Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of the distribution and somatodendritic morphology of tectotectal neurons in the cat and monkey

The presence of a commissure connecting the two superior colliculi suggests they do not act independently, but the function of the tectotectal connection has never been firmly identified. To develop a better understanding of this commissural system, the present study determined the distribution and morphology of tectotectal neurons in the cat and macaque monkey, two animals with well-studied, but different orienting strategies. First, we compared the distribution of tectotectal cells retrogradely labeled following WGA-HRP injections into the contralateral superior colliculus. In monkeys, labeled tectotectal cells were found in all layers, but were concentrated in the intermediate gray layer (75%), particularly dorsally, and the adjacent optic layer (12%). Tectotectal cells were distributed throughout nearly the entire rostrocaudal extent of the colliculus. In cats, tectotectal cells were found in all the layers beneath the superficial gray, but the intermediate gray layer contained the greatest concentration (56%). Labeled cells were almost exclusively located in the rostral half of the cat superior colliculus, in contrast to the monkey distribution. In the context of the representation of visuomotor space in the colliculus, the distribution of monkey and cat tectotectal cells suggests a correspondence with oculomotor range. So these neurons may be involved in directing orienting movements performed within the oculomotor range. The somatodendritic morphology of tectotectal cells in these two species was revealed by homogeneous retrograde labeling from injections of biocytin or biotinylated dextran amine into the contralateral colliculus. The cell classes contributing to this pathway are fairly consistent across the two species. A variety of neuronal morphologies were observed, so there is no single tectotectal cell type. Instead, cell types similar to those found in each layer, excepting the largest neurons, were present among tectotectal cells. This suggests that a sample of each layer's output is sent to the contralateral colliculus.
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INNOVATION METRICS: A CASE STUDY

The paper explores the implementation process of an innovation measuring system prototype to support a heavy machinery multinational company to secure their innovative capability. In general, companies recognize the importance of becoming innovative to become, or remain, competitive on a global market. The case company decided to pilot a metric system that corresponds to the crucial factors to secure innovative capability and work with the stepwise improvement based on the assessment results. The methods are based on design-research approach and participatory action research. Interviews, surveys and observation were used, as well as, workshops were conducted to develop and follow up the implementation innovation measuring system. The findings explore topics and open questions related to metric selection, purpose and use of the selected indicators, as well as challenges related to the implementation of the metric system. Some of the conclusions question the viability of measuring project teams, as well as, it suggests the need for further research to clarify whether team metrics need to be develop in parallel to organizational ones. (Less)
A Kalman Filter-Based Ensemble Approach With Application to Turbine Creep Prognostics

The safety of nuclear power plants can be enhanced, and the costs of operation and maintenance reduced, by means of prognostic and health management systems which enable detecting, diagnosing, predicting, and proactively managing the equipment degradation toward failure. We propose a prognostic method which predicts the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of a degrading system by means of an ensemble of empirical models. The RUL predictions of the individual models are aggregated through a Kalman Filter (KF)-based algorithm. The method is applied to the prediction of the RUL of turbine blades affected by a developing creep.
Positioning estimation in public transport systems by leaky coaxial cables

In recent years, indoor positioning has become more and more important for industrial and commercial usage. Advanced approaches using leaky coaxial cables (LCX) not only for radio coverage have been developed. This paper deals with the application of LCXs for indoor localization in a public transport test scenario, run by the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI Dresden. In this scenario different systems were tested in a real-vehicle environment and compared to each other. In addition those results are contrasted with a synthetic indoor-test carried out in a corridor of the University of Applied Sciences Dresden, in the following referred to as “academic” scenario. Furthermore, the positioning accuracy, which could be achieved by using standard LCXs and two reference systems are demonstrated.
Contributions to provable security and efficient cryptography

This thesis deals with two main matters of modern public key cryptography: provable security and efficient implementation. Indubitably, security is the most important property of any cryptographic scheme. Nevertheless, cryptographic algorithms have often been designed on a trial-and-error basis, i.e., a system has been regarded as secure as long as it withstood cryptanalytic attacks. In contrast, the provable security approach provides rigorous mathematical proofs within well-defined models. Nowadays, provable security is a key requirement for many applications. The main contribution of the first part of this thesis is the development and analysis of new provably secure trapdoor one-way permutations. (Trapdoor) one-way functions are the cardinal primitives in public key cryptography, as they are utilized as building blocks for numerous kinds of cryptographic protocols. For this reason, and because of the small number of promising candidates known today, the invention of new trapdoor one-way functions is of interest on its own. However, to prove the practical relevance of our proposal, we additionally invent several provably secure applications in the range of homomorphic encryption, fail-stop signature schemes, hybrid encryption, and trapdoor commitments. In the second part of this work, we will turn our attention to the efficient implementation of public key algorithms. Besides security, efficiency is the main criterion when evaluating cryptographic schemes because inefficient cryptosystems are of little practical value. In widely-used hand-held devices with scarce resources, cryptosystems based on elliptic curve point groups are the first choice today. Consequently, it is an active area of research to enhance the efficiency of elliptic curve scalar multiplication, which is the most common operation in these cryptosystems. Our contribution here is located in the field of multiplication methods with low memory requirements. We will introduce an algorithm which is as efficient as the state-of-the-art solution, but which significantly reduces the consumption of working memory. Moreover, we will develop a highly flexible variant which can be adapted to the exact amount of available storage. Therefore, the algorithms presented here are especially useful in connection with limited-constraint devices such as smart-cards.
Opciones para reducir la pobreza rural en América Latina y el Caribe

Aunque la mayoria de la poblacion total y de la poblacion pobre en America Latina y el Caribe se encuentra en los centros urbanos, en terminos relativos la pobreza sigue siendo un fenomeno rural en la region. La incidencia de la pobreza y de la pobreza extrema es mucho mayor en las zonas rurales que en las urbanas. Sin ir mas alla, en 1997 mas de la mitad de los hogares rurales vivia en la pobreza y cerca de un tercio en situacion de pobreza extrema. Ademas, la dificil situacion economica de la mayoria de los paises de la region en los ultimos dos anos seguramente ha deteriorado esas cifras. A los pobres de las zonas rurales de la region se les plantean por lo menos tres problemas basicos: i); nutricion insuficiente, mala salud y servicios educativos deficientes; ii); escasas oportunidades de empleo productivo en la agricultura y en actividades no agricolas; y iii); bajo grado de organizacion para promover efectivamente los intereses rurales. El numero y la variedad de circunstancias que causan la pobreza rural, asi como la heterogeneidad de condiciones en que se presenta en los distintos paises y regiones dificultan la busqueda de soluciones efectivas y eficientes para elevar el bienestar de la poblacion rural. Este articulo tiene como objetivo destacar varias opciones de accion para reducir la pobreza rural en la region. Para este fin, se centra en tres tipos de posibilidades de accion importantes y complementarias para generar o elevar los ingresos de los pobres de las zonas rurales: uno que se basa en el crecimiento del sector agricola; otro que apunta al uso sostenible y la conservacion de los recursos naturales, y el ultimo basado en la importancia creciente de las actividades economicas rurales que se desarrollan fuera del predio agricola. Hay al menos otras dos posibilidades de reduccion de la pobreza rural: la tradicional migracion a las zonas urbanas y la asistencia destinada a las personas que necesitan transferencias de ingresos para superar el umbral de pobreza o para tener un minimo acceso a las redes de seguridad social.
Robust Finite-Time Consensus Tracking Algorithm for Multirobot Systems

This paper studies the finite-time consensus tracking control for multirobot systems. We prove that finite-time consensus tracking of multiagent systems can be achieved on the terminal sliding-mode surface. Also, we show that the proposed error function can be modified to achieve relative state deviation between agents. These results are then applied to the finite-time consensus tracking control of multirobot systems with input disturbances. Simulation results are presented to validate the analysis.
Parasitism in Captive and Reintroduced Red Wolves

Fecal examinations revealed that at least 10 of 21 (48%) captive red wolves (Canis rufus) and eight of 12 (67%) free-ranging red wolves were infected with intestinal parasites. No captive wolves and only one of seven reintroduced wolves had dirofilariasis. Ticks were collected from 10 of 21 (48%) captive wolves and nine of 12 (75%) free-ranging animals. Ivermectin administered at a dosage of 50 μg/Ag of estimated body weight every 30 to 60 days apparently prevented or ameliorated parasitism in red wolves.
Effects of Palmitoylation of Replicase Protein nsP1 on Alphavirus Infection

ABSTRACT The membrane-associated alphavirus RNA replication complex contains four virus-encoded subunits, the nonstructural proteins nsP1 to nsP4. Semliki Forest virus (SFV) nsP1 is hydrophobically modified by palmitoylation of cysteines 418 to 420. Here we show that Sindbis virus nsP1 is also palmitoylated on the same site (cysteine 420). When mutations preventing nsP1 palmitoylation were introduced into the genomes of these two alphaviruses, the mutant viruses remained viable and replicated to high titers, although their growth was slightly delayed. The subcellular distribution of palmitoylation-defective nsP1 was altered in the mutant: it no longer localized to filopodial extensions, and a fraction of it was soluble. The ultrastructure of the alphavirus replication sites appeared normal, and the localization of the other nonstructural proteins was unaltered in the mutants. In both wild-type- and mutant-virus-infected cells, SFV nsP3 and nsP4 could be extracted from membranes only by alkaline solutions whereas the nsP2-membrane association was looser. Thus, the membrane binding properties of the alphavirus RNA replication complex were not determined by the palmitoylation of nsP1. The nsP1 palmitoylation-defective alphaviruses produced normal plaques in several cell types, but failed to give rise to plaques in HeLa cells, although they induced normal apoptosis of these cells. The SFV mutant was apathogenic in mice: it caused blood viremia, but no infectious virus was detected in the brain.
Interactions of microtubule-associated protein MAP2 with unpolymerized and polymerized tubulin and actin using a 96-well microtiter plate solid-phase immunoassay.

A solid-phase immunoassay is used to study the protein-protein interactions between microtubule-associated protein MAP2 and the cytoskeletal proteins tubulin and actin. The assay can be performed on 96-well microtiter plates and can be used to study the interactions with both subunit proteins and their respective polymers, microtubules and microfilaments. The microtiter format allows a large number of samples to be processed, and a number of conditions can be varied. In this solid-phase immunoassay MAP2 bound to microtubules/microfilaments and tubulin dimers/G-actin in a concentration-dependent manner. However, the bound MAP2 was not dissociated from the filaments even at high NaCl concentrations, while simultaneous addition of NaCl diminished MAP2 binding to these proteins. MgCl2 was 1 order of magnitude more efficient in decreasing MAP2 binding compared with NaCl, suggesting that MAP2 may act by "screening" the electrostatic repulsion between tubulin dimers. The role of MAP2 in cross-linking microfilaments and microtubules was also examined. Microtubule/tubulin-bound MAP2 showed a diminished ability to bind to both microfilaments and G-actin, while microfilament/G-actin-bound MAP2 was able to bind efficiently to both microtubules and tubulin dimers. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
putative homolog of low-affinity calcium system Fig 1 in yeast , is 1 involved in growth , asexual and sexual development in Aspergillus nidulans 2 3

1 involved in growth, asexual and sexual development in Aspergillus nidulans 2 3 Shizhu Zhang, Hailin Zheng, Nanbiao Long, Natalia Carbó, Peiying Chen, Pablo 4 S. Aguilar and Ling Lu* 5 Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Microbes and Functional Genomics; Engineering and 6 Technology Research Center for Microbiology; College of Life Sciences, Nanjing 7 Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210046, China 8 Cellular Membranes Laboratory, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Mataojo 2020, 9 Montevideo 11400, Uruguay 10 *Corresponding author: Ling Lu 11 College of Life Sciences 12 Nanjing Normal University 13 No.1 Wen Yuan Rd, Qi Xia Qu, 14 Nanjing, China 15 Phone: +86-25-85891791 16 Fax: +86-25-85891526 17 E-mail: linglu@njnu.edu. cn 18 Running title: The low-affinity calcium influx system FigA in Aspergillus nidulans 19
Incidence of congenital syphilis in Brazil and its relationship with the Family Health Strategy.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the incidence of congenital syphilis and identify its relationship with Family Health Strategy coverage. METHODS An observational ecological study was carried out with both descriptive and analytical components, by two different approaches: one that explores a temporal series (2003 to 2008) and one that focuses on the 2008 data. The secondary data (epidemiological, demographic, and socioeconomic) were obtained from the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Analysis of the possible effects of the implementation of the Family Health Strategy on the prevention of congenital syphilis was performed on selected subgroups of counties according to two approaches: a) the variation of the average annual rate of incidence of congenital syphilis in different strata of Family Health Program coverage between 2003 and 2008 and the calculation of the simple linear regression coefficient; and b) a negative binomial regression analysis of data from 2008 to control for confounding factors. RESULTS Increasingly trends of congenital syphilis notification in Brazil reflect social inequalities in the distribution of cases. The incidence of congenital syphilis was lower in the counties with high Family Health Strategy coverage; however, after controlling for the co-variables, such an effect might be attributed to the coverage of prenatal care and the demographic characteristics of the counties where the implementation of the Strategy was a priority. CONCLUSIONS Despite the increase in prenatal care coverage, the actions implemented still exhibit low effectiveness in the prevention of congenital syphilis. Prenatal care performed by Family Health Strategy teams did not control syphilis better than the prenatal care performed within the context of other models of assistance.
Enhanced group velocity in metamaterials

The Bruggeman formalism is implemented to estimate the refractive index of an isotropic, dielectric, homogenized composite medium (HCM). Invoking the well-known Hashin? Shtrikman bounds, we demonstrate that the group velocity in certain HCMs can exceed the group velocities in their component materials. Such HCMs should therefore be considered as metamaterials.
Seroepidemiology of human papillomavirus type 73: A sexually transmitted low‐risk virus

Human papillomavirus type 73 (HPV 73) has been detected in some invasive cervical cancers and has been cloned from a squamous‐cell carcinoma of the esophagus, but the epidemiology of this infection and its associated risk of cancer is unknown. We investigated the seroepidemiology of this virus using virus‐like particles. The IgG response to HPV 73 appeared to be HPV type‐specific, since a comparison of HPV 73 antibody levels before and after infection with HPV 6, 11, 16, 18 or 33 found no evidence of cross‐induction of HPV 73 antibodies and since there was little correlation between the antibody levels to HPV 73 and the other 5 investigated HPV types. In both a cross‐sectional serosurvey that included 274 women and a 7‐year follow‐up study that enrolled 98 women, HPV 73 seropositivity was found to be strongly dependent on the number of lifetime sexual partners [OR for > 4 vs. 0 to 1 partners: 6.0 (95%CI: 1.4–53.6) and 7.9 (95% CI: 2.8–28.3), respectively]. Finally, the risk for HPV 73 seropositive women to develop CIN was investigated in a prospective study nested in a cohort of 15,234 Swedish women. The population‐based HPV 73 seroprevalence in Sweden was 14%. No excess risk for CIN was found (OR: 0.77). We conclude that HPV 73 is a mainly sexually transmitted, probably mostly transient, infection that does not confer any measurably increased risk for CIN development. Int. J. Cancer 85:353–357, 2000. ©2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
HOW DO EGYPTIAN SERVICE SMEs INNOVATE

This study aims to contribute to advance knowledge on service innovation in developing countries, by exploring the determinants of technological innovations developed by Egyptian SMEs in the financial and hotel services sectors. More specifically, three categories of determinants are examined: 1) firm's openness and receptiveness to the global technological sphere, 2) absorptive capacity of firms, and 3) financial and market barriers to innovation. Using data from the 2009 Egyptian National Innovation Survey, we estimated a binary Logit Regression model to identify the factors explaining the firm's propensity to innovate. Results show that the adoption of advanced knowledge management systems (a variable used to measure absorptive capacity), exporting (a variable used in measuring the knowledge acquisition determinant), firm size, the firm's sector of activity, as well as market barriers have all positive significant impact on the firm's propensity to innovate. Nevertheless, the impact of financial barriers and percentage of employees holding a university degree (another proxy to absorptive capacity), and being part of a larger group (also another proxy to knowledge acquisition) proved to be non significant to firm's innovation potential. This paper concludes with recommendations to researchers, managers and policy makers concerned with promoting and boosting service innovations in developing countries.
A comprehensive design for high power density common mode EMI inductor

this paper initiated a discussion on the design methodology and scaling of high power density common mode inductors and proposed a comprehensive step-by-step design procedure for common mode (CM) chokes. In additional to conventional design method, this paper proposed to include CM volt-second impacts on the saturation and CM core-loss in design considerations. Moreover, this paper explored the scaling of CM chokes with different design constraints, which are determined by different material and geometry. This study formulates a comprehensive design procedure of common mode choke for high-density power converters.
Cystatin C (CST3), the candidate gene for hereditary cystatin C amyloid angiopathy (HCCAA), and other members of the cystatin gene family are clustered on chromosome 20p11.2.

The cystatin C gene (CST3) encodes a low-molecular-weight cysteine proteinase inhibitor belonging to family II of the cystatin superfamily and is mutated in cases of hereditary cystatin C amyloid angiopathy (HCCAA). CST3, which along with other family II cystatin genes is a member of the cystatin gene family, has been assigned to chromosome 20. To investigate the genomic organization on chromosome 20, the CST3 gene and related sequences were regionally mapped by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), Southern blot, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis using the cDNA cystatin C probe C6a and three genomic probes, C3E1, C3E2, and C3E2-2. Probe C3E2-2, which like probe C3E2 is specific for CST3, hybridized to only one HindIII and one XbaI fragment on Southern blots and to a 300-kb BssHII PFGE fragment. FISH with probe C3E2 mapped this locus to chromosome 20p11.2, with an FL-pter value of 0.37 +/- 0.07 on the physical map. Probe C3E1 containing the most conserved cystatin gene exon (exon 1) and its flanking sequences hybridized with more fragments, e.g., to eight XbaI and nine HindIII fragments on conventional Southern blots and to eight SmaI, two BssHII (900 and 300 kb), and two NotI fragments after PFGE. FISH with C3E1 revealed only one single site at 20p11.2 with an FL-pter value of 0.37 +/- 0.04, identical to that obtained with C3E2. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Theory for quarkonium: from NRQCD factorization to soft gluon factorization

We demonstrate that the recently proposed soft gluon factorization (SGF) is equivalent to the nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization for heavy quarkonium production or decay, which means that for any given process these two factorization theories are either both valid or both violated. We use two methods to achieve this conclusion. In the first method, we apply the two factorization theories to the physical process $J/\psi \to e^+e^-$. Our explicit calculation shows that both SGF and NRQCD can correctly reproduce low energy physics of full QCD, and thus the two factorizations are equivalent. In the second method, by using equations of motion we successfully deduce SGF from NRQCD effective field theory. By identifying SGF with NRQCD factorization, we establish relations between the two factorization theories and prove the generalized Gremm-Kapustin relations as a by product. Comparing with the NRQCD factorization, the advantage of SGF is that it resums the series of relativistic corrections originated from kinematic effects to all powers, which gives rise to a better convergence in relativistic expansion.