Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Stress-Responsive Gene Expression in Cultivated and Weedy Rice Differing in Cold Stress Tolerance

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars show impairment of growth in response to environmental stresses such as cold at the early seedling stage. Locally adapted weedy rice is able to survive under adverse environmental conditions, and can emerge in fields from greater soil depth. Cold-tolerant weedy rice can be a good genetic source for developing cold-tolerant, weed-competitive rice cultivars. An in-depth analysis is presented here of diverse indica and japonica rice genotypes, mostly weedy rice, for cold stress response to provide an understanding of different stress adaptive mechanisms towards improvement of the rice crop performance in the field. We have tested a collection of weedy rice genotypes to: 1) classify the subspecies (ssp.) grouping (japonica or indica) of 21 accessions; 2) evaluate their sensitivity to cold stress; and 3) analyze the expression of stress-responsive genes under cold stress and a combination of cold and depth stress. Seeds were germinated at 25°C at 1.5- and 10-cm sowing depth for 10d. Seedlings were then exposed to cold stress at 10°C for 6, 24 and 96h, and the expression of cold-, anoxia-, and submergence-inducible genes was analyzed. Control plants were seeded at 1.5cm depth and kept at 25°C. The analysis revealed that cold stress signaling in indica genotypes is more complex than that of japonica as it operates via both the CBF-dependent and CBF-independent pathways, implicated through induction of transcription factors including OsNAC2, OsMYB46 and OsF-BOX28. When plants were exposed to cold + sowing depth stress, a complex signaling network was induced that involved cross talk between stresses mediated by CBF-dependent and CBF-independent pathways to circumvent the detrimental effects of stresses. The experiments revealed the importance of the CBF regulon for tolerance to both stresses in japonica and indica ssp. The mechanisms for cold tolerance differed among weedy indica genotypes and also between weedy indica and cultivated japonica ssp. as indicated by the up/downregulation of various stress-responsive pathways identified from gene expression analysis. The cold-stress response is described in relation to the stress signaling pathways, showing complex adaptive mechanisms in different genotypes.
Comparison of the Nerve Conduction Parameters in Proximally and Distally Located Muscles Innervated by the Bundles of Median and Ulnar Nerves

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the conduction parameters of nerve bundles of median and ulnar nerves that innervate proximal and distal muscles. Subjects and Methods: Thirty male and 30 female healthy volunteers between 18 and 70 years of age were enrolled in the study. The conduction parameters were recorded from the proximally located flexor carpi ulnaris, pronator teres and the flexor carpi radialis muscles to the distally located abductor digiti minimi and abductor pollicis brevis muscles for the ulnar and median nerves. Each nerve was stimulated at the region above the elbow and at the axillary region separately. The Student t test was used for statistical analysis, and Levene's test was used to assess whether or not the group variances exhibited a uniform distribution. Results: The conduction velocities were faster (78.27 ± 6.55 vs. 67.83 ± 6.76 m/s, and 74.57 ± 5.66 and 74.23 ± 5.88 vs. 66.38 ± 6.85 m/s) and the durations of compound muscle action potential (CMAP) response were longer (15.65 ± 2.43 vs. 13.55 ± 1.78 ms, and 16.38 ± 2.39 and 16.04 ± 2.34 vs. 13.40 ± 1.79 ms) in proximally located muscles than in distally located muscles that are innervated either by ulnar or median nerves (p < 0.001). However, the CMAP amplitudes were smaller (2.52 ± 1.16 vs. 5.81 ± 3.13 mV, and 2.90 ± 1.20 and 3.59 ± 1.66 vs. 6.88 ± 2.77 mV) in proximal muscles than in distal muscles (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between males and females regarding conduction velocities and CMAP amplitudes recorded from proximal and distal muscles. Conclusion: Proximal muscles innervated by median or ulnar nerves had lower CMAP amplitude values, longer CMAP durations and higher conduction velocities than distal muscles. These findings could reveal a temporal dispersion and phase cancellation due to desynchronized conduction during nerve stimulation.
Assessment of Structural Connectivity in the Preterm Brain at Term Equivalent Age Using Diffusion MRI and T2 Relaxometry: A Network-Based Analysis

Preterm birth is associated with a high prevalence of adverse neurodevelopmental outcome. Non-invasive techniques which can probe the neural correlates underpinning these deficits are required. This can be achieved by measuring the structural network of connections within the preterm infant's brain using diffusion MRI and tractography. We used diffusion MRI and T2 relaxometry to identify connections with altered white matter properties in preterm infants compared to term infants. Diffusion and T2 data were obtained from 9 term neonates and 18 preterm-born infants (born <32 weeks gestational age) at term equivalent age. Probabilistic tractography incorporating multiple fibre orientations was used in combination with the Johns Hopkins neonatal brain atlas to calculate the structural network of connections. Connections of altered diffusivity or T2, as well as their relationship with gestational age at birth and postmenstrual age at the time of MRI, were identified using the network based statistic framework. A total of 433 connections were assessed. FA was significantly reduced in 17, and T2 significantly increased in 18 connections in preterm infants, following correction for multiple comparisons. Cortical networks associated with affected connections mainly involved left frontal and temporal cortical areas: regions which are associated with working memory, verbal comprehension and higher cognitive function – deficits which are often observed later in children and adults born preterm. Gestational age at birth correlated with T2, but not diffusion in several connections. We found no association between diffusion or T2 and postmenstrual age at the time of MRI in preterm infants. This study demonstrates that alterations in the structural network of connections can be identified in preterm infants at term equivalent age, and that incorporation of non-diffusion measures such as T2 in the connectome framework provides complementary information for the assessment of brain development.
Definitions of Successful Education for the ‘Looked After’ Child: a Multi‐agency Perspective

Nicola Coulling's study goes to the heart of the interagency relationship. Her purpose is to find out how those working across agency boundaries can be helped to develop a shared understanding of what counts as successful practice for each agency in relation to the education of ‘looked after’ children. Using Personal Construct Psychology as a tool to explore this, she finds that while there is consensus among the professional disciplines and children she interviewed, the resources and support required to ensure successful educational outcomes for ‘looked after’ children are inadequate.
Studies on a Grey Financial Alert Model of the Public Corporations Based on Degree of Grey Incidence

A“typical public corporation” was constructed by us according to its stylebook based on the assumption of the bankruptcy tendency of any corporations, then a Grey Financial Alert Model Of the Public Corporations Based on Degree of Grey Incidence was further presented, and its grade can estimate the currant financial risk of a public corporation and An example is employed to illustrate its application. Further the mode can be taken to keep away from financial risks before it befall down to the public corporation, lest the public corporations finance get worse.
Lectin‐binding patterns in the olfactory system of the lizard, Physignathus lesueurii

Lectin binding histochemistry was performed on the olfactory system of Physignathus lesueurii to investigate the distribution and density of defined carbohydrate terminals on the cell‐surface glycoproteins of the olfactory and vomeronasal receptor cells and their terminals in the olfactory bulbs. The lectin staining patterns indicate that the vomeronasal and olfactory receptor cells are characterized by glycoconjugates containing α‐D‐galactose and N‐acetyl‐D‐glucosamine terminal residues. The presence of specific glycoproteins, whose terminal sugars are detected by lectin binding, might be related to the chemoreception and transduction of the odorous message into a nervous signal or to the histogenesis and development of the olfactory system. The olfactory and vomeronasal receptor cells are vertebrate neurons that undergo a continual cycle of proliferation not only during development but also in mature animals. J. Morphol. 247:34–38, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
SU-8 GPON Diplexer Based On H-Line Lithography by Direct Laser Writer

In this letter, the design, fabrication, and characterization of an SU-8 GPON diplexer based on directional couplers are presented. The polymeric devices on SiO2/Si lower cladding substrate were directly written by introducing H-nu 470 photoinitiator, which provides substantial improvement in mechanical and thermal stability, reliability, and low loss, allowing flexible prototyping through H-line lithography at a 405-nm wavelength. Design of the filters and waveguide processing and fabrication are described, and the experimental results of the designed diplexer are shown.
New ALS Methods With Extrapolating Search Directions and Optimal Step Size for Complex-Valued Tensor Decompositions

In signal processing, data analysis and scientific computing, one often encounters the problem of decomposing a tensor into a sum of contributions. To solve such problems, both the search direction and the step size are two crucial elements in numerical algorithms, such as alternating least squares algorithm (ALS). Owing to the nonlinearity of the problem, the often used linear search direction is not always powerful enough. In this paper, we propose two higher-order search directions. The first one, geometric search direction, is constructed via a combination of two successive linear directions. The second one, algebraic search direction, is constructed via a quadratic approximation of three successive iterates. Then, in an enhanced line search along these directions, the optimal complex step size contains two arguments: modulus and phase. A current strategy is ELSCS that finds these two arguments alternately. So it may suffer from a local optimum. We broach a direct method, which determines these two arguments simultaneously, so as to obtain the global optimum. Finally, numerical comparisons on various search direction and step size schemes are reported in the context of blind separation-equalization of convolutive DS-CDMA mixtures. The results show that the new search directions have greatly improve the efficiency of ALS and the new step size strategy is competitive.
Speed sign detection and recognition by convolutional neural networks

From the desire to update the maximum road speed data for navigation devices, a speed sign recognition and detection system is proposed. This system should prevent accidental speeding at roads where the map data is incorrect for example due to construction work. Multiple examples of road sign classification systems already exist but none uses a fully trainable solution. This feature enables the "vendor" to easily add new speed signs by training with a set of examples instead of designing a new system. To meet the above requirements a fully trainable Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is used for the detection and recognition of speed signs. The system is trained with a labelled set of examples of speed sign images. Training of the total classification system is done off-line with the of error back-propagation algorithm. A trained system is used to collect new training data from road scene images to learn from previous errors, this technique is known as boosting. After the boosting step 0.19% of the images in our online available test set are misclassified. For the detection application the search window of the trained CNN is scaled to a 1280×720 HD image size to detect speed signs at multiple scales and positions in front of a vehicle. Because of the massive amount of parallelism in the computations of a CNN the algorithm is mapped to a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). The GPU implementation demonstrates the abilities of the recognition system on a low cost consumer platform with a real-time frame rate of 35 fps.
Location-Aided Fast Distributed Consensus in Wireless Networks

Existing works on distributed consensus explore linear iterations based on reversible Markov chains, which contribute to the slow convergence of the algorithms. It has been observed that by overcoming the diffusive behavior of reversible chains, certain nonreversible chains lifted from reversible ones mix substantially faster than the original chains. In this paper, the idea of Markov chain lifting is studied to accelerate the convergence of distributed consensus, and two general pseudoalgorithms are presented. These pseudoalgorithms are then instantiated through a class of location-aided distributed averaging (LADA) algorithms for wireless networks, where nodes' coarse location information is used to construct nonreversible chains that facilitate distributed computing and cooperative processing. Our first LADA algorithm is designed for grid networks; for a k × k grid network, it achieves an ε-averaging time of O(k log(ε-1)). Based on this algorithm, in a wireless network with transmission range r, an ε-averaging time of O(r-1 log(ε-1)) can be attained through a centralized algorithm. Subsequently, a distributed LADA algorithm is presented, achieving the same scaling law in averaging time as the centralized scheme in wireless networks for all r satisfying the connectivity requirement; the constructed chain also attains the optimal scaling law in terms of an important mixing metric, the fill time, in its class. Finally, a cluster-based LADA algorithm is proposed, which, requiring no central coordination, provides the additional benefit of reduced message complexity compared with the distributed LADA algorithm.
Impaired aerobic function in patients with cystic fibrosis during ramp exercise.

PURPOSE This study aimed to document the matching of muscle O2 delivery to O2 use in young patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) from muscle deoxygenation (HHb) dynamics during ramp exercise. METHODS Ten patients with stable, mild-to-moderate CF (12.7 ± 2.8 yr) and 10 healthy controls (CON, 12.8 ± 2.8 yr) completed a combined ramp and supramaximal cycling test to determine maximal O2 uptake (V˙O2max). Changes in gas exchange and ventilation, HR, and m. vastus lateralis HHb (near-infrared spectroscopy) were assessed. Δ[HHb]-work rate and Δ[HHb]-V˙O2 profiles were normalized and fit using a sigmoid function. RESULTS Aerobic function was impaired in CF, indicated by very likely reduced fat-free mass-normalized V˙O2max (mean difference, ±90% confidence interval: -7.9 mL·kg·min, ±6.1), very likely lower V˙O2 gain (-1.44 mL·min·W, ±1.12), and a likely slower V˙O2 mean response time (11 s, ±13). An unclear effect was found upon the absolute and relative work rate (-14 W, ±44, and -0.7% peak power output, ±12.0, respectively) and the absolute and percentage (-0.10 L·min, ±0.43, and 3.3% V˙O2max, ±6.0) V˙O2 corresponding to 50% Δ[HHb] amplitude, respectively, between groups. However, arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) was very likely lower in CF (-1%, ±1) and demonstrated moderate-to-very large relations with parameters of aerobic function. CONCLUSIONS Young patients with mild-to-moderate CF present with impaired aerobic function during ramp incremental cycling exercise. Because the rate of fractional O2 extraction during ramp cycling exercise was not altered by CF, yet SpO2 was lower, the present findings support the notion of centrally mediated oxygen delivery to principally limit the aerobic function of pediatric patients with CF during ramp incremental cycling exercise.
Distributed Joint Source and Channel Coding with Low-Density Parity-Check Codes

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes with the parity-based approach for distributed joint source channel coding (DJSCC) with decoder side information is described in this letter. The parity-based approach is theoretical limit achievable. Different edge degree distributions are used for source variable nodes and parity variable nodes. Particularly, the codeword-averaged density evolution (CADE) is presented for asymmetrically correlated nonuniform sources over the asymmetric memoryless transmission channel. Extensive simulations show that the splitting of variable nodes can improve the coding efficiency of suboptimal codes and lower the error floor.
User Profiling for Urban Computing: Enriching Social Network Trace Data

Location-Based Social Networks (LBSNs), with their huge amount of geo-located user generated content, are providing a lot of semantics on human mobility and behaviour as well as on users' interests and activities in cities. In this paper we propose an innovative approach to detect city zones and reveal city dynamics which exploits clustering techniques based on an original feature selection. We also present the results in LiveCities\footnote{Video available at http://vimeo.com/miccunifi/livecities}, a web application designed adopting new information visualisations paradigms in order to easily get cities' insights. Recommendation of city zones and venues close to user's interests, based on semi-automatic user profiling, is also provided exploiting semantic similarity algorithms. Results, validated by a case study on the city of Florence (Italy) through an online questionnaire filled out by residents, show that our feature performs better than traditional approaches.
Early life exposure to the 1918 influenza pandemic and old-age mortality by cause of death.

OBJECTIVES We sought to analyze how early exposure to the 1918 influenza pandemic is associated with old-age mortality by cause of death. METHODS We analyzed the National Health Interview Survey (n = 81,571; follow-up 1989-2006; 43,808 deaths) and used year and quarter of birth to assess timing of pandemic exposure. We used Cox proportional and Fine-Gray competing hazard models for all-cause and cause-specific mortality, respectively. RESULTS Cohorts born during pandemic peaks had excess all-cause mortality attributed to increased noncancer mortality. We found evidence for a trade-off between noncancer and cancer causes: cohorts with high noncancer mortality had low cancer mortality, and vice versa. CONCLUSIONS Early disease exposure increases old-age mortality through noncancer causes, which include respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and may trigger a trade-off in the risk of cancer and noncancer causes. Potential mechanisms include inflammation or apoptosis. The findings contribute to our understanding of the causes of death behind the early disease exposure-later mortality association. The cancer-noncancer trade-off is potentially important for understanding the mechanisms behind these associations.
Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Sensation Seeking-Impulsivity and Substance Use in Adolescents

ABSTRACT This study examined the moderating effect of gender on the predictive relationships between a measure of sensation seeking and impulsivity and four adolescent substance use outcomes (monthly alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use and number of times drunk). Four hundred twenty Canadian secondary school students participated in the current study. A series of moderated hierarchical multiple regression analyses was used to examine relationships among study variables. Main-effect relationships were consistently found for sensation seeking-impulsivity with each outcome, but not for gender. However, gender was found to moderate the relationship between sensation seeking-impulsivity and alcohol use, suggesting that these relationships are more complex than previous literature suggests. Future implications are discussed in light of these results.
Perfusion in the Tissue Surrounding Pancreatic Cancer and the Patient's Prognosis

Objective. The objective was to investigate the relationship between prognosis in case of pancreatic cancer and perfusion in tissue surrounding pancreatic cancer using perfusion CT. Methods. We enrolled 17 patients diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic adenocarcinoma. All patients were examined by perfusion CT and then underwent chemotherapy using gemcitabine. The time density curve (TDC) of each CT pixel was analyzed to calculate area under the curve (AUC) and blood flow (BF) using a mathematical algorithm based on the single-compartment model. To measure the AUC and BF of tumor (AUCT and BFT) and peritumoral tissue (AUCPTT and BFPTT), regions of interest were manually placed on the cancer and in pancreatic tissue within 10 mm of proximal pancreatic parenchyma. Survival days from the date of perfusion CT were recorded. Correlation between AUC or BF and survival days was assessed. Results. We found a significant correlation between AUCPTT or BFPTT and survival days (P = 0.04 or 0.0005). Higher AUCPTT or BFPTT values were associated with shorter survival. We found no significant correlation between AUCT or BFT and survival. Conclusions. Our results suggest that assessments of perfusion in pancreatic tissue within 10 mm of proximal pancreatic parenchyma may be useful in predicting prognosis.
Can Function Points be Mapped to Object Points?

Object points is a new software size metric that has emerged to cope with recent developments in software engineering, and to overcome the deficiencies of the traditional lines of code and function points size metrics. Moreover, object points has been utilized as the basis for several software cost estimation models with promising improvements in the accuracy of estimates. However, the infancy of the object points size metric means that there is a shortage of object points based software historical projects, on which to base the empirical validation of the new object points based software cost estimation models. Hence, the relationship between the extensively used function points and newly invented object points size metrics have been conceptualized and utilized in a novel forward approach to convert the function points projects data into their equivalent object points data. Empirical investigations of 66 function points projects have shown high correlation and significance, 88% and 0.33, respectively, between the resulting object points effort estimates and the actual function points effort. Furthermore, the resulting object points data have been utilized to model the embodied function points-object points relationship in two specialized productivity factors and function points type dependent linear models. The resulting models have shown high fitness, R, values of 0.95, for both models.
Instability of Gravity Driven Flow of Liquid Crystal Films

This paper discusses modeling of spreading nematic liquid crystal films. We concentrate on gravity driven spreading and consider various instabilities which occur during the spreading. We find that nematic character of the spreading film leads to stronger instabilities of the film fronts, and that it also leads to surface instabilities. We also present results of physical experiments involving spreading nematic films and find good agreement with the theoretical and computational predictions.