Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recommending attractive thematic regions by semantic community detection with multi-sourced VGI data

ABSTRACT Attractive regions can be detected and recommended by investigating users’ online footprints. However, social media data suffers from short noisy text and lack of a-priori knowledge, impeding the usefulness of traditional semantic modelling methods. Another challenge is the need for an effective strategy for the selection/recommendation of candidate regions. To address these challenges, we propose a comprehensive workflow which combines semantic and location information of social media data to recommend thematic urban regions to users with specific interests. This workflow is novel in: (1) developing a data-driven geographic topic modelling method which utilizes the co-occurrence patterns of self-explanatory semantic information to detect semantic communities; (2) proposing a new recommendation strategy with the consideration of region’s spatial scale. The workflow was implemented using a real-world dataset and evaluation conducted at three different levels: semantic representativeness, topic identification and recommendation desirability. The evaluation showed that the semantic communities detected were internally consistent and externally differentiable and that the recommended regions had a high degree of desirability. The work has demonstrated the effectiveness of self-explanatory semantic information for geographic topic modelling and highlighted the importance of including region spatial scale into the model for an effective region recommending strategy.
CPCs and ECM: A Good Mix for Cardiac Regeneration

Despite several improvements in term of diagnosis and prevention, ischemic heart disease still represents one of the principal worldwide causes of death. Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) based therapy is considered a valid alternative to heart transplant, but several issues concerning the transplanted cells viability, retention and therapeutic effect need to be solved. Tissue engineering, mixing synthetic or natural polymers with injected cells, could represent the way through which overcomes shortages and set up an effective cardiac regenerative therapy. Nowadays, it is well known that cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM) provides structural and functional integrity, affects cardiac function, development and physiologic repair. In this optic, ECM and ECM-like materials represent functional and biocompatible tools with a great potential to serve as natural or nature-mimicking scaffolds in the field of regenerative medicine. The aim of the present work is to provide an overview on the state of the art and recent advantages on CPCs and scaffold-based therapy for heart regeneration.
Isolation and identification of bacterial glum blotch and leaf blight on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Iran

Basal glume blotch and leaf blight of wheat caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. atrofaciens and P. syringae pv. syringae respectively are the bacterial diseases of wheat in Iran. The disease causes damage on wheat which leads to lots of yield and crop losses in the host plants. During the spring and summer of 2005-2006 different wheat fields in Guilan province (Roodsar, Langrud, Rostamabad, loshan, and Roodbar) were surveyed. Samples were collected from infected wheats with glumes blotch and leaf blight. Infected tissues were washed with sterile distilled water and crushed in peptone water. Then 50 il of the extract were cultured on King’s B and NA media containing cyclohexamide (50 ig/ml). After 48 to 72 h, bacterial colonies were selected and purified. On the basis of morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics, pathogenicity and PCR with specific primers, the isolated were placed in two groups. The first group consists of 20 isolates that caused leaf blight, identified as P. syringae pv. Syringae, while the second group is made up of 18 isolates that caused basal glumes blotch identified as P. syringae pv. atrofaciens. This is the first report of the existence of P. syringae pv. atrofaciens on wheat in Iran.
Variation is the Spice of Spelling: The Effect of Implicit Cues on Dutch Past Tense Spelling is Dependent on Age, Literacy, and Task Format

ABSTRACT Spelling is influenced by implicit cues, but less is known about variability in this reliance. We assessed whether the influence of three implicit cues on Dutch past tense spelling was moderated by grade, literacy, and format. An Auditory infinitive, Written infinitive, and Picture+cloze format was completed by 68 third-graders and 47 sixth-graders. The implicit cues voicing probability and token frequency affected accuracy, especially in Grade 6 and in children with higher literacy skills, and in the picture+cloze task format. This shows that there is a variety of implicit cues that contribute to children’s spelling. This variability in reliance on implicit cues is shaped both by child ability as well as by task format.
Inducing Genetic Variation of Innala (Solenostemon Rotundifolius) Via In vitro Callus Culture

Solenostemon rotundifolius (Poir.) J K Morton is an under-utilized tuber crop with very low genetic variability. Media protocols were developed to regenerate plants from leaf pieces (direct organogenesis) and stem-derived calli (indirect organogenesis) of S. rotundifolius in order to test the ability to generate variants. Differences with respect to plant structure, leaf colour and tuber size were observed in some of the regenerants. Variations occurred mainly when plants regenerated via indirect organogenesis. Novel banding patterns were observed with these plants in peroxidase analysis, confirming genetic variability. This is the first report on callus culture regeneration of S. rotundifolius. 1.8 0.2-0.3 1.1-1.3 68 1.9 42 Sweet potato 24.3 1.2 0.2-0.5 0.8-1.0 33 2.0 3 8 Colocasia 13-29 1.4-3.0 0.16-0.36 0.6-1.18 Xanthosoma 17-26 1.3-3.7 0.2-0.4 0.6-1.92
The activation of H3/H4 histamine receptors induces a decrease in cholangiocarcinoma growth

3602 Histamine regulates many functions including mitosis by binding to four histamine G-coupled receptors (HRH1, HRH2, HRH3 and HRH4). In rodents, while HRH1 and HRH2 modulate the activation of cholangiocyte growth, HRH3/H4 inhibit cholangiocyte hyperplasia. We have shown that the: (i) HRH3/H4 agonist, RAMH, inhibits in vitro the growth of the extra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma cell line, Mz-ChA-1; and (ii) IP3/Ca2+/PKC/MAPK pathway regulates cholangiocarcinoma growth. The aims of the study were to evaluate: (i) the expression of the four histamine receptors in intra- and extra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma cell lines; (ii) if RAMH stimulation suppresses the growth of these cholangiocarcinoma cell lines with different biliary origin; (iii) the signaling mechanisms regulating RAMH effects on Mz-ChA-1 growth; and (iv) the effects of RAMH on xenograft tumor growth in nude mice. Methods: Intra- (HuH-28, CCLP, HuCCT and SG231) and extra-hepatic (Mz-ChA-1 and TFK-1) cell lines were used along with non-malignant, immortalized cholangiocytes (H69). The expression of the four histamine receptors was evaluated by immunoblots and qPCR. Growth was measured in the different cell lines stimulated with RAMH (0-200 μM) by MTS assay. Proliferation was also evaluated in Mz-ChA-1 cells stimulated with HRH1 and HRH2 agonists. Intracellular IP3 and cAMP levels were evaluated by RIA in Mz-ChA-1 cells stimulated with 0.2% BSA (basal) or RAMH (10 μM). Phosphorylation of Ca2+-dependent PKC isoforms, and MAPKinases was evaluated by immunoblots in Mz-ChA-1 cells treated with 0.2% BSA or RAMH (10 μM). Knockdown of PKCα with siRNA was performed in Mz-ChA-1 cells in the absence or presence of RAMH (10 μM). Tumor growth studies were performed in BALB/c nude (nu/nu) mice implanted subcutaneously with Mz-ChA-1 cells and subsequently treated with daily IP injections of vehicle or RAMH (1000 mg/kg body weight in NaCl) for 44 days. Results: All cell lines studied expressed the four histamine receptors. Stimulation with RAMH inhibited the growth of all the cholangiocarcinoma cell lines (but not H69) at 48 hours, persisting up to 72 hours. HRH1 and HRH2 agonists increased Mz-ChA-1 cell growth. Intracellular IP3 (but not cAMP) levels were increased in Mz-ChA-1 cells stimulated with RAMH compared to basal. RAMH increased the phosphorylation of PKCα (but not PKCβI, βII and γ) and decreased the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 (but not p38 and JNK) of Mz-ChA-1 cells compared to their corresponding basal values. Following PKCα silencing, RAMH did not decrease the growth of Mz-ChA-1 cells. In a nude mouse model, RAMH inhibited Mz-ChA-1 cell growth in vivo. Conclusion: RAMH inhibits intra- and extra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma growth via activation of the PLC/IP3/Ca2+/PKCα/ERK1/2 (but not cAMP/PKA) pathway. The interaction of histamine with HRH3/H4 may be important in the management of cholangiocarcinoma.
A study of cryptographic systems based on Rank metric codes

The ubiquity, dependability, and extensiveness of internet access has seen a migration of local services to cloud services where the advantages of scalability can be efficiently exploited. In doing so, the exposure of sensitive data to eavesdropping is a principal concern. Asymmetric cryptosystems attempt to solve this problem by basing access on the knowledge of a solution to mathematically difficult problems. Shor demonstrated that on a quantum computer, cryptosystems based on the difficulty of factoring integers or solving discrete logarithms were efficiently solvable. As the most ubiquitous asymmetric cryptosystems in modern use are based on these problems, new cryptosystems had to be considered for post-quantum cryptography. In 1978, McEliece proposed a cryptosystem based on the difficulty of decoding random linear codes but the key sizes were too large for practical consideration. These systems, though, do appear to resist Shor’s algorithm and other quantum attacks. More recently, Gabidulin proposed using codes in the rank metric to design secure cryptosystems because they could be designed with smaller parameters. In this direction, many proposals for cryptosystems based on rank metric codes were designed. Overbeck managed to cryptanalyze many of these systems, but there remain several which resist all known structural attacks. In this work, we investigate the use of rank metric codes for cryptographic purposes. Firstly, we investigate the construction of MRD codes and propose some new constructions based on combinatorial methods. We then generalize Overbeck’s attack and show how our generalized attack can be used to cryptanalyze some of the cryptosystems which were designed to resist the attack of Overbeck. Our attack is based on a new approach of exploiting the structure of low weight elements in the code. Our approach also allows us to extend a result of Gaborit to obtain a polynomial time decoding algorithm for codes with certain parameters. Lastly, we consider the use of codes in the subspace metric– which are based on rank metric codes–in order to create an alternative instance of Juels’ and Sudan’s fuzzy vault primitive.
Hormonal Aspects of Senescence in Detached Tobacco Leaves

The objective of the present work was to describe the simultaneous changes in endogenous levels of cytokinins, abscisic acid, indoleacetic acid and ethylene in detached, senescing tobacco (Nicotiana rustica L.) leaves. These measurements were related to changes in chlorophyll contents, 14CO2 fixation and proline contents — three parameters which have been considered to reflect senescence. Effects of exogenous hormonal treatments on these parameters, as well as on endogenous hormonal levels, provided further evidence for the interrelationships between hormones and for their roles in senescence. Starting with actively growing attached leaves and ending with well-advanced senescence in detached leaves, our data indicate a chronological sequence of three hormonal states: (a) cytokinins — high activity, abscisic acid, auxin and ethylene — low contents (actively growing, attached leaves); (b) cytokinins — low activity, abscisic acid — high, auxin and ethylene — low contents (apparent induction of senescence in detached leaves); and (c) cytokinins and abscisic acid — low, auxin and ethylene — high contents (senescence proper in detached leaves).
Rearrangement of Nicotinic Receptor α Subunits during Formation of the Ligand Binding Sites

Muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) are pentamers that contain two α subunits a β, γ (or ε), and δ subunit. In this paper, we have characterized subunit processing and folding events leading to formation of the two AChR ligand binding sites. α subunit residues, 187–199, which are part of overlapping ACh and α-bungarotoxin (Bgt) binding sites on AChRs, were assayed using a monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific for these residues. We found that this region was inaccessible to the mAb early during AChR assembly but became accessible as the first of two Bgt binding sites formed later during assembly, indicating that the region changes conformation as the Bgt binding site appears. Without previous reduction, 20% of the α subunits could be alkylated by bromoacetylcholine bromide as the first ACh binding site formed, which further indicated that the disulfide bond between cysteines 192 and 193 does not form until the first ACh binding site appears soon after Bgt binding site formation. When α subunits were mutated to add a glycosylation site at residue 187, the number of Bgt binding sites increased threefold, AChRs assembled more efficiently, and 2.5-fold more AChRs reached the cell surface. Our results indicate that binding site formation involves a rate-limiting rearrangement of the α subunit that exposes the 187–199 region to the endoplasmic reticulum lumen and determines when cysteines 192 and 193 disulfide bond.
Organic farming policy in Portugal: analysis of the policy network

Public policies have been the main driving force behind organic farming development in Portugal. Social network analysis (SNA) was used to examine the network responsible for organic farming policy making. Results show (i) a relatively loose and not particularly interested network; (ii) a marked influence of state institutions; (iii) a divided and not sufficiently influential organic movement. By considering the main factors that influence the structure of the current policy network, this study identifies the challenges that key stakeholders face regarding further policy development.
2-Methoxyestradiol Inhibits Proliferation and Induces Apoptosis Independently of Estrogen Receptors α and β

Methoxyestradiol (2ME2) is an endogenous metabolite of 17-estra- diol (E2) that arises from the hydroxylation and subsequent methylation at the 2-position. In vitro 2ME2 inhibits a large variety of tumor and non- tumor cell lines from diverse origins, as well as several stages of the angiogenic cascade. In vivo it has been shown to be a very effective inhibitor of tumor growth and angiogenesis in numerous models. Al- though various molecular targets have been proposed for this compound, the mechanism of action is still uncertain. As this molecule emerges as a drug candidate it is important to assess the estrogen receptors (ERs) as molecular targets for 2ME2. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether 2ME2 is able to engage ERs as an agonist and whether its antiproliferative activities are mediated through ERs. We confirm that 2ME2 has a lower binding affinity for ER as compared with E2 and other E2 metabolites and antagonists, and we demonstrate that the affinity of 2ME2 for ER is even lower. When assessed in the presence of galangin, a cytochrome P450 enzyme inhibitor, at concentrations at which 2ME2 interacts with ER in an in vitro binding assay, it does not stimulate the proliferation of an estrogen-dependent breast carcinoma cell line. Similar IC50 values for inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis are obtained in estrogen-dependent and estrogen-independent human breast cancer cell lines, irrespective of the expression of ER and ER. More- over, the estrogen antagonist ICI 182,780 does not inhibit the antiprolif- erative activity of 2ME2 . I n E 2-responsive cells such as MCF-7 and human umbilical vascular endothelial cells, high levels of E 2 inhibit the antipro- liferative activity of ICI 182,780 but not of 2ME2. Collectively, these results suggest that 2ME2 is distinct among estradiol metabolites because of its inability to engage ERs as an agonist, and its unique antiproliferative and apoptotic activities are mediated independently of ER and ER.
Fluctuation of abundance of microorganisms in the rhizosphere of alfalfa during the growing season.

This paper presents the results of the impact of microbial inoculants on the number of microorganisms in the rhizosphere soil of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). Alfalfa seed was inoculated by rhizobium (Rhizobium meliloti), azotobacter (Azotobacter chroococcum) and actinomycetes (Streptomyces sp.). These microorganisms are used as individual and combined cultures (a combination of two or all three types of microorganisms). After inoculation seeds were sown in each variant in the vessels filled with soil. The control variant was without inoculation. After each alfalfa swath, three times during the growing seasons, total number of microorganisms in the rhizosphere was determined for each variant. In almost all treatments, the greatest number of microorganisms was at the beginning of vegetation period of alfalfa. After the second swath the total number of microorganisms decreased, so that there was a statistically significant difference from the first cutting in all variants of inoculation, except in the treatment with bivalent inoculum that contained rhizobium and azotobacter. In the most treatments, after the third swath the number of microorganisms was statistically significantly lower than in the previous swath. Exceptions were variants inoculated with combined cultures of rhizobium and actinomycetes and control, where an overall higher number of microorganisms was noted compared to the previous swath.
Mycotoxin-producing Fusarium Species Occurring in Winter Wheat in Belgium (Flanders) During 2002-2005

Deoxynivalenol (DON) content and Fusarium spp. (Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium avenaceum, Microdochium nivale and Fusarium poae) of mycotoxin-producing Fusarium species in winter wheat in Belgium (Flanders) were determined. Field trials were set up in the varietal testing network of Flanders Agricultural Centre for Small Grains (Roeselare - Beitem, Belgium) and followed up during growing seasons 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. Fusarium infection and DON contamination were mainly influenced by location and environmental parameters. Mean DON levels ranged from 0 to 15 mg/kg. Over the period of four growing seasons cvs Deben, Ordeal and Napier had the highest DON contamination. Seasonal and local weather conditions before and during flowering together with local crop husbandry measures (crop rotation, soil preparation) seemed to be of great importance in explaining the variation in results obtained. At Bottelare a positive correlation between disease index and DON content was found for the growing seasons 2001-2002 and 2002-2003, but not the season 2003-2004. Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum were in general the most frequently occurring Fusarium spp. in Flanders over the 4 years but the composition of the Fusarium population varied strongly from location to location and from year to year. Fusarium graminearum predominated in areas especially where maize was cultivated, whereas in areas with more small cereals in the crop rotation more F. culmorum was present. Also temperature played a role in the composition of Fusarium spp.
FFT REPRESENTATION USING FLOATING-POINT BUTTERFLY ARCHITECTURE

ABSTRACT: Fast Fourier transform (FFT) coprocessor, having a significant impact on the performance of communication systems, has been a hot topic of research for many years. The FFT function consists of consecutive multiply add operations over complex numbers, dubbed as butterfly units. Applying floating-point (FP) arithmetic to FFT architectures, specifically butterfly units, has become more popular recently. It offloads compute-intensive tasks from general-purpose processors by dismissing FP concerns (e.g., scaling and overflow/underflow). However, the major downside of FP butterfly is its slowness in comparison with its fixed-point counterpart. This reveals the incentive to develop a high-speed FP butterfly architecture to mitigate FP slowness. The FP threeoperand BSD adder and the FP BSD constant multiplier are the constituents of the proposed FDPA unit. A carry-limited BSD adder is proposed and used in the three-operand adder and the parallel BSD multiplier so as to improve the speed of the FDPA unit. Moreover, modified Booth encoding is used to accelerate the BSD multiplier. In this we can implement the FFT butterfly using FP butterfly unit due to this we can save the loss of data compared to the normal FFT algorithm. This is also a one of application of FP butterfly arithmetic. The synthesis results show that the proposed FP butterfly architecture is much faster than previous counterparts are but at the cost of more area. System Configuration:-
Computer simulation of a selection strategy to accommodate genotype environment interactions in a wheat recurrent selection programme

Multi-environment trials (METs) are used in plant breeding programmes to evaluate genotypes (lines/families) as a basis for selection on expected performance (yield and/or quality) in a target population of environments (TPE). When a large component of the genotype-environment (G x E) interactions results from crossover interactions, samples of environments in METs that deviate From the TPE provide a suboptimal basis for selection of genotypes on performance expected in the TPE. To adjust for the negative effects of these deviations, a selection strategy that weights the data from the MET according to their expected frequency of occurrence in the TPE (i.e. a weighted selection strategy)was investigated. Computer simulation methodology was used to obtain preliminary information on the weighted selection strategy and compare it to the traditional unweighted selection strategy For a range of MET scenarios and G x E interaction models. The evaluation of the weighted selection strategy was conducted in context with the germplasm enhancement programme (GEP) of the Northern Wheat Improvement Programme in Australia. The results indicated that when the environments sampled in the MET matched those expected in the TPE, the unweighted and weighted selection strategies achieved a similar response to selection in the TPE. However. when the environments sampled in the MET did not match the expectations in the TPE and a large component of the G x E interactions resulted from crossover interactions, the weighted selection strategy achieved a greater response to selection in the TPE. The advantage of the weighted strategy increased as the amount of crossover G x E interaction increased or fewer environments were sampled in the METs.