Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PredictionIO: a distributed machine learning server for practical software development

One of the biggest challenges for software developers to build real-world predictive applications with machine learning is the steep learning curve of data processing frameworks, learning algorithms and scalable system infrastructure. We present PredictionIO, an open source machine learning server that comes with a step-by-step graphical user interface for developers to (i) evaluate, compare and deploy scalable learning algorithms, (ii) tune hyperparameters of algorithms manually or automatically and (iii) evaluate model training status. The system also comes with an Application Programming Interface (API) to communicate with software applications for data collection and prediction retrieval. The whole infrastructure of PredictionIO is horizontally scalable with a distributed computing component based on Hadoop. The demonstration shows a live example and workflows of building real-world predictive applications with the graphical user interface of PredictionIO, from data collection, algorithm tuning and selection, model training and re-training to real-time prediction querying.
Investigations of human platelet-type 12-lipoxygenase: role of lipoxygenase products in platelet activation1[S]

Human platelet-type 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX) has recently been shown to play an important role in regulation of human platelet function by reacting with arachidonic acid (AA). However, a number of other fatty acids are present on the platelet surface that, when cleaved from the phospholipid, can be oxidized by 12-LOX. We sought to characterize the substrate specificity of 12-LOX against six essential fatty acids: AA, dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (DGLA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), α-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosadienoic acid (EDA), and linoleic acid (LA). Three fatty acids were comparable substrates (AA, DGLA, and EPA), one was 5-fold slower (ALA), and two showed no reactivity with 12-LOX (EDA and LA). The bioactive lipid products resulting from 12-LOX oxidation of DGLA, 12-(S)-hydroperoxy-8Z,10E,14Z-eicosatrienoic acid [12(S)-HPETrE], and its reduced product, 12(S)-HETrE, resulted in significant attenuation of agonist-mediated platelet aggregation, granule secretion, αIIbβ3 activation, Rap1 activation, and clot retraction. Treatment with DGLA similarly inhibited PAR1-mediated platelet activation as well as platelet clot retraction. These observations are in surprising contrast to our recent work showing 12(S)-HETE is a prothrombotic bioactive lipid and support our hypothesis that the overall effect of 12-LOX oxidation of fatty acids in the platelet is dependent on the fatty acid substrates available at the platelet membrane.
Biochemical evaluation of the combination of Pegylated IFN-α2b and Ribavarin therapy of Egyptian patients suffering from Hepatitis C Virus

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the biochemical parameters and cytokines levels in infected Egyptian patient. This study was conducted on 32 patients. 25 of them were suffering from chronic HCV and the other 7 males are selfreported healthy volunteers. They were classified as the following: Group I (control healthy group), Group II (HCV-non treated group) Group IIIGroup VI (HCV-treated with 12,24,36,48 ampoule of interferon). The obtained results showed a significant increase in the activities of serum liver marker enzymes ALT, AST and ALP, cytokines Il2, Il4 and Il10, also a significant increase was observed in serum Ferritin and Alpha feto protein. On the other hand, a significant decrease in both sera total protein and albumin level. Whereas administration of combination of Pegylated IFN-α2b and Ribavarin significantly improved the alert in the biochemical parameters. These results suggested that, combination therapy of both peg-interferon and ribavirin, emphasizing the influence of these compounds for patient with HCV, possibly preventing alteration of enzymes of liver activities. Because peg-interferon treatment can reduce liver injury and anti-inflammatory effect, as well as by decreasing plasma cytokine as cytokines, is present in patients with HCV liver disease. Furthermore, treatment with IFN-α diminishes the Th2 cytokine response. Thus, modulation of Tcell function and cytokine production may be one mechanism whereby IFN-α therapy results in reduced viral burden.
Function and application of type-II oncostatin-M receptor (OSMR) in cerebral apoplexy diseases

The invention discloses a function and application of type-II oncostatin-M receptor (OSMR) in cerebral apoplexy diseases, and belongs to the field of gene functions and application. An OSMR gene knock-out mouse and a neuron-specific OSMR transgenic mouse are used as experimental objects, a cerebral apoplexy disease model is simulated by virtue of middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion, and the result indicates that the volume of cerebral infarction of the OSMR knock-out mouse is remarkably increased, the neurological functions are remarkably deteriorated, more neuronal cells are apoptotic, and the JAK2/STAT3 signal path is remarkably regulated down; while the volume of cerebral infarction of the OSMR transgenic mouse is remarkably reduced, the neurological functions are remarkably improved, the number of apoptotic neuronal cells is reduced, and the JAK2/STAT3 signal path is remarkably regulated up. Therefore, the OSMR gene can be used as a drug target in screening medicaments for preventing, relieving and/or treating cerebral apoplexy; the OSMR gene can also be used as a target gene in gene treatment for designing and preparing a medicinal and/or biological reagent for preventing, relieving and/or treating cerebral apoplexy, so that a novel effective means is provided to cerebral apoplexy treatment.
Role of PSGL-1 binding to selectins in leukocyte recruitment.

A multistep series of adhesive and signaling events regulates inflammatory responses to infection or injury (1–3). To initiate these responses, circulating leukocytes must adhere to the vascular wall under shear forces. Selectins mediate the first adhesive step, which is characterized by tethering and rolling of leukocytes on endothelial cells, platelets, or other leukocytes (4, 5). L-selectin, expressed on most leukocytes, binds to ligands on some endothelial cells and on other leukocytes. E-selectin, expressed on cytokine-activated endothelial cells, binds to ligands on most leukocytes. P-selectin, expressed on activated platelets and endothelial cells, also binds to ligands on most leukocytes. The regulated expression of the selectins and their ligands helps initiate and terminate the inflammatory response. However, inappropriate expression of these molecules contributes to leukocyte-mediated tissue damage in a variety of inflammatory and thrombotic disorders (6). Each selectin is a type 1 membrane glycoprotein with an NH 2 -terminal C-type lectin domain, followed by an EGF-like domain, a series of short consensus repeats, a transmembrane domain, and a short cytoplasmic tail. Selectins mediate cell– cell adhesion through interactions of the lectin domains with specific glycoconjugate ligands. Like other mammalian lectins, the selectins bind selectively, but with low affinity, to particular oligosaccharides. All selectins bind to the tetrasaccharide sialyl Lewis x (sLe x ; 1 NeuAc a 2,3Gal b 1,4[Fuc a 1,3]GlcNAc) and its isomer sialyl Lewis a (sLe a ; NeuAc a 2,3Gal b 1,3 [Fuc a 1,4]GlcNAc). Land P-selectins, but not E-selectin, also bind to particular sulfated carbohydrates, such as heparan sulfate, that lack sialic acid and fucose (4, 5, 7). However, selectins bind with higher affinity or avidity to only a few glycoproteins. Most of these are mucins, i.e., glycoproteins with multiple Ser/Thr-linked oligosaccharides (O-glycans) and repeating peptide motifs (4, 5). A key issue is whether any of these molecules mediates biologically relevant interactions with selectins (7). This perspective focuses on P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1), a sialomucin with the most clearly defined function as a selectin ligand.
The Evolving Impact of Combinatorial Opportunities and Exhaustion on Innovation by Business Groups as Market Development Increases: The Case of Taiwan

Business groups are key sources of innovation in emerging market economies, but we understand little about why innovativeness differs across groups and over time. Variation in the density of intragroup buyer–supplier ties, which are common structural linkages among group affiliates, can help explain both cross-sectional and temporal heterogeneity of group innovativeness. We argue that greater buyer–supplier density within a group initially creates combinatorial opportunities that contribute to group innovativeness but ultimately generates combinatorial exhaustion that constrains innovation. Combinatorial exhaustion will set in at lower levels of density as the market environment becomes more developed because the opportunity costs of local search increase. The research introduces a dynamic argument to studies of business-group innovation. This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy.
Influence of Experiment Design in GPA Investigating with Respect to PRNGs

This paper analyses the influence of experiment parameters onto the reliability of experiments with genetic programming algorithms. The paper is focused on the required number of experiments and especially on the influence of parallel execution which affect not only the order of thread execution but also behaviors of pseudo random number generators, which frequently do not respect recommendation of C++11 standard and are not implemented as thread safe. The observations and the effect of the suggested improvements are demonstrated on results of 720,000 experiments.
Enhanced levels of soluble and membrane-bound CD40 ligand in patients with unstable angina. Possible reflection of T lymphocyte and platelet involvement in the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndromes.

BACKGROUND The CD40 ligand (CD40L) on activated T cells and platelets may be activating matrix metalloproteinases, inducing procoagulant activity, and be involved in the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndromes by promoting plaque rupture in atheroma. METHODS AND RESULTS To study the role of CD40L-CD40 interaction in coronary disease, we analyzed levels of soluble (s) and membrane-bound CD40L in the peripheral blood from 29 patients with stable angina, 26 with unstable angina, and 19 controls. Our main findings follow. (1) Patients with unstable angina had significantly raised serum levels of sCD40L when compared with patients with stable angina and controls. (2) Platelets could release large amounts of sCD40L when stimulated ex vivo with the thrombin receptor-agonist peptide SFLLRN in both patients and controls. (3) Platelets in patients with unstable angina were characterized ex vivo by decreased intracellular levels and decreased SFLLRN-stimulated release of sCD40L, which may possibly represent a higher percentage of degranulated platelets in these patients. (4) T cells in patients with unstable angina had enhanced surface expression of CD40L and increased release of sCD40L on anti-CD3/anti-CD28 stimulation in vitro when compared with patients with stable angina and controls. (5) Recombinant CD40L and serum from patients with unstable angina who had high sCD40L levels induced enhanced release of monocyte chemoattractant peptide-1 from mononuclear cells, a CC-chemokine involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. CONCLUSIONS This first demonstration of enhanced levels of soluble and membrane-bound forms of CD40L in angina patients, with particularly high levels in patients with unstable angina, suggests that CD40L-CD40 interaction may play a pathogenic role in both the long-term atherosclerotic process and in the triggering and propagation of acute coronary syndromes.
A New User Authentication Protocol for Mobile Terminals in Wireless Network

For constructing a ubiquitous network, the highspeed wireless LAN (WLAN) attracts attention as an infrastructure for global access. However, some issues are impeding further adoption of the technology, in particular, security problems including user authentication, message compromising, password theft, connection hijacking, etc. In this paper, we discuss a fast authentication method of mobile ubiquitous terminals in WLAN. To achieve an efficient access control between Access Points (APs) and mobile terminals and sharing of a session key between terminals, we propose a new user secure authentication method and a session key distribution protocol based on service ticket issuing system.
Exploring the adoption and implementation of discrete and integrated IT systems: a framework for analysis

Despite the substantial organisational benefits of integrated IT, the implementation of such systems – and particularly Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems – has tended to be problematic, stimulating an extensive body of research into ERP implementation. This research has remained largely separate from the main IT implementation literature. At the same time, studies of IT implementation have generally adopted either a factor or process approach; both have major limitations. To address these limitations, factor and process perspectives are combined here in a unique model of IT implementation. We argue that: the organisational factors which determine successful implementation differ for integrated and traditional, discrete IT; failure to manage these differences is a major source of integrated IT failure. The factor/process model is used as a framework for proposing differences between discrete and integrated IT. [Received 31 August 2009; Revised 30 April 2010; Accepted 26 October 2010]
Engaging Faith-Based Resources to Initiate and Support Diabetes Self-Management Among African Americans

Diabetes for Life (DFL), a project of Memphis Healthy Churches (MHC) and Common Table Health Alliance (CTHA; formerly Healthy Memphis Common Table [HMCT]), is a self-management program aimed at reducing health disparities among African Americans with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee. This program is one of five national projects that constitute The Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes, a 5-year grant-funded initiative of The Merck Foundation. Our purpose is to describe the faith-based strategies supporting DFL made possible by linking with an established informal health system, MHC, created by Baptist Memorial Health Care. The MHC network engaged volunteer Church Health Representatives as educators and recruiters for DFL. The components of the DFL project and the effect on chronic disease management for the participants will be described. The stages of DFL recruitment and implementation from an open-access to a closed model involving six primary care practices created a formal health system. The involvement of CTHA, a regional health collaborative, created the opportunity for DFL to expand the pool of health care providers and then recognize the core of providers most engaged with DFL patients. This collaboration between MHC and HMCT led to the organization of the formal health network.
Mobility, Residential Location, and the American Dream: The Intra-Metropolitan Geography of Minority Homeownership: Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C

This paper explicates the intra-metropolitan geography of minority homeownership. In so doing, the analysis applies individual level Census data from the Washington D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles metropolitan areas to estimate three-level nested logit models (NMNL) of household mobility, residential location, and homeownership tenure choice. The approach is unique to the literature and recognizes that homeownership attainment among minority and white households may vary importantly owing to their differential mobility and residential location decisions. Model simulation indicates that shocks to income can significantly elevate the homeownership attainment of minority households. However, those same simulations reveal that even in the wake of substantial improvements to the economic status of minorities, their urban settlement and homeownership patterns remain substantially more concentrated than those of whites.
Effect of beta-alanine, with and without sodium bicarbonate, on 2000-m rowing performance.

PURPOSE To examine the effect of beta-alanine only and beta-alanine with sodium bicarbonate supplementation on 2,000-m rowing performance. METHODS Twenty well-trained rowers (age 23 ± 4 y; height 1.85 ± 0.08 m; body mass 82.5 ± 8.9 kg) were assigned to either a placebo or beta-alanine (6.4 g · d(-1) for 4 weeks) group. A 2,000-m rowing time trial (TT) was performed before supplementation (Baseline) and after 28 and 30 days of supplementation. The post supplementation trials involved supplementation with either maltodextrin or sodium bicarbonate in a double-blind, crossover design, creating four study conditions (placebo with maltodextrin; placebo with sodium bicarbonate; beta-alanine with maltodextrin; beta-alanine with sodium bicarbonate). Blood lactate, pH, bicarbonate, and base excess were measured pre-TT, immediately post-TT and at TT+5 min. Performance data were analyzed using magnitude based inferences. RESULTS Beta-alanine supplementation was very likely to be beneficial to 2,000-m rowing performance (6.4 ± 8.1 s effect compared with placebo), with the effect of sodium bicarbonate having a likely benefit (3.2 ± 8.8 s). There was a small (1.1 ± 5.6 s) but possibly beneficial additional effect when combining chronic beta-alanine supplementation with acute sodium bicarbonate supplementation compared with chronic beta-alanine supplementation alone. Sodium bicarbonate ingestion led to increases in plasma pH, base excess, bicarbonate, and lactate concentrations. CONCLUSIONS Both chronic beta-alanine and acute sodium bicarbonate supplementation alone had positive effects on 2,000-m rowing performance. The addition of acute sodium bicarbonate to chronic beta-alanine supplementation may further enhance rowing performance.
Essential Role of Cyclization Sequences in Flavivirus RNA Replication

ABSTRACT A possible role in RNA replication for interactions between conserved complementary (cyclization) sequences in the 5′- and 3′-terminal regions of Flavivirus RNA was previously suggested but never tested in vivo. Using the M-fold program for RNA secondary-structure predictions, we examined for the first time the base-pairing interactions between the covalently linked 5′ genomic region (first ∼160 nucleotides) and the 3′ untranslated region (last ∼115 nucleotides) for a range of mosquito-borneFlavivirus species. Base-pairing occurred as predicted for the previously proposed conserved cyclization sequences. In order to obtain experimental evidence of the predicted interactions, the putative cyclization sequences (5′ or 3′) in the replicon RNA of the mosquito-borne Kunjin virus were mutated either separately, to destroy base-pairing, or simultaneously, to restore the complementarity. None of the RNAs with separate mutations in only the 5′ or only the 3′ cyclization sequences was able to replicate after transfection into BHK cells, while replicon RNA with simultaneous compensatory mutations in both cyclization sequences was replication competent. This was detected by immunofluorescence for expression of the major nonstructural protein NS3 and by Northern blot analysis for amplification and accumulation of replicon RNA. We then used the M-fold program to analyze RNA secondary structure of the covalently linked 5′- and 3′-terminal regions of three tick-borne virus species and identified a previously undescribed additional pair of conserved complementary sequences in locations similar to those of the mosquito-borne species. They base-paired with ΔG values of approximately −20 kcal, equivalent or greater in stability than those calculated for the originally proposed cyclization sequences. The results show that the base-pairing between 5′ and 3′ complementary sequences, rather than the nucleotide sequence per se, is essential for the replication of mosquito-borne Kunjin virus RNA and that more than one pair of cyclization sequences might be involved in the replication of the tick-borne Flavivirusspecies.
Discussion: No S without Q ⇒ No E without Q?

Industrial functional safety managers claim that there is no safety (S) without quality (Q) possible. The contribution is to make aware of the importance of standards and the compliance with processes. An overview of relevant functional safety analysis activities is given based on industrial experience in the area of automotive and railway. Even though these methods and software development processes are well known in research and education, we argue that there is still a gap to industrial development of safety critical embedded systems. We conclude with a discussion about the importance of compliance with software development processes also in the academic world. The question we want to raise is: Is engineering-education (E) without quality management lasting?
Experimental Evaluation of Deadbeat Running on the ATRIAS Biped

Theoretical spring mass models with deadbeat foot placement policies reveal very robust running in the presence of large and frequent, unexpected gait disturbances. Although this performance goes beyond what has been demonstrated on running machines, a transfer of this theory has only been investigated for simplified monopod systems. Here we investigate how well the control strategies developed for the spring mass model transfer to more complex and human-like robots. We use a model-based control framework to implement the spring mass behavior on a bipedal robot of human scale and weight with articulated legs and an actively stabilized trunk. Evaluating the tracking performance in robot experiments on undisturbed and disturbed running, we find that our controller achieves tracking consistent with the underlying model for velocity changes of $\pm \text{0.2}\,\text{m/s}^{-1}$. For larger velocity changes and ground height disturbances up to $\pm \text{15}\,\text{cm}$, the controller performance degrades but the robot maintains running. Based on perturbed simulations of the simplified model, we conclude that the degradation is largely related to force disturbances not considered in the underlying spring mass control theory. The results highlight both limitations of the existing spring mass theory for control of more complex machines and a spring mass model-based control that generates robust and versatile behavior in running robots.
Dynamic Resource Allocation in Cognitive Radio Networks

This article provides an overview of the state-of-art results on communication resource allocation over space, time, and frequency for emerging cognitive radio (CR) wireless networks. Focusing on the interference-power/interference-temperature (IT) constraint approach for CRs to protect primary radio transmissions, many new and challenging problems regarding the design of CR systems are formulated, and some of the corresponding solutions are shown to be obtainable by restructuring some classic results known for traditional (non-CR) wireless networks. It is demonstrated that convex optimization plays an essential role in solving these problems, in a both rigorous and efficient way. Promising research directions on interference management for CR and other related multiuser communication systems are discussed.