Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Signal and Data Processing Techniques for Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems

Recent advances in computing and communications have raised a constantly increasing challenge of modernizing and decentralizing industrial processes, by introducing dynamic architectures of cyber-physical systems (CPS). The resulting industrial CPS (iCPS) exploit their inherent relationship with wireless sensor networks (WSN) for providing cost-effective, scalable and easily-deployed solutions in industrial spaces, whilst formulating new paradigms for industrial data acquisition and control. Employing iCPS in industrial processes poses characteristics which are not dominant in conventional monitoring scenarios. In specific, the deployment of the WSN components is highly coupled to the objectives of the industrial process, thus introducing logical, along with spatial and temporal, correlations between data streams originated by different positions. Moreover, typical WSN imperfections, such as limited bandwidth, computational complexity, and lifetime, should be treated as inseparable part the processes responsible for minimizing the WSN maintenance efforts. Finally, the quality of sensing is strongly coupled to the objectives and the performance of the industrial control laws, necessitating for intensified reliability and robustness in signal processing and data acquisition, as the complexity of the industrial process increases. The objective of this book chapter is to present a framework of signal and data processing for treating different layers of information abstraction in an iCPS. By taking into account the limitations and imperfections of WSN employed for iCPS, we will focus on three complementary, yet equally important aspects: (a) signal processing-driven performance optimization for industrial WSN; (b) in-network signal processing techniques for distributed field estimation; (c) high-level data management and analysis for detecting abnormal behavior in the recorded iCPS data. The developed algorithms aim at formulating an integrated framework for signal and data processing in iCPS. With a strong emphasis on providing the essential theoretical background, the efficacy of the resulting framework will be ultimately evaluated in different aspects of real-life iCPS, designed for the autonomous monitoring of water treatment plants. It is anticipated that the methods herein presented and the accompanying discussions on the obtained results, will yield novel directions for iCPS standardization.
Hypothalamic neuropeptide Y levels in weaning offspring of low-protein malnourished mother rats

Maternal low-protein malnutrition during gestation and lactation (LP) is an animal model frequently used for the investigation of long-term deleterious consequences of perinatal growth retardation. Hypothalamic neuropeptides are decisively involved in the central nervous regulation of body weight and metabolism. We investigated neuropeptide Y (NPY) in distinct hypothalamic nuclei in the offspring of LP mother rats at the end of the critical hypothalamic differentiation period (20th day of life). Weanling LP offspring were underweight (P< 0.001) and hypoinsulinaemic (P< 0.05), while leptin levels were unchanged. NPY was significantly increased in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN) (P< 0.01) and lateral hypothalamic area (P< 0.05) in LP offspring. In contrast, NPY was unchanged in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN). These observations indicate a leptin-independent stimulation of the orexigenic ARC-PVN axis in undernourished LP rats at weaning. Furthermore a disturbed NPYergic regulation of the VMN is suggested, possibly contributing to alterations of the hypothalamic regulation of body weight and metabolism in LP offspring during life.
The geographical weighted K-NN classifiers in land cover classification from remote sensing image: A case study of a subregion of Xi'an, China

The classification of land cover is one of the most important objectives of remote sensing. Class-conditional probability plot has been presented to documentation classification. In this paper, we try to incorporate two geostatistical models (Exponential model and Gaussian model) into a supervised k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) classifier to improve the accuracy of land cover classification. A subregion of Xi'an city (multispectral quickbird satellite image, 2.4m spatial resolution) is taken as an example to illustrate the validation of these land cover classification methods. The geographical weighting k-NN classifiers have been demonstrated that the accuracy of classification of land cover is very high, which is up to 91.58 percent. In addition, this classifier has eliminated the salt-and-pepper effect of the remote sensing image to some degree.
A Combinatorial Model of Odor Discrimination Using a Small Array of Contiguous, Chemically Defined Glomeruli

ABSTRACT: The macroglomerular complex (MGC) is a sexually dimorphic array of contiguous glomeruli in male moths, located at the base of the antennal nerve where it enters the primary olfactory processing area of the brain, the antennal lobe. A new three‐dimensional reconstruction method was used to map this glomerular array, and images obtained with the laser scanning confocal microscope revealed the precise location and spatial arrangement of the MGC glomeruli in two related species of Heliothine moth. Intracellular recording and staining of projection neurons (PNs) that arborize within the MGC has revealed that information about the two attractive components of the Pheromone blend is segregated to different glomeruli in both species. In one species, Helicoverpa zea, a third glomerulus serves as the locus for the processing of odors that antagonize upwind flight. Thus, activation of different but overlapping sets of glomeruli within the MGC may provide a neural substrate for discriminating attractant vs antagonist chemical signals.
Observer-based adaptive optimal control for unknown singularly perturbed nonlinear systems with input constraints

This paper introduces an observer-based adaptive optimal control method for unknown singularly perturbed nonlinear systems with input constraints. First, a multi-time scales dynamic neural network U+0028 MTSDNN U+0029 observer with a novel updating law derived from a properly designed Lyapunov function is proposed to estimate the system states. Then, an adaptive learning rule driven by the critic NN weight error is presented for the critic NN, which is used to approximate the optimal cost function. Finally, the optimal control action is calculated by online solving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman U+0028 HJB U+0029 equation associated with the MTSDNN observer and critic NN. The stability of the overall closed-loop system consisting of the MTSDNN observer, the critic NN and the optimal control action is proved. The proposed observer-based optimal control approach has an essential advantage that the system dynamics are not needed for implementation, and only the measured input U+002F output data is needed. Moreover, the proposed optimal control design takes the input constraints into consideration and thus can overcome the restriction of actuator saturation. Simulation results are presented to confirm the validity of the investigated approach.
The Relationship Between the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System and NMDA Receptor-Mediated Signal and the Prevention of Retinal Ganglion Cell Death.

Purpose Excitotoxicity, which is due to glutamate-induced toxic effects on the retinal ganglion cell (RGC), is one of several mechanisms of RGC loss. The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) has also been implicated in RGC death. Therefore, it is important to determine the exact relationship between the RAAS and N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated signal in order to prevent RGC death. Methods N-methyl-d-aspartate or aldosterone was injected into the vitreous body. After intravitreal injection of NMDA or aldosterone, animals were treated with spironolactone or memantine. Retinal damage was evaluated by measuring the number of RGCs at 4 weeks after local administration of aldosterone or at 2 weeks after local administration of NMDA. Vitreous humor levels of aldosterone were measured using enzyme immunoassay kits. Results A significantly decreased number of RGCs were observed after intravitreal injection of NMDA. Although spironolactone did not show any neuroprotective effects, memantine significantly reduced NMDA-induced degeneration in the retina. Furthermore, a significant decrease in the number of RGCs was observed after an intravitreal injection of aldosterone. While memantine did not exhibit any neuroprotective effects, spironolactone caused a significant reduction in the aldosterone-induced degeneration in the retina. There was no change in the aldosterone concentration in the vitreous humor after an NMDA injection. Conclusion Our findings indirectly show that there is no relationship between the RAAS and NMDA receptor-mediated signal with regard to RGC death.
The conjecture of Langlands and Rapoport for Siegel modular varieties

Frequently one attaches to an arithmetic object a zeta function whose analytic behavior reflects deep properties of the object. For example, attached to Q there is the Riemann zeta function, whose behavior (especially the position of its zeros) contains information about the distribution of the prime numbers. Dedekind attached a zeta function to every algebraic number field, and Hasse and Weil attached a zeta function to every algebraic variety over a number field. A central point of Langlands's philosophy is that these zeta functions should be among the L-functions that he attaches to automorphic representations of reductive groups. A natural first testing ground for this idea is the family of Shimura varieties. For the simplest Shimura varieties, the elliptic modular curves, the results of Eichler and Shimura can be interpreted as demonstrating its validity. In general, to define a Shimura variety, one needs a reductive group G over Q and a finite disjoint union X of bounded symmetric domains on which G(R) acts. For example, to define the elliptic modular curves, one takes G to be GL2 and X to be the complex plane minus the real axis. The Shimura variety is then a family of varieties Sh(G, X) over C, but a deep result says that it has a canonical model over a number field E. For almost all primes v of E, this model reduces to a family of nonsingular varieties Sv over the finite residue field k(v) at v, and the zeta function of the Shimura variety is defined in terms of the number of points of Sv with coordinates in the finite fields containing k(v). Let F be the algebraic closure of k(v). The starting point of Langlands's program for realizing the zeta function of Sh(G, X) as an automorphic L-function is to obtain an explicit description of the set of points on the Shimura variety with coordinates in F, together with the action of the Frobenius automorphism of F and
Dynamic Demand Response and control in Smart Grid Environment

Smart grid enables active participation by consumers which is known as Demand Response. In order to match the power demand and power supply, a new method for Dynamic Demand Control (DDC) with AGC in Smart Grid Environment is proposed. A load frequency control using DDC based on price signals was modeled in this study. When frequency decreases customers are charged for Unscheduled Interchange. The frequency deviation was compared with the frequency deviation obtained when generation control, using PI controller, alone was implemented for frequency control. Thus DDC alone is sufficient to maintain the system frequency, during small load variations. DDC will play a major role in reducing these losses caused to the GENCOs under a Smart Grid environment.
Interleukin‐4 regulates mRNA accumulation of macrophage‐colony stimulating factor by fibroblasts: synergism with interleukin‐1β

Summary. We demonstrate that macrophage‐colony stimulating factor (M‐CSF) is expressed in human fibroblasts at the mRNA and protein level. Following activation with both interleukin (IL)‐1β and IL‐4. fibroblasts synthesized M‐CSF transcripts detectable by Northern blot analysis with peak expression occurring at 8 h and 12 h, respectively. Exposure of fibroblasts to both cytokines resulted in M‐CSF protein release at 60 h of c. 500 U/ml (for IL‐1β) and 1000 U/ml (for IL‐4), relative to a control preparation of recombinant human M‐CSF in a murine bone marrow colony assay. Both interleukins synergized to enhance M‐CSF mRNA accumulation and their ability to induce M‐CSF transcripts could be abolished by treatment with specific neutralizing antibodies. These observations provide support for the idea that fibroblasts may control monocyte/macrophage development and function, and that IL‐1β and IL‐4 are involved in the regulation of this process.
Modeling and simulation of secure wireless sensor network

In this paper we present a methodology to model and simulate jamming attack in Wireless Sensor Networks. The Wireless Sensor Network is described using the MARTE profile. In the UML/MARTE models Wireless Sensor Network is specified, defining the nodes that composed the network and characterizing the communication established among these nodes in the network. There are numerous ways to attack a Wireless Network. In this paper we study these techniques and propose alternative methods to simulate these attacks using a virtual simulator framework based on native HW/SW simulation methodology. Bearing in mind the emerging market in Wireless Sensor Network technology and its high vulnerability to attacks, it is important to provide new simulation techniques that allow the developer to obtain estimations in early stages of system design.
Immunodominance of an Antiviral Cytotoxic T Cell Response Is Shaped by the Kinetics of Viral Protein Expression1

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection induces a protective CTL response consisting of gp- and nucleoprotein (NP)-specific CTL. We find that a small load of LCMV led to immunodominance of NP-CTL, whereas a large viral load resulted in dominance of gp-CTL. This is the first study describing that immunodominance is not fixed after infection with a given pathogen, but varies with the viral load instead. We assumed higher Ag sensitivity for NP-CTL, which would explain their preferential priming at low viral load, as well as their overstimulation resulting in selective exhaustion at high viral load. The higher Ag sensitivity of NP-CTL was due to faster kinetics of NP-epitope presentation. Thus, we uncover a novel factor that impinges upon immunodominance and is related to the kinetics of virus protein expression. We propose that CTL against early viral proteins swiftly interfere with virus replication, resulting in efficient protection. If these “early” CTL fail in immediate virus control, they are activated in the face of higher viral load compared with “late” CTL and are therefore prone to be exhausted. Thus, the observed absence of early CTL in persistent infections might not be the cause, but rather the consequence of viral persistence.
A Comparison of direct and indirect measurement of induction motor efficiency

Induction machine efficiency is defined as the ratio of output power to input power. The efficiency determined from this ratio is known as the direct efficiency. Alternatively, the efficiency is often determined by first determining the losses and using either the input power or the output power to calculate the efficiency. This method, known in standards as the loss segregation method is an indirect method that is known to yield a more accurate result if the stray load losses are properly determined. However, the indirect method is complicated; it requires skilled operator and is time consuming. On the other hand, the direct method is relatively simple and less time consuming. The question is by how much the efficiency numbers produced by these two methods differ. This paper presents a comparison of the two methods from a collection of test data of about 1000 induction motors, rated 1–250hp, to show the relative accuracy of the direct method. The Bland-Altman procedure for comparing measurement methods is used in the analysis.
Implication of lipocalin-2 and visfatin levels in patients with coronary heart disease.

OBJECTIVES Visfatin and lipocalin-2 are novel adipokines associated with insulin resistance (IR) and obesity-related metabolic disorders. We compared lipocalin-2 and visfatin concentrations between patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and control subjects and evaluated their association with cardiovascular risk factors. METHODS We examined serum visfatin, lipocalin-2 levels, and cardiovascular risk factors in 91 subjects (49 patients with angiographically confirmed CHD versus 42 age- and gender-matched control participants). RESULTS Circulating lipocalin-2 levels were significantly higher in patients with CHD compared with the control subjects (82.6+/-38.7 ng/ml versus 43.8+/-27.8 ng/ml; P<0.001). However, visfatin levels were not significantly different between patients with CHD and control subjects. Serum lipocalin-2 levels were positively associated with weight (r=0.26; P=0.036), fasting insulin (r=0.36; P=0.003), and IR (r=0.33; P=0.007), whereas these levels showed a negative correlation with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (r=-0.30; P=0.016) after adjustment for gender and body mass index. However, visfatin levels were not associated with any variables of the metabolic syndrome. The multiple regression analysis showed that lipocalin-2 levels were independently associated with HDL cholesterol and IR (R2=0.199). Furthermore, the multiple logistic regression analysis showed that systolic blood pressure, IR, and lipocalin-2 levels were independently associated with CHD. CONCLUSIONS Serum lipocalin-2 levels were significantly elevated in patients with CHD and were independently associated with CHD. The present findings suggest that the measurement of serum lipocalin-2 levels may be useful for assessing CHD risk.
Updated standardized endpoint definitions for transcatheter aortic valve implantation: the Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 consensus document.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the current Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC)-2 initiative was to revisit the selection and definitions of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)clinical endpoints to make them more suitable to the present and future needs of clinical trials. In addition, this document is intended to expand the understanding of patient risk stratification and case selection. BACKGROUND A recent study confirmed that VARC definitions have already been incorporated into clinical and research practice and represent a new standard for consistency in reporting clinical outcomes of patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis (AS) undergoing TAVI. However, as the clinical experience with this technology has matured and expanded, certain definitions have become unsuitable or ambiguous. METHODS AND RESULTS Two in-person meetings (held in September 2011 in Washington, DC, USA, and in February 2012 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands) involving VARC study group members, independent experts (including surgeons, interventional and non-interventional cardiologists, imaging specialists, neurologists, geriatric specialists, and clinical trialists), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and industry representatives, provided much of the substantive discussion from which this VARC-2 consensus manuscript was derived. This document provides an overview of risk assessment and patient stratification that need to be considered for accurate patient inclusion in studies. Working groups were assigned to define the following clinical endpoints: mortality, stroke, myocardial infarction, bleeding complications, acute kidney injury, vascular complications, conduction disturbances and arrhythmias, and a miscellaneous category including relevant complications not previously categorized. Furthermore, comprehensive echocardiographic recommendations are provided for the evaluation of prosthetic valve (dys)function. Definitions for the quality of life assessments are also reported. These endpoints formed the basis for several recommended composite endpoints. CONCLUSIONS This VARC-2 document has provided further standardization of endpoint definitions for studies evaluating the use of TAVI, which will lead to improved comparability and interpretability of the study results, supplying an increasingly growing body of evidence with respect to TAVI and/or surgical aortic valve replacement. This initiative and document can furthermore be used as a model during current endeavours of applying definitions to other transcatheter valve therapies (for example, mitral valve repair).
Breast Self-Examination and Cervical (PAP) Smear Test: Attitudes and Self-Reported Practices among South African Women

This study investigated the attitudes and practices of breast self-examination and cervical (Pap) smear test among South African women. The sample included 150 Black and 150 White women chosen by systematic random sampling from telephone directories. The Black women were within the age range of 18 to 80 years (M age 38.9 yr., SD = 4.7), and the White women were within the age range of 19 to 91 years (M age 41.8 yr., SD = 3.5). Analysis indicated that 97.1% of the White women and 44.9% of the Black women said that they know how to examine their breasts. Of those women, significantly more Black (56.1%) than White (8.9%) women examined with the recommended frequency of more than 10 times a year. Of the Black women 60.5% and 8.4% of White women had never had a cervical smear test. Logistic regression analysis indicated that attitudes were an independent predictor for these two tests.
Hybrid Mutual Authentication Protocol for 802.16j against Rogue Station and DoS Attack

WiMAX is a promising technology that provides high data throughput with low delays for various user types and modes of operation. These advantages make WiMAX applicable both for infrastructure purposes and end-client usage. Since WiMAX is presented as a network framework and a last-mile technology, it is believed to be capable of handling a wide range of usage scenarios. For example, while the end users have an opportunity to use WiMAX as the primary connection medium for acquiring services such as on-demand video streaming, VoIP connections and mobile bank transactions, the service providers may use it for data relaying purposes among access points. To meet the technical requirements of these various scenarios, majority of the WiMAX research has been conducted on physical and MAC layers; however little has been invested in a comprehensive and efficient security solution, which has resulted in a wide range of security weaknesses and reactive solutions. Many security problems remain to be addressed in different modes and for different user types even in the final security standard of WiMAX, PKMv2. Mobile multi-hop relay (MMR) WiMAX networks have attracted lots of interest in wireless communication industry because of its scalable coverage, improved data rate and relatively low cost. Even with the additional security functionalities security of MMR WiMAX network is the main challenge because messages have to be transmitted through one or more relay stations, which makes it more difficult to ensure the authenticity of messages and entities involved in the transmission. In this thesis, we present a hybrid security solution to overcome the security problem of rogue station (BS/RS) attack and denial of service attack (DoS) in MMR WiMAX.