Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular analysis of 18S rRNA gene of Cryptosporidium parasites from patients living in Iran, Malawi, Nigeria and Vietnam

Cryptosporidium species are one of the most common causes of gastrointestinal infection in humans around the world. This study has aimed to investigate the hyper variable region of the 18S rRNA gene in Cryptosporidium for exact parasite identification. DNA was extracted from 26 fecal samples from which initially Cryptosporidium oocysts were identified by Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast , Auramine phenol and ELISA techniques. Nested PCR, targeting the most polymorphic region of the 18S rRNA gene and genotyping was performed by restriction endonuclease digestion of the PCR product followed by nucleotide sequencing and phylogenic analysis. Among 26 isolates analyzed, three species of Cryptosporidium were identified; 38.5% of the isolates were C. hominis while 53.8% of the isolates were C. parvum and 7.7% of the isolates were C. meleagridis, which the last two species have the potentially zoonotic transmission. The only 11T subtype of C. hominis was demonstrated. These strains clustered distinctly into either human or animal origin regardless of the geographical origin, age, or immunity status of the patients. In summary, this work is the first report of C. meleagridis infecting human in Iran. Moreover, it suggested that multi-locus study of Cryptosporidium species in developing countries would be necessary to determine the extent of transmission of cryptosporidiosis in the populations.
AutoCompete: A Framework for Machine Learning Competition

In this paper, we propose AutoCompete, a highly automated machine learning framework for tackling machine learning competitions. This framework has been learned by us, validated and improved over a period of more than two years by participating in online machine learning competitions. It aims at minimizing human interference required to build a first useful predictive model and to assess the practical difficulty of a given machine learning challenge. The proposed system helps in identifying data types, choosing a machine learn- ing model, tuning hyper-parameters, avoiding over-fitting and optimization for a provided evaluation metric. We also observe that the proposed system produces better (or comparable) results with less runtime as compared to other approaches.
A Novel Nuclear-Localized CCCH-Type Zinc Finger Protein, OsDOS, Is Involved in Delaying Leaf Senescence in Rice1[W]

Leaf senescence is a developmentally programmed degeneration process, which is fine tuned by a complex regulatory network for plant fitness. However, molecular regulation of leaf senescence is poorly understood, especially in rice (Oryza sativa), an important staple crop for more than half of the world population. Here, we report a novel nuclear-localized CCCH-type zinc finger protein, Oryza sativa delay of the onset of senescence (OsDOS), involved in delaying leaf senescence in rice. The expression of OsDOS was down-regulated during natural leaf senescence, panicle development, and pollination, although its transcripts were accumulated in various organs. RNAi knockdown of OsDOS caused an accelerated age-dependent leaf senescence, whereas its overexpression produced a marked delay of leaf senescence, suggesting that it acts as a negative regulator for leaf senescence. A genome-wide expression analysis further confirmed its negative regulation for leaf senescence and revealed that, in particular, the jasmonate (JA) pathway was found to be hyperactive in the OsDOS RNAi transgenic lines but impaired in the OsDOS overexpressing transgenic lines, indicating that this pathway is likely involved in the OsDOS-mediated delaying of leaf senescence. Furthermore, methyl JA treatments of both seeds and detached leaves from the RNAi and the overexpressing transgenic lines showed hyper- and hyporesponses, respectively, consistent with the negative regulation of the JA pathway by OsDOS. Together, these results indicate that OsDOS is a novel nuclear protein that delays leaf senescence likely, at least in part, by integrating developmental cues to the JA pathway.
Modeling and performance study of AP placement framework for indoor location-awareness and network performance

This paper presents an AP (Access Point) placement framework considering indoor location-awareness and AP-based WLAN (Wireless Local Area Networks) performance enhancement. We first develop four objective functions that yield objective goals significant to the optimal AP placement in terms of location-awareness and network performance factors. Then, we develop three meta-heuristic algorithms based on simulated annealing, tabu search, and genetic algorithm. These algorithms generate a near-optimal solution for a given objective function. The performance of the AP placement framework presented in this paper is measured under the environments simulating indoor spaces, and numerical results obtained by experimental evaluation of proposed objective functions and algorithms confirm that the proposed AP placement framework can achieve a near-optimal solution to a given objective function.
Analysis and Design of Stimulus Response Curves of E. coli

Metabolism and signalling are tightly coupled in bacteria. Combining several theoretical approaches, a core model is presented that describes transcriptional and allosteric control of glycolysis in Escherichia coli. Experimental data based on microarrays, signaling components and extracellular metabolites are used to estimate kinetic parameters. A newly designed strain was used that adjusts the incoming glucose flux into the system and allows a kinetic analysis. Based on the results, prediction for intracelluar metabolite concentrations over a broad range of the growth rate could be performed and compared with data from literature.
Capacity credit assessment of renewable distributed generation in active distribution systems considering demand response impact

The renewable distributed generation (RDG) has gained booming development in the past decade, thus its capability to displace conventional generation has become an urgent issue to be studied for future power system planning. In this paper, the capacity credit (CC) of RDG is investigated given an active distribution system (ADS) context, wherein the impact of demand response (DR) is highlighted. To achieve this, the CC index is first specified to cater for different operating modes of ADS. On this basis, a generalized possibilistic-probabilistic model is proposed for DR characterization. The CC is calculated using the sequential Monte-Carlo simulation (SMCS) method, embedded with an adaptation strategy developed to improve the computation efficiency. Numerical results on a real multi-voltage distribution network show that the CC of RDG varies with the energy mix in ADS and the presence of DR could substantially improve the CC of RDG.
Antiobesity and Antihyperglycemic Effects of Ginsenoside Rb1 in Rats

OBJECTIVE Obesity and type 2 diabetes are national and worldwide epidemics. Because currently available antiobesity and antidiabetic drugs have limited efficacy and/or safety concerns, identifying new medicinal agents, such as ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) as reported here, offers exciting possibilities for future development of successful antiobesity and antidiabetic therapies. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Changes in feeding behavior after acute intraperitoneal administration of Rb1 and the effects of intraperitoneal Rb1 for 4 weeks on body weight, energy expenditure, and glucose tolerance in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats were assessed. We also examined the effects of Rb1 on signaling pathways and neuropeptides in the hypothalamus. RESULTS Acute intraperitoneal Rb1 dose-dependently suppressed food intake without eliciting signs of toxicity. This inhibitory effect on feeding may be mediated by central mechanisms because Rb1 stimulated c-Fos expression in brain areas involved in energy homeostasis. Consistent with this, Rb1 activated the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathway and inhibited NPY gene expression in the hypothalamus. Four-week administration of Rb1 significantly reduced food intake, body weight gain, and body fat content and increased energy expenditure in HFD-induced obese rats. Rb1 also significantly decreased fasting blood glucose and improved glucose tolerance, and these effects were greater than those observed in pair-fed rats, suggesting that although Rb1's antihyperglycemic effect is partially attributable to reduced food intake and body weight; there may be additional effects of Rb1 on glucose homeostasis. CONCLUSIONS These results identify Rb1 as an antiobesity and antihyperglycemic agent.
Associations between education and physical functioning and pain in adult Danish cancer survivors

Abstract Background: Late effects after cancer diagnosis and treatment are common, but only few studies have examined the role of social factors in developing these late effects. The aim of this study was to examine the association between educational level and physical function and pain among cancer survivors two years after diagnosis. Material and methods: The study population consisted of adult Danish patients with a first-time cancer diagnosis who were sent a questionnaire in 2010 and followed up in 2012. In total, 4346 returned the first questionnaire shortly after diagnosis and 2568 returned the follow-up questionnaire. After exclusion of 177 due to missing information, we included 2391 cancer survivors in the analyses. Physical function and pain were measured using the EORTC QLQ-C30. Linear regression analyses were conducted separately for men and women, and adjusted for demographic and clinical characteristics. Additionally, analyses were stratified on comorbidity. Results: Differences in mean scores according to educational level were small. Physical function was better in women with medium (2.8; 95% CI 0.1;5.4) and higher education (3.4; 95% CI 0.9;5.9) compared to women with short education. In contrast, men with medium education reported lower physical function (−2.9; 95% CI −5.7;−0.1) than men with short education. Compared to women with short education, we found lower pain scores among women with medium (−5.0; 95% CI −8.7;−1.4) and higher education (−3.4; 95% CI −6.7;0.0). Similarly, men with higher education experienced lower pain score (−3.4; 95% CI −6.9;0.1) than men with short education. The role of educational level differed between those with and without comorbidity. Conclusion: Educational level is slightly associated with physical function and pain among cancer survivors. However, mean differences in this study were small and below what is considered clinically relevant.
A Relaying Scheme Based on Diagonalization for Multi-Relay Symmetric MIMO Communication Networks

This letter investigates an effective relaying scheme for the existing multi-relay symmetric multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication networks, with a source-destination pair that communicates through amplify-and-forward (AF) multi-relay nodes. The maximum mutual information (MI) is taken as the design criterion with per relay power constraint. Considering the objective function can be maximized by diagonalizing the matrix of the determinant, a low-complexity and decentralized design is developed to solve this problem. Based on mathematics theory and variable substitution, the objective function is constituted with the sum of multiple diagonal matrices by eigenvalue decomposition (ED) and singular value decomposition (SVD), the original optimization problem is transformed into a standard scalar convex optimization problem. Finally, the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (K.K.T) conditions are employed to obtain the optimal values of the diagonal elements for all power allocation matrices. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme can significantly improve the system performance.
Real-Time Speech Pitch Shifting on an FPGA

The objective of this project is to create a real-time speech pitch shifter implemented on a Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA). FPGAs (programmable devices containing a vast assortment of logic fabric) are becoming increasingly popular for the implementation of digital signal processing (DSP) applications. The project places equal emphasis on proposing a viable DSP algorithm and implementing the technique as a digital system on FPGA hardware. Three pitch shifting algorithms (single-sideband modulation, timedomain processing, and frequency-domain processing) are presented, and the FPGA implementation process for each technique is explored. The report concludes by summarizing deliverables and accomplishments and by analyzing the practicality of performing audio processing on an FPGA. Although the final hardware implementation does not meet all original project specifications, the knowledge gained about speech processing and FPGA development make this project an educational success.
Effects of Laser Operating Parameters on Piezoelectric Substrates Micromachining with Picosecond Laser

Ten picoseconds (200 kHz) ultrafast laser micro-structuring of piezoelectric substrates including AT-cut quartz, Lithium Niobate and Lithium Tantalate have been studied for the purpose of piezoelectric devices application ranging from surface acoustic wave devices, e.g., bandpass filters, to photonic devices such as optical waveguides and holograms. The study examines the impact of changing several laser parameters on the resulting microstructural shapes and morphology. The micromachining rate has been observed to be strongly dependent on the operating parameters, such as the pulse fluence, the scan speed and the scan number. The results specifically indicate that ablation at low fluence and low speed scan tends to form a U-shaped cross-section, while a V-shaped profile can be obtained by using a high fluence and a high scan speed. The evolution of surface morphology revealed that laser pulses overlap in a range around 93% for both Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) and Lithium Tantalate (LiTaO3) and 98% for AT-cut quartz can help to achieve optimal residual surface roughness.
When binding matters: An ERP analysis of the development of recollection and familiarity in childhood

Dual process models of recognition memory assume that memory retrieval can be based on two distinct processes: an assessment of a context-free feeling of familiarity or on the reinstatement of specific context attributes that have been bound together to form a representation of the study episode during encoding (recollection). Recent neurophysiological evidence suggests that familiarity and recollection are mediated by different medial temporal lobe circuitries and accomplished by different binding mechanisms. The assessment of familiarity has been associated with intra-item binding mechanisms of the perirhinal cortex, whereas the explicit retrieval of specific details of a study episode depends on inter-item binding mechanisms mediated by the hippocampal formation and the prefrontal cortex. A related line of evidence for the independence of these memory processes comes from the examination of patients with selective lesions: Vargha-Khadem et al. (1997) reported three cases of early bilateral hypoxic lesions restricted to the hippocampus. Although these patients were unable to acquire and to retrieve episodic information, they were unlike most adult amnesics clearly able to acquire semantic knowledge after their injury. We examined the developmental aspects of recollection and familiarity by means of an event-related potential (ERP) study in two groups of children (6–8 years, 10–12 years) and young adults (20–29 years). Topographical differences of ERP components between the age groups were found in the memory task, but not in an auditory discrimination (oddball) task, suggesting that ERP differences between groups can be ascribed to differential memory processes rather than to general age differences. Our findings support the view of a differential development of recollection and familiarity. We discuss these findings in the light of different memory strategies in children as indicated by a generally lower performance level and a more conservative response criterion.
An empirical research on trade liberalization and CO2 emissions in China

This paper studies this relationship between free trade and carbon dioxide emissions by utilizing the time series data collected from the year 1981 to 2009. The study shows: there's a long-term equilibrium relationship between trade liberalization and carbon dioxide emissions in China; a unidirectional causality exists from Foreign Trade Dependency to carbon dioxide emissions, while the causality between FDI Dependency and carbon dioxide emissions is bidirectional.
A brief overview of quality inside learning object repositories

Assessing quality of learning objects (LOs) is a difficult and complex task that normally revolves around multiples and different aspects that need to be addressed. Nowadays, quality assessment of LOs inside repositories is based on the information provided by the same community of users and experts that use such platforms. These kinds of information are known as evaluative metadata and constitute a value body of knowledge about Los that is normally used inside the repositories during the process of searching and retrieving. The present work aims to present a brief overview about how LOs quality is being assessed inside some of the most important repositories existent nowadays, as well as some limitations of these existing approaches.
The Attitude of Santri and Ustadz Toward Multilingual Education at Pesantren

The attitude is one of the important aspects of multilingual teaching and learning successful at Pesantren or Islamic boarding school in Indonesia. This study aimed to know the effect of attitude of Santri/students and Ustadz/teachers toward multilingual education at Pesantren in Makassar, Indonesia.This study applied quantitative approach using survey design. The population of the study is all Santri and Ustadz of Pesantren of IMMIM, Pondok Madinah, and Pesantren of Darul Arqam Muhammadiyah Gombara amount to 839 populations which consist of 788 Santries and 51 Ustadzs in academic year 20014/2015. The total samples of simple random sampling technique are 85 then accomplished to 100 samples. In collecting data, the researcher employed questionnaire using Likert Scale model. The data have been analyzed descriptively and inferentially using SPSS Ver. 17.The researcher found that there was an effect of Santri and Ustadzs’ attitude toward multilingual education at pesantren but it was not significant caused of the lack of knowledge, belief, and loyalty to the government regulation.
On the arithmetic of the BC-system

For each prime p and each embedding of the multiplicative group of an algebraic closure of F_p as complex roots of unity, we construct a p-adic indecomposable representation of the integral BC-system as additive endomorphisms of the big Witt ring of an algebraic closure of F_p. The obtained representations are the p-adic analogues of the complex, extremal KMS states at zero temperature of the BC-system. The role of the Riemann zeta function, as partition function of the BC-system over complex numbers is replaced, in the p-adic case, by the p-adic L-functions and the polylogarithms whose values at roots of unity encode the KMS states. We use Iwasawa theory to extend the KMS theory to a covering of the completion of an algebraic closure of the p-adic field. We show that our previous work on the hyperring structure of the adeles class space, combines with p-adic analysis to refine the space of valuations on the cyclotomic extension of Q as a noncommutative space intimately related to the integral BC-system and whose arithmetic geometry comes close to fulfill the expectations of the "arithmetic site". Finally, we explain how the integral BC-system appears naturally also in de Smit and Lenstra construction of the standard model of an algebraic closure of F_p which singles out the subsystem associated to the Z^-extension of Q.
Multiview face capture using polarized spherical gradient illumination

We present a novel process for acquiring detailed facial geometry with high resolution diffuse and specular photometric information from multiple viewpoints using polarized spherical gradient illumination. Key to our method is a new pair of linearly polarized lighting patterns which enables multiview diffuse-specular separation under a given spherical illumination condition from just two photographs. The patterns -- one following lines of latitude and one following lines of longitude -- allow the use of fixed linear polarizers in front of the cameras, enabling more efficient acquisition of diffuse and specular albedo and normal maps from multiple viewpoints. In a second step, we employ these albedo and normal maps as input to a novel multi-resolution adaptive domain message passing stereo reconstruction algorithm to create high resolution facial geometry. To do this, we formulate the stereo reconstruction from multiple cameras in a commonly parameterized domain for multiview reconstruction. We show competitive results consisting of high-resolution facial geometry with relightable reflectance maps using five DSLR cameras. Our technique scales well for multiview acquisition without requiring specialized camera systems for sensing multiple polarization states.
Joint channel and carrier frequency estimation for M-ary CPM over frequency-selective channel using PAM decomposition

In this paper, we present a new data-aided carrier-recovery method for Continuous Phase Modulation (CPM) signals over frequency-selective channels. We first present a linear model of the received signal based on Mengali representation over selective channels and show how to use it to perform joint channel and carrier-frequency estimation. We also derive a low-complexity version of the estimator. Simulation results show that this method performs better than the optimal method suited to the Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channels.
Near optimal online algorithms and fast approximation algorithms for resource allocation problems

We present algorithms for a class of resource allocation problems both in the online setting with stochastic input and in the offline setting. This class of problems contains many interesting special cases such as the Adwords problem. In the online setting we introduce a new distributional model called the adversarial stochastic input model, which is a generalization of the i.i. d model with unknown distributions, where the distributions can change over time. In this model we give a 1-O(ε) approximation algorithm for the resource allocation problem, with almost the weakest possible assumption: the ratio of the maximum amount of resource consumed by any single request to the total capacity of the resource, and the ratio of the profit contributed by any single request to the optimal profit is at most (ε2/log(1/ε)2)/(log n + log (1/ε)) where n is the number of resources available. There are instances where this ratio is #949;2/log n such that no randomized algorithm can have a competitive ratio of 1-o(ε) even in the i.i. d model. The upper bound on ratio that we require improves on the previous upper-bound for the i.i. d case by a factor of n. Our proof technique also gives a very simple proof that the greedy algorithm has a competitive ratio of 1-1/e for the Adwords problem in the i.i. d model with unknown distributions, and more generally in the adversarial stochastic input model, when there is no bound on the bid to budget ratio. All the previous proofs assume that either bids are very small compared to budgets or something very similar to this. In the offline setting we give a fast algorithm to solve very large LPs with both packing and covering constraints. We give algorithms to approximately solve (within a factor of 1+ε) the mixed packing-covering problem with O(γ m log n/ε2) oracle calls where the constraint matrix of this LP has dimension n x m, and γ is a parameter which is very similar to the ratio described for the online setting. We discuss several applications, and how our algorithms improve existing results in some of these applications.