Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proactive VNF provisioning with multi-timescale cloud resources: Fusing online learning and online optimization

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) represents a new paradigm of network service provisioning. NFV providers acquire cloud resources, install virtual network functions (VNFs), assemble VNF service chains for customer usage, and dynamically scale VNF deployment against input traffic fluctuations. While existing literature on VNF scaling mostly adopts a reactive approach, we target a proactive approach that is more practical given the time overhead for VNF deployment. We aim to effectively estimate upcoming traffic rates and adjust VNF deployment a priori, for flow service quality assurance and resource cost minimization. We adapt online learning techniques for predicting future service chain workloads. We further combine the online learning method with a multi-timescale online optimization algorithm for VNF scaling, through minimization of the regret due to inaccurate demand prediction and minimization of the cost incurred by sub-optimal online decisions in a joint online optimization framework. The resulting proactive online VNF provisioning algorithm achieves a good performance guarantee, as shown by both theoretical analysis and simulation under realistic settings.
Conceptual Shield Design for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Facility Using Monte Carlo N-Particle Extended Simulator with Kartini Research Reactor as Neutron Source

The research aims to measure the radiation dose rate over the radiation shielding which is made of paraffin and aluminium and to determine the best shield material for the safety of radiation workers. The examination used MCNP (Monte Carlo N-Particle) simulator to model the BNCT neutron source and the shield. The shield should reduce radiation to less than the dose limit of 10.42 µSv/h, which is assumed to be the most conservative limit when the duration of workers is 1920 h. The first design resulted in a radiation dose rate which was still greater than the limit. Therefore, optimization was done by adding the lead on the outer part of the shield. After optimization by adding the lead with certain layers, the radiation dose rate decreased, with the largest dose being 57.60 µSv/h. Some locations over the limit could be overcome by other radiation protection aspects such as distance and time. The paraffin blocks were covered by aluminium to keep the shield structure. The lead was used to absorb the gamma ray which resulted from the interaction between the neutrons and aluminium.
Spectral analysis of O(He)-type post-AGB stars ?

We present an analysis of two recently discovered, very hot hydrogen-deficient post-AGB stars of spectral type O(He), namely HS 1522+6615 and HS 2209+8229, by means of state-of-the-art NLTE model atmospheres based on new op- tical, UV, and X-ray observations. In the spectra of HS 1522+6615 we discovered a variability of the O VI 5290 ˚ A line complex on a time scale of few days. We also report on the discovery of a ring structure in the planetary nebula K 1-27 which has an O(He)-type central star. We discuss how the group of O(He) stars fits in our picture of hydrogen-deficient post-AGB stellar evolution.
Lighthouse Principle for Diffusion in Social Networks

The article investigates influence relation between two sets of agents in a social network. It proposes a logical system that captures propositional properties of this relation valid in all threshold models of social networks with the same topological structure. The logical system consists of Armstrong axioms for functional dependence and an additional Lighthouse axiom. The main results are soundness, completeness, and decidability theorems for this logical system.
Radiation-induced urinary excretion of deoxycytidine by rats and humans.

Since the discovery by Pařizek et al. (1) of increased urinary excretion of deoxycytidine (CdR) by rats following total-body x radiation, much attention has been focused on the possibility of using CdR-uria to estimate the degree of radiation injury in animals, especially in humans. In our laboratory, urinary excretion of milligram quantities of CdR was demonstrated in two cancer patients within twenty-four hours after they received total-body doses of about 250 rads, while CdR was not detected in specimens collected before irradiation (2). On the other hand, Arient's group in Czechoslovakia, which has been very active in this field of study, recently reported urinary excretion of only microgram quantities of CdR in the 24-hour postirradiation urine obtained from an acute paramyeloblastic leukemia patient treated with a total-body single dose of 280 rads (3). In both studies, a microbiological assay was employed to estimate the amount of CdR excreted in the urine. This discrepancy in the human results pro.
Loneliness as a predictor of quality of life among older caregivers.

AIM This paper reports a study investigating quality of life in relation to loneliness, caregiving, social network, gender, age and economic status among caregiving men and women in a population-based sample aged 75 years or older. BACKGROUND Because of demographic changes, in the future more care for older people will be given by informal caregivers who are themselves older. Being old and caring for another older person may affect various aspects of life, such as physical and emotional health and decreased time for respite, which may affect social life and quality of life. METHOD A postal questionnaire including the Short Form Health Survey was used. The sample consisted of 4278 people, aged 75 years and over, living in Sweden. Of these, 783 (18%) were caregivers. FINDINGS Caregivers had a larger social network and reported feelings of loneliness less often than non-caregivers. Forty per cent of caregivers helped every day. There were gender differences in experiences of loneliness during the last year, with the frequency of intense feelings of loneliness being higher among women. Loneliness and a small or non-existent network were significantly associated with low quality of life among caregivers, as well as in the total sample. The results showed significant association between loneliness, weak social network and low mental quality of life. CONCLUSIONS The fact that loneliness was the most important factor predicting low quality of life among caregivers, as well as older people in general, indicates that it is crucial in the care of older people. From a nursing perspective, the findings indicate the advantage of helping older people to keep up and develop their social networks. Nursing care should involve steps to maintain the social network before an older person becomes too weak, since decreased health status makes social contacts more difficult.
Münchhausen Matrices

“The Baron’s omni-sequence”, B(n), first defined by Khovanova and Lewis (2011), is a sequence that gives for each n the minimum number of weighings on balance scales that can verify the correct labeling of n identically-looking coins with distinct integer weights between 1 gram and n grams. A trivial lower bound on B(n) is log3 n, and it has been shown that B(n) is O(log n). We introduce new theoretical tools for the study of this problem, and show that B(n) is log3 n + O(log log n), thus settling in the affirmative a conjecture by Khovanova and Lewis that the true growth rate of the sequence is very close to the natural lower bound.
Adaptive Multi-Reference Downhill Simplex Search Based on Spatial-Temporal Motion Smoothness Criterion

Multi-reference frame motion estimation improves the accuracy of motion compensation in video coding. However, it also increases computational complexity dramatically. In this paper, we propose a different approach for multi-reference motion estimation via downhill simplex search. Additionally, an adaptive reference frame selection algorithm is developed based on spatial and temporal smoothness of motion vectors. We first apply single-reference downhill simplex search to the previous frame. Then, temporal smoothness of motion vectors in collocated blocks is calculated to decide the number of reference frames to be included for motion estimation. Spatial smoothness of motion vectors in the neighboring blocks is used as a criterion for termination. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm provides better PSNR than that of original multi-reference downhill simplex search in all testing sequences with similar computational speed. In addition, it outperforms several representative single-reference frame block matching methods in terms of estimation speed and coding quality.
Quest for Biomarkers of Treatment-Resistant Depression: Shifting the Paradigm Toward Risk

The search for potential biomarkers of psychiatric disorders is a central topic in biological psychiatry. This review concerns published studies on potential biomarkers of treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The search for biomarkers of TRD in the bloodstream has focused on cytokines and steroids as well as brain-derived neurotropic factor. Additional approaches to identifying biomarkers of TRD have dealt with cerebrospinal fluid analysis, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography. Some studies have also investigated potential genetic and epigenetic factors in TRD. Most studies have, however, used a post hoc experimental design that failed to determine the association between biomarkers and the initial risk of TRD. Particular attention in future studies should be on shifting the experimental paradigm toward procedures that can determine the risk for developing treatment resistance in untreated depressed individuals.
Phosphorylation of the cytoskeletal protein CAP1 controls its association with cofilin and actin

ABSTRACT Cell signaling can control the dynamic balance between filamentous and monomeric actin by modulating actin regulatory proteins. One family of actin regulating proteins that controls actin dynamics comprises cyclase-associated proteins 1 and 2 (CAP1 and 2, respectively). However, cell signals that regulate CAPs remained unknown. We mapped phosphorylation sites on mouse CAP1 and found S307 and S309 to be regulatory sites. We further identified glycogen synthase kinase 3 as a kinase phosphorylating S309. The phosphomimetic mutant S307D/S309D lost binding to its partner cofilin and, when expressed in cells, caused accumulation of actin stress fibers similar to that in cells with reduced CAP expression. In contrast, the non-phosphorylatable S307A/S309A mutant showed drastically increased cofilin binding and reduced binding to actin. These results suggest that the phosphorylation serves to facilitate release of cofilin for a subsequent cycle of actin filament severing. Moreover, our results suggest that S307 and S309 function in tandem; neither the alterations in binding cofilin and/or actin, nor the defects in rescuing the phenotype of the enlarged cell size in CAP1 knockdown cells was observed in point mutants of either S307 or S309. In summary, we identify a novel regulatory mechanism of CAP1 through phosphorylation.
Concentration and regularization of random graphs

This paper studies how close random graphs are typically to their expectations. We interpret this question through the concentration of the adjacency and Laplacian matrices in the spectral norm. We study inhomogeneous Erdös‐Rényi random graphs on n vertices, where edges form independently and possibly with different probabilities pij. Sparse random graphs whose expected degrees are o(logn) fail to concentrate; the obstruction is caused by vertices with abnormally high and low degrees. We show that concentration can be restored if we regularize the degrees of such vertices, and one can do this in various ways. As an example, let us reweight or remove enough edges to make all degrees bounded above by O(d) where d=maxnpij . Then we show that the resulting adjacency matrix A′ concentrates with the optimal rate: ||A′−EA||=O(d) . Similarly, if we make all degrees bounded below by d by adding weight d / n to all edges, then the resulting Laplacian concentrates with the optimal rate: ||L(A′)−L(EA′)||=O(1/d) . Our approach is based on Grothendieck‐Pietsch factorization, using which we construct a new decomposition of random graphs. We illustrate the concentration results with an application to the community detection problem in the analysis of networks. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg. , 51, 538–561, 2017
Differential effects of cortical neurotrophic factors on development of lateral geniculate nucleus and superior colliculus neurons: anterograde and retrograde actions

Neurotrophins strongly affect visual system development and plasticity. However, the mode of delivery and targets of neurotrophin action are still under debate. For instance, cortical NT-4/5 (neurotrophin 4/5; Ntf4/5) was shown to rescue lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) neurons from monocular deprivation-induced atrophy suggesting a retrograde action on thalamic afferents. It is still unclear whether LGN neurons respond to NT-4/5 and other neurotrophins during development in animals with normal vision. We now show that infusions of NT-4/5 and NGF (nerve growth factor) into visual cortex at the onset and the peak of the critical period accelerated LGN neuron growth. BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) was ineffective. The effects of neurotrophin on LGN development were clearly dissociated from the effects at cortical level because soma growth of cortical layer IV and VI neurons was strongly promoted by BDNF. NT-4/5 was only effective at the onset, but no longer at the peak of the critical period suggesting a switch in neurotrophin dependency for these cortical cell classes. To dissociate retrograde and anterograde effects of the TrkB ligands, we analyzed the stratum griseum superficiale (SGS) of the superior colliculus, a target of visual cortical efferents. Indeed, TrkB-expressing inhibitory SGS neurons responded to cortical NT-4/5 infusion with somatic growth. Strikingly, the TrkB-expressing excitatory tectothalamic calbindin neurons in the SGS did not respond. This demonstrated for the first time a selective cell type-specific anterograde action of NT-4/5 and suggested for the LGN that anterograde as well as retrograde effects contribute to soma size regulation. Strikingly, cortical infusion of the cytokine LIF, which affects development of visual cortex neurochemical architecture, transiently inhibited growth of neurons in LGN, cortical layer IV and VI and SGS. In summary, the study presents three important results. First, central neurons regulate soma size development in an age-and ligand-specific fashion. Second, NT-4/5 and NGF accelerate LGN development in rats with normal vision while LIF delays growth. Third, anterogradely transported NT-4/5 effectively promotes neuronal maturation. These differential actions on subcortical neurons may contribute to the different effects of neurotrophins on visual system development and plasticity.
Face Attention Network: An Effective Face Detector for the Occluded Faces

The performance of face detection has been largely improved with the development of convolutional neural network. However, the occlusion issue due to mask and sunglasses, is still a challenging problem. The improvement on the recall of these occluded cases usually brings the risk of high false positives. In this paper, we present a novel face detector called Face Attention Network (FAN), which can significantly improve the recall of the face detection problem in the occluded case without compromising the speed. More specifically, we propose a new anchor-level attention, which will highlight the features from the face region. Integrated with our anchor assign strategy and data augmentation techniques, we obtain state-of-art results on public face detection benchmarks like WiderFace and MAFA. The code will be released for reproduction.
Energy expenditure of constant- and variable-intensity cycling: power meter estimates.

PURPOSE The objective of this study is to compare the effects of constant- and variable-intensity cycling on gross efficiency (GE) and to compare estimates of energy expenditure (EE) made using indirect calorimetry (CAL) with estimates derived from commercially available power meters. METHODS Nine national team female road cyclists completed a GE test (GEtest = 4 min at approximately 45%, approximately 55%, approximately 65%, and approximately 75% maximal aerobic power (MAP)) before and after 10.5 min of either constant- (CON)- or variable- (VAR)-intensity cycling averaging approximately 55% MAP. GE measured before, after, and during CON and VAR cycling was compared. Total EE (kJ) for 10.5 min of VAR cycling was estimated using indirect CAL and compared with estimates on the basis of mechanical power [Schoberer Rad Messtechnik (SRM)] using the group mean GE, each athlete's mean GE, and each athlete's power to GE regression. RESULTS There was no effect of VAR on GEtests (P = 0.74). GE reduced from 19.1% ± 0.4% (mean ± SE) during the pretrial GEtests to 18.7% ± 0.4% during the posttrial GEtests (P < 0.05) in both conditions. Differences in GE (mean ± SD) measured during CON (18.4% ± 1.6%) and VAR cycling (18.6% ± 1.1%) were trivial (P = 0.28). SRM-based estimates of EE were most accurate when using individual athlete's power GE regression using Pre- and Post-VAR GEtest data combined (Δ(Equation is included in full-text article.)(%) ± 90% CI, 0.3 ± 0.8; R 0.98, P <0.001). Group mean estimates were within approximately 1% of CAL, although individual errors were approximately 11%. CONCLUSION Findings support the use of calibrated power meters for estimating cycling EE. For trained female road cyclists, total mechanical work (kJ) multiplied by 5.3 (GE = 19%) provides a valid estimation of total EE during variable-intensity cycling <75% MAP, although determining each athlete's GE improves accuracy greatly.
Biosensing with Luminescent Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Luminescent semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) are a recently developed class of nanomaterial whose unique photophysical properties are helping to create a new generation of robust fluorescent biosensors. QD properties of interest for biosensing include high quantum yields, broad absorption spectra coupled to narrow size-tunable photoluminescent emissions and exceptional resistance to both photobleaching and chemical degradation. In this review, we examine the progress in adapting QDs for several predominantly in vitro biosensing applications including use in immunoassays, as generalized probes, in nucleic acid detection and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) - based sensing. We also describe several important considerations when working with QDs mainly centered on the choice of material(s) and appropriate strategies for attaching biomolecules to the QDs.
Multiple whole-genome alignments without a reference organism.

Multiple sequence alignments have become one of the most commonly used resources in genomics research. Most algorithms for multiple alignment of whole genomes rely either on a reference genome, against which all of the other sequences are laid out, or require a one-to-one mapping between the nucleotides of the genomes, preventing the alignment of recently duplicated regions. Both approaches have drawbacks for whole-genome comparisons. In this paper we present a novel symmetric alignment algorithm. The resulting alignments not only represent all of the genomes equally well, but also include all relevant duplications that occurred since the divergence from the last common ancestor. Our algorithm, implemented as a part of the VISTA Genome Pipeline (VGP), was used to align seven vertebrate and six Drosophila genomes. The resulting whole-genome alignments demonstrate a higher sensitivity and specificity than the pairwise alignments previously available through the VGP and have higher exon alignment accuracy than comparable public whole-genome alignments. Of the multiple alignment methods tested, ours performed the best at aligning genes from multigene families-perhaps the most challenging test for whole-genome alignments. Our whole-genome multiple alignments are available through the VISTA Browser at http://genome.lbl. gov/vista/index.shtml.
Repeated inhalation of crack-cocaine affects spermatogenesis in young and adult mice

To investigate the effects of repeated crack-cocaine inhalation on spermatogenesis of pubertal and mature Balb/c mice, ten young (Yex) and ten adult (Aex) Balb/c mice were exposed to the smoke from 5 g of crack with 57.7% of pure cocaine in an inhalation chamber, 5 days/week for 2 months. The young (Yc) and adult (Ac) control animals (n = 10) were kept in a specially built and controlled animal house facility. The morphologic analysis of both testes of all animals included the analysis of quantitative and qualitative histologic parameters to assess the effect of crack-cocaine on spermatogenesis and Leydig cells. Apoptosis was determined by immunolabeling with caspase-3 antibodies. Compared to the Yc animals, Yex animals showed a significant reduction in the number of stage VII tubules per testis (p = 0.02), Sertoli cells (p < 0.001) and elongated spermatids (p = 0.001). Comparisons between the Yex and Aex groups identified a significant reduction in the number of Sertoli cells (p < 0.001) and round spermatids (p < 0.001) in the Yex group and a significant increase in apoptotic Leydig cells (p = 0.04) in the Aex group. The experimental results indicate that crack-cocaine smoke inhalation induced spermatogenesis disruption in chronically exposed mice, particularly in pubertal mice.
Oil windfalls and local fiscal effort: a propensity score analysis

With the pre-salt discoveries, the discussions about the impact of oil windfalls – royalties and special participation – on Brazilian localities have intensified. This article aims to contribute to the understanding of the issue, using a methodology that allows the building of a counterfactual for municipalities treated with oil resources. The aim is to investigate whether these transfers reduce the own tax effort of cities covered by such revenues. For this, we apply the doubly robust method to a panel of municipalities observed from 2000 to 2009. The method consists of two stages. Firstly, it estimates the likelihood of receiving oil revenues conditioned to observable variables; in the second stage, a fixed-effects model is estimated with data belonging to a common support constructed through the estimated propensity scores in the first stage. The results show that there is a negative effect of oil royalties on the fiscal effort of the cities benefited. However, this result does not occur when one computes the average effect on all cities.