Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transcriptional impact of dietary methionine restriction on systemic inflammation: Relevance to biomarkers of metabolic disease during aging

Calorie restriction (CR) without malnutrition increases lifespan and produces significant improvements in biomarkers of metabolic health. The improvements are attributable in part to effects of CR on energy balance, which limit fat accumulation by restricting energy intake. Normal age‐associated increases in adiposity and insulin resistance are associated with development of a systemic proinflammatory state, while chronic CR limits fat deposition and expression of inflammatory markers. Dietary methionine restriction (MR) has emerged as an effective CR mimetic because it produces a comparable extension in lifespan. MR also reduces adiposity through a compensatory increase in energy expenditure that effectively limits fat accumulation, but essentially nothing is known about the effects of MR on systemic inflammation. Here, we review the relationships between these two interventions and discuss their transcriptional impact. In addition, using tissues from rats after long‐term consumption of CR or MR diets, transcriptional profiling was used to examine retrospectively the systems biology of 59 networks of molecules annotated to inflammation. Transcriptional effects of both diets occurred primarily in white adipose tissue and liver, and the responses to MR were far more robust than those to CR. The primary transcriptional targets of MR in both liver and white adipose tissue were phagocytes and macrophages, where expression of genes associated with immune cell infiltration and quantity was reduced. These findings support the conclusion that anti‐inflammatory responses produced by CR and MR are not strictly dependent upon reduced adiposity but are significantly influenced by the metabolic mechanisms through which energy balance is altered. © 2013 BioFactors, 40(1):13–26, 2014
Digieye Application In Cotton Colour Measurement

Abstract Colour is one of the most important properties of cotton raw materials. It helps in determining and classifying the quality of fibres according to the Universal Cotton Standards. Organoleptic and instrumental techniques are applied to assess the color of cotton. Worldwide, the colour parameters of cotton are measured by the High Volume Instrument (HVI), which provides information on reflectance (Rd) and yellowness (+b) that is specific for cotton, but are not the typical and globally recognized colour characteristics. Usually, worldwide, the colour of textile products and other goods is assessed utilizing the spectrophotometer, which provides the colour data that is widely recognized and accepted by the CIE L*a*b* colour space. This paper discusses utilizing the DigiEye system to measure the colour parameters of cotton samples and compares the results with the colour parameters from the HVI.
A Trust-Aware System for Personalized User Recommendations in Social Networks

Social network analysis has recently gained a lot of interest because of the advent and the increasing popularity of social media, such as blogs, social networking applications, microblogging, or customer review sites. In this environment, trust is becoming an essential quality among user interactions and the recommendation for useful content and trustful users is crucial for all the members of the network. In this paper, we introduce a framework for handling trust in social networks, which is based on a reputation mechanism that captures the implicit and explicit connections between the network members, analyzes the semantics and dynamics of these connections, and provides personalized user recommendations to the network members.
Silver enhancement of Nanogold particles during freeze substitution for electron microscopy

Recent advances in rapid freezing and fixation by freeze substitution have allowed structural cell biologists to apply these reliable modes of sample preparation to a wide range of specimens and scientific problems. Progress in electron tomography has produced cellular images with resolution approaching 4 nm in 3D, but our ability to localize macromolecules in these well‐fixed, well‐resolved samples has remained limited. When light fixation and low temperature embedding are employed with appropriate resins, immuno‐localizations can recognize antigens at a section's surface, but labelling is therefore confined, not throughout the section's depth. Small, electron‐dense markers, like Nanogold®, will often enter a living cell, serving as reliable tracers for endocytic activity, but these markers are usually too small to be visible in the context of a cell. We have developed a method for the silver enhancement of Nanogold particles that works during freeze substitution in organic solvents at low temperature. Here, we describe the development of this method, based on in vitro tests of reagents and conditions. We then show results from application of the method to an in vivo system, using Nanogold to track the internalization of immunoglobulin by neonatal murine intestinal epithelium, a specific example of receptor‐mediated membrane traffic.
Extreme-microgap (x-µgap) based hotspot thermal management with refrigerant flow boiling

Performance of the next generation microprocessors is rapidly reaching its limits due to inability to remove heat, especially at high power density from so-called local “hotspots”. Convective boiling heat transfer in microgap heat sinks has the potential to dissipate ultra-high heat fluxes. We report results of an experimental investigation of heat transfer performance of three dedicated microgap coolers for hotspot thermal management. In this study, a rectangular microgap, batch micromachined in silicon and instrumented with thin-film resistive thermometry, is employed to assess its capability of dissipating extreme heat fluxes of multiple kW/cm2 while keeping the wall temperature within the limits dictated by electronics reliability. Convective boiling in microgap with heights of 5 μm and 10 μm was tested with and without pin fins in the microgap. The test section was heated from the bottom using resistive heaters and capped with glass to enable visual observation of two-phase flow regimes. Microgap pressure drop and wall temperature measurements, mapped into flow regimes, were obtained with R134a as the coolant, for heat fluxes up to 5 kW/cm2, mass fluxes up to 7,000 kg/m2s, at maximum pressures up to 1.5 MPa and outlet vapor qualities approaching unity. These experimental parameters constitute extreme values in terms of microgap height (smallest reported to our knowledge), mass fluxes, and heat fluxes. New flow regimes, including vapor plumes, liquid slugs, and ultra-thin wavy liquid film, were observed as a function of increasing heat flux and microgap geometry. Dominant mechanism(s) of two-phase heat transfer responsible for each regime have been postulated based on flow visualization correlated with pressure drop and thermal resistance measurements.
A Background Model Estimation Algorithm Based on Analysis of Local Motion for Video Surveillance

Knowing the background model of a video scenario simplifies the problem of object segmentation and object tracking in the automated video surveillance applications. In this paper, a new algorithm for background model estimation was presented, which is useful in situations where an unobstructed view of the background is not always available. Discovering the true background interval in pixel's intensity history through local analysis of motion and spatial information, it avoids the problems of blending pixel values present in many current methods, such as mean filter and Kalman filter. Experimental results of applying our approach on a sequence of an indoor scene are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method
JStreaper: A java adaptive P2P streaming system

Sharing multimedia contents in peer-to-peer (P2P) networks has become a common practice. In general, it is done in “download” mode as any other type of data. However, multimedia data present another more convenient consumption mode which is the “streaming” mode: rather than downloading the entire data before viewing it, a stream is initiated from the source peer to the destination one. The advantages of this mode are numerous: latency reduction, continuous viewing, copyright preservation, etc. Nevertheless, due to the huge volume of media files coupled with their stringent timing constraints, P2P media streaming poses multiple challenges especially the streaming load supported by the source peers. The recent advances in computer hardware and the tremendous increase of the network bandwidth have allowed the emergence of pure P2P systems in which each peer could be considered as a “source server”. The objective of this paper, through the design and the implementation of a pure P2P system, called JStreaper, is to study from a practical point of view the feasibility of such a system. JStreaper is written purely in Java, which grants it a tremendous portability, great maintaining efficiency and absolute using convenience.
From Ambient Sensing to IoT-based Context Computing: An Open Framework for End to End QoC Management †

Quality of Context (QoC) awareness is recognized as a key point for the success of context-aware computing. At the time where the combination of the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, and Ambient Intelligence paradigms offer together new opportunities for managing richer context data, the next generation of Distributed Context Managers (DCM) is facing new challenges concerning QoC management. This paper presents our model-driven QoCIM framework. QoCIM is the acronym for Quality of Context Information Model. We show how it can help application developers to manage the whole QoC life-cycle by providing genericity, openness and uniformity. Its usages are illustrated, both at design time and at runtime, in the case of an urban pollution context- and QoC-aware scenario.
Effects of the Mycotoxin Nivalenol on Bovine Articular Chondrocyte Metabolism In Vitro

Objective Kashin-Beck Disease (KBD) is an endemic, age-related degenerative osteoarthropathy and its cause is hypothesised to involve Fusarium mycotoxins. This study investigated the Fusarium mycotoxin Nivalenol (NIV) on the metabolism of bovine articular chondrocytes in vitro. Design The effect 0.0–0.5 µg/ml NIV on transcript levels of types I and II collagen, aggrecan, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motif (ADAMTS) and the tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs) was investigated using quantitative PCR. Amounts of sulphated glycosaminoglycans, MMPs and TIMPs were assessed using the Dimethylmethylene Blue assay, gelatin zymography and reverse gelatin zymography respectively. Cytoskeletal organisation was analysed using confocal microscopy and cytoskeletal gene and protein levels were measured by quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis, respectively. Results NIV caused a dose-dependent increase in aggrecan transcription with a concomitant retention of sGAG in the cell lysate. Furthermore, NIV significantly increased MMPs-2, -3 & -9, ADAMTS-4 and -5, and TIMP-2 and -3 transcript levels but inhibited type I collagen, MMP 1 and TIMP 1 mRNA levels. NIV promoted extensive cytoskeletal network remodelling, particularly with vimentin where a dose-dependent peri-nuclear aggregation occurred. Conclusion NIV exposure to chondrocytes decreased matrix deposition, whilst enhancing selective catabolic enzyme production, suggesting its potential for induction of cellular catabolism. This NIV-induced extracellular matrix remodelling may be due to extensive remodelling/disassembly of the cytoskeletal elements. Collectively, these findings support the hypothesis that trichothecene mycotoxins, and in particular NIV, have the potential to induce matrix catabolism and propagate the pathogenesis of KBD.
System level 5G evaluation of GFDM waveforms in an LTE-A platform

5G cellular systems must deliver high data rates, ultra-low power consumption and low end-to-end latency. Currently there is considerable interest in the design and performance of new 5G physical layer waveforms. One of the leading candidates is Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing (GFDM). 5G waveforms are required to support a smooth transition from existing 4G solutions. In this paper the performance of a GFDM waveform is analysed in the context of LTE-A using the 3D 3GPP-ITU channel model. Results are directly compared with traditional OFDM solutions. Our analysis shows that GFDM achieves comparable Packet Error Rate (PER) and throughput results while introducing additional benefits such as reduced out-of-band radiation which is the key factor for the 5G cognitive applications based on dynamic spectrum access. We conclude that GFDM is a strong candidate for use in future 5G systems.
Revisiting Sensor MAC for Periodic Monitoring: Why Should Transmitters Be Early Birds?

We propose a new sensor MAC protocol, called Bird- MAC, which is highly energy efficient in the applications where sensors periodically report monitoring status with a very low rate, as in structural health monitoring and static environmental monitoring. Two key design ideas of Bird-MAC are: (a) no need of early-wake-up of transmitters and (b) taking the right balance between synchronization and coordination costs. The idea (a) is possible by allowing a node (whether it is a transmitter or receiver) to wake up just with its given wake-up schedule, and letting a late bird (which wakes up later) notify its wake-up status to its corresponding early bird (which wakes up earlier), where the early bird just infrequently waits (i.e., nods) for the late bird's wake-up signal. The idea (b) is realized by designing Bird-MAC to be placed in a scheme between purely synchronous and asynchronous schemes. We provide rigorous mathematical analysis that is used to choose the right protocol parameters of Bird-MAC. We demonstrate the performance of Bird-MAC through extensive simulations, and real experiments using a 26 node testbed at an underground parking lot of our office building to monitor its structural health, where we confirm that energy consumption is reduced by about up to 45% over existing sensor MAC protocols.
Correction of logistic regression relative risk estimates and confidence intervals for random within-person measurement error.

Frequently, covariates used in a logistic regression are measured with error. The authors previously described the correction of logistic regression relative risk estimates for measurement error in one or more covariates when a "gold standard" is available for exposure assessment. For some exposures (e.g., serum cholesterol), no gold standard exists, and one must assess measurement error via a reproducibility substudy. In this paper, the authors present measurement error methods for logistic regression when there is error (possibly correlated) in one or more covariates and one has data from both a main study and a reproducibility substudy. Confidence intervals from this procedure reflect error in parameter estimates from both studies. These methods are applied to the Framingham Heart Study, where the 10-year incidence of coronary heart disease is related to several coronary risk factors among 1,731 men disease-free at examination 4. Reproducibility data are obtained from the subgroup of 1,346 men seen at examinations 2 and 3. Estimated odds ratios comparing extreme quintiles for risk factors with substantial error were increased after correction for measurement error (serum cholesterol, 2.2 vs. 2.9; serum glucose, 1.3 vs. 1.5; systolic blood pressure, 2.8 vs. 3.8), but were generally decreased or unchanged for risk factors with little or no error (body mass index, 1.6 vs. 1.6; age 65-69 years vs. 35-44 years, 4.3 vs. 3.8; smoking, 1.7 vs. 1.7).
Interest of the dual hybrid control scheme for te leoperat ion with t ime delays for Proceeding of ISER ' 95

It is well known that classical teleoperation schemes are unstable and even useless when time delays become important. In this paper we propose a new concept called "dual hybrid teleoperation scheme" which really improves the ergonomy of a teleoperation system, even with time delays. Thanks to this concept, the operator can exert forces or perform displacements from the "master" to the "slave". These forces are the ones that the human operator wants to apply for the current task. This is possible thanks to a special law coupling the two robots, each of them having an hybrid positionforce control. This scheme also offers kinesthetic feedback, without compromising the stability, even with time delays. So the operator can feel some useful sensations, as "moving feeling". Besides, this scheme allows to split a complex task into subtasks, during which the operator only manages few degrees of freedom. The attention required to perform a given ta~sk is really decreased and the operator can focus on a limited set of degrees of freedom. The experiments done with an system based on this new concept show that it can be apply even if t ime delay becomes superior to few seconds. 1. I n t r o d u c t i o n A robot with autonomous manipulation capabilities does not always allow to solve complex tasks as space assembly or space maintenance tasks, and specially for the fine manipulations involving contact with the environment. It is not always possible in this case to foresee all the necessary actions for solving any task. Owing to the imperfect knowledge of the real world and the complex interaction with the remote environment, an ability of recovery, which can only be brought by a human being, must be introduced. The teleoperation remains the most interesting way for performing work remotely in some applications.
Distinct Role of Subcomplexes of the COPI Coat in the Regulation of ArfGAP2 Activity

COPI vesicles serve for transport of proteins and membrane lipids in the early secretory pathway. Their coat protein (coatomer) is a heptameric complex that is recruited to the Golgi by the small GTPase Arf1. Although recruited en bloc, coatomer can be viewed as a stable assembly of an adaptin‐like tetrameric subcomplex (CM4) and a trimeric ‘cage’ subcomplex (CM3). Following recruitment, coatomer stimulates ArfGAP‐dependent GTP hydrolysis on Arf1. Here, we employed recombinant coatomer subcomplexes to study the role of coatomer components in the regulation of ArfGAP2, an ArfGAP whose activity is strictly coatomer‐dependent. Within CM4, we define a novel hydrophobic pocket for ArfGAP2 interaction on the appendage domain of γ1‐COP. The CM4 subcomplex (but not CM3) is recruited to membranes through Arf1 and can subsequently recruit ArfGAP2. Neither CM3 nor CM4 in itself is effective in stimulating ArfGAP2 activity, but stimulation is regained when both subcomplexes are present. Our findings point to a distinct role of each of the two coatomer subcomplexes in the regulation of ArfGAP2‐dependent GTP hydrolysis on Arf1, where the CM4 subcomplex functions in GAP recruitment, while, similarly to the COPII system, the cage‐like CM3 subcomplex stimulates the catalytic reaction.
Temperature Profiles of Accretion Disks around Rapidly Rotating Neutron Stars in General Relativity and the Implications for Cygnus X-2

We calculate the temperature profiles of (thin) accretion disks around rapidly rotating neutron stars (with low surface magnetic fields), taking into account the full effects of general relativity. We then consider a model for the spectrum of the X-ray emission from the disk that is parameterized by the mass accretion rate, the color temperature, and the rotation rate of the neutron star. We derive constraints on these parameters for the X-ray source Cygnus X-2 using the estimates of the maximum temperature in the disk along with the disk and boundary layer luminosities, using the spectrum inferred from the EXOSAT data. Our calculations suggest that the neutron star in Cygnus X-2 rotates close to the centrifugal mass-shed limit. Possible constraints on the neutron star equation of state are also discussed.
Improving GPU Memory Performancewith Artificial Barrier Synchronization

Barrier synchronization, an essential mechanism for a block of threads to guard data consistency, is regarded as a threat to performance. This study, however, provides a different viewpoint for barrier synchronization on GPUs: adding barrier synchronization, even when functionally unnecessary, can improve the performance of some memory-intensive applications. We explain this phenomenon using a memory contention model in which artificial barrier synchronization helps reduce memory contention and preserve data access locality. To yield practical applications, we identify a program pattern: artificial barrier synchronization can be used to synchronize the memory accesses when the data locality among threads is violated. Empirical results from three real-world applications demonstrate that artificial barrier synchronization can increase performance by 10 to 20 percent.
Identifying web usability problems from eye-tracking data

Eye-tracking research is increasingly used to supplement usability tests in both commercial and academic practice. However, while there has been research into links between eye-tracking metrics and usability problems, this has so far fallen short of establishing a general correlation scheme between the two. Consequently, practitioners are left to make subjective judgements when interpreting eye-tracking data. We address the lack of general guidance by proposing an initial correlation scheme based on data from an exploratory study which aimed to find a wide range of possible correlations between usability problems and eye-tracking patterns. User testing of two websites was conducted and a set of diverse usability problems was extracted from the data; these were then analysed and some were correlated with users' eye-tracking patterns. In addition to this initial correlation scheme, a further finding from this study is that usability problems are connected to not just a single eye-tracking pattern, but to a specific sequence of patterns. This sequence of patterns seems to arise from different coping strategies that users develop when a problem is experienced.
In Vivo Information-Guided Prediction Approach for Assessing the Risks of Drug-Drug Interactions Associated with Circulating Inhibitory Metabolites

The in vivo drug-drug interaction (DDI) risks associated with cytochrome P450 inhibitors that have circulating inhibitory metabolites cannot be accurately predicted by conventional in vitro-based methods. A novel approach, in vivo information-guided prediction (IVIP), was recently introduced for CYP3A- and CYP2D6-mediated DDIs. This technique should be applicable to the prediction of DDIs involving other important cytochrome P450 metabolic pathways. Therefore, the aims of this study were to extend the IVIP approach to CYP2C9-mediated DDIs and evaluate the IVIP approach for predicting DDIs associated with inhibitory metabolites. The analysis was based on data from reported DDIs in the literature. The IVIP approach was modified and extended to CYP2C9-mediated DDIs. Thereafter, the IVIP approach was evaluated for predicting the DDI risks of various inhibitors with inhibitory metabolites. Although the data on CYP2C9-mediated DDIs were limited compared with those for CYP3A- and CYP2D6-mediated DDIs, the modified IVIP approach successfully predicted CYP2C9-mediated DDIs. For the external validation set, the prediction accuracy for area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) ratios ranged from 70 to 125%. The accuracy (75–128%) of the IVIP approach in predicting DDI risks of inhibitors with circulating inhibitory metabolites was more accurate than in vitro-based methods (28–805%). The IVIP model accommodates important confounding factors in the prediction of DDIs, which are difficult to handle using in vitro-based methods. In conclusion, the IVIP approach could be used to predict CYP2C9-mediated DDIs and is easily modified to incorporate the additive effect of circulating inhibitory metabolites.