Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elimination of the disulphide bridge in fragment B of diphtheria toxin: effect on membrane insertion, channel formation, and ATP binding

Active diphtheria toxin consists of two disulphide‐linked fragments, termed A and B. Fragment B, which contains an internal disulphide bridge, facilitates translocation of the enzymatically active fragment A to the cytosol of eukaryotic cells. In this process cation‐selective channels are formed. An in vitro translated full‐length mutant lacking the internal disulphide bridge (A‐58**) was functionally indistinguishable from its disulphide‐containing counterpart (A‐58) with respect to trypsin sensitivity, receptor binding, A‐fragment translocation, and channel formation. In contrast, the B fragment of A‐58** (B‐36**) was slightly less trypsin resistant than the S‐S‐Containing B fragment, B‐36, and was 300‐fold less efficient than B‐36 in permeabilizing cells. When first dialysed and then reconstituted with A fragment, B fragment without disulphide bridge yielded a less‐active toxin than did wild‐type B fragment. We conclude that the disulphide bridge in fragment B is not necessary for toxicity, as earlier believed, and that channel formation may play a role in membrane translocation.
The application of machine learning algorithm in underwriting process

This paper firstly analyses the actual underwriting methods of Chinese life insurance companies, and points out the merits and shortcomings of these methods. Then the incomplete database of insurance company is mined by the data mining's association rule algorithm. Thirdly the support vector machine (SVM) is applied to the underwriting process to classify the applicants. Finally the directions for improving this algorithm are pointed out. The algorithm proposed in this paper has promising future in underwriting process.
Cell death and expression of heat‐shock protein Hsc70 in the hyperthermic rat brain

Stressful stimuli induce two distinct cellular reactions, the heat‐shock (stress) response and programmed cell death. This study utilizes a dual procedure involving immunocytochemistry for heat‐shock protein localization and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick‐end labeling (TUNEL) assay for localization of cell death at the cellular level. Whole‐body hyperthermia resulted in cell death in the adult rat thymus and testis with a robust signal seen in the testis. Distinct populations of constitutively expressed Hsc70‐positive cells and TUNEL‐positive cells were apparent. Cellular layers that exhibited high levels of Hsc70 were not triggered into cell death by the thermal stress. High expression of Hsc70 was observed in neuronal populations in the dentate gyrus, CA1 and CA2 region of the hippocampus and Purkinje neurons of the cerebellum. Hyperthermia‐induced cell death was not observed in these neuronal cell types, suggesting that neuronal expression of constitutive Hsc70 may play roles in preprotecting neurons from stressful stimuli.
Key Contact Employees and Supply Chain Collaboration: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Previous research on inter-organizational collaboration has typically focused on firm-level variables. The purpose of this article is to investigate how key contact employees (KCEs) play a role in facilitating collaboration between firms. Although logistics and supply chain research in this area remains scarce, relevant theories and findings across managerial disciplines are synthesized to develop a better understanding of how interpersonal (micro-level) factors may lead to inter-organizational (macro-level) outcomes. Based on a review of the empirical literature, several gaps and opportunities are uncovered. The resulting research agenda should be particularly valuable for supply chain researchers interested in the impact of social and human factors in inter- organizational relationships.
Decidable Subsets of CCS

CCS is a universal formalism: any computable function is computed by some CCS agent. Moreover, one can reduce the halting problem for Turing machines to the problem of deciding bisimilarity of two CCS agents, thus demonstrating the undecidability of the equivalence checking problem. In this paper, we demonstrate the limits of decidability of CCS. In particular, we show that by simply disallowing either of communication or both restriction and relabelling, we arrive at a sub-language which still describes a rich class of infinite state systems but for which bisimulation is decidable. We also demonstrate complete axiomatisations for these sublanguages. We compare these results with the undecidability of all other common equivalences
Implementation of Two Level Scheduler in Cloud Computing Environment

Cloud computing focuses on delivery of reliable, fault-tolerant and scalable infrastructure for hosting Internet based application services. Scheduling in cloud computing is responsible for selection of best suitable resources for task execution. Efficient task scheduling method can fulfill user’s requirements, QoS, and improves the resource utilization; this increases the overall performance of the cloud computing environment. In two level scheduling first scheduler deals with virtual machine to host allocation and second scheduler deals with task to virtual machine .
A 360-degree 4K×2K pan oramic video processing Over Smart-phones

A 4K×2K video processor supporting 360-degree processing over the smart-phone is first-reported. Two 182° fisheye cameras are exploited to warp and blend the circle video into a 4K panorama one. Fast blending architecture reused the memory buffer and reduce the unused operating area while keep high blending quality, and therefore achieve 4K 360-degree, equivalently 1K 90-degree video processing over 2.5GHz octa-core ARM CPU and Power VR GPU. From the experiment, he proposal achieves 1024×512@15fps which is 3.9 times higher than the state-of-the-art design [6].
The spillover effects of investments in telecoms: insights from transition economies

For several years, researchers and practitioners have been concerned about the impact of investments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) on productivity. The research framework of neoclassical growth accounting is widely used in this area of research on information technology and productivity. While several studies have explored the relationship between investments in ICT and metrics such as GDP, the links between investments in ICT and total factor productivity (TFP) have received less attention, particularly for transition economies (TEs). While the data that we use in this study are directly related to TEs, our exploration can provide insights that are useful for understanding similarities and differences between developed and developing/emerging economies. In this study, we propose and illustrate a methodology for investigating the relationship between investments in ICT and TFP that is consistent with the framework of neoclassical growth accounting. Narcyz Roztocki and H. Roland Weistroffer are the accepting Guest Editors for this article.
A cascaded-based hybrid position-force control for robot manipulators with nonnegligible dynamics

This work addresses the hybrid position-force control problem for robot manipulators performing inter-action tasks on constraint surfaces with regular curvature. A novel hybrid control law, based on an orientation-dependent term, is proposed to circumvent the performance degradation owing to modeling uncertainty, particularly with respect to the geometry of the constraint surface. As in our previous work, the effect of the robot dynamics can be included by using a cascade control strategy. In contrast, instead of only position, the presented approach provides complete robot posture control. Simulation results illustrate the performance and feasibility of the proposed control scheme.
Forkhead box A3 mediates glucocorticoid receptor function in adipose tissue

Significance This paper shows a previously unidentifed relationship between the transcription factor forkhead box a3 (Foxa3) and the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) by demonstrating, for the first time to our knowledge, that Foxa3 is a target of GR and that it is required for GR transcriptional function in fat depots. Via animal studies we show that the absence of the Foxa3 gene protects the fat depot from the expansion associated with chronic exposure to glucocorticoids, drugs widely used in medical practice to treat inflammatory disease and autoimmune disorders. Overall our findings suggest that Foxa3 can be a potential target for the prevention of glucocorticoid-induced pathological side effects in adipose tissues. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely prescribed anti-inflammatory agents, but their chronic use leads to undesirable side effects such as excessive expansion of adipose tissue. We have recently shown that the forkhead box protein A3 (Foxa3) is a calorie-hoarding factor that regulates the selective enlargement of epididymal fat depots and suppresses energy expenditure in a nutritional- and age-dependent manner. It has been demonstrated that Foxa3 levels are elevated in adipose depots in response to high-fat diet regimens and during the aging process; however no studies to date have elucidated the mechanisms that control Foxa3’s expression in fat. Given the established effects of GCs in increasing visceral adiposity and in reducing thermogenesis, we assessed the existence of a possible link between GCs and Foxa3. Computational prediction analysis combined with molecular studies revealed that Foxa3 is regulated by the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in preadipocytes, adipocytes, and adipose tissues and is required to facilitate the binding of the GR to its target gene promoters in fat depots. Analysis of the long-term effects of dexamethasone treatment in mice revealed that Foxa3 ablation protects mice specifically against fat accretion but not against other pathological side effects elicited by this synthetic GC in tissues such as liver, muscle, and spleen. In conclusion our studies provide the first demonstration, to our knowledge, that Foxa3 is a direct target of GC action in adipose tissues and point to a role of Foxa3 as a mediator of the side effects induced in fat tissues by chronic treatment with synthetic steroids.
Epstein-Barr Virus-Positive Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

While the World Health Organization included Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) as a provisional entity of a lymphoma occurring in older individuals without any known immunodeficiency in 2008, it has since been recognized that this entity may occur in younger individuals. As a result, the 2016 revision has substituted the modifier “elderly” with “not otherwise specified” (NOS). The NOS highlights that there are more specific entities with neoplastic EBV-positive large B cells such as lymphomatoid granulomatosis. Diagnosis requires that there be no other cause of immunodeficiency and that other more specific entities with neoplastic EBV plus large B cells be excluded. We present the case of an 81-year-old woman hospitalized for generalized weakness, increasing confusion, unexplained weight loss, and intermittent fevers. Examination showed lymphadenopathy, lesions in the liver and small intestine, and a very high EBV viral load. She experienced a rapid demise and at autopsy was found to have EBV+ DLBCL, NOS.
Spermidine boosts autophagy to protect from synapse aging

ABSTRACT All animals form memories to adapt their behavior in a context-dependent manner. With increasing age, however, forming new memories becomes less efficient. While synaptic plasticity promotes memory formation, the etiology of age-induced memory formation remained enigmatic. Previous work showed that simple feeding of polyamine spermidine protects from age-induced memory impairment in Drosophila. Most recent work now shows that spermidine operates directly at synapses, allowing for an autophagy-dependent homeostatic regulation of presynaptic specializations. How exactly autophagic regulations intersect with synaptic plasticity should be an interesting subject for future research.
Discovery by Jaworski of Helicobacter pylori and its pathogenetic role in peptic ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer.

The presence of spiral-shaped micro-organisms in the human stomach was described over 100 years ago by Polish clinical researcher, Professor W. Jaworski at Cracow Jagiellonian University. Their presence was then confirmed in animals by G. Bizzazero, but was not really taken seriously until the late 1970s, when J.R. Warren, a pathologist in Perth, Australia, noted the appearance of spiral bacteria overlaying gastric mucosa, chiefly over inflamed tissue. Warren and B.J. Marshall cultured these organisms in 1982 from 11 patients with gastritis and were able to demonstrate a strong association between the presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and the finding of inflammation in gastric biopsies. People, who did not exhibit gastritis, also did not have the organism, a finding which was confirmed in a number of studies. Originally called Campylobacter pyloridis, the name was changed to Campylobacter pylori, and then later to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) as specific morphologic, structural, and genetic features indicated that it should be placed in a new genus. Marshall elegantly fulfilled Koch's postulates for the role of H. pylori in antral gastritis with the self administration of H. pylori, and also showed that it could be cured by use of antibiotics and bismuth salts. Most persons who are infected with H. pylori never suffer any symptoms related to the infection; however, H. pylori causes chronic active, chronic persistent, and atrophic gastritis in adults and children. Infection with H. pylori also causes duodenal and gastric ulcers. Infected persons have a 2- to 6-fold increased risk of developing gastric cancer and mucosal-associated-lymphoid-type (MALT) lymphoma compared with their uninfected counterparts. The role of H. pylori in non-ulcer dyspepsia remains unclear. These practical aspects of H. pylori were subjects of two international symposia organized by us in 1995 and 1997 in Cracow, helping to promote research and Polish consensus regarding treatment of H. pylori infection.
Nonlinear Analysis of Human Gait Signals

Nonlinear dynamics has been introduced to the analysis of biological data and increasingly recognized to be functionally relevant. The aim of this study is to evaluate nonlinear and chaotic dynamics of gait signals. For this purpose, we analyzed gait data in ten healthy subjects who walked for an hour at their usual, slow and fast paces. Poincare plots, Hurst Exponents and the Lyapunov Exponents of gait signals were calculated. The results show that the Hurst Exponents are significantly increased during slow and fast paces. For all subjects, the Lyapunov Exponents are increased during normal gait, which indicates that signals are more chaotic. This can be due to decreased nonlinear interaction of variables in slow and fast paces. The finite values of Hurst Exponents and positive values of Lyapunov Exponents suggest that all of gait signals have low dimensional chaos. In addition, the complexity of signals is decreased during slow and fast gait. Results are useful for the early diagnosis of common gait pathologies.
Glycosylated Haemoglobin (HbA1c) - A Marker of Circulating Lipids in Type 2 Diabetic Patients.

BACKGROUND Diabetic patients with concomitant dyslipidemia are often soft targets for cardiovascular disease and deaths. An early intervention to normalize circulating lipids has been shown to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is routinely used as a marker to indicate long-term glycemic control. AIM Our aim was to test whether HbA1c can serve as a marker of circulating lipids among Type 2 diabetic patients. METHODS The sera of 130 Type 2 diabetic patients was analyzed for fasting blood sugar (FBS), HbA1c and lipid profile consisting of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), High-density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. We divided the subjects based on their glycemic index into three groups; HbA1c< 6% as good, HbA1c>6% - <9% as poor and HbA1c>9% as worst glycemic control. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Dunnett's multiple comparison tests was used to examine the significance levels for various biochemical parameters in age-categorized groups. RESULTS The mean ± SD levels of HbA1c was significantly higher in females (8.598 ± 2.284 %) compared to males (7.323±2.18 %). Older patients had HbA1c, FBS and lipid profile levels similar to younger ones. HbA1c showed direct and significant correlations with cholesterol, TG and LDL. Univariate analysis showed that HbA1c was a good predictor of circulating lipid levels. CONCLUSION The study indicates the usefulness of HbA1c as a marker for lipid profile for screening of diabetic patients at high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
Curcumin inhibits gene expression of receptor for advanced glycation end‐products (RAGE) in hepatic stellate cells in vitro by elevating PPARγ activity and attenuating oxidative stress

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Diabetes is characterized by hyperglycaemia, which facilitates the formation of advanced glycation end‐products (AGEs). Type 2 diabetes mellitus is commonly accompanied by non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis, which could lead to hepatic fibrosis. Receptor for AGEs (RAGE) mediates effects of AGEs and is associated with increased oxidative stress, cell growth and inflammation. The phytochemical curcumin inhibits the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), the major effectors during hepatic fibrogenesis. The aim of this study was to explore the underlying mechanisms of curcumin in the elimination of the stimulating effects of AGEs on the activation of HSCs. We hypothesize that curcumin eliminates the effects of AGEs by suppressing gene expression of RAGE.
Named Entity Recognition System for Postpositional Languages: Urdu as a Case Study

Named Entity Recognition and Classification is the process of identifying named entities and classifying them into one of the classes like person name, organization name, location name, etc. In this paper, we propose a tagging scheme Begin Inside Last -2 (BIL2) for the Subject Object Verb (SOV) languages that contain postposition. We use the Urdu language as a case study. We compare the F-measure values obtained for the tagging schemes IO, BIO2, BILOU and BIL2 using Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and Conditional Random Field (CRF). The BIL2 tagging scheme results are better than the other three tagging schemes using the same parameters including bigram and context window. With HMM, the F-measure values for IO, BIO2, BILOU, and BIL2 are 44.87%, 44.88%, 45.14%, and 45.88%, respectively. With CRF, the F-measure values for IO, BIO2, BILOU, and BIL2 are 35.13%, 35.90%, 37.85%, and 38.39%, respectively. The F-measure values for BIL2 are better than those of previously reported techniques
The Relationship Between Grade Point Average and Understanding of Homework's Purpose and Management in Economically Disadvantaged High School Students

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a key measure of academic achievement, grade point average (GPA), could accurately be predicted from a linear combination of understanding homework’s purpose as measured by the Homework Purpose Scale (HPS) and by the student’s approach to homework management and homework behaviors as measured by the Homework Management Scale (HMS). This quantitative study is a cross-sectional questionnairebased survey design comprised of two previously established valid and reliable scales: the Homework Purpose Scale and the Homework Management Scale. The study’s design is correlational using a sample (N = 300) of pre-existing high school (grade 9-12) classes within seven Catholic high schools serving economically disadvantaged students located in seven different US cities. A multiple regression was conducted to evaluate whether there is a significant predictive relationship between the criterion variable (GPA) and the linear combination of predictor variables (HPS and HMS) for the economically disadvantaged Catholic high school students. The study’s results demonstrated no statistically significant relationship between students’ understanding of homework’s purpose and management of homework and students’ grade point average. Recommendations for future research are to examine whether relationships exist between homework purpose, homework management, and grade point average with students of different races and ethnicity, with students of different genders, and students at different grade levels. Though not in the purpose of the current study, when these variables were looked at separately, significant correlations were found to be present.
Heat shock and hydrogen peroxide responses of Escherichia coli are not changed by dinucleoside tetraphosphate hydrolase overproduction

In Escherichia coli strains overproducing dinucleoside tetraphosphate hydrolase, the accumulation of dinucleoside tetraphosphates (AppppN, with N = A, C, G, or U) during heat shock or H2O2 treatment was reduced about 10-fold as compared with a control strain. This accumulation neither modified the pattern of the proteins induced by a temperature shift or H2O2 nor reduced the protection against oxidative damage induced by moderate H2O2 levels.
A Study on the Competence of Korean Cabin Crews in Foreign Airlines Using The Importance-Performace Anaysis(IPA)

This study is designed to analyze and appraise the perceived importance of various competence factors by surveying korean cabin crews in foreign airlines and their efforts to develop and utilize personal abilities at work. To that end, this study used 47 general categories of competence traits and narrowed the categories down to 11 specific criteria such as personal traits, ability to handle various situations, professional characteristics, teamwork and cooperation, self-management, understanding and consideration of others, physical traits, professional knowledge, positive “cando” attitude, language competence and personal globalization scale, and customer-oriented approach. Then through Importance Performance Analysis (IPA), each subject’s perceived importance of those competence factors in the workplace were measured.
Efficient PDE Constrained Shape Optimization Based on Steklov-Poincaré-Type Metrics

Recent progress in PDE constrained optimization on shape manifolds is based on the Hadamard form of shape derivatives, i.e., in the form of integrals at the boundary of the shape under investigation, as well as on intrinsic shape metrics. From a numerical point of view, domain integral forms of shape derivatives seem promising, which rather require an outer metric on the domain surrounding the shape boundary. This paper tries to harmonize both points of view by employing a Steklov-Poincar\'e type intrinsic metric, which is derived from an outer metric. Based on this metric, efficient shape optimization algorithms are proposed, which also reduce the analytical labor, so far involved in the derivation of shape derivatives.
Crystal structure of the catalytic domains of adenylyl cyclase in a complex with Gsalpha.GTPgammaS.

The crystal structure of a soluble, catalytically active form of adenylyl cyclase in a complex with its stimulatory heterotrimeric G protein alpha subunit (Gsalpha) and forskolin was determined to a resolution of 2.3 angstroms. When P-site inhibitors were soaked into native crystals of the complex, the active site of adenylyl cyclase was located and structural elements important for substrate recognition and catalysis were identified. On the basis of these and other structures, a molecular mechanism is proposed for the activation of adenylyl cyclase by Gsalpha.