Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heart rate variability in neurosurgical patients.

Cardiac monitors determine heart rate by counting the number of beats in a given time interval. The normal heart, however, does not beat at a constant rate. Instead, there is a continuous change in heart rate on a beat-by-beat basis. This is termed the instantaneous heart rate and it represents the projected rate per minute that the heart would beat if only one R-R interval (the time between sequential R waves) was repeated throughout a 60-second period. Calculation of the instantaneous heart rate for each heart beat (R-R interval) produces a pattern that demonstrates the variability in heart rate. This instantaneous heart rate pattern was prospectively studied in 102 patients admitted to a neurosurgical intensive care unit. Short-term (STV) and long-term (LTV) heart rate variability were compared to the Glasgow coma scale as a method for patient assessment. LTV seems to be the most useful heart rate parameter in the clinical setting, and both STV and LTV performed better in the serial evaluation of patients. Two postulations found in the heart rate literature were not borne out in this study. First, we did not find a strong correlation between elevated intracranial pressure and decreases in heart rate or variability, as previously reported by Lowensohn et al. Second, the morphological classification of heart rate patterns described by Evans in his study of head-injured patients did not carry the same prognostic value when applied to this broad spectrum of patients with a variety of acute neurological disorders. Heart rate and its variability is a simple parameter to monitor. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Internal popularity of streaming video and its implication on caching

As most proxy caches for streaming media cache only a part of the video, the most important issue for a caching algorithm is to determine which portion of the video should be cached. Due to different part of the video can have different popularity, the studying of the internal popularity characteristics of streaming videos is very important for the development of efficient cache mechanisms. In this paper, we showed that the internal popularity of the majority of the most popular videos obeys a k-transformed Zipf-like distribution through analyzing two 7-month long traces recorded at different streaming video servers of an entertainment video-on-demand provider. Based on this empirical internal popularity distribution model, we then proposed a new dynamical caching algorithm. The results of simulations proved that this algorithm can have better performance than algorithms based on other models and it has similar performance compare with fine-grained caching but requires significantly less state information.
Modeling and verification of Web services composition based on model transformation

With the rapid development of Cloud computing, social computing, and Web of Things, an increasing number of requirements of complexity and reliability for modeling Web services composition have emerged too. As more reliable methods are needed to model and verify current complex Web services composition, this paper proposes a method to model and verify Web services composition based on model transformation. First, a modeling and verifying framework based on model transformation is established. Then, Communicating Sequential Process (CSP) is defined according to the features of Web services composition and the corresponding model checking tool Failure Divergence Refinement (FDR) is introduced. The transformation approaches between Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) and CSP are later defined in detail. Lastly, the effect of this method is evaluated by modeling and verifying the Web services composition of a Online Shopping System. The results of the experiments show that this method can greatly increase the reliability of Web services composition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Catabolite repression by glucose 6‐phosphate, gluconate and lactose in Escherichia coli

While catabolite repression by glucose has been studied extensively and is understood in large detail in Enterobacteriaceae, catabolite repression by carbohydrates that are not transported by the phosphotransferase system (PTS) has always remained an enigma. Examples of non‐PTS carbohydrates that cause catabolite repression in Escherichia coli are gluconate, lactose and glucose 6‐phosphate. In this article it is shown that enzyme IIAGlc of the PTS is not involved in catabolite repression by these carbon sources. Carbon sources that caused strong catabolite repression of β‐galactosidase lowered the concentration of both cAMP and the cAMP receptor protein (CRP). A strong correlation was found between the amounts of cAMP and CRP and the strength of the repression. The levels of cAMP and CRP were modulated in various ways. Neither overproduction of CRP nor an increased cAMP concentration could completely relieve the repression by glucose 6‐phosphate, lactose and gluconate. Simultaneously increasing the cAMP and the CRP levels was lethal for the cells. In a mutant expressing a constant amount of cAMP‐independent CRP* protein, catabolite repression was absent. The same was found in a mutant in which lac transcription is independent of cAMP/CRP. These results, combined with the fact that both the cAMP and the CRP levels are lowered by glucose 6‐phosphate, lactose and gluconate, lead to the conclusion that the decreased cAMP and CRP levels are the cause of catabolite repression by these non‐PTS carbon sources.
Differential Kinetic and Spatial Patterns of β-Arrestin and G Protein-mediated ERK Activation by the Angiotensin II Receptor*

The seven-membrane-spanning angiotensin II type 1A receptor activates the mitogen-activated protein kinases extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) by distinct pathways dependent on either G protein (likely Gq/G11) or β-arrestin2. Here we sought to distinguish the kinetic and spatial patterns that characterize ERK1/2 activated by these two mechanisms. We utilized β-arrestin RNA interference, the protein kinase C inhibitor Ro-31-8425, a mutant angiotensin II receptor (DRY/AAY), and a mutant angiotensin II peptide (SII-angiotensin), which are incapable of activating G proteins, to isolate the two pathways in HEK-293 cells. G protein-dependent activation was rapid (peak <2 min), quite transient (t½ ∼2 min), and led to nuclear translocation of the activated ERK1/2 as assessed by confocal microscopy. In contrast, β-arrestin2-dependent activation was slower (peak 5–10 min), quite persistent with little decrement noted out to 90 min, and entirely confined to the cytoplasm. Moreover, ERK1/2 activated via β-arrestin2 accumulated in a pool of cytoplasmic endosomal vesicles that also contained the internalized receptors and β-arrestin. Such differential regulation of the temporal and spatial patterns of ERK1/2 activation via these two pathways strongly implies the existence of distinct physiological endpoints.
Isoform Specificity of the Na/K-ATPase Association and Regulation by Phospholemman*

Phospholemman (PLM) phosphorylation mediates enhanced Na/K-ATPase (NKA) function during adrenergic stimulation of the heart. Multiple NKA isoforms exist, and their function/regulation may differ. We combined fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and functional measurements to investigate isoform specificity of the NKA-PLM interaction. FRET was measured as the increase in the donor fluorescence (CFP-NKA-α1 or CFP-NKA-α2) during progressive acceptor (PLM-YFP) photobleach in HEK-293 cells. Both pairs exhibited robust FRET (maximum of 23.6 ± 3.4% for NKA-α1 and 27.5 ± 2.5% for NKA-α2). Donor fluorescence depended linearly on acceptor fluorescence, indicating a 1:1 PLM:NKA stoichiometry for both isoforms. PLM phosphorylation induced by cAMP-dependent protein kinase and protein kinase C activation drastically reduced the FRET with both NKA isoforms. However, submaximal cAMP-dependent protein kinase activation had less effect on PLM-NKA-α2 versus PLM-NKA-α1. Surprisingly, ouabain virtually abolished NKA-PLM FRET but only partially reduced co-immunoprecipitation. PLM-CFP also showed FRET to PLM-YFP, but the relationship during progressive photobleach was highly nonlinear, indicating oligomers involving ≥3 monomers. Using cardiac myocytes from wild-type mice and mice where NKA-α1 is ouabain-sensitive and NKA-α2 is ouabain-resistant, we assessed the effects of PLM phosphorylation on NKA-α1 and NKA-α2 function. Isoproterenol enhanced internal Na+ affinity of both isoforms (K½ decreased from 18.1 ± 2.0 to 11.5 ± 1.9 mm for NKA-α1 and from 16.4 ± 2.5 to 10.4 ± 1.5 mm for NKA-α2) without altering maximum transport rate (Vmax). Protein kinase C activation also decreased K½ for both NKA-α1 and NKA-α2 (to 9.4 ± 1.0 and 9.1 ± 1.1 mm, respectively) but increased Vmax only for NKA-α2 (1.9 ± 0.4 versus 1.2 ± 0.5 mm/min). In conclusion, PLM associates with and modulates both NKA-α1 and NKA-α2 in a comparable but not identical manner.
Antillatoxin, a Novel Lipopeptide, Enhances Neurite Outgrowth in Immature Cerebrocortical Neurons through Activation of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels

Antillatoxin (ATX) is a structurally novel lipopeptide that activates voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSC) leading to sodium influx in cerebellar granule neurons and cerebrocortical neurons 8 to 9 days in vitro (Li et al., 2001; Cao et al., 2008). However, the precise recognition site for ATX on the VGSC remains to be defined. Inasmuch as elevation of intracellular sodium ([Na+]i) may increase N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-mediated Ca2+ influx, Na+ may function as a signaling molecule. We hypothesized that ATX may enhance neurite outgrowth in cerebrocortical neurons by elevating [Na+]i and augmenting NMDAR function. ATX (30–100 nM) robustly stimulated neurite outgrowth, and this enhancement was sensitive to the VGSC antagonist, tetrodotoxin. To unambiguously demonstrate the enhancement of NMDA receptor function by ATX, we recorded single-channel currents from cell-attached patches. ATX was found to increase the open probability of NMDA receptors. Na+-dependent up-regulation of NMDAR function has been shown to be regulated by Src family kinase (SFK) (Yu and Salter, 1998). The Src kinase inhibitor PP2 abrogated ATX-enhanced neurite outgrowth, suggesting a SFK involvement in this response. ATX-enhanced neurite outgrowth was also inhibited by the NMDAR antagonist, (5R,10S)-(+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5,10-imine hydrogen maleate (MK-801), and the calmodulin-dependent kinase kinase (CaMKK) inhibitor, 1,8-naphthoylene benzimidazole-3-carboxylic acid (STO-609), demonstrating the requirement for NMDAR activation with subsequent downstream engagement of the Ca2+-dependent CaMKK pathway. These results with the structurally and mechanistically novel natural product, ATX, confirm and generalize our earlier results with a neurotoxin site 5 ligand. These data suggest that VGSC activators may represent a novel pharmacological strategy to regulate neuronal plasticity through NMDAR-dependent mechanisms.
Success rate model for fully AES-128 in correlation power analysis

We propose a Success Rate (SR) estimation model for Correlation Power Analysis (CPA) attack on AES-128 encrypted devices. The SR is a ratio between the number of successful attacks to obtain secret key and the total number of attacks. There are two key features in the proposed model. First, we derive the Second Order Standard Deviation (SOSD) of the processed data to analyze their switching activities during encryption processes, to identify the Least Difficult Sub-Key (LDSK — the easiest revealable sub-key) and Most Difficult Sub-Key (MDSK — the hardest revealable sub-key). Second, we apply the Error Function Model (EFM) by using LDSK and MDSK to estimate the SR with respect to the number of power traces required to reveal the secret key. Our proposed SR estimation model is evaluated based on a Sukura-X encryption board and shows that our proposed SOSD requires only 1,000 processed data to determine the LDSK and MDSK. Based on the EFM of the LDSK and MDSK, it shows that 10%–94% of SR requires 1,220–3,550 power traces respectively to reveal all the 16 sub-keys. We demonstrate the accuracy of our proposed SR estimation model by benchmarking against the two reporting techniques to evaluate 1-byte of key and show that the accuracy of our technique is 96% whereas other reported techniques are only 21% and 49%.
Stabilization of the Acrobot via multiple sliding surface control

This paper considers the stabilization problem of the Acrobot, a widely studied benchmark nonlinear under-actuated mechanical system. For such systems the design of control Law becomes a challenging task owing to complex internal dynamics and lack of feedback linearizibility. These result in need of closed form solutions for highly nonlinear equations or hybrid/switching controllers. A novel nonlinear controller design, using recently introduced Multiple Sliding Surface Control technique is presented as the solution. Proposed controller doesn't require analytical calculation of certain derivatives requiring closed form solutions of highly nonlinear equations. The proposed design procedure is shown to be simpler and more intuitive than existing designs. Advantages over conventional Energy Shaping and Backstepping controllers are analyzed theoretically and verified using numerical simulations.
Author's Personal Copy Lips: Link Prediction as a Service for Data Aggregation Applications

A central component of the design of wireless sensor networks is reliable and efficient transmission of data from source to destination. However, this remains a challenging problem because of the dynamic nature of wireless links, such as interference, diffusion, and path fading. When the link quality gets worse, packets will get lost even with retransmissions and acknowledgments when internal queues become full. For example, in a well-known study to monitor volcano behavior (Werner-Allen et al., 2006), the measured data yield of nodes ranges from 20% to 80%. To address this challenge brought by unreliable links, in this paper, we propose the idea of LIPS, or Link Prediction as a Service. Specifically, we argue that it is beneficial for applications to be aware of link layer variations, so that they can take into account the future link quality estimates based on past measurements. In particular, we present a novel state space based approach for the link quality prediction, and demonstrate that it is possible to integrate this model into operating system interfaces, so that higher layer data aggregation protocols can directly exploit these interfaces to improve their performance. Our intensive evaluation indicates the state space based approach is accurate, stable and lightweight comparing to other strategies such as the autoregressive model (Liu and Cerpa, 2010). We carry out experiments based on the commonly used sensor node hardware including both link layer and operating system measurements. One key component of the emerging networked embedded systems, such as wireless sensor networks, is efficient and reliable data collection and aggregation. This task is complicated by various factors, and one of the most notable factors is the extremely unreliable nature of wireless links through which data is collected, which causes several problems such as congestion and packet loss. Inappropriate selection and use of wireless links will cause tremendous energy cost, shortened system lifetime, and degraded performance. So far, the basic structure for the collection is usually considered as a multi-hop tree topology [3]: Each node is connected to the root through multiple hops, forming a tree structure. Routing protocols establish the routing tree based on the wireless link quality to reduce the end-to-end path cost of sending a packet to the root. However, even though enormous efforts have been invested to choosing the best links to deliver packets, reports from the field are far from satisfactory. In a well known study to monitor volcano activities, …
Collaborative filtering-based recommender system: Approaches and research challenges

Due to information explosion, huge number of items are present over web which makes it difficult for user to find appropriate item from available set of options. Recommender System (RS) overcomes the problem of information overload and suggests items that interest to a user. It has gained a lot of popularity in past decades and huge amount of work has been done in this field. Collaborative Filtering (CF) is the most popular and widely used approach for RS which tries to analyze the user's interest over the target item on the basis of views expressed by other like-minded users. This paper gives a brief idea of various approaches used for Recommender System and provides an insight of Collaborative Filtering technique. Here, we also discuss well-known methods for CF i.e. Memory-based, Model-based, and hybrid approaches and at last we focus on research challenges that need to be addressed.
Post‐transcriptional regulatory networks in immunity

Post‐transcriptional mechanisms that modulate global and/or transcript‐specific mRNA stability and translation contribute to the rapid and flexible control of gene expression in immune effector cells. These mechanisms rely on RNA‐binding proteins (RBPs) that direct regulatory complexes (e.g. exosomes, deadenylases, decapping complexes, RNA‐induced silencing complexes) to the 3′‐untranslated regions of specific immune transcripts. Here, we review the surprising variety of post‐transcriptional control mechanisms that contribute to gene expression in the immune system and discuss how defects in these pathways can contribute to autoimmune disease.
A Behavioural and Electrophysiological exploration of the Working Memory impairment in Developmental Dyslexia

The current thesis provides a behavioural and electrophysiological exploration of Working Memory (WM) processing in developmental dyslexia. This thesis identifies a debate in the literature regarding the extent to which individuals with dyslexia have a specific phonological WM impairment, or a domain general Central Executive (CE) impairment. Predictions from the latter account suggest that dyslexics should show an impairment in visual, and verbal domains of WM. However, findings in the visual domain have been inconsistent, and research has predominantly focused on children. The experimental work in this thesis examines CE processing in dyslexic adults by assessing the behavioural and ERP responses associated with WM, across 8 experiments. Experiments 1-5 present stimuli in the visual domain, while Experiments 6-8 are conducted in the auditory domain. The results indicate that dyslexics are impaired for verbal information specifically, however subtle RT differences emerge during visual-spatial WM, when participants are required to manipulate information. In order to assess why effects are more robust in the phonological domain, Experiment 8 examines the contribution of auditory perceptual problems and phonological WM processing in dyslexia. The Temporal Sampling Theory of Developmental dyslexia (TSTDD; Goswami, 2011) specifies that dyslexics have a difficulty processing tones with long rise-times. In Experiment 8, dyslexic participants show a WM impairment that is specific to tones with long rise-times. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed, and a new hypothesis regarding the phonological WM impairment in dyslexia is proposed. The original contribution to knowledge of this thesis are threefold. 1) The ERP responses associated with WM processing in developmental dyslexia are examined across modality, using a range of stimuli. 2) A novel task is used to directly investigate CE processing in dyslexia (Experiment 5). 3) The TSTDD is applied in order to investigate phonological WM in dyslexia.
A Longitudinal Investigation of the Effects of Computer Anxiety on Performance in a Computing-Intensive Environment

Computers are pervasive in business and education, and it would be easy to assume that all individuals embrace technology. However, evidence shows that roughly 30 to 40 percent of individuals experience some level of computer anxiety. Many academic programs involve computing-intensive courses, but the actual effects of this exposure on computer anxiety are unknown. This study contributes to the literature as follows. First, direct evidence of a relationship between longitudinal changes in individuals' computer anxiety and performance are reported. Second, the effects of changes in computer anxiety are shown to be dependent on individuals' initial level of anxiety. Third, some evidence is provided that changes in computer anxiety from exposure to a computing-intensive environment are not uniform across individuals. Lastly, the subjects in this study appear to be more representative of contemporary students and workers than those used in prior studies. Implications for research and practice are presented.
Design of RF window using Multi-objective particle swarm optimization

In this paper, the design of two types of RF windows, namely, double-disc RF window, and pillbox type RF window is presented for use in high power microwave/millimeter-wave sources. The design of double-disc RF window was carried out for a specific 42 GHz gyrotron, while the design of pillbox-type RF window was carried out for a specific 2.856 GHz klystron. A recent popular and efficient swarm intelligence based method - particle swarm optimization - was employed to get optimum geometrical parameters of RF windows. In order to get optimum trade-off between matching of resonant frequency and minimizing power reflections, a multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) was used. The results show the effectiveness of the method for the design of a large class of high power devices and components.
Prenatal Features of a Truncus Arteriosus With Pulmonary Atresia and Pulmonary Circulation Derived From the Ductus Arteriosus

truncus arteriosus is a solitary great artery arising from the base of the heart and supplying the systemic, pulmonary, and coronary circulation. A truncus arteriosus is a rare cardiac defect, accounting for less than 1% of structural heart defects.1 The single great artery usually arises above a malalignment ventricular septal defect (VSD) and straddles the ventricular septum. There is variability in the origins of the pulmonary branch and whether the aortic arch is interrupted. Van Praagh and Van Praagh1 suggested classifying trunci arteriosi with VSD into 4 types. In type I, a main pulmonary artery arises from the truncal root and bifurcates into the branch pulmonary arteries. In type II, the branch pulmonary arteries are separate from the truncal root. In type III, the left pulmonary artery is supplied by a collateral from the aortic arch and does not arise from the truncal root. In type IV, the aortic arch is interrupted. A truncus arteriosus may rarely occur without a VSD. Although prenatal diagnosis of a truncus arteriosus has been reported several times,2–4 to our knowledge, the rare variant with an atretic main pulmonary trunk and normal pulmonary circulation such as the case presented here has not been described prenatally. The objective of this report was to show abnormal fetal circulation associated with a truncus arteriosus with pulmonary atresia but with well-developed pulmonary circulation derived from retrograde flow through the ductus arteriosus.