Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Probabilistic Models for Query Approximation with Large Sparse Binary Data Sets

Large sparse sets of binary transaction data with millions of records and thousands of attributes occur in various domains: customers purchasing products, users visiting web pages, and documents containing words are just three typical examples. Real-time query selectivity estimation (the problem of estimating the number of rows in the data satisfying a given predicate) is an important practical problem for such databases. We investigate the application of probabilistic models to this problem. In particular, we study a Markov random field (MRF) approach based on frequent sets and maximum entropy, and compare it to the independence model and the Chow-Liu tree model. We find that the MRF model provides substantially more accurate probability estimates than the other methods but is more expensive from a computational and memory viewpoint. To alleviate the computational requirements we show how one can apply bucket elimination and clique tree approaches to take advantage of structure in the models and in the queries. We provide experimental results on two large real-world transaction datasets.
Promising Clinical Efficacy of Streptomycin-Rifampin Combination for Treatment of Buruli Ulcer (Mycobacterium ulcerans Disease)

ABSTRACT According to recommendations of the 6th WHO Advisory Committee on Buruli ulcer, directly observed treatment with the combination of rifampin and streptomycin, administered daily for 8 weeks, was recommended to 310 patients diagnosed with Buruli ulcer in Pobè, Bénin. Among the 224 (72%) eligible patients for whom treatment was initiated, 215 (96%) were categorized as treatment successes, and 9, including 1 death and 8 losses to follow-up, were treatment failures. Of the 215 successfully treated patients, 102 (47%) were treated exclusively with antibiotics and 113 (53%) were treated with antibiotics plus surgical excision and skin grafting. The size of lesions at treatment initiation was the major factor associated with surgical intervention: 73% of patients with lesions of >15 cm in diameter underwent surgery, whereas only 17% of patients with lesions of <5 cm had surgery. No patient discontinued therapy for side effects from the antibiotic treatment. One year after stopping treatment, 208 of the 215 patients were actively retrieved to assess the long-term therapeutic results: 3 (1.44%) of the 208 retrieved patients had recurrence of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease, 2 among the 107 patients treated only with antibiotics and 1 among the 108 patients treated with antibiotics plus surgery. We conclude that the WHO-recommended streptomycin-rifampin combination is highly efficacious for treating M. ulcerans disease. Chemotherapy alone was successful in achieving cure in 47% of cases and was particularly effective against ulcers of less than 5 cm in diameter.
Nox family NADPH oxidases in mechano-transduction: mechanisms and consequences.

SIGNIFICANCE The majority of cells in a multi-cellular organism are continuously exposed to ever-changing physical forces. Mechano-transduction links these events to appropriate reactions of the cells involving stimulation of signaling cascades, reorganization of the cytoskeleton and alteration of gene expression. RECENT ADVANCES Mechano-transduction alters the cellular redox balance and the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Nicotine amide adenine dinucleotide reduced form (NADPH) oxidases of the Nox family are prominent ROS generators and thus, contribute to this stress-induced ROS formation. CRITICAL ISSUES Different types and patterns of mechano-stress lead to Nox-dependent ROS formation and Nox-mediated ROS formation contributes to cellular responses and adaptation to physical forces. Thereby, Nox enzymes can mediate vascular protection during physiological mechano-stress. Despite this, over-activation and induction of Nox enzymes and a subsequent substantial increase in ROS formation also promotes oxidative stress in pathological situations like disturbed blood flow or extensive stretch. FUTURE DIRECTIONS Individual protein targets of Nox-mediated redox-signaling will be identified to better understand the specificity of Nox-dependent ROS signaling in mechano-transduction. Nox-inhibitors will be tested to reduce cellular activation in response to mechano-stimuli.
In Vitro antibacterial and in Vivo cytotoxic activities of Grewia paniculata

Objectives: Grewia paniculata (Family: Malvaceae) has been used to treat inflammation, respiratory disorders and fever. It is additionally employed for other health conditions including colds, diarrhea and as an insecticide in Bangladesh. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of different extracts of Grewia paniculata. Materials and Methods: The antibacterial activity was evaluated against both gram negative and gram positive bacteria using disc diffusion method by determination of the diameter of zone of inhibition. Cytotoxic activity was performed by brine shrimp (Artemia salina) lethality bioassay. Results: In disc diffusion method, all the natural products (400 μg/disc) showed moderate to potent activity against all the tested bacteria. The ethanol extract of bark (EEB) and ethanol fraction of bark (EFB) (400 μg/disc) exhibited highest activity against Shigella dysenteriae with a zone of inhibition of 23±1.63 mm and 23±1.77 mm respectively. In the brine shrimp lethality bioassay all the extracts showed moderate cytotoxic activity when compared with the standard drug vincristin sulphate. For example, LC50 value of the ethanol fraction of bark (EFB) was 3.01 μg/ml while the LC50 of vincristine sulphate was 0.52 μg/ml. Conclusions: The results suggest that all the natural products possess potent antibacterial and moderate cytotoxic.
The development impact of genetic use restriction technologies: a forecast based on the hybrid crop experience

Advances in biotechnology have made available gene-manipulation techniques that enable the protection of genetic material from unauthorized use and the prevention of self-supply of commercial seeds by farmers—in order to allow enhanced appropriation of the values of innovation in agricultural R&D. These techniques have become known as Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs). This paper forecasts the potential impact of wide-spread adoption of GURTs by the providers of HYV seeds on the yield development in developing countries. To do so, it assesses (1) the effects of enhanced appropriation through GURTs on the technological expansion at the yield frontier and (2) the effects of technological protection of value-adding traits through GURTS on the diffusion of yield gains from the frontier to developing countries. These assessments are based on a particular hypothesis, which is that GURTs will replicate across most staple crops the experiences that were made with a previous use restriction technology (hybridization) in only a few crops. The estimation of impacts is carried out as a simulation and is based on expansion and diffusion parameters estimated for hybrid seeds over a 38-year period. It shows that the impact of GURTs on developing countries' yields will vary considerably. Specifically, those countries that currently have the lowest yields would be most adversely affected in their future yield development by the wide-spread use of GURTs.
Antibodies raised against rough mutants of Escherichia coli and Salmonella strains are opsonic only in the presence of complement

The opsonic capacity of antisera raised in rabbits against rough (R) mutants and smooth (S) parent strains of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium were studied. All specific antibodies in the antisera belonged to the immunoglobulin G (IgG) class. Radioactively labeled bacteria were preincubated in various dilutions of antisera, in which complement was inactivated. Fresh normal rabbit serum, as a standard complement source, was used in some experiments. After preincubation, washed bacteria were added to normal human neutrophils. Opsonization of R mutants for 5 min in 5% fresh normal rabbit serum resulted in effective phagocytosis; S strains needed at least a 30-min opsonization time or 20 to 50% serum. After incubation for 5 min in diluted, homologous antisera, phagocytosis of S strains was optimal, but preincubation of R mutants in diluted, homologous antisera did not lead to amelioration of phagocytosis compared with that of bacteria preincubated in buffer only. However, when fresh normal serum was added to homologous antisera, uptake of R mutants occurred at a faster rate than that of bacteria opsonized in fresh serum alone. Using six clinical isolates of members of the family Enterobacteriaceae, we found that, with or without complement, antisera raised against E. coli J5 or S. typhimurium Re had, with the exception of one strain, no opsonic activity for these strains. Thus, the protective effect of R antisera in gram-negative bacteremia, as shown by several investigators, is unlikely to be mediated through enhanced opsonization of invading bacteria by IgG antibodies directed against these R mutants.
An expressive completeness theorem for coalgebraic modal mu-calculi

Generalizing standard monadic second-order logic for Kripke models, we introduce monadic second-order logic interpreted over coalgebras for an arbitrary set functor. We then consider invariance under behavioral equivalence of MSO-formulas. More specifically, we investigate whether the coalgebraic mu-calculus is the bisimulation-invariant fragment of the monadic second-order language for a given functor. Using automatatheoretic techniques and building on recent results by the third author, we show that in order to provide such a characterization result it suffices to find what we call an adequate uniform construction for the coalgebraic type functor. As direct applications of this result we obtain a partly new proof of the Janin-Walukiewicz Theorem for the modal mu-calculus, avoiding the use of syntactic normal forms, and bisimulation invariance results for the bag functor (graded modal logic) and all exponential polynomial functors (including the "game functor"). As a more involved application, involving additional non-trivial ideas, we also derive a characterization theorem for the monotone modal mu-calculus, with respect to a natural monadic second-order language for monotone neighborhood models.
Real-time capable micro-Doppler signature decomposition of walking human limbs

Unique micro-Doppler signature (μ-D) of a human body motion can be analyzed as the superposition of different body parts μ-D signatures. Extraction of human limbs μ-D signatures in real-time can be used to detect, classify and track human motion especially for safety application. In this paper, two methods are combined to simulate μ-D signatures of a walking human. Furthermore, a novel limbs μ-D signature time independent decomposition feasibility study is presented based on features as μ-D signatures and range profiles also known as micro-Range (μ-R). Walking human body parts can be divided into four classes (base, arms, legs, feet) and a decision tree classifier is used. Validation is done and the classifier is able to decompose μ-D signatures of limbs from a walking human signature on real-time basis.
A system of interactive scores based on Petri nets

We propose a formalism for composition and performance of musical pieces involving temporal structures and discrete interactive events. We use the Allen relations to constrain these structures and to partially define a temporal order on them. During the score composition stage, we use a constraints propagation model to maintain the temporal relations between the structures. For the performance stage, we must allow the composer to trigger the interactive events "whenever" he wants and we have to also maintain the temporal relations in a real-time context. We use a model based on Petri nets for this stage. We also provide a solution to define global constraints in addition of the local temporal constraints inspired by the NTCC formalism. I. INTRODUCTION Composing an interactive musical piece often neces- sitates to construct several musical parts before binding them to interactive events or computing programs. But, on the one hand, existing systems for writing music actually propose very limited real-time interaction, and on the other hand programming languages, such as MAX (or pd) do not provide the composer with very sophisticated tools for composition. We claim that a new kind of systems is needed for composing interactive musical pieces. Such systems would provide a composition environment for building musical parts as well as programming tools for specifying interaction computation. In this paper, we propose a formalism for writing musical pieces involving discrete interactive events. As in we shall call interactive score, a musical score involving static and interactive events, that are bound by some logical properties. In this paper, we limit our study to tem- poral relations, such as the Allen ones. Our model com- prises a compositional phase and a performance phase. For the first one we propose an incremental constraints propagation model based on the GECODE constraints library, and for the second one a model based on Petri nets. Then we present how we allow the composer to define global constraints and how we maintain them dur- ing the performance through a constraints store inspired by the NTCC (Non-deterministic Temporal Concurrent Constraint Calculus) formalism. We have implemented parts of this model in OpenMusic, a graphic language for computer assisted composition developed at Ircam. Our preliminary tests show this model to be appropriate both for score editing and for our real-time requirements, but more experiments are needed for this to be conclusive.
Antiretroviral therapy and the prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus in the multicenter AIDS cohort study.

BACKGROUND The risk of diabetes mellitus (DM) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has not been well defined. METHODS We conducted an analysis in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study to determine the prevalence and incidence of DM in this cohort of HIV-infected and HIV-seronegative men. Prevalence analysis included 1278 men (710 HIV seronegative and 568 HIV infected, 411 receiving HAART) with fasting glucose concentration determinations at baseline. Incidence analysis included 680 of these 1278 men who at the baseline visit had a fasting glucose concentration of 98 mg/dL (5.4 mmol/L) or less, no self-reported history of DM, and no self-reported use of antidiabetic medication. Diabetes mellitus was defined as a fasting glucose concentration of 126 mg/dL (7 mmol/L) or higher, self-reported diagnosis of DM, or self-reported use of antidiabetic medication. RESULTS Fifty-seven (14%) of the 411 HIV-infected men using HAART at the baseline visit had prevalent DM compared with 33 (5%) of the 711 HIV-seronegative men (prevalence ratio = 4.6; 95% confidence interval, 3.0-7.1, adjusted for age and body mass index [calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters]). The rate of incident DM was 4.7 cases per 100 person-years among HIV-infected men using HAART compared with 1.4 cases per 100 person-years among HIV-seronegative men (rate ratio = 4.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.85-9.16, adjusted for age and body mass index), during the 4-year observation period, based on a median follow-up of 2.3 years. CONCLUSION The incidence of DM in HIV-infected men with HAART exposure was greater than 4 times that of HIV-seronegative men, representing a risk that is higher than previous estimates.
Anti-jamming strategy for distributed microgrid control based on Power Talk communication

In standard implementations of distributed secondary control for DC MicroGrids (MGs), the exchange of local measurements among neighboring control agents is enabled via off-the-shelf wireless solutions, such as IEEE 802.11. However, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on the wireless interface through jamming prevents the secondary control system from performing its main tasks, which might compromise the stability of the MG. In this paper, we propose novel, robust and secure secondary control reconfiguration strategy, tailored to counteract DoS attacks. Specifically, upon detecting the impairment of the wireless interface, the jammed secondary control agent notifies its peers via a secure, low-rate powerline channel based on Power Talk communication. This triggers reconfiguration of the wireless communication graph through primary control mode switching, where the jammed agents leave the secondary control by switching to current source mode, and are replaced by non-jammed current sources that switch to voltage source mode and join the secondary control. The strategy fits within the software-defined networking framework, where the network control is split from the data plane using reliable and secure side power talk communication channel, created via software modification of the MG primary control loops. The simulation results illustrate the feasibility of the solution and prove that the MG resilience and performance can be indeed improved via software-defined networking approaches.
Self-Fuzzification Method according to Typicality Correlation for Classification on tiny Data Sets

This article presents a self-fuzzification method to enhance the settings of a fuzzy reasoning classification adapted to the automated inspection of wooden boards. The supervised classification is made thanks to fuzzy linguistic rules generated from small training data sets. This study especially answers to a double industrial need about the pattern recognition in wooden boards. Firstly, few samples are available to generate the recognition model. This aspect makes lesser efficient compilation methods like neural networks in terms of recognition rates. Secondly, the settings of the classification method must be simplified, because the users are not experts in fuzzy logic. In this article, two points are presented. The first part demonstrates the generalization capability of the presented classification method in comparison to more classical algorithms. In the second part, we propose a new automatic method of parameter fuzzification, by using the typicality correlation coefficients of each class.
Reducing Epistasis and Pleiotropy Can Avoid the Survival of the Flattest Tragedy

Simple Summary The paper investigates the evolutionary significance of genetic simplicity, proposing that organisms with less complex genetic interactions (low epistasis) and genes with fewer multiple effects (low pleiotropy) possess an evolutionary edge. This hypothesis suggests that such simplicity could lead to greater mutational robustness, allowing these organisms to adapt more efficiently to environmental changes. The experiment demonstrates that these simpler organisms exhibit greater mutational robustness, challenging the traditional belief that complexity is synonymous with evolutionary success. The conclusion highlights the study’s findings that simpler genetic architectures facilitate a higher degree of adaptability and evolutionary success. Abstract This study investigates whether reducing epistasis and pleiotropy enhances mutational robustness in evolutionary adaptation, utilizing an indirect encoded model within the “survival of the flattest” (SoF) fitness landscape. By simulating genetic variations and their phenotypic consequences, we explore organisms’ adaptive mechanisms to maintain positions on higher, narrower evolutionary peaks amidst environmental and genetic pressures. Our results reveal that organisms can indeed sustain their advantageous positions by minimizing the complexity of genetic interactions—specifically, by reducing the levels of epistasis and pleiotropy. This finding suggests a counterintuitive strategy for evolutionary stability: simpler genetic architectures, characterized by fewer gene interactions and multifunctional genes, confer a survival advantage by enhancing mutational robustness. This study contributes to our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of adaptability and robustness, challenging traditional views that equate complexity with fitness in dynamic environments.
Formation of the Legionella Replicative Compartment at the Crossroads of Retrograde Trafficking

Retrograde trafficking from the endosomal system through the Golgi apparatus back to the endoplasmic reticulum is an essential pathway in eukaryotic cells, serving to maintain organelle identity and to recycle empty cargo receptors delivered by the secretory pathway. Intracellular replication of several bacterial pathogens, including Legionella pneumophila, is restricted by the retrograde trafficking pathway. L. pneumophila employs the Icm/Dot type IV secretion system (T4SS) to form the replication-permissive Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV), which is decorated with multiple components of the retrograde trafficking machinery as well as retrograde cargo receptors. The L. pneumophila effector protein RidL is secreted by the T4SS and interferes with retrograde trafficking. Here, we review recent evidence that the LCV interacts with the retrograde trafficking pathway, discuss the possible sites of action and function of RidL in the retrograde route, and put forth the hypothesis that the LCV is an acceptor compartment of retrograde transport vesicles.
Exercise dose and insulin sensitivity: relevance for diabetes prevention.

PURPOSE Exercise improves insulin resistance and is a first line for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. The extent, however, to which these responses are dose dependent is not known. The purpose of this study was to examine whether exercise dose was associated with improvements in insulin sensitivity after 4 months of exercise training in previously sedentary adults. METHODS Fifty-five healthy volunteers participated in a 16-wk supervised endurance exercise intervention with a pre/postintervention design. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp, peak oxygen uptake by a graded exercise test, and body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. The exercise intervention consisted of three to five sessions per week with a minimum of three sessions supervised. A ramped exercise prescription protocol was used to achieve 75% of peak HR for 45 min per session. Exercise dose, expressed as average kilocalories expended per week, was computed as the product of exercise intensity, duration and frequency. RESULTS Improved insulin sensitivity was significantly related to exercise dose in a graded dose-response relationship. No evidence of threshold or maximal dose-response effect was observed. Age and gender did not influence this dose-response relationship. Exercise intensity was also significantly related to improvements in insulin sensitivity, whereas frequency was not. CONCLUSIONS This study identifies a graded dose-response relationship between exercise dose and improvements in insulin sensitivity. The implication of this observation is of importance for the adaptation of exercise prescription in clinical situations.
Prototyping , Transformation , and Application Design-- An Animating Approach using RADD

This paper presents an approach to support the design of ‘dynamic’ databases where large amounts of data are updated frequently. The basis of our approach is formed by schemata of an extended entity-relationship model which are constructed in a modular way and can then be enriched by behavior specifications, functions, and view definitions. The goal is to derive the retrieval and update semantics from a given data schema as far as possible. The components of the database design toolbox RADD can be used to derive and analyze applications of the resulting information system, such that alternative EER representations with better performance properties can be automatically inferred, and visualized to the database designer. In this way, bottlenecks of the modeled system can be omitted – using the conceptual view to the database, and a logical formalism for requirements specification and database tuning.