Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic variation, association analysis, and expression pattern of SMAD3 gene in Chinese cattle

T. Shi1, Y. Xu1, M. -J. Yang1, Y. Zhou1, M. Liu1, X. -Y. Lan1, C. -Z. Lei1, X. -L. Qi2, F. -P. Lin2, Y. -Y. Bai3, H . Chen1 1Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China 2Bureau of Animal Husbandry of Biyang County, Biyang, P.R. China 3Animal Health Supervision in Henan Province, Zhengzhou, P.R. China
Phylogenetic Relationships of the Genus Paramesotriton (Caudata: Salamandridae) with the Description of a New Species from Qixiling Nature Reserve, Jiangxi, Southeastern China and a Key to the species

The matrilineal genealogy of the genus Paramesotriton is hypothesized based on DNA sequences from mitochondrial NADH subunit two(ND2) and its flanking tRNAs(tRNATrp and a partial tRNAAla). The genealogy identifies a highly divergent, unnamed lineage from Qixiling Nature Reserve, Jiangxi, China and places it as the sister taxon of P. chinensis. The newly discovered population differs from other congeners by several features of external morphology including having large clusters of dark brown conical warts on the dorsum of the head, lateral surface of the body and dorsolateral ridges. Its intermittent dorsal vertebral ridge is the same color as other parts of the dorsum and tail narrows gradually from the base to the tip. Further, the new population differs from all congeners by an uncorrected P-distance of more than 9.38% in ND2. Consequently, we describe the new species of Asian warty newt(Salamandridae) as Paramesotriton qixilingensis sp. nov.
Earnings Smoothing, Executive Compensation, and Corporate Governance: Evidence from the Property-Liability Insurance Industry

Unlike studies that estimate managerial bias, we utilize a direct measure of managerial bias in the U.S. insurance industry to investigate the effects of executive compensation and corporate governance on firms’ earnings management behaviors. We find managers receiving larger bonuses and stock awards tend to make reserving decisions that serve to decrease firm earnings. Moreover, we examine the monitoring effect of corporate board structures in mitigating managers’ reserve manipulation practices. We find managers are more likely to manipulate reserves in the presence of particular board structures. Similar results are not found when we employ traditional estimated measures of managerial bias.
Automatically Linking Lexical Resources with Word Sense Embedding Models

Automatically learnt word sense embeddings are developed as an attempt to refine the capabilities of coarse word embeddings. The word sense representations obtained this way are, however, sensitive to underlying corpora and parameterizations, and they might be difficult to relate to formally defined word senses. We propose to tackle this problem by devising a mechanism to establish links between word sense embeddings and lexical resources created by experts. We evaluate the applicability of these links in a task to retrieve instances of word sense unlisted in the lexicon.
Microstructured surface design for omnidirectional antireflection coatings on solar cells

We recently demonstrated a new process for the formation of partially spherical structures as an omnidirectional antireflection coating (omni-AR). In this paper, we report the simulation results of the angular and spectral dependences of the total reflectivity on various microstructured surfaces based on the rigorous coupled-wave analysis. Close to zero reflection can be achieved in these microstructured surfaces over an extended spectral region for large ranges of light incident angles. The impact of feature size, density, shape, and refractive index has all been investigated. The experimental results agree reasonably well with the theoretical work. Such an omni-AR structure offers an attractive solution to current crystalline silicon solar cells, as well as future thin film, quantum dot, and organic solar cells.
6312 Sensitivity and specificity of prostate tumor discrimination by IVIM approximation

Sensitivity and specificity of prostate tumor discrimination by IVIM approximation Gina Belmonte, Vito Biondo, Augusto La Penna, Francesco Carbone, Gianluca Vischi, Leonardo Semeraro, and Fabrizio Banci Buonamici Medical Physics, University Hospital of Siena, Siena, Italy, Italy, University of Siena, Italy, Italy, Radiology, University of Siena, Italy, Italy, Radiology, University Hospital of Siena, Italy, Italy, Radioterapy, University of Siena, Italy, Italy
Job Characteristics, Optimism, Burnout, and ILL Health of Support Staff in a Higher Education Institution in South Africa

The aim of this study was to assess the relationships between job characteristics, burnout, optimism, and ill health. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The sample consisted of 334 support staff members of a higher education institution in the North West Province of South Africa. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, a Health questionnaire, the Job Characteristics Inventory, and the Life Orientation Test-Revised were administered. The results of the study showed that job demands (overload) and a lack of job resources contributed to burnout. Burnout, in turn, mediated the effects of job demands and a lack of job resources on ill health. Dispositional optimism had a direct effect on exhaustion and cynicism. However, dispositional optimism did not interact with job demands or job resources in affecting exhaustion and cynicism.
Chronic Lower Respiratory Tract Diseases

Chronic respiratory diseases are common and increasing in relative terms as causes of disability and death. They refer to noninfectious conditions of the lung and respiratory tract, excluding cancers and trauma. In the International Classification of Diseases, they are covered mostly in chapter X (table 15.1) (WHO 2010). This chapter focuses on the more common of these conditions, but we have been influenced by the availability of data. Not addressed are two common conditions of the upper respiratory tract—allergic and chronic rhinosinusitis— that cause considerable disability but are not associated with substantial mortality. Smoking cessation and reduction or elimination of other harmful exposures is an important component of the management of any chronic respiratory disease. Tobacco cessation is addressed in chapter 4 in this volume (Roy and others 2017) and in chapter 10 of volume 3 (Jha and others 2015). The two main conditions contributing to death and disability are asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Both are clinical diagnoses and are associated with narrowed airways and difficulty exhaling. Asthma has become more common in many countries in parallel with increasing prevalence of allergic sensitization. COPD, in particular, is an increasing burden as the world’s population ages and tobacco smoking increases in many lowand middle-income countries (LMICs), especially among women. The effects of both diseases and mortality from all causes tend to be greater in persons with smaller lungs, and smaller lung volumes are more common in LMICs. Although these diseases are rarely curable, effective treatments to reduce both disability and death are available and affordable.
HLA class I ligand combinations on the genetic predisposition to celiac disease and coexisting celiac disease and type 1 diabetes mellitus

Backgound and aim: There are some common genetic features between celiac disease (CD) and diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM). However, the genetic risk factors have not been fully clarified for CD and the co-occurrence of CD and DM. KIR (killer immunoglobulin-like receptor) genes regulate the cytolitic activity of NK-cells and T lymphocytes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the contribution of KIR genes, KIR ligands, and combinations of KIR/KIR ligands on the genetic predisposition to CD and co-occurrence of CD and DM. Material and methods: Forty six patients with CD (n = 46), 20 patients with CD+DM (n = 20), and 60 healthy controls (n = 60) were included in this study. KIR genes and KIR ligands were investigated with PCR-SSOP and PCR-SSP in all subjects, respectively. Results: This study showed that while the telomeric KIR genes (2DS5 and 3DS1), and combinations of 3DS1+HLA-BBw4-Thrand 3DS1+HLA-BBw4-Iso(p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively) were observed more frequently in patients with CD than in controls, the 2DS5, 3DS1 KIR genes, C1 ligand, and combinations of 3DS1+HLA-BBw4-Thrand 3DS1+HLA-BBw4-Iso(p = 0.002, p = 0.004, p = 0.036, p < 0.001, and p = 0.007, respectively) were observed more frequently in patients with CD+DM than in controls. Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that some KIR genes, KIR ligands, and KIR/KIR ligand interactions may be responsible for a predisposition to CD and the coexistence of CD and DM. For development of coexisting CD and DM, the 2DS5 and 3DS1 genes, C1 ligand, and combinations of 3DS1+HLA-BBw4-Thrand 3DS1+HLA-BBw4-Isowere found to be risk factors.
An Empirical Study of SDK Credential Misuse in iOS Apps

During the development of web-based mobile apps, third-party SDKs (Software Development Kit) are frequently used to facilitate the integration of certain functionality such as push notification and mobile payment. Unfortunately, security issues are often considered as a second-tier problem and app developers are prone to implement apps with SDK misuses. Among those typical SDK misuses, the misuse of credentials is the one that introduces serious security threats. A credential is a set of unique information (e.g., APP ID, App Token, etc) allocated to a specific developer to help app authenticate the identity. However, if not properly used, the credential can be easily obtained by attackers and leads to not only the leak of confidential information of mobile developers but also direct threats to the privacy of end users. To investigate the SDK credential misuse issue on iOS platform, in this paper we conduct an empirical study against 100 popular iOS apps using two popular mobile SDKs (each SDK are widely used by at least 40 million users). We implemented iCredFinder, an automated analysis tool to search credential misuses in those apps and our experiment demonstrates 68 apps contain at least one misuse case. Our study demonstrates the severity of credential misuse on iOS platform: even for those well-developed SDKs and apps, credentials are not well protected and can be easily discovered. We expect that our study could help developers fix those flaws and promote better implementations.
Alternative pathways of non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) in genomic instability and cancer

An incompletely defined alternative non-homologous end joining pathway (A-NHEJ) frequently functioning as backup has recently been shown to process DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) when canonical cellular DSB repair activities are somehow compromised. While A-NHEJ offers survival advantage for the damaged cell, its propensity for large sequence alterations at the junction and the relatively frequent joining of unrelated DNA ends generates alterations in the genome that can have severe biological consequences. Indeed, evidence accumulates that A-NHEJ is a driver of the chromosomal rearrangements and the overall genomic instability that underpin the development of certain forms of cancer. Features of A-NHEJ causally related to these unfavorable outcomes are the apparent promiscuity in utilized factors and the delayed repair kinetics. The purpose of this review is to briefly summarize recent advances in our understanding regarding the function of A-NHEJ and to review emerging evidence for its role in oncogenic transformation.
Improved Speech Enhancement with the Wave-U-Net

We study the use of the Wave-U-Net architecture for speech enhancement, a model introduced by Stoller et al for the separation of music vocals and accompaniment. This end-to-end learning method for audio source separation operates directly in the time domain, permitting the integrated modelling of phase information and being able to take large temporal contexts into account. Our experiments show that the proposed method improves several metrics, namely PESQ, CSIG, CBAK, COVL and SSNR, over the state-of-the-art with respect to the speech enhancement task on the Voice Bank corpus (VCTK) dataset. We find that a reduced number of hidden layers is sufficient for speech enhancement in comparison to the original system designed for singing voice separation in music. We see this initial result as an encouraging signal to further explore speech enhancement in the time-domain, both as an end in itself and as a pre-processing step to speech recognition systems.
Development of Traffic Signs Recognition WebService based on Convolutional Neural Networks

Image classification is one of the most important applications of neural networks. In this paper,we propose the classification algorithm for traffic signs recognition based on convolutional neural networks.The designed CNN is implemented using the TensorFlow framework, and the inference is performed using CUDA. To utilize the Connected Cars concept, we also developeda webservice to remotely process images, obtained by a camera installed into a vehicle. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm, implemented using the CUBA library for developingclient-server apps, shows high efficiency and is applicable for a connected vehicle.
Differential Tomography : Influence of Sensitivity Direction and Noise-suppressing Windows

Phase-sensitive systems can deliver improved CT imaging performance for materials with low attenuation contrast, and, due to the differential nature of their images, when high spatial resolution is required. Typically, these systems only yield a directional derivative of a projection image along one sensitivity direction. The sensitivity direction is usually tangential to the CT trajectory. However, it is also conceivable to build systems with other sensitivity directions. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, we investigate the noise behavior of differential CT for sensitivity directions in z-direction and for bi-directional projections. Second, we use Wiener filtering to derive noise-suppressing window functions for all three sensitivity directions. Our experiments indicate that the benefit that can be obtained from optimized window functions depends on the overlap between object spectrum and the Noise Power Spectrum, and thus on the sensitivity direction. We also find that sensitivity in z-direction yields a noise texture that is unsuitable for CT.
Zincospiroffite, a new tellurite mineral species from the Zhongshangou gold deposit, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China

Zincospiroffite (Zn2Te3O8), a new tellurite mineral species, was discovered in the Zhongshangou gold deposit in Chongli County, Hebei Province, China. Since it has only been found as crystallite aggregates of hundreds to thousands of micrometers square in a single polished block, most work on the mineral had been carried out under the microscope. This mineral is intimately associated with calaverite and sphalerite, either as micrometric films coating calaverite or in irregular aggregates replacing calaverite. It is a product of secondary co-oxidation of calaverite, associated with sphalerite, pyrite, and other sulfides. It is a gray and translucent mineral, with a dark green streak and a vitreous luster, without internal reflections, and with a weak anisotropy, bireflectance and pleochroism. It is quite soft, has a brittle tenacity and an uneven fracture. Raman spectroscopy demonstrates that the mineral is a natural analogue of synthetic Zn2Te3O8. An electron-microprobe analysis gave the following composition: ZnO 24.57, PbO 1.64, MgO 0.24, TeO2 71.90, minor FeO and SeO2, total 98.89 (in wt.%), corresponding to an empirical formula (Zn1.97Pb0.05Mg0.04Fe0.02)∑ 2.08 (Te2.95Se0.01)∑2.96O8. 00 or, ideally, Zn2Te3O8. Powder X-ray diffraction gave only seven lines with weak intensities [ d in A(I)( hkl ): 4.758(w)(110), 3.240(w)(311), 2.928(m)(113), 2.820(w)(204), 2.155(w)(023,511), 1.985(w)(223), 1.599(w)(425), which are similar to those of the synthetic Zn 2Te3O8 (PDF 44–0241). On the basis of the diffraction pattern, the following unit-cell parameters were obtained: a 12.72(4), b 5.15(1), c 11.82(3) (A), β 99.2(3)°, V 764.57(2.52) A3, with Z = 4 and Dcalc = 5.57 g cm−3. With these parameters, a comparison is made of zincospiroffite, synthetic Zn2Te3O8 and spiroffite. The new mineral and its name were approved by the Commission on New Mineral and Mineral Names of International Mineralogical Association (IMA 2002–047). The only polished section was housed under catalogue number M10442 in the collection of the Geological Museum of China.
How Dehumanization Influences Attitudes toward Immigrants

Immigrants, as a group, are frequently described in ways, such as vermin or disease, that portray them as less than human. This type of dehumanizing language leads to negative emotional responses and negative attitudes toward the dehumanized group. This paper examines how the dehumanization of immigrants influences immigration policy attitudes. I use original experimental data to show that dehumanization leads to more negative immigration attitudes. I further find that these negative attitudes are mediated by the role of emotion. Dehumanization increases anger and disgust toward immigrants, which causes anti-immigrant sentiment.
The spatial structure of the gene pool of a viviparous population of Poa alpina - environmental controls and spatial constraints

Bjomstad, O. N. , Iversen, A. & Hansen, M. 1995. The spatial structure of the gene pool of a viviparous population of Poa alpina— environmental controls and spatial constraints. — Nord. J. Bot. 15: 347–354. Copenhagen. ISSN 0107–055X. Because both the genetic make-up and the environmental conditions of a population are spatially autocorrelated, it is difficult to infer processes of selection or drift for population genetic mappings. We propose a methodology based on partial Mantel techniques and partial autocorrelation techniques to separate the action of these processes. The method is applied to data on Poa alpina to indicate that isolation-by-distance (drift) is the main process inducing positive autocorrelation at the scale of diaspore dispersal (< 100m). The pattern at larger distances is more consistent with selection.
Sparse Representation Phone Identification Features for Speech Recognition

Sparse representation techniques, such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs), k-nearest neighbor (kNN) and Bayesian Compressive Sensing (BCS), can be used to characterize a test sample from a few support training samples in a dictionary set. In this paper, we introduce a semi-gaussian constraint into the BCS formulation, which allows support parameters to be estimated using a closed-form iterative solution. We show that using this approach for phonetic classification allows for a higher accuracy than other non-parametric techniques. These phones are the basic units of speech to be recognized. Motivated by this result, we create a new dictionary which is a function of the phonetic labels of the original dictionary. The support vectors now select relevant samples from this new dictionary to create a new representation of the test sample, where the test sample is better linked to the actual units to be recognized. We present results using these new features in a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) framework for speech recognition. We find that these features allow for a Phonetic Error Rate (PER) of 23.9% on the TIMIT phonetic recognition task, the best result on TIMIT to date when HMM parameters are trained using the maximum likelihood principle.
Genetic Engineering of Bioenergy Crops toward High Biofuel Production

Fossil fuels have been widely used as a major energy source, which represents more than 85% of the total energy consumption for economic and social development around the world (Carroll and Somerville 2009). However, global consumption of fossil fuels and their impact on climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions have inspired the development of renewable and sustainable bioenergy for transportation fuels and industrial chemicals (Himmel et al. 2007; Solomon 2010). Bioenergy is considered as a renewable energy derived from biological sources that can be used for heat, electricity, fuel, and chemical products (Yuan et al. 2008; Himmel and Bayer 2009). Globally, land plants can produce approximately 200 billion tons of biomass per year, 70% of which is hypothesized to derive from plant cell walls, an unprecedented resource for biofuel production (Pauly and Keegstra 2008). Over the past years, the first generation of bioenergy systems, including starchor sugar-based ethanol or plant oil–derived biodiesel, has already made a relatively small but significant contribution to global energy supplies. Technologies for the production of bioethanol from starch and biodiesel from lipid have become matured worldwide (Demirbas 2008; Soccol et al. 2010). However, the limited availability of resources and nonsustainability of food-based bioethanol, as well as their competitions with food supply, have triggered a paradigm shift toward the production of lignocellulosic bioenergy (Campbell et al. 2008). The second generation of biofuels such as the ethanol produced from lignocellulosic biomass has received increasing research and development interest (Goh et al. 2010; Mabee and Saddler 2010). The production of lignocellulosic ethanol involves three major processes: biomass pretreatment, lignocellulose enzymatic digestibility, and sugar fermentation. Biomass recalcitrance, which is CONTENTS
Molecular Insight into CO2 “Trapdoor” Adsorption in Zeolite Na-RHO

Among other zeolites, sodium-substituted zeolite Na-RHO exhibits a phenomenon known as “trapdoor” adsorption, with extra-framework cations acting as gates to small windows in the zeolite structures. While carbon dioxide can diffuse through these gates, methane and other guests cannot, leading to strong potential for gas separation. This effect has been attributed in the literature to specific cation–guest interactions that would allow CO2 to pull open the trapdoor. We investigate here the gating phenomenon using ab initio molecular dynamics simulations combined with free energy methods. Our findings invalidate this previously proposed mechanism, showing that the presence of CO2 does not significantly affect the motion of the gating cation. We put forward and demonstrate an alternative mechanism, showing that the amplitude of the thermal motion of the cations is large and that CO2 is able to squeeze while the gate is open, while nonpolar guests such as methane cannot. This leads to an image of the mechanis.
Modular Structure for Software Implementation of H . 323 Multimedia Conferencing Terminal

The ITU-T H.323 standard defines the components, protocols and procedures for making multimedia conferencing over packet-switched networks such as the Internet. Although the standard gives many guidelines to the developers, it does not have enough information to implement the whole system. Some of the important parts including capture and playback of audiovisual signal, user control, low-level synchronization and networking are outside the scope of the H.323 standard and need to be defined by the developers. In this paper, a modular design is developed for software implementation of an H.323 terminal in a desktop environment. The design is flexible enough to include further enhancement of the system. Key-Words: Video conferencing, multimedia communications, H.323