Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Anthropomorphic Talking Robot having Sensory Feedback Mechanism and Vocal Cords based on Human Biomechanical Structure

We developed an anthropomorphic talking robot WT-5 (Waseda Talker No. 5) having a sensor feedback mechanism and novel vocal cords based on human biological structures. The sensory feedback is more important when we producing obstacle consonant sounds, compared to the auditory feedback mechanism. We reproduce this mechanism by placing tactile sensors and a pressure sensor on the palate of a talking robot and reducing the error between the pressure of the human voice and the robot consonant production. The vocal cord model was constructed with a similar structure to the biological structure of the human vocal cords and vibrated like those of a human. In addition, using these mechanisms, WT-5 could produce voices closer to those of a human. And also realized continuous mimic speaking that includes consonant sounds
Comparative Genome Analyses of Serratia marcescens FS14 Reveals Its High Antagonistic Potential

S. marcescens FS14 was isolated from an Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz plant that was infected by Fusarium oxysporum and showed symptoms of root rot. With the completion of the genome sequence of FS14, the first comprehensive comparative-genomic analysis of the Serratia genus was performed. Pan-genome and COG analyses showed that the majority of the conserved core genes are involved in basic cellular functions, while genomic factors such as prophages contribute considerably to genome diversity. Additionally, a Type I restriction-modification system, a Type III secretion system and tellurium resistance genes are found in only some Serratia species. Comparative analysis further identified that S. marcescens FS14 possesses multiple mechanisms for antagonism against other microorganisms, including the production of prodigiosin, bacteriocins, and multi-antibiotic resistant determinants as well as chitinases. The presence of two evolutionarily distinct Type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) in FS14 may provide further competitive advantages for FS14 against other microbes. To our knowledge, this is the first report of comparative analysis on T6SSs in the genus, which identifies four types of T6SSs in Serratia spp. Competition bioassays of FS14 against the vital plant pathogenic bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum and fungi Fusarium oxysporum and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were performed to support our genomic analyses, in which FS14 demonstrated high antagonistic activities against both bacterial and fungal phytopathogens.
Protecting Multi-Lateral Localization Privacy in Pervasive Environments

Location-based services (LBSs) have raised serious privacy concerns in the society, due to the possibility of leaking a mobile user's location information in enabling location-dependent services. While existing location-privacy studies are mainly focused on preventing the leakage of a user's location in accessing the LBS server, the possible privacy leakage in the calculation of the user's location, i.e., the localization, has been largely ignored. Such a privacy leakage stems from the fact that a localization algorithm typically takes the location of anchors (reference points for localization) as input, and generates the target's location as output. As such, the location of anchors and target could be leaked to others. An adversary could further utilize the leakage of anchor's locations to attack the localization infrastructure and undermine the accurate estimation of the target's location. To address this issue, in this paper, we study the multi-lateral privacy-preserving localization problem, whereby the location of a target is calculated without the need of revealing anchors' location, and the knowledge of the localization outcome, i.e., the target's location, is strictly limited to the target itself. To fully protect the user's privacy, our study protects not only the user's exact location information (the geo-coordinates), but also any side information that may lead to a coarse estimate of the location. We formulate the problem as a secure least-squared-error (LSE) estimation for an overdetermined linear system and develop three privacy-preserving solutions by leveraging combinations of information-hiding and homomorphic encryption. These solutions provide different levels of protection for location-side information and resilience to node collusion and have the advantage of being able to trade a user's privacy requirements for better computation and communication efficiency. Through numerical results, we verify the significant efficiency improvement of the proposed schemes over existing multiparty secure LSE algorithms.
LOSSLESS IMAGE WATERMARKING USING LIFTING WAVELET TRANSFORM

A lossless reversible data hiding scheme using integer - integer wavelet transform is presented in this paper. The proposed scheme uses neighboring pixel pairs to adaptively embed the watermark as byte directly. The bytes are embedded as the difference between neighboring pixel pairs whichever is expandable. Experiments are conducted to test the embedding capacity of different wavelet families.
The effects of intense pulsed light (IPL) on blood vessels investigated by mathematical modeling

Intense pulsed light (IPL) sources have been successfully used for coagulation of blood vessels in clinical practice. However, the broadband emission of IPL hampers the clinical evaluation of optimal light parameters. We describe a mathematical model in order to visualize the thermal effects of IPL on skin vessels, which was not available, so far.
Muscarinic Receptor‐Mediated Increase in Extracellular Inositol 1,4,5‐Trisphosphate Levels in the Rat Hippocampus: An In Vivo Microdialysis Study

Abstract: The extracellular concentration of inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate (IP3) has been monitored in the ventral hippocampus of the anesthetized rat by using a microdialysis technique coupled to a radioreceptor assay. Three hours after the implantation of the cannula, basal extracellular concentration of IP3 (corrected for a 9% recovery) was 71 nM (0.39 pmol/60‐µl fraction) and remained stable for at least 5 h. Local infusion of carbachol for 60 min caused a significant concentration‐related increase in extracellular IP3 levels (0, 24, and 57% at 1, 50, and 100 µM, respectively). Acetylcholine (100 µM) and muscarine (100 µM) increased IP3 outflow by 40 and 42%, respectively. The effect of carbachol was fully prevented by coinfusion of 10 µM pirenzepine and reduced by 1 µM tetrodotoxin indicating that the carbachol response is mediated by neuronal muscarinic receptors. These data demonstrate the feasibility of using microdialysis and a radioreceptor assay to measure IP3 in the extracellular space. This approach could prove useful for the study of the in vivo operation of muscarinic and, by extension, a number of receptors coupled to phosphoinositide turnover.
Lead concentrations in human tissues

Barry, P. S. L. , and Mossman, D. B. (1970). Brit. J. industr. Med.,27, 339-351. Lead concentrations in human tissues. A study of 69 subjects at post-mortem, four of whom had histories of occupational exposure to lead, demonstrated a marked difference in the lead concentrations between bones and soft tissues. The soft tissues of infants and young children contained low concentrations of lead, varying from 0·01 ppm in muscle to 0·46 ppm in liver. By the end of the second decade of life the concentrations of lead in most of the soft tissues showed values varying between 0·06 ppm in muscle and 1·35 ppm in liver and thereafter did not increase with advancing age. The concentrations of lead in bone were considerably greater than those in soft tissues, being about 1 ppm in infants and young children and increasing to more than 40 ppm in persons over the age of 50 years. Adult male bones contained more lead than adult females by a ratio of 3 to 2, and in both sexes the long bone contained concentrations of lead two and a half times that observed in the flat bone. No marked difference was noted in lead concentrations between the corresponding soft tissues of the two sexes. From the findings it appeared that in adults the total body burden varied widely from subject to subject. Nearly 95% was represented by the lead content in bone, of which more than 70% was in dense bone. A far lower concentration of lead was found in the bones of children than in those of adults, but there was less divergence in the lead concentrations in the soft tissues. The total lead content in the soft tissues of the majority of the subjects investigated appeared to be relatively stable and did not correlate with levels in bone. The four male subjects with known occupational exposure to lead had greater concentrations of lead in bone than those with no known occupational exposure, but no difference was noted in the soft tissues between the two groups, with the exception of the most heavily exposed subject in whom concentrations of lead in the brain were over 4 ppm and in the aorta 28 ppm. Hair and nails were found to contain relatively high concentrations of lead, approximately 20 ppm; some significance may be attached to this finding in a medico-legal context. The findings of this study would suggest that the present intake of lead among the general population is no greater than in the past.
Role of Incretin Axis in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are chronic inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract and involve a complicated reciprocity of environmental, genetic, and immunologic factors. Despite substantial advances in the foundational understanding of the immunological pathogenesis of IBD, the detailed mechanism of the pathological progression in IBD remains unknown. In addition to Th1/Th2 cells, whose role in IBD has been previously well defined, recent evidence indicates that Th17 cells and Tregs also play a crucial role in the development of IBD. Diets which contain excess sugars, salt, and fat may also be important actors in the pathogenesis of IBD, which may be the cause of high IBD incidence in western developed and industrialized countries. Up until now, the reason for the variance in prevalence of IBD between developed and developing countries has been unknown. This is partly due to the increasing popularity of western diets in developing countries, which makes the data harder to interpret. The enterocrinins glucagon-like peptides (GLPs), including GLP-1 and GLP-2, exhibit notable benefits on lipid metabolism, atherosclerosis formation, plasma glucose levels, and maintenance of gastric mucosa integrity. In addition to the regulation of nutrient metabolism, the emerging role of GLPs and their degrading enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) in gastrointestinal diseases has gained increasing attention. Therefore, here we review the function of the DPP-4/GLP axis in IBD.
Topological phases in ultracold polar-molecule quantum magnets

We show how to use polar molecules in an optical lattice to engineer quantum spin models with arbitrary spin S≥1/2 and with interactions featuring a direction-dependent spin anisotropy. This is achieved by encoding the effective spin degrees of freedom in microwave-dressed rotational states of the molecules and by coupling the spins through dipolar interactions. We demonstrate how one of the experimentally most accessible anisotropies stabilizes symmetry protected topological phases in spin ladders. Using the numerically exact density matrix renormalization group method, we find that these interacting phases—previously studied only in the nearest-neighbor case—survive in the presence of long-range dipolar interactions. We also show how to use our approach to realize the bilinear-biquadratic spin-1 and the Kitaev honeycomb models. Experimental detection schemes and imperfections are discussed.
The cognitive plausibility of statistical classification models: Comparing textual and behavioral evidence

Abstract Usage-based linguistics abounds with studies that use statistical classification models to analyze either textual corpus data or behavioral experimental data. Yet, before we can draw conclusions from statistical models of empirical data that we can feed back into cognitive linguistic theory, we need to assess whether the text-based models are cognitively plausible and whether the behavior-based models are linguistically accurate. In this paper, we review four case studies that evaluate statistical classification models of richly annotated linguistic data by explicitly comparing the performance of a corpus-based model to the behavior of native speakers. The data come from four different languages (Arabic, English, Estonian, and Russian) and pertain to both lexical as well as syntactic near-synonymy. We show that behavioral evidence is needed in order to fine tune and improve statistical models built on data from a corpus. We argue that methodological pluralism is the key for a cognitively realistic linguistic theory.
ZIP4 Regulates Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth by Activating IL-6/STAT3 Pathway through Zinc Finger Transcription Factor CREB

Purpose: Recent studies indicate a strong correlation of zinc transporter ZIP4 and pancreatic cancer progression; however, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. We have recently found that ZIP4 is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer. In this study, we investigated the signaling pathway through which ZIP4 regulates pancreatic cancer growth. Experimental Design: The expression of cyclin D1, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in pancreatic cancer xenografts and cells were examined by real-time PCR, Bio-Plex cytokine assay, and Western blot, respectively. The activity of cAMP response element–binding protein (CREB) is examined by a promoter activity assay. Results: Cyclin D1 was significantly increased in the ZIP4 overexpressing MIA PaCa-2 cells (MIA-ZIP4)–injected orthotopic xenografts and was downregulated in the ZIP4-silenced ASPC-1 (ASPC-shZIP4) group. The phosphorylation of STAT3, an upstream activator of cyclin D1, was increased in MIA-ZIP4 cells and decreased in ASPC-shZIP4 cells. IL-6, a known upstream activator for STAT3, was also found to be significantly increased in the MIA-ZIP4 cells and xenografts and decreased in the ASPC-shZIP4 group. Overexpression of ZIP4 led to a 75% increase of IL-6 promoter activity and caused increased phosphorylation of CREB. Conclusions: Our study suggest that ZIP4 overexpression causes increased IL-6 transcription through CREB, which in turn activates STAT3 and leads to increased cyclin D1 expression, resulting in increased cell proliferation and tumor progression in pancreatic cancer. These results elucidated a novel pathway in ZIP4-mediated pancreatic cancer growth and suggest new therapeutic targets, including ZIP4, IL-6, and STAT3, in pancreatic cancer treatment. Clin Cancer Res; 16(5); 1423–30
Rate control for low-delay video using a dynamic rate table

The conventional rate control schemes employ rate-distortion (R-D) models which need complex floating-point computation. In this work, we present a simple and effective rate-control algorithm that involves only fixed-point operation. Instead of using mathematical R-D model, we design a dynamic rate table that relates the coding bit count, encoding complexity, and quantization parameter for each macroblock (MB). The table contains the R-D information implicitly and is updated dynamically on an MB-by-MB basis to reflect the variation of video contents. We implement our technique in H.263 and compare its performance to TMN8 rate control. The experimental results indicate the new technique performs better than TMN8 in terms of PSNR, frame skipping, bit-rate proximity, and buffer steadiness. More importantly, our technique needs only integer operations, which offers significant advantage in hardware implementation.
Dealing with Writeset Conflicts in Database Replication Middlewares

Many database replication protocols have to deal with finding out whether the writesets of some concurrent transactions have a non-empty intersection, blocking or aborting part of these conflicting transactions in that case. To this end, a possible solution consists in checking these writesets programmatically and this requires some time and computing power. This situation is even worse if the replication support is being provided by a middleware, since there is no help from the DBMS in that layer. This paper analyzes the effect of using the concurrency-control support of the local DBMS for detecting conflicts between local transactions and writesets being applied for remote transactions. This allows some simplifications and performance enhancements in several database replication protocols.
Intellectual support of the learning content planning considering the cognitive load

The paper presents a method of distribution of intellectual support of didactic resources as part of the educational content based on cognitive load. On the basis of the generated didactic resource base is built the path of learning, which compares the trajectory of student learning for the purpose of the adjustment process. The method is implemented using a web environment learning management technology.
Some Network Conditions for Positive Recurrence of Stochastically Modeled Reaction Networks

We consider discrete-space continuous-time Markov models of reaction networks and provide sufficient conditions for positive recurrence. The provided analytical results depend solely on the underlying structure of the reaction network and not on the specific choice of model parameters. Our main results apply to binary systems and our main analytical tool is the "tier structure" previously utilized successfully in the study of deterministic models of reaction networks.
The Lattice of Lambda Theories

Lambda theories are equational extensions of the untyped lambda calculus that are closed under derivation. The set of lambda theories is naturally equipped with a structure of complete lattice, where the meet of a family of lambda theories is their intersection, and the join is the least lambda theory containing their union. In this paper we study the structure of the lattice of lambda theories by universal algebraic methods. We show that nontrivial quasi-identities in the language of lattices hold in the lattice of lambda theories, while every nontrivial lattice identity fails in the lattice of lambda theories if the language of lambda calculus is enriched by a suitable finite number of constants. We also show that there exists a sublattice of the lattice of lambda theories which satisfies: (i) a restricted form of distributivity, called meet semidistributivity; and (ii) a nontrivial identity in the language of lattices enriched by the relative product of binary relations.
Parathyroid hormone and bone metabolism in kidney-transplanted patients.

BACKGROUND Decreases in bone mass and increased susceptibility to fractures are well-recognized complications in organ transplants. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study on 60 patients (40 males, 20 females, mean age 43.2 +/- 1.06, SE range 22 - 70) who underwent kidney transplantation (KTX) 55.6 +/- 4.5 months before. Blood and 24-hour urine samples were analyzed for the main parameters of mineral metabolism, and also for osteocalcin (BGP), bone alkaline phosphatase (b-ALP, urine N-telopeptid (u-NTx) and urine galactosyl-hydroxylysine (u-Ghyl). DEXA scan of the lumbar spine (LS) and proximal femur (PF) and ultrasound determination of the heel (stiffness) was also performed. RESULTS T-score values for bone density (BD) were 2.14 +/- 0.11 SD's for LS, -2.56 +/- 0.09 for PF and 2.49 +/- 0.15 for stiffness. There were 29 peripheral fractures in 16 patients. The rate of fractures before KTX were 0.0011 per patient/year and 0.0005 after transplantation (p < 0.02). When expressed as number of SD's with respect to normal controls, BGP (1.48 +/- 0.23), b-ALP (0.95 +/- 0.19), u-NTx excretion correlated negatively with BD at the femoral neck (p < 0.02) and trochanter (p < 0.03). Cumulative steroids intake were negatively correlated with b-ALP positively (p < 0.05). Current CsA was positively correlated with b-ALP (p < 0.001). Both cumulative steroid (p < 0.02) and CSA (p < 0.01) intakes were negatively correlated with BD at Wards triangle. CONCLUSIONS Our data demonstrate an important bone depletion at each stage KTX. PTH plays a major role in the observed increase in bone turnover, exacerbating the negative effects on the bone on immunosuppressive treatment. Glucocorticosteroid therapy is an important risk factor for osteoporosis in this setting also.
A Learning Evolutionary Trading System LETS

Many techniques have been used to model financial time series data such as stock prices, including linear and nonlinear statistical methods and more inscrutable methods such as neural nets. The hope is that if the time series can be predicted fairly well, the predictions can be used to make profitable buy/sell/hold decisions. Time series modelling may work well for physical systems, such as blood flow in veins, because the underlying physical laws do not change with time even though their effects (such as the rhythmic expansion and contraction of blood vessels) may do so. However, time series modelling in the financial world often seems to fail to track any of the causes of the data, and the causes themselves change over time. All that happens is that the model ceases to fit the real data well, and then it has become time to re-train or re-fit.
Tesfa, Belachew, Gu, Fengshou, Mishra, Rakesh and Ball, Andrew LHV Predication Models and LHV Effect on the Performance of CI Engine Running with Biodiesel Blends Original Citation

The heating value of fuel is one of its most important physical properties, and is used for the design and numerical simulation of combustion processes within internal combustion (IC) engines. Recently, there has been a significant increase in the use of dual fuel and blended fuels in compression ignition (CI) engines. Most of the blended fuels include biodiesel as one of the constituents and hence the objective of this study is to investigate the effect of biodiesel content to lower heating value (LHV) and to develop new LHV prediction models that correlate the LHV with biodiesel fraction, density and viscosity. Furthermore, this study also investigated the effects of the LHV on CI engines performance parameters experimentally. To achieve the above mentioned objectives density, viscosity and LHV of rapeseed oil biodiesel, corn oil biodiesel and waste oil biodiesel at different blend fraction values (B0, B5, B10, B20, B50, B75, and B100, where ‘B5’ denotes a blend of 5% biodiesel and 95% mineral diesel, etc) were measured as per EN ISO 3675:1998, EN ISO 3104:1996 and DIN 51900 standards. The engine experimental work was conducted on a four-cylinder, four -stroke, direct injection (DI) and turbocharged diesel engine by using rapeseed oil and normal diesel blends. Based on the experimental results, models were developed which have the capability to predict the LHV corresponding to different fractions, densities and viscosities of biodiesel. The models are shown to produce consistent results with experimentally measured ones and compared with previous researches’ models. Furthermore the effects of LHV on brake 1 *Corresponding author E-mail address: b.c.tesfa@hud.ac. uk (B.Tesfa), Telephone: +44 (0) 1484 473532, Fax: +44 (0) 1484 421106
Diagnostics system of power transformers supported by Finite Element Analysis

The paper deals with the diagnostics system of power transformers supported by Finite Element Analysis (FEA). This diagnostics system is used for power transformer 25 MVA. The following important parameters are investigated from diagnostic point of view: equivalent circuit parameters, capacity and loss index. On the beginning of investigation these parameters are calculated from transformer design, from measurements and by means of 3D FEA. The results are compared and used for diagnostic database. These results are analyzed annually in accordance with maintenance rules and standards in Slovakia.