Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Equilibrium Criterion for Learning the Cardinality of Latent Variables

Mining high dimensional data-sets extracted from real world problems is a challenging task due to the large features' space. The latent variables are used to reduce the dimensions of this space by representing highly dependent features. They simplify the creation of probabilistic models and they clarify the semantic of the inferred knowledge. Learning these variables for Bayesian network, as the most generic probabilistic model, is problematic. Actually, there is not a direct way that leads to finding their cardinalities. The precision of the inferred model is highly dependent on the accuracy of the latent variable's cardinality. Therefore, choosing a small value leads to a generalized model having a high rate of information loss. Moreover, a high cardinality tend to over-fit the data, to generate complex latent variables and to burden the parameter learning of the probabilistic model. In this paper, we propose a new criterion based on the mutual information and the log likelihood, called the equilibrium criterion. We mathematically and experimentally validate its efficiency for estimating the cardinality of the latent variable. We also demonstrate its performance in finding the hidden cause of a set of observed variables. The experimental analysis shows that our method succeeded in restoring the original cardinality of intentionally deleted variables in known networks.
On popularity prediction of videos shared in online social networks

Popularity prediction, with both technological and economic importance, has been extensively studied for conventional video sharing sites (VSSes), where the videos are mainly found via searching, browsing, or related links. Recent statistics however suggest that online social network (OSN) users regularly share video contents from VSSes, which has contributed to a significant portion of the accesses; yet the popularity prediction in this new context remains largely unexplored. In this paper, we present an initial study on the popularity prediction of videos propagated in OSNs along friendship links. We conduct a large-scale measurement and analysis of viewing patterns of videos shared in one of largest OSNs in China, and examine the performance of typical views-based prediction models. We find that they are generally ineffective, if not totally fail, especially when predicting the early peaks and later bursts of accesses, which are common during video propagations in OSNs. To overcome these limits, we track the propagation process of videos shared in a Facebook-like OSN in China, and analyze the user viewing and sharing behaviors. We accordingly develop a novel propagation-based video popularity prediction solution, namely SoVP. Instead of relying solely on the early views for prediction, SoVP considers both the intrinsic attractiveness of a video and the influence from the underlying propagation structure. The effectiveness of SoVP, particularly for predicting the peaks and bursts, have been validated through our trace-driven experiments.
High gain ferrite cavity-backed slot antenna for RFID application

This paper describes a high gain cavity-backed slot(CBS) antenna. A superstrate of thin metal is placed at a certain distance above the substrate to enhance the gain of the slot antenna. The cavity-backed slot antenna is fed by a microstrip line printed on the top of the substrate. In order to reduce the size of antenna, We use the ferrite as the substrate, and the optimized antenna size is 40⋆30(mm). The cavity thickness of this slot antenna is about 10 times smaller than conventional cavities, which would allow constructing this antenna even with standard multilayer planar technology. The simulation results and show that this metal superstrate-covered cavity-backed slot antenna can attain the gain of 7.16dBi. The antenna can meet the needs of particular RFID application.
Proteolytic activation of receptor‐bound anthrax protective antigen on macrophages promotes its internalization

Immunofluorescence and other methods have been used to probe the self‐assembly and internalization of the binary toxin, anthrax lethal toxin (LeTx), in primary murine macrophages. Proteolytic activation of protective antigen (PA; 83 kDa, the B moiety of the toxin) by furin was the rate‐limiting step in internalization of LeTx and promoted clearance of PA from the cell surface. A furin‐resistant form of PA remained at the cell surface for at least 90 min. Oligomerization of receptor‐bound PA63, the 63 kDa active fragment of PA, was manifested by its conversion to a pronase‐resistant state, characteristic of the heptameric prepore form in solution. That oligomerization of PA63 triggers toxin internalization is supported by the observation that PA20, the complementary 20 kDa fragment of PA, inhibited clearance of nicked PA. The PA63 prepore, with or without lethal factor (LF), cleared slowly from the cell surface. These studies show that proteolytic cleavage of PA, in addition to permitting oligomerization and LF binding, also promotes internalization of the protein. The relatively long period of activation and internalization of PA at the cell surface may reflect adaptation of this binary toxin that maximizes self‐assembly.
Evolution of genetic redundancy: the relevance of complexity in genotype–phenotype mapping

Despite its ubiquity among organisms, genetic redundancy is presumed to reduce total population fitness and is therefore unlikely to evolve. This study evaluates an evolutionary model with high-dimensional genotype–phenotype mapping (GPM) by applying a replica method to deal with quenched randomness. From the method, the dependence of fitness on genetic redundancy is analytically calculated. The results demonstrate that genetic redundancy can have higher population fitness under complex GPM, which tends to favor gene duplication in selection processes, further enhancing the potential for evolutionary innovations.
HP1a, Su(var)3-9, SETDB1 and POF stimulate or repress gene expression depending on genomic position, gene length and expression pattern in Drosophila melanogaster

Heterochromatin protein 1a (HP1a) is a chromatin-associated protein important for the formation and maintenance of heterochromatin. In Drosophila, the two histone methyltransferases SETDB1 and Su(var)3-9 mediate H3K9 methylation marks that initiates the establishment and spreading of HP1a-enriched chromatin. Although HP1a is generally regarded as a factor that represses gene transcription, several reports have linked HP1a binding to active genes, and in some cases, it has been shown to stimulate transcriptional activity. To clarify the function of HP1a in transcription regulation and its association with Su(var)3-9, SETDB1 and the chromosome 4-specific protein POF, we conducted genome-wide expression studies and combined the results with available binding data in Drosophila melanogaster. The results suggest that HP1a, SETDB1 and Su(var)3-9 repress genes on chromosome 4, where non-ubiquitously expressed genes are preferentially targeted, and stimulate genes in pericentromeric regions. Further, we showed that on chromosome 4, Su(var)3-9, SETDB1 and HP1a target the same genes. In addition, we found that transposons are repressed by HP1a and Su(var)3-9 and that the binding level and expression effects of HP1a are affected by gene length. Our results indicate that genes have adapted to be properly expressed in their local chromatin environment.
The Effect Of Amplifying Material Upon Comprehension

Many difficult concepts are presented in general statements in textbooks, which com prise a major portion of the reading material provided for pupils in the elementary grades of the country. There is no indication at present tHat the widespread use of textbooks will be decreased in the near future. Numer ous investigations have shown that there is no grade level where pupils of average ability are able to read with adequate understanding the textbooks provided for them. One reason why textbooks are inadequately understood is that they contain many general and ab stract statements which do not provide suffi cient detail for pupils with limited experien tial and linguistic backgrounds. As a result, such pupils are prone to memorize the lan guage about facts instead of gaining actual knowledge and understanding. The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of amplification of general statements upon the reading com prehension of children in the intermediate grades. Materials for the Study
A Numeric PDDL Based Approach for Temporally Constrained Journey Problems

Many realistic life scenarios require dealing with deadlines and action durations. Such constraints, together with propositional and resource conditions must be taken into account in order to make plans which are actually feasible. In order to combine these aspects, the paper deals with the entailed temporal constrained planning problem by using the framework of numeric planning, based on an action centred philosophy a-la PDDL. The approach is motivated by the necessity of integrating scheduling and planning in the context of a multi-modal journey planning problem. In order to evaluate the feasibility of the approach, the paper presents JoPA, a web service architecture which has been thoroughly evaluated employing two state of the art numeric planning systems, i.e. Metric-FF and Colin. Results show that the approach is feasible considering (un) constrained and optimization tasks.
Is Brazilian education improving? Evidence from PISA and SAEB

This article assesses the changes in mathematics and reading scores of socially advantaged or disadvantaged Brazilian students, in the International Student Assessment Program – Pisa – between 2000 and 2012, and the National Basic Education Assessment System – Saeb – between 1995 to 2013, in order to extract some provisional conclusions regarding the variations in the effectiveness of basic education in Brazil (1st to 8th/9th grades). Our findings show that the gains in the Pisa math test are much larger than in the reading test. The gains (or their absence), in the Saeb test, for the 1999-2013 period, are also higher in mathematics than in Portuguese. Part of the gains in the Pisa math test and most of those in the reading test result from the gradual increase in the number of years fifteen year-old students spend in school. The gains in the Pisa test for more advantaged Brazilian students are lower than for those coming from families with lower educational resources; this also applies for the Saeb test. EvAluAtion • BAsic EducAtion • PisA • sAEB ¿lA educAción brAsileñA está meJorAndo? evidenciAs de PisA y sAeb
Improvement in isolation of human peripheral blood leukocyte subpopulations: application in diagnosing human cytomegalovirus infection in bone marrow transplant patients.

OBJECTIVES High-yield isolation and purification of human leukocyte subpopulations from whole blood is fundamental to many biological and medical applications including qualitative and quantitative PCR-based techniques of determining human cytomegalovirus infection. Several procedures have been reported to purify morphologically and functionally intact human leukocyte subpopulations for diagnostic proposes. Here, we report and evaluate a technique for high-yield purification of intact and viable human leukocyte subpopulations based on modification of a previous methodology. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred peripheral blood samples were collected from bone marrow transplant recipients (n = 60), bone marrow donors (n = 20), and healthy blood donors (n = 20). The samples were tested in parallel using 4 different leukocyte separation methods. The methods were evaluated based on the concentration, purity, and viability of the isolated leukocyte subpopulations. RESULTS When compared with standard methods, our methods produced 99% purity for both polymorphonuclear or mononuclear leukocytes. The corresponding viability for the methods was determined to be 98%. No erythrocyte contamination was demonstrated. However, the maximum concentration for polymorphonuclear or mononuclear leukocytes obtained by standard methods was 70%. The corresponding viability for all the methods was determined to be 98%. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that in patients with decreased whole blood leukocyte numbers, using either a modified Ficoll NH(4)Cl or a modified dextran method would be valuable for simultaneous separation of polymorphonuclear and mononuclear leukocytes with high purity, viability, and concentration.
Gene expression and hepatitis C virus infection

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease, with about 170 million people infected worldwide. Up to 70% of patients will have persistent infection after inoculation, making this disease a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. The severity of disease varies widely, from asymptomatic chronic infection to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Since the discovery of HCV, the treatment of hepatitis C has considerably improved. Recently, combination of pegylated interferons with ribavirin gives a response rate of about 55%. Treatment is indicated in patients with moderate or severe fibrosis. The tolerability of combination treatment is relatively poor, with a frequent flu-like syndrome and an impaired quality of life. In addition to viral and environmental behavioural factors, host genetic diversity is believed to contribute to the spectrum of clinical outcomes in HCV infection. The sequencing of the human genome, together with the development of high-throughput technologies that measure the function of the genome, have afforded unique opportunities to develop profiles that can distinguish, identify and classify discrete subsets of disease, predict the disease outcome or predict the response to treatment. This paper reviews the published literature on gene expression associated with HCV infection (HCV infection, fibrosis progression), and also according to response to treatment.
A Formal Methodology Applied to Secure Over-the-Air Automotive Applications

The expected high complexity in future automotive applications will require to frequently update electronic devices supporting those applications. Even if in-car devices are trusted, potential attacks on over the air exchanges impose stringent requirements on both safety and security. To address the formal verification of safety properties, we have previously introduced the AVATAR UML profile whose methodology covers requirement, analysis, design, and formal verification stages [1]. We now propose to extend AVATAR to support both safety and security during all methodological stages, and in the same models. The paper applies the extended AVATAR to an over the-air protocol for trusted firmware updates of in-car control units, with a special focus on design and formal verification stages.
Perceived Weight, Actual Weight, and Risky Behaviors: Racial and Gender Disparities in U.S. Adolescents

This dissertation is the first to investigate the relationship between weight misperceptions and adolescent body mass index (BMI), the importance of weight misperceptions as determinants of racial/ethnic disparities in BMI, the differential effect of weight misperceptions across the adolescent BMI distribution, as well as the importance of different measures of weight as determinants of adolescent risky sex, using a nationally representative panel of adolescents. The results suggest that weight under-perceptions are significantly associated with adolescent BMI even after controlling for time constant individual-level unobservables. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis shows that accounting for weight misperceptions, in addition to individual and contextual factors, increases the total explained portion of the black-white BMI gap but only slightly increases the total explained portion of the Hispanic-white gap. Individual level fixed effects quantile regressions show that weight under-perceptions are significantly associated with adolescent BMI, particularly for adolescents about at or above the 75th quantile. Analyses stratified by race/ethnicity and SES show complex patterns of associations. Turning to the relationship between measures of weight and adolescent risky sex, results show that youth who have actual weight categories or perceived weight categories that are seen as unattractive by their cultural/social group (i.e., overweight white and underweight black and Hispanic adolescents) are more likely to postpone sexual debut. Among sexually active adolescents, actual weight or perceived weight that is seen as unattractive by one’s cultural/social group is associated with increased number of sex partners and with decreased odds of contraceptive use. School programs aimed at teaching correct weight identification and interpretation may be an invaluable tool in addressing both the obesity crisis and risky behavior prevention.
Sex pheromone and analogs of the citrus mealybug , Planococcus citri : synthesis and biological activity

The citrus mealybug, is a cosmopolitan pest and affects many crops. The female sex pheromone has been identified by Bierl-Leonhardt et al., in 1981 as (+)-(1R)-cis-2,2-dimethyl-3isopropenylcyclobutanemethanol acetate 1. Several groups including our team have synthesized the pheromone. A number of analogs have also been prepared in order to study the structure-activity relationship. We present here a modified synthetic route for the pheromone, preparation of some analogs and the biological activity of these compounds. The starting materials for the pheromone and analogs are cis-pinonic acid or cis-pinonic aldehyde which can be easily obtained from cheap commercial (+)-α-pinene by cleavage with permanganate or ozonolysis. Conversion of the pinonic derivatives to the pinononic compounds was achieved either by a modified Hundsdiecker reaction (Wolk et al., 1986) or by ozonolysis of the enol acetate of cis-pinonic aldehyde (Barton and Fontana, 1996). In the present study, we report our results using the second method, which avoids the use of the unstable pinononyl halides. The key element of the synthesis of 1 is the use of pinononyl aldehyde 2 and its selective reduction to pinononyl alcohol 3. The latter was submitted to a Wittig reaction and then acetylated; alternatively the sequence was reversed and the Wittig reaction was performed after the acetylation to form the pheromone 1. The stereochemistry was preserved in all steps and no racemization was observed. Field tests indicated that a number of analogs display considerable biological activity. One of them, a homolog containing an elongated acetate side chain by one carbon 10 has a relatively high activity. This observation has practical importance because the synthesis of the homolog is shorter and more convenient than that of the pheromone. The field tests indicated that the acetate group and the double bond in the pheromone molecule are essential for biological activity.
Prevention of Cisplatin-Induced Vomiting in Patients with Cancer. A Pilot Study with a Multiagent Protocol

Forty patients receiving a total of 102 courses of cisplatin (CDDP)-based treatment were observed in the present study. The patients received an antiemetic prophylaxis with metoclopramide (6 mg/kg), dexamethasone (12 mg/m2), lorazepam (2.5 mg), promethazine (50 mg), and diazepam (10 mg). Complete protection from acute vomiting was obtained in 77.5% of patients during the first course, and partial protection (1 to 3 episodes of vomiting) was observed in 10.1% additional cases. Complete protection was achieved in 84.6% of males vs 57.1% of females. Patients at their first course of chemotherapy had 80% complete protection compared to 66.7% In those who received prior chemotherapy. No differences in the response rate between patients treated with high versus patients receiving low doses of CDDP were noted. The same pattern of response was observed in subsequent courses of therapy. Side effects were minimal (mild sedation in almost all the cases and hiccups in a few cases). No major extrapyramidal reaction was observed. The regimen used in the study showed good efficacy in preventing acute CDDP-induced nausea and vomiting. Moreover, the very low incidence of major side effects makes this protocol safe and recommendable in patients undergoing CDDP chemotherapy.
Modulation of Hsp90 function by ansamycins sensitizes breast cancer cells to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in an RB- and schedule-dependent manner. See: E. A. Sausville, Combining cytotoxics and 17-allylamino, 17-demethoxygeldanamycin: sequence and tumor biology matters, Clin. Cancer Res., 7: 2155-

17-allyl-aminogeldanamycin (17-AAG) is an ansamycin antibiotic that binds to a highly conserved pocket in the Hsp90 chaperone protein and inhibits its function. Hsp90 is required for the refolding of proteins during cellular stress and the conformational maturation of certain signaling proteins. 17-AAG has antitumor activity in cell culture and animal xenograft models and is currently in clinical trial. It causes an RB-dependent G(1) arrest, differentiation, and apoptosis. RB-negative cells arrest in mitosis and undergo apoptosis. Hsp90 plays an important role in the cellular response to environmental stress. Therefore, we tested whether the regulation of Hsp90 function by 17-AAG could sensitize cells to cytotoxic agents. 17-AAG sensitized tumor cells to Taxol and doxorubicin. Taxanes cause growth arrest in mitosis and apoptosis. The addition of 17-AAG to cells after exposure to Taxol significantly increased both the activation of caspases 9 and 3 and apoptosis. In cells with intact RB, exposure to 17-AAG before Taxol resulted in G(1) arrest and abrogated apoptosis. Schedule dependence was not seen in cells with mutated RB, because both agents blocked cells in mitosis. Schedule- or RB-dependence was also not observed when cells were treated with 17-AAG and doxorubicin, a DNA-intercalating agent that acts on different phases of the cell cycle. These findings suggest that inhibition of Hsp90 function by 17-AAG enhances the apoptotic effects of cytotoxic agents. The sequence of drug administration and the RB status significantly influence efficacy.
Can grounded theory provide a framework for clinical reasoning

Clinical reasoning is the ability to ‘sort through a cluster of features presented by a patient and accurately assign a diagnostic label, with the development of an appropriate treatment strategy as the end goal’ (Eva 2005). This paper proposes that grounded theory can be used as a model to explain the steps involved in clinical reasoning.