Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integration of a FT expression cassette into CRISPR/Cas9 construct enables fast generation and easy identification of transgene-free mutants in Arabidopsis

The CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technique has been widely used to generate transgene-free mutants in different plant species. Several different methods including fluorescence marker-assisted visual screen of transgene-free mutants and programmed self-elimination of CRISPR/Cas9 construct have been use to increase the efficiency of genome edited transgene-free mutants isolation, but the overall time length required to obtain transgene-free mutants has remained unchanged in these methods. We report here a method for fast generation and easy identification of transgene-free mutants in Arabidopsis. By generating and using a single FT expression cassette-containing CRISPR/Cas9 construct, we targeted two sites of the AITR1 gene. We obtained many early bolting plants in T1 generation, and found that about two thirds of these plants have detectable mutations. We then analyzed T2 generations of two representative lines of genome edited early bolting T1 plants, and identified plants without early bolting phenotype, i.e., transgene-free plants, for both lines. Further more, homologues aitr1 mutants were successful obtained for both lines from these transgene-free plants. Taken together, these results suggest that the method described here enables fast generation, and at the mean time, easy identification of transgene-free mutants in plants.
An analog circuit technique for finding the median

A novel analog technique for finding the median of an odd number of inputs is presented. It is shown that simple analog circuits can be used to find the median. Their compactness allows their use in parallel systems, such as pixel plane processing, yielding enormously effective computation rates. In addition, their analog nature allows them to be easily incorporated into systems where digital median filters are impractical, such as high-speed communications equipment. More generally, the technique described can be used to implement a large class of nonlinear filters based on rank order. A three-input median circuit, implemented in a 2-/spl mu/m CMOS process, demonstrates the effectiveness of the technique.
Theoretical analysis of the frequency allocation of the hinge points around 22.235 GHz

Microwave ground- and satellite-based sensing of atmospheric precipitable water vapor (PWV) is commonly based on the measurement of down/up welling brightness temperature (Tb) in the spectral region around the water vapor rotational line at 22.235 GHz. The atmospheric absorption/emission at these frequencies is dependent on the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere, which is usually unknown. The dependence on atmospheric profile can be limited by choosing the channel frequency near the so called "hinge points". However, the frequency allocation of such points is not exactly determined. Therefore, we considered three databases of atmospheric thermodynamic sets of profiles (pressure, temperature, humidity) collected in three contrasting environments (Arctic, mid-latitude, tropical), and processed them with four commonly used microwave absorption models, to get simulated ground based measurements in the 19-26 GHz range. We evaluated a variety of different inversion methods for single-channel PWV retrieval. Thus, we show spectra of PWV retrieval uncertainty for typical cases, and we discuss our choice of the frequency location for the hinge points around 22.235 GHz.
DAART: Delay-aware Adaptive Round Time MAC Protocol to Improve Throughput in Light-trail Networks

Abstract Light-trail (LT) has been proposed as an attractive solution for optical networks to support emerging services such as video-on-demand, pseudo-wires, data-centers, etc. Due to the fact that light-trail (LT) is a shared-medium network, the media access control (MAC) protocol is essential to be implemented in the whole network. In this paper, we propose a novel MAC protocol called DAART (Delay-aware Adaptive Round Time) to improve the throughput in LT network. DAART MAC adopts the delay-aware mechanism to calculate the actual token holding time for every transmission node. More specifically, the token holding time can be evaluated from queue delay, transmission delay and slot-synchronization delay. To estimate the throughput performance of DAART MAC protocol, we give three different patterns of traffic and compare the throughput between DAART MAC and ART MAC. Simulation results show that DAART has more stable throughput performance than ART, which in return enhances the throughput of LT networks.
PDMS-Based Capacitive Pressure Sensor for Flexible Transparent Electronics

We propose a flexible pressure sensor based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and transparent electrodes. The transmittance of the total device is 82% and the minimum bending radius is 18 mm. Besides, the effect of annealing temperature on the mechanical properties of PDMS is reported here. The results show that the PDMS film under lower annealing temperature of 80°C has good compression property but poor dynamic response. While for higher temperatures, the compression property of PDMS films significantly reduced. The best compromise of annealing temperature between compression property and dynamic response is found for PDMS film of about 110°C. The pressure sensor under 110°C curing temperature shows a good sensitivity of 0.025 kPa−1 and robust response property. The device shows a promising route for future intelligent transparent sensing applications.
Antimicrobial peptides under clinical investigation

Overuse of conventional antibiotics as well as the slow pace of new antibiotic drug development leads to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Because infections with multi‐drug resistant (MDR) pathogens have become a public health issue, the need for a novel class of antibiotics is urgent. Recently, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as a promising platform to fight against MDR bacteria ensuring broad‐spectrum antimicrobial activity and relatively low resistance emergence. Currently, a number of AMPs are undergoing clinical and preclinical trials against various infectious diseases. This review lists the 36 AMPs (27 clinical and 9 preclinical) with brief information about their origin, structure, mechanism, and development status. From the examples of AMPs under clinical investigation, we categorized several improvement strategies and highlighted directions for the future design of AMPs.
Implementation of Kd-Trees on the GPU to Achieve Real Time Graphics Processing

This paper examines the parallelization of ray tracing algorithms with the goal of running the whole process on the graphics processing unit (GPU) rather than the central processing unit (CPU). The motivation behind this endeavour is to utilize the massively parallel nature of the GPU. This parallelism allows the construction of 3-dimensional images to take place in real time. To achieve this we focus on how to create and process multi-dimensional tree structures (kd-trees) to model image data. Kd-trees organize multidimensional data in a searchable data structure, lending itself to the efficient creation of lighting effects.
In vitro and in vivo efficacy of the combination of colistin and endolysins against clinical strains of Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) pathogens

The multidrug resistance (MDR) among pathogenic bacteria is jeopardizing the worth of antimicrobials, which had previously changed medical sciences. In this study, we used bioinformatic tools to identify the endolysins ElyA1 and ElyA2 (GH108-PG3 family) present in the genome of bacteriophages Ab1051Φ and Ab1052Φ, respectively. The muralytic activity of these endolysins over MDR clinical isolates (Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae) was tested using the turbidity reduction assay. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of endolysin, colistin and their combination were determined using the microdilution checkerboard method. The antimicrobial activity of the combinations was confirmed by time kill curves and in vivo assays in larvae of Galleria mellonella. Our results showed that ElyA1 displayed activity against all 25 strains of A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa tested and against 13 out of 17 strains of K. pneumoniae. No activity was detected when assays were done with endolysin ElyA2. The combined antimicrobial activity of colistin and endolysin ElyA1 yielded a reduction in the colistin MIC for all strains studied, except K. pneumoniae. These results were confirmed in vivo in G. mellonella survival assays. In conclusion, the combination of colistin with new endolysins such as ElyA1 could increase the bactericidal activity and reduce the MIC of the antibiotic, thus also reducing the associated toxicity. IMPORTANCE The development of multiresistance by pathogen bacteria increases the necessity of the development of new antimicrobial strategies. In this work, we combined the effect of the colistin with a new endolysin, ElyA1, from a bacteriophage present in the clinical strain of Acinetobacter baumannii Ab105. ElyA1 is a lysozyme-like family (GH108-GP3), whose antimicrobial activity was described for first time in this work. Also, another endolysin, ElyA2, with the same origin and family, was characterized but in this case no activity was detected. ElyA1 presented lytic activity over a broad spectrum of strains from A. baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. When colistin was combined with ElyA1 an increase of the antimicrobial activity was observed with a reduced concentration of colistin, and this observation was also confirmed in vivo in Galleria mellonella larvae. The combination of colistin with new endolysins as ElyA1 could increase the bactericidal activity and lowering the MIC of the antibiotic, thus also reducing the associated toxicity.
Types for controlling heap and stack in Java

A type system is introduced for a strict but expressive subset of Java in order to infer resource upper bounds on both the heap-space and the stack-space requirements of typed programs. This type system is inspired by previous works on Implicit Computational Complexity, using tiering and non-interference techniques. The presented methodology has several advantages. First, it provides explicit polynomial upper bounds to the programmer, hence avoiding OutOfMemory and StackOverFlow errors. Second, type checking is decidable in linear time. Last, it has a good expressivity as it analyzes most object oriented features like overload, inheritance, and also handles flow statements controlled by objects.
Optimierung der Diagnostik und Therapie cerebrovaskulärer Erkrankungen in derNeurochirurgie: Nutzung neuer Technologien und Re-Evaluation bestehender Paradigmen

Background: Advances in diagnostics and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases underlie constant changes. Demographic alterations in Western societies involve modifications of incidence and fatality of cerebrovascular diseases. We aimed to test and reevaluate current diagnostic paradigms and surgical concepts in that context. Methods: Data of clinical course and diagnostic modalities of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, ischemic infarction and Moyamoya vasculopathy treated at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin were analyzed. Data collection was approved by the local ethics committee (EA1/156/14, EA1/291/14, 7UP World Health Organization register No. DRKS00003193). Results: Spatial resolution of 7 T MRA and digital subtraction angiography were comparable but practical limitations included long scanning times and motion artefacts. 7 T MPRAGE proved to be a valid alternative displaying cerebral vessel pathology in Moyamoya vasculopathy. Quantification of subarachnoid blood on CT using the BNI scale in aneurysmal hemorrhage not only predicted angiographic vasospasm but also new cerebral infarction and unfavorable patient outcome. Calculation of the SDASH score including the factors thickness of subarachnoidal blood, presence of acute hydrocephalus, and poor clinical grade (Hunt and Hess ≥ 4) helped to predict shunt dependent chronic hydrocephalus after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Occurrence of angiographic vasospasm in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage was associated with reduction of nimodipine dosages. Due to a significant reduction of blood pressure, nimodipine was reduced by 50 % in 28.6 % and stopped in 27.7 % of patients with aSAH. Evaluation of surgical strategies in patients with ischemic infarction revealed comparable results in patient below and above 70 years of age. The extension of decompressive hemicraniectomy in malignant hemispheric infarction did not result in a better overall patient outcome in our series, but transtentorial herniation and hemispheric swelling was significantly reduced in patients with extended craniectomies. Conclusion: Technical advances allow a more distinct visualization and therefore prediction of cerebrovascular diseases and their clinical course. This may lead to a more individual patient assessment and planning of therapy. Moreover, individual treatment concepts in our ageing western societies for elderly patients are necessary.
A new, high efficiency, digital, modulation technique for AM or SSB sound broadcasting applications

Saturated pulse-width modulation (SPWM), a form of modulator control signal that uses a flash converter for analog-to-digital conversion, is discussed. SPWM is used to modulate high-power RF amplifiers. The operations of a flash converter, formed from a plurality of comparators, and a ring modulator, an address rotation circuit that performs a controlled sequence defining which comparator commands a particular power switch, are described. >
Performance analysis of roof-mounted photovoltaic systems on the office building in Hanoi

Building is responsible for more than 40 percent of energy consumption and one third of greenhouse gas emissions. Europe has established the pathway towards nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB), soon required in every new construction and large renovation in existing buildings by 2020. Achieving nZEB required the use of photovoltaic modules for generating electricity. The rooftops of residential, commercial and office building are ideal places for the installation of PV systems. Recently, in Vietnam, the nZEB becomes an important part of sustainable development and attracts the attention of scientists on the term of " green building " or " smart building " , while photovoltaic systems are in most cases not used in building today. From this framework, we aim to implement the platform that will be dedicated to prototyping and tools to support research and training in the reference building. The first work presented in this paper aims at parametric analysis of 15 kWp PV system applied to a rooftop of a University building in Cau Giay-Hanoi. The study shows the effect of PV module types, and installation tilt angle on the electrical energy yield. The Photovoltaic simulation tool takes an important role in calculating the energy production from the solar panels. PVSyst software as a simulation tool was used to simulate several operating conditions as well as components. The research investigated a complete on-grid PV system by taking into account orientation of PV array under meteorological condition in Hanoi, solar cell technologies and inverter connections. Meteorological data was accessed by MeteoNorm and PVGIS. According to simulation results, the configurations of PV system for reference office building of the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH), was optimized to facilitate the next phase of smart building research in Vietnam.
ANÁLISIS SEMÁNTICO DE PROGRAMAS ESCRITOS EN JAVA SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF PROGRAMS WRITTEN IN JAVA

Actually, object oriented programming languages are used in all software development areas widely. One of the most known languages is Java, this programming language allows developing programs in a simple and elegant style. Java is used in researching very much because this fact, new facilities are implemented or even new dialects are created on it. These improvements require changes to language design level generally; the result is a program semantic analyzer with these new characteristics. Because there are no tools supporting semantic analysis of Java programs, researchers have to rewrite the most of functionality of Java Compiler just for adding few semantic changes. Building a Java program analyzer involves lexical analysis, syntax analysis, semantic analysis, etc. Two first steps are usually solved using tools that generate syntax analyzers automatically. These analyzers build a tree, which represents the traced source program. But with this solution appears a problem; the automatically built trees are huge because they contain more information that it is necessary to store. Besides, working with these trees is complex, tedious, and inefficient in storage space and time for visiting their nodes. So our goal is to design a tool that works with a smaller and more manageTheoria, Vol. 13: 39-49, 2004 ISSN 0717-196X
A clinicopathological study of neoplastic and preneoplastic lesions of cervix along with HPV genotyping in biopsy proven preneoplastic lesions

Background: Cervical cancer is the commonest cancer in women in developing countries. Cost effective screening methods with optimum diagnostic accuracy can help in reducing the global burden. Methods: This prospective study was carried out on 100 patients with suspected lesions of the cervix. Cervical biopsy was taken as gold standard to compare the performance of visual inspection with aceitic acid(VIA) and cytology (Conventional pap smear). Various parameters like age, clinical and sexual history were noted. Genotyping of HPV 16 and 18 of preneoplastic cases was done with real time PCR-based method. All statistical analysis was done at alpha-error 5% and power 80%. Results: Out of 100 cases, 78 were carcinoma cervix (78%), 19% cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) (CIN I-8, CIN II-3 and CIN III-8), and 3 had inflammation (3%). Accuracy of cytohistological correlation was highest for Carcinoma cervix (94.64%), 72.72% and 75% each for High grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and Low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL). The sensitivity and PPV of VIA came out to be 93.32%, 95% respectively. HPV16 genotype was found in 25% cases of CIN I, 66.66% cases of CIN II and 62.2% cases of CIN III. HPV 18 genotype was detected in only one case (12.5%) of CIN III. Conclusions: Positive VIA formed a good clinical screening method for picking up Carcinoma Cervix and a promising alternative to Pap smear in precancerous lesions. HPV16 integration status has the potential to be a good marker for risk assessment of CIN progression. Keywords: Cancer of Cervix, CIN, HPV, Pap smear, VIA
Inhibitory effect of garlic (Allium sativum) on Fe2+ and Pb2+- induced lipid peroxidation in rat brain and liver in-vitro

High levels of iron [Fe2+] and lead [Pb2+] in the body have been linked to oxidative stress arising from peroxidation of membrane biomolecules and this usually results or manifests as neurologic, hepatic as well as cardiovascular disorders. Therefore, this study is sought to investigate the inhibitory effect and other antioxidant potentials of both aqueous and ethanolic extracts of garlic cloves (Allium sativum) against iron (ll) sulphate and lead acetate induced lipid peroxidation in rats’ brain and liver tissues. From the results, incubation of the tissue homogenates with the pro-oxidants caused significant (P<0.05) increase in levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), while administration of the extracts provided a significant protection to TBARS levels in the tissues, suggesting their higher inhibitory potential on the pro-oxidants. Besides, the antioxidant potential of the extracts was determined via antioxidant activities that account for its Fe2+ chelating ability and reducing power, 1,1-diphenyl-2 -picrylhydrazyl [DPPH] as well as hydroxyl radicals[OH*] scavenging ability. The extracts at different concentrations demonstrated significant antioxidant potentials, indicating their abilities to act as radical scavengers and chelators. Hence, oxidative stress in the brain and liver could be potentially prevented or managed by dietary intake of Allium sativum.
Characterization of the radiative impact of aerosols on CO2 and energy fluxes in the Amazon deforestation arch using artificial neural networks

Abstract. In vegetation canopies with complex architectures, diffuse solar radiation can enhance carbon assimilation through photosynthesis because isotropic light is able to reach deeper layers of the canopy. Although this effect has been studied in the past decade, the mechanisms and impacts of this enhancement over South America remain poorly understood. Over the Amazon deforestation arch large amounts of aerosols are released into the atmosphere due to biomass burning, which provides an ideal scenario for further investigation of this phenomenon in the presence of canopies with complex architecture. In this paper, the relation of aerosol optical depth and surface fluxes of mass and energy are evaluated over three study sites with artificial neural networks and radiative transfer modeling. Results indicate a significant effect of the aerosol on the flux of carbon dioxide between the vegetation and the atmosphere, as well as on energy exchange, including that surface fluxes are sensitive to second-order radiative impacts of aerosols on temperature, humidity, and friction velocity. CO2 exchanges increased in the presence of aerosol in up to 55 % in sites with complex canopy architecture. A decrease of approximately 12 % was observed for a site with shorter vegetation. Energy fluxes were negatively impacted by aerosols over all study sites.
Towards a Data-Driven Analysis of Programming Tutorials' Telemetry to Improve the Educational Experience in Introductory Programming Courses

Retention in Computer Science undergraduate education, particularly of underrepresented groups, continues to be a growing challenge. A theme shared by much of the research literature into why this is so is one of a distancing in the relationship between Computer Science professors and students [39, 40, 45]. How then, can we begin to lessen that distance, and build stronger connections between these groups in an era of growing class sizes and technology replacing human interaction? This work presents BitFit, an online programming practice and learning tool, to describe an approach to using the telemetry made possible from deploying this or similar tools in introductory programming courses to improve the quality of instruction, and the students' course experiences. BitFit gathers interaction data as students use the tool to actively engage with course material. In this thesis we first explore what kind of quantitative data can be used to help professors gain insights into how students might be faring in their courses, moving the method of instruction towards a data- and student-driven model. Secondly, we demonstrate the capacity of the telemetry to aid professors in more precisely identifying students at risk of failure in their courses. Our goal is to reveal possible reasons these students would be considered at-risk at an early enough point in the course to make interventions possible. Finally, we show how the use of tools such as BitFit within introductory programming courses could positively impact the student experience. Through a preliminary qualitative assessment, we seek to address impact on confidence, metacognition, and the ability for an individual to envision success in Computer Science. When used together within an all-encompassing approach aimed at improving retention in Computer Science, tools such as BitFit can move towards improving the quality of instruction and the students' experience by helping to build stronger connections rooted in empathy between professors and students. %%%%Graduate