Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fz2 and Cdc42 Mediate Melanization and Actin Polymerization but Are Dispensable for Plasmodium Killing in the Mosquito Midgut

The midgut epithelium of the mosquito malaria vector Anopheles is a hostile environment for Plasmodium, with most parasites succumbing to host defenses. This study addresses morphological and ultrastructural features associated with Plasmodium berghei ookinete invasion in Anopheles gambiae midguts to define the sites and possible mechanisms of parasite killing. We show by transmission electron microscopy and immunofluorescence that the majority of ookinetes are killed in the extracellular space. Dead or dying ookinetes are surrounded by a polymerized actin zone formed within the basal cytoplasm of adjacent host epithelial cells. In refractory strain mosquitoes, we found that formation of this zone is strongly linked to prophenoloxidase activation leading to melanization. Furthermore, we identify two factors controlling both phenomena: the transmembrane receptor frizzled-2 and the guanosine triphosphate–binding protein cell division cycle 42. However, the disruption of actin polymerization and melanization by double-stranded RNA inhibition did not affect ookinete survival. Our results separate the mechanisms of parasite killing from subsequent reactions manifested by actin polymerization and prophenoloxidase activation in the A. gambiae–P. berghei model. These latter processes are reminiscent of wound healing in other organisms, and we propose that they represent a form of wound-healing response directed towards a moribund ookinete, which is perceived as damaged tissue.
Real-time estimation of light source environment for photorealistic augmented reality

This paper proposes a vision-based augmented reality system with correct representation of attached and cast shadows. To realize a seamless augmented reality system, we need to resolve a number of problems. Especially, the geometric and photometric registration problems are important. These problems require to estimate the positions of light sources and user's viewpoint. The proposed system resolves the problems using a 3D marker which combines a 2D square marker and a mirror ball. The 2D marker and the mirror ball are used to estimate the relationship between the real and virtual worlds and the positions of light sources in the real world, respectively.
Evaluating the Potential Efficacy of Invasive Lionfish (Pterois volitans) Removals

The lionfish, Pterois volitans (Linnaeus) and Pterois miles (Bennett), invasion of the Western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico has the potential to alter aquatic communities and represents a legitimate ecological concern. Several local removal programs have been initiated to control this invasion, but it is not known whether removal efforts can substantially reduce lionfish numbers to ameliorate these concerns. We used an age-structured population model to evaluate the potential efficacy of lionfish removal programs and identified critical data gaps for future studies. We used high and low estimates for uncertain parameters including: length at 50% vulnerability to harvest (Lvul), instantaneous natural mortality (M), and the Goodyear compensation ratio (CR). The model predicted an annual exploitation rate between 35 and 65% would be required to cause recruitment overfishing on lionfish populations for our baseline parameter estimates for M and CR (0.5 and 15). Lionfish quickly recovered from high removal rates, reaching 90% of unfished biomass six years after a 50-year simulated removal program. Quantifying lionfish natural mortality and the size-selective vulnerability to harvest are the most important knowledge gaps for future research. We suggest complete eradication of lionfish through fishing is unlikely, and substantial reduction of adult abundance will require a long-term commitment and may be feasible only in small, localized areas where annual exploitation can be intense over multiple consecutive years.
Electromyographic response of facial nerve stimulation under different levels of neuromuscular blockade during middle-ear surgery

Objective To investigate facial nerve monitoring in patients receiving the partial nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs), remifentanil and propofol. Methods Patients with normal facial function and advanced middle-ear disease were enrolled. For total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA), propofol and remifentanil were infused as induction/maintenance anaesthesia. Stimulation thresholds and amplitudes were recorded at each train-of-four (TOF) nerve stimulation level. Time differences between start of TOF and electromyographic (EMG) amplitude decreases (Ti), and between complete recovery of TOF and EMG amplitudes (Tr), were calculated. Results Fifteen patients were enrolled. Mean ± SD Ti was 3.4 ± 1.28 min; Tr was 18.7 ± 4.41 min. Amplitude of stimulation was apparent mostly at TOF level 1. In most cases, no or a weak response (<100 µV) was observed at TOF 0. Mean ± SD threshold of electrical stimulation was 0.31 ± 0.10 mA at TOF 1. At TOF > 2, all cases showed EMG response on electrical stimulation. Conclusions Induction of TIVA using propofol and remifentanil provided reliable conditions for delicate microsurgery. Minimal NMBA use, considered as producing TOF levels >1, was sufficient for facial nerve monitoring in neuro-otological surgery.
Security Monitoring by Watermarking and Hashing for Multimedia Service on Internet Platform

An Internet-based security monitoring platform including a server and some clients is described in this paper for multimedia content authentication. Contents existed in the database of the server, can be discovered by the video hash copy detection technology and will be prevented from uploading. Watermark can be embedded into the videos when they are uploaded to the server in order to protect the copyright. Such embedded watermark is able to be extracted on the client to determine copyright information after requiring a video from the server and playing it. The proposed system can be implemented on different kinds of devices, which is irrelevant to hardware.
Amplitude-Based Source Parameters for Measur ing Voice Quality

This paper explores amplitude-based measures of the glottal flow signal, as it has been suggested that they may provide a more robust method for analysing voice quality than the more typical time-based ones. Centred around an analysis of some samples from the VOQUAL’03 Speech database 2 of Japanese spontaneous speech, this paper (i) presents a discussion of whether a single global source parameter, such as the effective pulse declination time (which can be calculated from two amplitudes) or the T0-normalised equivalent, is likely to capture the tense–lax dimension of voice quality differentiation, across tokens exhibiting large ƒ0 differences; (ii) presents formulations for an extended set of amplitude-based source parameters, to provide a richer coverage of voice source variation, and (iii) compares results for the amplitude vs. time-based measures. Results for (i) indicate that the non-normalised measure AQ is more effective in capturing tense–lax differences across a large ƒ0 range than the normalised NAQ. Results for (iii) show a promising correspondence between the proposed amplitude-based measures and the time-based ones. A brief description is given of our planned research on Irish prosody, for which these measures will be important.
NAD(P)H, a directly operating antioxidant?

Endogenous oxygen‐ and nitrogen‐centered free radicals are considered to play a decisive role in a variety of diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders, atherosclerosis, or cancer. Directly operating antioxidants limit the action of freely diffusing radicals by scavenging the attacking, oxidizing radical and re‐reducing the oxidized biomolecule, i.e., the biomol‐ecule‐derived radical. From textbooks of biochemistry it is understood that NAD(P)H acts as a hydride (hydrogen anion) donor in a variety of enzymatic processes. One example is the re‐reduction of GSSG to GSH, catalyzed by glutathione reductase. Because of this reaction, NADPH has been suggested to also act as an indirectly operating antioxidant, thus maintaining the antioxidative power of glutathione. To the best of our knowledge, however, neither NADPH nor NADH has been considered to be directly operating antioxi‐dants. Based on recently published data, new experiments, and theoretical considerations, we propose that NAD(P)H represents a decisive, directly operating an‐tioxidant that should be considered of major importance in the mitochondrial compartment. NAD(P)H fulfills this task both by scavenging toxic free radicals and repairing biomolecule‐derived radicals. —Kirsch, M. , de Groot, H. NAD(P)H, a directly operating anti‐oxidant? FASEB J. 15, 1569–1574 (2001)
Does Foreign Aid Mitigate the Adverse Effect of Expropriation Risk on Foreign Direct Investment?

We construct a model of FDI, risk and aid, where a country loses access to FDI and aid if the country expropriates FDI. We show that: (i) The threat of expropriation leads to under-investment; (ii) The optimal level of FDI decreases as the risk of expropriation rises; and (iii) Under certain conditions, aid mitigates the adverse effect of expropriation risk on FDI. The empirical analysis employs data for 35 low-income countries and 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, over the period 1983-2004. We find that risk has a negative effect on FDI, aid mitigates the adverse effect of risk on FDI, and that bilateral and multilateral aid are roughly equivalent at achieving these results. We also provide an estimate of the level of aid that would eliminate expropriation risk, and find that for low-income countries, the amount of aid would need to at least double in order for aid to completely offset the effect of risk.
Search tree-based approach for the p-median problem using the ant colony optimization algorithm

In this paper we present an approximation algorithm for the p-median problem that uses the principles of ant colony optimization technique. We introduce a search tree that keeps the partial solutions during the solution process of the p-median problem. An adaptation is proposed that allows ant colony optimization algorithm to perform on this tree and obtain good results in short time.
Identification model-based control system design for semiconductor manufacturing equipment

In high-speed and high-precision control of a precision stage for semiconductor manufacturing, vibration of the axially moving factors leads to operational problems and limits their utility in many applications. Reaction force and vibration controls are a key to improve the control performance. In the present paper, aiming at a systematic design of the both control systems, the 6-degree of freedom (6DOF) equipment is developed. A precision XY stage is mounted on an active vibration isolator. Two counter weights driven by linear actuators are placed eccentric from the center of gravity, i.e., two weights are not co-axial. With the developed equipment, at first, the multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) modeling based on the subspace method is experimentally investigated. Using the identified MIMO model, the reaction force and vibration control systems as well as the positioning system are systematically designed based on the bilateral control strategy. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed model-based control approach for the integrated design of the precision stage system is verified by the vibration suppression control experiments.
Epidemiologic Responses to Anthrax Outbreaks: A Review of Field Investigations, 1950–2001

We used unpublished reports, published manuscripts, and communication with investigators to identify and summarize 49 anthrax-related epidemiologic field investigations conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1950 to August 2001. Of 41 investigations in which Bacillus anthracis caused human or animal disease, 24 were in agricultural settings, 11 in textile mills, and 6 in other settings. Among the other investigations, two focused on building decontamination, one was a response to bioterrorism threats, and five involved other causes. Knowledge gained in these investigations helped guide the public health response to the October 2001 intentional release of B. anthracis, especially by addressing the management of anthrax threats, prevention of occupational anthrax, use of antibiotic prophylaxis in exposed persons, use of vaccination, spread of B. anthracis spores in aerosols, clinical diagnostic and laboratory confirmation methods, techniques for environmental sampling of exposed surfaces, and methods for decontaminating buildings.
Mother to child transmission of HIV among Zimbabwean women who seroconverted postnatally: prospective cohort study

Objectives To estimate the rates and timing of mother to infant transmission of HIV associated with breast feeding in mothers who seroconvert postnatally, and their breast milk and plasma HIV loads during and following seroconversion, compared with women who tested HIV positive at delivery. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Urban Zimbabwe. Participants 14 110 women and infants enrolled in the Zimbabwe Vitamin A for Mothers and Babies (ZVITAMBO) trial (1997-2001). Main outcome measures Mother to child transmission of HIV, and breast milk and maternal plasma HIV load during the postpartum period. Results Among mothers who tested HIV positive at baseline and whose infant tested HIV negative with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at six weeks (n=2870), breastfeeding associated transmission was responsible for an average of 8.96 infant infections per 100 child years of breast feeding (95% CI 7.92 to 10.14) and varied little over the breastfeeding period. Breastfeeding associated transmission for mothers who seroconverted postnatally (n=334) averaged 34.56 infant infections per 100 child years (95% CI 26.60 to 44.91) during the first nine months after maternal infection, declined to 9.50 (95% CI 3.07 to 29.47) during the next three months, and was zero thereafter. Among women who seroconverted postnatally and in whom the precise timing of infection was known (≤90 days between last negative and first positive test; n=51), 62% (8/13) of transmissions occurred in the first three months after maternal infection and breastfeeding associated transmission was 4.6 times higher than in mothers who tested HIV positive at baseline and whose infant tested HIV negative with PCR at six weeks. Median plasma HIV concentration in all mothers who seroconverted postnatally declined from 5.0 log10 copies/mL at the last negative enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to 4.1 log10 copies/mL at 9-12 months after infection. Breast milk HIV load in this group was 4.3 log10 copies/mL 0-30 days after infection, but rapidly declined to 2.0 log10 copies/mL and <1.5 log10 copies/mL by 31-90 days and more than 90 days, respectively. Among women whose plasma sample collected soon after delivery tested negative for HIV with ELISA but positive with PCR (n=17), 75% of their infants were infected or had died by 12 months. An estimated 18.6% to 20.4% of all breastfeeding associated transmission observed in the ZVITAMBO trial occurred among mothers who seroconverted postnatally. Conclusions Breastfeeding associated transmission is high during primary maternal HIV infection and is mirrored by a high but transient peak in breast milk HIV load. Around two thirds of breastfeeding associated transmission by women who seroconvert postnatally may occur while the mother is still in the “window period” of an antibody based test, when she would test HIV negative using one of these tests. Trial registration Clinical trials.gov NCT00198718.
Using hidden Markov toolkit for arrhythmia recognition

This paper describes a recognition system based on diverse features combination for the automatic heartbeat recognition purpose. The method consists of three stages: at the first stage, we extract a set of features including the morphological ones, high order statistics and pitch synchronous decomposition from ECG data using QT database; at the second stage, we use the hidden Markov tree classifier, then the third stage is added as a tool on which we have implemented the hidden Markov tree. The classification accuracy of the proposed system is measured by sensitivity and specificity measures. These measures for average sensitivity and average specificity are 95,79%, 98,93% in case of separated features and 97,46%, 99,22% in case of combined features.
Electrophysiological Correlation of the Degree of Self-Reference Effect

The present study investigated neural correlations underlying the psychological processing of stimuli with various degrees of self-relevance. Event-related potentials were recorded for names that differ in their extent of relevance to the study participant. Participants performed a three-stimulus oddball task. ERP results showed larger P2 averaged amplitudes for highly self-relevant names than for moderately self-relevant, minimally self-relevant, and non-self-relevant names. N2 averaged amplitudes were larger for the highly self-relevant names than for the moderately self-relevant, minimally self-relevant, and non-self-relevant names. Highly self-relevant names elicited larger P3 averaged amplitudes than the moderately self-relevant names which, in turn, had larger P3 values than for minimally self-relevant names. Minimally self-relevant stimuli elicited larger P3 averaged amplitudes than non-self-relevant stimuli. These results demonstrate a degree effect of self-reference, which was indexed using electrophysiological activity.
Interoception across Modalities: On the Relationship between Cardiac Awareness and the Sensitivity for Gastric Functions

The individual sensitivity for ones internal bodily signals (“interoceptive awareness”) has been shown to be of relevance for a broad range of cognitive and affective functions. Interoceptive awareness has been primarily assessed via measuring the sensitivity for ones cardiac signals (“cardiac awareness”) which can be non-invasively measured by heartbeat perception tasks. It is an open question whether cardiac awareness is related to the sensitivity for other bodily, visceral functions. This study investigated the relationship between cardiac awareness and the sensitivity for gastric functions in healthy female persons by using non-invasive methods. Heartbeat perception as a measure for cardiac awareness was assessed by a heartbeat tracking task and gastric sensitivity was assessed by a water load test. Gastric myoelectrical activity was measured by electrogastrography (EGG) and subjective feelings of fullness, valence, arousal and nausea were assessed. The results show that cardiac awareness was inversely correlated with ingested water volume and with normogastric activity after water load. However, persons with good and poor cardiac awareness did not differ in their subjective ratings of fullness, nausea and affective feelings after drinking. This suggests that good heartbeat perceivers ingested less water because they subjectively felt more intense signals of fullness during this lower amount of water intake compared to poor heartbeat perceivers who ingested more water until feeling the same signs of fullness. These findings demonstrate that cardiac awareness is related to greater sensitivity for gastric functions, suggesting that there is a general sensitivity for interoceptive processes across the gastric and cardiac modality.
DNA methylation and demethylation as targets for antipsychotic therapy

Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD) patients show a downregulation of GAD67, reelin (RELN), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and other genes expressed in telencephalic GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons. This downregulation is associated with the enrichment of 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine proximally at gene regulatory domains at the respective genes. A pharmacological strategy to reduce promoter hypermethylation and to induce a more permissive chromatin conformation is to administer drugs, such as the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor valproate (VPA), that facilitate chromatin remodeling. Studies in mouse models of SZ indicate that clozapine induces DNA demethylation at relevant promoters, and that this action is potentiated by VPA. By activating DNA demethylation, clozapine or its derivatives with VPA or other more potent and selective HDAC inhibitors may be a promising treatment strategy to correct the gene expression deficits detected in postmortem brain of SZ and BPD patients.
Representation of the awareness reflexive structure with regard to the conflict involving signatures

This paper offers a method for analysis of conflict situations when utility of agents is replaced by rules of decision making. This approach simplifies review of a conflict situation, though it imposes significant restrictions to conflict conditions. A conflict shall be presented as separate transitions and Boolean readiness of agents to perform those transitions. These restrictions can be seen when a model is formulated. This approach appeared in modeling of conflict situations in security systems and it corresponds to analysis of intruder-defender systems the most. Models provided in the present paper enable to calculate an object's readiness to take active actions depending on the condition of its awareness structure. Awareness structure includes the view on indicators of readiness to take active actions by other participants of a conflict and their view on the indicators of the others. A notion of a system researcher is introduced based on the model. The system researcher creates its own awareness structure upon researching structures of the other participants. Conditions for a researching task for two awareness structure researchers which analyze structures of each other are provided herein and it is ascertained which of the participants and in which case is able to solve the task. The paper provides examples of applying mathematical models in real life situations.
Collaborative Pricing for e-Service Bundle Delivery: A Framework

Information goods pricing is an essential and emerging topic in the era of information economy. Myriad researchers have devoted considerable attention to developing and testing methods of information goods pricing. Nevertheless, in addition; there are still certain shortcomings as the challenges to be overcome. This study encompasses several unexplored concepts that have attracted research attention in other disciplines lately, such as collaborative prototyping, prospect theory, ERG theory, and maintenance from design, economic, psychological, and software engineering respectively. This study proposes a novel conceptual framework for information goods pricing and investigates the impact of three advantages: (1) provides collaborative process that could generate several prototypes via trial and error in pricing process, (2) deliberates the belief of consumer and producer by maximizing utility and profit, and (3) offers an appropriate service bundle by interacting with consumer and discovering the actual needs
A Preliminary Study of a General Model for Supporting Tutorial Dialogues

One of the critical factors contributing to the effectiveness of human tutoring is the conversational aspect of the instruction. We present a project with the goal of developing a general model for supporting tutorial dialogues that could be used in both welland ill-defined instructional tasks. We have previously studied how human tutors provide additional support to students learning with an existing intelligent tutoring system. On the basis of these findings we developed a model for supporting tutorial dialogues, which we present in this paper. We used this model in a Wizard-of-Oz study to provide adaptive support. The results show that students did learn the relevant domain knowledge and that human tutors mostly agreed with the interventions generated from the model.