Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term properties of accretion discs in X-ray binaries — II. Stability of radiation-driven warping

A significant number of X-ray binaries (XRBs) are now known to exhibit long-term 'superorbital' periodicities on time-scales of ∼10-100 d. Several physical mechanisms have been proposed that give rise to such periodicities, in particular warping and/or precession of the accretion disc. Recent theoretical work predicts the stability to disc warping of XRBs as a function of the mass ratio, binary radius, viscosity and accretion efficiency, and here we examine the constraints that can be placed on such models by current observations. In Paper I we used a dynamic power spectrum (DPS) analysis of long-term X-ray data sets (Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer), focusing on the remarkable, smooth variations in the superorbital period exhibited by SMC X-1. Here we use a similar DPS analysis to investigate the stability of the superorbital periodicities in the neutron star XRBs Cyg X-2, LMC X-4 and Her X-1, and thereby confront stability predictions with observation. We find that the period and nature of superorbital variations in these sources are consistent with the predictions of warping theory. We also use a dynamic light-curve analysis to examine the behaviour of Her X-1 as it enters and leaves the 1999 anomalous low state (ALS). This reveals a significant phase shift some 15 cycles before the ALS, which indicates a change in the disc structure or profile leading into the ALS.
Ultra-Fast Low Concentration Detection of Candida Pathogens Utilizing High Resolution Micropore Chips

Although Candida species are the fourth most common cause of nosocomial blood stream infections in the United States, early diagnostic tools for invasive candidemia are lacking. Due to an increasing rate of candidemia, a new screening system is needed to detect the Candida species in a timely manner. Here we describe a novel method of detection using a solid-state micro-scale pore similar to the operational principles of a Coulter counter. With a steady electrolyte current flowing through the pore, measurements are taken of changes in the current corresponding to the shape of individual yeasts as they translocate or travel through the pore. The direct ultra-fast low concentration electrical addressing of C. albicans has established criteria for distinguishing individual yeast based on their structural properties, which may reduce the currently used methods’ complexity for both identification and quantification capabilities in mixed blood samples.
Countering drift in Visual Odometry for planetary rovers by registering boulders in ground and orbital images

Visual Odometry (VO) is a proven technology for planetary exploration rovers, facilitating their localization with a small error over medium-sized trajectories. However, due to VO's incremental mode of operation, its estimation error accumulates over time, resulting in considerable drift for long trajectories. This paper proposes a global localization method that counters VO drift by matching boulders extracted from overhead and ground images and using them periodically to relocalize the rover and refine VO estimates. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated with the aid of overhead imagery of different resolutions. Experimental results demonstrate that a very terse representation, consisting of approximate boulder locations only, suffices for significantly improving the accuracy of VO over long traverses.
A UNIFIED FRAMEWORK OF INFORMATION ASSURANCE FOR THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF SECURITY ALGORITHMS

Most information security algorithms cannot achieve perfect security without incurring severe operational costs such as false alarms, network congestion, capital investment etc. Operating or designing an algorithm with perfect security is therefore not an economically rational alternative and thus the question arises of how to find the appropriate tradeoff between security and its costs. Although several other researchers have recognized that there is a tradeoff, there is very little work in formally characterizing it. This paper provides the first steps towards a more systematic and general approach for cost-effective security management.
Research on floating point representation genetic algorithm based on wavelet threshold shrinkage denoising

Floating point representation (FPR) is of the strongpoint of high precision and facilitating search on high-dimension space. It is superior to other representation in function optimization and restriction optimization. But, the noise was brought about in run environment of floating point representation genetic algorithm (FPRGA). This was often neglected by researchers. Simple FPRGA uses bounded random mutation. It cannot avoid the noise to influence on the algorithm performance. This paper presents a floating point representation genetic algorithm based on wavelet threshold shrinkage denoising (FGAWSD). A filter was structured. Mutation operation was replaced with different thresholds denoising. The experiments were done. The result of the research and the experiments indicates that the method is reliable in theory, is feasible in technique. The precision of the optimal solution of problem can be enhanced with selecting proper threshold. The method is of high stability.
Allergen Atlas: a comprehensive knowledge center and analysis resource for allergen information

Summary: A variety of specialist databases have been developed to facilitate the study of allergens. However, these databases either contain different subsets of allergen data or are deficient in tools for assessing potential allergenicity of proteins. Here, we describe Allergen Atlas, a comprehensive repository of experimentally validated allergen sequences collected from in-house laboratory, online data submission, literature reports and all existing general-purpose and specialist databases. Each entry was manually verified, classified and hyperlinked to major databases including Swiss-Prot, Protein Data Bank (PDB), Gene Ontology (GO), Pfam and PubMed. The database is integrated with analysis tools that include: (i) keyword search, (ii) BLAST, (iii) position-specific iterative BLAST (PSI-BLAST), (iv) FAO/WHO criteria search, (v) graphical representation of allergen information network and (vi) online data submission. The latest version contains information of 1593 allergen sequences (496 IUIS allergens, 978 experimentally verified allergens and 119 new sequences), 56 IgE epitope sequences, 679 links to PDB structures and 155 links to Pfam domains. Availability: Allergen Atlas is freely available at http://tiger.dbs. nus.edu. sg/ATLAS/. Contact: martti@nus.edu. sg.
Modulated rotating waves in an enclosed swirling flow

The loss of axisymmetry in a swirling flow that is generated inside an enclosed cylindrical container by the steady rotation of one endwall is examined numerically. The two dimensionless parameters that govern these flows are the cylinder aspect ratio and a Reynolds number associated with the rotation of the endwall. This study deals with a fixed aspect ratio, height/radius = 2.5. At low Reynolds numbers the basic flow is steady and axisymmetric; as the Reynolds number increases the basic state develops a double recirculation zone on the axis, so-called vortex breakdown bubbles. On further increase in the Reynolds number the flow becomes unsteady through a supercritical Hopf bifurcation but remains axisymmetric. After the onset of unsteadiness, another two unsteady axisymmetric solution branches appear with further increase in Reynolds number, each with its own temporal characteristic: one is periodic and the other is quasi-periodic with a very low frequency modulation. Solutions on these additional branches are unstable to three-dimensional perturbations, leading to nonlinear modulated rotating wave states, but with the flow still dominated by the corresponding underlying axisymmetric mode. A study of the flow behaviour on and bifurcations between these solution branches is presented, both for axisymmetric and for fully three-dimensional flows. The presence of modulated rotating waves alters the structure of the bifurcation diagram and gives rise to its own dynamics, such as a truncated cascade of period doublings of very-low-frequency modulated states.
Triage of Atypical Glandular Cell by SOX1 and POU4F3 Methylation: A Taiwanese Gynecologic Oncology Group (TGOG) Study

Introduction Invasive procedures including loop electrosurgical excision, cervical conization, and endometrial sampling are often recommended when atypical glandular cells (AGC) are detected on Pap smear with unsatisfactory colposcopy. These invasive procedures may result in patient anxiety, increased medical expense, and increasing the risk of preterm delivery in subsequent pregnancies. This study was performed to assess methylation biomarkers in the triage of AGC on Pap smear for invasive procedures. Methods We conducted a multicenter study in 13 medical centers in Taiwan from May 2012 to May 2014. A total of 55 samples diagnosed “AGC not otherwise specified” (AGC-NOS) were included. All patients with AGC underwent colposcopy, cervical biopsy, endometrial sampling, and conization if indicated. Multiplex quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (QMSPCR) was performed. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were calculated for detecting CIN3+ and endometrial complex hyperplasia. Results In 55 patients with AGC, the sensitivity for methylated (m) SOX1m, PAX1 m, ZNF582m,PTPRRm, AJAP1m, HS3ST2m, and POU4F3m for detecting CIN3+ and endometrial complex hyperplasia lesions was 100, 86, 71, 86, 86, 57, and 100%; specificity was 67, 79, 85, 50, 52, 96, and 52%, respectively. Testing for high risk-HPV had a sensitivity of 57% and specificity of 75% for CIN3+ and endometrial complex hyperplasia lesions. Conclusion Methylated (m) SOX1m and POU4F3m could be new methylation biomarkers for detection of CIN3+ and endometrial complex hyperplasia in AGC. Women with AGC and positive SOX1m / POU4F3m, colposcopy, cervical conization or endometrial sampling should be considered.
ZO-1 alters the plasma membrane localization and function of Cx43 in osteoblastic cells

ZO-1 is the major connexin-interacting protein in ROS 17/2.8 (ROS) osteoblastic cells. We examined the role of ZO-1 in Cx43-mediated gap junction formation and function in ROS cells that expressed the connexin-interacting fragment of ZO-1 (ROS/ZO-1dn) cells. Expression of this ZO-17-444 fusion protein in ROS cells disrupted the Cx43/ZO-1 interaction and decreased dye transfer by 85%, although Cx43 was retained on the plasma membrane as assessed by surface biotinylation. Fractionation of lysates derived from ROS/ZO-1dn cells on a 5-30% sucrose flotation gradient showed that 40% of the Cx43 floated into these sucrose gradients, whereas none of the Cx43 in ROS cell lysates entered the gradients, suggesting that more Cx43 is associated with lipid rafts in the transfected ROS cells than in lysates derived from untransfected ROS cells. In contrast to the ROS/ZO-1dn cells, ROS cells that over-expressed ZO-1 protein (ROS/ZO-1myc cells) exhibited increased gap junctional permeability and appositional membrane staining for Cx43. These data demonstrate that ZO-1 regulates Cx43-mediated gap junctional communication in osteoblastic cells and alters the membrane localization of Cx43. They suggest that ZO-1-mediated delivery of Cx43 from a lipid raft domain to gap junctional plaques may be an important regulatory step in gap junction formation.
Phenotypic Alteration of a Human BK (hSlo) Channel byhSloβ Subunit Coexpression: Changes in Blocker Sensitivity, Activation/Relaxation and Inactivation Kinetics, and Protein Kinase A Modulation

A human homolog of the large-conductance calcium-activated potassium (BK) channel β subunit (hSloβ) was cloned, and its effects on a human BK channel (hSlo) phenotype are reported. Coexpression of hSlo and hSloβ, in both oocytes and human embryonic kidney 293 cells, resulted in increased Ca2+ sensitivity, marked slowing of BK channel activation and relaxation, and a significant reduction in slow inactivation. In addition, coexpression changed the pharmacology of the BK channel phenotype: hSlo-mediated currents in oocytes were more sensitive to the peptide toxin iberiotoxin than werehSlo + hSloβ currents, and the potency of blockade by the alkaloid BK blocker tetrandrine was much greater onhSlo + hSloβ-mediated currents compared withhSlo currents alone. No significant differences in the response to charybdotoxin or the BK channel opener NS1619 were observed. Modulation of BK channel activity by phosphorylation was also affected by the presence of the hSloβ subunit. Application of cAMP-dependent protein kinase increasedPOPEN of hSlo channels, but decreased POPEN of most hSlo + hSloβ channels. Taken together, these altered characteristics may explain some of the wide diversity of BK channel phenotypes observed in native tissues.
Communication power struggles on social media: A case study of the 2011–12 Russian protests

ABSTRACT In 2011–2012 Russia experienced a wave of mass protests surrounding the Duma and presidential elections. The protests, however, faded shortly after the second election. We study the Russian political discourse on Twitter during this period and the main actors involved: the pro-government camp, the opposition, and the general public. We analyze around 700,000 Twitter messages and investigate the social networks of the most active Twitter users. Our analysis shows that pro-government users employed a variety of communication strategies to shift the political discourse and marginalize oppositional voices on Twitter. This demonstrates how authorities can disempower regime critics and successfully manipulate public opinion on social media.
Self-similarity and finite-time intermittent effects in turbulent sequences

We discuss two questions related to the finite-time behaviour of a sequence that generates a self-similar system. The first one concerns the way to approach the self-similarity exponent associated with the system, from the analysis of the sequences observed during a finite time. After this approximation procedure we established a criterion to decide whether the analysed sequence can be considered to be a finite-time subsequence of a generating sequence for a self-similar system. In the second part of this work, assuming the asymptotic self-similarity for the system generated by a sequence, we study the conditions ensuring the appearance of anomalous scaling on the structure functions, due to finite-time effects. We use this method to show that, in the case of a real turbulent sequence, anomalous scaling is not incompatible with asymptotic self-similarity.
A Discriminative Analysis of Fine-Grained Semantic Relations including Presupposition: Annotation and Classification

In contrast to classical lexical semantic relations between verbs, such as antonymy, synonymy or hypernymy, presupposition is a lexically triggered semantic relation that is not well covered in existing lexical resources. It is also understudied in the ﬁeld of corpus-based methods of learning semantic relations. Yet, presupposition is very important for semantic and discourse analysis tasks, given the implicit information that it conveys. In this paper we present a corpus-based method for acquiring presupposition-triggering verbs along with verbal relata that express their presupposed meaning. We approach this difﬁcult task using a discriminative classiﬁcation method that jointly determines and distinguishes a broader set of inferential semantic relations between verbs. The present paper focuses on important methodological aspects of our work: (i) a discriminative analysis of the semantic properties of the chosen set of relations, (ii) the selection of features for corpus-based classiﬁcation and (iii) design decisions for the manual annotation of ﬁne-grained semantic relations between verbs. (iv) We present the results of a practical annotation effort leading to a gold standard resource for our relation inventory, and (v) we report results for automatic clas-siﬁcation of our target set of ﬁne-grained semantic relations, including presupposition. We achieve a classiﬁcation performance of 55% F 1 -score, a 100% improvement over a best-feature baseline.
Positioning to get out of meiosis: the asymmetry of division.

BACKGROUND During meiosis, mammalian oocytes undergo two successive cell divisions without an intermediate replicative phase. This brief period, called 'meiotic maturation', is crucial for the formation of an egg capable of being fertilized and of generating viable and euploid offspring. METHODS We review our current knowledge of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control asymmetry and appear to be shared between mammalian species, as well as the associated misfunctions that impair the formation of functional female gametes. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The two successive divisions that comprise mammalian oogenesis are asymmetric. They lead to the formation of small polar bodies and the large and polarized egg. This asymmetry depends upon the dynamic organization of the oocyte cytoskeleton during both divisions. During meiosis I, microfilaments and associated molecules ensure the targeting of the microtubule spindle at the oocyte periphery. During meiosis II, they anchor the spindle under the plasma membrane. In parallel, the cortex overhanging the spindle is dramatically reorganized. Establishment and maintenance of this cortical domain are crucial for the completion of fertilization. Loss of this differentiated area is characteristic of ageing or low-quality gametes and associated with increased maternal age or post-ovulatory ageing.
Robust pilot-aided channel estimator for time-varying OFDM channels

This paper deals with time-varying channel estimation in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems by means of pilot-aided strategies. A robust estimator which does not depend on the channel statistics is proposed. The derivation is based on a constrained filtering approach and particular cases are analyzed. Simulation results are provided in order to verify the better performance of the proposal when compared to estimators reported in the literature.
CONSTRAINTS ON THE HIGH-ℓ POWER SPECTRUM OF MILLIMETER-WAVE ANISOTROPIES FROM APEX-SZ

We present measurements of the angular power spectrum of millimeter wave anisotropies with the APEX-SZ instrument. APEX-SZ has mapped 0.8 deg2 of sky at a frequency of 150 GHz with an angular resolution of 1′. These new measurements significantly improve the constraints on anisotropy power at 150 GHz over the range of angular multipoles 3000 < ℓ < 10, 000, limiting the total astronomical signal in a flat band power to be less than 105 μK2 at 95% CL. We expect both submillimeter-bright, dusty galaxies and to a lesser extent secondary cosmic microwave background anisotropies from the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect (SZE) to significantly contribute to the observed power. Subtracting the SZE power spectrum expected for σ8 = 0.8 and masking bright sources, the best-fit value for the remaining power is Cℓ = 1.1+0.9−0.8 × 10−5 μK2 (1.7+1.4−1.3 Jy2 sr−1). This agrees well with model predictions for power due to submillimeter-bright, dusty galaxies. Comparing this power to the power detected by BLAST at 600 GHz, we find the frequency dependence of the source fluxes to be if both experiments measure the same population of sources. Simultaneously fitting for the amplitude of the SZE power spectrum and a Poisson-distributed point source population, we place an upper limit on the matter fluctuation amplitude of σ8 < 1.18 at 95% confidence.
Proton Sensing of CLC-0 Mutant E166D

CLC Cl− channels are homodimers in which each subunit has a proper pore and a (fast) gate. An additional slow gate acts on both pores. A conserved glutamate (E166 in CLC-0) is a major determinant of gating in CLC-0 and is crucially involved in Cl−/H+ antiport of CLC-ec1, a CLC of known structure. We constructed tandem dimers with one wild-type (WT) and one mutant subunit (E166A or E166D) to show that these mutations of E166 specifically alter the fast gate of the pore to which they belong without effect on the fast gate of the neighboring pore. In addition both mutations activate the common slow gate. E166A pores have a large, voltage-independent open probability of the fast gate (popen), whereas popen of E166D pores is dramatically reduced. Similar to WT, popen of E166D was increased by lowering pHint. At negative voltages, E166D presents a persistent inward current that is blocked by p-chlorophenoxy-acetic acid (CPA) and increased at low pHext. The pHext dependence of the persistent current is analogous to a similar steady inward current in WT CLC-0. Surprisingly, however, the underlying unitary conductance of the persistent current in E166D is about an order of magnitude smaller than that of the transient deactivating inward Cl− current. Collectively, our data support the possibility that the mutated CLC-0 channel E166D can assume two distinct open states. Voltage-independent protonation of D166 from the outside favors a low conductance state, whereas protonation from the inside favors the high conductance state.
A Simpler , Intuitive Approach to Morpheme Induction

We present a simple, psychologically plausible algorithm to perform unsupervised learning of morphemes. The algorithm is most suited to Indo-European languages with a concatenative morphology, and in particular English. We will describe the two approaches that work together to detect morphemes: 1) finding words that appear as substrings of other words, and 2) detecting changes in transitional probabilities. This algorithm yields particularly good results given its simplicity and conciseness: evaluated on a set of 532 humansegmented English words, the 252-line program achieved an F-score of 80.92% (Precision: 82.84% Recall: 79.10%).
TAXATION OF FINANCIAL CAPITAL IN A GLOBALIZED ENVIRONMENT: THE ROLE OF WITHHOLDING TAXES

This paper assesses the merits and limitations of raising withholding taxes at source as a policy measure to address the increasingly serious problem of tax evasion connected with crossborder income flows from portfolio investment in the present globalized environment. Such taxes are effective in capturing passive income flows in an administratively simple way but generate a number of distortions and give rise to international revenue redistribution and other spillover effects. On balance, however, the paper concludes that raising withholding taxes should be seriously considered in a multilateral framework to combat tax evasion.
Diverse Metastable Structures Formed by Small Oligomers of α-Synuclein Probed by Force Spectroscopy

Oligomeric aggregates are widely suspected as toxic agents in diseases caused by protein aggregation, yet they remain poorly characterized, partly because they are challenging to isolate from a heterogeneous mixture of species. We developed an assay for characterizing structure, stability, and kinetics of individual oligomers at high resolution and sensitivity using single-molecule force spectroscopy, and applied it to observe the formation of transient structured aggregates within single oligomers of α-synuclein, an intrinsically-disordered protein linked to Parkinson’s disease. Measurements of the molecular extension as the proteins unfolded under tension in optical tweezers revealed that even small oligomers could form numerous metastable structures, with a surprisingly broad range of sizes. Comparing the structures formed in monomers, dimers and tetramers, we found that the average mechanical stability increased with oligomer size. Most structures formed within a minute, with size-dependent rates. These results provide a new window onto the complex α-synuclein aggregation landscape, characterizing the microscopic structural heterogeneity and kinetics of different pathways.