Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Controlling cardiomyocyte length: the role of renin and PPAR-{gamma}.

AIMS Renin and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR-γ) interact directly with cardiomyocytes and influence protein synthesis. We investigated their effects and interaction on the size of cardiomyocytes. METHODS AND RESULTS Effects of renin and PPAR-γ activation were studied in cultured adult rat ventricular cardiomyocytes, transgenic mice with a cardiomyocyte-restricted knockout of PPAR-γ, and transgenic rats overexpressing renin, TGR(mRen2)27. The length and width of cardiomyocytes were analysed 24 h after administration of factors. Renin caused an unexpected effect on the length of cardiomyocytes that was inhibited by mannose-6-phosphate and monensin, but not by administration of glucose-6-phosphate. Endothelin-1 used as a classical pro-hypertrophic agonist increased cell width but not cell length. Renin caused an activation of p38 and p42/44 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases. The latter activation was impaired by mannose-6-phosphate. Inhibition of p42/44 but not of p38 MAP kinase activation attenuated the effect of renin on cell length. In contrast, activation of PPAR-γ reduced cell length. Feeding wild-type mice with pioglitazone, a PPAR-γ agonist, reduced cell length. Cardiomyocytes isolated from PPAR-γ knockout mice were longer, and their length was not affected by pioglitazone. Cardiomyocytes isolated from TGR(mRen2)27 rats were longer than those of non-transgenic littermates. Cell length was reduced by feeding these mice with pioglitazone. Pioglitazone affected cell length independent of blood pressure. CONCLUSION The length of cardiomyocytes is controlled by the activation of cardiac-specific mannose-6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor II receptors and activation of PPAR-γ. This type of cell size modification differs from that of any other known pro-hypertrophic agonists.
Interactive Multilabel Image Segmentation via Robust Multilayer Graph Constraints

The combination of pixel and superpixel has been widely utilized in the interactive segmentation methods to overcome the sensitivity to the seeds' quantity and quality. However, because of the introduction of more variables and variables' interactions, the pixel-superpixel combination methods are still limited to the segmentation accuracy and computational complexity. To solve these problems, in this paper, we propose an interactive multilabel image segmentation method. In the proposed segmentation model, the multilayer relationships among the pixel layer, superpixel layer, and label layer are fused by the Markov random field framework to further improve the segmentation accuracy. During the optimization stage, the parallel partial optimality strategy is utilized to effectively solve the multilabel submodular energy function. Experimental results on challenging data sets demonstrate the competitiveness of the proposed method comparing with several state-of-the-art interactive algorithms.
TRACKING WITH BOUNDED ACTUATORS: SCHEDULED CONTROLLERS

Abstract We extend a class of scheduled controllers, that were originally developed to address actuator saturation in the disturbance attenuation problem, to the problem of tracking of generally unknown signals. The main assumption is that some (possibly conservative) bounds be known for peak magnitude and rate of the tracking signal. Both state feedback for and static output feedback controllers are presented, though the choice of the approach to obtain the latter is left to the user. The solvability conditions and effectiveness are shown through an example.
An efficient domain decomposition framework for accurate representation of geodata in distributed hydrologic models

Physically‐based, fully‐distributed hydrologic models simulate hydrologic state variables in space and time while using information regarding heterogeneity in climate, land use, topography and hydrogeology. Since fine spatio‐temporal resolution and increased process dimension will have large data requirements, there is a practical need to strike a balance between descriptive detail and computational load for a particular model application. In this paper, we present a flexible domain decomposition strategy for efficient and accurate integration of the physiographic, climatic and hydrographic watershed features. The approach takes advantage of different GIS feature types while generating high‐quality unstructured grids with user‐specified geometrical and physical constraints. The framework is able to anchor the efficient capture of spatially distributed and temporally varying hydrologic interactions and also ingest the physical prototypes effectively and accurately from a geodatabase. The proposed decomposition framework is a critical step in implementing high quality, multiscale, multiresolution, temporally adaptive and nested grids with least computational burden. We also discuss the algorithms for generating the framework using existing GIS feature objects. The framework is successfully being used in a finite volume based integrated hydrologic model. The framework is generic and can be used in other finite element/volume based hydrologic models.
Using Markov decision process for learning dialogue strategies

We introduce a stochastic model for dialogue systems based on Markov decision process. Within this framework we show that the problem of dialogue strategy design can be stated as an optimization problem, and solved by a variety of methods, including the reinforcement learning approach. The advantages of this new paradigm include objective evaluation of dialogue systems and their automatic design and adaptation. We show some preliminary results on learning a dialogue strategy for an air travel information system.
A Nontraditional View of the Dimensions of Software Evolution

Software evolution is usually considered in terms of corrections, improvements and enhancements. While helpful, this approach does not take into account the fundamental dimensions of wellengineered software systems (the domains, experience, and process) and how they themselves evolve and affect the evolution of systems for which they are the context. Each dimension is discussed and provided with examples to illustrate its various aspects and to summarize how evolution in that dimension affects system evolution. This holistic approach provides a deep understanding of evolution and how evolution might be effectively managed.
Global Emergence of Anthropogenic Climate Change in Fire Weather Indices

Changes in global fire activity are influenced by a multitude of factors including land‐cover change, policies, and climatic conditions. This study uses 17 climate models to evaluate when changes in fire weather, as realized through the Fire Weather Index, emerge from the expected range of internal variability due to anthropogenic climate change using the time of emergence framework. Anthropogenic increases in extreme Fire Weather Index days emerge for 22% of burnable land area globally by 2019, including much of the Mediterranean and the Amazon. By the midtwenty‐first century, emergence among the different Fire Weather Index metrics occurs for 33–62% of burnable lands. Emergence of heightened fire weather becomes more widespread as a function of global temperature change. At 2 °C above preindustrial levels, the area of emergence is half that for 3 °C. These results highlight increases in fire weather conditions with human‐caused climate change and incentivize local adaptation efforts to limit detrimental fire impacts.
Automatic text summarization of scientific articles using transformers—A brief review

Learning how to read research papers is a skill. The researcher must go through many published articles during the research. It is a challenging and tedious task to go through numerous published articles. The research process would sped up by automatic summarization of scientific publications, which would aid researchers in their investigation. However automatic text summarization of scientific research articles is difficult due to its distinct structure. Various text summarization approaches have been proposed for research article summarization in the past. After the invention of transformer architecture, it has created a big shift in Natural Language Processing. The models based on transformers are able to achieve state-of-the-art results in text summarization. This paper provides a brief review of transformer-based approaches used for text summarization of scientific research articles along with the available corpus and evaluation methods that can be used to assess the model generated summary. The paper also discusses the future direction and limitations in this field.
Monitoring Fatigue Damage Behavior of Glass/Epoxy Composites Using Carbon Nanotubes as Sensors

Abstract Monitoring Fatigue Damage Behavior of Glass/Epoxy Composites Using Carbon Nanotubes as Sensors Hasna Hena Zamal Carbon nanotubes have been used as sensors in glass fiber/epoxy laminates for monitoring damage under fatigue loading. Carbon nanotubes are embedded in epoxy resin. The modified resin is infused between glass fibers to make composites. Silver paste electrodes are deposited on the surface of the laminate. Changes in electrical resistance are measured along several in-plane and through-thickness positions of the laminate. The changes in resistance are compared with the strain changes measured by strain gages. It is found that the changes in electrical resistance are sensitive to the degradation in the composite laminate. The electrical resistance method is proved to be more reliable in detecting damage in CNT incorporated GFRP composites than strain measurements as it senses the initiation of damage earlier than strain measurement. Among the in-plane and through- thickness resistance response, the through-thickness response can represent the initiation of damages more sensitively and quickly. This technique may be used to provide effective in-situ monitoring of damages in composites.
Joint Digital Signal Processing Receivers for Spatial Superchannels

We discuss the advantages of spatial superchannels for future terabit networks based on space division multiplexing (SDM), and demonstrate reception of spatial superchannels by a coherent receiver utilizing joint digital signal processing (DSP). In a spatial superchannel, the SDM modes at a given wavelength are routed together, allowing simplified design of both transponders and optical routing equipment. For example, common-mode impairments can be exploited to streamline the receiver’s DSP. Our lab measurements reveal that the phase fluctuations between the cores of a multicore fiber are strongly correlated, and therefore constitute such a common-mode impairment. We have implemented master-slave phase recovery of two simultaneous 112Gbps subchannels in a 7-core fiber, demonstrating reduced processing complexity with no increase in the bit-error ratio. Furthermore, we have investigated the feasibility of applying this technique to subchannels carried on separate single-mode fibers, a potential transition strategy to evolve today’s fiber networks toward future networks using multicore fibers.
The usability of CommandMaps in realistic tasks

CommandMaps are a promising interface technique that flattens command hierarchies and exploits human spatial memory to provide rapid access to commands. CommandMaps have performed favorably in constrained cued-selection studies, but have not yet been tested in the context of real tasks. In this paper we present two real-world implementations of CommandMaps: one for Microsoft Word and one for an image editing program called Pinta. We use these as our experimental platforms in two experiments. In the first, we show that CommandMaps demonstrate performance and subjective advantages in a realistic task. In the second, we observe naturalistic use of CommandMaps over the course of a week, and gather qualitative data from interviews, questionnaires, and conversations. Our results provide substantial insight into users' reactions to CommandMaps, showing that they are positively received by users and allowing us to provide concrete recommendations to designers regarding when and how they should be implemented in real applications.
Sharing emotion on Facebook: network size, density, and individual motivation

Social networking sites afford substantial affective self-expression and hybrid social connections. In this study, we collected 185 Facebook users' egocentric social network data and analyzed the words of positive emotion and negative emotion in their past status updates. Preliminary results reveal that sharing emotion on Facebook is associated with their social network size and density, and this association is moderated by the individual motivation for relationship management. We also found a decreasing trend of emotion sharing with longer usage of Facebook. Follow-up studies and implications are discussed.
Zertifizierte Fortbildung

Informationen zur Teilnahme und Zertifizierung finden Sie im CME-Fragebogen am Ende des Beitrags. In einer alternden Gesellschaft werden auch Epilepsien im Alter ein immer relevanteres Krankheitsbild. Die Diagnosestellung ist dabei oft erschwert, da sich im hohen Alter meist fokale Anfälle zeigen, die leicht verkannt werden können. Insbesondere bei älteren Patienten, die beispielsweise zusätzlich an einer Demenz leiden, erfolgt die Diagnosestellung häufig nur verzögert. Die Ursachen der Epilepsien im Alter können im alternden Gehirn vielfältig sein. Eine weitere Herausforderung für den Neurologen stellt die medikamentöse Therapie der Altersepilepsie dar, da viele Antikonvulsiva mit deutlichen Nebenund Wechselwirkungen einhergehen. Die Evidenz zur Wirksamkeit und Verträglichkeit der Antikonvulsiva im Alter ist hierbei nur unzureichend, sodass stets eine individuelle Abwägung der Therapie der Wahl erfolgen muss. Der Status epilepticus als neurologischer Notfall tritt bei älteren Menschen nicht nur häufiger auf als bei jüngeren, sondern geht auch mit einer erhöhten Mortalität einher, sodass stets eine rasche Diagnosestellung und die adäquate Therapie erforderlich sind.
Evaluation of active versus passive uptake of metabolites by Rhizobium japonicum bacteroids

Rhizobium japonicum bacteroids were isolated anaerobically from soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr] nodules. The bacteroids, which were capable of acetylene reduction and respiration, were used to study the uptake of metabolites by a method which permits correction for nonspecific adsorption of metabolites and estimation of total cell volume. These determinations permit active uptake to be assessed from metabolite accumulation against a concentration gradient. Succinate, malate, alpha-ketoglutarate, and glutamate were absorbed via an active mechanism. Plots of 1/V versus 1/[S] for succinate and malate indicated the presence of two uptake components: a saturable and presumably active or carrier-mediated component and a nonsaturable and presumably passive component. The uptake of glucose, malonate, D-pinitol, myo-inositol, and glucose 6-phosphate was slow and not active.
Speech vs. singing: infants choose happier sounds

Infants prefer speech to non-vocal sounds and to non-human vocalizations, and they prefer happy-sounding speech to neutral speech. They also exhibit an interest in singing, but there is little knowledge of their relative interest in speech and singing. The present study explored infants' attention to unfamiliar audio samples of speech and singing. In Experiment 1, infants 4–13 months of age were exposed to happy-sounding infant-directed speech vs. hummed lullabies by the same woman. They listened significantly longer to the speech, which had considerably greater acoustic variability and expressiveness, than to the lullabies. In Experiment 2, infants of comparable age who heard the lyrics of a Turkish children's song spoken vs. sung in a joyful/happy manner did not exhibit differential listening. Infants in Experiment 3 heard the happily sung lyrics of the Turkish children's song vs. a version that was spoken in an adult-directed or affectively neutral manner. They listened significantly longer to the sung version. Overall, happy voice quality rather than vocal mode (speech or singing) was the principal contributor to infant attention, regardless of age.
Testing SQL Server's Query Optimizer: Challenges, Techniques and Experiences

Query optimization is an inherently complex problem, and validating the correctness and effectiveness of a query optimizer can be a task of comparable complexity. The overall process of measuring query optimization quality becomes increasingly challenging as modern query optimizers provide more advanced optimization strategies and adaptive techniques. In this paper we present a practitioner’s account of query optimization testing. We discuss some of the unique issues in testing a query optimizer, and we provide a high-level overview of the testing techniques used to validate the query optimizer of Microsoft’s SQL Server. We offer our experiences and discuss a few ongoing challenges, which we hope can inspire additional research in the area of query optimization and DBMS testing.
Steady state performance analysis of multiple state-based schedulers with CSMA

In this paper, we analyze the performance of multiple event-based systems that share access to the same network. Transmissions are attempted only when a local state-based scheduler generates an event, and access to the network is determined using a Carrier Sensing Multiple Access (CSMA) protocol. In general, the interactions in such a multiple access network introduce correlations between the system variables of the various loops, and the respective traffic contributions as well. Hence, analyzing the performance of this network is difficult. However, a class of state-based schedulers, introduced in the paper, permits a joint analysis of the scheduler and the Contention Resolution Mechanism (CRM). The analysis is based on a Markov model, which is validated through simulations. The resulting steady-state model makes it possible to characterize the statistics of packet arrivals in this network.
Impact of Financial Performance on Stock Price Volatility: A Case of Nepalese Microfinance Companies

With the explanatory variables of ROE, ROA, D/P ratio, P/E ratio, and BVPS, this study investigates the impact of financial performance on the stock price instability of microfinance companies listed on the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE). The age and size of microfinance companies have been used as control variables. It has also observed the investor's behavior toward these variables. The study follows a quantitative approach with descriptive, causal-comparative, and survey research design. Multiple regression analysis is used to examine the causal relation between stock price volatility and the profitability of microfinance companies. This study has analyzed the annual report of 31 microfinance companies with 183 observations and 121 responses to a questionnaire received from the investors. According to this study, microfinance organizations' capacity to produce profits has a considerable impact on share price volatility. The survey result of the study reveals that the investors of microfinance companies are more sensible towards earning ability and past performance of the companies. The results of this investigation may be beneficial to the investors of microfinance companies to select the companies for investment. Acknowledging the limitation of data used in this study, further study can be conducted by taking other industries like banking, insurance, hotel, and manufacturing companies listed in the NEPSE. Besides this, a behavioral study about investors’ responses toward market factors can be conducted by taking a large sample of investors.
Internet security attacks at the basic levels

The Internet put the rest of the world at the reach of our computers. In the same way it also made our computers reachable by the rest of the world. Good news and bad news! Over the last decade, the Internet has been subject to widespread security attacks. Besides the classical terms, new ones had to be found in order to designate a large collection of threats: Worms, break-ins, hackers, crackers, hijacking, phrackers, spoofing, man-in-the-middle, password-sniffing, denial-of-service, and so on.Since the Internet was born of academic efforts to share information, it never strove for high security measures. In fact in some of its components, security was consciously traded for easiness in sharing. Although the advent of electronic commerce has pushed for "real security" in the Internet, there is yet a huge amount of users (including scientists) very vulnerable to attacks, mostly because they are not aware of the nature (and ease) of the attacks and still believe that a "good" password is all they need to be concerned about.We wrote this paper aiming for a better understanding of the subject. In the paper we report some of the major actual known attacks. Besides the description of each attack (the what), we also discuss the way they are carried on (the how) and, when possible, the related means of prevention, detection and/or defense.
Construction of approximations of stochastic control systems: A compositional approach

In this paper, we provide a compositional framework for the construction of infinite approximations of interconnected stochastic control systems. Our approach is based on a notion of so-called stochastic simulation functions that are associated with interfaces. The stochastic simulation functions are used to quantify the approximation error while the interfaces are used to lift the controllers synthesized for the approximation to the controllers for the original stochastic system. In the first part of the paper, we analyze interconnected stochastic control systems which consist of several stochastic control subsystems. We derive sufficient conditions that facilitate the compositional construction of stochastic simulation functions together with the associated interfaces. Specifically, we show how to construct a stochastic simulation function with the corresponding interface for the interconnected stochastic control system from the simulation functions and interfaces of the individual stochastic control subsystems. In the second part of the paper, we focus on linear stochastic control systems. We extend a methodology, which is known for the non-probabilistic case, to construct infinite approximations of linear stochastic control systems together with their stochastic simulation functions and the corresponding interfaces. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed results on the interconnection of four linear stochastic control subsystems.
Semantically supported Authentication and Privacy in Social Networks

Service access in a ubiquitous computing and pervasive Internet environment has reached a new dimension. It is not longer a question of enabling services for customers, but to design a convenient and trusted service usage. While semantic services open for a description of user preferences, profiles and social groups, privacy handling is not addressed so far. Social communities based on friend of a friend (foaf) principles, Linkedln, or Facebook are open for all registered users, thus data about yourself are spread all-around. This paper presents an architecture to enable social networks to enable privacy, based on the identity of the user. Focus is on the semantic description of user's role in social networks and on securing the access through appropriate authentication mechanisms. Depending on the security requirements of the user, Internet trust mechanisms or mobile-based key exchange mechanisms can be applied. The user-centric approach will enable the user to select an identity provider for the trusted management. A prototype using semantically defined social relationships demonstrates the capabilities of the suggested approach.