Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diguanylate cyclase NicD‐based signalling mechanism of nutrient‐induced dispersion by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Dispersion enables the transition from the biofilm to the planktonic growth state in response to various cues. While several Pseudomonas aeruginosa proteins, including BdlA and the c‐di‐GMP phosphodiesterases DipA, RbdA, and NbdA, have been shown to be required for dispersion to occur, little is known about dispersion cue sensing and the signalling translating these cues into the modulation c‐di‐GMP levels to enable dispersion. Using glutamate‐induced dispersion as a model, we report that dispersion‐inducing nutrient cues are sensed via an outside‐in signalling mechanism by the diguanylate cyclase NicD belonging to a family of seven transmembrane (7TM) receptors. NicD directly interacts with BdlA and the phosphodiesterase DipA, with NicD, BdlA, and DipA being part of the same pathway required for dispersion. Glutamate sensing by NicD results in NicD dephosphorylation and increased cyclase activity. Active NicD contributes to the non‐processive proteolysis and activation of BdlA via phosphorylation and temporarily elevated c‐di‐GMP levels. BdlA, in turn, activates DipA, resulting in the overall reduction of c‐di‐GMP levels. Our results provide a basis for understanding the signalling mechanism based on NicD to induce biofilm dispersion that may be applicable to various biofilm‐forming species and may have implications for the control of biofilm‐related infections.
The MOS 36-ltem Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36): III. Tests of Data Quality, Scaling Assumptions, and Reliability Across Diverse Patient Groups

The widespread use of standardized health surveys is predicated on the largely untested assumption that scales constructed from those surveys will satisfy minimum psychometric requirements across diverse population groups. Data from the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) were used to evaluate data completeness and quality, test scaling assumptions, and estimate internal-consistency reliability for the eight scales constructed from the MOS SF-36 Health Survey. Analyses were conducted among 3,445 patients and were replicated across 24 subgroups differing in sociodemographic characteristics, diagnosis, and disease severity. For each scale, item-completion rates were high across all groups (88% to 95%), but tended to be somewhat lower among the elderly, those with less than a high school education, and those in poverty. On average, surveys were complete enough to compute scale scores for more than 96% of the sample. Across patient groups, all scales passed tests for item-internal consistency (97% passed) and item-discriminant validity (92% passed). Reliability coefficients ranged from a low of 0.65 to a high of 0.94 across scales (median=0.85) and varied somewhat across patient subgroups. Floor effects were negligible except for the two role disability scales. Noteworthy ceiling effects were observed for both role disability scales and the social functioning scale. These findings support the use of the SF-36 survey across the diverse populations studied and identify population groups in which use of standardized health status measures may or may not be problematic.
Peptide splicing by the proteasome

The proteasome is the major protease responsible for the production of antigenic peptides recognized by CD8+ cytolytic T cells (CTL). These peptides, generally 8–10 amino acids long, are presented at the cell surface by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. Originally, these peptides were believed to be solely derived from linear fragments of proteins, but this concept was challenged several years ago by the isolation of anti-tumor CTL that recognized spliced peptides, i.e. peptides composed of fragments distant in the parental protein. The splicing process was shown to occur in the proteasome through a transpeptidation reaction involving an acyl-enzyme intermediate. Here, we review the steps that led to the discovery of spliced peptides as well as the recent advances that uncover the unexpected importance of spliced peptides in the composition of the MHC class I repertoire.
Expression levels of the microRNA maturing microprocessor complex component DGCR8 and the RNA‐induced silencing complex (RISC) components argonaute‐1, argonaute‐2, PACT, TARBP1, and TARBP2 in epithelial skin cancer

The microprocessor complex mediates intranuclear biogenesis of precursor microRNAs from the primary microRNA transcript. Extranuclear, mature microRNAs are incorporated into the RNA‐induced silencing complex (RISC) before interaction with complementary target mRNA leads to transcriptional repression or cleavage. In this study, we investigated the expression profiles of the microprocessor complex subunit DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 8 (DGCR8) and the RISC components argonaute‐1 (AGO1), argonaute‐2 (AGO2), as well as double‐stranded RNA‐binding proteins PACT, TARBP1, and TARBP2 in epithelial skin cancer and its premalignant stage. Patients with premalignant actinic keratoses (AK, n = 6), basal cell carcinomas (BCC, n = 15), and squamous cell carcinomas (SCC, n = 7) were included in the study. Punch biopsies were harvested from the center of the tumors (lesional), from healthy skin sites (intraindividual controls), and from healthy skin sites in a healthy control group (n = 16; interindividual control). The DGCR8, AGO1, AGO2, PACT, TARBP1, and TARBP2 mRNA expression levels were detected by quantitative real‐time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. The DGCR8, AGO1, AGO2, PACT, and TARBP1 expression levels were significantly higher in the AK, BCC, and SCC groups than the healthy controls (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the TARBP2 expression levels between groups (P > 0.05). This study indicates that major components of the miRNA pathway, such as the microprocessor complex and RISC, are dysregulated in epithelial skin cancer. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Genetic-Algorithm-Based Two-Stage Learning Scheme for Neural Networks

In this paper, we propose A two-stage learning scheme for neural networks by integrating Gas into Structure identification £®In the first stage, which is also called structure identification stage, the selection of network structure and initial parameters is carried out by float genetic algorithm instead of human£®In the second stage£¬which is called parameter identification stage£¬the conventional optimization method is adopted to make refinements of parameters. Through the entire process, compromise is satisfactorily made among the network complexity, approximation accuracy and generalization ability£®
Automatic Extraction of Chatbot Training Data from Natural Dialogue Corpora

A chatbot is a conversational agent that interacts with the users turn by turn using natural language. Different chatbots or humancomputer dialogue systems have been developed using spoken or text communication and have been applied in different domains such as: linguistic research, language education, customer service, web site help, and for fun. However, most chatbots are restricted to knowledge that is manually “hand coded” in their files, and to a specific natural language which is written or spoken. This paper presents the program we developed to convert a machine readable text (corpus) to a specific chatbot format, which is then used to retrain a chatbot and generate a chat which is closer to human language. Different corpora were used: dialogue corpora such as the British National Corpus of English (BNC); the holy book of Islam Qur‟an which is a monologue corpus where verse and following verse are turns; and the FAQ where questions and answers are pair of turns. The main goal of this automation process is the ability to generate different chatbot prototypes that spoke different languages based on corpus.
Screening of 145 Anti-PrP Monoclonal Antibodies for Their Capacity to Inhibit PrPSc Replication in Infected Cells*

Prion diseases are transmissible neurodegenerative disorders affecting humans and animals for which no therapeutic or prophylactic regimens exist. During the last three years several studies have shown that anti-PrP monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) can antagonize prion propagation in vitro and in vivo, but the mechanisms of inhibition are not known so far. To identify the most powerful mAbs and characterize more precisely the therapeutic effect of anti-PrP antibodies, we have screened 145 different mAbs produced in our laboratory for their capacity to cure cells constitutively expressing PrPSc. Our results confirm for a very large series of antibodies that mAbs recognizing cell-surface native PrPc can efficiently clean and definitively cure infected cells. Antibodies having a cleaning effect are directed against linear epitopes located in at least four different regions of PrP, suggesting an epitope-independent inhibition mechanism. The consequence of antibody binding is the sequestration of PrPc at the cell surface, an increase of PrPc levels recovered in cell culture medium, and an internalization of antibodies. Taken together these data suggest that the cleaning process is more likely due to a global effect on the PrP trafficking and/or transconformation process. Two antibodies, Sha31 and BAR236, show an IC50 of 0.6 nm, thus appearing 10-fold more efficient than previous antibodies described in the literature. Finally, five co-treatments were also tested, and only one of them, described previously (SAF34 + SAF61), lowered PrPSc levels in the cells synergistically.
A straightforward closed-loop Wireless Power Transfer battery charger

Recent advances in Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) technology have allowed its application in numerous different fields. When employing loosely coupled coils to implement WPT systems, power transferred to the load tends to decrease as misalignment between antennas increases. In practical applications such as in electric vehicles (EV) wireless battery charging perfect coils positioning is hardly achieved without the use of position sensors. This paper presents a simple WPT system architecture with two closed-loops control algorithms that allow automatic power regulation up to a certain misalignment level. The proposed solution uses a small number of sensors and a simplex radio frequency communication channel to feed back voltage, current and power information from the secondary circuit to the primary side microcontroller.
Porous silicon as backing material for Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers

Crosstalks caused by Lamb waves propagating in the CMUT supporting substrate must be suppressed to avoid artifacts in the ultrasonic images. The present paper investigates the use of porous silicon as backing to preserve the device thickness and to consider 3D integration. In this way porous silicon layers were formed on the rear sides of CMUT'wafers. The electrical performances of the devices before and after porous silicon formation were estimated by electrical impedance measurements. They show that the transducer resonance is conserved even after making porous silicon. Moreover, the CMUT softening effect is preserved. The influence of the backing on the CMUT response in acoustic load condition was estimated by membrane displacement measurements. The experiments show that the use of a porous silicon backing significantly reduces the resonance of the substrate thickness mode. The impulse duration is 3.5 μs shorter when a porous silicon layer is formed on the rear side of CMUT substrate. These first results confirm that porous silicon is a promising candidate as backing material for ultrasonic transducers.
Heating within spheres of different size irradiated by an electromagnetic plane wave

This paper presents the results obtained by multiphysics (electromagnetic and thermal) numerical simulations which show the influence of the size in two different spheres that are irradiated by an electromagnetic plane wave. Each sphere is constituted by a series of concentric layers that emulate the tissues in the head. A 10 mW/cm2 plane wave is used as source, and the frequency is setup to 1.8 GHz. The power absorbed per unit volume by the tissues (W/m3) is calculated by using the 3-D Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. Then, temperature inside the spheres is calculated by using a Finite Differences (FD) formulation of the heat diffusion equation. Two different ways of calculating the power-loss density are presented, and validated with analytical results. It is observed that the increase of temperature inside a 66 mm sphere is higher than inside a 100 mm sphere. However, the power absorbed per unit volume in the brain zone is six times higher in the 100 mm sphere.
NOTES ON SYNAPTIC VESICLES AND RELATED STRUCTURES, ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM, LYSOSOMES AND PEROXISOMES IN NERVOUS TISSUE AND THE ADRENAL MEDULLA

This paper reviews aspects of the origin and fate of synaptic vesicles and of the related catecholamine-containing secretion granules of the adrenal medulla. Most attention is given to evidence concerning the proposal that the membrane surrounding synaptic vesicles can originate from axonal agranular reticulum, participate in exocytosis and endocytosis and eventually undergo degradation in lysosomes of axons and perikarya. A number of relevant details of the roles of several organelles in neurons and other cells of the nervous system are discussed. The paper centers around microscopic and cytochemical work on a few experimental systems.
Partitioned Stator Flux Reversal Machine With Consequent-Pole PM Stator

In this paper, partitioned stator flux reversal permanent magnet (PS-FRPM) machines having different stator/rotor pole combinations with consequent-pole PM (CPM) stator are proposed and analyzed. Compared with the conventional 12-stator-pole PS-FRPM machines having 10-, 11-, 13-, and 14-rotor-pole rotors and surface-mounted PM (SPM) stator, the PM volume in the proposed PS-FRPM machines with CPM stator can be saved by 28.33%, 30%, 30%, and 33.33%, respectively, while the torque density are similar, i.e., 98.59%, 96.69%, 95.50%, and 97.15%, respectively. Besides, the proposed PS-FRPM machines with CPM stator can exhibit only <;1% smaller efficiency compared with the existing PS-FRPM machines with SPM inner stator.
Numerical simulation of confined flows past obstacles - the comparative study of Lattice Boltzmann and Spectral Element Methods

This paper concerns the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) which has recently become alternative, computationally efficient tool to simulate a Newtonian fluid flow, especially in complex geometries. A series of benchmark two-dimensional simulations with the LBM are presented and analyzed in order to assess the impact of the LBM grid refinement on the results of the simulations. The considered cases include stationary and time-dependent flows past a circular or a 45-degree rotated square cylinder confined in the channel with parallel walls. Next, the same flow configurations are investigated by means of the Spectral Element Method (SEM) and obtained results are used to cross-validate both approaches. The sensitivity to the resolution of representation of the obstacle’s shape in the LBM simulations is of the main interest. Particular attention is paid also to the effects of compressibility of the flow. Additionally, for unsteady flows the transient flow characteristics are compared in detail: the velocity profiles from the LBM and SEM are presented and some non-dimensional characteristics such as Strouhal number of the compared von Karman vortex streets.
Different aspects of source information for limited data speaker verification

Limited data speaker verification has shown its significance in practical system oriented applications. The paper shows the importance of different aspects of voice source feature for limited test data scenario. A baseline speaker verification system using conventional mel frequency cepstral co-efficients (MFCC) feature is developed and performance under limited test data condition (≤10 s) is evaluated. A parallel system based on source feature mel power difference of spectrum in subband (M-PDSS) is developed in the i-vector based speaker verification framework. Both the systems were fused at the score level for the cases of short segments of test speech, which demonstrated the importance of source feature with reduction in test data duration. A comparative study of the M-PDSS feature is then made with our earlier work using discrete cosine transform of the integrated linear prediction residual (DCTILPR) feature and then fusion of two source features M-PDSS and DCTILPR along with MFCC features is carried out. An absolute improvement of 5.19% is obtained for 2 s of test data which conveys the significance of multiple source information under limited data speaker verification as it carries different aspects of source information.
Synthesis of core–shell structured FAU/SBA-15 composite molecular sieves and their performance in catalytic cracking of polystyrene

Abstract Composite molecular sieves, FAU/SBA-15, having core-shell structure were synthesized. The synthesized composite sieves were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), pyrolysis fourier transform infrared (Py-FTIR) spectroscopy, temperature programmed desorption spectra (NH3-TPD), UV Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and other techniques. XRD, SEM, TEM, N2 adsorption-desorption, mass spectrometry, NMR and EDS results showed that the composite molecular sieve contained two pore channels. Py-FTIR results showed that the addition of HY molecular sieves improved the acidity of the composite zeolite. The crystallization mechanism during the growth of FAU/SBA-15 shell was deduced from the influence of crystallization time on the synthesis of FAU/SBA-15 core-shell structured composite molecular sieve. HY dissociated partially in H2SO4 solution, and consisted of secondary structural units. This framework structure was more stable than its presence in the isolated form on the same ring or in the absence of Al. Thus it played a guiding role and connected with SBA-15 closely through the Si-O bond. This resulted in the gradual covering of the exterior surface of FAU phase by SBA-15 molecular sieves. The presence of SBA-15 restricted the formation of the other high mass components and increased the selectivity towards ethylbenzene.
The semantics of multicopy atomic ARMv8 and RISC-V

This work was funded by a Computer Laboratory and Qualcomm Premium Studentship, an EPSRC and Arm Ltd. Industrial CASE Studentship (grant no. EP/L505389/1), and the EPSRC Programme Grant “REMS: Rigorous Engineering for Mainstream Systems” (grant no. EP/K008528/1).
Loss of B cell regulatory function is associated with delayed healing in patients with tibia fracture

The process of bone regeneration after fracture is a complex and well‐orchestrated process usually requiring 3–12 weeks. A subset of patients, however, exhibit delayed healing time and even incomplete restoration of the normal bone structure. Although the precise mechanism is unknown, studies have shown that smurf1 may play a role during the process. Here, we sought to determine the involvement of the immune system in impaired bone healing. We found that immediately after fracture, the B‐cell composition was shifted toward increased frequency of plasmablasts and decreased frequency of naïve B cells, reflecting higher inflammatory status. The percentage of CD19+CD24+CD38+ regulatory B cells was also upregulated in response to bone fracture. The production of IL‐10, a pivotal cytokine in regulatory B‐cell function, was upregulated in all patients. Interestingly, the increase in IL‐10 production was only sustained throughout the healing course in normal healing patients but not in delayed healing patients. Rather, delayed healing patients downregulated B‐cell IL‐10 secretion early and had reduced level of regulatory B‐cell activity. Together, these data revealed a role of regulatory B cells in the endogenous bone regeneration process and an alternation in B‐cell‐mediated regulation in delayed healing patients.
Genetic variation by birth cohorts in Mexican Americans of Starr County, Texas

Mexican Americans residing in Starr County, Texas, were grouped by their year of birth (1896–1925, 1926–1955, and 1956–1985) to determine the extent of birth cohort‐related genetic variation within this population and the genetic differences, if any, from the Mexican population residing in the Metropolitan Monterrey Area (MMA), Nuevo León, México. Twenty‐one genetic markers were analyzed which indicate that the three birth cohort groups are genetically indistinguishable. Gene diversity analysis suggests that more than 99.8% of the total gene diversity can be attributed to variation between individuals within the birth cohort populations and that the subdivision by birth cohort has only a small contribution (0.18%) to the total gene diversity. Genetic admixture analysis indicates a predominant influence from the Spanish, and that the three birth cohort groups were similar in terms of contributions of this ancestral population. The genetic structure of the Mexican American population of Starr County was also similar to the Mexican population from the State of Nuevo León, México. These findings, together with previous results, suggest that the Mexican Americans of Starr County, Texas, classified by gender, birthplace, and age, are not genetically distinguishable and are similar to the Mexican populations of the State of Nuevo León. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Functional MRI study of mild Alzheimer's disease using amplitude of low frequency fluctuation analysis.

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that the functional brain activity in the resting state is impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. However, most studies focused on the relationship between different brain areas, rather than the amplitude or strength of the regional brain activity. The purpose of this study was to explore the functional brain changes in AD patients by measuring the amplitude of the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) signals. METHODS Twenty mild AD patients and twenty healthy elderly subjects participated in the fMRI scan. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) was calculated using REST software. RESULTS Compared with the healthy elderly subjects, the mild AD patients showed decreased ALFF in the right posterior cingulate cortex, right ventral medial prefrontal cortex, and in the bilateral dorsal medial prefrontal cortex. No brain region with increased ALFF was found in the AD group compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS The reduced activity in the posterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex observed in the present study suggest that the functional abnormalities of those areas are at an early stage of AD. The ALFF analysis may provide a useful tool in fMRI study of AD.
The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons from the Democratic Uprising

cores outwards to the peripheries. The fourth chapter is concerned with governance issues in African cities, including how city governments and residents cope with these challenges. Questions about justice, especially with respect to service-delivery and governance issues at the margins of city communities, are dealt with. There is also a discussion of various approaches that could be utilised in analysing these issues. The fifth chapter is a critique of the Western scholarship approach to look at African cities merely as ‘wounded’, war-ravaged, and strife-torn localities. Using the example of Mogadishu, it examines linkages between Somali exiles and that city, suggesting the importance of the urban vision of African culture. The final chapter is an elaboration on emerging global linkages which, through the phenomena of diasporas and trans-nationalism, usher various cosmopolitan tendencies into African cities.