Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental study of fuzzy hashing in malware clustering analysis

Malware triaging is the process of analyzing malicious software applications' behavior to develop detection signatures. This task is challenging, especially due to the enormous number of samples received by the vendors with limited amount of analyst time. Triaging usually starts with an analyst classifying samples into known and unknown malware. Recently, there have been various attempts to automate the process of grouping similar malware using a technique called fuzzy hashing - a type of compression functions for computing the similarity between individual digital files. Unfortunately, there has been no rigorous experimentation or evaluation of fuzzy hashing algorithms for malware similarity analysis in the research literature. In this paper, we perform extensive study of existing fuzzy hashing algorithms with the goal of understanding their applicability in clustering similar malware. Our experiments indicate that current popular fuzzy hashing algorithms suffer from serious limitations that preclude them from being used in similarity analysis. We identified novel ways to construct fuzzy hashing algorithms and experiments show that our algorithms have better performance than existing algorithms.
Amyloid‐β(1‐42) alters structure and function of retinal pigmented epithelial cells

Age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) is characterized by the formation of drusen, extracellular deposits associated with atrophy of the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE), disturbance of the transepithelial barrier and photoreceptor death. Amyloid‐β (Aβ) is present in drusen but its role during AMD remains unknown. This study investigated the in vitro and in vivo effects of the oligomeric form of Aβ(1‐42) – OAβ(1‐42) – on RPE and found that it reduced mitochondrial redox potential and increased the production of reactive oxygen species, but did not induce apoptosis in RPE cell cultures. It also disorganized the actin cytoskeleton and halved occludin expression, markedly decreasing attachment capacity and abolishing the selectivity of RPE cell transepithelial permeability. Antioxidant pretreatment partially reversed the effects of OAβ(1‐42) on mitochondrial redox potential and transepithelial permeability. Subretinally injected OAβ(1‐42) induced pigmentation loss and RPE hypertrophy but not RPE cell apoptosis in C57BL/6 J mice. Rapid OAβ(1‐42)‐induced disorganization of cytoskeletal actin filaments was accompanied by decreased RPE expression of the tight junction proteins occludin and zonula occludens‐1 and of the visual cycle proteins cellular retinaldehyde‐binding protein and RPE65. The number of photoreceptors decreased by half within a few days. Our study pinpoints the role of Aβ in RPE alterations and dysfunctions leading to retinal degeneration and suggests that targeting Aβ may help develop selective methods for treating diseases involving retinal degeneration, such as AMD.
Design and Implementation of an Interpreter Engine for a Visual Logic Programming Language

The design and implementation of an interpreter engine for Lo-graph, a general purpose visual logic programming language, is discussed. The engine takes full advantage of an efficient implementation of Prolog, while providing for animation of execution. The engine is an interpreter that operates on a Prolog translation of Lograph programs and queries. The translated Lograph programs are probed with instrumentation code at appropriate places so that applications of Lograph rules are reported to the visual interface of Lograph as a side effect of the execution of a program.
The influence of personality on violent victimization – a study on police officers

ABSTRACT The current study aims to examine the influence of police officer characteristics, civilian characteristics, and possible interactions between both on violent victimization of police officers. Based on literature distinguishing between ‘provocative’ and ‘submissive’ victims, focus is given on effects of police officers’ personality in terms of the five-factor model plus risk-taking. Patrol police officers (n = 1813) from Lower Saxony, Germany, completed a paper-and-pencil survey including personality assessments as well as questions about their last three police encounters. Binary logistic multilevel regression analyses demonstrate that police officers with higher scores on neuroticism and openness to experience were more likely to be violently attacked. Furthermore, agreeableness reduced police officers’ risk of violent victimization, while risk-taking and neuroticism increased their risk when confronted with a violent civilian. The study indicates that personality and especially traits that are assumed to provoke potential perpetrators were linked with violent victimization. It further stresses the need to include perpetrator attributes in victim studies in order to identify relevant interaction effects between both parties.
The P2X7 Receptor Drives Microglial Activation and Proliferation: A Trophic Role for P2X7R Pore

Microglial activation is an integral part of neuroinflammation associated with many neurodegenerative conditions. Interestingly, a number of neurodegenerative conditions exhibit enhanced P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) expression in the neuroinflammatory foci where activated microglia are a coexisting feature. Whether P2X7R overexpression is driving microglial activation or, conversely, P2X7R overexpression is a consequence of microglial activation is not known. We report that overexpression alone of a purinergic P2X7R, in the absence of pathological insults, is sufficient to drive the activation and proliferation of microglia in rat primary hippocampal cultures. The trophic responses observed in microglia were found to be P2X7R specific as the P2X7R antagonist, oxidized ATP (oxATP), was effective in markedly attenuating microgliosis. oxATP treatment of primary hippocampal cultures expressing exogenous P2X7Rs resulted in a significant decrease in the number of activated microglia. P2X7R is unusual in exhibiting two conductance states, a cation channel and a plasma membrane pore, and there are no pharmacological agents capable of cleanly discriminating between these two states. We used a point mutant of P2X7R (P2X7RG345Y) with intact channel function but ablated pore-forming capacity to establish that the trophic effects of increased P2X7R expression are exclusively mediated by the pore conductance. Collectively, and contrary to previous reports describing P2X7R as a “death receptor,” we provide evidence for a novel trophic role for P2X7R pore in microglia.
Grammatical error correction based on learner comprehension model in oral conversation

We aim to provide grammar error feedback to learners. It is known that grammar error detection and feedback are challenging problems in written language, however, they become much more difficult tasks in oral conversation because it is difficult for a system to judge whether an error is due to grammar or automatic speech recognition (ASR). False alarms occur when a learner correctly utters a remark, but the system gives feedback implying an error. Minimizing the false alarm rate is especially critical in education applications because it is imperative that the tutor give correct instruction to learners. Thus, to reduce the false alarm rate in grammar error detection and feedback, we apply a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) when the system provides feedback about a learner's mistake. The POMDP models uncertainty between grammar errors and ASR errors. An additional advantage of our method is that “belief states” in POMDP can be used for learner models which indicate each individual learner's grammar comprehension level.
Presentation: NCRN Fall 2015: Formal Privacy Protection for Data Products Combining Individual and Employer Frames

Machanavajjhala acknowledges support from NSF grants 1253327, 1408982, and 1443014. Abowd acknowledges direct support from NSF grants BCS-0941226 and TC-1012593. Abowd and Vilhuber acknowledge support from NSF grant SES-1131848. This paper was written while Abowd was visiting the Center for Labor Economics at UC-Berkeley.
Associations between Mycoplasma genitalium, Chlamydia trachomatis and pelvic inflammatory disease

Objective: To evaluate the association between Mycoplasma genitalium, Chlamydia trachomatis, and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) Methods: A case-control methodology was used. Swab eluates were processed using the QIAamp DNA mini kit. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for M genitalium was carried out using a real time in-house 16S based assay. An endocervical swab was taken and tested for the presence of C trachomatis (ligase chain reaction, Abbott Laboratories), and a high vaginal swab was taken and tested for the presence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and bacterial vaginosis. Results: Of the PID cases 13% (6/45) had evidence of M genitalium infection compared to none of the controls (0/37); 27% (12/45) of the cases had C trachomatis infection compared to none of the controls; and 16% (7/45) of cases only had serological evidence of C trachomatis infection compared to 5% (2/37) of controls. Cases were more likely to present with M genitalium and/or C trachomatis than controls (p<0.001). Conclusions: This study indicates that there may be an association between M genitalium and PID, and that this relation is largely independent of C trachomatis. Future studies need to investigate the pathological basis of the relation between M genitalium and PID using samples from women with PID diagnosed using laparoscopy and endometrial biopsy. Little is known about the epidemiology of M genitalium: large scale epidemiological investigations are needed to determine the prevalence, incidence, and factors associated with this emerging infection.
Attachment and maternal sensitivity in middle childhood

According to theory, maternal sensitivity should be associated with attachment security in middle childhood. We measure two aspects of maternal sensitivity—affective understanding, a component of parental mentalization, and affective synchrony, a component of parental empathy. We tested our hypotheses within a diverse sample of school-aged children (48.6% female, M age = 10.27, SD age = 1.09) and their mothers (N = 112 dyads) at baseline and after a standardized laboratory-based stressor in which children worked on unsolvable puzzles while their mothers watched. Results revealed no significant associations at baseline, but lower maternal attachment avoidance and greater child attachment security were associated with greater affective understanding and greater affective synchrony after the stressor task.
High Dose Gamma Radiation Selectively Reduces GABAA-slow Inhibition

Studies on the effects of gamma radiation on brain tissue have produced markedly differing results, ranging from little effect to major pathology, following irradiation. The present study used control-matched animals to compare effects on a well characterized brain region following gamma irradiation. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 60 Gy of whole brain gamma radiation and, after 24-hours, 48-hours, and one-week periods, hippocampal brain slices were isolated and measured for anatomical and physiological differences. There were no major changes observed in tissue appearance or evoked synaptic responses at any post-irradiation time point. However, exposure to 60 Gy of irradiation resulted in a small, but statistically significant (14% change; ANOVA p < 0.005; n = 9) reduction in synaptic inhibition seen at 100 ms, indicating a selective depression of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABAA) slow form of inhibition. Population spike (PS) amplitudes also transiently declined by ~ 10% (p < 0.005; n = 9) when comparing the 24-hour group to sham group. Effects on PS amplitude recovered to baseline 48 hour and one week later. There were no obvious negative pathological effects; however, a subtle depression in circuit level inhibition was observed and provides evidence for ‘radiomodulation’ of brain circuits.
Compromised lymphocytes infiltrate hepatocellular carcinoma: The role of T‐regulatory cells

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a poor prognosis with limited therapeutic options. We propose that local immune responses in patients with HCC are held in check by tumor‐infiltrating CD4+CD25+ T‐regulatory lymphocytes (Treg cells), which suppress the activity and proliferation of effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. The phenotype and cell cycle status of tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in HCC were analyzed via immunohistochemistry of sections from patients undergoing surgery for HCC and via flow cytometry of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and TILs isolated from patients with HCC. Circulating and tumor‐infiltrating T‐cell function and activation status were assessed via proliferation and flow cytometry. More than 96% of TILs were quiescent as measured via Mcm‐2 or Ki‐67 expression, while less than 10% of CD8+ T cells expressed perforin or granzyme B. CD4+CD25+ Treg cells comprised 8.7% (1.4–13.8) of TILs and always exceeded the proportion in distant nontumor tissue (2.4% [1.5–5.6]; P = .014). Treg cells isolated from HCC suppressed proliferation of autologous circulating CD4+CD25− cells and perforin expression and proliferation of autologous CD8+ T cells. The proportion of circulating Treg cells in patients with HCC was similar in healthy controls (7.2% [1.2–23.3] and 9.2% [1.6–30.2], respectively), but the proportion of circulating Treg cells that were also transforming growth factor β1+ was elevated in HCC compared with controls (55.5% [8.2–73.9] and 2.0% [0–4.9], respectively; P = .003). In conclusion, TILs are compromised and contain a subpopulation of suppressive CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells. Functional deletion of tumor‐infiltrating Treg cells could enhance tumor‐specific immunotherapy. (HEPATOLOGY 2005;41:722–730.)
Performance analysis for cross-tier cooperation in heterogeneous cellular networks: A stochastic geometry approach

To meet the ever-increasing data traffic demand, heterogeneous cellular networks (HCNs) are to be deployed for wireless communication and coordinated multipoint (CoMP) is thought to be desirable to further improve the performance of HCNs. This paper considers the problem of base station (BS) cooperation in the downlink of HCNs. A novel and flexible cross-tier cooperative scheme is proposed in the paper. Our cooperative scheme allows BSs in each tier to cede their original cell range to cooperative region, thus extent the cooperative region, where users are better served through cross-tier cooperation. Using tools from stochastic geometry, we derive expressions for the outage probability as well as average ergodic rate of our scheme. Simulation results are given to verify the accuracy of our analysis and numerical results indicate that our cooperative scheme reduces the outage probability by about 21.2% and increases the average ergodic rate by about 9.2%, compared with the traditional maximum reference signal received power (RSRP) scheme.
Eye-Tracking Adaptable e-Learning and Content Authoring Support

In this paper we describe our ongoing research project called AdeLE, a framework for adaptive elearning utilising both eye tracking and content tracking technology. Possible areas of application are described, such as using the information about the position of the eye for providing additional context specific information to the learner. We report more in detail about current research challenges where we observe users’ learning behaviour in real time by monitoring characteristics such as objects and areas of interest, time spent on objects, frequency of visits, and sequences in which content is consumed. This research is focused on analysing eye-movement patterns during learning and linking these patterns with cognitive processes. The concept of the appropriate authoring tool is outlined as one of the challenges for the future work. Povzetek: V clanku je opisan raziskovalni projekt AdeLE, katerega cilj je postaviti okvirno resitev za adaptivno ucno okolje, ki temelji tako na tehnologiji sledenja pogledu in spremljanja ucnih vsebin.
Ontogeny of bite force in a validated biomechanical model of the American alligator

ABSTRACT Three-dimensional computational modeling offers tools with which to investigate forces experienced by the skull during feeding and other behaviors. American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) generate some of the highest measured bite forces among extant tetrapods. A concomitant increase in bite force accompanies ontogenetic increases in body mass, which has been linked with dietary changes as animals increase in size. Because the flattened skull of crocodylians has substantial mediolaterally oriented muscles, crocodylians are an excellent model taxon in which to explore the role of mediolateral force components experienced by the feeding apparatus. Many previous modeling studies of archosaur cranial function focused on planar analysis, ignoring the mediolateral aspects of cranial forces. Here, we used three-dimensionally accurate anatomical data to resolve 3D muscle forces. Using dissection, imaging and computational techniques, we developed lever and finite element models of an ontogenetic series of alligators to test the effects of size and shape on cranial loading and compared estimated bite forces with those previously measured in vivo in A. mississippiensis. We found that modeled forces matched in vivo data well for intermediately sized individuals, and somewhat overestimated force in smaller specimens and underestimated force in larger specimens, suggesting that ontogenetically static muscular parameters and bony attachment sites alone cannot account for all the variation in bite force. Adding aponeurotic muscle attachments would likely improve force predictions, but such data are challenging to model and integrate into analyses of extant taxa and are generally unpreserved in fossils. We conclude that anatomically accurate modeling of muscles can be coupled with finite element and lever analyses to produce reliable, reasonably accurate estimate bite forces and thus both skeletal and joint loading, with known sources of error, which can be applied to extinct taxa. Summary: A high-fidelity 3D computational model of alligator bite force that can be used for inferring feeding behavior in fossils.
Glycogen Phosphorylase Sequences from the Amitochondriate Protists, Trichomonas vaginalis, Mastigamoeba balamuthi, Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia intestinalis1

Abstract Glycogen phosphorylase genes or messages from four amitochondriate eukaryotes, Trichomonas vaginalis, Mastigamoeba balamuthi, Entamoeba histolytica (two genes) and Giardia intestinalis, have been isolated and sequenced. The sequences of the amitochondriate protist enzymes appear to share a most recent common ancestor. The clade containing these sequences is closest to that of another protist, the slime mold (Dictyostelium discoideum), and is more closely related to fungal and plant phosphorylases than to mammalian and eubacterial homologs. Structure-based amino acid alignment shows conservation of the residues and domains involved in catalysis and allosteric regulation by glucose 6-phosphate but high divergence at domains involved in phosphorylation-dependent regulation and AMP binding in fungi and animals. Protist phosphorylases, as their prokaryotic and plant counterparts, are probably not regulated by phosphorylation.
Effect of Infliximab on Local and Systemic Inflammation in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Pilot Study

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with cachexia is characterized by inflammation reflected by increased levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Objectives: In this study, infliximab, an anti-TNF-α antibody, was evaluated for its effects on systemic (plasma) and local (exhaled breath condensate, EBC) inflammation in cachectic patients with COPD. Also, baseline levels of new inflammatory markers were compared to control subjects. Methods: Sixteen cachectic patients with moderate to severe COPD were examined for inflammatory status at baseline and compared to 25 control subjects. Patients were randomized (1:1) to receive infliximab (5 mg/kg) or placebo at weeks 0, 2 and 6. Patients were evaluated at weeks 8 and 12 and followed through week 26. Results: EBC analysis revealed increased levels of several novel inflammatory markers, including macrophage migration inhibitory factor, IL-12, RANTES and sICAM-1, in patients with COPD compared to controls. EBC levels of inflammatory markers were unchanged in patients receiving infliximab. In addition, systemic levels of acute-phase proteins (C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein), IL-6 and soluble TNF receptor (sTNFR) 55 had not changed at weeks 8 or 12. Small increases in circulating levels of sTNFR75, myeloperoxidase and Clara cell protein 16 were seen at week 8, but not at week 12. Conclusions: In this small study, infliximab did not produce an observable decrease in local inflammation in cachectic patients with COPD and had minor effects on systemic inflammation. The detection of new inflammatory markers in EBC can help to further characterize local inflammatory processes in COPD.
Managing the Health Effects of Temperature in Response to Climate Change: Challenges Ahead

BACKGROUND Although many studies have shown that high temperatures are associated with an increased risk of mortality and morbidity, there has been little research on managing the process of planned adaptation to alleviate the health effects of heat events and climate change. In particular, economic evaluation of public health adaptation strategies has been largely absent from both the scientific literature and public policy discussion. OBJECTIVES We examined how public health organizations should implement adaptation strategies and, second, how to improve the evidence base required to make an economic case for policies that will protect the public's health from heat events and climate change. DISCUSSION Public health adaptation strategies to cope with heat events and climate change fall into two categories: reducing the heat exposure and managing the health risks. Strategies require a range of actions, including timely public health and medical advice, improvements to housing and urban planning, early warning systems, and assurance that health care and social systems are ready to act. Some of these actions are costly, and given scarce financial resources the implementation should be based on the cost-effectiveness analysis. Therefore, research is required not only on the temperature-related health costs, but also on the costs and benefits of adaptation options. The scientific community must ensure that the health co-benefits of climate change policies are recognized, understood, and quantified. CONCLUSIONS The integration of climate change adaptation into current public health practice is needed to ensure the adaptation strategies increase future resilience. The economic evaluation of temperature-related health costs and public health adaptation strategies are particularly important for policy decisions.