Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of animal source food and micronutrient fortification in complementary food products on body composition, iron status, and linear growth: a randomized trial in Cambodia.

BACKGROUND Poor nutritional quality of complementary foods often limits growth. Animal source foods, such as milk or meat, are often unaffordable. Local affordable alternatives are needed. OBJECTIVE We evaluate the efficacy of 2 newly developed, rice-based complementary food products: WinFood (WF) with small fish and edible spiders and WinFood-Lite (WF-L) fortified with small fish, against 2 existing fortified corn-soy blend products, CSB+ (purely plant based) and CSB++ (8% dried skimmed milk). DESIGN In total, 419 infants aged 6 mo were enrolled in this randomized, single-blinded study for 9 mo, designed primarily to assess increments in fat-free mass by a deuterium dilution technique and change in plasma ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor. Secondary endpoints were changes in anthropometric variables, including knee-heel length. Data were analyzed by the intention-to-treat approach. RESULTS There was no difference in fat-free mass increment in WF or WF-L compared with CSB+ [WF: +0.04 kg (95% CI: -0.20, 0.28 kg); WF-L: +0.14 kg (95% CI: -0.10, 0.38 kg)] or CSB++ [WF: -0.03 kg (95% CI: -0.27, 0.21 kg); WF-L: +0.07 kg (95% CI: -0.18, 0.31 kg)] and no effect on iron status. The 1.7-mm (95% CI: -0.1, 3.5 mm) greater increase in knee-heel length in WF-L than in CSB+ was not significant. CONCLUSIONS No difference was found between the locally produced products (WF and WF-L) and the CSBs. Micronutrient fortification may be necessary, and small fish may be an affordable alternative to milk to improve complementary foods. The dietary role of edible spiders needs to be further explored. This trial was registered at controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN19918531.
A Novel Methyltransferase Methylates Cucumber Mosaic Virus 1a Protein and Promotes Systemic Spread

ABSTRACT In mammalian and yeast systems, methyltransferases have been implicated in the regulation of diverse processes, such as protein-protein interactions, protein localization, signal transduction, RNA processing, and transcription. The Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) 1a protein is essential not only for virus replication but also for movement. Using a yeast two-hybrid system with tobacco plants, we have identified a novel gene encoding a methyltransferase that interacts with the CMV 1a protein and have designated this gene Tcoi1 (tobacco CMV 1a-interacting protein 1). Tcoi1 specifically interacted with the methyltransferase domain of CMV 1a, and the expression of Tcoi1 was increased by CMV inoculation. Biochemical studies revealed that the interaction of Tcoi1 with CMV 1a protein was direct and that Tcoi1 methylated CMV 1a protein both in vitro and in vivo. The CMV 1a binding activity of Tcoi1 is in the C-terminal domain, which shows the methyltransferase activity. The overexpression of Tcoi1 enhanced the CMV infection, while the reduced expression of Tcoi1 decreased virus infectivity. These results suggest that Tcoi1 controls the propagation of CMV through an interaction with the CMV 1a protein.
Genome-Wide Landscape of Alternative Splicing Events in Brachypodium distachyon

Recently, Brachypodium distachyon has emerged as a model plant for studying monocot grasses and cereal crops. Using assembled expressed transcript sequences and subsequent mapping to the corresponding genome, we identified 1219 alternative splicing (AS) events spanning across 2021 putatively assembled transcripts generated from 941 genes. Approximately, 6.3% of expressed genes are alternatively spliced in B. distachyon. We observed that a majority of the identified AS events were related to retained introns (55.5%), followed by alternative acceptor sites (16.7%). We also observed a low percentage of exon skipping (5.0%) and alternative donor site events (8.8%). The ‘complex event’ that consists of a combination of two or more basic splicing events accounted for ∼14.0%. Comparative AS transcript analysis revealed 163 and 39 homologous pairs between B. distachyon and Oryza sativa and between B. distachyon and Arabidopsis thaliana, respectively. In all, we found 16 AS transcripts to be conserved in all 3 species. AS events and related putative assembled transcripts annotation can be systematically browsed at Plant Alternative Splicing Database (http://proteomics.ysu.edu/altsplice/plant/).
An optimal greedy routing algorithm for triangulated polygons.

In a greedy routing on a graph, each node forward messages to a neighbor that is closer to the destination. There are configurations of the graph where message delivery cannot always be guaranteed. A solution to this problems was to use a kind of virtual coordinates for the nodes instead of using real geometric coordinates. However, once the delivery guarantee problem was solved, another problem arose, that of achieving a simple representation of the virtual coordinates of each vertex.
Liberal Discourse and the Hegemons Dilemma: A Realist-Constructivist Approach to the Study of U.S.-Latin American Relations

This dissertation’s approach starts from four basic premises. The first is that a Western power’s interests in a liberal foreign policy course will exist alongside other interests of the state that casually conflict with its professed liberalism. The second premise is that, in order for the Western state to periodically pursue objectives that partially conflict with its professed principles, the state will present such objectives as liberal by understating the illiberal characteristics of foreign allies and overstating the undemocratic characteristics of rivals. The third premise is that, given the cultural authority of the state, its positions and narratives will have some distorting effects upon how the nation’s news organizations depict the political life of countries governed by allies and rivals. The last premise is that such distorted media depictions will often make it difficult for citizens and elites to detect when and where the Western power is casually deviating from its professed liberalism in its external relations. In testing the study’s hypotheses, the dissertation rigorously examines U.S. official and media discourses about Latin American allies and rivals in the post-Cold War era (1989-2009).
STPCA: Sparse tensor Principal Component Analysis for feature extraction

Due to the fact that many objects in the real world can be naturally represented as tensors, tensor subspace analysis has become a hot research area in pattern recognition and computer vision. However, existing tensor subspace analysis methods cannot provide an intuitionistic nor semantic interpretation for the projection matrices. In this paper, we propose Sparse Tensor Principal Component Analysis (STPCA), which transforms the eigen-decomposition problem to a series of regression problems. Since its projection matrices are sparse, STPCA can also address the occlusion problem. Experiment on Georgia tech database and AR database showed that the proposed method outperforms the Multilinear Principal Component Analysis (MPCA) in terms of accuracy and robustness.
Book Review: Sports Coaching: Professionalisation and Practice

INTRODUCTION The editors state the purpose of this book as being “to make a ‘position statement’ about the nature of coaching, and our understanding of it ‘in practice’” (p. xi). In many ways the book can be seen as a sequel to John L yle’s seminal and widely cited book “Sports Coaching Concepts” [1]. Lyle, who is a full-time research consultant in the UK and Adjunct Professor of Sports Coaching at the University of Queensland, Australia, is author or co-author of five chapters in this book which brings together the work of leading scholars from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, and USA. The first and last chapters are written by Lyle with his co-editor Chris Cushion, who is Senior Lecturer and M.Sc. Sports Coaching Programme Leader at Loughborough University, UK. Chapters 2-6 are concerned with “coach behaviour and practice”. In his chapter on “Coach Behaviour”, Cushion states that:
Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco

We study the demand for household water connections in urban Morocco, and the effect of such connections on household welfare. In the northern city of Tangiers, among homeowners without a private connection to the city’s water grid, a random subset was offered a simplified procedure to purchase a household connection on credit (at a zero percent interest rate). Take-up was high, at 69%. Because all households in our sample had access to the water grid through free public taps (often located fairly close to their homes), household connections did not lead to any improvement in the quality of the water households consumed; and despite significant increase in the quantity of water consumed, we find no change in the incidence of waterborne illnesses. Nevertheless, we find that households are willing to pay a substantial amount of money to have a private tap at home. Being connected generates important time gains, which are used for leisure and social activities, rather than productive activities. Because water is often a source of tension between households, household connections improve social integration and reduce conflict. Overall, within 6 months, self-reported well-being improved substantially among households in the treatment group, despite the financial cost of the connection. Our results suggest that facilitating access to credit for households to finance lump sum quality-of-life investments can significantly increase welfare, even if those investments do not result in income or health gains.
Commentary: Does helping mothers with ADHD in multiplex families help children? Reflections on Jans et al. (2015).

Reflecting on the accompanying article by Jans et al., we draw the following thoughts. Future research on multiplex ADHD families is needed to elucidate mechanisms, timing, and a sequencing of interventions, preferably in treatment naïve participants. Furthermore, in addition to symptom measures, it is likely that multi-informant measures of functional impairments such as parenting and parent-child observations may help elucidate the complex mechanisms linking maternal and child ADHD, and eventually lead to more targeted, efficient, and feasible prevention and intervention strategies.
Selection for contextual fear conditioning affects anxiety‐like behaviors and gene expression

Conditioned fear and anxiety‐like behaviors have many similarities at the neuroanatomical and pharmacological levels, but their genetic relationship is less well defined. We used short‐term selection for contextual fear conditioning (FC) to produce outbred mouse lines with robust genetic differences in FC. The high and low selected lines showed differences in fear learning that were stable across various training parameters and were not secondary to differences in sensitivity to the unconditioned stimulus (foot shock). They also showed a divergence in fear potentiated startle, indicating that differences induced by selection generalized to another measure of fear learning. However, there were no differences in performance in a Pavlovian approach conditioning task or the Morris water maze, indicating no change in general learning ability. The high fear learning line showed greater anxiety‐like behavior in the open field and zero maze, confirming a genetic relationship between FC and anxiety‐like behavior. Gene expression analysis of the amygdala and hippocampus identified genes that were differentially expressed between the two lines. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis identified several chromosomal regions that may underlie the behavioral response to selection; cis‐acting expression QTL were identified in some of these regions, possibly identifying genes that underlie these behavioral QTL. These studies support the validity of a broad genetic construct that includes both learned fear and anxiety and provides a basis for further studies aimed at gene identification.
Do People Always Pay Less than They Say? Testbed Laboratory Experiments with IV and HG Values

Hypothetical bias is a long-standing issue in stated preference and contingent valuation studies - people tend to overstate their preferences when they do not experience the real monetary consequences of their decision. This view, however, has been challenged by recent evidence based on the elicitation of induced values (IV) in the lab and homegrown (HG) demand function from different countries. This paper uses an experimental design to assess the extent and relevance of hypothetical bias in demand elicitation exercises for both IV and HG values. For testbed purpose, we use a classic second-price auction to elicit preferences. Comparing the demand curve we elicit in both, hypothetical bias unambiguously (i) vanishes in an induced-value, private good context, and (ii) persists in homegrown values elicitation context. This suggests hypothetical bias in preference elicitation appears to be driven by “preference formation” rather than "preference elicitation". In addition, companion treatments highlight two sources of the discrepancy observed in the HG setting: the hypothetical context leads bidders to underestimate the constraints imposed by their budget limitations, whereas the real context creates pressure leading them to bid "zero" to opt out from the elicitation mechanism. As a result, there is a need for a demand elicitation procedure that helps subjects take the valuation exercise sincerely, but without putting extra pressure on them.
Software-defined access networks

Control-plane functions are migrating from dedicated network equipment into software running on commodity hardware. The Software- Defined Access Network (SDAN) concept introduced here extends the benefits of Software- Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) into broadband access. In a SDAN, access-network control and management functions for broadband access are virtualized, to streamline operations, speed services creation, and enhance broadband customer satisfaction, particularly in multi-operator environments. This article examines industry drivers, identifies software- definable control and management functions for broadband access, and presents some specific usage scenarios for the SDAN.
Architecture-aware FPGA placement using metric embedding

Since performance on FPGAs is dominated by the routing architecture rather than wire length, we propose a new architecture-aware approach to initial FPGA placement that models the relationship between performance and the routing grid, using concepts from graph embedding and metric geometry. Our approach, CAPRI, can be viewed as an embedding of a graph representing the net list into a metric space that is representative of the FPGA. First, we develop an analytic metric of distance that models delays along the FPGA routing grid. We then embed a net list into the defined metric space using matrix projections and online bipartite matching. Experimental comparisons with the popular FPGA tool, VPR, show that with CAPRI's initial solution, the resulting placements show median improvements of 10% in critical path delays for the larger MCNC benchmarks. Total placement runtime is also improved by 2times on average
A Polyphase Multipath Technique for Software-Defined Radio Transmitters

Transmitter circuits using large signal swings and hard-switched mixers are power-efficient, but also produce unwanted harmonics and sidebands, which are commonly removed using dedicated filters. This paper presents a polyphase multipath technique to relax or eliminate filters by canceling a multitude of harmonics and sidebands. Using this technique, a wideband and flexible power upconverter with a clean output spectrum is realized in 0.13-mum CMOS, aiming at a software-defined radio application. Prototype chips operate from DC to 2.4 GHz with spurs smaller than -40 dBc up to the 17th harmonic (18-path mode) or 5th harmonic (6-path mode) of the transmit frequency, without tuning or calibration. The transmitter delivers 8 mW of power to a 100-Omega load (2.54 Vpp-diff voltage swing) and the complete chip consumes 228 mW from a 1.2-V supply. It uses no filters, but only digital circuits and mixers
Echolocating Bats Use a Nearly Time-Optimal Strategy to Intercept Prey

Acquisition of food in many animal species depends on the pursuit and capture of moving prey. Among modern humans, the pursuit and interception of moving targets plays a central role in a variety of sports, such as tennis, football, Frisbee, and baseball. Studies of target pursuit in animals, ranging from dragonflies to fish and dogs to humans, have suggested that they all use a constant bearing (CB) strategy to pursue prey or other moving targets. CB is best known as the interception strategy employed by baseball outfielders to catch ballistic fly balls. CB is a time-optimal solution to catch targets moving along a straight line, or in a predictable fashion—such as a ballistic baseball, or a piece of food sinking in water. Many animals, however, have to capture prey that may make evasive and unpredictable maneuvers. Is CB an optimum solution to pursuing erratically moving targets? Do animals faced with such erratic prey also use CB? In this paper, we address these questions by studying prey capture in an insectivorous echolocating bat. Echolocating bats rely on sonar to pursue and capture flying insects. The bat's prey may emerge from foliage for a brief time, fly in erratic three-dimensional paths before returning to cover. Bats typically take less than one second to detect, localize and capture such insects. We used high speed stereo infra-red videography to study the three dimensional flight paths of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, as it chased erratically moving insects in a dark laboratory flight room. We quantified the bat's complex pursuit trajectories using a simple delay differential equation. Our analysis of the pursuit trajectories suggests that bats use a constant absolute target direction strategy during pursuit. We show mathematically that, unlike CB, this approach minimizes the time it takes for a pursuer to intercept an unpredictably moving target. Interestingly, the bat's behavior is similar to the interception strategy implemented in some guided missiles. We suggest that the time-optimal strategy adopted by the bat is in response to the evolutionary pressures of having to capture erratic and fast moving insects.
An Administrative Claims Measure Suitable for Profiling Hospital Performance on the Basis of 30-Day All-Cause Readmission Rates Among Patients With Heart Failure

Background—Readmission soon after hospital discharge is an expensive and often preventable event for patients with heart failure. We present a model approved by the National Quality Forum for the purpose of public reporting of hospital-level readmission rates by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Methods and Results—We developed a hierarchical logistic regression model to calculate hospital risk-standardized 30-day all-cause readmission rates for patients hospitalized with heart failure. The model was derived with the use of Medicare claims data for a 2004 cohort and validated with the use of claims and medical record data. The unadjusted readmission rate was 23.6%. The final model included 37 variables, had discrimination ranging from 15% observed 30-day readmission rate in the lowest predictive decile to 37% in the upper decile, and had a c statistic of 0.60. The 25th and 75th percentiles of the risk-standardized readmission rates across 4669 hospitals were 23.1% and 24.0%, with 5th and 95th percentiles of 22.2% and 25.1%, respectively. The odds of all-cause readmission for a hospital 1 standard deviation above average was 1.30 times that of a hospital 1 standard deviation below average. State-level adjusted readmission rates developed with the use of the claims model are similar to rates produced for the same cohort with the use of a medical record model (correlation, 0.97; median difference, 0.06 percentage points). Conclusions—This claims-based model of hospital risk-standardized readmission rates for heart failure patients produces estimates that may serve as surrogates for those derived from a medical record model.
Metabolic Flux Analysis of CHO-320 Cells : Undetermined Network and Effect of Measurement Errors

The flux distribution in a detailed metabolic network of CHO-320 cells is evaluated using Metabolic Flux Analysis. As in many practical situations, the available information is not sufficient to completely define the metabolic fluxes, and so, the mass balance system of equations is underdetermined. However, the measurements of the time evolution of a number of extracellular components can provide a set of constraints on the metabolic network, so that a range of possible (non-negative) solutions for each metabolic reaction can be computed instead. In this way, metabolic flux intervals can be established for each intra-extracellular flux in the metabolic network. Moreover, the incorporation of simple theoretical assumptions or the addition of further extracellular measurements, result in the determination of certain metabolic fluxes and the delimitation of quite narrow intervals for the others, so providing a good guess of the real flux distribution in CHO-320 cells. A unique flux distribution can also be computed through linear optimization and the definition of some optimality criteria. In this article, several of the above-mentioned situations are discussed, highlighting the importance of specific measurements and comparing the flux intervals under some particular assumptions such as optimal biomass growth or no Threonine catabolism. In addition, the influence of the measurement errors on the numerical results is explored using Monte Carlo techniques.
Impediments for Automated Testing -- An Empirical Analysis of a User Support Discussion Board

To better understand the challenges encountered by users and developers of automatic software testing, we have performed an empirical investigation of a discussion board used for support of a test automation framework having several hundred users. The messages on the discussion board were stratified into problem reports, help requests, development information, and feature requests. The messages in the problem report and help request strata were then sampled and analyzed using thematic analysis, searching for common patterns. Our analysis indicate that a large part of the impediments discussed on the board are related to issues related to the centralized IT environment, and to erroneous behaviour connected to the use of the framework and related components. We also observed a large amount of impediments related to the use of software development tools. Turning to the help requests, we found that the majority of the help requests were about designing test scripts and not about the areas that appear to be most problematic. From our results and previous publications, we see a clear need to simplify the use, installation, and configuration of test systems of this type. The problems attributable to software development tools suggest that testers implementing test automation need more skills in handling those tools, than historically has been assumed. Finally, we propose that further research into the benefits of centralization of tools and IT environments, as well as structured deployment and efficient use of test automation, is performed.
Clock Skew Optimization in Pre and Post CTS

The clock distribution is important in all synchronous VLSI Design. The clock skew impacts the performance of synchronous logic circuits. As the scaling moves to nanometer technology, innovative clocking techniques are required to optimize the skew. This is done in backend process of design flow, (i.e.) skew is optimized in Pre and Post CTS. Here tunable clock buffers and tunable clock inverters is designed and it is compared. These designed buffers and inverters are useful for clock skew optimization in pre and post CTS.