Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic Structure of Sesamia nonagrioides (Lefebvre) Populations in the Mediterranean Area

The Mediterranean corn borer, Sesamia nonagrioides (Lefebvre) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a major pest of maize in the Mediterranean area. Transgenic Bt maize expressing the Cry1Ab toxin from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis can effectively control this pest. The characterization of S. nonagrioides population structure, at a large geographical scale, would provide some insight in decision making for resistance management. The genetic relationships among nine populations from Spain, one from France, one from Italy, three from Greece, and one from Turkey were assessed using Random Amplyfied Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Populations from France and Spain formed a cluster independent from a cluster of populations collected in Italy, Turkey, and Greece in a unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average dendrogram constructed from Nei’s genetic distances. Average genetic differentiation among samples was significant for all geographical groupings analyzed (FST = 0.160 ± 0.014 for Spanish populations; 0.133 ± 0.022 for Spanish and French populations; and 0.095 ± 0.010 for Greek, Italian, and Turkish populations). Genetic differentiation was also significant for all paired comparisons of populations, including two Spanish populations separated by only 15 km with no apparent geographical barriers. No pattern of isolation by distance was observed among Mediterranean corn borer populations collected in Spain and France. These results suggest a limited genetic exchange between relatively distant S. nonagrioides populations in Europe, which might contribute to decreased rate of spread of resistance alleles once resistance has developed at a certain site.
DESIPRAMINE‐INDUCED Ca2+‐INDEPENDENT APOPTOSIS IN MG63 HUMAN OSTEOSARCOMA CELLS: DEPENDENCE ON P38 MITOGEN‐ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE‐REGULATED ACTIVATION OF CASPASE 3

1 It has been shown that the antidepressant desipramine is able to induce increases in [Ca2+]i and cell death in MG63 human osteosacroma cells, but whether apoptosis is involved is unclear. In the present study, the effect of desipramine on apoptosis and the underlying mechanisms were explored. It was demonstrated that desipramine induced cell death in a concentration‐ and time‐dependent manner. 2 Cells treated with 100–800 mmol/L desipramine showed typical apoptotic features, including an increase in sub‐diploid nuclei and activation of caspase 3, indicating that these cells underwent apoptosis. Immunoblotting revealed that 100 mmol/L desipramine activated extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK), c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK). Although pretreatment of cells with 20 mmol/L PD98059 (an ERK inhibitor) or 20 mmol/L SP600125 (an inhibitor of JNK) did not inhibit cell death, the addition of 20 mmol/L SB203580 (a p38 MAPK inhibitor) partially rescued cells from apoptosis. Desipramine‐induced caspase 3 activation required p38 MAPK activation. 3 Pretreatment of cells with BAPTA/AM (20 mmol/L) to prevent desipramine‐induced increases in [Ca2+]i did not protect cells from death. 4 The results of the present study suggest that, in MG63 human osteosarcoma cells, desipramine causes Ca2+‐independent apoptosis by inducing p38 MAPK‐associated activation of caspase 3.
Field Segmentation Based on Integral Curve Attributes

We propose a segmentation method for vector fields. Our segmentation is driven by integral curve attributes that are used to classify different behaviors of integral curves. In particular, we assign an attribute value to each spatio-temporal position based on the integral curve that passes through it. With this attribute information, our segmentation first performs a region classification. Then, the connected components are constructed from the derived classification to obtain an initial segmentation. After merging and filtering small segments, we extract and refine the boundaries of the segments. Because the points that are correlated by the same integral curves have the same or similar attribute values, the proposed segmentation typically results in segments that are well-aligned with the flow direction. Therefore, additional processing is not required to generate other geometric descriptors within the individual segments to illustrate the flow behaviors. We apply our method to a number of synthetic and CFD simulation data sets and compare it with existing methods to demonstrate its effectiveness.
The interface between genetics and psychology: lessons from developmental dyslexia

Developmental dyslexia runs in families, and twin studies have confirmed that there is a substantial genetic contribution to poor reading. The way in which discoveries in molecular genetics are reported can be misleading, encouraging us to think that there are specific genes that might be used to screen for disorder. However, dyslexia is not a classic Mendelian disorder that is caused by a mutation in a single gene. Rather, like many other common disorders, it appears to involve combined effects of many genes and environmental factors, each of which has a small influence, possibly supplemented by rare variants that have larger effects but apply to only a minority of cases. Furthermore, to see clearer relationships between genotype and phenotype, we may need to move beyond the clinical category of dyslexia to look at underlying cognitive deficits that may be implicated in other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Superior Guarantees for Sequential Prediction and Lossless Compression via Alphabet Decomposition

We present worst case bounds for the learning rate of a known prediction method that is based on hierarchical applications of binary context tree weighting (CTW) predictors. A heuristic application of this approach that relies on Huffman's alphabet decomposition is known to achieve state-of-the-art performance in prediction and lossless compression benchmarks. We show that our new bound for this heuristic is tighter than the best known performance guarantees for prediction and lossless compression algorithms in various settings. This result substantiates the efficiency of this hierarchical method and provides a compelling explanation for its practical success. In addition, we present the results of a few experiments that examine other possibilities for improving the multi-alphabet prediction performance of CTW-based algorithms.
Enhancing IoT Security and Privacy with Distributed Ledgers - A Position Paper -

The Internet of Things has a number of well-publicised security flaws, resulting in numerous recent attacks. In this paper we lay out a framework for looking at how distributed ledgers and Blockchain technology can be used to enhance the security, privacy and manageability of IoT devices and networks. A significant concern is the inability to process blockchains on small devices. We propose an architecture for IoT security and privacy based on blockchains that addresses this and other issues. We look at related work and propose areas of further
Long-Run Average Behaviour of Probabilistic Vector Addition Systems

We study the pattern frequency vector for runs in probabilistic Vector Addition Systems with States (pVASS). Intuitively, each configuration of a given pVASS is assigned one of finitely many patterns, and every run can thus be seen as an infinite sequence of these patterns. The pattern frequency vector assigns to each run the limit of pattern frequencies computed for longer and longer prefixes of the run. If the limit does not exist, then the vector is undefined. We show that for one-counter pVASS, the pattern frequency vector is defined and takes one of finitely many values for almost all runs. Further, these values and their associated probabilities can be approximated up to an arbitrarily small relative error in polynomial time. For stable two-counter pVASS, we show the same result, but we do not provide any upper complexity bound. As a byproduct of our study, we discover counterexamples falsifying some classical results about stochastic Petri nets published in the 80s.
Neuronal Polymorphism among Natural Alleles of a cGMP-Dependent Kinase Gene, foraging, in Drosophila

Natural variation in neuronal excitability and connectivity has not been extensively studied. In Drosophila melanogaster, a naturally maintained genetic polymorphism at a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) gene, foraging (for), is associated with alternative food search strategies among the allelic variants Rover (for(R); higher PKG activity) and sitter (for(s); lower PKG activity). We examined physiological and morphological variations in nervous systems of these allelic variants isolated from natural populations. Whole-cell current clamping revealed distinct excitability patterns, with spontaneous activities and excessive evoked firing in cultured sitter, but not Rover, neurons. Voltage-clamp examination demonstrated reduced voltage-dependent K(+) currents in sitter neurons. Focal recordings from synapses at the larval neuromuscular junction demonstrated spontaneous activity and supernumerary discharges with increased transmitter release after nerve stimulation. Immunolabeling showed more diffuse motor axon terminal projections with increased ectopic nerve entry points in sitter larval muscles. The differences between the two natural alleles was enhanced in laboratory-induced mutant alleles of the for gene. The pervasive effects of the for-PKG on neuronal excitability, synaptic transmission, and nerve connectivity illustrate the magnitude of neuronal variability in Drosophila that can be attributed to a single gene. These findings establish the consequences in cellular function for natural variation in an isoform of PKG and suggest a role for natural selection in maintaining variation in neuronal properties.
Information Sharing Among Countries: A Perspective from Country-Specific Websites in Global Brands

Multiple official languages within a country along with languages common with other countries demand content consistency in both shared and unshared languages during information sharing. However, inconsistency due to conflict in content shared and content updates not propagated in languages between countries poses a problem. Towards addressing inconsistency, this research qualitatively studied traits for information sharing among countries inside global brands as depicted by content shared in their country-specific websites. First, inconsistency in content shared is illustrated among websites highlighting the problem in information sharing among countries. Second, content propagation among countries that vary in scales and coupling for specific content categories are revealed. Scales suggested that corporate and customer support related information tend to be shared globally and locally respectively while product related information is both locally and regionally suitable for sharing. Higher occurrences of propagation when sharing corporate related information also showed tendency for high coupling between websites suggesting the suitability for rigid consistency policy compared to other categories. This study also proposed a simplistic approach with pattern of sharing to enable consistent information sharing.
Electric vehicle model for estimating distribution transformer load for normal and cold-load pickup conditions

This paper presents a method to estimate the normal load and the cold-load pickup caused by the recharging of electric vehicle (EV) on the distribution transformers. The Monte Carlo simulation method is used to make the estimate in both conditions. The model can calculate the charging load profile with different numbers of customers and different ratios of battery capacity, chargers and car penetration. The model establishes a forecast of the power on transformer and helps for designing strategy that enables electric utilities to avoid new investments on distribution grid, especially during the restoration after a power failure.
Impact of Airflow Rate on Amplitude and Regional Distribution of Normal Lung Sounds

In computerized lung sound research, the usage of a pneumotachograph, defining the phase of respiration and airflow velocity, is essential. To obviate its need, the influence of airflow rate on the characteristics of lung sounds is of great interest. Therefore, we investigate its effect on amplitude and regional distribution of normal lung sounds. We record lung sounds on the posterior chest of four lung-healthy male subjects in supine position with a 16-channel lung sound recording device at different airflow rates. We use acoustic thoracic images to discuss the influence of airflow rate on the regional distribution. At each airflow rate, we observe louder lung sounds over the left hemithorax and a constant regional distribution above an airflow rate of 0 . 7 l/s. Furthermore, we observe a linear relationship between the airflow rate and the amplitude of lung sounds.
Stochastic model of brokerage customer value based on investment psychology segmentation and GARCH

The value of securities brokerage customer comes from their trading commission, which depends on their investment return rate and assets turnover rate. Both of them are influenced by customer's investment psychological characteristics and stock market return rate. For stock market return rate is a random variable, commission income also has random characteristics, deterministic models based on historical commission income does not suitable to estimate the value of brokerage customers. Using K-means cluster to segment customer with deposition effect and over confidence, stock market return rate as the random variable, a customer commission value model is given, which is based on GARCH to model every group's assets turnover rate, and a linear equation to model every group's investment return rate. Because no analytical solution can be found for this model, Monte Carlo simulation is used to find the numerical solution. The empirical results show that, relative to the deterministic model, this model can give a more accurate estimation for the long-run value of brokerage customer segment with different investment psychological characteristics, and provide a reasonable basis for enterprises to optimize their marketing and service inputs.
Output planning based on data envelopment analysis and extended cournot model

Based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) and extended Cournot model, this paper studies how each decision making unit (DMU) makes its most preferred output plans for the next production period when the market demands for one or more outputs are forecasted to change by a certain amount. Taking the perspective of noncooperative competition among all DMUs, this study proposes a method to search for the ideal production plans satisfying both market demand and production possibility set. Both numerical example and real world application to fast-food industry have showed that the proposed method is reasonable and executive.
The Influences of TOVS Radiance Assimilation on Temperature and Moisture Tendencies in JRA-25 and ERA-40

Abstract A Japanese long-term reanalysis (JRA-25) was completed in 2006 utilizing the comprehensive set of observations from the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40). JRA-25 and ERA-40 adopted the same type of assimilation systems: 3DVAR with direct use of satellite sounding radiances. Long-term upper-air thermal tendencies in both reanalyses are examined and compared with the observational deep-layer temperatures of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and Remote Sensing Systems (RSS). The upper-air temperature tendencies in the reanalyses are significantly different from those of UAH and RSS, and they appear to be influenced by the way the observations of the Television and Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) are used. This study focuses on documenting problems in TOVS assimilation, especially problems in bias corrections used in the reanalyses. Referring to quantitative results in an examination of biases between the reanalyses and raw TOVS observations, this.
Field Analysis and Design of a Moving Iron Linear Alternator for Use with Linear Engine

A microprocessor control motor starter is utilized in which the microprocessor measures the status of AC input signals which are coupled thereto by way of an isolating electro-optical device. The electro-optical device provides a square wave output signal. Thirty-six samples are made to determine if the output signal is at a digital "1" level or a digital "0" level. If more than 18 digital "1's" are found, that is an indication that the device has failed and a trip operation is initiated by the microprocessor. If less than 18 but greater than some arbitrarily chosen small number such as 6 is found, that is an indication that the switch empowering the optoelectrical device is in a closed but valid disposition. If a number less than 6 is found, that is an indication that the switch is in the open disposition. If the device is failed, the microprocessor will trip the motor.
Challenges and Considerations in Sequence Variant Interpretation for Mendelian Disorders

In 2015, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), together with the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), published the latest guidelines for the interpretation of sequence variants, which have been widely adopted into clinical practice. Despite these standardized efforts, the degrees of subjectivity and uncertainty allowed by the guidelines can lead to inconsistent variant classification across clinical laboratories, making it difficult to assess the pathogenicity of identified variants. We describe the critical elements of variant interpretation processes and potential pitfalls through practical examples and provide updated information based on a review of recent literature. The variant classification we describe is meant to be applicable to sequence variants for Mendelian disorders, whether identified by single-gene tests, multi-gene panels, exome sequencing, or genome sequencing. Continuing efforts to improve the reproducibility and objectivity of sequence variant interpretation across individuals and laboratories are needed.
Flexible Structural Analysis of Near-Meet-Semilattices for Typed Unification-Based Grammar Design

We present a new method for directly working with typed unification grammars in which type unification is not well-defined. This is often the case, as large-scale HPSG grammars now usually have type systems for which many pairs do not have least upper bounds. Our method yields a unification algorithm that compiles quickly and yet is nearly as fast during parsing as one that requires least upper bounds. The method also provides a natural naming convention for unification results in cases where no user-defined type exists.
Single-Radio Adaptive Channel Algorithm for Spectrum Agile Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

This paper presents the single-radio adaptive channel (SRAC) algorithm which enables dynamic spectrum access in multi-hop wireless ad hoc networks where each node has only one half-duplex radio (transceiver). Designed as a relatively independent module, SRAC can upgrade various existing single-radio legacy medium access control (MAC) protocols to be dynamic spectrum access capable, achieving efficient use of the spectrum, relaxing their operating conditions, and naturally supporting multicast applications. The SRAC algorithm is characterized by three features: (a) dynamic channelization in response to jamming, primary spectrum users and channel load, (b) "cross channel communications", and (c) as-needed use of spectrum. We evaluate the performance of SRAC through analysis and QualNet simulations.
The Wireless Localization Matching Problem

We propose new approaches toward wireless localization of devices belonging to the Internet of Things (IoT), specifically related to scenarios where the device positions are known a priori, however, the device IDs are not. These positions and device IDs therefore need to be matched using radio frequency positioning methods, which are more time and cost efficient as compared to manual installation. Immediate examples of real world applications include but are not limited to smart lighting and heating. We propose maximum-likelihood matching algorithms called MLMatch and MLMatch3D for resolving this problem based on measured received signal strength indicator values. Since the search space of node-to-position permutations grows factorially with the number of target devices, we propose several searching methods including mixed integer programming, linear programming relaxation to reduce computation time. The MLMatch3D algorithm further addresses the problem whereby nodes are located at multiple rooms and/or floors of a building. This algorithm first utilizes a graph partitioning method to determine in which room a node is located, followed by MLMatch for finding room specific positions corresponding to each node. In addition, this paper analyzes the stability of these algorithms with respect to different wireless fading models as well as compares the performance of these algorithms in various environments via numerical simulations. Finally, we report on experiments performed indoors and outdoors using up to 33 wireless devices in order to demonstrate the problem and validate our results.
Access to Care in Rural America: Impact of Hospital Closures

This article employs a quasi-experimental, pre/post comparison group design to determine whether rural hospital closures (n=11) have had a detrimental impact on access to inpatient and outpatient care for the Medicare population. Closure areas experienced a significant decrease in medical admissions, although admission rates remained higher than in comparison areas. Physician services were not found to substitute for inpatient services following a closure. No adverse impacts on mortality were observed. Patients in closure areas were more likely to be admitted to urban teaching hospitals following the closure of their local hospital.
Prioritised Stakeholder Analysis for Software Service Lifecycle Management

During the process of building business agility, the concept of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is proposed and widely lauded as an innovative business oriented solution. One of the most fundamental components in SOA based applications is a service, which represents the repeatable business functionalities to help the development of loosely coupled applications. Due to its important role in implementing SOA based applications for achieving dynamic business process, how to build a scalable, reliable service efficiently has become a vital challenge, while the service lifecycle management becomes one of the critical mechanisms to ensure the service quality. Currently, there are a large number of service lifecycle models proposed in the literature to fit their own purposes. However, few of them clearly indicate the integration of the lifecycle processes with stakeholders. To meet this gap, in this research a conceptual stakeholder analysis framework is proposed to associate the stakeholders with different lifecycle stages. It is believed that this method is able to offer the researchers in the community further insight into service lifecycle management from the stakeholder's perspective.