Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Affibody-Mediated Sequestration of Amyloid β Demonstrates Preventive Efficacy in a Transgenic Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model

Different strategies for treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are currently under investigation, including passive immunization with anti-amyloid β (anti-Aβ) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Here, we investigate the therapeutic potential of a novel type of Aβ-targeting agent based on an affibody molecule with fundamentally different properties to mAbs. We generated a therapeutic candidate, denoted ZSYM73-albumin-binding domain (ABD; 16.8 kDa), by genetic linkage of the dimeric ZSYM73 affibody for sequestering of monomeric Aβ-peptides and an ABD for extension of its in vivo half-life. Amyloid precursor protein (APP)/PS1 transgenic AD mice were administered with ZSYM73-ABD, followed by behavioral examination and immunohistochemistry. Results demonstrated rescued cognitive functions and significantly lower amyloid burden in the treated animals compared to controls. No toxicological symptoms or immunology-related side-effects were observed. To our knowledge, this is the first reported in vivo investigation of a systemically delivered scaffold protein against monomeric Aβ, demonstrating a therapeutic potential for prevention of AD.
Using Farm Practice Variables as Predictors of Listeria spp. Prevalence in Pastured Poultry Farms

Predictive models offer food scientists, farmers, and processors tools to help identify variables that lead to an increase in the food safety risk of a product. Foodborne pathogens, such as Listeria spp. , pose a major problem for the pastured poultry industry. Currently, there is a lack of understanding of what farm practices lead to higher prevalence of Listeria spp. This study constructed random forest (RF) models to predict the prevalence of Listeria spp. in pastured poultry farming environments and the final broiler product based on major farm practices and variables. Feces, soil, and whole carcass rinse samples were collected from 11 farms in the southeastern United States and evaluated for Listeria spp. presence. The preharvest sample RF model identified the time of year and age of the broiler flock at time of sampling as factors of increased probability of Listeria spp. presence in feces and soil samples. The final product RF model identified brood feed and the presence of chlorine in processing rinse water as the two most important variables associated with an increased likelihood of Listeria spp. presence. Both the preharvest RF model and final sample RF model performed well on a held-out test set, with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values of 0.867 and 0.887, respectively. The presented models showed the usefulness of RF models in a food safety context. Both RF models will help pastured poultry farmers and processors guide control strategies to manage Listeria contamination in pastured poultry farms and products.
Fatty Acid Oxidation Promotes Cardiomyocyte Proliferation Rate but Does Not Change Cardiomyocyte Number in Infant Mice

Cardiomyocyte proliferation accounts for the increase of cardiac muscle during fetal mammalian heart development. Shortly after birth, cardiomyocyte transits from hyperplasia to hypertrophic growth. Here, we have investigated the role of fatty acid β-oxidation in cardiomyocyte proliferation and hypertrophic growth during early postnatal life in mice. A transient wave of increased cell cycle activity of cardiomyocyte was observed between postnatal day 3 and 5, that proceeded as cardiomyocyte hypertrophic growth and maturation. Assessment of cardiomyocyte metabolism in neonatal mouse heart revealed a myocardial metabolic shift from glycolysis to fatty acid β-oxidation that coincided with the burst of cardiomyocyte cell cycle reactivation and hypertrophic growth. Inhibition of fatty acid β-oxidation metabolism in infant mouse heart delayed cardiomyocyte cell cycle exit, hypertrophic growth and maturation. By contrast, pharmacologic and genetic activation of PPARα, a major regulator of cardiac fatty acid metabolism, induced fatty acid β-oxidation and initially promoted cardiomyocyte proliferation rate in infant mice. As the cell cycle proceeded, activation of PPARα-mediated fatty acid β-oxidation promoted cardiomyocytes hypertrophic growth and maturation, which led to cell cycle exit. As a consequence, activation of PPARα-mediated fatty acid β-oxidation did not alter the total number of cardiomyocytes in infant mice. These findings indicate a unique role of fatty acid β-oxidation in regulating cardiomyocyte proliferation and hypertrophic growth in infant mice.
Karyotype and seed protein analyses of Lycium (Solanaceae) in Iran

Twelve populations of six Lycium species were analysed for karyotypie characters and seed storage proteins using multivariate statistical methods. All reported chromosome numbers (mostly new) are 2n = 24 (x = 12). Karyotypes were symmetrical and placed in 1A and 2A classes of Stebbins karyotype classification. Cluster analysis of karyological and protein data revealed variations among the populations of L. depressum and L. ruthenicum , and supports close relationships of L. kopetdaghi and L. depressum with L. makranicum , and L. shawii with L. edgeworthii .
Tomorrow's gonna suck. Today's stress anticipation predicts tomorrow's post-awakening cortisol increase

The cortisol awakening response (a rapid rise in cortisol concentration shortly after awakening) is hypothesized to prepare the organism to cope with upcoming demands, suggesting a key role for anticipatory stress in its regulation. Yet, no thorough test of this hypothesis incorporating temporal dynamics of the underlying processes has been conducted so far. To address this gap in the literature, the present study investigated the effects of anticipated stress for the next day (assessed in the evening) on an estimate of the cortisol awakening response (assessed in the following morning). In an ambulatory assessment paradigm, 42 participants (69% female; mean age = 22.8, range = 18-30 years) completed 5 consecutive days of assessments in their daily lives, collecting saliva samples at awakening and 30 minutes later. Using hierarchical linear modeling, associations with anticipatory stress were examined separately on the within-and between-person level. In line with our expectations, anticipatory stress predicted the post-awakening cortisol increase on the within-person level, implying an elevated cortisol rise on days for which more stress than usual had been anticipated. In contrast, on the between-person level higher average anticipatory stress did not predict an increased cortisol rise. Taken together, the findings confirm a key role of anticipatory stress in the regulation of the cortisol awakening response on the within-person level.
Employment of Syrian refugees in Jordan: challenges and opportunities

ABSTRACT Employment is a key issue for refugees, host states, and local communities, whose interests in this area often diverge. Based on an ethnographic qualitative study among Syrian refugees and Jordanian citizens, this research sheds much-needed light on the dynamics of employment of refugees in Jordan. Research findings demonstrate how Syrian refugees work in both the formal and informal sectors of the labor market with an emphasis on legal precarity, job insecurity, poor working conditions, and workplace discrimination. Refugee women face additional challenges due to gender roles and cultural sensitivities. Employment also brings opportunities to refugees with regards to access to sustainable livelihoods, self-sufficiency, socialization, and regaining of the sense of dignity. Growing Syrian refugee employment in Jordan makes an urgent need for social workers to focus their efforts on addressing work-related problems and making advancements benefiting refugees, host communities, and policymakers.
Wealth‐in‐people and practical rationality: Aspirations and decisions about money in South Africa

This article explores crucial decisions made by Sylvia, a Xhosa woman living in the townships of Cape Town, during a period of approximately thirty years. These decisions involved large sums of money and had important consequences for her own life, for those of her son and grandchild, and for the relationships she had with her first and second husbands and in‐laws. Sylvia's decisions continued to be influenced by gendered ways of belonging to ancestors and descendants but also show important changes in connecting wealth and people. The wealth‐in‐people approach offers important insights into how Sylvia's decisions are guided by power and control over people as well as by prestige. However, it also becomes evident that the wealth‐in‐people approach does not sufficiently explain or theorize the agency of people. By drawing on the philosophical notion of practical rationality as a complementary analytical perspective, I explore agency in relation to aspirations and the acquisition of new open‐ended values. The perspective offered by practical rationality increases our understanding of how individual decisions, especially complex decisions around money, are made because of their transformative potential and the aspiration to cultivate oneself.
Systematics and biology of the endemic water scavenger beetles of Hawaii (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae, Hydrophilini)

Abstract Recent field surveys in the Hawaiian Islands have revealed an adaptive radiation of endemic water scavenger beetles (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae). Phylogenetic analysis based on 55 adult morphological characters affirms that this endemic hydrophilid fauna is a monophyletic clade that incorporates the first well‐supported transformation from an aquatic to terrestrial way of life within any lineage of the subfamily Hydrophilinae. The clade is prescribed to the genus Limnoxenus Motschulsky, where described members were previously placed. Five new species are described: L. waialeale sp.n. (Kauai), L. kauaiensis sp.n. (Kauai), L. oahuensis sp.n. (Oahu), L. punctatostriatus sp.n. (Kauai) and L. namolokama sp.n. (Kauai). Lectotypes are designated for the two previously described species L. semicylindricus (Eschscholtz) and L. nesiticus (Sharp). The Hawaiian lineage is a component of a larger clade that also includes the remaining four species of Limnoxenus from Europe, South Africa, and Australia, plus the monotypic genera Limnocyclus Balfour‐Browne of New Caledonia and Hydramara Knisch of South America. The majority of the Hawaiian species exhibit vestigial wings, an extremely unusual condition in aquatic beetles. No other island‐endemic members of the Hydrophilinae are known to be flightless, suggesting insularity per se is not responsible for this condition. L. nesiticus of Oahu has not been collected during the past 106 years, suggesting that it has been lost to anthropogenically mediated extinction.
Improving Write Performance on Cross-Point RRAM Arrays by Leveraging Multidimensional Non-Uniformity of Cell Effective Voltage

Resistive cross-point memory arrays can be used to construct high-density storage-class memory. However, coupled IR drop and sneak currents cause multidimensional non-uniformity of cell effective voltage in cross-point arrays. The voltage non-uniformity significantly degrades write performance on cross-point memory if only adopting the worst-case write latency at partial dimensions. Furthermore, the non-uniformity of cell effective voltage in cross-point arrays depends on multidimensional dynamic write operation parameters: row, column as well as layer address, the number of selected cells, and the number of half-selected low-resistance state cells. In this article, we aim to improve the write performance by leveraging multidimensional non-uniformity of cell effective voltage. First, we analyze the impact of multidimensional write parameters on effective voltage and write latency. Then, we design the memory array write scheme that measures the write parameters and sets the write latency accordingly. We further analyze the features and effects of interlayer sneak currents and extend the scheme to 3D cross-point memory. The evaluation shows that the proposed memory array write scheme can reduce the memory access latency by 75.6 and 64.1 percent, and improve the system performance by 4.5 times and 3.4 times on average, compared with the baseline and the state-of-the-art approach, respectively.
Traps baited with pear ester and acetic acid attract both sexes of Hedya nubiferana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

This study was initiated with the objective of studying field responses of the green budworm moth, Hedya nubiferana (Haworth) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), to pear ester [PE; ethyl (E,Z)‐2,4‐decadienoate] and acetic acid (AA) with the aim of developing a lure attractive also for females. In the overwhelming majority of tests, traps baited with the PEAA lure (the combination of both PE and AA) caught more than traps baited with either of the constituents presented alone. PEAA lures were attractive to H. nubiferana no matter whether the two compounds were provided in separate dispensers or mixed together in a single one, and a large percentage (up to 71%) of trap catch consisted of females. Traps with PEAA lures caught (females plus males) on an average 30% of the catches in traps baited with the synthetic green budworm moth sex pheromone (only males). This suggested that the new PEAA lure had a trapping performance comparable with that of pheromone traps, which latter are used by farmers today. Consequently, the PEAA lure showed potential for future practical applications as a female‐targeted lure for H. nubiferana. To our knowledge, this is the first well‐documented report on the attraction of PEAA lure for a tortricid species other than codling moth.
Germination of Spores and Early Stages in Development of Gametophyte of Marchantia polymorpha

1. Spores of Marchantia polymorpha are available in this general latitude, depending upon the climatic conditions, from early July to the middle of September. 2. Elaters of Marchantia are sister cells of sporogenous cells which undergo five divisions before the spore mother cells appear. 3. The ratio of the number of elaters and spores is 1:128. 4. The total number of spores in a single head is estimated to be about 7,000,000. 5. The spores are viable for about a year. 6. One (rarely two) primary rhizoid appears after the growth of the spore and chlorophyll development has occurred. 7. Under ordinarily good conditions for germination, cell divisions giving rise to a very short filament are followed by cell divisions in a second plane. 8. Branching of the young thalli is not uncommon and sometimes occurs at a very early stage. 9. A marginal row of meristematic cells is early established, and these, rather than a single apical cell, are active throughout subsequent development. 10. By differential growth of the cells in the marginal row, a notch appears in the apical region when the young gametophyte comprises 30-40 cells. 11. Dorsiventrality and anchorage are established by the budding off of rhizoids behind and in a line perpendicular to the apical notch, and by the rise of mucilage cells on the lower side of the apex. 12. Excepting during germination, when more moderate light seems better, 13-15 hours of light of good intensity is the optimum. 13. The optimum temperature conditions for vegetative growth are 18⚬-22⚬ C. , and the optimum temperature conditions for fruiting are 10⚬-15⚬ C. 14. As a medium for successful germination and growth, a solid substrate is much better than a liquid one.
Field Evaluation of Three New Mosquito Light Traps Against Two Standard Light Traps to Collect Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and Non-Target Insects in Northeast Florida

Abstract Five light traps including 2 standard traps (New Jersey light trap and CDC light trap) and 3 new light traps (UV light trap, black light trap, and yellow fluorescent light trap) were evaluated for the collection of mosquitoes and non-target insects in northeast Florida from Sep to Oct 2013. In the evaluation of light traps without a chemical lure, the black light and CDC light traps collected large numbers of mosquitoes, and the ratios of mosquitoes to non-target insects were 1:7.5 and 1:8.9, respectively. In the evaluation of the 5 light traps, each baited either with octenol or with BG-Lure, the black light and CDC light traps collected larger numbers of mosquitoes than the other 3 types of traps. The ratios of mosquitoes to non-target insects were 1:2.8 and 1:6.7 for black light traps baited with octenol and BG-Lure, respectively, and 1:1.5 and 1:5.2 for CDC traps baited with octenol and BG-Lure, respectively. The results indicated that the black light trap was the best of the new traps evaluated based on its mosquito capture capabilities, while collecting the least non-target insects. Use of black light traps will benefit mosquito population surveillance by increasing the capture of insects of medical and veterinary importance.
Specialist role coaching and skill training periodisation: A football goalkeeping case study

In sports like association football, professional teams are increasingly devoting resources to the role-based development of individual athletes and sub-groups. By employing ‘specialist coaches’ into athlete-support structures, clubs aim to facilitate individualised athlete training programs to enhance performance preparation as well as skill learning and talent development. Here, we discuss how contemporary pedagogical training approaches, like Nonlinear Pedagogy and the Constraints-Led approach, can enhance effectiveness of specialist role-based athlete development programs to facilitate performance functionality. We argue the need for a model of specialist role-based coaching practice in high performance sports organisations, based on a unified theoretical rationale, such as ecological dynamics. To exemplify the nature of specialist role-based coaching, a case study addresses how Nonlinear Pedagogy and Constraints-Led approach are being used for training professional football goalkeepers in an U23 years age group. Integrating key concepts from ecological dynamics, allied to principles of Nonlinear Pedagogy and the Constraints-Led approach, common skill training principles for specialist role coaches are highlighted. These illustrate the use of the recently introduced ‘Periodization of Skill Training’ framework for specialist role coaching, practically exemplifying a way to harness opportunities for performance enhancement and individualised talent development in the football goalkeeping context.
Electric Motor Design of an Integrated Motor Propulsor for Unmanned Vehicles: The Effect of Waterproofing Can

This study investigates the effect of waterproofing can on the electromagnetic performance and thermal characteristic of the electric motor, which is a major part of an integrated motor propulsor for unmanned vehicles. To satisfy the design target, the electromagnetic performance of a designed motor with variable thickness and materials of waterproofing can was examined by two-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) considering its eddy current loss. The thermal problem of the motor with waterproofing was solved by using an analytical lumped parameter thermal network method based on the motor losses which was obtained from FEA. A 39-kW electric motor and proper waterproofing can be manufactured and tested to verify the analytical expectation.
A Bregman Forward-Backward Linesearch Algorithm for Nonconvex Composite Optimization: Superlinear Convergence to Nonisolated Local Minima

We introduce Bella, a locally superlinearly convergent Bregman forward backward splitting method for minimizing the sum of two nonconvex functions, one of which satisfying a relative smoothness condition and the other one possibly nonsmooth. A key tool of our methodology is the Bregman forward-backward envelope (BFBE), an exact and continuous penalty function with favorable first- and second-order properties, and enjoying a nonlinear error bound when the objective function satisfies a Lojasiewicz-type property. The proposed algorithm is of linesearch type over the BFBE along candidate update directions, and converges subsequentially to stationary points, globally under a KL condition, and owing to the given nonlinear error bound can attain superlinear convergence rates even when the limit point is a nonisolated minimum, provided the directions are suitably selected.
Networked environmental governance: formal and informal collaborative networks in local China

ABSTRACT With the recent trend toward collaborative governance, governmental and nongovernmental actors are actively engaged in the environmental governance in China, forming formal and informal networks in this process. While existing research has mostly examined the formation of either formal or informal networks, few studies have examined the influence of formal networks on the formation of informal networks. This article examines the collaborative environmental governance network in China by studying the relationship between formal networks and informal networks. We conduct the research in the empirical context of local water governance in Dongguan city of Guangdong province, China. With survey data collected from 31 municipal departments, 32 town governments, 9 water-related private business and 5 NGOs, we test the hypothesis with Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) regression analysis. The results indicate that formal network does affect and contribute to the formation of informal network, and actors within the formal network are more likely to build informal relationships in environmental governance.
Trajectory-Aided Maximum-Likelihood Algorithm for Channel Parameter Estimation in Ultrawideband Large-Scale Arrays

Millimeter-wave with ultrawide bandwidth available and ability to pack massive number of antennas in a small area is considered the key enabler for future generation communication systems. Accurate understanding and modeling of the ultrawideband propagation channel with large-scale array configuration is essential. In this contribution, a realistic spherical-propagation signal model considering the spatial nonstationarity of path gain across the array elements is proposed. A novel trajectory-aided maximum-likelihood (TAMax) algorithm is proposed to extract propagation parameters from the measured data, since the existing high-resolution propagation parameter estimation algorithms are not applicable due to either prohibitively high computation loads or assumption violations. In the proposed TAMax algorithm, the high-dimensional maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) problem is first decomposed into a subproblem where delays and amplitudes of multipath components (MPCs) are estimated at individual array elements. A novel transform is then proposed to identify multiple MPC trajectories in the delay-element domain. With interference cancellation and fast initialization obtained in the proposed transform, spherical propagation parameters are finally acquired via joint MLE with significantly decreased searching spaces. Moreover, a measurement campaign conducted at the frequency band of 27–29 GHz using a virtual uniform circular array is introduced, where the proposed TAMax algorithm is applied and validated.