Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Cytokine–Cytokine Interaction in the Assembly of Higher-Order Structure and Activation of the Interleukine-3:Receptor Complex

Interleukine-3 (IL-3) binds its receptor and initiates a cascade of signaling processes that regulate the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells. To understand the detailed mechanisms of IL-3 induced receptor activation, we generated a homology model of the IL-3:receptor complex based on the closely related crystal structure of the GM-CSF:receptor complex. Model-predicted interactions between IL-3 and its receptor are in excellent agreement with mutagenesis data, which validate the model and establish a detailed view of IL-3:receptor interaction. The homology structure reveals an IL-3:IL-3 interaction interface in a higher-order complex modeled after the dodecamer of the GM-CSF:receptor complex wherein an analogous GM-CSF:GM-CSF interface is also identified. This interface is mediated by a proline-rich hydrophobic motif (PPLPLL) of the AA′ loop that is highly exposed in the structure of isolated IL-3. Various experimental data suggest that this motif is required for IL-3 function through receptor-binding independent mechanisms. These observations are consistent with structure-function studies of the GM-CSF:receptor complex showing that formation of the higher-order cytokine:receptor complex is required for signaling. However, a key question not answered from previous studies is how cytokine binding facilitates the assembly of the higher-order complex. Our studies here reveal a potential cytokine–cytokine interaction that participates in the assembly of the dodecamer complex, thus linking cytokine binding to receptor activation.
Styles-Formal foundations and tool support for software architecture evolution

Architecture evolution is a central feature of virtually all software systems. As new market opportunities, technologies, platforms, and frameworks become available systems must change their organizational structures to accommodate them, requiring large-scale and systematic restructuring. Today architects have few tools to help them plan and execute such evolutionary paths. In particular, they have almost no assistance in reasoning about questions such as: How should we stage the evolution to achieve business goals in the presence of limited development resources? How can we reduce risk in incorporating new technologies and infrastructure required by the target architecture? How can we make principled tradeoffs between time and development effort? What kinds of changes can be made independently, and which require coordinated system-wide modifications? How can an evolution plan be represented and communicated within an organization? In this report we outline first steps towards a formal basis for assisting architects in developing and reasoning about architectural evolution paths. The key insight behind the approach is that at an architectural level of abstraction many system evolutions follow certain common patterns – or evolution styles. By taking advantage of regularity in the space of common architectural evolutions, and by making the notion of evolutions styles a first-class entity that can be formally defined, we can provide automated assistance for expressing architecture evolution, and for reasoning about both the correctness and quality of evolution paths. This research has benefited from a discussion of Architecture Evolution with the members of the ABLE research group (Jeff Barnes, Roni Burd, Orieta Celiku, Owen Cheng, George Fairbanks, Jung Soo Kim, Vahe Poladian, and Bradley Schmerl); members of the SEI SAT initiative who participated in a joint reading group on this topic (Ipek Ozkaya and Mark Klein). I would also like to acknowledge Sungwon Kang and Dalila Tamzalit, who have sparked many useful insights about the topic of Architectural Evolution.
Learning to Teach Database Design by Trial and Error

To apply Extended Entity Relationship Mode l (EER) is a good method for representing requirements on information systems, because of its high level of abstraction. Although it is very close to the user, it is not so trivial when some constructs, such as higher order relationships, are used. This paper describes the characterisation and several important results of an experiment performed at our university in order to show som e of the difficulties found when novice students and practitioners use ternary relationships. Some special topics in identifying ternary relationships such as the importance of the domain of text and the intersection data are also investigated. In order to guide and help users in the design task, these results are introduced in PANDORA Case Tool, a research project which tries to serve as a methodological assistance tool.
QuadraticDirect Encoding vs . LinearOrder Encoding A One-out-of-N Transformation on CNF

The translation from finite CSPs into SAT has been studied intensively. Common encodings for variable domains are the compact, direct and order encoding. The direct encoding needs a quadratic number of clauses for encoding a domain in SAT whereas the order encoding uses only linearly many. We introduce a conversion for domains from the direct encoding to the order encoding on the CNF level by extracting the encoded domains and replacing the related clauses by the order encoding and a mapping between them. The transformation keeps the model for the original formula and transforming domains with more than 8 elements results in less clauses in the formula. Experiments showed that our SAT solver riss can solve the transformed instances with domains greater than 7 from the SAT Competition 2009 Application with 3.4 % less run time. On 105 crafted instances riss could solve 55 instead of 58 instances, but the average run time decreased by 30 %. Results for PrecoSAT, clasp and march hi will be presented as well, showing that the transformation boosts the performance of CDCL solvers.
Nutritional, immunological and health status of the elderly population living in poor neighbourhoods of Quito, Ecuador

The number of elderly people is increasing in less-developed countries. Although nutritional deficiencies and infectious diseases are generally more prevalent in resource-poor countries, the health and nutritional status of the elderly in South America in general, and in Ecuador, in particular, remains largely unstudied. The objective of the present study was to assess the nutritional, immunological and health status of elderly Ecuadorians. A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate a sample of elderly Ecuadorians with 24 h dietary recalls, biochemical and anthropometric measurements, delayed type hypersensitivity skin response and a health questionnaire. The 145 elders who enrolled had a mean age of 74·3 (sd 6·9) years. Of the subjects, 52 % exhibited BMI ≥25 kg/m2, whereas 9·1 % had BMI ≤20 kg/m2. Means of dietary intakes were below recommendations for most nutrients; exceptions were carbohydrate, fat, Fe and Se. Serum nutrient levels indicated that 50, 44, 43, 19 and 18 % of participants had deficiencies of Zn, Fe, vitamins B12 and D, and folate, respectively. The mean number of positive responses to seven recall antigens was 2·1 (sd 1·7) with an induration diameter of 9·9 (sd 7) mm, which are substantially lower than those reported for elders in developed countries. During the previous 6 months, 54 and 21 % of subjects reported at least one episode of respiratory infection or diarrhoea, respectively. Of these, 47 % sought care at a hospital or from a physician and 96 % from a relative or friend. In conclusion, while few elderly Ecuadorians were underweight, obesity was common. Micronutrient deficiencies were prevalent and may contribute to reduced immunological responses in this population.
Modèles multi-niveaux de prévision des durées de vie en fatigue des structures composites à matrice céramique pour usage en turbomachines aéronautiques.

L’enjeu actuel pour les industriels de l’aeronautique est de diminuer la consommation en carburant et/ou d’augmenter le rendement des avions. A terme, Safran souhaite remplacer les aubes de turbine, actuellement en superalliage, par des aubes en materiau composite tisse de type SiC/SiBC. Il est alors important de prevoir leurs durees de vie. Ce travail a donc consiste a developper un modele de duree de vie pour ces composites autocicatrisants. Ces materiaux tisses sont constitues de fibres Nicalon, d’une interphase de pyrocarbone et d’une matrice autocicatrisante multicouche (B4C, SiC et SiBC). La particularite de ces composites est l’oxydation de chaque constituant du materiau en fonction de l’environnement (temperature, atmosphere seche ou humide). Le modele de duree de vie developpe offre un compromis entre des temps de calcul reduits, malgre la prise en compte de phenomenes physico-chimiques complexes, et une prevision de la duree de vie suffisamment precise. L’approche retenue est un couplage entre un modele d'endommagement mecanique et un modele physico-chimique. Un modele de duree de vie uniaxial a ete propose afin de justifier les differents couplages necessaires entre les parties mecanique et physico-chimique mais egalement pour optimiser les algorithmes de resolution. Ce modele a permis d’identifier les coefficients pour deux nuances de materiaux. Afin de realiser des essais de structures, un modele de duree de vie multiaxial a ete propose et implante dans le code de calcul ZeBuLoN. Un protocole d’identification a egalement ete propose dans ce travail meme si les essais de caracterisation jusqu’ici realises ne sont pas suffisants pour identifier completement le modele 3D sur ces materiaux.
On the General Paradigms for Implementing Adaptive e-Learning Systems

Adaptive e-Learning systems are the newest paradigm in modern learning approaches. Nowadays, adaptive e-Learning systems are accountable for selecting learning materials or contents according to the learners' style, profile, interest, previous knowledge level, goal, pedagogical method, etc., all in order to provide highly personalized learning sessions. A number of researches have been conducted in the area of adaptive learning and different adaptive learning methods have been proposed. Due to similarity between learning objects graph and the formalism of Petri Nets, an approach based on Petri Nets for controlling the learning path among learning activities has brought many improvements to the paradigm of adaptive e-Learning systems. A model based on High-Level Petri Nets (HLPN) for modeling and generating behavioral pattern of students has been presented recently, bringing numerous advantages, but also a lot of open issues that need to be resolved. This paper exposes the fundamental characteristics of adaptive e-Learning systems, as well as the students’ behavior, such as learning styles and levels of knowledge, thus providing a basis for a novel modeling framework for performance analysis of such systems, as our main goal in future research.
Roles of exogenous and endogenous FGF-2 in animal models of depression.

PURPOSE Several members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family have been shown to be dysregulated in individuals with major depression, and treatment with antidepressants has been reported to increase FGF-2 mRNA levels in the forebrain. METHODS We have used the tail suspension test (TST), and olfactory bulbectomy (OBX), and FGF-2 deficient mice to investigate putative roles of FGF-2 as an antidepressant and mediator of antidepressive drug actions. RESULTS FGF-2 applied intraventricularly generated antidepressant-like effects in the TST. FGF-2, similar to the antidepressant amitriptyline, attenuated neuron demise in the piriform cortex and posterolateral cortical nucleus of the amygdala following OBX. Moreover, OBX induced reduction in hippocampal neurogenesis could be ameliorated by subsequent treatment with either amitriptyline or FGF-2. Furthermore, FGF-2 was effective in reversing depressive-like behavior induced by OBX, monitored in the locomotor activity and the passive avoidance test. In bulbectomized FGF-2 deficient mice, treatment with amitriptyline protected neurons, but failed to reverse behavioral alterations. CONCLUSIONS Together, these results suggest that FGF-2 constitutes both a potential target for antidepressive treatments and an important growth factor in the cytokine network underlying the actions of antidepressive drugs. The results further suggest a requirement of endogenous FGF-2 for mediating behavioral, but not neuroprotective actions of amitriptyline.
Mixed Propositional Metric Temporal Logic: A New Formalism for Temporal Planning

Temporal logics have been used in autonomous planning to represent and reason about temporal planning problems. However, such techniques have typically been restricted to either (1) representing actions, events, and goals with temporal properties or (2) planning for temporally-extended goals under restrictive conditions of classical planning. We introduce Mixed Propositional Metric Temporal Logic (MPMTL), where formulae in MPMTL are built over mixed binary and continuous real variables. MPMTL provides a natural, ﬂexi-ble formalism for representing and reasoning about temporal problems. We analyze the complexity of MPMTL formulae satisﬁability and model checking, and identify MPMTL fragments with lower complexity. We also introduce an approach to world modeling using a timeline vector, relevant to temporal planning with continuous change (as opposed to the use of discrete states). Our model supports retroactive action progression, concurrent and overlapping actions with discrete and continuous changes, and concurrent effects to the same variable. For reasoning about this temporal planning problem, we deﬁne a progression function for actions with the new temporal properties and a solution to this temporal task.
The Conjoined Microprocessor

Over the last twenty years, the research community has devised sophisticated methods for retrieving secret information from side-channel emanations, and for resisting such attacks. This paper introduces a new CPU architecture called the Conjoined Microprocessor (CμP). The CμP can randomly interleave the execution of two programs at very low extra hardware cost. We developed for the CμP a preprocessor tool that turns a target algorithm into two (or more) separate queues like Q0 and Q1 that can run in alternation. Q0 and Q1 fulfill the same operation as the original target algorithm. Power-analysis resistance is achieved by randomly alternating the execution of Q0 and Q1, with different runs resulting in different interleavings. Experiments reveal that this architecture is indeed effective against CPA.
A Load Balancing Strategy Based on Data Correlation in Cloud Computing

by virtual machines and the reduce of resource utilization caused by migration of a single virtual machine in cloud computing , this paper proposes a load balancing strategy based on data correlation in cloud computing. This strategy finds out the migration unit based on the correlation between the data and the virtual machines used to deal with the same data, and construct the load-intensive data set to carry on the overall migration. The experimental results show that the load balancing strategy can reduce the communication overhead and improve the utilization of resources in a certain extent.
Thinking about feelings: emotion focus in the parenting of children with early developmental risk.

BACKGROUND Children with developmental delays exhibit more difficulty with certain emotional processes than their typically developing peers, which seems to partially account for the increased risk for the development of social problems in this population. Despite considerable study with typically developing populations, research on parental emotion socialisation in families of children with delays is scarce. This study examined the degree to which parents of children with early delays prioritized emotion relative to other important areas of child development and the degree to which they focused on emotion during relevant interactions with their children. METHOD Families of 8-year-old children with (n = 42) and without (n = 89) early developmental delays completed questionnaires and interviews, and participated in a parent-child emotion discourse task. RESULTS As predicted, parents of children with developmental delays reported lower prioritization of emotion and focused less on emotion during discourse than did parents of typically developing children. A model was supported in which a pathway existed from developmental status through prioritization to emotion focus. Emotion focus, in turn, predicted children's social skills as reported on by multiple informants. CONCLUSIONS Parents of children with early developmental delays may focus upon emotion less in their parenting than parents of typically developing children, and related behaviours show associations with children's social skill outcomes. Findings are discussed as an initial step in thinking about the role of emotion socialisation in the families of children with delays.
Relationship between Physical Activity and Physical Fitness in Preschool Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose To evaluate the relationships between objectively measured physical activity and physical fitness among preschool children. Methods A total of 346 participants (201 boys and 145 girls) aged 3.5–5.5 years (M = 4.5 yr, SD = 0.47) from Shanghai, China, completed physical fitness assessments, including triceps skinfold thickness (TSFT), grip strength, tennis throwing, sit and reach test, standing long jump, balance beam, 10mSRT, and 20mSRT. Physical activity was objectively measured by ActiGraphGT3X+ accelerometer. Multiple linear regression models were used to explore the cross-sectional associations between PA and physical fitness after adjusting for age, gender, BMI, and valid wearing time. Results Positive associations were observed between stand long jump (p < .01), tennis throwing (p < .01), laps in 20mSRT (p < .01), and MVPA. However, TSFT (p < .05), time in 10mSRT (p < .01), and balance beam (p < .05) were negatively associated with MVPA. Furthermore, positive associations were found between stand long jump (p < .01), tennis throwing (p < .01), and MVPA only in boys. Negative associations were found between time on balance beam (p < .01) and MVPA only in girls. Conclusions MVPA appears to be an effective and reliable predictor of preschoolers' physical fitness. Boys' body composition, muscular strength, explosive strength, agility, aerobic fitness, girls' agility, aerobic fitness, and balance could improve as MVPA increases.
The Impact of Political Geography on Wisconsin Redistricting: An Analysis of Wisconsin’s Act 43 Assembly Districting Plan

This article illustrates how the relationship between political geography and the electoral bias of a districting plan, as measured by the efficiency gap, can be analyzed in a statistically rigorous manner using computer simulations of the legislative redistricting process. By generating a large number of different districting plans designed to optimize on traditional redistricting criteria, the computer simulation process demonstrates the range of districting plans that would likely emerge from a neutral, non-gerrymandered process. Courts and litigants can then draw inferences by comparing the efficiency gap of an enacted districting plan against this range of simulated plans. I use this method to illustrate how Wisconsin’s Act 43 created an Assembly districting plan with an extreme, Republicanfavoring efficiency gap that would not have been possible under a map-drawing process that prioritizes traditional redistricting criteria.
Identiﬁcation and Functional Characterization of CbaR, a MarR-Like Modulator of the cbaABC -Encoded Chlorobenzoate Catabolism Pathway

In Comamonas testosteroni BR60 (formerly Alcaligenes sp. strain BR60), catabolism of the pollutant 3-chlo-robenzoate (3CBA) is initiated by enzymes encoded by cbaABC , an operon found on composite transposon Tn 5271 of plasmid pBRC60. The cbaABC gene product CbaABC converts 3CBA to protocatechuate (PCA) and 5-Cl-PCA, which are then metabolized by the chromosomal PCA meta (extradiol) ring ﬁssion pathway. In this study, cbaA was found to possess a s 70 type promoter. O 2 uptake experiments with whole cells and expression studies with cbaA - lacZ constructs showed that cbaABC was induced by 3CBA. Benzoate, which is not a substrate of the 3CBA pathway, was a gratuitous inducer, and CbaR, a MarR family repressor coded for by a divergently transcribed gene upstream of cbaABC , could modulate induction mediated by benzoate. Puriﬁed CbaR bound speciﬁcally to two regions of the cbaA promoter (P cbaA ); site I, a high-afﬁnity site, is between the transcriptional start point (position 1 1) and the start codon of cbaA , while site II, a lower-afﬁnity Data are also presented that suggest that an unidentiﬁed regulator is encoded on the chromosome that induces cbaABC in response to benzoate and 3CBA. Aliquots RT by PCR performed with forward primer PCBAF (5 CCAACTACATGGATCGAA-3 ; the sequence corresponds to the extreme 5 9 end of the cbaA transcript) and primer CBAAR as the reverse primer. The intensity of the signal (a 167-bp fragment) directly reﬂected the initial level of the transcript. Two independent RT-PCRs were conducted, and the PCR products were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. As a control to ensure that no contaminating DNA was present in the RNA samples, RNAs from both sources were treated as recommended for ﬁrst-strand synthesis, except that no reverse transcriptase was added. Aliquots were then analyzed by PCR as described above, and no signal was observed.
Fault diagnosis of analog circuit using spectrogram and LVQ neural network

This paper addresses a refined fault feature problem of analog circuit using a feature extraction technique based on auditory feature. The proposed approach applies short-time fourier transform (STFT) to obtain the time and frequency features of the fault responses being indicated separately by the cross and vertical axes in a spectrogram, which gives much more refined description of the fault behavior. To reduce the computational complexity derived from the high-dimensional texture features embedded in the spectrogram, the fault spectrograms are further processed by local binary patterns (LBP) operator for obtaining low-dimensional fault features. Completing the parameter settings of the network, the LBP feature vectors are fed to the learning vector quantization (LVQ) neural network for fault classification. The numerical experiments about an active high-pass filter are carried out to indicate our approach has an acceptable diagnostic rate with high accuracy.
Composite materials based on polydimethylsiloxane and in situ generated silica by using the sol–gel technique

A polydimethylsiloxane-α,ω-diol with molar mass Mn = 43,000 has been synthesized by cationic polymerization of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and reinforced with silica. Two pathways were used for incorporation of silica in the polymeric matrix: ex situ by mechanical blending of a pretreated fumed silica and in situ by adding tetraethyl-orthosilicate (TEOS) as silica precursor in the polymer matrix followed by their hydrolysis and condensation (sol–gel technique). The procedure occurred in the absence of solvent. Composites with different contents of silica were prepared and investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results were compared to those obtained on a model network based on the same polysiloxane without silica. POLYM. COMPOS. , 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers