Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pandemic influenza viruses: time to recognize our inability to predict the unpredictable and stop dangerous gain-of-function experiments

> There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know. D.H. Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary for Defense, February 12, 2002 For almost as long as the civil war in Syria, the scientific community has been locked in a controversy about the utility of gain‐of‐function (GOF) research to increase the transmissibility of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses that resulted in a year‐long moratorium (Nature, 2012a, 2012b, 2013a, 2013b). Now, for the first time since the controversy erupted in November 2011, there is a growing recognition among scientists that GOF virology – experiments with H5N1 and now H7N9 and H7N7 viruses – will not help us predict a pandemic (Morse et al, 2012; Merson et al, 2013), nor will it help us develop more effective vaccines (Butler, 2012; Malakoff, 2013), the two principal arguments for doing the research. Chinese officials have gone one step further by signalling their view that GOF research has no benefit for humanity (Malakoff, 2013; http://www.handelsblatt.com/technologie/das‐technologie‐update/healthcare/vogelgrippe‐manipulierte‐viren‐sind‐gefahr‐fuer‐menschheit/8611922.html). There will be no end to the GOF saga until virologists, epidemiologists and public health officials acknowledge our fundamental inability for the moment to predict the unpredictable and until policy makers and funders move to rein in their support for GOF research. To start its business, a virus generally has to replicate well. This process isn't invariably accompanied by pathology, but it often is. For a virus the key factor is transmission because without it the virus goes to extinction very quickly. Transmission studies, which have been the poor cousin in virology, incorporate features such as droplet size, coughing, …
The Prognostic Value of Midregional Proatrial Natriuretic Peptide in Patients with Hemorrhagic Stroke

Background: Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is a well-known prognostic marker of outcome and mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease. Midregional proatrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) is a stable fragment of the ANP precursor hormone. As a prognostic marker after ischemic stroke, it reliably predicts poststroke mortality and functional outcome. This study aimed to analyze the prognostic value of MR-proANP in patients with hemorrhagic stroke, i.e. subarachnoid (SAH) and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Methods: MR-proANP was analyzed in patients with spontaneous SAH or spontaneous ICH. All patients were prospectively randomized into two treatment arms: (1) a prophylactic normothermia group with a target core temperature 36.5°C using endovascular cooling, and (2) a control group with conventional stepwise predefined fever management using antipyretic medication and surface cooling. Blood samples were obtained on admission and on days 4 and 7. Measurement of MR-proANP was performed in serum using sandwich immunoassay. The primary endpoint was functional outcome [assessed by the Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS)] and the secondary endpoints were mortality within 180 days after hemorrhagic stroke and influence of temperature on MR-proANP. A favorable outcome was defined as GOS 4-5, and the patients were considered to have a poor outcome with a 180-day GOS score between 1 and 3. Results: Analysis of MR-proANP was performed in 24 patients with spontaneous SAH and 22 patients with spontaneous ICH. MR-proANP was elevated on days 4 and 7 as compared to baseline levels (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively). High MR-proANP levels (>120 pmol/l) were associated with increased mortality and poor outcome (after 180 days; p < 0.05, respectively). There was no significant difference regarding MR-proANP serum concentrations between the endovascular and the control groups. Conclusions: Increased levels of MR-proANP are independently associated with poor functional outcome and increased mortality after 180 days in patients with hemorrhagic stroke. Endovascular temperature control had no significant influence on MR-proANP levels.
Research on Visual Image Processing of Mobile Robot Based on OpenCV

This work takes the Mecanum wheel mobile robot as experimental platform, Microsoft Visual 2010 and OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision Library) based on 2.4. 9 platform for the development of research on mobile robot vision system. The main work is as follows: first, build the Mecanum wheel robot platform, realizes the mobile robot with full mobility. Second, the Kinect vision sensor is used to acquire the image information in the robot’s visual field and to process the image. Including Canny edge detection, histogram equalization, Harris corner detection algorithm, sub-pixel level corner detection, localization, image affine transformation, Hof line transform, data processing center. Third, the obtained image is processed, and the image quality is improved by image preprocessing, so that the image clarity is improved. Based on the above image information processing, the algorithm is improved on the basis of Harris corner detection algorithm, and the corner coordinate is obtained at sub-pixel precision. Fourth, the processed image information is decided and analyzed in the database of the data center to form the motion control command of the mobile robot. The feasibility of the system is verified by experiments.
Progressive Taxation, Endogenous Growth, and Macroeconomic (In)Stability

In the context of a standard one-sector AK model of endogenous growth, we show that the economy exhibits equilibrium indeterminacy and belief-driven aggregate fluctuations under progressive taxation of income. When the tax schedule is regressive or flat, the economy's balanced growth path displays saddle-path stability and equilibrium uniqueness. These results imply that in sharp contrast to a conventional automatic stabilizer, progressive income taxation may destabilize an endogenously growing macroeconomy by generating cyclical fluctuations driven by agents' self-fulfilling expectations or sunspots.
GPUQP: query co-processing using graphics processors

We present GPUQP, a relational query engine that employs both CPUs and GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) for in-memory query co-processing. GPUs are commodity processors traditionally designed for graphics applications. Recent research has shown that they can accelerate some database operations orders of magnitude over CPUs. So far, there has been little work on how GPUs can be programmed for heavy-duty database constructs, such as tree indexes and joins, and how well a full-fledged GPU query co-processor performs in comparison with their CPU counterparts. In this work, we explore the design decisions in using GPUs for query co-processing using both a graphics API and a general purpose programming model. We then demonstrate the processing flows as well as the performance results of our methods.
Managing Mixed-Use Clusters with Cluster-on-Demand

Although clusters offer inexpensive computing power, they are difficult and expensive to manage, particularly for user communities with diverse software needs. This paper presents Cluster-on-Demand (COD), a cluster operating system framework for mixed-use clusters. COD interposes on standard network management services — DHCP, NIS, and DNS — to partition a cluster into dynamic virtual clusters (vclusters) with independent installed software, name spaces, access controls, and network storage volumes. COD allocates nodes to vclusters on-the-fly, reconfiguring them as needed with PXE network boots. A key element of COD is a protocol to resize vclusters dynamically in cooperation with pluggable middleware components such as batch schedulers. The COD framework is a key building block for automated management of computing utilities and grids.
Bioavailability of Cd to food crops in relation to heavy metal content of sludge-amended soil

Results of greenhouse and laboratory experiments on factors influencing uptake and accumulation of Cd by economic crops are summarized. Tolerance to Cd is highly crop-specific. For example, 21 different economic crops were grown in pots filled with a calcareous soil treated with increasing amounts of Cd. Yields versus Cd addition rate relations showed yield reductions to occur with Cd sensitive plants (spinach, soybean, curlycress, and lettuce) at addition rates varying from 5 to 15 μg Cd/g soil, whereas tolerant crops (tomato, squash, cabbage, and rice) did not suffer a yield reduction when treated at rates less than 150 μg Cd/g soil. Nutrient solution experiments likewise revealed marked differences in growth of crops. Corn, turnip, beets, bean, and tomato plants grown in solution cultures containing 0.1 μg Cd/ml accumulated different amounts of Cd in leaf tissue depending upon crop species; leaf Cd concentrations ranged from a low of 9 μg Cd/g leaf for beans to 200 μg Cd/g leaf for beets. Large differences also occur with regard to distribution of Cd within the plant. Fruit and seed tissue contain less Cd than leaves. Experiments comparing the toxicity of Cd to Cu, Ni, and Zn in an acid soil ± lime showed Cd to be the most phytotoxic. While interactive effects occur with regard to metal uptake and accumulation by plants, Cd uptake is essentially dependent upon the Cd concentration of the soil. Studies of chemical speciation of Cd in relation to Cd availability indicate that the free Cd2+ concentration correlates better with Cd uptake than Cd total of the soil solution.
Does Habitat Heterogeneity in a Multi-Use Landscape Influence Survival Rates and Density of a Native Mesocarnivore?

The relationships between predators, prey, and habitat have long been of interest to applied and basic ecologists. As a native Great Plains mesocarnivore of North America, swift foxes (Vulpes velox) depended on the historic disturbance regime to maintain open grassland habitat. With a decline in native grasslands and subsequent impacts to prairie specialists, notably the swift fox, understanding the influence of habitat on native predators is paramount to future management efforts. From 2001 to 2004, we investigated the influence of vegetation structure on swift fox population ecology (survival and density) on and around the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, southeastern Colorado, USA. We monitored 109 foxes on 6 study sites exposed to 3 different disturbance regimes (military training, grazing, unused). On each site we evaluated vegetation structure based on shrub density, basal coverage, vegetation height, and litter. Across all sites, annual fox survival rates ranged from 0.50 to 0.92 for adults and 0.27 to 0.78 for juveniles. Among sites, population estimates ranged from 1 to 7 foxes per 10 km transect. Fox density or survival was not related to the relative abundance of prey. A robust model estimating fox population size and incorporating both shrub density and percent basal cover as explanatory variables far outperformed all other models. Our results supported the idea that, in our region, swift foxes were shortgrass prairie specialists and also indicated a relationship between habitat quality and landscape heterogeneity. We suggest the regulation of swift fox populations may be based on habitat quality through landscape-mediated survival, and managers may effectively use disturbance regimes to create or maintain habitat for this native mesocarnivore.
Hot off the breath: the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic may be gone but should not be forgotten

The 2009 influenza pandemic was caused by the emergence of a new influenza virus, pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza A (pH1N1), to which many people had no pre-existing immunity. It caused unusual and extensive outbreaks of disease in the summer months in many countries and very high levels of disease in the winter months. The pandemic virus had almost complete dominance over other seasonal influenza viruses and was unusual in its clinical presentation because the most severe cases occurred more often in younger age groups. The WHO and the world's healthcare systems mobilised a massive healthcare resource effort to prepare for the potentially devastating effects of an influenza pandemic. In the UK there have been 474 deaths reported associated with confirmed cases of pH1N1 since the beginning of the pandemic. While this is almost certainly a sizeable underestimate, fortunately it is a figure much lower than some initial predictions.1 As of 10 August 2010, the WHO announced that the pandemic was over. In the southern hemisphere pH1N1 rates remain well below those observed during the same period in 2009 during the first pandemic wave. No large and unusual summer outbreaks have occurred in either northern or southern hemispheres. Indeed, the seasonal influenza A (H3N2) and influenza B viruses are currently being reported in …
Confocal blue reflectance imaging in type 2 idiopathic macular telangiectasia.

PURPOSE To report the characteristics of confocal blue reflectance imaging in type 2 idiopathic macular telangiectasia (type 2 IMT). METHODS In a prospective observational cross-sectional study, both eyes of 33 patients with type 2 IMT were examined by means of fundus biomicroscopy, fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Confocal blue reflectance (CBR) imaging was performed using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (HRA2; Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). To compare the results derived from different imaging modalities, an analysis was performed using image analysis software (Heidelberg Eye Explorer; Heidelberg Engineering). RESULTS CBR imaging revealed a parafoveal area of increased reflectance that was slightly larger than the area of hyperfluorescence in late-phase fluorescein angiography. The area usually encompassed an oval parafoveal area, but sectors could be spared. A parafoveal area of increased CBR was detected in 98% of eyes that showed angiographic evidence for type 2 IMT. CONCLUSIONS CBR imaging is a new, noninvasive, and sensitive method that may contribute to differentiate type 2 IMT from other diseases. Abnormalities of macular pigment distribution and Müller cell pathology may contribute to the phenomenon of increased CBR and thus the pathophysiology of type 2 IMT.
A reexamination of the evidence for the somatic marker hypothesis: what participants really know in the Iowa gambling task.

Bechara, Damasio, and coworkers [Bechara, A. , Damasio, H. , Tranel, D. & Damasio, A. R. (1997) Science 275, 1293-1295] have reported that normal participants decide advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy in a simple card game designed to mimic real-life decision-making. Bechara et al. have used this result to support their view that nonconscious somatic markers can guide advantageous behavior. By using more sensitive methods, we show that participants have much more knowledge about the game than previously thought. In fact, participants report knowledge of the advantageous strategy more reliably than they behave advantageously. Furthermore, when they behave advantageously, their verbal reports nearly always reveal evidence of quantitative knowledge about the outcomes of the decks that would be sufficient to guide such advantageous behavior. In addition, there is evidence that participants also have access to more qualitative reportable knowledge. These results are compatible with the view that, in this task, both overt behavior and verbal reports reflect sampling from consciously accessible knowledge; there is no need to appeal to nonconscious somatic markers. We also discuss the findings of other studies that similarly suggest alternative interpretations of other evidence previously used to support a role for somatic markers in decision-making.
A note on sparse reconstruction methods

In this paper we discuss some aspects of sparse reconstruction techniques for inverse problems, which recently became popular due to several superior properties compared to linear reconstructions. We briefly review the standard sparse reconstructions based on l1-minimization of coefficients with respect to an orthonormal basis, and also some recently proposed improvements based on Bregman iterations and inverse scale space techniques. For the latter we provide uniqueness results not available before for inverse problems with sparsity constraints. In order to gain further understanding of sparse reconstruction techniques we provide a detailed analysis in the singular basis for the operator describing the inverse problem. This allows to compute analytic expressions for the reconstructions and highlight certain features. We also show that a very classical linear reconstruction technique, the truncated singular value decomposition is indeed equivalent to a sparse reconstruction technique with data-dependent weights. Finally we touch the question whether it pays off to use sparse reconstruction schemes directly for the full inverse problem or if simple two-step schemes, consisting of a linear inversion and subsequent shrinkage, can potentially yield results of similar quality.
PIS: A Practical Incentive System for Multihop Wireless Networks

In multihop wireless networks (MWNs), the mobile nodes usually act as routers to relay other nodes' packets to enable new applications and enhance network performance and deployment. However, selfish nodes may not cooperate and make use of the cooperative nodes to relay their packets, which has a negative effect on network fairness, security, and performance. Incentive systems implement micropayment in the network to stimulate the selfish nodes to cooperate. However, micropayment schemes have originally been proposed for Web-based applications; therefore, a practical incentive system should consider the differences between Web-based applications and cooperation stimulation. In this paper, first, these differences are investigated, and a payment model is developed for the efficient implementation of micropayment in MWNs. Second, based on the developed payment model, an incentive system is proposed to stimulate the nodes' cooperation in MWNs. Third, a reactive receipt submission mechanism is proposed to reduce the number of submitted receipts and protect against collusion attacks. Extensive analysis and simulations demonstrate that our incentive system can secure the payment and reduce the overhead of storing, submitting, and processing payment receipts significantly, which can improve the system's practicality due to the high frequency of low-value payment transactions.
Protection of Mice against Lethal Infection with Highly Pathogenic H7N7 Influenza A Virus by Using a Recombinant Low-Pathogenicity Vaccine Strain

ABSTRACT In 2003, an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza occurred in the Netherlands. The avian H7N7 virus causing the outbreak was also detected in 88 humans suffering from conjunctivitis or mild respiratory symptoms and one person who died of pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Here we describe a mouse model for lethal infection with A/Netherlands/219/03 isolated from the fatal case. Because of the zoonotic and pathogenic potential of the H7N7 virus, a candidate vaccine carrying the avian hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins produced in the context of the high-throughput vaccine strain A/PR/8/34 was generated by reverse genetics and tested in the mouse model. The hemagglutinin gene of the recombinant vaccine strain was derived from a low-pathogenicity virus obtained prior to the outbreak from a wild mallard. The efficacy of a classical nonadjuvanted subunit vaccine and an immune stimulatory complex-adjuvanted vaccine was compared. Mice receiving the nonadjuvanted vaccine revealed low antibody titers, lack of clinical protection, high virus titers in the lungs, and presence of virus in the spleen, liver, kidneys, and brain. In contrast, mice receiving two doses of the immune stimulatory complex-adjuvanted vaccine revealed high antibody titers, clinical protection, ∼1,000-fold reduction of virus titers in the lungs, and rare detection of the virus in other organs. This is the first report of an H7 vaccine candidate tested in a mammalian model. The data presented suggest that vaccine candidates based on low-pathogenicity avian influenza A viruses, which can be prepared ahead of pandemic threats, can be efficacious if an effective adjuvant is used.
Dark Exposure Extends the Integration Window for Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity

Metaplasticity, the adaptive changes of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) in response to fluctuations in neural activity is well documented in visual cortex, where dark rearing shifts the frequency threshold for the induction of LTP and LTD. Here we studied metaplasticity affecting spike-timing-dependent plasticity, in which the polarity of plasticity is determined not by the stimulation frequency, but by the temporal relationship between near-coincidental presynaptic and postsynaptic firing. We found that in mouse visual cortex the same regime of deprivation that restricts the frequency range for inducing rate-dependent LTD extends the integration window for inducing timing-dependent LTD, enabling LTD induction with random presynaptic and postsynaptic firing. Notably, the underlying mechanism for the changes in both rate-dependent and time-dependent LTD appears to be an increase of NR2b-containing NMDAR at the synapse. Thus, the rules of metaplasticity might manifest in opposite directions, depending on the plasticity-induction paradigms.
Forecasting Unmanned Vehicle Technologies: Use of Patent Map

Intelligent Vehicle Technology integrated the components operating in conjunction with computer controlled devices and radio transceivers to provide precision repeatability functions. Intelligent vehicle also call unmanned vehicle. Intelligent Vehicle system commonly apply to replaces the human activities, such as dirty, dangerous and dull work. Various related technologies develop in different countries. There are many research institution invest the intelligent vehicle research in Taiwan. This study investigates the trend of intelligent vehicle technologies through the patent analysis. This study shows that the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy owns lots of intelligent vehicle technologies. United States also has the rich research result in intelligent vehicle technologies. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Information retrieval for question answering a SIGIR 2004 workshop

Open domain question answering has become a very active research area over the past few years, due in large measure to the stimulus of the TREC Question Answering track. This track addresses the task of finding answers to natural language (NL) questions (e.g. How tall is the Eiffel Tower? Who is Aaron Copland? ) from large text collections. This task stands in contrast to the more conventional IR task of retrieving documents relevant to a query, where the query may be simply a collection of keywords (e.g. Eiffel Tower, American composer, born Brooklyn NY 1900, .).
A Printed Fan-Shaped Meandered Dipole Antenna With Mutual-Coupled Dual Resonance

This letter presents a printed fan-shaped meandered dipole antenna with mutual-coupled dual resonance for enhancing impedance bandwidth in a compact antenna size. The proposed antenna consists of a printed dipole antenna mutually coupled to an antenna parasitic element of a different size for dual resonance and microstrip feeding. By applying a fan-shaped meander-line structure, the proposed antenna occupies a low-profile miniaturized electrical size of 0.21 $\lambda _0\times 0.21\lambda _0\times 0.08\lambda _0$ at 920 MHz. The proposed antenna, which was implemented and fabricated on an FR-4 substrate, achieved a wide 10 dB impedance bandwidth of approximately 12% and a peak gain of 3.2 dBi. Depending on the antenna length at the two resonant frequencies, the impedance bandwidth in the proposed antenna can be controlled.