Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collaborative Computation Offloading for Mobile-Edge Computing over Fiber-Wireless Networks

In order to address the conflict between resource- hungry mobile applications and resource-constrained mobile devices (MDs), mobile-edge computing (MEC), which offers cloud computing capabilities at the edge of networks in close proximity to the MDs, is envisioned to be a promising approach. However, existing mobile-edge computation offloading studies only took the resource allocation between the MDs and MEC servers into consideration, and ignored the resource allocation between MEC and centralized cloud computing servers. Moreover, current MEC Hosted Networks mostly adopt the networking technology integrating cellular and core networks, which has the shortcomings of single networking mode, high congestion, high latency and energy consumption. Toward this end, we provide in this paper an architecture of centralized cloud and distributed MEC over hybrid fiber-wireless network, which has the features of supporting diverse network techniques, easy expansibility, high capacity and reliability, low latency and energy consumption. The problem of cloud-MEC collaborative computation offloading is studied and an approximation collaborative computation offloading scheme is proposed as our solution. Numerical results corroborate the energy efficiency of our proposed collaborative scheme.
proto : An R Package for Prototype Programming

proto is an R package which facilitates a style of programming known as prototype programming. Prototype programming is a type of object oriented programming in which there are no classes. proto is simple yet retains the object oriented features of delegation (the prototype counterpart to inheritance) and object oriented dispatch. proto can be used to organize the concrete data and procedures in statistical studies and other applications without the necessity of deﬁning classes while still providing convenient access to an object oriented style of programming. Furthermore, it can be used in a class-based style as well so that incremental design can begin with deﬁning the concrete objects and later transition to abstract classes, once the general case is understood, without having to change to object-oriented frameworks. The key goals of the package are to integrate into R while providing nothing more than a thin layer on top of it.
Design, Synthesis, Pharmacological Evaluation and Docking Studies of GluN2B‐Selective NMDA Receptor Antagonists with a Benzo[7]annulen‐7‐amine Scaffold

Antagonists that selectively target GluN2B‐subunit‐containing N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptors are of major interest for the treatment of various neurological disorders. In this study, relationships between variously substituted benzo[7]annulen‐7‐amines and their GluN2B affinity were investigated. 2‐Nitro‐5,6,8,9‐tetrahydrobenzo[7]annulen‐7‐one (8) represents the central building block for the introduction of various substituents at the 2‐position and various 7‐amino moieties. N‐(3‐Phenylpropyl)‐6,7,8,9‐tetrahydro‐5H‐benzo[7]annulen‐7‐amines with a 2‐NO2 (7 c), 2‐Cl (15 c), or 2‐OBn group (22 c) show very high GluN2B affinity (Ki=1.6–3.6 nm). Docking studies revealed the same binding poses for benzo[7]annulen‐7‐amines and ifenprodil at the interface of GluN1b and GluN2B subunits. The large 2‐OBn moiety of 22 c occupies a previously unrecognized subpocket, which explains its high GluN2B affinity (Ki=3.6 nm). In two‐electrode voltage clamp experiments and cytoprotection assays, the high‐affinity GluN2B ligands 7 c, 15 c, and 22 c could not inhibit the glutamate‐/glycine‐evoked current and cytotoxic effects. However, the analogous phenols 16 c ((3‐phenylpropyl)amino moiety) and 16 d ((4‐phenylbutyl)amino moiety) with 10‐fold lower GluN2B affinity (Ki=28 and 21 nm, respectively) showed promising inhibition of glutamate‐/glycine‐evoked effects in both assays. The presence of a phenolic hydroxy group seems to be essential for inducing conformational changes of the receptor protein, which finally results in closure of the ion conduction pathway.
Deletion of Ghrelin Impairs neither Growth nor Appetite

ABSTRACT Pharmacological studies show that ghrelin stimulates growth hormone release, appetite, and fat deposition, but ghrelin's physiological role in energy homeostasis has not been established. Ghrelin was also proposed to regulate leptin and insulin release and to be important for the normal function of stomach, heart, kidney, lung, testis, and placenta. To help determine a definable physiological role for ghrelin, we generated ghrelin-null mice. In contrast to predictions made from the pharmacology of ghrelin, ghrelin-null mice are not anorexic dwarfs; their size, growth rate, food intake, body composition, reproduction, gross behavior, and tissue pathology are indistinguishable from wild-type littermates. Fasting produces identical decreases in serum leptin and insulin in null and wild-type mice. Ghrelin-null mice display normal responses to starvation and diet-induced obesity. As in wild-type mice, the administration of exogenous ghrelin stimulates appetite in null mice. Our data show that ghrelin is not critically required for viability, fertility, growth, appetite, bone density, and fat deposition and not likely to be a direct regulator of leptin and insulin. Therefore, antagonists of ghrelin are unlikely to have broad utility as antiobesity agents.
DNA damage induces nuclear actin filament assembly by Formin-2 and Spire-1/2 that promotes efficient DNA repair

Actin filaments assemble inside the nucleus in response to multiple cellular perturbations, including heat shock, protein misfolding, integrin engagement, and serum stimulation. We find that DNA damage also generates nuclear actin filaments—detectable by phalloidin and live-cell actin probes—with three characteristic morphologies: (i) long, nucleoplasmic filaments; (ii) short, nucleolus-associated filaments; and (iii) dense, nucleoplasmic clusters. This DNA damage-induced nuclear actin assembly requires two biologically and physically linked nucleation factors: Formin-2 and Spire-1/Spire-2. Formin-2 accumulates in the nucleus after DNA damage, and depletion of either Formin-2 or actin's nuclear import factor, importin-9, increases the number of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), linking nuclear actin filaments to efficient DSB clearance. Nuclear actin filaments are also required for nuclear oxidation induced by acute genotoxic stress. Our results reveal a previously unknown role for nuclear actin filaments in DNA repair and identify the molecular mechanisms creating these nuclear filaments. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.07735. 001
Delayed diagnosis in X-linked agammaglobulinemia and its relationship to the occurrence of mutations in BTK non-kinase domains

ABSTRACT Background: X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is characterized by the absence of immunoglobulin and B cells. Patients suffer from recurrent bacterial infections from early childhood, and require lifelong immunoglobulin replacement therapy. Mutations in BTK (Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase) are associated with this phenotype. Some patients that present XLA do not show typical clinical symptoms, resulting in delayed diagnosis due to the lack of a severe phenotype. This study presents a report of five XLA patients from four different families and attempts to determine a relationship between delayed diagnosis and the occurrence of BTK mutations. Methods: Samples from patients with antibody deficiency were analyzed to determine BTK expression, immunophenotyping and mutation analysis. Clinical and laboratory data was analyzed and presented for each patient. Results: Most patients presented here showed atypical clinical and laboratory data for XLA, including normal IgM, IgG, or IgA levels. Most patients expressed detectable BTK protein. Sequencing of BTK showed that these patients harbored missense mutations in the pleckstrin homology and Src-homology-2 domains. When it was compared to public databases, BTK sequencing exhibited a new change, along with three other previously reported changes. Conclusions: Delayed diagnosis and atypical manifestations in XLA might be related to mutation type and BTK expression.
Structural Join in the 'XSQS' Native XML Database

Query processing has attracted significant attention since XML database is proposed. This paper focuses on structural join mainly in our native XML storage and query system (XSQS). A hybrid structural join strategy based on tree-merge algorithm and stack-tree algorithm is proposed. Moreover, a path index scheme is designed to accelerate the query processing. Experimental results show that the proposed hybrid strategy and the index have a good performance in query processing of XSQS.
A Modular Learning Environment for Protein Modeling

We propose in this paper a modular learning environment for protein modeling. In this system, the protein modeling problem is tackled in two successive phases. First, partial structural informations are determined via numerical learning techniques. Then, in the second phase, the multiple available informations are combined in pattern matching searches via dynamic programming. It is shown on real problems that various protein structure predictions can be improved in this way, such as secondary structure prediction, alignment of weakly homologous protein sequences or protein model evaluations.
Reducing Chunk Fragmentation for In-Line Delta Compressed and Deduplicated Backup Systems

Chunk-level deduplication, while robust in removing duplicate chunks, introduces chunk fragmentation which decreases restore performance. Rewriting algorithms are proposed to reduce the chunk fragmentation and accelerate the restore speed. Delta compression can remove redundant data between non-duplicate but similar chunks which cannot be eliminated by chunk-level deduplication. Some applications use delta compression as a complement for chunk-level deduplication to attain extra space and bandwidth savings. However, we observe that delta compression introduces a new type of chunk fragmentation stemming from delta compressed chunks whose base chunks are fragmented. We refer to such delta compressed chunks as base-fragmented chunks. We found that this new type of chunk fragmentation has a more severely impact on the restore performance than the chunk fragmentation introduced by chunk-level deduplication and cannot be reduced by existing rewriting algorithms. In order to address the problem due to the base-fragmented chunks, we propose SDC, a scheme that selectively performs delta compression after chunk-level deduplication. The main idea behind SDC is to simulate a restore cache to identify the non-base-fragmented chunks and only perform delta compression for these chunks, thus avoiding the new type of chunk fragmentation. Due to the locality among the backup streams, most of the non-base-fragmented chunks can be detected by the simulated restore cache. Experimental results based on real-world datasets show that SDC improves the restore performance of the delta compressed and deduplicated backup system by 1.93X-7.48X, and achieves 95.5%-97.4% of its compression, while imposing negligible impact on the backup throughput.
A Bayesian phylogeographical analysis of type 1 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV).

Understanding viral transmission is an important factor for the effective prevention one of the most devastating swine diseases, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome. Focusing on molecular epidemiology of type 1 PRRSV, this study analysed a large ORF5 dataset collected worldwide from 1991 to 2012 using a coalescent-based Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo approach. The results suggested that the virus diversified into unique subpopulations in Russia & Belarus and Italy approximately 100 years ago. Previously unreported consecutive diffusions of the virus were identified, which showed that some countries, such as Spain and Germany, acted as distribution sources to some extent. This study also provided statistical evidence for the existence of an ORF5-based phylogeographical structure of type 1 PRRSV, in which the virus tended to cluster by geographical locations more tightly than expected by chance. In contrast to this tight geographical structure, the evolution of the ORF5 gene, based on mapping of non-synonymous/synonymous substitutions, was best described by a non-homogeneous process that could be implicated as a mechanism for viral immune evasion.
Modeling of pH process using recurrent neural network and wavenet

This paper focuses on development of an advanced neural network architecture that has the capability to model the steady state and dynamic behavior of a complex nonlinear process. The pH process considered in the study shows variability in the nonlinear behavior and can also exhibit drastic changes in the gain over a small operating region. Two ANN architectures have been considered to provide the necessary flexibility and discriminatory features required to capture this behavior. The highly nonlinear state space model of pH process is captured by Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) trained using variant of Real Time Recurrent Learning (RTRL) algorithm. The RNN is found to model the behavior over narrower domains of operation. To capture the multi-scale character of the response, wavelets are used as activation functions to construct a single layer network called wavenet. Wavenet architecture shows promise in handling the complex non-linearity exhibited by the pH process.
Data Compression and Digital Trees

In this talk, the author shows the relationship between two classical data compression algorithms due to Lempel and Ziv 9], and well-known data structures, namely Digital Search Trees and Suux Trees. Hence, the performance evaluation of these data compression algorithms reduces to the analysis of some tree parameters. Second-order properties are derived. A normal limiting distribution is conjectured. Also, some open problems are given.
Genetic and metabolic determinants of nutritional phenotype in an insect–bacterial symbiosis

The pervasive influence of resident microorganisms on the phenotype of their hosts is exemplified by the intracellular bacterium Buchnera aphidicola, which provides its aphid partner with essential amino acids (EAAs). We investigated variation in the dietary requirement for EAAs among four pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) clones. Buchnera‐derived nitrogen contributed to the synthesis of all EAAs for which aphid clones required a dietary supply, and to none of the EAAs for which all four clones had no dietary requirement, suggesting that low total dietary nitrogen may select for reduced synthesis of certain EAAs in some aphid clones. The sequenced Buchnera genomes showed that the EAA nutritional phenotype (i.e. the profile of dietary EAAs required by the aphid) cannot be attributed to sequence variation of Buchnera genes coding EAA biosynthetic enzymes. Metabolic modelling by flux balance analysis demonstrated that EAA output from Buchnera can be determined precisely by the flux of host metabolic precursors to Buchnera. Specifically, the four EAA nutritional phenotypes could be reproduced by metabolic models with unique profiles of host inputs, dominated by variation in supply of aspartate, homocysteine and glutamate. This suggests that the nutritional phenotype of the symbiosis is determined principally by host metabolism and transporter genes that regulate nutrient supply to Buchnera. Intraspecific variation in the nutritional phenotype of symbioses is expected to mediate partitioning of plant resources among aphid genotypes, potentially promoting the genetic subdivision of aphid populations. In this way, microbial symbioses may play an important role in the evolutionary diversification of phytophagous insects.
The Effect of Solar Irradiated Vibrio cholerae on the Secretion of Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines and Chemokines by the JAWS II Dendritic Cell Line In Vitro

The use of solar irradiation to sterilize water prior to its consumption has resulted in the reduction of water related illnesses in waterborne disease endemic communities worldwide. Currently, research on solar water disinfection (SODIS) has been directed towards understanding the underlying mechanisms through which solar irradiation inactivates the culturability of microorganisms in water, enhancement of the disinfection process, and the health impact of SODIS water consumption. However, the immunological consequences of SODIS water consumption have not been explored. In this study, we investigated the effect that solar irradiated V. cholerae may have had on the secretion of cytokines and chemokines by the JAWS II dendritic cell line in vitro. The JAWS II dendritic cell line was stimulated with the different strains of V. cholerae that had been: (i) prepared in PBS, (ii) inactivated through a combination of heat and chemical, (iii) solar irradiated, and (iv) non-solar irradiated, in bottled water. As controls, LPS (1 μg/ml) and CTB (1 μg/ml) were used as stimulants. After 48 hours of stimulation the tissue culture media from each treatment was qualitatively and quantitatively analysed for the presence of IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-7, IL-10, IL-12p40, IL-12p70, IL-15, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, MIP-2, RANTES, TNF-α, IL-23 and IL-27. Results showed that solar irradiated cultures of V. cholerae induced dendritic cells to secrete significant (p<0.05) levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in comparison to the unstimulated dendritic cells. Furthermore, the amount of pro-inflammatory cytokines secreted by the dendritic cells in response to solar irradiated cultures of V. cholerae was not as high as observed in treatments involving non-solar irradiated cultures of V. cholerae or LPS. Our results suggest that solar irradiated microorganisms are capable of inducing the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. This novel finding is key towards understanding the possible immunological consequences of consuming SODIS treated water.
Increasing user decision accuracy using suggestions

The internet presents people with an increasingly bewildering variety of choices. Online consumers have to rely on computerized search tools to find the most preferred option in a reasonable amount of time. Recommender systems address this problem by searching for options based on a model of the user's preferences. We consider example critiquing as a methodology for mixed-initiative recommender systems. In this technique, users volunteer their preferences as critiques on examples. It is thus important to stimulate their preference expression by selecting the proper examples, called suggestions. We describe the look-ahead principle for suggestions and describe several suggestion strategies based on it. We compare them in simulations and, for the first time, report a set of user studies which prove their effectiveness in increasing users' decision accuracy by up to 75%.
Coadministration of the Three Antigenic Leishmania infantum Poly (A) Binding Proteins as a DNA Vaccine Induces Protection against Leishmania major Infection in BALB/c Mice

Background Highly conserved intracellular proteins from Leishmania have been described as antigens in natural and experimental infected mammals. The present study aimed to evaluate the antigenicity and prophylactic properties of the Leishmania infantum Poly (A) binding proteins (LiPABPs). Methodology/Principal Findings Three different members of the LiPABP family have been described. Recombinant tools based on these proteins were constructed: recombinant proteins and DNA vaccines. The three recombinant proteins were employed for coating ELISA plates. Sera from human and canine patients of visceral leishmaniasis and human patients of mucosal leishmaniasis recognized the three LiPABPs. In addition, the protective efficacy of a DNA vaccine based on the combination of the three Leishmania PABPs has been tested in a model of progressive murine leishmaniasis: BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major. The induction of a Th1-like response against the LiPABP family by genetic vaccination was able to down-regulate the IL-10 predominant responses elicited by parasite LiPABPs after infection in this murine model. This modulation resulted in a partial protection against L. major infection. LiPABP vaccinated mice showed a reduction on the pathology that was accompanied by a decrease in parasite burdens, in antibody titers against Leishmania antigens and in the IL-4 and IL-10 parasite-specific mediated responses in comparison to control mice groups immunized with saline or with the non-recombinant plasmid. Conclusion/Significance The results presented here demonstrate for the first time the prophylactic properties of a new family of Leishmania antigenic intracellular proteins, the LiPABPs. The redirection of the immune response elicited against the LiPABP family (from IL-10 towards IFN-γ mediated responses) by genetic vaccination was able to induce a partial protection against the development of the disease in a highly susceptible murine model of leishmaniasis.
Results of a retrospective comparative study: material cost for managing a series of large wounds in subjects with serious morbidity with a hydrokinetic fiber dressing or negative pressure wound therapy.

UNLABELLED This retrospective observational study analyzed lesions with regard to healing trends and cost of materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS The observed lesions were mostly postsurgical or stage IV pressure ulcers in patients with serious morbidity. The wounds were treated with a hydrokinetic fiber dressing (sorbion Sachet S, sorbion Gmbh & Co, a BSN medical company, Senden, Germany) (n = 26) or negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) (n = 16). RESULTS Primary healing trends (ie, reduction of wound size, change from necrosis to granulation tissue, and change from granulation tissue to epithelium) and secondary healing trends (ie, periwound conditions) were similar for wounds treated with the hydrokinetic dressing when compared to wounds treated with NPWT. Cost of materials was substantially lower for wounds treated with the hydrokinetic fiber dressing compared to the NPWT, with cost reductions of $1,640 (348%) to $2,242 (1794%) per wound, depending on the criteria used for the analysis. CONCLUSION In this set of wounds, the hydrokinetic fiber dressing was shown to lead to similar healing results while providing substantial reductions of the cost of materials. For the types of wounds presented in this observational study, the hydrokinetic fiber dressing seems to be an effective substitution for negative pressure wound therapy.
Recursive Algorithms for Bias and Gain Nonuniformity Correction in Infrared Videos

Infrared focal-plane array (IRFPA) detectors suffer from fixed-pattern noise (FPN) that degrades image quality, which is also known as spatial nonuniformity. FPN is still a serious problem, despite recent advances in IRFPA technology. This paper proposes new scene-based correction algorithms for continuous compensation of bias and gain nonuniformity in FPA sensors. The proposed schemes use recursive least-square and affine projection techniques that jointly compensate for both the bias and gain of each image pixel, presenting rapid convergence and robustness to noise. The synthetic and real IRFPA videos experimentally show that the proposed solutions are competitive with the state-of-the-art in FPN reduction, by presenting recovered images with higher fidelity.