Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Amplification of Transducer Gain by Angiotensin II-Mediated Enhancement of Cortical Actin Density in Osmosensory Neurons

Osmosensory neurons transduce osmotic signals into a neural spike code that commands behavioral and endocrine responses that mediate body fluid homeostasis. Although changes in osmoregulatory reflex gain are known to occur under physiological and pathological conditions, the basis for this modulation is unknown. Here, we show that angiotensin II amplifies osmosensory transduction by enhancing the proportional relationship between osmolality, receptor potential, and action potential firing in rat supraoptic nucleus neurons. This effect is mediated by a phospholipase C- and protein kinase C-dependent increase in cellular mechanosensitivity that is associated with a rapid increase in cortical actin filament density. Preventing this increase with cytochalasin D eliminated the enhancement of mechanosensitivity, whereas enhancing actin filament density with jasplakinolide potentiated mechanosensitivity and occluded the effects of angiotensin II. These results indicate that a receptor-mediated increase in cortical actin density can enhance osmosensitivity in acutely isolated supraoptic neurons.
Impact of Novel Resistance Profiles in HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase on Phenotypic Resistance to NVP

Objective. To clarify the impact of H221Y mutation on drug resistance to NVP. Methods. 646 bp HIV-1 pol gene fragments (from 592 to 1237 nucleotide) with different NNRTIs mutation profiles from AIDS patients receiving antiretroviral therapy containing NVP regimens were introduced into pNL4-3 backbone plasmid. H221Y and (or) Y181C mutations were reverted to wild type amino acids by site-directed mutagenesis, then strains containing various mutation patterns were packaged. Phenotypic drug resistance was analyzed on TZM-bl cells. Results. 12 strains containing different drug-resistant mutation profiles were constructed, including the K101Q series (K101Q/Y181C/H221Y, K101Q/Y181C, K101Q/H221Y, and K101Q), the V179D series (V179D/Y181C/H221Y, V179D/Y181C, V179D/H221Y, and V179D), and the K103N series (K103N/Y181C/H221Y, K103N/Y181C, K103N/H221Y, K103N). For strains containing the mutation profiles (K101Q/Y181C, K101Q, V179D/Y181C, V179D, K103N/Y181C, and K103N), the presence of H221Y reduced NVP susceptibility by 2.1 ± 0.5 to 3.6 ± 0.5 fold. To the mutation profiles K101Q/H221Y, K101Q, V179D/H221Y, V179D, K103N/H221Y, and K103N, the presence of Y181C reduced NVP susceptibility by 41.9 ± 8.4 to 1297.0 ± 289.1 fold. For the strains containing K101Q, V179D, and K103N, the presence of Y181C/H221Y combination decreased NVP susceptibility by 100.6 ± 32.5 to 3444.6 ± 834.5 fold. Conclusion. On the bases of various NNRTIs mutation profiles, Y181C remarkably improved the IC50 to NVP, although H221Ymutation alone just increases 2.1 ∼ 3.6-fold resistance to NVP, the mutation could improve 100.6 ∼ 3444.6-fold resistance to NVP when it copresent with Y181C, the phenotypic drug resistance fold was improved extremely. For strains containing the mutation profiles (K101Q/Y181C, K101Q, V179D/Y181C, V179D, K103N/Y181C, and K103N), the presence of H221Y reduced NVP susceptibility by 2.1 ± 0.5 to 3.6 ± 0.5 fold.
Cosmological gamma-ray bursts: internal versus external shocks

Internal (IS) or external (ES) shocks in relativistic expanding shells are currently the best known mechanism for producing GRBs. We calculate the hydrodynamic conditions and the cooling processes in internal shocks, that occur when one layer overtakes another. We compare these conditions with the conditions in external shocks that occur when the shell encounters the ISM. We find that the complicated temporal structure observed in GRBs could be easily explained in IS scenario. Unlike ES, the observed temporal structure simply reflects the temporal behavior of the internal engine that produces the shell. We also find that opacity and in particular the opacity for pair production poses strong constraints on the parameter space and consequently bursts with very narrow peaks are expected to be optically thick and would not contain GeV photons. Finally we find that as in ES synchrotron is the most likely radiation process.
Binary Code Pattern Unwrapping Technique in Fringe Projection Method

Due to the growing need to produce threedimensional data in various fields such as archaeology modeling, reverse engineering, quality control, industrial components, computer vision and virtual reality, and many other applications, the lack of a stable, economic, accurate, and flexible threedimensional reconstruction system that is based on a factual academic investigation is recommended. As an answer to that demand, Fringe projection has emerged as a promising 3D reconstruction direction that combines low computational cost with both high precision and high resolution. In our previous work, an experimental study and implementation of a simple fringe projection system has been reported which was based on a multi wavelength unwrapping approach. In this paper we implemented a new method of phase unwrapping which is based on time analyses unwrapping approaches. Experimental results have shown that binary code pattern unwrapping method is a stable and reliable method that results in a high level of precision. At the cost of using more pictures the higher level of precision in the reconstructed 3-D model has been achieved. The level of preciseness in the resulting cloud point can be observed directly as a proof of the correctness of whole method. Three-dimensional reconstruction of small objects has been one of the most challenging problems over the last decade. Computer graphics researchers and photography professionals have been working on improving 3D reconstruction algorithms to fit the high demands of various real life applications. Medical sciences, animation industry, virtual reality, pattern recognition, tourism industry, and reverse engineering are common fields where 3D reconstruction of objects plays a vital role. Both lack of accuracy and high computational cost are the major challenges facing successful 3D reconstruction. It employs digital projection, structured light systems and phase analysis on fringed pictures. Research studies have shown that the system has acceptable performance, and moreover it is insensitive to ambient light. Keywords— Digital fringe projection, 3D reconstruction, phase unwrapping, phase shifting. R. Talebi is an M.Sc. student in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, at Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. (email: Rx_Talebi@laurentian.ca). A. Abdel-Dayem is an Assistant professor at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, at Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. (email: aabdeldayem@cs.laurentian.ca). J. Johnson is an Associate professor at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, at Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. (email: jjohnson@cs.laurentian.ca).
Implementing Application and Network Security using Aspect-oriented Programming

Network security is very important in modern day technology. Network technology is the most powerful tool that the world uses for communication. Security of software applications that are used to access information can influence security over the network. It is imperative for network designers to make sure that the network is as secure as possible. Software developers also need to embed or implement security in the software applications. Security can be easily implemented in the earlier stages of the software development process, however, some developers usually overlook security functionalities of a system because they believe it is time consuming. Network security issues are discussed to see how program security affects network security. We also focus on the techniques of using aspect-oriented programming to include security after development and, moreover, a way to enforce security awareness for developers during the software development process. The way security is implemented using aspect-oriented programming is also discussed. Aspect-oriented programming is a programming paradigm that aims at reducing the complexity of the program by allowing software developers to add security features after the initial software development phase is finished.
Complex-valued neural networks: The merits and their origins

This paper discusses what the merits of complex-valued neural networks (CVNNs) arise from. First we look back the mathematical history to elucidate the features of complex numbers, in particular to confirm the importance of the phase-and-amplitude viewpoint for designing and constructing CVNNs to enhance the features. The viewpoint is essential in general to deal with waves such as electromagnetic-wave and lightwave. Then we point out that, although we represent a complex number as an ordered pair of real numbers for example, we can reduce ineffective degree of freedom in learning or self-organization in CVNNs to achieve better generalization characteristics. This wave-oriented merit is useful widely for general signal processing with Fourier synthesis or in frequency-domain treatment through Fourier transform.
Policy debate pedagogy: a complementary strategy for civic and political engagement through service-learning

ABSTRACT National offices and organizations, such as the U.S. Department of Education and the Association of American Colleges & Universities, have called for higher education curriculum that better prepares students for lifelong civic engagement. Many institutions respond to this appeal by creating more service-learning opportunities for students. However, service-learning alone does not promote the political learning needed for students to have effective engagement. This essay explores the potential of policy debate to complement service-learning as a means of civic education. Policy debate improves civic education by furthering information literacy and critical reasoning skills beyond the classrooms.
Resilience and Knowledge of PTSD Symptoms in Military Spouses

The spouse of a military service member is in a special position to understand the behaviors of a service member better than anyone. These individuals live with the military members and are able to detect changes in behavior and increased stress reactions. Yet, there is limited published research focusing on spouses’ levels of awareness of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and PTSD symptoms. This study was conducted to explore 2 areas of interest. The research team first wanted to determine if military spouses with knowledge of PTSD signs and symptoms demonstrated a higher level of resilience, and second, if military spouses with more access to helpful resources, for those experiencing symptoms of PTSD, demonstrated a higher level of resilience. A total of 127 spouses completed an online survey to assess the level of resilience possessed by military spouses in relation to their knowledge of PTSD symptoms and their access to resources. Resilience was measured by using the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Results showed that as the knowledge of PTSD symptoms and access to helpful resources increased, the ability to be resilient is increased by over 1.5 times. The study collects information from this important, hard to reach population and offers to fill a knowledge gap on this topic.
Analysis of the characteristics of competitive badminton

Objective: To describe the characteristics of badminton in order to determine the energy requirements, temporal structure, and movements in the game that indicate performance level. To use the findings to plan training with greater precision. Methods: Eleven badminton players (mean (SD) age 21.8 (3.26) years) with international experience from four different countries (France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal) were studied. Two of the Spanish players were monitored in several matches, giving a total of 14 samples, all during the 1999 Spanish International Tournament. Blood lactate concentration was measured with a reflective photometer. Maximum and average heart rates were recorded with a heart rate monitor. Temporal structure and actions during the matches were determined from video recordings. All variables were measured during and after the game and later analysed using a descriptive study. Results: The results confirmed the high demands of the sport, with a maximum heart rate of 190.5 beats/min and an average of 173.5 beats/min during matches over 28 minutes long and performance intervals of 6.4 seconds and rest time of 12.9 seconds between exchanges. Conclusions: The results suggest that badminton is characterised by repetitive efforts of alactic nature and great intensity which are continuously performed throughout the match. An awareness of these characteristics, together with data on the correlations between certain actions such as unforced errors and winning shots and the final result of the match, will aid in more appropriate planning and monitoring of specific training.
Association between Self-Reported Smoking and Hemoglobin A1c in a Korean Population without Diabetes: The 2011–2012 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Background Several Western studies have revealed that among non-diabetics, glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels are higher in smokers than non-smokers. While studies conducted in Western populations consistently support this association, a recent meta-analysis reported that studies carried out in non-Western populations, including studies of Chinese, Egyptian, and Japanese-Americans, did not detect any significant differences in HbA1c levels between smokers and non-smokers. Objectives We assessed the association between smoking habits and HbA1c levels in the general Korean adult population using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) performed in 2011–2012. Methods A total of 10,241 participants (weighted n=33,946,561 including 16,769,320 men and 17,177,241 women) without diabetes were divided into four categories according to their smoking habits: never smokers (unweighted n/ weighted n= 6,349/19,105,564), ex-smokers (unweighted n/ weighted n= 1,912/6,207,144), current light smokers (<15 cigarettes per day, unweighted n/ weighted n=1,205/5,130,073), and current heavy smokers (≥15 cigarettes per day, unweighted n/ weighted n=775/3,503,781). Results In age- and gender-adjusted comparisons, the HbA1c levels of each group were 5.52 ± 0.01% in non-smokers, 5.49 ± 0.01% in ex-smokers, 5.53 ± 0.01% in light smokers, and 5.61 ± 0.02% in heavy smokers. HbA1c levels were significantly higher in light smokers than in ex-smokers (p = 0.033), and in heavy smokers compared with light smokers (p < 0.001). The significant differences remained after adjusting for age, gender, fasting plasma glucose, heavy alcohol drinking, hematocrit, college graduation, and waist circumference. Linear regression analyses for HbA1c using the above-mentioned variables as covariates revealed that a significant association between current smoking and HbA1c (coefficient 0.021, 95% CI 0.003–0.039, p = 0.019). Conclusions Current smoking was independently associated with higher HbA1c levels in a cigarette exposure-dependent manner in a representative population of Korean non-diabetic adults. In this study, we have observed an association between smoking status and HbA1c levels in non-diabetics drawn from a non-Western population, consistent with previous findings in Western populations.
The reproducibility of the early detection of alcohol consumption test using split samples analyzed in different laboratories.

AIMS This study analyzes the reproducibility of the Early Detection of Alcohol Consumption (EDAC) test by sending blood samples obtained from nine volunteers to four different laboratories. It also describes the reproducibility of the EDAC over time by analyzing the results of testing one subject whose blood sample was sent to seven different laboratories over a 10-year period. METHODS The EDAC is a method of interpreting routine laboratory profiles to identify either binge drinking or heavy drinking; the components of the routine panel were chosen based on a best fit predictions model published previously. RESULTS Overall, the results of the cross-sectional analysis showed that the coefficients of variations (CVs) of the routine tests in the panel were mostly below 16%. Only three analytes (total bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase and monocytes) showed CVs between 20 and 38%. The differences in the EDAC predictions for these volunteers ranged from 0 to 24%. In the long-term analysis, the variation of the EDAC prediction ranged from 0 to 21% probability of heavy drinking for one subject over time. Thus, mild variations of the EDAC are to be expected when the blood samples are analyzed in different laboratories. However, based on this study, these variations in the prediction of heavy drinking should not exceed >24% when using the EDAC test. CONCLUSION This study supports the standard practice established for similar contemporary alcohol biomarkers stipulating that indications of heavy drinking become evident only when subjects experience changes of >30% in the probability of heavy drinking over time.
Qualitative Behavior of the EQS Parallel Processor Allocation Policy

Several studies of multiprogrammed parallel systems have observed that dynamic equiallocation policies have high performance for a variety of speciic parallel workloads. However, only very incomplete information is available about which workload parameters are key determinants of policy performance and how the mean response times of equiallocation policies behave as a function of key workload parameters. This paper addresses these issues for an idealization of the Spatial EQuiallocation policy (EQS) and a workload model that characterizes the essential features of parallel applications with respect to scheduling discipline performance. Important features of the workload model include general distribution for available job parallelism, controlled correlation between available parallelism and total job processing requirement, general distribution of processing requirement per class of jobs in the correlation model, and general nondecreasing deterministic job execution rates (i.e., speedups) that represent synchronization and communication overheads as well as load imbalance for parallel programs. The performance of EQS is analyzed using sample path analysis to derive bounds and using highly eecient and extensively validated interpolation approximations to derive estimates for mean response time (R EQS). The bounds show that under exponential job processing requirements (demands) and any concave nondecreasing job execution rate function for all jobs R EQS is minimum when all jobs are fully parallel and is maximum when all jobs are fully sequential. The upper bound is also shown to hold under very general workload conditions. The approximation is used to obtain the demand and parallelism parameters that are key determinants of EQS performance and to study the behavior of R EQS as a function of changes in the workload. Mean response time is shown to decrease with stochastic increase in available parallelism, decrease in variability of parallelism, and increase in correlation. Under certain potentially realistic assumptions, the mean response time is also shown to be fairly insensitive to parallel program overheads.
Application of Genetic Algorithms to Data Mining

Data Mining is the automatic search for interest- ing and useful relationships between attributes in databases. One major obstacle to effective Data Min- ing is the size and complexity of the target database, both in terms of the feature set and the sample set. While many Machine Learning algorithms have been applied to Data Mining applications. There has been particular interest in the use of Genetic Algorithms (GAs) for this purpose due to their success in large scale search and optimization problems. This par per explores how GAs are being used to improve the performance of Data Mining clustering and classifica- tion algorithms and examines strategies for improving these approaches.
Using Structured Self-Organizing Maps in News Integration Websites

The Bveritas system integrates and organizes news articles from English news websites based in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, plus news stories from CNN and Reuters International. The main features of the system are the following: 1) automatic clustering of news documents into themes; 2) ordering of these news clusters in a theme map; 3) extraction of meaningful labels for each cluster of news articles; 4) use of extracted labels and title words to retrieve ranked news article lists based on query words; 5) summarization of news articles; and 6) automatic generation of links to related news articles. The novel features of the system result directly from the use of a structured self-organizing map as the underlying logical structure for the news archive.
Factor structure and psychometric properties of the new multidimensional depression scale in a non‐clinical sample

Objective The New Multidimensional Depression Scale (NMDS) is a recently developed scale that measures emotional, cognitive, somatic, and interpersonal symptoms of depression comprehensively. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore factor structure and psychometric properties of the Persian version of the NMDS in a group of community participants. Method A total of 559 Iranian university students and staff members (including 263 males and 296 females) aged 18–60 years were selected by convenience sampling to complete a battery of tests including the New Multidimensional Depression Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Oxford Happiness Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Short Form Health Survey. Results Factor analysis of the Persian version of the NMDS confirmed its original four-factor structure. Furthermore, the results indicated its satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's α ranging from .89 for the somatic subscale to .93 for the cognitive subscale). Additionally, significant positive correlations between the NMDS scores with anxiety and cognitive and somatic-affective symptoms of depression and the significant negative correlations between its scores with happiness, mental health, and physical health indicated convergent and divergent validity of the NMDS, respectively. Conclusions These results supported the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the NMDS for the assessment of depression symptoms in non-clinical groups.
Pixel classification of remote sensing satellite image using semi-supervised clustering

Classifying the pixels of satellite images into homogeneous regions is a very challenging task as different regions have different types of land covers. Some land covers contain large regions, while some contain relatively smaller regions (eg. bridges, roads). In satellite image segmentation, no prior information is available about the number of clusters. Here, in this paper, we have solved this problem using the concepts of semi-supervised clustering which utilizes the property of unsupervised and supervised classification. Three cluster validity indices are utilized, which are simultaneously optimized using AMOSA, a modern multiobjective optimization technique based on the concepts of simulated annealing. First two cluster validity indices are symmetry distance based Sym-index and Euclidean distance based I-index, which are based on unsupervised properties. Last one is a supervised information based cluster validity index, Minkowski Index. For supervised information, initially Fuzzy C-mean clustering technique is used. Thereafter, based on the highest membership values of the data points with respect to different clusters, randomly 10% data points with their class labels are chosen. The effectiveness of this proposed semi-supervised clustering technique is demonstrated on one Indian satellite image data set.