Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Interaction Properties of the Human Rab GTPase Family – A Comparative Analysis Reveals Determinants of Molecular Binding Selectivity

Background Rab GTPases constitute the largest subfamily of the Ras protein superfamily. Rab proteins regulate organelle biogenesis and transport, and display distinct binding preferences for effector and activator proteins, many of which have not been elucidated yet. The underlying molecular recognition motifs, binding partner preferences and selectivities are not well understood. Methodology/Principal Findings Comparative analysis of the amino acid sequences and the three-dimensional electrostatic and hydrophobic molecular interaction fields of 62 human Rab proteins revealed a wide range of binding properties with large differences between some Rab proteins. This analysis assists the functional annotation of Rab proteins 12, 14, 26, 37 and 41 and provided an explanation for the shared function of Rab3 and 27. Rab7a and 7b have very different electrostatic potentials, indicating that they may bind to different effector proteins and thus, exert different functions. The subfamily V Rab GTPases which are associated with endosome differ subtly in the interaction properties of their switch regions, and this may explain exchange factor specificity and exchange kinetics. Conclusions/Significance We have analysed conservation of sequence and of molecular interaction fields to cluster and annotate the human Rab proteins. The analysis of three dimensional molecular interaction fields provides detailed insight that is not available from a sequence-based approach alone. Based on our results, we predict novel functions for some Rab proteins and provide insights into their divergent functions and the determinants of their binding partner selectivity.
Identity Development Processes in Emerging Adulthood: Accounting for Variations in Educational Context

Past research of emerging adults has yet to investigate the individual experiences and processes of identity development in emerging adults who are in the workforce or currently unemployed (Hendry & Kloep, 2007), predominately focusing on emerging adults attending universities. The current study expands the study of identity development in emerging adulthood to include varied educational contexts. The current study compared normative college students, first generation college students, technical college students and those who have never attended college, to evaluate potential group differences in identity exploration and the relationship between identity exploration and psychological adjustment. Emerging adults in college contexts engaged in more complex identity processing than those who never attended college. However, identity achievement was associated with positive outcomes in all groups. Further, it appears that the contexts under which identity processing occur may vary, though this remains a question for future research.
A novel augmented complex valued kernel LMS

A novel class of complex valued kernel least mean square (CKLMS) algorithms is introduced with the aim to provide physical meaning to the mapping between the primal and dual space termed the independent CKLMS (iCKLMS). The general class of CKLMS algorithms is also extended in the widely linear sense to develop online kernel algorithms suitable for the processing of general complex valued signals, both circular and noncircular. The so-introduced augmented complex kernel least mean square (ACKLMS) algorithms are verified on adaptive prediction of nonlinear and nonstationary complex wind signals.
MMSE time-varying FIR equalization of doubly-selective channels

In this paper, we propose a time-varying (TV) finite impulse response (FIR) equalizer for doubly-selective (time- and frequency-selective) channels. We use the basis expansion model (BEM) to approximate the doubly-selective channel and to design the TV FIR equalizer. This structure allows us to turn a large design problem into an equivalent small design problem, containing only the BEM coefficients of both the doubly-selective channel and the TV FIR equalizer. Focus is on the minimum mean-square error (MMSE) solution, but the zero-forcing (ZF) solution is also discussed. Comparisons with the linear block equalizer (LBE) are made. Through computer simulations we show that the performance of the MMSE TV FIR equalizer approaches that of the MMSE LBE, while the design as well as the implementation complexity are much lower.
Multimodal Analysis of Discourse Markers 'donc', 'alors' and 'en fait' in Conversational French

This paper, which is based on a multimodal corpus of conversational French, aims at describing some prosodic and gestural characteristics of the three discourse markers 'donc' ('so'), 'alors' ('so' or 'then') and 'en fait' ('in fact'). The pragmatic functions of 'donc' and 'alors' have been deeply analyzed in a few studies (Mosegaard-Hansen [9], Vlemings [12] and Zenone [13] and [14]) but none of them described the phonetic characteristics of the markers. The present paper also proposes the association of 'en fait' with 'donc' and 'alors' since it is met in similar contexts in discourse.
Spatial View Cells in the Primate Hippocampus

Hippocampal function was analysed by making recordings in rhesus monkeys actively walking in the laboratory. In a sample of 352 cells recorded in the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex, a population of ‘spatial view’ cells was found to respond when the monkey looked at a part of the environment. The responses of these hippocampal neurons (i) occur to a view of space ‘out there’, not to the place where the monkey is, (ii) depend on where the monkey is looking, as shown by measuring eye position, (iii) do not encode head direction, and (iv) provide a spatial representation that is allocentric, i.e. in world coordinates. This representation of space ‘out there’ would be an appropriate part of a primate memory system involved in memories of where in an environment an object was seen, and more generally in the memory of particular events or episodes, for which a spatial component normally provides part of the context.
Association Between Metformin Therapy and Mortality After Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVE Metformin has been associated with a reduction in breast cancer risk and may improve survival after cancer through direct and indirect tumor-suppressing mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of metformin therapy on survival in women with breast cancer using methods that accounted for the duration of treatment with glucose-lowering therapies. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This population-based study, using Ontario health care databases, recruited women aged 66 years or older diagnosed with diabetes and breast cancer between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 2008. Using Cox regression analyses, we explored the association between cumulative duration of past metformin use and all-cause and breast cancer–specific mortality. We modeled cumulative duration of past metformin use as a time-varying exposure. RESULTS Of 2,361 breast cancer patients identified, mean (± SD) age at cancer diagnosis was 77.4 ± 6.3 years, and mean follow-up was 4.5 ± 3.0 years. There were 1,101 deaths(46.6%), among which 386 (16.3%) were breast cancer–specific deaths. No significant association was found between cumulative duration of past metformin use and all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 0.97 [95% CI 0.92–1.02]) or breast cancer–specific mortality (0.91 [0.81–1.03]) per additional year of cumulative use. CONCLUSIONS Our findings failed to show an association between improved survival and increased cumulative metformin duration in older breast cancer patients who had recent-onset diabetes. Further research is needed to clarify this association, accounting for effects of cancer stage and BMI in younger populations or those with differing stages of diabetes as well as in nondiabetic populations.
Persuasive Developments: Reflective Judgment and College Students' Written Argumentation

OVERBAY, AMY STEPHENS. Persuasive Developments: Reflective Judgment and College Students’ Written Argumentation. (Under the direction of Ruie Jane Pritchard.) This study investigated the relationship between college freshmen’s stage of reflective judgment and the patterns in their written arguments using a mixed-method design with two major and two secondary data collection strategies. The Reflective Judgment Interview (RJI) was conducted with 15 college freshmen enrolled in a composition course that focused on persuasive writing. Participants’ essays were examined for patterns in position-taking, evidence-usage, treatment of objections, and rhetorical strategies. Essays were examined “blind” to participants’ reflective judgment scores, and then analyses were compared across reflective judgment groupings. Participants’ qualitative interviews and self-recorded reflections on Paper 4 were used to supplement analyses of their essays, and to provide information about contextual factors. Based on assessments made by independent raters, four participants were described as using predominantly pre-reflective judgment, and eleven were described as using predominantly quasireflective judgment. Qualitative interviews revealed that participants in both groups had received instruction in persuasive writing in high school, had taken advanced English classes, and were familiar with their own writing processes. However, participants rated as using predominantly quasi-reflective judgment tended to adopt balanced positions, differentiate their views from an authority’s, acknowledge the ill-structured nature of the rhetorical dilemma, and respond to objections more frequently than their pre-reflective counterparts. At the same time, findings for both groups of students suggested that the writing context did not support participants’ use of sophisticated assumptions about knowledge and justification, in that most essays written by participants in both groups included one-sided positions, an uncritical use of evidence, and superficial attention to the objections of a doubting audience. Based on these findings, the researcher made recommendations for more developmentally-sensitive instruction. PERSUASIVE DEVELOPMENTS: REFLECTIVE JUDGMENT AND COLLEGE STUDENTS’ WRITTEN ARGUMENTATION
How change information influences attitudes toward change and turnover intention: The role of engagement, psychological contract fulfillment, and trust

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how the quality of change information influences employees’ attitude toward organizational change and turnover intention. Additionally, the role of engagement, psychological contract fulfillment and trust in the relationship between change information and attitude toward change is assessed. Design/methodology/approach In a technology services organization that was implementing a “new way of working,” questionnaire data of 669 employees were gathered. The organizational change in question sought to increase employees’ autonomy by increasing management support and improving IT support to facilitate working at other locations (e.g. at home) or at hours outside of regular working hours (e.g. in evening). Findings The results showed that change information was positively related to psychological contract fulfillment and attitude toward change. Engagement and psychological contract fulfillment were positively related to attitude toward change and negatively related to turnover intention. Contrary to what was expected, trust did not influence attitude toward change but was negatively related to turnover intention. Practical implications The study presents a model that can help management to foster positive affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses to change, as well as to reduce employee turnover. Fulfilling employees’ psychological contracts and cultivating engagement is important in this respect, as well as continuously considering whether information about the organizational change is received in good time, is useful, is adequate and satisfies employees’ questions about the change. Originality/value As one of the first studies in its field, attitude toward change was conceptualized and operationalized as a multidimensional construct, comprising an affective, a behavioral and a cognitive dimension.
A study on the Relationship among Depression, Walking and Quality of Life for the Elderly - Focusing on the Moderation Effects of Walking -

This study examined how walking moderates the influence of depression on quality of life in elderly. Data of the study were analysed using the sixth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V-2, 2014). The subjects were elderly aged 65 years or more and the number of the sample was 1,263. Using hierarchial regression analysis, walking as a moderator of the depression and quality of life relationship was examined. Quality of life for elderly showed significant differences according to sex(t=8.26, p<.001), age(t=5.19, p<.001), number of chronic disease(F=37.88, p<.001), depression(t=9.62, p<.001) and walking per week (t=47.36, p<.001). Walking moderated the relationship between depression and quality of life in elderly. Based on these findings, the enhancement of walking in depressed elderly is recommended to promote the quality of life.
HASBE: A HIERARCHICAL ATTRIBUTE-BASED SOLUTION FOR FLEXIBLE AND SCALABLE ACCESS CONTROL IN CLOUD COMPUTING

-Cloud computing is the new computing paradigm that has influenced the way computing takes places in the recent past. This emerging technology allows users to outsource their business data and expensive operations as well without capital investment in pay per use fashion. However there are security concerns on outsourced data as the cloud servers are treated as untrusted. To overcome this problem many Attribute Based Encryption (ABE) techniques came into existence for secure access control. These techniques suffer from problems in implementing flexible access control mechanisms. Wan et al. presented a hierarchical attribute based solution which provides fine grained access control besides making it scalable. In this paper we implement this security scheme and build a prototype application that demonstrates the proof of concept. The empirical results revealed encouraging results.
Measuring the quality of judgement and decision-making in nursing.

AIM This paper discusses measurement of the quality of judgement and decision-making in nursing research. It examines theoretical and research issues surrounding how to measure judgement accuracy as a component of evaluating decision-making in nursing practice. DISCUSSION Judgement accuracy is discussed with reference to different methods of measurement, including comparing judgements with independent criteria and inter-judge approaches. Existing research on how judgement accuracy has been measured in nursing practice is examined. Evaluation of decisions is then discussed, including consideration of the process of decision-making and evaluating decision outcomes. Finally, existing research on decision-making in nursing is assessed and the strengths and limitations of different types of measurement discussed. CONCLUSION We suggests that researchers examining the quality of judgement and decision-making in nursing need to be aware of both the strengths and limitations of existing methods of measurement. We also suggest that researchers need to use a number of different methods, including normative approaches such as Bayes' Theorem and Subjective Expected Utility Theory.
The triple‐shell structure and collimated outflows of the planetary nebula NGC 6891

ABSTRA C T Narrow-band Ha and [N ii] images and high-dispersion spatially resolved echelle spectroscopy of the planetary nebula NGC 6891 are presented. These observations show a great wealth of structures. The bright central nebula is surrounded by an attached shell and a detached outer halo. Both the inner and intermediate shells can be described as ellipsoids with similar major to minor axial ratios, but different spatial orientations. The kinematical ages of the intermediate shell and halo are 4800 and 28 000 yr, respectively. The intershell time lapse is in good agreement with the evolutionary interpulse time lapse. A highly collimated outflow is observed to protrude from the tips of the major axis of the inner nebula and impact on the outer edge of the intermediate shell. Kinematics and excitation of this outflow provide conclusive evidence that it is deflected during the interaction with the outer edge of the intermediate shell. At the same time, both the kinematics and the morphology of the intermediate shell appear to be affected by this interaction.
Particle motion and scalar field propagation in Myers–Perry black-hole spacetimes in all dimensions

We study separability of the Hamilton–Jacobi and massive Klein–Gordon equations in the general Myers–Perry black-hole background in all dimensions. Complete separation of both equations is carried out in cases when there are two sets of equal black-hole rotation parameters, which significantly enlarges the rotational symmetry group. We explicitly construct a nontrivial irreducible Killing tensor associated with the enlarged symmetry group which permits separation. We also derive first-order equations of motion for particles in these backgrounds and examine some of their properties.
REGULATION PROBLEMS IN EXPLORER AGENTS

ABSTRACT In the present study, we investigate and analyze the behavior of explorer agents. We perform a number of experiments with single and multiple agents and we obtain a number of corresponding results. First, we decouple the agent's functional/motivational system from its cognitive/representational system and show that intricate regulation is necessary to achieve effective and efficient behavior. In the multiple agents case, we extend the single agent behavioral model with a form of sociality selected from a progression of alternatives designed and evaluated. We also show how the general regulation perspective allows for design and analysis of explorer systems. We do not miss to provide variations of the problem and potential applications all along the way.
Upregulation of the Non-Coding RNA OTUB1-isoform 2 Contributes to Gastric Cancer Cell Proliferation and Invasion and Predicts Poor Gastric Cancer Prognosis

Background: The deubiquitinase OTUB1 plays critical oncogenic roles and facilitates tumor progression in cancer. However, less is known regarding the aberrant expression, clinical significance and biological functions of the non-coding RNA OTUB1-isoform 2. We aimed to evaluate the OTUB1-isoform 2 levels in gastric cancer and their possible correlation with clinicopathologic features and patient survival to reveal its biological effects in gastric cancer progression. Methods: Total RNA extraction was performed on 156 gastric cancer case samples, and RT-qPCR was conducted. Chi-square test analysis was used to calculate the correlation between pathological parameters and the OTUB1-isoform 2 mRNA levels. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards analyses were used to analyze the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates. Nuclear and cytoplasmic RNAs were isolated to detect the subcellular localization of OTUB1-isoform 2. We also assessed whether overexpression of OTUB1-isoform 2 influenced in vitro cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, tumor cell invasion and migration, as well as in vivo nude mouse xenograft and metastasis models. Results: The OTUB1-isoform 2 expression levels were higher in the gastric cancer samples than in the paratumorous gland samples. OTUB1-isoform 2 expression levels tightly correlated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis and TNM staging. Higher OTUB1-isoform 2 expression levels led to significantly poorer OS and DFS rates, and a multivariate analysis revealed that OTUB1-isoform 2 was an independent risk factor for DFS. OTUB1-isoform 2 was predominantly localized in the cell nucleus. Ectopic overexpression of OTUB1-isoform 2 in gastric cancer cells stimulated proliferation by inducing G1-S transition, suppression of cell apoptosis and promotion of tumor cell invasion and migration. Finally, OTUB1-isoform 2 overexpression promoted tumor growth and tumor metastasis in nude mice models. Conclusions: Our study suggests that OTUB1-isoform 2 independently predicts poor prognosis and promotes tumor progression in gastric cancer. The non-coding RNA OTUB1-isoform 2 should be targeted in future molecular therapies.
Summary of Research Accomplishments and Goals

1. Overview My Ph.D. thesis centered on a class of univariate polynomials over finite fields known as composed products or root-based compositions. Work related to the thesis appears in [5], [6], and [41], while additional results pertaining to multivariate analogues appear in [48] and [49]. My post-thesis research in finite fields includes not only work with polynomials (see [14] and [44]), but also work involving more general functions [23], sequences [25], primitive elements possessing certain properties [40], and exponential sums [42]. Moreover, I have expanded my research horizons in other areas of algebra and discrete mathematics , particularly in the area of combinatorial number theory. I have written papers dealing with integer sequences (see [43], [45] and [46]), and am currently writing a paper dealing with polynomial sequences formed by Fibonacci or Lucas numbers, with the goal of extending this work to polynomial sequences formed by Lucas sequence pairs. The purpose of this document is to give a brief introduction to each subject, list my contributions in each area, and present objectives for future work. 2. Finite Fields and Their Applications 2.1. Polynomials. 2.1. 1. Introduction and Results to Date. Polynomials over finite fields have received considerable attention, particularly during the last fifty years, although results on these objects date back to the time of Gauss [39]. My dissertation centered on an operation referred to as the composed product operation, or root-based polynomial composition, see [5], [6] and [41]. The definition of root-based composition is as follows [4]. Let f (x), g(x) ∈ F q [x] be polynomials of degrees m and n respectively, where F q is the finite field of q elements, q a prime power. Suppose also that the roots of f and g lie in a set G contained in the algebraic closure of F q , and that G has a binary operation with the following properties: • G is invariant under the automorphism σ : α → α q. • For all α, β ∈ G, σ(α β) = σ(α) σ(β). (G,) is a group unless we state otherwise. The composed product (f g)(x) of f and g is the polynomial of degree mn whose roots are all-products of roots of f with roots of g, including multiplicities. For the case where denotes ordinary addition, the resulting composition is written as (f f g)(x) and is called the composed sum of f and g. When …
Evaluation of a Test Set for Stiff ODE Solvers

In 1975 Enright, Hull, and Lindberg published a set of problems for the testing of codes for stiff ordinary differential equation {ODE) problems. It has been widely used since then. In this paper a critical evaluation of the test set is made, and changes are recommended that make the set a more useful tool. Comments about the difficulties of testing software in this area are made which may lead to more thoughtful use of the test set.