Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Interleukin-1β in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Acute Pericarditis

Acute pericarditis is characterized by severe inflammation of the fibrous and serous pericardial membranes covering the heart. It is caused by multifactorial conditions, such as systemic diseases, autoimmune inflammatory diseases, malignant tumours, bacterial and viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2. In Europe, most cases of acute pericarditis are idiopathic (80-90%), and may follow viral infections. In sub-Saharan Africa, the leading cause of effusive and constrictive pericarditis is tuberculous pericarditis, secondary to HIV/AIDS in about 70% of patients. Approximately, 30% of cases of acute pericarditis are recurrent despite the standard of care, and about 25-30% present as pericardial effusion which may lead to cardiac haemodynamic compromise (cardiac tamponade). Stepwise treatment of consists of aspirin, or any other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, colchicine, and corticosteroids. Interleukin-1 is a master proinflammatory cytokine existing in two isoforms, IL-1α and IL-1β, and the latter is the most studied, and is implicated in several autoinflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, metabolic syndromes, cardiovascular disease, including acute pericarditis. Anakinra is a recombinant, nonglycosylated human interleukin-1 receptor antagonist that competes and inhibits the effects of IL-1α and IL-1β, thus reducing their systemic inflammatory effects. Treatment with anakinra has been shown to be effective in the control of recurrent acute pericarditis in patients who are resistant to colchicine and corticosteroid-dependent. Additionally, treatment with anakinra results in more patients tapering or discontinuing corticosteroids, with no further recurrences of acute pericarditis. Furthermore, treatment with anakinra has been shown to prevent or reverse constrictive pericarditis. Rilonacept effectively acts as an “IL-1 trap” by binding to circulating IL-1α and IL- 1β molecules, inhibiting the downstream activation of IL-1β inflammatory cascade (Table 1). Treatment rilonacept has been shown to significantly relieve pain and other symptoms of pericarditis, and to rapidly resolve recurrent pericarditis. Additionally, rilonacept led to tapering or discontinuation of corticosteroids. Interleukin-1β antagonists should be initiated early in the course of acute pericarditis in order to avert the dreaded complications of acute pericarditis, such as recurrent pericarditis, tamponade, and constrictive pericarditis.
Stochastic Semidefinite Programming: Applications and Algorithms

Abstract : Stochastic semidefinite programs (SSDP's) are a new class of optimization problems with a wide variety applications proposed by the PI and his doctoral students. The broad objective of this project was to develop applications of and algorithms for SSDP's. We have developed five classes of novel applications, and three classes of new algorithms. We have proved the convergence and polynomial complexity of the algorithms. We have also identified two new classes of optimization problems which may be useful for future research.
Hardware Implementation of MLP and RBF Neural Networks onto Multiple Processing Nodes

— In this paper, describe an architecture consisting of multiple Processing Nodes (PNs) for emulating/implementing Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Our architecture can be configured for implementing two types of ANNs (MLP and RBF). Our architecture has a connection memory that can be configured, in terms of the number of layers, and in terms of the inter-layer connectivity requirements. When compared to the existing CNAPS architecture, our architecture does not require the inter-PN buses, leading to a reduction in the communication time, and the area. Our architecture is based on <8, 6> fixed-point number representation. Our architecture (applied to an example recognition task using Iris dataset) has been implemented/synthesized on two 45 nm technology based platforms (ASIC and FPGA), and results have been provided, indicating that an ASIC implementation is more advantageous in terms of area/speed/power.
Ca ﬀ eine-Containing, Adaptogenic-Rich Drink Modulates the E ﬀ ects of Ca ﬀ eine on Mental Performance and Cognitive Parameters: A Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized Trial

: Using a placebo-controlled, double-blinded, within-participants, randomized, cross-over design, we examined the neurocognitive e ﬀ ects of a: (a) ca ﬀ eine-containing, adaptogenic herbal-rich natural energy shot (e + shot), (b) a matched ca ﬀ eine-containing shot (ca ﬀ eine), and, (c) a placebo. Participants ( n = 30) were low consumers of ca ﬀ eine without elevated feelings of energy. Before and three times after beverage consumption, a 27-min battery was used to assess motivation to perform cognitive tasks, mood, attention ((serial subtractions of 3 (SS3) and 7 (SS7), the continuous performance task (CPT), and the rapid visual input processing tasks)), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and motor coordination (nine-hole peg test) with a 10-min break between each post-consumption battery. The procedure was repeated for each beverage for each participant at least 48 h apart and within 30 min the same time of day using a random group assignment with blinding of researchers and subjects. To evaluate for changes in outcomes, a Treatment × Time analysis of covariance controlling for hours of prior night’s sleep was used. Analysis of all outcomes and all treatment comparisons indicated that compared to placebo, both e + shot ( ∆ = 2.60; η 2 = 0.098) and ca ﬀ eine ( ∆ = 5.30, η 2 = 0.098) increased systolic BP 30 min post consumption (still within normal healthy ranges). The ca ﬀ eine beverage also led to an improvement in most cognitive measures and moods 30-min post-consumption with improvements tapering at 69 and 108 min, while e + shot noted more steady improvements with no signiﬁcant di ﬀ erences between beverages on most cognitive and mood measures at 69 and 108 min. However, compared to ca ﬀ eine, e + shot noted a signiﬁcant increase in reaction time at 108 min, while ca ﬀ eine noted a small change in the opposite direction. No side-e ﬀ ects were reported by any intervention. These results suggest that the speciﬁc blend of adaptogens in e + shot may modulate the neurocognitive e ﬀ ects of ca ﬀ eine on mood, and cognition. Study Product Bioactives. Participants used the keyboard to respond to information presented on 17 screen on an Alienware laptop (17 R2 Model #P43F, Roundrock, Texas, USA). Prior to each cognitive task, the participants were given on-screen instructions and asked to press the “enter” key if they understood the directions or to get help from a researcher if they were uncertain. The tests were performed on the Membrain platform (PsychTechSolutions, Potsdam, NY, USA) using Java-coded software. The results from the tasks automatically downloaded into an Excel ﬁle and two research assistants independently manually re-arranged the data, for data analysis, and any discrepancies were resolved.
PLC (cid:2) 1-PKC ε -IP 3 R1 signaling plays an important role in hypoxia-induced calcium response in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells

PLC (cid:2) 1-PKC ε -IP 3 R1 signaling plays an important role in hypoxia-induced calcium response in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 314: L724–L735, 2018. doi:10.1152/ajplung.00243. 2017. —Hyp-oxia-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) is attributed to an increase in intracellular Ca 2 (cid:3) concentration ([Ca 2 (cid:3) ] i ) in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). We have reported that phospholipase C- (cid:2) 1 (PLC (cid:2) 1) plays a signiﬁcant role in the hypoxia-induced increase in [Ca 2 (cid:3) ] i in PASMCs and attendant HPV. In this study, we intended to determine molecular mechanisms for hypoxic Ca 2 (cid:3) and contractile responses in PASMCs. Our data reveal that hypoxic vasoconstriction occurs in pulmonary arteries, but not in mesenteric arteries. Hypoxia caused a large increase in [Ca 2 (cid:3) ] i in PASMCs, which is diminished by the PLC inhibitor U73122 and not by its inactive analog U73433. Hypoxia augments PLC (cid:2) 1-dependent inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP 3 ) generation. Exogenous ROS, hydro- gen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), increases PLC (cid:2) 1 phosphorylation at tyrosine-783 and IP 3 production. IP 3 receptor-1 (IP 3 R1) knock-down remark- ably diminishes hypoxia- or H 2 O 2 -induced increase in [Ca 2 (cid:3) ] i . Hypoxia or H 2 O 2 increases the activity of IP 3 Rs, which is signiﬁcantly reduced in protein kinase C- ε (PKC ε ) knockout PASMCs. A higher PLC (cid:2) 1 expression, activity, and basal [Ca 2 (cid:3) ] i are found in PASMCs, but not in mesenteric artery smooth muscle cells from mice exposed to chronic hypoxia (CH) for 21 days. CH enhances H 2 O 2 - and ATP-induced increase in [Ca 2 (cid:3) ] i in PASMCs and PLC-dependent, norepinephrine-evoked pulmonary vasoconstriction. In conclusion, acute hypoxia uniquely causes ROS-dependent PLC (cid:2) 1 activation, IP 3 production, PKC ε activation, IP 3 R1 opening, Ca 2 (cid:3) release, and contraction in mouse PASMCs; CH enhances PASM PLC (cid:2) 1 expression, activity, and function, playing an essential role in pulmonary hypertension in mice. ﬂuorescence ratio obtained to Ca 2 (cid:3) with ionomycin (10 (cid:5) M) and EGTA (70 mM), R max 340/380 ﬂuorescence ratio obtained in cells exposed to high Ca 2 (cid:3) (10 mM) with ionomycin (10 (cid:5) M), R experimental values of 340/380 ratio, (cid:7) R 380 max / R 380 min value, and K d (a dissociation constant of fura-2) 386 nM.
A Diversity-Aware Domain Development Methodology

The development of domain ontological models, though being a mature research arena backed by well-established methodologies, still suffer from two key shortcomings. Firstly, the issues concerning the semantic persistency of ontology concepts and their flexible reuse in domain development employing existing approaches. Secondly, due to the difficulty in understanding and reusing top-level concepts in existing foundational ontologies, the obfuscation regarding the semantic nature of domain representations. The paper grounds the aforementioned shortcomings in representation diversity and proposes a three-fold solution - (i) a pipeline for rendering concepts reuse-ready, (ii) a first characterization of a minimalistic foundational knowledge model, named foundational teleology, semantically explicating foundational distinctions enforcing the static as well as dynamic nature of domain representations, and (iii) a flexible, reuse-native methodology for diversity-aware domain development exploiting solutions (i) and (ii). The preliminary work reported validates the potentiality of the solution components.
Accretion Burst Echoes as Probes of Protostellar Environments and Episodic Mass Assembly

Protostars likely accrete material at a highly time-variable rate, but measurements of accretion variability from the youngest protostars are rare, as they are still deeply embedded within their envelopes. Submillimeter/millimeter observations can trace the thermal response of dust in the envelope to accretion luminosity changes, allowing variations in the accretion rate to be quantified. In this paper, we present contemporaneous submillimeter/millimeter light curves of variable protostars in Serpens Main, as observed by the ALMA Atacama Compact Array (ACA), the Submillimeter Array (SMA), and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). The most recent outburst of EC 53 (V371 Ser), an ∼18 month periodic variable, is well sampled in the SMA and JCMT observations. The SMA light curve of EC 53 is observed to peak weeks earlier and exhibit a stronger amplitude than at the JCMT. Stochastic variations in the ACA observations are detected for SMM 10 IR, with an amplitude a factor of ∼2 greater than that seen by the JCMT. We develop a toy model of the envelope response to accretion outbursts to show that EC 53's light curves are plausibly explained by the delay associated with the light travel time across the envelope and the additional dilution of the JCMT response, due to the incorporation of cold envelope material in the beam. The larger JCMT beam can also wash out the response to rapid variations, which may be occurring for SMM 10 IR. Our work thus provides a valuable proof of concept for the use of submillimeter/millimeter observations as a means of probing both the underlying accretion luminosity variations and the protostellar environment.
Parity-Check Matrix Partitioning for Efficient Layered Decoding of QC-LDPC Codes

In this paper, we consider how to partition the parity-check matrices (PCMs) to reduce the hardware complexity and increase decoding throughput for the row layered decoding of quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (QC-LDPC) codes. First, we formulate the PCM partitioning as an optimization problem, which targets to minimize the maximum column weight of each layer while maintaining a block cyclic shift property among different layers. As a result, we derive all the feasible solutions for the problem and propose a tight lower bound <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\omega _{LB}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> on the minimum possible maximum column weight to evaluate a solution. Second, we define a metric called layer distance to measure the data dependency between consecutive layers and further illustrate how to identify the solutions with desired layer distance from those achieving the minimum value of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\omega _{LB}=1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, which is preferred to reduce computation delay. Next, we demonstrate that up-to-now, finding an optimal solution for the optimization problem with polynomial time complexity is unachievable. Therefore, both enumerative and greedy partition algorithms are proposed instead. After that, we modify the quasi-cyclic progressive edge-growth (QC-PEG) algorithm to directly construct PCMs that have a straightforward partition scheme to achieve <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\omega _{LB} $ </tex-math></inline-formula> or the desired layer distance. Simulation results showed that the constructed codes have better error correction performance and achieve less average number of iterations than the underlying 5G LDPC codes.
Exploiting higher-order derivatives in convex optimization methods

Exploiting higher-order derivatives in convex optimization is known at least since 1970's. In each iteration higher-order (also called tensor) methods minimize a regularized Taylor expansion of the objective function, which leads to faster convergence rates if the corresponding higher-order derivative is Lipschitz-continuous. Recently a series of lower iteration complexity bounds for such methods were proved, and a gap between upper an lower complexity bounds was revealed. Moreover, it was shown that such methods can be implementable since the appropriately regularized Taylor expansion of a convex function is also convex and, thus, can be minimized in polynomial time. Only very recently an algorithm with optimal convergence rate $1/k^{(3p+1)/2}$ was proposed for minimizing convex functions with Lipschitz $p$-th derivative. For convex functions with Lipschitz third derivative, these developments allowed to propose a second-order method with convergence rate $1/k^5$, which is faster than the rate $1/k^{3.5}$ of existing second-order methods.
Crystal limits of compact semisimple quantum groups as higher-rank graph algebras

Abstract Let O q ⁢ [ K ] \mathcal{O}_{q}[K] be the quantized coordinate ring over the field C ⁢ ( q ) \mathbb{C}(q) of rational functions corresponding to a compact semisimple Lie group 𝐾, equipped with its ∗-structure. Let A 0 ⊂ C ⁢ ( q ) {\mathbf{A}_{0}}\subset\mathbb{C}(q) denote the subring of regular functions at q = 0 q=0 . We introduce an A 0 \mathbf{A}_{0} -subalgebra O q A 0 ⁢ [ K ] ⊂ O q ⁢ [ K ] \mathcal{O}_{q}^{{\mathbf{A}_{0}}}[K]\subset\mathcal{O}_{q}[K] which is stable with respect to the ∗-structure and which has the following properties with respect to the crystal limit q → 0 q\to 0 . The specialization of O q ⁢ [ K ] \mathcal{O}_{q}[K] at each q ∈ ( 0 , ∞ ) ∖ { 1 } q\in(0,\infty)\setminus\{1\} admits a faithful ∗-representation π q \pi_{q} on a fixed Hilbert space, a result due to Soibelman. We show that, for every element a ∈ O q A 0 ⁢ [ K ] a\in\mathcal{O}_{q}^{{\mathbf{A}_{0}}}[K] , the family of operators π q ⁢ ( a ) \pi_{q}(a) admits a norm limit as q → 0 q\to 0 . These limits define a ∗-representation π 0 \pi_{0} of O q A 0 ⁢ [ K ] \mathcal{O}_{q}^{{\mathbf{A}_{0}}}[K] . We show that the resulting ∗-algebra O ⁢ [ K 0 ] = π 0 ⁢ ( O q A 0 ⁢ [ K ] ) \mathcal{O}[K_{0}]=\pi_{0}(\mathcal{O}_{q}^{{\mathbf{A}_{0}}}[K]) is a Kumjian–Pask algebra, in the sense of Aranda Pino, Clark, an Huef and Raeburn. We give an explicit description of the underlying higher-rank graph in terms of crystal basis theory. As a consequence, we obtain a continuous field of C * C^{*} -algebras ( C ⁢ ( K q ) ) q ∈ [ 0 , ∞ ] (C(K_{q}))_{q\in[0,\infty]} , where the fibres at q = 0 q=0 and ∞ are explicitly defined higher-rank graph algebras.
G-category versus orbifold category

We present a comparative study of certain invariants defined for group actions and their analogues defined for orbifolds. In particular, we prove that Fadell's equivariant category for $G$-spaces coincides with the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category for orbifolds when the group is finite.
Living-off-the-Land Abuse Detection Using Natural Language Processing and Supervised Learning

Living-off-the-Land is an evasion technique used by attackers where native binaries are abused to achieve malicious intent. Since these binaries are often legitimate system files, detecting such abuse is difficult and often missed by modern anti-virus software. This paper proposes a novel abuse detection algorithm using raw command strings. First, natural language processing techniques such as regular expressions and one-hot encoding are utilized for encoding the command strings as numerical token vectors. Next, supervised learning techniques are employed to learn the malicious patterns in the token vectors and ultimately predict the command's label. Finally, the model is evaluated using statistics from the training phase and in a virtual environment to compare its effectiveness at detecting new commands to existing anti-virus products such as Windows Defender.
On Unsupervised Training of Link Grammar Based Language Models

In this short note we explore what is needed for unsupervised training of graph language models based on link grammars. First, we introduce the termination tags formalism required to build a language model based on a link grammar formalism of Sleator and Temperley [21] and discuss the influence of context on the unsupervised learning of link grammars. Second, we propose a statistical link grammar formalism, allowing for statistical language generation. Third, based on the above formalism, we show that the classical dissertation of Yuret [25] on discovery of linguistic relations using lexical attraction ignores contex-tual properties of the language, and thus the approach to unsupervised language learning relying just on bigrams is flawed. This correlates well with the unimpressive results in unsupervised training of graph language models based on bigram approach of Yuret.
Differential Flatness-Based Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Vehicles

—As a core part of autonomous driving systems, motion planning has received extensive attention from academia and industry. However, there is no efﬁcient trajectory planning solution capable of spatial-temporal joint optimization due to nonholonomic dynamics, particularly in the presence of unstructured environments and dynamic obstacles. To bridge the gap, we propose a versatile and real-time trajectory optimization method that can generate a high-quality feasible trajectory using a full vehicle model under arbitrary constraints. By leveraging the differential ﬂatness property of car-like robots, we use ﬂat outputs to analytically formulate all feasibility constraints to simplify the trajectory planning problem. Moreover, obstacle avoidance is achieved with full dimensional polygons to generate less conservative trajectories with safety guarantees, especially in tightly constrained spaces. We present comprehensive benchmarks with cutting-edge methods, demonstrating the signiﬁcance of the proposed method in terms of efﬁciency and trajectory quality. Real-world experiments verify the practicality of our algorithm. We will release our codes as open-source packages with the purpose for the reference of the research community. 1
Sub-mW Neuromorphic SNN audio processing applications with Rockpool and Xylo

—Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) provide an efﬁ- cient computational mechanism for temporal signal processing, especially when coupled with low-power SNN inference ASICs. SNNs have been historically difﬁcult to conﬁgure, lacking a general method for ﬁnding solutions for arbitrary tasks. In recent years, gradient-descent optimization methods have been applied to SNNs with increasing ease. SNNs and SNN inference processors therefore offer a good platform for commercial low-power signal processing in energy constrained environments without cloud dependencies. However, to date these methods have not been accessible to Machine Learning (ML) engineers in industry, requiring graduate-level training to successfully conﬁgure a single SNN application. Here we demonstrate a convenient high-level pipeline to design, train and deploy arbitrary temporal signal processing applications to sub-mW SNN inference hardware. We apply a new straightforward SNN architecture designed for temporal signal processing, using a pyramid of synaptic time constants to extract signal features at a range of temporal scales. We demonstrate this architecture on an ambient audio classiﬁcation task, deployed to the Xylo SNN inference processor in streaming mode. Our application achieves high accuracy (98%) and low latency (100ms) at low power ( < 100µW dynamic inference power). Our approach makes training and deploying SNN applications available to ML engineers with general NN backgrounds, without requiring speciﬁc prior experience with spiking NNs. We intend for our approach to make Neuromorphic hardware and SNNs an attractive choice for commercial low- power and edge signal processing applications.
SL$(2,\mathbb{Z})$ action on quantum field theories with U(1) subsystem symmetry

We consider SL$(2,\mathbb{Z})$ action on quantum field theories with U(1) subsystem symmetry in five dimensions. This is an analog of the SL$(2,\mathbb{Z})$ action considered in arXiv:hep-th/0307041. We show that the exotic level 1 BF theory and the exotic level 1 Chern-Simons theories are trivial and almost trivial, respectively. By using this fact, we define S operation and T operation. These operations make SL$(2,\mathbb{Z})$ group up to a possible invertible phase that is unity within the space-times treated in this paper. We also demonstrate SL$(2,\mathbb{Z})$ action on the $\varphi$ theory as an example.