Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Min-Wise Independent Families with Respect to any Linear Order

A set of permutations 𝒮 on a finite linearly ordered set Ω is said to be k-min-wise independent, k-MWI for short, if Pr (min (π(X)) = π(x)) = 1/|X| for every X ⊆ Ω such that |X| ≤ k and for every x ∈ X. (Here π(x) and π(X) denote the image of the element x or subset X of Ω under the permutation π, and Pr refers to a probability distribution on 𝒮, which we take to be the uniform distribution. ) We are concerned with sets of permutations which are k-MWI families for any linear order. Indeed, we characterize such families in a way that does not involve the underlying order. As an application of this result, and using the Classification of Finite Simple Groups, we deduce a complete classification of the k-MWI families that are groups, for k ≥ 3.
A programmable Cas9-serine recombinase fusion protein that operates on DNA sequences in mammalian cells

We describe the development of ‘recCas9’, an RNA-programmed small serine recombinase that functions in mammalian cells. We fused a catalytically inactive dCas9 to the catalytic domain of Gin recombinase using an optimized fusion architecture. The resulting recCas9 system recombines DNA sites containing a minimal recombinase core site flanked by guide RNA-specified sequences. We show that these recombinases can operate on DNA sites in mammalian cells identical to genomic loci naturally found in the human genome in a manner that is dependent on the guide RNA sequences. DNA sequencing reveals that recCas9 catalyzes guide RNA-dependent recombination in human cells with an efficiency as high as 32% on plasmid substrates. Finally, we demonstrate that recCas9 expressed in human cells can catalyze in situ deletion between two genomic sites. Because recCas9 directly catalyzes recombination, it generates virtually no detectable indels or other stochastic DNA modification products. This work represents a step toward programmable, scarless genome editing in unmodified cells that is independent of endogenous cellular machinery or cell state. Current and future generations of recCas9 may facilitate targeted agricultural breeding, or the study and treatment of human genetic diseases.
ERP Evidence for Rapid Hedonic Evaluation of Logos

We know that human neurocognitive systems rapidly and implicitly evaluate emotionally charged stimuli. But what about more everyday, frequently encountered kinds of objects, such as computer desktop icons and business logos? Do we rapidly and implicitly evaluate these more prosaic visual images, attitude objects that might only engender a mild sense of liking or disliking, if at all? To address this question, we asked participants to view a set of unfamiliar commercial logos in the context of a target identification task as brain electrical responses to these objects were recorded via event-related potentials (ERPs). Following this task, participants individually identified those logos that were most liked or disliked, allowing us to then compare how ERP responses to logos varied as a function of hedonic evaluation—a procedure decoupling evaluative responses from any normative classification of the logos themselves. In Experiment 1, we found that visuocortical processing manifest a specific bias for disliked logos that emerged within the first 200 msec of stimulus onset. In Experiment 2, we replicated this effect while dissociating normative- and novelty-related influences. Taken together, our results provide direct electrophysiological evidence suggesting that we rapidly and implicitly evaluate commercial branding images at a hedonic level.
Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Disease: Molecular Basis and Practical Considerations

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States.1 Primary prevention and secondary prevention of CVD are public health priorities.2 Substantial data indicate that CVD is a life course disease that begins with the evolution of risk factors that in turn contribute to the development of subclinical atherosclerosis.3,4 Subclinical disease culminates in overt CVD.5,6 The onset of CVD itself portends an adverse prognosis with greater risk of recurrent events, morbidity, and mortality.7,8 It is also increasingly clear that although clinical assessment is the keystone of patient management, such evaluation has its limitations.9–12 Clinicians have used additional tools to aid clinical assessment and to enhance their ability to identify the “vulnerable” patient at risk for CVD, as suggested by a recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) panel.13,14 Biomarkers are one such tool to better identify high-risk individuals, to diagnose disease conditions promptly and accurately, and to effectively prognosticate and treat patients with disease. This review provides an overview of the molecular basis of biomarker discovery and selection and the practical considerations that are a prerequisite to their clinical use. The term biomarker (biological marker) was introduced in 1989 as a Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) term: “measurable and quantifiable biological parameters (eg, specific enzyme concentration, specific hormone concentration, specific gene phenotype distribution in a population, presence of biological substances) which serve as indices for health- and physiology-related assessments, such as disease risk, psychiatric disorders, environmental exposure and its effects, disease diagnosis, metabolic processes, substance abuse, pregnancy, cell line development, epidemiologic studies, etc.” In 2001, an NIH working group standardized the definition of a biomarker as “a characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention” …
diabetic neuropathy Review : Novel insights on diagnosis , cause and treatment of diabetic neuropathy : focus on painful

Diabetic neuropathy is common, under or misdiagnosed, and causes substantial morbidity with increased mortality. Defining and developing sensitive diagnostic tests for diabetic neuropathy is not only key to implementing earlier interventions but also to ensure that the most appropriate endpoints are employed in clinical intervention trials. This is critical as many potentially effective therapies may never progress to the clinic, not due to a lack of therapeutic effect, but because the endpoints were not sufficiently sensitive or robust to identify benefit. Apart from improving glycaemic control, there is no licensed treatment for diabetic neuropathy, however, a number of pathogenetic pathways remain under active study. Painful diabetic neuropathy is a cause of considerable morbidity and whilst many pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions are currently used, only two are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. We address the important issue of the ‘placebo effect’ and also consider potential new pharmacological therapies as well as nonpharmacological interventions in the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy.
Is abeta a sufficient biomarker for monitoring anti-abeta clinical studies? A critical review

Amyloid-beta (Aβ) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) appeared to be a promising target for disease-modifying therapeutic strategies like passive immunotherapy with anti-Aβ monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Biochemical markers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) include alterations of Aβ that allow the diagnosis of AD. Biomarker strategies, such as the levels of Aβ in CSF and plasma, currently play an important role in early clinical trials for AD. Indeed, these strategies have a relevant impact on the outcome of such studies, since the biomarkers are used to monitor the bioactivity of anti-Aβ mAbs. The clinical trials of Solanezumab were mainly based on the readout of Aβ levels in CSF and plasma, whereas those of Bapineuzumab were based on cognition; however, little is known about the mechanisms altering these biomarker levels, and no biomarker has yet been proven to be a successful predictor for AD therapy. In addition, the Aβ biomarkers allow for the determination of free and bound anti-Aβ mAb in order to monitor the available amount of bioactive drug and could give hints to the mechanism of action. In this review, we discuss clinical Aβ biomarker data and the latest regulatory strategies.
Predictive and mel-scale binary vector quantization of variable dimension spectral magnitude

In sinusoidal speech coding, the LP-spectral envelope is limited in its spectral accuracy if the order of the LP-model is not high enough. Thus the quantization of the residual spectrum of the low order LP-model may be desirable for good quality speech reconstruction. From the investigation of the magnitude of the LP-residual spectrum, it is found that the predictive coding scheme is useful for removing coding redundancy considerably. The problem of having a variable number of harmonics due to pitch changes can be alleviated by a length warping technique. Subsequently, the residual spectrum of the predictive coding is represented by mel-scale binary vector quantizer (MBVQ), which quantizes the residual spectrum by splitting harmonic bands of variable dimension into a fixed dimension, based on mel scale, and representing each element of the code vector as a binary value. The optimal code vector for the MBVQ can be derived by minimizing an error measure, defined as the weighted square-sum of the difference between original and synthesized spectral envelopes. From the performance evaluation, it is shown that the predictive-coded MBVQ with low order LP can obtain the effect of considerably high order LP-model. Additionally, the proposed method can be implemented with very low computational complexity in time and space.
Investigation of electric field distribution inside 500 kV power distribution substations

The high level electric field intensity produced by high voltage inside 500 kV power distribution substations is harmful for the human (staff) health. It is very important to have knowledge about levels distribution of electric field intensity within power distribution substation. The paper presents results of investigation 50Hz electric field intensity distribution inside 500 kV power transmission substations in Russian Federation. The measurements of electric field intensity were done inside of twenty six power distribution substations. On base of the measurements, the map of the electric field intensity distribution was build for each substation. These maps are used for planning service works or for inspection of equipment on power substations. In the paper, there are estimations, in percents, what value of substation territory is occupied by different levels of electric field intensities.
Window-accumulated subsequence matching problem is linear

Abstract Given two strings, text t of length n , and pattern p = p 1 …p k of length k , and given a natural number w , the subsequence matching problem consists in finding the number of size w windows of text t which contain pattern p as a subsequence, i.e. the letters p 1 ,…,p k occur in the window, in the same order as in p , but not necessarily consecutively (they may be interleaved with other letters). Subsequence matching is used for finding frequent patterns and association rules in databases. We generalize the Knuth–Morris–Pratt (KMP) pattern matching algorithm; we define a non-conventional kind of RAM, the MP-RAMs which model more closely the microprocessor operations; we design an O (n) on-line algorithm for solving the subsequence matching problem on MP-RAMs.
rRNA Operon Copy Number Reflects Ecological Strategies of Bacteria

ABSTRACT Although natural selection appears to favor the elimination of gene redundancy in prokaryotes, multiple copies of each rRNA-encoding gene are common on bacterial chromosomes. Despite this conspicuous deviation from single-copy genes, no phenotype has been consistently associated with rRNA gene copy number. We found that the number of rRNA genes correlates with the rate at which phylogenetically diverse bacteria respond to resource availability. Soil bacteria that formed colonies rapidly upon exposure to a nutritionally complex medium contained an average of 5.5 copies of the small subunit rRNA gene, whereas bacteria that responded slowly contained an average of 1.4 copies. In soil microcosms pulsed with the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), indigenous populations of 2,4-D-degrading bacteria with multiple rRNA genes (x¯ = 5.4) became dominant, whereas populations with fewer rRNA genes (x¯ = 2.7) were favored in unamended controls. These findings demonstrate phenotypic effects associated with rRNA gene copy number that are indicative of ecological strategies influencing the structure of natural microbial communities.
A Multi-Channel Quality Assessment Setup Applied to a Distributed Microphone Speech Enhancement SystemWith Spectral Boosting

For instrumental quality assessment of speech enhancement systems it is common to process the signal components such as speech and noise independently using the filter coefficients obtained from the combined noisy signal. Thus, specific quality measures can be computed. A specified signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be set for the noisy signal by rescaling and adding the signal components. In this contribution a setup for a multi-channel instrumental quality assessment of distributed microphone systems is presented, where each of multiple active speakers has a dedicated microphone. For speech active periods of the related speaker the desired SNR is explicitly set in his dedicated microphone by rescaling the signal level, whereas the other channels are adjusted accordingly. The proposed setup allows to create realistic noisy input signals for a speech enhancement system and to preserve the acoustic characteristics of the multi-channel microphone arrangement. Based on this structure a noise reduction approach is evaluated. It performs a selective combination of the multi-channel signals and a frequency selective boosting of speech active bins of the related active speaker as an extension to a recursive Wiener filtering.
Radial basis function aided space-time equalization in dispersive fading uplink environments

A novel radial basis function network (RBFN) assisted decision-feedback aided space-time equalizer (DF-STE) designed for receivers employing multiple antennas is proposed. The bit error rate (BER) performance of the RBFN aided DF-STE is evaluated when communicating over correlated Rayleigh fading channels, whose channel impulse response (CIR) is estimated using a Kalman filtering based channel estimator. The proposed receiver structure outperforms the linear minimum mean-squared error bench marker and it is less sensitive to both error propagation and channel estimation errors.
Aortic Root Size in Elite Athletes: When No Change Matters.

It is known that sport-specific remodeling of the heart may occur with exercise. Although some overlap exists, exercise activity can be segregated into 2 forms: isotonic exercise (endurance training) and isometric exercise (strength training), with defining hemodynamic differences. Increased cardiac output leads to a volume challenge that occurs with isotonic exercise that affects all 4 heart chambers and may cause an increase in left ventricular (LV) mass, biventricular chamber dilation, biatrial enlargement, and enhanced diastolic function.1 Conversely, isometric exercise (strength training) will increase the peripheral vascular resistance and cause a pressure load on the heart. This results in concentric LV hypertrophy and reduction in LV diastolic function. Although an athlete may have expertise in one particular sport, usually elite athletes train with combined isotonic and isometric components (weight training, plyometrics, speed drills, running, etc.) and may not fit into one specific category of training. See Article by Boraita et al There is limited data on the effect of exercise training on the aorta and whether aortic dilation occurs because of the hemodynamic effects of chronic exercise training. One could hypothesize that with isometric exercise, there is a transient increase in peripheral vascular resistance and systolic hypertension that leads to increased aortic wall tension and chronically may result in aortic dilation. A meta-analysis performed by Iskandar and Thompson2 showed minor enlargement associated with training in elite athletes at the level of the aortic valve annulus and the sinus of Valsalva compared with controls. …
A Major Facilitator Superfamily Transporter Plays a Dual Role in Polar Auxin Transport and Drought Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis[W]

Two plant isoforms, produced by alternative splicing, of a single membrane transporter from the large Major Facilitator Superfamily possess the same transport activity but distinct tissue and subcellular distribution, thereby allowing this transporter to fulfill two very different physiological functions in drought stress tolerance and root hormonal transport. Many key aspects of plant development are regulated by the polarized transport of the phytohormone auxin. Cellular auxin efflux, the rate-limiting step in this process, has been shown to rely on the coordinated action of PIN-formed (PIN) and B-type ATP binding cassette (ABCB) carriers. Here, we report that polar auxin transport in the Arabidopsis thaliana root also requires the action of a Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) transporter, Zinc-Induced Facilitator-Like 1 (ZIFL1). Sequencing, promoter-reporter, and fluorescent protein fusion experiments indicate that the full-length ZIFL1.1 protein and a truncated splice isoform, ZIFL1.3, localize to the tonoplast of root cells and the plasma membrane of leaf stomatal guard cells, respectively. Using reverse genetics, we show that the ZIFL1.1 transporter regulates various root auxin-related processes, while the ZIFL1.3 isoform mediates drought tolerance by regulating stomatal closure. Auxin transport and immunolocalization assays demonstrate that ZIFL1.1 indirectly modulates cellular auxin efflux during shootward auxin transport at the root tip, likely by regulating plasma membrane PIN2 abundance. Finally, heterologous expression in yeast revealed that ZIFL1.1 and ZIFL1.3 share H+-coupled K+ transport activity. Thus, by determining the subcellular and tissue distribution of two isoforms, alternative splicing dictates a dual function for the ZIFL1 transporter. We propose that this MFS carrier regulates stomatal movements and polar auxin transport by modulating potassium and proton fluxes in Arabidopsis cells.
Camera Calibration Using Lengths of Corresponding Line Segments

Camera calibration using patterns is widely used in computer vision and industry. The accuracy of calibration depends on the accuracy of the pattern. A high accuracy pattern is usually difficult to manufacture in labs. In this paper, we propose to use two images of two identical industrial objects as natural calibration patterns. The corresponding line segments on the objects are used for a nonlinear calibration method, and only five intrinsic parameters of the camera are optimized in the procedure. The experiments show that the proposed method is both effective and practical.
Regulatory effects of phospholamban on cardiac function in intact mice.

Phospholamban (PLB) regulates Ca2+- adenosinetriphosphatase activity in cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum and participates in the regulation of myocardial performance. Animal models with altered levels of PLB permit in vivo evaluation of the physiological role of PLB. This study examined left ventricular (LV) performance in intact PLB heterozygous and homozygous mice under basal and stimulated conditions. A Millar Mikro-Tip transducer was inserted into the right carotid artery and advanced into the LV for direct measurement of ventricular pressure and the first derivative of intraventricular pressure (dP/d t). Baseline blood pressures were increased in PLB heterozygotes and even more so in PLB homozygotes compared with wild types (WT), and there were no differences in heart rate or LV end-diastolic pressure. The increase in pressure was primarily caused by an increase in systolic pressure. Baseline values for positive and negative dP/d t were linearly correlated with PLB levels. In PLB heterozygotes, contractile response to isoproterenol (Iso) was blunted compared with WT, but maximum rates of contraction were similar between the two groups. Contractile performance in PLB homozygous mice, which under baseline conditions was similar to maximum levels seen in WT, showed a blunted response to Iso, and maximum rates of contraction were significantly greater than in either of the other groups, indicating an essential but perhaps not exclusive role for PLB in mediating the inotropic effects of β-adrenergic agonists. The effects of Iso on negative dP/d t were also blunted in both PLB heterozygous and PLB homozygous animals. Our results demonstrate that myocardial function is highly dependent on PLB level and suggest that the cardiovascular effects of PLB perturbations are largely uncompensated for in the intact mouse.
Random Walks and Levy Processes Conditioned Not to Overshoot

Let ξ1, ξ2, . be i.i. d. random variables with negative mean. Suppose that Eexp(λξ1) 0 and that there exists γ > 0 with Eexp(γξ1) = 1. It is known that if, in addition, E ξ1 exp(γξ1) < ∞, then the most likely way for the random walk Sk = Pk=1 ξi to reach a high level is to follow a straight line with a positive slope. We study the case where E ξ1 exp(γξ1) = ∞. Assuming that the distribution F(dx) = exp(γx)P(ξ1 ∈ dx) belongs to the domain of attraction of a spectrally positive stable law, we obtain a weak convergence limit theorem as r → ∞ for the conditional distribution of the process r −1 P ⌊t/F (r,∞)⌋ i=1 ξi, t ≥ 0 � stopped at the time when it reaches level 1 given that the latter event occurs. The limit is ′ ∞
Variable-Width Channel Allocation for Access Points: A Game-Theoretic Perspective

Channel allocation is a crucial concern in variable-width wireless local area networks. This work aims to obtain the stable and fair nonoverlapped variable-width channel allocation for selfish access points (APs). In the scenario of single collision domain, the channel allocation problem reduces to a channel-width allocation problem, which can be formulated as a noncooperative game. The Nash equilibrium (NE) of the game corresponds to a desired channel-width allocation. A distributed algorithm is developed to achieve the NE channel-width allocation that globally maximizes the network utility. A punishment-based cooperation self-enforcement mechanism is further proposed to ensure that the APs obey the proposed scheme. In the scenario of multiple collision domains, the channel allocation problem is formulated as a constrained game. Penalty functions are introduced to relax the constraints and the game is converted into a generalized ordinal potential game. Based on the best response and randomized escape, a distributed iterative algorithm is designed to achieve a desired NE channel allocation. Finally, computer simulations are conducted to validate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed schemes.