Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dépôts et altérites des plateaux du Larzac central : Causses de l'Hospitalet et de Campestre (Aveyron, Gard, Hérault). Evolution morphogénétique, conséquences géologiques et implications pour l'aménagement.

L'etude des formations superficielles et de celles qui sont piegees dans les cavites karstiques a permis, en les associant aux formes du paysage, de reconstituer plusieurs evenements majeurs de l'evolution morphologique de cette partie du Larzac. En particulier, la decouverte de nombreux temoins d'une couverture cretacee, marine et continentale, permet de comprendre les premieres etapes morphogenetiques des plateaux des Grands Causses. Apres l'episode bauxitique, la transgression coniacienne fossilise une paleotopographie differenciee sous une centaine de metres de calcaires greseux. Dans un second temps, l'erosion de ces depots libere une grande quantite de materiel. Il s'incorpore a des alterites variees, allochtones ou autochtones, constituant une veritable couverture superficielle et contribuant au developpement d'aplanissements karstiques creves de mega-dolines (sotchs). Entre l'Eocene et le Miocene, ces memes processus continentaux determinent l'enfoncement de la surface karstique scandee par des niveaux de replats emboites. Aux processus d'aplanissement se substituent ensuite des dynamiques d'erosion lineaire marquees par le creusement des canyons et des reculees karstiques. Dans le meme temps, Miocene a Quaternaire, la surface du plateau est profondement affectee par le soutirage karstique qui genere poljes, dolines et reseaux souterrains. Seuls quelques secteurs privilegies conservent des lambeaux de couverture qui permettent un fonctionnement relique temporaire. L'impact de la presence humaine sur le causse est sensible des le Neolithique. Les deboisements successifs ont mobilise vers les points bas les alterites qui masquent dans certains secteurs l'etat de la karstification. Divers amenagements ont montre la fragilite de cette couverture et la protection illusoire qu'elle represente, notamment, face a la pollution des eaux souterraines.
Possible implication of midkine in the development of endometriosis.

BACKGROUND The present study was conducted to assess whether midkine (MK), a multifunctional molecule known to stimulate tumor growth, may be involved in the development of endometriosis. METHODS The mitogenic activity of MK on cultured endometriotic stromal cells was examined by measuring 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation. Concentrations of MK in the peritoneal fluid (PF) of women without or with endometriosis and those under GnRH agonist treatment were measured using a specific enzyme immunoassay. The expression of MK mRNA in peritoneal bone marrow-derived cells, peritoneum and endometriotic tissues was evaluated by RT-PCR. RESULTS MK significantly increased BrdU incorporation into the DNA of cultured endometriotic stromal cells. The MK concentrations in the PF of the women with advanced endometriosis (stages II, III and IV) Median: 1.21 ng/ml; interquartile range 0.80-2.27 were significantly higher than those of the women without endometriosis and with stage I endometriosis (0.06 ng/ml, 0.67-1.26, P < 0.05). As for the menstrual phase, the MK concentration in PF in the inteal phase (1.32 ng/ml. 0.72-2.21) were significantly higher than those in the follicular phase (0.95 ng/ml, 0.68-1.24, P < 0.05). In addition, women with adnexal adhesions had higher concentrations of MK in PF than those without adhesions (P < 0.05). The MK concentrations of the women under GnRH agonist treatment were significantly lower than those of the other groups (P < 0.001). The expression of MK mRNA was detected in peritoneal bone marrow-derived cells, peritoneum and endometriotic tissues. CONCLUSIONS The present findings suggest that MK may play roles, such as stimulation of endometriotic cell proliferation, in the development of endometriosis.
Improving Security and Efficiency in Attribute-Based Data Sharing

With the recent adoption and diffusion of the data sharing paradigm in distributed systems such as online social networks or cloud computing, there have been increasing demands and concerns for distributed data security. One of the most challenging issues in data sharing systems is the enforcement of access policies and the support of policies updates. Ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) is becoming a promising cryptographic solution to this issue. It enables data owners to define their own access policies over user attributes and enforce the policies on the data to be distributed. However, the advantage comes with a major drawback which is known as a key escrow problem. The key generation center could decrypt any messages addressed to specific users by generating their private keys. This is not suitable for data sharing scenarios where the data owner would like to make their private data only accessible to designated users. In addition, applying CP-ABE in the data sharing system introduces another challenge with regard to the user revocation since the access policies are defined only over the attribute universe. Therefore, in this study, we propose a novel CP-ABE scheme for a data sharing system by exploiting the characteristic of the system architecture. The proposed scheme features the following achievements: 1) the key escrow problem could be solved by escrow-free key issuing protocol, which is constructed using the secure two-party computation between the key generation center and the data-storing center, and 2) fine-grained user revocation per each attribute could be done by proxy encryption which takes advantage of the selective attribute group key distribution on top of the ABE. The performance and security analyses indicate that the proposed scheme is efficient to securely manage the data distributed in the data sharing system.
Traditional knowledge of medicinal plants for health of women in Cibodas Village Lembang Subdistrict West Bandung Regency and their potency to development of biodiversity education

This qualitative study aims to explore the traditional knowledge information about the plants used for health of women, the folk classification and the conservation of medicinal plants which do villagers in the Cibodas Lembang West Bandung Regency, West Java Province. The research subjects involved consisted of 66 villagers residing in Cibodas Village. The results show that there are 113 species of medicinal plants used for health of women in this village in various ways of preparation and mode of use. There are about 98 kinds of diseases that generally assisted be made well with medicinal plants. Folk classification of medicinal plants is a horizontal classification with artificial and natural systems. Conservation efforts by society in the form of planting certain medicinal plants along the placenta and planting in the yard and garden. The response of community is very good. They perhaps that diversity of medicinal plant and its conservation can be included to school curriculum as part of biodiversity education.
Effect of storage conditions of dried plasma and blood spots on HIV-1 RNA quantification and PCR amplification for drug resistance genotyping.

OBJECTIVES Dried blood spots (DBS) and dried plasma spots (DPS) are easy to collect and store, and have been successfully tested as an alternative to plasma for performing virological analyses. Adequate storage conditions still need to be established and cell-associated proviral DNA in DBS can contribute to the amplified products. We evaluated these two parameters. METHODS Residual samples from 34 HIV-1-infected patients [mean viral load (VL) = 3.93 log(10) copies/mL] were used to prepare DPS and DBS, then stored at 20 degrees C and 37 degrees C. HIV-1 nucleic acids were extracted, with or without DNase treatments, to perform HIV-1 VL quantification and nested RT-PCR to amplify the reverse transcriptase gene (798 bp). RESULTS For DBS stored for 3 months at 20 degrees C, VL could be measured for all samples and results were comparable to plasma VL. At 37 degrees C, a slight decrease was observed after 2 and 3 months (0.16 and 0.37 log(10) copies/mL mean difference, respectively). For DPS, a significant decrease in VL (0.70 and 1.07 log(10) copies/mL after 1 and 2 months, respectively) was seen at 37 degrees C, but not at 20 degrees C. PCR amplifications from DPS were only successful for 50% of samples with an initial VL >10 000 copies/mL after 1 month at 20 degrees C. From DBS, PCR amplifications are possible until 3 months for samples with plasma VL >5000 copies/mL. VL and PCR results for DBS treated with DNase are close to results obtained for DPS. CONCLUSIONS Virological monitoring is still feasible for DBS after 3 months of storage at 37 degrees C when VL is >5000 copies/mL, but DNA contributes largely to the final results.
Are emotional robots more fun to play with?

In this paper we describe a robotic game buddy whose emotional behaviour is influenced by the state of the game. Using the iCat robot and chess as the game scenario, an architecture for incorporating emotions as a result of a heuristic evaluation of the state of the game was developed. The game buddy was evaluated in two ways. First, we investigated the effects of the characterpsilas emotional behaviour on the userpsilas perception of the game state. And secondly we compared a robotic with a screen based version of the iCat in terms of their influence on userpsilas enjoyment. The results suggested that userpsilas perception of the game increases with the iCatpsilas emotional behaviour, and that the enjoyment is higher when interacting with the robotic version.
Social Determinants of Frailty

Background: Frailty represents a body-wide set of a linked deterioration that occurs with ageing, but is susceptible to active intervention and is reversible. The concept of frailty should include broader environmental factors. A quantitative measure of frailty, the frailty index (FI), developed for elderly Canadians and shown to be valid for an elderly Chinese population, was examined for its association with socioeconomic, lifestyle, and social support network factors in an elderly Chinese cohort. Objective: 2,032 people aged 70 years and over recruited by stratified random sampling of the population were surveyed in 1990–1991, and information obtained regarding physical and functional health, psychological factors, lifestyle, socioeconomic and social support factors. The FI was constructed from 62 variables covering cognitive, psychological and physical health, and tested for association with socioeconomic, lifestyle and social support factors using ANOVA and t test. Results: The mean FI for women was higher than for men (0.16 ± 0.08, n = 1,033 vs. 0.13 ± 0.08, n = 999, p < 0.001, t test). For men, increasing frailty was observed with non-white collar occupations, inadequate expenses, no or little exercise, abstinence from alcohol, few relatives or neighbours and no or infrequent participation in helping others. For women, little contact with relatives (rather than number of relatives), and absence of participation in community/religious activities were additional factors. Conclusion: FI is influenced by social and environmental factors in keeping with the concept of frailty being multi-dimensional. Such a quantitative measure may be a useful indicator of the health of elderly populations as well as for public health measures to combat frailty.
Fault simulation in a multilevel environment: the MOZART approach

MOZART is a concurrent fault simulator for large circuits described at the RT, functional, gate, and switch levels. Performance is gained by means of techniques aimed at the reduction of unnecessary activity. Two such techniques are levelized two-pass simulation, which minimizes the number of events and evaluations, and list event scheduling, which allows optimized processing of simultaneous (fraternal) events for concurrent machines. Both analytical and experimental evidence is provided for the effectiveness of the solutions adopted in MOZART. A performance metric is introduced for fault simulation that is based on comparison with the serial algorithm and is more accurate than those used up till now. Possible tradeoffs between the speeds of fault-free and fault simulations are discussed. <<ETX>>
Dental malocclusion is not related to temporomandibular joint clicking: a logistic regression analysis in a patient population.

OBJECTIVES To assess the association of several dental malocclusion features with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) click sounds in a population of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four hundred forty-two TMD patients (72% female; 32.2 ± 5.7 years, range 25-44 years) were divided into a TMJ clicking and a no-TMJ clicking group, based on the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) assessment. Seven occlusal features were recorded for each patient: (1) posterior crossbite, (2) overbite, (3) open bite, (4) overjet, (5) mediotrusive and (6) laterotrusive interferences and (7) retruded contact position to maximum intercuspation (RCP-MI) slide length. A logistic regression model was created to estimate the association of occlusal features with TMJ clicking. RESULTS The difference between the groups as for the prevalence of the various occlusal features was generally not statistically significant, with minor exceptions. Mediotrusive interferences (P = .015) and RCP-MI slide ≥2 mm (P = .001) were the two occlusal features that were associated with the probability of having TMJ clicking, even if the adjusted odds ratios for TMJ clicking were low for both variables (1.63 and 1.89, respectively). Moreover, the amount of variance in the prevalence of TMJ clicking that was predicted by the final model was as low as 4.5% (R(2) = 0.045). CONCLUSIONS Findings from the present investigation suggested that in a population of TMD patients, the contribution of dental malocclusion features to predict TMJ click sounds is minimal with no clinical relevance.
Reinforcement Learning in Finite MDPs: PAC Analysis

We study the problem of learning near-optimal behavior in finite Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) with a polynomial number of samples. These "PAC-MDP" algorithms include the well-known E3 and R-MAX algorithms as well as the more recent Delayed Q-learning algorithm. We summarize the current state-of-the-art by presenting bounds for the problem in a unified theoretical framework. A more refined analysis for upper and lower bounds is presented to yield insight into the differences between the model-free Delayed Q-learning and the model-based R-MAX.
Reducing memory interference in multicore systems via application-aware memory channel partitioning

Main memory is a major shared resource among cores in a multicore system. If the interference between different applications' memory requests is not controlled effectively, system performance can degrade significantly. Previous work aimed to mitigate the problem of interference between applications by changing the scheduling policy in the memory controller, i.e., by prioritizing memory requests from applications in a way that benefits system performance.
Studies of New Fused Benzazepine as Selective Dopamine D3 Receptor Antagonists Using 3D-QSAR, Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics

In recent years, great interest has been paid to the development of compounds with high selectivity for central dopamine (DA) D3 receptors, an interesting therapeutic target in the treatment of different neurological disorders. In the present work, based on a dataset of 110 collected benzazepine (BAZ) DA D3 antagonists with diverse kinds of structures, a variety of in silico modeling approaches, including comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA), comparative similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA), homology modeling, molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) were carried out to reveal the requisite 3D structural features for activity. Our results show that both the receptor-based (Q2 = 0.603, R2ncv = 0.829, R2pre = 0.690, SEE = 0.316, SEP = 0.406) and ligand-based 3D-QSAR models (Q2 = 0.506, R2ncv =0.838, R2pre = 0.794, SEE = 0.316, SEP = 0.296) are reliable with proper predictive capacity. In addition, a combined analysis between the CoMFA, CoMSIA contour maps and MD results with a homology DA receptor model shows that: (1) ring-A, position-2 and R3 substituent in ring-D are crucial in the design of antagonists with higher activity; (2) more bulky R1 substituents (at position-2 of ring-A) of antagonists may well fit in the binding pocket; (3) hydrophobicity represented by MlogP is important for building satisfactory QSAR models; (4) key amino acids of the binding pocket are CYS101, ILE105, LEU106, VAL151, PHE175, PHE184, PRO254 and ALA251. To our best knowledge, this work is the first report on 3D-QSAR modeling of the new fused BAZs as DA D3 antagonists. These results might provide information for a better understanding of the mechanism of antagonism and thus be helpful in designing new potent DA D3 antagonists.
Monitoring alcohol and other substance use in South Africa : The alcohol and drug injury nexus

Since the early 1990s, with changing market conditions and the opening up of its borders and markets to global tourism, commerce and trade, South Africa has become an attractive market for long-distance drug trafficking and has seen an increase in the activities of international drug syndicates. In general, the Southern African region became exposed to drugs previously rarely available on the market, ranging from cocaine and opiates to synthetics like MDMA. Notwithstanding, alcohol and the locally produced illicit cannabis remain by far the most widely used drugs in the region. In fact, alcohol abuse alone is seen as a major cause of health and social problems in the region (MacDonald, 1996).
Role of chemokines in the biology of natural killer cells

Natural killer (NK) cells participate in innate and adaptive immuneresponses to obligate intracellular pathogens and malignant tumors. Twomajor NK cell subsets have been identified in humans:CD56dim CD16+ and CD56bright CD16−. RestingCD56dim CD16+ NK cells express CXCR1, CXCR2, CXCR3, CXCR4,and CX3CR1 but no detectable levels of CC chemokine receptors on thecell surface. They migrate vigorously in response to CXCL12 and CXC3L1.In contrast, resting CD56bright CD16− NK cells expresslittle CXCR1, CXCR2, and CXC3R1 but high levels of CCR5 and CCR7. Chemotaxis of CD56bright CD16− NK cells is stimulated mostpotently by CCL19, CCL21, CXCL10, CXCL11, and CXCL12. Followingactivation, NK cells can migrate in response to additional CC and CXCchemokines. Cytolytic activity of NK cells is augmented by CCL2, CCL3,CCL4, CCL5, CCL10, and CXC3L1. Moreover, proliferation of CD56dim CD16+ NK cells is costimulated by CCL19 and CCL21. Activated NK cells produce XCL1, CCL1, CCL3, CCL4, CCL5, CCL22, andCXCL8. Chemokines secreted by NK cells may recruit other effector cellsduring immune responses. Furthermore, CCL3, CCL4, and CCL5 produced byNK cells can inhibit in vitro replication of HIV. CCL3 and CXL10expression appear to be required for protective NK cell responses invivo to murine cytomegalovirus or Leishmania major,respectively. Moreover, NK cells participate in the in vivo rejectionof transduced tumor cells that produce CCL19 or CCL21. Thus, chemokinesappear to play an important role in afferent and efferent NK cellresponses to infected and neoplastic cells.
Data Analysis Project : What Makes Paris Look like Paris ?

Given a large repository of geotagged imagery, we seek to automatically find visual elements, e.g. windows, balconies, and street signs, that are most distinctive for a certain geo-spatial area, for example the city of Paris. This is a tremendously difficult task as the visual features distinguishing architectural elements of different places can be very subtle. In addition, we face a hard search problem: given all possible patches in all images, which of them are both frequently occurring and geographically informative? To address these issues, we propose to use a discriminative clustering approach able to take into account the weak geographic supervision. We show that geographically representative image elements can be discovered automatically from Google Street View imagery in a discriminative manner. We demonstrate that these elements are visually interpretable and perceptually geo-informative. The discovered visual elements can also support a variety of computational geography tasks, such as mapping architectural correspondences and influences within and across cities, finding representative elements at different geo-spatial scales, and geographically-informed image retrieval.
Effects of Respiratory Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection on Allergen-Induced Bronchial Hyperresponsiveness and Lung Inflammation in Mice

ABSTRACT Airway mycoplasma infection may be associated with asthma pathophysiology. However, the direct effects of mycoplasma infection on asthma remain unknown. Using a murine allergic-asthma model, we evaluated the effects of different timing of airway Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection on bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR), lung inflammation, and the protein levels of Th1 (gamma interferon [IFN-γ]) and Th2 (interleukin 4 [IL-4]) cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. When mycoplasma infection occurred 3 days before allergen (ovalbumin) sensitization and challenge, the infection reduced the BHR and inflammatory-cell influx into the lung. This was accompanied by a significant induction of Th1 responses (increased IFN-γ and decreased IL-4 production). Conversely, when mycoplasma infection occurred 2 days after allergen sensitization and challenge, the infection initially caused a temporary reduction of BHR and then increased BHR, lung inflammation, and IL-4 levels. Our data suggest that mycoplasma infection could modulate both physiological and immunological responses in the murine asthma model. Our animal models may also provide a new means to understand the role of infection in asthma pathogenesis and give evidence for the asthma hygiene hypothesis.
A simulation study to assess the efficacy of linear control theory models for the coordination of a two-stage customized service supply chain

In this paper, we conduct a simulation study to evaluate linear control theory models applied to the management and coordination of a two-stage customized service supply chain. Linear models that were proposed in previous research are compared against more general nonlinear models for three different levels of coordination: centralized, decentralized, and no information sharing. Using simulation and regression analysis, we show that the linear models yield results that are off by an average of six percent or less for parameter values observed in practice.
On Stellar Activity Enhancement Due to Interactions with Extrasolar Giant Planets

We present a first attempt to identify and quantify possible interactions between recently discovered extrasolar giant planets (and brown dwarfs) and their host stars, resulting in activity enhancement in the stellar outer atmospheres. Many extrasolar planets have masses comparable to or larger than Jupiter and are within a distance of 0.5 AU, suggesting the possibility of their significant influence on stellar winds, coronae, and even chromospheres. Beyond the well-known rotational synchronization, the interactions include tidal effects (in which enhanced flows and turbulence in the tidal bulge lead to increased magnetoacoustic heating and dynamo action) and direct magnetic interaction between the stellar and planetary magnetic fields. We discuss relevant parameters for selected systems and give preliminary estimates of the relative interaction strengths.