Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contrasting copper evolution in ω Centauri and the Milky Way

Despite the many studies on stellar nucleosynthesis published so far, the scenario for the production of copper in stars remains elusive. In particular, it is still debated whether copper originates mostly in massive stars or in Type Ia supernovae. To answer this question, we compute self-consistent chemical evolution models taking into account the results of updated stellar nucleosynthesis. By contrasting copper evolution in ω Cen and the Milky Way, we end up with a picture where massive stars are the major factor responsible for the production of copper in ω Cen as well as the Galactic disc.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa Displays Multiple Phenotypes during Development as a Biofilm

ABSTRACT Complementary approaches were employed to characterize transitional episodes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm development using direct observation and whole-cell protein analysis. Microscopy and in situ reporter gene analysis were used to directly observe changes in biofilm physiology and to act as signposts to standardize protein collection for two-dimensional electrophoretic analysis and protein identification in chemostat and continuous-culture biofilm-grown populations. Using these approaches, we characterized five stages of biofilm development: (i) reversible attachment, (ii) irreversible attachment, (iii) maturation-1, (iv) maturation-2, and (v) dispersion. Biofilm cells were shown to change regulation of motility, alginate production, and quorum sensing during the process of development. The average difference in detectable protein regulation between each of the five stages of development was 35% (approximately 525 proteins). When planktonic cells were compared with maturation-2 stage biofilm cells, more than 800 proteins were shown to have a sixfold or greater change in expression level (over 50% of the proteome). This difference was higher than when planktonic P. aeruginosa were compared with planktonic cultures of Pseudomonas putida. Las quorum sensing was shown to play no role in early biofilm development but was important in later stages. Biofilm cells in the dispersion stage were more similar to planktonic bacteria than to maturation-2 stage bacteria. These results demonstrate that P. aeruginosa displays multiple phenotypes during biofilm development and that knowledge of stage-specific physiology may be important in detecting and controlling biofilm growth.
A general limitation on Monte Carlo algorithms of the Metropolis type.

We prove that for any Monte Carlo algorithm of Metropolis type, the autocorraletion time of a suitable energy''-like observable is bounded below by a multiple of the corresponding specific heat. '' This bound does not depend on whether the proposed moves are local or nonlocal; it depends only on the distance between the desired probability distribution [pi] and the probability distribution [pi][sup (0)] for which the proposal matrix satisfies detailed balance. We show, with several examples, that this result is particularly powerful when applied to nonlocal algorithms.
On The Performance Of Directed Diffusion In Dense Sensor Networks

Directed diffusion is a prominent example of data-centric routing in sensor networks, since it is based on application layer data and purely local interactions. However, its functioning relies heavily on expensive operations, like network-wide flooding, that may decrease the protocol performance in densely deployed networks. In this paper, we take a first step towards understanding the performance of directed diffusion in dense sensor networks. Our objective is to precisely identify the protocol's weaknesses in such application scenarios, in order to allow adequate optimizations for better performance.
E-Cadherin gene promoter hypermethylation in primary human gastric carcinomas.

BACKGROUND E (epithelial)-cadherin, the cell adhesion molecule also considered a potential invasion/metastasis suppressor, is mutationally inactivated in nearly half of all undifferentiated-scattered (diffuse-type) gastric carcinomas. In addition, silencing of E-cadherin by CpG methylation within its promoter region has been reported in several gastric carcinoma cell lines. We investigated the methylation status of the E-cadherin promoter region in 53 primary human gastric carcinomas. METHODS Hypermethylation of the E-cadherin promoter was determined by utilizing methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-single-strand conformation polymorphism (MSP-SSCP) analysis followed by direct sequencing of PCR products. Expression of E-cadherin was studied by western blot analysis. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS Hypermethylation of the E-cadherin promoter was evident in 27 (51%) of 53 primary gastric carcinomas examined by MSP-SSCP. It occurred more frequently in carcinomas of the undifferentiated-scattered type (in 15 [83%] of 18) than in other histologic subtypes (in 12 [34%] of 35) (P =.0011, Fisher's exact test), and it was present at similar rates in early (in six [60%] of 10) versus advanced (in 21 [49%] of 43) carcinomas (P =.73, Fisher's exact test). Methylation occurring at all cytosine-guanosine sequences (CpGs) near the transcriptional start site was confirmed in six of six tumors examined by bisulfite-DNA sequencing, including two early gastric carcinomas. In addition, loss or diminished expression of E-cadherin was confirmed by western blotting in four of the six tumor tissues demonstrating hypermethylation. CONCLUSIONS The E-cadherin promoter frequently undergoes hypermethylation in human gastric cancers, particularly those of the undifferentiated-scattered histologic subtype. E-cadherin promoter hypermethylation is associated with decreased expression and may occur early in gastric carcinogenesis.
Reflexivity in Teams

A growing number of studies have investigated the role of team reflexivity, that is the extent to which teams reflect upon and adapt their functioning. However, in spite the relevance of the concept, previous research revealed surprisingly heterogenous findings regarding the relationship between team reflexivity and outcomes. The main goals of this work were therefore to theoretically and empirically identify causes for this unclarity and develop alternative conceptualisations. As a first step, team reflexivity was conceptualized in the form of a framework that integrates four interacting but distinct reflexive processes. Focusing on the team reflection process, an extended multidimensional reflection measure REMINT (Reflection Measure for Individuals and Teams) was developed and validated. The measure allows to capture the relevant dimensions of quality and quantity of reflection and the underlying processes of information seeking and information evaluation, and offers a precise and at the same time economical examination of the team reflection process. Based on this differentiation, the results of two extensive consecutive studies revealed that is necessary to distinguish between the different forms of team reflection in order to understand the effects of team reflection on outcomes. Furthermore, results showed that this relationship is also depended on various contextual variables, such as previous team performance (feedback), time, or environmental conditions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
A Technique to Speed up the Modular Multiplicative Inversion over GF(P) Applicable to Elliptic Curve Cryptography

This paper presents a technique to speed up the computation of inversion of NIST recommended elliptic curve with modulus p-1. The property of multiplicative inverse between pair of numbers over Meresenne‟s prime is used to reduce the number of iterations in the Binary Inversion Algorithm in GF(p). This increases the speed requirement for point operations applicable to Elliptic Curve Cryptography. This paper proposes an model of the architecture to achieve the above objective which uses parallelism in multiplicative inversion arithmetic block to speed up the computation.
ErdOS: achieving energy savings in mobile OS

The integration of multiple hardware components available in current smartphones improves their functionality but reduces their battery life to few hours of operation. Despite the positive improvements achieved by hardware and operating system vendors to make mobile platforms more energy efficient at various levels, we believe that an efficient power management in mobile devices is compromised by strict layering of the system caused by complex mobile business models that mitigates against cross-layering optimisations. However, there is a lot of room for improvement in the operating system. This paper presents ErdOS, a user-centered energy-aware operating system that extends the battery life of mobile handsets by managing resources proactively and by exploiting opportunistic access to resources in nearby devices using social connections between users.
Staircase approximation validity for arbitrary-shaped gratings.

An electromagnetic study of the staircase approximation of arbitrary shaped gratings is conducted with three different grating theories. Numerical results on a deep aluminum sinusoidal grating show that the staircase approximation introduces sharp maxima in the local field map close to the edges of the profile. These maxima are especially pronounced in TM polarization and do not exist with the original sinusoidal profile. Their existence is not an algorithmic artifact, since they are found with different grating theories and numerical implementations. Since the number of the maxima increases with the number of the slices, a greater number of Fourier components is required to correctly represent the electromagnetic field, and thus a worsening of the convergence rate is observed. The study of the local field map provides an understanding of why methods that do not use the staircase approximation (e.g., the differential theory) converge faster than methods that use it. As a consequence, a 1% accuracy in the efficiencies of a deep sinusoidal metallic grating is obtained 30 times faster when the differential theory is used in comparison with the use of the rigorous coupled-wave theory. A theoretical analysis is proposed in the limit when the number of slices tends to infinity, which shows that even in that case the staircase approximation is not well suited to describe the real profile.
Overexpression of a GmCnx1 Gene Enhanced Activity of Nitrate Reductase and Aldehyde Oxidase, and Boosted Mosaic Virus Resistance in Soybean

Molybdenum cofactor (Moco) is required for the activities of Moco-dependant enzymes. Cofactor for nitrate reductase and xanthine dehydrogenase (Cnx1) is known to be involved in the biosynthesis of Moco in plants. In this work, a soybean (Glycine max L.) Cnx1 gene (GmCnx1) was transferred into soybean using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation method. Twenty seven positive transgenic soybean plants were identified by coating leaves with phosphinothricin, bar protein quick dip stick and PCR analysis. Moreover, Southern blot analysis was carried out to confirm the insertion of GmCnx1 gene. Furthermore, expression of GmCnx1 gene in leaf and root of all transgenic lines increased 1.04-2.12 and 1.55-3.89 folds, respectively, as compared to wild type with GmCnx1 gene and in line 10 , 22 showing the highest expression. The activities of Moco-related enzymes viz nitrate reductase (NR) and aldehydeoxidase (AO) of T1 generation plants revealed that the best line among the GmCnx1 transgenic plants accumulated 4.25 μg g-1 h-1 and30 pmol L-1, respectively (approximately 2.6-fold and 3.9-fold higher than non-transgenic control plants). In addition, overexpression ofGmCnx1boosted the resistance to various strains of soybean mosaic virus (SMV). DAS-ELISA analysis further revealed that infection rate of GmCnx1 transgenic plants were generally lower than those of non-transgenic plants among two different virus strains tested. Taken together, this study showed that overexpression of a GmCnx1 gene enhanced NR and AO activities and SMV resistance, suggesting its important role in soybean genetic improvement.
Clausal Logic and Logic Programming in Algebraic Domains

We introduce a domain-theoretic foundation for disjunctive logic programming. This foundation is built on clausal logic, a representation of the Smyth powerdomain of any coherent algebraic dcpo. We establish the completeness of a resolution rule for inference in such a clausal logic; we introduce a natural declarative semantics and a fixed-point semantics for disjunctive logic programs, and prove their equivalence; finally, we apply our results to give both a syntax and semantics for default logic in any coherent algebraic dcpo. 2001 Elsevier Science
The Challenges of Conducting Clinical Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases in Remote Endemic Areas in Sudan

Most neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) occur in remote areas of low- and middle-income countries, where health systems are often poorly developed. Therefore, these neglected patients generally lack access to quality preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic care [1]. The difficulty to access NTD-endemic areas, challenging logistics, and the lack of skilled human resources in these areas are also major obstacles to conduct clinical research. We had to face these when conducting a good clinical practice/good clinical laboratory practice (GCP/GCLP)-compliant clinical study in eastern Sudan, a well-known endemic area for visceral leishmaniasis and other NTDs. We share here the challenges related to study preparation and implementation of this GCP/GCLP study that investigated the causes of persistent fever in a rural hospital located in Gedaref State in eastern Sudan. We think this type of paper may be of interest for researchers planning to conduct a clinical trial in a resource-limited setting as well as for funders of such research.
Joined-Up Reasoning for Automated Scientific Discovery: A Position Statement and Research Agenda

We use the phrase “joined-up” here with a double meaning: to convey two aspects of scientific discovery which we believe are essential, yet under-researched with respect to automating scientific discovery processes. Firstly, from an Artificial Intelligence perspective, the majority of approaches to using AI techniques involve a disjointed sequential application of dierent problem solving methods, with the user providing the glue in various ways. These include routine logistical aspects such as the pre-processing of data and knowledge, translating outputs into input, choosing parameter settings for running AI methods, etc. More importantly, however, the user performs various aspects of meta-level reasoning, including asking the most pertinent questions, determining what it means if a process terminates with success and identifying ‐ and investigating ‐ anomalies. This approach tends to lead to auto-assisted discoveries where the user knows what they are looking for, but not what it looks like, rather than the deeper discoveries of examples/concepts/hypotheses/explanations that the user didn’t even know he or she was looking for. While AI methods promise the discovery of such surprising and novel scientific artefacts, they rarely deliver on this promise, as their application is too regimented within
Monitoring Low Benzene Exposure: Comparative Evaluation of Urinary Biomarkers, Influence of Cigarette Smoking, and Genetic Polymorphisms

Benzene is a human carcinogen and an ubiquitous environmental pollutant. Identification of specific and sensitive biological markers is critical for the definition of exposure to low benzene level and the evaluation of the health risk posed by this exposure. This investigation compared urinary trans,trans-muconic acid (t,t-MA), S-phenylmercapturic acid, and benzene (U-benzene) as biomarkers to assess benzene exposure and evaluated the influence of smoking and the genetic polymorphisms CYP2E1 (RsaI and DraI) and NADPH quinone oxidoreductase-1 on these indices. Gas station attendants, urban policemen, bus drivers, and two groups of controls were studied (415 subjects). Median benzene exposure was 61, 22, 21, 9 and 6 μg/m3, respectively, with higher levels in workers than in controls. U-benzene, but not t,t-MA and S-phenylmercapturic acid, showed an exposure-related increase. All the biomarkers were strongly influenced by cigarette smoking, with values up to 8-fold higher in smokers compared with nonsmokers. Significant correlations of the biomarkers with each other and with urinary cotinine were found. A possible influence of genetic polymorphism of CYP2E1 (RsaI and/or DraI) on t,t-MA and U-benzene in subjects with a variant allele was found. Multiple linear regression analysis correlated the urinary markers with exposure, smoking status, and CYP2E1 (RsaI; R2 up to 0.55 for U-benzene). In conclusion, in the range of investigated benzene levels (<478 μg/m3 or <0.15 ppm), smoking may be regarded as the major source of benzene intake; among the study indices, U-benzene is the marker of choice for biomonitoring low-level occupational and environmental benzene exposure.
Optimal Mobile Content Downloading in Device-to-Device Communication Underlaying Cellular Networks

With the emerging demands for local area services of popular content downloading, device-to-device (D2D) communication is conceived as a vital technological component for next-generation cellular communication networking to increase the spectral efficiency and to enhance the system capacity. Targeting the application of mobile content downloading, we investigate the fundamental problems of how D2D communication improves the system performance of cellular networks and what is the potential effect of D2D communication, with the aid of the optimal solutions for the system resource allocation and mode selection obtained under the realistic user and mobility conditions. Specifically, by formulating a max-flow optimization problem that maximizes the content downloading flows from all the cellular base stations to the content downloaders through any possible ways of transmission, we obtain the theoretical upper bound to system content-downloading performance. Using realistic mobility model and trace driven simulations, we evaluate the effects of the different system settings on the performance of the mobile content-downloading system, and reveal the fundamental influence of D2D communication.
Complex-temperature properties of the 2 ~ Ising model with PH = f h / 2

We study the complex-tempentu? properties of a rare example of a statistical mechanical model which is exactly solvable in an external symmetry-breaking field. namely. the king model on the square lattice with pH = 2zin/Z. This model was solved by Lee and Yang. We first determine the complex-temperature phases and their boundaries From a lowt e m p e m high-field series expansion of the partition function, we e x w t the low-temperature series for the susceptibility , y to O(uz3), where P = e-4g, Andysing t h i s series. we conclude that x has divergent singnlarities (i) at U = uc = -(3 2”) with exponent y: = 514, (ii) at U = 1, with exponent y[ = 512, and (iii) at U = us = -1, with exponent y: = 1. We also extract a shorter series for the staggered susceptibility and investigate its singularities. Using the exact result of Lee and Yang for the free energy, we calculate the specific heat and determine its complex-temperatun singulaities. We also cany ulis ont fw the uniform and staggered magnetization.
Regulation of neonatal liver protein synthesis by insulin and amino acids in pigs.

The high efficiency of protein deposition during the neonatal period is driven by high rates of protein synthesis, which are maximally stimulated after feeding. Infusion of amino acids, but not insulin, reproduces the feeding-induced stimulation of liver protein synthesis. To determine whether amino acid-stimulated liver protein synthesis is independent of insulin in neonates, and to examine the role of amino acids and insulin in the regulation of translation initiation in neonatal liver, we performed pancreatic glucose-amino acid clamps in overnight-fasted 7-day-old pigs. Pigs (n = 9-12/group) were infused with insulin at 0, 10, 22, and 110 ng.kg(-0.66). min(-1) to achieve 0, 2, 6, and 30 microU/ml insulin, respectively. At each insulin dose, amino acids were maintained at fasting or fed levels or, in conjunction with the highest insulin dose, allowed to fall to below fasting levels. Insulin had no effect on the fractional rate of protein synthesis in liver. Amino acids increased fractional protein synthesis rates in liver at each dose of insulin, including the 0 microU/ml dose. There was a dose-response effect of amino acids on liver protein synthesis. Amino acids and insulin increased protein S6 kinase and 4E-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1) phosphorylation; however, only amino acids decreased formation of the inactive 4E-BPI.eukaryotic initiation factor-4E (eIF4E) complex. The results suggest that amino acids regulate liver protein synthesis in the neonate by modulating the availability of eIF4E for 48S ribosomal complex formation and that this response does not require insulin.
The island model of population differentiation: a general solution.

The island model deals with a species which is subdivided into a number of discrete finite populations, races or subspecies, between which some migration occurs. If the number of populations is small, an assumption of equal rates of migration between each pair of populations may be reasonable approximation. Mutation at a constant rate to novel alleles may also be assumed. -A general solution is given for the process of population divergence under this model following subdivision of a single parental population, expressed in terms of the observed average frequency of heterozygotes within and between subpopulations at a randomly chosen set of independently segregating loci. No restriction is imposed on the magnitude of the migration or mutation rates involved, nor on the number of populations exchanging migrants. -The properties of two fundamental measures of genetic divergence are deduced from the theory. One is a parameter related to varphi, the coefficient of kinship, and the other, gamma, measures the rate of mutational divergence between the sub-populations.
Corporation Government, Performance and CEO Compensation

In order to studies the effect of performance and corporate governance on CEO compensation, we empirically analyze Chinese listed companies' financial data from 2005 to 2008. Based on the qualitative analysis, we depose the relevant factors and use multiple regression method to find the relationship between CEO compensation and company's performance and corporate governance. We find that CEO compensation is positively correlated with accounting performance and market performance during the Chinese listed company's remuneration reform and CEO compensation is positive with many corporate governance factors such as tenure, duality, director members and independent director ratio, whether CEOs can set their own pay by power. However, Supervisory Board can decrease CEO compensation. CEO compensation would decrease by the first shareholder equity ratio but increase if company's shareholders contest the corporate control. Our study extends the scope of previous CEO compensation literature by incorporating management power and corporate governance as explanatory variables. The relationship between the CEO compensation and these new factors would deepen our understanding about the CEO compensation mechanism under different companies' performance. Our study is useful for the Chinese listed companies to regulate CEO salaries, especially for different types of companies to design executive compensation.