Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of process-based models to forest management: experience with PROMOD, a simple plantation productivity model.

Process-based growth models are rarely used as a basis for decisions in forest management. Reasons for this are discussed and the development and application of PROMOD, a simple process-based plantation productivity model designed to meet the needs of managers, is described. In particular,PROMOD is intended for screening prospective plantation sites on the basis of readily available input data, including site latitude, soil characteristics, and long-term climate data. Originally developed for use with Eucalyptus globulus Labill. , PROMOD has since been parameterized also for Eucalyptus nitens (Deane & Maiden) Maiden and Pinus radiata D. Don. We discuss the adaptation of PROMOD to new environmental conditions and species; the sensitivity of the model's predictions to changes in model structure, the values of its physiological parameters and the accuracy and resolution of site survey information; and the use of the model both in assessing the profitability of plantation irrigation in semi-arid regions, and for generating broad-area productivity maps.
Up-regulation of VEGF by small activator RNA in human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells.

INTRODUCTION Functional failure of smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells in corpus cavernosum contributes to erectile dysfunction (ED) in aging men. Given that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) may improve the function of smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells through different mechanisms, it is thus expected that increasing the expression of VEGF may have beneficial effects on erectile function. AIM The aim of this article is to explore the possibility that VEGF can be induced by ribonucleic acid activation (RNAa) technology, and VEGF induction by RNAa has the potential of treating ED. METHODS Primary human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells (CCSMCs) were isolated and cultured in vitro. The expression of α-smooth muscle actin was detected by immunohistochemistry to identify CCSMCs. A previously identified VEGF promoter-targeted small activator RNA (saRNA, double-stranded [ds]VEGF-706) and a negative control dsRNA were chemically synthesized. Cultured human CCSMCs were transfected with the saRNAs. The expression of VEGF messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein in transfected CCSMCs was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting assay, respectively. Immunofluorescent staining was also used to confirm VEGF protein expression in cultured CCSMCs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The expression of VEGF was assessed by RT quantitative PCR, Western blotting, and immunofluorescence assays. RESULTS After transfection, RT quantitative PCR analysis showed that the expression of VEGF mRNA was significantly induced in dsVEGF-706 transfected cells compared with cells receiving control treatments (P < 0.05). Consistent with mRNA induction, Western blotting and immunofluorescence analysis showed that VEGF protein expression was also induced by dsVEGF-706. CONCLUSION VEGF expression can be activated by RNAa in primary human CCSMCs, suggesting a potential application of RNAa-mediated VEGF activation for the treatment of ED.
A quantitative comparison between the ganglion cell populations and axonal outflows of the visual streak and periphery of the rabbit retina

A vertical density profile of the ganglion cells 2 mm temporal of the optic nerve head in the rabbit retina has been produced by counting somata in the cresyl‐violet‐stained, ganglion cell layer of a flat‐mounted retina. Somata classified as ganglion cells were characterized by obvious Nissl staining in an extensive cytoplasm and typically had diameters greater than 9 μm. The accuracy of the profile, and thus of the classification criteria, has been substantiated by electron micrographic determination of the numbers of ganglion cell axons arising within local regions of known area on the same retina
Image Recovery for Electrical Capacitance Tomography Based on Low-Rank Decomposition

Images reconstructed by an existing image reconstruction algorithm for electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) are usually blurred or corrupted due to data noise. To recover the missing or corrupted pixels in the images, an approach to robustly reconstruct images based on low-rank decomposition is presented for ECT. With this approach, recovering the permittivity distribution is recast as one of recovering low-rank matrix from corrupted images. A convex optimization technique is used to obtain the correct low-rank matrix and the error matrix. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Furthermore, the simplified optimization method is fast and could be used for online imaging. The method can also be used in other tomographic techniques.
Ventilated vest and tolerance for intermittent exercise in hot, dry conditions with military clothing.

INTRODUCTION Recent research has focused on developing air-ventilated garments to improve evaporative cooling in military settings. This study assessed a ventilated vest (Vest) in hot (45 degrees C), dry (10% RH) ambient conditions over 6 h of rest and exercise. It was hypothesized that the Vest would lower the thermal strain and increase the amount of exercise done by subjects. METHODS Eight healthy heat-acclimated men, wearing combat clothing, body armor, and a 19-kg load in webbing walked on a treadmill at 5 km h(-1) at a 2% incline until rectal temperature (T(rec)) reached 38.5 degrees C. They then rested until T(re) reached 38 degrees C, at which point they recommenced walking. On one occasion the subjects wore a Vest, blowing ambient air around the torso. On the second occasion subjects did not wear the vest (NoVest). Exercise/rest ratio, T(rec), skin temperature (T(sk)), sweat responses, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and thermal comfort (TC) were measured. RESULTS Subjects wearing theVest exercised for significantly longer (18%; 11 min/h) as a percentage of total exposure time, stopped exercise significantly less often [Mean (SD); NoVest: 3 (2) stops; Vest: 1 (2) stops], and maintained significantly lower skin temperature under the body armor [T(chest): NoVest 37.55 (0.51) degrees C; Vest: 35.33 (1.00) degrees C; T(back): NoVest: 36.85 (0.83) degrees C; Vest: 35.84 (0.88) degrees C]. The Vest provided 28 W of cooling during exercise and 73 W when at rest as estimated by thermometry. CONCLUSION A ventilated vest can provide cooling, and thereby reduce thermal strain and increase exercise done in dry environmental temperatures up to 45 degrees C, without causing skin irritation and discomfort.
Application of a Yield Approach for the Prediction of Positron Emitter Distributions Produced During Therapeutic Carbon-Ion Beam Irradiation

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a clinically implemented method for in vivo verification of treatment delivery in ion-beam therapy. The dose distribution is the relevant measure but PET captures a β+-activity distribution, that is created as a side product during the irradiation. Therefore, a prediction of the activity distribution is required. We present a simulation code that makes use of measured yields of β+-emitters to perform this task. The yields are available in three reference materials. A conversion from X-ray gray values to a combination of these materials has been set up. The lateral properties of the ion beam are described by means of a formulation of Moliere's scattering theory in thick targets. A model of the annihilation point density around an emitting nuclide has been implemented in the software to describe the movement of the positrons. Simulations of phantom experiments as well as of a real patient case were performed. The results are comparable or superior to the results obtained from an established condensed history Monte Carlo code. We conclude that measured yields can be used as raw data for the calculation of ion-beam-induced β+-activity distribution instead of nuclear cross sections.
Quantitative easing and median income: a state-level analysis

ABSTRACT Due to the Great Recession, the Federal Reserve engaged in unconventional monetary policy (QE) to fight the effects of the economic downturn. Literature asserts that QE did have impacts on economic growth and helped alleviate the effects of the recession. Recently, critics have asserted that the benefits of QE may not have been equally distributed across households. In this paper, we build a state-level dataset to investigate the dynamics of QE measures and median income across the U.S states. The findings indicate that, for the period 2008 to 2014, there is statistical evidence that increases in the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet correspond with higher nominal median income. However, once we adjust for inflation, the results become statistically insignificant and the impact of QE on median income becomes almost zero.
Synthesis, characterization and hybridization studies of new nucleo‐γ‐peptides based on diaminobutyric acid

In the present work, we report the synthesis and the characterization of a new chiral nucleoaminoacid, in which a diaminobutyric moiety is connected to the DNA nucleobase by an amidic bond, and its oligomerization to give the corresponding nucleo‐γ‐peptide. The ability of this synthetic polymer to bind complementary DNA was studied in order to explore its possible use in antigene/antisense or diagnostic applications. Our interest in the presented DNA analogue was also supported by the importance of γ‐aminoacid‐containing compounds in natural products of biological activity and by the known stability of γ‐peptides to enzymatic degradation. Furthermore, our work could contribute to the study of the role of nucleopeptides as prebiotic material in a PNA world that could successively lead to the actual DNA/RNA/protein world, as recently assumed. Copyright © 2006 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Container-Based Fast Bridge for Virtual Routers on Commodity Hardware

Virtual routers on commodity hardware are an attractive solution for service providers that look for extensibility, flexibility, reuse and low deployment cost. However, these routers still suffer from performance limitations due to the virtualization overhead and the commodity hardware architecture itself. In this paper, we first evaluate the baseline forwarding performance of virtual routers based on a Xen environment. Then, we show that the memory latency is the bottleneck. Hence, we propose a Fast Bridge that demultiplexes incoming packets and then transfers them to the destined guest machines. It constructs packets containers in the driver domain, based on their destination and their delay constraints. Then it transfers them as a unit to the guests. This allows transferring more packets and fastest memory access and results in a much better throughput with an acceptable guaranteed delay.
Mechanisms underlying maternal care in a viviparous snake, Sistrurus miliarius: Does maternal body condition, corticosterone, or arginine vasotocin mediate post‐birth maternal investment?

The level of parental investment in free-living offspring varies greatly within and among vertebrate taxa, and the mechanisms that mediate investment are likely targets of selection in the evolution of reproductive strategies. In mammalian and avian systems, individual investment is adjusted according to parental energetic status, and regulatory mechanisms have been described. Parental care is also a component of the life history of several groups of squamates and archosaurs, but little to nothing is known regarding the mechanisms that underlie individual variation in parental investment in these groups. Therefore, we examined the relationships among maternal body condition, corticosterone, arginine vasotocin (AVT), and maternal care in postparturient pigmy rattlesnakes. Energetic status was manipulated in pregnant females by supplemental feeding, and AVT was manipulated in postparturient mothers by intraperitoneal injection. Circulating corticosterone and body condition were recorded in postparturient mothers. Mother-offspring spatial relationships were analyzed to determine the closeness of mother-offspring associations. No significant relationship between maternal body condition and baseline corticosterone was observed in mothers, and no significant relationship was found between corticosterone and the level of maternal association with offspring. Manipulation of AVT did not stimulate maternal care. There was a strong and repeatable positive relationship between maternal postparturient body condition and the level of maternal association with offspring. The lack of a significant correlation between body condition and corticosterone does not support the hypothesis that a postparturient glucocorticoid response drives the observed condition-dependence of maternal offspring association.
Mutations in the TSC2 gene: analysis of the complete coding sequence using the protein truncation test (PTT).

Mutations in the TSC2 gene on chromosome 16p13.3 are responsible for approximately 50% of familial tuberous sclerosis (TSC). The gene has 41 small exons spanning 45 kb of genomic DNA and encoding a 5.5 kb mRNA. Large germline deletions of TSC2 occur in <5% of cases, and a number of small intragenic mutations have been described. We analysed mRNA from 18 unrelated cases of TSC for TSC2 mutations using the protein truncation test (PTT). Three cases were predicted to be TSC2 mutations on the basis of linkage analysis or because a hamartoma from the patient showed loss of heterozygosity for 16p13.3 markers. Three overlapping PCR products, covering the complete coding sequence of mRNA, were generated from lymphoblastoid cell lines, translated into 35S-methionine labelled protein, and analysed by SDS-PAGE. PCR products showing PTT shifts were directly sequenced, and mutations confirmed by restriction enzyme digestion where possible. Six PTT shifts were identified. Five of these were caused by mutations predicted to produce a truncated protein: (i) a sporadic case showed a 32 bp deletion in exon 11, and a mutant mRNA without exon 11 was produced; the normal exon 10 was also spliced out; (ii) a sporadic case had a 1 bp deletion in exon 12 (1634delT); (iii) a TSC2-linked mother and daughter pair had a G-->T transversion in exon 23 (G2715T) introducing a cryptic splice site causing a 29 bp truncation of mRNA from exon 23; (iv) a sporadic case showed a 2 bp deletion in exon 36; (v) a sporadic case showed a 1 bp insertion disrupting the donor splice site of exon 37 (5007+2insA), resulting in the use of an upstream exonic cryptic splice site to cause a 29 bp truncation of mRNA from exon 37. In one case, the PTT shift was explained by in-frame splicing out of exon 10, in the presence of a normal exon 10 genomic sequence. Alternative splicing of exon 10 of the TSC2 gene may be a normal variant. Three 3rd base substitution polymorphisms were also detected during direct sequencing of PCR products. Confirmed mutations were identified in 28% of the families studied and on the assumption that half of the sporadic cases should have TSC2 mutations, a crude estimate of the detection rate would be 60%. This compares favourably with other screening methods used for TSC2, notably SSCP, and since PTT involves much less work it may be the method of choice.
Classification of Birds and UAVs Based on Radar Polarimetry

This letter aims to show the potential of using polarimetric parameters to distinguish between large birds and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of comparable size in the context of a modern long-range air defense radar. Time is a critical resource in such systems, and techniques for robust noncooperative target recognition not relying on spatial resolution or long dwell times are highly desired. Furthermore, methods less dependent on target micromotion are, in many cases, required. Methods exploiting polarimetric features are shown to have potential in both cases. An experiment in S-band shows that a simple nearest-neighbor classifier can achieve good separation between UAVs and birds both with and without detectable micromotion based on a set of polarimetric parameters alone.
Does digital acquisition reduce patients' skin dose in cardiac interventional procedures? An experimental study.

OBJECTIVE It is necessary to reduce the exposure doses from both fluoroscopy and angiocardiography. Pulsed fluoroscopy clearly reduces patients' exposure. By contrast, whether digital acquisition reduces patients' exposure is not clear. This study simulated the skin radiation doses of patients in cardiac catheterization laboratories with various radiography systems used in percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty to determine whether digital acquisition reduces patient exposure as compared with cine film recording. MATERIALS AND METHODS The entrance surface doses with cineangiography and fluoroscopy of acrylic phantoms were compared for 11 radiography systems at seven facilities; each performs more than 100 cardiac intervention procedures per year. The entrance surface dose for an acrylic plate (20 cm thick) was measured using a skin-dose monitor. RESULTS The maximum dose exceeded the minimum dose by 6.44 times for cineangiography and by 3.42 times for fluoroscopy. The entrance surface dose with acrylic plate was lower with digital-only acquisition (mean +/- SD, 3.07 +/- 0.84 mGy/sec) than with film recording (6.00 +/- 3.04 mGy/sec). By contrast, the entrance surface frame dose, after correction for the cine frame rate, tended to be higher with digital acquisition than with film recording (0.210 +/- 0.053 vs 0.179 +/- 0.058 mGy/frame, respectively). CONCLUSION. The entrance surface dose was approximately 50% less with digital-only acquisition than with film recording. However, after correcting the dose for cine frame rate, filmless acquisition did not in itself reduce the exposure. For the surface dose to be reduced for cardiac interventional radiography, even with digital filmless radiography systems, a low recording speed is necessary for angiocardiography.
Modeling Volatility of Nigeria Stock Exchange Using Multivariate GARCH Models

The aim of this research work was to provide model for predicting stock volatility in Nigeria Stock market. To achieve this, monthly data for Nigerian stock exchange, Exchange rate, Share index and inflation rate was collected for a period of January 1990 to December 2016.The descriptive statistics revealed these variables to exhibit volatility as a characteristics of financial time –varying series. DCC Model was fitted, were the coefficients for all the parameters and that of the correlation-Targeting (rho_21) are both negative and positive and tend very close to 1 and -1, indicating that high persistence in the conditional variances. The Model DCC, satisfied the properties of a good model of conditional mean and variance of the confidential Interval (C.I) of 1 and -1, that is, the conditional variances are finites and their series are strictly stationary. This therefore implies that the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Exchange rate, share index and Inflation rate will experience a non-steady shock in the Stock market. However Each of these variables have different length of recovery (volatility half- life) ranging from 1.5month, 6.5months, 6months to 2,4months for stock exchange, exchange rate, share index and inflation rate respectively. By implication, the volatility of these variables had a long memory, persistence and mean-reverting.
Two distinct effectors of the small GTPase Rab5 cooperate in endocytic membrane fusion

Using the yeast two‐hybrid system, we have identified a novel 62 kDa coiled‐coil protein that specifically interacts with the GTP‐bound form of Rab5, a small GTPase that regulates membrane traffic in the early endocytic pathway. This protein shares 42% sequence identity with Rabaptin‐5, a previously identified effector of Rab5, and we therefore named it Rabaptin‐5β. Like Rabaptin‐5, Rabaptin‐5β displays heptad repeats characteristic of coiled‐coil proteins and is recruited on the endosomal membrane by Rab5 in a GTP‐dependent manner. However, Rabaptin‐5β has features that distinguish it from Rabaptin‐5. The relative expression levels of the two proteins varies in different cell types. Rabaptin‐5β does not heterodimerize with Rabaptin‐5, and forms a distinct complex with Rabex‐5, the GDP/GTP exchange factor for Rab5. Immunodepletion of the Rabaptin‐5β complex from cytosol only partially inhibits early endosome fusion in vitro, whereas the additional depletion of the Rabaptin‐5 complex has a stronger inhibitory effect. Fusion activity can mostly be recovered by addition of the Rabaptin‐5 complex alone, but maximal fusion efficiency requires the presence of both Rabaptin‐5 and Rabaptin‐5β complexes. Our results suggest that Rab5 binds to at least two distinct effectors which cooperate for optimal endocytic membrane docking and fusion.
Recognizing drosha processing sites by a two-step prediction model with structure and sequence information

Drosha is a class of RNase III enzyme plays important roles in the microRNA (miRNA) generation by cleaving primary miRNAs to release hairpin-shaped miRNA precursors. Accurately predicting the Drosha cleavage positions (i.e., processing sites) is helpful for the identification of miRNAs and the understanding of miRNA biogenesis mechanisms. In this study, we presented a Drosha processing site predictor, termed DroshaPSP, with a two-step prediction model by integrating structure and sequence features. Testing results on the Drosophila melanogaster miRNA data showed that DroshaPSP obtained a sensitivity of 0.859, a specificity of 0.999, and a Matthew's Correlation Coefficient of 0.864. We also found that the Shannon entropy is a powerful structure feature for DroshaPSP to distinguish true Drosha processing sites from the nearby pseudo processing sites effectively.
Expression of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae PIS gene and synthesis of phosphatidylinositol in Escherichia coli

Expression of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae PIS gene encoding phosphatidylinositol synthase in Escherichia coli was achieved by inserting its coding sequence into lacZ on pUC8. The fused gene encoded a phosphatidylinositol synthase whose amino-terminal three amino acids had been replaced by the amino-terminal five amino acids of E. coli beta-galactosidase. E. coli cells bearing this recombinant plasmid produced a significant level of phosphatidylinositol synthase in the presence of a lacZ inducer, isopropylthio-beta-D-galactopyranoside. When the culture medium was supplemented with myo-inositol and isopropylthio-beta-D-galactopyranoside, the cells accumulated a substantial amount of phosphatidylinositol in their membranes. When a saturating level of myo-inositol was added, phosphatidylinositol constituted about 4% of the total phospholipids. Phosphatidylinositol accumulation occurred at the expense of phosphatidylglycerol. The ratio of phosphatidylethanolamine to total acidic phospholipids remained constant. The growth rate of phosphatidylinositol-containing E. coli cells did not differ significantly from that of cells with the normal phospholipid composition.
Assessing the External Demand of the Czech Economy: Nowcasting Foreign GDP Using Bridge Equations

We propose an approach to nowcasting foreign GDP growth rates for the Czech economy. For presentational purposes, we focus on three major trading partners: Germany, Slovakia and France. We opt for a simple method which is very general and which has proved successful in the literature: the method based on bridge equation models. A battery of models is evaluated based on a pseudo-real-time forecasting exercise. The results for Germany and France suggest that the models are more successful at backcasting, nowcasting and forecasting than the naive random walk benchmark model. At the same time, the various models considered are more or less successful depending on the forecast horizon. On the other hand, the results for Slovakia are less convincing, possibly due to the stability of the GDP growth rate over the evaluation period and the weak relationship between GDP growth rates and monthly indicators in the training sample.