Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Tobacco Calcium/Calmodulin-binding Protein Kinase Functions as a Negative Regulator of Flowering*

A tobacco calcium/calmodulin-binding protein kinase (NtCBK1) was isolated and identified. The predicted NtCBK1 protein has 599 amino acids, an N-terminal kinase domain, and shares high homology with other calmodulin (CaM)-related kinases. Whereas NtCBK1 phosphorylates itself and substrates such as histone IIIS and syntide-2 in the absence of CaM, its kinase activity can be stimulated by tobacco CaMs. However, unlike another tobacco protein kinase designated NtCBK2, NtCBK1 was not differentially regulated by the different CaM isoforms tested. The CaM-binding domain of NtCBK1 was located between amino acids 436 and 455, and this domain was shown to be necessary for CaM modulation of kinase activity. RNA in situ hybridization showed that NtCBK1 was highly regulated in the transition to flowering. Whereas NtCBK1 mRNA was accumulated in the shoot apical meristem during vegetative growth, its expression was dramatically decreased in the shoot apical meristem after floral determination, and in young flower primordia. The expression of NtCBK1 was up-regulated to high levels in floral organ primordia. Fluctuations in NtCBK1 expression were verified by analysis of tobacco plants expressing green fluorescent protein under the control of the NtCBK1 promoter, suggesting a role of NtCBK1 in the transition to flowering. This conclusion was confirmed by overexpressing NtCBK1 in transgenic tobacco plants, where maintenance of high levels of NtCBK1 in the shoot apical meristem delayed the switch to flowering and extended the vegetative phase of growth. Further work indicated that overexpression of NtCBK1 in transgenic tobacco did not affect the expression of NFL, a tobacco homologue of the LFY gene that controls meristem initiation and floral structure in tobacco. In addition, the promotion of tobacco flowering time by DNA demethylation cannot be blocked by the overexpression of NtCBK1.
Coproantibodies in hepatitis A: detection by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immune electron microscopy

A collection of 104-fecal specimens from 45 patients with hepatitis A, 14 patients with hepatitis B, 10 patients with non-A, non-B hepatitis, 6 patients with diseases other than hepatitis, and 18 healthy adults were studied for the presence of secretory immunoglobulin A and immunoglobulin M to hepatitis A virus by solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immune electron microsopy. Specific fecal antibody was found only in patients with hepatitis A. Of 54 specimens from patients with hepatitis A, only 10 (18.5%) possessed detectable levels of fecal antibody, and each of these was collected within 10 days from the onset of dark urine. All 10 fecal specimens contained hepatitis A-specific secretory immunoglobulin A, and 4 were also positive for hepatitis A-specific immunoblobulin M. Four of the 10 antibody-positive specimens also contained hepatitis A virus particles which could be shown by immune electron microscopy to be coated with specific secretory immunoglobulin A. Since specific fecal antibody was not detected in all the patients with hepatitis A that were studied, it would appear to have limited diagnostic value, although its detection is evidence of recent infection.
Texture classification by multifractal spectrum and barycentric coordinates of bit planes of wavelet coefficients

A new texture classification method based on wavelet transform is presented. The elements of the signature vector, FDBC, of an image are the fractal dimensions and barycentric coordinates of the bit planes of the wavelet coefficients in both the three-level high-frequency domains and the third low-frequency domain. The pretreatment is done with SVD decomposition and reconstruction by dropping half singular values. The one-nearest-neighbour classifier (1NN) with L 1 distance is used to make the classification. Furthermore, to improve classification result, the classifier 1NN is strengthened with weighted L 1 distance. The proposed method is tested on five subsets from Brodatz database and UMD database and is experimentally proved more efficient and more promising.
A Contingency-Based Security-Constrained Optimal Power Flow Model For Revealing The Marginal Cost of a Blackout Risk-Equalizing Policy in the Colombian Electricity Market

This paper presents a new methodology to solve the dispatch problem in the Colombian electricity market. The proposed methodology is based on the use of coupled post-contingency optimal power flows with additional linear constraints to include reliability criteria. The main contribution of this paper is the solution of the Colombian dispatch problem in one stage, which provides actual nodal prices and reveals the marginal price of a blackout-risk equalizing policy in the Colombian electricity market
Your digital image: factors behind demographic and psychometric predictions from social network profiles

We demonstrate how information gathered from social network profiles can be used to predict personal attributes such as gender and age, religious and political views, intelligence, happiness and personality traits. Our approach is based on applying machine learning techniques to a large dataset of people who volunteered their Facebook profiles along with their demographic and psychometric test results. We combine various features from the profile, including the numbers or rates of posting status updates, pictures and group memberships, and the specific items liked by individuals. Our system provides insights regarding how the predictions are made, allowing people to understand how they may be perceived by others based on their social network profiles.
Optimization by Direct Search: New Perspectives on Some Classical and Modern Methods

Direct search methods are best known as unconstrained optimization techniques that do not explicitly use derivatives. Direct search methods were formally proposed and widely applied in the 1960s but fell out of favor with the mathematical optimization community by the early 1970s because they lacked coherent mathematical analysis. Nonetheless, users remained loyal to these methods, most of which were easy to program, some of which were reliable. In the past fifteen years, these methods have seen a revival due, in part, to the appearance of mathematical analysis, as well as to interest in parallel and distributed com- puting. This review begins by briefly summarizing the history of direct search methods and considering the special properties of problems for which they are well suited. Our focus then turns to a broad class of methods for which we provide a unifying framework that lends itself to a variety of convergence results. The underlying principles allow general- ization to handle bound constraints and linear constraints. We also discuss extensions to problems with nonlinear constraints.
A systems psycho-dynamic perspective on burnout.

The aim of this research was to explore burnout from a systems psycho-dynamic perspective. A qualitative design, using focus groups, was used. Burnout can be seen as a phenomenon resulting from the psycho-dynamic relatedness between subsystems in the organisation. The macro system disowns and projects its unacceptable behaviour onto and into an individual with a specific valence, who identifies with the behaviour. Through counter transference, the individual experiences and contains the behaviour on behalf of the system. Coping with burnout implies that the total system will try to become aware of its projections and own its good and bad parts alike. OPSOMMING Die doel van hierdie navorsing was om uitbranding vanuit ’n sisteem-psigodinamiese perspektief te eksploreer. ’n Kwalitatiewe ontwerp met fokusgroepe is gebruik. Uitbranding kan gesien word as ’n fenomeen wat ontstaan uit die psigodinamiese verbintenis tussen subsisteme in die organisasie. Die makrosisteem onteien en projekteer sy onaanvaarbare gedrag op en in ’n individu met ’n spesifieke valensie, wat met hierdie gedrag identifiseer. Deur middel van teen-oordrag, ervaar en behou die individu die gedrag namens die sisteem. Coping met uitbranding impliseer dat die totale sisteem sal probeer bewus word van sy projeksies en om sy goeie en bose dele tegelyk te eien.
Central Nervous System Depressants Poisoning and Ventilator Associated Pneumonia: An Underrated Risk Factor at the Toxicological Intensive Care Unit

Background: Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is the main cause of nosocomial infection at intensive care units (ICUs), which causes high mortality and morbidity. Objectives: The objective of the present survey was to identify the VAP risk and prognostic factors among poisoned patients, who were admitted to the toxicological ICU (TICU), especially central nervous system (CNS) depressants due to their prevalence and importance. Patients and Methods: A case-control study was conducted at the Loghman Hakim hospital between March 2013 and March 2014. Among 300 poisoned patients with mechanical ventilator ≥ 48 hours, 150 patients, who had developed microbiologically-confirmed VAP were considered as the VAP group and 150 without VAP were defined as the control group. The following data were collected; age, gender, type of poisoning, glasgow coma score, Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score, length of hospital stay, previous antibiotic use, microbial culture of the trachea, body temperature, leukocyte count, and patients’ outcome. Based on the type of poisoning, patients were divided into three groups including: opioid, CNS depressants and others. All data were expressed as means (SD) for continuous variables and frequencies for categorical variables. Logistic regression was used to determine the relationship between risk factors and VAP. Results: The mean age of the patients was 33.9 ± 14.3 years. The probable VAP incidence and mortality were 22% and 18.6%, respectively. The rate of CNS depressant versus opioid use (odds ratio, 3.74; P < 0.027), APACHE II (odds ratio, 1.28; P < 0.000) and length of hospital stay (odds ratio, 2.15; P < 0.000) were the independent risk factors for VAP. While, the APACHE II score (odds ratio, 1.12; P < 0.044) and length of hospital stay (odds ratio, 2.15; P < 0.000) were the independent predictors of VAP mortality among these patients. The most common microorganisms in VAP cases were Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Acinetobacter sp. (56.7% and 12.7%, respectively). Conclusions: Central nervous system depressant was an important risk factor for VAP among poisoned patients. Hypoventilation due to CNS depression can lead to VAP. The APACHE II and length of hospital stay were shown as independent predictors of VAP and mortality among these patients.
Inter- and intra-subject variation of abdominal vs. thoracic respiratory motion using kernel density estimation

In nuclear medicine, there is a significant research focus in developing a new approach in monitoring, tracking and compensating respiratory motion during image acquisition. We address this by attempting to model the respiratory cycle pattern and finding a method that describes the configuration of the anterior surface which then correlates with the internal position/configuration of the internal organ as a foundation for motion compensation. This paper presents novel work in parameterizing external respiratory motion using a method based on the variation of abdominal vs. thoracic surface markers to investigate inter- and intra-subject variation. The dominant mode of variation of the Abdominal and Thoracic surfaces during respiration using Principle Component Analysis (PCA) is studied. This demonstrates that pattern of TS vs AS motion appears temporally at a global level stable. Thus Although breathing style is consistent within a given subject, we there observe temporal changes in the amplitude and density of the PDF in intra-subject data.
DSP-Based Probabilistic Fuzzy Neural Network Control for Li-Ion Battery Charger

A DSP-based probabilistic fuzzy neural network (PFNN) controller to control a two-stage ac-dc charger is pro- posed in this study. The charger is composed of an ac-dc boost converter with power factor correction and a phase-shift full- bridge dc-dc converter. Moreover, the designed charger adopts a constant-current and constant-voltage (CC-CV) charging strategy to charge lithium-ion battery packs. To improve the transient of voltage regulation during load variation, a PFNN controller is pro- posed to replace the traditional proportional-integral controller. Furthermore, the discontinuous charging voltage and current during the transition between the CC and CV charging modes can also be reduced significantly using the proposed PFNN controller. The network structure and the online learning algorithms of the PFNN controller are introduced in detail. In addition, the control performances of the proposed PFNN control system for CC-CV charging are evaluated by experimental results.
An ADMM Algorithm for Clustering Partially Observed Networks

Community detection has attracted increasing attention during the past decade, and many algorithms have been proposed to find the underlying community structure in a given network. Many of these algorithms are based on modularity maximization, and these methods suffer from the resolution limit. In order to detect the underlying cluster structure, we propose a new convex formulation to decompose a partially observed adjacency matrix of a network into low-rank and sparse components. In such decomposition, the low-rank component encodes the cluster structure under certain assumptions. We also devise an alternating direction method of multipliers with increasing penalty sequence to solve this problem; and compare it with Louvain method, which maximizes the modularity, on some synthetic randomly generated networks. Numerical results show that our method outperforms Louvain method on the randomly generated networks when variance among cluster sizes increases. Moreover, empirical results also demonstrate that our formulation is indeed tighter than the robust PCA formulation, and is able to find the true clustering when the robust PCA formulation fails.
DMT and DT2: two fault-tolerant architectures developed by CNES for COTS-based spacecraft supercomputers

COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) electronic components are attractive for space applications. However, computer designers need to solve a main problem as regards their SEE (single event effect) sensitivity. The purpose of fault tolerance studies conducted at CNES (the French Space Agency) is to prepare the space community for the significant evolution linked to the usage of COTS components. CNES has patented two fault-tolerant architectures with low recurring costs, mass and power consumption, as compared to conventional architectures as e.g. the TMR (triple modular redundancy) one. The former, referred to as DMT, is time redundancy based and minimises recurring costs. It is mainly intended for but not limited to scientific missions. The latter, referred to as DT2, is based on a structural duplex architecture with minimum duplication and is suited for high-end application missions
Multilingualism and augmentative and alternative communication in South Africa – Exploring the views of persons with complex communication needs

Background Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) can assist persons with complex communication needs to communicate competently with a variety of communication partners in a variety of contexts. However, AAC systems and intervention often do not take multilingual aspects into consideration. Objective This small-scale exploratory study had three aims, namely: (1) to describe the self-reported language skills of multilingual South African adults using AAC, (2) to describe the languages and communication modalities they used in interaction and (3) to obtain their views regarding access to various languages. Methods Twenty-seven adults using AAC were recruited via an empowerment programme, as well as an email list for persons interested in AAC, and provided responses to a questionnaire. To compensate for access and written language challenges, the questionnaire was administered with help and/or as a face-to-face interview where needed. Responses were analysed using mostly descriptive statistics. Results Participants generally could not express themselves in all the languages they understood and were regularly exposed to. Speech-generating devices specifically gave access almost exclusively to English. Participants expressed a desire to increase their expressive language repertoire, and mentioned both limitations of communication technology as well as their own literacy skills as barriers to overcome in this regard. Conclusion In order for multilingual South African adults using AAC to express themselves in multiple languages, appropriate AAC systems and interventions as well as literacy learning opportunities need to be developed and provided. Keywords adult, augmentative and alternative communication; multilingualism; complex communication needs, language and communication skills; self-report, views.
Road Development and the Geography of Hunting by an Amazonian Indigenous Group: Consequences for Wildlife Conservation

Protected areas are essential for conservation of wildlife populations. However, in the tropics there are two important factors that may interact to threaten this objective: 1) road development associated with large-scale resource extraction near or within protected areas; and 2) historical occupancy by traditional or indigenous groups that depend on wildlife for their survival. To manage wildlife populations in the tropics, it is critical to understand the effects of roads on the spatial extent of hunting and how wildlife is used. A geographical analysis can help us answer questions such as: How do roads affect spatial extent of hunting? How does market vicinity relate to local consumption and trade of bushmeat? How does vicinity to markets influence choice of game? A geographical analysis also can help evaluate the consequences of increased accessibility in landscapes that function as source-sink systems. We applied spatial analyses to evaluate the effects of increased landscape and market accessibility by road development on spatial extent of harvested areas and wildlife use by indigenous hunters. Our study was conducted in Yasuní Biosphere Reserve, Ecuador, which is impacted by road development for oil extraction, and inhabited by the Waorani indigenous group. Hunting activities were self-reported for 12–14 months and each kill was georeferenced. Presence of roads was associated with a two-fold increase of the extraction area. Rates of bushmeat extraction and trade were higher closer to markets than further away. Hunters located closer to markets concentrated their effort on large-bodied species. Our results clearly demonstrate that placing roads within protected areas can seriously reduce their capacity to sustain wildlife populations and potentially threaten livelihoods of indigenous groups who depend on these resources for their survival. Our results critically inform current policy debates regarding resource extraction and road building near or within protected areas.
Addressing Discourse and Document Structure in the RTE Search Task

This paper describes Bar-Ilan University’s submissions to RTE-5. This year we focused on the Search pilot, enhancing our entailment system to address two main issues introduced by this new setting: scalability and, primarily, document-level discourse. Our system achieved the highest score on the Search task amongst participating groups, and proposes first steps towards addressing this challenging setting.
Fuzzy p-values in latent variable problems

We consider the problem of testing a statistical hypothesis where the scientifically meaningful test statistic is a function of latent variables. In particular, we consider detection of genetic linkage, where the latent variables are patterns of inheritance at specific genome locations. Introduced by Geyer & Meeden (2005), fuzzy p-values are random variables, described by their probability distributions, that are interpreted as p-values. For latent variable problems, we introduce the notion of a fuzzy p-value as having the conditional distribution of the latent p-value given the observed data, where the latent p-value is the random variable that would be the p-value if the latent variables were observed.The fuzzy p-value provides an exact test using two sets of simulations of the latent variables under the null hypothesis, one unconditional and the other conditional on the observed data. It provides not only an expression of the strength of the evidence against the null hypothesis but also an expression of the uncertainty in that expression owing to lack of knowledge of the latent variables. We illustrate these features with an example of simulated data mimicking a real example of the detection of genetic linkage. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.
Effects of Elevated Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Concentrations on Early Developmental Stages of the Marine Copepod Calanus finmarchicus Gunnerus (Copepoda: Calanoidae)

Ocean acidification poses an ongoing threat to marine organisms, and early life stages are believed to be particularly sensitive. The boreal calanoid copepod Calanus finmarchicus seasonally dominates the standing stock of zooplankton in the northern North Sea and North Atlantic, and due to its size and abundance is considered an ecological key species linking energy from primary producers to higher trophic levels. To examine whether the early stages of C. finmarchicus are particularly vulnerable to elevated levels of CO2, eggs and nauplii were subjected to different levels of CO2-acidified seawater for 1 wk. The first experiment, with eggs as the starting point, revealed no marked effect on hatching success, but a significant reduction in nauplii survival during incubation at 8800 ppm CO2. In addition, a significant decrease in ontogenetic development rate during incubation at 8800 ppm CO2 was observed in this experiment. In the second experiment, where third-stage nauplii represented the starting point, no significant effects on ontogenetic development and survival following exposure to pCO2 ≥ 7700 ppm were observed. Data suggest that the two first nauplii stages, which are fed endogenously, may be more vulnerable and therefore likely to represent the “bottleneck” for this species in a more acidic ocean. However, the absence of significant effects in the most sensitive stages during exposure to 2800 ppm CO2, a level that is well above worst-case scenario predictions for year 2300 (approximately 2000 ppm CO2), suggests that this species may be generally robust to direct effects of ocean acidification.
Single-Port Laparoscopic Salpingectomy for Surgical Treatment of Tubal Pregnancy: Comparison with Multi-Port Laparoscopic Salpingectomy

BackgroundThis study investigates the safety and feasibility of transumbilical single-port laparoscopic salpingectomy (SPLS) using conventional laparoscopic instruments compared to conventional multi-port laparoscopic salpingectomy (MPLS) for surgical treatment of tubal pregnancy. Material and methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of 63 patients with tubal pregnancy who underwent SPLS and 71 patients who underwent conventional MPLS between January 2008 and December 2010. All patients in the SPLS group had a drainage tube placed through the umbilicus, and, in the MPLS group, through a 5-mm trocar site in one side of the lower abdomen. Results No significance difference was discovered between the groups with regard to adjusted hemoglobin values (SPLS, 1.9 ± 1.0 g/dL versus MPLS, 1.7 ± 1.0 g/dL, P = 0.335). Additionally, there was also no significant difference in clinical characteristics, intraoperative findings, or operative outcomes. Conclusions Our study demonstrated that transumbilical SPLS using conventional laparoscopic instruments has operative outcomes comparable to MPLS for the surgical treatment of tubal pregnancy. Transumbilical SPLS may therefore be offered as a feasible alternative to MPLS.