Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Crowding Approach to Niching in Genetic Algorithms

A wide range of niching techniques have been investigated in evolutionary and genetic algorithms. In this article, we focus on niching using crowding techniques in the context of what we call local tournament algorithms. In addition to deterministic and probabilistic crowding, the family of local tournament algorithms includes the Metropolis algorithm, simulated annealing, restricted tournament selection, and parallel recombinative simulated annealing. We describe an algorithmic and analytical framework which is applicable to a wide range of crowding algorithms. As an example of utilizing this framework, we present and analyze the probabilistic crowding niching algorithm. Like the closely related deterministic crowding approach, probabilistic crowding is fast, simple, and requires no parameters beyond those of classical genetic algorithms. In probabilistic crowding, subpopulations are maintained reliably, and we show that it is possible to analyze and predict how this maintenance takes place. We also provide novel results for deterministic crowding, show how different crowding replacement rules can be combined in portfolios, and discuss population sizing. Our analysis is backed up by experiments that further increase the understanding of probabilistic crowding.
Immunotherapy With Tolerogenic Apolipoprotein B-100–Loaded Dendritic Cells Attenuates Atherosclerosis in Hypercholesterolemic Mice

Background— Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by a massive intimal accumulation of low-density lipoprotein that triggers chronic vascular inflammation with an autoimmune response to low-density lipoprotein components. Methods and Results— To dampen the inflammatory component of atherosclerosis, we injected hypercholesterolemic huB100tg×Ldlr−/− mice (mice transgenic for human apolipoprotein B100 [ApoB100] and deficient for the low-density lipoprotein receptor) intravenously with dendritic cells (DCs) that had been pulsed with the low-density lipoprotein protein ApoB100 in combination with the immunosuppressive cytokine interleukin-10. DCs treated with ApoB100 and interleukin-10 reduced proliferation of effector T cells, inhibited production of interferon-&ggr;, and increased de novo generation of regulatory T cells in vitro. Spleen cells from mice treated with DCs plus ApoB100 plus interleukin-10 showed diminished proliferative responses to ApoB100 and significantly dampened T-helper 1 and 2 immunity to ApoB100. Spleen CD4+ T cells from these mice suppressed activation of ApoB100-reactive T cells in a manner characteristic of regulatory T cells, and mRNA analysis of lymphoid organs showed induction of transcripts characteristic of these cells. Treatment of huB100tg×Ldlr−/− mice with ApoB100-pulsed tolerogenic DCs led to a significant (70%) reduction of atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta, with decreased CD4+ T-cell infiltration and signs of reduced systemic inflammation. Conclusions— Tolerogenic DCs pulsed with ApoB100 reduced the autoimmune response against low-density lipoprotein and may represent a novel possibility for treatment or prevention of atherosclerosis.
The Role of Psychological Capital and the Areas of Worklife Model in Predicting Job Burnout

Job burnout is a widely spread global phenomenon that has been linked to negative work outcomes. Various factors can either contribute to or hinder job burnout development. Previous research established the role of the six areas of worklife model as well as psychological capital on job burnout. However, the relationship among these variables has not been clearly defined. The purpose of the present study was to attempt to understand predictors of job burnout in order to reduce its occurrence. Data was collected with a sample of college students. Four areas of worklife (workload, control, reward, and values) as well as three dimensions of psychological capital (hope, optimism, and resiliency) were predictive of job burnout. In addition, the negative effect of person-job mismatch in areas of worklife on job burnout was weaker when psychological capital was high as opposed to low. Finally, the study examined the mediating role of areas of worklife in relationship between psychological capital and job burnout, but failed to find any effect. Our findings underline the importance of fostering psychological capital in the workplace as well as ensuring congruence between individuals’ person-job fit through areas of worklife, and specifically through workload, control, reward and values, in order to decrease job burnout occurrence.
Non-target impacts of the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide on soil biota

Intensively grazed dairy pastures in New Zealand routinely receive concentrated inputs of nitrogen (N) both through application of fertiliser and deposition of urine by grazing animals. Leaching of nitrate from soil into aquifers, rivers and lakes is a source of increasing environmental and public health concern. Nitrification inhibitors have been shown to decrease leaching and denitrification from urea- and ammonium-based fertilisers and from urine patches in pastures. To date there have been few studies on effects of nitrification inhibitors on non-target soil biota. Three laboratory experiments were carried out to measure the short term effects of a nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide (DCD), on diversity of soil bacterial populations, earthworms and Collembola. Molecular analysis of the soil bacterial community indicated that application of DCD to soil did not affect the composition of the predominant bacterial phyla present in soil, unlike the addition of bovine urine which caused rapid changes in bacterial diversity. Survival and growth of the earthworm Aporrectodea caliginosa was unaffected by application of urine or DCD to soil. Collembola populations were not inhibited by DCD, while the addition of urine appeared to increase numbers. Results confirm the view that DCD can be considered one of the more environmentally benign nitrification inhibitors, making it an important tool in countering the environmental impacts resulting from ongoing land use intensification.
Distinguishing Quaternary glyptodontine cingulates in South America: How informative are juvenile specimens?

The subfamily Glyptodontinae (Xenarthra, Cingulata) comprises one of the most frequently recorded glyptodontids in South America. Recently, the North American genus Glyptotherium was recorded in South America, in addition to the genus Glyptodon . It has been shown that both genera shared the same geographic distribution in central-north and eastern areas of South America (Venezuela and Brazil, respectively). Although some characters allow differentiation between adult specimens of both genera, the morphological distinction between these two genera is rather difficult in juvenile specimens. In this contribution, a detailed morphological, morphometric and histological survey of a juvenile specimen of Glyptodontinae recovered from the Late Pleistocene of northern Brazil is performed. The relative lower osteoderms thickness, the particular morphology of the annular and radial sulci and the distal osseous projections of the caudal osteoderms suggest that the specimen belongs to the genus Glyptotherium . In addition, the validity of some statistical tools to distinguish between different ontogenetic stages and in some cases between genera is verified. The osteoderm microstructure of this juvenile individual is characterized by being composed of a cancellous internal core surrounded by a compact bone cortex. Primary bone tissue mostly consists of highly vascularized, woven-fibered bone tissue. Unlike that observed in adult Glyptodontinae, both the Sharpey fibers and the fibrous and laminar parallel bone tissue as secondary bone are absent. This study enhances our knowledge about those morphological and histological changes that occur through the ontogeny in glyptodonts.
Characteristics in childhood and adolescence associated with future multiple sclerosis risk in men : cohort study

Department of Neurology and Neurophysiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro; Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro; Clinical Epidemiology Unit and Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Faculty of Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran; Faculty of Medicine and Health, Medicine, Örebro University, Örebro; Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; and Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College, London, UK
Predicting Academic Entitlement in Undergraduates.

Academic entitlement (AE) is a common source of frustration for college personnel. This investigation examined predictors (self-concept, academic dishonesty, locus of control, and family functioning) of AE in male and female college students. Academic dishonesty and the interaction between locus of control and family functioning significantly predicted AE. Males reported significantly higher levels of AE, and the interaction between locus of control and family functioning was significant only for females. Future research should address possible developmental pathways to AE in adulthood to further understanding of this problematic belief system.
Why Do (or Did ?) Internet-Stock IPOs Leave So Much "Money on The Table" ?

The "new economy" advent and the Euro's arrival have given energy to EU stock markets. Even though late with respect to the US and the UK, the number of firms going public on these markets has considerably increased, even as a consequence of the birth of new pan-European second markets. Most IPOs resulted in huge short-run returns, compared to the offer price. The initial underpricing has been particularly manifest for firms whose products and service pertain to high-tech sectors, and distinctively to the Internet world. Yet, a substantial correction in stock prices has occurred in 2000 driven by investors' concerns about Internet companies' cash flow deficits. Many firms have been induced to delay their offerings, and the offer prices were revised downward either by the issuers or by the market with mortifying initial returns. In this paper we analyze a survey of Internet stock IPOs, listed on the Euro's secondary Stock Exchanges. The sample is made up by 86 IPOs, listed on the EASDAQ and EURO-NM markets from 1/1/1999 to 1/5/2000. We find an initial average return equal to 76.43%, i.e. the first-day offer price is much higher than the offer price. More than 4.6 billion euro were "left on the table" by the IPOs issuers (54.3 million euro on the average). We aim at investigating why Internet-stock IPOs leave (or just left ? ) so much "money on the table". We find that the initial underpricing is strongly related to the information gathered during book building activity in the pre-selling period, which drives the revision of the prospectus price range and signals the IPO quality to uninformed investors. In fact, when the offer price is equal to the maximum price in the ex-ante file range the mean underpricing is equal to 93.71% while it is negative when the offer price is equal to the minimum price. By focusing on Italian Internet companies IPOs we also verify that "hot" IPOs underpricing does not annoy the issuers, since they discover to be much wealthier than expected, coherently with the "prospect theory" by Loughran and Ritter (2000). Finally we find that the initial return is driven by a number of determinants: it is positively related to the market momentum but negatively related to the density of IPOs in the same national market during the 30 days before the offering, consistently with the "hot issue markets" theory. Interestingly, accounting data from the prospectus about sales and profits seem to force the initial underpricing, too. The dilution of insiders' ownership is not recognized as a significant determinant. We argue that the remarkably high initial return of Internet stock IPOs in Euro-land is related to Internet euphoria, but also to the limits of traditional evaluation methods adopted by intermediates in determining the offer price. J.E. L Classification codes: G30, G32.
RELICS: Strong Lensing Analysis of the Galaxy Clusters Abell S295, Abell 697, MACS J0025.4-1222, and MACS J0159.8-0849

We present a strong lensing analysis of four massive galaxy clusters imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope in the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey. We use a light-traces-mass technique to uncover sets of multiple images and constrain the mass distribution of the clusters. These mass models are the first published for Abell S295 and MACS J0159.8-0849 and are improvements over previous models for Abell 697 and MACS J0025.4-1222. Our analysis for MACS J0025.4-1222 and Abell S295 shows a bimodal mass distribution supporting the merger scenarios proposed for these clusters. The updated model for MACS J0025.4-1222 suggests a substantially smaller critical area than previously estimated. For MACS J0159.8-0849 and Abell 697, we find a single peak and relatively regular morphology revealing fairly relaxed clusters. Despite being less prominent lenses, three of these clusters seem to have lensing strengths, i.e., cumulative area above certain magnification, similar to those of the Hubble Frontier Fields clusters (e.g., A(μ > 5) ∼ 1–3 arcmin2, A(μ > 10) ∼ 0.5–1.5 arcmin2), which in part can be attributed to their merging configurations. We make our lens models publicly available through the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes. Finally, using Gemini-N/GMOS spectroscopic observations, we detect a single emission line from a high-redshift J125 ≃ 25.7 galaxy candidate lensed by Abell 697. While we cannot rule out a lower-redshift solution, we interpret the line as Lyα at z = 5.800 ± 0.001, in agreement with its photometric redshift and dropout nature. Within this scenario, we measure a Lyα rest-frame equivalent width of 52 ± 22 Å and an observed Gaussian width of 117 ± 15 km s−1.
ESTIMATING EQUILIBRIUM EFFECTS OF JOB SEARCH ASSISTANCE-PRELIMINARY VERSION

Randomized experiments provide the policy-relevant-treatment effect of active labor market programs if there are no spillovers between workers in the treatment and control group. This assumption is likely to be violated if workers in the treatment and control group compete for the same jobs. In this paper, we exploit data from a randomized experiment in two Danish counties and compare the outcomes for the workers in the control group to the outcomes for workers in comparison regions before and after the experiment. Our results suggest that negative treatment externalities exist. We then construct a theoretical search model and estimate it by indirect inference for the observed treatment intensity. The estimated model shows that aggregate welfare decreases if all workers would receive a treatment.
Analysis of Sites of Autolysis in Bacillus subtilis by Electron Microscopy

Cell lysis in Bacillus subtilis 168/s trp thy and in an autolytic-deficient mutant, B. subtilis FJ6, was studied by following the release of wall material liberated by the two known autolysins, an N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase and an endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase. Lysing organisms were examined in thin sections by electron microscopy and measurements were made both of the location and size of holes produced by autolysin action and of peripheral wall thickness. In strain 168/s the initial site of lysis involved solubilization of the cross-wall and of one or both poles distal to the division site. Subsequently, the cylindrical wall was degraded through perforations at an increasing number of sites. Specific sites of autolysis, at the cross-wall and at one pole, were also observed in organisms prefixed with formaldehyde in a buffer of low ionic strength, although these effects were not observed in strain FJ6. In strain 168/s the bulk of the autolysin appeared to be located at the cross-wall and at one distal pole. The peripheral wall was reduced in thickness in autolysing cells, although it was uncertain whether the reduction was due to autolytic attack at the outer surface, to contraction of the wall in the suspending buffer or to shrinkage during preparation for electron microscopy. Lysis of strain FJ6 involved the initial breakdown of the cytoplasmic membrane and leakage of cellular contents through a limited number of sites along the wall. In contrast, lysis in B. subtilis MB21, the parental strain of FJ6, was similar to that described for strain 168/s.
Motion Vector Estimation of a Stereovision Camera with Inertial Sensors

The aim of the presented work was the development of a tracking algorithm for a stereoscopic camera setup equipped with an additional inertial sensor. The input of the algorithm consists of the image sequence, angular velocity and linear acceleration vectors measured by the inertial sensor. The main assumption of the project was fusion of data streams from both sources to obtain more accurate ego-motion estimation. An electronic module for recording the inertial sensor data was built. Inertial measurements allowed a coarse estimation of the image motion field that has reduced its search range by standard image-based methods. Continuous tracking of the camera motion has been achieved (including moments of image information loss). Results of the presented study are being implemented in a currently developed obstacle avoidance system for visually impaired pedestrians.
Investigations of the Essential Spectrum of a Hamiltonian in Fock Space

In the present paper, we precisely describe the location and structure of the essential spectrum of a Hamiltonian (model operator) H associated to a system describing four particles in interaction, without conservation of the number of particles, in the quasi-momentum representation. It is also established that the essential spectrum of H consists of no more than seven bounded closed intervals.
A Novel Synchronization-Based Approach for Functional Connectivity Analysis

Complex network analysis has become a gold standard to investigate functional connectivity in the human brain. Popular approaches for quantifying functional coupling between fMRI time series are linear zero-lag correlation methods; however, they might reveal only partial aspects of the functional links between brain areas. In this work, we propose a novel approach for assessing functional coupling between fMRI time series and constructing functional brain networks. A phase space framework is used to map couples of signals exploiting their cross recurrence plots (CRPs) to compare the trajectories of the interacting systems. A synchronization metric is extracted from the CRP to assess the coupling behavior of the time series. Since the functional communities of a healthy population are expected to be highly consistent for the same task, we defined functional networks of task-related fMRI data of a cohort of healthy subjects and applied a modularity algorithm in order to determine the community structures of the networks. The within-group similarity of communities is evaluated to verify whether such new metric is robust enough against noise. The synchronization metric is also compared with Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the detected communities seem to better reflect the functional brain organization during the specific task.
Collective micro-causality in homogeneous quantum ensembles

It is shown that for quantum ensembles consisting of equal particles, the collective micro-causality does not contradict the quantum theory. The amplitudes of the states of such an ensemble can be divided into small portions, for each of which evolution in time will be accurately determined, without any randomness. For ensembles of dissimilar particles, whose Hamiltonian is represented as a sum of operators belonging to homogeneous systems, micro-causality will take place on separate small segments, on which only the selected component will act. In this case, the duration of the terms for different ensembles will be different. Micro causality is a consequence of the quantization of amplitudes, which plays a peculiar role for complex systems in which the amplitudes of individual states are very small. For such systems, the stochastic description, typical in the standard quantum theory should be replaced by a causal, i.e. deterministic one. In the article micro-causality is illustrated by the example of ensembles of two-level atoms in an optical cavity, considered under the Tavis-Cummings model in the rotating wave approximation; however, the conclusions are general.
Award Number: W81XWH-05-1-0300 TITLE: Structural Characterization and Determinants of Specificity of Single-Chain Antibody Inhibitors of Membrane-Type Serine Protease 1 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:

The vast majority of protein protease inhibitors bind their targets in a substrate-like manner. This is a robust and efficient mechanism of inhibition, but due to the highly conserved architecture of protease active sites, these inhibitors often exhibit promiscuity. Inhibitors that show strict specificity for one protease usually achieve this selectivity by combining substrate-like binding in the active site with exosite binding on the protease surface. The development of new, specific inhibitors can be greatly aided by binding to non-conserved regions of proteases if potency can be maintained. Due to their ability to bind specifically to nearly any antigen, antibodies provide an excellent scaffold for creating inhibitors targeted to a single member of a family of highly homologous enzymes. The 2.2 Å resolution crystal structure of an Fab antibody inhibitor in complex with the serine protease membrane-type serine protease 1 (MT-SP1/matriptase) reveals the molecular basis of its picomolar potency and specificity. The inhibitor has a distinct mechanism of inhibition; it gains potency and specificity through interactions with the protease surface loops, and inhibits by binding in the active site in a catalytically non-competent manner. In contrast to most naturally occurring protease inhibitors, which have diverse structures but converge to a similar inhibitory archetype, antibody inhibitors provide an opportunity to develop divergent mechanisms of inhibition from a single scaffold.
Burnout among oncology nurses: Influence of chronotype and sleep quality

Objective: The study sought to clarify the impact of chronotype and sleep quality on feelings of personal, work-related, and client-related burnout among ambulatory care oncology nurses following regular dayshift work schedules. Methods: 94 participants from two Toronto, ON hospitals took part. The Horne-Ostberg Morningness Eveningness Questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory were used to assess the impact of chronotype and sleep quality, together with subjective measures of job and place of employment satisfaction and work stressfulness on burnout. Results: Findings showed that participants reporting greater tendency for evening-type or neither-type chronotype, and/or poor sleep quality had significantly higher levels of personal, work-related, and client-related burnout than individuals with either a morning tendency and/or good sleep quality. Work stressfulness also contributed to elevated burnout. Conclusions: Working at one’s optimal time and obtaining good quality sleep contributes to decreased burnout. Future studies should take into account the effect of chronotype and sleep quality on mediating burnout among shift work oncology nurses. When creating nursing work schedules, employees’ chronotype and associated sleep quality should be considered to achieve decreased burnout, optimal performance, and potentially increased employee retention and patient care quality and satisfaction.