Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Based on molecular structures: Amyloid-β generation, clearance, toxicity and therapeutic strategies

Amyloid-β (Aβ) has long been considered as one of the most important pathogenic factors in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the specific pathogenic mechanism of Aβ is still not completely understood. In recent years, the development of structural biology technology has led to new understandings about Aβ molecular structures, Aβ generation and clearance from the brain and peripheral tissues, and its pathological toxicity. The purpose of the review is to discuss Aβ metabolism and toxicity, and the therapeutic strategy of AD based on the latest progress in molecular structures of Aβ. The Aβ structure at the atomic level has been analyzed, which provides a new and refined perspective to comprehend the role of Aβ in AD and to formulate therapeutic strategies of AD.
Multiple Access Design for Ultra-Dense VLC Networks: Orthogonal vs Non-Orthogonal

Small-cell aided ultra-dense networks (UDNs) constitute an efficient solution to the ever-increasing thirst for more data. Thanks to the vast untapped high-frequency spectrum of visible light, visible light communications (VLCs) are a natural candidate for UDN. In this paper, layered asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM (LACO-OFDM) aided ultra-dense VLC (UD-VLC) is investigated in terms of its user association, multiple access (MA), and resource allocation. To handle the severe inter-cell interference (ICI) amongst the densely deployed access points, we propose a novel overlapped clustering technique relying on a hybrid non-orthogonal MA and orthogonal MA scheme for enhancing the performance, with the aid of our dynamic resource allocation conceived. Our simulations show that the proposed LACO-OFDM aided UD-VLC using our hybrid MA scheme is more robust against the ICI, at a price of modestly decreasing the sum throughput.
Human behaviour analysis when using Head-Up Display systems in autonomous driving situations

This paper covers an autonomous driving situation, in which a fully automated vehicle was proposed for driving along a specific route, while some safety-related information was projected in a Head-Up Display (HUD) system. This situation was tested by 10 subjects in a driving simulator, in order to estimate how the mental discomfort in autonomous driving situations could be influenced when using or not the proposed HUD system. The above, was performed firstly by measuring and analysing for all test subjects their pupil size, blink rate, heart rate, temperature and electro-dermal activity as discomfort estimators; and secondly, by developing a categorical questionnaire for identifying anxiety and stress. According to the results, there was not enough evidence for confirming a significant reduction on the measured discomfort variables (p-value<0.05) while using the proposed HUD visual interfaces; these results were also supported by all categorical questions developed after the proposed experimentation. In conclusion, under the experimental considerations here proposed the HUD systems do not influence the mental discomfort in autonomous vehicles.
A Normal I/O Order Radix-2 FFT Architecture for High Speed Applications

Nowadays, many applications require simultaneous computation of multiple independent Fast Fourier transform (FFT) operations with their outputs in natural order. Therefore, this paper presents a pipelined Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) processor for the computation of two independent data streams. This architecture is based on the Multipath Delay Commutator (MDC) FFT architecture. It has an N/2-point Decimation In Time (DIT) FFT and an N/2-point Decimation In Frequency (DIF) FFT to process the odd and even samples of two data streams separately. The main feature of this architecture is that the bit reversal operation is performed by the architecture itself, so the outputs are generated in normal order without any dedicated bit reversal circuit. The bit reversal operation is performed by the shift registers in the FFT architecture by scheduling the data. Therefore the proposed architecture take less time and has a high throughput.
An automatic composition model of Chinese folk music

The automatic composition has achieved rich results in recent decades, including Western and some other areas of music. However, the automatic composition of Chinese music is less involved. After thousands of years of development, Chinese folk music has a wealth of resources. To design an automatic composition mode, learn the characters of Chinese folk melody and imitate the creative process of music is of some significance. According to the melodic features of Chinese folk music, a Chinese folk music composition based on Markov model is proposed to analyze Chinese traditional music. Folk songs with typical Chinese national characteristics are selected for analysis. In this paper, an example of automatic composition is given. The experimental results show that this composition model can produce music with characteristics of Chinese folk music.
Analysis on Handwritten Document Text to Identify Human Personality Characteristics by Using Preprocessing and Feature Extraction

It is important that a company uses the right means to recruit employees with certain personal characteristics as needed. Nowadays, the techniques to respond to psychological tests on peopleâ€™s characteristics have been widely understood by most job applicants, so that it is difficult to know their true personality. Graphology is a way to identify a personâ€™s characteristics by analyzing the handwriting from the document text made by the applicant. The two types of text document of each applicant are obtained from people of different ages and different writing times. The methods of graphology used in this research for identifying the handwriting are preprocessing and feature extraction. The preprocessing method uses projection integrals, shear transformations, and template matching. While the feature extraction process applies 10 features, they are, margins, line spacing, space between words, size of writing, style, zone, direction of writing, slope of writing, width of writing and shape of the letter. The result of the experiment from five writers shows the accuracy of writing identification equals to 82%, while personality identification equals to 67,4%.
The Validity of Version 3 of the HCR-20 Violence Risk Assessment Scheme Amongst Offenders and Civil Psychiatric Patients

Abstract The current study presents an empirical evaluation of the performance of the third version of the HCR-20. This prospective research project was conducted using a sample of 106 offenders and psychiatric patients who were transitioning out of institutions and into the community. Results provided strong support for the bivariate associations between the ratings of the presence and relevance of risk factors, as well as summary risk ratings, and violence at 4 to 6 weeks and 6 to 8 months. Although relevance ratings did not add incrementally to presence ratings, summary risk ratings added incrementally to both. Findings were not moderated by either sub-sample or gender. Version 3 of the HCR-20 was highly correlated with Version 2. Associations with violence were comparable between instruments. Findings were supportive of these basic elements of Version 3.
A Battery Life Prediction Method for Hybrid Power Applications Preprint

Batteries in hybrid power applications that include intermittent generators, such as wind turbines, experience a very irregular pattern of charge and discharge cycles. Because battery life is dependent on both depth and rate of discharge (and other factors such as temperature, charging strategy, etc.), estimating battery life and optimally sizing batteries for hybrid systems is difficult. Typically, manufacturers give battery life data, if at all, as cycles to failure versus depth of discharge, where all discharge cycles are assumed to be under conditions of constant temperature, current, and depth of discharge. Use of such information directly can lead to gross errors in battery lifetime estimation under actual operating conditions, which may result in either a higher system cost than necessary or an undersized battery bank prone to early failure. Even so, most current battery life estimation algorithms consider only the effect of depth of discharge on cycle life. This paper will discuss a new battery life prediction method, developed to investigate the effects of two primary determinants of battery life in hybrid power applications, varying depths of discharge and varying rates of discharge. A significant feature of the model is that it bases its analysis on battery performance and cyclemore » life data provided by the manufacturer, supplemented by a limited amount of empirical test data, eliminating the need for an electrochemical model of the battery. It performs the analysis for a user-prescribed discharge profile consisting of a series of discharge events of specified average current and duration. Sample analyses are presented to show how the method can be used to select the most economical battery type and size for a given hybrid power system application. « less
Non-adherence among women enrolled in a contraceptive vaginal ring use study in Kisumu, Kenya, 2014-2015.

Background Given future potential use of vaginal rings to prevent HIV infection, we examined the association of contraceptive vaginal ring (CVR) non-adherence with user dissatisfaction, tolerability, demographic, and behavioral factors. Methods In an open-label single-group study, sexually active women aged 18-34 years using oral or injectable hormonal contraception, conveniently sampled from general population, were assigned to 6-month use of a commercial CVR currently not licensed for use in Kenya. Non-adherence in any CVR cycle completed was assessed from: (1) self-report (not used for at least 1 day), and (2) pharmacy record (failure to timely receive a new CVR or return a used one). Additionally, non-adherence was assessed in a subset of participants by residual progestin and estrogen levels measured in returned CVRs. Results Of 202 participants who underwent CVR insertion by a study clinician, 142 completed all 6 visits, 172 responded to questions about ring use, and 43 provided used CVRs from months 1, 3, and 6 for residual hormone analysis. Non-adherence was 14.0% (24/172) by self-report and 54.5% (110/202) by pharmacy record. Non-adherence by pharmacy record was significantly reduced among women with a salary-based income (prevalence ratio (PR) 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.55-0.91)] compared to women with income not salary-based or no income. Participants dissatisfied with CVR on ≥4 aspects (ambiguity of instructions, inconvenience of use, sensation, sexual discomfort, etc.) were more likely to report non-adherence (PR 2.69, 95% CI=(1.31-5.52)] compared to those dissatisfied with ≤3 aspects. Non-adherence by residual hormone levels was identified in 46.5% (20/43) participants. Over time, this subset of participants showed increasing non-adherence (P=0.004). We found lack of agreement among the various measures of non-adherence. Conclusions Economic empowerment interventions, especially those emphasizing partner-independent income options, and expanded education on CVR features may alleviate non-adherence. Addressing CVR dissatisfaction preemptively may also help mitigate non-adherence.
On Efficient Tree-Based Tag Search in Large-Scale RFID Systems

Tag search, which is to find a particular set of tags in a radio frequency identification (RFID) system, is a key service in such important Internet-of-Things applications as inventory management. When the system scale is large with a massive number of tags, deterministic search can be prohibitively expensive, and probabilistic search has been advocated, seeking a balance between reliability and time efficiency. Given a failure probability <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\frac {1}{\mathcal {O}(K)}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the number of tags, state-of-the-art solutions have achieved a time cost of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {O}(K \log K)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> through multi-round hashing and verification. Further improvement, however, faces a critical bottleneck of repetitively verifying each individual target tag in each round. In this paper, we present an efficient tree-based tag search (TTS) that approaches <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {O}(K)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> through batched verification. The key novelty of TTS is to smartly hash multiple tags into each internal tree node and adaptively control the node degrees. It conducts bottom–up search to verify tags group by group with the number of groups decreasing rapidly. Furthermore, we design an enhanced tag search scheme, referred to as TTS+, to overcome the negative impact of asymmetric tag set sizes on time efficiency of TTS. TTS+ first rules out partial ineligible tags with a filtering vector and feeds the shrunk tag sets into TTS. We derive the optimal hash code length and node degrees in TTS to accommodate hash collisions and the optimal filtering vector size to minimize the time cost of TTS+. The superiority of TTS and TTS+ over the state-of-the-art solution is demonstrated through both theoretical analysis and extensive simulations. Specifically, as reliability demand on scales, the time efficiency of TTS+ reaches nearly 2 times at most that of TTS.
Health risk of pupils formed by classrooms’ air pollution

The results of health risk assessment of pupils performed on the basis of the classrooms’ diffusion air sampling in the establishments of the general education and measurements of the pollutants’ concentrations in the air in real time are presented. It was found that classrooms’ air pollution is characterized by multicomponent and significant variability. The ajor contribution to the value of total cancer risk in the classrooms’ air is made by formaldehyde. The total cancer risk by inhalation routes of benzene, ethylbenzene and formaldehyde administration is higher in the classrooms air compared with ambient air. Hazard index ranges from 1.0 and below under chronic inhalation of classrooms’ air contaminants. Combined exposure to chemicals polluting the classrooms’ air environment, in concentrations not exceeding the established limits, creates an increased risk of respiratory diseases (hazard index value is to 1.4). Diffusion air sampling allows to provide an assessment of classrooms’ air quality, to be the basis for risk assessment, plan and evaluate the effectiveness of “targeted” preventive measures.
The Analysis of Micro-Scratches and Trace-Wear in the Authentication of archaeological Gold

The traces left by ancient instruments and by modern ones have been successfully studied for many years. In the present paper, we propose to add to the different archaeometric methods employed for the identification of fakes a supplementary technique involving the observation of the object by optical or electron microscopy. This technique is based on the study of metallic surfaces in order to identify the stratifications of the marks related to the ancient stages of construction related to the work of the original goldsmiths and distinguish them from those which were added later to the initial marks. The latter are related to the contact and friction of the surface with external materials in the course of time. By recognising the chronological sequence of the marks’ superposition, it is at times possible to reconstruct the history of the object and to put forth hypotheses regarding its age. The visible wear marks on the surface of goldwork also provide fundamental information about the lifetime and use of the objects.
Sentiment Analysis on Tweets

The rapid increase of textual data is overwhelming. The huge amount of data generated from the different call sites, customer reviews on different products, and so on is in the unstructured form. So the amount of textual centre logs, emails, blogs, documents on the internet, tweets form twitter, customer comments from different social networking data rapidly increasing makes the summarization task challenging for businesses. In this paper we provide techniques that how to organize textual data and analyze textual data for extracting intuitive customer intelligence from a large collection of data. The predominant and different types of information on twitter make it one of the most appropriate virtual environments for information monitoring and tracking. In this paper, starting with the analysis of different hash-tags, categorization of different areas, identification of influence, and finally analysis of sentiment. This paper tries to draw some important conclusions based on the sentiment analyzed.
Architecture d'une plate-forme de communication multi-paradigme pour les grilles

Cet article etudie un modele de plate-forme de communications dont le but est d'etendre la portee des grilles de calcul en permettant l'execution d'applications paralleles et/ou reparties sans imposer de contrainte de programmation ou d'executif particulier. Notre objectif n'est pas de montrer qu'un executif est meilleur qu'un autre, mais plutot de construire une plate-forme de communications pour les grilles qui permet l'utilisation des executifs adaptes a l'application plutot que ceux dictes par les reseaux disponibles. Une telle plate-forme doit ainsi etre capable de fournir n'importe quel executif --- eventuellement plusieurs en meme temps --- sur n'importe quel reseau.
Liraglutide-induced Acute Gastroparesis

We describe a case of liraglutide-induced acute gastroparesis in a 52-year-old man with a history of well-controlled type 2 diabetes who presented with symptoms of gastric outlet obstruction. The patient responded markedly to conservative treatment with gastric suctioning, antiemetic and prokinetic therapy, and discontinuation of liraglutide with a resolution of his symptoms. This case highlights the importance of considering drug-induced gastroparesis as an etiology of unexplained upper abdominal pain, nausea, and early satiety, especially in the absence of mechanical obstruction.
Relations Among Emotional Mood State, Personality Dimensions and Social Desirability in Older Adults

YAŞLI YETİŞKİNLERDE DUYGUDURUM, KİŞİLİK BOYUTLARI VE SOSYAL İSTENİRLİK ARASINDAKİ İLİŞKİLER Introduction: Previous studies have shown that older adults report higher levels of positive affect (PA). Studies in the context of the five-factor model of personality have also noted the age-related changes in personality. However, the possible influence of personality on emotional state needs further investigation in older adulthood. This study examines relations among personality traits, social desirability, and positive/negative affectivity in conjunction with aging. Materials and Method: A total of 123 volunteers (62 young and 61 older adults) was participated in the study. A cross-design was used with consecutive sampling. All participants had higher education. Participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule as a measure of emotional state. Thereafter, they rated the degree to which each item described themselves on the Five-Factor Personality Inventory, which measures personality dimensions and social desirability. Results: Independent t-tests were conducted to compare young and older adults in terms of affectivity and personality. Findings revealed that older adults reported less negative affect (NA) compared with young adults. Older adults scored higher on agreeableness, conscientiousness, and social desirability, whereas young adults scored higher on extraversion and neuroticism. Based on correlational results, neuroticism was negatively correlated with extraversion, social desirability, and PA in older adults. Analyses of variance showed that conscientiousness, neuroticism, and social desirability impacted positive/negative affectivity. Conclusion: The results indicated that neuroticism proved to be the most important factor on emotional well-being. Older adults low on neuroticism experienced less NA. Furthermore, conscientiousness and social desirability had strong effects on PA indicating that the agerelated differences found in affectivity might not only be attributable to age-related changes in personality, but also partly attributable to age-related increases in social desirability.
An Approach for Formal Analysis of the Security of a Water Treatment Testbed

An increase in the number of attacks on cyberphysical systems (CPS) has raised concerns over the vulnerability of critical infrastructure such as water treatment, oil, gas plants, against cyber attacks. Such systems are controlled by an Industrial Control System (ICS) that includes controllers communicating with each other, and with physical sensors and actuators, using a communications network. This paper focuses on a Multiple Security Domain Nondeducibility (MSDND) model to identify the vulnerable points of attack on the system that hide critical information rather than steal it, such as in the STUXNET virus. It is shown how MSDND analysis, conducted on a realistic multi-stage water treatment testbed, is useful in enhancing the security of a water treatment plant. Based on the MSDND analysis, this work offers a thorough documentation on the vulnerable points of attack, invariants used for removing the vulnerabilities, and suggested design decisions that help in developing invariants to mitigate attacks.
Review paper Provocation tests for diagnosis of acetylsalicylic acid intolerance

Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) is one of the most commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are, after antibiotics, the second most frequent agent causing drug hypersensitivity. ASA intolerance may be accompanied by asthma, nasal polyps and urticaria. Diagnosis of ASA intolerance includes provocation tests: oral, bronchial, intranasal and intravenous (used very rarely, generally only in Japan). Oral and bronchial aspirin challenge are associated with a high risk of severe complications; therefore it is advised to perform them only in specialist diagnostic centres. We would like to accentuate the usefulness of the intranasal provocation test for diagnosis of ASA intolerance as a safe and easy procedure which may be performed in out-patient care.
Frequency of iron deficiency anemia in pregnant and non-pregnant women suffering from restless legs syndrome

ABSTRACT Objectives. Restless Legs Syndrome is a movement disorder characterized by unpleasant sensations in the legs described as a burning, tingling, etc. Symptoms become worse in the evening and are relieved by moving the limbs. The idiopathic form of the disease is associated with a lack of dopamine, and the secondary form is associated with iron deficiency anemia, pregnancy, and kidney disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of iron deficiency anemia in pregnant women and non-pregnant women suffering from RLS. Methods. The study was conducted on a sample of 231 pregnant women aged 18–50. The pregnant women were interviewed at the outpatient clinic of the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. This study also included a control group of 231 age-compatible non-pregnant women. Women who met the international criteria for diagnosing the syndrome filled in a sociodemographic questionnaire. Results. A statistically significant association between the existence of iron deficiency anemia and RLS in the sample of the examined women was proven (p < 0.001). It was also shown that RLS is more frequent in a sample of anemic pregnant women than non-anemic pregnant women (p = 0.008). Conclusion. Iron deficiency anemia is related with RLS. Pregnant women with RLS are more likely to be anemic than pregnant women without RLS.