Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Five Polymorphisms of the Apolipoprotein B Gene in Healthy Bulgarians

AbstractFive APOB polymorphisms (I/D in the promoter region, XbaI [codon 2488], MspI [codon 3611], EcoRI [codon 4154], and 3 ´ VNTRs) were studied in a population sample of 147 healthy normolipemic Bulgarians. For all biallelic loci, the observed genotype distributions do not deviate from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. In Bulgaria the insertion allele and the MspI+ allele of APOB presented the highest allelic frequencies (0.793 ± 0.024 and 0.959 ± 0.012, respectively) among the European population groups studied so far. The allele frequencies of the other two biallelic polymorphisms (XbaI and EcoRI) found in the Bulgarian population are similar to those previously described in other Caucasian populations. Analysis of the 3 ´ VNTR polymorphism revealed 11 different alleles. Like studies in other Caucasian populations, this study found bimodal allele-size distribution and a high level of heterozygosity. The frequency of allele *31 (0.162 ± 0.022) among Bulgarians is higher than that of any other European population group studied so far. Genetic distances between Bulgarians and each of six populations from southeastern Europe for which 3 ´ VNTR allele frequencies are available showed an increase in the order: Albanians<Greeks<Slovaks<Croatians<Serbians<Hungarians. The major differences in the allele-size distributions are in the frequencies of alleles *31, *39, and *47.
Porous Titanium for Dental Implant Applications

Recently, an increasing amount of research has focused on the biological and mechanical behavior of highly porous structures of metallic biomaterials, as implant materials for dental implants. Particularly, pure titanium and its alloys are typically used due to their outstanding mechanical and biological properties. However, these materials have high stiffness (Young’s modulus) in comparison to that of the host bone, which necessitates careful implant design to ensure appropriate distribution of stresses to the adjoining bone, to avoid stress-shielding or overloading, both of which lead to bone resorption. Additionally, many coating and roughening techniques are used to improve cell and bone-bonding to the implant surface. To date, several studies have revealed that porous geometry may be a promising alternative to bulk structures for dental implant applications. This review aims to summarize the evidence in the literature for the importance of porosity in the integration of dental implants with bone tissue and the different fabrication methods currently being investigated. In particular, additive manufacturing shows promise as a technique to control pore size and shape for optimum biological properties.
Fire Regime along Latitudinal Gradients of Continuous to Discontinuous Coniferous Boreal Forests in Eastern Canada

Fire is the main disturbance in North American coniferous boreal forests. In Northern Quebec, Canada, where forest management is not allowed, the landscape is gradually constituted of more opened lichen woodlands. Those forests are discontinuous and show a low regeneration potential resulting from the cumulative effects of harsh climatic conditions and very short fire intervals. In a climate change context, and because the forest industry is interested in opening new territories to forest management in the north, it is crucial to better understand how and why fire risk varies from the north to the south at the transition between the discontinuous and continuous boreal forest. We used time-since-fire (TSF) data from fire archives as well as a broad field campaign in Quebec’s coniferous boreal forests along four north-south transects in order to reconstruct the fire history of the past 150 to 300 years. We performed survival analyses in each transect in order to (1) determine if climate influences the fire risk along the latitudinal gradient; (2) fractionate the transects into different fire risk zones; and (3) quantify the fire cycle—defined as the time required to burn an area equivalent to the size of the study area—of each zone and compare its estimated value with current fire activity. Results suggest that drought conditions are moderately to highly responsible for the increasing fire risk from south to north in the three westernmost transects. No climate influence was observed in the last one, possibly because of its complex physical environment. Fire cycles are shortening from south to north, and from east to west. Limits between high and low fire risk zones are consistent with the limit between discontinuous and continuous forests, established based on recent fire activity. Compared to the last 40 years, fire cycles of the last 150–300 years are shorter. Our results suggest that as drought episodes are expected to become more frequent in the future, fire activity might increase significantly, possibly leading to greater openings within forests. However, if fire activity increases and yet remains within the range of variability of the last 150–300 years, the limit between open and closed forests should stay relatively stable.
The Ecology of Open-Source Software Development

Open Source Software (oss) is an innovative method of developing software applications that has been very successful over the past eight to ten years. A number of theories have emerged to explain its success, mainly from economics and law. We analyze a very large sample of oss projects and find striking patterns in the overall structure of the development community. The distribution of projects on a range of activity measures is spectacularly skewed, with only a relatively tiny number of projects showing evidence of the strong collaborative activity which is supposed to characterize oss. Our findings are consistent with prior, smaller-scale empirical research. We argue that these findings pose problems for the dominant accounts of oss. We suggest that the gulf between active and inactive projects may be explained by social-structural features of the community which have received little attention in the existing literature. We suggest some hypotheses that might better predict the observed ecology of projects. Besides the Internet itself, the most distinctive and widespread development in information technology since the mid-1990s has not been a particular software application, but rather a way of writing and distributing software in general. The rapid growth of the Open Source Software (oss) movement has astonished most observers. From modest beginnings, there are now thousands of active oss projects, ranging in scope from simple calculators
Sensor substitution for video-based action recognition

There are many applications where domain-specific sensing, such as accelerometers, kinematics, or force sensing, provide unique and important information for control or for analysis of motion. However, it is not always the case that these sensors can be deployed or accessed beyond laboratory environments. For example, it is possible to instrument humans or robots to measure motion in the laboratory in ways that it is not possible to replicate in the wild. An alternative, which we explore in this paper, is to address situations where accurate sensing is available while training an algorithm, but for which only video is available for deployment. We present two examples of this sensory substitution methodology. The first variation trains a convolutional neural network to regress real-valued signals, including robot end-effector pose, from video. The second example regresses binary signals derived from accelerometer data which signifies when specific objects are in motion. We evaluate these on the JIGSAWS dataset for robotic surgery training assessment and the 50 Salads dataset for modeling complex structured cooking tasks. We evaluate the trained models for video-based action recognition and show that the trained models provide information that is comparable to the sensory signals they replace.
PARTIAL PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BACILLUS PUMILUS XYLANASE FROM SOIL SOURCE

Hydrolysis of xylan, the chief type of hemicellulose is achieved by endo-1, 4-�-xylanase and �xylosidase among other such enzyme complex. These enzymes are mainly produced by fungi, bacteria, etc. Xylanase finds applications in animal feed, manufacture of bread, beverages, textiles, bleaching cellulose pulp, ethanol and xylitol production. Xylanase depolymerizes xylan molecules into xylose units, a primary carbon source for bacteria and fungi. In this study, we obtained a bacterial isolate exhibiting good extracellular xylanase activity by screening several soil samples. The bacterium identified was Bacillus pumilus. The isolate produced xylanase demonstrating maximal activity at 35 0 C and at pH 7.0. Crude extract fractionated by ammonium sulphate precipitation had a specific activity of 0.69 µM min -1 mg -1 . Enzyme kinetics and properties were studied by DNS assay method. Xylanase had K m of 4.0 mg ml -1 and V max of 0.068 × 10 -4 mM min -1 mg -1 . Molecular weight of xylanase was 19 kDa as determined on SDS PAGE. Enzyme was partially purified to a fold of 3.79 and a yield of 66% suggesting the method with fine-tuning could be suitable for scale-up process.
Robust Real-Time Periodic Motion Detection, Analysis, and Applications

We describe new techniques to detect and analyze periodic motion as seen from both a static and a moving camera. By tracking objects of interest, we compute an object's self-similarity as it evolves in time. For periodic motion, the self-similarity measure is also periodic and we apply time-frequency analysis to detect and characterize the periodic motion. The periodicity is also analyzed robustly using the 2D lattice structures inherent in similarity matrices. A real-time system has been implemented to track and classify objects using periodicity. Examples of object classification (people, running dogs, vehicles), person counting, and nonstationary periodicity are provided.
Test Case Generation from Mutants Using Model Checking Techniques

Mutation testing is a powerful testing technique: a program is seeded with artificial faults and tested. Undetected faults can be used to improve the test bench. The problem of automatically generating test cases from undetected faults is typically not addressed by existing mutation testing systems. We propose a symbolic procedure, namely Sym BMC, for the generation of test cases from a given program using Bounded Model Checking (BMC) techniques. The Sym BMC procedure determines a test bench, that detects all seeded faults affecting the semantics of the program, with respect to a given unrolling bound. We have built a prototype tool that uses a Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) solver to generate test cases and we show initial results for ANSI-C benchmark programs.
Recognising action as clouds of space-time interest points

Much of recent action recognition research is based on space-time interest points extracted from video using a Bag of Words (BOW) representation. It mainly relies on the discriminative power of individual local space-time descriptors, whilst ignoring potentially valuable information about the global spatio-temporal distribution of interest points. In this paper, we propose a novel action recognition approach which differs significantly from previous interest points based approaches in that only the global spatiotemporal distribution of the interest points are exploited. This is achieved through extracting holistic features from clouds of interest points accumulated over multiple temporal scales followed by automatic feature selection. Our approach avoids the non-trivial problems of selecting the optimal space-time descriptor, clustering algorithm for constructing a codebook, and selecting codebook size faced by previous interest points based methods. Our model is able to capture smooth motions, robust to view changes and occlusions at a low computation cost. Experiments using the KTH and WEIZMANN datasets demonstrate that our approach outperforms most existing methods.
Recent Advances and Future Challenges for Artificial Neural Systems in Geotechnical Engineering Applications

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are a form of artificial intelligence that has proved to provide a high level of competency in solving many complex engineering problems that are beyond the computational capability of classicalmathematics and traditional procedures. In particular, ANNs have been applied successfully to almost all aspects of geotechnical engineering problems. Despite the increasing number and diversity of ANN applications in geotechnical engineering, the contents of reported applications indicate that the progress in ANN development and procedures is marginal and not moving forward since the mid-1990s. This paper presents a brief overview of ANN applications in geotechnical engineering, briefly provides an overview of the operation of ANN modeling, investigates the current research directions of ANNs in geotechnical engineering, and discusses some ANN modeling issues that need further attention in the future, including model robustness; transparency and knowledge extraction; extrapolation; uncertainty.
Deterministic and Unambiguous Families within Recognizable Two-dimensional Languages

Recognizable two-dimensional languages (REC) are defined by tiling systems that generalize to two dimensions non-deterministic finite automata for strings. We introduce the notion of deterministic tiling system and the corresponding family of languages (DREC) and study its structural and closure properties. Furthermore we show that, in contrast with the one-dimensional case, there exist other classes between deterministic and non-deterministic families that we separate by means of examples and decidability properties.
Role of P2 Receptors as Modulators of Rat Eosinophil Recruitment in Allergic Inflammation

ATP and other nucleotides are released from cells through regulated pathways or following the loss of plasma membrane integrity. Once outside the cell, these compounds can activate P2 receptors: P2X ionotropic receptors and G protein-coupled P2Y receptors. Eosinophils represent major effector cells in the allergic inflammatory response and they are, in fact, associated with several physiological and pathological processes. Here we investigate the expression of P2 receptors and roles of those receptors in murine eosinophils. In this context, our first step was to investigate the expression and functionality of the P2X receptors by patch clamping, our results showed a potency ranking order of ATP>ATPγS> 2meSATP> ADP> αβmeATP> βγmeATP>BzATP> UTP> UDP>cAMP. This data suggest the presence of P2X1, P2X2 and P2X7. Next we evaluate by microfluorimetry the expression of P2Y receptors, our results based in the ranking order of potency (UTP>ATPγS> ATP > UDP> ADP >2meSATP > αβmeATP) suggests the presence of P2Y2, P2Y4, P2Y6 and P2Y11. Moreover, we confirmed our findings by immunofluorescence assays. We also did chemotaxis assays to verify whether nucleotides could induce migration. After 1 or 2 hours of incubation, ATP increased migration of eosinophils, as well as ATPγS, a less hydrolysable analogue of ATP, while suramin a P2 blocker abolished migration. In keeping with this idea, we tested whether these receptors are implicated in the migration of eosinophils to an inflammation site in vivo, using a model of rat allergic pleurisy. In fact, migration of eosinophils has increased when ATP or ATPγS were applied in the pleural cavity, and once more suramin blocked this effect. We have demonstrated that rat eosinophils express P2X and P2Y receptors. In addition, the activation of P2 receptors can increase migration of eosinophils in vitro and in vivo, an effect blocked by suramin.
Reduction of Plasma Gelsolin Levels Correlates with Development of Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome and Fatal Outcome in Burn Patients

Background Depletion of the circulating actin-binding protein, plasma gelsolin (pGSN) has been described in critically ill surgical patients. We hypothesized that the extent of pGSN reduction might correlate with different outcome of burn patients. The study was performed to evaluate the prognostic implications of pGSN levels on the development of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and fatal outcome in a group of severely burn patients. Methods and Findings 95 patients were included, and they were divided into three groups with different burn area: group I (n = 33), group II (n = 32) and group III (n = 30). According to whether there was development of MODS or not, patients were divided into MODS group (n = 28) and none-MODS group (n = 67); then the patients with MODS were further divided into non-survivor group (n = 17) and survivor group (n = 11). The peripheral blood samples were collected on postburn days (PBD) 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21. The levels of pGSN were determined and T cells were procured from the blood. The contents of cytokines (IL-2, IL-4 and IFN-γ) released by T cells were also measured. The related factors of prognosis were analyzed by using multivariate logistic regression analysis. The results showed that pGSN concentrations, as well as the levels of IL-2 and IFN-γ, decreased markedly on PBD 1–21, whereas, the levels of IL-4 increased markedly in all burn groups as compared with normal controls (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and there were obviously differences between group I and group III (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The similar results were found in MODS patients and the non-survivor group as compared with those without MODS and the survival group on days 3–21 postburn (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Moreover, as the pGSN levels decreased, the incidence of septic complication as well as MODS remarkably increased. Conclusions pGSN levels appear to be an early prognostic marker in patients suffering from major burns.
Some Physical characteristics of thermally modified oriental- beech wood

Heat treatment of Oriental-beech (Fagus orientalis) wood was carried out by hot air in an oven for 2, 4, and 8 h at 140, 170, and 200°C. After heat treatment, some physical characteristics such as surface roughness, color, glossiness, and mass loss of Oriental-beech wood specimens were measured. Our results showed that heat treatment caused decrease in surface roughness, glossiness, and mass loss values of Oriental-beech (Fagus orientalis) wood specimens. The decrease in lightness at all temperatures indicates that the specimens become darker with the treatment time. While, a* coordinate (red component) decreased as temperature increased, b* coordinate (yellow component) initially increased at 140°C and then decreased at 170°C and 200°C.
Hilbert transformers with a piecewise-polynomial-sinusoidal impulse response

Hilbert transformers are one of the very important special classes of finite impulse response (FIR) filters used in signal processing applications. A method is presented to synthesize Hilbert transformers by using wideband linear-phase FIR filters with a piecewise-polynomial-sinusoidal impulse response. The proposed method is based on merging the earlier synthesis scheme proposed by the authors with the method proposed by Chu and Burrus and by modifying it by using an arbitrary number of separately generated center coefficients instead of none used in the method by Chu-Burrus. The desired impulse response is created by using a parallel connection of several filter branches and by adding an arbitrary number of center coefficients to form it. The arithmetic complexity of these filters is proportional to the number of branches, the common polynomial order for each branch and the number of separate center coefficients. The filter coefficients are optimized by using linear programming. An example shows the benefits of these filters compared to the frequency-response masking approach (FRM) with regard to reducing the number of coefficients as well as arithmetic complexity.
Curcumin-Free Turmeric Exhibits Activity against Human HCT-116 Colon Tumor Xenograft: Comparison with Curcumin and Whole Turmeric

Extensive research within last two decades has indicated that curcumin extracted from turmeric (Curcuma longa), exhibits anticancer potential, in part through the modulation of inflammatory pathways. However, the residual antitumor activity of curcumin-free turmeric (CFT) relative to curcumin or turmeric is not well-understood. In the present study, therefore, we determined activities of these agents in both in vitro and in vivo models of human HCT-116 colorectal cancer (CRC). When examined in an in vitro antiproliferative, clonogenic or anti-inflammatory assay system, we found that curcumin was highly active whereas turmeric and CFT had relatively poor activity against CRC cells. However, when examined in vivo at an oral dose of either 100 or 500 mg/kg given to nude mice bearing CRC xenografts, all three preparations of curcumin, turmeric, and CFT similarly suppressed the growth of the xenograft. The effect of CFT on suppression of tumor growth was dose-dependent, with 500 mg/kg tending to be more effective than 100 mg/kg. Interestingly, 100 mg/kg curcumin or turmeric was found to be more effective than 500 mg/kg. When examined in vivo for the expression of biomarkers associated with cell survival (cIAP-1, Bcl-2, and survivin), proliferation (Ki-67 and cyclin D1) and metastasis (ICAM-1 and VEGF), all were down-modulated. These agents also suppressed inflammatory transcription factors (NF-κB and STAT3) in tumor cells. Overall, our results with CFT provide evidence that turmeric must contain additional bioactive compounds other than curcumin that, in contrast to curcumin, exhibit greater anticancer potential in vivo than in vitro against human CRC. Moreover, our study highlights the fact that the beneficial effects of turmeric and curcumin in humans may be more effectively realized at lower doses, whereas CFT could be given at higher doses without loss in favorable activity.
Kinematics and Dynamics of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) Leaf Development at Various Na/Ca Salinities (I. Elongation Growth)

In many salt-sensitive species, elevated concentrations of Ca in the root growth media ameliorate part of the shoot growth reduction caused by NaCl stress. The physiological mechanisms by which Ca exerts protective effects on leaf growth are still not understood. Understanding growth inhibition caused by a stress necessitates locating the leaf expansion region and quantifying the profile of the growth reduction. This will enable comparisons and correlations with spatial gradients of probable physiologically inhibiting factors. In this work we applied the methods of growth kinematics to analyze the effects of elevated Ca concentrations on the spatial and temporal distributions of growth within the intercalary expanding region of salinized sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench, cv NK 265) leaves. NaCl (100 mM) caused a decrease in leaf elongation rate by shortening the leaf growing zone by 20%, as well as reducing the peak value of the longitudinal relative elemental growth rate (REG rate). Increasing the Ca concentrations from 1 to 10 mM restored the length of the growing zone of both emerged and unemerged salinized leaves and increased the peak value of the REG rate. The beneficial effects of supplemental Ca were, however, more pronounced in leaves after their appearance above the whorl of encircling older leaf sheaths. Elevated Ca then resulted in a peak value of REG rate higher than in the salinized leaves. The peak value of unemerged leaves was not increased, although it was maintained over a longer distance. The duration of elongation growth associated with a cell during its displacement from the leaf base was longer in salinized than control leaves, despite the fact that the elongation zone was shorter in salinity. Although partially restoring the length of the elongation region, supplemental Ca had no effect on the age of cessation of growth. Elongation of a tissue element, therefore, ceased when a cellular element reached a certain age and not a specific distance from the leaf base.