Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Different Salts on Nutrients Uptake, Gene Expression, Antioxidant, and Growth Pattern of Selected Rice Genotypes

Climate change leads to soil salinization, and the dynamic scarcity of freshwater has negatively affected crop production worldwide, especially Oryza sativa. The association among ion uptake, gene expression, antioxidant, biomass, and root and shoot development under different salt stress are not fully understood. Many studies are related to the effect of NaCl only. This study used two salts (CaCl2 and MgCl2) along with NaCl and analyzed their effects on mineral uptake (macronutrients and micronutrients), gene expression, seed germination, antioxidants, plant growth, and biomass in different rice genotypes. CaCl2 (up to 200 mM) slightly increased the germination percentage and seedling growth, whereas, 150 mM MgCl2 in the soil increased the root, shoot length, and fresh and dry weight in cultivars IR 28 and Cheongcheong. All agronomic traits among rice genotypes were drastically reduced by NaCl stress compared to other salts. Different salt stress differentially regulated ion uptake in the roots and shoots among different rice genotypes. Under different salt stress, a consistent decrease in Ca2+, Mn2+, and Fe2+ ions was observed in the roots of Cheongcheong, Nagdong, and IR 28. Similarly, under different salts, the stress in the shoots of Cheongcheong (Ca2+, Na+, and Zn2+) and Nagdong (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and Zn2+) and the shoots of IR 28 (Ca2+ and Mg2+) consistently increased. Under different salts, a salt stress-related gene was expressed differentially in the roots of rice genotypes. However, after 6 and 12 h, there was consistent OsHKT1, OsNHX1, and OsSOS1 gene upregulation in the shoots of Nagdong and roots and shoots of the salt-tolerant cultivar Pokkali. Under different salt stress, glutathione (GSH) content increased in the shoot of IR 28 and Nagdong by NaCl, and MgCl2 salt, whereas, POD activity increased significantly by CaCl2 and MgCl2 in cultivar Cheongcheong and IR 28 shoot. Therefore, this study suggested that Pokkali responded well to NaCl stress only, whereas, the plant molecular breeding lab cultivar Nagdong showed more salt tolerance to different salts (NaCl, CaCl2, and MgCl2). This can potentially be used by agriculturists to develop the new salt-tolerant cultivar “Nagdong”-like Pokkali.
Noise-aware deep learning algorithm for one-stage multispectral pedestrian detection

Abstract. Multispectral pedestrian detection has gained momentum in the research literature with its wide range of applications in car safety, video surveillance, and robotics. We introduce a noise-aware multispectral detector, called NAMPD, that is based on the one-stage YOLOv4 to produce fast and accurate detection. NAMPD merges the color and thermal streams at the decision level by a weighted sum, where the weight is computed using both the noise level and average luminance of a given image pair. We show that the noise level provides a distinction between nighttime and daytime and can be utilized to improve the detection performance. Experiments are carried out on the sanitized KAIST dataset. They demonstrate that NAMPD is able to achieve a log-average miss rate of 4.25%, which is better than that of the conventional IAF R-CNN, cross-modality interactive attention network, MSDS-RCNN, and MCFF. This mechanism can operate at a speed of 15 fps on the general GPU 1080 Ti, and, thus, is a viable option to be deployed in practical pedestrian detection systems.
Vertical Mergers that Induce Exit

It is well understood that vertical mergers can create an incentive for the merged firm to foreclose unintegrated rivals, and that one way this foreclosure can manifest itself is by driving an unintegrated rival below its minimum viable scale and causing it to exit. The central claims of this article are (1) that exit-inducing mergers are likely to be especially harmful because they result in the elimination of a competitor and (2) that even a modest amount of foreclosure can induce exit if the rival was not too far above its minimum viable scale before the merger. I argue that exit-inducing mergers merit explicit treatment in a revised version of the DOJ/FTC Vertical Merger Guidelines, both because they are harmful and because the possibility that they may occur with only modest foreclosure has important implications for how they should be investigated.
Heterozygous NPR2 Variants in Idiopathic Short Stature

Heterozygous variants in the NPR2 gene, which encodes the B-type natriuretic peptide receptor (NPR-B), a regulator of skeletal growth, were reported in 2–6% cases of idiopathic short stature (ISS). Using next-generation sequencing (NGS), we aimed to assess the frequency of NPR2 variants in our study cohort consisting of 150 children and adolescents with ISS, describe the NPR2 phenotypic spectrum with a growth pattern including birth data, and study the response to growth hormone (GH) treatment. A total of ten heterozygous pathogenic/likely pathogenic NPR2 variants and two heterozygous NPR2 variants of uncertain significance were detected in twelve participants (frequency of causal variants: 10/150, 6.7%). During follow-up, the NPR2 individuals presented with a growth pattern varying from low–normal to significant short stature. A clinically relevant increase in BMI (a mean gain in the BMI SDS of +1.41), a characteristic previously not reported in NPR2 individuals, was observed. In total, 8.8% participants born small for their gestational age (SGA) carried the NPR2 causal variant. The response to GH treatment was variable (SDS height gain ranging from −0.01 to +0.74). According to the results, NPR2 variants present a frequent cause of ISS and familial short stature. Phenotyping variability in growth patterns and variable responses to GH treatment should be considered.
Association of IL-8 -251T>A and IL-18 -607C>A polymorphisms with susceptibility to breast cancer - a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Previous studies have evaluated the association of IL-8 -251T>A and IL-18 -607C>A polymorphisms with a risk of breast cancer in different populations, but the results remain inconsistent and inconclusive. Thus, we performed this meta-analysis to explore the associations. METHODS A comprehensive literature search in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, SciELO, SID, and CNKI for all eligible studies published up to October 1, 2020. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the intensity of associations. RESULTS A total of 12 case-control studies including seven studies with 2,370 cases and 2,314 controls on IL-8 -251T>A, and five studies with 900 cases and 882 con-trols on IL-18 -607C>A polymorphism were selected. Pooled data showed that IL-8 -251T>A (AT vs. TT: OR= 1.187; 95% CI 1.038-1.356; P = 0.012) and IL-18 -607C>A polymorphisms (A vs. T: OR = 1.205; 95% CI 1.055-1.377; P = 0.006; AA vs. TT: OR = 1.379; 95% CI 1.056-1.802; P = 018; and AA vs. AT+TT: OR = 1.329; 95% CI 1.053-1.678; P = 0.017) were associated with increased risk of breast cancer in overall. Moreover, when the studies were stratified by ethnicity, the IL-8 -251T>A was significantly associated with breast cancer risk in Africans. Publication bias tests provide no evidence of presence of publication bias in a meta-analysis. CONCLUSION This meta-analysis results revealed that the IL-8 -251T>A and IL-18 -607C>A polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to breast cancer. However, further multicenter studies with larger sample sizes in different ethnicities are required to make a better assessment of these associations.
Loop Closure Detection Based on Differentiable Manifold

Loop closure detection is an important part of SLAM (simultaneous location and mapping), which can effectively reduce the cumulative error of the system after long period of exploration. The existing loop closure detection methods are mainly to evenly distribute the accumulated error in the robot trajectory, but the motion error of the actual robot is also related to its motion speed and rotation angle, while the corrected motion trajectory of the robot is difficult to match the real trajectory. Based on the analysis of the mechanism of robot motion error, this paper proposes a novel loop closure detection method based on differentiable manifold, which mainly includes real-time pose based on manifold tangent space and smooth motion trajectory model of robot based on differential geometry. Firstly, we introduce the Frenet framework structure and establish the corresponding manifold tangent space theory for the keyframe pose nodes. The real-time problem of robot motion is equivalent to the problem of finding the optimal angle tangent vector. Secondly, the motion speed between keyframes is used to determine the characteristics of the robot motion trajectory. We calculate the curvature and torsion of the curve composed of several nodes based on the manifold tangent space and then combine the curve interpolation and ﬁtting of the keyframe nodes to achieve the approximation of the robot motion trajectory, and the smooth curve of the robot trajectory is obtained. Finally, the experiment veriﬁes that the method in this paper can effectively ensure the continuity and smoothness of the robot’s trajectory, thereby reducing the cumulative error of the system and improving the accuracy of loop closure detection.
Dynamic air ticket pricing using reinforcement learning method

This paper studies a dynamic air ticket pricing problem in a strategic and myopic passengers’ co-existence market. The strategic or myopic passengers can be further divided into high-valuation and low-valuation groups according to how they evaluate their purchases. The strategic passengers have different strategic levels. When the airline sets a ticket price, every passenger makes his or her purchase decision according to his or her type and the strategic level, or might select “wait” or “leave (the market)”. The paper firstly proposes a dynamic pricing algorithm in which the utilities of both the airline and passengers are considered. The reinforcement learning (RL) is employed to deal with the progressive or dynamic decision-making framework, in which the dynamic pricing problem is formulated as a discrete finite Markov decision process (MDP) and the Q-learning is adopted to solve the problem. By using this method, the airline can adaptively decide the ticket price based on passengers’ strategic behaviors and the time-varying demand. The effects of the passenger type proportion and strategic level are analyzed. The computational results show the higher proportion of strategic passengers is, the smaller price increase the airline can adopt, and the higher proportion of high-valuation strategic passengers is, the larger price increase the airline can put to use under the same strategic level. If the proportion of low-valuation strategic passengers is higher, the price increase should be gentle and step by step when the price increase strategy is adopted. If the airline uses price-cut policy, the adjustment should be small. In addition, the high-valuation passenger mainly affects high-price periods and the low-valuation passenger mainly affects low-price periods. When the proportion of strategic passengers is fixed, the lower the passenger strategic level is, the larger the price slope is. These findings can provide some references for the airline to make more precise and flexible pricing decisions.
A portable partial discharge locating tool for 10-kV covered conductor lines

Partial discharge (PD) has been regard as one of the most valuable techniques for condition-based assessment and predictive maintenance of power apparatus. In this study, a portable double-sided PD detection and location method driven by a pulse-based interaction mechanism is presented to diagnose PD characteristics of 10-kV overhead covered conductor (CC) line. The pulse-based interaction mechanism is implemented by injecting specific high voltage pulses into the CC line and utilizing the CC line as the carrier of the pulses for the interaction between the double-sided testing units. The mechanism is capable of not only synchronizing the double-sided testing units, but also estimating the signal propagation velocity. This helps to eliminate the errors and inconsistency in determining PD source location that are caused by varying physical parameters of CC line that can change the propagation velocity. Based on the methodology, a practical portable PD locating system is implemented and validation experiment was carried out on a 2350-m CC line under operation. The results showed the proposed methodology and system could be effectively used to detect and locate the PDs on CC lines.
Estimating wrist joint angle with limited skin deformation information

Ascertaining a person’s motion intentions through muscle activity is important for controlling various assistive devices for people with disabilities. Several techniques have been proposed for estimating the extent of intended joint angle motion using skin deformation information derived from muscle contractions. The objective of this study is to verify our signal processing procedure for estimating intended wrist joint angle with skin deformation information in able-bodied subjects and subjects with an upper-limb amputation. Skin deformation was measured with a tactile sensor consisting of 48 distance sensors over a large measurement area. The root-mean-square error (RMSE) of the measured and estimated angles are evaluated offline using multiple linear regression in one individual with an upper-limb amputation and five able-bodied participants. In all tests, subjects undertook a wrist flexion and extension task guided by visual feedback, measured in real time. Sensors are selected in descending order of the standard deviation of each sensor’s value. Strong relationships occur between the position and displacement of the area of greatest skin deformation and the intended wrist joint angle in all subjects. The minimum RMSE was 8.19° for the individual with an upper-limb amputation using 48 sensors as input, and 2.24° for able-bodied individuals using 16 sensors. One-way repeated-measures analysis of variance showed that at least 16 sensors are needed to reliably record skin deformation. Skin deformation analyzed with multiple linear regression is a plausible means of estimating intended wrist joint angle in persons with an upper-limb amputation. Even when a limited number of sensors ( ≥ 16) are used, continuous joint angle can be estimated reliably. These findings will inform the design of assistive devices that must noninvasively determine muscle activity.
USO DE ELEMENTOS DE VALOR PARA APOIAR A DEFINIÇÃO DE CONCEITOS DE PSS

Sistemas produto-serviço (PSS) são soluções que integram produtos e serviços de forma a suprir as necessidades de clientes por meio de maior valor percebido no uso. Para isso, as empresas devem enfatizar a criação da proposição de valor a fim de identificar os principais valores que a solução ofertada deve satisfazer. Este trabalho tem como objetivo propor uma ferramenta para a conceituação de um PSS durante a proposição de valor, associada a um conjunto de elementos de valor. Esta pesquisa adota a técnica de pesquisa-ação. A ferramenta foi verificada internamente e em duas aplicações baseadas em um estudo de caso realizado em uma empresa de manufatura de equipamentos para diagnóstico médico. Ela provê a identificação das necessidades, oportunidades e insights dos stakeholders, bem como de problemas que se deseja evitar ou solucionar. Esses resultados são utilizados como inspiração para a ideação de soluções e de suas características, juntamente com uma relação de possíveis elementos de valor que podem ser oferecidos em um PSS, sejam funcionais, emocionais, de mudança de vida e/ou sociais. Este trabalho contribui com as empresas de manufatura em processo de servitização para a criação de um PSS que enfoque nos valores elementares oferecidos aos stakeholders.
Presenilin Deficiency Increases Susceptibility to Oxidative Damage in Fibroblasts

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a genetic and sporadic neurodegenerative disease characterized by extracellular amyloid-β-protein (Aβ) aggregates as amyloid plaques and neuronal loss in the brain parenchyma of patients. Familial AD (FAD) is found to be genetically linked to missense mutations either in presenilin (PS) or amyloid precursor protein (APP). Most of PS mutations increase Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio, which is thought to result in early amyloid deposition in brain. However, PS deficiency in the fore brain of adult mouse leads to neuronal loss in an Aβ independent manner and the underlying mechanism is largely unknown. In this study, we found that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are increased in PS deficient fibroblasts and that H2O2 and ferrous sulfate treatment produced more ROS in PS deficient fibroblasts than in wild-type fibroblasts. PS deficient fibroblasts showed significantly decreased cellular ferritin levels compared with wild-type fibroblasts, suggesting reduced iron sequestrating capability in PS deficient cells. Blockade of γ-secretase activity by a γ-secretase inhibitor, DAPT, decreased ferritin levels, indicating that γ-secretase activity is important for maintaining its levels. Moreover, overexpression PS1 mutants in wild-type fibroblasts decreased ferritin light chain levels and enhanced intracellular ROS levels. Our results suggest that dysfunction of PS may reduce intracellular ferritin levels and is involved in AD pathogenesis through increasing susceptibility to oxidative damage.
Classifying Pepper Disease based on Transfer Learning: A Deep Learning Approach

Pepper is cultivated all over the world and many farmers' subsistence depends on these crops. But unfortunately, farmers who are involved in the cultivation of pepper, have to fall on a huge loss because of the low production of pepper caused by several diseases of pepper. If the diseases can be detected accurately and in a short time, then the losses can be prevented. The incorrect identification and time needed process can't release from the diseases and also can't help reduce the losses. For acquiring great accuracy within a short time to recognize the pepper diseases, multirecognition methods can give promising results to the users. In this study, several pre-trained deep learning models such as VGG-19, Xception, NasNet Mobile, MobileNet-V2, ResNet-152-V2, and Inception-ResNet-V2 have been used to extract the deep characteristic from the images and these models provide great accuracy. Most of the diseases of pepper are caused by a fungal and bacterial attack. In this study, 386 images are used for training, 63 images are used for validation and 107 images are used for testing 4 classes of pepper diseases and one healthy image of pepper for identifying the diseases types of pepper. The customized CNN models have achieved the highest accuracy and fulfilled the target of this study. The picking accuracy has been achieved from the VGG-19 and ResNet-152-V2 is 96.26%. Also, Xception has provided better accuracy than Inception-ResNet-V2, MobileNet-V2, and NasNet-Mobile and that is 93.46%.
Embodiment of Interaction Design for a Compliant Social Robot*

In this paper, the interactions and expressions design of the new social robot is presented. It is developed based on its compliant physical appearance, which will promote physical interactions between humans and robots. The perception information was aggregated from IMUs, optical range sensors, and flexible tactile sensor units. The tactile sensor units are fabricated from cotton fabric sheets, piezoresistive polymeric foil, and stainless-steel conductive threads. The robot’s expressions were generated by combining the head movement of the robot with its compliant ears motion and the animated image on its LCD face. The robot’s upper ears are a compliant mechanism fabricated using TPU. The robot’s lower ears were actuated by a continuum mechanism. The evaluation of the proposed interaction design is done by an online survey of 130 participants.
Resilience of critical structures, infrastructure, and communities

In recent years, the concept of resilience has been introduced to the field of engineering as it relates to disaster mitigation and management. However, the built environment is only one element that supports community functionality. Maintaining community functionality during and after a disaster, defined as resilience, is influenced by multiple components. This report summarizes the research activities of the first two years of an ongoing collaboration between the Politecnico di Torino and the University of California, Berkeley, in the field of disaster resilience. Chapter 1 focuses on the economic dimension of disaster resilience with an application to the San Francisco Bay Area; Chapter 2 analyzes the option of using base-isolation systems to improve the resilience of hospitals and school buildings; Chapter 3 investigates the possibility to adopt discrete event simulation models and a meta-model to measure the resilience of the emergency department of a hospital; Chapter 4 applies the meta-model developed in Chapter 3 to the hospital network in the San Francisco Bay Area, showing the potential of the model for design purposes Chapter 5 uses a questionnaire combined with factorial analysis to evaluate the resilience of a hospital; Chapter 6 applies the concept of agent-based models to analyze the performance of socio-technical networks during an emergency. Two applications are shown: a museum and a train station; Chapter 7 defines restoration fragility functions as tools to measure uncertainties in the restoration process; and Chapter 8 focuses on modeling infrastructure interdependencies using temporal networks at different spatial scales.
What's not to like? Political polarization on Facebook in the U.S. and Belgium

Increasing levels of political animosity worldwide invite speculation about whether polarization extends to all aspects of our daily life. However, empirical study about the relationship between political ideologies and lifestyle choices is limited by a lack of comprehensive data. This research combines survey and Facebook Like data from more than 7,500 respondents to test whether polarization permeates society or if it is more limited to strictly political domains among politically active individuals. This article compares ideological disunity in political and non-political domains in Belgium (a multi-party political system), to the U.S. (a two-party system). The results indicate that, as expected, polarization is present in page categories that are related to politics and news, but it is noticeably lower in Belgium than in the U.S. On the other hand, no evidence is found of polarization in other domains, including sports, food, and music. On the individual level, people who are more politically active are less likely to endorse ideologically diverse pages across categories, and compared to the U.S., fewer individuals in Belgium are being exposed to large amounts of highly polarized content. The evidence, drawn from large-scale digital trace data, adds nuance to the narrative of widespread polarization across lifestyle sectors, and it suggests domains in which cross-cutting preferences are still observed.