Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increasing the supply of sulphur increases the grain zinc concentration in bread and durum wheat

Author(s): McDonald, Glenn K; Mousavvi Nik, Moshen | Abstract: The concentration of zinc (Zn) in wheat grain is frequently correlated with the concentration of sulphur (S). Many of the molecules that bind Zn or are involved in the acquisition and transport of Zn contain S or have the S-amino acid methionine as a precursor. However, the role of S nutrition on the deposition of Zn in wheat grain has not been examined. An experiment was conducted in which bread and durum wheat were grown at 2 levels of Zn (2.5 and 5.0 kg Zn kg-1) and 3 levels of S (15, 35 and 55 mg S kg-1). Biomass production and yield were not affected by the Zn and S treatments. Adding S increased the concentrations of Zn in the shoots and Zn in the grain and the concentrations of grain Zn and grain S were significantly correlated. Increasing S from 15 to 55 mg kg-1 raised grain Zn concentration by 40-50%. The S:Zn ratio in the grain did not vary with S (50, 47 and 50 at 15, 35 and 55 mg S kg-1, respectively), suggesting additional S increased Zn uptake and deposition in a proportional manner. Grain Zn concentrations were significantly correlated with the concentration of Zn in the vegetative tissue a month after sowing, which emphasises the importance of uptake as a foundation of high grain Zn. The experiment demonstrated for the first time that S can enhance the uptake of Zn under conditions when Zn is adequate for growth
A Simple Metallothionein-Based Biosensor for Enhanced Detection of Arsenic and Mercury

Metallothioneins (MTs) are a family of cysteine-rich proteins whose biological roles include the regulation of essential metal ions and protection against the harmful effects of toxic metals. Due to its high affinity for many toxic, soft metals, recombinant human MT isoform 1a was incorporated into an electrochemical-based biosensor for the detection of As3+ and Hg2+. A simple design was chosen to maximize its potential in environmental monitoring and MT was physically adsorbed onto paper discs placed on screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs). This system was tested with concentrations of arsenic and mercury typical of contaminated water sources ranging from 5 to 1000 ppb. The analytical performance of the MT-adsorbed paper discs on SPCEs demonstrated a greater than three-fold signal enhancement and a lower detection limit compared to blank SPCEs, 13 ppb for As3+ and 45 ppb for Hg2+. While not being as low as some of the recommended drinking water limits, the sensitivity of the simple MT-biosensor would be potentially useful in monitoring of areas of concern with a known contamination problem. This paper describes the ability of the metal binding protein metallothionein to enhance the effectiveness of a simple, low-cost electrochemical sensor.
Evaluation of Single or Double Hurdle Sanitizer Applications in Simulated Field or Packing Shed Operations for Cantaloupes Contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes contamination of cantaloupes has become a serious concern as contaminated cantaloupes led to a deadly outbreak in the United States in 2011. To reduce cross-contamination between cantaloupes and to reduce resident populations on contaminated melons, application of sanitizers in packing shed wash water is recommended. The sanitizing agent of 5% levulinic acid and 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) applied as a single hurdle in either a simulated dump or dip treatment significantly reduced L. monocytogenes to lower levels at the stem scar compared to a simulated dump treatment employing 200 ppm chlorine; however pathogen reductions on the rind tissue were not significantly different. Double hurdle approaches employing two sequential packing plant treatments with different sanitizers revealed decreased reduction of L. monocytogenes at the stem scar. In contrast, application of sanitizers both in the field and at the packing plant led to greater L. monocytogenes population reductions than if sanitizers were only applied at the packing plant.
Evaluating Performance of Compressive Sensing for Speech Signal with various Basis

sensing is a promising focus in signal processing field, which offers a novel approach of simultaneous compression and sampling. In this technology, a sparse approximated signal is obtained with samples much less than that required by the Nyquist sampling theorem if the signal is sparse on one basis. Encouraged by its exciting potential application in signal compression, Compressive sensing framework has been used for speech Compression. This paper shows detailed comparison of compressive sensing theory applied with different sparsity basis on 8 KHz sampled speech signal. Performance of various basis has been compared with Mean square error, Signal to noise ratio and Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality parameters.
A communication architecture for Intelligent Transportation Applications

This paper proposes ITCON (ITS CONnectivity) which is based on communication of the end systems running Intelligent Transportation Applications over a remote server that performs application level switching. ITCON provides seamless connectivity for different types of devices using WebSocket structures. ITCON is implemented for vehicle to vehicle applications that access the IP Core networks over cellular mobile networks. Detailed timing performance evaluations are presented.
Dysglycaemia, cardiovascular outcome and treatment. Is the jury still out?

Dale and co-workers have reported on the influence of glycaemic control on long-term mortality from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in patients with asymptomatic newly detected diabetes mellitus participating in a population-wide health survey in Norway.1 The annual measurements of glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in subjects with newly diagnosed diabetes during the 10 years following recruitment constitute a strength of this study allowing assessment of how risk may vary according to glycaemic burden over time. Considering the high prevalence of undetected diabetes mellitus among patients seen by cardiologists and the widespread dysglycaemia in the general population, the issue raised by this study is indeed relevant for everyday practice.2,3 The relationship between cardiovascular disease and glucose regulation abnormalities has been discussed since the first published report on glucosuria in patients with myocardial infarction in 1922.4 Thanks to individual and collaborative efforts of many research groups, the wealth of knowledge regarding association of dysglycaemia with the incidence of cardiovascular events has increased exponentially in the last decade. Several mechanisms may account for this relationship. Elevated glucose concentrations cause direct damage to vascular endothelium and other tissues owing to oxidative stress. Insulin resistance promotes mobilization of free fatty acids from adipose tissue which reduces HDL and increases LDL. Oxidative stress reduces insulin production by damaging insulin-secreting β-cells. All together these conditions promote pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic processes.5 Abnormal glucose regulation has serious prognostic implications in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Established diabetes is associated with impaired prognosis after myocardial infarction.6 According to more recent evidence, the increased risk is already apparent at modestly raised levels of blood glucose below the present threshold for diabetes.2,7–10 The progressive relationship between cardiovascular mortality and glycaemia is indeed independent of the classical cardiovascular risk factors as … Corresponding author. Tel: +39 06 33775561, Fax: +39 06 33775061, Email: f_cosentino{at}hotmail.com
Assessing the self-healing capability of cementitious composites under increasing sustained loading

This study investigated the effects of progressively increasing sustained loading on self-healing behaviour of 180-d-old microcracked engineered cementitious composites (ECCs) incorporating different mineral admixtures. After introducing microcracks to the specimens with applied severe pre-loading, some were subjected to progressively increasing sustained loading. All of the specimens were then subjected to continuous moist curing for 150 d to evaluate self-healing performance. Mechanical property (modulus of rupture (MOR) and mid-span beam deflection) characterisations and ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements were used to assess self-healing capability. Experimental results showed that even under progressively increasing sustained mechanical loading, MOR results greater than the original values could be obtained, depending on mineral admixture selection. Although deflection results were more adversely affected by progressive sustained loading compared to MOR results, even the lowest deflection value ob.
Asthma: Lessons from Epidemiology

Sudden coronary death isan important feature of clinical coronary disease, the incidencedoublingwith each decade of age after age 45 and with women lagging behind men in incidence by 20 years. Fifty percent of the sudden deaths in men and 64% in women occur in persons without prior coronary heart disease, and 18% of coronary attacks in men and 24% in women present as sudden death. More than half of coronary mortality is in the form of sudden death. Persons with overt established coronary heart disease are at 3-fold to 12-fold increased risk depending on age, the risk ratio diminishing with advancing age. When overt coronary disease is established, the major coronary risk factors have little discernible effect on the risk of sudden death. Risk appears related chiefly to the degree of myocardial damage as indicated by electrocardiographic abnormality and evidence of cardiac failure.
Joint network/channel decoding for heterogeneous multi-source/multi-relay cooperative networks

In this paper, we study joint network/channel decoding for multi--source multi--relay heterogeneous wireless networks. When convolutional and network codes are used at the physical and network layers, respectively, we show that error correction and diversity properties of the whole network can be characterized by an equivalent and distributed convolutional network/channel code. In particular, it is shown that, by properly choosing the network code, the equivalent code can show Unequal Error Protection (UEP) properties, which might be useful for heterogeneous wireless networks in which each source might ask for a different quality--of--service requirement or error probability. Using this representation, we show that Maximum--Likelihood (ML) joint network/channel decoding can be performed by using the trellis representation of the distributed convolutional network/channel code. Furthermore, to deal with decoding errors at the relays, a ML--optimum receiver which exploits side information on the source--to--relay links is proposed.
A Kalman filtering approach to the detection of option mispricing in electric power markets

Option pricing models are usually described with the use of stochastic differential equations and diffusion-type partial differential equations (e.g. Black-Scholes models). In case of electric power markets these models are complemented with integral terms which describe the effects of jumps and changes in the diffusion process and which are associated with variations in the production rates, condition of the transmission and distribution system, pay-off capability, etc. Considering the latter case, that is a partial integrodifferential equation for the option's price, a new filtering method is developed for estimating option prices variations without knowledge of initial conditions. The proposed filtering method is the so-called Derivative-free nonlinear Kalman Filter and is based on a transformation of the initial option price dynamics into a state-space model of the linear canonical form. The transformation is shown to be in accordance to differential flatness theory and finally provides a model of the option price dynamics for which state estimation is possible by applying the standard Kalman Filter recursion. Based on the provided state estimate, validation of the Black-Scholes partial integrodifferential equation can be performed and the existence of inconsistent parameters in the electricity market pricing model can be concluded.
Pseudorandomness via the Discrete Fourier Transform

We present a new approach to constructing unconditional pseudorandom generators against classes of functions that involve computing a linear function of the inputs. We give an explicit construction of a pseudorandom generator that fools the discrete Fourier transforms of linear functions with seed-length that is nearly logarithmic (up to polyloglog factors) in the input size and the desired error parameter. Our result gives a single pseudorandom generator that fools several important classes of tests computable in log space that have been considered in the literature, including half spaces (over general domains), modular tests and combinatorial shapes. For all these classes, our generator is the first that achieves near logarithmic seed-length in both the input length and the error parameter. Getting such a seed-length is a natural challenge in its own right, which needs to be overcome in order to derandomize RL -- a central question in complexity theory. Our construction combines ideas from a large body of prior work, ranging from a classical construction of [1] to the recent gradually increasing independence paradigm of [2] -- [4], while also introducing some novel analytic machinery which might find other applications.
Probabilistic Threshold Indexing for Uncertain Strings

Strings form a fundamental data type in computer systems. String searching has been extensively studied since the inception of computer science. Increasingly many applications have to deal with imprecise strings or strings with fuzzy information in them. String matching becomes a probabilistic event when a string contains uncertainty, i.e. each position of the string can have different probable characters with associated probability of occurrence for each character. Such uncertain strings are prevalent in various applications such as biological sequence data, event monitoring and automatic ECG annotations. We explore the problem of indexing uncertain strings to support efficient string searching. In this paper we consider two basic problems of string searching, namely substring searching and string listing. In substring searching, the task is to find the occurrences of a deterministic string in an uncertain string. We formulate the string listing problem for uncertain strings, where the objective is to output all the strings from a collection of strings, that contain probable occurrence of a deterministic query string. Indexing solution for both these problems are significantly more challenging for uncertain strings than for deterministic strings. Given a construction time probability value $\tau$, our indexes can be constructed in linear space and supports queries in near optimal time for arbitrary values of probability threshold parameter greater than $\tau$. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first indexing solution for searching in uncertain strings that achieves strong theoretical bound and supports arbitrary values of probability threshold parameter. We also propose an approximate substring search index that can answer substring search queries with an additive error in optimal time. We conduct experiments to evaluate the performance of our indexes.
Active Materials Based on Implanted Si for Obtaining Intermediate Band Solar Cells

First-principles calculations carried out for compounds based on Si implanted with different species, as Ti or chalcogens (S, Se, Te), show them as solid candidates to intermediate band (IB) photovoltaic materials. This DFT study predicts electronic structures, formation energies, relaxed atomic structures, optoelectronic properties, diffusion paths, for supercells containing up to several hundreds of atoms. The knowledge of Si-based devices is a relevant factor to facilitate the creation of an IB solar cell. Crystalline samples with a concentration of Ti several orders of magnitude above the solubility limit have been already grown. Formation energy calculations agree with the experiment in showing mainly interstitial implantation. Calculated electronic structure presents an IB, which is in agreement with electrical measurements and models, and is expected to cause an increase of the absorption coefficient across the solar spectrum. Chalcogen-implanted Si is an efficient IR absorber when implantation is carried out at ultra-high concentrations. Substitutional implantation produces a filled band inside Si band-gap and our calculations predict that plausible co-doping with IIIA atoms (as Al, B) would allow to obtain an IB fulfilling all the needed requirements.
Sotatercept in patients with osteolytic lesions of multiple myeloma

This phase IIa study evaluated the safety and tolerability of sotatercept, and its effects on bone metabolism and haematopoiesis in newly diagnosed and relapsed multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Patients were randomized (4:1) to receive four 28‐d cycles of sotatercept (0·1, 0·3, or 0·5 mg/kg) or placebo. Patients also received six cycles of combination oral melphalan, prednisolone, and thalidomide (MPT). Thirty patients were enrolled; six received placebo and 24 received sotatercept. Overall, 25% of patients received all four sotatercept doses; 71% of sotatercept‐treated patients had ≥1 dose interruption mainly due to increases in haemoglobin levels. Grade ≥3 adverse events (AEs) were reported in 17% of patients receiving placebo and 58% receiving sotatercept. Grade 4 AEs in sotatercept‐treated patients were neutropenia, granulocytopenia, and atrial fibrillation (one patient each). In patients without bisphosphonate use, anabolic improvements in bone mineral density and in bone formation relative to placebo occurred, whereas bone resorption was minimally affected. Increases in haemoglobin levels, versus baseline, and the duration of the increases, were higher in the sotatercept‐treated patients, with a trend suggesting a dose‐related effect. Multiple doses of sotatercept plus MPT appear to be safe and generally well‐tolerated in MM patients.
On-chip antennas for 60-GHz radios in silicon technology

The recent advances in 60-GHz radios have called for the parallel development of compact and efficient millimeter-wave antennas. This brief addresses for the first time the design, fabrication, and characterization of on-chip inverted-F and quasi-Yagi antennas for 60-GHz radios. The design was made using the Zeland IE3D software package. The fabrication was realized with the back-end-of-line process of silicon substrates of low resistivity 10 /spl Omega//spl middot/cm. The characterization was conducted on wafer with Cascade Microtech coplanar probes and an HP8510XF network analyzer. The results show that the inverted-F antenna achieved a minimum return loss of 32 dB and a gain of -19 dBi at 61 GHz; while the quasi-Yagi antenna achieved a minimum return loss of 6.75 dB and a gain of -12.5 dBi at 65 GHz. Good agreement has been observed between the measured and simulated results.
Childhood injuries in Singapore: a community nationwide study.

INTRODUCTION Childhood injuries are the leading cause of death for children between 5 to 14 years of age in Singapore. However, there is no information or data on childhood injuries in the community in Singapore. There was a need to conduct a nationwide study on childhood injuries in Singapore in order to estimate the prevalence rate, types of injuries, and to identify the hazards in the homes of the children. METHODS A cross-sectional nationwide study with a two-stage stratified random sampling was conducted to obtain a representative sample of the Singapore population. Families that had children younger than 15 years of age were selected for the study. Parents and caregivers were interviewed at their homes. RESULTS There were 2322 children in the study, of which 452 had one or more injuries in the past one year, giving an overall prevalence rate of 19.5 percent. Of the children who had injuries, the home was the commonest place where injuries occurred (45 percent) and falls were the leading cause of injuries (77 percent). There were many hazards identified in the homes studied and it was found that the more hazards present in the homes, the more likely it is for the child to get injuries. CONCLUSION There is a need for educational and interventional programmes to help Singaporeans understand the need to make the home environment safe for children and to prevent home injuries.
Timing Synchronization in MF-TDMA Systems for Geostationary Satellites[Topics in Radio Communications]

The most expensive costs in satellite communication are incurred by the space segment. Therefore, effort should be focused on the efficient use of this resource. One aspect is the optimization of the physical layer, to approach the Shannon limit of channel capacity. In IP-based networks, communication between arbitrary terminals can be established, which must hold for IP-based satellite networks as well. A commonly used topology is the star network, where data are routed via the master station, which in case of satellite communications introduces a double hop for terminal-to-terminal connections [1]. A double hop requires twice the bandwidth and twice the response time, which is very unattractive for interactive services. This drawback is avoided with a fully meshed topology, where terminals can communicate directly. Of course, an appropriately designed access system is required in this context. The well-known multi-frequency, time-division multiple access (MF-TDMA) scheme slices the channel capacity along both time and frequency axes. Each fragment (slot) can be used by any station for direct communication [2, 3]. This article describes the method on an abstraction layer, starting with the high-level timing that copes with frame numbers; the low-level timing that maps the frame numbers to time instants of the local time scale; and ends with the time stamp handled in the hardware, where calculation delays and filter flushing affect the received time stamp. Compared to commercial systems, the method described in this article uses differential time stamps, which reduces the effort of the synchronization procedure.
Brownian motion: a paradigm of soft matter and biological physics

This is a pedagogical introduction to Brownian motion on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Einstein's 1905 paper on the subject. After briefly reviewing Einstein's work in a contemporary context, we pursue several lines of further developments and applications to soft condensed matter and biology. Over the last century Brownian motion has been promoted from an odd curiosity of marginal scientific interest to a guiding theme pervading all of the modern life sciences.