Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nuclear Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 4e (Eif4e) Colocalizes with Splicing Factors in Speckles

The eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) plays a pivotal role in the control of protein synthesis. eIF4E binds to the mRNA 5′ cap structure, m7GpppN (where N is any nucleotide) and promotes ribosome binding to the mRNA. It was previously shown that a fraction of eIF4E localizes to the nucleus (Lejbkowicz, F., C. Goyer, A. Darveau, S. Neron, R. Lemieux, and N. Sonenberg. 1992. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 89:9612–9616). Here, we show that the nuclear eIF4E is present throughout the nucleoplasm, but is concentrated in speckled regions. Double label immunofluorescence confocal microscopy shows that eIF4E colocalizes with Sm and U1snRNP. We also demonstrate that eIF4E is specifically released from the speckles by the cap analogue m7GpppG in a cell permeabilization assay. However, eIF4E is not released from the speckles by RNase A treatment, suggesting that retention of eIF4E in the speckles is not RNA-mediated. 5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole (DRB) treatment of cells causes the condensation of eIF4E nuclear speckles. In addition, overexpression of the dual specificity kinase, Clk/Sty, but not of the catalytically inactive form, results in the dispersion of eIF4E nuclear speckles.
SIZING FOR THE DESIGN OF HIGH CAPACITY RADIO LINK SYSTEMS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Rain cell size is an input requirement for rain-induced attenuation studies. It is useful in estimating the extent of a given radio link path that will traverse the rain medium in a given rain event. The “Synthetic Storm” approach, which requires 1-minute integration time data, is used to derive the proposed rain cell sizes for various climatic zones within South Africa. The conversion of the readily available 1-hour integration time rain rate data to the desired 1-minute rain rate is carried out first for some locations and then validated by the existing measurement data and proposed global conversion factors. By the use of rain-induced attenuation prediction equation for terrestrial links that requires rain cell size as input, contour plots of specific attenuation for two high bandwidth frequencies used in terrestrial link implementations is presented. Site diversity separation distance map is proposed as well from the link budget analysis for each location to achieve an all time link availability of 99.99% of time.
Ursolic Acid Inhibits Superoxide Production in Activated Neutrophils and Attenuates Trauma-Hemorrhage Shock-Induced Organ Injury in Rats

Neutrophil activation is associated with the development of organ injury after trauma–hemorrhagic shock. In the present study, ursolic acid inhibited the superoxide anion generation and elastase release in human neutrophils. Administration of ursolic acid attenuated trauma–hemorrhagic shock-induced hepatic and lung injuries in rats. In addition, administration of ursolic acid attenuated the hepatic malondialdehyde levels and reduced the plasma aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels after trauma–hemorrhagic shock. In conclusion, ursolic acid, a bioactive natural compound, inhibits superoxide anion generation and elastase release in human neutrophils and ameliorates trauma–hemorrhagic shock-induced organ injury in rats.
The Generalised Extreme Value Distribution as Utility Function

The idea that probability distribution functions could provide appropriate mathematical forms for utility functions representing risk aversion is of respectable antiquity. But the relatively few examples that have appeared in the economics literature have displayed quite restrictive risk aversion properties. This paper examines the potential of the generalised extreme value (GEV) distribution as utility function, showing it possesses considerable flexibility as regards risk aversion properties, even in its single parameter form. The paper concludes that the GEV utility function is worth considering for applications in cases where parametric parsimony matters.
Allowing early inspection of activity data from a highly distributed bodynet with a hierarchical-clustering-of-segments approach

The output delivered by body-wide inertial sensing systems has proven to contain sufficient information to distinguish between a large number of complex physical activities. The bottlenecks in these systems are in particular the parts of such systems that calculate and select features, as the high dimensionality of the raw sensor signals with the large set of possible features tends to increase rapidly. This paper presents a novel method using a hierarchical clustering method on raw trajectory and angular segments from inertial data to detect and analyze the data from such a distributed set of inertial sensors. We illustrate on a public dataset, how this novel way of modeling can be of assistance in the process of designing a fitting activity recognition system. We show that our method is capable of highlighting class-representative modalities in such high-dimensional data and can be applied to pinpoint target classes that might be problematic to classify at an early stage.
Novel Insights into the Structural Basis of pH-Sensitivity in Inward Rectifier K+ Channels Kir2.3

The Kir2 channels belong to a family of potassium selective channels with characteristic strong inward rectification. Heteromeric assemblies of Kir2.1, Kir2.2 and Kir2.3 channels underly membrane potential stabilizing currents in ventricular myocytes, neurons and skeletal muscle. Kir2 channels differ substantially in their sensitivity to extracellular pH. The extracellular histidine Kir2.3(H117) contributes to the pH dependence of K-channels containing Kir2.3. Here, we study the possibility of intramolecular interactions of the residue Kir2.3(H117) with conserved cysteines in close proximity to the selectivity filter. We engineered a cobalt coordination site and reduction/oxidation sensitivity in Kir2.3 by introduction of a cysteine into the putatively hydrogen bonding residue (Kir2.3(H117C)) confirming that this residue is in proximity to Kir2.3(C141). Using SCAM we determined the location of the Kir2.3(H117) in the outer pore mouth and incorporated these data into a 3D model. We conclude that formation of a hydrogen bond at low pH may stabilize the outer pore domain to favour the selectivity filter in a slightly distorted conformation thus reducing ion permeation. The data provide molecular insight into the unique pH regulation of inward rectifier channels.
A SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVE DISSEMINATION OF MULTIMEDIA INFORMATION RESULTING FROM THE ALERT PROJECT

The media monitoring activity is undergoing a large expansion as a consequence of the different emerging media sources. This is pushing the development of automatic systems for selective dissemination of multimedia information. In this paper we present the development of a prototype system able to scan multimedia data, specifically TV broadcasts, and to generate alert messages to users about the relevant information to them. The system makes use of advanced processing technologies for content-based indexing of multimedia information. We use large vocabulary speech recognition system, associated with audio segmentation, and automatic topic indexing and segmentation, to generate category information as semantic markup of multimedia data. The system service is based on a web interface design offering new views of these marked documents and providing useful end-user services based on the content multimedia exploitation.
Understanding the Role of Machiavellianism in Unfavorable LMX Comparison Processes

Individuals are always sensitive to their relative status in different leader-member exchanges (LMXs) through the comparison of their own LMXs with those of others, which may affect their interaction with each other. Little research, however, has examined whether or not one’s LMX is outperformed by another coworker will always influence one to have a negative perception and reaction to this coworker within a dyad. Drawing on social comparison and utility theories and the research on Machiavellianism (Mach), we propose to test a moderated-mediation model uncovering why and when employees with high Mach can affiliate with their comparison target coworkers in unfavorable LMX comparison processes. Our results revealed that a lower level of A’s LMX compared with a higher level of B’s LMX elicits A’s perception of status threat caused by B when Mach is high. We also found that A’s perceived status threat motivates A to engage in affiliative behaviors - seeking help from B and displaying impression-management to.
Voice coil based hopping mechanism for microrobot

Hopping is a very efficient locomotion method for a robot in an unconstructed environment or a complicated terrain. Small hopping robots have many interesting properties in comparison to the larger ones. However, relatively little research has been reported on hopping microrobot, while most of existing designs of hopping robots are not suitable to scale down. In this paper we propose a novel hopping mechanism that is based on the working principle of voice coil actuator. This mechanism is relatively easy to miniaturize and the hopping performance improves in a smaller scale. Two prototypes are developed based on electromagnetic simulation and an analytic model of hopping process. The first prototype has a dimension of Φ30 mm × 10 mm and a mass of 41.59 g, with a hopping height of about 45 mm. The second one has a dimension of Φ14 mm × 6 mm and a mass of 4.94 g, and achieves a hopping height of about 65 mm.
Projections of Global Mercury Emissions in 2050

Global Hg emissions are presented for the year 2050 under a variety of assumptions about socioeconomic and technology development. We find it likely that Hg emissions will increase in the future. The range of 2050 global Hg emissions is projected to be 2390-4860 Mg, compared to 2006 levels of 2480 Mg, reflecting a change of-4% to +96%. The main driving force for increased emissions is the expansion of coal-fired electricity generation in the developing world, particularly Asia. Our ability to arrest the growth in Hg emissions is limited by the relatively low Hg removal efficiency of the current generation of emission control technologies for coal-fired power plants (flue-gas desulfurization). Large-scale deployment of advanced Hg sorbent technologies, such as Activated Carbon Injection, offers the promise of lowering the 2050 emissions range to 1670-3480 Mg, but these technologies are not yet in commercial use. The share of elemental Hg in total emissions will decline from today's levels of ∼65% to ∼50-55% by 2050, while the share of divalent Hg will increase. This signals a shift from long-range transport of elemental Hg to local deposition of Hg compoundssthough emissions of both species could increase under the worst case.
Polaris: a system for query, analysis, and visualization of multidimensional databases

During the last decade, multidimensional databases have become common in the business and scientific worlds. Analysis places significant demands on the interfaces to these databases. It must be possible for analysts to easily and incrementally change both the data and their views of it as they cycle between hypothesis and experimentation. In this paper, we address these demands by presenting the Polaris formalism, a visual query language for precisely describing a wide range of table-based graphical presentations of data. This language compiles into both the queries and drawing commands necessary to generate the visualization, enabling us to design systems that closely integrate analysis and visualization. Using the Polaris formalism, we have built an interactive interface for exploring multidimensional databases that analysts can use to rapidly and incrementally build an expressive range of views of their data as they engage in a cycle of visual analysis.
Coronary Artery Tracking from Dynamic Cardiac CT Sequences

In this paper, we present an algorithm for coronary artery segmentation and tracking in dynamic cardiac CT sequences. The algorithm allows the automatic construction of a 4D coronary motion model from pre-operative CT which can be used for guiding totally-endoscopic coronary artery bypass surgery (TECAB). The A* graph search algorithm is used for tracking the coronary arteries through different time frames automatically. First, a Hessianbased vesselness filter is used to enhance tubular-like sturcture in the cardiac CT images. Then a smooth window function is used to highlight the intensity region where the coronaries appear. A cost function is constructed based on vesselness and intensity information. A common problem in dynamic cardiac CT is reconstruction artifacts occuring due to the cardiac and respiratory motion. To enable the tracking of the coronaries in these cases we use prior probability information from previous time frames to increase the robustness of the tracking. We have validated the accuracy of the proposed tracking algorithm by comparing the automatically tracked centerlines of the coronaries in each time frame with the manually extracted coronary centerlines. The average error of the tracking is 0.82mm for CT sequences I, 0.85mm for CT sequences II.
A self-organizing content centric network model for hybrid vehicular ad-hoc networks

This paper proposes a novel network architecture based on content routing and dissemination techniques, expressly adapted for hybrid mobile and vehicular ad-hoc networks. Hybrid vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) are a subclass of mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) where each node is a moving vehicle equipped with one or more communication devices, potentially having access to several different physical communication channels. This results in a partly decentralized, self-organizing mobile radio network with a fast changing topology. Applications designed for VANETs still require efficient mapping techniques to associate content to the host serving it, as well as centralized databases associating vehicles and mobile nodes to a persistent and unique identifier. They also assume that the content providers are located in the infrastructure, but nodes and vehicles can be equipped with sensors and as such produce information. This means that dissemination and retrieval algorithms have to take into account the distribution of the consumers, providers and forwarder all over the network. We propose an architecture based on Van Jacobson's Content Centric Networking, extended and modified to solve some of the issues related to content access and dissemination across hybrid VANETs. The implementation and simulation on a realistic platform are presented as well as an application to a real case scenario, demonstrating the efficiency of the approach.
N-linked glycosylation is required for optimal proteolytic activation of membrane-bound transcription factor CREB-H

CREB-H is a liver-enriched bZIP transcription factor of the CREB3 subfamily. CREB-H is activated by intramembrane proteolysis that removes a C-terminal transmembrane domain. Aberrant expression of CREB-H is implicated in liver cancer. In this study we characterized N-linked glycosylation of CREB-H in the luminal domain at the C-terminus. We found that CREB-H is modified at three N-linked glycosylation sites in this region. Disruption of all three sites by site-directed mutagenesis completely abrogated N-linked glycosylation of CREB-H. The unglycosylated mutant of CREB-H was not unstable, unfolded or aggregated. Upon stimulation with an activator of intramembrane proteolysis such as brefeldin A and KDEL-tailed site 1 protease, unglycosylated or deglycosylated CREB-H was largely uncleaved, retained in an inactive form in the endoplasmic reticulum, and less capable of activating transcription driven by unfolded protein response element or C-reactive protein promoter. Taken together, our findings suggest that N-linked glycosylation is required for full activation of CREB-H through intramembrane proteolysis. Our work also reveals a novel mechanism for the regulation of CREB-H-dependent transcription.
BLANC: Implementing the Rand index for coreference evaluation

Abstract This paper addresses the current state of coreference resolution evaluation, in which different measures (notably, MUC, B3, CEAF, and ACE-value) are applied in different studies. None of them is fully adequate, and their measures are not commensurate. We enumerate the desiderata for a coreference scoring measure, discuss the strong and weak points of the existing measures, and propose the BiLateral Assessment of Noun-Phrase Coreference, a variation of the Rand index created to suit the coreference task. The BiLateral Assessment of Noun-Phrase Coreference rewards both coreference and non-coreference links by averaging the F-scores of the two types, does not ignore singletons – the main problem with the MUC score – and does not inflate the score in their presence – a problem with the B3 and CEAF scores. In addition, its fine granularity is consistent over the whole range of scores and affords better discrimination between systems.
Parental acculturation and parenting in Chinese immigrant families: the mediating role of social support

Abstract This study provided updated evidence on how parental acculturation and social support were associated with parenting in a sample of Chinese immigrant families (n = 255). The results from multivariate regressions with a rich array of control variables showed that parents’ cultural preferences for friends, food and TV programmes of other cultures were significantly associated with more parental nurturance and less intergenerational conflict, but had no significant associations with the use of harsh discipline. Neither the length of parents’ residence in the U.S. nor their English proficiency was significantly associated with their parenting behaviours. Perceived social support played a significant mediating role in the relationships between parental acculturation and nurturance, but not in the relationships of parental acculturation with intergenerational conflict. The findings can help social service professionals to have a better understanding of the needs in supporting positive parenting behaviours and promoting intergenerational relationships in Chinese immigrant families.
Navigation research on outdoor miniature reconnaissance robot

Miniature robot has becoming a preferable choice for outdoor reconnaissance task due to its flexibility. However, miniature robot tends to have poor navigation ability because of the limited perception ability coming with the constrained space. This paper focus on the navigation problem of outdoor miniature reconnaissance robot with limited sensing ability in unknown obstacles environment. In this paper, Global Position System (GPS), magnetometer and infrared distance sensor based artificial potential filed method is adopted to navigation robot go through obstacles. Meanwhile, local minimum trapped detection has been analyzed. Simulations and experiment proves the effectiveness of proposed method.
A combined measure for detection of schizotaxia

This study falls within research on schizotaxia, or neurocognitive risk markers of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and its usefulness for early prevention strategies. Two samples of 60 adults and 65 children and adolescents, with some genetic or psychosocial high-risk individuals among them, were examined to compare the relationship between schizotypy dimensions and risk factors, and neurocognitive performance. One of the most practical aspects of this study was the proposal of a combined and straightforward measure of liability to schizophrenia spectrum disorders, in contrast to the current high availability of neurocognitive markers. For that purpose, several psychometric analyses were made exploring schizotypy dimensions, as well as 16 measures of cortical functions (executive, attentional, working memory and general cognitive functioning tasks) in adults and 20 measures in adolescents. In keeping with previous research, our results hypothetically indicate that the most accurate measure of schizotaxia combines negative traits of schizotypy, in the range of percentile 90 or higher in the Introvertive Anhedonia subscale of the O-LIFE or percentile 85 or higher in the Negative Schizotypy subscale of the MSTQ and, on the other hand, a score of 5 or higher in a combined neurocognitive deficit scale in adults and 6 or higher in adolescents (the number of measures exceeding the threshold of deficit of the distribution scores). Moreover, some other independent measures of clinical and social function, and follow-up studies, are necessary to confirm the predictive validity of this measure of schizotaxia.
FRACTAL: A framework for recursive abstraction of SDN control-plane for large-scale production networks

Software-defined networking (SDN) renovates traditional networking systems by replacing a distributed, per-switch control plane with a (logically) centralized one. To design a scalable, highly available SDN control plane, it is inevitable to disseminate the network state to multiple instances horizontally by using measures like replication and partitioning. However, some recent studies reported that it is not sufficient to cover a large scale network in a purely horizontal manner. In this paper, we propose FRACTAL, a framework for recursive abstraction of SDN control-plane, to address this problem. In FRACTAL, a large network is divided into multiple small networks, each of which is abstracted as a single virtual switch. This “divide-and-abstract” process is recursively iterated until a divided network can be handled by a single controller. A virtual switch is controlled by the higher level controller over OpenFlow, so that FRACTAL can coexist with other SDN mechanisms.
A Genome-Wide Approach to Discovery of Small RNAs Involved in Regulation of Virulence in Vibrio cholerae

Small RNAs (sRNAs) are becoming increasingly recognized as important regulators in bacteria. To investigate the contribution of sRNA mediated regulation to virulence in Vibrio cholerae, we performed high throughput sequencing of cDNA generated from sRNA transcripts isolated from a strain ectopically expressing ToxT, the major transcriptional regulator within the virulence gene regulon. We compared this data set with ToxT binding sites determined by pulldown and deep sequencing to identify sRNA promoters directly controlled by ToxT. Analysis of the resulting transcripts with ToxT binding sites in cis revealed two sRNAs within the Vibrio Pathogenicity Island. When deletions of these sRNAs were made and the resulting strains were competed against the parental strain in the infant mouse model of V. cholerae colonization, one, TarB, displayed a variable colonization phenotype dependent on its physiological state at the time of inoculation. We identified a target of TarB as the mRNA for the secreted colonization factor, TcpF. We verified negative regulation of TcpF expression by TarB and, using point mutations that disrupted interaction between TarB and tpcF mRNA, showed that loss of this negative regulation was primarily responsible for the colonization phenotype observed in the TarB deletion mutant.