Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Magnaporthe oryzae Effector AvrPiz-t Targets the RING E3 Ubiquitin Ligase APIP6 to Suppress Pathogen-Associated Molecular Pattern–Triggered Immunity in Rice[W][OA]

This work shows that the Magnaporthe oryzae effector AvrPiz-t enters into rice cells to target the RING E3 ubiquitin ligase APIP6 for suppression of PAMP-triggered immunity in rice. It also describes that APIP6 degrades AvrPiz-t in planta and positively regulates basal defense to M. oryzae. Although the functions of a few effector proteins produced by bacterial and oomycete plant pathogens have been elucidated in recent years, information for the vast majority of pathogen effectors is still lacking, particularly for those of plant-pathogenic fungi. Here, we show that the avirulence effector AvrPiz-t from the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae preferentially accumulates in the specialized structure called the biotrophic interfacial complex and is then translocated into rice (Oryza sativa) cells. Ectopic expression of AvrPiz-t in transgenic rice suppresses the flg22- and chitin-induced generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enhances susceptibility to M. oryzae, indicating that AvrPiz-t functions to suppress pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity in rice. Interaction assays show that AvrPiz-t suppresses the ubiquitin ligase activity of the rice RING E3 ubiquitin ligase APIP6 and that, in return, APIP6 ubiquitinates AvrPiz-t in vitro. Interestingly, agroinfection assays reveal that AvrPiz-t and AvrPiz-t Interacting Protein 6 (APIP6) are both degraded when coexpressed in Nicotiana benthamiana. Silencing of APIP6 in transgenic rice leads to a significant reduction of flg22-induced ROS generation, suppression of defense-related gene expression, and enhanced susceptibility of rice plants to M. oryzae. Taken together, our results reveal a mechanism in which a fungal effector targets the host ubiquitin proteasome system for the suppression of PAMP-triggered immunity in plants.
Database in crisis and transition: a technical agenda for the year 2001

The current paper outlines a number of important changes that face the database community and presents an agenda for how some of these challenges can be met. This database agenda is currently being addressed in the Enterprise Group at Microsoft Corporation. The paper concludes with a scenario for 2001 which reflects the Microsoft vision of “Information at your fingertips. ”
Software Cost Estimation with Incomplete Data

The construction of software cost estimation models remains an active topic of research. The basic premise of cost modeling is that a historical database of software project cost data can be used to develop a quantitative model to predict the cost of future projects. One of the difficulties faced by workers in this area is that many of these historical databases contain substantial amounts of missing data. Thus far, the common practice has been to ignore observations with missing data. In principle, such a practice can lead to gross biases and may be detrimental to the accuracy of cost estimation models. We describe an extensive simulation where we evaluate different techniques for dealing with missing data in the context of software cost modeling. Three techniques are evaluated: listwise deletion, mean imputation, and eight different types of hot-deck imputation. Our results indicate that all the missing data techniques perform well with small biases and high precision. This suggests that the simplest technique, listwise deletion, is a reasonable choice. However, this will not necessarily provide the best performance. Consistent best performance (minimal bias and highest precision) can be obtained by using hot-deck imputation with Euclidean distance and a z-score standardization.
Did Equity of Reproductive and Maternal Health Service Coverage Increase during the MDG Era? An Analysis of Trends and Determinants across 74 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Introduction Despite widespread gains toward the 5th Millennium Development Goal (MDG), pro-rich inequalities in reproductive health (RH) and maternal health (MH) are pervasive throughout the world. As countries enter the post-MDG era and strive toward UHC, it will be important to monitor the extent to which countries are achieving equity of RH and MH service coverage. This study explores how equity of service coverage differs across countries, and explores what policy factors are associated with a country’s progress, or lack thereof, toward more equitable RH and MH service coverage. Methods We used RH and MH service coverage data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for 74 countries to examine trends in equity between countries and over time from 1990 to 2014. We examined trends in both relative and absolute equity, and measured relative equity using a concentration index of coverage data grouped by wealth quintile. Through multivariate analysis we examined the relative importance of policy factors, such as political commitment to health, governance, and the level of prepayment, in determining countries’ progress toward greater equity in RH and MH service coverage. Results Relative equity for the coverage of RH and MH services has continually increased across all countries over the past quarter century; however, inequities in coverage persist, in some countries more than others. Multivariate analysis shows that higher education and greater political commitment (measured as the share of government spending allocated to health) were significantly associated with higher equity of service coverage. Neither country income, i.e., GDP per capita, nor better governance were significantly associated with equity. Conclusion Equity in RH and MH service coverage has improved but varies considerably across countries and over time. Even among the subset of countries that are close to achieving the MDGs, progress made on equity varies considerably across countries. Enduring disparities in access and outcomes underpin mounting support for targeted reforms within the broader context of universal health coverage (UHC).
A flexible method to tolerate value sensor failures

Tolerating the value failures of sensors is an important problem in automated control processes and plants. In this paper, we address this problem in a theoretical framework in order to demonstrate the feasibility of an automatic method based on discrete controller synthesis. We consider a fault-intolerant program whose job is to control an automated process, here a liquid tank equipped with level sensors that can be subject to value faults. This fault-intolerant program is modeled as a finite labeled transition system. We then specify formally a fault hypothesis, i.e., how many sensors can fail simultaneously. We use discrete controller synthesis to obtain automatically a program, having the same behavior as the initial fault-intolerant one, and satisfying the fault tolerance requirements under the fault hypothesis. We advocate that, thanks to the use of discrete controller synthesis, our method offers flexibility, reliability, separation of concern, and it is automatic.
A multiphase non-linear mixed effects model: An application to spirometry after lung transplantation

In medical sciences, we often encounter longitudinal temporal relationships that are non-linear in nature. The influence of risk factors may also change across longitudinal follow-up. A system of multiphase non-linear mixed effects model is presented to model temporal patterns of longitudinal continuous measurements, with temporal decomposition to identify the phases and risk factors within each phase. Application of this model is illustrated using spirometry data after lung transplantation using readily available statistical software. This application illustrates the usefulness of our flexible model when dealing with complex non-linear patterns and time-varying coefficients.
Low latency EDRAM main memory subsystem for 66 MHz bus operation

A 16-64 MByte two-way interleaved enhanced DRAM main memory subsystem for 66 MHz 64-bit microprocessors (such as Pentium, PowerPC, R4400, and Alpha) is described. The subsystem integrates 16-64 MBytes of 35 ns random access fast DRAM, a two-way interleaved 8-32 kByte 15 ns SRAM cache, and a 8-32 kByte wide DRAM to SRAM bus structure in a board footprint of only six square inches. In addition to achieving a burst read/write bandwidth of 528 MByte/s at 66 MHz, this subsystem achieves a fast 15 ns initial latency on read hit and 35 ns on read miss accesses. This same memory configuration should be able to support the 80 MHz bus rates required by the highest speed members of these processor families. <<ETX>>
An object-based semantic world model for long-term change detection and semantic querying

Recent years have seen rising interest in robotic mapping algorithms that operate at the level of objects, rather than two- or three-dimensional occupancy. Such “semantic maps” permit higher-level reasoning than occupancy maps, and are useful for any application that involves dealing with objects, including grasping, change detection, and object search. We describe and experimentally verify such a system aboard a mobile robot equipped with a Microsoft Kinect RGB-D sensor. Our representation is object-based, and makes uniquely weak assumptions about the quality of the perceptual data available; in particular, we perform no explicit object recognition. This allows our system to operate in large, dynamic, and uncon-strained environments, where modeling every object that occurs (or might occur) is impractical. Our dataset, which is publicly available, consists of 67 autonomous runs of our robot over a six-week period in a roughly 1600m2 office environment. We demonstrate two applications built on our system: semantic querying and change detection.
Low-power task scheduling for multiple devices

Power management saves power by shutting down idle devices. These devices often serve requests from concurrently running tasks. Ordering task execution can adjust the lengths of idle periods and exploit better opportunities for power management. This paper presents an on-line low-power scheduling algorithm for multiple devices. Simulations show that it can save up to 33% power and reduce 40% state-transition delays. This algorithm is robust under imperfect knowledge of future requests and timing constraints; therefore, it is applicable to interactive systems.
Multimedia interconnection using service gateways

Service gateways are key for the integration of different technologies on smart environments. In the home entertainment domain, a challenging field is the creation of media data flows among heterogeneous devices. This kind of technology could support a broad range of services. The proposed approach introduces a middleware layer built around a service gateway. The gateway stores information and capabilities of each multimedia source or target in a directory which can be browsed. A seamless connection is performed through translation services for media data and events. Finally, the admission service dynamically controls the available bandwidths and computing power consumption.
The Association Between Shift Work and Unhealthy Weight: A Cross-Sectional Analysis From the Nurses and Midwives’ e-Cohort Study

Objective: To examine the association between shift work and unhealthy weight among female nurses and midwives. Methods: A cross-sectional study. Measurement outcomes included shift work, unhealthy weight (underweight: body mass index [BMI] < 18.5; overweight: BMI 25.0 to 29.9; obesity: BMI > 30.0), diet quality, physical-activity level, alcohol consumption, and smoking status. Results: Among the 2494 participants (1259 day and 1235 shift workers), only 1% of the participants were underweight, 31.8% were overweight, and 26.9% were obese. After adjusting the selected confounders, shift workers were 1.15 times more likely to be overweight/obese than day workers (P = 0.013, 95% confidence interval, 1.03 to 1.28; P = 0.02, 95% confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.30, respectively). Conclusions: Shift work is associated with higher risk of being overweight/obese. Longitudinal studies are being undertaken to better understand the causal relationship between shift work and unhealthy weight.
Fitness monitoring system based on heart rate and SpO2 level

The paper presents CaszOxiSys, a real-time system for monitoring and analyzing physiological signals during fitness activity. CaszOxiSys consists of non-invasive pair of physiological sensor (light-emitting diode & photodiode) wirelessly connected through Bluetooth to a netbook or laptop which analyses physiological data and presents it to the user in an intelligible and informative way. This paper focuses on an implementation of CaszOxiSys using a pulse oximeter to monitor the user's heart rate and oxygen saturation. This paper also describes, the Karvonen formula which calculates the target heart rate zone based on age, gender, resting heart rate, maximum heart rate, and fitness intensity level. The Karvonen formula acts as a guideline for fitness workout sessions. The proposed system works in a client-server architecture, where the clients system is used by the fitness center users and the server system is the central monitoring system(s) used by the fitness trainers. The paper also explains how physiological data is transmitted and describes the structure of the transmitted data between the pulse oximeter, client system and server system. CaszOxiSys provides a complete monitoring solution for fitness centers, allowing fitness trainers to monitor the fitness center users from a central or mobile location.
A Pseudoknot in a Preactive Form of a Viral RNA Is Part of a Structural Switch Activating Minus-Strand Synthesis

ABSTRACT RNA can adopt different conformations in response to changes in the metabolic status of cells, which can regulate processes such as transcription, translation, and RNA cleavage. We previously proposed that an RNA conformational switch in an untranslated satellite RNA (satC) of Turnip crinkle virus (TCV) regulates initiation of minus-strand synthesis (G. Zhang, J. Zhang, A. T. George, T. Baumstark, and A. E. Simon, RNA 12:147-162, 2006). This model was based on the lack of phylogenetically inferred hairpins or a known pseudoknot in the “preactive” structure assumed by satC transcripts in vitro. We now provide evidence that a second pseudoknot (Ψ2), whose disruption reduces satC accumulation in vivo and enhances transcription by the TCV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase in vitro, stabilizes the preactive satC structure. Alteration of either Ψ2 partner caused nearly identical structural changes, including single-stranded-specific cleavages in the pseudoknot sequences and strong cleavages in a distal element previously proposed to mediate the conformational switch. These results indicate that the preactive structure identified in vitro has biological relevance in vivo and support a requirement for this alternative structure and a conformational switch in high-level accumulation of satC in vivo.
Energy-dissipation Limits in Variance-based Computing

Variance-based logic (VBL) uses the fluctuations or the variance in the state of a particle or a physical quantity to represent different logic levels. In this letter we show that compared to the traditional bi-stable logic representation the variance-based representation can theoretically achieve a superior performance trade-off (in terms of energy dissipation and information capacity) when operating at fundamental limits imposed by thermal-noise. We show that for a bi-stable logic device the lower limit on energy dissipated per bit is 4.35KT/bit, whereas under similar operating conditions, a VBL device could achieve a lower limit of sub-KT/bit. These theoretical results are general enough to be applicable to different instantiations and variants of VBL ranging from digital processors based on energy-scavenging or to processors based on the emerging valleytronic devices.
Influence of Birth Preparedness, Decision-Making on Location of Birth and Assistance by Skilled Birth Attendants among Women in South-Western Uganda

Introduction Assistance by skilled birth attendants (SBAs) during childbirth is one of the strategies aimed at reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in low-income countries. However, the relationship between birth preparedness and decision-making on location of birth and assistance by skilled birth attendants in this context is not well studied. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of birth preparedness practices and decision-making and assistance by SBAs among women in south-western Uganda. Methods Community survey methods were used to identify 759 recently delivered women from 120 villages in rural Mbarara district. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between birth preparedness, decision-making on location of birth and assistance by SBAs. Results 35% of the women had been prepared for childbirth and the prevalence of assistance by SBAs in the sample was 68%. The final decision regarding location of birth was made by the woman herself (36%), the woman with spouse (56%) and the woman with relative/friend (8%). The relationships between birth preparedness and women decision-making on location of birth in consultation with spouse/friends/relatives and choosing assistance by SBAs showed statistical significance which persisted after adjusting for possible confounders (OR 1.5, 95% CI: 1.0–2.4) and (OR 4.4, 95% CI: 3.0–6.7) respectively. Education, household assets and birth preparedness showed clear synergistic effect on the relationship between decision-maker on location of birth and assistance by SBAs. Other factors which showed statistical significant relationships with assistance by SBAs were ANC attendance, parity and residence. Conclusion Women’s decision-making on location of birth in consultation with spouse/friends/relatives and birth preparedness showed significant effect on choosing assistance by SBAs at birth. Education and household assets ownership showed a synergistic effect on the relationship between the decision-maker and assistance by SBAs.
PETS 2015: Datasets and challenge

This paper presents the two datasets (ARENA and P5) and the challenge that form a part of the PETS 2015 workshop. The datasets consist of scenarios recorded by using multiple visual and thermal sensors. The scenarios in ARENA dataset involve different staged activities around a parked vehicle in a parking lot in UK and those in P5 dataset involve different staged activities around the perimeter of a nuclear power plant in Sweden. The scenarios of each dataset are grouped into `Normal', `Warning' and `Alarm' categories. The Challenge specifically includes tasks that account for different steps in a video understanding system: Low-Level Video Analysis (object detection and tracking), Mid-Level Video Analysis (`atomic' event detection) and High-Level Video Analysis (`complex' event detection). The evaluation methodology used for the Challenge includes well-established measures.
Scattering Parameters Measurements with the Microwave Transmittance Technique Using a Microstrip Patch Antennas, as Non-Invasive Tool for Determination of Soil Moisture

Interactions of soil moisture with plant root systems are very important for plant growth. For non-invasive determination of volumetric soil moisture in a rhizobox, a microwave system based on transmittance of electromagnetic waves in the microwave frequency range was developed using microstrip patch antennas. Vector Network Analyzers (VNAs) were used to measure the S-parameters at frequency ranges close to 5 GHz. A transmission system with microstrip patch antennas was developed. The result of this attenuation is in the frequency domain. The antennae were designed as resonant microstrip antennae. The antennae were placed on both sides of a rhizobox, which allowed non-invasive measuring soil moisture in the box. The attenuation (S21(dB)) was used to measure the effect of temperature, and different types of soil; as well as sensitivity, reproducibility and repeatability of the system. In this work we present quantitative results of soil moisture in rhizobox. The microwave technique, using microstrip patch antennas, is a reliable and accurate system, and showed very promising potential applications for rhizobox-based investigations of root performance.
Decentralized channel assignment and power allocation in a full-duplex Cognitive radio network

With the recent advances in radio modules capable of carrying out full duplex (FD) communication, the spectrum efficiency promised by the concept of Cognitive radio (CR) can be stretched even further by incorporating full duplex transceivers in CRs. This incorporation brings about certain challenges in the resource allocation. In this work we try to address some of the challenges in joint channel and power allocation. We proposed a decentralized scheme which is capable of selecting which channels to be used as half duplex and which to be used as FD between a pair of CRs. Then we decomposed the problem into two sub-problems one dealing with channel assignment and the other dealing with power allocation. In the power allocation we did not assume the signal to interference plus noise ratio to be high like most work in the literature. The monotonic optimization framework was used to solve the power allocation problem. Then the channel assignment problem was approximated by a linear objective function and was solved as a linear integer program.
SEQUENTIAL STEIN-RULE MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATION: GENERAL ASYMPTOTICS

For the multi-parameter minimum risk sequential estimation problem, Stein-rule and preliminary test versions of maximum likelihood estimators are considered. Under the usual regularity conditions, general asymptotics on the dis-tributional risks of these estimators are studied, and these are incorporated in the study of the related asymptotic risk-efficiency results.
Flatland: new dimensions in office whiteboards

Flatland is an augmented whiteboard interface designed forinformal office work. Our research investigates approaches tobuilding an augmented whiteboard in the context of continuous, longterm office use. In particular, we pursued three avenues ofresearch based on input from user studies: techniques for themanagement of space on the board, the ability to flexibly applybehaviors to support varied application semantics, and mechanismsfor managing history on the board. Unlike some previously reportedwhiteboard systems, our design choices have been influenced by adesire to support long-term, informal use in an individual officesetting.