Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The GTPase Center Protein L12 Is Required for Correct Ribosomal Stalk Assembly but Not for Saccharomyces cerevisiaeViability*

Protein L12, together with the P0/P1/P2 protein complex, forms the protein moiety of the GTPase domain in the eukaryotic ribosome. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein L12 is encoded by a duplicated gene, rpL12A andrpL12B. Inactivation of both copies has been performed and confirmed by Southern and Western analyses. The resulting strains are viable but grow very slowly. Growth rate is recovered upon transformation with an intact copy of the L12 gene. Ribosomes from the disrupted strain lack protein L12 but are able to carry out translationin vitro at about one fourth of the control rate. The L12-deficient ribosomes have also a defective stalk containing standard amounts of the 12-kDa acidic proteins P1β and P2α, but proteins P1α and P2β are drastically reduced. Moreover, the affinity of P0 is reduced in the defective ribosomes. Footprinting of the 26 S rRNA GTPase domain indicates that protein L12 protects in different extent residues G1235, G1242, A1262, A1270, and A1272 from chemical modification. The results in this report indicate that protein L12 is not essential for cell viability but has a relevant role in the structure and stability of the eukaryotic ribosomal stalk.
Impact of insulin antibodies on insulin aspart pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics after 12-week treatment with multiple daily injections of biphasic insulin aspart 30 in patients with type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the impact of insulin antibodies on insulin aspart pharmaco-kinetics and pharmacodynamics after 12-week multiple daily injections of biphasic insulin aspart 30 (30% fast-acting and 70% protamine-crystallised insulin aspart, BIAsp30) in patients with type 1 diabetes. METHODS Twenty-three patients (8 women, 15 men) aged 44.8 (20.6-62.5) years (median and range) with diabetes duration of 19.5 (1.6-44.6) years and haemoglobin (Hb)A(1C) of 9.2% (8.1-12.3%) participated in the study, which consisted of 12-week treatment with multiple injections of BIAsp30. At the end of the treatment period, all patients attended two 24-h profile days 1 week apart for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic assessments. HbA(1C) and insulin antibodies were also determined. RESULTS Patients were stratified into two groups depending on whether the level of insulin binding to insulin antibodies was below or above 75% (moderate vs high (%, median and range): 62 (15-74) vs 80 (75-89)). High levels of insulin antibodies resulted in about threefold increase in AUC((0 - 24 h)) (the area under the concentration-time curve during 24 h) for total insulin aspart (analysis of variance, P < 0.05). The differences in free insulin aspart pharmacokinetics, insulin pharmacodynamics and HbA(1C) were not statistically significant between patients with different levels of insulin antibodies. Total daily insulin dosage was significantly lower in patients with high than moderate levels of insulin antibodies. CONCLUSIONS In type 1 diabetic patients, high levels of circulating insulin antibodies result in elevated total, but not free, insulin aspart profiles. Consistent with the finding of similar insulin pharmacodynamics, the long-term glycaemic control is not significantly different between patients with different levels of insulin antibodies.
SCENARIO ANALYSIS FOR EVACUATION STRATEGIES FOR RESIDENTS IN BIG CITIES DURING LARGE-SCALE FLOODING

1Member of JSCE, Professor, Research Center for Disaster Prevention in the Extended Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Gunma University (1-5-1 Tenjin-cho, Kiryu-shi, Gunma 376-8515, Japan) E-mail: katada@gunma-u.ac. jp 2Member of JSCE, Research Center for Disaster Prevention in the Extended Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Gunma University (IDA Co., Ltd.) (1-5-1 Tenjin-cho, Kiryu-shi, Gunma 376-8515, Japan) E-mail: kuwasawa@ce.gunma-u.ac. jp 3Member of JSCE, River Planning Division, Water and Disaster Management Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (1F, Joint Government Building (Chuo Godo Chosha) No. 3, 2-1-3 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8918, Japan) E-mail: shida-s2jf@mlit.go.jp 4Member of JSCE, River Department, Kanto Regional Development Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (16F, Saitama New Urban Center Joint Government Building No. 2, 2-1 Shintoshin, Chuo-ku, Saitama-shi, Saitama 330-9724, Japan) E-mail: kojima-m8314@ktr.mlit.go.jp
Smart antenna and spatial diversity-combining

The smart antenna and spatial diversity-combining receiver are two of the most important spatial signal processing technologies. This paper studies the radio propagation characteristics of the transmission path, spatio-temporal channel model and channel characteristics in different environments. On the basis of those analyses, the authors analyzed the operating principle of the smart antenna and spatial diversity-combining technology, and especially showed the differences between these two technologies in several aspects.
Effects of Foreign Institutional Ownership on Foreign Bank Lending: Evidence from South America

Using data from five South American countries from 2001 to 2008, this paper examines how foreign ownership affects the loan cost of borrowers. We find that the cost of debt financing is significantly higher for firms whose largest shareholder is a foreign institutional one. The results suggest that due to potential agency conflicts between shareholders and creditors, having block institutional shareholders tend to increase the borrowers’ debt burden. We also find that for firms with better information transparency and countries with stronger creditor right protection and less exposure to financial crises, the effects of foreign institutional ownership on costs of bank loans appear to be weaker. More interestingly, our results indicate that for firms whose largest foreign shareholder is from the same country as its lead bank, the effects of foreign institutional shareholders on loan prices become smaller, suggesting milder conflicts between the same-base-county pair of shareholders and creditors. Our findings supplement the existing literature on linkages between corporate ownership structure and cost of capital.
Smart Refrigerator for Healthcare Using Food Image Classification

In this paper, we propose a sensor-equipped food container, Smart Refrigerator, which discriminates foods and monitors their status. The system is composed of 1) sensor system for the detection of humidity, temperature, and the image information of food, 2) information server to perform machine learning-based classification of food images, and 3) user applications to monitor the refrigerator and to recommend appropriate meal pattern with recipes for healthy life. We demonstrated the performance in detection of food and suggested that automatic monitoring of food intake can provide intuitive feedback to users.
Assessing the Tolerance of Neural Machine Translation Systems Against Speech Recognition Errors

Machine translation systems are conventionally trained on textual resources that do not model phenomena that occur in spoken language. While the evaluation of neural machine translation systems on textual inputs is actively researched in the literature , little has been discovered about the complexities of translating spoken language data with neural models. We introduce and motivate interesting problems one faces when considering the translation of automatic speech recognition (ASR) outputs on neural machine translation (NMT) systems. We test the robustness of sentence encoding approaches for NMT encoder-decoder modeling, focusing on word-based over byte-pair encoding. We compare the translation of utterances containing ASR errors in state-of-the-art NMT encoder-decoder systems against a strong phrase-based machine translation baseline in order to better understand which phenomena present in ASR outputs are better represented under the NMT framework than approaches that represent translation as a linear model.
Earnings Management and Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) at Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE)

This paper attempted to examine the earnings management in the initial public offerings of corporate shares at Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Using a sample 47 companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange during 2000 to 2009, this research analyzes the model for discretionary current accruals. The results showed managers manipulated the corporate earnings through the discretionary current accruals three years before admission to the Stock Exchange manage. Additionally, the results revealed that managers tended to manipulate the earnings during the year prior to the public offerings though the discretionary current accruals, even though there was no evidence suggesting that managers manipulated the earnings at the IPO year. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015. v6n6s6p92
Image processing using singularities and wavelets

The paper develops a singularity image model as an alternative to linear models for processing many complicated but important images. The model is effective because it provides image characterization, image decomposition, and image reconstruction. For a given measure, one can nonlinearly transform an image into a singularity domain, where each pixel has a singular coefficient. For everywhere singular images, the coefficients are equivalent to fractal dimensions. The image can be decomposed (or partitioned) into subimages such that pixels in each subimage have the same singularity coefficients. Since each subimage is fractal, the overall image can have singularity spectrum. For a wavelet-based measure, it is possible to reconstruct the image from the singularity information. The paper shows application examples including image denoising, image compression, and analysis of natural and biomedical images.
Scenic Assessment in the Districts of Economically Affordable Housing

Scenic assessment in the districts of economically affordable housing in Beijing was conducted by using semantic differential(SD) and factor analysis methods.Four axises were found,namely,axis of sensory factor,style factor,environment factor,and topographical factor.Preferences of the residents for landscape environment in the district were discussed,and the suggestions for the construction of similar districts in the future were put forward.
Cell Therapy in Patients with Left Ventricular Dysfunction Due to Myocardial Infarction

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of autologous transplantation of mononuclear bone marrow cells on myocardial function in patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction due to an acute myocardial infarction. Methods: The randomized study included 82 patients with a first acute myocardial infarction treated with a stent implantation. This presentation is a subanalysis of 47 patients with left ventricular dysfunction–EF (ejection fraction) ≤ 40%. Group H patients (n = 17) received higher number (100,000,000) of cells; Group L patients (n = 13) received lower number (10,000,000) of cells. The patients of control Group C (n = 17) were not treated with cells. The Doppler tissue imaging and single photon emission computed tomography were performed before cell transplantation and 3 months later. Results: At 3 months of follow‐up, the baseline EF of 35%, 36%, 35% in Groups H, L, and C increased by 6% (P < 0.01 vs. baseline), 5% (P < 0.01 vs. baseline), and 4% (P = NS vs. baseline), respectively, as assessed by single photon emission computed tomography (P = NS between groups). The baseline number of akinetic segments of 6.9, 7.0, and 6.2 in H, L, and C groups decreased by 1.7 (P < 0.01 vs. baseline), 1.5 (P < 0.01 vs. baseline), and 0.7 (P = NS vs. baseline, P = NS between groups), respectively, as demonstrated by echocardiography. Conclusion: In our study, the statistically important effect of transplantation of mononuclear bone marrow cells on myocardial function was not found. Only an insignificant trend toward the improvement of global LV EF fraction was found at 3‐month follow‐up.
Innovation as Competitiveness Key Factor: SMEs Manufacturing Industry in Guadalajara, Mexico

Knowledge society organizations are urged to realize developed into an area of major significance such as customer relationship management in a context o rapid market transformation. The purpose of innovation is to efficiently the activities en areas of major significance in the organizations, particularly in areas of operations. The present work is related to an analysis done for small and medium manufacturing companies in Guadalajara, Mexico. The methodological tool used was a questionnaire given to 418 organizations, all of them in Guadalajara, and all SMEs manufacturing with a convenience sample. Also used was a statistical analysis using the Structural Equations Model (SEM) software EQS 6.2.
DETERMINANTS OF GROWTH ASPIRATIONS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The purpose of the paper is to explore the growth aspirations of south-eastern European (SEE) countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Slovenia) early-stage entrepreneurs, concentrating on the relationship between a firm's innovative and international orientation and its growth aspirations. Innovative orientation and international orientation are referred as the most important dimensions of the growth aspirations and can be used for strengthening of a firm from SEE countries. We used firm's aspirations about the future employment as the operational measure of entrepreneurial growth. The data for our analysis is obtained from the 2010 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey (APS) in which 1,106 early-stage entrepreneurs from eight countries were identified. The results of the binary logistic regression show that innovative orientation is negatively related to the firms' growth aspirations. This means that the adoption of new technology as well as offering new products/services weakens the growth aspirations of the early-stage entrepreneurial SEE countries firms. The predictor of international orientation, too, is negatively and significantly associated with the growth aspirations. This means that internalisation impedes SEE countries firms’ growth aspirations. The results also show that firms from innovation-driven countries have less negative growth aspirations compared to those from efficiency-driven countries.
An Alternative Efficient Representation of Demand-Based Competitive Asymmetry

Competitive asymmetry is defined in terms of the directional level of competition among brands/firms (i.e., unit of analysis), where the degree to which brand/firm A may compete with brand/firm B does not equal the degree to which brand/firm B competes with brand/firm A. Such a market structure phenomenon is quite commonplace in virtually every market, e.g., where there exists distinct market leaders and followers. DeSarbo, Grewal, and Wind recently (2006) proposed a new spatial methodology in SMJ to assess these competitive asymmetries based on information on consumer choice sets (i.e., a demand-based approach). However, the approach espoused by DeSarbo et al. results in as many competitive maps as there are brands/firms in a dataset. In this research, the authors devise a distance-based unfolding multidimensional scaling procedure for deriving joint spaces of brands/firms both as givers and takers of consumer consideration with the objective to have a more efficient representation of competitive asymmetries (i.e., one map irrespective of the number of brands/firms under study). An application is provided for an actual commercial study undertaken by a major U.S. automobile manufacturer examining the mid-size car marketplace. The strategic implications of the results are detailed.
Critical Requirement of CD11b (Mac-1) on T Cells and Accessory Cells for Development of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis1

Mac-1 (CD18/CD11b) is a member of the β2-integrin family of adhesion molecules and is implicated in the development of many inflammatory diseases. The role of Mac-1 in the development of CNS demyelinating diseases, including multiple sclerosis, is not understood, and Ab inhibition studies in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model for multiple sclerosis, have produced conflicting findings. To clarify these results and to determine Mac-1-mediated mechanisms in EAE, we performed EAE using Mac-1-deficient mice. Mac-1 homozygous-deficient, but not Mac-1 heterozygous-deficient mice, had significantly delayed onset and attenuated EAE. Leukocyte infiltration was similar in both groups of mice in early disease but significantly reduced in spinal cords of receptor-deficient mice in late disease. Adoptive transfer of Ag-restimulated T cells from wild-type to Mac-1-deficient mice produced significantly attenuated EAE, whereas transfer of Mac-1-deficient Ag-restimulated T cells to control mice failed to induce EAE. T cells from myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)35–55 peptide-primed Mac-1-deficient mice displayed an altered cytokine phenotype with elevated levels of TGF-β and IL-10, but reduced levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-12, and IL-4 compared with control mice. Mac-1-deficient T cells from primed mice proliferated comparably to that of control T cells on MOG35–55 restimulation in vitro. However, the draining lymph nodes of MAC-1-deficient mice on day 10 after MOG35–55 immunization contained lower frequency of blast T cells than in control mice, suggesting poor priming. Our results indicate that Mac-1 expression is critical on both phagocytic cells and T cells for the development of demyelinating disease.
Mutual fund performance measurement and fund rating.

How to measure and rate the performance of funds is the main question that perplexes the fund industry. We show that the measure proposed by Sharpe, which is derived from return-based style analysis, is superior to other measures by a comparative simulation study. We formally develop the econometric methodology on how to implement it, and show that the measure has several advantages because of its quadratic programming estimation techniques instead of the regression method of traditional measures. The natural step after fund performance measurement is to rate the funds. We rate the funds from a new perspective, which is based on the distribution of alphas instead of the preset percentiles as Morningstar. The multimodal shape and formal normality tests prompt us to model the distribution by finite normal mixture model. We assume that the difference of expected fund performance arises from the segmented market information and the differentiated ability of mangers to acquire and analyze the information. We introduce the parametric bootstrap procedure to determine the number of performance groups in the model, i.e. to specify the model. Then EM algorithm is exploited to estimate the model. Based on the estimated posterior probabilities of the fund, we can assign the rating of the fund. We outline our fund rating procedures after developing the methodology. 7 ATTENTION: The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Nanyang Technological University Library
Deferiprone (DFP) Targets Cancer Stem Cell (CSC) Propagation by Inhibiting Mitochondrial Metabolism and Inducing ROS Production

Deferiprone (DFP), also known as Ferriprox, is an FDA-approved, orally active, iron chelator that is currently used clinically for the treatment of iron-overload, especially in thalassaemia major. As iron is a critical factor in Fe-S cluster assembly that is absolutely required for the metabolic function of mitochondria, we hypothesized that DFP treatment could be used to selectively target mitochondria in cancer stem cells (CSCs). For this purpose, we used two ER(+) human breast cancer cell lines, namely MCF7 and T47D cells, as model systems. More specifically, a 3D tumorsphere assay was employed as a functional readout of CSC activity which measures anchorage-independent growth under low attachment conditions. Here, we show that DFP dose dependently inhibited the propagation of CSCs, with an IC-50 of ~100 nM for MCF7 and an IC-50 of ~0.5 to 1 μM for T47D cells, making DFP one the most potent FDA-approved drugs that we and others have thus far identified for targeting CSCs. Mechanistically, we show that high concentrations of DFP metabolically targeted both mitochondrial oxygen consumption (OCR) and glycolysis (extracellular acidification rates (ECAR)) in MCF7 and T47D cell monolayers. Most importantly, we demonstrate that DFP also induced a generalized increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial superoxide production, and its effects reverted in the presence of N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC). Therefore, we propose that DFP is a new candidate therapeutic for drug repurposing and for Phase II clinical trials aimed at eradicating CSCs.
Fatal Hepatic Sarcocystosis in a Captive Black Bear (Ursus Americanus) Associated with Sarcocystis Canis-Like Infection

Fatal hepatic sarcocystosis was diagnosed in a 13-year-old captive black bear (Ursus americanus) with a history of acute onset of vomiting, polyuria, polydipsia, and bilirubinuria. Gross lesions included severe icterus, multisystemic hemorrhage, and gall bladder edema. The most significant microscopic lesion was severe necrotizing hepatitis with intralesional protozoa that reproduced by endopolygeny consistent with a Sarcocystis spp. Infrequent microglial nodules were randomly scattered within the white matter of the cerebral cortices, thalamus, and brainstem, but intralesional protozoal schizonts were not observed. In the liver, immunohistochemistry was positive for Sarcocystis spp. and negative for Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora spp. Positive staining was not observed in the brain. Genus-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections of liver and brain; in both tissues, PCR was positive for Sarcocystis spp. Sequence analysis of the PCR amplicons revealed 100% identity to the published sequences of Sarcocystis canis and Sarcocystis arctosi.
The impact of buyer firm information connectivity enablers on supplier firm performance : A relational view

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of buyer investment in interorganizational, information‐related connectivity enablers on supplier firm performance within the context of buyer‐seller matched dyads.Design/methodology/approach – Data for this study were obtained from a field survey. A mail questionnaire was constructed that contained items measuring the five key constructs of interest. Based on the supply chain information literature and the relational view, two competing models linking the focal constructs using structural equation modeling were evaluated.Findings – The results of the study indicate that buyer‐to‐supplier information sharing, buyer‐to‐supplier performance feedback, and buyer investment in inter‐organizational information technology are key enablers of buyer‐to‐supplier communication openness. However, only buyer‐to‐supplier communication openness plays the direct and critical role in achieving significant performance improvement.Research limitations/implications.