Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for Concerted and Mosaic Brain Evolution in Dragon Lizards

The brain plays a critical role in a wide variety of functions including behaviour, perception, motor control, and homeostatic maintenance. Each function can undergo different selective pressures over the course of evolution, and as selection acts on the outputs of brain function, it necessarily alters the structure of the brain. Two models have been proposed to explain the evolutionary patterns observed in brain morphology. The concerted brain evolution model posits that the brain evolves as a single unit and the evolution of different brain regions are coordinated. The mosaic brain evolution model posits that brain regions evolve independently of each other. It is now understood that both models are responsible for driving changes in brain morphology; however, which factors favour concerted or mosaic brain evolution is unclear. Here, we examined the volumes of the 6 major neural subdivisions across 14 species of the agamid lizard genus Ctenophorus (dragons). These species have diverged multiple times in behaviour, ecology, and body morphology, affording a unique opportunity to test neuroevolutionary models across species. We assigned each species to an ecomorph based on habitat use and refuge type, then used MRI to measure total and regional brain volume. We found evidence for both mosaic and concerted brain evolution in dragons: concerted brain evolution with respect to body size, and mosaic brain evolution with respect to ecomorph. Specifically, all brain subdivisions increase in volume relative to body size, yet the tectum and rhombencephalon also show opposite patterns of evolution with respect to ecomorph. Therefore, we find that both models of evolution are occurring simultaneously in the same structures in dragons, but are only detectable when examining particular drivers of selection. We show that the answer to the question of whether concerted or mosaic brain evolution is detected in a system can depend more on the type of selection measured than on the clade of animals studied.
A scalable approach for anonymization using top down specialization and randomization for security

Anonymization is a process of hiding the information such that an illegitimate user could not infer anything from the records, on the other hand an analyzer will get necessary information. That is the metrics that determines the goodness of an anonymization algorithm are data utility or information loss and data security. Although there are different algorithms that exist for the purpose of anonymization, all of them are having disadvantages in terms of utility, security, and also the execution time it requires. Here an approach is proposed that works for both numerical and categorical data in a time efficient manner. The system is built on top of Hadoop MapReduce framework. Although for any algorithm, 100 percent data utility and 100 percent security is not a promise, we could propose an algorithm that optimizes the result. Unlike other algorithms that suppresses all the records that cannot be anonymized, this paper suggests an algorithm called randomization that can be applied on it. This approach reduces the chance for background knowledge attacks that many algorithms failed to avoid.
Cytogenetic Assessment of the Rat Cell Line CLS-ACI-1: An in vitro Cell Model for Mycn Overexpression

Breast cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease, and the establishment of cell models in order to properly study the disease at the molecular and cellular level is of utmost importance. Here, we present the cytogenetic characterization and gene expression analysis of the tumoral mammary rat cell line CLS-ACI-1. The use of banding and molecular cytogenetic techniques allowed the description of the complex CLS-ACI-1 karyotype and the identification of breakpoints in clonal chromosome rearrangements. Moreover, a Mycn and Erbb2 comparative expression analysis by RT-qPCR was performed, revealing a high expression level of Mycn in CLS-ACI-1 cells. Moreover, a considerable number of putative mutated genes and chromosome alterations detected through cytogenetic analysis seem to be in the MYCN biological network. Therefore, the CLS-ACI-1 cell line is presented as a promising cell model for the study of the role of MYCN in breast cancer and also as a tool for developing appropriate cancer therapies, namely for Mycn targeting.
Advancing source-level timing simulation using loop acceleration

Source-level timing simulation (STLS) is an important technique for early examination of timing behavior, as it is very fast and accurate. A factor occasionally more important than precision is simulation speed, especially in design space exploration or very early phases of development. Additionally, practices like rapid prototyping also benefit from highperformance timing simulation. Therefore, we propose to further reduce simulation run-time by utilizing a method called loop acceleration. Accelerating a loop in the context of SLTS means deriving the timing of a loop prior to simulation to increase simulation speed of that loop. We integrated this technique in our SLTS framework and conducted an comprehensive evaluation using the Malardalen benchmark suite. We were able to reduce simulation time by up to 43% of the original time, while the introduced accuracy loss did not exceed 8 percentage points.
Eurogin 2010 roadmap on cervical cancer prevention

The EUROGIN 2010 roadmap represents a continuing effort to provide and interpret updated information on cervical cancer screening and vaccination against the cause of the disease, high‐risk human papillomavirus (HPV). Contrary to the two previous reports in 2008 and 2009, the present roadmap gives equal room to HPV‐based screening and HPV vaccination, as a result of the recent strengthening of the evidence on the efficacy and feasibility of both approaches. The superiority of HPV testing in primary screening compared to cytology (in more developed countries) and to cytology or visual inspection methods (in less developed countries) has been demonstrated in several randomised trials. High vaccine efficacy has been confirmed up to 7 years after vaccination; school‐based programmes in some countries have been able to reach over 70% coverage among adolescent girls. Demonstration projects have indicated that the delivery of HPV vaccines in less developed countries is feasible and favourably received by populations where cervical cancer is very common. HPV‐based screening can diminish cervical cancer incidence more quickly than HPV vaccination, but vaccination can eventually facilitate screening efforts, especially if new vaccines against a greater number of HPV types are introduced. The availability of two highly complementary prevention tools such as HPV testing and HPV vaccination makes it possible to conceive integrated strategies for the elimination of cervical cancer that have no precedent in the cancer field. HPV tests and HPV vaccines remain, however, too expensive, and large‐scale financing of screening and vaccination in less developed countries is sorely lacking.
Whole-genome re-sequencing of two Italian tomato landraces reveals sequence variations in genes associated with stress tolerance, fruit quality and long shelf-life traits

Abstract Tomato is a high value crop and the primary model for fleshy fruit development and ripening. Breeding priorities include increased fruit quality, shelf life and tolerance to stresses. To contribute towards this goal, we re-sequenced the genomes of Corbarino (COR) and Lucariello (LUC) landraces, which both possess the traits of plant adaptation to water deficit, prolonged fruit shelf-life and good fruit quality. Through the newly developed pipeline Reconstructor, we generated the genome sequences of COR and LUC using datasets of 65.8 M and 56.4 M of 30–150 bp paired-end reads, respectively. New contigs including reads that could not be mapped to the tomato reference genome were assembled, and a total of 43, 054 and 44, 579 gene loci were annotated in COR and LUC. Both genomes showed novel regions with similarity to Solanum pimpinellifolium and Solanum pennellii. In addition to small deletions and insertions, 2, 000 and 1, 700 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) could exert potentially disruptive effects on 1, 371 and 1, 201 genes in COR and LUC, respectively. A detailed survey of the SNPs occurring in fruit quality, shelf life and stress tolerance related-genes identified several candidates of potential relevance. Variations in ethylene response components may concur in determining peculiar phenotypes of COR and LUC.
PolarTrack: Optical Outside-In Device Tracking that Exploits Display Polarization

PolarTrack is a novel camera-based approach to detecting and tracking mobile devices inside the capture volume. In PolarTrack, a polarization filter continuously rotates in front of an off-the-shelf color camera, which causes the displays of observed devices to periodically blink in the camera feed. The periodic blinking results from the physical characteristics of current displays, which shine polarized light either through an LC overlay to produce images or through a polarizer to reduce light reflections on OLED displays. PolarTrack runs a simple detection algorithm on the camera feed to segment displays and track their locations and orientations, which makes PolarTrack particularly suitable as a tracking system for cross-device interaction with mobile devices. Our evaluation of PolarTrack's tracking quality and comparison with state-of-the-art camera-based multi-device tracking showed a better tracking accuracy and precision with similar tracking reliability. PolarTrack works as standalone multi-device tracking but is also compatible with existing camera-based tracking systems and can complement them to compensate for their limitations.
A Strain Energy Approach to Regularization in Displacement Field Fits of Elastically Deforming Bodies

Current methods for regularizing displacement fields in deformation-fitting problems are sensitive to rotation. We propose a rotation-insensitive regularization functional which is the true strain energy for a rubber-like material. The deformation-fitting problem is solved iteratively using successive approximations of the body's rotation, which may be non-uniform.
Recycling methods for thermoplastic-matrix composites having high thermal stability in focusing on reuse of the carbon fibers

This study has focused on the recycling of carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTP) based on polyethersulfone (PES) that have a high thermal stability from the viewpoint of reusing the carbon fibers (CFs). The first recycling method is the remolding of the CFRTP; i.e., the reuse of CFs through material reuse. From the viewpoint of collection, it is expected that the waste CFRTP is gathered in a shredded form. Therefore, shredded prepregs that simulate waste CFRTP were prepared, and discontinuous CFRTP was molded as reshaped CFRTP. The reshaped CFRTP had isotropic mechanical properties; the bending modulus and strength were 35 GPa and 400 MPa, respectively. The other recycling method is the reuse of the CFs. The matrix resin was removed by pyrolysis and chemical decomposition, and the CFs were recovered by a pyrolysis process (Re-pyro-CF) or a chemical process (Re-chem-CF). It is difficult to perfectly thermally decompose PES and it is also difficult to obtain clean surfaces of Re-pyro-CF. As the result under the optimum conditions in our work the fiber tensile strength decreased by 50% compared with fresh CF (Fre-CF). Meanwhile, Re-chem-CF depolymerized under ambient pressure using N,N-dimethylformamide could be recovered with a clean surface and its tensile strength was about the same as that of Fre-CF.
Cloning and expression of P67 protein of Mycoplasma leachii

Aim: The present study was undertaken to clone, express and study the immunogenicity of P67 protein of Mycoplasma leachii. Materials and Methods: P67 gene was amplified from genomic DNA of M. leachii. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product was inserted in pRham N-His SUMO Kan vector and was used to transform competent Escherichia cloni 10G cells. Recombinant protein expression was done by inducing cells with 0.2% Rhamnose. Purification was done using nickel nitrilotriacetic acid affinity chromatography. Western blot and dot blot analysis were performed to assess the immunoreactivity of P67 protein. Results: PCR amplicon size of P67 gene was found to be 1500 base pair. The size of the fusion protein with SUMO tag was 79 kDa in sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis. The recombinant P67 fusion protein expressed in pRham N-His SUMO Kan vector was found to be immunogenic in both western blot and dot blot analysis. Conclusion: Western blot and dot blot analysis of P67 protein of M. leachii revealed that the protein is immunogenic. Further work is needed to evaluate the role of P67 antigen of M. leachii as an immunodiagnostic agent.
Dying in U.S. nursing homes with advanced dementia: how does health care use differ for residents with, versus without, end-of-life Medicare skilled nursing facility care?

BACKGROUND Because Medicare policy restricts simultaneous Medicare hospice and skilled nursing facility (SNF) care, we compared hospice use and sites of death for SNF/non-SNF residents with advanced dementia; and, for those with SNF, we evaluated how subsequent hospice use was associated with dying in a hospital. METHODS This study includes (non-health maintenance organization [HMO]) residents of U.S. nursing homes (NHs) who died in 2006 with advanced dementia (n=99,370). Sites of death, Medicare SNF, and hospice use were identified using linked resident assessment and Medicare enrollment and claims data. Advanced dementia was identified by a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or dementia on the Minimum Data Set (MDS) or a Medicare claim in the last year of life and severe to very severe cognitive impairment (5 or 6 on the MDS cognitive performance scale). For residents with SNF, we used multivariate logistic regression with generalized estimating equations to estimate the effect of subsequent hospice enrollment on dying in a hospital. RESULTS Forty percent of U.S. NH residents dying with advanced dementia in 2006 had SNF care in the last 90 days of life. Those with versus without SNF less frequently used hospice (30% versus 46%), more frequently had short (≤7 days) hospice stays (40% versus 19%), and more frequently died in hospitals (14% versus 9%). Among residents with SNF, those with subsequent hospice use had a 98% lower likelihood of a hospital death (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.014, 0.025). CONCLUSIONS Dual hospice/SNF access may result in fewer hospital deaths and higher quality of life for dying NH residents.
Understanding Face and Eye Visibility in Front-Facing Cameras of Smartphones used in the Wild

Commodity mobile devices are now equipped with high-resolution front-facing cameras, allowing applications in biometrics (e.g., FaceID in the iPhone X), facial expression analysis, or gaze interaction. However, it is unknown how often users hold devices in a way that allows capturing their face or eyes, and how this impacts detection accuracy. We collected 25,726 in-the-wild photos, taken from the front-facing camera of smartphones as well as associated application usage logs. We found that the full face is visible about 29% of the time, and that in most cases the face is only partially visible. Furthermore, we identified an influence of users' current activity; for example, when watching videos, the eyes but not the entire face are visible 75% of the time in our dataset. We found that a state-of-the-art face detection algorithm performs poorly against photos taken from front-facing cameras. We discuss how these findings impact mobile applications that leverage face and eye detection, and derive practical implications to address state-of-the art's limitations.
A wearable long-term single-lead ECG processor for early detection of cardiac arrhythmia

Cardiac arrhythmia (CA) is one of the most serious heart diseases that lead to a very large number of annual casualties around the world. The traditional electrocardiography (ECG) devices usually fail to capture arrhythmia symptoms during patients' hospital visits due to their recurrent nature. This paper presents a wearable long-term single-lead ECG processor for the CA detection at an early stage. To achieve on-sensor integration and long-term continuous monitoring, an ultra-low complexity feature extraction engine using reduced feature set of four (RFS4) is proposed. It reduces the area by >25% compared to the conventional QRS complex detection algorithms without compromising the accuracy. Moreover, RFS4 eliminates the need for complex machine learning decision logic for the detection of premature ventricular contraction (PVC) and nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (NVT). To ensure correct functional verification, the proposed system is implemented on FPGA and tested using the MIT-BIH ECG arrhythmia database. It achieves a sensitivity and specificity of 94.64% and 99.41%, respectively. The proposed processor is also synthesized using 0.18um CMOS technology with an overall energy efficiency of 139 nJ/detection.
Introduction to the Absolute Phase in Mobile Channels

The absolute phase is the accumulated phase change over an observation interval. It is a new variable for the mobile channel and can be simply derived from the wrapped phase or from the quadrature components. The absolute phase offers extra information about the channel, fostering new techniques for channel characterization and location estimation. However, the absolute phase has not been used in mobile communications. In this paper, the absolute phase is introduced including its mathematical definition and two different formulations. The mean of the absolute phase is derived for the mobile channel with directional scattering, including isotropic scattering as a special case. Simulations are used to support the analysis and discussion.
Matrix metalloproteinase‐12 deficiency attenuates experimental crescentic anti‐glomerular basement membrane glomerulonephritis

Matrix metalloproteinase‐12 (MMP‐12; macrophage elastase) is an enzyme that can cleave various extracellular matrix proteins and is required for macrophage infiltration and pulmonary fibrosis in experimental emphysema. We have shown previously that MMP‐12 is highly up‐regulated in experimental anti‐glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease. The aim of this study was to determine whether MMP‐12 is required for glomerular macrophage infiltration and crescent formation in anti‐GBM glomerulonephritis.
Mouse modelling of the MDM2/MDMX−p53 signalling axis

Abstract It is evident that p53 activity is critical for tumour prevention and stress response through its transcriptional activation of genes affecting cellular senescence, apoptosis, cellular metabolism, and DNA repair. The regulation of p53 is highly complex, and MDM2 and MDMX are thought to be critical for deciding the fate of p53, both through inhibitory binding and post-translational modification. Many mouse models have been generated to study the regulation of p53 in vivo, and they have altered our interpretations of how p53 is regulated by MDM2 and MDMX. Although MDM2 is absolutely required for p53 regulation, certain functions are dispensable under unstressed conditions, including the ability of MDM2 to degrade p53. MDMX, on the other hand, may only be required in select situations, like embryogenesis. These models have also clarified how cellular stress signals modify the p53-inhibiting activities of MDM2 and MDMX in vivo. It is clear that more work will need to be performed to further understand the contexts for each of these signals and the requirements of various MDM2 and MDMX functions. Here, we will discuss what we have learned from mouse modelling of MDM2 and MDMX and underscore the ways in which these models could inform future therapies.
Hyperspectral Image Classification via JCR and SVM Models With Decision Fusion

In this letter, we propose a novel hyperspectral image (HSI) classification method based on the joint collaborative representation (JCR) and support vector machine (SVM) models with decision fusion. First, motivated by the joint model, we adopt a JCR model to deal with HSI classification and develop an effective method to learn contextual basis vectors for the JCR model. Second, the mid-features are first extracted based on representation coefficients obtained by the JCR method and then used to train a multiclass SVM classifier. After that, we exploit a multiplicative fusion rule to combine the JCR and SVM models. We conduct numerous experiments to evaluate our method in comparison with other algorithms. The experimental results on three standard data sets demonstrate that our method achieves better performance than other competing ones.
Hand Gesture Recognition System

The task of gesture recognition is highly challenging due to complex background, presence of nongesture hand motions, and different illumination environments. In this paper, a new technique is proposed which begins by detecting the hand and determining its canter, tracking the hands trajectory and analyzing the variations in the hand locations, and finally recognizing the gesture. The proposed technique overcomes background complexity and distance from camera which is up to 2.5 meters. Experimental results show that the proposed technique can recognize 12 gestures with rate above 94%.
Asynchronous Stochastic Gradient MCMC with Elastic Coupling

We consider parallel asynchronous Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling for problems where we can leverage (stochastic) gradients to define continuous dynamics which explore the target distribution. We outline a solution strategy for this setting based on stochastic gradient Hamiltonian Monte Carlo sampling (SGHMC) which we alter to include an elastic coupling term that ties together multiple MCMC instances. The proposed strategy turns inherently sequential HMC algorithms into asynchronous parallel versions. First experiments empirically show that the resulting parallel sampler significantly speeds up exploration of the target distribution, when compared to standard SGHMC, and is less prone to the harmful effects of stale gradients than a naive parallelization approach.
Reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Dental Fear Survey

Background Many people experience varying levels of discomfort when confronted with the prospect of dental treatment. Dental treatment can be a traumatic experience, especially for children and adolescents with dental anxiety. In this age group, dental fear causes a significant problem in dental management and has been related to severe dental caries and dental pain. The Dental Fear Survey ( DFS ) is the most widely used measure of dental fear. This study was undertaken to develop the Korean version of the DFS ( K-DFS ) and test its reliability and validity. Methods The K-DFS, which uses projective techniques to measure children's and adolescents' dental fear, was developed. The DFS was translated into Korean and participants were selected via convenience sampling. Reliability and validity were tested using data from a sample of 813 middle school students in Gyeonggi Province, selected from the Self questionnaire survey. The K-DFS was administered twice to 102 adolescents aged 12-15 years. Results The K-DFS had high internal consistency reliability (99.1%) but low test-retest reliability. Conclusions The results indicate that the Korean versions of the DFS have good internal consistency reliabilities and test-retest validities. However, we need to further examine the test-retest reliability of the K-DFS and replicate the current study in different samples covering various age groups.