Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Source Versus Residence: A Comparison from a New Economic Geography Perspective

Recently, issues of international taxation have also been analysed from a New Economic Geography perspective. These discussions show that agglomerative forces play a non negligible role. In the paper, we introduce explicitly taxation into a Footloose Capital Model and compare implications of taxation according to the residence principle and the source principle from a New Economic Geography perspective. We confirm that agglomerative effects change the results substantially compared to the standard analysis and that the two taxation principles have different implications for industry agglomeration. (author's abstract)
The developmental transcriptome of the bamboo snout beetle Cyrtotrachelus buqueti and insights into candidate pheromone-binding proteins

Cyrtotrachelus buqueti is an extremely harmful bamboo borer, and the larvae of this pest attack clumping bamboo shoots. Pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs) play an important role in identifying insect sex pheromones, but the C. buqueti genome is not readily available for PBP analysis. Developmental transcriptomes of eggs, larvae from the first instar to the prepupal stage, pupae, and adults (females and males) from emergence to mating were built by RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) in the present study to establish a sequence background of C. buqueti to help understand PBPs. Approximately 164.8 million clean reads were obtained and annotated into 108,854 transcripts. These were assembled into 24,338, 21,597, 24,798, 21,886, 24,642, and 83,115 unigenes for eggs, larvae, pupae, females, males, and the combined datasets, respectively. Unigenes were annotated against NCBI non-redundant protein sequences, NCBI non-redundant nucleotide sequences, Gene Ontology (GO), Protein family, Clusters of Orthologous Groups of Proteins/ Clusters of Eukaryotic Orthologous Groups (KOG), Swiss-Prot, and KEGG Orthology databases. A total of 17,213 unigenes were annotated into 55 sub-categories belonging to three main GO categories; 10,672 unigenes were classified into 26 functional categories by KOG classification, and 8,063 unigenes were classified into five functional KEGG categories. RSEM software for RNA sequencing showed that 4,816, 3,176, 3,661, 2,898, 4,316, 8,019, 7,273, 5,922, 5,844, and 4,570 genes were differentially expressed between larvae and males, larvae and eggs, larvae and pupae, larvae and females, males and females, males and eggs, males and pupae, females and eggs, females and pupae, and eggs and pupae, respectively. Of these, three were confirmed to be significantly differentially expressed between larvae, females, and males. Furthermore, PBP Cbuq7577_g1 was highly expressed in the antenna of males. A comprehensive sequence resource of a desirable quality was constructed from developmental transcriptomes of C. buqueti eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. This work enriches the genomic data of C. buqueti, and facilitates our understanding of its metamorphosis, development, and response to environmental change. The identified candidate PBP Cbuq7577_g1 might play a crucial role in identifying sex pheromones, and could be used as a targeted gene to control C. buqueti numbers by disrupting sex pheromone communication.
Spreading dynamic of acute and carrier hepatitis B with nonlinear incidence

Hepatitis B infection caused by the hepatitis B virus. It is one of the serious viral infection and a global health problem. In the transmission of hepatitis B infection different phases, i.e., acute and chronic carrier stages play an important role. The chronic carries individuals do not exhibit any symptoms and are able to transmit the infection. Here we assessed the transmissibility associated with different infection stages of hepatitis B and generated an epidemic model with nonlinear incidence rate. In order to do this, first we formulate the model by splitting the infectious class into two subclasses, namely acutely infected and chronic carries with both horizontal and vertical transmission. The basic properties of the proposed model are presented. The basic reproductive number is obtained by using the next generation matrix approach. Biological sense of the threshold condition is investigated and discussed in detail. We also find the conditions to investigate all possible equilibria of the model in terms of the basic reproduction number. Finally, we perform numerical simulations to support our analytical work.
Image formation in NMR by a selective irradiative process

A new method of image formation by NMR is described. It is based on selective RF irradiation of the sample in switched magnetic field gradients. Selective irradiation may be achieved by tailored (or simple) excitation or tailored (or simple) saturation. Preliminary experiments illustrating various aspects of the method are described, and a two dimensional picture or image of a simple object is presented.
New light on names and naming of dark taxa

Abstract A growing proportion of fungal species and lineages are known only from sequence data and cannot be linked to any physical specimen or resolved taxonomic name. Such fungi are often referred to as “dark taxa” or “dark matter fungi”. As they lack a taxonomic identity in the form of a name, they are regularly ignored in many important contexts, for example in legalisation and species counts. It is therefore very urgent to find a system to also deal with these fungi. Here, issues relating to the taxonomy and nomenclature of dark taxa are discussed and a number of questions that the mycological community needs to consider before deciding on what system/s to implement are highlighted.
4-(Nitrophenylsulfonyl)piperazines mitigate radiation damage to multiple tissues

Our ability to use ionizing radiation as an energy source, as a therapeutic agent, and, unfortunately, as a weapon, has evolved tremendously over the past 120 years, yet our tool box to handle the consequences of accidental and unwanted radiation exposure remains very limited. We have identified a novel group of small molecule compounds with a 4-nitrophenylsulfonamide (NPS) backbone in common that dramatically decrease mortality from the hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome (hARS). The group emerged from an in vitro high throughput screen (HTS) for inhibitors of radiation-induced apoptosis. The lead compound also mitigates against death after local abdominal irradiation and after local thoracic irradiation (LTI) in models of subacute radiation pneumonitis and late radiation fibrosis. Mitigation of hARS is through activation of radiation-induced CD11b+Ly6G+Ly6C+ immature myeloid cells. This is consistent with the notion that myeloerythroid-restricted progenitors protect against WBI-induced lethality and extends the possible involvement of the myeloid lineage in radiation effects. The lead compound was active if given to mice before or after WBI and had some anti-tumor action, suggesting that these compounds may find broader applications to cancer radiation therapy.
Isolation and analysis of differentially expressed genes from peanut in response to challenge with Ralstonia solanacearum

Background: Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is the most devastating disease in peanut. Planting resistant peanut cultivars is deemed as the sole economically viable means for effective control of the disease. To understand the molecular mechanism underlying resistance and facilitate breeding process, differences in gene expression between seeds of Rihua 1 (a Virginia type peanut variety resistant to bacterial wilt) inoculated with the bacterial pathogen suspension (10 9 cfu ml -1 ) and seeds of the same cultivar treated with water (control), were studied using the Genefishing TM technology. Results: A total of 25 differentially expressed genes were isolated. Expression of genes encoding cyclophilin and ADP-ribosylation factor, respectively, were further studied by real time RT-PCR, and full length cDNAs of both genes were obtained by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. Conclusions: The study provided candidate genes potentially useful for breeding peanut cultivars with both high yield and bacterial wilt resistance, although confirmation of their functions through transgenic studies is still needed.
Mesenchymal stem cells in tissue repairing and regeneration: Progress and future

The presence of mesenchymal progenitor cells within bone marrow has been known since the late nineteenth century. To date, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been isolated from several different connective tissues, such as adipose tissue, muscle, placenta, umbilical cord matrix, blood, liver, and dental pulp. Bone marrow, however, is still one of the major sources of MSCs for preclinical and clinical research. MSCs were first evaluated for regenerative applications and have since been shown to directly influence the immune system and to promote neovascularization of ischemic tissues. These observations have prompted a new era of MSC transplantation as a treatment for various diseases. In this review, we summarize the important studies that have investigated the use of MSCs as a therapeutic agent for regenerative medicine, immune disorders, cancer, and gene therapy. Furthermore, we discuss the mechanisms involved in MSC-based therapies and clinical-grade MSC manufacturing.
Fuzzy TOPSIS evaluation approach for business process management software acquisition

AbstractAt the present time, Business Process Management software (BPMS) implementation is on focus of organizations. To implement a BPMS in a firm successfully, selecting a suitable BPMS is critical. Evaluation and selection of the BPMS software is complex and a time consuming decision-making process. This paper propounds an approach for dealing with such a decision. This approach introduces functional, non-functional and fuzzy evaluation method for BPMS evaluation. The presented BPM lifecycle based approach breaks down BPMS evaluation and selection criteria into two broad categories namely functional and non-functional requirements including totally 48 selection criteria. A facile Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) is customized for BPMS selection based on identified criteria. The provided approach is applied to a port and maritime organization in order to evaluate and acquire a BPMS and the provided numerical example illustrates the applicability of the appro.
Effects of Mechanical Vibrations and Bias Voltage Noise on Phase Noise of MEMS Resonator Based Oscillators

Micromechanical Resonator based oscillators are a promising technology for replacing quartz crystal based oscillators. In this work, we will report the effects of mechanical vibrations and bias voltage noise on the phase noise performance of electrostatic MEMS resonator based oscillators. Accurate models for both these effects are discussed along with their experimental verification using a 1.3MHz, epi-silicon encapsulated Single Anchored Double Ended Tuning Fork (DETF) resonator. The acceleration sensitivity of the resonator was found to be < 10ppb/g which is better than many low cost crystal resonators, and shows potential for improvement to get performance which is at par or better than quartz crystal oscillators.
Input space reduction for rule based classification

Rule based classification is one of the most popular way of classification in data mining. There are number of algorithms for rule based classification. C4.5 and Partial Decision Tree (PART) are very popular algorithms among them and both have many empirical features such as continuous number categorization, missing value handling, etc. However in many cases these algorithms takes more processing time and provides less accuracy rate for correctly classified instances. One of the main reasons is high dimensionality of the databases. A large dataset might contain hundreds of attributes with huge instances. We need to choose most related attributes among them to obtain higher accuracy. It is also a difficult task to choose a proper algorithm to perform efficient and perfect classification. With our proposed method, we select the most relevant attributes from a dataset by reducing input space and simultaneously improve the performance of these two rule based algorithms. The improved performance is measured based on better accuracy and less computational complexity. We measure Entropy of Information Theory to identify the central attribute for a dataset. Then apply correlation coefficient measure namely, Pearson's, Spearman and Kendall correlation utilizing the central attribute of the same dataset. We have conducted a comparative study using these three most popular correlation coefficient measures to choose the best method. We have picked datasets from well known data repository UCI (University of California Irvine) database. We have used box plot to compare experimental results. Our proposed method has showed better performance in most of the individual experiment.
The Need for Sensemaking in Networked Privacy and Algorithmic Responsibility

This paper proposes that two significant and emerging problems facing our connected, data-driven society may be more effectively solved by being framed as sensemaking challenges. The first is in empowering individuals to take control of their privacy, in device-rich information environments where personal information is fed transparently to complex networks of information brokers. Although sensemaking is often framed as an analytical activity undertaken by experts, due to the fact that non-specialist end-users are now being forced to make expert-like decisions in complex information environments, we argue that it is both appropriate and important to consider sensemaking challenges in this context. The second is in supporting human-in-the-loop algorithmic decision-making, in which important decisions bringing direct consequences for individuals, or indirect consequences for groups, are made with the support of data-driven algorithmic systems. In both privacy and algorithmic decision-making, framing the problems as sensemaking challenges acknowledges complex and illdefined problem structures, and affords the opportunity to view these activities as both building up relevant expertise schemas over time, and being driven potentially by recognition-primed decision making.
Early life conditions that impact song learning in male zebra finches also impact neural and behavioral responses to song in females

Early life stressors can impair song in songbirds by negatively impacting brain development and subsequent learning. Even in species in which only males sing, early life stressors might also impact female behavior and its underlying neural mechanisms, but fewer studies have examined this possibility. We manipulated brood size in zebra finches to simultaneously examine the effects of developmental stress on male song learning and female behavioral and neural response to song. Although adult male HVC volume was unaffected, we found that males from larger broods imitated tutor song less accurately. In females, early condition did not affect the direction of song preference: all females preferred tutor song over unfamiliar song in an operant test. However, treatment did affect the magnitude of behavioral response to song: females from larger broods responded less during song preference trials. This difference in activity level did not reflect boldness per se, as a separate measure of this trait did not differ with brood size. Additionally, in females we found a treatment effect on expression of the immediate early gene ZENK in response to tutor song in brain regions involved in song perception (dNCM) and social motivation (LSc.vl, BSTm, TnA), but not in a region implicated in song memory (CMM). These results are consistent with the hypothesis that developmental stressors that impair song learning in male zebra finches also influence perceptual and/or motivational processes in females. However, our results suggest that the learning of tutor song by females is robust to disturbance by developmental stress. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2018
One-dimensional model to evaluate the hydraulic capacity of a full depth permeable pavement for stormwater management

La collecte et le traitement des eaux de ruissellement est désormais une composante essentielle de la conception des routes aux États-Unis, dans les pays européens et dans d'autres parties du monde. L'une des alternatives possibles pour gérer les eaux de ruissellement tout en protégeant l'environnement est l'utilisation des chaussées perméables en profondeur, capables de supporter une charge élevée et de contenir un grand volume dans les espaces vides du matériau. Ce document explore l'utilisation d'un modèle d'infiltration unidimensionnel pour déterminer l'épaisseur de la couche granulaire perméable nécessaire pour infiltrer le volume de ruissellement d’une pluie sur une période de récurrence de moins de 30 ans. De nombreuses simulations ont été effectuées pour trois régions climatiques de Californie, deux types de chaussées perméables (sur la chaussée entière ou sur les accotements uniquement) et deux épaisseurs de couche granulaire. Les résultats des simulations ont montré que pour la chaussée entière, une épaisseur d'environ 600 mm de couche granulaire était nécessaire afin d'infiltrer le volume de ruissellement et d’éviter tout débordement. Cette estimation préliminaire de l'épaisseur est raisonnable, puisque dans cette simulation, le sol environnant était constitué d’argile compactée ayant une perméabilité minimale. D’autres résultats indiquent également que lorsque seuls les accotements sont perméables, une épaisseur supérieure à 600mm ou des accotements plus larges sont nécessaires pour infiltrer toutes les eaux de ruissellement, sans débordement.
Secure Color Image Transmission in a Downlink JP-COMP Based MIMO-OFDM Wireless Communication System

In this paper, we made a comprehensive BER (bit error rate) performance simulative study on secure color image transmission in a joint processing-coordinated multipoint aided MIMO-OFDM (multiple input multiple output-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) wireless communication system. The multi antenna supported system under investigation implements Block cipher encryption aided and 1⁄2-rated Convolutional channel encoding; MMSE (minimum mean square error) and ZF-SIC (zero forcing-successive interference cancellation) signal detection (Equalizers) schemes under QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying) and DQPSK (differential quadrature phase shift keying) digital modulations. Based on the simulation result with MATLAB, it is quite noticeable that the simulated system is highly robust in retrieving transmitted color image under Rayleigh fading channel in QAM digital modulation and ZF-SIC channel equalization technique with Block cipher encryption based channel coding scheme.
Pollination, mating and reproductive fitness in a plant population with bimodal floral‐tube length

Mating patterns and natural selection play important roles in determining whether genetic polymorphisms are maintained or lost. Here, we document an atypical population of Lapeirousia anceps (Iridaceae) with a bimodal distribution of floral‐tube length and investigate the reproductive mechanisms associated with this pattern of variation. Flowers were visited exclusively by the long‐proboscid fly Moegistorhynchus longirostris (Nemestrinidae), which exhibited a unimodal distribution of proboscis length and displayed a preference for long‐tubed phenotypes. Despite being visited by a single pollinator species, allozyme markers revealed significant genetic differentiation between open‐pollinated progeny of long‐ and short‐tubed phenotypes suggesting mating barriers between them. We obtained direct evidence for mating barriers between the floral‐tube phenotypes through observations of pollinator foraging, controlled hand pollinations and measurements of pollen competition and seed set. Intermediate tube‐length phenotypes produced fewer seeds in the field than either long‐ or short‐tubed phenotypes. Although floral‐tube length bimodality may not be a stable state over long timescales, reproductive barriers to mating and low ‘hybrid’ fitness have the potential to contribute to the maintenance of this state in the short term.
Growth of Multi-Layered Graphene Using Organic Solvent-PMMA Film as the Carbon Source under Low Temperature Conditions

— Multi-layered graphene has been produced under low temperature chemical vapour deposition (CVD) growth conditions by utilizing an organic solvent and polymer film source. Poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) was dissolved in chlorobenzene solvent and used as a drop-cast film carbon source on a quartz slide. A source temperature (T source ) of 180 °C provided sufficient carbon to grow graphene, as identified by Raman spectroscopy, on clean copper foil catalytic surfaces. Systematic variation of hydrogen gas (H 2 ) flow rate from 25 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm) to 100 sccm and CVD temperature (T growth ) from 400 to 800 °C, yielded graphene films of varying quality as characterized by Raman spectroscopy. The optimal graphene growth parameters were found to occur with a hydrogen flow rate of 75 sccm sweeping the 180 °C source carbon past the Cu foil at 600 °C for 1 min. The deposition at 600 °C with a H 2 flow rate of 75 sccm yielded a 2D band peak with ~53.4 cm -1 FWHM and a relative intensity ratio of the G to 2D bands (I G /I 2D ) of 0.21. This recipe fabricated a few layers of good quality graphene.
Designing for Capacities Rather Than Disabilities. Investigating the relationship between psychomotor capacities and interaction opportunities

This paper explores how designing based on psychomotor capacities instead of disabilities can reconnect old people with technology. We introduce four alternative designs for radios to demonstrate how facilitating a design process that acknowledges psychomotor challenges associated with aging can both help participants rediscover their own psychomotor capacities and simultaneously re-establish meaningful interaction. The paper presents findings from quantitative analysis of performance testing and qualitative analysis from reflection activities involving 65 participants over four years. We use our findings in a discussion of how we can incorporate knowledge about the participants’ psychomotor capacities in the design process to help design artifacts that can prolong interaction.
Physical features of Leidenfrost effect on the surface of a graphene nanocomposite for the problems of thermal and nuclear energy

We investigate the possibility of overcoming the Leidenfrost point to achieve the stable boiling of a pool (not a film) at temperatures much higher than the Leidenfrost temperature for water on smooth surfaces. We have studied the Leidenfrost effect (droplets on a surface overheated above the film boiling temperature). Surfaces made of hybrid graphene nanocomposites are used as substrates. We investigated two types of nanocomposites based on graphene flakes (the size of the latter being about 3-5 nm in thickness, longitudinal dimensions of about 10-20 µm), sintered at a pressure of 200-300 bar, and hybrid nanocomposites consisting of graphene flakes, metal microspheres (a diameter of about 100-200 microns) and a small amount of polymer (epoxy resin).