Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of direct to consumer shipping laws on the number and size distribution of U.S. wineries

Abstract The changing legislative landscape of the U.S. wine market provides a scenario to examine the effect of regulation on the size distribution of firms. Using the variation across states and time in the sum of in-state and out-of-state adult populations between 2002–2017, and a difference in difference-style empirical model, I examine how restrictions on Direct to Consumer (DTC) sales impact the number of establishments and the employment at wineries. I find that the expansion of the potential wine market by 10 M adults caused about a 3.5% increase in the number of wineries. While reduced DTC restrictions explain growth in the number of wineries, I find no effect of lessened restrictions on the number of winery employees, though there is evidence of a lagged effect. Additionally, I find that the growth of smaller wineries substantially outpaces that of larger wineries when regulations are lessened. These results suggest that regulatory barriers in particular industries may allow states to maintain an artificial size distribution.
Edge-enhancement cascaded network for lung lobe segmentation based on CT images

In order to reduce postoperative complications, it is required that the puncture needle should not pass through the lung lobe without tumor as far as possible in lung biopsy surgery. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately segment the lung lobe on the lung CT images. This paper proposed an automatic lung lobe segmentation method on lung CT images. Considering the boundary of the lung lobe is difficult to be identified, our lung lobe segmentation network is designed to be a multi-stage cascade network based on edge enhancement. In the first stage, the anatomical features of the lung lobe are extracted based on the generative adversarial network (GAN), and the lung lobe boundary is Gaussian smoothed to generate the boundary response map. In the second stage, the CT images and the boundary response map are used as input, and the dense connection blocks are used to realize deep feature extraction, and finally five lung lobes are segmented. The experiments indicated that the average value of Dice coefficient is 0.9741, which meets the clinical needs.
Two-Sample Multistate Accelerated Sojourn Times Model

Abstract Many medical studies involve observations of patients experiencing multiple consecutive states during their follow-up. Since treatments may have differential effects on these states, comparison is of interest with respect to individual sojourn times. In this article I generalize the univariate accelerated failure time model for multistate processes and model the treatment effects as state-specific time scale changes. I propose a two-sample inference procedure that accommodates incomplete follow-up data. This semiparametric procedure, based on estimating equations, yields a class of estimators that are consistent and asymptotically normal. Sample-based consistent variance estimates are derived. Numerical studies demonstrate that the procedure performs well for practical sample sizes. Application to a cancer clinical trial is presented for illustration.
Genetic and physiological requirements for high-level sesquiterpene-production in tomato glandular trichomes

Type-VI glandular trichomes of wild tomato Solanum habrochaites PI127826 produce high levels of the sesquiterpene 7-epizingiberene and its derivatives, making the plant repellent and toxic to several pest insects and pathogens. How wild tomato trichomes achieve such high terpene production is still largely unknown. Here we show that a cross (F1) with a cultivated tomato produced only minute levels of 7-epizingiberene. In the F2-progeny, selected for the presence of the 7-epizingiberene biosynthesis genes, only three percent produced comparable amounts the wild parent, indicating this trait is recessive and multigenic. Moreover, trichome density alone did not explain the total levels of terpene levels found on the leaves. We selected F2 plants with the “high-production active-trichome phenotype” of PI127826, having trichomes producing about 150 times higher levels of terpenes than F2 individuals that displayed a “low-production lazy-trichome phenotype”. Terpene quantities in trichomes of these F2 plants correlated with the volume of the storage cavity and shape of the gland. We found that trichome morphology is not a predetermined characteristic, but cavity volume rather depended on gland-cell metabolic activity. Inhibitor assays showed that the plastidial-precursor pathway (MEP) is fundamental for high-level production of both cytosolic as well as plastid-derived terpenes in tomato trichomes. Additionally, gene expression profiles of isolated secretory cells showed that key enzymes in the MEP pathway were higher expressed in active trichomes. We conclude that the MEP pathway is the primary precursor-supply route in wild tomato type-VI trichomes and that the high-production phenotype of the wild tomato trichome is indeed a multigenic trait.
On the `geodetic' precession of the lunar orbit

Reflecting on a recent calculation which found that de Sitter's `geodetically' rotating inertial frames accompanying the Earth in its motion around the Sun induce a precession of the lunar orbit which is slightly greater than the geodetic precession rate, I here inquire why. The key to understanding this effect is that the Moon is not a locally isolated dynamical system, but rather, it has key Newtonian features of its motion determined by the Sun's tidal acceleration field. The Moon's dynamics in the geodetically rotating inertial frame is intrinsically different from its dynamics in a globally fixed frame, possessing different ratios of lunar motion to solar motion, and of tidal strength to squared solar motion. The correct prescription is that the Moon's orbit in globally fixed coordinates equals a dynamically different lunar orbit determined in the geodetically rotating inertial frame plus additional precession of that orbit as it accompanies the local frame.
EGRET observations of the BL Lacertae objects 0716+714 and 0521-365

During the Compton Observatory's viewing programs Phase 1 (1991 April to 1992 November, also known as the All-Sky Survey) and Phase 2 (1992 November to 1993 September), the BL Lac object 0716+714 was in the field of view of the EGRET telescope a total of six times, three times in Phase 1 and three more times in Phase 2, while the BL Lac object 0521-365 was in the field of view of EGRET only once in Phase 1. The source 0716+714 was detected in high-energy gamma rays by EGRET at a flux level of (2.0 +/- 0.4) x 10(exp -7) photons/sq cm/s for E greater than 100 MeV with a 6 sigma significance when it was first observed by EGRET in 1992 January 10 to 23. The corresponding spectral slope of the photon number distribution is determined to be -2.04 +/- 0.33. The gamma-ray flux of 0716+714 showed considerable time variability in subsequent EGRET observations. But the spectral slope stayed about the same within the statistical uncertainties of the EGRET data. The average spectral slope of the four viewing periods during which the photon flux of 0716+714 stayed above the EGRET detection threshold is found to be -1.85 +/- 0.20 from the combined data. The source 0521+365 was detected by EGRET in 1992 May 14 to June 4 at a flux level of (1.8 +/- 0.5) x 10(exp -7) photons/sq cm/s for E greater than 100 MeV with a 4 sigma significance. The corresponding spectral slope of the photon number distribution is found to be 2.16 +/- 0.36. Details of the observations of these two BL Lac objects with the EGRET telescope are presented.
The Evolution of Job Insecurity in Spatial Contexts in Europe During COVID-19 Pandemic

Unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is of the utmost importance for governing bodies worldwide. Its constant increase during the last months is subject of major concern for both citizens and policy makers, as individuals might experience increased feelings of job insecurity due to the pandemic context and to the latest developments on the job market. Job insecurity refers to a perceived threat to the continuity and stability of employment as it is currently experienced and has a negative impact on the individuals’ quality of life. Many researches have linked job insecurity with low levels of well-being and high levels of stress, as well as local or national measures taken in job creation and job retention. Aside from individual factors, there are other critical influences that should be considered in order to better understand the dynamics of job insecurity against the COVID-19 pandemic. Such influences can come from regional features such as spatial, economic, or demographic characteristics, like gender, age, or education. The aim of the paper is to identify and spatially represent the variations and evolution of job insecurity during the on-going pandemic. Our analyses are based on the PsyCorona database (15.311 participants), a study with self-reported data deployed in countries all around the world, that monitored various psychological variables during the first pandemic waves. For the purpose of this research, data related to the first wave (March-July 2020) was selected. In order to get a better understanding of the spatial distribution of self-reported job insecurity, we chose to focus on eight European countries (France, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Greece, Romania, Spain, and Italy). Respondents from Western Europe countries expressed lower scores on self-reported job insecurity and less variance over time while those from Southern and Eastern Europe displayed higher scores for job insecurity and more variance. Moreover, we found that the higher the overall job insecurity is perceived in a country, the higher the discrepancies between age, gender, and education categories tend to be.
mmRH: Noncontact Vital Sign Detection With an FMCW mm-Wave Radar

Vital signs, such as respiration rate (RR) and heart rate (HR), are essential for human health status assessment. The radar could detect RR and HR in a noncontact manner by sensing the repetitive chest wall movement caused by cardiopulmonary activity, which is attractive due to the more comfortable experience and better privacy protection. However, as the chest wall displacement caused by heartbeat is much smaller than that caused by respiration, the weak heartbeat component may be easily overwhelmed by respiration harmonics, noise, and clutter, making it difficult to achieve accurate and reliable HR detection. In order to tackle this challenge, in this article, we design mmRH, a system that can accurately estimate RR as well as HR using a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) millimeter-wave (mm-wave) radar, which consists of four functional modules. In the vital sign signal extraction module, the range bin corresponding to the body part with strong vital signs is determined to extract the vital sign signal, eliminating the clutter interference. The differential enhancement module is proposed to enhance the heartbeat component by the first-order temporal difference, reducing the impacts of respiration harmonics and noise on HR estimation. In the signal decomposition module, the respiration and heartbeat signals are separated via wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) to further suppress respiration harmonics and high-frequency noise of the heartbeat signal. In the vital sign rate reconstruction module, the sparse spectrum reconstruction (SSR) of vital sign rates is mapped to an adaptive filter and zero attracting sign exponentially forgetting least mean square (ZA-SEFLMS) algorithm is proposed to achieve high-resolution sparse spectrum for accurate and reliable RR and HR estimation. The effects of different settings, including the distance between the human subject and the radar, the sensor position, and the user heterogeneity, are investigated by extensive experiments. The results indicate that the designed mmRH could effectively suppress the respiration harmonics, noise, and clutter interference, and bring a significant improvement in RR and HR detection accuracy compared with existing methods.
MAGNETOSTRICTIVE GENERATION OF SURFACE ELASTIC WAVES

Surface elastic waves have been generated at 60 MHz by magnetostrictive coupling in yttrium iron garnet (YIG). The transducers were evaporated aluminum meander lines. For a YIG plate with the (110) axis normal to the free surface and propagation along the (001) axis, maximum coupling occurred for the static field parallel to the direction of propagation. The effect of the internal magnetic field gradient on the transducer efficiency and the signal delay is discussed.
Electromagnetic Transverse Electric Wave Inverse Scattering of a Partially Immersed Conductor by Steady-State Genetic Algorithm

Abstract In this article, we present a computational approach to the imaging of a partially immersed perfectly conducting cylinder by the steady-state genetic algorithm (GA). A conducting cylindrical section of unknown shape scatters the incident transverse electric wave in free space, while the scattered field is recorded outside. Based on the boundary condition and the measured scattered field, a set of nonlinear integral equations is derived, and the imaging problem is reformulated into an optimization problem. An improved steady-state GA is employed to search for the global extreme solution. Numerical results demonstrate that, even when the initial guess is far away from the exact one, good reconstruction can be obtained.
Modularity: It Can-and Generally Does-Fail*

This paper pursues themes developed in my recent book The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science . (Cartwright 1999) . The book is a Scotist book-in accord with the viewpoint of Duns Scotus . It extols the particular over the universal, the diverse over the homogeneous and the local over the global . Its central thesis is that in the world that science studies, differences turn out to matter . Correlatively, universal methods and universal theories should be viewed with suspicion . We should look very carefully at their empirical justification before we adopt them . The topic in this volume is causality; I shall defend a particularist view of our subject. Causal systems differ . What is characteristic of one is not characteristic of all and the methods that work for finding out about one need not work for finding out about another . I shall argue this here for one specific characteristic : modularity . Very roughly, a system of causal laws is modular in the sense I shall discuss when each effect in the system has one cause all its own, a cause that causes it but does not cause any other effect in the system. On the face of it this may seem a very special, probably rare,
Contraction analysis of non-linear distributed systems

Contraction theory is a comparatively recent dynamic analysis and non-linear control system design tool based on an exact differential analysis of convergence. This paper extends contraction theory to local and global stability analysis of important classes of non-linear distributed dynamics, such as convection-diffusion-reaction processes, Lagrangian and Hamilton–Jacobi dynamics, and optimal controllers and observers. By contrast with stability proofs based on energy dissipation, stability and convergence can be determined for energy-based systems excited by time-varying inputs. The Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman controller and a similar optimal non-linear observer design are studied based on explicitly computable conditions on the convexity of the cost function. These stability conditions extend the well-known conditions on controllability and observability Grammians for linear time-varying systems, without requiring the unknown transition matrix of the underlying differential dynamics.
Novel Digital Photosensor Cell in GaAs IC Using Conversion of Light Intensity to Pulse Frequency

A photoelectric GaAs integrated circuit that converts light intensity to digital signal frequency has been fabricated using the GaAs MES-FET process. The circuit includes a metal-semiconductor-metal photodiode (MSM-PD), a preamplifier (PA), a Schmitt trigger (ST), a flip-flop (FF) (1-bit digital counter) and a reset (Rst) FET. This sensor cell has a wide dynamic range of over 5 decades of incident light power and a ? characteristic suitable for an image pickup device.
Cellular liquid–liquid phase separation: Concept, functions, regulations, and detections

Liquid–liquid phase separation is a multicomponent system separated into phases with different compositions and structures. It has been identified and explored in organisms after being introduced from the thermodynamic field. Condensate, the product of phase separation, exists in different scales of cellular structures, such as nucleolus, stress granules, and other organelles in nuclei or cytoplasm. And also play critical roles in different cellular behaviors. Here, we review the concept, thermodynamical and biochemical principles of phase separation. We summarized the main functions including the adjustment of biochemical reaction rates, the regulation of macromolecule folding state, subcellular structural support, the mediation of subcellular location, and intimately linked to different kinds of diseases, such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Advanced detection methods to investigate phase separation are collected and analyzed. We conclude with the discussion of anxiety of phase separation, and thought about how progress can be made to develop precise detection methods and disclose the potential application of condensates.
Genomics is here: what can we do with it, and what ethical issues has it brought along for the ride?

2023 marks twenty years since the formal completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP). As many readers will know, this monumental international collaboration to determine the sequence of all three billion ‘letters’ (bases) in the human genome had taken legions of scientists more than a decade to achieve. Much was made of the power of this database to revolutionize our understanding of human biology and to herald the transforming potential of genetics for tailored medical treatments. Editorials at the time declared that the Genomic Era had arrived (e.g. Guttmacher and Collins 2003, Roses 2003). The phenomenal technical achievements of the HGP cannot be overstated. However, there was more than a hint of hype in the marketing of the project, not least in justifying the three billion dollars it was estimated to have cost. Between them, the official HGP and the rival Celera project had managed to produce completed reference genomes from a small collection of individuals, fewer than a dozen in total. Yet, much of the power of genomics comes not from the aspects of our DNAwe sharewith others (and those reference sequences), but from the differences that make us distinct, estimated to be roughly one base in every thousand. The available methodologies of the time simply could not deliver the types of personalised analysis promised in an economically viable and timely fashion.
CIRC_0012535 CONTRIBUTES TO LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE-INDUCED FETAL LUNG FIBROBLAST APOPTOSIS AND INFLAMMATION TO REGULATE INFANTILE PNEUMONIA DEVELOPMENT BY MODULATING THE MIR-338-3P/IL6R SIGNALING

ABSTRACT Background: Infantile pneumonia is a respiratory infection disease, seriously threatening the life of neonatal patients. Circular RNA (circRNA) dysregulation is reported to be involved in pneumonia pathogenesis. Circ_0012535 was previously displayed to be upregulated in blood samples of patients with community-acquired pneumonia. However, circ_0012535’s role in this disorder remains unclear. We thus aim to unveil the functions of circ_0012535 in infantile pneumonia. Methods: Fetal lung fibroblasts (WI38) treated with LPS were used as pneumonia cell models. Expression analysis for circ_0012535, miR-338-3p and IL6R was performed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Cell counting kit 88), 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine, and flow cytometry assays were implemented for cell function detection. The release of inflammatory factors, and superoxide dismutase activity and malonaldehyde content were ascertained using commercial kits. The putative binding between miR-338-3p and circ_0012535 or IL6R was validated by dual-luciferase analysis, RIP analysis, and pull-down analysis. Results: Circ_0012535 was highly expressed in LPS-treated WI38 cells. Knockdown of circ_0012535 recovered LPS-inhibited cell viability and proliferation and attenuated LPS-induced cell apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Circ_0012535 bound to miR-338-3p and negatively regulated miR-338-3p expression. Inhibition of miR-338-3p reversed the role of circ_0012535 knockdown, thereby recovering LPS-induced WI38 cell apoptosis and inflammation. MiR-338-3p bound to IL6R 3′UTR, and circ_0012535 shared miR-338-3p binding site with IL6R. IL6R overexpression reversed the role of miR-338-3p, thereby recovering LPS-induced WI38 cell apoptosis and inflammation. Conclusion: Circ_0012535 supported LPS-induced WI38 cell apoptosis and inflammation to promote the progression of infantile pneumonia, and circ_0012535 functioned partly by targeting the miR-338-3p/IL6R signaling.
Cancer‐associated fibroblasts: Is it a key to an intricate lock of tumorigenesis?

The past few decades have witnessed a major leap in knowledge relating to the role of tumor microenvironment (TME) in carcinogenesis and evolving behavior of the tumor. Multiple factors within the TME modulate the cancer cells and the associated therapies. Stephen Paget first asserted that the microenvironment plays an important role in the growth of tumor metastasis. The most important player in the TME is cancer‐associated fibroblast (CAF) which significantly participates in the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of tumor cells. CAFs show phenotypic and functional heterogeneity. Mostly CAFs originate from quiescent resident fibroblast or mesoderm‐derived precursor cells (mesenchymal stem cells), although several alternate sources of origin have been noted. However, due to lack of specific fibroblast‐restricted markers, it is very difficult to trace lineage and identify the biological origin of distinct subtypes of CAFs. CAFs are predominantly shown by several studies to mainly act as tumor‐promoting agents, however, tumor‐inhibiting actions are also being validated by several studies. A more objectified and comprehensive functional and phenotypic classification of CAF is required, which will help in better way for tumor management. Here, in this review, we have tried to review the current status of CAF origin, along with phenotypic and functional heterogeneity, and recent progress in CAF research.