Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pharmacogenetic Determinants of Human Liver Microsomal Alfentanil Metabolism and the Role of Cytochrome P450 3A5

Background:There is considerable unexplained interindividual variability in the clearance of alfentanil. Alfentanil undergoes extensive metabolism by cytochrome P4503A4 (CYP3A4). CYP3A5 is structurally similar to CYP3A4 and metabolizes most CYP3A4 substrates but is polymorphically expressed. Livers with the CYP3A5*1 allele contain higher amounts of the native CYP3A5 protein than livers homozygous for the mutant CYP3A5*3 allele. This investigation tested the hypothesis that alfentanil is a substrate for CYP3A5 and that CYP3A5 pharmacogenetic variability influences human liver alfentanil metabolism. Methods:Alfentanil metabolism to noralfentanil and N-phenylpropionamide was determined in microsomes from two groups of human livers, characterized for CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 protein content: low CYP3A5 (2.0–5.2% of total CYP3A, n = 10) and high CYP3A5 (46–76% of total CYP3A, n = 10). Mean CYP3A4 content was the same in both groups. The effects of the CYP3A inhibitors troleandomycin and ketoconazole, the latter being more potent toward CYP3A4, on alfentanil metabolism were also determined. Results:In the low versus high CYP3A5 livers, respectively, noralfentanil formation was 77 ± 31 versus 255 ± 170 pmol · min−1 · mg−1, N-phenylpropionamide formation was 8.0 ± 3.1 versus 20.5 ± 14.0 pmol · min−1 · mg−1, and the metabolite ratio was 9.5 ± 0.4 versus 12.7 ± 1.4 (P < 0.05 for all). There was a poor correlation between alfentanil metabolism and CYP3A4 content but an excellent correlation when CYP3A5 (i.e., total CYP3A content) was considered (r2 = 0.81, P < 0.0001). Troleandomycin inhibited alfentanil metabolism similarly in the low and high CYP3A5 livers; ketoconazole inhibition was less in the high CYP3A5 livers. Conclusion:In microsomes from human livers expressing the CYP3A5*1 allele and containing higher amounts of CYP3A5 protein, compared with those with the CYP3A5*3 allele and little CYP3A5, there was greater alfentanil metabolism, metabolite ratios more closely resembled those for expressed CYP3A5, and inhibitors with differing CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 selectivities had effects resembling those for expressed CYP3A5. Therefore, alfentanil is metabolized by human liver microsomal CYP3A5 in addition to CYP3A4, and pharmacogenetic variability in CYP3A5 expression significantly influences human liver alfentanil metabolism in vitro. Further investigation is warranted to assess whether the CYP3A5 polymorphism is a factor in the interindividual variability of alfentanil metabolism and clearance in vivo.
Retrospective interference alignment for two-cell uplink MIMO cellular networks with delayed CSIT

In this paper, we propose a new retrospective interference alignment for two-cell multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interfering multiple access channels (IMAC) with the delayed channel state information at the transmitters (CSIT). It is shown that having delayed CSIT can strictly increase the sum-DoF compared to the case of no CSIT. The key idea is to align multiple interfering signals from adjacent cells onto a small dimensional subspace over time by fully exploiting the previously received signals as side information with outdated CSIT in a distributed manner. Remarkably, we show that the retrospective interference alignment can achieve the optimal sum-DoF in the context of two-cell two-user scenario by providing a new outer bound.
Constraint Induced Movement Therapy

10.7Upper Limb Activity For stroke survivors with some active wrist and finger extension, intensive constraint induced movement therapy (minimum 2 hours of active therapy per day for 2 weeks, plus restraint for at least 6 hours a day) should be provided to improve arm and hand use (Corbetta et al. 2015). Trunk restraint may also be incorporated into the active therapy sessions at any stage post-stroke (Wee et al. 2014).
HIV-1 Dynamics: A Reappraisal of Host and Viral Factors, as well as Methodological Issues

The dynamics of HIV-1 viremia is a complex and evolving landscape with clinical and epidemiological (public health) implications. Most studies have relied on the use of set-point viral load (VL) as a readily available proxy of viral dynamics to assess host and viral correlates. This review highlights recent findings from population-based studies of set-point VL, focusing primarily on robust data related to host genetics. A comprehensive understanding of viral dynamics will clearly need to consider both host and viral characteristics, with close attention to (i) the timing of VL measurements, (ii) the biology of viral evolution, (iii) compartments of active viral replication, (iv) the transmission source partner as the immediate past microenvironment, and (v) proper application of statistical models.
Changes in Plant Species Richness Induce Functional Shifts in Soil Nematode Communities in Experimental Grassland

Background Changes in plant diversity may induce distinct changes in soil food web structure and accompanying soil feedbacks to plants. However, knowledge of the long-term consequences of plant community simplification for soil animal food webs and functioning is scarce. Nematodes, the most abundant and diverse soil Metazoa, represent the complexity of soil food webs as they comprise all major trophic groups and allow calculation of a number of functional indices. Methodology/Principal Findings We studied the functional composition of nematode communities three and five years after establishment of a grassland plant diversity experiment (Jena Experiment). In response to plant community simplification common nematode species disappeared and pronounced functional shifts in community structure occurred. The relevance of the fungal energy channel was higher in spring 2007 than in autumn 2005, particularly in species-rich plant assemblages. This resulted in a significant positive relationship between plant species richness and the ratio of fungal-to-bacterial feeders. Moreover, the density of predators increased significantly with plant diversity after five years, pointing to increased soil food web complexity in species-rich plant assemblages. Remarkably, in complex plant communities the nematode community shifted in favour of microbivores and predators, thereby reducing the relative abundance of plant feeders after five years. Conclusions/Significance The results suggest that species-poor plant assemblages may suffer from nematode communities detrimental to plants, whereas species-rich plant assemblages support a higher proportion of microbivorous nematodes stimulating nutrient cycling and hence plant performance; i.e. effects of nematodes on plants may switch from negative to positive. Overall, food web complexity is likely to decrease in response to plant community simplification and results of this study suggest that this results mainly from the loss of common species which likely alter plant – nematode interactions.
Controls on the geotechnical response of sedimentary rocks to weathering

Weathering reduces the strength of rocks and so is a key control on the stability of rock slopes. Recent research suggests that the geotechnical response of rocks to weathering varies with ambient stress conditions resulting from overburden loading and/or stress concentrations driven by near‐surface topography. In addition, the stress history experienced by the rock can influence the degree to which current weathering processes cause rock breakdown. To address the combined effect of these potential controls, we conducted a set of weathering experiments on two sedimentary lithologies in laboratory and field conditions. We firstly defined the baseline geotechnical behaviour of each lithology, characterising surface hardness and stress–strain behaviour in unconfined compression. Weathering significantly reduced intact rock strength, but this was not evident in measurements of surface hardness. The ambient compressive stress applied to samples throughout the experiments did not cause any observable differences in the geotechnical behaviour of the samples. We created a stress history effect in sub‐sets of samples by generating a population of microcracks that could be exploited by weathering processes. We also geometrically modified groups of samples to cause near‐surface stress concentrations that may allow greater weathering efficacy. However, even these pronounced sample modifications resulted in insignificant changes in geotechnical behaviour when compared to unmodified samples. The observed reduction in rock strength changed the nature of failure of the samples, which developed post‐peak strength and underwent multiple stages of brittle failure. Although weakened, these samples could sustain greater stress and strain following exceedance of peak strength. On this basis, the multi‐stage failure style exhibited by weaker weathered rock may permit smaller‐magnitude, higher‐frequency events to trigger fracture through intact rock bridges as well as influencing the characteristics of pre‐failure deformation. These findings are consistent with patterns of behaviour observed in field monitoring results. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A building-block royal road where crossover is provably essential

One of the most controversial yet enduring hypotheses about what genetic algorithms (GAs) are good for concerns the idea that GAs process building-blocks. More specifically, it has been suggested that crossover in GAs can assemble short low-order schemata of above average fitness (building blocks) to create higher-order higher-fitness schemata. However, there has been considerable difficulty in demonstrating this rigorously and intuitively. Here we provide a simple building-block function that a GA with two-point crossover can solve on average in polynomial time, whereas an asexual population or mutation hill-climber cannot.
Acute Aortic Syndromes

In 1760, Dr Nicholls, physician to King George II, first described on necropsy an acute aortic dissection. Over the course of more than 200 years, we have developed a growing awareness and understanding of acute and chronic aortic syndromes. Recent advances in imaging and therapeutic techniques have further emphasized the importance of early diagnosis of acute aortic syndromes, which continues to be crucial to survival. However, we continue to be uncomfortable in the diagnosis and management of this highly lethal disorder. In the present report, we review the etiology, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, outcomes, and therapeutic approaches to acute aortic syndromes. In each section, we summarize the most clinically relevant issues as “take home points” (THPs) to affirm their importance in the diagnosis and management of this disorder. Acute aortic syndrome is the modern term that includes aortic dissection, intramural hematoma (IMH), and symptomatic aortic ulcer. In the classic sense, acute aortic dissection requires a tear in the aortic intima that commonly is preceded by medial wall degeneration or cystic media necrosis.1 Blood passes through the tear separating the intima from the media or adventitia, creating a false lumen. Propagation of the dissection can proceed in anterograde or retrograde fashion from the initial tear involving side branches and causing complications such as malperfusion syndromes, tamponade, or aortic valve insufficiency.2–5 Both acquired and genetic conditions share a common pathway leading to the breakdown in the integrity of the intima. All mechanisms that weaken the media layers of the aorta will eventually lead to higher wall stress, which can induce aortic dilatation and aneurysm formation, eventually resulting in intramural hemorrhage, aortic dissection, or rupture. The factors culminating in a clinical dissection are quite diverse. The most common risk condition for aortic dissection is hypertension, with chronic exposure of the aorta to …
Urdu Part of Speech Tagging Using Transformation Based Error Driven Learning

This paper presents a preliminary achievement of Brill's Transformation-Based Learning (TBL) approach to solve disambiguation problem of Urdu language. In the last few years lots of work has been done on European and South Asian languages but comparatively lesser efforts have been made in context to Urdu language. Keeping this aspect in mind, this study presents Part of Speech (POS) tagger for Urdu language using Data Driven Approach, called Brill's Transformation-Based Learning (TBL). This method automatically deduces rules from a training corpus with accuracy comparable to other statistical techniques as well as it possesses significant advantages over others tagging approaches. In this study, POS tagger is trained on Urdu corpus, which in contrast to English, is free word order language with inflectional characteristics and complex morphological nature. The corpus consists of 123775 tokens and 36 tag sets. The proposed POS tagger achieved a significant accuracy of around 84%. Precision, Recall and F-Measure has been calculated for complete test corpus. Error analysis (confusion matrix) for most confusing tag pairs has also been presented along with brief overview of Urdu language and tagging examples of Urdu language which elaborates the model in its best fashion. Performance of the proposed tagger has been compared with N-gram POS tagger and it is clearly evident that the proposed transformation based method outperforms the N-gram based POS tagger.
Problematic Usage Among Highly-Engaged Players of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games

One popular facet of Internet gaming is the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). Some individuals spend so much time playing these games that it creates problems in their lives. This study focused on players of World of Warcraft. Factor analysis revealed one factor related to problematic usage, which was correlated with amount of time played, and personality characteristics of agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion.
Egocentric Interaction — A Design and Modelling Framework for Situative Physical-Virtual Applications

There is a growing consensus within the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) that the keyboard, mouse and visual display of the PC era have to be replaced with something more mobile and more adaptable to situations where interaction with computers until now has simply not been possible. Moreover, presence of interactive computing power literally everywhere implies that the computing systems have to take into account the physical context of their users. Open issues such as these are core problem areas in fields such as Augmented Reality, Tangible User Interfaces, Context Awareness, Ubiquitous and Wearable Computing. Most existing efforts investigating and designing for the new kind of everyday computing tend to be severely hampered by the absence of a framework that could define the roles of objects in dynamically reconfigured mixed-reality environments. This position paper describes our ongoing work in developing such a framework, incorporating, among other things, the idea of emerging physical-virtual “applications” based on how collections of everyday objects are exposed to a specific human agent in the course of everyday activities.
Considering Water Footprint in Reservoir Adaptation to Climate Change: an Evolutionary Approach

Reservoir management usually considers short- to medium-term operation horizons. However, climate change and other longer term societal changes pose a challenge for planning water utilization from reservoirs. The key aspect is how to incentive behaviour change towards gradual adaptation. We propose an evolutionary approach to model adaptation, considering the Water Footprint as the main criterion for driving adaptation in long-term. The approach is tested in a case in Brazil, revealing promising preliminary results.
Landmark Selection for Task-Oriented Navigation

Many vision-based navigation systems are restricted to the use of only a limited number of landmarks when computing the camera pose. This limitation is due to the overhead of detecting and tracking these landmarks along the image sequence. A new algorithm is proposed for subset selection from the available landmarks. This algorithm searches for the subset that yields minimal uncertainty for the obtained pose parameters. Navigation tasks have different types of goals: moving along a path, photographing an object for a long period of time, etc. The significance of the various pose parameters differs for different navigation tasks. Therefore, a requirements matrix is constructed from a supplied severity function, which defines the relative importance of each parameter. This knowledge can then be used to search for the subset that minimizes the uncertainty of the important parameters, possibly at the cost of greater uncertainty in others. It is shown that the task-oriented landmark selection problem can be defined as an integer-programming problem for which a very good approximation can be obtained. The problem is then translated into a semi-definite programming representation which can be rapidly solved. The feasibility and performance of the proposed algorithm is studied through simulations and lab experimentation.
Challenges in Engaging Birdwatchers in Bird Monitoring in a Forest Patch: Lessons for Future Citizen Science Projects in Agricultural Landscapes

This article details a correction to the article: Alexandrino, E.R. , Navarro, A.B. , Paulete, V.F. , Camolesi, M. , Lima, V.G. R. , Green, A. , de Conto, T. , Ferraz, M.P.M. de B. , Şekercioglu, C.H. and do Couto, H.T. Z. , 2019. Challenges in Engaging Birdwatchers in Bird Monitoring in a Forest Patch: Lessons for Future Citizen Science Projects in Agricultural Landscapes. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 4(1), p.4. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.198
Resilient Modulus Prediction Models of Unbound Materials for Nevada

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) adopted the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) as an interim pavement design standard in 2008. In 2015, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) implemented the MEPDG for the structural design of new and rehabilitated flexible pavements. The resilient modulus of the unbound materials remains an important parameter in pavement design. This parameter also used to characterize the unbound materials in the MEPDG. The MEPDG follows a hierarchical approach in defining the required engineering properties of the pavement structure. Three levels of input are specified in the AASHTOWare® Pavement ME design software. This includes direct measurement from the laboratory testing offering the highest level of accuracy (i.e., Level 1), estimated values using correlations with soil properties (i.e., Level 2), and typical values offering the lowest level of accuracy (i.e., Level 3). NDOT currently uses R-value to estimate the resilient modulus of unbound materials which is not originally developed for Nevada. The major objective of this study is to develop a new resilient modulus prediction model for use in pavement rehabilitation designs. Unbound materials (i.e., base, borrow, and subgrade) were sampled from several locations throughout Nevada and various tests were conducted to determine unbound material properties and characteristics, including the classification of the evaluated material (i.e., soil classification), R-value, moisture-density relationships, and resilient modulus testing. The resilient modulus test was conducted according to AASHTO T307 procedure. Prediction models for all three unbound material types (i.e., base, borrow, and subgrade) correlating resilient modulus to R-value and other physical properties were developed for pavement rehabilitation designs. District 1 materials were used to develop these prediction models, and the District 2 and District 3 materials were used to verify the models. Additionally, it was concluded that the current available NDOT resilient model correlation equation overestimates the resilient modulus anticipated in an existing pavement structure, thus resulting in a likely under designed asphalt concrete overlay thickness.
Key revocation in wireless sensor networks: a survey on a less-addressed yet vital issue

Key management in wireless sensor network WSN includes two important aspects namely key distribution, which constitutes the task of distributing secret keys to nodes in the network, and key revocation, which refers to the task of securely withdrawing the key information relating to any compromised node or because of tactical reasons. While in the existing literature, key distribution has been extensively studied, key revocation has received relatively little attention. A vital security issue like this needs proper recognition to be considered as a critical research area, not just as a partial segment of key management. With this motivation, in this paper, we present our rationale behind recognising the area and analyse the state-of-the-art key revocation techniques. Alongside our survey on the prominent schemes, we also present an analysis of security and performance that highlights the advantages and disadvantages of each scheme that explicitly mentions the method of key revocation.
Unified Cross-Modal Attention: Robust Audio-Visual Speech Recognition and Beyond

Audio-Visual Speech Recognition (AVSR) is a promising approach to improving the accuracy and robustness of speech recognition systems with the assistance of visual cues in challenging acoustic environments. In this paper, we present a novel audio-visual speech recognition architecture with unified cross-modal attention. Our approach concatenates the sequences temporally from different modalities and encodes the fused sequence in the unified feature space using a shared Conformer encoder. We then explicitly model additive noise and potential out-of-sync samples during training, and propose an auxiliary asynchronization-aware loss to improve the system performance on out-of-sync data. To enhance the efficacy of unified cross-modal attention, a manual attention alignment strategy is designed and applied to the model, bringing additional gains in both recognition accuracy and computation cost. As demonstrated by experiments on the large-scale audio-visual LRS3 dataset, our proposed approach reduces the word error rate (WER) by relatively 50% compared to the audio-only single-modal ASR system under noisy conditions, and relatively 25% compared to the previous audio-visual ASR baseline. The proposed audio-visual ASR system also shows superior robustness in more challenging conditions, such as audio-only data, visual corruption, audio-visual misalignment, and multi-talker interference. Moreover, the proposed Unified Cross-Modal Attention model exhibits a more general ability in multi-modality fusion, allowing for easy integration of additional modalities into the model with this framework to achieve a more accurate, robust, and safer multi-modal system.
SSWiM: A Semantic Service, Wrapper and Invocation Manager

Integrating service description, discovery, and invocation functionalities presents several fundamental problems in the management of web services and is a basic problem for composing Web services over a network. In this paper, we present the design of a system called "semantic service, wrapper, and invocation manager" (SSWiM) which provides these key functionalities. In particular, SSWiM manages storage of and queries over service descriptions in a service registry, wraps existing REST services with WSDL service interfaces, and supports for service invocation at run time. We describe WSDL services based on two levels of ontologies: a domain ontology for data sets and a service ontology for services. The input/output messages (data) and the functionality of a (WSDL) service are mapped to the domain ontology and the service ontology, respectively. We developed the data mapping methodology and the mapping algorithm. Service descriptions are registered in our service registry which supports a set of service discovery queries. The wrapper builder in SSWiM can generate WSDL services automatically from REST services so that services can be invoked uniformly in WSDL format.