Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of EFIV, a stable factor present in many avian cell types that transactivates sequences in the 5' portion of the Rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat enhancer

We define a protein complex present in avian nuclear extracts that interacts with the Schmidt-Ruppin strain of the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) long terminal repeat (LTR) between positions -197 and -168 relative to the transcriptional start site. We call this complex EFIV and demonstrate that the EFIV protein(s) is present in several avian cell types examined, including B cells (S13 and DT40), T cells (MSB), and chicken embryo fibroblasts. We also report that the EFIV binding site activates transcription of reporter constructs after transfection into avian B cells and chicken embryo fibroblasts, demonstrating that the EFIV region constitutes a functional transactivator sequence. By chemical interference footprinting and mutational analyses we define the EFIV binding site as including the sequence GCAACATG, which is present in two copies between positions -197 and -168, as well as sequences that lie between the two repeats. Electrophoretic mobility shift competition experiments suggest that the EFIV protein(s) may be related to members of the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein family of transcription factors that interact with different regions of the RSV and the avian leukosis virus (ALV) LTRs. However, as defined by differences in sensitivity to protein synthesis inhibitors and footprinting patterns, EFIV is clearly distinct from these previously defined LTR binding factors. In addition, the finding that EFIV binding activity is stable in B cells indicates either that the lability of all 5' LTR binding activities is not required for B-cell transformation by the ALV/RSV family of viruses or that nonacute transforming viruses that include an RSV LTR may use a mechanism to effect cellular transformation different from that proposed for ALV.
Rapid Identification of Novel Immunodominant Proteins and Characterization of a Specific Linear Epitope of Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni remains one of the major gut pathogens of our time. Its zoonotic nature and wide-spread distribution in industrialized countries calls for a quick and reliable diagnostic tool. Antibody-based detection presents a suitable means to identify pathogenic bacteria. However, the knowledge about immunodominant targets is limited. Thus, an approach is presented, which allows for the rapid screening of numerous cDNA derived expression clones to identify novel antigens. The deeper understanding of immunodominant proteins assists in the design of diagnostic tools and furthers the insight into the bacterium’s pathogenicity as well as revealing potential candidates for vaccination. We have successfully screened 1536 clones of an expression library to identify 22 proteins that have not been described as immunodominant before. After subcloning the corresponding 22 genes and expression of full-length proteins, we investigated the immunodominant character by microarrays and ELISA. Subsequently, seven proteins were selected for epitope mapping. For cj0669 and cj0920c linear epitopes were identified. For cj0669, specificity assays revealed a specific linear epitope site. Consequently, an eleven amino acid residue sequence TLIKELKRLGI was analyzed via alanine scan, which revealed the glycine residue to be significant for binding of the antibody. The innovative approach presented herein of generating cDNAs of prokaryotes in combination with a microarray platform rendering time-consuming purification steps obsolete has helped to illuminate novel immunodominant proteins of C.jejuni. The findings of a specific linear epitope pave the way for a plethora of future research and the potential use in diagnostic applications such as serological screenings. Moreover, the current approach is easily adaptable to other highly relevant bacteria making it a formidable tool for the future discovery of antigens and potential biomarkers. Consequently, it is desirable to simplify the identification of structural epitopes, as this would extend the spectrum of novel epitopes to be detected.
An optimal multiedge detector for SAR image segmentation

Edge detection is a fundamental issue in image analysis. Due to the presence of speckle, which can be modeled as a strong, multiplicative noise, edge detection in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is extremely difficult, and edge detectors developed for optical images are inefficient. Several robust operators have been developed for the detection of isolated step edges in speckled images. The authors propose a new step-edge detector for SAR images, which is optimal in the minimum mean square error (MSSE) sense under a stochastic multiedge model. It computes a normalized ratio of exponentially weighted averages (ROEWA) on opposite sides of the central pixel. This is done in the horizontal and vertical direction, and the magnitude of the two components yields an edge strength map. Thresholding of the edge strength map by a modified version of the watershed algorithm and region merging to eliminate false edges complete an efficient segmentation scheme. Experimental results obtained from simulated SAR images as well as ERS-1 data are presented.
The Development of the Olympic Narrative in Chinese Elite Sport Discourse from Its First Successful Olympic Bid to the Post-Beijing Games Era

Abstract As a phenomenon exogenous to China, the Olympics have been proactively interpreted in the local context since China’s entry (and subsequent re-entry in 1984) into the Olympic movement. With China’s increasing involvement in promoting three bids to host the Olympic Games, two of which were successful, respectively, in 2001 and 2015, the nature of the discourse of key stakeholders in relation to Chinese elite sport has both reflected and reshaped the meaning of the Games to Chinese elite sport. This paper examines the discursive construction process of the Olympics in the Chinese elite sport system by key stakeholders through analyzing statements of political figures on sport and Olympic phenomena, Chinese elite sport policy documents, and the commentaries of leading Chinese sport academics. The analysis of discourse highlights two main features in the construction of the Games in official accounts during the period under investigation. The development of these two themes reflects the nature of the Chinese Olympic discourse, manifests the political power over the interpretation of the Olympics in Chinese context, and continues to characterize the on-going major themes in Chinese elite sport policy.
A Novel Approach for Hiding Sensitive Association Rules

Privacy has become an important issue in Data Minin g. Many methods have been brought out to solve this problem. This paper deals with the problem of assoc iation rule mining which preserves the confidential ity of each database. Association rule hiding is a new techniqu e on data mining, which studies the problem of hidi ng sensitive association rules from within the data. Association Rule Hiding for Data Mining addresses the optimization problem of “hiding” sensitive association rules which due to i ts combinatorial nature admits a number of heuristi c solutions that will be proposed and presented in this Paper. Present pa er focuses on data distortion technique. Algorith ms based on this technique either hide a specific rule using data al teration technique or hide the rules depending on t he sensitivity of the items to be hidden. The proposed approach is based on data distortion technique where the position of the sensitive items is altered but its support is never changed. The propo sed approach uses the idea of representative rules to prune the rules first and then hides the sensitive rules. Experimen tal results show that proposed approach hides the m ore number of rules in minimum number of database scans compared to exi st ng algorithms based on the same approach i.e. da ta distortion technique.
SHAPER: a self-healing algorithm producing multi-hop Bluetooth scatternets

This paper deals with scatternet formation in Bluetooth. A scatternet is an ad hoc network of Bluetooth devices. Some works in the literature rely on the single-hop hypothesis, i.e., all devices are in radio visibility of each other. Other works refer to the more likely circumstance that devices are scattered in an area where some of them can not directly communicate. A challenging issue in this latter scenario (often referred to as multi-hop) is the design of a formation algorithm that: i) operates in a distributed way; ii) dynamically adapts the topology to the mobility of devices; iii) forms a scatternet with given topological properties. In this paper a distributed algorithm for scatternet formation that gives rise to a tree-like structure is introduced. The algorithm is shown to present three key properties that make it innovative with respect to the literature in the field: i) it is fully distributed and asynchronous; ii) it can be applied in a multi-hop environment; iii) it operates in order to dynamically adapt the topology to nodes' mobility and failures. The key steps and rules of the algorithm are described and performance results obtained by simulation are discussed.
Design and Analysis of a Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Power System

A grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) power system with high voltage gain is proposed, and the steady-state model analysis and the control strategy of the system are presented in this paper. For a typical PV array, the output voltage is relatively low, and a high voltage gain is obligatory to realize the grid-connected function. The proposed PV system employs a ZVT-interleaved boost converter with winding-coupled inductors and active-clamp circuits as the first power-processing stage, which can boost a low voltage of the PV array up to a high dc-bus voltage. Accordingly, an accurate steady-state model is obtained and verified by the simulation and experimental results, and a full-bridge inverter with bidirectional power flow is used as the second power-processing stage, which can stabilize the dc-bus voltage and shape the output current. Two compensation units are added to perform in the system control loops to achieve the low total harmonic distortion and fast dynamic response of the output current. Furthermore, a simple maximum-power-point-tracking method based on power balance is applied in the PV system to reduce the system complexity and cost with a high performance. At last, a 2-kW prototype has been built and tested to verify the theoretical analysis of the paper.
Design and analysis of in vitro antitumor pharmacodynamic studies.

The relationship between drug concentration (C), exposure time (t), and the resulting effect (h) for a chemotherapeutic agent is expressed as Cn x t = h. The value of n, derived from curve fitting of the C versus t plot, indicates the relative importance of concentration and exposure time. The selection of concentrations and exposure times in a pharmacodynamic experiment may affect the precision and accuracy of parameter estimation. The use of optimal designs is even more critical when the numbers of experimental conditions are limited by tumor availability (e.g., small size of surgical specimens from patients). The present study used computer-simulated data to define the most efficient in vitro pharmacodynamic experimental designs and the optimal method of pharmacodynamic data analysis. All studies used Monte Carlo simulations to compare designs with varying numbers of drug concentrations, exposure times, and replications. For each selected design, 50-100 error-containing data sets were created by addition of experience-based random errors to expected concentration-response profiles. To compare methods of data analysis, the same 1250 simulated data sets were analyzed by two methods (i.e., surface response method and traditional method). The results showed that simultaneous fitting of drug effect at all concentrations and all exposure times by the surface response method yielded n estimates that had greater precision and accuracy than a traditional method that required sequential determination of the effective inhibitory concentration (e.g., IC50) and then the n value using the IC50 at different exposure times. Subsequent studies were analyzed using the surface response method. To evaluate the effect of selection of concentrations and exposure times on the precision of n estimation, between 1100 and 2200 simulated data sets, with 400 observations per data set, were generated using different exposure times and drug concentrations. Because the number of observations was limited to 400, the number of replications at each condition varied depending on the total number of selected conditions. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
When Language Meets Traumatic Lacuna: The Metaphoric, the Metonymic, and the Psychotic Modes of Testimony

ABSTRACT This article traces four modes of traumatic testimony that are distinguished from one another in the degree of the psychic motility they succeed to form in relation to traumatic memories: the metaphoric, the metonymic, the excessive-psychotic, and the Muselmann-psychotic modes of testimony. While the metaphoric mode is characterized by the simultaneous holding of the position of the victim (the experiencing I) and the position of the witness (the narrating I), the other three modes are gradually declining in their capacity to hold the traumatic memories in mind in a way that allows for transformation and healing. These four modes are illustrated through a close reading of various testimonies suggesting that the core of the psychoanalytic treatment of trauma lies in the attempt to enable the crucial shift from the metonymic, the excessive, and the Muselmann modes of testimony to the metaphoric one, which is the only force that can turn the traumatic lacuna into a creative force.
Atorvastatin treatment improves survival and effects of implanted mesenchymal stem cells in post-infarct swine hearts.

AIMS To investigate whether Atorvastatin (Ator) treatment improves the cardiac micro-environment that facilitates survival and differentiation of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) implanted in the post-infarct myocardium. METHODS AND RESULTS Myocardial infarction was created by coronary ligation and immediately after reperfusion, autologous bone-marrow-derived MSCs were transplanted into the hearts of Chinese swine that were pretreated with or without Ator. Six weeks after transplantation, as evaluated by SPECT and MRI all the animals with Ator showed improved cardiac perfusion and contractility when compared with untreated. Increased survival and differentiation of implanted MSCs and decreased infarct area were observed in the Ator-treated, MSC-implanted animals. In the absence of Ator, MSC transplantation only achieved a modest improvement in perfusion and morphology. The combined treatment with Ator and MSCs significantly inhibited cardiac cell apoptosis, reduced oxidative stress, and suppressed expression of the inflammatory cytokines in the post-infarct myocardium. CONCLUSION Ator treatment may protect the myocardium undergoing acute infarction and reperfusion by creating a better environment for the survival and differentiation of implanted MSCs. The benefit of the Ator/stem cell combined therapy may result from the statin-mediated inhibition of apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation in the infarcted myocardium.
Automated Negotiations: A Survey of the State of the Art

This paper provides a definition of automated negotiation within electronic commerce. It outlines two barriers to automated negotiation, the ontology issue and the strategy problem. State of the art overviews are given of automated negotiation, specifically Negotiation Support Systems, intelligent agents, the auction mechanism, and online marketspaces. Both academic research and currently functional systems are covered, and several World Wide Web addresses are given for readers who wish to investigate further on their own. 1 1 While every attempt is made to provide current URL locations, the Web changes more quickly than print media can ever capture. Hence, some of the URLs may not be current or correct by the time this article appears. We will try to keep our Negotiation Project web site, http://haas.berkeley. edu/~citm/nego-proj.html, current with respect to these addresses.
Impact of aquaporin‐4 channels on K+ buffering and gap junction coupling in the hippocampus

Aquaporin‐4 (AQP4) is the main water channel in the brain and primarily localized to astrocytes where the channels are thought to contribute to water and K+ homeostasis. The close apposition of AQP4 and inward rectifier K+ channels (Kir4.1) led to the hypothesis of direct functional interactions between both channels. We investigated the impact of AQP4 on stimulus‐induced alterations of the extracellular K+ concentration ([K+]o) in murine hippocampal slices. Recordings with K+‐selective microelectrodes combined with field potential analyses were compared in wild type (wt) and AQP4 knockout (AQP4−/−) mice. Astrocyte gap junction coupling was assessed with tracer filling during patch clamp recording. Antidromic fiber stimulation in the alveus evoked smaller increases and slower recovery of [K+]o in the stratum pyramidale of AQP4−/− mice indicating reduced glial swelling and a larger extracellular space when compared with control tissue. Moreover, the data hintat an impairment of the glial Na+/K+ ATPase in AQP4‐deficient astrocytes. In a next step, we investigated the laminar profile of [K+]o by moving the recording electrode from the stratum pyramidale toward the hippocampal fissure. At distances beyond 300 μm from the pyramidal layer, the stimulation‐induced, normalized increases of [K+]o in AQP4−/− mice exceeded the corresponding values of wt mice, indicating facilitated spatial buffering. Astrocytes in AQP4−/− mice also displayed enhanced tracer coupling, which might underlie the improved spatial re‐ distribution of [K+]o in the hippocampus. These findings highlight the role of AQP4 channels in the regulation of K+ homeostasis. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Segmenting Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation Using an Integrated Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy DEMATEL Approach

Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) Systems as standard software packages have been welcomed in most of industries. Although implementation of these systems needs considering issues to achieve the success and planned aspiration levels. In order to identifying and classifying these issues as ERP Critical Success Factors (CSFs), various researches have been done and the importances of these factors were discussed. As considerable area, the degree of influence of factors involved in ERP project is a room for investigation. In this paper, with considering the degree of influence factors on each other, a hybrid model was proposed based on fuzzy analytical hierarchy process analysis and fuzzy DEMATEL to evaluate and assess the critical factors in ERP project implementation. Finding the cause and effect relationship between factors and the influence degree on each other was the main contribution of case study of current research on an Iranian steel company. In the case company the cause and grounds factor were identified as: "clear project plan", "training and education", "project champion", "project team competence" and "organizational culture" by utilizing FAHP-DEMATEL hybrid model.
Recognizing Chinese Number and Quantifier Prefix to Enhance Statistical Parser in Machine Translation

To study recognition of Chinese number and quantifier prefix (CNQP) in Chinese-English machine translation, which was used for improving the results of a statistical parser, this paper proposes a method for the recognition of CNQPs based on rules and independent of word segmentation. First, it analyzed the Components of CNQPs, and offered samples of each component. In addition, it supplied Backus-Naur Forms (BNF) to express more complex components, which were composed by other components and smaller components. Then, it gave ten production rules for the recognition of CNQPs, and 277 words for substance quantifiers, 17 words for action quantifiers, 13 words for time quantifiers, and 129 words for measurement quantifiers in appendix, which were important resources for the recognition method. Afterwards, it described the algorithm, and illustrated the processing flow, which used the components, BNFs, and ten rules. To avoid the word segmentation noise, the algorithm took the numeral as the active information, and utilized a forward maximum matching method to obtain the compositions of the CNQPs, which can be fed into the Chinese parser to enhance the parsing results. The experimental results indicate the proposed method can be integrated into the statistical parser as a pre-processing module without retraining on experimental data constructed manually, which can further boost the translation quality.
Energy Conservation Benefits of a Dedicated Outdoor Air System with Parallel Sensible Cooling by Ceiling Radiant Panels

Dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) integrated with ceiling radiant cooling panels as a parallel sensible cooling system are being considered as an alternative to conventional variable air volume (VAV) systems for commercial buildings because of their energy conservation, first and operating costs, and indoor air quality advantages. A pilot DOAS/radiant panel cooling system is being constructed on a university campus to investigate its advantages over alternative cooling systems in a real application. Prior to the actual operation of the pilot system, the energy conservation potential of the DOAS/radiant cooling panel system relative to a VAV system with air-side economizer control was estimated. Hourly energy simulation predicts that the annual electrical energy consumption of the pilot DOAS/radiant panel cooling system is 42% less than that of the conventional VAV system with air-side economizer.
Seasonal variations of gas exchange and water relations in deciduous and evergreen trees in monsoonal dry forests of Thailand.

This study compared leaf gas exchange, leaf hydraulic conductance, twig hydraulic conductivity and leaf osmotic potential at full turgor between two drought-deciduous trees, Vitex peduncularis Wall. and Xylia xylocarpa (Roxb.) W. Theob. , and two evergreen trees, Hopea ferrea Lanessan and Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels, at the uppermost canopies in tropical dry forests in Thailand. The aims were to examine (i) whether leaf and twig hydraulic properties differ in relation to leaf phenology and (ii) whether xylem cavitation is a determinant of leaf shedding during the dry season. The variations in almost all hydraulic traits were more dependent on species than on leaf phenology. Evergreen Hopea exhibited the lowest leaf-area-specific twig hydraulic conductivity (leaf-area-specific K(twig)), lamina hydraulic conductance (K(lamina)) and leaf osmotic potential at full turgor (Ψ(o)) among species, whereas evergreen Syzygium exhibited the highest leaf-area-specific K(twig), K(lamina) and Ψ(o). Deciduous Xylia had the highest sapwood-area-specific K(twig), along with the lowest Huber value (sapwood area/leaf area). More negative osmotic Ψ(o) and leaf osmotic adjustment during the dry season were found in deciduous Vitex and evergreen Hopea, accompanied by low sapwood-area-specific K(twig). Regarding seasonal changes in hydraulics, no remarkable decrease in K(lamina) and K(twig) was found during the dry season in any species. Results suggest that leaf shedding during the dry season is not always associated with extensive xylem cavitation.