Generalized Needleman–Wunsch algorithm for the recognition of T-cell epitopes

In this paper, we propose a new encoding technique that combines the different physicochemical properties of amino acids together with Needleman–Wunsch algorithm. The algorithm was tested in the recognition of T-cell epitopes. A series of SVM classifiers, where each SVM is trained using a different physicochemical property, combined with the “max rule” enables us to obtain an improvement over the state-of-the-art approaches.     

Synthesis and characteristics of polymacromonomers composed of alternating binaphthalene-phenylene main chain and polystyrene side chains

Well-defined polystyrene (PSt) based polymers containing middle- or end-chain 2,5- or 3,5-dibromobenzene moieties, prepared by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) were implied in Suzuki type couplings with 1-naphthalene boronic acid. The resulting polymers, containing a conjugated sequence with 1-naphthyl groups at the extremities, were used as macromonomers in chemical oxidative polymerization in the presence of anhydrous FeCl₃. Polyarylenes, with a hairy-rod structure, having binaphthyl groups in the main chain and the respective PSt chains as lateral substituents, were obtained.All the starting, intermediate or final polymers were structurally analyzed by spectral methods (¹H NMR, IR) and GPC measurements. Thermal behavior of the macromonomers and final polymers was investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analyses. Optical properties of the polymers were followed by UV and fluorescence spectroscopies. The absorption spectra of the polymers indicate only a limited extend of conjugation as compared to the naphthalene functionalized polystyrenes. However, in the emission spectra of the polymers, a bathochromic shift with respect to the monomers was observed in all cases.     

Some Polyamides,Polyesters, and Polyurethanes Containing AZO Groups

The paper discusses the synthesis of the N,N,′-azobis(formamidopropionic) acid (AFP), along with some characteristics determined from NMR spectrum, differential thermal analysis, and DSC. The behavior of AFP acid—as well as of its analogue, N,N′-azobis(formamidoacetic) acid (AFA)—has been studied in the reaction with aromatic diamine and with bis(glycol)terephthalate, leading to azopolymers of the azopolyamide, or azopolyester, type. On employing N,N′-bis(β-hydroxyethyl) azobis-formamide (HEAF) as the azo bifunctional compound in the reaction with diphenylmethane diisocyanate, a polyurethane possessing azo groups was obtained. The structure of the azopolymers has been spectroscopically confirmed.     

Texture anisotropy technique in brain degenerative diseases

Structural alterations anisotropy-based measured for different areas for the most common types of dementia diseases could be a biomarker of brain impairment. The current work aims to assess whether texture anisotropy can discriminate both healthy versus Alzheimer’s and Pick’s patients based on regional evaluation while maintaining high predictive power. The investigated area is reduced from the whole-brain surface to three major lobes (i.e., frontal, temporal and parietal). A predictive model was proposed to associate a disease with a specific area in the brain based on the anisotropy values. Simultaneous analysis of 1680 measurements from 105 brain magnetic resonance images acquired as T2w and PD sequences was performed to establish the significance of the model. The cerebral calcinosis disease has been used as artificial ground truth. The association based on textural anisotropy between targeted diseases and control patients was performed by using Pearson’s correlation coefficients. A new proposed consistency index investigated the texture anisotropy relevance for all image’s types and all analyzed classes and regions. The validation study is based on area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve that depicted the overall diagnostic performance of the texture anisotropy in each region. The proposed model demonstrated that texture anisotropy is accurate solution in diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and Pick’s diseases when the investigated area is reduced to major lobes, with sensitivity >90% and specificity >80%.

     

A study on common malware families evolution in 2012

With the exponential growth of malware in the last 5 years, the number of polymorphic malware increased as well. The aim of this paper is to describe the evolution throughout a year of four major malware families (FakeAlert, Sirefef, ZBot and Vundo). The analysis has been made in terms of polymorphic mechanisms with regards to the polymorphic mechanisms (such as changes in the packer module, changes in the geometry of file, variation of version information from the resource directory or different methods used to modify the icon of one file) which have been used in order to avoid their detection by anti-malware systems. The malware files were collected every week throughout one year’s time. For each family we have recorded the new variants and the updates that were added to the old ones in order to avoid detection. We have managed to examine more than 1,000 new versions of such files. The current article includes an additional study case. The latter focuses on the methods that have been used by the FakeAlert malware family in order to modify their icons.     

Polymerization of Styrene Initiated with Cumyl 4-t-Butylazo-4-Cyanoperoxypentanoate

The paper reports on the synthesis of a new bifunctional radicalic initiator and its behavior in the polymerization process. The synthesis of cumyl 4-t-butylazo-4-cyanoperoxypentanoate has been achieved by condensation of the corresponding acid chloride with cumen hydroperoxide. The structure of the azo perester is confirmed by IR, UV, and NMR spectra. The initiator has been used in styrene polymerization and the conversion of the polymer studied in connection to monomer and initiator concentration, time of reaction, and temperature. In compliance with multiple regression method, an equation correlating the PS conversion with the previously mentioned variables has been established.     

Ensemble of Multiple Pedestrian Representations

In this paper, a new approach for pedestrian detection is presented. We design an ensemble of classifiers that employ different feature representation schemes of the pedestrian images: Laplacian EigenMaps, Gabor filters, and invariant local binary patterns. Each ensemble is obtained by varying the patterns used to train the classifiers and extracting from each image two feature vectors for each feature extraction method: one for the upper part of the image and one for the lower part of the image. A different radial basis function support vector machine (SVM) classifier is trained using each feature vector; finally, these classifiers are combined by the ldquosum rule.rdquo Experiments are performed on a large data set consisting of 4000 pedestrian and more than 25 000 nonpedestrian images captured in outdoor urban environments. Experimental results confirm that the different feature representations give complementary information, which has been exploited by fusion rules, and we have shown that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches among pedestrian detectors.     

Strategies to Modulate Specialized Metabolism in Mediterranean Crops: From Molecular Aspects to Field

Plant specialized metabolites (SMs) play an important role in the interaction with the environment and are part of the plant defense response. These natural products are volatile, semi-volatile and non-volatile compounds produced from common building blocks deriving from primary metabolic pathways and rapidly evolved to allow a better adaptation of plants to environmental cues. Specialized metabolites include terpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, glucosinolates, tannins, resins, etc. that can be used as phytochemicals, food additives, flavoring agents and pharmaceutical compounds. This review will be focused on Mediterranean crop plants as a source of SMs, with a special attention on the strategies that can be used to modulate their production, including abiotic stresses, interaction with beneficial soil microorganisms and novel genetic approaches.