Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linear Convergence of Comparison-based Step-size Adaptive Randomized Search via Stability of Markov Chains

In this paper, we consider \emph{comparison-based} adaptive stochastic algorithms for solving numerical optimisation problems. We consider a specific subclass of algorithms called \cprs (CB-SARS), where the state variables at a given iteration are a vector of the search space and a positive parameter, the step-size, typically controlling the overall standard deviation of the underlying search distribution. We investigate the \emph{linear} convergence of CB-SARS on \emph{scaling-invariant} objective functions. Scaling-invariant functions preserve the ordering of points with respect to their function value when the points are scaled with the same positive parameter (the scaling is done w.r.t.\ a fixed reference point). This class of functions includes norms composed with strictly increasing functions as well as many \emph{non quasi-convex} and \emph{non-continuous} functions. On scaling-invariant functions, we show the existence of a homogeneous Markov chain, as a consequence of natural invariance properties of CB-SARS (essentially scale-invariance and invariance to strictly increasing transformation of the objective function). We then derive sufficient conditions for \emph{global linear convergence} of CB-SARS, expressed in terms of different stability conditions of the normalised homogeneous Markov chain (irreducibility, positivity, Harris recurrence, geometric ergodicity) and thus define a general methodology for proving global linear convergence of CB-SARS algorithms on scaling-invariant functions. As a by-product we provide a connexion between \emph{comparison-based} adaptive stochastic algorithms and Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms.
Parasol and GreenSwitch: managing datacenters powered by renewable energy

Several companies have recently announced plans to build "green" datacenters, i.e. datacenters partially or completely powered by renewable energy. These datacenters will either generate their own renewable energy or draw it directly from an existing nearby plant. Besides reducing carbon footprints, renewable energy can potentially reduce energy costs, reduce peak power costs, or both. However, certain renewable fuels are intermittent, which requires approaches for tackling the energy supply variability. One approach is to use batteries and/or the electrical grid as a backup for the renewable energy. It may also be possible to adapt the workload to match the renewable energy supply. For highest benefits, green datacenter operators must intelligently manage their workloads and the sources of energy at their disposal. In this paper, we first discuss the tradeoffs involved in building green datacenters today and in the future. Second, we present Parasol, a prototype green datacenter that we have built as a research platform. Parasol comprises a small container, a set of solar panels, a battery bank, and a grid-tie. Third, we describe GreenSwitch, our model-based approach for dynamically scheduling the workload and selecting the source of energy to use. Our real experiments with Parasol, GreenSwitch, and MapReduce workloads demonstrate that intelligent workload and energy source management can produce significant cost reductions. Our results also isolate the cost implications of peak power management, storing energy on the grid, and the ability to delay the MapReduce jobs. Finally, our results demonstrate that careful workload and energy source management can minimize the negative impact of electrical grid outages.
Subunit assembly in vivo of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase: role of the amino‐terminal assembly domain of alpha subunit

Background: The RNA polymerase core enzyme of Escherichia coli is assembled in the sequence α→α2→α2β→α2 ββ′. The amino‐terminal domain down to residue 235 of the Escherichia coli RNA polymerase α subunit plays a key role in enzyme assembly. In vitro reconstitution studies from mutant α subunits have indicated the involvement of multiple sites for α dimerization, two regions (one near residue 45 and the other near residue 80) for β association, and two regions (one around residue 80 and the other between residues 180 and 200) for β′ association. The mechanism of RNA polymerase assembly in vivo, however, remains largely unknown.
Hemispheric Asymmetry for Affective Stimulus Processing in Healthy Subjects–A fMRI Study

Background While hemispheric specialization of language processing is well established, lateralization of emotion processing is still under debate. Several conflicting hypotheses have been proposed, including right hemisphere hypothesis, valence asymmetry hypothesis and region-specific lateralization hypothesis. However, experimental evidence for these hypotheses remains inconclusive, partly because direct comparisons between hemispheres are scarce. Methods The present fMRI study systematically investigated functional lateralization during affective stimulus processing in 36 healthy participants. We normalized our functional data on a symmetrical template to avoid confounding effects of anatomical asymmetries. Direct comparison of BOLD responses between hemispheres was accomplished taking two approaches: a hypothesis-driven region of interest analysis focusing on brain areas most frequently reported in earlier neuroimaging studies of emotion; and an exploratory whole volume analysis contrasting non-flipped with flipped functional data using paired t-test. Results The region of interest analysis revealed lateralization towards the left in the medial prefrontal cortex (BA 10) during positive stimulus processing; while negative stimulus processing was lateralized towards the right in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 9 & 46) and towards the left in the amygdala and uncus. The whole brain analysis yielded similar results and, in addition, revealed lateralization towards the right in the premotor cortex (BA 6) and the temporo-occipital junction (BA 19 & 37) during positive stimulus processing; while negative stimulus processing showed lateralization towards the right in the temporo-parietal junction (BA 37,39,42) and towards the left in the middle temporal gyrus (BA 21). Conclusion Our data suggests region-specific functional lateralization of emotion processing. Findings show valence asymmetry for prefrontal cortical areas and left-lateralized negative stimulus processing in subcortical areas, in particular, amygdala and uncus.
Computational Complexity of Signal Processing Functions in Software Radio

The increased usage of mobile communication devices has imposed a challenge of achieving efficient communication with minimum power consumption. Moreover, with the advent of software defined radios (SDR), it is highly possible that signal processing functions would be implemented in software in future mobile devices. Hence, the power consumption of these future devices will be directly related to the power consumed by the processor that executes SDR software. This thesis aims at analyzing the computational complexity of different modulation schemes and signal processing communication functions of IEEE WiFi standard. This analysis provides good insight on how the computational load varies at different data rates for different modulation schemes. For this purpose, we have analyzed computational complexity of various modulation schemes and other communication functions using widely known software radio platform i.e. USRP hardware and GNU Radio open source software platform, Matlab and OProfile (open source Linux profiling tool). After performing an extensive analysis, we are able to determine how different modulation schemes and communication functions perform computationally on a given platform. This analysis would help to achieve effective communication along with the efficient use of power in SDR based systems.
Age-Related Impairment of Quality of Joint Motion in Vibroarthrographic Signal Analysis

Aging is associated with degenerative changes in articular surfaces leading to quantitative and qualitative impairment of joint motion. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate an age-related quality of the patellofemoral joint (PFJ) motion in the vibroarthrographic (VAG) signal analysis. Two hundred and twenty individuals were enrolled in this study and divided into five groups according to age. The VAG signals were collected during flexion/extension knee motion using an acceleration sensor and described using four parameters (VMS, P1, P2, and H). We observed that values of parameters VMS, P1, and P2 increase in accordance with the age, but H level decreases. The most significant differences were achieved between the youngest and the oldest participants' groups. Moreover, we show that parameters VMS, P1, and P2 positively correlate with age, contrary to negatively associated H parameter. Our results suggest that the impairment of joint motion is a result of age-related osteoarticular degenerative changes.
Multiplex Real-Time PCR Assay Targeting Eight Parasites Customized to the Korean Population: Potential Use for Detection in Diarrheal Stool Samples from Gastroenteritis Patients

Intestinal parasitic diseases occur worldwide and can cause diarrhea or gastroenteritis; however, their diagnosis is quite difficult, especially in low-endemism countries. We developed a multiplex real-time PCR assay for detection of eight intestinal parasites and prospectively evaluated it for patients with gastroenteritis. The assay targeted Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, Blastocystis hominis, Dientamoeba fragilis, Clonorchis sinensis, Metagonimus yokogawai, and Gymnophalloides seoi. Performance characteristics were evaluated based on recovery after DNA extraction, analytical sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility, cross-reactivity, and interference characteristics. Clinical performance was validated against microscopy on 123 diarrheal samples. The assay demonstrated strong correlations between DNA concentrations and Ct values (R2, 0.9924–0.9998), and had a high PCR efficiency (83.3%–109.5%). Polymerase chain reactions detected as few as 10–30 copies of genomic DNA, and coefficient of variance was 0–7%. There was no cross-reactivity to the other 54 microorganisms tested. Interference occurred only in presence of high concentrations of erythrocytes or leukocytes. This assay had a higher correct identification rate (100.0% vs. 90.2%) and lower incorrect ID rate (0.0% vs. 9.8%) when compared to microscopy. Overall, this assay showed a higher sensitivity (100.0%; 95% confidence interval [CI] of 80.5–100.0) than microscopy (29.4%; 95% CI 10.31–55.96), and the specificity levels were comparable for both methods (100.0%; 95% CI 96.58–100.0). This newly developed multiplex real-time PCR assay offers a potential use for detecting intestinal parasitic pathogens customized to the Korean population.
Enhanced group velocity of ultrashort optical pulses in Bragg grating waveguide structure

Theoretical investigation using both time-domain and frequency-domain methods shows that effective group velocity in optical waveguides can be significantly enhanced by a Bragg grating, so that picosecond optical pulses whose spectrum is located around Bragg bandgap center, can travel 2.6 times as fast compared with the case without grating. Moreover, we point out that this enhanced group velocity can be controlled by the carrier-induced optical gain. This last effect is induced through a linewidth enhancement factor, which detunes pulse wavenumber from the center of Bragg bandgap, where pulse transmission is the fastest. This may imply interesting applications, such as an electronically controlled optical delay in optical transmission systems.
The Functional ccpA Gene Is Required for Carbon Catabolite Repression in Lactobacillus plantarum

ABSTRACT We report the characterization of the ccpA gene ofLactobacillus plantarum, coding for catabolite control protein A. The gene is linked to the pepQ gene, encoding a proline peptidase, in the order ccpA-pepQ, with the two genes transcribed in tandem from the same strand as distinct transcriptional units. Two ccpA transcription start sites corresponding to two functional promoters were found, expression from the upstream promoter being autogenously regulated through a catabolite-responsive element (cre) sequence overlapping the upstream +1 site. During growth on ribose, the upstream promoter showed maximal expression, while growth on glucose led to transcription from the downstream promoter. In a ccpA mutant strain, the gene was transcribed mainly from the upstream promoter in both repressing and non repressing conditions. Expression of two enzyme activities, β-glucosidase and β-galactosidase, was relieved from carbon catabolite repression in the ccpA mutant strain. In vivo footprinting analysis of the catabolite-controlledbglH gene regulatory region in the ccpA mutant strain showed loss of protection of the cre under repressing conditions.
Trimetazidine improved Ca2+ handling in isoprenalinemediated myocardial injury of rats

Dysregulation of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis plays an important role in mediating myocardial injury. We tested the hypothesis that treatment with trimetazidine (TMZ) would improve intracellular Ca2+ handling in myocardial injury of rats. The control group received saline only (10 ml kg−1 day−1, i.p.) for 7 days. In a second group, isoprenaline (ISO; 5 mg kg−1 day−1, s.c.) was administered to rats for 2 days to induce an acute injury of the myocardium. In a third group, treatment with TMZ (10 mg kg−1 day−1, i.p.) was initiated 1 day before ISO administration and continued for 7 days (n= 7 rats in each group). Histopathological evaluation showed that TMZ prevented ISO‐induced myocardial damage. TMZ preserved the ATP levels and decreased the maleic dialdehyde (MDA) content in the hearts compared with ISO‐treated rats. The diastolic [Ca2+]i measured by loading with fura‐2 AM in isolated cardiomyocytes was increased significantly in ISO‐treated rats compared to the control animals. TMZ prevented the rise of diastolic [Ca2+]i and the depression of caffeine‐induced Ca2+ transients caused by ISO administration. The reduction in sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ content in the heart cells and in cardiac SR Ca2+‐ATPase activity in ISO‐treated rats was abolished by TMZ, although there were no differences in SR Ca2+‐ATPase protein levels between the control, ISO and ISO + 7 mz‐treated rats. In addition, TMZ prevented the reduction in sarcolemmal L‐type Ca2+ current density in the heart cells induced by ISO treatment. These results demonstrate that the treatment of rats with TMZ inhibited the increase of diastolic [Ca2+]i and prevented the decrease of SR Ca2+ content, SR Ca2+‐ATPase activity and L‐type Ca2+ current density in cardiomyocytes in ISO‐mediated myocardial injury of rats. These changes in Ca2+ handling could help to explain the favourable action of TMZ in myocardial injury.
Community Colleges and Social Stratification.

The expansion of the community colleges in recent years repeats an American pattern that couples class-based tracking with "educational inflation. " Shaped by a changing economy and by the American ideology of equal opportunity, community colleges are moving toward vocational rather than transfer curricula and are channeling first generation college students into these programs. The author examines the social forces behind the community college movement and the social processes within the community colleges that have produced a submerged class conflict in higher education.
Ca2+-Activated Reactive Oxygen Species Production by Arabidopsis RbohH and RbohJ Is Essential for Proper Pollen Tube Tip Growth[W]

Arabidopsis RbohH and RbohJ, NADPH oxidases expressed in pollen tubes, are activated by Ca2+ via their EF-hand motifs to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are essential for proper pollen tube tip growth in vivo. Positive feedback regulation involving Ca2+ and ROS production mediated by RbohH and RbohJ is proposed to shape the long tubular structure of the pollen tube. In flowering plants, pollen germinates on the stigma and pollen tubes grow through the style to fertilize the ovules. Enzymatic production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been suggested to be involved in pollen tube tip growth. Here, we characterized the function and regulation of the NADPH oxidases RbohH and RbohJ (Respiratory burst oxidase homolog H and J) in pollen tubes in Arabidopsis thaliana. In the rbohH and rbohJ single mutants, pollen tube tip growth was comparable to that of the wild type; however, tip growth was severely impaired in the double mutant. In vivo imaging showed that ROS accumulation in the pollen tube was impaired in the double mutant. Both RbohH and RbohJ, which contain Ca2+ binding EF-hand motifs, possessed Ca2+-induced ROS-producing activity and localized at the plasma membrane of the pollen tube tip. Point mutations in the EF-hand motifs impaired Ca2+-induced ROS production and complementation of the double mutant phenotype. We also showed that a protein phosphatase inhibitor enhanced the Ca2+-induced ROS-producing activity of RbohH and RbohJ, suggesting their synergistic activation by protein phosphorylation and Ca2+. Our results suggest that ROS production by RbohH and RbohJ is essential for proper pollen tube tip growth, and furthermore, that Ca2+-induced ROS positive feedback regulation is conserved in the polarized cell growth to shape the long tubular cell.
Convective response to changes in the thermodynamic environment in idealized weak temperature gradient simulations

We investigate the response of convection to idealized perturbations in the thermodynamic environment in simulations which parameterize the large‐scale circulations using the weak temperature gradient (WTG) approximation. The perturbations include a combination of modifying the environmental moisture and atmospheric stability via imposing anomalies in reference moisture and temperature profiles. We find that changes in atmospheric stability strongly influence the character of convection by drastically modifying the vertical motion profile, whereas changes to atmospheric moisture modulate the intensity of precipitation produced by the convection, but do not qualitatively change the shape of the vertical motion profile. An important question is how does horizontal moisture advection into the domain affect convection? We test several different parameterizations of this process; these include lateral entrainment by circulations induced by enforcing WTG, a moisture relaxation which parameterizes the advection of moisture by large‐scale nondivergent circulations, and control simulations in which both of these mechanisms are turned off so horizontal advection is assumed negligible compared to vertical advection. Interestingly, the most significant differences resulting from the choice of horizontal moisture advection scheme appear in environmental conditions which suppress–rather than support–the development of deep tropical convection. In this case, lateral entrainment related to WTG circulations is the only parameterization which results in extreme drying of the troposphere in environments which suppress convection. Consequently, this is the only parameterization which permits multiple equilibria—dry or precipitating steady states—in convection.
Biological Named Entity Recognition Using n-grams and Classification Methods

We propose a biological named entity recognition system which uses classification methods and a n-gram model to annotate terms in text. A novel method is presented to express lexical features in a pattern notation. Prefix and suffix characters are used instead of lists of potential terms or other external resources. Creating classification exemplars is conducted from text by using a word n-gram model. We evaluate our system based on the GENIA version 3.02 corpus which contains 2,000 paper abstracts. The system obtains an 0.705 F-score on exact match term performance. Biological concept markers are also assigned to each located term indicating its meaning. Our system retains simplicity and generalizability.
Does Addition of Anti‐Inflammatory Agents to Antimicrobial Therapy Reduce Infertility After Murine Chlamydial Salpingitis?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Infertility after murine chlamydial salpingitis can be prevented by tetracycline treatment given before or at the time of infection. This study evaluates the efficacy and timing of tetracycline treatment and anti-inflammatory agents in the prevention of inflammation and subsequent infertility. STUDY DESIGN The left ovarian bursae and uterine horns were inoculated with the mouse pneumonitis strain of Chlamydia trachomatis. Mice were mated 54 days after inoculation. RESULTS Infected mice treated with tetracycline beginning 2 days after infection showed mild inflammation and no significant reduction in fertility. However, when tetracycline treatment was delayed until 5 days after infection, a moderate degree of inflammation and a significant reduction in fertility (P < 0.01) was noted. Treatment with ibuprofen, prostaglandin E1 (PGE-1), or hydrocortisone beginning day 2 post-inoculation did not significantly alter the degree of inflammation or subsequent fertility. Mean anti-chlamydial IgG titers were significantly lower in mice treated with either PGE1 or hydrocortisone compared with infected, untreated mice. CONCLUSION These results indicate that while early treatment of chlamydial salpingitis may prevent infertility, delay in treatment may result in significant inflammatory damage and infertility. There was no apparent benefit from the addition of anti-inflammatory agents.
Introduction to quantum turbulence

The term quantum turbulence denotes the turbulent motion of quantum fluids, systems such as superfluid helium and atomic Bose–Einstein condensates, which are characterized by quantized vorticity, superfluidity, and, at finite temperatures, two-fluid behavior. This article introduces their basic properties, describes types and regimes of turbulence that have been observed, and highlights similarities and differences between quantum turbulence and classical turbulence in ordinary fluids. Our aim is also to link together the articles of this special issue and to provide a perspective of the future development of a subject that contains aspects of fluid mechanics, atomic physics, condensed matter, and low-temperature physics.
A characterization of (κ + ) in extender models

We prove that, in any fine structural extender model with Jensen's λ-indexing, there is a (κ + )-sequence if and only if there is a pair of stationary subsets of κ + ∩ cof(< κ) without common reflection point of cofinality <κ which, in turn, is equivalent to the existence of a family of size <κ of stationary subsets of κ + ∩ cof(< κ) without common reflection point of cofinality <κ . By a result of Burke/Jensen, κ fails whenever κ is a subcompact cardinal. Our result shows that in extender models, it is still possible to construct a canonical (κ + )-sequence where κ