Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phosphatase and tensin homologue/protein kinase B pathway linked to motor neuron survival in human superoxide dismutase 1-related amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Gene expression profiling has been used previously with spinal cord homogenates and laser capture microdissected motor neurons to determine the mechanisms involved in neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. However, while cellular and animal model work has focused on superoxide dismutase 1-related amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the transcriptional profile of human mutant superoxide dismutase 1 motor neurons has remained undiscovered. The aim of this study was to apply gene expression profiling to laser captured motor neurons from human superoxide dismutase 1-related amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and neurologically normal control cases, in order to determine those pathways dysregulated in human superoxide dismutase 1-related neurodegeneration and to establish potential pathways suitable for therapeutic intervention. Identified targets were then validated in cultured cell models using lentiviral vectors to manipulate the expression of key genes. Microarray analysis identified 1170 differentially expressed genes in spinal cord motor neurons from superoxide dismutase 1-related amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, compared with controls. These genes encoded for proteins in multiple functional categories, including those involved in cell survival and cell death. Further analysis determined that multiple genes involved in the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase signalling cascade were differentially expressed in motor neurons that survived the disease process. Functional experiments in cultured cells and primary motor neurons demonstrate that manipulating this pathway by reducing the expression of a single upstream target, the negative phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase regulator phosphatase and tensin homology, promotes a marked pro-survival effect. Therefore, these data indicate that proteins in the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase pathway could represent a target for therapeutic manipulation in motor neuron degeneration.
CURRENT LOADS OF COARSE WOODY DEBRIS ON SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIAN FLOODPLAINS

We evaluated the status of coarse woody debris (CWD, fallen wood) on floodplains of the southern Murray-Darling basin of southeastern Australia. The floodplains are dominated floristically by the River Red Gum Eucalyptus camaldulensis. Aerial-survey techniques were used to estimate the amounts of woody debris within 200 m of the channels along 2442 km of eleven rivers of the system, including the Murray and Darling rivers and the Darling Anabranch. Aerially based indices were converted into wood volumes by using ground-truthing at a selection of sites; there was a strong correlation between index values and measured wood-volume densities. For thickly forested sites such as Barmah, Gunbower Island, the Ovens floodplains, etc., the aerial method was not useful, so ground measurements at randomly positioned sites within the forests were used. Volumes were translated into mass by using conversion factors drawn from the literature. We estimated that total tonnage on ca 221,000 ha of floodplain forests was 4.175 ± 0.579 × 10 6 tonne. In the larger forested blocks (> 7000 ha), mean wood densities ranged between ca 12 tonne/ha on the lower Goulburn up to ca 24 tonne/ha at Barmah State Forest. The area-weighted mean for the entire area was ca 19 tonne/ha. A main purpose of the research was to place these figures into an historical perspective to evaluate implications for restoration. A thorough search of historical documentation revealed that there are no extant data upon which to estimate pre-European-settlement levels. We used information from an apparently undisturbed, 'unmanaged' site in the Millewa forests of southern New South Wales as a basis. Wood density there corresponded to a mean figure of 125 tonne/ha wood-mass density. By using this figure, we estimate that CWD levels on the southern Murray-Darling basin may be of the order of 15% of pre-European-settlement levels. Full restoration of the 221,000 ha surveyed would require 23.5 ± 0.579 × 10 6 tonne, which is equivalent to about 600,000 mature (1 m DBH) River Red Gum trees or the amount of timber derived from clear-felling about 115,000 ha of River Red Gum forest at current stocking levels. We discuss the implications of this massive deficit and possible short-and long-term solutions.
Wi-fi walkman: a wireless handheld that shares and recommends music on peer-to-peer networks

The Wi-Fi walkman is a mobile multimedia application that we developed to investigate the technological and usability aspects of human-computer interaction with personalized, intelligent and context-aware wearable devices in peer-to-peer wireless environments such as the future home, office, or university campuses. It is a small handheld device with a wireless link that contains music content. Users carry their own walkman around and listen to music. All this music content is distributed in the peer-to-peer network and is shared using ad-hoc networking. The walkman naturally interacts with the users and users’ interest with each other in a peer-to-peer environment. Without annoying interactions, it can learn the users’ music interest/taste and consequently provide personalized music recommendation according to the current situated context and user’s interest.
Understanding transition performance during offshore IT outsourcing

Purpose – Within an IT outsourcing relationship, transition represents a critical and complex phase that starts immediately after contract signing. Transition involves handing over outsourced activities from client firm to service provider firm and accompanies a new way of operating. The purpose of this paper is to determine and detail factors influencing the performance of transition phase within global IT outsourcing relationships.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the authors present a framework for transition performance that includes four factors: transition planning, knowledge transfer, transition governance and retained organization. This framework is tested and enriched by utilizing a single, in‐depth case study involving over 25 interviews with a global offshore IT outsourcing engagement.Findings – It was found that knowledge transfer and transition governance are more critical factors than transition planning and retained organization for transition performance. This was due mainly to .
MEASURING HEALTH AND WELLNESS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Years of research focused on the physical and mental well-being of college students to promote retention. In 2013, international students numbered 819,644 and contributed $27 billion to the United States economy (Le, LaCost, & Wismer, 2016). International students are a valuable resource to the United States because they enhance the cultural diversity of the nation, bring creativity and innovation to institutions, and contribute greatly to the economy (Leong, 2015). Many studies have shown that international students report lower quality of life than domestic students (Chai, Shepherd, & Billington, 2010); however, there is no existing assessment to assess the health and wellness needs of this specific population. The purpose of this study was to administer and create a robust psychometric measure to identify factors to address the needs of international students in the areas of health and well-being. The hypothesis of this study predicted the factor analysis of responses to the Health and Wellness Assessment of International Students (HWAIS) will yield two factors: stress and quality of life. The hypothesis was partially supported. Three actual factors were extracted but two factors could be termed into two groups of stressors. In conclusion, the results support that the HWAIS will yield three factors: Quality of Life, Campus Stressors, and Personal Stressors. Using this survey, international students can be screened to see which factors need campus intervention to improve quality of life and decrease stressors.
A convex optimization method for autonomous self-organization in dynamic wireless networks

In our attempts to model, characterize and control increasingly complex network systems we introduced a novel physics framework in which communication networks are modeled as physical systems that react to local forces exerted on network nodes. We showed that under clear atmosphere conditions the network communication energy can be modeled as the potential energy of an analogous spring system, which led to the development of distributed mobility control algorithms where nodes react to local forces exerted by neighbor nodes driving the network to energy minimizing configurations. This paper extends our previous work by including the effects of atmospheric attenuation in the channel. We show how our new formulation still results in a convex energy minimization problem. Accordingly, an updated force-driven mobility control algorithm is presented. Exponential forces are shown to appear on backbone nodes when atmospheric attenuation is present, which make them stay closer to each other to optimize backbone connectivity and reduce the network power usage. We present results in terms of power usage, network coverage and backbone connectivity and show how our updated mobility control algorithm allows the network to react to the effects of changing channel conditions.
Evaluating Auto-scaling Strategies for Cloud Computing Environments

Auto-scaling is a key feature in clouds responsible for adjusting the number of available resources to meet service demand. Resource pool modifications are necessary to keep performance indicators, such as utilisation level, between user-defined lower and upper bounds. Auto-scaling strategies that are not properly configured according to user workload characteristics may lead to unacceptable QoS and large resource waste. As a consequence, there is a need for a deeper understanding of auto-scaling strategies and how they should be configured to minimise these problems. In this work, we evaluate various auto-scaling strategies using log traces from a production Google data centre cluster comprising millions of jobs. Using utilisation level as performance indicator, our results show that proper management of auto-scaling parameters reduces the difference between the target utilisation interval and the actual values-we define such difference as Auto-scaling Demand Index. We also present a set of lessons from this study to help cloud providers build recommender systems for auto-scaling operations.
Evaluation of a preliminary satellite-based landslide hazard algorithm using global landslide inventories

Abstract. Most landslide hazard assessment algorithms in common use are applied to small regions, where high-resolution, in situ, observables are available. A preliminary global landslide hazard algorithm has been developed to estimate areas of potential landslide occurrence in near real-time by combining a calculation of landslide susceptibility with satellite derived rainfall estimates to forecast areas with increased potential for landslide conditions. This paper presents a stochastic methodology to compare this new, landslide hazard algorithm for rainfall-triggered landslides with a newly available inventory of global landslide events, in order to determine the predictive skill and limitations of such a global estimation technique. Additionally, we test the sensitivity of the global algorithm to its input observables, including precipitation, topography, land cover and soil variables. Our analysis indicates that the current algorithm is limited by issues related to both the surface-based susceptibility map and the temporal resolution of rainfall information, but shows skill in determining general geographic and seasonal distributions of landslides. We find that the global susceptibility model has inadequate performance in certain locations, due to improper weighting of surface observables in the susceptibility map. This suggests that the relative contributions of topographic slope and soil conditions to landslide susceptibility must be considered regionally. The current, initial forecast system, although showing some overall skill, must be improved considerably if it is to be used for hazard warning or detailed studies. Surface and remote sensing observations at higher spatial resolution, together with improved landslide event catalogues, are required if global landslide hazard forecasts are to become an operational reality.
The Complexity of Vesicle Transport Factors in Plants Examined by Orthology Search

Vesicle transport is a central process to ensure protein and lipid distribution in eukaryotic cells. The current knowledge on the molecular components and mechanisms of this process is majorly based on studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis thaliana, which revealed 240 different proteinaceous factors either experimentally proven or predicted to be involved in vesicle transport. In here, we performed an orthologue search using two different algorithms to identify the components of the secretory pathway in yeast and 14 plant genomes by using the ‘core-set’ of 240 factors as bait. We identified 4021 orthologues and (co-)orthologues in the discussed plant species accounting for components of COP-II, COP-I, Clathrin Coated Vesicles, Retromers and ESCRTs, Rab GTPases, Tethering factors and SNAREs. In plants, we observed a significantly higher number of (co-)orthologues than yeast, while only 8 tethering factors from yeast seem to be absent in the analyzed plant genomes. To link the identified (co-)orthologues to vesicle transport, the domain architecture of the proteins from yeast, genetic model plant A. thaliana and agriculturally relevant crop Solanum lycopersicum has been inspected. For the orthologous groups containing (co-)orthologues from yeast, A. thaliana and S. lycopersicum, we observed the same domain architecture for 79% (416/527) of the (co-)orthologues, which documents a very high conservation of this process. Further, publically available tissue-specific expression profiles for a subset of (co-)orthologues found in A. thaliana and S. lycopersicum suggest that some (co-)orthologues are involved in tissue-specific functions. Inspection of localization of the (co-)orthologues based on available proteome data or localization predictions lead to the assignment of plastid- as well as mitochondrial localized (co-)orthologues of vesicle transport factors and the relevance of this is discussed.
ALMA FOLLOWS STREAMING OF DENSE GAS DOWN TO 40 pc FROM THE SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE IN NGC 1097

We present a kinematic analysis of the dense molecular gas in the central 200 pc of the nearby galaxy NGC 1097, based on Cycle 0 observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We use the HCN(4–3) line to trace the densest interstellar molecular gas ( cm−3), and quantify its kinematics, and estimate an inflow rate for the molecular gas. We find a striking similarity between the ALMA kinematic data and the analytic spiral inflow model that we have previously constructed based on ionized gas velocity fields on larger scales. We are able to follow dense gas streaming down to 40 pc distance from the supermassive black hole in this Seyfert 1 galaxy. In order to fulfill marginal stability, we deduce that the dense gas is confined to a very thin disk, and we derive a dense gas inflow rate of 0.09 M☉ yr−1 at 40 pc radius. Combined with previous values from the Hα and CO gas, we calculate a combined molecular and ionized gas inflow rate of ∼0.2 M☉ yr−1 at 40 pc distance from the central supermassive black hole of NGC 1097.
Automatic Instrument Recognition in a Polyphonic Mixture Using Sparse Representations

In this paper, a method to address the automatic instrument recognition in polyphonic music is introduced. It is based on the decomposition of the music signal with instrument-specific harmonic atoms, yielding to an approximate object representation of the signal. A post-processing is then applied to exhibit ensemble saliences that give clues about the number of instrument playing and the instrument labels. After a parameter optimization on a development set, the whole algorithm is applied on artificial mixes of solo performances. The identification of the number of instrument reaches 73 % and the identification of the ensemble label without prior knowledge on the number of instruments 17 %.
Optical properties of materials for concentrator photovoltaic systems

As part of our research on materials for concentrator photovoltaics (CPV), we are evaluating the optical properties and solar radiation durability of a number of polymeric materials with potential CPV application. For optical materials in imaging or non-imaging optical systems, detailed knowledge of the wavelength dependent complex index of refraction is important for optical system design and performance. Here we report the index of refraction, optical absorbance and haze results of various polymers of interest for CPV systems. Fluoropolymers such as polyvinylfluoride (Tedlar? PVF Film), which has wide application in crystalline silicon (c-Si) flat plate PV modules, as well as poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) (Teflon? FEP Film) and poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene) (Tefzel? ETFE Film) have desirable optical and physical properties for optical applications such as CPV. Hydrocarbon polymers such as polyvinylbutyral (PVB) sheet such as DuPont? PV5200, and the ethylene copolymers such as poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) such as Elvax? PV1400, poly(ethylene-co-methacrylic acid metal salt) ionomer sheet such as DuPont? PV5300 have applications as encapsulant in c-Si and other flat plate PV applications. These materials have both a wide variety of polymer compositions and also additive packages, which affect their optical properties such as the UV absorption edge. Even materials such as Kapton? polyimide films, which are used behind the PV cell for their electrically insulating properties, have optical requirements, and we characterize these materials also. The detailed optical properties of these materials will be useful for CPV system design of the geometrical optics, optimization of the system's optical throughput, and also provide insights into the system's optical absorption, for example in the UV, where this absorption can impact the radiation durability of the materials.
Non-conscious behavior in emotion recognition: Gender effect

Recently, more attention is given to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) systems, which aim at making computer technology more usable for people by recognizing their affective states. Pupil diameter (PD) has been addressed as the most reliable approach for it is controlled by Automatic Nervous System (ANS) and is easy to detect. The goal of this paper is to identify the effect of gender on individual's emotional states. The paper introduces experimental results obtained using eye-tracking system with 30 participants. It starts by describing emotion recognition and its applications. Then, it describes the experiment procedure, stimuli and dataset used and discusses the findings. Finally, some Challenging issues are outlined.
Lung Cytokine Gene Expression is Correlated with Increased Severity of Disease in a Novel H4N8 Influenza Virus Isolated from Shorebirds

ABSTRACT The lung cytokine gene expression profiles of mice infected with 2 strains of H4N8 viruses isolated from shorebirds and reference H4 viruses from ducks are compared. Major differences between the two H4N8 strains of shorebirds, one of which causes a severe respiratory disease in mice, are in the PB1 and NS1 genes. In mice with H4N8 virus induced pneumonia, overall expression of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-12 genes was markedly higher than in mice infected with other H4 viruses tested, although gene expression of type I interferon was not increased until day 4 post viral infection. In contrast, in mice infected with a comparison H4N8 strain, gene expression of type I interferon peaked on day 1 post viral infection. Overall, the cytokine response corresponds with the severity of disease caused by shorebird H4N8 virus. The results obtained in this study provide valuable information to understand the immunopathology induced by a low pathogenic avian influenza virus, which may be useful in preparation for outbreaks of novel influenza A virus.
Implementation of CMOS fuzzy controllers as mixed-signal integrated circuits

This paper discusses architectural and circuit-level aspects related to hardware realizations of fuzzy controllers. A brief overview on fuzzy inference methods is given focusing on chip implementation. The singleton or zero-order Sugeno's method is chosen since it offers a good tradeoff between hardware simplicity and control efficiency. The CMOS microcontroller described herein processes information in the current-domain, but input-output signals are represented as voltage to ease communications with conventional control circuitry. Programming functionalities are added by combining analog and digital techniques, giving rise to a versatile microcontroller, capable of solving different control problems. After identifying the basic component blocks, the circuits used for their implementation are discussed and compared with other alternatives. This study is illustrated with the experimental results of prototypes integrated in different CMOS technologies.
Tuning-free penalized maximum likelihood to improve estimates of genetic covariance matrices

Partitioning of the phenotypic variation into its causal components to determine genetic 2 parameters is one of the basic tasks in quantitative genetics. For multiple characteristics of 3 interest, this involves the estimation of covariance matrices due to genetic and other effects. 4 It is well known that such estimates can be subject to substantial sampling variation, as the 5 number of parameters to be estimated generally increases quadratically with the number of 6 traits considered. In particular, it has been recognized early on that the eigenvalues of sample 7 covariance matrices are systematically biased – with the largest eigenvalues overestimated 8 and the smallest values underestimated – and that a major proportion of the sampling 9 variation of covariance matrices can be attributed to this over-dispersion (Lawley, 1956; 10 Ledoit & Wolf, 2004). 11
ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: QUALITATIVE STUDY OF ADOLESCENT FEMALES’ LIVED EXPERIENCE

Background. Different aspects of adolescent suicidal behaviour are explored, however, they are interpreted in terms suitable mostly for adult suicidal behaviour. Knowledge on adolescent suicidality is far from comprehensive. Aims . To describe the lived experience of attempted suicide among young females and to unfold distinctiveness of such experience. Method . Three adolescent females aged 13 to 17, who attempted suicide within one year period while not in the state of psychosis, took part in the study. Research was conducted using interpretative phenomenological analysis – a qualitative research method which aims to explore both experience of a person and one’s trying to make sense of it. Data was collected during semi-structured interviews which allowed setting a closer contact with respondents. Results. Data analysis showed that though a fair amount of attempted suicide experiences of adolescent females is similar to those of adults, there are some distinct features: sense of overwhelming experience and amassing bothers, liveliness of past experiences in the present, great lack of support in close relationships, difficulties reflecting and controlling emotions and thoughts. Conclusions. These results support the huge importance of appropriate responses of the surrounding people and mental health care professionals to the state of suicidal adolescent female. Also, it is necessary to teach adolescent females to effectively manage their emotions and impulses, and to develop mature ego defense mechanisms. Further research could contribute to the creation of guidelines to such behaviour or training and a deeper understanding of the psychological state of suicidal adolescents.