Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Ant System: Optimization by a colony of cooperating agents

An analogy with the way ant colonies function has suggested the definition of a new computational paradigm, which we call Ant System . We propose it as a viable new approach to stochastic combinatorial optimization. The main characteristics of this model are positive feedback, distributed computation, and the use of a constructive greedy heuristic. Positive feedback accounts for rapid discovery of good solutions, distributed computation avoids premature convergence, and the greedy heuristic helps find acceptable solutions in the early stages of the search process. We apply the proposed methodology to the classical Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), and report simulation results. We also discuss parameter selection and the early setups of the model, and compare it with tabu search and simulated annealing using TSP. To demonstrate the robustness of the approach, we show how the Ant System (AS) can be applied to other optimization problems like the asymmetric traveling salesman, the quadratic assignment and job-shop scheduling. Finally we discuss the salient characteristics – global data structure revision, distributed communication and probabilistic transitions of the AS.
Indole-3-Propionic Acid, a Gut Microbiota-Derived Tryptophan Metabolite, Promotes Endothelial Dysfunction Impairing Purinergic-Induced Nitric Oxide Release in Endothelial Cells

Different gut microbiota-derived metabolites influence cardiovascular function, and, among all, the role of indole-3-propionic acid (IPA), from tryptophan metabolism, shows controversial effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate its role in endothelial dysfunction. IPA effects were studied on bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAE-1). First, IPA cytotoxicity was evaluated by an MTS assay. Then, the levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were evaluated by a microplate reader or fluorescence microscopy with the CellROX® Green probe, and nitric oxide (NO) production was studied by fluorescence microscopy with the DAR4M-AM probe after acute or chronic treatment. Finally, immunoblotting analysis for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation (p-eNOS) was performed. In BAE-1, IPA was not cytotoxic, except for the highest concentration (5 mM) after 48 h of treatment, and it showed neither oxidant nor antioxidant activity. However, the physiological concentration of IPA (1 μM) significantly reduced NO released by adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-stimulated BAE-1. These last data were confirmed by Western blot analysis, where IPA induced a significant reduction in p-eNOS in purinergic-stimulated BAE-1. Given these data, we can speculate that IPA negatively affects the physiological control of vascular tone by impairing the endothelial NO release induced by purinergic stimulation. These results represent a starting point for understanding the mechanisms underlying the relationship between gut microbiota metabolites and cardiometabolic health.
Coupling parareal and adaptive control in optical flow estimation with application in movie's restoration

In this paper we use a variational method in order to estimate the optical flow. We use a combined Local-Global strategy coupled with a local choice of the regularization term. In order to improve the computation time we have implemented a parallel in time algorithm. As application of the optical flow we present an example of image reconstruction.
Quality of Life, Safety and Efficacy Profile of Thermostable Flolan in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Background Flolan (epoprostenol sodium) is most commonly prescribed to patients with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) owing to the requirement that the drug be delivered by continuous intravenous infusion and the reconstituted solution may only be administered up to 24 hours when it is maintained between a temperature of 2°C and 8°C. The aim of this single-arm, open label study was to describe the effects of the new thermostable formulation of Flolan on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and ease of administration in subjects switching from the currently marketed Flolan to the reformulated product. Methods Following a 4-week run-in period and after 4 weeks of treatment with the reformulated product, patients completed the SF-36 HRQoL questionnaire and a study-specific questionnaire evaluating ease of administration, along with World Health Organization (WHO) functional class, six-minute walked distance (6MWD) and N-terminal-pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) assessment. Results 16 participants completed the study. The SF-36 scores remained unchanged from baseline to Week 4. Conversely, there were small improvements for the majority of the study-specific questionnaire items and 14 (88%) subjects preferred the reformulated product to the currently marketed Flolan. There was no significant change in the dose of reformulated product, 6MWD, Borg dyspnoea index, WHO functional class and mean NT-proBNP levels. No significant changes in haemodynamic parameters were seen from baseline to 2 hours post transition in a subset of patients undergoing catheterization. Conclusion The reformulated product was not associated with significant improvement in HRQoL compared with the currently marketed Flolan as measured by the SF-36. However, most subjects preferred the reformulated product to the currently marketed Flolan. Moreover, the 2 formulations of Flolan had similar safety and efficacy profiles. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01462565
In Vitro Germ Cell Differentiation from Cynomolgus Monkey Embryonic Stem Cells

Background Mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells can differentiate into female and male germ cells in vitro. Primate ES cells can also differentiate into immature germ cells in vitro. However, little is known about the differentiation markers and culture conditions for in vitro germ cell differentiation from ES cells in primates. Monkey ES cells are thus considered to be a useful model to study primate gametogenesis in vitro. Therefore, in order to obtain further information on germ cell differentiation from primate ES cells, this study examined the ability of cynomolgus monkey ES cells to differentiate into germ cells in vitro. Methods and Findings To explore the differentiation markers for detecting germ cells differentiated from ES cells, the expression of various germ cell marker genes was examined in tissues and ES cells of the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis). VASA is a valuable gene for the detection of germ cells differentiated from ES cells. An increase of VASA expression was observed when differentiation was induced in ES cells via embryoid body (EB) formation. In addition, the expression of other germ cell markers, such as NANOS and PIWIL1 genes, was also up-regulated as the EB differentiation progressed. Immunocytochemistry identified the cells expressing stage-specific embryonic antigen (SSEA) 1, OCT-4, and VASA proteins in the EBs. These cells were detected in the peripheral region of the EBs as specific cell populations, such as SSEA1-positive, OCT-4-positive cells, OCT-4-positive, VASA-positive cells, and OCT-4-negative, VASA-positive cells. Thereafter, the effect of mouse gonadal cell-conditioned medium and growth factors on germ cell differentiation from monkey ES cells was examined, and this revealed that the addition of BMP4 to differentiating ES cells increased the expression of SCP1, a meiotic marker gene. Conclusion VASA is a valuable gene for the detection of germ cells differentiated from ES cells in monkeys, and the identification and characterization of germ cells derived from ES cells are possible by using reported germ cell markers in vivo, including SSEA1, OCT-4, and VASA, in vitro as well as in vivo. These findings are thus considered to help elucidate the germ cell developmental process in primates.
High‐frequency monitoring of catchment nutrient exports reveals highly variable storm event responses and dynamic source zone activation

Storm events can drive highly variable behavior in catchment nutrient and water fluxes, yet short‐term event dynamics are frequently missed by low‐resolution sampling regimes. In addition, nutrient source zone contributions can vary significantly within and between storm events. Our inability to identify and characterize time‐dynamic source zone contributions severely hampers the adequate design of land use management practices in order to control nutrient exports from agricultural landscapes. Here we utilize an 8 month high‐frequency (hourly) time series of streamflow, nitrate (NO3‐N), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and hydroclimatic variables for a headwater agricultural catchment. We identified 29 distinct storm events across the monitoring period. These events represented 31% of the time series and contributed disproportionately to nutrient loads (42% of NO3‐N and 43% of DOC) relative to their duration. Regression analysis identified a small subset of hydroclimatological variables (notably precipitation intensity and antecedent conditions) as key drivers of nutrient dynamics during storm events. Hysteresis analysis of nutrient concentration‐discharge relationships highlighted the dynamic activation of discrete NO3‐N and DOC source zones, which varied on an event‐specific basis. Our results highlight the benefits of high‐frequency in situ monitoring for characterizing short‐term nutrient fluxes and unraveling connections between hydroclimatological variability and river nutrient export and source zone activation under extreme flow conditions. These new process‐based insights, which we summarize in a conceptual model, are fundamental to underpinning targeted management measures to reduce nutrient loading of surface waters.
Spatial Impact of Conficts Over Energy Resources in Colombia

This paper studies the spatial relationship between the social, economic, environmental, violence and political conditions of Colombian municipalities with the conflict caused by the presence of mining and energy resource exploitation centers from a multidimensional perspective. The spatial component in the analysis of conflicts and environmental economics is one of the most important aspects, since the analysis of the interaction between different demographic units to study social, economic and conflict processes, which otherwise would not be explained. It uses a multidimensional indicator of conflicts that has four dimensions: environmental, social, violence and cultural, along with a matrix of municipal distance and controlled by economic, social and political aspects. A square and symmetric neighborhood matrix is used and an approximation to regressions with spatial component is carried out by means of a spatial lag estimate that indicates how the presence of energy exploitation zones have a spatial contagion effect. Finally, it is found that the most important factors in the observation of conflicts by exploitation of mining-energy resources are explained by growth factors and economic development.
The University of Alicante Word Sense Disambiguation System

The WSD system presented at Senseval-2 uses a knowledge-based method for noun disambiguation and a corpus-based method for verbs and adjectives. The methods are, respectively, Specification Marks and Maximum Entropy probability models. So, we can say that this is a hybrid system which joins an unsupervised method with a supervised method. The whole system has been used in lexical sample english task and lexical sample spanish task.
Authenticity in Adolescents and Young Adults' Relationships: The Roles of Emotion Regulation and Perceived Parental Feedback

4 Introduction 5 Method 21 Results 27 Discussion 35 References 48 Tables and Figure 54 Appendix of Measures 66 AUTHENTICITY IN RELATIONSHIPS 4 Abstract The current study examined factors that influenced levels of authenticity in relationships with parents and levels of general authenticity. The study explored the associations among perceived parental feedback (support and criticism), emotion regulation (suppression and reappraisal), and authenticity in relationships. An additional goal was to determine if perceived support from parents moderated the relation between suppression and authenticity in relationships. A sample of female college students (N = 124, Mage = 19.62 years) and a sample of female high school students (N = 31, Mage = 15.87 years) completed self-report questionnaires related to perceptions of parent support and criticism, emotion regulation techniques, and authenticity in relationships. Results indicated that high levels of perceived criticism were associated with low levels of authenticity while high levels of perceived support were associated with high levels of authenticity. Further, suppression was related to lower levels of authenticity. These results were consistent for both samples. Finally, while reappraisal was not associated with higher levels of authenticity with parents, it was associated with higher levels of general authenticity. Results from the moderation analyses indicated that, with the high school sample, support from mothers moderated the relation between suppression and authenticity in relationships with mothers. However, this result was not replicated for college students. Further, in the undergraduate sample, criticism from mothers moderated the relation between reappraisal and general authenticity. These results have important clinical implications as they indicate the considerable value of parental support for adolescents and young adults in promoting and maintaining authenticity in relationships.
Mechanism-Based Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Modeling of 5-HT1A Receptor Agonists: Estimation of in Vivo Affinity and Intrinsic Efficacy on Body Temperature in Rats

The pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) correlations of seven prototypical 5-HT1A agonists were analyzed on the basis of a recently proposed semi-mechanistic PK-PD model for the effect on body temperature. The resulting concentration-effect relationships were subsequently analyzed on the basis of the operational model of agonism to estimate the operational affinity (pKA) and efficacy (log τ) at the 5-HT1A receptor in vivo. The values obtained in this manner were compared with estimates of the affinity (pKi) and intrinsic efficacy (log[agonist ratio]) in a receptor-binding assay. Between 5-HT1A agonists wide differences in in vivo affinity and efficacy were observed, with values of the pKA ranging from 5.67 for flesinoxan to 8.63 for WAY-100,635 [N-(2-(4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1-piperazinyl)ethyl)-N-2-pyridinyl-cyclohexanecarboxamide] and of the log τ ranging from –1.27 for WAY-100,135 [N-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-α-phenyl-1-piperazine-propanamide] to 0.62 for R-(+)-8-hydroxy-2-[di-n-propylamino)tetralin. Poor correlations were observed between the in vivo receptor affinity (pKA) and the affinity estimates in the in vitro receptor binding assay (pKi; r2 = 0.55, P > 0.05), which could in part be explained by differences in blood-brain distribution. In contrast, a highly significant correlation was observed between the efficacy parameters in vivo (log τ) and in vitro (log [agonist ratio]; r2 = 0.76, P < 0.05). Thus by combining the previously proposed semi-mechanistic PK-PD model for the effect on body temperature with the operational model of agonism, a full mechanistic PK-PD model for 5-HT1A receptor agonists has been obtained, which is highly predictive of the in vivo intrinsic efficacy.
Identification and Molecular Characterization of Parkin in Clonorchis sinensis

Clonorchis sinensis habitating in the bile duct of mammals causes clonorchiasis endemic in East Asian countries. Parkin is a RING-between-RING protein and has E3-ubiquitin ligase activity catalyzing ubiquitination and degradation of substrate proteins. A cDNA clone of C. sinensis was predicted to encode a polypeptide homologous to parkin (CsParkin) including 5 domains (Ubl, RING0, RING1, IBR, and RING2). The cysteine and histidine residues binding to Zn2+ were all conserved and participated in formation of tertiary structural RINGs. Conserved residues were also an E2-binding site in RING1 domain and a catalytic cysteine residue in the RING2 domain. Native CsParkin was determined to have an estimated molecular weight of 45.7 kDa from C. sinensis adults by immunoblotting. CsParkin revealed E3-ubiquitin ligase activity and higher expression in metacercariae than in adults. CsParkin was localized in the locomotive and male reproductive organs of C. sinensis adults, and extensively in metacercariae. Parkin has been found to participate in regulating mitochondrial function and energy metabolism in mammalian cells. From these results, it is suggested that CsParkin play roles in energy metabolism of the locomotive organs, and possibly in protein metabolism of the reproductive organs of C. sinensis.
Anomalous behaviour of the dielectric spectroscopy response of nanocomposites

A study on the dielectric spectroscopy of epoxy-based nanocomposites filled with different types of particles, such as Al2O3, AlN, MgO, SiO2 and BN, is presented. The surface of the nanoparticles was modified with a silane coupling agent, in order to make them compatible with the organic host and create a system with homogeneously dispersed filler material. Morphological characterizations of individual particles and fabricated composites were performed by means of transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The present research addresses an analysis of the complex permittivity. The relative permittivity of nanocomposites shows an unusual behaviour. Introduction of a low percentage of high permittivity filler results in a decrease of the permittivity of the bulk polymer material. We propose a qualitative explanation for the reduction of the relative permittivity, compared to the reference samples. The interface layer of surface modified particles plays a more important role than the nature of the particles themselves. The immobilization caused by the surface treatment of the nanoparticles seems to be the main factor determining the relative permittivity of the composites with fillgrade below 5 wt. %. The imaginary part of the complex permittivity, which represents the dielectric losses in the system, does not change significantly with addition of nanofiller up to 5 wt. %.
Semantics-based news recommendation

News item recommendation is commonly performed using the TF-IDF weighting technique in combination with the cosine similarity measure. However, this technique does not take into account the actual meaning of words. Therefore, we propose two new methods based on concepts and their semantic similarities, from which we derive the similarities between news items. Our first method, Synset Frequency -- Inverse Document Frequency (SF-IDF), is similar to TF-IDF, yet it does not use terms, but WordNet synonym sets. Additionally, our second method, Semantic Similarity (SS), makes use of five semantic similarity measures to compute the similarity between news items for news recommendation. Test results show that SF-IDF and SS outperform the TF-IDF method on the F1-measure.
Toward an mPolicing solution for Namibia: leveraging emerging mobile platforms and crime mapping

In this paper we present a system designed for the Namibian Police to empower officers to create and maintain crime and accident reports more effectively and more efficiently by improving the current paper based procedures. Beyond the digitalization of existing forms, the activity of creating new reports in the field is enhanced through a mobile application that utilizes built-in sensors in mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones to capture location and other contextual information together with rich media in the forms of pictures, audio and videos. A central repository is used to allow fast and easy access for relevant stakeholders, and we demonstrate how this repository can be used together with GIS data to create powerful crime mapping tools. While still in the early phases we demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed solution through implementation of prototypes and isolated studies of core modules in the architecture and a first iteration of the interface design based on interviews with stakeholders in the organization and analysis of the current workflows.
An achievable rate region for the multiple-access channel with feedback

An achievable rate region R_{1} \leq I(X_{1};Y|X_{2},U), R_{2} \leq I(X_{2}; Y|X_{1},U), R_{1}+R_{2} \leq I(X_{1}, X_{2};Y) , where p(u,x_{l},x_{2},y)= p(u)p(x_{l}|u)p(x_{2}|u)p(y|x_{l},x_{2}) , is established for the multiple-access channel with feedback. Time sharing of these achievable rates yields the rate region of this paper. This region generally exceeds the achievable rate region without feedback and exceeds the rate point found by Gaarder and Wolf for the binary erasure multiple-access channel with feedback. The presence of feedback allows the independent transmitters to understand each other's intended transmissions before the receiver has sufficient information to achieve the desired decoding. This allows the transmitters to cooperate in the transmission of information that resolves the residual uncertainty of the receiver. At the same time, independent information from the transmitters is superimposed on the cooperative correction information. The proof involves list codes and block Markov encoding.
Midway : shared memory parallel programming with entry consistency for distributed memory multiprocessors

Abstract: "Distributed memory multiprocessing offers a cost- effective and scalable solution for a large class of scientific and numeric applications. Unfortunately, the performance of current distributed memory programming environments suffers because the frequency of communication between processors can exceed that required to ensure a correctly functioning program. Midway is a shared memory parallel programming system which addresses the problem of excessive communication in a distributed memory multiprocessor. Midway programs are written using a conventional MIMD-style programming model executing within a single globally shared memory.Local memories on each processor cache recently used data to counter the effects of network latency. MIDWAY is based on [sic] new model of memory consistency called entry consistency. Entry consistency exploits the relationship between synchronization objects and the data which they protect. Updates to shared data are communicated between processors only when not doing so would result in an inconsistent state given a properly synchronizing program. Midway implements its inconsistency protocols in software, and has no dependencies on any specific hardware characteristic other than the ability to send messages between processors.A strictly software solution is attractive because it allows us to exploit application specific information at the lowest levels of the system, and because it ensures portability across a wide range of multiprocessor architectures. "
Understanding Sectoral Labor Market Dynamics: An Equilibrium Analysis of the Oil and Gas Field Services Industry

This paper examines the response of employment and wages in the US oil and gas field services industry to changes in the price of crude petroleum using a time series of quarterly data spanning the period 1972-2002. I find that labor quickly reallocates across sectors in response to price shocks but that substantial wage premia are necessary to induce such reallocation. The timing of these premia is at odds with the predictions of standard models-wage premia emerge quite slowly, peaking only as labor adjustment ends and then slowly dissipating. After considering alternative explanations, I argue that a dynamic market clearing model with sluggish movements in industry wide labor demand is capable of rationalizing these findings. I proceed to structurally estimate the parameters of the model by minimum distance and find that simulated impulse responses match key features of the estimated dynamics. I also provide auxiliary evidence corroborating the implied dynamics of some important unobserved variables. I conclude with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the model and implications for future research.