Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
X‐chromosome upregulation and inactivation: two sides of the dosage compensation mechanism in mammals

Mammals have a very complex, tightly controlled, and developmentally regulated process of dosage compensation. One form of the process equalizes expression of the X‐linked genes, present as a single copy in males (XY) and as two copies in females (XX), by inactivation of one of the two X‐chromosomes in females. The second form of the process leads to balanced expression between the X‐linked and autosomal genes by transcriptional upregulation of the active X in males and females. However, not all X‐linked genes are absolutely balanced. This review is focused on the recent advances in studying the dosage compensation phenomenon in mammals.
Chaotic Secure Communication Based on the Concept of Equivalent Control

This Letter considers the problem of chaotic secure communication in the drive-response framework. The drive system can be augmented into a higher order system, and then a sliding mode observer based response system can be constructed to synchronize this augmented system. If they satisfy certain conditions, the hidden message can be recovered directly by the concept of equivalent control. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
The Onset Time of Rocuronium Is Slowed by Esmolol and Accelerated by Ephedrine

Administration of ephedrine prior to rocuronium decreases the onset time of neuromuscular blockade from rocuronium by 26%. This effect was attributed to a increased cardiac output. If so, &bgr; adrenergic-blocking drugs, which decrease cardiac output, should prolong the onset time of rocuronium. In a double-blind study, 60 patients were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 20) to receive either 70 &mgr;g · kg−1 of ephedrine, 0.5 mg · kg−1 esmolol or placebo, 30 s before induction of anesthesia. Onset time of rocuronium was defined as the time from the end of its injection to disappearance of all four twitches of the train-of-four. The onset time of rocuronium was significantly shorter after ephedrine (22%) and longer after esmolol (26%), as compared to placebo. No differences were observed among the three groups with regard to heart rate, systolic, diastolic or mean blood pressure. We concluded that a dose of 0.5 mg · kg−1 of esmolol significantly prolongs the onset time of rocuronium with minimal hemodynamic changes. Implications We concluded that a dose of 0.5 mg · kg−1 of esmolol significantly prolongs the onset time of rocuronium with minimal hemodynamic changes.
Measurement of skin temperature and heat flow from skin in term newborn babies

Regional heat loss and skin temperature changes in 25 healthy, full‐term infants were studied under controlled conditions at environmental temperatures of 28‐32 oC. Skin temperatures for all body regions followed changes in operative temperatures. Regional dry heat losses closely followed the external temperature gradient (difference between skin and operative temperature). The technique allows measurement of regional dry heat loss from the newborn skin exposed to different environmental conditions for different body surface areas. Thermal conductance, as an index of cutaneous blood flow, was calculated in a subgroup of 8 of the 25 babies by decreasing the operative temperature by 3‐4 oC from the assumed thermoneutal zone. Thermal conductance indicated that only the foot responded to lower temperatures with vasoconstriction. Blood flow index of the chest region increased in all babies at lower temperature.
The community of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) in Genua and their chapel of Saint Blaise in Santa Maria di Castello

The article examines the artworks and architecture of the Ragusan chapel in Dominican church in Genua, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Blaise, commissioned and maintained by Ragusan merchants and consuls in the Ligurian port. The analysis is based on known documents from Dominican convent archive in Genua and focuses on elements of particular Ragusan identity expressed in visual terms. Moreover, newly discovered archival documents from the Genua and Dubrovnik state archives, enable a better understanding of diplomatic relations between the two republics, therefore shedding new light on the role of the Ragusan “national” chapel in Genua. L’articolo esamina le opere d’arte e l’architettura della cappella dei Ragusei nella chiesa domenicana di Genova, dedicata alla Vergine Maria e a San Biagio, commissionata e gestita dai mercanti ragusani e dai consoli della Repubblica di Ragusa nel porto ligure. L’analisi si basa sui noti documenti d’archivio del convento domenicano di Genova e si concentra sugli elementi particolari dell’identita Ragusea espressa in termini visivi. Inoltre, i documenti d’archivio recentemente scoperti negli Archivi di Stato di Genova e Dubrovnik consentono una migliore comprensione delle relazioni diplomatiche tra le due repubbliche, aiutando a capire meglio il significato e il ruolo della cappella “nazionale” ragusea a Genova.
Period Selection for Minimal Hyper-period in Real-Time Systems

Task period and deadline selection are often used to adjust the workload to the available computational resources. This paper presents a method for adjusting the periods of the tasks which obtains the minimal hyper-period. Task periods are modelled as a range of possible periods. The selected periods are not constrained to be natural numbers, but can also be rational numbers. Without this limitation, the resulting hyper-period is much smaller than that of previous works. Hyper-period for natural periods grows exponentially; with rational periods the worst case is quadratic with the largest period. Our finding has practical applications in several fields of real-time scheduling: lowering complexity in table driven schedulers, reducing search space in model checking analysis, generating synthetic workload for statistical analysis of real-time scheduling algorithms, etc.
Informations- und Wissensaustausch sowie Lernen in Netzwerken der hochspezialisierten Gesundheitsversorgung

Mit der Patientenmobilitatsrichtlinie (2011/24/EU) wurde eine verbindliche gesetzliche Grundlage geschaffen, im Bereich der hochspezialisierten Gesundheitsversorgung freiwillig und in strukturierter Form in europaischen Referenznetzwerken (ERN) von Gesundheits-dienstleistern und Fachzentren zusammenzuarbeiten. Dabei kommt dem Austausch von Fachwissen eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Diese qualitative Studie geht der Frage nach, wel-che wesentlichen Faktoren den Informations- und Wissensaustausch sowie das Lernen in Netzwerken beeinflussen und wie diese gefordert werden konnen. Es werden Netzwerkkoor-dinatoren und deren steuernde Einheiten in den hochspezialisierten Versorgungsbereichen Krebs und Seltene Erkrankungen in Deutschland und in Frankreich sowie auf europaischer Ebene befragt. Die Studie wird durch einen Literaturvergleich von bi- und trilateralen Ge-sundheitskooperationen mit multilateralen Netzwerken erganzt. Fur die ERN wird die zentra-le Bedeutung der digitalen Medien und Technologien herausgearbeitet sowie die Empfeh-lung ausgesprochen, die ERN ein systematisches Wissensverwendungs- und -generierungskonzept erarbeiten zu lassen. Durch die zukunftigen ERN wird die vernetzte Informationsgesellschaft Einzug in die medizinische Praxis halten.
Australasian ( ACIS ) 2010 An Empirical Investigation of the Critical Determinants for the Adoption of E-Market in Australian Small-and-Medium Sized Enterprises

This paper presents an empirical investigation of the critical determinants for the adoption of e-market in Australian small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) within the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework. A conceptual model is proposed for better understanding the adoption of e-market in Australian SMEs. Structural equation modelling is used for testing and validating the conceptual model based on the survey data collected from Australian SMEs. A consequent logistic regression analysis on the validated adoption model shows that there is a positive relationship between perceived direct benefit, top management support, external pressure, trust and the adoption of e-market, among which top management support emerges as the most critical determinant. The perceived indirect benefit, size and organization readiness, however, do not show a significant influence on the adoption of e-market in Australian SMEs. The implications of this study highlight the criticality of top management support in the adoption of e-market in Australian SMEs.
The regulation of RNA metabolism in suspended and reattached anchorage‐dependent 3T6 fibroblasts

Suspending anchorage‐depent fibroblasts in methocel results in marked reduction in a number of macromolecular metabolic processes. These are restored when cells make contact with a solid substrate and are allowed to spread. The response of 3T6 cells to suspension culture and their recovery upon reattachment has been extensively studied. (Benecke et al., '78; Farmer et al., '78). In these cells, message production and its turnover rate both drop abruptly when cells are suspended, while protein synthesis declines very slowly but extensively. Recovery of protein synthesis in 3T6 cells only requires surface contact and not cell spreading and proceeds rapidly, reaching control values within a few hours. The recovery of messenger RNA production in spread cells is much slower, and commences about 18 hours after cells are replated.
Is the Kolmogorov refined similarity relation dynamic or kinematic?

High-resolution Navier-Stokes simulations are used to test the Kolmogorov refined similarity hypothesis (RSH). It is found that the statistical dependence between velocity increments and dissipation rate invoked by RSH is mostly due to kinematics at moderate Reynolds numbers. However, a dynamically induced contribution can be demonstrated. The longitudinal velocity increment is correlated more strongly with the purely longitudinal component of dissipation rate than with other components. An alternative formulation of the RSH is offered.
Endoplasmic reticulum stress and renal lesion in mice with combination of high-fat diet and streptozotocin-induced diabetes 1

PURPOSE: To investigate in the kidney the pathologic changes and expression of GRP78 and CHOP in the Kunming (KM) mice with combination of high-fat diet and streptozotocin-induced diabetes. METHODS: Sixty two male KM mice were randomly divided into a normal control (NC) group (n=20) and a high-fat diet (HFD) group (n=42). After a four-week dietary manipulation, the KM mice in the HFD group were injected intraperitoneally with streptozotocin to induce diabetes. After diabetic models were successfully established, the kidneys were excised and conserved for further test. RESULTS: No significant difference in the body weight was observed after the dietary manipulation (p=0.554). After the streptozotocin was injected, fasting blood glucose levels in the diabetes group (DM) were significantly higher than that in the NC group (p<0.0001). Glomerular atrophy observed under light microscope in the DM group was more serious compared with the NC group. The expression of GRP78 and CHOP in the kidneys of the mice in the DM group were higher compared with the NC group. CONCLUSION: Renal lesion occurs in the diabetic Kunming mice induced by combination of high-fat diet and low-dose streptozotocin, and endoplasmic reticulum stress and CHOP may contribute to the injury process.
A Vector SIFT Detector for Interest Point Detection in Hyperspectral Imagery

This paper presents an algorithm for the extraction of interest points in hyperspectral images. Interest points are spatial features of the image that capture information from their neighbors, are distinctive and stable under transformations such as translation and rotation, are helpful in data reduction, and reduce the computational burden of various algorithms such as image registration by replacing an exhaustive search over the entire image domain by a probe into a concise set of highly informative points. Interest points have been applied to problems in computer vision, including image matching, recognition, 3-D reconstruction, and change detection. Interest point operators for monochromatic images were proposed more than a decade ago and have extensively been studied. An interest point operator seeks out points in an image that are structurally distinct, invariant to imaging conditions, and stable under geometric transformations. An extension of Lowe's scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) to vector images is proposed here. The approach takes the vectorial nature of the hyperspectral images into account. Furthermore, the multiscale representation of the image is generated by vector nonlinear diffusion, which leads to improved detection, because it better preserves edges in the image as opposed to Gaussian blurring, which is used in Lowe's original approach. Experiments with hyperspectral images of the same and different resolutions that were collected with the Airborne Hyperspectral Imaging System (AISA) and Hyperion sensors are presented. Evaluation of the proposed approach using repeatability criterion and image registration is carried out. Comparisons with other approaches that were described in the literature are presented.
Patterns for self-adaptive systems: agent-based simulations

Self-adaptive systems are distributed computing systems that can adapt their behavior and structure to different kinds of conditions. This adaptation does not concern the single components only, but the entire system. In a previous work we have identified several patterns for self-adaptation, classifying them by means of a taxonomy, which aims at being a support for developers of self-adaptive systems. Starting from that theoretical work, we have simulated the described self-adaptation patterns, in order to better understand the concrete and real features of each pattern. The contribution of this paper is to report about the simulation work of three patterns as examples, detailing how it was carried out, in order to provide a further support for the developers. Received on 23 October 2014; accepted on 19 January 2015, published on 28 January 2015
Flexible Medical Devices: Review of Controllable Stiffness Solutions

In the medical field and in soft robotics, flexible devices are required for safe human interaction, while rigid structures are required to withstand the force application and accuracy in motion. This paper aims at presenting controllable stiffness mechanisms described in the literature for applications with or without shape-locking performances. A classification of the solutions based on their working principle is proposed. The intrinsic properties of these adaptive structures can be modified to change their mechanical characteristics from a geometrical point of view or equivalent elastic properties (with internal mechanisms or with a change in material properties). These solutions are compared quantitatively, based on selected criteria linked to the medical field as the stiffness range, the activation time and the working conditions. Depending on the application and its requirements, the most suitable solution can be selected following the quantitative comparisons. Several applications of these tunable stiffness structures are proposed and illustrated by examples of the literature.
Towards a New Tool for the Evaluation of the Quality of Ultrasound Compressed Images

This paper presents a new tool for the evaluation of ultrasound image compression. The goal is to measure the image quality as easily as with a statistical criterion, and with the same reliability as the one provided by the medical assessment. An initial experiment is proposed to medical experts and represents our reference value for the comparison of evaluation criteria. Twenty-one statistical criteria are selected from the literature. A cumulative absolute similarity measure is defined as a distance between the criterion to evaluate and the reference value. A first fusion method based on a linear combination of criteria is proposed to improve the results obtained by each of them separately. The second proposed approach combines different statistical criteria and uses the medical assessment in a training phase with a support vector machine. Some experimental results are given and show the benefit of fusion
Coil design and magnetic shielding of a resonant wireless power transfer system for electric vehicle battery charging

The aim of this work is to evaluate how design parameters of a power pad for an electric vehicles wireless charging device have an effect on the exposure of people to electromagnetic fields. The effectiveness of magnetic field shielding method by means of conductive panels is analyzed. The shielded coreless transformer has been modelled and examined through Finite Element software. The overall system's behavior was tested in accordance with the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection directives regarding the exposure of people to the risks arising from electromagnetic fields.
Distributed design of optimal structured feedback gains

We study the problem of designing optimal structured feedback gains for large-scale systems in a distributed manner. We quantify performance using the H2 norm and introduce regularization functions to promote desired structural properties in the controller. The key challenge is to evaluate the objective function and its gradient without solving the large-scale Lyapunov equations. We exploit the square-additive property of the H2 norm and provide an equivalent consensus-based characterization that is convenient for distributed implementation. The resulting constrained optimal control problem is in general non-convex and we solve it using an algorithm based on the alternating direction method of multipliers. This algorithm exploits separability of the objective function and is guaranteed to converge to a local minimum. For the optimal control of symmetric systems and undirected consensus networks we establish convexity and demonstrate how the underlying structure can be exploited to further simplify computations.
A Cascade Multilevel Frequency Changing Converter for High-Power Applications

A novel frequency changing conversion scheme using three cascade multilevel converters in a Π topology is presented. The scheme resembles a direct frequency converter using the cascade converter in its simplest form (series strings of H-bridge modules equipped with a dc link capacitor) as the building block of the overall converter. This yields a highly modular implementation approach which may be attractive for large power applications such as intertie connections and variable speed drives. Frequency conversion takes place in a cascade converter which connects the input and output ports. Two other converters are placed, respectively, in parallel to the input, to remove unwanted current components from the input, and the output to regulate output voltage. Operation of this topology is explained and a scheme to control all the converters is developed, including control of converter currents, capacitor voltages, and output voltage. Experimental results, using a low-power prototype, confirm the foundations of the topology and verify its overall performance operating as a power supply at typical output frequencies (25 Hz, 162/3 Hz and dc) while being fed from a 50-Hz system. Additionally, PowerSIM simulations demonstrate that the topology may be suitable for implementing high-performance, high-power ac drive systems using vector control techniques.
Social Support as a Moderator of Cardiovascular Reactivity in Women: A Test of the Direct Effects and Buffering Hypotheses

This study examines the possibility that social support operates as a moderator of cardiovascular reactivity in women.Two models by which social support may operate were examined: the direct effects and buffering models. Twenty-six subjects were exposed to four conditions while playing a video game: two levels of stress (low, high) and two levels of social support (alone, together). Blood pressure and heart rate were monitored continuously. Ratings of stress were obtained for each condition. Results indicated that the support manipulation produced significant main effects for diastolic blood pressure and stress ratings, with lower diastolic blood pressure and ratings observed in the "together" condition, and that the interaction between support and stress produced lower reactivity for the cardiovascular measures in the high stress (but not the low stress) condition. No interaction was found for the stress ratings. We conclude that the results provide support for both the buffering and direct effects models. Implications concerning the (within-subjects) design of the study and the stress ratings are discussed.
SGS-Thomson DSP D950-core audio compression

Dolby Laboratories provides a detailed flow of operation of the Composite multichannel audio compression algorithm, from receiving a frame in the input data buffer all the way to outputting PCM audio signals, in the form of a C-like floating-point pseudocode. This pseudocode helps the licensees in understanding the details in implementing a real-time AC-3 decoder. A set of bitstreams or test vectors are designed to exercise different aspects of the AC-3 algorithm and are used for design verification. This paper describes how these tools were used in order to implement the AC-3 decoder algorithm on a DSP-core.
Approximately adaptive neural cooperative control for nonlinear multiagent systems with performance guarantee

ABSTRACT This paper studies the cooperative control problem for a class of multiagent dynamical systems with partially unknown nonlinear system dynamics. In particular, the control objective is to solve the state consensus problem for multiagent systems based on the minimisation of certain cost functions for individual agents. Under the assumption that there exist admissible cooperative controls for such class of multiagent systems, the formulated problem is solved through finding the optimal cooperative control using the approximate dynamic programming and reinforcement learning approach. With the aid of neural network parameterisation and online adaptive learning, our method renders a practically implementable approximately adaptive neural cooperative control for multiagent systems. Specifically, based on the Bellman's principle of optimality, the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation for multiagent systems is first derived. We then propose an approximately adaptive policy iteration algorithm for multiagent cooperative control based on neural network approximation of the value functions. The convergence of the proposed algorithm is rigorously proved using the contraction mapping method. The simulation results are included to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Locality-aware vertex scheduling for GPU-based graph computation

Graph computation is becoming more and more popular in machine learning, big data analytics, etc. For such workloads, GPU is considered as an efficient execution platform since graph computation is characterized by massively parallel computation and high demand of memory bandwidth. In our investigation, existing GPU programming methods for graph computation do not fully exploit high memory bandwidth as well as high computing power in GPU. We propose a novel optimization called locality-aware vertex scheduling, which aims at minimizing memory requests by adjusting the order of vertex computations to improve temporal locality of vertex data stored in on-chip caches. Experiments with nine real-world graphs and three graph algorithms on the recent GPU platform show that the proposed method offers a significant speedup (average 46%) over the state-of-the-art graph algorithm implementation on GPUs.