Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extracting and aggregating temporal events from text

Finding reliable information about a given event from large and dynamic text collections is a topic of great interest. For instance, rescue teams and insurance companies are interested in concise facts about damages after disasters, which can be found in web blogs, newspaper articles, social networks etc. However, finding, extracting, and condensing specific facts is a highly complex undertaking: It requires identifying appropriate textual sources, recognizing relevant facts within the sources, and aggregating extracted facts into a condensed answer despite inconsistencies, uncertainty, and changes over time. In this paper, we present a three-step framework providing techniques and solutions for each of these problems. We tested the feasibility of extracting time-associated event facts using our framework in a comprehensive case study: gathering data on particular earthquakes from web data sources. Our results show that it is, under certain circumstances, possible to automatically obtain reliable and timely data on natural disasters from the web.
Rapid fabrication of silver nanoparticle/polydopamine functionalized polyester fibers

In this paper, silver nanoparticles functionalized poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fibers with antimicrobial activity, electrical conductivity and good coating stability are reported. Firstly, silver plated PET fibers were fabricated by rapid polydopamine (PDA) modification followed by electroless plating. Secondly, the surface morphologies and compositions of PDA modified and silver coated PET fibers were characterized by employing scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectrometry. Finally, the antimicrobial properties and electrical conductivity of the silver plated PET fibers were investigated. The results showed that the silver coated PET fibers exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity to both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus (with an antimicrobial efficiency of 100 and 99.99%, respectively), and that the antimicrobial activity was well maintained after washing. The silver coated PET fibers showed electrical resistance of 0.76 Ω per 1 cm, indicating good conductivity. It was also demonstrated that the silver layer that formed had good mechanical durability, as indicated by conductivity measurements during tensile loading and observation of the surface morphology of the fibers under various modes of deformation.
Synthesis of nanostructured hydroxyapatite in presence of polyethylene glycol 1000

Composite materials have showing potential applications in biomaterials. Among the composite materials, HAp/ polymer possesses significant advantages of high mechanical reliability and excellent biocompatibility for applications involving artificial bones and teeth. The aim of this study was to develop nanocomposites of hydroxyapatite and polyéthylène glycol (HAp/ PEG 1000), also the study of the adsorption of the bisphenol A (PBA) with composite synthesized. The structure were synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The results revealed that the size of HAp nanoparticles decrease with increase in PEG concentration in the composite. SEM image shows particles with an average diameter of 50 to 60 nm. Furthermore, At elevated temperatures the molecules of polyethylene glycol is evaporated and leads to the formation of platelet HAP.
The relationship between global and specific components of quality of life, assessed with the EORTC QLQ‐C30 in a sample of 2019 cancer patients

Quality of life (QoL) is impaired in many cancer patients. The aim of this study was to test whether detriments in QoL were less pronounced in global assessments of QoL compared to more specific components. A total of 2059 cancer patients with mixed diagnoses were examined 6 months after discharge from a cancer rehabilitation clinic. QoL was measured with the EORTC QLQ-C30, which contains a global QoL scale, and 14 functioning and symptom scales and symptom items. A sample of the general population (n = 4476) served as controls. Regression analyses were performed to calculate expected mean scores for the patients, based on their age and gender distribution. Global QoL in the cancer sample (M = 69.3) was nearly equal to that of the general population, while the mean scores of all functioning scales, symptom scales and symptom items showed markedly worse QoL. This general relationship between global and specific QoL was found for seven of eight cancer types. The results indicate that global QoL is not the sum of its parts. This should be considered when treatment effects on QoL are examined. One alternative is to use higher order summarising functioning and symptom scales.
Microbial Pre-exposure and Vectorial Competence of Anopheles Mosquitoes

Anopheles female mosquitoes can transmit Plasmodium, the malaria parasite. During their aquatic life, wild Anopheles mosquito larvae are exposed to a huge diversity of microbes present in their breeding sites. Later, adult females often take successive blood meals that might also carry different micro-organisms, including parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Therefore, prior to Plasmodium ingestion, the mosquito biology could be modulated at different life stages by a suite of microbes present in larval breeding sites, as well as in the adult environment. In this article, we highlight several naturally relevant scenarios of Anopheles microbial pre-exposure that we assume might impact mosquito vectorial competence for the malaria parasite: (i) larval microbial exposures; (ii) protist co-infections; (iii) virus co-infections; and (iv) pathogenic bacteria co-infections. In addition, significant behavioral changes in African Anopheles vectors have been associated with increasing insecticide resistance. We discuss how these ethological modifications may also increase the repertoire of microbes to which mosquitoes could be exposed, and that might also influence their vectorial competence. Studying Plasmodium–Anopheles interactions in natural microbial environments would efficiently contribute to refining the transmission risks.
Under Consideration for Publication in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming a Probabilistic Logic Programming Event Calculus

Note: The paper has been accepted for publication in the Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP) Journal. Abstract We present a system for recognising human activity given a symbolic representation of video content. The input of our system is a set of time-stamped short-term activities (STA) detected on video frames. The output is a set of recognised long-term activities (LTA), which are pre-defined temporal combinations of STA. The constraints on the STA that, if satisfied, lead to the recognition of a LTA, have been expressed using a dialect of the Event Calculus. In order to handle the uncertainty that naturally occurs in human activity recognition, we adapted this dialect to a state-of-the-art probabilistic logic programming framework. We present a detailed evaluation and comparison of the crisp and probabilistic approaches through experimentation on a benchmark dataset of human surveillance videos.
Tight Lower Bound on Linear Authenticated Encryption

We show that any scheme to encrypt m blocks of size n bits while assuring message integrity, that apart from using m + k invocations of random functions (from n bits to n bits) and vn bits of randomness, is linear in (GF 2) n , must have k + v at least (log m). This lower bound is proved in a very general model which rules out many promising linear modes of operations for encryption with message integrity. This lower bound is tight as 8] shows a linear scheme to encrypt m blocks while assuring message integrity by using only m + 2 + log m invocations of random permutations.
Systemic steroids in severe forms of COPD exacerbations: a question of balance?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disorder with systemic inflammatory-related consequences, for which there is no cure. Beside tobacco cessation (of which the beneficial effects are many), the only available therapeutic interventions in COPD target exercise-related dyspnoea and exacerbations. There is extensive solid evidence to support the use of bronchodilators and pulmonary rehabilitation to address these clinically relevant issues [1]. The corpus of data supporting the beneficial effects of pulmonary rehabilitation is vast and has been built through the years by several convergent studies from independent investigators [2]. It is widely acknowledged that locomotor muscles are dysfunctional in COPD [3], and also widely acknowledged that rehabilitation in COPD improves exercise tolerance, decreases the rate of exacerbations, ameliorates quality of life and might prolong survival in certain contexts ( e.g. after an exacerbation of the disease) [2, 4, 5]. Exercise training (or re-training) is a major driver of the success of pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD. Thus, the current state of the evidence suggests that patients with COPD who want to tackle their disease should quit smoking, inhale bronchodilating substances, be they associated or not with corticosteroids, and seriously think about rebuilding the strength and endurance of their meagre quadriceps. To do so, exercise is needed, but so is an adequate balance between muscle anabolism and muscle catabolism. It is at this point that this editorial connects with the article that it accompanies, although through a contorted route. In this issue of the European Respiratory Journal , Abroug et al. [6] report data that are first of their kind on the effects of systemic steroids in patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) and requiring ventilatory support for a severe, life-threatening exacerbation of COPD. In an open-label, …
Frequency Analysis and Multiline Implementation of Compensated Impedance Inverter for Wideband Doherty High-Power Amplifier Design

In this paper, we present a frequency analysis of a compensated impedance inverter and its effective implementation in the context of high-power Doherty amplifier (DPA) design. On the basis of an idealized DPA model, we calculate the expected operative bandwidth and the corresponding maximum drain efficiency as a function of the modulated signal statistics. In addition, we introduce an effective technique for the implementation of the compensated impedance inverter, suitable for preserving its broadband characteristics in the presence of large device's output capacitance. The implementation technique is based on the generalized equivalent transmission-line equivalence principle, which considers both shortening and lengthening the equivalent transmission lines. We demonstrate that, by the proposed approach, parasitic absorption is possible maintaining a low Q-factor of the equivalent network. The technique is validated by the development of a silicon laterally diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor DPA with optimized peak power and efficiency for applications in the 650-950-MHz band. The fabricated prototype is characterized by an LTE signal with a 20-MHz bandwidth and peak-to-average-power ratio of 7.5 dB and features an average drain efficiency between 37% and 47%, with an average power of 49 dBm across 37.5% of the bandwidth.
High sodium chloride concentrations inhibit staphylococcal enterotoxin C gene (sec) expression at the level of sec mRNA

Expression of the staphylococcal enterotoxin type C gene (sec) is regulated in response to both high NaCl concentrations (osmolarity) and the accessory gene regulator (agr). agr is a global regulator that alters the expression of many genes in Staphylococcus aureus. In this report, we have demonstrated that osmoregulation of sec occurs at the level of mRNA independently of an intact agr allele. Northern (RNA) and Western blot (immunoblot) analyses of samples from cultures grown in low- (0 M NaCl) and high-osmotic-strength (1.2 M NaCl) media revealed that the low-osmotic-strength culture contained approximately 16-fold more SEC and sec mRNA than the high-osmotic-strength culture. sec expression in high-osmotic-strength medium was enhanced when osmoprotective compounds were added. Osmoregulation of sec expression in Agr- strains was also examined; SEC and sec mRNA levels decreased in response to high osmolarity in a manner similar to that seen in the Agr+ strains.
Fast, accurate, and reliable molecular docking with QuickVina 2

MOTIVATION The need for efficient molecular docking tools for high-throughput screening is growing alongside the rapid growth of drug-fragment databases. AutoDock Vina ('Vina') is a widely used docking tool with parallelization for speed. QuickVina ('QVina 1') then further enhanced the speed via a heuristics, requiring high exhaustiveness. With low exhaustiveness, its accuracy was compromised. We present in this article the latest version of QuickVina ('QVina 2') that inherits both the speed of QVina 1 and the reliability of the original Vina. RESULTS We tested the efficacy of QVina 2 on the core set of PDBbind 2014. With the default exhaustiveness level of Vina (i.e. 8), a maximum of 20.49-fold and an average of 2.30-fold acceleration with a correlation coefficient of 0.967 for the first mode and 0.911 for the sum of all modes were attained over the original Vina. A tendency for higher acceleration with increased number of rotatable bonds as the design variables was observed. On the accuracy, Vina wins over QVina 2 on 30% of the data with average energy difference of only 0.58 kcal/mol. On the same dataset, GOLD produced RMSD smaller than 2 Å on 56.9% of the data while QVina 2 attained 63.1%. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION The C++ source code of QVina 2 is available at (www.qvina.org). CONTACT aalhossary@pmail.ntu. edu.sg SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
ATP-Dependent formation of phosphatidylserine-rich vesicles from the endoplasmic reticulum of leek cells

Leek (Allium porrum) plasma membrane is enriched in phosphatidylserine (PS) by the vesicular pathway, in a way similar to that already observed in animal cells (B. Sturbois-Balcerzak, D.J. Morre, O. Loreau, J.P. Noel, P. Moreau, C. Cassagne [1995] Plant Physiol Biochem 33: 625-637). In this paper we document the formation of PS-rich small vesicles from leek endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes upon addition of ATP and other factors. The omission of ATP or its replacement by ATPgamma-S prevents vesicle formation. These vesicles correspond to small structures (70-80 nm) and their phospholipid composition, characterized by a PS enrichment, is compatible with a role in PS transport. Moreover, the PS enrichment over phosphatidylinositol in the ER-derived vesicles is the first example, to our knowledge, of phospholipid sorting from the ER to ER-derived vesicles in plant cells.
Modeling of an IoT-enabled supply chain for perishable food with two-echelon supply hubs

Purpose The huge demand for fresh goods has stimulated lots of research on the perishable food supply chain. The characteristics of perishable food and the cross-regional transportation have brought many challenges to the operation models of perishable food supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to address these challenges based on the real-time data acquired by the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Design/methodology/approach IoT and the modeling of the Supply Hub in Industrial Parks were adopted in the perishable food supply chain. Findings A conceptual model was established for the IoT-enabled perishable food supply chain with two-echelon supply hubs. The performance of supply chain has improved when implementing the proposed model, as is demonstrated by a case study. Originality/value By our model, the supply hubs which act as the dominators of the supply chain can respond to the real-time information captured from the operation processes of an IoT-enabled supply chain, thus to provide public warehousing and logistic services.
Robust Minimax Probability Machine Regression ; CU-CS-952-03

We formulate regression as maximizing the minimum probability (Ω) that the true regression function is within ±2 of the regression model. Our framework starts by posing regression as a binary classification problem, such that a solution to this single classification problem directly solves the original regression problem. Minimax probability machine classification (Lanckriet et al., 2002a) is used to solve the binary classification problem, resulting in a direct bound on the minimum probability Ω that the true regression function is within ±2 of the regression model. This minimax probability machine regression (MPMR) model assumes only that the mean and covariance matrix of the distribution that generated the regression data are known; no further assumptions on conditional distributions are required. Theory is formulated for determining when estimates of mean and covariance are accurate, thus implying robust estimates of the probability bound Ω. Conditions under which the MPMR regression surface is identical to a standard least squares regression surface are given, allowing direct generalization bounds to be easily calculated for any least squares regression model (which was previously possible only under very specific, often unrealistic, distributional assumptions). We further generalize these theoretical bounds to any superposition of basis functions regression model. Experimental evidence is given supporting these theoretical results.
The final stages of the global eradication of poliomyelitis

The global incidence of poliomyelitis has dropped by more than 99 per cent since the governments of the world committed to eradication in 1988. One of the three serotypes of wild poliovirus has been eradicated and the remaining two serotypes are limited to just a small number of endemic regions. However, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has faced a number of challenges in eradicating the last 1 per cent of wild-virus transmission. The polio endgame has also been complicated by the recognition that vaccination with the oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) must eventually cease because of the risk of outbreaks of vaccine-derived polioviruses. I describe the major challenges to wild poliovirus eradication, focusing on the poor immunogenicity of OPV in lower-income countries, the inherent limitations to the sensitivity and specificity of surveillance, the international spread of poliovirus and resulting outbreaks, and the potential significance of waning intestinal immunity induced by OPV. I then focus on the challenges to eradicating all polioviruses, the problem of vaccine-derived polioviruses and the risk of wild-type or vaccine-derived poliovirus re-emergence after the cessation of oral vaccination. I document the role of research in the GPEI's response to these challenges and ultimately the feasibility of achieving a world without poliomyelitis.
Statin-induced Myopathy in Skeletal Muscle: the Role of Exercise

Statins are widely used drugs to lower cholesterol levels and to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, it has been reported that statins are associated with adverse side effects of skeletal myopathy. Statin treatment can impair mitochondrial function and induce apoptosis in skeletal muscle in both human and animal models. Ubiquinone plays an essential role in transferring electrons in the mitochondrial electron transfer chain for oxidative phosphorylation. However, statin treatment reduces ubiquinone levels in the cholesterol synthesis pathway, which may be associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. In addition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and apoptosis induced by statins may provide cellular and molecular mechanisms in skeletal myopathy. Exercise is the most effective therapy to prevent metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. However, whether exercise provides a benefit to or exacerbation of statin-induced myopathy in skeletal muscle remains poorly investigated. This review will briefly provide a comprehensive summary regarding the effects of statins on skeletal myopathy, and discuss the potential mechanisms of statin-induced myopathy and the role of exercise in statin-induced myopathy in skeletal muscle.
The role of the partner and relationship satisfaction on treatment outcome in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome

Background Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) leads to a significant decrease in CFS-related symptoms and disability. The primary objective of this study was to explore whether partners’ solicitous responses and patients’ and partners’ perceived relationship satisfaction had an effect on treatment outcome. Method The treatment outcome of a cohort of 204 consecutively referred patients treated with CBT was analysed. At baseline, CFS patients completed the Maudsley Marital Questionnaire. The Checklist Individual Strength subscale Fatigue and the Sickness Impact Profile total scores completed by CFS patients post-treatment were used as measures of clinically significant improvement. Partners completed the Family Response Questionnaire, the Maudsley Marital Questionnaire, the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, and the Causal Attribution List. Logistic regression analyses were performed with clinically significant improvement in fatigue and disability as dependent variables and scores on questionnaires at baseline as predictors. Results Solicitous responses of the partner were associated with less clinically significant improvement in fatigue and disability. Partners more often reported solicitous responses when they perceived CFS as a severe condition. Patients’ relationship dissatisfaction was negatively associated with clinically significant improvement in fatigue. Conclusions Partners’ solicitous responses and illness perceptions at the start of the therapy can negatively affect the outcome of CBT for CFS. We emphasize the importance of addressing this in therapy.
The feasibility of sentinel lymph node biopsy for gastric cancer: the experience from Serbia.

PURPOSE The prediction of outcome for patients with gastric cancer is determined largely by the presence of lymph node metastases, which could be detected by sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy (SLNB). The purpose of this work was to determine the feasibility of SLNB in patients with gastric cancer for the assessment of regional lymph node status, including performing immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of SLN tissue. METHODS We reviewed 137 consecutive patients with operable gastric cancer over a 10-year period using a retrospective (to examine skip metastases) and prospective (to evaluate successful mapping) study design. SLNs were mapped, biopsied and subsequently explored by routine hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) staining and by IHC staining using a cytokeratin 8/18 antibody. RESULTS The retrospective study showed a low incidence of skip metastases (3.7%). Mapping of SLNs in the prospective study was highly successful (98.2%). During the prospective study, IHC examination of SLNs from 56 patients showed statistically significant change in disease stage. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated highly successful mapping and biopsy of SLNs (98.2%), as well as highest specificity (100%), sensitivity (100%) and accuracy (100%) to predict metastasis in the surrounding lymph nodes of gastric carcinoma. In addition, we believe that IHC study might enable "ultra staging" and additional selection of patients for further cancer treatment.