Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Instance Selection Techniques for Memory-based Collaborative Filtering

Collaborative filtering (CF) has become an important data mining technique to make personalized recommendations for books, web pages or movies, etc. One popular algorithm is the memory-based collaborative filtering, which predicts a user’s preference based on his or her similarity to other users (instances) in the database. However, the tremendous growth of users and the large number of products, memory-based CF algorithms results in the problem of deciding the right instances to use during prediction, in order to reduce executive cost and excessive storage, and possibly to improve the generalization accuracy by avoiding noise and overfitting. In this paper, we focus our work on a typical user preference database that contains many missing values, and propose four novel instance reduction techniques called TURF1-TURF4 as a preprocessing step to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the memory-based CF algorithm. The key idea is to generate prediction from a carefully selected set of relevant instances. We evaluate the techniques on the well-known EachMovie data set. Our experiments showed that the proposed algorithms not just dramatically speed up the prediction, but also improved the accuracy.
Bacillus subtilis Biofilm Development – A Computerized Study of Morphology and Kinetics

Biofilm is commonly defined as accumulation of microbes, embedded in a self-secreted extra-cellular matrix, on solid surfaces or liquid interfaces. In this study, we analyze several aspects of Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation using tools from the field of image processing. Specifically, we characterize the growth kinetics and morphological features of B. subtilis colony type biofilm formation and compare these in colonies grown on two different types of solid media. Additionally, we propose a model for assessing B. subtilis biofilm complexity across different growth conditions. GFP-labeled B. subtilis cells were cultured on agar surfaces over a 4-day period during which microscopic images of developing colonies were taken at equal time intervals. The images were used to perform a computerized analysis of few aspects of biofilm development, based on features that characterize the different phenotypes of B. subtilis colonies. Specifically, the analysis focused on the segmented structure of the colonies, consisting of two different regions of sub-populations that comprise the biofilm – a central “core” region and an “expanding” region surrounding it. Our results demonstrate that complex biofilm of B. subtillis grown on biofilm-promoting medium [standard lysogeny broth (LB) supplemented with manganese and glycerol] is characterized by rapidly developing three-dimensional complex structure observed at its core compared to biofilm grown on standard LB. As the biofilm develops, the core size remains largely unchanged during development and colony expansion is mostly attributed to the expansion in area of outer cell sub-populations. Moreover, when comparing the bacterial growth on biofilm-promoting agar to that of colonies grown on LB, we found a significant decrease in the GFP production of colonies that formed a more complex biofilm. This suggests that complex biofilm formation has a diminishing effect on cell populations at the biofilm core, likely due to a combination of reduced metabolic rate and increased levels of cell death within this region.
System reliability analysis of an N-version programming application

This paper presents a quantitative reliability analysis of a system designed to tolerate both hardware and software faults. The system being studied achieves integrated fault tolerance by implementing N-version programming (NVP) on redundant hardware. The analysis of the system considers independent software faults, related software faults, transient hardware faults, permanent hardware faults, and imperfect coverage. The overall model is a Markov reward model in which the states of the Markov chain represent the long-term evolution of the structure of the system. For each operational configuration, a fault tree model captures the effects of software faults and transient hardware faults on the task computation. The fault tree models define the reward structure for the overall model. The software fault model is parameterized using experimental data associated with a recent implementation of an NVP system using the current design paradigm, in which the predictions of software failures are very close to the empirical data. The hardware model is parameterized by considering typical failure rates associated with hardware faults and coverage parameters. Results from our study show that it is important to consider both hardware and software faults in the reliability analysis of an NVP system, since these estimates increase with time. Moreover, the function for error detection and recovery is extremely important to fault-tolerant software.
The “Bad Father”: Paternal Role in Biology of Pregnancy and in Birth Outcome

Simple Summary Human reproduction, as well as that of all mammals, involves the union of two cells, the male sperm and the female egg, which give rise to a new organism that will grow for about 280 days inside the mother’s body. Most research on pregnancy, its complications, and diseases of the unborn child and newborn has focused, appropriately enough, on maternal conditions and the interaction between mother and child, leaving the father with only the role of depositing his genetic material at the moment of conception. This study aims to compile the research that has dealt with the father’s role in determining a good or bad course of pregnancy and birth. From this perspective, the father can be a “good father” or a “bad father” not only because of his hereditary genetic heritage, but also because of how he lives, how he feeds, and how he eats; in short, if a man takes care of his health, he is already taking care of his children’s health. Abstract Pregnancy is generally studied as a biological interaction between a mother and a fetus; however, the father, with his characteristics, lifestyle, genetics, and living environment, is by no means unrelated to the outcome of pregnancy. The half of the fetal genetic heritage of paternal derivation can be decisive in cases of inherited chromosomal disorders, and can be the result of de novo genetic alterations. In addition to the strictly pathological aspects, paternal genetics may transmit thrombophilic traits that affect the implantation and vascular construction of the feto-placental unit, lead to placenta-mediated diseases such as pre-eclampsia and fetal growth retardation, and contribute to the multifactorial genesis of preterm delivery. Biological aspects of immunological tolerance to paternal antigens also appear to be crucial for these pathologies. Finally, this review describes the biological findings by which the environment, exposure to pathogens, lifestyle, and nutritional style of the father affect fetal pathophysiological and epigenetic definition.
Facial profile shape, malocclusion and palatal morphology in Malay obstructive sleep apnea patients.

OBJECTIVE To test the null hypothesis that there is no difference in facial profile shape, malocclusion class, or palatal morphology in Malay adults with and without obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). MATERIALS AND METHODS Subjects were 120 adult Malays aged 18 to 65 years (mean +/- standard deviation [SD], 33.2 +/- 13.31) divided into two groups of 60. Both groups underwent clinical examination and limited channel polysomnography (PSG). The mean OSA and control values were subjected to t-test and the chi square test. RESULTS Physical examination showed that 61.7% of the OSA patients were obese, and 41.7% of those obese patients had severe OSA. The mean body mass index (BMI) was significantly greater for the OSA group (33.2 kg/m2 +/- 6.5) than for the control group (22.7 kg/m2 +/- 3.5; P < .001). The mean neck size and systolic blood pressure were greater for the OSA group (43.6 cm +/- 6.02; 129.1 mm Hg +/- 17.55) than for the control group (35.6 cm +/- 3.52; 114.1 mm Hg +/- 13.67; P < .001). Clinical examination showed that the most frequent findings among OSA groups when compared with the control group were convex profiles (71.7%), Class II malocclusion (51.7%), and V palatal shape (53.3%), respectively; the chi square test revealed a significant difference in terms of facial profile and malocclusion class (P < .05), but no significant difference in palatal shape was found. CONCLUSION The null hypothesis is rejected. A convex facial profile and Class II malocclusion were significantly more common in the OSA group. The V palatal shape was a frequent finding in the OSA group.
Immunogenicity of Self-Associated Aggregates and Chemically Cross-Linked Conjugates of the 42 kDa Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Surface Protein-1

Self-associated protein aggregates or cross-linked protein conjugates are, in general, more immunogenic than oligomeric or monomeric forms. In particular, the immunogenicity in mice of a recombinant malaria transmission blocking vaccine candidate, the ookinete specific Plasmodium falciparum 25 kDa protein (Pfs25), was increased more than 1000-fold when evaluated as a chemical cross-linked protein-protein conjugate as compared to a formulated monomer. Whether alternative approaches using protein complexes improve the immunogenicity of other recombinant malaria vaccine candidates is worth assessing. In this work, the immunogenicity of the recombinant 42 kDa processed form of the P. falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP142) was evaluated as a self-associated, non-covalent aggregate and as a chemical cross-linked protein-protein conjugate to ExoProtein A, which is a recombinant detoxified form of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A. MSP142 conjugates were prepared and characterized biochemically and biophysically to determine their molar mass in solution and stoichiometry, when relevant. The immunogenicity of the MSP142 self-associated aggregates, cross-linked chemical conjugates and monomers were compared in BALB/c mice after adsorption to aluminum hydroxide adjuvant, and in one instance in association with the TLR9 agonist CPG7909 with an aluminum hydroxide formulation. Antibody titers were assessed by ELISA. Unlike observations made for Pfs25, no significant enhancement in MSP142 specific antibody titers was observed for any conjugate as compared to the formulated monomer or dimer, except for the addition of the TLR9 agonist CPG7909. Clearly, enhancing the immunogenicity of a recombinant protein vaccine candidate by the formation of protein complexes must be established on an empirical basis.
Perron-root minimization for interference-coupled systems with adaptive receive strategies

Interference in multiuser systems is often characterized by a non-negative and irreducible coupling matrix. The maximum eigenvalue (Perron root) of the weighted coupling matrix provides a single measure for the joint achievability of certain signal-to-interference ratios (SIR). In this paper, we address the more general case where the users are coupled by concave interference functions. This corresponds to a system with adaptive receive strategies which minimize the interference received by each user. A necessary and sufficient condition for feasibility is obtained by minimizing the Perron root over the set of possible receive strategies. This type of problem is directly related to the problem of (weighted) max-min-SIR balancing. This paper provides an analytical framework and an iterative algorithm that converges monotonically to a global optimum. We also study an alternative approach based on a fixed point iteration. This iteration is shown to converge to the global optimum if the SIR targets lie on the boundary of the region.
The cellular biology of tendon grafting

We investigated the cellular biology of tendon grafting in a mouse model using green fluorescent protein mismatch grafting and quantitative immunohistochemistry of molecular markers for inflammation, proliferation, collagen synthesis, cell death, and myofibroblast/pericyte expression. We provide a detailed analysis of the healing characteristics during the phases of inflammation, synthesis, and remodelling. Our findings indicated that survival of the cells in the grafted tendon was finite. Syngenic and autologous grafts provoked a similar cellular reaction and all grafts healed. Cells in the graft contributed significantly to collagen synthesis and do have a role in healing.
Diminished Whole-brain but Enhanced Peri-sylvian Connectivity in Absolute Pitch Musicians

Several anatomical studies have identified specific anatomical features within the peri-sylvian brain system of absolute pitch (AP) musicians. In this study we used graph theoretical analysis of cortical thickness covariations (as indirect indicator of connectivity) to examine whether AP musicians differ from relative pitch musicians and nonmusicians in small-world network characteristics. We measured “local connectedness” (local clustering = γ), “global efficiency of information transfer” (path length = λ), “small-worldness” (σ = γ/λ), and “degree” centrality as measures of connectivity. Although all groups demonstrated typical small-world features, AP musicians showed significant small-world alterations. “Degree” as a measure of interconnectedness was globally significantly decreased in AP musicians. These differences let us suggest that AP musicians demonstrate diminished neural integration (less connections) among distant brain regions. In addition, AP musicians demonstrated significantly increased local connectivity in peri-sylvian language areas of which the planum temporale, planum polare, Heschl's gyrus, lateral aspect of the superior temporal gyrus, STS, pars triangularis, and pars opercularis were hub regions. All of these brain areas are known to be involved in higher-order auditory processing, working or semantic memory processes. Taken together, whereas AP musicians demonstrate decreased global interconnectedness, the local connectedness in peri-sylvian brain areas is significantly higher than for relative pitch musicians and nonmusicians.
Does Religiosity Promote or Discourage Social Trust? Evidence from Cross-Country and Cross-State Comparisons

We look at the effect of religiosity on social trust, defined as the share of a population that thinks that people in general can be trusted. This is important since social trust is related to many desired outcomes, such as growth, education, democratic stability and subjective well-being. The effect of religiosity is theoretically unclear: while all major religions call for behaving well to others, religious groups may primarily trust people in their own groups and distrust others, as well as cause division in the broader population. We make use of new data from the Gallup World Poll for 105 countries and the U.S. states, measuring religiosity by the share of the population that answers yes to the question “Is religion an important part of your daily life? ”. Our empirical results, making use of regression analysis whereby we control for other possible determinants of social trust and, by using instrumental variables, for the risk of reverse causality, indicate a robust, negative effect of religiosity, both internationally and within the US. When interacting religiosity with the degree of religious fractionalization, we find that the negative effect occurs above a rather low threshold level of fractionalization, where it increases monotonically, in line with our theoretical prediction.
VoIP Capacity Analysis in Full Duplex WLANs

With the increase of the popularity of voice over wireless local area networks (VoWLANs), how to improve the capacity of VoWLANs is being actively investigated. A recent technology to allow simultaneous transmission and reception, i.e., full duplex (FD) communications, can be a promising candidate for improving the capacity of VoWLANs. In this paper, we develop an analytical model of an FD medium access control protocol for VoWLANs, and study its capacity. Extensive simulation results are given to show the effects of FD communications, different voice over IP (VoIP) codecs, and data connections on the VoIP capacity.
Multidirectional transparent support for overground gait training

Gait and balance training is an essential ingredient for locomotor rehabilitation of patients with neurological impairments. Robotic overhead support systems may help these patients train, for example by relieving them of part of their body weight. However, there are only very few systems that provide support during overground gait, and these suffer from limited degrees of freedom and/or undesired interaction forces due to uncompensated robot dynamics, namely inertia. Here, we suggest a novel mechanical concept that is based on cable robot technology and that allows three-dimensional gait training while reducing apparent robot dynamics to a minimum. The solution does not suffer from the conventional drawback of cable robots, which is a limited workspace. Instead, displaceable deflection units follow the human subject above a large walking area. These deflection units are not actuated, instead they are implicitly displaced by means of the forces in the cables they deflect. This leads to an underactuated design, because the deflection units cannot be moved arbitrarily. However, the design still allows accurate control of a three-dimensional force vector acting on a human subject during gait. We describe the mechanical concept, the control concept, and we show first experimental results obtained with the device, including the force control performance during robot-supported overground gait of five human subjects without motor impairments.
Functional Selectivity of Cannabinoid Type 1 G Protein-Coupled Receptor Agonists in Transactivating Glycosylated Receptors on Cancer Cells to Induce Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition Metastatic Phenotype

Understanding the role of biased G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) agonism in receptor signaling may provide novel insights into the opposing effects mediated by cannabinoids, particularly in cancer and cancer metastasis. GPCRs can have more than one active state, a phenomenon called either ‘biased agonism’, ‘functional selectivity’, or ‘ligand-directed signaling’. However, there are increasing arrays of cannabinoid allosteric ligands with different degrees of modulation, called ‘biased modulation’, that can vary dramatically in a probe- and pathway-specific manner, not from simple differences in orthosteric ligand efficacy or stimulus-response coupling. Here, emerging evidence proposes the involvement of CB1 GPCRs in a novel biased GPCR signaling paradigm involving the crosstalk between neuraminidase-1 (Neu-1) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in the activation of glycosylated receptors through the modification of the receptor glycosylation state. The study findings highlighted the role of CB1 agonists AM-404, Aravnil, and Olvanil in significantly inducing Neu-1 sialidase activity in a dose-dependent fashion in RAW-Blue, PANC-1, and SW-620 cells. This approach was further substantiated by findings that the neuromedin B receptor inhibitor, BIM-23127, MMP-9 inhibitor, MMP9i, and Neu-1 inhibitor, oseltamivir phosphate, could specifically block CB1 agonist-induced Neu-1 sialidase activity. Additionally, we found that CB1 receptors exist in a multimeric receptor complex with Neu-1 in naïve, unstimulated RAW-Blue, PANC-1, and SW-620 cells. This complex implies a molecular link that regulates the interaction and signaling mechanism among these molecules present on the cell surface. Moreover, the study results demonstrate that CB1 agonists induce NFκB-dependent secretory alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) activity in influencing the expression of epithelial–mesenchymal markers, E-cadherin, and vimentin in SW-620 cells, albeit the impact on E-cadherin expression is less pronounced compared to vimentin. In essence, this innovative research begins to elucidate an entirely new molecular mechanism involving a GPCR signaling paradigm in which cannabinoids, as epigenetic stimuli, may traverse to influence gene expression and contribute to cancer and cancer metastasis.
Antibody-dependent eosinophil-mediated damage to 51Cr-labeled schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni: damage by purieid eosinophils

After earlier observations that antibody-dependent, cell-mediated damage to 51Cr-labeled schistosomula can be ablated by pretreatment of a mixed preparation of human peripheral blood leukocytes with an anti- eosinophil serum and complement, we investigated the cytotoxic effects of eosinophil-enriched cell preparations. Preparations containing up to 98.5% eosinophils and devoid of neutrophils were effective in mediating antibody-dependent damage to schistosomula. Preparations enriched in mononuclear cells or in neutrophils, and devoid of eosinophils, were inactive. Eosinophils from some patients with eosinophilia induced by schistosomiasis were less active on a cell-to-cell basis than cells from normal individuals. The possibility that such cells were initially blocked by immune complexes was considered, and it was found that reasonable cytotoxicity by purified eosinophils from patients with eosinophilia could be generated by overnight cultures. A possible requirement for cooperation between eosinophils and other cell types was also studied. Lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes failed to enhance eosinophil-mediated cytotoxicity. These results provide further evidence that the eosinophil is the only cell in man responsible for antibody-dependent, complement-independent damage to schistosomula in vitro. Eosinophils from individuals, however, differ in their cytotoxic potential by a mechanism yet to be elucidated. The possible relationship of these findings to immunity in vivo is discussed.