Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Gut Microbiota and the Mucosa in IBD

Many interesting statements about inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and also Crohn’s disease have been made in recent years in journals and scientific meetings. They have influenced our thinking and the perception of the diseases. Among these statements is the notion that IBDs are ‘relatively new diseases’, that ‘IBD is rather a syndrome than a disease’ or that with the new insights into pathophysiology, ‘we will be able to discriminate many different Crohn’s diseases based on genetic risk factors’. A look into history and philosophy may help to clarify misconceptions and prove that many of these statements are either wrong or misleading. People suffered from symptoms that are suggestive of Crohn’s disease centuries before the disease concept evolved in the early 19th century and before Burrill B. Crohn could describe a complex of symptoms he suggested to be a so far non-identified disease. Early concepts on the pathophysiology of CD were not so different to present-time theories as it may be assumed. ‘Pre-ideas’ and basic concepts were leading the search for a cause of Crohn’s disease and IBD. With respect to pathophysiology, we have to accept that most likely we will never come up with one unifying concept (‘ the cause of IBD’) as different scientific schools and think-collecProf. Gerhard Rogler Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology University Hospital Zürich Rämistrasse 100, CH–8091 Zürich (Switzerland) E-Mail gerhard.rogler @ usz.ch © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel 0257–2753/13/0314–0270$38.00/0
CryptoREX: Large-scale Analysis of Cryptographic Misuse in IoT Devices

Cryptographic functions play a critical role in the secure transmission and storage of application data. Although most crypto functions are well-deﬁned and carefully-implemented in standard libraries, in practice, they could be easily misused or incorrectly encapsulated due to its error-prone nature and inexperience of developers. This situation is even worse in the IoT domain, given that developers tend to sacriﬁce security for performance in order to suit resource-constrained IoT devices. Given the severity and the pervasiveness of such bad practice, it is crucial to raise public awareness about this issue, ﬁnd the misuses and shed light on best practices. In this paper, we design and implement C RYPTO REX, a framework to identify crypto misuse of IoT devices under diverse architectures and in a scalable manner. In particular, C RYPTO REX lifts binary code to a uniﬁed IR and performs static taint analysis across multiple executables. To aggressively capture and identify misuses of self-deﬁned crypto APIs, C RYPTO REX dynamically updates the API list during taint analysis and automatically tracks the function arguments. Running on 521 ﬁrmware images with 165 pre-deﬁned crypto APIs, it successfully discovered 679 crypto misuse issues in total, which on average costs only 1120 seconds per ﬁrmware. Our study shows 24.2% of ﬁrmware images violate at least
Architectural Considerations for Scalable Indic Document Analytics

Indic heritage knowledge is embedded in millions of manuscripts at various stages of digitization and analysis. Though numerous powerful tools have been developed for linguistic analysis of Samskrit texts, employing them together on large document collections and building end-user applications is a challenge due to non-standard interfaces. This paper examines the architectural needs of scalable Indic document analytics, and presents our experience in building an actual system. Though it is a work in progress, we demonstrate how careful metadata design enabled us to rapidly develop useful applications via extensive reuse of state-of-the-art analysis tools. This paper offers an approach to standardization of linguistic analysis output, and lays out guidelines for Indic document metadata design and storage.
THE PERFORMANCE OF SEVEN WRF PLANETARY BOUNDARY LAYER / SURFACE LAYER PHYSICS SCHEMES OVER COMPLEX TERRAIN

The US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has been performing long-term research into application of the Advanced Research version of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF-ARW) model (Skamarock et al. 2008) for battlefield shortrange forecasting in a field-deployed location. The purpose of these forecasts is to provide weather support for mission planning and execution and to augment coarser resolution models for specific applications required by field deployed units.
Automatic Detection for Acoustic Monitering of Wild Animals

We achieve, to our knowledge, state of the art results for detecting elephant calls from acoustic data on two different tasks of interest to researchers: 1) A segmentation task where we predict for each time step input whether there is an elephant call present and 2) A trigger word detection task where we predict the completion of an elephant call. The latter is of particular interest because of its potential to allow researchers to run in real time computationally efficient models on low-cost devices. We used data collected by passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems in the African jungle provided generously by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Effects of real-time visual feedback in the form of a virtual avatar on symmetry and other parameters of gait post stroke

Gait asymmetry, one of the hallmarks of post stroke locomotion, often persists despite gait rehabilitation interventions, impacting negatively on functional mobility. This pilot study examines the feasibility and instantaneous effects of real time visual feedback provided in the form of an avatar on gait symmetry. Preliminary results obtained from seven chronic stroke survivors showed no improvements in step length and step time ratios while using three avatar views (back, frontal and paretic side). Improvements in lower limb joint angle symmetry, however, were observed. Faster walking speed and larger paretic step length were also noted during the adaptation and post-adaptation phases. We are currently extending the study to a larger sample to validate the use of real time visual feedback to enhance spatial parameters of gait among stroke survivors.
mall peptides derived from somatotropin domain-containing proteins inhibit lood and lymphatic endothelial cell proliferation , migration , adhesion and tube ormation

Angiogenesis is thoroughly balanced and regulated in health; however, it is dysregulated in many diseases including cancer, age-related macular degeneration, cardiovascular diseases such as coronary and peripheral artery diseases and stroke, abnormal embryonic development, and abnormal wound healing. In addition to angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis is pivotal for maintaining the immune system, homeostasis of body fluids and lymphoid organs; dysregulated lymphangiogenesis may cause inflammatory diseases and lymph node mediated tumor metastasis. Anti-angiogenic or anti-lymphangiogenic small peptides may play an important role as therapeutic agents normalizing angiogenesis or lymphangiogenesis in disease conditions. Several novel endogenous peptides derived from proteins containing a conserved somatotropin domain have been previously identified with the help of our bioinformatics-based methodology. These somatotropin peptides were screened for inhibition of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis using in vitro proliferation, migration, adhesion and tube formation assays with blood and lymphatic endothelial cells. We found that the peptides have the potential for inhibiting both angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. Focusing the study on the inhibition of lymphangiogenesis, we found that a peptide derived from the somatotropin conserved domain of transmembrane protein 45A human was the most potent lymphangiogenesis inhibitor, blocking lymphatic endothelial cell migration, adhesion, and tube formation.
STUDY TO ASSESS THE MORBIDITY ASSOCIATED WITH CHILDHOOD ASTHMA

Objective : Study to assess the morbidity associated with Childhood Asthma. Material & method : A study of 125 children diagnosed as asthma over a period of 2 years with 1 year of follow up was done. Proper supervision of the treatment along with parental education was done in each case. Results : A total of 80 male children and 45 female children were registered. 50 children (40%) had positive family history of Asthma. Maximum no of children 62 (49.6%) were diagnosed as having mild persistent Asthma, while 30.4% i.e. 38 children had intermittent Asthma. Only 20 children (16%) had moderate persistent Asthma with 5 children in the category of severe persistent type. Maximum no . of children 55 (44%) were missing school by more than 7 days/ month. Repeated counseling had a great impact on the parents and they noticed a significant improvement in their child's day to day performance and school activities. School absenteeism improved significantly after 1 year of treatment. Emergency visits also dropped sharply. Conclusion :- The successful management of asthma in the long term depends on maintaining communication between patient and provider, close monitoring activity both by patient and provider, and periodic objective evaluation of asthma control and lung function.
STRUCTURAL OPTIMISATION USING ADVANCED RADIAL BASIS FUNCTIONS MESH MORPHING

It is well known that shape optimization is a way t o improve the structural performance of components and tools based on parametric geometries are becomi ng standard for fine-tuning optimization processes in industry. These tools can handle diff rent types of structural analysis, but they are li mited by difficulties in maintaining geometry coherence. Direct update of nodal positions of finite element models by mesh morphing is a meaningful alternativ e to re-meshing a parametric geometry, helping the designer in what-if studies, optimization and r obust design development without geometry coherence problems. Radial Basis Functions (RBF) ar e recognized among the best mathematical tools to perform mesh morphing. An industrial implementat ion of RBF is available in the software RBF Morph TM born for CFD applications and now available in ANS YS Mechanical as an Extension created using the new Application Customization Toolkit (ACT) of Ansys. We present an industrial application of SACMI based on RBF Morph and Ansys Mechanical : starting from a defined topology the paper shows how mesh morphing ca be used to obtain the best shape in terms of component reliability.
Saliency and Affordance in Artificial Visual Attention

Affordances, as for example grasping possibilities, are known to play a role in the guidance of human attention but have not been considered in artificial attention systems so far. Extending our earlier work, we investigate the combination of affordance estimation and visual saliency in an artificial visual attention model. Different models based on saliency, affordance estimation, or their combination are suggested and evaluated via their predictions for a change detection task with human observers.
USE OF PHONETIC CUES BY HONG KONG L1 CANTONESE LEARNERS IN L2 ENGLISH WORD STRESS PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTION

This study examines L2 English word stress production and perception by Hong Kong L1 Cantonese (CS). Experiment 1 examined 22 CS’s production of seven disyllabic English noun-verb pairs with an acoustic study and a listening evaluation test. Experiment 2 assesses the accuracies of 42 CS’s perception of an English noun-verb pair of “contract” with F0, intensity or duration in either syllable manipulated. A two-way ANOVA revealed significant main effects for nativeness/proficiency and for acoustic cues in the acoustic study of Experiment 1 and in Experiment 2. CS’s consistent F0 dependence but intensity negligence suggested a possible perceptionproduction link and L1 influence. Highly proficient CS’s F0 overuse, and better intensity and duration use suggested the effect of L2 proficiencies. These findings may inspire English word stress teaching and future studies on English prosody acquisition.
Presencia de Blastocystis hominis en escolares de un asentamiento humano del distrito de San Juan de Lurigancho, ciudad de Lima

Introduccion: Blastocystis hominis es un protozoario que habita el tracto intestinal humano. Objetivo : Evaluar la presencia de B. hominis en escolares del asentamiento humano “Enrique Montenegro” del distrito de San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima, Peru. Material y metodos: Se procesaron 84 muestras fecales de ninos entre 6 y 11 anos. Se utilizo el examen directo y la tecnica de sedimentacion de Ritchie. Resultados : Fueron diagnosticados 34 casos positivos (40,4%) para B. hominis. No se observo diferencias de infeccion por parasitos segun el sexo de las personas (p > 0,05). Conclusiones: La presencia de B. hominis en el grupo estudiado fue elevada.
The epidemiology of anabolic-androgenic steroids use among secondary students (Valencia-Spain)

AbstractBackground/Aims: The consumption of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) is continuously growing in recent years among young people. The purpose of the current study was to examine the proportion of students who reported AAS use, explore other drug use among them and finally to determine the sociodemographic profile of the AAS consumption amongst a sample of students in the Valencian Region (Spain). Methods: Data was taken from a self-administrated survey of a representative sample of 11,162 Valencian students. A total of 252 schools participated in the study. In this group, 47.6% were male and 52.4% were female, with a median age of 16.26 years (DT= 1.33). Results: The 3,3% of surveyed students reported that they had consumed AAS. Males reported to take anabolic more frequently than females (86,2% of males, 13,8% of females; p<0.001). The older they are the more frequent the reporting of consumption -increasing from 2.5% in those aged 14, to 4.3% in those aged 18-. Among users of AAS it exists a higher prevalence of consumption of cannabis 64.2%, cocaine 23.8%, hypnotics 22.9%, ecstasy 16.8%, LSD 14% or heroine 4.1%, compare to nonusers.Conclusion: The study shows that the consumption of steroids is mainly masculine, a clear association with polyconsumption, frequent scheming as the main source of getting them and that the consumption of these substances is bigger between those students whose family situation is characterized by the absence of a masculine figure (single mother or widow) in comparison with those whose parents are married.
Traumatismes thoraciques non chirurgicaux Non-surgical Blunt Chest Trauma

Résumé Les traumatismes fermés du thorax peuvent être à l’origine de lésions engageant le pronostic vital d’emblée ou de lésions dont l’évolution peut s’aggraver dans les heures qui suivent le traumatisme. L’évaluation correcte et exhaustive des lésions est donc cruciale et la surveillance des premières heures, indispensable, ce d’autant que le traumatisme aura été violent ou que le patient présente des facteurs de risque. L’échographie pleuropulmonaire lors du déchoquage, puis la tomodensitométrie thoracique avec injection de produit de contraste, dans le cadre d’un bilan « corps entier », sont les examens indispensables à une évaluation adaptée chez ces patients fréquemment victimes d’un polytraumatisme et présentant des lésions extrathoraciques associées. La prise en charge non chirurgicale est fondée sur une analgésie rapidement optimale, une prise en charge ventilatoire intensive associant : drainage pleural efficace, oxygénothérapie à haut débit, ventilation non invasive, ventilation protective si l’intubation s’avère nécessaire. Enfin, la réanimation d’une insuffisance circulatoire doit être raisonnée, guidée par un monitorage multimodal invasif, particulièrement pour le remplissage vasculaire et les transfusions. Dans quelques cas, un patient traumatisé du thorax initialement considéré comme non chirurgical pourra finalement nécessiter une chirurgie. Cela ne doit pas être négligé pour une prise en charge dans des structures adaptées et une discussion avec des équipes pluridisciplinaires entraînées (stenting aortique, fixation d’un volet costal, exploration d’un hémothorax résiduel).
Pitch in Native and Non-Native Lombard Speech

Lombard speech, speech produced in noise, is typically produced with a higher fundamental frequency (F0, pitch) compared to speech in quiet. This paper examined the potential differences in native and non-native Lombard speech by analyzing median pitch in sentences with early-or late-focus produced in quiet and noise. We found an increase in pitch in late-focus sentences in noise for Dutch speakers in both English and Dutch, and for American-English speakers in English. These results show that non-native speakers produce Lombard speech, despite their higher cognitive load. For the early-focus sentences, we found a difference between the Dutch and the American-English speakers. Whereas the Dutch showed an increased F0 in noise in English and Dutch, the American-English speakers did not in English. Together, these results suggest that some acoustic characteristics of Lombard speech, such as pitch, may be language-specific, potentially resulting in the native language influencing the non-native Lombard speech.
Sepsis Prediction Model Based on Vital Signs Related Features

In this paper, we present our solution for early detection of sepsis by joining the PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2019. Our proposed algorithm uses three different models for sepsis prediction. The model takes into account the amount of time the patients have already spent in the intensive care unit. The first model uses 64 features and is applied if the patient stays in ICU for the first 9 hours. Second and third models use 111 more advanced features. The second prediction model is activated if the patient stays for more than 9 hours. The third one is activated for more extended stays if the patient stays for more than 60 hours. The time patients spent in the ICU or were hospitalized is an essential indicator for the risk of developing sepsis. During the longer stays in hospital number of intravenous measurements and other procedures increases, increasing the risk of blood infection. Therefore, feature extraction in our algorithm was based on these metrics. The best-received score with the models, trained using Gentle Boosting on a training set with ADASYN balancing was lower than the best score with the models, trained on a dataset with randomly removed samples. The official our team VGTU utility score on full test set was 0.014 and ranked at 66 place.
Role of Simulations in the Treatment Planning of Radiofrequency Hyperthermia Therapy in Clinics

Hyperthermia therapy is a treatment modality in which tumor temperatures are elevated to higher temperatures to cause damage to cancerous tissues. Numerical simulations are integral in the development of hyperthermia treatment systems and in clinical treatment planning. In this study, simulations in radiofrequency hyperthermia therapy are reviewed in terms of their technical development and clinical aspects for effective clinical use. This review offers an overview of mathematical models and the importance of tissue properties; locoregional mild hyperthermia therapy, including phantom and realistic human anatomy models; phase array systems; tissue damage; thermal dose analysis; and thermoradiotherapy planning. This review details the improvements in numerical approaches in treatment planning and their application for effective clinical use. Furthermore, the modeling of thermoradiotherapy planning, which can be integrated with radiotherapy to provide combined hyperthermia and radiotherapy treatment planning strategies, are also discussed. This review may contribute to the effective development of thermoradiotherapy planning in clinics.
Chapter 1 Apolipoprotein E Isoforms and AMD

The cholesterol transporting protein apolipoprotein E (ApoE) occurs in three allelic variants in humans unlike in other species. The resulting protein isoforms E2, E3 and E4 exhibit differences in lipid binding, integrating into lipoprotein particles and affinity for lipoprotein receptors. ApoE isoforms confer genetic risk for several diseases of aging including atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). A single E4 allele increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, whereas the E2 allele is protective. Intriguingly, the E4 allele is protective in AMD. Current thinking about different functions of ApoE isoforms comes largely from studies on Alzheimer’s disease. These data cannot be directly extrapolated to AMD since the primary cells affected in these diseases (neurons vs. retinal pigment epithelium) are so different. Here, we propose that ApoE serves a fundamentally different purpose in regulating cholesterol homeostasis in the retinal pigment epithelium and this could explain why allelic risk factors are flipped for AMD compared to Alzheimer’s disease.
Long-Term Care , Altruism and Socialization Grégory Ponthière

The public provision of long-term care (LTC) can replace familyprovided LTC when adults are not su¢ ciently altruistic towards their elderly parents. But State intervention can also modify the transmission of values and reduce the long-run prevalence of family altruism in the population. That evolutionary e¤ect questions the desirability of the LTC public provision. To characterize the optimal LTC policy, we develop a three-period OLG model where the population is divided into altruistic and non-altruistic agents, and where the transmission of (non) altruism takes place through a socialization process à la Bisin and Verdier (2001). The optimal short-run and long-run LTC policies are shown to di¤er, to an extent varying with the particular socialization mechanism at work.
Digital Recording System Identification Based on Blind Deconvolution

In this work, we develop a theoretical framework for reliable digital recording system identification from digital audio files alone, for forensic purposes. A digital recording system consists of a microphone and a digital sound processing card. We view the cascade as a system of unknown transfer function. We expect the same manufacturer and model microphone-sound card combinations to have very similar/near identical transfer functions, bar any unique manufacturing defect. Input voice (or other) signals are modeled as non-stationary processes. The technical problem under consideration becomes blind deconvolution with non-stationary inputs, as it manifests itself in the specific application of digital audio recording equipment classification. Experimental results demonstrate over 99.2% accuracy in identification of the recording devices.
Understanding Information Transfer in Caregiver-Infant Interaction

Cognitive developmental robotics (CDR) aims to provide new understandings of how human acquires higher cognitive functions by means of a synthetic approach [1]. Among various aspects of human development, we put emphasis on social interaction, that is, how interaction with others, especially with caregivers, facilitates infants’ development. In caregiver-infant interaction, infants try to receive various kinds of information from caregivers while caregivers exaggerate their actions and speech to help infants’ learning [2, 3]. Unlike conventional studies based on qualitative analysis, Yu, Smith, and colleagues applied information transfer to quantify how participants orchestrated speech, visual attention, and body movements. Their experiment showed that a better coordination between infants and caregivers leads to a higher accuracy for leaning the names of objects [4, 5]. However, they have not dealt with an issue of developmental aspect that both caregivers and infants change their behavior through. We propose a new method to quantitatively evaluate the dynamic structure of information exchange between caregivers and infants in different age groups. It is supposed that their body movements for task learning convey various signals to each other. Our study intends to reveal developmental changes in their information exchange using transfer entropy [6].