Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cytokine receptor-Eb1 interaction couples cell polarity and fate during asymmetric cell division

Asymmetric stem cell division is a critical mechanism for balancing self-renewal and differentiation. Adult stem cells often orient their mitotic spindle to place one daughter inside the niche and the other outside of it to achieve asymmetric division. It remains unknown whether and how the niche may direct division orientation. Here we discover a novel and evolutionary conserved mechanism that couples cell polarity to cell fate. We show that the cytokine receptor homolog Dome, acting downstream of the niche-derived ligand Upd, directly binds to the microtubule-binding protein Eb1 to regulate spindle orientation in Drosophila male germline stem cells (GSCs). Dome’s role in spindle orientation is entirely separable from its known function in self-renewal mediated by the JAK-STAT pathway. We propose that integration of two functions (cell polarity and fate) in a single receptor is a key mechanism to ensure an asymmetric outcome following cell division.
Research on intrusion detection technology based on deep learning

With the popularity of digital technology in various fields, increasingly importance has been attached to security of computer networks over the last decade. There is a great need of highly accurate intrusion detection system which are design to prevent attacks. Deep learning has been proved to be the most efficient method to detect intrusion. In this paper, we proposed a deep neural network (DNN) model to identify anomalies in network data. The model is mainly composed of multi-layer fully connected layer and dropout layer. Adam algorithm is used in the model to prevent the detection model from falling into local minimum and speed up training speed. ReLU (Rectified linear unit) is used as the activation function of each layer, and Softmax is used as the output layer activation function to finalize the classification. Finally, the DNN model is investigated and tested with the KDD CUP 99 dataset. Simulation results show that the performance of the model is better than the other models.
Multimodal fusion based on information gain for emotion recognition in the wild

In this paper we present a novel approach towards multi-modal emotion recognition on a challenging dataset AFEW'16, composed of video clips labeled with the six basic emotions plus the neutral state. After a preprocessing stage, we employ different feature extraction techniques (CNN, DSIFT on face and facial ROI, geometric and audio based) and encoded frame-based features using Fisher vector representations. Next, we leverage the properties of each modality using different fusion schemes. Apart from the early-level fusion and the decision level fusion approaches, we propose a hierarchical decision level method based on information gain principles and we optimize its parameters using genetic algorithms. The experimental results prove the suitability of our method, as we obtain 53.06% validation accuracy, surpassing by 14% the baseline of 38.81% on a challenging dataset, suitable for emotion recognition in the wild.
Charge transport in nanopatterned PbS colloidal quantum dot arrays

In this thesis, we study charge transport in nanopatterned arrays of PbS colloidal quantum dots using conventional two-probe measurements and an integrated charge sensor. PbS dots are synthesized in solution with an organic ligand or cap that serves to passivate the surface of the dot, provide a tunnel barrier as well as colloidal stability. These dots can self assemble into an array as the solvent evaporates from a drop of solution on a surface. The self-assembled arrays can be thought of as tunable artificial solids, where the coupling between the dots can be tuned by changing the ligand. Using electron beam lithography followed by a lift-off process, we develop a novel technique to nanopattern these arrays and present the first colloidal quantum dot arrays of nanoscale dimensions. Nanopatterning makes it possible to study the electrical properties intrinsic to the dots unimpeded by macroscopic defects, such as cracking and clustering that typically exist in larger-scale arrays. We find that the electrical conductivity of the nanoscale films is higher than that of drop-cast, microscopic films made of the same type of dot. We achieve unprecedented versatility in integrating the patterned films into device structures, which will be valuable both for studying the intrinsic electrical properties of the dots and for nanoscale optoelectronic applications. From two-probe measurements on the nanopatterned arrays that are approximately 15 dots wide, we observe large noise in the current as a function of time. The noise is proportional to the current when the latter is varied by applying source-drain or gate voltage in a field-effect structure or when changing temperature. Owing to the small number of current paths in the system, we often observe telegraph switching, and find that the off times follow non-poissonian statistics. We show that the results can be understood in terms of a model in which a quasi-one-dimensional percolation path is turned on and off, by charging of a dot along the path. Long organic ligands lead to highly resistive colloidal quantum dot arrays, making the low bias regime inaccessible with conventional two-probe measurements. We use an integrated charge sensor to study transport in the low bias regime as a function of the coupling between the dots. We present transport measurements on butylamine
Short‐term outcomes of excisional atherectomy in lower limb arterial disease

Endovascular interventions are increasingly utilized in managing occlusive peripheral vascular disease. Angioplasty and stenting remain the mainstay of endovascular management; however, newer treatment modalities such as excisional atherectomy provide the clinician with additional treatment options. While demonstrating promising results in available trials, a paucity of data exist regarding peripheral atherectomy. The purpose of this retrospective clinical study was to assess the efficacy and safety of excisional atherectomy with the TurboHawk atherectomy device (Covidien/ev3, Plymouth, MN, USA) in the treatment of lower limb peripheral vascular disease and to evaluate the learning curve involved in the institution of a new treatment modality.
Optimal manufacturing of Narmco 5208 epoxy

This paper deals with the numerical simulation and the evaluation of the optimal cure temperature for manufacturing thermoset Narmco 5208 epoxy composites. An optimal control formulation is presented in which it seeks to minimize an appropriate cost functional. The underlying chemical kinetics is modelled by two coupled rate equations. An algorithm is presented which, at every iteration, uses a one-dimensional search. Numerical results indicates that suitable cure cycles can be computed.
Determination of effective doses in image-guided radiation therapy system

The organ and effective doses in image-guided radiotherapy system are determined in this study. For 2D imaging, incident air kerma (Ki) was measured by 6cc ionization chamber with Accu-Pro dosimeter. The entrance surface air kerma (ESAK) was calculated by multiplying Ki with backscatter factor. The effective dose was calculated by multiplying ESAK with conversion coefficient. For 3D imaging, computed tomography/cone-beam dose index (CTDI/CBDI) measurements were performed by using 100mm pencil ionization chamber with Accu-Pro dosimeter. The dose index in air and in CTDI phantom from planning CT and cone- beam CT were measured. Then, effective dose was calculated by ImPACT software. The effective doses from 2D conventional simulator for anteroposterior and lateral projections were 01 and 0.02mSv for head, 0.15 and 0.16mSv for thorax, 0.22 and 0.21mSv for pelvis, respectively. The effective doses from 3D, planning CT and CBCT, were 3.3 and 0.1mSv for head, 13 and 2.4mSv for thorax and 7.2 and 4.9mSv for pelvis, respectively. Based on 30 fractions of treatment course, total effective dose (3D CT, 2D setup verification and 6 times CBCT) of head, thorax and pelvis were 3.93, 27.71 and 37.03mSv, respectively. Therefore, IGRT should be administered with significant parameters to reduce the dose.
Comorbidity in Migraine with Functional Somatic Syndromes, Psychiatric Disorders and Inflammatory Diseases: A Matter of Central Sensitization?

ABSTRACT To approach the questions as to why migraine appears to be associated with functional somatic syndromes (FSSs) and whether central sensitization may be an underlying mechanism, the present study investigated (a) comorbidity with diagnoses of three FSSs, three psychiatric disorders, and three inflammatory diseases, (b) degree of mental health problems (stress, burnout, anxiety, depression and somatization), and (c) prevalence of ten cognitive/affective and nine airway symptoms in persons with migraine in the general population. From a randomized and stratified Swedish adult sample, questionnaire data were analyzed from 151 individuals with a diagnosis of migraine and 3,255 without migraine. The results showed (a) significant comorbidity in migraine with all FSSs, psychiatric disorders and inflammatory diseases, (b) significantly elevated scores on stress, burnout, anxiety, depression, and somatization, and (c) relatively high prevalence rates on almost all symptoms. Taken together, the results motivate future study of central sensitization as a mechanism underlying migraine.
Non‐muscle (NM) myosin heavy chain phosphorylation regulates the formation of NM myosin filaments, adhesome assembly and smooth muscle contraction

Non‐muscle (NM) and smooth muscle (SM) myosin II are both expressed in smooth muscle tissues, however the role of NM myosin in SM contraction is unknown. Contractile stimulation of tracheal smooth muscle tissues stimulates phosphorylation of the NM myosin heavy chain on Ser1943 and causes NM myosin filament assembly at the SM cell cortex. Expression of a non‐phosphorylatable NM myosin mutant, NM myosin S1943A, in SM tissues inhibits ACh‐induced NM myosin filament assembly and SM contraction, and also inhibits the assembly of membrane adhesome complexes during contractile stimulation. NM myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) phosphorylation but not SM myosin RLC phosphorylation is regulated by RhoA GTPase during ACh stimulation, and NM RLC phosphorylation is required for NM myosin filament assembly and SM contraction. NM myosin II plays a critical role in airway SM contraction that is independent and distinct from the function of SM myosin.
A Multiclassifier based Approach for Word Sense Disambiguation using Singular Value Decomposition

In this paper a multiclassifier based approach is presented for a word sense disambiguation (WSD) problem. A vector representation is used for training and testing cases and the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) technique is applied to reduce the dimension of the representation. The approach we present consists in creating a set of k-NN classifiers and combining the predictions generated in order to give a final word sense prediction for each case to be classified. The combination is done by applying a Bayesian voting scheme. The approach has been applied to a database of 100 words made available by the lexical sample WSD subtask of SemEval-2007 (task 17) organizers. Each of the words was considered an independent classification problem. A methodological parameter tuning phase was applied in order to optimize parameter setting for each word. Results achieved are among the best and make the approach encouraging to apply to other WSD tasks.
Advance in Extraction and Separation of Chinese Medicine Active Ingredients

The evolvement of principle and application about extraction methods of Chinese native medicine emerged in the recent years are summarized,which include supercritical fluid extraction,enzyme extraction,semi-bionic extraction,molecular imprinting technology and so on.A forecast on the developing direction about extraction methods of Chinese native medicine are given in the end.
The peer support workforce: Results of a national survey.

OBJECTIVE Given the burgeoning role of peer specialists in the mental health workforce, more information is needed about their work roles, tasks, settings, training, compensation, and work satisfaction. METHOD Using both purposive and snowball sampling, the authors recruited a national sample of individuals employed as peer specialists and a variety of other peer provider positions. They conducted an online survey to query respondents about various aspects of their work life. A total of 608 participants completed the survey, of which 597 responses were usable for these analyses. RESULTS Results suggest that individuals in the United States identifying themselves as peer specialists (or similar titles) work in a wide variety of settings and spend the majority of their work time providing direct peer support. However, a significant number of individuals also reported performing nondirect peer support tasks such as administrative work, teaching skills, and systems-level advocacy. Average compensation ranged from $10 to $20 per hour. Peer specialists reported a significant amount of satisfaction with their work but still perceive a lack of recognition for their roles. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Results of this survey provide critical information about the job characteristics of peer specialists and data that should be informative for mental health authorities as they address the needs of this workforce. However, our findings also suggest that ambiguity remains regarding the roles, tasks, and training of peer specialists, which could benefit from further study that would help to clarify the unique role of these professionals within the mental health arena. (PsycINFO Database Record
Preconditions for Continued Growth of Internet Mediated Research Public Confidence in Internet Mediate Research

In this paper we argue for the position that responsible safeguards for privacy and ethical treatment of human data are of vital importance to retain the public confidence and trust that is necessary for the development and future success of internet mediated research (IMR). We support our position based on the high level of popular and media attention that is currently directed at IMR, which in combination with the relative uncertainties that still exist around the ethics of various IMR methods, raises the risk that IMR might succumb to a public backlash of similar proportions to the controversy that hit genetically modified (GM) crops in Europe. Based on the lessons that came out of the GM crops controversy we discuss the ethics requirements and challenges that must be met in order to retain the public trust in IMR. We end our argument by briefly reviewing a couple of examples of “privacy protecting architectures” that are being
An Age-Friendly Living Environment as Seen by Chinese Older Adults: A “Photovoice” Study

“Ageing in place” is a policy initiative strongly advocated by the World Health Organization to face the challenge of an ageing population. This pilot study used a “photovoice” approach, aiming to explore aspects of the housing environment considered by older people as important in facilitating ageing in place. It enabled participants to express their ideas through photographs. Each participant was asked to take photos that illustrated age-friendly features they considered crucial for supporting their lives in the community. A total of 44 older people participated in the pilot study, and 300 photos were collected. Participants were invited to describe the reasons for taking these photos by filling in a journal sheet. A semi-structured interview was then conducted with individual participants, who were asked to elaborate on the meaning of their photos. The analysis revealed three themes: (1) age-friendly housing design; (2) supportive neighborhood; and (3) connection to family and the community. These three themes are pillars of an age-friendly city, which are important to seniors to facilitate ageing in place.
Clustering of parameters on the basis of correlations: a comparative review of deterministic approaches

The problem is to discover knowledge in the correlation matrix of param­ eters (variables) about their groups. Results that deal with deterministic approaches of parameter clustering on the basis of their correlation matrix are reviewed and extended. The conclusions on both theoretical and experimental investigations of various deter­ ministic strategies in solving the problem of extremal parameter grouping are presented. TIle possibility of finding the optimal number of clusters is considered. The transfor­ mation of a general clustering problem into the clustering on the sphere and the relation between clustering of parameters on the basis of their correlation matrix and clustering of vectors (objects, cases) of an n-dimensional unit sphere are analysed.
Neuronal Health – Can Culinary and Medicinal Mushrooms Help?

Hericium erinaceus a culinary and medicinal mushroom is a well established candidate for brain and nerve health. Ganoderma lucidum, Grifola frondosa and Sarcodon scabrosus have been reported to have neurite outgrowth and neuronal health benefits. The number of mushrooms, however, studied for neurohealth activity are few compared to the more than 2 000 species of edible and / or medicinal mushrooms identified. In the on-going search for other potent culinary and / or medicinal mushrooms, indigenous mushrooms used in traditional medicines such as Lignosus rhinocerotis and Ganoderma neo-japonicum are also being investigated. Further, the edible mushroom, Pleurotus giganteus can be a potential candidate, too. Can these edible and medicinal mushrooms be tapped to tackle the health concerns of the aging population which is projected to be more than 80-90 million of people age 65 and above in 2050 who may be affected by age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Scientific validation is needed if these mushrooms are to be considered and this can be achieved by understanding the molecular and biochemical mechanisms involved in the stimulation of neurite outgrowth. Though it is difficult to extrapolate the in vitro studies to what may happen in the human brain, studies have shown that there can be improvement in cognitive abilities of the aged if the mushroom is incorporated in their daily diets.
P2P Live-Streaming Application-Aware Architecture for QoS Enhancement in the EPON

Managing a single state-of-the-art ethernet passive optical network optical line terminal (EPON OLT) that can support many customers with different multimedia services and quality of service (QoS) is a challenge. Peer-to-peer (P2P) live streaming is one of the most popular multimedia applications in access networks, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, which requires higher QoS, but such streaming is difficult to manage. Therefore, a new approach is required that can provide flexible control to Internet service providers (ISPs) over their networks. In this paper, we propose a P2P application-aware architecture at the OLT and optical network unit (ONU) that aims to improve overall QoS and, at the same time, preserve user-perceived quality and provide ISPs with flexible control over P2P live-streaming traffic. Finally, a new application-aware dynamic bandwidth allocation (ADBA) is presented. Simulation results show that the proposed architecture can improve the overall QoS in terms of mean packet delay, system throughputs, and jitter, and it can also alleviate inter-ISP traffic bandwidth.
Molecular cloning and characterization of a brassinosteriod biosynthesis-related gene PtoDWF4 from Populus tomentosa

Brassinosteroids (BRs) as steroid hormones play an important role in plant growth and development. However, little is known about how BRs affect secondary wall biosynthesis in woody plants. In this study, we cloned and characterized PtoDWF4, a homologus gene of Arabidopsis DWF4 encoding a cytochrome P450 protein, from Populus tomentosa. qRT-PCR analysis showed that PtoDWF4 was highly expressed in stems, especially in xylem. Overexpression of PtoDWF4 (PtoDWF4-OE) in poplar promoted growth rate and biomass yield, increased area and cell layers of xylem. Transgenic plants showed a significant increase in plant height and stem diameter compared with the wild type. In contrast, the CRISPR/Cas9-generated mutation of PtoDWF4 (PtoDWF4-KO) resulted in significantly decreased biomass production in transgenic plants. Further studies revealed that constitutive expression of PtoDWF4 up-regulated the expression of secondary cell wall (SCW) biosynthesis-related genes, whereas knock-out of PtoDWF4 down-regulated their expression. Quantitative analysis of cell wall components showed a significant increase in PtoDWF4-OE lines but a reduction in PtoDWF4-KO lines compared with wild-type plants. Taken together, our results indicate that PtoDWF4 plays a positive role in improving growth rate and elevating biomass production in poplar.
Requirements, design and evaluation of a privacy reference architecture for web applications and services

Organizational Information Systems (IS) collect, store, and manage personal and business information through web applications and services. Due to regulation laws and to protect the privacy of users, clients, and business partners, such information must be kept private. This paper proposes a privacy reference architecture that can serve as foundation for the analysis, design and development of web applications with privacy concerns. Using the proposed reference architecture, these applications can manage personal information in a more secure manner, protecting such information from different sources of privacy violation. Also, it can be used as a standardization model that facilitates system integration and communication. The architecture was evaluated regarding four key quality attributes: completeness, applicability, usability and feasibility. Results show that it brings values for the stakeholders and is an important tool in the analysis and implementation of applications with privacy protection.
RNA nanoparticle as a vector for targeted siRNA delivery into glioblastoma mouse model

Systemic siRNA administration to target and treat glioblastoma, one of the most deadly cancers, requires robust and efficient delivery platform without immunogenicity. Here we report newly emerged multivalent naked RNA nanoparticle (RNP) based on pRNA 3-way-junction (3WJ) from bacteriophage phi29 to target glioblastoma cells with folate (FA) ligand and deliver siRNA for gene silencing. Systemically injected FA-pRNA-3WJ RNPs successfully targeted and delivered siRNA into brain tumor cells in mice, and efficiently reduced luciferase reporter gene expression (4-fold lower than control). The FA-pRNA-3WJ RNP also can target human patient-derived glioblastoma stem cells, thought to be responsible for tumor initiation and deadly recurrence, without accumulation in adjacent normal brain cells, nor other major internal organs. This study provides possible application of pRNA-3WJ RNP for specific delivery of therapeutics such as siRNA, microRNA and/or chemotherapeutic drugs into glioblastoma cells without inflicting collateral damage to healthy tissues.