Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
COMPATIBILITY OF PVC WITH POLYURETHANES OF DIFFERENT SOFT SEGMENTS

Blends of PVC and polyurethanes with four different soft segments of molecular weight 1000 were prepared and studied by dynamic mechanical and DSC techniques. It was found that the compatibility of PVC with segmented polyurethanes was related to the mixing of PVC molecules and the soft segments of the polyurethanes. Polyester based polyurethanes are more compatible with PVC than polyether based polyurethanes. Solution cast blends of PVC with PCL-polyurethane (1/2/1) exhibit single and narrow glass transition, while the blends with PPO-polyurethane (1/2/1) are completely incompatible. The compatibility was found to decrease with increasing hard segment content for all the polyurethanes used. The methods of blend preparation may change the compatibility of PVC/PU blends through their influence on the mixing or demixing of the hard and soft segments.
Analyzing Approaches to the Backlog of Untested Sexual Assault Kits in the U.S.A.

Motivated by the debate over how to deal with the huge backlog of untested sexual assault kits in the U.S.A. , we construct and analyze a mathematical model that predicts the expected number of hits (i.e., a new DNA profile matches a DNA sample in the criminal database) as a function of both the proportion of the backlog that is tested and whether the victim–offender relationship is used to prioritize the kits that are tested. Refining the results in Ref. (Criminol Public Policy, 2016, 15, 555), we use data from Detroit, where government funding was used to process ≈15% of their backlog, to predict that prioritizing stranger kits over nonstranger kits leads to only a small improvement in performance (a 0.034 increase in the normalized area under the curve of the hits vs. proportion of backlog tested curve). Two rough but conservative cost‐benefit analyses—one for testing the entire backlog and a marginal one for testing kits from nonstranger assaults—suggest that testing all sexual assault kits in the backlog is quite cost‐effective: for example, spending ≈$1641 to test a kit averts sexual assaults costing ≈$133,484 on average.
Effect of LexA on Chromosomal Integration of CTXϕ in Vibrio cholerae

ABSTRACT The genesis of toxigenic Vibrio cholerae involves acquisition of CTXϕ, a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) filamentous phage that encodes cholera toxin (CT). The phage exploits host-encoded tyrosine recombinases (XerC and XerD) for chromosomal integration and lysogenic conversion. The replicative genome of CTXϕ produces ssDNA by rolling-circle replication, which may be used either for virion production or for integration into host chromosome. Fine-tuning of different ssDNA binding protein (Ssb) levels in the host cell is crucial for cellular functioning and important for CTXϕ integration. In this study, we mutated the master regulator gene of SOS induction, lexA, of V. cholerae because of its known role in controlling levels of Ssb proteins in other bacteria. CTXϕ integration decreased in cells with a ΔlexA mutation and increased in cells with an SOS-noninducing mutation, lexA (Ind−). We also observed that overexpression of host-encoded Ssb (VC0397) decreased integration of CTXϕ. We propose that LexA helps CTXϕ integration, possibly by fine-tuning levels of host- and phage-encoded Ssbs. IMPORTANCE Cholera toxin is the principal virulence factor responsible for the acute diarrheal disease cholera. CT is encoded in the genome of a lysogenic filamentous phage, CTXϕ. Vibrio cholerae has a bipartite genome and harbors single or multiple copies of CTXϕ prophage in one or both chromosomes. Two host-encoded tyrosine recombinases (XerC and XerD) recognize the folded ssDNA genome of CTXϕ and catalyze its integration at the dimer resolution site of either one or both chromosomes. Fine-tuning of ssDNA binding proteins in host cells is crucial for CTXϕ integration. We engineered the V. cholerae genome and created several reporter strains carrying ΔlexA or lexA (Ind−) alleles. Using the reporter strains, the importance of LexA control of Ssb expression in the integration efficiency of CTXϕ was demonstrated.
Compressive Sensing-Based User Clustering for Downlink NOMA Systems With Decoding Power

This letter investigates joint power control and user clustering for downlink nonorthogonal multiple access systems. Our aim is to minimize the total power consumption by taking into account not only the conventional transmission power but also the decoding power of the users. To solve this optimization problem, it is firstly transformed into an equivalent problem with tractable constraints. Then, an efficient algorithm is proposed to tackle the equivalent problem by using the techniques of reweighted $\ell _1$ -norm minimization and majorization–minimization. Numerical results validate the superiority of the proposed algorithm over the conventional algorithms including the popular matching-based algorithm.
Apathy, but Not Depression, Reflects Inefficient Cognitive Strategies in Parkinson's Disease

Background The relationship between apathy, depression and cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) is still controversial. The objective of this study is to investigate whether apathy and depression are associated with inefficient cognitive strategies in PD. Methods In this prospective clinical cohort study conducted in a university-based clinical and research movement disorders center we studied 48 PD patients. Based on clinical evaluation, they were classified in two groups: PD with apathy (PD-A group, n = 23) and PD without apathy (PD-NA group, n = 25). Patients received clinical and neuropsychological evaluations. The clinical evaluation included: Apathy Evaluation Scale-patient version, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 items, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and the Hoehn and Yahr staging system; the neuropsychological evaluation explored speed information processing, attention, working memory, executive function, learning abilities and memory, which included several measures of recall (immediate free, short delay free, long delay free and cued, and total recall). Findings PD-A and PD-NA groups did not differ in age, disease duration, treatment, and motor condition, but differed in recall (p<0.001) and executive tasks (p<0.001). Immediate free recall had the highest predictive value for apathy (F = 10.94; p = 0.002). Depression and apathy had a weak correlation (Pearson index = 0.3; p<0.07), with three items of the depression scale correlating with apathy (Pearson index between .3 and.4; p<0.04). The depressed and non-depressed PD patients within the non-apathetic group did not differ. Conclusion Apathy, but not depression, is associated with deficit in implementing efficient cognitive strategies. As the implementation of efficient strategies relies on the fronto-striatal circuit, we conclude that apathy, unlike depression, is an early expression of executive impairment in PD.
On the Elliptic-Hyperbolic Transition in Whitham Modulation Theory

The dispersionless Whitham modulation equations in one space dimension and time are generically hyperbolic or elliptic and break down at the transition, which is a curve in the frequency-wavenumber plane. In this paper, the modulation theory is reformulated with a slow phase and different scalings resulting in a phase modulation equation near the singular curves which is a geometric form of the two-way Boussinesq equation. This equation is universal in the same sense as Whitham theory. Moreover, it is dispersive, and it has a wide range of interesting multiperiodic, quasi-periodic, and multipulse localized solutions. This theory shows that the elliptic-hyperbolic transition is a rich source of complex behavior in nonlinear wave fields. There are several examples of these transition curves in the literature to which the theory applies. For illustration the theory is applied to the complex nonlinear Klein--Gordon equation which has two singular curves in the manifold of periodic traveling waves.
An emerging multi-paradigm for representing mobile applications' architectures using heterogeneous conceptual bricks

The mobile applications have enjoyed explosive growth these last years. Taking advantage from these existing softwares, the constituent software bricks to compose such mobile application can take different implementation forms and manipulate heterogeneous data by dint of user's requirements or its execution context. However, the software developer confronts difficulty to compose already existing software entities because of their heterogeneity. An emerging need is then to have a new modelling space to support the development of heterogeneous mobile applications. In view of this fact, this paper discusses the proposal of a multi-paradigm for representing mobile applications based on heterogeneous conceptual bricks, including their architectural conception and the specification of the necessary adaptation mediators. It aims to deal with the heterogeneity of the constituent conceptual bricks and the execution environment of the final product. A conceptual description of a mobile application called ShopReview is presented to show the usability of the proposed paradigm.
Characterization of two homeodomain transcription factors with critical but distinct roles in virulence in the vascular pathogen Verticillium dahliae.

Vascular wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae is a destructive disease that represents a chronic economic problem for crop production worldwide. In this work, we characterized two new regulators of pathogenicity in this species. Vph1 (VDAG_06555) was identified in a candidate gene approach as a putative homologue of the transcription factor Ste12. Vhb1 (VDAG_08786), identified in a forward genetics approach, is similar to the homeobox transcription factor Htf1, reported as a regulator of conidiogenesis in several fungi. Deletion of vph1 did not affect vegetative growth, whereas deletion of vhb1 greatly reduced sporulation rates in liquid medium. Both mutants failed to induce Verticillium wilt symptoms. However, unlike Δvph1, Δvhb1 could be re-isolated from the vascular system of some asymptomatic plants. Confocal microscopy further indicated that Δvph1 and Δvhb1 differed in their behaviour in planta; Δvph1 could not penetrate the root cortex, whereas Δvhb1 was impaired in its ability to colonize the xylem. In agreement with these observations, only Δvhb1 could penetrate cellophane paper. On cellophane, wild-type and Δvhb1 strains produced numerous short branches with swollen tips, resembling the hyphopodia formed on root surfaces, contrasting with Δvph1, which generated unbranched long filaments without swollen tips. A microarray analysis showed that these differences in growth were associated with differences in global transcription patterns, and allowed us to identify a large set of novel genes potentially involved in virulence in V. dahliae. Ste12 homologues are known regulators of invasive growth, but Vhb1 is the first putative Htf1 homologue identified with a critical role in virulence.
Proximal-Gradient methods for poisson image reconstruction with BM3D-Based regularization

This paper considers the denoising and reconstruction of images corrupted by Poisson noise. Poisson noise arises in the context of counting the emission or scattering of photons. In various application domains, such as astronomy and medical imaging, photons counts are low resulting in very low signal-to-noise ratio images. Recently, Azzari and Foi investigated using BM3D for Poisson image denoising in a coarse-to-fine image resolution framework. Specifically, the denoised result at a coarse resolution is used to improve the denoising of the next finer resolution, resulting in state-of-the-art denoising results. This paper presents an alternative regularized maximum likelihood formulation of the reconstruction problem, and explains how it can be solved using a coarse-to-fine proximal gradient optimization algorithm. The proposed methods of this paper are compared to the methods of Azzari and Foi, highlighting their strong similarities. The advantage of the proposed method of this paper is that it easily generalizes to inverse problem settings, which is demonstrated in the context of denoising a Poisson noisy image with missing pixels (i.e. image inpainting); in contrast there is no known generalization of the coarse-to-fine BM3D denoising method that was proposed by Azzari and Foi.
Beyond clinical trials: Cross-sectional associations of combination antiretroviral therapy with reports of multiple symptoms and non-adherence among adolescents in South Africa.

BACKGROUND Studies investigating symptoms associated with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) use among adolescents in resource-limited settings are rare beyond clinical trials. Identifying adolescents at risk of non-adherence is imperative for HIV/AIDS programming and controlling the epidemic in this key population. OBJECTIVE To examine which cART regimens were associated with reports of multiple symptoms and past-week non-adherence in a large community-traced sample of HIV-positive adolescents in South Africa (SA). METHODS A total of 1 175 HIV-positive ART-experienced adolescents aged 10 - 19 years attending 53 health facilities in the Eastern Cape Province, SA, were interviewed in 2014 - 2015. Ninety percent (n=1 059) were included in the study. Adolescents who reported no medication use and those with unclear or missing data were excluded from further analysis, resulting in a sample for analysis of n=501. Outcomes were reports of multiple symptoms (three or more symptoms in the past 6 months) and past-week ART non-adherence (<95% correct doses in the past week). Multivariable logistic regression analyses controlled for sociodemographic and HIV-related covariates in Stata 13/IC. RESULTS Of the adolescents included, 54.3% were female. The median age was 14 (interquartile range 12 - 16) years, and 66.5% were vertically infected. The prevalence of multiple symptoms was 59.7% (95% confidence interval (CI) 55.3 - 63.9). Independent of covariates, stavudine (d4T)-containing cART regimens and the fixed-dose combination of tenofovir (TDF) + emtricitabine (FTC) + efavirenz (EFV) were associated with more reports of multiple symptoms (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3.38; 95% CI 1.19 - 9.60 and aOR 2.67; 95% CI 1.21 - 5.88, respectively). Lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r)-containing regimens were associated with fewer reports of multiple symptoms (aOR 0.47; 95% CI 0.21 - 1.04). For EFV-based regimens, adolescents on d4T + lamivudine (3TC) + EFV were more likely to report multiple symptoms than those on TDF + FTC + EFV or those on abacavir (ABC) + 3TC + EFV (aOR 3.26; 95% CI 1.01 - 10.52, aOR 2.86; 95% CI 1.35 - 6.05 and aOR 1.08; 95% CI 0.64 - 1.82, respectively). However, only TDF + FTC + EFV cART was associated with lower levels of non-adherence among participants (aOR 0.44; 95% CI 0.21 - 0.93). CONCLUSIONS Rates of multiple symptoms among HIV-positive ART-experienced adolescents were high. d4T-containing regimens and TDF + FTC + EFV were associated with more reports of multiple symptoms, whereas LPV/r-containing regimens were associated with fewer reports. However, adolescents on TDF + FTC + EFV were the most adherent subgroup. These findings support the World Health Organization-recommended discontinuation of d4T use, but also underscore the dilemma faced by clinicians when choosing between low-toxicity regimens and those that promote ART adherence, particularly among HIV-positive adolescents.
Active-Routing: Compute on the Way for Near-Data Processing

—The explosion of data availability and the demand for faster data analysis have led to the emergence of applications exhibiting large memory footprint and low data reuse rate. These workloads, ranging from neural networks to graph processing, expose compute kernels that operate over myriads of data. Signiﬁcant data movement requirements of these kernels impose heavy stress on modern memory subsystems and communication fabrics. To mitigate the worsening gap between high CPU computation density and deﬁcient memory bandwidth, solutions like memory networks and near-data processing designs are being architected to improve system performance substantially. In this work, we examine the idea of mapping compute ker- nels to the memory network so as to leverage in-network computing in data-ﬂow style, by means of near-data processing. We propose Active-Routing , an in-network compute architecture that enables computation on the way for near-data processing by exploiting patterns of aggregation over intermediate results of arithmetic operators. The proposed architecture leverages the massive memory-level parallelism and network concurrency to optimize the aggregation operations along a dynamically built Active-Routing Tree . Our evaluations show that Active-Routing can achieve upto 7 × speedup with an average of 60% performance improvement, and reduce the energy-delay product by 80% across various benchmarks compared to the state-of-the-art processing-in-memory architecture.
Interlaboratory comparison study of calibration standards for foraminiferal Mg/Ca thermometry

An interlaboratory study of Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in three commercially available carbonate reference materials (BAM RS3, CMSI 1767, and ECRM 752‐1) was performed with the participation of 25 laboratories that determine foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios worldwide. These reference materials containing Mg/Ca in the range of foraminiferal calcite (0.8 mmol/mol to 6 mmol/mol) were circulated with a dissolution protocol for analysis. Participants were asked to make replicate dissolutions of the powdered samples and to analyze them using the instruments and calibration standards routinely used in their laboratories. Statistical analysis was performed in accordance with the International Standardization Organization standard 5725, which is based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. Repeatability (RSDr%), an indicator of intralaboratory precision, for Mg/Ca determinations in solutions after centrifuging increased with decreasing Mg/Ca, ranging from 0.78% at Mg/Ca = 5.56 mmol/mol to 1.15% at Mg/Ca = 0.79 mmol/mol. Reproducibility (RSDR%), an indicator of the interlaboratory method precision, for Mg/Ca determinations in centrifuged solutions was noticeably worse than repeatability, ranging from 4.5% at Mg/Ca = 5.56 mmol/mol to 8.7% at Mg/Ca = 0.79 mmol/mol. Results of this study show that interlaboratory variability is dominated by inconsistencies among instrument calibrations and highlight the need to improve interlaboratory compatibility. Additionally, the study confirmed the suitability of these solid standards as reference materials for foraminiferal Mg/Ca (and Sr/Ca) determinations, provided that appropriate procedures are adopted to minimize and to monitor possible contamination from silicate mineral phases.
Multi-directional Rapidly Exploring Random Graph (mRRG) for Motion Planning

The motion planning problem in robotics is to find a valid sequence of motions taking some movable object from a start configuration to a goal configuration in an environment. Sampling-based path planners are very popular for high-dimensional motion planning in complex environments. These planners build a graph (roadmap) by generating robot configurations (vertices), and connecting nearby pairs of configurations according to their transition feasibility. Tree-based sampling-based planners (e.g., Rapidly-Exploring Random Tree, or RRT) start growing a tree outward from an initial configuration of the robot. In this work, we propose a multi-directional Rapidly-Exploring Random Graph (mRRG) for robotic motion planning, a variant of the Rapidly-Exploring Random Graph (RRG). Instead of expanding a vertex in the tree in a single random direction during each iteration, mRRG expands inm random directions. Our results show that growing in multiple directions in this way produces roadmaps with more topologically distinct paths than previous methods. In an environment with dynamic obstacles, moving or new obstacles may invalidate a path from the start to the goal. Hence, roadmaps containing alternative pathways can be beneficial as they may avoid recalculation of new valid paths. One of the important phases in sampling-based methods involves finding candidate nearest neighbors to attempt to connect to a node. Generally, the entire graph is considered to search for the nearest neighbors. In this thesis, we propose a heuristic method for finding nearest neighbors based on the hop limit, i.e., the maximum number of edges allowed in the path from a vertex to its neighbor. The candidate nearest neighbors are found by considering only those vertices within the hop limit. We experimentally show that our hop limit neighbor finder significantly reduces neighbor searching time over the standard brute force approach when constructing roadmaps.
A new semi-supervised method for image co-segmentation

Image co-segmentation addresses the problem of simultaneously extracting the common targets from a set of related images. However, designing a robust and efficient co-segmentation algorithm is a challenging work because of the variety and complexity of the object and the background. In this paper, we propose a new semi-supervised method to extract foreground object from an image collection. The proposed method is composed of three tasks: 1) object proposal generation, 2) object prior propagation and 3) foreground extraction. The main idea of this paper is to transfer the segmentation from a subset of training images to test images. The comparison experiments conducted on public datasets iCoseg and MSRC demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.
A Powerful Method for Transcriptional Profiling of Specific Cell Types in Eukaryotes: Laser-Assisted Microdissection and RNA Sequencing

The acquisition of distinct cell fates is central to the development of multicellular organisms and is largely mediated by gene expression patterns specific to individual cells and tissues. A spatially and temporally resolved analysis of gene expression facilitates the elucidation of transcriptional networks linked to cellular identity and function. We present an approach that allows cell type-specific transcriptional profiling of distinct target cells, which are rare and difficult to access, with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution. We combined laser-assisted microdissection (LAM), linear amplification starting from <1 ng of total RNA, and RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq). As a model we used the central cell of the Arabidopsis thaliana female gametophyte, one of the female gametes harbored in the reproductive organs of the flower. We estimated the number of expressed genes to be more than twice the number reported previously in a study using LAM and ATH1 microarrays, and identified several classes of genes that were systematically underrepresented in the transcriptome measured with the ATH1 microarray. Among them are many genes that are likely to be important for developmental processes and specific cellular functions. In addition, we identified several intergenic regions, which are likely to be transcribed, and describe a considerable fraction of reads mapping to introns and regions flanking annotated loci, which may represent alternative transcript isoforms. Finally, we performed a de novo assembly of the transcriptome and show that the method is suitable for studying individual cell types of organisms lacking reference sequence information, demonstrating that this approach can be applied to most eukaryotic organisms.