Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PKC Phosphorylation of Titin’s PEVK Element: A Novel and Conserved Pathway for Modulating Myocardial Stiffness

Rationale: Protein kinase C (PKC) regulates contractility of cardiac muscle cells by phosphorylating thin- and thick- filament–based proteins. Myocardial sarcomeres also contain a third myofilament, titin, and it is unknown whether titin can be phosphorylated by PKC and whether it affects passive tension. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of PKC on titin phosphorylation and titin-based passive tension. Methods and Results: Phosphorylation assays with PKC&agr; revealed that titin is phosphorylated in skinned myocardial tissues; this effect is exacerbated by pretreating with protein phosphatase 1. In vitro phosphorylation of recombinant protein representing titin’s spring elements showed that PKC&agr; targets the proline – glutamate – valine – lysine (PEVK) spring element. Furthermore, mass spectrometry in combination with site-directed mutagenesis identified 2 highly conserved sites in the PEVK region that are phosphorylated by PKC&agr; (S11878 and S12022); when these 2 sites are mutated to alanine, phosphorylation is effectively abolished. Mechanical experiments with skinned left ventricular myocardium revealed that PKC&agr; significantly increases titin-based passive tension, an effect that is reversed by protein phosphatase 1. Single molecule force-extension curves show that PKC&agr; decreases the PEVK persistence length (from 1.20 nm to 0.55 nm), without altering the contour length, and using a serially-linked wormlike chain model we show that this increases titin-based passive force with a sarcomere length dependence that is similar to that measured in skinned myocardium after PKC&agr; phosphorylation. Conclusions: PKC phosphorylation of titin is a novel and conserved pathway that links myocardial signaling and myocardial stiffness.
DTI images segmentation based on adaptive bandwidth mean shift algorithm

Traditional mean shift image segmentation algorithms need selecting fixed bandwidth manually, which leads to under-segmentation and non-global optimum. To overcome these disadvantages, a bandwidth adaptive mean shift algorithm is proposed. In this algorithm, a new bandwidth window function is defined, with the bandwidth is determined automatically based on probability distribution characteristics of the pixels, namely, small bandwidths are applied in the large density data point areas, and big bandwidths are for the small density data point areas. Based on the new bandwidth window function, new mean shift vectors are acquired, and the new mean shift vectors and sample mean iterations are adopted to determine and implement cluster. The algorithm does not need artificially selecting bandwidth, and hence can improve the efficiency and decrease under-segmentation and inaccurate clustering. Based on the proposed algorithm, experiments are designed to segment the corpus callosum of different layers' human brain DTI images, with the results showing that the adaptive bandwidth segmentation algorithm has better segmentation effect.
Developmental expression and biochemical analysis of conulin, a protein secreted from a subset of neuronal growth cones

In this report, we analyze the developmental pattern of expression of a new grasshopper protein, Conulin, using the monoclonal antibody 7D2 on whole-mount embryos and dissociated neurons. We also have examined its biochemical properties by immunoblot analysis. Conulin is a protein expressed by a subset of neurons in the grasshopper embryo. The monoclonal antibody 7D2 recognizes Conulin as an M(r) 190 x 10(3) protein that is found in both the soluble and membrane-bound fractions of embryonic proteins. The membrane association is disrupted by alkaline pH and high ionic strength. Conulin first is expressed and stored in vesicles inside the cell bodies and axons of central and peripheral neurons. Later, Conulin is detected on the cell surface, but exclusively in the central nervous system neuropil. This expression is confined to a subset of nerve growth cones. Conulin is detected on growth cones only after pioneer neurons have outlined the axonal scaffold. Immunocytochemistry on cultured embryonic neurons demonstrates that the neurons have the autonomous ability to target Conulin to the growth cones. The protein is secreted but remains transiently associated with the growth cone plasma membrane. The discovery of Conulin confirms the existence of proteins specific for the nerve growth cone. Its transitory presence during axonogenesis in only a subset of follower growth cones suggests that Conulin is involved in guidance through selective fasciculation with pre-existing axons within the ganglionic neuropil.
Adaptive algorithms for computational chemistry and interactive modeling. (Algorithmes adaptatifs pour la chimie numérique et la modélisation interactive)

At the atomic scale, interactive physically-based modeling tools are more and more in demand. Unfortunately, solving the underlying physics equations at interactive rates is computationally challenging. In this dissertation, we propose new algorithms that allow for interactive modeling of chemical structures. We first present a modeling tool to construct structural models of hydrocarbon systems. The physically-based feedbacks are based on the Brenner potential. In order to be able to interactively edit systems containing numerous atoms, we introduce a new adaptive simulation algorithm. Then, we introduce what we believe to be the first interactive quantum chemistry simulation algorithm at the Atom Superposition and Electron Delocalization Molecular Orbital (ASED-MO) level of theory. This method is based on the divide-and-conquer (D&C) approach, which we show is accurate and efficient for this non-self-consistent semi-empirical theory. We then propose a novel Block-Adaptive Quantum Mechanics (BAQM) approach to interactive quantum chemistry. BAQM constrains some nuclei positions and some electronic degrees of freedom on the fly to simplify the simulation. Finally, we demonstrate several applications, including one study of graphane formation, interactive simulation for education purposes, and virtual prototyping at the atomic scale, both on desktop computers and in virtual reality environments.
Self-sensing control of open-end winding PMSMs fed by an asymmetrical hybrid multilevel inverter

This paper deals with a self-sensing control for Open-end Winding Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motors fed by Asymmetrical Hybrid Multilevel Inverters. In this kind of system, a main multilevel inverter (MLI) supplies the PMSM on one side, while an auxiliary two-level inverter (TLI) acts as active power filter on the other side of the machine. The MLI works at a low-switching frequency and high voltage while the TLI is pulse width modulated at low voltage. A sensorless high frequency injection method is adopted to detect the rotor position at low and zero-speed. The high frequency voltage injection is performed by the TLI in order to keep low and constant the MLI switching frequency, thus minimizing power losses. At high speed, the rotor position is instead detected by estimating the motor back-EMF. The proposed self-sensing approach gives both high efficiency and high control performance in all the operating speed range. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the self-sensing implementation.
The Programming Language Oberon-2

Oberon-2 is a general-purpose language in the tradition of Oberon and Modula2. Its most important features are block structure, modularity, separate compilation, static typing with strong type checking (also across module boundaries), and type extension with type-bound procedures. Type extension makes Oberon-2 an object-oriented language. An object is a variable of an abstract data type consisting of private data (its state) and procedures that operate on this data. Abstract data types are declared as extensible records. Oberon-2 covers most terms of object-oriented languages by the established vocabulary of imperative languages in order to minimize the number of notions for similar concepts. This report is not intended as a programmer’s tutorial. It is intentionally kept concise. Its function is to serve as a reference for programmers, implementors, and manual writers. What remains unsaid is mostly left so intentionally, either because it can be derived from stated rules of the language, or because it would require to commit the definition when a general commitment appears as unwise. Section 12 defines some terms that are used to express the type checking rules of Oberon-2. Where they appear in the text, they are written in italics to indicate their special meaning (e.g. the same type).
Identification of post-menopausal women at risk of osteoporosis by trained general dental practitioners using panoramic radiographs.

BACKGROUND An eroded inferior cortex of the mandible on panoramic radiographs may be useful for identifying post-menopausal women with low bone mineral density (BMD), or osteoporosis. The purpose of this study was to assess whether trained general dental practitioners (GDPs) can identify post-menopausal women with undetected low skeletal BMD as well as spinal fractures by panoramic radiographs in their clinics. METHODS Out of 455 women aged 50 years and older who visited the dental clinics of 22 trained GDPs and had panoramic radiographic assessment for the examination of dental diseases between June and December 2004, 168 post-menopausal women were diagnosed as having low skeletal BMD based on cortical erosion findings. Of these women, 39 women aged 50-84 years (mean age (SD, standard deviation), 64.8 (7.4) years) with no previous diagnosis of osteoporosis participated in this study. BMD at the lumbar spine and femoral neck was measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Spine fractures were assessed on lateral radiographs obtained at the time of the DXA assessment. RESULTS Two women (5.1%) had normal BMD (BMD T-score>-1.0), 21 women (53.9%) had osteopenia (BMD T-score of -2.5 to -1.0) and 16 women (41.0%) had osteoporosis (BMD T-score<-2.5). Eight women (20.5%) had fractures at the thoracic spine, lumbar spine, or both. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that a high percentage of post-menopausal women with undetected low skeletal BMD as well as spinal fractures may be identified based on trained GDPs' analyses of their panoramic radiographs.
The process of de-iconisation of an iconic brand: a genealogical approach

ABSTRACT Brand iconisation refers to the way a brand comes to symbolise the values, needs, and aspirations of the members of a particular cultural group. More than a decade of research has emphasised the many benefits that iconic brands bring to companies and has identified how brands become icons through a process of matching with cultural opportunities emerging in society. However, the way an iconic brand comes to be de-iconicised and how managers can shield brands from this risk is still under-researched. The aim of this paper is to contribute to knowledge regarding iconic brands by following the life of one iconic brand at national level, examining its history and its impact from the point of view of cultural performance. Our research contributes to the field of cultural branding through a genealogical study of how a brand becomes a national icon before becoming de-iconicised as circumstances change. Our research identifies five types of brand episode that can lead to de-iconisation. Our research therefore adds new developments to iconic brand theory. It also contributes to discussing the concept of iconic brand resilience, mainly through the role of cultural intermediaries, such as filmmakers.
Risk factors of the progression of abdominal aortic calcification in patients on chronic haemodialysis.

BACKGROUND Vascular calcification is an independent determinant of cardiovascular events in maintenance haemodialysis (HD) patients. It is not known whether acute changes of the serum calcium concentration before and after HD (DeltaCa) are associated with the development of aortic calcification. METHODS We enrolled 71 patients dialysed with a dialysate with 3.0 mEq/l calcium and determined their aortic calcification index (ACI) by abdominal computed tomography twice at an interval of 3 years. To identify the factors contributing to the rate of progression of aortic calcification, we analysed the average values for clinical and laboratory data obtained between the first and second evaluations of ACI. RESULTS The second ACI (mean+/-SD: 80.2+/-63.9) was significantly greater than the first ACI (61.0+/-61.0) after an interval of 35.8+/-4.2 months. The annualized change of ACI (DeltaACI/year) was significantly and directly associated with the DeltaCa and C-reactive protein (CRP) (both P<0.001, P for trend). Stepwise multivariate regression analysis revealed that DeltaACI/year was positively and independently associated with CRP, presence of diabetes mellitus and DeltaCa, but negatively associated with a premenopausal status in women. Similarly, DeltaCa was positively and independently associated with DeltaACI/year and the ultrafiltration rate, but was negatively associated with pre-HD Ca. CONCLUSION The increase of serum calcium after HD was related to the rate of progression of aortic calcification. Excess calcium is transferred into patients on HD when using a dialysate of 3.0 mEq/l calcium. This may be a risk factor for the development of vascular calcification.
Attitude estimation for UAV using extended Kalman filter

A novel attitude estimation algorithm is proposed for unmanned aerial vehicles(UAV) in this paper. It uses attitude quaternion to represent the attitude of UAV, and uses extended Kalman filter(EKF) to fuse the merits of magnetic, angular rate, and gravity(MARG) sensors. First, attitude quaternion and drift bias of gyroscope are selected to construct the state vector, and the state equation is established based on the kinematics model of gyroscope. Then, an orthogonalization method is utilized to obtain the unit attitude quaternion from the outputs of accelerometer and magnetometer, it makes the magnetic field vector perpendicular to the measured gravity vector, which avoids the geomagnetic disturbance. And the unit attitude quaternion is used for the measurements for the EKF. Finally, the EKF update equation is used to determine the attitude of UAV. Experiments are provided on a real-world data set and the results show that the algorithm can precisely represents the orientation of UAV in both static and dynamic situation.
Fast Convergent LMS Adaptive Receiver for MC-CDMA Systems with Space-Time Block Coding

For multicarrier code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA) systems employing Alamouti's simple space-time block coding (STBC), a special relationship between two minimum mean-square error (MMSE) filter weight vectors is derived in which one filter is for detecting odd-indexed symbols and the other for even-indexed symbols. Using this relationship, a modified MSE cost function is presented and an improved least mean-square (LMS) adaptive receiver is proposed. Since the number of filter taps independently updated in the proposed adaptive receiver is only half that of the conventional LMS adaptive receiver, the proposed adaptive receiver has a faster convergence rate than the conventional LMS adaptive receiver while keeping the same steady-state MSE performance. This is verified through the simulation.
Research on Personal Privacy Protection in Medical Big Data

With the development of social information, big data is becoming an indispensable strategic source. Medical industry generates lots of data every day, except brings us convenience, big data also bring the challenge for personal privacy protection. Medical big data brings revolution for the traditional medical service. Because of its convenience for sharing, transmission, and discovering, plus the specificity of medical industry, it makes people pay more attention to the private privacy protection. The essay, not only discusses the present status of medical big data and the problem that may concern about personal privacy protection, but also sort out the personal privacy protection technology. Then, we can find some feasible methods to protect personal privacies and look into the future of personal privacy protection system in medical big data industry.
Activity Theory in information systems research and practice: theoretical underpinnings for an information systems development model

Introduction. The purpose of information systems is to facilitate work activities: here we consider how Activity Theory can be applied in information systems development. Method. The requirements for an analytical model for emancipatory, work-oriented information systems research and practice are specified. Previous research work in Activity Theory is then elaborated to satisfy these requirements in parallel with practical applications. Elaboration. Activity Analysis and Development (ActAD) which sees work activity as a systemic entity, its constituent elements and networks of activities, is introduced and the information systems viewpoint is applied throughout the elaboration. Information systems development is modelled as an activity, applying the ActAD framework. Results. Our contribution is a participatory development model called the Activity Driven ISD Model, aimed at developing work and information systems in parallel, in three phases: understanding the present state of an activity; describing the goal state of the activity; and planning for the transformation to the goal state. Conclusion. The ActAD framework and the Activity Driven ISD Model meet six of the seven criteria set. The seventh requirement will be satisfied after the finalisation of the model. The experiences in our pilot studies concerning its applicability to the practitioners have been encouraging
Stroke-coordination and symmetry of elite backstroke swimmers using a comparison between net drag force and timing protocols

Abstract Stroke-coordination and symmetry influence the force fluctuations within any net drag force profile. The aim of this study was to analyse elite (FINA points 938) backstroke swimmers stroke-coordination using an instantaneous net drag force and timing protocols using a symmetry index tool. Ten male and nine female elite backstroke swimmers completed three maximum speed trials and five maximum speed net drag force swimming trials. Net drag force was measured using an assisted motorised dynamometer device. Each trial was filmed using three genlocked 50 Hz cameras, synchronised to the net drag force output from the force-platform. This methodology enabled the comparison of stroke-coordination timing symmetry index to net drag force symmetry index. The timing symmetry index and net drag force symmetry index yielded different results, the timing reflects the stroke-coordination, whilst the force index identified the effectiveness of the stroke. The only variable that was significantly different when comparing left and right stroke patterns was the location of minimum net drag forces. Conversely, gender influenced the location of maximum net drag force. Relationship analysis identified that location of maximum net drag force production was the only variable to correlate with speed within this cohort. Backstroke arm coordination was minimally influenced by gender.
Assessing money attitude dimensions and loan default, moderated by religiosity among Kedah Muslim small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play vital role in a nation’s development and economic growth. However, in spite of their contributions SMEs are criticized for their high rate of bankruptcy which was caused by the non-performing loan and default problem. This study is conducted with the aim of assessing the relationship between money attitude dimensions, towards default and moderated by religiosity among Muslim SMEs. The theoretical underpinning Plan Behavior and Default Behavior serves as the basis framework of this study. The objectives of this study are to examine the relationship between money attitude dimensions which include power-prestige, retention-time, distrust, anxiety towards loan default and to investigate whether religiosity moderates the relationship between money attitude dimensions and loan default among Muslim owner-manager of SMEs in state of Kedah. The study employs a quantitative approach through self-administered survey structured questionnaires. Using multistage cluster and systematic sampling technique, a total of 612 questionnaires were distributed and 346 had returned, representing 57 percent of the response rate. The finding validates a significant effect of money attitude dimensions and religiosity on loan default. The study indicates significant relationships between power-prestige, retention-time, and distrust with loan default. In addition, religiosity fully moderates the relationship between the power-prestige and distrust dimensions and loan default. The implications of finding are discussed and recommendations are made to the financial institutions and the policy maker of SMEs sector to improve the performance of loan record parallel with their vital role contributing in the economic growth of country. Suggestion also made on the direction of research in future time.
Mitigating application layer distributed denial of service attacks via effective trust management

Nowadays, web servers are suffering from application layer distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, to which network layer solutions is not applicable as attackers are indistinguishable based on packets or protocols. In this study, the authors propose trust management helmet (TMH) as a partial solution to this problem, which is a lightweight mitigation mechanism that uses trust to differentiate legitimate users from attackers. Its key insight is that a server should give priority to protecting the connectivity of good users during application layer DDoS attacks, instead of identifying all the attack requests. The trust to clients is evaluated based on their visiting history and used to schedule the service to their requests. The authors introduce license, for user identification (even beyond NATs) and storing the trust information at clients. The license is cryptographically secured against forgery or replay attacks. The authors realise this mitigation mechanism and implement it as a Java package and use it for evaluation. The simulation results show that TMH is effective in mitigating session flooding attack: even with 20 times number of attackers, more than 99% of the sessions from legitimate users are accepted with TMH; whereas less than 18% are accepted without it. Moreover, we found that the additional computation cost on the deployed server is neglectable and the bandwidth overhead is acceptable.
A New Application of Biclustering Analysis on Loss of Heterozygosity Data of Lung Carcinomas Samples

This paper presents a novel efficient method to find submatrices in Loss of Heterozygosity (LOH) data that represent the relationship between specific SNPs loci and particular types of lung cancer. The approach is shown to perform well by experimental results with the SNPs data of 113 samples consisting of 12 normal persons and 101 lung cancer patients. The analyses on results testified the effectiveness and accuracy of the method in discovering chromosome segments related to suppressor genes of lung cancer.