Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concomitant Lasso with Repetitions (CLaR): beyond averaging multiple realizations of heteroscedastic noise

Sparsity promoting norms are frequently used in high dimensional regression. A limitation of Lasso-type estimators is that the regulariza-tion parameter depends on the noise level which varies between datasets and experiments. Esti-mators such as the concomitant Lasso address this dependence by jointly estimating the noise level and the regression coefficients. As sample sizes are often limited in high dimensional regimes, simplified heteroscedastic models are customary. However, in many experimental applications , data is obtained by averaging multiple measurements. This helps reducing the noise variance, yet it dramatically reduces sample sizes, preventing refined noise modeling. In this work, we propose an estimator that can cope with complex heteroscedastic noise structures by using non-averaged measurements and a con-comitant formulation. The resulting optimization problem is convex, so thanks to smoothing theory, it is amenable to state-of-the-art proximal coordinate descent techniques that can leverage the expected sparsity of the solutions. Practical benefits are demonstrated on simulations and on neuroimaging applications.
Molecular Modulation of Human α7 Nicotinic Receptor by Amyloid-β Peptides

Amyloid β peptide (Aβ) is a key player in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It is the primary component of senile plaques in AD patients and is also found in soluble forms. Cholinergic activity mediated by α7 nicotinic receptors has been shown to be affected by Aβ soluble forms. To shed light into the molecular mechanism of this effect, we explored the direct actions of oligomeric Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–42 on human α7 by fluorescence spectroscopy and single-channel recordings. Fluorescence measurements using the conformational sensitive probe crystal violet (CrV) revealed that in the presence of Aβ α7 undergoes concentration-dependent conformational changes. Exposure of α7 to 100 pM Aβ changes CrV KD towards that of the desensitized state. However, α7 is still reactive to high carbamylcholine (Carb) concentrations. These observations are compatible with the induction of active/desensitized states as well as of a novel conformational state in the presence of both Aβ and Carb. At 100 nM Aβ, α7 adopts a resting-state-like structure which does not respond to Carb, suggesting stabilization of α7 in a blocked state. In real time, we found that Aβ is capable of eliciting α7 channel activity either in the absence or presence of the positive allosteric modulator (PAM) PNU-120596. Activation by Aβ is favored at picomolar or low nanomolar concentrations and is not detected at micromolar concentrations. At high Aβ concentrations, the mean duration of activation episodes elicited by ACh in the presence of PNU-120596 is significantly reduced, an effect compatible with slow open-channel block. We conclude that Aβ directly affects α7 function by acting as an agonist and a negative modulator. Whereas the capability of low concentrations of Aβ to activate α7 could be beneficial, the reduced α7 activity in the presence of higher Aβ concentrations or its long exposure may contribute to the cholinergic signaling deficit and may be involved in the initiation and development of AD.
Stress Response System in the Fish Skin—Welfare Measures Revisited

The skin of vertebrates acts as a biological barrier defending the organism against many harmful environmental factors. It is well established that the main stress hormone cortisol, together with antioxidants such as melatonin (Mel) and its biologically active metabolites set up a local stress response system in the mammalian skin. Recently, our research group has shown that in fish there are basic conditions for the functioning of a cutaneous stress response system (CSRS) similar to that in mammals, where Mel with its biologically active metabolite AFMK (N1-acetyl-N2-formyl-5-methoxykynuramine) and cortisol act together to protect organism against unfavorable environment. Since aquaculture is making an increasing contribution to the global economy and new laws are demanding people to respect the welfare requirements of animals there has been increasing interest in indicators of fish well-being in aquaculture. This article addresses the problem of on-farm assessment of fish welfare and proposes the CSRS as a new source of information on the welfare status of farmed fish.
Distinct Methylphenidate-Evoked Response Measured Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy During Go/No-Go Task as a Supporting Differential Diagnostic Tool Between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder Comorbid Children

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been frequently reported as co-occurring with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, ASD-comorbid ADHD is difficult to diagnose since clinically significant symptoms are similar in both disorders. Therefore, we propose a classification method of differentially recognizing the ASD-comorbid condition in ADHD children. The classification method was investigated based on functional brain imaging measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during a go/no-go task. Optimization and cross-validation of the classification method was carried out in medicated-naïve and methylphenidate (MPH) administered ADHD and ASD-comorbid ADHD children (randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, and crossover design) to select robust parameters and cut-off thresholds. The parameters could be defined as either single or averaged multi-channel task-evoked activations under an administration condition (i.e., pre-medication, post-MPH, and post-placebo). The ADHD children were distinguished by significantly high MPH-evoked activation in the right hemisphere near the midline vertex. The ASD-comorbid ADHD children tended to have low activation responses in all regions. High specificity (86 ± 4.1%; mean ± SD), sensitivity (93 ± 7.3%), and accuracy (82 ± 1.6%) were obtained using the activation of oxygenated-hemoglobin concentration change in right middle frontal, angular, and precentral gyri under MPH medication. Therefore, the significantly differing MPH-evoked responses are potentially effective features and as supporting differential diagnostic tools.
KLUCB Approach to Copeland Bandits

Multi-armed bandit(MAB) problem is a reinforcement learning framework where an agent tries to maximise her profit by proper selection of actions through absolute feedback for each action. The dueling bandits problem is a variation of MAB problem in which an agent chooses a pair of actions and receives relative feedback for the chosen action pair. The dueling bandits problem is well suited for modelling a setting in which it is not possible to provide quantitative feedback for each action, but qualitative feedback for each action is preferred as in the case of human feedback. The dueling bandits have been successfully applied in applications such as online rank elicitation, information retrieval, search engine improvement and clinical online recommendation. We propose a new method called Sup-KLUCB for K-armed dueling bandit problem specifically Copeland bandit problem by converting it into a standard MAB problem. Instead of using MAB algorithm independently for each action in a pair as in Sparring and in Self-Sparring algorithms, we combine a pair of action and use it as one action. Previous UCB algorithms such as Relative Upper Confidence Bound(RUCB) can be applied only in case of Condorcet dueling bandits, whereas this algorithm applies to general Copeland dueling bandits, including Condorcet dueling bandits as a special case. Our empirical results outperform state of the art Double Thompson Sampling(DTS) in case of Copeland dueling bandits.
Illuminating the Anticancerous Efficacy of a New Fungal Chassis for Silver Nanoparticle Synthesis

Biogenic silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have supple platforms designed for biomedical and therapeutic intervention. Utilization of Ag NPs are preferred in the field of biomedicines and material science research because of their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancerous activity along with their eco-friendly, biocompatible, and cost-effective nature. Here we present a novel fungus Piriformospora indica as an excellent source for obtaining facile and reliable Ag NPs with a high degree of consistent morphology. We demonstrated their cytotoxic property, coupled with their intrinsic characteristic that make these biogenic nanoparticles suitable for the anticancerous activity. In vitro cytotoxicity of biologically synthesized Ag NPs (BSNPs) and chemically synthesized Ag NPs (SNPs) was screened on various cancer cell lines, such as Human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), Human cervical carcinoma (HeLa), Human liver hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cell lines and embryonic kidney cell line (HEK-293) as normal cell lines. The antiproliferative outcome revealed that the BSNPs exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 followed by HeLa and HepG2 cell lines as compared to SNPs. The blend of cytotoxic properties, together with green and cost-effective characteristics make up these biogenic nanoparticles for their potential applications in cancer nanomedicine and fabrication coating of ambulatory and non-ambulatory medical devices.
Self-Adjusting Mutation Rates with Provably Optimal Success Rules

The one-fifth success rule is one of the best-known and most widely accepted techniques to control the parameters of evolutionary algorithms. While it is often applied in the literal sense, a common interpretation sees the one-fifth success rule as a family of success-based updated rules that are determined by an update strength F and a success rate. We analyze in this work how the performance of the (1+1) Evolutionary Algorithm on Leading Ones depends on these two hyper-parameters. Our main result shows that the best performance is obtained for small update strengths F=1+o(1)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$F=1+o(1)$$\end{document} and success rate 1/e. We also prove that the running time obtained by this parameter setting is, apart from lower order terms, the same that is achieved with the best fitness-dependent mutation rate. We show similar results for the resampling variant of the (1+1) Evolutionary Algorithm, which enforces to flip at least one bit per iteration.
A RANDOM ACCESS G-NETWORK: STABILITY, STABLE THROUGHPUT, AND QUEUEING ANALYSIS

The effect of signals on stability, stable throughput region, and delay in a two-user slotted ALOHA-based random-access system with collisions is considered. This work gives rise to the development of random access G-networks, which can model security attacks, expiration of deadlines, or other malfunctions, and introduce load balancing among highly interacting queues. The users are equipped with infinite capacity buffers accepting external bursty arrivals. We consider both negative and triggering signals. Negative signals delete a packet from a user queue, while triggering signals cause the instantaneous transfer of packets among user queues. We obtain the exact stability region, and show that the stable throughput region is a subset of it. Moreover, we perform a compact mathematical analysis to obtain exact expressions for the queueing delay by solving a non-homogeneous Riemann boundary value problem. A computationally efficient way to obtain explicit bounds for the expected number of buffered packets at user queues is also presented. The theoretical findings are numerically evaluated and insights regarding the system performance are derived.
Flexible Multi-Beam Light-Sheet Fluorescence Microscope for Live Imaging Without Striping Artifacts

The development of light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) has greatly expanded the experimental capabilities in many biological and biomedical research fields, enabling for example live studies of murine and zebrafish neural activity or of cell growth and division. The key feature of the method is the selective illumination of a sample single plane, providing an intrinsic optical sectioning and allowing direct 2D image recording. On the other hand, this excitation scheme is more affected by absorption or scattering artifacts in comparison to point scanning methods, leading to un-even illumination. We present here an easily implementable method, based on acousto-optical deflectors (AOD), to overcome this obstacle. We report the advantages provided by flexible and fast AODs in generating simultaneous angled multiple beams from a single laser beam and in fast light sheet pivoting and we demonstrate the suppression of illumination artifacts.
CONV-codes: Audio Hashing for Bird Species Classification

We propose a supervised, convex representation based audio hashing framework for bird species classification. The proposed framework utilizes archetypal analysis, a matrix factorization technique, to obtain convex-sparse representations of a bird vocalization. These convex representations are hashed using Bloom filters with non-cryptographic hash functions to obtain compact binary codes, designated as conv-codes. The conv-codes extracted from the training examples are clustered using class-specific k-medoids clustering with Jaccard coefficient as the similarity metric. A hash table is populated using the cluster centers as keys while hash values/slots are pointers to the species identification information. During testing, the hash table is searched to find the species information corresponding to a cluster center that exhibits maximum similarity with the test conv-code. Hence, the proposed framework classifies a bird vocalization in the conv-code space and requires no explicit classifier or reconstruction error calculations. Apart from that, based on min-hash and direct addressing, we also propose a variant of the proposed framework that provides faster and effective classification. The performances of both these frameworks are compared with existing bird species classification frameworks on the audio recordings of 50 different bird species.
Girl Drama: Behind the Scenes

GIRL DRAMA: BEHIND THE SCENES by Rashida Savage-Gentry The purpose of this study was to explore how adolescent girls navigate conflict. This research study was designed to understand the various forms of mediation or conflict resolution between adolescent girls, explore the performance of conflict, as well as investigate the possibility of consistency in mediation forms implemented. From an interactionist approach this exploration attempted to understand the ways in which adolescent girls make sense of their life situations and the ways in which they go about the process of conflict mediation on a day to day basis, through their accounts of meaning, interpretation, activities and interactions throughout their experiences. The roles of the peer group or social community in this process were further explored. The results of this overall study suggested that the experience of girl drama is a normal process for some adolescent females. The results further provided an understanding of how the experience of conflict navigation may have an impact on identity construction. Girl Drama: Behind the Scenes
New York Odontological Society

our esteemed friend, Dr. Samuel S. White, submit the following as their report: The intelligence of the sudden and unexpected death of our friend and co-laborer, Dr. Samuel S. White, of Philadelphia, awakens within our hearts emotions of the most profound sorrow ; and while bowing to the Divine wisdom which has taken him away from us, we are impelled to take the first opportunity of paying a grateful tribute to his memory, and to give expression of our appreciation of him, as a man. In so doing, our minds naturally revert to his earlier career, and thence forward to the unfortunate
Introducción al uso de herramientas bioinformáticas para el análisis de secuencias de ADN

Capitulo del libro "EducaFarma 2.0. White papers sobre innovacion aplicada en el area de las Ciencias Bio-Sanitarias" http://hdl.handle. net/10366/124134 publicado por la Facultad de Farmacia de la Universidad de Salamanca y editado por Jonas Samuel Perez Blanco, Antonio Muro Alvarez y Juan Cruz-Benito
Thinking about Trance Over a Century: The Making of a Set of Impasses

Despite differences in methods and (usually) goals, both hypnosis and meditation involve an unusual state of awareness, generally known as “trance. ” Yet, the idea of trance, as an object of scholarly and scientific study, turns out to have been marked, historically, by confusion and controversy. Is trance one thing or many things? A regression to a pathological, primitive state or ascent to an elevated state? Noisy or quiet? Biological or social? Meditation researchers, hypnosis researchers, and anthropologists (interested in phenomena like shamanism and spirit possession) have all, historically, struggled with questions like these in surprisingly similar ways. This chapter uses historical evidence to demonstrate this point, all with the end of suggesting that it could be enormously useful for these different communities to overcome their disciplinary isolation from one another, and see if there is a way in which they could make progress together. Introduction What is hypnosis? What is meditation? What do they have to do with each other? Historically, one answer has been more persistent than any other: despite differences in methods and (usually)
Distance to Specialist Medical Care and Diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Rural Saskatchewan

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep-disordered breathing condition. Patients with OSA symptoms are often not diagnosed clinically, which is a concern, given the health and safety risks associated with unmanaged OSA. The availability of fewer practicing medical specialists combined with longer travel distances to access health care services results in barriers to diagnosis and treatment in rural communities. This study aimed to (1) determine whether the proportion of adults reporting OSA symptoms in the absence of a sleep apnea diagnosis in rural populations varied by travel distance to specialist medical care and (2) assess whether any distance-related patterns were attributable to differences in the frequency of diagnosis among adults who likely required this specialist medical care. We used a cross-sectional epidemiologic study design, augmented by analysis of follow-up survey data. Our study base included adults who completed a 2010 baseline questionnaire for the Saskatchewan Rural Health Study. Follow-up occurred until 2015. 6525 adults from 3731 households constituted our sample. Statistical models used log-binomial regression. Rural adults who reported the largest travel distances (≥250 km) to specialist medical care were 1.17 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.29) times more likely to report OSA symptoms in the absence of a sleep apnea diagnosis than those who reported the smallest (<100 km; referent) distances. However, the proportion of sleep apnea diagnoses was low and unaffected by reported travel distance among adults who likely required this specialist medical care. Our findings suggest factors other than travel distance may be contributing to the low sleep apnea diagnostic rate. This remains important as undiagnosed and untreated OSA has serious implications on the health of people and populations, but effective treatments are available. Health care access barriers to the diagnosis and treatment of OSA require evaluation to inform health care planning and delivery.
A STUDY ON SYMBOL USED IN YADNYA KASADA CEREMONY

This study is related to the cultural and the academic points of views. Javanese cultures contain various teaching values, which have been a source of the great interest of productive research for various academic disciplines. Most of the writers who are studying the Javanese culture are Western. Indonesian researchers give little attention in studying the Javanese culture itself. As the part of the Javanese culture the existence of “Yadnya Kasada Ceremony” will support the national culture. “Yadnya Kasada Ceremony” is held on the 14th day of Kasada at the time of the half-moon by bringing offering of crops and livestock. The purposes of this study were to know the kinds and the meanings of symbols used in “Yadnya Kasada Ceremony”. This study used descriptive qualitative as a research design with ethnographic approach that focused on the cultural activities particularly the “Yadnya Kasada Ceremony”. Furthermore, it was one approach applied to describe culture or aspects of culture. The research subject of this study was one person who knew well about “Yadnya Kasada Ceremony”. The research subject was a “Dukun” (sorcerer) who knew a lot about “Yadnya Kasada Ceremony” in Bromo Mountain. He was the informant. The instruments of this research were observation, documentation, and interview. The observation and documentation were conducted one time on August 26, 2007. The interviews were conducted two times, on September 1, 2007 and September 25, 2007. The finding of this study revealed six kinds of symbols used in the “Yadnya Kasada Ceremony”. They were: (1) The flowers which meant that flowers could chase the evil or the soul of the dead people, (2) The vegetables which meant that vegetable was for thanking to God from Tenggerese society because the God had given them livelihood, (3) The fruit which meant that fruit could give prosperity for Tenggerese society, (4) The animals which meant that animals were sacrificed as the media for the soul of the dead people to reach the paradise and to make the soul of dead people not disturb the society when they did the ceremony, (5) The Rice (Tumpeng) consisted of the white rice which symbolized the purity, the red rice which symbolized returning to the origin of man, the yellow rice that symbolized there was something that managed the man’s life, the black rice which symbolized the creature of man, the green rice which symbolized the pure light of God,, (6) Benzoin (Kemenyan) which meant that the smoke of benzoin could help to deliver the offering and praying from Tenggerese society for God. Basically, the meaning of “Yadnya Kasada Ceremony” was to obtain the safety, harmony and blessing from God.
International comparison of treatment strategy and survival in metastatic gastric cancer

In the randomized Asian REGATTA trial, no survival benefit was shown for additional gastrectomy over chemotherapy alone in patients with advanced gastric cancer with a single incurable factor, thereby discouraging surgery for these patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate treatment strategies for patients with metastatic gastric cancer in daily practice in five European countries, along with relative survival in each country.
Personal profile information as cues of credibility in online travel reviews

Given the importance of traveller reviews as sources of travel-related information, source credibility is becoming an increasingly crucial issue in terms of research and application. This study examines the role of self-disclosed personal profile information (PPI) as cues of source credibility in the context of travellers' use of online reviews for trip planning purposes. The results show that the perceived congruence between PPI, i.e. reviewer location and travel interest, and the textual content of the review influences subjects' judgements of the reviewer's credibility. The findings suggest that the reviewer's self-disclosed PPI serves as credibility cues for travellers' assessments of travel reviewers. The implications of the study, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.