Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
YuaB Functions Synergistically with the Exopolysaccharide and TasA Amyloid Fibers To Allow Biofilm Formation by Bacillus subtilis

ABSTRACT During biofilm formation by Bacillus subtilis, two extracellular matrix components are synthesized, namely, the TasA amyloid fibers and an exopolysaccharide. In addition, a small protein called YuaB has been shown to allow the biofilm to form. The regulatory protein DegU is known to initiate biofilm formation. In this report we show that the main role of DegU during biofilm formation is to indirectly drive the activation of transcription from the yuaB promoter. The N terminus of YuaB constitutes a signal peptide for the Sec transport system. Here we show that the presence of the signal peptide is required for YuaB function. In addition we demonstrate that upon export of YuaB from the cytoplasm, it localizes to the cell wall. We continue with evidence that increased production of TasA and the exopolysaccharide is not sufficient to overcome the effects of a mutation in yuaB, demonstrating the unique involvement of YuaB in forming a biofilm. In line with this, YuaB is not involved in correct synthesis, export, or polymerization of either the TasA amyloid fibers or the exopolysaccharide. Taken together, these findings identify YuaB as a protein that plays a novel role during biofilm formation. We hypothesize that YuaB functions synergistically with the known components of the biofilm matrix to facilitate the assembly of the biofilm matrix.
Detection of Transverse Cracks in a Composite Beam Using Combined Features of Lamb Wave and Vibration Techniques in Ann Environment

Abstract The detection, location and sizing of transverse cracks in a composite beam, by combining damage features of Lamb wave and vibration based techniques in artificial neural network (ANN) environment, using numerical finite element model, is discussed. Four damage features, time of flight (TOF) and amplitude ratio, which are Lamb wave based features and first and second natural frequencies, which are vibration based features were used as input to ANN. The output of ANN was crack location and depth. It was demonstrated that through the simultaneous employment of features from the two modalities in an ANN environment, the sizing could be done more effectively.
Oxford handbook of the classics in public policy and administration

This Handbook brings together a collection of leading international authors to reflect on the influence of central contributions, or classics, that have shaped the development of the field of public policy and administration. The Handbook reflects on a wide range of key contributions to the field, selected on the basis of their international and wider disciplinary impact. Focusing on classics that contributed significantly to the field over the second half of the 20th century, it offers insights into works that have explored aspects of the policy process, of particular features of bureaucracy, and of administrative and policy reforms. Each classic is discussed by a leading international scholars. They offer unique insights into the ways in which individual classics have been received in scholarly debates and disciplines, how classics have shaped evolving research agendas, and how the individual classics continue to shape contemporary scholarly debates. In doing so, this volume offers a novel approach towards considering the various central contributions to the field. The Handbook offers students of public policy and administration state-of-the-art insights into the enduring impact of key contributions to the field.
Impacts of Shewanella oneidensis c‐type cytochromes on aerobic and anaerobic respiration

Shewanella are renowned for their ability to utilize a wide range of electron acceptors (EA) for respiration, which has been partially accredited to the presence of a large number of the c‐type cytochromes. To investigate the involvement of c‐type cytochrome proteins in aerobic and anaerobic respiration of Shewanella oneidensis Mr ‐1, 36 in‐frame deletion mutants, among possible 41 predicted, c‐type cytochrome genes were obtained. The potential involvement of each individual c‐type cytochrome in the reduction of a variety of EAs was assessed individually as well as in competition experiments. While results on the well‐studied c‐type cytochromes CymA(SO4591) and MtrC(SO1778) were consistent with previous findings, collective observations were very interesting: the responses of S. oneidensis Mr ‐1 to low and highly toxic metals appeared to be significantly different; CcoO, CcoP and PetC, proteins involved in aerobic respiration in various organisms, played critical roles in both aerobic and anaerobic respiration with highly toxic metals as EA. In addition, these studies also suggested that an uncharacterized c‐type cytochrome (SO4047) may be important to both aerobiosis and anaerobiosis.
SCPKI: A Smart Contract-based PKI and Identity System

The Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in use today on the Internet to secure communications has several drawbacks arising from its centralised and non-transparent design. In the past there has been instances of certificate authorities publishing rogue certificates for targeted attacks, and this has been difficult to immediately detect as certificate authorities are not transparent about the certificates they issue. Furthermore, the centralised selection of trusted certificate authorities by operating system and browser vendors means that it is not practical to untrust certificate authorities that have issued rogue certificates, as this would disrupt the TLS process for many other hosts. SCPKI is an alternative PKI system based on a decentralised and transparent design using a web-of-trust model and a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain, to make it easily possible for rogue certificates to be detected when they are published. The web-of-trust model is designed such that an entity or authority in the system can verify (or vouch for) fine-grained attributes of another entity's identity (such as company name or domain name), as an alternative to the centralised certificate authority identity verification model.
Political Drama in Poland: The Use of National Symbols

I The opposition in Poland of the late 1970s grew out of popular discontent. 'Solidarity', which became its embodiment, has been regarded as a labour union, a democratic opposition to the communist system, or, in Marxist terms, as a historically evolving class movement, albeit in a self-limiting revolutionary form. In other interpretations, 'Solidarity' has been described as an emanation of Polish Roman Catholicism, and as the created social space with which all disenfranchized groups could identify. Above all, 'Solidarity' was a multi-dimensional movement. It arose from the alienation of the majority from participation in the economic and political decision-making processes. It consisted of a variety of interest groups the workers, the peasantry, and the intelligentsia. The success in uniting this diversity into a mono-vocal movement lay in 'Solidarity's' ability to restructure the discourse of the conflict in terms of nationalism and patriotism and to appropriate their symbols. Through the appropriation of national emblems the anthem, national colours, and images of historical events the opposition was able to control the symbolic sphere and consequently successfully de-legitimated the government as the representative of the Polish people. Claiming to be the sole representation of the nation, the movement portrayed itself as indigenous and inherently Polish, while the government in power was depicted as of foreign origin. Although socialism took deep roots in the conscience of many Poles and became embedded in daily activities and in people's expectations vis-a-vis the state, communism and the communist party were painted as culturally alien to Polish society. The state based on such an ideology was in many representations portrayed as immoral.
Targeted Brain Derived Neurotropic Factors (BDNF) Delivery across the Blood-Brain Barrier for Neuro-Protection Using Magnetic Nano Carriers: An In-Vitro Study

Parenteral use of drugs; such as opiates exert immunomodulatory effects and serve as a cofactor in the progression of HIV-1 infection, thereby potentiating HIV related neurotoxicity ultimately leading to progression of NeuroAIDS. Morphine exposure is known to induce apoptosis, down regulate cAMP response element-binding (CREB) expression and decrease in dendritic branching and spine density in cultured cells. Use of neuroprotective agent; brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), which protects neurons against these effects, could be of therapeutic benefit in the treatment of opiate addiction. Previous studies have shown that BDNF was not transported through the blood brain barrier (BBB) in-vivo. ; and hence it is not effective in-vivo. Therefore development of a drug delivery system that can cross BBB may have significant therapeutic advantage. In the present study, we hypothesized that magnetically guided nanocarrier may provide a viable approach for targeting BDNF across the BBB. We developed a magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) based carrier bound to BDNF and evaluated its efficacy and ability to transmigrate across the BBB using an in-vitro BBB model. The end point determinations of BDNF that crossed BBB were apoptosis, CREB expression and dendritic spine density measurement. We found that transmigrated BDNF was effective in suppressing the morphine induced apoptosis, inducing CREB expression and restoring the spine density. Our results suggest that the developed nanocarrier will provide a potential therapeutic approach to treat opiate addiction, protect neurotoxicity and synaptic density degeneration.
The albite fusion curve re-examined: New experiments and the high-pressure density and compressibility of high albite and NaAlSi3O8 liquid

Abstract Experimental brackets on the melting temperature of high albite (NaAlSi3O8) were determined at 2.33 ± 0.03 GPa (1360-1370 °C) and 2.79 ± 0.03 GPa (1370-1389 °C) in a piston-cylinder apparatus. All run products that quenched to a glass were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and found to contain ≤500 ppm H2O. In addition, new X-ray diffraction experiments on fully disordered albite are reported to 7.6 GPa; the fitted results lead to a zero-pressure bulk modulus (K0) of 56.4 ± 0.7 and a pressure derivative (K0′) of 3.9 ± 0.3 in a third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. Revised values for the enthalpy and entropy of fusion of high albite at one bar and 1100 °C [ΔHTf = 64.5 ± 2.1 kJ/mol and ΔSTf = 47.0 J/(mol·K)] are recommended on the basis of improved heat capacity equations for NaAlSi3O8 glass and liquid. On the basis of these new results on the fusion curve and thermodynamic data for high albite, the pressure dependence of the NaAlSi3O8 liquid compressibility (K0′) is constrained to be 10.8 ± 1.5 in a third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. The uncertainty in K0 ′ of ±1.5 contributes an error to melt density at 3 GPa (2.543 ± 0.010 g/cm3 at 1500 °C) of ±0.4%.
Graph Kernels For Disease Outcome Prediction From Protein-Protein Interaction Networks

It is widely believed that comparing discrepancies in the protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks of individuals will become an important tool in understanding and preventing diseases. Currently PPI networks for individuals are not available, but gene expression data is becoming easier to obtain and allows us to represent individuals by a co-integrated gene expression/protein interaction network. Two major problems hamper the application of graph kernels - state-of-the-art methods for whole-graph comparison - to compare PPI networks. First, these methods do not scale to graphs of the size of a PPI network. Second, missing edges in these interaction networks are biologically relevant for detecting discrepancies, yet, these methods do not take this into account. In this article we present graph kernels for biological network comparison that are fast to compute and take into account missing interactions. We evaluate their practical performance on two datasets of co-integrated gene expression/PPI networks.
(p, N)-identifiability: Anonymity under Practical Adversaries

Personal data has great potential for building an efficient and sustainable society; thus several privacy preserving techniques have been proposed to solve the essential issue of maintaining privacy in the use of personal data. Anonymization techniques are promising techniques applicable to huge-size personal data in order to reduce its re-identification risk. However, there is a trade-off between the utility of anonymized datasets and the risk of re-identification of individuals from the anonymized dataset, and so far no perfect solution has been provided. In previous studies, ideal adversaries in possession of all records of an original dataset have been considered in risk analyses, because an anonymized dataset is assumed to be publicly accessible, and once the record of a target is re-identified, privacy breaches are serious and may be uncontrollable. However, anonymized datasets are assumed to be distributed between organizations via secure channels in typical business situations. In this paper, we consider the actual risk to anonymized datasets and propose an analysis method that yields more stringent risk estimation in real settings with real adversaries. Furthermore, we present some experimental results using medical records. Our method is practical and useful for anonymized datasets generated by common anonymization methods such as generalization, noise addition and sampling, and can lead to generate more useful anonymized datasets.
Deteriorating dietary habits among adults with hypertension: DASH dietary accordance, NHANES 1988-1994 and 1999-2004.

BACKGROUND Although the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension trial) diet is among the therapeutic lifestyle changes recommended for individuals with hypertension (HTN), accordance with the DASH diet is not known. METHODS Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from the 1988-1994 and 1999-2004 periods, DASH accordance among individuals with self-reported HTN was estimated based on 9 nutrient targets (fat, saturated fat, protein, cholesterol, fiber, magnesium, calcium, sodium, and potassium) (score range, 0-9). Using data from 1999-2004, we compared the DASH score among demographic groups in age- and energy-adjusted models and modeled the odds of a DASH-accordant dietary pattern (>or=4.5) using multivariable logistic regression. The DASH score, DASH accordance, and percentage of participants achieving individual targets were compared with estimates from NHANES 1988-1994 data. RESULTS Based on 4386 participants with known HTN in the recent survey period (1999-2004), the mean (SE) DASH score, after adjustment for age and energy intake, was 2.92 (0.05), with 19.4% (1.2%) classified as DASH accordant. In multivariable logistic regression models, DASH accordance was associated with older age, nonblack ethnicity, higher education, and known diabetes mellitus. Accordance with DASH was 7.3% lower in the recent survey period compared with NHANES 1988-1994 (26.7% [1.1%]) (P < .001), reflecting fewer patients with HTN meeting nutrient targets for total fat, fiber, and magnesium. CONCLUSION The dietary profile of adults with HTN in the United States has a low accordance with the DASH dietary pattern, and the dietary quality of adults with HTN has deteriorated since the introduction of the DASH diet, suggesting that secular trends have minimized the impact of the DASH message.
MetaCAPTCHA: A Metamorphic Throttling Service for the Web

Spam is a problem that refuses to go away. An immense amount of time and money is currently devoted to hiding spam, but not enough is devoted to effectively preventing it. CAPTCHAs are a prevalent spam prevention mechanism, but are getting harder for humans to solve and easier for programs to "break". CAPTCHAs also cannot prevent spam from hijacked accounts since they are mostly used during account creation. Proof-of-work approaches are gaining popularity, but current implementations are not effective enough and cannot be used by generic web applications. We present MetaCAPTCHA, an application-agnostic spam prevention service for web applications. MetaCAPTCHA dynamically issues CAPTCHAs and proof-of-work "puzzles" while ensuring that more malicious users solve "harder" puzzles. In order to support its operation, MetaCAPTCHA implements a novel secure protocol -- for authenticating web sites and validating proof-of-work solutions -- that allows for seamless integration across a variety of web applications.
Budgeted Multi-Armed Bandit in Continuous Action Space

Multi–Armed Bandits (MABs) have been widely considered in the last decade to model settings in which an agent wants to learn the action providing the highest expected reward among a fixed set of available actions during the operational life of a system. Classical techniques provide solutions that minimize the regret due to learning in settings where selecting an arm has no cost. Though, in many real world applications the learner has to pay some cost for pulling each arm and the learning process is constrained by a fixed budgetB. This problem is addressed in the literature as the Budgeted MAB (BMAB). In this paper, for the first time, we study the problem of Budgeted Continuous–Armed Bandit (BCAB), where the set of the possible actions consists in a continuous set (e.g., a range of prices) and the learner suffers from a random reward and cost at each round. We provide a novel algorithm, named B–Zoom, which suffers a regret of Õ(B d+1 d+2 ), where d is the Zooming dimension of the problem. Finally, we provide an empirical analysis showing that, despite a lower average performance, the proposed approach is more robust to adverse settings as compared to existing algorithms designed for BMAB.
A secondary metabolite acting as a signalling molecule controls Pseudomonas entomophila virulence

Pseudomonas entomophila is an entomopathogenic bacterium that is lethal to Drosophila melanogaster within 1–2 days of ingestion of high doses. Flies orally infected with P. entomophila rapidly succumb despite the induction of both local and systemic immune responses. Recent studies suggest that its virulence relies on its ability to cause irreversible damages to the intestinal epithelium, in contrast to what is observed with milder pathogenic bacteria such as Erwinia carotovora carotovora Ecc15 or Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14. The GacS/GacA two‐component system plays a key role in P. entomophila pathogenicity. Here, we report the identification of the pvf genes, whose products are involved in production of a secondary metabolite involved in P. entomophila virulence. A pvf mutant is impaired in its ability to persist within the gut, to trigger the fly immune responses and to inflict gut damages. The expression of several genes is affected in a pvf mutant, independently of the Gac system. Moreover, growing a pvf mutant in medium supplemented with supernatant extracts from either the wild‐type strain or a gacA mutant restore its pathogenicity. Collectively, our results indicate that we identified genes involved in the synthesis of a signalling molecule that controls P. entomophila virulence independently from the Gac system.
Mechanical properties of the patellar tendon in elite volleyball players with and without patellar tendinopathy

Background Although differences in mechanical properties between symptomatic and healthy tendons have been observed for the Achilles tendon, the impact of tendinopathy on patellar tendon mechanics is not fully documented. The aim of the present case–control study was to assess the mechanical properties of the tendon and jump performance in elite athletes with and without patellar tendinopathy. Methods We identified 17 male volleyball players with patellar tendinopathy and 18 healthy matched controls from a 5-year prospective cohort study on junior elite volleyball players. Outcome variables included three measures of maximal vertical jump performance and ultrasound-based assessments of patellar tendon cross-sectional area, stiffness and Young's modulus. Results The proximal cross-sectional area of the patellar tendon was significantly larger in the tendinopathic group (133±11 vs 112±9 mm2, respectively; p<0.001). Pathological tendons presented lower stiffness (2254±280 vs 2826±603 N/mm, respectively; p=0.006) and Young's modulus (0.99±0.16 vs 1.17±0.25 GPa, respectively; p=0.04) than healthy tendons. However, the difference between the countermovement jump height and the squat jump height (3.4±2.2 vs 1.2±1.5 cm, p=0.005) was significantly higher in the tendinopathic group compared with the control group. Conclusions Patellar tendinopathy is associated with a decrease in the mechanical and material properties of the tendon in elite athletes subjected to a high volume of jumping activity. However, compared with their healthy counterparts, tendinopathic volleyball players have a better ability to utilise the stretch-shortening cycle when jumping.
TencentBoost: A Gradient Boosting Tree System with Parameter Server

Gradient boosting tree (GBT), a widely used machine learning algorithm, achieves state-of-the-art performance in academia, industry, and data analytics competitions. Although existing scalable systems which implement GBT, such as XGBoost and MLlib, perform well for datasets with medium-dimensional features, they can suffer performance degradation for many industrial applications where the trained datasets contain highdimensional features. The performance degradation derives from their inefficient mechanisms for model aggregation—either mapreduce or all-reduce. To address this high-dimensional problem, we propose a scalable execution plan using the parameter server architecture to facilitate the model aggregation. Further, we introduce a sparse-pull method and an efficient index structure to increase the processing speed. We implement a GBT system, namely TencentBoost, in the production cluster of Tencent Inc. The empirical results show that our system is 2-20× faster than existing platforms.
Examination of convolutive blind source separation algorithms based on information theoretic criterion and second-order statistics for cell-phone application

In this paper, we have investigated the performance of a blind source separation (BSS) method based on second order statistics (SOS) and an information theoretic BSS approach based on Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence criterion for the data of cell-phone application. For this purpose, a hybrid time-frequency approach and two different SOS and KL-based algorithms within this framework are exploited. The performance of these algorithms is examined using the real-world data recorded for evaluating BSS algorithms for cell-phone application. Simulation results reveal that both algorithms have nearly the same performance after convergence. However, due to the simplicity and slightly better convergence properties, the SOS-based algorithm is preferred for practical purposes.
Risk Migration In Supply Chain Inventory Financing Service

Inventory financing affects the risks of both for banks and supply chain companies. Traditionally, supply chain research focus more on material flow than financial. We construct a supply chain financing risk-information migration model (RMM). In this model, we discussed the preconditions to adopt inventory financing when the enterprises are facing cash constraints. And we simulated the whole operate of supply chain and bank behavior with Matlab. The simulation result shows if loan conditions are satisfied, the total risk value is reduced. Risk migration happens in the financing process. In this process, information-risk proportions are more reasonable.