Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Depalmitoylation of rhodopsin with hydroxylamine.

Intrinsic membrane proteins that to date have been investigated with respect to the function of palmitoylation are the beta-adrenergic receptor, rhodopsin, the alpha 2A-adrenergic receptor, and the influenza virus spike glycoprotein. As described above, the studies have led to differing conclusions with respect to the influence of palmitoylation on physiological activity. The basis of the differences remains unclear, but it may relate at least in part to the membrane environment of the protein during these studies, that is, the presence of a native membrane, the membrane composition of the expression cell line (in the case of mutant proteins), or the absence of membrane (in the case of detergent-purified proteins). For example, in the case of rhodopsin, the composition of the ROS disk membrane differs from that of the rod plasma membrane, and presumably also from the plasma membranes of cell lines in which mutant rhodopsins are expressed. Variation in membrane composition is known to have marked effects on the ability of rhodopsin to mediate the photic activation of PDE. Thus, although Karnik et al. clearly demonstrated the absence of an absolute requirement for palmitate in activating transducin, the influence of detergent on tertiary protein structure may have masked the full effect of the elimination of palmitate on the transducin-activating property of rhodopsin. Alternatively, the differing results obtained in the studies of rhodopsin could be a consequence of differences in amino acid sequences of the proteins studied. The precise functional role of the palmitate groups of rhodopsin remains an important question for further research. It was suggested by Ovchinnikov et al. that the hydrolysis of covalently bound palmitate might occur during the process of rhodopsin bleaching, but more recent data argue against this hypothesis. Experiments using synthetic peptides (representing cytoplasmic loop regions of rhodopsin) to identify the sites of interaction of R* and transducin provide support for an alternative possibility, namely, that palmitoylation and the resulting cytoplasmic loop play a role in the coupling of rhodopsin with transducin. The finding that the binding of transducin to R* occurs independently of the presence of palmitate argues against an essential requirement of palmitoylation on the binding step itself. However, available data indicate an enhancement, by depalmitoylation, of light-dependent GTPase activity in ROS preparations, although not in assays of unpalmitoylated, purified mutant rhodopsins (see above). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Lipidomic Profiling in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Comparison Between Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease

Background:Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which encompasses ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), is believed to be caused by abnormal host immune responses to the intestinal microbiome. However, the precise etiology of IBD remains unknown. Lipid metabolism and signaling are suggested to play important roles in inflammation with significant implications for IBD. In this study, we aimed to characterize lipidomic profiles in IBD with comparison between healthy controls, UC, and CD. Methods:Patients with IBD (n = 40, UC: 16 and CD: 24) and age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers (n = 84) were recruited. Plasma lipid profiles containing 333 lipid species were measured using electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry. Results:A total of 86 individual lipid species were significantly changed in CD compared with controls (78 decreased while 8 increased), with the majority belonging to the ether lipids including the alkylphospholipids (alkylphosphatidylcholine and alkylphosphatidylethanolamine) and plasmalogens (alkenylphosphatidylcholine and alkenylphosphatidylethanolamine). Of these 86 lipid species, 33 remained significantly and negatively associated with CD after adjusting for age, sex, waist circumference, current smoking, and diastolic blood pressure in logistic regression. In contrast, only 5 lipid species significantly differed between UC and controls. Conclusions:We demonstrate that a number of ether lipids (alkylphospholipid and plasmalogens) are significantly and negatively associated with CD. These alterations of lipid profiles particularly plasmalogens may contribute to the pathogenesis of IBD.
Leveraging Gaussian Process Approximations for Rapid Image Overlay Production

Machine learning models trained using images can be used to generate image overlays by investigating which image areas contribute the most towards model outputs. A common approach used to accomplish this relies on blanking image regions using a sliding window and evaluating the change in model output. Unfortunately,this can be computationally expensive,as it requires numerous model evaluations. This paper shows that a Gaussian process approximation to this blanking approach produces outputs of similar quality,despite requiring significantly fewer model evaluations. This process is illustrated using a user-driven saliency generation problem. Here,pairwise image interest comparisons are used to infer underlying image interest and a Gaussian process model trained to predict the interest value of an image using image features extracted by a convolutional neural network. Interest overlays are generated by evaluating model change at blanking image regions selected using the prediction uncertainty of a Gaussian process regressor.
IPv6 Subnet Model: The Relationship between Links and Subnet Prefixes

IPv6 specifies a model of a subnet that is different than the IPv4 subnet model. The subtlety of the differences has resulted in incorrect implementations that do not interoperate. This document spells out the most important difference; that an IPv6 address isn't automatically associated with an IPv6 on-link prefix. This document also updates (partially due to security concerns caused by incorrect implementations) a part of the definition of on-link from [RFC4861].
The vaginal flora of healthy women is not always dominated by Lactobacillus species.

Marrazzos interesting editorial commentary about the "enigmatic ecological mystery" of bacterial vaginosis (BV) fails to take into account the recent findings of several investigations that call into question some long-held assumptions about this disorder. Her essay begins with the pronouncement that we have known for decades that the normal vagina is dominated by hydrogen peroxide-producing lactobacilli and then follows this with the declaration that decreases in the numbers of lactobacilli have been associated with a host of problems including BV gonorrhea HIV infection and cervicitis. However several investigations conducted using cultivation-independent methods have shown that a significant proportion (~30%) of healthy women lack appreciable numbers of Lactobacillus species. (excerpt)
A User‐centered Design for the Addition of Interactive Masking Capability within an existing Web GIS

This article presents a case study of how a user‐centered design (UCD) approach was utilized during the addition of interactive masking capability to an existing web‐based geographic information system (Web GIS). By analyzing and discussing specific aspects of the user‐developer dialog within the context of a Web GIS software development life cycle, this article presents a case study for similar systems. The results of the UCD methodology is a discussion that presents a shift from an initial design to a new design that, based on user feedback, furthers the utility and usability of interactive masking within the Web GIS.
Urban air pollutants reduce synaptic function of CA1 neurons via an NMDA/NȮ pathway in vitro

Airborne particulate matter (PM) from urban vehicular aerosols altered glutamate receptor functions and induced glial inflammatory responses in rodent models after chronic exposure. Potential neurotoxic mechanisms were analyzed in vitro. In hippocampal slices, 2 h exposure to aqueous nanosized PM (nPM) selectively altered post‐synaptic proteins in cornu ammonis area 1 (CA1) neurons: increased GluA1, GluN2A, and GluN2B, but not GluA2, GluN1, or mGlur5; increased post synaptic density 95 and spinophilin, but not synaptophysin, while dentate gyrus (DG) neurons were unresponsive. In hippocampal slices and neurons, MitoSOX red fluorescence was increased by nPM, implying free radical production. Specifically, NȮ production by slices was increased within 15 min of exposure to nPM with dose dependence, 1–10 μg/mL. Correspondingly, CA1 neurons exhibited increased nitrosylation of the GluN2A receptor and dephosphorylation of GluN2B (S1303) and of GluA1 (S831 & S845). Again, DG neurons were unresponsive to nPM. The induction of NȮ and nitrosylation were inhibited by AP5, an NMDA receptor antagonist, which also protects neurite outgrowth in vitro from inhibition by nPM. Membrane injury (EthidiumD‐1 uptake) showed parallel specificity. Finally, nPM decreased evoked excitatory post‐synaptic currents of CA1 neurons. These findings further document the selective impact of nPM on glutamatergic functions and identify novel responses of NMDA receptor‐stimulated NȮ production and nitrosylation reactions during nPM‐mediated neurotoxicity.
Dynamic Visual Feedback Control For A Hand-eye Manipulator

This paper proposes a visual feedback control scheme for a manipulator with a camera on the hand. Incorporating the dynamics of the visual information into the manipulator control, we formulate a state space representation of the visual servo mechanism. An optimal control approach to visual servoing is developed based on the state space formulation. The proposed algorithm gives a simple time-invariant state feedback controller, which allows a high sample rate control system. Real-time experiments of object tracking with a PUMA 560 manipulator are conducted to show the validity of the optimal control scheme. Experimental results show the superiority of the proposed approach compared to the conventional visual feedback control algorithms.
Synthesis by generation and concatenation of multiform segments

Machine generated speech can be produced in different ways however there are two basic methods for synthesizing speech in widespread use. One method generates speech from models, while the other method concatenates pre-stored speech segments. This paper presents a speech synthesis technique where these two basic synthesis methods are combined in a statistical framework. Synthetic speech is constructed by generation and concatenation of so-called “multiform segments”. Multiform segments are different speech signal representations; synthesis models, templates and synthesis models augmented with template information. An evaluation of the multiform segment synthesis technique shows improvements over traditional concatenative methods of synthesis.
A power effective 5-bit 600 MS/s binary-search ADC with simplified switching

This paper proposes the design of a binary search ADC that uses two different techniques, namely, distributed-residue and folding. These can prevent signal dependent offset and reduce the switching network complexity. A 5-bit binary-search ADC applying such proposed techniques has been developed in 65 nm CMOS. It consumes 540 µW under 1V supply voltage at the operating frequency of 600 MS/s. The simulation results demonstrate that the design achieves a SNDR of 30.8 dB at Nyquist input frequency with a figure of merit (FOM) of 32 fJ/conversion-step.
Cloned single‐ and double‐stranded DNA copies of potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV) RNA and co‐inoculated subgenomic DNA fragments are infectious.

A set of monomeric and oligomeric potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV) specific DNA forms representing complete DNA copies of the circular PSTV RNA genome were constructed and cloned in plasmid pBR322 and bacteriophage M13. Both single‐ and double‐stranded PSTV DNAs are capable of initiating viroid replication in mechanically inoculated tomato plants where it normally proceeds via the RNA‐RNA pathway without DNA being involved. All dimeric and higher multimeric forms were infectious irrespective of their polarity in the case of single‐stranded DNA and regardless of their orientation in the vector DNA in the case of double‐stranded DNA. The vector‐inserted monomeric PSTV DNA units were also found to be infectious but of low specific infectivity which was increased when these monomers had been excised. Even two subgenomic DNA fragments, representing together the 359 nucleotides of the PSTV RNA genome, initiated the synthesis of viroid RNA progeny when co‐inoculated although each fragment by itself is non‐infectious. These results are discussed with respect to the infectivity previously observed with certain cloned DNAs of conventional RNA and DNA viruses.
A novel approach to hydrogen sensing

A novel sensor for the selective detection of hydrogen in the presence of other reducing gases is presented. The device comprises a commercially available non- or partially-selective semiconductor gas sensor and an air filled centimeter-long capillary tube. The attachment is so that upon exposure, the target gas diffuses in air through the length of the capillary before affecting the sensor. The hydrogen component of the gas mixture diffuses much faster than other components, and is sensed at an earlier stage of the sensor response. The response of a capillary-attached gas sensor (CGS) to a gas mixture containing hydrogen is mathematically analyzed. The results indicate that the hydrogen concentration can readily be extracted from certain mathematical features of the transient response. The fabrication of a prototype CGS and experimental verification of the analytical results are reported. The prototype can measure hydrogen concentration at the presence of other reducing and combustible gases exceeding its concentration by two orders of magnitude.
Design and Simulation of Power Electronic Controller for Grid Connected PV Array with maximum power point tracking (MPPT)

Now-a-days renewable energy is the major concern due to the speed tendency in the progress of nations across the world and increased interests in environmental issues, In this research work on Design and Simulation of Power Electronic Controller for the model of Grid Connected PV Array for the purpose of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) using the DC boost convertor with line commutated invertor coupled with controller of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for power interfacing of Grid Connected PV Array have been developed and simulated. Subject upon the irradiation the output of PV Array changes. In order to supply constant DC Supply to inverter circuit, the automatically adjustment of the duty cycle of PI controller is necessary. The single -phase utility Grid is fed by Maximum power from the solar array through MPPT Controller. By using open loop mode and close loop mode at different firing angles active power has been fed to the grid. Both the responses have been compared and found that they are agreed with each other. The proposed scheme has been modeled in the MATLAB 7.1/Simulink software by using open loop mode and close loop mode at different firing angles active power has been fed to the grid. Both the responses have been compared and found that they are agreed with each other.
Myo-electric control of paralyzed muscles.

The possibility of regaining control over paralyzed muscles by using control signals from normally innervated muscles is discussed. An electronic device which enables a quadriplegic patient to open his right hand by lifting his left shoulder is described. The circuit consists of an EMG amplifier, a modulator, and a stimulator. Existing problems are analyzed and further investigations proposed.
Application of complexity theory to hydro-turbine maintenance

Hydro-turbine maintenance would be made easier by measuring the multi-scale entropy of its sound and the magnetic waves produced. Currently used methods include parametric solid modeling, FEA analysis, CFD simulation, CAD design & drafting, PLC & SCADA programming, protections, engineering & testing, and power quality testing, among others. The purpose of this paper is to explore specific connections between hydropower and complexity science. Recent trends in the processing of multiscale entropy of the physical signs are parallel to the advances in mathematical chaos and fractal theory. The presentation of the basic equations of the theory of entropy and complexity are shown in this study, in order to process data generated by turbines and create new procedures to assess them. Electrical circuits dissipate energy and manipulate intelligence. This paper proposes to analyze them from the of entropy and complexity point of view. Electromagnetic signals generated by circuits, such as turbines, can be demodulated to gain useful information.
An Empirical Study of College Students' Learning Satisfaction and Continuance Intention to Stick with a Blended e-Learning Environment

Based upon the expectation-confirmation theory (ECT), this study propose a theoretical model that examines the impacts of the critical antecedents on college student English learning satisfaction and continuance intention to stick with a blended e-learning environment. The model was validated using a questionnaire survey of 313 college students. The researchers applied the partial least squares (PLS) method to validate the measurement properties and proposed hypotheses of the proposed research model. The findings indicate that, in general, college students are satisfactory with and show positive continuance intention to stick with the blended e-learning system for their English learning. Our results can provide insight for the practices regarding planning and implementing a blended e-learning system to improve college students’ learning satisfaction and facilitate their continuance intention to stick with a BEL environment.
Classification based on Choquet integral

The Choquet integral is a powerful aggregation tool in information fusing and data mining. In this paper, a generalized nonlinear classification model based on single Choquet integral is summarized, and a novel generalized nonlinear classification model based on cross-oriented Choquet integrals is presented. Compared to the classification model based on single Choquet integral, a couple of Choquet integral are used to achieve the classification boundaries which can classify data in such situation as one class surrounding another one in a high dimensional space. The classification problems come down to properly specifying the fuzzy measure on which the Choquet integral(s) are defined and the classifying boundaries by which the different classes are separated. The values of these unknown parameters are optimally determined by evolutionary computation. The performance of these models are compared and validated with existed methods on a number of benchmark datasets.
Inventory management with three suppliers under yield uncertainty and loss-aversion

In this paper, we consider a single-product, single-period inventory model where the retailer can order from three different suppliers. Supplier 1 is the cheapest but the most unreliable as the retailer may not get as many as he ordered. Supplier 2 is more expensive than supplier 1 by offering a supply option. supplier 3 is the most expensive but most reliable and will serve as an emergency supplier. Employing a loss-aversion utility function, we study the procurement problem for the retailer. In this model, the loss-averse retailer has to decide the order quantity from supplier 1 and reserve the order quantity from the supplier 2. We find that there exists an optimal solution no matter whether the retailer is loss-averse or not. We show by numerical experiments how the optimal decisions are affected by cost parameters, and find that the optimal order quantity from supplier 1 increases by the degree of loss-aversion while the reserve quantity from supplier 2 changes in a reverse way. Furthermore, the expected utility of the retailer decreases by the degree of loss-aversion.
Urban Demand Responsive Transport in the Mobility as a Service Ecosystem: Its Role and Potential Market Share

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is entering the transportation market. MaaS aims at the full integration of the existing transportation services and it offers tailored mobility packages to the user. In MaaS ecosystems, on-demand services play an important role as complement to public transport due to their flexibility. However, to date, most attention has been placed on individual on-demand services. This study focuses on Demand Responsive Transport (DRT): collective on-demand services. Using an on-line survey, we analysed the characteristics of the respondents who chose different modes of transport among their selected modes. Results find a distinctive pattern in the willingness of users to use different modes, with different levels in what could be considered as a multimodality ladder. The different rungs of it would be: 1st car (if available), 2nd public transport, 3rd DRT and 4th taxi-like services. This way, a person standing on the third rung would include car, public transport and DRT in their consideration set, but not taxi. This finding suggests that, if implemented in the right way, DRT services can attract a larger number of users than taxi-like services, especially in a MaaS ecosystem where initial barriers to try this service can be lessened.
Surviving Mardi Gras in an Intensive Care Unit

Penicilliosis is a life threatening fungal infection caused by Penicillium marneffei (PM). It has a high mortality rate if not picked up in time and treated appropriately. Making an early diagnosis is a key in improving outcomes. It is endemic in Southeast Asia and causes disseminated disease in the immunocompromised host especially in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected population. We describe a HIV patient who presented with an altered sensorium. After admission he developed gastrointestinal bleeding, respiratory failure and septic shock. Blood cultures revealed yeast with high suspicion for PM. Intravenous amphotericin B was promptly initiated resulting in marked improvement of overall condition. The learning objective of this report is to illustrate the increasing variability of clinical manifestations and absence of “typical” skin lesions making an early diagnosis difficult. In endemic regions the immunocompetent are equally susceptible. A high index of suspicion, early recognition and treatment is required to improve patient outcomes. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2017; 7(1): 46-50
Adaptive modulated cooperative system with selection combining

In this paper, adaptive modulation is implemented for a selection combining Demodulate and Forward Relay system. In this method, the source and relay select the modulation type based on the channel quality measurement, which is the output SNR, to improve the total throughput of the system. The adaptation thresholds are computed by solving an optimization problem. The model is generalized for the N-relay system and the optimization problem is modified for this case. Adaptive modulation is then employed for the N-relay DMF system. The results demonstrate that employing the proposed method improves the total throughput of the system by keeping the BER performance at the target level.
Nonlinear optical properties of GeSbS chalcogenide waveguides

We characterize the nonlinear optical properties of GeSbS chalcogenide glasses with fiber-based experiments. A waveguide nonlinear parameter of 7 W<sup>−1</sup>/m and nonlinear refractive index of 3.71 × 10<sup>−18</sup> m<sup>2</sup>/W are estimated by self-phase modulation. A GeSbS waveguide could also generate a supercontinuum from 1280 to 2120 nm at the −30 dB level for maximum coupled power of 340 W, showing a 14 fold spectral broadening of the input spectrum explained by cascaded stimulated Raman scattering.