Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mapping QTL for Individual and Total Isoflavone Content in Soybean Seeds

Dietary intake of isoflavones has been shown to reduce the risk of several major diseases in humans. Therefore, breeding soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] seeds with desirable isoflavone content would be beneficial to the food and health industries, but the environmental sensitivity of the trait complicates phenotypic selection. The objective of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) and epistatic interactions associated with isoflavone contents in soybean seeds. A population of 207 F 4:6 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was produced from the cross 'AC756' × 'RCAT Angora'. The population was phenotyped at two locations in Ontario, Canada, and genotyped by means of 99 polymorphic SSR markers. A significant genotype X environment interaction was found. Seventeen QTLs were detected (P < 0.01) by single-factor ANOVA. Individual loci explained up to 10.5% (P < 0.0001) of the phenotypic variation. Interval mapping and composite interval mapping identified nine genomic regions (LGs Al, C2, D1a, F, G, H, J, K, and M) associated with isoflavone contents. Some QTL associated with agronomic or seed quality traits mapped to the same regions as those for individual isoflavone contents on LGs Al, C2, F, J, K, M, and N. Twenty-three epistatic interactions were detected for isoflavones. Multiple locus models explained up to 25.0% (P < 0.0001) of the phenotypic variation without epistasis and up to 35.8% (P < 0.0001) with it. The QTL identified in this study could be useful for developing soybean varieties with desirable isoflavone content in the seed through marker-assisted selection (MAS).
Harnessing remote sensing to address critical science questions on ocean-atmosphere interactions

Earth observing systems have proven to be a unique source of long-term synoptic information on numerous physical, chemical and biological parameters on a global scale. Merging this information for integrated studies that peruse key questions about the ocean-atmosphere interface is, however, very challenging. Such studies require interdisciplinary frameworks and novel insights into ways to address the problem. We present here a perspective review on how current and emerging remote sensing technologies could help address two scientific questions within the Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) science plan: (1) to what extent does upper-ocean biology affect the composition and radiative properties of the marine boundary layer; and (2) to what extent does upper-ocean turbulence drive fluxes of mass and energy at the air-sea interface. We provide a thorough review of how these questions have been addressed and discuss novel potential avenues using multiplatform space-borne missions, from visible to microwave, active and passive sensors.
Revisiting the Formation Rate and the Redshift Distribution of LGRBs

Using a novel approach, the distribution of fluences of long gamma ray bursts derived from the Swift-BAT catalog, was reproduced by a jet-model characterized by the distribution of the total radiated energy in $\gamma$-rays and the distribution of the aperture angle of the emission cone. The best fit between simulated and observed fluence distributions permits to estimate the parameters of the model. An evolution of the median energy of the bursts is required in order to reproduce adequately the observed redshift distribution of the events if the formation rate of $\gamma$-ray bursts follows the cosmic star formation rate. For our preferred model, the median jet energy evolves as $E_J \propto e^{0.5(1+z)}$ and the mean expected jet energy is $3.0\times 10^{49}$ erg, which agrees with the mean value derived from afterglow data. The estimated local formation rate is $R_{grb}=290 Gpc^{-3}yr^{-1}$, representing less than 9% of the local formation rate of type Ibc supernovae. The present result suggests also that the progenitors of long gamma ray bursts have masses $\geq 90 M_\odot$ if a Miller-Scalo initial mass function is assumed.
Hardware in the Loop Real-Time Simulation for the Associated Discrete Circuit Modeling Optimization Method of Power Converters

Due to the complicated circuit topology and high switching frequency, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) can stand up to the challenges for the hardware in the loop (HIL) real-time simulation of power electronics converters. The Associated Discrete Circuit (ADC) modeling method, which has a fixed admittance matrix, greatly reduces the computation cost for FPGA. However, the oscillations introduced by the switch-equivalent model reduces the simulation accuracy. In this paper, firstly, a novel algorithm is proposed to determine the optimal discrete-time switch admittance parameter, Gs, which is obtained by minimizing the switching loss. Secondly, the FPGA resource optimization method, in which the simulation time step, bit-length, and model precision are taken into consideration, is presented when the power electronics converter is implemented in FPGA. Finally, the above method is validated on the topology of a three-phase inverter with LC filters. The HIL simulation and practicality experiments verify the effect of FPGA resource optimization and the validity of the ADC modeling method, respectively.
FLUORIDE-MEDIATED APOPTOSIS AND DISORDERING OF CELL CYCLE DISTRIBUTIONS DURING IN VITRO ORGAN CULTURE OF MOUSE FETAL LONG BONES

Effects of fluoride (as NaF) on cell cycle, DNA content, and apoptosis of mouse fetal long bone cultures were examined and analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM). The results showed that NaF at 2.5–5.0 μg/mL (2.5–5.0 ppm) had only slight effects on the DNA content and cell cycle distributions. At 10.0 μg/mL, however, NaF increased the number of cells in S phase but did not change the frequency of the G0/ G1 and G2/M phase. At 20.0 μg /mL NaF not only increased the number of cells in S phase but also decreased the frequency of the G2/M phase. Cell proliferation was also influenced. At 2.5–10.0 μg/mL NaF did not induce increased apoptosis, but the number of apoptotic cells was significantly increased at 20.0 μg NaF/mL. Therefore F damage to bone may involve promoting apoptosis and disordering cell cycle distributions. Although the differences in DNA content, cell cycle distributions, and apoptosis between controls and the two lower NaF concentrations were not statistically significant, there was evidence of hormesis (paradoxical stimulatory) effects. The results indicate that F exerts a dual influence on osteocytes.
Analysis of a subsidence phenomenon via DInSAR data and geotechnical criteria

Summary The paper discusses, using geotechnical criteria, the potentialities offered by the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) technique to investigate a subsidence phenomenon affecting the urban area of Sarno town (Campania Region, Italy). To this aim, low- and full-resolution data, acquired by ERS-1/2 and Envisat satellites in the period from 1992 to 2004, have been used. In particular, low-resolution DInSAR data, once validated via a comparison with ground levelling data, are analyzed in order to detect the most subsidence-affected areas where damages to buildings were recorded during past surveys. Interesting correlation between the ground deformation gradient vectors and some damage characteristics, such as the direction of building rotation axes, are shown. Then, a preliminary analysis at “building scale” by means of full-resolution DInSAR data is presented in order to study the response of some buildings to ground movements, also deriving the maximum values attained by some relevant parameters to be used in damage criteria. Finally, the usefulness of low- and full-resolution analyses for monitoring of urbanized areas is highlighted by stressing the role that the geotechnical approach can play in DInSAR data validation process as well as in pointing out all the issues to improve the reliability of the obtained results in at “building scale” studies.
An Improved Multipath Key Establishment under REM Attacks in Wireless Sensor Networks

A unconditionally secure message transmission scheme (USMT) is used to address the problem of multi-path key establishment in wireless sensor networks under RevealErase-Modify (REM) attacks. Various analyses demonstrate that, relaxing the integrity condition by allowing a small probability of error without disrupting perfect secrecy and availability as satisfied in our scheme, leads to significant improvements in REM resilient key establishment schemes. However, the introduced integrity error probability affects the protocol regardless of the adversaries’ strategies and cannot be regarded as a point of failure. This randomization in integrity also enhances the security performance of the WSNs employed in hostile environments by improving the tolerable threshold of the key establishment scheme to half of the established paths between two sensor nodes. The proposed algorithm is simulated over a wireless sensor network. The simulation result confirms REM resilience improvement in comparison with previous key establishment protocols. KeywordsMultipath-key Establishment; Reveal-EraseModify Attacks; Wireless Sensor Network Security
Lecture 12 : Adversarial Examples and Misclassification Attacks II

In the last lecture, we started our unit on robustness and security in deep learning, and introduced adversarial examples, slightly perturbed inputs to machine learning models that induce specific types of misbehaviour. Specifically, we talked about constructing adversarial examples by using Projected Gradient Descent (PGD) to solve the maximization problem maxδ∈∆ loss(θ, x + δ, y), where ∆ is an allowable class of perturbations. In this lecture, we will talk about (a) how to still find adversarial examples under more restrictive settings and (b) how to train and formally verify the robustness of deep learning models.
Ubiquitous Comovement

A large literature explores whether asset returns comove in excess of what can be explained by fundamentals, thus suggesting the existence of frictions or behavioral biases. However, we show that comovement is a ubiquitous feature of asset returns that will arise in the presence of latent or mismeasured systematic factors. Therefore, existing empirical tests cannot distinguish between alternate sources of comovement, and several documented interpretations of comovement in favor of particular explanations are premature and warrant reconsideration. We propose new statistical tests of excess comovement that account for latent factors and that exploit additional implications of market efficiency.
Impact of Cosmic-Ray Physics on Dark Matter Indirect Searches

The quest for the elusive dark matter (DM) that permeates the Universe (and in general the search for signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model at astronomical scales) provides a unique opportunity and a tough challenge to the high energy astrophysics community. In particular, the so-called DMindirect searches—mostly focused on a class of theoretically well-motivated DM candidates such as the weakly interacting massive particles—are affected by a complex astrophysical background of cosmic radiation. The understanding and modeling of such background require a deep comprehension of an intricate classical plasma physics problem, i.e., the interaction between high energy charged particles, accelerated in peculiar astrophysical environments, and magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the interstellar medium of our galaxy. In this review we highlight several aspects of this exciting interplay between the most recent claims of DM annihilation/decay signatures from the sky and the galactic cosmic-ray research field. Our purpose is to further stimulate the debate about viable astrophysical explanations, discussing possible directions that would help breaking degeneracy patterns in the interpretation of current data. We eventually aim to emphasize how a deep knowledge on the physics of CR transport is therefore required to tackle the DM indirect search program at present and in the forthcoming years.
TUMOR-LIKE GROWTH OF MOUSE EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS BY YANZHEN LI THESIS

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are derived from preimplantation embryos and are capable of both long-term proliferation (self-renewal) and differentiation into cell types of all three germ layers (pluripotency). The self-renewal and pluripotency of ESCs are sustained by certain essential transcription factors. Intriguingly, the viral transduction of these transcription factors into differentiated adult somatic cells results in reprogramming of the developmental process that the somatic cells have undergone. Consequently, pluripotent cells similar to ESCs, termed induced pluripotent stem cells, can be artificially established from specialized cells. These two types of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have held the promise of providing customized tissue replacements as well as platforms for drug screening since they were first derived from human tissues and embryos. However, the heterogeneous nature of PSC cultures, which may reflect the plasticity of early embryonic cells, hampers the establishment of a definitive and reproducible culture microenvironment. In addition, the induction of PSC differentiation is dependent on random events and generates heterogeneous populations of specialized cells. Furthermore, PSCs, by definition, are able to generate benign tumors called teratomas, which consist of cell types of three germ layers. To prevent the growth of teratomas in therapeutic transplanted tissue replacements, it is necessary to establish techniques for efficiently manipulating cell fate decisions in PSCs and to understand the mechanism responsible for tumorigenesis in the stem cells. To our surprise, the
Self-Medication Practices and its determinants among urban dwellers of Dibrugarh town , Assam

Self medication is a major problem in today’s health care system, especially in country like India. Pharmacists and pharmacy attendants play an important role in fostering self medication among the public. The serious issues concerned with self medication are wastage of resources, microbial resistance, adverse drug reactions etc. Keeping these facts in mind, this study was conducted to assess the self medication practices and its determinants among urban dwellers of Dibrugarh town. A community based cross-sectional study was carried out in Dibrugarh town. The sample size of 260 was taken purposively. The study area was selected randomly and house to house visit was paid. Among the study population, 73.4% were male. Most (34.6%) were in the age group of > 41 years and 35.7% of the study population had attended High school to higher secondary school. Most (33.4%) of the population were belonged to upper middle class families. Prevalence of self medication was found to be 57.6%. Among them fever (10.7%), skin problems (8.4%), gastritis (6.9%) were found to be most common complaints for which they have purchased medicines. Among the study population 42.3% did not have any complaint at all. Among the type of medicines purchased, 18.7% were antipyretic, 15.3% were antihypertensive, 13.3% were analgesics. Reasons given for self medication includes 25% of study population were found it to be not a serious illness, 24% were not willing to approach Doctors, 13.3% were found it to be convenience. The association between the self medication pattern and age of the respondents (P<0.05), religion (P<0.05), type of family (P<0.05), educational status (P<0.05) and occupational status (P<0.05) were found to be statistically significant. The study revealed that self-medication is quite prevalent among urban dwellers belonging to middle and lower income group and majority of them were not aware about side effects that can occur if drugs are taken without doctor’s advice. So, health education and awareness campaign are necessary to avoid complications arising from this faulty practice.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DISTRIBUTION OF EXOTIC BIRD SPECIES IN COMUNIDAD VALENCIANA ( SPAIN )

Biological invasions are being considered as major threats for extant ecological communities, global biodiversity and human economic interests. Since the work of Elton (1958), many studies have dealt with the characteristics of invading species and invasible habitats, their interactions determining the success of an invasive processes (Lodge, 1993; Williamson, 1996). The interest in this subject will probably be still greater in the next decades, as worldwide transport of species is expected to increase in the coming years (Simberloff, 1996) and global change could increase the success of invaders (Dukes & Mooney, 1999). Additionally, Ardeola48(2), 2001, 149-160
MVTN: Multi-View Transformation Network for 3D Shape Recognition

Multi-view projection methods have demonstrated their ability to reach state-of-the-art performance on 3D shape recognition. Those methods learn different ways to aggregate information from multiple views. However, the camera view-points for those views tend to be heuristically set and fixed for all shapes. To circumvent the lack of dynamism of current multi-view methods, we propose to learn those view-points. In particular, we introduce the Multi-View Transformation Network (MVTN) that regresses optimal view-points for 3D shape recognition, building upon advances in differentiable rendering. As a result, MVTN can be trained end-to-end along with any multi-view network for 3D shape classification. We integrate MVTN in a novel adaptive multi-view pipeline that can render either 3D meshes or point clouds. MVTN exhibits clear performance gains in the tasks of 3D shape classification and 3D shape retrieval with-out the need for extra training supervision. In these tasks, MVTN achieves state-of-the-art performance on ModelNet40, ShapeNet Core55, and the most recent and realistic ScanObjectNN dataset (up to 6% improvement). Interestingly, we also show that MVTN can provide network robustness against rotation and occlusion in the 3D domain. The code is available at https://github.com/ajhamdi/MVTN.
Study of the physical properties of selected active objects in the main belt and surrounding regions by broadband photometry

Dynamically different groups of comets and active asteroids with orbits at 2 - 5 a. u. show dust activity in varying degrees and forms. Photometric study and comparison of physical parameters can help to classify mechanisms and nature of the activity for such objects. We present new observations using broadband photometry of 15 active objects in the main asteroid belt and surrounding regions obtained during 2012 – 2016. The study aims to compare the physical properties of main-belt comets (MBCs), quasi-Hilda comets (QHCs), and active asteroids (AAs). The observations were carried out with the 0.7-m telescope of the Kyiv Comet Station, Ukraine, and with the 1.23-m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory, Spain, using BVR broadband filters. Upper limits for the nuclear radii, A f ρ parameters, and color indices were measured. The results of 2012 – 2016 observations suggest that there exist systematic differences in the physical parameters of MBCs and QHCs.
Techniques for Observing Binaries in Other Galaxies

Abstract I present an overview of the techniques used for detecting and following up binaries in nearby galaxies and present the current census of extragalactic binaries, with a focus on eclipsing systems. The motivation for looking in other galaxies is the use of eclipsing binaries as distance indicators and as probes of the most massive stars.
A phase II study on metastatic breast cancer patients treated with weekly vinorelbine with or without trastuzumab according to HER 2 expression : changing the natural history of HER 2-positive disease

A phase II study on metastatic breast cancer patients treated with weekly vinorelbine with or without trastuzumab according to HER2 expression: changing the natural history of HER2-positive disease P. Papaldo, A. Fabi, G. Ferretti*, M. Mottolese, A. M. Cianciulli, B. Di Cocco, M. S. Pino, P. Carlini, S. Di Cosimo, I. Sacchi, I. Sperduti, C. Nardoni & F. Cognetti Division of Medical Oncology A, Regina Elena Cancer Institute; Department of Pathology, Regina Elena Cancer Institute; Department of Clinical Pathology, Cytogenetic Unit; Cardiology Unit, Regina Elena Cancer Institute; Biostatistics Unit, Regina Elena Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy
ARTIFICIAL HINGED-WING BIRD WITH ACTIVE TORSION AND PARTIALLY LINEAR KINEMATICS

An artificial bird is introduced which was developed using two new features in biologically-inspired flight, active torsion and partially linear kinematics. Active torsion rests on well established theoretical predictions in unsteady aerodynamics. The concept of partially linear kinematics is inspired by zoological observations on flying locusts. When the wings flap upwards, the servomotor for the active torsion turns the outer wing from a positive angle of incidence within a short fraction of the flapping period into a negative angle of incidence. Between the turning points the angle of torsion remains constant. Numerical calculations confirm the expected benefits compared to passive torsion.
In vitro evalution of antibiotic resistance of Lactobacillus bulgaricus strains isolated from traditional dairy products

The antimicrobial susceptibility of 20 Lb. bulgaricus isolates from traditional fermented milk-originated was assessed and then determined the ability to transfer antibiotic resistance genes to other bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration of each strain was determined using a standardized dilution method. All the tested strains were found to be susceptible to gentamicin, erythromycin, clindamycin, neomycin, tetracycline, linezolid, chloramphenicol, rifampicin, and quinupristin/dalfopristin, while their susceptibilities to kanamycin, ciprofloxacin, streptomycin, trimethoprim, ampicillin, and vancomycin varied. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to check whether specific antibiotic resistance genes were present in these Lb. bulgaricus. We detected the rpoB, erm(B), aadA, bla, cat and vanX. Finally, a filter mating assay was applied to investigate the transferability of these resistance markers; and we observe no antibiotic resistance transfer between bacteria. This work demonstrates a low risk of lateral transfer of the antibiotic resistance gene of Lb. bulgaricus.
Motion Control for Mobile Robot Navigation Using Machine Learning: a Survey

Moving in complex environments is an essential capability of intelligent mobile robots. Decades of research and engineering have been dedicated to developing sophisticated navigation systems to move mobile robots from one point to another. Despite their overall success, a recently emerging research thrust is devoted to developing machine learning techniques to address the same problem, based in large part on the success of deep learning. However, to date, there has not been much direct comparison between the classical and emerging paradigms to this problem. In this article, we survey recent works that apply machine learning for motion control in mobile robot navigation, within the context of classical navigation systems. The surveyed works are classified into different categories, which delineate the relationship of the learning approaches to classical methods. Based on this classification, we identify common challenges and promising future directions.