Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modulation of acute and latent herpes simplex virus infection in C57BL/6 mice by adoptive transfer of immune lymphocytes with cytolytic activity

The ability of highly lytic herpes simplex virus (HSV) cytolytic T lymphocytes to modulate the interaction between the murine host (adult C57BL/6 [H-2b] mice) and HSV type 1 Patton resulting in acute infection in the footpad and latent infection in the sensory lumbosacral dorsal root ganglia (L6, L5, L4, and L3) innervating the footpad was investigated. Results indicated that a critical threshold level of infectious HSV was required to establish infection. The adoptive transfer of cytolytic T lymphocytes derived from in vitro cultures after restimulation with HSV-infected, syngeneic stimulator cells exhibiting class I H-2-restricted, L3T4- Lyt-2+ HSV-specific cytolytic activity immediately before infection with a high dose of HSV reduced the levels of infectious HSV recovered from the footpad tissue during acute infection and the levels of latent HSV reactivated from the dorsal root ganglia to levels expected from mice infected with a low dose. Depletion of Lyt-2+ cells from the transferred population abrogated the protective ability, while depletion of L3T4+ cells had little effect. These results suggest that functionally lytic HSV-specific cytolytic T lymphocytes present at the time of HSV infection have the potential to participate in the control of the acute infection and in the subsequent establishment of latent infection.
High‐resolution MAS NMR spectroscopy detection of the spin magnetization exchange by cross‐relaxation and chemical exchange in intact cell lines and human tissue specimens

High‐resolution magic‐angle‐spinning (HR‐MAS) NMR spectroscopy detects resolved signals from membrane phospholipids and proteins in intact cell and tissue samples. MAS has the additional advantage of quenching spin‐diffusion through a mutual “flip‐flop” of neighbor spins by time‐independent dipolar coupling as long as the dipolar coupling is “inhomogeneous. ” Under MAS, significant magnetization transfer (MT) was observed between water and each proton site in membrane phospholipid and between water and the NMR‐observable protein proton signals. The MT rates between water and membrane phospholipids are lower than those between water and protein proton signals. The interaction of water to other small molecules is selective with the observation of MT from water to creatine, lactate, taurine, and glycine, but not to triglyceride, phosphocholine, choline, or myo‐inositol. HR‐MAS NMR allows the detection of a complete MT network between water and each proton group of creatine. Two creatine pools (one motion‐restricted and one motion‐free) were identified in skeletal muscle. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
HDI: integrated services for health data

Health systems around the world are moving to use health data sources to improve the efficiency of their services. However, major technical and legal questions exist concerning data integration, data quality, data security and privacy in health data usage. In this paper, we discuss the Health Data Integration/spl trade/ (HDI/spl trade/) solution currently being developed at the e-Health Research Centre. Firstly we describe the architecture of HDI/spl trade/ and how it performs the tasks of knowledge based medical system. We then consider two of its core capabilities (1) privacy-preserving similarity linkage, and (2) on-line analytical techniques and report generator component. The e-Health Research Centre is currently working with the Queensland Health department to deploy the software in practice.
The Dual-Beta Model: Evidence from the Malaysian Stock Market

The study analyzes the beta-return characteristic, considering the asymmetric beta behavior in the up market versus the down market for the Bursa Malaysia (BM). This study uses a sample period from 2001-2015 with two dual-beta models, the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), and the Fama-French, three-factor (FF3F) model, to examine 60 stocks listed on the bourse. The estimated return and beta indicate that most stocks have experienced an increasing (decreasing) beta in the downtrend (uptrend) period. It is inferred that investors are rewarded with a positive risk premium for holding an asset in the down market, while the upside beta carries a negative premium. If news asymmetry captures a significant part of investors' risk perception in the market, there is evidence that a conditional FF3F model is more useful than a conditional CAPM, which is likened to both the dual-beta FF3F and the CAPM in an unconditional context. The purpose of this study is to analyze the beta-return characteristic, taking into account the asymmetric beta behavior in the upmarket versus the down market in the Bursa Malaysia (BM). This study takes place over a period of 15 years from 2001 to 2015 and utilizes dual beta models of CAPM and Fama-French model to examine 60 BM-listed stocks. The estimation of return and beta indicates that majority of stocks have experienced an increasing (decreasing) beta in the downtrend (uptrend) period. It is also inferred that investors are rewarded with positive risk premium for holding the asset in down market, while upside beta carries the negative premium. If news asymmetry is considered to capture a significant part of investors' risk perception in the Malaysian market, the findings constitute evidence that conditional Fama-French model is more useful than the conditional CAPM likened with both dual beta Fama-French 3-factor model and CAPM in unconditional context.
Examination of a memristor-based low-pass filter topology

In this work, a memristor based low-pass filter topology in which a memristor is placed as the input element and a capacitor is placed as the negative feedback element to an inverting op-amp is examined. The memristor provides adjustable gain characteristic to the filter. Analytical solution of the filter is obtained its output voltage, the memristor current, and the capacitor voltage are found as a function of time. To obtain the filter small-signal model and examine its frequency behavior, Maclaurin series expansion for the output voltage is performed. Time and frequency domain simulations of the filter are done using both small signal and dynamic models of the filter. The frequency domain gain and THD characteristic of the filter are also obtained using both of the models. Simulation results of both of the models are compared. It is shown that the small signal model is able to predict the filter behavior accurately for small signals. It has been also found that, for this topology at low frequencies, the input signal magnitude should be limited for a low distortion.
Modulation of Replicative Senescence of Diploid Human Cells by Nuclear ERK Signaling*

Normal somatic cells have a limited replicative lifespan, and serial subcultivation ultimately results in senescence. Senescent cells are irreversibly growth-arrested and show impaired responses to mitogens. Activation of the ERK signaling pathway, an absolute requirement for cell proliferation, results in nuclear relocalization of active ERKs, an event impaired in senescent fibroblasts. This impairment coincides with increased activity of the nuclear ERK phosphatase MKP2. Here we show that replicative lifespan can be altered by changes in nuclear ERK activity. Ectopic expression of MKP2 results in premature senescence. In contrast, knock-down of MKP2 expression, through transduction of MKP2 sequence-specific short hairpin RNA, or expression of the phosphatase resistant ERK2(D319N) mutant, abrogates the effects of increased endogenous MKP2 levels and senescence is postponed. Nuclear targeting of ERK2(D319N) significantly augments its effects and the transduced cultures show higher than 60% increase in replicative lifespan compared with cultures transduced with wt ERK2. Long-lived cultures senesce with altered molecular characteristics and retain the ability to express c-fos, and Rb is maintained in its inactive form. Our results support that MKP2-mediated inactivation of nuclear ERK2 represents a key event in the establishment of replicative senescence. Although it is evident that senescence can be imposed through multiple mechanisms, restoration of nuclear ERK activity can bypass a critical senescence checkpoint and, thus, extend replicative lifespan.
Book-to-Market Ratio, return on equity and Brazilian Stock Returns

This study aims to analyze the influence of future expectations of the book-to-market ratio (B/M) and return on equity (ROE) in explaining the Brazilian capital market returns. ,The study analyzed the explanatory power of risk-factor approach variables such as beta, size, B/M ratio, momentum and liquidity. ,The results show that future expectations of the B/M ratio and ROE, when combined with proxies for risk factors, were able to explain part of the variations of Brazilian stock returns. With respect to risk factors approach variables, the authors verified the existence of size and B/M effects and a liquidity premium in the Brazilian capital market, during the period analyzed. ,This research was limited to the non-financial companies with shares traded at Brasil, Bolsa and Balcao, from January 1, 1995 to June 30, 2015. This way, the conclusions reached are limited to the sample used herein. ,The evidences herein presented can also contribute to establishing investment strategies, considering that the B/M ratio may be calculated through accounting information announced by companies. Besides, using historical data enable investors, in a specific year, to calculate the predictor variables for the B/M ratio and ROE in the next year, which enhance the explanatory power of the current B/M, when combined in the form of an aggregate predictor variable for stock returns. ,The main contribution of this study to the literature is to demonstrate how the expected future B/M ratio and ROE may improve the explanatory capacity of the stock return, when compared with the variables traditionally studied in the literature.
Designing the Next Mobile App Recommender System for the Globe

Innovative mobile applications bring radical changes to people's life around the globe. With its unique characteristics of anywhere, anytime accessibility, thousands of mobile apps are developed, distributed, and executed over the Internet. To understand the selection criteria for different end users when facing a mobile application, this paper quests for an evaluation framework for mobile apps based statistical data analysis and survey. Firstly, user's ratings on 1500+ mobile applications from Google Play were analyzed to elicit different users' preferences on mobile apps. The data was extracted twice, first at the end 2015, then early 2017, and the data are from four different locations: The UK, USA, Netherland, and Pakistan. Secondly, the survey was conducted to collect university students' rationale when making selections and downloading decisions of a mobile app. Furthermore, the knowledge gathered from data and survey is used to propose a systematic evaluation framework. Finally, the proposed framework is used to develop a recommender system for the mobile app markets. The implementation of the recommender system is introduced, and which was further verified by an example case.
The New Brooklyn: What it takes to bring back a city, by Kay S. Hymowitz

zoning in residential areas, college admissions to selective institutions, and informal allocation of internships. Zoning practices result in disproportionate hoarding of amenities, resources, and political power. This segregation is carried on to selective postsecondary institutions through the admissions process, most notably through the use of legacy admission policies. Internships are also a source of capital and increasingly used by employers to weed out candidates. He is unapologetic about calling out upper middle-class families and goes as far as to call it a “moral failing on our part” (p. 12). Reeves outlines seven interventions that can be implemented immediately: reduce unintended pregnancies through better contraception; increase home visiting to improve parenting; provide better teachers; fund college fairly, including vocational programs; curb exclusionary zoning; end legacy admissions; and open up internships. For each he provides examples of the what, how, and where it is been done successfully. Reeves’ writing and discussion of numerous studies is accessible and playful, and I find his argument persuasive. Upper middle-class individuals need to acknowledge opportunity hoarding and renew their commitment to public policies that create a level playing field for all. Reeves urges us to hold up the mirror and not only acknowledge how we perpetuate classism but, in the words of Michael Jackson, “make that change. ”
Patterns of Lumbar Region Movement During Trunk Lateral Bending in 2 Subgroups of People With Low Back Pain

Background and Purpose The movement system impairment (MSI) system is one proposed system for classifying low back pain (LBP) problems. Prior clinical data and observations for the MSI system suggest that different LBP subgroups demonstrate different patterns of movement during clinical tests, such as trunk lateral bending (TLB). The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the validity of the observation that lumbar region (LR) movement patterns during TLB are different between 2 subgroups of people with LBP: lumbar rotation with extension (Rotation With Extension) and lumbar rotation (Rotation). Subjects Participants were 44 people (28 men and 16 women; age [X̄±SD], 28.5±8.4 years) with chronic or recurrent LBP. Methods Each participant's LBP problem was classified with the MSI system. Kinematic variables were measured, and LBP symptoms were recorded during the TLB test. Results People in the 2 LBP subgroups demonstrated different patterns of LR movement during TLB. People in the Rotation With Extension subgroup displayed an asymmetric (right versus left) pattern of LR movement across the TLB movement, whereas people in the Rotation subgroup displayed a symmetric pattern of LR movement. Equal proportions of people in the 2 subgroups reported an increase in symptoms with the TLB test. Discussion and Conclusion The patterns of LR movement across the TLB movement were different in 2 subgroups of people with LBP. The difference in the LR movement patterns between subgroups may be an important factor to consider in specifying the details of the interventions for these 2 LBP problems.
Deterministic blow-ups of minimal NFA's

The paper treats the question whether there always exists a minimal nondeterministic finite automaton of n states whose equivalent minimal deterministic finite automaton has α states for any integers n and α with n ≤ α ≤ 2 n . Partial answers to this question were given by Iwama, Kambayashi, and Takaki (2000) and by Iwama, Matsuura, and Paterson (2003). In the present paper, the question is completely solved by presenting appropriate automata for all values of n and α . However, in order to give an explicit construction of the automata, we increase the input alphabet to exponential sizes. Then we prove that 2n letters would be sufficient but we describe the related automata only implicitly. In the last section, we investigate the above question for automata over binary and unary alphabets.
Leaf Growth Response to Mild Drought: Natural Variation in Arabidopsis Sheds Light on Trait Architecture[OPEN]

A comprehensive study of 100 Arabidopsis accessions at the phenotype and transcriptome level elucidated extraordinary plasticity of growth responses to mild drought. Plant growth and crop yield are negatively affected by a reduction in water availability. However, a clear understanding of how growth is regulated under nonlethal drought conditions is lacking. Recent advances in genomics, phenomics, and transcriptomics allow in-depth analysis of natural variation. In this study, we conducted a detailed screening of leaf growth responses to mild drought in a worldwide collection of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. The genetic architecture of the growth responses upon mild drought was investigated by subjecting the different leaf growth phenotypes to genome-wide association mapping and by characterizing the transcriptome of young developing leaves. Although no major effect locus was found to be associated with growth in mild drought, the transcriptome analysis delivered further insight into the natural variation of transcriptional responses to mild drought in a specific tissue. Coexpression analysis indicated the presence of gene clusters that co-vary over different genetic backgrounds, among others a cluster of genes with important regulatory functions in the growth response to osmotic stress. It was found that the occurrence of a mild drought stress response in leaves can be inferred with high accuracy across accessions based on the expression profile of 283 genes. A genome-wide association study on the expression data revealed that trans regulation seems to be more important than cis regulation in the transcriptional response to environmental perturbations.
The relation between purulent manifestations and antibiotic treatment of upper respiratory tract infections

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical features of patients diagnosed with upper respiratory tract infections (URIs), and determine which clinical features are associated with antibiotic use. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Three ambulatory care practices at a group-model HMO in the Denver metropolitan area. PATIENTS: Adults (aged 18 years or older) seeking care for acute respiratory illnesses. MEASUREMENTS: Clinical features were documented on standardized encounter forms. Clinician type, secondary diagnoses, and antibiotic treatment were extracted from administrative databases. Results are presented as adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). MAIN RESULTS: Antibiotics were prescribed to 33% (95% CI 28%, 38%) of patients diagnosed with URI, after excluding patients with coexisting antibiotic-responsive conditions (e.g., sinusitis, pharyngitis) or a history of cardiopulmonary disease. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified tobacco use (OR 2.8; 95% CI 1.5, 5.1), history of purulent nasal discharge (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.1, 3.6) or green phlegm (OR 4.8; 95% CI 2.1, 11.1), and examination findings of purulent nasal discharge (OR 5.2; 95% CI 2.4, 11.2) or tonsillar exudate (OR 3.7; 95% CI 1.1, 12.1) to be independently associated with antibiotic use. The majority of patients treated with antibiotics (82%) had at least one of these factors present. CONCLUSIONS: Antibiotic treatment of URIs is most common when purulent manifestations are present. Efforts to reduce antibiotic treatment of URIs should educate clinicians about the limited value of purulent manifestations in predicting antibiotic-responsive disease.
Audit Firm Tenure, Auditor Familiarity, and Trust: Effect on Auditee Whistleblowing Reporting Intentions

Mandatory audit firm rotation has been researched for decades with resulting opposition as well as support. Research has mainly treated mandatory auditor rotation at the firm macro level. We submit the client relationship length is comprised of firm tenure and audit team continuity, or auditor familiarity. Increased tenure, at the interorganizational or firm level and interpersonal or individual level, has been shown to increase trust; and further, trust is positively related to employee voice, such as speaking up about fraud (whistleblowing). We conduct an experiment examining whether increased audit firm tenure and auditor familiarity leads to increased trust, which enhances the willingness to whistleblow. We find evidence that suggests auditor familiarity enhances trust, which, in turn, positively influences an employee's intentions to whistleblow. This has important implications for the profession and for future research exploring mandatory audit firm rotation; in particular, the need to include auditor familiarity as a construct.
Exponentially convergent decentralized charging control for large populations of plug-in electric vehicles

We address the problem to control the charging schedules in a large population of plug-in electric vehicles, considered as heterogeneous noncooperative agents, with different strongly convex quadratic cost functions weakly coupled by a common pricing signal, and convex charging constraints, e.g. plug-in times, deadlines and capacity limits. We assume a minimal information structure through which a central controller can broadcast incentive signals to coordinate the decentralized optimal responses of the agents. We propose a dynamic controller that, based on fixed point operator theory arguments, ensures global exponential convergence to an aggregative Nash equilibrium for large population size. We build upon the recent literature, further address general convex quadratic cost functions and convex constraints, and show exponential convergence without imposing technical assumptions. Finally, we illustrate the benefits of the proposed control law via numerical simulations, where the aggregate charging demand tends to fill the overnight demand valley.
Effects of rotational Inertia on power system damping and frequency transients

Rotational Inertia is an integral part of any electric power system. Due to the increased use of power electronics-both to connect Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and as drives for electric motors-inertia levels are generally reduced and become time dependent. The same power electronic technologies can also be used to actively provide inertia to the power system, raising the question what effect changes in inertia has on power system stability, and how to best place devices providing virtual inertia. We propose an optimization program that answers these question, and analytically derive the sensitivities of transient frequency overshoot and damping ratio to inertia and damping. An example shows how damping ratio can be improved while transient frequency limits are respected.
Alkaline Proteinase Inhibitor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The apr locus of Pseudomonas aeruginosa encodes alkaline proteinase (APR), a member of the metzincin metalloendopeptidase superfamily, and an 11.4-kDa alkaline proteinase inhibitor (APRin). We describe here the expression inEscherichia coli and characterization of full-length and N-terminally truncated APRin proteins. Fluorescence and circular dichroism spectra indicated that the recombinant proteins were folded into native-like structures. Analytical ultracentrifugation showed that APRin was monomeric and formed a 1:1 complex with APR. Binding of wild-type APRin to APR occurred with association (k on) and dissociation (k off) rate constants of 0.29 ± 0.06 × 106 m − 1s− 1 and 1.15 ± 0.08 × 10− 6 s− 1 to give an equilibrium dissociation constant (K D ) of ∼4 × 10− 12 m (25 °C, pH 7.0, ionic strength 2.4 m). The association rate decreased by ∼2-fold in 20% glycerol and increased by ∼3-fold in 0.1m NaCl. The glycerol effect suggests a diffusion-limited reaction, and the small salt effect indicates that electrostatic interactions contribute little to binding. Deletion of residues 1–10, 1–6, or 6–10 abolished inhibition, and deletion of residues 1–2, 1–3, 1–4, and 1–5 resulted in a progressively decreased affinity of APRin for APR (K D = 0.12 μm for the Δ(1–5) mutant). Substitution of APRin residues 6–10 with a (Gly)5 or (Pro)5 linker restored inhibitory activity of the Δ(6–10) mutant but with a 100- and 50-fold reduction in K D . Log k on for the full-length and truncated inhibitors correlated with the solvent-accessible surface area of their N-terminal regions, suggesting that increased interactions and/or desolvation of these residues in the transition state for binding contribute to the enhanced association rate. Treatment of APRin with pseudolysin, also secreted by P. aeruginosa, resulted in removal of residues 1–5. APRin was neither an inhibitor nor a substrate of other metzincins, including collagenase or gelatinases A or B.