Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Photoperiod regulate gonad development via kisspeptin/kissr in hypothalamus and saccus vasculosus of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Atlantic salmon exhibit seasonal reproduction. However, the mechanisms governing this are still unclear. Generally speaking, kisspeptin has been recognized as a regulator of reproduction. Here, we report a relationship between kisspeptin, GnRH and photoperiod in Atlantic salmon. The results demonstrated that the expression of the Atlantic salmon kisspeptin-receptor (skissr) was not always consistent with the expression pattern of Atlantic salmon GnRH3 (sGnRH3) during all developmental processes. Kisspeptin may exert its influence primarily in the early and later stages of gonad development by promoting the secretion of sGnRH3. Meanwhile, the expression levels of kissr were higher in fish with gonads at stage II and stage V under the long-day photoperiod regime than under the short-day regime. In addition, both skissr and sGnRH3 were also expressed in the saccus vasculosus (SV), an organ only found in fish. The SV might be a seasonal sensor regulating reproduction in addition to the hypothalamus (Hyp).
Fast Speaker Normalization and Adaptation based on BIC for Meeting Speech Recognition

This paper presents a unified method for speech segmentation, speaker normalization of spectral features, and speaker adaptation of acoustic model for efficient meeting speech recognition. In the proposed method, input speech is segmented based on BIC (Bayesian Information Criterion), and compared against each speaker’s statistic in the training corpus of the acoustic model based on the BIC. Fast VTLN (Vocal Tract Length Normalization) and MLLR (Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression) adaptation are realized using a pre-estimated warping factor and MLLR transformation matrices of the best-matched speakers, respectively. Experimental evaluations in Parliamentary speech transcription demonstrated that the proposed method achieved comparable ASR accuracy to the standard ML estimation for both VTLN and MLLR adaptation, with significant reduction of processing time.
Neuropeptide S- and Neuropeptide S receptor-expressing neuron populations in the human pons

Neuropeptide S (NPS) is a regulatory peptide with potent pharmacological effects. In rodents, NPS is expressed in a few pontine cell clusters. Its receptor (NPSR1) is, however, widely distributed in the brain. The anxiolytic and arousal-promoting effects of NPS make the NPS–NPSR1 system an interesting potential drug target in mood-related disorders. However, so far possible disease-related mechanisms involving NPS have only been studied in rodents. To validate the relevance of these animal studies for i.a. drug development, we have explored the distribution of NPS-expressing neurons in the human pons using in situ hybridization and stereological methods and we compared the distribution of NPS mRNA expressing neurons in the human and rat brain. The calculation revealed a total number of 22,317 ± 2411 NPS mRNA-positive neurons in human, bilaterally. The majority of cells (84%) were located in the parabrachial area in human: in the extension of the medial and lateral parabrachial nuclei, in the Kölliker-Fuse nucleus and around the adjacent lateral lemniscus. In human, in sharp contrast to the rodents, only very few NPS-positive cells (5%) were found close to the locus coeruleus. In addition, we identified a smaller cell cluster (11% of all NPS cells) in the pontine central gray matter both in human and rat, which has not been described previously even in rodents. We also examined the distribution of NPSR1 mRNA-expressing neurons in the human pons. These cells were mainly located in the rostral laterodorsal tegmental nucleus, the cuneiform nucleus, the microcellular tegmental nucleus region and in the periaqueductal gray. Our results show that both NPS and NPSR1 in the human pons are preferentially localized in regions of importance for integration of visceral autonomic information and emotional behavior. The reported interspecies differences must, however, be considered when looking for targets for new pharmacotherapeutical interventions.
Enhancement of ovulation rate in gilts by increasing dietary energy and administering insulin during follicular growth.

Two experiments were conducted to examine influences of dietary energy and insulin on ovulation rate and patterns of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), glucose, insulin and estradiol in gilts during 6 d before estrus. In Exp. 1, 36 gilts were given altrenogest for 14 d to synchronize estrus. In a factorial arrangement, gilts were fed one of two levels of dietary energy (5,771 or 9,960 kcal metabolizable energy (ME)/d), and given one of two levels of porcine insulin (0 or .1 IU/kg body weight iv every 6 h). Dietary treatments began 4 d before and insulin treatments began 1 d after the last day of altrenogest, respectively, and lasted until 24 h after estrus. Main effect means for number of corpora lutea were 14.0 +/- 1.3 and 17.6 +/- . 9 for 5,771 and 9,960 kcal ME (P less than .05), and 14.6 +/- 1.0 and 17.0 +/- . 9 for 0 and . 1 IU insulin (P less than .05). Number of LH peaks on d 3 was greater for gilts that received 9,960 kcal than 5,771 kcal (3.3 +/- .2 vs 2.7 +/- .2; P less than .05), and for . 1 than 0 IU insulin (3.2 +/- .2 vs 2.7 +/- .2; P less than .05). During the first 24 h of sampling, concentrations of LH and FSH were greater (P less than .05) in gilts receiving 9,960 kcal ME plus insulin than for other treatment combinations. Concentrations of estradiol were not affected by treatments. In Exp. 2, two formulations of insulin were evaluated for influence on ovulation rate. All gilts received altrenogest and 9,960 kcal ME/d as in Exp. 1. Then on the first day after altrenogest, seven gilts each received short-acting insulin (as in Exp. 1), long-acting insulin (zinc suspension, 1.0 IU/kg body weight every 18 to 24 h), or served as controls. Ovulation rates were increased (P less than .05) by both insulin preparations (15.6, control; 19.1, short-acting; 18.5, long-acting; SE = 1.2). Concentrations of LH tended to be greater after short-acting insulin, but differences were not significant (P = .13). We conclude that increases in ovulation rate produced by dietary energy and insulin are not necessarily accompanied by changes in gonadotropins or estradiol.
Getting the Message About Noise Across, Loud and Clear [Focus on Education]

Controlling the position of an actuator to within a single atom distance can be a daunting challenge. However, such demands are becoming routine in applications. Good mechanical design and sensor choice are important; however, it is critical to have a comprehensive understanding of the noise processes involved with the system. The sensor noise, input noise, and disturbances will ultimately define the resolution and performance. Being able to quantify noise sources and predict closed-loop resolution is a valuable skill that is sometimes overlooked in undergraduate control and mechatronics education.
The Relationship between Knowledge Management Practices ( KMP ) and Academic Performance : A Case Study in Universiti Teknologi MARA ( UiTM ) Terengganu

Knowledge management is one of the significant fields in the current organization in order to improve the performance. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between knowledge management practices and academic performance in public institution of higher learning. A questionnaire was used as the main instrument for the data collection. A total of 100 respondents answered the questionnaires which represent 54% of response rate. It was found that knowledge management practices namely knowledge generation, knowledge codification, knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization have positive and significant relationship with academic performance.
Firefly-inspired Heartbeat Synchronization in Overlay Networks

Heartbeat synchronization strives to have nodes in a distributed system generate periodic, local "heartbeat" events approximately at the same time. Many useful distributed protocols rely on the existence of such heartbeats for driving their cycle-based execution. Yet, solving the problem in environments where nodes are unreliable and messages are subject to delays and failures is non-trivial. We present a heartbeat synchronization protocol for overlay networks inspired by mathematical models of flash synchronization in certain species of fireflies. In our protocol, nodes send flash messages to their neighbors when a local heartbeat triggers. They adjust the phase of their next heartbeat based on incoming flash messages using an algorithm inspired by mathematical models of firefly synchronization. We report simulation results of the protocol in various realistic failure scenarios typical in overlay networks and show that synchronization emerges even when messages can have significant delay subject to large jitter.
Storage Capacity of Letter Recognition in Hopfield Networks

Associative memory is a dynamical system which has a number of stable states with a domain of attraction around them [1]. If the system starts at any state in the domain, it will converge to the locally stable state, which is called an attractor. In 1982, Hopfield [2] proposed a fully connected neural network model of associative memory in which patterns can be stored by distributed among neurons, and we can retrieve one of the previously presented patterns from an example which is similar to, or a noisy version of it.
A user's view of dataflow architectures

A personal perspective on new parallel environments and, specifically, on dataflow systems is given. The goal of the dataflow effort is to achieve general-purpose parallel computing without subjecting the user to the explicit partitioning of the problem or exposing the user to architectural inadequacies. One aspect is the development of a language that has parallel semantics implicitly built into it. The language, called Id, is layered. At its core is a single-assignment functional language supplemented by an outer layer that allows more general and efficient access to arrays. There are two characteristics of this language that make it desirable. The first is that it is determinate, that is, it guarantees the repeatability of results. The same program with the same input will always produce the same answer. The second is that the language design allows the compiler to find parallelism implicitly in the user's program. Another aspect of the dataflow research considered is the development of a shared-memory architecture that can scale to a large number of processors without degrading the performance of an individual processor. Research results dealing with the issue of resource management are briefly discussed. <<ETX>>
Bacterial nitrification in chloraminated water supplies

Nitrifying bacteria were detected in 64% of samples collected from five chloraminated water supplies in South Australia and in 20.7% of samples that contained more than 5.0 mg of monochloramine per liter. Laboratory experiments confirmed that nitrifying bacteria are relatively resistant to the disinfectant. Increased numbers of the bacteria were associated with accelerated decays of monochloramine within distribution systems. The combination of increased concentrations of oxidized nitrogen with decreased total chlorine residuals can be used as a rapid indicator of bacterial nitrification.
Design and Analysis of a Novel Multilevel Inverter Topology Suitable for Renewable Energy Sources Interfacing to AC Grid for High Power Applications

A novel topology for cascaded multilevel inverters which is suitable for renewable energy source interfacing to grid is proposed in this paper. The proposed topology significantly reduces the usage of number of dc voltage sources, switches, and power diodes as the number of output voltage levels increase. The world electrical energy consumption is rising and there is a steady increase of the demand on the power capacity, efficient production, distribution and utilization of electrical energy. The traditional power systems are changing, number of renewable energy sources such as wind turbines, photovoltaic generators, fuel cells, small hydro, wave generators, are being integrated into power systems at distribution level. The multilevel converters plays an essential part in the integration of the renewable energy sources. This paper reviews the application of multilevel converters in the integration of renewable energy sources. This new type of converters are suitable for high voltage and high power application due to their ability to synthesize waveforms with reduced harmonic distortion. Number of topologies have been introduced and widely studied ,amongst the CHB topology is the proper option from the point of view of modularity and simplicity of control. Main disadvantage of multilevel configuration is increase in number of power semiconductor switches and its complexity to design gate driver circuit individually, its cost and switching losses. Complexity of the system reduces reliability of the inverter. By reducing number of switches for the same levels of voltages these disadvantages can be reduced effectively This project presents a new technique for getting a synthesized multilevel output and also uses PWM control techniques for CHB topology, in this technique, the number of dc voltage sources, switches, and power diodes used for the dc to ac conversion is reduced. So this dc to ac conversion significantly reduces the initial cost. The modes of operation are outlined for 7-level inverter, as similar modes will be realized for higher levels. Simulations of seven level of the proposed inverter topology along with with experimental results are presented. MATLAB simulink environment is used to simulate the results.
Rapid on‐site evaluation for endoscopic ultrasound‐guided fine‐needle biopsy of the pancreas decreases the incidence of repeat biopsy procedures

Rapid on‐site evaluation (ROSE) for endoscopic ultrasound‐guided fine‐needle aspiration (EUS‐FNA) biopsy of the pancreas provides immediate feedback regarding cellular adequacy to aid in obtaining a definitive diagnosis and has the potential to avoid repeat procedures. The objective of the current study was to measure the impact of ROSE service on the incidence of repeat EUS FNA biopsy procedures.
Adverse Hemodynamic Effects of Interrupting Chest Compressions for Rescue Breathing During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for Ventricular Fibrillation Cardiac Arrest

Background—Despite improving arterial oxygen saturation and pH, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with chest compressions plus rescue breathing (CC+RB) has not improved survival from ventricular fibrillation (VF) compared with chest compressions alone (CC) in numerous animal models and 2 clinical investigations. Methods and Results—After 3 minutes of untreated VF, 14 swine (32±1 kg) were randomly assigned to receive CC+RB or CC for 12 minutes, followed by advanced cardiac life support. All 14 animals survived 24 hours, 13 with good neurological outcome. For the CC+RB group, the aortic relaxation pressures routinely decreased during the 2 rescue breaths. Therefore, the mean coronary perfusion pressure of the first 2 compressions in each compression cycle was lower than those of the final 2 compressions (14±1 versus 21±2 mm Hg, P <0.001). During each minute of CPR, the number of chest compressions was also lower in the CC+RB group (62±1 versus 92±1 compressions, P <0.001). Consequently, the integrated coronary perfusion pressure was lower with CC+RB during each minute of CPR (P <0.05 for the first 8 minutes). Moreover, at 2 to 5 minutes of CPR, the median left ventricular blood flow by fluorescent microsphere technique was 60 mL · 100 g−1 · min−1 with CC+RB versus 96 mL · 100 g−1 · min−1 with CC, P <0.05. Because the arterial oxygen saturation was higher with CC+RB, the left ventricular myocardial oxygen delivery did not differ. Conclusions—Interrupting chest compressions for rescue breathing can adversely affect hemodynamics during CPR for VF.
Factors affecting susceptibility and resistance to tuberculosis.

Influence of vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D receptor polymorphisms on tuberculosis among Gujarati Asians in west London: a case-control study R J Wilkinson, M Llewelyn, Z Toossi, P Patel, G Pasvol, A Lalvani, D Wright, M Latif, R N Davidson Background: Susceptibility to disease after infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is influenced by environmental and host genetic factors. Vitamin D metabolism leads to activation of macrophages and restricts the intracellular growth of M tuberculosis . This effect may be influenced by polymorphisms at three sites in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene. We investigated the interaction between serum vitamin D (25-hydroxycholecalciferol) concentrations and VDR genotype on susceptibility to tuberculosis. Methods: This study was a hospital-based case-control analysis of Asians of Gujarati origin, a mainly vegetarian immigrant population with a high rate of tuberculosis. We typed three VDR polymorphisms (defined by the presence of restriction endonuclease sites for Taq1, Bsm1, and Fok1) in 91 of 126 untreated patients with tuberculosis and 116 healthy contacts who had been sensitised to tuberculosis. Serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol was recorded in 42 contacts and 103 patients. Findings: 25-hydroxycholecalciferol deficiency was associated with active tuberculosis (odds ratio 2.9 [95% CI 1.3–6.5], p=0.008), and undetectable serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (<7 nmol/l) carried a higher risk of tuberculosis (9.9 [1.3–76.2], p=0.009). Although there was no significant independent association between VDR genotype and tuberculosis, the combination of genotype TT/Tt and 25-hydroxycholecalciferol deficiency was associated with disease (2.8 [1.2–6.5]) and the presence of genotype ff or undetectable serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol was strongly associated with disease (5.1 [1.4–18.4]). Interpretation: 25-hydroxycholecalciferol deficiency may contribute to the high occurrence of tuberculosis in this population. Polymorphisms in the VDR gene also contribute to susceptibility when considered in combination with 25-hydroxycholecalciferol deficiency. ( Lancet 2000;355:618–21) Tuberculosis is one of the principal infectious causes of disease and death worldwide, yet there are …
Enablers for Software-Defined Radios

The last few years have witnessed an emerging consensus that traditional methods of spectrum management are both technically and economically inefficient. In the United States, the FCC has responded to this through several changes in spectrum management, including the wellknown ultrawide-band program, and the “cognitive radio” initiative at the beginning of 2004. The background behind this initiative, and cognitive radio technology in general is given in [1]. Spectral occupancy measurements have demonstrated that many commercially licensed frequency bands at desirable frequencies are lightly occupied. For example, measurements by the NAF showed that less than 2% of the spectrum from 700–800 MHz, and less than 20% of the spectrum from 30 MHz to 1000 MHz, was regularly utilized in a typical urban area [2]. So, although this spectrum has been completely allocated, it is lightly used. Similar results have been demonstrated for frequencies above 1 GHz. These lightly used frequency bands represent a lost economic opportunity for new wireless services and industries, but an opportunity to create a wide range of new services if acceptable solutions can be found to widen the use of the spectrum. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, technologies need to developed that can utilize the spectrum “opportunistically,” without interfering with existing services and devices. The term “cognitive radio” was coined to describe a range of technologies that detect whether a particular segment of the radio spectrum is currently in use, and to jump into and out of the temporarilyunused spectrum very rapidly, without interfering with the transmission of other authorized users. Cognitive radio approaches are being developed for a variety of applications. One simple example of this is in the commercial digital wireless area. In this case, the proliferation of multiple
Hydrologic evaluation of Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis standard precipitation products in basins beyond its inclined latitude band: A case study in Laohahe basin, China

Two standard Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) products, 3B42RT and 3B42V6, were quantitatively evaluated in the Laohahe basin, China, located within the TMPA product latitude band (50°NS) but beyond the inclined TRMM satellite latitude band (36°NS). In general, direct comparison of TMPA rainfall estimates to collocated rain gauges from 2000 to 2005 show that the spatial and temporal rainfall characteristics over the region are well captured by the 3B42V6 estimates. Except for a few months with underestimation, the 3B42RT estimates show unrealistic overestimation nearly year round, which needs to be resolved in future upgrades to the real‐time estimation algorithm. Both model‐parameter error analysis and hydrologic application suggest that the three‐layer Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC‐3L) model cannot tolerate the nonphysical overestimation behavior of 3B42RT through the hydrologic integration processes, and as such the 3B42RT data have almost no hydrologic utility, even at the monthly scale. In contrast, the 3B42V6 data can produce much better hydrologic predictions with reduced error propagation from input to streamflow at both the daily and monthly scales. This study also found the error structures of both RT and V6 have a significant geo‐topography‐dependent distribution pattern, closely associated with latitude and elevation bands, suggesting current limitations with TRMM‐era algorithms at high latitudes and high elevations in general. Looking into the future Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) era, the Geostationary Infrared (GEO‐IR) estimates still have a long‐term role in filling the inevitable gaps in microwave coverage, as well as in enabling sub‐hourly estimates at typical 4‐km grid scales. Thus, this study affirms the call for a real‐time systematic bias removal in future upgrades to the IR‐based RT algorithm using a simple scaling factor. This correction is based on MW‐based monthly rainfall climatologies applied to the combined monthly satellite‐gauge research products.
Efficient accommodation of mobile fronthaul and secondary services in a TDM-PON system with wireless TDD frame monitor

We propose a novel technique for the accommodation of mobile base stations (BSs) and a secondary system with a time division duplex (TDD) frame monitor. By increasing the number of BSs accommodated in a passive optical network (PON), the cost of mobile fronthaul (MFH) can be reduced. To realize even further cost reduction, a secondary system is accommodated in the PON with the MFH while the mobile signal is transferred with low latency. We propose a technique for overlapping the signal of the secondary system on the signals of the TDD mobile BSs by using a function for distinguishing the unallocated interval of TDD uplink signals. We evaluate the improvement in the optical uplink bandwidth efficiency with a numerical calculation. By employing the proposed technique, in a numerical simulation we greatly increase the optical bandwidth of the secondary system compared with that without a TDD frame monitor. For the uplink of the mobile system, the MFH latency is kept at a low value regardless of TDD frame monitoring.
Iris-Biometric Hash Generation for Biometric Database Indexing

Performing identification on large-scale biometric databases requires an exhaustive linear search. Since biometric data does not have any natural sorting order, indexing databases, in order to minimize the response time of the system, represents a great challenge. In this work we propose a biometric hash generation technique for the purpose of biometric database indexing, applied to iris biometrics. Experimental results demonstrate that the presented approach highly accelerates biometric identification.