Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parameters affecting efficiency of in ovo electroporation of the avian neural tube and crest

Background: Many variations in avian in ovo transfection of the neural tube/crest have been reported, but never compared quantitatively. Results: Genome integrating pT2K‐CAGGS‐GFP and pCAGGS‐T2TP transposase plasmids were co‐electroporated into quail E2 embryo trunk neural tube and the proportion of GFP‐expressing neural cells was counted 1 and 7 days later. Electroporation efficiency increased with plasmid concentration and pulse number but plateaued at, respectively, above 1.25 µg/µL and 3 pulses. Bilateral electroporation transfected more cells than unilateral but less than that anticipated by doubling the unilateral treatment. Holding the concentration of GFP plasmid constant and varying the transposase plasmid concentration revealed an optimum ratio of, in this case, 4:1 (1.2 µg/µL:0.3 µg/µL). Leaving transfected embryos to E9 confirmed that expression was maintained in vivo with the transposase system, but declined with non‐integrated plasmid. Transfection of neural crest cells was low if electroporated less than 6–8 hr before emigration. We propose this indicates loss of epithelial integrity well prior to exit. We suggest this event be termed epithelio‐mesenchymal transition sensu stricto, whereas the term delamination be reserved for the later emigration from the neural epithelium. Conclusions: Co‐electroporation in ovo must take into account plasmid(s) concentration and ratio, pulse number, pulse directionality, and timing. Developmental Dynamics 243:1440–1447, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Spatial/joint space-time motion segmentation of image sequences by level set pursuit

The basic problem we address in this paper is the following. Given a set of sparse point correspondences, how does one obtain a dense motion field and a motion-based segmentation of the image sequence? We propose a novel solution to this problem by formulating it as pursuit in segmentation space. This segmentation is defined by level set evolution equations, allowing changes in segmentation topology.
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy severity is linked to dilation of juxtacortical perivascular spaces

Perivascular spaces are an emerging marker of small vessel disease. Perivascular spaces in the centrum semiovale have been associated with cerebral amyloid angiopathy. However, a direct topographical relationship between dilated perivascular spaces and cerebral amyloid angiopathy severity has not been established. We examined this association using post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging in five cases with evidence of cerebral amyloid angiopathy pathology. Juxtacortical perivascular spaces dilation was evaluated on T2 images and related to cerebral amyloid angiopathy severity in overlying cortical areas on 34 tissue sections stained for Amyloid β. Degree of perivascular spaces dilation was significantly associated with cerebral amyloid angiopathy severity (odds ratio = 3.3, 95% confidence interval 1.3–7.9, p = 0.011). Thus, dilated juxtacortical perivascular spaces are a promising neuroimaging marker of cerebral amyloid angiopathy severity.
A New Approach for Designing Quadruped Robot

Locomotion employed by legged land quadruped is a complex process. It requires the coordination of multiple degrees of freedom. In addition, locomotion control is complex because it requires: adapting to terrain, optimizing the gait, trying to satisfy multiple constraints, therefore, designing of quadruped robot must determine several related factors, which influences the result of the robot. Among of them, the two most important factors are: the mechanical structure and leg configuration; method of locomotion and the control system. This paper proposes a new approach for designing quadruped robot based on the skeleton of dog and the two above factors: simple mechanical structure and leg configuration are designed to simplify the operation of actuator; quadruped robot can be walked and run in a bounding gait with a simple control system.
Importance-Performance Analysis: application to senior programs evaluation.

As the senior adult population continues to grow, more and more recreation agencies will give greater priority to providing services for seniors. To develop and maintain quality programs for seniors, information is needed about what they consider important. This study used Importance-Performance Analysis to identify program features that are important to participants in Austin Parks and Recreation Senior Programs and to determine how well participants felt the agency performed on those features. Five hundred seventysix usable questionnaires were collected. Respondents indicated that information about events and activities, opportunities to socialize, having their program expectations met, opportunities for stress relief, opportunities to learn new things, mentally challenging activities, and a sense ofbelonging in the program were important features.
Sensitive RNA detection by combining three-way junction formation and primer generation-rolling circle amplification

Recently, we developed a simple isothermal nucleic acid amplification reaction, primer generation-rolling circle amplification (PG-RCA), to detect specific DNA sequences with great sensitivity and large dynamic range. In this paper, we combined PG-RCA with a three-way junction (3WJ) formation, and detected specific RNA molecules with high sensitivity and specificity in a one-step and isothermal reaction format. In the presence of target RNA, 3WJ probes (primer and template) are designed to form a 3WJ structure, from which multiple signal primers for the following PG-RCA can be generated by repeating primer extension, nicking and signal primer dissociation. Although this signal primer generation is a linear amplification process, the PG-RCA exponentially can amplify these signal primers and thus even a very small amount of RNA specimen can be detected. After optimizing the structures of 3WJ probes, the detection limit of this assay was 15.9 zmol (9.55 × 103 molecules) of synthetic RNA or 143 zmol (8.6 × 104 molecules) of in vitro transcribed human CD4 mRNA. Further, the applicability of this assay to detect CD4 mRNA in a human mRNA sample was demonstrated.
What do parents really want? Parents' perceptions of their children's schooling

International evidence confirms that parental involvement has substantial benefits for families and schools, as well as longterm economic benefits for developed and developing countries. To implement sound parental involvement two-way communication between home and school is essential. Schools worldwide tend to focus on communication from the school to the home, and afford parents fewer opportunities to express their perceptions of the quality of schooling. However, researcher-based, national and international surveys of parent opinion indicate that school endeavours to improve learner outcomes depend to a large extent on the data provided by parents. This article examines parents’ perceptions of their child’s schooling, gathered by means of an annual questionnaire administered in a public primary school in Gauteng, South Africa. A researcher-designed questionnaire administered annually over two consecutive years (2012 and 2013) was used to gauge parents’ opinions of school culture, home-school communication, classroom instruction and classroom organisation. The results indicate that parents were generally satisfied with all four areas. However, parents indicated concerns about reporting on an individual learner’s progress, academic achievement, and social and emotional wellbeing, as well as academic enrichment opportunities, and ways for parents to assist learning at home. In terms of classroom instruction and organisation, variations in parent responses emerged according to grade levels, and over the two-year reporting period. Recommendations were made, which could benefit other schools wishing to improve two-way communication with families through parent questionnaires. Keywords : classroom organisation; classroom teaching; family-school partnership; home-school communication; learner progress; parent surveys; quality of schooling
High levels of women's satisfaction and compliance with transdermal contraception: results from a European multinational, 6-month study

Objective. To investigate compliance, satisfaction, and preference in women using a transdermal contraceptive patch. Methods. Women (18–46 years) from eight European countries used contraceptive patches (norelgestromin 6 mg, ethinylestradiol 600 μg) for six, 4-week treatment cycles. Compliance, satisfaction, and preference were assessed after 3 and 6 cycles and study completion using self-report methods. Results. Of the 778 participants, 36.8% (n = 287) used no contraception at baseline. The most common methods were oral contraceptives (67.9%, n = 334) and barrier methods (21.5%, n = 106). Of oral contraception users, 63.5% (n = 212) were satisfied or very satisfied with their previous method, but compliance was poor with 77.8% (n = 260) reporting missed doses. After 3 and 6 cycles, >80% of all included women were satisfied or very satisfied with the patch. At study completion, most participants (73.7%) reported a preference for the patch compared to their previous method. Of 4107 cycles, 3718 (90.5%) were completed with perfect compliance. Two pregnancies occurred during this study, representing a Pearl Index of 0.63. No new safety issues were identified and the patch was well tolerated. Conclusion. Women were highly satisfied with transdermal contraception and preferred this form of family planning over their previous method. Transdermal contraception represents a valuable addition to contraceptive options with potential to offer high compliance and efficacy.
Improving Mandarin prosodic boundary prediction with rich syntactic features

Previous researches indicated that the performance of automatic prosodic boundary labeling benefited from syntactic phrase information for Mandarin. However, the influence of other syntactic features such as dependency has not been studied in-depth yet, especially on large scale corpus. This paper demonstrates the usefulness of rich syntactic features for Mandarin phrase boundary prediction. Both syntactic phrase and dependency features are considered in our methods. The experimental results show that rich syntactic features improve the performance of prosodic boundary prediction effectively. Index Terms: prosodic boundary, syntactic feature, syntactic phrase structure, dependency.
Whale Tank Virtual Reality

Whale Tank Virtual Reality (VR) is a novel head-coupled VR technique for collocated collaboration. It allows multiple users to observe a 3D scene from the correct perspective through their own personal viewport into the virtual scene and to interact with the scene on a large touch screen display. There are two primary benefits to Whale Tank VR: 1) Head coupling allows a user to experience the sense of a third dimension and to observe difficult-to-see objects without requiring navigation beyond natural head movement. 2) Multiple viewports enable collocated collaboration by seamlessly adjusting the head-coupled perspectives in each viewport according to the proximity of collaborators to ensure a consistent display at all times. One potential disadvantage that we had to consider was that head-coupling might reduce awareness of a collocated coworker's actions in the 3D scene. We therefore conducted an experiment to study the influence of head coupling on users' awareness-and-recall of actions in a simulated collaborative situation for several levels of task difficulty. Results revealed no statistically significant difference in awareness-and-recall performance with or without the presence of head coupling. This suggests that in situations where head coupling is employed, there is no degradation in users' awareness of collocated activity.
Design of the Munin Distributed Shared Memory System

Software distributed shared memory (DSM) is a software abstraction of shared memory on a distributed memory machine. The key problem in building an efficient DSM system is to reduce the amount of communication needed to keep the distributed memories consistent. The Munin DSM system incorporates a number of novel techniques for doing so, including the use of multiple consistency protocols and support for multiple concurrent writer protocols. Due to these and other features, Munin is able to achieve high performance on a variety of numerical applications. This paper contains a detailed description of the design and implementation of the Munin prototype, with special emphasis given to its novel write shared protocol. Furthermore, it describes a number of lessons that we learned from our experience with the prototype implementation that are relevant to the implementation of future DSMs.
Road Segmentation Supervised by an Extended V-Disparity Algorithm for Autonomous Navigation

This paper presents an original approach of road segmentation supervised by stereovision. It deals with free space estimation by stereovision and road detection by color segmentation. The v-disparity algorithm is extended to provide a reliable and precise road profile on all types of roads. The free space is estimated by classifying the pixels of the disparity map. This classification is performed by using the road profile and the u-disparity image. Then a color segmentation is performed on the free space. Here is the supervision. Each stage of the algorithm is presented and experimental results are shown.
Understanding Software Evolution Using a Flexible Query Engine

One of the main problems which arises in the field of software evolution is the sheer amount of information to be dealt with. Compared to reverse engineering where the main goal is the main understanding of one single system. In the field of software evolution this information is multiplied by the number of versions of the system one wants to understand. To counter this problem we have come up with a flexible query engine which can perform queries on the different versions of a system. In this paper we give an outlook on our current work in the field of software evolution and focus particularly on the concepts behind the query engine we have built.
Hierarchical Cache Performance Analysis Under TTL-Based Consistency

This paper introduces an analytical model for characterizing the instantaneous hit ratio and instantaneous average hit distance of a traditional least recently used (LRU) cache hierarchy. The analysis accounts for the use of two variants of the Time-to-Live (TTL) weak consistency mechanism. The first is the typical TTL scheme (TTL-T) used in the HTTP/1.1 protocol where expired objects are refreshed using conditional GET requests. The second is TTL immediate ejection (TTL-IE) where objects are ejected as soon as they expire. The analysis also accounts for two sharing protocols: Leave Copy Everywhere (LCE) and Promote Cached Objects (PCO). PCO is a new sharing protocol introduced in this paper that decreases the user's perceived latency and is robust under nonstationary access patterns.
A Comprehensive Analysis for Extracting Single Diode PV Model Parameters by Hybrid GA-PSO Algorithm

This paper proposes an improved model approach to single diode PV model by Hybrid Genetic Algorithm Particle Swarm Optimization (Hybrid GA-PSO) technique. The main objective is to extract accurate parameters of PV model for the simulator developers which could help them to develop an enhanced PV model in Matlab/Simulink environment. Specifications provided by the manufacturer’s data sheet of PV module have been used for the computation of model parameters. Hybrid approach of GA and PSO is purposely chosen to utilize their effectiveness in these kinds of applications. This method is used to optimize the parameters Ipv, a, Rse and Rsh with their best optimal values. For the confirmation of accuracy and computational time of the proposed method, poly-crystalline PV module (KL070) has been selected and the best optimal value of each parameter has been obtained using Hybrid GA-PSO. Finally, the extracted values have been used in the single diode PV model and tested for various irradiations and temperatures. The proposed methodology results in marked improvement and can be a tool for simulator developers who require absolute and accurate model.
A head-to-head comparison of Big-Five types and traits in the prediction of social attitudes. Further evidence for a five-cluster typology.

Abstract. Based on the recent findings that show evidence in favor of five rather than three prototypes in Big Five questionnaire data, the main aim of this study was to evaluate a five-cluster solution. The cluster solution is compared with a Big Five variable-centered approach regarding their relative utility in the concurrent prediction of social attitudes in an adult, nonstudent sample. In addition to the Big Five personality variables, we also assessed social attitudes (generalized prejudice, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation) and resiliency. Performing head-to-head comparisons to evaluate the goodness of cluster-solutions, our study again provides strong evidence that the five-cluster solution is superior to the three-cluster solution. The results also suggest that in fair comparisons (e.g., dichotomized Big Five scores) the typological approach can compete with the dimensional approach in predicting criterion variables. Furthermore, we have been able to show that the typolog.
Heptane-1,7-diaminium dinitrate

In the title molecular salt, C7H20N2 2+·2NO3 −, the crystal structure exhibits an unusual back-to-back paired double-stacked packing arrangement culminating in an overall double zigzag pattern of the dications. The nitrate anions form a ring around one pair of double-stacked dications. An intricate three-dimensional N—H⋯O and N—H⋯(O,O) hydrogen-bonding network exists in the crystal structure.
Structure, Barriers, and Relaxation Mechanisms of Kinks in the 90 degrees Partial Dislocation in Silicon.

Kink defects in the 90-degree partial dislocation in silicon are studied using a linear-scaling density-matrix technique. The asymmetric core reconstruction plays a crucial role, generating at least four distinct kink species as well as soliton defects. The energies and migration barriers of these entities are calculated and compared with experiment. As a result of certain low-energy kinks, a peculiar alternation of the core reconstruction is predicted. We find the solitons to be remarkably mobile even at very low temperature, and propose that they mediate the kink relaxation dynamics.
Differential effects of phencyclidine and methamphetamine on dopamine metabolism in rat frontal cortex and striatum as revealed by in vivo dialysis

We have examined the effects of schizophrenomimetic drugs including phencyclidine (PCP) and methamphetamine (MAP) on cortical and striatal dopamine (DA) metabolism using an in vivo dialysis technique in the rat. An acute systemic injection of PCP (2.5–10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally (i.p.)) dramatically increased concentrations of DA, 3,4‐dihydroxy‐phenylacetic acid, and homovanillic acid in the dialysates from the medial frontal cortex in a dose‐dependent fashion. However, PCP (2.5–10 mg/kg, i.p.) caused a much lower augmentation of extracellular DA release, with a significant decrease in dialysate DOPAC levels in the striatum. Moreover, continuous infusion of tetrodotoxin (TTX, 10−5 M) into the prefrontal or striatal region through the microdialysis tube completely blocked the ability of PCP (10 mg/kg, i.p.) to alter the extracellular release of DA and its metabolites in the respective areas. In contrast, MAP (4.8 mg/kg, i.p.) elicited a marked and tetrodotoxin‐resistant increase in DA levels with a significant loss of DOPAC contents in the extracellular space of both the frontal cortex and the striatum. The present results clearly demonstrate the differential effects of PCP on cortical and striatal DA transmission, suggesting that PCP may facilitate DA release in the medial frontal cortex by increasing impulse flow in the DA neurons projecting to the cortical area, whereas PCP‐induced elevation of extracellular DA in the striatum may be caused mainly by reuptake inhibition of DA liberated by basal activity of the striatal DA neurons. The regional variation in PCP‐induced DA release would be due to the combination of NMDA (N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate) receptor blocking and DA reuptake inhibition by the drug. The uniform and TTX‐resistant nature of MAP‐induced changes in brain DA metabolism may result from the direct actions of MAP at DA nerve terminals. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ABI3 Affects Plastid Differentiation in Dark-Grown Arabidopsis Seedlings

The Arabidopsis ABSCISIC ACID–INSENSITIVE3 (ABI3) protein has been identified previously as a crucial regulator of late seed development. Here, we show that dark-grown abi3 plants, or abi3 plants returned to the dark after germination in the light, developed and maintained an etioplast with a prominent prolamellar body at developmental stages in which the wild type did not. Overexpression of ABI3 led to the preservation of the plastid ultrastructure that was present at the onset of darkness. These observations suggest that ABI3 plays a role in plastid differentiation pathways in vegetative tissues. Furthermore, the analysis of deetiolated (det1) abi3 double mutants revealed that DET1 and ABI3 impinge on a multitude of common processes. During seed maturation, ABI3 required DET1 to achieve its full expression. Mature det1 abi3 seeds were found to be in a highly germinative state, indicating that germination is controlled by both DET1 and ABI3. During plastid differentiation in leaves of dark-grown plants, DET1 is required for the action of ABI3 as it is during seed development. Together, the results suggest that ABI3 is at least partly regulated by light.
Nitrogen Emission and Deposition Budget in Africa

Atmospheric nitrogen concentrations depend on land surface exchanges of nitrogen compounds. In Africa, deposition and emission fluxes of nitrogen compounds are poorly quantified, and are likely to increase in the near future due to land use change and anthropogenic pressure. This work is part of the long term deposition monitoring project IDAF initiated in the 1990s. IDAF (IGAC/DEBITS/Africa) is the African contribution to study deposition in the IGAC/DEBITS programme and contributes to the WMO-GAW programme. This work proposes an estimate of an atmospheric N compounds budget in Africa, along an ecosystem transect, from dry savanna to wet savanna and forest, for the years 2000 to 2007. The budget takes into account: (1) gaseous dry deposition fluxes estimated by considering N compounds concentrations at the monthly scale and modeling of deposition velocities at the IDAF sites, (2) wet deposition fluxes calculated from measurements of ammonium and nitrate chemical content in precipitations and (3) N emission sources taking into account simulated NO biogenic emission from soils, NH3 emission by volatilization and NOx and NH3 emission from biomass burning and domestic fires. This regional N emission deposition budget should give the present status at the scale of the main African ecosystems and should help to quantify the processes that may contribute to the changing levels of N deposition.
The Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Entrepreneurial Behavior: A Case Study in a Medical Science University

Nowadays with complex and dynamic environment in organizations, scholars make more attention to emotional intelligence. Also, the role of emotional intelligence started to make inroad into entrepreneurship research. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of emotional intelligence on entrepreneurial behavior in organizations. A sample of 107 managers from a medical science university in Iran participated in the main study. Findings showed that all four dimensions of emotional intelligence have a positive effect on entrepreneurial behavior. This study has theoretical and practical implications for managers and leaders in organizations.