Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self‐assembly of lipid rafts revealed by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in living breast cancer cells

Lipids and proteins in the plasma membrane are laterally heterogeneous and formalised as lipid rafts featuring unique biophysical properties. However, the self‐assembly mechanism of lipid raft cannot be revealed even its physical properties and components were determined in specific physiological processes. In this study, two‐photon generalised polarisation imaging and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy were used to study the fusion of lipid rafts through the membrane phase and the lateral diffusion of lipids in living breast cancer cells. A self‐assembly model of lipid rafts associated with lipid diffusion and membrane phase was proposed to demonstrate the lipid sorting ability of lipid rafts in the plasma membrane. The results showed that the increased proportion of slow subdiffusion of GM1‐binding cholera toxin B‐subunit (CT‐B) was accompanied with an increased liquid‐ordered domain during the β‐estradiol‐induced fusion of lipid rafts. And slow subdiffusion of CT‐B was vanished with the depletion of lipid rafts. Whereas the dialkylindocarbocyanine (DiIC18) diffusion was not specifically regulated by lipid rafts. This study will open up a new insight for uncovering the self‐assembly of lipid rafts in specific pathophysiological processes.
How the Online Learning Affects for Principals' Management

In the past decade, the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) have been considered important in the schools as part of the learning environment. The value of online learning has become widely recognized with development of information technology so as to accept gradually by instruction in the schools. Through the network, everyone can learn anytime and anywhere. This kind of learning convenience completely changes the traditional teaching model. But it is seldom understood about the principals' behavioral intentions to use WWW. The purpose of this study was to develop a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for the principals in elementary schools and junior high schools. The Technology Acceptance Model proposes that ease of use and usefulness predict applications usage and behavior. This study was framed by six subscales: perceived ease of use, perceived useful planning, perceived useful learning, perceived useful contents, attitudes toward using online learning, and behavioral intentions to manage via online learning. This study would also explore the relationship between online learning and the principals' leadership. At the same time, the study introduced perceived useful planning, perceived useful learning, and perceived useful contents as new factors that reflected the principals' intrinsic belief in online learning acceptance.
Youth's Beginning of Individual Housing Payment and Tenure Choice: New Entries to Japanese Housing Market

Purposes of this paper are to establish the model for explaining Japanese young's housing demand and to derive the implication to guide Japanese housing policy. For this, I investigate the determinants of their tenure choice, considering their housing independence from their parents. On the basis of Japanese features, I would rather regard their housing self-pay as their independence than regard their nest-leaving as their independence. Here, housing self-pay means people bear their housing cost by themselves. As a result, this paper finds the strong relationship between Japanese young's financial ability and their housing independence. Just as I thought, recent severe economic environment of Japanese young discourages them from entering housing market. This result also shows their complete dependent choice is an essential element for considering the magnitude of their housing demand. Furthermore, my findings validate Japanese housing policy of recent years.
Title : The effect of lead on increased aggressiveness and emotionality in the rat

approved: Environmental pollution has become a focused concern of researchers in the recent past. Among the more common contamirnants is lead, which has been implicated in emotional disorders (Marlowe, 1985) and hyperactivity (Rimland & Larson, 1983) in children. In addition, lead may playa role in increasing aggressive tendencies in both children and adults (Hanninen, 1982). In order to clarify some of the inconsistencies in the research literature, the present project was undertaken. Rats were chronically exposed to lead acetate (PB) via their drinking water for 60 days, or were given regular tap water (N). Following exposure, the sUbjects were trained in a straight runway and given either continuous (CRF) or parital (PRF) reinforcement. Thus, four groups resulted: PBPRF, PBCRF, NPRF and NCRF. Relying on classic frustration theory (Amsel, 1958), and assuming that lead does increase aggressiveness and emotionality, the prediction would be that those exposed to lead and given partial reinforcement (Group PBPRF) would persist longer during Extinction when compared to those subjects given water and receiving partial reinforcement (Group NPRF) . Conversely, those animals exposed to lead and receiving continuous reinforcement (Group PBCRF) would be expected to extinguish most rapidly because of the increased frustration experienced for the first time at the outset of Extinction, when compared to their water counterparts (Group NCRF). Results indicate that lead does lead to an increase in emotionality in the rat. Implications of this finding, along with future avenues for research, are discussed. THE EFFECT OF LEAD ON INCREASED AGGRESSIVENESS AND EMOTIONALITY IN THE RAT A Thesis Presented to the Division of Psychology and Special Education EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
The nexus between technology absorption and firm growth in Africa: A resource-based perspective

By drawing upon the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory, this study investigates the effects of human capital, credit, and electricity on technology absorption among firms in Africa. The technological absorption index for 40 African countries was used to measure technological diffusion and the capacity to absorb new technology among African firms. Secondly, the World Bank’s data on access to credit and electricity for 40 African countries was also employed as explanatory variables. The findings indicate that to support technological absorption and diffusion among African firms, a broad access to credit, electricity and effective human capital development is imperative. Access to credit, electricity and human capital were significant in explaining variances in technological absorption. More so, whiles education quality is significant, African governance structures are insignificant in driving technological absorption.
High Pt Loading on Polydopamine Functionalized Graphene as a High Performance Cathode Electrocatalyst for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Morphology and size of platinum nanoparticles are a crucial factor in improving their catalytic activity and stability. Here, we firstly report the synthesis of high loading Pt nanoparticles on polydopamine reduced Graphene. The loading concentration of Pt (nanoparticles) NPs on Graphene can be adjusted in the range of 60-70%. With the insertion of polydopamine between Graphene oxide sheets, stacking of Graphene can be effectively prevented, promoting diffusion of oxygen molecules through the Graphene sheets and enhancing the oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalytic activity. Compared to commercial catalysts (i.e., state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst) the as synthesized Pt supported polydopamine grafted reduced graphite oxide (Pt@PDA-rGO) hybrid displays very high oxygen reduction reaction catalytic activities. We propose a unique 2D profile of the polydopamine-rGO role as a barrier preventing leaching of Pt into the electrolyte. The fabricated electrodes were evaluated with electrochemical techniques for oxygen reduction reaction and the obtained results were further verified by the transmission electron microscopy micrographs on the microstructure of the integrated pt@PDA-rGO structures. It has been revealed that the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique can provide more explicit information than polarization curves on the performance dependence on charge-transfer and mass transport processes at different overpotential regions.
Title Asymptotic End-to-end Stochastic Evaluation for Tandem Networks withMany Flows

The stochastic network calculus receives much attention as a new methodology for end-to-end performance evaluation of networks, taking account of the effect of statistical multiplexing. In our previous paper, we proposed a new stochastic network calculus for many flows from an approach like large deviations techniques, and obtained asymptotic end-to-end evaluation formulas for output burstiness and backlog. However, we could not obtain the asymptotic evaluation formula for end-to-end delay in this framework. In this paper, we enhance the calculation in the previous paper. Concretely we enlarge the domain of the deconvolution operator. Then in addition to for the backlog and the output burstiness in tandem networks, for the delay V (t) of L flows at time t, using min-plus algebra, we obtain a function of d > 0 by which lim supL→∞ L −1 log P (V (t) > d) are bounded from above. We then discuss an application of the result to a tandem network with cross traffic and give a numerical result.
A model of speech production based on the acoustic relativity of the vocal tract

A model is described in which the effects of articulatory movements to produce speech are generated by specifying relative acoustic events along a time axis. These events consist of directional changes of the vocal tract resonance frequencies that, when associated with a temporal event function, are transformed via acoustic sensitivity functions, into time-varying modulations of the vocal tract shape. Because the time course of the events may be considerably overlapped in time, coarticulatory effects are automatically generated. Production of sentence-level speech with the model is demonstrated with audio samples and vocal tract animations.
In silico survey of resistance (R) genes in Eucalyptus transcriptome

A major goal of plant genome research is to recognize genes responsible for important traits. Resistance genes are among the most important gene classes for plant breeding purposes being responsible for the specific immune response including pathogen recognition, and activation of plant defence mechanisms. These genes are quite abundant in higher plants, with 210 clusters found in Eucalyptus FOREST database presenting significant homology to known R-genes. All five gene classes of R-genes with their respective conserved domains are present and expressed in Eucalyptus. Most clusters identified (93) belong to the LRR-NBS-TIR (genes with three domains: Leucine-rich-repeat, Nucleotide-binding-site and Toll interleucine 1-receptor), followed by the serine-threonine-kinase class (49 clusters). Some new combinations of domains and motifs of R-genes may be present in Eucalyptus and could represent novel gene structures. Most alignments occurred with dicots (94.3%), with emphasis on Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) sequences. All best alignments with monocots (5.2%) occurred with rice (Oryza sativa) sequences and a single cluster aligned with the gymnosperm Pinus sylvestris (0.5%). The results are discussed and compared with available data from other crops and may bring useful evidences for the understanding of defense mechanisms in Eucalyptus and other crop species.
Producing credible evidence and relevant evaluations: Integrating skills and practices in the study of adult literacy and numeracy policies and programmes

In this integrative paper I identify my contribution to the production of credible and relevant evidence in the fields of adult education in general and adult literacy and numeracy in particular. By ‘credible evidence’ I refer to evidence that can be believed (Schwandt, 2009). By ‘relevant evidence’ I refer to evidence that is useful to policymakers and programme staff. In describing my work, I draw on and extend Berriet-Solliec et al.’s (2014) typology of three types of evidence that may be generated by research: • Type 1: Evidence of presence, e.g. of a problem such as low literacy skills in adults. Publications 1-3 in my submission focus on this type of evidence. • Type 2: Evidence of impact, e.g. the impacts of adult literacy programmes or policies on adults’ skills or other outcomes. Publications 4-5 focus on Type 2 evidence. • Type 3: Evidence of mechanisms, e.g. the causal processes through which adult literacy programmes may generate impact. Such mechanisms, in the form of literacy and numeracy practices, are discussed in Publication 6, as well as Publication 5. In this paper, I analyse the complex relationships amongst these three types of evidence. In doing so, I show how the proliferation of Type 1 evidence on literacy and numeracy skills, such as that produced by international surveys such as the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), leads to greater policy emphasis on the generation of credible and relevant Type 2 evidence, particularly in the form of evaluations of programmes’ impacts on those skills. I argue that while there has been increased emphasis on Types 1 and 2 evidence, a lack of policy focus on Type 3 evidence of key mechanisms (especially literacy and numeracy practices) through which adults may improve their literacy and numeracy skills leads to theoretically misinformed programme specifications and evaluations, with the latter producing Type 2 evidence that is at best insufficiently relevant and is at worst non-credible. I then offer a strategy for producing evidence that is more credible, and more useful to policymakers and programme staff.
An Unsymmetrical Squaraine-based Activatable Probe for Imaging Lymphatic Metastasis through Responding to Tumor Hypoxia by MSOT and Aggregation-enhanced Fluorescent Imaging.

Optoacoustic imaging exhibits great potential for preclinical research and clinical practice, and designing robust activatable optoacoustic probes for specific diseases is beneficial for its further development. Herein, an activatable probe has been developed for tumor hypoxia imaging. For this probe, indole and quinoline were linked on each side of oxocyclobutenolate core to form an unsymmetrical squaraine. Triarylamine group was incorporated to afford the aggregation enhanced emission (AEE) property. In aqueous media, the squaraine chromophore aggregates into the nanoprobe which specifically responds to nitroreductase and produce strong optoacoustic signals due to its high extinction coefficient, as well as prominent fluorescence emission as a result of its AEE feature. The nanoprobe was used to image tumor metastasis via lymphatic system optoacoustically and fluorescently. Moreover, both the fluorescence signals and three-dimensional multispectral optoacoustic tomography signals from the activated nanoprobe allow us to locate the tumor site and map the metastatic route.
Modeling, Design and Experimental Characterization of the Q-band OMTs and Polarizers for the STRIP-LSPE Balloon Experiment

This paper reports on the Q-band polarizers and orthomode transducers developed for the STRatospheric Italian Polarimeter (STRIP) coherent multi-feed instrument. A split-block design of groove polarizers and an ad-hoc assembly procedure have been conceived in order to achieve recurring high-performance for all the 49 polarizers (i.e., cross-polarization < -35 dB, return-loss > 36 dB, insertion-loss < 0.07 dB). The ortho-mode transducers are based on a novel multi-layer turnstile-junction design. This configuration has been conceived toward a high parallelization rate of the manufacturing process, while providing high electromagnetic performance (cross-coupling < -50 dB, isolation > 50 dB).
The dimension of preventable stroke in a large representative patient cohort

Objective To analyze the frequency of inadequately treated risk factors in a large representative cohort of patients with acute ischemic stroke or TIA and to estimate the proportion of events potentially avertable by guideline-compliant preventive therapy compared to the status quo. Methods A total of 1,730 patients from the Poststroke Disease Management STROKE-CARD trial (NCT02156778) were recruited between 2014 and 2017. We focused on 8 risk conditions amenable to drug therapy and 3 lifestyle risk behaviors and assessed pre-event risk factor control in retrospect. Results The proportion of patients with at least 1 inadequately treated risk condition was 79.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 77.6%–81.4%) and increased to 95.1% (95% CI 94.1%–96.1%) upon consideration of the lifestyle risk behaviors. Risk factor control was worse in patients with recurrent vs first-ever events (p < 0.001), men vs women (p = 0.003), and patients ≤75 vs >75 years of age (p < 0.001). The estimated degree of stroke preventability ranged from 0.4% (95% CI 0.2%–0.6%) to 13.7% (95% CI 12.2%–15.2%) for the individual risk factors. Adequate control of the 5 most relevant risk factors combined (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, atrial fibrillation, smoking, and overweight) would have averted ≈1 of 2 events or 1 in 4 with a highly conservative computation approach. Conclusions Our study confirms the existence of a considerable gap between risk factor control recommended by guidelines and real-world stroke prevention. Our study intends to increase awareness among physicians about stroke preventability and provides a quantitative basis for the emerging discussion on how to best tackle this challenge.
Isolation, Characterization, Differentiation and Immunomodulatory Capacity of Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells from Human Perirenal Adipose Tissue

Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are immature multipotent cells, which represent a rare population in the perivascular niche within nearly all tissues. The most abundant source to isolate MSCs is adipose tissue. Currently, perirenal adipose tissue is rarely described as the source of MSCs. MSCs were isolated from perirenal adipose tissue (prASCs) from patients undergoing tumor nephrectomies, cultured and characterized by flow cytometry and their differentiation potential into adipocytes, chondrocytes, osteoblasts and epithelial cells. Furthermore, prASCs were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), lipoteichoic acid (LTA) or a mixture of cytokines (cytomix). In addition, prASC susceptibility to human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) was investigated. The expression of inflammatory readouts was estimated by qPCR and immunoassay. HCMV infection was analyzed by qPCR and immunostaining. Characterization of cultured prASCs shows the cells meet the criteria of MSCs and prASCs can undergo trilineage differentiation. Cultured prASCs can be induced to differentiate into epithelial cells, shown by cytokeratin 18 expression. Stimulation of prASCs with LPS or cytomix suggests the cells are capable of initiating an inflammation-like response upon stimulation with LPS or cytokines, whereas, LTA did not induce a significant effect on the readouts (ICAM-1, IL-6, TNFα, MCP-1 mRNA and IL-6 protein). HCMV broadly infects prASCs, showing a viral load dependent cytopathological effect (CPE). Our current study summarizes the isolation and culture of prASCs, clearly characterizes the cells, and demonstrates their immunomodulatory potential and high permissiveness for HCMV.
Stem cell–driven lymphatic remodeling coordinates tissue regeneration

Stem cells reshape a lymphatic niche Adult stem cells can both self-renew and regenerate new tissue upon demand. They reside in microenvironments (niches) that balance these decisions to avoid tissue overgrowth, cancer, and aging. Using murine skin as a model, Gur-Cohen et al. uncovered a lymphatic network of capillaries associated with the stem cell niche of hair follicles (see the Perspective by Harvey). Stem cells reshaped their lymphatic environment by switching their secretome to coordinate lymphatic-niche association. During tissue regeneration, a dynamic change in epithelial-lymphatic communication remodeled this association, synchronizing stem cell and niche behavior. Science, this issue p. 1218; see also p. 1193 A dynamic lymphatic network synchronizes skin stem cell niches to coordinate tissue regeneration. Tissues rely on stem cells (SCs) for homeostasis and wound repair. SCs reside in specialized microenvironments (niches) whose complexities and roles in orchestrating tissue growth are still unfolding. Here, we identify lymphatic capillaries as critical SC-niche components. In skin, lymphatics form intimate networks around hair follicle (HF) SCs. When HFs regenerate, lymphatic–SC connections become dynamic. Using a mouse model, we unravel a secretome switch in SCs that controls lymphatic behavior. Resting SCs express angiopoietin-like protein 7 (Angptl7), promoting lymphatic drainage. Activated SCs switch to Angptl4, triggering transient lymphatic dissociation and reduced drainage. When lymphatics are perturbed or the secretome switch is disrupted, HFs cycle precociously and tissue regeneration becomes asynchronous. In unearthing lymphatic capillaries as a critical SC-niche element, we have learned how SCs coordinate their activity across a tissue.
The effects of turbulence on cavitation inception

is commonly called the subgrid scale (SGS) Reynolds stress. Turbulence is a property of the f1uid f10w rather than of the f1uid itself. In a·turbulent f1ow, the physical quantities, as weil as the components of velocities and pressures, undergo fluctuations in time and space, permitting their being expressed by random variables. The turbulent diffusion, which is due to turbulent agitation, has effects exceeding the effects of molecular agitation, and thus causing the fast and intense mixture of the vortex tubes and the substantial amplification of the transfer of mass, momentum, moment of momentum, kinetic energy and heat through the boundary of an arbitrary control volume. Turbulence in the f10w is the cause of the intense dissipation of kinetic energy into heat by the effect of viscosity [14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 29, 33, 36, 37, 42]. During the process of cavitation inception, turbulence may be a major factor, even a fundamental one. This means that, in defining and expressing the coefficient of cavitation inception, numerous physical quantities are involved, which define and generate turbulence. Thus, data on the field of turbulent pressures, the spectrum and the probable density are absolutely necessary. AIso, in modelling the diffusion process, it is necessary to know the nuclei in the turbulent f10w and the way in wich they respond to the temporal pressure fluctuations [19, 20].
A Hybrid Energy Storage System for a Coaxial Power-Split Hybrid Powertrain

A hybrid energy storage system (HESS) consisting of batteries and supercapacitors can be used to reduce battery stress and recover braking energy efficiently. In this paper, the performance of a novel coaxial power-split hybrid transit bus with an HESS is studied. The coaxial power-split hybrid powertrain consists of a diesel engine, a generator, a clutch, and a motor, whose axles are arranged in a line. A mathematical model of the coaxial power-split hybrid powertrain with an HESS is established and the parameters are configured using experimental data. Subsequently, to estimate the system performance, a program is designed based on Matlab and Advisor. A rule-based control strategy is designed and finely tuned for the coaxial power-split hybrid powertrain. Then, using the Chinese Transit Bus City Driving Cycle (CTBCDC), the system characteristics and energy efficiencies of the designed coaxial power-split hybrid powertrain with an HESS are analysed. The results indicate that the proposed coaxial power-split hybrid powertrain with an HESS can fulfil the drivability requirement of transit bus and enhance the energy efficiency significantly compared with a conventional powertrain bus as well as reduce the battery stress simultaneously. Using an HESS is a good solution for the coaxial power-split hybrid transit bus.