Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Host Plant Use by the Invasive Halyomorpha halys (Stål) on Woody Ornamental Trees and Shrubs

The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an invasive plant-feeding insect native to eastern Asia. This herbivore is highly polyphagous, feeding on and damaging diverse plants, including field crops, vegetables, tree fruits, and ornamentals. Woody ornamental plants provide early- and late-season resources for adults emerging from and returning to overwintering sites, as well as feeding and breeding sites for H. halys throughout the growing season. In this study, we quantify the use of diverse plants by H. halys in two commercial nurseries in Maryland, recording data on the abundance of egg masses, early and late instar nymphs, and adults over a three-year study period. Our specific goals were to provide a quantitative comparison of the use of diverse plant species and cultivated varieties, identify non-hosts that could be used to create landscapes refractory to H. halys, and determine whether the use of plants varied across life stages of H. halys or the taxonomic status of plants. We found broad use of diverse plants in this study, identifying 88 host plants used by all life stages of H. halys. We also highlight the 43 plant taxa that did not support any life stage of H. halys and are thus classified as non-hosts. Interestingly, some of these plants were congeners of highly-used plants, underscoring high intrageneric and intraspecific variation in the use of plants by this polyphagous herbivore. We discuss how the selective planting of non-hosts, especially gymnosperms, may aid in reducing the agricultural and nuisance pest status of this invasive insect.
Long-term Exposure to PM10 and NO2 in Association with Lung Volume and Airway Resistance in the MAAS Birth Cohort

Background: Findings from previous studies on the effects of air pollution exposure on lung function during childhood have been inconsistent. A common limitation has been the quality of exposure data used, and few studies have modeled exposure longitudinally throughout early life. Objectives: We sought to study the long-term effects of exposure to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm (PM10) and to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on specific airway resistance (sRaw) and forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) before and after bronchodilator treatment. Subjects were from the Manchester Asthma and Allergy Study (MAAS) birth cohort (n = 1,185). Methods: Spirometry was performed during clinic visits at ages 3, 5, 8, and 11 years. Individual-level PM10 and NO2 exposures were estimated from birth to 11 years of age through a microenvironmental exposure model. Longitudinal and cross-sectional associations were estimated using generalized estimating equations and multivariable linear regression models. Results: Lifetime exposure to PM10 and NO2 was associated with significantly less growth in FEV1 (percent predicted) over time, both before (–1.37%; 95% CI: –2.52, –0.23 for a 1-unit increase in PM10 and –0.83%; 95% CI: –1.39, –0.28 for a 1-unit increase in NO2) and after bronchodilator treatment (–3.59%; 95% CI: –5.36, –1.83 and –1.20%; 95% CI: –1.97, –0.43, respectively). We found no association between lifetime exposure and sRaw over time. Cross-sectional analyses of detailed exposure estimates for the summer and winter before 11 years of age and lung function at 11 years indicated no significant associations. Conclusions: Long-term PM10 and NO2 exposures were associated with small but statistically significant reductions in lung volume growth in children of elementary-school age. Citation: Mölter A, Agius RM, de Vocht F, Lindley S, Gerrard W, Lowe L, Belgrave D, Custovic A, Simpson A. 2013. Long-term exposure to PM10 and NO2 in association with lung volume and airway resistance in the MAAS birth cohort. Environ Health Perspect 121:1232–1238. http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1205961
Disinformation on the Web: Impact, Characteristics, and Detection of Wikipedia Hoaxes

Wikipedia is a major source of information for many people. However, false information on Wikipedia raises concerns about its credibility. One way in which false information may be presented on Wikipedia is in the form of hoax articles, i.e., articles containing fabricated facts about nonexistent entities or events. In this paper we study false information on Wikipedia by focusing on the hoax articles that have been created throughout its history. We make several contributions. First, we assess the real-world impact of hoax articles by measuring how long they survive before being debunked, how many pageviews they receive, and how heavily they are referred to by documents on the Web. We find that, while most hoaxes are detected quickly and have little impact on Wikipedia, a small number of hoaxes survive long and are well cited across the Web. Second, we characterize the nature of successful hoaxes by comparing them to legitimate articles and to failed hoaxes that were discovered shortly after being created. We find characteristic differences in terms of article structure and content, embeddedness into the rest of Wikipedia, and features of the editor who created the hoax. Third, we successfully apply our findings to address a series of classification tasks, most notably to determine whether a given article is a hoax. And finally, we describe and evaluate a task involving humans distinguishing hoaxes from non-hoaxes. We find that humans are not particularly good at the task and that our automated classifier outperforms them by a big margin.
Reduced Complexity MLSD Receivers for Nonlinear Optical Channels

We present a novel maximum likelihood sequence detection (MLSD) receiver structure for nonlinear channels. This scheme is derived by treating the NLC as a multiple input/multiple output system. Then, orthogonal signal components are computed using a special form of space-time whitened matched filter (ST-WMF) obtained by a modified Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization of the Volterra kernels of the NLC. The MLSD receiver consists of the ST-WMF followed by a Viterbi detector (VD) with multidimensional branch metrics. The space orthogonalization and noise whitening achieved by the ST-WMF provide an efficient way to reduce the receiver complexity in the presence of highly dispersive NLC. Complexity reduction is crucial in practical applications such as intensity modulation/direct detection (IM/DD) optical channels. As an example, the number of states of the VD in ST-WMF-MLSD required on a 10 Gb/s, 700 km, IM/DD fiber-optic link is reduced eight times compared with an oversampled MLSD.
Identification and characterization of podocalyxin--the major sialoprotein of the renal glomerular epithelial cell

The glomerular epithelial polyanion is a specialized cell surface component found on renal glomerular epithelial cells (podocytes) that is rich in sialoprotein(s), as detected by staining with cationic dyes (colloidal iron, alcian blue) and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). We have isolated rat glomeruli and analyzed their protein composition by SDS PAGE in 5-10% gradient gels. When the gels were stained with alcian blue or "Stains All," a single band with an apparent Mr of 140,000 was detected that also stained very prominently with silver, but not with Coomassie Blue. This band predominated in fluorograms of gels of isolated glomeruli that had been labeled in their sialic acid residues by periodate-[3H]borohydride. In lectin overlays, the 140-kilodalton (kd) band was virtually the only one that bound [125I]wheat germ agglutinin, and this binding could be prevented by predigestion with neuraminidase. [125I]Peanut lectin bound exclusively to the 140-kd band after neuraminidase treatment. An antibody was prepared that specifically recognizes only the 140-kd band by immunoprecipitation and immuneoverlay. By immunoperoxidase and immunogold techniques, it was localized to the surface coat of the glomerular epithelium and, less extensively, to that of endothelial cells. When analyzed (after electroelution from preparative SDS gels), the 140-kd band was found to contain approximately 20% hexose and approximately 4.5% sialic acid. These findings indicate that the 140-kd protein is the major sialoprotein of the glomerulus, and it is the only component of glomerular lysates with an affinity for cationic dyes and lectins identical to that defined histochemically for the epithelial polyanion in situ. Since this molecule is a major component of the cell coat or glycocalyx of the podocytes, we have called it "podocalyxin. "
Hydrogen Production From Water Electrolysis: Current Status and Future Trends

This paper reviews water electrolysis technologies for hydrogen production and also surveys the state of the art of water electrolysis integration with renewable energies. First, attention is paid to the thermodynamic and electrochemical processes to better understand how electrolysis cells work and how they can be combined to build big electrolysis modules. The electrolysis process and the characteristics, advantages, drawbacks, and challenges of the three main existing electrolysis technologies, namely alkaline, polymer electrolyte membrane, and solid oxide electrolyte, are then discussed. Current manufacturers and the main features of commercially available electrolyzers are extensively reviewed. Finally, the possible configurations allowing the integration of water electrolysis units with renewable energy sources in both autonomous and grid-connected systems are presented and some relevant demonstration projects are commented.
A Smaller, Faster, and More Energy-Efficient Complementary STT-MRAM Cell Uses Three Transistors and a Ground Grid: More Is Actually Less

Spin-transfer torque magnetoresistance random access memory is a major contender for static random access memory replacement in embedded caches at advanced fin field effect transistor nodes. It suffers, however, from the low resistance difference between the bistable states of the magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). Variability on MTJ resistance and access transistors makes reliable read-out even more challenging. This triggered the use of complementary cells for low level caches needing high performance. This paper, focusing on the lower level caches, shows an improved 3T 2MTJ cell with a ground grid and a novel three transistor read and write operation to improve area density, sense margin, write performance, and write energy consumption. Despite the cell’s three transistors, the improved array configuration reduces the cell area by 22% as compared with the 2T 2MTJ cell, making it only 55% larger than a 1T 1MTJ cell. The novel mismatch tolerant read operation uses all three transistors and increases the sense margin by up to 88%. The novel variation resilient write operation also uses all three transistors and takes advantage of the inherent MTJ characteristics and complementary operation of the cell. This increases the write performance by <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> and reduces the write energy by <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> compared with the 2T 2MTJ cell and by <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.5\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> compared with the 1T 1MTJ cell.
Effect of the leukotriene receptor antagonist pranlukast on cellular infiltration in the bronchial mucosa of patients with asthma

BACKGROUND It has been reported that pranlukast reduces the antigen induced immediate and late phase asthmatic responses, airway hyperreactivity to acetylcholine, and pulmonary eosinophil accumulation in guinea pigs. A study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that pranlukast may reduce the number of inflammatory cells in the bronchial mucosa of patients with asthma. METHODS A double blind, placebo controlled study was performed in 17 mild to moderate asthmatic subjects to examine changes in inflammatory cell infiltration in response to pranlukast (225 mg orally twice per day for four weeks). Comparisons of the mean daily β2 agonist use, symptom score, FEV1 percentage predicted, and airway methacholine responsiveness were made before and after treatment. Using fibreoptic bronchoscopy, bronchial biopsy specimens were obtained before and after treatment with either pranlukast (n = 10) or placebo (n = 7). Immunohistology was performed using monoclonal antibodies for CD3, CD4, CD8, CD68, NP57, AA1, EG1, EG2, γGTP and CD19. RESULTS When the pranlukast and placebo treated groups were compared there were decreases in β2agonist use, symptom score, and airway methacholine responsiveness after pranlukast but no increase in FEV1 was seen. The clinical response in patients treated with pranlukast was accompanied by a reduction in CD3 (median difference –37, 95% confidence interval (CI) –69 to –1; p<0.05), CD4 (median difference –28, 95% CI –49 to –8; p<0.01), AA1 (median difference –15, 95% CI –26 to 0; p<0.05) and EG2 positive cells (95% CI –35 to 0; p<0.05), but not in EG1 positive eosinophils, γGTP positive cells, and CD19 positive plasma cells. CONCLUSIONS These results support the view that pranlukast may act by inhibition of bronchial inflammation in patients with asthma.
Stabilizability of LTI MIMO systems with uncertain parameters under communication constraints

In this paper, we deal with stabilizability problems of linear discrete time-invariant MIMO systems with unknown plants under communication constraints between plants and controllers. The plants are assumed to include uncertainties not only in the initial state vector but also in system parameters. We show that the tight lower bound of the necessary capacity of the communication channel for the stabilizability is given only by unstable poles of the plants. We also introduce a set of a coder, a decoder, and a controller which is allowed to exchange information not only on the uncertain state vector but also on the uncertain system parameters and satisfies the stability of the closed loop systems when the condition is satisfied.
Private Empirical Risk Minimization Beyond the Worst Case: The Effect of the Constraint Set Geometry

Empirical Risk Minimization (ERM) is a standard technique in machine learning, where a model is selected by minimizing a loss function over constraint set. When the training dataset consists of private information, it is natural to use a differentially private ERM algorithm, and this problem has been the subject of a long line of work started with Chaudhuri and Monteleoni 2008. A private ERM algorithm outputs an approximate minimizer of the loss function and its error can be measured as the difference from the optimal value of the loss function. When the constraint set is arbitrary, the required error bounds are fairly well understood \cite{BassilyST14}. In this work, we show that the geometric properties of the constraint set can be used to derive significantly better results. Specifically, we show that a differentially private version of Mirror Descent leads to error bounds of the form $\tilde{O}(G_{\mathcal{C}}/n)$ for a lipschitz loss function, improving on the $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{p}/n)$ bounds in Bassily, Smith and Thakurta 2014. Here $p$ is the dimensionality of the problem, $n$ is the number of data points in the training set, and $G_{\mathcal{C}}$ denotes the Gaussian width of the constraint set that we optimize over. We show similar improvements for strongly convex functions, and for smooth functions. In addition, we show that when the loss function is Lipschitz with respect to the $\ell_1$ norm and $\mathcal{C}$ is $\ell_1$-bounded, a differentially private version of the Frank-Wolfe algorithm gives error bounds of the form $\tilde{O}(n^{-2/3})$. This captures the important and common case of sparse linear regression (LASSO), when the data $x_i$ satisfies $|x_i|_{\infty} \leq 1$ and we optimize over the $\ell_1$ ball. We show new lower bounds for this setting, that together with known bounds, imply that all our upper bounds are tight.
Microtubule inhibitors: Differentiating tubulin-inhibiting agents based on mechanisms of action, clinical activity, and resistance

Microtubules are important cellular targets for anticancer therapy because of their key role in mitosis. Microtubule inhibitors (MTI) such as taxanes, vinca alkaloids, and epothilones stabilize or destabilize microtubules, thereby suppressing microtubule dynamics required for proper mitotic function, effectively blocking cell cycle progression and resulting in apoptosis. In spite of their antitumor activity, innate or acquired drug resistance to MTIs such as the taxanes is common, limiting their overall clinical efficacy. Further insight into the mechanisms of action of microtubule-targeting drugs has lead to the discovery of novel agents that may provide higher efficacy with limited toxicity and help overcome resistance to conventional MTIs. This review will focus on the different mechanisms of action of MTIs, potential factors related to resistance and tolerability, and will discuss the recent approval as well as the development of new antineoplastic agents. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(8):2086–95]
Effect of Maximal Coronary Yasodilation on Transmural Myocardial Perfusion duringTachycardia in the Awake Dog

SUMMARY We studied the influence of active coronary vasomotion on transmural myocardial perfusion during tachycardia. Regional myocardial blood flow was estimated in chronically prepared awake dogs by injecting radioactive microspheres (7-10 μm in diameter) into the left atrium. Studies were performed during ventricular pacing at 100, 150, 200, and 250 beats/min under control conditions with intact coronary vasomotor tone, and during maximal coronary vasodilation induced by intravenous infusion of adenosine. During control conditions, mean myocardial blood flow was 1.27 ± 0.12 ml/min per g of myocardium at a heart rate of 100 beats/min, and increased regularly with increasing heart rates. Transmural myocardial perfusion remained essentially uniform as heart rates were increased from 100 to 250 beats/min. During administration of adenosine, mean myocardial blood flow increased to 5.49 ± 0.39 ml/min per g at a heart rate of 100 beats/min, and transmural myocardial perfusion was uniform. As heart rates were increased, flow to the sbendocardium decreased as a linear function of heart rate while sbepicardial flow was maintained so that the ratio of sbendocardial-sbepicardial flow fell from 1.00 at a heart rate of 100 beats/min to 0.40 at a heart rate of 250 beats/min. The reduction of sbendocardial perfusion with increasing heart rate was most marked in the deepest myocardial layers. This rate-dependent decrease in sbendocardial blood flow resulted in a decrease in mean myocardial blood flow with increasing heart rates (mean change at 250 beats/min = −18%; P < 0.05). These data indicate that active coronary vasomotion is necessary for maintenance of uniform transmural myocardial perfusion during tachycardia.
Closure Time of the Junggar‐Balkhash Ocean: Constraints From Late Paleozoic Volcano‐Sedimentary Sequences in the Barleik Mountains, West Junggar, NW China

The Junggar‐Balkhash Ocean was a major branch of the southern Paleo‐Asian Ocean. The timing of its closure is important for understanding the history of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. New sedimentological and geochronological data from the Late Paleozoic volcano‐sedimentary sequences in the Barleik Mountains of West Junggar, NW China, help to constrain the closure time of the Junggar‐Balkhash Ocean. Tielieketi Formation (Fm) is dominated by littoral sediments, but its upper glauconite‐bearing sandstone is interpreted to deposit rapidly in a shallow‐water shelf setting. By contrast, Heishantou Fm consists chiefly of volcanic rocks, conformably overlying or in fault contact with Tielieketi Fm. Molaoba Fm is composed of parallel‐stratified fine sandstone and sandy conglomerate with graded bedding, typical of nonmarine, fluvial deposition. This formation unconformably overlies the Tielieketi and Heishantou formations and is conformably covered by Kalagang Fm characterized by a continental bimodal volcanic association. The youngest U‐Pb ages of detrital zircons from sandstones and zircon U‐Pb ages from volcanic rocks suggest that the Tielieketi, Heishantou, Molaoba, and Kalagang formations were deposited during the Famennian‐Tournaisian, Tournaisian‐early Bashkirian, Gzhelian, and Asselian‐Sakmarian, respectively. The absence of upper Bashkirian to Kasimovian was likely caused by tectonic uplifting of the West Junggar terrane. This is compatible with the occurrence of coeval stitching plutons in the West Junggar and adjacent areas. The Junggar‐Balkhash Ocean should be finally closed before the Gzhelian, slightly later or concurrent with that of other ocean domains of the southern Paleo‐Asian Ocean.
Strategy to Optimize the Compensation System and Performance Allowances Within the National Police

The application of the principle of justice in providing compensation in the National Police is an interesting thing to discuss. With the enactment of the new ASN Law, which in detail explains the rights of civil servants and PPPK to support the transformation of employee welfare, of course, this is a challenge for the National Police in promoting a better compensation system that implements and prioritizes the Principle of Justice. With this method, it is expected to provide a comprehensive and comprehensive picture related to the system of providing compensation and performance allowances within the National Police. The results showed that remuneration was considered unable to appreciate the expertise of members in carrying out their daily duties. Some members with certain skills, that other members do not have, are not distinguished, so they are given the same reciprocity. In addition, in some cases, the calculation of remuneration is more emphasized on administrative aspects, such as absenteeism, without taking into account more deeply the performance and achievements carried out by each personnel every day The National Police is expected to have strategic steps in optimizing the compensation system for all its personnel, by paying attention to and evaluating the compensation system both in the form of improving the performance management system and evaluation of existing positions in the National Police agency. This is certainly a positive step in reforming the compensation system that has been imposed by the National Police.