Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of the Anoxic Sediments of Rio Tinto: Biohydrometallurgical Implications

Rio Tinto, a natural extreme acidic environment with a rather constant acidic pH and a high concentration of heavy metals, is the product of the metabolic activity of chemolithotrophic microorganisms thriving in the rich complex sulfides of the Iberian Pyritic Belt. Up to now the microbial characterization has been made mainly in the water column and biofilm samples. Since all ferric reducing activities will not benefit the bioleaching operations, we consider it critical to ascertain the ecology and metabolic properties of the microorganisms inhabiting the anoxic part of the sediments, to facilitate the design and control the operation of heap bioleaching processes, maximizing their efficiency. The implication of these microorganisms in biohydrometallurgical operations is discussed.
User Satisfaction-Aware WiFi Offloading in Heterogeneous Networks

We consider downlink WiFi offloading in a heterogeneous network consisting of one LTE base station (BS) and multiple overlaid WiFi access points (AP) to maximize the user satisfaction of the whole system. Two constraints are considered to guarantee the rate promotion of the offloaded users and less impact on WiFi networks. Furthermore, the resource block (RB) reallocation after offloading is also taken into account. In order to solve the combinatorial optimization problem, we first propose the RB allocation algorithm to reallocate the RBs left by offloaded users. Then, we adopt the best response (BR) algorithm based on game-theoretic approach to obtain the optimal offloading user set. Numerical results show that the proposed WiFi- offloading model can significantly improve the user satisfaction of the whole system, and the BR algorithm can converge to the optimal solution same as the exhaustive search algorithm through several iterations.
Moat Water Quality Assessment and Pollution of the Kowloon Yuan in Jing Zhou City

The moat is one environmental part on the landscape of the historical and cultural tourism in Jing Zhou City. This paper Jing Zhou city moat Kowloon Yuan area for water pollution investigation. In view of the Jing Zhou Kowloon Yuan area moat water pollution, This paper has made an investigation about this, Through the analysis of experiment on the total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) by singlefactor evaluation method. We have made a comprehensive analysis of the moat water environment and the pollution of its environment factors, Finally, We found that the water pollution and the the external behavior of the moat is due to the change of city life sewage and the lack of sewage treatment, On the basis of which, the corresponding counter measures are put forward.
Joint mode selection and proportional fair scheduling for D2D communication

In this paper, we propose a new joint mode selection and proportional fair scheduling scheme for Device-to-Device (D2D) communication in cellular networks. Our objective is to maximize the sum of all users' proportional fairness functions while guaranteeing the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) requirements of both D2D and cellular links. In our scheme, we consider two communication mode options for D2D communication: the dedicated mode and the reuse mode. In order to improve the fairness of the D2D users (DUs), we allocate the dedicated radio resource to the D2D pair with a higher priority. Furthermore, we use the Hungarian Algorithm to implement the sub-optimal resource allocation for multiple D2D pairs in the reuse mode and their reuse cellular users (CUs). The simulation results demonstrate that both the system throughput and the system fairness experience significant increases in our proposed scheme.
Estrogen receptor protein is differentially regulated in the preoptic area of the brain and in the uterus during the rat estrous cycle.

A previous in situ hybridization study in our laboratory has shown that the level of estrogen receptor mRNA in the preoptic area of the brain varied during the rat estrous cycle and differed between the sexes. While these observations suggest that the receptor protein levels may also change, a direct measurement of receptor protein is required to substantiate this regulation. The present study utilized a quantitative Western blot method to evaluate changes in the total content of estrogen receptor protein in the cycling female and intact male preoptic area and to compare changes in the brain with those which occur in the uterus. Tissue samples from brain and uterus were homogenized, separated by electrophoresis, and transferred to membranes. Estrogen receptor was then detected with two different antibodies, ER-715 and H-222, using a chemiluminescent Western blot assay to generate film autoradiographic images. A 66-kD band in tissue samples from brain and uterus was evaluated. Densitometric analysis of autoradiograms detected significant alterations in estrogen receptor content over the estrous cycle, with brain levels being highest during metestrus, attenuated on diestrus, and lowest during proestrus and estrus. A comparison of the male and female preoptic area revealed that the level of estrogen receptor in the cycling female was significantly higher than in the male. In contrast, the uterine estrogen receptor content was low during metestrus, diestrus, and estrus and elevated on proestrus. These results suggest that expression of the estrogen receptor in the preoptic area changes during the estrous cycle and is greater in the female than the male brain. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Analysis of Thermal Stresses in Unsymmetric Cross-ply Composite Strips

An approach based on the hypotheses of the classical beam theory for determining thermal stresses in unsymmetric cross-ply strips has been developed. The material behavior is considered linear elastic, and viscoelastic effects are not considered. By supposing linear strain distribution in the cross-sections, the position of the neutral axis, the radius of curvature and the distribution of thermal stresses have been determined. The analysis is valid in the case of large displacements, since the curvature is constant and the deformed shape is an arc of circumference. Five different lay-up configurations of strip geometry specimens have been used for experimental verification. Mid-point deflections have been measured and compared with theoretical values, applying both the proposed approach and the classical laminated plates theory.
Revisiting Online Autotuning for Sparse-Matrix Vector Multiplication Kernels on Next-Generation Architectures

Sparse-Matrix Vector products (SpMV) are highly irregular computational kernels that can be found in a diverse collection of high-performance science applications. Performance for this important kernel is often highly correlated with the associated matrix sparsity, which, in turn, governs the computational granularity, and therefore, the efficiency of the memory system. In this paper, we propose to extend the current set of Kokkos profiling tools with an autotuner that can iterate over possible choices for thread-team size and vector width, taking advantage of runtime information, while, choosing the optimal parameters for a particular input. This approach allows an iterative application that calls the same kernel multiple times to continue to progress towards a solution while, at the same time, alleviating the burden from the application programmer of knowing details of the underlying hardware and accounting for variable inputs. We compare the autotuner approach against a fixed approach that attempts to use all the hardware resources all the time, and show that the optimal choice made by the autotuner is significantly different among the two latest classes of accelerator architectures. After 100 iterations we identify which subset of the matrices benefit from improved performance, while others are near the break-even point, where the overhead of the tool has been completely hidden. We highlight the properties of sparse matrices that can help determine when autotuning will be of benefit. Finally, we connect the overhead of the autotuner to specific sparsity patterns and hardware resources.
Effect of parathyroid hormone on random migration of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

Derangements in leukocyte function occur in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism and in those with uremia, which is a state of secondary hyperparathyroidism, suggesting that parathyroid hormone (PTH) may affect leukocyte function. We examined the interaction between PTH and random migration of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) utilizing a modified Boyden chamber. Intact 1-84 PTH but not its amino-terminal (1-34 PTH) or its carboxy-terminal (53-84 PTH) fragments produced marked and significant (p less than 0.01) stimulation of random migration in a dose-dependent manner. Inactivation of 1-84 PTH abolished its effect and other peptide hormones (calcitonin, glucagon, insulin and vasopressin) did not stimulate migration of PMNL. The effect of PTH on migration was not due to action of the hormone on chemotaxis. PTH did not enhance cAMP or cGMP production by PMNL. The stimulation of PMNL motility by PTH was independent of calcium concentration in media, was not mimicked by calcium ionophore and was not blocked by verapamil. Quinidine also produced significant (p less than 0.01) increase in random migration of PMNL and this effect was not additive to that of PTH. Prolonged exposure to PTH (16-20 h) was associated with significant inhibition of random migration of PMNL. The migration of PMNL from patients with advanced renal failure was significantly (p less than 0.01) reduced and there was a significant (p less than 0.01) inverse relationship between random migration of PMNL and serum levels of PTH. Also PTH produced only modest stimulation of random migration of PMNL in most patients with renal failure. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Crowdsourcing, Mixed Elastic Systems and Human-Enhanced Computing–A Survey

State-of-the-art practices have recognized the utility of leveraging human intervention as a crucial aspect of modern computing systems. The emerging crowdsourcing paradigm is based on harnessing human intelligence, effort and rational behaviors to augment computation and analysis. In addition to the crowdsourcing paradigm, new techniques have emerged that incorporate machine and human computational resources together forming a hybrid intelligence when addressing complex problems and tasks. This combined technique is particularly impactful if human and machine contributions can scale automatically in response to their respective efficiency and effectiveness when addressing subsets of a bigger problem – an approach that we have named mixed elastic systems. In this survey, we highlight state-of-the-art projects that investigate crowdsourcing, hybrid intelligence systems and mixed elastic systems. We also present a taxonomy and classification of the broader domain of human-enhanced computing systems as it assimilates crowdsourcing, hybrid intelligence, and mixed elastic systems.
Ribeye protein is intrinsically dynamic but is stabilized in the context of the ribbon synapse

The synaptic ribbon is an organelle that coordinates rapid and sustained vesicle release to enable hearing and balance. Ribeye a and b proteins are major constituents of the synaptic ribbon in hair cells. In this study, we use optically clear transgenic zebrafish to examine the potential dynamics of ribeye proteins in vivo. We demonstrate that ribeye proteins are inherently dynamic but are stabilized at the ribbons of hair cells in the ear and the lateral line system.
Heterogeneities in Axonal Structure and Transporter Distribution Lower Dopamine Reuptake Efficiency

Abstract Efficient clearance of dopamine (DA) from the synapse is key to regulating dopaminergic signaling. This role is fulfilled by DA transporters (DATs). Recent advances in the structural characterization of DAT from Drosophila (dDAT) and in high-resolution imaging of DA neurons and the distribution of DATs in living cells now permit us to gain a mechanistic understanding of DA reuptake events in silico. Using electron microscopy images and immunofluorescence of transgenic knock-in mouse brains that express hemagglutinin-tagged DAT in DA neurons, we reconstructed a realistic environment for MCell simulations of DA reuptake, wherein the identity, population and kinetics of homology-modeled human DAT (hDAT) substates were derived from molecular simulations. The complex morphology of axon terminals near active zones was observed to give rise to large variations in DA reuptake efficiency, and thereby in extracellular DA density. Comparison of the effect of different firing patterns showed that phasic firing would increase the probability of reaching local DA levels sufficiently high to activate low-affinity DA receptors, mainly owing to high DA levels transiently attained during the burst phase. The experimentally observed nonuniform surface distribution of DATs emerged as a major modulator of DA signaling: reuptake was slower, and the peaks/width of transient DA levels were sharper/wider under nonuniform distribution of DATs, compared with uniform. Overall, the study highlights the importance of accurate descriptions of extrasynaptic morphology, DAT distribution, and conformational kinetics for quantitative evaluation of dopaminergic transmission and for providing deeper understanding of the mechanisms that regulate DA transmission.
Killed Whole-Cell Oral Cholera Vaccine Induces CCL20 Secretion by Human Intestinal Epithelial Cells in the Presence of the Short-Chain Fatty Acid, Butyrate

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as acetate, butyrate, and propionate, modulate immune responses in the gut. However, the effect of SCFAs on mucosal vaccine-induced immune cell migration is poorly understood. Here, we investigated whether SCFAs modulate chemokine expression induced by the killed whole-cell oral cholera vaccine, Shanchol™, in human intestinal epithelial cells. Shanchol™ induced expression of CCL2, CCL5, CCL20, and CXCL10 at the mRNA level, but not at the protein level. Interestingly, CCL20 secretion was substantially increased by co-stimulation with Shanchol™ and butyrate, while neither acetate nor propionate showed such effect. Enhanced CCL20 secretion was associated with GPR109A activation, and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition. In addition, co-treatment with Shanchol™ and butyrate synergistically increased the secretion of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Moreover, CCL20 secretion was decreased by inhibiting the extracellular ATP receptor P2X7. However, neither inflammasomes nor caspases were involved in CCL20 production. The culture supernatant of cells treated with Shanchol™ and butyrate augmented human immature dendritic cell migration. Collectively, these results suggest that butyrate enhances Shanchol™-induced CCL20 production in human intestinal epithelial cells via HDAC inhibition and ATP-P2X7 signaling by activating GPR109A. These effects potentially enhance the mucosal immune responses in the gut induced by this oral cholera vaccine.
Phospholipid transfer protein: its impact on lipoprotein homeostasis and atherosclerosis

Phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) is one of the major modulators of lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis development in humans; however, we still do not quite understand the mechanisms. In mouse models, PLTP overexpression induces atherosclerosis, while its deficiency reduces it. Thus, mouse models were used to explore the mechanisms. In this review, I summarize the major progress made in the PLTP research field and emphasize its impact on lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis, as well as its regulation.
A meta‐analysis approach with filtering for identifying gene‐level gene–environment interactions

There is a growing recognition that gene–environment interaction (G × E) plays a pivotal role in the development and progression of complex diseases. Despite a wealth of genetic data on various complex diseases/traits generated from association and sequencing studies, detecting G × E via genome‐wide analysis remains challenging due to power issues. In genome‐wide G × E studies, a common strategy to improve power is to first conduct a filtering test and retain only the genetic variants that pass the filtering step for subsequent G × E analyses. Two‐stage, multistage, and unified tests have been proposed to jointly consider the filtering statistics in G × E tests. However, such G × E tests based on data from a single study may still be underpowered. Meanwhile, large‐scale consortia have been formed to borrow strength across studies and populations. In this work, motivated by existing single‐study G × E tests with filtering and the needs for meta‐analysis G × E approaches based on consortia data, we propose a meta‐analysis framework for detecting gene‐based G × E effects, and introduce meta‐analysis‐based filtering statistics in the gene‐level G × E tests. Simulations demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method—the ofGEM test. We apply the proposed tests to existing data from two breast cancer consortia to identify the genes harboring genetic variants with age‐dependent penetrance (i.e., gene–age interaction effects). We develop an R software package ofGEM for the proposed meta‐analysis tests.
Massivizing Computer Systems: A Vision to Understand, Design, and Engineer Computer Ecosystems Through and Beyond Modern Distributed Systems

Our society is digital: industry, science, governance, and individuals depend, often transparently, on the inter-operation of large numbers of distributed computer systems. Although the society takes them almost for granted, these computer ecosystems are not available for all, may not be affordable for long, and raise numerous other research challenges. Inspired by these challenges and by our experience with distributed computer systems, we envision Massivizing Computer Systems, a domain of computer science focusing on understanding, controlling, and evolving successfully such ecosystems. Beyond establishing and growing a body of knowledge about computer ecosystems and their constituent systems, the community in this domain should also aim to educate many about design and engineering for this domain, and all people about its principles. This is a call to the entire community: there is much to discover and achieve.
Design of a 3-DOF Parallel Hand-Controller

Hand-controllers, as human-machine-interface (HMI) devices, can transfer the position information of the operator’s hands into the virtual environment to control the target objects or a real robot directly. At the same time, the haptic information from the virtual environment or the sensors on the real robot can be displayed to the operator. It helps human perceive haptic information more truly with feedback force. A parallel hand-controller is designed in this paper. It is simplified from the traditional delta haptic device. The swing arms in conventional delta devices are replaced with the slider rail modules. The base consists of two hexagons and several links. For the use of the linear sliding modules instead of swing arms, the arc movement is replaced by linear movement. So that, the calculating amount of the position positive solution and the force inverse solution is reduced for the simplification of the motion. The kinematics, static mechanics, and dynamic mechanics are analyzed in this paper. What is more, two demonstration applications are developed to verify the performance of the designed hand-controller.
Overview of the Treatment of Acne Vulgaris with Topical Retinoids

Abstract Acne vulgaris is a common skin disease that is most effectively treated with a combination of topical products and, in some cases, systemic antibiotics. While it is important to treat papules, pustules, nodules, and cysts with topical or systemic antibiotics to suppress bacterial infection, all of these lesions develop from microcomedones. In fact, comedolytic agents enhance the effectiveness of antibiotics and limit the potential for recurrent acne lesions. Because of the superior comedolytic effects of topical retinoids, most patients with acne should be treated with a retinoid unless there is a specific contraindication. Interestingly, only 55% of patients with acne who are treated by dermatologists and 10% of patients with acne who are treated by primary care physicians receive a topical retinoid as a component of their acne regimen. Evidence is provided to buttress the contention that clinical outcomes will be improved if topical retinoids are utilized in patients with acne vulgaris.
Crystallographic texture and the preferential orientation of a martensite in the polycrystalline Ni2.08Mn0.96Ga0.96 alloy

A study of the relationship of the crystallographic texture, the preferential orientation of martensite twins and the geometry changes during the martensite transformation of polycrystalline NiMnGa alloy is shown. Two states of alloy are investigated: as-cast state and the state after annealing at 923 K for 5 hours. It is shown that in the initial state the austenite phase has crystallographic axial texture <001>, while martensite has the two-component texture of the <001> and <110>. The preferential orientation of the martensitic twins in the martensitic structure is found. The crystallographic texture of the alloy after annealing is not changed, however, no preferential orientation of the martensitic twins is observed. In the martensitic phase structure martensitic twins are oriented randomly. Anisotropy of the thermal expansion during the martensitic transformation is shown, while in the annealed state such effect is not found.
Investor Attention, Market Liquidity and Stock Return: A New Perspective

We propose a new method to measure the investor attention paid to a specific industry using search data from search engine. Instead of taking company names or stock codes as keywords, we select keywords from a corpus of texts concerning a given industry by text-analysis technique such as TextRank algorithm. Two indices were constructed by principal component analysis method, including a positive index and a negative index. The empirical analysis demonstrates that the influence of investor attention on market liquidity is coincident and significant, and the effect on industry stock index return is less significant.
GA-Based Membrane Evolutionary Algorithm for Ensemble Clustering

Ensemble clustering can improve the generalization ability of a single clustering algorithm and generate a more robust clustering result by integrating multiple base clusterings, so it becomes the focus of current clustering research. Ensemble clustering aims at finding a consensus partition which agrees as much as possible with base clusterings. Genetic algorithm is a highly parallel, stochastic, and adaptive search algorithm developed from the natural selection and evolutionary mechanism of biology. In this paper, an improved genetic algorithm is designed by improving the coding of chromosome. A new membrane evolutionary algorithm is constructed by using genetic mechanisms as evolution rules and combines with the communication mechanism of cell-like P system. The proposed algorithm is used to optimize the base clusterings and find the optimal chromosome as the final ensemble clustering result. The global optimization ability of the genetic algorithm and the rapid convergence of the membrane system make membrane evolutionary algorithm perform better than several state-of-the-art techniques on six real-world UCI data sets.