Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
"Soft" Continuum Robots - the Interaction of Continuous and Discrete Elements

In this paper, we examine key issues underlying the design and operation of ―soft‖ robots featuring continuous body (―continuum‖) elements. We contrast continuum and continuum-like robots created to date with their counterparts in the natural world. It is observed that natural continuum locomotors or manipulators almost invariably rely on hard/discrete elements (in their structure and/or operation) in their interactions with their environment. Implications for the successful operation and deployment of continuum robots are identified and discussed.
Photoreceptor expression of the Usher syndrome type 1 protein protocadherin 15 (USH1F) and its interaction with the scaffold protein harmonin (USH1C).

PURPOSE The human Usher syndrome (USH) is the most common form of deaf-blindness. Usher type I (USH1), the most severe form, is characterized by profound congenital deafness, constant vestibular dysfunction and prepubertal onset of retinitis pigmentosa. Five corresponding genes of the seven USH1 genes have been cloned over the years. Recent studies indicated that three USH1 proteins, namely myosin VIIa (USH1B), SANS (USH1G), and cadherin 23 (USH1D) interact with the USH1C gene product harmonin. In these protein-protein complexes harmonin acts as the scaffold protein binding these USH1 molecules via its PDZ domains. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether or not the fifth identified USH1 protein protocadherin 15 (Pcdh15) also binds to harmonin and where these putative protein complexes might be localized in mammalian rod and cone photoreceptor cells. METHODS In vitro binding assays (GST pull-down, yeast two-hybrid assay) were applied. Antibodies against bacterial expressed USH1 proteins were generated. Affinity purified antibodies were used in immunoblot analyses of brain fractions and isolated retinas, in immunofluorescence studies, and in immunoelectron microscopic studies of rodent retinas. RESULTS We showed that Pcdh15 (USH1F) interacted with harmonin PDZ2. Immunocytochemistry revealed that Pcdh15 is expressed in photoreceptor cells of the mammalian retina, where it is colocalized with harmonin, myosin VIIa, and cadherin 23 at the synaptic terminal. Colocalization of Pcdh15 with harmonin was found at the base of the photoreceptor outer segment, where newly synthesized disk membranes are present. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate that harmonin-Pcdh15 interactions probably play a role in disk morphogenesis. Furthermore, we provide evidence that a complex composed of all USH1 molecules may assemble at the photoreceptor synapse. This USH protein complex can contribute to the cortical cytoskeletal matrices of the pre- and postsynaptic regions, which are thought to play a fundamental role in the structural and functional organization of the synaptic junction. Defects in any of the USH1-complex partners may result in photoreceptor dysfunction causing retinitis pigmentosa, the clinical phenotype in the retina of USH1 patients.
Nature and composition of the continental crust: A lower crustal perspective

Geophysical, petrological, and geochemical data provide important clues about the composition of the deep continental crust. On the basis of seismic refraction data, we divide the crust into type sections associated with different tectonic provinces. Each shows a three-layer crust consisting of upper, middle, and lower crust, in which P wave velocities increase progressively with depth. There is large variation in average P wave velocity of the lower crust between different type sections, but in general, lower crustal velocities are high (>6.9 km s−1) and average middle crustal velocities range between 6.3 and 6.7 km s−1. Heat-producing elements decrease with depth in the crust owing to their depletion in felsic rocks caused by granulite facies metamorphism and an increase in the proportion of mafic rocks with depth. Studies of crustal cross sections show that in Archean regions, 50–85% of the heat flowing from the surface of the Earth is generated within the crust. Granulite terrains that experienced isobaric cooling are representative of middle or lower crust and have higher proportions of mafic rocks than do granulite terrains that experienced isothermal decompression. The latter are probably not representative of the deep crust but are merely upper crustal rocks that have been through an orogenic cycle. Granulite xenoliths provide some of the deepest samples of the continental crust and are composed largely of mafic rock types. Ultrasonic velocity measurements for a wide variety of deep crustal rocks provide a link between crustal velocity and lithology. Meta-igneous felsic, intermediate and mafic granulite, and amphibolite facies rocks are distinguishable on the basis of P and S wave velocities, but metamorphosed shales (metapelites) have velocities that overlap the complete velocity range displayed by the meta-igneous lithologies. The high heat production of metapelites, coupled with their generally limited volumetric extent in granulite terrains and xenoliths, suggests they constitute only a small proportion of the lower crust. Using average P wave velocities derived from the crustal type sections, the estimated areal extent of each type of crust, and the average compositions of different types of granulites, we estimate the average lower and middle crust composition. The lower crust is composed of rocks in the granulite facies and is lithologically heterogeneous. Its average composition is mafic, approaching that of a primitive mantle-derived basalt, but it may range to intermediate bulk compositions in some regions. The middle crust is composed of rocks in the amphibolite facies and is intermediate in bulk composition, containing significant K, Th, and U contents. Average continental crust is intermediate in composition and contains a significant proportion of the bulk silicate Earth's incompatible trace element budget (35–55% of Rb, Ba, K, Pb, Th, and U).
Change detection of high resolution satellite imagery considering projection difference

Since image registering is still a difficult problem, the registered images of different time can not match on every pixel, which is usually caused by the differences of object projection from 3D to 2D. The projection differences are usually bigger for prominent objects such as buildings, especially on high resolution imagery, such as IKONOS, QuickBird. The misregistration of images will affect the results of change detection. A method is presented in this paper to lessen the effects of the misregistration. Firstly, the images are registered with a reliable strategy so that the ground can be registered correctly. Then the changes of image are detected with traditional algorithm according to image difference based on an iterative radiometric calibration. At last, region change rate of segmented image are used to improve the change detection results. The experiments show that the false detection of misregistering can be reduced greatly.
Marketing foods to children and adolescents: licensed characters and other promotions on packaged foods in the supermarket

Abstract Objective To analyse cross-promotions targeted to children and adolescents on packaging in the supermarket. Design On three occasions from 2006 to 2008, researchers purchased all foods in a large supermarket that included a cross-promotion on the package. A total of 397 products were categorized by promotional partner, food category, targeted age group, promotion type, product nutrition, and company policies on marketing to children. Results The number of products with youth-oriented cross-promotions increased by 78 % during the period examined. Overall, 71 % of cross-promotions involved third-party licensed characters and 57 % appealed primarily to children under 12 years of age; however, the use of other forms of promotions increased from 5 % of the total in 2006 to 53 % in 2008, and promotions targeting pre-school and general audiences increased from 23 % to 54 % of the total. Only 18 % of products met accepted nutrition standards for foods sold to youth, and nutritional quality declined during the period examined. Food manufacturers with policies limiting marketing to children represented 65 % of all youth-oriented cross-promotions, their use of cross-promotions increased significantly, and the nutritional quality of their products did not improve. Some media companies did reduce the use of their properties on food promotions. Conclusions Overall, the supermarket environment worsened due to an increase in cross-promotions targeted to children and adolescents and a decline in the nutritional quality of these products. This analysis failed to find improvements in food marketing to youth and highlights the need to expand current industry self-regulatory pledges.
Immune Aspects and Myometrial Actions of Progesterone and CRH in Labor

Progesterone and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) have a critical role in pregnancy and labor, as changes related to these hormones are crucial for the transition from myometrial quiescence to contractility. The mechanisms related to their effect differ between humans and other species, thus, despite extensive research, many questions remain to be answered regarding their mediation in human labor. Immune responses to progesterone and CRH are important for labor. Progesterone acts as an immunomodulator which controls many immune actions during pregnancy, and its withdrawal releases the inhibitory action on inflammatory pathways. In humans, a “functional” progesterone withdrawal occurs with onset of labor through changes in progesterone metabolism, progesterone receptors, and other molecules that either facilitate or antagonize progesterone function. Placental CRH acts on the fetal pituitary-adrenal axis to stimulate adrenal production of androgens and cortisol and also acts directly on myometrial cells via its receptors. CRH also affects inflammatory signals and vice versa. Interactions between progesterone and CRH additionally occur during labor. We describe the role of these two hormones in human myometrium and their interactions with the immune system during labor.
Simulation of electrified storms with comparison of the charge structure and lightning efficiency

[1] An electrification and lightning flash scheme was run in a cloud-resolving model to study the electrical structure of idealized convective storms with several charge separation parameterizations. The electrification of an intense multicellular storm was first simulated. The results confirm the sensitivity of the cloud polarity and lightning flash characteristics to three noninductive charging formulations. Furthermore, it is found that the inductive charging is an efficient mechanism to enhance the lower electric charge, which favors cloud-to-ground flashes. Then, microphysical and electrical budgets were calculated for the convective and stratiform regions of a two-dimensional squall line. The simulation shows that the liquid water content is high enough to generate graupel by riming. Thus the noninductive separation process is efficient to charge the stratiform plume as well, and lightning flashes can be triggered. Finally, the application of various noninductive charging schemes to several convective storms showed the storm electrification variability, which heavily depends on the cloud dynamics and microphysics. The study reveals some remarkable features concerning the charge structure and the cloud-to-ground flash polarity.
Massive interference neutralization in DIWINE network

Dense Cooperative Wireless Cloud Network (DIWINE) FP7 project introduces a new wireless cloud network, where the interference interaction is an advantage rather than a limitation. The cloud consists of dense massively air-interacting nodes, that provide a simple and uniform PHY interface to the clients. In this work we consider the Massive Interference (MI) scenario for the DIWINE network, where the number of cloud nodes is much larger than the necessity for a bare connectivity. To accommodate to the MI environment, we propose the interference neutralization (IN) scheme exploited at the cloud to eliminate the interference at the receiving nodes. A signaling protocol is also proposed to determine the transmitting and receiving nodes before data transmission. Numerical results show that the proposed IN with the signaling protocol can lead to good throughput and delay tradeoff under different traffic loads.
A New Perspective on Internet Security using Insurance

Managing security risks in the Internet has so far mostly involved methods to reduce the risks and the severity of the damages. Those methods (such as firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention, etc) reduce but do not eliminate risk, and the question remains on how to handle the residual risk. In this paper, we take a new approach to the problem of Internet security and advocate managing this residual risk by buying insurance against it. Using insurance in the Internet raises several questions because entities in the Internet face correlated risks, which means that insurance claims will likely be correlated, making those entities less attractive to insurance companies. Furthermore, risks are interdependent, meaning that the decision by an entity to invest in security and self-protect affects the risk faced by others. We analyze the impact of these externalities on the security investments of users using a simple 2-agent model. Our key results are that there are sound economic reasons for agents to not invest much in self-protection, and that insurance is a desirable incentive mechanism which pushes agents over a threshold into a desirable state where they all invest in self-protection. In other words, insurance increases the level of self-protection, and therefore the level of security, in the Internet. Therefore, we believe that insurance should become an important component of risk management in the Internet.
Adenoma development in familial adenomatous polyposis and MUTYH‐associated polyposis: somatic landscape and driver genes

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and MUTYH‐associated polyposis (MAP) are inherited disorders associated with multiple colorectal adenomas that lead to a very high risk of colorectal cancer. The somatic mutations that drive adenoma development in these conditions have not been investigated comprehensively. In this study we performed analysis of paired colorectal adenoma and normal tissue DNA from individuals with FAP or MAP, sequencing 14 adenoma whole exomes (eight MAP, six FAP), 55 adenoma targeted exomes (33 MAP, 22 FAP) and germline DNA from each patient, and a further 63 adenomas by capillary sequencing (41 FAP, 22 MAP). With these data we examined the profile of mutated genes, the mutational signatures and the somatic mutation rates, observing significant diversity in the constellations of mutated driver genes in different adenomas, and loss‐of‐function mutations in WTX (9%; p < 9.99e‐06), a gene implicated in regulation of the WNT pathway and p53 acetylation. These data extend our understanding of the early events in colorectal tumourigenesis in the polyposis syndromes. © 2015 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Validation of backscatter models for level and deformed sea-ice in ERS-l SAR images

Abstract Backscatter models for level and deformed ice are evaluated based on in situ measurements of Baltic sea-ice and the resuhs are compared with coincident ERS-I Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. A two-layer scattering model is used for level ice with a dry snow cover. The resuhs show that ice surface scattering dominates in the pack ice, while scattering from the ice-water interface and ice volume scattering are important in the fast ice where the salinity is very low. For deformed ice which consists of large ice blocks, a two-component model is formulated and shown to be independent of the block size distribution. By evaluating the model based on in situ data it is concluded that specular reflections dominate, whereas the small-scale roughness is of less importance. An approach for data inversion is also described, which estimates the ice surface roughness from ERS-l SAR images during dry snow conditions.
Wild-type human p53 and a temperature-sensitive mutant induce Fas/APO-1 expression

Fas/APO-1 is a cell surface protein known to trigger apoptosis upon specific antibody engagement. Because wild-type p53 can activate transcription as well as induce apoptosis, we queried whether p53 might upregulate Fas/APO-1. To explore this possibility, we examined human p53-null (H358 non-small-cell lung adenocarcinoma and K562 erythroleukemia) and wild-type p53-containing (H460 non-small-cell lung adenocarcinoma) cell lines. When H358 or H460 cells were transduced with a replication-deficient adenovirus expression construct containing the human wild-type p53 gene but not with vector alone, a marked upregulation (approximately a three-to fourfold increase) of cell surface Fas/APO-1 was observed by flow cytometry. Similarly, K562, cells stably transfected with a plasmid vector containing the temperature-sensitive human p53 mutant Ala-143 demonstrated a four- to sixfold upregulation of Fas/APO-1 by flow-cytometric analysis at the permissive temperature of 32.5 degrees C. Temperature-sensitive upregulation of Fas/APO-1 in K562 Ala-143 cells was verified by immunoprecipitation and demonstrated to result from enhanced mRNA production by nuclear run-on and Northern (RNA) analyses. Stably transfected K562 cells expressing temperature-insensitive, transcriptionally inactive p53 mutants (His-175, Trp-248, His-273, or Gly-281) failed to upregulate Fas/APO-1 at either 32.5 degrees or 37.5 degrees C. The temperature-sensitive transcription of Fas/APO-1 occurred in the presence of cycloheximide, indicating that de novo protein synthesis was not required and suggested a direct involvement of p53. Collectively, these observations argue that Fas/APO-1 is a target gene for transcriptional activation by p53.
Cervical Headache: An Investigation of Natural Head Posture and Upper Cervical Flexor Muscle Performance

In this study, 60 female subjects, aged between 25 and 40 years, were divided into two equal groups on the basis of absence or presence of headache. A passive accessory intervertebral mobility (PAIVM) examination was performed to confirm an upper cervical articular cause of the subjects' headache and a questionnaire was used to establish a profile of the headache population. Measurements of cranio-cervical posture and isometric strength and endurance of the upper cervical flexor muscles were compared between the two groups of subjects. The headache group was found to be significantly different from the non-headache group in respect to forward head posture (FHP) (t = -5.98, p < 0.00005), less isometric strength (t = 3.43, p < 0.001) and less endurance (t = 8.71, p < 0.0005) of the upper cervical flexors. A statistically significant relationship was also established between natural head posture and isometric endurance of the upper cervical flexor musculature which demonstrated that FHP corresponded with a low endurance capacity (c2 = 13.2; p < 0.01). The outcome of this study highlights the need to screen for cervical etiology in patients who are suspected of suffering from common migraine.
Expanded Q4 quality assessment for pan-sharpened multispectral image

In this paper, we took into account both the spectral information and the spatial information and estimated how well the needed information contained within the multispectral (MS) and panchromatic (PAN) images was represented by the pan-sharpened image. Based on that, we proposed a new quality index which could be seen as an expanded index of the global quality measurement Q4. In our method, we first measured the spectral information preserving quality between the MS image and the fusion result. Then, we constructed a virtual spatial detail image considering the spatial resolution ratio between the source MS image and the PAN image, and also extracted the detail image contained in the merged image using the same technology, followed by a spatial information preserving quality index calculated from these two detail images. At last, we integrated the two indices by means of weighted addition determined by fusion model. To illustrate the superiority of this new index, we took experiments on two pairs of ZY-2 PAN and ASTER MS (1 2 3 bands) remote sensing imageries, and adopted the tradeoff FIHS fusion method in which the tradeoff parameter was set to different values standing for different fusion models. After using the proposed index to assess the quality of fusion, we think that the new index is compliant with subjective evaluations and could therefore be used to compare different image fusion or to find the best parameters for a given fusion model. Finally, we gave an experiential weight parameter of the quality index while assessing the tradeoff FIHS fusion with images from these two sensors by the author's experiments.
The lateral mobility of NHE3 on the apical membrane of renal epithelial OK cells is limited by the PDZ domain proteins NHERF1/2, but is dependent on an intact actin cytoskeleton as determined by FRAP

The epithelial brush border (BB) Na+/H+ exchanger, NHE3, plays a major role in transcellular Na+ absorption in the renal proximal tubule. NHE3 activity is rapidly regulated by neurohumoral substances and growth factors via changes in its amount on the BB by a process partially involving vesicle trafficking. The PDZ domain-containing proteins, NHERF1/2, are scaffold proteins that link NHE3 to the actin cytoskeleton via their binding to both ezrin and NHE3. NHERF1/2 interact with both an internal C-terminal domain of NHE3 and the N-terminus of ezrin. We used fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) to study the effect of NHERF1/2 on NHE3 mobility in the brush border of opossum kidney (OK) proximal tubule cells. A confocal microscope was used to allow the selective study of apical membrane versus intracellular NHE3. A chimera of NHE3-EGFP was transiently expressed in OK cells and its lateral diffusion in the apical membrane was measured with FRAP and confocal microscopy at 37°C. The contribution of intracellular NHE3-EGFP to recovery on the OK surface not directly over the juxtanuclear area (non-JN) was negligible as exposure to the water soluble crosslinker BS3 (10 mM) at 4°C resulted in no recovery of this component of surface NHE3-EGFP after photobleaching. The mobile fraction (Mf) of apical NHE3-EGFP was 47.5±2.2%; the effective diffusion coefficient (Deff) was (2.2±0.3) ×10–10 cm2/second. Overexpression of NHERF2 in OK cells decreased the Mf to 29.1±3.1% without changing Deff. In the truncation mutant, NHE3585-EGFP (aa 1-585), which lacks the NHERF1/2 binding domain, Mf increased to 66.4±2.2%, with no change in Deff, whereas NHE3660-EGFP, which binds NHERF1/2, had Mf (48.3±3.0%) and Deff both similar to full-length NHE3. These results are consistent with the PDZ domain proteins NHERF1 and NHERF2 scaffolding NHE3 in macromolecular complexes in the apical membrane of OK cells under basal conditions, which limits the lateral mobility of NHE3. It is probable that this is one of the mechanisms by which NHERF1/2 affects rapid regulation of NHE3 by growth factors and neurohumoral mediators. By contrast, disrupting the actin cytoskeleton by latrunculin B treatment (0.05 μM, 30 minutes) reduced the NHE3 Mf (21.9±4.5%) without altering the Deff. Therefore the actin cytoskeleton, independently of NHERF1/2 binding, is necessary for apical membrane mobility of NHE3.