Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Recombinant H7N9 Wild-Type and Mutant Viruses in Pigs Shows that the Q226L Mutation in HA Is Important for Transmission

ABSTRACT The fact that there have been more than 300 human infections with a novel avian H7N9 virus in China indicates that this emerging strain has pandemic potential. Furthermore, many of the H7N9 viruses circulating in animal reservoirs contain putative mammalian signatures in the HA and PB2 genes that are believed to be important in the adaptation of other avian strains to humans. To date, the definitive roles of these mammalian-signature substitutions in transmission and pathogenesis of H7N9 viruses remain unclear. To address this we analyzed the biological characteristics, pathogenicity, and transmissibility of A/Anhui/1/2013 (H7N9) virus and variants in vitro and in vivo using a synthetically created wild-type virus (rAnhui-WT) and two mutants (rAnhui-HA-226Q and rAnhui-PB2-627E). All three viruses replicated in lungs of intratracheally inoculated pigs, yet nasal shedding was limited. The rAnhui-WT and rAnhui-PB2-627E viruses were transmitted to contact animals. In contrast, the rAnhui-HA-226Q virus was not transmitted to sentinel pigs. Deep sequencing of viruses from the lungs of infected pigs identified substitutions arising in the viral population (e.g., PB2-T271A, PB2-D701N, HA-V195I, and PB2-E627K reversion) that may enhance viral replication in pigs. Collectively, the results demonstrate that critical mutations (i.e., HA-Q226L) enable the H7N9 viruses to be transmitted in a mammalian host and suggest that the myriad H7N9 genotypes circulating in avian species in China and closely related strains (e.g., H7N7) have the potential for further adaptation to human or other mammalian hosts (e.g., pigs), leading to strains capable of sustained human-to-human transmission. IMPORTANCE The genomes of the zoonotic avian H7N9 viruses emerging in China have mutations in critical genes (PB2-E627K and HA-Q226L) that may be important in their pandemic potential. This study shows that (i) HA-226L of zoonotic H7N9 strains is critical for binding the α-2,6-linked receptor and enables transmission in pigs; (ii) wild-type A/Anhui/1/2013 (H7N9) shows modest replication, virulence, and transmissibility in pigs, suggesting that it is not well adapted to the mammalian host; and (iii) both wild-type and variant H7N9 viruses rapidly develop additional mammalian-signature mutations in pigs, indicating that they represent an important potential intermediate host. This is the first study analyzing the phenotypic effects of specific mutations within the HA and PB2 genes of the novel H7N9 viruses created by reverse genetics in an important mammalian host model. Finally, this study illustrates that loss-of-function mutations can be used to effectively identify residues critical to zoonosis/transmission.
Effect of Ammonia on Brain Serotonin Metabolism in Relation to Function in the Portacaval Shunted Rat

Abstract: Four weeks following portacaval anastomosis (PCA) in the rat, severe liver atrophy, sustained hyperammonemia, and increased plasma and brain tryptophan are observed. Administration of ammonium acetate (NH4Ac) to rats with PCA precipitates severe signs of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) (loss of righting reflex progressing to loss of consciousness and ultimately deep coma). To evaluate the relationship between the deterioration of neurological status in HE and serotonin (5‐HT) metabolism, the levels of 5‐HT, its precursor 5‐hydroxytryptophan, and its major metabolite 5‐hydroxyindole‐3‐acetic acid (5‐HIAA) were measured by HPLC with ion‐pairing and electrochemical detection in three well‐defined areas of the cerebral cortex: anterior cingulate, piriform and entorhinal, and frontoparietal; as well as in the caudateputamen, the raphe nuclei, and the locus ceruleus in rats with PCA at different stages of HE, before and after injection of NH4Ac, as well as in sham‐operated controls. The results demonstrate increased 5‐HIAA/5‐HT ratios after PCA and NH4Ac loading, suggesting increased 5‐HT turnover in the brains of these animals. However, these changes do not appear to be related to the precipitation of coma as no significant difference in 5‐HT turnover was observed between precoma and coma stages of HE. Increased 5‐HT turnover in brain of shunted rats may be related to early symptoms of HE such as altered sleep patterns and disorders of motor coordination.
Providing high availability using lazy replication

To provide high availability for services such as mail or bulletin boards, data must be replicated. One way to guarantee consistency of replicated data is to force service operations to occur in the same order at all sites, but this approach is expensive. For some applications a weaker causal operation order can preserve consistency while providing better performance. This paper describes a new way of implementing causal operations. Our technique also supports two other kinds of operations: operations that are totally ordered with respect to one another and operations that are totally ordered with respect to all other operations. The method performs well in terms of response time, operation-processing capacity, amount of stored state, and number and size of messages; it does better than replication methods based on reliable multicast techniques.
High temperature oxidation behavior of a Mo–3Si–1B(wt%) alloy

Abstract Molybdenum base alloys with the addition of small amounts of silicon (2–4.5 wt.%) and boron (∼1 wt.%) can form a passivating layer protecting the alloy from further rapid oxidation. When such molybdenum base alloys are exposed to oxidizing environments at high temperatures, a borosilicate glass layer can form that will reduce the transport of oxygen to the alloy to limit further oxidation. Oxidation is then controlled by diffusion through the borosilicate glass layer. The focus of this research was to study the mechanisms and kinetics of high temperature oxidation of a Mo–Si–B alloy. The base alloy has a composition of Mo–3Si–1B (wt.%) and was studied in a variety of gas environments over a range of temperatures in order to elucidate the critical factors that allow it to develop a protective borosilicate glass layer. The borosilicate glass layer is protective when no continuous channels exist in the layer extending from the gas interface to the alloy interface. The borosilicate layer is believed to contain channels in the early stages of development and the elimination of the channels is obtained by appropriate control of the temperature and gas flow conditions whereby MoO3 is removed via vaporization while the borosilicate viscosity is not increased due to loss of B2O3. Once the borosilicate layer is continuous and free of channels, subsequent oxidation occurs by inward diffusion of oxygen and the outward diffusion of molybdenum through this layer with vaporization of MoO3 occurring at the gas/borosilicate layer interface, and MoO2 and additional borosilicate forming at the alloy/MoO2 interface.
Antitumour activity of sunitinib in combination with gemcitabine in experimental pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND Gemcitabine (Gem) has limited clinical benefits in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Sunitinib (Su) is a novel, multi-target receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has antitumour activities. This study tested the benefits of combined gemcitabine and sunitinib in PDAC. METHODS Cell viability and protein expression were evaluated by WST-1 assay and Western blotting. Tumour growth and survival experiments were performed in murine xenografts. RESULTS In PDAC cells, Gem, Su and Su + Gem, respectively, caused 28%, 22% and 48% inhibition in proliferation at 100 nM. In endothelial cells, Gem, Su and Su + Gem, respectively, caused 49%, 32% and 72% inhibition in proliferation. In fibroblasts, Gem, Su and Su + Gem, respectively, caused 65%, 14% and 79% inhibition in proliferation. Su increased apoptosis, as evidenced by the cleavage of caspase-3 and PARP-1 proteins. Net tumour growth compared with controls in the Gem, Su and Su + Gem groups was 57%, 6% and 1%, respectively. Intratumoral proliferative activity was reduced by 33%, 82% and 75% in the Gem, Su and Su + Gem groups, respectively, compared with controls. Median survival in the control, Su, Gem and Su + Gem groups was 16, 21, 24 and 30 days, respectively (P=0.007). CONCLUSIONS These findings support a combination approach using multi-target antiangiogenic agents such as sunitinib with standard gemcitabine therapy in the treatment of PDAC.
Efficacy of a Mydriatic Spray in the Pediatric Population

Background. Children often resist instillation of mydriatic drops for dilated fundus evaluation. As cycloplegic sprays have proven useful, this study's aim was to demonstrate efficacy of a mydriatic spray. Methods. Twenty-two healthy subjects, ages 2 to 8 years, participated in the study. All but two had dark brown irides. Subjects were given either one drop each of 1% tropicamide and 2.5% phenylephrine in each eye or one application of mydriatic spray (containing concentrations of 0.5% tropicamide and 2.5% phenylephrine) to each closed eyelid. Pupils were measured with a pupil gauge before drug delivery and every 10 min thereafter, for 40 min. Results. Repeated measures analysis of variance for the five time intervals demonstrated no significant difference between the two application methods nor in the method/time interaction, but a statistically significant increase in pupil size over time (p<0.0005) for each method. A t-test revealed no statistically significant difference in pupil size (p>0.05) between the two methods of drug administration at 40 min after application. Conclusions. This study suggests that use of mydriatic sprays on closed eyelids is as efficacious as use of mydriatic drops in open eyes for children.
Fuzzy Rules Extraction Based on Deterministic Data ( Case Study : Bank ' s Customers Rating )

Financial institutions and banks are the type of organizations whose customer rating is very valuable. In the present paper, two algorithms are proposed and compared that can extract some fuzzy rules from deterministic data. Each fuzzy rule may be used as a class of customers. In the first algorithm, a method is proposed based on both experiment and fuzzy theory. In the second algorithm a heuristic approach is proposed. Additionally, for more explanations a case study in a real bank is presented. © 2014 Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. All rights reserved
Geodesic Polar Coordinates on Polygonal Meshes

Geodesic Polar Coordinates (GPCs) on a smooth surface S are local surface coordinates that relates a surface point to a planar parameter point by the length and direction of a corresponding geodesic curve onS. They are intrinsic to the surface and represent a natural local parameterization with useful properties. We present a simple and efficient algorithm to approximate GPCs on both triangle and general polygonal meshes. Our approach, named DGPC, is based on extending an existing algorithm for computing geodesic distance. We compare our approach with previous methods, both with respect to efficiency, accuracy and visual qualities when used for local mesh texturing. As a further application we show how the resulting coordinates can be used for vector space methods like local remeshing at interactive frame‐rates even for large meshes.
Location-Aware Path Alignment in Process Mining

Location-aware log data is an untapped source of information that promises new business analysis insights. This is in particular the case for business processes that can be linked to sensor data such as RFID or WiFi signals. Technically, this question can be formulated as a special type of alignment problem, which is well known in process mining. In this paper, we formalize the alignment problem for spatio-temporal event data. Our contribution is a novel algorithm that finds sensor IDs that travel together on the basis of their location information. Questions centered around spatio-temporal event logs may include all kinds of movements, such as customers in shops highlighting 'Hot and Cold areas' or tracking of material and goods in a production plant. For this paper, we choose a specific challenge for retail companies, which is to find out if customers are alone or visit the shop together with family or friends. Therefore, the algorithm is tested using positioning-data of a retail shop from the fashion industry. Our results highlight the benefits of location-based process mining by showing its applicability in real scenarios.
Filling Knowledge Gaps in a Broad-Coverage Machine Translation System

Knowledge-based machine translation (KBMT) techniques yield high quabty in domuoH with detailed semantic models, limited vocabulary, and controlled input grammar Scaling up along these dimensions means acquiring large knowledge resources It also means behaving reasonably when definitive knowledge is not yet available This paper describes how we can fill various KBMT knowledge gap*, often using robust statistical techniques We describe quantitative and qualitative results from JAPANGLOSS, a broad-coverage Japanese-English MT system.
Time-Triggered Implementations of Dynamic Controllers

Bridging the gap between model-based design and platform-based implementation is one of the critical challenges for embedded software systems. In the context of embedded control systems that interact with an environment, a variety of errors due to quantization, delays, and scheduling policies may generate executable code that does not faithfully implement the model-based design. In this article, we show that the performance gap between the model-level semantics of linear dynamic controllers, for example, the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers and their implementation-level semantics, can be rigorously quantified if the controller implementation is executed on a predictable time-triggered architecture. Our technical approach uses lifting techniques for periodic time-varying linear systems in order to compute the exact error between the model semantics and the execution semantics. Explicitly computing the impact of the implementation on overall system performance allows us to compare and partially order different implementations with various scheduling or timing characteristics.
The Effect of Quench Rate on the Microstructure and Properties of AF/C-458 and AF/C-489 Al-Li-Cu-X Alloys

The Air Force recently developed two isotropic Al-Li-Cu-X alloys with 1.8W/oLi and 2.1w/oLi designated AF/C-458 and AF/C-489, respectively. The objective of this investigation was to determine the effect of quench rate on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the AF/C-458 and AF/C-489 alloys. TEM, SEM, microhardness, and tensile testing were utilized to ascertain these microstructure/property relationships for both alloys in the T4, T6, and T86 tempers as a function of quench rate. Subsequent losses in ductility for both alloys in all tempers with decreasing quench rate were determined to be due to the precipitation of the equilibrium Al 2 CuLi (T 1 ) phase along subgrain and grain boundaries which promoted intergranular fracture. Furthermore, yield and tensile strengths increased for both alloys in the T4 temper but decreased in the T6 and T86 tempers with decreasing quench rate. The increased strengths for the T4 condition resulted from the heterogeneous precipitation of coarse T 1 and naturally aged δ' phases. The decrease in yield and tensile strengths for the T6 and T86 tempers were also due to the coarse heterogeneous precipitation of T 1 which denuded regions of Cu thereby reducing the number density of fine matrix θ (T6) and T, (T86). Finally, a comparison of the quench sensitivity for both the AF/C-458 and AF/C-489 alloys indicates that the mechanical properties for both alloys were less quench rate sensitive than other typical Al-Li-Cu-X alloys.
Technologies for Improving the Speed and Accuracy of Fingerprint Identification Systems in Support of Public Bodies

The biometric identification technology is currently used widely, from consumer solutions such as entry/exit management and PC logins to national solutions such as for national ID numbering and electoral management systems. Of the biometric features, fingerprints have long been used as one of the core identification systems because of the high matching accuracy. At NEC, we have dedicated over four decades to the R&D of biometric authentication technologies and have ranked top in major fingerprint identification accuracy tests. We have also deployed the technology in a wide range of applications such as for the fingerprint matching systems of crime investigations as well as large-scale authentication systems such as the Indian Unique ID (UID) system. When operating authentication systems, the authentication processing time will not generally be a significant issue with relatively small scale matching targets such as the entry/exit management and PC login systems. However it may be so with the matching targets of large-scale systems such as for the national ID number system, which may be as large as in tens to hundreds of millions. In addition, thousands of inquiries are made every day and the total number of matching operations will therefore be enormous. As the increase in scale demands a need for enhanced searching accuracy among a larger number of targets, a higher level of matching accuracy is required. Therefore, with authentication systems with as large a scale as those supporting the public bodies, it is critical to establish a matching system that reduces the volume of computations without compromising the matching accuracy. In this paper, we introduce a technology for improving the speed and accuracy of fingerprint matching operations for the support of large-scale authentication systems, we also discuss our attempts to implement matching with even higher speed and accuracy.
Insomnia is associated with road accidents. Further evidence from a study on truck drivers.

Background Sleep-related problems are known risk factors for road accidents. However, very few studies have investigated the role played by insomnia and its components, and no data are available for a population of occupational drivers at risk, such as the truck driver category. Objective To measure the prevalence and impact of insomnia on motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and near-miss accidents (NMAs) in 949 truck drivers. Design Cross-sectional survey. Results Insomnia affected 27.5% of the sample. Compared to other drivers, in the 3 years prior to the study, truck drivers with insomnia had reported a significantly higher number of MVAs; they had also reported a greater number of NMAs in the previous 6 months. After correction for the presence of obstructive sleep apnea, excessive daytime sleepiness, short sleep duration, and other concurrent diseases, insomniac truck drivers had an almost two-fold risk of driving accidents (OR: 1.82, CI 95%:1.33–2.49) and a more than three-fold increased risk of near-miss accidents (OR: 3.35, CI95%:2.06–5.45) compared to non-insomniac drivers. Conclusion Insomnia emerged as an independent risk factor for MVAs and NMAs. We strongly advise screening commercial drivers for signs and symptoms of insomnia in order to improve health and safety on the road.
Study of stress-induced microstructural changes in nuclear grade graphite using three-dimensional imaging techniques

Graphite is used as a moderating material and as a structural component in the UK’s Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors and Magnox Reactors, Russian RBMKs and various designs of High Temperature Reactors. During reactor operation graphite components are subjected to considerable stresses and have been shown to deform and, over time, crack. Such changes may compromise the safety and efficiency of the reactor and reduce its operational lifespan, so it is important to have a detailed understanding of graphite’s response to the stresses present in operational nuclear reactors. Samples of reactor grade Gilsocarbon and Pile Grade A graphites were subjected to loadinginduced stresses using a deformation rig, and a series of 3D imaging techniques were used to study changes to the microstructure of the samples as they were loaded to progressively greater levels of stress. X-ray tomography was used to image the interior of the samples, with particular attention paid to the complex pore structures of the materials which play a significant role in crack propagation and whose responses to stress are poorly understood. Stress-induced changes to the pore structure were quantified in terms of variation of pore volumes and shapes. The observed changes to the microstructure were used to explain the behaviour of the bulk material, and the consequences for the UK’s ageing graphite moderated reactor fleet were discussed.
Complexin Controls the Force Transfer from SNARE Complexes to Membranes in Fusion

Trans–SNAP receptor (SNARE, where SNAP is defined as soluble NSF attachment protein, and NSF is defined as N-ethylmaleimide–sensitive factor) complexes catalyze synaptic vesicle fusion and bind complexin, but the function of complexin binding to SNARE complexes remains unclear. Here we show that in neuronal synapses, complexin simultaneously suppressed spontaneous fusion and activated fast calcium ion–evoked fusion. The dual function of complexin required SNARE binding and also involved distinct amino-terminal sequences of complexin that localize to the point where trans-SNARE complexes insert into the fusing membranes, suggesting that complexin controls the force that trans-SNARE complexes apply onto the fusing membranes. Consistent with this hypothesis, a mutation in the membrane insertion sequence of the v-SNARE synaptobrevin/vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP) phenocopied the complexin loss-of-function state without impairing complexin binding to SNARE complexes. Thus, complexin probably activates and clamps the force transfer from assembled trans-SNARE complexes onto fusing membranes.
Prices and Portfolio Choices in Financial Markets: Theory and Experiment

Most tests of asset pricing models address only the pricing predictions — perhaps because the portfolio choice predictions are obviously wrong. But how can pricing theory be right if the portfolio choice theory on which it rests is wrong? This paper suggests an answer: the assumptions about individual preferences that underly common asset-pricing models are wrong, but the deviations between the demands predicted by these models and the true demands have mean zero in the population, and hence wash out in prices. The starting point for this work is a set of experimental markets in which risky and riskless assets are traded. This experimental setting offers an opportunity to study asset pricing in an environment in which crucial variables can be controlled or observed — in contrast to field environments, in which these variables cannot be controlled and frequently cannot be observed accurately. The experimental data exhibit the same puzzling characteristics as the historical data: asset prices are consistent with the price predictions of familiar theories (for instance, the market portfolio is nearly mean-variance efficient) but portfolio choices are wildly divergent from the portfolio choice predictions of the same theories (for instance, portfolio separation does not obtain). To explain the data, we build a structural model based on perturbations of individual demand functions (in the familiar style of much applied work). The central feature of this model is that the perturbations (i.e., the differences between individual demands and the demands predicted by mean-variance utility) have mean zero in the population. We develop an econometric test of the model which tests both prices and portfolio choices, and find that the empirical distribution of the test statistic is consistent with model predictions. JEL Classification Numbers C91, C92, D51, G11, G12