Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Muscle-specific RING finger-1 interacts with titin to regulate sarcomeric M-line and thick filament structure and may have nuclear functions via its interaction with glucocorticoid modulatory element binding protein-1

The COOH-terminal A168–170 region of the giant sarcomeric protein titin interacts with muscle-specific RING finger-1 (MURF-1). To investigate the functional significance of this interaction, we expressed green fluorescent protein fusion constructs encoding defined fragments of titin's M-line region and MURF-1 in cardiac myocytes. Upon expression of MURF-1 or its central region (containing its titin-binding site), the integrity of titin's M-line region was dramatically disrupted. Disruption of titin's M-line region also resulted in a perturbation of thick filament components, but, surprisingly, not of the NH2-terminal or I-band regions of titin, the Z-lines, or the thin filaments. This specific phenotype also was caused by the expression of titin A168–170. These data suggest that the interaction of titin with MURF-1 is important for the stability of the sarcomeric M-line region. MURF-1 also binds to ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme-9 and isopeptidase T-3, enzymes involved in small ubiquitin-related modifier–mediated nuclear import, and with glucocorticoid modulatory element binding protein-1 (GMEB-1), a transcriptional regulator. Consistent with our in vitro binding data implicating MURF-1 with nuclear functions, endogenous MURF-1 also was detected in the nuclei of some myocytes. The dual interactions of MURF-1 with titin and GMEB-1 may link myofibril signaling pathways (perhaps including titin's kinase domain) with muscle gene expression.
The surface admittance equivalence principle for cloaking problems

In this paper, we apply a reformulated version of the Surface Equivalence Principle, originally defined for radiating phenomena in terms of tangential fields, to cloaking problems in terms of admittance functions at an arbitrary boundary. In order to cloak a dielectric/metallic object, the tangential fields ratio (admittance) can be controlled at any arbitrary attached/detached surface boundary. The dispersive surface admittance cloak, as originally introduced for Mantle Cloaking, is computed in a closed-form solution at any frequency regime (quasi-static and beyond).
Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Clinical Patterns of Patients with ‘Spectacular Shrinking Deficit’ after Acute Middle Cerebral Artery Stroke

Background: Rapid resolution of neurological deficits after severe middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke has been coined spectacular shrinking deficit (SSD). We studied clinical and MRI patterns in patients with SSD. Methods: Patients with acute MCA stroke <6 h were examined by stroke MRI (perfusion- and diffusion-weighted imaging (PWI, DWI), MR angiography (MRA)) at admission, day 1 and day 7. SSD was defined as a ≧8-point-reduction of neurological deficit in the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) to a score of ≤4 within 24 h. PWI and DWI lesion volumes were measured on ADC (ADC < 80%) and time to peak maps (TTP > +4 s). Recanalization was assessed by MRA after 24 h. Final infarct volumes were defined on T2 weighted images at day seven. Outcome was assessed after 90 days using modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Barthel Index (BI). Results: SSD was present in 14 of 104 patients. Initial DWI and PWI lesion volumes were smaller in SSD patients – ADC < 80%: 8.9 (4.3–20.5) vs. 30 (0–266.7) ml; TTP > +4 s: 91.6 (29.7–205.8) vs. 131.5 (0–311.5) ml. Early recanalization was associated with SSD resulted in smaller final infarct volumes (11.9 (2.4–25.9) vs. 47.7 (1.2–288.5)). All SSD patients were independent at day 90 (mRS 0 (0–2); BI 100). Conclusion: The clinical syndrome of SSD is reflected by a typical MRI pattern with small initial DWI and PWI lesion volumes, timely recanalization and small final infarct volumes.
A Triple Artificial Neural Network Model Based on Case Based Reasoning for Credit Risk Assessment

For most credit risk assessment models, decision attributes and history data are of great importance in terms of accuracy of prediction. Decision attributes can be classified into two types: numerical and categorical. As these two types have different characteristics, there will be interference if they are used simultaneously in the same model. By applying the case based reasoning (CBR) and artificial neural network (ANN), this study attempts to use numerical and categorical attributes separately in different phases application of the model. For example, if numerical attributes are used in CBR to select similar cases, categorical attributes will be used as inputs of an ANN based on the cases selected. Therefore, interference caused by the different types of attributes is avoided and the accuracy is improved. As only similar history data are selected and input in the ANN, accuracy is improved further. With the idea above, a triple ANN-CBR model is designed in this paper. This model synthesizes advantages of CBR and ANN. Practical examples show that the model established in this paper is feasible and effective. Compared with other models, it has a better precision performance.
Improving OSPF Dynamics on a Broadcast LAN

In this article, the authors propose modifications to OSPF's interface state machine to reduce the time/processing requirements of the leader election process in a broadcast local-area network (LAN) environment. The proposed modifications are based on dynamic adjustment of wait time duration rather than using a static value. They compare the original and modified state machines both analytically as well as via testbed experiments.
Adaptive minimum variance equalization with interference suppression capabilities

We propose an adaptive minimum variance equalizer, which is able to recover the transmitted symbols even in the presence of severe cochannel interference (CCI) or adjacent-channel interference (ACI). Under the assumption that the interference exhibits a different symbol rate from the desired signal, the proposed equalizer can mitigate CCI/ACI without requiring knowledge of the channel impulse response of the interference.
The practice of meditation and its cognitive contexts

Meditation techniques are described; therapeutic and mystical contexts of practice are discussed; the physiological and psychological research is reviewed. Meditation induces a relaxed hypnagogic type state, and is associated with both therapeutic and mystical effects. Semantic differential (SD) and mysticism scales were administered to meditators and non-meditating controls. Statistical analysis reveals three significantly different groups: (1) non-meditators; (2) therapeutic and (3) mystical context mediators' second study at a Buddhist centre is reported. Four techniques are used: participant observation; a Ganzfeld description; an informal semi- structured interview and the semantic differential. Cluster analysis of the SD data reveals the lay and ordained groups not to differ significantly. The patterning of the groups' data is explicated. Meaning of specific concepts is revealed to be important. Meditation techniques practised, their effects and general outlook of the interviewees are described and discussed. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the meanings attributed to these by interviewees. Content analysis of the interview data reveals expectation and experience of meditation effect to be correlated. There is no significant difference between lay and ordained groups for expectation and experience of therapeutic effects; however, there is a significant difference for mystical effects. Lay and ordained groups differ in their Ganzfeld description. It is concluded that the lay mislabel an hypnagogic state as a mystical state. The context of practice is associated with outcome. Implications for other studies are discussed.
Random Response Fluctuations Lead to Spurious Paired-Pulse Facilitation

We studied paired-pulse depression (PPD) of GABAAergic IPSCs under conditions of reduced transmitter release (caused by Cd2+, baclofen, or reduced stimulus intensity) with whole-cell voltage clamp in CA1 pyramidal cells in vitro. The use-dependent model of paired-pulse responsiveness holds that a decrease in the probability of neurotransmitter release during the first stimulus will cause predictable changes in the paired-pulse ratio (PPR, the amplitude of the second IPSC divided by that of the first). However, the applicability of the use-dependent model to inhibitory synapses is controversial. Our results are inconsistent with this model, but are consistent with the hypothesis that random fluctuations in response size significantly influence PPR. PPR was sensitive to the extracellular stimulus intensity in all conditions. Changes in PPR were not correlated with changes in the first IPSC, but were correlated with changes in variability of the PPRs of individual traces. We show that spurious paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) can result from averaging randomly fluctuating PPRs because the method of calculating PPR as the mean of individual PPRs is biased in favor of high values of PPR. Spurious PPF can mask the intrinsic paired-pulse property of the synapses. Calculating PPR as the mean of the second response divided by the mean of the first avoids the error. We discuss a simple model that shows that spurious PPF depends on both the number of synapses recruited for release and the probability of release at each release site. The random factor can reconcile some conflicting published conclusions.
SPIDER: A simple and flexible tool for design and provisioning of protected lightpaths in optical networks

Optical devices are poised to form the core of the next generation of backbone and enterprise networks. Optical routers, dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems, and cross connects of unprecedented capacities are on the verge of large-scale commercial deployment. This massive buildup of optical gear necessitates careful planning and provisioning of the basic units of transmission — the light-paths. This paper presents a range of techniques for efficient and reliable optical network design, covering decentralized dedicated protection to shared path-based mesh restoration. These algorithms have been incorporated into SPIDER, an extensible software tool with a browser-based user interface, Java∗-based visualization, and spreadsheet input/output capabilities. We describe SPIDER and report on recent core networking applications using this tool, which also illustrate the key tradeoffs in optical network designs involving a variety of grades of protection and the balance between efficient use of wavelengths and restoration time.
MTORC1 Regulates both General Autophagy and Mitophagy Induction after Oxidative Phosphorylation Uncoupling

ABSTRACT Mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (MTORC1) is a critical negative regulator of general autophagy. We hypothesized that MTORC1 may specifically regulate autophagic clearance of damaged mitochondria. To test this, we used cells lacking tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2−/− cells), which show constitutive MTORC1 activation. TSC2−/− cells show MTORC1-dependent impaired autophagic flux after chemical uncoupling of mitochondria, increased mitochondrial-protein aging, and accumulation of p62/SQSTM1-positive mitochondria. Mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy) was also deficient in cells lacking TSC2, associated with altered expression of PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) and PARK2 translocation to uncoupled mitochondria, all of which were recovered by MTORC1 inhibition or expression of constitutively active forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1). These data prove the necessity of intact MTORC1 signaling to regulate two synergistic processes required for clearance of damaged mitochondria: (i) general autophagy initiation and (ii) PINK1/PARK2-mediated selective targeting of uncoupled mitochondria to the autophagic machinery.
Generating Face Features by Palm Scan: Recognizing a Person Uniquely

The paper presents a system based on biometrics that generates the person‟s face by scanning of the palm. It does the recognition of an unknown person which is not enrolled in the database before. A new approach is introduced using Biometrics where high security tasks like criminal identification and investigation, along with various other applications like extracting the person‟s detail from the universal database of a country/place, recognizing the face of the person who met with some casualties, checking out the last person who attended the ATM machine ,etc. The study shows that there is a relationship between palm and face. Just by the palm scan the proposed system will generate eyes, nose, eyebrows and lips of new person. And by recognition of the person by the generated face features further investigation can be done by central database of the country/place.
Telomerase inhibitor imetelstat has preclinical activity across the spectrum of non-small cell lung cancer oncogenotypes in a telomere length dependent manner

Telomerase was evaluated as a therapeutic oncotarget by studying the efficacy of the telomerase inhibitor imetelstat in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines to determine the range of response phenotypes and identify potential biomarkers of response. A panel of 63 NSCLC cell lines was studied for telomere length and imetelstat efficacy in inhibiting colony formation and no correlation was found with patient characteristics, tumor histology, and oncogenotypes. While there was no overall correlation between imetelstat efficacy with initial telomere length (ranging from 1.5 to 20 kb), the quartile of NSCLC lines with the shortest telomeres was more sensitive than the quartile with the longest telomeres. Continuous long-term treatment with imetelstat resulted in sustained telomerase inhibition, progressive telomere shortening and eventual growth inhibition in a telomere-length dependent manner. Cessation of imetelstat therapy before growth inhibition was followed by telomere regrowth. Likewise, in vivo imetelstat treatment caused tumor xenograft growth inhibition in a telomere-length dependent manner. We conclude from these preclinical studies of telomerase as an oncotarget tested by imetelstat response that imetelstat has efficacy across the entire oncogenotype spectrum of NSCLC, continuous therapy is necessary to prevent telomere regrowth, and short telomeres appears to be the best treatment biomarker.
Influence of affective manipulations on cigarette craving: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Retrospective self-report and observational studies have yielded inconsistent findings regarding the capacity of negative affect (NA) to increase smoking motivation among dependent samples. Controlled laboratory studies offer an alternative paradigm for testing the role of affective state upon smoking motivation. The aim of the current study was to quantify cue-provoked cravings produced by affective manipulations in the published literature, and to identify theoretical and methodological moderators. METHODS We conducted a systematic literature search to identify experimental studies that manipulated NA or positive affect (PA), and assessed post-manipulation craving. Separate random-effects meta-analyses examined NA and PA cues as predictors of self-reported craving. Self-reported affect (NA and PA), nicotine deprivation, gender, nicotine dependence, order of cue presentation, single versus multi-item craving assessment and affect induction method were tested as moderators of affective cue-induced craving. RESULTS NA manipulations produced a medium effect [g = 0.47; confidence interval (CI) = 0.31-0.63] on craving, but no main effects were found for PA manipulations (g = 0.05; CI = -0.09 to 0.20) on craving. Self-reported NA moderated the extent to which NA and PA manipulations elicited craving (P < 0.02 for each). That is, more effective NA manipulations produced greater cravings, and PA manipulations reduced cravings when they reduced NA. CONCLUSIONS Laboratory studies indicate that negative, but not positive, affect is a situational determinant of cravings to smoke among dependent smokers. Adverse emotional states increase craving to smoke among dependent smokers, but positive emotional states do not consistently reduce craving to smoke.
Role of inter-domain cavity in the attachment of the orange carotenoid protein to the phycobilisome core and to the fluorescence recovery protein

Using molecular modeling and known spatial structure of proteins, we have derived a universal 3D model of the orange carotenoid protein (OCP) and phycobilisome (PBS) interaction in the process of non-photochemical PBS quenching. The characteristic tip of the phycobilin domain of the core-membrane linker polypeptide (LCM) forms the attachment site on the PBS core surface for interaction with the central inter-domain cavity of the OCP molecule. This spatial arrangement has to be the most advantageous one because the LCM, as the major terminal PBS-fluorescence emitter, accumulates energy from the most other phycobiliproteins within the PBS before quenching by OCP. In agreement with the constructed model, in cyanobacteria, the small fluorescence recovery protein is wedged in the OCP’s central cavity, weakening the PBS and OCP interaction. The presence of another one protein, the red carotenoid protein, in some cyanobacterial species, which also can interact with the PBS, also corresponds to this model.
Job Satisfaction and Regime Change: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

ABSTRACT Little is known about the effects of regime change on government workers’ job satisfaction. Conventional theories of work satisfaction have identified various individual or organizational antecedents of public employees’ well-being in many different contexts. In this study, we add an additional level of analysis to the study of job satisfaction. The German reunification in 1990 constitutes a natural experiment where public employees’ institutional work environment changed dramatically. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we show that, after the reunification, East German public employees who stayed in their jobs experienced a “satisfaction shock” by substantially decreasing their levels of job satisfaction. This finding is in line with what has been labelled as “survivor syndrome” in the general management literature. We also find that, after three years’ time, differences in satisfaction levels between East and West Germans reverted to pre-reunion levels. These findings are robust to various model specifications and alternative estimators. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.
Predicting Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Target Genes by Level-2 Protein-Protein Interaction

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is frequently lethal and has no effective pharmaceutical treatment, posing a great threat to human health. Previous bioinformatics studies of the mechanisms underlying AAA relied largely on the detection of direct protein-protein interactions (level-1 PPI) between the products of reported AAA-related genes. Thus, some proteins not suspected to be directly linked to previously reported genes of pivotal importance to AAA might have been missed. In this study, we constructed an indirect protein-protein interaction (level-2 PPI) network based on common interacting proteins encoded by known AAA-related genes and successfully predicted previously unreported AAA-related genes using this network. We used four methods to test and verify the performance of this level-2 PPI network: cross validation, human AAA mRNA chip array comparison, literature mining, and verification in a mouse CaPO4 AAA model. We confirmed that the new level-2 PPI network is superior to the original level-1 PPI network and proved that the top 100 candidate genes predicted by the level-2 PPI network shared similar GO functions and KEGG pathways compared with positive genes.
JOINT DEREVERBERATION AND NOISE REDUCTION USING BEAMFORMING AND A SINGLE-CHANNEL SPEECH ENHANCEMENT SCHEME

The REVERB challenge provides a common framework for the evaluation of speech enhancement algorithms in the presence of both reverberation and noise. This contribution proposes a system consisting of a commonly used combination of a beamformer with a single-channel speech enhancement scheme aiming at joint dereverberation and noise reduction. First, a minimum variance distortionless response beamformer with an on-line estimated noise coherence matrix is used to suppress the noise and possibly some reflections. The beamformer output is then processed by a single-channel speech enhancement scheme, incorporating temporal cepstrum smoothing which suppresses both reverberation and residual noise. Experimental results show that improvements are particularly significant in conditions with high reverberation times.
Designing an intelligent dialogue system for serious games

The objective of our work is to design a conversational agent (chatterbot) capable of understanding natural language statements in a restricted semantic domain. This feature is intended to allow a natural dialogue with a learner, especially in the context of serious games. This conversational agent will be experimented in a serious game for training staff, by simulating a client. It does not address the natural language understanding in its generality since firstly the semantic domain of a game is generally well defined and, secondly, we will restrict the types of sentences found in the dialogue.
Tests of a Bi/Y transformer

In the context of a European project (READY) we designed, constructed and tested a single phase transformer. The primary winding uses a PIT-Bi-2223 tape. The secondary is wound with two lengths (2 /spl times/ 8 m) of YBCO coated conductor. With these two lengths in series, the secondary characteristics are 75 V-50 A at 77 K. We designed the transformer with an integrated refrigerator. The cooler is a high cooling capacity (100 W at 80 K) single stage coaxial pulse tube cooler (PTC) developed by Air Liquide. We chose a cold magnetic circuit with low iron loss FeSi sheets. The cryostat is then very simple with metallic vessels and only one interface with the PTC, and the cooling fluid is helium in order to investigate a wide temperature range (40-80 K). About 30 hours are required to reach 70 K from 300 K using only the PTC. This paper presents the transformer layout and some electrical tests (no load and short circuit tests). The ac losses are high in the PIT coil, but in good agreement with numerical simulations. In the YBCO coil the ac losses are lower and in good agreement with the Norris formula.
Query evaluation with asymmetric web services

KnowItAll [4], and others have successfully constructed semantic knowledge bases of large scale. Factual knowledge is typically represented in RDF, the W3C standard for Semantic-Web contents. RDF data can be seen as a graph whose nodes are entities These knowledge bases can be queried using the W3C-endorsed SPARQL [33] language. Yet, a knowledge base about entities can never be fully complete or always up to date. With the ANGIE system [23], we have shown that Web services can step in to fill this gap. Web services lend themselves to the extension of knowledge bases, because they deliver structured data. This eliminates the need for noisy information extraction techniques. Furthermore, there are Web services that offer a wide repertoire of data of good quality, well maintained and up to date. This makes Web services an interesting device for complementing knowledge bases. The ANGIE system incorporates Web services as follows: When a user asks a query, ANGIE tries to find the answer in the local knowledge base and resorts to Web services whenever the local knowledge base is not sufficient. ANGIE composes Web services and data from the local knowledge base on the fly, so that the user does not notice that some of the data was not present in the knowledge base before. For example, assume that the user asks for all songs by Canadian singers: