Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transcriptional analysis of the Aeromonas salmonicida S-layer protein gene vapA

The vapA gene of Aeromonas salmonicida encodes the subunit of the surface protein array known as A-layer. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 374 bp of DNA immediately upstream of vapA revealed two potential promoter sequences and other possible regulatory sequences. Sequencing and polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that the region was conserved in wild-type A. salmonicida. Primer extension and Northern (RNA) blot analysis showed that vapA transcription in A. salmonicida was directed predominantly by a distal promoter, P1, resulting in a 1.7-kb unit-length mRNA with an untranslated 181-nucleotide leader sequence which contained two predicted low-free-energy stem-loop structures. Northern analysis of cells grown at 15 degrees C showed that vapA transcript production peaked during the mid-log phase of growth (A600 = 0.25). At 15 degrees C, the half-life of the vapA mRNA was 22 min, while at 20 degrees C, the half-life was significantly shorter, 11 min. The amount of vapA transcript produced was reduced by growth in the presence of the DNA gyrase inhibitors nalidixic acid and novobiocin. Environmental factors such as growth temperature and atmospheric oxygen tension also affected the quantity of vapA mRNA. vapA transcript could not be detected in mutants which produced either low levels of full-length or truncated A protein or no detectable A protein.
Optimum Power Allocation for Beamforming-Based Regenerative Dual-Hop MISO Relay Channels

We consider a power allocation strategy to maximize the end-to-end capacity of a regenerative dual-hop multiple-input single-output (MISO) relay channel with the use of transmit beamforming. In a dual-hop MISO relay channel, the optimum power allocation can be determined by means of a max-min technique with sum power constraints. The proposed scheme adaptively allocates the transmit power of the source and relay according to the achievable beamforming gain as well as the average channel gain to balance the capacity between the dual- hop MISO relay channels. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can provide noticeable performance improvement over the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-based power allocation scheme in a dual-hop MISO relay channel with the use of the transmit beamforming.
Higher-Order Factor Structures for the WISC-IV: Implications for Neuropsychological Test Interpretation

Factor-analytic studies support a hierarchical four-factor model for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) with a prominent general, third-order factor. However, there is substantial disagreement on which type of higher-order model best fits the data and how different models should guide test interpretation in clinical practice, with many studies concluding interpretation should primarily be focused on general indicators of intelligence. We performed a series of confirmatory factor analyses with the WISC-IV standardization sample (N = 2,200, ages 6–16 years) to examine model fit and reexamined models used to support test interpretation at the general level. Consistent with previous research, bifactor models were difficult to identify; however, compared with bifactor and hierarchical models, the correlated factors model with no general higher-order factor provided the best fit to the data. Results from this study support the basic four-factor model specified in the WISC-IV technical manual, with test interpretation primarily focused at the factor level, rather than the general level suggested in previous studies.
Dyadic confirmatory factor analysis of the inflammatory bowel disease family responsibility questionnaire.

OBJECTIVES Evaluate the factor structure of youth and maternal involvement ratings on the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Family Responsibility Questionnaire, a measure of family allocation of condition management responsibilities in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. METHODS Participants included 251 youth aged 11-18 years with inflammatory bowel disease and their mothers. Item-level descriptive analyses, subscale internal consistency estimates, and confirmatory factor analyses of youth and maternal involvement were conducted using a dyadic data-analytic approach. RESULTS Results supported the validity of 4 conceptually derived subscales including general health maintenance, social aspects, condition management tasks, and nutrition domains. Additionally, results indicated adequate support for the factor structure of a 21-item youth involvement measure and strong support for a 16-item maternal involvement measure. CONCLUSIONS Additional empirical support for the validity of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Family Responsibility Questionnaire was provided. Future research to replicate current findings and to examine the measure's clinical utility is warranted.
Individual Differences in Task-Specific Paired Associates Learning in Older Adults: The Role of Processing Speed and Working Memory

Background/Study Context: The role of processing speed and working memory was investigated in terms of individual differences in task-specific paired associates learning in a sample of older adults. Task-specific learning, as distinct from content-oriented item-specific learning, refers to gains in performance due to repeated practice on a learning task in which the to-be-learned material changes over trials. Methods: Learning trajectories were modeled within an intensive repeated-measures design based on participants obtained from an opt-in Internet-based sampling service (M age = 65.3, SD = 4.81). Participants completed an eight-item paired associates task daily over a 7-day period. Results: Results indicated that a three-parameter hyperbolic model (i.e., initial level, learning rate, and asymptotic performance) best described learning trajectory. After controlling for age-related effects, both higher working memory and higher processing speed had a positive effect on all three learning parameters. Conclusion: These results emphasize the role of cognitive abilities for individual differences in task-specific learning of older adults.
Growth Performance and Serum Lipids Profile of Clarias gariepinus Catfish Following Experimental Dietary Exposure to Fumonisin B 1

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) is produced by fungus of the genus Fusarium (Fusarium verticiloides and F. proliferatum), and occurs predominantly in maize. The consumption of feed contaminated with FB1 has been reported to cause deleterious effects in some fish species. This study was designed to determine the effects of dietary FB1 on growth and lipids profile of Clarias gariepinus. 450 juvenile catfish were stocked into 5 groups of tanks consisting of 3 tanks per group and fed one of five diets amended with FB1 (0.0 mg; 10.0 mg; 20.0 mg; 40.0 mg and 80.0 mg FB1/kg) for 56 days. At time point’s day 7, 14, 28 and 56, five fish were sampled from each tank weighted, length measured and bled for of lipids profile determinations. Results show that there was a significant reduction (P < 0.05), in the mean body length of the fish fed diets amended with various amounts of FB1 compared with those fed control diet; also, there was a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the weight gain of fishes fed diets amended with FB1 compared with the control. The specific growth rate and the feed conversion ratio at 56 days shows fish fed 0.0 mg FB1/kg had the highest specific growth rate (0.39 ± 0.14%/day) and the lowest feed conversion ratio (0.59 ± 0.01) whereas, fish fed 80.0 mg FB1/kg had the least specific growth rate (0.07% ± 0.01%/day) and the highest feed conversion ratio (1.95 ± 0.11). Dietary FB1 caused significant increases (P < 0.05) in serum cholesterol, HDL-C; LDL-C; triglycerides and the sphinganine-sphingosine ratio. Dietary FB1 at an inclusion rate ≥ 20 mg FB1/kg of diet produced significant reduction in weight gain and hyperlipidemia Corresponding author. B. T. Adeyemo et al. 128 marked by hypercholesterolemia, increased blood high-density lipid cholesterol, increased blood low-density lipid cholesterol, elevated blood triglycerides and elevated sphinganine-sphingosine ratio.
SourceSync: a distributed wireless architecture for exploiting sender diversity

Diversity is an intrinsic property of wireless networks. Recent years have witnessed the emergence of many distributed protocols like ExOR, MORE, SOAR, SOFT, and MIXIT that exploit receiver diversity in 802.11-like networks. In contrast, the dual of receiver diversity, sender diversity, has remained largely elusive to such networks. This paper presents SourceSync, a distributed architecture for harnessing sender diversity. SourceSync enables concurrent senders to synchronize their transmissions to symbol boundaries, and cooperate to forward packets at higher data rates than they could have achieved by transmitting separately. The paper shows that SourceSync improves the performance of opportunistic routing protocols. Specifically, SourceSync allows all nodes that overhear a packet in a wireless mesh to simultaneously transmit it to their nexthops, in contrast to existing opportunistic routing protocols that are forced to pick a single forwarder from among the overhearing nodes. Such simultaneous transmission reduces bit errors and improves throughput. The paper also shows that SourceSync increases the throughput of 802.11 last hop diversity protocols by allowing multiple APs to transmit simultaneously to a client, thereby harnessing sender diversity. We have implemented SourceSync on the FPGA of an 802.11-like radio platform. We have also evaluated our system in an indoor wireless testbed, empirically showing its benefits.
Capacity of MIMO Rayleigh Fading Channels in the Presence of Interference and Receive Correlation

In cellular systems, multiple users share the same radio spectrum, which leads to cochannel interference. Cochannel interference ultimately limits the quality of service offered to the users. At the moment, general capacity analysis for multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) correlated Rayleigh fading channels in the presence of correlated Rayleigh cochannel interference is not available in the literature, although its counterpart without cochannel interference has been thoroughly investigated. The difficulty arises from the quadratic form of the interference term. In this paper, based on the theory of matrix variate distribution, we investigate the capacity of MIMO Rayleigh fading channels with Rayleigh cochannel interference. We assume that perfect channel information is available to the receiver, but the transmitter has no channel information. We focus on the case when signals for the desired user and cochannel interferers are correlated at receiving antennas. We first derive an exact closed-form expression of the moment-generating function (MGF) of mutual information of MIMO channels with interference. Then, we further obtain an exact expression of the MIMO ergodic capacity with the MGF formula of mutual information. As a double check, these analytical results are validated by Monte Carlo simulations, and as an illustration of the mathematical formalism, numerical examples for particular cases of interest are plotted and discussed.
Fisheye lens calibration using shifted lattice pattern and correction of barrel distortion using spatially adaptive interpolation

In this paper, we present a novel fisheye lens calibration method and a spatially adaptive interpolation algorithm for correcting the radial distortion of the lens. The proposed calibration method uses a shifted lattice pattern (SLP) image that contains sufficiently many feature points with different distances from the image center. The calibration is performed by matching all the points in the simulated image and the corresponding points in the input original image. After calibration, we correct the image using the proposed directionally adaptive interpolation to remove the peripheral degradation caused by the radial distortion. The proposed method can accurately calibrate the fisheye lens and restore the radial distortion without using complicated three-dimensional modeling. As a result, it can be applied to the various imaging systems using fisheye lens such as digital zooming, high resolution video surveillance, and vehicle rear view cameras.
Efficient identity-based threshold signature scheme from bilinear pairings in standard model

We propose a new identity-based threshold signature (IBTHS) scheme from bilinear pairings enjoying the following advantages in efficiency, security and functionality. The round-complexity of the threshold signing protocol is optimal since each party pays no other communication cost except broadcasting one single message. The computational complexity of the threshold signing procedure is considerably low since there appears no other time-consuming pairing except two pairings for verifying each signature shares. The communication channel requirement of the threshold signing procedure is the lowest since the broadcast channel among signers is enough. It is provably secure with optimal resilience in the standard model. It is the private key associated with an identity rather than a private key of the private key generator (PKG) that is shared among signature generation servers.
Understanding the characteristics of cellular data traffic

Because of rapidly growing subscriber populations, advances in cellular communication technology, increasingly capable user terminals, and the expanding range of mobile applications, cellular networks have experienced a significant increase in data traffic, the dominant part of which is carried by the http protocol. Understanding the characteristics of this traffic is important for network design, traffic modeling, resource planning and network control. In this study we present a comprehensive characterization study of mobile http-based traffic using packet level traces collected in a large cellular network. We analyze the traffic using metrics at packet level, flow level and session level. For each metric, we conduct a comparison between traffic from different applications, as well as comparison to traffic in a wired network. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for better resource utilization in cellular infrastructures.
Structural analysis of micro-channels in human temporal bone

Recently, numerous micro-channels have been discovered in the human temporal bone by micro-CT-scanning. Preliminary structure of these channels has suggested they contain a new separate blood supply for the mucosa of the mastoid air cells, which may have important functional implications. This paper proposes a structural analysis of the microchannels to corroborate this role. A local structure tensor is first estimated. The eigenvalues obtained from the estimated local structure tensor were then used to build probability maps representing planar, tubular, and isotropic tensor types. Each tensor type was assigned a respective RGB color and the full structure tensor was rendered along with the original data. Such structural analysis provides new and relevant information about the micro-channels but also their connections to mastoid air cells. Before carrying a future statistical analysis, a more accurate representation of the micro-channels in terms of local structure tensor analysis using adaptive filtering is needed.
Block frequency spreading: A method for low-complexity MIMO in FBMC-OQAM

Filter Bank Multi-Carrier (FBMC) offers better spectral properties than conventional Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). However, the lack of Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO) compatibility is one of its biggest obstacles. By spreading symbols in frequency, we are able to restore complex orthogonality in FBMC, so that all MIMO methods known in OFDM can be straightforwardly applied. The spreading process itself has low computational complexity because it is based on a Fast-Walsh-Hadamard transform, thus completely free of multiplications. Orthogonality only holds if the channel is approximately frequency flat within the spreading length. We thus suggest the usage of frequency blocks which are separated by a guard subcarrier. We also investigate the effect of a doubly selective channel on our block frequency spreading approach. Finally, MIMO simulations validate the applicability.
A naturalistic longitudinal study of the order of service provision with respect to cocaine use and outcomes in an urban homeless sample

Aims. Little is known about outcomes of drug abuse related to attainment of stable housing. This study examined outcomes of cocaine use and service provision in an urban homeless sample. Methods. Two-year longitudinal study of systematically selected homeless individuals (N = 255) in St. Louis, Missouri from 1999 to 2001. The sample was interviewed three times annually using a structured diagnostic interview. Urine drug testing was conducted at every interview, and service utilisation data were obtained from the structured interviews and the agency-provided service use data. Results. Cocaine use disorder and cocaine use proved to be distinct concepts because they predicted different outcomes across time. Cocaine use predicted subsequent poor housing outcomes, but stable housing had no apparent effect on subsequent use of cocaine. Service use predicted neither subsequent reduced cocaine use nor attainment of stable housing. Services used were appropriate to type of mental health need, but cocaine use may have reduced successful utilisation of appropriate psychiatric services. Conclusion. These findings reinforce the concept that homelessness represents a complex phenomenon and consequently, service systems need to address multiple problems. Service approaches are needed that simultaneously address the complex needs of homeless individuals.
Development of EST-SSR annotated database in olive (Olea europaea)

Olive tree (Olea europaea L.) is one of the most important oil producing crops in the world and the genetic identification of several genotypes by using molecular markers is the first step in its breeding programs. A set of 1,801 well-informative EST-SSR primers targeting specific Olive genes included in different biological processes and pathways were generated using 11,215 Olive EST sequences acquired from the NCBI database. Our bioinformatics analytical procedure showed that 8295 SSR motifs were detected which belonged to different motif types with occurrences of 77.6%, 11.84%, 8.62%, 0.84%, 0.77% and 0.29% for Mononucleotide, trinucleotide, dinucleotide, hexanucleotide, pentanucleotide and tetranucleotide respectively. The appearance of the AAG/CTT repeat was highly represented in trinucleotide and the representation of AG/CT was high in dinucleotide repeats. Results obtained from functional annotation of olives EST sequences targeted with our primers set indicated that 78.5% of these sequences having homology with known proteins, while 4.2% was homologous to hypothetical, predicted, unnamed or uncharacterized proteins and the 17.3% sequences did not possess homology with any known proteins. Our EST-SSR primer set cover a total of 92 biological pathways such as carbohydrate metabolism pathway, energy metabolism& carbon fixation in photosynthetic organism pathway including 11 pathways associated with lipid metabolism. A twenty five randomly selected primers were applied to 9 Egyptian cultivated olive accessions to test its amplification and polymorphism detection efficacy. All tested primers were successfully amplified and only 10 exhibited detectable polymorphism.
Influence of Mothers on School Adjustment of Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis Children

In school children on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), school adjustment is regarded as an important indicator for comprehensive medical care. The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of mothers on school adjustment of CAPD children. The children tended to indicate school maladjustment with school absenteeism and poor relationships with friends. The mothers were characterized by poor independence, poor achievement orientation, strong emotional reliance, and lack of social self-confidence, indicating emotional instability. The family environment, including the mother's psychological condition, was strongly associated with the children's maladjustment to school. The results suggested the necessity of comprehensive medical care for these children and their mothers.
Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist Modulates the Early Phase of Liver Regeneration after Partial Hepatectomy in Mice

Background Cytokine administration is a potential therapy for acute liver failure by reducing inflammatory responses and favour hepatocyte regeneration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) during liver regeneration and to study the effect of a recombinant human IL-1ra on liver regeneration. Methods We performed 70%-hepatectomy in wild type (WT) mice, IL-1ra knock-out (KO) mice and in WT mice treated by anakinra. We analyzed liver regeneration at regular intervals by measuring the blood levels of cytokines, the hepatocyte proliferation by bromodeoxyuridin (BrdU) incorporation, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and Cyclin D1 expression. The effect of anakinra on hepatocyte proliferation was also tested in vitro using human hepatocytes. Results At 24h and at 48h after hepatectomy, IL-1ra KO mice had significantly higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β and MCP-1) and a reduced and delayed hepatocyte proliferation measured by BrdU incorporation, PCNA and Cyclin D1 protein levels, when compared to WT mice. IGFBP-1 and C/EBPβ expression was significantly decreased in IL-1ra KO compared to WT mice. WT mice treated with anakinra showed significantly decreased levels of IL-6 and significantly higher hepatocyte proliferation at 24h compared to untreated WT mice. In vitro, primary human hepatocytes treated with anakinra showed significantly higher proliferation at 24h compared to hepatocytes without treatment. Conclusion IL1ra modulates the early phase of liver regeneration by decreasing the inflammatory stress and accelerating the entry of hepatocytes in proliferation. IL1ra might be a therapeutic target to improve hepatocyte proliferation.
Estimation of Trajectory and Location for Mobile Sound Source

In this paper, we present an approach to estimate mobile sound source trajectory. An artificially created sound source signal is used in this work. The main aim of this paper is to estimate the mobile object trajectory via sound processing methods. The performance of generalized cross correlation techniques is compared with that of noise reduction filters for the success of trajectory estimation. The azimuth angle between the sound source and receiver is calculated during the whole movement. The parameter of Interaural Time Difference (ITD) is utilized for determining azimuth angle. The success of estimated delay is compared with different types of Generalized Cross Correlation (GCC) algorithms. In this study, an approach for sound localization and trajectory estimation on 2D space is proposed. Besides, different types of pre-filter method are tried for removing the noise and signal smoothing of recorded sound signals. Some basic parameters of sound localization process are also explained. Moreover, the calculation error of average azimuth angle is compared with different GCC and pre-filtered methods. To conclude, it is observed that estimation of location and trajectory information of a mobile object from a stereo sound recording is realized successfully.
Yet Another Proof of the Entropy Power Inequality

Yet another simple proof of the entropy power inequality is given, which avoids both the integration over a path of Gaussian perturbation and the use of Young’s inequality with sharp constant or Rényi entropies. The proof is based on a simple change of variables, is formally identical in one and several dimensions, and easily settles the equality case.