Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mammalian and Malaria Parasite Cyclase-associated Proteins Catalyze Nucleotide Exchange on G-actin through a Conserved Mechanism*

Background: CAP recycles actin monomers from ADF/cofilin and catalyzes their nucleotide exchange through an unknown mechanism. Results: The β-sheet domain of mouse CAP1 and a “mini-CAP” from the malaria parasite promote nucleotide exchange on actin. Conclusion: The most conserved function of CAPs is re-charging actin monomers with ATP. Significance: Actin dynamics from mammals to apicomplexan parasites rely on CAP-catalyzed nucleotide exchange. Cyclase-associated proteins (CAPs) are among the most highly conserved regulators of actin dynamics, being present in organisms from mammals to apicomplexan parasites. Yeast, plant, and mammalian CAPs are large multidomain proteins, which catalyze nucleotide exchange on actin monomers from ADP to ATP and recycle actin monomers from actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin for new rounds of filament assembly. However, the mechanism by which CAPs promote nucleotide exchange is not known. Furthermore, how apicomplexan CAPs, which lack many domains present in yeast and mammalian CAPs, contribute to actin dynamics is not understood. We show that, like yeast Srv2/CAP, mouse CAP1 interacts with ADF/cofilin and ADP-G-actin through its N-terminal α-helical and C-terminal β-strand domains, respectively. However, in the variation to yeast Srv2/CAP, mouse CAP1 has two adjacent profilin-binding sites, and it interacts with ATP-actin monomers with high affinity through its WH2 domain. Importantly, we revealed that the C-terminal β-sheet domain of mouse CAP1 is essential and sufficient for catalyzing nucleotide exchange on actin monomers, although the adjacent WH2 domain is not required for this function. Supporting these data, we show that the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum CAP, which is entirely composed of the β-sheet domain, efficiently promotes nucleotide exchange on actin monomers. Collectively, this study provides evidence that catalyzing nucleotide exchange on actin monomers via the β-sheet domain is the most highly conserved function of CAPs from mammals to apicomplexan parasites. Other functions, including interactions with profilin and ADF/cofilin, evolved in more complex organisms to adjust the specific role of CAPs in actin dynamics.
A software architectural design method for large-scale distributed information systems

This paper describes a software architectural design method for large-scale distributed information systems. The method, which is part of an integrated design and performance evaluation method, addresses the design of client/server software architectures, where the servers need to cooperate with each other to service client requests. The goal of this software architecture is to provide a concurrent message based design that is highly configurable. The method is illustrated by applying it to the design of a complex software system, the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Core System.
The Drosophila SH2B Family Adaptor Lnk Acts in Parallel to Chico in the Insulin Signaling Pathway

Insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of growth at the cellular and the organismal level during animal development. Flies with impaired IIS are developmentally delayed and small due to fewer and smaller cells. In the search for new growth-promoting genes, we identified mutations in the gene encoding Lnk, the single fly member of the SH2B family of adaptor molecules. Flies lacking lnk function are viable but severely reduced in size. Furthermore, lnk mutants display phenotypes reminiscent of reduced IIS, such as developmental delay, female sterility, and accumulation of lipids. Genetic epistasis analysis places lnk downstream of the insulin receptor (InR) and upstream of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) in the IIS cascade, at the same level as chico (encoding the single fly insulin receptor substrate [IRS] homolog). Both chico and lnk mutant larvae display a similar reduction in IIS activity as judged by the localization of a PIP3 reporter and the phosphorylation of protein kinase B (PKB). Furthermore, chico; lnk double mutants are synthetically lethal, suggesting that Chico and Lnk fulfill independent but partially redundant functions in the activation of PI3K upon InR stimulation.
Laser-based pedestrian tracking with multiple mobile robots using outdoor SLAM

This paper presents laser-based pedestrian tracking with multiple mobile robots in outdoor environments. Each robot finds pedestrians using its own laser scan image by an occupancy-grid-based method, and it tracks the detected pedestrians via Kalman filtering and Global nearest neighbor based data association. In addition, it generates a local map using EKF-SLAM, where cylindrical objects in outdoor environments, such as trees and poles, are used as landmarks. When the robots are located near each other, they exchange their local maps and pedestrians tracking information through intercommunication. Tracking data are combined using Covariance Intersection, and a global map is built by merging the local maps, thus tracking performance can be improved. In our tracking method, all robots share tracking data with each other, so that they can recognize pedestrians that are invisible to any robots. The experimental results of tracking two pedestrians with three mobile robots validate the proposed method.
Hybrid Compression of Hyperspectral Images Based on PCA With Pre-Encoding Discriminant Information

It has been shown that image compression based on principal component analysis (PCA) provides good compression efficiency for hyperspectral images. However, PCA might fail to capture all the discriminant information of hyperspectral images, since features that are important for classification tasks may not be high in signal energy. To deal with this problem, we propose a hybrid compression method for hyperspectral images with pre-encoding discriminant information. A feature extraction method is first applied to the original images, producing a set of feature vectors that are used to generate feature images and then residual images by subtracting the feature-reconstructed images from the original ones. Both feature images and residual images are compressed and transmitted. Experiments on data from the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer sensor indicate that the proposed method provides better compression efficiency with improved classification accuracy than conventional compression methods.
Learning affective projections for emoticons on Twitter

Emoticons have in the literature been shown to modify rather than provide redundancy to the accompanying textual message. Despite this, emoticons are often used merely as labels for sentiment classification tasks. This paper aims to explore the phenomenon and discover more salient emoticon-emotion associations through an embedding-based machine learning process. Using principal component analysis and k-means clustering, it is shown how similar emoticons form groups in vector space. Furthermore, a supervised classification strategy for discovering emoticon-emotion associations is presented. A qualitative evaluation of the results shows that while the clustering is highly salient, the supervised approach does not perform as well.
Consequences of Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Huntington's Disease and Protection via Phosphorylation Pathways

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder clinically characterized by psychiatric disturbances, progressive cognitive impairment and choreiform movements. These symptoms are associated with the selective atrophy and neuronal loss in the striatum, cortex and hypothalamus. The disease is caused by a mutation at the 5’ terminal of the huntingtin (HTT) gene involving the expansion of CAG triplet, which encodes for glutamine. Mutant huntingtin (mHtt) may be cleaved by proteases originating neurotoxic fragments, and also undergoes conformational changes that lead to the formation of protein aggregates (Gil and Rego 2008, for review). Among several mechanisms of neurodegeneration, mHtt is related to mitochondrial dysfunction and relevant changes in energy metabolism in both central and peripheral cells, which may underlie cell death (Gil and Rego 2008, for review).
SHREC'10 Track: Protein Models

This paper presents the results of the SHREC'10 Protein Models Classification Track. The aim of this track is to evaluate how well 3D shape recognition algorithms can classify protein structures according to the CATH [CSL08] superfamily classification. Five groups participated in this track, using a total of six methods, and for each method a set of ranked predictions was submitted for each classification task. The evaluation of each method is based on the nearest neighbour and area under the curve(AUC) metrics.
A Discussion of Privacy Challenges in User Profiling with Big Data Techniques: The EEXCESS Use Case

User profiling is the process of collecting information about a user in order to construct their profile. The information in a user profile may include various attributes of a user such as geographical location, academic and professional background, membership in groups, interests, preferences, opinions, etc. Big data techniques enable collecting accurate and rich information for user profiles, in particular due to their ability to process unstructured as well as structured information in high volumes from multiple sources. Accurate and rich user profiles are important for applications such as recommender systems, which try to predict elements that a user has not yet considered but may find useful. The information contained in user profiles is personal and thus there are privacy issues related to user profiling. In this position paper, we discuss user profiling with big data techniques and the associated privacy challenges. We also discuss the ongoing EU-funded EEXCESS project as a concrete example of constructing user profiles with big data techniques and the approaches being considered for preserving user privacy.
Expression of an idiotype (Id-460) during in vivo anti-dinitrophenyl antibody responses. I. Mapping of genes for Id-460 expression to the variable region of immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus and to the variable region of immunoglobulin kappa-light-chain locus

The genetic contro of the expression of an idiotype (Id-460) associated with the 2,4-dinitrophenyl (DNP)-binding BALB/c myeloma protein MOPC 460 was studied using congenic strains of mice. It was shown that the expression of high levels of Id-460 during secondary in vivo anti-DNP- ovalbumin responses was determined by genes governing immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable and kappa-light chain variable regions (V kappa). Appropriate alleles at both loci were required for the expression of Id- 460. Genes in the major histocompatability complex and the X-linked immune deficiency gene found in strain CBA/N did not greatly affect Id- 460 expression. The V kappa gene controlling Id-460 expression can be differentiated from Lyt-3, and it is the first instance in which expression of an idiotype subdivides the V kappa genes associated with the Lyt-3a allele. Although it is likely that the V kappa gene(s) involved are structural, the involvememt of a regulatory gene linked to the structural gene can not be excluded.
The Nestin progenitor lineage is the compartment of origin for pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia

To determine the cell compartment in which initial oncogenic mutations occur in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), we generated a mouse model in which endogenous expression of mutated Kras (KrasG12D) was initially directed to a population of pancreatic exocrine progenitors characterized by the expression of Nestin. Targeting of oncogenic Kras to such a restricted cell compartment was sufficient for the formation of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias (PanINs), putative precursors to PDAC. PanINs appeared with the same grade and frequency as observed when KrasG12D was targeted to the whole pancreas by a Pdx1-driven Cre recombinase strategy. Thus, the Nestin cell lineage is highly responsive to Kras oncogenic activation and may represent the elusive progenitor population in which PDAC arises.
Pre-interaction identification by dynamic grip classification

We present a novel authentication method to identify users as they pick up a mobile device. We use a combination of back-of-device capacitive sensing and accelerometer measurements to perform classification, and obtain increased performance compared to previous accelerometer-only approaches. Our initial results suggest that users can be reliably identified during the pick-up movement before interaction commences.
Contention elimination by replication of sequential sections in distributed shared memory programs

In shared memory programs contention often occurs at the transition between a sequential and a parallel section of the code. As all threads start executing the parallel section, they often access data just modified by the thread that executed the sequential section, causing a flurry of data requests to converge on that processor. We address this problem in a software distributed shared memory system by replicating the execution of the sequential sections on all processors. Communication during this replicated sequential execution is reduced by using multicast. We have implemented replicated sequential execution with multicast support in OpenMP/NOW, a version of of OpenMP that runs on networks of workstations. We do not rely on compile-time data analysis, and therefore we can handle irregular and pointer-based applications. We show significant improvement for two pointer-based applications that suffer from severe contention without replicated sequential execution.
Learning the natural grasping component of an unknown object

A grasp is the beginning of any manipulation task. Therefore, an autonomous robot should be able to grasp objects it sees for the first time. It must hold objects appropriately in order to successfully perform the task. This paper considers the problem of grasping unknown objects in the same manner as humans. Based on the idea that the human brain represents objects as volumetric primitives in order to recognize them, the presented algorithm predicts grasp as a function of the object's parts assembly. Beginning with a complete 3D model of the object, a segmentation step decomposes it into single parts. Each single part is fitted with a simple geometric model. A learning step is finally needed in order to find the object component that humans choose to grasp it.
Fire Performance of the Wood Treated with Inorganic Fire Retardants

To prepare the eco-friendly fire retardant wood, Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora), Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), and Radiata pine (Pinus radiata) were treated with inorganic chemicals, such as sodium silicate, boric acid, ammonium phosphate, and ammonium borate. Different combination and concentration of those chemicals were impregnated by vacuum/pressure treatment methods. The electron-beam treatment was used to increase the chemical penetration into the wood. The fire performance of the fire retardant treated wood was investigated. The penetration of chemicals into the wood was enhanced after electron beam treatment. Ignition time of the treated wood was the most effectively retarded by sodium silicate, ammonium phosphate, and ammonium borate. The most effective chemical combination was found at 50% sodium silicate and 3% ammonium borate, which satisfied flammability criteria for a fire retardant material in the KS F ISO 5660-1 standards.
Rhizospheric Microbiome Profiling of Capsicum annuum L. Cultivated in Amended Soils by 16S and Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 rRNA Amplicon Metagenome Sequencing

ABSTRACT Rhizospheric microbiomes of Capsicum annuum L. cultivated either conventionally or amended with a synthetic microbial consortium or a root exudate inductor, were characterized by 16S/internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) rRNA amplicon metagenome sequencing. The most abundant taxa found, although differently represented in each treatment, were Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacilli, as well as Chytridiomycetes and Mortierellomycotina.
Fast motion estimation with dual search window for stereo 3d video encoding

Stereoscopic 3D video is becoming a reality in many application areas, ranging from high quality entertainment to mobile video services. Due to the need to process two views, the complexity of 3D video applications is significantly higher than traditional 2D counterparts. In order to enable real-time 3D video services in mobile devices, this paper proposes a novel algorithm which reduces the complexity of stereo video encoding with improvement of coding efficiency. A novel search window center prediction method is proposed that exploits the correlation between two views. Experimental results show that the average encoding time of the second view can be decreased by 80% with an increase in coding efficiency of up to 2%. The state-of-art fast motion estimation methods for stereoscopic 3D video encoding show coding efficiency decrease, whereas proposed method achieves the speed-up with increase in coding efficiency, making it suitable for high qality 3D video applications.
Design and measurement of matched wire bond and flip chip interconnects for D-band system-in-package applications

This paper reports on possible interconnect solutions between a Silicon MMIC and an off-chip antenna. These shall both be integrated within a plastic package to achieve a 122 GHz system-in-package. Coplanar wire bond and flip chip interconnects are shortly introduced and compared. Simulation and measurement results of matched interconnects are then evaluated in a frequency range between 110 and 170 GHz. A matched 400 µm long wire bond interconnect as well as a self-matching half-wave wire bond are compared to a flip chip interconnect.
46.2: Invited Paper: Enhanced Long‐Term Stabilities in Fluorescent and Phosphorescent Organic Light Emitting Device

In this paper, we have investigate that the degradation mechanism of OLEDs using Alq3 and FIrpic as emitting materials. for the Alq3 device, ultra‐thin layers of MoO3 significantly enhance the device durability. The optimized MoO3 thickness was 0.75 nm, realizing the lowest voltage and the longest lifetime. We found that the device stabilities strongly depend on the process pressure during the device fabrication. In both fluorescent and phosphorescent emitting materials, the devices fabricated under UHV conditions demonstrated excellent long‐term stabilities.
Ibobbly mobile health intervention for suicide prevention in Australian Indigenous youth: a pilot randomised controlled trial

Objectives Rates of youth suicide in Australian Indigenous communities are 4 times the national youth average and demand innovative interventions. Historical and persistent disadvantage is coupled with multiple barriers to help seeking. Mobile phone applications offer the opportunity to deliver therapeutic interventions directly to individuals in remote communities. The pilot study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a self-help mobile app (ibobbly) targeting suicidal ideation, depression, psychological distress and impulsivity among Indigenous youth in remote Australia. Setting Remote and very remote communities in the Kimberley region of North Western Australia. Participants Indigenous Australians aged 18–35 years. Interventions 61 participants were recruited and randomised to receive either an app (ibobbly) which delivered acceptance-based therapy over 6 weeks or were waitlisted for 6 weeks and then received the app for the following 6 weeks. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome was the Depressive Symptom Inventory—Suicidality Subscale (DSI-SS) to identify the frequency and intensity of suicidal ideation in the previous weeks. Secondary outcomes were the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11). Results Although preintervention and postintervention changes on the (DSI-SS) were significant in the ibobbly arm (t=2.40; df=58.1; p=0.0195), these differences were not significant compared with the waitlist arm (t=1.05; df=57.8; p=0.2962). However, participants in the ibobbly group showed substantial and statistically significant reductions in PHQ-9 and K10 scores compared with waitlist. No differences were observed in impulsivity. Waitlist participants improved after 6 weeks of app use. Conclusions Apps for suicide prevention reduce distress and depression but do not show significant reductions on suicide ideation or impulsivity. A feasible and acceptable means of lowering symptoms for mental health disorders in remote communities is via appropriately designed self-help apps. Trial registration number ACTRN12613000104752.
Molecular Cytogenetic Characterization of New Wheat-Rye 1R(1B) Substitution and Translocation Lines from a Chinese Secale cereal L. Aigan with Resistance to Stripe Rust

Secale cereale L. has been used worldwide as a source of genes for agronomic and resistance improvement. In this study, a stable wheat-rye substitution line and 3 primary 1RS.1BL translocation lines were selected from the progeny of the crossing of the Chinese local rye Aigan variety and wheat cultivar Mianyang11. The substitution and translocation lines were identified by molecular cytogenetic analysis. PCR results, fluorescence in situ hybridization and acid polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that there were a pair of 1R chromosomes in the substitution line which have been named RS1200-3, and a pair of 1RS.1BL translocation chromosomes in the other 3 translocation lines, which have been named RT1163-4, RT1217-1, and RT1249. When inoculated with stripe rust isolates, these 4 lines expressed high resistance to several Puccinia striiformis f. sp Tritici pathotypes that are virulent on Yr9. Moreover, the different response pattern of resistance among them suggested that the diversity of resistance genes for wheat stripe rust exists in the rye. These 4 lines also showed better agronomic performances than their wheat parent. The GS indices also showed the genetic diversity of the 1RS which derived from same rye variety. The present study indicates that rye cultivars may carry untapped variations that could potentially be used for wheat improvement.
Asynchronous administration of xenon and hypothermia significantly reduces brain infarction in the neonatal rat.

BACKGROUND Neonatal asphyxia causes long-term neurological and behavioural impairment in the developing brain. Concurrent administration of xenon and hypothermia synergistically reduces long-term damage in a rat model of neonatal asphyxia. This study sought to investigate whether asynchronous administration of xenon and hypothermia is capable of combining synergistically to provide neuroprotection. METHODS Seven-day-old rats were subjected to right common carotid artery occlusion followed by 90 min hypoxia with 8% oxygen. After a 1 h recovery period, rats received asynchronous administration of mild hypothermia (35 degrees C) and xenon (20%) with a 1 or 5 h gap between interventions, xenon (20%) alone, or mild hypothermia (35 degrees C) alone. Infarct volume in the brain was measured 4 days after injury. RESULTS Administration of hypothermia or xenon alone, 1 and 6 h after the hypoxic ischaemic insult, respectively, provided no neuroprotection. Asynchronous administration of xenon and hypothermia at a 1 h interval produced a significant reduction in infarct volume [93 (7) vs 74 (8); P < 0.05]. Reduction in infarct volume was also present when hypothermia and xenon were asynchronously administered with an intervening gap of 5 h [97 (5) vs 83 (3); P < 0.05]. CONCLUSIONS This finding provides a rationale for investigating the combined use of hypothermia and xenon in a progressive manner for the management of neonatal asphyxia. Thus, hypothermia can be administrated at the site of delivery and xenon can be administered later.