Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INTERPRETING SUGARCANE VARIETAL ADAPTABILITY TO TIME OF HARVEST

The objectives of this study were to characterize v arietal adaptability to time of harvest (TOH) under rainfed conditions, and to evaluate the appropriateness of multivariate analysis techniques to investigate factors driving genotype x environment (GxE) interactions. Two field trials consisting of the same seven varieties were planted alongside each other and harvested either early (May) or late (October) in t he season for six ratoons. The GxE (trial x ratoon combination) interaction for cane yield (TCA NE), estimated recoverable crystal percent (ERC) and ERC yield (TERC), was analyzed using the Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) model. Environmental covariates for temperature (TT), rainfall (RAIN), radiation (RAD) and a water stress index (WSI) were summarized within individual growth phases (establishment, stalk elon gation, ripening). The GxE interactions were significant (P<0.001) for all variables and th e biplots showed that varieties N17, N19, and N27 were best suited to early harvesting while varieties NCo376, N29, N35 and N36 were suited best to late harvesting. Based on their correlations with biplot scores, the covariates were superimposed onto the AMMI biplots to allow for interpretations of GxE interactions. Higher TCANE of early harvests were associated with higher TT, RAD, and RAIN during stalk elongation. Higher ERC% of late harvests were associated with lower TT and higher water stress during stalk elongation and ripening. The interpretations corresponded to known knowledge of sugarcane growth and development, suggesting that the multivariate methods can be used to analyze mor e diverse GxE datasets.
Simple and efficient coupling of Hadoop with a database engine

The growing need of processing massive amounts of data leads database researchers to explore the possibility of combining their existing single-computer database systems with the popular parallel processing platform Hadoop. These hybrid systems not only can keep the efficiency of database processing, but also achieve a remarkable scalability. This poster intends to propose such a system named Parallel Secondo. It combines Hadoop with a number of extensible Secondo database engines, in order to scale up the capability of processing extensible data models in Secondo to a cluster of computers. It is also evaluated with the join operation on standard, spatial and spatio-temporal data upon different sizes of clusters.
Modelling the Real World: Conceptual Modelling in Spatiotemporal Information System Design

Throughout the relatively young history of research on spatiotemporal modelling, a substantial number of models have been presented. However, since a spatiotemporal model represents a closer approximation to the real world than is the case for traditional models, such models must be based on a thorough understanding of how objects ‘behave’ in reality. One way to acquire such knowledge is using conceptual modelling methodologies. In this paper, an overview of different modelling principles and a selection of conceptual modelling languages are presented together with examples related to a selection of spatiotemporal problems.
Multilingual keyword extraction for term suggestion

Users of information retrieval systems often input queries containing terms that do not match the terms used to index the majority of the relevant documents [l]. This problem of vocabulary mismatch can be effectively alleviated through a strategy known as “term suggestion” [2], an interactive process that allows users to peruse and select terms from those “suggested” by the system. However, to be able to suggest query terms, the system has to extract keywords from the document database, which leads to the problem of keyword extraction.
From French vocabulary to the Unified Medical Language System: A preliminary study

The Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) is an extensive source of biomedical knowledge developed and maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). The UMLS began to include biomedical terms in other languages a few years ago. However, providing foreign terms for existing concepts is only the first step for the UMLS to become international. The current limits of the use of the UMLS in French are analyzed (partial translation, unique source of the translated concepts, improper character set, and absence of lexical resources for lexical matching tools). Some suggestions are given for French to be better integrated into the UMLS, especially for adapting the lexical resources to French. Once completed, our present work is expected to give the UMLS the capability to be effectively queried in French.
CMUT characterization by interferometric and electric measurements

Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) with 5.7 ¿m radius, realized by wafer bonding, have been characterized by both optical and electrical measurements. These measurements are performed by our heterodyne interferometer and a network analyzer, respectively. The results from this article will be used to improve the fabrication of next-generation CMUTs. We have investigated the spread in resonance frequency of different CMUT membranes along the array. Q-factors have been obtained using both measurement methods, and the results from the 2 methods have been numerically compared. The relation between applied dc voltage and resonance frequency has been studied. Temperature measurements show that increasing temperature leads to a small decrease in the resonance frequency of the CMUTs; however, the decrease is small enough to ensure stable operation with small variations in room temperature. The heterodyne interferometer is used to inspect the vibration pattern of the CMUTs' higher harmonic modes. These modes are located at approximately 60 MHz in air. To the authors' knowledge, vibration modes at frequencies >40 MHz have not been previously studied.
Anti-interleukin-12 antibody for active Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND Crohn's disease is associated with excess cytokine activity mediated by type 1 helper T (Th1) cells. Interleukin-12 is a key cytokine that initiates Th1-mediated inflammatory responses. METHODS This double-blind trial evaluated the safety and efficacy of a human monoclonal antibody against interleukin-12 (anti-interleukin-12) in 79 patients with active Crohn's disease. Patients were randomly assigned to receive seven weekly subcutaneous injections of 1 mg or 3 mg of anti-interleukin-12 per kilogram of body weight or placebo, with either a four-week interval between the first and second injection (Cohort 1) or no interruption between the two injections (Cohort 2). Safety was the primary end point, and the rates of clinical response (defined by a reduction in the score for the Crohn's Disease Activity Index [CDAI] of at least 100 points) and remission (defined by a CDAI score of 150 or less) were secondary end points. RESULTS Seven weeks of uninterrupted treatment with 3 mg of anti-interleukin-12 per kilogram resulted in higher response rates than did placebo administration (75 percent vs. 25 percent, P=0.03). At 18 weeks of follow-up, the difference in response rates was no longer significant (69 percent vs. 25 percent, P=0.08). Differences in remission rates between the group given 3 mg of anti-interleukin-12 per kilogram and the placebo group in Cohort 2 were not significant at either the end of treatment or the end of follow-up (38 percent and 0 percent, respectively, at both times; P=0.07). There were no significant differences in response rates among the groups in Cohort 1. The rates of adverse events among patients receiving anti-interleukin-12 were similar to those among patients given placebo, except for a higher rate of local reactions at injection sites in the former group. Decreases in the secretion of interleukin-12, interferon-gamma, and tumor necrosis factor alpha by mononuclear cells of the colonic lamina propria accompanied clinical improvement in patients receiving anti-interleukin-12. CONCLUSIONS Treatment with a monoclonal antibody against interleukin-12 may induce clinical responses and remissions in patients with active Crohn's disease. This treatment is associated with decreases in Th1-mediated inflammatory cytokines at the site of disease.
Development and Integration of Block Operations for Data Invariant Automation of Digital Preprocessing and Analysis of Biological and Biomedical Raman Spectra

High-throughput information extraction from large numbers of Raman spectra is becoming an increasingly taxing problem due to the proliferation of new applications enabled using advances in instrumentation. Fortunately, in many of these applications, the entire process can be automated, yielding reproducibly good results with significant time and cost savings. Information extraction consists of two stages, preprocessing and analysis. We focus here on the preprocessing stage, which typically involves several steps, such as calibration, background subtraction, baseline flattening, artifact removal, smoothing, and so on, before the resulting spectra can be further analyzed. Because the results of some of these steps can affect the performance of subsequent ones, attention must be given to the sequencing of steps, the compatibility of these sequences, and the propensity of each step to generate spectral distortions. We outline here important considerations to effect full automation of Raman spectral preprocessing: what is considered full automation; putative general principles to effect full automation; the proper sequencing of processing and analysis steps; conflicts and circularities arising from sequencing; and the need for, and approaches to, preprocessing quality control. These considerations are discussed and illustrated with biological and biomedical examples reflecting both successful and faulty preprocessing.
Heterodimeric TALENs induce targeted heritable mutations in the crustacean Daphnia magna

ABSTRACT Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are artificial nucleases harboring a customizable DNA-binding domain and a FokI nuclease domain. The high specificity of the DNA-binding domain and the ease of design have enabled researchers to use TALENs for targeted mutagenesis in various organisms. Here, we report the development of TALEN-dependent targeted gene disruption in the crustacean Daphnia magna, the emerging model for ecological and toxicological genomics. First, a reporter transgene DsRed2 (EF1&agr;-1::DsRed2) was targeted. Using the Golden Gate method with a GoldyTALEN scaffold, we constructed homodimeric and heterodimeric TALENs containing wild-type and ELD/KKR FokI domains. mRNAs that coded for either the customized homodimeric or heterodimeric TALENs were injected into one-cell-stage embryos. The high mortality of embryos injected with homodimeric TALEN mRNAs prevented us from detecting mutations. In contrast, embryos injected with heterodimeric TALEN mRNAs survived and 78%–87% of the adults lost DsRed2 fluorescence in a large portion of cells throughout the body. In addition, these adults produced non-fluorescent progenies, all of which carried mutations at the dsRed2 locus. We also tested heterodimeric TALENs targeted for the endogenous eyeless gene and found that biallelic mutations could be transmitted through germ line cells at a rate of up to 22%. Both somatic and heritable mutagenesis efficiencies of TALENs were higher than those of the CRISPR/Cas9 system that we recently developed. These results suggest that the TALEN system may efficiently induce heritable mutations into the target genes, which will further contribute to the progress of functional genomics in D. magna.
A Fast, Consistent Kernel Two-Sample Test

A kernel embedding of probability distributions into reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS) has recently been proposed, which allows the comparison of two probability measures P and Q based on the distance between their respective embeddings: for a sufficiently rich RKHS, this distance is zero if and only if P and Q coincide. In using this distance as a statistic for a test of whether two samples are from different distributions, a major difficulty arises in computing the significance threshold, since the empirical statistic has as its null distribution (where P = Q) an infinite weighted sum of χ2 random variables. Prior finite sample approximations to the null distribution include using bootstrap resampling, which yields a consistent estimate but is computationally costly; and fitting a parametric model with the low order moments of the test statistic, which can work well in practice but has no consistency or accuracy guarantees. The main result of the present work is a novel estimate of the null distribution, computed from the eigen-spectrum of the Gram matrix on the aggregate sample from P and Q, and having lower computational cost than the bootstrap. A proof of consistency of this estimate is provided. The performance of the null distribution estimate is compared with the bootstrap and parametric approaches on an artificial example, high dimensional multivariate data, and text.
Decoupling power flow control system in triple active bridge converter rated at 400 V, 10 kW, and 20 kHz

An autonomous DC microgrid system that uses a triple active bridge converter as a power routing unit is proposed. A control system that can independently manage the transmission power between each port is needed to construct the microgrid. This paper describes how the decoupling power flow control system is implemented in the prototype triple active bridge (TAB) converter rated at 400 V, 10 kW, and 20 kHz. The validity of the system was demonstrated by measuring the step response of the TAB converter. The experimental waveforms of the prototype show that the transmission power of each port converges to the command value independently within the specified integral time constant Ti = 15 ms.
Quality or quantity? The supply-side determinants of primary schooling in rural Mozambique.

The role of school quality in determining educational outcomes has received much research attention in the United States. However, in developing countries, where a significant part of the school age population never attends school, policymakers must consider both quality and quantity when deciding how to maximize the impact of scarce investments. Acknowledging this difference in the policy environment in developing countries, this paper provides comparative estimates of the impact of quality versus quantity investments in school supply in rural Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries. Policy simulations show that improving school quality (through the pupilteacher ratio) increases grade attainment and efficiency by approximately 9 percent with no impact on overall enrollment rates. However, these same results can be generated by increasing starting enrollment probabilities through the establishment of new schools in all rural villages that currently do not have schools. Furthermore, similar rates of increase in school achievement indicators can be achieved by building schools in only 56 percent of all villages currently without schools, provided these schools are placed in those villages that also do not have a school nearby. When cost information is considered, the main policy implication is that the expansion of school quantity through well-targeted placement of new schools will provide the greatest increase in educational outcomes for Mozambique at this time.
A Formal Coloured Petri Net Model for Hazard Detection in Large Event Flows

This paper deals with a formal approach for the detection of situations in the context of complex event processing, which is a technique particularly employed in the aerospace field. Indeed, aerospace systems generally involve numerous interacting agents, to each of which are associated various possible events, thus yielding a huge flow of events. A common issue when dealing with the safety of such systems consists in being able to detect in this flow certain event correlations, from which one may then deduce that the system is in a particular (often critical or hazardous) state. This work is based on a situation description language called chronicles, and provides for it a formal recognition model based on coloured Petri nets. A two-layer compositional model is provided: a concurrent, nondeterministic recognition model for each chronicle construct, together with additional control structures allowing to overview the recognition treatments performed on the event flow.
Can Persistence Hunting Signal Male Quality? A Test Considering Digit Ratio in Endurance Athletes

Various theories have been posed to explain the fitness payoffs of hunting success among hunter-gatherers. ‘Having’ theories refer to the acquisition of resources, and include the direct provisioning hypothesis. In contrast, ‘getting’ theories concern the signalling of male resourcefulness and other desirable traits, such as athleticism and intelligence, via hunting prowess. We investigated the association between androgenisation and endurance running ability as a potential signalling mechanism, whereby running prowess, vital for persistence hunting, might be used as a reliable signal of male reproductive fitness by females. Digit ratio (2D:4D) was used as a proxy for prenatal androgenisation in 439 males and 103 females, while a half marathon race (21km), representing a distance/duration comparable with that of persistence hunting, was used to assess running ability. Digit ratio was significantly and positively correlated with half-marathon time in males (right hand: r = 0.45, p<0.001; left hand: r = 0.42, p<0.001) and females (right hand: r = 0.26, p<0.01; left hand: r = 0.23, p = 0.02). Sex-interaction analysis showed that this correlation was significantly stronger in males than females, suggesting that androgenisation may have experienced stronger selective pressure from endurance running in males. As digit ratio has previously been shown to predict reproductive success, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that endurance running ability may signal reproductive potential in males, through its association with prenatal androgen exposure. However, further work is required to establish whether and how females respond to this signalling for fitness.
The Power of Transparency: Information, Identification Cards and Food Subsidy Programs in Indonesia

Can governments improve aid programs by providing information to beneficiaries? In our model, information can change how much aid citizens receive as they bargain with local officials who implement national programs. In a large-scale field experiment, we test whether mailing cards with program information to beneficiaries increases their subsidy from a subsidized rice program. Beneficiaries received 26 percent more subsidy in card villages. Ineligible households received no less, so this represents lower leakage. The evidence suggests that this effect is driven by citizen bargaining with local officials. Experimentally adding the official price to the cards increased the subsidy by 21 percent compared to cards without price information. Additional public information increased higher-order knowledge about eligibility, leading to a 16 percent increase in subsidy compared to just distributing cards. In short, increased transparency empowered citizens to reduce leakages and improve program functioning.
Internal attacks in anonymous publish-subscribe P2P overlays

Privacy, in particular anonymity, is desirable in Online Social Networks (OSNs) like Twitter, especially when considering the threat of political repression and censorship. P2P-based publish-subscribe is a well suited paradigm for OSN scenarios as users can publish and follow topics of interest. However, anonymity in P2P-based publish-subscribe (pub-sub) has been hardly analyzed so far. Research on add-on anonymization systems such as Tor mostly focuses on large scale traffic analysis rather than malicious insiders. Therefore, we analyze colluding insider attackers in more detail that operate on the basis of timing information. For that, we model a generic anonymous pub-sub system, present an attacker model, and discuss timing attacks. We analyze these attacks by a realistic simulation model and discuss potential countermeasures. Our findings indicate that even few malicious insiders are capable to disclose a large number of participants, while an attacker using large amounts of colluding nodes achieves only minor additional improvements.
An Experimental Study of Common- and Differential-Mode Active EMI Filter Compensation Characteristics

Most reported compensation schemes for active electromagnetic interference filters (AEFs) use either voltage canceling or current canceling to deal with high-frequency noise interference. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the compensation characteristics of these two kinds of AEFs for different types of noise sources, i.e., common mode (CM) and differential mode (DM) noise source. This is examined by experimental identification and theoretical analysis of the insertion losses of AEF with voltage- or current-cancellation scheme. It is demonstrated that current-canceling AEFs are effective in eliminating high-impedance CM noise, while voltage-canceling AEFs are good compensation solutions for low-impedance DM noise. The results reported in the paper enable the choice of optimized compensation schemes, using the aforementioned indicated aspects.
Upconversion Nanoparticles for Bioimaging and Regenerative Medicine

Nanomaterials are proving useful for regenerative medicine in combination with stem cell therapy. Nanoparticles (NPs) can be administrated and targeted to desired tissues or organs and subsequently be used in non-invasive real-time visualization and tracking of cells by means of different imaging techniques, can act as therapeutic agent nanocarriers, and can also serve as scaffolds to guide the growth of new tissue. NPs can be of different chemical nature, such as gold, iron oxide, cadmium selenide, and carbon, and have the potential to be used in regenerative medicine. However, there are still many issues to be solved, such as toxicity, stability, and resident time. Upconversion NPs have relevant properties such as (i) low toxicity, (ii) capability to absorb light in an optical region where absorption in tissues is minimal and penetration is optimal (note they can also be designed to emit in the near-infrared region), and (iii) they can be used in multiplexing and multimodal imaging. An overview on the potentiality of upconversion materials in regenerative medicine is given.