Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimentally Increasing Titin Compliance in a Novel Mouse Model Attenuates the Frank-Starling Mechanism But Has a Beneficial Effect on Diastole

Background— Experimentally upregulating compliant titins has been suggested as a therapeutic for lowering pathological diastolic stiffness levels. However, how increasing titin compliance impacts global cardiac function requires in-depth study. We investigate the effect of upregulating compliant titins in a novel mouse model with a genetically altered titin splicing factor; integrative approaches were used from intact cardiomyocyte mechanics to pressure-volume analysis and Doppler echocardiography. Methods and Results— Compliant titins were upregulated through deletion of the RNA Recognition Motif of the splicing factor RBM20 (Rbm20&Dgr;RRMmice). A genome-wide exon expression analysis and a candidate approach revealed that the phenotype is likely to be dominated by greatly increased lengths of titin’s spring elements. At both cardiomyocyte and left ventricular chamber levels, diastolic stiffness was reduced in heterozygous (+/−) Rbm20&Dgr;RRMmice with a further reduction in homozygous (−/−) mice at only the intact myocyte level. Fibrosis was present in only −/− Rbm20&Dgr;RRM hearts. The Frank-Starling Mechanism was reduced in a graded fashion in Rbm20&Dgr;RRM mice, at both the cardiomyocyte and left ventricular chamber levels. Exercise tests revealed an increase in exercise capacity in +/− mice. Conclusions— Titin is not only important in diastolic but also in systolic cardiac function. Upregulating compliant titins reduces diastolic chamber stiffness owing to the increased compliance of myocytes, but it depresses end-systolic elastance; under conditions of exercise, the beneficial effects on diastolic function dominate. Therapeutic manipulation of the RBM20-based splicing system might be able to minimize effects on fibrosis and systolic function while improving the diastolic function in patients with heart failure.
Heuristics for QoS-aware Web Service Composition

This paper discusses the quality of service (QoS)-aware composition of Web services. The work is based on the assumption that for each task in a workflow a set of alternative Web services with similar functionality is available and that these Web services have different QoS parameters and costs. This leads to the general optimization problem of how to select Web services for each task so that the overall QoS and cost requirements of the composition are satisfied. Current proposals use exact algorithms or complex heuristics (e.g. genetic algorithms) to solve this problem. An actual implementation of a workflow engine (like our WSQoSX architecture), however, has to be able to solve these optimization problems in real-time and under heavy load. Therefore, we present a heuristic that performs extremely well while providing excellent (almost optimal) solutions. Using simulations, we show that in most cases our heuristic is able to calculate solutions that come as close as 99% to the optimal solution while taking less than 2% of the time of a standard exact algorithm. Further, we also investigate how much and under which circumstances the solution obtained by our heuristic can be further improved by other heuristics
Hierarchical analysis of process variation for mixed-signal systems

Increasing process variability necessitates reliable analysis of its effects on circuit performance not only at the top level but also at intermediate levels. Mixed-signal circuits with multiple hierarchical layers, multiple parameters, and complex functional relations are especially susceptible to such variations. In this paper, we present a hierarchical method for process variation analysis. The ability to compute the variance of parameters at each hierarchical layer makes the method particularly suited for helping designers through design iterations. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method achieves high computational efficiency with up to 2% compromise in accuracy even for highly nonlinear functional relations.
Knowledge in the head and on the web: using topic expertise to aid search

The importance of background knowledge for effective searching on the Web is not well understood. Participants were given trivia questions on two topics and asked to answer them first using background knowledge and second by searching on the Web. Knowledge of a topic predicted search performance on that topic for all questions and, more importantly, for questions for which participants did not already know the answer. In terms of process, greater topic knowledge led to less time being spent on each Webpage, faster decisions to give up a line of inquiry and shorter queries being entered into the search engine. A more complete theory-led understanding of these effects would assist workers in a whole range of Web-related professions.
Reduced resolution MPEG-2 to H.264 transcoder

This paper describes complexity reduction in MPEG-2 to H.264 transcoding with resolution reduction. The methods developed are applicable to transcoding any DCT based video such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.263 to the recently standardized H.264 video at a reduced resolution. H.264 is being adopted by mobile device industry and devices such as iPod use H.264. The mobile devices, however, need the video at a reduced resolution. The proposed transcoder accelerates the H.264 encoding stage by performing motion estimation for only one block size as determined by the trained decision trees. Our solution allows conversion of MPEG-2 video to the H.264 video format at a reduced resolution with substantially less computing complexity. We use machine learning based approaches to significantly reduce the complexity of this transcoding. Experimental results show a reduction in transcoding time of about 67% (a 3x speedup) with a less than -0.5 dB change in PSNR.
Exploring efficacy in personal constraint negotiation: An ethnography of mountaineering tourists

Limited work has explored the relationship between efficacy and personal constraint negotiation for adventure tourists, yet efficacy is pivotal to successful activity participation as it influences people’s perceived ability to cope with constraints, and their decision to use negotiation strategies. This article explores these themes with participants of a commercially organised mountaineering expedition. Phenomenology-based ethnography was adopted to appreciate the social and cultural mountaineering setting from an emic perspective. Ethnography is already being used to understand adventure participation, yet there is considerable scope to employ it further through researchers immersing themselves into the experience. The findings capture the interaction between the ethnographer and the group members, and provide an embodied account using their lived experiences. Findings reveal that personal mountaineering skills, personal fitness, altitude sickness and fatigue were the four key types of personal constraint. Self-efficacy, negotiation-efficacy and other factors, such as hardiness and motivation, influenced the effectiveness of negotiation strategies. Training, rest days, personal health and positive self-talk were negotiation strategies. A conceptual model illustrates these results and demonstrates the interplay between efficacy and the personal constraint negotiation journey for led mountaineers.
Real-time onboard 6DoF localization of an indoor MAV in degraded visual environments using a RGB-D camera

Real-time and reliable localization is a prerequisite for autonomously performing high-level tasks with micro aerial vehicles(MAVs). Nowadays, most existing methods use vision system for 6DoF pose estimation, which can not work in degraded visual environments. This paper presents an onboard 6DoF pose estimation method for an indoor MAV in challenging GPS-denied degraded visual environments by using a RGB-D camera. In our system, depth images are mainly used for odometry estimation and localization. First, a fast and robust relative pose estimation (6DoF Odometry) method is proposed, which uses the range rate constraint equation and photometric error metric to get the frame-to-frame transform. Then, an absolute pose estimation (6DoF Localization) method is proposed to locate the MAV in a given 3D global map by using a particle filter. The whole localization system can run in real-time on an embedded computer with low CPU usage. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our system in extensive real environments on a customized MAV platform. The experimental results show that our localization system can robustly and accurately locate the robot in various practical challenging environments.
Almost Fréchet Differentiability of Lipschitz Mappings Between Infinite‐Dimensional Banach Spaces

We give several sufficient conditions on a pair of Banach spaces X and Y under which each Lipschitz mapping from a domain in X to Y has, for every ɛ > 0, a point of ɛ‐Fréchet differentiability. Most of these conditions are stated in terms of the moduli of asymptotic smoothness and convexity, notions which have appeared in the literature under a variety of names. We prove, for example, that for ∞ > r > p ⩾ 1, every Lipschitz mapping from a domain in an lr‐sum of finite‐dimensional spaces into an lp‐sum of finite‐dimensional spaces has, for every ɛ > 0, a point of ɛ‐Fréchet differentiability, and that every Lipschitz mapping from an asymptotically uniformly smooth space to a finite‐dimensional space has such points. The latter result improves, with a simpler proof, an earlier result of the second and third authors. We also survey some of the known results on the notions of asymptotic smoothness and convexity, prove some new properties, and present some new proofs of existing results.
A lightweight Sybil attack detection framework for Wireless Sensor Networks

In the field of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), the problem of Sybil attacks has been widely considered by researchers. However, among the existing solutions, lightweight models are very limited. To accomplish this, the authors suggest a lightweight Sybil attack detection framework (LSDF) in this paper. This framework has two components: first, evidence collection; second, evidence validation. Every node in the network collects the evidences by observing the activities of neighboring nodes. These evidences are validated by running sequential hypothesis test to decide whether neighboring node is a benign node or Sybil node. With extensive simulations, it was revealed that the LSDF can detect Sybil activity accurately with few evidences.
Coming of Age—Sexual Reproduction in Candida Species

Historically, Candida species represented a catch-all taxonomic grouping for yeasts that exhibited hyphal or pseudohyphal branching and did not form sexual spores. However, with the advent of molecular typing of DNA sequences, it is now apparent that Candida represent a diverse range of species within the Hemiascomycetes, which also includes the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Several Candida species are prominent human pathogens, including Candida glabrata, Candida parapsilosis, and Candida albicans, the latter being the most common human pathogenic fungus. While C. albicans is a natural commensal, typically found amongst the microbiota inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract, it is also the cause of debilitating mucosal infections as well as life-threatening systemic infections. Taken together, Candida species are the fourth most common cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections, where they account for 8%–10% of such infections [1]. The most clinically important Candida species, with the exception of C. glabrata and Candida krusei, cluster together in a single clade [2]. The species within this clade share an altered genetic code in which CUG codons encode serine rather than the universal leucine [3]. The Candida clade species can be further subdivided into two separate sub-clades; one contains haploid species that are relatively rare pathogens (e.g., Candida lusitaniae), while the other contains diploid species such as C. albicans and C. parapsilosis that are frequent pathogens (Figure 1A).
CCD noise removal in digital images

In this work, we propose a denoising scheme to restore images degraded by CCD noise. The CCD noise model, measured in the space of incident light values (light space), is a combination of signal-independent and signal-dependent noise terms. This model becomes more complex in image brightness space (normal camera output) due to the nonlinearity of the camera response function that transforms incoming data from light space to image space. We develop two adaptive restoration techniques, both accounting for this nonlinearity. One operates in light space, where the relationship between the incident light and light space values is linear, while the second method uses the transformed noise model to operate in image space. Both techniques apply multiple adaptive filters and merge their outputs to give the final restored image. Experimental results suggest that light space denoising is more efficient, since it enables the design of a simpler filter implementation. Results are given for real images with synthetic noise added, and for images with real noise
Self-fulfilling and fundamentals based speculative attacks on public debt

The euro area crisis shows some similarities with the crisis that affected the European Monetary System in 1992-93. I argue that the theoretical framework to be used in order to analyze it can also be similar. As a matter of fact, together with the point of view of the government, that should compare costs and benefits of defaulting on the public debt-something already suggested in the literature-it should be considered the point of view of speculators, who look at the state of the economic fundamentals in order to decide whether to attack or not. This helps explaining and interpreting both the recent crisis and the effects of the fiscal and monetary policy measures that have been adopted in order to solve it.
Higher education, the ‘knowledge economy’ and ‘knowledge workers’: does current education policy make sense?

The UK higher education (HE) system has undergone a major transformation over the past three decades from a system that catered for an elite group of entrants in the late 1960s and early 1970s to one that now aims to provide tertiary education to half the population of 18 year olds. At present, approximately 39 per cent of the ‘typical’ age cohort in the UK completes a ‘full length first higher education course’, a figure above the OECD average (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2006: 2). This article examines recent evidence on the graduate labour market to consider whether or not the UK government is justified in focusing almost exclusively on the supply-side of the labour market (increasing the proportion of highly-qualified labour in the workforce) to ensure UK competitiveness in the global economy.
Allowing citizen participation in environmental regulation : An empirical analysis of the effects of right-to-sue and right-to-know provisions on industry's toxic emissions : Research on the environment

Extant research is inconclusive about whether policies that allow citizen participation in environmental regulation reduce pollution. This study attempts to advance our understanding of these new forms of regulation by empirically investigating the effects of State-sponsored right-to-sue and right-to-know provisions. This research utilizes data from the Toxic Release Inventory in a pooled, cross-sectional, time-series analysis of State patterns of industrial toxic emissions. Findings indicate that, net of other predictors, States that have right-to-sue laws or that provide substantial funding for right-to-know programs have significantly lower rates of toxic emissions over time. Results are consistent with the arguments of conflict environmental sociologists, who suggest that, unless citizens are provided real resources to mobilize their interests, citizen participation schemes will tend to be only symbolic gestures
Expression and localisation of vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor during the final growth of bovine ovarian follicles.

Locally produced growth factors may have important modulatory roles in final ovarian follicular growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible participation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) in bovine follicles during final growth. Ovaries were collected from a slaughterhouse within 10-20 min after exsanguination. A classification of follicles into five groups (<0.5; >0.5-5; >5-20; >20-180; >180 ng/ml) was performed according to the follicular fluid (FF) oestradiol-17 beta content. For a better characterisation of classes the mRNA expressions of FSH receptor, LH receptor and aromatase cytochrome P450 in theca interna (TI) and granulosa cells (GC) were determined. Analysis of VEGF transcript by RT-PCR showed that GC and theca cells express predominantly the smallest isoforms (VEGF(121) and VEGF(165)). VEGF mRNA expression in both tissues (TI and GC) and VEGF protein concentration in total follicle tissue increased significantly (and correlated) with developmental stages of follicle growth. The expression of mRNA for VEGF receptor (VEGFR)-1 and VEGFR-2 was very weak in GC, without any regulatory change during final follicle growth. In contrast, TI showed strong expression of mRNA for both receptors in all follicle classes examined. VEGF protein concentrations in FF increased significantly and continuously to maximum levels in preovulatory follicles. As shown by immunohistochemistry, VEGF protein was clearly localised in TI and GC of preovulatory follicles. FGF2 and FGF receptor (FGFR) mRNA expression in TI increased significantly during final growth of follicles. In contrast, the FGF2 and FGFR mRNA expression in GC was very weak and without any regulatory change during follicle growth. Histological observation revealed that FGF2 protein was localised in theca tissue (cytoplasm of endothelial cells and pericytes) but not in GC. Our results suggest that VEGF and FGF families are involved in the proliferation of capillaries that accompanies the selection of the preovulatory follicle resulting in an increased supply of nutrients and precursors, and therefore supporting the growth of the dominant follicle.
Caste Determination in a Polymorphic Social Insect: Nutritional, Social, and Genetic Factors

We examined how dietary, social, and genetic factors affect individual size and caste in the Florida harvester ant Pogonomyrmex badius, which has three discrete female castes. The diet that a larva consumed, as indicated by δ13C, δ15N, and C:N, varied with caste. Both N content and estimated trophic position of dietary input was higher for major than for minor workers and was highest for gynes (reproductive females). The size and resources of a colony affected the size of only minor workers, not that of gynes and major workers. Approximately 19% of patrilines showed a bias in which female caste they produced. There were significant genetic effects on female size, and the average sizes of a major worker and a gyne produced by a patriline were correlated, but neither was correlated with minor worker size. Thus, genetic factors influence both caste and size within caste. We conclude that environmental, social, and genetic variation interact to create morphological and physiological variation among females in P. badius. However, the relative importance of each type of factor affecting caste determination is caste specific.
The Competition Model and UG

In a recent issue of this journal, Edward Gibson published a review of ‘The crosslinguistic study of sentence processing’ (CSSP) -a book which contains several chapters summarizing our recent crosslinguistic work and those of our collaborators in several countries. The primary goal of CSSP was to explore the predictions that derive from a minimalist model of language processing and acquisition which we have called the Competition Model. Gibson’s review of CSSP exposes a set of deep fracture lines separating two competing approaches to psycholinguistics. One one side of the fault zone, the Competition Model focuses on the construction of a minimalist model designed to predict exact numerical values in controlled studies. In this approach, an initial candidate model is not responsible for predicting all levels of all variables for all sentences in all languages. Instead, the model is developed inductively on the basis of a constrained set of sentence types and certain limited predictions. On the other side of the psycholinguistic fault zone, the UG model that Gibson espouses avoids minimalism and emphasizes the complexity of the theory of formal principles of language structure motivated by binary acceptability judgments generated by small numbers of professionally-trained theoreticians. There are, in principle, three possible ways that one can understand the relation between the Competition Model and UG: 1. The Competition Model and UG could be viewed as non-competing accounts of totally separate aspects of reality. According to this analysis, comparing the Competition Model with UG would be like comparing programs for stock market technical analysis with models of bird flight. If two models describe different realities, they should be viewed as mutually irrelevant and should not be compared competitively. However, we believe that language is a unitary cognitive phenomenon. As a result, we cannot accept the idea that UG and the Competition Model are mutually irrelevant. 2. The Competition Model and UG could be viewed as non-competing and complementary accounts of different aspects of the same set of related phenomena. Although Gibson and others have rejected this possibility, we believe that it is premature to exclude this potential relation. 3. Finally, it could be the case that the two models are direct rivals and that one is right and the other wrong. This is the approach Gibson pursues. In particular, he chooses to argue that UG is ‘adequate’ and the Competition Model is ‘fundamentally flawed. ’
Labour Market Regulations and the Sectoral Reallocation of Workers: The Case of Trade Reforms

In this paper I highlight the importance of incorporating the institutional features of local labour markets into the analysis of trade reforms. A trade reform is often deemed beneficial because the elimination of trade barriers allows labour to reallocate towards those sectors in the economy in which the country has a comparative advantage. The amount and speed of the reallocation, however, and the post-reform behaviour of output, productivity and welfare, will depend on how regulated the labour market is. First, I document that high firing costs slow down the intersectoral reallocation of labour after a trade reform. Second, in order to isolate the effect of firing costs on labour reallocation, output and welfare after a trade reform, I build a dynamic general equilibrium model. I find that if a country does not liberalize its labour market at the outset of its trade reform, the intersectoral reallocation of workers will be 30% slower, and as much as 30% of the gains in real output and labour productivity in the years following the trade reform will be lost. From a policy standpoint, the message is that while trade reforms are desirable, they need to be complemented by labour market reforms in order to be fully successful. Copyright 2009, Wiley-Blackwell.