Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Picturefinder: Description Logics for Semantic Image Retrieval

Large amount of images need an efficient way of retrieving them. The usual approach of manually annotating images and/or providing a syntactic retrieval capability lacks flexibility and comfort. The automatic annotation of images is a main target of the image retrieval community. These so-called content-based image retrieval (CBIR) systems focus on primitive features, as Eakins and Graham (1999) name them. Description logics (DL) offer a useful contribution to content-based image retrieval while allowing logical reasoning about the semantic contents of the image and ending with consistent classification results. This is a main advantage about traditional classification algorithms. Another advantage is the possibility to use domain knowledge, which is formulated in DL, on the retrieval side, thus offering a semantic retrieval. In this paper, we present an approach and the results of adopting a DL for classifying image regions
Effects of Lesions of Hippocampal Fields CA1 and CA3 on Acquisition of Inhibitory Avoidance

Performance decrements of inhibitory avoidance (IA) induced by lesions in either the dorsal or ventral hippocampus have been interpreted as a deficiency in acquisition. Alternative interpretations are that short-term learning occurs despite the lesions and the long-term performance decrements reflect a failure of consolidation or retrieval. To assess the alternative explanations of the performance decrements, rats received lesions in either CA1 or CA3 fields of dorsal and ventral hippocampus, respectively, 8 days before IA training. Retention was tested at 30 min or 24 h after training. Kainic acid lesions were also produced in either hippocampal field 1 day after training and retention measured 8 days later. The group assessed 30 min after IA training showed little or no performance decrements, whereas the remaining groups did show marked performance decrements. These results do not support the conclusion that the hippocampus is essential for acquisition and support the idea that the hippocampus is highly involved in the consolidation or retrieval of information germane to these procedures.
Decision-making and Self-regulation from a Social-personality Neuroscience Perspective

Pitting long-term goals against short-term desires is among the most difficult tasks in human decision-making. According to behavioural and neuroeconomic theories of self-regulation, these decisions involve a competition between “hot” reward-focused impulses and “cool” cognitive control mechanisms. The current dissertation examines this topic from the perspective of social and personality neuroscience, exploring the cognitive and affective dynamics underlying the self-regulatory process. Chapters 1 and 2 explore how the “hot” system is dispositionally expressed in the personality trait of Extraversion, and the implications of this finding for decision-making behaviour. Turning to the “cool” system, Chapter 3 examines the role of effective performance monitoring in predicting real-world self-regulatory outcomes. Finally, Chapter 4 addresses the question of whether self-regulatory performance can be improved, reporting the effects of a goal-setting intervention on long-term decision-making. Results across the studies are discussed within an integrative model of self-regulation, situated within a socialpersonality neuroscience framework.
Ventilator-Related Adverse Events: A Taxonomy and Findings From 3 Incident Reporting Systems

BACKGROUND: In 2009, researchers from Johns Hopkins University's Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality; public agencies, including the FDA; and private partners, including the Emergency Care Research Institute and the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) Safety Intelligence Patient Safety Organization, sought to form a public-private partnership for the promotion of patient safety (P5S) to advance patient safety through voluntary partnerships. The study objective was to test the concept of the P5S to advance our understanding of safety issues related to ventilator events, to develop a common classification system for categorizing adverse events related to mechanical ventilators, and to perform a comparison of adverse events across different adverse event reporting systems. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of ventilator-related adverse events reported in 2012 from the following incident reporting systems: the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority's Patient Safety Reporting System, UHC's Safety Intelligence Patient Safety Organization database, and the FDA's Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience database. Once each organization had its dataset of ventilator-related adverse events, reviewers read the narrative descriptions of each event and classified it according to the developed common taxonomy. RESULTS: A Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, FDA, and UHC search provided 252, 274, and 700 relevant reports, respectively. The 3 event types most commonly reported to the UHC and the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority's Patient Safety Reporting System databases were airway/breathing circuit issue, human factor issues, and ventilator malfunction events. The top 3 event types reported to the FDA were ventilator malfunction, power source issue, and alarm failure. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, we found that (1) through the development of a common taxonomy, adverse events from 3 reporting systems can be evaluated, (2) the types of events reported in each database were related to the purpose of the database and the source of the reports, resulting in significant differences in reported event categories across the 3 systems, and (3) a public-private collaboration for investigating ventilator-related adverse events under the P5S model is feasible.
Pornography and Sexual Aggression: Are There Reliable Effects and Can We Understand Them?

Abstract In response to some recent critiques, we (a) analyze the arguments and data presented in those commentaries, (b) integrate the findings of several meta-analytic summaries of experimental and naturalistic research, and (c) conduct statistical analyses on a large representative sample. All three steps support the existence of reliable associations between frequent pornography use and sexually aggressive behaviors, particularly for violent pornography and/or for men at high risk for sexual aggression. We suggest that the way relatively aggressive men interpret and react to the same pornography may differ from that of nonaggressive men, a perspective that helps integrate the current analyses with studies comparing rapists and nonrapists as well as with cross-cultural research.
Experimental investigation of the lateral resolution of a homemade near field microwave microscope

In this paper an experimental investigation of the lateral resolution of a homemade near field microwave microscope (NFMM) is reported. The optimal lateral resolution is studied by a thorough analysis of the influence of critical parameters such as the stand-off distance, the tip apex size and the working frequency. Thanks to the broadband matching network integrated in the interferometer-based NFMM, a high measurement sensitivity is guaranteed at operating frequencies spanning from 2 to 18 GHz. After demonstrating the impact of these key parameters on the lateral resolution improvement. A simple signal processing technique, the position/signal difference (PSD) method, is proposed to further enhance the resolution.
Ein hybrider Ansatz zur Unterstützung kollaborativer Designtechniken

Dieser Artikel stellt einen hybriden Ansatz zur Unterstutzung kollaborativer Designtechniken vor. Die anhand der Designtechnik Affinity Diagramming beschriebenen Interaktionskonzepte werden aus einer Literaturrecherche und einer empirischen Studie abgeleitet. Diese Analyse zeigt, dass die Nutzung von Papierartefakten insbesondere in divergenten Phasen von Vorteil ist. Des Weiteren wird aufgezeigt, welche Auswirkung haufige Wechsel zwischen Arbeitsflachen in konvergenten Phasen haben konnen. Die auf Basis dieser Erkenntnisse entwickelten Interaktionskonzepte kombinieren Papierartefakte mit interaktiven Displays zur Unterstutzung kreativer Arbeitsablaufe.
Modelling RNA-seq read counts by grey relational analysis

This paper proposes a feature selection approach for RNA-seq read counts modelling based on grey relational analysis (GRA). Read counts are transformed to microarray-like data to facilitate normal-based statistical methods. GRA is designed to select differentially expressed genes by integrating outcomes of five individual feature selection methods including two-sample t-test, entropy test, Bhattacharyya distance, Wilcoxon test and receiver operating characteristic curve. GRA performs as an aggregate filter method through combining advantages of the individual methods to produce significant feature subsets that are then fed into classifiers for evaluation. The proposed approach is verified by using two benchmark real datasets and the five-fold cross-validation method. Experimental results show the performance dominance of the GRA-based feature selection method against its competing methods. This implies that the proposed method can be implemented effectively in real practice for medical applications such as disease diagnosis using RNA-seq data analysis.
The Import Route of ADP/ATP Carrier into Mitochondria Separates from the General Import Pathway of Cleavable Preproteins at thetrans Side of the Outer Membrane*

The ADP/ATP carrier (AAC) of the mitochondrial inner membrane is synthesized in the cytosol without a cleavable presequence. The preprotein preferentially binds to the mitochondrial surface receptor Tom70 and joins the import pathway of presequence-carrying preproteins at the cis side of the outer membrane. Little is known about the translocation of the AAC across the outer membrane and where its import route separates from that of cleavable preproteins. Here we have characterized a translocation intermediate of AAC during transfer across the outer membrane. The major portion of the preprotein is exposed to the intermembrane space, while a short segment is still accessible to externally added protease. This intermediate can be quantitatively chased to the fully imported form in the inner membrane. Its accumulation depends on Tom7, but not on the intermembrane space domain of Tom22 in contrast to cleavable preproteins. Moreover, opening of the intermembrane space inhibits the import of AAC, but not that of cleavable preproteins into mitoplasts. We conclude that the import route of AAC diverges from the general import pathway of cleavable preproteins already at the trans side of the outer membrane.
Implementation of LTE-R transceiver and the performance with WINNER D2a channel model

With the rapid development of high-speed railway, the train speed can reach up to 350 km/h. Much more technical demands for high-speed railway mobile communication system are put forward. As the next generation wireless communication technology of 3GPP, Long Term Evolution for railway, known as LTE-R, is proposed to provide railway communication services including railway control, passenger services, wireless surveillance video, etc. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the detailed performance of LTE-R on the WINNER D2a channel model which has been presented as an appropriate choice for the wireless channel model in high-speed scenario, and implement a LTE-R transceiver based on LabVIEW software and National Instruments Universal Software Radio Peripheral 2920 (NI USRP2920) platform for further research. The experimental results show that LTE-R has promising potential to be used in high-speed railway scenario.
Relationships between CD4 Independence, Neutralization Sensitivity, and Exposure of a CD4-Induced Epitope in a Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Envelope Protein

ABSTRACT A CD4-independent version of the X4 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) HXBc2 envelope (Env) protein, termed 8x, mediates infection of CD4-negative, CXCR4-positive cells, binds directly to CXCR4 in the absence of CD4 due to constitutive exposure of a conserved coreceptor binding site in the gp120 subunit, and is more sensitive to antibody-mediated neutralization. To study the relationships between CD4 independence, neutralization sensitivity, and exposure of CD4-induced epitopes associated with the coreceptor binding site, we generated a large panel of Env mutants and chimeras between 8x and its CD4-dependent parent, HXBc2. We found that a frameshift mutation just proximal to the gp41 cytoplasmic domain in 8x Env was necessary but not sufficient for CD4 independence and led to increased exposure of the coreceptor binding site. In the presence of this altered cytoplasmic domain, single amino acid changes in either the 8x V3 (V320I) or V4/C4 (N386K) regions imparted CD4 independence, with other changes playing a modulatory role. The N386K mutation resulted in loss of an N-linked glycosylation site, but additional mutagenesis showed that it was the presence of a lysine rather than loss of the glycosylation site that contributed to CD4 independence. However, loss of the glycosylation site alone was sufficient to render Env neutralization sensitive, providing additional evidence that carbohydrate structures shield important neutralization determinants. Exposure of the CD4-induced epitope recognized by monoclonal antibody 17b and which overlaps the coreceptor binding site was highly sensitive to an R298K mutation at the base of the V3 loop and was often but not always associated with CD4 independence. Finally, while not all neutralization-sensitive Envs were CD4 independent, all CD4-independent Envs exhibited enhanced sensitivity to neutralization by HIV-1-positive human sera, indicating that the humoral immune response can exert strong selective pressure against the CD4-independent phenotype in vivo. Whether this can be used to advantage in designing more effective immunogens remains to be seen.
Genotype diversity and molecular evolution of noroviruses: A 30-year (1982-2011) comprehensive study with children from Northern Brazil

A chronologically comprehensive 30-year study was conducted that involved children living in Belém, in the Amazon region of Northern Brazil, who participated in eight different studies from October 1982 to April 2011. The children were followed either in the community or in health units and hospitals in order to identify the norovirus genotypes involved in infections during this time. A total of 2,520 fecal specimens were obtained and subjected to RT-PCR and nucleotide sequencing for regions A, B, C, D and P2 of the viral genome. An overall positivity of 16.9% (n = 426) was observed, and 49% of the positive samples were genotyped (208/426), evidencing the presence of several genotypes as follows: Polymerase gene (GI.P4, GII.Pa, GII.Pc, GII.Pe, GII.Pg, GII.Pj, GII.P3, GII.P4, GII.P6, GII.P7, GII.P8, GII.P12, GII.P13, GII.P14, GII.P21, GII.P22), and VP1 gene (GI.3, GI.7, GII.1, GII.2, GII.3, GII.4, GII.6, GII.7, GII.8, GII.10, GII.12, GII.14, GII.17, GII.23). The GII.P4/GII.4 genotype determined by both open reading frames (ORFs) (partial polymerase and VP1 genes) was found for 83 samples, and analyses of the subdomain P2 region showed 10 different variants: CHDC (1970s), Tokyo (1980s), Bristol_1993, US_95/96, Kaiso_2003, Asia_2003, Hunter_2004, Yerseke_2006a, Den Haag_2006b (subcluster “O”) and New Orleans_2009. Recombination events were confirmed in 47.6% (n = 20) of the 42 samples with divergent genotyping by ORF1 and ORF2 and with probable different breakpoints within the viral genome. The evolutionary analyses estimated a rate of evolution of 1.02 x 10−2 and 9.05 x 10−3 subs. /site/year using regions C and D from the VP1 gene, respectively. The present research shows the broad genetic diversity of the norovirus that infected children for 30 years in Belém. These findings contribute to our understanding of noroviruses molecular epidemiology and viral evolution and provide a baseline for vaccine design.
DNA Methylation Influences the Expression of DICER-LIKE4 Isoforms, Which Encode Proteins of Alternative Localization and Function

A unique set of 21-nucleotide small RNAs may help tighten transposable element and gene expression via posttranscriptional gene silencing using a methylation state-activated isoform of DICER-LIKE4. Plant RNA silencing operates via RNA-directed DNA-methylation (RdDM) to repress transcription or by targeting mRNAs via posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS). These pathways rely on distinct Dicer-like (DCL) proteins that process double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Here, we explored the expression and subcellular localization of Arabidopsis thaliana DCL4. DCL4 expression predominates as a transcription start site isoform encoding a cytoplasmic protein, which also represents the ancestral form in plants. A longer DCL4 transcript isoform encoding a nuclear localization signal, DCL4NLS, is present in Arabidopsis, but DNA methylation normally suppresses its expression. Hypomethylation caused by mutation, developmental reprogramming, and biotic stress correlates with enhanced DCL4NLS expression, while hypermethylation of a DCL4 transgene causes a reduction in DCL4NLS expression. DCL4NLS functions in a noncanonical siRNA pathway, producing a unique set of 21-nucleotide-long “disiRNAs,” for DCL4NLS isoform-dependent siRNAs, through the nuclear RdDM dsRNA synthesis pathway. disiRNAs originate mostly from transposable elements (TEs) and TE-overlapping/proximal genes, load into the PTGS effector ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1), and display a subtle effect on transcript accumulation together with overlapping 24-nucleotide siRNAs. We propose that, via PTGS, disiRNAs could help to tighten the expression of epigenetically activated TEs and genes using the methylation-state-responsive DCL4NLS.
Realized and Potential Fecundity, Egg Fertility, and Longevity of Laboratory-Reared Female Beet Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Under Different Adult Diet Regimes

Abstract Longevity, duration of the oviposition period, realized fecundity, potential fecundity, and egg fertility of the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner), were examined in the laboratory under three different adult diet regimes. All parameters were significantly reduced for the water-only diet compared with 10% honey or sucrose diets, except fertility, which could not be measured after 5 d because of high mortality of water-fed females. Oviposition was highest the night after mating and decreased in a logarithmic manner thereafter. In the carbohydrate-fed moths, 92% of lifetime realized fecundity occurred by the fourth night of oviposition. Although our data indicate that carbohydrates in the adult diet can increase realized and potential fecundity, most of the lifetime complement of oocytes (91%) is present at the time of eclosion from the pupa. Pupal weight was significantly correlated with lifetime potential fecundity, explaining 37–66% of the variation among moths depending on adult diet, and this effect was substantial. Taken together, our results suggest that the bulk of variation in realized fecundity is generated in the larval stage, provided suitable oviposition substrate is available for the adults. This information will be important in understanding population dynamics of beet armyworm and to improving our ability to predict population outbreaks from sampling data.
Human Centered Decision Support for Anti-Air Warfare on Naval Platforms

Abstract : The work human decision makers onboard naval platforms have to perform is becoming more demanding due to new types of missions as well as advanced warplanes, more accurate weapons, and long-range sensors. Hence, providing operators with adequate support is an essential requirement for future Navy C2 systems. Because of the high complexity of most operator tasks full automation is not advisable. The final decisions must be made by human operators. Appropriately helping them to create a correct understanding of the situation can make the difference between a catastrophe and doing exactly the right thing. Some particular behavior patterns can be modeled best by rule-based AI, for others more sophisticated approaches have to be considered. Five techniques are described within this paper, whereof three shall be deemed to be potential constituents of the aspired support system. They all have in common that enfolding case-bases are needed to become able to apply them beneficially. A conceivable way to obtain such a case-base is empirical knowledge acquisition by means of a laboratory test bed. Furthermore, means to structure the so-elicited knowledge have to be chosen and evaluated. Utilizing the methodology introduced here could yield helpful support for AAW operators, but yet there is much more research to be done.
Orchestrating Tree-Type VNF Forwarding Graphs in Inter-DC Elastic Optical Networks

It is known that by incorporating network function virtualization (NFV) in inter-datacenter (inter-DC) networks, service providers can use their network resources more efficiently and adaptively and expedite the deployment of new services. This paper studies the provisioning algorithms to realize tree-type virtual network function forwarding graphs (VNF-FGs), i.e., multicast NFV trees (M-NFV-Ts), in inter-DC elastic optical networks (IDC-EONs) cost-effectively. Specifically, we try to optimize the VNF placement and multicast routing and spectrum assignment jointly for orchestrating M-NFV-Ts in an IDC-EON with the lowest cost. Our study addresses both static network planning and dynamic network provisioning. For network planning, we first formulate a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model to solve the problem exactly, and then propose three heuristic algorithms, namely, auxiliary frequency slot matrix (AFM)-MILP, AFM-GS, and RB. Extensive simulations show that AFM-MILP and AFM-GS can approximate the MILP's performance on low-cost M-NFV-T provisioning with much shorter running time. For network provisioning, we design two additional online algorithms based on AFM-GS and RB to serve M-NFV-Ts in a dynamic IDC-EON, with the consideration of spectrum fragmentation.
Volanesorsen in the Treatment of Familial Chylomicronemia Syndrome or Hypertriglyceridaemia: Design, Development and Place in Therapy

Abstract Severe hypertriglyceridaemia is associated with pancreatitis and chronic pancreatitis-induced diabetes. Familial chylomicronaemia syndrome (FCS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of lipid metabolism characterised by high levels of triglycerides (TGs) due to failure of chylomicron clearance. It causes repeated episodes of severe abdominal pain, fatigue and attacks of acute pancreatitis. There are few current options for its long-term management. The only universal long-term therapy is restriction of total dietary fat intake to <10-15% of daily calories (15 to 20g per day). Many patients have been treated with fibrates and statins with a variable response, but many remain susceptible to pancreatitis. Other genetic syndromes associated with hypertriglyceridaemia include familial partial lipodystrophy (FPLD). Targeting apolipoprotein C3 (apoC3) offers the ability to increase clearance of chylomicrons and other triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Volanesorsen is an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) inhibitor of apoC3, which reduces TG levels by 70–80% which has been shown also to reduce rates of pancreatitis and improve well-being in FCS and reduce TGs and improve insulin resistance in FPLD. It is now undergoing licensing and payer reviews. Further developments of antisense technology including small interfering RNA therapy to apoC3 as well as other approaches to modulating triglycerides are in development for this rare disorder.