Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hd3a Protein Is a Mobile Flowering Signal in Rice

Florigen, the mobile signal that moves from an induced leaf to the shoot apex and causes flowering, has eluded identification since it was first proposed 70 years ago. Understanding the nature of the mobile flowering signal would provide a key insight into the molecular mechanism of floral induction. Recent studies suggest that the Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene is a candidate for encoding florigen. We show that the protein encoded by Hd3a, a rice ortholog of FT, moves from the leaf to the shoot apical meristem and induces flowering in rice. These results suggest that the Hd3a protein may be the rice florigen.
A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF UNCERTAINTIES AFFECTING THE STELLAR MASS–HALO MASS RELATION FOR 0 < z < 4

We conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between central galaxies and their host dark matter halos, as characterized by the stellar mass–halo mass (SM–HM) relation, with rigorous consideration of uncertainties. Our analysis focuses on results from the abundance matching technique, which assumes that every dark matter halo or subhalo above a specific mass threshold hosts one galaxy. We provide a robust estimate of the SM–HM relation for 0 < z < 1 and discuss the quantitative effects of uncertainties in observed galaxy stellar mass functions (including stellar mass estimates and counting uncertainties), halo mass functions (including cosmology and uncertainties from substructure), and the abundance matching technique used to link galaxies to halos (including scatter in this connection). Our analysis results in a robust estimate of the SM–HM relation and its evolution from z = 0 to z = 4. The shape and the evolution are well constrained for z < 1. The largest uncertainties at these redshifts are due to stellar mass estimates (0.25 dex uncertainty in normalization); however, failure to account for scatter in stellar masses at fixed halo mass can lead to errors of similar magnitude in the SM–HM relation for central galaxies in massive halos. We also investigate the SM–HM relation to z = 4, although the shape of the relation at higher redshifts remains fairly unconstrained when uncertainties are taken into account. We find that the integrated star formation at a given halo mass peaks at 10%–20% of available baryons for all redshifts from 0 to 4. This peak occurs at a halo mass of 7 × 1011 M☉ at z = 0 and this mass increases by a factor of 5 to z = 4. At lower and higher masses, star formation is substantially less efficient, with stellar mass scaling as M* ∼ M2.3h at low masses and M* ∼ M0.29h at high masses. The typical stellar mass for halos with mass less than 1012 M☉ has increased by 0.3–0.45 dex for halos since z ∼ 1. These results will provide a powerful tool to inform galaxy evolution models.
Different measurement metrics to evaluate a chatbot system

A chatbot is a software system, which can interact or "chat" with a human user in natural language such as English. For the annual Loebner Prize contest, rival chatbots have been assessed in terms of ability to fool a judge in a restricted chat session. We are investigating methods to train and adapt a chatbot to a specific user's language use or application, via a user-supplied training corpus. We advocate open-ended trials by real users, such as an example Afrikaans chatbot for Afrikaans-speaking researchers and students in South Africa. This is evaluated in terms of "glass box" dialogue efficiency metrics, and "black box" dialogue quality metrics and user satisfaction feedback. The other examples presented in this paper are the Qur'an and the FAQchat prototypes. Our general conclusion is that evaluation should be adapted to the application and to user needs.
Expression, Crystallization, and Three-dimensional Structure of the Catalytic Domain of Human Plasma Kallikrein*

Plasma kallikrein is a serine protease that has many important functions, including modulation of blood pressure, complement activation, and mediation and maintenance of inflammatory responses. Although plasma kallikrein has been purified for 40 years, its structure has not been elucidated. In this report, we described two systems (Pichia pastoris and baculovirus/Sf9 cells) for expression of the protease domain of plasma kallikrein, along with the purification and high resolution crystal structures of the two recombinant forms. In the Pichia pastoris system, the protease domain was expressed as a heterogeneously glycosylated zymogen that was activated by limited trypsin digestion and treated with endoglycosidase H deglycosidase to reduce heterogeneity from the glycosylation. The resulting protein was chromatographically resolved into four components, one of which was crystallized. In the baculovirus/Sf9 system, homogeneous, crystallizable, and nonglycosylated protein was expressed after mutagenizing three asparagines (the glycosylation sites) to glutamates. When assayed against the peptide substrates, pefachrome-PK and oxidized insulin B chain, both forms of the protease domain were found to have catalytic activity similar to that of the full-length protein. Crystallization and x-ray crystal structure determination of both forms have yielded the first three-dimensional views of the catalytic domain of plasma kallikrein. The structures, determined at 1.85 Å for the endoglycosidase H-deglycosylated protease domain produced from P. pastoris and at 1.40 Å for the mutagenically deglycosylated form produced from Sf9 cells, show that the protease domain adopts a typical chymotrypsin-like serine protease conformation. The structural information provides insights into the biochemical and enzymatic properties of plasma kallikrein and paves the way for structure-based design of protease inhibitors that are selective either for or against plasma kallikrein.
The value of IT for virtual power plants with micro cogeneration systems

Micro cogeneration technology (micro-CHP) is expected to be an important novel residential heating technology for the future in certain countries around the world. The interesting aspect of micro-CHP is that it is a controllable distributed generation technology. This paper provides novel conceptual insight into how micro-CHP systems can be controlled aggregatedly in virtual power plants (VPPs). Cost benefits for VPPs can be achieved through 'economies of intelligence' with the help of intelligent control schemes.
Design, Synthesis and FPGA-based Implementation of a 32-bit Digital Signal Processor

— With the advent of personal computer, smart phones, gaming and other multimedia devices, the demand for DSP processors in semi-conductor industry and modern life is ever increasing. Traditional DSP processors which are special purpose (custom logic) logic, added to essentially general purpose processors, no longer tends to meet the ever increasing demand for processing power. Today FPGAs have become an important platform for implementing high – end DSP applications and DSP processors because of their inherent parallelism and fast processing speed. This design work models and synthesizes a 32 bit two stage pipelined DSP processor for implementation on a Xilinx Spartan-3E (XC3S500e) FPGA. The design is optimized for speed constraint. A hazard free pipelined architecture and a dedicated single cycle integer Multiply-Accumulator (MAC) contribute in enhancing processing speed of this design. The design maintains a restricted instruction set, and consists of four major components: 1) the hazard free speed optimized Control unit, 2) a two stage pipelined data path, 3) a single cycle multiply and accumulator (MAC) and 4) a system memory. Harvard architecture is used to improve the processor’s performance as both memories (program and data memory) are accessed simultaneously. The complete processor design has been defined in VHDL. Functionalities of designed processor are verified through Functional Simulation using Modelsim SE 6.5 simulator. The design is placed and routed for a Xilinx Spartan-3E FPGA.
Caregiving: role engulfment and the loss of self.

"Loss of self" was examined in a sample of spouses and adult children caring for a relative with Alzheimer's disease. Defined as a loss of identity that comes about as a result of engulfment in the caregiver role, it was found to be more common among spouses, females, and younger caregivers. Limited social contact and lack of social roles outside that of caregiver were found to be related to greater loss of self. It is associated with lower self-esteem and mastery and with greater depressive symptomatology.
Detecting Young Children's Musical Aptitude: A Comparison between Standardized Measures of Music Aptitude and Ecologically Valid Musical Performances.

This research examines the musical development of a group of 100 children in three different schools in Portugal, one of which is a specialist music school, over a period of three full school years from the beginning of schooling (6-year-olds ) until the end of third grade. This paper studies the relationship between the children 's results on a standardized test of music aptitude - Gordon 's Primary Measures of Music Audiation - and their performances on three specific musical tasks: singing a song, reproducing a short tune, and keeping meter in instrumental play. To establish the children 's musical profile before beginning formal music instruction, all children were administered two types of tests: (a) the Primary Measures of Music Audiation and (b) a set of specially devised individual musical tasks. The hypothesis was that musical aptitude tests serve only limited purposes and cannot reflect the variety of manifestations that children 's musical behavior can take. Statistical analysis indicated that there was no significant relationship between performances on the Gordon tests and those on three of the individual tasks. Implications for music education based on results of standardized testing are discussed, and the importance of broadening the musical scope of testing processes is stressed.
Understanding Spatial and Temporal Processes of Urban Growth: Cellular Automata Modelling

An understanding of the dynamic process of urban growth is a prerequisite to the prediction of land-cover change and the support of urban development planning and sustainable growth management. The spatial and temporal complexity inherent in urban growth requires the development of a new simulation approach, which should be process-oriented and have a strong interpretive element. In this paper the authors present an innovative methodology for understanding spatial processes and their temporal dynamics on two interrelated scales—the municipality and project scale—by means of a multistage framework and a dynamic weighting concept. The multistage framework is aimed at modelling local spatial processes and global temporal dynamics by the incorporation of explicit decisionmaking processes. It is divided into four stages: project planning, site selection, local growth, and temporal control. These four stages represent the interactions between top-down and bottom-up decisionmaking involved in land development in large-scale projects. Project-based cellular automata modelling is developed for interpreting the spatial and temporal logic between various projects that form the whole of urban growth. Use of dynamic weighting is an attempt to model local temporal dynamics at the project level as an extension of the local growth stage. As nonlinear function of temporal land development, dynamic weighting can link spatial processes and temporal patterns. The methodology is tested with reference to the urban growth of a fast growing city—Wuhan, in the People's Republic of China—from 1993 to 2000. The findings from this research suggest that this methodology can be used to interpret and visualise the dynamic process of urban growth temporally and transparently, globally and locally.
Alcohol consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes among older women.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate the relation between alcohol consumption and type 2 diabetes among older women. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Between 1993 and 1997, 16,330 women aged 49-70 years and free from diabetes were enrolled in one of the Dutch Prospect-EPIC (European Prospective Study Into Cancer and Nutrition) cohorts and followed for 6.2 years (range 0.1-10.1). At enrollment, women filled in questionnaires and blood samples were collected. RESULTS During follow-up, 760 cases of type 2 diabetes were documented. A linear inverse association (P = 0.007) between alcohol consumption and type 2 diabetes risk was observed, adjusting for potential confounders. Compared with abstainers, the hazard ratio for type 2 diabetes was 0.86 (95% CI 0.66-1.12) for women consuming 5-30 g alcohol per week, 0.66 (0.48-0.91) for 30-70 g per week, 0.91 (0.67-1.24) for 70-140 g per week, 0.64 (0.44-0.93) for 140-210 g per week, and 0.69 (0.47-1.02) for >210 g alcohol per week. Beverage type did not influence this association. Lifetime alcohol consumption was associated with type 2 diabetes in a U-shaped fashion. CONCLUSIONS Our findings support the evidence of a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes with moderate alcohol consumption and expand this to a population of older women.
Goal-Driven Navigation for Learning Activities Based on Process Optimization

This paper describes an integrated approach to provide an optimized learning process to students by analyzing the log data of learning activities and extracting their learning patterns. Our analysis results show that most of students almost always use their main learning patterns in their learning activities, and the learning achievement is affected by the learning process. Based on these findings, we try to optimize the process of earning actions using the extracted learning patterns, infer the learning goal of students, and then navigate them a personalized learning process according to the similarity of the extracted learning patterns.
Does a higher number of siblings protect against the development of allergy and asthma? A review

Study objective: To review the “protective” effects of having a higher number of siblings for the risk of atopic eczema, asthma wheezing, hay fever, and allergic sensitisation. Method: Review of the literature (Medline since 1965 and references). Main results: 53 different studies were identified. For eczema, 9 of 11 studies reported an inverse relation with number of siblings; for asthma and wheezing, 21 of 31 reported the inverse association; for hay fever, all 17 studies showed the effect; for allergic sensitisation or immunoglobulin E reactivity 14 of 16 studies supported the “protective” effect of a higher number of siblings. The studies emphasise a “theory” that is based exclusively on epidemiological associations. Conclusions: Research has not yet answered the question of which causal factors explain the sibling effect. Causal factors must meet two criteria; they must vary with sibship size and they must protect against atopic manifestations. The prevailing “hygiene hypothesis” failed to explain the findings adequately. Alternative explanations include in utero programming or endocrine explanatory models. The epidemiology research into siblings and atopic disorders has entered an intellectually challenging phase. Possessing sufficient knowledge about the causal factors might prevent at least 30% of all cases of asthma, eczema, and hay fever.
Moving sounds enhance the visually-induced self-motion illusion (circular vection) in virtual reality

While rotating visual and auditory stimuli have long been known to elicit self-motion illusions (“circular vection”), audiovisual interactions have hardly been investigated. Here, two experiments investigated whether visually induced circular vection can be enhanced by concurrently rotating auditory cues that match visual landmarks (e.g., a fountain sound). Participants sat behind a curved projection screen displaying rotating panoramic renderings of a market place. Apart from a no-sound condition, headphone-based auditory stimuli consisted of mono sound, ambient sound, or low-/high-spatial resolution auralizations using generic head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). While merely adding nonrotating (mono or ambient) sound showed no effects, moving sound stimuli facilitated both vection and presence in the virtual environment. This spatialization benefit was maximal for a medium (20° × 15°) FOV, reduced for a larger (54° × 45°) FOV and unexpectedly absent for the smallest (10° × 7.5°) FOV. Increasing auralization spatial fidelity (from low, comparable to five-channel home theatre systems, to high, 5° resolution) provided no further benefit, suggesting a ceiling effect. In conclusion, both self-motion perception and presence can benefit from adding moving auditory stimuli. This has important implications both for multimodal cue integration theories and the applied challenge of building affordable yet effective motion simulators.
Subarachnoid hemorrhage-induced upregulation of the 5-HT1B receptor in cerebral arteries in rats.

OBJECT Cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) leads to reduced blood flow in the brain. Inspired by organ culture-induced changes in the receptor phenotype of cerebral arteries, the authors investigated possible changes in the 5-hydroxytryptamine (HT) receptor phenotype after experimental SAH. METHODS Experimental SAH was induced in rats by using an autologous prechiasmatic injection of arterial blood. Two days later, the middle cerebral artery (MCA), posterior communicating artery (PCoA), and basilar artery (BA) were harvested and examined functionally with the aid of a sensitive in vitro pharmacological method molecularly by performing quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In the MCA and BA the 5-HT1B receptor was upregulated, as determined through both functional and molecular analysis. In response to selective 5-HT1 receptor agonists both the negative logarithm of the 50% effective concentration was increased (one log unit in the MCA and one half unit in the BA), as was the agonist's potency (increased by 50% in the MCA and doubled in the BA). In addition, the authors found an approximately fourfold increase in the number of copies of messenger RNA coding for the 5-HT1B receptor as determined by quantitative real-time PCR. In the PCoA no upregulation of the 5-HT1B receptor was observed. CONCLUSIONS Changes in the receptor phenotype in favor of contractile receptors may well represent the end stage in a sequence of events leading from SAH to the actual development of cerebral vasospasm. Insight into the mechanism of upregulation may provide new targets for developing specific treatment against cerebral vasospasm.
Supporting Online Material Materials and Methods Som Text Figs. S1 to S6 Tables S1 and S2 References Political Attitudes Vary with Physiological Traits

Although political views have been thought to arise largely from individuals' experiences, recent research suggests that they may have a biological basis. We present evidence that variations in political attitudes correlate with physiological traits. In a group of 46 adult participants with strong political beliefs, individuals with measurably lower physical sensitivities to sudden noises and threatening visual images were more likely to support foreign aid, liberal immigration policies, pacifism, and gun control, whereas individuals displaying measurably higher physiological reactions to those same stimuli were more likely to favor defense spending, capital punishment, patriotism, and the Iraq War. Thus, the degree to which individuals are physiologically responsive to threat appears to indicate the degree to which they advocate policies that protect the existing social structure from both external (outgroup) and internal (norm-violator) threats. T he nature and source of political attitudes have been the subject of much study (1–3). Traditionally, such attitudes were believed to be built from sensible, unencumbered reactions to environmental events (4), but more recent research emphasizes the built-in, almost " automated " quality of many political responses (5), which has been suggested to be based in brain activation variations in limbic regions (6–8). The research task is now to determine why some people seem primed to adopt certain political attitudes, whereas others appear primed to adopt quite different attitudes. For example, although images and reminders of the terrorist attacks of 9-11 produce an aggregate shift in political views (9, 10), the reasons for individual variability in the degree of attitudinal shifts are unknown. One possibility is that people vary in general physiology and that certain of these variations encourage the adoption of particular political attitudes. Broad, physiologically relevant traits such as feelings of disgust and fear of disease have been suggested to be related to political attitudes (11, 12), and political beliefs can be predicted by observing brain activation patterns in response to unanticipated events, such as one letter of the alphabet appearing on a computer screen when the respondent expected a different letter (13). A connection between self-reports of felt threat and political attitudes has also been identified in previous research (14–19). The physiology of response to a perceived threat is an attractive topic of investigation because an appropriate response to environmental threat is necessary for long-term survival and because perceived threat produces a variety of reasonably well-mapped, physically instantiated responses (20). If the threat is …
Charm and beauty production at LHC

This note will be part of Chapter 6.5 of the ALICE Physics Performance Report (PPR), ALICE Physics: Charm and Beauty, where the capabilities of ALICE for the detection of open heavy flavour particles will be described. We dene here the present ALICE baseline for what concerns the heavy flavour production cross sections at LHC and the kinematical distributions of the heavy quark pairs. We start by qualitatively assessing the Bjorken x regimes accessible with charm and beauty measurements at LHC with ALICE (Section 1). In Section 2 we report the most recent results (and the uncertainties) of the next-to-leading order (NLO) pQCD calculations for the cross sections in pp collisions at LHC energies. These results are extrapolated to Pb{Pb collisions in Section 3.1 and to p{Pb collisions in Section 3.2, taking into account nuclear shadowing and parton intrinsic transverse momentum broadening. Heavy quark kinematics as given by the NLO pQCD calculation are reported in Section 4. We tuned the PYTHIA event generator in order to reproduce such results for what concerns the c and b quarks transverse momentum distributions (Section 5). Finally, we report the yields and transverse momentum distributions for D and B mesons (Section 6).
A workload-aware vm placement algorithm for performance improvement and energy efficiency in OpenStack cloud

Cloud offerings serve workloads with diverse needs in terms of compute, memory, storage and networking. In this work, we address the problem of workload-aware virtual machines (VMs) placement in Infrastructure Cloud. The goal is to co-locate VMs with heterogeneous workload characteristics to optimize performance and reduce energy consumption. We design and implement the proposed placement technique on top of the popular Cloud Infrastructure Service, OpenStack. Different workload combinations for a server are shown to result in different energy consumption and performance. We demonstrate through real-world application benchmarks of varying characteristics that the proposed workload-aware placement strategy can achieve improvement in average performance and energy savings of up to 20% as compared to OpenStack default VM scheduler with minimal overhead.