Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recombinant expression, purification, and characterization of three isoenzymes of aspartate aminotransferase from Arabidopsis thaliana.

Five different genes encoding isoenzymes of aspartate aminotransferase (AAT) have been identified in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. cDNA sequences encoding three of these AAT isoenzymes, asp1 (mitochondrial), asp2 (cytosolic), and asp5 (plastid), were manipulated into bacterial expression vectors and the recombinant proteins expressed were purified from liquid culture using conventional methods. Yields of the purified isoenzymes varied from 11.5 mg/g wet wt cells (AAT5) to 0.95 mg/g wet wt cells (AAT2), an improvement of more than 1000-fold over typical yields of native isoenzymes obtained from plant tissues of other species. Analysis of the recombinant proteins on denaturing PAGE gels indicated subunit Mrs of between 44 and 45 K. Kinetic parameters (Km and kcat) obtained for all four substrates (aspartate, alpha-ketoglutarate, glutamate, and oxaloacetate) were consistent with values obtained for native AAT isoenzymes from other plant species. Further characterization of the purified recombinant enzymes alongside native enzymes from A. thaliana leaf tissue on AAT activity gels confirmed the identity of asp1 and asp2 as the mitochondrial and cytosolic AAT genes but indicated that asp5 may encode an amyloplastic rather than the chloroplastic enzyme.
Technical Note: The effect of refractive blur on colour vision evaluated using the Cambridge Colour Test, the Ishihara Pseudoisochromatic Plates and the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test

The results of a prospective study examining the effect of refractive blur on colour vision performance in normal subjects measured with three different colour vision tests are reported. The Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue (FM100) and Cambridge Colour Test (CCT) results were significantly affected at +6 D of spherical refractive blur, whereas those from the Ishihara Pseudoisochromatic Plate (IPP) test were not. In a clinical setting, correction of refractive error up to 3 D for colour vision testing with these tests may not be required. Poor colour vision should not be attributed solely to refractive causes of poor visual acuity (Snellen equivalent: >6/36). Fastest test times were achieved using IPP, followed by CCT.
Fully integrated 50 Gbit/s half-rate linear phase detector in SiGe BiCMOS

This paper presents a fully integrated half-rate linear phase detector for clock and data recovery (CDR) in serial communication systems which is capable of operating up to 50 Gbit/s. Because of its half-rate architecture, the phase detector features inherent 1∶2 demultiplexing. Also, a charge pump and a simple loop filter is integrated on-chip, which allows characterizing the performance of the phase detector. At a core supply voltage of 3.3 V and an input bias voltage of 3.6 V, the total power consumption of the integrated circuit amounts to 1.22 W. Using a 0.25 µm SiGe HBT BiCMOS technology, the chip core area occupies 1.1×0.8mm2.
Concolic test generation for PLC programs using coverage metrics

This paper presents a technique for fully automated generation of test cases for PLC programs adhering to the IEC 61131-3 standard. While previous methods strive for completeness and therefore struggle with the state explosion we pursue a symbolic execution based approach, dropping completeness but nevertheless achieving similar or even better results in practice. The core component is a symbolic execution engine which chooses the next state to execute, handles constraints emerging during the execution and derives respective test vectors leading to a state. To make for a high coverage of the generated tests, we adopt techniques from concolic testing, allow for use of heuristics to prioritise promising states but also merge states to alleviate the path explosion. We exploit peculiarities of PLC semantics to determine reasonable merge-points and unlike similar approaches even handle unreachable code. To examine the feasibility of our technique we evaluate it on function blocks used in industry.
Real-Time Opportunistic Scheduling for Residential Demand Response

Demand response is a key feature of the smart grid. The addition of bidirectional communication to today's power grid can provide real-time pricing (RTP) to customers via smart meters. A growing number of appliance companies have started to design and produce smart appliances which embed intelligent control modules to implement residential demand response based on RTP. However, most of the current residential load scheduling schemes are centralized and based on either day-ahead pricing (DAP) or predicted price, which can deviate significantly from the RTP. In this paper, we propose an opportunistic scheduling scheme based on the optimal stopping rule as a real-time distributed scheduling algorithm for smart appliances' automation control. It determines the best time for appliances' operation to balance electricity bill reduction and inconvenience resulting from the operation delay. It is shown that our scheme is a distributed threshold policy when no constraint is considered. When a total power constraint exists, the proposed scheduling algorithm can be implemented in either a centralized or distributed fashion. Our scheme has low complexity and can be easily implemented. Simulation results validate proposed scheduling scheme shifts the operation to off-peak times and consequently leads to significant electricity bill saving with reasonable waiting time.
The life history calendar: a technique for collecting retrospective data.

"This paper details the authors' selection, design, and use of a life history calendar (LHC) to collect retrospective life course data. A sample of nine hundred [U.S.] 23-year-olds, originally interviewed in 1980, were asked about the incidence and timing of various life events in the nine years since their 15th birthday. The following aspects of the LHC are described: (a) the concept, uses, and advantages of the LHC, (b) the time units and domains used, (c) the mode of recording the responses and the decisions and problems involved, (d) interviewer training, and (e) coding. The following results attest to the accuracy of the LHC retrospective data: (a) only four of the calendars had missing data in any month; (b) the data obtained in 1980 about current work, school attendance, marriage, and children showed a remarkable correspondence to the retrospective 1985 LHC reports of these events; (c) the interviewers were positive about the LHC's ability to increase respondent recall. "
MicroRNA Discovery and Profiling in Human Embryonic Stem Cells by Deep Sequencing of Small RNA Libraries

We used massively parallel pyrosequencing to discover and characterize microRNAs (miRNAs) expressed in human embryonic stem cells (hESC). Sequencing of small RNA cDNA libraries derived from undifferentiated hESC and from isogenic differentiating cultures yielded a total of 425,505 high‐quality sequence reads. A custom data analysis pipeline delineated expression profiles for 191 previously annotated miRNAs, 13 novel miRNAs, and 56 candidate miRNAs. Further characterization of a subset of the novel miRNAs in Dicer‐knockdown hESC demonstrated Dicer‐dependent expression, providing additional validation of our results. A set of 14 miRNAs (9 known and 5 novel) was noted to be expressed in undifferentiated hESC and then strongly downregulated with differentiation. Functional annotation analysis of predicted targets of these miRNAs and comparison with a null model using non‐hESC‐expressed miRNAs identified statistically enriched functional categories, including chromatin remodeling and lineage‐specific differentiation annotations. Finally, integration of our data with genome‐wide chromatin immunoprecipitation data on OCT4, SOX2, and NANOG binding sites implicates these transcription factors in the regulation of nine of the novel/candidate miRNAs identified here. Comparison of our results with those of recent deep sequencing studies in mouse and human ESC shows that most of the novel/candidate miRNAs found here were not identified in the other studies. The data indicate that hESC express a larger complement of miRNAs than previously appreciated, and they provide a resource for additional studies of miRNA regulation of hESC physiology.
Emergency Tracheal Intubation in the Postanesthesia Care Unit Physician Error or Patient Disease?

Inadequate airway maintenance has been a major factor in perioperative morbidity. To determine the incidence and etiology of emergency tracheal intubations in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), we retrospectively reviewed 13,593 consecutive admissions to our PACU from October 1986 through October 1988. Twenty-six patients (26/ 13,593 = 0.19%) required the insertion of an endotracheal tube while in the PACU. Seventy-seven percent (20/26) of the intubations occurred within 1 h of extubation and/or admission to the PACU. Intubation was more common at the extremes of age; 54% of those intubated were more than 60 yr old (P = 0.003); 19% were less than 3 yr old (P < 0.05). Twenty-three percent of the intubated patients had undergone otolaryngologic procedures (P = 0.008). Inter-estingly, 73% of the intubations occurred during the months of January through June (P = 0.016). Median PACU admission scores were lower for the intubated group (P < 0.001). There was no association between intubation and gender (P = 0.74), anesthetic technique (P = 0.41), or anesthetic agent (P = 0.49). Of the 26 intubations, 18 (69%) were considered to be directly related to anesthetic management. Despite the extremely low incidence of emergency tracheal intubation in a heterogeneous group of patients admitted to our PACU, preventable anesthesia-related etiologic factors including excessive sedative or anesthetic effect, inappropriate fluid management, persistent muscle relaxant effect, and upper airway obstruction contributed to the majority of these intubations.
Predictors of 5-Year Mortality in HIV-Infected Adults Starting Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in Thailand

Objective:To estimate the early and long-term mortalities and associated risk factors in adults receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in Thailand. Design:A prospective observational cohort study. Methods:Previously untreated adults starting HAART in 2002–2009 were followed-up in 43 public hospitals. Kaplan–Meier probability of survival was estimated up to 5 years of therapy. Factors associated with early (⩽6 months) and long-term (>6 months) mortalities were assessed using Cox regression analyses. Results:A total of 1578 adults received HAART (74% women; median age, 33 years; CD4 cell count, 124/mL), with a median follow-up of 50 months (interquartile range, 41–66). Eighty-nine patients (6%) died (37 occurred ⩽6 months and 52 occurred >6 months) and 183 (12%) were lost to follow-up. Probability of survival [95% confidence interval (CI)] was 97.5% (96.7% to 98.2%) at 6 months, 96.6% (95.6% to 97.4%) at 1 year, and 93.5% (91.9% to 94.8%) at 5 years. Probability of being alive and on follow-up was 80.8% (78.5% to 82.8%) at 5 years. Early mortality was associated with anemia [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 3.6, 95% CI: 1.7 to 7.5] and low CD4 count (aHR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.1 to 2.2 per 50 cells decrease) at treatment initiation. Long-term mortality was associated with persistent anemia (aHR 4.9, 95% CI: 2.1 to 11.6), CD4 increase from baseline <50 cells per cubic millimeter (aHR 3.1, 95% CI: 1.6 to 5.7), and viral load >1000 copies per milliliter (aHR 2.8, 95% CI: 1.3 to 6.1) at 6 months of HAART; male gender; and calendar year of enrollment. Conclusions:Early mortality was associated with anemia and severe immunosuppression at initiation of therapy. Long-term mortality was associated with persistent anemia, CD4 count increase, and virological response at 6 months of therapy over baseline characteristics, highlighting the importance of laboratory monitoring.
Dehydroepiandrosterone: the “missing link” between hyperinsulinemia and atherosclerosis?

A well‐established epidemiologic association exists between hyperinsulinemia and macrovascular disease. However, the mechanism or mechanisms by which hyperinsulinemia promotes atherogenesis is unknown. Recent evidence indicates that the adrenal steroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) exerts multiple antiatherogenic effects and also suggests that hyperinsulinemia may reduce serum DHEA and DHEA‐sulfate levels by decreasing production and enhancing metabolic clearance. We advance the hypothesis that hyperinsulinemia promotes macrovascular disease in part by reducing serum DHEA and DHEA‐sulfate levels and illustrate how this may be the case in two clinical conditions characterized by hyperinsulinemic insulin resistance: aging and obesity. — Nestler, J. E. , Clore, J. N. , Blackard, W. G. Dehydroepiandrosterone: the “missing link” between hyperinsulinemia and atherosclerosis? FASEB J. 6: 3073‐3075; 1992.
Hierarchical coordination control of multi-microgrids system in series and parallel structure

Multi-microgrid system has high power distribution reliability, improve distributed power generations installation. This paper researches the sub-microgrid system in series and parallel system structure and design two hierarchical control schemes of multi-microgrid system in series and parallel structure. Then the functions of power management, state management and synchronous control in MicroGrid Central Controller (MGCC) are analyzed. For tie-line power control, grid-connected and islanded mode switch of multi-micro-grid system, this paper researches MGCC coordination strategy among sub-micro-grid systems of multi-microgrid system in series and parallel structure, researches method of multi-microgrid system synchronized control. According to the experimental system, a multi-microgrid system model in series and parallel structure is build in Matlab / Simulink software. Then simulation and analysis are conducted for tie-line power control and dynamic characteristics of synchronization process, in order to verify the correction and effectiveness of the control strategy.
Behavioural and arousal‐related influences on breathing in humans

This review has described the many behavioural and arousal‐related influences on breathing and the extent of these influences in humans. The chief examples have included the effect on breathing of altered mental activity, wakefulness and sleep, and learned respiratory responses. Determining the precise neurological mechanisms underlying these effects represents a difficult challenge to respiratory physiologists who seek to understand the respiratory control system of awake behaving humans. Nevertheless, insight into the various forebrain and brainstem inputs to respiratory muscles has been gained by studies of breathing during particular behaviours (when either voluntary or reflex breathing predominates) or in particular neurological patients (in whom either voluntary or reflex breathing is defective). With developments in brain imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, it may soon be possible to determine more precisely the various anatomical sources and timing of the motor commands to breathe during different behaviours, states of arousal and sleep.
Handheld projector interaction

The recent trend towards miniaturization of projection technology indicates that handheld devices will soon have the ability to project information onto any surface, thus enabling interaction and applications that are not possible with current handheld devices. This opens up an emerging research area on interaction using handheld projectors. With the ability to project information, a handheld device can surmount the limitations of its small internal screen by creating a larger information display on an external surface. By doing so, the display and interaction space can be expanded to cover almost an entire physical environment. Large amounts of data can be displayed, a rich interaction vocabulary can be supported, and multiple co-located people can share the viewing experience at the same time. In this thesis, I investigate research issues involved in the design, implementation, and user performance and behaviors regarding the usage of interactive handheld projectors. I create a handheld projector interaction prototype platform, and explore interaction concepts and techniques to support both single and multi-user interaction using one or several handheld projectors. I also empirically investigate the user behaviors related to handheld projector usage, in terms of both quantitative interaction performance with pointing tasks, and qualitative social behaviors that emerge from a game application. This work is a multi-faceted investigation on handheld projector interaction, and will provide the groundwork for future research and development of interactive handheld projectors.
ITS1: a DNA barcode better than ITS2 in eukaryotes?

A DNA barcode is a short piece of DNA sequence used for species determination and discovery. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS/ITS2) region has been proposed as the standard DNA barcode for fungi and seed plants and has been widely used in DNA barcoding analyses for other biological groups, for example algae, protists and animals. The ITS region consists of both ITS1 and ITS2 regions. Here, a large‐scale meta‐analysis was carried out to compare ITS1 and ITS2 from three aspects: PCR amplification, DNA sequencing and species discrimination, in terms of the presence of DNA barcoding gaps, species discrimination efficiency, sequence length distribution, GC content distribution and primer universality. In total, 85 345 sequence pairs in 10 major groups of eukaryotes, including ascomycetes, basidiomycetes, liverworts, mosses, ferns, gymnosperms, monocotyledons, eudicotyledons, insects and fishes, covering 611 families, 3694 genera, and 19 060 species, were analysed. Using similarity‐based methods, we calculated species discrimination efficiencies for ITS1 and ITS2 in all major groups, families and genera. Using Fisher's exact test, we found that ITS1 has significantly higher efficiencies than ITS2 in 17 of the 47 families and 20 of the 49 genera, which are sample‐rich. By in silico PCR amplification evaluation, primer universality of the extensively applied ITS1 primers was found superior to that of ITS2 primers. Additionally, shorter length of amplification product and lower GC content was discovered to be two other advantages of ITS1 for sequencing. In summary, ITS1 represents a better DNA barcode than ITS2 for eukaryotic species.
Higher order crossings spectral analysis of an almost periodic random sequence in noise

The precise effect of noise on HOC (higher-order crossing) sequences is examined, settling some issues not dealt with previously. It is shown that it is possible to construct HOC sequences that converge to true discrete frequencies in a mixed spectrum even for very low signal-to-noise ratios. The availability of the correlation function is then assumed. When the expected HOCs (from repeated differences) are known, the correlation function is automatically known as well. However, other quantities, not just the expected HOC, can serve the same purpose. For example, under the Gaussian assumption, the correlation function can be obtained from that of the binary process derived by clipping the original process at any level. >
An Indoor AOA Estimation Algorithm for IEEE 802.11ac Wi-Fi Signal Using Single Access Point

We propose an indoor angle-of-arrival (AOA) estimation algorithm for IEEE 802.11ac Wi-Fi signal using single access point (AP) with multiple antennas. The auto-focusing method is first used to obtain a coherently combined matrix among different subcarrier frequencies. After that, we implement Toeplitz processing on the coherently combined matrix to decorrelate the received multipath signals in spatial domain. Simulation and experiment results in an indoor multipath environment show that our proposed method outperforms the conventional auto focusing method by a significant margin, when the multipath signals are highly correlated. For the case with low correlations, both methods can obtain the AOAs with high accuracy. The observations are validated by both simulations and indoor multipath experiments.
GROUP B MENINGOCOCCAL OPSONINS IN SERUM MEASURED BY POLYMORPHONUCLEAR LEUKOCYTE CHEMILUMINESCENCE

Serum opsonic activity against a strain of group B meningococci was measured by the initial increment in polymorphonuclear leukocyte chemiluminescence. Chemiluminescence was markedly enhanced by serum and was dependent upon both thermostable and thermolabile factors. It was higher in convalescent sera from patients with meningococcal disease than from other patients and normal controls. Absorption of sera with the homologous strain substantially decreased the opsonic activity. Convalescent serum from a patient with group C meningococcal pericarditis showed high opsonic activity towards a group B meningococcal strain. A convalescent serum showed significantly higher activity towards its homologous group B strain than towards another group B meningococcal strain. As measured by chemiluminescence, properties besides group specificity are of importance in opsonization of meningococci. The simplicity and precision of the chemiluminescence measurements seem to offer an improved tool for the study of meningococcal disease immunology.
Arboreality and the evolution of disease resistance in ants

1. Parasites are an important selective force for almost all organisms and drive the evolution by hosts of defence mechanisms that are energetically costly. The strength of parasitism will vary between host species according to their specific ecology and life history, and so the optimal investment in costly resistance mechanisms is also likely to vary between host species with differing ecologies.
An Efficient Power Allocation Scheme for Multirelay Systems With Lossy Intra-Links

The so-called chief executive officer problem suggests that the source message can be recovered at the destination by merging a set of corrupted replicas forwarded by multiple relays, as long as these replicas are sufficiently correlated with the original message. In this paper, we build on Slepian-Wolf’s correlated source coding theorem to design a simple, yet efficient power allocation scheme for a multirelay system, in which the direct link is unavailable to convey information. In such a system, the replicas forwarded by the relays are allowed to contain intra-link errors due to previous unreliable hops, and the destination is supposed to retrieve the source message by jointly decoding all received replicas. Importantly, the proposed power allocation is asymptotically optimal at high signal-to-noise ratio.
Rethinking the Role of the Angular Gyrus in Remembering the Past and Imagining the Future: The Contextual Integration Model

Despite consistent activation on tasks of episodic memory, the precise contribution of the left angular gyrus (AG) to mnemonic functions remains vigorously debated. Mounting evidence suggests that AG activity scales with subjective ratings of vividness and confidence in recollection, with further evidence pointing to its involvement during construction of detailed and coherent future simulations. Lesion studies, however, indicate that damage to the AG does not render patients amnesic on standard source and associative memory paradigms. To reconcile these findings, we present the Contextual Integration Model as a unifying framework that couches the mnemonic role of the AG in terms of multimodal integration and representation of contextual information across temporal contexts. Irrespective of whether one is remembering the past or constructing future or hypothetical scenarios, the Contextual Integration Model holds that the core elements of an event (i.e., the who, what, when, where) are bound within the medial temporal lobes while the multimodal details, which give rise to perceptually rich recollection, are integrated and represented in the AG. Building on previous work, the Contextual Integration Model therefore provides a comprehensive exposition of the mnemonic and constructive functions of the AG across temporal contexts, offering a novel test-bed for future work.