Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification and Profiling of microRNAs Expressed in Elongating Cotton Fibers Using Small RNA Deep Sequencing

Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to play essential roles in the regulation of gene expression. In this study, small RNA deep sequencing was applied to explore novel miRNAs expressed in elongating cotton fibers. A total of 46 novel and 96 known miRNAs, primarily derived from the corresponding specific loci in genome of Gossypium arboreum, were identified. 64 miRNAs were shown to be differentially expressed during the fiber elongation process; 16 were predicted to be novel miRNAs while the remaining 48 belong to known miRNA families. Furthermore, RLM-5′ RACE (RNA ligase-mediated rapid amplification of 5′-cDNA ends) experiments identified the targets of eight important miRNAs, and the expression levels of these target genes were confirmed to be negatively correlated with the expression patterns of their corresponding miRNAs. We propose a potential functional network mediated through these eight miRNAs to illustrate their important functions in fiber elongation. Our study provides novel insights into the dynamic profiles of these miRNAs and a basis for investigating the regulatory mechanisms involved in the elongation of cotton fibers.
of Statistical Mechanics: J Theory and Experiment Modelling evolution in a spatial continuum

We survey a class of models for spatially structured populations which we have called spatial Λ-Fleming–Viot processes. They arise from a ﬂexible framework for modelling in which the key innovation is that random genetic drift is driven by a Poisson point process of spatial ‘events’. We demonstrate how this overcomes some of the obstructions to modelling populations which evolve in two-(and higher-) dimensional spatial continua, how its predictions match phenomena observed in data and how it ﬁts with classical models. Finally we outline some directions for future research.
Relationship between p53 mutations and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in human colorectal cancer.

Inducible Ca-independent nitric oxide synthase (NOS), also referred to as NOS2, which is expressed in a variety of human cancers (1–4), can generate mutagenic concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) in mice (5). NOS2 is the most active isoform among the three known nitric oxide synthases (6), which also include the neuronal (NOS1) and endothelial (NOS3) isoforms. Only NOS2 is capable of producing sustained NO concentrations in the micromolar range (7). We investigated the hypothesis that NO generated by NOS2 is capable of inducing mutations in the p53 (also known as TP53) gene and contributes to human colon carcinogenesis. We analyzed 118 sporadic colon tumors for NOS2 expression and p53 gene mutations. Colon tumors and surrounding normal tissues were collected from the Cooperative Human Tissue Network and the Department of Pathology, University of Baltimore, with the approval of local boards governing research on human subjects, as described previously (3). The expression of NOS2 was increased in various tumors (Fig. 1, A and B) throughout the right, left, and sigmoid colon. Adenomas showed the highest average NOS2 activity. The NOS2 activity declined with advancing tumor stage and was seen at the lowest level in metastatic tumors (Fig. 1, A). NOS2 activity correlated with NOS2 protein expression. Immunohistochemical analysis localized NOS2 protein mainly in tumor-infiltrating mononuclear cells and less frequently in en-
Ownership : transfer , sharing , and encapsulation

Ownership confinement expresses encapsulation in heap structures, in support of modular reasoning about effects, representation independence, and other properties. Most previous proposals for static enforcement of ownership confinement require annotations of whole programs using intricate type systems that are difficult to validate. Moreover, few proposals deal with transfer and sharing of ownership. We show how consideration of a reasoning objective suggests a particular pattern of ownership amenable to lightweight and modular imposition of confinement. We show how the pattern extends to handle transfer, at the cost of a heavier analysis.
Computer Vision and Image Understanding Computational Caricaturization of Surfaces

The question whether a caricature of a 2D sketch, or an object in 3D can be generated automatically is probably as old as the attempt to answer the question of what defines art. In an attempt to provide a partial answer, we propose a computational approach for automatic caricaturization. The idea is to rely on intrinsic geometric properties of a given model that are invariant to poses, articulations, and gestures. A property of a surface that is preserved while it undergoes such deformations is self-isometry. In other words, while smiling, running , and posing, we do not change much the intrinsic geometry of our facial surface, the area of our body, or the size of our hands. The proposed method locally amplifies the area of a given surface based on its Gaussian curvature. It is shown to produce a natural comic exaggeration effect which can be efficiently computed as a solution of a Poisson equation. We demonstrate the power of the proposed method by applying it to a variety of meshes such as human faces, statues, and animals. The results demonstrate enhancement and exaggeration of the shape's features into an artistic caricature. As most poses and postures are almost isometries, the use of the Gaussian curvature as the scaling factor allows the proposed method to handle animated sequences while preserving the identity of the animated creature.
Vertical Transmission of West Nile Virus by Three California Culex (Diptera: Culicidae) Species

Abstract Three California Culex species previously identified as efficient laboratory vectors of West Nile (WN) virus were tested for their capability to vertically transmit WN virus. Wild-caught Culex pipiens pipiens L. , Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus Say, and two populations of Culex tarsalis Coquillett females were inoculated intrathoracically with 102.7 ± 0.1 plaque-forming units of WN virus. F1 progeny were reared at 18°C and subsequently tested as adults for infectious virus on Vero cell culture. Virus was not detected in 197 pools comprising 4,884 Cx. p. pipiens. The minimum filial infection rate (MFIR) for Cx. p. quinquefasciatus was ≈3.0/1,000 for 665 progeny tested in 28 pools. There was no virus detected in 102 pools of 2,453 progeny from Cx. tarsalis collected in Riverside County. The MFIR for Cx. tarsalis collected in Yolo County was ≈ 6.9/1,000 for 2,165 progeny tested in 86 pools. Mosquito progeny infected vertically during the fall could potentially serve as a mechanism for WN virus to overwinter and initiate horizontal transmission the following spring.
Does the Internet Encourage Political Participation? Use of an Online Platform by Members of a German Political Party

Political parties can play a crucial role in linking citizen preferences to political decision making, but have been criticized for not accomplishing this task. In an attempt to address this linkage problem and enhance policy representation, political parties have recently opened up their decision-making processes and promoted online participation among their members and supporters; for example, by establishing online platforms that allow citizens and party members to discuss policy issues and generate policy proposals. However, in most instances, participation is low. Drawing on the case of the German Green Party and applying three well-established models of offline political participation, the article examines why only some party members and supporters use these channels to communicate their preferences. Comparing users and nonusers, we conclude that socioeconomic resources or attitudes alone cannot explain differences in participation. Instead, participation is motivated by process-related and ideological incentives.
A national study of violent behavior in persons with schizophrenia.

CONTEXT Violent behavior is uncommon, yet problematic, among schizophrenia patients. The complex effects of clinical, interpersonal, and social-environmental risk factors for violence in this population are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE To examine the prevalence and correlates of violence among schizophrenia patients living in the community by developing multivariable statistical models to assess the net effects of psychotic symptoms and other risk factors for minor and serious violence. DESIGN A total of 1410 schizophrenia patients were clinically assessed and interviewed about violent behavior in the past 6 months. Data comprise baseline assessments of patients enrolled in the National Institute of Mental Health Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness. SETTING AND PATIENTS Adult patients diagnosed as having schizophrenia were enrolled from 56 sites in the United States, including academic medical centers and community providers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Violence was classified at 2 severity levels: minor violence, corresponding to simple assault without injury or weapon use; and serious violence, corresponding to assault resulting in injury or involving use of a lethal weapon, threat with a lethal weapon in hand, or sexual assault. A composite measure of any violence was also analyzed. RESULTS The 6-month prevalence of any violence was 19.1%, with 3.6% of participants reporting serious violent behavior. Distinct, but overlapping, sets of risk factors were associated with minor and serious violence. "Positive" psychotic symptoms, such as persecutory ideation, increased the risk of minor and serious violence, while "negative" psychotic symptoms, such as social withdrawal, lowered the risk of serious violence. Minor violence was associated with co-occurring substance abuse and interpersonal and social factors. Serious violence was associated with psychotic and depressive symptoms, childhood conduct problems, and victimization. CONCLUSIONS Particular clusters of symptoms may increase or decrease violence risk in schizophrenia patients. Violence risk assessment and management in community-based treatment should focus on combinations of clinical and nonclinical risk factors.
Heterogeneity of the Action Potential in Isolated Rat Ventricular Myocytes and Tissue

The objectives of this study were to measure action potential parameters in enzyme- dissociated, adult rat ventricular myocytes stimulated at 1 Hz, to compare these measurements with those obtained from intact ventricular tissue, and to determine myocyte and tissue responses at stimulus frequencies between 0.1 and 5 Hz. Action potentials were characterized in terms of amplitude, overshoot, resting potential, duration at 25% and 75% repolarization (APD25, APD75), and Vmax. Based on statistical differences in APD25 and APD75, myocyte action potentials were classified as type 1 (3.1 ± 1.0 and 21.5 ± 3.6 msec), type II (7.4 ± 1.1 and 38.2 ± 6.7 msec), or type III (14.5 ± 1.9 and 46.0 ± 4.1 msec). Action potentials corresponding to type I were found in right ventricular endocardium and right papillary muscles, and those corresponding to types II and III in the left ventricular endocardium [apex, middle (II); base (III)] and left papillary muscles (II). Myocytes and papillary muscles responded to increases in driving rate with nearly identical lengthening of APD25 and shortening of APD75. The one exception was at 5 Hz where a lengthening of the APD75 occurred in some myocytes. We conclude that action potential configuration in rat ventricle is heterogeneous, and that this is reflected by the different types of action potentials in isolated myocytes. It is likely that the magnitude of a transient outward current is a determinant of action potential configuration, and that slow reactivation of this current is a significant factor underlying the stimulus frequency response.
MIMO propagation scenario discrimination for adaptive wireless communication systems

Recently, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technologies are adopted to wireless communication systems for high-speed, large capacity and high reliability communications. However, there can be variations of communication quality and throughput performance, because MIMO technologies depend on propagation channel environments, where communication property widely changes. An optimal wireless communication systems design which adaptively changes transmission systems depending on channel propagation is effective to realize stable wireless communications therefore, it is important that a transceiver knows propagation environment accurately. In this paper, we propose a new discrimination method for MIMO propagation scenarios by using channel state information (CSI), where azimuth spread (AS) and K-Factor estimation are considered. In addition, we evaluate discrimination performance by simulation, and then we get a discrimination result of high accuracy.
Some considerations on power system stability improvement by FACTS devices

In the paper some considerations are presented in order to capture the potentiality of flexible alternating current transmission systems (FACTS) devices in improving the dynamic performances of power systems. More specifically, these devices can enlarge the attraction region of power systems equilibrium points, allowing to increase the stability margin following large perturbations. In the paper, the boundary of the attraction region of the post-fault stable equilibrium point for a simple power system in presence of FACTS devices, is estimated by means of a quadratic function, which provides a good approximation and an analytical expression which could result very useful for sensitivity analysis. Supplementary controllers to FACTS devices, are also proper means for obtaining an increased damping of interarea oscillations which are inherent in large power systems. A linearized modeling is employed for identifying the countermeasures to face with this complex phenomenon, also taking into account the presence of delay in transmitting remote control signals. In the last part of the paper some numerical applications with respect to test system are reported showing the usefulness of the considerations presented
Continuum and Emission-Line Properties of Broad Absorption Line Quasars

We investigate the continuum and emission-line properties of 224 broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs) with 0.9 ≲ z ≲ 4.4 drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release, which contains 3814 bona fide quasars. We find that low-ionization BALQSOs (LoBALs) are significantly reddened as compared with normal quasars, in agreement with previous work. High-ionization BALQSOs (HiBALs) are also more reddened than the average non-BALQSO. Assuming SMC-like dust reddening at the quasar redshift, the amount of reddening needed to explain HiBALs is E(B-V) ∼ 0.023 and LoBALs is E(B-V) ∼ 0.077 (compared with the ensemble average of the entire quasar sample). We find that there are differences in the emission-line properties between the average HiBAL, LoBAL, and non-BAL quasar. These differences, along with differences in the absorption-line troughs, may be related to intrinsic quasar properties such as the slope of the intrinsic (unreddened) continuum; more extreme absorption properties are correlated with bluer intrinsic continua. Despite the differences among BALQSO subtypes and non-BALQSOs, BALQSOs appear to be drawn from the same parent population as non-BALQSOs when both are selected by their UV/optical properties. We find that the overall fraction of traditionally defined BALQSOs, after correcting for color-dependent selection effects due to different SEDs of BALQSOs and non-BALQSOs, is 13.4% ± 1.2% and shows no significant redshift dependence for 1.7 ≤ z ≤ 3.45. After a rough completeness correction for the effects of dust extinction, we find that approximately one in every six quasars is a BALQSO.
Brand Loyalty and Market Equilibrium

Two concepts of brand loyalty are defined, “inertial” brand loyalty resulting from time lags in awareness, and “cost-based” brand loyalty resulting from intertemporal utility effects. Their market level implications are formally derived in a continuous time model. It is found that inertial brand loyalty leads to equilibria with price dispersion, while cost-based brand loyalty also may allow single price equilibria. In all cases, as brand loyalty vanishes, so does the difference between the average trading price and the price which obtains with no brand loyalty. Consistent with empirical results, the theory predicts that the relationship between market share and performance is positive in cross-sectional studies, but flat in time-series studies. The theory is also consistent with the view that market share is an asset in itself. After developing the theory, several strategic implications are drawn. In the end, some questions for further theoretical and empirical research are raised.
A stochastic flow capturing location and allocation model for siting electric vehicle charging stations

With the move of electric vehicle (EV) initiatives in many countries, there is a growing demand for fast-charging stations for recharging EVs. In this paper, we consider the problem of siting these EV charging stations in a transportation network with demand uncertainty. The demand for service considered is the passing flows in the network, i.e., the drive-by customers. We started with formulating the problem as a deterministic flow capturing location-allocation problem and then extended it into a stochastic model. Our results show that the stochastic model more realistically capture the actual coverage of the demand. We also developed a backup flow capturing model for providing secondary or multiple facilities coverage to ensure stability in service coverage and reduce the “range anxiety. ” Test cases with different flow composition and cost parameters are examined.
Public Photos, Private Concerns: Uncovering Privacy Concerns of User Generated Content Created Through Networked Public Displays

Networked public displays offer new ways of connecting communities through user-generated content. For example, they allow taking situated snapshots, i.e., photos taken through a display-attached camera, and viewing them on displays in the network or potentially somewhere on the web. Little research has looked into users' privacy concerns for this novel type of content. This paper reflects on two longitudinal studies of the Moment Machine application that was running in the UK and Switzerland for 12+ weeks, and summarizes some of the privacy concerns this type of user-generated content can raise, namely: communicating where the publicly taken situated snapshots are stored, where they appear, that no surveillance is taking place, content control for situated snapshots, where (in what place) and how interactions happening on the web will appear on a display network. Based on the two studies I make recommendations and inform the design of similar future networked public display systems.
What Does a Financial Shock Do? First International Evidence

In this paper we attempt to evaluate the quantitative impact of financial shocks on key indicators of real activity and financial conditions. We focus on financial shocks as they have received wide attention in the recent literature and in the policy debate after the global financial crisis. We estimate a panel VAR for 21 advanced economies based on quarterly data between 1985 and 2011, where financial shocks are identified through sign restrictions. Overall, we find robust evidence that financial shocks can be separately identified from other shock types and that they exert a significant influence on key macroeconomic variables such as GDP and (particularly) investment, but it is unclear whether these shocks are demand or supply shocks from the standpoint of their macroeconomic impact. The financial development and the financial structure of a given country are found not to matter much for the intensity of the propagation of financial shocks. Moreover, we generally find that these shocks play a role not only in crisis times, but also in normal conditions. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for monetary policy. JEL Classification: E44, E52, E58, G20
Towards Tracking Political Sentiment through Microblog Data

People express and amplify political opinions in Microblogs such as Twitter, especially when major political decisions are made. Twitter provides a useful vehicle for capturing and tracking popular opinion on burning issues of the day. In this paper, we focus on tracking the changes in political sentiment related to the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) and its decisions, focusing on the key dimensions on support, emotional intensity, and polarity. Measuring changes in these sentiment dimensions could be useful for social and political scientists, policy makers, and the public. This preliminary work adapts existing sentiment analysis techniques to these new dimensions and the specifics of the corpus (Twitter). We illustrate the promise of our work with an important case study of tracking sentiment change building up to, and immediately following one recent landmark Supreme Court decision. This example illustrates how our work could help answer fundamental research questions in political science about the nature of Supreme Court power and its capacity to influence public discourse. 1 Background and Motivation
Real-Time and Interactive Attacks on DNP3 Critical Infrastructure Using Scapy

The Distributed Network Protocol v3.0 (DNP3) is one of the most widely used protocols, to control national infrastructure. Widely used interactive packet manipulation tools, such as Scapy, have not yet been augmented to parse and create DNP3 frames (Biondi 2014). In this paper we extend Scapy to include DNP3, thus allowing us to perform attacks on DNP3 in real-time. Our contribution builds on East et al. (2009), who proposed a range of possible attacks on DNP3. We implement several of these attacks to validate our DNP3 extension to Scapy, then executed the attacks on real world equipment. We present our results, showing that many of these theoretical attacks would be unsuccessful in an Ethernet-based network.
Study of reliability physics on high-k/metal gate and power devices

This paper focuses attention on MOS interface phenomena. Key issues on Hf-based high-k/metal gate CMOS technology by gate first process for low operational power applications are overviewed. One of the issues is how to control the oxygen vacancy distribution in the high-k/metal gate system, which is requisite for important work-function tuning with EOT scaling. Quantitative understanding of the potential distribution in this system is crucial for obtaining the appropriate Vth in advanced CMOS devices under a low supply voltage operation. In the meantime, breakdown phenomenon and its mechanism of SiC MOS capacitors are studied. Characteristic electric breakdown traces with carpet-bombing-like concaves are observed for Al/SiO2/SiC MOS capacitors. From TD(Z)DB measurements, the breakdown mechanism is explained and the conduction behaviour during the breakdown can be inferable by elaborating the measurement setup.
Student Attitudes towards Computer Assisted Learning: Scaling -up Medical Education in a Poor Setting

economic, infrastructural, and manpower challenges peculiar to poor settings pose daunting obstacles to quality medical education and healthcare delivery in those settings. The purpose of the current study therefore was to determine from the perspective of students how to effectively incorporate information communication technology (ICT) in to the medical curriculum to help improve tuition and scale - up training in a Ghanaian Medical School, and concluded that blended instructional models may be more suitable. KeywordsAssisted Instruction, Medical Education