Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma by Rosiglitazone Increases Sirt6 Expression and Ameliorates Hepatic Steatosis in Rats

Background Sirt6 has been implicated in the regulation of hepatic lipid metabolism and the development of hepatic steatosis. The aim of this study was to address the potential role of Sirt6 in the protective effects of rosiglitazone (RGZ) on hepatic steatosis. Methods To investigate the effect of RGZ on hepatic steatosis, rats were treated with RGZ (4 mg·kg−1·day−1) by stomach gavage for 6 weeks. The involvement of Sirt6 in the RGZ's regulation was evaluated by Sirt6 knockdown in AML12 mouse hepatocytes. Results RGZ treatment ameliorated hepatic lipid accumulation and increased expression of Sirt6, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivtor-1-α (Ppargc1a/PGC1-α) and Forkhead box O1 (Foxo1) in rat livers. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation was also increased by RGZ, accompanied by alterations in phosphorylation of LKB1. Interestingly, in free fatty acid-treated cells, Sirt6 knockdown increased hepatocyte lipid accumulation measured as increased triglyceride contents (p = 0.035), suggesting that Sirt6 may be beneficial in reducing hepatic fat accumulation. In addition, Sirt6 knockdown abolished the effects of RGZ on hepatocyte fat accumulation, mRNA and protein expression of Ppargc1a/PGC1-α and Foxo1, and phosphorylation levels of LKB1 and AMPK, suggesting that Sirt6 is involved in RGZ-mediated metabolic effects. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that RGZ significantly decreased hepatic lipid accumulation, and that this process appeared to be mediated by the activation of the Sirt6-AMPK pathway. We propose Sirt6 as a possible therapeutic target for hepatic steatosis.
Privacy-Enhanced Data Aggregation Scheme Against Internal Attackers in Smart Grid

According to related research, energy consumption can be effectively reduced by using energy management information of smart grids. In smart grid architecture, electricity suppliers can monitor, predicate, and control energy generation/consumption in real time. Users can know the current price of electrical energy and obtain energy management information from smart meters. It helps users reduce home's energy use. However, electricity consumptions of users may divulge the privacy information of users. Therefore, privacy of users and communication security of the smart grid become crucial security issues. This paper presents a secure power-usage data aggregation scheme for smart grid. Electricity suppliers can learn about the current power usage of each neighborhood to arrange energy supply and distribution without knowing the individual electricity consumption of each user. This is the first scheme against internal attackers, and it provides secure batch verification. Additionally, the security of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by formal proofs.
The role of reciprocation in social network formation , with an application to blogging

This paper deals with the role of reciprocation in the formation of individuals’ social networks. We follow the activity of a panel of bloggers over more than a year and investigate the extent to which initiating a relation brings about its reciprocation. We adapt a standard capital investment model to study how reciprocation affects the build-up of the individual social capital of bloggers, as measured by their links and interactions with others. This allows us to measure the role of content production and relationship building in the dynamics of online social networks and to distinguish between the social networking and media aspects of blogging.
Characterization of the mechanical and morphological properties of cortical bones by nanoindentation and Atomic Force Microscopy

Bone is a dynamical, anisotropic, hierarchical, inhomogeneous and time-dependent biological material. At the micro and nano scales, their mechanical and structural characterizations are still being a challenging topic. Nanoindentation and Atomic Force Microscopy are used to assess the mechanical and morphological characteristics of cortical bones. Time-dependent, elastic and plastic mechanical properties were computed using the nanoindentation method proposed by (Mazeran et al., 2012). Experiments were performed on different species of bones for different conditions. Wistar rat femoral cortical bone was used to assess the evolution of the mechanical properties in a life span model (from growth to senescence). The variation of the mechanical properties with age was evidenced and their correlation with physico-chemical properties was established. Then, prediction equations were proposed to describe these behaviours. From these equations, it is possible to estimate an apparent maturation age for each mechanical property. Our findings suggest maturation age is earlier and growth rate are higher for elastic properties than for time-dependent mechanical properties. Time-dependent mechanical behaviour of Human femoral cortical bones were assessed considering its heterogeneity. Haversian systems with different apparent mineral content were identified by means of their apparent grey levels obtained from ESEM images. Results prove the mechanical heterogeneity of the Haversian systems and highlight the influence of the time-dependent mechanical properties in the anisotropic behaviour of bone. Bovine femoral cortical bone was used to quantify the mechanical and morphological effects of the demineralization process. Bone seems to have a quasi-isotropic mechanical behaviour after mineral loss. AFM images of the remaining organic components show that collagen fibrils are oriented in a possible privileged direction. According to our knowledge, few investigations have been performed simultaneously on mechanical, morphological and physico-chemical properties of bone. All these results provide a better understanding of the interactions of the collagen-mineral matrix, bone remodelling and their influence especially in the time-dependent mechanical response. Data reported in this work could be useful to develop and to improve multi-scale bone models and multi-scale constitutive laws for cortical bone.
Thermal Shock Testing of Ceramics—A New Testing Method

The thermal shock behavior of Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} has been determined with a new type of computer-controlled testing equipment. Thin circular disks are heated up to 1350{degrees}C with two tungsten halogen lamps yielding heating rates up to 1000{degrees}C/s. The sample temperature is measured in situ with an infrared pyrometer and used to calculate the transient thermal stresses. The simple geometry of radially orientated notches allows in situ observation of the crack growth behavior during thermal shock. Measured failure times are used to determine the fracture toughness of the material under thermal shock loading, K{sub c} {sup TS}, from room temperature (RT) up to 1000{degrees}C. Comparison of the results with K{sub Ic} {sup SENB} values measured by the single-edge notch beam method at RT shows excellent agreement.
Pam and Its Ortholog Highwire Interact with and May Negatively Regulate the TSC1·TSC2 Complex*

Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant disorder associated with mutations in TSC1, which codes for hamartin, or TSC2, which codes for tuberin. The brain is one of the most severely affected organs, and CNS lesions include cortical tubers and subependymal giant cell astrocytomas, resulting in mental retardation and seizures. Tuberin and hamartin function together as a complex in mammals and Drosophila. We report here the association of Pam, a protein identified as an interactor of Myc, with the tuberin-hamartin complex in the brain. The C terminus of Pam containing the RING zinc finger motif binds to tuberin. Pam is expressed in embryonic and adult brain as well as in cultured neurons. Pam has two forms in the rat CNS, an ∼450-kDa form expressed in early embryonic stages and an ∼350-kDa form observed in the postnatal period. In cortical neurons, Pam co-localizes with tuberin and hamartin in neurites and growth cones. Although Pam function(s) are yet to be defined, the highly conserved Pam homologs, HIW (Drosophila) and RPM-1 (Caenorhabditis elegans), are neuron-specific proteins that regulate synaptic growth. Here we show that HIW can genetically interact with the Tsc1·Tsc2 complex in Drosophila and could negatively regulate Tsc1·Tsc2 activity. Based on genetic studies, HIW has been implicated in ubiquitination, possibly functioning as an E3 ubiquitin ligase through the RING zinc finger domain. Therefore, we hypothesize that Pam, through its interaction with tuberin, could regulate the ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of the tuberin-hamartin complex particularly in the CNS.
Birth Weight and the Survival of Babies of Diabetic Women*

The high perinatal mortality among the babies of diabetic women is often thought to be directly proportionate to their birth weight, but in an earlier analysis of the Edinburgh series the smaller babies at any gestational age were found to be at greater risk. It was also apparent that some pre-diabetic and diabetic women can bear whole families of large babies who progress normally, while others have a dismal record of foetal loss which may be independent of the duration of maternal diabetes or of the quality of its control (Farquhar, 1959). The disparity between these observations and conventional opinion has prompted this re-examination of the subject in a larger series.
Strategies for differentiation, identification and typing of medically important species of mycobacteria by molecular methods

Molecular biology methods offer new opportunities to differentiate, identify and type bacterial species and strains. These methods use the variability of nucleic sequences of genes such as 16S rDNA, beta subunit RNA-ase (rpoB), gyrase (gyrB), rDNA internal transcribed spacer and other genes. The aim of this paper is to provide comprehensive information about the methods available to differentiate and identify species of mycobacteria at the DNA sequence level. The methods discussed in the review include PCR, PCR-REA, sequencing analysis, spoligotyping and DNA fingerprinting. These methods have been applied to both the “universal” part of the genome and to specific mycobacterial genes.
Quasar Evolution Driven by Galaxy Encounters in Hierarchical Structures

We link the evolution of the galaxies in the hierarchical clustering scenario with the changing accretion rates of cold gas onto the central massive black holes that power the quasars. We focus on galaxy interactions as main triggers of accretion; the related scaling laws are taken from Cavaliere & Vittorini and grafted to a semianalytic code for galaxy formation. As a result, at high z the protogalaxies grow rapidly by hierarchical merging; meanwhile, much fresh gas is imported and also destabilized, so the holes are fueled at their full Eddington rates. At lower z the galactic dynamical events are mostly encounters in hierarchically growing groups; now the refueling peters out, as the residual gas is exhausted while the destabilizing encounters dwindle. So, with no parameter tuning other than that needed for stellar observables, our model uniquely produces a rise from z ≈ 6 to 2.5, and for z < 2.5 a decline of the bright quasar population as steep as observed. In addition, our results closely fit the observed luminosity functions of quasars, their space density at different magnitudes from z ≈ 5 to 0, and the local mBH-σ relation.
DOWNSTREAM FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND

This paper examines how an industry’s productivity is changed by inward FDI occurring in affiliated downstream industries those buying from the focal industry. While controlling for FDI into the focal industry, I find that FDI in downstream industries has a significant negative influence on U.S. manufacturing industries in 1987-1991. Downstream FDI reduces productivity by lowering the demand for output, which raises firms’ average costs. This negative productivity influence is relatively large. When focal and downstream FDI increase similarly, the resulting productivity outcome for the focal industry is negative. JEL classification: F23, L10, O19
Either or Both Competition: A 'Two-Sided' Theory of Advertising with Overlapping Viewerships

In media markets, consumers spread their attention to several outlets, increasingly so as consumption migrates online. The traditional framework for competition among media outlets rules out this behavior by assumption. We propose a new model that allows consumers to choose multiple outlets and use it to study the effects on advertising levels and the impact of entry and mergers. We identify novel forces which reflect outlets' incentives to control the composition of their customer base. We link consumer preferences and advertising technologies to market outcomes. The model can explain several empirical regularities that are difficult to reconcile with existing models.
Multi-image Blind Deblurring Using a Coupled Adaptive Sparse Prior

This paper presents a robust algorithm for estimating a single latent sharp image given multiple blurry and/or noisy observations. The underlying multi-image blind deconvolution problem is solved by linking all of the observations together via a Bayesian-inspired penalty function which couples the unknown latent image, blur kernels, and noise levels together in a unique way. This coupled penalty function enjoys a number of desirable properties, including a mechanism whereby the relative-concavity or shape is adapted as a function of the intrinsic quality of each blurry observation. In this way, higher quality observations may automatically contribute more to the final estimate than heavily degraded ones. The resulting algorithm, which requires no essential tuning parameters, can recover a high quality image from a set of observations containing potentially both blurry and noisy examples, without knowing a priori the degradation type of each observation. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world test images clearly demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.
COA Modeling with Probabilistic Ontologies

Planning during complex endeavors is a daunting task in many aspects. An important one is the representation of shared intent, which is an open research topic focused on expressing a common picture among different planning systems with distinct languages, and sometimes disparate problem solving methodologies. The common approach is to use a translator between the order/request message and the planning system, which doesn’t convey all the elements that are necessary to support the planning task. The present research proposes to address this issue by the use of a semantic layer as an interface among different planning systems, which not only improves interoperability but also provides support for pruning the search space before the information is sent to the planning system. The layer is based on a probabilistic ontology, which provides shared intent description as well as formalization of the operational domain and of the planning problem, including a principled representation of the involved uncertainty. The proposed scheme supports previous analysis of the search space in order to send to the planning system a concise set of tasks that will contribute to reach the desired end state. Keywords—Interoperability, Automated Planning, Probabilistic Ontology.
The sweet trap in tumors: aerobic glycolysis and potential targets for therapy

Metabolic change is one of the hallmarks of tumor, which has recently attracted a great of attention. One of main metabolic characteristics of tumor cells is the high level of glycolysis even in the presence of oxygen, known as aerobic glycolysis or the Warburg effect. The energy production is much less in glycolysis pathway than that in tricarboxylic acid cycle. The molecular mechanism of a high glycolytic flux in tumor cells remains unclear. A large amount of intermediates derived from glycolytic pathway could meet the biosynthetic requirements of the proliferating cells. Hypoxia-induced HIF-1α, PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway, and many other factors, such as oncogene activation and tumor suppressor inactivation, drive cancer cells to favor glycolysis over mitochondrial oxidation. Several small molecules targeting glycolytic pathway exhibit promising anticancer activity both in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we will focus on the latest progress in the regulation of aerobic glycolysis and discuss the potential targets for the tumor therapy.
Investigation into the Tensile Properties of Stitched and Unstitched Woven Aramid/Vinyl Ester Composites

In this study, the influence of stitch bonding on the tensile strength and tensile modulus in plain woven Twaron T-750/vinyl ester composites in the direction of thickness was examined. The effect of stitch density was investigated in longitudinal (warp) and transverse (weft) directions as a parameter. The space (opening) geometry and the deformation caused by the stitching process around stitch points were investigated. The stitching tension, stitch thread type and diameter were kept constant throughout the study. An increase in the tensile strength was observed for low stitching densities while there was no change in the tensile strength for medium stitching densities. A decrease in the tensile strength was observed for high stitching densities. It is especially noted that the tensile strength, which is on the transversal direction perpendicular to stitch direction, decreased with stitching density and tensile deformations initiated much earlier in this direction. It was understood that fiber deviations and resin rich areas were much more effective on these decreases compared with fiber deformation.
What do first-year engineers and others consider cheating?

This paper reports student responses to a short survey presented within the first few weeks to a variety of first-term students including both engineers and non-engineers. Survey results for first-year engineering students from 2014 (NEng2014 = 85) have previously been reported [1] and were included in this analysis. In 2015, an additional one hundred and seven engineering students (NEng2015 = 103), thirty-eight nursing students (NNur = 38), and sixty-four biology students (NBio = 63) completed the same survey. The purpose of this survey was to build a dialog between faculty and students regarding ethical classroom behavior and to gain further insight into student attitudes regarding activities that may or may not be considered cheating. Students were anonymously asked to rank their level of agreement with eleven statements related to working with others on assignments, using solution materials for homework, and appropriate behavior for exams including the use of technology. After analysis indicated that the two engineering groups were not statistically different, the 2014 engineering group was combined with the 2015 engineering group. The results of these student surveys have been used to guide continuous improvement of the engineering program and will inform efforts to address ethical topics for future discussions campus-wide.
Laminin forms an independent network in basement membranes [published erratum appears in J Cell Biol 1992 Jun;118(2):493]

Laminin self-assembles in vitro into a polymer by a reversible, entropy- driven and calcium-facilitated process dependent upon the participation of the short arm globular domains. We now find that this polymer is required for the structural integrity of the collagen-free basement membrane of cultured embryonal carcinoma cells (ECC) and for the supramolecular organization and anchorage of laminin in the collagen- rich basement membrane of the Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm tumor (EHS). First, low temperature and EDTA induced the dissolution of ECC basement membranes and released approximately 80% of total laminin from the EHS basement membrane. Second, laminin elastase fragments (E4 and E1') possessing the short arm globules of the B1, B2, and A chains selectively acted as competitive ligands that dissolved ECC basement membranes and displaced laminin from the EHS basement membrane into solution. The fraction of laminin released increased as a function of ligand concentration, approaching the level of the EDTA-reversible pool. The smaller (approximately 20%) residual pool of EHS laminin, in contrast, could only be effectively displaced by E1' and E4 if the collagenous network was first degraded with bacterial collagenase. The supramolecular architecture of freeze-etched and platinum/carbon replicated reconstituted laminin gel polymer, ECC, and collagenase- treated EHS basement membranes were compared and found to be similar, further supporting the biochemical data. We conclude that laminin forms a network independent of that of type IV collagen in basement membranes. Furthermore, in the EHS basement membrane four-fifths of laminin is anchored strictly through noncovalent bonds between laminin monomers while one-fifth is anchored through a combination of these bonds and laminin-collagen bridges.
Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Hollow Sphere Structures in Sandwich Panels

This work addresses the performance of novel metallic hollow-sphere structures (MHSS) in sandwich panels. Numerical finite-element analyses and experimental tests are described.The first part of the book focuses on the various types of metallic hollow-sphere structure. The influence of morphology, topology, joining technology and material composition upon their mechanical properties is investigated numerically. Uniaxial compressive tests, with adhesively-bonded MHSS, are performed in order to confirm the numerical findings. In addition, the effective thermal conductivities of MHSS are determined. The main focus of the second part of this work is the experimental three-point bend testing of sandwich panels.The sandwich panels are assembled using aluminium facing-sheets which enclose various cellular core materials such as M-Pore[registered] and Alporas[registered] aluminium foams, honeycomb structures and adhesively-bonded MHSS. The flexural stiffness, load-carrying capacity and failure modes are determined by using three-point bending tests. A comparison of the experimental findings permits the evaluation of the performance of various cellular metal cores. This is an invaluable source of data on this specialised topic.
Responses to threat in a freshwater invader: longitudinal data reveal personality, habituation, and robustness to changing water temperatures in the “killer shrimp” Dikerogammarus villosus (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

Abstract Freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem integrity are under threat from biological invasions. The “killer shrimp” Dikerogammarus villosus is a highly predatory amphipod that has spread readily across Central Europe and recently the UK and its arrival has been associated with the significant loss of resident species. Despite this, studies of its behavioral ecology are sparse, even though its behavior may contribute to its invasion success. For the first time, we investigated antipredator “fleeing” behavior in D. villosus and how this changed with water temperature. Three key patterns emerged from our analysis. First, within a particular temperature condition there are moderate but consistent among-individual differences in behavior. These are driven by a combination of mean level among-individual differences and within-individual relative consistency in behavior, and provide the key marker for animal personalities. Second, the fleeing responses were not influenced by temperature and third, regardless of temperature, all individuals appeared to habituate to a repeated nondangerous stimulus, indicating a capacity for individual learning. We suggest that the antipredator behavior of D. villosus contributes to its rapid spread and that consistent among-individual differences in behavior may promote biological invasions across heterogeneous conditions. Robustness to changing water temperatures may also be potentially advantageous, particularly in an era of global climate change, where average temperatures could be elevated and less predictable.