Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential Expression of Members of SOX Family of Transcription Factors in Failing Human Hearts.

The Sry-related high-mobility-group box (SOX) gene family, with 20 known transcription factors in humans, plays an essential role during development and disease processes. Several SOX proteins (SOX4, 11, and 9) are required for normal heart morphogenesis. SOX9 was shown to contribute to cardiac fibrosis. However, differential expression of other SOXs and their roles in the failing human myocardium have not been explored. Here we used the whole-transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq), gene co-expression, and meta-analysis to examine whether any SOX factors might play a role in the failing human myocardium. RNA-seq analysis was performed for cardiac tissue samples from heart failure (HF) patients due to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and healthy donors (NF). The RNA levels of 20 SOX genes from RNA-seq data were extracted and compared to the three groups. Four SOX genes whose RNA levels were significantly upregulated in DCM or HCM compared to NF. However, only SOX4 and SOX8 proteins were markedly increased in the HF groups. A moderate to strong correlation was observed between the RNA level of SOX4/8 and fibrotic genes among each individual. Gene co-expression network analysis identified genes associated and respond similarly to perturbations with SOX4 in cardiac tissues. Using a meta-analysis combining epigenetics and genome-wide association data, we reported several genomic variants associated with HF phenotype linked to SOX4 or SOX8. In summary, our results implicate that SOX4 and SOX8 have a role in cardiomyopathy, leading to HF in humans. The molecular mechanism associated with them in HF warrants further investigation. BACKGROUND: : Heart failure (HF) affects 5.7 million people in the U.S. with more than 500,000 new cases added annually. New therapeutic strategies remain needed for HF. The cardiac-pathological features are driven by transcriptome reprogramming. Understanding transcriptional control of HF is beneficial for developing novel therapies. TRANSLATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE: : This study revealed that SOX4 and SOX8 were significantly increased in cardiac tissues of HF patients and the HF-genetic variants and epigenetic changes associated with these two genes. Understanding the role of SOX4 and SOX8 in failing human myocardium and gene regulatory networks related to them may help to identify potential therapeutic targets for HF.
Globalization and Complementary Policies: Poverty Impacts in Rural Zambia

In this paper, we have two main objectives: to investigate the links between globalization and poverty observed in Zambia during the 1990s, and to explore the poverty impacts of non-traditional export growth. We look at consumption and income effects separately. On the consumption side, we study the maize marketing reforms and the elimination of maize subsidies. We find that complementary policies matter: the introduction of competition policies at the milling industry acted as a cushion that benefited consumers but the restriction on maize imports by small-scale mills hurt them. On the income side, we study agricultural export growth to estimate income gains from international trade. The gains are associated with market agriculture activities (such as growing cotton, tobacco, hybrid maize) and rural labor markets and wages. We find that by expanding trade opportunities Zambian households would earn significantly higher income. Securing these higher levels of well-being requires complementary policies, like the provision of infrastructure, credit, and extension services.
University of Groningen Fact or Factitious ? A Psychobiological Study of Authentic and Simulated Dissociative Identity States Reinders

Background: Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a disputed psychiatric disorder. Research findings and clinical observations suggest that DID involves an authentic mental disorder related to factors such as traumatization and disrupted attachment. A competing view indicates that DID is due to fantasy proneness, suggestibility, suggestion, and role-playing. Here we examine whether dissociative identity state-dependent psychobiological features in DID can be induced in high or low fantasy prone individuals by instructed and motivated role-playing, and suggestion. Methodology/Principal Findings: DID patients, high fantasy prone and low fantasy prone controls were studied in two different types of identity states (neutral and trauma-related) in an autobiographical memory script-driven (neutral or trauma-related) imagery paradigm. The controls were instructed to enact the two DID identity states. Twenty-nine subjects participated in the study: 11 patients with DID, 10 high fantasy prone DID simulating controls, and 8 low fantasy prone DID simulating controls. Autonomic and subjective reactions were obtained. Differences in psychophysiological and neural activation patterns were found between the DID patients and both high and low fantasy prone controls. That is, the identity states in DID were not convincingly enacted by DID simulating controls. Thus, important differences regarding regional cerebral bloodflow and psychophysiological responses for different types of identity states in patients with DID were upheld after controlling for DID simulation. Conclusions/Significance: The findings are at odds with the idea that differences among different types of dissociative identity states in DID can be explained by high fantasy proneness, motivated role-enactment, and suggestion. They indicate that DID does not have a sociocultural (e.g., iatrogenic) origin. Citation: Reinders AATS, Willemsen ATM, Vos HPJ, den Boer JA, Nijenhuis ERS (2012) Fact or Factitious? A Psychobiological Study of Authentic and Simulated Dissociative Identity States. PLoS ONE 7(6): e39279. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0039279 Editor: Jerson Laks, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Received March 5, 2012; Accepted May 16, 2012; Published June 29, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Reinders et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: AATSR is supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (www.nwo.nl), NWO-VENI grant no. 451-07-009. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: a.a. t.s. reinders@gmail.com
EEG-based neurocinematics: challenges and prospects

Neurocinematics is an emerging research discipline that studies audiences’ cognitive and affective responses to cinematic stimuli. To date, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been the most widely used research tool for neurocinematics studies; however, recent studies have shown that electroencephalography (EEG) can also be a promising tool for neurocinematics studies thanks to its excellent temporal resolution. In this article, after discussing challenges and prospects for EEG-based neurocinematics, we introduced two potential film-rating indices named ‘empathy index’ and ‘reactivity index’ as examples of EEG-based neurocinematic markers. Preliminary experiments showed that the new indices have the potential to be used as promising tools for film evaluation.
Jaya based Optimization Method with High Dispatchable Distributed Generation for Residential Microgrid

This paper presents a model for optimal energy management under the time-of-use (ToU) and critical peak price (CPP) market in a microgrid. The microgrid consists of intermittent dispatchable distributed generators, energy storage systems, and multi-home load demands. The optimal energy management problem is a challenging task due to the inherent stochastic behavior of the renewable energy resources. In the past, medium-sized distributed energy resource generation was injected into the main grid with no feasible control mechanism to prevent the waste of power generated by a distributed energy resource which has no control mechanism, especially when the grid power limit is altered. Thus, a Jaya-based optimization method is proposed to shift dispatchable distributed generators within the ToU and CPP scheduling horizon. The proposed model coordinates the power supply of the microgrid components, and trades with the main grid to reduce its fuel costs, production costs, and also maximize the monetary profit from sales revenue. The proposed method is implemented on two microgrid operations: the standalone and grid-connected modes. The simulation results are compared with other optimization methods: enhanced differential evolution (EDE) and strawberry algorithm (SBA). Finally, simulation results show that the Jaya-based optimization method minimizes the fuel cost by up to 38.13%, production cost by up to 93.89%, and yields a monetary benefit of up to 72.78% from sales revenue.
Serotonin stimulates GnRH secreti on through the cSrc-PLC g 1 pathway in GT 1 – 7 hypothalamic cells

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that alters the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis. To date, however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of serotonin in hormone secretion have remained largely unclear. In this study, we report that serotonin activates phospholipase C (PLC) g1 in an Src-dependent manner in hypothalamic GT1–7 cells, and that pretreatment with either 4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-7(t-butyl) pyrazole [3, 4-d] pyrimidine, an Src-kinase inhibitor, or U73122, a PLC inhibitor, attenuates the serotonin-induced increase in calcium levels. Also, PLC g1 binds to c-Src through the Src-homology (SH) 223 domain upon serotonin treatment. Moreover, calcium increase is alleviated in the cells Journal of Endocrinology (2006) 190, 581–591 0022–0795/06/0190–581 q 2006 Society for Endocrinology Printed in Great transiently expressing SH223 domain-deleted PLCg1 or lipase inactive mutant PLC g1, as compared with cells transfected with wild-type PLC g1. Furthermore, the inhibition of the activities of either PLC or Src results in a significant diminution of the serotonin-induced release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). In addition, the results of our smallinterfering RNA experiment confirm that endogenous PLC g1 is a prerequisite for serotonin-mediated signaling pathways. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that serotonin stimulates the release of GnRH through the Src-PLC g1 pathway, via the modulation of intracellular calcium levels. Journal of Endocrinology (2006) 190, 581–591
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme Grant Agreement: 732328 – FashionBrain

Deliverable number: D4.2 Deliverable title: Demo on text joins Deliverable description: This deliverable present the demo we build for the text join techniques reported in D4.1 Due date of deliverable: Jun. 30, 2018 Actual date of deliverable: Jun. 30, 2018 Authors: Alexander Löser, Torsten Kilias, Ying Zhang, Martin Kersten, Richard Koopmanschap Project partners: Beuth, UNIFR, USFD, MDBS, Zalando Workpackage: WP4 Workpackage leader: Beuth Dissemination Level: Public
Speech Processing for Marathi Numeral Recognition using MFCC and DTW Features

Numeral recognition remains one of the most important problems in pattern recognition. It has numerous applications including those in reading postal zip code, passport number, employee code, form processing and bank cheque processing, postal mail sorting, job application form sorting, automatic scoring of tests containing multiple choice questions and video gaming etc. To the best of our knowledge, little work has been done in Indian language, especially in Marathi as compared with those for non Indian languages. This paper has discussed an effective method for recognition of isolated Marathi numerals. It presents a Marathi database and isolated numeral recognition system based on Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) used for Feature Extraction and Distance Time Warping (DTW) used for Feature Matching or to compare the test patterns.
Reply to comments of Anonymous Referee #2

Lines 24-28: “Water resource problems, including the effects of urban development, alternative management decisions, and future climate oscillation on streamflow and water quality, require a deep understanding and accurate modeling of earth surface processes at the catchment scale to be addressed (Gassman et al., 2014). In order to understand catchment processes, it is necessary to obtain detailed weather data and catchment observations related to runoff, water stage, erosion, soil moisture, and water quality. Experimental catchments are properly designed and wellmonitored catchments that aim to provide databases of long-term historical hydrological data, which help analyze the mechanisms governing surface runoff (Goodrich et al., 2020).
The Association Between Team Skills and Nursing Team Performance: A Malaysian Perspective

Objective: Nursing team performance is essential because nurses work interdependently with others and their routines require them to create an effective synergy through collective effort. Nursing teams must be effective in order to reduce medical errors and deliver the best safe care to patients. For that reason, members must possess skills that are relevant and imperative to team functioning. This article aims to examine the association between team skills and team performance. Team performance is categorized into two dimensions; team task performance and team contextual performance. Methods: This study was done on selected nursing teams in Peninsular Malaysia. Data was collected from 1436 individual nurses and responses were aggregated to 300 teams from seven major specialist public hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia. Analysis was done via structural equation modeling using Partial Least Squares (PLS). Results: Results indicated that team skills positively relate to both dimensions of team performance. The findings of this study support previous studies which posit that team members often display team performance behaviors when they perceive that they are collectively competent in task accomplishments.
Time series copulas for heteroskedastic data

We propose parametric copulas that capture serial dependence in stationary heteroskedastic time series. We develop our copula for first order Markov series, and extend it to higher orders and multivariate series. We derive the copula of a volatility proxy, based on which we propose new measures of volatility dependence, including co-movement and spillover in multivariate series. In general, these depend upon the marginal distributions of the series. Using exchange rate returns, we show that the resulting copula models can capture their marginal distributions more accurately than univariate and multivariate GARCH models, and produce more accurate value at risk forecasts.
Trends in Tropical Wave Activity from the 1980s to 2016

A frequency–wavenumber power () spectrum was constructed using satellite-derived outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and brightness temperature for the tropical latitudes. Since the two datasets overlap for over 34 years with nonintersecting sources in error and compare relatively well with each other, it is possible to diagnose trends in the tropical wave activity from the two datasets with confidence. The results suggest a weakening trend in characterized by high interannual variability for wave activity occurring in the low-frequency part of the spectrum and a steady increase in with relatively low interannual variability for wave activity occurring in the high-frequency part of the spectrum. The results show the parts of the spectrum representing the Madden–Julian oscillation and equatorial Rossby wave losing and other parts of the spectrum representing Kelvin waves, mixed Rossby–gravity waves, and tropical disturbance–like wave activity gaining . Similar results were obtained when trends in variance corresponding to the first principal component were produced using spectrally filtered OLR data representative of atmospheric equatorial waves. Spatial trends in the active phase of wave events and the mean duration of events are also shown for the different wave types. Linear trends in for the entire spectrum and regional means in the spectrum corresponding to the abovementioned five wave types with confidence intervals are also presented in the paper. Finally, we demonstrate that El Niño–Southern Oscillation variability does not appear to control the overall spatial patterns and trends observed in the spectrum.
Online Groups in Educational Settings: An Opportunity for Argumentation

The aim of this paper is to explore how students and teachers used posts in five groups on Facebook and how argumentation emerged as a communicative activity. For understanding such argumentative process, this study is framed in the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), with a methodological perspective that enables the participants to act as co-authors of the intervention design. We draw our data from the posts inside five groups of teacher-students on Facebook, from February/2013 to June/2014, which were analysed qualitatively, considering discursive and linguistic aspects of the posts. Our findings pointed out that in situation in which collaboration occurred among students, there was a transition from authoritative discourse to internally persuasive discourse in the posts with argumentative indicators.
COHERENT enlightenment of the neutrino dark side

In the presence of non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI), oscillation data are affected by a degeneracy which allows the solar mixing angle to be in the second octant (aka the dark side) and implies a sign flip of the atmospheric mass-squared difference. This leads to an ambiguity in the determination of the ordering of neutrino masses, one of the main goals of the current and future experimental neutrino program. We show that the recent observation of coherent neutrino--nucleus scattering by the COHERENT experiment, in combination with global oscillation data, excludes the NSI degeneracy at the $3.1\sigma$ ($3.6\sigma$) CL for NSI with up (down) quarks.
ARTERIAL PROGRESSION--NEW DESIGN APPROACH

This paper proposes a new approach for the design of traffic signal timings to coordinate the progression of traffic on arterial highways. The two most popular signal optimization policies in use today are the maximal bandwidth approach and the minimum delay and stops approach. The new approach is proposed as a measure of the quality of progression perceived by the driver. It deals with progression opportunities (PROS), and the policy is to maximize the number of PROS available on an arterial signal system. It differs from the maximal bandwidth approach by considering progression opportunities that occur outside the traditional through progression band. Arterial progression design based on this approach will usually show decreased stops and delay compared with the maximal bandwidth design without suffering the loss of perceived progression associated with direct minimization of stops and delay. The number of progression opportunities presented to the driver at any point in time is, by definition, the number of successive green signals that will be encountered at the design speed without stopping. (Author)
Numerical simulations of quiet Sun magnetic fields seeded by the Biermann battery

The magnetic fields of the quiet Sun cover at any time more than 90% of its surface and their magnetic energy budget is crucial to explain the thermal structure of the solar atmosphere. One of the possible origins of these fields is the action of the local dynamo in the upper convection zone of the Sun. Existing simulations of the local solar dynamo require an initial seed field and sufficiently high spatial resolution in order to achieve the amplification of the seed field to the observed values in the quiet Sun. Here we report an alternative model of seeding based on the action of the Bierman battery effect. This effect generates a magnetic field due to the local imbalances in electron pressure in the partially ionized solar plasma. We show that the battery effect self-consistently creates from zero an initial seed field of a strength of the order of micro G, and together with dynamo amplification allows the generation of quiet Sun magnetic fields of a similar strength to those from solar observations.
Effect of human body morphology on measurement uncertainty of a multi-band body-worn distributed-exposimeter

In the ongoing task of the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop Environment Health Criteria (EHC) for radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMF), literature published after 1991 will be included. This presentation focus on studies that have been published in the period 2011-2015. Studies that complied with the predefined inclusion criteria include outcomes related to cognitive performance, brain electrical activity, brain metabolism and blood flow, symptoms, well-being and exposure detection, cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems and temperature. For most endpoints only a few studies suggested a possible effect of exposure, while for electrical brain activity, effects were suggested in most studies.
Ketogenic diet: A nutritional remedy for some metabolic disorders

Background: Ketogenic diets (KD) consist of high fat, moderate protein and low carbohydrates. Aim: This review explores the effect of ketogenic diet and its mechanism of actions in disease management. Methods: Recent information on ketogenic diets and disease management were retrieved from academic journals using scientific search engines and popular library databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, JSTOR amongst others. Commentary: Ketogenic diet means a high fat, low-carbohydrate diet, with enough protein content, which makes the body utilize fat, rather than carbohydrate, as a preferred energy source. There are four different types of ketogenic diet, the traditional classic ketogenic diet, medium chain triglyceride (MCT) ketogenic diet, the modified Atkins diet (MAD), and the low glycemic index treatment (LGIT). The classic ketogenic diet, also known as long-chain fats consist of 16-20 carbon atoms. Its peculiarity is the low carbohydrate content, which could be difficult to maintain. The MCT was developed as an alternative to classic ketogenic diet. It has a fat composition of 60% octanoic acid (eight-carbon fatty acid) and 40% decanoic acid (10-carbon fatty acid). The MCT provides about 45% of energy when compared with the classic ketogenic diet. The MAD though strongly encourages the intake of high fat, it allows for 10-20 g of carbohydrate per day. The LGIT permits only low glycemic index foods. Ketogenic diets have been a therapeutic strategy for several diseases such as obesity, dyslipidemia, cancer and a broad range of neurological disorders. Conclusion: The ketogenic diet, an effective and age-long treatment for epilepsy in children, is gradually gaining acceptance as a therapeutic modality for many other diseases.
The impact of diversification in the operations strategy of capital goods companies

Considering that the analysis of the specific areas technology and market is reported in the literature as the main elements in the decision making process of diversification and the operations strategy, these have to reconcile the technological base with the market demand. This paper examines the impact of diversification in operations strategy in 3 multinational leading capital goods companies. The main contribution of this study concerns the understanding that different processes of diversification can help to expand the share of the company in the same market with new products based on the same technology and can help the company to enter in a new market with new products, based on different technologies. Therefore, the process of diversification of firms should be analyzed from the perspective of a growth strategy based on knowledge, so that the management of this resource should occur in conditions of maximum efficiency.