Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Secure key agreement using pure biometrics

In this paper, we propose a novel secure key agreement protocol that uses biometrics with unordered set of features. Our protocol enables the user and the server to agree on a symmetric key, which is generated by utilizing only the feature points of the user's biometrics. It means that our protocol does not generate the key randomly or it does not use any random data in the key itself. As a proof of concept, we instantiate our protocol model using fingerprints. In our protocol, we employ a threshold-based quantization mechanism, in order to group the minutiae in a predefined neighborhood. In this way, we increase the chance of user-server agreement on the same set of minutiae. Our protocol works in rounds. In each round, depending on the calculated similarity score on the common set of minutiae, the acceptance/rejection decision is made. Besides, we employ multi-criteria security analyses for our proposed protocol. These security analyses show that the generated keys possess acceptable randomness according to Shannon's entropy. In addition, the keys, which are generated after each protocol run, are indistinguishable from each other, as measured by the Hamming distance metric. Our protocol is also robust against brute-force, replay and impersonation attacks, proven by high attack complexity and low equal error rates.
Neuronal Coding of Serial Order: Syntax of Grooming in the Neostriatum

How does the brain create rule-governed sequences of behavior? An answer to this question may come from a surprising source: the neostriatum (caudate nucleus and putamen). Traditionally, the neostriatum has been considered part of the brain's motor system, but its contribution to the preparation or execution of movement is recognized generally to concern high-level motor functions. Recent work implicates the neostriatum in disorders of sequential action and thought, as in the repetition of thoughts or habits in human obsessive-compulsive disorder and movements or speech in Tourette's syndrome. Yet there is no direct evidence to support the idea that the neostriatum controls sequences of behavior. Using ethological and neurophysiological techniques to study neural activity in the rat neostriatum during syntactic grooming sequences, we found that neuronal activity in the anterolateral neostriatum depended on the execution of syntactic sequences of grooming actions. The individual grooming movements themselves did not activate the neostriatum; activation was determined by the syntactic sequence in which grooming movements were performed. These data provide the first direct evidence that the neostriatum coordinates the control of rule-governed behavioral sequences.
Safety, Tolerance, and Pharmacokinetics of a Small Unilamellar Liposomal Formulation of Amphotericin B (AmBisome) in Neutropenic Patients

ABSTRACT The safety, tolerance, and pharmacokinetics of a small unilamellar liposomal formulation of amphotericin B (AmBisome) administered for empirical antifungal therapy were evaluated for 36 persistently febrile neutropenic adults receiving cancer chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. The protocol was an open-label, sequential-dose-escalation, multidose pharmacokinetic study which enrolled a total of 8 to 12 patients in each of the four dosage cohorts. Each cohort received daily doses of either 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, or 7.5 mg of amphotericin B in the form of AmBisome/kg of body weight. The study population consisted of patients between the ages of 13 and 80 years with neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count, <500/mm3) who were eligible to receive empirical antifungal therapy. Patients were monitored for safety and tolerance by frequent laboratory examinations and the monitoring of infusion-related reactions. Efficacy was assessed by monitoring for the development of invasive fungal infection. The pharmacokinetic parameters of AmBisome were measured as those of amphotericin B by high-performance liquid chromatography. Noncompartmental methods were used to calculate pharmacokinetic parameters. AmBisome administered as a 1-h infusion in this population was well tolerated and was seldom associated with infusion-related toxicity. Infusion-related side effects occurred in 15 (5%) of all 331 infusions, and only two patients (5%) required premedication. Serum creatinine, potassium, and magnesium levels were not significantly changed from baseline in any of the dosage cohorts, and there was no net increase in serum transaminase levels. AmBisome followed a nonlinear dosage relationship that was consistent with reticuloendothelial uptake and redistribution. There were no breakthrough fungal infections during empirical therapy with AmBisome. AmBisome administered to febrile neutropenic patients in this study was well tolerated, was seldom associated with infusion-related toxicity, was characterized by nonlinear saturation kinetics, and was effective in preventing breakthrough fungal infections.
On Schedulability Analysis of Non-cyclic Generalized Multiframe Tasks

The generalized multi frame (GMF) task has been proposed to model a task whose execution times, deadlines and minimum separation times are changed according to a specified pattern. In this paper we relax the assumption of having a specified activation pattern, this yields to non-cyclic GMF task. In this context, current schedulability analysis techniques for GMF task sets under dynamic priority assignment cannot be used. This paper presents response time analysis of non-cyclic GMF tasks executing on a uniprocessor according to earliest deadline first (EDF) scheduling policy. Also, a density-based sufficient schedulability test for non-cyclic GMF task sets is given. Finally an efficient approach is presented, for exact feasibility determination using computer simulation.
Regional Volume Decreases in the Brain of Pax6 Heterozygous Mutant Rats: MRI Deformation-Based Morphometry

Pax6 is a transcription factor that pleiotropically regulates various developmental processes in the central nervous system. In a previous study, we revealed that Pax6 heterozygous mutant (rSey2/+) adult rats exhibit abnormalities in social interaction. However, the brain malformations underlying the behavioral abnormality are unknown. To elucidate the brain malformations in rSey2/+ rats, we morphometrically analyzed brains of rSey2/+ and wild type rats using small-animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Sixty 10-week-old rats underwent brain MRI (29 rSey2/+ rats and 31 wild type rats). SPM8 software was used for image preprocessing and statistical image analysis. Normalized maps of the Jacobian determinant, a parameter for the expansion and/or contraction of brain regions, were obtained for each rat. rSey2/+ rats showed significant volume decreases in various brain regions including the neocortex, corpus callosum, olfactory structures, hippocampal formation, diencephalon, and midbrain compared to wild type rats. Among brain regions, the anterior commissure showed significant interaction between genotype and sex, indicating the effect of genotype difference on the anterior commissure volume was more robust in females than in males. The rSey2/+ rats exhibited decreased volume in various gray and white matter regions of the brain, which may contribute to manifestation of abnormal social behaviors.
Response to Comment on "Oceanic Rossby Waves Acting As a `Hay Rake' for Ecosystem Floating By-Products"

Recent satellite observations of Rossby waves and chlorophyll anomalies propagating in subtropical gyres have suggested that wave-induced upwelling could stimulate photosynthesis. Instead, we show that chlorophyll maxima are located in abnormally warm water, in Rossby wave-induced convergences. This excludes inputs of nutrients from deeper water. We argue that the sea color anomalies are not caused by chlorophyll but by floating particles evolved from the ecosystem and accumulated by Rossby waves, acting as "marine hay rakes," in convergence zones. Such processes may be determinant for the distribution of living organisms in oligotrophic areas.
An integrated approach for density control and routing in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are characterized by having scarce resources. The usual way of designing network functions is to consider them isolatedly, a strategy which may not guarantee the correct and efficient operation of WSNs. For this reason, in this paper we propose an integrated design of network functions. We take two important WSN functions - density control and routing - as an example and present two approaches to integrate them. In particular, we present two solutions, named RDC-sync and RDC-integrated, which integrate a geographical density control algorithm with tree routing. The simulations experiments performed prove that the integrated design improves the network performance, especially when density control and routing are fully integrated
R. Wilkinson and K. Pickett 2010, The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone. London: Penguin. £9.99, pp. 347, pbk

Over half a century ago, social policy research clearly demonstrated the problem of poverty in an unequal society, a problem that has never really gone away (Titmuss, 1938). More recently, one particular book has done much to champion the cause for greater equality. In so doing, it has reignited old debates about poverty and inequality in new and important ways. That book is of course The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett – a book that has made a rare transfer from the academic world into the public domain, selling over 200,000 copies and with translations in more than twenty languages. The Spirit Level (currently) has over 2,000 citations on Google scholar and Richard’s TED talk has over 1.6 million viewings, making the importance of this work beyond question. In fact, The Spirit Level is probably the most influential book in social policy published in the last decade.
Concepts of Mother-Infant Interaction in Greece and Germany

This study deals with parenting from a cultural perspective. Based on Kagitcibasi's model of the autonomous relational self, the authors analyzed Greek urban middle-class mothers' parenting strategies and compared them with German urban middle-class mothers' parenting styles. Interactional behaviors were assessed during videotaped, free-play home observations. It was assumed that urban middle-class Greek and German mothers do not differ in their display of face-to-face context and object stimulation, both considered as sup-porting an independent agency, that Greek mothers modulate the face-to-face context more with facial warmth than do German mothers who on the other hand, modulate their face-to-face behavior more with experiences of contingency than do Greek mothers. The data confirm our assumptions with the exception of baby talk as a second indicator of facial warmth. The data are interpreted in terms of foundations of socialization pathways of urban families in independent and interrelated societies without denying intracultural variability.
Migration of primordial germ cells isolated from embryonic blood into the gonads after transfer to stage X blastoderms and detection of germline chimaerism by PCR

1. The present study was carried out to determine whether primordial germ cells isolated from embryonic blood can enter the bloodstream and successfully migrate to the germinal ridges of recipient embryos after transfer to stage X blastoderms, and also whether they can differentiate into blood cells, as is suggested in mice. 2. Primordial germ cells were transfected in vitro by lipofection and then transferred to stage X blastoderms. The introduced GFP gene was efficiently expressed in the gonads of 6-d incubated embryos. 3. Freshly collected primordial germ cells were transferred to stage X blastoderms. The fate of the transferred primordial germ cells was traced by detecting the single nucleotide polymorphism in the D-loop region of the mitochondrial DNA in White Leghorn and Barred Plymouth Rock chickens used in this study. The transferred donor primordial germ cell-derived cells were detected in the gonads, but not in the blood cells, of 17-d incubated embryos by PCR. 4. This procedure for primordial germ cell manipulation could provide a novel method of producing germline chimaeric chickens. 5. In conclusion, our findings indicate that primordial germ cells isolated from embryonic blood can migrate to the germinal ridges of recipient embryos after being transferred to stage X blastoderms. Although these transferred primordial germ cells differentiated into germ cells, no differentiation into blood cells was observed.
The Importance of Electronic Diary Studies for Occupational Therapy Research

Diary research methods are being used to assess many health-related conditions in both adult and pediatric populations. However, electronic diary data collection, ecological momentary assessment techniques, and multilevel statistical modeling are little used methodologies in occupational therapy research. It is important to add these methodologies to occupational therapy research; they offer prospective, flexible, and timely methods of evaluating the effects of conditions and diseases on occupational performance in many populations and across a variety of settings.
An Improved Scoring System for Identifying Patients at High Early Risk of Stroke and Functional Impairment after an Acute Transient Ischemic Attack or Minor Stroke

Background Risk of a subsequent stroke following an acute transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke is high. The ABCD2 tool was proposed as a method to triage these patients using five clinical factors. Modern imaging of the brain was not included. The present study quantified the added value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) factors to the ABCD2 tool. Methods Patients with TIA or minor stroke were examined within 12 h and had a brain MRI within 24 h of symptom onset. Primary outcomes were recurrent stroke and functional impairment at 90 days. A new tool, ABCD2+ MRI, was created by adding diffusion-weighted imaging lesion and vessel occlusion status to the ABCD2 tool. The predictive accuracy of both tools was quantified by the area under the curve (AUC). Results One hundred and eighty patients were enrolled and 11·1% had a recurrent stroke within 90 days. The predictive accuracy of the ABCD2+MRI was significantly higher than ABCD2 (AUC of 0·88 vs. 0·78, P = 0·01). Those with a high score (7–9) had a 90-day recurrent stroke risk of 32·1%, moderate score (5–6) risk of 5·4%, and low score (0-4) risk of 0·0%. The ABCD2 tool did not predict risk of functional impairment at 90 days (P = 0·33), unlike the ABCD2+MRI (P = 0·02): high score (22·9%), moderate (7·5%), low (7·7%). Conclusions Risk of recurrent stroke and functional impairment after a TIA or minor stroke can be accurately predicted by a scoring system that utilizes both clinical and MRI information. The ABCD2+MRI score is simple and its components are commonly available during the time of admission.
Phosphorylated Retinoblastoma Protein Complexes with pp32 and Inhibits pp32-mediated Apoptosis*

The retinoblastoma gene product (Rb) is a tumor suppressor that affects apoptosis paradoxically. Most sporadic cancers inactivate Rb by preferentially targeting the pathway that regulates Rb phosphorylation, resulting in resistance to apoptosis; this contrasts with Rb inactivation by mutation, which is associated with high rates of apoptosis. How phosphorylated Rb protects cells from apoptosis is not well understood, but there is evidence that Rb may sequester a pro-apoptotic nuclear factor. pp32 (ANP32A) is a pro-apoptotic nuclear phosphoprotein, the expression of which is commonly increased in cancer. We report that hyperphosphorylated Rb interacts with pp32 but not with the closely related proteins pp32r1 and pp32r2. We further demonstrate that pp32-Rb interaction inhibits the apoptotic activity of pp32 and stimulates proliferation. These results suggest a mechanism whereby cancer cells gain both a proliferative and survival advantage when Rb is inactivated by hyperphosphorylation.
Prediction of creaky voice from contextual factors

Creaky voice, also referred to as vocal fry, is a voice quality frequently produced in many languages, in both read and conversational speech. In order to enhance the naturalness of speech synthesisers, these latter should be able to generate speech in all its expressive diversity. This includes a proper use of creaky voice. The goal of this paper is two-fold. Firstly we analyse how contextual factors can be informative for the prediction of creaky use. It is observed that a few contextual factors related to speech production preceding a silence or a pause are of particular interest. This study validates that creaky voice plays a crucial syntactic role, allowing for a better structuring of phrases. In a second experiment, we investigate the prediction of creakiness from contextual factors based on HMMs. Four methods are compared on a US English and a Finnish speaker. It is shown that the best prediction technique achieves a promising performance comparable to what is carried out with the creaky detection algorithm on which HMMs were trained.
Conformational preferences and pKa value of selenocysteine residue

The conformational preferences of the L‐selenocysteine (Sec) dipeptides with selenol and selenolate groups (Ac‐Sec‐NHMe and Ac‐Sec−‐NHMe, respectively) and the apparent (i.e., macroscopic) pKa value of the Sec residue have been studied using the dispersion‐corrected density functionals M06‐2X and B2PLYP‐D with the implicit solvation method in the gas phase and in water. In the gas phase, the backbone‐to‐backbone and/or side chain‐to‐backbone hydrogen bonds are found to contribute in stabilizing the most preferred conformations for the Sec and Sec− residues, as seen for the Cys and Cys− residues. However, the polyproline II‐like conformations prevail over the conformations with the backbone‐to‐backbone hydrogen bonds in water because of the weakened hydrogen bonds by the favorable direct interactions between the backbone CO and HN groups and water molecules. The Sec and Sec− residues are found to adopt more various conformations than the Cys and Cys− residues in water, although the most preferred conformations of the neutral and/or anionic forms of the two residues are similar each other in the gas phase and in water. Using the statistically weighted free energies of the Sec and Sec− dipeptides in the gas phase and their solvation free energies, the pKa value of the Sec residue is estimated to be 5.47 at 25°C, which is in good agreement with the experimental value of 5.43 ± 0.02. It is found that the lower pKa value of the selenol side chain for the Sec residue by ∼3 units than the thiol side chain for the Cys residue is ascribed to the higher gas‐phase acidity of the Sec residue. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 95: 345–353, 2011.
Birds of a Different Feather: How Do Cross-Ethnic Friends Flock Together?

This study examined how homophily (similarity) and propinquity (availability) simultaneously predict both unidirectional and reciprocal cross-ethnic friendships among early adolescents in ethnically diverse classrooms. In a sample of sixthgrade students, liking nominations were used as the indicator of friendship, and both unidirectional and reciprocal cross-ethnic liking nominations were strongly influenced by propinquity, particularly within friendship networks. Homophily appeared to have a greater influence on reciprocal cross-ethnic liking. Similar to previous research, high status (“cool”) early adolescents were more likely to make unidirectional cross-ethnic liking nominations with lower-status peers. However, this effect diminished as classroom ethnic diversity increased, suggesting a unique relationship between classroom ethnic composition, peer status, and intergroup liking. The findings suggest that similarity, the availability of cross-ethnic peers in social networks, and peer status are salient predictors of cross-ethnic friendships, although the influence of each varies depending on whether the friendship is unidirectional or reciprocal. Implications for research on cross-ethnic friendships were discussed.
Needs for cognitive economy and self‐enhancement as unique predictors of intergroup attitudes

This research tested the extent to which two motivations commonly assumed to predict prejudice—needs for cognitive economy and needs for self-enhancement—were simultaneously able to predict two underlying components of prejudice—social categorization and ingroup favoritism. Across three studies, diverse measures of the two motivations showed them to be consistently differentiated. Furthermore, both motivations were found to be independently predictive of both ingroup favoritism and social categorization in each of the three studies. The research adds to existing knowledge about the personality correlates of prejudice by demonstrating the conceptual independence of these two underlying motivations as well as their relationships to components of intergroup attitudes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ON THE EXISTENCE OF POSITIVE SOLUTION FOR A CLASS OF NONLINEAR ELLIPTIC SYSTEM WITH MULTIPLE PARAMETERS AND SINGULAR WEIGHTS

Abstract. This study concerns the existence of positive solution for thefollowing nonlinear system−div(|x| −ap |∇u| p−2 ∇u) = |x| −(a+1)p+c 1 (α 1 f(v) + β 1 h(u)),x ∈ Ω,−div(|x| −bq |∇v| q−2 ∇v) = |x| (b+1)q+c 2 (α 2 g(u) + β 2 k(v)),x ∈ Ω,u = v = 0,x ∈ ∂Ω,where Ω is a bounded smooth domain of R N with 0 ∈ Ω, 1 0.We discuss the existence of positive solution when f, g,h and k satisfycertain additional conditions. We use the method of sub-super solutionsto establish our results. 1. IntroductionThe paper deal with the existence of positive solution for the nonlinearsystem(1)−div(|x| −ap |∇u| p−2 ∇u) = |x| −(a+1)p+c 1 (α 1 f(v) +β 1 h(u)), x∈ Ω,−div(|x| −bq |∇v| q−2 ∇v) = |x| −(b+1)q+c 2 (α 2 g(u)+β 2 k(v)), x∈ Ω,u= v= 0, x∈ ∂Ω,where Ω is a bounded smooth domain of R
A quantum blind signature scheme for electronic payments

On-line merchants must have security protocol and procedures in place to carry out transactions more securely, Due to the popularity of e-commerce payment systems and the widespread use of the internet-based shopping and banking. In this paper we introduce an original blind signature based on quantum cryptographic principles providing unconditional security for off-line transactions. The proposed scheme guarantees the security of payment in real applications by the laws of quantum mechanics. We describe our proposed scheme in detail through a real example and discuss about its unconditional security.
Noise-Assisted Data Processing With Empirical Mode Decomposition in Biomedical Signals

In this paper, a methodology is described in order to investigate the performance of empirical mode decomposition (EMD) in biomedical signals, and especially in the case of electrocardiogram (ECG). Synthetic ECG signals corrupted with white Gaussian noise are employed and time series of various lengths are processed with EMD in order to extract the intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). A statistical significance test is implemented for the identification of IMFs with high-level noise components and their exclusion from denoising procedures. Simulation campaign results reveal that a decrease of processing time is accomplished with the introduction of preprocessing stage, prior to the application of EMD in biomedical time series. Furthermore, the variation in the number of IMFs according to the type of the preprocessing stage is studied as a function of SNR and time-series length. The application of the methodology in MIT-BIH ECG records is also presented in order to verify the findings in real ECG signals.