Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integer Space–Time Block Codes With Large Trace Metrics

Integer space–time block codes (ICs) do not require the computation of irrational coefficients in the encoding operation, and have a low peak-to-average power ratio. This letter proposes novel <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${2 \times 2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ICs, which are searched for based on the determinant and trace design criteria for various spectral efficiencies. The code error performance is compared with that of the Harshan IC, Golden code, and Alamouti code. It is found that the performance of one of the proposed ICs is very close to that of the Golden code for moderate to high signal-to-noise ratios.
Rational points in henselian discrete valuation rings

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Reducing the Cost of Removing Border Artefacts in Fourier Transforms

Many image processing algorithms are implemented in a combination of spatial and frequency domains. The fast Fourier transform (FFT) is the workhorse of such algorithms. One limitation of the FFT is artefacts that result from the implicit periodicity within the spatial domain. A new periodic plus smooth decomposition has recently been proposed for removing such artefacts, although this comes at the cost of an additional 2D FFT. In this paper, we restructure the decomposition to enable it to be calculated with a single 1D FFT, which can significantly accelerate artefact free Fourier transformation. The cost of this acceleration is a small amount of additional storage to hold the representation of the smooth image component.
NF-κB controls the global pro-inflammatory response in endothelial cells: evidence for the regulation of a pro-atherogenic program

Activation of the transcription factor NF-κB is critical for the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced inflammatory response. Here we report the complete gene expression profile from activated microvascular endothelial cells emphasizing the direct contribution of the NF-κB pathway. Human microvascular endothelial cell line-1 (HMEC-1) cells were modified to express dominant interfering mutants of the IKK/NF-κB signaling module and expression profiles were determined. Our results provide compelling evidence for the virtually absolute dependence of TNF-α-regulated genes on NF-κB. A constitutively active IKK2 was sufficient for maximal induction of most target genes, whereas a transdominant IκBα suppressed gene expression. Several genes with a critical role in atherogenesis were identified. The endothelial lipase (EL) gene, a key enzyme involved in lipoprotein metabolism, was investigated more in detail. Binding sites interacting with NF-κB in vitro and in vivo were identified and co-transfection experiments demonstrated the direct regulation of the EL promoter by NF-κB. We conclude that targeting the IKK/NF-κB pathway or specific genes downstream may be effective for the control or prevention of chronic inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis.
An Algorithm for Detecting Similar Data in Replicated Databases Using Multi Criteria Decision Making

Identical data may cause many problems in all types of databases, specially distributed and replicated databases. These data will attack consistency and redundancy which are two important problems in databases. Databases or replicas may contain similar records with different appearance, concerning the same real word entity because of many reasons. Some of these reasons are: Entry errors, unstandardized abbreviations, differences details of various databases schemas, package lost, noisy environments and etc are some reasons of duplicates. This paper proposes an approach to detect duplicate or similar data, which are faulty or noisy so they are distinguished as different data, among various replicas in distributed or replicated databases. Multi criteria decision making algorithm is employed for this propose. To detect identical records, at first step some priorities are defined for fields and then percent of similarity of records evaluate. Algorithm's time overhead is improved through using special order of priorities. Multi criteria decision making algorithm is used to decide how to combine records with each other and which record is complete and true one. An instance based learning approach is employed to learn how to set priorities for various fields, creating a uniform schema and find their appropriate match, in other replica
Inhibitory effect of 57% hepatectomized mice serum on the growth of L-cells

Adult mammalian liver cells, which are in cell cycle’s G0 phase, differentiate to accomplish specific functions and do not divide. Only as a result of damage or partial hepatectomy (PH), the cells multiply in a rapid way and cause the organ’s regeneration. In one of our previous studies, we observed that sera obtained from 35% partially hepatectomized mice has an inhibitory effect on the growth of the cells after the fourth day. In this study, sera are obtained from 57% hepatectomized mice and added to medium of L-cells. In the different days, viable cell number and labelling index were investigated. According to the results obtained from the experiments it was determined that sera obtained from 57% partially hepatectomized mice has an inhibitory effect on the growth of the L-cells in early days.
Color-Magnitude Diagrams of Resolved Stars in Virgo Cluster Dwarf Galaxies

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has been used to image two fields in the core of the Virgo Cluster that contain a number of dwarf elliptical galaxies. The combined F555W and F814W images have resolved red giant stars in these galaxies, down to 1 mag below the giant branch tip. Two of the galaxies were targeted because of their extremely low central surface brightnesses (Bo > 27.0); thus, the successful resolution into stars confirms the existence of such tenuous galaxies. Red giant stars were also found that are not ostensibly associated with any galaxy. Color-magnitude diagrams in V and I have been derived for the five dwarfs, as well as the halo of a nearby spiral galaxy and the intracluster stars in the two fields. These diagrams were used to derive distances and metallicities via the magnitude of the red giant branch tip, and the mean color of the giant branch. The mean abundances of stars in the dwarfs range from -1.2 < [Fe/H] < -2.4, and fall along the relation between galaxy luminosity and metallicity found for Local Group and M81 group dwarf elliptical galaxies. [Fe/H] does not appear to be well-correlated with galaxy surface brightness, as the two extremely low surface brightness galaxies do not have extreme abundances. The mean distance modulus of the six Virgo galaxies is 31.0 ± 0.05, or 16.1 ± 0.4 Mpc, whereas that for the intracluster stars in those fields is 31.2 ± 0.09 (17.4 ± 0.7 Mpc).
Reliability and generality of measures of acceleration , planned and reactive agility Submission type : Original investigation

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to assess the reliability of a new protocol which examines different components of agility using commercially available timing gates. Methods: Seventeen physically active males completed four trials of a new protocol, which consisted of a number of 10 m sprints. Sprints were completed in a straight line or with a change of direction after 5 m. The change of direction was either planned or reactive, with participants reacting to a visual light stimulus. Results: There was no systematic bias in any of the measures although random variation was reduced in the straight acceleration and planned agility when considering only the final pair of trials, with mean coefficients of variation (CV) of 1.6% (95%CI 1.2-2.4%) and 1.1% (0.8-1.7%) respectively. Reliability of reactive agility remained consistent throughout with mean CVs of approximately 3%. Analyses revealed a high degree of common variance between acceleration times and both planned (r = 0.93) and reactive (r = 0.83) agility, as well as between the two agility protocols (r = 0.87). Conclusion: Both planned and reactive agility could be measured reliably. Protocol design and use of a light stimulus in the reactive test emphasize physical abilities comparable with other test measures. Therefore, inclusion of a reactive light stimulus does not appear to require any additional perceptual qualities.
Impacts of nitrogen addition on plant biodiversity in mountain grasslands depend on dose, application duration and climate: a systematic review

Although the influence of nitrogen (N) addition on grassland plant communities has been widely studied, it is still unclear whether observed patterns and underlying mechanisms are constant across biomes. In this systematic review, we use meta‐analysis and metaregression to investigate the influence of N addition (here referring mostly to fertilization) upon the biodiversity of temperate mountain grasslands (including montane, subalpine and alpine zones). Forty‐two studies met our criteria of inclusion, resulting in 134 measures of effect size. The main general responses of mountain grasslands to N addition were increases in phytomass and reductions in plant species richness, as observed in lowland grasslands. More specifically, the analysis reveals that negative effects on species richness were exacerbated by dose (ha−1 year−1) and duration of N application (years) in an additive manner. Thus, sustained application of low to moderate levels of N over time had effects similar to short‐term application of high N doses. The climatic context also played an important role: the overall effects of N addition on plant species richness and diversity (Shannon index) were less pronounced in mountain grasslands experiencing cool rather than warm summers. Furthermore, the relative negative effect of N addition on species richness was more pronounced in managed communities and was strongly negatively related to N‐induced increases in phytomass, that is the greater the phytomass response to N addition, the greater the decline in richness. Altogether, this review not only establishes that plant biodiversity of mountain grasslands is negatively affected by N addition, but also demonstrates that several local management and abiotic factors interact with N addition to drive plant community changes. This synthesis yields essential information for a more sustainable management of mountain grasslands, emphasizing the importance of preserving and restoring grasslands with both low agricultural N application and limited exposure to N atmospheric deposition.
Intrasexual competition underlies sexual selection on male breeding coloration in the orangethroat darter, Etheostoma spectabile

Abstract Elaborate, sexually dimorphic traits are widely thought to evolve under sexual selection through female preference, male–male competition, or both. The orangethroat darter (Etheostoma spectabile) is a sexually dichromatic fish in which females exhibit no preferences for male size or coloration. We tested whether these traits affect individual reproductive success in E. spectabile when multiple males are allowed to freely compete for a female. The quality and quantity of male coloration were associated with greater success in maintaining access to the female and in spawning as the primary male (first male to participate). On the other hand, sneaking behavior showed little correlation with coloration. Male breeding coloration in E. spectabile may therefore demonstrate how intrasexual competition can be a predominant factor underlying the evolution of male ornaments.
Inhibition of multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1) improves chemotherapy drug response in primary and recurrent glioblastoma multiforme

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain cancer with extremely poor prognostic outcome despite intensive treatment. All chemotherapeutic agents currently used have no greater than 30–40% response rate, many fall into the range of 10–20%, with delivery across the blood brain barrier (BBB) or chemoresistance contributing to the extremely poor outcomes despite treatment. Increased expression of the multidrug resistance protein 1(MRP1) in high grade glioma, and it's role in BBB active transport, highlights this member of the ABC transporter family as a target for improving drug responses in GBM. In this study we show that small molecule inhibitors and gene silencing of MRP1 had a significant effect on GBM cell response to temozolomide (150 μM), vincristine (100 nM), and etoposide (2 μM). Pre-treatment with Reversan (inhibitor of MRP1 and P-glycoprotein) led to a significantly improved response to cell death in the presence of all three chemotherapeutics, in both primary and recurrent GBM cells. The presence of MK571 (inhibitor of MRP1 and multidrug resistance protein 4 (MRP4) led to an enhanced effect of vincristine and etoposide in reducing cell viability over a 72 h period. Specific MRP1 inhibition led to a significant increase in vincristine and etoposide-induced cell death in all three cell lines assessed. Treatment with MK571, or specific MRP1 knockdown, did not have any effect on temozolomide drug response in these cells. These findings have significant implications in providing researchers an opportunity to improve currently used chemotherapeutics for the initial treatment of primary GBM, and improved treatment for recurrent GBM patients.
Effect of moisture content on physical properties of cassava stalk pellets

Cassava stalk residues are abandoned after the harvesting period. One of the possible ways to manage cassava stalk residues is by converting them into biomass energy by pelletization. The pelletization was started with the cassava stalks were milled and sieved to make them uniform. The moisture content was defined as percentage of water adding by mass of raw material. The pelletization was performed using conventional pelletizer. The physical properties of Cassava pellets (particle density, bulk density and porosity) were evaluated. The best condition to pelletize Cassava stalk pellets was at water adding 10% by mass of raw material. The range of pellet’s particle density, bulk density and porosity are between 1062.56 to 1262.57 kg m -3 , 311.89 to 718.18 kg m -3 and 43.10 % to 70.62 %, respectively.
TextFinder: An Automatic System to Detect and Recognize Text In Images

A robust system is proposed to automatically detect and extract text in images from different sources, including video, newspapers, advertisements, stock certificates, photographs, and checks. Text is first detected using multiscale texture segmentation and spatial cohesion constraints, then cleaned up and extracted using a histogram-based binarization algorithm. An automatic performance evaluation scheme is also proposed.
Characterization of surface glycoproteins of mouse lymphoid cells

We have labeled exposed surface glycoproteins of mouse lymphoid cells by the galactose oxidase-tritated sodium borohydride technique. The labeled glyco-proteins were separated by polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis and visualized by autoradiography (fluorography). The major thymocyte surface proteins have molecular weights of 170,000 and 125,000. Thymocytes from TL antigen-positive mouse strains showed an additional band with a molecular weight of 27,000. Highly purified T lymphocytes contain two major surface glycoproteins with molecular weights of 180,000 and 125,000. Purified B lymphocytes have one major surface glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 210,000. When T lymphocytes are stimulated in vitro by concanavalin A or phytohemag- glutinin, the major proteins characteristic of T cells are relatively weakly labeled, but new components of lower molecular weights appear on the cell surface. A similar change is seen in B lymphocytes stimulated by Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide. T lymphoblasts isolated from mixed lymphocyte cultures show a slightly different surface glycoprotein pattern. A polypeptide with a molecular weight of 57,000, which was labeled without enzymatic treatment by tritiated sodium borohydride alone, is strongly labeled in proliferating cells.
Sleep-dependent improvement in visuomotor learning: a causal role for slow waves.

STUDY OBJECTIVES Sleep after learning often benefits memory consolidation, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In previous studies, we found that learning a visuomotor task is followed by an increase in sleep slow wave activity (SWA, the electroencephalographic [EEG] power density between 0.5 and 4.5 Hz during non-rapid eye movement sleep) over the right parietal cortex. The SWA increase correlates with the postsleep improvement in visuomotor performance, suggesting that SWA may be causally responsible for the consolidation of visuomotor learning. Here, we tested this hypothesis by studying the effects of slow wave deprivation (SWD). DESIGN After learning the task, subjects went to sleep, and acoustic stimuli were timed either to suppress slow waves (SWD) or to interfere as little as possible with spontaneous slow waves (control acoustic stimulation, CAS). SETTING Sound-attenuated research room. PARTICIPANTS Healthy subjects (mean age 24.6 +/- 1.0 years; n = 9 for EEG analysis, n = 12 for behavior analysis; 3 women). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Sleep time and efficiency were not affected, whereas SWA and the number of slow waves decreased in SWD relative to CAS. Relative to the night before, visuomotor performance significantly improved in the CAS condition (+5.93% +/- 0.88%) but not in the SWD condition (-0.77% +/- 1.16%), and the direct CAS vs SWD comparison showed a significant difference (P = 0.0007, n = 12, paired t test). Changes in visuomotor performance after SWD were correlated with SWA changes over right parietal cortex but not with the number of arousals identified using clinically established criteria, nor with any sign of "EEG lightening" identified using a novel automatic method based on event-related spectral perturbation analysis. CONCLUSION These results support a causal role for sleep slow waves in sleep-dependent improvement of visuomotor performance.
What do we know about Late Onset Huntington’s Disease?

Background: Although the typical age of onset for Huntington’s disease (HD) is in the fourth decade, between 4.4–11.5% of individuals with HD have a late onset (over 60 years of age). Diagnosis of Late onset HD (LoHD) can be missed, due to the perceived low likelihood of HD in the over 60-year-olds. Objective: To review the epidemiology, genotype and phenotype of LoHD. Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science (inception-November 2016). Web of Science was then used to search for papers citing identified studies. Content experts were consulted for any additional studies. We included all studies reporting the clinical phenotype of LoHD for more than one participant. Results: 20 studies were identified from a potential list of 1243. Among Caucasian HD cohorts, 4.4–11.5% of individuals have LoHD, and this proportion may be increasing. Proportion of LoHD without a positive family history ranges from 3–68%. 94.4% of reported cases of LoHD had CAG repeat lengths of ≤44. Motor manifestations are the commonest initial presentation, although 29.2% presented with non-motor manifestations as the first clinical feature in one case series. Individuals with LoHD may have slower progression of illness. Cognitive impairment rather than chorea may be the major source of disability in this group. Conclusions: LoHD represents a substantial proportion of new diagnoses of HD and has some unique features. Further characterization of this population will aid clinicians in diagnosis.
The inhibition of growth of avirulent strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by a surface-active polyoxyethylene ether.

SUMMARY: Examination of the action of a series of surface-active polyoxyethylene ethers on the growth of the avirulent strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, H37 Ra, showed that one member, the ether of 2,2′-dihydroxy-5, 5′-di-tert-octyldiphenyl-methane (D4), inhibited this strain but not the virulent variant H37 Rv. This type of differential inhibition has been observed with a commercial surface-active mixture, ‘Triton A20’ (Dubos & Middlebrook, 1948). Lengthening of the polyoxyethylene chains of D4 led to loss of its inhibitory property. Both D4 and ‘Triton A20’ could induce resistance in H37 Ra, and cross-resistance to D4 of a strain resistant to ‘Triton A20’ was observed; this cross-resistance suggested that a compound closely related to D4 was the active constituent of ‘Triton A20′. The resistant strains grew in a microscopically amorphous pattern, like their parent strain. The growth of four other avirulent strains of tubercle bacilli was inhibited, like that of H37 Ra, by D4, while two slightly virulent strains grew freely in this detergent, like H37 Rv. One factor common to the strains naturally insusceptible to D4, but absent from those inhibited, is the ability to produce some degree of microscopic ‘cord’ pattern, and this property may have some connexion with the cause of the differential inhibition by D4. Surface activity also probably plays a part.
Effect of type 2 diabetes, surgical incision, and volatile anesthesia on hemodynamics in the rat

Diabetic patients have increased cardiac complications during surgery, possibly due to impaired autonomic regulation. Anesthesia lowers blood pressure and heart rate (HR), whereas surgical intervention has opposing effects. The interaction of anesthesia and surgical intervention on hemodynamics in diabetes is unknown, despite being a potential perioperative risk factor. We aimed to determine the effect of diabetes on the integrative interaction between hemodynamics, anesthesia, and surgical incision. Zucker type 2 diabetic rats (DM) and their nondiabetic littermates (ND) were implanted with an intravenous port for drug delivery, and a radiotelemeter to measure mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and derive HR (total n = 50). Hemodynamic pharmacological responses were assessed under conscious, isoflurane anesthesia (~2–2.5%), and anesthesia–surgical conditions; the latter performed as a laparotomy. MAP was not different between groups under conscious conditions (ND 120 ± 6 vs. DM 131 ± 4 mmHg, P > 0.05). Anesthesia reduced MAP, but not differently in DM (ND −30 ± 6 vs. DM −38 ± 4 ΔmmHg, P > 0.05). Despite adequate anesthesia, surgical incision increased MAP, which tended to be less in DM (ND +21 ± 4 vs. DM +13 ± 2 ΔmmHg, P = 0.052). Anesthesia disrupted central baroreflex HR responses to sympathetic activation (sodium nitroprusside 10 μg·kg−1, ND conscious 83 ± 13 vs. anesthetized 16 ± 5 Δbpm; P < 0.05) or to sympathetic withdrawal (phenylephrine 10 μg·kg−1, ND conscious −168 ± 37 vs. anesthetized −20 ± 6 Δbpm; P < 0.05) with no additional changes observed after surgical incision or during diabetes. During perioperative conditions, type 2 diabetes did not impact on short‐term hemodynamic regulation. Anesthesia had the largest hemodynamic impact, whereas surgical effects were limited to modulation of baseline blood pressure.