Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Incremental Parallel Particle Swarm Approach for Classification Rule Discovery from Dynamic Data

Classification is a supervised learning technique that predicts the classes of unobserved data by employing a model built from available data. One of the efficient ways to represent this predictive model is to express it as an optimal set of classification rules to provide comprehensibility and precision, simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a novel incremental parallel Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) approach for classification rule discovery. Our proposed method separates the training data into a set of data chunks regarding the classes and extracts optimal set of classification rules for each chunk in a parallel manner. In order to extract the rules from data chunks, we introduce an incremental PSO algorithm in which the previously extracted rules are directly employed to initialize the swarm population. Moreover, in each generation of the swarm, a tournament method is employed to substitute the weak individuals with strong extracted knowledge. To support the parallelism, we assign a PSO thread for each data chunk. As soon as all the PSO threads are completed, the extracted rules are integrated into a rule-base to construct a classification model. The evaluation results of the proposed approach on six datasets suggest that the classification precision of our proposed framework is competitive with offline learning methods and is 35% faster than its counterpart offline PSO approach.
Multiphasic Approach To Study the Bacterial Ecology of Fermented Sausages Inoculated with a Commercial Starter Culture

ABSTRACT In this paper, the ability of a commercial starter culture to perform a sausage fermentation is evaluated. Molecular analysis revealed the presence of several strains of the same species contained in the starter culture with different behavior during the fermentation, and the contribution of Lactobacillus curvatus, which was only marginally isolated during the transformation.
Discovery of the Role of Wall Shear in Atherosclerosis

The suggestion was made in the 1870s that mechanical irritation of the arterial wall is a cause of atherosclerosis, because the changes were chiefly found at points “exposed to the full stress and impact of the blood. ” The mechanical damage theory persisted until well into the 20th century when, with interest increasing in multidisciplinary research, two fluid mechanical proposals were advanced for the patchy distribution of the lesions. One advocated high- and the other low-wall shear. Arterial wall shear stress levels appeared, however, insufficiently high to damage the endothelium. In contrast, examination of cadaver human arteries, combined with flow studies in models and casts of arteries, implied that the lesions occurred preferentially in regions expected to experience low-wall shear; a mechanism, involving arterial wall lipid metabolism and shear-dependent blood-wall mass transport, was suggested to account for that distribution. These proposals helped stimulate extensive investigation of arterial fluid mechanics/mass transport and vascular biology/pathology, revealing mechanisms that may explain the now widely confirmed preferred occurrence of atherosclerosis in low wall shear regions in adult human beings.
Factors Affecting Myocardial Infarction in Cervical Cancer Patients: A Population-Based Study

Background Radiotherapy (RT) or concurrent chemoradiation therapy has been suggested to increase the risk of coronary heart disease for cervical cancer patients, but the results of studies have been inconsistent. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the factors which influence the risk of developing myocardial infarction (MI) in cervical cancer patients with a large, nationwide cohort. Methods The study analyzed data from the 1996 to 2010 National Health Insurance Research Database provided by the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan. The assessed number of patients with cervical cancer with radiotherapy only, surgery with bilateral oophorectomy only, and with appendectomy were 308, 323 and 229, respectively. The Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazards model were used to assess the risk of myocardial infarction. Results The adjusted hazard ratio for cervical cancer in patients with MI was 1.97 (95% CI, 0.97 - 3.91; P = 0.05) for the group that received RT alone, and 2.13 (95% CI, 1.11 - 3.75; P = 0.01) for the surgery group when compared with controls. The more risk comorbidities they have, the higher the risk of myocardial infarction would be for the patients. Conclusion The incidence of MI was significantly higher among cervical cancer patients with RT alone or surgery with bilateral oophorectomy alone than among general populations. RT might be as a factor to increase risk as bilateral oophorectomy. Whether RT itself triggers menopause or impairs the ovarian hormone production that increases the risk of MI needs to be further investigated.
Learning-Related Development of Context-Specific Neuronal Responses to Places and Events: The Hippocampal Role in Context Processing

Contextual information plays a key role in learning and memory. Learned information becomes associated with the context such that the context can cue the relevant memories and behaviors. An extensive literature involving experimental brain lesions has implicated the hippocampus in context processing. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms of context coding are not known. Although “context” has typically been defined in terms of the background cues, recent studies indicate that hippocampal neurons are sensitive to subtle changes in task demands, even in an unchanging environment. Thus, the context may also include non-environmental features of a learning situation. In the present study, hippocampal neuronal activity was recorded while rats learned to approach different reward locations in two contexts. Because all of the training took place in the same environment, the contexts were defined by the task demands rather than by environmental stimuli. Learning to differentiate two such contexts was associated with the development of highly context-specific neuronal firing patterns. These included different place fields in pyramidal neurons and different event (e.g., reward) responses in pyramidal and interneurons. The differential firing patterns did not develop in a control condition that did not involve a context manipulation. The context-specific firing patterns could modulate activity in extrahippocampal structures to prime context-appropriate behavioral responses and memories. These results provide direct support for a context processing role of the hippocampus and suggest that the hippocampus contributes contextual representations to episodic memories.
Endothelial plasticity drives arterial remodeling within the endocardium after myocardial infarction.

RATIONALE Revascularization of injured, ischemic, and regenerating organs is essential to restore organ function. In the postinfarct heart, however, the mechanisms underlying the formation of new coronary arteries are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE To study vascular remodeling of coronary arteries after infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed permanent left coronary ligation on Connexin40-GFP mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in endothelial cells of coronary arteries but not veins, capillaries, or endocardium. GFP(+) endothelial foci were identified within the endocardium in the infarct zone. These previously undescribed structures, termed endocardial flowers, have a distinct endothelial phenotype (Cx40(+), VEGFR2(+), and endoglin(-)) to the surrounding endocardium (Cx40(-), VEGFR2(-), and endoglin(+)). Endocardial flowers are contiguous with coronary vessels and associated with subendocardial smooth muscle cell accumulation. Genetic lineage tracing reveals extensive endothelial plasticity in the postinfarct heart, showing that endocardial flowers develop by arteriogenesis of Cx40(-) cells and by outgrowth of pre-existing coronary arteries. Finally, endocardial flowers exhibit angiogenic features, including early VEGFR2 expression and active proliferation of adjacent endocardial and smooth muscle cells. CONCLUSIONS Arterial endothelial foci within the endocardium reveal extensive endothelial cell plasticity in the infarct zone and identify the endocardium as a site of endogenous arteriogenesis and source of endothelial cells to promote vascularization in regenerative strategies.
Factors Affecting Secretory Protein Production in Primary Cultures of Rat Hepatocytes

Abstract Previous studies suggest that protein synthesis in the liver may be influenced by alterations in hepatic proteolysis and gluconeogenesis. Since proteolysis and gluconeogenesis are accelerated in acute stress states (especially when associated with nutrient deprivation), these alterations may substantially affect hepatic protein synthesis, the integrity of which is important for host survival. In the present study, we have investigated albumin secretion and glucose production in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes in response to nutrient-limiting conditions, including amino acid depletion, proteolysis inhibition, and augmented gluconeogenesis. In nonlimiting nutrient culture medium containing 10 times the normal plasma amino acid concentrations, hepatocytes produced 8.05 ± 1.62 μg/plate-hr of albumin. Short-term (5 hr) inhibition of cellular protein degradation with the lysosomal protease inhibitor leupeptin did not influence albumin production, but caused a profound reduction (17-41%) when amino acid supply was reduced to the physiologic range (1.5-0.5 times, respectively). This indicates the need for active proteolysis for the maintenance of secretory protein production during nutrient limitation. Similarly, leupeptin inhibited glucose production by 22-30% at physiologic (1.5 times and 0.5 times, respectively) amino acid concentrations. Additionally, hepatocyte glucose production could be augmented 168% by epinephrine (2 μM) in 10 times medium, but this response was markedly depressed by leupeptin. Similar catecholamine-mediated effects, but of a smaller magnitude, were noted at lower medium amino acid concentrations. These findings indicate that hepatocyte albumin and glucose production are associated with the common factor of active cellular proteolysis, probably through the regulation of amino acid supply. However, protein synthesis exhibits a higher priority, since stimulated hepatocyte glucose production did not substantially alter albumin secretion.
Academic Achievements: Grades Versus Duration

This paper investigates the determinants of academic achievements of post-reform undergraduate students of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Academic achievements are measured with the students’ grade point averages and time to graduation. The set of independent variables contains information on students’ personal characteristics, prior academic achievements, family background, academic track at university, and several “peer-group” effects. The novelty of this paper is threefold: i) we use a rich data set obtained by matching the University’s administrative data records with the data drawn from the AlmaLaurea questionnaires, ii) we pay particular attention to the effects of academic track regularity on students’ performance, and iii) we propose a theoretical model of a trade-off between grades and time to graduation, and test empirically its validity by taking into account the problem of reciprocal causation between grades and time to graduation. The model suggests that grades and time to graduation are inversely related. While there is an unambiguous effect of students’ ability and financial condition on grades, these effects are less straightforward in the case of time to graduation. The sign and the magnitude of the effects of ability and financial condition on time to graduation depends on students’ academic track regularity. Moreover, the relative importance of grades and time to graduation depends, in addition to ability and financial situation, also on the external economic conditions in the labor market. Our empirical exercise confirms the predictions of the model.
Ocular disease and driving

As the driving population ages, the number of drivers with visual impairment resulting from ocular disease will increase given the age‐related prevalence of ocular disease. The increase in visual impairment in the driving population has a number of implications for driving outcomes. This review summarises current research regarding the impact of common ocular diseases on driving ability and safety, with particular focus on cataract, glaucoma, age‐related macular degeneration, hemianopia and diabetic retinopathy. The evidence considered includes self‐reported driving outcomes, driving performance (on‐road and simulator‐based) and various motor vehicle crash indices. Collectively, this review demonstrates that driving ability and safety are negatively affected by ocular disease; however, further research is needed in this area. Older drivers with ocular disease need to be aware of the negative consequences of their ocular condition and in the case where treatment options are available, encouraged to seek these earlier for optimum driving safety and quality of life benefits.
Studies on the 1967–68 foot and mouth disease epidemic: incubation period and herd serial interval

Summary The incubation period during this epidemic was studied using both a spectral analysis-cum-filtering method and analysis of case histories. Using spectral analysis, the modal herd serial interval was estimated to be 8–10 days based on the record of the daily number of outbreaks and an adjusted cattle series. The case histories tended to confirm these estimates but indicated that the serial interval varied considerably between species. The filtering method revealed that the herd serial interval apparently changed during the epidemic. For the first 4 weeks the interval was 8 days, while in the latter stages it was about 2 weeks.
Proportional Myoelectric Control of Robots: Muscle Synergy Development Drives Performance Enhancement, Retainment, and Generalization

Proportional myoelectric control has been proposed for user-friendly interaction with prostheses, orthoses, and new human-machine interfaces. Recent research has stressed intuitive controls that mimic human intentions. However, these controls have limited accuracy and functionality, resulting in user-specific decoders with upper-bound constraints on performance. Thus, myoelectric controls have yet to realize their potential as a natural interface between humans and multifunctional robotic controls. This study supports a shift in myoelectric control schemes toward proportional simultaneous controls learned through the development of unique muscle synergies. A multiple day study reveals natural emergence of a new muscle synergy space as subjects identify the system dynamics of a myoelectric interface. These synergies correlate with long-term learning, increasing performance over consecutive days. Synergies are maintained after one week, helping subjects retain efficient control and generalize performance to new tasks. The extension to robot control is also demonstrated with a robot arm performing reach-to-grasp tasks in a plane. The ability to enhance, retain, and generalize control, without needing to recalibrate or retrain the system, supports control schemes promoting synergy development, not necessarily user-specific decoders trained on a subset of existing synergies, for efficient myoelectric interfaces designed for long-term use.
Coordinating Expertise Across Knowledge Boundaries in Offshore-Outsourcing Projects: The Role of Codification

The coordination of effort within and among different expert groups is a central feature of contemporary organizations. Within the existing literature, however, a dichotomy has emerged in our understanding of the role played by codification in coordinating expert groups. One strand of literature emphasizes codification as a process that supports coordination by enabling the storage and ready transfer of knowledge. In contrast, another strand highlights the persistent differences between expert groups that create boundaries to the transfer of knowledge, seeing coordination as dependent on the quality of the reciprocal interactions between groups and individuals. Our research helps to resolve such contested understandings of the coordinative role played by codification. By focusing on the offshore-outsourcing of knowledge-intensive services, we examine the role played by codification when expertise was coordinated between client staff and onsite and offshore vendor personnel in a large-scale outsourcing contract between TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) and ABN AMRO bank. A number of theoretical contributions flow from our analysis of the case study, helping to move our understanding beyond the dichotomized views of codification outlined above. First, our study adds to previous work where codification has been seen as a static concept by demonstrating the multiple, coexisting, and complementary roles that codification may play. We examine the dynamic nature of codification and show changes in the relative importance of these different roles in coordinating distributed expertise over time. Second, we reconceptualize the commonly accepted view of codification as focusing on the replication and diffusion of knowledge by developing the notion of the codification of the "knower" as complementary to the codification of knowledge. Unlike previous studies of expertise directories, codification of the knower does not involve representing expertise in terms of occupational skills or competences but enables the reciprocal interrelating of expertise required by more unstructured tasks.
Effect of Maternal/Fetal Vitamin A Deficiency on Fetal Rat Lung Surfactant Protein Expression and the Response to Prenatal Dexamethasone

The purpose of this work was to determine whether maternal/fetal vitamin A deficiency in vivo had an effect on fetal lung surfactant protein expression and its response to antenatal maternal dexamethasone (DEX). Weanling female rats at 21 d (30-35 g) were fed control (C) (4 mg of vitamin A/kg of diet) or a vitamin A-deficient (D) (0.06 of mg vitamin A/kg) diet. These females were mated, and at selected pregnancy dates fetal and maternal tissues were obtained. Control mothers had liver retinyl palmitate (RP) concentrations of 246 ± 32 nmol/g of wet weight; those in the D group had 6.1 ± 2.9 nmol/g of wet weight. Control fetal liver RP was 12-fold higher and control fetal lung RP was 3-fold higher than in the D group (liver: 18.5 ± 0.4 nmol/g versus 1.5 ± 0.25 nmol/g; lung: 1.8± 0.98 nmol/g versus 0.6 ± 0.2 nmol/g). Neither fetal lung surfactant protein (SP)-C mRNA nor SP-A mRNA was affected by vitamin A deficiency. In a second experiment, pregnant rats from both C and D groups were injected with either DEX (1 mg/kg) or an equal volume of saline on d 15-17, and killed on d 18. DEX increased fetal lung SP-C mRNA 2-fold over the level found in the saline-injected group (saline, 1.0 ± 0.2versus DEX, 2.1 ± 0.2, p < 0.02). This increase in SP-C mRNA also occurred in fetal lungs from the D group (saline, 1.8± 0.4 versus DEX 3.7 ± 0.2, p < 0.01). Retinoic acid receptor-β mRNA, which responds to vitamin A levels and DEX in many systems, was lower in fetal lungs of the D group that had been treated with DEX. We conclude that fetal rat lung development, as measured by SP-C mRNA and SP-A mRNA, and the SP-C mRNA response to DEX, was not affected by vitamin A deficiency.
Collinear Hox-Hox interactions are involved in patterning the vertebrate anteroposterior (A-P) axis

Investigating regulation and function of the Hox genes, key regulators of positional identity in the embryo, opened a new vista in developmental biology. One of their most striking features is collinearity: the temporal and spatial orders of expression of these clustered genes each match their 3’ to 5’ order on the chromosome. Despite recent progress, the mechanisms underlying collinearity are not understood. Here we show that ectopic expression of 4 different single Hox genes predictably induces and represses expression of others, leading to development of different predictable specific sections of the body axis. We use ectopic expression in wild-type and noggin—dorsalised (Hox-free) Xenopus embryos, to show that two Hox-Hox interactions are important. Posterior induction (induction of posterior Hox genes by anterior ones: PI), drives Hox temporal collinearity (Hox timer), which itself drives anteroposterior (A-P) patterning. Posterior prevalence (repression of anterior Hox genes by posterior ones: PP) is important in translating temporal to spatial collinearity. We thus demonstrate for the first time that two collinear Hox interactions are important for vertebrate axial patterning. These findings considerably extend and clarify earlier work suggesting the existence and importance of PP and PI, and provide a major new insight into genesis of the body axis.
Automated Image Analysis for High-Content Screening and Analysis

The field of high-content screening and analysis consists of a set of methodologies for automated discovery in cell biology and drug development using large amounts of image data. In most cases, imaging is carried out by automated microscopes, often assisted by automated liquid handling and cell culture. Image processing, computer vision, and machine learning are used to automatically process high-dimensional image data into meaningful cell biological results. The key is creating automated analysis pipelines typically consisting of 4 basic steps: (1) image processing (normalization, segmentation, tracing, tracking), (2) spatial transformation to bring images to a common reference frame (registration), (3) computation of image features, and (4) machine learning for modeling and interpretation of data. An overview of these image analysis tools is presented here, along with brief descriptions of a few applications.
Creativity and technology in the Netherlands

Ter gelegenheid van de jaarlijkse TWA-bijenkomst (Technisch Wetenschappelijk Attachees van de Nederlandse Ambassades) werd een onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de stand van zaken in Nederland op het gebied van Industrieel Ontwerpen, Textiel, Media en Architectuur.