Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concise Reviews: Assisted Reproductive Technologies to Prevent Transmission of Mitochondrial DNA Disease

While the fertilized egg inherits its nuclear DNA from both parents, the mitochondrial DNA is strictly maternally inherited. Cells contain multiple copies of mtDNA, each of which encodes 37 genes, which are essential for energy production by oxidative phosphorylation. Mutations can be present in all, or only in some copies of mtDNA. If present above a certain threshold, pathogenic mtDNA mutations can cause a range of debilitating and fatal diseases. Here, we provide an update of currently available options and new techniques under development to reduce the risk of transmitting mtDNA disease from mother to child. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), a commonly used technique to detect mutations in nuclear DNA, is currently being offered to determine the mutation load of embryos produced by women who carry mtDNA mutations. The available evidence indicates that cells removed from an eight‐cell embryo are predictive of the mutation load in the entire embryo, indicating that PGD provides an effective risk reduction strategy for women who produce embryos with low mutation loads. For those who do not, research is now focused on meiotic nuclear transplantation techniques to uncouple the inheritance of nuclear and mtDNA. These approaches include transplantation of any one of the products or female meiosis (meiosis II spindle, or either of the polar bodies) between oocytes, or the transplantation of pronuclei between fertilized eggs. In all cases, the transferred genetic material arises from a normal meiosis and should therefore, not be confused with cloning. The scientific progress and associated regulatory issues are discussed. Stem Cells 2015;33:639–645
A Gibbs sampling approach to cointegration

This paper reviews the application of Gibbs sampling to a cointegrated VAR system. Aggregate imports and import prices for Belgium are modelled using two cointegrating relations. Gibbs sampling techniques are used to estimate from a Bayesian perspective the cointegrating relations and their weights in the VAR system. Extensive use of spectral analysis is made to get insight into convergence issues.
Bijective mapping of arbitrary finite state machine

Reversible Computation is of interest, because it is associated with ultra low power computing. Design and analysis of a reversible sequential circuit is an interesting research problem. State of the art design decomposes a sequential circuit into smaller modules. Then each module is implemented using known reversible circuits like Toffoli Gate, Peres Gate, Fredkin Gate, Picton Gate, and Rice Gate. This approach is inherently intractable in nature. In this work a more efficient approach is proposed that performs a detail analysis of the State Diagram. Redundancy in a state diagram arises if a “next-state” is attained from more than one “present state”. Irredundant description of such a state diagram is possible, if each state is encoded with a binary number and some ancillary bits are used to distinguish the “identical states”. This is helpful in designing a complex system that involves complex interconnection of a large number of sequential circuits.
Automatic complexity control for HLDA systems

Designing a state-of-the-art large vocabulary speech recognition systems is a highly complex problem. A wide range of techniques are available that affect the performance and number of free parameters. Selecting the appropriate complexity of system is both time-consuming and only a limited number of possible systems can be examined. This paper presents initial results on automatic system selection when both the number of dimensions and the number of components vary. Various complexity control schemes are discussed and evaluated. Limitations of schemes based on predicting held-out data log-likelihoods are described. In addition, problems of standard approximations for this task are detailed.
The Third Methodology Movement:Probe and Analysis of the 60 years' Development of Mixed Approach

As the third methodology after qualitative and quantitative approaches,the mixed approach is a cross-over study with pragmatism as its basis and research problems as its core.However,due to little understanding of the development process of mixed approach,especially its philosophical foundation for its emergence and its unique research strategy,educational researchers seldom use or misuse this approach and consider it only as the simple mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches.However,the idea has been proved wrong by the research into the 60 years' development of mixed approach.Mixed approach derived from the dispute between positivism and constructivism in 1950s.Pragmatism became its philosophical basis after 1960s,which established its theoretical foundation.With the breakthrough in research procedure and strategy after 1980s,the third methodology movement of educational research finally took place.
Automatic and topology-preserving gradient mesh generation for image vectorization

Gradient mesh vector graphics representation, used in commercial software, is a regular grid with specified position and color, and their gradients, at each grid point. Gradient meshes can compactly represent smoothly changing data, and are typically used for single objects. This paper advances the state of the art for gradient meshes in several significant ways. Firstly, we introduce a topology-preserving gradient mesh representation which allows an arbitrary number of holes. This is important, as objects in images often have holes, either due to occlusion, or their 3D structure. Secondly, our algorithm uses the concept of image manifolds, adapting surface parameterization and fitting techniques to generate the gradient mesh in a fully automatic manner. Existing gradient-mesh algorithms require manual interaction to guide grid construction, and to cut objects with holes into disk-like regions. Our new algorithm is empirically at least 10 times faster than previous approaches. Furthermore, image segmentation can be used with our new algorithm to provide automatic gradient mesh generation for a whole image. Finally, fitting errors can be simply controlled to balance quality with storage.
Online learning of concepts and words using multimodal LDA and hierarchical Pitman-Yor Language Model

In this paper, we propose an online algorithm for multimodal categorization based on the autonomously acquired multimodal information and partial words given by human users. For multimodal concept formation, multimodal latent Dirichlet allocation (MLDA) using Gibbs sampling is extended to an online version. We introduce a particle filter, which significantly improve the performance of the online MLDA, to keep tracking good models among various models with different parameters. We also introduce an unsupervised word segmentation method based on hierarchical Pitman-Yor Language Model (HPYLM). Since the HPYLM requires no predefined lexicon, we can make the robot system that learns concepts and words in completely unsupervised manner. The proposed algorithms are implemented on a real robot and tested using real everyday objects to show the validity of the proposed system.
A two‐component system that controls the expression of pneumococcal surface antigen A (PsaA) and regulates virulence and resistance to oxidative stress in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Recent genomic‐based studies have identified 13 two‐component signal transduction systems (TCS) in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Bacterial TCSs are important for regulating expression of bacterial genes, including those which are important to the virulence of pathogenic bacteria. We have used virulence assays together with microarray analysis to investigate the importance of pneumococcal TCS04 in the virulence and gene regulation of this pathogen. Deletion mutants of the response regulator of TCS04, rr04, were examined in three independent pneumococcal strains representing three different pneumococcal serotypes. Analysis of the virulence of the three strains enabled us to identify a serotype‐specific attenuation of virulence due to deletion of rr04. Microarray comparison of the transcriptional profiles of the wild‐type strains with the rr04 mutants allowed us to determine which transcriptional changes were occurring in the rr04 mutants. Virulence‐associated changes were demonstrated in the attenuated strain with significant downregulation of a previously determined virulence locus, psaB, psaC and psaA.
Classification of Dynamical Patterns in Autonomously Controlled Logistic Simulations Using Echo State Networks

The concept of autonomous control aims at improving the robustness and performance of logistic systems in a dynamical environment. In this context logistic objects are able to make and execute routing decisions autonomously. On the one hand this enables logistics systems to react promptly on dynamic changes and disturbances. On the other hand autonomous control causes an inherent dynamic systems behavior, which depends mainly on decision logic and initial system states. In order to analyze the interplay between these internal dynamics and the overall systems performance, new approaches for describing and classifying the observed behavior are needed. This paper presents an approach, based on Echo State Networks, for identifying and comparing different dynamics, gained by a simulation model of an autonomous controlled production network. It will be shown, that echo-state networks are able to distinguish different patterns of this exemplary autonomously controlled production network.
Markerless human pose estimation using image features and extremal contour

This paper presents an approach for markerless vision-based motion capture from multiple views. We use truncated cones to describe the human body parts, and match the extremal contours of human body model against the image cues. Be- cause the derivative is not available, we assume that the cost function satisfies a quadratic model inside the trust region and use model-based Derivative Free Optimization (DFO) method to find a pose which best matches the images. The method performance was tested on the HumanEva II dataset in a 4 color camera configuration and the results show that our method recover the human pose parameterize with high dimensions (≥ 36) effectively.
An electrostatic potassium channel opener targeting the final voltage sensor transition

Free polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) modulate the voltage dependence of voltage-gated ion channels. As an important consequence thereof, PUFAs can suppress epileptic seizures and cardiac arrhythmia. However, molecular details for the interaction between PUFA and ion channels are not well understood. In this study, we have localized the site of action for PUFAs on the voltage-gated Shaker K channel by introducing positive charges on the channel surface, which potentiated the PUFA effect. Furthermore, we found that PUFA mainly affects the final voltage sensor movement, which is closely linked to channel opening, and that specific charges at the extracellular end of the voltage sensor are critical for the PUFA effect. Because different voltage-gated K channels have different charge profiles, this implies channel-specific PUFA effects. The identified site and the pharmacological mechanism will potentially be very useful in future drug design of small-molecule compounds specifically targeting neuronal and cardiac excitability.
Urinary Biomarkers for The Prediction of Reversibility in Acute-on-Chronic Renal Failure

BACKGROUND: There is no reliable clinical test to predict the reversibility of acute-on-chronic renal failure. We study whether urinary biomarkers could be used as a noninvasive prognostic marker in patients with acute-on-chronic renal failure. METHODS: We studied 39 adult patients with pre-existing chronic renal impairment presenting to us with acute-on-chronic renal failure. Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) level was measured. The mRNA of kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), interleukin-18 (IL-18), alpha-1-microglobulin (α1M), sodium/hydrogen exchanger-3 (NHE3), beta-2 microglobulin (β2M), and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) in urinary sediment were quantified. RESULTS: Urinary NGAL level significantly correlated with the serum creatinine at presentation (r = 0.762, p < 0.0001) but not baseline serum creatinine. Urinary sediment β2M expression significantly correlated with baseline glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (r = –0.400, p = 0.012). Urinary α1M and NHE3 expressions were significantly higher in ischemic acute tubular necrosis than other causes of acute kidney injury (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.006, respectively). Urinary α1M expression significantly correlated with the degree of improvement in renal function (r = 0.387, p = 0.026), as well as the estimated GFR 6 months later (r = 0.386, p = 0.027). CONCLUSION: In patients with acute-on-chronic renal failure, urinary NGAL level correlates with the severity of renal failure, while urinary α1M expression correlates with the degree of renal function recovery. Quantification of urinary α1M mRNA may be developed as an non-invasive tool for risk stratification of this group of patients.
Display adaptive tone mapping

We propose a tone mapping operator that can minimize visible contrast distortions for a range of output devices, ranging from e-paper to HDR displays. The operator weights contrast distortions according to their visibility predicted by the model of the human visual system. The distortions are minimized given a display model that enforces constraints on the solution. We show that the problem can be solved very efficiently by employing higher order image statistics and quadratic programming. Our tone mapping technique can adjust image or video content for optimum contrast visibility taking into account ambient illumination and display characteristics. We discuss the differences between our method and previous approaches to the tone mapping problem.
Spherical harmonic decomposition for surfaces of arbitrary topology

Spherical harmonics have many valuable theoretic and practical applications in data and signal processing and modeling. It decomposes a given function defined on a sphere into a set orthogonal spherical harmonics. However, the given signal/function needs to be defined on a sphere domain. This paper studies the spherical harmonic decomposition for functions defined on general 2-dimensional manifold surfaces. We parameterize a surface with non-trivial topology onto a sphere domain, upon which the spherical harmonic decomposition can be conducted effectively. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework via progressive surface reconstruction.
Improved Hybrid Model Based on Support Vector Regression Machine for Monthly Precipitation Forecasting

In this paper, we study the time series techniques for the monthly precipitation forecasting. The techniques used in this study are moving average procedure, support vector regression machine, and seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model and hybrid procedure. Firstly, the moving average procedure is employed to find the trend; secondly, the support vector regression machine is applied to forecast the trend; thirdly, the hybrid procedure is used for provide the last forecasting results based on the above models. For the coefficients, the optimization method we employed is the popular particle swarm optimization algorithm. Three time series are applied to test the proposed idea, which are the monthly precipitation data from Gansu Meteorological Bureau. The forecasting results show that our proposed model is an effective model for nonlinear time series forecasting.
Engaging older people in healthy and active lifestyles: a systematic review

ABSTRACT In 2002, the World Health Organization emphasised the concept of active ageing to manage and increase the last third of life. Although many efforts have been made to optimise treatment management, less attention has been paid to health promotion initiatives. To date, few shared guidelines exist that promote an active life in healthy older targets. To fill this gap, we conducted a systematic review to map health promotion interventions that targeted an active and healthy ageing among older citizens. Articles containing the key term active ageing and seven synonyms were searched for in the electronic databases. Because we were interested in actions aimed to promote healthier lifestyles, we connected the string with the term health. A total of 3,918 titles were retrieved and 20 articles were extracted. Twelve of the 20 studies used group interventions, five interventions targeted the individual level and three interventions targeted the community level. Interventions differed for the health focus of the programmes, which ranged from physical activity interventions to social participation or cognitive functioning. Most of the studies aimed to act on psychological components. The review suggests that different interventions promoted for active ageing are effective in improving specific healthy and active lifestyles; however, no studies were concerned directly with a holistic process of citizen health engagement to improve long-term outcomes.
Anatomic Constraints on Cognitive Theories of Category Specificity

Many cognitive theories of semantic organization stem from reports of patients with selective, category-specific deficits for particular classes of objects (e.g., fruit). The anatomical assumptions underlying the competing claims can be evaluated with functional neuroimaging but the findings to date have been inconsistent and insignificant when standard statistical criteria are adopted. We hypothesized that category differences in functional brain responses might be small and task dependent. To test this hypothesis, we entered data from seven PET studies into a single multifactorial design which crossed category (living vs man-made) with a range of tasks. Reliable category-specific effects were observed but only for word retrieval and semantic decision tasks. Living things activated medial aspects of the anterior temporal poles bilaterally while tools activated a left posterior middle temporal region. These category-by-task interactions provide robust evidence for an anatomical double dissociation according to category and place strong constraints on cognitive theories of the semantic system. Furthermore they reconcile some of the apparent inconsistencies between lesion studies and functional neuroimaging data.
Practical spectral characterization of trichromatic cameras

Simple and effective geometric and radiometric calibration of camera devices has enabled the use of consumer digital cameras for HDR photography, for image based measurement and similar applications requiring a deeper understanding about the camera characteristics. However, to date no such practical methods for estimating the spectral response of cameras are available. Existing approaches require costly hardware and controlled acquisition conditions limiting their applicability. Consequently, even though being highly desirable for color correction and color processing purposes as well as for designing image-based measurement or photographic setups, the spectral response of a camera is rarely considered. Our objective is to close this gap. In this work a practical approach for multi-spectral characterization of trichromatic cameras is presented. Taking photographs of a color chart and measuring the average lighting using a spectrophotometer the effective spectral response of a camera can be estimated for a wide range of out-of-lab environments. By comprehensive cross validation experiments we prove that the new method performs well compared to costly reference measurements. Moreover, we show that our technique can also be used to generate ICC profiles with higher accuracy and less constrained capturing conditions compared to state-of-the-art ICC profilers.
Patterns and Drivers of Scattered Tree Loss in Agricultural Landscapes: Orchard Meadows in Germany (1968-2009)

Scattered trees support high levels of farmland biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, but they are threatened by agricultural intensification, urbanization, and land abandonment. This study aimed to map and quantify the decline of orchard meadows (scattered fruit trees of high nature conservation value) for a region in Southwestern Germany for the 1968 2009 period and to identify the driving forces of this decline. We derived orchard meadow loss from 1968 and 2009 aerial images and used a boosted regression trees modelling framework to assess the relative importance of 18 environmental, demographic, and socio-economic variables to test five alternative hypothesis explaining orchard meadow loss. We found that orchard meadow loss occurred in flatter areas, in areas where smaller plot sizes and fragmented orchard meadows prevailed, and in areas near settlements and infrastructure. The analysis did not confirm that orchard meadow loss was higher in areas where agricultural intensification was stronger and in areas of lower implementation levels of conservation policies. Our results demonstrated that the influential drivers of orchard meadow loss were those that reduce economic profitability and increase opportunity costs for orchards, providing incentives for converting orchard meadows to other, more profitable land uses. These insights could be taken up by local- and regional-level conservation policies to identify the sites of persistent orchard meadows in agricultural landscapes that would be prioritized in conservation efforts.
Total Shatterings of Graphs

For a graph , a subset is called shattered if for every , there is a vertex such that , where or . The testing dimension of is the largest such that every set of vertices in is shattered. For , we let be the smallest such that there is a graph on vertices with a testing dimension of . In this note, we prove some structural properties of graphs with testing dimension of , we show that they are universal for the class of all graphs with at most vertices, and we prove that
Component Enhancement: An Adaptive Reusability Mechanism for Groups of Collaborating Classes

We enhance the Demeter Method for object oriented software development with the component model for describing the evolution of groups of collaborating classes The model is based on class dictionary graphs LBSL Ber and reusable be havior descriptions which are expressed by propagation in class dictionary graphs LXSL Our experience demonstrates that the component model lifts program ming to a higher level of abstraction it signi cantly reduces the size of programs and it makes them resilient to change and therefore we propose a reusability mech anism for components Components are useful for the development of reusable software libraries for application development as well as for recording the history of object oriented programs An implementation of propagation patterns which are an important part of components and related papers are available by ftp LBH Keyword Codes D D D
From Crystal Packing to Molecular Recognition: Prediction and Discovery of a Binding Site on the Surface of Polo-Like Kinase 1**

Protein–protein interactions are notoriously difficult to target with small molecules as large, discontinuous surfaces are often involved1, 2 that can adopt different conformations to interact with diverse binding partners.3–5 In addition, protein surfaces are inherently flexible, exemplified by reports of hits from high-throughput screens that were found to bind in previously unidentified pockets resulting from surface flexibility.6 These factors significantly complicate structure-based drug discovery in the context of protein–protein interfaces.7 The ability to understand the flexibility of the protein surface and predict its adaptive changes conditioned by molecular recognition of a ligand would open up new avenues for targeting protein–protein interactions. However, despite significant interest there are few systematic methods to accomplish this.8, 9