Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Editorial Information Contents Joint Ercim Actions 4 Joint Ercim Emobility and Mobisense Workshop 6 Ercim Security and Trust Management Workshop

Image Special theme: Understanding ERCIM News is the magazine of ERCIM. Published quarterly , it reports on joint actions of the ERCIM partners, and aims to reflect the contribution made by ERCIM to the European Community in Information Technology and Applied Mathematics. Through short articles and news items, it provides a forum for the exchange of information between the institutes and also with the wider scientific community. This issue has a circulation of about 8,500 copies. Contributions Contributions should be submitted to the local editor of your country Copyright Notice All authors, as identified in each article, retain copyright of their work Advertising For current advertising rates and conditions, see Subscription Subscribe to ERCIM News by sending an email to en-subscriptions@ercim.eu or by filling out the form at the ERCIM News website: http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/
Vacuum Breakdown near a Black Hole Charged by Hypercritical Accretion

We consider a black hole accreting spherically from the surrounding medium. If accretion produces a luminosity close to the Eddington limit, the hole acquires a net charge, so that electrons and ions can fall with the same velocity. The condition for the electrostatic field to be large enough to break the vacuum near the hole horizon translates into an upper limit for the hole mass of M~6.6 × 1020 g. The astrophysical conditions under which this phenomenon can take place are rather extreme, but in principle they could be met by a mini black hole residing at the center of a star.
Communication and Coordination in Games with Third-Party Externalities

Decision-makers in coordination problems often impose negative externalities on non-decision-making third parties. This thesis investigates whether the introduction of pre-play communication in such coordination problems can work to alleviate such negative externalities, consequently increasing group welfare. Unlike previous studies, we find no significant effect following the introduction of communication in this laboratory experiment. Further, there is no evidence to suggest that communication opportunities heighten social image concerns. Such social image concerns might act as a mechanism to induce socially efficient behavior and alleviate negative externalities. A small subject pool and the nature of the communication technology employed are important factors to consider when interpreting the results.
The minimum mass for opacity-limited fragmentation in turbulent cloud cores

We present a new analysis of the minimum mass for star formation, based on opacity-limited fragmentation. Our analysis differs from the standard one, which considers hierarchical fragmentation of a 3D medium, and yields $M_{_{\rm MIN}} \sim 0.007\;{\rm to}\;0.010\,M_\odot$ for Population I star formation. Instead we analyse the more realistic situation in which there is one-shot fragmentation of a shock-compressed layer, of the sort which arises in turbulent star-forming clouds. In this situation, $M_{_{\rm MIN}}$ can be smaller than $0.003~ M_\odot$. Our analysis is more stringent than the standard one in that (a) it requires fragments to have condensation timescales shorter than all competing mass scales, and (b) it takes into acount that a fragment grows by accretion whilst it is condensing out, and therefore has to radiate away the energy dissipated in the associated accretion shock (in addition to the Pd V work done by internal compression). It also accords with the recent detection, in young star clusters, of free-floating star-like objects having masses as low as $0.003\,{M}_\odot$.
Assessing the Correlation between the Five Factor Model of Personality and Academic Performance

The authors examined the correlation between the big five personality traits and academic performance, specifically academic CGPA of college students in Pakistan. The results showed a small positive correlation between Conscientiousness and CGPA. Openness to Experience showed a small negative correlation while Extraversion and Agreeableness did not appear to be dominant factors in terms of their correlation with academic CGPA. Neuroticism was found to have a moderate negative correlation with student CGPA. These findings validate earlier studies in the area, which report a positive relationship between Conscientiousness and academic performance along with a negative relationship between Neuroticism and academic achievement. Similar to this study, research on the other three variables and their relationship with academic performance remains inconclusive.
Toll-Like Receptor 4 Mediates Maladaptive Left Ventricular Remodeling and Impairs Cardiac Function After Myocardial Infarction

Left ventricular (LV) remodeling leads to congestive heart failure and is a main determinant of morbidity and mortality following myocardial infarction. Therapeutic options to prevent LV remodeling are limited, which necessitates the exploration of alternative therapeutic targets. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) serve as pattern recognition receptors within the innate immune system. Activation of TLR4 results in an inflammatory response and is involved in extracellular matrix degradation, both key processes of LV remodeling following myocardial infarction. To establish the role of TLR4 in postinfarct LV remodeling, myocardial infarction was induced in wild-type BALB/c mice and TLR4-defective C3H-Tlr4LPS−d mice. Without affecting infarct size, TLR4 defectiveness reduced the extent of LV remodeling (end-diastolic volume: 103.7±6.8 &mgr;L versus 128.5±5.7 &mgr;L; P<0.01) and preserved systolic function (ejection fraction: 28.2±3.1% versus 16.6±1.3%; P<0.01), as assessed by MRI. In the noninfarcted area, interstitial fibrosis, and myocardial hypertrophy were reduced in C3H-Tlr4LPS−d mice. In the infarcted area, however, collagen density was increased, which was accompanied by fewer macrophages, reduced inflammation regulating cytokine expression levels (interleukin [IL]-1&agr;, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, interferon-&ggr;, granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor), and reduced matrix metalloproteinase-2 (4684±515 versus 7573±611; P=0.002) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 activity (76.0±14.3 versus 168.0±36.2; P=0.027). These data provide direct evidence for a causal role of TLR4 in postinfarct maladaptive LV remodeling, probably via inflammatory cytokine production and matrix degradation. TLR4 may therefore constitute a novel target in the treatment of ischemic heart failure.
Prevalence and determinants of valvulopathy in patients treated with dexfenfluramine.

BACKGROUND Valve regurgitation has been associated with dexfenfluramine, but its prevalence and severity are uncertain. Additional factors that may contribute to valve regurgitation in patients exposed to this drug are poorly understood. METHODS AND RESULTS Echocardiography was performed on subjects recruited from 26 prescribing sites in 15 states. The total sample of 412 subjects included 172 dexfenfluramine patients and 172 unexposed controls matched for age, sex, and body mass index and 68 unmatched subjects meeting the same entry criteria (51 dexfenfluramine patients and 17 controls). Mean treatment duration was 6.9 months; mean interval from treatment discontinuation to echocardiogram was 8.5 months. Each echocardiogram was interpreted independently by 3 echocardiographers. FDA-grade regurgitation (at least mild aortic regurgitation or at least moderate mitral regurgitation) was significantly more frequent in dexfenfluramine patients (7.6% versus 2.1% for controls; P=0.01; odds ratio, 3.82). This difference was primarily due to more frequent mild aortic regurgitation in dexfenfluramine patients (6.3% versus 1.6% in controls; P<0.02; odds ratio, 4.15). No differences were found in sclerosis or mobility for either the aortic or mitral valve. Factors independently related to FDA-grade regurgitation or any grade of aortic regurgitation were older age, higher diastolic blood pressure at the time of echocardiography, and shorter time from drug discontinuation to echocardiogram. CONCLUSIONS Dexfenfluramine use is associated with an increase in the prevalence of abnormal valve regurgitation. Age and blood pressure may also affect the prevalence of regurgitation. Dexfenfluramine-related valve regurgitation may regress after drug discontinuation.
SPEECH COMPRESSION USING WAVELETS

This is to certify that the project titled " Speech Compression using Wavelets " is a bona fide record of the project work done by Name University No. This is to certify that the project titled " Speech Compression using Wavelets " is a bona fide record of the project work done by Name University No. Date: iv PREFACE PREFACE Multimedia files in general need plenty of disk space for storage apart from being unwieldy for communication purposes and sound files are no exception. Hence compression of these files has become a necessity and is a ripe subject for research. The field of signal processing has enjoyed several analysis tools in the past. One of the more recent (and, needless to say, more exciting) developments in this field has been the emergence of a new transform, THE WAVELET TRANSFORM. In fact, its use is not restricted to signal processing alone, but ranges over such diverse fields as image processing, communications, mathematics, computer science to name a few. Wavelet transforms, in their different guises, have come to be accepted as a set of tools useful for various applications. Wavelet transforms are good to have at one's fingertips, along with many other, mostly more traditional, tools. This thesis considers the application of Wavelet transforms for the compression of human speech signals. It is part of the project on the said topic undertaken by a group of undergrad students. The study was by no means exhaustive, which is beyond the purview of undergrad study. It can also serve as a guide to understand the working of the software implementation of the project, which is provided in the accompanying CD. Note that you need MATLAB® Version 6 or higher to run the code. Other than this, the software is self-contained in terms of help files and source code, which facilitates alteration of the program to suit your needs. Chapter 1 is intended to serve as an introduction. Its main purpose is to define the scope of this project. v Chapter 2 presents the drawbacks inherent in the Fourier Methods. It is assumed that the reader is conversant with the Fourier methods. A specific example is taken wherein the shortcomings of Fourier methods become readily evident. Chapter 3 presents a detailed introduction to the wavelet analysis. It tries to compare Wavelet transform as a signal processing tool in view of its similarities and differences with …
Probability Density Grid-based Online Clustering for Uncertain Data Streams

Most existing stream clustering algorithms adopt the online component and offline component. The disadvantage of two-phase algorithms is that they can not generate the final clusters online and the accurate clustering results need to be got through the offline analysis. Furthermore, the clustering algorithms for uncertain data streams are incompetent to find clusters of arbitrary shapes according to the varieties of uncertain data streams. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel algorithm PDG-OCUStream, Probability Density Grid-based Online Clustering for Uncertain Data Streams, in which the summary information of uncertain data streams is stored in the probability density grid with relative statistical values. By setting the probability density threshold, clustering quality can be effectively controlled, and probability density grid structure is easy to be maintained and updated, so it can improve the efficiency of online clustering. In this paper we also use the count-based sliding window, which reflects the current situation of the uncertain data stream. System resources can be effectively saved by adjusting the step of sliding window. In addition, this paper defines grid probability density similarity to achieve initializing and updating clusters according to merging connected probability density grids, so the algorithm can distinguish between dense regions and sparse regions, and quickly find the clusters in the data distribution in real time. The experimental results show that PDG-OCUStream algorithm has fast online clustering capability while ensuring a good clustering quality.
Advances in the Treatment of Ischemic Diseases by Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Ischemic diseases are a group of diseases, including ischemic cerebrovascular disease, ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM), and diabetic foot as well as other diseases which are becoming a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the whole world. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been used to treat a variety of ischemic diseases in animal models and clinical trials. Lots of recent publications demonstrated that MSCs therapy was safe and relieved symptoms in patients of ischemic disease. However, many factors could influence therapeutic efficacy including route of delivery, MSCs' survival and residential rate in vivo, timing of transplantation, particular microenvironment, and patient's clinical condition. In this review, the current status, therapeutic potential, and the detailed factors of MSCs-based therapeutics for ischemic cerebrovascular disease, ICM, and diabetic foot are presented and discussed. We think that MSCs transplantation would constitute an ideal option for patients with ischemic diseases.
A NOVEL APPROACH FOR TEST CASE PRIORITIZATION USING PRIORITY LEVEL TECHNIQUE

— This paper presents a novel approach for test case prioritization using a simple mathematical prioritization level technique. In this we have identified a number of generic parameters under GUI, Database, Networking heads and taken into consideration a number of projects falling in a particular category of projects . For each of these projects falling under a given category, we utilize experts opinion to classify the level of user requirement concerning the parameters and the extent to which it has been satisfied by each of the projects, at the first instance, on a six scale basis. The information of all the tables is combined to generate a Project Specific Base Table (PSBT). Whenever a new project under the same category comes up, respective priority levels are assigned to each of these identified parameters, i.e. we prioritize the test cases concerning the identified parameters by utilizing the information from the PSBT and using some mathematical calculations.
Genomic Privacy and the Rise of a New Research Community

Recent breakthroughs in whole genome sequencing (WGS) have laid the foundations to improve modern healthcare and attain a better understanding of genetic features, as well as their relation to diseases. The increased affordability of WGS prompts institutions worldwide to build large datasets of digitized genomes, often obtained from donors, and make them available for different research purposes. It also enables private individuals who are motivated by medical reasons or personal curiosity to have their genome sequenced, thus breeding a novel market for consumer-oriented genomic tests. This progress, however, also raises alarming privacy and ethical issues: genomes not only uniquely and irrevocably identify their owner but also contain treasure troves of personal and sensitive information.
Intrinsic properties of germinal center‐derived B cells promote their enhanced class switching to IgE

Research on the origins and development of human IgE‐expressing (IgE+) cells is required for understanding the pathogenesis of allergy and asthma. These studies have been thwarted by the rarity of IgE+ cells in vivo and the low frequency of class switch recombination (CSR) to IgE ex vivo. To determine the main source of IgE+ cells, we investigated the relation between the phenotypic composition of tonsil B cells and the CSR to IgE ex vivo.
Cardiac Muscle Cell Hypertrophy and Apoptosis Induced by Distinct Members of the p38 Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Family*

p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activities were significantly increased in mouse hearts after chronic transverse aortic constriction, coincident with the onset of ventricular hypertrophy. Infection of cardiomyocytes with adenoviral vectors expressing upstream activators for the p38 kinases, activated mutants of MAP kinase kinase 3b(E) (MKK3bE) and MAP kinase kinase 6b(E) (MKK6bE), elicited characteristic hypertrophic responses, including an increase in cell size, enhanced sarcomeric organization, and elevated atrial natriuretic factor expression. Overexpression of the activated MKK3bE in cardiomyocytes also led to an increase in apoptosis. The hypertrophic response was enhanced by co-infection of an adenoviral vector expressing wild type p38β, and was suppressed by the p38β dominant negative mutant. In contrast, the MKK3bE-induced cell death was increased by co-infection of an adenovirus expressing wild type p38α, and was suppressed by the dominant negative p38α mutant. This provides the first evidence in any cell system for divergent physiological functions for different members of the p38 MAP kinase family. The direct involvement of p38 pathways in cardiac hypertrophy and apoptosis suggests a significant role for p38 signaling in the pathophysiology of heart failure.
Highly Dissimilar Behaviors Mediated by a Multifunctional Network in the Marine Mollusk Tritonia diomedea

Several motor networks have now been found to be multifunctional, in which one group of neurons participates in the generation of multiple behavioral motor programs. Not surprisingly, the behaviors involved are frequently closely related, often using the same or similar muscle groups. Here we describe an interneuronal network in the marine mollusk Tritonia diomedea that is involved in producing two highly dissimilar behaviors, rhythmic, muscle-based escape swimming and nonrhythmic, cilia-mediated crawling. Several observations support this conclusion. First, the dorsal swim interneurons (DSIs) of the swim central pattern generator (CPG) directly excite Pedal neuron 21 (Pd21) and Pd5, the only identified cilia-activating efferent neurons in Tritonia. Second, stimulation of a single DSI elicits beating of the foot cilia in semi-intact preparations and crawling in intact animal treadmill preparations. Third, the DSIs fire at an elevated rate for nearly 1 hr after a swim motor program, which correlates reasonably well with the period freely behaving animals were found to crawl after they swam. Fourth, silencing the tonically active DSIs after a swim motor program substantially reduces or eliminates ongoing cilia neuron firing, indicating that the DSIs are major contributors to the synaptic input driving these cells. Finally, all of the other swim CPG neurons also connect to the cilia neurons, most monosynaptically. Taken together, these observations indicate that the Tritonia swim CPG network participates in producing both escape swimming and crawling. Given the extreme differences between these behaviors—-rhythmic versus tonic, muscular versus ciliary, and brief versus prolonged—these findings reveal a striking versatility for a small multifunctional network.
Referential choice across the lifespan: why children and elderly adults produce ambiguous pronouns

In this study, children, young adults and elderly adults were tested in production and comprehension tasks assessing referential choice. Our aims were (1) to determine whether speakers egocentrically base their referential choice on the preceding linguistic discourse or also take into account the perspective of a hypothetical listener and (2) whether the possible impact of perspective taking on referential choice changes with increasing age, with its associated changes in cognitive capacity. In the production task, participants described picture-based stories featuring two characters of the same gender, making it necessary to use unambiguous forms; in the comprehension task, participants interpreted potentially ambiguous pronouns at the end of similar orally presented stories. Young adults (aged 18–35) were highly sensitive to the informational needs of hypothetical conversational partners in their production and comprehension of referring expressions. In contrast, children (aged 4–7) did not take into account possible conversational partners and tended to use pronouns for all given referents, leading to the production of ambiguous pronouns that are unrecoverable for a listener. This was mirrored in the outcome of the comprehension task, where children were insensitive to the shift of discourse topic marked by the speaker. The elderly adults (aged 69–87) behaved differently from both young adults and children. They showed a clear sensitivity to the other person's perspective in both production and comprehension, but appeared to lack the necessary cognitive capacities to keep track of the prominence of discourse referents, producing more potentially ambiguous pronouns than young adults, though fewer than children. In conclusion then, referential choice seems to depend on perspective taking in language, which develops with increasing linguistic experience and cognitive capacity, but also on the ability to keep track of the prominence of discourse referents, which is gradually lost with older age.
A non-binary turbo trellis code modulation-based 3-d map algorithm

This paper presents a non-binary Turbo Trellis Coded Modulation (TTCM) decoder-based multidimensional 3-D (Maximum A Posteriori) MAP algorithm. The proposed system deals with Non-binary error control coding of the TTCM scheme for transmissions over the AWGN channel. The idea of Non-binary codes has been extended for symbols defined over rings of integers, which outperform binary codes with only a small increase in decoding complexity. The basic mathematical concepts are necessary for working with Non-binary error-correcting codes are Groups, Rings and Fields. The simulation results show that the performance of the non-binary TTCM decoding algorithm outperforms the binary decoding methods.
Inhibition of Inflammatory Hyperalgesia by Activation of Peripheral CB2 Cannabinoid Receptors

Background Cannabinoid receptor agonists inhibit inflammatory hyperalgesia in animal models. Nonselective cannabinoid receptor agonists also produce central nervous system (CNS) side effects. Agonists selective for CB2 cannabinoid receptors, which are not found in the CNS, do not produce the CNS effects typical of nonselective cannabinoid receptor agonists but do inhibit acute nociception. The authors used the CB2 receptor–selective agonist AM1241 to test the hypothesis that selective activation of peripheral CB2 receptors inhibits inflammatory hyperalgesia. Methods Rats were injected in the hind paw with carrageenan or capsaicin. Paw withdrawal latencies were measured using a focused thermal stimulus. The effects of peripheral CB2 receptor activation were determined by using local injection of AM1241. CB2 receptor mediation of the actions of AM1241 was shown by using the CB2 receptor–selective antagonist AM630 and the CB1 receptor–selective antagonist AM251. Results AM1241 fully reversed carrageenan-induced inflammatory thermal hyperalgesia when injected into the inflamed paw. In contrast, AM1241 injected into the contralateral paw had no effect, showing that its effects were local. AM1241 also reversed the local edema produced by hind paw carrageenan injection. The effects of AM1241 were reversed by the CB2 receptor–selective antagonist AM630, but not by the CB1 receptor–selective antagonist AM251. AM1241 also inhibited flinching and thermal hyperalgesia produced by hind paw capsaicin injection. Conclusions Local, peripheral CB2 receptor activation inhibits inflammation and inflammatory hyperalgesia. These results suggest that peripheral CB2 receptors may be an appropriate target for eliciting relief of inflammatory pain without the CNS effects of nonselective cannabinoid receptor agonists.