Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Place Cells and Spatial Navigation based on Vision, Path Integration, and Reinforcement Learning

We model hippocampal place cells and head-direction cells by combining allothetic (visual) and idiothetic (proprioceptive) stimuli. Visual input, provided by a video camera on a miniature robot, is preprocessed by a set of Gabor filters on nodes of a log-polar retinotopic graph. Unsupervised Hebbian learning is employed to incrementally build a population of localized overlapping place fields. Place cells serve as basis functions for reinforcement learning. Experimental results for goal-oriented navigation of a mobile robot are presented.
Dynamic Sub-Channel Allocation in Multiuser OFDM Systems to Achieve Variable Data Rate

This paper investigates the problem of dynamic multiuser subchannel allocation in the downlink OFDM systems. In traditional TDMA or FDMA systems, resource allocation for each user is non-adaptively fixed. Since the subchannel allocations among the users are not optimized, a group of users is likely to suffer from poor channel gains resulting from large path loss and random fading. To resolve this problem a low-complexity adaptive subchannel allocation algorithm is proposed in this paper. By adaptively assigning frequency subchannels, n take advantage of channel diversity among users in different locations, which is called Multiuser diversity. The capacity of MU-OFDM is maximized when each subchannel is assigned to the user with the best channel-tonoise ratio for that subchannel. However, fairness among the users cannot generally be achieved with such a scheme. In this paper, a set of proportional fairness constraints is imposed to assure that each user achieve a required data rate, that ensures quality of service. In the proposed algorithm, subchannel allocation is performed by assuming an equal power distribution. Index Terms OFDM, Sub-Channel, Multiuser, Variable Data Rate.
B cell–derived IL-6 initiates spontaneous germinal center formation during systemic autoimmunity

Recent studies have identified critical roles for B cells in triggering autoimmune germinal centers (GCs) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other disorders. The mechanisms whereby B cells facilitate loss of T cell tolerance, however, remain incompletely defined. Activated B cells produce interleukin 6 (IL-6), a proinflammatory cytokine that promotes T follicular helper (TFH) cell differentiation. Although B cell IL-6 production correlates with disease severity in humoral autoimmunity, whether B cell–derived IL-6 is required to trigger autoimmune GCs has not, to our knowledge, been addressed. Here, we report the unexpected finding that a lack of B cell–derived IL-6 abrogates spontaneous GC formation in mouse SLE, resulting in loss of class-switched autoantibodies and protection from systemic autoimmunity. Mechanistically, B cell IL-6 production was enhanced by IFN-&ggr;, consistent with the critical roles for B cell–intrinsic IFN-&ggr; receptor signals in driving autoimmune GC formation. Together, these findings identify a key mechanism whereby B cells drive autoimmunity via local IL-6 production required for TFH differentiation and autoimmune GC formation.
THE 8 μm PHASE VARIATION OF THE HOT SATURN HD 149026b

We monitor the star HD 149026 and its Saturn-mass planet at 8.0 μm over slightly more than half an orbit using the Infrared Array Camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope. We find an increase of 0.0227% ± 0.0066% (3.4σ significance) in the combined planet–star flux during this interval. The minimum flux from the planet is 45% ± 19% of the maximum planet flux, corresponding to a difference in brightness temperature of 480 ± 140 K between the two hemispheres. We derive a new secondary eclipse depth of 0.0411% ± 0.0076% in this band, corresponding to a dayside brightness temperature of 1440 ± 150 K. Our new secondary eclipse depth is half that of a previous measurement (3.0σ difference) in this same bandpass by Harrrington et al. We re-fit the Harrrington et al. data and obtain a comparably good fit with a smaller eclipse depth that is consistent with our new value. In contrast to earlier claims, our new eclipse depth suggests that this planet's dayside emission spectrum is relatively cool, with an 8 μm brightness temperature that is less than the maximum planet-wide equilibrium temperature. We measure the interval between the transit and secondary eclipse and find that that the secondary eclipse occurs 20.9+7.2−6.5 minutes earlier (2.9σ) than predicted for a circular orbit, a marginally significant result. This corresponds to ecos(ω) = −0.0079+0.0027−0.0025, where e is the planet's orbital eccentricity and ω is the argument of pericenter.
Size fractionation of brown fly ash: utilisation of grey fraction as a pozzolanic material in blended cement

Abstract The work aimed to classify a raw brown colour fly ash (RFA) into coarse grey fly ash (GFA) and fine brown fly ash (BFA) using a laboratory air classifier and to study the properties of grey fly ash-based blended cement. Portland cement (OPC) was partially replaced with 10–30% GFA by mass at 5% intervals to make blended cement. The physical and mechanical properties were determined as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The incorporation of GFA in cement mixes decreases the specific gravity, fineness, consistency, volume expansion and drying shrinkage while increases the setting time and flow-ability. The compressive strength of blended cement was observed lower than that of OPC at all ages, but the rate of strength development increases with the age. The replacement level up to 20% meets the BIS strength requirement of 33 MPa at 28 d for fly ash-based blended cement. The hydration studies were done using Isothermal Conduction Calorimetry (ICC) at 27 °C. The total heat of hydration was observed to decrease with the increasing GFA content. The microstructural characterisation of hardened cement pastes after 60 d using XRD, FTIR and SEM-EDS revealed the variations in mineralogical, structural and morphological properties.
Noise-Referred Energy-Proportional Routing with Packet Length Adaptation for clustered sensor networks

The optimal Packet Length Adaptation (PLA) for throughput and energy utilisation in wireless networks with and without re-transmission is respectively derived and developed. A noise referred distance model of wireless channels is developed for accurate estimation of the dissipated proportion in the residual energy. To balance the load, the Energy-Proportional Routing (EPR) determines whether a cluster head or a node should either undertake forwarding tasks or transmit data to intermediate hops. The cooperation of PLA with the EPR algorithm effectively extends lifetime while throughput and energy utilisation are maximised even the distribution of channel noise is so unpredictable.
Efficient incremental checkpoint based on hybrid page

Modern computer systems are suffering from various failures and are increasingly prone to error. This paper introduces a high efficient incremental checkpoint mechanism for fault tolerance. By leveraging the new hardware support for various page sizes, we make dynamic transformation between different sized pages and thus achieve the best balance of overhead between modification tracking and data dumping in incremental checkpoint. Experiments show that our new checkpoint mechanism could achieve an average speedup of 2.2x with the space overhead of 34% over traditional incremental checkpoint, showing great potential to be widely adopted.
Radiocarbon dates.

late. It is unlikely that Taltheilei (Hennessey) points Taltheilei ca 500, considering respective temporal clusters at 500 to 100 Be and 100 Be to AD 500 in other sites. S-1441 indicates presence of small underground-stem points by ca Al) 900 at tree line. Stemmed points are present throughout Late Taltheilei Chipewyan but are outnumbered by side-notched points.
Guttiferone BL with antibacterial activity from the fruits of Allanblackia gabonensis

Abstract Allanblackia genus, an endless source of bioactive compounds, was investigated for its antibacterial properties. The chemical study of the methanol extract from the fruits of Allanblackia gabonensis resulted in the isolation of the undescribed guttiferone BL (1) along with the known kaempferol (2), morelloflavone (3), morelloflavone 7″-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (4), β-sitosterol 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside and β-sitosterol. Their structures were determined using spectrometry and spectroscopic techniques. The antibacterial activity was evaluated against five Gram-negative and two Gram-positive strains using a broth micro-dilution method. Compounds displayed low to significant activity against the tested bacterial strains with MICs ranging from 8 to 512 μg/mL. Morelloflavone (3) presented significant activity against E. coli ATCC8739 (MIC = 8 μg/mL) while guttiferone BL (1) exhibited low activity (MICs = 256–512 μg/mL) against all the tested strains. The crude extract also had moderate to significant activity against the tested bacterial strains.
Glycosylated Porphyra-334 and Palythine-Threonine from the Terrestrial Cyanobacterium Nostoc commune

Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) are water-soluble UV-absorbing pigments, and structurally different MAAs have been identified in eukaryotic algae and cyanobacteria. In this study novel glycosylated MAAs were found in the terrestrial cyanobacterium Nostoc commune (N. commune). An MAA with an absorption maximum at 334 nm was identified as a hexose-bound porphyra-334 derivative with a molecular mass of 508 Da. Another MAA with an absorption maximum at 322 nm was identified as a two hexose-bound palythine-threonine derivative with a molecular mass of 612 Da. These purified MAAs have radical scavenging activities in vitro, which suggests multifunctional roles as sunscreens and antioxidants. The 612-Da MAA accounted for approximately 60% of the total MAAs and contributed approximately 20% of the total radical scavenging activities in a water extract, indicating that it is the major water-soluble UV-protectant and radical scavenger component. The hexose-bound porphyra-334 derivative and the glycosylated palythine-threonine derivatives were found in a specific genotype of N. commune, suggesting that glycosylated MAA patterns could be a chemotaxonomic marker for the characterization of the morphologically indistinguishable N. commune. The glycosylation of porphyra-334 and palythine-threonine in N. commune suggests a unique adaptation for terrestrial environments that are drastically fluctuating in comparison to stable aquatic environments.
The Comovement of Credit Default Swap, Bond and Stock Markets: An Empirical Analysis

This Paper analyses the empirical relationship between credit default swap, bond and stock markets during the period 2000-02. Focusing on the intertemporal comovement, we examine weekly and daily lead-lag relationships in a vector autoregressive model and the adjustment between markets caused by cointegration. First, we find that stock returns lead CDS and bond spread changes. Second, CDS spread changes Granger cause bond spread changes for a higher number of firms than vice versa. Third, the CDS market is significantly more sensitive to the stock market than the bond market and the magnitude of this sensitivity increases when credit quality becomes worse. Finally, the CDS market plays a more important role for price discovery than the corporate bond market.
Study of High Power Ultrasound for Oak Wood Barrel Regeneration: Impact on Wood Properties and Sanitation Effect

This study aims to investigate the ability of high power ultrasound (HPU) to ensure oak barrel sterilization and wood structure preservation. Optimization was performed in terms of temperature and time and the impact of the HPU process on the porous material was also characterized. In this research, several wood characteristics were considered, such as the specific surface area, hydrophobicity, oxygen desorption and spoilage microorganisms after treatment. The study showed that the microbial stabilization could be obtained with HPU 60 °C/6 min. The results obtained show that microorganisms are impacted up to a depth of 9 mm, with a Brettanomyces bruxellensis population < 1 log CFU/g. The operating parameters used during the HPU treatment can also impact on wood exchange surface and oxygen desorption kinetics indicating that tartrate is removed. Indeed, the total oxygen desorption rate was recovered after HPU treatment, close to a new oak barrel, and thus may indicate that there is no impact on the ultrastructure (vessel, pore size or rays). Finally, wood wettability can also be impacted, depending on the temperature and the duration of exposure.
Single-Molecule Detection of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutations in Plasma by Microfluidics Digital PCR in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Purpose: We aim to develop a digital PCR-based method for the quantitative detection of the two common epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations (in-frame deletion at exon 19 and L858R at exon 21) in the plasma and tumor tissues of patients suffering from non-small cell lung cancers. These two mutations account for >85% of clinically important EGFR mutations associated with responsiveness to tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Experimental Design: DNA samples were analyzed using a microfluidics system that simultaneously performed 9,180 PCRs at nanoliter scale. A single-mutant DNA molecule in a clinical specimen could be detected and the quantities of mutant and wild-type sequences were precisely determined. Results: Exon 19 deletion and L858R mutation were detectable in 6 (17%) and 9 (26%) of 35 pretreatment plasma samples, respectively. When compared with the sequencing results of the tumor samples, the sensitivity and specificity of plasma EGFR mutation analysis were 92% and 100%, respectively. The plasma concentration of the mutant sequences correlated well with the clinical response. Decreased concentration was observed in all patients with partial or complete clinical remission, whereas persistence of mutation was observed in a patient with cancer progression. In one patient, tyrosine kinase inhibitor was stopped after an initial response and the tumor-associated EGFR mutation reemerged 4 weeks after stopping treatment. Conclusion: The sensitive detection and accurate quantification of low abundance EGFR mutations in tumor tissues and plasma by microfluidics digital PCR would be useful for predicting treatment response, monitoring disease progression and early detection of treatment failure associated with acquired drug resistance.
DroidLink: Automated Generation of Deep Links for Android Apps

The mobile application (app) has become the main entrance to access the Internet on handheld devices. Unlike the Web where each webpage has a global URL to reach directly, a specific "content page" of an app can be opened only by exploring the app with several operations from the landing page. The interoperability between apps is quite fixed and thus limits the value-added "linked data" between apps. Recently, deep link has been proposed to enable targeting and opening a specific page of an app externally with an accessible uniform resource identifier (URI). However, implementing deep link for mobile apps requires a lot of manual efforts by app developers, which can be very error-prone and time-consuming. In this paper, we propose DroidLink to automatically generating deep links for existing Android apps. We design a deep link model suitable for automatic generation. Then we explore the transition of pages and build a navigation graph based on static and dynamic analysis of Android apps. Next, we realize an updating mechanism that keeps on revisiting the target app and discover new pages, and thus generates deep links for every single page of the app. Finally, we repackage the app with deep link supports, but requires no additional deployment requirements. We generate deep links for some popular apps and demonstrate the feasibility of DroidLink.
Pure red cell aplasia and HIV infection: what to suspect?

A 15-year-old boy of black ethnicity presented with anorexia, fatigue and weight loss for 3 months. The patient’s medical record included malaria infection at the age of 18 months and diagnosis of HIV infection at age 7 years treated with Tenofovir (TDF)/Emtricitabine (FTC)+ Efavirenz (EFV). The adolescent first went to a Congo’s Hospitalar Unit, where antiretroviral (ART) therapy was changed to TDF/FTC+ Lopinavir (LPV)/ritonavir (r) due to elevated HIV viral load and low CD4+ T lymphocytes. The compliance was irregular, and 1 month later he was admitted. The laboratory study revealed severe anaemia (haemoglobin (Hb) 4.1 g/dL), and he received multiple transfusions. Due to the absence of clinical improvement, parents brought him to Oporto’s Paediatric Hospital in Portugal. On physical examination he presented with pallor and weight loss. The rest of his physical examination findings were normal. The initial laboratory study showed normocytic normochromic anaemia …
Letter of retraction.

We wish to retract the manuscript titled “Induction of Apoptosis by HIV Infected Monocytic Cells” by Kirk Sperber, Prarthana Beuria, Netai Singha, Irwin Gelman, Patricia Cortes, Houchu Chen, and Thomas Kraus, [ The Journal of Immunology, 2003, 170: 1566–1578][1] . The manuscript contains
Inhibition of Phosphorylated-STAT1 Nuclear Translocation and Antiviral Protein Expression in Human Brain Vascular Adventitial Fibroblasts Infected with Varicella-Zoster Virus

ABSTRACT In varicella-zoster virus (VZV)-infected primary human brain vascular adventitial fibroblasts (BRAFs), levels of beta interferon (IFN-β,) STAT1, and STAT2 transcripts as well as STAT1 and STAT2 protein were decreased. IFN-α transcript levels were increased but not secreted IFN-α protein levels. Compared to IFN-α-treated control results, in VZV-infected BRAFs, phosphorylated STAT1 did not translocate to the nucleus, resulting in impaired downstream expression of interferon-inducible antiviral Mx1. Overall, VZV interference with the type I interferon pathway may promote virus persistence in cerebral arteries.
Health-related quality of life in high-grade glioma patients

Gliomas are malignant primary brain tumors and yet incurable. Palliation and the maintenance or improvement of the patient's quality of life is therefore of main importance. For that reason, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has become an important outcome measure in clinical trials, next to traditional outcome measures such as overall and progression-free survivals, and radiological response to treatment. HRQoL is a multidimensional concept covering physical, psychological, and social domains, as well as symptoms induced by the disease and its treatment. HRQoL is assessed by using self-reported, validated questionnaires. Various generic HRQoL questionnaires, which can be supplemented with a brain tumor- specific module, are available. Both the tumor and its treatment can have a negative effect on HRQoL. However, treatment with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and supportive treatment may also improve patients' HRQoL, in addition to extending survival. It is expected that the impact of HRQoL measurements in both clinical trials and clinical practice will increase. Hence, it is important that HRQoL data are collected, analyzed, and interpreted correctly. Methodological issues such as selection bias and missing data may hamper the interpretation of HRQoL data and should therefore be accounted. In clinical trials, HRQoL can be used to assess the benefits of a new treatment strategy, which should be weighed carefully against the adverse effects of that treatment. In daily clinical practice, HRQoL assessments of an individual patient can be used to inform physicians about the impact of a specific treatment strategy, and it may facilitate the communication between the physicians and the patients.
Detecting injection vulnerabilities in executable codes with concolic execution

Various methods have been suggested for detecting injection vulnerabilities in web-based applications by now. However, some injection vulnerabilities are not only web-based but also occur in stand-alone applications, i. e. , SQL injection and OS command injection. Detecting the injection vulnerabilities in these applications is a challenge when their source code is not available. In this paper, we present a smart fuzzing method for detecting SQL injection and OS command injection vulnerabilities in the executable codes of stand-alone applications. Our fuzzer employs the concolic (concrete + symbolic) execution method to calculate symbolic path constraints for each executed path in the executable code of the target program. Also, it calculates vulnerability constraints for each executed path to determine what input data makes the intended vulnerabilities active in that path. The calculated constraints are used to generate new test data that traverse as many execution paths as possible and detect the vulnerabilities in each executed path. We have implemented the proposed smart fuzzer as a plug-in for Valgrind framework. The implemented fuzzer is tested on different groups of test programs. The experiments demonstrate that our fuzzer detects the vulnerabilities in these programs accurately.
Biochemical and immunological properties of ribonucleic acid-rich extracts from Francisella tularensis

Ribonucleic acid (RNA)-rich extracts derived from the attenuated strain of Francisella tularensis (strain LVS) protected Swiss mice against lethal challenge with F. tularensis strain 425 but not against strain SCHU S4. No killed preparation, including an RNA-rich extract from SCHU S4 itself, offered protection against strain SCHU S4 in contrast to the high level of protection offered against this strain by vaccination with live strain LVS. The protective activity observed against strain 425 was sensitive to ribonuclease but not to Pronase. Protective activity is not a general property of bacterial RNA, since RNA-rich extracts from Staphylococcus aureus offered no protection against tularemia, although disc gel electrophoresis showed similar kinds and amounts of RNA in preparations form F. tularensis and S. aureus. Furthermore, inability to localize activity to a specific region in sucrose gradients suggests a structural rather than an informational role for the RNA in such extracts. RNA-rich extracts from F. tularensis but not from S. aureus were efficient inducers of F. tularensis opsonins in mouse serum, suggesting one mechanism by which such extracts confer protection.
Categorisation by Context

The traditional approach to document categorization is categorization by content, since information for categorizing a document is extracted from the document itself. In a hypertext environment like the Web, the structure of documents and the link topology can be exploited to perform what we call categorization by context [Attardi 98]: the context surrounding a link in an HTML document is used for categorizing the document referred by the link. Categorization by context is capable of dealing also with multimedia material, since it does not rely on the ability to analyze the content of documents. Categorization by context leverages on the categorization activity implicitly performed when someone places or refers to a document on the Web. By focusing the analysis to the documents used by a group of people, one can build a catalogue tuned to the need of that group. Categorization by context is based on the following assumptions: