Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
More algorithms for all-pairs shortest paths in weighted graphs

In the first part of the paper, we reexamine the all-pairsshortest paths (APSP) problem and present a newalgorithm with running time approaching O(n3/log2n), which improves all known algorithms for general real-weighted dense graphs andis perhaps close to the best result possible without using fast matrix multiplication, modulo a few log log n factors. In the second part of the paper, we use fast matrix multiplication to obtain truly subcubic APSP algorithms for a large class of "geometrically weighted" graphs, where the weight of an edge is a function of the coordinates of its vertices. For example, for graphs embedded in Euclidean space of a constant dimension d, we obtain a time bound near O(n3-(3-Ω)/(2d+4)), where Ω < 2.376 ; in two dimensions, this is O(n2.922). Our framework greatly extends the previously considered case of small-integer-weighted graphs, and incidentally also yields the first truly subcubic result (near O(n3-(3-Ω)/4)=O(n2.844) time) forAPSP in real-vertex-weighted graphs, as well as an improved result (near O(n(3+Ω)/2)=O(n2.688) time) for the all-pairs lightest shortest path problem for small-integer-weighted graphs.
Activation of Human 5-Hydroxytryptamine Type 3 Receptors via an Allosteric Transmembrane Site

In common with other members of the Cys-loop family of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels, 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3 receptors (5-HT3Rs) are activated by the binding of a neurotransmitter to an extracellular orthosteric site, located at the interface of two adjacent receptor subunits. In addition, a variety of compounds have been identified that modulate agonist-evoked responses of 5-HT3Rs, and other Cys-loop receptors, by binding to distinct allosteric sites. In this study, we examined the pharmacological effects of a group of monoterpene compounds on recombinant 5-HT3Rs expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Two phenolic monoterpenes (carvacrol and thymol) display allosteric agonist activity on human homomeric 5-HT3ARs (64 ± 7% and 80 ± 4% of the maximum response evoked by the endogenous orthosteric agonist 5-HT, respectively). In addition, at lower concentrations, where agonist effects are less apparent, carvacrol and thymol act as potentiators of responses evoked by submaximal concentrations of 5-HT. By contrast, carvacrol and thymol have no agonist or potentiating activity on the closely related mouse 5-HT3ARs. Using subunit chimeras containing regions of the human and mouse 5-HT3A subunits, and by use of site-directed mutagenesis, we have identified transmembrane amino acids that either abolish the agonist activity of carvacrol and thymol on human 5-HT3ARs or are able to confer this property on mouse 5-HT3ARs. By contrast, these mutations have no significant effect on orthosteric activation of 5-HT3ARs by 5-HT. We conclude that 5-HT3ARs can be activated by the binding of ligands to an allosteric transmembrane site, a conclusion that is supported by computer docking studies.
Synthetic elevation beamforming and image acquisition capabilities using an 8 /spl times/ 128 1.75D array

Ultrasound imaging can be improved with higher order arrays through elevation dynamic focusing in future, higher channel count systems. However, modifications to current system hardware could yield increased imaging depth-of-field with 1.75D arrays (arrays with individually addressable elements, several rows in elevation) through the use of synthetic elevation imaging. We describe synthetic elevation beamforming methods and its implementation with our 8 /spl times/ 128, 1.75D array (Tetrad Co., Englewood, CO). This array has been successfully interfaced with a Siemens Elegra scanner for summed RF and single channel RF data acquisition. Individual rows of the 8 /spl times/ 128 array can be controlled, allowing for different aperture configurations on transmit and receive beamforming. Advantages of using this array include finer elevation sampling, a larger array footprint for aberration measurements, and elevation focusing. We discuss system tradeoffs that occur in implementing synthetic receive and synthetic transmit/receive elevation focusing and show significant image quality improvements in simulation and phantom data results.
Agonist-Induced Desensitization/Resensitization of Human G Protein-Coupled Receptor 17: A Functional Cross-Talk between Purinergic and Cysteinyl-Leukotriene Ligands

G protein-coupled receptor (GPR) 17 is a P2Y-like receptor that responds to both uracil nucleotides (as UDP-glucose) and cysteinyl-leukotrienes (cysLTs, as LTD4). By bioinformatic analysis, two distinct binding sites have been hypothesized to be present on GPR17, but little is known on their putative cross-regulation and on GPR17 desensitization/resensitization upon agonist exposure. In this study, we investigated in GPR17-expressing 1321N1 cells the cross-regulation between purinergic- and cysLT-mediated responses and analyzed GPR17 regulation after prolonged agonist exposure. Because GPR17 receptors couple to Gi proteins and adenylyl cyclase inhibition, both guanosine 5′-O-(3-[35S]thio)triphosphate ([35S]GTPγS) binding and the cAMP assay have been used to investigate receptor functional activity. UDP-glucose was found to enhance LTD4 potency in mediating activation of G proteins and vice versa, possibly through an allosteric mechanism. Both UDP-glucose and LTD4 induced a time- and concentration-dependent GPR17 loss of response (homologous desensitization) with similar kinetics. GPR17 homologous desensitization was accompanied by internalization of receptors inside cells, which occurred in a time-dependent manner with similar kinetics for both agonists. Upon agonist removal, receptor resensitization occurred with the typical kinetics of G protein-coupled receptors. Finally, activation of GPR17 by UDP-glucose (but not vice versa) induced a partial heterologous desensitization of LTD4-mediated responses, suggesting that nucleotides have a hierarchy in producing desensitizing signals. These findings suggest a functional cross-talk between purinergic and cysLT ligands at GPR17. Because of the recently suggested key role of GPR17 in brain oligodendrogliogenesis and myelination, this cross-talk may have profound implications in fine-tuning cell responses to demyelinating and inflammatory conditions when these ligands accumulate at lesion sites.
Influence of laser welding heat input on HAZ cracking in newly developed Haynes 282 superalloy

Abstract A study of the cause of heat affected zone (HAZ) cracking and its dependence on heat input during laser beam welding of a newly developed γ′ precipitation strengthened nickel based superalloy Haynes 282 was performed. Careful microstructural study coupled with Gleeble thermomechanical simulation showed that HAZ cracking in the alloy is attributable to the degradation of hot ductility of the alloy due to subsolidus grain boundary liquation. A decrease in the magnitude of heat input during laser beam welding resulted in increased HAZ cracking. The cracking variation with heat input is discussed in relation to the time that the subsolidus HAZ region spent at peak temperatures and thermally generated stress during welding.
Runx1 expression defines a subpopulation of displaced amacrine cells in the developing mouse retina

AML1/Runx1 (Runx1) is a mammalian transcription factor that plays critical roles in regulating the differentiation of a number of different cell types. In the present study, we have utilized mice expressing β‐galactosidase (β‐gal) under the control of the Runx1 promoter to characterize the spatiotemporal expression pattern of Runx1 during retinogenesis. Expression of β‐gal was first detected at embryonic day 13.5 in post‐mitotic cells located in the inner retina and overlapped with expression of the early amacrine and ganglion cell marker protein Islet1. During subsequent developmental stages, the number of β‐gal‐positive cells increased in a central‐to‐peripheral gradient until late embryogenesis but then decreased in the early post‐natal retina. β‐gal‐positive cells were located primarily in the ganglion cell layer by late embryonic/early post‐natal stages and were identified as a subpopulation of displaced amacrine cells by the continued expression of Islet1, as well as Pax6, and the coexpression of the amacrine cell subtype‐specific markers choline acetyltransferase, calretinin and the 65‐kDa isoform of glutamic acid decarboxylase. These findings identify Runx1 as a novel marker for a restricted amacrine cell subtype and suggest a role for this gene in regulating the post‐mitotic development of these cells.
An indoor locationtracking system for smart parking

There are always frustrations for drivers in finding parking space and parking is costly in almost every major city in the world. In this paper, we propose a crowdsourcing solution by exploiting sensors in the smartphone to collect real-time parking availability information. In particular, we utilise a pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) system to track the driver's trajectory to detect when he is about to leave his parking space. However, the effectiveness of a PDR system lies in its success in accurately estimating the user's moving distance and direction. In this work, we implement a waist-mounted-based PDR method on a smartphone that can measure the user's moving distance with a high accuracy. Furthermore, we design a map-matching algorithm to calibrate the direction errors from the gyro using building floor plans. The results of our experiment show that we can achieve about 98% accuracy in estimating the user's walking distance, with an overall location error of about 0.48 m.
A Common Clinical Dilemma: Management of Abnormal Vaginal Cytology and Human Papillomavirus Test Results

ObjectiveVaginal cancer is an uncommon cancer of the lower genital tract, and standardized screening is not recommended. Risk factors for vaginal cancer include a history of other lower genital tract neoplasia or cancer, smoking, immunosuppression, and exposure to diethylstilbestrol in utero. Although cervical cancer screening after total hysterectomy for benign disease is not recommended, many women inappropriately undergo vaginal cytology and/or human papillomavirus (HPV) tests, and clinicians are faced with managing their abnormal results. Our objectives were to review the literature on vaginal cytology and high-risk HPV (hrHPV) testing and to develop guidance for the management of abnormal vaginal screening tests. Materials and MethodsAn electronic search of the PubMed database through 2015 was performed. Articles describing vaginal cytology or vaginal hrHPV testing were reviewed, and diagnostic accuracy of these tests when available was noted. ResultsThe available literature was too limited to develop evidence-based recommendations for managing abnormal vaginal cytology and hrHPV screening tests. However, the data did show that (1) the risk of vaginal cancer in women after hysterectomy is extremely low, justifying the recommendation against routine screening, and (2) in women for whom surveillance is recommended, e.g., women posttreatment for cervical precancer or cancer, hrHPV testing may be useful in identification of vaginal cancer precursors. ConclusionsVaginal cancer is rare, and asymptomatic low-risk women should not be screened. An algorithm based on expert opinion is proposed for managing women with abnormal vaginal test results.
New design of As2Se3-based chalcogenide photonic crystal fiber for ultra-broadband, coherent, mid-IR supercontinuum generation

In this paper, we propose a new design of all-normal and ultra-flat dispersion As2Se3-based chalcogenide photonic crystal fibers (PCF). The generation of supercontinuum (SC) in the designed fibers is investigated, which has flat and smooth profile, covers a broad range extending from 2 to 8 μm. The significance of this work is that it provides a new type of mid-infrared SC source with flat shape, broadband and high coherence properties by pumping the As2Se3-based PCF. Thus many applications can be performed such as fiber lasers, pulse compression and multi-wavelength optical sources in the mid-infrared region.
The design of a data flow analyzer

This paper presents an efficient inter-procedural data flow analysis algorithm for precisely determining aliases in programs that employ a rich set of parameter passing mechanisms and pointer data types. This approach handles the use of pointers bounded to a data type as in Pascal, as well as unbounded pointers that can point to the same locations to which variables map. In the last step of this approach, the alias information is used to compute data flow information that is required for optimization.
Evaluation of Aquarius level 2 soil moisture products over central Tibetan Plateau and continental U.S.

Validation is important for any satellite-based remote sensing products. In this paper, in situ soil moisture observations from 38 stations over the 1 °×1 ° domain from the central Tibetan Plateau Soil Moisture/Temperature Monitoring Network (CTP-SMTMN) and 152 stations from the Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) over continental U.S. are used to determine the reliability of Aquarius level-2 soil moisture products. Evaluation of the time series in CTP-SMTMN shows good performances of the products to capture surface soil moisture annual cycle with the correlation coefficient of 0.767 and RMSD of 0.078m 3m-3. The evaluation results in SCAN suggest that the average correlation is 0.58 and 71.83% sites have correlation larger than 0.5 but differences are observed over many other sites and need to be addressed. The evaluation results also show that the retrieval results performed better for descending orbits (6 AM overpass time).
Two phase transitions in the adaptive voter model based on the homophily principle

Dynamics on and of networks are two basic processes that drive coevolving networks such as online social networks. The paper investigates the mechanism of coevolving networks using a generalized adaptive voter model based on related work and the homophily principle which is known as a driving mechanism to form community structure in social networks. The proposed model has mechanisms for dynamics on and of coevolving networks, which are node state change via social interactions and link rewiring based on homophily. The numerical simulation of the proposed model reveals that there exists two phase transitions for the parameters adaptability and homophily. This observation implies that the nature of the homophily principle lies in the adaptive mechanism in the proposed model.
Electric transport properties of Pt/Permalloy bilayers in the presence of an external magnetic field

A recent experimental study of the electric properties of Pt/Permalloy bilayers based on a simultaneous application of an in-plane microfrequency current and an external magnetic field is simulated on a fully relativistic ab initio level by considering the resistivity as an implicit function of the free energy. It is found that the oscillations detected experimentally are caused by the different behavior of out-of-plane and in-plane resistivities in the vicinity of that value of the free energy that corresponds to the resonant field induced by the applied current. A necessary precondition for such oscillations is a sizeable perpendicular anisotropy, which is not the case in systems consisting only of Permalloy. It is shown that the observed phenomenon is essentially an interface effect.
Decoration of plastic objects using multi view-dependent textures

This work takes place in the context of an industrial project, which aims to decorate 3D plastic objects using Insert Molding technology. The goal of our work is to compute the decoration of 3D virtual objects, using data coming from polymer film characterisation and mechanical simulation. To do this, we introduce a new method to bind texture mapping techniques to a physical process. In the general case of texture mapping, the surface (mesh) adapts the texture through the parameterization. In our context, the mesh comes from a physical distortion of an initial planar mesh, and our goal is to find the texture attached to the initial object, which gives the expected result after distortion. This texture combines information from several mapped images, which are visible from various views of the 3D objects. Moreover we want the texture mapping to be locally exact for all thess views. To achieve this goal, a specific view-dependent parameterization is defined and the inverse transformation is applied to the mesh. Since the industrial project is not finished yet, we validate our process by texturing two simple real objects.
Poly(lactic acid)/Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) Blend and its Composite: Effect of Maleic Anhydride Grafted Poly(lactic acid) as a Compatibilizer

Poly (lactic acid) (PLA)/poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) blend and its composite were prepared by melt blending method. Maleic anhydride grafted PLA (PLA-g-MA) prepared in-house was used as a compatibilizer to enhance the interfacial adhesion between PLA and PBAT and also to improve the dispersion of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in polymer matrices. Increasing PBAT content (10-30 wt%) resulted in the improvement of elongation at break and impact strength of PLA. Tensile strength, Young’s modulus, and impact strength of PLA/PBAT blend improved with the presence of PLA-g-MA due to enhanced interfacial adhesion between PLA and PBAT. As CaCO3 (5 wt%) was incorporated into the compatibilized blend, tensile strength, Young’s modulus, and impact strength insignificantly changed while elongation at break decreased.
Comparison of Histochemical Methods for Murine Eosinophil Detection in an RSV Vaccine-enhanced Inflammation Model

A comparative study of histochemical detection of eosinophils in fixed murine tissue is lacking. Five histochemical methods previously reported for eosinophil detection were quantitatively and qualitatively compared in an established murine RSV vaccine–enhanced inflammation model. Nonspecific neutrophil staining was evaluated in tissue sections of neutrophilic soft tissue lesions and bone marrow from respective animals. Eosinophils had granular red to orange-red cytoplasmic staining, depending on the method, whereas neutrophils had, when stained, a more homogenous cytoplasmic pattern. Nonspecific background staining of similar coloration was variably seen in vascular walls and erythrocytes. Astra Blue/Vital New Red, Congo Red, Luna, Modified Hematoxylin and Eosin, and Sirius Red techniques were all effective in detecting increased eosinophil recruitment compared to controls; however, differences in eosinophil quantification varied significantly between techniques. Astra Blue/Vital New Red had the best specificity for differentiating eosinophils and neutrophils but had a reduced ability to enumerate eosinophils and was the most time intensive. The Luna stain had excessive nonspecific staining of tissues and a reduced enumeration of infiltrating eosinophils, which made it suboptimal. For multiple parameters such as eosinophil detection, specificity, and contrast with background tissues, the Sirius Red followed by Congo Red and Modified Hematoxylin and Eosin methods were useful, each with their own staining qualities.
Optimal Unit Commitment with Ant Colony Algorithm

This paper presents an improved ant colony search algorithm that is suitable for solving unit commitment (UC) problems. Ant colony algorithm (ACA) is a meta-heuristic technique for solving hard combinatorial optimization problems. It is a population-based approach that uses exploitation of positive feedback, distributed computation as well as constructive greedy heuristic. The ACA was inspired by the behavior of real ants that are capable of finding the shortest path from food sources to the nest without using visual cues. The constraints used in the solution of the UC problem using this approach are: real power balance, real power operating limits of generating units, spinning reserve, startup cost, and minimum up and down time constraints. The approach determines the units schedule followed by the consideration of unit transition related constraints. The proposed approach is expected to yield a better operational cost for the UC problem of production of 50 power plant units. UC problem limits the application of traditional optimization techniques to small size system. Recently, meta-heuristic approaches became popular in the effort to overcome shortcomings of traditional optimization techniques. Techniques such as genetic algorithms, evolutionary programming, simulated annealing, and tabu search have been widely investigated to solve the UC problem. These methods can accommodate more complicated constraints and are claimed to produce solutions of improved quality. The ACA is a meta-heuristic technique proposed to find a near optimal solution to the UC problem. The ACA was inspired by the behavior of real ants which are capable of finding the shortest path from food sources to the nest without using visual cues. The technique has been tested successfully on diverse complex combinatorial optimization problems. Also, it has been shown that the ant colony method performs with little variability over problem diversity or random number seed. In addition, the ACA introduces an entirely new solution at each iteration, while other meta-heuristic optimization techniques are based on improvement of the solution or set of solutions obtained from the previous iteration. During the solution process of the UC problem using the ACA, the obtained solution is always feasible. Moreover, the ACA does not require major assumptions and approximations that limit the solution space.
Citron kinase – renaissance of a neglected mitotic kinase

ABSTRACT Cell division controls the faithful segregation of genomic and cytoplasmic materials between the two nascent daughter cells. Members of the Aurora, Polo and cyclin-dependent (Cdk) kinase families are known to regulate multiple events throughout cell division, whereas another kinase, citron kinase (CIT-K), for a long time has been considered to function solely during cytokinesis, the last phase of cell division. CIT-K was originally proposed to regulate the ingression of the cleavage furrow that forms at the equatorial cortex of the dividing cell after chromosome segregation. However, studies in the last decade have clarified that this kinase is, instead, required for the organization of the midbody in late cytokinesis, and also revealed novel functions of CIT-K earlier in mitosis and in DNA damage control. Moreover, CIT-K mutations have recently been linked to the development of human microcephaly, and CIT-K has been identified as a potential target in cancer therapy. In this Commentary, I describe and re-evaluate the functions and regulation of CIT-K during cell division and its involvement in human disease. Finally, I offer my perspectives on the open questions and future challenges that are necessary to address, in order to fully understand this important and yet unjustly neglected mitotic kinase. Summary: Citron kinase has been recently found to have new functions throughout the cell cycle and be involved in human disease. These findings and future perspectives are discussed in this Commentary.