Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Negative effects of rofecoxib treatment on cardiac function after ischemia-reperfusion injury in APOE*3Leiden mice are prevented by combined treatment with thromboxane prostanoid-receptor antagonist S18886 (terutroban)*

Objective:Selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition by rofecoxib was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events. We hypothesized that concomitant treatment with thromboxane prostanoid receptor antagonist S18886 might ameliorate possible negative effects. We evaluated the effects of S18886, rofecoxib, and the interaction of both compounds in a combined treatment on myocardial infarct (MI) size and cardiac function after experimental ischemia/reperfusion injury in hyperlipidemic APOE*3Leiden transgenic mice. Design:Prospective, randomized, control trial. Setting:Research laboratory. Subjects:Hyperlipidemic APOE*3Leiden transgenic mice. Interventions:After four weeks of feeding an atherogenic diet, MI was induced by a 30-min ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery, followed by reperfusion. Oral compound treatment was initiated 90 mins before MI, and continued daily by gavage for seven days. Four treatment groups (n = 12, each) were studied: solvent (Control), S18886, rofecoxib, and S18886 plus rofecoxib. Measurements and Main Results:One week after MI, the mice were anesthetized and cardiac function was quantified by left ventricular (LV) pressure-volume relationships obtained by miniature pressure-conductance catheters. The ischemic area was measured by morphometry and expressed as percentage of LV area. No significant differences in infarct size were found between groups. Compared with control, treatment with S18886 did not affect heart function whereas the rofecoxib group had significantly lower cardiac output (4.5 ± 0.8 vs. 3.2 ± 1.1 mL/min, p < 0.01), lower ejection fraction (40 ± 8 vs. 27 ± 11%, p < 0.005), and increased end-systolic volume (18.6 ± 5.7 vs. 28.6 ± 9.0 &mgr;L, p < 0.05). The group with combined (S18886+rofecoxib) treatment was not different from control. Statistical analysis showed significant interactive effects between S18886 and rofecoxib indicating that negative effects of rofecoxib on cardiac function were prevented by S18886 treatment. Conclusions:Rofecoxib treatment reduced global and systolic LV function after ischemia-reperfusion injury in APOE*3Leiden mice. These negative effects are prevented by combined treatment with thromboxane prostanoid-receptor antagonist S18886 (terutroban).
A Ns2 model for the Xbox System Link game Halo

This paper presents our development of a synthetic traffic model for Microsoft Xbox System Link traffic. The goal is a traffic model that can be used by researchers and Internet Service Provider engineers to estimate the potential future impact of Xbox traffic over IP networks. We developed our ns2 simulation model for System Link traffic by running live network experiments and characterising the observed packet length, packet inter-arrival times, and data rates (in packets- and bits- per second). Our observations are documented in this paper, and we expect our traffic model will assist network planners who wish to better support real-time game traffic.
USING K-MEANS CLUSTERING TO MODEL STUDENTS’ LMS PARTICIPATION IN TRADITIONAL COURSES

The focus of this research is on the relationship between student participation in a learning management system(LMS) in traditional courses and course grades using Blackboard Learn tracking data from two undergraduate courses taught by the author from January to May 2015. The results are consistent with prior research that found a positive relationship between LMS participation and student achievement. Correlation analysis showed significant and positive relationships between the students’ course grade and their frequency of access overall as well as frequency of access to course materials. In addition, detailed LMS participation profiles were obtained from using k-means clustering, an unsupervised data mining method. The significant correlations between course grade and frequency of access variables are also evident in the 5-cluster solution that emerged. Despite the small sample size, the present study shows the usefulness of k-means clustering, a data mining method, for better understanding students’ LMS participation.
Exposure to Total and Protein-Unbound Rifampin Is Not Affected by Malnutrition in Indonesian Tuberculosis Patients

ABSTRACT Nutritional status may have a profound impact on the pharmacokinetics of drugs, yet only few data are available for tuberculosis (TB) drugs. As malnutrition occurs frequently among TB patients, we assessed the effect of malnutrition on the steady-state pharmacokinetics of total and protein-unbound rifampin during the intensive phase of TB treatment. In a descriptive pharmacokinetic study in Bandung, Indonesia, patients received a fixed standard rifampin dose of 450 mg once daily during the intensive phase of TB treatment. A full pharmacokinetic curve for rifampin was recorded, and total and unbound concentrations of rifampin were analyzed in all samples. Rifampin pharmacokinetic parameters were compared between severely malnourished (BMI of <16.0 kg/m2), malnourished (BMI of <18.5 kg/m2), and well-nourished (BMI of ≥18.5 kg/m2) individuals. No difference in total and protein-unbound pharmacokinetic parameters between severely malnourished (n = 7), malnourished (n = 11), and well-nourished (n = 25) patients could be demonstrated. In addition, no significant correlation between BMI and exposure (area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h [AUC0–24] and maximum concentration of drug in serum [Cmax]) was found. Females had significantly higher total AUC0–24 (geometric mean, 59.2 versus 48.2 h · mg/liter; P = 0.02) and higher unbound AUC0–24 (geometric mean, 6.2 versus 4.8 h · mg/liter; P = 0.02) than males. Overall, a marked 2-fold interindividual variation in the free fraction was observed (7.6 to 15.0%; n = 36). Nutritional status and BMI do not appear to have a major effect on total and protein-unbound pharmacokinetic parameters of rifampin in Indonesian subjects. The large interindividual variability in the free fraction of rifampin suggests that protein-unbound rather than total rifampin concentrations should preferably be used to study exposure-response relationships.
Adaptive Mixed Criticality Scheduling with Deferred Preemption

Adaptive Mixed Criticality (AMC) scheduling has previously been shown to be the most effective fixed priority approach for scheduling mixed criticality systems, while the idea of final non-preemptive regions has been shown to improve the schedulability of systems with a single criticality level. In this paper, we combine AMC with the concept of non-preemptive regions by making the final part of each task's execution at each criticality level non-preemptive. We derive schedulability analysis for this approach, and provide an effective algorithm for choosing each task's priority and the durations of its non-preemptive regions. Evaluations illustrate the benefits of this approach in terms of increased schedulability.
Some Metals Removal by Biomass of Bacillus spp. and Pseudomonas spp. from Wastewater of Second Campus of Mosul University

This paper highlighted a study on the use of bacteria as biological material for heavy metals removal from wastewater, using biomass of Bacillus spp. and Pseudomonas spp. in two time intervals (4, 24 hrs.) of biosorption process.The maximum capacity was found to be the highest for zinc by the two types of bacteria and two time intervals.While the minimum capacity was found for lead by pseudomonas spp. The other metals have differed in the percentage uptake by two types of bacteria and two time intervals. The study has found that there is an increase in uptake after 24 hrs. of biosorption process except the lead which its percentage of uptake has decreased after 24 hrs. by Bacillus spp. while the percentage of zinc for two types of bacteria has remained constant after 24 hrs. of biosorption. As well as the research has studied the effect of addition of glucose on biosorption as an additional carbon and energy source and the results revealed that there is variation in bacterial ability for metal adsorption within the two intervals 4 and 24 hrs.
marService: multiattribute utility recommendation for e-markets

Recommender systems are deployed in electronic commerce (e-commerce) settings to help customers find products according to their preferences. Product recommendations may help buyers to save time by helping them choose from a variety of options. Recommendations that take into account the multiple attributes affecting a potential buyer's decision can be particularly useful in the context of Business-to-Consumer (B2C) electronic markets (e-markets). Nevertheless, multiattribute recommender systems are usually more sophisticated than single-attribute ones, and their implementation may prove complex to e-market system developers. This paper presents the design, development and evaluation of marService, a product recommendation service that is based on Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT). This approach studies the application of marService for providing wine recommendations in an existing e-market and presents the results of a simulation experiment. Using an appropriate simulation environment, the evaluation of several design options for a set of algorithms for multiattribute utility recommendation has taken place, on two synthetic data sets for wine evaluations. Based on the experience from this experiment, some general suggestions that may prove useful to e-market developers wishing to implement a marService are also provided.
Testing Core Membership in Public Goods Economies

This paper develops a recent line of economic theory seeking to understand public goods economies using methods of topological analysis. Our first main result is a very clean characterization of the economy's core (the standard solution concept in public goods). Specifically, we prove that a point is in the core iff it is Pareto efficient, individually rational, and the set of points it dominates is path connected. While this structural theorem has a few interesting implications in economic theory, the main focus of the second part of this paper is on a particular algorithmic application that demonstrates its utility. Since the 1960s, economists have looked for an efficient computational process that decides whether or not a given point is in the core. All known algorithms so far run in exponential time (except in some artificially restricted settings). By heavily exploiting our new structure, we propose a new algorithm for testing core membership whose computational bottleneck is the solution of $O(n)$ convex optimization problems on the utility function governing the economy. It is fairly natural to assume that convex optimization should be feasible, as it is needed even for very basic economic computational tasks such as testing Pareto efficiency. Nevertheless, even without this assumption, our work implies for the first time that core membership can be efficiently tested on (e.g.) utility functions that admit "nice" analytic expressions, or that appropriately defined $\varepsilon$-approximate versions of the problem are tractable (by using modern black-box $\varepsilon$-approximate convex optimization algorithms).
Bmi‐1 is related to proliferation, survival and poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer

B‐cell‐specific Moloney murine leukemia virus insertion site 1 (BMI1) is a member of the polycomb group of transcriptional repressors. Until now, its expression and functional significance in pancreatic carcinogenesis was unknown. In the present study, we demonstrated that expression of BMI1 was markedly up‐regulated in pancreatic cancer cell lines and surgically resected cancer specimens. In addition, BMI1 expression levels correlated positively with the presence of lymph node metastases and negatively with patient survival rates, suggesting a role for BMI1 in the progression of pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, stable down‐regulation of BMI1 suppressed cell growth, delayed the G1/S transition, and enhanced the susceptibility of different pancreatic cell lines to apoptosis following expression of a lentiviral‐mediated shRNA targeted for BMI1. Expression of the short‐hairpin RNA also correlated with the up‐regulation of p21 and Bax and the down‐regulation of cyclin D1, cyclin‐dependent kinase (CDK)‐2 and ‐4, Bcl‐2, and phospho‐Akt. Finally, growth suppression following BMI1 depletion was confirmed in a nude mouse model. In conclusion, our findings indicate that BMI1 plays an important role in the late progression of pancreatic cancer and may represent a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. (Cancer Sci 2010)
New Genes Implicated in the Protection of Anaerobically Grown Escherichia coli against Nitric Oxide*

Nitric oxide produced by activated macrophages plays a key role as one of the immune system's weapons against pathogens. Because the lifetime of nitric oxide is short in aerobic conditions, whereas in anaerobic conditions the cytotoxic effects of nitric oxide are greatly increased as in the infection/inflammation processes, it is important to establish which systems are able to detoxify nitric oxide under anaerobic conditions. In the present work a new set of Escherichia coli K-12 genes conferring anaerobic resistance to nitric oxide is presented, namely the gene product of YtfE and a potential transcriptional regulator of the helix-turn-helix LysR-type (YidZ). The crucial role of flavohemoglobin for anaerobic nitric oxide protection is also demonstrated. Furthermore, nitric oxide is shown to cause a significant alteration of the global E. coli gene transcription profile that includes the increase of the transcript level of genes encoding for detoxification enzymes, iron-sulfur cluster assembly systems, DNA-repairing enzymes, and stress response regulators.
Probabilistic Existence Results for Separable Codes

Separable codes were defined by Cheng and Miao in 2011, motivated by applications to the identification of pirates in a multimedia setting. Combinatorially, t̅-separable codes lie somewhere between t-frameproof and (t - 1)-frameproof codes: all t-frameproof codes are t̅-separable, and all t̅-separable codes are (t - 1)-frameproof. Results for frameproof codes show that (when q is large) there are q-ary t̅-separable codes of length n with approximately q<sup>[n/t]</sup> codewords, and that no q-ary t̅-separable codes of length n can have more than approximately q<sup>[n/(t-l)]</sup> codewords. This paper provides improved probabilistic existence results for t-separable codes when t ≥ 3. More precisely, for all t ≥ 3 and all n ≥ 3, there exists a constant κ (depending only on t and n), such that there exists a q-ary t̅-separable code of length n with at least κq<sup>n/(t-1)</sup> codewords for all sufficiently large integers q. This shows, in particular, that the upper bound [derived from the bound on (t - 1)-frameproof codes] on the number of codewords in a t̅-separable code is realistic. The results above are more surprising after examining the situation when t = 2. Results due to Gao and Ge show that a q-ary 2̅-separable code of length n can contain at most 3/2q<sup>2[n/3]</sup> - 1/2q<sup>[n/3]</sup> codewords, and that codes with at least κq<sup>2n/3</sup> codewords exist. Thus, optimal 2̅-separable codes behave neither like two-frameproof nor one-frameproof codes. This paper also observes that the bound of Gao and Ge can be strengthened to show that the number of codewords of a q-ary 2̅-separable code of length n is at most q<sup>[2n/3]</sup> + 1/2 q<sup>[n/3]</sup> (q<sup>[n/3]</sup> -1).
Identification of Carcass and Meat Quality QTL in an F2 Duroc × Pietrain Pig Resource Population Using Different Least-Squares Analysis Models

A three-generation resource population was constructed by crossing pigs from the Duroc and Pietrain breeds. In this study, 954 F2 animals were used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting carcass and meat quality traits. Based on results of the first scan analyzed with a line-cross (LC) model using 124 microsatellite markers and 510 F2 animals, 9 chromosomes were selected for genotyping of additional markers. Twenty additional markers were genotyped for 954 F2 animals and 20 markers used in the first scan were genotyped for 444 additional F2 animals. Three different Mendelian models using least-squares for QTL analysis were applied for the second scan: a LC model, a half-sib (HS) model, and a combined LC and HS model. Significance thresholds were determined by false discovery rate (FDR). In total, 50 QTL using the LC model, 38 QTL using the HS model, and 3 additional QTL using the combined LC and HS model were identified (q < 0.05). The LC and HS models revealed strong evidence for QTL regions on SSC6 for carcass traits (e.g., 10th-rib backfat; q < 0.0001) and on SSC15 for meat quality traits (e.g., tenderness, color, pH; q < 0.01), respectively. QTL for pH (SSC3), dressing percent (SSC7), marbling score and moisture percent (SSC12), CIE a* (SSC16), and carcass length and spareribs weight (SSC18) were also significant (q < 0.01). Additional marker and animal genotypes increased the statistical power for QTL detection, and applying different analysis models allowed confirmation of QTL and detection of new QTL.
Revisiting glaciological measurements on Haupapa/Tasman Glacier, New Zealand, in a contemporary context

ABSTRACT Compilation of fragmented glaciological data, spanning more than a century at Haupapa/Tasman Glacier, provides new insight on how this glacier is changing over time. Despite consistency in high accumulation on the glacier, dramatic surface thinning and up-glacier expansion of supraglacial debris highlights that the glacier is currently in disequilibrium with climate. However, pauses in the rate of debris emergence indicate that despite ongoing terminus retreat at the proglacial lake, a subtle response to climate is still detectable mid-glacier. Analysis of surface velocity data at key locations reveals no trend over time at the Malte Brun site in the upper ablation area, but recent deceleration was recorded near the Ball Glacier confluence, located 5 km up-glacier from the current terminus. Near-terminus acceleration during a period of rapid lake expansion, followed by more recent deceleration, demonstrates that at this time, ice thinning at Haupapa/Tasman Glacier is likely being driven by negative surface mass balance as opposed to dynamic thinning associated with proglacial lake enlargement.
Identification of Mineralization Type and Specific Radioactive Minerals in Mamuju, West Sulawesi

Mamuju is the capital city of West Sulawesi province that has high value of natural radiation dose rate (radioactivity). The specific minerals that expose the radioactivity not determined clearly. The purpose of this study was to determine of specific radioactive minerals and its type of mineralization in Mamuju area. The study was conducted by geological mapping, radiometric in order to identification the form and distribution of radioactive mineralization. Geochemical analysis was done by field sampling, mineralogy and SEM-EDS analysis to determine the specific radioactive mineral. The distribution of the value of radiation dose rates and occurrences of mineralizations are found only on the Tapalang, Ampalas, Adang and Malunda alkaline volcanic rocks complex. Radioactive minerals formed as a primary mineral are davidite ((U,Ce,Fe)2(Ti,Fe,V,Cr)5O12) and thorianite (ThO2). Beside the primary minerals also found the secondary minerals such as gummite (UO3.nH2O) and autonite (CaO.2UO3.P2O5.8H2O) as well as in association with sulphide minerals. Radioactive mineralization type are volcanic related uranium deposit structural bound and supergene enrichment type which are controlled by lithology, geological structure and hydrothermal process. Existance of davidite, thorianite, gummite and autonite in alkaline volcanic rock will produce high natural radioactivity. Therefore those locations can be developed to be exploration target
Deferred vector map visualization

Interactive rendering of large scale vector maps is a key challenge for high-quality geographic visualization software systems. In this paper we present a novel approach for the visualization of large scale vector maps over detailed height-field terrains. Our method uses a deferred line shading approach to render large scale vector maps directly in a screen-space shading stage over a terrain visualization. The fact that there is no traditional geometric polygonal rendering involved allows our algorithm to outperform conventional vector map rendering algorithms for geographic information systems. Our flexible clustered deferred line rendering approach allows a user to interactively customize and apply advanced vector styling methods, as well as the integration into a vector map level-of-detail system.
Tangaza: frugal group messaging through speech and text

We describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of Tangaza, a mobile phone-based group messaging system targeted at moderately low-income users in developing regions. We focus on the design decisions that make Tangaza inexpensive and usable with even the most basic GSM mobile phone, and examine the resulting usability trade-offs. We also describe how we worked with a subset of our target population to gather design feedback that we were able to immediately build into our prototype implementation. We provide quantitative and qualitative analysis of a three month trial covering one hundred people, drawn from two distinct user populations, with a particular focus on the relationship between the in-person physical social groups that users already had and the virtual groups they formed using Tan-gaza.
Fast random k-labELsets for large-scale multi-label classification

Multi-label classification (MLC), allowing instances to have multiple labels, has been received a surge of interests in recent years due to its wide range of applications such as image annotation and document tagging. One of simplest ways to solve MLC problems is label-power set method (LP) that regards all possible label subsets as classes. LP validates traditional multi-classification classifiers such as multi-class SVM but it suffers from the increased number of classes. Therefore, several improvements have been made for LP to be scaled for large problems with many labels. Random k labELsets (RAkEL) proposed by Tsoumakas et al. solves this problem by randomly sampling a small number of labels and taking ensemble of them. However, RAkEL needs all instances for constructing each model and thus suffers from high computational complexity. In this paper, we propose a new fast algorithm for RAkEL. First, we assign each training instance to a small number of models. Then LP is applied for each model with only the assigned instances. Experiments on twelve benchmark datasets demonstrated that the proposed algorithm works faster than the conventional methods while keeping accuracy. In the best case, it was 100 times faster than baseline method (LP) and 30 times faster than the original RAkEL.
Possible impact of global warming on the evolution of hemagglutinins from influenza a viruses.

OBJECTIVE To determine if global warming has an impact on the evolution of hemagglutinins from influenza A viruses, because both global warming and influenza pandemics/epidemics threaten the world. METHODS 4 706 hemagglutinins from influenza A viruses sampled from 1956 to 2009 were converted to a time-series to show their evolutionary process and compared with the global, northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere temperatures, to determine if their trends run in similar or opposite directions. Point-to-point comparisons between temperature and quantified hemagglutinins were performed for all species and for the major prevailing species. RESULTS The comparisons show that the trends for both hemagglutinin evolution and temperature change run in a similar direction. CONCLUSION Global warming has a consistent and progressive impact on the hemagglutinin evolution of influenza A viruses.