Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual response to time-dependent stimuli. I. Amplitude sensitivity measurements.

With sinusoidal modulation of the radiance of the stimulus as a function of time, amplitude thresholds are measured instead of the repetition-rate thresholds usually obtained in flicker-fusion experiments. Controlling the modulation amplitude independently of the time-average radiance provides an additional degree of freedom, so that the observer’s adaptation level can be held constant while his amplitude sensitivity is measured as a function of the modulation frequency. With an “edgeless” flickering field, these amplitude sensitivity curves show a broad peak of maximum visual response, in the region from 10 to 20 cps at high photopic levels. Such classic relationships as the Ferry-Porter, Talbot-Plateau, and Weber-Fechner laws are derivable from the present results, as descriptions of the behavior of certain parts of the amplitude sensitivity curves as functions of adaptation level.
Interactions between KSHV ORF57 and the novel human TREX proteins, CHTOP and CIP29

The coupling of mRNA processing steps is essential for precise and efficient gene expression. The human transcription/export (hTREX) complex is a highly conserved multi-protein complex responsible for eukaryotic mRNA stability and nuclear export. We have previously shown that the Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated open reading frame 57 (ORF57) protein orchestrates the recruitment of the hTREX complex onto viral intronless mRNA, forming a stable and export-competent viral ribonucleoprotein particle (vRNP). Recently, additional cellular proteins, namely CHTOP, CIP29 and POLDIP3 have been proposed as novel hTREX components. Herein, we extend our previous research and provide evidence that ORF57 interacts with CHTOP and CIP29, in contrast to POLDIP3. Moreover, depletion studies show both CHTOP and CIP29 effect ORF57-mediated viral mRNA processing. As such, these results suggest both CHTOP and CIP29 are hTREX components and are recruited to an ORF57-mediated vRNP.
Hormone therapy plus temsirolimus for endometrial carcinoma (EC): Gynecologic Oncology Group trial #248.

5014 Background: Both hormonal therapy and m-TOR inhibitors have activity in the treatment of EC, and preclinical evidence suggested that combining them might be beneficial. METHODS GOG 248 was a randomized phase II trial of temsirolimus (TEM) 25 mg IV weekly or the combination of TEM 25 mg weekly plus megestrol acetate 80 mg bid for three weeks alternating with tamoxifen 20 mg bid for three weeks (COMB). Eligibility criteria included measurable advanced, persistent, or recurrent EC, and no prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease unless patient (pt) achieved complete response and was progression-free for at least six months after completion of therapy. The primary endpoint was objective response rate. RESULTS As of Dec 18 2009, the COMB arm was closed to accrual for excess venous thromboses (7 events in 22 pts). These included DVT (n=5) and nonfatal PE (n=2). In addition there was one sudden death and one myocardial infarction. Median age of pts on COMB arm was 65, range 51-88. Eleven of 21 eligible pts had prior chemotherapy. Of 7 eligible pts still on study at that time, 5 continued on COMB, 1 continued on TEM alone, and 1 stopped all study therapy. Toxicities resulting in discontinuation of COMB therapy included grade(gr)2 pneumonitis (n=2), gr2 fatigue (n=1), DVT/PE (n=1), gr3 edema associated with thrombocytopenia (n=2). Three (of 21 eligible) pts had a partial response. There had been no venous thromboses on the TEM arm as of Dec 18 2009, and it was opened to second stage of accrual (indicating at least four responses among the first 21 patients) and completed Nov 22, 2010 (total enrolled TEM n = 51). CONCLUSIONS The combination of temsirolimus with megestrol acetate/tamoxifen results in an unacceptable rate of venous thrombosis and its activity is not sufficient to offset its risk of thrombotic events. Single agent temsirolimus results should be available in May, 2011.
Alpha-synuclein Oligomers Distinctively Permeabilize Complex Model Membranes *

This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1111/febs.12824 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Alpha-synuclein Oligomers Distinctively Permeabilize Complex Model Membranes*
Graphene based multifunctional flame sensor

Recently, graphene has attracted much attention due to its unique electrical and thermal properties along with its high surface area, and hence presents an ideal sensing material. We report a novel configuration of a graphene based flame sensor by exploiting the response of few layer graphene to a flame along two different directions, where flame detection results from a difference in heat transfer mechanisms. A complete sensor module was developed with a signal conditioning circuit that compensates for any drift in the baseline of the sensor, along with a flame detection algorithm implemented in a microcontroller to detect the flame. A pre-defined threshold for either of the sensors is tunable, which can be varied based on the nature of the flame, hence presenting a system that can be used for detection of any kind of flame. This finding also presents a scalable method that opens avenues to modify complicated sensing schemes.
The Effects of Perceived Information Quality and Perceived System Quality on Trust and Adoption of Online Reputation Systems

Online reputation systems are the means for reducing information asymmetry among the parties involved in an online transaction. When customers interact with a reputation system, they actually interact both with the system and with other customers who feed information into the system. Recognizing the dual nature of this interaction, this study examines the effects of perceived systems quality and perceived information quality on online customers’ intention to adopt the online reputation system. The research model proposes that perceptions will affect the intention to adopt through both psychological routes (i.e. trust in customers feeding the reputation system) and functional routes (perceived usefulness of the reputation system). An online survey was conducted. The results show that users’ perceived information quality and perceived system quality indeed significantly affect their intention to adopt the system, mainly through the functional route, but not significantly through the psychological route.
Uncontrolled islanding operations of MV/LV active distribution networks

In many countries different technical rules have been introduced in order to integrate the DG units in the medium voltage (MV) and low voltage (LV) distribution network. New standards state requirements for all generators, included inverter based ones, imposing a Fault Ride Through (FRT) philosophy and new active and reactive power regulation actions with the aim of maintaining the transmission system stability at the level it was with traditional rotating generators, or even increasing it. These technical rules may not be fully compliant with the automatic reclosing cycle usually performed from the CB at the beginning of MV feeders and/or with the automatic procedure of faulty section selection and supply restore to healthy ones. In this paper the effects of DG units connected at MV and LV voltage level in relation to different fault conditions are analyzed. The possibility of temporary uncontrolled islanded operations are investigated in order to evaluate the role of new Standards or Regulatory or Law requirements in the automatic reclosing procedure and MV network automation.
Parallelizing and optimizing sparse tensor computations

Irregular computations over large-scale sparse data are prevalent in critical data applications and they have significant room for improvement on modern computer systems from the aspects of parallelism and data locality. We introduce new techniques to efficiently map large irregular computations with multi-dimensional sparse arrays (or sparse tensors) onto modern multi-core systems with non-uniform memory access (NUMA) behavior. We implement a static-cum-dynamic task scheduling scheme with low overhead for effective parallelization of sparse computations. We introduce locality-aware optimizations to the task scheduling mechanism that are driven by the sparse input data pattern. We evaluate our techniques on key sparse tensor decomposition methods that are widely used in areas such as data mining, graph analysis, and elsewhere. We achieve around 4-5x improvement in performance over existing parallel approaches and observe scalable parallel performance on modern multi-core systems with up to 32 processor cores.
Metaheuristics to minimise makespan on parallel batch processing machines with dynamic job arrivals

Batch processing machines that can process a group of jobs simultaneously are often encountered in semiconductor manufacturing and metal heat treatment. This research investigates the scheduling problem on parallel batch processing machines in the presence of dynamic job arrivals and non-identical job sizes. The processing time and ready time of a batch are equal to the largest processing time and release time among all jobs in the batch, respectively. This problem is NP-hard in the strong sense, and hence two lower bounds were proposed to evaluate the performance of approximation algorithms. An ERT-LPT heuristic rule was next presented to assign batches to parallel machines. Two metaheuristics, a genetic algorithm (GA) and an ant colony optimisation (ACO) are further proposed using ERT-LPT to minimise makespan. The performances of the two approaches, along with a BFLPT-ERTLPT (BE) heuristic were compared by computational experiments. The results show that both metaheurisitcs outperform BE. GA is able to obtain better solutions when dealing with small-job instances compared to ACO, whereas ACO dominates GA in large-job instances.
Fish Population Genetics and Molecular Markers: II- Molecular Markers and Their Applications in Fisheries and Aquaculture

Genetic diversity or variation and its measurement have vital importance in interpretation, understanding and management of populations and individuals. Development of allozyme electrophoresis and chromosomal techniques has significantly increased ability to observe the genetic variation and the former has for many years been the standard tool in genetic studies of wild and cultured fish stocks, but in recent years, it has been increasingly replaced by DNA markers. These molecular markers combined with new statistical developments enable the determination of differences and similarities between stocks and individuals, and the population of origin of single fish, resulting in numerous new research possibilities and applications in practical fisheries and aquaculture stock management. Various molecular markers, proteins or DNA (mitochondrial DNA or nuclear DNA such as minisatellites, microsatellites, transcribed sequences, anonymous cDNA or RAPDs) are now being used in fisheries and aquaculture. Unfortunately, the terminology used is sometimes confusing. The techniques are leading misunderstandings particularly between the senior scientists and, field researchers or end users of their research. More importantly the choice of these markers for particular applications is not straightforward one and is often based on the prior experience of the investigators. It has therefore become crucial that fisheries and aquaculture researchers and managers have a basic understanding of molecular tools, and their assumptions, strengths and weaknesses. In this review, we have provided basics of molecular genetics (DNA) and overview of commonly used molecular markers, and presented a critical review of the applications and limitations of major classes of these markers in fisheries and aquaculture related studies.
Finding of kinase domain mutations in patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia responding to imatinib may identify those at high risk of disease progression.

PURPOSE Kinase domain (KD) mutations in the BCR-ABL gene are associated with resistance to imatinib in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) but their incidence and prognostic significance in chronic phase (CP) patients without resistance are unclear. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed outcome for 319 patients with CML-CP who were treated with imatinib; 171 were in early CP (ECP) and 148 were in late CP (LCP). Patients were screened routinely for mutations using direct sequencing regardless of response status. The 5-year cumulative incidence of mutations was 6.6% for ECP and 17% for LCP patients. RESULTS Of the 319 patients, 214 (67%) achieved complete cytogenetic responses (CCyR). The identification of a mutation without other evidence of imatinib resistance was highly predictive for loss of CCyR (RR, 3.8; P = .005) and for progression to advanced phase (RR, 2.3; P = .01), though the intervals from first identification to loss of CCyR and disease progression were relatively long (median, 21 and 16 months, respectively). Mutations in the P-loop (excluding residue 244) were associated with a higher risk of progression than mutations elsewhere. CONCLUSION We conclude that routine mutation screening of patients who appear to be responding to imatinib may identify those at high risk of disease progression.
Automatic Generation of Situation Models for Plan Recognition Problems

Recent attempts at behaviour understanding through language grounding have shown that it is possible to automatically generate models for planning problems from textual instructions. One drawback of these approaches is that they either do not make use of the semantic structure behind the model elements identified in the text, or they manually incorporate a collection of concepts with semantic relationships between them. We call this collection of knowledge situation model. The situation model introduces additional context information to the model. It could also potentially reduce the complexity of the planning problem compared to models that do not use situation models. To address this problem, we propose an approach that automatically generates the situation model from textual instructions. The approach is able to identify various hierarchical, spatial, directional, and causal relations. We use the situation model to automatically generate planning problems in a PDDL notation and we show that the situation model reduces the complexity of the PDDL model in terms of number of operators and branching factor compared to planning models that do not make use of situation models.
dbSNP: a database of single nucleotide polymorphisms

In response to a need for a general catalog of genome variation to address the large-scale sampling designs required by association studies, gene mapping and evolutionary biology, the National Cancer for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has established the dbSNP database. Submissions to dbSNP will be integrated with other sources of information at NCBI such as GenBank, PubMed, LocusLink and the Human Genome Project data. The complete contents of dbSNP are available to the public at website: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SNP. Submitted SNPs can also be downloaded via anonymous FTP at ftp://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/
Modelling and evaluation of quality parameters of IP-networks connection

An important factor of development of modern telecommunication networks is to assure the efficiency of their work and proper parameters of quality of provided services. Therefore, the development and implementation of effective methods and facilities of connection quality assurance is the topical issue. The article deals with the analysis of problems of quality assurance in telecommunication networks, and some modern methods for solving the set task are considered on the basis of integrated IntServ and differentiated DiffServ service models.
Secondary structure of heterogeneous nuclear RNA: two classes of double-stranded RNA in native ribonucleoprotein.

Heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA) from HeLa cells contains intramolecular duplexes. Since hnRNA is associated with protein in vivo, it is possible that the double-stranded regions observed in deproteinized hnRNA form spontaneously upon the release of protein from single-stranded but potentially complementary sequences. We show here that this is not the case for a class of double-stranded sequences that is defined by resistance to RNases A + T(1) at high ionic strength. Exposure of HeLa hnRNA.ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) particles to Escherichia coli RNase III, a double-strand-specific endoribonuclease, destroys most of the sequences resistant to RNases A + T(1). This effect is completely blocked when hnRNP is exposed to RNase III in the presence of an excess of purified double-stranded RNA. In addition, we show that there exist two classes of double-stranded RNA in hnRNP at a salt concentration of 0.13 M. These are distinguished by their relative resistance to RNases A + T(1). The more stable double-stranded sequences, which are resistant to RNases A + T(1) at 0.13 M, comprise 1.0-1.1% of the nucleotides in hnRNP. The less stable double-stranded sequences comprise an additional 1.5-2.0% of the nucleotides in hnRNP. These are sensitive to RNase III at 0.13 M, but are not resistant to RNases A + T(1) unless the salt concentration is raised to 0.63 M. The demonstration that double-stranded sequences resistant to RNases A + T(1) exist in native ribonucleoprotein and are not artifacts of deproteinization now makes it appropriate to seriously consider their possible functional role in hnRNA metabolism, perhaps as binding sites for regulatory proteins involved in mRNA processing.
Management of a patient with HIV infection‐induced anemia and thrombocytopenia who presented with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

A 32‐year‐old male presented with fever, mental status changes, renal dysfunction, cytopenias and hemolysis. His platelet count was 14,000/μL, hemoglobin 5.7 g/dL and LDH 2,636 U/L. He was diagnosed with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and also found to be HIV positive on admission. TTP was confirmed by a low von Willebrand factor‐cleaving protease level, the gold standard test for TTP, which was 10–15%. No protease‐specific antibody was detected. Treatment of this patient consisted of 23 plasmapheresis procedures and trials of vincristine and dextran‐70. Despite therapy, the patient remained anemic and thrombocytopenic, though his mental status and renal abnormalities improved. Highly active anti‐retroviral therapy (HAART) consisting of efavirenz, 3TC, and d4T was started. Only after plasma exchanges were discontinued and HAART was instituted did the cytopenias resolve. He continued to improve following discharge, and platelet count was 206,000/μL and hemoglobin, 12.5 g/dL one month after the initiation of HAART. Am. J. Hematol. 69:228–231, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Resolved motion rate control of space manipulators with generalized Jacobian matrix

The authors establish a control method for space manipulators taking dynamical interaction between the manipulator arm and the base satellite into account. The kinematics of free-flying multibody systems is investigated by introducing the momentum conservation law into the formulation and a novel Jacobian matrix in generalized form for space robotic arms is derived. The authors develop a control method for space manipulators based on the resolved motion control concept. The proposed method is widely applicable in solving not only free-flying manipulation problems but also attitude-control problems. The validity of the method is demonstrated by computer simulations with a realistic model of a robot satellite. >
Wideband circular polarization reconfigurable slot antenna with compact size for GNSS

A wideband circular polarization-reconfigurable (CPR) slot antenna with compact size for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) applications is presented. The antenna consists of a rectangular-loop slot, a microstrip feed line, a Wilkinson power divider, a 90°-phase shifter, a double-pole double-throw (DPDT) switch, and two L-shaped feeding stubs. For size reduction, four T-shaped stubs are symmetrically placed inside the rectangular-loop slot. Wideband operation of the 90°-phase shifter is constructed using a microstrip line and a lumped-element composite right/left-handed transmission-line (LE-CRLH TL). The input signal is split into two signals with equal amplitude and 90°-phase difference by the Wilkinson power divider and the 90°-phase shifter, and then fed to the corresponding L-shaped feeding stubs. The DC control voltages to the DPDT switch determine if the antenna generates a right-handed or left-handed CP signal. Simulated results show that the proposed antenna has a bandwidth of 1.14-1.65 GHz for 3-dB gain variation.
EXPERIMENTAL MODELS OF SEPSIS AND THEIR CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Sepsis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality mainly because of sepsis-induced multiple organ dysfunction. In contrast to preclinical studies, most clinical trials of promising new treatment strategies for sepsis have failed to demonstrate efficacy. Although many reasons could account for this discrepancy, the misinterpretation of preclinical data obtained from experimental studies and especially the use of animal models that do not adequately mimic human sepsis may have been contributing factors. In this review, the potentials and limitations of various animal models of sepsis are discussed to clarify to which extent these findings are relevant to human sepsis. Such models include intravascular infusion of endotoxin or live bacteria, bacterial peritonitis, cecal ligation and perforation, soft tissue infection, pneumonia or meningitis models using different animal species including rats, mice, rabbits, dogs, pigs, sheep, and nonhuman primates. Despite several limitations, animal models remain essential in the development of all new therapies for sepsis and septic shock because they provide fundamental information about the pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and mechanism of drug action that cannot be replaced by other methods. New therapeutic agents should be studied in infection models, even after the initiation of the septic process. Furthermore, debility conditions need to be reproduced to avoid the exclusive use of healthy animals, which often do not represent the human septic patient.