Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
UNIFORM AND NON -UNIFORM SINGLE IMAGE DEBLURRING BASED ON SPARSE REPRESENTATION AND ADAPTIVE DICTIONARY LEARNING

Considering the sparseness property of images, a sparse representation based iterative deblurring method is presented for single image deblurring under uniform and non-uniform motion blur. The approach taken is based on sparse and redundant representations over adaptively training dictionaries from single blurred-noisy image itself. Further, the K-SVD algorithm is used to obtain a dictionary that describes the image contents effectively. Comprehensive experimental evaluation demonstrate that the proposed framework integrating the sparseness property of images, adaptive dictionary training and iterative deblurring scheme together significantly improves the deblurring performance and is comparable with the state-of-the art deblurring algorithms and seeks a powerful solution to an ill-conditioned inverse problem.
Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanowires and their integration into dye-sensitized solar cells

ZnO nanowires, grown on transparent conducting oxide substrates from aqueous solutions of methenamine and Zn(NO3)2, were integrated as the wide band gap semiconductor into dye-sensitized solar cells. ZnO nanowires and their growth mechanisms were studied using electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence measurements. The solution growth method forms dense arrays of long nanowires oriented normal to the substrate surface because nanowires growing at off-normal angles are prevented from growing further when they run into neighbouring wires. Dye-sensitized solar cells with ZnO nanowires were assembled and characterized using optical and electrical measurements. Short circuit current densities of 1.3 mA cm−2, and overall power conversion efficiencies of 0.3% were achieved with 8 µm long nanowires. Photocurrent and efficiency increase with increasing nanowire length and improved light harvesting. Low surface area and a shunt that appears under light illumination limit the solar cell performance. Internal quantum efficiencies were similar for nanowires of all lengths, indicating that electron transport is not limited by the nanowire dimensions for aspect ratios less than 70.
Iberian Pyrite Belt Subsurface Life (IPBSL), a Drilling Project of Biohydrometallurgical Interest

The geomicrobiological characterization of Río Tinto, an extreme acidic environment, has proven the importance of the iron cycle, not only in generating the extreme conditions of the habitat (low pH, high concentration of toxic heavy metals) but also in maintaining the high level of microbial diversity detected in the water column and the sediments. The extreme conditions detected in the Tinto basin are not the product of industrial contamination but the consequence of the presence of an underground bioreactor that obtains its energy from the massive sulfide minerals of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB). To test this hypothesis, a drilling project (IPBSL) to intersect ground waters interacting with the mineral ore is under way, to provide evidence of subsurface microbial activities. A dedicated geophysical characterization of the area selected two drilling sites due to the possible existence of water with high ionic content. Two wells have been drilled in Peña de Hierro, BH11 and BH10, with depths of 340 and 630 meters respectively, with recovery of cores and generation of samples in anaerobic and sterile conditions. The geological analysis of the retrieved cores showed an important alteration of mineral structures associated with the presence of water, with production of expected products from the bacterial oxidation of pyrite. Ion chromatography of water soluble compounds from uncontaminated samples showed the existence of putative electron donors, electron acceptors, as well as variable concentration of metabolic organic acids, which suggest the presence of an active subsurface ecosystem associated to the high sulfidic mineral content of the IPB. Enrichment cultures from selected samples showed evidences of an active iron and sulfur cycle, together with unexpected methanogenic, methanotrophic and acetogenic activities. The geological, geomicrobiological and molecular biology analyses which are under way, should allow the characterization of this ecosystem of biohydrometallurgical interest
Hardware design for binarization and thinning of fingerprint images

Two critical steps in fingerprint recognition are binarization and thinning of the image. The need for real time processing motivates us to select local adaptive thresholding approach for the binarization step. We introduce a new hardware for this purpose based on pipeline architecture. We propose a formula for selecting an optimal block size for the thresholding purpose. To decrease minutiae false detection, the binarized image is dilated. We also present in this paper a new pipeline structure for implementing the thinning algorithm
tEFMA: computing thermodynamically feasible elementary flux modes in metabolic networks

UNLABELLED : Elementary flux modes (EFMs) are important structural tools for the analysis of metabolic networks. It is known that many topologically feasible EFMs are biologically irrelevant. Therefore, tools are needed to find the relevant ones. We present thermodynamic tEFM analysis (tEFMA) which uses the cellular metabolome to avoid the enumeration of thermodynamically infeasible EFMs. Specifically, given a metabolic network and a not necessarily complete metabolome, tEFMA efficiently returns the full set of thermodynamically feasible EFMs consistent with the metabolome. Compared with standard approaches, tEFMA strongly reduces the memory consumption and the overall runtime. Thus tEFMA provides a new way to analyze unbiasedly hitherto inaccessible large-scale metabolic networks. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION https://github.com/mpgerstl/tEFMA CONTACT: : christian.jungreuthmayer@boku.ac. at or juergen.zanghellini@boku.ac. at SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The Role of Adaptive-Deformation of Water Strider Leg in Its Walking on Water

A recent experiment (X. F. Gao and L. Jiang, Nature 432, 36 (2004)) showed that a water strider statically standing on water can bear a load up to 60 times its body weight with its middle and hind legs, which tread deep puddles without piercing the water surface. This fact has been ascribed to the superhydrophobicity of the water strider legs. In the present paper, this viewpoint is argued by our comparative experiments using real water strider legs with superhydrophobicity and artificial legs made of wax-coated steel wires with a much smaller Young's contact angle. It is found that the adaptive-deformation capacity of the real leg through its three joints makes a more important contribution to the superior load-bearing ability than the superhydrophobicity. This conclusion is also demonstrated by our theoretical analysis.
Over‐expression of the water and salt stress‐regulated Asr1 gene confers an increased salt tolerance

ASR1 is a plant-specific, highly charged, low molecular weight polypeptide. Purified ASR1 was shown to posses sequence specific Zn 2+ + + -dependent DNA binding activity (Kalifa et al . Biochemical Journal 381, 373-378, 2004). Steady-state levels of tomato Asr1 mRNA and protein are transiently increased following exposure of plants to poly- ethylene glycol, NaCl or abscisic acid. The biological role of ASR1 could not be deduced from sequence analyses or sequence homologies. Tobacco plants over-expressing tomato ASR1 have a decreased rate of water loss and improved salt tolerance. Upon exposure to salt, ASR1- over-expressing plants accumulate less Na + + + and proline than wild-type plants, and also results in increased steady- state levels of other gene products under non-stressed plant growth conditions. Therefore, ASR1 is probably involved in the regulation of water- or salt-stress-modulated gene expression.
Relative roles of temperature and photoperiod as drivers of metabolic flexibility in dark-eyed juncos

Seasonal phenotypic flexibility in small birds produces a winter phenotype with elevated maximum cold-induced metabolic rates (=summit metabolism, Ṁsum). Temperature and photoperiod are candidates for drivers of seasonal phenotypes, but their relative impacts on metabolic variation are unknown. We examined photoperiod and temperature effects on Ṁsum, muscle masses and activities of key catabolic enzymes in winter dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis). We randomly assigned birds to four treatment groups varying in temperature (cold=3°C; warm=24°C) and photoperiod [short day (SD)=8 h:16 h light:dark; long day (LD)=16 h:8 h light:dark] in a two-by-two design. We measured body mass (Mb), flight muscle width and Ṁsum before and after 3 and 6 weeks of acclimation, and flight muscle and heart masses after 6 weeks. Ṁsum increased for cold-exposed, but not for warm-exposed, birds. LD birds gained more Mb than SD birds, irrespective of temperature. Flight muscle size and mass did not differ significantly among groups, but heart mass was larger in cold-exposed birds. Citrate synthase, carnitine palmitoyl transferase and β-hydroxyacyl Co-A dehydrogenase activities in the pectoralis were generally higher for LD and cold groups. The cold-induced changes in Ṁsum and heart mass parallel winter changes for small birds, but the larger Mb and higher catabolic enzyme activities in LD birds suggest photoperiod-induced changes associated with migratory disposition. Temperature appears to be a primary driver of flexibility in Ṁsum in juncos, but photoperiod-induced changes in Mb and catabolic enzyme activities, likely associated with migratory disposition, interact with temperature to contribute to seasonal phenotypes.
Left Ventricular Stroke Volume and Output in Healthy Term Infants

Left ventricular output, left ventricular stroke volume, and systemic vascular resistance were measured noninvasively in 16 healthy term infants at 6 predefined time intervals from less than 15 minutes to 72 hours after birth. The blood flow velocity in the ascending aorta was measured by range-gated Doppler technique and multiplied by the cross-sectional area, measured by 2-dimensional and M-mode echocardiography to yield left ventricular output. Stroke volume was calculated by dividing left ventricular output by heart rate. Mean arterial blood pressure was measured by oscillometric technique and used for calculation of systemic vascular resistance. A poor association between heart rate and left ventricular output was found, whereas there was a very close relationship between stroke volume and left ventricular output. There was also a reciprocal relationship between systemic vascular resistance and stroke volume. This suggests that stroke volume and not heart rate is the main determinant of neonatal left ventricular output and that the low postnatal afterload might strengthen this relationship.
High resolution x-ray imaging of dynamic solute transport in cyclically deformed porous tissue scaffolds

The objective was to develop a method for high-resolution imaging of dynamic solute transport in cyclically deforming porous scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. A flexible cubic scaffold with single cylindrical channel was fabricated from a biodegradable polymer blend using a combined 3D printing and injection molding technique. The scaffold was attached to the bottom of a fluid reservoir mounted underneath a compression apparatus placed inside the X-ray scanner. The scaffold was positioned with the channel axis perpendicular to the X-ray beam. The container was filled with glycerin, and a solution of the contrast agent sodium iodide (NaI) in glycerin was injected into the scaffold channel. Intervals of compression cycles (14.5 ± 2.1 % compression at 1.0 Hz) were applied to the top face of the scaffold. After each interval the compression was temporarily paused to obtain a two-dimensional image at 20 μm pixel resolution. A series of images was also obtained without application of the compression cycles to quantify the effect of passive diffusional removal of NaI from the channel. The average NaI concentration in the channel decreased by 82% after 300 cycles (5 min.) of compression, by 40% after 60 min. of passive removal. Spatial profiles of the NaI concentration along the channel axis indicated that compression-induced transport preferentially removed the contrast agent at the pore openings. We conclude that convective transport induced by cyclic mechanical deformation of artificial tissue scaffolds could significantly contribute to the rate and depth of nutrient transport inside the scaffold, as compared to slow diffusive transport alone.
Insecticidal Activity of Castanospermum australe against stored Grain Pest Callosobruchus analis

The butanol fraction of the leaves of Castanospermum australe Cunn. & Fraser. , was tested on adult Callosobruchus analis (pulse beetle) for its insecticidal activity by impregnation method at concentration of 3, 9, 48, 240 and 354 µg / cm 2 . The result showed that the extract is toxic to Callosobruchus analis and the LD50 was found to be 38 g/cm 2 .
mPASS: Integrating people sensing and crowdsourcing to map urban accessibility

This paper presents mPASS (mobile Pervasive Accessibility Social Sensing), a system designed to collect data about urban and architectural accessibility and to provide users with personalized paths, computed on the basis of their preferences and needs. The system combines data obtained by sensing, crowdsourcing and mashing-up with main geo-referenced social systems, with the aim of offering services based on a detailed and valid data set.
Ethanol-regulated genes that contribute to ethanol sensitivity and rapid tolerance in Drosophila.

BACKGROUND Increased ethanol intake, a major predictor for the development of alcohol use disorders, is facilitated by the development of tolerance to both the aversive and pleasurable effects of the drug. The molecular mechanisms underlying ethanol tolerance development are complex and are not yet well understood. METHODS To identify genetic mechanisms that contribute to ethanol tolerance, we examined the time course of gene expression changes elicited by a single sedating dose of ethanol in Drosophila, and completed a behavioral survey of strains harboring mutations in ethanol-regulated genes. RESULTS Enrichment for genes in metabolism, nucleic acid binding, olfaction, regulation of signal transduction, and stress suggests that these biological processes are coordinately affected by ethanol exposure. We also detected a coordinate up-regulation of genes in the Toll and Imd innate immunity signal transduction pathways. A multi-study comparison revealed a small set of genes showing similar regulation, including increased expression of 3 genes for serine biosynthesis. A survey of Drosophila strains harboring mutations in ethanol-regulated genes for ethanol sensitivity and tolerance phenotypes revealed roles for serine biosynthesis, olfaction, transcriptional regulation, immunity, and metabolism. Flies harboring deletions of the genes encoding the olfactory co-receptor Or83b or the sirtuin Sir2 showed marked changes in the development of ethanol tolerance. CONCLUSIONS Our findings implicate novel roles for these genes in regulating ethanol behavioral responses.
The SoC design for voice recognition with adaptive speedy discriminate algorithm

Smart and emerging technologies require fast processing hardware and software fusion solutions. In this paper we propose SoC design for voice recognition with adaptive speedy discriminate algorithm. In this order a tail of word is discriminated on conditional random fields. In this way the conditional random fields is calculated into speedy conditional random fields(SCRF). On this new fields voice detection algorithm become speedy. The detection algorithm is designed and implemented fully as hardware and the block architecture uses indexed register bank with 1 clock delay output and with minimum latency. The block fits in a Xilinx Vertex5 device requiring 45,110 LUTs. Additionally S3C6410 embedded board with processing ARM-11 was attached to device to further operations. The pointing input device SoC supports the proposed voice recognition will be fabricated.
Typing Staphylococcus aureus Using the spa Gene and Novel Distance Measures

We developed an approach for identifying groups or families of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria based on genotype data. With the emergence of drug-resistant strains, S. aureus represents a significant human health threat. Identifying the family types efficiently and quickly is crucial in community settings. Here, we develop a hybrid sequence algorithm approach to type this bacterium using only its spa gene. Two of the sequence algorithms we used are well established, whereas the third, the best common gap-weighted sequence (BCGS), is novel. We combined the sequence algorithms with a weighted match/mismatch algorithm for the spa sequence ends. Normalized similarity scores and distances between the sequences were derived and used within unsupervised clustering methods. The resulting spa groupings correlated strongly with the groups defined by the well-established multilocus sequence typing (MLST) method, spa typing is preferable to MLST typing, which types seven genes instead of just one. Furthermore, our spa clustering methods can be fine-tuned to be more discriminating than MLST, identifying new strains that the MLST method may not. Finally, we performed a multidimensional scaling of our distance matrices to visualize the relationship between isolates. The proposed methodology provides a promising new approach to molecular epidemiology.
Theoretical study on the generation of THz sub-comb via surface-emitted optical rectification of ultra-short pulse in periodically poled lithium niobate

In this paper, we proposed a method for THz sub-comb generation based on optical rectification. The result of our calculation indicated that THz pulse train, generated by surface-emitted optical rectification (OR) of femtosecond (fs) laser pulse in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN), has a comb-like spectrum. The theoretical analysis was based on radiating antenna model. The characteristic of this THz sub-comb was analyzed both in frequency and time domain. The mechanism of this phenomenon was explained both by spectral interference between early and late pulses and by high-order quasi phase matching. THz sub-comb generated by this method can cover a large bandwidth and have a wide free spectral range.
Deep Brain Stimulation and Behavioural Changes: Is Comedication the Most Important Factor?

Background: Adverse effects of dopaminergic medication (DA; levodopa and dopamine agonists) on impulsive behaviour and decision-making in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been repeatedly reported. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is increasingly used for the treatment of parkinsonian motor symptoms, but the excellent efficacy of DBS contrasts with a growing number of reports that the treatment may result in behavioural complications. Aims: We investigated impulsive behaviour under different therapeutic treatments. Methods: Fifteen patients with PD with DBS (PD-DBS) were assessed with electrical stimulation switched on and off, respectively. Data were compared with those of 15 patients with PD without DBS implantation under DA medication (PD-DA), matched for age and disease duration. Impulsive behaviour (gambling performance) was measured together with neuropsychological assessments regarding depression, current mood and cognitive performance. Results: PD-DA patients performed worse in the gambling task than DBS patients with electrical stimulation turned off. A significant interaction of performance and medication was observed. When DBS was turned on, the differences in performance were less pronounced. Conclusion: For gambling performance, the medication dose mainly explains differences in impulsive behaviour. Although DBS had a minor negative effect on impulsive behaviour, the positive effect of a reduced DA dosis after DBS might reduce impulse control abnormalities.
Different Responses of Pyoverdine Genes to Autoinduction in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the Group Pseudomonas fluorescens-Pseudomonas putida

ABSTRACT We investigated the regulation of the psbA and pvdA pyoverdine biosynthesis genes, which encode the l-ornithine N5-oxygenase homologues in Pseudomonas strain B10 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, respectively. We demonstrate that pyoverdineB10, as the end product of its biosynthetic pathway, is a key participant of the control circuit regulating its own production in Pseudomonas strain B10. In P. aeruginosa PAO1, however, pyoverdinePAO1 has no apparent role in the positive regulation of the pvdA gene.
Assessment of Small Fiber Neuropathy through a Quick, Simple and Non Invasive Method in a German Diabetes Outpatient Clinic

Abstract Introduction: Sudomotor dysfunction is one of the earliest neurophysiologic abnormalities to manifest in distal small fiber neuropathy. SUDOSCAN® was developed to provide a non invasive, quick, simple and quantitative measurement of sweat function. The aim of this observational study was to assess sweat function in a diabetes outpatient consult clinic in Germany. Methods: The study was conducted from February 2009 to March 2011 on patients of a diabetes outpatient clinic in Germany with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and was conducted parallel to standard care. Sweat function was evaluated by measuring the electrochemical conductance (ESC) of the hands and feet. The method’s reproducibility between 2 devices and a follow-up according to insulin administration were also assessed. Results: 52 patients with type 1 diabetes and 115 patients with type 2 diabetes (69 receiving insulin) were involved in this observational study. Hand and foot conductances were lower in patients with type 2 diabetes when compared to patients with type 1 diabetes. A slight decrease in hand and foot conductances was observed in patients with type 2 diabetes without insulin, while an increase was observed in patients receiving insulin ( − 3.8±9.7 vs. 1.0±9.7 µS, p=0.02 for the hands and − 2.2±7.5 vs. 4.1±8.8 µS, p<0.001 for the feet). Coefficient of correlation between measurements performed with the 2 different devices was 0.85 for hands and 0.93 for feet, p<0.001. No safety concern was reported and none of the subjects experienced discomfort during the tests. Conclusion: This preliminary study shows that the assessment of small C fiber neuropathy can be performed non invasively, quickly and effectively in standard diabetes outpatient practice with very good reproducibility. The observation that electrochemical skin conductance improves with intensified insulin treatment must be confirmed in a clinical study performed on a larger population.
A wireless IC for time-share chemical and electrical neural recording

Neurons communicate both electrically and chemically [1]. Extensive effort has been directed at monitoring these signals in awake animals to investigate the neural basis of behavior. While various measurement strategies have been employed in the past, electrophysiology (EPHYS) for single-unit recording [2] and voltammetry for neurotransmitter sensing [3] are established as the two best methods for probing neurotransmission at microscopic scales in real time.