Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic feature selection for anomaly detection

A frequent problem in anomaly detection is to decide among different feature sets to be used. For example, various features are known in network intrusion detection based on packet headers, content byte streams or application level protocol parsing. A method for automatic feature selection in anomaly detection is proposed which determines optimal mixture coefficients for various sets of features. The method generalizes the support vector data description (SVDD) and can be expressed as a semi-infinite linear program that can be solved with standard techniques. The case of a single feature set can be handled as a particular case of the proposed method. The experimental evaluation of the new method on unsanitized HTTP data demonstrates that detectors using automatically selected features attain competitive performance, while sparing practitioners from a priori decisions on feature sets to be used.
A massive parallel sequencing workflow for diagnostic genetic testing of mismatch repair genes

The purpose of this study was to develop a massive parallel sequencing (MPS) workflow for diagnostic analysis of mismatch repair (MMR) genes using the GS Junior system (Roche). A pathogenic variant in one of four MMR genes, (MLH1, PMS2, MSH6, and MSH2), is the cause of Lynch Syndrome (LS), which mainly predispose to colorectal cancer. We used an amplicon‐based sequencing method allowing specific and preferential amplification of the MMR genes including PMS2, of which several pseudogenes exist. The amplicons were pooled at different ratios to obtain coverage uniformity and maximize the throughput of a single‐GS Junior run. In total, 60 previously identified and distinct variants (substitutions and indels), were sequenced by MPS and successfully detected. The heterozygote detection range was from 19% to 63% and dependent on sequence context and coverage. We were able to distinguish between false‐positive and true‐positive calls in homopolymeric regions by cross‐sample comparison and evaluation of flow signal distributions. In addition, we filtered variants according to a predefined status, which facilitated variant annotation. Our study shows that implementation of MPS in routine diagnostics of LS can accelerate sample throughput and reduce costs without compromising sensitivity, compared to Sanger sequencing.
PATHOGENESIS OF DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY AND POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF CURCUMIN: A REVIEW

Chronic diabetes mellitus is associated with various complications such as retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy, cardiomyopathy, vasculopathy, dermatopathy and encephalopathy. Nephropathy is one of the major complications of diabetes mellitus, and the morbidity and mortality due to diabetic nephropathy is constantly progressing in industrialized nations. Diabetic nephropathy is a leading cause of end-stage renal failure worldwide. Its morphologic characteristics include glomerular hypertrophy, basement membrane thickening, mesangial expansion, tubular atrophy, interstitial fibrosis and arteriolar thickening. Numerous reports have demonstrated that oxidative stress induced by diabetes plays an important role in the development and progression of diabetic vascular complications including nephropathy. Biomarkers for oxidative damage to DNA, lipids, and proteins are also supporting the concept of increased oxidative stress in diabetes and diabetic nephropathy. The present review has been undertaken to communicate the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy, the role of oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species as well as antioxidant property of Curcumin in ameliorating diabetic nephropathy.
Phosphorylation of Staphylococcus aureus Protein-Tyrosine Kinase Affects the Function of Glucokinase and Biofilm Formation

Background: When Staphylococcus aureus is grown in the presence of high concentration of external glucose, this sugar is phosphorylated by glucokinase (glkA) to form glucose-6-phosphate. This product subsequently enters into anabolic phase, which favors biofilm formation. The presence of ROK (repressor protein, open reading frame, sugar kinase) motif, phosphate-1 and -2 sites, and tyrosine kinase sites in glkA of S. aureus indicates that phosphorylation must regulate the glkA activity. The aim of the present study was to identify the effect of phosphorylation on the function of S. aureus glkA and biofilm formation. Methods: Pure glkA and protein-tyrosine kinase (BYK) of S. aureus ATCC 12600 were obtained by fractionating the cytosolic fractions of glkA1 and BYK-1 expressing recombinant clones through nickel metal chelate column. The pure glkA was used as a substrate for BYK, and the phosphorylation of glkA was confirmed by treating with reagent A and resolving in SDS-PAGE, as well as staining with reagent A. The kinetic parameters of glkA and phosphorylated glkA were determined spectrophotometrically, and in silico tools were used for validation. S. aureus was grown in brain heart infusion broth, which was supplemented with glucose, and then biofilm units were calculated. Results: Fourfold elevated glkA activity was observed upon the phosphorylation by BYK. Protein-protein docking analysis revealed that glkA structure docked close to the adenosine triphosphate-binding site of BYK structure corroborating the kinetic results. Further, S. aureus grown in the presence of elevated glucose concentration exhibited an increase in the rate of biofilm formation. Conclusion: The elevated function of glkA is an essential requirement for increased biofilm units in S. aureus, a key pathogenic factor that helps its survival and the progress of infection.
A Randomized Secure Data Hiding Algorithm Using File Hybridization for Information Security

-The internet and the World Wide Web have revolutionized the way in which digital data is distributed. The growing possibilities of modern communication need special means of security especially on computer network. In this paper a new randomized secure data hiding algorithm using file hybridization is proposed for strengthening the security of information through a combination of cryptography and steganography with random transformation and file hybridization. Cryptography concentrates on rendering the message unreadable to any unauthorized persons who might intercept them and steganography provides security by concealing existence of information being communicated. The proposed method, viz. Randomized Secure Data Hiding Algorithm using File hybridization (RSDHAF), is divided into sender side and receiver side parts which consist of combination of phases. File hybridization technique adds extra mystification to the analyst in finding the secret message. Simulation results show that the method provides high security and the information is safe from various attacks. KeywordsInformation Security, Information hiding, Steganography, Cryptography, File hybridization, RSDHAF.
Extraction of Generalized Coupling Coefficients for Inline Extracted Pole Filters With Nonresonating Nodes

This paper presents the procedure for extracting the generalized coupling coefficients between resonating and nonresonating nodes of extracted pole sections. The extraction allows obtaining key design parameters for inline extracted pole filters directly from results of full-wave simulations. A third-order waveguide E-plane bandpass filters with λ/4-wavelength resonators is designed to prove feasibility of the proposed concept. The bandpass filter with a generalized Chebyshev response has 300-MHz bandwidth at 9.45 GHz and reveals wide stopband due to three transmission zeros arranged at predicted frequencies. Performance of the fabricated filter is evaluated through measurements, the experimental results obtained show very good agreement with simulations.
Non-separability of space-time covariance models in environmental studies ∗

In the last two decades space-time models have been studied with increasing interest. The main reason for these developments is their importance to problems of spatio-temporal prediction for environmental processes. The space-time covariance model is the fundamental tool for characterizing both the temporal and spatial components of the phenomena under study. The empirical estimation of space-time covariance models can be very complex without simplifying hypotheses. For this reason many authors assume separability between spatial and temporal components. This assumption is not realistic from an empirical point of view. In this paper we propose a model in which non-separability arises from daily variability changing seasonally. The final model is applied to tropospheric ozone data from the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy.
Prediction of Steps in the Evolution of Variola Virus Host Range

Variola virus, the agent of smallpox, has a severely restricted host range (humans) but a devastatingly high mortality rate. Although smallpox has been eradicated by a World Health Organization vaccination program, knowledge of the evolutionary processes by which human super-pathogens such as variola virus arise is important. By analyzing the evolution of variola and other closely related poxviruses at the level of single nucleotide polymorphisms we detected a hotspot of genome variation within the smallpox ortholog of the vaccinia virus O1L gene, which is known to be necessary for efficient replication of vaccinia virus in human cells. These mutations in the variola virus ortholog and the subsequent loss of the functional gene from camelpox virus and taterapox virus, the two closest relatives of variola virus, strongly suggest that changes within this region of the genome may have played a key role in the switch to humans as a host for the ancestral virus and the subsequent host-range restriction that must have occurred to create the phenotype exhibited by smallpox.
Skin Segmentation using Ensemble Technique

Localizing potential skin regions in a color image forms a significant step in applications like face detection, face recognition, face verification, face tracking, gesture analysis, content-based image retrieval and human computer interaction. In this study, we present a pixel based skin segmentation algorithm with ensemble approach using Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) classifier. Skin color features are extracted using RGB, HSV, YCbCr and CIELab color spaces and ensembled into a single feature vector which is used to train the GMM classifier. Comprehensive experiments have been conducted using three different datasets, SFA Database, ECU Skin Database and UCI Skin database. The skin detection rate of our proposed classifier is observed to be better than the existing works.
A MIMO hardware demonstrator: application of space-time block codes

We present a multiple antenna system for industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM)-band transmission (MASI). The hardware demonstrator was developed and realized at our institute. It enables the multiple input multiple output (MIMO)-communication applications and is capable of transmitting arbitrary signals using the 8 transmit and 8 receive antennas in parallel. It operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM-band. The hardware concept is introduced and some design specifications are discussed. As an application example, we focus on one specific class of transmit diversity schemes: orthogonal space-time block codes (OSTBC). Channel and carrier offset estimation are essential tasks in coherent receivers. However, there are also some kind of error sources due to the imperfections of the employed algorithm. We show, by simulation and measurement results, that the OSTBC based systems are more sensitive to channel estimation errors and/or carrier frequency offsets than the conventional single transmit antenna systems. The consequence is that the diversity gain decreases significantly in the case of estimation errors.
Declines in Sex Ratio at Birth and Fetal Deaths in Japan, and in U.S. Whites but Not African Americans

Background The expected ratio of male to female births is generally believed to be 1.05, also described as the male proportion of 0.515. Objectives We describe trends in sex ratio at birth and in fetal deaths in the United States, in African Americans and in whites, and in Japan, two industrial countries with well-characterized health data infrastructures, and we speculate about possible explanations. Methods Public health records from national statistical agencies were assembled to create information on sex ratio at birth and in fetal deaths in the United States (1970–2002) and Japan (1970–1999), using SPSS. Results Sex ratio at birth has declined significantly in Japan and in U.S. whites, but not for African Americans, for whom sex ratio remains significantly lower than that of whites. The male proportion of fetal death has increased overall in Japan and in the United States. Conclusions Sex ratio declines are equivalent to a shift from male to female births of 135,000 white males in the United States and 127,000 males in Japan. Known and hypothesized risk factors for reduced sex ratio at birth and in fetal deaths cannot account fully for recent trends or racial or national differences. Whether avoidable environmental or other factors—such as widespread exposure to metalloestrogens or other known or suspected endocrine-disrupting materials, changes in parental age, obesity, assisted reproduction, or nutrition—may account for some of these patterns is a matter that merits serious concern.
Signaling Networks Converge on TORC1-SREBP Activity to Promote Endoplasmic Reticulum Homeostasis

The function and capacity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is determined by multiple processes ranging from the local regulation of peptide translation, translocation, and folding, to global changes in lipid composition. ER homeostasis thus requires complex interactions amongst numerous cellular components. However, describing the networks that maintain ER function during changes in cell behavior and environmental fluctuations has, to date, proven difficult. Here we perform a systems-level analysis of ER homeostasis, and find that although signaling networks that regulate ER function have a largely modular architecture, the TORC1-SREBP signaling axis is a central node that integrates signals emanating from different sub-networks. TORC1-SREBP promotes ER homeostasis by regulating phospholipid biosynthesis and driving changes in ER morphology. In particular, our network model shows TORC1-SREBP serves to integrate signals promoting growth and G1-S progression in order to maintain ER function during cell proliferation.
No Evidence of Causal Effects of Blood Pressure on Cognition in the Population at Large

The large body of literature on the association between blood pressure (BP) and cognitive functioning has yielded mixed results, possibly due to the presence of non-linear effects across age, or because BP affects specific brain areas differently, impacting more on some cognitive skills than on others. If a robust association was detected among BP and specific cognitive tasks, the causal nature of reported associations between BP and cognition could be investigated in twin data, which allow a test of alternative explanations, including genetic pleiotropy. The present study first examines the association between BP and cognition in a sample of 1,140 participants with an age range between 10 and 86 years. Linear and quadratic effects of systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) on cognitive functioning were examined for 17 tests across five functions. Associations were corrected for effects of sex and linear and quadratic effects of age. Second, to test a causal model, data from 123 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs were analyzed to test whether cognitive functioning of the twins with the higher BP was different from that of the co-twins with lower BP. Associations between BP and cognitive functioning were absent for the majority of the cognitive tests, with the exception of a lower speed of emotion identification and verbal reasoning in subjects with high diastolic BP. In the MZ twin pair analyses, no effects of BP on cognition were found. We conclude that in the population at large, BP level is not associated with cognitive functioning in a clinically meaningful way.
Cross-Layer Transmission Design for Tactile Internet

To ensure the low end-to-end (E2E) delay for tactile internet, short frame structures will be used in 5G systems. As such, transmission errors with finite blocklength channel codes should be considered to guarantee the high reliability requirement. In this paper, we study cross-layer transmission optimization for tactile internet, where both queueing delay and transmission delay are accounted for in the E2E delay, and different packet loss/error probabilities are considered to characterize the reliability. We show that the required transmit power becomes unbounded when the allowed maximal queueing delay is shorter than the channel coherence time. To satisfy quality-of-service requirement with finite transmit power, we introduce a proactive packet dropping mechanism, and optimize a queue state information and channel state information dependent transmission policy. Since the resource and policy for transmission and the packet dropping policy are related to the packet error probability, queueing delay violation probability, and packet dropping probability, we optimize the three probabilities and obtain the policies related to these probabilities. We start from single-user scenario and then extend our framework to the multi-user scenario. Simulation results show that the optimized three probabilities are in the same order of magnitude. Therefore, we have to take into account all these factors when we design systems for tactile internet applications.
A large-scale substrate integrated waveguide slot array antenna with good matching characteristic

An effective way to improve the matching characteristic of a large-scale substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) slot array antenna is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. Firstly, a SIW ferrite resonance isolator and a 32×32 slot array antenna are modeled and simulated by Ansoft HFSS, respectively. Then, these components are combined and integrated as a single one. The comparison between the designed 32×32 slot array antennas with and without isolator shows that the S11 is improved at least 5dB within 9.5-10.5GHz bandwidth and more than 30dB at 10GHz.
The Psychological Role of the Father in the Family

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ROLE of the father in our society has been hard to grasp. Just as his social role has been continuously changing, so his psychological role assumes new forms as customs, beliefs, thoughts, and knowledge change. Traditionally, Father has been looked upon as the breadwinner. In times past, so much of his time and energy was used in this role that at home he was thought of as taciturn and stern, albeit kind. He was respected but feared by his children who never learned to know him very well. He accepted the fact that he earned the money and Mother cared for the home and raised the children. A stereotype of the Victorian days was the father who was supposed to be very busy and very successful, indulging his children in many things in order to compensate for the fact that he really was not very interested in them at all and preferred the company of older people. The more modern picture of Father is that of the enthusiastic young man barely out of his teens, interested in his wife and children, who likes his home and likes to work around it. He enjoys helping his wife with household duties and with the routine care of the children. He even likes to take care of them for an evening if his wife needs or wants to go out by herself! We should like to believe that fathers like this are replacing the older types. But facts seem to show that modern fathers do not really understand their role much better than their predecessors did. The purpose of this paper is to indicate why Father has such an important role to play in the life of his growing young boy or girl and to emphasize that his role in the family has many facets -he must be husband, father, member of the workaday world, teacher, mentor, and hero. The how, when, and where of his activities will make themselves more evident if the importance of these roles is made clear.
The prediction and management of aquatic nitrogen pollution across Europe: an introduction to the Integrated Nitrogen in European Catchments project (INCA)

Abstract. Excess nitrogen in soils, fresh water, estuarine and marine systems contributes to nutrient enrichment in key ecosystems throughout Europe, often leading to detrimental environmental impacts, such as soil acidification or the eutrophication of water bodies. The Integrated Nitrogenmodel for European Catchments (INCA) project aims to develop a generic version of the Integrated Nitrogen in Catchments (INCA) model to simulate the retention and transport of nitrogen within river systems, thereby providing a tool to aid the understanding of nitrogen dynamics and for river-basin management/policy-making. To facilitate the development of the model, 10 partners have tested the INCA model with data collected in study sites located in eight European countries as part of the INCA project. This paper summarises the key nitrogen issues within Europe, describes the main aims and methodology of the INCA project, and sets the project in the context of the current major research initiatives at a European level. Keywords: Europe, European Union, nitrogen, nitrate, ammonium, river basin management, modelling, water chemistry, acidification, eutrophication, Water Framework Directive, INCA.
The Notion and Characters of Knowledge Network

This paper first focuses on the studies the status quo of knowledge network based on paper analysis, then analyzes the connotation and extension of the notion of knowledge network put forward, and the authors bring forward its notion with different aspects in information science. Finally, it makes further discussion and analysis about the characters of knowledge network.
Behavioral Public HR: Experimental Evidence on Cognitive Biases and Debiasing Interventions

We draw on behavioral science to investigate a set of decisions that may have an impact on public human resource management, thus affecting public service provision. Our survey-in-the-field-experiment with the nursing personnel of a local health authority showed that respondents’ decisions in the area of health care operations management were affected by social pressures (bandwagoning), the presence of a decoy option, and the framing of alternatives. Anchoring and halo effects severely biased the assessment of subordinates’ performance. Decisions in the domain of health policies were influenced by denominator neglect and zero-risk bias. Debiasing interventions eliminated the bandwagoning and framing effects. Being midway between abstract and un-testable grand theories and data-driven testable hypotheses, our findings advance behavioral human resource (HR) as a fruitful middle range theory in public personnel administration. Normative implications for scholars and practitioners about the power of the architecture of choices are discussed.
Ocular immune privilege

The eye attempts to limit local immune and inflammatory responses to preserve vision. This phenomenon, known as ocular immune privilege, is mediated by a combination of local and systemic mechanisms. While immune privilege is believed to protect the eye from day-to-day inflammatory insults, it is not absolute and its mechanisms are still incompletely understood.