Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Key management solutions in the smart grid environment

In the last few years, we have witnessed a growing interest and increasing investments in smart grid technologies around the world. One of the key characteristics of the smart grid is its support for bi-directional information flow between the customer's premise and the utility provider using Internet Protocol-based technologies. The bi-directional nature of information flow has however opened up various security and privacy challenges which are being addressed by many recently proposed security solutions. Key management is often an important component of many of these solutions. We review recently proposed key management solutions aimed for the smart grid environment and highlight their practical implications along with their benefits and shortcoming.
Keeping the American Dream Alive: The Interactive Effect of Perceived Economic Mobility and Materialism on Impulsive Spending

This research illustrates how perceived economic mobility moderates the linkage between materialism and impulsive spending. Using various data sources, four studies show that materialistic consumers do not easily engage in impulsive spending when they perceive high economic mobility, whereas they tend to spend impulsively when they perceive low economic mobility. However, perceived economic mobility functions in the opposite manner when the purchase is a means to achieve financial success. The authors trace this effect to the self-regulation process of materialistic consumers, such that when perceiving high economic mobility, these consumers regulate their behavior toward long-term financial success, sacrificing the pleasure of acquisitions in the present. By elucidating the important role that perceived economic mobility plays in impulsive spending, the current research sheds new light on consumer research and offers managerial and public policy implications.
Differentiation Effects of Platelet-Rich Plasma Concentrations on Synovial Fluid Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Pigs Cultivated in Alginate Complex Hydrogel

This article studied the effects of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) on the potential of synovial fluid mesenchymal stem cells (SF-MSCs) to differentiate. The PRP and SF-MSCs were obtained from the blood and knees of pigs, respectively. The identification of SF-MSCs and their ability to differentiate were studied by histological and surface epitopes, respectively. The SF-MSCs can undergo trilineage mesenchymal differentiation under osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipocyte induction. The effects of various PRP concentrations (0%, 20% and 50% PRP) on differentiation were evaluated using the SF-MSCs-alginate system, such as gene expression and DNA proliferation. A 50% PRP concentration yielded better differentiation than the 20% PRP concentration. PRP favored the chondrogenesis of SF-MSCs over their osteogenesis in a manner that depended on the ratios of type II collagen/type I collagen and aggrecan/osteopontin. Eventually, PRP promoted the proliferation of SF-MSCs and induced chondrogenic differentiation of SF-MSCs in vitro. Both PRP and SF-MSCs could be feasibly used in regenerative medicine and orthopedic surgeries.
A Mutant tRNA Affects & Mediated Transcription i Saccharomyces cerarisiae

Mutations in the SPT3, SPT7, SPT8 and SPTIS genes define one class of transacting mutations that are strong suppressors of insertion mutations caused by T y elements or by the T y long terminal repeat sequence, 6. These SPT genes are required for normal transcription of T y elements, and their gene products are believed to be involved in initiation of T y transcription from 6 sequences. We have isolated and analyzed extragenic suppressors of spt3 mutations. These new mutations, named rsp, partially suppress the requirement for SPTS, SPT7, SPTS and SPT15 functions. In addition, rsp mutations cause changes in transcription of some 6 insertions in an S P F genetic background. Interactions between mutations in the four identified RSP genes show a number of interesting genetic properties, including the failure of unlinked rsp mutations to complement for recessive phenotypes. Cloning and sequencing of one rsp mutant gene, rsp4-27, showed that it encodes a frameshift suppressor glycine tRNA. Our results indicate that the other three RSP genes also encode frameshift suppressor glycine tRNAs. In addition, other types of frameshift suppressor glycine tRNAs'can confer some Rsp-phenotypes. S PT genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were identified by mutations that cause suppression of T y and solo 6 insertion mutations in the 5' regions of HZS4,LIS et al. 1991). Based on mutant phenotypes and effects on transcription, four of these genes, SPT3, SPT7, SPT8 and SPTl5, comprise one class among a large group of SPT genes. This class of SPT genes is required for the initiation of transcription from 6 sequences, the long terminal repeats that flank T y l and Ty2 elements (WINSTON et al., 1984,1987; EISEN-MANN, DOLLARD and WINSTON 1989). Several other common phenotypes suggest that the SPT3, SPT7, SPT8 and SPTlS genes have other cellular roles in addition to a role in T y transcription. These phenotypes include the failure of homozygous diploids to sporulate, poor mating between haploid mutants, and the clumping of cells. In addition, SPT7 and SPTl5 are essential for viability (C. DOLLARD and F. WIN-STON, unpublished results; EISENMANN, DOLLARD and WINSTON 1989). Previous results have shown that at least spt3, spt7 and sptl5 mutations reduce transcription of mating pheromone genes (HIRSCHHORN and WINSTON 1988; F. WINSTON and C. DOLLARD, unpublished results; EISENMANN et al. 1992). Biochemical, molecular, and genetic results have demonstrated that the SPT15 gene product, TFIID, is a general transcription factor, required for transcription initiation …
Contribution of Individual Amino Acids Within MHC Molecule or Antigenic Peptide to TCR Ligand Potency1

The TCR recognition of peptides bound to MHC class II molecules is highly flexible in some T cells. Although progress has been made in understanding the interactions within the trimolecular complex, to what extent the individual components and their amino acid composition contribute to ligand recognition by individual T cells is not completely understood. We investigated how single amino acid residues influence Ag recognition of T cells by combining several experimental approaches. We defined TCR motifs for CD4+ T cells using peptide synthetic combinatorial libraries in the positional scanning format (PS-SCL) and single amino acid-modified peptide analogues. The similarity of the TCR motifs defined by both methods and the identification of stimulatory antigenic peptides by the PS-SCL approach argue for a contribution of each amino acid residue to the overall potency of the antigenic peptide ligand. In some instances, however, motifs are formed by adjacent amino acids, and their combined influence is superimposed on the overall contribution of each amino acid within the peptide epitope. In contrast to the flexibility of the TCR to interact with different peptides, recognition was very sensitive toward modifications of the MHC-restriction element. Exchanges of just one amino acid of the MHC molecule drastically reduced the number of peptides recognized. The results indicate that a specific MHC molecule not only selects certain peptides, but also is crucial for setting an affinity threshold for TCR recognition, which determines the flexibility in peptide recognition for a given TCR.
Genomic Treasure Troves: Complete Genome Sequencing of Herbarium and Insect Museum Specimens

Unlocking the vast genomic diversity stored in natural history collections would create unprecedented opportunities for genome-scale evolutionary, phylogenetic, domestication and population genomic studies. Many researchers have been discouraged from using historical specimens in molecular studies because of both generally limited success of DNA extraction and the challenges associated with PCR-amplifying highly degraded DNA. In today's next-generation sequencing (NGS) world, opportunities and prospects for historical DNA have changed dramatically, as most NGS methods are actually designed for taking short fragmented DNA molecules as templates. Here we show that using a standard multiplex and paired-end Illumina sequencing approach, genome-scale sequence data can be generated reliably from dry-preserved plant, fungal and insect specimens collected up to 115 years ago, and with minimal destructive sampling. Using a reference-based assembly approach, we were able to produce the entire nuclear genome of a 43-year-old Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) herbarium specimen with high and uniform sequence coverage. Nuclear genome sequences of three fungal specimens of 22–82 years of age (Agaricus bisporus, Laccaria bicolor, Pleurotus ostreatus) were generated with 81.4–97.9% exome coverage. Complete organellar genome sequences were assembled for all specimens. Using de novo assembly we retrieved between 16.2–71.0% of coding sequence regions, and hence remain somewhat cautious about prospects for de novo genome assembly from historical specimens. Non-target sequence contaminations were observed in 2 of our insect museum specimens. We anticipate that future museum genomics projects will perhaps not generate entire genome sequences in all cases (our specimens contained relatively small and low-complexity genomes), but at least generating vital comparative genomic data for testing (phylo)genetic, demographic and genetic hypotheses, that become increasingly more horizontal. Furthermore, NGS of historical DNA enables recovering crucial genetic information from old type specimens that to date have remained mostly unutilized and, thus, opens up a new frontier for taxonomic research as well.
The Impact of Political Conviction on the Relation Between Winning or Losing and Political Dissatisfaction

Election outcomes, or more specifically belonging to a political minority or majority, have a significant impact on citizens’ attitudes toward the political system and political involvement. This study aims to broaden our understanding in these regards by taking into account the effects of people’s political convictions on the relation between belonging to a political minority or majority and their dissatisfaction with the performance of the political system. Using a person-oriented approach, four groups of citizens were identified on the basis of their attachment to political parties. The group of people who were not politically attached to any of the political parties were the most dissatisfied, whereas supporters of parties in government were the least dissatisfied. Moreover, supporters of opposition parties who had high levels of political conviction were more dissatisfied than supporters of opposition parties who had lower levels of political conviction. Overall, the findings of this study show that it is crucial to take into account the individual characteristics of citizens when studying the relations between election outcomes and political attitudes.
The Laboratory School Protocol

Objective: ADHD is the most common childhood psychiatric disorder, with impairments seen in home and academic settings. To investigate such impairments in a school-like setting, the laboratory school protocol (LSP) was developed at the University of California, Irvine. Method: This model provides a rigorously controlled environment to examine pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic aspects of responses to treatment. A key principle of this methodology is to exercise tight control of the timing and context of measurements by establishing a cycle of activities repeated across each study day. In addition, the LSP approach has been extended to both younger and older populations than the typically studied school-aged group. This extension requires corresponding modifications in measures to characterize drug efficacy and to allow evaluation of ADHD symptoms in a highly standardized setting. Results: This article provides guidelines for employing the LSP for the assessment of medication effects for both preschool and adolescent/adult populations. Conclusion: The LSP can be modified to form either an Adult Workplace Environment or a Preschool Assessment Laboratory.
A layered, heterogeneous reflectance model for acquiring and rendering human skin

We introduce a layered, heterogeneous spectral reflectance model for human skin. The model captures the inter-scattering of light among layers, each of which may have an independent set of spatially-varying absorption and scattering parameters. For greater physical accuracy and control, we introduce an infinitesimally thin absorbing layer between scattering layers. To obtain parameters for our model, we use a novel acquisition method that begins with multi-spectral photographs. By using an inverse rendering technique, along with known chromophore spectra, we optimize for the best set of parameters for each pixel of a patch. Our method finds close matches to a wide variety of inputs with low residual error. We apply our model to faithfully reproduce the complex variations in skin pigmentation. This is in contrast to most previous work, which assumes that skin is homogeneous or composed of homogeneous layers. We demonstrate the accuracy and flexibility of our model by creating complex skin visual effects such as veins, tattoos, rashes, and freckles, which would be difficult to author using only albedo textures at the skin's outer surface. Also, by varying the parameters to our model, we simulate effects from external forces, such as visible changes in blood flow within the skin due to external pressure.
Anal microbiota profiles in HIV-positive and HIV-negative MSM

Objective:Because differences in anal microbial populations (microbiota) could affect acquisition of HIV or other conditions, especially among MSM, we profiled the microbiota of the anal canal, assessed its stability, and investigated associations with diversity and composition. Design:Microbiota profiles in anal swabs collected from 76 MSM (52 in 1989, swab-1; 66 1–5 years later, swab-2) were compared by HIV status (25 HIV-positive), T-cell subsets, and questionnaire data. Methods:Bacterial 16S rRNA genes were amplified, sequenced (Illumina MiSeq), and clustered into species-level operational taxonomic units (QIIME and Greengenes). Regression models and Wilcoxon tests were used for associations with alpha diversity (unique operational taxonomic units, Shannon's index). Composition was compared by Adonis (QIIME). Results:Most anal bacteria were Firmicutes (mean 60.6%, range 21.1–91.1%) or Bacteroidetes (29.4%, 4.1–70.8%). Alpha diversity did not change between the two swabs (N = 42 pairs). In swab-2, HIV-positives had lower alpha diversity (P ⩽ 0.04) and altered composition, with fewer Firmicutes and more Fusobacteria taxa (P ⩽ 0.03), not completely attributable to very low CD4+ cell count (median 232 cells/&mgr;l), prior AIDS clinical diagnosis (N = 17), or trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole use (N = 6). Similar but weaker differences were observed in swab-1 (HIV-positive median 580 CD4+ cells/&mgr;l; no trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole). Associations with T-cell subsets, smoking, and sexual practices were null or inconsistent. Conclusions:The anal microbiota of MSM was relatively stable over 1–5 years. However, with uncontrolled, advanced HIV infection, the microbiota had altered composition and reduced diversity partially attributable to antibiotics. Investigations of microbial community associations with other immune perturbations and clinical abnormalities are needed.
ARSYPAR : A tool for parsing the Arabic language based on supervised learning

In this paper, we present a tool for parsing the Arabic language based on supervised machine learning. The used algorithm for the learning phase is the support vector machine. We also used the Penn Arabic Treebank as a learning corpus. Furthermore, we evaluated our parser following the cross validation method. The obtained results are very encouraging. We give at the end our vision to ameliorate the obtained results.
Specific Amino Acid Substitutions in the Proline-Rich Motif of the Rhizobium meliloti ExoP Protein Result in Enhanced Production of Low-Molecular-Weight Succinoglycan at the Expense of High-Molecular-Weight Succinoglycan

ABSTRACT The production of the acidic exopolysaccharide succinoglycan (EPS I) by Rhizobium meliloti exoP* mutants expressing an ExoP protein lacking its C-terminal cytoplasmic domain and by mutants characterized by specific amino acid substitutions in the proline-rich motif (RX4PX2PX4SPKX9IXGXMXGXG) located from positions 443 to 476 of the ExoP protein was analyzed. The absence of the C-terminal cytoplasmic ExoP domain (positions 484 to 786) and the substitution of both arginine443 by isoleucine443 and proline457 by serine457 within the proline-rich motif resulted in enhanced production of low-molecular-weight (LMW) EPS I at the expense of high-molecular-weight (HMW) EPS I. The ratios of HMW to LMW EPS I of the wild type and mutant strains increased with osmolarity.
Multi-Modality Therapeutics with Potent Anti-Tumor Effects: Photochemical Internalization Enhances Delivery of the Fusion Toxin scFvMEL/rGel

Background There is a need for drug delivery systems (DDS) that can enhance cytosolic delivery of anti-cancer drugs trapped in the endo-lysosomal compartments. Exposure of cells to specific photosensitizers followed by light exposure (photochemical internalization, PCI) results in transfer of agents from the endocytic compartment into the cytosol. Methodology and Principal Findings The recombinant single-chain fusion construct scFvMEL/rGel is composed of an antibody targeting the progenitor marker HMW-MAA/NG2/MGP/gp240 and the highly effective toxin gelonin (rGel). Here we demonstrate enhanced tumor cell selectivity, cytosolic delivery and anti-tumor activity by applying PCI of scFvMEL/rGel. PCI performed by light activation of cells co-incubated with scFvMEL/rGel and the endo-lysosomal targeting photosensitizers AlPcS2a or TPPS2a resulted in enhanced cytotoxic effects against antigen-positive cell lines, while no differences in cytotoxicity between the scFvMEL/rGel and rGel were observed in antigen-negative cells. Mice bearing well-developed melanoma (A-375) xenografts (50–100 mm3) were treated with PCI of scFvMEL/rGel. By 30 days after injection, ∼100% of mice in the control groups had tumors>800 mm3. In contrast, by day 40, 50% of mice in the PCI of scFvMEL/rGel combination group had tumors<800 mm3 with no increase in tumor size up to 110 days. PCI of scFvMEL/rGel resulted in a synergistic effect (p<0.05) and complete regression (CR) in 33% of tumor-bearing mice (n = 12). Conclusions/Significance This is a unique demonstration that a non-invasive multi-modality approach combining a recombinant, targeted therapeutic such as scFvMEL/rGel and PCI act in concert to provide potent in vivo efficacy without sacrificing selectivity or enhancing toxicity. The present DDS warrants further evaluation of its clinical potential.
Mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathways in HepG2 cells infected with a virulent strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae

Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP), an enterobacterium, usually causes urinary tract infection or pneumonia; however, it has caused severe liver abscess in diabetic patients in recent years. How this emerging virulent KP strain causes liver abscess is not known. This study investigates signalling pathways in HepG2 cells infected by virulent KP. Cells were infected with bacteria for various durations and harvested to screen for signalling molecules by Western blotting. Our results showed that phosphorylated mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase (MEK) 1/2, p44/p42 MAPK and p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (p90RSK) were observed and this pathway was inhibited by MEK1/2 inhibitors U0126 and PD98059. Phosphorylation of MEK3/6, p38 kinase and ATF‐2 was also observed and this pathway was inhibited by p38 kinase inhibitors SB203850 and SB202190. Toll‐like receptor (TLR) 2 and 4 expressions were increased and maximized 2–4 h post infection. The JNK pathway, Elk, MAPKAPK‐2 and HSP27 were not activated. These results suggest that KP infections induce signal transduction through TLR2 and TLR4 and activate two downstream MAP kinase pathways, MEK1/2–p44/p42 MAPK–p90RSK and MEK3/6–p38 kinase–ATF‐2, but not the JNK pathway in HepG2 cells. The infected HepG2 eventually showed apoptosis and died.
Validation of a model to predict adverse outcomes in patients with pulmonary embolism.

AIMS To validate a model for quantifying the prognosis of patients with pulmonary embolism (PE). The model was previously derived from 10 534 US patients. METHODS AND RESULTS We validated the model in 367 patients prospectively diagnosed with PE at 117 European emergency departments. We used baseline data for the model's 11 prognostic variables to stratify patients into five risk classes (I-V). We compared 90-day mortality within each risk class and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve between the validation and the original derivation samples. We also assessed the rate of recurrent venous thrombo-embolism and major bleeding within each risk class. Mortality was 0% in Risk Class I, 1.0% in Class II, 3.1% in Class III, 10.4% in Class IV, and 24.4% in Class V and did not differ between the validation and the original derivation samples. The area under the curve was larger in the validation sample (0.87 vs. 0.78, P=0.01). No patients in Classes I and II developed recurrent thrombo-embolism or major bleeding. CONCLUSION The model accurately stratifies patients with PE into categories of increasing risk of mortality and other relevant complications. Patients in Risk Classes I and II are at low risk of adverse outcomes and are potential candidates for outpatient treatment.
Rebranding Macau: views of cultural industry insiders

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing the performing arts as one element in changing the destination image of the Macau special administrative region from that of the Las Vegas of the East to a “World Centre of Tourism and Leisure”. The context is of particular interest as rebranding is typically associated with negative or outdated images, whereas Macau’s existing brand is strong and associated with positive tourism revenues. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured in-depth interviews with frontline participants in Macau’s performing arts sector are utilized to evaluate the relevant re-branding strategies and goals of the city’s administration. In-depth interviews focus on understanding policies through the thoughts and experiences of respondents. They are particularly useful in cases where insiders are likely to be better informed than others with respect to policy issues. Findings – Three main themes related to the use of the performing arts as a vehicle for destinati.