Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
REMODELING IN THE ACTIN CORE OF THE AUDITORY HAIR CELL STEREOCILIA AS A NOVEL COMPONENT OF TEMPORARY NOISE-INDUCED HEARING LOSS

OF DISSERTATION REMODELING IN THE ACTIN CORE OF THE AUDITORY HAIR CELL STEREOCILIA AS A NOVEL COMPONENT OF TEMPORARY NOISE-INDUCED HEARING LOSS The rigid, paracrystalline actin core of auditory hair cell stereocilia is extremely stable and after initial formation must persist for the life of the cell to preserve hearing in mammals. In healthy hair cells, turnover of actin molecules occurs only in a small region near the tips of stereocilia, while the actin filaments of the shaft are stable. For decades damage to the actin core of stereocilia from acoustic trauma has only been attributed to cases of permanent noise-induced hearing loss. Here, we show that repairable actin core damage occurs in temporary noise-induced hearing loss from moderate acoustic trauma. We have found that moderate noise exposure causing a temporary hearing loss results in damage to the stereocilia actin core in the form of small, submicron breaks in the filamentous actin (F-actin) at the base of the stereocilia, and displacement of the stereocilia from its anchoring rootlet. The same damages were recapitulated in vitro after mechanical overstimulation of stereocilia bundles by fluid-jet. Despite the wellestablished stable nature of the F-actin within stereocilia, 24 hours after the damage we observed complete repair of this damage in vitro and only partial repair in vivo, indicating slower in vivo recovery. The mechanism of this repair appears to involve actin remodeling in the upper portion of the rootlet located within the stereocilia shaft. Our results suggest that repairable damage to the F-actin at the base of stereocilia is a novel component of temporary noise-induced hearing loss. We believe that restoration of hearing thresholds after moderate noise exposure includes the repair of this damage. Although the exact mechanism of this repair is unknown, this is the first evidence for actin cytoskeleton repair in the stereocilia of auditory hair cells which have to maintain their structure and mechanosensitivity throughout the life of an organism.
Secondary Organic Aerosols: Chemical Aging, Hygroscopicity, and Cloud Droplet Activation

Atmospheric aerosols have an important impact on the radiation balance, and thus, on the climate of the Earth. Aerosol particles scatter and absorb incoming solar and terrestrial radiation. Apart from this direct effect, aerosol particles act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), thereby greatly influencing the microphysics of clouds. Secondary organic aerosols (SOA) are an important fraction of the total aerosol mass. In many environments these organic compounds are mainly products of the oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOC). In this study the hygroscopic growth and CCN activation of biogenic SOA were investigated which was formed by the oxidation of VOC with O3 and photochemically formed OH radicals under low NOx conditions. For this purpose, a complex mixture of VOC emitted by boreal tree species as gas-phase precursors was used in the Jülich Plant Atmosphere Chamber (JPAC). In long-term studies in the atmosphere simulation chamber SAPHIR α-pinene or a defined mixture of α-pinene, β-pinene, limonene, ocimene, Δ-3-carene served as precursors. Initial precursor concentrations between 40 and 1000 ppbC were investigated. The observed SOA particles were slightly hygroscopic with an average hygroscopicity parameter κ(CCN) = 0.10 ± 0.02 and κ(90%RH) = 0.05 ± 0.01. Closure between hygroscopic growth and CCN activation data could be achieved allowing either surface tension reduction, limited solubility, or non-ideality of the solution in the droplet. The SOA solutions in equilibrium with RH <95% are possible highly non-ideal. Therefore the organic-water interaction were investigated by applying the UNIFAC model. Calculations for surrogate compounds exhibited the same strong concentration (i.e. RH) dependence of κ at sub-saturation. The growth curves could be fitted and CCN activation predicted by assuming a binary mixture of water and one hypothetical organic compound. The occurrence of functional groups in this compound was adjusted to reproduce the observed growth curves. However, further information on surface tension and the ratio of the molecular mass and density of the solute is needed to predict activation behavior from hygroscopic growth measurements. A dependence of κ on the ratio of primarily produced OH to initial VOC level was observed. The higher κ values for low precursor concentrations could be attributed to a higher OH/VOC level. The detailed chemical composition of the gas-phase precursors had only little effect on κ. In long term experiments there was no significant effect of the observed chemical aging of the particles on κ. The observed low variability of κ for biogenic SOA particles simplifies their treatment in global models as an average value of κ = 0.1 can be used.
Forecasting stock market trend: a comparison of machine learning algorithms

Forecasting the direction of stocks markets has become a popular research topic in recent years. Differentapproaches have been applied by researchers to address the prediction of market trends by consideringtechnical indicators and chart patterns from technical analysis. This paper compares the performanceof four machine learning algorithms to validate the forecasting ability of popular technical indicators inthe technological NASDAQ index. Since the mathematical formulas used in the calculation of technicalindicators comprise historical prices they will be related to the past trend of the market. We assume thatforecasting performance increases when the trend is computed on a longer time horizon. Our resultssuggest that the random forest outperforms the other machine learning algorithms considered in ourresearch, being able to forecast the 10-days ahead market trend, with an average accuracy of 80%.
Proactive Eavesdropping via Jamming in Full-Duplex Multi-Antenna Systems: Beamforming Design and Antenna Selection

This paper investigates the application of full-duplex (FD) multi-antenna transceivers in proactive eavesdropping systems. To this end, we jointly optimize the transmit and receive beamformers at the legitimate FD monitor to maximize the eavesdropping non-outage probability of the system. The resulting non-convex problem is solved using two-layer decomposition technique. The inner layer problem is formulated as a semidefinite relaxation problem, and the outer problem is solved by one-dimensional line search. We further propose sub-optimum beamforming designs, where the beamformers are obtained using zero-forcing, and maximum ratio transmission. To archive a low-complexity implementation, we study the antenna selection problem as an alternative for performance optimization. Particularly, based on the system’s eavesdropping non-outage probability, several antenna selection schemes are proposed to choose single transmit and single receive antenna at the FD monitor. For each scheme, we derive closed-form expressions of the eavesdropping non-outage probability. Our findings reveal that proposed antenna selection schemes can achieve the performance close to that of the proposed optimum/sub-optimum beamforming design, but with much lower implementation complexity.
Global Perspective on Marital Satisfaction

Across the world, millions of couples get married each year. One of the strongest predictors of whether partners will remain in their relationship is their reported satisfaction. Marital satisfaction is commonly found to be a key predictor of both individual and relational well-being. Despite its importance in predicting relationship longevity, there are relatively few empirical research studies examining predictors of marital satisfaction outside of a Western context. To address this gap in the literature and complete the existing knowledge about global predictors of marital satisfaction, we used an open-access database of self-reported assessments of self-reported marital satisfaction with data from 7178 participants representing 33 different countries. The results showed that sex, age, religiosity, economic status, education, and cultural values were related, to various extents, to marital satisfaction across cultures. However, marriage duration, number of children, and gross domestic product (GDP) were not found to be predictors of marital satisfaction for countries represented in this sample. While 96% of the variance of marital satisfaction was attributed to individual factors, only 4% was associated with countries. Together, the results show that individual differences have a larger influence on marital satisfaction compared to the country of origin. Findings are discussed in terms of the advantages of conducting studies on large cross-cultural samples.
A Review on Aadhaar Based Voting System for Roaming e-Voters

In every country Election is a basic process of democracy, which allows people to show their opinions by selecting their candidate. This paper describes overview of various research done to improve the security, privacy of the e-voting technology. To make such kind of system, every system consists of voter authentication and vote casting. Now days using of biometric based security level system become faster and secure. In India, government is collecting biometric information of every person and providing them, a unique twelve-digit number called Aadhaar Number. Hence, using of Aadhaar number and its biometric database voter verification can be made, after verification voting can be perform.
NOTEWORTHY RECORDS OF THE LICHENIZED AND LICHENICOLOUS FUNGI FROM ALACADAĞ NATURE RESERVE (FİNİKE-ANTALYA) IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION OF TURKEY

Alacadağ, due its different vegetation composition, has been declared as Nature Protection Area in Antalya in Turkey. The special vegetation composition may sign that special lichen taxa can be found in the area. Therefore, the richness of the lichenized and lichenicolous fungi of the area was determined. According to results, a total of 125 taxa belonging to 9 orders, 27 families and 66 genera were identified. Three of these taxa are lichenicolous fungi living parasitically on lichens. Of these three, Abrothallus welwitschii Tul. ex Mont. is newly recorded from Turkey. In addition, lichenized fungi Calicium pinicola (Tibell) M. Prieto & Wedin, Catapyrenium psoromoides (Borrer) R. Sant. , Parmelia ernstiae Feuerer & A. Thell. , Sticta limbata (Sm.) Ach. were reported firstly in Turkey with this research. Of all determined taxa for the area and thirty-three taxa for Antalya Province are new. Fourteen taxa that had been known as specific to different geographical regions of Turkey before, were first record from Mediterranean region of the country. In addition, it is concluded that the species richness composition of Alacadağ Nature Protection Area showed low similarity to nearby compared areas. It was determined that many of these dissimilar taxa are only species that can live in good environmental conditions.
Simulations of biological ion channels by molecular dynamics

The transport of sodium ions through a model membrane channel in the presence of static magnetic fields has been investigated by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics. The effect of static magnetic fields appears to be exerted not mainly on the transiting ions, but rather on the water molecules, favouring statistically their polarization during the ion passages and leading indirectly to a slight increase of the ion current.
PENGARUH REWARD FINANCIAL DAN GAYA KEPEMIMPINAN TERHADAP KINERJA KEUANGAN DAN MOTIVASI SEBAGAI VARIABEL INTERVENING

Increasingly tight business competition has resulted in companies having to maintain the sustainability of their business. Financial Rewards is one of the ways to motivate to produce good financial performance. Financial performance shows the company's ability to generate income with resources owned by the company. The leadership style of a leader plays a major role in the formation of character and performance of company resources because employees will continue to adapt to the leadership style in the company until finally the employee can conquer it. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of financial rewards and leadership styles on financial performance and motivation as intervening variables. This study tested the hypothesis by using the partial least square method. Sampling in this study using nonprobability (nonrandom selection) with convenience method resulting in 50 respondents. The results showed that the t-statistic value was 1.508 1.96 (significant) this means that the leadership style has a significant effect on motivation. This t-statistic value of 2.209> 1.96 (significant) means that financial compensation has a significant effect on performance. The t-statistic value is 2.609> 1.96 (significant) this means that the leadership style has a significant effect on performance. The t-statistic value of 1.265 <1.96 (not significant) means that motivation has no significant effect on performance.
Limited dispersal and geographic barriers cause population differentiation and structuring in Begonia maxwelliana at both large and small scales

ABSTRACT Background: Genetic divergence is one of the key processes in speciation. In the Begoniaceae, genetic divergence caused by limited gene flow may explain its high species diversity and endemicity. This hypothesis has been supported by past genetic work but there is a lack of empirical studies on the causes of limited gene flow. Aim: To identify the causes of limited gene flow in Begonia. Methods: We examined the genetic structure among the populations of Begonia maxwelliana at the macro- and micro-spatial scales using microsatellites, measured seed dispersal range and observed flowering phenology. Results: Population differentiation and structuring were detected at both the macro- and micro-scales. Dispersal range was short, and all populations showed similar reproductive behaviour. Conclusions: The strong population differentiation and structuring among the populations studied imply that they are evolutionarily significant units and possible candidates for speciation. Geographical barriers and limited seed dispersal restrict gene flow in the populations, and these factors may be responsible for the rapid speciation and large diversity in the family.
Robust Feature Matching for Remote Sensing Image Registration via Linear Adaptive Filtering

As a fundamental and critical task in feature-based remote sensing image registration, feature matching refers to establishing reliable point correspondences from two images of the same scene. In this article, we propose a simple yet efficient method termed linear adaptive filtering (LAF) for both rigid and nonrigid feature matching of remote sensing images and apply it to the image registration task. Our algorithm starts with establishing putative feature correspondences based on local descriptors and then focuses on removing outliers using geometrical consistency priori together with filtering and denoising theory. Specifically, we first grid the correspondence space into several nonoverlapping cells and calculate a typical motion vector for each one. Subsequently, we remove false matches by checking the consistency between each putative match and the typical motion vector in the corresponding cell, which is achieved by a Gaussian kernel convolution operation. By refining the typical motion vector in an iterative manner, we further introduce a progressive strategy based on the coarse-to-fine theory to promote the matching accuracy gradually. In addition, an adaptive parameter setting strategy and posterior probability estimation based on the expectation–maximization algorithm enhance the robustness of our method to different data. Most importantly, our method is quite efficient where the gridding strategy enables it to achieve linear time complexity. Consequently, some sparse point-based tasks may inspire from our method when they are achieved by deep learning techniques. Extensive feature matching and image registration experiments on several remote sensing data sets demonstrate the superiority of our approach over the state of the art.
Digital Implementation of Deadbeat-Direct Torque and Flux Control for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines in the M–T Reference Frame

In the traditional deadbeat-direct torque and flux control in the M–T reference frame (DB-DTFC-MT) scheme, the stator flux is calculated with the current model, and one-step delay in the digital system is neglected, which results in poor robustness to parameter variations and a serious oscillation in both the stator flux and torque, especially in the low-speed range. In this article, the digital implementation of DB-DTFC-MT is studied. First, the DB-DTFC-MT scheme considering the one-step delay in the digital system is deduced. Second, digital stator flux observer and current observer are developed to predict the stator flux and current in the next sampling instant. By using the predicted stator flux and torque, the oscillation caused by the one-step delay is eliminated and real deadbeat control is realized. Moreover, the robustness of the system to parameter variations is qualitatively evaluated. Although the system shows some sensitivity to the permanent magnet flux, it has strong robustness to the stator resistance and inductances, especially the d-axis inductance. Hence, a larger estimated d-axis inductance can be used in the system for reducing the pulsation in the d-axis current when tracking sinusoidal torque. All the proposed control designs are validated on a real-time control platform based on dSPACE DS1103.
The Relationship between Vitamin D Level and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Women

Objectives: In the literature, the effects of vitamin D on lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) have been investigated. Conflicting results have been reported in these studies conducted. LUTS is more common in women. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between vitamin D and LUTS in female patients using the uroflowmetric method. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 186 female patients who were admitted with LUTS. Demographic characteristics, medical history, calcium (Ca) and vitamin D, including laboratory studies and uroflowmetry results, as maximum urine flow rate (Qmax), average urine flow rate (Qav) and voided volume (V) were recorded. Patients were divided into two groups according to age (18-50 and ≥51) and vitamin D levels (<20 and ≥20). Laboratory parameters and uroflowmetry results were compared between groups. Results: Mean age was 56.85±12.95 years. Mean vitamin D level was 21.19±13.93 ng/mL (2.5-83.5). Mean Qmax value was 35.41±12.63, whereas the mean Qav was 19.13±9.89, and the mean V was 446.60±165.08 mL. Vitamin D levels differed according to age groups (p=0.044). No significant difference was observed between groups according to Qmax, Qav and V values (p>0.05). No significant correlation was detected between vitamin D level and Qmax, Qav and V values. However, a negative correlation was detected between serum Ca level and V values (p=0.042) in the low vitamin D group. Conclusion: There was no direct relationship between vitamin D levels and LUTS in respect to uroflowmetry. However, we determined that Ca levels affect the uroflowmetry parameter in patients with low vitamin D levels. There is a need for further studies emphasizing serum Ca levels in addition to vitamin D levels in patients with LUTS.
Variable-Performance Servo System Design Without Actuator Current and Angle Measurement for Rover Vehicles

This study devises a variable-performance control law for rover vehicles servoing velocity and pitch angle commands. This considers both vehicle and actuator dynamics as well as load and parameter variations. The main merits are summarized as follows. First, the proposed auto-tuning law magnifies the feedback gain for desired systems to achieve transient performance improvement with the convergence property guarantee. Second, the collaboration of pole-zero cancellation controller and disturbance observers eliminates over/undershoots through closed-loop order reduction by a special form of feedback gain. Beneficial closed-loop properties are also derived from the closed-loop analysis. The prototype rover vehicle built with TETRIX and MyRIO-1900 experimentally validates the closed-loop performance and robustness improvement.
Toward Improving QoS and Energy Efficiency in Wireless Body Area Networks

The performance of wireless body area networks (WBANs) depends mainly on the quality of service (QoS) and energy efficiency. First, the network environment of a WBAN changes rapidly due to changes in human body movements, which leads to unguaranteed service quality, delivery probability, and delay. Second, energy is limited due to the small size of the sensors. To solve these problems, in this article, we first propose an optimization method for the sampling start time of sensor nodes. We comprehensively consider sampling rate, sampling time, transmission rate and other factors and set the appropriate sampling start time for the nodes through quantitative analysis of the relationship between these factors, which greatly reduces the waiting time delay of the nodes. Furthermore, an optimization method for the data frame length is proposed, where the relationship between the optimal data frame length and the average delivery probability is given quantitatively by considering the channel model. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme, relative to the compared schemes, achieves substantial improvements in QoS and energy efficiency and has more obvious advantages when the channel conditions of the nodes are worse.
Single-molecule detection and DNA sequencing-by-synthesis

Fluorescence detection has established itself as one of the main techniques of interrogation of biological systems. Extending those techniques to decrease the sample size to single molecules provides an absolute standard for bulk sample calibrations, as well as better insights since individual behavior is observed instead of population averages. We observed a number of fluorophores, including GFP, at the single-molecule level at room temperature. Calibrations gave a correct estimate of bulk surface densities over four orders of magnitude, through an optical, non-invasive, non-destructive means. Novel surface chemistry enabled visualization of single tagged nucleotide incorporations inside DNA immobilized on a glass surface at the single-molecule level. This technology was later extended to successful single-molecule DNA sequencing. At the same time, PDMS microfluidics was developed to provide the plumbing control, speed, and economy of scale for a broad range of applications. Novel surface chemistry anchored DNA to the PDMS microchannels, which allowed sequencing-by-synthesis to be conducted in the microfluidic environment using optical techniques. Materials, device, and architecture problems were also solved. Finally, all technology was put together and successful microfluidic bulk-fluorescence DNA sequencing was demonstrated. The same technology is applicable to any DNA studies in microfluidic environments and can eventually be extended to close the circle to single-molecule detection.