Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A fair micro-payment scheme for profit sharing in P2P networks

Despite their large success, file sharing and peer to peer systems are used mainly for illegal actions, such as violations of author's copyright. Many commercial proposals have been made available, but at the present time, there is a lack o/inherently legal file sharing tools which remain attractive for all the involved parties. In this paper we propose a protocol which connects authors and customers in a micro-payment scheme, where the selling rights are transferred from peer to peer. When a good is sold, authors are correctly paid, even if they were not directly involved in the transactions. Moreover, the holder of the sold item is partially refunded, thus discouraging free riders. This proposal is based on the previous work on PPay, and can be seen as an attempt for introducing successful commerce in practical file sharing applications.
The kinetics of p53‐binding and histone acetylation at target promoters do not strictly correlate with gene expression after UV damage

We have addressed the correlation between sequence‐specific DNA binding by the tumor suppressor p53 and transactivation of various target genes, in the context of UV irradiation responses. In A549 cells (p53WT), p53 occupancy at the p21, mdm2, and puma promoters increased significantly after UV irradiation. In contrast, p21 mRNA levels did not change, mdm2 mRNA decreased and both p21 and mdm2 proteins were downregulated shortly after UV. At later times, higher p53 occupancy correlated with enhanced expression of these two genes both at mRNA and protein levels. In the p53 mutant cell lines LX1 (R273H) and SKMes1 (R280K), no significant p53‐binding was detected at the gene targets analyzed. Accordingly, p21 and mdm2 proteins were not upregulated after UV irradiation. The kinetics of histone acetylation did not strictly correlate with gene expression. In fact, high levels of acetylated H3 (AcH3) and, particularly, acetylated H4 (AcH4) histones were found shortly after UV irradiation on p21 and mdm2 promoters. At the later time point, when transactivation was detected, acetylation levels decreased significantly although remaining higher than basal levels. Our results indicate that p53 transcription‐dependent and ‐independent responses are activated with different kinetics after UV, possibly relating to the repair of UV‐induced DNA damage. Based on the histone acetylation pattern we hypothesize that the DNA repair function of p53, associated to global genome repair and foci of DNA damage, may be relevant for all p53‐binding sites, including those where occupancy by p53 is also associated to transcriptional modulation. J. Cell. Biochem. 100: 1276–1287, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of physical activity on cognitive function in older adults at risk for Alzheimer disease: a randomized trial.

CONTEXT Many observational studies have shown that physical activity reduces the risk of cognitive decline; however, evidence from randomized trials is lacking. OBJECTIVE To determine whether physical activity reduces the rate of cognitive decline among older adults at risk. DESIGN AND SETTING Randomized controlled trial of a 24-week physical activity intervention conducted between 2004 and 2007 in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. Assessors of cognitive function were blinded to group membership. PARTICIPANTS We recruited volunteers who reported memory problems but did not meet criteria for dementia. Three hundred eleven individuals aged 50 years or older were screened for eligibility, 89 were not eligible, and 52 refused to participate. A total of 170 participants were randomized and 138 participants completed the 18-month assessment. INTERVENTION Participants were randomly allocated to an education and usual care group or to a 24-week home-based program of physical activity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Change in Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) scores (possible range, 0-70) over 18 months. RESULTS In an intent-to-treat analysis, participants in the intervention group improved 0.26 points (95% confidence interval, -0.89 to 0.54) and those in the usual care group deteriorated 1.04 points (95% confidence interval, 0.32 to 1.82) on the ADAS-Cog at the end of the intervention. The absolute difference of the outcome measure between the intervention and control groups was -1.3 points (95% confidence interval,-2.38 to -0.22) at the end of the intervention. At 18 months, participants in the intervention group improved 0.73 points (95% confidence interval, -1.27 to 0.03) on the ADAS-Cog, and those in the usual care group improved 0.04 points (95% confidence interval, -0.46 to 0.88). Word list delayed recall and Clinical Dementia Rating sum of boxes improved modestly as well, whereas word list total immediate recall, digit symbol coding, verbal fluency, Beck depression score, and Medical Outcomes 36-Item Short-Form physical and mental component summaries did not change significantly. CONCLUSIONS In this study of adults with subjective memory impairment, a 6-month program of physical activity provided a modest improvement in cognition over an 18-month follow-up period. TRIAL REGISTRATION anzctr.org. au Identifier: ACTRN12605000136606.
An Adaptive Gradient Method for Online AUC Maximization

Learning for maximizing AUC performance is an important research problem in machine learning. Unlike traditional batch learning methods for maximizing AUC which often suffer from poor scalability, recent years have witnessed some emerging studies that attempt to maximize AUC by single-pass online learning approaches. Despite their encouraging results reported, the existing online AUC maximization algorithms often adopt simple stochastic gradient descent approaches, which fail to exploit the geometry knowledge of the data observed in the online learning process, and thus could suffer from relatively slow convergence. To overcome the limitation of the existing studies, in this paper, we propose a novel algorithm of Adaptive Online AUC Maximization (AdaOAM), by applying an adaptive gradient method for exploiting the knowledge of historical gradients to perform more informative online learning. The new adaptive updating strategy by AdaOAM is less sensitive to parameter settings due to its natural effect of tuning the learning rate. In addition, the time complexity of the new algorithm remains the same as the previous non-adaptive algorithms. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, we analyze its theoretical bound, and further evaluate its empirical performance on both public benchmark datasets and anomaly detection datasets. The encouraging empirical results clearly show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Regulation of gene expression during M-G1-phase in fission yeast through Plo1p and forkhead transcription factors

In fission yeast the expression of several genes during M-G1 phase is controlled by binding of the PCB binding factor (PBF) transcription factor complex to Pombe cell cycle box (PCB) promoter motifs. Three components of PBF have been identified, including two forkhead-like proteins Sep1p and Fkh2p, and a MADS-box-like protein, Mbx1p. Here, we examine how PBF is controlled and reveal a role for the Polo kinase Plo1p. plo1+ shows genetic interactions with sep1+, fkh2+ and mbx1+, and overexpression of a kinase-domain mutant of plo1 abolishes M-G1-phase transcription. Plo1p binds to and directly phosphorylates Mbx1p, the first time a Polo kinase has been shown to phosphorylate a MADS box protein in any organism. Fkh2p and Sep1p interact in vivo and in vitro, and Fkh2p, Sep1p and Plo1p contact PCB promoters in vivo. However, strikingly, both Fkh2p and Plo1p bind to PCB promoters only when PCB-controlled genes are not expressed during S- and G2-phase, whereas by contrast Sep1p contacts PCBs coincident with M-G1-phase transcription. Thus, Plo1p, Fkh2p and Sep1p control M-G1-phase gene transcription through a combination of phosphorylation and cell-cycle-specific DNA binding to PCBs.
Evolutionary conservatism and convergence both lead to striking similarity in ecology, morphology and performance across continents in frogs

Many clades contain ecologically and phenotypically similar species across continents, yet the processes generating this similarity are largely unstudied, leaving fundamental questions unanswered. Is similarity in morphology and performance across assemblages caused by evolutionary convergence or by biogeographic dispersal of evolutionarily conserved ecotypes? Does convergence to new ecological conditions erase evidence of past adaptation? Here, we analyse ecology, morphology and performance in frog assemblages from three continents (Asia, Australia and South America), assessing the importance of dispersal and convergent evolution in explaining similarity across regions. We find three striking results. First, species using the same microhabitat type are highly similar in morphology and performance across both clades and continents. Second, some species on different continents owe their similarity to dispersal and evolutionary conservatism (rather than evolutionary convergence), even over vast temporal and spatial scales. Third, in one case, an ecologically specialized ancestor radiated into diverse ecotypes that have converged with those on other continents, largely erasing traces of past adaptation to their ancestral ecology. Overall, our study highlights the roles of both evolutionary conservatism and convergence in explaining similarity in species traits over large spatial and temporal scales and demonstrates a statistical framework for addressing these questions in other systems.
Biodiesel Production From Rubber Seed Oil And Testing In A Twin Cylinder Direct Injection Diesel Engine

A domestically produced, renewable fuel called biodiesel is better for the engine and offers economic, energy security, fuel quality, and environmental benefits compared to petroleum-based diesel. Biodiesel can be manufactured with the existing technology called transesterification and a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel (B20) is used in conventional diesel engines. For these reasons, it provides an immediate opportunity to begin reducing our dependence on conventional petroleum fuel. In this paper the production of rubber seed oil from its kernels and there after its conversion to biodiesel and its performance analysis in a twin cylinder diesel engine are conducted. Marginal improvement in mechanical efficiency and brake thermal efficiency is observed during the testing.
pH-Responsive PLGA Nanoparticle for Controlled Payload Delivery of Diclofenac Sodium

Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) based nanoparticles have gained increasing attention in delivery applications due to their capability for controlled drug release characteristics, biocompatibility, and tunable mechanical, as well as degradation, properties. However, thorough study is always required while evaluating potential toxicity of the particles from dose dumping, inconsistent release and drug-polymer interactions. In this research, we developed PLGA nanoparticles modified by chitosan (CS), a cationic and pH responsive polysaccharide that bears repetitive amine groups in its backbone. We used a model drug, diclofenac sodium (DS), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), to study the drug loading and release characteristics. PLGA nanoparticles were synthesized by double-emulsion solvent evaporation technique. The nanoparticles were evaluated based on their particle size, surface charge, entrapment efficacy, and effect of pH in drug release profile. About 390–420 nm of average diameters and uniform morphology of the particles were confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurement. Chitosan coating over PLGA surface was confirmed by FTIR and DLS. Drug entrapment efficacy was up to 52%. Chitosan coated PLGA showed a pH responsive drug release in in vitro. The release was about 45% more at pH 5.5 than at pH 7.4. The results of our study indicated the development of chitosan coating over PLGA nanoparticle for pH dependent controlled release DS drug for therapeutic applications.
Boosting versus Covering

We investigate improvements of AdaBoost that can exploit the fact that the weak hypotheses are one-sided, i.e. either all its positive (or negative) predictions are correct. In particular, for any set of m labeled examples consistent with a disjunction of k literals (which are one-sided in this case), AdaBoost constructs a consistent hypothesis by using O(k2 logm) iterations. On the other hand, a greedy set covering algorithm finds a consistent hypothesis of size O(k log m). Our primary question is whether there is a simple boosting algorithm that performs as well as the greedy set covering. We first show that InfoBoost, a modification of AdaBoost proposed by Aslam for a different purpose, does perform as well as the greedy set covering algorithm. We then show that AdaBoost requires Ω(k2 log m) iterations for learning k-literal disjunctions. We achieve this with an adversary construction and as well as in simple experiments based on artificial data. Further we give a variant called SemiBoost that can handle the degenerate case when the given examples all have the same label. We conclude by showing that SemiBoost can be used to produce small conjunctions as well.
Positions of parentheticals and interjections: A corpus-based approach

Sentences in Dutch can be interrupted in various ways. We will use the term intercalation for interruptions by the speaker/writer that occur within the boundaries of a sentence without influencing this sentence (cf. de Groot 1949). The sentence (the host sentence or host) continues after the intercalation as if the intercalation were not there; the syntactic structure and the intonation pattern of the host sentence remain unaltered. This description of intercalations can be summarized in the following formula:
Effects of IRF5 on the Pathogenesis of Pleiotropic IFN-Dependent and -Independent

Genetic polymorphisms of IFN regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) are associated with an increased risk of lupus in humans. In this study, we examined the role of IRF5 in the pathogenesis of pristane-induced lupus in mice. The pathological response to pristane in IRF5 2/2 mice shared many features with type I IFN receptor (IFNAR) 2/2 and TLR7 2/2 mice: production of anti-Sm/RNP autoantibodies, glomerulonephritis, generation of Ly6C hi monocytes, and IFN-I production all were greatly attenuated. Lymphocyte activation following pristane injection was greatly diminished in IRF5 2/2 mice, and Th cell differentiation was deviated from Th1 in wild-type mice toward Th2 in IRF5 2/2 mice. Th cell development was skewed similarly in TLR7 2/2 or IFNAR 2/2 mice, suggesting that IRF5 alters T cell activation and differentiation by affecting cytokine production. Indeed, production of IFN-I, IL-12, and IL-23 in response to pristane was markedly decreased, whereas IL-4 increased. Unexpectedly, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) were not recruited to the site of inflammation in IRF5 2/2 or MyD88 2/2 mice, but were recruited normally in IFNAR 2/2 and TLR7 2/2 mice. In striking contrast to wild-type mice, pristane did not stimulate local expression of CCL19 and CCL21 in IRF5 2/2 mice, suggesting that IRF5 regulates chemokine-mediated pDC migration independently of its effects on IFN-I. Collectively, these data indicate that altered production of IFN-I and other cytokines in IRF5 2/2 mice prevents pristane from inducing lupus pathology by broadly affecting T and B lymphocyte activation/differentiation. Additionally, we uncovered a new, IFN-I–independent role of IRF5 in regulating chemokines involved in the homing of pDCs and certain lymphocyte subsets. T he transcription factor IFN regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) is a member of the IRF family with a key role in TLR-stimulated production of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-12, IL-23, IL-6, and TNF-a (1), activation of type I IFN genes (2, 3), regulation of apoptosis (4), and development of B cells (5, 6). In humans, there are multiple IRF5 isoforms resulting from alternative splicing of the IRF5 gene (7–10). In contrast, murine IRF5 is expressed as a single transcript (11). Certain genetic polymorphisms of IRF5 are strongly associated with an increased risk of developing systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in humans, and the IRF5 haplotype helps to define the risk for SLE (7, 10, 12–15). IRF5 also contributes to the pathogenesis of lupus in mouse models. In the FcgRIIB lupus models, IRF5 is required for autoantibody production and …
The effect of phenobarbital on gene expression levels of p53 and Dnmt1 in the liver of Wistar rats.

BACKGROUND Our previous studies have shown that short-term treatment with phenobarbital (PB) resulted in cytosine methylation of CpG sites on the p53 gene promoter in male Wistar rats' liver. Furthermore, PB induced DNA-methyltransferases (DNMTs) activity was also demonstrated; being the enzymes that catalyze methyl group transfer to cytosine in CpG dinucleotides. OBJECTIVE Since DNA methylation is involved in regulating gene transcription and that DNMT1 is implicated in regulating DNA methylation, this study assessed whether PB-induced hypermethylation of the p53 promoter region was associated with an altered expression of p53 and Dnmt1 genes. MATERIAL AND METHODS Male Wistar rats received PB in three daily oral doses (at 24-h intervals) of 92,8 mg/kg b.w. x day-1. Levels of mRNA for p53 and Dnmt1 and levels of relevant proteins were respectively examined by Real-Time PCR and Western blot analysis. RESULTS Gene expression analysis revealed that exposure of Wistar rats to PB caused statistically significant alternations in the expression of tested genes. We found that both mRNA and protein expression of p53 was down-regulated, whereas expression of Dnmt1 (both mRNA and protein) was up-regulated after PB treatment. CONCLUSIONS Suppression of p53 mRNA and protein expression, which is probably a result of epigenetic changes, (in particular aberrant p53 promoter hypermethylation), can be associated with tumour promoting activity of phenobarbital.
Information-Agnostic Flow Scheduling for Commodity Data Centers

Many existing data center network (DCN) flow scheduling schemes minimize flow completion times (FCT) based on prior knowledge of flows and custom switch functions, making them superior in performance but hard to use in practice. By contrast, we seek to minimize FCT with no prior knowledge and existing commodity switch hardware. To this end, we present PIAS, a DCN flow scheduling mechanism that aims to minimize FCT by mimicking Shortest Job First (SJF) on the premise that flow size is not known a priori. At its heart, PIAS leverages multiple priority queues available in existing commodity switches to implement a Multiple Level Feedback Queue (MLFQ), in which a PIAS flow is gradually demoted from higher-priority queues to lower-priority queues based on the number of bytes it has sent. As a result, short flows are likely to be finished in the first few high-priority queues and thus be prioritized over long flows in general, which enables PIAS to emulate SJF without knowing flow sizes beforehand. We have implemented a PIAS prototype and evaluated PIAS through both testbed experiments and ns- 2 simulations. We show that PIAS is readily deployable with commodity switches and backward compatible with legacy TCP/IP stacks. Our evaluation results show that PIAS significantly outperforms existing information-agnostic schemes. For example, it reduces FCT by up to 50% and 40% over DCTCP [11] and L2DCT [27] respectively; and it only has a 4.9% performance gap to an ideal information-aware scheme, pFabric [13], for short flows under a production DCN workload.
Reflection space image based rendering

The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for reflection space image based rendering of an object at an interactive frame rate. A set of source radiance environment maps associated with a set of source viewing vectors are warped to create a destination radiance environment map associated with a destination viewing vector in a current frame. Blending and weighting operations can also be applied in creating the final destination radiance environment map. An object is then rendered with texture environment mapped from the destination radiance environment map.
Understanding the benefits of ontology use for Australian industry: A conceptual study

In IT, rather than philosophy, an ontology makes explicit the meanings of terms used in domains, or concerning a specific reality, so that people and machines can precisely discuss the meaning of data. Specifically, ontology makes data sharing and analysis easier by making the meaning of data, and of the reality to which the database refers, explicit. Ontology has significant uptake in biomedicine but not yet in industry despite much technical development and reporting of specific successes. This research seeks to determine how and why organisations gain benefits from using ontology leading to a rigorously tested model of how business gains benefit from ontology use. This research in progress paper develops a model explaining the benefit of ontology use to firms and outlines our plans to test the model empirically. The outcome is significant for Australian industry because it will guide the efforts of organisations to use ontology effectively.
Exploiting natural dynamics in biped locomotion using variable impedance control

Biped locomotion has been extensively studied using various approaches, including Passive Dynamic Walking, ZMP-based control and biologically inspired muscle models. In biped locomotion robotics, there has been an increasing interest in variable impedance actuation/control as opposed to stiff, position-based control. Although primarily researched in the context of human-robot interaction, it has also been shown to play an important role in human locomotion. In this work we explore the use of variable impedance control for biped locomotion at the joint level. We hypothesize that 1) human like gait emerges from model-free optimization of first principles only, 2) joint variable impedance control increases gait quality and 3) variable impedance decreases energy expenditure. These hypotheses are explored in 2D using a simple humanoid model and Particle Swarm Optimization to optimize controllers that minimize energy expenditure. Our results confirm our first hypothesis and show a trend towards the second and third hypotheses.
Arabinogalactan proteins in root and pollen-tube cells: distribution and functional aspects.

BACKGROUND Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are complex proteoglycans of the cell wall found in the entire plant kingdom and in almost all plant organs. AGPs encompass a large group of heavily glycosylated cell-wall proteins which share common features, including the presence of glycan chains especially enriched in arabinose and galactose and a protein backbone particularly rich in hydroxyproline residues. However, AGPs also exhibit strong heterogeneities among their members in various plant species. AGP ubiquity in plants suggests these proteoglycans are fundamental players for plant survival and development. SCOPE In this review, we first present an overview of current knowledge and specific features of AGPs. A section devoted to major tools used to study AGPs is also presented. We then discuss the distribution of AGPs as well as various aspects of their functional properties in root tissues and pollen tubes. This review also suggests novel directions of research on the role of AGPs in the biology of roots and pollen tubes.