Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smartphone-based vehicular and activity sensing

Built-in hardware sensors and network connectivity in many modern smartphones provide opportunities for novel location-based and context-aware applications, particularly in the field of public transportation, physical activity recognition and event detection. A real-time prediction method of the time remaining before reaching the specified destination for bus trips is designed and implemented. The ability to keep track of the trip progress with regards to the list of bus stops to be traversed is built upon the location sensing capability of the passenger's phone and a local database of bus stop positions. This in turn is used in computation of the prediction of remaining time, which involves fetching of historical estimates from a central server and adapting the raw estimate values to the relative speed characteristics of the current trip. Separately, a social sensing and event detection system integrates sound, location and motion sensing data from multiple phones with relevant location-specific data extracted from a Twitter stream as inputs that trigger real-time push notifications back to the phone sensors under specific scenarios. In particular, the accelerometer is used to develop the on-device user activity state recognition logic, for which fairly promising results are obtained.
Distributed testing and diagnosis in a mobile computing environment

Continuing advances in the semiconductor technology have made possible the development of very large digital systems comprising hundreds of thousands of components or units. Yet it is impossible to build such systems without defects. As the size of a system grows, it is more likely to develop faults both in the manufacturing process and during the operation period. Testing of such systems becomes extremely difficult due to their large sizes. In 1967, Preparata, Metze and Chien proposed a model and a framework, called System-Level Diagnosis, for dealing with this problem. In recent years, the rapidly expanding technology of cellular communication, wireless LANs and satellite services will make information available anywhere and at any time. This new mobile computing environment has given rise to a host of new research challenges in areas such as address, mobility, data distribution, security and bandwidth managements. Following this trend, we propose to study in this paper the following project: Distributed testing and diagnosis in a mobile computing environment. We build our work on the pioneering works in distributed diagnosis reported in the past. We design appropriate distributed protocols to demonstrate, through experimentation, the feasibility of incorporating distributed system level diagnosis techniques for testing in a mobile computing environment. Our development and experimentation have been based the RDZ-algorithm of Rangarajan, Dahbura, and Ziegler [18]. Our results collected during this research clearly provide evidence that the RDZ-algorithm can be implemented in an Ad-Hoc wireless network whose network connectivity (topology) may change dramatically at any moment. We conclude with a discussion of some of our experiences relating to distributed testing in a mobile environment.
Photoreceptor channel activation by nucleotide derivatives.

Cyclic nucleotide activated sodium currents were recorded from photoreceptor outer segment membrane patches. The concentration of cGMP and structurally similar nucleotide derivatives was varied at the cytoplasmic membrane face; currents were generated at each concentration by the application of a voltage ramp. Nucleotide-activated currents were analyzed as a function of both concentration and membrane potential. For cGMP, the average K0.5 at 0 mV was 24 microM, and the activation was cooperative with an average Hill coefficient of 2.3. Of the nucleotide derivatives examined, only 8-[[(fluorescein-5-yl-carbamoyl)methyl]thio]-cGMP (8-Fl-cGMP) activated the channel at lower concentrations than cGMP with a K0.5 of 0.85 microM. The next most active derivative was 2-amino-6-mercaptopurine riboside 3',5'-monophosphate (6-SH-cGMP) which had a K0.5 of 81 microM. cIMP and cAMP had very high K0.5 values of approximately 1.2 mM and greater than 1.5 mM, respectively. All nucleotides displayed cooperativity in their response and were rapidly reversible. Maximal current for each derivative was compared to the current produced at 200 microM cGMP; only 8-Fl-cGMP produced an identical current. The partial agonists 6-SH-cGMP, cIMP, and cAMP activated currents which were approximately 90%, 80%, and 25% of the cGMP response, respectively. 5'-GMP, 2-aminopurine riboside 3',5'-monophosphate, and 2'-deoxy-cGMP produced no detectable current. The K0.5 values for cGMP activation, examined from -90 to +90 mV, displayed a weak voltage dependence of approximately 400 mV/e-fold; the index of cooperativity was independent of the applied field. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Testing the effects of message framing, kernel state, and exercise guideline adherence on exercise intentions and resolve.

OBJECTIVES To study the effects of framed messages on exercise intention and resolve. DESIGN Two (type of frame: gain or loss) × 2 (type of kernel state: desirable or undesirable outcome) post-test study. METHODS Participants were recruited online and questioned about their previous exercise behaviour and their exercise risk perception. After this, they were randomly allocated to one of four messages that were different in terms of positive or negative outcomes (type of frame) and in terms of attained or avoided outcomes (type of kernel state). After reading the message, participants indicated their intention and resolve to engage in sufficient exercise. RESULTS No effects were found for intention. For resolve, there was a significant interaction between type of frame, type of kernel state, and exercise adherence. Those who did not adhere to the exercise guideline and read the loss-framed message with attained outcomes reported significantly higher resolve than all other participants. CONCLUSIONS This study indicates the relevance of including attained outcomes in message framing exercise interventions as well as a focus on exercise resolve. STATEMENT OF CONTRIBUTION What is already known on this subject? Message framing is commonly used to increase exercise intentions and behaviour. Meta-analyses do not provide consistent support for this theory. Very little attention has been paid to resolve and message factors on framing effects. What does this study add? Framed messages have an effect on exercise resolve, but not on intention. Loss-framed messages with attained outcomes are most persuasive for those who do not adhere to exercise guidelines. Exercise framing studies should include behavioural resolve next to intention.
Peripheral Inflammatory Cytokines as Biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background: Several lines of evidence in the literature have shown that inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the results from the evaluation of serum inflammatory markers in AD patients have been controversial. Objective: To determine if any differences exist in the monocytic secretion pattern of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-α from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD patients, when compared with healthy age-matched controls. Methods: To evaluate the percentage of peripheral monocytes secreting IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-α along with the relative levels of these proteins, a cytofluorimetric analysis was conducted under basal conditions and after lipopolysaccharide-induced cell activation. Results: We found, in AD and MCI patients, a significant raise in the percentage of monocytes producing the studied cytokines (under basal conditions and after the exposure to an inflammatory stimulus), as well as a decreased competence of these cells to respond to inflammatory challenges, when compared with controls. Conclusions: These results agree with a persistent inflammatory status in AD, reinforcing the hypothesis of a progressive impairment of the immune response in this disorder and suggesting that monocytes may be good targets to study the progression from MCI to AD.
The Sleep Duration and Sleep Satisfaction of College Students: Striking Changes over the Last Decade (1978–1988)

Adjunct to our on-going research on the behavioral correlates of the habitual sleep durations of college students, we noticed that during our initial screening for these studies, it seemed increasingly difficult to identify an adequate number of longer-sleepers who were satisfied with their sleep. This study was designed to measure the possibility that both the quantity and quality of the self-reported sleep of college students had changed over the last decade. To do this, we reanalyzed data from 1,489 college students obtained for an earlier study (Hicks, Pellegrini, Hawkins, & Moore, 1978) and we collected an identical set of data from a sample of 734 college students during the FalJ of 1988. Both samples were asked to respond to a questionnaire that asked for self-reports of their average nightly sleep duration and whether they were typically satisfied with their sleep. The data derived from these observation periods indicate a striking change has occurred in both the quantity and the quahty of the sleep of college students at our university. Specifically, we found that from 1978 to 1988 mean sleep duration had been reduced by about 30 rnin. per night (i.e., in 1978, M=7.30f .86 hr., and in 1988, M=6 .82 f 1.04 hr., with t = 10.91, p < .0001). Further, in 1988 we noted that the number of students who reported dissatisfaction with their sleep had more than doubled from the 1978 level (i.e., in 1978, 24.4% reported dissatisfaction and in 1988, 53.4% reported dissatisfaction (x,' = 184.69, p<.OOOl). Our data suggest that both the quantity and the quality of the sleep of college students has declined substantially over this decade. We hope that others with similar research interests, who have saved their data, will test the generalizability of these results.
Modulation of Biological Functions of Naegleria fowleri Amoebae by Growth Medium

Two strains of Naegleria fowleri amoebae were studied when the amoebae were maintained in the same growth medium or in two different media. A weakly pathogenic strain of N. fowleri, LEE, and a highly pathogenic strain, LEEmpCl, were compared for growth properties, the presence or absence of surface structures termed food cups, cytopathogenicity, cellular locomotion, susceptibility to complement‐mediated lysis and immunological relatedness by western immunoblot analysis when grown in Nelson medium or in Cline medium. The two different strains of N. fowleri, LEE and LEEmpCl, were more similar in protein profiles and functional activity when both strains were grown in the same nutritional medium. Differences in growth, proteins synthesized, cytopathogenicity, susceptibility to complement lysis and rate of locomotion were noted when the same strain was grown in different media. Naegleria fowleri grown in Cline medium demonstrated an increased rate of growth, an increase in its rate of locomotion, an increased resistance to complement lysis, and destroyed target nerve cells by contact‐dependent lysis. In contrast, the same strain of amoeba grown in Nelson medium showed slower growth, destroyed target cells by trogocytosis, and was less resistant to complement‐mediated lysis.
A GROUP OF BENIGN CHRONIC PSYCHOSES: PROLONGED MANIC EXCITEMENTS

1. A historical survey of the literature bearing on prolonged manic excitements is given. This brings out that fully described cases of prolonged manic excitements are scarce (some are to be found in the literature on "late recoveries") and that there is little agreement among different authors as to the nature, outcome, and clinical evaluation of these conditions. The view seems to prevail that there are conditions of "chronic mania" which are essentially incurable; that other cases of prolonged manic excitements are in every respect the same as acute manic attacks; that still other prolonged excitements of manic nature really belong to the schizophrenic group. 2. Six cases of prolonged manic excitement of from five to eleven years duration are reported. Four of these patients had either previous or subsequent manic attacks; in two patients the prolonged excitement was the only attack; no patient had depressive attacks, either before or after the prolonged excitement. One patient had two attacks of prolo.
A Structural Snapshot of Type II Pilus Formation in Streptococcus pneumoniae*

Background: PitB and SrtG are essential components of the pneumococcal PI-2 pilus. Results: PitB assembles head-to-tail into fibers that do not require SrtG1 for stabilization. Conclusion: PitB associates like beads on a string to form a fiber that is 35 Å in diameter. Significance: The PI-2 pilus displays a simple architecture composed of a single protein with adhesive properties. Pili are fibrous appendages expressed on the surface of a vast number of bacterial species, and their role in surface adhesion is important for processes such as infection, colonization, andbiofilm formation. The human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae expresses two different types of pili, PI-1 and PI-2, both of which require the concerted action of structural proteins and sortases for their polymerization. The type PI-1 streptococcal pilus is a complex, well studied structure, but the PI-2 type, present in a number of invasive pneumococcal serotypes, has to date remained less well understood. The PI-2 pilus consists of repeated units of a single protein, PitB, whose covalent association is catalyzed by cognate sortase SrtG-1 and partner protein SipA. Here we report the high resolution crystal structures of PitB and SrtG1 and use molecular modeling to visualize a “trapped” 1:1 complex between the two molecules. X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy reveal that the pneumococcal PI-2 backbone fiber is formed by PitB monomers associated in head-to-tail fashion and that short, flexible fibers can be formed even in the absence of coadjuvant proteins. These observations, obtained with a simple pilus biosynthetic system, are likely to be applicable to other fiber formation processes in a variety of Gram-positive organisms.
Strategy-based personal music channel service

In this paper, we propose a strategy-based music channel system associated with six strategies, including item-based, collaborative, association, attribute comparison, popularity, and random strategy. We propose an adaptive mechanism to choose strategies, to select songs, and to distribute songs to active users. We also implement our prototype and perform experiments to show the feasibility, efficiency and effectiveness of our approach.
Modeling and Verification of Infinite Systems with Resources

We consider formal verification of recursive programs with resource consumption. We introduce prefix replacement systems with non-negative integer counters which can be incremented and reset to zero as a formal model for such programs. In these systems, we investigate bounds on the resource consumption for reachability questions. Motivated by this question, we introduce relational structures with resources and a quantitative first-order logic over these structures. We define resource automatic structures as a subclass of these structures and provide an effective method to compute the semantics of the logic on this subclass. Subsequently, we use this framework to solve the bounded reachability problem for resource prefix replacement systems. We achieve this result by extending the well-known saturation method to annotated prefix replacement systems. Finally, we provide a connection to the study of the logic cost-WMSO.
Aladdin's Magic Lamp: Active Target Calibration of the DMSP OLS

Nighttime satellite imagery from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Programs’ Operational Linescan System (DMSP OLS) is being used for myriad applications including population mapping, characterizing economic activity, disaggregate estimation of CO2 emissions, wildfire monitoring, and more. Here we present a method for in situ radiance calibration of the DMSP OLS using a ground based light source as an active target. We found that the wattage of light used by our active target strongly correlates with the signal measured by the DMSP OLS. This approach can be used to enhance our ability to make intertemporal and intersatellite comparisons of DMSP OLS imagery. We recommend exploring the possibility of establishing a permanent active target for the calibration of nocturnal imaging systems.
Computational Biophysical, Biochemical, and Evolutionary Signature of Human R-Spondin Family Proteins, the Member of Canonical Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway

In human, Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays a significant role in cell growth, cell development, and disease pathogenesis. Four human (Rspo)s are known to activate canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Presently, (Rspo)s serve as therapeutic target for several human diseases. Henceforth, basic understanding about the molecular properties of (Rspo)s is essential. We approached this issue by interpreting the biochemical and biophysical properties along with molecular evolution of (Rspo)s thorough computational algorithm methods. Our analysis shows that signal peptide length is roughly similar in (Rspo)s family along with similarity in aa distribution pattern. In Rspo3, four N-glycosylation sites were noted. All members are hydrophilic in nature and showed alike GRAVY values, approximately. Conversely, Rspo3 contains the maximum positively charged residues while Rspo4 includes the lowest. Four highly aligned blocks were recorded through Gblocks. Phylogenetic analysis shows Rspo4 is being rooted with Rspo2 and similarly Rspo3 and Rspo1 have the common point of origin. Through phylogenomics study, we developed a phylogenetic tree of sixty proteins (n = 60) with the orthologs and paralogs seed sequences. Protein-protein network was also illustrated. Results demonstrated in our study may help the future researchers to unfold significant physiological and therapeutic properties of (Rspo)s in various disease models.
The pregnancy outcome in women with incidental diagnosis of septate uterus at first trimester scan.

BACKGROUND Septate uterus seems to be strongly associated with an adverse pregnancy outcome. However, the possible relationship between septate uterus and miscarriage has only been retrospectively ascertained. The aim of our study was to describe the reproductive outcome in women with incidental diagnosis of malformed uterus at first trimester scan. METHODS Women at their first pregnancy attending our centre for a routine viability scan with an incidental suspicion of uterine anomaly at standard sonography were submitted to transvaginal volume ultrasound. All the cases with a 3D diagnosis of septate uterus were prospectively recruited and followed up. RESULTS Overall 24 patients with a single intrauterine pregnancy were included at a median gestational age of 8.2 weeks. The cumulative pregnancy progression rate, as quoted by Kaplan-Meier algorithm, was 33.3% due to the occurrence of early (≤ 13 weeks) or late miscarriages (14-22 weeks) in 13 and 3 cases, respectively. CONCLUSION The pregnancy outcome is poor if a septate uterus is incidentally diagnosed in the early stage of a viable intrauterine pregnancy.
Dopamine Release after Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Motor Cortex in Parkinson's Disease Patients

Background: There is considerable evidence that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of motor cortex exerts significant improvement of motor performance in parkinson's disease (PD) patients in previous studies. Other authors have used brain imaging to show that single session rTMS can transiently increase DA in striatum. Here we try to evaluate whether the rTMS in our study could increase serum dopamine in PD patients or not and correlate it with the clinical scales. Material and Methods: Twenty untreated PD patients with moderate to severe symptoms (Hoehn & Yahr stage III-V 1967). Each patient underwent: Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), walking speed, keyboard tapping, and Enzyme Immunoassay for the quantitative determination of Dopamine in plasma before and after 6 consecutive sessions of 25 Hz rTMS with 3000 stimuli over the right and left hand and leg motor cortex. Results: There were significant improvement in UPDRS, walking speed, and keytapping after 6 rTMS sessions compared with the base line assessment. Serum dopamine level was significantly elevated after 6 sessions. There was significant correlation between UPDRS and self assessment scale in one hand and serum dopamine level on the other hand. Conclusion: The improvement of motor performance in PD patients after repeated sessions of rTMS could contribute to be related to the
CV-HAZOP: Introducing Test Data Validation for Computer Vision

Test data plays an important role in computer vision (CV) but is plagued by two questions: Which situations should be covered by the test data and have we tested enough to reach a conclusion? In this paper we propose a new solution answering these questions using a standard procedure devised by the safety community to validate complex systems: The Hazard and Operability Analysis (HAZOP). It is designed to systematically search and identify difficult, performance-decreasing situations and aspects. We introduce a generic CV model that creates the basis for the hazard analysis and, for the first time, apply an extensive HAZOP to the CV domain. The result is a publicly available checklist with more than 900 identified individual hazards. This checklist can be used to evaluate existing test datasets by quantifying the amount of covered hazards. We evaluate our approach by first analyzing and annotating the popular stereo vision test datasets Middlebury and KITTI. Second, we compare the performance of six popular stereo matching algorithms at the identified hazards from our checklist with their average performance and show, as expected, a clear negative influence of the hazards. The presented approach is a useful tool to evaluate and improve test datasets and creates a common basis for future dataset designs.
A topology-aware load balancing algorithm for P2P systems

One of the challenges of P2P systems is to perform load balancing efficiently. A distributed hash table (DHT) abstraction, heterogeneous nodes, and non uniform distribution of objects cause load imbalance in structured P2P overlay networks. Several solutions are suggested to solve this problem but they have some restrictions. They assume the homogeneous capabilities of nodes, unawareness of the link latency during transferring load and imposing logical structures to collect and reassign load. This paper presents a distributed load balancing algorithm with topology awareness using the concept of virtual servers. In our proposed approach, each node collects neighborhood load information from physically close nodes and reassigns virtual servers to overlay nodes according to topology of underlying network. Consequently, it provides rapid convergence on load balance and reduces the load transfer cost. Moreover, our parametric algorithm increases the quality of load balancing among close nodes of overlay and also provides a new tradeoff between the quality of load balancing and load transfer cost among all overlay nodes. Our simulations show that our approach reduces the load transfer cost and saves a great network bandwidth.