Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of the Sphingoid Long-chain Base Kinase Lcb4p by Ergosterol and Heme

Sphingoid long-chain base 1-phosphates (LCBPs) are widely conserved, bioactive lipid molecules. In yeast, LCBPs are known to be involved in several cellular responses such as heat shock resistance and Ca2+ mobilization, although their target molecules and signaling pathways remain unclear. To identify genes involved in LCBP signaling and in regulation of LCBP synthesis, we performed transposon mutagenesis in cells lacking the LCBP lyase DPL1 and LCBP phosphatase LCB3 genes and screened for phytosphingosine-resistant clones. Further isolation and identification revealed eight genes (PBP1, HEM14, UFD4, HMG1, TPS1, KES1, WHI2, and ERG5), in addition to the previously characterized LCB4 and PDR5 genes, that are involved in phytosphingosine resistance. Of these eight, four are ergosterol-related genes (HEM14, HMG1, KES1, and ERG5). We also demonstrated that protein expression of the long-chain base kinase Lcb4p was reduced in Δhem14 and Δhmg1 cells, likely as a consequence of decreased activity of the heme-dependent transcription factor Hap1p. In addition, phosphorylation of Lcb4p was decreased in all the ergosterol-related mutants isolated and other ergosterol mutants constructed (Δerg2, Δerg3, and Δerg6). Finally, plasma membrane localization of Lcb4p was found to be reduced in Δerg6 cells. These results suggest that changes in sterol composition affect the phosphorylation of Lcb4p because of the altered localization. The other genes isolated (PBP1, UFD4, TPS1, and WHI2) may be involved in LCBP signaling.
Invariant checkers: An efficient low cost technique for run-time transient errors detection

Semiconductor technology evolution brings along higher soft error rates and long duration transients, which require new low cost system level approaches for error detection and mitigation. Known software based error detection techniques imply a high overhead in terms of memory usage and execution times. In this work, the use of software invariants as a means to detect transient errors affecting a system at run-time is proposed. The technique is based on the use of a publicly available tool to automate the invariant detection process, and the decomposition of complex algorithms into simpler ones, which are checked through the verification of their invariants during the execution of the program. A sample program is used as a case study, and fault injection campaigns are performed to verify the error detection capability of the proposed technique. The experimental results show that the proposed technique provides high error detection capability, with low execution time overhead.
The Pseudomonas aeruginosa Secretory Product Pyocyanin Inactivates α1 Protease Inhibitor: Implications for the Pathogenesis of Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease

ABSTRACT α1 Protease inhibitor (α1PI) modulates serine protease activity in the lung. Reactive oxygen species inactivate α1PI, and this process has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of forms of lung injury. An imbalance of protease-antiprotease activity is also detected in the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis-associated lung disease who are infected withPseudomonas aeruginosa. P. aeruginosa secretes pyocyanin, which, through its ability to redox cycle, induces cells to generate reactive oxygen species. We tested the hypothesis that redox cycling of pyocyanin could lead to inactivation of α1PI. When α1PI was exposed to NADH and pyocyanin, a combination that results in superoxide production, α1PI lost its ability to form an inhibitory complex with both porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) and trypsin. Similarly, addition of pyocyanin to cultures of human airway epithelial cells to which α1PI was also added resulted in a loss of the ability of α1PI to form a complex with PPE or trypsin. Neither superoxide dismutase, catalase, nor dimethylthiourea nor depletion of the media of O2 to prevent formation of reactive oxygen species blocked pyocyanin-mediated inactivation of α1PI. These data raise the possibility that a direct interaction between reduced pyocyanin and α1PI is involved in the process. Consistent with this possibility, pretreatment of α1PI with the reducing agent β-mercaptoethanol also inhibited binding of trypsin to α1PI. These data suggest that pyocyanin could contribute to lung injury in the P. aeruginosa-infected airway of cystic fibrosis patients by decreasing the ability of α1PI to control the local activity of serine proteases.
Etude des transferts hygrothermiques dans le béton de chanvre et leur application au bâtiment (sous titre: simulation numérique et approche expérimentale)

Dans le cadre du developpement durable, les nouvelles reglementations en matiere d'isolation thermique dans le secteur du bâtiment, conduisent les chercheurs a la recherche de nouveaux materiaux pour constituer des systemes economes en energie tout en assurant le confort de l'habitat. Cette recherche s'est tres vite dirigee vers l'utilisation de materiaux issus de la matiere vegetale. Parmi les nouveaux materiaux a base vegetale, le chanvre est le plus utilise dans la construction. Les recherches effectuees jusqu'a ce jour ont permis de determiner les proprietes physiques de ce materiau. Ces valeurs ne refletent que partiellement le confort ressenti dans les locaux dont les parois sont en beton de chanvre. L'objectif de cette these est d'etudier le comportement hygrothermique du beton de chanvre au niveau d'une paroi et a l'echelle d'un local. La premiere partie de cette these est consacree a l'etude bibliographique liee aux interets d'utilisation du beton de chanvre puis sa performance est comparee aux autres materiaux du genie civil. Apres avoir presente le modele des transferts hygrothermiques dans le bâtiment ainsi que l'environnement de simulation SimSPARK, adapte a la resolution des systemes d'equations non lineaires, les simulations ont ete effectuees a l'echelle d'une paroi simple, d'une paroi multicouche et du bâtiment afin de valider les modeles par rapport a des resultats trouves dans la litterature. La deuxieme partie est consacree a l'etude du comportement hygrothermique d'une paroi et d'un local en beton de chanvre sous des conditions climatiques statique et dynamique. Les resultats obtenus pour les conditions hivernales reelles ont montre que la combinaison de la ventilation hygroreglable avec la capacite de sorption des parois en beton de chanvre permet de reduire de 12% les besoins energetiques par rapport a une ventilation classique. Enfin, la derniere partie est consacree a l'etude preliminaire d'un nouveau materiau 100% vegetal a base d'une matrice d'amidon de ble et de chenevotte. Sa performance hygrothermique dans le bâtiment est mise en evidence pour les conditions climatiques de Nancy.
Using Routing Agents for Improving the Quality of Service in General Purpose Networks

In this paper, we have proposed a new routing method for general purpose networks. Each router in this model is a context-aware agent and therefore the whole network of routers forms a community (society) of context-aware agents which are ever learning and adapting the routing network. During routing each agent keeps learning and specializing in routing some specific traffic type (e.g. intermittent audio packets) and makes its neighboring routes optimum for this type of traffic whereas other agents are experts in other traffic types. All agents are aware from their colleagues' expertise and when a new traffic type enters the network all agents try to collaboratively recognize (or detect) its type and route it according to their past experience (which is already learned). If the traffic type is unknown to all agents, one of them tries to learn how to route it such that its QoS constraints are met better. The idea behind the proposed model is to temporarily modify some routes whenever QoS constraints cannot be met in the network. Simulation results show that the proposed model can improve QoS of the network by 12%.
Bovine tuberculosis: immune responses in the peripheral blood and at the site of active disease

This report describes a comparison of immune responses in the peripheral blood and at the site of active disease in cattle 20 weeks after experimental infection with Mycobacterium bovis. Lymphocyte proliferation, and the production of interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and interleukin (IL)‐2 were measured in response to tuberculin and a number of mycobacterial antigens, including ESAT‐6, MPB64, MPB70, MPB83, hsp 16.1, hsp 65, hsp 70 and the 38 000 MW lipoprotein antigen. The level of transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) was measured following stimulation of cells with tuberculin. Our results suggest little difference in the responses of peripheral blood and lymph node cells to most of the antigens used. However, tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD) and ESAT‐6 elicited stronger responses in the peripheral blood compared with lymph node cells. Investigation of the responding T‐cell subpopulations in the peripheral blood showed that both CD4+ and, to a lesser extent, γδ T‐cell receptor‐positive (TCR+) T cells contributed to these responses. This is the first report to compare peripheral and local immune responses in bovine tuberculosis. Unlike cases of human tuberculosis where immune activity at the site of disease and anergy in the peripheral blood have been reported, our results suggest that for bovine tuberculosis immune responses occurring in the peripheral blood reflect those at the site of disease.
Changes in buccal microcirculation following extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in term neonates with severe respiratory failure*

Objectives:Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is known to improve cardiorespiratory function and outcome in neonates with severe respiratory failure. In this study, we tested two hypotheses: 1) neonates with severe respiratory failure exhibit alterations of the microcirculation and 2) after ECMO therapy these microcirculatory alterations are improved. Design:Single-center prospective observational study. Setting:Intensive care unit of a level III university children’s hospital. Patients:Term neonates receiving venoarterial ECMO. Control patients with and without respiratory failure. Measurements and Main Results:The microcirculation was assessed in the buccal mucosa, using orthogonal polarization spectral imaging, before and after ECMO. Functional capillary density was lower in patients with severe respiratory failure before ECMO (n = 14) compared with control patients (n = 10; p < 0.01). Functional capillary density had increased significantly after ECMO (p < 0.01). Conclusion:Microcirculatory parameters are depressed in neonates with severe respiratory failure and improve significantly following ECMO treatment.
The Thrust of a Collisional-Plasma Source

The thrust provided by a plasma source, open at one end, is calculated for an arbitrary ratio of collision to ionization rates. If the plasma is of a low collisionality, ion pumping is dominant, and the momentum of the jet exiting the source is carried mostly by the plasma. In the collisional regime, neutrals are accelerated through charge-exchange collisions with ions, leading to neutral pumping, so that most of the momentum of the jet is carried by the neutral gas. It is shown that these ion-neutral collisions increase the thrust for a given power. However, the conventionally defined efficiency for a thruster, reflecting also the propellant utilization, is lower in the collisional regime.
Power runs in many channels : subfloor pits and West African-based spiritual traditions in colonial Virginia

PATRICIA MERLE SAMFORD: Power Runs in Many Channels: Subfloor Pits and West African-Based Spiritual Traditions in Colonial Virginia (Under the direction of Vincas P. Steponaitis.) Enslaved Africans and their descendants comprised a significant portion of the colonial Virginia’s population. Many enslaved people of African descent lived on rural slave quarters, adjacent to the agricultural fields in which they labored. Since the 1970s, archaeologists working in the American South have been excavating the material remains o f these slave quarters and learning about slave life. A common characteristic of Virginia slave quarters is the presence of subfloor pits dug into the soil underneath the houses. The functions of these pits has long been a matter of debate among archaeologists, with their use as storage places for personal belongings or root vegetables forming the most common explanation. Contextual and ethnohistoric data suggest that some o f these pits may have served in a spiritual fashion as West African-style shrines. This dissertation examines physical characteristics and artifact assemblages from subfloor pits in Virginia to determine subfloor pit functions. The date range o f this sample spans the late seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. I examined the shape, location, surface area and depth of 103 subfloor pits in order to determine if patterns existed that would allow the formation of hypotheses about pit function. Based on the results of this systematic analysis, I examined the artifact assemblages o f subfloor pits from five slave quarters outside o f Williamsburg, Virginia. Analysis showed evidence that these pits were used in several ways: for food storage, as personal storage spaces, and as West African-style shrines. The connections between Igbo cultural practices and Virginia archaeological evidence is explored.
A New Recommender System Based on Multiple Parameters and Extended User Behavior Analysis

In this paper, a new recommender system has been developed based on extended user behavior analysis. The proposed system extracts information from recall, precision, number of clicked items, sequence of the clicked items, duration of tracking, number of tracking same item, like/unlike, association rules of clicked items, and remarks for items. The developed recommender system has been applied to a movie web site and experimental results have been obtained from undergraduate and graduate students at Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. The proposed recommender system has been tested and compared extensively with the collaborative filtering. The experimental results show that the developed recommender system is more successful than collaborative filtering.
Analysen zum Kernimport von Notch1

Der Notch Signalweg ist ein wichtiges Regulationssystem fur die Entwicklung und Selbsterneuerung verschiedener Gewebe. Eine Besonderheit dieser Signalkaskade stellt die Funktion von Notch als Oberflachen-Rezeptor und direkter Regulator der Genexpression dar. Die Aktivierung und Signalubertragung von Notch erfordert daher die proteolytische Freisetzung der intrazellularen Domane (NICD), welche nach dem Transport in den Zellkern die Transkription zellspezifischer Gene anschaltet. Bis heute existieren nur wenige Kenntnisse uber die Mechanismen, die den Kernimport von NICD vermitteln. Fruhere Studien weisen zwar auf den klassischen Importin α/β1-Transportweg in diesem Zusammenhang hin, dennoch fehlten bisher eine Charakterisierung der potentiellen Transportsignale sowie die Aufklarung des genauen Kerntransportmechanismus. Daher war es das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit, den Kernimport von NICD im Detail zu analysieren. Der erste Abschnitt zielte auf die Identifizierung des funktionellen Kernlokalisierungssignals (NLS) sowie der Importrezeptoren, welche dieses Transportsignal erkennen. Anhand vorausgegangener Studien war bereits bekannt, dass die intrazellulare Domane von Notch1 vier potentielle klassische Kernlokalisierungssignale (NLS1 - NLS4) enthalt. Durch die Anwendung von Mutationsanalysen konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass ausschlieslich das NLS3 fur den Transport von NICD in den Zellkern essentiell ist. In Abhangigkeit von dieser Sequenz interagiert NICD mit den Importinen α3, α4 und α7, welche als Adapterproteine fur den klassischen Importin α/β1-Transportweg agieren. Zudem konnten fur die verschiedenen Isoformen unterschiedliche Affinitaten gegenuber NICD dokumentiert werden. So zeigte Importin α4 die starkste und Importin α7 die schwachste Bindung an NICD. Weiterhin wurde mittels Reportergen- und immunzytochemischer Analysen demonstriert, dass die Importine α3, α4 und α7 den Kernimport von NICD in vivo vermitteln. Allerdings scheinen hierbei vor allem die Importine α3 und α4 von Bedeutung zu sein. Importin α7 spielt in diesem Zusammenhang wahrscheinlich eine untergeordnete Rolle.
Commercial security on the Internet

Points out that there is a growing trend to delivering more efficient and more effective products and services with fewer and fewer resources. This trend is reflected in both the commercial and government sectors. The Internet is being viewed as the vehicle that could resolve many of these business delivery challenges. With the advent of public key security and certification, the transition from current business delivery to future Internet‐based systems is now possible. Deals with how public key cryptography may be used for business applications in the future, and also considers the theoretical applications of public key technology and certification processes. Examples of current technical solutions will be addressed in a future paper.
Survivin expression by metastatic melanoma predicts poor disease outcome in patients receiving adjuvant polyvalent vaccine

Survivin and livin are members of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family. We hypothesized that elevated expression levels of these 2 IAP genes in resected advanced‐stage metastatic melanoma lesions would be associated with poor disease outcome in patients receiving a polyvalent therapeutic cancer vaccine (Canvaxin™). A quantitative real‐time RT‐PCR (qRT) assay for survivin and livin genes was used to assess mRNA expression in 63 metastatic melanomas obtained during cytoreductive surgery of American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage IV melanoma. Nineteen of 63 metastatic melanoma patients received Canvaxin pre‐ and postoperatively, and 37 patients received only postoperative Canvaxin. Expression of survivin and livin protein was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and then correlated with mRNA. Survivin mRNA was detected in 62 of 63 (98%) melanoma specimens ranging from 0–5.96 × 104 mRNA copies of total RNA. Lower mRNA copy levels of survivin significantly correlated with improved overall survival among the 37 patients who received Canvaxin postoperatively but not preoperatively (log‐rank test, p = 0.023). Among patients with low survivin mRNA copies, those who received postoperative Canvaxin did significantly better than patients who received pre‐ and postoperative Canvaxin (p = 0.003). Livin mRNA was detectable in 60 of 63 (95%) metastatic melanoma specimens but had no significant prognostic utility. These studies demonstrate that lower levels of survivin in recurrent metastatic melanomas are associated with significantly improved survival in patients receiving postoperative adjuvant immunotherapy. Overall, the study indicates survivin expression in metastatic melanomas can significantly influence disease outcome and patient responses to immunotherapy. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Rhizobium japonicum mutants defective in symbiotic nitrogen fixation

Rhizobium japonicum strains 3I1b110 and 61A76 were mutagenized to obtain 25 independently derived mutants that produced soybean nodules defective in nitrogen fixation, as assayed by acetylene reduction. The proteins of both the bacterial and the plant portions of the nodules were analyzed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. All of the mutants had lower-than-normal levels of the nitrogenase components, and all but four contained a prominent bacteroid protein not observed in wild-type bacteroids. Experiments with bacteria grown ex planta suggested that this protein was derepressed by the absence of ammonia. Nitrogenase component II of one mutant was altered in isoelectric point. The soluble plant fraction of the nodules of seven mutants had very low levels of heme, yet the nodules of five of these seven mutants contained the polypeptide of leghemoglobin. Thus, the synthesis of the globin may not be coupled to the content of available heme in soybean nodules. The nodules of the other two of these seven mutants lacked not only leghemoglobin but most of the other normal plant and bacteroid proteins. Ultrastructural examination of nodules formed by these two mutants indicated normal ramification of infection threads but suggested a problem in subsequent survival of the bacteria and their release from the infection threads.
Fieldwork on early iron working sites in East Yorkshire

Fieldwork centred on Holme-on-Spalding Moor, East Yorkshire, has resulted in the discovery of an iron industry that may be the oldest and one of the largest so far found in Britain. Dating from the Middle Iron Age and continuing into the Romano-British period, this iron working is related to a former estuarine creek system and tidal inlet of the river Humber, in which the Hasholme log boat sank. It is possible that control of the iron industry and/or its associated watercourses was a contributory factor to the wealth and prestige of the Arras Culture of East Yorkshire.
Thermal stability and nonisothermal kinetics of Folnak® degradation process

Aim: The purpose of this article is to investigate the thermal stability and nonisothermal kinetics of Folnak® drug degradation process using different thermoanalytical techniques. Methods: The nonisothermal degradation of Folnak® powder samples was investigated by simultaneous thermogravimetry–differential thermal analysis, in the temperature range from ambient to 810°C. Results: It was found that the degradation proceeds through five reaction stages, which include the dehydration, the melting process of excipients, the decomposition of folic acid, corn starch, and saccharose. The presence of compounds such as excipients increases the thermal stability of the drug and some kind of solid–solid and/or solid–gas interaction occurs. Conclusion: It was concluded that the main degradation stage of Folnak® sample represents the decomposition of folic acid. It was established that the folic acid decomposition cannot be explained by simple reaction order model (n = 1) but with the complex reaction mechanism that includes higher reaction orders (n > 1). The isothermal predictions of the folic acid decomposition at four different temperatures (Tiso = 180°C, 200°C, 220°C, and 260°C) were established. It was concluded that the shapes of conversion curves at lower temperatures (180–200°C) were similar, whereas they became more complex with further temperature increase because of the complexity of the decomposition reaction.