Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An overview of classification algorithms for imbalanced datasets

— Unbalanced data set, a problem often found in real world application, can cause seriously negative effect on classification performance of machine learning algorithms. There have been many attempts at dealing with classification of unbalanced data sets. In this paper we present a brief review of existing solutions to the class-imbalance problem proposed both at the data and algorithmic levels. Even though a common practice to handle the problem of imbalanced data is to rebalance them artificially by oversampling and/or under-sampling, some researchers proved that modified support vector machine, rough set based minority class oriented rule learning methods, cost sensitive classifier perform good on imbalanced data set. We observed that current research in imbalance data problem is moving to hybrid algorithms.
The SMAC mimetic BV6 induces cell death and sensitizes different cell lines to TNF-α and TRAIL-induced apoptosis

The inhibitors of apoptosis proteins are implicated in promoting cancer cells survival and resistance toward immune surveillance and chemotherapy. Second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases (SMAC) mimetics are novel compounds developed to mimic the inhibitory effect of the endogenous SMAC/DIABLO on these IAPs. Here, we examined the potential effects of the novel SMAC mimetic BV6 on different human cancer cell lines. Our results indicated that BV6 was able to induce cell death in different human cancer cell lines. Mechanistically, BV6 dose dependently induced degradation of IAPs, including cIAP1 and cIAP2. This was coincided with activating the non-canonical NF-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway, as indicated by stabilizing NF-κB-inducing kinase (NIK) for p100 processing to p52. More interestingly, BV6 was able to sensitize some of the resistant cancer cell lines to apoptosis induced by the death ligands tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) that are produced by different cells of the immune system. Such cell death enhancement was mediated by inducing an additional cleavage of caspase-9 to augment that of caspase-8 induced by death ligands. This eventually led to more processing of the executioner caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). In conclusion, therapeutic targeting of IAPs by BV6 might be an effective approach to enhance cancer regression induced by immune system. Our data also open up the future possibility of using BV6 in combination with other antitumor therapies to overcome cancer drug resistance.
Evaluation of Hs-CRP Levels and Interleukin 18 (-137G/C) Promoter Polymorphism in Risk Prediction of Coronary Artery Disease in First Degree Relatives

Background Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is clearly a multifactorial disease that develops from childhood and ultimately leads to death. Several reports revealed having a First Degree Relatives (FDRS) with premature CAD is a significant autonomous risk factor for CAD development. C - reactive protein (CRP) is a member of the pentraxin family and is the most widely studied proinflammatory biomarker. IL-18 is a pleiotrophic and proinflammatory cytokine which is produced mainly by macrophages and plays an important role in the inflammatory cascade. Methods and Results Hs-CRP levels were estimated by ELISA and Genotyping of IL-18 gene variant located on promoter -137 (G/C) by Allele specific PCR in blood samples of 300 CAD patients and 300 controls and 100 FDRS. Promoter Binding sites and Protein interacting partners were identified by Alibaba 2.1 and Genemania online tools respectively. Hs-CRP levels were significantly high in CAD patients followed by FDRS when compared to controls. In IL-18 -137 (G/C) polymorphism homozygous GG is significantly associated with occurrence of CAD and Hs-CRP levels were significantly higher in GG genotype subjects when compared to GC and CC. IL-18 was found to be interacting with 100 protein interactants. Conclusion Our results indicate that Hs-CRP levels and IL-18-137(G/C) polymorphism may help to identify risk of future events of CAD in asymptomatic healthy FDRS.
New hybrid evolutionary algorithm for solving the bounded diameter minimum spanning tree problem

Given a connected, weighted, undirected graph G and a bound D, the bounded diameter minimum spanning tree (BDMST) problem seeks a spanning tree on G of minimum weight among the trees in which no path between two vertices contains more than D edges. This problem is NP-hard for 4 � D � |v| - 1. In present paper a new randomized greedy heuristic algorithm for solving BDMST is proposed. An evolutionary algorithm encodes spanning trees as lists of their edges, augmented with their center vertices. It applies operators that maintain the diameter bound and always generate valid offspring trees. These operators are efficient, so the algorithm scales well to larger problem instances. On 25 Euclidean instances of up to 1000 vertices, the EA improved substantially on solutions found by the randomized greedy heuristic.
Frequency of pharyngoplasty after primary repair of cleft palate.

BACKGROUND The frequency of pharyngoplasty after initial repair of cleft palate is a direct measure of the success or failure of the primary palatal repair with respect to velopharyngeal function. The optimal timing and surgical technique for the repair of cleft palate remain subjects of debate. PURPOSE To assess the outcome of various techniques for primary palatal repair, specifically the frequency of secondary pharyngoplasty, and to determine the significance, if any, of certain variables to this outcome. METHODS A pool of 114 patients with cleft lip and palate was compiled from a retrospective analysis of medical records for more than 300 consecutive patients treated over a 15-year period (1980-1995). The review included only patients who had been treated by the same surgeon or by his resident. A 1-stage palatal repair was performed on all patients, in which the hard and the soft palate were closed simultaneously. The following data were collected: patient's sex, patient's date of birth, type of cleft, technique used for initial repair, age at initial repair and date of secondary pharyngoplasty surgery, if performed. RESULTS The overall frequency of subsequent pharyngoplasty was 25% (28 patients). The rate of secondary surgery was significantly higher for boys (21/63 or 33%) than for girls (7/51 or 14%). There were also significant differences in the rate of secondary pharyngoplasty according to type of cleft: 50% (6/12) for patients with bilateral cleft lip and palate, 44% (7/16) for those with hard and soft cleft palate, 21% (8/38) for those with unilateral cleft lip and palate, 20% (3/15) for those with submucous cleft palate and 12% (4/33) for those with soft cleft palate. Surgical technique for the primary repair (V-Y pushback or von Langenbeck procedure) was not a significant factor in determining the rate of subsequent pharyngoplasty, nor was age at primary repair, although those who underwent primary repair at age 12-14 months were least likely to require pharyngoplasty. CONCLUSION In this study the frequency of velopharyngeal insufficiency after 1-stage palatoplasty was consistent with previously reported results. Of interest would be a comparison of 1-stage and 2-stage approaches to primary palate repair in young patients.
Bounds for variables with few occurrences in conjunctive normal forms

We investigate connections between SAT (the propositional satisfiability problem) and combinatorics, around the minimum degree of variables in various forms of redundancy-free boolean conjunctive normal forms (clause-sets). Extensive introductions, overviews, conclusions, examples and open problems are provided. Let µvd(F) ∈ N for a clause-set F denote the minimum variable-degree, the minimal number of occurrences of a variable. A central result is the upper bound σ(F) + 1 ≤ µvd(F) ≤ nM(σ(F)) ≤ σ(F) + 1 + log2(σ(F)) for lean clause-sets F ∈ LEAN in dependency on the surplus σ(F) ∈ N. Lean clause-sets are defined by having no non-trivial autarkies (partial assignments satisfying some clauses and not touching the other clauses), and generalise minimally unsatisfiable clause-sets (which become satisfiable iff any single clause is removed), i.e., LEAN ⊃ MU. For the surplus we have σ(F) ≤ δ(F) = c(F) − n(F), using the deficiency δ(F) of clause-sets, the difference between the number c(F) of clauses and the number n(F) of variables. And nM(k) ∈ N is the k-th “non-Mersenne” number, skipping in the sequence of natural numbers all numbers of the form 2 n −1. As an application of the upper bound we obtain, that clause-sets F violating µvd(F) ≤ nM(σ(F)) must have a non-trivial autarky, and thus clauses can be removed satisfiability-equivalently. We obtain a polynomial time autarky reduction (removing the clauses), but where it is open whether the autarky itself can be found in polynomial time. We show that the upper bound on µvd is sharp, indeed already on MU ⊂ VMU ⊂ LEAN, the class of variable-minimally unsatisfiable clause-sets (these become satisfiable iff all clauses containing any single variable are removed). That is, µvd(VMUδ=k) = nM(k) for all deficiencies k ∈ N, where µvd(VMUδ=k) is the maximum of µvd(F) over F ∈ VMU with δ(F) = k. The determination of µvd(MUδ=k) =: VDM(k) seems to be a much more involved question. We show that for k ≤ 5 we have VDM(k) = nM(k), but for k = 6 we have VDM(k) = nM(k) −1. Moreover this correction by −1 causes further corrections by −1 for infinitely many other deficiencies, resulting in the upper-bound function nM1 : N → N, an instance of a generalised non-Mersenne function, found by a novel recursion scheme. We also show various auxiliary results, especially concerning VMU.
Analysis of calcitonin gene‐related peptide‐like immunoreactivity in the cat dorsal spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia provide evidence for a multisegmental projection of nociceptive C‐fiber primary afferents

Recent studies have suggested that calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP) can be used as a marker for a subpopulation of nociceptive primary afferents. Consequently, CGRP‐immunoreactive (CGRP‐IR) primary afferents have been reported to project many segments rostral to their segment of entry and to send collaterals into the superficial and deep laminae of the dorsal horn. This study reports that some CGRP‐IR primary afferents of sacral origin project rostral through the ipsilateral lumbar enlargement in the cat. The ultrastructure of these multisegmentally projecting primary afferent axons and terminals identified in a partially denervated cat was examined and compared to the ultrastructure of CGRP‐IR afferents from an intact cat.
Black Box Checking

Two main approaches are used for increasing the quality of systems: in model checking , one checks properties of a known design of a system; in testing, one usually checks whether a given implementation, whose internal structure is often unknown, conforms with an abstract design. We are interested in the combination of these techniques. Namely, we would like to be able to test whether an implementation with unknown structure satisfies some given properties. We propose and formalize this problem of black box checking and suggest several algorithms. Since the input to black box checking is not given initially, as is the case in the classical model of computation, but is learned through experiments, we propose a computational model based on games with incomplete information. We use this model to analyze the complexity of the problem. We also address the more practical question of finding an approach that can detect errors in the implementation before completing an exhaustive search.
Wireless connectivity and capacity

Given n wireless transceivers located in a plane, a fundamental problem in wireless communications is to construct a strongly connected digraph on them such that the constituent links can be scheduled in fewest possible time slots, assuming the SINR model of interference. In this paper, we provide an algorithm that connects an arbitrary point set in O(log n) slots, improving on the previous best bound of O(log2 n) due to Moscibroda. This is complemented with a super-constant lower bound on our approach to connectivity. An important feature is that the algorithms allow for bi-directional (half-duplex) communication. One implication of this result is an improved bound of Ω(1/log n) on the worst-case capacity of wireless networks, matching the best bound known for the extensively studied average-case. We explore the utility of oblivious power assignments, and show that essentially all such assignments result in a worst case bound of Ω(n) slots for connectivity. This rules out a recent claim of a O(log n) bound using oblivious power. On the other hand, using our result we show that O(min(log Δ, log n · (log n + log log Δ))) slots suffice, where Δ is the ratio between the largest and the smallest links in a minimum spanning tree of the points. Our results extend to the related problem of minimum latency aggregation scheduling, where we show that aggregation scheduling with O(log n) latency is possible, improving upon the previous best known latency of O(log3 n). We also initiate the study of network design problems in the SINR model beyond strong connectivity, obtaining similar bounds for biconnected and k-edge connected structures.
Alterations in absorption of dicumarol by various excipient materials.

A plasma level study was conducted in dogs to determine the effects of various excipient materials on the absorption of dicumarol. The drug was combined with the excipients by an equilibration process and administered orally. Plasma concentrations of dicumarol after administration with excipients were compared to control levels produced by the drug given alone. Significant differences in the plasma levels of dicumarol were observed with six of the 10 excipients used in the study. Significantly higher plasma levels (up to 180% of control values) were observed when dicumarol was administered with magnesium oxide or hydroxide. This effect may be due to chelate formation because the magnesium chelate of dicumarol produced higher plasma levels of dicumarol than the drug administered alone. Dicumarol administration with talc, colloidal magnesium aluminum silicate, aluminum hydroxide, or starch resulted in significantly lower plasma levels of the drug. It is suggested that these types of interactions may be an explanation for differences in the bioavailability of dicumarol from different dosage formulations.
Identification and Functional Expression of HAH1, a Novel Human Gene Involved in Copper Homeostasis*

To search for a mammalian homologue of ATX1, a human liver cDNA library was screened and a cDNA clone was isolated, which encodes a protein with 47% amino acid identity to Atx1p including conservation of the MTCXGC copper-binding domain. RNA blot analysis using this cDNA identified an abundant 0.5-kilobase mRNA in all human tissues and cell lines examined. Southern blot analysis using this same clone indicated that the corresponding gene exists as a single copy in the haploid genome, and chromosomal localization by fluorescence in situ hybridization detected this locus at the interface between bands 5q32 and 5q33. Yeast strains lacking copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) are sensitive to redox cycling agents and dioxygen and are auxotrophic for lysine when grown in air, and expression of this human ATX1 homologue (HAH1) in these strains restored growth on lysine-deficient media. Yeast strains lacking ATX1 are deficient in high affinity iron uptake and expression of HAH1 in these strains permits growth on iron-depleted media and results in restoration of copper incorporation into newly synthesized Fet3p. These results identify HAH1 as a novel ubiquitously expressed protein, which may play an essential role in antioxidant defense and copper homeostasis in humans.
Appearance based robotics

Robot localization has been recognized as one of the most fundamental problems in mobile robotics. Localization can be defined as the problem of determining the position of a robot. More precisely, the aim of localization is to estimate the position of a robot in its environment, given local sensorial data. This information is essential for a broad range of mobile robots tasks; in particular, the robot behavior may depend on its position. This article presents a novel and efficient metric for appearance based robot localization. This metric is integrated in a framework that uses a partially observable Markov decision process as position evaluator, thus allowing good results even in partially explored environments and in highly perceptually aliased indoor scenarios.
The NF90/NF45 Complex Participates in DNA Break Repair via Nonhomologous End Joining

ABSTRACT Nuclear factor 90 (NF90), an RNA-binding protein implicated in the regulation of gene expression, exists as a heterodimeric complex with NF45. We previously reported that depletion of the NF90/NF45 complex results in a multinucleated phenotype. Time-lapse microscopy revealed that binucleated cells arise by incomplete abscission of progeny cells followed by fusion. Multinucleate cells arose through aberrant division of binucleated cells and displayed abnormal metaphase plates and anaphase chromatin bridges suggestive of DNA repair defects. NF90 and NF45 are known to interact with the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), which is involved in telomere maintenance and DNA repair by nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ). We hypothesized that NF90 modulates the activity of DNA-PK. In an in vitro NHEJ assay system, DNA end joining was reduced by NF90/NF45 immunodepletion or by RNA digestion to an extent similar to that for catalytic subunit DNA-PKcs immunodepletion. In vivo, NF90/NF45-depleted cells displayed increased γ-histone 2A.X foci, indicative of an accumulation of double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs), and increased sensitivity to ionizing radiation consistent with decreased DSB repair. Further, NF90/NF45 knockdown reduced end-joining activity in vivo. These results identify the NF90/NF45 complex as a regulator of DNA damage repair mediated by DNA-PK and suggest that structured RNA may modulate this process.
Annotating Subjective Content in Meetings

This paper presents an annotation scheme for marking subjective content in meetings, specifically the opinions and sentiments that participants express as part of their discussion. The scheme adapts concepts from the Multi-perspective Question Answering (MPQA) Annotation Scheme, an annotation scheme for marking opinions and attributions in the news. The adaptations reflect the differences in multiparty conversation as compared to text, as well as the overall goals of our project.
Policy management using access control spaces

We present the concept of an access control space and investigate how it may be useful in managing access control policies. An access control space represents the permission assignment state of a subject or role. For example, the set of permissions explicitly assigned to a role defines its specified subspace, and the set of constraints precluding assignment to that role defines its prohibited subspace. In analyzing these subspaces, we identify two problems: (1) often a significant portion of an access control space has unknown assignment semantics, which indicates that the policy is underspecified; and (2) often high-level assignments and constraints that are easily understood result in conflicts, where resolution often leads to significantly more complex specifications. We have developed a prototype system, called Gokyo, that computes access control spaces. Gokyo identifies the unknown subspace to assist system administrators in developing more complete policy specifications. Also, Gokyo identifies conflicting subspaces and enables system administrators to resolve conflicts in a variety of ways in order to preserve the simplicity of constraint specification. We demonstrate Gokyo by analyzing a Web server policy example and examine its utility by applying it to the SELinux example policy. Even for the extensive SELinux example policy, we find that only eight additional expressions are necessary to resolve Apache administrator policy conflicts.
Study on workflow-based open competitive bidding e-procurement mechanism

With the advent of the Internet in business world, buyers need at times to make use of competitive procurement strategies for certain purchases despite the move in recent years towards supplier partnerships. Within the realm of management, it is important for organizations to provide an open competitive bidding environment for suppliers. A new two stages e-procurement mechanism is designed. In the first stage, a contract is negotiated by a multiround multiattribute sealed-bid auction. The stage can be repeated until the non-price attributes are decided and announced. In the second stage, the lowest price is yielded through open competitive bidding in an online real-time dynamic auction. Workflow technology is also applied to define the purchasing process. Under the new mechanism, both buyer and the selected supplier enhance their pay-off.
Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Dexmedetomidine-Induced Electroencephalogram Oscillations

An improved understanding of the neural correlates of altered arousal states is fundamental for precise brain state targeting in clinical settings. More specifically, electroencephalogram recordings are now increasingly being used to relate drug-specific oscillatory dynamics to clinically desired altered arousal states. Dexmedetomidine is an anesthetic adjunct typically administered in operating rooms and intensive care units to produce and maintain a sedative brain state. However, a high-density electroencephalogram characterization of the neural correlates of the dexmedetomidine-induced altered arousal state has not been previously accomplished. Therefore, we administered dexmedetomidine (1mcg/kg bolus over 10 minutes, followed by 0.7mcg/kg/hr over 50 minutes) and recorded high-density electroencephalogram signals in healthy volunteers, 18–36 years old (n = 8). We analyzed the data with multitaper spectral and global coherence methods. We found that dexmedetomidine was associated with increased slow-delta oscillations across the entire scalp, increased theta oscillations in occipital regions, increased spindle oscillations in frontal regions, and decreased beta oscillations across the entire scalp. The theta and spindle oscillations were globally coherent. During recovery from this state, these electroencephalogram signatures reverted towards baseline signatures. We report that dexmedetomidine-induced electroencephalogram signatures more closely approximate the human sleep onset process than previously appreciated. We suggest that these signatures may be targeted by real time visualization of the electroencephalogram or spectrogram in clinical settings. Additionally, these signatures may aid the development of control systems for principled neurophysiological based brain-state targeting.