Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Magnitude of Stratification in Human Populations and Impacts on Genome Wide Association Studies

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) may be biased by population stratification (PS). We conducted empirical quantification of the magnitude of PS among human populations and its impact on GWAS. Liver tissues were collected from 979, 59 and 49 Caucasian Americans (CA), African Americans (AA) and Hispanic Americans (HA), respectively, and genotyped using Illumina650Y (Ilmn650Y) arrays. RNA was also isolated and hybridized to Agilent whole-genome gene expression arrays. We propose a new method (i.e., hgdp-eigen) for detecting PS by projecting genotype vectors for each sample to the eigenvector space defined by the Human Genetic Diversity Panel (HGDP). Further, we conducted GWAS to map expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) for the ∼40,000 liver gene expression traits monitored by the Agilent arrays. HGDP-eigen performed similarly to the conventional self-eigen methods in capturing PS. However, leveraging the HGDP offered a significant advantage in revealing the origins, directions and magnitude of PS. Adjusting for eigenvectors had minor impacts on eQTL detection rates in CA. In contrast, for AA and HA, adjustment dramatically reduced association findings. At an FDR = 10%, we identified 65 eQTLs in AA with the unadjusted analysis, but only 18 eQTLs after the eigenvector adjustment. Strikingly, 55 out of the 65 unadjusted AA eQTLs were validated in CA, indicating that the adjustment procedure significantly reduced GWAS power. A number of the 55 AA eQTLs validated in CA overlapped with published disease associated SNPs. For example, rs646776 and rs10903129 have previously been associated with lipid levels and coronary heart disease risk, however, the rs10903129 eQTL was missed in the eigenvector adjusted analysis.
Vehicle License Plate Location Method Based-on Wavelet Transform

Car License Plate Recognition (CLPR) is the key technology of the achievement of intelligent transport system, and vehicle license plate location plays a very important part in the whole Recognition system. The article presents an effective method based on wavelet transform to locate the vehicle license plate. Firstly, the general profile of Car License Plate is gained by extracting HxLy subband image after taking wavelet transform (vertical texture). Then, vertical profile will be smeared horizontally. Finally, the results of license plate location are obtained after 8-connected regional growth and filtering out non-text regions according to some prior knowledge. Experimental results show that the proposed method is robust to the different shooting conditions.
The “HPV Discussion”

Objective The dramatic rise in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma associated with the human papilloma virus (HPV) has brought significant change to the interaction between patients and head and neck oncologists. HPV-induced cancers are generally the result of elements from the patient’s sexual history, and otolaryngologists are generally less experienced than primary care physicians in addressing patient questions relating to sexual history and practices. This article addresses questions commonly posed by patients relating to HPV-induced head and neck cancers, issues related to HPV vaccination, and surveillance of HPV-related lesions. Supporting data are provided such that physicians may be better equipped to sufficiently address patient queries on this topic. Data Sources Available peer-reviewed literature and clinical practice guidelines. Review Methods Assessment and discussion of specific topics by authors selected from the Head and Neck Surgery Education Committee of the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. Results An educational “miniseminar” resulted in a notable increase in attendee knowledge and comfort regarding oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma counseling for patients in the setting of HPV-positive disease. Conclusions and Implications for Practice The dramatic increase in HPV-associated head and neck cancers has resulted in a changed paradigm of the physician-patient interaction. Care providers in today’s environment must be prepared to counsel patients regarding sexually transmitted diseases and high-risk sexual behaviors. Examination of the existing data provides the foundation with which to construct a framework in which physicians can effectively communicate information and recommendations as they pertain to HPV-related carcinoma.
User Behaviours Associated with Password Security and Management

Control mechanisms established on the boundary of an information system are an important preliminary step to minimising losses from security breaches. The primary function of such controls is to restrict the use of information systems and resources to authorized users. Password-based systems remain the predominant method of user authentication despite the many sophisticated and viable security alternatives that have emerged from research and development. However, the literature shows that passwords are often compromised through the poor security and management practices of users. This paper examines user password composition and security practices for email accounts. The results of a survey that examines user practice in creating and using passwords are reported. The results show that many users know about the risks of hackers, viruses and so on and take preliminary steps to combat them such as having passwords longer than eight characters. However, this appears to be as far as many users are willing to accede to the probability that their information and computing resources can be compromised. This paper makes some recommendations for the education of users in creating and maintaining their passwords. The responsibility for these educational programs can be shared between governments, organisations, educational institutions at all levels, and software vendors.
Symbol Recognition Combining Vectorial and Pixel-Level Features for Line Drawings

In this paper, we present an approach for symbol representation and recognition in line drawings, integrating both the vector-based structural description and pixel-level statistical features of the symbol. For the former, a vectorial template is defined on the basis of the vectorization model and exploited in segmenting symbols from the line network. For the latter, a Radon-transform-based signature is employed to characterize shapes on the symbol and the components level. Experimental results on real technical drawings are presented to show the promising aspect of our approach.
Analysis & characterization of a flow thermo-electrochemical cell for power generation & heat convection

In this thesis, I analyzed and characterized a new flow thermo-electrochemical cell that generates power from waste-heat, while in parallel convecting this heat away from the source. I also reviewed previous research on the topic of thermo-electric energy generation, governing physics behind thermo-electrochemical energy generation, actual device fabrication, device testing, results, and applications of this technology. Thermo-electric devices (TE devices) exhibit the thermo-electric effect, where temperature gradients and material properties work in tandem to drive electron transfer at electrode surfaces, thereby generating electricity. For example, a typical sold-state TE device such as a bismuth telluride TE device, can generate up to 0.300 mV/K [31]. New reseach has emerged [25, 26, 14] focusing on liquid-based thermo-electrochemical (TEC) cells that take advantage of the temperature dependence of oxidation/reduction chemical reactions to generate electricity. One of the major benefits of these TEC devices over traditional TE devices is a much higher S, = 1.5 mV/K; another is the low cost of manufacturing, making them promising for commercial applications. The new TEC device that I fabricated and studied utilizes a flowing electrolyte instead of a stationary electrolyte. With this new configuration, and a heated boundary condition, I studied both the energy generation and convective heat transfer capabilities of the flowing electrolyte TEC cell. Numerically I obtained a maximum power output and heat transfer coefficient for the TEC cell of Pmax = 2.6 pW and h = 340 W/m K which corroborates well with the experimentally found value of Pmax = 2.0 pW and h = 450 W/m2 . K. If employed in data centers, as a device for CPU cooling, with the given power output I found that a 100,000 ft2 data center can generate about 21.96 MWh of energy, which at a cost of 0.20 $/kWh can save a data center about 5,000 $/year. More generally, the application of this technology in locations where waste-heat is prevalent, will allow for energy recycling and consequent cost savings. Thesis Supervisor: Evelyn N. Wang Title: Gail E. Kendall Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Synthesis of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) Composite Membranes

Carbon nanotubes are attractive approach for designing of new membranes for advanced molecular separation because of their unique transport properties and ability to mimic biological protein channels. In this work the synthetic approach for fabrication of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composite membranes is presented. The method is based on growth of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) using chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on the template of nanoporous alumina (PA) membranes. The influence of experimental conditions including carbon precursor, temperature, deposition time, and PA template on CNT growth process and quality of fabricated membranes was investigated. The synthesis of CNT/PA composites with controllable nanotube dimensions such as diameters (30–150 nm), and thickness (5–100 μm), was demonstrated. The chemical composition and morphological characteristics of fabricated CNT/PA composite membranes were investigated by various characterisation techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Transport properties of prepared membranes were explored by diffusion of dye (Rose Bengal) used as model of hydrophilic transport molecule.
Mick gets some (the odds are on his side) (satisfiability)

Consider a randomly generated boolean formula F (in the conjunctive normal form) with m clauses of size k over n variables; k is fixed at any value greater than 1, but n tends to infinity and m = (1 + o(1))cn for some c depending only on k. It is easy to see that F is unsatisfiable with probability 1-o(1) whenever c>(ln 2)2/sup k/; the authors complement this observation by proving that F is satisfiable with probability 1-o(1) whenever c<(0.25)2/sup k//k; in fact, they present a linear-time algorithm that satisfies F with probability 1-o(1). In addition, they establish a threshold for 2-SAT: if k = 2 then F is satisfiable with probability 1-o(1) whenever c<1 and unsatisfiable with probability 1-o(1) whenever c>1. <<ETX>>
Lexical Normalization of Spanish Tweets with Rule-Based Components and Language Models

This paper presents a system to normalize Spanish tweets, which uses preprocessing rules, a domain-appropriate edit-distance model, and language models to select correction candidates based on context. The system is an improvement on the tool we submitted to the Tweet-Norm 2013 shared task, and results on the tasks test-corpus are above-average. Additionally, we provide a study of the impact for tweet normalization of the different components of the system: rule-based, edit-distance based and statistical.
GMM-PCA based speaker-timbre conversion on full-quality speech

This work addresses a study of the GMM-based approach to achieve full-quality speaker timbre conversion. In general, high-quality voice conversion requires accurate spectral envelope estimates, resulting in high-dimensional feature vectors and relatively high computational. Aiming to achieve lowdimensional processing, accurate envelope estimates of the speakers are mel-frequency scaled and projected onto the space defined by a subset of the principal components. The GMMbased features conversion is then performed in the reduced space. Our experimental findings confirm that this strategy provides benefits, especially observed on the resulting converted speech quality, with a significant computational cost reduction.
Fast Controller Switching for Fault-Tolerant Cyber-Physical Systems on Software-Defined Networks

In this paper, we propose a fault-tolerant mechanism that responds quickly to controller failures in cyberphysical systems that have a primary controller and multiple backup controllers for resilient control of physical objects. Using software-defined networking (SDN), the primary and backup controllers are configured to have the same IP address. In the event of controller failure, the other nodes, including physical objects, are not required to use the address resolution protocol (ARP) to find the media access control (MAC) address of the backup controller. The proposed mechanism enables the SDN controller to substitute the MAC address in frames destined for the primary controller with that of the backup controller on an SDN switch.
Inhibition of rat prostate carcinogenesis by a 5alpha-reductase inhibitor, FK143.

BACKGROUND Androgen levels in the prostate may influence carcinogenesis in this organ. Inhibitors of the enzyme 5alpha-reductase block conversion of testosterone to the more active androgen dihydrotestosterone. The use of a 5alpha-reductase inhibitor, finasteride, in the chemoprevention of prostate cancer is being evaluated in a clinical trial. PURPOSE This study was conducted to determine if a 5alpha-reductase inhibitor, FK143, inhibits the development of prostate cancer in rats. METHODS Male ACI/Seg rats, which spontaneously develop prostate cancer, were randomly assigned at 80 weeks of age to receive one of three diets (n = 35/group) containing 0 (i.e., control group), 20, or 200 ppm FK143. At 140 weeks of age, the animals were killed, and the prostates were removed and examined for histopathologic features in addition to being assayed for androgen concentrations. Two-sided statistical tests were used to calculate all P values. RESULTS The incidence of prostate carcinoma in the control group was 62.9% (22 of 35 rats); in the group fed the 20 ppm FK143-containing diet, it was 45.7% (16 of 35); and in the group fed the 200 ppm FK143-containing diet, it was 67.6% (23 of 34) (overall, P = .153). The corresponding incidences of macroscopic lesions were 17.1% (six of 35 rats), 0% (none of 35), and 23.5% (eight of 34), respectively (overall, P = .004). The incidence of macroscopic lesions in the prostates of rats in the 20-ppm diet group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P = .029) or that in the 200-ppm diet group (P = .003). Intraprostatic dihydrotestosterone content was significantly lower in rats in the groups fed diets containing 20 or 200 ppm FK143 (mean values: 4.51 and 4.33 pg/mg wet weight of prostate tissue, respectively) than in the control group (6.10 pg/mg) (overall, P<.001); by contrast, testosterone was higher in the 200-ppm diet group (2.09 pg/mg) than in the control group (1.08 pg/mg) or the 20-ppm diet group (1.21 pg/mg) (overall, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS FK143, when fed to rats at 20 or 200 ppm, significantly reduced the level of dihydrotestosterone in their prostate tissue. However, the incidence of macroscopic cancer in the prostate was suppressed in rats consuming the 20 ppm FK143-containing diet but not in those consuming the 200-ppm diet. The lack of dose dependence for the chemopreventive activity of FK143 may be explained by the reciprocal increase of tissue testosterone in the 200-ppm diet group. IMPLICATIONS The 5alpha-reductase inhibitor FK143 may, at specific doses, reduce the incidence of spontaneously developing prostate cancer; however, whether these findings in rats will apply to humans remains to be determined.
An Extensive Circuitry for Cell Wall Regulation in Candida albicans

Protein kinases play key roles in signaling and response to changes in the external environment. The ability of Candida albicans to quickly sense and respond to changes in its environment is key to its survival in the human host. Our guiding hypothesis was that creating and screening a set of protein kinase mutant strains would reveal signaling pathways that mediate stress response in C. albicans. A library of protein kinase mutant strains was created and screened for sensitivity to a variety of stresses. For the majority of stresses tested, stress response was largely conserved between C. albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. However, we identified eight protein kinases whose roles in cell wall regulation (CWR) were not expected from functions of their orthologs in the model fungi Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Analysis of the conserved roles of these protein kinases indicates that establishment of cell polarity is critical for CWR. In addition, we found that septins, crucial to budding, are both important for surviving and are mislocalized by cell wall stress. Our study shows an expanded role for protein kinase signaling in C. albicans cell wall integrity. Our studies suggest that in some cases, this expansion represents a greater importance for certain pathways in cell wall biogenesis. In other cases, it appears that signaling pathways have been rewired for a cell wall integrity response.
SRY in an XX male does not influence random chromosome X inactivation: Cytogenetic evidence. Definition of the boundaries of the translocated Y segment through FISH and PCR-RT in a case report and review of the literature

We report a case of an SRY positive XX male. The phenotype was completely masculinised except for the reduced facial hair; testes were small, and azoospermia was present. The patient’s metaphases, coloured with acridine-orange to reveal the late replicating X chromosome, were sequentially hybridised with SRY and X centromeric probes: a random X chromosome inactivation pattern (XCIP) was present, with SRY present about half the time on both the active X and the inactive X. The most likely hypothesis is that the translocated SRY gene escaped inactivation as part of the entire X Pseudo Autosomal telomeric Region 1 (PAR 1). This hypothesis can explain the masculine phenotype, which would be incompatible with a halved expression of SRY. Review of the literature about the association of 46, XX males with a specific XCI pattern is made. The analysis of region AZF and QF-PCR for Y polymorphic loci allowed us to define the boundaries of the translocated Y segment as restricted to the region around the SRY locus. Chromosomal fragility analysis, using SCE (Sister Chromatid Exchanges), ruled out chromosomal fragility as a predisposing factor in the proband’s father; in addition, no chromosome Y polymorphic variant (inversion, Y qh ＋/﹣), was present in the proband’s father. However, like the AZF region c microdeletions and PRKX/PRKY translocation XX males, a particular Y haplotype could be also in this case a predisposing factor.
Efficacy and safety of fixed-combination travoprost 0.004%/timolol 0.5% in patients transitioning from bimatoprost 0.03%/timolol 0.5% combination therapy

Purpose To determine the efficacy and safety of fixed-combination travoprost 0.004%/timolol 0.5% preserved with polyquaternium-1 in patients with insufficient response to bimatoprost 0.03%/timolol 0.5% preserved with benzalkonium chloride. Patients and methods In this open-label nonrandomized study conducted at 13 European sites, patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension with insufficient intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction during bimatoprost/timolol therapy were transitioned to travoprost/timolol (DuoTrav®) administered every evening for 12 weeks. Change in IOP from baseline to week 12 was assessed in patients who transitioned from fixed-combination bimatoprost/timolol (n=57, primary endpoint). Secondary assessments included change in IOP at week 4, percentage of patients with IOP ≤18 mmHg at weeks 4 and 12, change in Ocular Surface Disease Index and ocular hyperemia scores at week 12, and patient preference. Adverse events were also reported. Results IOP change (mean ± SD) from baseline to week 12 was –3.8±1.9 mmHg (P<0.001); results were similar at week 4. Most patients had IOP ≤18 mmHg at weeks 4 and 12 (78.6% and 85.5%, respectively). Mean Ocular Surface Disease Index score was significantly reduced (P<0.001); no significant change in ocular hyperemia score was observed (P=0.197). Treatment-related adverse events included dysgeusia, nausea, paresthesia, myalgia, headache, and eye irritation (n=1 each). Most patients (74.5%) preferred travoprost/timolol over bimatoprost/timolol. Conclusion Transition to travoprost/timolol significantly reduced IOP and was well tolerated in patients who had elevated IOP despite bimatoprost/timolol therapy. Polyquaternium-1–preserved travoprost/timolol was preferred over prior treatment with benzalkonium chloride–preserved bimatoprost/timolol.
How credit markets affect homeownership: an explanation based on differences among Italian regions

This paper focuses on housing tenure choices of Italian households and the extent they can be explained by liquidity constraints. When borrowing and lending rates differ from each other and from the implicit rate of interest paid by real assets, the structure of those rates influences the decision to buy a house. The empirical analysis is based on the Bank of Italy’s Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) and exploits regional heterogeneity in financial markets to asses their effect on households’ behavior. Empirical results find strong evidence that the interest rate spread interacts with the time path of resources and alters the desired age profile of housing tenure by discouraging or postponing the dwelling purchase by households with steeper resources time path. JEL classification: D1, G21, R21.
Performance of Waste Polymer Modified Road Paving Materials

The reuse of waste crumb rubber (CR) (used tyres) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) (plastic beverage bottles) is of particular interest in Trinidad and Tobago since present disposal techniques presents environmental and health challenges. The results of this study investigating the influence of PET and CR on the performance characteristics of the HMA2 pavement design using Trinidad Lake Asphalt (TLA) and Trinidad Petroleum Bitumen (TPB) filled an information gap as no previous studies utilizing these indigenous asphaltic materials exist. Existing information using asphaltic materials other than TLA and TPB are irrelevant as variations in performance characteristics due to the addition of polymeric additives can vary from asphalt to asphalt due to differences in source and chemical composition of the parent binder. The results of this study show that a 6% CR and PET addition achieved the highest performance advantage demonstrated by an increase in the Marshall Quotient of between 21–22% and an insignificant decrease in the Bulk Specific Gravity (0.2%) compared to the unmodified blend. The improvement in the mechanical properties and the performance of the modified pavement materials observed is evidence of the useful effects of these waste materials in road paving design and offer a beneficial strategy for the reuse of these waste materials.