Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Signed clique-transversal functions in graphs

A function f: V→{−1,+1}, defined on the vertices of a graph G, is a signed clique-transversal function (SCTF) if ∑ u∈V(C) f(u)≥1 for every clique C of G. The weight of an SCTF is w(f)=∑ v∈V(G) f(v). The signed clique-transversal number, denoted , is the minimum weight of an SCTF of G. The signed clique-transversal problem is to find an SCTF of minimum weight for G. In this paper, we establish a tight lower bound on the signed clique-transversal number for a regular graph with clique number at most 4. Furthermore, we show that the decision problem corresponding to the problem of computing is NP-complete even when restricted to doubly chordal graphs. Also, we prove that the signed clique-transversal problem can be solved in linear time for a strongly chordal graph if its strong elimination ordering is given.
SVM-KM: speeding SVMs learning with a priori cluster selection and k-means

A procedure called SVM-KM, based on clustering by k-means and to accelerate the training of support vector machines, is the main objective of the work. During the support vector machines (SVMs) optimization phase, training vectors near the separation margins, are likely to become support vector and must be preserved. Conversely, training vectors far from the margins are not in general taken into account for the SVM's design process. SVM-KM groups the training vectors in many clusters. Clusters formed only by a vector that belongs to the same class label can be disregard and only cluster centers are used. On the other hand, clusters with more than one class label are unchanged and all training vectors belonging to them are considered. Clusters with mixed composition are likely to happen near the separation margins and they may hold some support vectors. Consequently, the number of vectors in a SVM training is smaller and the training time can be decreased without compromising the generalization capability of the SVM.
Coherent mortality forecasts for a group of populations: An extension of the lee-carter method

Mortality patterns and trajectories in closely related populations are likely to be similar in some respects, and differences are unlikely to increase in the long run. It should therefore be possible to improve the mortality forecasts for individual countries by taking into account the patterns in a larger group. Using the Human Mortality Database, we apply the Lee-Carter model to a group of populations, allowing each its own age pattern and level of mortality but imposing shared rates of change by age. Our forecasts also allow divergent patterns to continue for a while before tapering off. We forecast greater longevity gains for the United States and lesser ones for Japan relative to separate forecasts.
THE RETICULOENDOTHELIAL SYSTEM IN EXPERIMENTAL MALARIA AND TRYPANOSOMIASIS

Although they represent two different taxonomic groups of protozoa, the causative agents of malaria and trypanosomiasis share the biological characteristics of being insect-transmitted and producing systemic infections. The malarial parasites are intracellular during most of their lives in the vertebrate host, occurring most commonly in erythrocytes and only temporarily free in the plasma during passage from one infected cell to another. The trypanosomes, on the other hand, spend most of their lives free in the blood plasma, and only a few species are normally found within host cells during any part of their cycles. When intracellular, they are usually found, not in cells of the circulating blood, but rather in the tissues of other systems. Many of the other protozoan pathogens of warm-blooded animals (TABLE 1) are parasites of the alimentary tract and its diverticula, and little or nothing is known of their possible connections with the reticuloendothelial system (RES). Some genera of the family Trypanosomatidae are typically intracellular. Infections with the members of the genus Leishmania are characterized by parasitism and proliferation in the RES. Parasites of the genus Endotrypartum are inhabitants of the red blood cells. The intracellular reproductive stages of most strains of Trypanosoma cruzi are encountered in cells of the RES at times, and some strains (which have been designated as reticulotropic) are particularly well adapted to life in this system. '-* The importance of the stage of parasite is also important in malarial infections, in which the pre-erythrocytic stages develop in macrophages, splenic reticular cells, and endothelial cells? -6 Some of the sporozoa most closely related to the Plasmodiidae are also typically erythrocyte dwellers, while others multiply in endothelial cells or in leukocytes. It is our intention to consider here only infections caused by members of the genera Plasmodium and Trypanosoma. By narrowing our field to these two genera, however, we have not simplified our problem, because each contains a number of species that behave in a number of different ways: some have great host specificity, others do not; some produce acute infections, some subacute, others chronic and relapsing. It is almost as impossible to generalize as it would be to particularize in the space available. We have felt that, in addition to presenting our own work, some review of the field might be desirable, and in the treatment of this material we have considered the various species of parasites by groups. The division of the malarial species into avian, simian, and rodent groups is more arbitrary than the division of the trypanosomes into the taxonomic groups of C. A. Hoare, but both methods of division serve the purpose of placing the probably more closely related forms together and of indicating the heterogeneity of the genera.
A low-dimensional representation of human faces for arbitrary lighting conditions

When recognizing a fixed object from a fixed viewpoint, the dominant source of variation in image intensity is lighting changes. We propose a low-dimensional model for human faces that can both synthesize a face image when given lighting conditions and can estimate lighting conditions when given a face image. The model can handle non-Lambertian and self-shadowing surfaces such as faces because it does not make any assumptions about either the surface geometry or bidirectional reflectance function. The model can be adapted to handle any arbitrary lighting condition, and is easily extendable to any other viewpoint or to any other object. <<ETX>>
Design Study of Fully Superconducting Wind Turbine Generators

In this paper, two fully superconducting generators employing MgB2 armature winding, with YBCO and MgB2 field winding respectively, are presented and analyzed. The ac loss in armature winding is estimated, and a simple comparative study is carried out. The results show that both electromagnetic designs for fully superconducting generators are promising with respect to the power density. However, the cost of removing ac loss in armature winding is as high as $900 000. It is also noted that with the current price of YBCO tape, the generator employing MgB 2 field winding would have lower cost.
c‐myc Gene activation as a permanent trait of RSV‐infected quail cells

A high level of c‐myc gene expression was found to be a constant feature of v‐src transformation. The c‐myc gene product was analyzed in quail embryo cells transformed by different mutants of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) that were temperature‐sensitive with respect to various parameters of v‐src function. The high‐level expression of c‐myc proved not to be temperature‐sensitive: At both permissive (35°C) and non‐permissive (41°C) temperatures, the same high levels of c‐myc gene product were found for all RSV mutants tested. This result, in agreement with earlier evidence for a v‐src‐induced proliferative stimulus which was unaffected by ts mutants at the non‐permissive temperature, shows that certain v‐src functions have not yet been fully characterized.
Individualized cost-effectiveness analysis of patient-centered care: a case series of hospitalized patient preferences departing from practice-based guidelines

Abstract Objective: To develop cases of preference-sensitive care and analyze the individualized cost-effectiveness of respecting patient preference compared to guidelines. Methods: Four cases were analyzed comparing patient preference to guidelines: (a) high-risk cancer patient preferring to forgo colonoscopy; (b) decubitus patient preferring to forgo air-fluidized bed use; (c) anemic patient preferring to forgo transfusion; (d) end-of-life patient requesting all resuscitative measures. Decision trees were modeled to analyze cost-effectiveness of alternative treatments that respect preference compared to guidelines in USD per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) at a $100,000/QALY willingness-to-pay threshold from patient, provider and societal perspectives. Results: Forgoing colonoscopy dominates colonoscopy from patient, provider, and societal perspectives. Forgoing transfusion and air-fluidized bed are cost-effective from all three perspectives. Palliative care is cost-effective from provider and societal perspectives, but not from the patient perspective. Conclusion: Prioritizing incorporation of patient preferences within guidelines holds good value and should be prioritized when developing new guidelines.
Position Determination and Resolution of Position Sensitive Neutron Detectors Limited by Charge Equalization and Noise

The conventional design of detector electronics for resistive-wire position sensitive neutron detectors (PSD) using charge sensitive preamplifiers and gauss-pulse shaping devices causes uncertainty in spatial position and resolution due to charge equalization between both ends of the resistive PSD. Errors introduced by charge equalization may be in excess of limitations given by noise, linearity, dynamic range or EMI. This paper describes in detail charge equalization effects and their drawbacks for a PSD system design. Error estimations for a conventional detector design are given. Attained results should help to better understand PSD electronics design and to provide data for system optimization.
Proteoglycans and injury of the central nervous system

ABSTRACT Proteoglycan is a family of glycoproteins which carry covalently‐linked glycosaminoglycan chains, such as chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate. Proteoglycans are believed to play important roles in morphogenesis and maintenance of various tissues including the central nervous system (CNS) through interactions with cell adhesion molecules and growth factors. In the CNS, a significant amount of evidence has been accumulated to show that proteoglycans function as modulators in various cellular events not only in the development, but also in the pathogenesis of neuronal diseases and lesions. When the CNS is injured, several chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPG) are up‐regulated in glial scars formed around the lesion site. The glial scar also contains some molecules inhibitory to axonal growth, such as myelin‐associated glycoprotein, Nogo, and Semaphorin. In vitro studies revealed that CSPG largely exert a repulsive effect on axonal regeneration, and a signal from CSPG modulates the actin cytoskeleton of outgrowing neurites through the Rho/ROCK pathway. These findings suggest that CSPG are responsible for unsuccessful axonal regeneration in glial scars. Various attempts to overcome the inhibitory effect of CSPG have been pursued in vivo. Digestion of chondroitin sulfate chains by chondroitinase ABC, suppression of CSPG core protein synthesis by decorin, suppression of glycosaminoglycan chain synthesis by a DNA enzyme, and inhibition of the Rho/ROCK pathway with specific inhibitors were all successful for increasing axonal regeneration. For a clinical application, the most effective combination of these treatments needs to be examined in the future.
A singular energy minimizing free boundary

Abstract We consider the problem of minimizing the energy functional ∫(|∇u|2 + χ {u>0}). We show that the singular axissymmetric critical point of the functional is an energy minimizer in dimension 7. This is the first example of a non-smooth energy minimizer. It is analogous to the Simons cone, a least area hypersurface in dimension 8.
Price-based power control in heterogeneous: A Stackelberg game approach

This paper investigates price-based power control strategy for the uplink transmission of the spectrum-sharing femtocell two-tier networks, in which a central macrocell is underlaid with distributed femtocells. As all operating over the same frequency band, interference between them exists inevitably. Assuming that the macrocell base station (MBS) protects itself by give a punitive price to the interference from femtocell users, a Stackelberg game is formulated. In this strategy, it regards the aggregate interference threshold which the macrocell can tolerant as the allocated resource and femtocell users purchase the resource with a competitive price. After this, a Stackelberg game model of the macrocell and femtocells is built to study the joint utility maximization of it. Then, the existence and uniqueness of Stackelberg equilibriums for the proposed game are analyzed. In the Stackelberg game model, femtocell users compete with each other rationally in a non-cooperative pattern according to the power adjustment algorithm. The simulation examples show that the proposed schemes is effective in the uplink transmission and macrocell protection.
Sequential Steps in the Assembly of the Multimeric Outer Membrane Secretin PulD*

Background: PulD forms the dodecameric outer membrane portal in the type II secretion system and can self-assemble. Results: Assembly is a multistep process initiated and modulated by protein contact with the membrane. Conclusion: A prepore precedes formation of the native structure. Significance: Understanding membrane protein biogenesis aids in the design of novel proteins/functions and drugs. Investigations into protein folding are largely dominated by studies on monomeric proteins. However, the transmembrane domain of an important group of membrane proteins is only formed upon multimerization. Here, we use in vitro translation-coupled folding and insertion into artificial liposomes to investigate kinetic steps in the assembly of one such protein, the outer membrane secretin PulD of the bacterial type II secretion system. Analysis of the folding kinetics, measured by the acquisition of distinct determinants of the native state, provides unprecedented evidence for a sequential multistep process initiated by membrane-driven oligomerization. The effects of varying the lipid composition of the liposomes indicate that PulD first forms a “prepore” structure that attains the native state via a conformational switch.
Long-term 3T MR angiography follow-up after therapeutic occlusion of the internal carotid artery to detect possible de novo aneurysm formation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of de novo aneurysm formation, the incidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and the growth of existing untreated aneurysms in 52 patients after therapeutic carotid artery balloon occlusion for carotid aneurysms. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between January 1996 and August 2004, 52 patients were treated with carotid artery balloon occlusion for carotid aneurysms. In June 2005, all patients, their next of kin, or family physicians were contacted and questioned concerning episodes of headache or hospital admissions that could be attributed to SAH. In addition, MR imaging and MR angiography (MRA) at 3T were performed in 26 of 44 surviving patients after a mean follow-up period of 50.2 months (median, 43.5 months; range, 14-107 months). MR imaging and MRA studies were compared with the digital subtraction angiograms at the time of carotid artery occlusion. RESULTS During clinical follow-up of 52 patients at a mean of 50.3 months (median, 42.5 months; range, 0-107 months), no episodes of SAH were reported (0%; 97.5% confidence interval [CI], 0-8.2%). In the 26 patients with follow-up MR imaging, no de novo aneurysms were detected (0%; 97.5 CI, 0-13.2%). Five existing untreated small aneurysms in 5 patients had not enlarged after a mean follow-up of 40 months. CONCLUSION In this study, therapeutic carotid artery occlusion was not associated with development of new aneurysms or enlargement of existing untreated aneurysms with time.
Studies on isolation and characterization of oral biofilm forming bacteria

The current work deals with the studies of isolation and characterization of oral biofilm forming bacteria. The major constituent of biofilm other than bacterial cells is the Extracellular Polymeric Slime matrix (EPS) which is secreted by the bacterial cells themselves. Physical properties of biofilms like attachment, mechanical strength, antibiotic resistance can be attributed to EPS matrix. In this study, attempts were made to study the stress response of bacteria isolated and their chemotactic response. Further attempts were made to characterize the EPS matrix by chemical as well as spectroscopic studies. The bacterial strains isolated were characterized to be Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus salivarius, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus oralis, Bacillus subtilis by biochemical identification method. SEM micrographs taken confirmed the formation of biofilm. It was observed that cell attachment was maximum when glucose was used as the sole carbon source. Test for biofilm formation in presence of metal salts of Iron and Zinc showed moderate to high inhibition of film formation. The chemotaxis studies carried out in present work indicates the poor response of two strains towards fructose and sucrose. The EPS characterization result indicated the presence of a macromolecular complex constituting of carbohydrate, protein, lipids and nucleic acids.
Isolated growth hormone deficiency and related disorders.

This brief discussion wm consider those forms of dwarfism characterized either by a mono tropic deficiency of human growth hormone (HGH) (a defect in synthesis and/or release), a defect in the ability of HGH to generate sulfation factor, or end organ sub responsiveness to exogenous or endogenous HGH. Although there is controversy over what term should be used to describe such dwarfs, the term ateliosis is historically correct, and a somewhat neutral term is useful if it is rigor­ ously defined as in the preceding sentence. Although interest in dwarfism has existed for centuries, it was not until 1902 that Guilford (1) proposed the first systematic classification based upon the simple observation that dwarfs appear to be of two major types: those with and those without obvious physical abnormalities. For the latter group, now known more popularly as midgets, Guilford used the term ateliosis (ateliosis = not arriving at perfection), since he considered this form of dwarfism a disorder in which growth and development were not arrested but in which both were retarded. He recognized, likewise, that some of these patients attained sexual maturity whereas others re­ mained infantile, and for the former he coined the term "sexual ateliosis. " The most complete collection of familial cases of sexual ateliotic dwarfism prior to 1967 was compiled in 1912 by Rischbieth & Barrington (2). Rimoin was able to add to this collection when he recorded 64 individuals and 19 kindreds who could be classified as sexual ateliotics (3). In most of the kindred reviewed, autosomal recessive inheritance was suggested by the occurrence of affected siblings, both male and female, from unaffected parents. Using the Proband-Sib method for estimating the segregation ratio, data also indicated an autosomal recessive trait. The high frequency of consanguinity in the kindred studies was, likewise, consistent with this interpretation. Con sanguinous matings occurred in 5 of 19 kindreds (26%) with sexual ateliosis (3). Although our own data indicate that sexual ateliosis is usually inherited as a
Ultrasonic Gesture Recognition with Neural Network

This report introduces an approach to recognize hand gestures by utilizing the Doppler effect of ultrasonic soundwaves. I use a microphone array as the receivers and two speakers as the transmitters to generate ultrasonic soundwaves. Gestures are characterized through the Doppler frequency shift they generate in reflections of the soundwaves. I then apply the artificial neural network algorithm for the classification of gestures. The accuracy of the prediction steadily reaches a very high value at 99.6%, which proves the reliability of the approach. With this approach, we can realize non-touch control, which will be of great significance in human-computer interactions in the next few decades, at a very low cost.
Operation decisions of enterprises with merchant cash advances and demand uncertainty

This paper proposes models to assist enterprises in making production and financing decisions in the presence of demand uncertainty and market imperfection. We develop some optimal conditions on production quantity, price and financing amount. Then the dedicated solution method is given. At last, we employ a numerical example to illustrate how the existence of financial constraints and merchant cash advances affect the production decisions of a small/medium enterprise.
10 × 112-Gb/s PDM 16-QAM transmission over 630 km of fiber with 6.2-b/s/Hz spectral efficiency

We demonstrate ten-channel WDM transmission of 112-Gb/s 16-QAM (14-gigabaud, polarization-multiplexed) over 630 km of fiber. 16.7-GHz channel spacing yields a spectral efficiency of 6.2 b/s/Hz, fitting 1 Tb/s of information into a 1.2-nm optical bandwidth.
Mechanism of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Induced Complement Expression in Astrocytes and Neurons

ABSTRACT The cerebral complement system is hypothesized to contribute to neurodegeneration in the pathogenesis of AIDS-associated neurological disorders. Our former results have shown that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) strongly induces the synthesis of complement factor C3 in astrocytes. This upregulation explains in vivo data showing elevated complement levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with AIDS-associated neurological symptoms. Since inhibition of complement synthesis and activation in the brain may represent a putative therapeutic goal to prevent virus-induced damage, we analyzed in detail the mechanisms of HIV-induced modulation of C3 expression. HIV-1 increased the C3 levels in astrocyte culture supernatants from 30 to up to 400 ng/ml; signal transduction studies revealed that adenylate cyclase activation with upregulation of cyclic AMP is the central signaling pathway to mediate that increase. Furthermore, activity of protein kinase C is necessary for HIV induction of C3, since inhibition of protein kinase C by prolonged exposure to the phorbol ester tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate partly abolished the HIV effect. The cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha and gamma interferon were not involved in mediating the HIV-induced C3 upregulation, since neutralizing antibodies had no effect. Besides whole HIV virions, the purified viral proteins Nef and gp41 are biologically active in upregulating C3, whereas Tat, gp120, and gp160 were not able to modulate C3 synthesis. Further experiments revealed that neurons were also able to respond on incubation with HIV with increased C3 synthesis, although the precise pattern was slightly different from that in astrocytes. This strengthens the hypothesis that HIV-induced complement synthesis represents an important mechanism for the pathogenesis of AIDS in the brain.