Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tolerance of Ruppia sinensis Seeds to Desiccation, Low Temperature, and High Salinity With Special Reference to Long-Term Seed Storage

Seeds are important materials for the restoration of globally-threatened marine angiosperm (seagrass) populations. In this study, we investigated the differences between different Ruppia sinensis seed types and developed two feasible long-term R. sinensis seed storage methods. The ability of R. sinensis seeds to tolerate the short-term desiccation and extreme cold had been investigated. The tolerance of R. sinensis seeds to long-term exposure of high salinity, cold temperature, and desiccation had been considered as potential methods for long-term seed storage. Also, three morphological and nine physiological indices were measured and compared between two types of seeds: Shape L and Shape S. We found that: (1) wet storage at a salinity of 30–40 psu and 0°C were the optimal long-term storage conditions, and the proportion of viable seeds reached over 90% after a storage period of 11 months since the seeds were collected from the reproductive shoots; (2) dry condition was not the optimal choice for long-term storage of R. sinensis seeds; however, storing seeds in a dry condition at 5°C and 33 ± 10% relative humidity for 9 months had a relatively high percentage (74.44 ± 2.22%) of viable seeds, consequently desiccation exposure could also be an acceptable seed storage method; (3) R. sinensis seeds would lose vigor in the interaction of extreme cold (-27°C) and desiccation; (4) there were significant differences in seed weight, seed curvature, and endocarp thickness between the two types of seeds. These findings provided fundamental physiological information for R. sinensis seeds and supported the long-term storage of its seeds. Our results may also serve as useful reference for seed storage of other threatened seagrass species and facilitate their ex situ conservation and habitat restoration.
Development and validation of a survey instrument for detecting basic motor competencies in elementary school children

Abstract Basic motor competencies (in German: Motorische Basiskompetenzen; MOBAK) are motor performance dispositions formulated as minimum standards that empower children to participate in the culture of human movement. In opposition to movement-specific and process-oriented fundamental movement skills assessing the quality of movement execution, basic motor competencies are context-specific and product-oriented and focus on the mastery of minimum motor demands. Consequently, the promotion of basic motor competencies is a central goal of physical education, as they are essential prerequisites to be able to develop a physically active lifestyle. For the diagnosis of basic motor competencies, teachers need valid survey instruments that can help them to adapt their didactic-methodical action. For this purpose, a test battery for the assessment of the basic motor competencies of third graders was developed (MOBAK-3) and subjected to empirical validation (N = 399; 50.4% female; M = 8.45 years, SD = .52). The exploratory structural equation modeling indicates a structure with three factors named “Locomotion,” “Object-control” and “Moving in water”. This structure could be confirmed in the confirmatory factor analysis (CFI = .998; RMSEA = .009) and there was no differential item functioning (DIF) between boys and girls and the age. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the test instrument with regard to pedagogical diagnosis was confirmed based on a normative definition of support needs in motor competence. The MOBAK-3 test battery satisfies the requirements of test theory and is suitable for an analysis of basic motor competencies and the identification of motor deficiencies in students.
KRAS G12C mutation as a poor prognostic marker of pemetrexed treatment in non-small cell lung cancer

Background/Aims The predictive and prognostic value of KRAS mutation and its type of mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are controversial. This clinical study was designed to investigate the predictive value of KRAS mutations and its mutation types to pemetrexed and gemcitabine based treatment. Methods Advanced NSCLC patients tested for KRAS mutation (n = 334) were retrospectively reviewed and 252 patients with wild type epidermal growth factor receptor and no anaplastic lymphoma kinase fusion were enrolled for the analysis. KRAS mutations were observed in 45 subjects with mutation type as followed: G12C (n = 13), G12D (n = 12), G12V (n = 12), other (n = 8). Response rate (RR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) of pemetrexed singlet and gemcitabine based chemotherapy were analysis. Results Age, sex, performance status were well balanced between subjects with or without KRAS mutations. No difference was observed in RR. Hazard ratio (HR) of PFS for pemetrexed treated subjects with G12C mutation compared to subjects with KRAS wild type was 1.96 (95% confidential interval [CI], 1.01 to 3.79; p = 0.045), but other mutations failed to show clinical significance. By analysis done by PFS, compared to the subjects with transition mutation, HR was 1.48 (95% CI, 0.64 to 3.40; p = 0.360) for subjects with transversion mutation on pemetrexed treatment and 0.41 (95% CI, 0.19 to 0.87; p = 0.020) for subjects treated with gemcitabine based chemotherapy. No difference was observed in OS. Conclusions In this study, different drug sensitivity was observed according to the type of KRAS mutation. NSCLC subpopulations with different KRAS mutation type should be considered as different subgroups and optimal chemotherapy regimens should be searched in further confirmative studies.
Passive Wearable Skin Patch Sensor Measures Limb Hemodynamics Based on Electromagnetic Resonance

Objective: The objectives of this study were to design and develop an open-circuit electromagnetic resonant skin patch sensor, characterize the fluid volume and resonant frequency relationship, and investigate the sensor's ability to measure limb hemodynamics and pulse volume waveform features. Methods: The skin patch was designed from an open-circuit electromagnetic resonant sensor comprised of a single baseline trace of copper configured into a square planar spiral which had a self-resonating response when excited by an external radio frequency sweep. Using a human arm phantom with a realistic vascular network, the sensor's performance to measure limb hemodynamics was evaluated. Results: The sensor was able to measure pulsatile blood flow which registered as shifts in the sensor's resonant frequencies. The time-varying waveform pattern of the resonant frequency displayed a systolic upstroke, a systolic peak, a dicrotic notch, and a diastolic down stroke. The resonant frequency waveform features and peak systolic time were validated against ultrasound pulse wave Doppler. A statistical correlation analysis revealed a strong correlation ($R^{2}\,= \,0.99$ ) between the resonant sensor peak systolic time and the pulse wave Doppler peak systolic time. Conclusion: The sensor was able to detect pulsatile flow, identify hemodynamic waveform features, and measure heart rate with 98% accuracy. Significance: The open-circuit resonant sensor design leverages the architecture of a thin planar spiral which is passive (does not require batteries), robust and lightweight (does not have electrical components or electrical connections), and may be able to wirelessly monitor cardiovascular health and limb hemodynamics.
Differential allocation and deployment of direct and indirect defences by Vicia sepium along elevation gradients

Dissecting drivers of plant defence investment remains central for understanding the assemblage of communities across different habitats. There is increasing evidence that direct defence strategies against herbivores, including secondary metabolites production, differ along ecological gradients in response to variation in biotic and abiotic conditions. In contrast, intraspecific variation in indirect defences remains unexplored. Here, we investigated variation in herbivory rate, resistance to herbivores and indirect defences in ant‐attracting Vicia species along the elevation gradient of the Alps. Specifically, we compared volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ant attraction in high‐ and low‐elevation ecotypes. Consistent with adaptation to the lower herbivory conditions that we detected at higher elevations in the field, high‐elevation plants were visited by fewer ants and were more susceptible to herbivore attack. In parallel, constitutive volatile organic compound production and subsequent ant attraction were lower in the high‐elevation ecotypes. We observed an elevation‐driven trade‐off between constitutive and inducible production of VOCs and ant attraction along the environmental cline. At higher elevations, inducible defences increased, while constitutive defence decreased, suggesting that the high‐elevation ecotypes compensate for lower indirect constitutive defences only after herbivore attack. Synthesis. Overall, direct and indirect defences of plants vary along elevation gradients. Our findings show that plant allocation to defences are subject to trade‐offs depending on local conditions, and point to a feedback mechanism linking local herbivore pressure, predator abundance and the defence investment of plants.
Regulation of stream water dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations during snowmelt : the role of discharge, winter climate and memory effects

Abstract. Using a 15 year stream record from a northern boreal catchment, we demonstrate that the inter-annual variation in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations during snowmelt was related to discharge, winter climate and previous DOC export. A short and intense snowmelt gave higher stream water DOC concentrations, as did long winters, while a high previous DOC export during the antecedent summer and autumn resulted in lower concentrations during the following spring. By removing the effect of discharge we could detect that the length of winter affected the modeled soil water DOC concentrations during the following snowmelt period, which in turn affected the concentrations in the stream. Winter climate explained more of the stream water DOC variations than previous DOC export during the antecedent summer and autumn.
A Two-Step Feature Selection Method to Predict Cancerlectins by Multiview Features and Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique

Cancerlectins have an inhibitory effect on the growth of cancer cells and are currently being employed as therapeutic agents. The accurate identification of the cancerlectins should provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of cancers. In this study, a new computational method based on the RF (Random Forest) algorithm is proposed for further improving the performance of identifying cancerlectins. Hybrid feature space before feature selection is developed by combining different individual feature spaces, CTD (Composition, Transition, and Distribution), PseAAC (Pseudo Amino Acid Composition), PSSM (Position-Specific Scoring Matrix), and disorder. The SMOTE (Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique) is applied to solve the imbalanced data problem. To reduce feature redundancy and computation complexity, we propose a two-step feature selection process to select informative features. A 5-fold cross-validation technique is used for the evaluation of various prediction strategies. The proposed method achieves a sensitivity of 0.779, a specificity of 0.717, an accuracy of 0.748, and an MCC (Matthew's Correlation Coefficient) of 0.497. The prediction results are also compared with other existing methods on the same dataset using 5-fold cross-validation. The comparison results demonstrate the high effectiveness of our method for predicting cancerlectins.
Chapter 17 Forgiveness , Family Relationships and Health

Family relationships play an integral role in the psychological and physical health of family members, as well as the economic well-being of the family (see Beach & Whisman, 2012; Fincham & Beach, 2010). Paradoxically it is in family relationships that many of our important needs are met and yet some of our deepest hurts occur. These hurts can be occasioned by a violation of an implicit or explicit relationship norm, deceit, betrayal and so on. Although various options exist for dealing with such hurts (e.g., withdrawal, denial, condoning, reframing the transgressions), over the course of long-term relationships such as marriage they are unlikely to suffice. Little surprise, then, that the well known journalist/humorist, Robert Quillen (2008, p. 255), the Garrison Keillor of his day, wrote that “a happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. ” What are the consequences of forgiving versus not forgiving in family relationships? To the extent that failure to forgive results in destructive conflict and/or disruption of the family relationship, the results can be costly for those involved in the transgression as well as other family members. For example, the deleterious effect of marital discord on the psychological and physical health of spouses is well documented (e.g., Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2005; Whisman, 2007), as is the panoply of effects it has on both child and adult offspring (e.g., Amato, 2010; Rhoades, 2008; Troxel & Mathews, 2004). It is widely accepted that even though forgiveness (an intrapersonal process) should not be confused with relationship reconciliation (a dyadic process), it promotes prosocial motivational process that can lead to relationship repair and the
Submodel selection and evaluation in regression. The X-random case

Summary Often, in a regression situation with many variables, a sequence of submodels is generated containing fewer variables by using such methods as stepwise addition or deletion of variables, or 'best subsets'. The question is which of this sequence of submodels is 'best', and how can submodel performance be evaluated. This was explored in Breiman (1988) for a fixed X-design. This is a sequel exploring the case of random X-designs. Analytical results are difficult, if not impossible. This study involved an extensive simulation. The basis of the study is the theoretical definition of prediction error (PE) as the expected squared error produced by applying a prediction equation to the distributional universe of (y, x) values. This definition is used throughout to compare various submodels. There can be startling differences between the x-fixed and x-random situations and different PE estimates are appropriate. Non-resampling estimates such as C,, adjusted RZ,etc. turn out to be highly biased methods for submodel selection. The two best methods are cross-validation and bootstrap. One surprise is that 5 fold cross-validation (leave out 20% of the data) is better at submodel selection and evaluation than leave-one-out cross-validation. There are a number of other surprises.
Modeling the Kinetics of the Permeation of Antibacterial Agents into Growing Bacteria and Its Interplay with Efflux

ABSTRACT A mathematical model of the passive permeation of a novel solute into bacteria that explicitly accounts for intracellular dilution through growth was developed. A bacterial cell envelope permeability coefficient of approximately >10−8 cm2 · s−1 is predicted to ensure passive permeation into rapidly replicating bacterial cells. The relative importance of the permeability coefficients of the cytoplasmic and outer membranes of Gram-negative bacteria in determining the overall envelope permeability coefficient was analyzed quantitatively. A mathematical description of the balance between passive influx and active efflux was also developed and shows that bacterial expansion through growth can usually be neglected for compounds likely to be prepared in antibacterial drug discovery programs and the balance between passive inward permeation and active outwardly directed efflux predominates. A new parameter, efflux efficiency (η, where η is equal to k/P, in which k is the rate coefficient for the efflux pump and P is the permeability coefficient for the membrane across which the pump acts), is introduced, and the consequences for the efficiency of efflux pumping by a single pump, two pumps in parallel across either the cytoplasmic or the outer membrane, and two pumps in series, one across the cytoplasmic membrane and one across the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, are explored. The results, showing additive efficiency for two pumps acting across a single membrane and multiplicative efficiency for two pumps acting in series across the cytoplasmic and outer membranes, can be quantitatively related to the ratios between MICs measured against pump-sufficient and pump deletion strains and agree with those of previous experimental and theoretical studies.
Moving lemma for additive higher Chow groups

We study additive higher Chow groups with several modulus conditions. Apart from exhibiting the validity of all known results for the additive Chow groups with these modulus conditions, we prove the moving lemma for them: for a smooth projective variety X and a finite collection W of its locally closed algebraic subsets, every additive higher Chow cycle is congruent to an admissible cycle intersecting properly all members of W times faces. This is the additive analogue of the moving lemma for the higher Chow groups studied by S. Bloch and M. Levine. As an application, we prove that any morphism from a quasi-projective variety to a smooth projective variety induces a pull-back map of additive higher Chow groups. More important applications of this moving lemma are derived in two separate papers by the authors.
Copper(II) Thiosemicarbazone Complexes and Their Proligands upon UVA Irradiation: An EPR and Spectrophotometric Steady-State Study

X- and Q-band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy was used to characterize polycrystalline Cu(II) complexes that contained sodium 5-sulfonate salicylaldehyde thiosemicarbazones possessing a hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, or phenyl substituent at the terminal nitrogen. The ability of thiosemicarbazone proligands to generate superoxide radical anions and hydroxyl radicals upon their exposure to UVA irradiation in aerated aqueous solutions was evidenced by the EPR spin trapping technique. The UVA irradiation of proligands in neutral or alkaline solutions and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) caused a significant decrease in the absorption bands of aldimine and phenolic chromophores. Mixing of proligand solutions with the equimolar amount of copper(II) ions resulted in the formation of 1:1 Cu(II)-to-ligand complex, with the EPR and UV-Vis spectra fully compatible with those obtained for the dissolved Cu(II) thiosemicarbazone complexes. The formation of the complexes fully inhibited the photoinduced generation of reactive oxygen species, and only subtle changes were found in the electronic absorption spectra of the complexes in aqueous and DMSO solutions upon UVA steady-state irradiation. The dark redox activity of copper(II) complexes and proligand/Cu(II) aqueous solutions towards hydrogen peroxide which resulted in the generation of hydroxyl radicals, was confirmed by spin trapping experiments.
On the Ability of a Cable-Driven Robot to Generate a Prescribed Set of Wrenches

This paper presents a new geometry-based method to determine if a cable-driven robot operating in a d-degree-of-freedom workspace (2≤d≤6) with n≥d cables can generate a given set of wrenches in a given pose, considering acceptable minimum and maximum tensions in the cables. To this end, the fundamental nature of the available wrench set is studied. The latter concept, defined here, is closely related to similar sets introduced by Ebert-Uphoff and co-workers (2004, “Force-Feasible Workspace Analysis for Underconstrained, Point-Mass Cable Robots,” IEEE Trans. Rob. Autom., 5, pp. 4956–4962; 2007, “Workspace Optimization of a Very Large Cable-Driven Parallel Mechanism for a Radiotelescope Application,” Proceedings of the ASME IDETC/CIE Mechanics and Robotics Conference, Las Vegas, NV). It is shown that the available wrench set can be represented mathematically by a zonotope, a special class of convex polytopes. Using the properties of zonotopes, two methods to construct the available wrench set are discussed. From the representation of the available wrench set, computationally efficient and noniterative tests are presented to verify if this set includes the task wrench set, the set of wrenches needed for a given task.
Improving Individual Acceptance of Health Clouds through Confidentiality Assurance

Summary Background Cloud computing promises to essentially improve healthcare delivery performance. However, shifting sensitive medical records to third-party cloud providers could create an adoption hurdle because of security and privacy concerns. ObjectivesThis study examines the effect of confidentiality assurance in a cloud-computing environment on individuals’ willingness to accept the infrastructure for inter-organizational sharing of medical data. MethodsWe empirically investigate our research question by a survey with over 260 full responses. For the setting with a high confidentiality assurance, we base on a recent multi-cloud architecture which provides very high confidentiality assurance through a secret-sharing mechanism: Health information is cryptographically encoded and distributed in a way that no single and no small group of cloud providers is able to decode it. ResultsOur results indicate the importance of confidentiality assurance in individuals’ acceptance of health clouds for sensitive medical data. Specifically, this finding holds for a variety of practically relevant circumstances, i.e., in the absence and despite the presence of conventional offline alternatives and along with pseudonymization. On the other hand, we do not find support for the effect of confidentiality assurance in individuals’ acceptance of health clouds for non-sensitive medical data. These results could support the process of privacy engineering for health-cloud solutions. Citation: Ermakova T, Fabian B, Zarnekow R. Improving individual acceptance of health clouds through confidentiality assurance.
Carotid baroreflex regulation of vascular resistance in high‐altitude Andean natives with and without chronic mountain sickness

We investigated carotid baroreflex control of vascular resistance in two groups of high‐altitude natives: healthy subjects (HA) and a group with chronic mountain sickness (CMS), a maladaptation condition characterized by high haematocrit values and symptoms attributable to chronic hypoxia. Eleven HA controls and 11 CMS patients underwent baroreflex testing, using the neck collar method in which the pressure distending the carotid baroreceptors was changed by applying pressures of −40 to +60 mmHg to the chamber. Responses of forearm vascular resistance were assessed from changes in the quotient of blood pressure divided by brachial artery blood velocity. Stimulus–response curves were defined at high altitude (4338 m) and within 1 day of descent to sea level. We applied a sigmoid function or third‐order polynomial to the curves and determined the maximal slope (equivalent to peak gain) and the corresponding carotid pressure (equivalent to ‘set point’). The results showed that the peak gains of the reflex were similar in both groups and at both locations. The ‘set point’ of the reflex, however, was significantly higher in the CMS patients compared to HA controls, indicating that the reflex operates over higher pressures in the patients (94.4 ± 3.0 versus 79.6 ± 4.1 mmHg; P < 0.01). This, however, was seen only when subjects were studied at altitude; after descent to sea level the curve reset to a lower pressure with no significant difference between HA and CMS subjects. These results indicate that carotid baroreceptor control of vascular resistance may be abnormal in CMS patients but that descent to sea level rapidly normalizes it. We speculate that this may be explained by CMS patients having greater vasoconstrictor activity at altitude owing to greater hypoxic stimulation of chemoreceptors.