Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Analytical Model for the Contention Access Period of the Slotted IEEE 802.15.4 with Service Differentiation

The IEEE 802.15. 4 standard is poised to become the global standard for low data rate, low energy consumption wireless sensor networks (WSN). By assigning the same sets of contention access parameters for all data frames and nodes, the contention access period (CAP) of the slotted IEEE 802.15. 4 medium access control (MAC) currently provides a priorityindependent channel access functionality and no service diiTerentiation. Several recent WSN applications such as wireless body sensor networks, however, may require service dilTerentiation and traf6e prioritization support to accommodate potential highpriority traffic (e.g., alarms or emergency alerts). By allowing dilTerent sets of access parameters and data frame lengths for differentpriority classes, this paper develops a Markov-chain-based analytical model of the CAP of the IEEE 802.15. 4 MAC with service dilTerentiatlon, under unsaturated traffic conditions. In particular, given two priority classes, our analytical model is used to evaluate the performance of a simple, yet eiTective, contentionwindow-based service dilTerentiation strategy, in terms of the resulting throughput, average frame service time and access priority for each priority class. The accuracy of the analytical model is validated by extensive ns-2 simulation.
Predicting Recidivism With Machine Learning: An Analysis of Risk Factors and Proposal of Preventions

Despite efforts to support the re-entry of prisoners into society, a significant proportion of released offenders eventually return to crime. To identify areas for improvement within correctional facilities, researchers are directing their focus towards recidivism, the tendency of an offender to recommit a crime. Although past studies have identified factors that are correlated to recidivism, there is still uncertainty about the most significant combinations of factors that drive it. Due to the complexity of this issue, the goal of our project is to create a machine-learning model to predict whether an individual will relapse into crime. Such a model will help experts study the effectiveness of specific forms of punishment and develop personalized correctional programs to target individuals based on their recidivism risk factors. We applied the Decision Tree, Random Forest, and Gradient Boosted Decision Tree algorithms to classify a prisoner as likely to recidivate or not, tuning the hyperparameters to optimize accuracy. To evaluate our hypotheses, we analyzed the top nodes of our trees and confirmed several of our initial predictions. Furthermore, we found that an individual’s relative placement in their community, such as the percentage of individuals in their community with lower or equal education levels, was a significant predictor of recidivism. The results of this research may help law enforcement officers make more informed decisions about how to allocate their resources based on predictions of recidivism.
Anti-Mullerian Hormone: Above and Beyond Conventional Ovarian Reserve Markers

Management of ovarian dysfunctions requires accurate estimation of ovarian reserve (OR). Therefore, reproductive hormones and antral follicle count (AFC) are assessed to indicate OR. Serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is a unique biomarker that has a critical role in folliculogenesis as well as steroidogenesis within ovaries. Secretion from preantral and early antral follicles renders AMH as the earliest marker to show OR decline. In this review we discuss the dynamics of circulating AMH that remarkably vary with sex and age. As it emerges as a marker of gonadal development and reproductive disorders, here we summarize the role of AMH in female reproductive physiology and provide evidence of higher accuracy in predicting ovarian response to stimulation. Further, we attempt to compile potential clinical applications in children and adults. We propose that AMH evaluation has a potential role in effectively monitoring chemotherapy and pelvic radiation induced ovarian toxicity. Furthermore, AMH guided ovarian stimulation can lead to individualization of therapeutic strategies for infertility treatment. However future research on AMH levels within follicular fluid may pave the way to establish it as a marker of “quality” besides “quantity” of the growing follicles.
Inactivation of viruses in platelet and plasma products using a riboflavin‐and‐UV–based photochemical treatment

Multilayered blood safety programs reduce the risk of transfusion‐transmitted diseases; however, there remains a risk of window period transmission of screened viruses and transmission of unscreened and emerging viruses from asymptomatic donors. To reduce this risk, a riboflavin‐and‐UV‐light–based pathogen reduction process was evaluated against eight viral agents.
Modelling and sample size reestimation for longitudinal count data with incomplete follow up

We consider modelling and inference as well as sample size estimation and reestimation for clinical trials with longitudinal count data as outcomes. Our approach is general but is rooted in design and analysis of multiple sclerosis trials where lesion counts obtained by magnetic resonance imaging are important endpoints. We adopt a binomial thinning model that allows for correlated counts with marginal Poisson or negative binomial distributions. Methods for sample size planning and blinded sample size reestimation for randomised controlled clinical trials with such outcomes are developed. The models and approaches are applicable to data with incomplete observations. A simulation study is conducted to assess the effectiveness of sample size estimation and blinded sample size reestimation methods. Sample sizes attained through these procedures are shown to maintain the desired study power without inflating the type I error. Data from a recent trial in patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis illustrate the modelling approach.
Protein Scaffolds Can Enhance the Bistability of Multisite Phosphorylation Systems

The phosphorylation of a substrate at multiple sites is a common protein modification that can give rise to important structural and electrostatic changes. Scaffold proteins can enhance protein phosphorylation by facilitating an interaction between a protein kinase enzyme and its target substrate. In this work we consider a simple mathematical model of a scaffold protein and show that under specific conditions, the presence of the scaffold can substantially raise the likelihood that the resulting system will exhibit bistable behavior. This phenomenon is especially pronounced when the enzymatic reactions have sufficiently large KM, compared to the concentration of the target substrate. We also find for a closely related model that bistable systems tend to have a specific kinetic conformation. Using deficiency theory and other methods, we provide a number of necessary conditions for bistability, such as the presence of multiple phosphorylation sites and the dependence of the scaffold binding/unbinding rates on the number of phosphorylated sites.
Sustainable Development in egg production : Perceived key challenges farmers face in Germany

The subject matter of this paper is a comparative review of egg production systems for theircontribution to sustainable development of egg production in order to assess the perceived challenges of eggfarmers in Germany. The thesis features a case study which presents two farms located in Germany, andimplementing different farming methods. The floor-range farming method and the organic system illustrate thisexample. The methodological approach is based on a three-phase framework, in which significant issuesconcerning sustainable development are presented (Phase 1), the significant issues are translated into sustainableindicators (Phase 2), and the contribution of sustainable indicators to sustainable development is assessed (Phase3). Phase 1 and 2 build on an extensive literature review and farmers consultation. Phase 3 relies on numericalcomparisons. A comparative analysis of the empirical data is based on theories and the developed conceptualframework. Based on the comparison of two specific farms, the results of this work indicate that the organicfarming system reveals the least negative contribution to sustainable development of egg production in Germany.The floor-range farming system shows a slightly more negative contribution to sustainable developmentcompared with the organic EPS. The organic farming system, therefore, is considered the better animal-friendlysystem. It is certainly noteworthy to mention that the organic system however fail to contribute to sustainabledevelopment from an economic perspective. Thus, the main perceived challenge for the organic farmer is tooperate his organic business in a more profitable way. The floor-range system on the other hand, succeeds tocontribute to sustainable development in economic terms, but fails to contribute positively from an ecologicaland social perspective. Therefore, the farmer operating the floor-range EPS needs to improve the ecological aswell as social conditions on his farm in order to achieve an equal positive contribution to sustainabledevelopment.
Dual mechanism controls asymmetric spindle position in ascidian germ cell precursors

Mitotic spindle orientation with respect to cortical polarity cues generates molecularly distinct daughter cells during asymmetric cell division (ACD). However, during ACD it remains unknown how the orientation of the mitotic spindle is regulated by cortical polarity cues until furrowing begins. In ascidians, the cortical centrosome-attracting body (CAB) generates three successive unequal cleavages and the asymmetric segregation of 40 localized postplasmic/PEM RNAs in germ cell precursors from the 8-64 cell stage. By combining fast 4D confocal fluorescence imaging with gene-silencing and classical blastomere isolation experiments, we show that spindle repositioning mechanisms are active from prometaphase until anaphase, when furrowing is initiated in B5.2 cells. We show that the vegetal-most spindle pole/centrosome is attracted towards the CAB during prometaphase, causing the spindle to position asymmetrically near the cortex. Next, during anaphase, the opposite spindle pole/centrosome is attracted towards the border with neighbouring B5.1 blastomeres, causing the spindle to rotate (10°/minute) and migrate (3 μm/minute). Dynamic 4D fluorescence imaging of filamentous actin and plasma membrane shows that precise orientation of the cleavage furrow is determined by this second phase of rotational spindle displacement. Furthermore, in pairs of isolated B5.2 blastomeres, the second phase of rotational spindle displacement was lost. Finally, knockdown of PEM1, a protein localized in the CAB and required for unequal cleavage in B5.2 cells, completely randomizes spindle orientation. Together these data show that two separate mechanisms active during mitosis are responsible for spindle positioning, leading to precise orientation of the cleavage furrow during ACD in the cells that give rise to the germ lineage in ascidians.
Quantification of membrane IHC stains through multi-spectral imaging

This work presents a fully automated approach to the quantification of the expression of antibodies in immunohistochemically stained tissue sections. Conventional RGB imaging was compared to multispectral imaging in the analysis of membrane stained tissue sections with high complexity, i.e. clustered and overlapping cells, and co-localization of stains. Preliminary results on more than 1700 cells suggest that multi-spectral imaging outperforms RGB imaging, particularly in complex and hard to segment regions.
Induction of Interleukin 10–Producing, Nonproliferating Cd4+ T Cells with Regulatory Properties by Repetitive Stimulation with Allogeneic Immature Human Dendritic Cells

The functional properties of dendritic cells (DCs) are strictly dependent on their maturational state. To analyze the influence of the maturational state of DCs on priming and differentiation of T cells, immature CD83− and mature CD83+ human DCs were used for stimulation of naive, allogeneic CD4+ T cells. Repetitive stimulation with mature DCs resulted in a strong expansion of alloreactive T cells and the exclusive development of T helper type 1 (Th1) cells. In contrast, after repetitive stimulation with immature DCs the alloreactive T cells showed an irreversibly inhibited proliferation that could not be restored by restimulation with mature DCs or peripheral blood mononuclear cells, or by the addition of interleukin (IL)-2. Only stimulation of T cells with mature DCs resulted in an upregulation of CD154, CD69, and CD70, whereas T cells activated with immature DCs showed an early upregulation of the negative regulator cytotoxic T lymphocyte–associated molecule 4 (CTLA-4). These T cells lost their ability to produce interferon γ, IL-2, or IL-4 after several stimulations with immature DCs and differentiated into nonproliferating, IL-10–producing T cells. Furthermore, in coculture experiments these T cells inhibited the antigen-driven proliferation of Th1 cells in a contact- and dose-dependent, but antigen-nonspecific manner. These data show that immature and mature DCs induce different types of T cell responses: inflammatory Th1 cells are induced by mature DCs, and IL-10–producing T cell regulatory 1–like cells by immature DCs.
Anomaly Detection in Streams with Extreme Value Theory

Anomaly detection in time series has attracted considerable attention due to its importance in many real-world applications including intrusion detection, energy management and finance. Most approaches for detecting outliers rely on either manually set thresholds or assumptions on the distribution of data according to Chandola, Banerjee and Kumar. Here, we propose a new approach to detect outliers in streaming univariate time series based on Extreme Value Theory that does not require to hand-set thresholds and makes no assumption on the distribution: the main parameter is only the risk, controlling the number of false positives. Our approach can be used for outlier detection, but more generally for automatically setting thresholds, making it useful in wide number of situations. We also experiment our algorithms on various real-world datasets which confirm its soundness and efficiency.
Tumor necrosis factor increases the elastolytic potential of adherent neutrophils: a role for hypochlorous acid.

Neutrophils adhered to biologic surfaces exhibit proteolytic cleavage of surface proteins even in the presence of proteinase inhibitors. Such proteolysis is restricted to the pericellular space and appears to require the dual action of proteinases and reactive oxygen species. The present study was designed to investigate the mechanism by which tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) stimulates neutrophil proteolysis. Tissue culture wells were coated with insoluble 3H-labeled elastin substrate. Human blood neutrophils (0.5 to 2.0 x 10(6) cells/ml/well) were incubated in the coated wells for 4 to 18 h at 37 degrees C in the presence of varying concentrations of serum or purified alpha 1-antitrypsin (A1AT). TNF (0 to 1,000 U/ml) was also present in the incubations. Elastin degradation was determined as soluble 3H-elastin fragments released into the supernatants. As previously reported, cells (no TNF) exhibited spontaneous elastolysis even in the presence of 1% serum or 4 microM AlAT. Compared with cells incubated alone (no TNF), TNF increased elastolysis 3-fold in the 4-h incubations and 83% in 18-h incubations. TNF also significantly increased proteolysis when neutrophils were concurrently treated with phorbol myristate acetate or N-formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine. Since TNF is known to prime neutrophils for hypochlorous acid (HOCl) release, the present study hypothesized that the enhancement of proteolysis by TNF was related to increased release of HOCl. First, TNF caused a 4-fold increase in HOCl release by neutrophils adhered to elastin surfaces. Second, the effect of methionine on elastolysis by adherent neutrophils was studied. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Differential scaling of the long bones in the terrestrial carnivora and other mammals

We measured the lengths and diameters of four long bones from 118 terrestrial carnivoran species using museum specimens. Though intrafamilial regressions scaled linearly, nearly all intraordinal regressions scaled non‐linearly. The observed non‐linear scaling of bone dimensions within this order results from a systematic decrease in intrafamilial allometric slope with increasing body size. A change in limb posture (more upright in larger species) to maintain similar peak bone stresses may allow the nearly isometric scaling of skeletal dimensions observed in smaller sized mammals (below about 100 kg). However, strong positive allometry is consistently observed in a number of large terrestrial mammals (the largest Carnivora, the large Bovidae, and the Ceratomorpha). This suggests that the capacity to compensate for size increases through alteration of limb posture is limited in extremely large‐sized mammals, such that radical changes in bone shape are required to maintain similar levels of peak bone stress.
Effects of frequency shifts on perceived naturalness and gender information in speech

In natural speech, there is a moderate correlation between the fundamental frequency and formant frequencies across talkers. The present study used a high-quality vocoder to manipulate these properties and determine their contribution to perceived naturalness and voice gender. The stimuli were re-synthesized sentences spoken by two adult males and two adult females. Scale factors were chosen for each sentence and for each talker to produce frequency-shifted versions with a specified mean fundamental frequency (F0) ranging from 60 Hz to 450 Hz in 10 steps, paired with 10 steps in geometric mean formant frequencies ranging from 850 Hz to 2500 Hz. Listeners judged frequency-shifted sentences as more natural when F0 and formant frequencies followed the co-variation of F0 and formant frequencies in natural voices. Sentences with low F0s and low formant frequencies were perceived as masculine, while sentences with high F0 and high formant frequencies were assigned high ratings of femininity. Sentences with “mismatched” F0 and formant frequencies were assigned ratings near the midpoint of the range, indicating gender ambiguity. Frequency-shifted sentences derived from male talkers received consistently higher ratings of masculinity than those derived from females, while sentences from female talkers received higher ratings of femininity, even when assigned scale factors appropriate for the opposite gender, indicating that factors other than F0 and mean formant frequencies contribute to perceived gender.
Validity of 2 devices for measuring steps taken by older adults in assisted-living facilities.

BACKGROUND This 2-part study examined validity of selected motion sensors for assessing physical activity in older adults residing in assisted-living communities. METHODS Twenty-one older adults (mean age = 78.6 +/- 13.1 years) wore the StepWatch 3 Step Activity Monitor (SW3) and the Yamax Digi-Walker SW-200 pedometer (DW). Part I compared accuracy of these devices for measuring steps taken over 161 m. Part II compared devices over a 1-day (24-hour) period. RESULTS In part I, the DW recorded 51.9% (r2 = -.08, P = .75) and the SW3 recorded 102.6% (r2 = .99, P < .001) of steps. In part II, the DW measured significantly fewer steps (1587 +/- 1057 steps) than did the SW3 (6420 +/- 3180 steps). CONCLUSIONS The SW3 pedometer was more accurate in counting steps and recorded higher 24-hour step counts than the DW pedometer. Thus, the SW3 is a valid research instrument for monitoring activity in the assisted-living population.
Study and Analysis of the High Performance Computing Failures in China Meteorological Field

China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has a long history of using High Performance Computing System (HPCS) for over three decades. CMA HPCS investment provides reliable HPC capabilities essential to run Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models and climate models, generating millions of weather guidance products daily and providing support for Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Monitoring the HPCS and analyzing the resource usage can improve the performance and reliability for our users, which require a good understanding of failure characteristics. Large-scale studies of failures in real production systems are scarce. This paper collects, analyzes and studies all the failures occurring during the HPC operation period, especially focusing on studying the relationship between HPCS and NWP applications. Also, we present the challenges for a more effective monitoring system development and summarize the useful maintenance strategies. This step may have considerable effects on the performance of online failure prediction of HPC and better performance in future.
Computing encrypted cloud data efficiently under multiple keys

The emergence of cloud computing brings users abundant opportunities to utilize the power of cloud to perform computation on data contributed by multiple users. These cloud data should be encrypted under multiple keys due to privacy concerns. However, existing secure computation techniques are either limited to single key or still far from practical. In this paper, we design two efficient schemes for secure outsourced computation over cloud data encrypted under multiple keys. Our schemes employ two non-colluding cloud servers to jointly compute polynomial functions over multiple users' encrypted cloud data without learning the inputs, intermediate or final results, and require only minimal interactions between the two cloud servers but not the users. We demonstrate our schemes' efficiency experimentally via applications in machine learning. Our schemes are also applicable to privacy-preserving data aggregation such as in smart metering.
TZee: exploiting the lighting properties of multi-touch tabletops for tangible 3d interactions

Manipulating 3D objects on a tabletop is inherently problematic. Tabletops lack a third degree of freedom and thus require novel solutions to support even the simplest 3D manipulations. Our solution is TZee - a passive tangible widget that enables natural interactions with 3D objects by exploiting the lighting properties of diffuse illumination (DI) multi-touch tabletops. TZee is assembled from stacked layers of acrylic glass to extend the tabletop's infrared light slightly above the surface without supplemental power. With TZee, users can intuitively scale, translate and rotate objects in all three dimensions, and also perform more sophisticated gestures, like "slicing" a volumetric object, that have not been possible with existing tabletop interaction schemes. TZee is built with affordable and accessible materials, and one tabletop surface can easily support multiple TZees. Moreover, since TZee is transparent, there are numerous possibilities to augment interactions with feedback, helpful hints, or other visual enhancements. We discuss several important design considerations and demonstrate the value of TZee with several applications.