Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interactive comment on “ Quantification of hydrologic impacts of climate change in a Mediterranean basin in Sardinia , Italy , through high-resolution simulations ”

The paper is well written, evaluating the climate change impacts on water resources in the Mediterranean basin is a challenging tasks as noted by several authors before. The introduction is giving a clear overview of the proposed approach; however recent work in the same area with very similar methods should be acknowledged and discussed: Such as Camici et al., 2013, who considered stochastic rainfall generators for catchments located in central Italy or Tramblay et al. 2013 who evaluated high-resolution climate model outputs for hydrological impacts studies in semi-arid conditions. My main problem with the manuscript of Piras et al. is that it lacks validation of the different steps of the modelling chain. These days, a wealth of papers are published about
Original Work THE PRINCIPLE OF EXISTENCE: TOWARD A SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

In the beginning there was Consciousness by itself e 0 =1 materially empty and spiritually restless. And it began to imagine through primordia l self-referential spin 1=e 0 =e iM-iM =e iM e -iM =e -iM / e -iM = e iM / e iM … such that it created the external object to be ob served and internal object as observed, separated them into external wo rld and internal world, caused them to interact through self-referential Matrix Law and th us gave birth to the Universe which it has since passionately loved, sustained and made to evo lve. In short, this is our hypothesis of a scientific genesis (principle of existence). In thi s work, we shall lay out the ontological and mathematical foundations of a Consciousness centered quantum reality which shall include gravity and even spirituality. We will then discuss its implications and applications and make predictions etc.
Lymphatic system and gut microbiota affect immunopathology of neuroinflammatory diseases, including multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica and Alzheimer's disease

Microbial infections lead to neurological damages either by direct infection in the nervous tissues or by uncontrolled immune responses (immunopathology). For example, in Zika virus infection, microcephaly can be caused by the former, i.e., direct viral infection in the brain, while Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) seems to be antibody-mediated immunopathology. Although a variety of factors affect immunopathology, two essential systems maintaining whole-body homeostasis had long been neglected: 1) the lymphatic system and 2) microbiota. Only recently, the role of the lymphatic system in immunopathology is beginning to be clarified. During infection, increased lymphatic flow limits edema and prevent tissue dendritic cell retention, while lymphostasis can lead to chronic inflammation. The role of gut microbiota, particularly bacterial community, in immunopathology has also been clarified recently; "bad bacteria" are proposed to exacerbate any immunopathology. For example, Helicobacter pylori is associated with not only gastritis but also extra-intestinal diseases, including neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and Alzheimer's disease. However, H. pylori and another bad bacterium Clostridium perfringens type A have been proposed to be protective against multiple sclerosis (MS). The above discrepancy on the roles of microbiota can be attributed to several conflicting factors, such as oversimplification, methodology, and taxonomy, which are summarized as "10 pitfalls of microbiota studies. "
Cryo-electron microscopy structure of a human PRMT5:MEP50 complex

Protein arginine methyl transferase 5 (PRMT5) is a signaling protein and histone modifying enzyme that is important in many cellular processes, including regulation of eukaryotic gene transcription. Reported here is a 3.7 Å structure of PRMT5, solved in complex with regulatory binding subunit MEP50 (methylosome associated protein 50, WDR77, p44), by single particle (SP) cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM) using micrographs of particles that are visibly crowded and aggregated. Despite suboptimal micrograph appearance, this cryo-EM structure is in good agreement with previously reported crystal structures of the complex, which revealed a 450 kDa hetero-octameric assembly having internal D2 symmetry. The catalytic PRMT5 subunits form a core tetramer and the MEP50 subunits are arranged peripherally in complex with the PRMT5 N-terminal domain. The cryo-EM reconstruction shows good side chain definition and shows a well-resolved peak for a bound dehydrosinefungin inhibitor molecule. These results demonstrate the applicability of cryo-EM in determining structures of human protein complexes of biomedical significance and suggests cryo-EM could be further utilized to understand PRMT5 interactions with other biologically important binding proteins and ligands.
Placentation in watersnakes I: Placental histology and development in North American Nerodia (Colubridae: Natricinae)

As part of a broad survey of placental structure, function, and evolution in reptilian sauropsids paraffin‐section histology was used to study microscopic anatomy of the uterus and fetal membranes of three species of North American watersnakes (Nerodia: Colubridae). The pre‐ovulatory uterus is poorly vascularized with inactive shell glands. These shell glands are activated during vitellogenesis but regress during pregnancy. Two placentas develop through apposition of the uterine lining to the chorioallantois and the yolk sac omphalopleure. Fetal and maternal components of the chorioallantoic placenta are progressively vascularized during development. Their epithelia are attenuated, but (contrary to a previous report), epithelia of neither the uterus nor the chorion are eroded. The fetal portion of the yolk sac placenta is an omphalallantois, formed of avascular omphalopleure, isolated yolk mass, and allantois. This placenta is progressively replaced by chorioallantoic placenta during mid‐ to late‐development through depletion of the isolated yolk mass. The chorioallantoic placenta is anatomically specialized for maternal–fetal gas exchange, and its expansion during development reflects the growing needs of the fetus for gas exchange. The yolk sac placenta is morphologically unsuited for gas exchange, but may serve other functions in maternal‐fetal exchange.
Long-term effects of prenatal methadone maintenance.

Methadone maintenance has been the treatment of choice for heroin addiction for several years. The prenatal and early neonatal effects have been described in several reports (Kandall et al. 1979; Finnegan 1983). However, there have been few reports on the longterm effects of methadone maintenance during pregnancy on the child’s somatic and neurobehavioral development. Some investigators have described mild neurobehavioral abnormalities, while others have found none (Finnegan 1983: Wilson et al. 1981; Lifschitz et al. 1983; Strauss et al. 1979).
Differential Activation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Kv7.4, Kv7.5, and Kv7.4/7.5 Channels by ML213 and ICA-069673

Recent research suggests that smooth muscle cells express Kv7.4 and Kv7.5 voltage-activated potassium channels, which contribute to maintenance of their resting membrane voltage. New pharmacologic activators of Kv7 channels, ML213 (N-mesitybicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2-carboxamide) and ICA-069673 N-(6-chloropyridin-3-yl)-3,4-difluorobenzamide), have been reported to discriminate among channels formed from different Kv7 subtypes. We compared the effects of ML213 and ICA-069673 on homomeric human Kv7.4, Kv7.5, and heteromeric Kv7.4/7.5 channels exogenously expressed in A7r5 vascular smooth muscle cells. We found that, despite its previous description as a selective activator of Kv7.2 and Kv7.4, ML213 significantly increased the maximum conductance of homomeric Kv7.4 and Kv7.5, as well as heteromeric Kv7.4/7.5 channels, and induced a negative shift of their activation curves. Current deactivation rates decreased in the presence of the ML213 (10 μM) for all three channel combinations. Mutants of Kv7.4 (W242L) and Kv7.5 (W235L), previously found to be insensitive to another Kv7 channel activator, retigabine, were also insensitive to ML213 (10 μM). In contrast to ML213, ICA-069673 robustly activated Kv7.4 channels but was significantly less effective on homomeric Kv7.5 channels. Heteromeric Kv7.4/7.5 channels displayed intermediate responses to ICA-069673. In each case, ICA-069673 induced a negative shift of the activation curves without significantly increasing maximal conductance. Current deactivation rates decreased in the presence of ICA-069673 in a subunit-specific manner. Kv7.4 W242L responded to ICA-069673-like wild-type Kv7.4, but a Kv7.4 F143A mutant was much less sensitive to ICA-069673. Based on these results, ML213 and ICA-069673 likely bind to different sites and are differentially selective among Kv7.4, Kv7.5, and Kv7.4/7.5 channel subtypes.
Clinical analysis and etiology of porokeratosis

The present study was performed in order to define the clinical manifestations of porokeratosis, with particular emphasis on genital porokeratosis. A total of 55 cases of porokeratosis were retrospectively reviewed between 2000 and 2007 from Huashan Hospital (Shanghai, China). Out of 55 cases, there were 22 cases of porokeratosis of Mibelli, 17 cases of disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis (DSAP), 15 cases of disseminated superficial porokeratosis and one case of linear porokeratosis. The ratio of males to females was 39:16. Among them, 12 cases had a family history of porokeratosis. During the five-year follow-up period, no malignant transformation was observed and no further aggravation of lesions was detected. The results indicated that the initial region of DSAP in the Chinese population may differ from Caucasians. In combination with other studies, the present study found that genital porokeratosis in the Chinese population is often associated with pruritus. Since no recurrence was observed in cases treated with surgical excision, it was suggested that surgical excision is a viable treatment strategy and should be used for porokeratotic lesions if possible. In addition, regular follow-ups are required, since the aggravation of porokeratosis may cause the development of malignancy transformation.
Two-Stage Categorization in Brand Extension Evaluation: Electrophysiological Time Course Evidence

A brand name can be considered a mental category. Similarity-based categorization theory has been used to explain how consumers judge a new product as a member of a known brand, a process called brand extension evaluation. This study was an event-related potential study conducted in two experiments. The study found a two-stage categorization process reflected by the P2 and N400 components in brand extension evaluation. In experiment 1, a prime–probe paradigm was presented in a pair consisting of a brand name and a product name in three conditions, i.e., in-category extension, similar-category extension, and out-of-category extension. Although the task was unrelated to brand extension evaluation, P2 distinguished out-of-category extensions from similar-category and in-category ones, and N400 distinguished similar-category extensions from in-category ones. In experiment 2, a prime–probe paradigm with a related task was used, in which product names included subcategory and major-category product names. The N400 elicited by subcategory products was more significantly negative than that elicited by major-category products, with no salient difference in P2. We speculated that P2 could reflect the early low-level and similarity-based processing in the first stage, whereas N400 could reflect the late analytic and category-based processing in the second stage.
Modeling Exercise Relationships in E-Learning: A Unified Approach

In an e-learning system, relationships between a large amount of exercises are complex and multi-dimensional; measuring the relationships and arranging curriculums accordingly used to be time consuming and costly tasks which require either enormous log collection or large-scale human annotations. Moreover, accurately quantifying the relationships is difficult because there are too many factors which affect our measurement based on the data, such as the ability of exercise takers and the subject bias of annotators. To overcome these challenges, we propose a unified model that extracts information from both human annotations and usage log using regression analysis. The proposed model is applied to quantify the similarity, difficulty, and prerequisite relationships between every two exercises in a curriculum. As a case study, we collaborate with Junyi Academy, a popular e-learning platform similar to Khan Academy, and infer the pairwise relationships of 370 exercises in its mathematics curriculum. We show that the model can predict exercise relationships as well as an expert does with human annotations of a few sample exercise pairs (2% in our experiments). We expect the introduction of the proposed unified model can improve the relationships among exercises and learning pathways of students in other e-learning platforms.
Improving the accuracy of gaze input for interaction

Using gaze information as a form of input poses challenges based on the nature of eye movements and how we humans use our eyes in conjunction with other motor actions. In this paper, we present three techniques for improving the use of gaze as a form of input. We first present a saccade detection and smoothing algorithm that works on real-time streaming gaze information. We then present a study which explores some of the timing issues of using gaze in conjunction with a trigger (key press or other motor action) and propose a solution for resolving these issues. Finally, we present the concept of Focus Points, which makes it easier for users to focus their gaze when using gaze-based interaction techniques. Though these techniques were developed for improving the performance of gaze-based pointing, their use is applicable in general to using gaze as a practical form of input.
A New Family of Exponential-Based High-Order DGTD Methods for Modeling 3-D Transient Multiscale Electromagnetic Problems

A new family of exponential-based time integration methods are proposed for the time-domain Maxwell’s equations discretized by a high-order discontinuous Galerkin (DG) scheme formulated on locally refined unstructured meshes. These methods, which are developed from the Lawson method, remove the stiffness on the time explicit integration of the semidiscrete operator associated with the fine part of the mesh, and allow for the use of high-order time explicit scheme for the coarse part operator. They combine excellent stability properties with the ability to obtain very accurate solutions even for very large time step sizes. Here, the explicit time integration of the Lawson-transformed semidiscrete system relies on a low-storage Runge-Kutta (LSRK) scheme, leading to a combined Lawson-LSRK scheme. In addition, efficient techniques are presented to further improve the efficiency of this exponential-based time integration. For the efficient calculation of matrix exponential, we employ the Krylov subspace method. Numerical experiments are presented to assess the stability, verify the accuracy, and numerical convergence of the Lawson-LSRK scheme. They also demonstrate that the DG time-domain methods based on the proposed time integration scheme can be much faster than those based on classical fully explicit time stepping schemes, with the same accuracy and moderate memory usage increase on locally refined unstructured meshes, and are thus very promising for modeling 3-D multiscale electromagnetic problems.
Effect of the Family Resilience Reinforcement Program for Family Caregivers of the Elderly with Dementia

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Family Resilience Reinforcement Program (FRRP) for family caregivers of the elderly with dementia on the family resilience, caregiver burden, family adaptation, perceived health status and depression. Methods: FRRP was implemented for 60 minutes each time, once a week, for 8 weeks. According to 3 factors of Walsh’s Family resilience theory, FRRP was organized and specified as redefining ‘belief system’ in 1 to 2 sessions, figuring out one’s own ‘organizational pattern’ in 3 to 5 sessions, enhancing ‘communication process’ in 6 to 8 sessions. A total of 46 family caregivers were assigned into either the experimental group with FRRP or the control group. Data were collected from February 18 to April 12, 2013 at the dementia support centers, and the data of 36 participants were finally analyzed. Results: The experimental group reported statistically significant differences in family resilience (p=.002), caregiver burden (p=.012), family adaptation (p<.001), and perceived health status (p=.002) compared to those in the control group. No significant difference was found between the two groups in depression. Conclusion: In the light of these results, FRRP is considered to decrease caregiver burden and to influence family resilience, family adaptation and perceived health status positively. The developed FRRP is considered to be an efficient nursing intervention for strengthening family resilience of the given population. It warrants future research expanding the range of target population to those caregivers of the patients with other chronic conditions.
Occurrence of the Microcystins MC-LW and MC-LF in Dutch Surface Waters and Their Contribution to Total Microcystin Toxicity

Microcystins (MCs) are the most frequently found cyanobacterial toxins in freshwater systems. Many MC variants have been identified and variants differ in their toxicity. Recent studies showed that the variants MC-LW and MC-LF might be more toxic than MC-LR, the variant that is most abundant and mostly used for risk assessments. As little is known about the presence of these two variants in The Netherlands, we determined their occurrence by analyzing 88 water samples and 10 scum samples for eight MC variants ((dm-7-)MC-RR, MC-YR, (dm-7-)MC-LR, MC-LY, MC-LW and MC-LF) by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection. All analyzed MC variants were detected, and MC-LW and/or MC-LF were present in 32% of the MC containing water samples. When MC-LW and MC-LF were present, they contributed to nearly 10% of the total MC concentrations, but due to their suspected high toxicity, their average contribution to the total MC toxicity was estimated to be at least 45%. Given the frequent occurrence and possible high toxicity of MC-LW and MC-LF, it seems better to base health risk assessments on the toxicity contributions of different MC variants than on MC-LR concentrations alone.
The Diabetes Epidemic in Korea

Diabetes is one of the foremost public health issues worldwide that can lead to complications in many organ systems, and has become a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Korea. According to data from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), about 2.7 million Koreans (8.0%) aged 30 years or older had type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in 2013. The prevalence of T2DM increased with age and rose from 5.6% in 2006 to 8.0% in 2013. Using data based on The Health Screening Service of the NHIS, 25% of Korean adults were reported to have prediabetes in 2013. The prevalence of an impaired fasting glucose tended to increase over time from 21.5% in 2006 to 25.0% in 2013. Even though nationwide health screening has been regularly conducted as a public service, the proportion of undiagnosed cases of diabetes was still reported to be on the higher side in the latest study. Based on the results of these epidemic studies, further actions will be needed to effectively implement lifestyle changes on a social level and increase measures for the early detection of diabetes to stem the tide of the epidemic.
Wearable Finger-Braille Interface for Navigation of Deaf-Blind in Ubiquitous Barrier-Free Space

In this paper, the implementation of Finger-Braille interfaces for navigation of Deaf-Blind people and the ubiquitous environment for barrier-free application are described. Finger-Braille is one of the commonly used communication methods among Deaf-Blind people in Japan. Two types of Finger-Braille devices, the vibration motor type and the solenoid type, are developed. Each device is connected to a wearable computer, so that Deaf-Blind people can use it in their daily life. In order to support the wearable computers with the Finger-Braille device, a ubiquitous environment is designed and developed at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), the University of Tokyo. This environment consists of wireless LAN networks, network cameras, and floor-embedded active radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. In this environment, Deaf-Blind people can be guided and can obtain various types of information by using a wearable computer equipped with the Finger-Braille device and an RFID tag reader.
Morphological and physiological divergences within Quercus ilex support the existence of different ecotypes depending on climatic dryness.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Several studies show apparently contradictory findings about the functional convergence within the Mediterranean woody flora. In this context, this study evaluates the variability of functional traits within holm oak (Quercus ilex) to elucidate whether provenances corresponding to different morphotypes represent different ecotypes locally adapted to the prevaling stress levels. METHODS Several morphological and physiological traits were measured at leaf and shoot levels in 9-year-old seedlings of seven Q. ilex provenances including all recognized morphotypes. Plants were grown in a common garden for 9 years under the same environmental conditions to avoid possible biases due to site-specific characteristics. KEY RESULTS Leaf morphometry clearly separates holm oak provenances into 'ilex' (more elongated leaves with low vein density) and 'rotundifolia' (short and rounded leaves with high vein density) morphotypes. Moreover, these morphotypes represent two consistent and very contrasting functional types in response to dry climates, mainly in terms of leaf area, major vein density, leaf specific conductivity, resistance to drought-induced cavitation and turgor loss point. CONCLUSIONS The 'ilex' and 'rotundifolia' morphotypes correspond to different ecotypes as inferred from their contrasting functional traits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the combined use of morphological and physiological traits has provided support for the concept of these two holm oak morphotypes being regarded as two different species.