Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Kalman filtering algorithms for integrating GPS and low cost INS

GPS and Inertial Navigation Systems are used for positioning and attitude determination in a wide range of applications. Over the last few years, a number of low cost inertial sensors have become available. Although they exhibit large errors, GPS measurements can be used correct the INS and sensor errors to provide high accuracy real-time navigation. The integration of GPS and INS measurements is usually achieved using a Kalman filter. The measurement and process noise matrices used in the Kalman filter represent the stochastic properties of the GPS and INS systems respectively. Traditionally they are defined a priori and remain constant throughout a processing run. In reality, the stochastic properties of the system vary depending on factors such as vehicle dynamics and environmental conditions. This is particularly an issue for low cost inertial sensors where the initial sensor errors can be large, and experience significant temporal variation. This paper investigates three adaptive Kalman filtering algorithms that can be used to improve the estimation of the stochastic properties of a low cost INS. The algorithms are tested using a low cost Crossbow MEMS IMU integrated with carrier phase GPS for a marine application. The adaptive Kalman filtering algorithms are shown to reduce the dependence on the a priori information used in the filter. This results in a reduction in the time required to initialise the sensor errors and align the INS, and results in an improvement in navigation performance.
ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation with and without splenectomy.

1. Gloor JM, Lager DJ, Fidler ME, et al. A comparison of splenectomy vesus intensive posttransplant antidonor blood group antibody monitoring without splenectomy in ABOincompatible kidney transplantation. Transplantation 2005; 80: 1572–1577. 2. Mannami M, Mitsuhata N. Improved outcomes after ABO-incompatible living-donor kidney transplantation after 4 weeks of treatment with mycophenolate-mofetil. Transplantation 2005; 79: 1756 –1758. 3. Mitsuhata N, Fujita R, Ito S, et al. Is administration of rituximab at 375 mg/m without splenectomy appropriate for ABOincompatible renal transplant? Am J Transplant 2005; 5: 3019. 4. Rodriguez PC, Arroyave IH, Mejia G, et al. Detection of all antibodies against non-HLA antigens in kidney transplantation by flow cytometry. Clinical Transplant 2000; 14: 472– 478.
Characterizing the Molecular Basis of Attenuation of Marek's Disease Virus via In Vitro Serial Passage Identifies De Novo Mutations in the Helicase-Primase Subunit Gene UL5 and Other Candidates Associated with Reduced Virulence

ABSTRACT Marek's disease (MD) is a lymphoproliferative disease of chickens caused by the oncogenic Gallid herpesvirus 2, commonly known as Marek's disease virus (MDV). MD vaccines, the primary control method, are often generated by repeated in vitro serial passage of this highly cell-associated virus to attenuate virulent MDV strains. To understand the genetic basis of attenuation, we used experimental evolution by serially passing three virulent MDV replicates generated from an infectious bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone. All replicates became completely or highly attenuated, indicating that de novo mutation, and not selection among quasispecies existing in a strain, is the primary driving force for the reduction in virulence. Sequence analysis of the attenuated replicates revealed 41 to 95 single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) at 2% or higher frequency in each population and several candidate genes containing high-frequency, nonsynonymous mutations. Five candidate mutations were incorporated into recombinant viruses to determine their in vivo effect. SNVs within UL42 (DNA polymerase auxiliary subunit) and UL46 (tegument) had no measurable influence, while two independent mutations in LORF2 (a gene of unknown function) improved survival time of birds but did not alter disease incidence. A fifth SNV located within UL5 (helicase-primase subunit) greatly reduced in vivo viral replication, increased survival time of birds, and resulted in only 0 to 11% disease incidence. This study shows that multiple genes, often within pathways involving DNA replication and transcriptional regulation, are involved in de novo attenuation of MDV and provides targets for the rational design of future MD vaccines. IMPORTANCE Marek's disease virus (MDV) is a very important pathogen in chickens that costs the worldwide poultry industry $1 billion to $2 billion annually. Marek's disease (MD) vaccines, the primary control method, are often produced by passing virulent strains in cell culture until attenuated. To understand this process, we identified all the changes in the viral genome that occurred during repeated cell passage. We find that a single mutation in the UL5 gene, which encodes a viral protein necessary for DNA replication, reduces disease incidence by 90% or more. In addition, other candidate genes were identified. This information should lead to the development of more effective and rationally designed MD vaccines leading to improved animal health and welfare and lower costs to consumers.
Erythrocyte lipid peroxidation and antioxidants in cigarette smokers

The present study has analysed the relationship between lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in erythrocytes from 30 adult male cigarette smokers and an equal number of age and sex‐matched normal subjects. Erythrocyte lipid peroxidation was markedly increased. The enzymic antioxidants were decreased in erythrocytes of cigarette smokers. The present study highlights the occurrence of lipid peroxidation and possible breakdown of antioxidant status in cigarette smoking. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Extent of genome-wide linkage disequilibrium in Pinzgau cattle

The aim of this study was to describe the extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD) based on genotyping data in Pinzgau cattle population. DNA samples were obtained from 19 bulls of active Pinzgau cattle population in Slovakia. Genotyping was carried out in commercial lab using an Illumina BovineSNP50 BeadChip. The genotyping array contained 54,609 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). After quality control SNPs localized on sex chromosomes were excluded. A total of 42,248 (79.97%) SNPs were found to be polymorphic. The distribution of SNPs over entire genomes of all chromosomes was not uniform. The minor allele frequencies across autosomal loci ranged from 0.266 (BTA4) to 0.280 (BTA23) with average value 0.273±0.133. Only adjacent SNPs with distance less than 5 Mb and LD (r2) values from 0.01 to 0.99 were used in the characterization of LD extent. After filtering, the genome coordinates of 31,063 SNP markers covered all regions of autosomes on the length 2519232 kb. The spacing across genome between adjacent SNPs was in average 46.89±47.48 kb and within autosomes ranged from 43.65 kb (BTA25) to 52.59 kb (BTA5). The distribution of SNPs on different chromosomes ranged from 633 (79.13%) on BTA29 to 1123 (83.62%) on BTA14. The average LD between adjacent markers within autosomes reached values from 0.189 to 0.234 for chromosomes BTA 29 and 21, respectively. Division of r2-values over all 29 autosomes were performed according to their physical intermarker distances and averaged within the groups for analysis of distance effect on LD. The results of our study indicated the rapid decay of LD with increasing distance between markers. Further investigation will be oriented on evaluation of effective population size based on LD data. This could allow improvement of our knowledge about genetic diversity and its use for breed preservation of original phenotype supported by the current selection schemes and breeding programmes.
p27 as Jekyll and Hyde: Regulation of cell cycle and cell motility

p27 is a key regulator of cell proliferation. While it opposes cell cycle progression by binding to and inhibiting cyclin E-Cdk2, T157/198 phosphorylation of p27 promotes its assembly of D-type cyclin-CDKs. In addition to its actions on the cell cycle, p27 regulates CDK-independent cytoplasmic functions. In human cancers, oncogenic activation of the PI3K signaling pathway often results in cytoplasmic mislocalization of p27. Cytoplasmic p27 plays an important role in cell motility and migration; it binds and modulates activation of the RhoA/ROCK cascade. p27:RhoA binding is facilitated by p27 phosphorylation at threonine 198. Accumulation of cytoplasmic p27 leads to increased cellular motility, a critical event in tumor metastasis. Further characterization of post-translational modifications governing p27 localization and its action on RhoA and the actin cytoskeleton may provide critical insights into human cancer metastasis.
Comparing Web-based with Mail Survey Administration of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Clinician and Group Survey.

CONTEXT The CAHPS® survey instruments are widely used to assess patient experiences with care but there is limited information about web-based data collection with them. OBJECTIVE To compare web-based data collection with standard mail survey mode of collection of CAHPS® Clinician and Group survey data. DESIGN SETTING AND PATIENTS We randomized mode of data collection (web versus mail) of the CAHPS® Clinician and Group Survey to patients who had visited one of six clinics over a four-month period in Minnesota. A total of 410 patients responded to the web-based survey (14% response rate) and 982 patients responded to the mail survey (33% response rate). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Responses to CAHPS® survey dimensions and individual question responses, response rates, and participant characteristics. RESULTS There were no significant differences in CAHPS® survey composites and individual question responses by mode, except for those addressing access. Those responding via the web reported less positive experiences with access to an appointment for urgent care as soon as needed, getting an appointment for routine care as soon as needed, getting answers to medical questions as soon as needed, and follow-up on test results (t's=-3.64, -7.15, -2.58, -2.23; p's=0.0003, <0.0001, 0.01, 0.03, respectively). Web respondents had more positive experiences about office wait time for the most recent visit (t = 2.32, p=0.021). Those who participated in the study tended to be older than those that did not (ƛ2=247.51, df=8, p<0.0001 for mail; ƛ2= 4.56, df=8, p<0.0001 for the web). Females were significantly more likely than males to respond to the survey overall (24% vs. 18%, ƛ2=6.45, 1 df, p=0.011) and relatively more likely than males to respond to web (15% vs. 13%, ƛ2=1.32, 1 df, p=0.25) than mail (34% vs. 30%, ƛ2=5.42, 1 df, p=0.02). Mail respondents were more likely than web respondents to be male (28% versus 18%, ƛ2=16.27, 1 df, p<0.0001) and older (27% of the mail respondents and 19% of the web respondents were 65 or older, ƛ2=10.88, 1 df, p=0.001). Costs of web-based surveys were less than mailed surveys and were returned more quickly than mailed surveys. The correlations between reports and ratings of clinicians and clinics by mode were unreliable because of the relatively small number of web responses. CONCLUSION Web-based surveys yielded comparable results to mail (except for questions addressing access) more quickly at lower costs. The low response rates in this study are a concern although this was not intended as a test of increasing response rates. Strategies to increase response rates will be a key element of web-based data collection. The differences in costs will be an incentive for organizations to continue to pursue web-based surveying. Further studies are needed to evaluate the generalizability of the results of this one.
A 1.0 GHz single-issue 64 b powerPC integer processor

This 64 b single-issue integer processor, comprised of about one million transistors, is fabricated in a 0.15 /spl mu/m effective channel length, six-metal-layer CMOS technology. Intended as a vehicle to explore circuit, clocking, microarchitecture, and methodology options for high-frequency processors, the processor prototype implements 60 fixed-point compare, logical, arithmetic, and rotate-merge-mask instructions of the PowerPC instruction-set architecture with single-cycle latency. The processor executes programs written in this instruction subset from cache with a 1 ns cycle. In addition, the prototype implements 36 PowerPC load/store instructions that execute as single-cycle operations (zero wait cycles) with 1.15 ns latency. Full data forwarding and full at speed scan testing are supported.
Iterative hard-decision decoding of braided BCH codes for high-speed optical communication

Designing error-correcting codes for optical communication is challenging mainly because of the high data rates (e.g., 100 Gbps) required and the expectation of low latency, low overhead (e.g., 7% redundancy), and large coding gain (e.g., >9dB). Although soft-decision decoding (SDD) of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes is an active area of research, the mainstay of optical transport systems is still the iterative hard-decision decoding (HDD) of generalized product codes with algebraic syndrome decoding of the component codes. This is because iterative HDD allows many simplifications and SDD of LDPC codes results in much higher implementation complexity. In this paper, we use analysis and simulation to evaluate tightly-braided block codes with BCH component codes for high-speed optical communication. Simulation of the iterative HDD shows that these codes are competitive with the best schemes based on HDD. Finally, we suggest a specific design that is compatible with the G.709 framing structure and exhibits a coding gain of >9.35 dB at 7% redundancy under iterative HDD with a latency of approximately 1 million bits.
Factors influencing consumer intention in social commerce adoption

Social media remarkably changed the way of interaction between the consumers and organizations. The increased acceptance of social media has given rise to social commerce (s-commerce) and s-commerce usage is gradually increasing over the last few years. The progressive development of technologies suggests that s-commerce will become the mainstream for marketing and a literature survey indicates that there have not been many studies in this area. The purpose of this paper is to predict the factors influencing consumer intention towards the adoption of s-commerce. ,This study uses a survey approach with reference to important behavioural factors such as satisfaction, ethics, trust, enjoyment/easiness, social pressure and awareness. The research model was developed to be in line with the available literature. The data were collected using a five-point Likert scale and the research model was tested using least square regression. ,The results showed that user intention is significantly and positively related to perceived trust, enjoyment/easiness, social pressure, satisfaction and awareness. Also, “intention” was found to be a significant mediating factor for actual usage. ,First, the questionnaire was a “snap-shot” instead of longitudinal study. Second, future research should use other moderating variables that may affect the usage of social media. Also the study could apply a variant of research methods to include other techniques such as interviews, which allow for deeper understanding of the problem and issues. ,Social media represents an important platform for electronic commerce and has one of the most metamorphic impacts on business. Therefore, investigating the usage of s-commerce with reference to important behavioural factors could provide valuable information for companies in establishing policies and strategies. It could also be useful for management studies and researchers in understanding the consumers’ attitude towards usage of social media for commercial purposes. ,S-commerce creates opportunities for firms. Based on findings this research provides insights with major implications for marketers, who would like to generate direct sales on social network platforms. ,Existing literature focusses largely on the effectiveness of social media. Only a handful has endeavoured to analyse s-commerce systems and the literature on consumers’ behaviour in using s-commerce is not mature yet. This study is one of the few studies in this field, and aims to predict and explain the user acceptance of social media for commercial purposes.
Characterization of serotonergic receptors in rabbit, porcine and human conjunctivae

Purpose. To characterize the serotonin (5-HT) receptors linked to the modulation of adenylyl cyclase activity in rabbit, porcine and human conjunctivae. Methods. Serotonin receptor-subtype expression was examined using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and receptor subtype-specific polyclonal antibodies for the immunofluorescent labeling of conjunctival cryosections. In addition, measurements of the effects of serotonergics on the short-circuit current (I sc) across rabbit and porcine conjunctivae were contrasted. Results. RT-PCR assays indicated the expression of 5-HT 1B and 5-HT 1D receptors, subtypes negatively coupled to adenylyl cyclase, in the rabbit conjunctiva. This approach also suggested the co-expression of 5-HT 1B, 5-HT 1D, 5-HT 1F, 5-HT 4 and 5-HT 7 mRNA’s in the porcine conjunctiva, and 5-HT 1D, 5-HT 1F and 5-HT 7 in the human conjunctiva. Since the 5-HT 4 and 5-HT 7 receptors are positively linked to adenylyl cyclase, these results implied that the porcine and human tissues exhibited subtypes both positively and negatively linked to the enzyme. However, immunohistochemical observations, using currently available antibodies solely localized the 5-HT 7 moiety in the porcine and human epithelia, suggested that the 1B/1D forms may be minor elements. Consistent with this prospect, 5-HT was a stimulant of the transepithelial I sc across the porcine conjunctiva, an opposite response from earlier findings that demonstrated inhibitory effects by 5-HT on the rabbit I sc, which are now explained by the localization of the 1B/1D receptors in the rabbit stratified epithelium. Conclusions. The 5-HT receptors expressed by mammalian conjunctivae are not identical. In terms of 5-HT receptor expression, the porcine tissue may be a more appropriate model for human, than is the rabbit, in that 5-HT may serve as a secretagogue in the human epithelium.
Channel-Mediated Tonic GABA Release from Glia

Tonic Inhibition Neuronal inhibition has recently drawn much attention; however, the mechanisms involved in tonic release of and the cellular source of the neurotransmitter involved, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), have been difficult to pin down. Lee et al. (p. 790, published online 23 September) showed that tonic release of GABA in the cerebellum occurs through the Bestrophin 1 anion channel of cerebellar astrocytes and Bergmann glial cells. These results confirm that glia can serve as a source of GABA for tonic inhibition of neurons and provide more evidence for interactions between neurons and glia cells that have implications for our understanding of brain-signaling mechanisms. The neurotransmitter GABA is tonically released from cells through an anion channel with an unusually large pore. Synaptic inhibition is based on both tonic and phasic release of the inhibitory transmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Although phasic GABA release arises from Ca2+-dependent exocytosis from neurons, the mechanism of tonic GABA release is unclear. Here we report that tonic inhibition in the cerebellum is due to GABA being released from glial cells by permeation through the Bestrophin 1 (Best1) anion channel. We demonstrate that GABA directly permeates through Best1 to yield GABA release and that tonic inhibition is eliminated by silencing of Best1. Glial cells express both GABA and Best1, and selective expression of Best1 in glial cells, after preventing general expression of Best1, fully rescues tonic inhibition. Our results identify a molecular mechanism for tonic inhibition and establish a role for interactions between glia and neurons in mediating tonic inhibition.
The caudate nucleus mediates learning of stimulus-control state associations.

A longstanding dichotomy in cognitive psychology and neuroscience pits controlled, top-down driven against associative, bottom-up driven behavior, where cognitive control processes allow us to override well-learned stimulus-response (S-R) associations. By contrast, some recent studies have raised the intriguing possibility of an integration between associative and controlled processing in the form of stimulus-control state (S-C) associations, the learned linkage of specific stimuli to particular control states, such as high attentional selectivity. The neural machinery mediating S-C learning remains poorly understood, however. Here, we combined functional neuroimaging (fMRI) with a recently developed Stroop protocol that allowed us to dissociate reductions in Stroop interference based on S-R learning from those based on S-C learning in humans. We modeled subjects' acquisition of S-C and S-R associations using an associative learning model and then employed trial-by-trial S-C and S-R prediction error (PE) estimates in model-based behavioral and fMRI analyses. We found that PE estimates derived from S-C and S-R associations accounted for the reductions in behavioral Stroop interference effects in the S-C and S-R learning conditions, respectively. Moreover, model-based fMRI analyses identified the caudate nucleus as the key structure involved in selectively updating stimulus-control state associations. Complementary analyses also revealed a greater reliance on parietal cortex when utilizing the learned S-R versus S-C associations to minimize Stroop interference. These results support the emerging view that generalizable control states can become associated with specific bottom-up cues, and they place the caudate nucleus of the dorsal striatum at the center of the neural stimulus-control learning machinery. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent behavioral studies have demonstrated that control states, for instance, heightened attentional selectivity, can become directly associated with - and subsequently retrieved by - particular stimuli, thus breaking down the traditional dichotomy between top-down and bottom-up driven behavior. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this type of stimulus-control learning remain poorly understood. We therefore combined non-invasive human neuroimaging with a task that allowed us to dissociate the acquisition of stimulus-control associations from that of stimulus-response associations. The results revealed the caudate nucleus as the key brain structure involved in selectively driving stimulus-control learning. These data represent the first identification of the neural mechanisms of stimulus-specific control associations, and they significantly extend current conceptions of the type of learning processes mediated by the caudate.