Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multi-session visual cortex transcranial random noise stimulation in adults with amblyopia

Purpose We tested the hypothesis that five daily sessions of visual cortex transcranial random noise stimulation would improve contrast sensitivity, crowded and uncrowded visual acuity in adults with amblyopia. Methods Nineteen adults with amblyopia (44.2 ± 14.9yrs, 10 female) were randomly allocated to active or sham tRNS of the visual cortex (active, n = 9; sham, n = 10). tRNS was delivered for 25 minutes across five consecutive days. Monocular contrast sensitivity, uncrowded and crowded visual acuity were measured before, during, 5 minutes and 30 minutes post stimulation on each day. Results Active tRNS significantly improved contrast sensitivity and uncrowded visual acuity for both amblyopic and fellow eyes whereas sham stimulation had no effect. An analysis of the day by day effects revealed large within session improvements on day 1 for the active group that waned across subsequent days. No long-lasting (multi-day) improvements were observed for contrast sensitivity, however a long-lasting improvement in amblyopic eye uncrowded visual acuity was observed for the active group. This improvement remained at 28 day follow up. However, between-group differences in baseline uncrowded visual acuity complicate the interpretation of this effect. No effect of tRNS was observed for amblyopic eye crowded visual acuity. Conclusions In agreement with previous non-invasive brain stimulation studies using different techniques, tRNS induced short-term contrast sensitivity improvements in adult amblyopic eyes, however, multiple sessions of tRNS did not lead to enhanced or long-lasting effects for the majority of outcome measures.
Potential Use of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) to Suppress Three Invasive Plant Species in Agroecosystems (Ageratum conyzoides L., Bidens pilosa L., and Galinsoga parviflora Cav.)

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. ) is a logical candidate crop to suppress invasive plants, but additional information is needed to support its potential application as a suppressive ground cover. The current study utilized a de Wit replacement series incorporating five ratios of sweet potato grown in the field in combination with one of three invasive plants (Ageratum conyzoides L., Bidens pilosa L., and Galinsoga parviflora Cav.) in replicated 9 m2 plots. Stem length, total biomass, and leaf area were higher for monoculture-grown sweet potato than these parameters for any of the invasive plants grown in monoculture. In mixed culture, the plant height, branch, leaf, inflorescence, seed, and biomass of all invasive plants were suppressed by sweet potato. The relative yield parameter indicated that intraspecific competition was greater than interspecific competition for sweet potato, while the reverse was true for invasive species. The net photosynthetic rate was higher for sweet potato than for B. pilosa and G. parviflora but not A. conyzoides. Superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activities of each of the three invasive plants were reduced in mixture with sweet potato. Our results demonstrated that these three invasive plants were significantly suppressed by sweet potato competition due to the rapid growth and phenotypic plasticity of sweet potato.
How to make a lazy functional language exceptional

An exception handling mechanism for a lazy functional language is described. The system proposed allows expressions which might raise an exception to be evaluated lazily, preserves referential transparency and has no dependence on reduction sequence. Exceptions are parameterized and are statically bound to recovery code. There are two strategies for recovery: resume, which replaces the expression signaling an exception with the recovery code; and terminate, which replaces the expression signaling the exception at the nearest firewall with the recovery code. Firewalls are used to bound terminate handlers, allowing the preservation of lazy evaluation where exceptions may be raised. A system of priorities is introduced on exceptions, which allow the programmer to indicate which exception is more serious, should a conflict occur. The proposed approach is discussed with reference to present systems. <<ETX>>
Luminal MCF-12A and myoepithelial-like Hs 578Bst cells form bilayered acini similar to human breast

The mammary gland is a complex organ, structured in a ramified epithelium supported by the stroma. The epithelium’s functional unit is the bilayered acinus, made of a layer of luminal cells surrounded by a layer of basal cells mainly composed of myoepithelial cells. The aim of this study was to develop a reproducible and manipulable three-dimensional co-culture model of the bilayered acinus in vitro to study the interactions between the two layers. Two different combinations of cell lines were co-cultured in Matrigel: SCp2 and SCg6 mice cells, or MCF-12A and Hs 578Bst human cell lines. Cell ratios and Matrigel concentration were optimized. The resulting acini were analysed by confocal microscopy using epithelial (E-cadherin) and myoepithelial (α-smooth muscle actin) markers. SCp2 and SCg6 cells formed distinct three-dimensional structures, whereas MCF-12A and Hs 578Bst cells formed some bilayered acini. This in vitro bilayered acini model will allow us to understand the role of interactions between luminal and myoepithelial cells in the normal breast development.
Campus futurus : perspectives on learning and technology

The design of a networked learning environment, the Future Learning Environment (FLE) relies on recent achievements of cognitive research on educational practices and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). In the design of FLE, special emphasis has been given to developing metacognitive tools for structuring users’ activities. The aim of these tools is to support collaborative knowledge advancement and progressive inquiry. The environment provides each user a personal ” Virtual WebTop” for storing his or her products and providing access to other users' WebTops. The ”Knowledge building” module facilitates between-user interaction and provides tools for structuring a discussion into topics. Further, to advance metacognitive reflection, each discussion message needs to be labeled with a Category of Inquiry. The ”Jam Session” module encourages the free flow of ideas and experimentation with difProgressive Inquiry Process with Future Learning Environment Tools
Zebrafish differentially process colour across visual space to match natural scenes

Animal eyes evolve to process behaviourally important visual information, but how retinas deal with statistical asymmetries in visual space remains poorly understood. Using hyperspectral imaging in the field, in-vivo 2-photon imaging of retinal neurons and anatomy, here we show that larval zebrafish use a highly anisotropic retina to asymmetrically survey their natural visual world. First, different neurons dominate different parts of the eye, and are linked to a systematic shift in inner retinal function: Above the animal, there is little colour in nature and retinal circuits are largely achromatic. Conversely, the lower visual field and horizon are colour-rich, and are predominately surveyed by chromatic and colour-opponent circuits that are spectrally matched to the dominant chromatic axes in nature. Second, above the frontal horizon, a high-gain ultraviolet-system piggy-backs onto retinal circuits, likely to support prey-capture. Our results demonstrate high functional diversity among single genetically and morphologically defined types of neurons.
From Automatic to Adaptive Data Acquisition

Today, even small-scale sensor networks need to be carefully designed, programmed and deployed to meet user goals, such as lifetime or quality of the collected data. Only by confronting the problems that do come up during actual deployments can we devise the tools, methods and abstractions that will help meet the requirements of a sensor network infrastructure. In this paper we report on the lessons we learned deploying two experimental sensor networks in a pig farm in the context of the Hogthrob project. We describe the design of the sensor networks whose goal was to collect time series of sow acceleration data over a menstrual cycle, i.e., circa 30 days, and we discuss the lessons we learned. Index Terms sensor network deployments, group housed sows, acceleration time series.
Nickel Enhances Zinc-Induced Neuronal Cell Death by Priming the Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Response

Trace metals such as zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and nickel (Ni) play important roles in various physiological functions such as immunity, cell division, and protein synthesis in a wide variety of species. However, excessive amounts of these trace metals cause disorders in various tissues of the central nervous system, respiratory system, and other vital organs. Our previous analysis focusing on neurotoxicity resulting from interactions between Zn and Cu revealed that Cu2+ markedly enhances Zn2+-induced neuronal cell death by activating oxidative stress and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response. However, neurotoxicity arising from interactions between zinc and metals other than copper has not been examined. Thus, in the current study, we examined the effect of Ni2+ on Zn2+-induced neurotoxicity. Initially, we found that nontoxic concentrations (0–60 μM) of Ni2+ enhance Zn2+-induced neurotoxicity in an immortalized hypothalamic neuronal cell line (GT1-7) in a dose-dependent manner. Next, we analyzed the mechanism enhancing neuronal cell death, focusing on the ER stress response. Our results revealed that Ni2+ treatment significantly primed the Zn2+-induced ER stress response, especially expression of the CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP). Finally, we examined the effect of carnosine (an endogenous peptide) on Ni2+/Zn2+-induced neurotoxicity and found that carnosine attenuated Ni2+/Zn2+-induced neuronal cell death and ER stress occurring before cell death. Based on our results, Ni2+ treatment significantly enhances Zn2+-induced neuronal cell death by priming the ER stress response. Thus, compounds that decrease the ER stress response, such as carnosine, may be beneficial for neurological diseases.
Conservation implications of sex‐specific landscape suitability for a large generalist carnivore

Terrestrial mammal distribution models typically do not differentiate between sexes when making spatial predictions, which could have important conservation implications. As male carnivores are usually more risk tolerant and travel longer distances, male potential range should be larger and include more human‐modified areas than female range. To evaluate if differences between females and males could influence their conservation planning, we quantified sex‐specific suitable range for a recolonizing population of American black bears (Ursus americanus).
Nanostructure and Chemical Composition of Cement-Based Materials: Testing and Characterization Based on Solid State NMR and Electron Microscopy

With the research scale of materials science gradually changing from macro to micro, the research on the nanostructure and chemical composition of cement-based materials has become a hot research topic. Although the traditional research methods are very mature, and have also achieved good application results in the exploration of microscopic analysis, structural distribution, composition analysis, and morphology analysis, but for the specific cement hydration mechanism and the hydration of important constituent materials. The structure of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH) gel is still not fully understood. Therefore, solid magnetic resonance and electron microscopy were used to test and characterize the nanostructure and chemical composition of cement-based materials. Firstly, the solid-state NMR technique was used to study the variation law of hydration products, and then the hydration degree was quantitatively described according to the research results. By comparing the analytical method of this paper with the traditional hydration degree characterization method, it is verified that the method has certain rationality and feasibility. Finally, the microscopic morphology of C-S-H was studied by electron microscopy. The C-S-H with C/S of 1.5 was found to be a fibrous amorphous material with a length of several tens of nanometers to several hundred nanometers. The experimental results show that the solid-state NMR and electron microscopy testing and characterization methods are of great significance for the study of the nanostructure and chemical composition of cement-based materials.
The Performance Analysis of MIMO OFDM System with Different M-QAM Modulation and Convolution Channel Coding

—The MIMO-OFDM technology is under the significant considerations for the development of 4G wireless communication systems. The combination of OFDM with MIMO delivers a significant performance improvement in terms of many parameters like data transmission rate, smaller bit error rate (BER), and increased reliability. In this paper, a good performance in terms of low BER is achieved with the use of better channel coding technique and modulation scheme. Here, OFDM with 64 QAM modulation and convolution coding with the code rate ¾ is combined with Orthogonal Space Time Block Coding (OSTBC) - a spatial diversity technique which effectively reduces BER. Using MATLAB/Simulink, the performance analysis is carried out by varying the MIMO antenna configuration like 2x2, 3x3, and 4x4 under different fading channel like Rayleigh, Rician fading channels and their effects on BER is examined.
Eucalyptus Short-Rotation Management Effects on Nutrient and Sediments in Subtropical Streams

Forested catchments generally present conserved aquatic ecosystems without anthropogenic disturbances; however, forest management operations can degrade these environments, including their water quality. Despite the potential degradation, few studies have analyzed the effects of forest management in subtropical regions, especially in forest plantations with intensive management, such as Eucalyptus plantations in Brazil. The intensive management of those plantations is characterized by fast-growing, short rotation cycles, and high productivity. This study aimed to assess the effects of Eucalyptus plantations harvesting on the concentration and exportation of nutrients and suspended solids in subtropical streams. Results showed that clear-cut harvesting and subsequent forest management operations do not alter most of the concentration of nitrate, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. The concentration of suspended solids increased during the first year after timber harvesting in all studied catchments, however, the increases were statistically significant in only two catchments. In the first year after harvest, it was observed an increment of water yield/precipitation ratio at three catchments, which also increased export of nutrients and suspended solids. Our results showed that harvesting of fast-growing Eucalyptus forest plantations partially affected sediment exports and did not compromise water quality in the studied catchments. However, the catchment land-use design, especially related to road density and land-use composition, showed significant relationship with sediment exportation.
Proceedings of a Workshop on Operational Factors in Practical, Robust Anaphora Resolution for Unrestricted Texts

In recent years we have witnessed an increased interest in anaphora resolution. We have also seen a tendency towards the development of robust and effective methods to meet the demand of practical NLP systems and to enhance further the automatic processing of growing language resources. This clear trend towards inexpensive, relatively knowledge-poor, corpus-based methods has been evident in recent proposals which address the anaphora resolution problem by deliberately limiting the extent to which they rely on domain and/or linguistic knowledge, and by moving away from the traditional domain/sublanguage restriction. We believe that the time is fight for the ACL'97/EACL'97 workshop "Operational factors in practical, robust anaphora resolution for unrestricted texts". It presents the latest work on the practical requirements of operational and reliable anaphora resolution components. It also investigates the role of, and interactions among, the various factors in anaphora resolution - in particular those that scale well, or that translate easily to knowledge-poor environments. We are pleased to report a high level of interest in the workshop, which resulted in a large number of quality submissions. Regrettably, this translated into some hard choices concerning the final programme make-up. There can only be a limited number of presentations in a one day workshop; thus, following a review process where every submission was reviewed by three members of the Programme Committee, some good papers did not find a slot in the workshop programme.
INFECTIVITY OF VERTICILLIUM DAHLIAE ISOLATES ON WEEDY HOSTS, LITCHI TOMATO, AND TEFF, AND THE EFFECT OF ALFALFA RESIDUE INCORPORATION ON THE NUMBER OF VERTICILLIUM DAHLIAE MICROSCLEROTIA, AND SOIL BACTERIAL METAGENOMICS

by Zachary Andrew Frederick, Ph.D. Washington State University May 2017 Chair: Dennis A. Johnson Verticillium wilt, caused by Verticillium dahliae, is an important disease of many dicotyledonous crops due to a wide host range and the long-term survival of microsclerotia in soil for up to 14 years. Some V. dahliae isolates are aggressive on a specific plant host, such as potato, but can still infect a range of crops. Isolates of V. dahliae that are aggressive on potato are referred to as the potato pathotype. Litchi tomato (Solanum sisymbriifolium) has been grown as a trap crop for the pale cyst nematode in Idaho and teff (Eragrostis tef) could be a shortseason rotation crop in the northwestern United States. It is unknown if litchi tomato, teff, or weeds could serve as sources of inoculum for the potato pathotype of V. dahliae. When sixteen weeds were evaluated for V. dahliae, black nightshade (Solanum nigrum) had significantly more microsclerotia of the V. dahliae potato pathotype compared to the other isolates in three of four greenhouse trials (second trial P < 0.0158, third trial P < 0.0264, fourth trial P < 0.0193). There were no differences in numbers of microsclerotia between isolates of V. dahliae in infected teff,
Accelerated Bridge Pier Construction in the U.S.: Seismic Implications

In several successful accelerated bridge construction projects in Florida and Texas, prefabricated bridge pier components have been utilized, which result in significant reduction of the construction schedule. This paper summarizes major accelerated bridge construction projects through adopting pre-fabricated bridge pier components, which shows its popularity in recent years. In particular, details in geometry, reinforcement, and connections from several projects are compared, focusing on their applicability in seismic regions. Systems in seismic regions investigated recently by several research groups are also summarized and compared. As concluding remarks, issues and recommendations regarding connections and reinforcement detailing are summarized.
Performance Evaluation of the MLSDA Decoders by Importance Sampling Techniques

It is known that the error correction capability of the convolutional codes grows dramatically as the code constraint length increases. Yet, to employ codes with long constraint length may suﬀer a high decoding complexity. In [1], the authors proposed the Maximum-Likelihood soft-decision Sequential Decoding Algorithm (MLSDA) [1] for binary convolutional codes, and showed that its computational complexity turns out to be less aﬀected by the code constraint length; therefore, it may apply to convolutional codes with long constraint lengths, and yield a good system performance. In order to evaluate the resultant system performance, suﬃcient simulation runs, usually requiring to induce hundred of errors, should be taken. This may render an unfeasibly long simulation time if the true system error is indeed low. Unlike the brute-force Monte Carlo (MC) simulation that often requires a very large number of simulation trials to achieve meaningful estimates of system performance, the Importance Sampling (IS) [2, 3, 4, 7] simulation can achieve relatively accurate estimate with much less simulation trials. For IS technique, well-chosen channels to adapt to suitable error events can result in an eﬃcient simulator.
Formal Modeling and Analysis of The CANOpen Protocol in Full Maude

CANOpen is a communication protocol and device specification used in automation system. It is a commercial protocol typically related with embedded networking. Since embedded systems are widely used in automations, CANOpen does not only exist in our daily life, but also in variety of industries, such as household applications, automobiles, medical equipment, subsea facilities and so on. Some of these applications are so sophisticated that it does not allow any fatal defect, like medical equipments, and some other applications are too resource-consuming to tolerate configuration delay, such as subsea platform. Although it is not a short period since CANOpen protocol is proposed, there might still be some uncovered issues. Commercial systems tests commonly rely on the specific enviroment, which is useful to discover bugs in specific applications. But in general, it is not an efficient way to find potential issues in protocol levels. Hence, we need a method to help us solve this problem. Formal verification, providing greate contributions to software and hardware system testing, is a potential method to test a protocol itself, as well, specific applications where the protocol is applied to. Maude is formal declarative formal languages based on mathematical theory of rewrite logic. Compared to traditional programming languages, a declarative language places emphasis on modeling with naturalness, ease and preciseness. Full Maude is an extension of Maude which adds the notation of object-oriented modeling manner. In these thesis, we model some key parts of CANOpen using Full Maude, which our validation work also relies on. Since CANOpen is a complicated protocol, modeling the entire functions of CANOpen is a great task. Dividing CANOpen into two logical functions as communication and controlling parts, we focus our attention on controlling function which includes Emergency Service (EMCY) and Network Managerment (NMT). Using Full Maude, we build the model of the controlling function based on both equation logic and rewriting logic. The resulting model is a translation from the human-language-described standard to a formal form
Measuring Etch: the size of Debian 4.0

The Debian GNU/Linux operating system is one of the most popular GNU/Linux distributions, not only among end users but also as a basis for other distributions and embedded systems. Besides being popular, it is also one of the largest software compilations and thus a good starting point to analyze the current state of libre (free, open source) software. This work is a preliminary study about the new Debian GNU/Linux release (4.0, codenamed etch), which was officially released April 8th, 2007. We have measured the size of Debian in lines of code (which is close to 283 million source lines of code), what programming languages have been used to write that code, and the size of the packages included in the distribution. We have also applied a ‘classical’ and well-known cost estimation methods which gives an idea of how much it would suppose to create something as big as Debian from scratch. We estimate that cost to be over 10 billion USD.