Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combined transport of water and ions through membrane channels

Abstract The coupling of ion and water flow through membrane channels is under dispute. Among all human aquaporins only aquaporin-6 exhibits ion channel activity. Whether aquaporin-6 functions also as a water channel cannot yet be determined with confidence. Similarly, a comparison of single-channel water permeabilities from ion channels and aquaporins suggests that ion channels may play a secondary role as water channels. However, the fraction of absorbed fluid that crosses epithelial ion channels still remains to be determined.
Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins?

Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri Gray) are the only vertebrate species that breed during the Antarctic winter. From the beginning of the breeding season in April until fledging of the chicks in January, emperor penguins rely on the stability of sea (fast) ice. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recently listed the species as ‘near threatened’ because the habitat of emperor penguins may deteriorate significantly over the coming years with the anticipated changes in sea ice conditions due to climate change. Since 2009, four emperor penguin colonies have been observed on ice shelves, as opposed to sea ice, during the breeding season (Fretwell et al. 2014). This striking change in their breeding behaviour was interpreted as an adaptation of emperor penguins to poor sea ice conditions. Here we report that a large part of the emperor penguin colony at Atka Bay (Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica) moved onto the ice shelf during the 2013 breeding season. This colony has been regularly observed since 1981 but has never before been seen breeding, incubating their eggs, brooding or creching on the ice shelf. Our observations concur with a recent report, which documented that altered breeding behaviour in emperor penguins has occurred almost simultaneously across Antarctica (Fretwell et al. 2014). Interestingly, the sea ice at Atka Bay has been stable for three consecutive seasons and thus cannot have triggered this change in behaviour. Rather, we present evidence of increased snow accumulation that has greatly improved the accessibility of the ice shelves around Atka Bay, and we discuss additional meteorological factors and local topographical conditions that may have contributed to the shift in breeding location from sea ice onto an ice shelf.
Measurements and models for radio path loss and penetration loss in and around homes and trees at 5.85 GHz

This paper contains measured data and empirical models for 5.85-GHz radio propagation path loss in and around residential areas for the newly allocated U.S. National Information Infrastructure (NII) band. Three homes and two stands of trees were studied for outdoor path loss, tree loss, and house penetration loss in a narrow-band measurement campaign that included 270 local area path loss measurements and over 276000 instantaneous power measurements. Outdoor transmitters at a height of 5.5 m were placed at distances between 30 and 210 m from the homes, to simulate typical neighborhood base stations mounted atop utility poles. All path loss data are presented graphically and coupled with site-specific information. We develop measurement-based path loss models for propagation prediction. The measurements and models may aid the development of futuristic outdoor-to-indoor residential communication systems for wireless Internet access, wireless cable distribution, and wireless local loops.
Phase-evolving real-time visualization of 100 GHz traveling waves

A novel experimental scheme has been demonstrated for wave analyses in W-band. A system for phase-evolving real-time visualization of W-band waves has been constructed for the first time and has been applied to 100 GHz traveling wave analyses. Analyses on wave images/movies have been performed in conjunction with a numerical simulation approach. Described as an example of the wave analyses is a study on wave interactions between a semiconductor slab waveguide mode and a free space mode.
The MST/Hippo Pathway and Cell Death: A Non-Canonical Affair

The MST/Hippo signalling pathway was first described over a decade ago in Drosophila melanogaster and the core of the pathway is evolutionary conserved in mammals. The mammalian MST/Hippo pathway regulates organ size, cell proliferation and cell death. In addition, it has been shown to play a central role in the regulation of cellular homeostasis and it is commonly deregulated in human tumours. The delineation of the canonical pathway resembles the behaviour of the Hippo pathway in the fly where the activation of the core kinases of the pathway prevents the proliferative signal mediated by the key effector of the pathway YAP. Nevertheless, several lines of evidence support the idea that the mammalian MST/Hippo pathway has acquired new features during evolution, including different regulators and effectors, crosstalk with other essential signalling pathways involved in cellular homeostasis and the ability to actively trigger cell death. Here we describe the current knowledge of the mechanisms that mediate MST/Hippo dependent cell death, especially apoptosis. We include evidence for the existence of complex signalling networks where the core proteins of the pathway play a central role in controlling the balance between survival and cell death. Finally, we discuss the possible involvement of these signalling networks in several human diseases such as cancer, diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders.
Th2 Response of Human Peripheral Monocytes Involves Isoform-Specific Induction of Monoamine Oxidase-A12

Monocyte/macrophage function is critically regulated by specific cytokines and growth factors that they are exposed to at inflammatory sites. IL-4 and IL-13 are multifunctional cytokines generated mainly by Th2 lymphocytes that have important biological activities in allergy and inflammation. The Th2 response of human peripheral monocytes is characterized by complex alterations in the gene expression pattern, which involves dominant expression of CD23 cell surface Ag and lipid-peroxidizing 15-lipoxygenase-1 (15-LOX1). In this study, we report that the classical Th2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-13 strongly up-regulate expression of monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) with no induction of the closely related isozyme, MAO-B. Real-time PCR indicated a >2000-fold up-regulation of the MAO-A transcripts, and immunohistochemistry revealed coexpression of the enzyme with 15-LOX1 in a major subpopulation of monocytes. MAO-A was also induced in lung carcinoma A549 cells by IL-4 in parallel with 15-LOX1. In promyelomonocytic U937 cells, which neither express 15-LOX1 nor MAO-A in response to IL-4 stimulation, expression of MAO-A was up-regulated following transfection with 15-LOX1. This is the first report indicating expression of MAO-A in human monocytes. Its isoform-specific up-regulation in response to Th2 cytokines suggests involvement of the enzyme in modulation of innate and/or acquired immune system.
Modelling and simulation of substrate elasticity sensing in stem cells

Recently, we have developed a multiscale soft matter cell model aiming at improving the understanding of mechanotransduction mechanism of stem cells, which is responsible for information exchange between cells and their extracellular environment. In this paper, we report the preliminary results of our research on multiscale modelling and simulation of soft contact and adhesion of stem cells. The proposed multiscale soft matter cell model may be used to model soft contact and adhesion between cells and their extracellular substrates. To the authors' best knowledge, this may be the first time that a soft matter model has been developed for cell contact and adhesion. Moreover, we have developed and implemented a Lagrange-type meshfree Galerkin formulation and related computational algorithms for the proposed cell model. Comparison study with experimental data has been conducted to validate the parameters of the cell model. By using the soft matter cell model, we have simulated the soft adhesive contact process between cells and extracellular substrates. The simulation shows that the cell can sense substrate elasticity by responding it in different manners from cell spreading to cell contact configuration and molecular conformation changes.
Foundation Hospitals: A New Direction for NHS Reform?

The Government's proposals to create new ‘foundation hospitals’ are moving forward rapidly, despite considerable political opposition not least within the Labour Party itself, and deep scepticism about the ideas in many quarters of the National Health Service and the professions. Advocates claim they will lead the way to a new understanding of public services and public ownership, ‘set the NHS free’ from the iron grip of Whitehall control, and make health services more accountable to and responsive to patients and local communities1. Critics argue that the ideas are, at best, a half-baked, reheated version of NHS trusts launched in the early 1990s2. At worst, they assert, foundation hospitals are the start of the break-up of the NHS, a creeping form of privatization that will undermine the fundamental values of social solidarity, care according to clinical need rather than ability to pay, and equity in healthcare provision on which the NHS was founded. Although the necessary legislation has yet to be passed, the Government has already issued a prospectus for potential applicants for foundation status, and set out a timetable that would see the first foundation hospital identified this year and coming into being in April 20043. This paper examines the case for foundation hospitals, and tries to set it in the wider context of health policy development and NHS reform over the past two decades. It argues that there is a need for a fundamental change in the systems for governance and accountability in the NHS and examines how the creation of foundation hospitals might help to meet that need.
Electronic Marketing

Electronic marketing is an established and fast growing research stream within electronic commerce that continues to evolve. New methods, models, lessons and best practices continue to be tested, discovered, refined and advanced. Our minitrack, now in its seventh year, highlights several interesting studies done in this area. We have accepted papers in two areas: 1) quantitative, empirical research with strong theoretical underpinnings, and 2) novel methods and approaches for envisioning and creating effective online/Internet marketing theory development or managerial best practice.
Observed trends in the daily intensity of United Kingdom precipitation.

The intensity distribution of daily precipitation amounts in the UK has changed over the period 1961–1995, becoming on average more intense in winter and less intense in summer. This result is based on an analysis of 110 UK station records. In winter, and in terms of their relative contributions to total winter precipitation, there has been a decline in light and medium events and an increase in the heaviest events. This change is fairly uniform across the whole country and is apparent even when longer records (with reduced spatial coverage/detail) are analysed back to 1931 or 1908. The reverse is found in summer: over 1961–1995 there has been a decline in the proportion of the seasonal total being provided by the heaviest events. In the longer term context, however, the summer changes appear to be a return to earlier levels after a period in the 1960s when heavy summer rainfall made a greater than normal contribution. More complex changes have occurred in the intensity distribution of spring and autumn precipitation, with opposite changes in different regions of the UK. Copyright © 2000 Royal Meteorological Society
Precipitable water vapor on the Tibetan Plateau estimated by GPS, water vapor radiometer, radiosonde, and numerical weather prediction analysis and its impact on the radiation budget

[1] Precipitable water vapor amounts (PW) determined by Global Positioning System (GPS), radiosonde and operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) system analysis at three stations (Naqu, Gaize, and Deqin) on the Tibetan Plateau are compared. PW measured by water vapor radiometer at Naqu and a low-elevation site, Xian, is used for calibration. The results show that the PW determined by NWP analysis in these regions is comparable with that of the radiosonde measurements but that they both are systematically smaller than those determined by the GPS measurements. The averaged difference of PW between GPS and radiosonde estimates is about 1.75 mm, and that between GPS and NWP analysis can be as large as 7.75 mm. These differences are relatively larger than those reported in the literature because the absolute PW in this region is much smaller. The effect of such large differences on the surface radiation budget is evaluated using a radiation model. The results show that both longwave and shortwave radiative fluxes at the surface determined using the model analysis profiles with the water vapor corrected by the GPS PW are closer to the observations compared with those without water vapor correction. The flux difference at the surface with and without water vapor correction is about 20 W m−2 in the shortwave and 30 W m−2 in the longwave. These differences are much larger than that caused by doubling the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in this region.
A Characterization of Prediction Errors

Understanding prediction errors and determining how to fix them is critical to building effective predictive systems. In this paper, we delineate four types of prediction errors and demonstrate that these four types characterize all prediction errors. In addition, we describe potential remedies and tools that can be used to reduce the uncertainty when trying to determine the source of a prediction error and when trying to take action to remove a prediction errors.
Mechanical properties and in vitro characterization of polyvinyl alcohol-nano-silver hydrogel wound dressings

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogels are materials for potential use in burn healing. Silver nanoparticles can be synthesized within PVA hydrogels giving antimicrobial hydrogels. Hydrogels have to be swollen prior to their application, and the common medium available for that in hospitals is saline solution, but the hydrogel could also take up some of the wound's fluid. This work developed gamma-irradiated PVA/nano-Ag hydrogels for potential use in burn dressing applications. Silver nitrate (AgNO3) was used as nano-Ag precursor agent. Saline solution, phosphate-buffered solution (PBS) pH 7.4 and solution pH 4.0 were used as swelling media. Microstructural evaluation revealed an effect of the nanoparticles on PVA crystallization. The swelling of the PVA-Ag samples in solution pH 4.0 was low, as was their silver delivery, compared with the equivalent samples swollen in the other media. The highest swelling and silver delivery were related to samples prepared with 0.50% AgNO3, and they also presented lower strength in PBS pH 7.4 and solution pH 4.0. Both PVA-Ag samples were also non-toxic and presented antimicrobial activity, confirming that 0.25% AgNO3 concentration is sufficient to establish an antimicrobial effect. Both PVA-Ag samples presented suitable mechanical and swelling properties in all media, representative of potential burn site conditions.
Investigation of Vertical Profiles of Meteorological Parameters and Ozone Concentration in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area

In the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA), ozone (O3) concentration is still higher than in other urban areas in developed countries. In order to reveal the current state of photochemical air pollution and to provide data for validation of chemical transport models, vertical profiles of meteorological parameters and ozone concentrations were measured by ozonesonde in two field campaigns: the first one, during the change of season from wet to dry-cold (November 2011) and the second during the dry-warm season (March 2012). Unlike previous similar field campaigns, ozonesonde was launched twice daily. The observation data were used to analyze the production and distribution of ozone in the convective boundary layer. The observation days covered a wide range of meteorological conditions, and various profiles were obtained. The evolution of the mixing layer (ML) height was analyzed, revealing that ML evolution was faster during daytime in March 2012 than in November 2011. On a day in November 2011, the early-morning strong wind and the resulting vertical mixing was observed to have brought the high-ozone-concentration air-mass to the ground and caused relatively high surface ozone concentration in the morning. The amount of produced ozone in the MCMA was estimated by taking the difference between the two profiles on each day. In addition to the well-known positive correlation between daily maximum temperature and ozone production, effect of the ML height and wind stagnation was identified for a day in March 2012 when the maximum ground-level ozone concentration was observed during the two field campaigns. The relatively low ventilation coefficient in the morning and the relatively high value in the afternoon on this day implied efficient accumulation of the O3 precursors and rapid production of O3 in the ML.
The Signaling State of Arabidopsis Cryptochrome 2 Contains Flavin Semiquinone*

Cryptochrome (Cry) photoreceptors share high sequence and structural similarity with DNA repair enzyme DNA-photolyase and carry the same flavin cofactor. Accordingly, DNA-photolyase was considered a model system for the light activation process of cryptochromes. In line with this view were recent spectroscopic studies on cryptochromes of the CryDASH subfamily that showed photoreduction of the flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) cofactor to its fully reduced form. However, CryDASH members were recently shown to have photolyase activity for cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers in single-stranded DNA, which is absent for other members of the cryptochrome/photolyase family. Thus, CryDASH may have functions different from cryptochromes. The photocycle of other members of the cryptochrome family, such as Arabidopsis Cry1 and Cry2, which lack DNA repair activity but control photomorphogenesis and flowering time, remained elusive. Here we have shown that Arabidopsis Cry2 undergoes a photocycle in which semireduced flavin (FADH·) accumulates upon blue light irradiation. Green light irradiation of Cry2 causes a change in the equilibrium of flavin oxidation states and attenuates Cry2-controlled responses such as flowering. These results demonstrate that the active form of Cry2 contains FADH· (whereas catalytically active photolyase requires fully reduced flavin (FADH-)) and suggest that cryptochromes could represent photoreceptors using flavin redox states for signaling differently from DNA-photolyase for photorepair.
Microorganisms Isolated from Deep Sea Low-temperature Influenced Oceanic Crust Basalts and Sediment Samples Collected along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Basalt and sediment samples were collected (at 1,460–2,996 m of water depth) along the Mid-Atlantic-Ridge. The microbial diversity was analysed by aerobic cultivation on three different media enriched for manganese- and sulphur-oxidising bacteria. Phylogenetic analyses of bacterial isolates revealed affiliations to the classes Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacilli. Our data revealed significant differences in the occurrence and diversity of these communities between the respective deep seafloor biosphere sources. Among 138 genotypes, 12 putatively unknown isolates were detected. Characterisation of selected isolates revealed high tolerances against a broad range of temperatures, pH-values and salt concentrations.
Investigating ALOS PALSAR interferometric coherence in central Siberia at unfrozen and frozen conditions: implications for forest growing stock volume estimation

This paper investigates the impact of freezing on the properties of the magnitude of the interferometric coherence |γ| in central Siberia and discusses its implications for forest growing stock volume (GSV) estimation in the boreal zone. Eighty-seven acquisitions were employed and approximately 300 interferograms were generated. Accordingly, a high statistical credibility of the obtained results can be presumed. The temporal baselines of the interferograms ranged from 46 days to 2.5 years. The random volume over ground model was applied to support the interpretation of the observations. Compared with unfrozen conditions, we observed increased coherence over open areas, decreased coherence over dense forest, decreased spread of coherence, and improved correlation between |γ| and GSV during a frozen state. At frozen conditions, the experimental data showed no proof that the perpendicular baseline B⊥ impacted |γ| over dense forest, whereas at unfrozen conditions an impact was detected. Consequently, at frozen conditions, the temporal decorrelation was the major source of decorrelation and obstructed the detection of volume decorrelation effects. Nevertheless, |γ| acquired at frozen state exhibits potential for GSV mapping. The relationship between GSV and |γ| can be described with an average coefficient of determination R2 of 0.6. Saturation occurs at about 250 m3/ha.
Neural Mechanisms of Object Naming and Word Comprehension in Primary Progressive Aphasia

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome that causes a gradual atrophy of the left hemisphere language network, leading to impairments of object naming (anomia) and word comprehension. In 33 human subjects with PPA, object naming and word comprehension were explored with N400 potentials elicited by picture–word or picture–picture matching tasks. Two mechanisms of impairment were identified. In one group of patients, where the object name could be recognized but not retrieved during verbal naming, N400s in picture–word trials were also abnormal, revealing an associative basis for retrieval anomia. In these patients, a putative prephonological signal (i.e., lemma) evoked by the object picture appears to have become too weak to elicit retrieval, but not necessarily too weak to support the informationally less taxing process of recognition. A second group of PPA patients showed more severe naming deficits—the object name was neither verbalized nor recognized. Furthermore, nouns of the same category (but not those of other object categories) could not be identified as mismatches. This blurring of intracategory but not intercategory differentiation of word meaning was correlated with anterior temporal atrophy, predominantly in the left hemisphere, especially along the superior temporal gyrus. Although not part of the classic language network, this area appears critical for proceeding from generic to specific levels of word comprehension and object naming. N400 abnormalities emerged for lexical (picture–word) but not nonverbal (picture–picture) associations, supporting a dual-route rather than amodal organization of object concepts.