Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An enhanced model of biometric authentication in E-Learning: Using a combination of biometric features to access E-Learning environments

E-Learning is a very widely used mode of education these days. Many universities have adopted E-Learning as their preferred system for resource sharing, assessments and grading. The problem is that apart from being usable, economical and accessible, E-Learning systems are often prone to fraud perpetrated by dishonest students. Using a strong authentication mechanism would help in limiting the exploitation of E-Learning systems. Biometrics is one such authentication technique that provides unique and universal identification for any system. A number of different biometric frameworks have been developed for E-Learning systems, but there are still loopholes which need to be considered. This project discusses the main issues faced by E-Learning systems and how using biometrics can help overcome such issues. Firstly, it gives some information about the need for biometrics and the types of frameworks currently available. The proposed framework is then developed and evaluated based on a survey conducted with teachers and students. The project concludes with examining user perceptions about the proposed framework.
GOVERNANCE AND EXCHANGE RATE IN PAKISTAN: A TIME SERIES ANALYSIS

Financial market is more sensitive rather than any other market. The eExchange rate is a more prominent indicator of financial market and it directly affects the whole economy. As globalization increases international dependence also increases many times. So volatility in the exchange rate has a direct effect on the terms of trade. Variance of volatility can be minimized with better governance. The exchange rate is used as a proxy variable for financial markets. Empirical analysis of the impact of governance on exchange rate in Pakistan is uniqueness of study. In this study, we investigated the effects of saving rate, money supply and governance on the exchange rate. This analysis is a time series for the time period of 1980 to 2012. After checking unit root, Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to co-integration is applied. Empirical findings are exploring significant impact of governance on exchange rate in the short run (SR) as well as in the long run (LR) in Pakistan. Results suggest that if governance improves it will bring positive change in the economy through the exchange rate. These results are consistent with the theory.
Protection by opioids against gastric lesions caused by necrotizing agents.

The synthetic opioid met-enkephalin analog [D-Ala2, MePhe4, Met(0)5ol] enkephalin (DAMME) and the opiate morphine injected intraperitoneally to rats at doses of 0.5-2 and 5-20 mg/kg, respectively, showed a protective effect on gastric damage induced by oral administration of necrotizing agents (0.6 N HCl or 0.2 N NaOH solutions, 1 ml/rat). The protection was prevented by naltrexone (10 mg/kg s.c.), an opioid antagonist with long-lasting activity. Histological sections of mucosal samples from animals pretreated with morphine (10 mg/kg i.p.) and DAMME (1 mg/kg i.p.) showed less alteration of the columnar epithelium, with a normal glandular structure, than untreated rats. A mediation of prostaglandins is suggested, since indomethacin (10 mg/kg s.c.) significantly reduced the protective effects of opioids.
A hybrid predictive controller for a Cascade Asymmetric Multilevel Converter

This work presents a simplified predictive controller for the Cascade Asymmetric Multilevel Converter (CAMC). Instead of evaluating all target variables simultaneously (phase currents, voltages on the flying capacitors and midpoint voltage on the DC bus), the method uses the line voltage redundancy and the phase redundancy in a separate way and exploits their effects over each group of target variables. This scheme reduces the number of calculations when compared to the FCS-MPC with a multi-termed cost function. The method does not need for weighting factors and thus removes the need to tune the controller.
Magnetization transfer imaging to monitor the evolution of MS

Objectives: To assess the sensitivities of magnetization transfer imaging (MTI)-derived measures in detecting changes over time of macro- and microscopic lesion burdens in different MS phenotypes and to compare them with those of T2-weighted and T1-weighted lesion volumes. Methods: A total of 96 patients were studied: 39 with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), 19 with secondary progressive MS (SPMS), nine with primary progressive MS, and nine with benign MS; 20 with clinically isolated syndromes suggestive of MS at presentation; and 20 healthy subjects. Brain T2-weighted, T1-weighted, and MTI scans were obtained at baseline and after 12 months. The authors measured T2-weighted and T1-weighted lesion volumes and average lesion MT ratio (MTR). The authors also derived MTR histograms from whole brain tissue (WBT) and normal-appearing brain tissue (NABT). Results: In healthy control subjects, there was no significant change of any of the MTR histogram parameters. At follow-up, in the entire patient group, T2-weighted lesion volume significantly increased and average lesion MTR, WBT-MTR, NABT-MTR, and histogram peak positions significantly decreased. Patients with RRMS and SPMS had significantly higher changes in T2-weighted lesion volume and all the MTI-derived metrics compared with the other subgroups. MTI changes were more prominent (and significantly different) in patients with SPMS than in those with RRMS. Compared with patients with benign MS, patients with RRMS had significantly greater changes in T2-weighted lesion volume and WBT- and NABT-MTR metrics. Compared with patients with SPMS, patients with primary progressive MS had similar changes of T1-weighted and T2-weighted lesion volumes, but significantly lower changes of MTI-derived measures. Conclusions: MTI-derived measures are sensitive for detecting MS-related changes and might provide valuable outcome measures when assessing treatment effects in clinical trials of patients with MS.
Overexpression of a splice variant of DNA methyltransferase 3b, DNMT3b4, associated with DNA hypomethylation on pericentromeric satellite regions during human hepatocarcinogenesis

DNA hypomethylation on pericentromeric satellite regions is an early and frequent event associated with heterochromatin instability during human hepatocarcinogenesis. A DNA methyltransferase, DNMT3b, is required for methylation on pericentromeric satellite regions during mouse development. To clarify the molecular mechanism underlying DNA hypomethylation on pericentromeric satellite regions during human hepatocarcinogenesis, we examined mutations of the DNMT3b gene and mRNA expression levels of splice variants of DNMT3b in noncancerous liver tissues showing chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis, which are considered to be precancerous conditions, and in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Mutation of the DNMT3b gene was not found in HCCs. Overexpression of DNMT3b4, a splice variant of DNMT3b lacking conserved methyltransferase motifs IX and X, significantly correlated with DNA hypomethylation on pericentromeric satellite regions in precancerous conditions and HCCs (P = 0.0001). In particular, the ratio of expression of DNMT3b4 to that of DNMT3b3, which is the major splice variant in normal liver tissues and retains conserved methyltransferase motifs I, IV, VI, IX, and X, showed significant correlation with DNA hypomethylation (P = 0.009). Transfection of human epithelial 293 cells with DNMT3b4 cDNA induced DNA demethylation on satellite 2 in pericentromeric heterochromatin DNA. These results suggest that overexpression of DNMT3b4, which may lack DNA methyltransferase activity and compete with DNMT3b3 for targeting to pericentromeric satellite regions, results in DNA hypomethylation on these regions, even in precancerous stages, and plays a critical role in human hepatocarcinogenesis by inducing chromosomal instability.
A Self-Checking Scheme to Mitigate Single Event Upset Effects in SRAM-Based FPAAs

In this work the problem of Single Event Upset (SEU) is considered in a recent analog technology: The Field Programmable Analog Arrays (FPAAs). Some FPAA models are based on SRAM memory cells to implement the user programmability, which makes this kind of device vulnerable to SEU when employed in applications susceptible to the incidence of radiation. In the former part of this work some fault injection experiments are made in order to investigate the effects of SEU in the SRAM blocks of a commercial FPAA. For this purpose, single bit inversions are injected in the FPAA programming bitstream, when an oscillator module is programmed. In a second moment, a self-checking scheme using the studied FPAA is proposed. This scheme, which is built from the FPAA programming resources, is able to restore the original programming data if an error is detected. Fault injection is also performed to investigate the reliability of the proposed scheme when the bitstream section which controls the checker blocks is corrupted due to a SEU.
Tissue-specific, cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate-induced, and phorbol ester-repressed transcription from the human P450c17 promoter in mouse cells.

Cytochrome P450c17 is the single microsomal enzyme catalyzing steroid 17 alpha-hydroxylase and 17-20-lyase activities. It is expressed and regulated by tropic hormones in the human adrenal and gonads, but is not expressed in the placenta. To study the transcriptional regulation of the human P450c17 gene, we constructed 11 plasmids containing serial deletions of its 5' nontranslated region driving expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene. These constructs were transfected into mouse adrenal Y1 and testis MA-10 cells and incubated with forskolin, 8-bromo-cAMP, or 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13 acetate (TPA) for 12 h. Interpretation of results from standard constructions was difficult, apparently because some transcription was incorrectly initiated by DNA sequences in the vector. Therefore, we built a modified CAT reporter vector that eliminated detectable read-through transcription. In Y1 cells, the basal activity of constructs containing from -82 to -184 basepairs (bp) of 5' flanking DNA was between 80-150% of the promoterless control. Constructs containing at least -235 bp of this DNA expressed CAT at 540% of the control value, but addition of sequences to -774 had no further effect. Forskolin increased the expression of CAT activity to 300% above basal with constructions containing DNA from -184 to -774 bp. Constructs containing between -184 and -310 bp expressed CAT at 50% of the forskolin-induced levels in cells treated with TPA. Both basal and cAMP-induced expression were much lower in MA-10 cells than in Y1 cells and increased with increasing promoter length to -774. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Current understandings of the molecular genetics of gestational trophoblastic diseases.

Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) is a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by abnormally proliferating trophoblastic tissues. This includes partial and complete hydatidiform moles, invasive mole, choriocarcinoma and placental site trophoblastic tumour. Cytogenetic studies revealed that hydatidiform moles contain either solely (as in complete moles) or an excess (as in partial moles) of paternal contribution to the genome. Genomic imprinting is believed to play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of hydatidiform moles. However its precise role and mechanism remains poorly understood. Hydatidiform mole carries a potential of malignant transformation. Similar to other human cancers, malignant transformation in gestational trophoblastic tumours is likely a multistep process and involves multiple genetic alterations including activation of oncogenes and inactivation of tumour suppressor genes. In addition, expression of telomerase activity, altered expression of cell--cell adhesion molecules and abnormal expression of matrix metalloproteinases have also been reported in GTD. These represent disruption of the delicate balance and regulation of cellular processes including proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and invasion. The significance of these alterations in the pathogenesis and malignant transformation of gestational trophoblastic diseases is reviewed in this paper.
Performance Analysis of Cooperative Diversity Networks with Imperfect Channel Estimation

In this paper, we investigate the effect of channel estimation error on the error rate performance of a multi-relay system with amplify-and-forward relaying. We consider orthogonal relaying and study both conventional cooperative systems (i.e., all relays participate in the relaying phase) and opportunistic cooperative systems (i.e., only the best relay participates in the relaying phase). Based on the derivation of effective signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver taking into account channel estimation error, we obtain closed-form expressions for bit error rate. Monte-Carlo simulations are further provided to confirm the analytical results.
Characterization of the human superior olivary complex by calcium binding proteins and neurofilament H (SMI‐32)

This study provides a morphologic characterization of the human superior olivary complex as revealed by immunohistochemistry by using antibodies against the calcium binding proteins parvalbumin, calbindin, calretinin, and the nonphosphorylated neurofilament H SMI‐32. By combining these markers, it was possible to establish the neuronal architecture and details of the morphologic organization (including axonal terminals) of the different nuclei. The medial superior olivary nucleus is formed by a sheet of parallel‐oriented cells. A clear segregation of axon terminals was noticed on the medially and laterally oriented dendrites of the mostly bipolar neurons. The lateral superior olivary nucleus lacked a distinct nuclear shape but was formed by several patches of rather irregularly arranged neurons. Calretinin or parvalbumin immunoreactive afferent terminals were observed which contacted somata or dendrites of these neurons. The immunolabeling also revealed the boundaries of the dorsal periolivary nucleus and morphologic detail of its neurons. A coherent nuclear structure that could be addressed as the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body was not identified by any single one or by combinations of the markers used. The data were also used to establish a three‐dimensional‐reconstruction of the three major subnuclei of the superior olivary complex. The results are discussed with respect to the possible role of the superior olivary complex in the processing of spatial acoustic information in the azimuthal plane. J. Comp. Neurol. 456:292–303, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Isolation of nonsense suppressor mutants in Pseudomonas

A strain of Escherichia coli harboring the drug resistance plasmid RP1 was treated with the mutagen N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, and mutants were isolated in which ampicillin resistance had been lost due to an amber mutation in the plasmid. One of these mutants was again treated, and a strain was isolated in which tetracycline resistance was also lost due to an amber mutation in the plasmid. The plasmid containing amber mutations in the genes amp and tet was named pLM2. This plasmid could be transferred to strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. phaseolicola, and P. pseudoalcaligenes. Mutants resistant to ampicillin and tetracycline could not be obtained from P. phaseolicola carrying pLM2. However, strains of E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and P. pseudoalcaligenes carrying the plasmid did produce mutants simultaneously resistant to both antibiotics. All of the mutants of E. coli had developed nonsense suppressors since they became phenotypically lac+, although harboring a lac amber mutation, and formed plaques with amber mutants of phages PRR1 and PRD1 that attack organisms carrying RP1. Approximately 20% of the resistant mutants of P. aeruginosa and P. pseudoalcaligenes were sensitive to the amber mutant of PRD1. These mutants were of variable stability and grew somewhat more slowly than their parent strains. One of the suppressor mutants of P. pseudoalcaligenes, designated ERA(pLM2)S4, was used for the isolation of nonsense mutants of bacteriophage PHA6, a virus having a segmented genome of double-stranded ribonucleic acid and an envelope of lipids and proteins.
A survey of mass data mining based on cloud-computing

Since 2007, the business calculation model-cloud computing was proposed. Promoted greatly by great companies, cloud computing is developing at a very rapid pace. With the features of mass data storage and distribution calculation of cloud computing, it provides a new method for data mining, effectively solving the problems of distribution of mass data mining and efficient storage computing. The cloud computing model brings many benefits and convenience. This paper introduces the cloud computing and data mining and then simply introduce some existing parallel data mining algorithms based on cloud computing and data mining service platforms. Finally it gives a simple description of the problems and prospects of data mining based on cloud computing.
Bone Disease in Long-term Renal Transplant Recipients with Severe Osteopenia: A Cross-sectional Study

Background. Fracture is a disabling clinical outcome after transplantation, but there is little histopathological information on long-term renal recipients with severe osteopenia. Methods. Twenty kidney recipients (8.3±1.9 years after transplantation), 13 males and 7 females (five postmenopausal) with nearly normal renal function, affected by severe osteopenia (T-score: males=−4.9±0.28; females= −5.08±0.47) underwent bone biopsy and morphometric X-ray absorptiometry to evaluate vertebral fractures. Results. Histopathological diagnosis was osteoporosis-osteopenia in seven patients, osteitis fibrosa in six, prevalent osteomalacic lesion in six, and “normal” bone in one patient. Significant increases in osteoid volume (OV/BV), osteoid surface, osteoblastic surface (ObS/BS) and osteoid thickness were observed. OV/BV and Obs/BS ratios were inversely correlated to cumulative doses of MPRED (r2=0.85 P<.0001 for both ratios), whereas age, sex, time after transplantation, iPTH levels, and cumulative cyclosporine A dose were not related to osteoblastic indices. Osteoclast surface was slightly increased. Widened mineralization lag times were observed, with normalcy of the bone formation rate. Half of the patients showed fractured vertebrae. No differences in T scores were found when patients were subdivided into groups “with” or “without” vertebral fractures. A higher prevalence of fractures was observed in patients with osteoporosis-osteopenia compared to other osteopathies (P<0.02). No relationships between bone volume versus T-scores were observed. Conclusions. In long-term renal transplant recipients, severe osteopenia does not predict osteoporosis alone. The main abnormality we found was an increase in osteoblastic activity with a slight mineralization defect. The heterogeneous bone illness we observed would suggest performing bone biopsy in these patients.
Erdosteine modulates radiocontrast‐induced hepatotoxicity in rat

It has been suggested that reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays an important role in radio contrast media (RCM)‐induced ischemia reperfusion tissue injury although antioxidants may have protective effects on the injury. We investigated the effects of erdosteine as an antioxidant agent on RCM‐induced liver toxicity in rats by evaluation of lipid peroxidation (as TBARS), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) values and histological evaluation. Twenty‐one rats were equally divided into three groups as follows: control, RCM, and RCM plus erdosteine. RCM was intraperitoneally administered for 1 day. Erdosteine was administered orally for 2 days after RCM administration. Liver samples were taken from the rats and they homogenized in a motor‐driven tissue homogenizer. TBARS levels were significantly (p < 0.005) higher in RCM group than in control although SOD activities significantly (p < 0.05) decreased in RCM group. TBARS levels were lower in RCM plus erdosteine group than in control although SOD activity and GSH level increased (p < 0.05) in liver as compared to RCM alone. Erdosteine showed also histopathological protection (p < 0.0001) against RCM induced hepatotoxicity. GSH‐Px and CAT activities were not statistically changed by the erdosteine. According to our results, it can be concluded that radiocontrast media can induce oxidative stress in liver as suggested by previous studies. Erdosteine seems to be protective agent on the radiocontrast media‐induced liver toxicity by inhibiting the production of ROS via the enzymatic antioxidant system. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
How to Break the Logjam in Schizophrenia: A Look Beyond Genetics

Despite recent advances in methodology, research in schizophrenia has reached an impasse. A new thrust for research in the field is proposed, and ways for testing its validity are indicated. The status of schizophrenia research is evaluated from the vantage point of six current scientific models for its etiology: genetic, ecological, developmental, learning theory, internal environmental, and neurophysiological (including neuroanatomical). Integration of these models is proposed based on the assumption that schizophrenic episodes occur in vulnerable individuals who under sufficient stress develop a time-limited episode from which all but a small proportion recover. However, even the recovered remain vulnerable to future episodes. Potential markers for vulnerability and for the beginning and end of episodes are classified according to the six etiological models from which they emanate. Recent research in vulnerability is summarized, and directions for future research are recommended.
Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America: Rethinking the Terms of the Debate

In recent years, many scholars have argued that the presidential form of government has been a major contributor to the travails of democracy in Latin America. This argument has been widely accepted, and there are few published counterarguments. However, as we hope to make clear in this chapter, the evidence in favor of the antipresidentialist position is weaker than often assumed. The empirical argument against presidentialism is based mostly on the Latin American experience. The failure of presidential democracies in this part of the world has led many scholars to assert that parliamentary regimes would fare better. There are two difficulties with this argument: (1) presidential democracy has existed mostly in Latin America, making it hard to disentangle those obstacles to democracy in Latin America that stem from the regime type and those that stem from socioeconomic or other factors; and (2) parliamentary democracy exists almost exclusively in Europe or former British colonies, which should make us suspicious of arguments that parliamentarism would perform as well outside these settings. To be sure, critics of presidentialism and advocates of parliamentarism have not made their case entirely on empirical grounds; they have developed compelling logical defenses of their positions, too. However, as we hope show, equally compelling cases can be made in favor of presidentialism and against parliamentarism. Where does this leave us? We shall argue that it raises doubts about whether one regime type is clearly superior to the other.