Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structurally similar estradiol analogs uniquely alter the regulation of intracellular signaling pathways

Ligand structure can affect the activation of nuclear receptors, such as estrogen receptors (ERs), and their control of signaling pathways for cellular responses including death and differentiation. We hypothesized that distinct biological functions of similar estradiol (E2) analogs could be identified by integrating gene expression patterns obtained from human tumor cell lines with receptor binding and functional data for the purpose of developing compounds for treatment of a variety of diseases. We compared the estrogen receptor subtype selectivity and impact on signaling pathways for three distinct, but structurally similar, analogs of E2. Modifications in the core structure of E2 led to pronounced changes in subtype selectivity for estrogen receptors, ER-α or ER-β, along with varying degrees of ER dimerization and activation. While all three E2 analogs are predominantly ER-β agonists, the cell growth inhibitory activity commonly associated with this class of compounds was detected for only two of the analogs and might be explained by a ligand-specific pattern of gene transcription. Microarray studies using three different human tumor cell lines demonstrated that the analogs distinctly affect the transcription of genes in signaling pathways for chromosome replication, cell death, and oligodendrocyte progenitor cell differentiation. That the E2 analogs could lower tumor cell viability and stimulate neuronal differentiation confirmed that gene expression data could accurately distinguish biological activity of the E2 analogs. The findings reported here confirm that cellular responses can be regulated by making key structural alterations to the core structure of endogenous ER ligands.
CAMEUD: clustering approach for mining evolving usage data

The growing number of traces left behind user transactions on the Internet (e.g. customer purchases, user navigations, etc.) has increased the importance of Web usage data analysis. A notable challenge of this analysis is the fact that the way in which a website is visited can evolve over time. As a result, the usage models must be continuously updated in order to reflect the current behaviour of the visitors. In this article, we introduce CAMEUD, a clustering approach to mine and detect changes in evolving usage data. The proposed approach is totally independent from the clustering algorithm applied in the classification problem and is able to detect and determine the nature of changes undergone by the usage groups (appearance, disappearance, fusion and split) at subsequent time intervals. Experiments on synthetic and real usage data sets evaluate the efficiency of CAMEUD.
Survival from XDR-TB Is Associated with Modifiable Clinical Characteristics in Rural South Africa

Background Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is a major threat to global public health. Patients with extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), particularly those with HIV-coinfection, experience high and accelerated mortality with limited available interventions. To determine modifiable factors associated with survival, we evaluated XDR-TB patients from a community-based hospital in rural South Africa where a large number of XDR-TB cases were first detected. Methodology/Principal Findings A retrospective case control study was conducted of XDR-TB patients diagnosed from 2005–2008. Survivors, those alive at 180 days from diagnostic sputum collection date, were compared with controls who died within 180 days. Clinical, laboratory and microbiological correlates of survival were assessed in 69 survivors (median survival 565 days [IQR 384–774] and 73 non-survivors (median survival 34 days [IQR 18–90]). Among 129 HIV+ patients, multivariate analyses of modifiable factors demonstrated that negative AFB smear (AOR 8.4, CI 1.84–38.21), a lower laboratory index of routine laboratory findings (AOR 0.48, CI 0.22–1.02), CD4>200 cells/mm3 (AOR 11.53, 1.1–119.32), and receipt of antiretroviral therapy (AOR 20.9, CI 1.16–376.83) were independently associated with survival from XDR-TB. Conclusions/Significance Survival from XDR-TB with HIV-coinfection is associated with less advanced stages of both diseases at time of diagnosis, absence of laboratory markers indicative of multiorgan dysfunction, and provision of antiretroviral therapy. Survival can be increased by addressing these modifiable risk factors through policy changes and improved clinical management. Health planners and clinicians should develop programmes focusing on earlier case finding and integration of HIV and drug-resistant TB diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive activities.
Realizing Unified Microgrid Voltage Profile and Loss Minimization: A Cooperative Distributed Optimization and Control Approach

Cooperative distributed optimization is proposed in this paper to optimally dispatch the reactive power of the distributed generators (DGs). The overall objective is to minimize the cost function that is the sum of all quadratic voltage errors of the DG nodes and other critical nodes in the system. It is assumed that each DG is only aware of its own cost function defined as the quadratic voltage error of its respective node. In the proposed method, every DG performs optimization with respect to its own objective function while considering the information received locally from the neighboring nodes in the microgrid, and the critical nodes without DG also contribute to optimization. The proposed distributed optimization and control scheme enables the microgrid to have a unified voltage profile, and incorporating the subgradient method facilitates its application even when the microgrid information is unknown. Microgrid active power loss is also investigated, and it is shown that the unified voltage profile naturally leads to the overall active power loss minimization as well. Stability analysis and criteria are provided. Simulation results of a typical microgrid illustrate superior performance of the proposed technique.
Differentiating Between Images Using Wavelet-Based Transforms: A Comparative Study

We propose statistical image models for wavelet-based transforms, investigate their use, and compare their relative merits within the context of digital image forensics. We consider the problems of 1) differentiating computer graphics images from photographic images, 2) source camera and source scanner identification, and 3) source artist identification from digital painting samples. The features obtained from ridgelet and contourlet transform-based image models almost always perform better than the features obtained from wavelet-based image models for the problems at hand. We outline properties of efficient image representation, relate these properties to wavelet-based transforms, and discuss the experimental results in relation to the model properties.
Modulation of miRNAs in Pulmonary Hypertension

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as a new class of posttranscriptional regulators of many cardiac and vascular diseases. They are a class of small, noncoding RNAs that contributes crucial roles typically through binding of the 3′-untranslated region of mRNA. A single miRNA may influence several signaling pathways associated with cardiac remodeling by targeting multiple genes. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a rare disorder characterized by progressive obliteration of pulmonary (micro) vasculature that results in elevated vascular resistance, leading to right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) and RV failure. The pathology of PH involves vascular cell remodeling including pulmonary arterial endothelial cell (PAEC) dysfunction and pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cell (PASMC) proliferation. There is no cure for this disease. Thus, novel intervention pathways that govern PH induced RVH may result in new treatment modalities. Current therapies are limited to reverse the vascular remodeling. Recent studies have demonstrated the roles of various miRNAs in the pathogenesis of PH and pulmonary disorders. This review provides an overview of recent discoveries on the role of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of PH and discusses the potential for miRNAs as therapeutic targets and biomarkers of PH at clinical setting.
Economic Issues in Evaluating TJTC Within-Labor-Market Comparisons of Participants and NonParticipants : Statistical Issues

Services pursuant to the provisions of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Points of view or opinions stated in the document do not necessarily represent the official position or policy of the Department of Labor. An evaluation of TJTC must deal with two types of issues involving two models. One is an economic model of the way in which the program affects the labor market behavior of program participants and ot.hers. The second is a statistical model that must effectively measure those aspects of labor market behavior specified by the economic model as the costs and benefits of the program. This paper deals mainly with the second model, but some attention to the first is essential: The economic issues may in fact be more important than the statistical ones, though they are also less capable of resolution. In the first part of this paper, we briefly address the economic issues and conclude that two types of statistical models are required. One deals with a model of individuals within one or more sites where the program operates. The second involves sites as units of observation, with variation across sites in the amount of program penetration. In the second and third parts of the paper we present an outline of these two statistical models. 1. ECONOMIC ISSUES IN EVALUATING TJTC Two fundamental questions about TJTC are whether the program will improve the employment and earnings of the targeted groups, and if so, whether such improvement is at the expense of other groups in the labor market. In principle, the gain of one group may be sufficiently large to compensate members of the other group for their losses. In practice, 2 this compensation is not carried out in any direct way, although we can use the data on the amount of gains and losses to evaluate the program. The economic problem confronting TJTC, as with any tax subsidy or government expenditure, is that the money (or resources) spent on the program could be spent elsewhere. The employment and other benefits ,produced by the tax expenditure are in general offset by the loss in I _, _ . employment and benefits in those sectors that have given up the money-whether these are taxpayers or other government programs. Why should TJTC produce net gains? We suggest three potential sources, each based on some type of market failure: Keynesian unemployment, existing distortions of the low-wage labor …
A Repository to facilitate Reuse in Component-Based Web Engineering

: The World Wide Web has become a platform for distributed applications of all kinds. Its originally anticipated scope has changed dramatically but without major changes to the primary mechanisms. Web application development suffers increasingly from the coarse-grained implementation model of the Web, as established software design concepts are hardly applicable to it. The object-oriented WebComposition Markup Language (WCML) addresses these problems with a fine-grained component-based model and thus supports the application of software engineering practice to applications in the Web. In this paper, we introduce the WebComposition Repository as a key tool for a systematic approach to code reuse. The repository is used for storing, managing, and retrieving large numbers of WCML components. Consequently, it facilitates reuse in component-based Web Engineering.
Spontaneous Electrical Activity and Behavior in the Leech Hirudo Medicinalis

In the absence of external stimuli, animals explore the environment by performing irregular movements, but the neuronal mechanisms underlying this arrhythmic motion are largely unknown. In this paper, we studied the relationship between the spontaneous neuronal activity in the leech (Hirudo medicinalis) and its behavior. We analyzed the electrical activity of isolated ganglia, chains of two connected ganglia, and semi-intact preparations. The spontaneous electrical activity in ganglia was characterized by the occurrence of irregular bursts of spikes with variable duration and size. Properties of these bursts were modified by synaptic inputs arriving from the neighboring ganglia and from the two primitive brains located in the head and tail. In fact, in semi-intact preparations, unusually large bursts of spikes occurring spontaneously were recorded and caused the leech to move even in the absence of any external sensory stimulation. These large bursts appear to act as internal triggers controlling the spontaneous leech behavior and determining the duration of stereotypical motor patterns.
Iterative similarity inference via message passing in factor graphs for Collaborative Filtering

In this paper, we develop a Belief Propagation (BP) algorithm for similarity computation to improve the recommendation accuracy of the neighborhood method, which is one of the most popular Collaborative Filtering (CF) recommendation algorithms. We formulate a probabilistic inference problem as to compute the marginal posterior distributions of similarity variables from their joint posterior distribution given the observed ratings. However, direct computation is prohibitive in large-scale recommender systems. Therefore, we introduce an appropriate chosen factor graph to express the factorization of the joint distribution function, and utilize the BP algorithm that operates in the factor graph to exploit the factorization for efficient inference. In addition, since the high degree at the factor node incurs an exponential increase in computational complexity, we also propose a complexity-reduction technique. The overall complexity of the proposed BP algorithm on a factor graph is linear in the number of variables, which ensures scalability. Finally, through experiments on the MovieLens dataset, we show the superior prediction accuracy of the proposed BP-based similarity computation algorithm for recommendation.
E-banking Adoption in Romanian Companies: Determining Factors and Model

This paper investigates factors that influence Romanian companies to use Internet as a means to conduct their banking activities. The research model in this study was developed based on previous works that utilized technology acceptance theories and related empirical studies on the adoption of information technologies in economic activities, such as e-commerce and ebanking. Questionnaires were distributed to companies’ managers in Romania. The data collected were subjected to factor analysis and multiple regression. The results show that compatibility, technical resources and self-efficacy have significant effect on the intention of the managers to use e-banking. Findings of this study indicate the importance of these three factors in influencing the Romanian companies to adopt e-banking. Addressing these factors in banks’ marketing strategy may enhance their success to expand e-banking services to new corporate customers.
Communication and Organizational Culture

When people in an organization understand themselves and their context of interaction from very different perspectives, there is an increased risk of poor organizational dialogue. The reason is not only that individuals’ social interpretations of others are influenced by their idiosyncratic perspectives. In interactions involving a significant diversity of individual perspectives, there is also a risk that communicators form radically different interpretations of goals and processes in the organization. It is therefore of crucial importance that people have a sufficiently similar understanding of action-guiding information, communicative acts and the workplace itself. The chapter focuses on the importance of creating shared organizational culture on the basis of four communication conditions from social interaction theory. (1) In communicative processes, senders need to secure the attention of audiences. (2) Senders and audiences need to have a sufficiently similar understanding of the language that is used. (3) Senders and audiences need to interpret communicative acts in a sufficiently similar way. (4) The attitudes and values that audiences ascribe to senders must correspond to the values and attitudes that senders actually have. After having clarified these conditions, the chapter applies them to analyse fundamental organizational challenges. The final part of the chapter argues that the conditions can, typically on management levels, constitute conceptual tools for creating unifying communicative cultures. Furthermore, using the conditions (1)–(4) actively as a means for securing communication across a diversity of individual perspectives can contribute to reaching organizational goals, no matter how they are defined.
Power amplifier frequency controller using feedback control techniques for bio-implanted devices

Switch mode power amplifier is used in biomedical devices widely. The power amplifier supplies the required operating power to the implanted devices. Zero voltage switching (ZVS) operation of class-E power amplifier leads to convert DC voltage to AC with high efficiency and workings frequency. Frequency has a great function in powering most of the biomedical implanted devices. Frequency shift caused by inductors and capacitors used in the circuit can cause load variation or changing in mutual displacement or they may lead to instability and data loss of the implanted devices. So switching-mode frequency control is the key problem in the biomedical device powering system. This paper focused on the design of a frequency controlled power amplifier to improve the controller’s efficiency in terms of speed and better results. The objective of this work is to control the operating frequency. Feedback control method is used by using proportional integral derivative controller (PID), proportional integral (PI) and voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) to reduce the phase shift and settling time. The Bode plot and Nyquist stability criterion analyses show that the developed power amplifier frequency controller is stable and perform well to improve the controller efficiency. Streszczenie. W artykule opisano wzmacniacz mocy używany w technice bio-implantów. Wzmacniacz klasy E z operacją ZVS przekształca stałe napięcie na napięcia AC. Kontrola częstotliwości tego napięcia ma ważne znaczenie ponieważ częstotliwość może się zmieniać przy obecności elementów L, C w układzie. W pracy opisano metode kontroli częstotliwości tego napięcia. Kontrola częstotliwości wzmacniacza mocy wykorzystywanego do zasilania bio-implantów
In Vitro Analysis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Particle Dissociation: Gag Proteolytic Processing Influences Dissociation Kinetics

Human immunodeficiency virus particles undergo a step of proteolytic maturation, in which the main structural polyprotein Gag is cleaved into its mature subunits matrix (MA), capsid (CA), nucleocapsid (NC) and p6. Gag proteolytic processing is accompanied by a dramatic structural rearrangement within the virion, which is necessary for virus infectivity and has been proposed to proceed through a sequence of dissociation and reformation of the capsid lattice. Morphological maturation appears to be tightly regulated, with sequential cleavage events and two small spacer peptides within Gag playing important roles by regulating the disassembly of the immature capsid layer and formation of the mature capsid lattice. In order to measure the influence of individual Gag domains on lattice stability, we established Förster's resonance energy transfer (FRET) reporter virions and employed rapid kinetic FRET and light scatter measurements. This approach allowed us to measure dissociation properties of HIV-1 particles assembled in eukaryotic cells containing Gag proteins in different states of proteolytic processing. While the complex dissociation behavior of the particles prevented an assignment of kinetic rate constants to individual dissociation steps, our analyses revealed characteristic differences in the dissociation properties of the MA layer dependent on the presence of additional domains. The most striking effect observed here was a pronounced stabilization of the MA-CA layer mediated by the presence of the 14 amino acid long spacer peptide SP1 at the CA C-terminus, underlining the crucial role of this peptide for the resolution of the immature particle architecture.
Memory Performance Analysis for Parallel Programs Using Concurrent Reuse Distance

Performance on multicore processors is determined largely by on-chip cache. Computer architects have conducted numerous studies in the past that vary core count and cache capacity as well as problem size to understand impact on cache behavior. These studies are very costly due to the combinatorial design spaces they must explore. Reuse distance (RD) analysis can help architects explore multicore cache performance more efficiently. One problem, however, is multicore RD analysis requires measuring concurrent reuse distance (CRD) profiles across thread-interleaved memory reference streams. Sensitivity to memory interleaving makes CRD profiles architecture dependent, undermining RD analysis benefits. But for parallel programs with symmetric threads, CRD profiles vary with architecture tractably: they change only slightly with cache capacity scaling, and shift predictably to larger CRD values with core count scaling. This enables analysis of a large number of multicore configurations from a small set of measured CRD profiles. This paper investigates using RD analysis to efficiently analyze multicore cache performance for parallel programs, making several contributions. First, we characterize how CRD profiles change with core count and cache capacity. One of our findings is core count scaling degrades locality, but
Population size matters: rigorous runtime results for maximizing the hypervolume indicator

Using the hypervolume indicator to guide the search of evolutionary multi-objective algorithms has become very popular in recent years. We contribute to the theoretical understanding of these algorithms by carrying out rigorous runtime analyses. We consider multi-objective variants of the problems OneMax and LeadingOnes called OMM and LOTZ, respectively, and investigate hypervolume-based algorithms with population sizes that do not allow coverage of the entire Pareto front. Our results show that LOTZ is easier to optimize than OMM for hypervolume-based evolutionary multi-objective algorithms which is contrary to the results on their single-objective variants and the well-studied (1+1)~EA.