Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biochemistry and pathology of radical-mediated protein oxidation.

Radical-mediated damage to proteins may be initiated by electron leakage, metal-ion-dependent reactions and autoxidation of lipids and sugars. The consequent protein oxidation is O2-dependent, and involves several propagating radicals, notably alkoxyl radicals. Its products include several categories of reactive species, and a range of stable products whose chemistry is currently being elucidated. Among the reactive products, protein hydroperoxides can generate further radical fluxes on reaction with transition-metal ions; protein-bound reductants (notably dopa) can reduce transition-metal ions and thereby facilitate their reaction with hydroperoxides; and aldehydes may participate in Schiff-base formation and other reactions. Cells can detoxify some of the reactive species, e.g. by reducing protein hydroperoxides to unreactive hydroxides. Oxidized proteins are often functionally inactive and their unfolding is associated with enhanced susceptibility to proteinases. Thus cells can generally remove oxidized proteins by proteolysis. However, certain oxidized proteins are poorly handled by cells, and together with possible alterations in the rate of production of oxidized proteins, this may contribute to the observed accumulation and damaging actions of oxidized proteins during aging and in pathologies such as diabetes, atherosclerosis and neurodegenerative diseases. Protein oxidation may also sometimes play controlling roles in cellular remodelling and cell growth. Proteins are also key targets in defensive cytolysis and in inflammatory self-damage. The possibility of selective protection against protein oxidation (antioxidation) is raised.
Selective COX-2 inhibition markedly slows disease progression and attenuates altered prostanoid production in Han:SPRD-cy rats with inherited kidney disease.

Selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors appear to have beneficial renoprotective effects in most, but not all, renal disease conditions. The objective of our study was to examine the effects of COX-2 inhibition in a rat model of polycystic kidney disease. Four-week-old Han:SPRD-cy rats were given a standard rodent diet containing NS-398 (3 mg.kg body wt(-1). day(-1)) or a control diet without NS-398 for 7 wk. In diseased rats, selective COX-2 inhibition resulted in 18% and 67% reduction in cystic expansion and interstitial fibrosis, respectively, but no change in renal function. NS-398 also ameliorated disease-associated pathologies, such as renal inflammation, cell proliferation, and oxidant injury (by 33, 38, and 59%, respectively). Kidney disease was associated with elevated renal COX-1 and COX-2 enzyme activities, and NS-398 blunted the increase in COX-2 enzyme activity (as indicated by 21 and 28% lower renal thromboxane B2 and PGE2 levels, respectively). NS-398 reduced urinary excretion of prostanoid metabolites in diseased rats. In summary, COX-2 inhibition attenuated renal injury, reduced the elevated renal COX-2 activity, and ameliorated disease-related alterations in prostanoid production in this rat model of chronic renal disease.
Emergence of Small-World Anatomical Networks in Self-Organizing Clustered Neuronal Cultures

In vitro primary cultures of dissociated invertebrate neurons from locust ganglia are used to experimentally investigate the morphological evolution of assemblies of living neurons, as they self-organize from collections of separated cells into elaborated, clustered, networks. At all the different stages of the culture's development, identification of neurons' and neurites' location by means of a dedicated software allows to ultimately extract an adjacency matrix from each image of the culture. In turn, a systematic statistical analysis of a group of topological observables grants us the possibility of quantifying and tracking the progression of the main network's characteristics during the self-organization process of the culture. Our results point to the existence of a particular state corresponding to a small-world network configuration, in which several relevant graph's micro- and meso-scale properties emerge. Finally, we identify the main physical processes ruling the culture's morphological transformations, and embed them into a simplified growth model qualitatively reproducing the overall set of experimental observations.
Dynamic Threshold-Based Energy Efficient Scheduling Algorithm for Parallel Tasks on Homogeneous DVS-Enabled Clusters

For parallel applications running on high-performance clusters, performance is usually satisfied without paying much attention to energy consumption. In this paper, we develop a new scheduling algorithm called Energy efficient Scheduling Algorithm based on DVS and Dynamic threshold (ESADD), which combines dynamic threshold-based task duplication strategy with dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) technique. It first exploits an optimal threshold to get the optimal task grouping and leverage task duplication algorithm to reduce schedule length and communication energy, and then schedules the applications on DVS-enabled processors that can scale down their voltages to reduce computation energy whenever tasks have slack time due to task dependencies. Using simulations we show our algorithm not only maintains good performance, but also has a good improvement on energy efficiency for parallel applications.
Population, race and gender: on the genealogy of the modern politics of reproduction

In this article I explore the genealogy of the modern politics of reproduction. My claim is that during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries a political-epistemic regime emerged that came to function as a kind of matrix for subsequent projects of regulating and intervening in processes of reproduction. In particular, I show how this regime was constituted through the three interrelated biopolitical problematics of ‘population’, ‘race', and ‘gender’. In the first part, I reconstruct articulations of the concept of reproduction with regard to ideas about the contingency and regularity of reproductive processes that played an important role for the formation of strategies of ‘improving’ the population. The next section shows that the notion of reproduction was constitutive for the formulation of the genealogical concept of race, and that it was closely intertwined with the political regulation of global reproductive relations. Third, I analyse how the concept of reproduction from the late eighteenth century on was enmeshed with ideas of sexual complementarity. Sexual reproduction, I argue, was one of the main reference points on which cultural and social assumptions about the modern order of the family, based on the parental heterosexual couple, relied. In the final part of the article I argue that rethinking biopolitics from the perspective of the politics of reproduction is crucial for understanding synchronic and diachronic entanglements of contemporary politics of reproduction that otherwise often remain unnoticed.
Hepatic Gluconeogenesis Is Enhanced by Phosphatidic Acid Which Remains Uninhibited by Insulin in Lipodystrophic Agpat2−/− Mice*

Background: Lipodystrophic Agpat2−/− mice are severely diabetic and insulin resistant. Results: Livers of Agpat2−/− mice have elevated levels of phosphatidic acids (PAs), which enhance gluconeogenesis. Conclusion: PA enhanced hepatic gluconeogenesis contributes to the hyperglycemia present in Agpat2−/− mice. Significance: PA enhanced hepatic gluconeogenesis might have wider implications in understanding the development of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes. In this study we examined the role of phosphatidic acid (PA) in hepatic glucose production (HGP) and development of hepatic insulin resistance in mice that lack 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase 2 (AGPAT2). Liver lysophosphatidic acid and PA levels were increased ∼2- and ∼5-fold, respectively, in male Agpat2−/− mice compared with wild type mice. In the absence of AGPAT2, the liver can synthesize PAs by activating diacylglycerol kinase or phospholipase D, both of which were elevated in the livers of Agpat2−/− mice. We found that PAs C16:0/18:1 and C18:1/20:4 enhanced HGP in primary WT hepatocytes, an effect that was further enhanced in primary hepatocytes from Agpat2−/− mice. Lysophosphatidic acids C16:0 and C18:1 failed to increase HGP in primary hepatocytes. The activation of HGP was accompanied by an up-regulation of the key gluconeogenic enzymes glucose-6-phosphatase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. This activation was suppressed by insulin in the WT primary hepatocytes but not in the Agpat2−/− primary hepatocytes. Thus, the lack of normal insulin signaling in Agpat2−/− livers allows unrestricted PA-induced gluconeogenesis significantly contributing to the development of hyperglycemia in these mice.
Intra-seasonal variability of cloud amount over the Indian subcontinent during the monsoon season as observed by TRMM precipitation radar

The intra-seasonal variability of the Indian summer monsoon, which manifests in the form of “active” and “break” phases in rainfall, is investigated with respect to the variability of the convective and stratiform precipitating cloud pattern over the region. Long period data from TRMM PR satellite (2A23 and 3B42 datasets) for the monsoon season of 2002 to 2010 over the Indian subcontinent is used for this purpose. The study reveals that the most significant spatial variation in convective and stratiform cloud amount in relation to the active and break phase occurs over the monsoon trough region in central India. The active phase is characterized by positive convective (~5%) and stratiform (~20%) precipitating cloud anomalies over this region. However, the maximum of the former precedes the latter by 1–2 days leading up to the active phase, indicating that the stratiform build up, is due to the gradual organization of the convective cloud systems over the region. The days leading up to the break phase are marked by negative anomalies in the convective and stratiform fractions of cloudiness over this region, which are in phase with each other, unlike the lead-up to the active phase. Analysis of the pattern of atmospheric heat source and sinks over the region from the NCEP–NCAR re-analysis data indicates that the engine for the growth/decay of convection over the monsoon trough region lies primarily in the Bay of Bengal and adjacent east India. The active phase is preceded by a heating pattern that promotes large scale, organized convective cloud growth over the Bay of Bengal preceding the actual onset, while the heating pattern leading up to the break phase promotes the formation of isolated convective clouds and decay of cloud organization over the monsoon trough region.
Gender Differences in Parent-Child Relations

This article uses longitudinal data from the National Survey of Children to examine parent-child relationships in middle childhood and early adolescence. It analyzes parental nurturance, closeness, discipline, and authoritativeness by gender of parent and child. Logistic and OLS regression models of supportive parenting are also presented. Fathers are much more involved with sons and tend to concentrate on more instrumental facets of support, whereas mothers tend to be more supportive across genders in the traditional, affective sense. Results also suggest that children's, mother's, and couple/spouse's characteristics are robust predictors of supportive parenting. Fathers' traits are related only to relations with daughters. This article specifies further theoretical and substantive implications such as the relative influence of formal versus informal marital power and the distinction between child rearing and housework in examining the household division of labor. It also suggests areas for future research, including the implications of parent-child relations for marital and sibling relations.
Electron in higher-dimensional weakly charged rotating black hole spacetimes

We demonstrate separability of the Dirac equation in weakly charged rotating black hole spacetimes in all dimensions. The electromagnetic field of the black hole is described by a test field approximation, with the vector potential proportional to the primary Killing vector field. It is shown that the demonstrated separability can be intrinsically characterized by the existence of a complete set of mutually commuting first-order symmetry operators generated from the principal Killing-Yano tensor. The presented results generalize the results on integrability of charged particle motion and separability of charged scalar field studied in V.P. Frolov and P. Krtous [Phys. Rev. D 83, 024016 (2011)].
Wise Desire-Priorities: Hedonism or Moral Integrity?

Although there are several philosophical theories about what constitutes ‘good life’, few focuses on which type of desires pay off for those who entertain them. We therefore investigate empirically how people prioritize among desires through a global assessment of what lives they most want to live. In the current study (N = 154), we presented them with 26 questions about the type of life they could find desirable. Structural Equation Modeling revealed systematic differences in how a hedonistic attitude and an attitude of moral integrity differently predicted desires towards life. And as older participants tended to be less supportive of hedonistic attitudes, our results argue against hedonism.
The Challenge in Teaching Biotechnology F. Steele and P. Aubusson

Agriculture, industry and medicine are being altered by new biotechnologies. Biotechnology education is important because today’s students and citizens will make decisions about the development and application of these new molecular biologies. This article reports an investigation of the teaching of biotechnology in an Australian state, New South Wales (NSW). In NSW few students were electing to answer examination questions related to biotechnology, suggesting that few students were studying the topic. This study looks at why electives relating to biotechnology are chosen or not chosen by students and teachers, with the intention of developing a greater understanding of the requirements for provision of a successful unit of study in this subject. Data was obtained through a survey of secondary science teachers, interviews with teachers and two case studies of the teaching of a biotechnology unit. Teachers reported a range of obstacles to the teaching of biotechnology including the difficulty of the subject matter and a lack of practical work that was suited to the content of the teaching unit. If biotechnology is worth learning in school science, then further research is needed to identify ways to promote the effective teaching of this topic, which teachers regard as important for, and interesting to, students but which most teachers choose not to teach.
Influence of Material Property Variation on Computationally Calculated Melt Pool Temperature during Laser Melting Process

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is a popular additive manufacturing (AM) method where a laser beam selectively melts powder layer by layer based on the building geometry. The melt pool peak temperature during build process is an important parameter to determine build quality of a fabricated component by SLM process. The melt pool temperature depends on process parameters including laser power, scanning speed, and hatch space as well as the properties of the build material. In this paper, the sensitivity of melt pool peak temperature during the build process to temperature dependent material properties including density, specific heat, and thermal conductivity are investigated for a range of laser powers and laser scanning speeds. It is observed that the melt pool temperature is most sensitive to melt pool thermal conductivity of the processed material for a set of specific process parameters (e.g., laser power and scan speed). Variations in the other mechanical–physical properties of powder and melt pool such as density and specific heat are found to have minimal effect on melt pool temperature.
Exploiting separability in multiagent planning with continuous-state MDPs

Recent years have seen significant advances in techniques for optimally solving multiagent problems represented as decentralized partially observable Markov decision processes (Dec-POMDPs). A new method achieves scalability gains by converting Dec-POMDPs into continuous state MDPs. This method relies on the assumption of a centralized planning phase that generates a set of decentralized policies for the agents to execute. However, scalability remains limited when the number of agents or problem variables becomes large. In this paper, we show that, under certain separability conditions of the optimal value function, the scalability of this approach can increase considerably. This separability is present when there is locality of interaction, which --- as other approaches (such as those based on the ND-POMDP subclass) have already shown --- can be exploited to improve performance. Unlike most previous methods, the novel continuous-state MDP algorithm retains optimality and convergence guarantees. Results show that the extension using separability can scale to a large number of agents and domain variables while maintaining optimality.
A Review of Social Studies Textbook Content Analyses Since 2002

A content analyses study of social studies textbooks was completed in 1993 by Rahmia Wade. She found the problematic way in which researchers examined texts noting they relied too much on personal perceptions and opinions of social studies topics and failed to cite additional sources to support their claims. The investigation further asserted social studies textbook analyses lacked interrater reliability and data quantification. In many cases, the authors of these works were comparing textbooks to other textbooks, rather than to standards, and were not examining all the texts used in a particular discipline. Based on these findings, Wade questioned the effectiveness of these analyses for improving social studies education. This project replicated Wade’s study. A random sample of social studies textbook analyses published between 2002 and 2012 was considered and the author found that they have changed little since Wade’s article. Suggestions are offered for those interested in conducting textbook analysis with a focus on how to make such studies more relevant for classroom teachers. These suggestions include: analyzing both the textbooks and standards simultaneously, analyzing the entire textbook, and providing student centered lesson ideas.
Corporate Governance and Its Impact on Firm Risk

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship of corporate governance with firm risk. This study establishes a link between corporate governance variables and firm risk for a sample of 106 Pakistani firms over a time of six years (2005-2010). Based on the estimation results, family control and bank control have negative impact on the firm risk whereas ownership structure and chairman/CEO duality posit positive relationship with risk. This provides a direction for firms to introduce more non-family control to the board of directors and not allow banks to have majority shareholding in their stocks. Also, directors should be asked to have a reasonable ownership in the stocks of the firm so that they can decide in the best interest of the firm and for the increase of their stock value. Chief executive should also hold the chair in order to have unity of command and a better decision-making influence.
An Overview of Protein Sequence Comparisons Using Wavelets

The information contained in the amino acid sequence of a protein determines its chemical properties, chain conformation, protein’s function and its-species specificity. Proteins of similar functions have at some level sequential identical amino acid sequences. The closer the phylogenetic relationship, the more similar are the sequences. Finding similarities between two or more protein sequences is of great importance for protein sequence analysis. In this paper, a comparison method is devised capable of analysing a protein sequence “hierarchically’, i.e., can examine a protein sequence at different spatial resolutions. Based on a wavelet decomposition of protein sequences and a cross-correlation study, a sequence-scale similarity concept is used to generate a similarity vector, which renders comparison of two sequences feasible at different spatial resolutions (scales). This new similarity concept is an expansion of the conventional sequence similarity, which only takes into account the local pairwise amino acids match and ignores the information contained in coarser spatial resolutions. We have also used CWT to analyse the informational content of proteins. Here we compare the performance of different wavelet functions for the use in analysis of proteins.
Exploring the Genetic Patterns of Complex Diseases via the Integrative Genome-Wide Approach

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs), which assay more than a million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in thousands of individuals, have been widely used to identify genetic risk variants for complex diseases. However, most of the variants that have been identified contribute relatively small increments of risk and only explain a small portion of the genetic variation in complex diseases. This is the so-called missing heritability problem. Evidence has indicated that many complex diseases are genetically related, meaning these diseases share common genetic risk variants. Therefore, exploring the genetic correlations across multiple related studies could be a promising strategy for removing spurious associations and identifying underlying genetic risk variants, and thereby uncovering the mystery of missing heritability in complex diseases. We present a general and robust method to identify genetic patterns from multiple large-scale genomic datasets. We treat the summary statistics as a matrix and demonstrate that genetic patterns will form a low-rank matrix plus a sparse component. Hence, we formulate the problem as a matrix recovering problem, where we aim to discover risk variants shared by multiple diseases/traits and those for each individual disease/trait. We propose a convex formulation for matrix recovery and an efficient algorithm to solve the problem. We demonstrate the advantages of our method using both synthesized datasets and real datasets. The experimental results show that our method can successfully reconstruct both the shared and the individual genetic patterns from summary statistics and achieve comparable performances compared with alternative methods under a wide range of scenarios. The MATLAB code is available at:http://www.comp.hkbu.edu. hk/~xwan/iga.zip.
Pulmonary plasma cell granuloma—an electron microscopic and tissue culture study

A case of pulmonary plasma cell granuloma studied by electron microscopy and tissue culture is reported. Ultrastructurally, it showed a polymorphic composition in which a variety of inflammatory cells, collagen fibres and capillary vessels were identified. In vitro there was an initial emigration of inflammatory cells, followed by a predominance of fibroblasts and histiocytes. This pattern of growth is similar to that obtained from explants of granulation tissue and gives support to the previously suggested view that these lesions are inflammatory pseudotumours.
A study of the associations between early maladaptive schemas, developmental task resolution, and personality traits in a psychiatric outpatient sample

In schema therapy (ST), early maladaptive schemas (EMS) are proposed to be the defining core of personality disorders. Adverse relational experiences in childhood are assumed to be the main cause for the development of EMS. The present study explored the links between perceived parental rearing behaviours, EMS, and personality disorder symptoms in a clinical sample (N=108). Results from mediation analyses suggest that EMS mediate the relationships between recalled parenting rearing behaviours and personality disorder symptoms. Findings give support to the theoretical model ST is based on. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.