Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global analysis of microRNA target gene expression reveals that miRNA targets are lower expressed in mature mouse and Drosophila tissues than in the embryos

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding small RNAs of ∼22 nt that regulate the gene expression by base pairing with target mRNAs, leading to mRNA cleavage or translational repression. It is currently estimated that miRNAs account for ∼1% of predicted genes in higher eukaryotic genomes and that up to 30% of genes might be regulated by miRNAs. However, only very few miRNAs have been functionally characterized and the general functions of miRNAs are not globally studied. In this study, we systematically analyzed the expression patterns of miRNA targets using several public microarray profiles. We found that the expression levels of miRNA targets are lower in all mouse and Drosophila tissues than in the embryos. We also found miRNAs more preferentially target ubiquitously expressed genes than tissue-specifically expressed genes. These results support the current suggestion that miRNAs are likely to be largely involved in embryo development and maintaining of tissue identity.
Chromosomal attachments set length and microtubule number in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitotic spindle

Altering the number of kinetochores revealed that chromosomal attachments set the length of the metaphase spindle and the number of microtubules within it. Reducing the number of kinetochores increases length, whereas adding extra kinetochores shortens it, suggesting that kinetochore-generated inward forces help set spindle length in budding yeast.
A Multiple Watermarking Scheme Applied to Medical Image Management

Digital watermarking is a recently emerged research area, which has the potential of providing alternative/complementary solutions for a number of issues relating to medical data management and distribution. The present paper aims to reveal the perspectives of digital watermarking in health information systems, and proposes a wavelet-based multiple watermarking scheme that addresses the issues of medical data protection, archiving, and retrieval, as well as of origin and data authentication. The scheme applies multiple watermarking in medical images, and embeds in them the physician's digital signature, patient's personal and examination data, keywords for image retrieval, and a reference watermark for the purpose of data integrity control. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and transparency of the watermarking scheme, which conforms to the strict limitations that apply to regions of diagnostic significance.
Relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and metabolic syndrome.

BACKGROUND/AIMS To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) and its components in patients with Helicobacter pylori that was detected using histopathological diagnostic methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study included 200 patients who presented with dyspeptic complaints and had indication for endoscopy. H. pylori-positive [HP (+)] and H. pylori-negative [HP (-)] patients were compared in terms of MS and its components. RESULTS The prevalence of H. pylori in general patient population is 49.5%. When patients were examined using a diagnostic criteria of MS, MS was present in 78 patients (78.8%) in the HP (+) (n=99) group and in 22 patients (21.8%) in the HP (-) (n=101) group (p<0.01). Logistic regression analysis revealed that H. pylori infection enhances the risk of developing MS by approximately 3.6 times (Relative Risk - (RR)=3.617, 95% CI: 2.465-5.307, p<0.001). With regard to the MS criteria, mean systolic-diastolic blood pressures and body mass index were significantly higher in HP (+) individuals than in HP (-) individuals. Furthermore, fasting plasma glucose, insulin and homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance, very low-density lipoproteins, and triglyceride levels were also higher in the HP (+) group, whereas high-density lipoproteins levels were lower. CONCLUSION H. pylori infection is a risk factor for MS. H. pylori leads to insulin resistance by developing chronic inflammation and accordingly facilitates the development of MS.
Prevalência de compulsão alimentar entre universitárias de diferentes áreas de estudo

INTRODUCCION: La compulsion alimentaria (CA) entre mujeres viene siendo considerada como factor de riesgo para el diagnostico de trastornos alimentares mas graves. El objetivo del presente estudio ha sido investigar la prevalencia de CA entre universitarias y su asociacion con el IMC (indice de masa corporea) y edad. MATERIAL Y METODO: Se evaluaron 491 estudiantes universitarias, con edad entre 17 y 55 anos, de tres areas de estudio (exactas, salud y humanidades) de la Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), ubicada en el municipio de Sao Leopoldo (RS, Brasil). Para evaluar la frecuencia de CA, se utilizo el cuestionario autoaplicable Escala de Compulsion Alimentaria Periodica (ECAP). Las medidas de peso y estructura han sido autoinformadas. RESULTADOS: La prevalencia de CA entre las universitarias estudiadas ha sido de 18,1%. La frecuencia de IMC > 25 kg/m2 ha sido de 11,4% y 75,8% de ellas tenian mas de 20 anos de edad. Se observo una asociacion significativa entre IMC y CA en el grupo general, siendo que el 54,5% de las universitarias con exceso de peso u obesidad presentaron CA (p < 0,001), y la edad no ha sido asociada a la presencia de CA. Sin embargo, en el area de salud, las estudiantes con edad igual o menor a 20 anos presentaron mayor frecuencia de CA (p < 0,05) y, en el area de humanas, el resultado ha sido inverso (p < 0,05). CONCLUSION: El cuestionario autoaplicable ECAP revelo elevada prevalencia de CA entre mujeres universitarias, mostrando asociacion con exceso de peso. Investigaciones futuras son necesarias, con el objetivo de confirmar esos resultados y evaluar la presencia de otros trastornos alimentares.
Nonlinear gyrokinetic theory of toroidal momentum pinch

The turbulent convective flux of the toroidal angular momentum density is derived using the nonlinear toroidal gyrokinetic equation which conserves phase space density and energy [T. S. Hahm, Phys. Fluids, 31, 2670 (1988)]. A novel pinch mechanism is identified which originates from the symmetry breaking due to the magnetic field curvature. A net parallel momentum transfer from the waves to the ion guiding centers is possible when the fluctuation intensity varies on the flux surface, resulting in imperfect cancellation of the curvature drift contribution to the parallel acceleration. This mechanism is inherently a toroidal effect, and complements the k‖ symmetry breaking mechanism due to the mean E×B shear [O. Gurcan et al., Phys. Plasmas 14, 042306 (2007)] which exists in a simpler geometry. In the absence of ion thermal effects, this pinch velocity of the angular momentum density can also be understood as a manifestation of a tendency to homogenize the profile of “magnetically weighted angular momentum .
UX-Requirements for Patient's Empowerment — The Case of Multiple Pharmacological Treatments: A Case Study of IT Support to Chronic Disease Management

This paper aims at defining a new methodology to derive UX requirements for information systems intended for patient's empowerment. The method is a transformative process which starts from a contextual investigation meant to understand users, their behavior and capacities within a given community, and to identify potential improvements in their life quality, which are expressed in terms of human needs. The traditional iterative user-centered, participatory approach to usability requirement engineering is extended so as to take into account personal empowerment goals. As a proof-of-concept, we present the case study of a mobile health application conceived to empower chronic patients in the management of complex pharmacological treatments.
Rebranding the Scottish Executive: A discourse-historical analysis

This article examines the change in name of the devolved governing body of Scotland from the Scottish Executive (1999–2007) to the Scottish Government (2007-present) following the majority result for the Scottish National Party in the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections. In the wider European political landscape this is unusual: while ministries, departments and even political parties change their names relatively frequently, the same cannot be said for top-level political institutions. This paper investigates this discursive act of “rebranding” from a discourse-historical perspective (see Reisigl & Wodak 2009). In addition to critical analysis of various texts about the act of rebranding itself (media reports, political speeches and parliamentary debates, policy documents), the historical, cultural and political contexts are examined in relation to the wider significance of this move for top-down Scottish national identity construction. Keywords: discourse-historical approach; national identity; political branding; Scottish Government; Scottish National Party; Scottish Parliament
Short-term anomaly detection in gas consumption through ARIMA and Artificial Neural Network forecast

This paper presents a method for finding anomalies in gas consumption that can identify causes of wasting energy. Our approach is to use historical data on local weather, building usage and gas consumption, to predict the gas consumption for a particular day and time. The prediction is a combination of auto-regression and artificial neural networks and anomalies, relatively large deviations from the predicted gas consumption values, are detected. These can point to incorrect settings of controls, faults in installations or incorrect use of the building.
Aalborg Universitet Optimizing Bayesian Networks for Recognition of Driving Maneuvers to Meet the Automotive Requirements

An Object Oriented Bayesian Network for recognition of maneuver in highway traffic has demonstrated an acceptably high recognition performance on a prototype car with a Linux PC having an i7 processor. This paper is focusing on keeping the high recognition performance of the original OOBN, while evaluating alternative modelling techniques and their impact on the memory and time requirements of an ECUprocessor for automotive applications. New challenges are faced, when the prediction horizon is to be further extended.
On soft-decoding of the (24, 12, 8) extended Golay code up to six errors

In this paper, a new soft-decision decoder of the (24, 12, 8) binary extended Golay code up to six errors is proposed. First, by using the error pattern obtained from hard decoder, the method of determining possible error patterns is developed. The emblematic probability value of each error pattern is then defined as the product of the individual bit-error probabilities corresponding to the locations of the possible error patterns. The most likely one among these error patterns is obtained by choosing the maximum of the emblematic probability values of possible error patterns. Finally, simulation results in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) show that this decoder reduce the decoding complexity although it performs a slight loss of coding gain than the modified Chase's II algorithm proposed by Hackett.
Domain-Speciﬁc Languages for Digital Forensics

Due to strict deadlines, custom requirements for nearly every case and the scale of digital forensic investigations, forensic software needs to be extremely ﬂexible. There is a clear separation between different types of knowledge in the domain, making domain-speciﬁc languages (DSLs) a possible solution for these applications. To determine their effectiveness, DSL-based systems must be implemented and compared to the original systems. Furthermore, existing systems must be migrated to these DSL-based systems to preserve the knowledge that has been encoded in them over the years. Finally, a cost analysis must be made to determine whether these DSL-based systems are a good investment.
Omic space: coordinate-based integration and analysis of genomic phenomic interactions

MOTIVATION With the recent progress in genomics, various data sets of omic interactions describing networks of omic elements have become available. In order to obtain reliable hypotheses from the data, it is effective to integrate interactions from different sorts of data sets. In order to facilitate a coordinate-based integration and analysis of omic interactions, we introduce the concept of an omic space comprising a comprehensive set of omic planes. Genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, phenomic and other omic planes are defined by two orthogonal genomic-coordinate axes. RESULTS We show that the omic space concept helps us to assimilate biological findings comprehensively into hypotheses or models combining higher-order phenomena and lower-order mechanisms by demonstrating that a comprehensive ranking of correspondences among interactions in the space can be used effectively for estimating candidates of responsible gene pairs for epistatic interacting loci of tumors in mice. We also show that the omic space offers a convenient framework for database integration, by presenting a system named the 'Genome <==> Phenome Superhighway' (GPS) that serves as a framework for integration and visualization of omic interactions based on omic spaces of some model species including Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Caenorhabditis elegans and Arabidopsis thaliana. AVAILABILITY For the GPS web site, see http://omicspace.riken. jp/gps/.
Return of the bible

On the inside cover of its dust jacket, this weighty tome proclaims itself ‘the bible’. It undoubtedly represents an undertaking of biblical proportions. The fourth edition took more than four years to complete and involved over 100 people, but neither the editor nor authors nor chapter reviewers received any financial compensation for their work. Obviously, it follows in the wake of three previous editions (Lindquist 1951; Thorndike 1971; Linn 1989), but the chapters complement rather than displace their predecessors. The full set offers a fascinating account of the evolution of educational measurement over the past half century or so: retold tales of test design, use and evaluation – each differing significantly in content, context and emphasis, although rarely deviating substantially from an underlying psychometric creed. The fourth edition is, unsurprisingly, still the most important work in the field of educational measurement. With such a distinguished list of authors it would have been hard for it to have fallen short in this respect. Like its predecessors, it is both practical and theoretical. It is comprehensive without being tedious. It is not always an easy read, but it is usually worth the effort. So how do you review the bible? The Editorial Board of Assessment in Education decided to do it like this: we each picked a chapter or two close to our area of expertise; we inwardly digested it; we expressed our responses to it; and I had the responsibility of pulling it all together. The following contributions reflect our various responses. The positive ones we offer to those who have yet to begin reading the fourth edition. The less positive ones we offer to those who have yet to begin writing the fifth.
The Economic Incorporation of Immigrants in 18 Western Societies: Origin, Destination, and Community Effects

This article examines differences in labor market participation and unemployment between immigrant groups in different countries. The authors argue that two macro designs must be combined to provide a more comprehensive perspective on the economic integration of immigrant groups. Instead of reliance on observations of multiple-origin groups in a single destination or a single-origin group in multiple destinations, multiple origins in multiple destinations are compared, suggesting that the economic status of immigrants may be affected by the country from which they come (“origin effect”), the country to which they migrate (“destination effect”), and the specific relations between origins and destinations (“community effect”). From the human capital theory, compositional hypotheses are derived, which predict that these macro effects can be attributed to the selection of human capital. From discrimination theories, contextual hypotheses are deduced, which maintain that macro effects can be ascribed to in-group preferences and out-group prejudices. Data on immigrants' labor force activity and employment in 18 Western countries during the period 1980 to 2001 are reported. Using multilevel techniques, the analysis shows that compositional differences associated with political suppression in the countries of origin, relative income inequality, and geographic distance affect the labor force status of immigrants. Contextual effects play a role as well in terms of religious origin, the presence of left wing parties in the government, and the size of the immigrant community.
Disgust and sexual problems : Theoretical conceptualization and case illustrations

There is increasing consensus that the present DSM IV-TR (2000) sexual disorders classification, of desire, arousal, orgasm, and pain is unsatisfactory. This differentiation seems neither adequate as a lead for understanding the mechanisms involved in these sexual problems nor appropriate as a guide for selecting the best available treatment options. In this article, we therefore argue that it is important to reconsider the cut-rent conceptualization of sexual dysfunction and to focus on underlying mechanisms when considering the various treatment options. Disrupted (or low) sexual arousal appears to be an active candidate underlying many of the sexual dysfunctions. Various mechanisms may eventually result in disruptions of sexual arousal. Although disgust seems an obvious candidate for being involved in disrupting arousal, it has been largely overlooked as a potentially relevant factor in the etiology and maintenance of sexual dysfunction. In this contribution, we argue that disgust has nevertheless a great promise for improving our understanding of sexual complaints and, as demonstrated by means of three case illustrations, it may potentially provide interesting clues also for treatment.
Dynamic evolutionary optimisation: an analysis of frequency and magnitude of change

In this paper, we rigorously analyse how the magnitude and frequency of change may affect the performance of the algorithm (1+1) EAdyn on a set of artificially designed pseudo-Boolean functions, given a simple but well-defined dynamic framework. We demonstrate some counter-intuitive scenarios that allow us to gain a better understanding of how the dynamics of a function may affect the runtime of an algorithm. In particular, we present the function Magnitude, where the time it takes for the (1+1) EAdyn to relocate the global optimum is less than n2log n (i.e., efficient) with overwhelming probability if the magnitude of change is large. For small changes of magnitude, on the other hand, the expected time to relocate the global optimum is eΩ(n) (i.e., highly inefficient). Similarly, the expected runtime of the (1+1) EAdyn on the function Balance is O(n2) (efficient) for a high frequencies of change and nΩ(√n) (highly inefficient) for low frequencies of change. These results contribute towards a better understanding of dynamic optimisation problems in general and show how traditional analytical methods may be applied in the dynamic case.
Joint Adaptive FDMA/SDMA in Chunk-Based OFDM Systems

OFDM-FDMA/SDMA is currently considered as the leading transmission strategy for the downlink of beyond 3G mobile radio systems. When channel state information is available at the transmitter with sufficient accuracy, significant performance gain can be achieved through adaptive resource allocation. In this paper, a greedy method is proposed for adaptive resource allocation that enables to jointly consider the time, frequency and spatial dimensions at each allocation. A comparative assessment with a well-known disjoint allocation approach is carried out and a well-promising variant of the proposed approach has been identified.
Recent advances in image deblurring

Motion blur is a common artifact that produces disappointing blurry images with inevitable information loss. Due to the nature of imaging sensors that accumulates incoming lights, a motion blurred image will be obtained if the camera sensor moves during exposure. Image (motion) de-blurring is a computational process to remove motion blurs from a blurred image to obtain a sharp latent image. Recently image de-blurring has become a popular topic in computer graphics and vision research, and excellent methods have been developed to improve the quality of de-blurred images and accelerate the computation speed. Image de-blurring has also a variety of applications in image enhancement software and camera industry, and a practical image de-blurring method with quality and speed would be a critical factor to improve the performance of image enhancement and camera systems. This course will first introduce the concepts, theoretical model, problem definition, and basic approach of image de-blurring. Blind deconvolution and non-blind deconvolution are two main topics of image de-blurring, which are classified by the existence of given kernel (or PSF; point spread function) information that describes the camera motion. For both blind deconvolution and non-blind deconvolution, challenges, classical methods, and recent research trends and successful methods will be presented. A PhotoShop demo will be given to show the performance of a recently developed fast motion de-blurring method. This course will also cover several advanced issues of image de-blurring, such as hardware based approaches, spatially-varying camera shakes, object motions, and video de-blurring. It will conclude with remaining challenges, such as outliers and noise, computation time, and quality assessment. There will be Q&A at the end of each presentation with a short discussion at the end of the course.
Solar Ultraviolet Radiation Induces Enhanced Accumulation of Oxygen Radicals in Murine SLE-Derived Splenocytes in vitro

Although sunlight is known to induce generalized manifestation in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, its underlying mechanism remains obscure. In the present study we have investigated whether UVA (320-400 nm), the most predominant UV component in solar radiation, induces enhanced accumulation of reactive oxygen species in murine SLE-derived cells (MRL/1) in comparison to normal cells (Balb/c), as measured by oxygen (O2) consumption, by means of a Clark-type electrode. Our data show enhanced O2 consumption by MRL/1 cells (which correlates with the formation of reactive oxygen species), accompanied by decreased viability, in comparison to irradiated normal cells. This finding suggests that increased accumulation of reactive oxygen species contributes to the enhanced photosensitivity observed in SLE patients.
Quantitative Analysis of Resource-Constrained Business Processes

To address the need for evaluation techniques for complex business processes, also known as workflows, this paper proposes an approach based on generalized stochastic Petri nets (GSPNs). We review ten related approaches published in the last fifteen years and compare them to our approach using a wide range of criteria. On the basis of this evaluation, we observe that the newly proposed approach provides results that are at least as good as those from the most accepted alternatives and holds a number of additional advantages, such as modeling simplicity, improved precision, and model reuse for qualitative analyses. The overall approach is formally defined in this paper, along with the definition of several performance metrics. Part of these metrics can be computed analytically, while the remainder can be obtained by simulating the GSPN. Furthermore, a tool has been developed to translate automatically business process execution language processes into GSPNs. Finally, we present a case study in which we applied the proposed approach, colored Petri net tools, and an industrial tool to obtain performance insights into a realistic workflow. The results were highly similar, demonstrating the feasibility and the accuracy of our approach.