University of Luxembourg

About: University of Luxembourg is a education organization based out in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Computer science. The organization has 4744 authors who have published 22175 publications receiving 381824 citations.

Distinct antimicrobial peptide expression determines host species-specific bacterial associations

Abstract: Animals are colonized by coevolved bacterial communities, which contribute to the host’s health. This commensal microbiota is often highly specific to its host-species, inferring strong selective pressures on the associated microbes. Several factors, including diet, mucus composition, and the immune system have been proposed as putative determinants of host-associated bacterial communities. Here we report that species-specific antimicrobial peptides account for different bacterial communities associated with closely related species of the cnidarian Hydra. Gene family extensions for potent antimicrobial peptides, the arminins, were detected in four Hydra species, with each species possessing a unique composition and expression profile of arminins. For functional analysis, we inoculated arminin-deficient and control polyps with bacterial consortia characteristic for different Hydra species and compared their selective preferences by 454 pyrosequencing of the bacterial microbiota. In contrast to control polyps, arminin-deficient polyps displayed decreased potential to select for bacterial communities resembling their native microbiota. This finding indicates that species-specific antimicrobial peptides shape species-specific bacterial associations.

Online Forums and Deliberative Democracy

Abstract: The Internet is rapidly becoming a part of the everyday lives of a majority of people in the Western world. People perform various activities on the Internet and one of them is discussing politics and society in so-called online forums. In this article, we present an overview of some of the empirical research that evaluates the quality of political conversations in online forums. In the first section, we distinguish research on Usenet groups, web-based political forums and e-consultation forums, and discuss some its findings. In the second section, we elaborate three original categories of variables that attempt to explain differences observed in the quality of deliberation. The third, more extensive section deals with methodological issues. It discusses the operationalisation of deliberative quality and the application of a set of criteria for the idealized public sphere to online conversations. In the conclusion, we present some objections to the previous research and offer some ideas for a more comprehensive approach to online forum analysis.

Role of advanced glycation end products in cardiovascular disease

Abstract: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are produced through the non enzymatic glycation and oxidation of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. Enhanced formation of AGEs occurs particularly in conditions associated with hyperglycaemia such as diabetes mellitus (DM). AGEs are believed to have a key role in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease in patients with DM through the modification of the structure, function and mechanical properties of tissues through crosslinking intracellular as well as extracellular matrix proteins and through modulating cellular processes through binding to cell surface receptors [receptor for AGEs (RAGE)]. A number of studies have shown a correlation between serum AGE levels and the development and severity of heart failure (HF). Moreover, some studies have suggested that therapies targeted against AGEs may have therapeutic potential in patients with HF. The purpose of this review is to discuss the role of AGEs in cardiovascular disease and in particular in heart failure, focussing on both cellular mechanisms of action as well as highlighting how targeting AGEs may represent a novel therapeutic strategy in the treatment of HF.

Static analysis of android apps

Abstract: ContextStatic analysis exploits techniques that parse program source code or bytecode, often traversing program paths to check some program properties. Static analysis approaches have been proposed for different tasks, including for assessing the security of Android apps, detecting app clones, automating test cases generation, or for uncovering non-functional issues related to performance or energy. The literature thus has proposed a large body of works, each of which attempts to tackle one or more of the several challenges that program analyzers face when dealing with Android apps. ObjectiveWe aim to provide a clear view of the state-of-the-art works that statically analyze Android apps, from which we highlight the trends of static analysis approaches, pinpoint where the focus has been put, and enumerate the key aspects where future researches are still needed. MethodWe have performed a systematic literature review (SLR) which involves studying 124 research papers published in software engineering, programming languages and security venues in the last 5 years (January 2011December 2015). This review is performed mainly in five dimensions: problems targeted by the approach, fundamental techniques used by authors, static analysis sensitivities considered, android characteristics taken into account and the scale of evaluation performed. ResultsOur in-depth examination has led to several key findings: 1) Static analysis is largely performed to uncover security and privacy issues; 2) The Soot framework and the Jimple intermediate representation are the most adopted basic support tool and format, respectively; 3) Taint analysis remains the most applied technique in research approaches; 4) Most approaches support several analysis sensitivities, but very few approaches consider path-sensitivity; 5) There is no single work that has been proposed to tackle all challenges of static analysis that are related to Android programming; and 6) Only a small portion of state-of-the-art works have made their artifacts publicly available. ConclusionThe research community is still facing a number of challenges for building approaches that are aware altogether of implicit-Flows, dynamic code loading features, reflective calls, native code and multi-threading, in order to implement sound and highly precise static analyzers.