Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of light on marine bacterioplankton community structure

Reports of widespread proteorhodopsin and bacteriochlorophyll a genes suggest that light may facilitate the growth of many marine bacteria. We tested this hypothesis by conducting 3 light manipulation experiments with bacterial communities obtained off the Southern California coast. In each experiment, duplicate 20 l mesocosms were subjected to either 14:10 h light:dark or continual darkness for 5 to 10 d. Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis (ARISA), a whole- community fingerprinting technique, was used to determine how light affects bacterial community structure. Light removal resulted in only minor changes in ARISA profiles (mean decrease in similar- ity between treatments: 6 ± 1% via Sorenson's index (only considers presence/absence of taxa), 15 ± 7% via Pearson's coefficient (considers relative abundance of taxa)) at the conclusion of the experi- ments. Oligotrophic communities responded nearly twice as strongly to light removal compared to mesotrophic communities. Phototrophs such as cyanobacteria exhibited consistent, sharp declines in dark treatments, indicating whatever heterotrophic abilities they possess were not sufficient to sus- tain them when faced with natural removal processes such as grazing or viral lysis. Members of the broad SAR86, SAR11, SAR116, CFB and Roseobacter phylogenetic groups exhibited minor, mixed responses to light removal, suggesting that only a few select members may rely on phototrophy to a measurable extent. Our results indicate that the majority of non-cyanobacterial bacteria in the ocean do not depend heavily on light to maintain themselves over 5 or 10 d periods in the presence of nat- ural removal processes, and hint that proteorhodopsin and bacteriochlorophyll a genes may have alternative, undetermined ecological benefits besides phototrophy.
Dioscorea Extract (DA-9801) Modulates Markers of Peripheral Neuropathy in Type 2 Diabetic db/db Mice

The purpose of this study was to investigate the therapeutic effects of DA-9801, an optimized extract of Dioscorea species, on diabetic peripheral neuropathy in a type 2 diabetic animal model. In this study, db/db mice were treated with DA-9801 (30 and 100 mg/kg, daily, p.o.) for 12 weeks. DA-9801 reduced the blood glucose levels and increased the withdrawal latencies in hot plate tests. Moreover, it prevented nerve damage based on increased nerve conduction velocity and ultrastructural changes. Decrease of nerve growth factor (NGF) may have a detrimental effect on diabetic neuropathy. We previously reported NGF regulatory properties of the Dioscorea genus. In this study, DA-9801 induced NGF production in rat primary astrocytes. In addition, it increased NGF levels in the sciatic nerve and the plasma of type 2 diabetic animals. DA-9801 also increased neurite outgrowth and mRNA expression of Tieg1/Klf10, an NGF target gene, in PC12 cells. These results demonstrated the attenuation of diabetic peripheral neuropathy by oral treatment with DA-9801 via NGF regulation. DA-9801 is currently being evaluated in a phase II clinical study.
OFF-CENTER IGNITION IN TYPE IA SUPERNOVA: I. INITIAL EVOLUTION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR DELAYED DETONATI ON

The explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf as a Type Ia supe rnova is known to be sensitive to the manner in which the burning is ignited. Studies of the pre-supernov a evolution suggest asymmetric, o ff-center ignition, and here we explore its consequences in twoand three-dimen s onal simulations. Compared with centrally ignited models, one-sided ignitions initially burn less an d release less energy. For the distributions of ignition points studied, ignition within two hemispheres typically leads to the unbinding of the white dwarf, while ignition within a small fraction of one hemisphere does not. We also examine the spreading of the blast over the surface of the white dwarf that occurs as the first plumes of bu rning erupt from the star. In particular, our studies test whether the collision of strong compressional waves ca n trigger a detonation on the far side of the star as has been suggested by Plewa et al. (2004). The maximum temper ature eached in these collisions is sensitive to how much burning and expansion has already gone on, and to t he dimensionality of the calculation. Though detonations are sometimes observed in 2D models, none ever h appens in the corresponding 3D calculations. Collisions between the expansion fronts of multiple bubble s also seem, in the usual case, unable to ignite a detonation. “Gravitationally confined detonation” is the refore not a robust mechanism for the explosion. Detonation may still be possible in these models however, ei ther following a pulsation or by spontaneous detonation if the turbulent energy is high enough. Subject headings: Stars: supernovae: general — hydrodynamics – instabilitie s — turbulence — methods: numerical
Trans-Modulation of the Somatostatin Type 2A Receptor Trafficking by Insulin-Regulated Aminopeptidase Decreases Limbic Seizures

Within the hippocampus, the major somatostatin (SRIF) receptor subtype, the sst2A receptor, is localized at postsynaptic sites of the principal neurons where it modulates neuronal activity. Following agonist exposure, this receptor rapidly internalizes and recycles slowly through the trans-Golgi network. In epilepsy, a high and chronic release of somatostatin occurs, which provokes, in both rat and human tissue, a decrease in the density of this inhibitory receptor at the cell surface. The insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP) is involved in vesicular trafficking and shares common regional distribution with the sst2A receptor. In addition, IRAP ligands display anticonvulsive properties. We therefore sought to assess by in vitro and in vivo experiments in hippocampal rat tissue whether IRAP ligands could regulate the trafficking of the sst2A receptor and, consequently, modulate limbic seizures. Using pharmacological and cell biological approaches, we demonstrate that IRAP ligands accelerate the recycling of the sst2A receptor that has internalized in neurons in vitro or in vivo. Most importantly, because IRAP ligands increase the density of this inhibitory receptor at the plasma membrane, they also potentiate the neuropeptide SRIF inhibitory effects on seizure activity. Our results further demonstrate that IRAP is a therapeutic target for the treatment of limbic seizures and possibly for other neurological conditions in which downregulation of G-protein-coupled receptors occurs. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The somatostatin type 2A receptor (sst2A) is localized on principal hippocampal neurons and displays anticonvulsant properties. Following agonist exposure, however, this receptor rapidly internalizes and recycles slowly. The insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP) is involved in vesicular trafficking and shares common regional distribution with the sst2A receptor. We therefore assessed by in vitro and in vivo experiments whether IRAP could regulate the trafficking of this receptor. We demonstrate that IRAP ligands accelerate sst2A recycling in hippocampal neurons. Because IRAP ligands increase the density of sst2A receptors at the plasma membrane, they also potentiate the effects of this inhibitory receptor on seizure activity. Our results further demonstrate that IRAP is a therapeutic target for the treatment of limbic seizures.
Firms, Jobs and Employment in Moldova

Despite low open unemployment, labor market outcomes are unsatisfactory in Moldova. Employment is low and job opportunities are scarce. The author examines labor market performance in Moldova by focusing on firm dynamics. He finds that the low level of employment in Moldova is due to the low rate of firm entry and the low rate of job creation in existing firms. Although the rate of job destruction is high, this is typical of transition economies, and is a problem only because it is not coupled with a commensurate rate of job creation. Firm exit is limited and thus is not an important factor behind job losses. The only sector of the economy that creates jobs on a net basis is that consisting of de novo private and small firms. However, in Moldova this sector is significantly smaller than in the most successful transition economies. The author argues that the primary factor behind the small size of the employment generating sector is the high cost of doing business in Moldova. These include numerous administrative barriers, intrusive and costly inspections, and associated corruption. These costs-extremely high even by regional standards-lower the expected returns to business activity and thus discourage firm formation and growth. The author hence recommends improvements in the investment climate as a primary policy aimed at increasing productive employment and lowering unemployment. Priority should be given to fostering job creation through facilitating the formation of new firms and to reducing the constraints on the expansion of existing firms. The government should avoid measures aimed at forestalling the destruction of unviable jobs and firm exit as these are not conducive to long-run productivity and employment growth. Enhancing labor market flexibility is a further priority, as currently the apparently stringent provisions of the Labor Code are not complied with and enforced. Given the unsatisfactory business environment, active labor market programs are unlikely to be effective unless carefully targeted at the most disadvantaged worker groups.
CAMA Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis Forecasting Bank Leverage CAMA Working Paper 56 / 2012 December 2012

Standard early warning models to predict bank failures cannot be estimated during periods of few or zero failures, precluding any updating of such models during times of good performance. Here we address this problem using an alternative approach, forecasting the simple leverage ratio (equity/assets) as a continuous variable that does not suffer from the small sample problem. Out-of-sample performance shows some promise as a supplement to the standard approach, despite measurable deterioration in prediction accuracy during the crisis years.
Causality between Economic Growth and Investment in Zimbabwe

The paper aimed at investigating the causal relationship between investment and economic growth in Zimbabwe using Granger causality methodology. Results revealed that causality does not run in any direction and hence the two are independent. These results are not the only one in literature since they are in line with others such as Verman and Wilson (2005) but are contrary to those of Samake (2008). It is recommended that Zimbabwe should invest in modern day technology to improve its growth.
Cutting Edge: IL-12 Induces CD4+CD25− T Cell Activation in the Presence of T Regulatory Cells1

IL-12p40 cytokines have been implicated in the development of organ-specific autoimmune diseases as well as pathogen-specific adaptive immunity. In addition to inducing IFN-γ, IL-12 stimulates effector CD4+ T cells to express adhesion molecules and homing receptors that facilitate their migration to sites of inflammation. In this study, we expand upon those observations by demonstrating an alternative pathway by which IL-12 could promote Th1 inflammatory responses in mice, namely, by restoring proliferation and cytokine expression by effector T cells in the presence of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg). This effect of IL-12 was not replicated by IL-23 or IFN-γ and was dependent on signaling through the IL-12R expressed on CD25− responder cells, but not on Treg. Our studies suggest that IL-12 could act in concert with other proinflammatory factors to stimulate CD4+CD25− T cell activation in the presence of Treg.
Assessing Agreement between Radiomic Features Computed for Multiple CT Imaging Settings

Objectives Radiomics utilizes quantitative image features (QIFs) to characterize tumor phenotype. In practice, radiological images are obtained from different vendors’ equipment using various imaging acquisition settings. Our objective was to assess the inter-setting agreement of QIFs computed from CT images by varying two parameters, slice thickness and reconstruction algorithm. Materials and Methods CT images from an IRB-approved/HIPAA-compliant study assessing thirty-two lung cancer patients were included for the analysis. Each scan’s raw data were reconstructed into six imaging series using combinations of two reconstruction algorithms (Lung[L] and Standard[S]) and three slice thicknesses (1.25mm, 2.5mm and 5mm), i.e., 1.25L, 1.25S, 2.5L, 2.5S, 5L and 5S. For each imaging-setting, 89 well-defined QIFs were computed for each of the 32 tumors (one tumor per patient). The six settings led to 15 inter-setting comparisons (combinatorial pairs). To reduce QIF redundancy, hierarchical clustering was done. Concordance correlation coefficients (CCCs) were used to assess inter-setting agreement of the non-redundant feature groups. The CCC of each group was assessed by averaging CCCs of QIFs in the group. Results Twenty-three non-redundant feature groups were created. Across all feature groups, the best inter-setting agreements (CCCs>0.8) were 1.25S vs 2.5S, 1.25L vs 2.5L, and 2.5S vs 5S; the worst (CCCs<0.51) belonged to 1.25L vs 5S and 2.5L vs 5S. Eight of the feature groups related to size, shape, and coarse texture had an average CCC>0.8 across all imaging settings. Conclusions Varying degrees of inter-setting disagreements of QIFs exist when features are computed from CT images reconstructed using different algorithms and slice thicknesses. Our findings highlight the importance of harmonizing imaging acquisition for obtaining consistent QIFs to study tumor imaging phonotype.
An exploration of the essential elements of community engagement in public libraries

This research aims to explore and identify essential elements of community engagement in the public sector, including library services. Previous research has highlighted public libraries objectives in undertaking community engagement, in terms of tackling social exclusion, promoting democracy and contributing to social/cultural/human capital. However, it is also apparent that there is a lack of shared vision and strategy for community engagement in public libraries. Furthermore, little systematic research has examined the community engagement process in practice. Hence there is a need for a systematic, comparative and empirical investigation into essential elements of community engagement in public libraries. The study was qualitative, involving three case studies in England. Research methods employed to gather data included semi-structured interviews, direct observation and document analysis. Both the viewpoints of service providers and service users were captured. Essential elements of community engagement were initially identified in case specific contexts. The discussion of the relationships between elements then identified two key underlying variable drivers (i.e. influence of authority and willingness to learn ) that had a fundamental impact on community engagement. Influence of authority was defined as the extent that the initiative was led by the service or the community. Willingness to learn was defined as the extent that the service was willing to embrace a community-driven approach or a library-based approach for implementing community engagement. The empirical investigative results identified the essential elements of community engagement as comprising of: accountability , belonging , commitment , communication , a flexible approach , genuineness , relevance and sustainability . The significance of this research is the identification, based on empirical data, of arguably the essential elements of community engagement in the public library context. However, it is likely that these elements are key to forms of community engagement both within and outside the public sector. Recommendations are made in conclusion for the promotion of genuine community engagement, where the community-driven approach and the organic nature of the community engagement process are seen as being paramount to engagement.
Predicting the effects of environment and management on cotton fibre growth and quality: a functional–structural plant modelling approach

Fruit quality and more specifically quality of the fiber in the fruit of cotton, depends on interactions between fruit position in the plant architecture, temperature and agronomical practices, such as sowing time, mulching with plastic film, and topping of the plant's main stem and branches. A functional and structural cotton model CottonXL for fiber quality (strength, length and micronaire) was implemented at the level of each individual fruit in relation to thermal time for optimizing cotton fiber quality by matching cotton management to the environment. The model may be used to address climate and land use change scenarios.
On the security of the schur-based watermarking schemes

This paper presents a security analysis of robust watermarking methods based on Schur decomposition in a general scenario. The security is defined as the difficulty to remove the watermark and to estimate the secrets used in the embedding process, supposing that the adversary possesses several watermarked digital contents. The theoretical analysis and extensive experimental results carried out prove that these schemes fail to secure the digital contents against malicious attacks.
State-Dependent Intellectual Property Rights Policy

What form of intellectual property rights (IPR) policy contributes to economic growth? Should technological followers be able to license the products of technological leaders? Should a company with a large technological lead receive the same IPR protection as a company with a more limited lead? We develop a general equilibrium framework to investigate these questions. The economy consists of many industries and firms engaged in cumulative (step-by-step) innovation. IPR policy regulates whether followers in an industry can copy the technology of the leader and also how much they have to pay to license past innovations. With full patent protection, followers can catch up to the leader in their industry either by making the same innovation(s) themselves or by making some pre-specified payments to the technological leaders. We prove the existence of a steady-state equilibrium and characterize some of its properties. We then quantitatively investigate the implications of different types of IPR policy on the equilibrium growth rate. The two major results of this exercise are as follows. First, the growth rate in the standard models used in the (growth) literature can be improved significantly by introducing a simple form of licensing. Second, we show that full patent protection is not optimal from the viewpoint of maximizing the growth rate of the economy and that the growth-maximizing policy involves state-dependent IPR protection, providing greater protection to technological leaders that are further ahead than those that are close to their followers. This form of the growth-maximizing policy is a result of the "trickle-down" effect, which implies that providing greater protection to firms that are further ahead of their followers than a certain threshold increases the R&D incentives also for all technological leaders that are less advanced than this threshold.
System Intentionality and the Artificial Intelligence Hermeneutic Network: the Role of Intentional Vocabulary

Computer systems that are designed explicitly to exhibit intentionality embody a phenomenon of increasing cultural importance. In typical discourse about arti�cial intelligence (AI) systems, system intentionality is often seen as a technical and ontological property of a program, resulting from its underlying algorithms and knowledge engineering. Infuenced by hermeneutic approaches to text analysis and drawing from the areas of actor-network theory and philosophy of mind, this paper proposes a humanistic framework for analysis of AI systems stating that system intentionality is narrated and interpreted by its human creators and users. We pay special attention to the discursive strategies embedded in source code and technical literature of software systems that include such narration and interpretation. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of our theory with a close reading of an AI system, Hofstadter and Mitchell's Copycat.
5d, a novel analogue of 3-n-butylphthalide, decreases NADPH oxidase activity through the positive regulation of CK2 after ischemia/reperfusion injury

5d, a novel analogue of the racemic 3-n-butylphthalide (NBP), has been reported for its free radical scavenging activity in vitro and preventive neuroprotection in vivo. Nevertheless, the mechanism by which 5d attenuated ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is still unknown. Our results showed that 5d significantly increased CK2 activity as well as CK2α and 2α' protein levels after I/R injury. Besides, 5d suppressed the translocation of cytosolic p47phox and Rac1 to the membrane, decreased NOX4 expression and ROS generation. Furthermore, 5d blocked the dissociation between CK2α and Rac1 so as to decrease NADPH oxidase activity. Based on these findings, we propose that the neuroprotective effect of 5d is due to an increase of CK2 activity, which blocks I/R-induced dissociation between CK2α and Rac1, decreases NADPH oxidase activity, inhibits ROS production and finally realizes the neuroprotection of I/R. These findings point to that 5d might be considered an attractive candidate for further studies in ischemic stroke.
c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase (JNK)-Interacting Protein-1b/Islet-Brain-1 Scaffolds Alzheimer's Amyloid Precursor Protein with JNK

Using a yeast two-hybrid method, we searched for amyloid precursor protein (APP)-interacting molecules by screening mouse and human brain libraries. In addition to known interacting proteins containing a phosphotyrosine-interaction-domain (PID)—Fe65, Fe65L, Fe65L2, X11, and mDab1, we identified, as a novel APP-interacting molecule, a PID-containing isoform of mouse JNK-interacting protein-1 (JIP-1b) and its human homolog IB1, the established scaffold proteins for JNK. The APP amino acids Tyr682, Asn684, and Tyr687 in the G681YENPTY687 region were all essential for APP/JIP-1b interaction, but neither Tyr653 nor Thr668 was necessary. APP-interacting ability was specific for this additional isoform containing PID and was shared by both human and mouse homologs. JIP-1b expressed by mammalian cells was efficiently precipitated by the cytoplasmic domain of APP in the extreme Gly681–Asn695 domain-dependent manner. Reciprocally, both full-length wild-type and familial Alzheimer's disease mutant APPs were precipitated by PID-containing JIP constructs. Antibodies raised against the N and C termini of JIP-1b coprecipitated JIP-1b and wild-type or mutant APP in non-neuronal and neuronal cells. Moreover, human JNK1β1 formed a complex with APP in a JIP-1b-dependent manner. Confocal microscopic examination demonstrated that APP and JIP-1b share similar subcellular localization in transfected cells. These data indicate that JIP-1b/IB1 scaffolds APP with JNK, providing a novel insight into the role of the JNK scaffold protein as an interface of APP with intracellular functional molecules.
Facilitating the Network Entry and Link Establishment Processes of IEEE 802.16 Mesh Networks

The IEEE 802.16 standard is a promising next-generation broadband technology. It contains two operational modes - PMP and mesh. The PMP mode defines one-hop communication between a base station (BS) and a subscriber station (SS), while the mesh mode allows traffic to be directly exchanged and forwarded among neighboring SSs. In the mesh mode, network initialization is composed of the network entry (NENT) and link establishment (LinkEst) processes. In this paper, we identify that the NENT process is prone to fail in dense networks and propose a solution to remedy this problem. Besides, we propose an extension to the LinkEst process to improve its efficiency. Both proposals are compatible with the current standard. Our simulation results show that our solution to the NENT process can on average increase the success rate by 22.5%, and our extension to the LinkEst process can on average speed up the process by 2.57 times.