Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shift continuous DP: A fast matching algorithm between arbitrary parts of two time-sequence data sets

Reference-interval-free continuous DP (RIFCDP) and the closely related weighted-reduction RIFCDP are techniques that have been proposed as ways to assign labels, analyze content, and search time-series data, such as audio and video. These work by detecting similar passages in two different sets of time-series data. In this paper, the author introduces a new technique, Shift CDP, that retains performance on par with RIFCDP while dramatically reducing demands for computing resources and achieving calculation times that increase in steady proportion to data volumes. This technique takes one set of time-series data as a reference pattern, and assembles standard pattern sets of fixed length, beginning from the start of the data and shifting forward in time. Continuous DP matching is attempted against each standard-pattern unit and the results are integrated. Using conversational sound data, the author compared Shift CDP against RIFCDP and weighted-reduction CDP in terms of required computing resources and performance in detecting similar passages, and demonstrated that this is an effective technique. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 36(10): 43–53, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (). DOI 10.1002sscj. 10683
Part I: Application guidelines for high resistance grounding of low voltage common AC Bus and common DC BUS PWM drive systems

High Resistance Ground (HRG) systems have gained popularity in process applications due to their ability to continue operation in lieu of a single line-ground fault and improved ability to limit escalation of the single line-ground fault into a multi-phase event. Guidelines for designing safe and reliable HRG equipment for use on grid systems with linear loads have steadily evolved. However, literature on the characteristics and pitfalls of HRG systems when used with non-linear power converter systems is limited. Part I of the companion paper set is a review of sinewave HRG systems and effect of increased line-ground voltage stress on motor loads during fault conditions. Part II investigates problems of HRG systems used with non-linear power converters such as increased neutral grounding resistor power dissipation, increased motor line-ground transient voltages on faults, susceptibility of ground fault sensing equipment to nuisance tripping, DC bus voltage pump up on faults & nuisance tripping of Main earth leakage breakers. Part II will conclude with a study of HRG zero sequence fault current characteristics and paths observed under various fault locations in a common AC or common DC bus Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) drive system.
Comparison of pulsed photothermal radiometry, optical coherence tomography and ultrasound for melanoma thickness measurement in PDMS tissue phantoms

Melanoma accounts for 75% of all skin cancer deaths. Pulsed photothermal radiometry (PPTR), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and ultrasound (US) are non‐invasive imaging techniques that may be used to measure melanoma thickness, thus, determining surgical margins. We constructed a series of PDMS tissue phantoms simulating melanomas of different thicknesses. PPTR, OCT and US measurements were recorded from PDMS tissue phantoms and results were compared in terms of axial imaging range, axial resolution and imaging time. A Monte Carlo simulation and three‐dimensional heat transfer model was constructed to simulate PPTR measurement. Experimental results show that PPTR and US can provide a wide axial imaging range (75 μm–1.7 mm and 120–910 μm respectively) but poor axial resolution (75 and 120 μm respectively) in PDMS tissue phantoms, while OCT has the most superficial axial imaging range (14–450 μm) but highest axial resolution (14 μm). The Monte Carlo simulation and three‐dimensional heat transfer model give good agreement with PPTR measurement. PPTR and US are suited to measure thicker melanoma lesions (<$>><$>400 μm), while OCT is better to measure thin melanoma lesions (<$><<$>400 μm). (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Male Infertility and Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Egyptian Patients : Is There Any Correlation ?

BACKGROUND: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is widespread in the world and highly prevalent in Egypt. Some reports suggest that HCV chronic infection could alter seminal parameters and reproductive hormones, so chronic HCV infection may influence the male fertility. Objective: we conducted this study to assess the possible effect of chronic HCV infection and its antiviral treatment on various seminal parameters.Design: Eighteen patients with HCV-related chronic hepatitis (Polymerase chain reaction based) and 10 healthy male volunteers were studied. Setting and Participants:The study was carried from January 2010 till June 2011. Eighteen infertile male patients with a history of chronic HCV infection attended to outpatient's clinic (OPD) of urology department at 6 October university hospital, aged from 28 to 35 years. Ten normal subjects with no history of liver affection, enrolled in the study as volunteers. All patients with other causes of infertility as varicocele or history of cryptorchidism were excluded. Also, all patients with history of previous treatment for HCV or other causes of liver disease (HBV, alcohol, autoimmunity or hemochromatosis) were excluded Measurements: In all subjects seminal parameters (sperm count, motility, viability and morphology) and hormonal levels were determined in the serum (follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, free testosterone and prolactin) at the beginning of the study. Seminal parameters and hormonal levels were reassessed after six, twelve and eighteen months of antiviral combined (interferon + ribavirin) treatment. RESULTS: Patients before treatment showed a significantly lower sperm count, motility, viability and morphology as well as lower free testosterone levels than controls. Hormonal pattern of patients and semen parameters did not significantly change after treatment. CONCLUSION: Patients with HCV infection show worse spermatic parameters than controls, suggesting a probable negative influence of virus on spermatogenesis, with more mild impairment during and after antiviral treatment.
Perineural and Intraneural Invasion in Posttherapy Pancreaticoduodenectomy Specimens Predicts Poor Prognosis in Patients With Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Perineural invasion (PNI) is one of the established prognostic factors in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the prognostic significance of PNI in patients with PDAC who received neoadjuvant therapy and pancreaticoduodenectomy is not clear. In this study, we performed a detailed examination of neural invasion in pancreaticoduodenectomy specimens from 212 patients with PDAC who received neoadjuvant chemoradiation (treated group) and in 60 untreated patients at our institution between January 1999 and December 2007. The frequency of PNI was higher in the untreated group (80%, 48/60) than in the treated group (58%, 123/212). For the 123 treated cases that were positive for PNI, extratumoral PNI, intratumoral PNI, intrapancreatic PNI only, extrapancreatic PNI, and intraneural invasion were identified in 86 (69.9%), 37 (30.1%), 11 (8.9%), 112 (91.1%), and 35 cases (28.5%), respectively. The presence of PNI correlated with tumor size, margin status, lymph node metastasis, pathologic tumor, and American Joint Committee on Cancer stages in the treated group. Tumor involvement of nerves >0.8 mm correlated with higher frequency of positive margin compared with tumors with PNI involving nerves ⩽0.8 mm but not with other clinicopathologic parameters and survival. In the treated group, the presence of PNI or intraneural invasion correlated significantly with shorter disease-free survival and overall survival compared with no PNI or PNI only, respectively. PNI was an independent prognostic factor for both disease-free survival and overall survival in multivariate analysis. Our results showed that PNI plays an important role in the progression of PDAC and in predicting prognosis in this group of patients.
Induction of Proinflammatory Cytokines in Primary Human Macrophages by Influenza A Virus (H5N1) Is Selectively Regulated by IFN Regulatory Factor 3 and p38 MAPK1

The hyperinduction of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines such as TNF-α, IFN-β, and CCL2/MCP-1 in primary human macrophages and respiratory epithelial cells by the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 is believed to contribute to the unusual severity of human H5N1 disease. Here we show that TNF-α, IFN-β, and IFN-λ1 are the key mediators directly induced by the H5N1 virus in primary human macrophages. In comparison with human influenza (H1N1), the H5N1 virus more strongly activated IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF3). IRF3 knockdown and p38 kinase inhibition separately and in combination led to a substantial reduction of IFN-β, IFN-λ1, and MCP-1 but only to a partial reduction of TNF-α. IRF3 translocation was independent of p38 kinase activity, indicating that IRF3 and p38 kinase are distinct pathways leading to cytokine production by H5N1 virus. We conclude that IRF3 and p38 kinase separately and predominantly contribute to H5N1-mediated induction of IFN-β, IFN-λ1, and MCP-1 but only partly control TNF-α induction. A more precise identification of the differences in the regulation of TNF-α and IFN-β could provide novel targets for the design of therapeutic strategies for severe human H5N1 influenza and also for treating other causes of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Read between the Eyes : Effects of Culturally-Based Cognitive Styles on the use of Peripheral Displays First

Cognitive styles have been shown to influence the ways people make sense of information and perceive visual scenes. Americans tend to use an analytic cognitive style, resulting in a focus on central objects; Chinese tend to use a holistic style, resulting in a focus on the entire scene. In this study, we examine how these different cognitive styles affect attention to information presented on a peripheral display. American and Chinese participants performed two different tasks; one on a central display and one on a peripheral display. Eye tracking was used to measure how much time was spent looking at each display, and how often each was viewed. As predicted, Chinese participants performed better than American participants on the peripheral display task. In addition, Chinese participants’ attention allocation strategies were more sensitive to the visual complexity of the peripheral information. We discuss the implications of these findings for the design of peripheral display systems.
Augmentation by zinc of NMDA receptor‐mediated synaptic responses in CA1 of rat hippocampal slices: Mediation by Src family tyrosine kinases

Normal neuronal activity results in the release of zinc from the synaptic vesicles of glutamatergic terminals and subsequent entry into postsynaptic neurons. Although the exact physiological role of zinc translocation is currently unknown, it is very likely that intracellular zinc exerts long‐term modulatory effects upon synaptic transmission since zinc affects various molecules involved in signaling pathways. In this study we used rat hippocampal slices to examine the effect of zinc on glutamatergic synaptic transmission in the Schaffer collateral‐CA1 synapses. Following a 10‐min exposure to 0.3–1 mM zinc, the magnitude of NMDA receptor‐mediated field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSP) gradually increased over the subsequent 30–40 min. In contrast, the magnitude of AMPA/kainate receptor‐mediated fEPSPs remained unchanged. The selective potentiation of NMDA receptor‐mediated fEPSPs by zinc was unlikely to be a presynaptic event, since the degree of paired‐pulse facilitation was unaltered. Interestingly, the specific Src family tyrosine kinase inhibitor PP2 completely blocked zinc‐induced potentiation of NMDA receptor‐mediated fEPSP while the inactive analog PP3 had no effect, thereby suggesting the involvement of Src family tyrosine kinases. Furthermore, zinc exposure increased levels of total and tyrosine‐phosphorylated forms of NR2A and NR2B in a PP2‐dependent manner in both hippocampal slices and cell cultures. In addition, zinc treatment of hippocampal cultures increased the levels of tyrosine phosphorylation at the two positive regulatory sites of Src family tyrosine kinases. Our results demonstrate that zinc increases NMDA receptor function via Src family tyrosine kinase‐mediated increases of NR2A and 2B tyrosine phosphorylation. We speculate that intense release of endogenous synaptic zinc may potentiate NMDA receptor‐mediated transmission in zinc‐containing glutamatergic pathways by a similar mechanism. Synapse 46:49–56, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Molecular and phylogenetic characterisation of Fasciola spp. Isolated from cattle and sheep in Southeastern Iran

The objective of this study was to determine the genotype of Fasciola spp. in animal hosts from Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan province, southeastern Iran using PCR-RFLP. Overall, 50 and 43 adult Fasciola spp. were isolated from bile ducts of naturally infected cattle and sheep. PCR-RFLP with RsaI restriction enzyme and sequence analysis of the first nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS 1) region from Fasciola spp. were used to conduct the study. RFLP pattern with RsaI produced 180 and 331 bp fragments in F. gigantica and amplicons of F. hepatica had a size of 77, 104 and 331 bp. Results based on PCR-RFLP analysis were confirmed by sequence analysis of representative ITS 1 amplicons. No hybrid forms were detected in the present study. All sheep were infected with F. hepatica while cattle were infected with both species. The results of our study showed that F. hepatica and F. gigantica isolates were of common H1 and G1 haplotypes. © 2018, Trakia University. All rights reserved.
Structures of the Bacterial Ribosome at 3.5 Å Resolution

We describe two structures of the intact bacterial ribosome from Escherichia coli determined to a resolution of 3.5 angstroms by x-ray crystallography. These structures provide a detailed view of the interface between the small and large ribosomal subunits and the conformation of the peptidyl transferase center in the context of the intact ribosome. Differences between the two ribosomes reveal a high degree of flexibility between the head and the rest of the small subunit. Swiveling of the head of the small subunit observed in the present structures, coupled to the ratchet-like motion of the two subunits observed previously, suggests a mechanism for the final movements of messenger RNA (mRNA) and transfer RNAs (tRNAs) during translocation.
Mobile elements as a combination of functional modules.

Prokaryotic mobile elements have traditionally been classified as bacteriophages, plasmids, and transposons. We propose here a global classification of these and other bacterial and archaeal mobile elements based on their modular structure. This would allow for setting up interconnected databases where mobile elements could be stored as combinations of functional modules. Such a database would be very helpful. It would, for instance, allow for analyzing the phylogeny of individual blocks within an element, to understand how modules get associated and properly express the functions they carry in various bacterial hosts. Modules of practical importance, as for instance those that encode toxins or other virulence factors, could be identified and compared, and probes devised to test bacterial populations for the presence of such modules.
La phonétisation comme un problème de translittération

La phonetisation est une etape essentielle pour le traitement de l'oral. Dans cet article, nous decrivons un systeme automatique de phonetisation de mots isoles qui est simple, portable et performant. Il repose sur une approche par apprentissage ; le systeme est donc construit a partir d'exemples de mots et de leur representation phonetique. Nous utili- sons pour cela une technique d'inference de regles de reecriture initialement developpee pour la translitteration et la traduction. Pour evaluer les performances de notre approche, nous avons utilise plusieurs jeux de donnees couvrant differentes langues et divers alphabets phonetiques, tires du challenge Pascal Pronalsyl. Les tres bons resultats obtenus egalent ou depassent ceux des meilleurs systemes de l'etat de l'art.
Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Risk Behaviors from the NIMH Collaborative HIV/STD Prevention Trial

ABSTRACT This cross-sectional study describes the baseline prevalence and correlates of common bacterial and viral sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and risk behaviors among individuals at high risk for HIV recruited in five low- and middle-income countries. Correlations of risk behaviors and demographic factors with prevalent STDs and the association of STDs with HIV prevalence are examined. Between 2,212 and 5,543 participants were recruited in each of five countries (China, India, Peru, Russia, and Zimbabwe). Standard protocols were used to collect behavioral risk information and biological samples for STD testing. Risk factors for HIV/STD prevalence were evaluated using logistic regression models. STD prevalence was significantly higher for women than men in all countries, and the most prevalent STD was Herpes simplex virus-type 2 (HSV-2). HIV prevalence was generally low (below 5%) except in Zimbabwe (30% among women, 11.7% among men). Prevalence of bacterial STDs was generally low (below 5% for gonorrhea and under 7% for syphilis in all sites), with the exception of syphilis among female sex workers in India. Behavioral and demographic risks for STDs varied widely across the five study sites. Common risks for STDs included female gender, increasing number of recent sex partners, and in some sites, older age, particularly for chronic STDs (i.e., HSV-2 and HIV). Prevalence of HIV was not associated with STDs except in Zimbabwe, which showed a modest correlation between HIV and HSV-2 prevalence (Pearson coefficient = .55). These findings underscore the heterogeneity of global STD and HIV epidemics and suggest that local, focused interventions are needed to achieve significant declines in these infections.
Obstacles to Help-Seeking for Sexual Offenders: Implications for Prevention of Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT Persons with potentially harmful sexual interests such as attraction to minors are unlikely to seek or receive treatment before a sexual offense has been committed. The current study explored barriers to help-seeking in a sample of 372 individuals in treatment for sexual offending. Results revealed that the shame and secrecy resulting from stigma associated with pedophilic interests often prevented our respondents from seeking professional counseling, and only about 20% tried to talk to anyone about their sexual interests prior to their arrest. Barriers to seeking and receiving psychological services included concerns about confidentiality, fears of social and legal consequences, personal shame or confusion about the problem, affordability, and challenges finding competent therapists who were adequately equipped to help them. Understanding and ultimately reducing obstacles to help-seeking can improve the quality of life for people with harmful sexual interests and potentially prevent sexual abuse of children or other vulnerable individuals.
Challenges and pitfalls of antipsychotic prescribing in people with learning disability.

In this opinion piece we highlight the current concerns of prescribing antipsychotics to people with learning disability (PWLD) and propose a system of monitoring of antipsychotic prescribing in general practice that, we argue, will reduce inappropriate antipsychotic use. Learning disability, synonymous with the term ‘intellectual disabilities’,1 affects about 1–2% of the general population2 and is characterised by significant impairments of both intellectual and adaptive functioning, and an onset before 18 years.3 PWLD have high rates of ‘challenging behaviour’ (CB) — for instance, acts of aggression towards people or property, self-neglect, and self-harm — and risk exploitation.2 CB is a social construct to enumerate a behavioural or mental pattern that may cause suffering or a poor ability to function in life. It is best understood based on learning theory and the principles of applied behavioural analysis. Mental illness is a structured diagnostic concept that encompasses a large range of recognised emotional and behavioural disorders and its diagnosis requires robust application of the diagnostic schedules. It is reasonable to state that most PWLD with mental illness have CB but the majority of PWLD with CB might not satisfy criteria for mental illness. Therefore, the therapeutic approach to CB can be very different from a diagnostic one. However, there is significant overlap between CB and the presence of mental illnesses, with the latter also being higher in PWLD than in the general population. Deficits in communication, atypical clinical presentations, and differences in diagnostic coding methods mean that mental illness can be under-recorded, particularly in those with severe degrees of learning disability.1,4 This means that the clinician needs to be aware not just of what is observed behaviourally, but also whether there is something underlying diagnostically. A formulation based …
Code-reuse attacks and defenses

Exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities in widely used software has been a threat for almost three decades and no end seems to be in sight. In particular, code-reuse techniques such as return-oriented programming offer a robust attack technique that is extensively used to exploit memory corruption vulnerabilities in modern software programs (e.g. web browsers or document viewers). Whereas conventional control-flow attacks (runtime exploits) require the injection of malicious code, code-reuse attacks leverage code that is already present in the address space of an application to undermine the security model of data execution prevention (DEP). In addition, code-reuse attacks in conjunction with memory disclosure attack techniques circumvent the widely applied memory protection model of address space layout randomization (ASLR). To counter this ingenious attack strategy, several proposals for enforcement of control-flow integrity (CFI) and fine-grained code randomization have emerged. In this dissertation, we explore the limitations of existing defenses against code-reuse attacks. In particular, we demonstrate that various coarse-grained CFI solutions can be effectively undermined, even under weak adversarial assumptions. Moreover, we explore a new return-oriented programming attack technique that is solely based on indirect jump and call instructions to evade detection from defenses that perform integrity checks for return addresses. To tackle the limitations of existing defenses, this dissertation introduces the design and implementation of several new countermeasures. First, we present a generic and fine-grained CFI framework for mobile devices targeting ARM-based platforms. This framework preserves static code signatures by instrumenting mobile applications on-the-fly in memory. Second, we tackle the performance and security limitations of existing CFI defenses by introducing hardware-assisted CFI for embedded devices. To this end, we present a CFI-based hardware implementation for Intel Siskiyou Peak using dedicated CFI machine instructions. Lastly, we explore fine-grained code randomization techniques.