Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coronary Heart Disease Prediction From Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels, Triglycerides, Lipoprotein(a), Apolipoproteins A-I and B, and HDL Density Subfractions: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Background—Despite consensus on the need for blood cholesterol reductions to prevent coronary heart disease (CHD), available evidence on optimal cholesterol levels or the added predictive value of additional lipids is sparse. Methods and Results—After 10 years follow-up of 12 339 middle-aged participants free of CHD in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC), 725 CHD events occurred. The lowest incidence was observed in those at the lowest LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) quintile, with medians of 88 mg/dL in women and 95 mg/dL in men, and risk accelerated at higher levels, with relative risks (RRs) for the highest quintile of 2.7 in women and 2.5 in men. LDL-C, HDL-C, lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], and in women but not men, triglycerides (TG) were all independent CHD predictors, providing an RR, together with blood pressure, smoking, and diabetes, of 13.5 in women and 4.9 in men. Lp(a) was less significant in blacks than whites. Prediction was not enhanced by HDL-C density subfractions or apolipoproteins (apo) A-I or B. Despite strong univariate associations, apoB did not contribute to risk prediction in subgroups with elevated TG, with lower LDL-C, or with high apoB relative to LDL-C. Conclusions—Optimal LDL-C values are <100 mg/dL in both women and men. LDL-C, HDL-C, TG, and Lp(a), without additional apolipoproteins or lipid subfractions, provide substantial CHD prediction, with much higher RR in women than men.
Polymorphisms in the Inflammatory Genes CIITA, CLEC16A and IFNG Influence BMD, Bone Loss and Fracture in Elderly Women

Osteoclast activity and the fine balance between bone formation and resorption is affected by inflammatory factors such as cytokines and T lymphocyte activity, mediated by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, in turn regulated by the MHC class II transactivator (MHC2TA). We investigated the effect of functional polymorphisms in the MHC2TA gene (CIITA), and two additional genes; C-type lectin domain 16A (CLEC16A), in linkage disequilibrium with CIITA and Interferon-γ (IFNG), an inducer of CIITA; on bone density, bone resorption markers, bone loss and fracture risk in 75 year-old women followed for up to 10 years (OPRA n = 1003) and in young adult women (PEAK-25 n = 999). CIITA was associated with BMD at age 75 (lumbar spine p = 0.011; femoral neck (FN) p = 0.049) and age 80 (total body p = 0.015; total hip p = 0.042; FN p = 0.028). Carriers of the CIITA rs3087456(G) allele had 1.8–3.4% higher BMD and displayed increased rate of bone loss between age 75 and 80 (FN p = 0.013; total hip p = 0.030; total body p = 3.8E−5). Despite increasing bone loss, the rs3087456(G) allele was protective against incident fracture overall (p = 0.002), osteoporotic fracture and hip fracture. Carriers of CLEC16A and IFNG variant alleles had lower BMD (p<0.05) and ultrasound parameters and a lower risk of incident fracture (CLEC16A, p = 0.011). In 25-year old women, none of the genes were associated with BMD. In conclusion, variation in inflammatory genes CIITA, CLEC-16A and INFG appear to contribute to bone phenotypes in elderly women and suggest a role for low-grade inflammation and MHC class II expression for osteoporosis pathogenesis.
Assessing the Role of Group Heterogeneity in Community Forest Concessions in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve

We use land use data from Guatemala to estimate the impact of a community forest concession policy on avoided deforestation when accounting for group heterogeneity. Our analysis includes communities with significant forestry experience, along with communities comprising recent settlers with primarily agricultural backgrounds. Employing a matched difference-in-differences approach, we compare deforestation in community concessions relative to a matched control area. We find the concession policy reduced deforestation throughout the study region, with the most significant effects in the recently settled concessions. While there is also evidence of leakage in this group, overall, there is a net reduction in deforestation. (JEL Q57)
Rate-Dependent Fracture at Adhesive Interface

Schallamach's theory of rate-dependent bond dissociation is used to understand the fracture of a polymer−glass interface. The model system consists of an elastomeric film (20 μm thick) of poly(dimethylsiloxane), chemically bonded to a silanized glass substrate. The fracture energy of the interface varies logarithmically with velocity, which is consistent with Schallamach's theory of forced bond scission. The activation energy (151 kJ/mol) of siloxane bond scission, as inferred from this study, is similar to that (147−180 kJ/mol) obtained from thermal de-polymerization and stress relaxation kinetics of the siloxane polymers. It is shown that the equilibrium threshold toughness of an interface is simply the product of the areal density of the polymer chains and the energy to dissociate a single bond. The well-known Lake−Thomas amplification of fracture energy by the number of bonds per chain can be understood only on the basis of the nonequilibrium aspects of the bond dissociation phenomena.
Voice authentication embedded solution for secured access control

The paper presents the concept of the embedded solution for voice biometric access system. The most important requirements for access control systems are presented, as well as the resulting design intent. The architecture of the system, its functionality and the methods used to verify the speakers is described along with a discussion of performance optimization methods of the implementation. Issues of voice biometrics and automatic speech processing are discussed as well.
A Milk and Ochre Paint Mixture Used 49,000 Years Ago at Sibudu, South Africa

Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, proteomic and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analyses of residue on a stone flake from a 49,000 year-old layer of Sibudu (South Africa) indicate a mixture of ochre and casein from milk, likely obtained by killing a lactating wild bovid. Ochre powder production and use are documented in Middle Stone Age South African sites but until now there has been no evidence of the use of milk as a binder. Our analyses show that this ochre-based mixture was neither a hafting adhesive nor a residue left after treating animal skins, but a liquid mixture consisting of a powdered pigment mixed with milk; in other words, a paint medium that could have been applied to a surface or to human skin. The significance of our finds also lies in the fact that it establishes the antiquity of the use of milk as a binder well before the introduction of domestic cattle in South Africa in the first millennium AD.
Simian virus 40 T-antigen DNA helicase is a hexamer which forms a binary complex during bidirectional unwinding from the viral origin of DNA replication

The role of simian virus 40 (SV40) large tumor antigen (T antigen) as a DNA helicase at the replication fork was studied. We found that a T-antigen hexamer complex acts during the unidirectional unwinding of appropriate DNA substrates and is localized directly in the center of the fork, contacting the adjacent double strand as well as the emerging single strands. When bidirectional DNA unwinding, initiated at the viral origin of DNA replication, was analyzed, a larger T-antigen complex that is simultaneously active at both branch points of an unwinding bubble was observed. The size and shape of this helicase complex imply that the T-antigen dodecamer complex, assembled at the origin and active in the localized melting of duplex DNA, is subsequently also used to continue DNA unwinding bidirectionally. Then, however, the dodecamer complex does not split into two hexamer subunits that track along the DNA; rather, the DNA is threaded through the intact complex, with the concomitant extrusion of single-stranded loops.
Not sugar, but salt: Pet-nurturing game model for student learning

In this paper, the relationship of learning and game activities is emphasized. The sugar design perspective is identified from the literature, and then we propose another salt design perspective. Based on the salt perspective, a pet-nurturing game, named My-Pet, is developed and applied to both Internet and one-to-one classroom. The results of these trial studies examined the system feasibility, and revealed that learners are motivated and interested in such game-based learning. Some implications about the tradeoff between two different perspectives and the possibility of using in formal schooling were also discussed.
Proxy-based authorization and accounting for distributed systems

A unified model is presented for authentication, authorization, and accounting that is based on proxies. It is shown that the proxy model for authorization can be used to support a wide range of authorization and accounting mechanisms. The proxy model strikes a balance between access-control-list anti capability-based mechanisms, allowing each to be used where appropriate and allowing their use in combination. The author describes how restricted proxies can be supported using existing authentication methods. <<ETX>>
Isolation of Murine Natural Killer Cells

This unit describes the isolation of natural killer (NK) cells from mouse spleen. The basic protocol describes a method for preparing a highly purified NK cell population from mouse spleen by depletion of contaminating cells with selected monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and magnetic separation. There are several advantages to this negative selection process. One of these is that the NK cells are not coated with antibody and, therefore, are not at risk of functional perturbation by antibody cross‐linking. Additionally, negative selection provides a way to isolate diverse subpopulations of NK cells without selectively purifying a specific subpopulation. Following enrichment, NK cell purity can be assessed by cell surface phenotype using flow cytometry. Curr. Protoc. Immunol. 105:3.22. 1‐3.22. 9. © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Effects of Personalized Avatar Texture Fidelity on Identity Recognition in Virtual Reality

Recent advances in 3D scanning, reconstruction, and animation techniques have made it possible to rapidly create photorealistic avatars based on real people. While it is now possible to create personalized avatars automatically with consumer-level technology, their visual fidelity still falls far short of 3D avatars created with professional cameras and manual artist effort. To evaluate the importance of investing resources in the creation of high-quality personalized avatars, we conducted an experiment to investigate the effects of varying their visual texture fidelity, specifically focusing on identity recognition of specific individuals. We designed two virtual reality experimental scenarios: (1) selecting a specific avatar from a virtual lineup and (2) searching for an avatar in a virtual crowd. Our results showed that visual fidelity had a significant impact on participants’ abilities to identify specific avatars from a lineup wearing a head-mounted display. We also investigated gender effects for both the participants and the confederates from which the avatars were created. CCS Concepts •Human-centered computing → Virtual reality; User studies;
Save and store personal experiences

The aim of this paper is to explore a concept of how visitors' personal experiences from a public environment such as an art museum easily can be saved for individual access at a later occasion. The advocated approach is to save experiences by using images of physical objects exhibited at museums as a trigger to remember personal experiences. Ethnographical inspired methods such as observation were used at the Swedish National museum to gain knowledge on conditions for saving experiences. This resulted in design implication and a suggestion of a design approach for future prototype work.
SAXS analysis of the tRNA-modifying enzyme complex MnmE/MnmG reveals a novel interaction mode and GTP-induced oligomerization

Transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) modifications, especially at the wobble position, are crucial for proper and efficient protein translation. MnmE and MnmG form a protein complex that is implicated in the carboxymethylaminomethyl modification of wobble uridine (cmnm5U34) of certain tRNAs. MnmE is a G protein activated by dimerization (GAD), and active guanosine-5'-triphosphate (GTP) hydrolysis is required for the tRNA modification to occur. Although crystal structures of MnmE and MnmG are available, the structure of the MnmE/MnmG complex (MnmEG) and the nature of the nucleotide-induced conformational changes and their relevance for the tRNA modification reaction remain unknown. In this study, we mainly used small-angle X-ray scattering to characterize these conformational changes in solution and to unravel the mode of interaction between MnmE, MnmG and tRNA. In the nucleotide-free state MnmE and MnmG form an unanticipated asymmetric α2β2 complex. Unexpectedly, GTP binding promotes further oligomerization of the MnmEG complex leading to an α4β2 complex. The transition from the α2β2 to the α4β2 complex is fast, reversible and coupled to GTP binding and hydrolysis. We propose a model in which the nucleotide-induced changes in conformation and oligomerization of MnmEG form an integral part of the tRNA modification reaction cycle.
An Evaluation of Local Shape Descriptors in Probabilistic Volumetric Scenes

This paper presents the first performance evaluation of local shape descriptors in probabilistic volumetric models (PVM) that are learned from multi-view aerial imagery of large scale urban scenes. The PVM offers a dense solution to the multi-view stereo problem, handling in a probabilistic manner the ambiguities caused by highly reflective surfaces, varying illumination conditions, registration errors, and sensor noise. A GPUbased octree implementation guarantees scalability of the PVM to large urban models, encouraging its application to higher level 3-d computer vision tasks. Furthermore, local descriptors form the basis of many shape-based applications and their performance has been studied extensively for images-based applications. Local descriptors have also been popular for 3-d shape understanding, but most 3-d descriptors have been used within the context of point clouds data collected with range sensors or polygonal meshes of CAD models. This work presents an investigation of the performance of several local shape descriptors in the PVM, which is learned from image data and where surfaces ambiguities are common and explicitly modeled. Descriptors are evaluated on accuracy for object classification using Bag-of-Words models. This evaluation forms a step towards the characterization of a new 3-d probabilistic representation for 3-d scene understanding.
Human IRGM Induces Autophagy to Eliminate Intracellular Mycobacteria

Immunity-related p47 guanosine triphosphatases (IRG) play a role in defense against intracellular pathogens. We found that the murine Irgm1 (LRG-47) guanosine triphosphatase induced autophagy and generated large autolysosomal organelles as a mechanism for the elimination of intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We also identified a function for a human IRG protein in the control of intracellular pathogens and report that the human Irgm1 ortholog, IRGM, plays a role in autophagy and in the reduction of intracellular bacillary load.
Thymic progenitor homing and lymphocyte homeostasis are linked via S1P-controlled expression of thymic P-selectin/CCL25

Thymic T cell progenitor (TCP) importation is a periodic, gated event that is dependent on the expression of functional P-selectin ligands on TCPs. Occupancy of intrathymic TCP niches is believed to negatively regulate TCP importation, but the nature of this feedback mechanism is not yet resolved. We show that P-selectin and CCL25 are periodically expressed in the thymus and are essential parts of the thymic gate-keeping mechanism. Periodicity of thymic TCP receptivity and the size of the earliest intrathymic TCP pool were dependent on the presence of functional P-selectin ligand on TCPs. Furthermore, we show that the numbers of peripheral blood lymphocytes directly affected thymic P-selectin expression and TCP receptivity. We identified sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) as one feedback signal that could mediate influence of the peripheral lymphocyte pool on thymic TCP receptivity. Our findings suggest a model whereby thymic TCP importation is controlled by both early thymic niche occupancy and the peripheral lymphocyte pool via S1P.
Materials inspired by mathematics

Abstract Our world is transforming into an interacting system of the physical world and the digital world. What will be the materials science in the new era? With the rising expectations of the rapid development of computers, information science and mathematical science including statistics and probability theory, ‘data-driven materials design’ has become a common term. There is knowledge and experience gained in the physical world in the form of know-how and recipes for the creation of material. An important key is how we establish vocabulary and grammar to translate them into the language of the digital world. In this article, we outline how materials science develops when it encounters mathematics, showing some emerging directions.
Statistical channel impulse response models for factory and open plan building radio communicate system design

Statistical radio channel impulse response models are presented for the analysis and design of wireless factory and open plan office communication systems. The models incorporate first- and second-order statistics to characterize the discrete impulse responses of indoor radio channels for both line-of-sight (LOS) and obstructed (OBS) topographies. The effects of large-scale transmitter-receiver separation distance, small-scale receiver movement, and models for the correlation of multipath component amplitudes over 1 m local areas are developed from 1.3 GHz measurements. SIRCIM, a computer simulator based on the models presented, has recreated multipath power delay profiles and CW fading profiles that are representative of measured data. Large-scale models for path loss are implicitly included in this work. >
Visual tracking for a manipulator using fuzzy rule-based system

A vision-based object tracking algorithm is proposed for a robot manipulator with stereo cameras, where the fuzzy rule-based systems (FRBS) are employed to represent the mapping from image features for the end position of the robot and the target to joint angle space variables for each angle of the robot. Wang and Mendel's (1992) rule extraction method is used in such a way that the initial rule table is built up with irregularly generated input-output pairs in a certain work space and updated every vision sampling time with newly generated input-output pair corresponding to the end position of the robot during operation. Once the rules are constructed, estimated reference joint angles can then be obtained using FRBS where image coordinates of the target object are applied as input variables, and then a PD control scheme can be used to generate control inputs to move the robot. Computer simulations and experiments were performed to illustrate the effectiveness of the method proposed.
Exploiting MMS Vulnerabilities to Stealthily Exhaust Mobile Phone's Battery

As cellular data services and applications are being widely deployed, they become attractive targets for attackers, who could exploit unique vulnerabilities in cellular networks, mobile devices, and the interaction between cellular data networks and the Internet. In this paper, we demonstrate such an attack, which surreptitiously drains mobile devices' battery power up to 22 times faster and therefore could render these devices useless before the end of business hours. This attack targets a unique resource bottleneck in mobile devices (the battery power) by exploiting an insecure cellular data service (MMS) and the insecure interaction between cellular data networks and the Internet (PDP context retention and the paging channel). The attack proceeds in two stages. In the first stage, the attacker compiles a hit list of mobile devices - including their cellular numbers, IP addresses, and model information - by exploiting MMS notification messages. In the second stage, the attacker drains mobile devices' battery power by sending periodical UDP packets and exploiting PDP context retention and the paging channel. This attack is unique not only because it exploits vulnerable cellular services to target mobile devices hut also because the victim mobile users are unaware when their batteries are being drained. Furthermore, we identify two key vulnerable components in cellular networks and propose mitigation strategies for protecting cellular devices from such attacks from the Internet
Likelihood based hierarchical clustering

This paper develops a new method for hierarchical clustering. Unlike other existing clustering schemes, our method is based on a generative, tree-structured model that represents relationships between the objects to be clustered, rather than directly modeling properties of objects themselves. In certain problems, this generative model naturally captures the physical mechanisms responsible for relationships among objects, for example, in certain evolutionary tree problems in genetics and communication network topology identification. The paper examines the networking problem in some detail to illustrate the new clustering method. More broadly, the generative model may not reflect actual physical mechanisms, but it nonetheless provides a means for dealing with errors in the similarity matrix, simultaneously promoting two desirable features in clustering: intraclass similarity and interclass dissimilarity.
Basic fibroblast growth factor induces osteoclast formation by reciprocally regulating the production of osteoclast differentiation factor and osteoclastogenesis inhibitory factor in mouse osteoblastic cells.

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) induced osteoclast formation in co-cultures of mouse spleen cells and osteoblasts. Osteoclastogenesis inhibitory factor (OCIF) and a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, NS-398, abolished bFGF-induced osteoclast formation. bFGF did not affect spleen cells, but it did affect osteoblasts, to stimulate osteoclast formation. Northern blot analysis revealed that bFGF up-regulated the expression of osteoclast differentiation factor (ODF) and COX-2 and down-regulated the expression of OCIF in primary osteoblastic cells. NS-398 abolished the increase of ODF mRNA, but it had no effect on the decrease of OCIF mRNA. NS-398 suppressed the binding of (125)I-labeled OCIF to osteoblastic cells treated with bFGF. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that bFGF inhibited OCIF production by osteoblastic cells, and the inhibition was not affected by NS-398. We conclude that bFGF induces osteoclast formation by stimulating ODF production through COX-2-mediated prostaglandin synthesis and by suppressing OCIF production through a mechanism independent of prostaglandin synthesis.