Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated verification of continuous and hybrid dynamical systems

The standard method used for verifying the behaviour of a dynamical system is simulation. But simulation can check only a finite number of operating conditions and system parameters, leading to a potentially incomplete verification result. This dissertation presents several automated theorem proving based methods that can, in contrast to simulation, completely guarantee the safety of a dynamical system model. To completely verify a purely continuous dynamical system requires proving a universally quantified first order conjecture, which represents all possible trajectories of the system. Such a closed form solution may contain transcendental functions, rendering the problem undecidable in the general case. The automated theorem prover MetiTarski can be used to solve such a problem by reducing it to one over the real closed fields. The main issue is the doubly exponential complexity of the back-end decision procedures that it depends on. This dissertation proposes several techniques that make the required conjectures easier for MetiTarski to prove. The techniques are shown to be effective at reducing the amount of time required to prove high dimensional problems and are further demonstrated on a flight collision avoidance case study. For hybrid systems, which contain both continuous and discrete behaviours, a different approach is proposed. In this case, qualitative reasoning is used to abstract the continuous state space into a set of discrete cells. Then, standard discrete state formal verification tools are used to verify properties over the abstraction. MetiTarski is employed to determine the feasibility of the cells and the transitions between them. As these checks are reduced to proving inequalities over the theory of the reals, it facilitates the analysis of nonpolynomial hybrid systems that contain transcendental functions in their vector fields, invariants and guards. This qualitative abstraction framework has been implemented in the QUANTUM tool and is demonstrated on several hybrid system benchmark problems.
Optomal three-time slot distributed beamforming for two-way relaying

In this study, we consider a relay network, with two transceivers and r relay nodes. We assume that each of relays and the two transceivers have a single antenna. For establishing the connection between these two transceivers, we propose a two-way relaying scheme which takes three phases (time slots) to accomplish the exchange of two information symbols between the two transceivers. In the first and second phases, the transceivers, transmit their signals, toward the relays, one after other. The signals that are received by relays are noisy versions of the original signals. Each relay, multiplies its received signal by a complex beamforming coefficient to adjust the phase and amplitude of the signal. Then in the third phase, each relay transmits the summation of so-obtained signals to both transceivers. Our goal is to find the optimal values of transceivers’ transmit powers and the optimal values of the beamforming coefficients by minimizing the total transmit power subject to quality of service constraints. In our approach, we minimize the total transmit power under two constraints. These two constraints are used to guarantee that the transceivers’ receive Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs) are above given thresholds. To solve the underlying optimization problem, we develop two techniques. The first technique is a combination of a two-dimensional search and Second-Order Convex Cone Programming (SOCP). More specifically, the set of feasible values of transceivers’ transmit powers is quantized into a sufficient fine grid. Then, at each vertice of this grid, an SOCP problem is solved to obtain the beamforming coefficients such that for the given pair of transceivers’ transmit powers, the total transmit power is minimized. The pair of the transceivers’ transmit powers, which result in the smallest possible value of the total transmit power, leads us to the solution of the problem. This approach requires a two-dimensional search and solving an SOCP problem at each point of the corresponding two-dimensional grid. Thus, it can be prohibitively expensive in terms of computational complexity. As a second method, we resort to a gradient based steepest descent technique. Our simulation results show that this second technique performs very close to the optimal two-dimensional search based algorithm. Finally we compare our technique with multi-relay distributed beamforming schemes, iii previously developed in literature and show that our three-phase two-way relaying scheme requires less total power as compared to the two-phase two-way relaying method. On the other hand, the two-phase two-way relaying achieves higher data rates when compared with three-phase two-way relaying for the same total transmit power. Also, we observe that the three-phase scheme has more degrees of freedom while multi-relay distributed beamforming schemes, previously developed in literature appears to be more bandwidth efficient.
Depression and anxiety among HIV patients in a treatment centre in Nigeria

Introduction: Globally, the depression rate is increasing, and this has a bearing on patients with chronic disease conditions, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Depression is closely related to anxiety, both of which have a negative impact on a patient’s quality of life and in achieving clinical outcomes. Depression and anxiety have been implicated in progression of HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of depression and anxiety among HIV-positive patients and to determine their predictors. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 305 HIV-positive patients attending the Central Hospital Antiretroviral Therapy Clinic. Outcome measures were: depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9); and anxiety using the Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale. Their associations with socio-demographic characteristics were analysed. Results: The prevalence of depression was 24.6%. Of these, 6.6% had clinically significant major depressive disorder. Age, sex, education, employment, income, co-morbidity, and smoking were not statistically significant factors for depression. Marital status, recent diagnosis, alcohol use, and anxiety were of statistical significance for depressive symptoms (p < 0.05). Prevalence of anxiety was 25.6%; of these, 5.2% had generalised anxiety disorder requiring further evaluation. 14.1% of depressed patients also had anxiety disorder. Marital status and recent diagnosis were predictors for anxiety. Conclusions: One in four study participants had depression and anxiety. Co-morbid anxiety and depression was found in a considerable number of patients. Marital status, recent diagnosis of HIV, alcohol use, and adverse effects from antiretroviral drugs were predictors for depression. HIV AIDS Rev 2019; 18, 2: 107-114 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5114/hivar.2019. 86375
Immunomodulatory Effects of Interleukin-4 Induced Protein 1 (IL4I1) on Multiple Sclerosis Patient Derived Lymphocytes

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that afflicts over 2.3 million individuals worldwide. The pathogenesis of MS involves autoimmune destruction of myelin but is poorly understood. Accurate biomarkers are yet to be identified and would provide valuable information to patients and their treating clinicians. Likewise, effective treatments are few and in high demand. Interleukin-4 induced protein 1 (IL4I1), a secreted enzyme expressed by immune cells, is a promising candidate for both roles. Here we show that IL4I1 regulates the immune system via T-cell modulation, promoting CNS remyelination and improving motor symptoms in MS-model mice. Never before studied in human MS, IL4I1 is known to enhance immune evasion of some human cancers, suggesting that the immune-modulating properties of IL4I1 may extend beyond mouse models, to true MS. It has been proposed that IL4I1 targets TOB1, a Th17 antiproliferative protein inversely correlated with risk of developing MS. Therefore, it is possible that IL4I1 levels may also correlate with disease state. To elucidate the role of IL4I1 on inflammation in humans and to identify its potential in patient remyelination, the inflammatory profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and blood plasma from healthy controls and MS patients are quantified at baseline, following Tcell stimulation, and after treatment with IL4I1. We find that endogenous IL4I1 expression is
Lightning Overvoltage and Transient Ground Potential Rise in large PV plants

Photovoltaic (PV) power plants cover large areas that are susceptible to multiple lightning strikes. Consequences of the electromagnetic interference caused by lightning can be a major concern for people safety and equipment integrity. In this paper, we investigate lightning overvoltage and transient ground potential rise in large PV plants for different lightning strike scenarios. The main objectives of this paper is to describe the analysis that was carried out and propose cost-effective mitigation techniques based on the most advanced simulation techniques.
Semantic Annotation for the Digital Humanities - Using Markov Logic for Annotation Consistency Control

This contribution investigates novel techniques for error detection in automatic semantic annotations, as an attempt to reconcile error-prone NLP processing with high quality standards required for empirical research in Digital Humanities. We demonstrate the state-of-the-art per- formance of semantic NLP systems on a corpus of ritual texts and report performance gains we obtain using domain adaptation techniques. Our main contribution is to explore new techniques for annotation con- sistency control, as an attempt to reconcile error-prone NLP processing with high quality requirements. The novelty of our approach lies in its attempt to leverage multi-level semantic annotations by defining inter- action constraints between local word-level semantic annotations and global discourse-level annotations. These constraints are defined using Markov Logic Networks, a logical formalism for statistical relational inference that allows for violable constraints. We report first results.
Long non-coding RNA OIP5-AS1 promotes cell proliferation and aerobic glycolysis in gastric cancer through sponging miR-186

Introduction Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play vital roles in tumour initiation and progression. LncRNA OIP5-AS1 is a potential oncogene in many types of human malignancies, but its biological functions in gastric cancer (GC) remain to be further elucidated. Material and methods The expression levels of OIP5-AS1 and miR-186 in GC tissues and cell lines were detected by RT-qPCR analysis. CCK-8 assay and colony formation assay were performed to investigate the proliferation of GC cells in vitro, and a nude mouse tumour model was established to validate the role of OIP5-AS1 in GC tumorigenesis in vivo. The glucose consumption and lactate production of GC cells were detected by ELISA assay. Interaction between OIP5-AS1 and miR-186 was determined using dual luciferase reporter assay. Results The results demonstrated that OIP5-AS1 was upregulated in GC tissues and cell lines and that its high expression was notably correlated with aggressive clinicopathological features of GC patients. Functionally, knockdown of OIP5-AS1 inhibited GC cell proliferation and enhanced cell apoptosis in vitro, and inhibited GC xenograft growth in vivo. In addition, knockdown of OIP5-AS1 reduced the glucose consumption and lactate production in GC cells. In particular, OIP5-AS1 may function as a ceRNA for miR-186, and inhibition of miR-186 blocks the effects of OIP5-AS1 knockdown on aerobic glycolysis in GC cells. Conclusions Accordingly, our findings suggested that the OIP5-AS1/miR-186 axis might be considered as a potential therapeutic target for GC patients.
Characteristics and causes of the inadequate corpus luteum.

An inadequate luteal phase occurs in domestic ruminants in several physiological situations (e.g. puberty, post partum), and also following the induction of ovulation in anoestrous ewes with GnRH treatment. The induced corpora lutea (CL) initially developed, but then regressed rapidly after Day 4, unless the animals had been primed with progesterone before GnRH therapy or hysterectomized. Significant increases in prostaglandin F-2 alpha metabolite (PGFM) secretion and coincident peaks of oxytocin and PGFM occurred around the time of premature regression. Endometrial oxytocin receptors were also detectable at this time in ewes which had abnormal luteal phases, but not in ewes which had been progesterone primed and thus had normal luteal phases. This suggests that the presence or otherwise of the oxytocin receptor during the early luteal phase may be crucial in determining whether the CL has a short or normal lifespan. These results show that an inadequate luteal phase is often caused by the premature induction of luteolysis and the presence of the endometrial oxytocin receptor in necessary for this occurrence. This receptor in turn is controlled by the steroid environment to which the uterus has previously been exposed.
Estimating Influenza-associated Mortality in Korea: The 2009-2016 Seasons

Objectives Estimating influenza-associated mortality is important since seasonal influenza affects persons of all ages, causing severe illness or death. This study aimed to estimate influenza-associated mortality, considering both periodic changes and age-specific mortality by influenza subtypes. Methods Using the Microdata Integrated Service from Statistics Korea, we collected weekly mortality data including cause of death. Laboratory surveillance data of respiratory viruses from 2009 to 2016 were obtained from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After adjusting for the annual age-specific population size, we used a negative binomial regression model by age group and influenza subtype. Results Overall, 1 859 890 deaths were observed and the average rate of influenza virus positivity was 14.7% (standard deviation [SD], 5.8), with the following subtype distribution: A(H1N1), 5.0% (SD, 5.8); A(H3N2), 4.4% (SD, 3.4); and B, 5.3% (SD, 3.7). As a result, among individuals under 65 years old, 6774 (0.51%) all-cause deaths, 2521 (3.05%) respiratory or circulatory deaths, and 1048 (18.23%) influenza or pneumonia deaths were estimated. Among those 65 years of age or older, 30 414 (2.27%) all-cause deaths, 16 411 (3.42%) respiratory or circulatory deaths, and 4906 (6.87%) influenza or pneumonia deaths were estimated. Influenza A(H3N2) virus was the major contributor to influenza-associated all-cause and respiratory or circulatory deaths in both age groups. However, influenza A(H1N1) virus–associated influenza or pneumonia deaths were more common in those under 65 years old. Conclusions Influenza-associated mortality was substantial during this period, especially in the elderly. By subtype, influenza A(H3N2) virus made the largest contribution to influenza-associated mortality.
Providencia friedericiana, a new species isolated from penguins

The name Providencia friedericiana sp. nov. is proposed for a well-defined group of organisms that were isolated from fecal specimens from penguins (Aptenodytes patagonica, Eudyptes crestatus, Pyoscelis papua, Spheniscus demersus, and Spheniscus humboldti). P. friedericiana strains are gram-negative, oxidase-negative, fermentative rods that grow on Endo agar, MacConkey agar, Wilson-Blair agar, and some other selective media for Enterobacteriaceae. They are acetate, adonitol, arginine dihydrolase, gelatinase, inositol, lactose, lysine decarboxylase, mannitol, ornithine decarboxylase, tartrate, trehalose, urease, and Voges-Proskauer negative, but fructose, galactose, glucose, glycerol, indole, catalase, KCN, nitrate reductase, mannose, methyl red, and phenylalanine deaminase positive. Simmons citrate is utilized weakly and variably. Gas is produced from glucose in small amounts or not at all. The organisms possess flagella when they are grown at 25°C. They show moderate motility at 25°C but are nonmotile or only slightly motile at 36°C. Capsules and slime layers are not produced. The type strain of P. friedericiana, strain 1/33, has been deposited with the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen as strain DSM 2620.
Privacy-Aware and Efficient Mobile Crowdsensing with Truth Discovery

Truth discovery in mobile crowdsensing has recently received wide attention. It refers to the procedure for estimating the unknown user reliability from collected sensory data and inferring truthful information via reliability-aware data aggregation. Though widely studied in the plaintext domain, truth discovery remains largely under-explored in privacy-aware mobile crowdsensing. Existing works either do not consider user reliability issue or fall short of achieving practical cost efficiency, due to iterative transmission and computation over large ciphertexts from homomorphic cryptosystem. In this paper, we propose two new privacy-aware crowdsensing designs with truth discovery that significantly improve the bandwidth and computation performance on individual users. Our insight is to identify the core atomic operation in the iterative truth discovery procedure, and carefully craft security designs accordingly to enable efficient truth discovery in the ciphertext domain. Our first design is highly customized for the single-server setting, while our second design under the two-server model further shifts most of user workloads to the cloud server side. Both our designs protect individual sensory data and reliability degrees throughout the truth discovery procedure. Experiments show that compared with the prior result, our designs gain at least <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$30 \times$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mn>30</mml:mn><mml:mo>×</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="wang-ieq1-2753245.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \times$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mn>10</mml:mn><mml:mo>×</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="wang-ieq2-2753245.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> savings on user communication and computation, respectively.
Clinical Features, Outcomes, and Predictors of Recurrence in Patients Treated with Bronchial Arterial Embolization Using a Gelatin Sponge to Control Hemoptysis

Objective: The clinical features and outcomes of bronchial arterial embolization (BAE) for hemoptysis were investigated, and we aimed to identify the factors associated with recurrent hemoptysis after BAE. Patients and Methods: Thirty-three consecutive patients treated with BAE for hemoptysis between July 2011 and June 2018 in a single medical center were retrospectively analyzed. Sex, age, body mass index, smoking history, comorbidity, laboratory data, etiology, angiographic findings, number and variety of embolized vessels, adverse events, and outcomes were evaluated. Results: The median age at the time of first BAE was 71 years (interquartile range [IQR], 59.5-86.5 years). The most common etiologies were cryptogenic hemoptysis (n=6), non-tuberculosis mycobacteriosis (n=6), pulmonary aspergillosis (n=5), bronchiectasis (n=5), and others (n=11). The common angiographic findings were neo-vascularization (n=31) and hypertrophied vessels (n=19). Eight patients (24%) experienced recurrence after BAE during the median follow-up time of 15 months (IQR, 4-25.5 months), and recurrence occurred in two patients (6%) within 1 month and in one patient (3%) after 3 years. The recurrence-free time after BAE was significantly shorter in patients with (cid:2) 20 pack-years smoking history (p=0.0218) and patients using anticoagulants or antiplatelet agents (p=0.0032). No moderate to severe adverse events related to BAE were encountered. Conclusion: BAE is a safe and effective treatment to control hemoptysis. However, recurrence occurred in 24% of our patient series. A smoking history of (cid:2) 20 pack-years and the use of anticoagulants or antiplatelet agents may be associated with a higher rate of recurrent hemoptysis following BAE.
Eye Tracking- An Extensive Evaluation of a Contemporary and Ingenious Technology

When Google and Andy Rubin introduced the world with the first ever Android phone and a new concept in 2008, somewhere down the line, a group of researchers had curiosity about a technology that can enhance the life of human beings to a massive extent, which was to operate and manipulate thousands of things using the commands from our eyes. As if now, we are using high level technologies that are extremely easy to use, but anyone can imagine that operating our technological stuff with the power of our eyes and retina can be impressive. The devices that we use now-days contain a capacitive touch screen that detects the presence of our skin touch in order to get a command, however the process with the eye tracking is bit different. To have an instance of the eye-tracking technology, let us imagine a mobile game such as 'Fruit Ninja': a game where we cut fruits and vegetables by swiping left or right on our screen, so if we can score in the same game, not with the use of our hands, but with the directions from our eyes, than indeed the technology could be extraordinary. This research paper will focus on the working and invention of this technology, and the devices
A Research Roadmap: Connected Health as an Enabler of Cancer Patient Support

The evidence that quality of life is a positive variable for the survival of cancer patients has prompted the interest of the health and pharmaceutical industry in considering that variable as a final clinical outcome. Sustained improvements in cancer care in recent years have resulted in increased numbers of people living with and beyond cancer, with increased attention being placed on improving quality of life for those individuals. Connected Health provides the foundations for the transformation of cancer care into a patient-centric model, focused on providing fully connected, personalized support and therapy for the unique needs of each patient. Connected Health creates an opportunity to overcome barriers to health care support among patients diagnosed with chronic conditions. This paper provides an overview of important areas for the foundations of the creation of a new Connected Health paradigm in cancer care. Here we discuss the capabilities of mobile and wearable technologies; we also discuss pervasive and persuasive strategies and device systems to provide multidisciplinary and inclusive approaches for cancer patients for mental well-being, physical activity promotion, and rehabilitation. Several examples already show that there is enthusiasm in strengthening the possibilities offered by Connected Health in persuasive and pervasive technology in cancer care. Developments harnessing the Internet of Things, personalization, patient-centered design, and artificial intelligence help to monitor and assess the health status of cancer patients. Furthermore, this paper analyses the data infrastructure ecosystem for Connected Health and its semantic interoperability with the Connected Health economy ecosystem and its associated barriers. Interoperability is essential when developing Connected Health solutions that integrate with health systems and electronic health records. Given the exponential business growth of the Connected Health economy, there is an urgent need to develop mHealth (mobile health) exponentially, making it both an attractive and challenging market. In conclusion, there is a need for user-centered and multidisciplinary standards of practice to the design, development, evaluation, and implementation of Connected Health interventions in cancer care to ensure their acceptability, practicality, feasibility, effectiveness, affordability, safety, and equity.