Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural Basis of Substrate Specificity and Protease Inhibition in Norwalk Virus

ABSTRACT Norwalk virus (NV), the prototype human calicivirus, is the leading cause of nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis. The NV protease cleaves the polyprotein encoded by open reading frame 1 of the viral genome at five nonhomologous sites, releasing six nonstructural proteins that are essential for viral replication. The structural details of how NV protease recognizes multiple substrates are unclear. In our X-ray structure of an NV protease construct, we observed that the C-terminal tail, representing the native substrate positions P5 to P1, is inserted into the active site cleft of the neighboring protease molecule, providing atomic details of how NV protease recognizes a substrate. The crystallographic structure of NV protease with the C-terminal tail redesigned to mimic P4 to P1 of another substrate site provided further structural details on how the active site accommodates sequence variations in the substrates. Based on these structural analyses, substrate-based aldehyde inhibitors were synthesized and screened for inhibition potency. Crystallographic structures of the protease in complex with each of the three most potent inhibitors were determined. These structures showed concerted conformational changes in the S4 and S2 pockets of the protease to accommodate variations in the P4 and P2 residues of the substrate/inhibitor, which could be a mechanism for how the NV protease recognizes multiple sites in the polyprotein with differential affinities during virus replication. These structures further indicate that the mechanism of inhibition by these inhibitors involves covalent bond formation with the side chain of the conserved cysteine in the active site by nucleophilic addition, and such substrate-based aldehydes could be effective protease inhibitors.
Dosimetric characterization of round HDR I192r AccuBoost applicators for breast brachytherapy.

PURPOSE The AccuBoost brachytherapy system applies HDRI192r beams peripherally to the breast using collimating applicators. The purpose of this study was to benchmark Monte Carlo simulations of the HDR I192r source, to dosimetrically characterize the round applicators using established Monte Carlo simulation and radiation measurement techniques and to gather data for clinical use. METHODS Dosimetric measurements were performed in a polystyrene phantom, while simulations estimated dose in air, liquid water, polystyrene and ICRU 44 breast tissue. Dose distribution characterization of the 4-8 cm diameter collimators was performed using radiochromic EBT film and air ionization chambers. RESULTS The central axis dose falloff was steeper for the 4 cm diameter applicator in comparison to the 8 cm diameter applicator, with surface to 3 cm depth-dose ratios of 3.65 and 2.44, respectively. These ratios did not considerably change when varying the phantom composition from breast tissue to polystyrene, phantom thickness from 4 to 8 cm, or phantom radius from 8 to 15 cm. Dose distributions on the central axis were fitted to sixth-order polynomials for clinical use in a hand calculation spreadsheet (i.e., nomogram). Dose uniformity within the useful applicator apertures decreased as depth-dose increased. CONCLUSIONS Monte Carlo benchmarking simulations of the HDRI192r source using the MCNP5 radiation transport code indicated agreement within 1% of the published results over the radial/angular region of interest. Changes in phantom size and radius did not cause noteworthy changes in the central axis depth-dose. Polynomial fit depth-dose curves provide a simple and accurate basis for a nomogram.
Understanding Consumer Preference for Functional Barley Tortillas Through Sensory, Demographic, and Behavioral Data

Cereal Chem. 85(6):721–729 Consumption of whole grains as part of a health-promoting diet is encouraged among Americans due to beneficial nutrients and phytochemicals. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of whole barley flour particle size on consumer acceptance of whole grain and soluble fiber-enriched tortillas; to examine the effect of demographic and behavioral data on consumer acceptance; and to establish relationships between consumer acceptance and survey results to identify market opportunities among particular groups of consumers. Four experimental tortillas and two representative commercial brands were tested by 95 untrained panelists using a 9-point hedonic scale for appearance, color, flavor, texture, and overall acceptability. Demographic and behavioral data on age, gender, ethnicity, frequency of tortilla consumption, daily effort to include fiber in the diet, consumption of tortillas containing ≥1 g of dietary fiber/serving, consumption of low-fat tortillas, and tortilla brands and type used were collected. Potential market segments for these tortillas include older consumers (41+), women, Hispanics, and Asians, and frequent tortilla consumers. A response surface relating flavor and texture to overall acceptability produced almost equivalent results to the multivariate PLS results in terms of predicting overall acceptability, which facilitates analysis and interpretation.
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Anidulafungin 2 for Experimental Candida Endophthalmitis : Insights into the 3 Utility of Echinocandins for Treatment of a Potentially Sight-4 Threatening Infection

Running Title: Anidulafungin for Candida Endophthalmitis 7 Livermore, J.L. ,Felton, T.W. ,Abbott, J., Sharp, A. , Goodwin, J.,Gregson, L. , Warn, 8 P.A. ,Howard, S.J.,Hope W.W* 9 The University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, NIHR 10 Translational Research Facility in Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital of South 11 Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK 12 2 Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham, UK 13
Hedging and Cross-hedging ETFs

This paper presents an empirical study of hedging the four largest US index exchange traded funds (ETFs). When hedging each ETF position with its own index futures we find that it is difficult to improve on the naA¯ve 1:1 futures hedge, that hedging is less effective around the time of dividend payments, and that hedged portfolio returns tend to have very large negative skewness and highly significant excess kurtosis. We also investigate the extent to which a long position on one ETF can be offset by a short position on another correlated ETF and consider how best to hedge portfolios of ETFs with one index futures. In these situations minimum variance hedging is clearly preferable to naA¯ve hedging, although it seems to matter little which econometric hedge ratio is used, and the cross-hedged portfolio returns are closer to normality than the futures hedged portfolios. The evaluation focuses on a very large out of sample hedging performance analysis that includes aversion to negative skewness and excess kurtosis as well as effective reduction in variance. Our results should be of interest to hedge funds employing tax arbitrage or leveraged long-short equity strategies. They will also be of interest to ETF market makers since hedging is the most cost effective way of reducing the market risk of inventories, thus hedging enables market makers to reduce bid-ask spreads in a competitive environment
iASPP, a previously unidentified regulator of desmosomes, prevents arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC)-induced sudden death

Significance Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a disease that is selective to the right side of the heart and results in heart failure and sudden death. Genetic defects in desmosome components account for approximately 50% of human ARVC cases; in the other 50% of patients, however, the causes remain unknown. We show that inhibitor of apoptosis-stimulating protein of p53 (iASPP) is an important regulator of desmosomes. It interacts with desmoplakin and desmin in cardiomyocytes and regulates desmosome integrity and intermediate filaments. iASPP-deficient mice display pathological features of ARVC and die of sudden death. In human ARVC patients, cardiomyocytes exhibit reduced levels of iASPP at the cell junctions, suggesting that iASPP may be critical in ARVC pathogenesis. Desmosomes are anchoring junctions that exist in cells that endure physical stress such as cardiac myocytes. The importance of desmosomes in maintaining the homeostasis of the myocardium is underscored by frequent mutations of desmosome components found in human patients and animal models. Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a phenotype caused by mutations in desmosomal components in ∼50% of patients, however, the causes in the remaining 50% of patients still remain unknown. A deficiency of inhibitor of apoptosis-stimulating protein of p53 (iASPP), an evolutionarily conserved inhibitor of p53, caused by spontaneous mutation recently has been associated with a lethal autosomal recessive cardiomyopathy in Poll Hereford calves and Wa3 mice. However, the molecular mechanisms that mediate this putative function of iASPP are completely unknown. Here, we show that iASPP is expressed at intercalated discs in human and mouse postmitotic cardiomyocytes. iASPP interacts with desmoplakin and desmin in cardiomyocytes to maintain the integrity of desmosomes and intermediate filament networks in vitro and in vivo. iASPP deficiency specifically induces right ventricular dilatation in mouse embryos at embryonic day 16.5. iASPP-deficient mice with exon 8 deletion (Ppp1r13lΔ8/Δ8) die of sudden cardiac death, displaying features of ARVC. Intercalated discs in cardiomyocytes from four of six human ARVC cases show reduced or loss of iASPP. ARVC-derived desmoplakin mutants DSP-1-V30M and DSP-1-S299R exhibit weaker binding to iASPP. These data demonstrate that by interacting with desmoplakin and desmin, iASPP is an important regulator of desmosomal function both in vitro and in vivo. This newly identified property of iASPP may provide new molecular insight into the pathogenesis of ARVC.
The Role of Predisposition to Hallucinations on Non-Clinical Paranoid vs. Socially Anxious Individuals after Hearing Negative Affective-Laden Sounds: An Experimental Investigation

Background: Research suggested that negative affective-laden sounds act as environmental stressors that elicit negative affect (Bradley and Lang, 2000a). Aims: We tried to test for the role of an interaction between predisposition to hallucinatory experiences and exposure to negative affective laden sounds for the presence of paranoid ideation. Method: We used an experimental design that followed the vulnerability × stress model. We defined three groups from a sample of students: paranoia group vs. social anxiety group vs. control group. Their psychological characteristics were measured through self-reports of paranoia, anxiety, predisposition to hallucinations and depressive symptoms at Time 1 (before the experiment). Participants had to listen to either negative affective laden sounds (e.g. screaming) or positive affective laden sounds (e.g. sound of ocean waves). Their paranoid ideation and positive vs. negative emotional reactions to sounds were measured through self-reports at Time 2 (after the experiment). Results: Data showed that the paranoia group presented more serious psychological vulnerabilities than the social anxiety group. A MANCOVA also showed that the independent variables (“group” and “experimental sound conditions”) had statistically significant main effects on general paranoia ideation at Time 2. Furthermore, there was a significant three-way interaction between group x predisposition to hallucinatory experiences × experimental condition of sounds for the presence of general paranoid ideation at Time 2. Limitations included the small sample size and the effects of parasite variables, e.g. noise. Conclusions: Individuals’ predisposition for hallucinatory experiences increases the probability of possessing paranoid ideation. This tendency is a characteristic of paranoid non-clinical individuals.
Multi-Input Inverter for Grid-Connected Hybrid PV/Wind Power System

The objective of this paper is to propose a novel multi-input inverter for the grid-connected hybrid photovoltaic (PV)/wind power system in order to simplify the power system and reduce the cost. The proposed multi-input inverter consists of a buck/buck-boost fused multi-input dc-dc converter and a full-bridge dc-ac inverter. The output power characteristics of the PV array and the wind turbine are introduced. The perturbation and observation method is used to accomplish the maximum power point tracking algorithm for input sources. The operational principle of the proposed multi-input inverter is explained. The control circuit is realized by using a digital signal processor and auxiliary analog circuits. For practical applications, functions of soft-start and circuit protection are implemented. Experimental results have shown the performance of the proposed multi-input inverter with desired features
The Value of Acquiring: An Event Study on Shareholder Value for Defence Sector M&A's

The purpose of this study is to examine whether an acquiring firm that operates as a contractor within the defence sector can expect to generate shareholder value from a merger and acquisition with a fellow defence sector competitor. Having selected thirty acquiring defence firms an event study utilizing the market model is performed to obtain the abnormal returns generated from a merger and acquisition. To account for estimation problems associated with financial data, and to provide accurate and robust results, the GARCH and EGARCH model are also utilized alongside a basic OLS estimation. The results indicate a positive shareholder value creation for acquiring defence sector firms.
Financing the Green Transformation: How to Make Green Finance Work in Indonesia

Planetary boundaries and a scarcity of natural resources will require a significant boost of investment into clean and renewable energy and a more efficient use of resources in developing, emerging and advanced economies alike. In this context, the financial sector will have to play a key role in providing 'green finance' for sustainable investment and development. Against this backdrop, this book investigates the challenges for developing and emerging economies in enhancing green financing for sustainable, low-carbon investment, using Indonesia as a case study. Based on surveys in the Indonesian banking and corporate sectors and expert interviews, the book devises innovative policy recommendations for governments to develop a framework conducive to fostering green investments.
Automatic Moderation of Online Discussion Sites

Online discussion sites are plagued with various types of unwanted content, such as spam and obscene or malicious messages. Prevention and detection-based techniques have been proposed to filter inappropriate content from online discussion sites. But, even though prevention techniques have been widely adopted, detection of inappropriate content remains mostly a manual task. Existing detection techniques, which are divided into rule-based and statistical techniques, suffer from various limitations. Rule-based techniques usually consist of manually crafted rules or blacklists of key words. Both are time-consuming to create and tend to generate many false-positives and false-negatives. Statistical techniques typically use corpora of labeled examples to train a classifier to tell "good" and "bad" messages apart. Although statistical techniques are generally more robust than rule-based techniques, they are difficult to deploy because of the prohibitive cost of manually labeling examples. In this paper we describe a novel classification technique to train a classifier from a partially labeled corpus and use it to moderate inappropriate content on online discussion sites. Partially labeled corpora are much easier to produce than completely labeled corpora, as they are made up only with unlabeled examples and examples labeled with a single class (e.g., "bad"). We implemented and tested this technique on a corpus of messages posted on a stock message board and compared it with two baseline techniques. Results show that our method outperforms the two baselines and that it can be used to significantly reduce the number of messages that need to be reviewed by human moderators.
Estimating the number of modes in multimode waveguide propagation environment

In this paper, we estimate the number of propagating modes in rectangular and circular multimode waveguides and express it as a closed-form function of excitation frequency and waveguide cross-sectional dimensions. The presented formulas can be used to quickly estimate the number of modes which can propagate in multimode waveguide communication channels such as pipes, ducts, and tunnels.
ASSESSMENT OF THE BRAZILIAN CASH OPERATION THROUGH THE APPROACH OF SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS

The Brazilian cash logistics operation is sustained by one of the country's major supply chains and involves the flow of notes and coins between banks, various players of the economy and the population as a whole. Due to its dimension and geographic range, this chain produces a significant carbon footprint. The present study seeks to further explore the cash logistics operation using the sustainable supply chain approach, thus analyzing the chain framework and its management and suggesting improvements to be implemented as a means of reducing the equivalent carbon emission of this chain. As a final conclusion, it is observed that the use of environmental measures to monitor and assess the global impact of the cash supply chain management framework is still very limited.
Too much of a good thing: the impact of option alignability on search overinvestment

Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to my family. To my husband Patrick who has encouraged me and put up with me throughout the whole process, never losing faith in me. I never would have been able to do it without your love and support. To my son Graham who has been as understanding as a small child could possibly be and who earnestly believes that I am working hard to learn the letters P, H, and D in the same way that he is studying his ABC's. To my mother-in-law Judy and my sister Debbie who have been there to help me and support me in so many ways throughout these years. And finally, in loving remembrance of my parents Marje and Jim without whose love, sacrifice, humor, and inspiration I could not have achieved any of this. v Acknowledgements I would like to express my most sincere gratitude and appreciation to my advisor Susan Broniarczyk for her support and guidance during my doctoral program. Thanks for your encouragement, flexibility, honesty, and responsiveness throughout the whole dissertation process. I have learned so much from you. In addition, I would like to thank the other members of my committee Wendy Moe for their valuable input on this dissertation. Thanks also go to my colleague Joe Goodman for his help in running subjects and for his assistance in other things too numerous to mention. Finally, I would like to thank the University of Evansville for research assistance. Search investment is the process whereby people expend resources on search in anticipation of some benefit. Generally, it is assumed that increased search effort results in greater satisfaction with the choice. This research challenges that notion. Specifically, the impact of option alignability on search quantity and search outcomes is examined. Options that vary along a comparable dimension are characterized as alignable, whereas options that vary along unique dimensions are said to be nonalignable. In three studies, it is shown that people are more inclined to continue searching when options are nonalignable than when they are alignable. Furthermore, desires increase and satisfaction decreases after a point as people consider more nonalignable options. This research provides evidence that feature exposure is the mechanism driving the increase in desires and the subsequent decline in satisfaction. vii This research demonstrates the paradox that people search more options precisely when further search is detrimental to subjective outcomes. The findings are …
An Undergraduate Course in Data Warehousing

The data warehousing field has matured significantly over the past twenty years and data warehouses, which provide the foundation for business intelligence, have become ingrained in corporate America and throughout the scientific community. Data warehousing courses are beginning to emerge in academe, but universities must do more to prepare students for exciting career opportunities not only as producers of data warehouses, but also as competent consumers. This paper describes an undergraduate data warehousing course at Radford University to share our course objectives, provide a model to encourage others to develop similar courses, and to further shape the requirements for data warehousing courses at the undergraduate level.
Meteorology Research and Development A review of urban roughness sublayer turbulence Technical Report No

It is becoming increasingly important that we can understand and model flow processes in urban areas. Applications such as weather forecasting, air quality and sustainable urban development rely on accurate modelling of the interface between an urban surface and the atmosphere above. This review gives an overview of current understanding of turbulence generated by an urban surface up to a few building heights, the layer called the roughness sublayer (RSL). High quality datasets are also identified which can be used in the development of suitable parameterisations of the urban RSL. Datasets derived from physical and numerical modelling, and full-scale observations in urban areas now exist across a range of urban-type morphologies (e.g. street canyons, cubes, idealised and realistic building layouts). Results show that the urban RSL depth falls within 2 – 5 times mean building height and is not easily related to morphology. Systematic perturbations away from uniform layouts (e.g. varying building heights) have a significant impact on RSL structure and depth. Considerable fetch is required to develop an overlying inertial sublayer, where turbulence is more homogeneous, and some authors have suggested that the “patchiness” of urban areas may prevent inertial sublayers from developing at all. Turbulence statistics suggest similarities between vegetation and urban canopies but key differences are emerging. There is no consensus as to suitable scaling variables, e.g. friction velocity above canopy vs. square root of maximum Reynolds stress, mean vs. maximum building height. The review includes a summary of existing modelling practices and highlights research priorities.
DC Offset Error Compensation for Synchronous Reference Frame PLL in Single-Phase Grid-Connected Converters

This letter proposes a dc offset error compensation algorithm for synchronous reference frame phase-locked loop (PLL) in single-phase grid-connected converters. The errors generated from the grid voltage measurement circuits can be divided into dc offset and scaling errors. These errors may cause the undesirable periodic ripples with grid frequency in the synchronous reference frame PLL. As a result, the performance of the power conversion systems is degraded. In this letter, the effects of the dc offset and scaling errors are comprehensively analyzed based on the synchronous dq frame PLL. In particular, the dc offset error can be estimated and compensated by controlling the synchronous d-axis voltage in a PLL system to be zero. The proposed algorithm does not require any additional hardware and can be implemented by a simple proportional-integral controller and an integral operation. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effective- ness of the proposed dc offset error compensation algorithm.