Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Open Ended Evolution of 3D Multicellular Development Controlled by Gene Regulatory Networks

We demonstrate how a novelty search algorithm can be used to create an open ended evolution system for 3-dimensional (3D) morphologies in which a constant evolutionary pressure exists for new shapes to be produced. In our platform, GReaNs, multicellular development starts from a single cell and all cells share the same genome and the same topology of the regulatory network. The size of the genome and the size of the network are not limited. Gene products can influence gene expression in the cells that produce them (such products act like transcription factors) or diffuse from one cell to another (acting like morphogens in biological development). We use the novelty search algorithm as a way to explore the space of achievable phenotypes in our platform for a given developmental setup. We analyze the evolutionary history in independent runs to see if a similar area of the phenotypic space is explored and discuss the features of evolutionary histories in the novelty search.
Effects of Chung-Pae Inhalation Therapy on a Mouse Model of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chung-pae (CP) inhalation therapy is a method frequently used in Korea to treat lung disease, especially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study investigated the effects of CP inhalation on a COPD animal model. C57BL/6 mice received porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) alternately three times for 3 weeks to induce COPD. Then, CP (5 or 20 mg/kg) was administered every 2 h after the final LPS administration. The effect of CP was evaluated by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid analysis, histological analysis of lung tissue, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis of mRNA of interleukin- (IL-) 1β, tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) α, IL-6, and tumor growth factor- (TGF-) β. Intratracheal CP administration reduced the number of leukocytes and neutrophils in BAL fluid, inhibited the histological appearance of lung damage, and decreased the mRNA levels of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, and TGF-β. Intratracheal CP administration effectively decreased the chronic inflammation and pathological changes in a PPE- and LPS-induced COPD mouse model. Therefore, we suggest that CP is a promising strategy for COPD.
Pathologic Q Waves and Prolonged QTc Time in Preoperative ECG Are Predictive for Perioperative Cardiovascular Events

Aims: The value of ECG in the perioperative risk stratification under modern treatment options is uncertain. The main objective of the present analysis was to determine the usefulness of a pre-operative ECG derivation for evaluating the risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of the prospective, international, multicenter, observational “No-Risk” Study (N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide [NT-proBNP] for the assessment of the perioperative cardiac risk after major noncardiac surgery) to determine the prognostic value of 12-lead ECG. Inclusion criteria were age >55 years and at least one of the following cardiovascular risk factors: arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, active smoking, and family history positive for coronary heart disease. The combined primary endpoint included total mortality, acute myocardial infarction (NSTEMI and STEMI), cardiopulmonary resuscitation, heart failure, and asystole or ventricular fibrillation during hospitalization. ECGs from 616 patients enrolled from 2006 to 2009 prior to noncardiac surgery in the No-Risk Study were analyzed. Results: The mean age was 67.6 (±8.1) years; 300 (48.7%) patients were male. Fourteen (2.3%) patients suffered from the combined primary endpoint while in the hospital. In Kaplan-Meier analyses, a pathologic Q wave and QTc > 500 ms were significantly related to the incidence of the primary endpoint (p p = 0.042, respectively), whereas other ECG parameters such as LBBB, RBBB, PQ interval, QRS interval, and others were not related to worse in-hospital outcome. Conclusion: The 12-lead ECG is still an important diagnostic tool for perioperative risk assessment of cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery in patients at risk.
Achieving Coordination in Multi-Agent Systems by Stable Local Conventions under Community Networks

Recently, the study of social conventions has attracted much attention in the literature. We notice that a type of interesting phenomena, local convention phenomena, may also exist in certain multiagent systems. When agents are partitioned into compact communities, different local conventions emerge in different communities. In this paper, we provide a definition for local conventions, and propose two metrics measuring their strength and diversity. In our experimental study, we show that agents can achieve coordination via establishing diverse stable local conventions, which indicates a practical way to solve coordination problems other than the traditional global convention emergence. Moreover, we find that with smaller community sizes, denser connections and fewer available actions, diverse local conventions emerge in shorter time.
A pulsed UWB transmitter and receiver with 4-element beamforming for 1-Gbps meter-range WPAN applications

A UWB transceiver that employs pulsed, multiband signaling with frequency-hopping is demonstrated in a 65nm CMOS process. The transceiver satisfies ECC requirements and operates in the frequency range 6-8.5 GHz. The proposed signaling scheme provides flexibility to satisfy regulations across multiple regions with low implementation complexity. The receiver employs 4-element beamforming at IF to enhance sensitivity. The beamforming architecture does not require a wideband delay circuit at the RX. The prototype demonstrates 1 Gbps data rate over 2 meters, while consuming 221 mW in the TX and 211 mW in the receiver.
Interaction of GAGs with Selectins and Chemokines

We previously reported that versican, a large chondroitin/dermatan sulfate (CS/DS) proteoglycan, interacts through its CS/DS chains with adhesion molecules Land P-selectin and CD44, as well as chemokines. Here, we have characterized these interactions further. Using a metabolic inhibitor of sulfation, sodium chlorate, we show that the interactions of the CS/DS chains of versican with Land P-selectin and chemokines are sulfationdependent but the interaction with CD44 is sulfationindependent. Consistently, versican’s binding to Land P-selectin and chemokines is specifically inhibited by oversulfated CS/DS chains containing GlcA 1–3GalNAc(4,6-O-disulfate) or IdoA 1–3GalNAc(4,6-O-disulfate), but its binding to CD44 is inhibited by all the CS/DS chains, including low-sulfated and unsulfated ones. Affinity and kinetic analyses using surface plasmon resonance revealed that the oversulfated CS/DS chains containing GlcA 1/IdoA 1–3GalNAc(4,6-O-disulfate) bind directly to selectins and chemokines with high affinity (Kd 21.1 to 293 nM). In addition, a tetrasaccharide fragment of repeating GlcA 1–3GalNAc(4,6-Odisulfate) units directly interacts with Land P-selectin and chemokines and oversulfated CS/DS chains containing GlcA 1/IdoA 1–3GalNAc(4,6-O-disulfate) inhibit chemokine-induced Ca mobilization. Taken together, our results show that oversulfated CS/DS chains containing GlcA 1/IdoA 1–3GalNAc(4,6-O-disulfate) are recognized by Land P-selectin and chemokines, and imply that these chains are important in selectinand/or chemokine-mediated cellular responses.
Evidence of complex contagion of information in social media: An experiment using Twitter bots

It has recently become possible to study the dynamics of information diffusion in techno-social systems at scale, due to the emergence of online platforms, such as Twitter, with millions of users. One question that systematically recurs is whether information spreads according to simple or complex dynamics: does each exposure to a piece of information have an independent probability of a user adopting it (simple contagion), or does this probability depend instead on the number of sources of exposure, increasing above some threshold (complex contagion)? Most studies to date are observational and, therefore, unable to disentangle the effects of confounding factors such as social reinforcement, homophily, limited attention, or network community structure. Here we describe a novel controlled experiment that we performed on Twitter using ‘social bots’ deployed to carry out coordinated attempts at spreading information. We propose two Bayesian statistical models describing simple and complex contagion dynamics, and test the competing hypotheses. We provide experimental evidence that the complex contagion model describes the observed information diffusion behavior more accurately than simple contagion. Future applications of our results include more effective defenses against malicious propaganda campaigns on social media, improved marketing and advertisement strategies, and design of effective network intervention techniques.
β-Thalassemia Intermedia in Northern Iraq: A Single Center Experience

To investigate the molecular basis of β-thalassemia intermedia in Northern Iraq and evaluate its management practices, a total of 74 patients from 51 families were enrolled. The patients were clinically and hematologically reevaluated, and had their β-thalassemia mutations characterized, as well as the number of α-globin genes and Xmn I G γ −158 (C>T) polymorphism studied. Out of 14 β-thalassemia mutations identified, the four most common were IVS-I-6 (T>C) [33.3%], IVS-II-I (G>A) [21.1%], codon 82/83(−G) [10.1%], and codon 8 (−AA) [8.1%]. The most common contributing factors to the less severe phenotype of thalassemia intermedia were found to be the inheritance of mild β-thalassemia alleles and the Xmn I polymorphism, while concomitant α-thalassemia had a limited role. Several complications were documented including: pulmonary hypertension in 20.4%, diabetes mellitus in 1.4%, hypothyroidism in 2.9%, and heart failure in 2.7%, while no documented cases of venous thrombosis were found. Compared to their counterparts in several Mediterranean countries, it appears that our patients were much less frequently transfused and had a lower proportion of patients who were splenectomized, on iron chelation, or hydroxycarbamide therapy. Such practices require further scrutiny to ensure that a better level of care is provided and that growth retardation, skeletal changes, and other complications are prevented or reduced.
Soft-swipe: enabling high-accuracy pairing of vehicles to lanes using COTS technology

In this paper we demonstrate a novel system Soft-Swipe, which can enable highly accurate pairing of vehicles to respective lanes in a wide-range of vehicle-based multi-lane service stations using economical general-purpose commodity communication and sensing technology. To study the system, we consider an example application of pairing vehicles to respective quality check bays in an automobile manufacturing plant. Our proposed system called Soft-Swipe works by matching natural signatures (specifically, motion signatures) generated by the target object with the same signature detected by simple instrumentation of the environment (a video camera). Soft-Swipe is the first work that accurately captures the fine grain motion profile of vehicles using commodity hardware to provide vehicle-to-infrastructure pairing.
New function of the myostatin/activin type I receptor (ALK4) as a mediator of muscle atrophy and muscle regeneration

Skeletal muscle fibrosis and impaired muscle regeneration are major contributors to muscle wasting in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Muscle growth is negatively regulated by myostatin (MSTN) and activins. Blockage of these pathways may improve muscle quality and function in DMD. Antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) were designed specifically to block the function of ALK4, a key receptor for the MSTN/activin pathway in skeletal muscle. AON‐induced exon skipping resulted in specific Alk4 down‐regulation, inhibition of MSTN activity, and increased my oblast differentiation in vitro. Unexpectedly, amarked decrease in muscle mass (10%) was found after Alk4 AON treatment in mdx mice. In line with in vitro results, muscle regeneration was stimulated, and muscle fiber size decreased markedly. Notably, when Alk4 was down‐regulated in adult wild‐type mice, musclemass decreased evenmore. RNA seq analysis revealed dysregulated metabolic functions and signs of muscle atrophy. We conclude that ALK4 inhibition increases my ogenesis but also regulates the tight balance of protein synthesis and degradation. Therefore, caution must be used when developing therapies that interfere with MSTN/activin pathways. —Pasteuning‐Vuhman, S. , Boertje‐van derMeulen, J. W. , Van Putten, M. , Overzier, M. , ten Dijke, P., Kielbasa, S. M. , Arindrarto, W. , Wolterbeek, R. , Lezhnina, K. V. , Ozerov, I. V. , Aliper, A. M. , Hoogaars, W. M. , Aartsma‐Rus, A. , Loomans, C. J. M. New function of the myostatin/activin type I receptor (ALK4) as a mediator of muscle atrophy and muscle regeneration. FASEB J. 31, 238–255 (2017) www.fasebj. org
Table of Contents List of Tables................................. v

Facilitating Mobile Intellectual Teamwork Nadya Belov Werner J. Krandick, Ph. D. As wireless smartphones accompany increasing numbers of users at all times the devices offer themselves as the medium of choice for improvised synchronous collaboration between two or more participants. However, the small size of smartphones—while necessary for their ubiquity—seems to limit the complexity of collaborative tasks that can be carried out. In order to explore—and push—those limits we investigate how smartphones can support intellectual teamwork. Intellectual teamwork places high cognitive demands on the participants and requires high-quality input and display facilities. In addition, the work of the participants must be coordinated. We present some of the features a virtual collaboration system must support in order to provide efficient and effective collaboration. As a prototypical implementation we present the Wireless Internet Collaborative System (WICS) which incorporates these features.
Metastable Pain-Attention Dynamics during Incremental Exhaustive Exercise

Background: Pain attracts attention on the bodily regions. Attentional allocation toward pain results from the neural communication across the brain-wide network “connectome” which consists of pain-attention related circuits. Connectome is intrinsically dynamic and spontaneously fluctuating on multiple time-scales. The present study delineates the pain-attention dynamics during incremental cycling performed until volitional exhaustion and investigates the potential presence of nested metastable dynamics. Method: Fifteen young and physically active adults completed a progressive incremental cycling test and reported their discomfort and pain on a body map every 15 s. Results: The analyses revealed that the number of body locations with perceived pain and discomfort increased throughout five temporal windows reaching an average of 4.26 ± 0.59 locations per participant. A total of 37 different locations were reported and marked as painful for all participants throughout the cycling task. Significant differences in entropy were observed between all temporal windows except the fourth and fifth windows. Transient dynamics of bodily locations with perceived discomfort and pain were spanned by three principal components. The metastable dynamics of the body pain locations groupings over time were discerned by three time scales: (1) the time scale of shifts (15 s); (2) the time scale of metastable configurations (100 s), and (3) the observational time scale (1000 s). Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that body locations perceived as painful increase throughout the incremental cycling task following a switching metastable and nested dynamics. These findings support the view that human brain is intrinsically organized into active, mutually interacting complex and nested functional networks, and that subjective experiences inherent in pain perception depict identical dynamical principles to the neural tissue in the brain.
A collaborative see-through display supporting on-demand privacy

Office workers spend a majority of their time in front of their computer display. Therefore the display becomes a constant visual barrier and a barrier for communication. Even workers sitting across a table have to make a high effort to communicate by either standing up or walking around the table to see each other. Transparent displays have a high potential for improving this co-located face-to-face collaboration and information sharing by offering the unique ability to see screen content as well as the environment behind the display. However, with users and their screen content being always visible to others, challenges of personal and information privacy arise. Additionally, visual interference between screen content and the environment behind the display may decrease users' performance. We propose a solution by combining two transparent displays with a transparency-controlled backlight. The backlight, a piece of light guiding acrylic with edge-mounted LEDs, is opaque when turned on and transparent when off. This allows users to change the transparency of their displays on-demand and continuously, therefore controlling privacy and potential visual interference. Users can share contents instantaneously and at the same time have eye contact with their collaboration partner by interacting with the system using simple hand gestures.
Understanding learning strategies in the workplace: A factor analytic investigation

The aim of this study was to validate a scale of learning strategies, as derived from the educational literature, in an organizational context. Participants were 628 call centre employees. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that a six-factor structure most accurately represented the learning strategies examined. Specifically, three cognitive (extrinsic work reflection, intrinsic work reflection, reproduction) and three behavioural strategies (interpersonal help seeking, help seeking from written material, practical application) were found.
Circular law and arc law for truncation of random unitary matrix

Let V be the m × m upper-left corner of an n × n Haar-invariant unitary matrix. Let λ1, …, λm be the eigenvalues of V. We prove that the empirical distribution of a normalization of λ1, …, λm goes to the circular law, that is, the uniform distribution on {z∈C;|z|≤1} as m → ∞ with m/n → 0. We also prove that the empirical distribution of λ1, …, λm goes to the arc law, that is, the uniform distribution on {z∈C;|z|=1} as m/n → 1. These explain two observations by Życzkowski and Sommers (2000).
Strata-various: multi-layer visualization of dynamics in software system behavior

Current software visualization tools are inadequate for understanding, debugging, and tuning realistically complex applications. These tools often present only static structure, or they present dynamics from only a few of the many layers of a program and its underlying system. This paper introduces "PV", a prototype program visualization system which provides concurrent visual presentation of behavior from all layers, including: the program itself, user-level libraries, the operating system, and the hardware, as this behavior unfolds over time. PV juxtaposes views from different layers in order to facilitate visual correlation, and allows these views to be navigated in a coordinated fashion. This results in an extremely powerful mechanism for exploring application behavior. Experience is presented from actual use of PV in production settings with programmers facing real deadlines and serious performance problems. <<ETX>>
The HIV testing experiences of adolescents in Ndola, Zambia: do families and friends matter?

Abstract This study explored how adolescents involve their families, friends and sex partners when making decisions about seeking HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) and disclosing their HIV-status. The study is based on 40 qualitative in-depth interviews with 16 to 19 year olds who knew their HIV status in Ndola, Zambia. The findings show that: a) almost half of the youth turned to family members for advice or approval prior to seeking VCT; b) a disapproving reaction from family members or friends often discouraged youth from attending VCTuntil they found someone supportive; c) informants often attended VCTalone or with a friend, but rarely with a family member; and d) disclosure was common to family and friends, infrequent to sex partners, and not linked to accessing care and support services. Family members need access to information on VCT so they can support young peoples’ decisions to test for HIV and to disclose their HIV status. These results reinforce the need to provide confidential VCT services for adolescents and the need to develop and test innovative strategies to reach adolescents, their families and sex partners with VCT information and services.
Practitioner Expertise in Evidence-Based Practice Decision Making

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is an orientation to practice that values evidence as a resource for clinical decision making while recognizing that evidence alone is never sufficient to make a clinical decision. Critics of EBP typically ignore, negate, or misrepresent the role of practitioner thinking processes and expertise in clinical settings. The authors believe that, far from being a mechanistic process that ignores practitioner expertise, reflection and critical thinking are essential to implementing EBP in real-world clinical practice. The purpose of this article is to provide guidance for how practitioners bring their expertise to bear when engaging in the process of EBP. The authors use a social work practice scenario to illustrate the application of practitioner expertise in each of the five steps of EBP.
Neuroprotective activity of Stereospermum suaveolens against global cerebral ischemia rat model

Abstract Context: Stereospermum suaveolens DC. (Bignoniaceae) is a medicinal tree species native to India. Traditionally, the whole plant is used for various diseases including neuronal disorders. Objective: The present study evaluated the neuroprotective activity of Stereospermum suaveolens against global cerebral ischemia in a rat model. Materials and methods: Neuroprotective activity was carried out by global cerebral ischemia on Sprague-Dawley rats and divided into five groups of eight rats each; sham and control groups received normal saline (10 ml/kg) and treated groups received methanol extract of Stereospermum suaveolens (MES) orally (125, 250, and 500 mg/kg) for 10 days prior to the experiment. Global cerebral ischemia was induced by bilateral carotid artery (BCA) occlusion for 30 min followed by 4-h reperfusion. The antioxidant enzymatic and non-enzymatic levels were estimated by UV spectroscopic method along with cerebral infarction area; histopathological studies were carried out. Results: LD50 of MES was found to be 5000 mg/kg of body weight. The entire test was performed at dose levels 125, 250, and 500 mg/kg of body weight. The results of the study indicate that the Stereospermum suaveolens methanol extract showed neuroprotective activity by a significant decrease in lipid peroxidation (p < 0.001) and an increase in superoxide dismutase (p < 0.01), catalase (p < 0.01), glutathione (p < 0.001), and total thiol (p < 0.001) levels in extract-treated groups as compared to control group. Measurement of cerebral infarction area and histopathological studies further supported the protective effect of the extract. Discussion and conclusion: These findings suggest a potential protective role of Stereospermum suaveolens against global cerebral ischemia/reperfusion-induced brain injury.