Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Original Research Shortened derivatives from native antimicrobial peptide LyeTx I: In vitro and in vivo biological activity assessment

In the continuing search for novel antibiotics, antimicrobial peptides are promising molecules, due to different mechanisms of action compared to classic antibiotics and to their selectivity for interaction with microorganism cells rather than with mammalian cells. Previously, our research group has isolated the antimicrobial peptide LyeTx I from the venom of the spider Lycosa erythrognatha . Here, we proposed to synthesize three novel shortened derivatives from LyeTx I (LyeTx I mn; LyeTx I mn D K; LyeTx I mn D KAc) and to evaluate their toxicity and biological activity as potential antimicrobial agents. Peptides were synthetized by Fmoc strategy and circular dichroism analysis was performed, showing that the three novel shortened derivatives may present membranolytic activity, like the original LyeTx I, once they folded as an alpha helix in 2.2. 2-trifluorethanol and sodium dodecyl sulfate. In vitro assays revealed that the shortened derivative LyeTx I mn D K presents the best score between antimicrobial ( # MIC) and hemolytic ( " EC 50 ) activities among the synthetized shortened derivatives, and LUHMES cell-based NeuriTox test showed that it is less neurotoxic than the original LyeTx I (EC 50 [LyeTx I mn D K] o EC 50 [LyeTx I]). In vivo data, obtained in a mouse model of septic arthritis induced by Staphylococcus aureus , showed that LyeTx I mn D
Increasing Mexican American Doctoral Degrees: The Role of Institutions of Higher Education

Mexican Americans continue to be severely underrepresented among doctoral degree recipients. Although much more research is warranted on this topic, the institutional support model presented can serve to provide immediate guidance to personnel in institutions of higher education who want to increase the rates of Mexican American doctoral degree attainment. The model was developed based on a retrospective analysis of the authors' experiences as participants at one of the host institutions in the Hispanic Border Leadership Institute Doctoral Fellowship Program and a review of the literature. The four components of the model include financial support and opportunity, emotional/moral support, mentorship from university faculty or other professionals, and technical support.
Hybrid genetic algorithms for constrained placement problems

When solving real-world problems, often the main task is to find a proper representation for the candidate solutions. Strings of elementary data types with standard genetic operators may tend to create infeasible individuals during the search because of the discrete and often constrained search space. This article introduces a generally applicable representation for 2D combinatorial placement and packing problems. Empirical results are presented for two constrained placement problems, the facility layout problem and the generation of VLSI macro-cell layouts. For multiobjective optimization problems, common approaches often deal with the different objectives in different phases and thus are unable to efficiently solve the global problem. Due to a tree structured genotype representation and hybrid, problem-specific operators, the proposed approach is able to deal with different constraints and objectives in one optimization step.
Exploring the Influence of Design Elements on the Comfortability in Web Sites

With the appearance of huge amount of Web sites, which provide a variety of services like electronic commerce, network game, search engines and so on, there are many researchers working on the definition of Web Usability. On the other hand, many researchers have been working on exploring the meaning and ways to realize the comfortability in physical sites (planes and spaces). We believe that it is important to extend the concept of comfortability to Web sites as well, where this new paradigm of Web Comfortability goes beyond the concept of Web Usability. We define Web Comfortability as “the means to provide not only useful functions, but also the feeling of comfortability or pleasantness in the virtual space”. In the same way that we visit more frequently and stay longer in physical places, where we feel “comfortable”, we believe that applying the same feeling in virtual web sites will be a key factor to become winner in the battle of Web sites to retain users. Kansei Engineering is a consumer-oriented technology process used to develop products, where the consumer’s feelings or Kansei is used as a guideline in creating the product. We explore the meaning of Web Comfortability, based on Kansei Engineering methods. The way of interacting with Web sites is based on two senses: audio and visual. Thus, it is very important to pay attention to the visual aspect, i.e. the design. In the case of design elements like layouts and combination of colors, the user can get at first sight the feeling of pleasant or unpleasant. If he feels unpleasant, he might go immediately to other sites. In this paper, we report with focus on the influence of design aspects on the Web Comfortability.
Broadband metasurface for surface wave lenses

This paper presents the design of a metasurface that exhibits glide symmetry. This allows the metasurface to support a mode that is confined to the surface for a broad band of frequencies. In addition it is shown that the mode index of such surfaces depends only weakly on the frequency over a given range. We then propose these structures as a practical solution to the fabrication of broadband surface-wave lenses designed using quasi-conformal transformation optics technique.
Monitoring Urban Spatial Growth in Harare Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe

Taking Harare metropolitan province in Zimbabwe as an example, we classified Landsat imagery (1984, 2002, 2008 and 2013) by using support vector machines (SVMs) and analyzed built-up and non-built-up changes. The overall classification accuracy for the four dates ranged from 89% to 95%, while the overall kappa varied from 86% to 93%. The results demonstrate that SVMs provide a cost-effective technique for mapping urban land use/cover by using mediumresolution satellite images such as Landsat. Based on land use/cover maps for 1984, 2002, 2008 and 2013, along with change analyses, built-up areas increased from 12.6% to 36.3% of the total land area, while non-built-up cover decreased from 87.3% to 63.4% between 1984 and 2013. The results revealed an urban growth process characterized by infill, extension and leapfrog developments. Given the dearth of spatial urban growth information in Harare metropolitan province, the land use/cover maps are valuable products that provide a synoptic view of built-up and non-built-up areas. Therefore, the land use/cover change maps could potentially assist decision-makers with up-to-date built-up and non-built-up information in order to guide strategic implementation of sustainable urban land use planning in Harare metropolitan province.
The Association between Leisure-Time Physical Activities and Asthma Symptoms among 10- to 12-Year-Old Children: The Effect of Living Environment in the PANACEA Study

Objective. This study evaluated the interrelationships of living environment, physical activity, lifestyle/dietary habits, and nutritional status on the prevalence of childhood asthma. Methods. In a cross-sectional survey 1125 children (529 boys), 10 to 12 years old, were selected from 18 schools located in an urban environment (Athens, n = 700) and from 10 schools located in rural areas (n = 425) in Greece. Results. Children living in Athens had higher likelihood of “ever had” asthma compared with children living in rural areas (odds ratio (OR) = 1.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.25–2.54), after adjusting for age and sex. After adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (KIDMED score), leisure-time physical activity was inversely associated with “ever had” asthma. When stratifying by county of residence, a trend toward reduced asthma symptoms among children engaged in outdoor physical activities during their leisure time who reside in rural (but not urban) environment was observed (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.77–1.01). Conclusions. The inverse relationship between asthma symptoms and leisure-time physical activity in the rural environment and the lack of an association between asthma symptoms and organized sports-related activities should draw the attention of public healthcare authorities. Their efforts should focus on the planning of a sustainable natural environment, which will promote the physical health of children and reduce the burden of childhood asthma.
Space diversity beam steering microstrip BTS antenna system for 3G and 4G

In this paper, a microstrip BTS antenna system using a beam steering antenna scheme with a transmit diversity is presented. The proposed antenna can move its beams toward the target, i.e. the highest user density location within its serving cell. The scanning angle is calculated using the direction finding system. Performance of this antenna system is compared to sector beam antenna systems. With this antenna, high speed communication, shaped beams and high gain can be achieved. Keyword: BTS, DOA, MIMO, beam steering, sectorization
Educational reform as innovation: A qualitative study on the perceptions of Brazilian agricultural school teachers

This qualitative study examines the perceptions of federally supported agricultural school teachers toward the attributes of two educational innovations brought by the educational reform currently undergoing in Brazil — the separation between academic and professional education and the emergence of the competency-based modular curriculum. The framework for the study was Rogers' (1995) diffusion of innovations theory, focusing specifically on the five attributes of innovation as defined by Rogers: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. Compatibility and relative advantage were the major attributes contributing to teachers' reactions to the innovations. Teachers have demonstrated a high degree of philosophical and ideological incompatibility with the separation between academic and professional education. Lack of teacher preparation programs was found to be the biggest operational flaw in the implementation of the reform. Support for this study was provided by CAPES Brazilian Foundation, and by the Office of International Programs of the College of Agricultural Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Findings of this study were presented at the 19th Annual Conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education on April 8–12, 2003, in Raleigh, North Carolina-USA.
Multiple Infections, Immune Dynamics, and the Evolution of Virulence

Understanding the effect of multiple infections is essential for the prediction (and eventual control) of virulence evolution. Some theoretical studies have considered the possibility that several strains coexist in the same host (coinfection), but few have taken their within‐host dynamics explicitly into account. Here, we develop a nested approach based on a simple model for the interaction of parasite strains with their host’s immune system. We study virulence evolution by linking the within‐host dynamics to an epidemiological framework that incorporates multiple infections. Our model suggests that antigenically similar parasite strains cannot coexist in the long term inside a host. We also find that the optimal level of virulence increases with the efficiency of multiple infections. Finally, we notice that coinfections create heterogeneity in the host population (with susceptible hosts and infected hosts), which can lead to evolutionary branching in the parasite population and the emergence of a hypervirulent parasite strategy. We interpret this result as a parasite specialization to the infectious state of the hosts. Our study has experimental and theoretical implications in a virulence management perspective.
B 98 , 125101 ( 2018 ) Spin topological field theory and fermionic matrix product states

We study state-sum constructions of G-equivariant spin topological quantum field theory (TQFTs) and their relationship to matrix product states. In the Neveu-Schwarz, Ramond, and twisted sectors, states of the TQFT are generalized matrix product states. Our results are applied to the classification of fermionic short-range-entangled phases with a unitary symmetry G to determine the group law on the set of such phases. Interesting subtleties appear when the total symmetry group is a nontrivial extension of G by fermion parity.
On the Relationship between L-convex Functions and Submodular Integrally Convex Functions

This paper shows the equivalence between Murota's L-convex functions and Favati and Tardella's submodular integrally convex functions: For a submodular integrally convex function g(p1, . . . , pn), the functiondefined by ˜(p0, p1, . . . , pn) = g(p1 i p0, . . . , pn i p0) is an L-convex function, and vice versa. This fact implies, in combination with known results for L-convex functions, that submodular integrally convex functions enjoy a discrete sep- aration property and that they are characterized as the Fenchel-Legendre conjugates of M-convex functions on generalized polymatroids.
Interpersonal Comparisons of Well‐Being

This paper, which is to be published as a chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Political Economy, provides an introduction to social-choice theory with interpersonal comparisons of well-being. We argue that the most promising route of escape from the negative conclusion of Arrow’s theorem is to use a richer informational environment than ordinal measurability and the absence of interpersonal comparability of well-being. We discuss welfarist social evaluation (which requires that the levels of individual well-being in two alternatives are the only determinants of their social ranking) and present characterizations of some important social-evaluation orderings.
Language and Music: What do they have in Common and how do they Differ? A Neuroscientific Approach

The concept of two largely independent systems, with strict left hemisphere lateralization of language and predominantly right lateralization of music is being challenged by the alternative view that language and music are closely related cognitive and neural systems with complex constellations of sub-processes, some of which are shared, and others that are not. Neurophysiologic data demonstrating similar syntax and semantics processing together with similarities in the development of the two domains in the infant brain support that language and music have much in common and complement each other. Close interaction between the two hemispheres is needed for optimal functioning of both language and music. Thus, the right hemisphere has an important role for understanding complex natural language such as stories and metaphors. Learning to read, write and musical training induces functional and anatomical changes in functionally relevant connections, and modifies hemispheric asymmetries for specific functions. Comparative research on music and language provides a way to study basic brain mechanisms and how the brain transfers acoustic stimuli into the unique human abilities for language and music, and may help bridge the divide between the sciences and the humanities.
Situated Dissemination through an HCI Workplace

Researchers working in domains such as Research through Design and Feminist HCI have been questioning "dissemination practices" and their impact on our capacity to produce reflexive accounts of research in publications. This paper examines academic dissemination practices within HCI research communities from an institutional to individual level. We unpack the practice via a meta-review of recent literature published in CHI and other venues on 'What is HCI? '. We review the core text on this debate and other similar discussions on HCI methodologies and reflexive accounts of research in domains such as 'Research through Design' and 'Feminist HCI'. We highlight the importance of practicing reflexivity through dissemination and introduce 'Research Fictions' in the form of video essays and live performances, produced by the first author with her colleagues, based on their HCI submissions. Through experimenting with alternative dissemination formats, we argue that our exploratory processes engender a practice of reflexivity within a research lab.
Parallel packing procedure for three dimensional bin packing problem

The paper proposes an algorithm for parallel packing procedure for three-dimensional packing problem. In the considered variant of the problem the load of the biggest capacity is placed inside the container with permanent dimensions. In order to parallelize computations there was CUDA technology used which enables running of independent computing threads with the use of graphic card cores. The obtained results prove the validity of the assumptions, particularly for large instances of the problem.
Measurement of Independent Variables Which Affect Communication: A Replication of Roberts and O'Reilly

This study examines Roberts and O'Reilly's scales measuring trust in the immediate superior, desire for promotion, and perceived supervisory influence for 2700 personnel in a soft-goods company. These measures are particularly important since these variables have traditionally been identified as major factors affecting communications within organizations. Results partially support use of these scales. However, methodological difficulties with these scales are also pointed out, and it is suggested that they need further development.
Reduced-Complexity Modeling of High-Order Nonlinear Audio Systems Using Swept-Sine and Principal Component Analysis

Modeling high-order nonlinear systems is an important issue in audio signal processing. It may be employed in real-time emulation of analog nonlinear systems, such as guitar distortion and amplifiers or other vintage electronic audio systems. This paper proposes a new method for obtaining an economical black-box model of nonlinear systems using the swept-sine technique, which extracts the harmonic distortion at each frequency by separating them in time. In the proposed model the swept-sine technique is used to obtain the timefrequency representation of a nonlinear system, and the principal component analysis is used to reduce the complexity of the model. It is shown that the proposed method reduces the computational cost by 66% when compared to traditional swept-sine models.
Inactivity of Recombinant ELA2B Provides a New Example of Evolutionary Elastase Silencing in Humans

Background: The archetypal mammalian elastase (ELA1) is not expressed in the human pancreas, because evolutionary mutations suppressed transcription of the ELA1 gene. Aims: In this study, we tested the theory that the unique duplication of the ELA2 gene in humans might compensate for the loss of ELA1. Methods: Recombinant ELA2A and ELA2B were expressed in Escherichia coli, and their activity was tested on Glt-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu-p-nitroanilide, DQ elastin and bovine milk protein. Results: Surprisingly, recombinant ELA2B was completely devoid of proteolytic activity, while ELA2A readily hydrolyzed all three test substrates. Furthermore, ELA2A formed an SDS-resistant complex with α1-antitrypsin, whereas ELA2B did not bind covalently to the inhibitor. Finally, chimeras and point mutations engineered between ELA2A and ELA2B revealed that multiple evolutionary mutations inactivated ELA2B. Conclusions: The results indicate that ELA2B is not an elastase enzyme and confirm that ELA2A is the major elastase in the human pancreas.
Path Dependence, Development, and the Dynamics of Institutional Reform

In the past decade, an institutional perspective on development has become increasingly prominent in development thinking. However, the reform experience thus far suggests that if institutions indeed matter for development, we still do not have a firm understanding of how to transforms dysfunctional institutions. Drawing on concrete examples of rule of law and property rights reforms, we argue that path dependence theory can shed some light on past failures and provide guidance for future reforms.
Serotonergic signalling between thyroid cells: Protein kinase C and 5‐HT2 receptors in the secretion and action of serotonin

Parafollicular (PF) cells of the thyroid gland are neural crest derivatives, which costore the neurotransmitter, 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT) with calcitonin. PF cells are located adjacent to follicular (F) cells within the basement membrane of thyroid follicles. It has been proposed that 5‐HT serves an intercellular signalling function in the thyroid and that F cells are its target. This proposal was tested by using cell lines derived from PF (medullary thyroid carcinoma [MTC]) and F (FRTL‐5) cells to study the mechanisms that mediate the secretion and action of 5‐HT. Secretion of 5‐HT by MTC cells was evoked by thyroid stimulating hormone, thyrotropin (TSH), elevated extracellular calcium (↑[Ca2+]e), or by agents that increase intracellular cAMP (↑[cAMP]i). When protein kinase C (PKC) was down‐regulated by prolonged treatment of MTC cells with phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate (PMA), or PKC was inhibited by staurosporin, the TSH‐or PMA‐evoked secretion of 5‐HT was blocked; however, interference with PKC function did not affect 5‐HT secretion evoked by ↑ [Ca2+]e or ↑ [cAMP]i. In the putative targets, FRTL‐5 cells, 5‐HT increased the turnover of phosphoinositides (PI), cytosolic calcium (↑[Ca2+]i), ↑[cAMP]i, and biphasically modified the effect of TSH on cAMP. All of these 5‐HT effects were inhibited by 5‐HT2 receptor antagonists (spiperone and ketanserin) and by pertussis toxin (PTx), suggesting that the actions of 5‐HT are mediated by 5‐HT2 receptors, which are coupled to a G protein. This suggestion was supported by the following additional observations: FRTL‐5 membranes bound the 5‐HT2 agonist, [125I]2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐iodophenylisopropylamine ([125I]‐DOI), and anti‐idiotypic anti‐bodies, which recognize 5‐HT2 receptors. [125I]‐DOI binding was inhibited by guanosine‐5′‐O‐(3‐thiotriphosphate) (GTP‐γ‐S) and the antibodies were displaced by spiperone. Data are consistent with the hypothesis that 5‐HT serves as a PF to F cell messenger. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.