Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exposure to Organic Solvents Used in Dry Cleaning Reduces Low and High Level Visual Function

Purpose To investigate whether exposure to occupational levels of organic solvents in the dry cleaning industry is associated with neurotoxic symptoms and visual deficits in the perception of basic visual features such as luminance contrast and colour, higher level processing of global motion and form (Experiment 1), and cognitive function as measured in a visual search task (Experiment 2). Methods The Q16 neurotoxic questionnaire, a commonly used measure of neurotoxicity (by the World Health Organization), was administered to assess the neurotoxic status of a group of 33 dry cleaners exposed to occupational levels of organic solvents (OS) and 35 age-matched non dry-cleaners who had never worked in the dry cleaning industry. In Experiment 1, to assess visual function, contrast sensitivity, colour/hue discrimination (Munsell Hue 100 test), global motion and form thresholds were assessed using computerised psychophysical tests. Sensitivity to global motion or form structure was quantified by varying the pattern coherence of global dot motion (GDM) and Glass pattern (oriented dot pairs) respectively (i.e., the percentage of dots/dot pairs that contribute to the perception of global structure). In Experiment 2, a letter visual-search task was used to measure reaction times (as a function of the number of elements: 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 100) in both parallel and serial search conditions. Results Dry cleaners exposed to organic solvents had significantly higher scores on the Q16 compared to non dry-cleaners indicating that dry cleaners experienced more neurotoxic symptoms on average. The contrast sensitivity function for dry cleaners was significantly lower at all spatial frequencies relative to non dry-cleaners, which is consistent with previous studies. Poorer colour discrimination performance was also noted in dry cleaners than non dry-cleaners, particularly along the blue/yellow axis. In a new finding, we report that global form and motion thresholds for dry cleaners were also significantly higher and almost double than that obtained from non dry-cleaners. However, reaction time performance on both parallel and serial visual search was not different between dry cleaners and non dry-cleaners. Conclusions Exposure to occupational levels of organic solvents is associated with neurotoxicity which is in turn associated with both low level deficits (such as the perception of contrast and discrimination of colour) and high level visual deficits such as the perception of global form and motion, but not visual search performance. The latter finding indicates that the deficits in visual function are unlikely to be due to changes in general cognitive performance.
CHRONIC SODIUM CHLORIDE TOXICITY IN THE ALBINO RAT

Sustained arterial hypertension developed in male, albino rats chronically fed diets rich in sodium chloride with demineralized drinking water available ad libitum. After 12 months of the experimental regimen a positive, linear correlation (r = 0.91) was found between the systolic blood pressure and the concentration of sodium chloride in the diet. A syndrome of edema and renal failure was observed in 18 per cent of the group fed at the level of 7.0 to 9.8 per cent of sodium chloride. Significant histologic changes occurred in the kidneys and certain other organs in rats consuming rations containing these levels of NaCl. The relative volume of the radiosodium space was increased in the rat by high dietary sodium chloride.
Unveiling SSHCure 3.0: Flow-based SSH Compromise Detection

Network-based intrusion detection systems have always been designed to report on the presence of attacks. Due to the sheer and ever-increasing number of attacks on the Internet, Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) are overwhelmed with attack reports. For that reason, there is a need for the detection of compromises rather than compromise attempts, since those incidents are the ones that have to be taken care of. In previous works, we have demonstrated and validated our state-of-the-art compromise detection algorithm that works on exported flow data, i.e, data exported using NetFlow or IPFIX. The detection algorithm has been implemented as part of our open-source intrusion detection system SSHCure. In this demonstration, we showcase the latest release of SSHCure, which includes many new features, such as an overhauled user interface design based on user surveys, integration with incident reporting tools, blacklist integration and IPv6 support. Attendees will be able to explore SSHCure in a semi-live fashion by means of practical examples of situations that CSIRT members encounter in their daily activities.
A Criterion for the PassivitY of Haptic Devices

Rendering a stiff virtual wall remains a core challenge in the field of haptics. A passivity study of this problem is presented, which relates the maximum achievable wall stiffness to the system discretization and sampling delays, to the quantization of the encoder, to the inertia of the haptic device, as well as to both the natural viscous and Coulomb damping present in the haptic device. The resulting stability criterion generalizes previously known results. Its analytic derivation is verified in both simulation and experiments on a one degree of freedom testbed.
Diagnostic accuracy of commercial urinary lipoarabinomannan detection in African tuberculosis suspects and patients.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate a commercially available antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on detecting lipoarabinomannan (LAM) in urine for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). DESIGN Consenting TB suspects and registering TB patients prospectively recruited from three hospitals were asked for two sputum specimens for microscopy and culture, urine for LAM testing and blood for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing, with radiological and clinical follow-up for 2 months. RESULTS Of 427 participants, complete data were available from 397 (307 adult and 23 adolescent TB suspects, and 67 registering TB patients). HIV prevalence was 77%. TB was diagnosed in 195 (49%), including 161 culture-positive patients, and confidently excluded in 114 (29%) participants. LAM ELISA sensitivity was 44% (95%CI 36-52) for culture-confirmed TB (52% in smear-positive patients). Specificity was 89% (95%CI 81-94). Sensitivity was significantly higher in HIV-related TB (52%, 95%CI 43-62, P < 0.001) compared to HIV-negative TB (21%, 95%CI 9-37). Sensitivity in smear-negative patients was low (28%, 95%CI 13-43) for combined HIV-positive and -negative patients. CONCLUSION Our findings confirm greater sensitivity of urine LAM detection for HIV-related TB. However, both sensitivity and specificity were suboptimal, suggesting that this version cannot confirm or exclude TB in either HIV-infected or non-infected patients.
A survey of some aspects of parallel and distributed iterative algorithms

We consider iterative algorithms of the form x := f(z), executed by a parallel or distributed computing system. We first consider synchronous executions of such iterations and study their communication requirements, as well as issues related to processor synchronization. We also discuss the parallelization of iterations of the Gauss-Seidel type. We then consider asynchronous implementations whereby each processor iterates on a different component of x, at its own pace, using the most recently received (but possibly outdated) information on the remaining components of x. While certain algorithms may fail to converge when implemented asynchronously, a large number of positive convergence results is available. We classify asynchronous algorithms into three main categories, depending on the amount of asynchronism they can tolerate, and survey the corresponding convergence results. We also discuss issues related to their termination.
Development and evaluation of a building energy model integrated in the TEB scheme

Abstract. The use of air-conditioning systems is expected to increase as a consequence of global-scale and urban-scale climate warming. In order to represent future scenarios of urban climate and building energy consumption, the Town Energy Balance (TEB) scheme must be improved. This paper presents a new building energy model (BEM) that has been integrated in the TEB scheme. BEM-TEB makes it possible to represent the energy effects of buildings and building systems on the urban climate and to estimate the building energy consumption at city scale (~10 km) with a resolution of a neighbourhood (~100 m). The physical and geometric definition of buildings in BEM has been intentionally kept as simple as possible, while maintaining the required features of a comprehensive building energy model. The model considers a single thermal zone, where the thermal inertia of building materials associated with multiple levels is represented by a generic thermal mass. The model accounts for heat gains due to transmitted solar radiation, heat conduction through the enclosure, infiltration, ventilation, and internal heat gains. BEM allows for previously unavailable sophistication in the modelling of air-conditioning systems. It accounts for the dependence of the system capacity and efficiency on indoor and outdoor air temperatures and solves the dehumidification of the air passing through the system. Furthermore, BEM includes specific models for passive systems, such as window shadowing devices and natural ventilation. BEM has satisfactorily passed different evaluation processes, including testing its modelling assumptions, verifying that the chosen equations are solved correctly, and validating the model with field data.
MOVEMENT OF FLOCKED SUBPOPULATIONS IN DISTRIBUTED GENETIC PROGRAMMING

The rules of swarming intelligence can be applied to govern migration in the distributed genetic prog- ramming (DGP) algorithm, but they require modifications. Initial rules are taken from the flocking algorithm and adapted for DGP. As the rule for the alignment of direction is completely discarded and the remaining rules operate on implicit data of subpopulation locations, the resulting joint search technique must be reevaluated. This article presents the pragmatic coupling of flocking and DGP algorithms. The experiment of visualizing the movement of DGP sub- populations through the search space provides a graphic overview of the behavior of DGP subpopulations. The results confirm a typical influence of the modified flocking rules to the flockmates represented by the subpopulations.
Weighted least squares methods for prediction in the functional data linear model

The problem of prediction in functional linear regression is conventionally addressed by reducing dimension via the standard principal component basis. In this paper we show that an alternative basis chosen through weighted least-squares, or weighted least-squares itself, can be more effective when the experimental errors are heteroscedastic. We give a concise theoretical result which demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach, even when the model for the variance is inaccurate, and we explore the numerical properties of the method. We show too that the advantages of the suggested adaptive techniques are not found only in low-dimensional aspects of the problem; rather, they accrue almost equally among all dimensions.
Multiplication-Free One-Bit Transform for Low-Complexity Block-Based Motion Estimation

A multiplication-free one-bit transform (1BT) for low-complexity block-based motion estimation is presented in this letter. A novel filter kernel is utilized to construct the 1BT of image frames using addition and shift operations only. It is shown that the proposed approach provides the same motion estimation accuracy at macro-block level and even better accuracy for smaller block sizes compared to previously proposed 1BT methods. Because the proposed 1BT approach does not require multiplication operations, it can be implemented in integer arithmetic using addition and shifts only, reducing the computational complexity, processing time, as well as power consumption
Risk assessment of N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) and N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA) in cosmetics

ABSTRACT N-nitrosamines and their precursors found in cosmetics may be carcinogenic in humans. Thus the aim of this study was to carry out risk assessment for N-nitrosamines (N-nitrosodiethanolamine [NDELA], N-nitrosodiethylamine [NDEA]) and amines (triethanolamine [TEA], diethanolamine [DEA]) levels in cosmetics determined using validated liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) procedures. NDELA and NDEA concentrations were present at levels of “not detected” (N.D.) to 596.5 μg/kg and N.D. to 40.9 μg/kg, respectively. TEA and DEA concentrations ranged from N.D. to 860 μg/kg and N.D. to 26.22 μg/kg, respectively. The nitrite concentration (3–2250 mg/l), number of nitrosating agents to a maximum 5, and pH (3.93–10.09) were also assessed. The impact of N-nitrosamine formation on the levels of TEA, DEA, nitrite, and other nitrosating agents was also examined. N-nitrosamine concentrations correlated with the number of nitrosating agents and nitrite concentrations. Data demonstrated that higher nitrite concentrations and a greater number of nitrosating agents increased NDELA and NDEA yields. Further, the presence of TEA and DEA exerted a significant influence on N-nitrosamine formation. Risk assessments, including the margin of exposure (MOE) and lifetime cancer risk (LCR) for N-nitrosamines and margin of safety (MOS) for amines, were calculated using product type, use pattern, and concentrations. Exposure to maximum amounts of NDELA and NDEA resulted in MOE > 10,000 (based upon the benchmark dose lower confidence limit 10%) and LCR <1 × 10−5, respectively. In addition, TEA and DEA concentrations in cosmetic samples resulted in MOS values >100. Therefore, no apparent safety concerns were associated with cosmetic products containing NDELA, NDEA, TEA, and DEA in this study. However, since amines and nitrosating agents produce carcinogenic nitrosamines, their use in cosmetics needs to be minimized to levels as low as technically feasible.
Paving the Way for New Literacies Integration in Elementary Teacher Education

This collective case study examines new literacies integration by student teacher/cooperating tea- cher dyads supported by a coach in elementary schools. The theoretical lens for this study combines two areas: the TPACK framework for examining technology integration into teaching and a transformative “Third Space” approach to growing practitioner knowledge. The study took place in a large Midwestern public school district where many student teachers from a public university complete their student teaching experience. The research explored how collaboration in new literacies integration was enacted between student teacher, cooperating teacher, and coach. Results are organized around three themes: collaborative approaches to integration, affordance and effort, and expectations with support. Examination of the enactment of new literacies integration led us to create an innovative teacher education model. In the proposed Triarchic Model of Teacher Education, a university coach supports the concurrent development of preservice and inservice teachers in technology integration.
Stretching and twisting of the DNA duplexes in coarse-grained dynamical models

Three coarse-grained molecular dynamics models of the double-stranded DNA are proposed and compared in the context of single molecule mechanical manipulation such as twisting and various schemes of stretching—unzipping, shearing, two-strand stretching and stretching of only one strand. The models differ in the number of effective beads (between two and five) representing each nucleotide. They all show similar behaviour, but the bigger the resolution, the more details in the force patterns. The models incorporate the effective Lennard-Jones potentials in the couplings between two strands and harmonic potentials to describe the structure of a single strand. The force patterns are shown to depend on the sequence studied. In particular, both shearing and unzipping for an all-AT sequence lead to lower forces than for an all-CG sequence. The unzipping patterns and the corresponding scenario diagrams for the contact rupture events are found to reflect the sequential information if the temperature is moderate and initial transients are discarded. The derived torque–force phase diagram is found to be qualitatively consistent with experiments and all-atom simulations.
Computerized Analysis of a Verbal Fluency Test

We present a system for automated phonetic clustering analysis of cognitive tests of phonemic verbal fluency, on which one must name words starting with a specific letter (e.g., ‘F’) for one minute. Test responses are typically subjected to manual phonetic clustering analysis that is labor-intensive and subject to inter-rater variability. Our system provides an automated alternative. In a pilot study, we applied this system to tests of 55 novice and experienced professional fighters (boxers and mixed martial artists) and found that experienced fighters produced significantly longer chains of phonetically similar words, while no differences were found in the total number of words produced. These findings are preliminary, but strongly suggest that our system can be used to detect subtle signs of brain damage due to repetitive head trauma in individuals that are otherwise unimpaired.
Novel targets for the 18 p 11 . 3 amplification frequently observed in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas

Amplification of DNA in certain chromosomal regions, with consequent over-expression of specific genes within these amplicons, plays a crucial role in the development and progression of human cancer. Since our previous comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) study revealed frequent amplifications at 18p in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESC) cell lines, we focused on the identification of genetic target(s) within the 18p amplicon. In four cell lines having remarkable copy-number amplification with homogeneously staining region (HSR) pattern by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), the smallest common region of overlapping covered ~3.5 Mb at 18p11.3. We screened 29 ESC cell lines to discern amplifications and expression levels of 14 known genes and 21 uncharacterized transcripts within the amplicon. Only four known genes, YES1, TYMS, HEC and TGIF showed amplification and consequent over-expression. These genes were amplified in several of primary ESCs. Moreover, resistance to transforming growth factorβ (TGFβ)-induced growth inhibition was enhanced in four cell lines with amplification and expression of TGIF, which encodes the repressor for TGFβactivated transcription, appears to be involved in the progression of ESC. Taken together, these results suggest that YES1, TYMS, HEC and TGIF are likely to be candidate targets for 18p11.3 amplification and be associated with esophageal tumorigenesis.
Predicting rarity and decline in animals, plants, and mushrooms based on species attributes and indicator groups

In decisions on nature conservation measures, we depend largely on knowledge of the relationship between threats and environmental factors for a very limited number of species groups, with relevant environmental factors often being deduced from the relationship between threat and species traits. But can relationships between traits and levels of threats be identified across species from completely different taxonomic groups; and how accurately do well-known taxonomic groups indicate levels of threat in other species groups? To answer these questions, we first made a list of 152 species attributes of morphological and demographic traits and habitat requirements. Based on these attributes we then grew random forests of decision trees for 1183 species in the 18 different taxonomic groups for which we had Red Lists available in the Netherlands, using these to classify animals, plants, and mushrooms according to their rarity and decline. Finally, we grew random forests for four species groups often used as indicator groups to study how well the relationship between attribute and decline within these groups reflected that relationship within the larger taxonomic group to which these groups belong. Correct classification of rarity based on all attributes was as high as 88% in animals, 85% in plants, and 94% in mushrooms and correct classification of decline was 78% in animals, 69% in plants, and 70% in mushrooms. Vertebrates indicated decline in all animals well, as did birds for all vertebrates and vascular plants for all plants. However, butterflies poorly indicated decline in all insects. Random forests are a useful tool to relate rarity and decline to species attributes thereby making it possible to generalize rarity and decline to a wider set of species groups. Random forests can be used to estimate the level of threat to complete faunas and floras of countries or regions. In regions like the Netherlands, conservation policy based on attributes known to be relevant for the decline to birds, vertebrates or plants will probably also impact all aboveground terrestrial and freshwater macrofauna or macrophytes.
Rule based Intention Generalization through Human-Robot Interaction

Humans have the capability of concept generalization. They can generalize an operation specific to an object on different objects present in the scene. In this paper we introduce a novel approach of rule based human intention generalization. The generalization is performed through Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) by inducing the rules online. The online rule induction corresponds to the performed human action on a known object with known characteristics. The novel generalization of an induced rule is performed based on the acceptance, rejection or correction by the human in response to the robot reaction while HRI. A novel method of conflict resolution is also proposed for the generalized rules. The experiments performed for the rule based intention generalization and online rule induction include teaching the robot of a specialized human intention. The robot tries to generalize the taught human intention by applying the actions on the related objects. The robot generalizes the human intention while HRI, based on acceptance, rejection or correction by the human. The intention generalization is performed by embedding the generalized rule into the probabilistic finite state machine. A finite state machine represents a human intention.