleep-deprivation experiments were conducted under standardized laboratory conditions with continuous monitoring of wakefulness. Each subject underwent a laboratory-adaptation session before entering the sleep-deprivation phase of the study. PARTICIPANTS A total of 21 healthy adults (aged 21-38 years) completed the experiment. INTERVENTIONS Subjects came to the laboratory 3 times at intervals of at least 2 weeks. During each laboratory session, they underwent neurobehavioral testing every 2 hours during 36 hours of total sleep deprivation, which was preceded by baseline sleep and followed by recovery sleep. In the week prior to each sleep-deprivation session and on the baseline night in the laboratory, subjects were required to either restrict their sleep to 6 hours per day (prior sleep restriction condition) or to extend their time in bed to 12 hours per day (prior sleep extension condition), so as to experimentally manipulate sleep history (in randomized counterbalanced order). RESULTS There was strong evidence that interindividual differences in neurobehavioral deficits during sleep deprivation were systematic and trait-like. The magnitude of interindividual variability was substantial relative to the magnitude of the effect of prior sleep restriction (which on average involved a reduction of 4.1 hours sleep per day, compared to prior sleep extension, for 7 days). Overall, interindividual differences were not explained by subjects' baseline functioning or a variety of other potential predictors. Interindividual variability clustered on 3 distinct neurobehavioral dimensions: self-evaluation of sleepiness, fatigue, and mood; cognitive processing capability; and behavioral alertness as measured by sustained attention performance. CONCLUSIONS Neurobehavioral deficits from sleep loss varied significantly among individuals and were stable within individuals. Interindividual differences in neurobehavioral responses to sleep deprivation were not merely a consequence of variations in sleep history. Rather, they involved trait-like differential vulnerability to impairment from sleep loss, for which neurobiologic correlates have yet to be discovered.
A Genome-Wide Perspective of miRNAome in Response to High Temperature, Salinity and Drought Stresses in Brassica juncea (Czern) L

Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are involved in diverse biological processes including adaptive response towards abiotic stresses. To unravel small RNAs and more specifically miRNAs that can potentially regulate determinants of abiotic stress tolerance, next generation sequencing of B. juncea seedlings subjected to high temperature, high salt and drought conditions was carried out. With the help of UEA sRNA workbench software package, 51 conserved miRNAs belonging to 30 miRNA families were identified. As there was limited genomic information available for B. juncea, we generated and assembled its genome sequence at a low coverage. Using the generated sequence and other publically available Brassica genomic/transcriptomic resources as mapping reference, 126 novel (not reported in any plant species) were discovered for the first time in B. juncea. Further analysis also revealed existence of 32 and 37 star sequences for conserved and novel miRNAs, respectively. The expression of selected conserved and novel miRNAs under conditions of different abiotic stresses was revalidated through universal TaqMan based real time PCR. Putative targets of identified conserved and novel miRNAs were predicted in B. rapa to gain insights into functional roles manifested by B. juncea miRNAs. Furthermore, SPL2-like, ARF17-like and a NAC domain containing protein were experimentally validated as targets of miR156, miR160 and miR164 respectively. Investigation of gene ontologies linked with targets of known and novel miRNAs forecasted their involvement in various biological functions.
Italian validation of INQoL, a quality of life questionnaire for adults with muscle diseases

Background and purpose: A quality of life (QoL) questionnaire for neuromuscular diseases was recently constructed and validated in the United Kingdom in a sample of adult patients with a variety of muscle disorders. Preliminary results suggested it could be a more relevant and practical measure of QoL in muscle diseases than generic health measures of QoL. The purpose of our work was: (i) To validate INQoL in Italy on a larger sample of adult patients with muscle diseases (ii) to compare INQoL to SF‐36.
Effect of Hofstede's dimensions on skin care advertising at the micro level: A content analysis of Olay's Indian and US digital ads

In this era of globalization, organizations are increasingly expanding overseas in search of new markets and greater profitability. Colonizing new markets also means mastering inter cultural communication and the most important tool for strategic communication used by global businesses today is advertising. Since strategies for advertisements are increasingly being developed internationally, it has become imperative to have an understanding of the country's cultural characteristics like language, lifestyle, norms, education, attitudes etc [1]. In this context a map of different national value structures and their consequences for behavior across cultural frontiers was created by Professor Geert Hofstede and this study examines how Hofstede's cultural dimensions affect the individual ad units and how applicable the dimensions are at the micro level. Two ads from the skin care segment released in 2015 as part of a successful global campaign, one from India belonging to Hofstede's family cluster and one from US belonging to the Contest cluster were chosen for analysis based on the popularity of the brand and sub brand.
Okulöncesi Öğretmen Adaylarının Farklılaştırılmış Öğretim Konusundaki Öz-yeterliklerine İlişkin Görüşleri

Oz: Bu arastirmanin amaci, bir vakif universitesinin egitim fakultesinde ogrenim gormekte olan okuloncesi ogretmen adaylarinin farklilastirilmis ogretimle ilgili oz-yeterlik duzeylerine iliskin goruslerini ortaya koymaktir. Arasirmada tarama modeli kullanilmistir. Arastirma evrenini 2015–2016 Egitim-Ogretim yilinda Istanbul ilindeki bir vakif universitesinde okul oncesi ogretmenligi bolumunde ogrenim goren 120 okul oncesi ogretmen adayi olusturmaktadir. Gonullu olan 96 ogretmen adayinin tumu ornekleme dâhil edilmistir. Arastirmada nicel veri analizi kullanilmis olup, veriler arastirmaci tarafindan gelistirilen “Farklilastirilmis Ogretim Anketi” yoluyla toplanmistir. Arastirmada veriler SPSS 16.0 paket programinda frekans, yuzde, aritmetik ortalama ve ki-kare ile analiz edilmistir. Arastirmanin sonucuna gore okuloncesi ogretmen adaylari kendilerini farklilastirilmis ogretimle ilgili konulla ilgili cogunlugunla yeterli bulmaktadir. Ust duzey ogrencilere ogrenme faaliyetleri hazirlayabilme, her duzeydeki ogrenciye gore dersi basamaklayabilme, ogrencilerin tumunu motive edebilme, ogrencilerin gorusunu alarak plan hazirlayabilme konularinda ise kendilerini yetersiz gormektedirler. Ust duzey ogrencilere ogrenme faaliyetleri hazirlayabilme, her duzeydeki ogrenciye gore dersi basamaklayabilme, ogrencilerin tumunu motive edebilme, ogrencilerin gorusunu alarak plan hazirlayabilme konularinda kendilerini yetersiz gormektedirler. Okuloncesi ogretmen adaylarinin farklilastirilmis ogretimle ilgili seminere, konferansa vb. egitimlere katilip katilmama ve kitap-yayin okuyup okumama durumuna gore farklilastirilmis ogretime iliskin oz-yeterlikleri arasinda, bazi konularda anlamli farkliliklar gosterdigi gorulmustur. Arastirmada okuloncesi ogretmen adaylarina, farklilastirilmis ogretimle ilgili kendilerini yetersiz hissettikleri konularda programlar gelistirmesi onerilmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Farklilastirilmis ogretim, ogretmen egitimi programi, okuloncesi egitimi
Carbon dioxide sensitivity of dye coupling among glia and neurons of the neocortex

Among neocortical astrocytes and neurons, intracellular injection of the fluorescent dye Lucifer Yellow CH into single cells will often label multiple adjacent cells. It is possible that this intercellular dye movement occurs through gap junctions, which in several systems are sensitive to cytoplasmic acidification. In the present study we tested the effect of increased CO2 levels, a treatment expected to decrease intracellular pH (pHi), on the prevalence of glial and neuronal dye coupling in neocortical slices. When CO2 levels were raised to 40% or 50%, dye coupling among astrocytes was completely abolished. Under the same conditions, the prevalence of dye coupling among neocortical neurons of adult guinea pigs was significantly reduced to 18.7%, compared to the control level of 32.3%. Dye coupling among immature rat neocortical neurons, which normally occurs at relatively high rates, was not measurably affected by CO2 levels up to 50%. The results suggest that coupling between cortical glia is very sensitive to cytoplasmic acidification. The relative insensitivity of neuronal coupling to CO2 may indicate either that the conductance of neuronal gap junctions is only weakly affected by pHi or that neuron-to-neuron dye passage occurs via other types of intercytoplasmic pathways.
Query Suggestion Using Anchor Text

Many query suggestion techniques have been proposed to better capture user intent and to improve search effectiveness. However, most of these methods make use of query logs which are not readily available to the research community. Anchor text, on the other hand, is widely available and has proven useful for many tasks. In this paper, we investigate the problem of query suggestion via random walk and demonstrate that anchor text can be an excellent substitute for a query log. In particular, our results suggest that anchor text is as effective as a real log for this technique and it even outperforms the real log in some cases. In addition, we propose a simple but efficient implementation of the random walk procedure under the MapReduce framework. Each iteration of the walk can be done in a matter of minutes on graphs with million of vertices.
Pitavastatin Downregulates Expression of the Macrophage Type B Scavenger Receptor, CD36

Background—Pitavastatin (NK-104) is a novel inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme for cholesterol biosynthesis. In clinical trials, pitavastatin has been shown to significantly decrease serum LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels and increase HDL cholesterol. Scavenger receptor-mediated accumulation of oxidized LDL (OxLDL)-derived cholesteryl ester is considered to be a critical step in the development of atherosclerotic foam cell formation. We studied the effect of pitavastatin on CD36 (a class B scavenger receptor) expression by murine macrophages. Methods and Results—Treatment of J774 cells and murine peritoneal macrophages with pitavastatin decreased CD36 mRNA expression in a dose-dependent manner. Decreased CD36 mRNA was associated with decreased CD36 cell surface protein expression in human THP-1 cells and human monocyte-derived macrophages. Pitavastatin also reduced the increase in CD36 mRNA, cell surface protein, and binding/uptake of OxLDL induced by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-&ggr; (PPAR&ggr;) ligands and/or OxLDL. Pitavastatin did not alter the half-life of CD36 mRNA, which suggests pitavastatin downregulates CD36 expression by reducing CD36 transcription. In addition, pitavastatin significantly decreased PPAR&ggr; mRNA and protein expression. Finally, pitavastatin increased p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase activity and PPAR&ggr; phosphorylation and increased the ratio of phosphorylated PPAR&ggr; to nonphosphorylated PPAR&ggr;. Conclusions—The present data demonstrate that pitavastatin prevents OxLDL uptake by macrophages through PPAR&ggr;-dependent inhibition of CD36 expression and suggest that pitavastatin could modulate CD36-mediated atherosclerotic foam cell formation.
Quantitative morphology of galaxies from the SDSS - I. Luminosity in bulges and discs

In the first paper of this series we use the publicly available code Gim2D to model the r -a ndi-band images of all galaxies in a magnitude-limited (r ≤ 15.9) sample of roughly 1800 morphologically classified bright galaxies with absolute magnitudes Mi ranging from −15.2 to −23.7 and up to a redshift z = 0.1 (median 0.05), taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The model is a concentric superposition of two components, each with elliptical isophotes with constant flattening and position angle. The disc luminosity profile is assumed exponential, while the bulge is assumed to have a de Vaucouleurs or a Sersic profile. We find that the parameters returned by Gim2D depend little on the waveband or bulge profile used; their formal uncertainties are usually small. Nevertheless, for bright galaxies the measured distribution of the apparent disc component flattening (b/a), deviates strongly from the expected uniform distribution, showing that the “disc” identified by the code frequently corresponds to an intrinsically 3-dimensional structure rather than to a true thin disc. We correct for this systematic problem using the observed statistics of the b/a distribution and estimate, as a function of absolute magnitude, the mean fractions of galaxy light in discs and in “pure bulge” systems (those with no detectable disc). For the brightest galaxies (Mi −22.5) the disc light fraction is about 10% and about 80% are “pure bulge” systems. For fainter galaxies (Mi −21) most of the light is in discs and we do not detect a “pure bulge” population. Averaging over the galaxy population as a whole, we find that 54 ± 2% of the local cosmic luminosity density at both r and i comes from discs and 32 ± 2% from “pure bulge” systems. The remaining 14 ± 2% comes in half from the light in the bulges and from the other half from light in bars of systems with detectable discs. These measurements offer a reference to future studies tracing the evolution of the fraction of light in discs and bulges as a clue of their formation process.
The Gigascope Stream Database

Managing a large scale network requires a network monitoring infrastructure. However, network monitoring is a difficult application. In response to shortcomings in the readily available tools, we have developed Gigascope, a stream database system specialized for network monitoring. In this article, we discuss some of the constraints we faced when developing the Gigascope architecture, Gigascope applications, and how Gigascope is used.
A combination of evolutionary algorithm and mathematical programming for the 3d thermal-aware floorplanning problem

Heat removal and power density distribution delivery have become two major reliability concerns in 3D stacked technology. Additionally, the placement of Through-Silicon-Vias (TSVs) for connecting different layers is one of the key issues in 3D technology. Although a few recent works have considered thermal-aware placement of cores in chip multi-processor architectures, the concepts of 3D and TSVs have not been conveniently incorporated. Therefore, new suitable exploration methods for the 3D thermal-aware floorplaning problem need to be developed. In this paper we analyze the benefits of two different exploration techniques for the floorplanning problem: Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) and a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). We present a novel algorithm that uses MILP to minimize average temperature in the 3D chip, whereas uses MOGA to insert TSVs, connecting the layers while the total wire length is minimized. Our experiments with two different 3D chips show that our algorithm achieves 10% reduction in the maximum temperature and thermal gradient.
Efficient RFID Authentication in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is one of the fastest growing segments of IT industry since the users commitments for investment and costs are in relation to usage. Social networks in cloud are used to reflect real world relationships that allow users to share information and form connections between one another, essentially creating dynamic Virtual Organizations. Anonymous authentication is a technique enabling users to prove they have privilege without disclosing real identities. Many existing anonymous authentication protocols assume absolute trust to the cloud provider where all private keys are stored. This trust result in serious security and privacy issues in cloud provider. In the proposed work secure and efficient anonymous mutual authentication protocols using Radio Frequency Identification technology for cloud services are implemented based on ZKP technique. Zero Knowledge Proof is an interactive system where one party wants to prove its identity to a second party using a password but does not want the second party to learn anything about the password. Finally present experimental results and validate the acceptable performance impact of our deployment on a modern social network.
Performance of the Species-Typical Alarm Response in Young Workers of the Ant Myrmica sabuleti (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Is Induced by Interactions with Mature Workers

Abstract Young workers of the ant Myrmica sabuleti (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Meinert 1861 perceived nestmate alarm pheromone but did not display normal alarm behavior (orientation toward the source of emission, increased running speed). They changed their initial behavior when in the presence of older nestmates exhibiting normal alarm behavior. Four days later, the young ants exhibited an imperfect version of normal alarm behavior. This change of behavior did not occur in young ants, which were not exposed to older ants reacting to alarm pheromone. Queen ants perceived the alarm pheromone and, after a few seconds, moved toward its source. Thus, the ants’ ability to sense the alarm pheromone and to identify it as an alarm signal is native, while the adult alarm reaction is acquired over time (= age based polyethism) by young ants. It is possible that the change in behavior observed in young ants could be initiated and/or enhanced (via experience-induced developmental plasticity, learning, and/or other mechanisms) by older ants exhibiting alarm behavior.
Characterization of Bacteria in Ballast Water Using MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry

To evaluate a rapid and cost-effective method for monitoring bacteria in ballast water, several marine bacterial isolates were characterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Since International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations are concerned with the unintended transportation of pathogenic bacteria through ballast water, emphasis was placed on detecting species of Vibrio, enterococci and coliforms. Seawater samples collected from the North Sea were incubated in steel ballast tanks and the presence of potentially harmful species of Pseudomonas was also investigated. At the genus-level, the identification of thirty six isolates using MALDI-TOF MS produced similar results to those obtained by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. No pathogenic species were detected either by 16S rRNA gene analysis or by MALDI-TOF MS except for the opportunistically pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, in house software that calculated the correlation coefficient values (CCV) of the mass spectral raw data and their variation was developed and used to allow the rapid and efficient identification of marine bacteria in ballast water for the first time.