Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Balancing transport and physical Layers in wireless multihop networks: jointly optimal congestion control and power control

In a wireless network with multihop transmissions and interference-limited link rates, can we balance power control in the physical layer and congestion control in the transport layer to enhance the overall network performance while maintaining the architectural modularity between the layers? We answer this question by presenting a distributed power control algorithm that couples with existing transmission control protocols (TCPs) to increase end-to-end throughput and energy efficiency of the network. Under the rigorous framework of nonlinearly constrained utility maximization, we prove the convergence of this coupled algorithm to the global optimum of joint power control and congestion control, for both synchronized and asynchronous implementations. The rate of convergence is geometric and a desirable modularity between the transport and physical layers is maintained. In particular, when congestion control uses TCP Vegas, a simple utilization in the physical layer of the queueing delay information suffices to achieve the joint optimum. Analytic results and simulations illustrate other desirable properties of the proposed algorithm, including robustness to channel outage and to path loss estimation errors, and flexibility in trading off performance optimality for implementation simplicity. This work presents a step toward a systematic understanding of "layering" as "optimization decomposition," where the overall communication network is modeled by a generalized network utility maximization problem, each layer corresponds to a decomposed subproblem, and the interfaces among layers are quantified as the optimization variables coordinating the subproblems. In the case of the transport and physical layers, link congestion prices turn out to be the optimal "layering prices. ".
Autochthonous tumors driven by Rb1 loss have an ongoing requirement for the RBP2 histone demethylase

Significance Developing therapeutic strategies for tumors driven by tumor suppressor gene inactivation, as opposed to oncogene activation, represents a significant challenge in oncology. While restoration of tumor suppressor functionality is generally not feasible, inhibiting proteins that act downstream of lost tumor suppressors represents one strategy to overcome this challenge. In this study, we applied this concept to the tumor suppressor gene retinoblastoma 1 (RB1). The RB1 gene product, pRB, associates with the RBP2 histone demethylase and RBP2 is deregulated in RB1-null cancers. Here, we show that genetic ablation of RBP2 in established, autochthonous pRB-defective murine tumors retards their growth and enhances mouse survival. Our findings provide a further rationale for the development and testing of pharmacological RBP2 inhibitors for cancer treatment. Inactivation of the retinoblastoma gene (RB1) product, pRB, is common in many human cancers. Targeting downstream effectors of pRB that are central to tumorigenesis is a promising strategy to block the growth of tumors harboring loss-of-function RB1 mutations. One such effector is retinoblastoma-binding protein 2 (RBP2, also called JARID1A or KDM5A), which encodes an H3K4 demethylase. Binding of pRB to RBP2 has been linked to the ability of pRB to promote senescence and differentiation. Importantly, genetic ablation of RBP2 is sufficient to phenocopy pRB’s ability to induce these cellular changes in cell culture experiments. Moreover, germline Rbp2 deletion significantly impedes tumorigenesis in Rb1+/− mice. The value of RBP2 as a therapeutic target in cancer, however, hinges on whether loss of RBP2 could block the growth of established tumors as opposed to simply delaying their onset. Here we show that conditional, systemic ablation of RBP2 in tumor-bearing Rb1+/− mice is sufficient to slow tumor growth and significantly extend survival without causing obvious toxicity to the host. These findings show that established Rb1-null tumors require RBP2 for growth and further credential RBP2 as a therapeutic target in human cancers driven by RB1 inactivation.
Modelling changes in clinical attachment loss to classify periodontal disease progression

Abstract Aim The goal of this study was to identify progressing periodontal sites by applying linear mixed models (LMM) to longitudinal measurements of clinical attachment loss (CAL). Methods Ninety‐three periodontally healthy and 236 periodontitis subjects had their CAL measured bi‐monthly for 12 months. The proportions of sites demonstrating increases in CAL from baseline above specified thresholds were calculated for each visit. The proportions of sites reversing from the progressing state were also computed. LMM were fitted for each tooth site and the predicted CAL levels used to categorize sites regarding progression or regression. The threshold for progression was established based on the model‐estimated error in predictions. Results Over 12 months, 21.2%, 2.8% and 0.3% of sites progressed, according to thresholds of 1, 2 and 3 mm of CAL increase. However, on average, 42.0%, 64.4% and 77.7% of progressing sites for the different thresholds reversed in subsequent visits. Conversely, 97.1%, 76.9% and 23.1% of sites classified as progressing using LMM had observed CAL increases above 1, 2 and 3 mm after 12 months, whereas mean rates of reversal were 10.6%, 30.2% and 53.0% respectively. Conclusion LMM accounted for several sources of error in longitudinal CAL measurement, providing an improved method for classifying progressing sites.
Ectopic neurogenesis induced by prenatal antiepileptic drug exposure augments seizure susceptibility in adult mice

Significance Recent clinical studies suggest that environmental insults, such as valproic acid (VPA) exposure, in utero can have adverse effects on brain function of the offspring in later life, although the underlying mechanisms of these impairments remain poorly understood. By focusing on the property of neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) residing in the adult hippocampus, we identified the mechanism of increased seizure sensitivity in prenatally VPA-exposed adult mice. Furthermore, we found that voluntary exercise can overcome the adverse effects through normalizing VPA-induced transcriptome alterations in NS/PCs. We believe that our study provides insights for further understanding and developing treatment strategies for neurological disorders induced by prenatal environmental insults. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder often associated with seizure that affects ∼0.7% of pregnant women. During pregnancy, most epileptic patients are prescribed antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) such as valproic acid (VPA) to control seizure activity. Here, we show that prenatal exposure to VPA in mice increases seizure susceptibility in adult offspring through mislocalization of newborn neurons in the hippocampus. We confirmed that neurons newly generated from neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) are integrated into the granular cell layer in the adult hippocampus; however, prenatal VPA treatment altered the expression in NS/PCs of genes associated with cell migration, including CXC motif chemokine receptor 4 (Cxcr4), consequently increasing the ectopic localization of newborn neurons in the hilus. We also found that voluntary exercise in a running wheel suppressed this ectopic neurogenesis and countered the enhanced seizure susceptibility caused by prenatal VPA exposure, probably by normalizing the VPA-disrupted expression of multiple genes including Cxcr4 in adult NS/PCs. Replenishing Cxcr4 expression alone in NS/PCs was sufficient to overcome the aberrant migration of newborn neurons and increased seizure susceptibility in VPA-exposed mice. Thus, prenatal exposure to an AED, VPA, has a long-term effect on the behavior of NS/PCs in offspring, but this effect can be counteracted by a simple physical activity. Our findings offer a step to developing strategies for managing detrimental effects in offspring exposed to VPA in utero.
Poly (butylene succinate) scaffolds prepared by leaching

Biomaterials are the main focuses of scientists’ efforts to develop new materials to replace or repair bone tissues [1]. Biomaterials are natural or synthetic materials which can interface with biological systems allowing the increase, repair or even the replacement of tissues and organs of the human body [2]. Within biomaterials, the polymers can be natural or synthetic as well. The main polymers used to repair bone tissue are the polyglycolic acid (PGA), polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxybutyrate acid (PHB) and polycaprolactone (PCL) [3-5]. These polymers are useful to the “scaffolds” development in the bone tissue engineering field, acting as templates for the formation of new tissues. For this, these materials must present specific requirements such as adequated internal architecture and surface properties, besides mechanical resistance and porosity [6,7]. These biodegradable templates must be porous to the highly efficient propagation of cells and nutrients, and also for supplying oxygen [8]. Besides that, these pores should be three-dimensionally interlinked, allowing the proliferation of new bone tissue and facilitating fluid transport through the material [9]. A wide variety of natural and synthetic materials are being investigated for the design and construction of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Among them, the most remarkable are the natural polymers, such as gelatin, agar, fibrin or collagen; the synthetic bioresorbable polymers, such as polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL); and, finally, the porous ceramics, such as bioglass and calcium phosphate structures as well as the natural ceramics, such as coral [10-12]. In this context, the poly (butylene succinate), PBS is a biodegradable aliphatic biopolyester. When compared to other similar polymers, PBS presents improved mechanical and processing properties. PBS also presents biocompatibility, being an osteoconductive material which allows cell adhesion. Literature shows PBS associated with other polymers as an efficient matrix to the preparation of scaffold [13-16]. Mostly, expensive techniques, such as electrospinning, are used to the preparation of these materials [16]. Thus, PBS was used here to prepare scaffolds by leaching using NaCl as a cheap porogenic agent. The obtained materials were characterized using several techniques, and the results allowed inferring that leaching is a fast, little expensive and efficient way to prepare PBS scaffolds.
Hybrid sparse-representation-based approach to image super-resolution reconstruction

Abstract. This paper presents a hybrid sparse-representation-based approach to single-image super-resolution reconstruction. Our main contribution is threefold: (1) jointly utilize nonlocal similarity of intensity image and low-rank property of gradient image under the framework of sparse representation; (2) incorporate both the high-resolution (HR) and low-resolution dictionaries into the reconstruction process; and (3) incorporate both the unknown HR image and the sparse coefficients into a single objective function. By alternatively minimizing the objective function with respect to the unknown HR image and the sparse coefficients, we get an estimate of the target HR image. Extensive experiments validate that compared with many state-of-the-art algorithms the proposed method yields comparable results for noiseless images and achieves much better results for noisy images.
Theoretical Models in the Study of Temperature Effect on Steel Mechanical Properties

The governing laws adopted by two high qualified scientific organizations (D.T.U. and Eurocode) for the variation of steel mechanical properties at high temperatures are presented. There are no significant differences between them, but generally, the items advanced by Eurocode 3, part 1.2, are dopted in the most works that approach the thermical-mechanical analysis of steel structures.
Osteopontin Regulates Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Replication and Assembly by Interacting with HCV Proteins and Lipid Droplets and by Binding to Receptors αVβ3 and CD44

ABSTRACT Hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication and assembly occur at the specialized site of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes and lipid droplets (LDs), respectively. Recently, several host proteins have been shown to be involved in HCV replication and assembly. In the present study, we demonstrated the important relationship among osteopontin (OPN), the ER, and LDs. OPN is a secreted phosphoprotein, and overexpression of OPN in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue can lead to invasion and metastasis. OPN expression is also enhanced in HCV-associated HCC. Our recent studies have demonstrated the induction, proteolytic cleavage, and secretion of OPN in response to HCV infection. We also defined the critical role of secreted OPN in human hepatoma cell migration and invasion through binding to receptors integrin αVβ3 and CD44. However, the role of HCV-induced OPN in the HCV life cycle has not been elucidated. In this study, we showed a significant reduction in HCV replication, assembly, and infectivity in HCV-infected cells transfected with small interfering RNA (siRNA) against OPN, αVβ3, and CD44. We also observed the association of endogenous OPN with HCV proteins (NS3, NS5A, NS4A/B, NS5B, and core). Confocal microscopy revealed the colocalization of OPN with HCV NS5A and core in the ER and LDs, indicating a possible role for OPN in HCV replication and assembly. Interestingly, the secreted OPN activated HCV replication, infectivity, and assembly through binding to αVβ3 and CD44. Collectively, these observations provide evidence that HCV-induced OPN is critical for HCV replication and assembly. IMPORTANCE Recently, our studies uncovered the critical role of HCV-induced endogenous and secreted OPN in migration and invasion of hepatocytes. However, the role of OPN in the HCV life cycle has not been elucidated. In this study, we investigated the importance of OPN in HCV replication and assembly. We demonstrated that endogenous OPN associates with HCV NS3, NS5A, NS5B, and core proteins, which are in close proximity to the ER and LDs. Moreover, we showed that the interactions of secreted OPN with cell surface receptors αVβ3 and CD44 are critical for HCV replication and assembly. These observations provide evidence that HCV-induced endogenous and secreted OPN play pivotal roles in HCV replication and assembly in HCV-infected cells. Taken together, our findings clearly demonstrate that targeting OPN may provide opportunities for therapeutic intervention of HCV pathogenesis.
Effects of exercise on adolescent and adult hypothalamic and hippocampal neuroinflammation

Adolescence is a period of significant brain plasticity that can be affected by environmental factors, including the degree of physical activity. Here we hypothesized that adolescent rats would be more sensitive to the beneficial metabolic and anti‐inflammatory effects of voluntary exercise than adult rats, whose more mature brains have less capacity for plasticity. We tested this by giving adolescent and adult Wistar rats four weeks' voluntary access to running wheels. At the end of this period we assessed metabolic effects, including weight and circulating leptin and ghrelin, as well as performance in a novel object recognition test of memory and central changes in neuronal proliferation, survival, synaptic density, and inflammatory markers in hippocampus. We found exercise reduced fat mass and circulating leptin levels in both adults and adolescents but suppressed total weight gain and lean mass in adults only. Exercise stimulated neuronal proliferation in the suprapyramidal blade of the dentate gyrus in both adults and adolescents without altering the number of mature neurons during this time frame. Exercise also increased dentate microglial numbers in adolescents alone and microglial numbers in this region were inversely correlated with performance in the novel object recognition test. Together these data suggest that adolescent hippocampal microglia are more sensitive to the effects of exercise than those of adults, but this leads to no apparent improvement in recognition memory. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
System and method for characterizing cells

A method of characterizing cells or cell structures in a queconsiste shown in: obtaining at least one impedance response normalized muestrasobre at least one frequency range (60), where impedancianormalizada is a measure impedance divided at each frequency in lagama frequency between a reference impedance for frecuenciacorrespondiente where the measured impedance comprises a real and / part oimaginaria, and the reference impedance is impedance response delsistema over the frequency range virtually cell in electrical unatrayectoria between at least two electrodes (25 ); and characterizing at least one cell using at least one characteristic of the deimpedancia normalized response (75).
Attention-based Group Recommendation

Group recommendation aims to recommend items for a group of users, e.g., recommending a restaurant for a group of colleagues. The group recommendation problem is challenging, in that a good model should understand the group decision making process appropriately: users are likely to follow decisions of only a few users, who are group's leaders or experts. To address this challenge, we propose using an attention mechanism to capture the impact of each user in a group. Specifically, our model learns the influence weight of each user in a group and recommends items to the group based on its members' weighted preferences. Moreover, our model can dynamically adjust the weight of each user across the groups; thus, the model provides a new and flexible method to model the complicated group decision making process, which differentiates us from other existing solutions. Through extensive experiments, it has demonstrated that our model significantly outperforms baseline methods for the group recommendation problem.
Using SAT Encodings to Drive CSP Value Ordering Heuristics

In this paper, we address the issue of designing from SAT new value ordering heuristics for CSP. We show that using the direct and support SAT encodings of CSP instances, such heuristics can be naturally derived from the well-known two-sided Jeroslow-Wang heuristic. These heuristics exploit the bi-directionality of constraint supports to give a more comprehensive picture in terms of domain reduction when a given value is assigned to (resp. removed from) a given variable. Interestingly, in the context of a backtracking search algorithm that exploits binary branching and the adaptive variable ordering heuristic dom=wdeg, we experimentally observed that the new heuristics yielded the best results on satisable and unsatisable instances when following the promise and the fail-first policies, respectively.
SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE EXTRACTION OF CITRONELLA OIL FROM CYMBOPOGON WINTERIANUS USING TAGUCHI ORTHOGONAL ARRAY DESIGN

Objective: Optimum condition for the extraction of citronella oil from citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus) using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) was investigated.Methods: In order to determine the optimum extraction condition, a Taguchi experiment with L9 orthogonal array design was used. Effects of pressure, temperature and dynamic extraction time on citronella oil yield were investigated at levels ranging between 10-15 MPa, 35-45 °C and 60-180 min, respectively.Results: The highest citronella oil yield (3.206%) was achieved at a factor combination of 15 MPa, 50 °C and 180 min. The obtained citronella oil yield from SC-CO2 extraction was higher than that of percolation as the solvent extraction method using ethanol, which gave a citronella oil yield of 1.4%. The experimental oil yield at optimum condition was in accordance to the values predicted by a computational process using Taguchi method. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with 95% confidence interval indicates that extraction temperature is the most significant factor in maximizing citronella oil yield, followed by dynamic extraction time and pressure.Conclusion: Optimization process for oil yield from SC-CO2extraction of citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus) was successfully performed using Taguchi L9 orthogonal array design. This study demonstrates that Taguchi method was able to simplify the experimental procedure of SC-CO2 process.
Molecular basis of mammalian transmissibility of avian H1N1 influenza viruses and their pandemic potential

Significance Airborne transmission of influenza A viruses between mammals is not well understood. Our study of a group of similar subtype H1N1 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) isolated at Delaware Bay, USA, revealed genetic markers for airborne transmission in nonstructural genes. Viruses not containing all markers lacked airborne transmissibility in the ferret model. We revealed a role for Nonstructural Protein 1 (NS1) in facilitating airborne transmission that was associated with viral replication in the upper respiratory tract (URT). Non–airborne-transmissible NS1 mutants showed delayed viral maturation, resulting in limited tissue pathology and little virus at the mucosa. Overall, our study has revealed insights into viral replication in the URT associated with the airborne transmissibility of AIVs in mammals. North American wild birds are an important reservoir of influenza A viruses, yet the potential of viruses in this reservoir to transmit and cause disease in mammals is not well understood. Our surveillance of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) at Delaware Bay, USA, revealed a group of similar H1N1 AIVs isolated in 2009, some of which were airborne-transmissible in the ferret model without prior adaptation. Comparison of the genomes of these viruses revealed genetic markers of airborne transmissibility in the Polymerase Basic 2 (PB2), PB1, PB1-F2, Polymerase Acidic-X (PA-X), Nonstructural Protein 1 (NS1), and Nuclear Export Protein (NEP) genes. We studied the role of NS1 in airborne transmission and found that NS1 mutants that were not airborne-transmissible caused limited tissue pathology in the upper respiratory tract (URT). Viral maturation was also delayed, evident as strong intranuclear staining and little virus at the mucosa. Our study of this naturally occurring constellation of genetic markers has provided insights into the poorly understood phenomenon of AIV airborne transmissibility by revealing a role for NS1 and characteristics of viral replication in the URT that were associated with airborne transmission. The transmissibility of these viruses further highlights the pandemic potential of AIVs in the wild bird reservoir and the need to maintain surveillance.