Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Applying a hybrid method to handwritten character recognition

We propose a new prototype learning/matching method that can be combined with support vector machines (SVM) in pattern recognition. This hybrid method has the following merits. One, the learning algorithm for constructing prototypes determines both the number and the location of prototypes. This algorithm terminates within a finite number of iterations and assures that each training sample matches in class types with the nearest prototype. Two, SVM can be used to process top-rank candidates obtained by the prototype learning/matching method so as to save time in both training and testing processes. We apply our method to recognizing handwritten numerals and handwritten Chinese/Hiragana characters. Experiment results show that the hybrid method saves great amount of training and testing time in large-scale tasks and achieves comparable accuracy rates to those achieved by using SVM solely. Our results also show that the hybrid method performs better than the nearest neighbour method.
Novel molecular, structural and evolutionary characteristics of the phosphoketolases from bifidobacteria and Coriobacteriales

Members from the order Bifidobacteriales, which include many species exhibiting health promoting effects, differ from all other organisms in using a unique pathway for carbohydrate metabolism, known as the “bifid shunt”, which utilizes the enzyme phosphoketolase (PK) to carry out the phosphorolysis of both fructose-6-phosphate (F6P) and xylulose-5-phosphate (X5P). In contrast to bifidobacteria, the PKs found in other organisms (referred to XPK) are able to metabolize primarily X5P and show very little activity towards F6P. Presently, very little is known about the molecular or biochemical basis of the differences in the two forms of PKs. Comparative analyses of PK sequences from different organisms reported here have identified multiple high-specific sequence features in the forms of conserved signature inserts and deletions (CSIs) in the PK sequences that clearly distinguish the X5P/F6P phosphoketolases (XFPK) of bifidobacteria from the XPK homologs found in most other organisms. Interestingly, most of the molecular signatures that are specific for the XFPK from bifidobacteria are also shared by the PK homologs from the Coriobacteriales order of Actinobacteria. Similarly to the Bifidobacteriales, the order Coriobacteriales is also made up of commensal organisms, that are saccharolytic and able to metabolize wide variety of carbohydrates, producing lactate and other metabolites. Phylogenetic studies provide evidence that the XFPK from bifidobacteria are specifically related to those found in the Coriobacteriales and suggest that the gene for PK (XFPK) was horizontally transferred between these two groups. A number of the identified CSIs in the XFPK sequence, which serve to distinguish the XFPK homologs from XPK homologs, are located at the subunit interface in the structure of the XFPK dimer protein. The results of protein modelling and subunit docking studies indicate that these CSIs are involved in the formation/stabilization of the protein dimer. The significance of these observations regarding the differences in the activities of the XFPK and XPK homologs are discussed. Additionally, this work also discusses the significance of the XFPK-like homologs, similar to those found in bifidobacteria, in the order Coriobacteriales.
Rational design of polymeric siRNA delivery systems

Regulation of gene expression using small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a promising strategy for research and treatment of numerous diseases. However, siRNA cannot easily cross the cell membrane due to its inherent instability, large molecular weight and anionic nature. For this reason, a carrier that protects, delivers and unloads siRNA is required for successful gene silencing. The goal of this research was to develop a potential siRNA delivery system for in vitro and in vivo applications using cationic polymers, chitosan and polyethylenimine (PEI), poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), mannose, and poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA). Furthermore, the delivery system was constructed in two different ways to explore the effect of mannose location in the structure. In the first approach, mannose and PEG were directly conjugated to the chitosan/PEI backbone, while mannose was connected to the chitosan/PEI backbone through PEG spacer in the second approach. First, the ability of modified chitosan polymers to complex and deliver siRNA for gene silencing was investigated. Despite the modified chitosan polymers successfully formed nanoplexes with siRNA, entered target cells and reduced cytotoxicity of unmodified chitosan, they showed limited gene silencing efficiency. For this reason, modified PEIs were examined to improve in vitro gene knockdown. The modified PEI polymers also complexed with siRNA and facilitated endocytosis of the nanoplexes. In addition, the modifications reduced inherent cytotoxicity of unmodified PEI without compromising the gene silencing efficiency on both mRNA and protein levels. Interestingly, we found that complexation of siRNA with PEI-PEG-mannose resulted in higher cell uptake and gene silencing than complexes made with mannose-PEI-PEG. Finally, the effect of sustained release of the mannosylated pegylated PEI/siRNA nanoplexes on gene silencing was tested by encapsulating the nanoplexes within PLGA microparticles. The modified PEIs enhanced the entrapment efficiency of siRNA into the particles and resulted in reduced initial burst
Laboratory Virulence and Orchard Efficacy of Entomopathogenic Nematodes Against the Lesser Peachtree Borer (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae)

ABSTRACT The lesser peachtree borer, Synanthedon pictipes (Grote & Robinson) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae), is indigenous to eastern North America. It is a pest of commercially grown Prunus spp. , especially to southeastern peach orchards where earlier regulatory changes affected pesticide use on peach leading to increased S. pictipes damage. Pest management practices are now having a positive effect toward control of this pest, but cost-competitive biological control solutions that promote environmental stewardship are needed. Here, we tested four Steinernema species and five Heterorhabditis species of entomopathogenic nematodes against larval S. pictipes. Included were four strains of S. carpocapsae (All, DD136, Sal, and Hybrid2) and three strains of S. riobrave (3–8b, 7–12, and 355). Larvae treated with any strain of S. carpocapsae always resulted in <20% survival, whereas larval survival was always >50% when treated with any other Steinernema or Heterorhabditis spp. These differences were always significant for the Hybrid2 strain of S. carpocapsae and similarly for other tested S. carpocapsae strains except for when larvae were treated with the 3–8b strain of S. riobrave. In addition, we determined the susceptibility of different size S. pictipes larvae, because they occur simultaneously in orchards, and we found that larvae rated as “medium” and “large” were significantly more susceptible than “small” larvae. Last, we demonstrated that moisture-retaining covers (placed over S. pictipes-infested wounds on peach limbs) increased efficacy of nematode treatments against larval S. pictipes. Even when using highly virulent nematodes against S. pictipes, it is likely that an aboveground application will require an environmental modification to remain efficacious.
A Stochastic Smoothing Algorithm for Semidefinite Programming

We use rank one Gaussian perturbations to derive a smooth stochastic approximation of the maximum eigenvalue function. We then combine this smoothing result with an optimal smooth stochastic optimization algorithm to produce an efficient method for solving maximum eigenvalue minimization problems, and detail a variant of this stochastic algorithm with monotonic line search. Overall, compared to classical smooth algorithms, this method runs a larger number of significantly cheaper iterations and, in certain precision/dimension regimes, its total complexity is lower than that of deterministic smoothing algorithms.
PET Lesion Segmentation Using Automated Iso-intensity Contouring in Head and Neck Cancer

To improve the objectivity of the integration of positron emission tomography (PET), we used the conformality index (CI) to measure the goodness of fit of a given PET iso-SUV (standardized uptake value) level with the GTV defined on PET (GTVPET) and CT (GTVCT). Twenty-two datasets involving 20 head and neck cancer patients were identified. GTVPET and GTVCT were delineated manually. An iso-intensity method was developed to automatically segment GTVPET-ISO using (a) SUV and (b) maximum intensity thresholding (%Max), over a range of intensities. For each intensity, GTVPET-ISO was compared to GTVPET using the conformality index CIPET (and, similarly, to GTVCT using CICT). Comparing GTVPET to GTVPET-ISO vs comparing GTVCT to GTVPET-ISO, the average peak CI was 0.68 ± 0.09 vs 0.49 ± 0.12 (p<0.001), the optimum iso-SUV was 2.7 ± 0.7 vs 2.9 ± 1.0 (p=0. 253), and the %Max SUV was 21.8% ± 7.6% vs 23.8% ± 8.6% (p=0. 310), respectively. The radiation oncologist's volumes corresponded to a lower iso-SUV (3.02 ± 0.58 vs 4.36 ± 0.77, p < 0.001) and lower %Max SUV (24.1 ± 9.1% vs 34.3 ± 11.2%, p<0.001) than those drawn by the nuclear medicine physician. Though manual editing may still be necessary, PET iso-contouring is one method to improve the objectivity of GTV definition in head and neck cancer patients. Iso-SUV's can also be used to study the differences between PET's role as a nuclear medicine diagnostic test versus a radiation oncology treatment planning tool.
MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models

MrBayes 3 performs Bayesian phylogenetic analysis combining information from different data partitions or subsets evolving under different stochastic evolutionary models. This allows the user to analyze heterogeneous data sets consisting of different data types-e.g. morphological, nucleotide, and protein-and to explore a wide variety of structured models mixing partition-unique and shared parameters. The program employs MPI to parallelize Metropolis coupling on Macintosh or UNIX clusters.
Sensory Deprivation Disrupts Homeostatic Regeneration of Newly Generated Olfactory Sensory Neurons after Injury in Adult Mice

Although it is well known that injury induces the generation of a substantial number of new olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in the adult olfactory epithelium (OE), it is not well understood whether olfactory sensory input influences the survival and maturation of these injury-induced OSNs in adults. Here, we investigated whether olfactory sensory deprivation affected the dynamic incorporation of newly generated OSNs 3, 7, 14, and 28 d after injury in adult mice. Mice were unilaterally deprived of olfactory sensory input by inserting a silicone tube into their nostrils. Methimazole, an olfactotoxic drug, was also injected intraperitoneally to bilaterally ablate OSNs. The OE was restored to its preinjury condition with new OSNs by day 28. No significant differences in the numbers of olfactory marker protein-positive mature OSNs or apoptotic OSNs were observed between the deprived and nondeprived sides 0–7 d after injury. However, between days 7 and 28, the sensory-deprived side showed markedly fewer OSNs and mature OSNs, but more apoptotic OSNs, than the nondeprived side. Intrinsic functional imaging of the dorsal surface of the olfactory bulb at day 28 revealed that responses to odor stimulation were weaker in the deprived side compared with those in the nondeprived side. Furthermore, prevention of cell death in new neurons 7–14 d after injury promoted the recovery of the OE. These results indicate that, in the adult OE, sensory deprivation disrupts compensatory OSN regeneration after injury and that newly generated OSNs have a critical time window for sensory-input-dependent survival 7–14 d after injury.
Interleukin-22 promotes osteoclastogenesis in rheumatoid arthritis through induction of RANKL in human synovial fibroblasts.

OBJECTIVE To examine the regulatory role of interleukin-22 (IL-22) in the expression of RANKL and induction of osteoclastogenesis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS Concentrations of IL-22 and RANKL in the serum and synovial fluid of RA patients were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RA synovial fibroblasts were treated with recombinant human IL-22 (rhIL-22), and the expression of RANKL messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein was measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, and intracellular immunostaining. Human monocytes were cocultured with IL-22-prestimulated RA synovial fibroblasts and macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and osteoclastogenesis was assessed by counting the multinucleated cells (those staining positive for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase). RESULTS The IL-22 concentration in the synovial fluid was higher in RA patients than in patients with osteoarthritis (OA). The serum IL-22 concentration was also higher in RA patients than in OA patients and healthy volunteers, and this correlated with serum titers of rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies. In RA synovial fibroblasts treated with rhIL-22, the expression of RANKL mRNA and protein was increased in a dose-dependent manner. IL-22-induced RANKL expression was down-regulated significantly by the inhibition of p38 MAPK/NF-κB or JAK-2/STAT-3 signaling. In human monocytes cocultured with IL-22-prestimulated RA synovial fibroblasts in the absence of exogenous RANKL, the monocytes differentiated into osteoclasts, but this osteoclastogenesis decreased after p38 MAPK/NF-κB or JAK-2/STAT-3 signaling was inhibited. CONCLUSION These results show that IL-22 up-regulates RANKL expression in RA synovial fibroblasts and induces osteoclastogenesis. These effects are mediated by the p38 MAPK/NF-κB and JAK-2/STAT-3 signaling pathways.
PHARMACOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY.

• Understand, use and define key terms and concepts related to pharmacology and toxicology; • Apply concepts and standard practices in pharmacology and toxicology to solving practical problems relevant to these fields; • Analyze scientific data in pharmacology and toxicology; • Synthesize detailed and accurate descriptions of current knowledge on key topics in pharmacology and toxicology; • Make informed decisions about current controversies in pharmacology and toxicology, using appropriate scientific methods and ethical reasoning.
One Microphone Blind Dereverberation Based on Quasi-periodicity of Speech Signals

Speech dereverberation is desirable with a view to achieving, for example, robust speech recognition in the real world. However, it is still a challenging problem, especially when using a single microphone. Although blind equalization techniques have been exploited, they cannot deal with speech signals appropriately because their assumptions are not satisfied by speech signals. We propose a new dereverberation principle based on an inherent property of speech signals, namely quasi-periodicity. The present methods learn the dereverberation filter from a lot of speech data with no prior knowledge of the data, and can achieve high quality speech dereverberation especially when the reverberation time is long.
A Security Architecture of Cloud Computing for Business applications

Cloud computing is internet based computing in which it provides on demand access of resources and services at lower cost. It is very necessary to consider security, privacy and integrity when designing and using cloud services because both user data and programs are resides in the cloud service provider premises. Integrity checking becomes imperative to secure data in a cloud environment. It is important to ensure that the stored data is neither compromised nor corrupted. Many of existing protocols reveals client’s sensitive data by sharing the encryption and decryption keys with the cloud server. The proposed work draws conceptual cloud architecture by adopting a hybrid encryption/decryption system algorithm to ensure the security and doesn’t compromise any information with the cloud server. It involves a third party called privacy manager who encrypts the clients’ information for ensuring the security. It then generate the hash value of the encrypted data, store and manage these details for verification purpose. This paper provides data integrity and user privacy through Privacy Manager. KeywordsData Storage, Cloud Computing
Security-related comments regarding McEliece's public-key cryptosystem

The optimal values of the parameters of the McEliece public-key cryptosystem are computed. It is shown that use of these values improves the cryptoanalytic complexity of the system and decreases its data expansion. It is shown that the likelihood of the existence of more than one trapdoor in the system is very small. >
Phylogenetic uncertainty revisited: Implications for ecological analyses

Ecologists and biogeographers usually rely on a single phylogenetic tree to study evolutionary processes that affect macroecological patterns. This approach ignores the fact that each phylogenetic tree is a hypothesis about the evolutionary history of a clade, and cannot be directly observed in nature. Also, trees often leave out many extant species, or include missing species as polytomies because of a lack of information on the relationship among taxa. Still, researchers usually do not quantify the effects of phylogenetic uncertainty in ecological analyses. We propose here a novel analytical strategy to maximize the use of incomplete phylogenetic information, while simultaneously accounting for several sources of phylogenetic uncertainty that may distort statistical inferences about evolutionary processes. We illustrate the approach using a clade‐wide analysis of the hummingbirds, evaluating how different sources of uncertainty affect several phylogenetic comparative analyses of trait evolution and biogeographic patterns. Although no statistical approximation can fully substitute for a complete and robust phylogeny, the method we describe and illustrate enables researchers to broaden the number of clades for which studies informed by evolutionary relationships are possible, while allowing the estimation and control of statistical error that arises from phylogenetic uncertainty. Software tools to carry out the necessary computations are offered.
Finding approximate gene clusters with Gecko 3

Gene-order-based comparison of multiple genomes provides signals for functional analysis of genes and the evolutionary process of genome organization. Gene clusters are regions of co-localized genes on genomes of different species. The rapid increase in sequenced genomes necessitates bioinformatics tools for finding gene clusters in hundreds of genomes. Existing tools are often restricted to few (in many cases, only two) genomes, and often make restrictive assumptions such as short perfect conservation, conserved gene order or monophyletic gene clusters. We present Gecko 3, an open-source software for finding gene clusters in hundreds of bacterial genomes, that comes with an easy-to-use graphical user interface. The underlying gene cluster model is intuitive, can cope with low degrees of conservation as well as misannotations and is complemented by a sound statistical evaluation. To evaluate the biological benefit of Gecko 3 and to exemplify our method, we search for gene clusters in a dataset of 678 bacterial genomes using Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 as a reference. We confirm detected gene clusters reviewing the literature and comparing them to a database of operons; we detect two novel clusters, which were confirmed by publicly available experimental RNA-Seq data. The computational analysis is carried out on a laptop computer in <40 min.
Hybrid wireless power transfer

Both magnetic field and electric field can be used for transferring power wirelessly. But the up-to-date researches on wireless power transfer have been either inductive power transfer (magnetic field) or capacitive power transfer (electric field). An improved power transfer mode called hybrid wireless power transfer (HWPT) is proposed and evaluated in this paper. Power is transferred from primary side to secondary side through magnetic field and electric field at the same time with a single DC power supply and inverter. Theoretical modeling and derivation are carried out to validate the feasibility of the proposed power transfer mode. A comparison between HWPT, inductive power transfer (IPT) and capacitive power transfer (CPT) is presented. The advantages and disadvantages of the proposed wireless power transfer form are studied.
Automatic generation of game elements via evolution

This study presents a system for automatically producing puzzles for use in game design. The system incorporates an evolutionary algorithm that optimizes the puzzle to a specified level of difficulty. The fitness function uses dynamic programming to compute the minimum number of moves required to solve a puzzle. Two types of puzzle are explored, one is a maze based on chess pieces and the other uses colors as related by the color wheel to create an implicit maze. The evolutionary algorithm is able to produce a wide variety of puzzles at specified levels of difficulty. The algorithm can thus be used to provides a library for game design or for variable game content. The technique is flexible and can be generalized to puzzles of remarkable complexity by simply upgrading the dynamic programming algorithm used in the fitness function. It is found that puzzles requiring a maximum number of moves to solve are, potentially, less difficult because such puzzles present the player with few choices. This problem is addressed by modifying the algorithm to search for puzzles with a smaller minimum number of moves required, leaving more room in the puzzle for choice and its attendant confusion.
Novel sampling algorithm for Levy-walk based mobile phone sensing

Mobile phones or smart phones equipped with different communication technologies and sensors have become pervasive application development platform for opportunistic and human-centric sensing. Optimisation of battery energy consumption and opportunistic sensing coverage are important issues under mobile phone sensing. This paper proposes a simple sampling algorithm based on human-walk velocity for mobile phone sensing. We analyse the impact of human-walk velocity on battery energy consumption and spatial coverage for mobile phone sensing by considering general regular sampling of sensors and proposed sampling method. When Levy walk mobility parameter α = 1, the proposed sampling algorithm shows better performance in terms of both spatial coverage and reduction of battery energy consumption for mobile phone sensing activity.
Horizontally polarized omni-directional antennas for PHS

This paper presents a thin diameter multistage horizontally polarized wave antenna for PHS data communication base stations. Its application is in producing a stable transmission system for 128 kbps bit rate and in the preparation for upgrade to 256 kbps. A 1.9 GHz band PHS is given as an example for use in base stations and wireless LAN equipment.
Simple method for confirming the antiferroelectric structure of smectic liquid crystals

Schlieren texture has been observed in Sc and SCA liquid-crystalline phases. We found that defects of strength s=± 1/2 exist in the SCA phase in addition to those of s=± 1 observed in the Sc phase. The existence of the s=± 1/2 wedge disclination is explained by taking account of a screw dislocation. This complex defect consisting of a wedge disclination and a screw dislocation, i. e. a dispiration, serves as a simple test to confirm the antiferroelectric (SCA) structure.