Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CCAJS: A Novel Connect Coverage Algorithm Based on Joint Sensing Model for Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper discusses how to effectively guarantee the coverage and connectivity quality of wireless sensor networks when joint perception model is used for the nodes whose communication ranges are multi-level adjustable in the absence of position information. A Connect Coverage Algorithm Based on Joint Sensing model (CCAJS) is proposed, with which least working nodes are chosen based on probability model ensuring the coverage quality of the network. The algorithm can balance the position distribution of selected working nodes as far as possible, as well as reduce the overall energy consumption of the whole network. The simulation results show that, less working nodes are needed to ensure the coverage quality of networks using joint perception model than using the binary perception model. CCAJS can not only satisfy expected coverage quality and connectivity, but also decrease the energy consumption, thereby prolonging the network lifetime.
Targeting the Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid Type 1 (TRPV1) Assembly Domain Attenuates Inflammation-induced Hypersensitivity*

Background: Assembly of TRPV1 subunits forms functional channels that transduce noxious stimuli. Results: We identified a region of the TRPV1 C terminus that mediates subunit assembly and used a disrupting peptide to block association. Conclusion: A short C-terminal motif enables subunit association. Disrupting assembly of TRPV1 subunits attenuates inflammatory hyperalgesia. Significance: TRPV1 subunit association could be targeted for pain relief. The transient receptor potential channel vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) is a non-selective cation channel expressed in sensory neurons of the dorsal root and trigeminal ganglia. TRPV1 is a polymodal channel activated by noxious heat, capsaicin, and protons. As a sensor for noxious stimuli, TRPV1 channel has been described as a key contributor to pain signaling. To form a functional channel, TRPV1 subunits must assemble into tetramers, and several studies have identified the TRPV1 C terminus as an essential element in subunit association. Here we combined biochemical assays with electrophysiology and imaging-based bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) and bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) in live cells to identify a short motif in the C-terminal tail of the TRPV1 subunit that governs channel assembly. Removing this region through early truncation or targeted deletion results in loss of subunit association and channel function. Importantly, we found that interfering with TRPV1 subunit association using a plasma membrane-tethered peptide attenuated mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity in two mouse models of inflammatory hyperalgesia. This represents a novel mechanism to disrupt TRPV1 subunit assembly and hence may offer a new analgesic tool for pain relief.
Reduction of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells and Induction of M1 Macrophages Facilitate the Rejection of Established Metastatic Disease1

More than 60% of STAT6−/− mice immunologically reject spontaneous metastatic mammary carcinoma and survive indefinitely if their primary tumors are removed, whereas 95% of STAT6-competent BALB/c mice succumb to metastatic disease. BALB/c and STAT6-deficient mice with primary tumors have elevated levels of Gr1+CD11b+ myeloid suppressor cells (MSCs), which inhibit T cell activation. After removal of primary tumor, MSC levels revert to baseline in STAT6-deficient mice, but remain elevated in BALB/c mice. The decrease is IFN-γ dependent, as is the reduction in metastatic disease. Neither BALB/c nor STAT6-deficient MSCs produce inducible NO synthase; however, both produce arginase and reactive oxygen species. STAT6-deficient mice produce M1 macrophages, which contain high levels of NO and are tumoricidal, whereas BALB/c mice produce M2 macrophages, which make arginase and are not tumoricidal. Immunity in STAT6-deficient mice requires the activation of NO-producing M1 macrophages that are tumoricidal, the reduction in MSC levels to baseline after surgical removal of primary tumor, and the activation of tumor-specific T cells. These mechanisms occur in STAT6−/− mice because STAT6 deficiency prevents signaling through the type 2 IL-4Rα, thereby blocking the production of arginase and promoting the synthesis of NO.
Deterministic global optimization for FNN training

This paper addresses the issue of training feedforward neural networks by global optimization. The main contributions include characterization of global optimality of a network error function, and formulation of a global descent algorithm to solve the network training problem. A network with a single hidden-layer and a single-output unit is considered. By means of a monotonic transformation, a sufficient condition for global optimality of a network error function is presented. Based on this, a penalty-based algorithm is derived directing the search towards possible regions containing the global minima. Numerical comparison with benchmark problems from the neural network literature shows superiority of the proposed algorithm over some local methods, in terms of the percentage of trials attaining the desired solutions. The algorithm is also shown to be effective for several pattern recognition problems.
Evidence That the β-Isoform of the Human Glucocorticoid Receptor Does Not Act as a Physiologically Significant Repressor*

Alternative splicing of the human glucocorticoid receptor (hGR) primary transcript generates two receptor isoforms, hGRα and hGRβ, with different carboxyl termini diverging at amino acid 727. By reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reactions it was previously demonstrated that the hGRβ message had a widespread tissue distribution. To demonstrate the presence of hGRβ as protein we produced specific rabbit antisera to hGRβ, as well as a hGRβ-specific mouse monoclonal IgM antibody, by peptide immunizations. By SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western immunoblotting we showed that hGRβ is endogenously expressed at the protein level in HeLa cells and human lymphatic leukemia cells. Using an antibody directed against an epitope shared by both isoforms we showed a relatively lower expression of the hGRβ form. We also showed that hGRβ bound to hsp90 by immunoprecipitation of in vitro translated hGRβ in reticulocyte lysate with hsp90-specific antibodies, a coprecipitation occurring also in the presence of dexamethasone. We could not demonstrate that hGRβ inhibited the effects of dexamethasone-activated hGRα on a glucocorticoid-responsive reporter gene. In conclusion, low hGRβ expression levels and hGRβ-hsp90 interaction maintained in the presence of ligand and lack of inhibition of hormone-activated hGRα effects challenge the concept of the hGRβ isoform as a proposed dominant negative inhibitor of hGRα activity.
The sliding model-following control for semi-active MR-vehicle suspension

In this paper, a robust strategy utilized the sliding model-following control scheme is proposed for controlling the semi-active suspension system. Based upon a two-degree of freedom magneto-rheological (MR) quarter-vehicle model, in view of variations in the vehicle load, a modified skyhook-based reference model is used to force the tracking error dynamics between the reference model and the plant in an asymptotically stable sliding model and a rate exponent approach is employed to reach the sliding surface quickly. The responses of the vehicle in time and frequency domain are studied and enhanced robustness for the variations in operating load, and improved performance of the vehicle suspension are thoroughly investigated.
Quantification of transmission risk in a male patient with a FLNB mosaic mutation causing Larsen syndrome: Implications for genetic counseling in postzygotic mosaicism cases

We report the case of a male patient with Larsen syndrome found to be mosaic for a novel point mutation in FLNB in whom it was possible to provide evidence‐based personalized counseling on transmission risk to future offspring. Using dideoxy sequencing, a low‐level FLNB c.698A>G, encoding p.(Tyr233Cys) mutation was detected in buccal mucosa and fibroblast DNA. Mutation quantification was performed by deep next‐generation sequencing (NGS) of DNA extracted from three somatic tissues (blood, fibroblasts, saliva) and a sperm sample. The mutation was detectable in all tissues tested, at levels ranging from 7% to 10% (mutation present in ∼20% of diploid somatic cells and 7% of haploid sperm), demonstrating the involvement of both somatic and gonadal lineages in this patient. This report illustrates the clinical utility of performing targeted NGS analysis on sperm from males with a mosaic condition in order to provide personalized transmission risk and offer evidence‐based counseling on reproductive safety.
Psychiatric Labelling, Sex Role Stereotypes and Beliefs About the Mentally Ill

This study aimed to investigate the effect of two main variables on specific attitudes and beliefs about mental illness. The first variable tested the labelling theory proposal that the label of mental illness per se is stigmatizing for those so labelled. The second tested the proposal of Rosenfield (1982) that males and females receive a more severe societal reaction for deviance when the deviant behaviour is inconsistent with traditional sex role norms. Questionnaires with vignettes describ ing four behaviour types were given to young adult respondents. The expected effect of a psychiatric diagnosis and of deviance from sex role stereotypes were not confirmed. It was concluded that while several variables combine to influence specific attitudes and beliefs about the mentally ill, the type of behaviour displayed is the crucial factor.
Effect of Industrial Effluent on the Surrrounding Environment

Industrial activities contribute a lot of toxic wastes to the environment in general, hence this study was carried out to investigate the effect of industrial effluent on the neigbouring surrounding. Nickel, Copper, Cadmium, Zinc, Iron, Lead, Manganese, Cobalt and Chromium in the industrial effluents collected at two different points from a vegetable oil processing industry was investigated via AAS analysis. The pollution level of a vegetable oil processing industrial effluent was analyzed and compared with national and international standard for maximum permissible effluent quality limit. The untreated effluent was analysed by considering its physicochemical parameters in the effluent sample using standard methods by American Public Health Association (APHA). It was observed that the values for pH , oil and grease, lead, Cadmium and iron exceeded the permissible limit of FEPA now Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigeria.
Simulation of a tractor-implement model under the influence of lateral disturbances

This work presents the derivation of a comprehensive mathematical model for an off-road vehicle such as an agricultural tractor that drags behind it a heavy implement. The models are being developed with the aim of designing robust controllers that will enable the high precision control of the implement's trajectory. The developed model is subjected to real conditions, such as ground undulation and uncertainty, sloping terrain, tyre slippage, and constrained steering of the tractor. The implement is assumed to possess independently steered wheels for aiding in implement alignment. A complete model is presented and simulated under varying conditions. Primarily this work demonstrates and validates the trailed vehicle system behavior when the trailing implement is subjected to large drag forces due to ground engagement and the significantly large lateral disturbances that occur in real life broad acre farming conditions.
[Pharmacokinetics of clofibrate in jaundiced newborn infants at term].

BACKGROUND Clofibrate (CFB) has been proposed to increase elimination of bilirubin in neonates with hyperbilirubinemia. Nevertheless, its disposition, at this age, remains unknown. The aim of this work was to characterize pharmacokinetics of an oil formulation of CFB in neonates at term with jaundice. PATIENTS AND METHODS Two groups (G1 and G2) of eight neonates, presenting with jaundice, entered an open, non randomized and comparative study. Five blood samples were collected over 50 hours following a single oral administration of 100 mg/kg or 50 mg/kg CFB, respectively, in G1 and G2. Serum concentrations of both CFB and clofibric acid (CFA) were measured by HPLC and the pharmacokinetic analysis was made by a non-compartmental method. Data were compared to those obtained in adults receiving 2 g dose of CFB. RESULTS Tolerance to the treatment was excellent. Pharmacokinetic profiles were similar in both groups of infants. There was a slow and prolonged formation of CFA whose serum concentrations remained high 50 hours after drug administration. Non-hydrolyzed CFB was found in the blood of three neonates. Elimination of CFA was prolonged corresponding to a terminal half-life (t1/2m) often above 100 hours and sometimes incalculable. MRTo-->50 (h) was similar in both groups (ie 26.2 +/- 2.0 vs 25.5 +/- 1.3, respectively). The decrease of t1/2m was related to the decrease of the clearance of CFA. CONCLUSIONS The decrease in CFB's metabolism in newborns is probably the result of at least two concurrent phenomenons: partial hydrolysis of CFA, especially at high doses, and decrease in the hepatic capacity to conjugate the active metabolite. A single oral administration of 50 mg/kg CFB seems to be a suitable schedule.
A new approach to JBIG2 binary image compression

The JBIG2 binary image encoder dramatically improves compression ratios over previous encoders. The effectiveness of JBIG2 is largely due to its use of pattern matching techniques and symbol dictionaries for the representation of text. While dictionary design is critical to achieving high compression ratios, little research has been done in the optimization of dictionaries across stripes and pages. In this paper we propose a novel dynamic dictionary design that substantially improves JBIG2 compression ratios, particularly for multi-page documents. This dynamic dictionary updating scheme uses caching algorithms to more effciently manage the symbol dictionary memory. Results show that the new dynamic symbol caching technique outperforms the best previous dictionary construction schemes by between 13% and 46% for lossy compression when encoding multi-page documents. In addition, we propose a fast and low-complexity pattern matching algorithm that is robust to substitution errors and achieves high compression ratios.
Contribution à l'étude des effets d'un programme d'activités physiques adaptées durant la grossesse chez la femme

La grossesse chez la femme peut avoir des repercussions sur la sante physique (SP), la qualite de la vie (QV), et conduire a certaines limitations lors des activites de la vie quotidiennes (AVQ). Dans un premier temps, nous confirmons la frequence assez elevee des douleurs chez la femme sedentaire durant la grossesse. Ces douleurs sont associees a une diminution de la QV et de la SP conduisant a des effets defavorables voire risques sur la realisation de certaines AVQ telle que la traversee d’une rue. En post-partum (PP), ces douleurs ont perdure avec toujours un effet negatif sur la QV et la SP. Dans un deuxieme temps, nous abordons l’association entre les douleurs et un changement de la motricite sportive en PP. Ces effets negatifs de la grossesse menacent la vie sportive de la femme restee sedentaire durant la grossesse. Ainsi, elle ne realise plus le geste du coup droit au tennis, utilise comme paradigme, de la meme maniere. Dans un troisieme temps, nous proposons un programme de renforcement musculaire centre sur le tronc pour contribuer a contrecarrer les effets negatifs. Les effets de ce programme semblent prometteurs et globalement plus importants que ceux des autres programmes de la litterature. Les femmes actives durant la grossesse ont une intensite nettement plus faible de douleurs, leur permettant de preserver une meilleure SP et une meilleur QV, conduisant a plus de facilite et moins de prise de risque lors de cette meme tâche de traversee de rue. Le maintien de l’effet de notre programme est egalement mise en evidence en PP avec toujours une intensite des douleurs plus faible et une bonne QV et SP. Le geste technique de tennis (coup droit) en PP montre que les femmes sportives et actives durant la grossesse realisent ce geste, de la meme maniere que sans grossesse. Enfin, nous avons montre que les effets de la grossesse sont peu differents chez les femmes sportives ou non lorsqu’il s’agit d’une grossesse sedentaire. De meme, les effets de notre programme, durant la grossesse, sont globalement similaires sur des femmes deja sportives ou non.
The Viterbi algorithm at different resolutions for enhanced iris segmentation

We propose in this paper a novel method for iris segmentation. In order to retrieve iris contours, the Viterbi algorithm is applied on the gradient map of images processed by Anisotropic Smoothing. The Viterbi algorithm is exploited at two resolutions: at a high resolution, it allows finding precise contours, while at a low resolution, coarse contours that improve the accuracy of normalization circles are retrieved. We tested the method on several databases (ICE 2005, NDIRIS-0405, Casia-V3-Interval). Our extensive experiments on such databases lead to performance at the state of the art, while the proposed method does not require a refined parameter adaptation to the various degradations encountered.
Giant Raman enhancement on nanoporous gold film by conjugating with nanoparticles for single-molecule detection

Hot spots have the contradictively geometrical requirements for both the narrowest interstices to provide strong near-field coupling, and sufficient space to allow entrance of the analytes. Herein, a two-step method is employed to create hot spots within hybrid nanostructures, which consist of self-supported nanoporous gold films with the absorbed probes and subsequent nanoparticle conjugates without surface agents or mechanical motion. The molecules confined into 1 nm interstice exhibit 2.9 × 107 times enhancement in Raman scattering compared to pure nanoporous gold. Giant enhancement primarily results from strong near-field coupling between nanopore and nanoparticle, which is theoretically confirmed by finite-difference time-domain simulation. Excellent detection limits toward 10−11 mol l−1 offer an opportunity to track spatial orientation of single molecule and engineer hybrid nanostructures as commercial SERS substrates.
A VERSATILE PAPER /PDMS HYBRID MICROFLUIDIC BIOCHIP FOR LOW-COST GLOBAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES DIAGNOSIS

We report a versatile and cost-effective paper/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) hybrid microfluidic device integrated with loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) for the rapid, sensitive and instrument-free detection of the main meningitis-causing bacteria, Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis). This hybrid system offers versatile functions, by providing not only on-site qualitative diagnostic analysis (i.e. a yes or no answer), but also confirmatory testing in clinical laboratory settings. We have achieved instrument-free direct pathogen detection without laborious sample preparation process or the use of centrifuges. The limit of detection of N. meningitidis is about 3 copies per LAMP zone within 45 minutes. This versatile paper/PDMS microfluidic platform has great potential for the point of care (POC) diagnosis of a wide range of infectious diseases, especially for developing countries.
DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA DE Peronospora sparsa (PERONOSPORACEAE) EN CULTIVOS DE ROSA DE COLOMBIA

El mildeo velloso de la rosa es la enfermedad mas limitante de este cultivo en Colombia. Aunque algunos trabajos de investigacion se han adelantado recientemente sobre la epidemiologia de esta enfermedad, uno de los campos menos estudiados es el nivel de variabilidad de su agente causal. El conocimiento de este aspecto es fundamental para definir las estrategias de manejo, especialmente aquellas relacionadas con la resistencia genetica y el control quimico. Los objetivos de esta investigacion fueron confirmar la identidad taxonomica del agente causal del mildeo velloso de la rosa y profundizar en el conocimiento de su estructura poblacional en Colombia. Para esto se colectaron 34 aislamientos del pseudohongo en cultivos de rosas ubicados en Antioquia y la sabana de Bogota y se extrajo su ADN, para proceder a la amplificacion mediante PCR de la region ITS del ADNr utilizando los primers especieespecificos PS3 y PS1. Dichos productos se emplearon tanto para su secuenciacion directa como para la evaluacion de variabilidad genetica mediante la tecnica PCRRFLP, resultados que se complementaron con la utilizacion de los marcadores RAPD y RAMS. La presencia de un amplicon de aproximadamente 700 pb que compartio un porcentaje de identidad del 100% con secuencias depositadas en el GenBank, permitio confirmar a los aislamientos como pertenecientes a Peronospora sparsa , mientras que el analisis de RFLP, RAPD y RAMS indico un muy bajo nivel de variabilidad entre todos los aislamientos, concluyendose que la poblacion de P. sparsa en Colombia es predominantemente clonal
The role of education in equity portfolios during the recent financial crisis

Using a panel of 38 economies, over the period 2001 to 2010, we analyse the link between diversification in equity portfolios and different facets of education. We find that traditionally used measures of education play an important role in reducing equity home bias. After separating countries according to their level of financial development, we find that less developed economies tend to benefit more from an improvement in the level of education compared to their more developed counterparts. We also find that the beneficial effect of education is more pronounced during the most recent financial crisis, especially for economies with less developed financial markets.
Fostering Business Model Extensions for ICT-Enabled Human-Centered Service Systems

When improving human-centered service systems (HCSSs) with information and communications technology (ICT), financial aspects are important but challenging for companies with established business models (BMs). The use of ICT and changes in value creation reflect business needs, but commercial success requires modifications and extensions of the BMs. However, prevailing approaches do not take account of these requirements. In this paper, we present a BM design process that fosters the extension of BMs for ICT-enabled HCSSs to support service innovations. Using an action research project in the field of volunteering, we iterated and revised the BM design process in a project collaboration with three end-user companies having similar objectives. The process guides those responsible for service innovation in structuring, analyzing, and the decision-making of alternative BM extensions. Thus, the presented approach contributes to ICT-related service innovation projects by describing systematic and repeatable activities that are the first step for commercial success.