Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feature level fusion of range and intensity images of an object

This paper presents feature level fusion of images of an object obtained from two different imaging techniques. A draft 3-D view of the object is generated by registering range images obtained from scanning the object by a laser beam. For that purpose, the method of optical triangulation is employed for data acquisition and feature matching technique for the registration of the images. Triangle-based linear interpolation is used to obtain a 3-D mesh representing the object surface. Structural features are extracted from the draft 3-D model of the object and subsequently mapped to 2-D plane by perspective transformation. Hough transform technique has been implemented for the extraction of structural features from the intensity image of the object obtained under illumination light. Fusion of both the extracted edge maps is accomplished by affine transformation after identifying a set of control points. This provides a high-level description of the object.
Mapping the Core Processes and Identifying Actors along with Their Roles, Functions and Linkages in Trout Value Chain in Kashmir, India

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) are the two species of trout which were once introduced by British in waters of Kashmir has well adapted to favorable climatic conditions. Cold water fisheries are one of the emerging sectors in Kashmir valley and trout holds an important place Jammu and Kashmir fisheries. Realizing the immense potential of trout culture in Kashmir region, the state fisheries department started privatizing trout culture under the centrally funded scheme of RKVY in which they provide 80 percent subsidy for raceway construction and supply of feed and seed for the first year since 200910 and at present there are 362 private trout farms. To cater the growing demand for trout in the valley, it is important to understand the bottlenecks faced in the propagation of trout culture. Value chain analysis provides a generic framework to understand the various activities and processes, mapping and studying linkages is first step that needs to be done in any value chain analysis. In Kashmir, it is found that trout hatcheries play a crucial role in insuring the continuous supply of trout seed in valley. Feed is most limiting factor in trout culture and the farmer has to incur high cost in payment and in the transportation of feed from the feed mill to farm. Lack of aqua clinic in the Kashmir valley needs to be addressed. Brood stock maintenance, breeding and seed production, technical assistance to private farmer, extension services have to be strengthened and there is need to development healthier environment for new entrepreneurs. It was found that trout farmers do not avail credit facility as there is no well define credit scheme for fisheries in the state. The study showed weak institutional linkages. Research and development should focus more on applied science rather than basic science. Keywords—Trout, Kashmir, value chain, linkages, culture.
Role of the S4 Segment in a Voltage-dependent Calcium-sensitive Potassium (hSlo) Channel*

We investigated the role of individual charged residues of the S4 region of a MaxiK channel (hSlo) in channel gating. We measured macroscopic currents induced by wild type (WT) and point mutants of hSlo in inside-out membrane patches of Xenopus laevis oocytes. Of all the residues tested, only neutralizations of Arg-210 and Arg-213 were associated with a reduction in the number of gating charges as determined using the limiting slope method. Channel activation in WT and mutant channels was interpreted using an allosteric model. Mutations R207Q, R207E, and R210N facilitated channel opening in the absence of Ca2+; however, this facilitation was not observed in the channels Ca2+-bound state. Mutation R213Q behaved similarly to the WT channel in the absence of Ca2+, but Ca2+ was unable to stabilize the open state to the same extent as it does in the WT. Mutations R207Q, R207E, R210N, and R213Q reduced the coupling between Ca2+ binding and channel opening when compared with the WT. Mutations L204R, L204H, Q216R, E219Q, and E219K in the S4 domain showed a similar phenotype to the WT channel. We conclude that the S4 region in the hSlo channel is part of the voltage sensor and that only two charged amino acid residues in this region (Arg-210 and Arg-213) contribute to the gating valence of the channel.
A computationally inferred regulatory heart aging model including post-transcriptional regulations

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death in most developed countries and aging is a dominant risk factor for their development. Among the different factors, miRNAs have been identified as relevant players in the development of cardiac pathologies and their ability to influence gene networks suggests them as potential therapeutic targets or diagnostic markers. This paper presents a computational study that applies data fusion techniques coupled with network analysis theory to identify a regulatory model able to represent the relationship between key genes and miRNAs involved in cardiac senescence processes. The model has been validated through an extensive literature analysis that was able to connect 94% of the identified genes and miRNAs with cardiac senescence related studies.
The Color of Influence: A Provenance Study of Hematite-Based Paints on Early Olmec Carved Pottery

Abstract Recent research and debates regarding the origin and spread of Olmec iconography during the Early Formative have centered on provenance and stylistic analyses of carved and incised pottery. Studies by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) have indicated that Gulf Coast-style carved-incised pots were exported extensively from the area of the first Olmec capital, San Lorenzo, to several other regions of Mesoamerica. More recently, excavations at the Pacific Coast site of Cantón Corralito have shown that carved-incised pottery and other Olmec-style artifacts dominate strata contemporary with Early Olmec, suggesting the site may represent a settlement enclave of Gulf Olmec peoples. In this study we provide additional evidence of exchange between the Gulf Olmec and the Pacific Coast region by using laser ablation time-of-flight inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-TOF-ICP-MS) to characterize hematite-based paints on Olmec-style pottery from Cantón Corralito, and to compare these paints to raw hematite recovered from Cantón Corralito and San Lorenzo. When examined in combination with sherd provenance data, the LA-TOF-ICP-MS data demonstrate that Olmec vessels were decorated in the San Lorenzo region before being exported to the Pacific Coast, and that Gulf Coast hematite was exported to Cantón Corralito, where it was used to enhance Olmec-style symbolism on locally produced vessels.
The ability of chemotactic factors to induce lysosomal enzyme release. II. The mechanism of release.

The complement-derived chemotactics factors, C3a, C5a, and C567, as well as the chemotactic factor obtained from culture filtrates of Escherichia coli, induce release of the lysosomal enzymes, β-glucuronidase and lysozyme, from rabbit peritoneal neutrophils. Under the same circumstances, there is little or no release of the cytoplasmic marker, lactic dehydrogenase, indicating that the release is a form of induced secretion. The release occurs to an appreciable extent only when the neutrophils settle on filters of average pore size of 0.60 µm or greater; however, increasing the pore size of the filters from 0.60 to 5 µm does not increase the amount of lysosomal enzyme secretion. The requirement for an appropriate surface suggests that enzyme release by chemotactic factors is a form of induced secretion on non-phagocytosable surfaces studied previously. No statistically significant correlation was found between the chemotactic responsiveness of neutrophils from different rabbits and their ability to give lysosomal enzyme release when stimulated by the same chemotactic factor. This suggests, at least, that a critical step or steps in the biochemical sequence or sequences governing chemotaxis and induced secretion of lysosomal enzymes in neutrophils is different or has a different quantitative importance.
An efficient algorithm for solving inverse source problems using time domain TLM

We present a novel numerical approach for solving inverse source problems using time domain TLM. Our algorithm reconstructs the unknown excitation sources in the time domain using the observed field outside the source region. In this work, we apply our algorithm to thin source regions consisting only of boundary cells. The source reconstruction for this case is always unique and does not require any regularization procedures.
TRADITIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS OF BENZENE EXPOSURE

Benzene is a ubiquitous chemical in our environment that causes acute leukemia and probably other hematological cancers. Evidence for an association with childhood leukemia is growing. Exposure to benzene can lead to multiple alterations that contribute to the leukemogenic process, indicating a multimodal mechanism of action. Research is needed to elucidate the different roles of multiple metabolites in benzene toxicity and the pathways that lead to their formation. Studies to date have identified a number of polymorphisms in candidate genes that confer susceptibility to benzene hematotoxicity. However, a genome-wide study is needed to truly assess the role of genetic variation in susceptibility. Benzene affects the blood-forming system at low levels of occupational exposure, and there is no evidence of a threshold. There is probably no safe level of exposure to benzene, and all exposures constitute some risk in a linear, if not supralinear, and additive fashion.
Platelet‐derived growth factor‐D and Rho GTPases regulate recruitment of cancer‐associated fibroblasts in cholangiocarcinoma

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is characterized by an abundant stromal reaction. Cancer‐associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are pivotal in tumor growth and invasiveness and represent a potential therapeutic target. To understand the mechanisms leading to CAF recruitment in CCA, we studied (1) expression of epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) in surgical CCA specimens and CCA cells, (2) lineage tracking of an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)‐expressing human male CCA cell line (EGI‐1) after xenotransplantation into severe‐combined‐immunodeficient mice, (3) expression of platelet‐derived growth factors (PDGFs) and their receptors in vivo and in vitro, (4) secretion of PDGFs by CCA cells, (5) the role of PDGF‐D in fibroblast recruitment in vitro, and (6) downstream effectors of PDGF‐D signaling. CCA cells expressed several EMT biomarkers, but not alpha smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA). Xenotransplanted CCA masses were surrounded and infiltrated by α‐SMA‐expressing CAFs, which were negative for EGFP and the human Y‐probe, but positive for the murine Y‐probe. CCA cells were strongly immunoreactive for PDGF‐A and ‐D, whereas CAFs expressed PDGF receptor (PDGFR)β. PDGF‐D, a PDGFRβ agonist, was exclusively secreted by cultured CCA cells. Fibroblast migration was potently induced by PDGF‐D and CCA conditioned medium and was significantly inhibited by PDGFRβ blockade with Imatinib and by silencing PDGF‐D expression in CCA cells. In fibroblasts, PDGF‐D activated the Rac1 and Cdc42 Rho GTPases and c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK). Selective inhibition of Rho GTPases (particularly Rac1) and of JNK strongly reduced PDGF‐D‐induced fibroblast migration. Conclusion: CCA cells express several mesenchymal markers, but do not transdifferentiate into CAFs. Instead, CCA cells recruit CAFs by secreting PDGF‐D, which stimulates fibroblast migration through PDGFRβ and Rho GTPase and JNK activation. Targeting tumor or stroma interactions with inhibitors of the PDGF‐D pathway may offer a novel therapeutic approach. (Hepatology 2013;53:1042–1053)
Study on Patterns and Effect of Task Diversity in Software Crowdsourcing

Context: The success of software crowdsourcing depends on steady pools of task demand and active workers supply. Existing analysis reveals an average task failure ratio of 15.7% in software crowdsourcing market. Goal: The objective of this study is to empirically investigate patterns and effect of task diversity in software crowdsourcing platform in order to improve the success and efficiency of software crowdsourcing. Method: We first propose a conceptual task diversity model, and develop an approach to measuring and analyzing task diversity. More specifically, task diversity is characterized based on semantic similarity, dynamic competition level, and the analysis includes identifying the dominant attributes distinguishing the competition levels, and measuring the impact of task diversity on task success and worker performance in crowdsourcing platform. The empirical study is conducted on more than one year's real-world data from TopCoder, one of the leading software crowdsourcing platforms. Results: We identified that monetary prize and task complexity are the dominant attributes that differentiate among different competition levels. Based on these dominant attributes, we concluded three task diversity patterns (configurations) from workers behavior perspective: responsive-to-prize, responsive-to-prize-and-complexity and over-responsive-to-prize. This study supports that the second pattern, i.e. responsive-to-prize-and-complexity configuration, associates with the lowest task failure ratio. Conclusions: These findings are helpful for task requesters to plan for and improve task success in a more effective and efficient manner in software crowdsourcing platform.
Treprostinil indirectly regulates endothelial colony forming cell angiogenic properties by increasing VEGF-A produced by mesenchymal stem cells

Summary Pulmonary vasodilators and prostacyclin therapy in particular, have markedly improved the outcome of patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). Endothelial dysfunction is a key feature of PH, and we previously reported that treprostinil therapy increases number and proliferative potential of endothelial colony forming cells (ECFC) isolated from PH patients’ blood. In the present study, the objective was to determine how treprostinil contributes to the proangiogenic functions of ECFC. We examined the effect of treprostinil on ECFC obtained from cord blood in terms of colony numbers, proliferative and clonogenic properties in vitro, as well as in vivo vasculogenic properties. Surprisingly, treprostinil inhibited viability of cultured ECFC but did not modify their clonogenic properties or the endothelial differentiation potential from cord blood stem cells. Treprostinil treatment significantly increased the vessel-forming ability of ECFC combined with mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in Matrigel implanted in nude mice. In vitro, ECFC proliferation was stimulated by conditioned media from treprostinil-pretreated MSC, and this effect was inhibited either by the use of VEGF-A blocking antibodies or siRNA VEGF-A in MSC. Silencing VEGF-A gene in MSC also blocked the pro-angiogenic effect of treprostinil in vivo. In conclusion, increased VEGF-A produced by MSC can account for the increased vessel formation observed during treprostinil treatment. The clinical relevance of these data was confirmed by the high level of VEGF-A detected in plasma from patients with paediatric PH who had been treated with treprostinil. Moreover, our results suggest that VEGF-A level in patients could be a surrogate biomarker of treprostinil efficacy.
Improving the Bandwidth Efficiency of Multi-Terminal Satellite Communications

This paper presents a new coding scheme that considerably increases the efficiency of the channel in multicast setting. Specifically, we study the scenario where three terminals exchange their messages via a satellite gateway. The main difference between the proposed scheme and conventional three-way relay channel is the use of joint channel and network coding. This allows three terminals to transmit simultaneously, therefore, reducing the number of time slots. In our scheme, the relay may either amplify and forward or de-noise and forward, whereas in the conventional scheme the relay decodes and performs bit-wise exclusive OR on the packets or simply decodes the bit-wise XOR of the two messages and broadcasts it to all terminals. So while conventional schemes assume a binary channel on the downlink, we assume a ternary channel on the downlink. Furthermore, while in the conventional scheme each terminal removes its own message from the downlink signal in order to recover the other terminal's message, in our scheme after removing its own message, a terminal can decode a second terminal's encoded message treating the third terminal message as interference and finally recover the third terminal's message interference-free. We show that our scheme achieves a total rate of 2.
Control of enteric pathogens in ready‐to‐eat vegetable crops in organic and ‘low input’ production systems: a HACCP‐based approach

Risks from pathogens such as Salmonella, Yersinia, Campylobacter and Escherichia coli O157 have been identified as a particular concern for organic and ‘low input’ food production systems that rely on livestock manure as a nutrient source. Current data do not allow any solid conclusions to be drawn about the level of this risk, relative to conventional production systems. This review describes six Risk Reduction Points (RRPs) where risks from enteric pathogens can be reduced in ready‐to‐eat vegetables. Changes can be made to animal husbandry practices (RRP1) to reduce inoculum levels in manure. Outdoor livestock management (RRP2) can be optimized to eliminate the risk of faecal material entering irrigation water. Manure storage and processing (RRP3), soil management practices (RRP4) and timing of manure application (RRP5), can be adjusted to reduce the survival of pathogens originating from manure. During irrigation (RRP6), pathogen risks can be reduced by choosing a clean water source and minimizing the chances of faecal material splashing on to the crop. Although preventive measures at these RRPs can minimize enteric pathogen risk, zero risk can never be obtained for raw ready‐to‐eat vegetables. Good food hygiene practices at home are essential to reduce the incidence of food‐borne illnesses.
Multi-objective generation dispatch using Particle Swarm Optimisation

The advancement in power systems has led to the development of generation dispatch (GD) that is difficult to solve by classical optimisation method. The proposed paper work is to evolve simple and effective method for optimum generation dispatch to minimise the fuel cost, environmental cost and security requirement of power networks. The approach is based on the bi-criterion global optimisation and particle swarm optimisation (PSO) technique. The proposed technique is tested on 3-area interconnected and longitudinal system. The effectiveness of the proposed optimisation is verified in simulation studies using MATLAB software. The PSO based approach has been extended to evaluate the trade-off curve between the fuel cost of power production and the environmental cost according to the bi-criterion objective function.
Sexual aggression in the São Paulo nightlife scenarios: a public health concern

Between 2013 and 2015, a mixed methods study – which included a cross-sectional survey that interviewed 2,422 people, by systematic sampling, entering or leaving 31 nightclubs in São Paulo selected using a probability proportional to size sampling method3, 307 hours of ethnographic observation4, eight focus groups with nightclub’ patrons, and 31 in-depth interviews with employees of such clubs – showed these places are a risky environment for sexual abuse. In this scenario, 11.5% (95%CI 7.9–16.2) – weighted prevalence –, of the patrons interviewed at the exit of the nightclubs reported to have suffered sexual aggression, characterized by a perceived sexual abuse that night, from being victim of groping or forced kissing (9.8%; 95%CI 7.2–13.1) to non-consensual sex attempted or executed (1.1%; 95%CI 0.6–2.2). Focus groups statements showed that some nightclubs are more permissive and prone to sexual abuse occurrences, such as funk party nightclubs.
The human NME2 gene lies within 18kb of NME1 in chromosome 17

The NME1 gene, localized to human chromosome 17 at q22, shows reduced expression in tumors of high metastatic potential. A homologous gene, NME2, with similar reduced expression in breast carcinoma, has recently been reported. We have isolated and characterized five yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) clones and three cosmid clones that contain both genes, demonstrating that the NME2 gene is also located on chromosome 17 and is separated by not more than 18 kb from the NME1 gene. The two putative tumor suppressor genes, encoding the two polypeptide chains of nucleoside diphosphate (NDP) kinase, are thus quite close to each other on chromosome 17, indicating that they may well have arisen by a tandem duplication. Both genes now appear to be excluded as candidates for the early‐onset breast cancer (BRCA1) locus. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Dynamic tensor time series modeling and analysis

In this paper we propose a model reduction and identification approach for multilinear dynamical system (MLDS) driven by noise. Compared to standard linear dynamical system based approaches which fit vector or matrix models to tensor time series, MLDS provides more natural, compact and accurate representation of tensorial data with fewer model parameters. The proposed algorithm for identifying MLDS parameters employs techniques from multilinear subspace learning: mulilinear Principal Component Analysis and multilinear regression. In addition compact array normal distribution is used to represent and estimate model error and output noise.We illustrate the benefits of the proposed approach on some real world datasets.
Parkinson's disease among gardeners exposed to pesticides--a Danish cohort study.

OBJECTIVE Several studies have found positive associations between exposure to pesticides and Parkinson's disease. As Danish gardeners have had frequent, intensive exposure to pesticides, the aim of this study was to investigate their risk for Parkinson's disease. METHODS The cohort was comprised of 3124 male members of the Danish Union of Gardeners on 1 April 1975. Hospital register data were used to follow them for a primary diagnosis of Parkinson's disease during 1977-2008 and to calculate standardized hospitalization rate ratios (SHR) for this disease among gardeners and the general Danish population for comparison. Data from the Danish Cancer Registry were used to calculate standardized incidence rate ratios (SIR) for smoking-related cancers among gardeners and the general population. RESULTS The SHR for Parkinson's disease among gardeners was close to that of the general population [1.14, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.76-1.65]. In a birth cohort analysis, a downward trend was observed, with the highest risk among gardeners born before 1915 (SHR 1.55, 95% CI 0.77-2.77). The SIR for smoking-related cancers did not differ from that of the general population. CONCLUSION The results indicate a weak but dose-related association between exposure to pesticides and risk for Parkinson's disease; however, the results were based on 28 cases and the possibility of no association cannot be ruled out.