Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Intersection of Theory and Application in Elucidating Pattern Formation in Developmental Biology.

We discuss theoretical and experimental approaches to three distinct developmental systems that illustrate how theory can influence experimental work and vice-versa. The chosen systems - Drosophila melanogaster, bacterial pattern formation, and pigmentation patterns - illustrate the fundamental physical processes of signaling, growth and cell division, and cell movement involved in pattern formation and development. These systems exemplify the current state of theoretical and experimental understanding of how these processes produce the observed patterns, and illustrate how theoretical and experimental approaches can interact to lead to a better understanding of development. As John Bonner said long ago'We have arrived at the stage where models are useful to suggest experiments, and the facts of the experiments in turn lead to new and improved models that suggest new experiments. By this rocking back and forth between the reality of experimental facts and the dream world of hypotheses, we can move slowly toward a satisfactory solution of the major problems of developmental biology. '
Globalization Of Capital Markets And The Cost Of Capital: The Case Of Nestlé

BANK OF AMERICA JOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE apital markets have become increasingly global over the last 20 years. While providing world investors with opportunities to diversify beyond their home markets, the progressive integration of international financial markets is also bringing about a significant reduction in the cost of capital of public corporations around the world. And a lower cost of capital, for a given level of expected corporate profits, means a higher stock price. Although such an effect is most pronounced for multinationals based in small countries with limited capital markets, even wholly domestic (though mainly large) firms in well-established financial markets like the U.S. and U.K. are benefiting from this development. Nevertheless, assessing the effect of the globalization of capital markets on capital costs is not a simple matter. In fact, global integration of markets can be seen as having two directly opposite effects on the cost of equity capital. On the one hand, the removal of barriers to foreign investment means that the risk premiums on securities in general are falling because the risk of these securities can be shared among more investors—and more efficient spreading of risks among investors with globally diversified portfolios means lower required returns and thus higher stock prices. At the same time, however, the increasing integration of both capital markets and real business activity resulting from continued overseas expansion by multinationals implies a greater degree of synchronization among various international capital markets—that is, a greater tendency for all markets to move together. And such greater C
Laser tissue interaction in the porcine otic capsule tissue model

The absence of a hard tissue model reflecting the properties of the inner and middle ear has made it difficult to draw consistent conclusions on the many experimental laser studies in ear surgery. Porcine otic capsule tissue has been studied by our group extensively in a wide variety of laser-tissue interaction studies and is an economically attractive and simple to use hard tissue source. Porcine otic capsule was harvested from the temporal bone of freshly sacrificed domestic pigs via a craniotomy approach. The technique when performed with power instruments takes less than 5 minutes and the entire otic capsule bone is removed intact as the suture line is not fused to the remaining petrous apex. The tissue specimen contains a vestibule, cochlea, oval and round windows, and internal auditory canals which can be used as an intact middle ear/inner ear system. The tissue can also be micromachined into thin slabs of bone varying for 100 - 1000 micrometers in thickness. In order to quantify more precisely the laser-tissue interactions in otic capsule, optical properties (absorption and scattering) and physical properties were determined (acoustic impedance). The tissue has been used in a wide variety of basic studies investigating the laser-tissue interactions with argon, KTP, (Nd:YAG), carbon dioxide, Ho:YAG, Er:YAG, and XeCl lasers. Porcine otic capsule is an ideal tissue on which standardized test can be performed to compare the relative effects of various laser in otosurgical models.
A regressive boosting approach to automatic audio tagging based on soft annotator fusion

Automatic tagging of music has mostly been treated as a classification problem. In this framework, the association of a tag to a song is characterized in a “hard” fashion: the tag is either relevant or not. Yet, the relevance of a tag to a song is not always evident. Indeed, during the ground-truth annotation process, several annotators may express doubts, or disagree with each other. In this paper, we propose to fuse annotators' decisions in a way to keep information about this uncertainty. This fusion provides us continuous scores, that are used for training a regressive boosting algorithm. Our experiments show that regression with this soft ground truth leads to a more accurate learning, and better predictions, compared to traditionally used binary classification.
Parametric and nonparametric methods to generate time-varying surrogate data

We present both nonparametric and parametric approaches to generating time-varying surrogate data. Nonparametric and parametric approaches are based on the use of the short-time Fourier transform and a time-varying autoregressive model, respectively. Time-varying surrogate data (TVSD) can be used to determine the statistical significance of the linear and nonlinear coherence function estimates. Two advantages of the TVSD are that it keeps one from having to make an arbitrary decision about the significance of the coherence value, and it properly takes into account statistical significance levels, which may change with time. Our simulation examples and experimental results on blood pressure and heart rate data demonstrate the efficacy and applicability of the proposed TVSD methods.
Role of the central cations in the mechanical unfolding of DNA and RNA G-quadruplexes

Cations are known to mediate diverse interactions in nucleic acids duplexes but they are critical in the arrangement of four-stranded structures. Here, we use all-atom molecular dynamics simulations with explicit solvent to analyse the mechanical unfolding of representative intramolecular G-quadruplex structures: a parallel, a hybrid and an antiparallel DNA and a parallel RNA, in the presence of stabilising cations. We confirm the stability of these conformations in the presence of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{upgreek} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} }{}$\rm {K}^+$\end{document} central ions and observe distortions from the tetrad topology in their absence. Force-induced unfolding dynamics is then investigated. We show that the unfolding events in the force-extension curves are concomitant to the loss of coordination between the central ions and the guanines of the G-quadruplex. We found lower ruptures forces for the parallel configuration with respect to the antiparallel one, while the behaviour of the force pattern of the parallel RNA appears similar to the parallel DNA. We anticipate that our results will be essential to interpret the fine structure rupture profiles in stretching assays at high resolution and will shed light on the mechanochemical activity of G-quadruplex-binding machinery.
The effect of fly ash/slag on the property of reactive powder mortar designed by using Fuller`s ideal curve and error function

This study is mainly focused on applying Fuller`s ideal gradation curve to theoretically design blended ratio of all solid materials of a reactive powder mortar (RPM), also known as reactive powder concrete (RPC), with the aid of error function, and then to study the effect of fly ash/slag on the performance of RPM. The solid particle is assumed to be spherical particles. Then, the void volume of paste () and the paste content with specific quality can be obtained. As conclusion, under Fuller`s ideal grading curve, the amount of fly ash/slag mixture is higher than that with silica fume along due to it better filled the void within solid particle and obtains higher packing density.
Leveraging the quantization offset for improved requantization transcoding of H.264/AVC video

Requantization transcoding is a method for reducing the bit rate of compressed video bitstreams. Most research on requantization is concerned with the architectural design, the selection of a suitable quantizer, or the reduction of requantization errors. In this paper, we propose to incorporate a new dimension in requantization transcoding: the quantization offset. We compare two requantization methods: increasing the quantization step size and decreasing the quantization offset. Furthermore, we propose a novel heuristic for requantization transcoding based on a theoretical rate-distortion analysis. The experimental results for H.264/AVC video show that requantization is improved in rate-distortion sense with gains up to 1 dB for open-loop requantization of B pictures compared to requantization with fixed quantization offset.
Bioinformatics Approaches in Food Sciences

Food plays an important role in regulating the various processes within the body. With the continued progression of the “omics” era, bioinformatics curates and interprets biological data by computational means and therefore it has seen widespread integration across every discipline of life sciences including food sciences. Bioinformatics can be used for efficiently access to all genomics, proteomics and metabolomics data discovered so far and to make available this data to every individual group industry or company so as to increase quality, taste and nutritional value of food that is to be produced. Here, we have discussed the role of bioinformatics and some approaches in food sciences.
Maternal Exposure to Air Pollution and Adverse Birth Outcomes in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Objective: We aimed to examine the associations between exposure to air pollution exposure and the outcomes of preterm birth (PTB), term low birth weight (TLBW), and small for gestational age. Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study using a perinatal database linked to land-use regression-modeled air pollution data. Results: Compared with women in the lowest quartile of toluene exposure, those in the second lowest quartile showed a positive association with PTB (odds ratio = 1.35, 95% confidence interval: 1.12, 1.63). A piecewise logistic regression breakpoint analysis identified a cut point (identifying a change in the slope) of 0.36 &mgr;g/m3 for toluene and the risk of PTB. There was also some evidence to suggest an association between sulfur dioxide and TLBW. Conclusions: This study provides some evidence to suggest that in an area of relatively low air pollution concentration, maternal exposure to some air pollutants may be associated with adverse birth outcomes.
Electrically refreshable carbon-nanotube-based gas sensors

We report electrically refreshable carbon-nanotube (CNT)-based gas sensors with a field effect transistor (FET) structure. The sensors can be refreshed by applying a negative gate voltage pulse in NO2 and a positive gate voltage pulse in NH3. Furthermore, the temporal response of the conductance to the gate voltage pulse is observed to be dependent on the gas species, but independent of gas concentration. These results show the possibility of distinguishing gas species using CNT-FET sensors.
Junction-Based Correspondence Estimation of Plant Point Cloud Data Using Subgraph Matching

Laser scanner-captured 3-D point cloud data analysis is becoming more commonly used for remote sensing and plant science applications. Because of nonrigidity and complexity, reconstructing a 3-D model of a plant is extremely challenging. Existing algorithms often fail to find correct correspondences for plantlike thin structures. We address the problem of finding 3-D junction points in plant point cloud data as a first step of this correspondence matching process. Temporarily, we transform the 3-D problem into 2-D by performing appropriate coordinate transformations to the neighborhood of each 3-D point. Our proposed method has two steps. First, a statistical dip test of multimodality is performed to detect the nonlinearity of the local 2D structure. Then, each branch is approximated by sequential random-sample-consensus line fitting and a Euclidean clustering technique. The straight line parameters of each branch are extracted using total-least-squares estimation. Finally, the straight line equations are solved to determine if they intersect in the local neighborhood. Such junction points are good candidates for subsequent correspondence algorithms. Using these detected junction points, we formulate a correspondence algorithm as a subgraph matching problem and show that, without using traditional descriptor similarity-based matching, good correspondences can be obtained by simply considering geodesic distances among graph nodes. Experiments on synthetic and real ( Arabidopsis plant) data show that the proposed method outperforms the state of the art.
Flexible aggregate similarity search

Aggregate similarity search, a.k. a. aggregate nearest neighbor (Ann) query, finds many useful applications in spatial and multimedia databases. Given a group Q of M query objects, it retrieves the most (or top-k) similar object to Q from a database P, where the similarity is an aggregation (e.g., sum, max) of the distances between the retrieved object p and all the objects in Q. In this paper, we propose an added flexibility to the query definition, where the similarity is an aggregation over the distances between p and any subset of ÆM objects in Q for some support 0 < Æ d 1. We call this new definition flexible aggregate similarity (Fann) search, which generalizes the Ann problem. Next, we present algorithms for answering Fann queries exactly and approximately. Our approximation algorithms are especially appealing, which are simple, highly efficient, and work well in both low and high dimensions. They also return nearoptimal answers with guaranteed constant-factor approximations in any dimensions. Extensive experiments on large real and synthetic datasets from 2 to 74 dimensions have demonstrated their superior efficiency and high quality.
Excimer laser processing for the integrated gamma-ray detectors

Selective operation of laser doping process and laser ablation process using KrF excimer laser irradiation (wavelength 248nm, pulse duration 20ns) was carried out that is used for fabricating an integrated gamma-ray imaging detector. At high vacuumed condition, laser irradiated surface region is heated up to ablated. At high-pressure condition, ablation is suppressed and impurity on the surface was melt and diffuse into the CdTe substrate. We have fabricated an integrated imaging detector using above combination process. The detector showed low leakage current at room temperature and good gamma-ray detection property.
Mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties of natural rubber blended with waste rubber powder modified by both microwave and sol–gel method

Waste rubber powder (WRP) was modified by microwave, sol–gel method, and both microwave and sol–gel method, respectively. The mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties of natural rubber (NR)/modified WRP composite were investigated. The influence of bis-(3-(triethoxysilyl)-propyl)-tetrasulfide (TESPT) content on curing characteristics and mechanical properties of vulcanizate was also studied. The results showed that NR/WRP modified by both microwave and sol–gel method composite owned the best mechanical properties. Rubber processing analyzer was used to characterize the interaction between silica and rubber chains and the dispersion of silica. With increase of TESPT content, the Payne effect decreased. Scanning electron microscopy indicated the coherency and homogeneity of in situ generated silica filled vulcanizate. Dynamic mechanical analyzer showed that NR/WRP modified by both microwave and sol–gel method composite with 5 phr TESPT exhibited the lower tan δ at temperature range of 50–80°C, compared with composite without TESPT and the higher tan δ at temperature of 0°C, compared with the conventional modification of WRP. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013
Learning How to Edit Text

Programming by demonstration systems acquire procedural knowledge from examples, and then use that knowledge to execute the learned procedure on new instances. We present an architecture, called version space algebra, for learning this type of procedural knowledge, and describe an implemented system for programming by demonstration in the text-editing domain. We present results showing the system’s effectiveness at acquiring procedures from a small number of examples.
A Study of Applying the Structuration Model of Technology to the Implement of Enterprise Resource Planning

The velocity and dynamic nature of the global marketplace, in terms of the progress of the information technology, has driven a competitive incentive among companies in Taiwan to consolidate and reconcile their service, as a means of creating value that is sustainable over time. The enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, during the past decade, is paid much attention in the business setting in Taiwan. A lot of efforts have been spent on its related studies, especially on critical success or failure factors, however, the depth and practical standpoints for the interaction among people when implemented the ERP system is spare. The main purpose of this study was that it adopted the Structuration Model of information technology, originally from Orlikowski, to explore the interactions among ERP system. Organization and Person when the ERP system implemented. The results revealed that there existed interactions among technology, ERP participants and organization. It is hope that the results of this study could provide valuable information to managers when launch an ERP system.
Reduced Neurogenesis after Neonatal Seizures

Although neonatal seizures are quite common, there is controversy regarding their consequences. Despite considerable evidence that seizures may cause less cell loss in young animals compared with mature animals, there are nonetheless clear indications that seizures may have other potentially deleterious effects. Because it is known that seizures in the mature brain can increase neurogenesis in the hippocampus, we studied the extent of neurogenesis in the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus over multiple time points after a series of 25 flurothyl-induced seizures administered between postnatal day 0 (P0) and P4. Rats with neonatal seizures had a significant reduction in the number of the thymidine analog 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine-5′-monophosphate- (BrdU) labeled cells in the dentate gyrus and hilus compared with the control groups when the animals were killed either 36 hr or 2 weeks after the BrdU injections. The reduction in BrdU-labeled cells continued for 6 d after the last seizure. BrdU-labeled cells primarily colocalized with the neuronal marker neuron-specific nuclear protein and rarely colocalized with the glial cell marker glial fibrillary acidic protein, providing evidence that a very large percentage of the newly formed cells were neurons. Immature rats subjected to a single seizure did not differ from controls in number of BrdU-labeled cells. In comparison, adult rats undergoing a series of 25 flurothyl-induced seizures had a significant increase in neurogenesis compared with controls. This study indicates that, after recurrent seizures in the neonatal rat, there is a reduction in newly born granule cells.
Optimisation of interface roughness and coating thickness to maximise coating–substrate adhesion – a failure prediction and reliability assessment modelling

A mathematical model for failure prediction and reliability assessment of coating–substrate system is developed based on a multidisciplinary approach. Two models for diffusion and bending of bi-layer cantilever beam have been designed separately based on the concepts of material science and solid mechanics respectively. Then, these two models are integrated to design an equation for debonding driving force under mesomechanics concepts. Mesomechanics seeks to apply the concepts of solid mechanics to microstructural constituent of materials such as coatings. This research takes the concepts of mesomechanics to the next level in order to predict the performance and assess the reliability of coatings based on the measure of debonding driving force. The effects of two parameters i.e. interface roughness and coating thickness on debonding driving force have been analysed using finite difference method. Critical/threshold value of debonding driving force is calculated which defines the point of failure of coating–substrate system and can be used for failure prediction and reliability assessment by defining three conditions of performance i.e. safe, critical and fail. Results reveal that debonding driving force decreases with an increase in interface roughness and coating thickness. However, this is subject to condition that the material properties of coating such as diffusivity should not increase and Young’s modulus should not decrease with an increase in the interface roughness and coating thickness. The model is based on the observations recorded from experimentation. These experiments are performed to understand the behaviour of debonding driving force with the variation in interface roughness and coating thickness.
Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase genotype does not play a role in multiple myeloma pathogenesis

Summary. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) plays an important role in carcinogenesis. A decreased incidence of cancer has been reported in the presence of MTHFR 677TT, 1298AC and 1298CC polymorphic variants. We have analysed the MTHFR genotype in 107 multiple myeloma (MM) patients and 86 controls. The MM and control polymorphisms frequencies were: 34% and 48% for 677CC, 53% and 41% for 677CT, 12% and 11% for 677TT; 36% and 43% for 1298AA, 51% and 44% for 1298AC; and 12% and 13% for 1298CC respectively. No statistically significant differences were observed. In addition, no differences were seen according to MM stage, presence of p16 gene hypermethylation or response to treatment.
Highly Active TiO2/Polyelectrolytes Hybrid Multilayered Hollow Nanofibrous Photocatalyst Prepared from Electrouspun Fibers Using Electrostatic Layer-by-Layer Technique

Compared to conventional film photocatalysts, fiber photocatalyst has a greater surface-to-volume ratio and a 3-D open structure that allows its surface active sites to be accessible for reactants more easily and effectively. However, TiO 2 powder (Degussa P25), by itself, cannot be prepared in the form of fibers, but with the help of a polymer nanofiber, TiO 2 particles can be immobilized in a fibrous network of polyelectrolyte. Here, hybrid multilayered hollow nanofibers (HMHNFs) composed of TiO 2 /polyelectrolyte (PE) have been prepared by a combination of a electrospinning method and layer-by-layer (LBL) technology. The results show that both the average diameter and the wall thickness of the HMHNFs can be well controlled by the template, as well as the number of coating layers. The dried morphology of the obtained HMHNFs is dependent on the inner deposited numbers of the polyelectrolyte layers. When compared with other nanostructured TiO 2 materials, such as commercial TiO 2 nanoparticles (P25, Degussa) and TiO 2 films, the hollow TiO 2 /PE hybrid nanofibers exhibited higher photocatalytic activities.