Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of arachidonic acid on activity of the apical K+ channel in the thick ascending limb of the rat kidney

We have used patch-clamp techniques to study the effects of arachidonic acid (AA) on the activity of the 70-pS K+ channel, the predominant type of the two apical K+ channels operating under physiological conditions in the thick ascending limb (TAL) of the rat kidney. Addition of 5-10 microM AA blocked the activity of the 70-pS K+ channel in both cell- attached and inside-out patches. The inhibitory effect of AA was specific, because application of 10 microM linoleic acid, oleic acid, or palmitic acid failed to mimic the effect of AA. The effect of AA could not be blocked by pretreatment of the TAL tubules with either 5 microM indomethacin (inhibitor of cyclooxygenase) or 4 microM cinnamyl- 3,4-dihydroxy-alpha-cyanocinnamate (CDC) (inhibitor of lipooxygenase). In contrast, addition of 5 microM 17-octadecynoic acid (17-ODYA), an inhibitor of P450 monooxygenases, abolised the effect of AA on the channel activity, indicating that the effect was mediated by cytochrome P450 metabolites of AA. Addition of 10 nM 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE), the main metabolite of the cytochrome P450 metabolic pathway in the medullary TAL, mimicked the inhibitory effect of 10 microM AA. However, addition of 100 nM 19-HETE or 17-HETE had no significant effects and 100 nM 20-carboxy AA (20-COOH) reduced the channel activity by only 20%, indicating that the inhibitory effect of 20-HETE was specific and responsible for the action of AA. Inhibition of the P450 metabolic pathway by either 5 microM 17-ODYA or 12, 12- dibromododec-11-enoic acid (DBDD) dramatically increased the channel activity by 280% in cell-attached patches. The stimulatory effect of 17- ODYA or DBDD was not observed in inside-out patches. The results strongly indicate that 20-HETE is a specific inhibitor for the 70-pS K+ channel and may play an important role in the regulation of the K+ channel activity in the TAL.
Alternative Asymmetric Stochastic Volatility Models

The stochastic volatility model usually incorporates asymmetric effects by introducing the negative correlation between the innovations in returns and volatility. In this paper, we propose a new asymmetric stochastic volatility model, based on the leverage and size effects. The model is a generalization of the exponential GARCH (EGARCH) model of Nelson (1991). We consider categories for asymmetric effects, which describes the difference among the asymmetric effect of the EGARCH model, the threshold effects indicator function of Glosten et al. (1992), and the negative correlation between the innovations in returns and volatility. The new model is estimated by the efficient importance sampling method of Liesenfeld and Richard (2003), and the finite sample properties of the estimator are investigated using numerical simulations. Four financial time series are used to estimate the alternative asymmetric stochastic volatility (SV) models, with empirical asymmetric effects found to be statistically significant in each case. The empirical results for S&P 500 and Yen/USD returns indicate that the leverage and size effects are significant, supporting the general model. For Tokyo stock price index (TOPIX) and USD/AUD returns, the size effect is insignificant, favoring the negative correlation between the innovations in returns and volatility. We also consider standardized t distribution for capturing the tail behavior. The results for Yen/USD returns show that the model is correctly specified, while the results for three other data sets suggest there is scope for improvement.
Atmospheric Temperature Variation and its Causes in Summer of Jinan for 2015

This paper analyzed spatiotemporal inhomogeneity characteristics and its causes of air temperature based on the observation data of air temperature on June, July, and August in 2015, combined with the geographic information data of Jinan. Research results show the highest average temperature is on July, no extreme temperature, and the spatiotemporal inhomogeneity characteristics of air temperature are similar to other research that is not the effect of El Nino on Jinan in the summer of 2015. The air temperature of the urban district is slightly higher than other suburban areas on July and June in Jinan, but the spatial inhomogeneity of air temperature is not big on August in Jinan. The urban district of Jinan is the highest average temperature throughout the summer of 2015 that is a sign of the urban tropical island effect.
INFERRING THE STRUCTURE OF THE SOLAR CORONA AND INNER HELIOSPHERE DURING THE MAUNDER MINIMUM USING GLOBAL THERMODYNAMIC MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATIONS

Observations of the Sun’s corona during the space era have led to a picture of relatively constant, but cyclically varying solar output and structure. Longer-term, more indirect measurements, such as from 10Be, coupled by other albeit less reliable contemporaneous reports, however, suggest periods of significant departure from this standard. The Maunder Minimum was one such epoch where: (1) sunspots effectively disappeared for long intervals during a 70 yr period; (2) eclipse observations suggested the distinct lack of a visible K-corona but possible appearance of the F-corona; (3) reports of aurora were notably reduced; and (4) cosmic ray intensities at Earth were inferred to be substantially higher. Using a global thermodynamic MHD model, we have constructed a range of possible coronal configurations for the Maunder Minimum period and compared their predictions with these limited observational constraints. We conclude that the most likely state of the corona during—at least—the later portion of the Maunder Minimum was not merely that of the 2008/2009 solar minimum, as has been suggested recently, but rather a state devoid of any large-scale structure, driven by a photospheric field composed of only ephemeral regions, and likely substantially reduced in strength. Moreover, we suggest that the Sun evolved from a 2008/2009-like configuration at the start of the Maunder Minimum toward an ephemeral-only configuration by the end of it, supporting a prediction that we may be on the cusp of a new grand solar minimum.
Carmel Versus Flakey: A Comparison of Two Winners

■ The University of Michigan’s CARMEL and SRI International’s FLAKEY were the first- and secondplace finishers, respectively, at the 1992 Robot Competition sponsored by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. The two teams used vastly different approaches in the design of their robots. Many of these differences were for technical reasons, although time constraints, financial resources, and long-term research objectives also played a part. This article gives a technical comparison of CARMEL and FLAKEY, focusing on design issues that were not directly reflected in the scoring criteria.
Alcohol-use disorder severity predicts first-incidence of depressive disorders

Background Previous studies suggest that alcohol-use disorder severity, defined by the number of criteria met, provides a more informative phenotype than dichotomized DSM-IV diagnostic measures of alcohol use disorders. Therefore, this study examined whether alcohol-use disorder severity predicted first-incident depressive disorders, an association that has never been found for the presence or absence of an alcohol use disorder in the general population. Method In a national sample of persons who had never experienced a major depressive disorder (MDD), dysthymia, manic or hypomanic episode (n=27 571), we examined whether a version of DSM-5 alcohol-use disorder severity (a count of three abuse and all seven dependence criteria) linearly predicted first-incident depressive disorders (MDD or dysthymia) after 3-year follow-up. Wald tests were used to assess whether more complicated models defined the relationship more accurately. Results First-incidence of depressive disorders varied across alcohol-use disorder severity and was 4.20% in persons meeting no alcohol-use disorder criteria versus 44.47% in persons meeting all 10 criteria. Alcohol-use disorder severity significantly predicted first-incidence of depressive disorders in a linear fashion (odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 1.06–1.22), even after adjustment for sociodemographics, smoking status and predisposing factors for depressive disorders, such as general vulnerability factors, psychiatric co-morbidity and subthreshold depressive disorders. This linear model explained the relationship just as well as more complicated models. Conclusions Alcohol-use disorder severity was a significant linear predictor of first-incident depressive disorders after 3-year follow-up and may be useful in identifying a high-risk group for depressive disorders that could be targeted by prevention strategies.
Neuropilin-2 promotes branching morphogenesis in the mouse mammary gland

Although the neuropilins were characterized as semaphorin receptors that regulate axon guidance, they also function as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptors and contribute to the development of other tissues. Here, we assessed the role of NRP2 in mouse mammary gland development based on our observation that NRP2 is expressed preferentially in the terminal end buds of developing glands. A floxed NRP2 mouse was bred with an MMTV-Cre strain to generate a mammary gland-specific knockout of NRP2. MMTV-Cre;NRP2loxP/loxP mice exhibited significant defects in branching morphogenesis and ductal outgrowth compared with either littermate MMTV-Cre;NRP2+/loxP or MMTV-Cre mice. Mechanistic insight into this morphological defect was obtained from a mouse mammary cell line in which we observed that VEGF165, an NRP2 ligand, induces branching morphogenesis in 3D cultures and that branching is dependent upon NRP2 as shown using shRNAs and a function-blocking antibody. Epithelial cells in the mouse mammary gland express VEGF, supporting the hypothesis that this NRP2 ligand contributes to mammary gland morphogenesis. Importantly, we demonstrate that VEGF and NRP2 activate focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and promote FAK-dependent branching morphogenesis in vitro. The significance of this mechanism is substantiated by our finding that FAK activation is diminished significantly in developing MMTV-Cre;NRP2loxP/loxP mammary glands compared with control glands. Together, our data reveal a VEGF/NRP2/FAK signaling axis that is important for branching morphogenesis and mammary gland development. In a broader context, our data support an emerging hypothesis that directional outgrowth and branching morphogenesis in a variety of tissues are influenced by signals that were identified initially for their role in axon guidance.
A System Framework for Integrated Synthesis of Mandarin, Min-Nan, and Hakka Speech

In this paper, a framework for integrated synthesis of Mandarin, Min-nan, and Hakka speech is proposed. To show its feasibility, an initial integrated system has been built as well. Through integration, a model only trained with Min-nan sentences is used to generate pitch-contours for all three languages, same rules are used to generate syllable duration and amplitude values, and the same program module implementing the method, TIPW, is used to synthesize the three languages' speech waveforms. Also, in this system, each syllable of a language has just one recorded signal waveform, i.e. no chance of unit selection. Under such a restricted situation, the synthetic speech signals still have noticeable naturalness level and signal clarity.
Effects of organic matter removal, soil compaction, and vegetation control on 5-year seedling performance: a regional comparison of Long-Term Soil Productivity sites

We examined fifth-year seedling response to soil disturbance and vegetation control at 42 experimental loca- tions representing 25 replicated studies within the North American Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) program. These studies share a common experimental design while encompassing a wide range of climate, site conditions, and forest types. Whole-tree harvest had limited effects on planted seedling performance compared with the effects of stem-only harvest (the control); slight increases in survival were usually offset by decreases in growth. Forest-floor removal improved seedling survival and increased growth in Mediterranean climates, but reduced growth on productive, nutrient-limited, warm-humid sites. Soil compaction with intact forest floors usually benefited conifer survival and growth, regardless of climate or species. Compaction combined with forest-floor removal generally increased survival, had limited effects on individual tree growth, and increased stand growth in Mediterranean climates. Vegetation control benefited seedling growth in all treatments, particularly on more productive sites, but did not affect survival or alter the relative impact of organic matter removal and compaction on growth. Organic matter removal increased aspen coppice densities and, as with compaction, reduced aspen growth.
University of Birmingham Towards Lifelong Object Learning by Integrating Situated Robot Perception and Semantic Web Mining

Autonomous robots that are to assist humans in their daily lives are required, among other things, to recognize and understand the meaning of task-related objects. However, given an open-ended set of tasks, the set of everyday objects that robots will encounter during their lifetime is not foreseeable. That is, robots have to learn and extend their knowledge about previously unknown objects on-the-job. Our approach automatically acquires parts of this knowledge (e.g., the class of an object and its typical location ) in form of ranked hypotheses from the Semantic Web using contextual information extracted from observations and experiences made by robots. Thus, by integrating situated robot perception and Semantic Web mining, robots can continuously extend their object knowledge beyond perceptual models which allows them to reason about task-related objects, e.g., when searching for them, robots can infer the most likely object locations. An evaluation of the integrated system on long-term data from real ofﬁce observations, demonstrates that generated hypotheses can effectively constrain the meaning of objects. Hence, we believe that the proposed system can be an essential component in a lifelong learning framework which acquires knowledge about objects from real world observations.
Calculation of substrate oxidation rates in vivo from gaseous exchange.

This paper reviews the assumptions involved in calculating rates of carbohydrate and fat oxidation from measurements of O2 consumption, CO2 production, and urinary nitrogen excretion. It is shown that erroneous results are obtained in the presence of metabolic processes such as lipogenesis and gluconeogenesis. The apparent rates calculated under these conditions can, however, be interpreted as net rates of "utilization. " Thus the apparent rate of carbohydrate oxidation is the sum of the rates of utilization for oxidation and for lipogenesis minus the rate at which carbohydrate is formed from amino acids. The apparent rate of fat oxidation is the difference between the rates of oxidation and synthesis from carbohydrate, so that the apparently negative rates encountered in patients infused with glucose do quantitatively represent net rates of synthesis. Other processes such as synthesis of ketone bodies or lactate at rates greater than their utilization can also disturb the calculations, but the magnitude of the effect can be estimated from appropriate measurements. Methods of correcting the observed gaseous exchange in these circumstances are given.
Virtual flux based direct power control of three-phase PWM rectifiers

In this paper direct power control (DPC) of three-phase PWM rectifiers without line voltage sensors is presented. The new system is based on virtual flux (VF) estimation. The theoretical principle of this method is discussed. The steady state and dynamic behaviour of VF-DPC are presented that illustrate the operation and performance of the proposed system compared to a conventional DPC method. Both strategies are also investigated under unbalance and pre-distorted grid. It is shown that VF-DPC exhibits several advantages, particularly providing sinusoidal line current when supply voltage is not ideal. Some test results show the excellent performance of the proposed system.
MOISTURE SORPTION THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF CORN STOVER FRACTIONS

Efficient processing, handling, and storage of corn stover, a major crop-based biomass, require an understanding of the moisture sorption thermodynamic properties of its fractions. Moisture sorption thermodynamic properties of the major corn stover fractions such as leaf, stalk skin, and stalk pith were determined, utilizing the static gravimetric sorption isotherms data in the temperature range of 10°C to 40°C. Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) monolayer moistures of stover fractions, determined using standard and modified BET equations, decreased with an increase in temperature. Mean values of monolayer moisture contents were in the range from 3.8% to 4.9% d.b. , and the whole range of associated water activity based on BET equations varied between 0.013 and 0.225. Net isosteric heat of sorption, evaluated using the Clausius-Claperon equation, and differential entropy values of stover fractions decreased exponentially with increased moisture and approached the latent heat of vaporization of pure water at around 20% d.b. The moisture sorption process was determined as enthalpy driven. Inequality in isokinetic and harmonic mean temperatures confirmed the enthalpy-entropy compensation theory. Among stover fractions, leaf had the greatest spreading pressure, followed by stalk skin and stalk pith. Spreading pressures increased with increase in water activity and decreased with temperature increase. Net integral enthalpy increased to a maximum and then decreased with increasing moisture content, whereas net integral entropy displayed an opposite trend. Mean values of the net integral enthalpy and entropy of stalk pith were the highest and progressively decreased for leaf and stalk skin.
High-dimensional statistical modeling and analysis of custom integrated circuits (invited paper)

Custom circuit designers have long favored manual equation-based approaches in early design stages, because it gives excellent insight and control over the design. However, this flow is threatened: as modern process nodes advance, process variation affects circuit performance more strongly, hurting the accuracy of existing equations. Because designers are typically not statistical modeling experts, it is difficult to adapt the equations to incorporate statistical variations. This paper presents a fast, deterministic technique to help designers revise equations to account for statistical variation. Specifically, the technique extracts compact equations of performance as a function of process variables, even for cases when there are thousands of possible variables and the equations are highly nonlinear. In fact, it provides a whole set of equations that trade off simplicity versus accuracy compared to SPICE. The technique is validated on a broad range of custom integrated circuit modeling problems.
Substantial Loss of Conserved and Gain of Novel MicroRNA Families in Flatworms

Recent studies on microRNA (miRNA) evolution focused mainly on the comparison of miRNA complements between animal clades. However, evolution of miRNAs within such groups is poorly explored despite the availability of comparable data that in some cases lack only a few key taxa. For flatworms (Platyhelminthes), miRNA complements are available for some free-living flatworms and all major parasitic lineages, except for the Monogenea. We present the miRNA complement of the monogenean flatworm Gyrodactylus salaris that facilitates a comprehensive analysis of miRNA evolution in Platyhelminthes. Using the newly designed bioinformatics pipeline miRCandRef, the miRNA complement was disentangled from next-generation sequencing of small RNAs and genomic DNA without a priori genome assembly. It consists of 39 miRNA hairpin loci of conserved miRNA families, and 22 novel miRNAs. A comparison with the miRNA complements of Schmidtea mediterranea (Turbellaria), Schistosoma japonicum (Trematoda), and Echinococcus granulosus (Cestoda) reveals a substantial loss of conserved bilaterian, protostomian, and lophotrochozoan miRNAs. Eight of the 46 expected conserved miRNAs were lost in all flatworms, 16 in Neodermata and 24 conserved miRNAs could not be detected in the cestode and the trematode. Such a gradual loss of miRNAs has not been reported before for other animal phyla. Currently, little is known about miRNAs in Platyhelminthes, and for the majority of the lost miRNAs there is no prediction of function. As suggested earlier they might be related to morphological simplifications. The presence and absence of 153 conserved miRNAs was compared for platyhelminths and 32 other metazoan taxa. Phylogenetic analyses support the monophyly of Platyhelminthes (Turbellaria + Neodermata [Monogenea {Trematoda + Cestoda}]).
Analysis of a Dual-Rotor, Toroidal-Winding, Axial-Flux Vernier Permanent Magnet Machine

In this paper, a vernier permanent magnet (VPM) machine with dual-rotor toroidal-winding axial-flux topology is analyzed. Through the combination of toroidal windings with the rotor-stator-rotor topology, the end winding length of the proposed machine is significantly reduced compared with that of the regular VPM machine. Based on the airgap permeance function, the back-EMF and torque expressions are derived and the nature of the machine is revealed. The influence of pole ratio (ratio of rotor pole pair number to stator pole pair number) and main geometric parameters, such as slot opening, magnet thickness, etc., on electromagnetic performance is then analytically investigated in detail. Both the quasi-three-dimensional (quasi-3D) finite element analysis (FEA) and 3-D FEA are applied to verify the derived equations. Finally, a prototype of the proposed machine has been manufactured and experimentally evaluated. The test results agree well with both theoretical and FEA analyses. With the current density of 5.8 A/mm 2 and slot fill factor of 0.35, the torque density of the proposed machine prototype can reach 31.9 kNm/m 3.
Attitude Estimation Using Biased Gyro and Vector Measurements With Time-Varying Reference Vectors

We present two results on attitude estimation using vector and rate gyro measurements. The first result concerns an observer previously presented by Hamel, Mahony, and Pflimlin, with proven stability results when i) the reference vectors are stationary; or ii) the gyro measurements are unbiased. We prove semiglobal stability without either of these assumptions when a parameter projection is added, and convergence from all initial attitudes when using a resetting strategy. The second result is an algorithm for estimation of bias in the body-fixed vector measurements, which is analyzed in combination with the attitude and gyro bias observer.
3D Descriptors for Object and Category Recognition: a Comparative Evaluation

Often practitioners face the issue of choosing the most adequate 3D features for their problem. As with many other problems, there isn’t a “best” feature to use. Nonetheless, we can gauge the relative accuracy of available features on common datasets. That is what we propose to do in this paper: we describe the existing feature extraction algorithms in a public available point cloud library and perform a comparative evaluation on 3D point clouds, investigation both the object and category recognition performance. The main conclusions are: increasing the number of keypoints improves recognition results at the expense of size and time; since there are big differences in terms of recognition performance, size and time requirements, the descriptor has to be matched to the desired task; one should use a descriptor that takes advantage of color; the SHOTCOLOR descriptor shows a good balance between recognition accuracy and time complexity.