Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reference Point Based Multi-Objective Optimization to Workflow Grid Scheduling

Grid provides global computing infrastructure for users to avail the services supported by the network. The task scheduling decision is a major concern in heterogeneous grid computing environment. The scheduling being an NP-hard problem, meta-heuristic approaches are preferred option. In order to optimize the performance of workflow execution two conflicting objectives, namely makespan (execution time) and total cost, have been considered here. In this paper, reference point based multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, R-NSGA-II and R-e-MOEA, are used to solve the workflow grid scheduling problem. The algorithms provide the preferred set of solutions simultaneously, near the multiple regions of interest that are specified by the user. To improve the diversity of solutions we used the modified form of R-NSGA-II (represented as M-R-NSGA-II). From the simulation analysis it is observed that, compared to other algorithms, R-e-MOEA delivers better convergence, uniform spacing among solutions keeping the computation time limited.
Biodegradable microspheres. X: Some properties of polyacryl starch microparticles prepared from acrylic acid-esterified starch.

Acrylic acid-esterified starch was produced by reacting starch with acrylic acid chloride. This reaction was rapid and easy to control. Introduction of acrylic groups into starch reduced the enzymatic degradability of starch (e.g., with 12 acrylic groups/100 glucose residues, approximately 75% of the degradation products eluted before glucose on gel filtration). The degradability could be increased to a large extent by preincubation at pH 5.5 in vitro (e.g., after 16 weeks, the corresponding figure was approximately 15%). The acrylic acid-esterified starch was used to prepare polyacryl starch microparticles. These were rapidly eliminated from the circulation after iv injection in mice, mainly by uptake in the liver. The elimination of the microparticles from the liver, monitored with [14C]starch, displayed a half-life of approximately 3.5-4.5 months. After 5 and 6 months, approximately 30% of the initial radioactivity remained in the liver. This is equivalent to the amount anticipated from the enzymatic degradation of the monomer (acrylic acid-esterified starch) in vitro and the innate nondegradability of the 14C-marker. These results, taken together, indicate that the ester bond between starch and the hydrocarbon chain in polyacryl starch microparticles is hydrolyzed at lysosomal pH.
Anabolic effects of clenbuterol on skeletal muscle are mediated by beta 2-adrenoceptor activation.

The potent anabolic effects of the beta 2-adrenoceptor agonist clenbuterol on skeletal muscle have been reported to be independent of actions on beta-adrenoceptors. In the present study clenbuterol, presented to rats in the diet (4 mg/kg), caused significant increases in gastrocnemius muscle mass, protein, and RNA content and a decrease in epididymal fat pad mass. These effects were not mimicked by oral administration of the beta 2-adrenoceptor agonist salbutamol even at high dose (52 mg/kg diet), and the effects of clenbuterol were not inhibited by addition of DL-propranolol (200 mg/kg diet). However, the selective beta 2-antagonist ICI-118,551 (200 mg/kg diet) reversed the anabolic effects of clenbuterol, and a high dose of DL-propranolol (1,000 mg/kg diet) also inhibited these actions of clenbuterol. Furthermore, continuous infusion of salbutamol (1.15 mg.kg body wt-1.day-1) via miniosmotic pumps did cause significant increases in muscle mass, protein, and RNA content. These results indicate that the anabolic effects of clenbuterol are dependent on interaction with the beta 2-adrenoceptor. However, a long duration of action appears to be required to induce the anabolic effects of beta 2-agonists.
Formal Trust Model for Multiagent Systems

Trust should be substantially based on evidence. Further, a key challenge for multiagent systems is how to determine trust based on reports from multiple sources, who might themselves be trusted to varying degrees. Hence an ability to combine evidence-based trust reports in a manner that discounts for imperfect trust in the reporting agents is crucial for multiagent systems. This paper understands trust in terms of belief and certainty: A's trust in B is reflected in the strength of A's belief that B is trustworthy. This paper formulates certainty in terms of evidence based on a statistical measure defined over a probability distribution of the probability of positive outcomes. This novel definition supports important mathematical properties, including (1) certainty increases as conflict increases provided the amount of evidence is unchanged, and (2) certainty increases as the amount of evidence increases provided conflict is unchanged. Moreover, despite a more subtle definition than previous approaches, this paper (3) establishes a bijection between evidence and trust spaces, enabling robust combination of trust reports and (4) provides an efficient algorithm for computing this bijection.
Explaining Inconsistency-Tolerant Query Answering over Description Logic Knowledge Bases

Several inconsistency-tolerant semantics have been introduced for querying inconsistent description logic knowledge bases. This paper addresses the problem of explaining why a tuple is a (non-)answer to a query under such semantics. We define explanations for positive and negative answers under the brave, AR and IAR semantics. We then study the computational properties of explanations in the lightweight description logic DL-Lite_R. For each type of explanation, we analyze the data complexity of recognizing (preferred) explanations and deciding if a given assertion is relevant or necessary. We establish tight connections between intractable explanation problems and variants of propositional satisfiability (SAT), enabling us to generate explanations by exploiting solvers for Boolean satisfaction and optimization problems. Finally, we empirically study the efficiency of our explanation framework using the well-established LUBM benchmark.
Serotoninergic modulation of GABAergic synaptic transmission in developing rat CA3 pyramidal neurons

Serotoninergic modulation of GABAergic mIPSCs was investigated in immature (postnatal 12–16‐days old) rat CA3 pyramidal neurons using a conventional whole‐cell patch clamp technique. Serotonin or 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT) (10 μmol/L) transiently and explosively increased mIPSC frequency with a small increase in the current amplitude. However, 5‐HT did not affect the GABA‐induced postsynaptic currents, indicating that 5‐HT acts presynaptically to facilitate the probability of spontaneous GABA release. The 5‐HT action on GABAergic mIPSC frequency was completely blocked by 100 nmol/L MDL72222, a selective 5‐HT3 receptor antagonist, and mimicked by mCPBG, a selective 5‐HT3 receptor agonist. The 5‐HT action on GABAergic mIPSC frequency was completely occluded either in the presence of 200 μmol/L Cd2+ or in the Na+‐free external solution, suggesting that the 5‐HT3 receptor‐mediated facilitation of mIPSC frequency requires a Ca2+influx passing through voltage‐dependent Ca2+channels from the extracellular space, and that presynaptic 5‐HT3 receptors are less permeable to Ca2+. The 5‐HT action on mIPSC frequency in the absence or presence of extracellular Na+ gradually increased with postnatal development. Such a developmental change in the 5‐HT3 receptor‐mediated facilitation of GABAergic transmission would play important roles in the regulation of excitability as well as development in CA3 pyramidal neurons.
The symbiotic bacterial surface factor polysaccharide A on Bacteroides fragilis inhibits IL-1β-induced inflammation in human fetal enterocytes via toll receptors 2 and 4

Colonizing bacteria interacting with the immature, unlike the mature, human intestine favors inflammation over immune homeostasis. As a result, ten percent of premature infants under 1500 grams weight develop an inflammatory necrosis of the intestine after birth, e.g., necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). NEC is a major health problem in this population causing extensive morbidity and mortality and an enormous expenditure of health care dollars. NEC can be prevented by giving preterm infants their mother’s expressed breast milk or ingesting selective probiotic organisms. Vaginally delivered, breast fed newborns develop health promoting bacteria (“pioneer” bacteria) which preferentially stimulate intestinal host defense and anti-inflammation. One such “pioneer” organism is Bacteroides fragilis with a polysaccharide (PSA) on its capsule. B. fragilis has been shown developmentally in intestinal lymphocytes and dendritic cells to produce a balanced T-helper cell (TH1/TH2) response and to reduce intestinal inflammation by activity through the TLR2 receptor stimulating IL-10 which inhibits IL-17 causing inflammation. No studies have been done on the role of B. fragilis PSA on fetal enterocytes and its increased inflammation. Accordingly, using human and mouse fetal intestinal models, we have shown that B. fragilis with PSA and PSA alone inhibits IL-1β-induced IL-8 inflammation in fetal and NEC intestine. We have also begun to define the mechanism for this unique inflammation noted in fetal intestine. We have shown that B. fragilis PSA anti-inflammation requires both the TLR2 and TLR4 receptor and is in part mediated by the AP1 transcription factor (TLR2) which is developmentally regulated. These observations may help to devise future preventative treatments of premature infants against NEC.
Prebiotics in infant milk formulas: new perspectives

In recent years it has become accepted that healthy human intestinal microflora may play an important part in priming the infants' systemic and mucosal immunity. Dietary modulation of the gut microbiota is a topical area of nutritional sciences and the main focus of many current functional foods such as non‐digestible oligosaccharides (NDOs). Fructo‐oligosaccharides (FOS) and trans‐β‐galacto‐oligosaccharides (TOS) have been claimed to benefit the health of the colon by selectively stimulating the growth of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli (prebiotic effect). It could be of clinical interest to manipulate colonic flora because it is supposed that specific bacteria in the gut microbial microflora could promote potentially antiallergenic processes and play a key part in atopic disease prevention. Supporting this view is the finding that analysis of the composition of the intestinal bacterial populations showed different microbial patterns between healthy and allergic individuals. Assuming that non‐digestible TOS and FOS can affect the intestinal ecosystem beneficially, the opportunity for gut flora manipulation arises in bottle‐fed infants. New preterm and term infant milk formulas, supplemented with a mixture of TOS and FOS as prebiotic ingredients induced a significantly higher colonization of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. In the future, selective manipulation of the intestinal microbiota might be an approach to novel prophylactic and therapeutic intervention strategies of atopy, by redirecting allergic Th‐2 responses in favour of Th‐1 responses.
Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 in Pregnancy and Infant Neuropsychological Development

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D3] concentration in pregnancy is associated with neuropsychological development in infants. METHODS: The Spanish population-based cohort study INfancia y Medio Ambiente Project recruited pregnant women during the first trimester of pregnancy between November 2003 and February 2008. Completed data on 1820 mother-infant pairs were used. Maternal plasma 25(OH)D3 concentration was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography in pregnancy (mean 13.5±2.1 weeks of gestation). Offspring mental and psychomotor scores were assessed by trained psychologists at age 14 months (range, 11–23) by using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. β-Coefficients with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of mental and psychomotor scores associated with continuous or categorical concentrations of maternal plasma 25(OH)D3 were calculated by using linear regression analysis. RESULTS: The median plasma value of 25(OH)D3 in pregnancy was 29.6 ng/mL (interquartile range, 21.8–37.3). A positive linear relationship was found between circulating concentrations of maternal 25(OH)D3 concentrations in pregnancy and mental and psychomotor scores in the offspring. After adjustment for potential confounders, infants of mothers with 25(OH)D3 concentrations in pregnancy >30 ng/mL showed higher mental score (β = 2.60; 95% CI 0.63–4.56) and higher psychomotor score (β = 2.32; 95% CI 0.36–4.28) in comparison with those of mothers with 25(OH)D3 concentrations <20 ng/mL. CONCLUSIONS: Higher circulating concentration of maternal 25(OH)D3 in pregnancy was associated with improved mental and psychomotor development in infants.
To be or not to be convex? A study on regularization in hyperspectral image classification

Hyperspectral image classification has long been dominated by convex models, which provide accurate decision functions exploiting all the features in the input space. However, the need for high geometrical details, which are often satisfied by using spatial filters, and the need for compact models (i.e. relying on models issued form reduced input spaces) has pushed research to study alternatives such as sparsity inducing regularization, which promotes models using only a subset of the input features. Although successful in reducing the number of active inputs, these models can be biased and sometimes offer sparsity at the cost of reduced accuracy. In this paper, we study the possibility of using non-convex regularization, which limits the bias induced by the regularization. We present and compare four regularizers, and then apply them to hyperspectral classification with different cost functions.
Classification of Pathological Speech Using Fusion of Multiple Subsystems

Pathological speech usually refers to the condition of spee ch distortion resulting from atypicalities in voice and/or in the articulatory mechanisms owing to disease, illness or other ph ysical or biological insult to the production system. While au tomatic evaluation of speech intelligibility and quality cou ld come in handy in these scenarios to assist in diagnosis and treatm ent design, the many sources and types of variability often make it a very challenging computational processing problem. In th is work we design multiple subsystems to address different aspects of pathological speech characteristics. These subsy tems are then fused at the binary hard score level (intelligible o r not intelligible) using Bayesian networks. Results show that s ubsystems, such as multiple language phoneme probability sys tem, prosodic and intonational subsystem, and voice qualit y and pronunciation subsystem, have discriminating power for in telligibility (9.8%, 17.1%, 14.6% higher than by-chance respe ctively). Noise-Majority based fusion shows 66.4% accuracy , but the performance improvement by fusion is not made. Also, voice clustering based joint classification is applied to mi ni ze misclassification of the best subsystem, and it shows the bes t classification accuracy (79.9% on dev set, 76.8% on test set) .
Patterns of motor and non-motor features in Parkinson’s disease

Objective: To evaluate the presence and nature of patterns of coherency among the motor and non-motor domains in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and to examine which clinical parameters are related to the potential patterns. Methods: A cohort of 397 patients with PD were randomly divided into two samples. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed on the motor and non-motor symptoms in PD in the first sample. Findings of the EFA were used to construct a model which was tested in the second sample by confirmatory factor analysis. Multiple regression analyses on the resulting factors were performed to evaluate the influence of clinical parameters on these factors. Results: Four factors were identified. The first and strongest factor (cognitive impairment, autonomic dysfunction, psychotic symptoms, depression, daytime sleepiness and axial symptoms) reflected advancing disease. Another factor largely reflected motor complications of therapy and was related to dopaminergic medication. The other two factors reflected sleep/depression and tremor/bradykinesia/rigidity, and were only marginally related to disease severity or medication. Conclusions: The motor and non-motor features in PD can be characterised by four distinct patterns of coherency, which provide insight into the contributions of the primary disease process and antiparkinsonian medication to the broad clinical spectrum of PD. One factor, consisting of predominantly non-motor symptoms together with axial features, clearly reflected disease severity and may provide a new basis for monitoring disease progression in PD.
Effects of Duloxetine Treatment on Cognitive Flexibility and BDNF Expression in the mPFC of Adult Male Mice Exposed to Social Stress during Adolescence

Early stress is a significant risk factor for the onset of mood disorders such as depression during adulthood. Impairments in cognitive flexibility mediated by prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction are increasingly recognized as important etiological and pathological factors in the development of depression. Our previous study demonstrated that social defeat stress during early adolescence produced delayed deficits in cognitive flexibility in adult mice. The potential molecular mechanisms underlying these long-term consequences remain unclear. One candidate molecule is brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which plays a vital role in neural development and synaptic plasticity. In this study, we initially examined the effects of adolescent social stress on cognitive flexibility and PFC BDNF expression within a week after the last stress exposure and 6 weeks later during adulthood. Adolescent (PND 28) male mice were subjected to stress or control manipulation for 10 days. The attentional set-shifting task (AST) was used to assess cognitive flexibility. Levels of BDNF mRNA and protein in the PFC were examined after behavioral testing. The results demonstrated that previously stressed mice exhibited delayed extra-dimensional set-shifting deficits in AST when tested as adults but not when tested as adolescents. Consistent with the cognitive alterations, adolescent stress induced dynamic alterations in BDNF expression in the medial PFC (mPFC), with a transient increase observed shortly after the stress, followed by a decrease 6 weeks later during adulthood. Next, we further determined the effects of chronic treatment with the antidepressant duloxetine during early adulthood on cognitive and molecular alterations induced by adolescent stress. Compared with the controls, duloxetine treatment reversed the cognitive deficits and increased the BDNF protein expression in the mPFC during adulthood in previously stressed mice. These findings demonstrated that BDNF expression in the mPFC was sensitive to adolescent social stress, which may contribute to the disturbance of the development and later functioning of this brain region.
MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF MAMMALIAN MITOCHONDRIAL DNA REPLICATION AND TRANSCRIPTION

Mitochondria are cytoplasmic organelles in eukaryotic cells, mainly devoted to the synthesis of ATP, through the Oxydative Phospshorylation System (OXPHOS). The organelle has its own genome, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that encodes for all the RNA components of the mitochondrial translation apparatus (two rRNAs and 22 tRNAs) and for 13 subunits of the OXPHOS complexes. Many trans-acting factors involved in the replication and expression of the mtDNA have been identified, but the molecular mechanisms regulating these processes are still poorly understood. In our work, we have reconstituted the minimal mammalian mtDNA replisome in vitro. Together, the mitochondrial DNA polymerase (POLγ) and the mitochondrial DNA helicase TWINKLE form a processive replication machinery, which can use double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) as template to synthesize singlestranded DNA (ssDNA) molecules of about 2 kb. The addition of the mitochondrial ssDNA-binding protein (mtSSB) stimulates the reaction, generating DNA products of about 16 kb, the size of the mammalian mtDNA molecule. These findings provide biochemical evidence for TWINKLE being the helicase at the mtDNA replication fork and define the minimal mitochondrial replisome. Previous studies had shown that the human mitochondrial transcription termination factor (mTERF) governs site-specific termination of the mitochondrial transcription process. We used bioinformatic analysis and could demonstrate that mTERF is a member of a protein family (the MTERF family) shared among metazoans and plants. Interestingly, we identified three novel MTERF genes in vertebrates (MTERF2 – 4), which all encode proteins with predicted mitochondrial localization. To analyze the function of one of these MTERF proteins, MTERF3, we used a combination of mouse genetics and biochemistry. We could demonstrate that MTERF3 is a negative regulator of mtDNA transcription initiation. The MTERF3 gene is essential because homozygous knockout mouse embryos die in mid-gestation. Heart-specific disruption of MTERF3 gene impairs mtDNA transcription and causes severe respiratory chain deficiency. Biochemical evidences show that MTERF3 binds the mtDNA promoter region and depletion of MTERF3 increases transcription initiation on both mtDNA strands. MTERF3 was the first described mitochondrial protein that specifically repressed mammalian mtDNA transcription initiation in vivo. A biochemical approach has been used to characterize another member of the MTERF family, MTERF2. We have confirmed the mitochondrial localization of the protein and the position of the cleavage site of its mitochondrial targeting peptide was identified. MTERF2 is a monomer in isolation and it binds mtDNA in a non sequence-specific manner. In vivo quantification experiments show that MTERF2 is relatively abundant, with one monomer present per ∼ 265 bp of mtDNA. Using formaldehyde cross-linking we demonstrated that MTERF2 is present in nucleoids, and therefore located in close proximity to mtDNA. The functional role of MTERF2 is still unknown.
Liquid-ChromatographicEstimationof SaturatedPhospholipidPalmitatein AmnioticFluidComparedwitha Thin-LayerChromatographicMethodfor Acetone-PrecipitatedLecithin

The “high-performance” liquid-chromatographic method we report for measuring palmitate derived from saturated phospholipids in amniotic fluid is sensitive and precise and possesses a wide dynamic range. Palmitate from nonsurfactant sources is largely excluded. The procedure involves oxidation of the chloroform/methanol-extracted lipids with osmium tetroxide, precipitation of the resulting phosphatides with cold acetone, mild alkaline hydrolysis, derivatization of the liberated fatty acids to phenacyl esters, and reversed-phase chromatography. The method is no less convenient or more time-consuming than measurement of the lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio by thin-layer chromatography. The clinical usefulness of the procedure is indicated by results of a correlative study of 26 amniotic fluids evaluated by “lung profile” tests in a second laboratory. A value for dipalmitoyl lecithin of 13 mg/L or greater indicates fetal lung maturity.