Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mutants of the membrane-binding region of Semliki Forest virus E2 protein. I. Cell surface transport and fusogenic activity

Three mutations of the membrane-binding region of the Semliki Forest virus (SFV) p62 polypeptide (the precursor for virion E3 and E2) have been made by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis of a cDNA clone encoding the SFV structural proteins. One of the mutations (A2) substitutes a Glu for an Ala in the middle of the hydrophobic stretch which spans the bilayer. A1 and A3 alter the two basic charged amino acids in the cytoplasmic domain next to the hydrophobic region. The wild-type charge cluster of Arg-Ser-Lys (+2) has been changed to Gly- Ser-Met (0;A3) or to Gly-Ser-Glu (-1;A1). The mutant p62 proteins have been analyzed both in the presence and the absence of E1, the other half of the heterodimer spike complex of SFV. The mutant proteins expressed in COS-7 cells are glycosylated and are of the expected sizes. When co-expressed with E1, all three mutants are cleaved to yield the E2 protein and transported to the surface of COS-7 cells. When expressed in the absence of E1, the mutant p62 proteins remain uncleaved but still reach the cell surface. Once at the cell surface, all three mutants, when co-expressed with E1, can promote low pH- triggered cell-cell fusion. These results show that the three mutant p62/E2 proteins are still membrane associated in a functionally unaltered way.
Membrane Resonance and Subthreshold Membrane Oscillations in Mesencephalic V Neurons: Participants in Burst Generation

Trigeminal mesencephalic (Mes V) neurons are critical components of the circuits controlling oral-motor activity. The possibility that they can function as interneurons necessitates a detailed understanding of the factors controlling their soma excitability. Using whole-cell patch-clamp recording, in vitro, we investigated the development of the ionic mechanisms responsible for the previously described subthreshold membrane oscillations and rhythmical burst discharge in Mes V neurons from rats ages postnatal day (P) 2–12. We found that the oscillation amplitude and frequency increased during development, whereas bursting emerged after P6. Furthermore, when bursting was initiated, the spike frequency was largely determined by the oscillation frequency. Frequency domain analysis indicated that these oscillations emerged from the voltage-dependent resonant properties of Mes V neurons. Low doses of 4-aminopyridine (<100 μm) reduced the oscillations and abolished resonance in most neurons, suggesting that the resonant current is a steady-state K+ current (I4-AP). Sodium ion replacement or TTX reduced substantially the oscillations and peak amplitude of the resonance, suggesting the presence of a persistent Na+ current (INaP) that functions to amplify the resonance and facilitate the emergence of subthreshold oscillations and bursting.
Evidence for a bimodal distribution in human communication

Interacting human activities underlie the patterns of many social, technological, and economic phenomena. Here we present clear empirical evidence from Short Message correspondence that observed human actions are the result of the interplay of three basic ingredients: Poisson initiation of tasks and decision making for task execution in individual humans as well as interaction among individuals. This interplay leads to new types of interevent time distribution, neither completely Poisson nor power-law, but a bimodal combination of them. We show that the events can be separated into independent bursts which are generated by frequent mutual interactions in short times following random initiations of communications in longer times by the individuals. We introduce a minimal model of two interacting priority queues incorporating the three basic ingredients which fits well the distributions using the parameters extracted from the empirical data. The model can also embrace a range of realistic social interacting systems such as e-mail and letter communications when taking the time scale of processing into account. Our findings provide insight into various human activities both at the individual and network level. Our analysis and modeling of bimodal activity in human communication from the viewpoint of the interplay between processes of different time scales is likely to shed light on bimodal phenomena in other complex systems, such as interevent times in earthquakes, rainfall, forest fire, and economic systems, etc.
Viewing progress in non-photorealistic rendering through Heinlein's lens

The field of non-photorealistic rendering is reaching a mature state. In its infancy, researchers explored the mimicry of methods and tools used by traditional artists to generate works of art, through techniques like watercolor or oil painting simulations. As the field has moved past mimicry, ideas from artists and artistic techniques have been adapted and altered for performance in the media of computer graphics, creating algorithmic aesthetics such as generative art or the automatic composition of objects in a scene, as well as abstraction in rendering and geometry. With these two initial stages of non-photorealistic rendering well established, the field must find new territory to cover. In this paper, we provide a high level overview of the past and current state of non-photorealistic rendering and call to arms the community to create the areas of research that make computation of non-photorealistic rendering generate never before realized results.
Supervised and Unsupervised Word Sense Disambiguation on Word Embedding Vectors of Unambigous Synonyms

This paper compares two approaches to word sense disambiguation using word embeddings trained on unambiguous synonyms. The first is unsupervised method based on computing log probability from sequences of word embedding vectors, taking into account ambiguous word senses and guessing correct sense from context. The second method is supervised. We use a multilayer neural network model to learn a context-sensitive transformation that maps an input vector of ambiguous word into an output vector representing its sense. We evaluate both methods on corpora with manual annotations of word senses from the Polish wordnet (plWordnet).
Need Satisfaction, Partner Attachment, and Romantic Relationship Quality: A Multiple Mediation Model

Research findings underscore the importance of need satisfaction on romantic relationship quality. However, there is a need for research to explore the mechanism that account for the relationship between need satisfaction and relationship quality. The present study examines direct and indirect effects of need satisfaction on romantic relationship quality through partner attachment avoidance and anxiety. Data were collected from 309 emerging adults (Mage = 20.91 years, SD = 1.96; 81.6% female) currently being in a romantic relationship. Participants completed a battery of measures assessing need satisfaction, partner attachment, and relationship quality. After removing missing values and outliers, a total of 290 cases were retained for the analyses. Consistent with self-determination theory, results indicated that need satisfaction was associated with relationship quality and that this association was partially mediated through partner attachment avoidance. Counter to expectations, partner attachment anxiety did not mediate the relationship between need satisfaction and relationship quality. Findings highlight the role of need satisfaction and partner attachment avoidance in contributing to emerging adults’ relationship quality. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.
R3: repeatability, reproducibility and rigor

Computer systems research spans sub-disciplines that include embedded systems, programming languages and compilers, networking, and operating systems. Our contention is that a number of structural factors inhibit quality systems research. We highlight some of the factors we have encountered in our own work and observed in published papers and propose solutions that could both increase the productivity of researchers and the quality of their output.
Integration of Genetic and Phenotypic Data in 48 Lineages of Philippine Birds Shows Heterogeneous Divergence Processes and Numerous Cryptic Species

The Philippine Islands are one of the most biologically diverse archipelagoes in the world. Current taxonomy, however, may underestimate levels of avian diversity and endemism in these islands. Although species limits can be difficult to determine among allopatric populations, quantitative methods for comparing phenotypic and genotypic data can provide useful metrics of divergence among populations and identify those that merit consideration for elevation to full species status. Using a conceptual approach that integrates genetic and phenotypic data, we compared populations among 48 species, estimating genetic divergence (p-distance) using the mtDNA marker ND2 and comparing plumage and morphometrics of museum study skins. Using conservative speciation thresholds, pairwise comparisons of genetic and phenotypic divergence suggested possible species-level divergences in more than half of the species studied (25 out of 48). In speciation process space, divergence routes were heterogeneous among taxa. Nearly all populations that surpassed high genotypic divergence thresholds were Passeriformes, and non-Passeriformes populations surpassed high phenotypic divergence thresholds more commonly than expected by chance. Overall, there was an apparent logarithmic increase in phenotypic divergence with respect to genetic divergence, suggesting the possibility that divergence among these lineages may initially be driven by divergent selection in this allopatric system. Also, genetic endemism was high among sampled islands. Higher taxonomy affected divergence in genotype and phenotype. Although broader lineage, genetic, phenotypic, and numeric sampling is needed to further explore heterogeneity among divergence processes and to accurately assess species-level diversity in these taxa, our results support the need for substantial taxonomic revisions among Philippine birds. The conservation implications are profound.
Unseen and Unaware: Implications of Recent Research on Failures of Visual Awareness for Human-Computer Interface Design

Because computers often rely on visual displays as a way to convey information to a user, recent research suggesting that people have detailed awareness of only a small subset of the visual environment has important implications for human-computer interface design. Equally important to basic limits of awareness is the fact that people often over-predict what they will see and become aware of. Together, basic failures of awareness and people's failure to intuitively understand them may account for situations where computer users fail to obtain critical information from a display even when the designer intended to make the information highly visible and easy to apprehend. To minimize the deleterious effects of failures of awareness, it is important for users and especially designers to be mindful of the circumscribed nature of visual awareness. In this article, we review basic and applied research documenting failures of visual awareness and the related metacognitive failure and then discuss misplaced beliefs that could accentuate both in the context of the human-computer interface.
Sox4 Expression Confers Bladder Cancer Stem Cell Properties and Predicts for Poor Patient Outcome

Genetic and epigenetic alterations have been identified as to contribute directly or indirectly to the generation of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder (TCC-UB). We have previously found that amplification of chromosome 6p22 is significantly associated with the muscle-invasive rather than superficial TCC-UB. Here, we demonstrated that Sox4, one of the candidate oncogenes located within the chromosome 6p22 amplicon, confers bladder cancer stem cell (CSC) properties. Down-regulation of Sox4 led to the inhibition of cell migration, colony formation as well as mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET). Interestingly, knockdown of Sox4 also reduced the sphere formation, enriched cell population with high levels of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH high) and tumor formation potential. Using gene expression profiling, we further identified novel Sox4 target genes. Last, immunohistochemistry analysis of human bladder tumor tissue microarrays (TMAs) indicated that high Sox4 expression was correlated with advanced cancer stages and poor survival rate. In summary, our data show that Sox4 is an important regulator of the bladder CSC properties and it may serve as a biomarker of the aggressive phenotype in bladder cancer.
Economic Impact Analysis of Sports Facilities and Events: Eleven Sources of Misapplication

Many sports events, facilities, and franchises are subsidized either directly or indirectly by investments from public sector funds. The scarcity of tax dollars has led to growing public scrutiny of their allocation; in this environment there is likely to be an increased use of economic impact analysis to support public subsidy of these events. Many of these analyses report inaccurate results. In this paper, 11 major contributors to the inaccuracy are presented and discussed. They include the following: using sales instead of household income multipliers; misrepresenting employment multipliers; using incremental instead of normal multiplier coefficients; failing to accurately define the impacted-area; including local spectators; failing to exclude “time-switchers” and “casuals;” using “fudged” multiplier coefficients; claiming total instead of marginal economic benefits; confusing turnover and multiplier; omitting opportunity costs; and measuring only benefits while omitting costs.
Mindful Awareness as a Method of Christian Scripture Meditation among Empathic Korean Mothers in South Korea

This project is intended to examine the current phenomena, known as mindful awareness, from a Christian perspective. The purpose of this study was to explore how Christian Scripture meditation was perceived in light of the three factors of mindful awareness—focused attention, awareness, meta-awareness—in the practice of Christian Korean mothers who had greater mindful awareness and empathy. The participants in this study were mothers who attend Protestant churches in South Korea. All participants (n=181) were filtered for mindful awareness and empathy, and the 25 mothers with the greater level of mindful awareness and empathy were interviewed.
Services and regional development: An analysis of their role as human capital drivers in the Spanish Regions

The complexity of economies nowadays necessitates qualified workers more than ever. Given the great share of services in production and employment, the educational attainment of the people employed in this sector has a special impact on growth. Following this reasoning, the aim of this paper is to analyse the extent to which the differences in the location of the service sector can explain the differences in human capital, and, as a consequence, in development, among the Spanish regions. The results obtained highlight the ‘human capital-intensive’ nature that a great share of service activities have, and the tendency of ‘very high-skills’ services to be concentrated in regions with higher levels of human capital.
Listening for Memories: Attentional Focus Dissociates Functional Brain Networks Engaged by Memory-Evoking Music

How we experience music depends largely on how we orient our attention. For example, we can orient attention toward aspects of the music or toward thoughts that are evoked while listening. Often, those thoughts are memories that are associated with the music. To better understand how task set and the associated attentional focus recruit brain networks during attentive music listening, we performed two experiments: (a) a single-factor behavioral experiment manipulating Attentional Focus and (b) a balanced 2 × 2 factorial design functional MRI experiment crossing Attentional Focus with Memory Status. Before listening to 30-s song excerpts, half of which were known to be memory evoking in the functional MRI experiment, participants were instructed to either focus on the retrieval of memories evoked by the music, or to determine how many instruments were playing. Attentional Focus accounted for the majority of variability in brain activity and modulated both functional connectivity and community structure of brain regions during music listening. Consistent with previous research on music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs), we found that the medial temporal lobe may not be necessary for MEAMs to be experienced. However, focusing attention toward MEAMs increased medial temporal lobe activity and behavioral ratings of memory reliving. Focusing on MEAMs also increased connectivity between the left hippocampus and default-mode network regions supporting autobiographical recall, in addition to sensorimotor regions that music familiarity is known to modulate. The results substantiate the notion that how we experience music and associated memories depends on how we attend to the music. We provide initial evidence suggesting that music-evoked remembering integrates a sensorimotor representation of the music with episodic representations for the related autobiographical content.
Torsion points on curves and common divisors of $a^k-1$ and $b^k-1$

We study the behavior of the greatest common divisor of a^k-1 and b^k-1, where a,b are fixed integers or polynomials, and k varies. In the integer case, we conjecture that when a and b are multiplicatively independent and in addition a-1 and b-1 are coprime, then a^k-1 and b^k-1 are coprime infinitely often. In the polynomial case, we prove a strong version of this conjecture. To do this we use a result of Lang's on the finiteness of torsion points on algebraic curves. We also give a matrix analogue of these results, where for a unimodular matrix A, we look at the greatest common divisor of the elements of the matrix A^k-I.
Unsupervised learning of quaternion features for image classification

Unsupervised feature learning is a very popular trend in image classification. Most of the methods for unsupervised feature learning produces filters which operate either on intensity or color information. In this paper we propose a quaternion-based approach for unsupervised feature learning which makes possible joint encoding of the intensity and color information. The image representation is computed using quaternion principal component analysis and k-means clustering. We experimentally show that our approach outperforms the existing approach for unsupervised feature learning from color images, achieving classification accuracy of 91% on a dataset of remote sensing images.
Organic photovoltaic cells with structured interfaces: Columnar-grain active layers made of cross-linked semiconducting polymers

We report on organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) with columnar-grain active layers consisting in cross-linked semiconducting (conjugated) polymers as electron-donors and PCBM as the electron-acceptor and compare with OPVs based either on blends or on planar bilayers made with the same components. Although the columnar-grain layers have morphologic characteristics still far from ≪optimal≫ for PV operation, we found a significant improvement in the cell performances relative to planar bilayer architectures whereas cells with blends exhibited the highest efficiencies. Differences in cell performances with analogous layer architectures using two different polymers were attributed to the distinct charge mobility of the polymers. In view of the several benefits posed by the use of cross-linkable conjugated polymers in OPVs, ranging from higher morphologic stability to facilitated processing, our results provide insights for rational approaches when employing such materials.
Circumnuclear Stellar Population, Morphology, and Environment of Seyfert 2 Galaxies: An Evolutionary Scenario

We investigate the relation between the characteristics of the circumnuclear stellar population and both the galaxy morphology and the presence of close companions for a sample of 35 Seyfert 2 nuclei. Fifteen galaxies present unambiguous signatures of recent episodes of star formation within ≈300 pc of the nucleus. When we relate this property to the Hubble type of the host galaxy, we find that the incidence of recent circumnuclear star formation increases along the Hubble sequence; it seems to be greater than that in non-Seyfert galaxies for the early Hubble types S0 and Sa but similar to that in non-Seyfert galaxies for later Hubble types. In both early-type and late-type Seyfert galaxies, the presence of recent circumnuclear star formation is related to the galaxy morphology in the inner few kiloparsecs, as observed in Hubble Space Telescope images through the filter F606W by Malkan et al., who have assigned a late "inner Hubble type" to most Seyfert 2 galaxies with recent circumnuclear star formation. This new classification is due to the presence of dust lanes and spiral structures in the inner region. The presence of recent star formation around Seyfert 2 nuclei is also related to interactions: among the 13 galaxies of the sample with close companions or in mergers, nine have recent star formation in the nuclear region. These correlations between the presence of companions, the inner morphology, and the incidence of recent star formation suggest an evolutionary scenario in which the interaction is responsible for sending gas inward, which both feeds the active galactic nucleus and triggers star formation. The starburst then fades with time and the composite Seyfert 2 + starburst nucleus evolves to a "pure" Seyfert 2 nucleus with an old stellar population. This scenario can reconcile the hypothesis that the active nucleus in Seyfert galaxies is triggered by interactions with the results of previous studies, which find only a small excess of interacting galaxies in Seyfert samples when compared with non-Seyfert samples. The large excess can only be found early after the interaction, in the phase in which a composite (Seyfert+starburst) nucleus is observed.
Rebamipide, an Amino Acid Analog of 2(1H)-Quinolinone, Inhibits the Formation of Human Osteoclasts

Objectives. Drug repositioning or drug reprofiling (DR) has recently been growing in importance. DR has a significant advantage over traditional drug development because the repositioned drug has already passed toxicity tests; its safety is known, and the risk of adverse toxicology is reduced. In the current study, we investigated the role of rebamipide, a mucosa-protecting agent, with recently reported anti-inflammatory function, in human osteoclastogenesis. Methods. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were cultured in the presence of M-CSF and sRANKL. Osteoclast formation was evaluated by immunohistological staining for CD51/61 (vitronectin receptors). Osteoclast formation, in the presence or absence of rebamipide (0, 1, and 3 mM), was observed by time-lapse photography and actin ring formation. The number of absorption sites and area of absorption were calculated using Osteologic™ plates. Pit formation was studied by 3D-SEM. Results. Rebamipide inhibited human osteoclast formation at 3 mM, a pharmacological concentration, and inhibited resorbing activity dose-dependently. Rebamipide induced the degradation of actin rings in mature osteoclasts. This mechanism may involve inhibiting the osteoclast fusion pathway through reducing the expression of DC-specific transmembrane protein (DC-STAMP). Conclusions. The present study suggests that rebamipide would be useful as a novel agent for osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis.