Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamics of human keratin 18 phosphorylation: polarized distribution of phosphorylated keratins in simple epithelial tissues

Phosphorylation of keratin polypeptides 8 and 18 (K8/18) and other intermediate filament proteins results in their reorganization in vitro and in vivo. In order to study functional aspects of human K18 phosphorylation, we generated and purified a polyclonal antibody (termed 3055) that specifically recognizes a major phosphorylation site (ser52) of human K18 but not dephosphorylated K18 or a ser52-->ala K18 mutant. Pulse-chase experiments followed by immunoprecipitation and peptide mapping of in vivo 32PO4-labeled K8/18 indicated that the overall phosphorylation turnover rate is faster for K18 versus K8, and that ser52 of K18 is a highly dynamic phosphorylation site. Isoelectric focusing of 32PO4 labeled K18 followed by immunoblotting with 3055 showed that the major phosphorylated K18 species contain ser52 phosphorylation but that some K18 molecules exist that are preferentially phosphorylated on K18 sites other than ser52. Immunoblotting of total cell lysates obtained from cells at different stages of the cell cycle showed that ser52 phosphorylation increases three to fourfold during the S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle. Immunofluorescence staining of cells at different stages of mitosis, using 3055 or other antibodies that recognize the total keratin pool, resulted in preferential binding of the 3055 antibody to the reorganized keratin fraction. Staining of human tissues or tissues from transgenic mice that express human K18 showed that the phospho-ser52 K18 species are located preferentially in the basolateral and apical domains in the liver and pancreas, respectively, but no preferential localization was noted in other simple epithelial organs examined. Our results support a model whereby phosphorylated intermediate filaments are localized in specific cellular domains depending on the tissue type and site(s) of phosphorylation. In addition, ser52 of human K18 is a highly dynamic phosphorylation site that undergoes modulation during the S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle in association with filament reorganization.
Pattern-based compression of text images

We suggest a novel approach for compressing images of text documents based on building up a simple derived font from patterns in the image, and present the results of a prototype implementation based on our approach. Our prototype achieves better compression than most alternative systems, and the decompression time appears substantially shorter than other methods with the same compression rate. The method has other advantages, such as a straightforward extension to a lossy scheme that allows one to control the lossiness introduced in a well-defined manner. We believe our approach will be applicable in other domains as well.
Acquisition and Assessment of Semantic Content for the Generation of Elaborateness and Indirectness in Spoken Dialogue Systems

In a dialogue system, the dialogue manager selects one of several system actions and thereby determines the system’s behaviour. Defining all possible system actions in a dialogue system by hand is a tedious work. While efforts have been made to automatically generate such system actions, those approaches are mostly focused on providing functional system behaviour. Adapting the system behaviour to the user becomes a difficult task due to the limited amount of system actions available. We aim to increase the adaptability of a dialogue system by automatically generating variants of system actions. In this work, we introduce an approach to automatically generate action variants for elaborateness and indirectness. Our proposed algorithm extracts RDF triplets from a knowledge base and rates their relevance to the original system action to find suitable content. We show that the results of our algorithm are mostly perceived similarly to human generated elaborateness and indirectness and can be used to adapt a conversation to the current user and situation. We also discuss where the results of our algorithm are still lacking and how this could be improved: Taking into account the conversation topic as well as the culture of the user is likely to have beneficial effect on the user’s perception.
Population-Based Surveillance of HIV Drug Resistance Emerging on Treatment and Associated Factors at Sentinel Antiretroviral Therapy Sites in Namibia

Objective:The World Health Organization (WHO) prospective surveys of acquired HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) evaluate HIVDR emerging after the first year of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and associated factors. Methods:Consecutive ART starters in 2009 were enrolled at 3 sentinel sites in Namibia. Genotyping was performed at start and after 12 months in patients with HIV viral load (VL) >1000 copies per mL. HIVDR outcomes were: HIVDR prevention (VL ⩽1000 copies/mL), possible HIVDR (VL >1000 copies/mL without detectable HIVDR or loss to follow-up or ART stop), and HIVDR (VL >1000 copies/mL with detectable HIVDR). Adherence was assessed using medication possession ratio (MPR). Results:Of 394 starters, at 12 months, 80% were on first-line ART, 1% died, 4% transferred out, 1% stopped ART, <1% switched to second-line, and 15% were lost to follow-up. Among patients on first-line, 77% had VL testing, and 94% achieved VL ⩽1000 copies per mL. At baseline, 7% had HIVDR. After 12 months, among patients with VL testing, 5% had HIVDR. A majority of patients failing therapy had high-level resistance to nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors but none to protease inhibitors. All sites achieved the WHO target of ≥70% HIVDR prevention. Factors associated with not achieving HIVDR prevention were: baseline resistance to nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors [odds ratio (OR) 3.0, P = 0.023], WHO stage 3 or 4 at baseline (OR 2.0, P = 0.012), and MPR <75% (OR 4.9, P = 0.021). Conclusions:Earlier ART initiation and removal of barriers to on-time drug pickups may help to prevent HIVDR. These data inform decisions at national and global levels on the effectiveness of first- and second-line regimens.
Conditional Simple Temporal Networks with Uncertainty and Resources

Conditional simple temporal networks with uncertainty (CSTNUs) allow for the representation of temporal plans subject to both conditional constraints and uncertain durations. Dynamic controllability (DC) of CSTNUs ensures the existence of an execution strategy able to execute the network in real time (i.e., scheduling the time points under control) depending on how these two uncontrollable parts behave. However, CSTNUs do not deal with resources. In this paper, we define conditional simple temporal networks with uncertainty and resources (CSTNURs) by injecting resources and runtime resource constraints (RRCs) into the specification. Resources are mandatory for executing the time points and their availability is represented through temporal expressions, whereas RRCs restrict resource availability by further temporal constraints among resources. We provide a fully-automated encoding to translate any CSTNUR into an equivalent timed game automaton in polynomial time for a sound and complete DC-checking.
Evolutionary Design of Engineering Constructions

The basic information required to utilize one of possible computation tools/algorithms (mainly the evolution strategy) to solve a wide class of real practical engineering optimization problems is presented and discussed in the present paper. The effectiveness of the considered method is demonstrated by the possibility of the use of different form of objective functions, various and numerous nonlinear constraints and different types of design variables (continuous, discrete, real, integer). The sensitivity of the algorithm to the choice of the evolution strategy parameters is also discussed herein. The generality of the evolution strategy is illustrated by the analysis of various examples dealing with: the design of helical springs, the buckling of cylindrical composite panels and the buckling of pressure vessels with domed heads.
BrushTouch: Exploring an Alternative Tactile Method for Wearable Haptics

Haptic interfaces are ideal in situations where visual/auditory attention is impossible, unsafe, or socially unacceptable. However, conventional (vibrotactile) wearable interfaces often possess a limited bandwidth for expressing information. We explore a novel form of tactile stimulation through brushing, and demonstrate BrushTouch, a wearable prototype for brushing haptics. We also present schemes for conveying information such as time and direction through multi-tactor wrist-worn haptic interfaces. To evaluate BrushTouch, two user studies were run, comparing it to a conventional vibrotactile wristband across a number of tasks in both lab and mobile conditions. We show that for certain cues brushing can be more accurately recognized than vibration, enabling more effective spatial schemes for presenting information through haptic means. We then show that BrushTouch is capable of greater information transfer using such cues. We believe that brushing, as with other non-vibrotactile haptic techniques, merits further investigation as potential vehicles for richer haptic feedback.
Fast Sparse Signal Approximation Via Matching Pursuit

Matching pursuit (MP) is a fundamental technique for a sparse solution to underdetermined inverse problems and signal approximation with a long and multi-rooted history. However, conventional MP suffers from a slow convergence rate and has been considered still inefficient when applied to high-dimensional signals due to its single element selection and coefficient update pattern in each iteration. This paper proposed a new elements selection strategy and coefficients update scheme with the aim of providing a fast convergence speed and an accurate recovery for application of large scale problems. Instead of selecting a single element in each iterative step, the new algorithm efficiently chooses several elements that satisfy certain condition and update all the selected coefficients. Simulation studies show that the development of the new elements selection and coefficients update strategy can lead to a substantial acceleration and sharp convergence rate while keeps the algorithm with an accurate and robust recovery.
Ecotoxicity Evaluation and Suggestion of Remediation Method of ZnO Nanoparticles in Aqueous Phase

Authors : Hyunsang Kim, Younghun Kim, Younghee Kim, Sangku Lee Abstract : We investigated ecotoxicity and performed an experiment for removing ZnO nanoparticles in water. Short-term exposure of hatching test using fertilized eggs (O. latipes) showed deformity in 5 ppm of ZnO nanoparticles solution, and in 10ppm ZnO nanoparticles solution delayed hatching was observed. Herein, chemical precipitation method was suggested for removing ZnO nanoparticles in water. The precipitated ZnO nanoparticles showed the form of ZnS after addition of Na2S, and the form of Zn3(PO4)2 for Na2HPO4. The removal efficiency of ZnO nanoparticles in water was closed to 100% for two case. In ecotoxicity evaluation of as-precipitated ZnS and Zn3(PO4)2, they did not cause any acute toxicity for D. magna. It is noted that this precipitation treatment of ZnO is effective to reduce the potential cytotoxicity.
CRYAB modulates the activation of CD4+ T cells from relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis patients

Background: Suppression of activation of pathogenic CD4+ T cells is a potential therapeutic intervention in multiple sclerosis (MS). We previously showed that a small heat shock protein, CRYAB, reduced T cell proliferation, pro-inflammatory cytokine production and clinical signs of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, a model of MS. Objective: We assessed whether the ability of CRYAB to reduce the activation of T cells translated to the human disease. Methods: CD4+ T cells from healthy controls and volunteers with MS were activated in vitro in the presence or absence of a CRYAB peptide (residues 73–92). Parameters of activation (proliferation rate, cytokine secretion) and tolerance (anergy, activation-induced cell death, microRNAs) were evaluated. Results: The secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines by CD4+ T cells was decreased in the presence of CRYAB in a subset of relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) participants with mild disease severity while no changes were observed in healthy controls. Further, there was a correlation for higher levels of miR181a microRNA, a marker upregulated in tolerant CD8+ T cells, in CD4+ T cells of MS patients that displayed suppressed cytokine production (responders). Conclusion: CRYAB may be capable of suppressing the activation of CD4+ T cells from a subset of RRMS patients who appear to have less disability but similar age and disease duration.
Environmental energy and evolutionary rates in flowering plants

The latitudinal gradient in species richness is a pervasive feature of the living world, but its underlying causes remain unclear. We evaluated the hypothesis that environmental energy drives evolutionary rates and thereby diversification in flowering plants. We estimated energy levels across angiosperm family distributions in terms of evapotranspiration, temperature and UV radiation taken from satellite and climate databases. Using the most comprehensive DNA–based phylogenetic tree for angiosperms to date, analysis of 86 sister–family comparisons shows that molecular evolutionary rates have indeed been faster in high–energy regions, but that this is not an intermediate step between energy and diversity. Energy has strong, but independent effects on both species richness and molecular evolutionary rates.
Comparative assessment of in-vitro anthelmintic effects of the aqueous extracts of the seeds and leaves of the African locust bean ( Parkia biglobosa ) on bovine nematode eggs

The effects of the aqueous extracts of seeds and leaves of the African locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) on the viability of the eggs of cattle gastrointestinal helminthes was evaluated in cattle in vitro. The faecal egg counts (FEC) was determined using the modified McMaster technique. The seed extracts produced maximum inhibition of the hatchability of the helminth eggs at 0.3, 0.7 and 1.2 ml while the leave extracts produced maximum inhibition at 0.3 and 2.0 ml. The study concluded that the seed extracts has a better potential for use as an anthelmintic agent than the leaf extract.
Uncertainty Propagation and Trust Building in Visual Analytics

Visual analytics combines human and machine abilities to generate new knowledge from data. Within this process, uncertainty often plays an important role in hindering the sensemaking process and analysis tasks. On the machine side, uncertainty builds up from the data source level to the visual output. On the human side, these uncertainties often result in “lack of knowledge or trust” or “overtrust. ” Such human’s biased interpretation can be resolved if we can measure uncertainties and users’ trust at each stage and provide proper mitigation in time. We believe that we can achieve this by tracing data provenance and analytic provenance accurately and reflecting them on the system output. Therefore, our first goal is to identify the roles of uncertainty and trust along the entire visual analytics knowledge generation process. In addition, we aim to capture how uncertainty and trust can be derived from data and analytic provenance. In this workshop, we introduce a framework that describes the roles of uncertainty and trust, and introduce open research questions with potential solutions.
How Do Concepts of Age Relate to Work and Off-the-Job Stresses and Strains? A Field Study of Health Care Workers in Five Nations

Health care workers from five nations (Brazil, Croatia, Poland, Ukraine, U.S.A.) completed the Survey of Health Care Professionals, which includes measures of on-the-job and off-the-job conditions/concerns, as well as ratings of work-related strains, self-ratings of work performance and work ability, and measures of chronological and psychological age. Consistent with previous research, workers generally reported that they felt, looked, acted, and preferred to be younger than their chronological age. In addition, feeling old relative to one's chronological age was positively associated with several indicators of job-related strain for several nations, replicating findings reported earlier in a U.S. manufacturing sample. Significant differences were observed among nations on all of the psychological age variables measured in this study. Differences among nations were also observed for levels of concern with work conditions and off-the-job conditions. Furthermore, examination of relationships of age variables with work/off-the-job stressors and work strains/outcomes revealed different patterns of relationships among the five nations participating in the study. Findings point to the need for additional attention to psychological age variables in studies of work and aging, with particular emphasis on cultural and socioeconomic conditions that may influence their interplay.
Sentiment analysis: Approaches and open issues

Sentiment Analysis is the process which helps to identify and classifying the opinions or feelings expressed in opinioned data, in order to ascertain whether the attitude of the writer towards a particular service, product etc. is negative, positive or neutral. Sentiment analysis also helps the consumers to identify if the information in the neighborhood of the product or service is satisfactory or not before the customers buy it. The interest of the scientific communities and business world is increasing day by day to gather, process and extract the knowledge from the public opinions available on different types of social media. The main problems that exist in the current techniques are: inability to perform well in different domains, inadequate accuracy and performance in sentiment analysis based on insufficient labeled data, incapability to deal with complex sentences that require more than sentiment words and simple analyzing. This article discusses the different approaches for sentiment analysis and open problems and issues present in performing sentiment analysis.
Performance of differentially coherent digital communications over frequency-selective fading channels

The performance of binary differential phase-shift keyed (DPSK) communications over frequency-selective wide-sense-stationary uncorrelated-scattering fading channels is considered. A technique is described for obtaining bounds on the average error probability for DPSK in terms of one or two parameters obtained from multipath spread or frequency-correlation-function channel measurements. A method of approximating the performance of systems using various data-pulse shapes and systems where it is difficult to obtain a complete channel characterization is developed. Numerical examples and comparisons of the most interesting cases are given. >
Understanding Cross-Cultural Visual Food Tastes with Online Recipe Platforms

Traces of human behaviour with online recipe portals offer an opportunity to employ a data-driven approach to the study of food culture. Here, we focus on understanding visual aspects of food preference by analysing datasets from China, Germany, and US. Predictive modelling with low-level image features and Deep Neural Network image embeddings show differences in recipe images across datasets and between recipes with high and low appreciation within datasets. Our findings demonstrate the utility of the approach for studying visual aspects food culture.
Reduce Infant Distress at Immunization

Design: Subjects were enrolled sequentially to control (standard care) and intervention groups. Intervention parents (n=57) were provided information about techniques to help their infants at immunization. Standard care parents (n=45) did not receive this information. Immunizations were videotaped and coded for infant and parent behaviors. Using a visual analog scale, parents rated their infant’s and their own comfort at study enrollment, immediately after immunization, and at checkout. Saliva samples collected from infants and parents at study enrollment and at 15, 30, and 60 minutes after immunization were assayed for cortisol concentration by standard radioimmunoassay. Data were analyzed using x, analysis of variance, and general linear modeling. Patterns of salivary cortisol change after immunization were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.
A case of Cushing's disease revealed six years after postpartum hypopituitarism.

The most frequent cause of hypopituitarism in postpartum women is Sheehan’s syndrome (1, 2). The natural course of Sheehan’s syndrome is the appearance of gonadotropic failure, followed by deficiency of TSH and, finally, deficiency of ACTH due to ischemic pituitary necrosis (3). Therefore, there have been no reports of patients with Sheehan’s syndrome who have an inappropriate secretion of ACTH. We describe in this paper the first case of a woman with Cushing’s disease as a result of a pituitary macroadenoma, who had hypopituitarism 6 yr earlier in her clinical course due to Sheehan’s syndrome.
Investigation of microbubble detection methods for super-resolution imaging of microvasculature

Super-resolution techniques that localise isolated bubble signals first require detection algorithms to separate the bubble and tissue responses. This work explores the available bubble detection techniques for super-resolution of tumour microvasculature. Pulse inversion (PI), differential imaging (DI) and singular value decomposition (SVD) filtering were compared in terms of the localisation accuracy, precision and contrast to tissue ratio (CTR). Bubble responses were simulated using the Marmottant model. Non-linear propagation through moving and stationary tissue was modelled using k-Wave. The results showed that PI signal was largely independent of flow direction and speed compared to SVD and DI which were less appropriate for lateral motion. At the lowest speeds, the bubble displacement between frames is not sufficient to generate a strong differential signal. SVD is unsuitable for stationary bubbles. For super-resolution of tumour microvasculature, the results suggest that non-linear techniques are preferential.
Perceptually Correct Haptic Rendering in Mid-Air Using Ultrasound Phased Array

This paper provides a perceptually transparent rendering algorithm for an ultrasound-based mid-air haptic device. In a series of experiments, we derive a systematic mapping function relating from the device command value to final user's perceived magnitude of a mid-air vibration feedback. The algorithm is designed for the ultrasonic mid-air haptic interface that is capable of displaying vibro-tactile feedback at a certain focal point in mid-air through ultrasound phased array technique. The perceived magnitude at the focal point is dependent on input parameters, such as input command intensity, modulation frequency, and position of the focal point in the work-space. This algorithm automatically tunes these parameters to ensure that the desired perceived output at the user's hand is precisely controlled. Through a series of experiments, the effect of the aforementioned parameters on the physical output pressure are mapped, and the effect of this output pressure to the final perceived magnitude is formulated, resulting in the mapping from the different parameters to the perceived magnitude. Finally, the overall transparent rendering algorithm was evaluated, showing better perceptual quality than rendering with simple intensity command.