Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A one-way nested eddy resolving model of the Aegean and Levantine basins: implementation and climatological runs

Abstract. The present study deals with the implementation of an eddy resolving model of the Levantine and Aegean basins and its one-way nesting with a coarse resolution (1/8° × 1/8°) global Mediterranean general circulation model. The modelling effort is done within the framework of the Mediterranean Forecasting System Pilot Project as an initiative towards real-time forecasting within the eastern Mediterranean region. The performed climatological runs of the nested model have shown very promising results on the ability of the model to capture correctly the complex dynamics of the area and at the same time to demonstrate the skill and robustness of the nesting technique applied. A second aim of this study is to prepare a comprehensive climatological surface boundary conditions data set for the Mediterranean Sea. This data set has been developed within the framework of the same research project and is suitable for use in ocean circulation models of the Mediterranean Sea or parts of it. The computation is based on the ECMWF 6-h atmospheric parameters for the period 1979–1993 and a calibrated set of momentum and heat flux bulk formulae resulted from previous studies for the Mediterranean region. Key words. Oceanography: general (numerical modelling); physical (general circulation; air-sea interactions)
Q-Learning-Based Adaptive Waveform Selection in Cognitive Radar

Cognitive radar is a new framework of radar system proposed by Simon Haykin recently. Adaptive waveform selection is an important problem of intelligent transmitter in cognitive radar. In this paper, the problem of adaptive waveform selection is modeled as stochastic dynamic programming model. Then Q-learning is used to solve it. Q-learning can solve the problems that we do not know the explicit knowledge of state-transition probabilities. The simulation results demonstrate that this method approaches the optimal wave-form selection scheme and has lower uncertainty of state estimation compared to fixed waveform. Finally, the whole paper is summarized.
A survey on data security in data warehousing: Issues, challenges and opportunities

Data Warehouses (DWs) are the enterprise's most valuable assets in what concerns critical business information, making them an appealing target for malicious inside and outside attackers. Given the volume of data and the nature of DW queries, most of the existing data security solutions for databases are inefficient, consuming too many resources and introducing too much overhead in query response time, or resulting in too many false positive alarms (i.e., incorrect detection of attacks) to be checked. In this paper, we present a survey on currently available data security techniques, focusing on specific issues and requirements concerning their use in data warehousing environments. We also point out challenges and opportunities for future research work in this field.
A Two-Stage Learning Method for Response Prediction

Social networks have become a popular and powerful communication platform as the mobile technology evolves. To evaluate the influence of a message on a social network, response prediction is crucial in modeling the message propagation and interaction among users. To predict whether a new message will receive responses, we propose a two-stage learning method using a new set of features derived from the messages, the users and theirresponding behaviors. This method first clusters the messages, and then learns the different prediction models from the clusters respectively. The central argument for this two-stage strategy is that the classifiers trained separately from the clustered data sets can focus on particular types of data, reduce the effects of noise, and consequently have an overall higher predictive performance than a single classifier trained from the entire data set. We tested the proposed two-stage learner on Plurk, and compared it withother classifiers. The experimental results show that the two-stage learner outperformed the gradient boosting decision tree learner, the logistic function learner, and the support vector machine for not only the predictive accuracy, but also for the efficiency.
The Missing Link in Star Cluster Evolution

The currently most popular models for the dynamical evolution of star clusters predict that the power-law cluster luminosity functions (CLFs) of young star cluster systems will be transformed rapidly into the universal Gaussian CLFs of old Milky Way-type "globular" cluster systems. Here, we provide the first evidence for a turnover in the intermediate-age ~1 Gyr old CLF in the center of the nearby starburst galaxy M82, which very closely matches the universal CLFs of old Milky Way-type globular cluster systems. Thiors provides an important test of both cluster disruption theories and hierarchical galaxy formation models. It also lends strong support to the scenario that these young cluster systems may eventually evolve into old Milky Way-type globular cluster systems. M82's proximity, its shortest known cluster disruption timescale of any galaxy, and its well-defined peak of cluster formation make it an ideal candidate to probe the evolution of its star cluster system to fainter luminosities, and thus lower masses, than has been possible for any galaxy before.
On Spatial Gossip Algorithms for Average Consensus

This paper investigates the use of spatial gossip to compute the average consensus in networks such as grids or random geometric graphs, where connectivity is a function of proximity. Randomized gossip is a framework for distributed computation where, at each iteration, a random pair of nodes exchanges information, and then updates their local values by averaging. This simple protocol converges to an average consensus: every node obtains the average of the initial values across the network. In spatial gossip, if the distance between two nodes is d, then they communicate with probability proportional to d-ß for some ß ¿ 0. The special case ß = 0 corresponds to an algorithm known in the sensor network literature as geographic gossip. Dimakis et al. have shown that geographic gossip computes the average to accuracy n-1 in O(n3/2¿log n) transmissions. In this paper we show that the same rates are achieved for ß = 2 and ß = 3. Each setting offers a different balance between the rate of convergence (in gossip rounds) and the average number of transmissions per gossip round. We illustrate, via simulation, that spatial gossip with ß = 2 generally yields superior performance over geographic gossip by a constant factor.
Slow Proton Transfer Coupled to Unfolding Explains the Puzzling Results of Single-Molecule Experiments on BBL, a Paradigmatic Downhill Folding Protein

A battery of thermodynamic, kinetic, and structural approaches has indicated that the small α-helical protein BBL folds-unfolds via the one-state downhill scenario. Yet, single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy offers a more conflicting view. Single-molecule experiments at pH 6 show a unique half-unfolded conformational ensemble at mid denaturation, whereas other experiments performed at higher pH show a bimodal distribution, as expected for two-state folding. Here we use thermodynamic and laser T-jump kinetic experiments combined with theoretical modeling to investigate the pH dependence of BBL stability, folding kinetics and mechanism within the pH 6–11 range. We find that BBL unfolding is tightly coupled to the protonation of one of its residues with an apparent pKa of ∼7. Therefore, in chemical denaturation experiments around neutral pH BBL unfolds gradually, and also converts in binary fashion to the protonated species. Moreover, under the single-molecule experimental conditions (denaturant midpoint and 279 K), we observe that proton transfer is much slower than the ∼15 microseconds folding-unfolding kinetics of BBL. The relaxation kinetics is distinctly biphasic, and the overall relaxation time (i.e. 0.2–0.5 ms) becomes controlled by the proton transfer step. We then show that a simple theoretical model of protein folding coupled to proton transfer explains quantitatively all these results as well as the two sets of single-molecule experiments, including their more puzzling features. Interestingly, this analysis suggests that BBL unfolds following a one-state downhill folding mechanism at all conditions. Accordingly, the source of the bimodal distributions observed during denaturation at pH 7–8 is the splitting of the unique conformational ensemble of BBL onto two slowly inter-converting protonation species. Both, the unprotonated and protonated species unfold gradually (one-state downhill), but they exhibit different degree of unfolding at any given condition because the native structure is less stable for the protonated form.
Solving Mazes using an Artificial Developmental Neuron

An agent controlled by a single computational neuron is used to solve maze problems. The neuron has activity and timedependent computational and topological structure. The behaviour of a neuron is controlled by a collection of seven evolved programs that are loosely analogous to aspects of biological neuron (dendrites, soma, axons, synapses, electrical and developmental behaviour). The programs are represented using Cartesian Genetic Programming. Our aim is to show that it is possible to evolve programs that develop a single neuron so that it is able to learn how to solve maze problems purely by experience.
‘It could redefine public service broadcasting in the digital age’

In November 2015, the BBC Trust gave its final approval for BBC Three to cease broadcasting on television in the United Kingdom and become an online-only entity. The decision is a landmark moment in the history of BBC Television and has significant implications for BBC planning in relation to the continued transition from broadcast television to streaming and download services. In this article, the original proposals for moving BBC Three online are assessed and discussed within the wider context of current BBC policy. It is argued that the rationale used for moving BBC Three online is based on arguments that vary in the extent to which they are backed by evidence. It is also argued that the plans have significant regulatory implications for the future of BBC Television and for the television licence fee in the United Kingdom.
Phenylalanine-544 Plays a Key Role in Substrate and Inhibitor Binding by Providing a Hydrophobic Packing Point at the Active Site of Insulin-Regulated Aminopeptidase

Inhibitors of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP) improve memory and are being developed as a novel treatment for memory loss. In this study, the binding of a class of these inhibitors to human IRAP was investigated using molecular docking and site-directed mutagenesis. Four benzopyran-based IRAP inhibitors with different affinities were docked into a homology model of the catalytic site of IRAP. Two 4-pyridinyl derivatives orient with the benzopyran oxygen interacting with the Zn2+ ion and a direct parallel ring-stack interaction between the benzopyran rings and Phe544. In contrast, the two 4-quinolinyl derivatives orient in a different manner, interacting with the Zn2+ ion via the quinoline nitrogen, and Phe544 contributes an edge-face hydrophobic stacking point with the benzopyran moiety. Mutagenic replacement of Phe544 with alanine, isoleucine, or valine resulted in either complete loss of catalytic activity or altered hydrolysis velocity that was substrate-dependent. Phe544 is also important for inhibitor binding, because these mutations altered the Ki in some cases, and docking of the inhibitors into the corresponding Phe544 mutant models revealed how the interaction might be disturbed. These findings demonstrate a key role of Phe544 in the binding of the benzopyran IRAP inhibitors and for optimal positioning of enzyme substrates during catalysis.
Cervical human papillomavirus prevalence in 5 continents: meta-analysis of 1 million women with normal cytological findings.

BACKGROUND Baseline information on human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence and type distribution is highly desirable to evaluate the impact of prophylactic HPV vaccines in the near future. METHODS A meta-analysis was performed of studies published between 1995 and 2009 that used polymerase chain reaction or Hybrid Capture 2 for HPV detection in women with normal cytological findings. RESULTS The analysis included 194 studies comprising 1,016,719 women with normal cytological findings. The estimated global HPV prevalence was 11.7% (95% confidence interval, 11.6%-11.7%). Sub-Saharan Africa (24.0%), Eastern Europe (21.4%), and Latin America (16.1%) showed the highest prevalences. Age-specific HPV distribution presented with a first peak at younger ages (<25 years) and, in the Americas and Africa, a rebound at older ages (≥45 years). Among the women with type-specific HPV data (n = 215,568), the 5 most common types worldwide were HPV-16 (3.2%), HPV-18 (1.4%), HPV-52 (0.9%), HPV-31 (0.8%), and HPV-58 (0.7%). CONCLUSIONS Although the prevalence of HPV in women with normal cytological findings is high and variable across world regions, HPV types 16, 18, 31, 52, and 58 are consistently found among the 10 most common types in all of them. These results represent the most comprehensive assessment of HPV burden among women with normal cytological findings in the pre-HPV vaccination era worldwide.
Nitric Oxide Acutely Inhibits Neuronal Energy Production

Disruption of mitochondrial respiration has been proposed as an action of nitric oxide (NO) responsible for its toxicity, but the effects of NO on the energetics of intact central neurons have not been reported. We examined the effects of NO on mitochondrial function and energy metabolism in cultured hippocampal neurons. The application of NO from NO donors or from dissolved gas produced a rapid, reversible depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential, as detected by rhodamine-123 fluorescence. NO also produced a progressive concentration-dependent depletion of cellular ATP over 20 min exposures. The energy depletion produced by higher levels of NO (2 μm or more) was profound and irreversible and proceeded to subsequent neuronal death. In contrast to the effects of NO, mitochondrial protonophores produced complete depolarizations of mitochondrial membrane potential but depleted the neuronal ATP stores only partially. Inhibitors of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (rotenone or 3-nitropropionic acid) or of glycolysis (iodoacetate plus pyruvate) also produced only partial ATP depletion, suggesting that either process alone could partially maintain ATP stores. Only by combining the inhibition of glycolytic energy production with the inhibition of mitochondria could the effects of NO in depleting energy and inducing delayed toxicity be duplicated. These results show that NO has rapid inhibitory actions on mitochondrial metabolism in living neurons. However, the severe ATP-depleting effects of high concentrations of NO are not fully explained by the direct effects on mitochondrial activity alone but must involve the inhibition of glycolysis as well. These inhibitory effects on energy production may contribute to the delayed toxicity of NO in vitro and in ischemic stroke.
Experimental Evaluation of Space-time Coded GSM Systems in Underground Environments

In this paper we evaluate the performance of several Space-Time Coded GSM radio interfaces with channels measured in a tunnel of the Metro of Paris using a radiating system comprising of four transmitting and four receiving antennas. We first consider space-time equalization techniques that only account for the noise and the Intersymbol Interference (ISI) induced by the modulation and then analyze two stage receiving schemes that take into account the spatiotemporal redundancy introduced by a space-time encoder.
Document Categorization with MAJORCLUST

This paper investigates the text categorization capabilities of two special clustering algorithms: Fuzzy k-Medoid and MAJORCLUST. Aside from quantifying the categorization performance of the mentioned algorithms, our experimental setting will also help to answer special questions related to clustering problems such as cluster number determination or cluster quality evaluation.
Genome-Wide Association Studies Identify the Loci for 5 Exterior Traits in a Large White × Minzhu Pig Population

As one of the main breeding selection criteria, external appearance has special economic importance in the hog industry. In this study, an Illumina Porcine SNP60 BeadChip was used to conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 605 pigs of the F2 generation derived from a Large White × Minzhu intercross. Traits under study were abdominal circumference (AC), body height (BH), body length (BL), cannon bone circumference (CBC), chest depth (CD), chest width (CW), rump circumference (RC), rump width (RW), scapula width (SW), and waist width (WW). A total of 138 SNPs (the most significant being MARC0033464) on chromosome 7 were found to be associated with BH, BL, CBC, and RC (P-value = 4.15E-6). One SNP on chromosome 1 was found to be associated with CD at genome-wide significance levels. The percentage phenotypic variance of these significant SNPs ranged from 0.1–25.48%. Moreover, a conditional analysis revealed that the significant SNPs were derived from a single quantitative trait locus (QTL) and indicated additional chromosome-wide significant association for 25 SNPs on SSC4 (BL, CBC) and 9 SNPs on SSC7 (RC). Linkage analysis revealed two complete linkage disequilibrium haplotype blocks that contained seven and four SNPs, respectively. In block 1, the most significant SNP, MARC0033464, was present. Annotations from pig reference genome suggested six genes (GRM4, HMGA1, NUDT3, RPS10, SPDEF and PACSIN1) in block 1 (495 kb), and one gene (SCUBE3) in block 3 (124 kb). Functional analysis indicated that HMGA1 and SCUBE3 genes are the potential genes controlling BH, BL, and RC in pigs, with an application in breeding programs. We screened several candidate intervals and genes based on SNP location and gene function, and predicted their function using bioinformatics analyses.
SOD1 misplacing and mitochondrial dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis pathogenesis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal motor neuron disease presenting as sporadic (sALS) or familial (fALS) forms. Even if the list of the genes underlining ALS greatly expanded, defects in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), encoding the copper/zinc SOD1, still remain a major cause of fALS and are likely involved also in apparently sporadic presentations. The pathogenesis of ALS is still unknown, but several lines of evidence indicate that the mitochondrial accumulation of mutant SOD1 is an important mechanism of mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to motor neuron pathology and death. The intramitochondrial localization of mutant SOD1 is debated. Mutant SOD1 might accumulate inside the intermembrane space (IMS), overriding the physiological retention regulated by the copper chaperone for superoxide dismutase (CCS). On the other hand, misfolded SOD1 might deposit onto the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM), clumping the transport across mitochondrial membranes and engaging mitochondrial-dependent cell apoptosis. The elucidation of the mechanisms ruling SOD1 localization and misplacing might shed light on peculiar ALS features such as cell selectivity and late onset. More importantly, these studies might disclose novel targets for therapeutic intervention in familial ALS as well as non-genetic forms. Finally, pharmacological or genetic manipulation aimed to prevent or counteract the intracellular shifting of mutant SOD1 could be effective for other neurodegenerative disorders featuring the toxic accumulation of misfolded proteins.
Self-assembled supramolecular nano vesicles for safe and highly efficient gene delivery to solid tumors

The main obstacles for cationic polyplexes in gene delivery are in vivo instability and low solid-tumor accumulation. Safe vectors with high transfection efficiency and in vivo tumor accumulation are therefore highly desirable. In this study, the amphiphilic block copolymer poly(n-butyl methacrylate)-b-poly(N-acryloylmorpholine) was synthesized by reversible addition–fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) radical polymerization. The corresponding well-defined vesicles with narrow size distribution were tailored by finely regulating the packing parameter (β) of copolymer (1/2 < β < 1). Compared with traditional “gold-standard” polycation (polyethylenimine, 25 kDa), plasmid DNA condensing efficiency, DNase I degradation protection, and cellular uptake were improved by the supramolecular nano vesicles. In addition, the plasmid DNA transferring efficiency in 10% fetal bovine serum medium was enlarged five times to that of polyethylenimine in renal tubular epithelial and human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. This improved in vitro transfection was mainly attributed to the densely packed bilayer. This stealth polyplex showed high serum stability via entropic repulsion, which further protected the polyplex from being destroyed during sterilization. As indicated by the IVIS® Lumina II Imaging System (Caliper Life Sciences, Hopkinton, MA) 24 hours post-intravenous administration, intra-tumor accumulation of the stealth polyplex was clearly promoted. This study successfully circumvented the traditional dilemma of efficient gene transfection at a high nitrogen-from-polyethylenimine to phosphate-from-DNA ratio that is accompanied with site cytotoxicity and low stability. As such, these simply tailored noncytotoxic nano vesicles show significant potential for use in practical gene therapy.
Ricci flat black holes and Hawking-Page phase transition in Gauss-Bonnet gravity and dilaton gravity

It is well known that there exists a Hawking-Page phase transition between a spherical anti-de Sitter (AdS) black hole and a thermal AdS space. The phase transition does not happen between a Ricci flat AdS black hole whose horizon is a Ricci flat space and a thermal AdS space in the Poincare coordinates. However, the Hawking-Page phase transition occurs between a Ricci flat AdS black hole and an AdS soliton if at least one of the horizon coordinates for the Ricci flat black hole is compact. We show a similar phase transition between the Ricci flat black holes and deformed AdS solitons in the Gauss-Bonnet gravity and the dilaton gravity with a Liouville-type potential including the gauged supergravity coming from the spherical reduction of Dp branes in type II supergravity. In contrast to Einstein gravity, we find that the high temperature phase can be dominated either by black holes or deformed AdS solitons depending on parameters.