Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy controls tumor growth in mice with a human immune system

ABSTRACT Mice reconstituted with a human immune system and bearing human tumors represent a promising model for developing novel cancer immunotherapies. Here, we used mass cytometry and multi-parametric flow cytometry to characterize human leukocytes infiltrating a human breast cancer tumor model in immunocompromised NOD.SCID. γc-null mice reconstituted with a human immune system and compared it to samples of breast cancer patients. We observed highly activated human CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the tumor, as well as minor subsets of innate immune cells in both settings. We also report that ICOS+ CD4+ regulatory T cells (Treg) were enriched in the tumor relative to the periphery in humanized mice and patients, providing a target to affect Treg and tumor growth. Indeed, administration of a neutralizing mAb to human ICOS reduced Treg proportions and numbers and improved CD4 + T cell proliferation in humanized mice. Moreover, a combination of the anti-ICOS mAb with cyclophosphamide reduced tumor growth, and that was associated with an improved CD8 to Treg ratio. Depletion of human CD8+ T cells or of murine myeloid cells marginally affected the effect of the combination therapy. Altogether, our results indicate that a combination of anti-ICOS mAb and chemotherapy controls tumor growth in humanized mice, opening new perspectives for the treatment of breast cancer. One sentence summary: Targeting ICOS in combination with chemotherapy is a promising strategy to improve tumor immunity in humans.
A New Vaccine for Worm Vaccination

The mechanism of active counter-attack on worms has been developed and studied for several years. The worm vaccination, a kind of active counter-attack on worms, has some preliminary results. But further research is still required. In this work, we explored a new vaccine to promote the release time through ana-lyzing the structure proposed by Castaneda F, and presented its structure and generation method. The new vaccine is evaluated by Blaster, Nachi and Sasser worm. It shows that the proposed vaccine reduces the release time up to 71% and is applied to worm vaccination successfully.
LVDC customer-end inverter operation in short circuit

Short-circuit protection devices applied to customer-end network protection today require multiple times the nominal current to operate within the required time limits. A three-phase 400 VAC distribution network supplies sufficient short-circuit current in customer-end faults, and reaching the required protection time poses no problems. When a Low-Voltage Direct Current (LVDC) network is used to supply a DC/AC inverter at the customer, the short-circuit currents depend, in practice, only on the inverter, because the DC network services several customers and can thus feed multiple times the current required at one customer. This paper discusses customer-end inverter operation, current supply capability, and current limiting in short-circuit. The paper presents three options for short-circuit protection in different inverter structures, makes a brief comparison between them, and proposes the best solution for every structure.
Music and Hearing Quarterly Progress and Status Report Acoustic study of throaty voice quality

“Throaty” voice quality has been regarded by voice pedagogues as undesired and even harmful. The present study attempts to identify acoustic and physiological correlates of this quality. One male and one female subject read a text habitually and with a throaty voice quality. Oral pressure during p-occlusion was measured as an estimate of subglottic pressure. Long-term-average spectrum (LTAS) analysis was used to describe the average voice quality. Sixteen syllables, perceptually evaluated with regard to throaty quality by five experts, were selected for further analyses. Formant frequencies and voice source characteristics were measured by means of inverse filtering, and the vocal tract shape of the male subject’s throaty and normal versions of the vowels [a,u,i,ae] was recorded by Magnetic Resonance imaging. From this material area functions were derived and their resonance frequencies were determined. To test the relevance of formant frequencies to perceived throaty quality, experts rated degree of throatiness in synthetic vowel samples in which the subjects’ measured formant frequency values were used. The main acoustic correlates of throatiness seemed to be an increase of F1, a decrease of F4 and in front vowels also a decrease of F2, presumably resulting from a narrowing of the pharynx. In the male subject voice source parameters suggested a more hyperfunctional voice in throaty samples.
Simultaneous Detection of Infectious Human Echoviruses and Adenoviruses by an In Situ Nuclease-Resistant Molecular Beacon-Based Assay

ABSTRACT A multiplex methodology using two nuclease-resistant molecular beacons that target specific genomic regions of adenovirus 2 and echovirus 17 during simultaneous infection in A549 cells is presented. Using fluorescence microscopy, visualization of enteroviral and adenoviral replication was possible within 3 h postinfection.
Ergodicity of the 2D Navier-Stokes equations with degenerate stochastic forcing

The stochastic 2D Navier-Stokes equations on the torus driven by degenerate noise are studied. We characterize the smallest closed invariant subspace for this model and show that the dynamics restricted to that subspace is ergodic. In particular, our results yield a purely geometric characterization of a class of noises for which the equation is ergodic in L 2 0 (T 2 ). Unlike previous works, this class is independent of the viscosity and the strength of the noise. The two main tools of our analysis are the asymptotic strong Feller property, introduced in this work, and an approximate integration by parts formula. The first, when combined with a weak type of irreducibility, is shown to ensure that the dynamics is ergodic. The second is used to show that the first holds un
Leaf-galling phylloxera on grapes reprograms host metabolism and morphology

Significance Some herbivorous insects induce galls, abnormal structures, in their host plants, benefiting the gall-forming parasite by providing nutritive tissue. The gall-forming insect phylloxera induces stomata, openings through which plants regulate water and CO2, on the upper surface of grape leaves where they typically do not occur. Carbon uptake and transpiration by induced stomata facilitate nutrient acquisition by gall tissue and phylloxera. Moreover, gall formation reprograms the host-leaf transcriptome to increase transcripts associated with sucrose mobilization and glycolysis and decrease defense-related transcripts. Thus, stomata induction by phylloxera reconfigures leaves to increase carbon gain, to partially offset negative impacts of gall formation. Endoparasitism by gall-forming insects dramatically alters the plant phenotype by altering growth patterns and modifying plant organs in ways that appear to directly benefit the gall former. Because these morphological and physiological changes are linked to the presence of the insect, the induced phenotype is said to function as an extension of the parasite, albeit by unknown mechanisms. Here we report the gall-forming aphid-like parasite phylloxera, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, induces stomata on the adaxial surface of grape leaves where stomata typically do not occur. We characterized the function of the phylloxera-induced stomata by tracing transport of assimilated carbon. Because induction of stomata suggests a significant manipulation of primary metabolism, we also characterized the gall transcriptome to infer the level of global reconfiguration of primary metabolism and the subsequent changes in downstream secondary metabolism. Phylloxera feeding induced stomata formation in proximity to the insect and promoted the assimilation and importation of carbon into the gall. Gene expression related to water, nutrient, and mineral transport; glycolysis; and fermentation increased in leaf-gall tissues. This shift from an autotrophic to a heterotrophic profile occurred concurrently with decreased gene expression for nonmevalonate and terpenoid synthesis and increased gene expression in shikimate and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, secondary metabolite systems that alter defense status in grapes. These functional insect-induced stomata thus comprise part of an extended phenotype, whereby D. vitifoliae globally reprograms grape leaf development to alter patterns of primary metabolism, nutrient mobilization, and defense investment in favor of the galling habit.
Evidence for cometary bombardment episodes

Evidence is found that large terrestrial impacts tend to cluster in discrete episodes, with characteristic separations 25‐30 Myr and durations of about 1‐2 Myr. The largest impactors are strongly concentrated within such events, and the Cretaceous‐Tertiary extinctions occurred within one of them. The evidence also indicates the presence of a weak periodicity, which might be ! 24, ! 35 or ! 42 Myr depending on which peaks are taken as harmonics. The periodicity is most easily explained as a result of the action of the Galactic tide on the Oort comet cloud. The two longer period solutions are consistent with Galactic density estimates and with the current passage of the Solar system through the plane of the Galaxy. Other episodes may be a result of sporadic encounters with spiral arms, nebulae or stars.
Intratympanic Steroid Prevents Long-Term Spiral Ganglion Neuron Loss in Experimental Meningitis

Hypothesis: Intratympanic steroid treatment prevents hearing loss and cochlear damage in a rat model of pneumococcal meningitis. Background: Sensorineural hearing loss is a long-term complication of meningitis affecting up to a third of survivors. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the bacterial species most often associated with a hearing loss. Methods: Rats were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups: a group treated with intratympanic betamethasone and 2 control groups treated with either intratympanic or systemic saline. Treatment was initiated 21 hours after infection and repeated once a day for 3 days. Hearing loss and cochlear damage were assessed by distortion product otoacoustic emissions, auditory brainstem response at 16 kHz, and spiral ganglion neuron density. Results: Fifty-six days after infection, auditory brainstem response showed no significant differences between groups, and distortion product otoacoustic emissions showed significant hearing loss at the low frequencies in animals treated with intratympanic steroid compared with animals treated with systemic saline (p < 0.05; Mann-Whitney test). However, intratympanic steroid significantly increased the number of viable neurons in the spiral ganglion compared with both intratympanic and systemic saline (p = 0.0082 and p = 0.0089; Mann-Whitney test). Histology revealed fibrosis of the tympanic membrane and cavity in steroid-treated animals, which plausibly caused the low-frequency hearing loss. Conclusion: Intratympanic betamethasone treatment prevents long-term spiral ganglion neuron loss in experimental pneumococcal meningitis. This finding is clinically relevant in relation to postmeningitic hearing rehabilitation by cochlear implantation. However, the drug instillation in the middle ear induced local fibrosis and a concurrent low-frequency hearing loss.
Compton dragged gamma‐ray bursts: the spectrum

We calculate the spectrum resulting from the interaction of a fireball with ambient soft photons. These photons are assumed to be produced by the walls of a funnel in a massive star. By parametrizing the radial dependence of the funnel temperature we calculate the deceleration of the fireball self-consistently, taking into account the absorption of high energy γ-rays arising from interactions with the softer ambient photons. The resulting spectrum is peaked at energies that are in agreement with observations, has a ν2 slope in the X-ray band and a steep power law high energy tail.
Cross-Lingual Comparison between Distributionally Determined Word Similarity Networks

As an initial effort to identify universal and language-specific factors that influence the behavior of distributional models, we have formulated a distributionally determined word similarity network model, implemented it for eleven different languages, and compared the resulting networks. In the model, vertices constitute words and two words are linked if they occur in similar contexts. The model is found to capture clear isomorphisms across languages in terms of syntactic and semantic classes, as well as functional categories of abstract discourse markers. Language specific morphology is found to be a dominating factor for the accuracy of the model.
Hyrax: Cloud Computing on Mobile Devices using MapReduce

Abstract : Today's smartphones operate independently of each other, using only local computing, sensing, networking, and storage capabilities and functions provided by remote Internet services. It is generally difficult or expensive for one smartphone to share data and computing resources with another. Data is shared through centralized services, requiring expensive uploads and downloads that strain wireless data networks. Collaborative computing is only achieved using ad hoc approaches. Coordinating smartphone data and computing would allow mobile applications to utilize the capabilities of an entire smartphone cloud while avoiding global network bottlenecks. In many cases, processing mobile data in-place and transferring it directly between smartphones would be more efficient and less susceptible to network limitations than off loading data and processing to remote servers. We have developed Hyrax, a platform derived from Hadoop that supports cloud computing on Android smartphones. Hyrax allows client applications to conveniently utilize data and execute computing jobs on networks of smartphones and heterogeneous networks of phones and servers. By scaling with the number of devices and tolerating node departure, Hyrax allows applications to use distributed resources abstractly, oblivious to the physical nature of the cloud. The design and implementation of Hyrax is described, including experiences in porting Hadoop to the Android platform and the design of mobile specific customizations. The scalability of Hyrax is evaluated experimentally and compared to that of Hadoop. Although the performance of Hyrax is poor for CPU-bound tasks, it is shown to tolerate node-departure and offer reasonable performance in data sharing. A distributed multimedia search and sharing application is implemented to qualitatively evaluate Hyrax from an application development perspective.
Semantic code browsing*

Abstract Programmers currently enjoy access to a very high number of code repositories and libraries of ever increasing size. The ensuing potential for reuse is however hampered by the fact that searching within all this code becomes an increasingly difficult task. Most code search engines are based on syntactic techniques such as signature matching or keyword extraction. However, these techniques are inaccurate (because they basically rely on documentation) and at the same time do not offer very expressive code query languages. We propose a novel approach that focuses on querying for semantic characteristics of code obtained automatically from the code itself. Program units are pre-processed using static analysis techniques, based on abstract interpretation, obtaining safe semantic approximations. A novel, assertion-based code query language is used to express desired semantic characteristics of the code as partial specifications. Relevant code is found by comparing such partial specifications with the inferred semantics for program elements. Our approach is fully automatic and does not rely on user annotations or documentation. It is more powerful and flexible than signature matching because it is parametric on the abstract domain and properties, and does not require type definitions. Also, it reasons with relations between properties, such as implication and abstraction, rather than just equality. It is also more resilient to syntactic code differences. We describe the approach and report on a prototype implementation within the Ciao system.
Effects of disturbance regime on carbohydrate reserves in meadow plants

Plants in unmown meadows are able to store large amounts of carbohydrates. These stores, however, become depleted during winter and/or spring and thus do not differ from levels in mown plots at the peak of the next growing season. It is clear, moreover, that although carbohydrate concentrations at first reflect the carbohydrate mobilization needed for resprouting in response to plant damage and then the refilling of reserves thereby expended, the total carbohydrate amounts are affected by the growth of storage organs. Although concentrations and total amounts of carbohydrates reflect different aspects of plant carbohydrate storage, their concentration might sufficiently describe short-term effects of disturbance.
May I enter the roundabout? A time-to-contact computation based on stereo-vision

This paper presents a stereo-vision based system for the recognition of dangerous situations at roundabouts. At first, we investigate the necessary field of view and viewing direction using videos taken by a panoramic camera. Using the insights of these tests we build up a stereo-vision system. This system is based on the well established disparity estimation scheme Semi-Global Matching and the recently introduced medium-level representation called Dynamic Stixel-World. A time-to-contact measure is defined that makes explicit use of the roundabouts structural characteristics. Using this measure enables us to create a system for driver warning or possible automated intervention. Our empirical studies reveal that the warning decision correctly mimics human driver decisions.
Uncovering hidden engagement patterns for predicting learner performance in MOOCs

Maintaining and cultivating student engagement is a prerequisite for MOOCs to have broad educational impact. Understanding student engagement as a course progresses helps characterize student learning patterns and can aid in minimizing dropout rates, initiating instructor intervention. In this paper, we construct a probabilistic model connecting student behavior and class performance, formulating student engagement types as latent variables. We show that our model identifies course success indicators that can be used by instructors to initiate interventions and assist students.
Optimal Two-View Planar Scene Triangulation

We present a new algorithm for optimally computing from point correspondences over two images their 3-D positions when they are constrained to be on a planar surface. We consider two cases: the case in which the plane and camera parameters are known and the case in which they are not. In the former, we show how observed point correspondences are optimally corrected so that they are compatible with the homography between the two images determined by the plane and camera parameters. In the latter, we show how the homography is optimally estimated by iteratively using the triangulation procedure.
A fault-tolerant and efficient scheme for data aggregation over groups in the smart grid

Aggregating data in the smart grid is an important issue for obtaining the total consumption of a group of households. In order to aggregate data in a privacy preserving manner, it has to be assured that individual contributions are untraceable and only the sum is visible to an aggregator. For billing, network security and statistical analysis data from different types of customers (e.g., industrial, residential) has to be aggregated separately. This paper presents a fault-tolerant and efficient scheme for aggregating data over different groups while preserving the privacy of the households. We propose to build on the Chinese Remainder Theorem for aggregating over groups and on a fault-tolerant and tree-based approach for increasing efficiency. The resulting protocol is evaluated in terms of privacy, complexity and real-world applicability, such as dynamic joins and leaves.
Optimization of the antenna array geometry based on a Bayesian DOA estimation criterion

In this paper, we address the problem of the sensor placement for estimating the direction of a narrow-band source, randomly located in the far-field of a planar antenna array. Estimation performance is evaluated by means of the expectation of the conditional Cramer Rao bound (ECRB), which depends on the prior probabilistic distribution of the DOA angles. We study the particular, but practical, case where the azimuth angle is uniformly distributed. Surprisingly, it turns out that the optimal arrays are not isotropic, i.e. they do not have the same accuracy in all possible look directions. In fact, optimal arrays computed here increase performance by about 10% compared to optimal isotropic arrays computed in a previous work.
Tin Mesoporphyrin in Conjunction with Retinoic Acid Reverses the Retinoic Acid Induced Enhancement of Phospholipase A2 Activity In Vivo in Rats

Retinol (Vitamin A) is known to destabilize membranes. The effect of one of its natural derivatives, Retinoic Acid, was therefore studied on membrane stability, by inversely correlating this stability with Phospholipase A2 activity. Lipid metalloporphyrin interactions have been the object of intense research in recent times. Our results revealed that the administration of Retinoic Acid (50,000 I.U.) caused a tremendous induction of hepatic Phospholipase A2 activity in Wistar rats. However when Retinoic Acid and Tin-mesoporphyrin (50 µmol/kgbw) were co-administered, hepatic Phospholipase A2 activity was inhibited. This result clearly reveals a possible therapeutic application of this metalloporphyrin in alleviating membrane destabilization, connected with Retinoic acid administration.
Structural, spectroscopic aspects, and electronic properties of (TiO2)n clusters: A study based on the use of natural algorithms in association with quantum chemical methods

In this article, we propose a stochastic search‐based method, namely genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) in conjunction with density functional theory (DFT) to evaluate global and local minimum structures of (TiO2)n clusters with n = 1–12. Once the structures are established, we evaluate the infrared spectroscopic modes, cluster formation energy, vertical excitation energy, vertical ionization potential, vertical electron affinity, highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)‐lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) gaps, and so forth. We show that an initial determination of structure using stochastic techniques (GA/SA), also popularly known as natural algorithms as their working principle mimics certain natural processes, and following it up with density functional calculations lead to high‐quality structures for these systems. We have shown that the clusters tend to form three‐dimensional networks. We compare our results with the available experimental and theoretical results. The results obtained from SA/GA‐DFT technique agree well with available theoretical and experimental data of literature. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.