Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cloaking the Clock: Emulating Clock Skew in Controller Area Networks

Automobiles are equipped with Electronic Control Units (ECUs) that communicate via in-vehicle network protocol standards such as the Controller Area Network (CAN). These protocols were designed under the assumption that separating in-vehicle communications from external networks is sufficient for protection against cyber attacks. This assumption, however, has been shown to be invalid by recent attacks in which adversaries were able to infiltrate the in-vehicle network. Motivated by these attacks, intrusion detection systems (IDSs) have been proposed for in-vehicle networks that attempt to detect attacks by exploiting physical properties such as clock skew of an ECU. In this paper, we propose the cloaking attack, an intelligent masquerade attack in which an adversary modifies the timing of transmitted messages to match the clock skew of a targeted ECU. The attack leverages the fact that, while the clock skew is a physical property of each ECU that cannot be changed by the adversary, the estimation of the clock skew by other ECUs is based on the timing of network traffic, which, being a cyber component only, can be modified by an adversary. We implement the proposed cloaking attack and test it on two IDSs, namely, the current state-of-the-art IDS and its adaptation to the widely-used Network Time Protocol (NTP). We implement the cloaking attack on two hardware testbeds, a prototype and a real vehicle, and show that it is able to deceive both IDSs. We also introduce a new metric called the Maximum Slackness Index to quantify the effectiveness of a clock skew-based IDS in detecting masquerade attacks when the adversary is unable to precisely match the clock skew of the targeted ECU.
Genetic Polymorphisms in Aromatase (CYP19) Gene and Cancer

Estrogens play an important role in the development and progression of several types of cancers. The synthesis of estrogens occurs in almost all tissues of the body in addition to the gonads. The enzyme aromatase (CYP19A1) encoded by CYP19A1 gene is involved in the synthesis of estrogens. Genetic variations in CYP19A1 gene influence both the struc -ture-function relationship of the enzyme and the rate of its synthesis. Extensive studies have reported different types of polymorphisms in the CYP19A1 gene and have shown that the polymorphisms, depending on their location in the gene, have different effects on the function and activity of the gene product. Association studies have been conducted and have led to the realization that interpopulation differences are widespread. Not only do polymorphic forms exert different effects on the development of different cancers, due possibly to the influence of other genetic variations, environmental, metabolic, and epigenetic factors, but also are important as they lead to the interindividual differences seen during treatment of the cancer state. This chapter covers important aspects of the aromatase function, the CYP19A1 gene structure, polymorphisms identified in the gene, different cancers and associated polymorphisms, and the role of the polymorphic forms in affecting the treatment strategies.
Tools for designing and prototyping activity-based pervasive applications

This paper proposes a new approach for modelling, testing and prototyping pervasive, possibly mobile, and distributed applications. It describes a set of tools aimed at supporting designers in the conceptualisation of their application and in the software development stage, and proposes a method for checking the validity of their design. The article also presents a pervasive application implemented and evaluated using our approach. It concludes with propositions for improvements in order to build a complete modelling, prototyping and testing framework for pervasive applications.
FORECASTING USING COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE METHODS

Forecasting the future evolution of a system based only on past information comprises a central scientific problem. In this work we investigate the comparative performance of recurrent multi–layer perceptrons, trained through backpropagation through time and the differential evolution algorithm, to perform one–step–ahead predictions for the laser time series (Data set A) from the Santa–Fe Time Series Prediction and Analysis Competition [1].
Ceramic/polymer 2-2 composites for high frequency transducers by tape casting

The aim of this research is to produce 2-2 PZT/polymer composite using tape casting technology. PZT tapes were printed with a fugitive phase (carbon) to define voids which were then backfilled with epoxy after the carbon was removed by thermal treatment at 1250/spl deg/C. Final dimensions of the 2-2 composite were in the range of 25 /spl mu/m for the ceramic bar and 5 /spl mu/m for the epoxy-filled kerf. Specific emphasis was placed on achieving uniformity and straightness of the ceramic beam and kerf thicknesses. The composites were fabricated into 20 MHz single element pachymeters and benchmarked against commercial devices fabricated by dice-and-fill. The tape cast material compared favorably with high sensitivity and a little lower bandwidth. Fabrication of a 35 MHz linear array transducer is in progress. Electrode patterning to define individual array elements has been successfully completed.
Protein-Truncating Variants at the Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein Gene and Risk for Coronary Heart Disease

Rationale: Therapies that inhibit CETP (cholesteryl ester transfer protein) have failed to demonstrate a reduction in risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). Human DNA sequence variants that truncate the CETP gene may provide insight into the efficacy of CETP inhibition. Objective: To test whether protein-truncating variants (PTVs) at the CETP gene were associated with plasma lipid levels and CHD. Methods and Results: We sequenced the exons of the CETP gene in 58 469 participants from 12 case–control studies (18 817 CHD cases, 39 652 CHD-free controls). We defined PTV as those that lead to a premature stop, disrupt canonical splice sites, or lead to insertions/deletions that shift frame. We also genotyped 1 Japanese-specific PTV in 27561 participants from 3 case–control studies (14 286 CHD cases, 13 275 CHD-free controls). We tested association of CETP PTV carrier status with both plasma lipids and CHD. Among 58 469 participants with CETP gene-sequencing data available, average age was 51.5 years and 43% were women; 1 in 975 participants carried a PTV at the CETP gene. Compared with noncarriers, carriers of PTV at CETP had higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (effect size, 22.6 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval, 18–27; P<1.0×10−4), lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (−12.2 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval, −23 to −0.98; P=0.033), and lower triglycerides (−6.3%; 95% confidence interval, −12 to −0.22; P=0.043). CETP PTV carrier status was associated with reduced risk for CHD (summary odds ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval, 0.54–0.90; P=5.1×10−3). Conclusions: Compared with noncarriers, carriers of PTV at CETP displayed higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, lower triglycerides, and lower risk for CHD.
A Test of Aposematism in the Dendrobatid Poison Frog Oophaga pumilio: The Importance of Movement in Clay Model Experiments

Abstract Brightly colored frogs of Dendrobatidae contain alkaloid-based chemical defenses which appear to be utilized as a deterrent to predators. The conspicuous coloration of these frogs is generally considered to be an aposematic signal to color-visioned predators. A previous field-based experiment tested this hypothesis in the dendrobatid frog Oophaga pumilio (Strawberry Poison Frog) from the La Selva Biological Station using a stationary clay model experiment to assess natural predation. Avian predation rates on brown frog models were almost twice that of red frog models, supporting the hypothesis that coloration in O. pumilio is aposematic. A criticism of clay model experiments has been that they do not accurately represent natural organisms, especially with regard to movement. Many predators utilize movement in prey selection and, therefore, may not perceive motionless clay models as prey. In an attempt to understand the importance of movement better in assessing natural predation rates using clay model experiments, we conducted a similar field-based clay model experiment but instead used moving models of O. pumilio and of brown control frogs. Moving brown models were attacked more than nine times the rate of moving red models, supporting the finding of the previous study and providing further evidence that color is aposematic in O. pumilio. When compared directly to the previous study using stationary clay models, birds attacked moving brown models significantly more whereas red moving models were attacked significantly less. Our findings suggest that moving models may provide a better estimate of natural predator responses to an aposematic frog.
Compared effects on cerebral oxygenation of ephedrine vs phenylephrine to treat hypotension during carotid endarterectomy

While both ephedrine and phenylephrine are currently used to treat hypotension occurring during carotid endarterectomy (CEA) under general anaesthesia, phenylephrine may have deleterious effects on the cerebral watershed, due to its exclusively vasoconstrictive action. In this controlled, double‐blind randomised trial, we compared the effects of ephedrine and phenylephrine administered in a standardised algorithm to treat the first hypotensive event occurring since induction of anaesthesia until carotid cross‐clamping. The algorithm consisted of 1‐to‐3 boluses of 6 mg of ephedrine or 50 μg of phenylephrine, after a goal‐directed fluid therapy. In case of failure, the treatment switched to the other study drug. Cerebral tissue oxygen saturation (SctO2) was monitored by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and the primary outcome was the restoring effect of SctO2 (ipsilateral to surgery) to baseline values. Secondary postoperative outcomes were: contralateral SctO2, neurological outcomes, and plasma S100B protein measured at discharge from post‐anaesthesia care unit. Ephedrine treatment provided a higher rate of restoration of ipsilateral SctO2 than phenylephrine (93.2% vs 85.1%, P=.034); this was also noted for contralateral SctO2 (93.5% vs 90.7%, P=.026). The gain in SctO2 on the lowest value during hypotension was also higher under ephedrine than phenylephrine (6.4% vs 4.3% ipsilateral, 5.1% vs 4% contralateral), but not significantly so. Clinical outcomes were unaffected by the treatment, but S100B protein plasma concentration was higher in the phenylephrine group. To conclude, this pilot trial, focusing on intermediate outcomes, suggests that ephedrine should be preferred to phenylephrine to treat hypotension during CEA.
Amorphization and solid phase epitaxial growth of germanium

3 To my family and friends who have made this dissertation possible 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge my family for stressing the importance of an education and always being there for me. I would also like to thank my close friends for offering support and making my graduate experience an enjoyable one. This dissertation would not have been possible without these people. I also want to thank Ludovic Godet for hiring me as an intern at Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates (VSEA) and giving me freedom to pursue my own ideas in research and development. Ludo always took the time to answer my questions and gave me extraordinary exposure within the company. I would also like to acknowledge Alex Kontos at VSEA and Rob Elliman at Australian National University for doing the implants for this research. I would also like to thank my advisor Kevin Jones and my committee members. I originally came to UF as a master's student and when I asked Dr. Jones whether he knew of any openings for part time research, he immediately offered me a position to join his group. I am also grateful for his trust in me and willingness to allow me to pursue research interests, even if they were slightly off topic. Last, but not least I would like to acknowledge the past and present SWAMP group members: has provided numerous thoughtful discussions and created an environment that constantly pushed one another to learn new things.
Boosted Density Estimation Remastered

There has recently been a steadily increase in the iterative approaches to boosted density estimation and sampling, usually proceeding by adding candidate "iterate" densities to a model that gets more accurate with iterations. The relative accompanying burst of formal convergence results has not yet changed a striking picture: all results essentially pay the price of heavy assumptions on iterates, often unrealistic or hard to check, and offer a blatant contrast with the original boosting theory where such assumptions would be the weakest possible. In this paper, we show that all that suffices to achieve boosting for \textit{density estimation} is a \emph{weak learner} in the original boosting theory sense, that is, an oracle that supplies \textit{classifiers}. We provide converge rates that comply with boosting requirements, being better and / or relying on substantially weaker assumptions than the state of the art. One of our rates is to our knowledge the first to rely on not just weak but also \textit{empirically testable} assumptions. We show that the model fit belongs to exponential families, and obtain in the course of our results a variational characterization of $f$-divergences better than $f$-GAN's. Experimental results on several simulated problems display significantly better results than AdaGAN during early boosting rounds, in particular for mode capture, and using architectures less than the fifth's of AdaGAN's size.
Nonlinear dynamic behavior of a long temperature-dependent FGM hollow cylinder subjected to thermal shocking

Abstract In this paper, the nonlinear dynamic behavior of a long hollow cylinder consisting of temperature-dependent functionally graded material (FGM) subjected to thermal shocking is investigated. Material parameters of the FGM hollow cylinder, except the Poisson’s ratio, are assumed to be graded continuously through the thickness according to the power law expressions, and they are assumed to be temperature dependent. The governing equation of the motion of the FGM hollow cylinder is obtained based on the plane-stain theory and together with the governing equation of the transient heat transfer problem is solved by the finite difference method, Newmark method, and iterative method. Numerical examples are carried out in which the Si3N4-SUS304 FGM hollow cylinders are considered, and some valuable dynamic thermoelastic characteristics of the FGM hollow cylinder subjected to symmetric or asymmetric thermal shocking are revealed.
Allostatic Load and Effort-Reward Imbalance: Associations over the Working-Career

Although associations between work stressors and stress-related biomarkers have been reported in cross-sectional studies, the use of single time measurements of work stressors could be one of the reasons for inconsistent associations. This study examines whether repeated reports of work stress towards the end of the working career predicts allostatic load, a measure of chronic stress related physiological processes. Data from waves 2 to 6 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) were analysed, with a main analytical sample of 2663 older adults (aged 50+) who had at least one measurement of effort-reward imbalance between waves 2–6 and a measurement of allostatic load at wave 6. Cumulative work stress over waves 2–6 were measured by the effort-reward imbalance model. ELSA respondents who had reported two or more occasions of imbalance had a higher (0.3) estimate of the allostatic load index than those who did not report any imbalance, controlling for a range of health and socio-demographic factors, as well as allostatic load at baseline. More recent reports of imbalance were significantly associated with a higher allostatic load index, whereas reports of imbalance from earlier waves of ELSA were not. The accumulation of work related stressors could have adverse effects on chronic stress biological processes.
Phased Genotyping-by-Sequencing Enhances Analysis of Genetic Diversity and Reveals Divergent Copy Number Variants in Maize

High-throughput sequencing (HTS) of reduced representation genomic libraries has ushered in an era of genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), where genome-wide genotype data can be obtained for nearly any species. However, there remains a need for imputation-free GBS methods for genotyping large samples taken from heterogeneous populations of heterozygous individuals. This requires that a number of issues encountered with GBS be considered, including the sequencing of nonoverlapping sets of loci across multiple GBS libraries, a common missing data problem that results in low call rates for markers per individual, and a tendency for applicability only in inbred line samples with sufficient linkage disequilibrium for accurate imputation. We addressed these issues while developing and validating a new, comprehensive platform for GBS. This study supports the notion that GBS can be tailored to particular aims, and using Zea mays our results indicate that large samples of unknown pedigree can be genotyped to obtain complete and accurate GBS data. Optimizing size selection to sequence a high proportion of shared loci among individuals in different libraries and using simple in silico filters, a GBS procedure was established that produces high call rates per marker (>85%) with accuracy exceeding 99.4%. Furthermore, by capitalizing on the sequence-read structure of GBS data (stacks of reads), a new tool for resolving local haplotypes and scoring phased genotypes was developed, a feature that is not available in many GBS pipelines. Using local haplotypes reduces the marker dimensionality of the genotype matrix while increasing the informativeness of the data. Phased GBS in maize also revealed the existence of reproducibly inaccurate (apparent accuracy) genotypes that were due to divergent copy number variants (CNVs) unobservable in the underlying single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data.
CalibNet: Self-Supervised Extrinsic Calibration using 3D Spatial Transformer Networks

3D LiDARs and 2D cameras are increasingly being used alongside each other in sensor rigs for perception tasks. Before these sensors can be used to gather meaningful data, however, their extrinsics (and intrinsics) need to be accurately calibrated, as the performance of the sensor rig is extremely sensitive to these calibration parameters. A vast majority of existing calibration techniques require significant amounts of data and/or calibration targets and human effort, severely impacting their applicability in large-scale production systems. We address this gap with CalibNet: a self-supervised deep network capable of automatically estimating the 6-DoF rigid body transformation between a 3D LiDAR and a 2D camera in real-time. CalibNet alleviates the need for calibration targets, thereby resulting in significant savings in calibration efforts. During training, the network only takes as input a LiDAR point cloud, the corresponding monocular image, and the camera calibration matrix K. At train time, we do not impose direct supervision (i.e., we do not directly regress to the calibration parameters, for example). Instead, we train the network to predict calibration parameters that maximize the geometric and photometric consistency of the input images and point clouds. CalibNet learns to iteratively solve the underlying geometric problem and accurately predicts extrinsic calibration parameters for a wide range of mis-calibrations, without requiring retraining or domain adaptation. The project page is hosted at this https URL
Integration of Carbon Nanotubes, Magnetic Nanocrystals, and Silicon Microstructures for Ultra-High-Resolution Magnetic Force Microscopy

Integration of Carbon Nanotubes, Magnetic Nanocrystals, and Silicon Microstructures for Ultra-High-Resolution Magnetic Force Microscopy NSF NIRT Grant 0103548 PIs: Kathryn A. Moler, Hongjie Dai, Thomas W. Kenny, and Moungi G. Bawendi Department of Applied Physics and Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford Department of Chemistry, Stanford Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
History of Blood Transfusion

IN a recent thesis (Thèse de Paris 1940, No. 344) on this subject, Dr. Edmond Ecale states that the history of the transfusion of blood is intimately connected with the discovery of the circulation. Although even in the prehistoric period the idea of the operation had been conceived, it was in the country of Harvey that the first scientific attempts of transfusion were made, namely, by Christopher Wren in 1656 and Edmund King in 1667. Jean Denis was the first to carry out transfusion from an animal to man in 1667, and was followed a few months later by Richard Lower in England, Riva in Italy and Kaufmann in Germany. Transfusion of blood was prohibited by the Châtelet edict in 1668, and almost fell into oblivion for nearly a century and a half. The first successful transfusion of blood from man to man, which was carried out by the obstetrician James Blundell in 1825, marked an important progress in the history of the method, and was performed with a syringe containing defibrinated blood to prevent coagulation. The introduction, however, in 1879 of intravenous injection of normal saline which was a simpler and safer method interfered with the progress of transfusion of blood for some time. After the beginning of the twentieth century, transfusion of blood was again revived on the discovery of agglutinins, iso-agglutinins, blood groups and blood incompatibilities, which enabled a correct choice to be made of donors and recipients, while the use of anti-coagulants, paraffined tubes and other refinements of technique led to the adoption of the perfected method employed at the present time.
Magnetic carbon nanotube labelling for haematopoietic stem/progenitor cell tracking

Haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) research has significantly contributed to the understanding and harnessing of haematopoiesis for regenerative medicine. However, the methodology for real-time tracking HSPC in vivo is still lacking, which seriously restricts the progress of research. Recently, magnetic carbon nanotubes (mCNT) have generated great excitement because they have been successfully used as vehicles to deliver a lot of biomolecules into various cells. There is, however, no report about mCNT being used for tracking HSPC. In this paper, we investigated the uptake efficiency of fluorescein-isothiocyanate-labelled mCNT (FITC-mCNT) into HSPC and their effect on the cytotoxicity and differentiation of HSPC. We found that cellular uptake of FITC-mCNT was concentration-and time-dependent. The uptake of FITC-mCNT into HSPC reached up to 100% with the highest mean fluorescence (MF). More importantly, efficient FITC-mCNT uptake has no adverse effect on the cell viability, cytotoxicity and differentiation of HSPC as confirmed by colony-forming unit assay (CFU). In conclusion, the results reported here suggest the further tailoring of mCNT for their use in HSPC labelling/tracking in vivo or gene delivery into HSPC.