Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two Distinct Low-pH Steps Promote Entry of Vaccinia Virus

ABSTRACT Entry of vaccinia virus into cells occurs by an endosomal route as well as through the plasma membrane. Evidence for an endosomal pathway was based on findings that treatment at a pH of <6 of mature virions attached to the plasma membrane enhances entry, whereas inhibitors of endosomal acidification reduce entry. Inactivation of infectivity by low-pH treatment of virions prior to membrane attachment is characteristic of many viruses that use the endosomal route. Nevertheless, we show here that the exposure of unattached vaccinia virus virions to low pH at 37°C did not alter their infectivity. Instead, such treatment stably activated virions as indicated by their accelerated entry upon subsequent addition to cells, as measured by reporter gene expression. Moreover, the rate of entry was not further enhanced by a second low-pH treatment following adsorption to the plasma membrane. However, the entry of virions activated prior to adsorption remained sensitive to inhibitors of endosomal acidification, whereas virions treated with low pH after adsorption were resistant. Activation of virions by low pH was closely mimicked by proteinase digestion, suggesting that the two treatments operate through a related mechanism. Although proteinase cleavage of the virion surface proteins D8 and A27 correlated with activation, mutant viruses constructed by individually deleting these genes did not exhibit an activated phenotype. We propose a two-step model of vaccinia virus entry through endosomes, in which activating or unmasking the fusion complex by low pH or by proteinase is rate limiting but does not eliminate a second low-pH step mediating membrane fusion.
Does Size Matter? When Small is Good Enough

This paper reports the observation of the influence of the size of documents on the accuracy of a defined text processing task. Our hypothesis is that based on a specific task (in this case, topic classification), results obtained using longer texts may be approximated by short texts, of micropost size, i.e., maximum length 140 characters. Using an email dataset as the main corpus, we generate several fixed-size corpora, consisting of truncated emails, from micropost size (140 characters), and successive multiples thereof, to the full size of each email. Our methodology consists of two steps: (1) corpus-driven topic extraction and (2) document topic classification. We build the topic representation model using the main corpus, through k-means clustering, with each k -derived topic represented as a weighted number of terms. We then perform document classification according to the k topics: first over the main corpus, then over each truncated corpus, and observe the variance in classification accuracy with document size. The results obtained show that the accuracy of topic classification for micropost-size texts is a suitable approximation of classification performed on longer texts.
Long-term impacts of aerosols on precipitation and lightning over the Pearl River Delta megacity area in China

Abstract. Seven-year measurements of precipitation, lightning flashes, and visibility from 2000 to 2006 have been analyzed in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, China, with a focus on the Guangzhou megacity area. Statistical analysis shows that the occurrence of heavy rainfall (>25 mm per day) and frequency of lightning strikes are reversely correlated to visibility during this period. To elucidate the effects of aerosols on cloud processes, precipitation, and lightning activity, a cloud resolving – Weather Research and Forecasting (CR-WRF) model with a two-moment bulk microphysical scheme is employed to simulate a mesoscale convective system occurring on 28 Match 2009 in the Guangzhou megacity area. The model predicted evolutions of composite radar reflectivity and accumulated precipitation are in agreement with measurements from S-band weather radars and automatic gauge stations. The calculated lightning potential index (LPI) exhibits temporal and spatial consistence with lightning flashes recorded by a local lightning detection network. Sensitivity experiments have been performed to reflect aerosol conditions representative of polluted and clean cases. The simulations suggest that precipitation and LPI are enhanced by about 16% and 50%, respectively, under the polluted aerosol condition. Our results suggest that elevated aerosol loading suppresses light and moderate precipitation (less than 25 mm per day), but enhances heavy precipitation. The responses of hydrometeors and latent heat release to different aerosol loadings reveal the physical mechanism for the precipitation and lightning enhancement in the Guangzhou megacity area, showing more efficient mixed phase processes and intensified convection under the polluted aerosol condition.
Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids from Arnebia euchroma*

2 kg of the plant material, exported from Xin Jian, China, were extracted with methanol in a Soxhlet apparatus for five days (7). After Suspension of the dried methanol extract in ammonia, the aqueous phase was extracted with CH2C12. The organic layer was concentrated and a crude alkaloidal fraction was obtained which was purified by preparative TLC (CH2C12: MeOH: NH3, 95:14:1). The resulting mixture of l and 2 (11 mg) was analysed by GC, where alkaloid 2 appeared as a side component of 1.
Opinion Mining in Latvian Text Using Semantic Polarity Analysis and Machine Learning Approach

In this paper we demonstrate approaches for opinion mining in Latvian text. Authors have applied, combined and extended results of several previous studies and public resources to perform opinion mining in Latvian text using two approaches, namely, semantic polarity analysis and machine learning. One of the most significant constraints that make application of opinion mining for written content classification in Latvian text challenging is the limited publicly available text corpora for classifier training. We have joined several sources and created a publically available extended lexicon. Our results are comparable to or outperform current achievements in opinion mining in Latvian. Experiments show that lexicon-based methods provide more accurate opinion mining than the application of Naive Bayes machine learning classifier on Latvian tweets. Methods used during this study could be further extended using human annotators, unsupervised machine learning and bootstrapping to create larger corpora of classified text.
Fat Tails, Thin Tails, and Climate Change Policy

Climate policy is complicated by the considerable uncertainties concerning the benefits and costs of abatement. We do not even know the probability distributions for future temperatures and impacts, making benefit–cost analysis based on expected values challenging to say the least. There are good reasons to believe that those probability distributions are fat-tailed, which implies that if social welfare is based on the expectation of a constant relative risk aversion utility function, then we should be willing to sacrifice close to 100 percent of gross domestic product to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I argue that unbounded marginal utility makes little sense and that once we put a bound on marginal utility, this implication of fat tails goes away: Expected marginal utility will be finite even if the distribution for outcomes is fat-tailed. Furthermore, depending on the bound on marginal utility, the index of risk aversion, and the damage function, a thin-tailed distribution can actually yield a higher expected marginal utility (and thus a greater willingness to pay for abatement) than a fat-tailed one.
Worst-Case Conditional Value-at-Risk with Application to Robust Portfolio Management

This paper considers the worst-case Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) in the situation where only partial information on the underlying probability distribution is available. The minimization of the worst-case CVaR under mixture distribution uncertainty, box uncertainty, and ellipsoidal uncertainty are investigated. The application of the worst-case CVaR to robust portfolio optimization is proposed, and the corresponding problems are cast as linear programs and second-order cone programs that can be solved efficiently. Market data simulation and Monte Carlo simulation examples are presented to illustrate the proposed approach.
Analysis of diversity-multiplexing tradeoff bounds of ZF-SIC systems with error propagation

Bounds on the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff (DMT) curves of the Bell labs layered space-time (BLAST) architecture are analyzed, where zero-forcing successive interference cancellation (ZF-SIC) receivers are employed. The DMT curve in the presence of error propagation caused by SIC process is derived under the assumption that each transmit antenna employs Gaussian random coding and the interference caused by detection errors has Gaussian distribution. This result can provide a lower bound on that of the ZF-SIC receiver with error propagation.
Integrated Anchor and Social Link Predictions across Social Networks

To enjoy more social network services, users nowadays are usually involved in multiple online social media sites at the same time. Across these social networks, users can be connected by both intranetwork links (i.e., social links) and inter-network links (i.e., anchor links) simultaneously. In this paper, we want to predict the formation of social links among users in the target network as well as anchor links aligning the target network with other external social networks. The problem is formally defined as the "collective link identification" problem. To solve the collective link identification problem, a unified link prediction framework, CLF (Collective Link Fusion) is proposed in this paper, which consists of two phases: step (1) collective link prediction of anchor and social links, and step (2) propagation of predicted links across the partially aligned "probabilistic networks" with collective random walk. Extensive experiments conducted on two real-world partially aligned networks demonstrate that CLF can perform very well in predicting social and anchor links concurrently.
Effect of Morphine Self-Administration on Water and Food Intake in Rat

Objective Some lines of evidences demonstrate that opioids are involved in water and food intake. On the other hand the dopaminergic mesolimbic system that consists of ventral tegmental area (VTA), nucleus accumbens (NAc) and medial prefrontal cortex is considered to be crucial in the rewarding actions of opiates. There are also reports showing that this system has some roles in appetite and drinking behaviors. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of morphine self- administration on food and water intake in rats. Materials and Methods Male Wistar rats were first trained to receive small pellets of food by pressing active lever in selfadministration apparatus. Rats were anaesthetized with ketamine and their jugular vein was cannulated. After recovery the animals were placed in self-administration apparatus and allowed to self-administer morphine (0.5 mg in 0.1 ml per infusion, in morphine group) or 0.1 ml saline (in saline group) during 10 consecutive days for 2 h /sessions. The amount of 24 h water and food intake during the last 3 days compared between saline and morphine groups. Results The results showed that water and food intake in morphine group in days 8, 9 and 10 was lower than saline group. Conclusion This study indicates that morphine self - administration alters food intake and drinking water but the exact mechanism(s) need to be more investigated.
Virus-Mediated shRNA Knockdown of Prodynorphin in the Rat Nucleus Accumbens Attenuates Depression-Like Behavior and Cocaine Locomotor Sensitization

Dynorphins, endogenous opioid peptides that arise from the precursor protein prodynorphin (Pdyn), are hypothesized to be involved in the regulation of mood states and the neuroplasticity associated with addiction. The current study tested the hypothesis that dynorphin in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) mediates such effects. More specifically, we examined whether knockdown of Pdyn within the NAcc in rats would alter the expression of depressive-like and anxiety-like behavior, as well as cocaine locomotor sensitization. Wistar rats were injected with adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors encoding either a Pdyn-specific short hairpin RNA (AAV-shPdyn) or a scrambled shRNA (AAV-shScr) as control. Four weeks later, rats were tested for anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze test and depressive-like behavior in the forced swim test (FST). Finally, rats received one daily injection of saline or cocaine (20 mg/kg, i.p.), followed by assessment of locomotion for 4 consecutive days. Following 3 days of abstinence, the rats completed 2 additional daily cocaine/saline locomotor trials. Pdyn knockdown in the NAcc led to a significant reduction in depressive-like behavior in the FST, but had no effect on anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze. Pdyn knockdown did not alter baseline locomotor behavior, the locomotor response to acute cocaine, or the initial sensitization of the locomotor response to cocaine over the first 4 cocaine treatment days. However, following 3 days abstinence the locomotor response to the cocaine challenge returned to their original levels in the AAV-shPdyn rats while remaining heightened in the AAV-shScr rats. These results suggest that dynorphin in a very specific area of the nucleus accumbens contributes to depressive-like states and may be involved in neuroadaptations in the NAcc that contribute to the development of cocaine addiction as a persistent and lasting condition.
Accurate estimation of global buffer delay within a floorplan

Closed formed expressions for buffered interconnect delay approximation have been around for some time. However, previous approaches assume that buffers are free to be placed anywhere. In practice, designs frequently have large blocks that make the ideal buffer insertion solution unrealizable. The theory of Otten (1998) is extended to show how one can model the blocks into a simple delay estimation technique that applies both to two-pin and to multi-pin nets. Even though the formula uses one buffer type, it shows remarkable accuracy in predicting delay when compared to an optimal realizable buffer insertion solution. Potential applications include wire planning, timing analysis during floorplanning or global routing. Our experiments show that our approach accurately predicts delay when compared to constructing a realizable buffer insertion with multiple buffer types.
Likely effects of climate change on water resources and vegetation growth period in the province of Alicante, southeastern Spain

En esta tesis doctoral se pretende analizar algunos de los posibles efectos del cambio climatico sobre: (1) la disponibilidad de los recursos hidricos y (2) el periodo de crecimiento de la vegetacion a escala de la provincia de Alicante, situada en la costa mediterranea de la peninsula iberica, senalada por el IPCC, como una de las regiones que se veran especialmente afectadas por el cambio climatico. Para responder al primer objetivo se analizan los posibles efectos del cambio climatico en aquellos eventos de lluvia susceptibles de aportar recargas apreciables a los acuiferos. Ademas, se desarrolla un modelo hidrologico (HydrobalPCR) basado en el modelo eco-hidrologico HYDROBAL y usando una plataforma de modelizacion ambiental para analizar de forma simultanea el efecto del cambio climatico en el balance hidrico, a lo largo de un gradiente climatico. Para abordar la segunda cuestion se establece una relacion entre la fenologia de la superficie del terreno (LSP de las siglas en ingles Land Surface Phenology) y el clima observado en zonas de vegetacion natural, a fin de poder analizar lo cambios proyectado en el LSP bajo los escenarios previstos del cambio climatico. Al mismo tiempo, se analizan los posibles cambios en los periodos de crecimiento de los cultivos a escala de la comarca de la Marina Baixa. Los resultados obtenidos indican, por un lado, posibles efectos en la disponibilidad de recursos hidricos en la provincia de Alicante, debido a la probable reduccion en el numero de grandes eventos de lluvia, susceptibles de recargar los acuiferos de la zona. Ademas, la probable reduccion de las precipitaciones se preve que afecte al balance hidrico en general. Por otro lado, el cambio climatico parece que tendra efectos sobre el periodo de crecimiento de los cultivos y de la vegetacion natural. Probablemente seran mas cortos, debido a la reduccion de las precipitaciones y al aumento de la evapotranspiracion potencial, como consecuencia del aumento esperado en las temperaturas (en cultivos), y a un adelanto en el final de la estacion de crecimiento (en la vegetacion natural segun el analisis del LSP).
Complementarities in Corporate Governance: Ownership Concentration, Capital Structure, Monitoring, and Pecuniary Incentives

The paper shows that, as owners accumulate larger stakes and hence become less risk-tolerant, their incentives to monitor management are attenuated because monitoring shifts some of the firm? s risk from management to owners. This counterbalances the positive effect which more concentrated ownership has on monitoring via reduced free rider problems. Moreover, the paper shows how the opportunity cost of concentrated ownership, which is the loss of risk-sharing benefits, creates scope to use leverage as an additional complementary governance instrument. The paper offers new explanations for several empirical regularities found in the literature.
Hidden-Token Searchable Public-Key Encryption

In this paper, we propose a variant of searchable public-key encryption named hidden-token searchable public-key encryption with two new security properties: token anonymity and one-token-per-trapdoor. With the former security notion, the client can obtain the search token from the data owner without revealing any information about the underlying keyword. Meanwhile, the client cannot derive more than one token from one trapdoor generated by the data owner according to the latter security notion. Furthermore, we present a concrete hiddentoken searchable public-key encryption scheme together with the security proofs in the random oracle model.
PCG-Cut: Graph Driven Segmentation of the Prostate Central Gland

Prostate cancer is the most abundant cancer in men, with over 200,000 expected new cases and around 28,000 deaths in 2012 in the US alone. In this study, the segmentation results for the prostate central gland (PCG) in MR scans are presented. The aim of this research study is to apply a graph-based algorithm to automated segmentation (i.e. delineation) of organ limits for the prostate central gland. The ultimate goal is to apply automated segmentation approach to facilitate efficient MR-guided biopsy and radiation treatment planning. The automated segmentation algorithm used is graph-driven based on a spherical template. Therefore, rays are sent through the surface points of a polyhedron to sample the graph’s nodes. After graph construction – which only requires the center of the polyhedron defined by the user and located inside the prostate center gland – the minimal cost closed set on the graph is computed via a polynomial time s-t-cut, which results in the segmentation of the prostate center gland’s boundaries and volume. The algorithm has been realized as a C++ module within the medical research platform MeVisLab and the ground truth of the central gland boundaries were manually extracted by clinical experts (interventional radiologists) with several years of experience in prostate treatment. For evaluation the automated segmentations of the proposed scheme have been compared with the manual segmentations, yielding an average Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) of 78.94±10.85%.
Don't go with the flow: web services composition standards exposed

The recently released Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS) is said to combine the best of other standards for web services composition such as WSFL from IBM and XLANG of Microsoft. BPEL4WS allows for a mixture of block structured and graph structured process models thus making the language expressive at the price of being complex. Although BPEL4WS is not such a bad proposal by itself, it is remarkable how much attention this standard receives while the more fundamental issues and problems such as semantics, expressiveness, and adequacy do not get the attention they deserve. Having a standard is a very good idea. However, there are too many of them and most of them die before becoming mature. A simple indicator of this development is the increasing length of acronyms: PDL, XPDL, BPSS, EDOC, BPML, WSDL, WSCI, ebXML, and BPEL4WS are just some of the acronyms referring to various standards in the domain. Another problem is that these languages typically have no clearly defined semantics. The only way to overcome these problems is to critically evaluate the so-called standards for web services composition, i.e., Don’t go with the flow!
Therapeutic Benefit of Intravenous Administration of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells After Cerebral Ischemia in Rats

Background and Purpose— We tested the hypothesis that intravenous infusion of bone marrow derived-marrow stromal cells (MSCs) enter the brain and reduce neurological functional deficits after stroke in rats. Methods— Rats (n=32) were subjected to 2 hours of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Test groups consisted of MCAO alone (group 1, n=6); intravenous infusion of 1×106 MSCs at 24 hours after MCAO (group 2, n=6); or infusion of 3×106 MSCs (group 3, n=7). Rats in groups 1 to 3 were euthanized at 14 days after MCAO. Group 4 consisted of MCAO alone (n=6) and group 5, intravenous infusion of 3×106 MSCs at 7 days after MCAO (n=7). Rats in groups 4 and 5 were euthanized at 35 days after MCAO. For cellular identification, MSCs were prelabeled with bromodeoxyuridine. Behavioral tests (rotarod, adhesive-removal, and modified Neurological Severity Score [NSS]) were performed before and at 1, 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35 days after MCAO. Immunohistochemistry was used to identify MSCs or cells derived from MSCs in brain and other organs. Results— Significant recovery of somatosensory behavior and Neurological Severity Score (P <0.05) were found in animals infused with 3×106 MSCs at 1 day or 7 days compared with control animals. MSCs survive and are localized to the ipsilateral ischemic hemisphere, and a few cells express protein marker phenotypic neural cells. Conclusions— MSCs delivered to ischemic brain tissue through an intravenous route provide therapeutic benefit after stroke. MSCs may provide a powerful autoplastic therapy for stroke.
A low power and high performance face detection on mobile GPU

Face detection is one of the most popular computer vision applications on mobile platforms. It is a compute-intensive task that consumes significant energy. In this paper, we present an energy efficient face detection implementation that offloads data- and compute-intensive portions of the application onto low-power mobile GPU to save overall power consumption without sacrificing performance. Our experiment on a state-of-the-art mobile processor demonstrates that our proposed approach saves power consumption up to 14.3% and improves performance by 87% over traditional CPU only execution.