Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Flexible particle swarm optimization tasks for reconfigurable processor arrays

Multi-task parallel processor arrays are a common machine architecture in which, typically, the tasks running in parallel occupy disjoint subarrays of the machine. On dynamically and partially reconfigurable processor arrays the tasks can be changed during run time. This is useful for online scenarios when the relative importance of tasks might change and therefore the assignment of computational resources to the tasks should be changed. Examples are optimization tasks in an online scenario in which the results of some tasks are needed earlier than expected at initialization. For such tasks the size of their subarrays must be increased because they need more computational resources to speed up. In this paper we design flexible particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms for 2-dimensional reconfigurable processor arrays where the algorithms can change their size and have good optimization behaviour. Since PSO is an iterative, individual-based optimization algorithm that relies upon interactions of neighbouring particles suitable for fine-grained parallel architectures. We propose a dynamic 2-dimensional hierarchical ordering of the particles within a tasks subarray so that the best particles are concentrated in the center. This gives the best particles the strongest influence on the swarm. A further advantage is that size reductions of the tasks can easily be done by cutting off the outer parts of the swarm which contain mainly the less good particles. It is experimentally shown that the proposed algorithms perform better than standard PSO algorithms under conditions with varying supply of computing resources that are available for the tasks. Moreover, also for conditions with constant supply of processing resources and no need for size changes the proposed algorithms perform well.
IEMS - an approach that combines handcrafted rules with learnt instance based rules

Sorting email messages into folders is an important task for a vast number of computer users. The i-ems (Intelligent-Electronic Mail Sorter) project is focused on improving the way users interact with email managers. In this article we report on two aspects of the i-ems project. Firstly, we discuss how combining learnt and hand crafted rules can improve the overall performance of the system. Secondly, we present a composite rule learner that classifies mail by combining an instance based approach with an approach that constructs a general explicit description. We show that this approach improves classification performance. Furthermore, this combined approach produces understandable and concise classification rules that users can scrutinize allowing them to maintain a sense of control.
A Heterogeneous Framework for the Global Parallelisation of Genetic Algorithms

There is a big need for the parallelisation of genetic algorithms. In this paper, a heterogeneous framework for the global parallelisation of genetic algorithms is presented. The framework uses a static all-worker parallel programming paradigm based on collective communication. It follows the single program multiple data parallel programming model. It utilises the power of parallel machines by allowing multiple crossover and mutation operators being used within a single genetic algorithm. This mixture of operators can be applied to the strings of a population in parallel without changes to the canonical sequential genetic algorithm. These features help the parallel genetic algorithm in exploiting the search space efficiently and thoroughly when compared to the sequential genetic algorithm. The framework is instantiated with specific parameters to solve an NP-hard problem, the asymmetric travelling salesman problem. The results for the parallel genetic algorithm are very good in terms of solution quality. Also very good speedup and scalability results were achieved on the parallel machine.
Carbamyl adducts on low-density lipoprotein induce IgG response in LDLR-/- mice and bind plasma autoantibodies in humans under enhanced carbamylation.

AIMS Post-translational modification of proteins via carbamylation predicts increased risk for coronary artery disease. Uremia and smoke exposure are known to increase carbamylation. The aim was to investigate the role of carbamylated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) immunization on antibody formation and atherogenesis in LDL receptor-deficient (LDLR-/-) mice, and to study autoantibodies to carbamylated proteins in humans with carbamylative load. RESULTS LDLR-/- mice immunized with carbamylated mouse LDL (msLDL; n=10) without adjuvant showed specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels to carbamyl-LDL and malondialdehyde-modified LDL (MDA-LDL) but not to oxidized LDL or native LDL. Immunization did not influence the atherosclerotic plaque area compared with control LDLR-/- mice immunized with native msLDL (n=10) or phosphate-buffered saline (n=11). Humans with high plasma urea levels, as well as smokers, had increased IgG autoantibody levels to carbamyl-modified proteins compared to the subjects with normal plasma urea levels, or to nonsmokers. INNOVATION Carbamyl-LDL induced specific IgG antibody response cross-reactive with MDA-LDL in mice. IgG antibodies to carbamyl-LDL were also found in human plasma and related to conditions known to have increased carbamylation, such as uremia and smoking. Plasma antibodies to carbamylated proteins may serve as new indicator of in vivo carbamylation. CONCLUSION These data give insight into mechanisms of in vivo humoral recognition of post-translationally modified structures. Humoral IgG immune response to carbamylated proteins is suggested to play a role in conditions leading to enhanced carbamylation, such as uremia and smoking.
Perspectives from Academic Leaders of the Nursing Faculty Shortage in Canada

Abstract There is a world-wide shortage of nursing faculty, which is complicated by the need for French, English, and bilingual professors in Canada. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the current status and effects of the nursing faculty shortage on Canadian Schools of Nursing (SON) from a leadership perspective. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 Deans and Directors of Canadian Schools of Nursing. The participants spoke about the faculty shortage in terms of demand, supply, and strategies employed. The participants were concerned about the ramifications of some of the decisions deemed necessary for continued viability of their programs, such as over-assigning teaching workloads. In light of mass upcoming retirements, shortening the time to completion for PhD studies and making graduate education more accessible are important priorities.
A Review of Pesticide Exposure and Cancer Incidence in the Agricultural Health Study Cohort

Objective We reviewed epidemiologic evidence related to occupational pesticide exposures and cancer incidence in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) cohort. Data sources Studies were identified from the AHS publication list available at http://aghealth.nci. nih.gov as well as through a Medline/PubMed database search in March 2009. We also examined citation lists. Findings related to lifetime-days and/or intensity-weighted lifetime-days of pesticide use are the primary focus of this review, because these measures allow for the evaluation of potential exposure–response relationships. Data synthesis We reviewed 28 studies; most of the 32 pesticides examined were not strongly associated with cancer incidence in pesticide applicators. Increased rate ratios (or odds ratios) and positive exposure–response patterns were reported for 12 pesticides currently registered in Canada and/or the United States (alachlor, aldicarb, carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, dicamba, S-ethyl-N,N-dipropylthiocarbamate, imazethapyr, metolachlor, pendimethalin, permethrin, trifluralin). However, estimates of association for specific cancers were often imprecise because of small numbers of exposed cases, and clear monotonic exposure–response patterns were not always apparent. Exposure misclassification is also a concern in the AHS and may limit the analysis of exposure–response patterns. Epidemiologic evidence outside the AHS remains limited with respect to most of the observed associations, but animal toxicity data support the biological plausibility of relationships observed for alachlor, carbaryl, metolachlor, pendimethalin, permethrin, and trifluralin. Conclusions Continued follow-up is needed to clarify associations reported to date. In particular, further evaluation of registered pesticides is warranted.
Reported Attention as a Promising Alternative to Gaze in IQA Tasks

We study the use of crowdsourcing for self-reported attention in image quality assessment (IQA) tasks. We present the results from two crowdsourcing campaigns: one where participants indicated via mouse clicks the image locations that inﬂuenced their rating of quality, and another where participants chose locations they looked at in a free-viewing setting. The results are compared to in-lab eye tracking experiments. Our analysis shows a strong connection between the in-lab and self-reported IQA locations. This suggests that crowdsourced studies are an affordable and valid alternative to eye tracking for IQA tasks.
Effect of Increased Yeast Alcohol Acetyltransferase Activity on Flavor Profiles of Wine and Distillates

ABSTRACT The distinctive flavor of wine, brandy, and other grape-derived alcoholic beverages is affected by many compounds, including esters produced during alcoholic fermentation. The characteristic fruity odors of the fermentation bouquet are primarily due to a mixture of hexyl acetate, ethyl caproate (apple-like aroma), iso-amyl acetate (banana-like aroma), ethyl caprylate (apple-like aroma), and 2-phenylethyl acetate (fruity, flowery flavor with a honey note). The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of improving the aroma of wine and distillates by overexpressing one of the endogenous yeast genes that controls acetate ester production during fermentation. The synthesis of acetate esters by the wine yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiae during fermentation is ascribed to at least three acetyltransferase activities, namely, alcohol acetyltransferase (AAT), ethanol acetyltransferase, and iso-amyl AAT. To investigate the effect of increased AAT activity on the sensory quality of Chenin blanc wines and distillates from Colombar base wines, we have overexpressed the alcohol acetyltransferase gene (ATF1) of S. cerevisiae. The ATF1gene, located on chromosome XV, was cloned from a widely used commercial wine yeast strain of S. cerevisiae, VIN13, and placed under the control of the constitutive yeast phosphoglycerate kinase gene (PGK1) promoter and terminator. Chromoblot analysis confirmed the integration of the modified copy ofATF1 into the genome of three commercial wine yeast strains (VIN7, VIN13, and WE228). Northern blot analysis indicated constitutive expression of ATF1 at high levels in these yeast transformants. The levels of ethyl acetate, iso-amyl acetate, and 2-phenylethyl acetate increased 3- to 10-fold, 3.8- to 12-fold, and 2- to 10-fold, respectively, depending on the fermentation temperature, cultivar, and yeast strain used. The concentrations of ethyl caprate, ethyl caprylate, and hexyl acetate only showed minor changes, whereas the acetic acid concentration decreased by more than half. These changes in the wine and distillate composition had a pronounced effect on the solvent or chemical aroma (associated with ethyl acetate and iso-amyl acetate) and the herbaceous and heads-associated aromas of the final distillate and the solvent or chemical and fruity or flowery characters of the Chenin blanc wines. This study establishes the concept that the overexpression of acetyltransferase genes such asATF1 could profoundly affect the flavor profiles of wines and distillates deficient in aroma, thereby paving the way for the production of products maintaining a fruitier character for longer periods after bottling.
Mechanism design via correlation gap

For revenue and welfare maximization in single-dimensional Bayesian settings, Chawla et al. (STOC10) recently showed that sequential posted-price mechanisms (SPMs), though simple in form, can perform surprisingly well compared to the optimal mechanisms. In this paper, we give a theoretical explanation of this fact, based on a connection to the notion of correlation gap. Loosely speaking, for auction environments with matroid constraints, we can relate the performance of a mechanism to the expectation of a monotone submodular function over a random set. This random set corresponds to the winner set for the optimal mechanism, which is highly correlated, and corresponds to certain demand set for SPMs, which is independent. The notion of correlation gap of Agrawal et al. (SODA10) quantifies how much we "lose" in the expectation of the function by ignoring correlation in the random set, and hence bounds our loss in using certain SPM instead of the optimal mechanism. Furthermore, the correlation gap of a monotone and submodular function is known to be small, and it follows that certain SPM can approximate the optimal mechanism by a good constant factor. Exploiting this connection, we give tight analysis of a greedy-based SPM of Chawla et al. for several environments. In particular, we show that it gives an e/(e − 1)-approximation for matroid environments, gives asymptotically a 1/(1--1/√2πk)-approximation for the important sub-case of k-unit auctions, and gives a (p + 1)-approximation for environments with p-independent set system constraints.
Space information flow: Multiple unicast

The multiple unicast network coding conjecture states that for multiple unicast in an undirected network, network coding is equivalent to routing. Simple and intuitive as it appears, the conjecture has remained open since its proposal in 2004 [1], [2], and is now a well-known unsolved problem in the field of network coding. In this work, we provide a proof to the conjecture in its space/geometric version. Space information flow is a new paradigm being proposed [3], [4]. It studies the transmission of information in a geometric space, where information flows are free to propagate along any trajectories, and may be encoded wherever they meet. The goal is to minimize a natural bandwidth-distance sum-product (network volume), while sustaining end-to-end unicast and multicast communication demands among terminals at known coordinates. The conjecture is true in networks only if it is true in space. Our main result is that network coding is indeed equivalent to routing in the space model. Besides its own merit, this partially verifies the original conjecture, and further leads to a geometric framework [5] for a hopeful proof to the conjecture.
The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Brief Form: Evidence for Reliability and Construct Validity in a Sample of Community-Dwelling Italian Adolescents

To assess the reliability and construct validity of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Brief Form (PID-5-BF) among adolescents, 877 Italian high school students were administered the PID-5-BF. Participants were administered also the Measure of Disordered Personality Functioning (MDPF) as a criterion measure. In the full sample, Cronbach’s alpha values for the PID-5-BF scales ranged from . 59 (Detachment) to . 77 (Psychoticism); in addition, all PID-5-BF scales showed mean interitem correlation values in the . 22 to . 40 range. Cronbach’s alpha values for the PID-5-BF total score was . 83 (mean interitem r = .16). Although 2-month test–retest reliability could be assessed only in a small (n = 42) subsample of participants, all PID-5-BF scale scores showed adequate temporal stability, as indexed by intraclass r values ranging from . 78 (Negative Affectivity) to . 97 (Detachment), all ps <. 001. Exploratory structural equation modeling analyses provided at least moderate support for the a priori model of PID-5-BF items. Multiple regression analyses showed that PID-5-BF scales predicted a nonnegligible amount of variance in MDPF Non-Cooperativeness, adjusted R2 = . 17, p < . 001, and Non-Coping scales, adjusted R2 = . 32, p < . 001. Similarly, the PID-5-BF total score was a significant predictor of both MDPF Non-Coping, and Non-Cooperativeness scales.
Selective Susceptibility of Human Dopaminergic Neural Stem Cells to Dopamine-Induced Apoptosis

Dysfunctions of ubiquitin-proteasome system and toxicity of dopamine have been known as the key mechanisms in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) and proteasome inhibitors are widely used in experimental models of PD to reproduce cell death of dopaminergic neurons. In the present study, immortalized human neural stem cells (HB1.F3, F3) and those transfected with human aromatic acid decarboxylase gene (F3.AADC), were used to investigate the mechanism of selective dopaminergic neuronal cell death mediated by dopamine or proteasome inhibitors. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that F3.AADC was more susceptible to dopamine than parental F3 cell which does not carry dopaminergic phenotype. The dopamine-induced apoptosis was mediated by activation of caspases 3 and 9 and cleavage of PARP. Proteasome inhibitors also induced apoptosis in dose-dependent manner but there was no difference between cell types. Prolonged exposure to subtoxic dose of proteasome inhibitors further enhanced dopamine-induced apoptosis in the F3.AADC, and increased presence of alpha-synuclein and ubiquitin-positive inclusions was noted in the cytoplasm of apoptotic cells by immunocytochemistry. These findings indicate that dopaminergic cells are selectively susceptible to dopamine toxicity and prolonged suppression of proteasome system further enhances selective sensitivity to dopamine toxicity. Chronic subtoxic proteasomal dysfunction of dopaminergic cells might contribute to selective cell death of dopaminergic neurons during the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease.
Safety and tolerability of theta‐burst transcranial magnetic stimulation in children

Aim Theta‐burst stimulation (TBS) is a lower intensity, high‐frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation technique developed recently for quantifying and modulating cerebral cortical function. Nearly all published studies have involved adults. The aim of this study was to obtain safety data as a basis for evaluating potential risks versus benefits of TBS research in children.
The Prostate 68 : 620 ^ 628 ( 2008 ) TheMetabolitesCitrate , Myo-Inositol , and Spermine Are PotentialAge-IndependentMarkers of Prostate Cancer inHumanExpressed Prostatic Secretions

Natalie J. Serkova,* Eduard J. Gamito, Richard H. Jones, Colin O’Donnell, Jaimi L. Brown, Spencer Green, Holly Sullivan, Tammy Hedlund, and E. David Crawford Departmentof AnesthesiologyandRadiology,BiomedicalMRI/MRS, Universityof ColoradoHealth Sciences Center,Denver,Colorado SectionofUrologicOncology,Universityof ColoradoHealth Sciences Center,Denver,Colorado Departmentof PreventiveMedicineandBiometrics,Universityof ColoradoHealth Sciences Center,Denver,Colorado Departmentof Pathology,Universityof ColoradoHealth SciencesCenter,Denver,Colorado
Segregating Sister Genomes: The Molecular Biology of Chromosome Separation

During cell division, each daughter cell inherits one copy of every chromosome. Accurate transmission of chromosomes requires that the sister DNA molecules created during DNA replication are disentangled and then pulled to opposite poles of the cell before division. Defects in chromosome segregation produce cells that are aneuploid (containing an abnormal number of chromosomes)—a situation that can have dire consequences. Aneuploidy is a leading cause of spontaneous miscarriages in humans and is also a hallmark of many human cancer cells. Recent work with yeast, Xenopus, and other model systems has provided new information about the proteins that control chromosome segregation during cell division and how the activities of these proteins are coordinated with the cell cycle.
Global gene expression profiling of ischemic preconditioning in the rat retina

Purpose To obtain and analyze the gene expression changes after ischemic preconditioning (IPC) in the rat retina. Methods Ischemic damage to the inner retina can be prevented by a short, non-deleterious, ischemic insult of 5 min applied 24 h preceding a full ischemic insult of 60 min; a phenomenon termed tolerance or IPC. The time course of changes in gene expression after induction of IPC was assessed by 22K oligonucleotide microarrays, followed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) validation. Functional pathways of interest were identified by Gene Ontology-term analysis. Results Histology confirmed that IPC induction by 5 min of retinal ischemia results in a complete protection against the neurodegenerative effects of a 60 min ischemic period applied 24 or 48 h later. The microarray analysis revealed differential expression of 104 known genes at one or more time points between 1 h and 7 days after IPC. The group of altered genes contained a significant overrepresentation of genes involved in aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase activity (Iars, Lars, Cars, Yars, Gars, Tars), amino acid transport (Slc3a2, Slc6a6, Slc7a1, Slc38a2), regulation of transcription (including Egr1, Egr4, Nr4a1, Nr4a3, c-fos), and cell death (including Anxa1, Trib3). qPCR assays on cDNA of individual animals confirmed the microarray results. Conclusions Endogenous neuroprotection, provoked by ischemic preconditioning is associated with changes in transcript levels of several functionally-related groups of genes. During the time window of effective protection, transcript levels of genes encoding for aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases and for amino acid transport are reduced. These changes suggest that a reduction of translational activity may play a significant role in preconditioning-mediated neuroprotection.
Activin/Nodal signalling maintains pluripotency by controlling Nanog expression

The pluripotent status of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) confers upon them the capacity to differentiate into the three primary germ layers, ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm, from which all the cells of the adult body are derived. An understanding of the mechanisms controlling pluripotency is thus essential for driving the differentiation of human pluripotent cells into cell types useful for clinical applications. The Activin/Nodal signalling pathway is necessary to maintain pluripotency in human ESCs and in mouse epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs), but the molecular mechanisms by which it achieves this effect remain obscure. Here, we demonstrate that Activin/Nodal signalling controls expression of the key pluripotency factor Nanog in human ESCs and in mouse EpiSCs. Nanog in turn prevents neuroectoderm differentiation induced by FGF signalling and limits the transcriptional activity of the Smad2/3 cascade, blocking progression along the endoderm lineage. This negative-feedback loop imposes stasis in neuroectoderm and mesendoderm differentiation, thereby maintaining the pluripotent status of human ESCs and mouse EpiSCs.