Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Breeding implications of drought stress under future climate for upland rice in Brazil

Rice is the most important food crop in the developing world. For rice production systems to address the challenges of increasing demand and climate change, potential and on‐farm yield increases must be increased. Breeding is one of the main strategies toward such aim. Here, we hypothesize that climatic and atmospheric changes for the upland rice growing period in central Brazil are likely to alter environment groupings and drought stress patterns by 2050, leading to changing breeding targets during the 21st century. As a result of changes in drought stress frequency and intensity, we found reductions in productivity in the range of 200–600 kg/ha (up to 20%) and reductions in yield stability throughout virtually the entire upland rice growing area (except for the southeast). In the face of these changes, our crop simulation analysis suggests that the current strategy of the breeding program, which aims at achieving wide adaptation, should be adjusted. Based on the results for current and future climates, a weighted selection strategy for the three environmental groups that characterize the region is suggested. For the highly favorable environment (HFE, 36%–41% growing area, depending on RCP), selection should be done under both stress‐free and terminal stress conditions; for the favorable environment (FE, 27%–40%), selection should aim at testing under reproductive and terminal stress, and for the least favorable environment (LFE, 23%–27%), selection should be conducted for response to reproductive stress only and for the joint occurrence of reproductive and terminal stress. Even though there are differences in timing, it is noteworthy that stress levels are similar across environments, with 40%–60% of crop water demand unsatisfied. Efficient crop improvement targeted toward adaptive traits for drought tolerance will enhance upland rice crop system resilience under climate change.
LMI-based approach to stability analysis for fractional-order neural networks with discrete and distributed delays

ABSTRACT This paper is concerned with the asymptotic stability of the Riemann–Liouville fractional-order neural networks with discrete and distributed delays. By constructing a suitable Lyapunov functional, two sufficient conditions are derived to ensure that the addressed neural network is asymptotically stable. The presented stability criteria are described in terms of the linear matrix inequalities. The advantage of the proposed method is that one may avoid calculating the fractional-order derivative of the Lyapunov functional. Finally, a numerical example is given to show the validity and feasibility of the theoretical results.
Iterative Solution of MTL Based on the Spatial Decomposition and the Second-Order FDTD

To reduce the computational time for solving multiconductor transmission lines (MTL), an iterative solution with a spatial decomposition and the second-order finite-difference time domain (FDTD) is presented. The coupling effects among the MTL are equivalent by a set of distributed voltage and current sources, which decouples the MTL. The voltages and the currents along the lines are evaluated by the second-order FDTD at each iteration step, and the equivalent distributed sources are updated accordingly. The solution of MTL is obtained when convergence is reached. The proposed approach is validated by the numerical examples. The major advantage of the proposed approach, by nature, is an inherent parallel algorithm, which will reduce the computational time, especially for the MTL system with nonlinear devices.
Effects of task characteristics on unimanual and bimanual movement times

Fitts' law cannot be used to predict movement times (MTs) of bimanual tasks since no empirical relationships associating task difficulty and bimanual MT have been demonstrated yet. Development of a ‘bimanual task difficulty index’ has been challenged by the complex patterns of coordination involved in simultaneously performing two tasks, one with each hand, under a control system with limited visual and attentional resources. To address this fundamental issue in human motor performance, bimanual object transfers with the left and right hands to targets of various precision requirements and separated by different distances were studied in six healthy subjects. Visual resource allocation during task performance was used to identify ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ hand movements in bimanual tasks. While the primary movement was similar to a unimanual movement, the secondary MT varied with its own, as well as the contralateral hand's task constraints. These results, which were stable and consistent across six subjects, provide preliminary evidence that visual behaviour, indicating closed-loop control, can be used to systematically derive bimanual MTs. Practitioner summary: A simple extension of Fitts' law cannot be used to predict movement times (MTs) of bimanual tasks since there is no consensus on the definition of a ‘bimanual task difficulty index’ in the literature. In this paper, we have approached this problem by using visual resource allocation patterns to systematically derive bimanual MTs.
Diamond based nanostructures for electronic applications

Research in the area of CVD diamond thin films has increased significantly during the last decades to the point where single crystal diamond is now commercially available. The remarkable properties of diamond including its extreme hardness, low coefficient of friction, chemical inertness, high thermal conductivity, transparency and semiconducting properties make it attractive for a number of applications, among which electronic devices is one of the key areas. A detailed knowledge of electrical properties of diamond films is therefore critical. This thesis describes (1) a Hall effect study of highly boron-doped (111) diamond films (2) a Hall effect and impedance spectroscopic study of boron δ-doped diamond structures and (3) the synthesis of carbon nanotubes on single crystal diamond. Systematic investigations have been carried out on single crystal, boron-doped (111) diamond films. The influence of ultra pure gases, doping concentration and temperature on carrier transport are discussed in detail. A comprehensive study on boron δ-doped diamond films is also performed; Hall effect and impedance spectroscopy are used to evaluate these films, providing valuable insight into the complex carrier transport mechanisms occurring in these structures. The influence of temperature on carrier mobility and the free carrier density are discussed. This is allied with valuable information gained from impedance spectroscopy, where the presence of multiple semicircular responses (conduction pathways), modelled using a RC parallel circuit, yields data which leads to a greater understanding on the influence of the interface between the boron δ-doped layer and the surrounding intrinsic diamond layers. These semicircular responses are thus attributed to different crystalline regions in these structures, namely the boron δ -doped layer and the interfacial regions surrounding δ-layer. The influence of this interface region on the structures overall conductivity is discussed. Finally the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on single crystal diamond is reported for the first time. Scanning electron microscopy combined with Raman spectroscopy is used to understand the influence of temperature and differing growth gas mixtures on the yield and crystallinity of these as-grown CNTs.
NS2 proteases from hepatitis C virus and related hepaciviruses share composite active sites and previously unrecognized intrinsic proteolytic activities

Over the recent years, several homologues with varying degrees of genetic relatedness to hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been identified in a wide range of mammalian species. HCV infectious life cycle relies on a first critical proteolytic event of its single polyprotein, which is carried out by nonstructural protein 2 (NS2) and allows replicase assembly and genome replication. In this study, we characterized and evaluated the conservation of the proteolytic mode of action and regulatory mechanisms of NS2 across HCV and animal hepaciviruses. We first demonstrated that NS2 from equine, bat, rodent, New and Old World primate hepaciviruses also are cysteine proteases. Using tagged viral protein precursors and catalytic triad mutants, NS2 of equine NPHV and simian GBV-B, which are the most closely and distantly related viruses to HCV, respectively, were shown to function, like HCV NS2 as dimeric proteases with two composite active sites. Consistent with the reported essential role for NS3 N-terminal domain (NS3N) as HCV NS2 protease cofactor via NS3N key hydrophobic surface patch, we showed by gain/loss of function mutagenesis studies that some heterologous hepacivirus NS3N may act as cofactors for HCV NS2 provided that HCV-like hydrophobic residues are conserved. Unprecedently, however, we also observed efficient intrinsic proteolytic activity of NS2 protease in the absence of NS3 moiety in the context of C-terminal tag fusions via flexible linkers both in transiently transfected cells for all hepaciviruses studied and in the context of HCV dicistronic full-length genomes. These findings suggest that NS3N acts as a regulatory rather than essential cofactor for hepacivirus NS2 protease. Overall, unique features of NS2 including enzymatic function as dimers with two composite active sites and additional NS3-independent proteolytic activity are conserved across hepaciviruses regardless of their genetic distances, highlighting their functional significance in hepacivirus life cycle.
Multi-modal metric learning for vehicle re-identification in traffic surveillance environment

Vehicle re-identification (Re-Id) aims to retrieve the same vehicle captured by disjoint cameras at different time instants from different locations, and is a challenging task mainly due to the high similarity among the captured vehicle images in surveillance environment. With the rapid development of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), learning-based deep features have been adopted to combine with hand-crafted features to re-identify vehicles in traffic surveillance environment. However, the two kinds of features are in different feature space, and if they are fused directly together, their complementary correlation is not able to be fully explored. To address such an issue, this paper proposes a multi-modal metric learning architecture to fuse deep features and hand-crafted ones in an end-to-end optimization network, which achieves a more robust and discriminative feature representation for vehicle re-identification. The extensive experiments on a large-scale traffic surveillance vehicle dataset demonstrate that our proposed approach substantially outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on vehicle Re-Id.
Changes in properties of rigid PVC during weathering

Changes in properties of PVC compounds upon weathering are categorized as due to physical aging or due to chemical change. PVC's tensile strength, flexural strength, tensile modulus, and flexural modulus generally rise slightly with weathering. DSC data on weathered samples show an annealing effect identical to physical aging. The impact strength of weathered PVC is substantially lower than expected from physical aging. Molecular weight of PVC on the weathered surface is lowered upon weathering. Thus the loss of impact strength of PVC upon weathering is mainly due to chemical change.
Exploring moral conflicts in speech: Multidisciplinary analysis of affect and stress

Our moral conscience as the “inner light” that guides us shines brighter during moments of ethical conflicts, when we notice a tension between our many oughts and/or wants. We present the first analyses on speech related stress and affect in accounts of moral conflicts. For our exploratory study, we started with interviews on moral and immoral events at work with entrepreneurs. Qualitative analysis revealed that interviewees do share personal moral conflicts without researchers probing for them. Quantitative analysis showed quiet and even toned voice features when discussing moral conflicts, and speech was laced with emotively positive and negative words, though more negative words were used. Moreover, we find promising results on our automatic classification experiment using speech features. How and what moral conflicts people deliberate on in real-life may be pertinent to future research in affective computing, as well as applications for decision-making support, ethical competences coaching, therapy, and healthy moral selfhood.
Can the theory of planned behavior help explain attendance to follow‐up care of childhood cancer survivors?

Childhood cancer survivors are at high risk for late effects. Regular attendance to long‐term follow‐up care is recommended and helps monitoring survivors' health. Using the theory of planned behavior, we aimed to (1) investigate the predictors of the intention to attend follow‐up care, and (2) examine the associations between perceived control and behavioral intention with actual follow‐up care attendance in Swiss childhood cancer survivors.
Electromagnetic two-dimensional scattering database for verifying inversion algorithms

The inverse scattering problem has found many applications in the field of remote sensing, non-destructive evaluation, geophysical exploration and biomedical imaging. There are many inversion algorithms developed. However, there are only several measurement datasets available for verifying the robustness of the algorithms. The ill-posed nature of the inverse problem requires multiple incidences and multiple receivers for the measurement data. There are several kinds of measurement methods available to realize this requirement. One way is via a bi-static setup, i.e., to use a single incidence antenna and a single receiving antenna rotating around multiple positions. This method takes a long time but has low mutual coupling between the two antennas. The other way is via a multi-static setup, i.e., to use switches to control an array of antennas. This method is fast but suffers from high mutual coupling. This paper focuses on a bi-static experiment to collect the scattered field data for the purpose of the verification of inverse scattering algorithms. The multiple-incidence and multiple-receiver setup is realized by a two-arm rotating stage. Targets under test are circular cylinders placed at the center of stage. The TM polarization incident wave is considered. Similar with the Fresnel dataset [1], the incident field is collected by the field gathered without any target and the scattered field is obtained by subtracting the incident field from the total field collected with the target presenting. The frequency ranges from 12 to 18 GHz. The accuracy of the measurement is checked by comparison with method of moment. The organization of the paper is as follows: First, the experimental setup is described in detail, including the two-arm rotation stage, motor controller and vector network analyzer. The whole system is controlled by a LABVIEW program. Then the calibration process is demonstrated to compensate for modeling and measurement errors. Finally, the TM polarization measurement is discussed and accuracy of the data is demonstrated.
The design of memristor based high pass filter circuit

Many researchers accept to memristor as fourth basic circuit elements in literature. The missing linkage between charge and flux is provided by a device which is memristor. The memristor (“memory resistor”) is formally defined as a two-terminal element in which the magnetic flux between the terminals is a function of the amount of electric charge that has passed through the device. It is predictable that memristor-based analog filters will provide different features from other circuit devices. In this paper, we use an emulator circuit which seems memristors property basic to explain the high pass filter with memristor. Firstly, an emulator existing in literature is used fort his application. Then, memristor-based high pass analog filter is modeled, filter waveforms and performance analyzed in time and frequency with simulations. Circuit gain and phase results are explained. These results obtained in this study can be used in the design of memristor-based high pass filter.
Software techniques for two- and three-dimensional kinematic measurements of biological and biomimetic systems

Researchers studying aspects of locomotion or movement in biological and biomimetic systems commonly use video or stereo video recordings to quantify the behaviour of the system in question, often with an emphasis on measures of position, velocity and acceleration. However, despite the apparent simplicity of video analysis, it can require substantial investment of time and effort, even when performed with adequate software tools. This paper reviews the underlying principles of video and stereo video analysis as well as its automation and is accompanied by fully functional and freely available software implementation.
Sofosbuvir and Ribavirin for Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C in Patients Coinfected With Hepatitis C Virus and HIV: The Impact on Patient-Reported Outcomes.

BACKGROUND Sofosbuvir-containing regimens have been approved for treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. We assessed the effect of treatment with sofosbuvir and ribavirin on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in individuals with HIV/HCV coinfection. METHODS HIV/HCV-coinfected patients were treated for 12 or 24 weeks with sofosbuvir and ribavirin. Matched HCV-monoinfected controls were also evaluated. All subjects completed standard PRO questionnaires before, during, and after treatment. RESULTS Included were 497 participants from the PHOTON-1 and PHOTON-2 clinical trials. At baseline, more impairment in PRO scores was noted in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients, compared with HCV-monoinfected patients. During treatment, moderate decrements in PRO scores (change, up to -6.8% on a 0%-100% scale; P = .0053) were experienced regardless of treatment duration and were similar to those for HCV-monoinfected patients (all P > .05). In 413 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients with a virologic response sustained for 12 weeks after treatment cessation, most PRO scores improved (change, up to +7.6%; P < .0001), similar to findings for HCV-monoinfected patients. In multivariate analysis, in addition to clinico-demographic predictors, coinfection with HIV was associated with PRO impairment at baseline (beta, up to -7.6%; P < .002) but not with treatment-emergent changes in PRO scores (all P > .05). CONCLUSIONS Patients with HIV/HCV coinfection tolerate interferon-free sofosbuvir-based anti-HCV regimens well and, despite the presence of some baseline impairment, have treatment-emergent changes in PRO scores that are similar to those of patients with HCV monoinfection. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION NCT01667731 (PHOTON-1), NCT01783678 (PHOTON-2), NCT01604850 (FUSION), and NCT01682720 (VALENCE).
Modulation of somatoparaphrenia following left-hemisphere damage

ABSTRACT Somatoparaphrenic symptoms after left-hemisphere damage are rare. To verify the potential role of body-related sensory (proprioceptive, visual, and somatosensory) manipulation in patients experiencing sensations of hand disownership, the symptoms of a patient suffering from right-hand somatoparaphrenia were monitored and clinical and neuropsychological variables were controlled. Four types of manipulation were administered: changes in spatial position of the hand, multisensory stimulation, and self-observation using video or mirrors. Multisensory visuo-tactile stimulation was efficacious in terms of reducing somatoparaphrenia, and changes in the position of the hand produced some positive effects. Third-person perspective self-observation did not, however, result in any changes.
Incorporation of semantic segmentation information in deep hashing techniques for image retrieval

Extracting discriminative image features for similarity search in nowadays large-scale databases becomes an imperative issue of paramount importance. To address the so called task of Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) search in large visual dataset, deep hashing methods (i.e. approaches that make use of the recent deep learning paradigm in computer vision) have recently been introduced. In this paper, a novel approach to deep hashing is proposed, which incorporates local-level information, in the form of image semantic segmentation masks, during the hash code learning step. The proposed framework makes use of pixel-level classification labels, i.e. following a point-wise supervised learning methodology. Experimental evaluation in the significantly challenging domain of on-line terrorist propaganda video analysis, i.e. a highly diverse and heterogeneous application case, demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed approach.
Cellular stress induces cancer stem‐like cells through expression of DNAJB8 by activation of heat shock factor 1

In a previous study, we found that DNAJB8, a heat shock protein (HSP) 40 family member is expressed in kidney cancer stem‐like cells (CSC)/cancer‐initiating cells (CIC) and that it has a role in the maintenance of kidney CSC/CIC. Heat shock factor (HSF) 1 is a key transcription factor for responses to stress including heat shock, and it induces HSP family expression through activation by phosphorylation. In the present study, we therefore examined whether heat shock (HS) induces CSC/CIC. We treated the human kidney cancer cell line ACHN with HS, and found that HS increased side population (SP) cells. Western blot analysis and qRT‐PCR showed that HS increased the expression of DNAJB8 and SOX2. Gene knockdown experiments using siRNAs showed that the increase in SOX2 expression and SP cell ratio depends on DNAJB8 and that the increase in DNAJB8 and SOX2 depend on HSF1. Furthermore, treatment with a mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, temsirolimus, decreased the expression of DNAJB8 and SOX2 and the ratio of SP cells. Taken together, the results indicate that heat shock induces DNAJB8 by activation of HSF1 and induces cancer stem‐like cells.
The C‐terminus of amelogenin enhances osteogenic differentiation of human cementoblast lineage cells

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Amelogenin proteins are the major constituent of developing extracellular enamel matrix and are believed to have an exclusively epithelial origin. Recent studies have suggested that amelogenins might induce the differentiation and maturation of various cells, including cementoblast lineage cells. However, the residues comprising the active site of amelogenin remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to identify the active site region of amelogenin by studying the effects of amelogenin fragments on the osteogenic differentiation of cementoblasts. MATERIAL AND METHODS Amelogenin fragments lacking the C-terminus (rh163) and N-terminus (rh128) and a fragment consisting of the C-terminal region of rh174 (C11 peptide) were synthesized and purified. Human cementoblast lineage cells were cultured in osteogenic differentiation medium and treated with 0, 10, 100 or 1000 ng/mL of rh163, rh128 or C11 peptide. The mRNA levels of bone markers were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium deposition were also determined. Mineralization was evaluated by alizarin red staining. RESULTS The osteogenic differentiation of human cementoblast lineage cells was significantly enhanced by treatment with rh128 or C11 peptide, whereas rh163 had no significant effect as compared with untreated controls. CONCLUSIONS The C-terminus of amelogenin promotes the osteogenic differentiation of human cementoblast lineage cells, indicating the possible utility of C11 peptide in periodontal tissue regeneration.