Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INTEGRAL and Swift/XRT observations of IGR J19405-3016

Aims. IGR J19405-3016 is reported in the 3rd IBIS catalog as one of its lowest significance sources (similar to 4.6 sigma under an exposure of about 371 ks). This leads to a caveat in multi-wavelength studies, although the source was identified in the optical as a Seyfert 1. The currently available INTEGRAL data on the source have increased to an exposure time of similar to 1376 ks, which stimulates us to investigate the reality of this source again by using all the available data from INTEGRAL and Swift/XRT. Methods. We analyzed all available observations carried out by the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) on IGR J19405-3016. The data were processed by using the latest version OSA 7.0. In addition, we analyzed all the available Swift/XRT data on this source. Results. We find that IGR J19405-3016 has a detection significance of similar to 9.4 sigma in the 20-60 keV band during the observational period between March 2003 and March 2008. This confirms a real source detection reported previously. The source position and error location are therefore updated. The source is found to be constant over years at the hard X-rays. We analyzed the Swift/XRT observations on IGR J19405-3016 as well, and find that the spectrum can be fitted with a simple power law model. Over the three XRT observations, the source flux varied by up to 39% from the average, and the spectrum is generally soft. The combined XRT/ISGRI spectrum is well fitted with a simple power law model (photon index 2.11 +/- 0.03) with a column density fixed at 8.73 x 10(20) atoms/cm(2). Such a photon index is consistent with the mean value 1.98 (dispersion 0.27) obtained from Swift/BAT AGN samples at 14-195 keV. The spectral slope of IGR J19405-3016 is softer than the average spectral slope found elsewhere. A similar discrepancy is found with other results regarding Seyfert 1 AGNs. A possible explanation for this simple spectral description may be that the low level of the column density allows for the "true" spectrum to appear at soft X-rays as well.
Effects of Incentives and Genetics on Food Choices and Weight Phenotypes in the Neuroendocrine Gene Tubby Mutant Mice

Food intake and obesity related phenotypes are greatly affected by economic factors and yet very little is known about the interaction of economic factors, genetics, behavior, and obesity phenotypes. Recent human population research suggests that a decreasing price of high fat food relative to low fat food has contributed to the current obesity epidemic in humans. The two key elements in this argument are choice and costs. We incorporate these key elements in a closed economy mouse model to study the interactions of economics, genetics, and obesity related phenotypes, using normal mice, and mice with a mutation in the hypothalamus-expressed Tub gene, which has a phenotype of adult onset obesity. Results for both genotypes indicate that as the price of the high fat food falls, consumption of that food increases and consumption of the low fat food declines, but not enough to offset the increase in high fat food so total intake and weight increases, with no statistically-significant differences between genotypes. These results are in contrast to previous literature based on an ad lib, no choice food setting. In addition, in our closed economy model, the Tub mutant showed a numerical and statistically significant increase in body fat percentage and glucose intolerance, whereas these increases were only numerical for the normal mice. Both genotypes showed numerical but statistically insignificant increases in leptin and ghrelin levels. These results show that accounting for choice in neuroeconomic studies is important to understanding the complex regulation of intake, body weight and other related phenotypes.
How Is Pneumonia Diagnosed in Clinical Stroke Research?: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background and Purpose— Diagnosis of pneumonia complicating stroke is challenging, and there are currently no consensus diagnostic criteria. As a first step in developing such consensus-based diagnostic criteria, we undertook a systematic review to identify the existing diagnostic approaches to pneumonia in recent clinical stroke research to establish the variation in diagnosis and terminology. Methods— Studies of ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, or both, which reported occurrence of pneumonia from January 2009 to March 2014, were considered and independently screened for inclusion by 2 reviewers after multiple searches using electronic databases. The primary analysis was to identify existing diagnostic approaches for pneumonia. Secondary analyses explored potential reasons for any heterogeneity where standard criteria for pneumonia had been applied. Results— Sixty-four studies (56% ischemic stroke, 6% intracerebral hemorrhage, 38% both) of 639 953 patients were included. Six studies (9%) reported no information on the diagnostic approach, whereas 12 (19%) used unspecified clinician-reported diagnosis or initiation of antibiotics. The majority used objective diagnostic criteria: 20 studies (31%) used respiratory or other published standard criteria; 26 studies (41%) used previously unpublished ad hoc criteria. The overall occurrence of pneumonia was 14.3% (95% confidence interval 13.2%–15.4%; I2=98.9%). Occurrence was highest in studies applying standard criteria (19.1%; 95% confidence interval 15.1%–23.4%; I2=98.5%). The substantial heterogeneity observed was not explained by stratifying for other potential confounders. Conclusions— We found considerable variation in terminology and the diagnostic approach to pneumonia. Our review supports the need for consensus development of operational diagnostic criteria for pneumonia complicating stroke.
On the kinematics analysis of a novel spherical robot with unlimited rotation around an axis

This paper propose a new spherical parallel robot for celestial orientation, and rehabilitation applications (TV satellite dish, tracking systems, solar panels, cameras, telescopes, table of the machine tools, ankle, shoulder, wrist and etc.). The proposed robot can completely rotate about an axis. After describing the robot and its inverse position analysis, using the genetic algorithm, the dimensional optimization to maximize the workspace of the robot is performed. The workspace analysis shows that the proposed robot has a relatively large workspace. The workspace analysis was shown that the robot has a relatively large workspace. Next, accuracy analysis is performed using the inverse kinematics, Jacobian matrices and the workspace analyses. Two accuracy performance measures, KCI and GCI are calculated. The GCI of the proposed manipulator is compared with other 3-DOF parallel manipulators. Results indicate that GCI of SST manipulator is in "good" range. Finally, a method to specify the acceptable direct kinematics problem is advised and a numerical example for following a desired trajectory was presented.
Digital halftoning with space filling curves

This paper introduces a new digital halftoning technique that uses space filling curves to generate aperiodic patterns of clustered dots. This method allows the parameterization of the size of pixel clusters, which can vary in one pixel steps. The algorithm unifies, in this way, the dispersed and clustered-dot dithering techniques.
Identification of a 6-Cytokine Prognostic Signature in Patients with Primary Glioblastoma Harboring M2 Microglia/Macrophage Phenotype Relevance

Background Glioblastomas (GBM) are comprised of a heterogeneous population of tumor cells, immune cells, and extracellular matrix. Interactions among these different cell types and pro-/anti-inflammatory cytokines may promote tumor development and progression. Aims The objective of this study was to develop a cytokine-related gene signature to improve outcome prediction for patients with primary GBM. Methods Here, we used Cox regression and risk-score analysis to develop a cytokine-related gene signature in primary GBMs from the whole transcriptome sequencing profile of the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) database (n=105). We also examined differences in immune cell phenotype and immune factor expression between the high-risk and low-risk groups. Results Cytokine-related genes were ranked based on their ability to predict survival in the CGGA database. The six genes showing the strongest predictive value were CXCL10, IL17R, CCR2, IL17B, IL10RB, and CCL2. Patients with a high-risk score had poor overall survival and progression-free survival. Additionally, the high-risk group was characterized by increased mRNA expression of M2 microglia/macrophage markers and elevated levels of IL10 and TGFβ1. Conclusion The six cytokine-related gene signature is sufficient to predict survival and to identify a subgroup of primary GBM exhibiting the M2 cell phenotype.
Genetic associations amongst health and fertility traits for two UK recording schemes

Genetic parameters for 305 day milk production, health disorders (mastitis, lameness and milk fever) and fertility traits (calving interval; days to first service and conception to first service) were estimated using data from two UK recording schemes. One was a National recording scheme operated by the Scottish Livestock Services Ltd. (SLS) and the other was a health and fertility management recording system, the Dairy Information System (DAISY). The datasets consisted of 33732 and 10569 records for the SLS and DAISY respectively. The heritability for somatic cell score was 0.15, heritabilities for all other health and fertility traits were less than 0.10. Heritability and correlation estimates agreed well in the two datasets. Genetic correlations with milk yield were in all cases antagonistic, suggesting that selection for milk yield has led to a deterioration in health and fertility. ___________________________________________________________________________________
Clinical Entity Recognition Using Cost-Sensitive Structured Perceptron for NTCIR-10 MedNLP

This paper reports on our approach to the NTCIR-10 MedNLP task, which aims at identifying personal and medical information in Japanese clinical texts. We applied a machine learning (ML) algorithm for sequential labeling, specifically, structured perceptron, and defined a cost function for lowering misclassification cost. On the test set provided by the organizers, our approach achieved an F-score of 77.00 for the de-identification task and 79.14 for the complaint and diagnosis task.
Study of different principles for automatic identification of Generalized System of Contradictions out of Design Of Experiments

Problems in design of technical systems can be solved by optimization or inventive solving principles. Two representation models are studied: Generalized System of Contradictions (GSC) as inventive principle and Design of Experience (DoE) as optimisation principle. Our purpose is to improve the capacity of design problems resolution by using the both solving principles articulated to one representation model. We will show how it is possible to shift from DoE representation model to GSC representation model by using different methods. On the one side this transition can be done by the identification of Generalized System of Contradictions out of Design of Experiments based on a set of equations to resolve. On the other side methods of data analysis can be used to visualise and reorganise the DoE matrix in the form of "contradiction blocks " reflecting the set of equations. This reorganisation of representation model will be illustrated on a simple technical system.
A Fresh Perspective

”Painting is an activity, and the artist will therefore tend to see what he paints rather than to paint what he sees. ” E.H. Gombrich. While general trends in computer graphics continue to drive towards more photorealistic imagery, increasing attention is also being devoted to painterly renderings of computer generated scenes. Whereas artists using traditional media almost always deviate from the confines of a precise linear perspective view, digital artists struggle to transcend the standard pin-hole camera model in generating an envisioned image of a three dimensional scene. More specifically, a key limitation of existing camera models is that they inhibit the artistic exploration and understanding of a subject, which is essential for expressing it successfully. Past experiments with non-linear perspectives have primarily focused on abstract mathematical camera models for raytracing, which are both noninteractive and provide the artist with little control over seeing what he wants to see. We address this limitation with a cohesive, interactive approach for exploring nonlinear perspective projections. The approach consists of a new camera model and a toolbox of interactive local and global controls for a number of properties, including regions of interest, distortion, and spatial relationship. Furthermore, the approach is incremental, allowing non-linear perspective views of a scene to be built gradually by blending and compositing multiple linear perspectives. In addition to artistic non-photorealistic rendering, our approach has interesting applications in conceptual design and scientific visualization.
Negative response of photosynthesis to natural and projected high seawater temperatures estimated by pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry in a temperate coral

Balanophyllia europaea is a shallow water solitary zooxanthellate coral, endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Extensive field studies across a latitudinal temperature gradient highlight detrimental effects of rising temperatures on its growth, demography, and skeletal characteristics, suggesting that depression of photosynthesis at high temperatures might cause these negative effects. Here we test this hypothesis by analyzing, by means of pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry, the photosynthetic efficiency of B. europaea specimens exposed in aquaria to the annual range of temperatures experienced in the field (13, 18, and 28°C), and two extreme temperatures expected for 2100 as a consequence of global warming (29 and 32°C). The indicators of photosynthetic performance analyzed (maximum and effective quantum yield) showed that maximum efficiency was reached at 20.0–21.6°C, slightly higher than the annual mean temperature in the field (18°C). Photosynthetic efficiency decreased from 20.0 to 13°C and even more strongly from 21.6 to 32°C. An unusual form of bleaching was observed, with a maximum zooxanthellae density at 18°C that strongly decreased from 18 to 32°C. Chlorophyll a concentration per zooxanthellae cell showed an opposite trend as it was minimal at 18°C and increased from 18 to 32°C. Since the areal chlorophyll concentration is the product of the zooxanthellae density and its cellular content, these trends resulted in a homogeneous chlorophyll concentration per coral surface across temperature treatments. This confirms that B. europaea photosynthesis is progressively depressed at temperatures >21.6°C, supporting previous hypotheses raised by the studies on growth and demography of this species. This study also confirms the threats posed to this species by the ongoing seawater warming.
Hazards and Risks of Engineered Nanoparticles for the Environment and Human Health

The objectives of this article are to: (1) investigate the current state of knowledge of the risks of engineered nanoparticles for the environment and human health, (2) estimate whether this knowledge is sufficient to facilitate their comprehensive and effective risk assessment and (3) provide recommendations on future research in the field of risk assessment of nanomaterials. In order to meet the objectives, the relevance of each of the four steps of the risk assessment methodology ( i.e. , hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment and risk characterization) was evaluated in the context of the current state of knowledge of the risks of nanomaterials, limitations were identified and recommendations were given on how to overcome them.
Sequentially-Allocated Merge-Split Sampler for Conjugate and Nonconjugate Dirichlet Process Mixture Models

A camera system comprises a camera for photographing an object and acquiring image data of the object, a computer having a connector which allows the camera to be connected to the computer, a mode setting device provided to the camera and for setting an operation mode of the camera, a display which functions together with the computer, and a controller provided to the computer. The controller detects a connection between the camera and the computer via the connector, and causes an image representing the mode setting device and an image representing a display panel for displaying the image taken by the camera to be displayed upon detection of the connection. When the computer is manipulated for setting a mode through the image representing the mode setting device, the controller supplies an instruction signal for setting the selected mode to the camera, and the camera sets the mode in response to the instruction supplied from the controller.
From Contract Drafting to Software Specification: Linguistic Sources of Ambiguity

This handbook is about writing software requirements specifications and legal contracts, two kinds of documents with similar needs for completeness, consistency, and precision. Particularly when these are written, as they usually are, in natural language, ambiguity—by any definition—is a major cause of their not specifying what they should. Simple misuse of the language in which the document is written is one source of these ambiguities. This handbook describes the ambiguity phenomenon from several points of view, including linguistics, software engineering, and the law. Several strategies for avoiding and detecting ambiguities are presented. Strong emphasis is given on the problems arising from the use of heavily used and seemingly unambiguous words and phrases such as “all”, “each”, and “every” in defining or referencing sets; positioning of “only”, “also”, and “even”; precedences of “and” and “or”; “a”, “all”, “any”, “each”, “one”, “some”, and “the” used as quantifiers; “or” and “and/or”; “that” vs. “which”; parallelism; pronouns referring to an idea; multiple adjectives; etc. Many examples from requirements documents and legal documents are examined. While no guide can overcome the careless or indifferent writer, this handbook is offered as a guide both for writing better requirements or contracts and for inspecting them for potential ambiguities.
Miniaturized bandpass filter with high frequency selectivity and wide upper stpoband

A miniaturized bandpass filter (BPF) with high frequency selectivity and wide upper stopband is presented. The presented bandpass filter is constructed by using the capacitance loaded square meander loop resonator. Due to capacitive load, the resonator can exhibit slow-wave characteristics, which can be utilized to reduce size and suppress harmonics. The two degenerate-mode resonances are used to form the passband while two transmission zeroes are generated on each side of the passband so as to obtain high frequency selectivity. The circuit area of bandpass filter is only 0. 14λg×0. 14λg, where λg is the guided wavelength at the center frequency. The measured results reach good agreement with simulated results.
Copper Chelator Induced Efficient Episodic Memory Recovery in a Non-Transgenic Alzheimer’s Mouse Model

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative syndrom involving many different biological parameters, including the accumulation of copper metal ions in Aβ amyloid peptides due to a perturbation of copper circulation and homeostasis within the brain. Copper-containing amyloids activated by endogenous reductants are able to generate an oxidative stress that is involved in the toxicity of abnormal amyloids and contribute to the progressive loss of neurons in AD. Since only few drugs are currently available for the treatment of AD, we decided to design small molecules able to interact with copper and we evaluated these drug-candidates with non-transgenic mice, since AD is mainly an aging disease, not related to genetic disorders. We created a memory deficit mouse model by a single icv injection of Aβ1–42 peptide, in order to mimic the early stage of the disease and the key role of amyloid oligomers in AD. No memory deficit was observed in the control mice with the antisense Aβ42-1 peptide. Here we report the capacity of a new copper-specific chelating agent, a bis-8-aminoquinoline PA1637, to fully reverse the deficit of episodic memory after three weeks of treatment by oral route on non-transgenic amyloid-impaired mice. Clioquinol and memantine have been used as comparators to validate this fast and efficient mouse model.
Blurred image region detection and segmentation

Estimating both defocus blur and motion blur regions from a single monocular image is a challenging research area in modern image processing and computer vision. Most existing algorithms first divide an image into either non-blur or blur patches. Then blur-type classification is performed on the blur patches only. This means that such approaches include potential risk that incorrect blur region identification may affect the following blur-type classification. In this paper, we present a novel framework for blur region identification to overcome the deficiency of classical methods. We propose a 3-way blur identification method, which divides an image into non-blur, defocus blur, and motion blur regions at once. To this end, we employ intuitive and powerful features based on specific criteria well-suited for our 3-way classification problem. We also take a coarse-to-fine technique to produce pixelwise segmentation results. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms the recent algorithms.
Protein Palmitoylation Regulates Osteoblast Differentiation through BMP-Induced Osterix Expression

Osteoporosis is one of the most common diseases and can be treated by either anti-resorption drugs, anabolic drugs, or both. To search for anabolic drug targets for osteoporosis therapy, it is crucial to understand the biology of bone forming cells, osteoblasts, in terms of their proliferation, differentiation, and function. Here we found that protein palmitoylation participates in signaling pathways that control osterix expression and osteoblast differentiation. Mouse calvarial osteoblasts express most of the 24 palmitoyl transferases, with some being up-regulated during differentiation. Inhibition of protein palmitoylation, with a substrate-analog inhibitor, diminished osteoblast differentiation and mineralization, but not proliferation or survival. The decrease in differentiation capacity is associated with a reduction in osterix, but not Runx2 or Atf4. Inhibition of palmitoyl transferases had little effect in p53−/− osteoblasts that show accelerated differentiation due to overexpression of osterix, suggesting that osterix, at least partially, mediated the effect of inhibition of palmitoyl transferases on osteoblast differentiation. BMPs are the major driving force of osteoblast differentiation in the differentiation assays. We found that inhibition of palmitoyl transferases also compromised BMP2-induced osteoblast differentiation through down-regulating osterix induction. However, palmitoyl transferases inhibitor did not inhibit Smad1/5/8 activation. Instead, it compromised the activation of p38 MAPK, which are known positive regulators of osterix expression and differentiation. These results indicate that protein palmitoylation plays an important role in BMP-induced MAPK activation, osterix expression, and osteoblast differentiation.