Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impairment of Sulfite Reductase Decreases Oxidative Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana

As an essential enzyme in the sulfate assimilation reductive pathway, sulfite reductase (SiR) plays important roles in diverse metabolic processes such as sulfur homeostasis and cysteine metabolism. However, whether plant SiR is involved in oxidative stress response is largely unknown. Here, we show that SiR functions in methyl viologen (MV)-induced oxidative stress in Arabidopsis. The transcript levels of SiR were higher in leaves, immature siliques, and roots and were markedly and rapidly up-regulated by MV exposure. The SiR knock-down transgenic lines had about 60% residual transcripts and were more susceptible than wild-type when exposed to oxidative stress. The severe damage phenotypes of the SiR-impaired lines were accompanied by increases of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), and sulfite accumulations, but less amounts of glutathione (GSH). Interestingly, application of exogenous GSH effectively rescued corresponding MV hypersensitivity in SiR-impaired plants. qRT-PCR analysis revealed that there was significantly increased expression of several sulfite metabolism-related genes in SiR-impaired lines. Noticeably, enhanced transcripts of the three APR genes were quite evident in SiR-impaired plants; suggesting that the increased sulfite in the SiR-impaired plants could be a result of the reduced SiR coupled to enhanced APR expression during oxidative stress. Together, our results indicate that SiR is involved in oxidative stress tolerance possibly by maintaining sulfite homeostasis, regulating GSH levels, and modulating sulfite metabolism-related gene expression in Arabidopsis. SiR could be exploited for engineering environmental stress-tolerant plants in molecular breeding of crops.
Radiosurgery Practice Guideline Initiative Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Patients with

Disclaimer This guideline is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice and does not address specific treatments or conditions for any patient. Those consulting this guideline are to seek qualified consultation utilizing information specific to their medical situation. Further, IRSA does not warrant any instrument or equipment nor make any representations concerning its fitness for use in any particular instance nor any other warranties whatsoever.
Comparison of Dynamics of Extracellular Accesses to the β1 and β2 Adrenoceptors Binding Sites Uncovers the Potential of Kinetic Basis of Antagonist Selectivity

From the molecular mechanism of antagonist unbinding in the β1 and β2 adrenoceptors investigated by steered molecular dynamics, we attempt to provide further possibilities of ligand subtype and subspecies selectivity. We have simulated unbinding of β1‐selective Esmolol and β2‐selective ICI‐118551 from both receptors to the extracellular environment and found distinct molecular features of unbinding. By calculating work profiles, we show different preference in antagonist unbinding pathways between the receptors, in particular, perpendicular to the membrane pathway is favourable in the β1 adrenoceptor, whereas the lateral pathway involving helices 5, 6 and 7 is preferable in the β2 adrenoceptor. The estimated free energy change of unbinding based on the preferable pathway correlates with the experimental ligand selectivity. We then show that the non‐conserved K347 (6.58) appears to facilitate in guiding Esmolol to the extracellular surface via hydrogen bonds in the β1 adrenoceptor. In contrast, hydrophobic and aromatic interactions dominate in driving ICI‐118551 through the easiest pathway in the β2 adrenoceptor. We show how our study can stimulate design of selective antagonists and discuss other possible molecular reasons of ligand selectivity, involving sequential binding of agonists and glycosylation of the receptor extracellular surface.
Estimation of Zellner-Revankar Production Function Revisited

Zellner and Revankar in their paper “Generalized Production Functions” introduced a production function, which was illustrated by fitting the generalized Cobb-Douglas function to the U.S. data for Transportation Equipment Industry. For estimating the production function, they used a method in which one of the parameters (theta) is repeatedly chosen at the trial basis and other parameters are estimated so as to obtain the global optimum of the likelihood function. We show that this method of Zellner and Revankar (ZR) is caught into a local optimum trap and the estimated parameters reported by ZR are somewhat sub-optimal. Using the Differential Evolution (DE) and the Repulsive Particle Swarm (RPS) methods, we re-estimate the parameters of the ZR production function with data used by ZR and show that our estimates of parameters are better than those of ZR. We also find that the returns to scale do not vary with the size of output in the manner reported by ZR.
A high-speed transceiver architecture implementable as synthesizable IP core

In this work, a synthesizable architecture for serial high speed transceiver is presented, which can be implemented on register-transfer level (RTL) with standard hardware description languages (HDL). The proposed implementation as a soft IP macro can be synthesized applying a semi-custom design flow, widely used in industry whenever possible. Generally, the implementation of high speed transceivers is a typical domain of a full custom design style because the timing critical parts are realized by dedicated transistor level design of the PLL/DLL based architectures. Compared to this method, the design productivity can be enhanced significantly, with the usage of this soft IP macro. With the presented implementation, data rates of about 1 GBit/s can be achieved. This is certainly less compared to full custom implementations. Nevertheless, this is an appealing solution for short design time and low cost design, if the achieved data rate is sufficient. In addition, current research show that data rates above the mentioned result can be achieved.
An improved first stability advanced fuel tokamak Apollo-L3

The Apollo-L3 conceptual reactor design utilizes D-/sup 3/He fuel in a first stability tokamak configuration with direct conversion of synchrotron radiation to electricity as well as thermal conversion of surface heat and neutron energy. An update of the parameters of the design is given, and analyses of certain critical issues of Apollo-L3 are reported. These include plasma startup, loss of fast ions by magnetic ripple, safety analyses, and tritium storage. The update has led to an increase in the major radius by about 40 cm and an increase in the cost of electricity by about 10%. An alternative to direct energy conversion of the synchrotron radiation is to convert the energy using a thermal cycle; this increases the cost by another 10%. Startup of the plasma using a small amount of tritium eliminates the need for auxiliary heating other than that provided by the current drive system. Analysis of accident scenarios led to a possible offsite early dose of 3.6 rem for a LOCA without burning of the organic coolant and 103 rem if the organic coolant burns. On the basis of the expected temperature of the shield in a LOCA accident and the radioactive inventory, Apollo-L3 qualifies for a level of safety rating of one. <<ETX>>
Cover Crop Mulch and Weed Management Influence Arthropod Communities in Strip-Tilled Cabbage

ABSTRACT Cover crop mulch and weeds create habitat complexity in agricultural fields that may influence arthropods. Under strip-tillage systems, planting rows are tilled and preestablished cover crops can remain between rows. In field experiments conducted in Michigan in 2010 and 2011, a preestablished oat (Avena sativa L.) cover crop was allowed to grow between rows of strip-tilled cabbage and killed at 0, 9–14, or 21–27 d after transplanting (DAT). The effects of herbicide intensity and oat kill date on arthropods, weeds, and crop yield were examined. Two levels of herbicide intensity (low or high) were used to manipulate habitat vegetational complexity, with low weed management intensity resulting in more weeds, particularly in 2010. Oat kill date manipulated the amount of cover crop mulch on the soil surface. Later oat kill dates were associated with higher natural enemy abundance. Reduced herbicide intensity was associated with 1) lower abundance of several key cabbage (Brassica oleraceae L.) pests, and 2) greater abundance of important natural enemy species. Habitats with both later oat kill dates and reduced herbicide intensity contained 1) fewer herbivores with chewing feeding guilds and more specialized diet breadths, and 2) greater abundance of active hunting natural enemies. Oats reduced cabbage yield when oat kill was delayed past 9–14 DAT. Yields were reduced under low herbicide intensity treatments in 2010 when weed pressure was greatest. We suspect that increased habitat complexity associated with oat mulches and reduced herbicide intensity enhances biological control in cabbage, although caution should be taken to avoid reducing yields or enhancing hyperparasitism.
Wireless Vision Based Object Tracking Using Continuously Adaptive Mean Shift Tracking Algorithm

In this paper we implement a Wireless vision based Object Tracking system with Wireless Surveillance Camera which uses a novel color based object tracking algorithm designed to work on any non-ideal environment. The implementation of the kernel-based tracking of moving video objects based on the CAMSHIFT algorithm is presented. We show that the algorithm performs exceptionally well on moving objects in video sequences and it is robust to changes in shape with complete occlusion. The improvement in performance is achieved by using - an adaptive block-based approach for estimating motion between frames and an efficient modulation scheme is used to control the gap between frames used for object tracking. The algorithm for detecting occlusion proceeds in two steps. First, covered regions are estimated from the displaced frame difference. Then, covered regions are classified into actual occlusions and false alarms using motion characteristics. Disocclusion detection is also performed in a similar manner using motion vector information is proposed in this paper.
Distributed Software Transactional Memory

This report describes an implementation of a distributed software transactional memory (DSTM) system in PLT Scheme. The system is built using PLT Scheme’s Unit construct to encapsulate the various concerns of the system, and allow for multiple communication layer backends. The front-end API exposes true parallel processing to PLT Scheme programmers, as well as cluster-based computing using a shared namespace for transactional variables. The ramifications of the availability of such a system are considered in the novel context of highly dynamic robot swarm programming scenarios. In robotics programming scenarios, difficulty with expressing complex distributed computing patterns often supersedes raw performance in importance. In fact, for many applications the data to be shared among networked peers is relatively small in size, but the manner in which data sharing is expressed leads to tremendous inefficiencies both at development time and runtime. In an effort to maintain focus on behavior specification, we reduce the emphasis on messaging protocols typically found in distributed robotics software, while providing even greater flexibility in terms of how data is mixed and matched as it moves over the network.
Expresso - A Problem Solving Environment for Bioinformatics: Finding Answers With Microarray Technology

This research addresses the need for high performance computational tools for capturing, storing, analyzing, and visualizing large quantities of gene expression data, as produced by microarray technology. We describe the design of the Expresso PSE, which aids in visualizing analytical results along multiple dimensions, searching for patterns in the data, and modeling functional relationships among genes. The usefulness of the PSE is demonstrated by its development and use in parallel with a set of microarray experiments addressing hypotheses about stress response and wood formation in loblolly pine, with results of potential economic benefit to forestry.
Manufacturing Supply Chain Adaptive Management under Changing Demand Conditions

The paper presents a system dynamics approach to analysis of generic manufacturing supply chain model and considers the problem of determination of adaptive effective strategy on production, supply rates and price according to inventory levels and the market situation through a demand curve estimation. The special focus lies on the investigation of the product price influences on demand and its optimal regulation. The simple manufacturing supply chain, which includes manufacturing unit, storage and distribution unit without having a direct customer orders is considered. The model for demand curve adaptive estimation and forecast by ordinary least squares and exponential smoothing methods is proposed. The problem of optimal management for price, distribution rate and production start rate under invariant and shifting demand curve is investigated. The obtained results can be used in research to understand and improve managerial decision making in real complex dynamic systems.
Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders among Patients with Myocardial Infarction: Associations with Disparities in Care and Mortality

Background Because alcohol and drug use disorders (SUDs) can influence quality of care, we compared patients with and without SUDs on frequency of catheterization, revascularization, and in-hospital mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods This study employed hospital discharge data identifying all adult AMI admissions (ICD-9-CM code 410) between April 1996 and December 2001. Patients were classified as having an SUD if they had alcohol and/or drug (not nicotine) abuse or dependence using a validated ICD-9-CM coding definition. Catheterization and revascularization data were obtained by linkage with a clinically-detailed cardiac registry. Analyses (controlling for comorbidities and disease severity) compared patients with and without SUDs for post-MI catheterization, revascularization, and in-hospital mortality. Results Of 7,876 AMI unique patient admissions, 2.6% had an SUD. In adjusted analyses mortality was significantly higher among those with an SUD (odds ratio (OR) 2.02; 95%CI: 1.10–3.69), while there was a trend toward lower catheterization rates among those with an SUD (OR 0.75; 95%CI: 0.55–1.01). Among the subset of AMI admissions who underwent catheterization, the adjusted hazard ratio for one-year revascularization was 0.85 (95%CI: 0.65–1.11) with an SUD compared to without. Conclusions Alcohol and drug use disorders are associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality following AMI in adults of all ages, and may also be associated with decreased access to catheterization and revascularization. This higher mortality in the face of poorer access to procedures suggests that these individuals may be under-treated following AMI. Targeted efforts are required to explore the interplay of patient and provider factors that underlie this finding.
Account Service and Creative Personnel: Interpersonal Conflict and Dialectical Tensions in Advertising Agencies

ACCOUNT SERVICE AND CREATIVE PERSONNEL: INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT AND DIALECTICAL TENSIONS IN ADVERTISING AGENCIES ASHLEY PHILLIPS 2017 Account service and creative personnel have oppositional perspectives and motivations that often lead to interpersonal conflicts while working together on client projects. The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of interpersonal conflicts in advertising agencies. The researcher used relational dialectics theory as a lens for analyzing the dialectical (i.e., oppositional) tensions experienced by account service and creative personnel as well as the praxis patterns (i.e., techniques) used to manage those tensions. After conducting in-depth interviews with five account service and five creative personnel (N = 10) from full service advertising agencies in the Midwest, an analysis revealed that research participants discussed a variety of conflicts between account service and creative personnel during the client project process. Overall, interpersonal conflict stemmed from methods of communication, direction of the project, lack of respect, and working style. Research participants also experienced six main dialectical tensions including: openness vs. closedness, individual vs. collaborative work time, ideal vs. real, stability vs. change, defend vs. accept, and subjective vs. objective. Participants described five praxis patterns that they use to communicatively manage those dialectical tensions: emphasizing one pole of the tension over the other, alternating between poles, source-
Cooperative Q-learning: the knowledge sharing issue

A group of cooperative and homogeneous Q-learning agents can cooperate to learn faster and gain more knowledge. In order to do so, each learner agent must be able to evaluate the expertness and the intelligence level of the other agents, and to assess the knowledge and the information it gets from them. In addition, the learner needs a suitable method to properly combine its own knowledge and what it gains from the other agents according to their relative expertness. In this paper, some expertness measuring criteria are introduced. Also, a new cooperative learning method called weighted strategy sharing (WSS) is introduced. In WSS, based on the amount of its teammate expertness, each agent assigns a weight to their knowledge and utilizes it accordingly. WSS and the expertness criteria are tested on two simulated hunter–prey and object-pushing systems.
Discrete genetic boundaries of three Streblospio (Spionidae, Annelida) species and the status of S. shrubsolii

Abstract Spionid polychaetes are a dominant component of benthic assemblages in marine and estuarine habitats and are important in assessing ecological function and integrity. Ecological and biogeographic studies rely upon the ability to distinguish between morphologically similar species, as well as knowledge of evolutionary relationships between species. Unfortunately, differentiating between congeneric species of spionids can be challenging thereby potentially creating mistakes in scientific investigations. For example Streblospio contains three recognized species (S. benedicti, S. shrubsolii, S. gynobranchiata) with few distinguishing morphological characters. Herein, we use ∼500 bases of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (COI) to investigate the status of S. shrubsolii relative to other Streblospio. COI has previously been used to distinguish North American Streblospio benedicti and S. gynobranchiata. Results indicate all three Streblospio species are reciprocally monophyletic with S. shrubsolii basal to a well-supported S. benedicti/S. gynobranchiata clade.
Toluidine blue cytometry test for sperm DNA conformation: comparison with the flow cytometric sperm chromatin structure and TUNEL assays.

BACKGROUND Sperm DNA integrity (SDI) is an important factor in the prognosis of male fertility. Here we compare the toluidine blue (TB) image cytometry test, recently proposed by us for SDI assessment, with two other tests-the sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and the terminal nick-end labelling (TUNEL) assay. METHODS Sperm samples from 35 men were evaluated for standard sperm parameters and subjected to the TB test and SCSA. Eighteen of the 35 samples were also subjected to the TUNEL assay. RESULTS The proportion of sperm cells with abnormal DNA integrity assayed by the TB test correlated strongly with the proportion of abnormal cells detected by the SCSA and TUNEL assay (rho=-0.84 and rho=0.80, P<0.001, respectively). Furthermore, the fractions of abnormal cells by the TB test corresponded closely to the sum of two SCSA parameters, the DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and the fraction of highly DNA-stainable cells (HDS) (medians 33.0 versus 32.0%, P=0.6). CONCLUSIONS Abnormal cells in a TB test correspond to the sum of DFI and HDS fractions in the SCSA. TB-positive cells may represent sperm with fragmented DNA and/or abnormal chromatin structure. Because the TB test is an easy and inexpensive method, its potential use as a routine test for sperm DNA integrity, complementary to standard semen parameters, should be investigated further.
Integrating Mathematics and Children’s Literature for Young Children With Disabilities

Math skills are critical for children’s future success in school, as school-entry math knowledge is the strongest predictor of later academic achievement. Although there is a recent increase of literature on math with young children, there is a scarcity of research related to young children with disabilities. This quasi-experimental study with 50 preschool aged children with disabilities examined the effects of an intervention that integrated mathematics and literature on early numeracy skills. The intervention was conducted 3 days per week for 6 weeks, and consisted of an interactive shared storybook reading including mathematical content through scripted questioning and discussions and story-related mathematical activities after the reading of the story. Children who received the intervention scored significantly higher than the comparison group in total math ability, quantity comparison, one-to-one correspondence counting, and oral counting as measured by scores on the Test of Early Mathematics Ability, Third Edition (TEMA-3) and the Individual Growth & Development Indicators Early Numeracy (IGDIS-EN).
A methodology of parsing mathematical notation for mathematical computation

Mathematical notation has not been parsed effectively up to the present. In order to use mathematical notation on computer directly, and thus to develop many potential applications and to determine if common mathematical notation can be parsed by computer, we inquire into the omission mechanism of parentheses and operators, study the extension mechanism of mathematical notation, and establish a methodology to translate a two-dimensional mathematical expression into a textual functional meaning representation. This methodology is a combination of different formalization methods denoted by a defined box language, various context-sensitive grammars written in a defined metalanguage, and knowledge-based parsers.
Spectral analysis of heart rate variability in sleep.

Spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) during overnight polygraphic recording was performed in 11 healthy subjects. The total spectrum power, power of the VLF, LF and HF spectral bands and the mean R-R were evaluated. Compared to Stage 2 and Stage 4 non-REM sleep, the total spectrum power was significantly higher in REM sleep and its value gradually increased in the course of each REM cycle. The value of the VLF component (reflects slow regulatory mechanisms, e.g. the renin-angiotensin system, thermoregulation) was significantly higher in REM sleep than in Stage 2 and Stage 4 of non-REM sleep. The LF spectral component (linked to the sympathetic modulation) was significantly higher in REM sleep than in Stage 2 and Stage 4 non-REM sleep. On the contrary, a power of the HF spectral band (related to parasympathetic activity) was significantly higher in Stage 2 and Stage 4 non-REM than in REM sleep. The LF/HF ratio, which reflects the sympathovagal balance, had its maximal value during REM sleep and a minimal value in synchronous sleep. The LF/HF ratio significantly increased during 5-min segments of Stage 2 non-REM sleep immediately preceding REM sleep compared to 5-min segments of Stage 2 non-REM sleep preceding the slow-wave sleep. This expresses the sympathovagal shift to sympathetic predominance occurring before the onset of REM sleep. A significant lengthening of the R-R interval during subsequent cycles of Stage 2 non-REM sleep was documented, which is probably related to the shift of sympathovagal balance to a prevailing parasympathetic influence in the course of sleep. This finding corresponds to a trend of a gradual decrease of the LF/HF ratio in subsequent cycles of Stage 2 non-REM sleep.