Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disulfide proteome in the analysis of protein function and structure

Many proteins undergo post‐translational modification via well defined mechanisms such as acetylation, phosphorylation and glycosylation and thereby control a spectrum of biochemical processes. A growing body of evidence suggests that the reversible reduction of disulfide bonds also alters the structure and activity of proteins. Thioredoxin, a ubiquitous 12 kDa protein with a catalytically active disulfide active site (Cys‐Gly‐Pro‐Cys), plays a central role in controlling the redox status of disulfide bonds in proteins that regulate a range of processes. Included are photosynthesis, seed germination, transcription, cell division, radical scavenging and detoxification. The ability to identify unknown functions of proteins of all types has been advanced by the emerging field of functional proteomics. In this brief review, we introduce the disulfide proteome as a tool that complements other methods for the comprehensive analysis of proteins. In so doing, the usefulness of applying this method for both in vitro and in vivo analyses is discussed for thioredoxin and other disulfide proteins, especially those occurring in plants.
Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase Gamma Inhibition Protects From Anthracycline Cardiotoxicity and Reduces Tumor Growth

Background: Anthracyclines, such as doxorubicin (DOX), are potent anticancer agents for the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. However, their clinical use is hampered by cardiotoxicity. This study sought to investigate the role of phosphoinositide 3-kinase &ggr; (PI3K&ggr;) in DOX-induced cardiotoxicity and the potential cardioprotective and anticancer effects of PI3K&ggr; inhibition. Methods: Mice expressing a kinase-inactive PI3K&ggr; or receiving PI3K&ggr;-selective inhibitors were subjected to chronic DOX treatment. Cardiac function was analyzed by echocardiography, and DOX-mediated signaling was assessed in whole hearts or isolated cardiomyocytes. The dual cardioprotective and antitumor action of PI3K&ggr; inhibition was assessed in mouse mammary tumor models. Results: PI3K&ggr; kinase-dead mice showed preserved cardiac function after chronic low-dose DOX treatment and were protected against DOX-induced cardiotoxicity. The beneficial effects of PI3K&ggr; inhibition were causally linked to enhanced autophagic disposal of DOX-damaged mitochondria. Consistently, either pharmacological or genetic blockade of autophagy in vivo abrogated the resistance of PI3K&ggr; kinase-dead mice to DOX cardiotoxicity. Mechanistically, PI3K&ggr; was triggered in DOX-treated hearts, downstream of Toll-like receptor 9, by the mitochondrial DNA released by injured organelles and contained in autolysosomes. This autolysosomal PI3K&ggr;/Akt/mTOR/Ulk1 signaling provided maladaptive feedback inhibition of autophagy. PI3K&ggr; blockade in models of mammary gland tumors prevented DOX-induced cardiac dysfunction and concomitantly synergized with the antitumor action of DOX by unleashing anticancer immunity. Conclusions: Blockade of PI3K&ggr; may provide a dual therapeutic advantage in cancer therapy by simultaneously preventing anthracyclines cardiotoxicity and reducing tumor growth.
CAMLearn: Une Architecture de Système de Recommandation Sémantique Sensible au Contexte. Application au Domaine du M-Learning. (CAMLearn: A Context-Aware Mobile Learning Recommender System. Application to M-Learning Domain)

Due to the rapid growth of information and communications technology, learning methods are evolving. E-learning (or electronic learning) was considered as the first application of adaptive hypermedia systems. Recommender systems are based on adaptive hypermedia systems developed during the end of the 90’s. Now, the great challenge of e-learning companies is to bridge the gap between the static e-learning and the mobile learning (or m-learning). M-learning features are numerous but can be focused on these three mains : flexibility, accessibility and informality. Flexibility is the ability of the system to access freely to learning courses without constraints in time and space. Accessibility is the ability of the system to find any piece of information about learning courses independently from the initial organization of this learning. Informality is the ability of the system to develop a process of learning beyond the original path of learning defined by the teacher. Our research focuses on the development of a new architecture for a m-learning recommandation system. We propose an approach incorporating contextual and adaptive strategies and respecting flexibility, accessibility and informality characteristics of m-learning. The proposed systeme is an extension of works on content based recommender systems. In the e-learning domain, most of the existing proposals are based on a set of layers which are closed to adaptive hypermedia architectures. A consensus of proposals described a basic set of three layers made of a domain model, a user model and an adaptive model. We adapted these three layers to our architecture. We propose a new architecture as an extension of content based recommender system, made of a static part representing both teachers knowledge and learners profile and context, and a behavioral part containing rules and metaheuristics, which aims at combining learning modules. Our system takes into account learners spatio-temporal context, the evolution of learner’s profile and the dynamic adaptation of modules during the learning process in a mobile environment.
RRE Task: The Task of Recognition of Requisite Part and Effectuation Part in Law Sentences

Analyzing the logical structure of a sentence is important for understanding natural language. In this paper, we present a task of Recognition of Requisite Part and Effectuation Part in Law Sentences, or RRE task for short, which is studied in research on Legal Engineering. The goal of this task is to recognize the structure of a law sentence. We investigate the RRE task regarding both the linguistic features and problem modeling aspects. We also propose solutions and present experimental results in a Japanese legal text domain. We got 88.58% with a supervised learning model and 88.84% with a semi-supervised learning model in the Fβ=1 score on the Japanese National Pension Law corpus.
No reference image quality assessment using blocked-based and frequency domain statistical features: a machine learning approach

Images are compressed using lossy compression for fast transmission and efficient storage. Due compression artefacts quality of images are degraded. In web application, unavailability of an original image is a major challenge to evaluate quality of images. Therefore there is an immense need to develop a quality metric that will automatically assess quality without referring the original image. In this paper, no reference image quality assessment scheme using the machine learning approach is proposed. The block-based features brightness, contrast, local amplitude, texture and other parameters of the degraded images are calculated along with first order and second order statistical features in frequency domain. These features are given as inputs to well-trained back propagation neural network whose output is a quality score. The mean opinion score is used as target. The result indicates that accuracy of quality assessment is better in comparison with traditional mathematical predictors.
th ICCRTS Conceptual Design of Targeted Scrum : Applying Mission Command to Agile Software Development

Software engineering and mission command are two separate but similar fields. Both are instances of complex problem solving in environments with ever changing requirements. Also, they have followed similar paths from using industrial age decomposition to deal with large problems to striving to be more agile and resilient. In fact, an entire subset of current software engineering techniques is known as agile methods. Our hypothesis is that modifications to an agile software development methodology (Scrum) based on inspirations from mission command can improve the software engineering process in terms of the planning, prioritizing, and communication of software requirements and progress, as well as improve the overall product. Targeted Scrum is a modification of Scrum based on three inspirations from Mission Command: End State, Line of Effort, and Targeting. Those inspirations led to the creation of the Product Design Meeting and modifications of some current Scrum meetings and artifacts. We propose to test this hypothesis during a semester long graduate level software engineering class. The students will develop software using both methodologies. We will then assess how well these two methodologies assist the software development teams in planning and developing the software architecture, prioritizing requirements, and communicating progress.
Demographic Prediction Based on User's Mobile Behaviors

paper, we propose a novel prediction framework for predicting end users' demographic by taking into account the users' behavior and environments at the same time. The core idea of our proposal is to extract key features to represent end users' behaviors in each location related to the users' demographic. To achieve this goal, we define 45 features to represent end users' behaviors and environment for capturing the key properties of locations recorded in MDC Data Set. In our framework, we propose a novel model, namely Multi-Level Classification Model, to solve the imbalanced class problem existing in the data. Based on the Multi-Level Classification Model, we make demographic prediction of an end user by combining several classification models. To our best knowledge, this is the first work on predicting end users' demographic by combining several classification models into a multi-level structure.
Multidimensionality in host manipulation mimicked by serotonin injection

Manipulative parasites often alter the phenotype of their hosts along multiple dimensions. ‘Multidimensionality’ in host manipulation could consist in the simultaneous alteration of several physiological pathways independently of one another, or proceed from the disruption of some key physiological parameter, followed by a cascade of effects. We compared multidimensionality in ‘host manipulation’ between two closely related amphipods, Gammarus fossarum and Gammarus pulex, naturally and experimentally infected with Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala), respectively. To that end, we calculated in each host–parasite association the effect size of the difference between infected and uninfected individuals for six different traits (activity, phototaxis, geotaxis, attraction to conspecifics, refuge use and metabolic rate). The effects sizes were highly correlated between host–parasite associations, providing evidence for a relatively constant ‘infection syndrome’. Using the same methodology, we compared the extent of phenotypic alterations induced by an experimental injection of serotonin (5-HT) in uninfected G. pulex to that induced by experimental or natural infection with P. laevis. We observed a significant correlation between effect sizes across the six traits, indicating that injection with 5-HT can faithfully mimic the ‘infection syndrome’. This is, to our knowledge, the first experimental evidence that multidimensionality in host manipulation can proceed, at least partly, from the disruption of some major physiological mechanism.
Effect of physical activity on plasma adrenomedullin concentration and its relationship with nitric oxide in athletes Sporcularda Plazma Adrenomedullİn Konsantrasyonu Üzerİne Fİzİksel Aktİvİtenİn Etkİsİ Ve Nİtrİk Oksİt İle İlİşkİsİ

OZET Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether regular physical activity or acute exercise influenced plasma adrenomedullin (AM) concentration and whether it was related to gender, blood pressure and nitric oxide (NO) production. Material and Methods: Sixty healthy students participated in this study. They were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of 30 students, 16 female, 14 male athletes carrying out regular exercise. The second group was made up of 15 females, 15 males nonathletes. All students submitted to a cycle exercise test until volitional exhaustion. Heart rate (HR), blood pressure, maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2 max) and carbon dioxide production (VCO 2 ) were measured continously. Before starting, at the 1st min and at the 30th min of exercise, venous blood samples were taken to determine AM and NO production. Results: AM in the female and male athletes were significantly higher than in the female and male non-athletes. The plasma AM concentration in female athletes was found be significantly higher than in male athletes. Acute exercise did not affect AM concentration in subjects. We did not find any relationship between AM/BMI (Body mass index) and other variables such as systolic, diastolic pressure, heart rate, VO 2 max and VCO 2 but there was a negative relationship with NO production. Conclusion: The present data suggest that an increase in AM during prolonged physical activity may be a compensatory mechanism against further elevation of blood pressure.
Rheumatoid arthritis: new findings on the failure to isolate or detect mycoplasmas by multiple cultivation or serologic procedures and a review of the literature.

Using 12 different and elaborate broth, agar, and cell culture procedures, we failed to isolate mycoplasmas, ureaplasmas, spiroplasmas, or chlamydiae from the synovial fluid of 10 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and from six patients with non-rheumatoid arthritis (NRA). In addition, sera from 35 patients with RA and 12 patients with NRA also were examined. Although some of the sera had moderately high titers of metabolism-inhibiting antibody to some of the 10 human Mycoplasma species, especially to the common respiratory pathogen Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and to some of the eight Ureaplasma urealyticum serovars, especially serovars V and VII, there were no significant differences between titers of these antibodies in the two groups of patients. Among RA patients serum antibody titers to M. pneumoniae were 1:32 in five and 1:16 in eight; two patients had higher synovial fluid titers (1:16) than serum titers (1:4). The geometric mean titer (GMT) of antibody to serovar V in synovial fluid was higher in RA patients than in NRA patients, but the difference did not reach significance (P = .056). Reports on the possible role of infectious agents in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis are reviewed.
Grid-tie three-phase inverter with active and reactive power flow control capability

This paper proposes a methodology for the active and reactive power flow control, applied to three-phase inverter operating in grid-connected mode at low AC voltage. The converter's control technique is based on Linear Matrix Inequalities - LMI together with D-stability criteria and state-feedback linearization. Through multi-loop control, the power loop uses an adapted active and reactive power transfer expressions, in order to obtain the magnitude voltage and power transfer angle to control the power flow between the distributed generation and the utility/grid. The multi-loop control uses the technique of state-feedback linearization in order to minimize the system nonlinearities, improving the controller's performance and mitigating potential system disturbances. Moreover, the purpose of the methodology is to obtain the best controllers with the lowest gains placing the poles in the left-half s-plane region specified during the design stage, resulting fast responses with reduced oscillations. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed control a 3000VA three-phase prototype was experimentally implemented. Furthermore, experimental results demonstrate anti-islanding detection and protection against over/under voltage and frequency.
Multiobjective Optimization of Uplink NOMA-Enabled Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communication

Vehicular communication is gradually evolving from the rudimentary data exchange techniques to innovative, efficient, and large-scale communication platform. The future vehicular networks aim to offer new services and achieve massive connectivity with the aid of advanced wireless communication techniques. In this regard, one of the emerging paradigms is non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) which holds the promise to meet the resource-intensive demands of future networks. Due to this reason, the applications of NOMA are being investigated by the researcher of academia and industry alike. This article aims to build on the state-of-the-art by providing a novel multiobjective optimization framework for vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. Specifically, this work aims to improve upon the sum-rate and energy efficiency of uplink NOMA-enabled V2I communications. The formulated problem is based on the tradeoff between sum-rate and total transmit power while maintaining the quality of service (QoS) requirements of the network. To provide a reliable solution, a multiobjective optimization framework has been proposed by applying the weighted-sum method and handle joint metrics of sum-rate maximization and total transmit power minimization. Extensive simulations have been performed to validate the superiority of the proposed framework against conventional benchmark techniques. The results clearly indicate that the proposed framework is feasible for NOMA-enabled V2I communication and can be scaled up for practical implementation.
Control Reconfiguration of Cyber-physical Systems for Improved Performance via Reverse-engineering and Accelerated First-order Algorithms

This paper presents a control reconfiguration approach to improve the performance of a certain class of dynamical systems. Motivated by recent research on re-engineering cyber-physical systems, we propose a three-step control retrofit procedure. Firstly, we reverse-engineer a dynamical system as a gradient descent algorithm to solve an unconstrained convex optimization problem. Secondly, we apply a heavy ball method or an accelerated gradient descent algorithm with constant coefficients to solve this optimization problem. Finally, by com-paring the original and accelerated dynamics, we obtain the implementation of the redesigned part (i.e., the extra dynamics). As a result, the convergence rate/speed of the given system can be improved, while the system structure remains. Three practical applications, including consensus in multi-agent systems, Internet congestion control and temperature control in buildings, show the effectiveness of the proposed redesign approach.
About the Need for Semantically Enriched Reference Models

The concept of reference model has been discussed for years as a means for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of conceptual modeling. But the necessity of support for understanding reference models is poorly understood. Most literature on reference modeling provides several configuration mechanisms and extensions of modeling languages, but the consequences of a constructivist understanding on reference modeling have been neglected so far. In this paper we focus on the constructivist characteristics of conceptual models in general and reference models in particular. We consolidate literature on constructivist model theory, quality frameworks for conceptual modeling and design rationale approaches. As a result of this study we propose a rationale management framework for reference modeling structured according to the four dimensions syntax, semantic, pragmatic and agreement. In this context we discuss the specific function of reference models within the modeling process and the consequences for its target oriented construction. The paper is concluded with an outlook on desired research for reference modeling theory.
The effect of laser wavelength on postoperative pain score in the endovenous ablation of saphenous vein insufficiency.

PURPOSE Endovenous laser ablation has replaced surgical methods in the treatment of saphenous insufficiency. The aims of this study were to compare the effectiveness of 1470- and 980-nm wavelength (WL) laser systems, to compare the postoperative complication rates, and to determine the effect of laser WL on postoperative pain scores. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between October 2010 and November 2011, 79 consecutive patients with saphenous vein insufficiency were examined. The patients who received the 980-nm treatment were defined as Group 1; 54 extremities of 47 patients were treated in this group. The patients who received the 1470-nm treatment were defined as Group 2; 36 extremities of 32 patients were treated in this group. RESULTS Early technical success was 100% in both groups. Both major and minor complications were seen in Group 2. The complications in Group 1 were mostly major; however, three minor complications were reported in this group. The complication rates of the two groups were not significantly different. There was no statistically significant difference between the pain scores of the two groups. CONCLUSION Early postoperative pain was the major factor that impaired quality of life. There was no relationship between the postoperative pain scores and laser WL or energy density. The laser WL did not affect technical success or occurrence of complications. Use of a suitable energy density resulted in complete occlusion in all patients with saphenous vein insufficiency.
Registration of Remote Sensing Images Based on the Relevance Vector Machine

Remote sensing has become a technique of indispensable importance for us to acquire the information on the ground. In the process of imaging, geometric distortion occurs due to several factors, which causes many difficulties when using those remote images for change detection, information fusion, resolution enhancement and so on. So the image registration is necessary. Aiming at the distortion type for the selection of geometric transformation model in the registration process, a relevance vector machine (RVM) based geometric transformation model is given, which will solve the problem of nonlinear geometric distortion efficiently as well as avoiding the shortcomings in the traditional model. Experiments have been realized this method.
SklCoin: Toward a Scalable Proof-of-Stake and Collective Signature Based Consensus Protocol for Strong Consistency in Blockchain

The proof-of-work consensus protocol suffers from two main limitations: waste of energy and offering only probabilistic guarantees about the status of the blockchain. This paper introduces SklCoin, a new Byzantine consensus protocol and its corresponding software architecture. This protocol leverages two ideas: 1) the proof-of-stake concept to dynamically form stakeproportionate consensus groups that represent block miners (stakeholders), and 2) scalable collective signing to efficiently commit transactions irreversibly. SklCoin has immediate finality characteristic where all miners instantly agree on the validity of blocks. In addition, SklCoin supports high transaction rate because of its fast miner election mechanism.