Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Privacy Issues for Online Personal Photograph collections

Technological developments now allow community groups, clubs, and even ordinary individuals to create their own, publicly accessible online digital multi-media collections. However, it is unclear as to whether the users of such collection are fully aware of the potential privacy implications of submitting their personal contents (e.g. photographs, video, etc.) to these digital collections. They may even hold misconceptions of the technological support for preserving their privacy. In this paper we present results from 18 auto-ethnographic investigations and 19 ethnographic observations and interviews into privacy issues that arise when people make their personal photo collections available online. The Adams’ privacy model is used to discuss the findings according to information sensitivity, information receiver, and information usage. Further issues of trust and ad hoc poorly supported protection strategies are also presented. Ultimately while photographic data is potentially highly sensitive, the privacy risks are often hidden and the protection mechanisms are limited.
A New Monoclonal Antibody Which Selectively Recognizes the Active Form of Src Tyrosine Kinase (*)

Phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of Tyr-530 in human c-Src (Tyr-527 in avian c-Src) is critical in regulating c-Src kinase activity. So far, it has not been possible to distinguish the active and inactive forms in vivo. We now report a new monoclonal antibody that selectively recognizes the active form of c-Src. This antibody, termed clone 28, recognized a region adjacent to Tyr-530 (QYQP) in the C-terminal regulatory domain of c-Src, and its binding was hindered by phosphorylation of this tyrosine as determined by peptide competition assay. Combined immunoprecipitation/Western blotting revealed that clone 28 reacted with a 60-kDa protein that was precipitated by mAb 327, a well known monoclonal antibody against v-Src and c-Src. Cyanogen bromide cleavage and two-dimensional tryptic maps confirmed that clone 28 was specific for the active form (Tyr-530 not phosphorylated), whereas mAb 327 recognized the inactive form (Tyr-530 phosphorylated) as well as the active form. Clone 28 selectively immunoprecipitated the active form and augmented its kinase activity. Preabsorption experiments revealed that clone 28 could not completely immunoprecipitate the mAb 327 binding 60-kDa protein in either an in vitro or an in vivo phosphorylation system. These observations, taken together, strongly suggest the existence of multiple forms of c-Src as proposed by Cooper and Howell(1993) (Cooper, J. A., and Howell, B.(1993) Cell 73, 1051-1054). Using clone 28, we demonstrated a distinct localization of the active form of c-Src within cultured normal fibrobast cells. In liver tissue sections, we also examined the distribution of the active form in embryonic mice. Megakaryocytes were strongly stained, in contrast to completely negative immunoreactivity in hepatocytes, reticulocytes, and granulocytes. This result provides the first direct evidence that c-Src is highly activated in platelets.
Interactive effects of dietary lipids and vitamin E level on performance, blood eicosanoids, and response to mitogen stimulation in broiler chickens of different ages

&NA; The effects of the dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) n‐6:n‐3 ratio and vitamin E (vE) on the levels of pro‐inflammatory eicosanoids, the incorporation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA) into immune tissues, and changes in leukocyte population after phytohemagglutinin (PHA) challenge were investigated in broiler chickens of different ages. One‐day‐old female broilers (48 per treatment) were fed 4 different wheat‐soybean‐corn‐based diets containing corn oil with a high PUFA n‐6:n‐3 ratio (HR) or a mixture of linseed and fish oils with a low PUFA n‐6:n‐3 ratio (LR). Diets contained either 50 mg vE kg‐1 of diet (basal vE) or 300 mg vE kg‐1 of diet (increased vE). At d 14 and d 34, 8 chickens per treatment were challenged with PHA, and wing web swelling (WWS) was measured. The blood concentration of leukotriene (LTB4), prostaglandin (PGE2), and thromboxane (TBX2) in 17‐day‐old and 43‐day‐old chickens was determined. The pattern of AA and DHA incorporation into bursa, spleen, and brain lipids reflected the level of their precursors in the diet. WWS was the highest in chickens fed a LR diet and in 14‐day‐old chickens (P < 0.01). Leukocyte proportions varied with dietary PUFA n‐6:n‐3 ratio and with age. The heterophil:lymphocyte ratio was the highest at 6 h post PHA challenge, and was higher in 34‐day‐old chickens (P < 0.001). TBX2 and PGE2 concentrations were higher in chickens fed HR diet, whereas TBX2 and LTB4 concentrations were lower at high vE level. Lower PGE2 and LTB4, but higher TBX2 concentrations were measured in younger birds (P < 0.001). The results indicated that LR increased the phagocytic cell proportion in the blood; HR promoted the incorporation of AA into the immune tissues, which increased the levels of more pro‐inflammatory eicosanoids in the blood; and vE counteracts these effects to some extent. Owing to the immaturity of the immune system, dietary interventions might be promising at the early stage of chicken growth.
A Novel Approach of Channel Utilization Measurement in WLAN

A novel approach of channel utilization measurement in WLAN was proposed. Source sends probe packets whose time stamp options are being set. The current time is recorded in the packets hop by hop. Through the improved channel utilization statistical processing, the process delay, propagation delay, transmission delay and router clock skew can be eliminated, the queuing delay of each probe packet is obtained. Quantized and smoothed by the statistic window, the queuing delay finally transformed into channel utilization. The Channel Utilization Compensation Algorithm is designed to improve the measurement accuracy in environment of high packet loss rate. This measurement method is verified through simulation.
The relation between the friction and visco-elastic properties of rubber

This paper describes a study of the friction of several types of rubber against hard surfaces over a wide range of temperatures and sliding velocities. The highest velocity did not exceed a few centimetres per second so that frictional heating was negligible. The results show that the friction increases with the sliding velocity to a maximum value and then falls. The application of the Williams, Landel & Ferry (1955) transform shows that the frictional behaviour of a rubber sliding at various velocities and temperatures on a given surface can entirely be described by a single ‘master curve’ and the glass transition temperature of the material. The master curve on a rough abrasive track shows, in general, two peaks—one of these occurs at a velocity related to the frequency with which the track asperities deform the rubber surface. This maximum is absent on a smooth track and thus reflects the deformation losses produced by the passage of the asperities over the rubber surface. The other peak occurs in general at much lower velocities; it coincides in position with the single maximum obtained on a smooth surface. Introduction of a fine powder (MgO) into the interface between the rubber and track eliminates this peak on both smooth and rough surfaces; it is therefore attributed to molecular adhesion. Comparison with the relaxation spectrum of the rubber gives a fundamental jump distance of the order of 60 Å. It appears therefore that friction arises from adhesion and deformation losses, and that both are directly related to the visco-elastic properties of the rubber.
Not 2 old 2 TXT: There is potential to use email and SMS text message healthcare reminders for rheumatology patients up to 65 years old

Short message service (SMS) and email reminders have the potential to improve adherence to appointments and medication taking. Within the UK, information and communication technology (ICT) is widely used with a very high proportion of people having access to the internet and mobile phones. Little is known about ICT use by older adults and those with chronic illness. A feasibility survey was carried out with 112 rheumatology patients in Hertfordshire, UK to determine their current use of the internet, email and SMS and their willingness to receive electronic reminders in the future. A high proportion of patients up to age 65 are successfully using ICT despite older age or functional disability caused by rheumatic disease. Forty-four percent would be willing to receive an electronic appointment reminder and 25% a medication reminder. The results suggest that reminders would be welcomed by some patients and extensive patient training would not be needed before implementation.
Perspectives on System of Systems for pilgrimage ritual guidance and management

People of different religions from all over the world perform the Pilgrimage ritual at least once in their life time. During such event millions of visitors every year gather in their holy places and they all move from one site to another throughout few days. Such a massive gathering, where people are walking shoulder by shoulder, has been an on-going challenge to Governments who strive to make this once-in-a-life-time experience as rewarding and as safe as possible to all and every single devoted visitor. This research describe a System of Systems developed for management of such pilgrimage mega event. The system provides an overall management required for handling, processing, supporting that vast number of people with so many different languages and culture throughout the Pilgrimage magnificent journey. The paper also describes the implementation of the system in a real world case at the Muslim Pilgrimage (Hajj) in Saudi Arabia where millions of people gather to perform religious rituals in specific places over a specific period of time. The implementation constitutes of dynamic collective work hardware and software platforms. A detailed discussion is presented for the overall system architecture, the individual hardware and software components, the Internet-based cloud data bases, and the developed system tools and services for authority control, pilgrim subscription, data management, travel control, navigation, education, entertainment, health and safety.
Parallel Lossy Compression for HD Images - A New Fast Image Magnification Algorithm for Lossy HD Video Decompression Over Commodity GPU

Today High Definition (HD) for video contents is one of the biggest challenges in computer vision. The 1080i standard defines the minimum image resolution required to be classified as HD mode. At the same time bandwidth constraints and latency don’t allow the transmission of uncompressed, high resolution images. Often lossy compression algorithms are involved in the process of providing HD video streams, because of their high compression rate capabilities. The main issue concerned to these methods, while processing frames, is that high frequencies components in the image are neither conserved nor reconstructed. Our approach uses a simple downsampling algorithm for compression, but a new, very accurate method for decompression which is capable of high frequencies restoration. Our solution Is also highly parallelizable and can be efficiently implemented on a commodity parallel computing architecture, such as GPU, obtaining extremely fast performances.
Prognostic implications of microsatellite genotypes in gastric carcinoma

Microsatellite alterations such as loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI) are observed in most (70% to 80%) gastric carcinomas. To determine whether the microsatellite genotypes are correlated with clinicopathological features, 118 patients with gastric carcinomas were examined by using polymorphic microsatellite markers for LOH on 5 gastric cancer‐associated chromosome arms and non‐polymorphic BAT markers for MSI. Microsatellite genotypes were categorized as high‐frequency MSI (MSI‐H), high‐level LOH (LOH‐H), low‐level LOH (LOH‐L) and LOH non‐detectable (LOH‐N). A significant fraction of the MSI‐H, LOH‐H and LOH‐L types was observed in intestinal‐type gastric carcinomas, whereas the LOH‐N type was highly associated with diffuse‐type tumors (p = 0.00162). There was a close relationship between microsatellite genotype and TNM (tumor‐node‐metastasis) stage (p = 0.001). Univariate analysis showed that patients of LOH‐H or LOH‐N types and those of MSI‐H or LOH‐L types correlated with poor and favorable survival, respectively, not only in all tumor stages (p = 0.0001) but also in stages II and III (p = 0.0271). It is likely that the major genotypes of gastric carcinomas can be placed into at least 4 microsatellite categories, thus allowing the construction of a comprehensive genetic classification useful for the prediction of diverse clinical courses. Int. J. Cancer 89:378–383, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Spermicidal Activity of the Safe Natural Antimicrobial Peptide Subtilosin

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition affecting millions of women each year, is primarily caused by the gram-variable organism Gardnerella vaginalis. A number of organisms associated with BV cases have been reported to develop multidrug resistance, leading to the need for alternative therapies. Previously, we reported the antimicrobial peptide subtilosin has proven antimicrobial activity against G. vaginalis, but not against the tested healthy vaginal microbiota of lactobacilli. After conducting tissue sensitivity assays using an ectocervical tissue model, we determined that human cells remained viable after prolonged exposures to partially-purified subtilosin, indicating the compound is safe for human use. Subtilosin was shown to eliminate the motility and forward progression of human spermatozoa in a dose-dependent manner, and can therefore be considered a general spermicidal agent. These results suggest subtilosin would be a valuable component in topical personal care products aimed at contraception and BV prophylaxis and treatment.
Weaver ' s Model of Communication and its Implications

The most common usages of the terms "information" and "communication" are not applicable with objective validity when the object of discourse is the mind-brain system. Neither can these terms be validly employed in the description of biological objects except in a very specific and limited context. Over the past several years some writers have adopted some very careless habits of misusing these terms in ways that promote ontological fallacies and misguided metaphors. Softening the meaning of technical terms used in any science damages the science, and persistent misusages over time tend to render the words we use to explain Nature meaningless.
Instability of artificially circularized chromosomes of Streptomyces lividans

The chromosomes of Streptomyces species are linear molecules, containing long terminal inverted repeats and covalently bound terminal proteins. These chromosomes undergo spontaneous deletions of the terminal sequences at high frequencies and become circularized in several cases examined. Artificial circularization of the Streptomyces lividans chromosome was also achieved by targeted recombination in vivo, in which the terminal inverted repeats of the chromosome were connected by a kanamycin resistance gene (aphII ). Under kanamycin selection, the circularized chromosomes harboured tandem amplifications of a 20.2 kb sequence that included the aphII gene flanked by direct repeats and deletions nearby. On release from kanamycin selection, the aphII amplifications and the neighbouring sequences were deleted from the chromosomes, rendering all the cultures kanamycin sensitive. The chloramphenicol resistance gene, which was prone to deletion in wild‐type S. lividans, became much more stable in the kanamycin‐sensitive derivatives. These results indicate that the telomeres and/or certain terminal sequences may be involved in the structural instability of Streptomyces chromosomes.
Optimizing the Parameters Governing the Fragmentation of Cross-Linked Peptides in a Tribrid Mass Spectrometer

We compared the five different ways of fragmentation available on a tribrid mass spectrometer and optimized their collision energies with regard to optimal sequence coverage of cross-linked peptides. We created a library of bis(sulfosuccinimidyl)suberate (BS3/DSS) cross-linked precursors, derived from the tryptic digests of three model proteins (Human Serum Albumin, creatine kinase, and myoglobin). This enabled in-depth targeted analysis of the fragmentation behavior of 1065 cross-linked precursors using the five fragmentation techniques: collision-induced dissociation (CID), beam-type CID (HCD), electron-transfer dissociation (ETD), and the combinations ETciD and EThcD. EThcD gave the best sequence coverage for cross-linked m/z species with high charge density, while HCD was optimal for all others. We tested the resulting data-dependent decision tree against collision energy-optimized single methods on two samples of differing complexity (a mix of eight proteins and a highly complex ribosomal cellular fraction). For the high complexity sample the decision tree gave the highest number of identified cross-linked peptide pairs passing a 5% false discovery rate (on average ∼21% more than the second best, HCD). For the medium complexity sample, the higher speed of HCD proved decisive. Currently, acquisition speed plays an important role in allowing the detection of cross-linked peptides against the background of linear peptides. Enrichment of cross-linked peptides will reduce this role and favor methods that provide spectra of higher quality. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD006131.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Place of Birth, Duration of Residence, Neighborhood Immigrant Composition and Body Mass Index in New York City

Background: Past research has suggested that changes in culture explain the substantial weight gain seen in many immigrant groups with length of residence in the U.S. and across generations of residence in the U.S. However, it has been theorized that those settling in immigrant and co-ethnic neighborhoods may be buffered against this acculturative process and will be more likely to maintain home country dietary and physical activity patterns. To investigate this theory we incorporated measures of neighborhood immigrant composition into analyses of individual's body mass index (BMI) and generation of immigration and duration of residence in the U.S.
An analytical model for predicting the underfill flow characteristics in flip-chip encapsulation

This article describes an analytical model for the prediction of the underfill flow characteristics in a flip-chip package driven by capillary action. In this model, we consider non-Newtonian fluid properties of the encapsulant as opposed to most other studies where Newtonian fluid properties were assumed for the underfill flow. The power-law constitutive equation was applied in our study. The simulation based on this model agreed well with the measurement obtained from the experiments available in literature. It was further shown that this model performs better than the Washburn model traditionally used for the prediction of underfill flow characteristics in the flip-chip packaging. Based on this model, the effects of the solder bump pattern (including bump pitch, solder bump diameter, and gap height) on the process variables (i.e., flow front and filling time) were studied, which facilitated both the package design and the process optimization.
Aerobic Capacity in Patients Entering Cardiac Rehabilitation

Background— Symptom-limited treadmill testing is commonly performed on entry to cardiac rehabilitation (CR) for its prognostic value and to design a safe and effective exercise program. Normative values for this evaluation are not available. The primary goals of this study were to establish normative values for peak aerobic capacity (peak &OV0312;o2) for patients entering CR and to create nomograms for conversion of peak &OV0312;o2 to a percentage of predicted exercise capacity, stratified by age, gender, and diagnosis. Methods and Results— Peak &OV0312;o2 was measured in 2896 patients entering CR from 1996 to 2004. Peak &OV0312;o2 was higher in men than in women: 19.3±6.1 mL · kg−1 · min−1 (range, 5.2 to 49.7 mL · kg−1 · min−1) versus 14.5±3.9 mL · kg−1 · min−1 (range, 3.8 to 29.8 mL · kg−1 · min−1) (P<0.0001). Peak &OV0312;o2 decreased steadily with age with a greater rate of decline in men than women (−0.242 versus −0.116 mL · kg−1 · min−1 per year) (P<0.01). Factors associated with lower peak &OV0312;o2 include coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), angina at stress testing, hypertension, and, in women, &bgr;-blocking medications. Nomograms are presented for individual values to be compared with mean values by age, gender, and cardiac diagnosis. These include a nomogram to convert estimated maximal metabolic equivalents to actual peak &OV0312;o2 for patients who do not undergo direct measurement of peak &OV0312;o2. Conclusions— Values of peak &OV0312;o2 on entry to CR are extremely low, particularly in women, approaching values seen with severe chronic heart failure. This underscores the importance of CR after a major cardiac event to improve physical function and long-term prognosis.
Addressing Challenges of Identifying Geometrically Diverse Sets of Crystalline Porous Materials

Crystalline porous materials have a variety of uses, such as for catalysis and separations. Identifying suitable materials for a given application can, in principle, be done by screening material databases. Such a screening requires automated high-throughput analysis tools that calculate topological and geometrical parameters describing pores. These descriptors can be used to compare, select, group, and classify materials. Here, we present a descriptor that captures shape and geometry characteristics of pores. Together with proposed similarity measures, it can be used to perform diversity selection on a set of porous materials. Our representations are histogram encodings of the probe-accessible fragment of the Voronoi network representing the void space of a material. We discuss and demonstrate the application of our approach on the International Zeolite Association (IZA) database of zeolite frameworks and the Deem database of hypothetical zeolites, as well as zeolitic imidazolate frameworks constructed from IZA zeolite structures. The diverse structures retrieved by our method are complementary to those expected by emphasizing diversity in existing one-dimensional descriptors, e.g., surface area, and similar to those obtainable by a (subjective) manual selection based on materials' visual representations. Our technique allows for reduction of large sets of structures and thus enables the material researcher to focus efforts on maximally dissimilar structures.