Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sporn-( 4-Hydroxyphenyl ) retinamide N by Prevention of Primary Prostate Cancer in Lobund-Wistar Rats

We report for the first time that a synthetic retinoid, /V-(4-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide, can prevent the development of both primary and metastatic tumors in an animal model of metastasizing primary prostate cancer. Prostatic adenocarcinornas were induced in high incidence in Lobund-Wistar rats by initiation with methylnitrosourea i.v. and pro motion with testosterone. Feeding of Ar-(4-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide to these rats during the latency period markedly diminished the linai incidence of both primary and metastatic prostate carcinomas.
Reinforcement Learning in Markovian and Non-markovian Environments

This work addresses three problems with reinforcement learning and adap-tive neuro-control: 1. Non-Markovian interfaces between learner and environment. 2. On-line learning based on system realization. 3. Vector-valued adaptive critics. An algorithm is described which is based on system realization and on two interacting fully recurrent continually running networks which may learn in parallel. Problems with parallel learning are attacked byàdaptive randomness'. It is also described how interacting model/controller systems can be combined with vector-valuedàdaptive critics' (previous critics have been scalar).
Structure and Forcing of Observed Exchanges across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and associated poleward heat transport are balanced by northern heat loss to the atmosphere and corresponding water-mass transformation. The circulation of northward-flowing Atlantic Water at the surface and returning overflow water at depth is particularly manifested—and observed—at the Greenland–Scotland Ridge where the water masses are guided through narrow straits. There is, however, a rich variability in the exchange of water masses across the ridge on all time scales. Focusing on seasonal and interannual time scales, and particularly the gateways of the Denmark Strait and between the Faroe Islands and Shetland, we specifically assess to what extent the exchanges of water masses across the Greenland–Scotland Ridge relate to wind forcing. On seasonal time scales, the variance explained of the observed exchanges can largely be related to large-scale wind patterns, and a conceptual model shows how this wind forcing can manifest via a barotropic, cyclonic circulation. On interannual time scales, the wind stress impact is less direct as baroclinic mechanisms gain importance and observations indicate a shift in the overflows from being more barotropically to more baroclinically forced during the observation period. Overall, the observed Greenland–Scotland Ridge exchanges reflect a horizontal (cyclonic) circulation on seasonal time scales, while the interannual variability more represents an overturning circulation.
Body tracking and motion analysis using hybrid model

In this paper we present a new approach for tracking movements of human body in dynamic scenes. The body is characterized by a set of points of interest (PI) issued from Harris corner detector where every one is characterized by its local appearance and its position in each frame of the video sequence. Tracking is achieved by template matching between PI in a pair of consecutive frames in the sequence and is based on various distance calculation criteria. Movement analysis is made by an intelligent decision-making tool based on least squares method, able to estimate direction and orientation of body motion.
Differential MicroRNA Expression in Human Macrophages with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection of Beijing/W and Non-Beijing/W Strain Types

Objectives The role of microRNAs in association with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection and the immunology regulated by microRNAs upon MTB infection have not been fully unravelled. We examined the microRNA profiles of THP-1 macrophages upon the MTB infection of Beijing/W and non-Beijing/W clinical strains. We also studied the microRNA profiles of the host macrophages by microarray in a small cohort with active MTB disease, latent infection (LTBI), and from healthy controls. Results The results revealed that 14 microRNAs differentiated infections of Beijing/W from non-Beijing/W strains (P<0.05). A unique signature of 11 microRNAs in human macrophages was identified to differentiate active MTB disease from LTBI and healthy controls. Pathway analyses of these differentially expressed miRNAs suggest that the immune-regulatory interactions involving TGF-β signalling pathway take part in the dysregulation of critical TB processes in the macrophages, resulting in active expression of both cell communication and signalling transduction systems. Conclusion We showed for the first time that the Beijing/W TB strains repressed a number of miRNAs expressions which may reflect their virulence characteristics in altering the host response. The unique signatures of 11 microRNAs may deserve further evaluation as candidates for biomarkers in the diagnosis of MTB and Beijing/W infections.
The Monitoring and Information Management System of Pig Breeding Process Based on Internet of Things

In order to achieve the monitoring and information management of pig breeding process, this paper analyzes the production process of pig breeding and the key points affecting the pork quality, and adopts RFID technology to identify retrospective coding, and establishes many levels pig breeding management system of the whole quality tracing and breeding process monitoring to provide an information exchange platform for producers and quality control departments and consumers. System integration interfaces actualize the data and business integration of breeding information management system and enterprise resource planning system to help the visualization and digital management of the pig breeding and quality traceability. The application of the system improves the production efficiency and reduces the cost of breeding and ensures the pig health of growth process and enhances the quality of pork and pork products from the sources and provides the basic data support for pork quality retrospective.
Foreground Object Extraction Using Variation of Blurs Based on Camera Focusing

Image foreground object extraction is still challenging yet interesting topic in visual computing area. This paper proposes foreground extraction method based on one of the basic camera functions, focusing. A focus point and variation of blurs are extracted based on focusing, and these can be essential information to extract the foreground image. A focus point shows the rough position of the foreground, and variation of blurs becomes a distinctive image feature to segment foreground and background. The major contributions of this paper are developing a framework to extract a foreground object based on a camera function, and estimating the blur with the matching position between images using SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform). SIFT is able to detect and describe image features which are invariant to scale, rotation and luminance changing. Moreover, scale-space extrema in SIFT can be used to estimate the variation of blurs. This is shown experimentally. Proposed foreground extraction is conducted in three steps. First, sparse variation of blurs between images is computed using SIFT. Next, the sparse variation of blurs is propagated using EAI (Edge Aware Interpolation) and a full variation of blur map is generated. Finally, foreground object extraction is obtained by Graph Cut algorithm using a focus point as a constraint of the object. Experimental evaluation result shows improvement in performance of foreground object extraction using variation of blurs.
Mesoscale river restoration enhances the diversity of floodplain vegetation

Effective river restoration aims for the recovery of ecosystem functions by restoring processes and connectivity to the floodplain. At the straightened lowland river Stör in northern Germany, a sequence of 15 new meanders was created in 2008, with wavelengths up to 70 m. The newly created areas within the meander bends range in size from 215 to 1,115 m2 and function as a series of 15 restored floodplain sites, which are subject to succession. After 7 years of restoration measures, we investigated the vegetation dynamics on the (a) restored floodplains and compared them with adjacent floodplain sites that were used as (b) low‐intensity grazed grassland or as (c) abandoned grassland. We analysed the species diversity, functional vegetation parameters, and plant communities of 200 plots within the floodplain area of the three floodplain types and of 246 plots at their river banks.
Fast Recursive DCT-LMS Speech enhancement For Performance Enhancement Of Digital Hearing Aid

Hearing impairment is the number one chronic disability-affecting people in the world. Background noise is particularly damaging to speech intelligibility for people with hearing loss especially for sensorineural loss patients. Several investigations on speech intelligibility have demonstrated that sensorineural loss patients need 5-15 dB higher Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) than the normal hearing subjects. This paper describes Fast Recursive Discrete Cosine Transform Power Normalized Least Mean Square (simply DCTLMS) algorithm to improve the SNR and to reduce the convergence rate of the Least Means Square (LMS) for sensorineural loss patients. The Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) has good orthonormal, separable, and energy compaction property. Although the DCT does not separate frequencies, it is a powerful signal decorrelator. It is a real valued function and thus can be effectively used in real-time operation. The advantages of DCT-LMS as compared to standard LMS algorithm are shown via SNR and eigenvalue ratio computations. The computer simulations results show superior convergence characteristics of the proposed algorithm and faster convergence speed and better time and frequency characteristics. In this work we have used fast recursive DCT to reduce the number of multiplications and additions.
Asymmetrical distribution of Distichopora violacea (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) in four Maldivian atolls

Abstract Stylasterids belong to one of the few calcifying hydroid families that are commonly found in shallow tropical coral reefs. Although these corals are accurately described from a taxonomic point of view, information about their ecology is scarce. Distichopora violacea is one of the most common stylasterids of the Indo-Pacific region; however, no information is yet available on its distribution and abundance. To fill this gap data we gathered data during three scientific expeditions on four Maldivian atolls. In each atoll investigations were carried out at three depths, both in the ocean and in the lagoon reef, to examine differences in colony density and distribution. Distichopora violacea was observed in all the studied atolls; however, its distribution and density were not homogeneous among them. This species was more abundant in the ocean reefs than in the lagoon ones, suggesting a strong influence of water movement. Moreover, we found a high variability in colony density in the eastern ocean reefs that was tentatively attributed to a different topography of the reef: colonies were more abundant on the gentle slopes of Malè atolls than on the steep reefs of Felidhoo. Oceanographic features, mainly due to the seasonal monsoons, are likely to interact with the biological requirements of the species in determining the observed asymmetrical geographical distribution. The present investigation provides new insights on the stylasterid D. violacea and, for the first time, quantitative data on its distribution and density that can be useful for conservation and management of this CITES regulated species.
Serum CA 12‐5 concentrations and CA 12‐5/CEA ratios in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

In attempts to increase the specificity of the CA 12‐5 test the ratio of CA 12‐5 and CEA concentrations has been determined in 155 cancer patients, all of whom had an increased serum CA 12‐5. The patients included 47 with epithelial ovarian cancer, 38 with colorectal cancer, 24 with cervical cancer, 20 with lung cancer, 17 with gastric cancer, and 9 with pancreatic cancer. The CA 12‐5/CEA ratio in serum of patients with ovarian cancer ranged from 30 to 920 (mean 251), whereas in other types of cancer the highest ratio was 240 and the mean was 13. All 47 patients with ovarian cancer, but only 7 of the 108 patients with other types of cancer, showed a CA 12‐5/CEA ratio greater than 25. About 10% of the patients with gastric or colorectal cancer but none of those with other types of cancer showed an increased ratio. As the predictive value of a CA 12‐/CEA ratio of less than 25 excluding ovarian cancer is 100%, we recommend measuring the CEA concentration in all those with increased CA 12‐5 and calculation of the CA 12‐5/CEA ratio.
On Fractional Moments of Multilook Polarimetric Whitening Filter for Polarimetric SAR Data

Many multivariate statistical distributions have been derived using the well-known product model to stochastically model polSAR data. One important factor in their utilization is the estimation of their texture parameters. Recently, it has been shown that the method of matrix log cumulants (MoMLC) for multilook PolSAR statistical distributions results in estimators with low bias and variance properties. This method is becoming increasingly popular and can be regarded as state of the art. However, some distributions (e.g., G distribution) do not have closed-form MLC expressions, making the application of MoMLC a challenge. It is therefore desirable to have alternative parameter estimation methods. In this paper, we propose a new estimation method based on fractional moments of the multilook polarimetric whitening filter (MPWF). This results in estimators with mean square error that is even lower than the MoMLC-based estimators. In addition, the mathematical expressions of the estimators are computationally less complicated than MoMLC-based estimators. The proposed estimators can be easily derived for all commonly occurring multilook PolSAR distributions but have been only given for G, K, and G0 distributions in this paper. Comparisons are made with other known estimators for these distributions using simulated and real PolSAR data. For real data, formal goodness-of-fit testing, which is based on MLCs, has been used to assess the fitting accuracy of G, K, and G0 models using different estimators.
The Projector: An Interactive Annotation Projection Visualization Tool

Previous works proposed annotation projection in parallel corpora to inexpensively generate treebanks or propbanks for new languages. In this approach, linguistic annotation is automatically transferred from a resource-rich source language (SL) to translations in a target language (TL). However, annotation projection may be adversely affected by translational divergences between specific language pairs. For this reason, previous work often required careful qualitative analysis of projectability of specific annotation in order to define strategies to address quality and coverage issues. In this demonstration, we present THE PROJECTOR, an interactive GUI designed to assist researchers in such analysis: it allows users to execute and visually inspect annotation projection in a range of different settings. We give an overview of the GUI, discuss use cases and illustrate how the tool can facilitate discussions with the research community.
Biochemical Methane Potential of Food Wastes from Akouedo Landfill, Côte d’Ivoire

The determination of biochemical methane potential (BMP) is very important for the valorization of food wastes. This study is focused on the evaluation of the theoretical methane production from chemical oxygen demand (COD) of some food wastes, coming out Akouedo landfill. Almost all of the considered samples exhibited methane theoretical yields equal to about 402.5 - 507.8 mLCH4/gVS. These results indicate the suitability of all the studied food wastes from Akouedo landfill to be converted into energy.
Quantifying the impacts of climate change on water resources in northern Tuscany, Italy, using high‐resolution regional projections

This paper investigates the potential impacts of climate change on water resources in northern Tuscany, Italy. A continuous hydrological model for each of the seven river basins within the study area was calibrated using historical data. The models were then driven by downscaled and bias‐corrected climate projections of an ensemble of 13 regional climate models (RCMs), under two different scenarios of representative concentration pathway (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The impacts were examined at medium term (2031–2040) and long term (2051–2060) in comparison with a reference period (2003–2012); the changes in rainfall, streamflow, and groundwater recharge were investigated. A high degree of uncertainty characterized the results with a significant intermodel variability, the period being equal. For the sake of brevity, only the results for the Serchio River basin were presented in detail. According to the RCM ensemble mean and the RCP4.5, a moderate decrease in rainfall, with reference to 2003–2012, is expected at medium term (−0.6%) and long term (−2.8%). Due to the warming of the study area, the reduction in the streamflow volume is two times the precipitation decrease (−1.1% and −6.8% at medium and long term, respectively). The groundwater recharge is mainly affected by the changes in climate with expected percolation volume variations of −3.3% at 2031–2040 and −8.1% at 2051–2060. The impacts on the Serchio River basin water resources are less significant under the RCP8.5 scenario. The presence of artificial structures, such as dam‐reservoir systems, can contribute to mitigate the effects of climate change on water resources through the implementation of appropriate regulation strategies.
Responses of marine carbonate system to warming and sea-ice retreat in the pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean has experienced tremendous change in recent years. To evaluate temporal and spatial variations of this ocean’s marine carbonate system, a rigorous evaluation of the quality and internal consistency of field data and the applicability of existing thermodynamic constants is needed. This work represents such an effort. Using data collected during the Chinese Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE) cruise of summer 2010, we compared underway measurements of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) to pCO2 values calculated from bottle measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TAlk) and seven sets of dissociation constants. Overall, excluding consideration of the areas of active sea ice melt, we found that underway measured pCO2 agreed best with pCO2 values calculated using the carbonic acid dissociation constants of Mehrbach (mean difference of 1.5 μatm ± standard deviation of 5.7 μatm) or the constants of Lueker (2.3 ± 5.4 μatm). The data covered a temperature range of –1.5 to 10.5 °C and a salinity range of 25.8 to 33.1. In addition, the differences between the underway measurements of pCO2 and calculated pCO2 values were positively related to temperature and salinity, showing calculated values of pCO2 higher than measured values in the high temperature Bering Sea, while lower in the cold Canada Basin. The low Arctic temperatures fall outside the range of conditions used for experimental determinations of these constants. It was estimated that calculated pCO2 was underestimated by ~5 μatm due to extrapolation to the Arctic lower temperatures. Moreover, large differences between measured and calculated pCO2 values occurred in areas with partial ice cover. Potential explanations for these large differences
A NOVEL METHOD FOR WATER AND WATER CANAL EXTRACTION FROM LANDSAT-8 OLI IMAGERY

Abstract. Constituents of hydrologic network, River and water canals play a key role in Agriculture for cultivation, Industrial activities and urban planning. Remote sensing images can be effectively used for water canal extraction, which significantly improves the accuracy and reduces the cost involved in mapping using conventional means. Using remote sensing data, the water Index (WI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Modified NDWI (MNDWI) are used in extracting the water bodies. These techniques are aimed at water body detection and need to be complemented with additional information for the extraction of complete water canal networks. The proposed index MNDWI-2 is able to find the water bodies and water canals as well from the Landsat-8 OLI imagery and is based on the SWIR2 band. In this paper, we use Level-1 precision terrain corrected OLI imagery at 30 meter spatial resolution. The proposed MNDWI-2 index is derived using SWIR2 (B7) band and Green (B3) band. The usage of SWIR2 band over SWIR1 results in very low reflectance values for water features, detection of shallow water and delineation of water features with rest of the features in the image. The computed MNDWI-2 index values are threshold by making the values greater than zero as 1 and less than zero as zero. The binarised values of 1 represent the water bodies and 0 represent the non-water body. This normalized index detects the water bodies and canals as well as vegetation which appears in the form of noise. The vegetation from the MNDWI-2 image is removed by using the NDVI index, which is calculated using the Top of Atmosphere (TOA) corrected images. The paper presents the results of water canal extraction in comparison with the major available indexes. The proposed index can be used for water and water canal extraction from L8 OLI imagery, and can be extended for other high resolution sensors.
Pharmacological activation of FOXO3 suppresses triple-negative breast cancer in vitro and in vivo

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most lethal form of breast cancer. Lacking effective therapeutic options hinders treatment of TNBC. Here, we show that bepridil (BPD) and trifluoperazine (TFP), which are FDA-approved drugs for treatment of schizophrenia and angina respectively, inhibit Akt-pS473 phosphorylation and promote FOXO3 nuclear localization and activation in TNBC cells. BPD and TFP inhibit survival and proliferation in TNBC cells and suppress the growth of TNBC tumors, whereas silencing FOXO3 reduces the BPD- and TFP-mediated suppression of survival in TNBC cells. While BPD and TFP decrease the expression of oncogenic c-Myc, KLF5, and dopamine receptor DRD2 in TNBC cells, silencing FOXO3 diminishes BPD- and TFP-mediated repression of the expression of these proteins in TNBC cells. Since c-Myc, KLF5, and DRD2 have been suggested to increase cancer stem cell-like populations in various tumors, reducing these proteins in response to BPD and TFP suggests a novel FOXO3-dependent mechanism underlying BPD- and TFP-induced apoptosis in TNBC cells.
The power-method: a comprehensive estimation technique for multi-dimensional queries

Existing estimation approaches for multi-dimensional databases often rely on the assumption that data distribution in a small region is uniform, which seldom holds in practice. Moreover, their applicability is limited to specific estimation tasks under certain distance metric. This paper develops the Power-method, a comprehensive technique applicable to a wide range of query optimization problems under various metrics. The Power-method eliminates the local uniformity assumption and is accurate even in scenarios where existing approaches completely fail. Furthermore, it performs estimation by evaluating only one simple formula with minimal computational overhead. Extensive experiments confirm that the Power-method outperforms previous techniques in terms of accuracy and applicability to various optimization scenarios.