Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Natural soda lakes provide compatible conditions for RNA and membrane function that could have enabled the origin of life

Abstract The origin of life likely occurred within environments that concentrated cellular precursors and enabled their co-assembly into cells. Soda lakes (those dominated by Na+ ions and carbonate species) can concentrate precursors of RNA and membranes, such as phosphate, cyanide, and fatty acids. Subsequent assembly of RNA and membranes into cells is a long-standing problem because RNA function requires divalent cations, e.g. Mg2+, but Mg2+ disrupts fatty acid membranes. The low solubility of Mg-containing carbonates limits soda lakes to moderate Mg2+ concentrations (∼1 mM), so we investigated whether both RNAs and membranes function within these lakes. We collected water from Last Chance Lake and Goodenough Lake in Canada. Because we sampled after seasonal evaporation, the lake water contained ∼1 M Na+ and ∼1 mM Mg2+ near pH 10. In the laboratory, nonenzymatic, RNA-templated polymerization of 2-aminoimidazole-activated ribonucleotides occurred at comparable rates in lake water and standard laboratory conditions (50 mM MgCl2, pH 8). Additionally, we found that a ligase ribozyme that uses oligonucleotide substrates activated with 2-aminoimidazole was active in lake water after adjusting pH from ∼10 to 9. We also observed that decanoic acid and decanol assembled into vesicles in a dilute solution that resembled lake water after seasonal rains, and that those vesicles retained encapsulated solutes despite salt-induced flocculation when the external solution was replaced with dry-season lake water. By identifying compatible conditions for nonenzymatic and ribozyme-catalyzed RNA assembly, and for encapsulation by membranes, our results suggest that soda lakes could have enabled cellular life to emerge on Earth, and perhaps elsewhere.
Chitin-enriched insect frass fertilizer as a biorational alternative for root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) management

Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) are serious pests of most food crops, causing up to 100% yield loss. Nevertheless, commercial nematicides are costly and harmful to the environment. While the nematicidal potential of crustacean and synthetic chitin has been demonstrated globally, research on the potential of insect-derived chitin for nematode control has received limited attention. Here, seven chitin-fortified black soldier fly frass fertilizer extracts (chFE) were assessed for their suppressiveness of Meloidogyne incognita and impacts on spinach growth in comparison with a commercial nematicide using in vitro and in vivo bioassays. The performance of chFE and control treatments was assessed by determining their effects on nematode egg hatchability; infective juvenile (J2) mortality and paralysis; number of galls, egg masses, and J2s per plant; and spinach root and shoot biomass. In vitro results showed that chFE and commercial nematicide suppressed nematode egg hatchability by 42% and 52%, respectively, relative to the control (sterile distilled water). Up to 100% paralysis was achieved when M. incognita J2s were exposed to either chFE or commercial nematicide. Further, the J2 mortality achieved using chFE (95%) was comparable to the value achieved using commercial nematicide (96%); in all treatments, mortality increased with exposure time. Similarly, up to 85% suppression of gall development was achieved when spinach plants were grown in soil drenched with chFE; up to 79% reduction in egg mass formation and 68% suppression of J2 development in the root system were achieved using chFE. Also, chFE application significantly increased spinach root and shoot biomass by 54%–74% and 39%–58%, respectively, compared to commercial nematicide. Our findings demonstrate the nematicidal potential of chFE and its benefits on crop production. Thus, chFE could be considered as a promising multipurpose, regenerative, and cost-effective input for sustainable management of plant-parasitic nematodes and enhancement of crop yield.
A human skin detector combining mean shift analysis and watershed algorithm

Detecting human skin in color images is an interesting problem due to the potential number of target applications ranging from face detection to the detection of pornographic images. Many approaches have been proposed in literature including color thresholding, statistical skin color modeling and segmentation-based techniques. However, the performances often decrease in the presence of illumination artifacts resulting in sub-optimal results. In this paper, we propose a new method that is adaptive to the image content especially in illumination conditions. For this purpose, we first detect skin seeds that serve as the basis to locate the skin colors with highest density. This step allows to take into account illumination conditions for the last step, namely the growing of skin seeds.
Mitogenomics reveals extremely low genetic diversity in the endangered Jilin clawed salamander: Implications for its conservation

Abstract The Jilin clawed salamander (Onychodactylus zhangyapingi) is an endemic, endangered, and level‐two protected amphibian species of China. In the context of serious threats to amphibians worldwide, conservation studies of this endangered species are urgently needed. In this study, mitogenomic conservation genetics and species distribution modeling analyses were performed for O. zhangyapingi. Sixty‐three samples were collected from nine different locations, and the complete mitochondrial genome was sequenced. Population genetic analyses revealed that O. zhangyapingi exhibits only one genetic structure with extremely low nucleotide diversity. Late Pleistocene climate cooling may have led to a reduction in effective population size and extremely low mitogenomic nucleotide diversity in this salamander, and the subsequent temperature increase (~20 kya to present) provided the opportunity for rapid population growth. The continuous highly suitable region for O. zhangyapingi is only approximately 3000 km2 on the southeastern boundary of Jilin Province, China. Fortunately, there are three large forested national nature reserves within the distribution of O. zhangyapingi that can effectively protect endangered species. Our findings suggest that O. zhangyapingi is a vulnerable species with a narrow distribution and extremely low genetic diversity, and we should pay more attention to the conservation management of this species.
Structural speaker adaptation using maximum a posteriori approach and a Gaussian distributions merging technique

The aim of speaker adaptation techniques is to enhance speaker-independent acoustic models to bring their recognition accuracy as close as possible to the one obtained with speaker-dependent models. Recently, a technique based on a hierarchical structure and the maximum a posteriori criterion was proposed (SMAP) (Shinoda, K. and Lee, C.-H., Proc IEEE ICASSP, 1998). As in SMAP, we assume that the acoustic model parameters are organized in a tree containing all the Gaussian distributions. Each node in that tree represents a cluster of Gaussian distributions sharing a common affine transformation representing the mismatch between training and test conditions. To estimate this affine transformation, we propose a new technique based on merging Gaussians and the standard MAP adaptation. This new technique is very fast and allows a good unsupervised adaptation for both means and variances even with a small amount of adaptation data. This adaptation strategy has shown a significant performance improvement in a large vocabulary speech recognition task, alone and combined with the MLLR (maximum likelihood linear regression) adaptation.
Evaluation of the biofilm’s microflora of drinking water pipes in Sidi-Bel-Abbes city, Algeria

The development of biofilms on the inner-pipe surfaces of drinking water constitutes one of the major microbial problems, which contributes to the deterioration of water quality and entails potential health risks for consumers. Data about the biofilm’s microflora of real chlorinated drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) were collected, on the ground in SidiBel-Abbes (SBA) city, Algeria. A set of analyses were conducted to evaluate, to identify, and to determine the prevalence of bacterial organisms isolated from biofilms. Thirty biofilm samples were collected from the internal walls of the drinking water pipes. The bacterial abundance and the composition of biofilm’s communities were analysed by heterotrophic plate counts and identified by Gram’s reaction, cultural features and biochemical characterisation. Despite the presence of free residual chlorine in the drinking water, biofilm density varied between 2.4x10 5 and 9.8x10 8 colony forming unit/cm 2 (CFU/cm 2 ). Simultaneously, a higher diversity of the bacterial communities was detected. They were listed in two bacterial groups. The predominant group was Gram-negative bacilli, with a rate of 67.86%, including Pseudomonas, Escherichia, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Yersinia, in which Pseudomonas aeruginosa was at the top rate. However Grampositive cocci group rate was 32.14%; including two genera Staphylococcus and Enterococcus, in which Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus represented the majority of isolated strains. Therefore drinking water biofilms constitute a reservoir of opportunistic pathogens which can be harmful to human health. For this reason, it is recommended to optimise the water treatment sectors in Algeria so as to limit biofilm’s development, water quality degradation, and protect public health.
Co-Training with Insufficient Views

Co-training is a famous semi-supervised learning paradigm exploiting unlabeled data with two views. Most previous theoretical analyses on co-training are based on the assumption that each of the views is sucient to correctly predict the label. However, this assumption can hardly be met in real applications due to feature corruption or various feature noise. In this paper, we present the theoretical analysis on co-training when neither view is sucient. We dene the diversity between the two views with respect to the condence of prediction and prove that if the two views have large diversity, co-training is able to improve the learning performance by exploiting unlabeled data even with insucient views. We also discuss the relationship between view insuciency and diversity, and give some implications for understanding of the dierence between co-training and co-regularization.
Emergence of modular structure in a large-scale brain network with interactions between dynamics and connectivity

is still unclear though how this complex topology of brain systems arises, and which factors play an important role in determining the final topology. An important distinction between complex and complicated systems is that complex systems derive their final structure from a process of self-organization rather than from a pre-defined blueprint. The complex structure of adult brain networks is very likely an emergent feature of growing and developing neural networks, that shape their structure under influence of trophic, geometric and activity dependent factors. Most likely, some of these factors that operate during development are under genetic control, since topological features of adult brain networks have a strong herit-ability (Smit et al., 2008, 2010). However, any genes involved can only guide general principles of network growth; we have vastly more synapses in our brain than we have genes to specify them. One way to study the mechanisms involved in the emergence of complex brain networks is to use model systems. Graph theoretical analysis of neural networks cultured in multi-electrode arrays has shown that such networks evolve from a random initial topology to a typical small-world network characterized by short path lengths and high clustering (Bettencourt et al., 2007; Srinivas et al., 2007). In vitro studies confirm the self-organizing properties of developing neural networks, but do not allow direct identification of the causal mechanisms. In a computational model of interconnected units consisting of logistic functions, activity dependent rewiring
The Effect of Low Ambient Relative Humidity on Physical Performance and Perceptual Responses during Load Carriage

Introduction: The study evaluated the effect of low ambient relative humidity on physical performance and perceptual responses during load carriage in a hot environment. Methods: Ten heat-unacclimatized male subjects participated in three 130-min trials, during which they walked on a treadmill, carrying a load of ~35 kg, at a speed of 3.2 km.h−1, with an incident wind at the same velocity and ambient temperature at 45°C. Each trial commenced with a 10-min baseline at 20°C and 50% relative humidity (RH), the subjects transferred to a climatic chamber and commenced their simulated hike, comprising two 50-min walks separated by a 20-min rest period. In two, full protective equipment (FP) trials, RH was 10% (partial pressure of water vapor, pH2O = 7.2 mmHg) in one (FP10), and 20% (pH2O = 14.4 mmHg; FP20) in the other. In the control trial, subjects were semi-nude (SN) and carried the equipment in their backpacks; RH was 20%. Measurements included oxygen uptake, ventilation, heart rate, rectal and skin temperatures, heat flux, temperature perception, and thermal comfort. Results: In FP20, four subjects terminated the trial prematurely due to signs of heat exhaustion; there were no such signs in FP10 or SN. Upon completion of the trials, pulmonary ventilation, heart rate, and rectal temperature were lower in FP10 (33 ± 5 l/min; 128 ± 21 bpm; 38.2 ± 0.4°C) and SN (34 ± 4 l/min; 113 ± 18 bpm; 38.1 ± 0.4°C than in FP20 (39 ± 8 l/min; 145 ± 12 bpm; 38.6 ± 0.4°C). Evaporation was significantly greater in the SN compared to FP10 and FP20 trials. FP10 was rated thermally more comfortable than FP20. Conclusion: A lower ambient partial pressure of water vapor, reflected in a lower ambient relative humidity, improved cardiorespiratory, thermoregulatory, and perceptual responses during load carriage.
Exact BER Performance of Asynchronous MC-DS-CDMA over Nakagami-m Fading Channels

In this contribution an accurate average bit error rate (BER) formula is derived for Nakagami-faded MC-DS-CDMA in the context of asynchronous transmissions and random spreading sequences. Our analysis is based on the Characteristic Function (CF) and does not rely on any assumption concerning the statistical behavior of the interference. We develop a new closed-form expression for the conditional CF of the inter-carrier interference and provide a procedure for calculating the exact BER expressed in the form of a single numerical integration. The accuracy of the standard Gaussian approximation (SGA) technique is also evaluated. Link-level results confirm the accuracy of the SGA for most practical conditions.
Establishing remote conversations through eye contact with physical awareness proxies

We present a mechanism for initiating mediated conversations through eye contact. An eyePHONE is a physical proxy of a remote individual that senses and conveys attention using an eye tracking device and a pair of actuated eyeballs. Users may initiate calls by jointly looking at each other's eyePHONE. We discuss how this allows participants to implement some of the basic social rules of face-to-face conversations in mediated conversations.
Age Differences in the Neural Representation of Working Memory Revealed by Multi-Voxel Pattern Analysis

Working memory function declines across the lifespan. Computational models of aging attribute such memory impairments to reduced distinctiveness between neural representations of different mental states in old age, a phenomenon termed dedifferentiation. These models predict that neural distinctiveness should be reduced uniformly across experimental conditions in older adults. In contrast, the Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH) model predicts that the distinctiveness of neural representations should be increased in older adults (relative to young adults) at low levels of task demand but reduced at high levels of demand. The present study used multi-voxel pattern analysis to measure the effects of age and task demands on the distinctiveness of the neural representations of verbal and visuospatial working memory. Neural distinctiveness was estimated separately for memory encoding, maintenance, and retrieval, and for low, medium, and high memory loads. Results from sensory cortex during encoding and retrieval were consistent with the dedifferentiation hypothesis: distinctiveness of visual cortical representations during these phases was uniformly reduced in older adults, irrespective of memory load. However, maintenance-related responses in prefrontal and parietal regions yielded a strikingly different pattern of results. At low loads, older adults showed higher distinctiveness than younger adults; at high loads, this pattern reversed, such that distinctiveness was higher in young adults. This interaction between age group and memory load is at odds with the dedifferentiation hypothesis but consistent with CRUNCH. In sum, our results provide partial support for both dedifferentiation- and compensation-based models; we argue that comprehensive theories of cognitive aging must incorporate aspects of both models to fully explain complex patterns of age-related neuro-cognitive change.
Role of a respiratory burst oxidase of Lepidium sativum ( cress ) seedli gs in root developme t and auxin signalling

In mammals, cadmium is widely considered as a non-genotoxic carcinogen acting through a methylation-dependent epigenetic mechanism. Here, the effects of Cd treatment on the DNA methylation patten are examined together with its effect on chromatin reconfiguration in Posidonia oceanica. DNA methylation level and pattern were analysed in actively growing organs, under short(6 h) and long(2 d or 4 d) term and low (10 mM) and high (50 mM) doses of Cd, through a Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism technique and an immunocytological approach, respectively. The expression of one member of the CHROMOMETHYLASE (CMT) family, a DNA methyltransferase, was also assessed by qRT-PCR. Nuclear chromatin ultrastructure was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Cd treatment induced a DNA hypermethylation, as well as an up-regulation of CMT, indicating that de novo methylation did indeed occur. Moreover, a high dose of Cd led to a progressive heterochromatinization of interphase nuclei and apoptotic figures were also observed after long-term treatment. The data demonstrate that Cd perturbs the DNA methylation status through the involvement of a specific methyltransferase. Such changes are linked to nuclear chromatin reconfiguration likely to establish a new balance of expressed/repressed chromatin. Overall, the data show an epigenetic basis to the mechanism underlying Cd toxicity in plants.
Overexpressi n of the wheat salt toleran e-related gene TaSC enha ces salt tolerance in Arabidopsis

In mammals, cadmium is widely considered as a non-genotoxic carcinogen acting through a methylation-dependent epigenetic mechanism. Here, the effects of Cd treatment on the DNA methylation patten are examined together with its effect on chromatin reconfiguration in Posidonia oceanica. DNA methylation level and pattern were analysed in actively growing organs, under short(6 h) and long(2 d or 4 d) term and low (10 mM) and high (50 mM) doses of Cd, through a Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism technique and an immunocytological approach, respectively. The expression of one member of the CHROMOMETHYLASE (CMT) family, a DNA methyltransferase, was also assessed by qRT-PCR. Nuclear chromatin ultrastructure was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Cd treatment induced a DNA hypermethylation, as well as an up-regulation of CMT, indicating that de novo methylation did indeed occur. Moreover, a high dose of Cd led to a progressive heterochromatinization of interphase nuclei and apoptotic figures were also observed after long-term treatment. The data demonstrate that Cd perturbs the DNA methylation status through the involvement of a specific methyltransferase. Such changes are linked to nuclear chromatin reconfiguration likely to establish a new balance of expressed/repressed chromatin. Overall, the data show an epigenetic basis to the mechanism underlying Cd toxicity in plants.
HPS 4 / SABRE regulates plant respons to phosphate starvation through antagonistic interaction with ethylene signalling

In mammals, cadmium is widely considered as a non-genotoxic carcinogen acting through a methylation-dependent epigenetic mechanism. Here, the effects of Cd treatment on the DNA methylation patten are examined together with its effect on chromatin reconfiguration in Posidonia oceanica. DNA methylation level and pattern were analysed in actively growing organs, under short(6 h) and long(2 d or 4 d) term and low (10 mM) and high (50 mM) doses of Cd, through a Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism technique and an immunocytological approach, respectively. The expression of one member of the CHROMOMETHYLASE (CMT) family, a DNA methyltransferase, was also assessed by qRT-PCR. Nuclear chromatin ultrastructure was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Cd treatment induced a DNA hypermethylation, as well as an up-regulation of CMT, indicating that de novo methylation did indeed occur. Moreover, a high dose of Cd led to a progressive heterochromatinization of interphase nuclei and apoptotic figures were also observed after long-term treatment. The data demonstrate that Cd perturbs the DNA methylation status through the involvement of a specific methyltransferase. Such changes are linked to nuclear chromatin reconfiguration likely to establish a new balance of expressed/repressed chromatin. Overall, the data show an epigenetic basis to the mechanism underlying Cd toxicity in plants.
Quant fyi g ATP turnover in anoxic coleoptiles of rice ( Oryza sativa ) demonstrates preferential allocation of energy to protein synthesis

In mammals, cadmium is widely considered as a non-genotoxic carcinogen acting through a methylation-dependent epigenetic mechanism. Here, the effects of Cd treatment on the DNA methylation patten are examined together with its effect on chromatin reconfiguration in Posidonia oceanica. DNA methylation level and pattern were analysed in actively growing organs, under short(6 h) and long(2 d or 4 d) term and low (10 mM) and high (50 mM) doses of Cd, through a Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism technique and an immunocytological approach, respectively. The expression of one member of the CHROMOMETHYLASE (CMT) family, a DNA methyltransferase, was also assessed by qRT-PCR. Nuclear chromatin ultrastructure was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Cd treatment induced a DNA hypermethylation, as well as an up-regulation of CMT, indicating that de novo methylation did indeed occur. Moreover, a high dose of Cd led to a progressive heterochromatinization of interphase nuclei and apoptotic figures were also observed after long-term treatment. The data demonstrate that Cd perturbs the DNA methylation status through the involvement of a specific methyltransferase. Such changes are linked to nuclear chromatin reconfiguration likely to establish a new balance of expressed/repressed chromatin. Overall, the data show an epigenetic basis to the mechanism underlying Cd toxicity in plants.
Tissue adhesives and sealants for surgical applications

Abstract: This chapter reviews tissue sealants and adhesives used in surgery, which can be categorized as bioresorbable or biostable and synthetic or bio-derived. The fastest growing of these categories commercially is synthetic bioresorbable sealants, which form into solid gel in situ . Key characteristics of mechanical properties, application to tissue, mechanisms of bonding and biocompatibility are discussed. Finally, descriptions of the major commercial surgical sealants and adhesives in each category are described.