Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Special issue: Second International Workshop on Workflow Management and Applications in Grid Environments (WaGe2007)

This special issue of Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience contains selected high-quality papers from the second International Workshop on Workflow Management and Applications in Grid Environments (WaGe2007), which was held on 17 August 2007 in Urumqi China [1]. The WaGe workshop series was aimed at providing an international forum for the presentation and discussion of research and development trends regarding workflow support in Grid environments. WaGe2007 attracted a number of international attendants. Deep discussion between attendants was actively performed. Especially, the discussion tried to view workflow management in Grid environments from different perspectives and areas. Different views can provide different potentials for further research and development. Grid workflow has been under investigation for several years [2–6]. In particular, the special issue titled Workflow in Grid Systems in Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience was a key step [7]. The special issue was edited by Professor Geoffrey C. Fox and Professor Dennis Gannon from Indiana University in the U.S.A. A follow-up was the special issue in the same journal for WSGE2006 (First International Workshop on Workflow Systems in Grid Environments) [8]. This WaGe2007 special issue is a further follow-up of the two special issues to further boost the research and development of workflow management and applications in Grid environments. Many research and development efforts have been made to workflow management and applications in Grid environments such as [2,4–6,9–15]. More and more people from different areas are trying to facilitate the techniques from their respective areas to tackle tough issues in Grid workflow area such as quality of service-based scheduling, data-intensive workflow modelling and semantic/knowledge management issues. Accordingly, this special issue tries to accommodate a range of papers from different perspectives and areas to provide some different views and hints for further Grid workflow research. This special issue contains eight papers based on those that were presented at WaGe2007. They are listed as [16–23]. Research problems in these papers have been analysed systematically. For specific approaches or models, evaluation has been performed to demonstrate their feasibility and advantages. Based on these, eight papers were selected and also peer reviewed thoroughly. They are briefed as follows. Cafaro et al. [16] view Grid workflow from an application perspective. Their paper designs and implements a Grid workflow execution engine. A specific example of bioinformatics in the Italian
Shenqifuzheng injection combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Shenqifuzheng (SQFZ) injection combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted an electronic search by using PubMed, EMBASE, ASCO, ESMO and Chinese National Knowledge Infratructure (CNKI), databases. The randomized controlled trials about Shenqifuzheng injection combined with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer were reviewed and collected. Pooled odds ratio (OR) for the response rate and KPS improvement were calculated using the software MetaAnalyst 3.1. RESULTS Fifteen trials met our inclusion criteria and finally included in this meta-analysis. The objective response rate (ORR) in patients treated with Shenqifuzheng injection combined with chemotherapy was much higher than that of chemotherapy only (OR = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.20-2.29) with statistical significance (P < 0.05). The pooled data showed the combined treatment can significant increase the Karnofsky score (KPS) compared with the chemotherapy only (OR = 3.74, 95% CI: 2.66-5.27 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION SQFZ injection combined with chemotherapy treatment regimen can improve the clinical efficacy and performance status in patients with advanced gastric cancer compared with chemotherapy alone.
Reproductive State, but Not Testosterone, Reduces Immune Function in Male House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)

The immune system requires energetic and nutritional resources to optimally defend organisms against pathogens and parasites. Because resources are typically limited, immune function may require a trade‐off with other physiologically demanding activities. Here, we examined whether photoperiodically induced seasonal states (breeding, molting, or nonbreeding) affected the cutaneous immune response of captive male house sparrows (Passer domesticus). To assess immune function in these birds, we injected the mitogen phytohemagglutinin (PHA) into the patagium and measured the resulting wing web swelling. Molting and nonbreeding birds had similar immune responses to PHA injection. However, males in a breeding state showed lower immune responses than both molting and nonbreeding birds even though they did not actually breed. We tested whether this decrease in the PHA swelling response in birds in a breeding state was due to elevated plasma concentrations of testosterone (T) by administering T to birds in a nonbreeding state. Contrary to some evidence in the literature, T did not suppress the response to PHA in house sparrows. Our data show that passerine birds show seasonal modulation in immune function, even in benign environmental conditions. However, even though T is often cited as a strong immunosuppressant, it is not fully responsible for this seasonal modulation.
The Vegetarian Option: Varieties, Conversions, Motives and Careers

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study of the dietary beliefs and practices of a ‘snowball sample’ of seventy-six vegetarians and vegans. The dynamics of the process of conversion are examined, along with respondents' accounts of their motives and of the impact of their dietary stance upon their relationships with kin, friends and colleagues. The study's findings, which appear to indicate the central importance of ethical considerations for this particular response group, are set in the context of broader debates concerning the sociological dimensions of the selection or avoidance of specific food items.
Use of a computerized tuberculosis register for automated generation of case finding, sputum conversion, and treatment outcome reports.

SETTING Tuberculosis (TB) rates in southern Africa have increased dramatically in recent years. Provision of accurate data for surveillance, program management, and supervision is increasingly essential. OBJECTIVE To develop software that would provide more efficient collection, compilation, and analysis of TB data on an ongoing basis. DESIGN The 'Electronic TB Register' is a user-friendly, Epi-Info based software program based on the WHO/IUATLD format of recording and reporting. Individual records from the TB registry are entered in a program that provides interactive support. The software provides several patient management and supervision functions, such as lists of defaulters. Finally, it generates standard quarterly and annual reports on case-finding, sputum conversion, and cohort analysis, and provides graphs of trends and maps of TB indicators. RESULTS The 'Electronic TB Register' software has been successfully implemented in five pilot projects in southern Africa. User acceptance has been high and quality of data has improved, although timeliness remains unchanged. Factors critical for success include a functioning, paper-based system, involvement of staff from the TB program, health information systems, and health facilities, ongoing training, and backup support. CONCLUSIONS The 'Electronic TB Register' is a potentially powerful tool for surveillance, management, and supervision for countries with well-functioning paper-based recording and reporting systems.
Health-promoting educational practices related to osteoporosis.

This descriptive study was conducted to determine what routine osteoporosis-related education was provided to women aged 49 years and younger and women aged 50 years and older. Forty-seven primary care providers (PCPs) including physicians/osteopaths (74%), nurse practitioners (19%), and physician assistants (7%) participated in the study. Significant differences were found in the frequency of performing osteoporosis risk assessments (t = 7.697, p = 0.0), performance of diet histories (t = 6.212, p = 0.0), exercise assessments (t = 2.483, p = 0.0), and provision of osteoporosis-related information (t = 8.700, p = 0.0) with women aged 50 or older receiving more attention than women aged 49 years or younger. Taken together, the findings of this study suggest that primary care providers generally assess the risk factors associated with osteoporosis and provide education more frequently to women 50 years of age and older. Despite the small sample size, there was a clear age-related difference in the assessment of osteoporosis risk factors and provision of risk-modifying education.
Report of the Working Group on Biology and Ecology

Growth The asymptotic lengths of individuals of the southern form of P. blainvillei (distributed south of 32oS) vary between 129.8cm and 136.4cm for males, and between 146.4cm and 161.9cm for females (Kasuya and Brownell, 1979; Walter, 1997; Barreto et al., 2000). The northern form of the species (distributed north of 27oS), has asymptotic lengths that vary between 113.3cm and 117.1cm for males, and between 128.9cm and 144.7cm for females (Rosas, 2000; Ramos et al., 2000a; Ramos et al., 2000b). These results corroborate the populational differences in body size between the northern (smaller individuals) and southern forms (larger individuals) based on osteological data (Pinedo, 1991) and those from genetic studies (Secchi et al., 1998). These data also suggest populational differences within each of the geographic forms. The asymptotic lengths obtained by Rosas (2000) for franciscanas in an intermediate area (Sao Paulo and Parana) of the species distribution were smaller than those close to the northern limit of its distribution (Ramos et al., 2000a). Additionally, the asymptotic lengths presented by Ramos et al. (2000b) from Sao Paulo were also smaller than those for the more northern Rio de Janeiro coast. The different body sizes observed among the individuals within the northern form might also be due to populational differences, as result of an isolation of the individuals in the northern region of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo (Siciliano et al., 2000).
Measuring and increasing the capacity of Natural HOG Statistics

Just when the question of what is the best method for sliding window object detection was thought to be settled (linear SVM on groups of HOG features), several recent papers have suddenly made the story a lot murkier. In this unusual paper (more typical of the natural sciences than computer science), we explore one recent, surprising work – Hariharan et al. [7] – and try to understand it better experimentally. In particular we try to understand the relationship between the covariance matrix and the amount of data needed to fill the model’s effective capacity. We find that the amount of data needed to saturate the performance of the system is surprisingly little – less than 20 images. Based on our findings, we propose two extensions that substantially improve the object detection performance on the PASCAL VOC dataset, pushing it ahead of Exemplar-SVM [10]. Since our extensions are relatively simple, and the performance is clearly better, we expect this work to be immediately useful in practice, whenever there is a need to compute distances in HOG space.
The Association between Biomarker Profiles, Etiology of Chronic Kidney Disease, and Mortality

Background: Prognosis in chronic kidney disease (CKD) for adverse outcomes differs substantially based on the etiology of CKD. We examined whether the biomarker profile differed based on CKD etiology and whether they were associated with mortality. Methods: Prospective observational study of 1,157 patients, 663 with diabetic kidney disease (DKD), 273 with glomerulonephritis (GN), and 221 with cystic/interstitial disease (polycystic kidney disease, pyelonephritis or chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis [PCK/TIN]) were identified in the Canadian Study of Prediction of Dialysis, Death and Interim Cardiovascular events over Time cohort. The outcome of interest was mortality before commencing dialysis. The biomarker profile consisted of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), troponin I (TnI), asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), interleukin (IL)-6, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23), transforming growth factor-beta, 25-hydroxylvitamin D, and cystatin C (CysC). Results: The mean estimated glomerular filtration rate was 27 mL/min/1.73 m2 and median follow-up time was 44 months. Mortality before dialysis commencement was the greatest in DKD (20%), followed by PCK/TIN (13%), and was least in those GN (8%). The majority of deaths were cardiovascular in nature, 17, 9, and 5.5% for DKD, PCK/TIN, GN, respectively. Those with DKD had higher hazard for mortality, unadjusted (hazard ratio [HR] 2.7, 95% CI 1.7-4.3) and adjusted (HR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.8). The biomarker profiles associated with mortality differed significantly by CKD etiology as follows: DKD was associated with CysC (HR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0-1.6), ADMA (HR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.6), and NT-proBNP (HR 1.7, 95% CI 1.4-2.1), GN was associated with FGF23 (HR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.8), TnI (HR 3.6, 95% CI 1.3-9.5), and transforming growth factor-beta (HR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4-0.9) and PCK/TIN was associated with ADMA (HR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.8) and IL-6 (HR 2.1, 95% CI 1.5-3.1). Conclusions: Biomarkers profiles differ according to the etiology of CKD and are associated with mortality.
Inhibition of Transmethylation Down-Regulates CD4 T Cell Activation and Curtails Development of Autoimmunity in a Model System

Transmethylation affects several cellular events, including T cell activation, and blockade of this pathway may curtail inflammatory/autoimmune responses. Here, we demonstrate that transmethylation inhibition by a novel reversible S-adenosyl-l-homocysteine hydrolase inhibitor leads to immunosuppression by reducing phosphorylation of several key proteins involved in TCR signaling, including Akt, Erk1/2, and NF-κB. Remarkably, this effect was largely restricted to CD4 T cells and correlated with reduced arginine methylation of Vav1, an essential guanine nucleotide exchange factor in T cell stimulation. Treatment with the transmethylation inhibitor averted, and even ameliorated, the CD4-mediated autoimmune disease, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. The data suggest that transmethylation is required for CD4 T cell activation, and its inhibition may be a novel approach in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, and other CD4-mediated autoimmune diseases.
Human-like action recognition system using features extracted by human

This paper proposes a human-like action recognition system which can output the result of human action recognition just like the case human does. The system targets actions associated with regular human activity such as walking or lying down, and uses three human recognition characteristics: using specific features of an action to recognize that action; recognition of simultaneous actions; and summarization of recognition results over a short time interval. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of human-like recognition for identifying actions and the superior performance of the proposed system with respect to conventional action recognitions systems. Human-like recognition is expected to ensure smooth communication between humans and robots and enhances the support functionality.
NACE for the analysis of acrylamide in food

An NACE method was developed for the quantitative determination of acrylamide in processed food. The method is premised on the modification of the aqueous acid–base character of acrylamide in an organic solution. Acrylamide, which is a polar molecule in aqueous solution, in a low‐pH environment in ACN acquires a proton, and thereby migrates under its own electrophoretic mobility in CE. Thus, nonaqueous separation of acrylamide was achieved by employing 30 mmol/L HClO4 in ACN as the running electrolyte. The detection limit of the method for acrylamide was found as 0.041 mg/L using UV detection at 200 nm. The run‐to‐run and day‐to‐day precisions for the corrected peak areas were calculated as 1.65 and 3.90%, respectively. The applicability of the method has been demonstrated by analyzing acrylamide in the samples of potato chips and French fries. The method is simple, rapid, inexpensive, and widely applicable for the determination of acrylamide in food samples.
JAK/STAT regulation of Aspergillus fumigatus corneal infections and IL‐6/23‐stimulated neutrophil, IL‐17, elastase, and MMP9 activity

IL‐6 and IL‐23 (IL‐6/23) induce IL‐17A (IL‐17) production by a subpopulation of murine and human neutrophils, resulting in autocrine IL‐17 activation, enhanced production of reactive oxygen species, and increased fungal killing. As IL‐6 and IL‐23 receptors trigger JAK1, −3/STAT3 and JAK2/STAT3 phosphorylation, respectively, we examined the role of this pathway in a murine model of fungal keratitis and also examined neutrophil elastase and gelatinase (matrix metalloproteinase 9) activity by IL‐6/23‐stimulated human neutrophils in vitro. We found that STAT3 phosphorylation of neutrophils in Aspergillus fumigatus‐infected corne as was inhibited by the JAK/STAT inhibitor Ruxolitinib, resulting in impaired fungal killing and decreased matrix metalloproteinase 9 activity. In vitro, we showed that fungal killing by IL‐6/23‐stimulated human peripheral blood neutrophils was impaired by JAK/STAT inhibitors Ruxolitinib and Stattic, and by the retinoic acid receptor‐related orphan receptor γt inhibitor SR1001. This was also associated with decreased reactive oxygen species, IL‐17A production, and retinoic acid receptor‐related orphan receptor γt translocation to the nucleus. We also demonstrate that IL‐6/23‐activated neutrophils exhibit increased elastase and gelatinase (matrix metalloproteinase 9) activity, which is inhibited by Ruxolitinib and Stattic but not by SR1001. Taken together, these observations indicate that the regulation of activity of IL‐17‐producing neutrophils by JAK/STAT inhibitors impairs reactive oxygen species production and fungal killing activity but also blocks elastase and gelatinase activity that can cause tissue damage.
Densin-180 Interacts with δ-Catenin/Neural Plakophilin-related Armadillo Repeat Protein at Synapses*

Densin-180, a protein purified from the postsynaptic density fraction of the rat forebrain, is the founding member of a newly described family of proteins termed the LAP (leucine-rich repeats and PSD-95/Dlg-A/ZO-1 (PDZ) domains) family that plays essential roles in establishment of cell polarity. To identify Densin-180-binding proteins, we screened a yeast two-hybrid library using the carboxyl-terminal fragment of Densin-180 containing PDZ domain as bait, and we isolated δ-catenin/neural plakophilin-related armadillo repeat protein (NPRAP) as a Densin-180-interacting protein. δ-catenin/NPRAP, a member of the armadillo repeat family, is a nervous system-specific adherens junction protein originally discovered as an interactor with presenilin-1, a protein involved in Alzheimer's disease. Densin-180 PDZ domain binds the COOH terminus of δ-catenin/NPRAP containing the PDZ domain-binding sequence. Endogenous Densin-180 was co-immunoprecipitated with δ-catenin/NPRAP and N-cadherin. Although Densin-180 was reported to be a transmembrane protein, Densin-180 was not accessible to surface biotinylation in dissociated hippocampal neurons; hence Densin-180 may be a cytosolic protein. Densin-180 co-localized with δ-catenin/NPRAP at synapses in dissociated hippocampal neurons. We propose that Densin-180 is associated in vivo with δ-catenin/NPRAP and may be involved in organization of the synaptic cell-cell junction through interaction with the δ-catenin/NPRAP-N-cadherin complex.
A Generalized Pre-Equilibrium Approximation in Chemical and Photophysical Kinetics

For most mechanisms of chemical reactions and molecular photophysical processes the time evolution of the concentration of the intervening species cannot be obtained explicitly. The pre-equilibrium approximation is one of several useful approximation methods that allow one to go from complex systems of differential equations (the kinetic rate equations) to simple explicit solutions. In this article, a relatively general view of the pre-equilibrium approximation is presented, along with the respective solution. Several applications are also discussed.
In Vivo Domain-Based Functional Analysis of the Major Sporulation Sensor Kinase, KinA, in Bacillus subtilis

ABSTRACT Sensor histidine kinases are widely used by bacteria to detect and respond to environmental signals. In Bacillus subtilis, KinA is a major kinase providing phosphate input to the phosphorelay that activates the sporulation pathway upon starvation via the phosphorylated Spo0A transcription factor. KinA contains three PAS domains in its amino-terminal sensor domain, which appear to be involved in the sensing of an unidentified sporulation signal(s) produced upon starvation. Prior biochemical studies have suggested that KinA forms a homodimer as a functional enzyme and that the most amino-terminal PAS domain (PAS-A) plays an important role in sensing the signal(s) to activate an ATP-dependent autophosphorylation reaction to a histidine residue. To analyze the structure and function of the kinase in vivo, we have used a strain in which the synthesis of KinA is under the control of an isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-inducible promoter. In vivo functional studies in combination with domain-based deletion analysis show that the cytosolic KinA forms a homo-oligomer as an active form under both nutrient-rich and nutrient-depleted conditions via its amino- and carboxyl-terminal domains independently. Furthermore, we found that a mutant in which the PAS-A domain was deleted was still able to induce sporulation at a wild-type level irrespective of nutrient availability, suggesting that PAS-BC domains are sufficient to maintain the kinase activity. Based on these results, we propose that the primary role of the amino-terminal sensor domain is to form a stable complex as a functional kinase, but possibly not for the binding of an unidentified sporulation signal(s).
Modeling Insurance Fraud Detection Using Ensemble Combining Classification

This paper is a continuation of previous paper where the imbalance dataset problem was solved by applying a proposed novel partitioning-undersampling technique. Then a proposed innovative Insurance Fraud Detection (IFD) models were designed using base-classifiers; Decision Tree, Support Vector Machine and Artificial Neural Network. This paper proposed an innovative insurance fraud detection models by applying ensemble combining classifiers on IFD models designed previously using base-classifiers. Throughout the paper, ten-fold cross validation method of testing is used. Its originality lies in the use of several ensembles combining classifier and comparing between them for choosing the best model. Results from a publicly available automobile insurance fraud detection dataset demonstrate that DTIFD performs slightly better than all proposed models, ensemble combining classifier designed IFD models with high recall but still DTIFD model was the best. The proposed models were applied on another imbalance datasets and compared. Empirical results illustrate that the proposed models gave better results.