Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identity-Based Threshold Proxy Signature from Bilinear Pairings

Delegation of rights is a common practice in the real world. We present two identity-based threshold proxy signature schemes, which allow an original signer to delegate her signing capability to a group of n proxy signers, and it requires a consensus of t or more proxy signers in order to generate a valid signature. In addition to identity-based scheme, privacy protection for proxy singers and security assurance are two distinct features of this work. Our first scheme provides partial privacy protection to proxy signers such that all signers' identities are revealed, whereas none of those t participating signers is specified. On the other hand, all proxy signers remain anonymous in the second scheme. This provides a full privacy protection to all proxy signers; however, each valid signature contains a tag that allows one to trace all the participating proxy signers. Both our proposed schemes are secure against unforgeability under chosen message attack, and satisfy many other necessary conditions for proxy signature.
C-Arm Cone-Beam CT-Guided Transthoracic Lung Core Needle Biopsy as a Standard Diagnostic Tool

AbstractC-arm cone-beam computed tomography (CT)-guided transthoracic lung core needle biopsy (CNB) is a safe and accurate procedure for the evaluation of patients with pulmonary nodules. This article will focus on the clinical features related to CNB in terms of diagnostic performance and complication rate. Moreover, the concept of categorizing pathological diagnosis into 4 categories, which could be used for clinical management, follow-up, and quality assurance is also introduced.We retrospectively collected data regarding 375 C-arm cone-beam CT-guided CNBs from January 2010 and June 2014. Clinical and radiological variables were evaluated in terms of success or failure rate. Pathological reports were inserted in 4 homogenous groups (nondiagnostic-L1, benign-L2, malignant not otherwise specified-L3, and malignant with specific histotype-L4), defining for each category a hierarchy of suggested actions.The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value and accuracy for patients subjected to CNBs were of 96.8%, 100%, 100%, 100%, and 97.2%, respectively. Roughly 75% of our samples were diagnosed as malignant, with 60% lung adenocarcinoma diagnoses. Molecular analyses were performed on 85 malignant samples to verify applicability of targeted therapy. The rate of “nondiagnostic” samples was 12%. C-arm cone-beam CT-guided transthoracic lung CNB can represent the gold standard for the diagnostic evaluation of pulmonary nodules. A clinical and pathological multidisciplinary evaluation of CNBs was needed in terms of integration of radiological, histological, and oncological data. This approach provided exceptional performances in terms of specificity, positive and negative predictive values; sensitivity in our series was lower compared with other large studies, probably due to the application of strong criteria of adequacy for CNBs (L1 class rate). The satisfactory rate of collected material was evaluated not only in terms of merely diagnostic performances but also for predictive results by molecular analysis.
Hydrodynamics of Aortic Blood Flow

A thermistor was used to record the temperature at regular intervals across the aortic diameter of dogs during the continuous infusion of cold indicator solution at various upstream locations. The results showed that the indicator mixed across the greater part of the diameter of the aorta in the ascending portion and proximal half of the arch but maintained a more streamlined pattern in the distal portion of the arch and descending thoracic aorta. These observations were confirmed by cineangiography. When two thermistors were located in different positions in the aortic root, and when cold saline was injected suddenly in their vicinity, the temperatures recorded by the two thermistors equalized immediately following the onset of systole. Sound waves also were detected during the systolic interval in the ascending but not in the descending aorta. These findings are consistent with the presence of disturbed, but not necessarily turbulent flow in the ascending aorta; and with predominantly streamlined, but not necessarily completely laminar flow in the descending portion. The factors producing disturbed flow in the aortic root and the transition of flow to a more streamlined pattern in the descending portion are discussed in hydrodynamic terms. It is postulated that during systole the blood ejected into the aorta separates from a slower moving boundary layer near the walls and at the edges of the valve cusps. This separation produces disturbed flow and mixing in the entering jet. While the thin layer adjacent to the walls as well as stagnant areas behind the valves do not fully mix with the central stream, they represent a relatively small proportion of the total aortic blood flow. Additional mixing is produced by the prominent backflow in early diastole and by the branchings of the coronary and brachiocephalic arteries.
Improved TODIM Method Based on Linguistic Neutrosophic Numbers for Multicriteria Group Decision-Making

The TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese for interactive multicriteria decision-making) method can consider the decisionmakers’ (DMs’) psychological behavior. However, the classical TODIM method has been unable to address fuzzy information such as the linguistic neutrosophic number (LNN), which is an effective tool to represent uncertainty. In this paper, an extended TODIM method is proposed to solve multicriteria group decision-making (MCGDM) problems in a linguistic neutrosophic environment. First, the definitions and characteristics of the classical TODIM and the LNNs are introduced. Then, an improved score function (SF) of LNNs is proposed. Furthermore, we obtain the combined weights of the criteria and aggregate individual decision matrices into a group decision matrix. The classical TODIM method is extended to address MCGDM problems with LNNs, and specific decision steps are provided. Finally, several examples are given to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed approach by comparison with some existing methods.
An enhanced molecular tension sensor based on bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET)

Molecular tension sensors measure piconewton forces experienced by individual proteins in the context of the cellular microenvironment. Current genetically-encoded tension sensors use FRET to report on extension of an elastic peptide encoded in a cellular protein of interest. Here we present the development and characterization of a new type of molecular tension sensor based on bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) which exhibits more desirable spectral properties and an enhanced dynamic range compared to other molecular tension sensors. Moreover, it avoids many disadvantages of FRET measurements in cells, including heating of the sample, autofluorescence, photobleaching, and corrections of direct acceptor excitation. We benchmark the sensor by inserting it into the canonical mechanosensing focal adhesion protein vinculin, observing highly resolved gradients of tensional changes across focal adhesions. We anticipate that the BRET-TS will expand the toolkit available to study mechanotransduction at a molecular level and allow potential extension to an in vivo context.
Examining English Teacher Professionalism through Dialogic Narrative Inquiry: A Case from Sabah, Malaysia

This study reports the examination of the professionalism of a local English teacher in Sabah, Malaysia, through dialogic narrative inquiry. The purpose of this examination is to understand ways in which professionalism of a local English teacher in a setting where English is minimally spoken is enacted in light of different social entities and objects, as well as prescriptive expectations. Narratives from the teacher, Misha, concerning her teaching were collected over seven months. Subsequently, the narratives were restoried by the researcher and Misha over four months, resulting in narrative constellations which described variables that affected Misha professionally. The constellations are Misha’s self, her students, her colleagues and the English Teaching Assistant, as well as the prescribed materials and pedagogy. The findings support the notion that teacher professionalism is a dynamic and multi-faceted construct. Furthermore, the study provides an avenue for the legitimization of an English language teacher through thoughts and actions reflected through narratives. Keywords: Local English teacher; dialogic narrative inquiry; narrative constellation; teacher professionalism; teacher identity
Computer cursor control by motor cortical signals in humans with tetraplegia

A direct neural interface system (NIS) promises to provide communication and independence to persons with paralysis by harnessing intact motor cortical signals to enable controlling prosthetic devices. An intracortical NIS aims to achieve this by sensing extracellular neuronal signals through chronically implanted microelectrodes and by decoding the spiking activity of neurons into prosthetic control signals. In non-human primate studies, decoding has been performed by finding a relationship between neuronal signals and actual limb movements. However, such decoding approaches face challenges in the case of paralyzed persons where there is no true movement information. Specifically, we have focused on dealing with several key questions in decoding of neural activity in humans with paralysis: what movement parameters should be decoded? ; which decoding algorithms lead to more accurate estimation of movement parameters? ; how do we train decoding algorithms without observing actual movement parameters? ; and how many control parameters can be decoded from a single neural ensemble? In this paper, we summarize our recent studies to address these questions to improve decoding performance, which enables a human with tetraplegia to drive a 2D computer cursor to an arbitrary position and execute a “click” on the area of interest.
Improved Sentence-Level Arabic Dialect Classification

The paper presents work on improved sentence-level dialect classification of Egyptian Arabic (ARZ) vs. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Our approach is based on binary feature functions that can be implemented with a minimal amount of task-specific knowledge. We train a featurerich linear classifier based on a linear support-vector machine (linear SVM) approach. Our best system achieves an accuracy of 89.1 % on the Arabic Online Commentary (AOC) dataset (Zaidan and Callison-Burch, 2011) using 10-fold stratified cross validation: a 1.3 % absolute accuracy improvement over the results published by (Zaidan and Callison-Burch, 2014). We also evaluate the classifier on dialect data from an additional data source. Here, we find that features which measure the informalness of a sentence actually decrease classification accuracy significantly.
Performance analysis and mode selection of SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO in 802.11ac

IEEE 802.11ac, also known as gigabit Wi-Fi is the latest and emerging wireless local area network (WLAN) standard. The Very High Throughput (VHT) of the order of Gbps can be achieved primarily with two important modifications when compared with the previous 802.11n standard. The first one is the increased number of spatial streams (8 as compared to 4 in 11n standard) and the second one is the support for multi user - multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO). This paper places key discussions and simulation results pertaining to these two objectives. It also compares the performance of MU-MIMO and single user - multiple input multiple output (SU-MIMO) precoding techniques assuming perfect Channel State Information at the Transmitter (CSIT) for both high and low correlation channels. The paper also introduces a novel algorithm that optimizes the various precoding algorithms by reducing the computational calculations with the mathematical background for the capacity calculations. By analyzing the performances of various precoding schemes used for SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO, the mode switching SNR can be found out. This quantitative measure of SNR is certainly a powerful measure to choose between SU and MU-MIMO and also to serve all the users to the best possible extent. Also, estimation of the mode selection with very less computational effort highlights the advantages of the algorithm over the existing algorithms.
A trade-off between flight capability and reproduction in males of a wing-dimorphic insect.

The widespread occurrence of dispersal polymorphisms among insects is consistent with the hypothesis that fitness costs are associated with flight capability. Al- though trade-offs between flight capability and reproduction are well documented in the females of many wing-polymorphic insect species, the relationship between dispersal ca- pability and reproductive success in males is poorly established. Here we examine the potential cost of flight capability in males of the salt-marsh-inhabiting planthopper Pro- kelisia dolus (Hemiptera: Delphacidae). This species exhibits a dispersal polymorphism with both flightless adults (brachypters) and migratory adults (macropters) occurring in populations. In a competitive setting in the laboratory, brachypterous males exhibited a threefold mating advantage over macropterous males; they obtained 77% of the matings with bra- chypterous females. This mating advantage resulted, in part, from brachypterous males aggressively displacing rival macropters during courtship. There was also a nonsignificant tendency for brachypterous males to arrive before macropterous males to court a calling female. Neither female rejection behavior nor male body size appeared to contribute to the mating advantage of brachypterous males. When macropterous females were contested, the mating advantage of the male wing forms changed and macropterous males obtained the majority of matings. Thus, there was evidence for assortative mating based on wing form. When placed with ten brachypterous females, brachypterous males sired twice as many offspring as did macropterous males. This advantage was due to brachypters siring more offspring per female and not from inseminating more females; hence differences in sperm load between the male wing forms are implicated in the siring advantage of brachypters. There was, however, no tendency for brachypterous males to survive longer than their macropterous counterparts; thus, differences in longevity did not contribute to enhanced siring ability. Overall, these results provide support for a trade-off between dispersal ca- pability and reproductive success in males.
A fully integrated 2.4-GHz CMOS diversity receiver with a novel antenna selection

A new low-complexity antenna diversity architecture, using a 2.4-GHz single low-IF receiver chain with a novel antenna selection scheme, is exploited by using 0.18-µm CMOS technology. The receiver has been developed for the IEEE standard 802.15. 4 radio system and two RF input channels are selected through an efficient analog-type antenna selection scheme for achieving the diversity. Compared to conventional receivers without diversity, 10∼15 dB improvement of the received signal strength (RSS) has been measured for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) channels. By incorporating a wake-up function for the baseband blocks, the receiver operates at a very low power of 8.5 mW, with a 1.8 V power supply in the standby mode for receiving. The antenna selection error is negligible (≪1 %) and the antenna selection time is very fast (≪20 µs).
Disclosure of traumas and immune function: health implications for psychotherapy.

Can psychotherapy reduce the incidence of health problems? A general model of psychosomatics assumes that inhibiting or holding back one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors is associated with long-term stress and disease. Actively confronting upsetting experiences--through writing or talking-is hypothesized to reduce the negative effects of inhibition. Fifty healthy undergraduates were assigned to write about either traumatic experiences or superficial topics for 4 consecutive days. Two measures of cellular immune-system function and health center visits suggested that confronting traumatic experiences was physically beneficial. The implications for psychotherapy as a preventive treatment for health problems are discussed. There is little doubt that psychotherapy reduces subjective distress and yields positive behavioral outcomes. In recent years, a small group of researchers has sought to learn whether psychotherapy can also reduce health problems. Two promising reviews have indicated that the use of mental health services is associated with fewer medical visits, fewer days of hospitalization, and lower overall medical costs. In a summary of 15 studies published between 1965 and 1980, Mumford, Schlesinger, and Glass (1981) found that individuals who underwent psychotherapy evidenced a 13% decrease in medical utilization relative to nonpsychotherapy control subjects. Similarly, in a review of 13 studies of mental health services that were introduced into organizations, Jones and Vischi (1980) found that psychotherapy was associated with a 20% drop in medical utilization.
Strong Consistency of the Maximum Likelihood Estimator for Finite Mixtures of Location–Scale Distributions When Penalty is Imposed on the Ratios of the Scale Parameters

Abstract. In finite mixtures of location–scale distributions, if there is no constraint or penalty on the parameters, then the maximum likelihood estimator does not exist because the likelihood is unbounded. To avoid this problem, we consider a penalized likelihood, where the penalty is a function of the minimum of the ratios of the scale parameters and the sample size. It is shown that the penalized maximum likelihood estimator is strongly consistent. We also analyse the consistency of a penalized maximum likelihood estimator where the penalty is imposed on the scale parameters themselves.
Simultaneous registration and fusion of radar and ESM by EM-EKS

In this paper, we present an approach for radar and electronic support measure (ESM) simultaneous registration and fusion. An expectation-maximization based extended Kalman smoother (EM-EKS) is developed here to perform fusing of the system states and to simultaneously estimate the sensor biases. Computer simulations are carried out to validate the efficiencies and robustness of the proposed algorithm.
Manganese and Parkinson’s Disease: A Critical Review and New Findings

Background Excess accumulation of manganese (Mn) in the brain results in a neurological syndrome with cognitive, psychiatric, and movement abnormalities. The highest concentrations of Mn in the brain are achieved in the basal ganglia, which may precipitate a form of parkinsonism with some clinical features that are similar and some that are different to those in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Recently, scientists have debated the possibility that Mn may have an etiological role in PD or that it may accelerate the expression of PD. Objective The goal of this review was to examine whether chronic Mn exposure produces dopamine neuron degeneration and PD or whether it has a distinct neuropathology and clinical presentation. Data source I reviewed available clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropathological studies in humans and nonhuman primates exposed to Mn or other human conditions that result in elevated brain Mn concentrations. Data extraction Human and nonhuman primate literature was examined to compare clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropathological changes associated with Mn-induced parkinsonism. Data synthesis Clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropathological evidence was used to examine whether Mn-induced parkinsonism involves degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system as is the case in PD. Conclusions The overwhelming evidence shows that Mn-induced parkinsonism does not involve degeneration of midbrain dopamine neurons and that l-dopa is not an effective therapy. New evidence is presented on a putative mechanism by which Mn may produce movement abnormalities. Confirmation of this hypothesis in humans is essential to make rational decisions about treatment, devise effective therapeutic strategies, and set regulatory guidelines.
Functioning of a Shallow-Water Sediment System during Experimental Warming and Nutrient Enrichment

Effects of warming and nutrient enrichment on intact unvegetated shallow-water sediment were investigated for 5 weeks in the autumn under simulated natural field conditions, with a main focus on trophic state and benthic nitrogen cycling. In a flow-through system, sediment was exposed to either seawater at ambient temperature or seawater heated 4°C above ambient, with either natural or nutrient enriched water. Sediment–water fluxes of oxygen and inorganic nutrients, nitrogen mineralization, and denitrification were measured. Warming resulted in an earlier shift to net heterotrophy due to increased community respiration; primary production was not affected by temperature but (slightly) by nutrient enrichment. The heterotrophic state was, however, not further strengthened by warming, but was rather weakened, probably because increased mineralization induced a shortage of labile organic matter. Climate-related warming of seawater during autumn could therefore, in contrast to previous predictions, induce shorter but more intensive heterotrophic periods in shallow-water sediments, followed by longer autotrophic periods. Increased nitrogen mineralization and subsequent effluxes of ammonium during warming suggested a preferential response of organisms driving nitrogen mineralization when compared to sinks of ammonium such as nitrification and algal assimilation. Warming and nutrient enrichment resulted in non-additive effects on nitrogen mineralization and denitrification (synergism), as well as on benthic fluxes of phosphate (antagonism). The mode of interaction appears to be related to the trophic level of the organisms that are the main drivers of the affected processes. Despite the weak response of benthic microalgae to both warming and nutrient enrichment, the assimilation of nitrogen by microalgae was similar in magnitude to rates of nitrogen mineralization. This implies a sustained filter function and retention capacity of nutrients by the sediment.
Acceleration of conjugate gradient method for circuit simulation using CUDA

The Conjugate Gradient method is a popular iterative method to solve a system of linear equations and is used in a variety of applications. The DC Analyser is a circuit simulator built at IIT Bombay to solve large circuits containing resistances, voltage and current sources and which employs the conjugate gradient method. Current generation of graphics cards offer extremely high raw processing power and memory bandwidths compared to conventional CPUs. We have accelerated the conjugate gradient part of the DC Analyser using an Nvidia GTX 280 GPU and the new CUDA technology and successfully obtained a speedup of over 10x for the CG method and more than 4x for the entire application for very large circuits when compared to a single-threaded CPU implementation.
Salt-and-pepper noise removing by Shepard interpolation method

In this paper, the salt-and-pepper noise is removed by Shepard interpolation method. Our method has three steps. The first step, the noise location of the noisy image is detected by applying the adaptive median filter. The second step, the corrupted image is split into sub-regions. The window size of each sub-region is defined by the noise density. Finally, the new pixel value of each noisy pixel which locates in each sub-regions is calculated by Shepard method. The experiment results demonstrate the good performance some recent methods.