Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Control of embryonic Xenopus morphogenesis by a Ral-GDS/Xral branch of the Ras signalling pathway

Ras proteins mediate biological responses through various effectors and play a key role in relaying the Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) mesoderm induction signal during embryogenesis of the frog, Xenopus laevis. One Ras effector pathway involves the activation of the small G protein Ral. In the present study, we have investigated the role of key components in the Ral branch of FGF and Ras signalling during early Xenopus development. Treatment of animal caps with bFGF, which converts prospective ectoderm to mesoderm, activates Xral. The Ras mutant 12V37G, which can bind to Ral-GDS but not Raf, also activates Xral as well as causing developmental defects and cortical F-actin disassembly. A similar phenotype is induced by Ral-GDS itself. FGF-induced expression of several signature mesodermal genes, by contrast, is independent of Xral signalling. This and other data suggest that the RalB branch of Ras and FGF signalling regulates the actin cytoskeleton and morphogenesis in a transcriptionally independent manner. We also find Xral to be specifically activated in the marginal zone of Xenopus embryos, and find that disruption of the Ral pathway in this region prevents closure of the blastopore during gastrulation. We conclude that Ral signalling is autonomously required by mesodermal cells to effect essential morphogenetic changes during Xenopus gastrulation.
A pipeline for surface reconstruction of 3-dimentional point cloud

This paper achieves optimal 3D point cloud reconstruction based on the specific experiment and concrete actions, and the reconstruction results realistically reflect the real object. We introduce a pipeline for surface reconstruction, including K-nearest neighbor method for point cloud data de-noising, Poisson-disk sampling to simplify the point cloud data, k-nearest neighbor method for normal estimation and Poisson reconstruction to achieve triangular mesh reconstruction of the point cloud data. In the specific operation, we apply an algorithm and select the suitable parameters through our experience at each step, so as to achieve optimal reconstruction results.
Supported approach for agile methods adaptation: an adoption study

Adopting agile software development methods is a wide and complex organisational change that usually impacts several aspects of the organisation (e.g., its structure, culture, management practices, produced artefacts, technologies in use, etc). In order to successfully handle the several key challenges, it's crucial to understand the organisation context and carefully study the transformation strategies. This paper presents an agile transformation experience that has been undertaken in a public organisation in Belgium and during which Scrum was applied in two pilot projects. The first project retrospective shows that the change cannot be accomplished only at the team-level without taking into account the overall structure of the organisation and that we must carefully evolve toward a context-specific adapted method. In the second pilot project, we defined structured and repeatable steps to assist the adoption of agile practices. The experience shows the usefulness of such an approach but suggests that automation efforts should be addressed. The last section of the paper summarizes the issues encountered and presents the AM-QuICK framework which aims at providing a supported approach to guide the agile adoption, adaptation and assessment.
Parallelization of the local threshold and Boolean function based edge detection algorithm using CUDA

In this paper we present a parallelized algorithm for edge detection for gray scale images. The chosen method is the local threshold and boolean function based edge detection. This method differs from common edge detectors in the use of bit map patterns instead of analyzing gradient changes in the image for edge recognition. The parallelization is implemented on the GPU, exploiting its multithreaded, many-core processor power using NVIDIA's CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). We show in our tests the significant speedup of parallelized algorithm compared to the sequential one.
Lysine-Independent Turnover of Cyclin G1 Can Be Stabilized by B′α Subunits of Protein Phosphatase 2A

ABSTRACT Although the cyclin G1 gene is known to be regulated at the transcriptional level by p53, less is understood about the turnover of its protein product. We found that ectopically and endogenously expressed cyclin G1 protein is highly unstable and is degraded by a proteasome-mediated pathway. The N-terminal 137 amino acids of cyclin G1 (cyclin G1-137) are necessary and sufficient for both cyclin G1 ubiquitination and turnover. Interestingly, a mutant cyclin G1 (8KR) in which all lysine residues in this region have been replaced with arginine can be both ubiquitinated in cells and stabilized by a proteasome inhibitor to a similar extent as wild-type cyclin G1-137. Furthermore, the presence of a six-Myc tag at the N terminus of cyclin G1-137 significantly inhibits the protein's turnover, suggesting a role for the extreme N terminus of the protein in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. Although we and others previously showed that cyclin G1 protein can bind to MDM2, which functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase to p53 and itself, cyclin G1 protein can be degraded in cells without MDM2 and p53. Interestingly, the B′α1 subunit of the serine/threonine protein phosphatase 2A, which binds to cyclin G1, can stabilize cyclin G1 under unstressed conditions and upon DNA damage, as well as inhibit the ability of cyclin G1 to be ubiquitinated. Our results thus indicate that proteasomal turnover of cyclin G1 is regulated by noncanonical processes.
Fundamentals of Clinical Outcomes Assessment for Spinal Disorders: Clinical Outcome Instruments and Applications

Study Design A broad narrative review. Objectives Outcome assessment in spinal disorders is imperative to help monitor the safety and efficacy of the treatment in an effort to change the clinical practice and improve patient outcomes. The following article, part two of a two-part series, discusses the various outcome tools and instruments utilized to address spinal disorders and their management. Methods A thorough review of the peer-reviewed literature was performed, irrespective of language, addressing outcome research, instruments and tools, and applications. Results Numerous articles addressing the development and implementation of health-related quality-of-life, neck and low back pain, overall pain, spinal deformity, and other condition-specific outcome instruments have been reported. Their applications in the context of the clinical trial studies, the economic analyses, and overall evidence-based orthopedics have been noted. Additional issues regarding the problems and potential sources of bias utilizing outcomes scales and the concept of minimally clinically important difference were discussed. Conclusion Continuing research needs to assess the outcome instruments and tools used in the clinical outcome assessment for spinal disorders. Understanding the fundamental principles in spinal outcome assessment may also advance the field of “personalized spine care. ”
Analysis of binary code topology for dynamic analysis

A better understanding of binary code topology is essential in making execution path exploration method. The execution path exploration is closely related to code coverage in binary code dynamic analysis. Since the number of execution paths in a program is astronomically high, the efficient exploration strategy is needed. In this paper, we analyze binary code topology in a viewpoint of basic blocks. We find that the incoming edges show unbalanced distribution which follows power law, instead of balanced distribution. This unbalanced distribution of incoming edges can help understanding binary code topology, and we propose our study for deciding efficient execution path exploration strategy of dynamic binary code analysis.
Property Rights Protection Through Litigations: Ownership Bias and the Role of Political Connections

We use adversarial corporate litigations between state owned and private owned firms in China to examine the strength of state provided formal institutions in protecting private property rights. Based on a unique hand collected data from 3,323 court rulings and 272 settlements on Chinese listed firms during 1998 to 2010, we show state owned firms have a win rate that is 8.6% higher than the private owned ones. Their advantages are most significant on cases with straight forward merits, in provinces where the local legal institutions are weak, and when cases are tried in their home provinces. Nevertheless, private owned firms can, through establishing political ties, increase their win rate in court and partially correct the ownership disadvantages when faced with state owned enterprises. The empirical result is robust to our test of the selection of disputes for litigation, plaintiff effect, lenders effect, and an array of party and case idiosyncrasies.
Effect of a pharmacological intervention on quality of life in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder

Patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) not only suffer from obsessive–compulsive symptoms, but also the disorder is associated with aberrant social functioning and a diminished quality of life (QoL). Although studies concerning the effect of treatment interventions on symptoms are common, studies with regard to the effect of treatment interventions on QoL are scarce. We examined the effect of a pharmacological intervention on QoL in 150 patients with OCD. Furthermore, we studied whether two different drugs, venlafaxine and paroxetine, differed in their effect on QoL. Finally, we examined whether any found improvement in QoL was related to improvement in symptoms and/or the baseline self-directedness score, which is one of the character dimensions of the psychobiological model of Cloninger. We demonstrated that QoL, as assessed with the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile, improved following pharmacological intervention, for which paroxetine and venlafaxine appeared to be equally effective. Furthermore, neither improvement in symptoms, nor baseline self-directedness, was associated with the improvement in QoL.
Neuromorphic vision sensors for mobile robots

Real-time vision-based vehicle navigation tasks are typically computationally intensive and significantly complex in terms of resources used. Moreover, mobile applications of navigation systems place severe constraints on their size and power consumption. These constraints can be satisfied by using parallel image processing architectures and parallel control algorithms implemented with analog VLSI circuits. In this paper we present two examples of neuromorphic VLSI sensors that process motion signals to provide continuous time analog output signals that can be useful for real-time navigation tasks. Neuromorphic analog VLSI vision sensors are typically compact, low-power devices that implement parallel architectures to perform in real-time, image (pre)processing operations and provide results that would otherwise require CPU intensive computations [5]. The two neuromorphic sensors we propose in this paper measure respectively the scene’s 2D optical flow field and the target’s position and its direction of motion in one dimension.
Gender-Class Equality in Political Economies

Chapter 1 Gender-Class Equality Over Time. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 The state and institutional equality frames. 1.3 The country cases: Policy effects on class v gender equality. 1.4 The resilience of inequality within its institutional frame. 1.5 Book overview. Chapter 2 Paid and Unpaid Work in Context. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Gender differences in labor supply and demand. 2.3 The state and the labor market. 2.4 The state and a gendered division of household labor. 2.5 So what happened to the gender revolution? 2.6 Gender-class equality in post-industrial economies. 2.7 Summary: Policy paths and gender-class equality. Chapter 3 Population Policies and Group Divides. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 19th Century expansion and women's bodies. 3.3 19th Century immigration policies. 3.4 Post-war family policies. 3.5 Immigration policies in the post-war economic recovery. 3.6 Reproduction in the "new" global economy. 3.7 Immigration in the "new" global economy. 3.8 New world, old social order. Chapter 4 Educational Foundations of Gender-Class Equality. 4.1 Education and the institutional equality frame. 4.2 Group differences in educational foundations. 4.3 Post-war expansion of pre-primary provision. 4.4 More secondary education for all. 4.5 Expanding educational attainment. 4.6 Educational structures and relative group equality. Chapter 5 Policy Foundations of Gender-Class Employment Equality. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Australian versus US 19th Century worker mobilization. 5.3 European post-war employment policies. 5.4 Australian versus US post-war equality initiatives. 5.5 The European Union and gender equality. 5.6 Work-family reconciliation and gender equality. 5.7 Gender-class employment equality in the 21st Century. Chapter 6 Current Gender-Class Employment Equality. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 The institutional equality frame and employment status. 6.3 Individual characteristics and employment in context. 6.4 Weekly work hours of employed individuals in context. 6.5 Gender-class wage inequalities in context. 6.6 Employment equality in its institutional equality frame. 6.A Technical appendix. Chapter 7 Gender-Class Equality in Paid and Unpaid Work. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Housework over time and across countries. 7.3 Who does any housework in context? 7.4 Predicting individual housework hours in context. 7.5 Couple time in paid and unpaid work in context. 7.6 Equality exchanges in their institutional frames. 7.A. Technical appendix. Chapter 8 Sustainable Policy for Greater Equality. 8.1 The resilience of complex inequality. 8.2 The inefficiency of market inequalities. 8.3 Social investment strategies. 8.4 Policy and sustainable unpaid time.
educed anterior prefrontal cortex activation in young binge drinkers uring a visual working memory task

Working memory (WM) is a major cognitive function that is altered by chronic alcohol consumption. This impairment has been linked to alterations in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Animal and human studies have shown that the adolescent brain is more sensitive to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol than the adult brain, particularly those structures that mature late on in development, such as the hippocampus and prefrontal brain. The aim of the present study was to assess visual working memory and its neural correlates in young university students who partake in intermittent consumption of large amounts of alcohol (binge drinkers). A sample of 42 binge drinkers and 53 corresponding control
DITC-direct instantaneous torque control of switched reluctance drives

This paper presents an on-line instantaneous torque control technique. The method comprises two novel aspects. Torque is estimated as a function of terminal quantities, i.e. flux linkage and phase current. Hence, the control algorithm is independent of the rotor position. Moreover, high bandwidth drive performance is obtained by implementing a digital torque hysteresis-controller. Thus, the method works without torque distribution functions or auxiliary phase commutating strategies. Therefore, the control algorithm offers a wide drive operating range without the use of a high-resolution shaft position sensor or sensitive position estimation techniques. Experimental and simulation results are presented in this paper.
1 Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory ( RST ) : introduction

The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) of personality is a theoretical account of the neural and psychological processes underlying the major dimensions of personality. The first of this introductory chapter traces the development of RST, from its official birth in 1970, through to Gray’s highly influential 1982 The Neuropsychology of Anxiety, and on to its major revision in 2000 with the second edition of this book (co-authored with Neil McNaughton) – this Part may be read as an overview tutorial of RST. The second discusses some of the major issues facing future RST research. The third turns attention to the question of the level of behavioural control exerted by ‘biological’ and ‘cognitive’ processes, and discusses the implications of findings from consciousness studies for conceptualizing the role of these processes in RST.
Research Statement Conversational Influence and Network Structure

New technologies have made it possible to easily collect information about social networks as they are acted and observed “in the wild,” instead of as they are reported aer-the-fact in surveys. Emails, instant messages, social media posts, phone calls, and even face-to-face conversations can all be automatically recorded for large groups of people, over long periods of time. is unprecedented access to social behavior data—data that captures the observable actions of multiple people as they interact with one another—provides opportunities to address many new research questions: How does local, low-level social behavior relate to the global, high-level structure of the social network? Can behavior predict which social ties will form, persist, or dissolve (a process that is now observable, since social behavior data is naturally longitudinal)? Can behavior and network structure be used together to more accurately characterize relationships within a network?
Frequency-domain iterative MUI cancellation for duobinary partial response filtered SC-FDMA uplink

Duobinary partial response (PR) filtered single-carrier frequency-domain multi-access (SC-FDMA) uplink has a potential to achieve higher spectral efficiency (SE) by allowing spectrum overlapping between adjacent users. However, strong multiuser interference (MUI) degrades the bit-error rate (BER) and throughput performances. In this paper, we present two types of frequency-domain MUI cancellation technique for duobinary PR filtered SC-FDMA, which are frequency-domain iterative parallel MUI cancellation (FD-IPMUIC) and frequency-domain iterative successive MUIC (FD-ISMUIC). A series of minimum mean-square error based frequency-domain equalization (MMSE-FDE), FD-MUIC, and soft-decision decoding using soft output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) is repeated for a sufficient number of times. By using the SOVA, MMSE-FDE weight and MUI replica are updated. Computer simulation results show that both the BER performance and SE can be improved.
Use of a microscope stage-mounted Nickel-63 microirradiator for real-time observation of the DNA double-strand break response

Eukaryotic cells begin to assemble discrete, nucleoplasmic repair foci within seconds after the onset of exposure to ionizing radiation. Real-time imaging of this assembly has the potential to further our understanding of the effects of medical and environmental radiation exposure. Here, we describe a microirradiation system for targeted delivery of ionizing radiation to individual cells without the need for specialized facilities. The system consists of a 25-micron diameter electroplated Nickel-63 electrode, enveloped in a glass capillary and mounted in a micromanipulator. Because of the low energy of the beta radiation and the minute total amount of isotope present on the tip, the device can be safely handled with minimum precautions. We demonstrate the use of this system for tracking assembly of individual repair foci in real time in live U2OS human osteosarcoma cells. Results indicate that there is a subset of foci that appear and disappear rapidly, before a plateau level is reached ∼30 min post-exposure. This subset of foci would not have been evident without real-time observation. The development of a microirradiation system that is compatible with a standard biomedical laboratory expands the potential for real-time investigation of the biological effects of ionizing radiation.
Point defect states of bending waves in phononic crystal thin plates

The band structures of bending waves propagating in the phononic crystal thin plates with point defect are explored based on the supercell technique combined with the improved plane wave expansion method. The plate is composed of a periodic array of circular crystalline Al2O3 cylinders embedded in the epoxy matrix for square lattice. The point defect is introduced by changing one of the cylinders' radii. The results show that the defect modes exist in the first band gap, the frequencies and the numbers of the defect modes are strongly dependent on the defect filling fraction and the filling fraction. All the flat defect bands appearing in the first band gap are nondegenerate. For a given defect filling fraction, there are up to five nondegenerate defect bands emerging inside the first band gap, and the frequencies of defect bands increase with the filling fraction increases. The defect bands disappear at very low or very high filling fractions. For a given filling fraction, three nondegenerate defect bands appearing near the upper edge of the gap move to the middle as the defect filling fraction is reduced, and the edges of the first band gap remain hardly changed. The study of the displacement distributions associated with the three defect modes shows that the flat bands correspond to the special localized frequencies of the waves. For the two lower defect modes, the displacement amplitudes around the defect are much bigger than that at or far away from the defect. However, for the higher defect mode, the displacement amplitude reaches the maximum at the location of the defect and decays rapidly with the distance away from that. Obviously, the bending waves correspond to such three modes are so localized at or near the defect that they can not escape into the surrounding phononic crystals. That is, the point defect behaves like a resonant vacant.
Experimental evidence for heat plume‐induced cavitation and xylem deformation as a mechanism of rapid post‐fire tree mortality

Summary Recent work suggests that hydraulic mechanisms, rather than cambium necrosis, may account for rapid post‐fire tree mortality. We experimentally tested for xylem cavitation, as a result of exposure to high‐vapour‐deficit (D) heat plumes, and permanent xylem deformation, as a result of thermal softening of lignin, in two tree species differing in fire tolerance. We measured percentage loss of conductance (PLC) in distal branches that had been exposed to high‐D heat plumes or immersed in hot water baths (high temperature, but not D). Results were compared with predictions from a parameterized hydraulic model. Physical damage to the xylem was examined microscopically. Both species suffered c. 80% PLC when exposed to a 100°C plume. However, at 70°C, the fire‐sensitive Kiggelaria africana suffered lower PLC (49%) than the fire‐resistant Eucalytpus cladocalyx (80%). Model simulations suggested that differences in PLC between species were a result of greater hydraulic segmentation in E. cladocalyx. Kiggelaria africana suffered considerable PLC (59%), as a result of heat‐induced xylem deformation, in the water bath treatments, but E. cladocalyx did not. We suggest that a suite of ‘pyrohydraulic’ traits, including hydraulic segmentation and heat sensitivity of the xylem, may help to explain why some tree species experience rapid post‐fire mortality after low‐intensity fires and others do not.