Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Partitioning of erythrocytes from spontaneously hypertensive and Wistar-Kyoto rats.

The charge-associated and non-charge-associated (probably lipid-related) surface properties of erythrocytes from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY), from which SHR were originally derived, were studied by cell partitioning in dextran-polyethylene glycol aqueous phase systems. A major difference was found in the surface charge-associated and lipid-related properties of red blood cells from SHR and WKY: the cells from WKY had the higher partition ratio in both charge-sensitive and non-charge-sensitive phases. No difference in partitioning could be found between any two SHR nor between any two WKY. The SHR and WKY erythrocytes showed the same difference when compared with one another even when rats had the same blood pressure. When red blood cells from SHR with different blood pressure were compared, there still was no difference in their surface properties. These results suggest that the differences in both charge-associated and lipid-related surface properties of erythrocytes from SHR and WKY are strain-specific (i.e., genetic) but that there is no correlation, reflected by partitioning, between red blood cell surface properties and the degree of the rats' hypertension.
Information and Knowledge-Intensive Firm: Uncovering Information Flows at Amorim Cork Composites using Social Network Analysis

The Knowledge-Intensive Firm is an abstract concept in the domain of Organizational Theory, albeit some of its features are found in contemporary organizations, whose competitive status relies on the capability to access unique information and to apply knowledge to production. At the Knowledge-Intensive Firm, the generation of new knowledge is enabled through two information stages, namely the access to information and the 'socialization' of information among workers. This paper explores a case study conducted at Amorim Cork Composites, in which several patterns regarding information flows in the social network were identified: (i) information is shared through informal and 'democratic' social relations, regardless of hierarchical ranks, (ii) heterophily patterns are predominant regarding information shared at a departmental level, (iii) local clusters play a significant role in the exchange of information linked to routine tasks, (iv) several external players (e.g. universities, clients) are linked through weak ties to the organization and (v) most part of the information with an economic value is obtained inside the organization itself. The findings can be useful to compare with other information studies conducted at an organizational level.
An analytical approach to sound field reproduction with a movable sweet spot using circular distributions of loudspeakers

Sound field reproduction methods like higher order Ambisonics which are based on orthogonal expansions always introduce a limitation of the spatial bandwidth of the secondary source driving function. This spatial truncation creates a sweet spot in the center of the secondary source distribution. This spot, or rather area, is “sweet” both in terms of spatial aliasing artifacts as well as in terms of accuracy of the desired component of the reproduced wave field. The higher the temporal frequency of the reproduced wave field the smaller is the sweet spot. In this paper we show that the location sweet spot can be moved freely inside the secondary source distribution. The accuracy of the actual reproduced wave field is then significantly higher in the sweet spot than in the same region in the conventional approach.
Sextant: Towards Ubiquitous Indoor Localization Service by Photo-Taking of the Environment

Mainstream indoor localization technologies rely on RF signatures that require extensive human efforts to measure and periodically recalibrate signatures. The progress to ubiquitous localization remains slow. In this study, we explore Sextant, an alternative approach that leverages environmental reference objects such as store logos. A user uses a smartphone to obtain relative position measurements to such static reference objects for the system to triangulate the user location. Sextant leverages image matching algorithms to automatically identify the chosen reference objects by photo-taking, and we propose two methods to systematically address image matching mistakes that cause large localization errors. We formulate the benchmark image selection problem, prove its NP-completeness, and propose a heuristic algorithm to solve it. We also propose a couple of geographical constraints to further infer unknown reference objects. To enable fast deployment, we propose a lightweight site survey method for service providers to quickly estimate the coordinates of reference objects. Extensive experiments have shown that Sextant prototype achieves 2-5 m accuracy at 80-percentile, comparable to the industry state-of-the-art, while covering a 150 x 75 m mall and 300 x 200m train station requires a one time investment of only 2-3 man-hours from service providers.
Volume Leases for Consistency in Large-Scale Systems

This article introduces volume leases as a mechanism for providing server-driven cache consistency for large-scale, geographically distributed networks. Volume leases retain the good performance, fault tolerance, and server scalability of the semantically weaker client-driven protocols that are now used on the Web. Volume leases are a variation of object leases, which were originally designed for distributed file systems. However, whereas traditional object leases amortize overheads over long lease periods, volume leases exploit spatial locality to amortize overheads across multiple objects in a volume. This approach allows systems to maintain good write performance even in the presence of failures. Using trace-driven simulation, we compare three volume lease algorithms against four existing cache consistency algorithms and show that our new algorithms provide strong consistency while maintaining scalability and fault-tolerance. For a trace-based workload of Web accesses, we find that volumes can reduce message traffic at servers by 40 percent compared to a standard lease algorithm, and that volumes can considerably reduce the peak load at servers when popular objects are modified.
Safety and Feasibility of Catheter-Based Local Intracoronary Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene Transfer in the Prevention of Postangioplasty and In-Stent Restenosis and in the Treatment of Chronic Myocardial Ischemia: Phase II Results of the Kuopio Angiogenesis Trial (KAT)

Background—Catheter-based intracoronary vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene transfer is a potential treatment for coronary heart disease. However, only limited data are available about local VEGF gene transfer given during angioplasty (PTCA) and stenting. Methods and Results—Patients with coronary heart disease (n=103; Canadian Cardiovascular Society class II to III; mean age, 58±6 years) were recruited in this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind phase II study. PTCA was performed with standard methods, followed by gene transfer with a perfusion-infusion catheter. Ninety percent of the patients were given stents; 37 patients received VEGF adenovirus (VEGF-Adv, 2×1010 pfu), 28 patients received VEGF plasmid liposome (VEGF-P/L; 2000 &mgr;g of DNA with 2000 &mgr;L of DOTMA:DOPE [1:1 wt/wt]), and 38 control patients received Ringer’s lactate. Follow-up time was 6 months. Gene transfer to coronary arteries was feasible and well tolerated. The overall clinical restenosis rate was 6%. In quantitative coronary angiography analysis, the minimal lumen diameter and percent of diameter stenosis did not significantly differ between the study groups. However, myocardial perfusion showed a significant improvement in the VEGF-Adv-treated patients after the 6-month follow-up. Some inflammatory responses were transiently present in the VEGF-Adv group, but no increases were detected in the incidences of serious adverse events in any of the study groups. Conclusions—Gene transfer with VEGF-Adv or VEGF-P/L during PTCA and stenting shows that (1) intracoronary gene transfer can be performed safely (no major gene transfer-related adverse effects were detected), (2) no differences in clinical restenosis rate or minimal lumen diameter were present after the 6-month follow-up, and (3) a significant increase was detected in myocardial perfusion in the VEGF-Adv-treated patients.
Objective Quality and Intelligibility Prediction for Users of Assistive Listening Devices: Advantages and limitations of existing tools

This article presents an overview of 12 existing objective speech quality and intelligibility prediction tools. Two classes of algorithms are presented? intrusive and nonintrusive? with the former requiring the use of a reference signal, while the latter does not. Investigated metrics include both those developed for normal hearing (NH) listeners, as well as those tailored particularly for hearing impaired (HI) listeners who are users of assistive listening devices [i.e., hearing aids (HAs) and cochlear implants (CIs)]. Representative examples of those optimized for HI listeners include the speech-to-reverberation modulation energy ratio (SRMR), tailored to HAs (SRMR-HA) and to CIs (SRMR-CI); the modulation spectrum area (ModA); the HA speech quality (HASQI) and perception indices (HASPI); and the perception-model-based quality prediction method for hearing impairments (PEMO-Q-HI). The objective metrics are tested on three subjectively rated speech data sets covering reverberation-alone, noise-alone, and reverberation-plus-noise degradation conditions, as well as degradations resultant from nonlinear frequency compression and different speech enhancement strategies. The advantages and limitations of each measure are highlighted and recommendations are given for suggested uses of the different tools under specific environmental and processing conditions.
Joint frequency and phasor estimation in unbalanced three-phase power systems

The problem of joint off-nominal frequency and phasor estimation in an unbalanced three-phase power system using a phasor measurement unit (PMU) is considered. Voltage unbalance arises when magnitudes are different from each other or when phases are unequally spaced. A general model for the zero, positive, and negative sequences from a PMU measurement at off-nominal frequencies is presented. Then, the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator is developed under an unbalanced condition for joint symmetrical components phasors and frequency estimation. Finally, a low complexity technique is developed for the estimation of frequency deviation based a new autoregressive (AR) representation of the innovation process for the symmetrical component.
A new Lower Cretaceous bird from China and tooth reduction in early avian evolution

A new avian genus and species, Zhongjianornis yangi gen. et sp. nov., is reported from the Lower Cretaceous lacustrine deposits of the Jiufotang Formation in Liaoning, northeast China. The new taxon is characterized by possessing the following combination of features: upper and lower jaws toothless, snout pointed, humerus with large and robust deltopectoral crest, second phalanx of the major manual digit longer than the first phalanx, unguals of the alular and major digits of similar length and significantly shorter than the corresponding penultimate phalanges, tibiotarsus slender and more than twice the length of the tarsometatarsus, and metatarsal IV longer than the other metatarsals. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Zhongjianornis is phylogenetically basal to Confuciusornis and the dominant Mesozoic avian groups, Enantiornithes and Ornithurae, and therefore provides significant new information regarding the diversification of birds in the Early Cretaceous. It also represents the most basal bird that completely lacks teeth, suggesting that tooth loss was more common than expected in early avian evolution and that the avian beak appeared independently in several avian lineages, most probably as a response to selective pressure for weight reduction. Finally, the presence of a significantly enlarged humeral deltopectoral crest suggests that Zhongjianornis shares with other basal birds such as Jeholornis, Sapeornis and Confuciusornis a distinctive mode of adaptation for flight contrasting with that seen in more advanced birds, which instead possess an elongated sternum and a prominent keel.
Identification of the Transcription Factor Znc1p, which Regulates the Yeast-to-Hypha Transition in the Dimorphic Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica

The dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is used as a model to study fungal differentiation because it grows as yeast-like cells or forms hyphal cells in response to changes in environmental conditions. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of a gene, ZNC1, involved in the dimorphic transition in Y. lipolytica. The ZNC1 gene encodes a 782 amino acid protein that contains a Zn(II)2C6 fungal-type zinc finger DNA-binding domain and a leucine zipper domain. ZNC1 transcription is elevated during yeast growth and decreases during the formation of mycelium. Cells in which ZNC1 has been deleted show increased hyphal cell formation. Znc1p-GFP localizes to the nucleus, but mutations within the leucine zipper domain of Znc1p, and to a lesser extent within the Zn(II)2C6 domain, result in a mislocalization of Znc1p to the cytoplasm. Microarrays comparing gene expression between znc1::URA3 and wild-type cells during both exponential growth and the induction of the yeast-to-hypha transition revealed 1,214 genes whose expression was changed by 2-fold or more under at least one of the conditions analyzed. Our results suggest that Znc1p acts as a transcription factor repressing hyphal cell formation and functions as part of a complex network regulating mycelial growth in Y. lipolytica.
Pharmacological characterization of calcium currents and synaptic transmission between thalamic neurons in vitro

We recorded from pairs of cultured, synaptically connected thalamic neurons. Evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) reversed at +17 mV and were blocked reversibly by 1 mM kynurenic acid, a glutamate receptor antagonist. NMDA and non-NMDA receptors mediated excitatory post-synaptic responses, as shown by selective block of EPSC components with 50 microM (+/-)-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid and 10 microM 6,7-dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione, respectively. Inhibitory postsynaptic responses were evoked less frequently and were blocked by the GABAA receptor antagonist (-)-bicuculline methochloride. The pharmacological profiles of whole-cell calcium currents and evoked EPSCs were compared. With 50 microM cadmium chloride (Cd), whole-cell low voltage-activated (LVA) calcium currents were reduced in amplitude and high voltage- activated (HVA) calcium currents and excitatory synaptic transmission were completely blocked. This suggests that the residual calcium influx through LVA channels into the presynaptic terminal does not suffice to trigger transmitter release. A saturating concentration of omega- conotoxin GVIA (omega-CgTx) (2.5 microM) blocked one-third of whole- cell HVA calcium currents and evoked EPSCs. The dihydropyridine nifedipine (50 microM) reversibly reduced whole-cell HVA calcium currents in a voltage-dependent manner but not excitatory synaptic transmission. Cd and omega-CgTx did not alter amplitude distributions of miniature EPSCs, demonstrating that the inhibition of synaptic transmission was due to block of presynaptic calcium channels. We conclude that excitatory glutamatergic transmission in thalamic neurons in vitro was mediated mainly by HVA calcium currents, which were insensitive to omega-CgTx and nifedipine.
Intermittent scan chain fault diagnosis based on signal probability analysis

A new algorithm to diagnose intermittent scan chain fault in scan-based designs is proposed in this paper. An intermittent scan chain fault sometimes is triggered and sometimes is not triggered during scan chain shifting, which makes it very difficult to locate the fault sites. In this paper, we provide answers to three questions: (1) Why intermittent scan chain faults happen? (2) Why diagnosis of this type of faults is necessary? (3) How to diagnose this type of faults? The experimental results presented demonstrate that the proposed diagnosis algorithm is effective for large industrial designs with multiple intermittent scan chain faults.
Writer Identification in Noisy Handwritten Documents

Identifying the writer of a handwritten document based on visual features is difficult, as evidenced by the limited number of subject matter experts proficient in forensic document analysis. Automating writer identification would be beneficial for such experts' workloads. Academic work in identifying writers has focused on clean benchmark datasets: plain white documents with uniform writing instruments. Solutions on this type of data have achieved hitin-top-10 accuracy rates reaching upwards of 98%. Unfortunately, transferring competitive techniques to handwritten documents with noise is nontrivial. This work highlights efforts in unconstrained writer identification in diverse conditions, including but not limited to lined and graph paper, coffee stains, stamps, and different writing implements. The proposed methodology blends both deep learning and traditional computer vision approaches, exploring deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for denoising in conjunction with hand-crafted descriptor features. Our identification algorithms are trained on existing clean datasets artificially augmented with noise, and we evaluate them on a commissioned dataset, which features a diverse but balanced set of writers, writing implements, and writing substrates (incorporating various types of noise). Experimenting with mixtures of segmentation methods, novel denoisers, specialized CNNs, and handcrafted features, we exceed the state of the art in writer identification of noisy handwritten documents by over 10%.
DISCO-An HPSG-based NLP System and its Application for Appointment Scheduling Project Note

The natural language system DISC() is described. It combines a powerful and flexible grammar development system; • linguistic competence for German including morphology, syntax and semantics; • new metlmds for linguistic performance modelling on the basis of high-level competence grammars; • new methods for modelling multi-agent dialogue competence; • an interesting sample application for appointment scheduling and calendar management.
Temperature‐Insensitive Large Strain of (Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3–(Bi1/2K1/2)TiO3–(K0.5Na0.5)NbO3 Lead‐Free Piezoceramics

The effect of (K0.5Na0.5)NbO3 (KNN) addition on the ferroelectric behavior of (Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3–(Bi1/2K1/2)TiO3 (BNT–BKT) lead-free piezoceramics was investigated. Polarization and strain hysteresis loops indicate that the ferroelectric order is disrupted significantly with the addition of KNN as a replacement for BNT and the destabilization of the ferroelectric order is accompanied by an enhancement of the unipolar strain, which peaks at a value of ∼0.48% (corresponding to a large signal d33 of ∼600 pm/V) at 1 mol% KNN content. This strain was analyzed as derived from an electrostrictive effect at lower electric fields and a converse piezoelectric effect at higher electric fields. By limiting the electric driving field to exclude the contribution from the converse piezoelectric effect, a temperature-insensitive large-field d33 of ∼250 pm/V up to 200°C was achieved.
Efficiently Detecting Inclusion Dependencies

Data sources for data integration often come with spurious schema definitions such as undefined foreign key constraints. Such metadata are important for querying the database and for database integration. We present our algorithm SPIDER (single pass inclusion dependency recognition) for detecting inclusion dependencies, as these are the automatically testable part of a foreign key constraint. For IND detection all pairs of attributes must be tested. SPIDER solves this task very efficiently by testing all attribute pairs in parallel. It analyzes a 2 GB database in ~ 20 min and a 21 GB database in ~ 4 h.
Movie Attendance Prediction

online reviews and rating a movie is a very popular way to obtain information about movies. An online data set of reviews of the movies was taken from IMDB site. This paper uses two models to predict movie theatre capacity for the weekly released movies. The diffusion model, Sawhney and Eliashberg (1996) model predicts the capacity of movie theatre through time-to-decide and time-to-act parameters. The Hierarchical Bayes model consists of three models which are regression model, standard logit model and nested logit model and their efficiency is explained with detail. Finally, these two models are compared and their accuracy is determined.
The Conchal Flap: An Adjunct in Otoplasty

When the protruding ear is caused in whole or in part by an enlarged or abnormally angulated concha, the conchal setback is a recognized technique in corrective surgery. The authors describe a modification of this procedure in which a posterior flap of cartilage, based laterally adjacent to the antihelix, is elevated and sutured to the mastoid process. This maneuver serves to bring the concha closer to the scalp and thus reduces the protrusion. The residual deformity in the conchal bowl, resulting from the development of this cartilage flap, is negligible. The authors stress the need for correct analysis of the original deformity and usually employ this maneuver in conjunction with a suture technique for creating or accentuating a poorly defined antihelix.
Analysis of the EIAV Rev-Responsive Element (RRE) Reveals a Conserved RNA Motif Required for High Affinity Rev Binding in Both HIV-1 and EIAV

A cis-acting RNA regulatory element, the Rev-responsive element (RRE), has essential roles in replication of lentiviruses, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) and equine infection anemia virus (EIAV). The RRE binds the viral trans-acting regulatory protein, Rev, to mediate nucleocytoplasmic transport of incompletely spliced mRNAs encoding viral structural genes and genomic RNA. Because of its potential as a clinical target, RRE-Rev interactions have been well studied in HIV-1; however, detailed molecular structures of Rev-RRE complexes in other lentiviruses are still lacking. In this study, we investigate the secondary structure of the EIAV RRE and interrogate regulatory protein-RNA interactions in EIAV Rev-RRE complexes. Computational prediction and detailed chemical probing and footprinting experiments were used to determine the RNA secondary structure of EIAV RRE-1, a 555 nt region that provides RRE function in vivo. Chemical probing experiments confirmed the presence of several predicted loop and stem-loop structures, which are conserved among 140 EIAV sequence variants. Footprinting experiments revealed that Rev binding induces significant structural rearrangement in two conserved domains characterized by stable stem-loop structures. Rev binding region-1 (RBR-1) corresponds to a genetically-defined Rev binding region that overlaps exon 1 of the EIAV rev gene and contains an exonic splicing enhancer (ESE). RBR-2, characterized for the first time in this study, is required for high affinity binding of EIAV Rev to the RRE. RBR-2 contains an RNA structural motif that is also found within the high affinity Rev binding site in HIV-1 (stem-loop IIB), and within or near mapped RRE regions of four additional lentiviruses. The powerful integration of computational and experimental approaches in this study has generated a validated RNA secondary structure for the EIAV RRE and provided provocative evidence that high affinity Rev binding sites of HIV-1 and EIAV share a conserved RNA structural motif. The presence of this motif in phylogenetically divergent lentiviruses suggests that it may play a role in highly conserved interactions that could be targeted in novel anti-lentiviral therapies.