Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regional variations in intramyocellular lipid concentration correlate with muscle fiber type distribution in rat tibialis anterior muscle

1H MR spectroscopy (MRS) has proved to be a valuable noninvasive tool to measure intramyocellular lipids (IMCL) in research focused on insulin resistance and type II diabetes in both humans and rodents. An important determinant of IMCL is the muscle fiber type, since oxidative type I fibers can contain up to three times more IMCL than glycolytic type II muscle fibers. Because these different muscle fiber types are inhomogeneously distributed in rodent muscle, in the present study we investigated the distribution of IMCL within the rat tibialis anterior muscle (TA) in vivo using single‐voxel 1H MRS along with the muscle fiber distribution in the TA ex vivo determined from immunohistological assays. IMCL levels in the TA differed by up to a factor of 3 depending on the position of the voxel. The distribution of IMCL over the TA cross section was not random, but emerged in a pattern similar to the distribution of the predominantly oxidative muscle fiber types. Dietary interventions, such as high‐fat feeding and 15 hr of fasting, did not significantly change this typical fiber type‐dependent pattern of IMCL content. These results stress the importance of voxel positioning when single‐voxel 1H MRS is used to study IMCL in rodent muscle. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Study of interdigitated electrode sensor for lab-on-chip applications

In this paper, interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) are studied. IDEs are one of the most popular transducers, widely employed in various technological and analytical applications, especially in the field of biological and chemical sensors due to their low cost, ease of fabrication process and excellent sensitivity. The increasing demand for lab-on-chip (LoC) devices and for designing miniaturized sensors, it becomes essential to utilize of such transducers. In the current study, MEMS module of Comsol multiphysics software is used for the simulation of IDE sensor. The dependence of the IDE capacitance on the geometric parameters including IDE finger spacing, thickness, width, sensor spatial wavelength and sensitive layer thickness are discussed.
Direct growth of thick AlN template on micro-circle patterned-si substrate

A 8-μm-thick AlN template has been successfully directly grown on micro-circle patterned-Si substrate. Low surface roughness of 3.5 nm and both screw and edge dislocation densities are in the order of 10<sup>8</sup>/cm<sup>2</sup> have been obtained.
CALIBRATION OF THE NuSTAR HIGH-ENERGY FOCUSING X-RAY TELESCOPE

We present the calibration of the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) X-ray satellite. We used the Crab as the primary effective area calibrator and constructed a piece-wise linear spline function to modify the vignetting response. The achieved residuals for all off-axis angles and energies, compared to the assumed spectrum, are typically better than ±2% up to 40 keV and 5%–10% above due to limited counting statistics. An empirical adjustment to the theoretical two-dimensional point-spread function (PSF) was found using several strong point sources, and no increase of the PSF half-power diameter has been observed since the beginning of the mission. We report on the detector gain calibration, good to 60 eV for all grades, and discuss the timing capabilities of the observatory, which has an absolute timing of ±3 ms. Finally, we present cross-calibration results from two campaigns between all the major concurrent X-ray observatories (Chandra, Swift, Suzaku, and XMM-Newton), conducted in 2012 and 2013 on the sources 3C 273 and PKS 2155-304, and show that the differences in measured flux is within ∼10% for all instruments with respect to NuSTAR.
Biped walking robot using a stick on uneven ground

Bipedal robots are able to move and walk in narrow spaces; however, it is difficult to make them walk on uneven terrain only by the use of their own mechanism. Multiped walking can be easily realized for walking on uneven terrain with the help of a stick. We propose a uneven terrain walking control strategy using a stick for a bipedal robot. The advantages of using a stick are that walking is more robust with good energy efficiency and the number of actuators does not increase.
Molecular Basis for Impaired DNA Damage Response Function Associated with the RAP80 ΔE81 Defect*

Background: RAP80 recruits repair protein complexes to DNA damage sites through multivalent polyubiquitin binding. Results: A single point deletion (ΔE81) in RAP80 abrogates multivalent interactions with polyubiquitin. Conclusion: Disruption of multivalent binding arises from loss of electrostatic interactions between Glu-81 and ubiquitin. Significance: A single residue deletion mutation in RAP80 impairs DNA damage repair and is implicated in the pathogenesis of cancer. Signal transduction within the DNA damage response is driven by the flux of protein-protein interaction cascades that ultimately recruit repair complexes to sites of damage. The protein RAP80 plays a central role in the damage response by targeting BRCA1/BRCA2 tumor suppressors to DNA damage foci through multivalent binding of Lys-63-linked polyubiquitin chains. Mutations within the high penetrance BRCA1/BRCA2 genes account for ∼20% of familial breast cancers. The genetic basis for the remaining cancers remains unknown, but may involve defects in binding partners for BRCA1 and BRCA2 that lead to impaired targeting to foci and a concomitant role in the pathogenesis of cancer. Recently, an in-frame deletion mutation (ΔE81) in a conserved region from the first ubiquitin interaction motif of RAP80 has been linked to an increase in chromosomal abnormalities. Using NMR spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the N-cap motif within the α-helix of the first ubiquitin interaction motif from ΔE81 undergoes a structural frameshift that leads to abolishment of multivalent binding of polyubiquitin chains. Loss of this single glutamate residue disrupts favorable electrostatic interactions between RAP80 and ubiquitin, establishing a plausible molecular basis for a potential predisposition to cancer unrelated to mutations within BRCA1/BRCA2 genes.
Monitoring Metastatic Behavior of Human Tumor Cells in Mice with Species‐Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction: Elevated Expression of Angiogenesis and Bone Resorption Stimulators by Breast Cancer in Bone Metastases

Tumor‐stroma interactions are of primary importance in determining the pathogenesis of metastasis. Here, we describe the application of sensitive competitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques for detection and quantitation of human breast cancer cells (MDA‐MB‐231) in an in vivo mouse model of experimental metastasis. Human‐specific oligonucleotide primers in competitive PCR reactions were used to quantify the amount of MDA‐MB‐231 cells per tissue per organ. Using this species‐specific (semi)quantitative PCR approach, gene expression patterns of (human) tumor cells or (mouse) stromal cells in metastatic lesions in the skeleton or soft tissues were investigated and compared. In all metastatic lesions, MDA‐MB‐231 cells express angiogenic factors (vascular endothelial growth factors [VEGFs]; VEGF‐A, ‐B, and ‐C) and bone‐acting cytokines (parathyroid hormone‐related protein [PTHrP] and macrophage colony‐stimulating factor [M‐CSF]). In these metastases, PECAM‐1‐positive blood vessels and stromal cells of mouse origin are detected. The latter express angiogenic factors and markers of sprouting vessels (VEGF receptors flt‐1/flk‐1/flk‐4 and CD31/PECAM‐1). Strikingly, steady‐state messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of VEGF‐A and ‐B and the major bone resorption stimulators PTHrP and M‐CSF by tumor cells were elevated significantly in bone versus soft tissues (p ≤ 0.05, p ≤ 0.0001, p ≤ 0.001, and p ≤ 0.05, respectively), indicating tissue‐specific expression of these tumor progression factors. In conclusion, MDA‐MB‐231 breast cancer cells express a variety of factors in vivo that have been implicated in metastatic bone disease and that correlate with poor survival of patients with breast cancer. We hypothesize that the observed up‐regulated expression of angiogenic and bone‐resorbing factors by the breast cancer cells in the skeleton underlie the clinically observed osteotropism of breast cancer cells and pathogenesis of osteolytic bone metastases. The application of the species‐specific competitive PCR‐based assay in vivo can provide new information concerning the involvement of gene families in tumor progression and metastatic disease and greatly facilitates the study of tumor‐stroma interactions in cancer invasion and metastasis.
An unusual MAP kinase is required for efficient penetration of the plant surface by Ustilago maydis

In Ustilago maydis, pathogenic development is controlled by a heterodimer of the two homeodomain proteins bW and bE. We have identified by RNA fingerprinting a b‐regulated gene, kpp6, which encodes an unusual MAP kinase. Kpp6 is similar to a number of other fungal MAP kinases involved in mating and pathogenicity, but contains an additional N‐terminal domain unrelated to other proteins. Transcription of the kpp6 gene yields two transcripts differing in length, but encoding proteins of identical mass. One transcript is upregulated by the bW/bE heterodimer, while the other is induced after pheromone stimulation. kpp6deletion mutants are attenuated in pathogenicity. kpp6T355A,Y357F mutants carrying a non‐activatable allele of kpp6 are more severely compromised in pathogenesis. These strains can still form appressoria, but are defective in the subsequent penetration of the plant cuticle. Kpp6 is expressed during all stages of the sexual life cycle except mature spores. We speculate that Kpp6 may respond to a plant signal and regulate the genes necessary for efficient penetration of plant tissue.
Exploring Multimodularity in Plant Cell Wall Deconstruction

Background: Multimodularity is essential in most plant cell wall recycling enzymes. Results: The CBM22-1–CBM22-2 tandem possesses extraordinary plasticity and two sites with different affinities. CBM22-2 exhibits novel specificity within CBM22s. Conclusion: Depolymerization of highly substituted arabinoxylans by Xyn10C and a delivery strategy mediated by Xyn10C-XBD are proposed. Significance: Elucidating the mechanisms regulating specificity through multimodularity is crucial for producing efficient biocatalysts for biomass deconstruction. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms regulating multimodularity is a challenging task. Paenibacillus barcinonensis Xyn10C is a 120-kDa modular enzyme that presents the CBM22/GH10/CBM9 architecture found in a subset of large xylanases. We report here the three-dimensional structure of the Xyn10C N-terminal region, containing the xylan-binding CBM22-1–CBM22-2 tandem (Xyn10C-XBD), which represents the first solved crystal structure of two contiguous CBM22 modules. Xyn10C-XBD is folded into two separate CBM22 modules linked by a flexible segment that endows the tandem with extraordinary plasticity. Each isolated domain has been expressed and crystallized, and their binding abilities have been investigated. Both domains contain the R(W/Y)YYE motif required for xylan binding. However, crystallographic analysis of CBM22-2 complexes shows Trp-308 as an additional binding determinant. The long loop containing Trp-308 creates a platform that possibly contributes to the recognition of precise decorations at subsite S2. CBM22-2 may thus define a subset of xylan-binding CBM22 modules directed to particular regions of the polysaccharide. Affinity electrophoresis reveals that Xyn10C-XBD binds arabinoxylans more tightly, which is more apparent when CBM22-2 is tested against highly substituted xylan. The crystal structure of the catalytic domain, also reported, shows the capacity of the active site to accommodate xylan substitutions at almost all subsites. The structural differences found at both Xyn10C-XBD domains are consistent with the isothermal titration calorimetry experiments showing two sites with different affinities in the tandem. On the basis of the distinct characteristics of CBM22, a delivery strategy of Xyn10C mediated by Xyn10C-XBD is proposed.
Stability of Climate Coalitions in a Cartel Formation Game

This paper analyses the formation and stability of coalitions to form international environmental agreements. We present and apply the Stability of coalitions model to assess the internal and external stability of all possible coalition structures in a cartel formation game; first under the assumption that no transfers take place and second for a transfer scheme. One important novelty of this paper is the analysis of the incentive structure of twelve regions for all possible combinations of (cartel) coalitions in an empirical setting with asymmetric regions. We show that stable coalitions can emerge only if benefits from global abatement are sufficiently high or if an appropriate transfer scheme is introduced.
Users on the Move: On Relationships Between QoE Ratings, Data Volumes and Intentions to Churn

For a long time, the risk of customer churn, i.e. to leave an operator, has been used as argument in favor of Quality or Experience (QoE) research. However, the understanding of how churn behavior and QoE are related is still limited. This is problematic, as customer retention and churn prediction have grown in importance in face of ever-growing competition on the telecom market. The work presented in this paper aims to make a contribution in this respect, by exploring the relationships between QoE ratings, data volumes and churn risk through a longitudinal user study. Using an Experience Sampling Method-inspired approach we have been collecting weekly feedback on experienced quality, annoyance and intentions to churn from 22 users for up to eight weeks. Additionally, measurements of weekly used data volumes were collected. We observed churning behavior for 3 out of 22 participants and analyze the rating and data usage profiles of churners against non-churners. Furthermore, we investigate correlations of ratings and volumes, and find that "annoyed churners surf less". Our findings point out warning signals for potential user churn as well as promising directions for future studies.
Consonants, vowels and levels of specification in the phonological representations of the first lexicon: A review

A review of the main studies on the format of lexical representa- tion in the initial stages of language development is presented. Current in- vestigations reveal a significant level of phonological specificity in the re- presentation of words in the first lexicon, even before age two years. These results can be explained from a theoretical framework that posits the exis- tence of multiple levels of encoding and suggests differences in accessing the represented information as a function of task demands or vocabulary size. The existence of possible differences in the degree of specification of vowels and consonants represented in the lexicon is an area of current de- bate. This article discusses the present state of this debate in the light of re- cent findings from research with different languages, in populations with different linguistic environments (monolingual and bilingual) and from ex- perimental approaches that involve varying degrees of cognitive demands.
Asynchronous-transition HMM

We propose a new class of hidden Markov model (HMM) called asynchronous-transition HMM (AT-HMM). Opposed to conventional HMMs where hidden state transition occurs simultaneously to all features, the new class of HMM allows state transitions asynchronized between individual features to better model asynchronous timings of acoustic feature changes. In this paper, we focus on a particular class of AT-HMM with sequential constraints based on a novel concept of "state tying along time". To maximize the advantage of the new model, we also introduce a feature-wise state tying technique. Speaker-dependent speech recognition experiments demonstrated error reduction rates more than 30% and 50% in phoneme and isolated word recognitions, respectively, compared with conventional HMMs.
The rarity of infection with Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis among patients from the Manaus region of Amazonas state, Brazil, who have cutaneous leishmaniasis

Abstract The frequency of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis infection was assessed in 79 of the 138 patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis who attended a reference outpatient unit in Manaus, Amazonas state, between the August and December of 1997. The disease was characterized by one or more cutaneous ulcers, the skin lesions being frequently associated with satellite lymph-node enlargement. All parasite isolates were identified using monoclonal antibodies and enzyme electrophoresis. Only two (2.8%) of the 71 patients from whom parasites were successfully isolated were found to be infected with L. (V.) braziliensis, the other 69 isolates being identified, from their isoenzyme profiles, as L. (V.) guyanensis. In the Manaus region, therefore, almost all human cutaneous leishmaniasis is the result of infection with L. (V.) guyanensis, and L. (V.) braziliensis is a relatively rare cause of the disease.
PVTOL Control: A Backstepping Approach

A control design to solve the regulation problem for a simplified PVTOL system strongly coupled is introduced in this paper. The proposed method is divided in two simultaneous control actions: the first one helps to stabilize the vertical position while the second one is used to do the same both the horizontal position and the angle. While the first controller uses a simple feedback-linearization by using saturation functions that assign a quasi-linear behaviour of the vertical movement, the second controller is based on a suitable backstepping procedure, which is developed to force the remaining variables to converge to the origin. Performance is tested by numerical simulations while convergence analysis is based on Lyapunov's method.
Social Contagion of Risk Perceptions in Environmental Management Networks

An important requisite for improving risk communication practice related to contentious environmental issues is having a better theoretical understanding of how risk perceptions function in real‐world social systems. Our study applied Scherer and Cho's social network contagion theory of risk perception (SNCTRP) to cormorant management (a contentious environmental management issue) in the Great Lakes Basin to: (1) assess contagion effects on cormorant‐related risk perceptions and individual factors believed to influence those perceptions and (2) explore the extent of social contagion in a full network (consisting of interactions between and among experts and laypeople) and three “isolated” models separating different types of interactions from the full network (i.e., expert‐to‐expert, layperson‐to‐layperson, and expert‐to‐layperson). We conducted interviews and administered questionnaires with experts (e.g., natural resource professionals) and laypeople (e.g., recreational and commercial anglers, business owners, bird enthusiasts) engaged in cormorant management in northern Lake Huron (n = 115). Our findings generally support the SNCTRP; however, the scope and scale of social contagion varied considerably based on the variables (e.g., individual risk perception factors), actors (i.e., experts or laypeople), and interactions of interest. Contagion effects were identified more frequently, and were stronger, in the models containing interactions between experts and laypeople than in those models containing only interactions among experts or laypeople.
The Bolsheviks and the National Question, 1917-1923. By Jeremy Smith. Studies in Russia and East Europe. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. xviii, 281 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Tables. Maps. $72.00, hard bound.

ful appendixes: one is a complete list of editions and translations of Tektology from 1913 to 1996, and the other (especially helpful to nonspecialists) contains one-paragraph biographies of 32 Russian scientists and philosophers whose names figure prominently in the papers or discussions. Whatever their differences, all of the participants have a sympathetic interest in systems theory, and between them they throw light on a remarkably broad set of issues having to do with Bogdanov's role in its development. How was Bogdanov's thought related to that of Ludwig von Bertalanffy (the Austrian often considered the founder of general organization science), Ludwig Noire, V. I. Vernadskii, Nikolai Kondrat'ev, Nikolai Bukharin, and Vladimir Lenin, not to mention Karl Marx himself? (The volume's name index contains more references to Lenin and Marx than to any other persons, though the participants differ considerably in their attitudes toward them.) In what ways, if any, was Tektology a continuation of Bogdanov's earlier writings, above all Empiriomonism (1904-06)? What significant present-day applications does Tektology have in economics, biology, psychology, cybernetics, and other fields? Did Bogdanov in Tektology actually produce a general organization theory or create a new branch of science? All these questions are raised and vigorously debated by the participants. A very valuable feature of the volume is that it includes not only the participants' papers but transcripts of the discussions that followed each of the three groups of presentations, covering almost 100 of the volume's pages. The lively exchanges highlight the extent and character of the disagreements that exist among specialists in this area, thus serving to point out directions in which further research is needed. Furthermore, given the ambiguously "Marxist" character of Bogdanov's views, these discussions offer a splendid example of the ways in which Russian scholars today, some with lingering allegiance to their Marxist-Leninist past, are exploring a formerly proscribed region of thought.
[Bis(diphenylphosphino)methane-κ2 P,P′]dichloridopalladium(II)

The title complex, [PdCl(2)(C(25)H(22)P(2))], is a slightly distorted square-planar bis-(diphenyl-phosphino)methane cis-complex of PdCl(2). The structure of a polymorph of the title compound has been described earlier, but the arrangement of the mol-ecules observed in the current structure is distinctively different from that previously reported [Steffen & Palenik (1976 ▶). Inorg. Chem.15, 2432-2439]. The earlier report describes a structure with individual well separated mol-ecules crystallizing in space group P2(1)/n. The polymorph described here, which is isostructrural to its Pt analogue [Babai et al. (2006 ▶). Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem.632, 639-644], crystallizes in C2/c with chains of C2-symmetric mol-ecules stretching parallel to the b axis. The Pd atoms and the bis-phosphino-methane units are located on two different positions created by a non-crystallographic mirror operation with an occupancy of 0.6677 (11) for the major (PCH(2)P)Pd moiety. The positions of the Cl atoms of the minor moiety do coincide perfectly with those of the next mol-ecule along the chain parallel to b, and they are thus not included in the disorder. The phenyl rings also do not take part in the disorder and are common to both the major and minor moieties of the (PCH(2)P)PdCl(2) units. Assuming no defects, mol-ecules in each chain will thus have to be oriented the same way and the effect of the disorder of the (PCH(2)P)Pd unit is thus a reversal in direction of the chains parallel to b. The presence of light streaks of intensity between actual Bragg peaks indicates that a somehow ordered arrangement not resolved in the Bragg diffraction data may be present (i.e. an incommensurate superstructure) rather than a random or domain arrangement of the chains.