Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Characterization and Localization of Acetyl-CoA Hydrolase, Ach1p, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae *

Acetyl-CoA hydrolase (Ach1p), catalyzing the hydrolysis of acetyl-CoA, is presumably involved in regulating intracellular acetyl-CoA or CoASH pools; however, its intracellular functions and distribution remain to be established. Using site-directed mutagenesis analysis, we demonstrated that the enzymatic activity of Ach1p is dependent upon its putative acetyl-CoA binding sites. The ach1 mutant causes a growth defect in acetate but not in other non-fermentable carbon sources, suggesting that Ach1p is not involved in mitochondrial biogenesis. Overexpression of Ach1p, but not constructs containing acetyl-CoA binding site mutations, inach1-1 complemented the defect of acetate utilization. By subcellular fractionation, most of the Ach1p in yeast was distributed with mitochondria and little Ach1p in the cytoplasm. By immunofluorescence microscopy, we show that Ach1p and acetyl-CoA binding site-mutated constructs, but not its N-terminal deleted construct, are localized in mitochondria. Moreover, the onset of pseudohyphal development in homozygote ach1-1diploids was abolished. We infer that Ach1p may be involved in a novel acetyl-CoA biogenesis and/or acetate utilization in mitochondria and thereby indirectly affect pseudohyphal development in yeast.
High-efficiency perovskite/silicon heterojunction tandem solar cells

Silicon solar cells reached record efficiencies close to their practical efficiency limit. A promising approach to further increase performance at low cost lies in combining silicon and perovskite solar cells to form a tandem device. Here, we present high-efficiency perovskite/silicon heterojunction tandem cells. From 4-terminal measurements, a total steady-state efficiency of up to 24.4% was obtained using maximum power point tracking. For monolithic tandems, which have the potential for higher performance but are more challenging to fabricate, efficiencies of 19.2% and 21.2% were reached on cell sizes of 1.22 and 0.17 cm2, respectively. These efficiencies are steady during >300 s of maximum power point tracking.
A new face authentication system for memory-constrained devices

Though biometrics to authenticate a person is a convenient tool, typical authentication algorithms by using biometrics may not be executable on the memory-constrained devices such as smart cards. We present a solution of a face authentication algorithm for open issue. Our achievement is two-fold. One is to present a face authentication algorithm with low memory requirement, which uses support vector machines (SVM) with the feature set extracted by genetic algorithms (GA). The other contribution is to suggest a method to reduce further, if needed, the amount of memory required in the authentication at the expense of verification rate by changing a controllable system parameter for a feature set size. Given a pre-defined amount of memory, this capability is quite effective to mount our algorithm on memory-constrained devices. Our experimental results show that the proposed method provides good performance in terms of accuracy and memory requirement.
Propagation of seismic waves in patchy‐saturated porous media: double‐porosity representation

Propagation of harmonic plane waves is studied in a patchy‐saturated porous medium. Patchy distribution of the two immiscible fluids is considered in a porous frame with uniform skeletal properties. A composition of two types of patches, connected through continuous paths, constitutes a double‐porosity medium. Different compressibilities of pore‐fluids in two porous phases facilitate the wave‐induced fluid‐flow in this composite material. Constitutive relations are considered with frequency‐dependent complex elastic coefficients, which define the dissipative behaviour of porous aggregate due to the flow of viscous fluid in connected patches. Relevant equations of motion are solved to explain the propagation of three compressional waves and one shear wave in patchy‐saturated porous solids. A numerical example is solved to illustrate dispersion in phase velocity and quality factor of attenuated waves in patchy‐saturated porous materials. Role of fluid–solid inertial coupling in Darcy's law is emphasized to keep a check on the dispersion of wave velocities in the porous composite. Effects of patchy saturation on phase velocities and quality factors of attenuation are analysed using the double‐porosity formulation as well as the reduced single‐porosity equivalents.
Circadian Regulation of cAMP Response Element-mediated Gene Expression in the Suprachiasmatic Nuclei*

A program of stringently-regulated gene expression is thought to be a fundamental component of the circadian clock. Although recent work has implicated a role for E-box-dependent transcription in circadian rhythmicity, the contribution of other enhancer elements has yet to be assessed. Here, we report that cells of the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) exhibit a prominent circadian oscillation in cAMP response element (CRE)-mediated gene expression. Maximal reporter gene expression occurred from late-subjective night to mid-subjective day. Cycling of CRE-dependent transcription was not observed in other brain regions, including the supraoptic nucleus and piriform cortex. Levels of the phospho-active form of the transcription factor CREB (P-CREB) varied as a function of circadian time. Peak P-CREB levels occurred during the mid- to late-subjective night. Furthermore, photic stimulation during the subjective night, but not during the subjective day, triggered a marked increase in CRE-mediated gene expression in the SCN. Reporter gene experiments showed that activation of the p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascade is required for Ca2+-dependent stimulation of CRE-mediated transcription in the SCN. These findings reveal the CREB/CRE transcriptional pathway to be circadian-regulated within the SCN, and raise the possibility that this pathway provides signaling information essential for normal clock function.
Kinetics of hepatic amino-nitrogen conversion in ageing man.

Previous studies have shown that hepatic function, quantitatively measured by dynamic liver function tests, progressively declines with ageing. Urea synthesis is a specific process taking place in the liver; a reduced urea synthesis in response to a protein-rich metal has previously been demonstrated in the elderly, but the process has never been standardized in relation to amino acid supply. We measured the hepatic conversion of alpha-amino nitrogen into urea nitrogen in response to alanine infusion in 32 subjects, with normal routine liver and renal function tests and without evidence of previous hepatic disorders, belonging to three different age-groups (< or = 55 years, 56-70, > or = 71). The functional hepatic nitrogen clearance was reduced on average by 20% in subjects aged 56-70 years, and by 30% in subjects over 70 years old in comparison to the age-group under 55 years (ANOVA: P = 0.0001), and significantly correlated with age (r = -0.684). No sex differences were observed on the effects of age on hepatic clearance. Also, liver volume, measured by ultrasonography, was reduced with advancing age, but the age-related decrease in hepatic nitrogen conversion was not primarily dependent on decreased liver volume. The measurement of functional hepatic nitrogen clearance has already been validated as a quantitative liver function test in clinical hepatology. In keeping with previous studies, the age-related decline in hepatic nitrogen conversion points to a decreased functional capacity of the ageing hepatic parenchyma.
Ownership Concentration, Firm Size, and Information Value Relevance: Indonesian Evidence

This paper describes empirical evidence investigated the effect of ownership concentration and firm’s size on the accounting information value relevance. Ownership concentration (OC) is measured by Herfindahl index; firm's size is measured by a log of total assets, whereas value relevance is measured by the Ohlson’ Price Model. Using a sample of 119 manufacturing firms listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) for the year of 2011-2015, this research finds that ownership concentration positively affects both the value relevance of earnings per share and book value per share. Moreover, the firm's size negatively affects the value relevance of earnings per share and book value per share. This study contributes to the existing literature about value relevance of ownership concentration and value relevance of firm's size, especially in the post- IFRS adoption period.
Development of Low- and High-serum Culture Conditions for Use of Human Oral Fibroblasts in Toxicity Testing of Dental Materials

With the aim of establishing conditions applicable to the testing of dental materials in human target cells, fibroblastic cell lines have been derived and grown from explants of human oral mucosa. Both a high-serum medium (termed "HSM") (CMRL 1066 supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum) and a low-serum medium (termed "LSM") (a 1:1 mixture of M 199:MCDB 153 supplemented with 1.25% serum) supported radial outgrowths of cells from oral explants, as well as the subsequent transfer and growth of the cells in mass culture and at clonal density. Cells were typically fibroblastic in that they expressed vimentin uniformly, but did not express immunocytochemical markers of epithelial or endothelial cells. Cells derived in either LSM or HSM showed significantly higher colony-forming efficiency and clonal growth rate when transferred in LSM, as compared with HSM. Because cell migration occurred to a lesser extent in LSM, microscopic scoring of colony formation was also markedly facilitated. In both LSM and HSM, cellular low-molecular-weight thiols constituted about 30% of the total amount of sulfhydryls. Glutathione was present in about six- to seven-fold-higher amounts than cysteine-glutathione primarily in its reduced form and cysteine primarily in its oxidized form. A corrosion product of dental amalgam, i.e., Hg2+, decreased cell survival measured as colony-forming efficiency in a dose-dependent manner following either an acute (one h) exposure or continuous exposure (seven days). These studies demonstrated that human oral fibroblasts could be cultured at about one-tenth of the serum content that is commonly used. It is concluded that human oral fibroblasts grown at low-serum conditions provide a highly sensitive and easily applicable in vitro model for toxicity studies of dental materials.
Numerical Weather Prediction Chemical data assimilation for air quality forecasting

The use of data assimilation to improve air quality forecasting is investigated. The report provides an overview of existing models for air quality forecasting, with an emphasis on those developed within the Met Office, and discusses their benefits and limitations particularly in the context of data assimilation. Various techniques for assimilating chemical tracers are reviewed and their application in recent studies is assessed. Sources of observational data are discussed and links to the relevant websites are provided. Finally, some suggestions are made for developing chemical data assimilation models at the Met Office with a discussion of the problems that may
Influence of functionalized reduced graphene oxide and compatibilizer on mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of polypropylene/polybutene-1 (PP/PB-1) blends

Abstract Polypropylene/Polybutene-1 (PP/PB-1) blends and nanocomposites containing pristine partially reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and chemically functionalized rGO (FrGO) with silane, and silane grafted with 1,12-dodecanediamine and 1,12-dodecanediol were studied. The effects of the chemical treatments on structure and thermal stability of rGO were first thoroughly investigated. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy analyses of FrGO evidenced the existence of functional groups on rGO after each chemical treatment, while X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirmed the effectiveness of the interlayer grafting process through shifting of the basal spacings as witnessed by increased d002 values. Furthermore, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the functionalization of rGO resulted in improved thermal stability of rGO demonstrated by its increased thermal degradation temperature. The PP/PB-1 blends and their rGO and FrGO based nanocomposites were prepared by melt blending masterbatch process in the presence of an acrylic acid modified polypropylene compatibilizer (PP-g-AA). Mechanical testing showed that Young’s modulus and tensile strength of the PP/PB-1 blends significantly improved after co-addition of FrGO and PP-g-AA to form the nanocomposites, but it also endowed a drastic decrease in their elongation at break and especially in their impact strength. XRD analyses attested the successful formation of intercalated nanocomposites, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examinations disclosed a two-phase morphology consisting of PB-1 dispersed droplets in the PP matrix. SEM also indicated that the incorporation of PP-g-AA into the blends and the nanocomposites contributed to enhanced adhesion and dispersion of PB-1 phase and FrGO nanoparticles within the polymer matrix.
Hybrid Self Adaptive Learning Scheme for Simple and Multiple Drift-like Fault Diagnosis in Wind Turbine Pitch Sensors

This paper presents a hybrid dynamic data-driven approach to achieve simple and multiple drift like fault detection of pitch system sensors. This approach considers the system evolving in nonstationary environments and switching between several control modes. This switching is entailed by changes in the system environments. In each control mode, the system has a different dynamical behavior. The latter is described in a feature space sensitive to normal operating conditions in the corresponding control mode. These operating conditions are represented by restricted zones in the feature space called classes. The latter are characterized by a set of parameters representing their statistical properties, e.g. gravity center and variance-covariance matrix. The occurrence of an incipient fault entails a drift in the system operating conditions until the failure takes over completely. This drift manifests as a progressive change in the classes parameters in each control mode over time. The proposed approach monitors normal classes parameters in order to detect a drift in their characteristics. This drift detection allows achieving the fault in its early stages. It uses two drift indicators. The first indicator detects the drift and the second indicator confirms it. Both indicators are based on the observation of changes in the normal operating conditions characteristics over time. A wind turbine simulator is used to validate the performance of the proposed approach.
Can the observed baryon asymmetry be produced at the electroweak phase transition?

The possibility is investigated that the baryon asymmetry of the Universe might have been created at the electroweak phase transition. It is shown that there exists a process which may in certain models with multiple Higgs doublets generate a numerically acceptable asymmetry. This process involves sphalerons and requires strong CP violation at temperatures larger than 1 TeV.
Eliciting Constant and Prominent Waves n34–p44 of Vestibular-evoked Myogenic Potentials

Objective —The serial peaks of vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) have been labeled p13, n23, n34 and p44 according to their latency. Waves p13–n23 have been shown to be of saccular origin, whereas the origin of waves n34–p44 is still unknown. In order to improve the clinical applicability of waves n34–p44, we examine the use of different patterns of acoustic stimuli to evoke constant and prominent VEMPs, especially waves n34–p44. Material and Methods —In this prospective study 27 healthy volunteers (54 ears) underwent VEMP tests. Three kinds of click intensity (85, 95 and 105 dB nHL) were presented in a random order to evoke 85-VEMP, 95-VEMP and 105-VEMP, respectively. The response rate, latency of each peak, peak-to-peak interval and amplitude of waves p13–n23 and n34–p44 were measured and analyzed. Results —The response rates of waves p13–n23 in 85-VEMP, 95-VEMP and 105-VEMP were 26% (14/54), 89% (48/54) and 98% (53/54), respectively. Significant differences in the response rate existed between 85-VEMP and both 95-VEMP and 105-VEMP (p<0.01), whereas there was a non-significant difference between 95-VEMP and 105-VEMP (p>0.05). In contrast, the response rates for eliciting waves n34–p44 were 19% (10/54), 63% (34/54) and 89% (48/54), using 85, 95 and 105 dB acoustic stimuli, respectively. A significantly higher response rate for waves n34–p44 occurred when the intensity of the stimuli increased (p<0.01). Although neither latencies nor interval exhibited a significant difference between 95-VEMP and 105-VEMP, the amplitude of 105-VEMP was significantly greater than that of 95-VEMP for both waves p13–n23 and n34–p44. Conclusion —An acoustic stimulus intensity of 105 dB nHL is required to reliably elicit waves n34–p44 in subjects with normal hearing.
Carbohydrate digestion and predicted glycemic index of bakery/confectionary ex-food intended for pig nutrition

Abstract This study evaluated the predicted glycemic index (pGI) in former food products (FFPs), and in two pig compound feeds formulated with or without the inclusion of FFPs. Six samples of FFPs and two pig compound feeds were used. FFPs were based on bakery and confectionary ex-food, while the pig compound feed was formulated by substituting 30% of cereals with FFPs (Feed FFP30%). All samples were analysed using an in vitro Englyst assay that simulates gastric and small intestinal digestion, and which has been proposed to determine the hydrolysis index (HI) and predict the glycemic index (pGI) of cereal-based foods introduced into pig diets. Corn meal, heat processed wheat and a conventional pig compound feed (Feed CTR) were included as control feed ingredients. In the assay, white bread was used as reference material. The results differentiated between two main groups of samples, namely: low HI samples with an HI lower than 100 including corn meal, Feed CTR, Feed FFP30%, flaked wheat and FFP4; and high HI samples including all the other FFPs tested. The same classification can be adopted for pGI. Thus combining HI and pGI results suggests that most of the FFPs tested in the present study were characterised by a high glycemic index potential which seems to be linked to the starch/sugars HI. The inclusion of FFPs in a commercial compound feed, and its effect on HI and pGI, merit further investigations. Highlights Ex-Food are food waste biomasses upgraded to feed ingredients; they are characterised by quick carbohydrates digestion and high glycemic index.
Determination of in vivo target search kinetics of regulatory noncoding RNA

RNA kinetics may define regulatory hierarchy The double-helical structure of DNA suggests immediately how nucleic acid polymers can recognize and bind to homologous sequences. Target recognition by RNA is vital in many biological processes. Fei et al. used super-resolution microscopy of tagged RNAs and computer modeling to understand how RNA-RNA base-pairing reactions occur in vivo. They studied a small RNA (sRNA) that targets a messenger RNA (mRNA) for degradation in bacteria. They observed a slow rate of association as the sRNA searched for its mRNA target, but thereafter a fast rate of dissociation. This explains the need for high concentrations of sRNA to cause mRNA degradation. The sRNA found different target mRNAs at different rates, allowing the generation of a regulatory hierarchy. Science, this issue p. 1371 In vivo kinetics of RNA-RNA interactions suggest that the rates of interaction form a regulatory hierarchy. Base-pairing interactions between nucleic acids mediate target recognition in many biological processes. We developed a super-resolution imaging and modeling platform that enabled the in vivo determination of base pairing–mediated target recognition kinetics. We examined a stress-induced bacterial small RNA, SgrS, which induces the degradation of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). SgrS binds to a primary target mRNA in a reversible and dynamic fashion, and formation of SgrS-mRNA complexes is rate-limiting, dictating the overall regulation efficiency in vivo. Examination of a secondary target indicated that differences in the target search kinetics contribute to setting the regulation priority among different target mRNAs. This super-resolution imaging and analysis approach provides a conceptual framework that can be generalized to other small RNA systems and other target search processes.
The Management of Pain in Cancer Patients Through Psychological Intervention

This paper presents the efficacy of different psychological interventions which may be used for the management of pain in cancer patients. Cancerrelated pain and associated distress significantly challenge the physical and mental well-being of patients with advanced cancer and their families. Cognition, behaviours, and feelings are negatively affected by chronic illness, resulting in an overall diminution of psychic energy, coping, and adaptation. Cognitive-behavioural interventions are uniquely suited to address the most common psychological and emotional problems of patients with advanced cancer and their families. The paper argues that physicians/Oncologists dealing with cancer patients should become aware about the fact that an adjunct to medical care, psychological interventions are also required to reduce the suffering of the patient. Psychological intervention in the form of cognitive-behavioural therapy or any other chosen psychological interventions promote optimal functioning of the individual through cognitive and behavioural restructuring. Physicians/Oncologists dealing with cancer patients should have with them a referral list of Clinical Psychologists and Psychiatrists to whom the patient would be advised to consult beside medical therapeutic treatment.
Quality of life assessment and disease experience of patient members of a web‐based hydroa vacciniforme support group

Background/Purpose: Hydroa vacciniforme (HV) is a rare photodermatosis that primarily affects children. It is characterized by photodistributed vesicles that heal with scarring. The purposes of this study are to perform the initial investigation into the effect of HV on quality of life (QoL) and gain insight into disease diagnosis and management.
Pulse induced charging tests in capacitive RF-MEMS switches

The detection of the overall surrounding charges, i.e. injected and induced charges, in thin insulating films used in capacitive RF-MEMS switches is reported. A method combining a Pulse Induced Charging (PIC) stimulus and a very sensitive capacitance measurement has been used. The motion of charges generates an accumulation of the surface potential and this can be detected by non-contact capacitance measurements. The ultimate purpose of this study is to propose a pulse induced accelerated stress test to assess capacitive structure charging susceptibility, which is related to its operation time.
Microwave transmission-line networks for backward-wave media and reduction of scattering

OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION HELSINKI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY P. O. BOX 1000, FI-02015 TKK http://www.tkk. fi Author Pekka Alitalo Name of the dissertation Manuscript submitted March 20, 2009 Manuscript revised July 1, 2009 Date of the defence August 7, 2009 Article dissertation (summary + original articles) Monograph Faculty Department Field of research Opponent(s) Supervisor Instructor