Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overexpression of Rice NAC Gene SNAC1 Improves Drought and Salt Tolerance by Enhancing Root Development and Reducing Transpiration Rate in Transgenic Cotton

The SNAC1 gene belongs to the stress-related NAC superfamily of transcription factors. It was identified from rice and overexpressed in cotton cultivar YZ1 by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. SNAC1-overexpressing cotton plants showed more vigorous growth, especially in terms of root development, than the wild-type plants in the presence of 250 mM NaCl under hydroponic growth conditions. The content of proline was enhanced but the MDA content was decreased in the transgenic cotton seedlings under drought and salt treatments compared to the wild-type. Furthermore, SNAC1-overexpressing cotton plants also displayed significantly improved tolerance to both drought and salt stresses in the greenhouse. The performances of the SNAC1-overexpressing lines under drought and salt stress were significantly better than those of the wild-type in terms of the boll number. During the drought and salt treatments, the transpiration rate of transgenic plants significantly decreased in comparison to the wild-type, but the photosynthesis rate maintained the same at the flowering stage in the transgenic plants. These results suggested that overexpression of SNAC1 improve more tolerance to drought and salt in cotton through enhanced root development and reduced transpiration rates.
Query Rewriting and Optimization for Ontological Databases

Ontological queries are evaluated against a knowledge base consisting of an extensional database and an ontology (i.e., a set of logical assertions and constraints that derive new intensional knowledge from the extensional database), rather than directly on the extensional database. The evaluation and optimization of such queries is an intriguing new problem for database research. In this article, we discuss two important aspects of this problem: query rewriting and query optimization. Query rewriting consists of the compilation of an ontological query into an equivalent first-order query against the underlying extensional database. We present a novel query rewriting algorithm for rather general types of ontological constraints that is well suited for practical implementations. In particular, we show how a conjunctive query against a knowledge base, expressed using linear and sticky existential rules, that is, members of the recently introduced Datalog± family of ontology languages, can be compiled into a union of conjunctive queries (UCQ) against the underlying database. Ontological query optimization, in this context, attempts to improve this rewriting process soas to produce possibly small and cost-effective UCQ rewritings for an input query.
Ethnic Tourism Advertisements: The Power Dynamic and its Effect on Cultural Representation in the ‘Kingdom of Daughters’

This thesis explores ethnic tourism concepts of authenticity and cultural commodification using tourism advertisements aimed at the Mosuo ethnic group in China. One of the preliminary steps in attracting tourists to visit a tourist destination is advertising. Since advertisements are integral to the ethnic tourism process, consequently, one must question how cultural producers represent Mosuo culture to prospective customers? What images and language patterns do advertisers commonly use to portray the Mosuo? By examining previously published works, studying sociological and anthropological concepts, and incorporating previous fieldwork, this thesis explores how a Chinese ethnic group is advertised and how this affects their society. A substantial amount of anthropological work has focused on the Mosuo’s matrilineal kinship system, pairing system, and tourism culture. However, there has yet to be an in depth socio-anthropological analysis of Chinese media images of the Mosuo and its influence on local ethnic identity. This research is considered a case study and adds to the work of other ethnic tourism scholars conducting content analysis on advertising’s role in constructing perceptions of ethnicity, culture, sexuality, and authenticity. Though the sample is small, the results suggest that certain language is closely associated with Mosuo media portrayal and that imaged locals and Lugu Lake are often utilized as a sexualized commodity.
Complexity and heuristics for wireless broadcast with noncumulative layered data

Layer transmission generates multiple layers for a video program, enabling a receiver to selectively subscribe to the layers commensurate with its bandwidth. It is an effective solution to the problem of bandwidth heterogeneity in video broadcasting. However, two important issues remain to be addressed. First, how does a receiver select the subset of layers to achieve the highest bandwidth utilization? Second, how does the sender optimally allocate the layer bandwidth to match the diverse bandwidth requirements from the receivers? We formally investigate these problems in noncumulative layered broadcasting, where any subset of the layers can be used to reconstruct the video. We formulate both the optimal layer subscription problem for a receiver and the optimal layer bandwidth allocation problem for the sender. We show that the former has an effective solution, while the latter is computationally intractable. Three efficient heuristic algorithms are then proposed for the allocation problem, and simulation results show that all of them significantly outperform nonadaptive allocation algorithms.
Emotions Drive Attention

In a 3 phrase research study to determine the stimuli that drives fear, Psychologists Arne Öhman, Ph.D., Anders Flykt, Ph.D. and Francisco Esteves, Ph.D., observed 3 of the control groups reaction to distinct fear driven images of reptiles, animals, faces and insects. Also, they kept data on the stimuli that had no relationship to fear such as flowers or vegetables. (Ohman et al, 2001) What the researchers discovered was that our cognitive abilities, phobias, and memory retrieved information very quickly and produced a significant reactions from the subjects. (Ohman et al, 2001) Hypervigilence, memory recall, emotional intelligence, and Gestalt Law gave inference as to how the subjects were able to interpret what they saw and give rise to reaction. The results were consistent and the researchers found that the subjects automatically and unconsciously searched for the one most feared images first; insects and snakes. However, they simultaneously looked for the distractors which were the more pleasant images of flowers and mushrooms. This affirmed the researchers’ hypothesis that phobias and the paranoia that is instilled in people regarding perceived threats. (Ohman et al, 2001; Ryan, 2011, p.61-79) It is retained in our memory and retrieved automatically to cause a reaction as a defense mechanism called “feature detection. �? (Ryan, 2011, p.67)
On the Local Times and Boundary Properties of Reected Diusions with Jumps in the Positive Orthant

In this paper we study boundary properties of reected diusions with positive and negative jumps, constrained to lie in the positive orthant of R n . We consider a model with oblique reections and characterize the reg- ulator processes in terms of semi-martingale local times at the boundary or reection faces of R n. In particular, we show that under mild boundary con- ditions on the diusion coecien ts, and under a completely-S structure for the reection matrix with an additional invertibility requirement, the regulator pro- cesses do not charge the set of times spent by the process at the intersection of two or more boundary faces. Other supporting results are also provided, as for example the fact that the law in R n of the process at time t does not charge boundary faces for Lebesgue-a.e. t. The case of hyper-rectangular state spaces contained in the positive orthant is also considered.
Eurocae WG-67 standards for voice-over-IP in ATM for advanced NEXTGEN conops

EUROCAE working group (WG) 67 was founded over six years ago. Following the path to a converged telecommunications network carrying IP-only traffic for data as well as voice communications emerged the reality of an international standard for Voice over IP for the ATC environment. The EUROCAE WG-67 born in a coordinated effort among RTCA and EUROCAE mastered its first milestone in 2004 in the Vienna agreement, where international ANSPs, under the auspices of FAA and Eurocontrol agreed on a first set of terminologies and interface control document to be generated. In 2009 the standards for radio communications, ground-ground communications among ATC centers, as well as requirements for the underlying telecommunications infrastructure have been agreed upon by Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) in Europe, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and industry and were issued as a series of ED recommendation documents ED 136 to ED 139. Starting in 2008 interoperability tests as well as international field trials were performed and substantiated the maturity and validity of the standards. The paper addresses the applicability of the WG-67 standards to the National Air Space (NAS). It further addresses the impact on the next generation ATC programs NEXTGEN and SESAR, the potential for cost savings, and implementation of advanced NEXTGEN concept of operations such as Dynamic Resectorization. Finally an outlook is given at the roadmap for the WG-67 VoIP standards to be adopted by ICAO.
Effect of sugammadex or neostigmine neuromuscular block reversal on bispectral index monitoring of propofol/remifentanil anaesthesia.

BACKGROUND Sugammadex is a modified γ-cyclodextrin with a novel mechanism of action for reversing the steroidal neuromuscular blocking agent rocuronium. Bispectral index (BIS) is an EEG-derived measure which can be sensitive to frontal electromyographic (EMG) artifacts. We compared BIS values before and after sugammadex or neostigmine neuromuscular block (NMB) reversal in patients with or without high EMG activity. METHODS During stable propofol/remifentanil anaesthesia and rocuronium-induced block, 48 patients were randomly allocated to receive sugammadex 4 mg kg(-1) or neostigmine 50 μg kg(-1)/glycopyrrolate 10 μg kg(-1), 10 min after the end of surgery. RESULTS Five minutes after sugammadex administration, mean BIS 50.1 (10.3) increased (P=0.018) to 61.7 (7.9) in 11 patients with high EMG activity. In contrast, BIS 49.3 (4.9) remained at 51.9 (5.4) in 13 patients who had no EMG activity. Fifteen minutes after neostigmine administration, mean BIS 51.9 (8.1) increased (P=0.007) to 63.9 (8.1) in 13 patients who had reappearance of muscle activity. However, in 11 patients who had no EMG activity, BIS 52.3 (7.4) remained at 53.3 (6.8). There was no significant difference between the sugammadex and neostigmine groups over time. CONCLUSIONS We have shown that reversal of NMB with sugammadex or neostigmine increased BIS values dependent on the presence of EMG activity. Thus, the effect of muscle activity reappearance during rocuronium NMB reversal spuriously increasing the BIS value should be taken into consideration when relying on BIS monitoring for evaluating propofol/remifentanil recovery.
CS 267 Class Project : Parallel Low-Level Code Generation from High-Level Sparse Matrix Codes

Sparse matrix formats implemented in a low-level imperative language can be hard to code, debug and understand. Furthermore, it is impractical to verify such implementations. Conversion into sparse formats and multiplication of matrices can be thought of as a sequence of data layout transformations. We present translation into low-level code of a high-level functional language that is restricted enough to be amenable to verification and efficient compilation, yet expressive enough to capture the dataflow of format conversion and matrix-vector multiplication. Our generated sequential code for SpMV in CSR format has 1.1× median slowdown compared to a hand-written reference code, and the automatically generated parallel code, which uses OpenMP, provides up to 1.78× speedup on 2 cores and up to 2.43× speedup on 4 cores.
Fuzzy position based routing in clustered wireless sensor network for smart environment

Clustering is a good method to increase WSN lifetime and particularly for smart environment. In this paper, we present fuzzy position based routing for clustered sensor network. It is very useful for the smart environment applications of wireless sensor network without GPS support. The destinations could be located with ambiguous position vectors, and the long time and energy consumption of requesting/replying for node ID in traditional routing of sensor-actor network is avoided. The results of simulation using SHAWN show that in the fuzzy position based routing, if the destination range is more precise, the average delay and energy consumption are more reduced.
On the recognition of human hand touch from robotic skin pressure measurements using convolutional neural networks

This paper presents a novel approach for recognizing a human hand touch by processing pressure measurements generated by a robotic skin. Physical cooperation among humans is mainly based on the sense of touch and usually starts with hand contacts. If a robot can distinguish a human touch from a generic contact, the human-robot cooperation can be more natural and effective. The proposed approach consists in transforming the sensor pressure measurements distributed on the robot surface into a convenient 2D representation of the contact shape, i.e., a contact image. The image-based representation of contacts allows facing the problem of human touch classification by applying machine learning methods already developed for image classification. The experiments have been performed using a robotic skin, composed of 768 tactile elements, placed on a Baxter robot forearm. The contact classification has been performed using a Convolutional Neural Network obtaining an accuracy higher than 97% experimentally validating the proposed approach.
Identification of BMS-200475 as a potent and selective inhibitor of hepatitis B virus

BMS-200475 is a novel carbocyclic 2'-deoxyguanosine analog found to possess potent and selective anti-hepatitis B virus (anti-HBV) activity. BMS-200475 is distinguished from guanosine by replacement of the natural furanose oxygen on the sugar moiety with an exo carbon-carbon double bond. In the HepG2 stably transfected cell line 2.2. 15, BMS-200475 had a 50% effective concentration (EC50) of 3.75 nM against HBV, as determined by analysis of secreted HBV DNA. Structurally related compounds with adenine, iodouracil, or thymine base substitutions were significantly less potent or were inactive. Direct comparison of the antiviral activities of BMS-200475 with those of a variety of other nucleoside analogs, including lamivudine (EC50 = 116.26 nM), demonstrated the clearly superior in vitro potency of BMS-200475 in 2.2. 15 cells. Intracellular HBV replicative intermediates were uniformly reduced when cells were treated with BMS-200475, but rebounded after treatment was terminated. The concentration of BMS-200475 causing 50% cytotoxicity in 2.2. 15 cell cultures was 30 microM, approximately 8,000-fold greater than the concentration required to inhibit HBV replication in the same cell line. Treatment with BMS-200475 resulted in no apparent inhibitory effects on mitochondrial DNA content.
Marginal bone and soft tissue behavior following platform switching abutment connection/disconnection--a dog model study.

OBJECTIVE The effect on the marginal peri-implant tissues following repeated platform switching abutment removal and subsequent reconnection was studied. MATERIAL AND METHODS Six adult female Beagle dogs were selected, and Pm3 and Pm4 teeth, both left and right sides, were extracted and the sites healed for 3 months. At this time, 24 bone level (BL) (Straumann, Basel, Switzerland) Ø 3.3/8 mm implants were placed, 2 in each side on Pm3 and Pm4 regions. In one side (control group), 12 bone level conical Ø 3.6 mm healing abutments and, on the other side (test group), 12 Narrow CrossFit (NC) multibase abutments (Straumann) , Basel, Switzerland) were connected at time of implant surgery. On test group, all prosthetic procedures were carried out direct to multibase abutment without disconnecting it, where in the control group, the multibase abutment was connected/disconnected five times (at 6/8/10/12/14 weeks) during prosthetic procedures. Twelve fixed metal bridges were delivered 14 weeks after implant placement. A cleaning/control appointment was scheduled 6 months after implant placement. The animals were sacrificed at 9 months of the study. Clinical parameters and peri-apical x-rays were registered in every visit. Histomorphometric analysis was carried out for the 24 implants. The distance from multibase abutment shoulder to the first bone implant contact (S-BIC) was defined as the primary histomorphometric parameter. RESULTS Wilcoxon comparison paired test (n = 6) found no statistically significant differences (buccal P = 0.917; Lingual P = 0.463) between test and control groups both lingually and buccally for S-BIC distance. Only Pm3 buccal aBE-BC (distance from the apical end of the barrier epithelium to the first bone implant contact) (P = 0.046) parameter presented statistically significant differences between test and control groups. Control group presented 0.57 mm more recession than test group, being this difference statistically significant between the two groups (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION It can be conclude, within the limits of this animal study, that the connection/disconnection of platform switching abutments during prosthetic phase of implant treatment does not induce bone marginal absorption. Furthermore, it may present a negative influence in the buccal connective tissue attachment that becomes shorter anyway preventing marginal hard tissue resorption, especially in thin biotypes.
American and Japanese Expatriate Adjustment: A Psychoanalytic Perspective

Although there is a growing literature regarding expatriate adjustment, little attention has been paid to the influence of personality development, particularly within different sociocultural contexts. A psychoanalytic perspective may provide important insights into expatriate adjustment and reasons why, for example, Japanese and American expatriates differ in their adjustment response.
Cumulative survival rate of Astra Tech implants: a retrospective analysis

Purpose The aim of this study was to analyze the short-term predictability and reliability of Astra Tech implants according to the demographical distribution of patients and condition of implant sites and location of implants. Methods Among patients treated with Astra Tech implant (Astra Tech AB) in the Department of Periodontology at the Dental Hospital of Yonsei University of College of Dentisry and K Dental Clinic from May 2004 to March 2009, 195 implants in 98 patients which had been restored more than 6 months ago were reviewed in this study. Following data were reviewed from patient charts and implants success rate was examined: 1) patient type and implant location, 2) bone status at the implant site, 3) diameter and length of the placed implants, 4) presence or absence of bone augmentation and types of the augmentation. Results The results from this study are as follows: 1) most implants were placed in the molar area, especially 1st molar area of maxilla, 2) most implants were placed at D2 and D3 bone type, 3) most implants were placed in areas of B and C bone quantity, 4) autogenous and alloplastic bone graft and artificial membrane were used for placement of 74 implants. Conclusions Short-term survival rate of Astra Tech implants was 100%.
High-Gain Mobile Satellite Antennas

This paper outlines the state-of-art of High-Gain Mobile Satellite Antennas (MSA) and describes their designs, benefits and specific impacts in Mobile Satellite Communications (MSC). In many respects the MSA infrastructures currently available for MSC constitute the weakest links of the system. If the mobile antenna has a high gain, it has to track the satellite, following both mobiles and satellite orbital motions. Namely, sometimes this is difficult and expensive to synchronize. Therefore, if the vehicular antenna has low gain, it does not need to perform tracking but the capacity of the communications link is limited. In general, according to the transmission direction, there are three types of MSA: 1) transmitting and receiving or so-called transceiving, as a part of all types of Mobile Earth Station (MES); 2) only receiving is part of the special Inmarsat EGC receiver and 3) only transmitting is built in satellite beacon antennas for maritime, land and aeronautical applications. On the other hand, all MSA are classified into omnidirectional and directional tracking antennas. The Inmarsat, Eutelsat, ESA, Cospas-Sarsat, Iridium, Globalstar, ICO, Orbcomm, ACeS, Thuraya, Insat and other GEO and Non-GEO current and forthcoming mobile satellite operators have conducted research on all network segments, including different types of MSA and their future development and improvements. The Engineering Test Satellite-V (ETS/V) experiments conducted in Japan for the transmission of voice, video and different data rate digital communications between ships, land vehicles and aircraft were successful. Moreover, a test of low-speed data transmission by using briefcase-size transportable equipment, onto which two small printed antennas were mounted, was among the experiments.
Chronic Dietary Exposure to a Low-Dose Mixture of Genistein and Vinclozolin Modifies the Reproductive Axis, Testis Transcriptome, and Fertility

Background The reproductive consequences and mechanisms of action of chronic exposure to low-dose endocrine disruptors are poorly understood. Objective We assessed the effects of a continuous, low-dose exposure to a phytoestrogen (genistein) and/or an antiandrogenic food contaminant (vinclozolin) on the male reproductive tract and fertility. Methods Male rats were exposed by gavage to genistein and vinclozolin from conception to adulthood, alone or in combination, at low doses (1 mg/kg/day) or higher doses (10 and 30 mg/kg/day). We studied a number of standard reproductive toxicology end points and also assessed testicular mRNA expression profiles using long-oligonucleotide microarrays. Results The low-dose mixture and high-dose vinclozolin produced the most significant alterations in adults: decreased sperm counts, reduced sperm motion parameters, decreased litter sizes, and increased post implantation loss. Testicular mRNA expression profiles for these exposure conditions were strongly correlated. Functional clustering indicated that many of the genes induced belong to the “neuroactive ligand-receptor interactions” family encompassing several hormonally related actors (e.g., follicle-stimulating hormone and its receptor). All exposure conditions decreased the levels of mRNAs involved in ribosome function, indicating probable decreased protein production. Conclusions Our study shows that chronic exposure to a mixture of a dose of a phytoestrogen equivalent to that in the human diet and a low dose—albeit not environmental—of a common anti-androgenic food contaminant may seriously affect the male reproductive tract and fertility.