Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Current Understanding of Temperature Stress-Responsive Chloroplast FtsH Metalloproteases

Low and high temperatures are life-threatening stress factors, diminishing plant productivity. One of the earliest responses of plants to stress is a rapid burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in chloroplasts. Widespread efforts over the past decade shed new light on the chloroplast as an environmental sensor, translating the environmental fluctuation into varying physiological responses by utilizing distinct retrograde (chloroplast-to-nucleus) signals. Recent studies have unveiled that chloroplasts mediate a similar unfolded/misfolded/damaged protein response (cpUPR) as observed in the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria. Although observing cpUPR is not surprising since the chloroplast is a prime organelle producing harmful ROS, the intertwined relationship among ROS, protein damage, and chloroplast protein quality controls (cpPQCs) with retrograde signaling has recently been reported. This finding also gives rise to critical attention on chloroplast proteins involved in cpPQCs, ROS detoxifiers, transcription/translation, import of precursor proteins, and assembly/maturation, the deficiency of which compromises chloroplast protein homeostasis (proteostasis). Any perturbation in the protein may require readjustment of proteostasis by transmitting retrograde signal(s) to the nucleus, whose genome encodes most of the chloroplast proteins involved in proteostasis. This review focuses on recent findings on cpUPR and chloroplast-targeted FILAMENTOUS TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE H proteases involved in cpPQC and retrograde signaling and their impacts on plant responses to temperature stress.
960 Randomized multicenter study of neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) alone or in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a challenging target for immunotherapy due to its immune-suppressive microenvironment. Neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) can increase the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). We hypothesized that the combination of CRT and pembrolizumab can further expand and activate TILs.Patients with resectable or borderline resectable PC were randomized 2:1 to the investigational treatment (Arm A) of pembrolizumab 200mg IV every 3 weeks concurrently with CRT (capecitabine 825 mg/m2 orally twice daily and radiation 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions over 28 days) or CRT only (Arm B) prior to surgical resection. The primary endpoints were safety and difference in TILs density between Arm A and B assessed using multiplexed immunofluorescence on resected tumor specimens. As a correlate analysis, single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed to quantify gene expression in T cells from tumors and peripheral blood, and to track expanded T cell clonotypes in these compartments (n=4 patients Arm A; n=3 patients Arm B). The study was amended after enrollment of 37 patients to allow FOLFIRINOX prior to CRT, given changes in standard of care.37 patients were enrolled (24 Arm A, 13 Arm B). After neoadjuvant therapy, 13 patients had unresectable disease (9 on A, 4 on B), and 24 patients underwent surgery and were evaluable for the TILs primary endpoint (17 arm A, 7 arm B). The mean difference (A-B) in CD8+ T cell density was 36 cells/mm2 (95% CI -85 to 157, stdev 130) (p 0.48). Additional analysis did not show significant differences in activated cytotoxic T cells, regulatory T cells, M1- or M2-like polarized macrophages, or granulocytes. The median recurrence free survival (RFS) was 18.2 months on Arm A and 14.1 on Arm B (p 0.41). Overall survival was 27.8 months on Arm A and 24.3 on Arm B (p 0.68) with a median follow up of 2.2 years. The most common grade 3 treatment-related toxicities were lymphopenia reported in 29% on Arm A and 31% on Arm B, respectively followed by diarrhea in 8% on Arm A attributed to CRT. scRNA-seq revealed clonal expansion and expression of co-inhibitory markers among TIL subsets.The combination of CRT and pembrolizumab is safe. Preliminary analysis shows that the addition of pembrolizumab to CRT has minimal effects on intratumoral densities of TILs and other immune cell populations. Single cell transcriptome analyses enable in-depth characterization of the functional responses of T cells to pembrolizumab in the setting of CRT.This study was funded by MerckNCT02305186The study was conducted at 6 sites: University of Virginia, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Mayo Clinic, Hartford Healthcare Cancer Center, and University of Miami. Written informed consent was provided by the study participants and the protocol was approved by the relevant local IRBs in each site.
Development of DS-HIE Architecture

In this paper, we propose DS-HIE architecture as a dynamic reconfigurable architecture which has the policy to decrease the necessity of dynamic reconfiguration as much as possible. In the proposed architecture we introduce digit-serial operation to increase the de㎱ity of the operation units per area and to reduce necessary reconfiguration. In addition, to achieve small area size and high flexibility on routing, we adopted benes network for its routing resource. We synthesized DS-HIE-α processor designed as a prototype processor with HITACHI 0.18㎛ standard cell library by Synopsys Design Compiler. As a result, the tra㎱istor count of DS-HIE-α processor with 250㎒ was 1.99MTr, and the execution time of 2-dime㎱ional DCT was 1088㎱. The tra㎱istor count of it with 500㎒ was 2.44MTr, and the execution time of 2-dime㎱ional DCT was 544㎱. In addition, the tra㎱istor count of Pentium4 (Northwood 3.2㎓) implemented by 0.13㎛ process was 178MTr, and the execution time of 2-dime㎱ional DCT was 660㎱. As compared with Pentium4, DS-HIE-α processor with 500㎒ achieves almost equal performance, while it was implemented with an extremely smaller tra㎱istor count.
Vertically integrated sensor arrays: VISA

The VISA program has been sponsored by DARPA to enable a significant enhancement in signal conditioning, processing, and digitalization on the focal plane of visible and infrared sensors. The approach being developed builds on the traditional “hybrid” structure of a detector with a 2D array of indium-bump interconnects to a silicon readout. VISA will allow additional layers of silicon processing chips to be connected below the readout to provide more complex functionality. Connections will be fully arrayed two-dimensionally with one or more vias per pixel possible. The structural overview will be presented along with several application candidates that appear to be most promising to exploit this technology. These include active/passive sensors, expanded charge storage capacity for full flux utilization in the LWIR, cameras on a chip, high speed sub-frame collection to defeat pulsed laser interference, together with digital output with greater bit depth than currently possible from analog outputs. An A/D candidate circuit to achieve this performance within each pixel will be described.
The Use of Temperate Tannin Containing Forage Legumes to Improve Sustainability in Forage–Livestock Production

Greenhouse gas emissions from ruminant livestock production systems contribute significantly to the environmental footprint of agriculture. Emissions are lower for feedlot systems than for grass-based systems primarily because of the extra time required for grass-finished cattle to reach slaughter weight. In contrast, legume forages are of greater quality than grasses, which enhances intake and food conversion efficiencies, leading to improvements in production and reductions in environmental impacts compared with forage grasses. In addition, the presence of certain bioactives in legumes such as condensed tannins (CT) enhance the efficiency of energy and protein use in ruminants relative to grasses and other feeds and forages. Grazing tannin-containing legumes also reduce the incidence of bloat and improve meat quality. Synergies among nutrients and bioactives when animals graze diverse legume pastures have the potential to enhance these benefits. Thus, a diversity of legumes in feeding systems may lead to more economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable beef production than grass monocultures or feedlot rations.
Efficient roadway modeling and behavior control for real-time simulation

This thesis addresses two core aspects of building virtual urban environments for real-time simulation: roadway modeling and behavior control of virtual vehicles. Roadways are more than polygons used for rendering the scene. In order to support behavior control of agents efficiently, we must describe the road network according to requirements of behavior control. We describe a road network as a ribbon network. A ribbon defines the geometry and orientation of a 3D navigable surface. A ribbon provides spatial information for tracking and a frame of reference for local spatial relationships among the agents. A parametric piecewise cubic spline curve is used to model the central axis of a ribbon. However, in general, the equal parameter intervals don't correspond to equal arc-length intervals. This thesis presents a method to compute an approximately arc-length parameterized cubic spline curve to model the central axis of a ribbon. On a ribbon; we defined a curvilinear coordinate system. Mapping between 3D Cartesian and local ribbon coordinates is often a bottleneck in real-time simulations. A main problem in mapping computations is to compute, given a point in 3D space; the closest point on a spatial curve. We create an efficient, extremely robust two-stage method which takes complementary strengths of two optimization methods to solve this problem. We introduce a component-wise method to control behaviors of autonomous agents driving on ribbon based road networks. Behavior control is divided into tracking, cruising, following, intersection, and lane changing behaviors. The component behaviors are then combined to generate values for control parameters. A data structure called a path is created for controlling these steering behaviors. For intersection behavior, the topology of intersections and right-of-way rules and social conventions on intersections are embedded into the environment database. Intersection behavior controls driving agents to follow rules and conventions when they cross intersections. Lane changing behavior controls a virtual vehicle to leave the original lane and enter an adjacent lane. We create another higher level data structure called a route which captures more global intentions and guides local choices about the immediate path.
Recognition of sacrificial anodes using parallel lighting for fully automatic underwater inspection by autonomous underwater vehicles

In this paper, an automatic inspection method by AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) is proposed. As an example, full-inspection of the bottom shell of IT Mega-Float (a very large floating artificial land which is located at Yokosuka) is addressed. The AUV moves by dead-reckoning navigation, while the position error is reset by a vision-based system using sacrificial anodes as a reference. These anodes are fitted at regular intervals to prevent corrosion of the structure. In order to identify a sacrificial anode that may also be covered with marine organisms, the parallel lighting method is proposed. Simulations of the proposed technique and field experiments have been carried out under the bottom of IT Mega-Float to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.
Application of Negative Resistance in the Inductor Feedback Oscillators Based on Multisim

By analyzing three-point oscillator of inductance feedback with the loss resistance of the inductor,we found the loss resistance of the inductor is a major factor in affecting circuit performance. Negative resistance in series with loss resistance can offset the impact of the loss resistance in the circuit. Oscillation circuit Start-up easilier. The quality factor Q increases and the selectivity is better.The oscillation shape closer to the ideal oscillator.
Acceptance by proxy : analyzing perceptions of hydraulic fracturing to better understand public acceptance for geologic storage of carbon dioxide

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) represents an important pathway for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to mitigate climate change. However, there is significant uncertainty about how the technology will be accepted by the public, which is difficult to predict for relatively unknown technologies such as CCS. As such, this thesis explores the use of a similar but betterknown technology—hydraulic fracturing—as an analogue for learning lessons about public acceptance of the geologic storage component of CCS. The thesis asks two questions: (1) What factors are associated with public acceptance of geologic storage? And (2) What actions should communities, regulators, and stakeholders take to ensure the safe and efficient deployment of CCS technology? The thesis investigates these questions using three separate but related analyses. A series of regressions explores links between states' history of fossil fuel extraction and current regulatory attitudes toward hydraulic fracturing. A comparative case study characterizes trends in the development of laws and regulations related to hydraulic fracturing in three states: Pennsylvania, New York State, and Colorado. Finally, a survey identifies factors associated with positive and negative public perceptions of both hydraulic fracturing and CCS. The survey includes an experimental question that measures the extent to which compensation can be used to improve public acceptance for facility siting. Through these analyses, the thesis reaches several conclusions. States with an extensive history of fossil fuel extraction are more likely to regulate hydraulic fracturing with a moderate level of regulatory stringency, and similar tendencies toward CCS are likely. Municipalities are playing an increasingly significant role in the regulation of hydraulic fracturing, and are likely to be important stakeholders for CCS projects as well. A number of demographic and worldview factors are associated with public acceptance, but none were found to have substantial predictive power. However, the amount of compensation offered to nearby residents was found to have a moderate effect on public acceptance. Developers should therefore consider compensation a tool for increasing the likelihood of acceptance among residents nearby a potential project site. Policymakers should in turn institute market incentives such as robust carbon prices to foster a financial environment that encourages developers to engage with municipalities and residents. Thesis Supervisor: Howard J. Herzog, Senior Research Engineer, MIT Energy Initiative
Physical inactivity, sedentary habits and eating habits among Moroccan adolescents

In Morocco, noncommunicable diseases were responsible for 80% of all deaths in 2016. These risk factors are closely related to diet and physical activity. Therefore, this study aims to determine the prevalence of physical activity, sedentary behaviors and eating habits among a sample of Moroccan adolescents aged 14 to 19 years.This is a cross-sectional study involving a sample of 669 (285 boys and 384 girls) recruited during the year 2019 in the Province of Sidi Kacem-Morocco. Data on sedentary behaviors, physical activity and eating habits were collected using a validated questionnaire. Overall, 38% of Moroccan adolescents did not meet the recommended duration of one hour of moderate-intensity physical activity, boys are generally more active than girls (p<0.00), and 36% of adolescents reported watching TV for more than 2 hours/day and 42% used a computer for a similar period. Girls are more sedentary than boys (p=0.005). For eating habits, there were significantly more boys than girls who met the recommended scores for healthier foods, but there were significantly more girls than boys who exceeded the score of three days of intake per week for unhealthiest foods. The prevalence of sedentary behavior, physical inactivity and unhealthy eating habits appear to be moderately high, but physical and nutritional education programs are needed to promote an active living and a healthy eating.
Phenotypic characteristics of Exotic-broiler, Kampung, Male Exotic-layer, KUB-1 and Pelung chickens

The needs for chicken meat have been dominated by meat from exotic broilers (bred from imported parent). The potential of local broilers chicken in Indonesia is expected to be able to provide the meat for national needs for chicken meat. The objective of this research was to determine the day-old-chick (DOC) phenotypic characteristics of chickens in Indonesia that have the potential as broilers. The phenotypic characteristics are in the form of body morphometry, visceral organ weight and small intestinal histo-morphology. The chickens used were the DOC type of exotic Broiler, Kampung, exotic male Layer, KUB-1 and Pelung. A total of 125 chickens consisting of 25 chickens of each strain at posthatched age were observed for its body morphometry and its visceral organ weight, and small intestinal histo-morphology. The observed data were then analyzed by similarity analysis using MVSP 3.22 to create a dendogram with the Unweighted Pair Group with Aritmetic Average (UPGMA) method. Results showed that there were 2 different clusters from the level of similarity in their characteristics. Exotic broilers had 94.65% similarity to male exotic layer chicken and 92.26% to pelung chicken, while Kampung chickens had 90.16% similarity to KUB-1Chicken. In conclusion, it is indicated that the level of similarity of the phenotypic characteristics of pelung chickens were close to the type of exotic broiler and male exotic layer chicken. This level of similarity lead to the expectation that pelung chickens potential to be a candidate for meat-type of local chicken.
Sorghum Drought Tolerance is Associated with Deeper Root System and Decreased Transpiration Rate

Drought decreases grain yield of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], and understanding the mechanism(s) related to drought tolerance is critical for sustaining sorghum production. Variation in root and shoot traits associated with drought tolerance were analyzed to provide an integrated view of factors that underlie the drought tolerance of sorghum. The plants were grown in the root column up to the five-leaf stage, then exposed to either 0.9 fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW) or 0.4 FTSW for five days. In another experiment, at the five-leaf stage, stress was imposed for 14 days. Various root and shoot traits associated with drought tolerance were recorded. The seminal root angle of IS13540 was lower (24.4) than IS23143 (42.6). Drought stress increased the maximum root length (40%) and total root length (58%) of IS13540 than its irrigated control. In contrast, the maximum root length and total root length were decreased in IS23143. Similarly, across the lines, drought stress decreased stomatal conductance (37%), transpiration rate (42%), photosynthetic rate (40%), photosystem II quantum yield (20%), photochemical quenching (44%), and total dry matter production (34%) than irrigated control. An increased transpiration rate was observed in IS23143 than IS13540 under irrigated and drought stress. In IS23143, the reduction in photosynthetic rate under drought may be a combination of stomatal and non-stomatal factors. However, in IS13540, the reduction is especially by the stomatal factors. It is evident that IS13540 is a drought-tolerant line, and tolerance is related to a deep prolific root system and reduced tran-spiration rate.
Arabic Semantic Similarity Approach for Farmers’ Complaints

Semantic similarity is applied for many areas in Natural Language Processing, such as information retrieval, text classification, plagiarism detection, and others. Many researchers used semantic similarity for English texts, but few used for Arabic due to the ambiguity of Arabic concepts in both sense and morphology. Therefore, the first contribution in this paper is developing a semantic similarity approach between Arabic sentences. Nowadays, the world faces a global problem of coronavirus disease. In light of these circumstances and distancing's imposition, it is difficult for farmers to physically communicate with agricultural experts to provide advice and find suitable solutions for their agricultural complaints. In addition, traditional practices still are used by most farmers. Thus, our second contribution is helping the farmers solve their Arabic agricultural complaints using our proposed approach. The Latent Semantic Analysis approach is applied to retrieve the most problem-related semantic to a farmer's complaint and find the related solution for the farmer. Two methods are used in this approach as a weighting schema for data representation are Term Frequency and Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency. The proposed model has also classified the big agricultural dataset and the submitted farmer complaint according to the crop type using MapReduce Support Vector Machine to improve the performance of semantic similarity results. The proposed approach's performance with Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency-based Latent Semantic Analysis achieved better than its counterparts with an F-measure of 86.7%.
Lateral III–V Nanowire MOSFETs in Low-Noise Amplifier Stages

Lateral III–V nanowire (NW) MOSFETs are a promising candidate for high-frequency electronics. However, their circuit performance is not yet assessed. Here, we integrate lateral nanowires (LNWs) in a circuit environment and characterize the transistors and amplifiers. MOSFETs are fabricated in a simple scheme with a dc transconductance of up to 1.3 mS/ $\mu \text{m}$ , ON-resistance down to $265 \Omega \cdot \mu \text{m}$ , and cutoff frequencies up to 250 GHz, measured on the circuit level. The circuit model estimates 25% device parasitic capacitance increase due to back-end-of-line (BEOL) dielectric cladding. A low-noise amplifier input stage is designed with optimum network design for a noise matched input and an inductive peaking output. The input stage shows up to 4-dB gain and 2.5-dB noise figure (NF), at 60 GHz. Utilizing gate-length scaling in the circuit environment, the obtained normalized intrinsic gate capacitance value of 0.34-aF/nm gate length, per NW, corresponds well to the predicted theoretical value, demonstrating the circuit’s ability to provide intrinsic device parameters. This is the first mm-wave validation of noise models for III–V LNW MOSFETs. The results demonstrate the potential for utilization of the technology platform for low-noise applications.
Visual servo control of a mobile manipulator using one-dimensional windows

A mobile manipulator system is developed to work as a guard robot in a modern building. Several prototypes of advanced task-oriented service robots have been reported. However, a breakthrough to mobile manipulation is still required on the fact that most mobile robots can only work on a single floor of the building. It is desirable that the robot can perform various tasks in every floor of a modern building. Consequently, the robot must be able to take conventional elevators. It is well recognized that techniques of visual servo are key factors for successful mobile manipulation. This paper presents a neural network for real-time clustering of objects in an image for tracking control. The system can successfully recognize each individual button on the elevator panel. Then a novel window-based visual tracking control scheme is proposed for guiding the mobile manipulator to push the correct panel button. The new method uses two one-dimensional windows for visual servo control Experimental results reveal that this method performs much better than the standard techniques.