Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enrichment of Undifferentiated Type A Spermatogonia from Goat Testis Using Discontinuous Percoll Density Gradient and Differential Plating

Background The well documented source for adult multipotent stem cells is Spermatogonial Stem Cells (SSCs). They are the foundation of spermatogenesis in the testis throughout adult life by balancing self-renewal and differentiation. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of percoll density gradient and differential plating on enrichment of undifferentiated type A spermatogonia in dissociated cellular suspension of goat testes. Additionally, we evaluated the separated fractions of the gradients in percoll and samples in differential plating at different times for cell number, viability and purification rate of goat SSCs in culture. Methods Testicular cells were successfully isolated from one month old goat testis using two-step enzymatic digestion and followed by two purification protocols, differential plating with different times of culture (3, 4, 5, and 6 hr) and discontinuous percoll density with different gradients (20, 28, 30, and 32%). The difference of percentage of undifferentiated SSCs (PGP9.5 positive) in each method was compared using ANOVA and comparison between the highest percentage of corresponding value between two methods was carried out by t-test using Sigma Stat (ver. 3.5). Results The highest PGP9.5 (94.6±0.4) and the lowest c-Kit positive (25.1±0.7) in Percoll method was significantly (p ≤ 0.001) achieved in 32% percoll gradient. While the corresponding rates in differential plating method for the highest PGP9.5 positive cells (81.3±1.1) and lowest c-Kit (17.1±1.4) was achieved after 5 hr culturing (p < 0.001). The enrichment of undifferentiated type A spermatogonia using Percoll was more efficient than differential plating method (p < 0.001). Conclusion Percoll density gradient and differential plating were efficient and fast methods for enrichment of type A spermatogonial stem cells from goat testes.
Distinct roles for complement in glomerulonephritis and atherosclerosis revealed in mice with a combination of lupus and hyperlipidemia

Objective Although the accelerating effect of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) on atherosclerosis is well established, the underlying mechanisms are unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the hypothesis that lupus autoimmunity modulates the effect of hypercholesterolemia in driving arterial pathologic development. >Methods Low-density lipoprotein receptor–deficient (Ldlr−/−) mice were crossed with B6.129-Sle16 (Sle16)–congenic autoimmune mice to obtain Sle16. Ldlr−/− mice, which were compared with Ldlr−/− and Sle16 control mice. All mice were fed either a low-fat or high-fat diet. Groups of mice were compared, by strain and by diet group, for features of accelerated atherosclerosis and autoimmunity. Results Presence of the Sle16 locus significantly increased the extent of atherosclerosis in Ldlr−/− mice. Circulating C3 levels were significantly reduced in Sle16.Ldlr−/− mice compared to Ldlr−/− control mice and this was paralleled by a marked reduction in arterial lesion C3 deposition despite similar levels of IgG deposition between the groups. Increased numbers of apoptotic cells in plaques were observed in the high-fat–fed Sle16.Ldlr−/− mice, consistent with the observed defective clearance of cellular debris. After receiving the high-fat diet, Sle16.Ldlr−/− mice developed glomerulonephritis and displayed enhanced glomerular C3 deposition. Conclusion These results indicate that accelerated atherosclerosis and renal inflammation in SLE are closely linked via immune complex formation and systemic complement depletion. However, whereas hyperlipidemia will enhance renal immune complex–mediated complement activation and the development of nephritis, accelerated atherosclerosis is, instead, related to complement depletion and a reduction in the uptake of apoptotic/necrotic debris. These results suggest that aggressive treatment of hyperlipidemia in patients with SLE may reduce the occurrence of lupus nephritis, as well as diminish the risk of accelerated atherosclerosis.
Picoliter Well Array Chip-Based Digital Recombinase Polymerase Amplification for Absolute Quantification of Nucleic Acids

Absolute, precise quantification methods expand the scope of nucleic acids research and have many practical applications. Digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) is a powerful method for nucleic acid detection and absolute quantification. However, it requires thermal cycling and accurate temperature control, which are difficult in resource-limited conditions. Accordingly, isothermal methods, such as recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), are more attractive. We developed a picoliter well array (PWA) chip with 27,000 consistently sized picoliter reactions (314 pL) for isothermal DNA quantification using digital RPA (dRPA) at 39°C. Sample loading using a scraping liquid blade was simple, fast, and required small reagent volumes (i.e., <20 μL). Passivating the chip surface using a methoxy-PEG-silane agent effectively eliminated cross-contamination during dRPA. Our creative optical design enabled wide-field fluorescence imaging in situ and both end-point and real-time analyses of picoliter wells in a 6-cm2 area. It was not necessary to use scan shooting and stitch serial small images together. Using this method, we quantified serial dilutions of a Listeria monocytogenes gDNA stock solution from 9 × 10-1 to 4 × 10-3 copies per well with an average error of less than 11% (N = 15). Overall dRPA-on-chip processing required less than 30 min, which was a 4-fold decrease compared to dPCR, requiring approximately 2 h. dRPA on the PWA chip provides a simple and highly sensitive method to quantify nucleic acids without thermal cycling or precise micropump/microvalve control. It has applications in fast field analysis and critical clinical diagnostics under resource-limited settings.
Inflammatory Markers of Atherosclerosis and Risk of Cardiovascular Events As atherosclerosis

The estimation of risk for atherosclerotic and cardiovascular events based only on the presence of classical risk factors is often insufficient. Therefore, efforts have been made to find markers that indicate the presence of preclinical disease in individual subjects like blood markers of atherosclerosis and preclinical deterioration of the arterial wall. Elevated levels of several inflammatory mediators have been found in subjects with atherosclerosis. Prospective epidemiological studies have found increased vascular risk in association with increased basal levels of cytokines, the cell adhesion molecules P-selectin and E-selectin; and acute-phase reactants such as high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), fibrinogen, and serum amyloid A. For clinical purposes, the most promising inflammatory biomarker appears to
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics a New Method for Deriving Aerosol Solar Radiative Forcing and Its First Application within Milagro/intex-b

We introduce a method for deriving aerosol spectral radiative forcing along with single scattering albedo, asymmetry parameter, and surface albedo from airborne vertical profile measurements of shortwave spectral irradiance and spectral aerosol optical thickness. The new method complements the traditional, direct measurement of aerosol ra-diative forcing efficiency from horizontal flight legs below gradients of aerosol optical thickness, and is particularly useful over heterogeneous land surfaces and for homogeneous aerosol layers where the horizontal gradient method is impractical. Using data collected by the Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) and the Ames Airborne Tracking Sun-photometer (AATS-14) during the MILAGRO (Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations) experiment , we validate an over-ocean spectral aerosol forcing efficiency from the new method by comparing with the traditional method. Retrieved overland aerosol optical properties are compared with in-situ measurements and AERONET retrievals. The spectral forcing efficiencies over ocean and land are remarkably similar and agree with results from other field experiments.
Stability of branes trapped by d-dimensional black holes

The system of extended objects interacting with a black hole describes or mimics various gravitational phenomena. In this brief paper, we report the results of stability analysis of codimension-one Dirac-Nambu-Goto branes at rest at the equatorial plane of d-dimensional spherical black holes, including the Schwarzschild and Schwarzschild-(anti-)de Sitter black holes. For the Schwarzschild and Schwarzschild-anti-de Sitter backgrounds the stability of branes is shown analytically by means of a deformation technique. In contrast, for the Schwarzschild-de Sitter background we demonstrate with the help of numerics that the brane is unstable (only) against the s-wave sector of perturbations.
The Cross-Cultural Effects of the Use of Intensifiers in Web-Advertisements on English and Dutch Consumers’ Attitudes Towards the Advertisement, Brand and Purchase Intention.

An increasing number of companies are using the limited spaces of social media sites to advertise their services and products. In order to stand out, companies frequently use intensifiers to trigger attention from web-users, yet the effects of these intensifiers in online web-advertisements had not been investigated to date. This study investigated the cross-cultural effects of different types of intensifiers in web-advertisements on Dutch and English consumers’ attitudes towards the advertisement and brand and their purchase intention. A between-subjects design was employed existing of three participant groups, each counting 90 participants: Dutch participants subjected to Dutch advertisements, Dutch participants subjected to English advertisements and English advertisements. Each participant was subjected to 5 web-advertisements in either one of three conditions: web-advertisements without intensifiers, with lexical intensifiers or with semantic intensifiers. Results showed that English participants scored significantly higher on attitude towards the advertisement, brand and purchase intention than Dutch participants, irrespective of the types of intensifiers used. A common found trend was that advertisements without intensifiers often yielded more favourable attitudes and purchase intention than advertisements with lexical intensifiers. For the Dutch participant groups, semantic intensifiers also evoked more positive attitudes towards the brand and purchase intention than lexical intensifiers, irrespective of the language of the advertisement. For the English participant group semantic intensifiers yielded a more positive attitude towards the advertisement and a higher purchase intention. It can be concluded that companies evoke more favourable attitudes and a higher purchase intention when refraining from using lexical intensifiers in web-advertisements and instead use semantic intensifiers or no intensifiers at all. Future experimental studies could focus on the relationship between intensifiers in web-advertisements and the credibility of the advertisement and brand to investigate whether this affects consumers’ attitudes.
An initial investigation of software practitioners' motivation

Motivation is one of the most frequently cited causes of software development project failure, reportedly impacting on project productivity, software quality and the overall success of the project. Much of the previous research into software engineers' motivation cites the job itself as the main motivator, yet little research has focused on why software engineers stay in the profession. This paper reports on an empirical investigation with experienced software practitioners which focuses on this issue and compares our findings with existing work. The results show that aspects of ‘people’ are important in job satisfaction and project choice, while a practitioner's standing in the community is a key influence on whether or not he/she will stay in software engineering; aspects of ‘creativity’ are mentioned most often as making software development worthwhile. When asked to identify three key elements of motivation, aspects of ‘people’ were mentioned the most often.
Detecting Signal Injection Attack-Based Morphological Alterations of ECG Measurements

In this paper, we present an approach to detecting signal injection-based morphological alterations of ECG measurements in Body Sensor Networks (BSN). Signal injection attacks target, the usually unprotected, analog sensing interface of the sensors in a BSN and induce arbitrary signals in them. Signal injection is very dangerous because can be stealthily mounted on unsuspecting BSN users from close proximity (for example in a public place). Inducing morphological alterations in ECG measurements can have profound consequences for the user, as an adversary can easily make a person who is experiencing cardiac arrhythmia appear to be normal and thus cause immediate or long-term harm to their health. To detect signal injection-based morphological alterations, we leverage the idea that multiple physiological signals based on the same underlying physiological process (e.g., cardiac process) are inherently related to each other, i.e., have common features. Any adversarial alteration of one of the signals will not be reflected in the other signal(s) in the group. Therefore, to detect the morphological alterations in ECG measurements, we use arterial blood pressure (ABP) measurements. Both ECG and ABP measurements are alternative representation of the cardiac process. Our approach demonstrates promising results with over 90% accuracy in detecting even subtle ECG morphological alterations for both healthy subjects and those with cardiac conditions.
Dissoconiaceae associated with sooty blotch and flyspeck on fruits in China and the United States

Zasmidium angulare, a novel species of Mycosphaerellaceae, and several novel taxa that reside in Dissoconiaceae, were identified from a collection of apples and Cucurbita maxima (cv. Blue Hubbard) from China and the USA that exhibited sooty blotch and flyspeck (SBFS) signs on their host substrata. Morphology on fruit surfaces and in culture, and phylogenetic analyses of the nuclear ribosomal DNAs 28S and internal transcribed spacer regions, as well as partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene sequences in some cases, were used to delineate seven previously unidentified species and three known species. Pseudoveronaea was established as a new genus of Dissoconiaceae, represented by two species, P. ellipsoidea and P. obclavata. Although Pseudoveronaea was morphologically similar to Veronaea, these fungi clustered with Dissoconiaceae (Capnodiales) rather than Chaetothyriales (Herpotrichiellaceae). Ramichloridium mali comb. nov., and three novel species, R. cucurbitae, R. luteum and R. punctatum were closely related with R. apiculatum, which together formed a distinct subclade in Dissoconiaceae. Species of Dissoconium s.lat. clustered in two well-supported clades supported by distinct morphological and cultural features. Subsequently Uwebraunia, a former synonym of Dissoconium, was resurrected for the one clade, with new combinations proposed for U. australiensis, U. commune, U. dekkeri and U. musae. Furthermore, we also reported that D. aciculare, Dissoconium sp. , U. commune and U. dekkeri were associated with SBFS on apples.
Generating Event Causality Hypotheses through Semantic Relations

Event causality knowledge is indispensable for intelligent natural language understanding. The problem is that any method for extracting event causalities from text is insufficient; it is likely that some event causalities that we can recognize in this world are not written in a corpus, no matter its size. We propose a method of hypothesizing unseen event causalities from known event causalities extracted from the web by the semantic relations between nouns. For example, our method can hypothesize "deploy a security camera" -> "avoid crimes" from "deploy a mosquito net" -> "avoid malaria" through semantic relation . Our experiments show that, from 2.4 million event causalities extracted from the web, our method generated more than 300,000 hypotheses, which were not in the input, with 70% precision. We also show that our method outperforms a state-of-the-art hypothesis generation method.
The Effect of College Selection Factors on Persistence

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship (if any) between college selection factors and persistence for Black and Latino males in the community college. Using data derived from the Educational Longitudinal Study, backwards stepwise logistic regression models were developed for both groups. Findings are contextualized in light of Paulsen and St. John's (1996) financial nexus model. In line with this model, this study found that financial matters indeed impacted college selection. In particular, this research illustrated that the availability of financial aid and low expenses at the institution were integral selection factors. Implications for future research are extended.
Factors Associated with Adiposity, Lipid Profile Disorders and the Metabolic Syndrome Occurrence in Premenopausal and Postmenopausal Women

The aim of the study was the assessment of the dependencies between a woman’s menopausal status and adiposity, lipid profile and metabolic syndrome occurrence, as well as finding out whether the correlations between the socio-demographic profile and lifestyle elements and adiposity, lipid profile and the risk of MetS are the same before and after menopause. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 3636 women, aged between 40–59, which involved a questionnaire interview, anthropometric measurements and fasting blood samples, on the basis of which the concentration of triglycerides, cholesterol and glucose was estimated. Before menopause, a greater adiposity (BMIβ = 0.08; %BFβ = 0.07; WCβ = 0.06) was characteristic for women living in a stable relationship than for single women. Women who smoked in the past were characterized by a higher BMI (β = 0.09) and WC (β = 0.06) in comparison with women who have never smoked, while after menopause a greater adiposity (%BFβ = 0.12) and a worse lipid profile (TCβ = 0.08; LDLβ = 0.07; HDLβ = -0.05; TGβ = 0.14) were present in women currently smoking, in comparison to women who have never smoked. After menopause, in women who had two or more children, a greater adiposity (BMIβ = 0.07 and 0.09; %BFβ = 0.05 and 0.07) and a higher risk of MetS (OR = 1.22, 95%CI: 1.03–1.44) was observed compared to nulliparous women, than before menopause. In women with a higher level of education, the risk of MetS after menopause was significantly lower compared with women with a lower level of education (OR = 0.74, 95%CI: 0.61–0.90). Physical activity after menopause had a higher influence on the decrease in the women’s adiposity (BMIβ = -0.11 v. -0.06; %BFβ = -0.11 v. -0.06; WCβ = -0.14 v. -0.08), than before menopause. In women not undergoing hormone replacement therapy, some of the socio-demographic factors and lifestyle elements affected adiposity, lipid profile and the risk of MetS differently before and after menopause, which requires verification through long-term research.
ROA-change * * * 3-year change in ROA ( ROA in 1999 – ROA in 1997 ) Productivity * *

Based upon two surveys of 197 manufacturing firms listed in the Korean Stock Market, this paper found that recent human resource (HR) systems in Korea vary along two dimensions (the relationship-transaction continuum and the highand low-utilization continuum), and identified four clusters of HRM systems: Types I, II, III, and IV. Highutilization HRM systems (Types III and IV) were found to outperform low-utilization HRM systems (Types I and II), and the Type III system (high utilization and transaction) performed better than the Type IV system (high utilization and relationship) in terms of both the level and the change of organizational performance. Positive interaction effects on performance were found between high-utilization HRM systems (Types III and IV) and differentiation strategy.
A Hybrid Genetic Search Based Approach to Solve Single Period Facility Layout Problem

Single period facility layout problem (SFLP) is a well known combinatorial optimization problem and is traditionally formulated as a quadratic assignment problem (QAP) which is a NP-Hard problem. Therefore, heuristic and meta-heuristic are widely used to solve it. This paper proposes a new hybrid genetic search based approach (referred as GA_SC_PEM) to solve SFLP. We propose a new crossover and mutation scheme. Empirical investigation was conducted and it was found that the proposed approach gives promising solution in a reasonable computational time.
Differential Detection for Two-User Cooperative Diversity Systems

In this paper, a two-user cooperative diversity scheme with high rate and low decoding complexity is proposed where the cooperation is performed suitably to Alamouti's space-time block coding technique. The scheme does not require coding or differential modulation and the data bits are directly transmitted by MPSK modulation. The transmitted symbols are detected at the destination without any requirement of the state information of the channels between users and destination. The error performance of the proposed system is evaluated by computer simulations for BPSK modulation in quasi-static Rayleigh fading channel and the results are compared to the corresponding reference systems
The relationship between character viewpoint gesture and narrative structure in children

abstract When children tell stories, they gesture; their gestures can predict how their narrative abilities will progress. Five-year-olds who gestured from the point of view of a character (CVPT gesture) when telling stories produced better-structured narratives at later ages (Demir, Levine, & Goldin-Meadow, 2014). But does gesture just predict narrative structure, or can asking children to gesture in a particular way change their narratives? To explore this question, we instructed children to produce CVPT gestures and measured their narrative structure. Forty-four kindergarteners were asked to tell stories after being trained to produce CVPT gestures, gestures from an observer’s viewpoint (OVPT gestures), or after no instruction in gesture. Gestures were coded as CVPT or OVPT, and stories were scored for narrative structure. Children trained to produce CVPT gestures produced more of these gestures, and also had higher narrative structure scores compared to those who received the OVPT training. Children returned for a follow-up session one week later and narrated the stories again. The training received in the first session did not impact narrative structure or recall for the events of the stories. Overall, these results suggest a brief gestural intervention has the potential to enhance narrative structure. Due to the fact that stronger narrative abilities have been correlated with greater success in developing writing and reading skills at later ages, this research has important implications for literacy and education.
Minimum Bactericidal Concentration of Phenols Extracted from Oil Vegetation Water on Spoilers, Starters and Food-Borne Bacteria

The aim of the study was to assess the in vitro effect of phenols extracted from oil vegetation water (PEOW) on several food-borne strains. Antibacterial activity of PEOW was based on the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) on microtitre assay. The taxa tested were: Staphylococcus (n. 5), Listeria (n. 4), Escherichia (n. 2), Salmonella (n. 1), Pseudomonas (n. 3), Lactobacillus (n. 2) and Pediococcus (n. 1). S. aureus and L. monocytogens showed the lowest level of resistance to PEOW (MBC=1.5-3 mg/mL). In contrast, the Gram negative strains (e.g. S. Typhimurium and Pseudomonas spp.) were in some cases unaffected by the tested doses and the MBCs ranged between 6 to 12 mg/mL. Starter cultures were dramatically reduced on growth (e.g. Staphylococcus xylosus; 0.75 mg/mL MBC). The thresholds for pathogenic strains could be considered for further applications of PEOW in food models (e.g. shelf life or challenge test studies).