Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling of lamin A/C mutation premature cardiac aging using patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells

AIMS We identified an autosomal dominant non-sense mutation (R225X) in exon 4 of the lamin A/C (LMNA) gene in a Chinese family spanning 3 generations with familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). In present study, we aim to generate induced pluripotent stem cells derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) from an affected patient with R225X and another patient bearing LMNA frame-shift mutation for drug screening. METHODS and RESULTS Higher prevalence of nuclear bleb formation and micronucleation was present in LMNAR225X/WT and LMNAFramshift/WT iPSC-CMs. Under field electrical stimulation, percentage of LMNA-mutated iPSC-CMs exhibiting nuclear senescence and cellular apoptosis markedly increased. shRNA knockdown of LMNA replicated those phenotypes of the mutated LMNA field electrical stress. Pharmacological blockade of ERK1/2 pathway with MEK1/2 inhibitors, U0126 and selumetinib (AZD6244) significantly attenuated the pro-apoptotic effects of field electric stimulation on the mutated LMNA iPSC-CMs. CONCLUSION LMNA-related DCM was modeled in-vitro using patient-specific iPSC-CMs. Our results demonstrated that haploinsufficiency due to R225X LMNA non-sense mutation was associated with accelerated nuclear senescence and apoptosis of iPSC- CMs under electrical stimulation, which can be significantly attenuated by therapeutic blockade of stress-related ERK1/2 pathway.
Promoting Community Awareness through Opportunistic , Peripheral Interfaces

Social capital is the collective value of the relationships between people, including their level of trust and respect for each other. It accumulates through social interactions such as communication and shared activities. In communities with higher levels of social capital, members often experience better health, better education and economical outcomes, as well as better collaboration and sharing. One way to enhance the level of social capital in a community is through increased community awareness and community information exchange. Unfortunately, as a community grows in size and becomes more geographically dispersed, people’s levels of community awareness typically decline. This research introduces “What’s Happening,” a computer system designed to promote and enhance community awareness in a large, distributed academic organization. The article describes the design evolution and resulting system functionality of What’s Happening. The article also reviews use of the deployed system and evaluates its perceived utility. What’s Happening appeared to be effective in enhancing community awareness, but it did not achieve as significant a level of use as hoped.
Evolution of Component Based Systems

Many organisations are moving towards a component based approach to software development. However, there is a significant risk that component based systems will become the legacy software of the future. The difficulties of maintaining systems for which responsibility is distributed across many authors, owners and organisations is aptly illustrated by the increasing World Wide Web (WWW) maintenance mountain [1].
Modeling of crowdsourcing platforms and granularity of work organization in Future Internet

Beside of social media networks, crowdsourcing is one of the emerging new applications and business models in the Future Internet, which can dramatically change the future of work and work organization in the on-line world. The crowdsourcing technology can be viewed as "Human Cloud" technique, in contrast to "Machine Cloud Computing". Using a crowd with a large number of internationally widespread workers and the flexibility of micro-payment services, crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon's MTurk and Microworkers can outsource traditional forms of work organization on a microscopic level of granularity to a large, anonymous crowd of workers, the human cloud. In such platforms work or tasks are organized at a finer granularity and jobs are split into micro-tasks that need to be performed by a human cloud. It is a need of analysis to understand the anatomy of such a platform and of models to describe the time-dependent growth of the human cloud, in order to predict the traffic impact of such novel applications and to forecast the growth dynamics. The purpose of this paper is a measurement-based statistical analysis of a crowdsourcing platform, using the Microworkers.com platform as example. The obtained results are then used to model the growth of such fast-changing environments in the Internet using well-known models from biology. Based on the findings from the population growth, we develop a deterministic fluid model which is an extension of the SIR model of epidemics, in order to investigate the platform dynamics.
On the Relationship Between Dual Photography and Classical Ghost Imaging

Classical ghost imaging has received considerable attention in recent years because of its remarkable ability to image a scene without direct observation by a light-detecting imaging device. In this article, we show that this imaging process is actually a realization of a paradigm known as dual photography, which has been shown to produce full-color dual (ghost) images of 3D objects with complex materials without using a traditional imaging device. Specifically, we demonstrate mathematically that the cross-correlation based methods used to recover ghost images are equivalent to the light transport measurement process of dual photography. Because of this, we are able to provide a new explanation for ghost imaging using only classical optics by leveraging the principle of reciprocity in classical electromagnetics. This observation also shows how to leverage previous work on light transport acquisition and dual photography to improve ghost imaging systems in the future.
Expression of Syntaxin‐2 in Bovine Sperm

Syntaxins are membrane integrated Q‐SNARE proteins known to participate in exocytosis. Vesicle docking involves the binding of two plasma membrane proteins, syntaxin and SNAP‐25, to the vesicle membrane protein VAMP to form a stable trimeric core complex; synaptophysin is thought to regulate the formation of this complex. Although the members of Q‐SNARE proteins are characterized in somatic cells, it is not known whether related proteins function in the sperm acrosome reaction. The objective of the present study is to identify and localize syntaxin and synaptophysin in bovine epididymal spermatozoa. Western blots of caput and cauda sperm lysates and plasma membrane fractions stained with anti‐syntaxin and anti‐synaptophysin showed the presence of a 31kDa and 38kDa band in both sperm lysates and plasma membrane fractions, respectively. Indirect immunofluorescence localized syntaxin to the anterior but not equatorial regions of the acrosomal segment. Syntaxin was recovered in the anti‐syntaxin immunoprecipitation pellet. Coimmunoprecipitation analysis will be utilized to identify the syntaxin‐associated protein(s) complex during capacitation and acrosome reaction of bovine spermatozoa. It is assumed that syntaxin‐2 and synaptophysin may be involved in triggering the acrosome reaction through a ligand‐receptor mediated signal transduction pathway. NIH 1SC3GM096875 and FSU‐RISE ‐ STEM Grants.
Modulation frequency domain adaptive gain equalizer using convex optimization

Adaptive gain equalizer (AGE) is a commonly used single-channel speech enhancement algorithm. AGE and its variants has been widely used for speech enhancement applications. There are two broad categories of these variants. The first deals with its improvement in time-frequency domain with readjustment of the used parameters and the second one deals with performing the main filtering operation in modulation frequency domain. This paper evaluates the working of AGE in modulation frequency domain with the use of a demodulation technique which solves the demodulation process as a convex optimization problem. The performance of the modified AGE is compared with the traditional AGE and another modulation frequency domain AGE based on demodulation using the spectral center-of-gravity. These used performance measures are Signal to Noise Ratio Improvement(SNRI), Spectral Distortion(SD) and Mean Option Score(MOS).
A Method for Improving SVM Classifier by Excluding Redundant Information

This paper proposes that support vectors include redundant information after analyzing Kernel's geometrical structure and researching data dependant method for improving support vector machine (SVM). Redundant information confuses the law of a learning problem. Data dependant method on improving SVM is based on Riemannian geometry theory and could exclude redundant information. Reasoning and experiments show this method could effectively improve classification ability and classification speed of SVM.
Mouvement social gai et luttes institutionnelles : des services sociaux pour les personnes d’orientation homosexuelle

L’auteur relate l’histoire americaine puis quebecoise des demarches entreprises pour faire reconnaitre la legitimite de services destines aux gais et aux lesbiennes aux prises avec des problemes lies a la perception negative de leur orientation affective/sexuelle et la necessite de developper des pratiques individuelles et collectives en accord avec une vision de l’homosexualite debarrassee de prejuges. L’accent est mis sur les difficultes rencontrees a faire inscrire dans une institution publique de services sociaux des pratiques professionnelles non discriminatoires et, si necessaire, des services specialises pour les personnes d’orientation homosexuelle.Les groupes autonomes de gais et de lesbiennes jouent un role de groupes de pression et parviennent a se faire reconnaitre comme interlocuteurs valables aupres des institutions concernees. Des programmes prennent forme, qui repondent a de nombreuses demandes.
Contextual factors for finding similar experts

Expertise‐seeking research studies how people search for expertise and choose whom to contact in the context of a specific task. An important outcome are models that identify factors that influence expert finding. Expertise retrieval addresses the same problem, expert finding, but from a system‐centered perspective. The main focus has been on developing content‐based algorithms similar to document search. These algorithms identify matching experts primarily on the basis of the textual content of documents with which experts are associated. Other factors, such as the ones identified by expertise‐seeking models, are rarely taken into account. In this article, we extend content‐based expert‐finding approaches with contextual factors that have been found to influence human expert finding. We focus on a task of science communicators in a knowledge‐intensive environment, the task of finding similar experts, given an example expert. Our approach combines expertise‐seeking and retrieval research. First, we conduct a user study to identify contextual factors that may play a role in the studied task and environment. Then, we design expert retrieval models to capture these factors. We combine these with content‐based retrieval models and evaluate them in a retrieval experiment. Our main finding is that while content‐based features are the most important, human participants also take contextual factors into account, such as media experience and organizational structure. We develop two principled ways of modeling the identified factors and integrate them with content‐based retrieval models. Our experiments show that models combining content‐based and contextual factors can significantly outperform existing content‐based models.
A balanced 150–240 GHz amplifier MMIC using airbridge transmission lines

A compact balanced amplifier monolithic milli-meter-wave integrated circuit (MMIC) for the frequency range from 150 to 240 GHz is developed using airbridge microstrip (AirMS) transmission lines in a 35nm gate-length metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) technology. The hybrid couplers for the balanced design are realized using airbridge-stacked coupled lines. The balanced three-stage cascode amplifier achieves a small-signal gain of more than 15 dB between 150 and 240 GHz, from 210 to 230 GHz even more than 23 dB. In the latter frequency range the variation of the measured gain curve is less than 0.8 dB. Due to the balanced design, the input and output reflections are lower than -12 dB up to 227 GHz, and lower than -6 dB in the whole frequency range.
Mixed signal design in SOI CMOS technology

The purpose of this work is to find good design techniques for the analog/mixed-signal parts of a system-on-chip in silicon-on-insulator (SOI). A 6-bit flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) has therefore been designed and manufactured in a 130 nm partially depleted SOI CMOS technology. The ADC is designed for a sampling frequency of 1.5 GHz or above. An introduction to the SOI technology is also given and some of the major advantages and disadvantages of using SOI are presented.
A Compile-Time Optimization Method for WCET Reduction in Real-Time Embedded Systems through Block Formation

Compile-time optimizations play an important role in the efficient design of real-time embedded systems. Usually, compile-time optimizations are designed to reduce average-case execution time (ACET). While ACET is a main concern in high-performance computing systems, in real-time embedded systems, concerns are different and worst-case execution time (WCET) is much more important than ACET. Therefore, WCET reduction is more desirable than ACET reduction in many real-time embedded systems. In this article, we propose a compile-time optimization method aimed at reducing WCET in real-time embedded systems. In the proposed method, based on the predicated execution capability of embedded processors, program code blocks that are in the worst-case paths of the program are merged to increase instruction-level parallelism and opportunity for WCET reduction. The use of predicated execution enables merging code blocks from different worst-case paths that can be very effective in WCET reduction. The experimental results show that the proposed method can reduce WCET by up to 45% as compared to previous compile-time block formation methods. It is noteworthy that compared to previous works, while the proposed method usually achieves more WCET reduction, it has considerably less negative impact on ACET and code size.
Minimizing error and VLSI complexity in the multiplication free approximation of arithmetic coding

Two new algorithms for performing arithmetic coding without multiplication are presented. The first algorithm, suitable for an alphabet of arbitrary size, reduces the worst-case normalized excess length to under 0.8% versus 1.911% for the previously known best method of Chevion et al. The second algorithm, suitable only for alphabets of less than twelve symbols, allows even greater reduction in the excess code length. For the important binary alphabet the worst-case excess code length is reduced to less than 0.1% versus 1.1% for the method of Chevion et al. The implementation requirements of the proposed new algorithms are discussed and shown to be similar. <<ETX>>
Diversity of Maize Shoot Apical Meristem Architecture and Its Relationship to Plant Morphology

The shoot apical meristem contains a pool of undifferentiated stem cells and controls initiation of all aerial plant organs. In maize (Zea mays), leaves are formed throughout vegetative development; on transition to floral development, the shoot meristem forms the tassel. Due to the regulated balance between stem cell maintenance and organogenesis, the structure and morphology of the shoot meristem are constrained during vegetative development. Previous work identified loci controlling meristem architecture in a recombinant inbred line population. The study presented here expanded on this by investigating shoot apical meristem morphology across a diverse set of maize inbred lines. Crosses of these lines to common parents showed varying phenotypic expression in the F1, with some form of heterosis occasionally observed. An investigation of meristematic growth throughout vegetative development in diverse lines linked the timing of reproductive transition to flowering time. Phenotypic correlations of meristem morphology with adult plant traits showed an association between the meristem and flowering time, leaf shape, and yield traits, revealing links between the control and architecture of undifferentiated and differentiated plant organs. Finally, quantitative trait loci mapping was utilized to map the genetic architecture of these meristem traits in two divergent populations. Control of meristem architecture was mainly population-specific, with 15 total unique loci mapped across the two populations with only one locus identified in both populations.
A Fast Computation of 3 × 3 Matrix Exponentials and its Application in CG

It is often useful to compute a lot of matrix exponentials in computer graphics (CG). The exponential of a matrix is used for the smooth deformation of 2D or 3D meshed CG objects. Hence, we need to compute a large number of the exponentials of 3 × 3 rotational matrices and 3 × 3 real symmetric matrices. For rotational matrices, Rodrigues’ formula is known to compute their exponentials. We investigated the polynomial methods introduced by Moler and Van Loan to compute an exponential of 3 × 3 real symmetric matrices, and we introduce an algorithm for eigenvalues of 3 × 3 real symmetric matrices. We introduce a simple formula for the matrix exponential of a 3 × 3 real symmetric matrix using a formula introduced by Kaji et al. in 2013 and Viète’s Formula. Since our matrix exponential algorithm do not use eigenvectors, we are able to reduce the computational cost using a fast eigenvalue computation algorithm. Then, we incorporated our implementation into a shape deforming tool developed by Kaji et al. As a result, we achieved a notable performance improvement. In fact we show our algorithms for matrix exponentials is about 76% faster than a standard algorithm for given 3 × 3 real symmetric matrices. For the deformation of a CG model, our algorithm was about 19% faster than a standard algorithm.
-1 - Different Target-discrimination times Can Be Followed by the Same Saccade-initiation Timing in Different 1 Stimulus Conditions during Visual Searches 2

Tomohiro Tanaka, Satoshi Nishida and Tadashi Ogawa 2 3 4 Dept of Integrative Brain Science 5 Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University 6 Sakyo-ku 606-8501, Kyoto, Japan 7 8 Center for Enhancing Next Generation Research 9 Kyoto University 10 Sakyo-ku 606-8302, Kyoto, Japan 11 12 Abbreviated title: Discrimination and reaction times during visual search 13 14 Corresponding author: Tadashi Ogawa, PhD 15 Center for Enhancing Next Generation Research 16 Kyoto University 17 Sakyo-ku 606-8302, Kyoto, Japan 18 Phone: +81-75-754-0161 19 e-mail: ogawa.tadashi. 7a@kyoto-u.ac. jp 20 21
Musical journey: a virtual world gamification experience for music learning

Games are an integral part of the learning process of humans, in particular for children, who exploit the imagery as an intrinsic part of their lives. Features from games have been successfully implemented as a means to captivate and motivate students to perform learning at various levels of education in traditional schools. This paper presents a virtual world – Musical Journey – representing the Aesthetic Periods of Music History. This virtual environment allows students to freely explore and discover the most relevant sounds, musical instruments and composers, ranging from the first century to present time. Musical Journey is a three-dimensional space that simulates an area similar to a museum or art gallery. In that context, musical contents are grouped into thematic exhibition halls, where users can interact with the exhibition. Musical Journey was developed with the Vivaty Studio program, exported to the standard X3D and configured for local or remote access using X3DOM enrolled in HTML5 pages, displaying 3-D contents in a web browser without any plug-ins. In this paper, we explain how the introduction of the concept gamification, through a process whereby we insert elements of game mechanics and design in the virtual world, contributed to the learning and motivation of the study of these curricula. We conclude this paper by presenting a case-study conducted among a sample group of students from the 2nd Cycle of Basic Education contemplating the use of this Virtual world in an educational context.
Limits on the security of coin flips when half the processors are faulty

Protocols which allow an asynchronous network of processors to agree on a r andom (unbiased) bit are proposed in [1] and [4]. It is claimed tha t (assuming a t rapdoor funct ion exists), if less than half of the processors are faulty then the correct processors will still agree on a bit whose bias is negligibly small (when the running t ime of the processors is poly(n) the bias is smaller than O(~r) for all k). If half the processors are faulty then these protocols are no longer effective: the bits ou tpu t by the correct processors may be heavily biased. We prove tha t the above protocols are opt imal in the sense tha t no protocol exists which tolerates faults in at least half of the processors. The result is very general because few restr ict ions are made on the types of communicat ion allowed between correct processors (such as pr ivate channels and global channels) and the correct processors only need to agree on a bit in a weak probabil ist ic sense. Also, the faulty processors do not require very much power. They can privately communicate wi th each other but they cannot read messages which are exchanged pr ivately between two correct processors. An interest ing instance of the problem arises when the number of processors is fixed at two and one of t hem
Attacks resistant hybrid watermarking scheme

The main objective of developing an image-watermarking technique is to satisfy both imperceptibility and robustness requirements. To attain this objective, a hybrid image-watermarking scheme based on Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and Singular value decomposition (SVD) is proposed in this paper. In order to improve the robustness and imperceptibleness of the watermarked image, a new embedding and extracting method with DWT-SVD is proposed. The LH Band of the third level of image in DWT domain is modified with SVD to embed the singular value of watermark to the singular value of DWT coefficient. The proposed embedding and extracting methodology was employed to accelerate the hybrid DWT-SVD watermarking and to avoid the leak of watermark. This hybrid technique results to optimize both (robustness and imperceptibility) the fundamentally conflicting requirements. The experimental result shows the good robustness under numerous attacks and the high fidelity. The time required to perform the program is greatly decreased.