Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SynCAMs Organize Synapses through Heterophilic Adhesion

Synapses are asymmetric cell junctions with precisely juxtaposed presynaptic and postsynaptic sides. Transsynaptic adhesion complexes are thought to organize developing synapses. The molecular composition of these complexes, however, remains incompletely understood, precluding us from understanding how adhesion across the synaptic cleft guides synapse development. Here, we define two immunoglobulin superfamily members, SynCAM 1 and 2, that are expressed in neurons in the developing brain and localize to excitatory and inhibitory synapses. They function as cell adhesion molecules and assemble with each other across the synaptic cleft into a specific, transsynaptic SynCAM 1/2 complex. Additionally, SynCAM 1 and 2 promote functional synapses as they increase the number of active presynaptic terminals and enhance excitatory neurotransmission. The interaction of SynCAM 1 and 2 is affected by glycosylation, indicating regulation of this adhesion complex by posttranslational modification. The SynCAM 1/2 complex is representative for the highly defined adhesive patterns of this protein family, the four members of which are expressed in neurons in divergent expression profiles. SynCAMs 1, 2, and 3 each can bind themselves, yet preferentially assemble into specific, heterophilic complexes as shown for the synaptic SynCAM 1/2 interaction and a second complex comprising SynCAM 3 and 4. Our results define SynCAM proteins as components of novel heterophilic transsynaptic adhesion complexes that set up asymmetric interactions, with SynCAM proteins contributing to synapse organization and function.
Identifying Connectivity Patterns for Brain Diseases via Multi-side-view Guided Deep Architectures

There is considerable interest in mining neuroimage data to discover clinically meaningful connectivity patterns to inform an understanding of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Subgraph mining models have been used to discover connected subgraph patterns. However, it is difficult to capture the complicated interplay among patterns. As a result, classification performance based on these results may not be satisfactory. To address this issue, we propose to learn non-linear representations of brain connectivity patterns from deep learning architectures. This is non-trivial, due to the limited subjects and the high costs of acquiring the data. Fortunately, auxiliary information from multiple side views such as clinical, serologic, immunologic, cognitive and other diagnostic testing also characterizes the states of subjects from different perspectives. In this paper, we present a novel Multi-side-View guided AutoEncoder (MVAE) that incorporates multiple side views into the process of deep learning to tackle the bias in the construction of connectivity patterns caused by the scarce clinical data. Extensive experiments show that MVAE not only captures discriminative connectivity patterns for classification, but also discovers meaningful information for clinical interpretation.
Macroparasite Fauna of Alien Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis): Composition, Variability and Implications for Native Species

Introduced hosts populations may benefit of an "enemy release" through impoverishment of parasite communities made of both few imported species and few acquired local ones. Moreover, closely related competing native hosts can be affected by acquiring introduced taxa (spillover) and by increased transmission risk of native parasites (spillback). We determined the macroparasite fauna of invasive grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in Italy to detect any diversity loss, introduction of novel parasites or acquisition of local ones, and analysed variation in parasite burdens to identify factors that may increase transmission risk for native red squirrels (S. vulgaris). Based on 277 grey squirrels sampled from 7 populations characterised by different time scales in introduction events, we identified 7 gastro-intestinal helminths and 4 parasite arthropods. Parasite richness is lower than in grey squirrel's native range and independent from introduction time lags. The most common parasites are Nearctic nematodes Strongyloides robustus (prevalence: 56.6%) and Trichostrongylus calcaratus (6.5%), red squirrel flea Ceratophyllus sciurorum (26.0%) and Holarctic sucking louse Neohaematopinus sciuri (17.7%). All other parasites are European or cosmopolitan species with prevalence below 5%. S. robustus abundance is positively affected by host density and body mass, C. sciurorum abundance increases with host density and varies with seasons. Overall, we show that grey squirrels in Italy may benefit of an enemy release, and both spillback and spillover processes towards native red squirrels may occur.
A Target Coverage Scheduling Scheme Based on Genetic Algorithms in Directional Sensor Networks

As a promising tool for monitoring the physical world, directional sensor networks (DSNs) consisting of a large number of directional sensors are attracting increasing attention. As directional sensors in DSNs have limited battery power and restricted angles of sensing range, maximizing the network lifetime while monitoring all the targets in a given area remains a challenge. A major technique to conserve the energy of directional sensors is to use a node wake-up scheduling protocol by which some sensors remain active to provide sensing services, while the others are inactive to conserve their energy. In this paper, we first address a Maximum Set Covers for DSNs (MSCD) problem, which is known to be NP-complete, and present a greedy algorithm-based target coverage scheduling scheme that can solve this problem by heuristics. This scheme is used as a baseline for comparison. We then propose a target coverage scheduling scheme based on a genetic algorithm that can find the optimal cover sets to extend the network lifetime while monitoring all targets by the evolutionary global search technique. To verify and evaluate these schemes, we conducted simulations and showed that the schemes can contribute to extending the network lifetime. Simulation results indicated that the genetic algorithm-based scheduling scheme had better performance than the greedy algorithm-based scheme in terms of maximizing network lifetime.
Display of Heterologous Proteins on gp64null Baculovirus Virions and Enhanced Budding Mediated by a Vesicular Stomatitis Virus G-Stem Construct

ABSTRACT The Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) GP64 envelope glycoprotein is essential for virus entry and plays an important role in virion budding. An AcMNPV construct that contains a deletion of the gp64 gene is unable to propagate infection from cell to cell, and this defect results from both a severe reduction in the production of budded virions and the absence of GP64 on virions. In the current study, we examined GP64 proteins containing N- and C-terminal truncations of the ectodomain and identified a minimal construct capable of targeting the truncated GP64 to budded virions. The minimal budding and targeting construct of GP64 contained 38 amino acids from the mature N terminus of the GP64 ectodomain and 52 amino acids from the C terminus of GP64. Because the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) G protein was previously found to rescue infectivity of a gp64null AcMNPV, we also examined a small C-terminal construct of the VSV G protein. We found that a construct containing 91 amino acids from the C terminus of VSV G (termed G-stem) was capable of rescuing AcMNPV gp64null virion budding to wild-type (wt) or nearly wt levels. We also examined the display of chimeric proteins on the gp64null AcMNPV virion. By generating viruses that expressed chimeric influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) proteins containing the GP64 targeting domain and coinfecting those viruses with a virus expressing the G-stem construct, we demonstrated enhanced display of the HA protein on gp64null AcMNPV budded virions. The combined use of gp64null virions, VSV G-stem-enhanced budding, and GP64 domains for targeting heterologous proteins to virions should be valuable for biotechnological applications ranging from targeted transduction of mammalian cells to vaccine production.
A Wide‐Field Spectral Imager

A spectroscopic imager was designed and constructed to provide a new capability for measuring the spectrum of the sky across wide fields of view. The instrument uses a high‐speed optical system to form an image on the entrance slit of a matching stigmatic spectrograph, which then disperses a spectrum of a strip of the sky onto a charge‐coupled device (CCD). A separate direct imaging system controls pointing and tracking, and both instruments share in tandem a computer‐controlled mounting which permits automated data acquisition. The demonstrated optical performance is a 4 Å × 11′′ single‐pixel resolution in a 4000 Å × 3 . °2 field. Absolute calibration on Vega gives a response at 6563 Å that is 7 times the CCD readout noise at an integrated exposure of 1 photon cm−2 Å−1. Sample airglow, nebular, stellar, and cometary spectra illustrate the detection of extended emission features with fluxes from 5 to 2000 R. A measurement of zenith brightness for Na and Hg emission lines from urban artificial lighting is tabulated.
Switching Costs between Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Empirical Evidence from Broadband Services in Mainland China

Switching Cost is becoming a popular topic in the researches of Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty. There are already some deeply understandings of the relationship among Switching Cost, Satisfaction and Loyalty inside many marketing literatures. Even so, there are still two open questions have not been answered: firstly how the cost of switching service or product influences in Customer Loyalty when it is linked to customers' satisfaction; secondly how the relationship of Satisfaction and Loyalty will be changed by different categories Switching Costs. This paper is based on the empirical investigation of Broadband users' satisfaction and loyalty to their service provider in Beijing market, and presents that the special and important effects that Switching Cost has on the Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty link.
Technology Shocks and Employment

Recent empirical work has suggested that in response to a positive technology shock employment shows a persistent decline. We show that the standard, open economy, flexible price model can generate a negative response of employment to a positive technology shock and can also match the negative conditional correlation between productivity and employment quite well if trade elasticities are low. While the model also has good overall properties, it fails to generate sufficient procyclicality in employment. This finding indicates that the RBC model faces a tension between accounting for the negative response of employment to technology shocks and simultaneously maintaining that technology shocks are the major source of business cycle fluctuations.
Pemphigus Vulgaris IgG Directly Inhibit Desmoglein 3-Mediated Transinteraction1

The autoimmune blistering skin disease pemphigus is caused by autoantibodies against keratinocyte surface Ags. In pemphigus vulgaris (PV), autoantibodies are primarily directed against desmosomal cadherins desmoglein (Dsg) 3 and Dsg 1, whereas pemphigus foliaceus (PF) patients only have Abs against Dsg 1. At present, it is unclear whether Dsg autoantibodies contribute to pemphigus pathogenesis by direct inhibition of Dsg transinteraction. Using atomic force microscopy, we provide evidence that PV-IgG directly interfere with homophilic Dsg 3 but, similar to PF-IgG, not with homophilic Dsg 1 transinteraction, indicating that the molecular mechanisms in PV and PF pathogenesis substantially differ. PV-IgG (containing Dsg 3 or Dsg 1 and Dsg 3 autoantibodies) as well as PV-IgG Fab reduced binding activity of Dsg 3 by ∼60%, comparable to Ca2+ depletion. Similarly, the mouse monoclonal PV Ab AK 23 targeting the N-terminal Dsg 3 domain and AK 23 Fab reduced Dsg 3 transinteraction. In contrast, neither PV-IgG nor PF-IgG blocked Dsg 1 transinteraction. In HaCaT monolayers, however, both PV- and PF-IgG caused keratinocyte dissociation as well as loss of Dsg 1 and Dsg 3 transinteraction as revealed by laser tweezer assay. These data demonstrate that PV-IgG and PF-IgG reduce Dsg transinteraction by cell-dependent mechanisms and suggest that in addition, Abs to Dsg 3 contribute to PV by direct inhibition of Dsg transinteraction.
Effect of Surface Passivation on Optical and Electronic Properties of Ultrathin Single-Layer Silicon Nanosheets Compared to Bulk Silicon

The binding energy, electronic structure and optical properties of ultrathin single-layer silicon nanosheets passivated with H-, H3C-, H2-N and HS-cluster were calculated using density functional theory based on plane-wave ultra-soft pseudopotential respectively. Firstly, the most stable configuration was selected from passivated configurations according to the lowest energy principle after calculating their total energies. Secondly the density of state and the band structure of the different passivated systems were calculated. It was found that different passivation clusters could affect the forbidden band, furthermore the passivated HS-cluster could notably decrease the width of forbidden band through electron transfer. Finally, the light absorption and reflection properties were also investigated. All results were conducive to the development of silicon-based optoelectronic devices.
Cancer Risk-Reduction Behaviors of Breast Cancer Survivors

Using secondary data analysis, the aim was to determine if postmenopausal women, who have survived breast cancer, have adopted healthy nutritional and physical activity behaviors recommended in the American Cancer Society guidelines as cancer risk-reduction strategies, and in guidelines for prevention of other chronic diseases or for improving general health. From their personal health history, women who have survived breast cancer would be likely candidates to adopt healthy behaviors recommended as cancer risk-reduction strategies or for prevention of other chronic diseases. A secondary aim was to determine the perceived general health and affective state of these women. These breast cancer survivors had a high perception of their general health, a positive affective state, and have adopted some healthy lifestyle behaviors, but they are not fully adhering to the ACS nutrition and physical activity guidelines or other healthrelated guidelines for cancer risk reduction or prevention of other chronic diseases.
The Solow's Model with Endogenous Population: A Neoclassical Growth Cycle Model

It is shown here that the Solow (1956) neo-classical growth paradigm not only explains the i°firsti± stylised fact of economic growth, namely the existence of a globally stable state of balanced growth, but, once endowed with a demographically founded formulation of the labour supply, is also capable to endogenously explain a second main stylised fact of growth, i.e., the generation of globally stable oscillations around the path of balanced growth.
R292K Substitution and Drug Susceptibility of Influenza A(H7N9) Viruses

Neuraminidase inhibitors are the only licensed antiviral medications available to treat avian influenza A(H7N9) virus infections in humans. According to a neuraminidase inhibition assay, an R292K substitution reduced antiviral efficacy of inhibitors, especially oseltamivir, and decreased viral fitness in cell culture. Monitoring emergence of R292K-carrying viruses using a pH-modified neuraminidase inhibition assay should be considered.
A new steganography approach for image encryption exchange by using the least significant bit insertion

A new steganography approach where binary representation of the hidden data is used to overwrite the LSB of each byte within the encrypted image randomly is proposed. Experimental results show that since the correlation and entropy have not changed, the method offers a good concealment for data in the encrypted image, and reduces the chance of the encrypted image being detected.
Xenopus Lefty requires proprotein cleavage but not N‐linked glycosylation to inhibit nodal signaling

The Nodal and Nodal‐related morphogens are utilized for the specification of distinct cellular identity throughout development by activating discrete target genes in a concentration‐dependant manner. Lefty is a principal extracellular antagonist involved in the spatiotemporal regulation of the Nodal morphogen gradient during mesendoderm induction. The Xenopus Lefty proprotein contains a single N‐linked glycosylation motif in the mature domain and two potential cleavage sites that would be expected to produce long (XleftyL) and short (XleftyS) isoforms. Here we demonstrate that both isoforms were secreted from Xenopus oocytes, but that XleftyL is the only isoform detected when embryonic tissue was analyzed. In mesoderm induction assays, XleftyL is the functional blocker of Xnr signaling. When secreted from oocytes, vertebrate Lefty molecules were N‐linked glycosylated. However, glycan addition was not required to inhibit Xnr signaling and did not influence its movement through the extracellular space. These findings demonstrate that Lefty molecules undergo post‐translational modifications and that some of these modifications are required for the Nodal inhibitory function. Developmental Dynamics 236:2050–2061, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
On the existence and uniqueness of solutions for the concept values in Fuzzy Cognitive Maps

Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCM) have been introduced by Kosko to model complex behavioral systems in various scientific areas. One issue that has not been adequately studied so far is the conditions under which they reach a certain equilibrium point after an initial perturbation. This is equivalent to studying the existence and uniqueness of solutions for their concept values. In this paper, we study the existence of solutions by using an appropriately defined contraction mapping theorem. It is proved that when the weight interconnections fulfill certain conditions the concept values will converge to a unique solution regardless the exact values of the initial concept values perturbations. Otherwise the existence or the uniqueness of equilibrium can not be assured. The results are considered very significant because set the basis for the development of reliable system identification and control schemes based on the concept of FCM. In view of these results recently proposed extensions of FCM, the fuzzy cognitive networks are invoked.
Automatic adaptation of proper noun dictionaries through cooperation of machine learning and probabilistic methods

The recognition of Proper Nouns (PNs) is considered an important task in the area of Information Retrieval and Extraction. However the high performance of most existing PN classifiers heavily depends upon the availability of large dictionaries of domain-specific Proper Nouns, and a certain amount of manual work for rule writing or manual tagging. Though it is not a heavy requirement to rely on some existing PN dictionary (often these resources are available on the web), its coverage of a domain corpus may be rather low, in absence of manual updating. In this paper we propose a technique for the automatic updating of an PN Dictionary through the cooperation of an inductive and a probabilistic classifier. In our experiments we show that, whenever an existing PN Dictionary allows the identification of 50% of the proper nouns within a corpus, our technique allows, without additional manual effort, the successful recognition of about 90% of the remaining 50%.
Hypercoagulability and platelet inhibition after OPCAB. Randomized intervention with clopidogrel

Objective. Data on graft patency after Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass (OPCAB) suggest that the incidence of early graft closure is not increased compared to conventional coronary artery bypass surgery. However, hypercoagulability following OPCAB is still of concern, and acetylsalicylic acid as thromboembolic prophylaxis might be insufficient in the first weeks following OPCAB surgery. Design. Twenty nine patients were randomly assigned to+/− 75 mg of clopidogrel until 30 days after OPCAB surgery. The follow-up time was 2 months including standard blood samples and thrombelastography (TEG) with a specific platelet inhibition assay, which was evaluated as a part of the study. Results. In both groups a significant increase in TEG maximum amplitude was found 5 days after surgery. Platelet inhibition showed great variations but was significantly increased in the clopidogrel group (34.1%) vs. control group (11.0%) after 1 month. Conclusion. Hypercoagulability was seen 5 days after OPCAB and could not be demonstrated after 1 month. No clinical effects of the hypercoagulability were observed, and further research is needed to determine if clopidogrel should be recommended after OPCAB.
Ink jet printing of PZT thin films for MEMS

Of the readily available piezoelectric engineering materials perovskite phase lead zirconate titanate (PZT) has the strongest mechanical to electrical coupling. PZT based devices have the potential to have the highest performance. Due to the strong piezoelectric response and low operating voltage, many groups have worked to integrate thin film PZT into a wide range of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices including: actuators, energy harvesters, resonators, pressure sensors, pumps, nano-positioning stages, and MEMS switches. However, processing of thin film PZT is not readily compatible with existing MEMS fabrication processes and significant design constraints exist when integrating thin film PZT. In recent years drop-on-demand (DOD) printing has been studied as a robust, flexible, and inexpensive method of material deposition for MEMS. Direct printing enables the designer to deposit a film based on a digital pattern file only eliminating the need for photolithography and subsequent etching steps in the manufacturing process flow. There is a significant cost savings due to a reduction in the material consumption during manufacturing and in chemical waste produced. The result is a manufacturing process that is cleaner and cheaper than other common deposition techniques. The most compelling benefit of direct printing of PZT is that it provides a freedom of geometry that eliminates many of the design constraints currently associated with PZT MEMS. Since high quality thin films can be achieved with deposition control that is not possible with spin coating, novel functionalities can be incorporated into PZT MEMS. Specifically, PZT printing is able to deposit material over and around large out-of-plane features. In addition, the thickness of thin film PZT can vary deterministically across a device or across a wafer.
HIPed Tailored Ceramic Waste Forms for the Immobilization of Cs, Sr and Tc

The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative is developing advanced technologies to allow for the safe and economical disposal of waste from nuclear reactors. An important element of this initiative is the separation of key radionuclides . One of the systems being developed to separate key radionuclides is the UREX+1 process. The Tc and Cs/Sr solutions from UREX+1 process will require treatment and solidification for managed storage. This paper illustrates the benefits of HIPed tailored ceramic waste forms, to provide for the immobilization of separated Cs, Sr and Tc. Experimental data are presented for a Cs and Sr-bearing hollandite-rich tailored ceramic prepared with 12 wt% waste (on an oxide basis). Normalized MCC-1 type leach testing at 90oC for 28 days revealed extremely low Cs and Sr release rates of 0.003 and 0.004 g/m2/day respectively. Experimental data on the immobilization of Tc in titanate ceramics containing up to 40wt% TcO2 are also be presented.