Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recurrent Loss of APOBEC3H Activity during Primate Evolution

Adaptation of viruses to their hosts is critical for viral transmission between different species. Previous studies had identified changes in a protein from the APOBEC3 family that influenced the species specificity of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) in African green monkeys. We studied the evolution of a related protein in the same system, APOBEC3H, which has experienced a loss of function in humans. This evolutionary approach revealed that recurrent loss of APOBEC3H activity has taken place during primate evolution, suggesting that APOBEC3H places a fitness cost on hosts. The variability of APOBEC3H activity between different primates highlights the differential selective pressures on the APOBEC3 gene family. ABSTRACT Genes in the APOBEC3 family encode cytidine deaminases that provide a barrier against viral infection and retrotransposition. Of all the APOBEC3 genes in humans, APOBEC3H (A3H) is the most polymorphic: some genes encode stable and active A3H proteins, while others are unstable and poorly antiviral. Such variation in human A3H affects interactions with the lentiviral antagonist Vif, which counteracts A3H via proteasomal degradation. In order to broaden our understanding of A3H-Vif interactions, as well as its evolution in Old World monkeys, we characterized A3H variation within four African green monkey (AGM) subspecies. We found that A3H is highly polymorphic in AGMs and has lost antiviral activity in multiple Old World monkeys. This loss of function was partially related to protein expression levels but was also influenced by amino acid mutations in the N terminus. Moreover, we demonstrate that the evolution of A3H in the primate lineages leading to AGMs was not driven by Vif. Our work suggests that the activity of A3H is evolutionarily dynamic and may have a negative effect on host fitness, resulting in its recurrent loss in primates. IMPORTANCE Adaptation of viruses to their hosts is critical for viral transmission between different species. Previous studies had identified changes in a protein from the APOBEC3 family that influenced the species specificity of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) in African green monkeys. We studied the evolution of a related protein in the same system, APOBEC3H, which has experienced a loss of function in humans. This evolutionary approach revealed that recurrent loss of APOBEC3H activity has taken place during primate evolution, suggesting that APOBEC3H places a fitness cost on hosts. The variability of APOBEC3H activity between different primates highlights the differential selective pressures on the APOBEC3 gene family.
Undetectable Timing-Attack on Linear State-Estimation by Using Rank-1 Approximation

Smart-grid applications based on synchrophasor measurements have recently been shown to be vulnerable to timing attacks. A fundamental question is whether timing attacks could remain undetected by bad-data detection algorithms used in conjunction with state-of-the-art situational-awareness state estimators. In this paper, we analyze the detectability of timing attacks on linear state-estimation. We show that it is possible to forge delay attacks that are undetectable. We give a closed form for an undetectable attack; it imposes two phase offsets to two or more synchrophasor-based measurement units that can be translated to synchrophasors’ time delays. We also propose different methods for combining two-delays attacks to produce a larger impact. We simulate the attacks on a benchmark power-transmission grid, we show that they are successful and can lead to physical grid damage. To prove undetectability, we use classic bad-data detection techniques such as the largest normalized residual and the ${\chi ^{2}}$ -test.
On the channel capacity with MRC university in the presence of log-normally modeled co-channel interference

In cellular mobile propagation scenario, the presence of co-channel interference severely affects the throughput of the wireless system. Thus, it is essential to analyze the channel capacity of such link affected by the co-channel interference. It is also well known that the most appropriate model for capturing shadowing effect is lognormal (LN). In this paper, the closed-form expressions for the outage probability and the channel capacity with maximal ratio combining (MRC) diversity for different adaptive schemes are analyzed and investigated over the signal-to-interference (SIR) channel, where both the desired and the interferers channel are modeled as LN distribution. Firstly, the probability density function (PDF) utilizing the Fenton-Wilkinson method is derived, thereafter using these statistics, we have derived the closed-forms of the outage probability and the channel capacity under various adaptive schemes. Further, the lower bounds of the various transmission policies of the channel capacity are proposed. The analytical results are validated by comparing them with exact numerical results and Monte-Carlo simulations.
Efficient transmission of encrypted images with OFDM system

In this paper, an efficient way for transmission of encrypted images with a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) version of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system is studied. A comparison between encrypted images transmitted with FFT-OFDM system by using two famous encryption algorithms (i.e Data Encryption Standard (DES) and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)) is presented. The aim of this comparison is to select the most appropriate encryption algorithm for efficient transmission of encrypted images. While performing the simulation experiments, the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) at the receiver is considered as an evaluation metric for examining the decrypted image quality. From simulation results, it has been observed that, DES encryption algorithm is very much efficient in transmitting encrypted images through FFT-OFDM system over wireless radio channel.
Application of Task-based Instruction to College English Reading Teaching for Non-English Majors in Leshan Normal University, Sichuan, China

First raised in 1980s, Task-based Instruction (TBI) is an effective teaching method advocated by many foreign language researchers, focusing on the use of authentic language and on asking students to do various kinds of meaningful tasks through the target language. Based on a study carried out in Leshan Normal University, the writer proves that the application of TBI to college English reading teaching can greatly intrigue non-English majors, help them build their self-confidence in English study, cultivate their sense of cooperation in the process of carrying out classroom activities and tasks with their classmates and thus to improve non-English majors’ reading ability. In addition, some suggestions to TBI are also presented for further studies.
Cryptanalysis and Improvement of a Biometrics-based Multi-server Authentication Protocol

In 2015, Odelu et al. proposed an efficient biometrics-based authentication protocol for multi-server environment. They claimed that their scheme is secure against different possible known attacks and satisfies attractive security properties. However, in this paper, we prove that Odelu et al.’s scheme is vulnerable to offline password guessing attack and fails to provide three-factor security. To overcome these weakness, we propose an enhanced scheme by applying fuzzy verifier to local password verification in login phase. Security analysis shows that our proposed scheme not only maintains the advantages of the Odelu et al.’s scheme but also withstand the offline password guessing attack. Therefore, our improved scheme can provide three-factor security.
Deutschland Was macht den Mini-/ One-anastomosis-gastric-Bypass zu einem Standardverfahren ? – Evidenz zur Einschlingenrekonstruktion Zusatzmaterial online

Background. The Mini gastric bypass/One anastomosis gastric bypass (MGB/OAGB) was the third most commonly performed procedure in Germany, with 13.9% of all obesity and metabolic procedures in 2017 (StuDoQ|MBE). Objective. This article reviews the currently published evidence for MGB/OAGB and the historical evidence on one anastomosis reconstruction. Material andmethods. A systematic literature searchwas performed inMEDLINE via PubMed and in Clinicaltrials.gov. from inception to 13 March 2018. A total of 35 studies met the inclusion criteria: 19 retrospective studies, 8 retrospective comparative trials, 2 systematic reviews, 3 systematic reviews and meta-analyses and 3 randomized clinical trials. A total of eight randomized clinical trials regarding MGB/OAGB are currently registered at Clinicaltrials.gov. Results. In this study 35 eligible studies were included reporting data on >15,000 patients. The 30-day mortality rate ranged from 0–0.9% and severe complications needing intervention ranged from 0.8–7%, whereas perioperativemorbidity ranged from 3.2–10.8%. The use of MGB/OAGB induced substantial weight loss with a total weight loss of 31–38% after 1 year and 23–32% after 5 years. Moreover, it showed a resolution or improvement in all major obesity-related diseases. Studies evaluating endpoints, such as end organ damage in diabetes, reduction of cardiovascular events and extending survival are missing and are available only for the Roux-en Y gastric bypass. Conclusion. This systematic review confirms the advantages of MGB/OAGB regarding weight loss and the antidiabetic effect in the short-term in comparison to Roux-en Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. The role of bile reflux as a possible risk factor for neoplastic lesions in the long-term remains a point of discussion. The results of the registered randomized controlled trials will provide a better evidence in the future.
Case study on low pin count testing of industry transceiver chip

IC designs have been growing exponentially in size but the number of pins have not kept the same pace. This imbalance poses a difficult challenge when a design has very limited number of test pins but still requires a high quality testing. This problem is exacerbated when additional fault models like transition delay fault model are required for testing. This paper describes how a low pin count test controller was able to meet all these requirements to test a pin limited transceiver chip used in Qualcomm Technologies Inc.'s state-of-the-art chipset. The low pin count test controller supports at-speed testing with on-chip clock controller and exceeded the test coverage requirements for both stuck-at and at-speed testing by 1.22% and 2.16% respectively. During wafer testing, this test-pin savings enabled higher parallel testing of dies using multi-site testing which reduced the test-costs by about 1.6x.
Latent Heterogeneous Multilayer Community Detection

We propose a method for simultaneously detecting shared and unshared communities in heterogeneous multilayer weighted and undirected networks. The multilayer network is assumed to follow a generative probabilistic model that takes into account the similarities and dissimilarities between the communities. We make use of a variational Bayes approach for jointly inferring the shared and unshared hidden communities from multilayer network observations. We show that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms in detecting disparate (shared and private) communities on synthetic data as well as on real genome-wide fibroblast proliferation dataset.
Informational Opacity and Honest Certification

This paper studies the interaction of information disclosure and reputational concerns in certification markets. We argue that by revealing less precise information a certifier reduces the threat of capture. Opaque disclosure rules may reduce profits but also constrain feasible bribes. For large discount factors a certifier is unconstrained in the choice of a disclosure rule and full disclosure maximizes profits. For intermediate discount factors, only less precise, such as noisy, disclosure rules are implementable. Our results suggest that contrary to the common view, coarse disclosure may be socially desirable. A ban may provoke market failure especially in industries where certifier reputational rents are low.
The relationship between anxiety and acute mountain sickness

Introduction Whilst the link between physical factors and risk of high altitude (HA)-related illness and acute mountain sickness (AMS) have been extensively explored, the influence of psychological factors has been less well examined. In this study we aimed to investigate the relationship between ‘anxiety and AMS risk during a progressive ascent to very HA. Methods Eighty health adults were assessed at baseline (848m) and over 9 consecutive altitudes during a progressive trek to 5140m. HA-related symptoms (Lake Louise [LLS] and AMS-C Scores) and state anxiety (State-Trait-Anxiety-Score [STAI Y-1]) were examined at each altitude with trait anxiety (STAI Y-2) at baseline. Results The average age was 32.1 ± 8.3 years (67.5% men). STAI Y-1 scores fell from 848m to 3619m, before increasing to above baseline scores (848m) at ≥4072m (p = 0.01). STAI Y-1 scores correlated with LLS (r = 0.31; 0.24–0.3; P<0.0001) and AMS-C Scores (r = 0.29; 0.22–0.35; P<0.0001). There was significant main effect for sex (higher STAI Y-1 scores in women) and altitude with no sex-x-altitude interaction on STAI Y-1 Scores. Independent predictors of significant state anxiety included female sex, lower age, higher heart rate and increasing LLS and AMS-C scores (p<0.0001). A total of 38/80 subjects (47.5%) developed AMS which was mild in 20 (25%) and severe in 18 (22.5%). Baseline STAI Y-2 scores were an independent predictor of future severe AMS (B = 1.13; 1.009–1.28; p = 0.04; r2 = 0.23) and STAI Y-1 scores at HA independently predicted AMS and its severity. Conclusion Trait anxiety at low altitude was an independent predictor of future severe AMS development at HA. State anxiety at HA was independently associated with AMS and its severity.
Multimodal system using Radon-Gabor transform

Reliable person recognition schemes are demanding in variety of applications, either to confirm or determine the identity of an individual. This is still a challenging problem, addressed by many researchers using unimodal biometric. However, research shows that the performance of unimodal biometric systems is limited. To improve the performance, in the proposed work, multiple biometric modalities of a person are used. Particularly, face and palmprint are used as a biometric trait for the person recognition task. Multiresolution features based on Radon Gabor transform are proposed in this work. As the Radon transform is invariant to rotation and a Gabor transform provides the multiple orientations, the proposed feature improves the recognition rate up to 98%. At feature level, the fusion of face and palmprint is used. The Performance of the proposed system is evaluated on IITD, PolyU_Palmprint and Face 94 databases.
Modeling of ZnO based HIT solar cells with comparative analysis

The modeling of solar cell structure is an important factor for improvement the efficiency of solar cell. The objective of this paper is to improve the efficiency of HIT solar cell. The HIT solar cell structure with a-Si and c-Si heterojunction is very common. The Structure is ITO/a-Si(n)/a-Si(i)/c-Si(p)//a-Si(p)/ITO. This work is concentrated on the modeling of the existing structures by replacing the emitter layer a-Si(n) with ZnO(n) to achieve the higher efficiency. The band gap, mobility of ZnO is much higher than amorphous silicon(a-Si), so ZnO is better than a-Si as an emitter layer. The proposed structure ITO/ZnO(n)/a-Si(i)/c-Si(p)/a-Si(p)/ITO is modeled and observed a significant solar cell efficiency of 25.54%. The HIT solar structure is developed in AFORS-HET Simulating tool. The comparison between the existing structure and the proposed structure is reported in this paper.
Multimodal biometrie recognition using human ear and profile face

In recent years, many researchers have shown interest in combining features of different biometrie traits to improve recognition performance of the biometrie systems. In this paper, we examine the feature-level fusion of two contactless biometric modalities of the same image i.e. ear and profile face. Initially, two most efficient local feature descriptors such as LDP (Local Directional Patterns) and LPQ (Local Phase Quantisation) are used to represent both biometric modalities. Due to combination of two feature descriptors, dimension of the feature sets are increased and so PCA is separately applied to both modalities before normalization and fusion steps. Finally, to obtain more discriminant nonlinear features the Kernel Dis-criminative Common Vector (KDCV) method is employed after fusion to the combined feature vector. Experimental evaluation on University of Notre Dame (Collection E) side face database clearly reveals the proposed method is more efficient to increase the recognition performance over other existing ear based unimodal and multimodal biometric systems.
Detection of driver drowsiness in driving environment using deep learning methods

In this study, a deep learning method was used to detect sleep states of the drivers in the driving environment. A convolutional neural network (CNN) model has been proposed to determine whether the eyes of certain constant face images of drivers are closed. The proposed model has a wide potential application area such as human­computer interface design, facial expression recognition, driver fatigue-sleepiness determination. This method, which was developed on driver sleepiness data, has been applied on 4,846 real eye images in the Closed Eyes In The Wild (CEW) database. Commonly used CNN models are used on the same data to compare performances of the prepared model. According to the classification results obtained, 96.5% and 92.99% of the designed model achieved success and it is seen that this structure can be used in this problem area.
Reconstructing phonological change: duration and syllable structure in Latin vowel reduction*

During the fixed initial-stress period of Latin (sixth to fifth centuries BC), internal open syllable vowels were totally neutralised, usually raising to /i/ (*per.fa.ki.oː>perficiō ‘I complete’), whereas in closed syllables /a/ was raised to /e/, but the other vowels remained distinct (*per.fak.tos>perfectus ‘completed’). Miller (1972) explains closed syllable resistance by positing internal secondary stress on closed syllables. However, evidence from vowel reduction and syncope suggest that internal syllables never bore stress in early archaic times. A typologically unusual alternative is proposed: contrary to the pattern normally found (Maddieson 1985), vowels had longer duration in closed syllables than in open syllables, as in Turkish and Finnish, thus permitting speakers to attain the targets for non-high vowels in closed syllables. This durational pattern is manifested not only in vowel reduction, but also in the quantitative changes seen in ‘classical’ and ‘inverse’ compensatory lengthenings, the development CVːCV > CVC and ‘superheavy’ degemination (VːCCV > VːCV).
Performance analysis of OQAM based GFDM 5G systems under line of sight fading scenarios

As the world is moving towards everywhere and everything connected society, the fifth generation cellular systems is the leading technology to realize this dream. Generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM) is one of the physical layer waveform considered for 5G to overcome the deficiencies of the existing OFDM based 4G cellular systems such as Inter Carrier Interference (ICI) and Inter Symbol Interference (ISI). Already GFDM research proved that GFDM using Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) is more flexible and robust compared to the OFDM based LTE systems. In this paper, it is considered the performance of the Offset QAM based GFDM and the analysis of Symbol Error performance under various fading conditions. The performance of GFDM-OQAM system is evaluated for Outdoor fading profiles such as Highway Line of Sight (HLOS), Urban Approaching Line Of Sight (UALOS), and Rural Line of Sight (RLOS).
Assessing the performance of MM/PBSA and MM/GBSA methods. 8. Predicting binding free energies and poses of protein–RNA complexes

Molecular docking provides a computationally efficient way to predict the atomic structural details of protein–RNA interactions (PRI), but accurate prediction of the three-dimensional structures and binding affinities for PRI is still notoriously difficult, partly due to the unreliability of the existing scoring functions for PRI. MM/PBSA and MM/GBSA are more theoretically rigorous than most scoring functions for protein–RNA docking, but their prediction performance for protein–RNA systems remains unclear. Here, we systemically evaluated the capability of MM/PBSA and MM/GBSA to predict the binding affinities and recognize the near-native binding structures for protein–RNA systems with different solvent models and interior dielectric constants (εin). For predicting the binding affinities, the predictions given by MM/GBSA based on the minimized structures in explicit solvent and the GBGBn1 model with εin = 2 yielded the highest correlation with the experimental data. Moreover, the MM/GBSA calculations based on the minimized structures in implicit solvent and the GBGBn1 model distinguished the near-native binding structures within the top 10 decoys for 117 out of the 148 protein–RNA systems (79.1%). This performance is better than all docking scoring functions studied here. Therefore, the MM/GBSA rescoring is an efficient way to improve the prediction capability of scoring functions for protein–RNA systems.
Web5VR

The availability of consumer-level devices for both visualising and interacting with Virtual Reality (VR) environments opens the opportunity to introduce more immersive contents and experiences, even on the web. For reaching a wider audience, developing VR applications in a web environment requires a flexible adaptation to the different input and output devices that are currently available. This paper examines the required support and explores how to develop VR applications based on web technologies that can adapt to different VR devices. We summarize the main engineering challenges and we describe a flexible framework for integrating and exploiting various VR devices for both input and output. Using such framework, we describe how we re-implemented four manipulation techniques from the literature to enable them within the same application, providing details on how we adapted its parts for different input and output devices such as Kinect and Leap Motion. Finally, we briefly examine the usability of the final application using our framework.
Human Oncoviruses and p53 Tumor Suppressor Pathway Deregulation at the Origin of Human Cancers

Viral oncogenesis is a multistep process largely depending on the complex interplay between viruses and host factors. The oncoviruses are capable of subverting the cell signaling machinery and metabolic pathways and exploit them for infection, replication, and persistence. Several viral oncoproteins are able to functionally inactivate the tumor suppressor p53, causing deregulated expression of many genes orchestrated by p53, such as those involved in apoptosis, DNA stability, and cell proliferation. The Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) BZLF1, the high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) E6, and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5 proteins have shown to directly bind to and degrade p53. The hepatitis B virus (HBV) HBx and the human T cell lymphotropic virus-1 (HTLV-1) Tax proteins inhibit p53 activity through the modulation of p300/CBP nuclear factors, while the Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (HHV8) LANA, vIRF-1 and vIRF-3 proteins have been shown to destabilize the oncosuppressor, causing a decrease in its levels in the infected cells. The large T antigen of the Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) does not bind to p53 but significantly reduces p53-dependent transcription. This review describes the main molecular mechanisms involved in the interaction between viral oncoproteins and p53-related pathways as well as in the development of therapeutic strategies targeting such interactions.