Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In silico studies on potential binding sites of amyloid inhibitor compounds on amyloid beta peptide

The formation of structurally similar insoluble fibrillar protein aggregates, called amyloids, is known to cause several neuronal and non-neuronal degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer‟s disease, Parkinson‟s disease, Huntington‟s disease and Diabetes mellitus type II. In the present scenario, there is still an absence of efficient and medically approved therapeutic agent which could effectively inhibit the formation of amyloid fibrils. The similarity in structure of the amyloid fibrils of different proteins can be exploited to device a common mechanism to inhibit its formation. However, in aqueous solution their tendency to aggregate hinders the effective conformational studies. Thus in the present study we employ in silico approach to explore the inhibition mechanism of amyloidogenesis based on the interaction of an amyloidogenic protein with certain small molecules which have been demonstrated to effectively inhibit fibrillar assemblies. We have chosen an amyloidogenic protein called Beta-amyloid (1-42) which is found to play a crucial role in the onset of Alzheimer‟s disease. The small molecules chosen here are mostly polyphenol molecules which have been found to, specifically and efficiently, inhibit amyloid fibrillogenesis in vitro and attenuate their associated cytotoxicity. Based on the results obtained we attempt to propose a mechanism by which these small molecules inhibit the fibril formation which might be relevant in future for de novo synthesis of small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of amyloidosis.
Syddansk Universitet Perceived Prominence Reflected by Imitations of Words with and without F 0 Continuity

This paper continues our work on the perception of prominence as a function of F0 continuity. In an earlier study the first author had shown that F0 intervals occurring at lexically stressed syllables – and measured using the amplitude of Fujisaki model accent commands – strongly contribute to the perceived prominence of that syllable. More recent work explored how F0 continuity influenced prominence ratings of single word utterances. The outcome indicated that listeners made use of the physically available F0 information and therefore words containing gaps in the contour were perceived as less prominent. It was also shown that subjects were able to interpolate missing parts as long as the F0 peak was still present. The current study explores whether subjects compensate the lack of prominence in words containing F0 gaps by asking them to produce a word with the same accent strength as that of a spoken word stimulus, the spoken word being either the same or different from the one they are asked to utter. We evaluated word durations, F0 intervals and intensities of the responses as correlates of prominence and found that listeners indeed seem to adjust depending on the kind of stimulus they have heard.
Effect of Moore Method of Teaching on Students’ Performance in Gamma and Beta Function in Mathematical and Applied Statistics

The study investigated the effect of Moore Method of Teaching on Students’ Performance in Gamma and Beta Function in Mathematical and Applied Statistics at Mukuba University. The design for the study was quasi-experimental control group pre-test and post-test design. Sample for the study consisted of 40third year students at Mukuba University who were not repeating statistics. Data was collected using Gamma and Beta Function Performance Test (GBFPT). Pre-test and Post-test questions were given to both groups. The class was purposively selected to be the research subject. Random assignment was conducted to come up with two groups. A coin was tossed once to come up with two groups. The head represented the experimental group while the tail represented the control group. Experimental group was taught using Moore approach while the control group was taught using conventional learning approach. The experimental group consisted of 20 students while the control group had the same number of students as the experimental group. Data for the study was analysed using mean, standard deviation, Independent Sample T-Test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The null hypothesis was tested at 5% significance level. The findings of the study revealed that the Moore Method of Learning improved students’ academic performance in Mathematical and Applied Statistics at Mukuba University. Lecturers at Mukuba University are encouraged to use Moore Learning Approach as a way of improving their students’ achievement in mathematics. The study also recommended that during peer teaching students should incorporate Moore Learning Approach. This will ensure that student teachers are well grounded on effective teaching and learning approaches for higher academic achievement in mathematics which are the cornerstone for development of the country.
Revamping Newtonian Gravity

The nineteenth century’s quest for the missing matter (Vulcan) ended with the publication of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. We contend that the current quest for the missing matter is parallel in its perseverance and in its ultimate futility. After setting the search for dark matter in its historic perspective, we critique extant dark matter models and offer alternative explanations—derived from a Lorentz-invariant Lagrangian—that will, at the very least, sow seeds of doubt about the existence of dark matter.
A Simultaneous Analysis of Turnout and Voting Under Proportional Representation: Theory and Experiments

In a system of proportional representation, we study the interaction between a voter’s turnout decision and her party choice, and how these relate to party polarization. Quantal response equilibria predict such interaction effects. In particular they predict (i) a Polarization Effect: reduced strategic party choice when voting is voluntary makes voters more likely to vote for extreme parties (conditional on voting at all); (ii) an Extremist Effect: voters supporting extreme parties are most likely to vote; (iii) a Turnout Effect: party polarization increases voter turnout. We provide data from a laboratory experiment that support these theoretical predictions. In addition, we provide supporting empirical evidence from real world elections. Hence, the interaction between turnout and strategic voting that has been neglected in most of the previous literature is shown to be important.
Heavy rainfall episodes in the eastern northeast Brazil linked to large-scale ocean-atmosphere conditions in the tropical Atlantic

Relationships between simultaneous occurrences of distinctive atmospheric easterly wave (EW) signatures that cross the south-equatorial Atlantic, intense mesoscale convective systems (lifespan > 2 hour) that propagate westward over the western south-equatorial Atlantic, and subsequent strong rainfall episodes (anomaly > 10 mm·day−1) that occur in eastern Northeast Brazil (ENEB) are investigated. Using a simple diagnostic analysis, twelve cases with EW lifespan ranging between 3 and 8 days and a mean velocity of 8 m·s−1 were selected and documented during each rainy season of 2004, 2005, and 2006. These cases, which represent 50% of the total number of strong rainfall episodes and 60% of the rainfall amount over the ENEB, were concomitant with an acceleration of the trade winds over the south-equatorial Atlantic, an excess of moisture transported westward from Africa to America, and a strengthening of the convective activity in the oceanic region close to Brazil. Most of these episodes occurred during positive sea surface temperature anomaly patterns over the entire south-equatorial Atlantic and low-frequency warm conditions within the oceanic mixing layer. A real-time monitoring and the simulation of this ocean-atmosphere relationship could help in forecasting such dramatic rainfall events.
Understanding the Mediating Role of Symptoms of Stress on the Perceived Access to Training and Job Satisfaction Relationship

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of symptoms of stress on the relationship between perceived access to training and job satisfaction. The changing nature of work (i.e. workplace and job complexity) has implications for stress and job satisfaction outcomes. Concerns about stress and job satisfaction levels and their link to performance have created interest in training interventions to improve the adequacy of knowledge and skills. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 1396 nurses was collected from three large teaching hospitals. The positive relationship between employeesi¯perceived access to training and job satisfaction is increased by the partial mediation of symptoms of stress. Based on the evidence of this study,we recommend human resource staff and managers focus on training as a factor enhancing job satisfaction and mitigating stress.
DETECTION USING PERIODIC TO APERIODIC COMPONENT RATIO BASED ACTIVITY DETECTION ( PARADE ) AND GAUSSIAN MIXTURE SPEAKER MODELS

This paper describes a study of individual voice activity detection (IVAD) which detect speech regions of an interest person in audio. An IVAD method can be constructed by cascading a voice activity detection (VAD) method and a speaker identification method. Therefore, various VAD and speaker identification methods were studied. Especially, a VAD method called PARADE [10] and a speaker identification method based on GMMs [21] are deeply investigated. The PARADE method is a noise robust VAD method utilizing the periodic component to aperiodic component ratio (PAR). The GMM based speaker identification method is one of most widely used speaker identification methods which represents the feature space as a mixture of Gaussian distributions. Finally, a semi-automatic IVAD system is proposed which cascades the PARADE and the GMM based speaker identification and the performance is examined by experiments.
Evaluating Responses of Sugar Beet Cultivars to Fusarium Species in Greenhouse and Field Conditions

Fusarium yellows of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. betae was first described by Stewart in 1931 [1,2]. The pathogen has become widespread and an emerging threat to the sugar beet industry especially in North Dakota and Minnesota in the United States (U.S.) [3,4]. The disease has been reported in western sugar beet production states such as Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana [1,5,6]; Michigan Hanson [7]; North Dakota and Minnesota [6,8,9]. Early infection results in death of seedlings [10,11]. In North Dakota and Minnesota, the typical foliar symptoms observed include interveinal yellowing of leaves starting with oldest leaves first, occasional yellowing of half of the leaf demarcated by the midrib, followed by leaf necrosis. The outside of roots of infected plants appear healthy; however, transverse sections through the tap roots or lateral roots show a gray or brownish vascular discoloration [12]. The typical discoloration of the tip of the taproot characteristic of Fusarium root rot caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-betae in Texas where sugar beet is irrigated Harveson & Rush [13] is not present on infected plants in North Dakota and Minnesota where the crop is rain fed. Fusarium infection causes a significant reduction in sugar yield as a result of reduced root yield and sucrose concentrations [12,14]. The disease recently has emerged as a serious problem for sugar beet growers in some areas of the Red River Valley (RRV) in the adjoining states of North Dakota and Minnesota [4,12]. Burlakoti et al. [15] reported a new F. species (F. sp. novum) which was formally named F. secorum Secor et al. [16] that causes similar symptoms as Fusarium yellows but was named Fusarium decline because of its ability to cause severe disease.
Precipitation trends in the Canary Islands

A strong decreasing trend in the Canary Islands' precipitation is detected by studying daily rainfall time series for the second half of the 20th century. An analysis of the extreme events shows that this trend is due mainly to a decrease in the upper percentiles of the precipitation distribution. The results suggest that local factors play a fundamental role on extreme event behaviour. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society.
The Expression of C 4 d and HLA-DR in Renal Allografts with the Histologic Features of Antibody-Mediated Rejection Corresponding

Background : Deposition of C4d along the peritubular capillaries is generally associated with an antibody-mediated response. We evaluated, with performing C4d immunostaining, the diagnostic accuracy of the cases that were previously diagnosed as antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) when based only on the histologic findings, and we examined possible correlation of C4d with HLA-DR. Methods : Forty-five renal transplantation biopsies, which showed ABMR-like histology, were obtained. The expressions of C4d and HLA-DR in the transplant rejection cases were investigated using immunofluorescent and/or immunohistochemical staining. Results : There were 14 discordant cases among a total of 45 cases when C4d was used as a diagnostic marker and the original slides were reviewed. These total cases consisted of the C4d negative cases in two cases of hyperacute rejection and all the cases of ABMR and ABMR with chronic/sclerosing allograft nephropathy (CAN) and two C4d positive cases (one each of acute cellular rejection (ACR) and CAN according to their original diagnosis) and all these cases were then revised according to Banff 07. The expression of HLA-DR tended to be correlated with the log-transformed duration of grafts until three years after the transplantation. Conclusions : This study demonstrates that C4d together with the histologic findings should be used for making the diagnosis of ABMR. The tubular HLA-DR expression over time should be studied to further understand the mechanism of graft rejection.
How beliefs influence the relative magnitude of pleasure and pain

Loss aversion is an economic assumption about utility—people value giving up a good more than they value getting it. It also has hedonic meaning—the pain of a loss is greater in magnitude than the pleasure of a comparable gain. But value and pleasure are not necessarily identical. We test the hedonic interpretation of loss aversion in experimental markets. With hedonic forecasts, sellers imagine the pain of losing their endowment, and buyers imagine the pleasure of being endowed. With hedonic experiences, sellers rate the pleasure of having the endowment, and buyers rate the pain of being without it. Contrary to loss aversion, predicted pleasure is greater in magnitude than predicted pain, and experienced pleasure surpasses experienced pain. We show that the relative magnitude of pleasure and pain depends on beliefs about the likelihood of outcomes, as well as utilities. Surprise makes gains more pleasurable and losses more painful. With surprising gains and expected losses, pleasure can surpass pain. But when gains and losses are equally likely (or losses are surprising and gains are expected), the opposite pattern can occur. Finally, within-group and between-group prices are significantly correlated with hedonic experiences. Sellers who feel better with their endowments assign higher selling prices, and buyers who feel worse about the absence of endowment assign higher buying prices. Despite the fact that hedonic experiences deviate from loss aversion, these emotions predict the endowment effect. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Breaking a challenge for text classification in open world recognition

Tri Doan University of Colorado Colorado Springs E mail: tdoan@uccs.edu Jugal Kalita University of Colorado, Colorado Springs E mail: jkalita@uccs.edu Abstract—Classification is often referred to as the task of discriminating one class from others in a given set of classes. Nonexisting class during training can lead to poor performance of even state-of-the-art classifiers due to unknown classes being incorrectly identified to other classes. An example of an unseen class during training is evolving data when all classes may not be available at training time. Recent development of open set recognition adopts an incremental learning approach due to its natural design to learn unknown objects during its operation. We introduce our Nearest Centroid Class classifier which is able to detect and learn unknown classes incrementally. We experiment our model for document classification on different domains which shows our proposed algorithm yields promising results.
1 1 H NMR Relaxation in Urea

Proton NMR spin-lattice relaxation times T1 were measured for urea as a function of temperature. An activation energy of 46.3 ± 4.7 kJ/mol was extracted and compared with the range of 38-65 kJ/mol previously reported in the literature as measured by different magnetic resonance techniques. In addition, proton NMR spin-lattice relaxation times in the rotating frame T1ρ were measured as a function of temperature. These measurements provide acquisition conditions for the C and N CP/MAS spectra of pure urea in the crystalline phase.
Settling-depth vs. genotype and size vs. genotype correlations at the Pan I locus in 0-group Atlantic cod Gadus morhua

We sampled 0-group juvenile Atlantic cod Gadus morhua L. within fjords and off- shore in northern Norway from 1994 to 2008 using different gears for the 3 sampling depths: shore seine (0�3 m), pelagic trawl (various depths), and bottom trawl (>80 m). Frequencies of alleles at the Pan I locus (4218 fish analysed) showed highly significant differences among samples col- lected in the different habitats. The Pan I A allele showed a mean frequency of ~80% in the shore seine samples, 12% in the bottom trawl samples, and between 5 and 57% in the pelagic samples. These differences are thought to reflect the co-occurrence of different populations of cod in the area with different settling regimes. Shallow-water settlers are thought to represent the stationary Norwegian coastal cod (NCC), the deep-water settlers represent the migratory Arcto-Norwegian cod (ANC), and the non-settled individuals represent a variable mixture of the 2 populations. For designated samples, we analyzed 16 microsatellites (non-neutral and neutral) that supported a genetic divergence between shallow-water and deep-water settlers. Correlations between length and Pan I genotypes within selected samples showed that the Pan I BB homozygotes (typical of ANC) were significantly longer than the Pan I AA homozygotes (typical of NCC). This could reflect differences in spawning time and growth conditions between ANC and NCC, just as well as one genotype being superior to the others in terms of growth performance. Finally, we argue that the Pan I difference between 0-group NCC and ANC is not caused by contemporary selection but reflects adaptation on an ecological post-glacial time scale.
Pronoun interpretation and production

Why do pronouns matter to the study of semantics and pragmatics? A longstanding answer to that question has been that pronouns are the fruit flies of discourse – that their interpretation reflects the deeper semantic meaning of a passage and can thus provide a window into the forces at play in establishing meaning across clauses. This view has motivated much of the experimental work on pronoun interpretation and production. What that work has revealed, however, is that the story is in fact more complex: Pronouns are not transparent windows into underlying discourse structure and meaning; rather the pronominal form itself imposes unique and important pragmatic constraints on what speakers and comprehenders do with pronouns. These two viewpoints on the role of pronouns—as fruit flies to deeper meaning and as linguistic elements with independent effects—are illustrated below with two well-known examples from the pronoun literature. Through these examples and a discussion of a number of experimental studies, this chapter presents a history of the pronoun puzzle. It then introduces a recent attempt to reconcile competing approaches by situating pronouns within a more general model of pragmatic communication.
CITRONELLOL: A POTENTIAL ANTIOXIDANT AND ALDOSE REDUCTASE INHIBITOR FROM CYMBOPOGON CITRATUS

Objective: The present study deals with identification of bioactive component from the distillate of Cymbopogon citratus plant and to evaluate its aldose reductase inhibitory and antioxidant activity. Methods: The aldose reductase enzyme was semi purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation from chicken eye lens. Differential solvent extraction of Cymbopogon citratus was carried out and by using HPLC, HPTLC and Gas chromatography active component responsible for aldose reductase inhibition was identified. The Oral Glucose Tolerance Test was carried by induction of diabetes to the male Wistar rats with streptozotocin. The sorbitol content was measured by sorbitol dehydrogenase enzyme. The antioxidant activity was studied using DPPH and FRAP methods. Results: Differential solvent extraction of the distillate revealed presence of aldose reductase inhibitory activity in the petroleum ether extract of the plant. Citronellol was identified as bioactive component by HPLC, HPTLC and gas chromatography. Citronellol demonstrated 90.4% inhibition of aldose reductase with an IC 50 value of 19.6 ±0.8 µg/ ml as against 92.3 % inhibition by the standard drug epalrestat with an IC 50 value 9.8 ±0.43 µg/ ml. It demonstrated better lowering of sorbitol (44%) than epalrestat (28%) in the eye lens studies as compared to the diabetic control. Kinetic studies using Lineweaver Burk Plot revealed citronellol to be a mixed type of inhibitor. Docking studies revealed the binding of citronellol at a site similar to epalrestat. Conclusion: Citronellol from C. citratus is found to possess potent aldose reductase inhibitory activity with mixed type of enzyme inhibition and a very good antioxidant potential.
Electroencephalographic Coherence and Learning: Distinct Patterns of Change During Word Learning and Figure Learning Tasks

One likely mechanism in learning new skills is change in synchronous connections between distributed neural networks, which can be measured by coherence analysis of electroencephalographic patterns. This study examined coherence changes during the learning of two tasks, a word association task and a figure association task. Although learning curves were similar for both tasks, distinct patterns of coherence change were observed. Coherence tended to increase as learning progressed in the figure association task. In contrast, coherence tended to decrease in the word association task, especially within hemisphere. Word learning was coupled with negative intrahemispheric and positive interhemispheric performance–coherence relations in the gamma frequency. Unique to the figure learning task was an increase in the number of positive coherence–performance relations in both delta and theta frequencies across blocks. Results are discussed in light of ongoing efforts to identify the mechanisms that coordinate distributed brain activities during the process of learning. Further research is needed to define patterns of coherence change for different tasks, goals, and brain regions.