Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discovery of Travelling Companions from Trajectories with Different Sampling Rates

Discovery of travelling companions from trajectories can provide empirical support for various applications, such as COVID-19 contact tracing, suspects tracking and detection, tourist behavior analysis, etc. One challenge is trajectories of travelling companions are from different data sets with different sampling rates and granularities. Most current researches for discovery of travelling companions focus on using snapshot-based clustering methods to identify travelling groups, or using trajectory similarity algorithms to mine companion relationships. However, the constantly changing sampling rate limits the application of clustering methods in the companion relationship mining. Although some similarity algorithms can mitigate this negative impact, they usually focus on the spatial distribution of trajectories and the time complexity is very high. In this paper, we designed a Spatio-Temporal Trajectory Companion DEtection Framework (STCDEF) to detect travelling companions from trajectories with different sampling rates, which can effectively reduce the time consumption caused by the matching mechanism. Within the STCDEF, an approximate trajectory similarity algorithm, Fast Spatio-Temporal Similarity (FSTS) measure, is presented. Moreover, the concept of Mutual Following Degree (MFD) is introduced into STCDEF to detect travelling companions with FSTS, so as to further improve the efficiency when dealing with trajectories of varying sampling rates.
Estrogens, Endocrine Disruption, and Approaches to Assessing Gametogenesis and Reproductive Condition in Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae)

ii Acknowledgements. viii Vita.x List of Tables.xii List of Figures. xv List of Images.xxi Chapter 1: An Introduction to Freshwater Mussel Biology and Current Understanding of Endocrine Disruption in Bivalve Molluscs.1 Chapter 2: Application of a Nonlethal Biopsy Method for Evaluation of Gametogenesis in the Freshwater Mussel Elliptio complanata (Bivalvia: Unionidae). 6 Chapter 3: Laboratory and field investigations into estrogenic effects on growth and gametogenesis in freshwater mussels.64 Chapter 4: Investigation into recent observations of recruitment failure in the East Fork West Branch St. Joseph River population of the federally endangered freshwater mussel, Pleurobema clava (Bivalvia: Unionidae). 139 Chapter 5: Conclusion.178 References.183
Duality of B Cell-CXCL13 Axis in Tumor Immunology

Tumor immunity is a rapidly evolving area of research consisting of many possible permutations of immune cell tumor interactions that are dependent upon cell type, tumor type, and stage in tumor progression. At the same time, the majority of cancer immunotherapies have been focused on modulating the T cell-mediated antitumor immune response and have largely ignored the potential utility that B cells possess with respect to tumor immunity. Therefore, this motivated an exploration into the role that B cells and their accompanying chemokine, CXCL13, play in tumor immunity across multiple tumor types. Both B cells and CXCL13 possess dualistic impacts on tumor progression and tumor immunity which is furthered detail in this review. Specifically, various B cells subtypes are able to suppress or enhance several important immunological functions. Paradoxically, CXCL13 has been shown to drive several pro-growth and invasive signaling pathways across multiple tumor types, while also, correlating with improved survival and immune cell tumor localization in other tumor types. Potential tools for better elucidating the mechanisms by which B cells and CXCL13 impact the antitumor immune response are also discussed. In addition, multiples strategies are proposed for modulating the B cell-CXCL13 axis for cancer immunotherapies.
Mental Health Problems and Their Association With Internet Use in Medical Residents

Objectives: Mental health problems (MHP) among medical residents are often found in clinical settings and sometimes lead to professional lapses. Evidence suggests that excessive Internet use is associated with MHP. We investigated the MHP of residents (depression, anxiety, and self-esteem) and their association with Internet use using a longitudinal design. Methods: Participants were 208 residents. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) were used to assess anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. The Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS2) was used to measure Internet use. Data were obtained twice, at baseline and 3 months later when the risk of MHP in residency is highest. Results: Residents with MHP (N = 36) had higher GHQ scores than those without MHP (N = 172) at follow-up. Residents with MHP had more depression and less self-esteem than those without MHP at baseline and follow-up. GPIUS2 total scores, and scores on the subscale preference for online social communication, were higher in residents with MHP. Preference for online social communication at follow-up was positively correlated with depression at baseline and follow-up, and negatively correlated with self-esteem at follow-up. Conclusions: Depression and self-esteem may predict Internet use when the risk of MHP is greatest for residents, indicating potential risks of excessive Internet use or Internet use as a compensatory coping behavior. Together with depression and self-esteem assessment, Internet use may be a useful index of resident mental health.
Life Review Using a Life Metaphoric Game to Promote Intergenerational Communication

This study explores whether a life metaphoric game can effectively facilitate communication between senior participants and young adult partners during a life review activity. Life review provides older adults with opportunities to organize their past experiences, rediscover the meaning of life, and prepare for their future life and eventual death. We held workshops in which 33 senior participants (ages 51-85) co-played a commercial game, titled "Long Journey of Life," paired with young adult partners (ages 19-23). The young partners asked senior participants about their associated memories during the life review activity. Through inductive thematic analysis, we found seven communication themes during the life review activity: reminiscence, future and death preparation, life advice, appreciation and evaluation, small talks involving self-disclosure, interpretation of metaphors, and explanation of game control methods. We investigated the relationships between communication themes and game design elements that promote conversation. In addition, we identified how participants' responses to the game differ depending on the player's characteristics and generation. Game design suggestions for an effective intergenerational life review using digital games were offered.
Quantitative analyses of decapod crustaceans at a rocky intertidal shore in the Gulf of Oman, Iran: diversity, zonation and monsoonal fluctuations

This paper provides data on diversity, zonation and seasonal fluctuations of decapod crustaceans at the northern Gulf of Oman coast, based on quantitative and qualitative samplings. A total of 75 species belonging to four infraorders, 27 families and 48 genera were identified. These species include 20 new records for the entire Gulf of Oman and 13 new records for its Iranian coast. The mid-intertidal zone showed a higher mean diversity and abundance than high- and low-intertidal zones. The mean diversity and abundance in the high-intertidal zone showed significant differences with the mid- and low-intertidal zones. The indices of species richness (Margalef), diversity (Shannon) and evenness (Pielou) showed significant differences among the intertidal zones. Most of the identified species (>60%) that had high values in their frequency of occurrence and relative abundance showed an overlapping vertical distribution, and were present in all three or just in two of the three defined zones. Other species were found only in one of the three zones (non-overlapping vertical distribution). The decapod community in the mid-intertidal zone showed a higher dissimilarity with the high-intertidal zone than with the low-intertidal. Both abundance and diversity were found to be lowest and highest during south-west and north-east monsoons, respectively. During south-west monsoon, the abundance of decapods declined dramatically, but species diversity and ecological indices did not show any statistically significant difference among the sampling periods.
The structure and function of deubiquitinases: lessons from budding yeast

Protein ubiquitination is a key post-translational modification that regulates diverse cellular processes in eukaryotic cells. The specificity of ubiquitin (Ub) signalling for different bioprocesses and pathways is dictated by the large variety of mono-ubiquitination and polyubiquitination events, including many possible chain architectures. Deubiquitinases (DUBs) reverse or edit Ub signals with high sophistication and specificity, forming an integral arm of the Ub signalling machinery, thus impinging on fundamental cellular processes including DNA damage repair, gene expression, protein quality control and organellar integrity. In this review, we discuss the many layers of DUB function and regulation, with a focus on insights gained from budding yeast. Our review provides a framework to understand key aspects of DUB biology.
Loss of Tetracycline Resistant Gene from pBR322 by Direct Repeat Spontaneous Homologous Recombination

Introduction he plasmid pBR322 was one of the first multipurpose cloning vectors to be available for efficient cloning and propagation of recombinant molecules in E. coli. This DNA molecule has been extensively used because of its simplicity and viability of its nucleotide sequence since the early days (1) . Today, pBR322 is still used as molecular cloning vehicle; although more advanced vectors have been developed from it. The plasmid pBR322 is about 4361bp carries two sets of antibiotic which resistant genes ampicillin and tetracycline. Tetracycline antibiotics inhibit bacterial protein synthesis by preventing the binding of aminoacyl-tRNA molecules to the 30S ribosomal subunit (2) . The most clinically prevalent mechanism of tetracycline resistance is an active efflux system. Resistant cells are able to grow in the presence of tetracycline because a low intracellular concentration of drug is maintained. The agent responsible for resistance is a very hydrophobic membrane-associated protein which expels tetracycline against a concentration gradient, by coupling the efflux of a proton. The overall process is lectronutral, since tetracycline is cheated to a divalent cation when expelled (3) . Homologous recombination is a subject of major interest in biology. In vivo, this mechanism is involved in DNA repair mechanism and in the generation of genetic diversity (4,5) . T Objectives: It's well known that tetracycline resistant gene in pBR322 is about 1190bp clockwise in direction and tetracycline antibiotic inhibits bacterial protein synthesis. Resistant cells are able to grow in the presence of tetracycline because of efflux system. In this study, we try to delete tetracycline resistant gene from pBR322 by spontaneous homologous recombination between direct homology flanked regions . Subject and Methods: There is direct repetitions Direct repeat between flank regions of tetrgene of pBR322 yield loss of tetrgene (Tetracycline Resistant Gene) by spontaneous homologous recombination. Restriction enzyme and T4 DNA ligation from NEB Phusion High Fidelity PCR Kit from NEB was used for PCR amplification. The measurement of rate of loss of tetrgene from pBR322 by homologous recombination was made using fluctuation test. Results: After construction of new derivative from pBR322 which includes200bp flank region upper to tetrgene homology with downstream region in same direction, the measurement of rate of loss of tetrgene by fluctuation test was 64%. Conclusion: The high rate of loss of tetrgene from pBR322 by direct repeat spontaneous homologous recombination indicated that homologous recombination between 200bp flank region for gene like tetrwhich it is about 1190bp consider as active method to delete the wanted gene.
Nonlinear Optical Investigation of Microbial Chromoproteins

Membrane-bound or cytosolic light-sensitive proteins, playing a crucial role in energy- and signal-transduction processes of various photosynthetic microorganisms, have been optimized for sensing or harvesting light by myriads of years of evolution. Upon absorption of a photon, they undergo a usually cyclic reaction series of conformations, and the accompanying spectro-kinetic events assign robust nonlinear optical (NLO) properties for these chromoproteins. During recent years, they have attracted a considerable interest among researchers of the applied optics community as well, where finding the appropriate NLO material for a particular application is a pivotal task. Potential applications have emerged in various branches of photonics, including optical information storage and processing, higher-harmonic and white-light continuum generation, or biosensorics. In our earlier work, we also raised the possibility of using chromoproteins, such as bacteriorhodopsin (bR), as building blocks for the active elements of integrated optical (IO) circuits, where several organic and inorganic photonic materials have been considered as active components, but so far none of them has been deemed ideal for the purpose. In the current study, we investigate the linear and NLO properties of biofilms made of photoactive yellow protein (PYP) and bR. The kinetics of the photoreactions are monitored by time-resolved absorption experiments, while the refractive index of the films and its light-induced changes are measured using the Optical Waveguide Lightmode Spectroscopy (OWLS) and Z-scan techniques, respectively. The nonlinear refractive index and the refractive index change of both protein films were determined in the green spectral range in a wide range of intensities and at various laser repetition rates. The nonlinear refractive index and refractive index change of PYP were compared to those of bR, with respect to photonics applications. Our results imply that the NLO properties of these proteins make them promising candidates for utilization in applied photonics, and they should be considered as valid alternatives for active components of IO circuits.
Functional Interactions of Tau Phosphorylation Sites That Mediate Toxicity and Deficient Learning in Drosophila melanogaster

Hyperphosphorylated Tau protein is the main component of the neurofibrillary tangles, characterizing degenerating neurons in Alzheimer’s disease and other Tauopathies. Expression of human Tau protein in Drosophila CNS results in increased toxicity, premature mortality and learning and memory deficits. Herein we use novel transgenic lines to investigate the contribution of specific phosphorylation sites previously implicated in Tau toxicity. These three different sites, Ser238, Thr245, and Ser262 were tested either by blocking their phosphorylation, by Ser/Thr to Ala substitution, or pseudophosphorylation, by changing Ser/Thr to Glu. We validate the hypothesis that phosphorylation at Ser262 is necessary for Tau-dependent learning deficits and a “facilitatory gatekeeper” to Ser238 occupation, which is linked to Tau toxicity. Importantly we reveal that phosphorylation at Thr245 acts as a “suppressive gatekeeper”, preventing phosphorylation of many sites including Ser262 and consequently of Ser238. Therefore, we elucidate novel interactions among phosphosites central to Tau mediated neuronal dysfunction and toxicity, likely driven by phosphorylation-dependent conformational plasticity.
A Mapping Method for Indoor Mobile Robot

Simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) is a core issue in the field of mobile robots. This paper proposes an endpoint features based mapping method for an indoor mobile robot. The robot collects sensor information over some time to build a local map, and the local maps are fused to get a global map. This article defines the concept of endpoints and gives each endpoint a unique descriptor. Local endpoints and global endpoints are compared using descriptor matching and brute force matching to obtain a calibration. The local grids are merged into the global grids if the calibration is less than a threshold. Otherwise, running a pose correction for the mobile robot. Experiments show that in various indoor environments, this mapping method can obtain a grid map that is similar to the actual environment, which supports the mobile robot to complete navigation, obstacle avoidance, planning, and other works.
Exploiting heterogeneity for cost efficient 5G base station deployment using meta-heuristics

A key concern in the design of 5G is the radio access network, which is expected to be significantly denser and more advanced, with considerably higher infrastructure and power consumption cost than that of conventional mobile network standards. Novel algorithms/approaches for optimal planning of the radio access network are required for tackling the additional complexity of the problem of cost-efficient radio access planning in 5G, which cannot be properly handled by conventional approaches. This study proposes a novel optimisation framework for the cost-efficient deployment and configuration of 5G base stations. The main idea of the proposed optimisation framework is to exploit heterogeneity in three key 5G technologies, heterogeneous base station architecture, cell range extension and multiple-input–multiple-output spatial multiplexing, by jointly optimising their configurations during network design. In addition, the proposed optimisation framework includes generic steps for applying meta-heuristic algorithms to the problem, which are necessary to overcome the problem's complexity, especially for large problem instances. The authors’ results show that their novel optimisation framework improves the cost efficiency of the network planning both in terms of power and infrastructural cost to operators.
Distributed Predefined-time Consensus Tracking Protocol for Multi-agent Systems

Predefined-time control has attracted a lot of researchers' interest in recent years, since it can provide a clear upper bound of settling time that does not depend on the initial states of the system. Based on graph theory, a predefined-time distributed consensus tracking protocol for first-order multi-agent system consisting of n followers and one leader is proposed. This protocol can guarantee the tracking errors between the followers and the leader converge to zero in predefined time and it is a distributed protocol since it uses only the information of each agent's neighbors, so it is more robust compared with the centralized one. The stability of the protocol is proved by utilizing Lyapunov stability theory. The numerical simulation shows the effectiveness of the proposed distributed controller.
Avances del Banco de Cepas de Microalgas en el Centro Internacional Náutico Fluvial y Portuario del SENA Advances on Microalgae Strains Bank at Centro International Náutico Fluvial y Portuario of SENA

This article constitutes an advance of the reached results in the research project entitled "Installation and Operation of a Native Microalgae strains Bank for Bioremediation, Bioassays and Bioproducts". It is a response to regional needs for research and technological development, which are intended to be serviced with the operation of a conditioned laboratory that allows the isolation, identification and characterization of native species.With this orientation, it was kept a methodology whose highlights is the sampling and filtering (35 µm y 90 µm) was followed; isolation agar pipetting and scratch; the optimum culture medium turned out to be a composition of modified Conway. As a result the following species of freshwater microalgae were obtained: Chlorella sp; Haematococcus sp. ; Fragilaria sp. ; Scenedesmus sp. (1); Scenedesmus sp. (2); Clamydomonas sp . ; and Orococus sp.As for marine species they were identified: Cyclotella sp . ; and Nitzschia sp. , using keys Crawford et al. (1990), Prescott (1970) and Brunel (1962). For the development of subsequent phases is recommended consolidating strategic alliances with institutions to establish routes of cooperation, strengthening exercises characterization, cultivation and distribution of the species identified.
Psychological distress and self-harm in a religiously diverse sample of Lebanese students

ABSTRACT Drawing on identity process theory, this study explores the protective and risk factors of psychological distress and self-harm in a religiously diverse sample of heterosexual and non-heterosexual students in Lebanon. A convenience sample of 209 undergraduate students participated in a cross-sectional survey and completed measures of religiosity, identity threat, psychological distress and self-harm. Results indicated that non-heterosexual participants exhibited higher levels of psychological distress, were more likely to report self-harm, and reported lower levels of religiosity than their heterosexual counterparts. It was shown that religiosity was protective against psychological distress, and that sexual orientation distress predicted self-harm. In order to reduce the risk of psychological distress and self-harm, it will be necessary to challenge stigma towards sexual minorities, to promote engagement with a broader range of social identity categories (other than just religion), and to ensure the availability of effective counselling support to all who need it.
Alterations of Oral Microbiota in Chinese Patients With Esophageal Cancer

Emerging evidence supports that oral microbiota are associated with health and diseases of the esophagus. How oral microbiota change in Chinese patients with esophageal cancer (EC) is unknown, neither is their biomarker role. For an objective to understand alterations of oral microbiota in Chinese EC patients, we conducted a case-control study including saliva samples from 39 EC patients and 51 healthy volunteers. 16S rDNA genes of V3-V4 variable regions were sequenced to identify taxon. Relationship between oral flora and disease was analyzed according to alpha diversity and beta diversity. Resultantly, the Shannon index (p = 0.2) and the Simpson diversity index (p = 0.071) were not significant between the two groups. Yet we still found several species different in abundance between the two groups. For the EC group, the most significantly increased taxa were Firmicutes, Negativicutes, Selenomonadales, Prevotellaceae, Prevotella, and Veillonellaceae, while the most significantly decreased taxa were Proteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Neisseriales, Neisseriaceae, and Neisseria. In conclusion, there are significant alterations in abundance of some oral microbiomes between the EC patients and the healthy controls in the studied Chinese participants, which may be meaningful for predicting the development of EC, and the potential roles of these species in EC development deserve further studies.