Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biotransformation of tetrachloroethylene to trichloroethylene, dichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, and carbon dioxide under methanogenic conditions

Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), common industrial solvents, are among the most frequent contaminants found in groundwater supplies. Due to the potential toxicity and carcinogenicity of chlorinated ethylenes, knowledge about their transformation potential is important in evaluating their environmental fate. The results of this study confirm that PCE can be transformed by reductive dehalogenation to TCE, dichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride (VC) under anaerobic conditions. In addition, [14C]PCE was at least partially mineralized to CO2. Mineralization of 24% of the PCE occurred in a continuous-flow fixed-film methanogenic column with a liquid detention time of 4 days. TCE was the major intermediate formed, but traces of dichloroethylene isomers and VC were also found. In other column studies under a different set of methanogenic conditions, nearly quantitative conversion of PCE to VC was found. These studies clearly demonstrate that TCE and VC are major intermediates in PCE biotransformation under anaerobic conditions and suggest that potential exists for the complete mineralization of PCE to CO2 in soil and aquifer systems and in biological treatment processes.
Crystal structure of the human ATP-dependent splicing and export factor UAP 56

Pre-mRNA splicing requires the function of a number of RNAdependent ATPases helicases, yet no three-dimensional structure of any spliceosomal ATPases helicases is known. The highly conserved DECD-box protein UAP56 Sub2 is an essential splicing factor that is also important for mRNA export. The expected ATPase helicase activity appears to be essential for the UAP56 Sub2 functions. Here, we show that purified human UAP56 is an active RNA-dependent ATPase, and we also report the crystal structures of UAP56 alone and in complex with ADP, as well as a DECD to DEAD mutant. The structures reveal a unique spatial arrangement of the two conserved helicase domains, and ADPbinding induces significant conformational changes of key residues in the ATP-binding pocket. Our structural analyses suggest a specific protein-RNA displacement model of UAP56 Sub2. The detailed structural information provides important mechanistic insights into the splicing function of UAP56 Sub2. The structures also will be useful for the analysis of other spliceosomal DExD-box ATPases helicases.
FERTILIZATION SUCCESS AND THE ESTIMATION OF GENETIC VARIANCE IN SPERM COMPETITIVENESS

A key question in sexual selection is whether the ability of males to fertilize eggs under sperm competition exhibits heritable genetic variation. Addressing this question poses a significant problem, however, because a male's ability to win fertilizations ultimately depends on the competitive ability of rival males. Attempts to partition genetic variance in sperm competitiveness, as estimated from measures of fertilization success, must therefore account for stochastic effects due to the random sampling of rival sperm competitors. In this contribution, we suggest a practical solution to this problem. We advocate the use of simple cross‐classified breeding designs for partitioning sources of genetic variance in sperm competitiveness and fertilization success and show how these designs can be used to avoid stochastic effects due to the random sampling of rival sperm competitors. We illustrate the utility of these approaches by simulating various scenarios for estimating genetic parameters in sperm competiveness, and show that the probability of detecting additive genetic variance in this trait is restored when stochastic effects due to the random sampling of rival sperm competitors are controlled. Our findings have important implications for the study of the evolutionary maintenance of polyandry.
Advance in Monitoring and Process Control of Surface Roughness

This paper presents an advance in monitoring and process control of surface roughness in CNC machine for the turning and milling processes. An integration of the in-process monitoring and process control of the surface roughness is proposed and developed during the machining process by using the cutting force ratio. The previously developed surface roughness models for turning and milling processes of the author are adopted to predict the inprocess surface roughness, which consist of the cutting speed, the feed rate, the tool nose radius, the depth of cut, the rake angle, and the cutting force ratio. The cutting force ratios obtained from the turning and the milling are utilized to estimate the in-process surface roughness. The dynamometers are installed on the tool turret of CNC turning machine and the table of 5-axis machining center to monitor the cutting forces. The in-process control of the surface roughness has been developed and proposed to control the predicted surface roughness. It has been proved by the cutting tests that the proposed integration system of the in-process monitoring and the process control can be used to check the surface roughness during the cutting by utilizing the cutting force ratio. Keywords—Turning, milling, monitoring, surface roughness, cutting force ratio.
What Matters Most? How Tone in Initial Public Offering Filings and Pre-IPO News Influences Stock Market Returns

Before shares of a company are sold to the general public on a security exchange for the first time, regulatory publication requirements force U.S. firms to file an initial public offering prospectus. While accounting information in IPO filings are closely studied by investors and analysts, research must also examine the textual content of these filings. Thus, we measure the proportion of uncertain language. As a result, this paper provides empirical evidence that soft content is not only a major driver of first-day stock market returns, but also persists in the market up 10 days of trading. However, a much stronger impact on stock market prices comes from the pre-IPO news tone. Interestingly, the more uncertainty words appear in pre-IPO news, the higher the following first-day stock market return. It seems that investors mainly focus on the chances of a company rather than on the risks.
Self-reported physical activity compared with maximal oxygen uptake in adults

Background Physical activity level and cardiorespiratory fitness are both inversely associated with the risk of cardiovascular diseases and with all-cause mortality. Physical activity questionnaires are often validated against objectively measured maximal oxygen uptake (Vo 2max). Aim To validate a self-report physical activity questionnaire against Vo 2max and furthermore to establish whether a simple question on self-rated physical fitness could predict objectively measured Vo 2max. Methods A total of 102 men and women aged between 35 and 65 years were recruited from an ongoing population-based intervention study, the Inter99 Study. Participants reported their self-rated fitness and daily physical activity using a new questionnaire based on metabolic equivalents (MET). Vo 2max (ml/kg per min) was determined using a graded bicycle test with increasing workload until exhaustion and with simultaneous measurement of breath-to-breath oxygen uptake in 15-s periods. Statistical analyses were performed by linear regression analyses using the self-reported physical activity level as an independent variable and Vo 2max (l/min) as an dependent variable, and with covariates sex, age and bodyweight. Results Data from 53 men and 47 women were analysed. The amount of daily vigorous activity (>6 MET) was significantly positively associated with Vo 2max (P=0.0001, R 2 = 0.76), whereas the total amount of physical activity was not significantly associated with Vo 2max (P=0.098, R 2 = 0.69). A significant trend across three groups of self-rated fitness in relation to Vo 2max (ml/kg per min) was found (P for trend <0.0001). Conclusion The physical activity questionnaire has acceptable validity when compared with Vo 2max in adult men and women. Furthermore, a simple question on self-rated fitness seems to reflect measured Vo 2max objectively.
Sustainable Agricultural Development in Afghanistan

Nearly 80% of Afghanistan’s population lives in rural areas and depends heavily on livelihoods in the agriculture sector, which, in turn, depends on agricultural production. Agricultural education is essential for fulfilling basic human and animal needs, such as food, fodder, fiber, and energy, while ensuring long-term stewardship of natural resources and the environment. Agricultural development in Afghanistan depends on agricultural education at the national and international levels. Such education is implemented by agricultural specialists and expert farmers. Scientific and research-based education is applied through agricultural schools and institutions and their faculties, whereas traditional education is provided by expert farmers through their sustainable agricultural practices. Agricultural education can have an important effect on the sustainable development of the agriculture sector. The greatest challenges to agricultural education in Afghanistan are proper management, institutional policies and strategies, research activities, funding, and continuous war and security issues. Agricultural development also requires a focus on sustainable agriculture in the curriculum. Education and training are widely recognized as contributors to national economic growth. Although many organizations and institutions are providing agricultural education to specialists as well as farmers, the lack of updated materials is a substantial challenge in Afghanistan. The two main objectives of agricultural education in Afghanistan are: (1) to give updated information on agricultural progress from around the world to Afghan farmers, and (2) to provide essential training in agricultural technology, sustainable cultivation practices, post-harvest handling, irrigation, fertilizer management, biodiversity conservation, soil health, dealing with biotic and abiotic stresses, and climate change and its effect on agriculture production.
Organizational Culture, Organizational Ambiance & Competences: A Competence-Based Theory of the Firm

The Competence-based Theory of the Firm (CbTF) aims to explain the existence of a firm in comparison to other modes of coordination. Organizational culture is one element of the organizational ambiance that only firms have. In this conceptual work we show the relevance of organizational culture to explain the existence of a firm. We argue that organizational culture is vital to enable the potential a firm offers. Therefore organizational culture as part of the organizational ambiance is needed to explain the very nature of the firm.
Trust Factors Influencing Intention to Adopt Online Payment in Kuwait

While there is a large body of research that studied trust in e-commerce, this study investigates causes and consequences of customer trust in online payment system within an Arab culture. The paper develops a theoretical model that exhibits the impact of five exogenous variables namely (internet experience, personal innovativeness, familiarity, propensity to trust, and presence of third party seal) on intention to use online payment via the mediation of three endogenous variables (perceived enjoyment, perceived risk and perceived trust). Data was collected via on online questionnaire (150) and paper-based questionnaire (200), and the analysis provides validation of the proposed model. Findings shed light on the role of customer trust and perceived enjoyment to mediate the effect of external variables (personal innovativeness, familiarity, propensity to trust, and presence of third party seal). This could assist in enhancing online payment websites acceptance by potential consumers in Arab countries.
Inhibition of Nonsense-Mediated RNA Decay Activates Autophagy

ABSTRACT Nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD) is an mRNA surveillance mechanism which rapidly degrades select cytoplasmic mRNAs. We and others have shown that NMD is a dynamically regulated process inhibited by amino acid deprivation, hypoxia, and other cellular stresses commonly generated by the tumor microenvironment. This inhibition of NMD can result in the accumulation of misfolded, mutated, and aggregated proteins, but how cells adapt to these aberrant proteins is unknown. Here we demonstrate that the inhibition of NMD activates autophagy, an established protein surveillance mechanism, both in vitro and in vivo. Conversely, the hyperactivation of NMD blunts the induction of autophagy in response to a variety of cellular stresses. The regulation of autophagy by NMD is due, in part, to stabilization of the documented NMD target ATF4. NMD inhibition increases intracellular amino acids, a hallmark of autophagy, and the concomitant inhibition of autophagy and NMD, either molecularly or pharmacologically, leads to synergistic cell death. Together these studies indicate that autophagy is an adaptive response to NMD inhibition and uncover a novel relationship between an mRNA surveillance system and a protein surveillance system, with important implications for the treatment of cancer.
The analysis of a discrete scheme of the iteratively regularized Gauss-Newton method

In this paper, the iteratively regularized Gauss-Newton method is applied to compute the stable solutions of nonlinear inverse problems. For the numerical realization, the discretization of this method is considered and the iterative solution is used to approximate the exact solution. An a posteriori rule is suggested to choose the stopping index of iteration and the convergence and rates of convergence are also derived under certain conditions. An example from the parameter identification of a differential equation problem is given to illustrate the required conditions.
A new architecture for area and power efficient, high conversion rate successive approximation ADCs

A new high-speed successive approximation analog-to-digital converter architecture is presented. Two bits extraction in each clock cycle is the key idea to double the conversion speed. Generating reference levels for three comparators with only two DACs, is another novelty of the new architecture. The simulation results for the designed 10-bit ADC show that in same conversion rate, better figure of merit value, 40% and 7% reduction in chip size and power consumption is achievable over the conventional SA-ADC architecture.
Strategy for the treatment of arteriovenous malformations

The treatment of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) is still a challenging problem in the neurosurgical field. The deep-seated AVMs are a definite indication for radiosurgery for the small AVMs and with pre-embolisation for the large AVMs. The superficial AVMs are a good indication for surgery. In the case of small AVMs, surgery alone is a viable option; however, in the case of large AVMs, pre-operative embolisation is essential for prevention of NPPB (normal perfusion pressure breakthrough). Embolisation alone cannot be used, except for a small AVM in the non-eloquent cortex. Preoperative embolisation makes surgery easy; however, it causes the surrounding cortex to infarct. Hyperperfusion may occur after the direct removal of high-flow large AVMs, therefore postoperative management will be difficult in these cases. In eloquent cortex minimally invasive surgery is more reliable with respect to the morbidity produced. Therefore in cases of small AVMs in the functional cortex, direct surgery is the only choice. In cases of high-flow large AVMs, surgery and postoperative management are risky because of NPPB. Therefore pre-operative embolisation followed by surgery is a better choice. In high-flow AVMs, local blood circulation is not decreased by temporary clipping of the feeding arteries. So we recommend temporary clipping of all feeding arteries, even away from the nidus where it is easier to control bleeding.
A Preliminary Study of the Emerging and Developing Stock Market of China

The Chinese share market as an emerging and fast-growing listing venue has experienced a significant development since 2000. Prior studies on this market overwhelmingly concentrate on IPO-pricing-related and post-IPO performance-based propositions with lagging data. Adopting the updated data within the last couple of years, this paper comprehensively explores and accounts for some striking features of the Chinese stock market, and unfolds some new causes contributing to these characteristics.Some new findings are revealed. 1) Two new factors may lead to the extreme underpricing in China’s market, which are the unseasoned investors and their high demands of IPO shares. 2) The foreign-currency trading platform is not effective and efficient to attract the overseas investors. 3) The imbalanced industry structure of the listed firms is very significant, the Chinese share market is dominated by the manufacturing firms. 4) The Growth Enterprise Market of China is essential to address the long-standing financing difficulties for the Chinese Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which are unqualified to raise capital from the Primary Stock Market.
Recurrent nonsense mutations within the type VII collagen gene in patients with severe recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.

The generalized mutilating form of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (i.e., the Hallopeau-Siemens type; HS-RDEB) is a life-threatening disease characterized by extreme mucocutaneous fragility associated with absent or markedly altered anchoring fibrils (AF). Recently, we reported linkage between HS-RDEB and the type VII collagen gene (COL7A1), which encodes the major component of AF. In this study, we investigated 52 unrelated HS-RDEB patients and 2 patients with RDEB inversa for the presence, at CpG dinucleotides, of mutations changing CGA arginine codons to premature stop codons TGA within the COL7A1 gene. Eight exons containing 10 CGA codons located in the amino-terminal domain of the COL7A1 gene were studied. Mutation analysis was performed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of PCR-amplified genomic fragments. Direct sequencing of PCR-amplified products with altered electrophoretic mobility led to the characterization of three premature stop codons, each in a single COL7A1 allele, in four patients. Two patients (one affected with HS-RDEB and the other with RDEB inversa) have the same C-to-T transition at arginine codon 109. Two other HS-RDEB patients have a C-to-T transition at arginine 1213 and 1216, respectively. These nonsense mutations predict the truncation of approximately 56%-92% of the polypeptide, including the collagenous and the noncollagenous NC-2 domains. On the basis of linkage analysis, which showed no evidence for locus heterogeneity in RDEB, it is expected that these patients are compound heterozygotes and have additional mutations on the other COL7A1 allele, leading to impaired AF formation. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Regulatory focus as a moderator of retail shopping behaviour

This paper examines the effects of regulatory focus orientation on several aspects of consumer retail shopping behaviour such as shopping values, impulsiveness, shopping duration, repurchase intention and word-of-mouth communication. Theoretical propositions were developed banked on relevant literature. A structured questionnaire is used to collect data across several retail formats (n = 300). Statistical techniques such as MANOVA and t-test were used to analyse the data. Results reveal that promotion-focused shoppers report higher levels of hedonic shopping values, and impulsiveness, whereas prevention-focused shoppers report higher levels of utilitarian shopping values, shopping duration, repurchase intention and word-of-mouth communication. Discussion of the results and their theoretical and managerial implications, limitations of this study and its future research scopes are further discussed.
Early ambulation and length of stay in older adults hospitalized for acute illness.

There are no therapeutic guidelines regarding ambulation for older adults hospitalized for acute illness.1 The importance of early ambulation to recovery in other patient populations is well established.2,3 For example, time to ambulation after hip fracture surgery is a predictor of complications such as prolonged length of stay (LOS). 4 In the present study, we examined the association between ambulation and LOS in geriatric patients admitted for acute illnesses. We hypothesized that increase in ambulation within the 48 hours after admission would predict LOS after adjusting for risk factors.
802.11 Wireless Access Point Usage Simulation and Anomaly Detection

Despite the growing popularity of 802.11 wireless networks in many public places, wireless users often suffer from connectivity problems due to unstable radio conditions and dynamic user behavior among other reasons. Detecting the anomalous cases and planning to prevent such problems in advance are in the thick of major challenges that network managers encounter. Complication of monitoring such complex networks, that often requires heavy instrumentation of the user devices, makes the anomaly detection analysis even harder. In this paper we exploit 802.11 access point usage data and propose an anomaly detection technique based on Hidden Markov Models and on data that is inexpensive to obtain. We subsequently validate the proposed model by generating a number of network anomalous scenarios in OMNeT++/INET network simulator and evaluate the detection method against baseline approach (Raw_Data and PCA) results. The experimental outcomes show the superiority of the proposed HMM model in detection precision and sensitivity.
High-Throughput Detection of Bacillus Anthracis Spores using Peptide-Conjugated Nano/Micro-Beads

Abstract : Magnetic bead and Q dots are very attractive materials for detecting B. anthracis spores. Magnetic beads can rapidly isolate B. anthracis spores based on magnetic polarity of the pores, whereas Qdots have ideal characteristics for dense spectral multiplexing, narrow emission range and long lifetime, and can perform simple multiplexed analysis. In this study, they investigated developing a rapid, simple and highly sensitive detection method for detecting B. anthracis spores by using fluorescent nanobeads and magnetic microbeads. They also optimized the conditions for binding affinity of specific capture peptides for spores of two B. anthracis strains including B. anthracis Δ Sterne (pXO1-, pXO2-), and B. anthracis Sterne 34F2 (pXO1+, pXO2-). However, further study needs to be investigated for the optimization of binding characteristics of peptide sequence to B. anthracis spores for sensitive and specific detection. In addition, analysis of the Bacillus spore-coat proteins can be beneficial to fine-tune the detection. The sample preparation for detecting dilute B. anthracis spores in various environmental conditions is also another area to be investigated.