Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chromosome mobility during meiotic prophase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In many organisms, a synaptonemal complex (SC) intimately connects each pair of homologous chromosomes during much of the first meiotic prophase and is thought to play a role in regulating recombination. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the central element of each SC contains Zip1, a protein orthologous to mammalian SYCP1. To study the dynamics of SCs in living meiotic cells, a functional ZIP1::GFP fusion was introduced into yeast and analyzed by fluorescence video microscopy. During pachytene, SCs exhibited dramatic and continuous movement throughout the nucleus, traversing relatively large distances while twisting, folding, and unfolding. Chromosomal movements were accompanied by changes in the shape of the nucleus, and all movements were reversibly inhibited by the actin antagonist Latrunculin B. Normal movement required the NDJ1 gene, which encodes a meiosis-specific telomere protein needed for the attachment of telomeres to the nuclear periphery and for normal kinetics of recombination and meiosis. These results show that SC movements involve telomere attachment to the nuclear periphery and are actin-dependent and suggest these movements could facilitate completion of meiotic recombination.
Exploratory Investigation of Impact Loads During the Forward Handspring Vault

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine kinematic and kinetic differences in low and high intensity hand support impact loads during a forward handspring vault. A high-speed video camera (500 Hz) and two portable force platforms (500 Hz) were installed on the surface of the vault table. Two-dimensional analyses were conducted on 24 forward handspring vaults performed by 12 senior level, junior Olympic program female gymnasts (16.9 ±1.4 yr; body height 1.60 ±0.1 m; body mass 56.7 ±7.8 kg). Load intensities at impact with the vault table were classified as low (peak force < 0.8 × body weight) and high (peak force > 0.8 × body weight). These vaults were compared via crucial kinetic and kinematic variables using independent t-tests and Pearson correlations. Statistically significant (p < 0.001) differences were observed in peak force (t(24) = 4.75, ES = 3.37) and time to peak force (t(24) = 2.07, ES = 1.56). Statistically significant relationships between the loading rate and time to peak force were observed for high intensity loads. Peak force, time to peak force, and a shoulder angle at impact were identified as primary variables potentially involved in the determination of large repetitive loading rates on the forward handspring vault.
Pharmacological identification of two types of presynaptic voltage- dependent calcium channels at CA3-CA1 synapses of the hippocampus

The effects of voltage-dependent Ca channel (VDCC) antagonists on synaptic transmission were investigated at CA3-CA1 synapses of guinea pig hippocampal slices. After selectively loading presynaptic structures in area CA1 with the calcium indicator fura-2, we simultaneously recorded a presynaptic calcium transient ([Ca]t) and the corresponding field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP) evoked by a single stimulus given to the Schaffer collateral-commissural (SCC) pathway. Application of nifedipine did not reduce either the [Ca]t of the fEPSP, suggesting that nifedipine-sensitive Ca channels do not significantly contribute to evoked synaptic transmission at low stimulation frequency. Application of omega-conotoxin GVIA (omega-CgTX) or omega-agatoxin-IVA (omega-Aga-IVA) dose-dependently blocked both the [Ca]t and the fEPSP. The time course of the block of the [Ca]t was similar to that of the fEPSP. About 40% of the total [Ca]t was omega- CgTX sensitive, and more than 20% was omega-Aga-IVA sensitive. Combined application of these two blockers showed no overlap of the omega-CgTX- sensitive with the omega-Aga-IVA-sensitive [Ca]t. These results suggest that there are at least two types of presynaptic VDCCs at CA3-CA1 synapses of the hippocampus: omega-CgTX-sensitive and omega-Aga-IVA- sensitive Ca channels. Our results also suggest that these two types of Ca channels are colocalized at a single presynaptic terminal. During application of omega-CgTX or omega-Aga-IVA, the initial slope of the fEPSP varied approximately as the fourth power of the amplitude of the [Ca]t, suggesting that omega-CgTX-sensitive and omega-Aga-IVA-sensitive Ca channels have about equal efficacy in triggering transmitter release. These results in combination with similar findings at the squid giant synapse suggest that the nonlinear relationship between transmitter release and the Ca influx is well conserved from the molluscan to the mammalian nervous system.
Analog Robust Repetitive Control for Nanopositioning Using Bucket Brigade Devices

Abstract In many applications of nanopositioning, such as scanning probe microscopy, tracking fast periodic reference trajectories with high accuracy is highly desirable. Repetitive control is a simple and effective control scheme to obtain good tracking of such reference trajectories. In order to implement repetitive control, a method for introducing time-delay is necessary. This can easily be implemented using a memory buffer with digital signal processing equipment. To achieve fast, high accuracy, and low noise performance, fast microcontrollers or field-programmable gate array hardware with fast high-resolution analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters are needed. As an inexpensive alternative to digital signal processing, the use of an analog bucket brigade device to implement the time-delay is investigated in this paper. Bucket brigade devices use switching to carry the input voltage over an array of capacitors, achieving a specified time-delay. Low-noise bucket brigade devices can achieve a signal-to-noise ratio around 80 dB, comparable to the actual performance when using 16-bit analog-to-digital converters. In this paper, the proposed control scheme utilizes a modified integral control law in conjunction with the repetitive control law. The overall control scheme ensures robustness towards plant uncertainty. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the overall control scheme and the analog implementation.
The effect of tangible media on individuals in business process modeling – a controlled experiment

In current practice, business processes modeling is done by trained method experts. Domain experts are interviewed to elicit their process information but not involved in modeling. We created a haptic toolkit for process modeling that can be used in process elicitation sessions with domain experts. We hypothesize that this leads to more effective process elicitation. This paper brakes down ”effective elicitation” to 14 operationalized hypotheses. They are assessed in a controlled experiment using questionnaires, process model feedback tests and video analysis. The experiment compares our approach to structured interviews in a repeated measurement design. We executed the experiment with 17 student clerks from a trade school. They represent potential users of the tool. Six out of fourteen hypotheses showed significant difference due to the method applied. Subjects reported more fun and more insights into process modeling with tangible media. Video analysis showed significantly more reviews and corrections applied during process elicitation. Moreover, people take more time to talk and think about their processes. We conclude that tangible media creates a different working mode for people in process elicitation with fun, new insights and instant feedback on preliminary results.
BOLD Imaging in Awake Wild-Type and Mu-Opioid Receptor Knock-Out Mice Reveals On-Target Activation Maps in Response to Oxycodone

Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) imaging in awake mice was used to identify differences in brain activity between wild-type, and Mu (μ) opioid receptor knock-outs (MuKO) in response to oxycodone (OXY). Using a segmented, annotated MRI mouse atlas and computational analysis, patterns of integrated positive and negative BOLD activity were identified across 122 brain areas. The pattern of positive BOLD showed enhanced activation across the brain in WT mice within 15 min of intraperitoneal administration of 2.5 mg of OXY. BOLD activation was detected in 72 regions out of 122, and was most prominent in areas of high μ opioid receptor density (thalamus, ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra, caudate putamen, basal amygdala, and hypothalamus), and focus on pain circuits indicated strong activation in major pain processing centers (central amygdala, solitary tract, parabrachial area, insular cortex, gigantocellularis area, ventral thalamus primary sensory cortex, and prelimbic cortex). Importantly, the OXY-induced positive BOLD was eliminated in MuKO mice in most regions, with few exceptions (some cerebellar nuclei, CA3 of the hippocampus, medial amygdala, and preoptic areas). This result indicates that most effects of OXY on positive BOLD are mediated by the μ opioid receptor (on-target effects). OXY also caused an increase in negative BOLD in WT mice in few regions (16 out of 122) and, unlike the positive BOLD response the negative BOLD was only partially eliminated in the MuKO mice (cerebellum), and in some case intensified (hippocampus). Negative BOLD analysis therefore shows activation and deactivation events in the absence of the μ receptor for some areas where receptor expression is normally extremely low or absent (off-target effects). Together, our approach permits establishing opioid-induced BOLD activation maps in awake mice. In addition, comparison of WT and MuKO mutant mice reveals both on-target and off-target activation events, and set an OXY brain signature that should, in the future, be compared to other μ opioid agonists.
FU Orionis Resolved by Infrared Long-Baseline Interferometry at a 2 AU Scale

We present the first infrared interferometric observations of a young stellar object with a spatial projected resolution better than 2 AU. The observations were obtained with the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI). FU Orionis exhibits a visibility of V2=0.72 ± 0.07 for a 103 ± 5 m-projected baseline at λ=2.2 μm. On the spatial scale probed by the PTI, the data are consistent with both a binary system scenario (a maximum magnitude difference of 2.7 ± 0.5 mag and the smallest separation of 0.35 ± 0.05 AU) and a standard luminous accretion disk model (Ṁ ~6 × 10−5 M☉ yr-1), where the thermal emission dominates the stellar scattering, and are inconsistent with a single stellar photosphere.
Sustaining Welfare for Future Generations: A Review Note on the Capital Approach to the Measurement of Sustainable Development

Measuring sustainable development based on analytical models of growth and development and modern methods of growth accounting is an economic approachâ€”often called the capital approach â€“ to establishing sustainable development indicators (SDIs). Ecological approaches may be combined with the capital approach, but there are also other approaches to establishing sustainable development indicatorsâ€”for example the so-called integrated approach. A recent survey of the various approaches is provided in UNECE, OECD and Eurostat [1]. This review note is not intended to be another survey of the various approaches. Rather the objective of this paper is twofold: to present an update on an economic approach to measuring sustainable developmentâ€”the capital approachâ€”and how this approach may be combined with the ecological approach; to show how this approach is actually used as a basis for longer-term policies to enhance sustainable development in Norwayâ€”a country that relies heavily on non-renewable natural resources. We give a brief review of recent literature and set out a model of development based on produced, human, natural and social capital, and the level of technology. Natural capital is divided into two partsâ€”natural capital produced and sold in markets (oil and gas)â€”and non-market natural capital such as clean air and biodiversity. Weak sustainable development is defined as non-declining welfare per capita if the total stock of a nation's capital is maintained. Strong sustainable development is if none of the capital stocks, notably non-market natural capital, is reduced below critical or irreversible levels. Within such a framework, and based on Norwegian experience and statistical work, monetary indexes of national wealth and its individual components including real capital, human capital and market natural capital are presented. Limits to this framework and to these calculations are then discussed, and we argue that such monetary indexes should be sustainable development indicators (SDIs) of non-market natural capital, and physical SDIs, health capital and social capital. Thus we agree with the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission [2] that monetary indexes of capital should be combined with physical SDIs of capital that have no market prices. We then illustrate the policy relevance of this framework, and how it is actually being used in long term policy making in Norwayâ€”a country that relies heavily on non-renewable resources like oil and gas. A key sustainability rule for Norwegian policies is to maintain the total future capital stocks per capita in real terms as the country draws down its stocks of non-renewable natural capital â€”applying a fiscal guideline akin to the Hartwick rule.
Predictability of oppositional defiant disorder and symptom dimensions in children and adolescents with ADHD combined type

Background Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is frequently co-occurring with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents. Because ODD is a precursor of later conduct disorder (CD) and affective disorders, early diagnostic identification is warranted. Furthermore, the predictability of three recently confirmed ODD dimensions (ODD-irritable, ODD-headstrong and ODD-hurtful) may assist clinical decision making. Method Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used in order to test the diagnostic accuracy of the Conners' Parent Rating Scale revised (CPRS-R) and the parent version of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (PSDQ) in the prediction of ODD in a transnational sample of 1093 subjects aged 5–17 years from the International Multicentre ADHD Genetics study. In a second step, the prediction of three ODD dimensions by the same parent rating scales was assessed by backward linear regression analyses. Results ROC analyses showed adequate diagnostic accuracy of the CPRS-R and the PSDQ in predicting ODD in this ADHD sample. Furthermore, the three-dimensional structure of ODD was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis and the CPRS-R emotional lability scale significantly predicted the ODD irritable dimension. Conclusions The PSDQ and the CPRS-R are both suitable screening instruments in the identification of ODD. The emotional lability scale of the CPRS-R is an adequate predictor of irritability in youth referred for ADHD.
Relation between Exclusion and Stimulus Equivalence Class Formation in Auditory-visual and Visual-visual Matching in Preschoolers

Author(s): Plazas, Elberto Antonio; Cortes, Deby | Abstract: The hypothesis that exclusion performance is a prerequisite for the stimulus equivalence class formation was assessed in preschoolers of about 5 years of age. In Experiment 1, two groups of children were trained in a set of conditional discriminations in a two-choice matching to sample format, Group 1 in an auditory-visual modality baseline, and Group 2 in a visual-visual modality baseline. Exclusion test trials included an undefined (not previously related) comparison stimulus, and a defined (i.e., related in the baseline) comparison stimulus, in the presence of an undefined sample stimulus. Selection of the undefined comparison was recorded as a correct response. Stimulus equivalence class formation was assessed by way of symmetry and transitivity test trials. Experiment 2 replicated the design of the first experiment, with the difference that exclusion was assessed independently and with a different baseline from symmetry and transitivity. Exclusion scores were higher for the auditory-visual groups than the visual-visual groups. In both modalities symmetry scores were superior to those in transitivity. Symmetry showed independent from the exclusion performance, but transitivity was presumably dependent from it in the auditory-visual modality.
A cost model to compare regression test strategies

A software test cost model which can be used to compare the retest-all strategy to a selective strategy is proposed. A test cost model is presented, and the conditions under which the selective strategy is more economical than the retest-all strategy are identified. Recently introduced regression testing strategies are reviewed. It is found that the relative cost depends on four factors: the selection, the execution, the checking cost, and the ratio of the size of the selected previous test to the size of the total previous test. <<ETX>>
Over-exposure image correction with automatic texture synthesis

A novel over-exposure image correction algorithm combining synthesized texture information in over-exposed regions is presented. In this algorithm, intensity image is decomposed into structure and detail layers by weighted least squares method. Modified exemplar-based texture synthesis method is applied to the detail layer in order to synthesize texture details in over-exposed regions. The synthesized texture is combined with the original texture and fed to the lightness and color correction modules to get the final result. An efficient diffusion-like color correction method is presented. Qualitative and quantitative experimental results show that the proposed method produces vivid details which are absent in previous methods without human assistance in over-exposed regions. This improves the overall appearance of the recovered image.
Hot Gas in the Circumstellar Bubble S308

S308 is a circumstellar bubble blown by the WN4 star HD 50896. It is one of the only two single-star bubbles that show detectable diffuse X-ray emission. We have obtained XMM-Newton EPIC observations of the northwest quadrant of S308. The diffuse X-ray emission shows a limb-brightened morphology, with a clear gap extending from the outer edge of the diffuse X-ray emission to the outer rim of the nebular shell. The X-ray spectrum of the diffuse emission is very soft and is well fitted by an optically thin plasma model for an N-enriched plasma at temperatures of ~1.1 × 106 K. A hotter gas component may exist but its temperature is not well constrained since it contributes less than 6% of the observed X-ray flux. The total X-ray luminosity of S308, extrapolated from the bright northwest quadrant, is ≤(1.2 ± 0.5) × 1034 ergs s-1. We have used the observed bubble dynamics and the physical parameters of the hot interior gas of S308, in conjunction with the circumstellar bubble model of García-Segura & Mac Low, to demonstrate that the X-ray-emitting gas must be dominated by mixed-in nebular material.
The dependence of quasar variability on black hole mass

In order to investigate the dependence of quasar variability on fundamental physical parameters like black hole mass, we have matched quasars from the Quasar Equatorial Survey Team, Phase 1 (QUEST1) variability survey with broad-lined objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The matched sample contains ≈100 quasars, and the Sloan spectra are used to estimate black hole masses and bolometric luminosities. Variability amplitudes are measured from the QUEST1 light curves. We find that black hole mass correlates with several measures of the variability amplitude at the 99 per cent significance level or better. The correlation does not appear to be caused by obvious selection effects inherent to flux-limited quasar samples, host galaxy contamination or other well-known correlations between quasar variability and luminosity/redshift. We evaluate variability as a function of rest-frame time lag using structure functions and find further support for the variability–black hole mass correlation. The correlation is strongest for time lags of the order of a few months up to the QUEST1 maximum temporal resolution of ≈2 yr, and may provide important clues for understanding the long-standing problem of the origin of quasar optical variability. We discuss whether our result is a manifestation of a relation between characteristic variability time-scale and black hole mass, where the variability time-scale is typical for accretion disc thermal time-scales, but find little support for this. Our favoured explanation is that more massive black holes have larger variability amplitudes, and we highlight the need for larger samples with more complete temporal sampling to test the robustness of this result.
SDoff: A software-defined offloading controller for heterogeneous networks

The tremendous increase in the mobile data traffic has led the network operators to use offloading solutions in Radio Access Technologies (RATs) such as WiFi or smallcells. However, these solutions are not efficient since none of them controls the offloading from a centralized global network view. Current offloading methods are mostly user-based and they do not completely consider the user satisfaction, and more significantly they do not consider the Quality of Service (QoS) of the whole network system. These aforementioned motivations have led us to design a software based orchestration model for Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) which is provided by our SDoff framework in a Software-Defined Network (SDN) fashion. This paper presents a novel SDN-based control of smallcell offloading in order to enhance the satisfaction of users and QoS of the overall system by considering a dissatisfaction parameter (ψ). The proposed framework analyzes the distance of each user to the all HetNet base stations in the topology by considering different type of users. After that, the offloading decision algorithm resolves which user must be offloaded to which base station by identifying the most dissatisfied user in the topology according to (ψ), by evaluating the QoS matrix and user types. Moreover, a new beacon format is proposed in order to maintain a standardized communication between the SDoff plane and virtual representatives (Avatars) of the Data Plane elements. We showed the overall system dissatisfaction difference between SDoff controlled offloading and on-the-spot offloading in the evaluation.
Chapter 1 THROUGHPUT AND FAIRNESS OF COLLISION AVOIDANCE PROTOCOLS IN AD HOC NETWORKS

Wireless ad hoc networks have received increasing interest in recent years, because of their potential to be used in a variety of applications without the aid of any pre-existing network infrastructure. Due to the scarce channel bandwidth available in ad hoc networks, the design of efficient and effective medium access control (MAC) protocols that regulate nodes’ access to a shared channel has become the subject of active research in recent years. Many MAC protocols [1] have been proposed to mitigate the adverse effects of hidden terminals [6] through collision avoidance. Most collision avoidance schemes such as the carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) in the popular IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol [2] are sender-initiated, including an exchange of short request-to-send