Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Metformin Targets Glucose Metabolism in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Metformin is the most widely administered anti-diabetic agent worldwide. In patients receiving metformin for metabolic syndrome or diabetes, it reduces the incidence and improves the survival of breast cancer (BC) patients. We have previously shown that metformin is particularly potent against triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), with a reduction of proliferation, oncogenicity and motility, inhibition of pro-oncogenic signaling pathways and induction of apoptosis. These BCs are well recognized to be highly dependent on glucose/glucosamine (metabolized through anaerobic glycolysis) and lipids, which are metabolized for the production of energy and cellular building blocks to sustain a high rate of proliferation. We have previously demonstrated that metformin inhibits lipid metabolism, specifically targeting fatty acid synthase (FASN), cholesterol biosynthesis and GM1 lipid rafts in TNBC. We also reported that glucose promotes phenotypic aggression and reduces metformin efficacy. We now show that metformin inhibits several key enzymes requisite to glucose metabolism in TNBC, providing additional insight into why metformin is especially toxic to this subtype of BC. Our data suggests that the use of metformin to target key metabolic defects in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in cancer may be broadly applicable, especially against highly aggressive malignant cells.
Outcomes of a Digital Health Program With Human Coaching for Diabetes Risk Reduction in a Medicare Population

Objective: To examine the outcomes of a Medicare population who participated in a program combining digital health with human coaching for diabetes risk reduction. Method: People at risk for diabetes enrolled in a program combining digital health with human coaching. Participation and health outcomes were examined at 16 weeks and 6 and 12 months. Results: A total of 501 participants enrolled; 92% completed at least nine of 16 core lessons. Participants averaged 19 of 31 possible opportunities for weekly program engagement. At 12 months, participants lost 7.5% (SD = 7.8%) of initial body weight; among participants with clinical data, glucose control improved (glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA1c] change = −0.14%, p = .001) and total cholesterol decreased (−7.08 mg/dL, p = .008). Self-reported well-being, depression, and self-care improved (p < .0001). Discussion: This Medicare population demonstrated sustained program engagement and improved weight, health, and well-being. The findings support digital programs with human coaching for reducing chronic disease risk among older adults.
Crowfunding: A Way to Financing Creative Business in Australia

AbstractCrowdfunding, a new term in financial industries. It provides fund for a new start-up project. In Australia where it becomes the basis of this study, Pozible as a leading crowdfunding platform has already launched 6.929 projects. The fund of US$22.930. 536 was used for financing the projects, and 56 percent of the projects were successful. This research has an objective; it is to measure the degree of significancy using linear regression model. The result shows that among the businesses that has already funded by crowdfunding system, ‘video game’ is one of the most favorite project. It is successful in getting pledges. However, food and drink did not get fund as much as the favorites project. It was based on the percentage of fund that has already got from crowdfunding. In short, crowdfunding can help creative business as a top rank start-up rather than manufacture business. Crowdfunding, istilah baru dalam industri keuangan. Crowdfunding adalah dana untuk proyek rintisan. Pozible sebagai platform crowdfunding terkemuka telah meluncurkan 6,929 proyek di Australia. Negara tersebut menjadi dasar dari penelitian ini. Dana sebesar $ 22.930. 536 US digunakan untuk membiayai proyek-proyek dan 56 persen dari proyek tersebut sukses. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengukur tingkat signifikansi dengan menggunakan model regresi linier. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa di antara bisnis yang sudah didanai oleh sistem crowdfunding, ‘video game’ adalah salah satu proyek yang paling favorit dan sukses dalam mendapatkan jaminan. Sedangkan makanan dan minuman tidak mendapatkan dana sebanyak proyek favorit. Hal ini didasarkan pada persentase dana yang telah diperoleh dari crowdfunding. Kesimpulannya adalah crowdfunding lebih bisa membantu bisnis kreatif sebagai a top rank start-up daripada bisnis manufaktur
icroclimatic differences and their influence on transpirational ooling of Tilia cordata in two contrasting street canyons in Munich , ermany ohammad

Urban trees can help to mitigate the urban heat island through evapotranspiration. However, growing conditions in cities are heterogeneous and micrometeorological conditions in street canyons can have a large impact on a tree’s transpiration. Here we investigated a common urban street tree species Tilia cordata of different ages and sizes, planted in two contrasting street canyons in a densely built neighbourhood within the centre of Munich, Germany: Bordeaux Platz, an open green square (OGS), and Pariser Platz, a circular paved square (CPS) with similar aspect ratio ≈ 0.5. The experiment was carried out during the exceptionally hot and dry summer of 2015. The open green square showed significantly higher wind speed and vapour pressure deficit but lower soil temperature, less negative soil moisture potential and also a smaller wind tunneling effect compared to the circular paved square. All these variables showed strong relationship with the sapflux density (Js) of trees grown at these two sites. They explain almost 78% of the variation in Js. On average Js values of the trees at Bordeaux Platz peaked to 0.30–0.35 ml cm−2 min−1 during the day compared to the peak values of 0.20–0.23 ml cm−2 min−1 for trees at Pariser Platz. Conse−1 −2 quently, trees grown at the open green square showed higher peak cooling of 2.3 kW tree or 82 w m than at the circular paved square (1.9 kW tree−1). Interestingly, nocturnal cooling was higher for trees at the circular paved square with 18% of daytime transpiration compared to 2% for trees at the open green square. The study gave new insights into the cooling benefits of urban trees planted in open green squares compared to closed and paved squares and its temporal variation. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Effects of Inquiry Types on States Related to Community of Inquiry in Online Learning Environments: An Explanatory Case Study

The purpose of this study, with reference to Community of Inquiry, is to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of Learning activities based on Online Inquiry differentiating as Open and Guided Inquiries. This study employs mixed research method and explanatory design. The data were collected with the Community of Inquiry Index and the Student Process Survey. According to the Community of Inquiry index results, scores of all guided inquiry students in terms of the scale were higher at a statistically significant level than those of open group. Similarly, regarding the subscales of community of inquiry index teaching presence and cognitive presence factor scores were higher in favor of the guided inquiry students. There is no significant difference between the social presence scores of the groups. Obtained qualitative data also support this result. According to these findings, we can arrive at the conclusion that, within the scope of Community of Inquiry, the students in the guided inquiry group had a more efficient working process than the students in the open inquiry group.
Exchange rate overshooting and its transmission through the monetary policy in Kenya

With the floating exchange rate regime that Kenya is currently under, it was suspected at the beginning of this study, that the exchange rate channel of monetary policy transmission mechanism is effective in Kenya and that exchange rates overshoot in Kenya. If exchange rates overshoot and this channel is effective in Kenya, then both would impact negatively on aggregate incomes. This paper therefore set out to establish how the effects of exchange rate overshooting are transmitted into the macroeconomic variables in Kenya. Empirical evidence to prove that exchange rates overshoot in Kenya was sort before its effects in the economy can be traced. Two models were estimated in the paper. The first one aims at establishing for the evidence of exchange rate overshooting in Kenya under the floating exchange rate regime using quarterly data from 1993:1 to 2001:4. The second model traces the transmission of exchange rate . overshooting to the other macroeconomic variables in the economy using monthly data from January 1993 to December 2001. To establish for the evidence of exchange rate overshooting, due to the non-existence of cointegration in the overshooting variables therefore making the estimation of an error correction model impractical, a short-run equation was estimated with the result that exchange rates overshoot in the short-run. The results of the short run overshooting equation show evidence for exchange rate overshooting in Kenya in the short run. The lags of money supply in the preferred model are positive up to the second quarter. This means that exchange rates overshoot on impact and reaches the overshooting peak at the end of the second quarter then starts to trace back its long run path. The short run path and the long run path converge after eight months,
Singing Voice Recognition for Music Information Retrieval

This thesis proposes signal processing methods for analysis of singing voice audio signals, with the objectives of obtaining information about the identity and lyrics content of the singing. Two main topics are presented, singer identification in monophonic and polyphonic music, and lyrics transcription and alignment. The information automatically extracted from the singing voice is meant to be used for applications such as music classification, sorting and organizing music databases, music information retrieval, etc. For singer identification, the thesis introduces methods from general audio classification and specific methods for dealing with the presence of accompaniment. The emphasis is on singer identification in polyphonic audio, where the singing voice is present along with musical accompaniment. The presence of instruments is detrimental to voice identification performance, and eliminating the effect of instrumental accompaniment is an important aspect of the problem. The study of singer identification is centered around the degradation of classification performance in presence of instruments, and separation of the vocal line for improving performance. For the study, monophonic singing was mixed with instrumental accompaniment at different signalto-noise (singing-to-accompaniment) ratios and the classification process was performed on the polyphonic mixture and on the vocal line separated from the polyphonic mixture. The method for classification including the step for separating the vocals is improving significantly the performance compared to classification of the polyphonic mixtures, but not close to the performance in classifying the monophonic singing itself. Nevertheless, the results show that classification of singing voices can be done robustly in polyphonic music when using source separation. In the problem of lyrics transcription, the thesis introduces the general speech recognition framework and various adjustments that can be done before applying themethods on singing voice. The variability of
Sample dispersion in isotachophoresis

We present an analytical, numerical and experimental study of advective dispersion in isotachophoresis (ITP). We analyse the dynamics of the concentration field of a focused analyte in peak mode ITP. The analyte distribution is subject to electromigration, diffusion and advective dispersion. Advective dispersion results from strong internal pressure gradients caused by non-uniform electro-osmotic flow (EOF). Analyte dispersion strongly affects the sensitivity and resolution of ITP-based assays. We perform axisymmetric time-dependent numerical simulations of fluid flow, diffusion and electromigration. We find that analyte properties contribute greatly to dispersion in ITP. Analytes with mobility values near those of the trailing (TE) or leading electrolyte (LE) show greater penetration into the TE or LE, respectively. Local pressure gradients in the TE and LE then locally disperse these zones of analyte penetration. Based on these observations, we develop a one-dimensional analytical model of the focused sample zone. We treat the LE, TE and LE–TE interface regions separately and, in each, assume a local Taylor–Aris-type effective dispersion coefficient. We also performed well-controlled experiments in circular capillaries, which we use to validate our simulations and analytical model. Our model allows for fast and accurate prediction of the area-averaged sample distribution based on known parameters including species mobilities, EO mobility, applied current density and channel dimensions. This model elucidates the fundamental mechanisms underlying analyte advective dispersion in ITP and can be used to optimize detector placement in detection-based assays.
Fuzzy parameter adaptation for a sliding mode controller as applied to the control of an articulated arm

A number of approaches based on sliding mode control methodology are proposed in the literature for the position control of robotic manipulators. An important problem in this context is chattering, that is high frequency oscillations in the velocity. In this paper, a novel approach is considered which eliminates chattering if the controller parameters are set suitably. A fuzzy adaptation scheme is devised for the online adaptation of the parameters of this method. Simulation results show that the fuzzy rule based adaptation scheme ensures good controller performance without chattering.
Male reproductive allocation in fireflies (Photinus spp.)

Resource allocation between somatic and reproductive structures has important fitness consequences for individuals, and optimal trade-offs are expected to depend not only on mating system differences among species but also on levels of resource stress within species. We tested the prediction that polyandry (associated with increased sperm competition) will increase male reproductive allocation in bioluminescent fireflies in Photinus spp. by comparing the relative mass of testes, seminal vesicles, and reproductive accessory glands among a monandrous and several polyandrous species. In addition, we examined a single population of a polyandrous species, Photinus greeni, to see how reproductive allocation might shift between years in response to different levels of larval resource stress. As predicted, males of P. collustrans, a monandrous species, showed a fivefold lower allocation to sperm production and a 100-fold lower allocation to reproductive accessory glands compared with males from polyandrous species. We also found evidence within P. greeni of a trade-off between allocation either to reproduction or to somatic tissue; following larval resource stress, males eclosed at significantly shorter body lengths, yet showed a 35% increase in their reproductive allocation. These results demonstrate that mating systems strongly influence male allocation to reproductive accessory glands as well as to sperm production. Furthermore, these results suggest that under larval resource stress males of Photinus spp. increase their allocation to reproduction at the expense of somatic tissue, thus maximizing their ability to produce nuptial gifts required for reproductive success.
Comparison the Geochemical Background, Threshold and Anomaly with Pollution Indices in the Assessment of Soil Pollution: Al-Hawija, North of Iraq Case Study

The geochemical background, threshold and anomaly values are compared with pollution indices (Enrichment Factor, Contamination Factor, Geo-accumulation index and Pollution Load Index) in soil collected from Al-Hawija area. The main target is to clarify the differences between the real geochemical background values of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Co, Cr, Ni, V, Cu, Zn, Mo, As, Th and U) and the results of pollution indices. The results showed that the Contamination Factor is often almost consistent with the geochemical background, the Enrichment Factor indicated a low to moderate contamination soil, Geo-accumulation index indicated unpolluted to moderately polluted soil and Pollution Load Index indicated perfection to deterioration soil. The real geochemical background showed a natural distribution of most heavy metals with anomaly of some other. These anomalies didn't attributed to the pollution, but rather reflect the source from which soil has been derived. Pollution indices depend almost entirely on the global reference averages, and don't take the soil origin into account. Consequently, they gave results differ than the geochemical background. The pollution assessment of the heavy metals using EF is more consistent with the geochemical background, but there is high variation when compared the geochemical background to the CF, I-geo and PLI indices.
Pseudo-Ginsenoside Rh2 induces A549 cells apoptosis via the Ras/Raf/ERK/p53 pathway

Ginsenoside Rh2, a major effective constituent of ginseng, has been suggested to have a pro-apoptotic effect in a variety of cancer cells. Pseudo-Ginsenside-Rh2 (pseudo-G-Rh2) is a novel derivative of ginsenoside Rh2. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of pseudo-G-Rh2 on the apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. The cytotoxicity of pseudo-G-Rh2 on A549 cells was evaluated using an MTT assay. Apoptosis was detected using DAPI staining and flow cytometry. The expression of apoptosis associated proteins was identified by western blot analysis. The results demonstrated that pseudo-G-Rh2 inhibits the proliferation of A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner. DAPI staining revealed topical morphological changes in apoptotic bodies following pseudo-G-Rh2 treatment. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that the percentage of Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate-positive cells, which are apoptotic, increased with pseudo-G-Rh2 treatment in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, treatment with pseudo-G-Rh2 increased the level of reactive oxygen species in A549 cells as well as the activation of caspase-9, caspase-3 and poly ADP-ribose polymerase. Pseudo-G-Rh2 treatment was observed to induce mitochondrial membrane potential loss. Furthermore, the results of western blotting revealed that B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) expression was significantly decreased while Bcl-2-associated X protein expression was significantly upregulated in A549 cells with pseudo-G-Rh2 treatment. Pseudo-G-Rh2-induced apoptosis was accompanied by sustained phosphorylation of Ras, Raf, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p53. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that pseudo-G-Rh2 induces mitochondrial apoptosis in A549 cells and is responsible for excessive activation of the Ras/Raf/ERK/p53 pathway.
Research Note: US Lodging Firms' Exposure to Energy Price Risk

To date, studies on hotel energy use have examined the implications in terms of direct cost savings, environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility. However, as the profitability of lodging firms is subject to changes in energy prices, their value may depend on exposure to energy price volatility. This paper examines the exposure of US lodging firms to energy price risk between 2001 and 2014. The authors find that energy price considerably affected stock returns of lodging firms throughout the sample period, and conclude that participation in an energy saving programme reduces the lodging firm's stock return exposure to energy price risk, thereby enhancing firm value.
Genetic and environmental risk factors in males for self-report externalizing traits in mid-adolescence and criminal behavior through young adulthood

Background Externalizing traits or behaviors are typically assessed by self-report scales or criminal records. Few genetically informative studies have used both methods to determine whether they assess the same genetic or environmental risk factors. Method We examined 442 male Swedish twin pairs with self-reported externalizing behaviors at age 16–17 years [externalizing traits (EXT), self-reported delinquency (SRD), impulsivity (IMP), grandiosity (GRD) and callousness (CLS)] and criminal behavior (CB) from the National Suspect Registry from age 13 to 25 years. Multivariate structural equation modeling was conducted with Mx. Results The best-fit model contained one genetic, one shared environmental and two non-shared environmental common factors, and variable specific genetic and non-shared environmental factors. The risk for CB was influenced substantially by both genetic (a2 = 0.48) and familial–environmental factors (c2 = 0.22). About one-third of the genetic risk for CB but all of the shared environmental risk was indexed by the self-report measures. The degree to which the individual measures reflected genetic versus familial–environmental risks for CB varied widely. GRD and CLS were correlated with CB mainly through common genetic risk factors. SRD and CB covaried largely because of shared familial–environmental factors. For EXT and IMP, observed correlations with CB resulted in about equal parts from shared genetic and shared familial–environmental factors. Conclusions In adolescence, measures of grandiose and callous temperament best tap the genetic liability to CB. Measures of antisocial behaviors better index familial–environmental risks for CB. A substantial proportion of the genetic risk to CB was not well reflected in any of the self-report measures.
A Method of Specifying the Gravity Wave Spectrum above Convection Based on Latent Heating Properties and Background Wind

Abstract The spectrum of convectively generated gravity waves is currently not resolved in general circulation models and must be parameterized. Due to the lack of understanding of the connection between convection properties and gravity waves, such parameterizations assume a source spectrum of gravity waves that is not linked to the forcing region. This paper introduces a method of specifying the gravity wave spectrum above convection based on the latent heating properties and background wind in the convective region that can be implemented in general circulation models. This method is based on linear calculations of momentum flux generated by a multifrequency thermal forcing and incorporates the effects of tropospheric mean wind in the convective environment. In the analysis, gravity waves that are generated by both the steady and the oscillatory component of the heating are included. It is shown that an accurate spectrum of convectively generated gravity waves can be deduced from the knowledge of appro.
A Unified Theory: Prospect Theory and Market Dynamics

We measure crowd’s decision weights in trading by cumulative trading volume distribution and determine a reference price about crowd’s assessment value of an individual stock by the maximal volume price in stock market. We assume that prospect theory traders derive behavioral utility in trading not only from the liquidity utility expressed in terms of final trading wealth but also from a trading weight utility and a gain-loss utility relative to the reference price. We find a mathematical relation between them, derive a price-volume differential equation, and obtain two sets of explicit trading volume distribution models. One is the models in crowd’s independent trading, and the other is the behavioral models of reference-dependent preferences in crowd’s interactive trading. Finally, we propose an explicit S-shaped value function in prospect theory from the models in crowd’s interactive trading. The unified theory is successful, consistent with empirical tests in high frequency data.