Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning Chinese Bracketing Knowledge Based on a Bilingual Language Model

This paper proposes a new method for automatic acquisition of Chinese bracketing knowledge from English-Chinese sentence-aligned bilingual corpora. Bilingual sentence pairs are first aligned in syntactic structure by combining English parse trees with a statistical bilingual language model. Chinese bracketing knowledge is then extracted automatically. The preliminary experiments show automatically learned knowledge accords well with manually annotated brackets. The proposed method is particularly useful to acquire bracketing knowledge for a less studied language that lacks tools and resources found in a second language more studied. Although this paper discusses experiments with Chinese and English, the method is also applicable to other language pairs.
Initial Events in Bacterial Transcription Initiation

Transcription initiation is a highly regulated step of gene expression. Here, we discuss the series of large conformational changes set in motion by initial specific binding of bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) to promoter DNA and their relevance for regulation. Bending and wrapping of the upstream duplex facilitates bending of the downstream duplex into the active site cleft, nucleating opening of 13 bp in the cleft. The rate-determining opening step, driven by binding free energy, forms an unstable open complex, probably with the template strand in the active site. At some promoters, this initial open complex is greatly stabilized by rearrangements of the discriminator region between the −10 element and +1 base of the nontemplate strand and of mobile in-cleft and downstream elements of RNAP. The rate of open complex formation is regulated by effects on the rapidly-reversible steps preceding DNA opening, while open complex lifetime is regulated by effects on the stabilization of the initial open complex. Intrinsic DNA opening-closing appears less regulated. This noncovalent mechanism and its regulation exhibit many analogies to mechanisms of enzyme catalysis.
Chemical evolution of high-mass stars in close binaries – I. The eclipsing binary V453 Cygni

The eclipsing and double-lined spectroscopic binary system V453 Cygni consists of two early B-type stars, one of which is nearing the terminal age main sequence and one which is roughly halfway through its main-sequence lifetime. Accurate measurements of the masses and radii of the two stars are available, which makes a detailed abundance analysis both more interesting and more precise than for isolated stars. We have reconstructed the spectra of the individual components of V453 Cyg from the observed composite spectra using the technique of spectral disentangling. From these disentangled spectra, we have obtained improved effective temperature measurements of 27 900 ± 400 and 26 200 ± 500 K, for the primary and secondary stars, respectively, by fitting non local thermodynamic equilibrium theoretical line profiles to the hydrogen Balmer lines. Armed with these high-precision effective temperatures and the accurately known surface gravities of the stars we have obtained the abundances of helium and metallic elements. A detailed abundance analysis of the primary star shows a normal (solar) helium abundance if the microturbulence velocity derived from metallic lines is used. The elemental abundances show no indication that CNO-processed material is present in the photosphere of this high-mass terminal age main-sequence star. The elemental abundances of the secondary star were derived by a differential study against a template spectrum of a star with similar characteristics. Both the primary and secondary components display elemental abundances which are in the ranges observed in the Galactic OB stars.
A Dual-Band RF Energy Harvesting Using Frequency Limited Dual-Band Impedance Matching

In this paper, a novel dual-band RF-harvesting RF-DC converter with a frequency limited impedance matching network (M/N) is proposed. The proposed RF-DC converter consists of a dual-band impedance matching network, a rectifler circuit with villard structure, a wideband harmonic suppression low-pass fllter (LPF), and a termination load. The proposed dual-band M/N can match two receiving band signals and suppress the out-of-band signals efiectively, so the back-scattered nonlinear frequency components from the nonlinear rectifying diodes to the antenna can be blocked. The fabricated circuit provides the maximum RF-DC conversion e-ciency of 73.76% and output voltage 7.09V at 881MHz and 69.05% with 6.86V at 2.4GHz with an individual input signal power of 22dBm. Moreover, the conversion e-ciency of 77.13% and output voltage of 7.25V are obtained when two RF waves with input dual-band signal power of 22dBm are fed simultaneously.
Kinetics of hydrogen evolution on a stainless steel electrode

The kinetic parameters for the hydrogen evolution reaction on a stainless steel substrate have been obtained from a study of the steady-state polarization curves as well as the galvanostatic transients. The high Tafel slope obtained in the steady-state polarization measurements was ascribed to the presence of an oxide film present on the surface of the stainless steel electrode.
A comparison of seven methods for continuous therapeutic cooling of the equine digit.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY Digital hypothermia may be effective for laminitis prophylaxis and therapy, but the efficacy of cooling methods used in clinical practice requires evaluation. OBJECTIVES To use hoof wall surface temperature (HWST) to compare several cooling methods used in clinical practice. STUDY DESIGN Experimental crossover design with a minimum washout period of 72 h. METHODS Seven cooling methods (commercially available ice packs, wraps and boots) and one prototypical dry-sleeve device were applied to a single forelimb in 4 horses for 8 h, during which HWST of the cooled forelimb and the uncooled (control) forelimb was recorded hourly. Results were analysed descriptively. RESULTS The median (range) HWST from 2-8 h was lowest for the ice and water immersion methods that included the foot and extended proximally to at least include the pastern: 5.2°C (range: 4.8-7.8°C) for the fluid bag and 2.7°C (2.4-3.4°C) for the ice boot. An ice boot that included the distal limb but not the foot resulted in a median HWST of 25.7°C (20.6-27.2°C). Dry interface applications (ice packs) confined to the foot only resulted in a median HWST of 21.5°C (19.5-25.5°C) for the coronet sleeve and 19.8°C (17.6-23°C) for a commercial ice pack. For the dry interface applications that included the foot and distal limb, the median HWST was much higher for the ice pack device, 19.9°C (18.7-23.1°C), compared with the perfused cuff prototype of 5.4°C (4.2-7°C). CONCLUSIONS Immersion of the foot and at least the pastern region in ice and water achieved sustained HWST <10°C as did a prototype perfused cuff device with a dry interface. Variation between cooling methods may have a profound effect on HWST and therefore efficacy in clinical cases where laminitis prophylaxis or therapy is the goal.
Decrease in frequency of liquid stool in enterally fed critically ill patients given the multispecies probiotic VSL#3: a pilot trial.

BACKGROUND Diarrhea has adverse consequences for critically ill patients, health care staff, and health care costs. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of the multispecies probiotic VSL#3 in reducing the mean number of episodes of liquid stool in enterally fed critically ill patients. METHODS A single-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study was done in a 6-bed intensive care unit in a 330-bed public hospital in Australia. A total of 45 adults (20 intervention, 25 control) who required enteral nutrition for more than 72 hours were given VSL#3 or a placebo twice daily. The frequency (mean number of episodes per patient per day) and weight (grams per day) were determined for both liquid stool and liquid and loose (unformed) stool. RESULTS The 2 groups of patients had no demographic or clinical differences. Patients received enteral nutrition for a mean of 8.5 days (SD, 5.4) and were studied for a mean of 11.9 days (SD, 5.6). Compared with the control group, the intervention group had a significant reduction in the frequency of liquid stools (incidence rate ratio, 0.50; 95% confidence interval, 0.27 to 0.93; P = .03). Smaller but still significant differences also occurred between the groups in both the frequency of episodes and the weight of liquid and loose (unformed) stool. CONCLUSION VSL#3 was effective in reducing the frequency of liquid stool in critically ill patients receiving enteral nutrition. Probiotics possibly can minimize diarrhea in critically ill tube-fed patients, but more controlled clinical trials are needed.
Molecular Aspects of Severe Malaria

SUMMARY Human infections with Plasmodium falciparum may result in severe forms of malaria. The widespread and rapid development of drug resistance in P. falciparum and the resistance of the disease-transmitting mosquitoes to insecticides make it urgent to understand the molecular background of the pathogenesis of malaria to enable the development of novel approaches to combat the disease. This review focuses on the molecular mechanisms of severe malaria caused by the P. falciparum parasite. The nature of severe malaria and the deleterious effects of parasite-derived toxins and host-induced cytokines are introduced. Sequestration, brought about by cytoadherence and rosetting, is linked to severe malaria and is mediated by multiple receptors on the endothelium and red blood cells. P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) is the ligand responsible for a majority of binding interactions, and the multiply adhesive features of this sticky molecule are presented. Antigenic variation is also a major feature of PfEMP1 and of the surface of the P. falciparum-infected erythrocyte. Possible mechanisms of P. falciparum antigenic variation in asexual stages are further discussed. We conclude this review with a perspective and suggestions of important aspects for future investigations.
Self‐Adaptive Calibration of Real‐Time Demand and Roughness of Water Distribution Systems

Real‐time simulation of water distribution systems (WDSs) has been applied to water resource problems ranging from engineering optimization design and operation planning and management. However, accurate implementation of real‐time simulation of WDS is still a challenging task due to the limited knowledge of the large amount of varying nodal demands and pipe characteristics over the entire network system. This paper presents a self‐adaptive calibration method based on Kalman filter (KF) that takes advantage of the long‐term monitoring data for dual calibration of nodal demands and pipe roughness. Inferential measurements are introduced to avoid linear assumptions of the WDS system and link the hydraulics of WDS with KF. Hence, it is able to employ KF to solve the nonlinear problems in looped water distribution network. By assimilating the long‐term monitoring data and adapting the calibrated parameters to various operating conditions, the framework can reduce the uncertainties caused by measurement errors and quantify the uncertainties by covariance matrixes. In addition, the presented method can help to identify abnormal WDS conditions. Three case studies have been conducted to illustrate the validity of the proposed method and its applications. The results have shown that the proposed framework is reliable and effective in practical applications.
Triggering sleep slow waves by transcranial magnetic stimulation

During much of sleep, cortical neurons undergo near-synchronous slow oscillation cycles in membrane potential, which give rise to the largest spontaneous waves observed in the normal electroencephalogram (EEG). Slow oscillations underlie characteristic features of the sleep EEG, such as slow waves and spindles. Here we show that, in sleeping subjects, slow waves and spindles can be triggered noninvasively and reliably by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). With appropriate stimulation parameters, each TMS pulse at <1 Hz evokes an individual, high-amplitude slow wave that originates under the coil and spreads over the cortex. TMS triggering of slow waves reveals intrinsic bistability in thalamocortical networks during non-rapid eye movement sleep. Moreover, evoked slow waves lead to a deepening of sleep and to an increase in EEG slow-wave activity (0.5–4.5 Hz), which is thought to play a role in brain restoration and memory consolidation.
Population Structure, Genetic Variation, and Linkage Disequilibrium in Perennial Ryegrass Populations Divergently Selected for Freezing Tolerance

Low temperature is one of the abiotic stresses seriously affecting the growth of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), and freezing tolerance is a complex trait of major agronomical importance in northern and central Europe. Understanding the genetic control of freezing tolerance would aid in the development of cultivars of perennial ryegrass with improved adaptation to frost. The plant material investigated in this study was an experimental synthetic population derived from pair-crosses among five European perennial ryegrass genotypes, representing adaptations to a range of climatic conditions across Europe. A total number of 80 individuals (24 of High frost [HF]; 29 of Low frost [LF], and 27 of Unselected [US]) from the second generation of the two divergently selected populations and an unselected (US) control population were genotyped using 278 genome-wide SNPs derived from perennial ryegrass transcriptome sequences. Our studies investigated the genetic diversity among the three experimental populations by analysis of molecular variance and population structure, and determined that the HF and LF populations are very divergent after selection for freezing tolerance, whereas the HF and US populations are more similar. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) decay varied across the seven chromosomes and the conspicuous pattern of LD between the HF and LF population confirmed their divergence in freezing tolerance. Furthermore, two Fst outlier methods; finite island model (fdist) by LOSITAN and hierarchical structure model using ARLEQUIN, both detected six loci under directional selection. These outlier loci are most probably linked to genes involved in freezing tolerance, cold adaptation, and abiotic stress. These six candidate loci under directional selection for freezing tolerance might be potential marker resources for breeding perennial ryegrass cultivars with improved freezing tolerance.
miR-191 promotes tumorigenesis of human colorectal cancer through targeting C/EBPβ

MicroRNA-191 (miR-191), a small non-coding RNA, is involved in disease development and cancer diagnosis and prognosis. However, how miR-191 functions in colorectal cancer remains largely unclear. In this study, we show that miR-191 is highly expressed in colon tumor tissues, and that inhibition of miR-191 leads to decreased cell growth, proliferation and tumorigenicity in a xenograft model. Overexpression of miR-191 in colorectal cancer cell lines alters cell cycle progression and cell resistance to 5-Fu induced cell apoptosis. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that miR-191 directly binds to the 3′UTR of the C/EBPβ mRNA and mediates a decrease in the mRNA and protein expression of C/EBPβ. We further showed that C/EBPβ induces growth arrest in a colorectal cancer cell line and that its expression is negatively correlated with the miR-191 level in patient samples. Our findings suggest that miR-191 may be a potential gene therapy target for the treatment of colorectal cancer.
Input-output finite-time stability of linear systems

When only the input-output behavior of a dynamical system is of concern, usually Bounded-Input Bounded-Output (BIBO) stability is studied, for which several results exist in literature. The present paper investigates the analogous concept in the framework of Finite Time Stability (FTS), namely the Input-Output FTS. A system is said to be IO finite time stable if, assigned a bounded input class and some boundaries in the output signal space, the output never exceeds such boundaries over a prespecified (finite) interval of time. FTS has been already investigated in several papers in terms of state boundedness, whereas this is the first work dealing with the characterization of the input-output behavior. Sufficient conditions are given, concerning the class of L2 and L∞ input signals, for the analysis of IO-FTS and for the design of a static state feedback controller, guaranteeing IO-FTS of the closed loop system. Finally, the applicability of the results is illustrated by means of two numerical examples.
Psychological Distress and its Correlates in Chinese Adolescents

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of severe psychological distress in Chinese adolescents, and to identify the demographic and psychosocial factors associated with psychological distress in this population. Method: A multi-stage stratified sampling procedure was used to select a sample of adolescents (n = 3109) in Heilongjiang Province (Northeast of China), who were aged 13–18 years old. Psychological distress was measured by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). A K10 score between 22 and 30 was defined as moderate psychological distress; a score of ≥ 31 was defined as severe psychological distress in this study. Results: The rates of moderate and severe psychological distress were 27.9% and 12.2%, respectively in the participants. There were no statistical differences in severe psychological distress by gender. Multivariate analysis showed that family environmental variables, schooling variables, self-perception with life and appearance, perceived health and negative life events were significantly associated with psychological distress. Conclusion: Severe psychological distress is prevalent in the Chinese adolescent population. Family dysfunction, higher academic pressure, poor relationship with others and negative self-perception are important risk factors associated with psychological distress in adolescents. More studies using the K10 scale are needed so that national and international comparisons can be made.
Functional Interaction of Calcium-/Calmodulin-dependent Protein Kinase II and Cytosolic Phospholipase A2 *

Calcium-/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM kinase II), a decoder of Ca2+signals, and cytosolic phospholipase A2(cPLA2), an enzyme involved in arachidonate release, are involved in many physiological and pathophysiological processes. Activation of CaM kinase II in norepinephrine-stimulated vascular smooth muscle cells leads to activation of cPLA2 and arachidonic acid release. Surface plasmon resonance, mass spectrometry, and kinetic studies show that CaM kinase II binds to cPLA2resulting in cPLA2 phosphorylation on Ser-515 and an increase in its enzymatic activity. Phosphopeptide mapping studies with cPLA2 from norepinephrine-stimulated smooth muscle cells indicates that phosphorylation of cPLA2 on Ser-515, but not on Ser-505 or Ser-727, occurs in vivo. This novel signaling pathway for arachidonate release is shown to be cPLA2-dependent by use of a recently described and highly selective inhibitor of this enzyme.
Stressor specificity of central neuroendocrine responses: implications for stress-related disorders.

Despite the fact that many research articles have been written about stress and stress-related diseases, no scientifically accepted definition of stress exists. Selye introduced and popularized stress as a medical and scientific idea. He did not deny the existence of stressor-specific response patterns; however, he emphasized that such responses did not constitute stress, only the shared nonspecific component. In this review we focus mainly on the similarities and differences between the neuroendocrine responses (especially the sympathoadrenal and the sympathoneuronal systems and the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis) among various stressors and a strategy for testing Selye's doctrine of nonspecificity. In our experiments, we used five different stressors: immobilization, hemorrhage, cold exposure, pain, or hypoglycemia. With the exception of immobilization stress, these stressors also differed in their intensities. Our results showed marked heterogeneity of neuroendocrine responses to various stressors and that each stressor has a neurochemical "signature. " By examining changes of Fos immunoreactivity in various brain regions upon exposure to different stressors, we also attempted to map central stressor-specific neuroendocrine pathways. We believe the existence of stressor-specific pathways and circuits is a clear step forward in the study of the pathogenesis of stress-related disorders and their proper treatment. Finally, we define stress as a state of threatened homeostasis (physical or perceived treat to homeostasis). During stress, an adaptive compensatory specific response of the organism is activated to sustain homeostasis. The adaptive response reflects the activation of specific central circuits and is genetically and constitutionally programmed and constantly modulated by environmental factors.
Glare aware photography: 4D ray sampling for reducing glare effects of camera lenses

Glare arises due to multiple scattering of light inside the camera's body and lens optics and reduces image contrast. While previous approaches have analyzed glare in 2D image space, we show that glare is inherently a 4D ray-space phenomenon. By statistically analyzing the ray-space inside a camera, we can classify and remove glare artifacts. In ray-space, glare behaves as high frequency noise and can be reduced by outlier rejection. While such analysis can be performed by capturing the light field inside the camera, it results in the loss of spatial resolution. Unlike light field cameras, we do not need to reversibly encode the spatial structure of the ray-space, leading to simpler designs. We explore masks for uniform and non-uniform ray sampling and show a practical solution to analyze the 4D statistics without significantly compromising image resolution. Although diffuse scattering of the lens introduces 4D low-frequency glare, we can produce useful solutions in a variety of common scenarios. Our approach handles photography looking into the sun and photos taken without a hood, removes the effect of lens smudges and reduces loss of contrast due to camera body reflections. We show various applications in contrast enhancement and glare manipulation.