Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induction of a cyclic AMP-responsive gene in living cells requires the nuclear factor CREB

We constructed cell lines containing various enhancer elements cloned upstream from a marker gene. By microinjection of specific antibodies directed against transcriptional activator proteins into these cell lines, we have developed a functional assay for factors which regulate the activity of target promoters. Here we show that microinjection of a highly specific antibody to the cyclic AMP enhancer element-binding (CREB) protein diminishes gene expression in response to cyclic AMP in living fibroblasts.
Analysis of Single Pile Settlement in Layered Soils Based on Shear Displacement Method

Based on the theory of shear displacement method, the transfer matrix of pile in layered soils was deduced, so the analytical theory of settlement of single pile in layered soils is established, which can take into account the nonlinear influence of soils, and with which settlement, distribution of axial force, displacement and skin resistance of single pile along the depth in layered soils can be easily attained. By contrast with the practically measure data, it can be seen that the method proposed in this paper is simply and comparatively accurate in calculating the pile settlement under working load.
A common directional tuning mechanism of Drosophila motion-sensing neurons in the ON and in the OFF pathway

In the fruit fly optic lobe, T4 and T5 cells represent the first direction-selective neurons, with T4 cells responding selectively to moving brightness increments (ON) and T5 cells to brightness decrements (OFF). Both T4 and T5 cells comprise four subtypes with directional tuning to one of the four cardinal directions. We had previously found that upward-sensitive T4 cells implement both preferred direction enhancement and null direction suppression (Haag et al., 2016). Here, we asked whether this mechanism generalizes to OFF-selective T5 cells and to all four subtypes of both cell classes. We found that all four subtypes of both T4 and T5 cells implement both mechanisms, that is preferred direction enhancement and null direction inhibition, on opposing sides of their receptive fields. This gives rise to the high degree of direction selectivity observed in both T4 and T5 cells within each subpopulation.
The Precision and Energetic Cost of Snapshot Estimates in Wireless Sensor Networks

Even for a specific application, the design space of wireless sensor networks is enormous, and traditional disciplinary boundaries are disappearing in the search for efficient integrated network architectures and protocols. There is a strong need to develop objective frameworks for the evaluation of performance and energetic cost as a function of network control at multiple levels, including the signal/data processing application, network organization, routing, MAC, and physical layers. This paper, a step in this direction, addresses the efficiency of linear estimation of a second-order random spatial field at a central server - a snapshot - in terms of the precision of the estimate and the energetic cost of computing it. We present a model that is based on the tasks of taking samples at a specific resolution and reporting them over the network to the server where the estimate is computed. It provides insight into the joint design of sampling and routing, an explicit efficiency measure for finite networks, and a performance benchmark for precision. The model, with predefined sampling locations at each resolution, implicitly requires centralized control to obtain spatially uniform sampling. We describe a decentralized reporting protocol called PROSE (Protocol for Randomized Opportunistic Sampling and Estimation) that uses localized decisions for sampling, data aggregation, and routing that are random and opportunistic. Finally, we show that the performance of PROSE compares favorably with the benchmark, and that PROSE admits simpler nonopportunistic random behavior at the cost of lower performance.
Ownership Characteristics and Access to Finance : Evidence from a Survey of Large Privatised Companies in Hungary and Poland

We examine financial constraints and forms of finance used for investment, by analysing survey data on 157 large privatised companies in Hungary and Poland for the period 1998 – 2000. The Bayesian analysis using Gibbs sampling is carried out to obtain inferences about the sample companies’ access to finance from a model for categorical outcome. By applying alternative measures of financial constraints we find that foreign companies, companies that are part of domestic industrial groups and enterprises with concentrated ownership are all less constrained in their access to finance. Moreover, we identify alternative modes of finance since different corporate control and past performance characteristics influence the sample firms’ choice of finance source. In particular, while being industry-specific, the access to domestic credit is positively associated with company size and past profitability. Industrial group members tend to favour bond issues as well as sells-offs of assets as appropriate types of finance for their investment programmes. Preferences for raising finance in the form of equity are associated with share concentration in a non-monotonic way, being most prevalent in those companies where the dominant owner holds 25-49% of shares. Close links with a leading bank not only increase the possibility of bond issues but also appear to facilitate access to non-banking sources of funds, in particular, to finance supplied by industrial partners. Finally, reliance on state finance is less likely for the companies whose profiles resemble the case of unconstrained finance, namely, for companies with foreign partners, companies that are part of domestic industrial groups and companies with a strategic investor. Model implications also include that the use of state funds is less likely for Polish than for Hungarian companies. JEL classification: G32, P31, P34, F23, L33
ADAM-10 Message Is Expressed in Human Articular Cartilage

The depletion of the pericellular and territorial matrices in articular cartilage is considered to be one of the earliest events in pathobiology of osteoarthritis (OA). A newly discovered family of proteins with a disintegrin-like and metalloproteinase-like domain (ADAM) may be involved in matrix degradation as well as in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. The purpose of this study was to determine by in situ hybridization whether human articular chondrocytes from newborn, normal adult, and OA cartilages express messenger RNA for ADAM-10, one of the members of this family, and by semiquantitative RTPCR to compare the levels of this expression. The results confirmed the expression of ADAM-10 by human articular chondrocytes and revealed the highest levels of expression in the continuously remodeling cartilage of newborns and the most fibrillated areas of OA cartilage, especially the regions of cell clusters. Importantly, ADAM-10 mRNA expression was evident in tissues with the greatest loss of Safranin O staining from the territorial and interterritorial matrix of the chondrocytes. Messenger RNA was upregulated in OA tissue compared to the age-matched normal cartilage, as detected by RT-PCR. Upregulated levels of ADAM-10 mRNA expression appear to be related to the degree of cartilage damage and/ or degradation, which suggests a potential role for at least one member of this new family in the cartilage matrix destruction accompanying OA.
On Space-Time-Adaptive Convergent Finite-Element Schemes for a General Class of Lubrication-Type Equations

In this contribution, we summarize the key ideas of recently developed finite element schemes for fourthorder degenerate parabolic equations like the thin film equation. Our approach is inspired both by the physics to be modeled and by analytical methods used in the theory of these partial differential equations. As a consequence, the scheme preserves non-negativity or positivity of solutions in a natural way, it is convergent in all the physically relevant space dimensions, and moving contact lines are tracked efficiently. In a second part, we present some characteristic numerical simulations for thin film flow. We consider wetting solely induced by capillary forces and dewetting caused by instabilities due to long-range intermolecular forces. By dimensionalized numerical experiments, we investigate the stability of receding contact lines during dewetting processes. G. Gr̈un, J. Becker, M. Rumpf
A Case Study of Sensor Data Collection and Analysis in Smart City: Provenance in Smart Food Supply Chain

Accelerated growth of urban population in the world put incremental stresses on metropolitan cities. Smart city centric strategies are expected to comprise solutions to sustainable environment and urban life. Acting as an indispensable role in smart city, IoT (Internet of Things) connects the executive ability of the physical world and the intelligence of the computational world, aiming to enlarge the capabilities of things in real city and strengthen the practicality of functions in cyber world. One of the important application areas of IoT in cities is food industry. Municipality governors are withstanding all kinds of food safety issues and enduring the hardest time ever due to the lack of sufficient guidance and supervision. IoT systems help to monitor, analyze, and manage the real food industry in cities. In this paper, a smart sensor data collection strategy for IoT is proposed, which would improve the efficiency and accuracy of provenance with the minimized size of data set at the same time. We then present algorithms of tracing contamination source and back tracking potential infected food in the markets. Our strategy and algorithms are evaluated with a comprehensive evaluation case of this IoT system, which shows that this system performs well even with big data as well.
Information Disclosure and Online Social Networks: From the Case of Facebook News Feed Controversy to a Theoretical Understanding

Based on the insights learned from the case analysis of the Facebook News Feed outcry, we develop a theoretical understanding that identifies major drivers and impediments of information disclosure in Online Social Networks (OSNs). Research propositions are derived to highlight the roles of privacy behavioral responses, privacy concerns, perceived information control, trust in OSN providers, trust in social ties, and organizational privacy interventions. The synthesis of privacy literature, bounded rationality and trust theories provides a rich understanding of the adoption of OSNs that creates privacy and security vulnerabilities, and therefore, informs the privacy research in the context of OSNs. The findings are also potentially useful to privacy advocates, regulatory bodies, OSN providers, and marketers to help shape or justify their decisions concerning OSNs.
Color Fastness of Digital Textile Printing on Silk Fabrics - The effect of the mixed pre-treatment agent

In this study, The mixture of three kinds of pre-treatment agents, Carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt(CMC), Sodium alginate and Dextrin, have been prepared for the better coloration of digital textile printing. To get sharpness of outline during digital printing process, the optimal formulation is the CMC and Sodium alginate mixture 1:1 ratio by volume. Cyan, Yellow, and Black colours are excellent on the Sodium alginate mixtures. But, Magenta is excellent in the CMC and Dextrin mixture. Sharpness and printability are closely related to viscosity of the mixture. The most optimal sharpness of outline achieved with a consideration of coloring, and field operations account for production when the viscosity of the mixed pre-treatment agent approximately is 10~13 cSt. Change in shade and staining of wash fastness for all the treated samples with the mixtures rated 4-5 grade. Both dry rubbing fastness to shade change and staining are good in the treated samples, whereas wet rubbing fastness rated 2-3 grade. To improve wet rubbing fastness, the Sodium alginate and Dextrine mixture, which rated 3-4 grade for Black color, is applicable. With exception of 3 rating to black color, Light fastness is 4 rating for the remaining three colors in the regardless of treatment condition and mixing of the pre-treatment agent. Dry cleaning fastness of all samples are also 4-5 rating.
Catalysis by Dihydrofolate Reductase from the Psychropiezophile Moritella profunda

The influence of temperature and pH on the stability and catalytic activity of dihydrofolate reductase (MpDHFR) from the cold‐adapted deep‐sea bacterium Moritella profunda was studied. The thermal melting temperature was found to be ∼38 °C and was not affected by pH, while activity measurements demonstrated that its stability was maximal at pH 7 and was reduced dramatically below pH 6 or above pH 8. The steady‐state rate constant (kcat) was maximal at neutral pH and higher temperatures, while the Michaelis constants (KM) for both substrate and cofactor were optimal at lower temperatures and at elevated or reduced pH. For both temperature and pH, any change in kcat was therefore offset by a similar change in KM. Both the activation enthalpy and entropy of the MpDHFR‐catalysed reaction were lower than those of DHFR from E. coli leading overall to a very small difference in activation free energy and therefore similar steady‐state rate constants at the same temperature. The chemical step of the reaction is not rate limiting at pH 7, but becomes progressively more rate limiting as the pH increases. These results demonstrate adaptation of MpDHFR to its environment and show compromises between enthalpic and entropic contributions to the reaction, and between kcat and KM.
$C^0$ discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods for second order linear elliptic partial differential equations in non-divergence form

This paper is concerned with finite element approximations of $W^{2,p}$ strong solutions of second-order linear elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) in non-divergence form with continuous coefficients. A nonstandard (primal) finite element method, which uses finite-dimensional subspaces consisting globally continuous piecewise polynomial functions, is proposed and analyzed. The main novelty of the finite element method is to introduce an interior penalty term, which penalizes the jump of the flux across the interior element edges/faces, to augment a nonsymmetric piecewise defined and PDE-induced bilinear form. Existence, uniqueness and error estimate in a discrete $W^{2,p}$ energy norm are proved for the proposed finite element method. This is achieved by establishing a discrete Calderon-Zygmund-type estimate and mimicking strong solution PDE techniques at the discrete level. Numerical experiments are provided to test the performance of proposed finite element method and to validate the convergence theory.
Self Assembly of Nano Metric Metallic Particles for Realization of Photonic and Electronic Nano Transistors

In this paper, we present the self assembly procedure as well as experimental results of a novel method for constructing well defined arrangements of self assembly metallic nano particles into sophisticated nano structures. The self assembly concept is based on focused ion beam (FIB) technology, where metallic nano particles are self assembled due to implantation of positive gallium ions into the insulating material (e.g., silica as in silicon on insulator wafers) that acts as intermediary layer between the substrate and the negatively charge metallic nanoparticles.
Minimizing algebraic error

This paper gives a widely applicable technique for solving many of the parameter estimation problems encountered in geometric computer vision. A commonly used approach in such parameter minimization is to minimize an algebraic error function. It has generally been thought that minimizing a more meaningful geometric error function gives preferable results. It is claimed in this paper, however, that minimizing algebraic error will usually give excellent results, and in fact the main problem with most algorithms minimizing algebraic distance is that they do not take account of mathematical constraints that should be imposed on the quantity being estimated. This paper gives an efficient method of minimizing algebraic distance while taking account of the constraints. This provides new algorithms for the problems of resectioning a pinhole camera, computing the fundamental matrix, and computing the tri–fsfocal tensor.
Sizing Up Allometric Scaling Theory

Metabolic rate, heart rate, lifespan, and many other physiological properties vary with body mass in systematic and interrelated ways. Present empirical data suggest that these scaling relationships take the form of power laws with exponents that are simple multiples of one quarter. A compelling explanation of this observation was put forward a decade ago by West, Brown, and Enquist (WBE). Their framework elucidates the link between metabolic rate and body mass by focusing on the dynamics and structure of resource distribution networks—the cardiovascular system in the case of mammals. Within this framework the WBE model is based on eight assumptions from which it derives the well-known observed scaling exponent of 3/4. In this paper we clarify that this result only holds in the limit of infinite network size (body mass) and that the actual exponent predicted by the model depends on the sizes of the organisms being studied. Failure to clarify and to explore the nature of this approximation has led to debates about the WBE model that were at cross purposes. We compute analytical expressions for the finite-size corrections to the 3/4 exponent, resulting in a spectrum of scaling exponents as a function of absolute network size. When accounting for these corrections over a size range spanning the eight orders of magnitude observed in mammals, the WBE model predicts a scaling exponent of 0.81, seemingly at odds with data. We then proceed to study the sensitivity of the scaling exponent with respect to variations in several assumptions that underlie the WBE model, always in the context of finite-size corrections. Here too, the trends we derive from the model seem at odds with trends detectable in empirical data. Our work illustrates the utility of the WBE framework in reasoning about allometric scaling, while at the same time suggesting that the current canonical model may need amendments to bring its predictions fully in line with available datasets.
Salmon calcitonin: conformational changes and stabilizer effects

The therapeutic activity of peptides or protein drugs is highly dependent on their conformational structure. The protein structure is flexible and responds to external conditions, which may compromise the protein's native conformation and influence its physical and chemical stability. The physical and chemical stability of peptides or protein drugs are important characteristics of biopharmaceutical products. Calcitonin (CT) is a polypeptide hormone that participates in diverse physiological functions in humans; therefore, it is a potentially useful protein for investigations of different aspects of pharmacology and drug delivery systems. Of the different types of CT available for clinical use, salmon CT (sCT) is one of the most potent. In this review article, the commercially available sCT was selected as a suitable peptide candidate for the discussion of its stability and conformational changes in the aqueous and solid states using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis under different external conditions, including pH, temperature, drying method, and added excipients. Particularly, excipients that have been optimized as stabilizers of sCT in aqueous solution and as lyophilized and spray-dried drug formulations are also discussed.
Cortical magnetic responses for native and non-native speech sounds : MMNm induced by English / r / and / l /

Native Japanese-speaking adults have difficulty perceiving the English /r/ and /l/ distinction since these exact sounds are not included in the Japanese phonetic system. To investigate the neural correlate of this phenomenon we recorded cortical magnetic responses (Magnetoencephalography, MEG) from American English (AE) and Japanese (J) speakers using /ra/ and /la/ sounds. A passive oddball paradigm was used to record MMNm, an electromagnetic index of acoustic change detection. Contrary to general expectation from previous findings, MMNm was larger for J than AE speakers. Moreover, a second component identifiable as P3a peaked approximately at 250 ms, was observed only for AE not for J speakers.
By Hook or by Crook: Exposing the Diverse Abuse Tactics of Technical Support Scammers

Technical Support Scams (TSS), which combine online abuse with social engineering over the phone channel, have persisted despite several law enforcement actions. The tactics used by these scammers have evolved over time and they have targeted an ever increasing number of technology brands. Although recent research has provided insights into TSS, these scams have now evolved to exploit ubiquitously used online services such as search and sponsored advertisements served in response to search queries. We use a data-driven approach to understand search-and-ad abuse by TSS to gain visibility into the online infrastructure that facilitates it. By carefully formulating tech support queries with multiple search engines, we collect data about both the support infrastructure and the websites to which TSS victims are directed when they search online for tech support resources. We augment this with a DNS-based amplification technique to further enhance visibility into this abuse infrastructure. By analyzing the collected data, we demonstrate that tech support scammers are (1) successful in getting major as well as custom search engines to return links to websites controlled by them, and (2) they are able to get ad networks to serve malicious advertisements that lead to scam pages. Our study period of 8 months uncovered over 9,000 TSS domains, of both passive and aggressive types, with minimal overlap between sets that are reached via organic search results and sponsored ads. Also, we found over 2,400 support domains which aid the TSS domains in manipulating organic search results. Moreover, we found little overlap with domains that are reached via abuse of domain parking and URL-shortening services which was investigated previously. Thus, investigation of search-and-ad abuse provides new insights into TSS tactics and helps detect previously unknown abuse infrastructure that facilitates these scams.