Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serine/arginine-rich splicing factors: the bridge linking alternative splicing and cancer

The serine/arginine-rich splicing factors (SRs) belong to the serine arginine-rich protein family, which plays an extremely important role in the splicing process of precursor RNA. The SRs recognize the splicing elements on precursor RNA, then recruit and assemble spliceosome to promote or inhibit the occurrence of splicing events. In tumors, aberrant expression of SRs causes abnormal splicing of RNA, contributing to proliferation, migration and apoptosis resistance of tumor cells. Here, we reviewed the vital role of SRs in various tumors and discussed the promise of analyzing mRNA alternative splicing events in tumor. Further, we highlight the challenges and discussed the perspectives for the identification of new potential targets for cancer therapy via SRs family members.
Responses of Tswana goats to various lengths of water deprivation

The aim of this trial was to determine the water intake of Tswana goats and investigate the effects of short term water deprivation in summer or winter (6000 ml water offered either once every 72 h, 48 h, 24 h or ad libitum) on feed intake, dry matter digestibility, growth rate and health. Goats were fed a diet comprising 60% Cenchrus ciliaris hay and 40% Medicago sativa hay. Feed intake per kg metabolic weight was inversely related to water intake. Body weight gains decreased with longer watering intervals, rectal temperatures were unaffected but respiratory rate, packed cell volume, pulse rate, haemoglogin level and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration was highest with the 72 h watering interval. Feed intake and daily weight gains were higher in winter than summer, but animals drank more water in summer than in winter, and showed more signs of dehydration in summer. Dry matter digestibilities (%) were 66.8, 66.7, 64.2 and 65.2 for water intake intervals of ad lib, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h respectively; digestibilities of organic matter, crude protein and crude fibre followed the same trend. Urine output, faecal output per kg metabolic weight and faecal moisture content decreased with increased length of water deprivation. It was concluded that Tswana goats are well adapted to semi-arid zones and can be watered once in 72 h without severe dehydration.
Modelling the Spread of the Human Papillomavirus on the Cervix

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women. It is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). There are many different types of HPV, some of which are high-risk, highly associated with cancer, and low-risk. While HPV is very common— most sexually active individuals will contract some sexually transmitted HPV infection in their lifetime—most infections are cleared without any complication. However, persistent infections may establish and develop into cancerous lesions. Two vaccines have been developed against the two most high-risk types, and have shown high levels of efficacy thus far. However, infections are still occurring and it is not clear why some individuals develop persistent infections while others do not. In this thesis, we develop a model to describe how the infection spreads within the host. We express the basic reproduction number R0, a threshold for the establishment of an infection. We solve for the diseased equilibrium, providing insight about whether an infection will persist or not. We develop a spatial model to examine how spatiality of the infection process affects the establishment or clearance. Lastly, we develop a multi-type HPV model to examine whether competitive HPV types are able to coexist in the host for different levels of competition. Ultimately, this work provides groundwork for within-host modelling of HPV and can provide direction for future research.
An InVESTIGATIOn OF ThE AnTIOxIDAnT ACTIVITIES AnD SOME PhySICOChEMICAL ChARACTERISTICS OF STRAWBERRy ADDED yOGuRT

the effect of adding strawberry pulp to yogurt on its physicochemical properties, antioxidant activity and sensory characteristics was studied. For this purpose, experimental yogurts were produced by the addition of strawberry pulp (at 8, 12 and 16%) to plain yogurt and analyses were car ried out through 14 days of cold storage. the titratable acidity and viscosity values of yogurts increased with the increasing of strawberry pulp concentration. conversely, the total solid, fat, protein, ash, pH and syneresis values decreased. Antioxidant activity (β-caroten bleaching assay) and Ic 50 (DPPH radical scavenging assay) in yogurts ranged from 77.71 to 86.12%, 205.70 to 2241.09 μg ⁄mL during storage, respectively. For the sensory properties of yogurts, yogurt including 16% of strawberry pulp received the highest overall acceptability score on the first day of storage.
Molecular Characterization of Cotton Genotypes Using PCR-based Markers

The genetic variability and relationships among eleven cotton genotypes (8 G. barbadense and 3 G. hirsutum) were investigated using 15 RAPD, 28 SSR, 17 EST and 11 AFLP primers or primer combinations, which produced 177, 117, 47 and 926 amplicons, respectively. The number of polymorphic amplicons was 112, 65,33 and 355, respectively. Therefore, the level of polymorphism among the eleven genotypes was 63.2, 55.6, 70.2 and 38.3, respectively. The genetic relationships among the 11 cotton genotypes was examined using the Dice coefficient to compute the similarity matrices. UPGMA analysis was performed and dendrograms were constructed. Based on the RAPD, SSR, EST, AFLP and combined data, the genetic similarities ranged from 63.8% to 95.9%, from 13.8% to 98.1%, from 70.4% to 98.5%, from 13.7% to 99.3% and from 78.2% to 98.0%, respectively. All dendrograms clustered the 11 genotypes into two main clusters: one containing the 8 genotypes belonging to Gossypium barbadense and the other one contained the 3 genotypes belonging to Gossypium hirsutum . Four cotton genotypes were characterized by twenty-four positive and/or negative RAPD markers, four genotypes were characterized by nine SSR markers, eight EST markers identified four genotypes, and seven genotypes were identified by thirty nine positive and/or negative AFLP markers. Furthermore, the different marker types permitted the discrimination between the two cotton species (G. hirsutum and G. barbadense) through revealing species-specific markers. , A total of 24 RAPD, 25 SSR, 7 EST and 184 AFLP markers were specific to G. hirsutum . These species specific markers, may be related to the boll weight average and Pressly cotton characters.
Leadership qualities and Personality traits of Higher Secondary School students

Leadership is an activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives. It involves achievement of organizational goals and working with people. Leadership lifts a person’s vision to high sight, raises a person’s performance to a high standard, and builds a personality beyond its normal limitation. The five factors model of personality is a hierarchical organization of personality traits in terms of five basic dimensions: Extraversion, Agreeableness, conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness to experience. Present study was conducted to find the relationship between leadership qualities and personality traits of higher secondary school students. Pearson’s coefficient of correlation was calculated for the variables for the data collected from 603 higher secondary school students of Kerala state. Significant but very low relationship was found between certain personality traits and some leadership qualities. © 2018 Guru Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Stability of Striga gesnerioides resistance mechanism in cowpea under high- infestation level, low soil fertility and drought stresses

Parasitic weed, Striga gesnerioides is a major constraint to cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. ] productivity in West and Central Africa. Efforts are being made to identify major genes that determine the race specific resistances to S. gesnerioides in cowpea and to develop resistant varieties with suitable agricultural traits. However, detailed mechanisms that induce the resistances are unclear and the effects of environmental stresses under the field conditions on the resistance to S. gesnerioides have not been reported. To evaluate the stability of resistance mechanisms to S. gesnerioides race SG3 in cowpea, the effects of high infestation rate and combined environmental stresses on the resistance to S. gesnerioides were investigated. Under high (60,000 germinable seed per pot) infestation rate, no S. gesnerioides attachments were observed on the roots of three resistant genotypes B301, IT97K-499-35 and IT98K-205-8, while susceptible Dan Ila and IT98D-1399 showed a number of attachments even at the lowest infestation rate. Low soil fertility and drought stress could reduce the growth of cowpea. However, these stresses did not alter the resistance of IT97K-499-35 and IT98K-205-8 to S. gesnerioides. Greater growth inhibition was observed in IT98D-1399 under the combination of S. gesnerioides infestation and drought stress compared to Dan Ila which also showed a number of attachments. This suggests that the restricted root development due to S. gesnerioides infection observed in IT98D-1399 may restrict water uptake from the soil, and consequently magnified the effect of drought stress on the host’s productivity. The results obtained indicate that the physiological mechanisms attributable to the resistance to S. gesnerioides race SG3 in cowpea could perform stably under high seed infestation condition, and combined low soil fertility and drought stresses.
Probing the Growth of Massive Black Holes with Black Hole–Host Galaxy Spin Correlations

Supermassive black holes are commonly found at the centers of their host galaxies, but their formation still remains an open question. In light of the tight correlation between the black hole (BH) mass and the velocity dispersions of the bulge component of the host galaxy, a BH–host galaxy coevolution scenario has been established. Such a description, however, still contains many theoretical uncertainties, including puzzles about the formation of BH seeds at high redshifts and the growth channel fueling these seeds. In this work, we systematically analyze the signatures of different growth channels on massive BH (MBH) spins. We show that different growth channels can be partially distinguished with the magnitudes of MBH spins inferred from extreme-mass-ratio inspirals detected by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. In addition, we propose measuring the correlation between the directions of MBH spins and their host galaxy spins, which is possible for extreme-mass-ratio inspirals happening in low-redshift galaxies ( ). With the inclusion of spin direction correlation different formation channels shall be significantly better constrained.
Is GW170817 a multimessenger neutron star-primordial black hole merger?

We investigate the possibility of the gravitational-wave event GW170817 being a light, solar-mass black hole (BH) — neutron star (NS) merger. We explore two exotic scenarios involving primordial black holes (PBH) that could produce such an event, taking into account available observational information on NGC 4993. First, we entertain the possibility of dynamical NS-PBH binary formation where a solar-mass PBH and a NS form a binary through gravitational interaction. We find that while dynamical NS-PBH formation could account for the GW170817 event, the rate is highly dependent on unknown density contrast factors and could potentially be affected by galaxy mergers. We also find that PBH-PBH binaries would likely have a larger merger rate, assuming the density contrast boost factor of an order similar to the NS-PBH case. These exotic merger formations could provide new channels to account for the volumetric rate of compact-object mergers reported by LIGO/Virgo. Secondly, we consider the case where one of the NS's in a binary NS system is imploded by a microscopic PBH. We find that the predicted rate for NS implosion into a BH is very small, at least for the specific environment of NGC 4993. We discuss how our analysis can be applied to similar existing (GW190425 and GW190814) and future observations.
Sexual size dimorphism requires a corresponding sex difference in development time: a meta‐analysis in insects

Summary The degree and direction of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) vary greatly between animal species. At the ontogenetic level, SSD may result from sex differences in birth size, growth rate and/or development time. Nevertheless, evidence concerning proximate causation of SSD is scattered, and the data used to infer ontogenetic determinants of SSD have not always been appropriate for this purpose. I use a comprehensive literature-derived data base of relevant sex-specific traits on 169 species to address the significance of sex differences in larval development time (SDTD) as a proximate source of SSD in insects. In a clear majority of species (79%), SSD and SDTD were qualitatively congruent, that is, the larger sex had also a longer larval development. In strongly size-dimorphic species, the qualitative correspondence between SSD and SDTD was nearly universal. Consistently, in a phylogenetically diverse array of insect clades, SDTD increased with increasing SSD across species. The results indicate that the evolution and maintenance of high SSD values are rarely possible without a prolonged development of the larger sex. The role of sex differences in growth rate as the ontogenetic determinant of SSD in insects requires further studies that should ideally be based on detailed monitoring of larval growth schedules. The increase in SDTD with increasing SSD is consistent with the idea that the widespread phenomenon of protandry (the emergence of male adults before females) may not be selected for per se, but rather may primarily be an incidental by-product of other selection pressures.
The Role of Bacteria Growing on the Root System of the Common Reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steudel) in the Metabolism of Organic Compounds

Some physiological properties and a number of heterotrophic bacteria inhabiting the surface of the root system of the common reed (Phragmites australis [Cav.] Trin. ex Steudel) were studied in two different types of bottom sediments (sandy and silty), and the bacteria were identified. For comparative purposes, samples of the bottom sediments from the sites where the reed grew were subjected to microbiological tests. It was found that the number of bacteria growing on the root system of the common reed and those inhabiting the types of bottom sediments tested increased from spring to summer and then decreased in autumn. On the surface of the rhizomes of the reed growing in silty sediments, a higher number of bacteria was always noted than on the surface of rhizomes growing in sandy sediments. Also, the number of heterotrophic bacteria in samples of bottom sediments was always higher in silty sediments than in sandy sediments. Lipo-, proteo- and amylolytic bacteria and bacteria capable of producing ammonia from organic compounds were dominant among all the isolated strains. The lowest numbers were found of chitinolytic bacteria and those that form hydrogen sulphide from organic compounds. Strains isolated in spring - both from the root system of the plant and from the samples of sediments - were potentially the most active physiologically. As a result of the identification of the isolated bacterial strains, it was found that bacteria from the Arthrobacter-Corynebacterium group and the Achromobacter genus are dominant in the root system of the common reed and in sandy and silty sediments.
Delving into the Adversarial Robustness on Face Recognition

Face recognition has recently made substantial progress and achieved high accuracy on standard benchmarks based on the development of deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, the lack of robustness in deep CNNs to adversarial examples has raised security concerns to enormous face recognition applications. To facilitate a better understanding of the adversarial vulnerability of the existing face recognition models, in this paper we perform comprehensive robustness evaluations, which can be applied as reference for evaluating the robustness of subsequent works on face recognition. We investigate 15 popular face recognition models and evaluate their robustness by using various adversarial attacks as an important surrogate. These evaluations are conducted under diverse adversarial settings, including dodging and impersonation attacks, $\ell_2$ and $\ell_\infty$ attacks, white-box and black-box attacks. We further propose a landmark-guided cutout (LGC) attack method to improve the transferability of adversarial examples for black-box attacks, by considering the special characteristics of face recognition. Based on our evaluations, we draw several important findings, which are crucial for understanding the adversarial robustness and providing insights for future research on face recognition. Code is available at \url{this https URL}.
README: REpresentation learning by fairness-Aware Disentangling MEthod

Fair representation learning aims to encode invariant representation with respect to the protected attribute, such as gender or age. In this paper, we design Fairness-aware Disentangling Variational AutoEncoder (FD-VAE) for fair representation learning. This network disentangles latent space into three subspaces with a decorrelation loss that encourages each subspace to contain independent information: 1) target attribute information, 2) protected attribute information, 3) mutual attribute information. After the representation learning, this disentangled representation is leveraged for fairer downstream classification by excluding the subspace with the protected attribute information. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our model through extensive experiments on CelebA and UTK Face datasets. Our method outperforms the previous state-of-the-art method by large margins in terms of equal opportunity and equalized odds.
Binary Stochastic Filtering: feature selection and beyond

Feature selection is one of the most decisive tools in understanding data and machine learning models. Among other methods, sparsity induced by $L^{1}$ penalty is one of the simplest and best studied approaches to this problem. Although such regularization is frequently used in neural networks to achieve sparsity of weights or unit activations, it is unclear how it can be employed in the feature selection problem. This work aims at extending the neural network with ability to automatically select features by rethinking how the sparsity regularization can be used, namely, by stochastically penalizing feature involvement instead of the layer weights. The proposed method has demonstrated superior efficiency when compared to a few classical methods, achieved with minimal or no computational overhead, and can be directly applied to any existing architecture. Furthermore, the method is easily generalizable for neuron pruning and selection of regions of importance for spectral data.
Importance of Angle-dependent Partial Frequency Redistribution in Hyperfine Structure Transitions Under the Incomplete Paschen–Back Effect Regime

Angle-frequency coupling in scattering of polarized light on atoms is represented by the angle-dependent (AD) partial frequency redistribution (PRD) matrices. There are several lines in the linearly polarized solar spectrum, for which PRD combined with quantum interference between hyperfine structure states play a significant role. Here we present the solution of the polarized line transfer equation including the AD-PRD matrix for scattering on a two-level atom with hyperfine structure splitting and an unpolarized lower level. We account for the effects of arbitrary magnetic fields (including the incomplete Paschen–Back effect regime) and elastic collisions. For exploratory purposes we consider a self-emitting isothermal planar atmosphere and use atomic parameters that represent an isolated Na i D2 line. For this case we show that the AD-PRD effects are significant for field strengths below about 30 G, but that the computationally much less demanding approximation of angle-averaged PRD may be used for stronger fields.
Quantum capacity of bosonic dephasing channel

We study the quantum capacity of continuous variable dephasing channel, which is a notable example of non-Gaussian quantum channel. We prove that a single letter formula applies. We then consider input energy restriction and show that by increasing it, the capacity saturates to a finite value. The optimal input state is found to be diagonal in the Fock basis and with a distribution that is a discrete version of a Gaussian. Relations between its mean/variance and dephasing rate/input energy are put forward. We also show that quantum capacity decays exponentially for large values of dephasing rates.
Secure Distributed Matrix Computation With Discrete Fourier Transform

We consider the problem of secure distributed matrix computation (SDMC), where a <italic>user</italic> queries a function of data matrices generated at distributed <italic>source</italic> nodes. We assume the availability of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> honest but curious computation servers, which are connected to the sources, the user, and each other through orthogonal and reliable communication links. Our goal is to minimize the amount of data that must be transmitted from the sources to the servers, called the <italic>upload cost</italic>, while guaranteeing that no <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T$ </tex-math></inline-formula> colluding servers can learn any information about the source matrices, and the user cannot learn any information beyond the computation result. We first focus on secure distributed matrix multiplication (SDMM), considering two matrices, and propose a novel polynomial coding scheme using the properties of finite field discrete Fourier transform, which achieves an upload cost significantly lower than the existing results in the literature. We then generalize the proposed scheme to include straggler mitigation, and to the multiplication of multiple matrices while keeping the input matrices, the intermediate computation results, as well as the final result secure against any <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T$ </tex-math></inline-formula> colluding servers. We also consider a special case, called computation with own data, where the data matrices used for computation belong to the user. In this case, we drop the security requirement against the user, and show that the proposed scheme achieves the minimal upload cost. We then propose methods for performing other common matrix computations securely on distributed servers, including changing the parameters of secret sharing, matrix transpose, matrix exponentiation, solving a linear system, and matrix inversion, which are then used to show how arbitrary matrix polynomials can be computed securely on distributed servers using the proposed procedure.