Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seismostratigraphy and Thermal Structure of Earth ’ s Core-Mantle Boundary Region

We used three-dimensional inverse scattering of core-reflected shear waves for large-scale, high-resolution exploration of Earth ’ s deep interior (D ′′ ) and detected multiple, piecewise continuous interfaces in the lowermost layer (D ′′ ) beneath Central and North America. With thermodynamic properties of phase transitions in mantle silicates, we interpret the images and estimate in situ temperatures. A widespread wave-speed increase at 150 to 300 kilometers above the core-mantle boundary is consistent with a transition from perovskite to postperovskite. Internal D ′′ stratification may be due to multiple phase-boundary crossings, and a deep wave-speed reduction may mark the base of a postperovskite lens about 2300 kilometers wide and 250 kilometers thick. The core-mantle boundary temperature is estimated at 3950 ± 200 kelvin. Beneath Central America, a site of deep subduction, the D ′′ is relatively cold ( D T = 700 ± 100 kelvin). Accounting for a factor-of-two uncertainty in thermal conductivity, core heat flux is 80 to 160 milliwatts per square meter (mW m − 2 ) into the coldest D ′′ region and 35 to 70 mW m − 2 away from it. Combined with estimates from the central Pacific, this suggests a global average of 50 to 100 mW m − 2 and a total heat loss of 7.5 to 15 terawatts. A variety of methods exist for the design or selection of antibodies and other proteins that recognize the water-soluble regions of proteins; however, companion methods for targeting transmembrane (TM) regions are not available. Here, we describe a method for the computational design of peptides that target TM helices in a sequence-specific manner. To illustrate the method, peptides were designed that specifically recognize the TM helices of two closely related integrins ( a IIb b 3 and a v b 3 ) in micelles, bacterial membranes, and mammalian cells. These data show that sequence-specific recognition of helices in TM proteins can be achieved through optimization of the geometric complementarity of the target-host complex.
Three Retirement Models for Defined Contribution Pension Plan Members : A Simulation Study

As defined-contribution (DC) pension plans grow in importance, so too should our understanding of their implications on an individual and aggregate level. In the present paper, we examine the retirement behavior of workers under a DC pension scheme. Using a simulation approach, we compare and discuss the outcome of three retirement decision models: the option-value model, the two-thirds replacement-ratio benchmark model, and a newly developed ‘myopic’ model. Our findings suggest that central features of the myopic model could be suitable for a DC participant, while the two-thirds model appears overly simplistic, and the option-value model, originally applied to defined benefit plans, results in inappropriate retirement patterns when applied in a DC environment. The myopic model is concluded to possess numerous advantages over the other two models. It is theoretically more appealing, less complex, and its formula structure implies a more logical relationship between an individual’s pension and their age.
Short-Term Dynamics of North Sea Bacterioplankton-Dissolved Organic Matter Coherence on Molecular Level

Remineralization and transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) by marine microbes shape the DOM composition and thus, have large impact on global carbon and nutrient cycling. However, information on bacterioplankton-DOM interactions on a molecular level is limited. We examined the variation of bacterial community composition (BCC) at Helgoland Roads (North Sea) in relation to variation of molecular DOM composition and various environmental parameters on short-time scales. Surface water samples were taken daily over a period of 20 days. Bacterial community and molecular DOM composition were assessed via 16S rRNA gene tag sequencing and ultrahigh resolution Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS), respectively. Environmental conditions were driven by a coastal water influx during the first half of the sampling period and the onset of a summer phytoplankton bloom toward the end of the sampling period. These phenomena led to a distinct grouping of bacterial communities and DOM composition which was particularly influenced by total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) concentration, temperature, and salinity, as revealed by distance-based linear regression analyses. Bacterioplankton-DOM interaction was demonstrated in strong correlations between specific bacterial taxa and particular DOM molecules, thus, suggesting potential specialization on particular substrates. We propose that a combination of high resolution techniques, as used in this study, may provide substantial information on substrate generalists and specialists and thus, contribute to prediction of BCC variation.
A Biphasic Developmental Pattern of Circulating Leptin in the Male Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta).

To help elucidate the physiological role of leptin during somatic and sexual maturation, circulating concentrations of leptin were measured in 36 male rhesus monkeys of ages ranging from 0–20 yr. The body weight of these animals showed a steady increase of ∼1 kg/yr during the first decade of life and reached a plateau at approximately 13 yr. In contrast, serum leptin concentrations showed a biphasic developmental pattern, which was highlighted by a strong negative correlation with body weight (r = −0.74, P < 0.001) before the onset of puberty (at ∼3.5 yr) and by a strong positive correlation afterward (r = 0.77, P < 0.001). Overall, the developmental changes in serum leptin concentrations closely mimicked the expected developmental changes in serum testosterone concentrations (r = 0.62, P< 0.001), which were highly elevated at birth, fell to basal levels during the juvenile phase of development, and gradually rose again after the initiation of puberty. However, mean serum leptin concentrations during the .
Search for Optimal CEO Compensation: Theory and Empirical Evidence

Much of the agency literature focuses on effort-inducing while little attention is paid to the participation constraint. Intuitively, it is important to jointly address both for CEOs. This paper achieves this by developing a dynamic search equilibrium model which allows for quitting if a CEO is not satisfied with the incentive contract. The reservation utility is endogenized in equilibrium since the value of the CEO's outside option depends on other firms' contracts. As a result, the equilibrium incentive contract exhibits some new and important features which can explain two long-standing puzzles related to the executive compensation practice. First, the equilibrium pay-to-performance-sensitivity negatively depends on the expected aggregate state and a firm's systematic risk, and positively on the firm's specific risk. The separate effects of firms' systematic and specific risks enable us to reconcile the mixed evidence on the relationship between pay-to-performance sensitivity and a firm's risk. Second, the equilibrium salary and total pay depend on the firm's size, which, in turn, increases with the expected aggregate state. This result provides a plausible explanation to the steadily increased compensation paid to executives in the past three decades. These theoretical predictions are broadly supported by our empirical results. Hence, we conclude that the participation constraint is an important determinant for the executive compensation policy.
Opportunism vs. cooperation: Comparing forwarding strategies in multihop wireless networks with random fading

A wide range of forwarding strategies have been developed for multi-hop wireless networks, considering the broadcast nature of the wireless medium and the presence of random fading that results in time-varying and unreliable transmission quality. Two recently proposed strategies are opportunistic forwarding, which exploits relay diversity by opportunistically selecting an overhearing relay as a forwarder, and cooperative forwarding, which relies on the synchronized transmissions of relays to reinforce received signal strengths. Although these strategies are well-known in the literature, there is no comprehensive comparative analysis of their network-level performance in a realistic SINR (signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio) setting with multiple network flows. In this paper, we develop Markovian models for these protocols in the case of multiple competing flows in a general network setting; we also provide recurrence relations for the special case of linear networks. We first use these models to evaluate simple small-scale networks, and find that opportunism often outperforms cooperation - a result corroborated by simulations in larger networks. We also present a fixed-point model to efficiently estimate the throughput of large networks using these models. We identify the interference resulting from the larger number of transmissions under cooperative forwarding as a cause for mitigating the potential gains achievable with cooperative forwarding.
A detailed model of induction machines with saturation extendable for fault analysis

A review of the literature suggests that modeling of induction machines with saturation has received considerable attention. Most of these models are very application specific. None of them, however, seems to be completely adequate for the purpose of fault diagnosis. This is because for a noninvasive detection technique such as Motor Current Signature Analysis (MCSA), one has to detect different frequency components in the line current of the machine. Incorporation of saturation in the induction machine model will help in identifying and analyzing harmonics in the line current spectra that may arise due to the interaction of saturation with a specific fault. The present paper attempts to create such a model. The model uses modulation of air-gap permeance in order to emulate saturation. Modified winding function approach (MWFA) has been used to model the induction machine with saturation. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the model, certain high-frequency harmonics that can be predicted theoretically are shown to be present in the line current of the simulated machine. Experimental results also confirm the presence of these harmonics. The author plans to extend this model in the future for fault analysis.
The Attribution Cube and Reactions to Educational Outcomes.

Hypotheses derived from Kelley's cube model of causal inferences were tested in an educational setting by relating high and low students' attributions to reported affect and expectations. In general, low and high scoring students clustered in different cells of the cube, with high scoring students claiming their scores were nondistinctive, but low scorers emphasizing (a) distinctiveness, (b) high consensus and consistency, or (c) low consensus and consistency. Predictions concerning estimates of distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus and their relation to affect and expectations were also supported, since the cube model appeared to adequately summarize sources of causal information found in the classroom.
Using the self-organizing map to speed up the probability density estimation for speech recognition with mixture density HMMs

This paper presents methods to improve the probability density estimation in hidden Markov models for phoneme recognition by exploiting the self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm. The advantage of using the SOM is based on the created approximative topology between the mixture densities by training the Gaussian mean vectors used as the kernel centers by the SOM algorithm. The topology allows the neighboring mixtures to respond strongly to the same inputs and so most of the nearest mixtures used to approximate the current observation probability will be found in the topological neighborhood of the "winner" mixture. Also the knowledge about the previous winners are used to speed up the search for the new winners. Tree-search SOMs and segmental SOM training are studied aiming at faster search and suitability for HMM training. The framework for the presented experiments includes mel-cepstrum features and phoneme-wise tied mixture density HMMs.
Specific Incorporation of Heat Shock Protein 70 Family Members into Primate Lentiviral Virions

ABSTRACT To determine if any heat shock proteins are incorporated into human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) virions in a manner similar to that of the peptidyl-prolyl isomerase cyclophilin A, we probed purified virions with antibodies against heat shock proteins Hsp27, Hsp40, Hsp60, Hsp70, Hsc70, and Hsp90. Of these proteins, Hsp60, Hsp70, and Hsc70 associated with virions purified based on either particle density or size and were shown to be incorporated within the virion membrane, where they were protected from digestion by exogenous protease. Virion incorporation of Hsp70 was also observed with HIV-2 and with simian immunodeficiency viruses SIVMAC and SIVAGM, but it appears to be specific for primate lentiviruses, since Hsp70 was not detected in association with Moloney murine leukemia virus virions. Of the HIV-1 genes, gag was found to be sufficient for Hsp70 incorporation, though Hsp70 was roughly equimolar with pol-encoded proteins in virions.
Adult Pancreas Side Population Cells Expand after β Cell Injury and Are a Source of Insulin-Secreting Cells

Pancreas stem cells are a potential source of insulin-producing β cells for the therapy of diabetes. In adult tissues the ‘side population’ (SP) of cells that effluxes the DNA binding dye Hoechst 33342 through ATP-binding cassette transporters has stem cell properties. We hypothesised therefore that the SP would expand in response to β cell injury and give rise to functional β cells. SP cells were flow sorted from dissociated pancreas cells of adult mice, analysed for phenotype and cultured with growth promoting and differentiation factors before analysis for hormone expression and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. SP cell number and colony forming potential (CFP) increased significantly in models of type diabetes, and after partial pancreatectomy, in the absence of hyperglycaemia. SP cells, ∼1% of total pancreas cells at 1 week of age, were enriched >10-fold for CFP compared to non-SP cells. Freshly isolated SP cells contained no insulin protein or RNA but expressed the homeobox transcription factor Pdx1 required for pancreas development and β cell function. Pdx1, along with surface expression of CD326 (Ep-Cam), was a marker of the colony forming and proliferation potential of SP cells. In serum-free medium with defined factors, SP cells proliferated and differentiated into islet hormone-expressing cells that secreted insulin in response to glucose. Insulin expression was maintained when tissue was transplanted within vascularised chambers into diabetic mice. SP cells in the adult pancreas expand in response to β cell injury and are a source of β cell progenitors with potential for the treatment of diabetes.
Polymorphism of visual pigment genes in the muriqui (Primates, Atelidae)

Colour vision varies within the family Atelidae (Primates, Platyrrhini), which consists of four genera with the following cladistic relationship: {Alouatta[Ateles (Lagothrix and Brachyteles)]}. Spider monkeys (Ateles) and woolly monkeys (Lagothrix) are characteristic of platyrrhine monkeys in possessing a colour vision polymorphism. The polymorphism results from allelic variation of the single‐locus middle‐to‐long wavelength (M/L) cone opsin gene on the X‐chromosome. The presence in the population of alleles coding for different M/L photopigments results in a variety of colour vision phenotypes. Such a polymorphism is absent in howling monkeys (Alouatta), which, alone among platyrrhines, acquired uniform trichromatic vision similar to that of Old World monkeys, apes, and humans through opsin gene duplication. Dietary and morphological similarities between howling monkeys and muriquis (Brachyteles) raise the possibility that the two genera share a similar form of colour vision, uniform trichromacy. Yet parsimony predicts that the colour vision of Brachyteles will resemble the polymorphism present in Lagothrix and Ateles. Here we test this assumption. We obtained DNA from the blood or faeces of 18 muriquis and sequenced exons 3 and 5 of the M/L opsin gene. Our results affirm the existence of a single M/L cone opsin gene in the genus Brachyteles. We detected three alleles with predicted λmax values of 530, 550, and 562 nm. Two females were heterozygous and are thus predicted to have different types of M/L cone pigment. We discuss the implication of this result towards understanding the evolutionary ecology of trichromatic vision.
Pulmonary Hypertension in Mitral Regurgitation

Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most common valvular lesion in the United States and the second-most common valvular lesion requiring surgery in Europe. [1][1]–[2][2] In the United States, over 2.5 million people are estimated to have moderate-to-severe MR, and this number is expected to double by
Matrix Factorizations and Representations of Quivers I

This paper introduces a mathematical definition of the category of D-branes in Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds in terms of $A_\infty$-categories. Our categories coincide with the categories of (graded) matrix factorizations for quasi-homogeneous polynomials. After setting up the necessary definitions, we prove that our category for the polynomial $x^{n+1}$ is equivalent to the derived category of representations of the Dynkin quiver of type $A_{n}$. We also construct a special stability condition for the triangulated category in the sense of T. Bridgeland, which should be the "origin" of the space of stability conditions.
Individual creativity performance and the quality of interpersonal relationships

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the exchanges that employees maintain with their immediate superior and with their work group influence the creativity that they manifest.Design/methodology/approach – A study was carried out among employees of a firm from the automotive sector. On the basis of previous works, the authors first built reliable multi‐item scales for each variable included in the model; then, a multiple regression analysis was conducted to ascertain the causal effect of those exchanges upon creativity.Findings – The findings reveal that high‐quality exchanges between the employee and their work group and, to a lesser extent, their immediate superior, have a significant positive influence on their creative behavior.Practical implications – All this underlines the importance of the composition of work groups for achieving the team environment necessary for creative production.Originality/value – This paper provides new evidence about a still unexplored topic, trying to brid.
Endophytic Actinomycetes: A Novel Source of Potential Acyl Homoserine Lactone Degrading Enzymes

Several Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria employ N-acyl-L-homoserine lactone (HSL) quorum sensing (QS) system to control their virulence traits. Degradation of acyl-HSL signal molecules by quorum quenching enzyme (QQE) results in a loss of pathogenicity in QS-dependent organisms. The QQE activity of actinomycetes in rhizospheric soil and inside plant tissue was explored in order to obtain novel strains with high HSL-degrading activity. Among 344 rhizospheric and 132 endophytic isolates, 127 (36.9%) and 68 (51.5%) of them, respectively, possessed the QQE activity. The highest HSL-degrading activity was at 151.30 ± 3.1 nmole/h/mL from an endophytic actinomycetes isolate, LPC029. The isolate was identified as Streptomyces based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. The QQE from LPC029 revealed HSL-acylase activity that was able to cleave an amide bond of acyl-side chain in HSL substrate as determined by HPLC. LPC029 HSL-acylase showed broad substrate specificity from C6- to C12-HSL in which C10HSL is the most favorable substrate for this enzyme. In an in vitro pathogenicity assay, the partially purified HSL-acylase efficiently suppressed soft rot of potato caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum ssp. carotovorum as demonstrated. To our knowledge, this is the first report of HSL-acylase activity derived from an endophytic Streptomyces.
An adaptive branching scheme for the Branch & Prune algorithm applied to Distance Geometry

The Molecular Distance Geometry Problem (MDGP) is the one of finding molecular conformations that satisfy a set of distance constraints obtained through experimental techniques such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). We consider a subclass of MDGP instances that can be discretized, where the search domain has the structure of a tree, which can be explored by using an interval Branch & Prune (iBP) algorithm. When all available distances are exact, all candidate positions for a given molecular conformation can be enumerated. This is however not possible in presence of interval distances, because a continuous subset of positions can actually be computed for some atoms. The focus of this work is on a new scheme for an adaptive generation of a discrete subset of candidate positions from this continuous subset. Our generated candidate positions do not only satisfy the distances employed in the discretization process, but also additional distances that might be available (the so-called pruning distances). Therefore, this new scheme is able to guide more efficiently the search in the feasible regions of the search domain. In this work, we motivate the development and formally introduce this new adaptive scheme. Presented computational experiments show that iBP, integrated with our new scheme, outperforms the standard iBP on a set of NMR-like instances.
A cortical edge-integration model of object-based lightness computation that explains effects of spatial context and individual differences

Previous work has demonstrated that perceived surface reflectance (lightness) can be modeled in simple contexts in a quantitatively exact way by assuming that the visual system first extracts information about local, directed steps in log luminance, then spatially integrates these steps along paths through the image to compute lightness (Rudd and Zemach, 2004, 2005, 2007). This method of computing lightness is called edge integration. Recent evidence (Rudd, 2013) suggests that human vision employs a default strategy to integrate luminance steps only along paths from a common background region to the targets whose lightness is computed. This implies a role for gestalt grouping in edge-based lightness computation. Rudd (2010) further showed the perceptual weights applied to edges in lightness computation can be influenced by the observer's interpretation of luminance steps as resulting from either spatial variation in surface reflectance or illumination. This implies a role for top-down factors in any edge-based model of lightness (Rudd and Zemach, 2005). Here, I show how the separate influences of grouping and attention on lightness can be modeled in tandem by a cortical mechanism that first employs top-down signals to spatially select regions of interest for lightness computation. An object-based network computation, involving neurons that code for border-ownership, then automatically sets the neural gains applied to edge signals surviving the earlier spatial selection stage. Only the borders that survive both processing stages are spatially integrated to compute lightness. The model assumptions are consistent with those of the cortical lightness model presented earlier by Rudd (2010, 2013), and with neurophysiological data indicating extraction of local edge information in V1, network computations to establish figure-ground relations and border ownership in V2, and edge integration to encode lightness and darkness signals in V4.