Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glutathione and proline can coordinately make plants withstand the joint attack of metal(loid) and salinity stresses

Agricultural soils in the vicinity of extensive anthropogenic activities may exhibit salinity together with high levels of metals/metalloids (hereafter termed as “metal/s”) as co-stressors. Elevated concentrations of metals (such as As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, and Pb) may affect photosynthetic apparatus, electron transport chain and chlorophyll biosynthesis, induce cellular damage, impair cellular redox homeostasis, and finally cause cellular metabolic arrest (Anjum et al., 2010, 2012a; Gill and Tuteja, 2010; Talukdar, 2012; Talukdar and Talukdar, 2014). Saline soil conditions, on the other hand, can cause osmotic stress that in turn can inhibit cell expansion and cell division, impact stomatal closure, induce cell turgor via lowering water potential, and alter the normal homeostasis of cells (Miller et al., 2010). However, the generation of osmotic stress through impaired plant water relations, and oxidative stress caused by uncontrolled generation of varied reactive oxygen species (ROS; such as such as -OH, H2O2, O−2) are common in plants exposed to high levels of salinity and/or metals (Benavides et al., 2005; Anjum et al., 2010, 2012a). Diverse plant taxa have been reported to adapt metabolically to salinity and exposure to metals by enhancing synthesis of sulfur (S)-rich peptides (such as glutathione, GSH) and low-molecular-weight nitrogenous and proteogenic amino acids/osmolytes (such as proline, Pro) (Khan et al., 2009; Anjum et al., 2010, 2012a; Talukdar, 2012; Kishor and Sreenivasulu, 2014; Talukdar and Talukdar, 2014). Nevertheless, both GSH and Pro share L-glutamate as a common biosynthesis precursor (Moat et al., 2003) (Figure ​(Figure1). 1). However, very little or no effort has been made so far to dissect the intricacies of potential metabolic interrelationships between the GSH and Pro induction either under salinity/osmotic or metal stress conditions. Figure 1 Schematic representation of the points of interrelationships in the major metabolic pathway of sulfur-rich peptide—glutathione (GSH) and nitrogenous and proteogenic amino acid—proline (Pro). Therefore, we discuss and interpret through this note the facts related with the mainstays (chemistry, biosynthesis, compartmentalization, significance) commonly and potentially shared by these two enigmatic compounds (GSH and Pro) in plants. The outcome of the present endeavor can be useful in designing future research aimed at sustainably alleviating isolated and/or joint impact of metal and salinity stresses in crop plants through exploiting the GSH and Pro metabolism.
Genotype-environment interaction and phenotypic stability for girth growth and rubber yield of Hevea clones in São Paulo State, Brazil

The best-yielding, best vigour and most stable Hevea clones are identified by growing clones in different environments. However, research on the stability in Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. Adr. ex Juss.) Muell. -Arg. is scarce. The objectives of this work were to assess genotype-environment interaction and determine stable genotypes. Stability analysis were performed on results for girth growth and rubber yield of seven clones from five comparative trials conducted over 10 years (girth growth) and four years (rubber yield) in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Stability was estimated using the Eberhart and Russell (1966) method. Year by location and location variability were the dominant sources of interactions. The stability analysis identified GT 1 and IAN 873 as the most stable clones for girth growth and rubber yield respectively since their regression coefficients were almost the unity (b = 1) and they had one of the lowest deviations from regressions (S2di). Their coefficient of determination (R2) was as high as 89.5% and 89.8% confirming their stability. In contrast, clones such as PB 235, PR 261, and RRIM 701 for girth growth and clones such as GT 1 for rubber yield with regression coefficients greater than one were regarded as sensitive to environment changes.
Operating system security by integrity checking and recovery using write-protected storage

An integrity checking and recovery (ICAR) system is presented here, which protects file system integrity and automatically restores modified files. The system enables files cryptographic hashes generation and verification, as well as configuration of security constraints. All of the crucial data, including ICAR system binaries, file backups and hashes database are stored in a physically write-protected storage to eliminate the threat of unauthorised modification. A buffering mechanism was designed and implemented in the system to increase operation performance. Additionally, the system supplies user tools for cryptographic hash generation and security database management. The system is implemented as a kernel extension, compliant with the Linux security model. Experimental evaluation of the system was performed and showed an approximate 10% performance degradation in secured file access compared to regular access.
On error tolerance and Engineering Change with Partially Programmable Circuits

The growing size, density and complexity of modern VLSI chips are contributing to an increase in hardware faults and design errors in the silicon, decreasing manufacturing yield and increasing the design cycle. The use of Partially Programmable Circuits (PPCs) has been recently proposed for yield enhancement with very small overhead. This new circuit structure is obtained from conventional logic by replacing some subcircuits with programmable LUTs. The present paper lays the theoretical groundwork for evaluating PPCs with Quantified Boolean Formula (QBF) satisfiability. First, QBF models are constructed to calculate the fault tolerance and design error tolerance of a PPC, namely the percentages of faults and design errors that can be masked using LUT reconfigurations. Next, zero-cost Engineering Change Order (ECO) in PPCs is investigated. QBF formulations are given for performing ECOs, and for quantifying the ECO coverage of a PPC architecture. Experimental results are presented evaluating PPCs from [1], demonstrating the applicability and accuracy of the proposed formulations.
Location, time, and preference aware restaurant recommendation method

The location-based social networks introduce a platform to understand the users' preferences. In general, the users of the social networks promote the exchange of data within their own networks. Such data are being used in the literature for a wide variety of location-aware recommendation systems. We investigate the role of amalgamation of real-time GPS logs, and historical check-in data in developing a restaurant recommendation system. In this paper, we propose a novel location, time and preference aware restaurant recommendation method using the users' current geospatial location, historical check-in data of the users, and the time of the recommendation request. In the proposed method, users' check-in histories are analyzed individually to discover users' visiting trends, food preference trends, and overall popularity of the restaurants. At the same time, each restaurant's operation time and the distance are modeled separately to compute recommendation scores of the restaurants. The recommendation scores are computed by considering four key factors, namely, i) user's preference scores, ii) the distance of the restaurants, iii) the time of a day, and iv) the popularity scores of the restaurants. Each of these key factors is modeled carefully to estimate realistic recommendation scores for the restaurants in a given geospatial range. We tested our proposed method using an available online dataset. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Spatial Diversity in Radars&#8212;Models and Detection Performance

Inspired by recent advances in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, this proposal introduces the statistical MIMO radar concept. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that the statistical MIMO is being proposed for radar. The fundamental difference between statistical MIMO and other radar array systems is that the latter seek to maximize the coherent processing gain, while statistical MIMO radar capitalizes on the diversity of target scattering to improve radar performance. Coherent processing is made possible by highly correlated signals at the receiver array, whereas in statistical MIMO radar, the signals received by the array elements are uncorrelated. Radar targets generally consist of many small elemental scatterers that are fused by the radar waveform and the processing at the receiver, to result in echoes with fluctuating amplitude and phase. It is well known that in conventional radar, slow fluctuations of the target radar cross section (RCS) result in target fades that degrade radar performance. By spacing the antenna elements at the transmitter and at the receiver such that the target angular spread is manifested, the MIMO radar can exploit the spatial diversity of target scatterers opening the way to a variety of new techniques that can improve radar performance. This paper focuses on the application of the target spatial diversity to improve detection performance. The optimal detector in the Neyman–Pearson sense is developed and analyzed for the statistical MIMO radar. It is shown that the optimal detector consists of noncoherent processing of the receiver sensors' outputs and that for cases of practical interest, detection performance is superior to that obtained through coherent processing. An optimal detector invariant to the signal and noise levels is also developed and analyzed. In this case as well, statistical MIMO radar provides great improvements over other types of array radars.
Cognitive fitness of cost-efficient brain functional networks

The human brain's capacity for cognitive function is thought to depend on coordinated activity in sparsely connected, complex networks organized over many scales of space and time. Recent work has demonstrated that human brain networks constructed from neuroimaging data have economical small-world properties that confer high efficiency of information processing at relatively low connection cost. However, it has been unclear how the architecture of complex brain networks functioning at different frequencies can be related to behavioral performance on cognitive tasks. Here, we show that impaired accuracy of working memory could be related to suboptimal cost efficiency of brain functional networks operating in the classical β frequency band, 15–30 Hz. We analyzed brain functional networks derived from magnetoencephalography data recorded during working-memory task performance in 29 healthy volunteers and 28 people with schizophrenia. Networks functioning at higher frequencies had greater global cost efficiency than low-frequency networks in both groups. Superior task performance was positively correlated with global cost efficiency of the β-band network and specifically with cost efficiency of nodes in left lateral parietal and frontal areas. These results are consistent with biophysical models highlighting the importance of β-band oscillations for long-distance functional connections in brain networks and with pathophysiological models of schizophrenia as a dysconnection syndrome. More generally, they echo the saying that “less is more”: The information processing performance of a network can be enhanced by a sparse or low-cost configuration with disproportionately high efficiency.
Title: Clients' In-session Acceptance and Cognitive Defusion Behaviors in Acceptance-based Treatment of Tinnitus Distress In-session Acceptance and Cognitive Defusion 1 Running Head: In-session Acceptance and Cognitive Defusion Clients' In-session Acceptance and Cognitive Defusion Behaviors in Accep

Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) is considered to be an effective treatment of distress associated with tinnitus (perception of internal noises without any outer auditory stimulation), but the processes by which the therapy works remain unclear. Mindfulness and acceptance is receiving increased attention in the treatment literature for chronic medical conditions. However, few studies have examined these and related processes with behavioral or observer measures. In the present study 57 videotapes (a total of 1710 min) from 19 clients who participated in a controlled trial of an acceptance-based treatment for tinnitus distress, were coded for frequency and peak level of verbal behaviors expressing either acceptance or cognitive defusion. Frequency of cognitive defusion behaviors and peak level of cognitive defusion as well as peak level of acceptance rated in Session 2, predicted symptom reduction 6 month following treatment. These relationships were not accounted for by the improvement that had occurred prior to the measurement point of the process variables. Moreover, prior symptom changes could not predict process variables rated later in therapy (after most of the improvement in therapy had occurred). Thus, clients’ in-session acceptance and cognitive defusion behaviors appear to play an important role in the reduction of negative impact of tinnitus.
Emoticons and Phrases: Status Symbols in Social Media

There is a sociolinguistic interest in studying the socialpower dynamics that arise on online social networksand how these are reflected in their users’ use of lan-guage. Online social power prediction can also be usedto build tools for marketing and political campaigns thathelp them build an audience. Existing work has focusedon finding correlations between status and linguistic fea-tures in email, Wikipedia discussions, and court hearings.While a few studies have tried predicting status on thebasis of language on Twitter, they have proved less fruit-ful. We derive a rich set of features from literature ina variety of disciplines and build classifiers that assignTwitter users to different levels of status based on theirlanguage use. Using various metrics such as number offollowers and Klout score, we achieve a classification ac-curacy of individual users as high as 82.4%. In a secondstep, we reached up to 71.6% accuracy on the task of pre-dicting the more powerful user in a dyadic conversation.We find that the manner in which powerful users writediffers from low status users in a number of differentways: not only in the extent to which they deviate fromtheir usual writing habits when conversing with othersbut also in pronoun use, language complexity, sentimentexpression, and emoticon use. By extending our analysisto Facebook, we also assess the generalisability of ourresults and discuss differences and similarities betweenthese two sites.
Seed bank dynamics govern persistence of Brassica hybrids in crop and natural habitats

Background and Aims Gene flow from crops to their wild relatives has the potential to alter population growth rates and demography of hybrid populations, especially when a new crop has been genetically modified (GM). This study introduces a comprehensive approach to assess this potential for altered population fitness, and uses a combination of demographic data in two habitat types and mathematical (matrix) models that include crop rotations and outcrossing between parental species. Methods Full life-cycle demographic rates, including seed bank survival, of non-GM Brassica rapa × B. napus F1 hybrids and their parent species were estimated from experiments in both agricultural and semi-natural habitats. Altered fitness potential was modelled using periodic matrices including crop rotations and outcrossing between parent species. Key Results The demographic vital rates (i.e. for major stage transitions) of the hybrid population were intermediate between or lower than both parental species. The population growth rate (λ) of hybrids indicated decreases in both habitat types, and in a semi-natural habitat hybrids became extinct at two sites. Elasticity analyses indicated that seed bank survival was the greatest contributor to λ. In agricultural habitats, hybrid populations were projected to decline, but with persistence times up to 20 years. The seed bank survival rate was the main driver determining persistence. It was found that λ of the hybrids was largely determined by parental seed bank survival and subsequent replenishment of the hybrid population through outcrossing of B. rapa with B. napus. Conclusions Hybrid persistence was found to be highly dependent on the seed bank, suggesting that targeting hybrid seed survival could be an important management option in controlling hybrid persistence. For local risk mitigation, an increased focus on the wild parent is suggested. Management actions, such as control of B. rapa, could indirectly reduce hybrid populations by blocking hybrid replenishment.
A new computationally efficient discrete bit-loading algorithm for DMT applications

This letter presents a new bit-loading algorithm for discrete multitone systems that converges faster to the same bit allocation as the optimal discrete bit-filling and bit-removal methods. The algorithm exploits the differences between the subchannel gain-to-noise ratios in order to determine an initial bit allocation and then performs a multiple-bits loading procedure for achieving the requested target rate. Numerical results using asymmetric digital subscriber test loops demonstrate the computational efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Social investment: Diffusing ideas for redesigning citizenship after neo-liberalism?

Social investment has become the dominant approach to welfare reform in Europe and elsewhere. Scholars supporting this perspective have argued that it represents a paradigm shift from neo-liberalism – defined as the ideology of the minimal state and welfare retrenchment. This article challenges this claim, arguing that this definition of neo-liberalism is simplistic and empirically weak. It states that under a more accurate definition, social investment reflects four characteristics of neo-liberalism: the de-politicisation of the economy and of welfare reform; the economic understanding of the state; the extension of economic rationale to non-economic domains; and the anthropology of human capital. Taking this view, while social investment is preferable to welfare retrenchment, it promotes the same kind of citizenship as neo-liberalism, especially in terms of the marginalisation of the role of democracy in regulating the economy.
Hypothermic Machine Perfusion Reduces Delayed Graft Function and Improves One-Year Graft Survival of Kidneys from Expanded Criteria Donors: A Meta-Analysis

Background Expanded criteria donors (ECDs) are currently accepted as potential sources to increase the donor pool and to provide more chances of kidney transplantation for elderly recipients who would not survive long waiting periods. Hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) is designed to mitigate the deleterious effects of simple cold storage (CS) on the quality of preserved organs, particularly when the donor is in a marginal status. Methods We compared the transplant outcomes in patients receiving ECD kidneys with either HMP or CS graft preservation. Articles from the MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases were searched and all studies reporting outcomes from HMP versus CS methods of kidney preservation were included in this meta-analysis. The parameters analyzed included the incidence of delayed graft function (DGF), primary non-function (PNF) and one-year graft and patient survival. Results A total of seven studies qualified for the review, involving 2374 and 8716 kidney grafts with HMP or CS preservation respectively, all from ECD donors. The incidence of delayed graft function (DGF) was significantly reduced with an odd ratio(OR) of 0.59 (95% CI 0.54–0.66, P<0.001) and one-year graft survival was significantly improved with an OR of 1.12 (95% CI 1.03–1.21, P = 0.005) in HMP preservation compared to CS. However, there was no difference in the incidence of PNF (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.21–1.40, P = 0.20), and one-year patient survival (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.94–1.02, P = 0.36) between HMP and CS preservation. Conclusions HMP was associated with a reduced incidence of DGF and an with increased one-year graft survival, but it was not associated with the incidence of PNF and one-year patient survival.
Ownership Concentration, Corporate Governance and Firm Performance: Evidence from Pakistan

The study investigates the determinants of ownership concentration, the effect of ownership concentration on the firm’s performance with the sample of sixty representativ e firms from different manufacturing sectors of the Pakistan’s economy during 2003 to 2008. The results suggest that firms where ownership is concentrated they do not adopt better governance practices and disclose less, however board composition has posit ive and significant role. The firm specific factors affect the concentration of ownership more, the more investment opportunities provides greater incentives for ownership concentration, however, size has opposite effect and leads to diverse ownership to get wider access to funds and share ownership. The results reveal that in Pakistan corporations have more concentration of ownership which is the response of weak legal environment. The concentration of ownership by top five block-holders seems to have positive effect on firms’ profitability and performance measures. The family, foreign and director ownership also has positive affect on firm performance, however firm performance is not effected by financial institutions’ ownership. The broad implication that emerges from this study is that ownership concentration is an endogenous response of poor legal protection of the investors and seems to have significant effect on firm performance. It requires implementation of corporate governance reforms at most at par with real sector and financial sector reforms.
Ventriloqual voicings of parenthood in graduate school: an intersectionality analysis of work-life negotiations

ABSTRACT Taking a ventriloqual approach to intersectionality analysis, this study investigates the communicative constitution of graduate student parenthood and their work-life negotiations. Analyzing 30 in-depth interviews, we found that figures – ideal graduate student worker norms, gender ideologies of work and family, and cultural values of family and child-rearing responsibilities – intersected with one another in shaping the experiences for graduate student parents. These intersectionalities belong to broader structures that constrain graduate students’ career and personal-life choices to fulfill/disrupt roles in navigating parenthood, yet the interplays of various aspects of intersectionality create space for transformation. The study contributes to an emergent grounded-in-action perspective of intersectionality to uncover systems of interlocking oppressions and lived tensions. The theoretical and practical implications of nonhuman agents acting to enable and constrain sustainable work-life communication are presented.
Robust adaptive control for a class of uncertain strict‐feedback nonlinear systems

In this paper, robust adaptive control is presented for a class of perturbed strict‐feedback nonlinear systems with both completely unknown control coefficients and parametric uncertainties. The proposed design method does not require the a priori knowledge of the signs of the unknown control coefficients. For the first time, the key technical Lemma is proven when the Nussbaum function is chosen by N(ζ)=ζ2cos(ζ), based on which the proposed robust adaptive scheme can guarantee the global uniform ultimate boundedness of the closed‐loop system signals. Simulation results show the validity of the proposed scheme. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.