Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anti‐phosphopeptide antibody, P‐STM as a novel tool for detecting mitotic phosphoproteins: Identification of lamins A and C as two major targets

A polyclonal, phospho‐epitope‐specific antibody (P‐STM) was generated to detect the activated p21‐activated kinase 2 (PAK2), based on the regulatory autophosphorylation site Thr402 of PAK2 [Yu et al., 1998 ]. In this report, we show that this antibody can also recognize many phosphoproteins in mitotic HeLa and A431 cells. Signal of these phosphoproteins emerged after treating the cells with nocodazole and okadaic acid, and was highly detected in G2‐M phase transition of HeLa cells released from double thymidine block. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that P‐STM strongly stained HeLa cells at prometaphase and metaphase, but not at interphase and anaphase. Interestingly, this staining pattern was almost identical to that obtained by staining with MPM2, a monoclonal antibody known to react with phosphoproteins in mitotic HeLa cells. However, the phosphoproteins detected by the two antibodies are quite different. Two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) and tryptic peptide fingerprint analysis by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization‐time of flight (MALDI‐TOF) mass spectrometry were employed to identify lamins A and C as two of the mitotic cell‐specific phosphoproteins recognized by P‐STM. Lamins A and C immunoprecipitated from nocodazole‐treated cells, but not from untreated cells showed strong reactivity to P‐STM, and this reactivity lost completely after protein phosphatase 2A treatment. In summary, our results show that P‐STM represents a novel tool for detecting mitotic phosphoproteins, which are different from those recognized by MPM2, and that lamins A and C are the two prominent mitotic phosphoproteins detected by P‐STM. J. Cell. Biochem. 94: 967–981, 2005. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ON THE STATISTICAL ESTIMATION OF STOCHASTIC FINITE-STATE TRANSDUCERS IN MACHINE TRANSLATION

The inference of finite-state transducers from bilingual training data plays an important role in many natural-language tasks and mainly in machine translation. However, there are only a few techniques to infer such models. One of these techniques is the grammatical inference and alignments for transducer inference (GIATI) technique that has proven to be very adequate for speech translation, text-input machine translation, or computer-assisted translation. GIATI is a heuristic technique that requires segmented training data (i.e., the input sentences and the output sentences must be segmented with the restriction that the input segments and the output segments must be monotone aligned). For the purpose of obtaining segmented training data, pure statistical word-alignment models are used. This technique is revisited in this article. The main goal is to formally derive the complete GIATI technique using classical expectation-maximization statistical estimation procedure. This new approach allows us to avoid a hard dependence on heuristic “external” statistical techniques (statistical alignments and n-grams). A first set of experimental results obtained in a machine-translation task are also reported to initially validate this new version of the inference technique of finite-state transducers.
Does religion matter to dividend policy? Evidence from Buddhism and Taoism in China

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between Buddhism/Taoism and dividend payout decisions among Chinese listed firms during 2003-2013. ,The authors include all Chinese A-share listed stocks in their sample during 2003-2013 and use a multiple regression method to conduct their analyses. ,Their findings suggest that firms in regions with high influence of Buddhism and Taoism lean toward having high dividend payouts. The results are robust to a battery of alternative specifications in dividend payout, religiosity measures, research methods and dividend regulation regimes. ,They show that the religions of Buddhism/Taoism play a role in determining dividend payout, complementing other informal institution studies of dividend policy. They complement the literature by providing insights into the impact of Buddhism and Taoism on corporate behaviors beyond immoral or unethical practices. They are able to relate specific doctrinal tenets of Buddhism and Taoism to corporate behavior rather than using only the general moral and ethical guidelines of religiosity.
Fcγ Receptor IIb Strongly Regulates Fcγ Receptor-Facilitated T Cell Activation by Dendritic Cells

FcγR ligation by Ag–Ab immune complexes (IC) not only mediates effective Ag uptake, but also strongly initiates dendritic cell (DC) maturation, a requirement for effective T cell activation. Besides the activating FcγRI, FcγRIII, and FcγRIV, the inhibitory FcγRIIb is expressed on DCs. It is unclear how the ratio between signals from the activating FcγR and the inhibitory FcγRIIb determines the outcome of FcγR ligation on DCs. By microarray analysis, we compared the transcriptomes of steady state and IC-activated bone marrow-derived wild-type (WT) DCs expressing all FcγR or DCs expressing only activating FcγR (FcγRIIb knockout [KO]) or only the inhibitory FcγRIIb (FcR γ-chain KO). In WT DCs, we observed a gene expression profile associated with effective T cell activation, which was absent in FcR γ-chain KO, but strikingly more pronounced in FcγRIIb KO bone marrow-derived DCs. These microarray results, confirmed at the protein level for many cytokines and other immunological relevant genes, demonstrate that the transcriptome of IC-activated DCs is dependent on the presence of the activating FcγR and that the modulation of the expression of the majority of the genes was strongly regulated by FcγRIIb. Our data suggest that FcγRIIb-deficient DCs have an improved capacity to activate naive T lymphocytes. This was confirmed by their enhanced FcγR-dependent Ag presentation and in vivo induction of CD8+ T cell expansion compared with WT DCs. Our findings underscore the potency of FcγR ligation on DCs for the effective induction of T cell immunity by ICs and the strong regulatory role of FcγRIIb.
A Novel N,N-8-Amino-8-demethyl-d-riboflavin Dimethyltransferase (RosA) Catalyzing the Two Terminal Steps of Roseoflavin Biosynthesis in Streptomyces davawensis*

Background: The biosynthetic pathway for the unique antibiotic roseoflavin from Streptomyces davawensis is unknown. Results: A novel N,N-8-amino-8-demethyl-d-riboflavin dimethyltransferase (RosA) was purified from S. davawensis. Conclusion: RosA catalyzes the two terminal steps of roseoflavin biosynthesis. Significance: RosA is the first enzyme of roseoflavin biosynthesis to be identified. Streptomyces davawensis synthesizes the antibiotic roseoflavin (RoF) (8-dimethylamino-8-demethyl-d-riboflavin). It was postulated that RoF is synthesized from riboflavin via 8-amino- (AF) and 8-methylamino-8-demethyl-d-riboflavin (MAF). In a cell-free extract of S. davawensis, an S-adenosyl methionine-dependent conversion of AF into MAF and RoF was observed. The corresponding N,N-8-amino-8-demethyl-d-riboflavin dimethyltransferase activity was enriched by column chromatography. The final most active fraction still contained at least five different proteins that were analyzed by enzymatic digestion and concomitant de novo sequencing by MS/MS. One of the sequences matched a hypothetical peptide fragment derived from an as yet uncharacterized open reading frame (sda77220) located in the middle of a (putative) gene cluster within the S. davawensis genome. Expression of ORF sda77220 in Escherichia coli revealed that the corresponding gene product had N,N-8-amino-8-demethyl-d-riboflavin dimethyltransferase activity. Inactivation of ORF sda77220 led to a S. davawensis strain that synthesized AF but not MAF or RoF. Accordingly, as the first identified gene of RoF biosynthesis, ORF sda77220 was named rosA. RosA (347 amino acids; 38 kDa) was purified from a recombinant E. coli strain (as a His6-tagged protein) and was biochemically characterized (apparent Km for AF = 57.7 ± 9.2 μm; apparent KD for AF = 10.0 μm; kcat = 0.37 ± 0.02 s−1). RosA is a unique enzyme and may be useful for a variety of applications.
SiGe HBT with fx/fmax of 505 GHz/720 GHz

An experimental SiGe HBT technology featuring fT/fmax/BVCEO = 505 GHz/720 GHz/1.6 V and a minimum CML ring oscillator gate delay of 1.34 ps is presented. The improved speed compared to our previous SiGe HBT developments originates primarily from an optimized vertical profile, an additional decrease of the base and emitter resistance which is made possible by combining millisecond annealing with a low-temperature backend, and from lateral device scaling.
A novel CP patch antenna fed by meandered strip for WLAN access points

A novel circularly polarized (CP) patch antenna is proposed for 802.11b/g (2400–2484 MHz) wireless local area networks (WLAN) access points applications. The antenna is composed of a meandered strip and a square patch with truncated corners. Good impedance matching (1.2:1 VSWR) over a wide bandwidth is achieved by using the meandered strip feed technique, and CP operation is obtained by selecting an optimal size of the truncated corners. Furthermore, the HFSS 3-D EM simulator is employed for design simulation. Simulation results show that the proposed antenna has an impedance bandwidth (1.2:1 VSWR) of about 368 MHz (2341–2709 MHz), a 3dB axial ratio bandwidth of about 108 MHz (2391–2499 MHz), and a gain level of 8.5 dBi or larger within the WLAN operating bandwidth.
Secure Virtual Machine Placement in Infrastructure Cloud Services

With increasing evidence on the breadth and potency of side-channel attacks based on resource sharing, virtual machine (VM) placement in infrastructure cloud services, such as Amazon EC2, has become an important security problem. In this paper, we present a new approach to this problem by letting users specify their own trust profiles, and then incorporating such information into VM placement decisions. The objective is to ensure safe VM placement while aiming to maximize physical resource utilization in data centers. We propose and implement four different solutions to the problem, namely Graph Coloring, Bin Packing, Linear Programming and Genetic Algorithm. The proposed algorithms have been thoroughly evaluated on various real world datasets and different trust profiles. We found that, by including security requirements within VM placement algorithms, the loss of efficiency was as little as 2-3% in certain trust profiles and datasets. In addition, simple greedy approaches were found to be more scalable; and performed much better in terms of efficiency loss than more complicated optimization methods.
Corrective Voltage Control Scheme Considering Demand Response and Stochastic Wind Power

This paper proposes a new approach for corrective voltage control (CVC) of power systems in presence of uncertain wind power generation and demand values. The CVC framework deals with the condition that a power system encounters voltage instability as a result of severe contingencies. The uncertainty of wind power generation and demand values is handled using a scenario-based modeling approach. One of the features of the proposed methodology is to consider participation of demand-side resources as an effective control facility that reduces control costs. Active and reactive redispatch of generating units and involuntary load curtailment are employed along with the voluntary demand-side participation (demand response) as control facilities in the proposed CVC approach. The CVC is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem. The objectives are ensuring a desired loading margin while minimizing the corresponding control cost. This problem is solved using ε-constraint method, and fuzzy satisfying approach is employed to select the best solution from the Pareto optimal set. The proposed control framework is implemented on the IEEE 118-bus system to demonstrate its applicability and effectiveness.
Intrinsic Risk Measures

Monetary risk measures are usually interpreted as the smallest amount of external capital that must be added to a financial position to make it acceptable. We propose a new concept: intrinsic risk measures and argue that this approach provides a direct path from unacceptable positions towards the acceptance set. Intrinsic risk measures use only internal resources and return the smallest percentage of the currently held financial position which has to be sold and reinvested into an eligible asset such that the resulting position becomes acceptable. While avoiding the problem of infinite values, intrinsic risk measures allow a free choice of the eligible asset and they preserve desired properties such as monotonicity and quasi-convexity. A dual representation on convex acceptance sets is derived and the link of intrinsic risk measures to their monetary counterparts on cones is detailed.
Salient Remote Sensing Image Segmentation Based on Rate-Distortion Measure

The ill-defined nature of the segmentation problem makes the selection of the optimal image partition difficult. One can characterize image segmentation as an attempt to find the best possible representation of a data set using a certain number of ldquoobjects.rdquo This can be regarded as data information compression, resulting in the distortion of the original values. Data sets are well represented when the correct number of regions is chosen. The concept behind this approach is similar to the main problem of rate distortion theory: A finite set of code words is chosen to approximate the numbers or source symbols as well as possible. In our approach, the number of regions is equivalent to the number of code words. The mean of a region provides canonical representation of respective group members, and the distortion function is the mean-square error assuring a good evaluation method for image segmentation.
FAST TRANSPARENT MIGRATION FOR VIRTUAL MACHINES

Cloud computing is the next generation of technology which unifies everything into one. It is an on demand service because it offers dynamic flexible resource allocation for reliable and guaranteed services in pay as-you-use manner to public. In Cloud computing multiple cloud users can request number of cloud services simultaneously. So there must be a provision that all resources are made available to requesting user in efficient manner to satisfy their need. In this paper a review of various policies for dynamic resource allocation in cloud computing is shown based on Topology Aware Resource Allocation (TARA), Linear Scheduling Strategy for Resource Allocation and Dynamic Resource Allocation for Parallel Data Processing. Moreover, significance, advantages and limitations of using Resource Allocation in Cloud computing systems is also discussed. Keywords— Dynamic Resource Allocation, Cloud Computing, Resource Management, Resource Scheduling.
Focal Opacification of the Olfactory Recess on Sinus CT: Just an Incidental Finding?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The CT appearance of the anterior skull base has been investigated but with limited attention directed to the olfactory recess. As defined by opacity abutting the undersurface of the cribriform plate, the prevalence of olfactory recess opacity (ORO) on sinus CT was examined to clarify whether this should raise suspicion for an unsuspected pathologic process. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Outpatient sinus CTs were evaluated for ORO in 500 consecutive patients (mean age, 46.9 years; 52.6% women). On a per-side basis (n = 1000), the presence of surgical changes, inflammatory sinus disease, and concha bullosa was determined by 2 neuroradiologists. Logistic regression was used to examine the association of ORO with these variables. RESULTS: ORO was identified in 59 (11.8%) patients, bilateral in 27 (5.4%), and unilateral in 32 (6.4%). There were 343 of 1000 ethmoid sides that were diseased, and 66 (27.2%) showed ipsilateral ORO. In contrast, only 20 (3.0%) of 657 clear ethmoid sides showed ORO (P < .0001). ORO was significantly (P = .013) more common with previous surgery (18/75; 24.0%) than without (68/925; 7.4%). Ipsilateral concha bullosa was not associated with ORO. Of 32 patients with unilateral ORO, 5 (15.6%) had no ethmoid opacification or previous surgery, and 1 of these patients had an encephalocele causing the ORO. Finally, unilateral ORO was present in only 1 of 122 patients with completely clear sinuses (the encephalocele that was just mentioned). CONCLUSION: ORO is distinctly uncommon without sinonasal inflammation or previous surgery. Isolated unilateral ORO raises suspicion for an underlying neoplasm or cephalocele and warrants further evaluation.
Radiation performance improvement of microstrip antennas by a mounted horn and R-card for the car communication applications

Antenna applications in car satellite communications experience multi-path interferences from hood or trunk if installed near the edge of the roof. This work considers microstrip antennas, which are widely employed, and develops techniques to reduce the multipath effects and improve the antenna performance. This work integrates, a hybrid mounted horn and resistive card (R-card) structure to improve antenna performance. It potentially reduces the sidelobes and wide angle main beam patterns, and increases the gains without significantly impacting the operating frequency. Experimental examinations are presented to demonstrate the concepts.
An Empirical Investigation of Cost Subadditivity of The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation: is there A Room for Competition?

A public utility theory argues that industries such as telecommunications, electricity, postal services and water & sewage should be run by a single firm viewed from economic efficiency. This has to do with the existence of various impediments to entry in such market which guarantee the incumbent industry to be a ‘natural monopoly’. The Ethiopian telecommunications corporation in its hundred plus years of operation remains on the hands of the government enjoying an exclusive right in provision of telecoms services in the country. However, the sector performed poor in many standards of quality judged against the threshold for developing countries. Noting inefficiencies of the sector, the government separated activities of operation from regulation in 1999. Notwithstanding the positive moves seen in recent years, the regulatory authority considered the industry for granted as a natural monopoly without any empirical verification. The purpose of the study was to determine whether cost efficiency is the raison detre for the monopoly market structure in Ethiopian telecoms sector. Accordingly, cost function of etc is studied in line with a mutiproduct firm setting so as to test cost subadditivity. Both the traditional and the Evans & Heckman approach proved that the industry has indeed been a natural monopoly and calls for an effective regulation so as to achieve in a competitive outcome.
You Scratch My Back and I Scratch Yours: Investigating Inter-Partner Legitimacy in Relationships Between Social Enterprises and Their Key Partners

Social enterprises, like almost all organizations, continuously strive for external legitimacy. To be perceived as externally legitimated by society, social enterprises often engage in strategic partnerships. However, scholars have only recently turned their attention to the legitimating function of such partnerships. The purpose of this article is to address the hitherto neglected construct of inter-partner legitimacy. Drawing on institutional theory, we hypothesize that such inter-partner legitimacy affects the resource transfer among partners, which will, in turn, be recognized by society and will subsequently affect each partner’s external legitimacy. Dyadic data of 121 strategic partnerships between social enterprises and their key partners confirm our hypotheses. We add to institutional theory by integrating the often ignored dimension of inter-partner legitimacy into our analysis and demonstrate its relevance to each partner’s external legitimacy and to resource transfer. Further contributions to the literature on institutional theory, legitimacy, social entrepreneurship, and inter-organizational relationships are identified.
Hippocampal zinc infusion delays the development of afterdischarges and seizures in a kindling model of epilepsy

Purpose: Zinc occurs in high concentration in synaptic vesicles of glutamatergic terminals including hippocampal mossy fibers. This vesicular zinc can be synaptically released during neuronal activity, including seizures. Zinc inhibits certain subtypes of N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) and γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)A receptors. By blocking NMDA excitation or GABA inhibition, an excess of zinc may alter the excitability of hippocampal circuits, which contribute to the development of seizures.
Direct Analysis of Red Wine Using Ultra-Fast Chromatography and High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Overview Red wine is a very complex mixture and a rich source of beneficial anti-oxidants. Identification and quantitation of these natural products is challenging. Ultra High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (U-HPLC) coupled to the Thermo Scientific LTQ Orbitrap XL mass spectrometer was used for analysis of French red wine, which enabled simultaneous detection and relative quantitation of the wine's anti-oxidant constituents. The phenolic compounds (such as quercetin) responsible for most of the health benefits associated with the consumption of red wine were identified and their variable content across two different harvest years was observed. Direct wine analysis approach was then applied to monitor the progressive changes in red wine after its exposure to air. This work demonstrated the feasibility of analyzing complex mixtures without any prior sample preparation by making use of the high resolving power of both U-HPLC and the OrbitrapTM mass analyzer detector.
Does childbirth after fertility treatment influence sense of coherence? A longitudinal study of 1,934 men and women

Background. Infertility is a severe, stressful experience. Sense of coherence (SOC) is an individual attribute which reflects the ability to resist severe strain. According to Antonovsky, SOC is stable throughout adulthood, but there is little empirical evidence to support this. In a prospective study, we focused on 2 research questions: (i) Does childbirth after assisted reproductive technology (ART) result in high SOC? (ii) Does the level of SOC at baseline influence the association between childbirth after ART and SOC at 1‐year follow‐up? Methods. The study included a consecutive sample of patients in ART from a prospective, longitudinal survey in Denmark; baseline response rate 80.0%, 1‐year follow‐up 87.7% (n = 1,934). The dependent variable was SOC at 1‐year follow‐up measured by Setterlind's 9‐item scale. The independent variable was having achieved childbirth after ART. Data were analysed by logistic regression analysis adjusted for baseline SOC. Results. Having achieved childbirth after ART was associated with higher SOC at 1‐year follow‐up (women OR=1.81, 95% CI: 1.20–2.74; men OR = 1.27, 95% CI: 0.88–1.86). Unexpectedly, the association between achieving childbirth after ART and high SOC at 1‐year follow‐up was significant among women who had low SOC at baseline. There was no association among participants with high SOC at baseline. Conclusions. The study indicated that SOC is not necessarily stable throughout adulthood, since a successful outcome of ART among women was associated with a significant increase in SOC.