Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coevolution Theory of the Genetic Code at Age Forty: Pathway to Translation and Synthetic Life

The origins of the components of genetic coding are examined in the present study. Genetic information arose from replicator induction by metabolite in accordance with the metabolic expansion law. Messenger RNA and transfer RNA stemmed from a template for binding the aminoacyl-RNA synthetase ribozymes employed to synthesize peptide prosthetic groups on RNAs in the Peptidated RNA World. Coevolution of the genetic code with amino acid biosynthesis generated tRNA paralogs that identify a last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of extant life close to Methanopyrus, which in turn points to archaeal tRNA introns as the most primitive introns and the anticodon usage of Methanopyrus as an ancient mode of wobble. The prediction of the coevolution theory of the genetic code that the code should be a mutable code has led to the isolation of optional and mandatory synthetic life forms with altered protein alphabets.
Homocysteine Enhances Endothelial Apoptosis via Upregulation of Fas-Mediated Pathways

Hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. However, the underlying mechanism of endothelial cell injury in hyperhomocysteinemia has not been elucidated. In this study, we examined the effect of homocysteine (Hcy) on Fas-mediated apoptosis in endothelial cells. Hcy-induced upregulation of Fas in endothelial cells (ECs) in a dose-dependent manner. At the same time, Hcy increased intracellular peroxide in ECs. Hcy-induced Fas expression was inhibited by the treatment with catalase. Hcy increased NF-κinding activity, and adenovirus-mediated transfection of a I κ-B mutant (Iκ-B mt) gene inhibited Hcy-induced Fas expression. ECs were sensitive to Fas-mediated apoptosis when exposed to Hcy. Under these condition, Iκ-B mt protected ECs from Fas-mediated apoptosis. In addition, Hcy inhibited expression of the caspase-8 inhibitor FLICE-inhibitory protein (FLIP). Adenovirus-mediated transfection of constitutively active Akt gene abolished the Hcy-mediated downregulation of FLIP. These data suggest that upregulation of Fas expression and downregulation of FLIP is a mechanism through which Hcy induces EC apoptosis.
Beliefs, Intentions, Speech Acts and Topics

We study the dynamics of belief in cooperative task-oriented manmachine dialogues. We suppose that during the dialogue each participant can mistake a piece of information, forget it or simply change his mind. We begin with some hypotheses about the participants, and present some approaches. We point out shortcomings of the latter and introduce a new logic of speech acts, beliefs and intentions, where intentions have a non-normal modal logic. We focus on the interactions between these modal operators. Our basic notion is that of a topic: we suppose that we can associate a set of topics to every agent, speech act and formula. This allows to express an agent's competence, belief adoption and preservation.
New constraints on the membership of the T dwarf S Ori 70 in the σ Orionis cluster

Aims. The nature of S Ori 70 (S Ori J053810.1-023626), a faint mid-T type object found towards the direction of the young σ Orionis cluster, is still under debate. We intend to find out whether it is a field brown dwarf or a 3-Myr old planetary-mass member of the cluster. Methods. We report on near-infrared ${\it JHK}_{\rm s}$ and mid-infrared [3.6] and [4.5] IRAC/Spitzer photometry recently obtained for S Ori 70. The new near-infrared images (taken 3.82 yr after the discovery data) allowed us to derive the first proper motion measurement for this object. Results. The colors $(H-K_{\rm s})$, $(J-K_{\rm s})$ and K s - [3.6] appear discrepant when compared to T4–T7 dwarfs in the field. This behavior could be ascribed either to a low-gravity atmosphere or to an atmosphere with a metallicity that is significantly different than solar. The small proper motion of S Ori 70 (11.0 ± 5.9 mas yr -1 ) indicates that this object is farther away than expected if it were a single field T dwarf lying in the foreground of the σ Orionis cluster. Our measurement is consistent with the proper motion of the cluster within 1.5 σ the astrometric uncertainty. Conclusions. Taking into account both S Ori 70's proper motion and the new near- and mid-infrared colors, a low-gravity atmosphere remains as the most likely explanation for our observations. This supports S Ori 70's membership in σ Orionis, with an estimated mass in the interval 2–7 M Jup , in agreement with our previous derivation.
Exploring a pedagogy for meaning-making in physical education

This paper responds to calls for an exploration into pedagogies of meaning within physical education. Developing meaningful educational experiences in physical education for lifelong movement involves supporting students to explore their personal experiences in movement and to use these to derive a greater understanding of themselves and the world in which they live. Following a brief overview of the role of meaning-making in physical education, a case study is offered as a practical example for how reflection can be utilised to explore movement as meaningful. The case study presents a series of steps that provide detail about a meaning-making process undertaken during a physical education class. Data suggest that setting aside time for reflection and the generation of rich movement narratives aligned to a ‘first rush of movement’, can shed light on what students find meaningful ‘in’ movement in ways that link physical education to experiences across varying social and environmental contexts. Through giving priority to bodily understandings of movement as felt, sensory experience, participants (n = 44) were able to express meaning across a wide range of movement contexts. I contend that the exploration of student meaning in physical education is engaging, informative, and serves to extend possibilities for what curriculum is seen as legitimate in physical education by/for whom. The paper sheds light on the use of embodied meaning-making stories as a potential springboard for further exploration and activity in physical education.
Flagellar waveform and rotational orientation in a Chlamydomonas mutant lacking normal striated fibers

The Chlamydomonas mutant vfl-3 lacks normal striated fibers and microtubular rootlets. Although the flagella beat vigorously, the cells rarely display effective forward swimming. High speed cinephotomicrography reveals that flagellar waveform, frequency, and beat synchrony are similar to those of wild-type cells, indicating that neither striated fibers nor microtubular rootlets are required for initiation or synchronization of flagellar motion. However, in contrast to wild type, the effective strokes of the flagella of vfl-3 may occur in virtually any direction. Although the direction of beat varies between cells, it was not observed to vary for a given flagellum during periods of filming lasting up to several thousand beat cycles, indicating that the flagella are not free to rotate in the mature cell. Structural polarity markers in the proximal portion of each flagellum show that the flagella of the mutant have an altered rotational orientation consistent with their altered direction of beat. This implies that the variable direction of beat is not due to a defect in the intrinsic polarity of the axoneme, and that in wild-type cells the striated fibers and/or associated structures are important in establishing or maintaining the correct rotational orientation of the basal bodies to ensure that the inherent functional polarity of the flagellum results in effective cellular movement. As in wild type, the flagella of vfl-3 coordinately switch to a symmetrical, flagellar-type waveform during the shock response (induced by a sudden increase in illumination), indicating that the striated fibers are not directly involved in this process.
Sarcolipin, the Shorter Homologue of Phospholamban, Forms Oligomeric Structures in Detergent Micelles and in Liposomes*

The human 31-amino acid integral membrane protein sarcolipin (SLN), which regulates the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca-ATPase in fast-twitch skeletal muscle, was chemically synthesized. Appropriate synthesis and purification strategies were used to achieve high purity and satisfactory yields of this hydrophobic and poorly soluble protein. Structural and functional properties of SLN were analyzed and compared with the homologous region of human phospholamban (PLB) comprising residues Ala24–Leu52 (PLB-(24–52)), the regulatory protein of the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca-ATPase. Circular dichroism spectroscopy showed that SLN is a predominantly α-helical protein and that the secondary structure is highly resistant to SDS and thermal denaturation. In this respect SLN is remarkably similar to PLB-(24–52). However, SLN is monomeric in SDS gels, whereas PLB-(24–52) shows a monomer-pentamer equilibrium typical for native PLB. Analytical ultracentrifugation experiments revealed that SLN oligomerizes in the presence of the nonionic detergents octylpolyoxyethylene and octyl glucoside in a concentration-dependent manner. No plateau was observed, and a pentameric state was only reached at much higher protein concentrations compared with PLB-(24–52). Chemical cross-linking showed that also in liposomes SLN has the ability to self-associate to oligomers. PLB-(24–52) specifically oligomerized to pentamers in the presence of octylpolyoxyethylene as well as in liposomes at low protein concentrations. In the presence of octylpolyoxyethylene pentamers were the main oligomeric species, whereas in liposomes monomers and dimers were predominant. Increasing the protein concentration led to self-association of PLB-(24–52) pentamers in the presence of octylpolyoxyethylene. Functional reconstitution of Ca-ATPase with PLB-(24–52) and SLN in liposomes showed that both proteins regulate the Ca-ATPase in a similar manner.
Coping with Loneliness Through Materialism: Strategies Matter for Adolescent Development of Unethical Behaviors

Engaging in unethical consumption behaviors is an acute societal problem that can have severe consequences for adolescents, and businesses in particular have been accused of making such consumption particularly appealing and accessible. However, the causes of unethical behaviors are not well understood and research on the causes has been mixed. In this research, we investigate the effects of coping strategies for loneliness on adolescents’ adoption of unethical behaviors, a topic that business ethics research has not explored. In a large-scale study (n = 409) of adolescents (ages 13–17), we show that whether loneliness leads to the adoption of unethical behaviors depends on the strategies adolescents use to cope with their loneliness: active coping strategies are associated with fewer unethical behaviors, whereas passive coping strategies are associated with more unethical behaviors. In addition, we show that active and passive coping strategies can be executed through consumption practices. We show that the relation between active coping and fewer unethical behaviors is mediated by sharing of possessions, whereas the relation between passive coping strategies and more unethical behaviors is mediated by product acquisition. Finally, we also show that these mediated relations differ as a function of age cohort (grade level). The indirect effect of active coping on fewer unethical behaviors via sharing holds only for middle school adolescents, whereas the indirect effect of passive coping on more unethical behaviors via product acquisition holds only for high school adolescents. We shed new light on both the bright and dark sides of materialism and unethical behaviors and provide practical implications for research on loneliness, business ethics, and unethical behaviors.
To Blend or Not to Blend: Online and Blended Learning Environments in Undergraduate Teacher Education.

Increasing curricular demands and the desire to provide meaningful, engaging instruction have pressed teacher educators to review and revise their programs. Many have viewed the assets of online learning as a potential solution to meet the seemingly ever increasing stateand accreditation-mandated course content and competencies. Universities have explored the inclusion of Web based courses for students for several decades. According to Martyn (2003), over 90% of higher education institutions use some type of electronically enhanced learning or “e-learning” option. These options vary between courses that are offered completely “online” to those that include a blend of differing amounts of face-to-face and online contact time. Research comparing student experiences with online-only and blended delivery has often concentrated on graduate students and nontraditional programs. However, the effectiveness of online and blended delivery depends on audience and subject matter (Saunders & Werner, 2002), suggesting that findings based on data from graduate and nontraditional programs may not hold true for undergraduate students in
Competition in the Cryptocurrency Market

We analyze how network effects affect competition in the nascent cryptocurrency market. We do so by examining the changes over time in exchange rate data among cryptocurrencies. Specifically, we look at two aspects: (1) competition among different currencies, and (2) competition among exchanges where those currencies are traded. Our data suggest that the winner-take-all effect is dominant early in the market. During this period, when Bitcoin becomes more valuable against the U.S. dollar, it also becomes more valuable against other cryptocurrencies. This trend is reversed in the later period. The data in the later period are consistent with the use of cryptocurrencies as financial assets (popularized by Bitcoin), and not consistent with "winner-take-all" dynamics.
Flexplane: An Experimentation Platform for Resource Management in Datacenters

Flexplane enables users to program data plane algorithms and conduct experiments that run real application traffic over them at hardware line rates. Flexplane explores an intermediate point in the design space between past work on software routers and emerging work on programmable hardware chipsets. Like software routers, Flexplane enables users to express resource management schemes in a high-level language (C++), but unlike software routers, Flexplane runs at close to hardware line rates. To achieve these two goals, a centralized emulator faithfully emulates, in real-time on a multi-core machine, the desired data plane algorithms with very succinct representations of the original packets. Real packets traverse the network when notified by the emulator, sharing the same fate and relative delays as their emulated counterparts. Flexplane accurately predicts the behavior of several network schemes such as RED and DCTCP, sustains aggregate throughput of up to 760 Gbits/s on a 10-core machine (⇡ 20⇥ faster than software routers), and enables experiments with real-world operating systems and applications (e.g., Spark) running on diverse network schemes at line rate, including those such as HULL and pFabric that are not available in hardware today.
Specificity of Transmembrane Protein Palmitoylation in Yeast

Many proteins are modified after their synthesis, by the addition of a lipid molecule to one or more cysteine residues, through a thioester bond. This modification is called S-acylation, and more commonly palmitoylation. This reaction is carried out by a family of enzymes, called palmitoyltransferases (PATs), characterized by the presence of a conserved 50- aminoacids domain called “Asp-His-His-Cys- Cysteine Rich Domain” (DHHC-CRD). There are 7 members of this family in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and each of these proteins is thought to be responsible for the palmitoylation of a subset of substrates. Substrate specificity of PATs, however, is not yet fully understood. Several yeast PATs seem to have overlapping specificity, and it has been proposed that the machinery responsible for palmitoylating peripheral membrane proteins in mammalian cells, lacks specificity altogether. Here we investigate the specificity of transmembrane protein palmitoylation in S. cerevisiae, which is carried out predominantly by two PATs, Swf1 and Pfa4. We show that palmitoylation of transmembrane substrates requires dedicated PATs, since other yeast PATs are mostly unable to perform Swf1 or Pfa4 functions, even when overexpressed. Furthermore, we find that Swf1 is highly specific for its substrates, as it is unable to substitute for other PATs. To identify where Swf1 specificity lies, we carried out a bioinformatics survey to identify amino acids responsible for the determination of specificity or Specificity Determination Positions (SDPs) and showed experimentally, that mutation of the two best SDP candidates, A145 and K148, results in complete and partial loss of function, respectively. These residues are located within the conserved catalytic DHHC domain suggesting that it could also be involved in the determination of specificity. Finally, we show that modifying the position of the cysteines in Tlg1, a Swf1 substrate, results in lack of palmitoylation, as expected for a highly specific enzymatic reaction.
The effect of business or enterprise training on opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial skills of graduates and non-graduates in the UK

This paper attempts to overcome methodological challenges in demonstrating the effect of enterprise training on opportunity perception and entrepreneurial skills perception of trainees. A large scale sample of individuals in the UK, part of the 2007 GEMUK database, is utilised. Logistic regression shows that controlling for demographic effects, experience and attitudes, different types of training had different effects on opportunity perception and entrepreneurial skills perception. The results suggest that a combination of college-based training and work placements may provide a better all-round entrepreneurial capability for both graduates and non-graduates.
Analysis of the convergence properties of a self-normalized source separation neural network

An extended source separation neural network was derived by Cichocki et al. (1995) from the classical Herault-Jutten network. It was claimed to have several advantages, but its convergence properties were not described. In this paper, we exhaustively define the equilibrium points of the standard version of this network and analyze their stability. We prove that the stationary independent sources that this network can separate are the globally sub-gaussian signals. As the Herault-Jutten network applies to the same sources, we show that the advantages of the new network are not counterbalanced by a reduced field of application, which confirms its attractiveness.
CEP Discussion Paper No 1199 April 2013 Outsourcing and the Rise in Services

This paper investigates the impact of outsourcing on sectoral reallocation in the U.S. over the period 1947-2007, and on the rise in services in particular. Roughly 40% of the growth of the service sector comes from professional and business services. This is an unusual industry as more than 90% of its output is an intermediate input to other firms, and it is where most of the service outsourcing activity is concentrated. These facts are essential to understanding the structure of the economy: professional and business services have experienced an almost fourfold increase in their forward linkage, the largest change in input-output linkages over the past 60 years. Using a simple gross output accounting framework, I calculate the contribution of the change in the composition of intermediates and their sourcing mode to the reallocation of employment across sectors. I find that the evolution of the input-output structure accounts for up to 33% of the increase in service employment, and professional and business services outsourcing alone contributes almost half of that amount.
Low-frequency Stimulation Inducible Long-term Potentiation at the Accessory Olfactory Bulb to Medial Amygdala Synapse of the American Bullfrog

Supervisory Committee Dr. Kerry R. Delaney (Department of Biology) Supervisor Dr. Gautam B. Awatramani (Department of Biology) Departmental Member Dr. Brian R. Christie (Department of Biology) Departmental Member The mitral cells of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) of anuran frogs project their axons directly to the medial amygdala (MeA) along the accessory olfactory tract. An en bloc preparation of the telencephalon of the American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeiana was utilized to study a form of low-frequency inducible long-term potentiation (LTP) expressed at the synapse formed between the terminals of the accessory olfactory tract and the neurons of the MeA. Delivery of repetitive 1Hz-stimulation or sets of 5Hz tetani to the accessory olfactory tract both induced potentiation that was stable for over an hour, as measured by extracellular field recordings. LTP induced by 5Hz tetanus was associated with a decrease in paired-pulse ratio, which would be consistent with an increased probability of release contributing to the increased synaptic strength. Blockade of neither NMDA nor kainate glutamate receptors, with AP5 and UBP310 respectively, prevented LTP induction by 5Hz tetanus; however expression of LTP was partially masked in the presence of UBP310. These results suggest that kainate receptors are involved in the expression of LTP at the AOB-MeA synapse, though the means by which LTP is induced remains unclear.
Fuzzy Logic-Based Operation of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) for Enhancing the Resiliency of Hybrid Microgrids

The resiliency of power systems can be enhanced during emergency situations by using microgrids, due to their capability to supply local loads. However, precise prediction of disturbance events is very difficult rather the occurrence probability can be expressed as, high, medium, or low, etc. Therefore, a fuzzy logic-based battery energy storage system (BESS) operation controller is proposed in this study. In addition to BESS state-of-charge and market price signals, event occurrence probability is taken as crisp input for the BESS operation controller. After assessing the membership levels of all the three inputs, BESS operation controller decides the operation mode (subservient or resilient) of BESS units. In subservient mode, BESS is fully controlled by an energy management system (EMS) while in the case of resilient mode, the EMS follows the commands of the BESS operation controller for scheduling BESS units. Therefore, the proposed hybrid microgrid model can operate in normal, resilient, and emergency modes with the respective objective functions and scheduling horizons. Due to the consideration of resilient mode, load curtailment can be reduced during emergency operation periods. Numerical simulations have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed strategy for enhancing the resiliency of hybrid microgrids.