Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A dimensionless ordered pull-through model of the mammalian lens epithelium evidences scaling across species and explains the age-dependent changes in cell density in the human lens

We present a mathematical (ordered pull-through; OPT) model of the cell-density profile for the mammalian lens epithelium together with new experimental data. The model is based upon dimensionless parameters, an important criterion for inter-species comparisons where lens sizes can vary greatly (e.g. bovine (approx. 18 mm); mouse (approx. 2 mm)) and confirms that mammalian lenses scale with size. The validated model includes two parameters: β/α, which is the ratio of the proliferation rate in the peripheral and in the central region of the lens; and γGZ, a dimensionless pull-through parameter that accounts for the cell transition and exit from the epithelium into the lens body. Best-fit values were determined for mouse, rat, rabbit, bovine and human lens epithelia. The OPT model accounts for the peak in cell density at the periphery of the lens epithelium, a region where cell proliferation is concentrated and reaches a maximum coincident with the germinative zone. The β/α ratio correlates with the measured FGF-2 gradient, a morphogen critical to lens cell survival, proliferation and differentiation. As proliferation declines with age, the OPT model predicted age-dependent changes in cell-density profiles, which we observed in mouse and human lenses.
Using Cellular Sensor Networks for Environment Protection

Protecting the environment from many threats has become a priority worldwide. The existing sensor technology enables the continuous monitoring of various parameters related to environment status, such as air quality and many others. In this paper we propose a secure architecture based on cellular networks to collect such sensors' information in real time. The cell phones can interact with the cellular network and the sensor networks at the same time. This unique ability can be leveraged to provide better authentication and security. We propose an architecture for these networks along with protocols that can be used to establish security. In our architecture, we use gateways, as intermediate nodes that are able to interact with both the cell phones and the sensor nodes.
Automatic imaging sysem with decision support for inspection of pigmented skin lesions and melanoma diagnosis.

— In this paper, we describe an automatic system for inspection of pigmented skin lesions and melanoma diagnosis, which supports images of skin lesions acquired using a conventional (consumer level) digital camera. More importantly, our system includes a decision support component, which combines the outcome of the image classiﬁcation with context knowledge such as skin type, age, gender, and affected body part. This allows the estimation of the personal risk of melanoma, so as to add conﬁdence to the classiﬁ-cation. We found that our system classiﬁed images with an accuracy of 86%, with a sensitivity of 94%, and speciﬁcity of 68%. The addition of context knowledge was indeed able to point to images that were erroneously classiﬁed as benign, albeit not to all of them.
Assessing Individual Benefits Realization Capability: an IT Culture Perspective

Information Technology (IT) culture comprises of the set of IT-related behaviors, values and assumptions that tacitly frame how individuals make effective use of IT resources. Since effective IT use is linked to the realization of benefits from IT investments, individuals’ IT cultures should therefore have significant effect on their benefits realization capabilities. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate the role individual IT culture plays in predicting individual benefits realization capability. We adopt the use of a mixed data collection strategy and make both theoretical and practical contributions. We extend the discourse on the theory of IT culture as a useful tool to gather deeper insights into the Information System (IS) phenomena, using an individual-level analysis. In the context of IS practice, our findings will help inform business and IT leaders of the specific individual IT culture archetypes that are likely to foster benefits realization from IS/IT investments.
From μ-Regular Expressions to Pushdown Automata

We extend Antimirov's partial derivatives from regular expressions to $\mu$-regular expressions that describe context-free languages. We prove the correctness of partial derivatives as well as the finiteness of the set of iterated partial derivatives. The latter are used as pushdown symbols in our construction of a nondeterministic pushdown automaton, which generalizes Antimirov's NFA construction.
A Wide Area Network Emulator for CORBA Applications

It is usually infeasible to test distributed systems and protocols for dependability, fault-tolerance and performance in the real operation environment. This is attributed to the cost of setting up the hosting distributed environment and the difficulty of controlling such a dynamic environment. The factors are too many and are very dynamic. This paper presents the wide area network emulator for CORBA applications: a general purpose software tool that emulates a distributed networked environment for CORBA middleware and applications and gives the user full control over the emulation environment in addition to the ability to inject network-related faults
Application of Particle Swarm Optimization for Production Scheduling

Production scheduling is an interdisciplinary challenge of addressing optimality criteria such as minimizing makespan, mean flow time, idle machine time, total tardiness, number of tardy jobs, in-process inventory cost, cost of being late. Research till date used various AI techniques, heuristics and metaheuristics to optimize scheduling criteria. If problem size goes on increasing heuristics is not able to give optimal results. The enumerations for finding the probabilities for improving the utilization of resources turn this problem towards NP-Hard. This paper presents comprehensive coverage of PSO application in solving optimization problems in the area of production scheduling. The paper discusses about use of PSO for improvement in the results of optimality criteria.
Taste uncoupled from nutrition fails to sustain the reinforcing properties of food

Recent findings suggest the reward system encodes metabolic value independent of taste, provoking speculation that the hedonic value of taste could be derived from nutritional value as a secondary appetitive property. We therefore dissociated and compared the impact of nutrition and taste on appetitive behavior in several paradigms. Though taste alone induces preference and increased consumption, in the absence of nutritional value its reinforcing properties are greatly diminished and it does not, like sucrose, induce increased responding over time. In agreement with behavioral data, saccharin‐evoked (but not sucrose‐evoked) dopamine release is greatly attenuated following pre‐exposure, suggesting that nutritional value is critical for dopamine‐mediated reward and reinforcement. Further supporting the primacy of nutrition over taste, genetically increased dopaminergic tone enhances incentive associated with nutritional value with minimal impact on taste‐based, hedonic incentive. Overall, we suggest that the sensory‐hedonic incentive value associated with taste functions as a conditioned stimulus that requires nutritional value to sustainably organize appetitive behavior.
Scale Efficiency in a Dynamic Model of Canadian Insurance Companies

This research investigates scale efficiency in the Canadian Insurance Industry using an intertemporal product differentiation oligopoly model estimated on a panel of federally chartered insurance companies for the period 1988 through 1991. Significant short-run scale economies are found with respect to both the output of new policies and the stock of policies issued in previous periods. An analysis of the model provides some evidence that certain types of mergers may lead to lower premiums and, consequently, to an increase in the welfare of both producers and consumers of insurance products.
The UNC-45 Chaperone Is Critical for Establishing Myosin-Based Myofibrillar Organization and Cardiac Contractility in the Drosophila Heart Model

UNC-45 is a UCS (UNC-45/CRO1/She4P) class chaperone necessary for myosin folding and/or accumulation, but its requirement for maintaining cardiac contractility has not been explored. Given the prevalence of myosin mutations in eliciting cardiomyopathy, chaperones like UNC-45 are likely to be equally critical in provoking or modulating myosin-associated cardiomyopathy. Here, we used the Drosophila heart model to examine its role in cardiac physiology, in conjunction with RNAi-mediated gene silencing specifically in the heart in vivo. Analysis of cardiac physiology was carried out using high-speed video recording in conjunction with movement analysis algorithms. unc-45 knockdown resulted in severely compromised cardiac function in adults as evidenced by prolonged diastolic and systolic intervals, and increased incidence of arrhythmias and extreme dilation; the latter was accompanied by a significant reduction in muscle contractility. Structural analysis showed reduced myofibrils, myofibrillar disarray, and greatly decreased cardiac myosin accumulation. Cardiac unc-45 silencing also dramatically reduced life-span. In contrast, third instar larval and young pupal hearts showed mild cardiac abnormalities, as severe cardiac defects only developed during metamorphosis. Furthermore, cardiac unc-45 silencing in the adult heart (after metamorphosis) led to less severe phenotypes. This suggests that UNC-45 is mostly required for myosin accumulation/folding during remodeling of the forming adult heart. The cardiac defects, myosin deficit and decreased life-span in flies upon heart-specific unc-45 knockdown were significantly rescued by UNC-45 over-expression. Our results are the first to demonstrate a cardiac-specific requirement of a chaperone in Drosophila, suggestive of a critical role of UNC-45 in cardiomyopathies, including those associated with unfolded proteins in the failing human heart. The dilated cardiomyopathy phenotype associated with UNC-45 deficiency is mimicked by myosin knockdown suggesting that UNC-45 plays a crucial role in stabilizing myosin and possibly preventing human cardiomyopathies associated with functional deficiencies of myosin.
Biomarkers of vitamin B-12 status in NHANES: a roundtable summary

A roundtable to discuss the measurement of vitamin B-12 (cobalamin) status biomarkers in NHANES took place in July 2010. NHANES stopped measuring vitamin B-12–related biomarkers after 2006. The roundtable reviewed 3 biomarkers of vitamin B-12 status used in past NHANES—serum vitamin B-12, methylmalonic acid (MMA), and total homocysteine (tHcy)—and discussed the potential utility of measuring holotranscobalamin (holoTC) for future NHANES. The roundtable focused on public health considerations and the quality of the measurement procedures and reference methods and materials that past NHANES used or that are available for future NHANES. Roundtable members supported reinstating vitamin B-12 status measures in NHANES. They noted evolving concerns and uncertainties regarding whether subclinical (mild, asymptomatic) vitamin B-12 deficiency is a public health concern. They identified the need for evidence from clinical trials to address causal relations between subclinical vitamin B-12 deficiency and adverse health outcomes as well as appropriate cutoffs for interpreting vitamin B-12–related biomarkers. They agreed that problems with sensitivity and specificity of individual biomarkers underscore the need for including at least one biomarker of circulating vitamin B-12 (serum vitamin B-12 or holoTC) and one functional biomarker (MMA or tHcy) in NHANES. The inclusion of both serum vitamin B-12 and plasma MMA, which have been associated with cognitive dysfunction and anemia in NHANES and in other population-based studies, was preferable to provide continuity with past NHANES. Reliable measurement procedures are available, and National Institute of Standards and Technology reference materials are available or in development for serum vitamin B-12 and MMA.
Figurative Language Processing: Irony. Introduction to the Issue

Abstract Processing of figurative (nonliteral) language is the focus of this special issue of Psychology of Language and Communication. The main theme is irony, which has been called “the ethos of our times” (Wampole, 2012). The texts presented here consider irony from many different angles, thus expanding the psycholinguistic perspective to include problems of key importance for understanding the phenomenon. All of these texts open up new questions on irony comprehension and production. The next special issue (to be published in 2017) will discuss research on a different type of nonliteral language: metaphors.
Adding Formal Requirements Modeling to SysML

This paper seeks to raise awareness on the SCR extensions derived from industry use, and discusses how an integration of Software Cost Reduction (SCR) modeling concepts address current limitations in the System Modeling Language (SysML) standard. The paper describes an integration of a formal requirement modeling approach based the SCR method with the SysML structure mechanisms providing an alternative means for formalizing requirement behavior using a table-based approach that is supported by tools that extend the original SCR method.
Prevalence and Factors Associated with Vitamin D Deficiency and Hyperparathyroidism in HIV-Infected Patients Treated in Barcelona

Vitamin D deficiency is an important problem in patients with chronic conditions including those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify the prevalence and factors associated with vitamin D deficiency and hyperparathyroidism in HIV patients attended in Barcelona. Cholecalciferol (25OH vitamin D3) and PTH levels were measured. Vitamin D insufficiency was defined as 25(OH) D < 20 ng/mL and deficiency as <12 ng/mL. Hyperparathyroidism was defined as PTH levels >65 pg/mL. Cases with chronic kidney failure, liver disease, treatments or conditions potentially affecting bone metabolism were excluded. Among the 566 patients included, 56.4% were exposed to tenofovir. Vitamin D insufficiency was found in 71.2% and 39.6% of those had deficiency. PTH was measured in 228 subjects, and 86 of them (37.7%) showed high levels. Adjusted predictors of vitamin D deficiency were nonwhite race and psychiatric comorbidity, while lipoatrophy was a protective factor. Independent risk factors of hyperparathyroidism were vitamin D < 12 ng/mL (OR: 2.14, CI 95%: 1.19–3.82, P: 0.01) and tenofovir exposure (OR: 3.55, CI 95%: 1.62–7.7, P: 0.002). High prevalence of vitamin deficiency and hyperparathyroidism was found in an area with high annual solar exposure.
Simple derivation of the special theory of relativity without the speed of light axiom

We show a very simple yet rigorous derivation of the invariance of the space-time interval (and hence the whole special relativity) just from the isotropy, homogeneity and a principle of relativity, without the need of the speed of light axiom. This article is intended as a textbook explanation of the special relativity.
Equity Importance Modeling With Financial Network and Betweenness Centrality

Financial market has been investigated from many perspectives. The recent emerging financial network methods model the market as a network. The edge between two vertices, or two equities are modeled as the correlation coefficient of the return on the prices of two equities in a period. A common question one can pose is that how can we determine the importance of an equity in the market. From a financial perspective, market-cap is an indicator of importance. But what is its correspondence from a financial network point-of-view? Degree distribution is an intuitive answer. However, after investigating on the betweenness centrality, which is another importance measurement of the graph, we found a high correlation between the betweenness centrality and market-cap. Degree of a vertex, in our case, denotes the number of equities that are highly correlated to it, which shows its local importance and lacks the capability to reflect its importance from a market-wide view. However, betweenness centrality of a vertex encodes global information. It measures the level to which a vertex is need by others along shortest path. In the experiment, we build a financial network using 473 stocks out of the SP-500 pool, during a one year period from June, 2008 to June, 2009. Betweenness centrality is calculated based on the known fasted Brandes algorithm. It is found that the average market-cap of the 20 stocks with largest degree is 29.0 billion dollars, slightly larger than that of the SP-500 stocks, which is 23.5 billion dollars. However, the average market-cap of the stocks with 20 largest betweenness is 50.5 billion dollars, more than twice of the SP500’s average market-cap. The market-cap-betweenness plots also shows an upward tendency, meaning that betweenness values are positive correlated with the market-caps, while the market-cap-degree plots doesn’t show such phenomenon.
An α-Smooth Muscle Actin (acta2/αsma) Zebrafish Transgenic Line Marking Vascular Mural Cells and Visceral Smooth Muscle Cells

Mural cells of the vascular system include vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and pericytes whose role is to stabilize and/or provide contractility to blood vessels. One of the earliest markers of mural cell development in vertebrates is α smooth muscle actin (acta2; αsma), which is expressed by pericytes and SMCs. In vivo models of vascular mural cell development in zebrafish are currently lacking, therefore we developed two transgenic zebrafish lines driving expression of GFP or mCherry in acta2-expressing cells. These transgenic fish were used to trace the live development of mural cells in embryonic and larval transgenic zebrafish. acta2:EGFP transgenic animals show expression that largely mirrors native acta2 expression, with early pan-muscle expression starting at 24 hpf in the heart muscle, followed by skeletal and visceral muscle. At 3.5 dpf, expression in the bulbus arteriosus and ventral aorta marks the first expression in vascular smooth muscle. Over the next 10 days of development, the number of acta2:EGFP positive cells and the number of types of blood vessels associated with mural cells increases. Interestingly, the mural cells are not motile and remain in the same position once they express the acta2:EGFP transgene. Taken together, our data suggests that zebrafish mural cells develop relatively late, and have little mobility once they associate with vessels.
Coparenting in the Digital Era: Exploring Divorced Parents’ Use of Technology

Abstract Purpose The current study was designed to examine how and why divorced parents use computers and the Internet for communication with their coparent and with their child(ren). Methodology/approach The current study utilized the uses and gratification perspective. A subsample of 178 divorced parents with at least one child aged 25 or younger from a larger research project participated. Parents were recruited to participate in a 15-minute online survey through email listservs with a nationwide and demographically diverse reach. Findings Analyses revealed that divorced parents are active users of technology, for communicating with their child(ren) as well as with the child(ren)’s other parent. In addition, parents were comfortable using the Internet and accessing online parenting information, citing few barriers to use. Research limitations/implications We did not capture the reasons for communicating or the content of communication. Future research should use innovative methodologies and measures to better understand the use of specific technologies and tools to negotiate boundaries between coparents living apart. In addition, a larger, more diverse sample might reveal different patterns of divorced parents’ technology use. Practical implications Technology allows for asynchronous communication, staying up to date, making plans, and making decisions with minimal interaction, and thus maintaining boundaries. Our evidence suggests technology could help parents find areas of agreement around their children’s lives in a less contentious environment. Originality/value This study provides the essential groundwork for further examination of ways to support coparent communication via technology.
Kinetic diversity in the fusion of exocytotic vesicles

The speed at which secretory vesicles fuse with the plasma membrane is a key parameter for neuronal and endocrine functions. We determined the precise time courses for fusion of small clear and large dense‐core vesicles in PC12 and chromaffin cells by simultaneously measuring both plasma membrane areas and release of vesicular contents. We found that instantaneous increases in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration evoked vesicle fusion, but with time constants that varied over four orders of magnitude among different types of vesicles and cells. This indicates that the molecular machinery for the final Ca2+‐dependent fusion steps of exocytosis is highly variable and is as critical as Ca2+ signalling processes in determining the speed and amount of secretion of neurotransmitters and hormones. Our results suggest a new possibility that the molecules responsible for the final fusion reaction that leads to vesicle fusion are key determinants for neuronal plasticity and hormonal disorders.
Pregnancy-associated pulmonary embolism during the peripartum period: An 8-year experience at a single center

Objective The purpose of this study was to estimate the incidence, timing of onset, risk factors, and mortality rate of pregnancy-associated pulmonary embolism (PAPE). Methods We analyzed PAPE cases that occurred between January 2005 and December 2012 at Cheil General Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center. Those cases that were not confirmed by computed tomography scan or were confirmed as amniotic fuid embolisms were excluded. We analyzed various risk factors such as previous surgery, mode of delivery, maternal age, and obesity in PAPE. Results There were 57,092 deliveries over 8 years. Of them, 13 cases (0.023%) were diagnosed with PAPE. All cases occurred in the postpartum period after cesarean delivery. There were no cases of PAPE after vaginal deliveries. Of the total cases, 10 cases (76.9%) were diagnosed in the early postpartum period within 48 hours. Eight cases (61.5%) had a history of previous surgery. There were 3 cases (23.1%) of multiple pregnancy and 3 cases (23.1%) of preterm delivery. No cases had a history of venous thromboembolism. Among 13 cases, 10 cases improved with only anticoagulation, 2 cases received surgical thrombectomy, and one case was maternal death. Conclusion Our results indicated that the incidence of PAPE was very low (0.023%) and occurred mainly in the postpartum period after cesarean section. However, its maternal mortality rate was significantly high (7.7%). Therefore, we suggest that immediate diagnosis and prompt treatment should be prioritized for improvement of PAPE patients' survival rate.