Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Somatic Embryogenesis in the Family Gentianaceae and Its Biotechnological Application

The family Gentianaceae consists of 1736 species, which play an important role in human being existence due to their pharmacological and horticultural values. Many species accumulate bitter iridoid substances used medicinally and in flavorings, while others are cultivated because of beauty of their flowers showing a wide range of colors and patterns. Out of 99 genera belonging to the gentian family, process of somatic embryogenesis (SE) was reported for 5. The first reports, aimed at micropropagation of ornamental cultivars and production of secondary metabolites, concerned Centaurium erythraea Rafn. , Eustoma russellianum Grieseb. and Exacum affine Balf. Somatic embryos were induced on different explants cultured in the liquid Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with auxins and cytokinins. In the 1990s of the last century, significant progress in the exploration of the phenomenon of SE and its biotechnological application was made for the genus Gentiana. The process was induced on various explants and studied at the structural and ultrastructural levels. Regenerated plants were screened for genetic stability using flow cytometry, chromosome counting, and molecular markers. Besides typical indirect SE, the use of leaf fragments enabled to obtain single-cell origin of somatic embryos. On the other hand, proliferation of embryogenic callus in liquid medium resulted in the establishment of long-term embryogenic cell suspension cultures, paving the way not only to study the formation of somatic embryos and the development of regenerants but also to preserve the morphogenic potential of cell aggregates by cryopreservation. Cell suspensions re-established after storage in liquid nitrogen maintained their embryogenic character and allowed to obtain somatic embryo-derived regenerants that were true-to-type at both genetic and epigenetic levels. Another application of SE was related to genetic manipulation purposes. Efficient protocols of plant regeneration from callus-, cell suspension-, or leaf mesophyll-derived protoplasts allowed engaging procedures of somatic hybridization or protoplast electroporation for gentian genome modifications. Also, high embryogenic potential existing in the numerous gentian species enabled successful Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of G. cruciata L. and G. dahurica Fisch.
The crackling sound of stretching polycrystalline graphene

Polycrystalline graphene has an inherent tendency to buckle, i.e. develop out-of-plane, three-dimensional structure. A force applied to stretch a piece of polycrystalline graphene influences the out-of-plane structure. Even if the graphene is well-relaxed, this happens in non-linear fashion: occasionally, a tiny increase in stretching force induces a significant displacement, in close analogy to avalanches, which in turn can create the sound waves. We establish this effect in computer simulations: by continuously changing the strain, we follow the displacements of the carbon atoms that turn out to exhibit a discontinuous evolution. Furthermore, the displacements exhibit a hysteretic behavior upon the change from low to high stress and back. These behaviors open up a new direction in studying dynamical elasticity of polycrystalline quasi-two-dimensional systems, and in particular the implications on their mechanical and thermal properties.
Orthogonal Cocktail BPSK: Exceeding Shannon Capacity of QPSK Input

Shannon channel capacity of an additive white Gaussian noise channel is the highest reliable transmission bit rate (RTBR) with arbitrary small error probability. However, the authors find that the concept is correct only when the channel input and output is treated as a single signal-stream. Hence, this work reveals a possibility for increasing the RTBR further by transmitting two independent signal-streams in parallel manner. The gain is obtained by separating the two signals at the receiver without any inter-steam interference. For doing so, we borrow the QPSK constellation to layer the two independent signals and create the partial decoding method to work with the signal separation from Hamming to Euclidean space. The theoretical derivations prove that the proposed method can exceed the conventional QPSK in terms of RTBRs.
X K^*— *s a <5 * O/ Tec^

This paper studies a dynamic search-theoretic model of two-sided matching with ex ante heterogeneous agents and nontransferable utility. There is a continuum of agents' types in (0, 1), with both parties to the match (x, y) receiving flow output xy. Foregone wages are the only cost of search, and all productive relationships are mutual ltenant-at-will'. Smith (1995a) shows that this belongs to the simple focal subclass of NTU search models in which everyone has the same vNM preferences over matches and thus in steady-state would desire to perfectly segregate. As such, it is an ideal framework to isolate the role of time dynamics, and explore the evolution of long-term relationships. Despite a continuum of distinct intertwined dynamic optimizations, I characterize the search equilibrium starting with everyone unmatched: There is a growing pool of permanently employed on [#t,l), and an elaborate web of temporary matches amongst lower types on (0,0t ), where 9t | 0. Thus, anyone is eventually is unwilling to accept a temporary match. I develop an equilibrium concept addressing credibility constraints, but argue that no matches are lost due to the absence of binding contracts. I relate this to dynamic properties of flow values that imply that no one ever quits a match more than once in his life. "I owe inspiration to a conversation with Doug Galbi, and have especially benefited from the insights of Robert Shimer and Andreu MasColell. The current version also reflects an gradual accumulation of useful comments by Dilip Abreu, Paul Anglin, Roland Benabou, Peter Diamond, Glenn Ellison, Drew Fudenberg, Douglas Gale, Oliver Hart, Bentley MacLeod, Aki Matsui, Thomas Piketty, Peter Serensen, Jean Tirole, and the participants at the theory workshops at Boston University, MIT/Harvard, Michigan, Montreal, Princeton, Windsor, as well as Summer in Tel Aviv 1992 and the 1993 North American Summer Econometric Society Meetings at Boston University. Parts of that paper (or a revision of it) are now in my 1995 MIT mimeo "Matching, Search, and Heterogeneity with Nontransferable Utility. " Any errors are mine. *e-mail address: lonesfllones.mit. edu
Long-term Effects of Cumulative Average PM2.5 Exposure on the Risk of Hemorrhagic Stroke.

BACKGROUND Epidemiological studies have revealed associations between the fine particle (PM2.5; aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm) exposure and cardiovascular disease. Researchers have also recently begun investigating the association between PM2.5 exposure and hemorrhagic stroke (HS) and identifying subpopulations vulnerable to PM2.5 exposure. Long-term cumulative average PM2.5 exposure may affect the risk of HS, and these effects may be modified by risk factors. METHODS This retrospective study evaluated the effects of PM2.5 on the time-to-first-diagnosis of HS among 62,676 Seoul metropolitan city residents with 670,431 total person-years of follow-up; this cohort is a subset from a nationally representative cohort of 1,025,340 individuals from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database (2002-2013). A time-dependent Cox proportional hazards model was used to adjust for age, sex, household income, insurance type, body mass index, smoking status, medical history, and family history. The annual mean PM2.5 concentrations for 25 districts were used as the time-dependent variable. Subgroup analyses of the traditional risk factors of HS were performed to evaluate potential effect modifications. RESULTS Each 10-μg/m increment in cumulative average PM2.5 exposure was noticeably associated with HS (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.43; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.09-1.88). The adverse effects of PM2.5 exposure were modified by ≥65 years of age (HR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.32, 3.02) and obesity (body mass index ≥25 kg/m; HR = 1.91; 95% CI = 1.28, 2.84). CONCLUSIONS Cumulative average PM2.5 exposure might increase the risk of HS. Elderly (≥65 years) and obese individuals may be more vulnerable to the effects of PM2.5 exposure.
Nothing Else Matters! Trade-Offs Between Perceived Benefits and Barriers of AAL Technology Usage

Ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies present one approach to counter the challenges of demographic change in terms of an aging population, rising care needs, and lacking care personnel by supporting (older) people in need of care and enabling a longer and more independent staying at own home. Although the number of studies focusing on AAL users' acceptance and perception has increased in the last years, trade-off decisions—the weighing of perceived benefits and barriers of technology usage—have not been studied so far. Nevertheless, this is of high relevance: A realistic evaluation of adoption behaviors in different stakeholders (patients, care personnel) requires an understanding of exactly the weighing process of benefits against the barriers in line with the decision of the final willingness to use AAL technology. The current study applied a conjoint analysis approach and investigates people's decision behavior to use an AAL system for a family member in need of care. Study participants (n = 140) had to decide between realistic care scenarios consisting of different options of two benefits (increase in safety, relief of caring burden of relatives) and two barriers (access to personal data and data handling) of technology usage. Results revealed data access and privacy to be most relevant for the decision to use AAL technology at home. However, care experience essentially influenced the decision patterns. For the care experienced group, data access should be limited to most trusted persons and close relatives, rather than to medical professionals. The most important reasons to use AAL are the emotional relief and the felt safety for the person in care. For care novices, in contrast, data access should be in the exclusive responsibility of medical professionals. The reasons that militate in favor of using AAL technology are the increase in process efficiency and medical safety. The results are useful to develop user-tailored technology concepts and derive user-specific communication guidelines within and across clinical and home care contexts.
Proportion of Adults Meeting the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans According to Accelerometers

The new 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans provides updated recommendations for physical activity behavior. These guidelines remove the requirement for physical activity to be obtained in bouts of at least 10 min. The purpose of the present study was to provide an updated estimate of the proportion of adults meeting the physical activity guidelines, based on nationally representative data using accelerometers. Data from 6,525 adults were included in this study. The proportion of adults meeting the physical activity guidelines according to the Department of Health and Human Services and according to the American College of Sports Medicine were estimated using (a) lifestyle activities and (b) ambulatory activities only. Estimates of the proportion of adults meeting the physical activity guidelines ranged from 3.4 to 95.6%, even when based on the same data. The large range of these estimates suggest that challenges exist when using accelerometer data to estimate the levels of physical activity behavior in the population. Further, the large range indicates that, perhaps, physical activity guidelines should not be used as a reference point for behavior change. Instead, we suggest that efforts should be made to promote physical activity in reference to current behavior.
Using generative modelling to produce varied intonation for speech synthesis

Unlike human speakers, typical text-to-speech (TTS) systems are unable to produce multiple distinct renditions of a given sentence. This has previously been addressed by adding explicit external control. In contrast, generative models are able to capture a distribution over multiple renditions and thus produce varied renditions using sampling. Typical neural TTS models learn the average of the data because they minimise mean squared error. In the context of prosody, taking the average produces flatter, more boring speech: an "average prosody". A generative model that can synthesise multiple prosodies will, by design, not model average prosody. We use variational autoencoders (VAEs) which explicitly place the most "average" data close to the mean of the Gaussian prior. We propose that by moving towards the tails of the prior distribution, the model will transition towards generating more idiosyncratic, varied renditions. Focusing here on intonation, we investigate the trade-off between naturalness and intonation variation and find that typical acoustic models can either be natural, or varied, but not both. However, sampling from the tails of the VAE prior produces much more varied intonation than the traditional approaches, whilst maintaining the same level of naturalness.
The biochemistry surrounding bovine conceptus elongation†

Abstract Conceptus elongation is a fundamental developmental event coinciding with a period of significant pregnancy loss in cattle. The process has yet to be recapitulated in vitro, whereas in vivo it is directly driven by uterine secretions and indirectly influenced by systemic progesterone. To better understand the environment facilitating this critical reproductive phenomenon, we interrogated the biochemical composition of uterine luminal fluid from heifers with high vs physiological circulating progesterone on days 12–14 of the estrous cycle—the window of conceptus elongation-initiation—by high-throughput untargeted ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectroscopy. A total of 233 biochemicals were identified, clustering within 8 superpathways [amino acids (33.9%), lipids (32.2%), carbohydrates (8.6%), nucleotides (8.2%), xenobiotics (6.4%), cofactors and vitamins (5.2%), energy substrates (4.7%), and peptides (0.9%)] and spanning 66 metabolic subpathways. Lipids dominated total progesterone (39.1%) and day (57.1%) effects; however, amino acids (48.5%) and nucleotides (14.8%) accounted for most day by progesterone interactions. Corresponding pathways over-represented in response to day and progesterone include (i) methionine, cysteine, s-adenosylmethionine, and taurine (9.3%); (ii) phospholipid (7.4%); and (iii) (hypo)xanthine and inosine purine metabolism (5.6%). Moreover, under physiological conditions, the uterine lumen undergoes a metabolic shift after day 12, and progesterone supplementation increases total uterine luminal biochemical abundance at a linear rate of 0.41-fold day–1–resulting in a difference (P ≤ 0.0001) by day 14. This global metabolic analysis of uterine fluid during the initiation of conceptus elongation offers new insights into the biochemistry of maternal–embryo communication, with implications for improving ruminant fertility. Summary Sentence High systemic progesterone alters bovine uterine luminal fluid biochemistry during the conceptus elongation-initiation window.
Feeling Identified vs. Behaving as Such: A Multi-Study Project on Chinese Organizational Identification and Chinese Employees’ Identification Profiles

We conducted a multi-study, field research program to (a) develop, validate and cross-validate an emic-etic, bi-dimensional measure of Chinese workers’ organizational identification (OID) based on our previously conceptualized framework, and (b) classify employees into three levels of OID. We found convergent evidence showing that the Chinese OID construct consists of emotional and behavioral dimensions. Specifically, in Study 1 (N = 408), we developed and validated a bi-dimensional measure called the Chinese Organizational Identification Questionnaire (COIQ; 8 items). In Study 2 (N = 299), we cross-validated the COIQ and established the construct validity by examining several hypothesized relationships between the Chinese OID construct and other relevant organizational variables, such as unethical pro-organizational behavior, perceived psychological contract violation, and perceptions of business practices of compensations and benefits. Based on the factor analytic and structural equation modeling results, we concluded that the bi-dimensional Chinese OID model as measured with the COIQ has construct validity. More importantly, we used the latent profile analysis method to generate three OID profiles of Chinese workers based on their COIQ scores: The Strong Identifier, the Moderate Identifier and the Action-Oriented Identifier. Those profiles were differentially related to the organizational constructs of interest. The implications for researchers and practitioners were discussed.
Are We Making Progress? Assessing Goal-Directed Behaviors in Leadership Development Programs

Leadership development programs increasingly help participants engage in their career transitions. Therefore, these programs lead participants to establish not only development goals, which usually involve the improvement of a specific leadership competency, but also goals that relate to career advancement or to achieving a more general life aspiration. Assessing goal attainment, as a measure of program impact, may take years as goals vary greatly in terms of nature, timeframe, and domain. The purpose of this study was to overcome this challenge by providing a measure of goal progress as a necessary antecedent of goal attainment, and which we operationalize through a general scale of goal-directed behaviors. Subject-matter experts assessed the content validity of the measure. Factor analysis, using three samples, revealed four dimensions identified as Sharing Information, Seeking Information, Revising the Plan, and Enacting the Plan. This new scale allows data collection as early as a few months after setting the goals, which can provide practitioners with an earlier indication of program impact and facilitate future academic studies in this field.
Non-canonical Hedgehog Signaling Pathway in Cancer: Activation of GLI Transcription Factors Beyond Smoothened

The Hedgehog-GLI (HH-GLI) pathway is a highly conserved signaling that plays a critical role in controlling cell specification, cell–cell interaction and tissue patterning during embryonic development. Canonical activation of HH-GLI signaling occurs through binding of HH ligands to the twelve-pass transmembrane receptor Patched 1 (PTCH1), which derepresses the seven-pass transmembrane G protein-coupled receptor Smoothened (SMO). Thus, active SMO initiates a complex intracellular cascade that leads to the activation of the three GLI transcription factors, the final effectors of the HH-GLI pathway. Aberrant activation of this signaling has been implicated in a wide variety of tumors, such as those of the brain, skin, breast, gastrointestinal, lung, pancreas, prostate and ovary. In several of these cases, activation of HH-GLI signaling is mediated by overproduction of HH ligands (e.g., prostate cancer), loss-of-function mutations in PTCH1 or gain-of-function mutations in SMO, which occur in the majority of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), SHH-subtype medulloblastoma and rhabdomyosarcoma. Besides the classical canonical ligand-PTCH1-SMO route, mounting evidence points toward additional, non-canonical ways of GLI activation in cancer. By non-canonical we refer to all those mechanisms of activation of the GLI transcription factors occurring independently of SMO. Often, in a given cancer type canonical and non-canonical activation of HH-GLI signaling co-exist, and in some cancer types, more than one mechanism of non-canonical activation may occur. Tumors harboring non-canonical HH-GLI signaling are less sensitive to SMO inhibition, posing a threat for therapeutic efficacy of these antagonists. Here we will review the most recent findings on the involvement of alternative signaling pathways in inducing GLI activity in cancer and stem cells. We will also discuss the rationale of targeting these oncogenic pathways in combination with HH-GLI inhibitors as a promising anti-cancer therapies.
Analysis by UPLC-DAD-ESI-MS of phenolic compounds and HPLC-DAD based determination of carotenoids in noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) bagasse.

Noni bagasse is usually wasted after noni juice extraction process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phytochemical composition of noni bagasse (with and without seeds) obtained after a one-week period of short-term juice drip-extraction process from over-ripe noni fruit. Totals of, free phenolics, flavonoids, condensed tannins, carotenoids and most of the minerals were higher in bagasse without seeds (NSB) than bagasse with seeds (WSB), whereas bound phenolics and total and insoluble dietary fiber were higher in WSB than NSB. β-carotene and lutein, quantified by HPLC-DAD, were higher in both bagasse than in juice. Sixteen phenolic compounds and two iridoids were determined by UPLC-DAD-ESI-MS. Among them, procyanidin B-type dimer, caffeoylquinic-acid-hexoside and quercetin-hexose-deoxyhexose have not been previously reported in noni-bagasse, noni-juice or noni-fruit. Isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside was the most abundant compound in both bagasse. In conclusion, both bagasse are potential sources of phytochemical compounds for the food and pharmaceutical industries.
The Microbiome and Irritable Bowel Syndrome – A Review on the Pathophysiology, Current Research and Future Therapy

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder which affects a large proportion of the population globally. The precise etiology of IBS is still unknown, although consensus understanding proposes IBS to be of multifactorial origin with yet undefined subtypes. Genetic and epigenetic factors, stress-related nervous and endocrine systems, immune dysregulation and the brain-gut axis seem to be contributing factors that predispose individuals to IBS. In addition to food hypersensitivity, toxins and adverse life events, chronic infections and dysbiotic gut microbiota have been suggested to trigger IBS symptoms in tandem with the predisposing factors. This review will summarize the pathophysiology of IBS and the role of gut microbiota in relation to IBS. Current methodologies for microbiome studies in IBS such as genome sequencing, metagenomics, culturomics and animal models will be discussed. The myriad of therapy options such as immunoglobulins (immune-based therapy), probiotics and prebiotics, dietary modifications including FODMAP restriction diet and gluten-free diet, as well as fecal transplantation will be reviewed. Finally this review will highlight future directions in IBS therapy research, including identification of new molecular targets, application of 3-D gut model, gut-on-a-chip and personalized therapy.
Single-Cell High-Throughput Technologies in Cerebrospinal Fluid Research and Diagnostics

High-throughput single-cell technologies have recently emerged as essential tools in biomedical research with great potential for clinical pathology when studying liquid and solid biopsies. We provide an update on current single-cell methods in cerebrospinal fluid research and diagnostics, focusing on high-throughput cell-type specific proteomic and genomic technologies. Proteomic methods comprising flow cytometry and mass cytometry as well as genomic approaches including immune cell repertoire and single-cell transcriptomic studies are critically reviewed and future directions discussed.