Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Barcode System for Genetic Identification of Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] Cultivars Using InDel Markers Specific to Dense Variation Blocks

For genetic identification of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] cultivars, insertions/deletions (InDel) markers have been preferred currently because they are easy to use, co-dominant and relatively abundant. Despite their biological importance, the investigation of InDels with proven quality and reproducibility has been limited. In this study, we described soybean barcode system approach based on InDel makers, each of which is specific to a dense variation block (dVB) with non-random recombination due to many variations. Firstly, 2,274 VBs were mined by analyzing whole genome data in six soybean cultivars (Backun, Sinpaldal 2, Shingi, Daepoong, Hwangkeum, and Williams 82) for transferability to dVB-specific InDel markers. Secondly, 73,327 putative InDels in the dVB regions were identified for the development of soybean barcode system. Among them, 202 dVB-specific InDels from all soybean cultivars were selected by gel electrophoresis, which were converted as 2D barcode types according to comparing amplicon polymorphisms in the five cultivars to the reference cultivar. Finally, the polymorphism of the markers were assessed in 147 soybean cultivars, and the soybean barcode system that allows a clear distinction among soybean cultivars is also detailed. In addition, the changing of the dVBs in a chromosomal level can be quickly identified due to investigation of the reshuffling pattern of the soybean cultivars with 27 maker sets. Especially, a backcross-inbred offspring, “Singang” and a recurrent parent, “Sowon” were identified by using the 27 InDel markers. These results indicate that the soybean barcode system enables not only the minimal use of molecular markers but also comparing the data from different sources due to no need of exploiting allele binning in new varieties.
Evolution of the cellular stress proteome: from monophyletic origin to ubiquitous function

SUMMARY Cells respond to acute environmental change by activating a stress response that is widely studied. However, knowledge of this stress response is fragmentary, and a unifying concept explaining its universality for many different species and types of stress is lacking. The need for a holistic view emphasizing the key aspects of the stress response is addressed by the following hypothesis. The cellular stress response is a reaction to any form of macromolecular damage that exceeds a set threshold, independent of the underlying cause. It is aimed at temporarily increasing tolerance limits towards macromolecular damage by utilizing a phylogenetically conserved set of genes and pathways that mediate global macromolecular stabilization and repair to promote cellular and organismal integrity under suboptimal conditions. This mechanism affords time for a separate set of stressor-specific adaptations, designed to re-establish cellular homeostasis, to take action. Supporting evidence, emerging conclusions, and ways to test this hypothesis are presented.
Multi-satellite time-delay estimation for reliable high-resolution GNSS receivers

Reliable estimation of position in time and space has become a key necessity in several technical applications like mobile navigation, precision farming or network synchronization. While the increasing amount of operating Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) offers diverse possibilities to receive GNSS signals worldwide and to determine position accurately, inter- and intrasystem interference has been identified as a problem of growing importance. The performance of receivers which track all in-view satellites individually degrades if mutual interference is not taken into account. Therefore, we consider the problem of joint signal parameter estimation. For scenarios where the signals of different satellites superimpose at the receiver a joint maximum likelihood estimator for all relevant signal parameters is derived. In order to keep the computation of the related likelihood function, and the determination of its maximum, feasible for a low-complexity receiver, an iterative Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is applied. Simulations for different scenarios show that this approach is efficient in the estimation theoretic sense, and robust against interference that is caused by signals with known structure.
Physical and relational aggression in young children: the role of mother–child interactional synchrony

This study examined the relationships between the quality of parent–child interactions, specifically interactional synchrony (IS), and physical and relational aggression in young children. Seventy-three children (3–6 years; 44 males, 29 females) and their mothers participated in this study. The children's level of aggression was assessed through questionnaires completed by their mothers and teachers/caregivers. Mother–child dyads engaged in a free play task and a structured task that were coded for IS. The level of IS only in the free play task, but not in the structured block task predicted children's parent-rated physical aggression levels, with lower levels of IS predicting more aggression. No significant sex differences were found in the levels of IS, physical or relational aggression. The findings are helpful for better understanding of parent–child relationships and problem behaviours and for making intervention recommendations.
Adaptive sensing for terrain aided navigation

Demonstrates experiments for performing adaptive terrain aided navigation in the context of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with sonar. The experiments were conducted using a 675 kHz sector scan sonar mounted on a planar robotic positioning system in a 3.0 by 9.0 by 1.0 meter testing tank, enabling controlled and repeatable scenarios. The objective of the adaptive stochastic mapping algorithm is to enable feature-based terrain aided navigation of AUVs in environments where no a priori map is available. The approach assumes that distinctive, point-like features can be extracted from vehicle sensor data. A dead-reckoning error model is incorporated to simulate an AUV's navigation system error growth. An adaptation step based on maximizing the Fisher information gained by the next reaction of the sensor is coupled with the stochastic mapping algorithm to yield more precise position estimates for features in the environment and the vehicle.
The predictive and convergent validity of a psychometric battery used to assess sexual offenders in a treatment programme: an 18-year follow-up

Abstract This study examined sex offender risk and treatment change based on a battery of psychometric assessment measures administered to 267 treated adult Canadian federal sex offenders followed up an average 18 years post release. Several significant pre–post changes that were frequently moderate in magnitude (d>.50) were observed across these measures. A factor analysis of the psychometric battery generated three broad need domains consistent with the extant literature that were labelled Socioemotional Functioning, Anger/Hostility, and Misogynist Attitudes. The three need domains and a Need Total, created by their summation, converged with the Violence Risk Scale—Sexual Offender version (VRS-SO; Wong, Olver, Nicholaichuk, & Gordon, 2003) in conceptually meaningful ways and predicted sexual and violent recidivism to varying degrees. Raw measurements of change obtained from pre-to posttreatment frequently bore weak and non-significant relationships to outcome. However, after creating standardised residual change scores to control for pre-treatment score, treatment changes in the individual measures, need domains and Need Total improved significantly in their prediction of reductions in general and sexual violence.
Evaluation of active disks for decision support databases

Growth and usage trends for large decision support databases indicate that there is a need for architectures that scale the processing power as the dataset grows. To meet this need, several researchers have recently proposed active disk architectures which integrate substantial processing power and memory into disk units. In this paper, we evaluate Active Disks for decision support databases. First, we compare the performance of Active Disks with that of existing scalable server architectures: SMP-based conventional disk farms and commodity clusters of PCs. Second, we evaluate the impact of several design choices on the performance of Active Disks. We focus on the performance impact of interconnect bandwidth, amount of disk memory and disk-to-disk communication architecture on decision support workloads. Our results show that for identical disks, number of processors and I/O interconnect, Active Disks provide better price/performance than both SMP-based conventional disk farms and commodity cluster. Experiments evaluating the impact of design alternatives in Active Disk architectures indicate that: (1) for configurations up to 64 disks, a dual fibre channel arbitrated loop interconnect is sufficient even for the most communication-intensive decision support tasks: (2) most decision support task do not require a large amount of memory: and (3) direct disk-to-disk communication is necessary for achieving good performance on tasks that repartition all (or a large fraction of) their dataset.
ION CHANNELS , RECEPTORS AND TRANSPORTERS ANO 1 ( TMEM 16 A ) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma ( PDAC )

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has one of the worst survival rates of all cancers. ANO1 (TMEM16A) is a recently identified Ca-activated Cl channel (CaCC) that is upregulated in several tumors. Although ANO1 was subject to extensive studies in the recent years, its pathophysiological function has only been poorly understood. The aim of the present study is to establish the significance of ANO1 in PDAC behavior and demarcate its roles in PDAC from those of the volume-regulated anion channel (VRAC). We performed qPCR and Western blot measurements on different PDAC cell lines (Panc-1, Mia PaCa 2, Capan-1, AsPC-1, BxPC-3) and compared the results to those obtained in a human pancreatic ductal epithelium (HPDE) cell line. All cancer cell lines showed an upregulation of ANO1 on mRNA and protein levels. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings identified large Ca and voltage-dependent Cl currents in PDAC cells. Using siRNA knockdown of ANO1 and three ANO1 inhibitors (T16Ainh-A01, CaCCinh-A01, and NS3728), we found that ANO1 is the main constituent of CaCC current in PDAC cells. We further characterized these three inhibitors and found that they had unspecific effects on the free intracellular calcium concentration. Functional studies on PDAC behavior showed that surprisingly inhibition of ANO1 did not influence cellular proliferation. On the other hand, we found ANO1 channel to be pivotal in PDAC cell migration as assessed in wound healing experiments.
The differences between work engagement and workaholism, and organizational outcomes: An integrative model

Workaholism and work engagement both indicate high involvement with work, leading to some conceptual confusion. There are important differences, however, but few researchers have investigated the distinction. In this study, I used the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001) to propose an integrative model to demonstrate their theoretical and empirical dissimilarity. I chose turnover intention (TI) and occupational citizenship behavior (OCB) to measure organizational outcomes. The results showed that job resources were positively related to work engagement and that job demands moderated the relationship between job resources and work engagement. In addition, job demands were positively related to workaholism and job resources moderated the relationship between job demands and workaholism. Finally, work engagement influenced TI negatively and OCB positively. However, although workaholism influenced OCB negatively, as expected, the negative influence of workaholism on TI was contrary to my hypothesis.
Übereinstimmung von Mutter-Kind-Aussagen und deren Einflussfaktoren am Beispiel des Kinder-DIPS in der Diagnostik psychischer Störungen im Jugendalter

Theoretischer Hintergrund: In der Diagnostik psychischer Storungen im Jugendalter wird der Einbezug unterschiedlicher Urteilerperspektiven empfohlen. Die Aussagen unterschiedlicher Urteiler korrelieren jedoch nur gering. Fragestellung: Die Ziele dieser Arbeit bestehen in der Darstellung der Pravalenzen, der Ubereinstimmung von Mutter-Kind-Aussagen sowie der Identifikation potentieller Pradiktoren von Nichtubereinstimmung hinsichtlich psychischer Storungen im Jugendalter. Methode: Die Stichprobe stammt aus dem DFG-Projekt „Zukunft Familie III” der Technischen Universitat Braunschweig. Es wurden 234 Mutter (Alter: M = 46.4 Jahre, SD = 4.7) und deren Kinder im Alter zwischen 11 und 17 Jahren mit Hilfe des Diagnostischen Interviews bei psychischen Storungen im Kindes- und Jugendalter (Kinder-DIPS) und weiteren Verfahren befragt. Ergebnisse: Insgesamt liegen geringe Pravalenzen psychischer Storungen vor. Die Aussagen von Muttern und Jugendlichen weisen eine geringe bis masige Ubereinstimmung auf (durchschnittl.
Prevalence of Dog Bites in Rural and Urban Slums of Delhi: A Community-based Study

Background: Rabies is a fatal disease of the central nervous system caused by the bites of warm-blooded animals. One of the important methods of controlling rabies is by interventions to limit the number of dog bites, the most common source of transmission of rabies to humans in the community. Community-based data on dog bites are rare from India. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of dog bites and knowledge and practices relating to its management and prevention in an urban and a rural slum of North West Delhi, India. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional house to house survey of 500 households covering a population of 2887 individuals was conducted. The families were selected by systematic random sampling. A pretested and a prevalidated questionnaire was used. Chi-square test was applied for comparing proportions related to the categorical variables and t-test was used for comparing means. Results: The dog bite incidence rate for the study population for the last year was 25.2/1000 population with higher rates in urban (30.1/1000) than rural (19.6/1000) slum. Two-fifths of the dog bite patients did not wash the wound with soap and water. The practice of washing the wound with soap and water was significantly higher in urban than rural slum. One-fifth of the patients did not receive anti-rabies vaccine. There was lower coverage in rural than urban slum. A majority (79.0%) of the patients did not receive anti-rabies serum. Conclusion: A high prevalence of dog bites coupled with poor knowledge and dog bite management practices is a worrisome trend which policy makers should take into account to make India rabies free.
History of Craniosynostosis Surgery and the Evolution of Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Techniques: The University of Florida Experience

Craniosynostosis is the premature and abnormal fusion of 1 of the 6 suture lines that form the living skull and can occur as part of a syndrome or as an isolated defect (nonsyndromic). The first reported surgical procedure for correction of craniosynostosis was performed in 1890 by Lannelongue who advocated releasing, but not resecting, the fused suture. Craniofacial surgery has developed its own identity in the last 3 decades, with the Frenchman Tessier seen as the founding father. There have been many new developments such as distraction osteogenesis, biodegradable miniplate fixation, and the development of minimally invasive endoscopic techniques. Through the pioneering work of Jimenez and Barone, minimally invasive approaches to the surgical correction of craniosynostosis are now gaining wider acceptance. Here the authors review the history of craniosynostosis, the current literature and technique for endoscopic repair of craniosynostosis, as well as their own experience at the University of Florida, with minimally invasive endoscope-assisted techniques.
Down-Regulation of the SWI/SNF Chromatin Remodeling Activity by TCR Signaling Is Required for Proper Thymocyte Maturation1

The process of thymocyte development requires an exquisite regulation of many genes via transcription factors and chromatin remodeling activities. Even though the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex has been thought to play important roles during thymocyte development, its known function is very limited. In this study, we show that the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling activity is finely regulated during thymocyte maturation process, especially during thymocyte selections. We found that TCR signaling directly down-regulates mBRG1 and SWI3-related gene, the core components of murine SWI/SNF complex, during thymocyte maturation. Constitutive expression of SWI3-related gene in developing thymocytes attenuated the down-regulation of the SWI/SNF complex and resulted in a change in the expression of genes such as linker for activation of T cells and casitas B lineage lymphoma, which affected the TCR-mediated intracellular signaling pathway. The defects in TCR signaling resulted in the disruption of both positive and negative selections in specific TCR transgenic mice systems. Our results state, for the first time, that the chromatin remodeling activity needs to be finely controlled for proper thymocyte selection and maturation processes.
Child in hospital: family experiences and expectations of how nurses can promote family health.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This study set out to explore, from the family's point of view, ways in which nursing staff can promote family health during the child's hospital stay. BACKGROUND Having a child in hospital is a major source of stress and anxiety for the whole family. Earlier studies have described parental coping strategies, ways to strengthen those strategies and to support parental participation in child care, but no one has studied the promotion of family health during the child's hospitalization from the family's point of view. DESIGN Interviews were conducted in 2002 with 29 families who had a child with a chronic illness which were receiving or had received treatment on the paediatric wards of two Finnish hospitals. METHODS Data analysis was based on the grounded theory method, proceeding to the stage of axial coding. Data collection and analysis phases proceeded simultaneously. RESULTS Five domains were distinguished in the promotion of family health: (1) reinforcing parenthood, (2) looking after the child's welfare, (3) sharing the emotional burden, (4) supporting everyday coping and (5) creating a confidential care relationship. CONCLUSIONS The results strengthen the knowledge base of family nursing by showing how nursing staff can promote family health during the child's hospital stay. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The results have a number of practical applications for nursing, both for clinical practice and research. The results can be used in paediatric hospital wards caring for chronically ill children and their families. The five domains of family health promotion described here should be tested in other paediatric wards and in other geographical locations.
Predictive coding for dynamic vision: Development of functional hierarchy in a multiple spatio-temporal scales RNN model

The current paper presents a novel recurrent neural network model, predictive multiple spatio-temporal scales RNN (P-MSTRNN), which can generate as well as recognize dynamic visual patterns in a predictive coding framework. The model is characterized by multiple spatio-temporal scales imposed on neural unit dynamics through which an adequate spatio-temporal hierarchy develops via learning from exemplars. The model was evaluated by conducting an experiment of learning a set of whole body human movement patterns, which was generated by following a hierarchically defined movement syntax. The analysis of the trained model clarifies what types of spatio-temporal hierarchy develops in dynamic neural activity as well as how robust generation and recognition of movement patterns can be achieved by using the error minimization principle.
Cooperative inhibitory effect of ZD1839 (Iressa) in combination with 17‐AAG on glioma cell growth

ZD1839 (“Iressa”) is an orally active, selective epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor‐tyrosine kinase inhibitor. We evaluated the antitumor activity of ZD1839 in combination with HSP90 antagonist, 17‐AAG in malignant human glioma cell lines. ZD1839 independently produced a dose‐dependent inhibition of cellular proliferation in glioma cells grown in culture with time‐ and dose‐dependent accumulation of cells in G1 phase of the cell cycle on flow cytometric analysis, although the concentrations required for optimal efficacy were at or above the limits of clinically achievable levels. Because the heat shock protein (HSP) is involved in the conformational maturation of a number of signaling proteins critical to the proliferation of malignant glioma cells, we hypothesized that the HSP90 inhibitor 17‐AAG would potentiate ZD 1839‐mediated glioma cytotoxicity by decreasing the activation status of EGF receptor, as well as downregulating the levels of other relevant signaling effectors. We, therefore, examined the effects of ZD1839 and 17‐AAG, alone and in combination, on signal transduction and apoptosis in a series of malignant glioma cell lines. Simultaneous exposure to these inhibitors significantly induced cell death and quantitative analysis revealed that interaction between ZD1839 and 17‐AAG‐induced cytotoxicity was synergistic, leading to a pronounced increase in active caspase‐3 and PARP cleavage. No significant growth inhibition or caspase activation was seen in control cells. The enhanced cytotoxicity of this combination was associated with diminished Akt activation and a significant downregulation of EGFR receptor, Raf‐1 and mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK). Cells exposed to 17‐AAG and ZD1839 displayed a significant reduction in cell cycle regulatory proteins, such as CDK4 and CDK6. Taken together, these findings suggest that ZD1839, an EGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, plays a critical role in regulating the apoptotic response to 17‐AAG and that multi‐site targeting of growth signaling and cell survival pathways could provide a potent strategy to treat patients with malignant gliomas. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Some Effects of Regular Class Participation on the Social Contacts and Social Networks of High School Students with Severe Disabilities

We studied the effects of participating in regular education classes on the social life of three high school students with severe disabilities. Using a multiple baseline design across students (with an embedded ABAB withdrawal design), participants' social contacts and social networks were analyzed. Data were collected throughout the school day across 1 school year. Regular class participation, the independent variable, was introduced within a baseline focusing upon a community-based curriculum including access to peers without disabilities via peer tutoring and “friendship” programs. Our results indicate that regular class participation: (a) increased the frequency of social contacts students had with peers without disabilities, (b) was the locus for meeting half of the peers without disabilities contacted across the school year, and (c) was an important source for meeting peers without disabilities who subsequently became members of students' social networks. In addition, our results showed that: (a) durable and frequent social contacts also occurred with peers without disabilities met outside of regular education classes, (b) the amount of contact with peers extending outside of regular classes varied across students, and (c) the perceived quality of social contacts did not vary systematically with the locus of initial contact. The results are discussed in relation to possible outcomes relating to regular class participation at the secondary level and areas for future research.