Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Language and Domain Independent Entity Linking with Quantified Collective Validation

Linking named mentions detected in a source document to an existing knowledge base provides disambiguated entity referents for the mentions. This allows better document analysis, knowledge extraction and knowledge base population. Most of the previous research extensively exploited the linguistic features of the source documents in a supervised or semi-supervised way. These systems therefore cannot be easily applied to a new language or domain. In this paper, we present a novel unsupervised algorithm named Quantified Collective Validation that avoids excessive linguistic analysis on the source documents and fully leverages the knowledge base structure for the entity linking task. We show our approach achieves stateof-the-art English entity linking performance and demonstrate successful deployment in a new language (Chinese) and two new domains (Biomedical and Earth Science). Experiment datasets and system demonstration are available at http://tw.rpi. edu/web/doc/ hanwang_emnlp_2015 for research purpose.
Information friction limits on computation

The recently proposed “Information friction” model accounts for energy losses incurred in moving bits on a computational substrate and was first studied in the context of encoding and decoding computations for communication. Information friction loss is modeled as being proportional to bit-meters, the sum of the lengths over which the bits are transported during the computation. Its analysis provides us with an understanding of the fundamental energy requirements for computation. In this paper, we obtain lower bounds on information friction for several canonical computations that have been analyzed to obtain “AT2” bounds in the context of what is called “VLSI complexity” and, more recently, in deriving computation throughput in the context of wireless sensor networks.
DNA damage repair is unaffected by mimicked heterozygous levels of BRCA2 in HT-29 cells

Functional loss of both alleles of the breast cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA2, facilitates tumorigenesis. However, the direct effects of BRCA2 heterozygosity remain unclear. Here, BRCA2 heterozygosity was mimicked in HT-29 colon cells by reducing levels of BRCA2 through stable RNA interference. No difference in RAD51 subcellular localization and focus formation was observed between control and mimicked heterozygous cell lines. DNA repair ability, as measured by colony survival following mitomycin C treatment and ultraviolet radiation exposure, was also unaffected by reduced levels of BRCA2. Interestingly, the growth rate of the mimicked BRCA2 heterozygous cell line was significantly lower than that of control cells. Increased expression of p53 in the mimicked heterozygous cells was observed, perhaps in response to BRCA2 deficiency. Levels of p27 were also found to be slightly increased in cells with reduced BRCA2, perhaps contributing to the slower growth rate. Overall, these results suggest that tumors are unlikely to arise directly from BRCA2 heterozygous cells without other genetic events such as loss of the wild-type BRCA2 allele and/or loss of p53 function or other cell cycle inhibitors.
Analysis of Phase Distribution for Ceramic Coatings Formed by Microarc Oxidation on Aluminum Alloy

The phase distribution for ceramic coatings formed by microarc oxidation (MAO) on 2024 aluminum alloy was investigated using X-ray diffraction. The results showed that the ceramic coatings mainly consisted of α-Al2O3 and γ-Al2O3 phases. The percentage of α-Al2O3 gradually increased from the external surface to the interface between the coating and the substrate of samples. The surface layer of coatings mainly contained the γ-Al2O3 phase, and its fraction of the composition remained almost constant with oxidation time. It is believed that the difference in the amounts of α-Al2O3 and γ-Al2O3 phases in the different layers of coatings was caused by the various cooling rates of molten Al2O3, which temporarily existed in the microarc zone.
Pyrophosphatase of the Roundworm Ascaris suum Plays an Essential Role in the Worm's Molting and Development

ABSTRACT Previous studies indicated that inorganic pyrophosphatase of Ascaris suum (AsPPase) plays an important role in larval survival in the host. Here we describe a precise role for AsPPase in larval molting and development and also describe the potential role of recombinant AsPPase (rAsPPase) in protective immunity to A. suum infection. Using reverse transcriptase PCR analysis, we found that disruption of AsPPase gene function by RNA interference resulted in suppression of AsPPase mRNA levels. RNA interference also caused inhibition of molting of third-stage larvae (31%) and suppression of native protein expression, as demonstrated by a 56% reduction in enzyme activity and quantified by immunoblot and immunofluorescence analyses, suggesting that AsPPase has a role in the molting process. The anatomic location of the AsPPase native enzyme in the hypodermis of larvae along with its elevated expression prior to and during the molting process supports such a role. Anti-rAsPPase immunoglobulin G (IgG) also resulted in 57% inhibition of molting of A. suum lung-stage third-stage larvae to fourth-stage larvae in vitro with developmental arrest. Antigenic epitopes of AsPPase overlapped the enzyme active sites. Mice immunized with rAsPPase exhibited high antigen-specific IgG antibody responses and were protected (>70%) against a challenge A. suum migratory-phase infection. Splenic T cells from rAsPPase-immunized mice produced low levels of T helper 1-type cytokines (gamma interferon and interleukin-2) in vitro but exhibited an elevated interleukin-10 response. A significantly high level of IgG1 subclass antibodies was found in immunized mice. Our results establish that AsPPase has a critical role in the molting and development of Ascaris roundworms and suggest the potential of AsPPase for use as a candidate vaccine against ascariasis.
Development of bio-batteries based on electrospun membranes

A new class of energy supply systems is emerging with the ability to be flexible and conform to complex surfaces such as those of the human body. Considering that harvesting energy directly from the environment is probably the most effective and promising approach for powering long-term biomedical devices, the present thesis aims at the development of a cellulose-based bio-battery made of electrospun fibers which can be activated in the presence of biological fluids The concept of bio-battery here proposed takes advantage of the high surface area of electrospun membranes using them not only as a separator but also as part of the electrode composition. The cellulose acetate (CA) electrospun membranes were successfully produced by electrospinning forming a highly porous matrix composed of sub-micrometric fibers with an average diameter of 243 ± 58 nm. Due to their large surface area, flexibility and biocompatibility, CA electrospun fibers are seen as favorable templates for the development of conductive polymer composites. Considering the good electrical conductivity of polymers such as Polypyrrole (PPy) and Polyaniline (PANI), the in situ chemical polymerization of pyrrole and aniline monomers was performed over the surface of CA fibers. Highly conductive CA/PPy and CA/PANI composite fibers were produced with interesting electrical conductivities, 10 and 10 S.cm, respectively. These composite materials allow the preservation of the main properties of the electrospun membrane making them appealing electrodes of the bio-batteries. The electrochemical characterization of bio-batteries was performed under simulated physiological conditions. For the three different bio-batteries structures tested – PPy/CA/PANI, PPy/CA/Au mesh and PANI/CA/Au mesh – power densities of 1.7 mW.g, 8.0 mW.g and 1.4 mW.g were respectively obtained. The bio-batteries developed are therefore promising for powering a wide variety of ultralowpower consumption biomedical devices, such as pacemakers, insulin pumps or other devices to monitor bodily functions.
An approach to solving large-scale SLAM problems with a small memory footprint

In the past, highly effective solutions to the SLAM problem based on solving nonlinear optimization problems have been developed. However, most approaches put their major focus on runtime and accuracy rather than on memory consumption, which becomes especially relevant when large-scale SLAM problems have to be solved. In this paper, we consider the SLAM problem from the point of view of memory consumption and present a novel approximate approach to SLAM with low memory consumption. Our approach achieves this based on a hierarchical decomposition consisting of small submaps with limited size. We perform extensive experiments on synthetic and publicly available datasets. The results demonstrate that in situations in which the representation of the complete map requires more than the available main memory, our approach, in comparison to state-of-the-art exact solvers, reduces the memory consumption and the runtime up to a factor of 2 while still providing highly accurate maps.
Secular Trends in Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1980 to 2000, and Implications on the Projections for Future Prevalence

Background— Limited data exist on trends in incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF). We assessed the community-based trends in AF incidence for 1980 to 2000 and provided prevalence projections to 2050. Methods and Results— The adult residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, who had ECG-confirmed first AF in the period 1980 to 2000 (n=4618) were identified. Trends in age-adjusted incidence were determined and used to construct model-based prevalence estimates. The age- and sex-adjusted incidence of AF per 1000 person-years was 3.04 (95% CI, 2.78 to 3.31) in 1980 and 3.68 (95% CI, 3.42 to 3.95) in 2000. According to Poisson regression with adjustment for age and sex, incidence of AF increased significantly (P=0.014), with a relative increase of 12.6% (95% CI, 2.1 to 23.1) over 21 years. The increase in age-adjusted AF incidence did not differ between men and women (P=0.84). According to the US population projections by the US Census Bureau, the number of persons with AF is projected to be 12.1 million by 2050, assuming no further increase in age-adjusted incidence of AF, but 15.9 million if the increase in incidence continues. Conclusions— The age-adjusted incidence of AF increased significantly in Olmsted County during 1980 to 2000. Whether or not this rate of increase continues, the projected number of persons with AF for the United States will exceed 10 million by 2050, underscoring the urgent need for primary prevention strategies against AF development.
Considering the Case for Biodiversity Cycles: Re-Examining the Evidence for Periodicity in the Fossil Record

We re-examine the evidence for a 62 million year (Myr) periodicity in biodiversity throughout the Phanerozoic history of animal life reported by [1], as well as related questions of periodicity in origination and extinction. We find that the signal is robust against variations in methods of analysis, and is based on fluctuations in the Paleozoic and a substantial part of the Mesozoic. Examination of origination and extinction is somewhat ambiguous, with results depending upon procedure. Origination and extinction intensity as defined by [1] may be affected by an artifact at 27 Myr in the duration of stratigraphic intervals. Nevertheless, when a procedure free of this artifact is implemented, the 27 Myr periodicity appears in origination, suggesting that the artifact may ultimately be based on a signal in the data. A 62 Myr feature appears in extinction, when this same procedure is used. We conclude that evidence for a periodicity at 62 Myr is robust, and evidence for periodicity at approximately 27 Myr is also present, albeit more ambiguous.
A very low-power flash A/D converter based on CMOS inverter circuit

A/D converter (ADC) is a basic device in digital signal processing systems. For high-speed applications, a flash ADC type is often used. Due to require many analog comparators, the chip complexity and power dissipation become very high. Moreover, the accuracy of dividing resistors requires very high for reference voltage if the converting resolution is high. In this study, we develop a new kind of flash ADC based on a simple CMOS circuit. By adjusting the ratio of channel length and width, the transition threshold of the CMOS inverters is various to detect input analog signal. Then their results are encoded to the digital code. The advantages are that the ADC circuit does not need any resistor and use simple CMOS inverters rather than analog comparators. The new 8-bit ADC chip only used 634 transistors. The power dissipates 0.9mW using 0.35/spl mu/m process when it operates at 100MHz.
The indeterminate gametophyte1 Gene of Maize Encodes a LOB Domain Protein Required for Embryo Sac and Leaf Development[W]

Angiosperm embryo sac development begins with a phase of free nuclear division followed by cellularization and differentiation of cell types. The indeterminate gametophyte1 (ig1) gene of maize (Zea mays) restricts the proliferative phase of female gametophyte development. ig1 mutant female gametophytes have a prolonged phase of free nuclear divisions leading to a variety of embryo sac abnormalities, including extra egg cells, extra polar nuclei, and extra synergids. Positional cloning of ig1 was performed based on the genome sequence of the orthologous region in rice. ig1 encodes a LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES domain protein with high similarity to ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2 of Arabidopsis thaliana. A second mutant allele of ig1 was identified in a noncomplementation screen using active Mutator transposable element lines. Homozygous ig1 mutants have abnormal leaf morphology as well as abnormal embryo sac development. Affected leaves have disrupted abaxial–adaxial polarity and fail to repress the expression of meristem-specific knotted-like homeobox (knox) genes in leaf primordia, causing a proliferative, stem cell identity to persist in these cells. Despite the superficial similarity of ig1-O leaves and embryo sacs, ectopic knox gene expression cannot be detected in ig1-O embryo sacs.
Quantization of unimodular gravity and the cosmological constant problems

A quantization of unimodular gravity is described, which results in a quantum effective action which is also unimodular, ie a function of a metric with fixed determinant. A consequence is that contributions to the energy-momentum tensor of the form of g{sub ab}C, where C is a spacetime constant, whether classical or quantum, are not sources of curvature in the equations of motion derived from the quantum effective action. This solves the first cosmological constant problem, which is suppressing the enormous contributions to the cosmological constant coming from quantum corrections. We discuss several forms of unimodular gravity and put two of them, including one proposed by Henneaux and Teitelboim, in constrained Hamiltonian form. The path integral is constructed from the latter. Furthermore, the second cosmological constant problem, which is why the measured value is so small, is also addressed by this theory. We argue that a mechanism first proposed by Ng and van Dam for suppressing the cosmological constant by quantum effects obtains at the semiclassical level.
The secret life of ground squirrels: accelerometry reveals sex-dependent plasticity in above-ground activity

The sexes differ in how and when they allocate energy towards reproduction, but how this influences phenotypic plasticity in daily activity patterns is unclear. Here, we use collar-mounted light loggers and triaxial accelerometers to examine factors that affect time spent above ground and overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA), an index of activity-specific energy expenditure, across the active season of free-living, semi-fossorial arctic ground squirrels (Urocitellus parryii). We found high day-to-day variability in time spent above ground and ODBA with most of the variance explained by environmental conditions known to affect thermal exchange. In both years, females spent more time below ground compared with males during parturition and early lactation; however, this difference was fourfold larger in the second year, possibly, because females were in better body condition. Daily ODBA positively correlated with time spent above ground in both sexes, but females were more active per unit time above ground. Consequently, daily ODBA did not differ between the sexes when females were early in lactation, even though females were above ground three to six fewer hours each day. Further, on top of having the additional burden of milk production, ODBA data indicate females also had fragmented rest patterns and were more active during late lactation. Our results indicate that sex differences in reproductive requirements can have a substantial influence on activity patterns, but the size of this effect may be dependent on capital resources accrued during gestation.
The effects of undernutrition on Purkinje cell dendritic growth in the rat

The effects of undernutrition on the developing cerebellum were studied in 30‐day‐old rats undernourished from birth byrestricting access to the lactating mother. These animals showed a significant reduction in cerebellar weight when compared with well‐nourished controls. Quantitative studies of the cerebeller vermis revealed a 34.2% reduction in total area, with the densityof both granule cells and Purkinje cells increased. Network analysisof Golgi‐Cox preprations indicated a significant increase in the density of dendritic fields of Purkinje cells, although there was a 37% decrease in overall network size, due to reduction inthe total number of dendritic segments, and a reduction in the length of distal segments. Topological analysis indicated that the network had developed by terminal branching, as in normal animals, butwithsome deviation from the usual purely random branching pattern.
AirSync: Enabling Distributed Multiuser MIMO With Full Spatial Multiplexing

The enormous success of advanced wireless devices is pushing the demand for higher wireless data rates. Denser spectrum reuse through the deployment of more access points (APs) per square mile has the potential to successfully meet such demand. In principle, distributed multiuser multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) provides the best approach to infrastructure density increase since several access points are connected to a central server and operate as a large distributed multiantenna access point. This ensures that all transmitted signal power serves the purpose of data transmission, rather than creating interference. In practice, however, a number of implementation difficulties must be addressed, the most significant of which is aligning the phases of all jointly coordinated APs. In this paper, we propose AirSync, a novel scheme that provides timing and phase synchronization accurate enough to enable distributed MU-MIMO. AirSync detects the slot boundary such that all APs are time-synchronous within a cyclic prefix (CP) of the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation and predicts the instantaneous carrier phase correction along the transmit slot such that all transmitters maintain their coherence, which is necessary for multiuser beamforming. We have implemented AirSync as a digital circuit in the field programmable gate array (FPGA) of the WARP radio platform. Our experimental testbed, comprising four APs and four clients, shows that AirSync is able to achieve timing synchronization within the OFDM CP and carrier phase coherence within a few degrees. For the purpose of demonstration, we have implemented two MU-MIMO precoding schemes, Zero-Forcing Beamforming (ZFBF) and Tomlinson-Harashima Precoding (THP). In both cases, our system approaches the theoretical optimal multiplexing gains. We also discuss aspects related to the MAC and multiuser scheduling design, in relation to the distributed MU-MIMO architecture. To the best of our knowledge, AirSync offers the first realization of the full distributed MU-MIMO multiplexing gain, namely the ability to increase the number of active wireless clients per time-frequency slot linearly with the number of jointly coordinated APs, without reducing the per client rate.
Molecular Mechanism and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis-Related Liver Fibrosis

Hepatic fibrosis is a wound-healing response to various chronic stimuli, including viral hepatitis B or C infection. Activated myofibroblasts, predominantly derived from the hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), regulate the balance between matrix metalloproteinases and their tissue inhibitors to maintain extracellular matrix homeostasis. Transforming growth factor-β and platelet-derived growth factor are classic profibrogenic signals that activate HSC proliferation. In addition, proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines coordinate macrophages, T cells, NK/NKT cells, and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in complex fibrogenic and regression processes. In addition, fibrogenesis involves angiogenesis, metabolic reprogramming, autophagy, microRNA, and epigenetic regulations. Hepatic inflammation is the driving force behind liver fibrosis; however, host single nucleotide polymorphisms and viral factors, including the genotype, viral load, viral mutation, and viral proteins, have been associated with fibrosis progression. Eliminating the underlying etiology is the most crucial antifibrotic therapy. Growing evidence has indicated that persistent viral suppression with antiviral therapy can result in fibrosis regression, reduced liver disease progression, decreased hepatocellular carcinoma, and improved chances of survival. Preclinical studies and clinical trials are currently examining several investigational agents that target key fibrogenic pathways; the results are promising and shed light on this debilitating illness.
The Impact of Social Support and Negative Disclosure Reactions on Sexual Assault Victims: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Investigation

Social support is an important factor in posttrauma adjustment. However, little research has simultaneously evaluated helpful and harmful aspects of support on victims' post-assault adjustment, as well as the relationships among these variables over time. The current study evaluated perceived support and negative disclosure reactions as predictors of post-assault factors in a sample of 262 college rape victims. Of these women, 74 completed a 6-month follow-up. Analyses suggested that perceived support and negative disclosure reactions may play unique roles in victims' adjustment. Implications for future research examining the role of different aspects of support in posttrauma recovery are discussed.