Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lymphangiogenesis and Angiogenesis in Bladder Cancer: Prognostic Implications and Regulation by Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors-A, -C, and -D

Purpose: Lymph vessel density (LVD) and microvessel density (MVD) correlate with the malignant potential of tumors and patient survival. Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF)-A, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D could modulate LVD and MVD. We investigated the clinical and prognostic significance of LVD and MVD on lymphangiogenic and angiogenic function of VEGF-A, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D in human bladder cancer. Experimental Design: We reviewed tissue samples from patients with nonmetastatic bladder cancer who had undergone transurethral resections (n = 126). The densities of D2-40-positive vessels (LVD) and CD34-positive vessels (MVD) were measured by a computer-aided image analysis system. Expression of VEGF-A, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D was examined by immunohistochemistry; survival analyses and their independent roles were investigated using multivariate analysis models. Results: LVD was associated with tumor grade but not with pT stage. LVD was associated with metastasis-free survival (log rank P = 0.039), but was not an independent prognostic factor. Although MVD affected survival, the combination of high LVD and high MVD in tumors was an independent predictor of metastasis-free survival. Although VEGF-C expression was positively associated with both LVD and MVD, VEGF-D was associated only with LVD. VEGF-A expression was associated with MVD in univariate analysis, however, it was not an independent factor. Conclusions: Lymphangiogenesis and angiogenesis influence metastasis-free survival, and are regulated by VEGF-C and/or VEGF-D. Our results suggest that LVD and MVD are useful tools for the selection of postoperative management and treatment strategies in patients with bladder cancer.
ResDevOps: A Software Engineering Framework for Achieving Long-Lasting Complex Systems

The development of high quality complex software systems and quick time-to-market with full customer satisfaction often appear as two competing forces. Many industry efforts have been directed towards agile methodologies completed with the DevOps approach, whereas traditional requirements engineering with much documentation, is considered surpassed. The aim is to obtain a longer life software because it suddenly responds to the customers changing requirements from which it receives continuous input. This might create a serious cost implication and a real risk to lose system requirements control. In this paper, we propose a framework able to govern the complexity of the system requirements and to allow the embedding, occasionally, of technological innovations into the overall system. ResDevOps joins the value of the agile world with DevOps, with the additional value deriving from an unceasing parallel innovation management process, which we call ResDevs. ResDevOps includes a continuous research and innovation process, which provides an asynchronous, additional input to the agile process inside a chain of concurrent engineering collaboration. This is a suitable trade-off to maintain modern IT Systems live for a longer time, with many consequent advantages for both total investment and system quality. The practical use of the ResDevOps approach is shown by means of a case study.
Realization of biquadratic filter by using memristor

In this study, a brief review of the memristor and its terminal equations are given. Biquadratic filter implementation with memristor is introduced. SPICE subcircuit model is presented to simulate the memristor. Gain and phase characteristics of the proposed biquadratic filter are obtained with SPICE circuit simulator. It is observed that filter parameter such as cut off frequencies, band width, quality factor are adjustable by memristor parameters and the power consumption of the biquadratic filter with memristor is low and has better efficiency.
A Tool Box for Assessing Cow , Udder and Teat Hygiene

Infection of the mammary gland with environmental bacterial pathogens is the most significant udder health problem facing the dairy industry in North America. Forty years ago, Neave et al. (1966) stated that the rate of new intra-mammary infection is related to the number of bacteria that the teat end is exposed to, and several studies have made associations between clean housing, clean cows and lower bulk tank somatic cell counts (Bodoh et al., 1976; Barkema et al., 1998; Barkema et al., 1999). In addition, Bartlett et al. (1992) found that an index of environmental sanitation based on the amount of manure on the cow and in her environment was a predictor of the occurrence of coliform mastitis, and Ward et al. (2002) noted that in four study herds, the lowest incidence of mastitis occurred in the herd with the cleanest cows and the most satisfactory beds.
A low-power fast-settling bond-wire frequency synthesizer with a dynamic-bandwidth scheme

For the node chips of wireless sensor networks (WSN), low power and fast settling are the two most important factors. In this paper, a low-power fast-settling phase-locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesizer working at 1.72 GHz∼1.74 GHz is designed for a 100 kb/s gauss frequency shift keying (GFSK) WSN transceiver. Low power consumption is realized by a bond-wire voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and a multi-stage power-scaling prescaler. Instead of conventional diode-based electro-static discharge (ESD) protection, resistor-based ESD protection is proposed for the bond-wire VCO to decrease the parasitic capacitance so that the automatic frequency calibration (AFC) range is enlarged by 50%. In addition, a dynamic-bandwidth scheme is proposed to meet the requirements of time-division half-duplex WSN systems. The chip is implemented with HJTC 0.18 µm CMOS technology. Measured results show that the PLL consumes 10.6 mW and settles within 18 µs including the AFC process; the phase noise is −91.9 dBc/Hz@10 kHz and −119.3 dBc/Hz@1 MHz under the receiving (Rx) state, and −95.2 dBc/Hz@10 kHz and −116.8 dBc/Hz@1 MHz under the transmitting (Tx) state.
Mx-rMx, a Family of Interacting Transposons in the Growing hAT Superfamily of Maizew⃞

More than half a century after the discovery of transposable elements, the number of genetically defined autonomous elements that have been isolated and characterized molecularly in any one species remains surprisingly small. Because of its rich genetic history, maize (Zea mays) is, by far, the plant with the largest number of such elements. Yet, even in maize, a maximum of only two autonomous elements have been characterized in any transposon superfamily. This article describes the isolation and molecular and genetic characterization of Mx (for mobile element induced by x-rays), a third autonomous member of the hAT transposon superfamily in maize. Mx is 3731 bp long, ends in 13-bp terminal inverted repeats (TIRs), and causes an 8-bp duplication of the target site. Mx and rMx (for responder to Mx), its 571-bp nonautonomous partner, define a classical family of interacting transposable elements. Surprisingly, the TIRs of Mx and rMx are only 73% identical, and the subterminal sequences are even less so, suggesting that Mx and rMx may represent diverging transposable elements still capable of mobilization by the same transposase. Sequences that are closer to the ends of either Mx or rMx are present in the maize genome. Mx is predicted to encode a 674–amino acid protein that is homologous to the Ac transposase. Although Mx and Ac are closely related, they do not interact. Other data suggest that maize may possess at least five families of hAT transposons that do not interact with each other. The possible origin of noninteracting transposon families within the same superfamily is discussed.
Entropy based approximate querying and exploration of datacubes

Much research has been devoted to the efficient computation of relational aggregations and specifically the efficient execution of the datacube operation. We consider the inverse problem, that of deriving (approximately) the original data from the aggregates. We motivate this problem in the context of two specific application areas, that of approximate query answering and data analysis. We propose a framework based on the notion of information entropy that enables us to estimate the original values in a data set, given only aggregated information about it. We also describe an alternate utility of the proposed framework, that enables us to identify values that deviate from the underlying data distribution, suitable for data mining purposes. Finally, we present a detailed performance study of the algorithms using both real and synthetic data, highlighting the benefits of our approach as well as the efficiency of the proposed solutions.
Human S100A9 Protein Is Stabilized by Inflammatory Stimuli via the Formation of Proteolytically-Resistant Homodimers

S100A8 and S100A9 are Ca2+-binding proteins that are associated with acute and chronic inflammation and cancer. They form predominantly heterodimers even if there are data supporting homodimer formation. We investigated the stability of the heterodimer in myeloid and S100A8/S100A9 over-expressing COS cells. In both cases, S100A8 and S100A9 proteins were not completely degraded even 48 hrs after blocking protein synthesis. In contrast, in single transfected cells, S100A8 protein was completely degraded after 24 h, while S100A9 was completely unstable. However, S100A9 protein expression was rescued upon S100A8 co-expression or inhibition of proteasomal activity. Furthermore, S100A9, but not S100A8, could be stabilized by LPS, IL-1β and TNFα treatment. Interestingly, stimulation of S100A9-transfected COS cells with proteasomal inhibitor or IL-1β lead to the formation of protease resistant S100A9 homodimers. In summary, our data indicated that S100A9 protein is extremely unstable but can be rescued upon co-expression with S100A8 protein or inflammatory stimuli, via proteolytically resistant homodimer formation. The formation of S100A9 homodimers by this mechanism may constitute an amplification step during an inflammatory reaction.
FORSAT: a 3D forest monitoring system for cover mapping and volumetric 3D change detection

ABSTRACT A 3D forest monitoring system, called FORSAT (a satellite very high resolution image processing platform for forest assessment), was developed for the extraction of 3D geometric forest information from very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery and the automatic 3D change detection. FORSAT is composed of two complementary tasks: (1) the geometric and radiometric processing of satellite optical imagery and digital surface model (DSM) reconstruction by using a precise and robust image matching approach specially designed for VHR satellite imagery, (2) 3D surface comparison for change detection. It allows the users to import DSMs, align them using an advanced 3D surface matching approach and calculate the 3D differences and volume changes (together with precision values) between epochs. FORSAT is a single source and flexible forest information solution, allowing expert and non-expert remote sensing users to monitor forests in three and four (time) dimensions. The geometric resolution and thematic content of VHR optical imagery are sufficient for many forest information needs such as deforestation, clear-cut and fire severity mapping. The capacity and benefits of FORSAT, as a forest information system contributing to the sustainable forest management, have been tested and validated in case studies located in Austria, Switzerland and Spain.
Street Viewer: An Autonomous Vision Based Traffic Tracking System

The development of intelligent transportation systems requires the availability of both accurate traffic information in real time and a cost-effective solution. In this paper, we describe Street Viewer, a system capable of analyzing the traffic behavior in different scenarios from images taken with an off-the-shelf optical camera. Street Viewer operates in real time on embedded hardware architectures with limited computational resources. The system features a pipelined architecture that, on one side, allows one to exploit multi-threading intensively and, on the other side, allows one to improve the overall accuracy and robustness of the system, since each layer is aimed at refining for the following layers the information it receives as input. Another relevant feature of our approach is that it is self-adaptive. During an initial setup, the application runs in learning mode to build a model of the flow patterns in the observed area. Once the model is stable, the system switches to the on-line mode where the flow model is used to count vehicles traveling on each lane and to produce a traffic information summary. If changes in the flow model are detected, the system switches back autonomously to the learning mode. The accuracy and the robustness of the system are analyzed in the paper through experimental results obtained on several different scenarios and running the system for long periods of time.
The “Horse” Inside: Seeking Causes Behind the Behaviors of Music Content Analysis Systems

Building systems that possess the sensitivity and intelligence to identify and describe high-level attributes in music audio signals continues to be an elusive goal but one that surely has broad and deep implications for a wide variety of applications. Hundreds of articles have so far been published toward this goal, and great progress appears to have been made. Some systems produce remarkable accuracies at recognizing high-level semantic concepts, such as music style, genre, and mood. However, it might be that these numbers do not mean what they seem. In this article, we take a state-of-the-art music content analysis system and investigate what causes it to achieve exceptionally high performance in a benchmark music audio dataset. We dissect the system to understand its operation, determine its sensitivities and limitations, and predict the kinds of knowledge it could and could not possess about music. We perform a series of experiments to illuminate what the system has actually learned to do and to what extent it is performing the intended music listening task. Our results demonstrate how the initial manifestation of music intelligence in this state of the art can be deceptive. Our work provides constructive directions toward developing music content analysis systems that can address the music information and creation needs of real-world users.
Changes in growth, leaf abscission, and biomass associated with seasonal tropospheric ozone exposures of Populus tremuloides clones and seedlings

The effects of single-season tropospheric ozone (O3) exposures on growth, leaf abscission, and biomass of trembling aspen (Populustremuloides Michx.) rooted cuttings and seedlings were studied. Plants were grown in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in open-top chambers with O3 exposures that ranged from 7 to 92 ppm-h. Depending on the genotype, total seasonal O3 exposure in the range of 50–92 ppm-h had negative impacts on stem, retained leaf, and root biomass accumulation and on diameter growth. Leaf abscission generally increased with increasing O3 exposure and was the principal cause of the decrease in leaf biomass of the O3-treated plants. Considerable genetic variation in O3 responses occurred, as shown by differences in sensitivities among clones and among seedlings. However, the responses to O3 of rooted cuttings and seedlings were similar when seedling means were compared with clonal means for leaf abscission, diameter growth, retained leaf biomass, and root biomass. Comparison of a single square-wav.
GipsyGene: A Statistics-Based Gene Recognizer for Fungal Genomes

We developed a program GipsyGene for gene recognition in DNA of lower fungi. It is based on a Hidden Markov Model with duration states [1]. The program identifies genes on both DNA strands in one pass; at that, the DNA fragment may contain several genes, partial genes, or no genes at all. The program can be easily re-trained for new genomes. We developed a new statistical model of the branch point that considerable improved recognition of exon 5′ termini. The program was tested on genes of Aspergillus spp. and Neurospora crassa, and the reliability was shown to be comparable to that of GenScan on single gene human fragments. In addition, we report the results of testing on multigene fragments. The program is available upon request (neva_2000@mail.ru).
Design considerations for distributed caching on the Internet

We describe the design and implementation of an integrated architecture for cache systems that scale to hundreds or thousands of caches with thousands to millions of users. Rather than simply try to maximize hit rates, we take an end-to-end approach to improving response time by also considering hit times and miss times. We begin by studying several Internet caches and workloads, and we derive three core design principles for large scale distributed caches: minimize the number of hops to locate and access data on both hits and misses; share data among many users and scale to many caches; and cache data close to clients. Our strategies for addressing these issues are built around a scalable, high-performance data-location service that tracks where objects are replicated. We describe how to construct such a service and how to use this service to provide direct access to remote data and push-based data replication. We evaluate our system through trace-driven simulation and find that these strategies together provide response time speedups of 1.27 to 2.43 compared to a traditional three-level cache hierarchy for a range of trace workloads and simulated environments.
Aerobic Capacity, Physical Activity and Metabolic Risk Factors in Firefighters Compared with Police Officers and Sedentary Clerks

Background This study examined the association between the physical work environment and physiological performance measures, physical activity levels and metabolic parameters among German civil servants. A main focus in this study was to examine the group differences rather than measuring the absolute values in an occupational group. Methods We prospectively examined 198 male German civil servants (97 firefighters [FFs], 55 police officers [POs] and 46 sedentary clerks [SCs]). For each parameter, the groups were compared using a linear regression adjusted for age. Results The 97 FFs showed a similar maximal aerobic power (VO2max l/min) of 3.17±0.44 l/min compared with the POs, who had a maximal aerobic power of 3.13±0.62 l/min (estimated difference, POs vs. FFs: 0.05, CI: -0.12-0.23, p=0.553). The maximal aerobic power of the FFs was slightly higher than that of the SCs, who had a maximal aerobic power of 2.85±0.52 l/min (-0.21, CI: -0.39-0.04, p=0.018 vs. FFs). The average physical activity (in metabolic equivalents [METS]/week) of the FFs was 3818.8±2843.5, whereas those of the POs and SCs were 2838.2±2871.9 (-808.2, CI: 1757.6-141.2, p=0.095) and 2212.2±2292.8 (vs. FFs: -1417.1, CI: -2302-531.88, p=0.002; vs. POs: -2974.4, CI: -1611.2-393.5, p=0.232), respectively. For the FFs, the average body fat percentage was 17.7%±6.2, whereas it was 21.4%±5.6 for the POs (vs. FFs: 2.75, CI: 0.92-4.59, p=0.004) and 20.8%±6.5 for the SCs (vs. FFs: 1.98, CI: -0.28-4.25, p=0.086; vs. POs: -0.77, CI: 3.15-1.61, p=0.523). The average waist circumference was 89.8 cm±10.0 for the FFs, 97.8 cm±12.4 (5.63, CI: 2.10-9.15, p=0.002) for the POs, and 97.3±11.7 (vs. FFs: -4.89, CI: 1.24-8.55, p=0.009; vs. POs: -0.73, CI: -5.21-3.74, p=0.747) for the SCs. Conclusions The FFs showed significantly higher physical activity levels compared with the SCs. The PO group had the highest cardiovascular risk of all of the groups because it included more participants with metabolic syndrome; furthermore, the POs had an average of 2.75% higher body fat, lower HDL cholesterol values and higher waist circumferences compared with the FFs and higher LDL cholesterol values compared with the SCs. Our data indicate that sedentary occupations appear to be linked to obesity and metabolic syndrome in middle-aged men.
Effect of Vowel Context on the Recognition of Initial Consonants in Kannada

Background and Objectives The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of vowel context on the recognition of Kannada consonants in quiet for young adults. Subjects and Methods A total of 17 young adults with normal hearing in both ears participated in the study. The stimuli included consonant-vowel syllables, spoken by 12 native speakers of Kannada. Consonant recognition task was carried out as a closed-set (fourteen-alternative forced-choice). Results The present study showed an effect of vowel context on the perception of consonants. Maximum consonant recognition score was obtained in the /o/ vowel context, followed by the /a/ and /u/ vowel contexts, and then the /e/ context. Poorest consonant recognition score was obtained in the vowel context /i/. Conclusions Vowel context has an effect on the recognition of Kannada consonants, and the vowel effect was unique for Kannada consonants.
Direct and Indirect Shadow Price and Cost Estimates of Nitrogen Pollution Abatement

The implications of treating environmental pollution as an undesirable output (weak disposability) as well as a normal input (strong disposability) on the direct and indirect shadow price and cost estimates of nitrogen pollution abatement is analyzed using Nebraska agriculture sector data. The shadow price of nitrogen pollution abatement treated as an undesirable output represents the reduced revenue from reducing nitrogen pollution. In contrast, the shadow price of nitrogen pollution abatement treated as an input reflects the increased cost of reducing nitrogen pollution. For the 1936-97 period, the estimated shadow price and cost of nitrogen pollution abatement for Nebraska ranges from $0.91 to $2.21 per pound and from $300 to $729 million respectively.
High-resolution Radon preconditioning for full-waveform inversion of land seismic data

AbstractOver the past decade, acoustic full-waveform inversion (FWI) has become one of the standard methods in the industry to construct high-resolution velocity fields from the seismic data acquired. While most of the successful applications are for marine acquisition data with rich low-frequency diving or postcritical waves at large offsets, the application of acoustic FWI on land data remains a challenging topic. Land acoustic FWI application faces many severe difficulties, such as the presence of strong elastic effects, large near-surface velocity contrast, and heterogeneous, topography variations, etc. In addition, it is well-known that low-frequency transmitted seismic energy is crucial for the success of FWI to overcome sensitivity to starting velocity fields; unfortunately, those are the parts of the data that suffer the most from a low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) in land acquisition. We have developed an acoustic FWI application on a land data set from North Kuwait, and demonstrated our solutions.
Detection and sequence analysis of the major immediate early and PP150 gene of latent human cytomegalovirus in spleen, liver, and kidney tissues of trauma victims

The presence of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) DNA in liver, spleen, and kidney samples of HCMV‐seropositive trauma victims during latency was demonstrated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using primers reactive with the major immediate early gene exon 4 and the structural gene pp150. Sequence analysis of the PCR amplificates showed more than 95% homology with the reference HCMV strain AD169. The few mutations observed were mostly distributed randomly. In one subject two types of the MIE‐4 gene were detected, and in another subject two types of the pp150 gene were found, suggesting that different strains of HCMV can be found in organs of the same patient during latency. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.