Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Natural organic matter–induced alleviation of the phytotoxicity to rice (Oryza sativa L.) caused by copper oxide nanoparticles

Natural organic matter (NOM) can interact with engineered nanoparticles (NPs) in the environment and modify their behavior and toxicity to organisms. In the present study, the phytotoxicity of copper oxide (CuO) NPs to rice seedlings in the presence of humic acid as a model NOM was investigated. The results showed that CuO NPs induced the inhibition of root elongation, aberrations in root morphology and ultrastructure, and losses of cell viability and membrane integrity. The adverse effects partly resulted from the generation of reactive oxygen species caused by CuO NPs, which led to lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and programmed cell death in rice seedlings. However, all the phytotoxicity was alleviated with the addition of humic acid because humic acid coatings on nanoparticle surfaces enhanced electrostatic and steric repulsion between the CuO NPs and the plant cell wall/membrane, reducing contact between NPs and plant and CuO NP‐induced oxidative damage to plant cells. The present study's results shed light on the mechanism underlying NP phytotoxicity and highlight the influence of NOM on the bioavailability and toxicity of NPs. Environ Toxicol Chem 2015;34:1996–2003. © 2015 SETAC
ecurrent short sleep , chronic insomnia symptoms and salivary ortisol : A 10-year follow-up in the Whitehall II study

Although an association between both sleep duration and disturbance with salivary cortisol has been suggested, little is known about the long term effects of poor quality sleep on diurnal cortisol rhythm. The aim of this study was to examine the association of poor quality sleep, categorised as recurrent short sleep duration and chronic insomnia symptoms, with the diurnal release of cortisol. We examined this in 3314 participants from an occupational cohort, originally recruited in 1985–1989. Salivary cortisol was measured in 2007–2009 and six saliva samples were collected: (1) waking, (2) waking + 0.5 h, (3) +2.5 h, (4) +8 h, (5) +12 h and (6) bedtime, for assessment of the cortisol awakening response and the diurnal slope in cortisol secretion. Participants with the first saliva sample collected within 15 min of waking and not on steroid medication were examined. Short sleep duration (≤5 h) and insomnia symptoms (Jenkins scale, highest quartile) were measured in 1997–1999, 2003–2004 and 2007–2009. Recurrent short sleep was associated with a flatter diurnal cortisol pattern. A steeper morning rise in cortisol was observed among those reporting chronic insomnia symptoms at three time points and among those reporting short sleep twice, compared to those who never reported sleep problems. Participants reporting short sleep on three occasions had higher levels of cortisol later in the day, compared to those never reporting short sleep, indicated by a positive interaction with hours since waking (ˇ = 0.02 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.03)). We conclude that recurrent sleep problems are associated with adverse salivary cortisol patterns throughout the day. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
Learning to Generalize: Meta-Learning for Domain Generalization

Domain shift refers to the well known problem that a model trained in one source domain performs poorly when appliedto a target domain with different statistics. Domain Generalization (DG) techniques attempt to alleviate this issue by producing models which by design generalize well to novel testing domains. We propose a novel meta-learning method for domain generalization. Rather than designing a specific model that is robust to domain shift as in most previous DG work, we propose a model agnostic training procedure for DG. Our algorithm simulates train/test domain shift during training by synthesizing virtual testing domains within each mini-batch. The meta-optimization objective requires that steps to improve training domain performance should also improve testing domain performance. This meta-learning procedure trains models with good generalization ability to novel domains. We evaluate our method and achieve state of the art results on a recent cross-domain image classification benchmark, as well demonstrating its potential on two classic reinforcement learning tasks.
ATS/ERS recommendations for standardized procedures for the online and offline measurement of exhaled lower respiratory nitric oxide and nasal nitric oxide, 2005.

History of This Document Section 1: Background Assessment of Airway Inflammation Exhaled NO Nasal NO Section 2: Recommendations for a Standardized Procedure for the Online Measurement of Exhaled NO in Adults Requirements for the Clinical Use of Exhaled NO Measurements Standardization of Exhaled NO Terminology and Units General Principles Regarding Exhaled NO Measurement Non–Disease-related Patient Factors Influencing Exhaled NO Values Recommended Technique for Online Adult Exhaled NO Measurement Recommended Expiratory Flow Rate Interpretation of NO Single-Breath Profiles Plateau Definition Section 3: Recommendations for the Offline Measurement of FeNO Background to Offline Exhaled NO Collection Advantages and Disadvantages of Offline Collection Procedures for Collection of an Offline Exhaled NO Sample The Recommended Offline Exhaled NO Expiration Flow Rate Expiratory Pressure and Nasal NO Contamination Storage Vessel Practical Guide for Offline NO Collection Apparatus Section 4: Recommendations for Online and Offline Exhaled NO in Children Exhaled NO Measurement in Children Older than 4 to 5 Years Alternative Methods for Preschool Children and Infants Section 5: Recommendations for the Standardized Measurement of Nasal NO Background to Nasal NO Measurement General Considerations of Nasal NO Measurement Nasal NO Output Terminology
Changes in blood pressure during healthy pregnancy: a longitudinal cohort study

Objective: To study longitudinally changes in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) during healthy pregnancies and to evaluate the influence of parity, pregestational overweight, and excessive weight gain. Methods: A prospective longitudinal cohort study of 57 healthy white women with singleton pregnancies. BP and HR were measured repeatedly at gestational age 14–16 weeks, 22–24 weeks, 30–32 weeks, 36 weeks, and 6 months postpartum using both an oscillometric measurement device (Dinamap) and finger arterial pressure (Finometer PRO). Results: SBP, DBP, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) reached a statistically significant trough at gestational age 22–24 weeks using both measurement devices. When compared with the nonpregnant measurement, SBP at gestational age 22–24 weeks was 6.2 mmHg [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.3–11.2] lower measured by Finometer and 7.2 mmHg (95% CI 4.2–10.1) lower measured by Dinamap. DBP and MAP were 8.9 mmHg (95% CI 4.6–13.2) and 9.8 mmHg (95% CI 5.3–14.2) lower measured by Finometer. Measured by Dinamap, DBP and MAP were 4.5 mmHg (95% CI 1.7–7.3) and 5.4 mmHg (95% CI 2.8–7.9) lower at gestational age 22–24 weeks when compared with the nonpregnant state. SBP was significantly higher in women with pregestational BMI at least 25 kg/m2 with both measurement devices (both P < 0.05). There were no differences in SBP, DBP, or MAP depending on parity or excessive weight gain. Conclusion: BP measured repeatedly by two different noninvasive devices during pregnancy and postpartum showed a statistically significant drop in mid-pregnancy, followed by a progressive increase until term.
Users are not the enemy

Many system security departments treat users as a security risk to be controlled. The general consensus is that most users are careless and unmotivated when it comes to system security. In a recent study, we found that users may indeed compromise computer security mechanisms, such as password authentication, both knowing and unknowingly. A closer analysis, however, revealed that such behavior is often caused by the way in which security mechanisms are implemented, and users’ lack of knowledge. We argue that to change this state of affairs, security departments need to communicate more with users, and adopt a usercentered design approach.
Impairment of the Photorespiratory Pathway Accelerates Photoinhibition of Photosystem II by Suppression of Repair But Not Acceleration of Damage Processes in Arabidopsis1[W][OA]

Oxygenation of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate catalyzed by Rubisco produces glycolate-2-P. The photorespiratory pathway, which consists of photorespiratory carbon and nitrogen cycles, metabolizes glycolate-2-P to the Calvin cycle intermediate glycerate-3-P and is proposed to be important for avoiding photoinhibition of photosystem II (PSII), especially in C3 plants. We show here that mutants of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) with impairment of ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthase, serine hydroxymethyltransferase, glutamate/malate transporter, and glycerate kinase had accelerated photoinhibition of PSII by suppression of the repair of photodamaged PSII and not acceleration of the photodamage to PSII. We found that suppression of the repair process was attributable to inhibition of the synthesis of the D1 protein at the level of translation. Our results suggest that the photorespiratory pathway helps avoid inhibition of the synthesis of the D1 protein, which is important for the repair of photodamaged PSII upon interruption of the Calvin cycle.
Imbalance between cell proliferation and cellular DNA fragmentation in hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIM/BACKGROUND Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is known for its rapid growth. This study was undertaken to determine the expression of proliferative markers, apoptosis (DNA fragmentation) and oncogene products known to regulate apoptosis (p53, bcl-2) in HCC. METHODS 150 Chinese patients with HCC were studied (M:F 128:22, age 14-88 years). Immunohistochemistry was employed to detect cell proliferative markers (PCNA, Ki67), and oncogene products known to regulate apoptosis (p53, bcl-2). DNA fragmentation was determined by terminal dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). RESULTS 98% and 95% of HCC had PCNA (median 2+) and Ki67 (median 2+) detected respectively. TUNEL labeling was detected in only a small number of tumor cells (no labeling in 11%, median 1/1000 cell labeled, range: 0-70/1000 cells). There was no correlation between TUNEL labeling and the clinical parameters (sex, age, cirrhosis, and survival) and the expression of cell proliferative markers. p53 was detected in 53% of the patients (median 1+, range: 0-4+) and bcl-2 was detected in a small proportion of tumor cells in only 13% of the HCCs (range: 0-1 +). The expression of p53 and Bcl-2 did not correlate with TUNEL labeling or the natural survival. CONCLUSIONS Cell proliferation in HCC is unmatched by apoptosis, accounting for the rapid growth of this tumor. This lack of apoptosis in HCC is unrelated to the expression of p53 or bcl-2 over-expression.
Sequence and Genomic Analysis of a Rhesus Macaque Rhadinovirus with Similarity to Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus/Human Herpesvirus 8

ABSTRACT We have sequenced the long unique region (LUR) and characterized the terminal repeats of the genome of a rhesus rhadinovirus (RRV), strain 17577. The LUR as sequenced is 131,364 bp in length, with a G+C content of 52.2% and a CpG ratio of 1.11. The genome codes for 79 open reading frames (ORFs), with 67 of these ORFs similar to genes found in both Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) (formal name, human herpesvirus 8) and herpesvirus saimiri. Eight of the 12 unique genes show similarity to genes found in KSHV, including genes for viral interleukin-6, viral macrophage inflammatory protein, and a family of viral interferon regulatory factors (vIRFs). Genomic organization is essentially colinear with KSHV, the primary differences being the number of cytokine and IRF genes and the location of the gene for dihydrofolate reductase. Highly repetitive sequences are located in positions corresponding to repetitive sequences found in KSHV. Phylogenetic analysis of several ORFs supports the similarity between RRV and KSHV. Overall, the sequence, structural, and phylogenetic data combine to provide strong evidence that RRV 17577 is the rhesus macaque homolog of KSHV.
On the variably-charged black holes in general relativity: Hawking's radiation and naked singularities

In this paper variably-charged non-rotating Reissner–Nordstrom and rotating Kerr–Newman black holes are discussed. Such a variable charge e with respect to the polar coordinate r in the field equations is referred to as an electrical radiation of the black hole. It is shown that every electrical radiation e(r) of the non-rotating black hole leads to a reduction in its mass M by some quantity. If one considers such electrical radiation taking place continuously for a long time, then a continuous reduction of the mass may take place in the black-hole body and the original mass of the black hole may be evaporated completely. At that stage, the gravity of the object may depend only on the electromagnetic field, not on the mass. Immediately after the complete evaporation of the mass, if the next radiation continues, there may be creation of a new mass leading to the formation of a negative mass naked singularity. It appears that this new mass of the naked singularity would never decrease, but might increase gradually as the radiation continues forever. A similar investigation is also discussed in the case of a variably-charged rotating Kerr–Newman black hole. Thus, it has been shown by incorporating Hawking's evaporation of radiating black holes in the form of spacetime metrics, every electrical radiation of variably-charged rotating and non-rotating black holes may produce a change in the mass of the body without affecting the Maxwell scalar.
FPGA-in-the-loop co-simulation of reentrant arrhythmia mechanism in one dimensional (1D) ring-shaped based on FitzHugh-Nagumo model

This paper presents the simulation of reentrant excitation-conduction of cardiac cells realized by coupling 80 active circuits in one dimensional (1D) ring-shaped based on FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) model. 1D ring-shaped cable model is designed using Simulink in order to simulate an action potential signal and its conduction for a hardware design by using HDL Coder to automate the model for Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Hardware Description Language (VHDL) code generation. Then, the VHDL design is functionally verified on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) Xilinx Virtex-6 board using HDL Verifier proving the model through FPGA-in-the-Loop (FIL) co-simulation approach. It can then be downloaded into a target FPGA device for real-time simulations. This novel approach of prototyping cardiac reentrant excitation-conduction provides a fast and effective FPGA-based hardware implementation flow towards a stand-alone implementation to perform complex real-time simulations compared with manual HDL designs.
Introduction to the Ontology Alignment Evaluation 2005

The increasing number of methods available for schema matching/ontology integration suggests the need to establish a consensus for evaluation of these methods. The Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative1 is now a coordinated international initiative that has been set up for organising evaluation of ontology matching algorithms. After the two events organized in 2004 (namely, the Information Interpretation and Integration Conference (I3CON) and the EON Ontology Alignment Contest [4]), this year one unique evaluation campaign is organised. Its outcome is presented at the Workshop on Integrating Ontologies held in conjunction with K-CAP 2005 at Banff (Canada) on October 2, 2005. Since last year, we have set up a web site, improved the software on which the tests can be evaluated and set up some precise guidelines for running these tests. We have taken into account last year’s remarks by (1) adding more coverage to the benchmarck suite and (2) elaborating two real world test cases (as well as addressing other technical comments). This paper serves as a presentation to the 2005 evaluation campaign and introduction to the results provided in the following papers.
Bisimilar finite abstractions of stochastic control systems

Abstraction-based approaches to the design of complex control systems construct finite-state models that are formally related to the original control systems, then leverage symbolic techniques from finite-state synthesis to compute controllers satisfying specifications given in a temporal logic, and finally refine the obtained control schemes back to the given concrete complex models. While such approaches have been successfully used to perform synthesis over non-probabilistic control systems, there are only few results available for probabilistic models: hence the goal of this paper, which considers continuous-time controlled stochastic differential equations. We show that for every stochastic control system satisfying a stochastic version of incremental input-to-state stability, and for every ε > 0, there exists a finite-state abstraction that is ε-approximate bisimilar to the stochastic control system (in the sense of moments). We demonstrate the effectiveness of the construction by synthesizing a controller for a stochastic control system with respect to linear temporal logic specifications. Since stochastic control systems are a common mathematical models for many complex safety critical systems subject to uncertainty, our techniques promise to enable a new, automated, correct-by-construction controller synthesis approach for these systems.
Partial Composite Action in SC Composite Walls for Nuclear Structures

Steel-concrete composite (SC) walls are being used for the third generation nuclear power plants and being considered for small modular reactors (SMR). The steel faceplate thickness tp, the yield stress Fy, the shear connector spacing s, stiffness ks, and strength Qn determine: (a) the development length of steel faceplates, (b) the level of composite action between the steel plates and the concrete infill, and (c) the local buckling of the steel faceplates. Thus, shear connectors have a significant influence on behavior of composite SC walls, and should be designed accordingly. This paper will present effects of shear connector design on the level of composite action and development length of steel faceplates in SC walls.
Polyurethane Composite Foams in High-Performance Applications: A Review

ABSTRACT Polyurethane foam is a polymeric material having cellular structure. Multifunctional polyurethane foams reinforced with nanofiller have combined enhanced specific properties with density reduction. This article primarily considers important aspects of various foam processing techniques. Numerous nanofillers such as graphite, graphene, graphene oxide, carbon black, carbon nanotube, nanoclay, and inorganic nanoparticle have been reinforced in polyurethane foam. Particular attention is given to various categories of polymer/carbon nanofiller and polymer/inorganic nanofiller composite foams. Applications of polyurethane composite foams have been focused with relevance to aerospace and automotive industry, radar absorbing and electromagnetic interference shielding, oil absorbants, sensors, fire proof, shape memory, and biomedical materials. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
A Membrane Pool Retrieved via Endocytosis Overshoot at Nerve Terminals: A Study of Its Retrieval Mechanism and Role

Endocytosis overshoot, which retrieves more membrane than vesicles just being exocytosed, occurs at nerve terminals and non-neuronal secretory cells. The mechanism that retrieves the overshoot membrane pool and the role of this pool remain largely unknown. We addressed this issue at the rat calyx of Held nerve terminal with capacitance measurements. We found that every calyx contained an overshoot pool ∼1.8 times the readily releasable pool. Retrieval of this pool required large calcium influx, and was inhibited by blockers of calcium/calmodulin-activated calcineurin and dynamin, suggesting the involvement of calcineurin and dynamin in endocytosis overshoot. Depletion of the overshoot pool slowed down compensatory endocytosis, whereas recovery of the overshoot pool via exocytosis that deposited stranded vesicles to the plasma membrane led to recovery of compensatory endocytosis, suggesting that the overshoot pool enhances endocytosis efficiency. These results suggest that the overshoot pool exists at every nerve terminal, is of limited size arising from vesicles stranded at the plasma membrane, is retrieved via calcium/calmodulin/calcineurin and dynamin signaling pathway, and can enhance endocytosis efficiency. Potential mechanisms for how the endocytosis overshoot pool enhances endocytosis efficiency are discussed.
Latent Structure Perceptron with Feature Induction for Unrestricted Coreference Resolution

We describe a machine learning system based on large margin structure perceptron for unrestricted coreference resolution that introduces two key modeling techniques: latent coreference trees and entropy guided feature induction. The proposed latent tree modeling turns the learning problem computationally feasible. Additionally, using an automatic feature induction method, we are able to efficiently build nonlinear models and, hence, achieve high performances with a linear learning algorithm. Our system is evaluated on the CoNLL-2012 Shared Task closed track, which comprises three languages: Arabic, Chinese and English. We apply the same system to all languages, except for minor adaptations on some language dependent features, like static lists of pronouns. Our system achieves an official score of 58.69, the best one among all the competitors.
Detecting nonnative speech using speaker recognition approaches

Detecting whether a talker is speaking his native language is useful for speaker recognition, speech recognition, and intelligence applications. We study the problem of detecting nonnative speakers of American English, using two standard speech corpora. We apply approaches effective in speaker verification to this task, including systems based on MLLR, phone N-gram, prosodic, and word Ngram features. Results show equal error rates between 12% and 20%, depending on the system, test data, and choice of training data. Asymmetries in performance are most likely explained by differences in native language distributions in the corpora. Model combination yields substantial improvements over individual models, with the best result being around 8.6% EER. While phone Ngrams are widely used in related tasks (e.g., language and dialect ID), we find that it is the least effective model in combination; MLLR, prosody, and word N-gram systems play stronger roles. Overall, results suggest that individual systems and system combinations found useful for speaker ID also offer promise for nonnativeness detection, and that further efforts are warranted in this area.