Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quality- and energy-aware data compression by aggregation in WSN data streams

Sensor networks consist of autonomous devices that cooperatively monitor an environment. Sensors are equipped with capabilities to store information in memory, process information and communicate with neighbors and with a base station. However, due to the sensors' size, their associated resources are limited. In such a context, the main cause of energy dissipation is the use of the wireless link. Solutions that minimize communication are needed. In this paper a framework to manage efficiently data streams is presented. The proposed approach aims at saving energy by capturing signals and compress them instead of sending them in raw form. The algorithm also guarantees that the compressed representation satisfies quality requirements specified in terms of accuracy, precision, and timeliness.
Effect of Rearing Temperatures during Embryonic Development on the Phenotypic Sex in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

In zebrafish, Danio rerio, a polygenic pattern of sex determination or a female heterogamety with possible influences of environmental factors is assumed. The present study focuses on the effects of an elevated water temperature (35°C) during the embryonic development on sex determination in zebrafish. Eggs derived from 3 golden females were fertilized by the same mitotic gynogenetic male and exposed to a water temperature of 35°C, applied from 5 to 10 h post fertilization (hpf), from 5 to 24 hpf, and from 5 to 48 hpf, which correspond to the following developmental stages: gastrula, gastrula to segmentation, and gastrula to pharyngula stage, respectively. Hatching and survival rates decreased with increasing exposure to high water temperatures. Reductions in the hatching and survival rates were not responsible for differences in sex ratios. Accordingly, exposition of the fertilized eggs to a high temperature (35°C) leads to an increase of the male proportion from 22.0% in the controls to a balanced sex ratio (48.3, 47.5, and 52.6%) in the gastrula, segmentation, and pharyngula groups, respectively. These results prove the possibility to change the pathway of sexual determination during early embryonic stages in zebrafish by exposure to a high water temperature.
The Relation between Recombination Rate and Patterns of Molecular Evolution and Variation in Drosophila melanogaster

Genetic recombination associated with sexual reproduction increases the efficiency of natural selection by reducing the strength of Hill–Robertson interference. Such interference can be caused either by selective sweeps of positively selected alleles or by background selection (BGS) against deleterious mutations. Its consequences can be studied by comparing patterns of molecular evolution and variation in genomic regions with different rates of crossing over. We carried out a comprehensive study of the benefits of recombination in Drosophila melanogaster, both by contrasting five independent genomic regions that lack crossing over with the rest of the genome and by comparing regions with different rates of crossing over, using data on DNA sequence polymorphisms from an African population that is geographically close to the putatively ancestral population for the species, and on sequence divergence from a related species. We observed reductions in sequence diversity in noncrossover (NC) regions that are inconsistent with the effects of hard selective sweeps in the absence of recombination. Overall, the observed patterns suggest that the recombination rate experienced by a gene is positively related to an increase in the efficiency of both positive and purifying selection. The results are consistent with a BGS model with interference among selected sites in NC regions, and joint effects of BGS, selective sweeps, and a past population expansion on variability in regions of the genome that experience crossing over. In such crossover regions, the X chromosome exhibits a higher rate of adaptive protein sequence evolution than the autosomes, implying a Faster-X effect.
Reliability of clinical crown center to predict marginal ridge leveling.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the vertical compensation necessary to level the clinical crown centers and that required to level the marginal ridges. MATERIALS AND METHODS Initial dental casts selected from 200 patients that met the selection criteria were included. The vertical position of the clinical crown center (VPCC) and marginal ridge (VPMR) of posterior teeth were measured in both arches using a digital height gauge with 0.01mm precision. The vertical discrepancy between the clinical crown centers (VDCC) and marginal ridges (VDMR) of adjacent posterior teeth were calculated and compared. The significance level was set at P < . 05. RESULTS In general, vertical discrepancies between VDCC and VDMR were statistically significant (P < .05). Clinically significant differences were observed between the maxillary second premolar and first molar and between the mandibular molars. The VPCC was significantly and positively correlated with patient age. CONCLUSIONS Differences between VDCC and VDMR showed that the VPCC may not be an accurate predictor of marginal ridge leveling because the vertical compensation necessary to level the VPCCs is not similar to that required to level the marginal ridges, requiring caution in its utilization, mainly in teenagers.
Impact of Unusual Fatty Acid Synthesis on Futile Cycling through β-Oxidation and on Gene Expression in Transgenic Plants1[w]

Arabidopsis expressing the castor bean (Ricinus communis) oleate 12-hydroxylase or the Crepis palaestina linoleate 12-epoxygenase in developing seeds typically accumulate low levels of ricinoleic acid and vernolic acid, respectively. We have examined the presence of a futile cycle of fatty acid degradation in developing seeds using the synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) from the intermediates of the peroxisomal β-oxidation cycle. Both the quantity and monomer composition of the PHA synthesized in transgenic plants expressing the 12-epoxygenase and 12-hydroxylase in developing seeds revealed the presence of a futile cycle of degradation of the corresponding unusual fatty acids, indicating a limitation in their stable integration into lipids. The expression profile of nearly 200 genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis and degradation has been analyzed through microarray. No significant changes in gene expression have been detected as a consequence of the activity of the 12-epoxygenase or the 12-hydroxylase in developing siliques. Similar results have also been obtained for transgenic plants expressing the Cuphea lanceolata caproyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterase and accumulating high amounts of caproic acid. Only in developing siliques of the tag1 mutant, deficient in the accumulation of triacylglycerols and shown to have a substantial futile cycling of fatty acids toward β-oxidation, have some changes in gene expression been detected, notably the induction of the isocitrate lyase gene. These results indicate that analysis of peroxisomal PHA is a better indicator of the flux of fatty acid through β-oxidation than the expression profile of genes involved in lipid metabolism.
Delay Analysis of Epidemic Schemes in Sparse and Dense Heterogeneous Contact Networks

Epidemic algorithms have found their way into many areas of computer science, such as databases and distributed systems, and recently for communication in Opportunistic or Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs). To ensure analytical tractability, existing analyses of epidemic spreading predominantly consider homogeneous contact rates between nodes. However, this assumption is generally not true in real scenarios. In this paper, we consider classes of contact/mobility models with heterogeneous contact rates. Through an asymptotic analysis, we prove that a first-order, mean value approximation for the basic epidemic spreading step becomes exact in the limiting case (large network size). We further derive simple closed form approximations, based on higher order statistics of the mobility heterogeneity, for the case of finite-size networks. To demonstrate the utility of our results, we use them to predict the delay of epidemic-based routing schemes and analyze scenarios with node selfishness. We validate the analytic results through extensive simulations on synthetic scenarios, as well as on real traces to demonstrate that our expressions can be useful also in scenarios with significantly more complex structure. We believe these results are an important step forward towards analyzing the effects of heterogeneity (of mobility and/or other characteristics) on the performance of epidemic-based algorithms.
A note on maximal averages in the plane

Let B δ be the class of all h x δh rectangles in the plane with h > 0 and 0 < δ < 1 / 2 . The orientation of the rectangles is arbitrary. Form the maximal operator GM f(x) = sup sup x∈R∈Bδ 0<δ< 1 -2 Note the logarithmic term in the average. It is shown that GM is a bounded maximal operator in L 2 (ℝ 2 ). The case of a fixed δ is due to Cordoba.
Protecting Respondents' Identities in Microdata Release

Today's globally networked society places great demands on the dissemination and sharing of information. While in the past released information was mostly in tabular and statistical form, many situations call for the release of specific data (microdata). In order to protect the anonymity of the entities (called respondents) to which information refers, data holders often remove or encrypt explicit identifiers such as names, addresses, and phone numbers. Deidentifying data, however, provides no guarantee of anonymity. Released information often contains other data, such as race, birth date, sex, and ZIP code, that can be linked to publicly available information to reidentify respondents and inferring information that was not intended for disclosure. In this paper we address the problem of releasing microdata while safeguarding the anonymity of respondents to which the data refer. The approach is based on the definition of k-anonymity. A table provides k-anonymity if attempts to link explicitly identifying information to its content map the information to at least k entities. We illustrate how k-anonymity can be provided without compromising the integrity (or truthfulness) of the information released by using generalization and suppression techniques. We introduce the concept of minimal generalization that captures the property of the release process not distorting the data more than needed to achieve k-anonymity, and present an algorithm for the computation of such a generalization. We also discuss possible preference policies to choose among different minimal generalizations.
Optimization of wireless resources for personal communications mobility tracking

In personal communications applications, users communicate via wireless with a wireline network. The wireline network tracks the current location of the user, and can therefore route messages to a user regardless of the user's location. In addition to its impact on signaling within the wireline network, mobility tracking requires the expenditure of wireless resources as well, including the power consumption of the portable units carried by the users and the radio bandwidth used for registration and paging. Ideally, the mobility tracking scheme used for each user should depend on the user's call and mobility pattern, so that the current registration area approach (which ignores such information) may be wasteful of wireless resources under certain circumstances. In the paper, the authors provide a model and an optimization algorithm based on dynamic programming for choosing the mobility tracking scheme on a per-user basis. While illustrative results are provided for a simple one-dimensional mobility model, the approach is shown to be applicable to a very general class of problems. <<ETX>>
Glutathione and malondialdehyde levels in patients with hydatid cyst.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the levels of glutathione (GSH), and malondialdehide (MDA) in the sera of patients diagnosed with cyst hydatid. METHODS Forty-six hydatid cyst patients who were indirect hemaglutination (IHA) and indirect fluorescence antibody (IFA) test positive constituted our study group in 2007. Patients diagnosed with hydatid cyst in the Inonu University School of Medicine, Department of Parasitology were re-called for the study. Forty healthy subjects who were negative for hydatid cyst by IHA and IFA methods, and who did not have any parasites on stool inspection formed the control group. The MDA level was analyzed in the sera by Uchiyama and Mihara method. The GSH activity was measured by the Ellman method. RESULTS The GSH level was 11.31 -/+ 3.80 micromol/L and the MDA level was 67.94 -/+ 106.70 micromol/L in the study group, while they were 24.95 -/+ 6.55 micromol/L and 26.52 -/+ 19.42 micromol/L in the control group. CONCLUSION An increase in MDA levels and a decrease in GSH activity in patients with hydatid cyst was observed.
Posttraumatic Bilhemia: diagnosis and catheter therapy.

Hemobilia, as defined by the presence of blood in the bile ducts, is not uncommon in liver trauma: over 200 cases have been reported. Bilhemia, as defined by the passage of bile into the blood through a fistula between the bile duct system and the venous system, is rather exceptional: only four cases have been published [1 -4]. We discuss the first case in which angiographic management has been successfully achieved under radioendoscopic control.
Self-reported abuse history and pain complaints among young adults.

OBJECTIVE Considerable evidence suggests that a self-reported history of physical and/or sexual abuse is more frequently reported among chronic pain populations and is associated with poorer adjustment to pain. However, previous research has typically included patients seeking treatment for pain, whereas few population-based studies have explored the association between abuse history and pain. This purpose of this study was to examine the association between self-reported history of sexual or physical abuse and recent pain complaints, health-related variables, and psychological disturbance among a nonclinical sample of young adults. DESIGN Subjects were 426 (275 female, 151 male) college students who completed a series of questionnaires assessing abuse history, recent pain, health care utilization, perceived health, and psychological variables. RESULTS Females reported a positive history of abuse (PHA) more frequently than males (43.5% vs. 23.8%), and females reported significantly higher rates for all types of abuse except physical abuse during childhood (p < 0.05). PHA subjects reported experiencing pain in more sites and pain of higher severity over the past month compared to subjects with a negative history of abuse (NHA) (p < 0.05). PHA subjects also reported more health care utilization and greater psychological disturbance, including depression, somatization, negative temperament, and higher levels of catastrophizing (p < 0.05). Interestingly, when somatization and depression scale scores were used as covariates, group differences in pain complaints and health care utilization became nonsignificant (p > 0.10). CONCLUSION These findings suggest that a self-reported history of physical or sexual abuse is associated with increased pain complaints, health care utilization, and psychological disturbance even among young adults from a nonclinical population. Moreover, the association between abuse and pain complaints appears to be moderated at least in part by the higher levels of somatization and depression observed in the PHA group.
The Mars crustal magnetic field control of plasma boundary locations and atmospheric loss: MHD prediction and comparison with MAVEN

We present results from a global Mars time‐dependent MHD simulation under constant solar wind and solar radiation impact considering inherent magnetic field variations due to continuous planetary rotation. We calculate the 3‐D shapes and locations of the bow shock (BS) and the induced magnetospheric boundary (IMB) and then examine their dynamic changes with time. We develop a physics‐based, empirical algorithm to effectively summarize the multidimensional crustal field distribution. It is found that by organizing the model results using this new approach, the Mars crustal field shows a clear, significant influence on both the IMB and the BS. Specifically, quantitative relationships have been established between the field distribution and the mean boundary distances and the cross‐section areas in the terminator plane for both of the boundaries. The model‐predicted relationships are further verified by the observations from the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. Our analysis shows that the boundaries are collectively affected by the global crustal field distribution, which, however, cannot be simply parameterized by a local parameter like the widely used subsolar longitude. Our calculations show that the variability of the intrinsic crustal field distribution in Mars‐centered Solar Orbital itself may account for ∼60% of the variation in total atmospheric loss, when external drivers are static. It is found that the crustal field has not only a shielding effect for atmospheric loss but also an escape‐fostering effect by positively affecting the transterminator ion flow cross‐section area.
Prediction of protein-protein interactions using random decision forest framework

MOTIVATION Protein interactions are of biological interest because they orchestrate a number of cellular processes such as metabolic pathways and immunological recognition. Domains are the building blocks of proteins; therefore, proteins are assumed to interact as a result of their interacting domains. Many domain-based models for protein interaction prediction have been developed, and preliminary results have demonstrated their feasibility. Most of the existing domain-based methods, however, consider only single-domain pairs (one domain from one protein) and assume independence between domain-domain interactions. RESULTS In this paper, we introduce a domain-based random forest of decision trees to infer protein interactions. Our proposed method is capable of exploring all possible domain interactions and making predictions based on all the protein domains. Experimental results on Saccharomyces cerevisiae dataset demonstrate that our approach can predict protein-protein interactions with higher sensitivity (79.78%) and specificity (64.38%) compared with that of the maximum likelihood approach. Furthermore, our model can be used to infer interactions not only for single-domain pairs but also for multiple domain pairs.
Reprogrammable CRISPR/Cas9-based system for inducing site-specific DNA methylation

ABSTRACT Advances in sequencing technology allow researchers to map genome-wide changes in DNA methylation in development and disease. However, there is a lack of experimental tools to site-specifically manipulate DNA methylation to discern the functional consequences. We developed a CRISPR/Cas9 DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A) fusion to induce DNA methylation at specific loci in the genome. We induced DNA methylation at up to 50% of alleles for targeted CpG dinucleotides. DNA methylation levels peaked within 50 bp of the short guide RNA (sgRNA) binding site and between pairs of sgRNAs. We used our approach to target methylation across the entire CpG island at the CDKN2A promoter, three CpG dinucleotides at the ARF promoter, and the CpG island within the Cdkn1a promoter to decrease expression of the target gene. These tools permit mechanistic studies of DNA methylation and its role in guiding molecular processes that determine cellular fate. Summary: We developed a CRISPR/dCas9-DNMT3A fusion protein to repress the expression of endogenous genes in combination with multiple guide RNAs. This tool can help us elucidate the role of DNA methylation in normal development and disease.
Irradiation of GAPDH: a model for environmentally induced protein damage

Abstract Environmental factors, including sunlight, are able to induce severe oxidative protein damage. The modified proteins are either repaired, degraded or escape from degradation and aggregate. In the present study we tested the effect of different sunlight components such as UV-A, UV-B, and infrared radiation on protein oxidation in vitro. We chose glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) as a model enzyme and analyzed the irradiation-induced enzyme activity loss, fragmentation and aggregation, and quantified various oxidative amino acid modifications. Since γ-irradiation was used in numerous studies before, we used it for comparative purposes. Infrared radiation was unable to damage GAPDH in the dose range tested (0–1000 J/cm2). UV-A led to a decrease in free thiol content, which was connected with a loss in enzyme activity, while only at very high doses could moderate protein aggregation and fragmentation be observed. UV-B (0–2 J/cm2) and γ-irradiation (0–500 Gy) led to a dose-dependent increase in protein modification. Interestingly, UV-B acted on specific amino acids, such as arginine, proline, and tyrosine, whereas γ-irradiation acted more randomly. The possibility of using the amino acid oxidation pattern as a biomarker of the source of damage is discussed.
Quantifying temporal change in biodiversity: challenges and opportunities

Growing concern about biodiversity loss underscores the need to quantify and understand temporal change. Here, we review the opportunities presented by biodiversity time series, and address three related issues: (i) recognizing the characteristics of temporal data; (ii) selecting appropriate statistical procedures for analysing temporal data; and (iii) inferring and forecasting biodiversity change. With regard to the first issue, we draw attention to defining characteristics of biodiversity time series—lack of physical boundaries, uni-dimensionality, autocorrelation and directionality—that inform the choice of analytic methods. Second, we explore methods of quantifying change in biodiversity at different timescales, noting that autocorrelation can be viewed as a feature that sheds light on the underlying structure of temporal change. Finally, we address the transition from inferring to forecasting biodiversity change, highlighting potential pitfalls associated with phase-shifts and novel conditions.
On Spectrum Selection Games in Cognitive Radio Networks

Cognitive Radio Networks aim at enhancing spectrum utilization by allowing cognitive devices to opportunistically access vast portions of the spectrum. To reach such ambitious goal, cognitive terminals must be geared with enhanced spectrum management capabilities including the detection of unused spectrum holes (spectrum sensing), the characterization of available bands (spectrum decision), the coordination with other cognitive devices in the access phase (spectrum sharing), and the capability to handover towards other spectrum holes when licensed users kick in or if a better spectrum opportunity becomes available (spectrum mobility). In this paper, a game theoretic framework is proposed to evaluate spectrum management functionalities in Cognitive Radio Networks. The spectrum selection process is cast as a non-cooperative game among secondary users who can opportunistically select the "best" spectrum opportunity, under the tight constraint not to harm primary licensed users. Different quality measures for the spectrum opportunities are considered and evaluated in the game framework, including the spectrum bandwidth, and the spectrum opportunity holding time. The cost of spectrum mobility is also accounted in the analytical framework. Numerical results are reported to assess the quality of the game equilibria.