Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the 2-Stage Stochastic-Weighted Matching Problem

We study a 2-stage stochastic extension of the classical maximum weighted matching problem on graphs, proposed recently by Kong and Schaefer [2004]. The authors show the NPhardness of the problem and present a constant factor approximation algorithm. This work explores an extension of this approximation algorithm and studies its computational performance.
Glioblastoma targeting via integrins is concentration dependent

A novel approach to treat cancer more selectively is achieved by targeting drugs to cells via conjugating the drug or imaging agent to an antibody or ligand for a cell surface receptor that is over‐expressed by the target cell population. Previous work by us has suggested that enhanced specificity can be obtained by multivalency of binding moieties. In this study we investigated the binding specificity of a multivalent construct including three peptides segments (TWYKIAFQRNRK), which bind the α6β1‐integrin, linked by poly(ethylene glycol) spacers. The binding specificity of the constructs was calculated by quantifying their binding to target cells (glioma cells, SF 767) relative to non‐targeted cells (normal human astrocytes, NHA). Dodecapeptide constructs (monovalent) exhibit specificity equal to the ratio of receptor expression at all concentrations. However, trivalent constructs demonstrated a sharp increase in specificity at concentrations less than the affinity of the receptor–ligand bond (4.28 µM). These experiments (conducted at 4°C) were consistent with the theoretical prediction and indicate that the biophysical model captures the basic trend of the data in the absence of receptor internalization, although the concentration at which increased specificity is observed is greater than predicted. The biophysical model does not predict the results of 37°C experiments, and this is shown to be due to internalization which occurs at 37°C but not at 4°C. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009; 104: 408–417 © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Saccharomyces cerevisiae ACP2 gene encodes an essential HMG1-like protein

The high-mobility-group (HMG) proteins, a group of nonhistone chromatin-associated proteins, have been extensively characterized in higher eucaryotic cells. To test the biological function of an HMG protein, we have cloned and mutagenized a gene encoding an HMG-like protein from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A yeast genomic DNA library was screened with an oligonucleotide designed to hybridize to any yeast gene containing an amino acid sequence conserved in several higher eucaryotic HMG proteins. DNA sequencing and Northern (RNA) blot analysis revealed that one gene, called ACP2 (acidic protein 2), synthesizes a poly(A)+ RNA in S. cerevisiae which encodes a 27,000-molecular-weight protein whose amino acid sequence is homologous to those of calf HMG1 and HMG2 and trout HMGT proteins. Standard procedures were used to construct a diploid yeast strain in which one copy of the ACP2 gene was mutated by replacement with the URA3 gene. When this diploid was sporulated and dissected, only half of the spores were viable. About half of the nonviable spores proceeded through two or three cell divisions and then stopped dividing; the rest did not germinate at all. None of the viable spores contained the mutant ACP2 gene, thus proving that the protein encoded by ACP2 is required for cell viability. The results presented here demonstrate that an HMG-like protein has an essential physiological function.
A Experimental Study of Current-Driven Electrostatic Ion-Cyclotron Waves in a Two-Ion Component Plasma.

The excitation of electrostatic ion cyclotron (EIC) waves is studied in a single-ended Q machine in a two-ion component plasma (Ca/sup +/ and K/sup +/). Over a large range of relative concentrations of Ca/sup +/ and K/sup +/ ions, two modes are excited with frequencies greater than the respective cyclotron frequencies of the ions. The results are discussed in terms of a fluid theory of electrostatic ion cyclotron waves in a two-ion component plasma. >
Achieving Energy Efficiency and Security in Mobile Cloud Computing

Computation offloading to the Cloud for energy efficiency in portable devices is an emerging area of research triggered by the widespread use and acceptance of smart phones. A number of architectures have already been proposed in this context. However, security issues in the cloud still remain a concern that can play an important role in deciding whether offloading really helps to achieve energy efficiency in mobile phones. Our framework is based on a layered data approach together with user selected security policies. This motivated us to develop a mathematical model to depict the energy consumption when performing a security-enhanced computation in the cloud. The model demonstrates the potential energy saving in the event of user or organization specified policy for secure computing and data storage in the Cloud.
clonality V.0.4: a randomization‐based program to test for heterozygosity‐genet size relationships in clonal organisms

clonality V.0. 4 is a program for testing heterozygosity‐genet size relationships in clonal organisms using a randomization procedure. The software has been developed under the Borland Delphi developing environment and a Windows‐executable version is freely downloadable from http://gemi.mpl. ird.fr/SiteSGASS/Prugnolle/ClonalityPage.html. The program compares the observed FIS of the population with the FIS expected if genets (multilocus genotypes present in multiple copies within the population) were chosen randomly from the set of different multilocus genotypes. The randomization procedure is performed with the same number of genets and the same number of repetitions per genet as what is observed in the original data set.
Simultaneous introduction of distinct HIV‐1 subtypes into different risk groups in Russia, Byelorussia and Lithuania

Objective: To investigate genotypes and serotypes of HIV‐1 variants in Russia, Byelorussia and Lithuania. Patients and methods: Sera from 20 HIV‐1‐infected individuals were tested in an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with 19 V3 synthetic peptides, and serum HIV‐1 V3 RNA was amplified and sequenced. Results: Sequence comparison of the envelope V3 region among specimens tested revealed a 2‐29% range of nucleotide divergence, with a mean of 19%. Phylogenetic analysis clustered the V3 sequences recovered with subtypes A, B, C, D and G. All sequences from the homosexual men were shown to belong to subtype B, and all of the heterosexually infected individuals to subtype C. Sequences from the parenterally infected individuals were more heterogeneous. In the peptide ELISA three reactivity patterns were found. Serum samples from six out of seven homosexual men showed reactivity to peptides p108 or p110 representing V3 amino‐acid sequences found in US/West European HIV‐1 isolates. Serum samples from six out of seven individuals who had acquired HIV‐1 through heterosexual contacts were reactive to peptide p169. Four out of six parenterally infected patients had peak reactivity to p168. Conclusion: Distinct HIV‐1 variants were found in Russia, Byelorussia and Lithuania, which were introduced simultaneously in the mid‐1980s. This diversity was shown to be associated with the route of transmission. Homosexual men appeared to be infected with subtype B and heterosexually infected individuals with subtype C HIV‐1 variants. HIV‐1 subtypes A, C, D and G were found among parenterally infected individuals. AIDS 1995, 9:435‐439
D-Alanylation of Teichoic Acids and Loss of Poly-N-Acetyl Glucosamine in Staphylococcus aureus during Exponential Growth Phase Enhance IL-12 Production in Murine Dendritic Cells

Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen that has evolved very efficient immune evading strategies leading to persistent colonization. During different stages of growth, S. aureus express various surface molecules, which may affect the immune stimulating properties, but very little is known about their role in immune stimulation and evasion. Depending on the growth phase, S. aureus may affect antigen presenting cells differently. Here, the impact of growth phases and the surface molecules lipoteichoic acid, peptidoglycan and poly-N-acetyl glucosamine on the induction of IL-12 imperative for an efficient clearance of S. aureus was studied in dendritic cells (DCs). Exponential phase (EP) S. aureus was superior to stationary phase (SP) bacteria in induction of IL-12, which required actin-mediated endocytosis and endosomal acidification. Moreover, addition of staphylococcal cell wall derived peptidoglycan to EP S. aureus stimulated cells increased bacterial uptake but abrogated IL-12 induction, while addition of lipoteichoic acid increased IL-12 production but had no effect on the bacterial uptake. Depletion of the capability to produce poly-N-acetyl glucosamine increased the IL-12 inducing activity of EP bacteria. Furthermore, the mutant dltA unable to produce D-alanylated teichoic acids failed to induce IL-12 but like peptidoglycan and the toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands LPS and Pam3CSK4 the mutant stimulated increased macropinocytosis. In conclusion, the IL-12 response by DCs against S. aureus is highly growth phase dependent, relies on cell wall D-alanylation, endocytosis and subsequent endosomal degradation, and is abrogated by receptor induced macropinocytosis.
Patch-wise skin segmentation of human body parts via deep neural networks

Abstract. In human-centric technologies, skin segmentation of body parts is a prerequisite for high-level processing. The traditional method of skin detection is pixel-wise detection coupled with morphological operations. Pixel-wise methods usually generate a number of false samples and outlier skin pixels, which can make it difficult for morphological operations to provide satisfactory results in complex scenarios. Furthermore, in many cases only a coarse region is required (e.g., the bounding-box of the face) rather than detailed pixel-wise labeling. A patch-wise skin segmentation method is proposed based on deep neural networks. Our method treats image patches as processing units instead of pixels, which directly exploits the spatial information of pixels in the detection stage rather than using morphological operations on isolated pixels after detection. An image patch dataset is built and deep skin models (DSMs) are trained based on the new dataset. Trained DSMs are then integrated into a sliding window framework to segment skin regions of the human body parts. Experiments on standard benchmarks demonstrate that DSMs provide more explicit skin region of interest candidates than pixel-wise methods in complex scenarios, and achieve competitive performance on pixel-wise skin detection.
The glucose transporter family: structure, function and tissue-specific expression.

possess a transport system for glucose of the facilitative diffusion type; these transporters allow the movement of glucose across the plasma membrane down its chemical gradient either into or out of cells. These transporters are specific for the D-enantiomer of glucose and are not coupled to any energy-requiring components, such as ATP hydrolysis or a HI gradient [1]. The facilitative glucose transporters are distinct from the Na+dependent transporters, which actively accumulate glucose [2,3]. The importance of glucose as a cellular metabolite has led to
Sequential self-assembly by controlling interactive forces between microparticles

This paper describes binding-sequence control in self-assembly of microparticle by changing interactive forces from the outside. We demonstrated a sequential self-assembly with two binding steps. At the 1st step, the microparticles start to bind to each other on their hydrophobic surfaces (surface A) in aqueous solution. By changing the pH of the solution, the particles subsequently connect on their hydrophilic surfaces (surface B) at the 2nd step. We confirmed that this sequential process increases the yield of the assembled structure, and concluded that pH control is effective to achieve a sequential self-assembly.
Philosophy Underlying Emotional Intelligence in Relation to Level of Curiosity and Academic Achievement of Rural Area Students

Problem statement: Since emotional intelligence is still not wholly-accepted despite evidences of its powerful influence in general setting, this study is therefore conducted to identify the emotional intelligence level among school students in rural areas, relationships between emotional intelligence and anxiety, as well as relationships between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. Approach: It involved a sample of 223 form 1 and form 4 students. Process of data collection was administered by using a set of questionnaire which includes a self report measure of emotional intelligence adapted from Schutte Self-Report of Emotional Intelligence (SSRI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). T-test analysis showed that there were no significant differences for the emotional intelligence level within all students between ages 13 and 16. However, there were significant differences for the emotional intelligence level among female students in accordance to age. Results: The results showed that there were significant differences for emotional intelligence level among all students between both genders. Mean score of emotional intelligence within female students appeared to be higher than male students. Pearson correlation analysis showed that emotional intelligence levels of all students were significant negatively in relation to anxiety level. Emotional intelligence was also significant positively in correlation with academic achievement of all variables including students’ age and gender. Conclusion: Besides emotional intelligence, the study revealed that anxiety was also significantly correlated in a negative manner with academic achievement among all students.
Characterization of the expression and steroid hormone control of sialomucin complex in the rat uterus: Implications for uterine receptivity

The sialomucin complex (SMC), originally isolated as a heterodimeric glycoprotein complex from membranes of ascites sublines of a highly metastatic mammary adenocarcinoma, consists of a high Mr mucin subunit (ASGP‐1, ascites sialoglycoprotein) and a transmembrane subunit (ASGP‐2) with two epidermal growth factor‐like domains. SMC has been characterized in the mammary gland, where it is present in both membrane and nonmembrane (soluble) forms, the latter lacking its transmembrane domain. SMC in the mammary gland is observed during pregnancy and lactation, but not in the virgin gland, and is regulated by a posttranscriptional mechanism. Both membrane and nonmembrane forms of SMC are found in rat uterus, also as a complex of ASGP‐1 and ASGP‐2. Immunocytochemical analyses indicate that the primary site of expression is at the luminal surface of the endometrium. Approximately 40% of the SMC, corresponding to the nonmembrane fraction, is removed by rinsing uterine preparations with saline, indicating that the soluble form is adsorbed loosely to the cell surface. In contrast to mammary gland, SMC is most highly expressed in the virgin animal, and its expression varies during the estrous cycle with the steady state level of transcript. The complex is present in a location consistent with steric inhibition of blastocyst implantation and is abruptly lost at the beginning of the period of receptivity for implantation. Expression of SMC in the uterus is regulated by estrogen and progesterone and is inversely correlated with receptivity. Both implantation and loss of SMC expression can be blocked with RU486. We propose that the downregulation of SMC and its loss from the apical surface of the rat uterine lining contribute to the generation of the receptive state for uterine implantation. Furthermore, the presence of both membrane and soluble SMC at the luminal surface of the endometrium may provide a model for its proposed protective function in other accessible and vulnerable epithelia. J. Cell. Physiol. 176:110–119, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
No increased mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biologics: results from the biologics register of six rheumatology institutes in Japan

ObjectiveTo investigate the influence of biologics on mortality and risk factors for death in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.MethodsRA patients treated with at least one dose of biologics in daily practice in six large rheumatology institutes (“biologics cohort”) were observed until 15 May 2010 or death, whichever occurred first. Mortality of the biologics cohort and the “comparator cohort” (comprising patients among the IORRA cohort who had never been treated with biologics) was compared to that of the Japanese general population. Factors associated with mortality were assessed by a Cox model.ResultsAmong 2683 patients with 6913.0 patient-years of observation, 38 deaths were identified in the biologics cohort. The probability of death in patients lost to follow-up, calculated using the weighted standardized mortality ratio (SMR), was 1.08 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.77–1.47] in the biologics cohort and 1.28 (95 % CI 1.17–1.41) in the comparator cohort. Pulmonary involvement was the main cause of death (47.4 %), and the disease-specific SMR of pneumonia was 4.19 (95 % CI 1.81–8.25). Risk factors for death included male gender [hazard ratio (HR) 2.78 (95 % CI 1.24–6.22)], advanced age (HR 1.07, 95 % CI 1.03–1.11), and corticosteroid dose (HR 1.08, 95 % CI 1.01–1.17). ConclusionMortality in RA patients exposed to biologics did not exceed that in patients not exposed to biologics, but death from pulmonary manifestations was proportionally increased in RA patients exposed to biologics.
Four Factors to Influence Organization & Employee Commitment to Change within Pakistan

Change plays a vital role in the success and failure for an organization. Commitment to change is considered to be one of most important factors for the successful implementation of change initiatives. The purpose of this study is to define the importance of change in an organization and also describe those factors which are essential for the commitment to change in the organization. The purpose of the present research is to identify stressors and facilitators that could potentially have a bearing on employees' commitment to change as well as factors that could alleviate the adverse effects of these stressors on commitment to change. The paper also discusses how those factors can bring about change in the organization. The research also highlights those attributes which may reduce the dissatisfaction of employees and outlines how the employees can be driven towards change.
Changes in Bone Mineral and Matrix in Response to a Soft Diet

Alterations in the magnitude of habitual mechanical loads upon the skeleton may not only affect bone architecture, but also influence the nature of the bone matrix. We tested the hypothesis that changing the mechanical consistency of the diet affects both the mineral and non-mineralized moieties of bone matrix. Female rats were fed a soft diet (powdered chow as a paste), while control animals were fed the standard chow. After 8 or 20 wks, animals were killed. Cranial (mandible, maxilla, parietal, and frontal) bones and ulnae were analyzed for mineralization density by quantitative backscattered electron microscopy, and sulphated glycosaminoglycan levels with alcian blue staining were measured by microdensitometry. The soft diet group showed a significant increase in mineralization density distribution at almost all cranial sites and a reduction in alcian blue staining in alveolar bone. Altering the consistency of the diet significantly affects mineral concentration and glycosaminoglycan content of alveolar bone.
A security framework for mobile cloud applications

Mobile Cloud Computing is a new concept, which offers Cloud resources and services for mobile devices. It also brings several advantages to mobile devices and to the applications developed for them. However, it increases the security risks and privacy invasion due to the fact that it combines mobile devices with Cloud services and because there is not a well-defined application model. The security issues are treated independently and the existing security solutions are supplied separately by various providers. In this paper, we propose a framework to secure the data transmitted between the components of the same mobile cloud application; and to ensure the integrity of the applications at the installation on the mobile device and when being updated. Our framework allows applying different security properties to different kinds of data and not the same properties to all the data processed by the application. Also our approach takes into consideration the user preferences and the mobile device performances.
Evolution of extrafloral nectaries: adaptive process and selective regime changes from forest to savanna

Much effort has been devoted to understanding the function of extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) for ant–plant–herbivore interactions. However, the pattern of evolution of such structures throughout the history of plant lineages remains unexplored. In this study, we used empirical knowledge on plant defences mediated by ants as a theoretical framework to test specific hypotheses about the adaptive role of EFNs during plant evolution. Emphasis was given to different processes (neutral or adaptive) and factors (habitat change and trade‐offs with new trichomes) that may have affected the evolution of ant–plant associations. We measured seven EFN quantitative traits in all 105 species included in a well‐supported phylogeny of the tribe Bignonieae (Bignoniaceae) and collected field data on ant–EFN interactions in 32 species. We identified a positive association between ant visitation (a surrogate of ant guarding) and the abundance of EFNs in vegetative plant parts and rejected the hypothesis of phylogenetic conservatism of EFNs, with most traits presenting K‐values < 1. Modelling the evolution of EFN traits using maximum likelihood approaches further suggested adaptive evolution, with static‐optimum models showing a better fit than purely drift models. In addition, the abundance of EFNs was associated with habitat shifts (with a decrease in the abundance of EFNs from forest to savannas), and a potential trade‐off was detected between the abundance of EFNs and estipitate glandular trichomes (i.e. trichomes with sticky secretion). These evolutionary associations suggest divergent selection between species as well as explains K‐values < 1. Experimental studies with multiple lineages of forest and savanna taxa may improve our understanding of the role of nectaries in plants. Overall, our results suggest that the evolution of EFNs was likely associated with the adaptive process which probably played an important role in the diversification of this plant group.