Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ID4 levels dictate the stem cell state in mouse spermatogonia

Spermatogenesis is a classic model of cycling cell lineages that depend on a balance between stem cell self-renewal for continuity and the formation of progenitors as the initial step in the production of differentiated cells. The mechanisms that guide the continuum of spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) to progenitor spermatogonial transition and precise identifiers of subtypes in the process are undefined. Here we used an Id4-eGfp reporter mouse to discover that EGFP intensity is predictive of the subsets, with the ID4-EGFPBright population being mostly, if not purely, SSCs, whereas the ID4-EGFPDim population is in transition to the progenitor state. These subsets are also distinguishable by transcriptome signatures. Moreover, using a conditional overexpression mouse model, we found that transition from the stem cell to the immediate progenitor state requires downregulation of Id4 coincident with a major change in the transcriptome. Collectively, our results demonstrate that the level of ID4 is predictive of stem cell or progenitor capacity in spermatogonia and dictates the interface of transition between the different functional states. Summary: The level of ID4 expression distinguishes stem cells and immediate progenitors in mammalian spermatogonial cells, while downregulation of ID4 is required for transition between the functional states.
A Survey on Content Placement Algorithms for Cloud-Based Content Delivery Networks

This paper provides a comprehensive survey of content placement (CP) algorithms for cloud-based content delivery networks (CCDNs). CP algorithms are essential for content delivery for their major role in selecting content to be stored in the geographically distributed surrogate servers in the cloud to meet end-user demands with quality of service (QoS). Evidently, the key objectives of CP, i.e., cost and QoS, are competing. Cost is determined by the underlying cost model of the CCDN infrastructure while the delivered QoS is determined by where the content is placed in the CCDN. Therefore, we provide an overview of the content and the CCDN infrastructure. The overview of the content includes content characteristics and the influence of Online Social Networking on CP. The overview of the CCDN infrastructure includes elasticity and cost model, which affect CP. Our goal is to provide a holistic perspective of the aspects that impact CP algorithms and their efficiency. From the influential factors, we derive a set of design criteria for CP algorithms in CCDNs. We discuss the state-of-the-art CP algorithms for CCDNs and evaluate them against the well-motivated design criteria. We also delineate practical implications and uncover future research challenges.
Occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in various types of raw oilseeds from different regions of China

ABSTRACT Ninety-five samples of 18 types of oilseeds used for edible oil production were collected from different origins of China. The occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in these oilseeds was presented after the analysis by using a simplified gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method. The results indicated that some of these oilseeds were not found of indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, and benzo[ghi]perylene. Naphthalene and phenanthrene had higher concentration than other individual PAH in the same sample. The range of BaP, PAH4, and PAH16 concentration in these 95 samples was 0.1–14.1, 1.1–74.6, and 81.8–466.8 µg/kg, respectively. LPAH accounted for 87.1–99.5% of the total concentration of PAHs in all of studied oilseeds. The average concentrations of PAH16 in different types of oilseed were different. Meanwhile, the samples collected from different origins of China presented various levels of PAH16. The differences between herbaceous plant oilseeds and woody plant oilseeds in terms of PAH levels were not observed.
Identifying Contractors’ Planned Quality Costs in Indonesian Construction Projects

In a very competitive construction industry, quality costs have to be measured to be able to identify potential quality problem areas and to focus attention on work output improvement opportunities. The awareness of contractors on the importance of quality costs could be reflected in the extent of their quality costs planning. This paper presents an identification of planned quality costs in three construction projects executed by two large Indonesian contractors, a state-owned company and a private company in Jakarta. The objective is to enable the contractors to elaborate their quality costs planning and thereby improve their work output based on the findi ngs. Quality costs are first grouped into three categories: prevention, appraisal, and failure costs. Based on the works of previous researchers, a list of quality management activities that should be covered in each quality costs category is then created. The contractors’ planned quality costs data for each category are identified and collected through interviews and questionnaire surveys that refer to the list. Quality costs are expressed as a percentage of contract value. It is revealed that although large contractors already have certain knowledge on quality costs in construction projects, these costs are not planned in a structured way through an analysis of systematic quality costs records. Through cost categorization it is also shown that higher prevention and appraisal costs lead to lower failure costs. It is then concluded that a lot of work is still to be done by the contractors to set up a quality costs recording system which can serve as a basis for their quality improvement planning.
Heart rate signal decomposition and evaluation from brow area

Patients present abnormal heart rhythm due to cholesterol clogging, heart attack and enlargement of one side of the heart. To diagnose the fault in heart rate of a person, an Electrocardiogram is taken using Electrocardiograph. In order to measure the heart rate, non-contact technique is used. The input data is a video clip captured from human face brow area using a camera. Reflectance signal shows the change in blood volume of the face blood vessels. The oxygenated haemoglobin in the blood absorbs only the green light component. Hence, the green channel of the video signal is taken for decomposition. From the input video, the green channel and reflected intensity signal are extracted. The reflectance signal strength is calculated by observing the variation in blood volume and haemoglobin absorptivity. The Hilbert Huang transform (HHT) uses enhanced empirical mode decomposition to split the reflectance signal into various intrinsic mode functions (IMF). The regression model provides the relationship among variables for monitoring heart rate signal. A Neural Network is used to detect abnormal and normal heart rhythms using IMF. The blood pressure of a person is also found from IMF.
Aspirin and clopidogrel resistance: methodological challenges and opportunities

Antiplatelet drug resistance is one of the urgent issues in current cardiovascular medicine. Many platelet function tests have been used to define responsiveness of patients with cardiovascular disease to aspirin and clopidogrel. In most studies, cut-off values of platelet function tests for defining responsiveness to antiplatelets were chosen arbitrarily. Different tests provided wide-ranging figures of the prevalence of aspirin and clopidogrel resistance, suggesting poor correlation between currently available platelet function tests. Measurement of platelet size seems to be a promising approach for monitoring antiplatelet drug therapy. This commentary highlights some limitations of studies on aspirin and clopidogrel resistance in patients undergoing coronary interventions.
Fermi-LAT observations of the Sagittarius B complex

Aims. We use 5 years of Fermi-LAT data towards the Galactic-centre giant molecular cloud complex, Sagittarius B, to test questions of how well-mixed the Galactic component of cosmic rays are and what the level of the cosmic-ray sea in different parts of the Galaxy is. Methods. We use dust-opacity maps from the Planck satellite to obtain independent methods for background subtraction and an estimate for the mass of the region. We then present high-quality spectra of γ-ray emission from 0.3 to 30 GeV and obtain an estimate of the cosmic-ray spectrum from the region.
Development and Efficacy Testing of a Social Network-Based Competitive Application for Weight Loss.

INTRODUCTION Although a lot of people continuously try to lose weight, the obesity rate has remained high: 36.9% of males and 38.0% of females worldwide in 2013. This suggests the need for a new intervention. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, we designed a smartphone application, With U, to aid weight loss by using an offline social network of friends and an online social network, Facebook. To determine the effects of With U, this study was designed as a one-group pretest-posttest design. Overweight, obese, and severely obese adults 20-40 years old, along with their friends, participated in this study. A total of 10 pairs attempted to lose weight for 4 weeks. We used a questionnaire to measure general characteristics, motivation, and intent to continue to use With U, and the Inbody720 (Biospace, Seoul, Republic of Korea) body composition analyzer was used to measure physical characteristics. In addition, we briefly interviewed the participants about their experience. RESULTS We observed statistically significant effects in terms of motivation to lose weight and the amount of weight loss. Changes in physical characteristics beyond weight loss also showed positive trends. Also, we discovered some interesting facts during the interviews. The weight loss effect was greater when the team members met more and the relationship between the challengers was more direct and intimate. CONCLUSIONS The application With U, designed and developed to allow friends to challenge each other to lose weight, affected both motivation to lose weight and the amount of weight loss. In the future, effects of smartphone applications for health management with social networks need to be studied further.
Psychometric analysis of the Salutogenic Health Indicator Scale (SHIS) in adolescents

Aim: The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Salutogenic Health Indicator Scale (SHIS) in an adolescent population. Methods: The investigation was performed among Swedish students aged 13–15 years (n = 817; 58% girls). The SHIS was assessed for respondent acceptability, and its psychometric properties were evaluated according to classical test theory (regarding unidimensionality, targeting, reliability, and external construct validity). Results: The adolescents found it easy to complete the questionnaire, which was completed in an average of 4 minutes. Exploratory factor analysis, which is based on polychoric correlations, identified one factor, supporting the instrument’s unidimensionality. Floor/ceiling effects were ⩽ 3.3%. Reliability estimates yielded a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.93; the test–retest reliability (n = 50; 2-week interval) coefficients were 0.89 for the total SHIS score and 0.52–0.79 for item scores. Spearman correlations with other variables were based on a priori expectations (self-rated general health, 0.595; depressive symptoms, −0.773; anxiety, −0.577; and sleep problems, 0.519). Conclusions: Our observations support both the acceptability and the psychometric properties of the SHIS as a brief, unidimensional assessment tool for salutogenic health in adolescents. Further studies using modern test theory are needed to better understand the measurement properties of the SHIS, including the functioning of its response categories and its comparability between adolescents and adults.
Effect of different heterotrophic plate count methods on the estimation of the composition of the culturable microbial community

Heterotrophic plate counts (HPC) are routinely determined within the scope of water quality assessment. However, variable HPC methods with different cultivation parameters (i.e., temperature and media type) are applied, which could lead to significant effects in the outcome of the analysis. Therefore the effect of different HPC methods, according to DIN EN ISO 6222 and EPA, on the culturable microbial community composition was investigated by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and statistical evaluation was performed. The culturable community composition revealed significant effects assigned to temperature (p < 0.01), while for media type no statistical significance was observed. However, the abundance of certain detected bacteria was affected. Lower temperature (22 °C) showed the abundance of naturally occurring Pseudomonadaceae and Aeromonadaceae, whereas at high temperature (37 °C) numerous Enterobacteriaceae, Citrobacter spp. and Bacilli were identified. The highest biodiversity was detected at lower temperature, especially on R2A medium. These results indicate that different temperatures (low and high) should be included into HPC measurement and selection of media should, ideally, be adjusted to the monitored water source. Accordingly, it can be inferred that the HPC method is more suitable for continuous monitoring of the same water source than for single assessments of a water sample.
Bacterial flagellar motor

Abstract The bacterial flagellar motor is a reversible rotary nano-machine, about 45 nm in diameter, embedded in the bacterial cell envelope. It is powered by the flux of H+ or Na+ ions across the cytoplasmic membrane driven by an electrochemical gradient, the proton-motive force or the sodium-motive force. Each motor rotates a helical filament at several hundreds of revolutions per second (hertz). In many species, the motor switches direction stochastically, with the switching rates controlled by a network of sensory and signalling proteins. The bacterial flagellar motor was confirmed as a rotary motor in the early 1970s, the first direct observation of the function of a single molecular motor. However, because of the large size and complexity of the motor, much remains to be discovered, in particular, the structural details of the torque-generating mechanism. This review outlines what has been learned about the structure and function of the motor using a combination of genetics, single-molecule and biophysical techniques, with a focus on recent results and single-molecule techniques.
A robust capacitive angular speed sensor

This paper presents a contactless capacitive angular speed sensor for automotive applications. The sensor is based on a passive rotating electrode placed between two mechanically static and electrically active electrodes. The different characteristics of the charge transfer at various sensor positions is utilized as an input for the calculation of the rotational speed. The main advantages of this low cost system are its capability to operate at high temperatures and humidity as well as its insensitivity to vibrations, dirt, dew and moisture deposited on the three sensor electrodes. The mathematical model of the sensor further enables the optimization of the sensor characteristics for specific applications. Experimental results from a prototype designed for the speed-measurement of a steering-wheel show a relative speed error of /spl plusmn/4% at a resolution better than 1/spl deg//s.
Expanding the Verrucomicrobial Methanotrophic World: Description of Three Novel Species of Methylacidimicrobium gen. nov

ABSTRACT Methanotrophic Verrucomicrobia have been found in geothermal environments characterized by high temperatures and low pH values. However, it has recently been hypothesized that methanotrophic Verrucomicrobia could be present under a broader range of environmental conditions. Here we describe the isolation and characterization of three new species of mesophilic acidophilic verrucomicrobial methanotrophs from a volcanic soil in Italy. The three new species showed 97% to 98% 16S rRNA gene identity to each other but were related only distantly (89% to 90% on the 16S rRNA level) to the thermophilic genus Methylacidiphilum. We propose the new genus Methylacidimicrobium, including the novel species Methylacidimicrobium fagopyrum, Methylacidimicrobium tartarophylax, and Methylacidimicrobium cyclopophantes. These mesophilic Methylacidimicrobium spp. were more acid tolerant than their thermophilic relatives; the most tolerant species, M. tartarophylax, still grew at pH 0.5. The variation in growth temperature optima (35 to 44°C) and maximum growth rates (µmax; 0.013 to 0.040 h−1) suggested that all species were adapted to a specific niche within the geothermal environment. All three species grew autotrophically using the Calvin cycle. The cells of all species contained glycogen particles and electron-dense particles in their cytoplasm as visualized by electron microscopy. In addition, the cells of one of the species (M. fagopyrum) contained intracytoplasmic membrane stacks. The discovery of these three new species and their growth characteristics expands the known diversity of verrucomicrobial methanotrophs and shows that they are present in many more ecosystems than previously assumed.
Monte Carlo modeling of light propagation in the human head for applications in sinus imaging

Sinus blockages are a common reason for physician visits, affecting 1 out of 7 in the United States. Over 20 million cases of acute bacterial sinusitis become chronic and require medical treatment. Diagnosis in the primary care setting is challenging because symptom criteria (via detailed clinical history) plus objective imaging (CT or endoscopy) is recommended. Unfortunately, neither option is routinely available in primary care. Our previous work demonstrated that low-cost near infrared (NIR) transillumination instruments produced signals that correlated with the bulk findings of sinus opacity measured by CT. We have upgraded the technology, but questions remain such as finding the optimal arrangement of light sources, measuring the influence of specific anatomical structures, and determining detection limits. In order to begin addressing these questions, we have modeled NIR light propagation inside the adult human head using a mesh-based Monte Carlo algorithm (MMCLab) applied to a detailed anatomical head model constructed from CT images. In this application the sinus itself, which under healthy conditions is a void region (e.g., non-scattering), is the region of interest instead of an obstacle to other contrast mechanisms. We report preliminary simulations that characterize the changes in detected intensity due to clear (i.e., healthy) versus blocked sinuses. We also ran simulations for two of our clinical cases and compared results with the measurements. The simulations presented herein serve as a proof of concept that this approach could be used to understand contrast mechanisms and limitations of NIR imaging of the sinus cavities.
The slip modes of titanium and the effect of purity on their occurrence during tensile deformation of single crystals

Single-crystal test specimens of van Arkel titanium were obtained by a modification of the strain anneal technique.The modes of slip have been identified as (101̄0) [112̄0],(101̄1) [112̄0], and (0001) [112̄0]. It has been shown that not only does the interstitial impurity affect the magnitude of the critical resolved shear stress but also the relative values for the three slip systems. (101̄0) is the principal slip system and is favoured by increasing purity. A possible mechanism for the role of oxygen and nitrogen in this effect is put forward wherein it is shown that the interstitial sites occupied are such that interstitial elements render slip more difficult on two of the three slip planes in titanium.
Raspberry Pi based Smart Home for Deployment in the Smart Grid

ABSTRACT The Smart Grid is an evolution of the existing electricity grid. It comprises of a two-way communication where electricity and information is exchanged by the consumer and utility to maximize efficiency. Home automation is an important milestone in achieving smart grid and is ever exciting field that has exploded over the past few years. Advancement in technologies have made homes more convenient, efficient and even more secure. Introducing the Raspberry Pi to the world of home automation provides numerous customizations to turn a regular home into a smart home. Raspberry Pi provides a low cost platform for interconnecting electrical/electronic devices and various sensors in a home via the internet network. The main objective of present work is to design a smart home using various sensors which can be controlled and monitored by the Raspberry Pi via the Internet of Things (IoT). This will help the home owners to provide a simple, fast and reliable way to automate their environment. This paper focuses on two aspects of smart home i.e. home security and home automation. Home security system, capable of motion & disturbance detection at entry points and creating an alarm system with email notification alerts having picture, was implemented to allow real time monitoring for the house. The home automation system was also implemented around the same Raspberry Pi, which includes a smart doorbell, an automated lighting system and a temperature & humidity controller that turns an air-condition unit or fan on/off automatically under given conditions. Python codes were written for interfacing each sensor and a prototype of smart home was developed. Smart home was fully tested and performance was found satisfactory.
The Influence of Conversational Agents on Socially Desirable Responding

Conversational agents (CAs) are becoming an increasingly common component in many information systems. The ubiquity of CAs in cell phones, entertainment systems, and messaging applications has led to a growing need to understand how design choices made when developing CAs influence user interactions. In this study, we explore the use case of CAs that gather potentially sensitive information from people—for example, in a medical interview. Using a laboratory experiment, we examine the influence of CA responsiveness and embodiment on the answers people give in response to sensitive and non-sensitive questions. The results show that for sensitive questions, the responsiveness of the CA increased the social desirability of the responses given by participants.