Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FUNCTIONAL INSIGHTS INTO HRG-1-MEDIATED HEME TRANSPORT

Title of Document: FUNCTIONAL INSIGHTS INTO HRG-1-MEDIATED HEME TRANSPORT Xiaojing Yuan, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Directed By: Associate Professor Dr. Iqbal Hamza, Department of Animal and Avian Sciences Heme is an essential cofactor involved in various biological processes including oxygen transport, xenobiotic detoxification, oxidative metabolism, gas sensing, circadian rhythm, signal transduction, microRNA processing and thyroid hormone synthesis. Heme is also an essential nutrient for parasites and is the major dietary iron source for humans. Despite our extensive understanding of the mechanisms of heme synthesis and degradation in eukaryotes, little is known as to how heme is transported and trafficked in eukaryotes. Recently, CeHRG-1 and CeHRG-4 were identified as the first bona fide heme importers/transporters using the heme auxotroph, Caenorhabditis elegans. To gain mechanistic insights into the heme transport function of HRG-1-related proteins, we conducted a structure-function analysis of CeHRG-1 and CeHRG-4 by exploiting yeast mutants that are genetically defective in heme synthesis. Our studies reveal that HRG-1-related proteins transport heme across membranes through the coordinated actions of strategically placed amino acids that are topologically conserved in both, the worm and human proteins. To further dissect the functional elements that dictate their intracellular localization, we generated a series of chimeras by swapping the amino and carboxy terminal segments of CeHRG-1 and CeHRG-4. Our analysis in yeast and mammalian cells demonstrate that the C-terminal domains are essential for membrane localization of the protein, while the N-terminal domains are important for proper function, and plausibly multimerization of HRG-1-related proteins. Currently, there are no pharmacological means to aid in the study of the cellular and physiological roles of eukaryotic heme transporters. We, for the first time, developed and executed a high-throughput screen of 233,360 compounds, to identify potential antagonists of HRG-1-related proteins by utilizing parasite heme transporters as the primary screening bait. Subsequent study in parasites will provide novel drug candidates against helminths that infect humans, livestock, and plants, as well as against genetic disorders of heme and iron metabolism in humans. Taken together, results from our studies will significantly advance novel functional and therapeutic insights into HRG-1 mediated heme transport in health and disease. FUNCTIONAL INSIGHTS INTO HRG-1-MEDIATED HEME TRANSPORT
Genetic divergence studies in black gram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper]

The present investigation entitled “Genetic divergence studies in black gram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper]” was conducted at the College Farm, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat with fifty black gram genotypes to assess the extent of genetic diversity by D analysis in a randomized block design during late kharif 2018. Observations were recorded on thirteen characters contributing to yield in black gram which included days to 50% flowering, plant height, branches per plant, clusters per plant, pods per plant, seeds per pod, pod length, 100-seed weight, seed yield per plant, days to maturity, straw yield, harvest index, and protein (%). Based on D values, clustering of fifty genotypes by Tocher’s method into six clusters is an indicative of wide diversity. Among thirteen characters studied protein (%), straw yield, plant height, days to maturity, 100-seed weight, harvest index, pod length, days to 50% flowering, pods per plant, clusters per plant, branches per plant and seed yield per plant contributed towards genetic divergence. Cluster means results clearly indicated appreciable difference among cluster means for most of the characters. As far as cluster means are concerned, a greater range of mean values among the clusters was recorded for different traits. From the cluster mean results, it could be concluded that cluster II, III and VI has high amount of variation within population. Hence it can be used for population improvement for further crop improvement.
Knowledge management and hybridity of institutional logics in public sector

ABSTRACT This article analyses national policies, strategies, and programmes formulating knowledge management as a factor of national-level competitiveness. The article analyses a project, which aims to develop a service operator responsible for collecting and co-ordinating well-being data on the Finnish population. We present an in-depth analysis of an almost ten-year period in Finland, which is one of the leading societies in terms of public sector efficiency and governance. The article calls for a major shift in perspective and shows how hybridity of institutional logics significantly guides the perception of knowledge management, the measures taken and the development and selection of concrete methods and tools in knowledge management. We see the essence of public sector knowledge management in a combination of national-level knowledge governance and processes, where public institutions, private organisations and third-sector actors create, store and utilise a shared information base to convert knowledge into action in their everyday operations.
Predicting Ground Level Ozone in Marrakesh by Machine-Learning Techniques

This study was undertaken to produce local, short-term, artificial intelligence-based models that estimate the ozone level with special attention to the relationship between diurnal and nocturnal ozone variations of some primary pollutants and meteorological parameters in the city of Marrakesh, Morocco. Hourly data has been collected from the three air-quality monitoring stations in the city. This paper seeks to analyze the main factors that are associated with ozone formation, including the generation of different daytime and nighttime scenarios. The present work extends existing publications about the region by developing ozone prediction models from meteorological variables and primary pollutants. Several experiments were conducted to verify properties of the produced models, thus making it possible not only to describe but also to predict ozone pollution in this geographical area. The findings facilitate 48 hour forecasts that have root mean square errors as low as 20 g/m3. Our results highlight the importance of using such models for civil applications.
Orthogonal Electric Control of the Out‐Of‐Plane Field‐Effect in 2D Ferroelectric α‐In2Se3

Tuning the electric properties of crystalline solids is at the heart of material science and electronics. Generating the electric field‐effect via an external voltage is a clean, continuous, and systematic method. Here, utilizing the unique electric dipole locking in van der Waals (vdW) ferroelectric α‐In2Se3, a new approach is reported to establish the electric gating effect, where the electrostatic doping in the out‐of‐plane direction is induced and controlled by an in‐plane voltage. With the vertical vdW heterostructure of ultrathin α‐In2Se3 and MoS2, an in‐plane voltage gated coplanar field‐effect transistor with distinguished and retentive on/off ratio is validated. The results demonstrate unprecedented electric control of ferroelectricity, which paves the way for integrating 2D ferroelectric into novel nanoelectronic devices with broad applications.
Are bitcoin futures contracts for hedging or speculation?

The emerging interest in Bitcoin futures market has led to questions on its trading form and contribution to risk minimization. These questions are important for market participants, including hedgers and speculators. This paper addresses the possible trading motive in Bitcoin futures market in being speculation or hedging. The author first tests a model relating Bitcoin futures returns with trading volume and conditional volatility, estimated with a GJR-GARCH specification, on a full sample of daily futures prices. A robustness check is then conducted by investigating the hedging effectiveness of Bitcoin futures and the speculation-hedging ratios on individual Bitcoin futures contracts. The estimation results on Bitcoin futures contracts, spanning from December 2017 to February 2020, show a significant positive relationship between futures returns and lagged volume. The speculation-hedging measures used for Bitcoin futures contracts maturing in March, June, September, and December reveal an increasing demand for speculation. Also, the Bitcoin spot’s full-hedge and OLS-hedge strategies with Bitcoin futures provide no gain over a no-hedge strategy. The results reveal strong evidence that traders in the Bitcoin futures market are motivated by speculation rather than hedging. This further puts in evidence the existence of asymmetric information within informed traders in Bitcoin futures market, and therefore market participants would not insure their positions against Bitcoin price movements.
Technology Feature | The road to reducing
 traffic accidents in China

Biomarkers for neurological diseases used to be few and far between, but better technology is making it easier for researchers to track brain health by measuring molecules. This means less invasive testing, earlier diagnosis, faster drug development, and—hopefully—more effective treatments. Read the Feature (Full-Text HTML) Read the Feature (PDF)
On the Causal Nature between Financial Development and Economic Growth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Is it Supply Leading or Demand Following?

This paper seeks to study and answer the question on the nature and direction of the causality between financial development and economic growth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) using data from 2004 to 2019. The long-term relationship not being robust, we opted for the short-term dynamics with the causality test in the sense of Granger to support this question. The results indicated the existence of a one-way causality from economic growth to financial development. This result is in line with the Demand following hypothesis, given the country’s economic and financial landscape, which presents a less deep financial system. Consequently, choices of growth policies (increase in knowledge, infrastructure, pleasant business climate, structural reforms, etc.) should be adopted to enhance and develop the Congolese financial system. However, we recognize that once growth is restored and becomes sustainable, financial development could lead to sustained and resilient economic growth.
Agro-ecological distribution of the phenotypic diversity of aerial yam (Dioscorea bulbifera L.) in Cameroon using multivariate analysis: prospect for germplasm conservation and improvement

Abstract Aerial yam (Dioscorea bulbifera L.) is a crop of great economic importance and an excellent candidate for improving food security in developing countries. Understanding the genetic variability of any crop species is a decisive step for its improvement and requires characterization and evaluation of available germplasm. The objectives of this study were to determine the extent of genetic variability, estimate the association between agromorphological traits and clustering among 57 genotypes of aerial yam from three distinct agro-ecological zones in Cameroon using multivariate analysis. Thirty nine characters (23 qualitative and 16 quantitative) were used for the study. Significant differences in genetic diversity indices were found. Accessions from the bimodal humid forest zone (Na = 2.08, He = 0.27) showed significantly lower diversity compared to both western highland (Na = 2.30, He = 0.34) and humid monomodal forest zones (Na = 2.57, He = 0.32). Means values of most quantitative traits also showed significant differences between agro-ecological zones. Batingla-3 and Bawouwoua-1 had important bulbil yield, reaching 3500 g / plant. Significant associations were found between many traits. The use of the Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean allowed the distribution of the 57 genotypes into six distinct clusters with the clustering pattern not showing any parallelism with location sites or agro-ecological zones. Mahalanobis D2 statistics revealed the highest inter-cluster distance between cluster II and VI. Accessions of these clusters are potential parents for future breeding programs. This study showed that aerial yam from Cameroon has an enormous wealth of traits variation, indicating huge potential for its genetic improvement through selection and hybridization.
Dynamics near equilibrium for intense beams in a nonlinear integrable focusing channel

Accelerator storage ring designs based on nonlinear integrable Hamiltonian systems provide a novel test-bed for studying the interplay between nonlinear dynamics and space charge at high intensity. In this work, the structure of beam Vlasov equilibria is explored for a constant focusing channel based on the nonlinear focusing potential of the Integrable Optics Test Accelerator. The dynamics of the single-particle orbits is explored in the combined space charge and external focusing fields as a function of beam current, and the self-consistent relaxation of a mismatched beam to equilibrium is characterized.
High‐Performance Broadband Tungsten Disulfide Photodetector Decorated with Indium Arsenide Nanoislands

The 2D tungsten disulfide (WS2), as a typical transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD), has aroused intense research interests in photodetection. However, the limited detection wavelength ranges and low photoresponsivity hinder its further application. To promote the application of WS2 in optoelectronics fields, indium arsenide (InAs) nanoislands decorated WS2 are utilized to fabricate photodetectors in this work. Owing to the photogating effect and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), a significant enhancement of photocurrent response (≈1 mA W−1) is obtained by coupling WS2 with InAs nanoislands. Furthermore, the extended detection wavelength up to 1060 nm is realized due to the efficient light absorption in IR range of InAs nanoislands. The high performance, stability, and reliability in ambient temperature strongly indicate that the InAs nanoislands/WS2 heterostructure can be considered as a promising material for TMDs‐based broadband optoelectronic devices in the future.
Performance of prostate multiparametric MRI for prediction of prostate cancer extraprostatic extension according to NCCN risk categories: implication for surgical planning.

BACKGROUND Prediction of extra-prostatic extension (EPE) in men undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) is of utmost importance. Great variability in the performance of multi parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) has been reported for prediction of EPE. The present study aimed to determine the diagnostic performance of mpMRI for predicting EPE in different National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) risk categories. METHODS 664 patients who underwent Radical prostatectomy with a staging mpMRI were enrolled in this single-center, retrospective study. Patients with mpMRI report non-compliant with PIRADSv2.0, were excluded. Patients were stratified according to NCCN Criteria: Very low/Low (VLR-LR) to high risk (HR) in order to assess final pathology EPE rates (focal and established). Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of staging mpMRI were computed in each group. Univariable and multivariable analysis were used to evaluate predictors of positive surgical margins. RESULTS Pathological evaluation demonstrated established and focal EPE in 60 (9%) and 106 (16%) patients, respectively, while mpMRI suspicion for EPE was present in 180 (27%) patients. Age, preoperative PSA, PSA density, number of positive cores, NCCN groups, prostate volume, mpMRI suspicion for EPE, PIRADSv2.0 and lesion size differed significantly between the patients with any EPE and without EPE (all p≤0.05). The sensitivity of mpMRI in detecting any EPE varied from 12% (95%CI:0.6%-53%) in VLR-LR to 83% (66%-93%) in HR while the corresponding values for the specificity were 92% (85%-96%) and 63% (45%-78%), respectively. Patients with false-negative mpMRI EPE prediction were more likely to have positive surgical margins in univariable (OR:2.14; CI:1.18,3.87) as well as multivariable analysis adjusting for NCCN risk categories (OR:1.97; CI:1.08,3.60). CONCLUSIONS The performance of mpMRI for prediction of EPE varies greatly between different NCCN risk categories with a low positive predicting value in patients at low to favorable intermediate risk and a low negative predictive value in patients at Unfavorable intermediate to High risk PCa. Given that mpMRI EPE misdiagnosis could have a negative impact on oncological and functional outcomes, NCCN risk categories should be considered when interpreting mpMRI findings in PCa patients.
Does Sukuk market development promote economic growth?

Purpose This paper aims to explain the relationship between sukuk market and economic growth. In this context, the study investigates the impact of sukuk market development on economic growth for nine countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey) which have Islamic finance and banking system. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzed the data of nine countries as Brunei, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey for periods between 2014Q1 and 2017Q4. As a part of gross domestic product, total sukuk export measured by the sukuk market and the sukuk density which was considered as annual sukuk export per country were used to determine sukuk market development. Inflation, trade deficit and financial stress series were used as control variables. Findings It was determined that there was a long-term cointegrated relationship between sukuk market development and economic growth. Sukuk volume and sukuk density had a positive effect on growth in the long run. One unit increase in sukuk volume increased growth by 0.5%, while increase in sukuk density increased growth by 1.7%. According to short-term relationships, it was seen that sukuk variables did not have an effect on growth. However, sukuk exports contributed positively to growth rates in the long run. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study are limited with nine countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey). Also, the accessible data of sukuk market was used and the periods of 2014Q1–2017Q4 was analyzed in a study. Accordingly, future studies can find different results for different countries which has Islamic finance and banking system for different periods in the global market. Originality/value This study provides empirical findings to the related literature, and it proves that sukuk market development contributes positively to the economic growth of countries including Islamic finance and banking system in the long run.
Strong slope‐aspect control of regolith thickness by bedrock foliation

The porous near‐surface layer of the Earth's crust – the critical zone – constitutes a vital reservoir of water for ecosystems, provides baseflow to streams, guides recharge to deep aquifers, filters contaminants from groundwater, and regulates the long‐term evolution of landscapes. Recent work suggests that the controls on regolith thickness include climate, tectonics, lithology, and vegetation. However, the relative paucity of observations of regolith structure and properties at landscape scales means that theoretical models of critical zone structure are incompletely tested. Here we present seismic refraction and electrical resistivity surveys that thoroughly characterize subsurface structure in a small catchment in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, USA, where slope‐aspect effects on regolith structure are expected based on differences in vegetation. Our results show a stark contrast in physical properties and inferred regolith thickness on opposing slopes, but in the opposite sense of that expected from environmental models and observed vegetation patterns. Although vegetation (as expressed by normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI]) is denser on the north‐facing slope, regolith on the south‐facing slope is four times thicker (as indicated by lower seismic velocities and resistivities). This contrast cannot be explained by variations in topographic stress or conventional hillslope morphology models. Instead, regolith thickness appears to be controlled by metamorphic foliation: regolith is thicker where foliation dips into the topography, and thinner where foliation is nearly parallel to the surface. We hypothesize that, in this catchment, hydraulic conductivity and infiltration capacity control weathering: infiltration is hindered and regolith is thin where foliation is parallel to the surface topography, whereas water infiltrates deeper and regolith is thicker where foliation intersects topography at a substantial angle. These results suggest that bedrock foliation, and perhaps by extension sedimentary layering, can control regolith thickness and must be accounted for in models of critical zone development. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development and application of neutron field optimization parameters for an accelerator-based neutron source for boron neutron capture therapy

Design parameters for an epithermal neutron field for an accelerator-based source of neutrons for boron neutron capture therapy are developed. The parameters that are developed incorporate predicted biological effects in patients` heads. They are based on an energy-spectrum-dependent neutron normal-tissue relative biological effectiveness and the treatment planning methodology of Gahbauer and his coworkers, which includes the effects of dose fractionation. The neutron field optimization parameters are evaluated for two epithermal neutron fields resulting from an accelerator-based neutron source with two different moderator assemblies. For the two moderator assemblies and moderator thicknesses evaluated, the D{sub 2}O-Li{sub 2}CO{sub 3} moderator assembly is superior to the BeO-MgO moderator assembly. The absorbed-dose delivered to the tumor for the D{sub 2}O-Li{sub 2}CO{sub 3} moderator assembly is larger than that for the BeO-MgO moderator assembly for almost all tumor depths. The treatment times for the D{sub 2}O-Li{sub 2}CO{sub 3} moderator assembly are slightly longer than for the BeO-MgO moderator assembly. However, for a 10-mA proton current, the treatment times for both are reasonable.
Using Literature Circles to Promote the English Speaking Skills of Engineering Students in English for Specific Purposes Classrooms.

The purposes of this research were 1) to study whether the use of literature circles improved the English speaking skills of engineering students in the English for Specific Purposes classroom; and 2) to examine students’ attitudes towards the use of literature circles in teaching English speaking skills. The study sample consisted of 60 third-year electrical engineering students who were enrolled in the English for Specific Course at a public university in Thailand. The instruments used for this study were eight lesson plans using literature circles activities to promote English speaking skills, the English speaking test, criteria for evaluating speaking ability, a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The t-test was used to compare the subjects’ English speaking ability before and after using the literature circles in the English for Specific Purposes classroom. The mean and standard deviation of the questionnaire scores and content analysis were used to explore the students’ attitudes towards the use of the literature circles. This study found that the students’ English speaking ability improved significantly following use of the literature circles and that the students’ held highly positive attitudes towards the use of the literature circles in teaching English speaking skills. of words and sentences used in real-life situations. I can say that the activity enabled me to practice speaking English by using real-life language (interviewee no.8).