Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ontogeny of osmoregulation in embryos of intertidal crabs (Hemigrapsus sexdentatus and H. crenulatus, Grapsidae, Brachyura): putative involvement of the embryonic dorsal organ

SUMMARY This study examined whether the existence of hyperosmotic internal fluids in embryos of euryhaline crabs (Hemigrapsus sexdentatus and H. crenulatus) in dilute seawater reflects osmotic isolation due to impermeability of the egg envelope, as proposed for other decapods, or active osmoregulation. When ovigerous crabs with eggs at gastrula stage were transferred from 100% seawater (osmolality 1000 mmol kg–1) to 50% seawater, embryogenesis and hatching of zoea were completed normally, but were delayed. Hatching failed if the transfer to 50% seawater occurred before gastrulation, and embryogenesis was abnormal in 25% seawater. In 100% seawater, embryos at all stages were internally hyperosmotic by 150–250 mmol kg–1. On transfer to 50% seawater, osmolality initially decreased but remained 200–350 mmol kg–1 hyperosmotic to the medium for several weeks until hatching. High efflux rates of tritium-labelled water (t1/2 16–75 min) and 22Na (t1/2 109–374 min) from H. crenulatus embryos were inconsistent with the osmotic isolation hypothesis. It is concluded that post-gastrula embryos were actively hyper-osmoregulating. The diffusional water permeability of the embryos decreased during development while the sodium efflux rate increased 10-fold. Very rapidly exchanging pools of water and sodium (t1/2 a few seconds to minutes) probably corresponded to peri-embryonic fluid and implied that the egg envelope was a negligible barrier to diffusion of water and salts. Higher Na+/K+-ATPase activities in late embryos of H. crenulatus incubated in 50% seawater than in embryos incubated in full strength seawater were consistent with an acclimation response. An area of the embryonic surface located over the yolk in the region of the embryonic dorsal organ stained with AgNO3. Staining appeared at gastrulation, persisted throughout development and was lost at hatching. Deposits of AgCl between the outer and inner membranes, identified by X-ray microanalysis, suggest that the dorsal organ was a site of chloride extrusion. A model for osmoregulation in post-gastrula embryos is proposed: osmotic uptake of water is balanced by excretion of water and salts via the dorsal organ and salt loss is balanced by active uptake over the general embryonic ectoderm.
Risperidone long-acting injection in the treatment of schizophrenia: 24-month results from the electronic Schizophrenia Treatment Adherence Registry in Canada

Objective To assess outcomes over 24 months in Canadian patients with schizophrenia initiated on risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) and participating in the electronic Schizophrenia Treatment Adherence Registry (e-STAR). Materials and methods Patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were enrolled from 24 sites after an independent decision to initiate RLAI. Subsequent patient management was based on usual clinical practice at each site and was not protocol-driven. Relevant data were collected retrospectively by chart review for 12 months prior to RLAI and prospectively for 24 months following RLAI initiation. Results Patients (n=188) had a mean age of 39.2 years, were 66.3% male, and 27.7% were inpatients at baseline. Twenty-four months after initiating therapy (initial dose =28.7 mg), 34.1% (95% confidence interval 27.2%–42.2%) of patients had discontinued RLAI with a mean time to discontinuation of 273.4±196 days. Over the treatment period, there were significant (P<0.001) changes from baseline in Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S; 3.48 versus [vs] 4.31 at baseline), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF; 56.1 vs 48.1), and Personal and Social Performance (PSP; 59.1 vs 46.9) scale scores. In addition, after 12 months, there were significant (P<0.001) decreases in the percentage of patients hospitalized (23.9% vs 58.5% pre-RLAI), mean length of stay (11.4 vs 30.4 days), and number of hospitalizations (0.32 vs 0.87) compared to the 12-month pre-RLAI period. Reductions in hospitalization continued into the second 12 months of therapy, when only 9% of patients were hospitalized and mean length of stay was 2.0 days. Conclusion In a routine clinical practice setting, patients switched to RLAI showed significant improvements in clinical outcomes and in global and social functioning, and hospitalization was significantly reduced. The data confirm that RLAI provides effective long-term management of schizophrenia in Canada.
A Texture Based Methodology for Text Region Extraction from Low Resolution Natural Scene Images

Automated systems for understanding display boards are finding many applications useful in guiding tourists, assisting visually challenged and also in providing location aware information. Such systems require an automated method to detect and extract text prior to further image analysis. In this paper, a methodology to detect and extract text regions from low resolution natural scene images is presented. The proposed work is texture based and uses DCT based high pass filter to remove constant background. The texture features are then obtained on every 50x50 block of the processed image and potential text blocks are identified using newly defined discriminant functions. Further, the detected text blocks are merged and refined to extract text regions. The proposed method is robust and achieves a detection rate of 96.6% on a variety of 100 low resolution natural scene images each of size 240x320.
A High-Throughput Fluorescence-Based Assay System for Appetite-Regulating Gene and Drug Screening

The increasing number of people suffering from metabolic syndrome and obesity is becoming a serious problem not only in developed countries, but also in developing countries. However, there are few agents currently approved for the treatment of obesity. Those that are available are mainly appetite suppressants and gastrointestinal fat blockers. We have developed a simple and rapid method for the measurement of the feeding volume of Danio rerio (zebrafish). This assay can be used to screen appetite suppressants and enhancers. In this study, zebrafish were fed viable paramecia that were fluorescently-labeled, and feeding volume was measured using a 96-well microplate reader. Gene expression analysis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (bdnf), knockdown of appetite-regulating genes (neuropeptide Y, preproinsulin, melanocortin 4 receptor, agouti related protein, and cannabinoid receptor 1), and the administration of clinical appetite suppressants (fluoxetine, sibutramine, mazindol, phentermine, and rimonabant) revealed the similarity among mechanisms regulating appetite in zebrafish and mammals. In combination with behavioral analysis, we were able to evaluate adverse effects on locomotor activities from gene knockdown and chemical treatments. In conclusion, we have developed an assay that uses zebrafish, which can be applied to high-throughput screening and target gene discovery for appetite suppressants and enhancers.
The Interaction between Informational and Computational Properties of External Representations on Problem-Solving and Learning

This paper reports an experiment that explores if the way instructions for operating a complex device are represented influences problem-solving and learning about the task. Instructions were presented in one complex representation or in multiple simpler ones. The form this information took was tabular, diagrammatic or textual. Participants found the optimal solution more often when given instructions in text representations or in a single representation. However, the single text representation was associated with significantly slower performance. Participants recalled more about the task with text representations, irrespective of how the information was distributed. This experiment confirmed that representations that display instructions in such a way as to increase the cost of operating with them can paradoxically lead to better performance.
Application of linear hyperbolic PDE to linear quantum fields in curved spacetimes : especially black holes, time machines and a new semi-local vacuum concept

Several situations of physical importance may be modelled by linear quantum fields propagating in fixed spacetime-dependent classical background fields. For example, the quantum Dirac field in a strong and/or time-dependent external electromagnetic field accounts for the creation of electron-positron pairs out of the vacuum. Also, the theory of linear quantum fields propagating on a given background curved spacetime is the appropriate framework for the derivation of black-hole evaporation (Hawking effect) and for studying the question whether or not it is possible in principle to manufacture a time-machine. It is a well-established metatheorem that any question concerning such a linear quantum field may be reduced to a definite question concerning the corresponding classical field theory (i.e. linear hyperbolic PDE with non-constant coefficients describing the background in question) -- albeit not necessarily a question which would have arisen naturally in a purely classical context. The focus in this talk will be on the covariant Klein-Gordon equation in a fixed curved background, although we shall draw on analogies with other background field problems and with the time-dependent harmonic oscillator. The aim is to give a sketch-impression of the whole subject of Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetime, focussing on work with which the author has been personally involved, and also to mention some ideas and work-in-progress by the author and collaborators towards a new "semi-local" vacuum construction for this subject. A further aim is to introduce, and set into context, some recent advances in our understanding of the general structure of quantum fields in curved spacetimes which rely on classical results from microlocal analysis.
Analysis of porcine optineurin and myocilin expression in trabecular meshwork cells and astrocytes from optic nerve head.

PURPOSE To determine the cDNA sequences and analyze the expression of porcine optineurin and myocilin in trabecular meshwork cells (TMCs) and astrocytes from the optic nerve head under normal and experimental conditions. METHODS Both porcine optineurin and myocilin were cloned to determine the cDNA sequences. Porcine TMCs and astrocytes were isolated and treated with dexamethasone (500 nM) for 2 weeks, incubated under hypoxic conditions (7% O(2)) for 72 hours, or exposed to 33 mm Hg hydrostatic pressure for 72 hours. A 10% mechanical stretch for 24 hours was also performed on TMCs. The expression level of the optineurin and myocilin transcripts was analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR. RESULTS The sequences of porcine optineurin and myocilin cDNA were determined, and the expression of both genes was confirmed in both TMCs and astrocytes. Amino acid sequences of porcine optineurin and myocilin were homologous to those of humans by 84% and 82%, respectively, and shared protein motifs and modification sites. The expression of myocilin mRNA by TMCs and astrocytes was increased by 8.0- and 5.5-fold, respectively, after exposure to dexamethasone. In contrast, the expression of optineurin was suppressed to 68% in TMCs and 48% in astrocytes after exposure to dexamethasone. A significant reduction of myocilin expression was observed after 72 hours of incubation under hypoxic conditions in both types of cells, whereas optineurin was not affected. Hydrostatic pressure for 72 hours and mechanical stretching for 24 hours had minimal affects on gene expression of both optineurin and myocilin. CONCLUSIONS The high homology of porcine optineurin and myocilin to the comparable human genes indicates that pigs can be used to study changes in gene expression in hypertensive eyes. The alterations in expression of myocilin but not of optineurin under stress suggest that different mechanisms in the phenotype of glaucoma associated with the two genes are involved in development of glaucoma.
Environmental Conditions and Disk Reliability in Free-cooled Datacenters

Free cooling lowers datacenter costs significantly, but may also expose servers to higher and more variable temperatures and relative humidities. It is currently unclear whether these environmental conditions have a significant impact on hardware component reliability. Thus, in this paper, we use data from nine hyperscale datacenters to study the impact of environmental conditions on the reliability of server hardware, with a particular focus on disk drives and free cooling. Based on this study, we derive and validate a new model of disk lifetime as a function of environmental conditions. Furthermore, we quantify the tradeoffs between energy consumption, environmental conditions, component reliability, and datacenter costs. Finally, based on our analyses and model, we derive server and datacenter design lessons. We draw many interesting observations, including (1) relative humidity seems to have a dominant impact on component failures; (2) disk failures increase significantly when operating at high relative humidity, due to controller/adaptor malfunction; and (3) though higher relative humidity increases component failures, software availability techniques can mask them and enable free-cooled operation, resulting in significantly lower infrastructure and energy costs that far outweigh the cost of the extra component failures.
Efficiency in Repeated Games Revisited: The Role of Private Strategies (with M. Kandori)

Most theoretical or applied research on repeated games with imperfect monitoring has restricted attention to public strategies; strategies that only depend on history of publicly observable signals, and perfect public equilibrium (PPE); sequential equilibrium in public strategies. The present paper sheds light on the role of private strategies; strategies that depend on players' own actions in the past as well as observed public signals. Our main finding is that players can sometimes make better use of information by using private strategies and efficiency in repeated games can often be drastically improved. We illustrate this for both games with a small signal space (Anti-folk theorem example) and games with a large signal space, for which the Folk Theorem holds. Our private strategy can be regarded as a machine which consists of two states. We provide two di erent characterizations of our two-state machine equilibrium for general two-person repeated games with imperfect public monitoring.
Dynamic Testing of Data Acquisition Channels Using the Multiple Coherence Function

The use of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) has revolutionized digital signal processing in many ways; and one of its principle uses continues to be the calculation of power spectral densities that are then used to estimate system transfer functions. When performing transfer functionmeasurements, best practise dictates that the coherence between the input and output also be computed to provide a measure of the confidence in the measurement.
Synchronization in Complex Networks With Stochastically Switching Coupling Structures

Synchronization in complex networks with time dependent coupling and stochastically switching coupling structure is discussed. A novel approach investigating synchronization based on the scramblingness property of the coupling matrix is proposed. Some sufficient condition for a network with general time-varying coupling structure to reach complete synchronization is provided. Based on the general theorem, networks with stochastically switching coupling structures is investigated. In particular, two kinds of stochastic switching coupling networks are addressed: (a) independent and identically distributed switching processes and (b) Markov jump processes. In both cases, some sufficient condition for almost sure synchronization of the networks is given. Also, numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the theoretical results.
Beyond being online : Exploring place-based presence

Use of Presence and Instant Messaging (PIM) applications, which support ad-hoc communication, has grown very rapidly recently, not only at home, but also at work. Early studies on use of PIM applications in the workplace, however, indicate that PIM applications need to be adapted towards the workplace context. We are interested in adaptations that provide more detailed presence information. In our research, we explore place-based presence systems, i.e., presence systems that are not only able to answer people-oriented presence queries such as “Who is online? ”, but also place-oriented presence queries, such as “Who is near? ”. In this paper, we describe a design space for place-based presence systems, in which we identify the most important aspects and options that designers of place-based presence systems need to consider. Further, we report on our exploratory research approach that yielded this design space. We implemented a first prototype of a place-based presence system and evaluated it in an internal user study. Findings from this user study helped us to redesign a second prototype, which was deployed and evaluated in a small student community. Based on these two exploratory cycles of (re)design and evaluation, we conclude with lessons learned for future research in place-based presence systems.
New universal gate library for synthesizing reversible logic circuit using genetic programming

We newly formed universal gate library, that includes NOT, CNOT (Feyman), Toffoli, Fredkin, Swap, Peres gates and a special gate called G gate. The gate G on its own is a universal gate, but using it alone in a library will result in large circuit realization. G gate combines the operations of Generalized Toffoli gates. For example a gate called G3 combines the operations of NOT, CNOT and T3 (3 - bit Toffoli) gates all in one place. The new library was used in synthesizing reversible circuits. The experiment was done using Genetic programming algorithm that is capable of allowing the choice of any type of gate library and optimizing the circuit. The results were promising because the gate complexity in the circuits were drastically reduced compared to previously attempted synthesis.
A Blending Method for Automated Social Tagging

Social tagging has grown in popularity on the web due to its effectiveness in organizing and accessing web pages. This short paper addresses the problem of automated social tagging, which aims to predict tags for web pages automatically and help with future navigation, filtering or search. We explore and find three foundations of the collaborative tags in social tagging services, that are consistency, sharability and stability. The complementary advantages are studied among three well-known methods, i.e. TF-weighted keyword extraction, collaborative filtering approach, and Corr-LDA (correspondence latent Dirichlet allocation) topic model. We then propose a blending model for automated social tagging to emphasize all the foundations, which linearly combines those tags generated by the three methods, and a permutation probability model is built to learn the linear blending. With the experiments on 50,000 training and 10,000 testing web pages from Delicious database, the results show that our blending method outperforms the four baselines. Furthermore, compared with both topic models, Corr-LDA and mixed membership LDA, our approach results in 14.2% and 25.6% of NDCG10 improvement separately.
Young Adults’ Trait Affection Given and Received as Functions of Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultures and National Origin

Abstract Based on the work conducted by trait psychologists, this cross-cultural investigation sought to examine young adults’ trait affection given and trait affection received in the U.S., Russia, and Slovakia as functions of (a) Hofstede’s four primary dimensions of national cultures (i.e. masculinity–femininity, individualism–collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance), and (b) national origin. Undergraduate students (N = 558) from the U.S. (n = 214), Russia (n = 169), and Slovakia (n = 210) completed a questionnaire in their native languages. The results of regression analyses and analyses of variances supported the notion that the four dimensions of national cultures influence people’s trait-like attributes and therefore also result in significant differences among the three countries examined in this investigation.
Subboiling Moist Heat Favors the Selection of Enteric Pathogen Clostridium difficile PCR Ribotype 078 Spores in Food

Emerging enteric pathogens could have not only more antibiotic resistance or virulence traits; they could also have increased resistance to heat. We quantified the effects of minimum recommended cooking and higher temperatures, individually on a collection of C. difficile isolates and on the survival probability of a mixture of emerging C. difficile strains. While minimum recommended cooking time/temperature combinations (63–71°C) allowed concurrently tested strains to survive, higher subboiling temperatures reproducibly favored the selection of newly emerging C. difficile PCR ribotype 078. Survival ratios for “ribotypes 078” : “other ribotypes” (n = 49 : 45 isolates) from the mid-2000s increased from 1 : 1 and 0.7 : 1 at 85°C (for 5 and 10 minutes, resp.) to 2.3 : 1 and 3 : 1 with heating at 96°C (for 5 and 10 minutes, resp.) indicating an interaction effect between the heating temperature and survival of C. difficile genotypes. In multistrain heating experiments, with PCR ribotypes 027 and 078 from 2004 and reference type strain ATCC 9689 banked in the 1970s, multinomial logistic regression (P < 0.01) revealed PCR ribotype 078 was the most resistant to increasing lethal heat treatments. Thermal processes (during cooking or disinfection) may contribute to the selection of emergent specific virulent strains of C. difficile. Despite growing understanding of the role of cooking on human evolution, little is known about the role of cooking temperatures on the selection and evolution of enteric pathogens, especially spore-forming bacteria.
Experimental research on strain monitoring in composite plates using embedded SMA wires

Shape memory alloy (SMA) materials possess complete superelasticity or pseudoelasticity above the austenite finish temperature (Af) and many unique mechanical, thermal, thermal–mechanical and electrical properties compared with other conventional materials. Many studies have reported that the superelastic and hysteresis properties of SMA materials can absorb energies coming from external excitations or sudden impacts. In addition, due to the special electrical properties of NiTi superelastic wires, they can also be used as a strain-sensing element to monitor structural health conditions. In this paper, composite laminated specimens embedded with SMA wire sensors were fabricated and a detailed testing system was designed, for example for multi-parameter measuring for impact and weak signal processing for SMA sensors. A low-velocity impact test shows that SMA wire sensors embedded in fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) laminate can be used to monitor impact responses, such as the location of impact damage, impact degree, and strain distribution. Experimental results and theoretical predictions reveal almost the same results. Compared with other methods, the research provides a simple, economic and reliable technique for monitoring important engineering structures online.
Some Results of Backward Itô Formula

Abstract We use the notion of backward integration, with respect to a general Lévy process, to treat, in a simpler and unifying way, various classical topics as: Girsanov theorem, first order partial differential equations, the Liouville (or Lyapunov) equations and the stochastic characteristic method.