Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cdc20 Is Critical for Meiosis I and Fertility of Female Mice

Chromosome missegregation in germ cells is an important cause of unexplained infertility, miscarriages, and congenital birth defects in humans. However, the molecular defects that lead to production of aneuploid gametes are largely unknown. Cdc20, the activating subunit of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C), initiates sister-chromatid separation by ordering the destruction of two key anaphase inhibitors, cyclin B1 and securin, at the transition from metaphase to anaphase. The physiological significance and full repertoire of functions of mammalian Cdc20 are unclear at present, mainly because of the essential nature of this protein in cell cycle progression. To bypass this problem we generated hypomorphic mice that express low amounts of Cdc20. These mice are healthy and have a normal lifespan, but females produce either no or very few offspring, despite normal folliculogenesis and fertilization rates. When mated with wild-type males, hypomorphic females yield nearly normal numbers of fertilized eggs, but as these embryos develop, they become malformed and rarely reach the blastocyst stage. In exploring the underlying mechanism, we uncover that the vast majority of these embryos have abnormal chromosome numbers, primarily due to chromosome lagging and chromosome misalignment during meiosis I in the oocyte. Furthermore, cyclin B1, cyclin A2, and securin are inefficiently degraded in metaphase I; and anaphase I onset is markedly delayed. These results demonstrate that the physiologically effective threshold level of Cdc20 is high for female meiosis I and identify Cdc20 hypomorphism as a mechanism for chromosome missegregation and formation of aneuploid gametes.
Fuzzy Private Matching (Extended Abstract)

In the private matching problem, a client and a server each hold a set of n input elements. The client wants to privately compute the intersection of these two sets: he learns which elements he has in common with the server (and nothing more), while the server gains no information at all. In certain applications it would be useful to have a fuzzy private matching protocol that reports a match even if two elements are only similar instead of equal. We consider this fuzzy private matching problem, in a semi-honest environment. First we show that the original solution proposed by Freedman et al. [9] is incorrect. Subsequently we present two fuzzy private matching protocols. The first, simple, protocol has a large bit message complexity. The second protocol improves this, but here the client incurs a 0(n) factor time complexity.
FLOWPROPHET: Generic and Accurate Traffic Prediction for Data-Parallel Cluster Computing

Data-parallel computing frameworks (DCF) such as MapReduce, Spark, and Dryad etc. Have tremendous applications in big data and cloud computing, and throw tons of flows into data center networks. In this paper, we design and implement FLOWPROPHET, a general framework to predict traffic flows for DCFs. To this end, we analyze and summarize the common features of popular DCFs, and gain a key insight: since application logic in DCFs is naturally expressed by directed acyclic graphs (DAG), DAG contains necessary time and data dependencies for accurate flow prediction. Based on the insight, FLOWPROPHET extracts DAGs from user applications, and uses the time and data dependencies to calculate flow information 4-tuple, (source, destination, flow_size, establish_time), ahead-of-time for all flows. We also provide generic programming interface to FLOWPROPHET, so that current and future DCFs can deploy FLOWPROPHET readily. We implement FLOWPROPHET on both Spark and Hadoop, and perform extensive evaluations on a testbed with 37 physical servers. Our implementation and experiments demonstrate that, with time in advance and minimal cost, FLOWPROPHET can achieve almost 100% accuracy in source, destination, and flow size predictions. With accurate prediction from FLOWPROPHET, the job completion time of a Hadoop TeraSort benchmark is reduced by 12.52% on our cluster with a simple network scheduler.
Existence of Eigenvalues of a Linear Operator Pencil in a Curved Waveguide - Localized Shelf Waves on a Curved Coast

The question of the existence of nonpropagating, trapped continental shelf waves (CSWs) along curved coasts reduces mathematically to a spectral problem for a self-adjoint operator pencil in a curved strip. Using methods developed for the waveguide trapped mode problem, we show that such CSWs exist for a wide class of coast curvature and depth profiles.
The Wideband Slope of Interference Channels: The Large Bandwidth Case

It is well known that minimum received energy per bit <i>Eb</i>/<i>N</i><sub>0</sub>|<sub>min</sub> in the interference channel is -1.59 dB as if there were no interference. Thus, the best way to mitigate interference is to operate the interference channel in the low-signal-to-noise-ratio ( SNR) regime. However, when the SNR is small but nonzero, <i>Eb</i>/<i>N</i><sub>0</sub>|<sub>min</sub> alone does not characterize performance. Verdu introduced the wideband slope <i>S</i><sub>0</sub> to characterize the performance in this regime. We show that a wideband slope of <i>S</i><sub>0</sub>/<i>S</i><sub>0, no interference</sub> = 1/2 is achievable. This result is similar to recent results on degrees of freedom in the high-SNR regime, and we use a type of interference alignment using delays to obtain the result. We also show that in many cases, the wideband slope is upper bounded by <i>S</i><sub>0</sub>/<i>S</i><sub>0, no interference</sub> ≤ 1/2 for large number of users <i>K</i>.
In-Situ Continuous Detonation Velocity Measurements Using Fiber-optic Bragg Grating Sensors

In order to fully calibrate hydrocodes and dynamic chemistry burn models, initiation and detonation research requires continuous measurement of low order detonation velocities as the detonation runs up to full order detonation for a given density and initiation pressure pulse. A novel detector of detonation velocity is presented using a 125 micron diameter optical fiber with an integral chirped fiber Bragg grating as an intrinsic sensor. This fiber is embedded in the explosive under study and interrogated during detonation as the fiber Bragg grating scatters light back along the fiber to a photodiode, producing a return signal dependant on the convolution integral of the grating reflection bandpass, the ASE intensity profile and the photodetector response curve. Detonation velocity is measured as the decrease in reflected light exiting the fiber as the grating is consumed when the detonation reaction zone proceeds along the fiber sensor axis. This small fiber probe causes minimal perturbation to the detonation wave and can measure detonation velocities along path lengths tens of millimeters long. Experimental details of the associated equipment and preliminary data in the form of continuous detonation velocity records within nitromethane and PBX-9502 are presented.
An Efficient Hybrid-Switched Network-on-Chip for Chip Multiprocessors

Chip multiprocessors (CMPs) require a low-latency interconnect fabric network-on-chip (NoC) to minimize processor stall time on instruction and data accesses that are serviced by the last-level cache (LLC). While packet-switched mesh interconnects sacrifice performance of many-core processors due to NoC-induced delays, existing circuit-switched interconnects do not offer lower network delays as they cannot hide the time it takes to set up a circuit. To address this problem, this work introduces CIMA-a hybrid circuit-switched and packet-switched mesh-based interconnection network that affords low LLC access delays at a small area cost. CIMA uses virtual cut-through (VCT) switching for short request packets, and benefits from circuit switching for longer, delay sensitive response packets. While a request is being served by the LLC, CIMA attempts to set up a circuit for the corresponding response packet. By the time the request packet is served and the response gets ready, a circuit has already been prepared, and as a result, the response packet experiences short delay in the network. A detailed evaluation targeting a 64-core CMP running scale-out workloads reveals that CIMA improves system performance by 21 percent over the state-of-the-art hybrid circuit-packet-switched network.
A Quantitative and Dynamic Model for Plant Stem Cell Regulation

Plants maintain pools of totipotent stem cells throughout their entire life. These stem cells are embedded within specialized tissues called meristems, which form the growing points of the organism. The shoot apical meristem of the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana is subdivided into several distinct domains, which execute diverse biological functions, such as tissue organization, cell-proliferation and differentiation. The number of cells required for growth and organ formation changes over the course of a plants life, while the structure of the meristem remains remarkably constant. Thus, regulatory systems must be in place, which allow for an adaptation of cell proliferation within the shoot apical meristem, while maintaining the organization at the tissue level. To advance our understanding of this dynamic tissue behavior, we measured domain sizes as well as cell division rates of the shoot apical meristem under various environmental conditions, which cause adaptations in meristem size. Based on our results we developed a mathematical model to explain the observed changes by a cell pool size dependent regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation, which is able to correctly predict CLV3 and WUS over-expression phenotypes. While the model shows stem cell homeostasis under constant growth conditions, it predicts a variation in stem cell number under changing conditions. Consistent with our experimental data this behavior is correlated with variations in cell proliferation. Therefore, we investigate different signaling mechanisms, which could stabilize stem cell number despite variations in cell proliferation. Our results shed light onto the dynamic constraints of stem cell pool maintenance in the shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis in different environmental conditions and developmental states.
A Novel Pedicle Channel Classification Describing Osseous Anatomy: How Many Thoracic Scoliotic Pedicles Have Cancellous Channels?

Study Design. Prospective clinical series. Objective. To determine how many thoracic scoliotic pedicles have cancellous versus cortical versus absent channels. Summary of Background Data. Although morphologic evaluations of thoracic pedicles have been well reported, the results do not practically reflect clinical findings during actual pedicle screw placement. We propose a novel pedicle channel classification describing the osseous anatomy encountered during pedicle probe insertion. Methods. We noted 4 pedicle types in 53 consecutive scoliosis patients. Type A: pedicle probe smoothly inserted without difficulty; the morphology is described as a “Large Cancellous Channel. ” Type B: pedicle probe inserted snugly with increased force; described as a “Small Cancellous Channel. ” Type C: pedicle probe cannot be manually pushed but must be tapped with a mallet down the pedicle into the body; described as a “Cortical Channel. ” Type D: pedicle probe cannot locate a channel thus necessitating a “juxtapedicular” screw position; described as a “Slit/Absent Channel. ” The average age at time of surgery was 23.4 ± 16.7 years. Diagnoses included idiopathic scoliosis (n = 38) and syndromic scoliosis (n = 15). The average main thoracic Cobb angle was 73° ± 26°. Evaluation of pedicle morphology of the 4 types was also performed in 21 consecutive cases of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis using preoperative computed tomography images. Results. A total of 1021 pedicles with screws placed were evaluated. The average percent per type was as follows: 61.0% type A; 29.2% type B, 6.8% type C, and 3.0% type D. On the convexity, 98.2% of pedicles were type A or B versus 81.5% on the concavity (P < 0.05). There were significant differences between adolescent versus adult idiopathic scoliosis (P = 0.007), and syndromic scoliosis versus adult idiopathic scoliosis (P = 0.017) regarding pedicle morphologic proportions. There was a significant tendency toward a decrease in the proportion of type A pedicles, an increase in the proportion of type B pedicles as the Cobb angle increased (P < 0.0001). Evaluation based on 312 thoracic pedicles in 21 consecutive adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients using preoperative computed tomography axial images confirmed assumptions of the 4 pedicle types. Conclusion. We propose a classification for pedicle channels describing the osseous anatomy encountered during pedicle probe insertion. Based on the classification, surprisingly, we found during surgery that 90% of thoracic pedicles had a cancellous channel, whereas 7% had a cortical channel and only 3% had an absent channel.
Flame spray pyrolysis based nano-structured functional metal oxide layers for gas sensing applications

The contribution presents the results obtained in the last years by applying an established aerosol based production technology for metal oxide nanoparticles mainly used in catalysis and filler materials, the so called flame spray pyrolysis (FSP), to gas sensor fabrication. The final achievement of this technology is a fast and clean single step process to fabricate fully functionalized multilayer sensors. This is a substantial progress as it merges the two fundamental processes of producing the sensing material and fabricating the sensing element.
Poly(methyl methacrylate)‐coated carbonyl iron particles and their magnetorheological characteristics

Magnetorheologicalfluids(MRFs)aretypesofsuspensionsthatcontainmagneticparticlesandacarrierfluid,andareconsidered assemi-activesmartmaterials.By tuningthestrengthofanexternalmagneticfield,likeothertraditionalMRFs,acarbonyl iron (CI)‐poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) particle-based MRF can change reversibly from a fluid-like state to a solid-like state within milliseconds. In the research reported, CI particles were encapsulated with PMMA via emulsion polymerization. After the polymerization, the fabricated CI‐PMMA composite particles were dispersed in a suspension medium to prepare MRF. The synthesized CI‐PMMA composite particle-based MRF showed a shear stress of 60 kPa at the magnetic field strength of 0.6 T, and a greatly enhanced anti-sedimentationstability. c � 2010 Society of Chemical Industry
TNFα-induced activation of NFκB protects against UV-induced apoptosis specifically in p 53-proficient cells

The signaling pathways that depend on p53 or NFκB transcription factors are essential components of cellular responses to stress. In general, p53 is involved in either activation of cell cycle arrest or induction of apoptosis, while NFκB exerts mostly anti-apoptotic functions; both regulatory pathways apparently interfere with each other. Here we aimed to analyze the effects of NFκB activation on DNA damage-induced apoptosis, either p53-dependent or p53-independent, in a set of human cell lines. Four cell lines, HCT116 and RKO colon carcinoma, NCI-H1299 lung carcinoma and HL60 myeloblastoma, each of them in two congenic variants either containing or lacking transcriptionally competent p53, were used. Cells were incubated with TNFα cytokine to activate NFκB and then treated with ultraviolet or ionizing radiation to induce apoptosis, which was assessed by measurement of the sub-G1 cell fraction. We observed that treatment with TNFα resulted in a significant reduction in the frequency of apoptotic cells in UV-irradiated p53-proficient lines (with exception of the UV-resistant NCI-H1299 cells). This anti-apoptotic effect was lost when cells were pretreated with parthenolide, an inhibitor of NFκB activation. In marked contrast, TNFα-pretreatment of p53-deficient lines resulted in an increased frequency of apoptotic cells after UV irradiation (with exception of HL60 cells). Such antiand pro-apoptotic influence of TNFα was less obvious in cells treated with ionizing radiation. The data clearly indicates functional interference of both signaling pathways upon the damage-induced apoptotic response, yet the observed effects are both cell typeand stimulus-specific.
Convex Two-Layer Modeling

Latent variable prediction models, such as multi-layer networks, impose auxiliary latent variables between inputs and outputs to allow automatic inference of implicit features useful for prediction. Unfortunately, such models are difficult to train because inference over latent variables must be performed concurrently with parameter optimization—creating a highly non-convex problem. Instead of proposing another local training method, we develop a convex relaxation of hidden-layer conditional models that admits global training. Our approach extends current convex modeling approaches to handle two nested nonlinearities separated by a non-trivial adaptive latent layer. The resulting methods are able to acquire two-layer models that cannot be represented by any single-layer model over the same features, while improving training quality over local heuristics.
Humid Aged Compression Set Phenomena in Water Blown Hr Molded Foams

A s the U.S. automotive industry continues its move toward lower density HR molded seating foams in which water provides the sole blowing agent, it has become increasingly difficult to meet the humid aged compression set specifications set by the automakers. The lower density foams are being pursued mainly for economic and weight saving concerns. With the use of more reactant water in the foam formulation, the reaction exotherm is increased, the kinetics of the foaming reaction are changed, the polyurea concentration is increased, and a notably different polymer is produced. Compared to foams produced at low water levels, the new low density, all water blown foams exhibit extremely poor humid aged compression set properties. This paper relates differences in the basic polymer formed from low and high water level foam formulations to humid aged compression set performance. Data concerning the critical test parameters of time, temperature, recovery period, and humidity are also presented.
Cis-Acting Sequence Elements and Upstream Open Reading Frame in Mouse Utrophin-A 5'-UTR Repress Cap-Dependent Translation

Utrophin, the autosomal homologue of dystrophin can functionally compensate for dystrophin deficiency. Utrophin upregulation could therefore be a therapeutic strategy in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) that arises from mutation in dystrophin gene. In contrast to its transcriptional regulation, mechanisms operating at post-transcriptional level of utrophin expression have not been well documented. Although utrophin-A 5'-UTR has been reported with internal ribosome entry site (IRES), its inhibitory effect on translation is also evident. In the present study we therefore aimed to compare relative contribution of cap-independent and cap-dependent translation with mouse utrophin-A 5'-UTR through m7G-capped and A-capped mRNA transfection based reporter assay. Our results demonstrate that cap-independent translation with utrophin-A 5'-UTR is not as strong as viral IRES. However, cap-independent mode has significant contribution as cap-dependent translation is severely repressed with utrophin-A 5'-UTR. We further identified two sequence elements and one upstream open reading frame in utrophin-A 5'-UTR responsible for repression. The repressor elements in utrophin-A 5'-UTR may be targeted for utrophin upregulation.
Expressing dynamic properties of static diagrams in Z

Au cours des dernieres annees, plusieurs equipes de recherche se sont interessees a la traduction de langages graphiques tels que UML vers des methodes formelles. Les langages a base de modeles comme Z et B sont particulierement bien adaptes a la traduction des diagrammes statiques d’UML. Neanmoins, certaines constructions de ces diagrammes mettent en oeuvre des proprietes dynamiques. Par exemple, la composition en UML impose une dependance existentielle. De telles proprietes ne peuvent pas etre traduites par des invariants. Cet article etudie la traduction de ces proprietes en contraintes sur une paire d’etats. En Z, de telles contraintes peuvent etre integrees a la specification des operations, ou exprimees par des obligations de preuve. In the past years, several groups have addressed the translation of graphical formalisms such as UML into formal methods. Model-based approaches such as Z or B are particularly well-suited to translate static diagrams of UML into formal specifications. Still some constructs of these diagrams involve dynamic properties, e.g. composition in UML requires existential dependency. These properties cannot be translated into invariant properties. This paper explores the translation of these properties into constraints on a pair of states. In Z, such constraints can either be included into the specification of operations, or correspond to specific proof obligations for these operations.
Grease Degradation in Rolling Element Bearings

Grease is degraded during use in rolling element bearings and as a result the lubrication performance can deteriorate. Under severe conditions this can result in lubrication failure and, thus, the grease life will effectively limit the bearing life. At present there is a lack of detailed information regarding the changes that occur in the grease and the way in which this degradation affects lubrication performance and failure. This paper reports an initial study into grease degradation in bearings. The aim of the work was to characterize the changes that occur to the chemical and physical properties during use. A series of bearing tests using the modified DIN 51 806 test designated R2F(M) have been carried out using two greases: additized and non-additized. The tests have been run for different temperature and speed conditions for up to 300 hours. The aim was to examine the grease during normal running rather than after failure. At the end of the tests the bearings were dismantled and grease taken from different parts of the bearing for infrared spectroscopic analysis. This technique can characterize the degree of oxidation or degradation of the grease both in the bulk sample and from thin grease layers remaining on the bearing surfaces. The analysis has shown that the condition of the grease varies depending on the distribution within the bearing. The lubricant remaining in the cage pocket region was heavily degraded and contained very little thickener. The grease on the seals contained different amounts of thickener depending on the seal position. The lubricant remaining on the inner raceway surface was predominately base oil although there was some thickener present. These results are discussed in the light of proposed bearing lubrication mechanisms. Presented at the 56th Annual Meeting Orlando, Florida May 20–24, 2001
For the Automated Mark-Up of Italian Legislative Texts in XML

In this paper we will present a method for mining information within legal texts, in particular in regards to corpora of statutes. Text mining, or more in general Information Extraction, can provide a valuable help to people involved in research about the linguistic structure of statutes, and, as a side effect can be the seed for a new generation of applications for the validation and conversion in the legislative domain.