Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Delay Time Determination for the Timed Petri Net Model of a Signaling Pathway Based on Its Structural Information

This paper proposes a method to incorporate the concept of time for the inclusion of dynamics of signaling pathway in a Petri net model, i.e., to use timed Petri nets. Incorporation of delay times into a Petri net model makes it possible to conduct quantitative evaluation on a target signaling pathway. However, experimental data describing detailed reactions are not available in most cases. An algorithm given in this paper determines delay times of a timed Petri net only from the structural information of it. The suitability of this algorithm has been confirmed by the results of an application to the IL-1 signaling pathway.
SANDROS: a motion planner with performance proportional to task difficulty

To address the need of a practical motion planner for manipulators, the authors present an efficient and resolution-complete algorithm that has performance commensurate with task difficulty. The algorithm uses SANDROS, a search strategy that combines hierarchical, nonuniform multiresolution, and best-first search to find a near-optimal solution in the configuration space. This algorithm can be applied to any manipulator, and has been tested with five- and six-degree-of-freedom robots, with execution times ranging from 20 seconds to 10 minutes on a 16 MIPS workstation. <<ETX>>
A Novel Antenna Selection Algorithm for MIMO Systems under Correlated Channels

In this work, a new antenna selection algorithm is proposed for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems. It is assumed that the channel state information (CSI) is exactly known at the receiver, and hence the antenna selection is considered only at the receiver. The goal of antenna selection is to find a tradeoff between the maximization of the channel capacity and the minimization of the pair-wise error probability (PEP). It turns out that the scheme of antenna selection plays an important part when dealing with high antenna correlation. It is shown that our proposed scheme for a system with two-transmit antennas and five-receive antennas offers better PEP performance than the algorithm based on the maximization capacity, but has little capacity loss. The simulation results indicate that our proposed scheme can jointly meet the capacity maximization and the PEP minimization
Probabilistic Risk Analysis and Game Theory

The behavioral dimension matters in Probabilistic Risk Analysis (PRA) since players throughout a system incur costs to increase system reliability interpreted as a public good. Individual strategies at the subsystem level generally conflict with collective desires at the system level. Game theory, the natural tool to analyze individual‐collective conflicts that affect risk, is integrated into PRA. Conflicts arise in series, parallel, and summation systems over which player(s) prefer(s) to incur the cost of risk reduction. Frequently, the series, parallel, and summation systems correspond to the four most common games in game theory, i.e., the coordination game, the battle of the sexes and the chicken game, and prisoner's dilemma, respectively.
A Large Mastoid Cholesterol Granuloma Eroding the Dura and Sigmoid Sinus

Introduction: Large mastoid cholesterol granulomas, particularly aggressive ones, are rare. We present the first case of a mastoid cholesterol granuloma with a nonspecific clinical presentation, and aggressive behavior, destroying the petrous internal cortical plate, dura mater, and sigmoid sinus wall. Radiographic and histological examinations can help to distinguish such granulomas from others. Case presentation: A 50-year-old male presented with left otalgia, left blood-stained otorrhea, and a left temporal headache radiating to the mastoid. The radiographic examination revealed a left-sided, soft-tissue mass extending into the posterior fossa and compressing the sigmoid sinus inward. The histopathological features were consistent with a cholesterol granuloma. He underwent a cortical mastoidectomy to explore the lesion and macroscopic complete resection was achieved. Conclusion: This is the first case of a mastoid cholesterol granuloma eroding the dura and sigmoid sinus. This case illustrates the need to consider cholesterol granuloma in daily clinical practice. Such lesions can exhibit noncharacteristic features and have an aggressive nature.
Small-Molecule Activation of p53 Blocks Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1α and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression In Vivo and Leads to Tumor Cell Apoptosis in Normoxia and Hypoxia

ABSTRACT The p53 tumor suppressor protein negatively regulates hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α). Here, we show that induction of p53 by the small-molecule RITA (reactivation of p53 and induction of tumor cell apoptosis) [2,5-bis(5-hydroxymethyl-2-thienyl) furan] (NSC-652287) inhibits HIF-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor expression in vivo and induces significant tumor cell apoptosis in normoxia and hypoxia in p53-positive cells. RITA has been proposed to stabilize p53 by inhibiting the p53-HDM2 interaction. However, induction of p53 alone was insufficient to block HIF-1α induced in hypoxia and has previously been shown to require additional stimuli, such as DNA damage. Here, we identify a new mechanism of action for RITA: RITA activates a DNA damage response, resulting in phosphorylation of p53 and γH2AX in vivo. Unlike other DNA damage response-inducing agents, RITA treatment of cells induced a p53-dependent increase in phosphorylation of the α subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2, requiring PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase activity, and led to the subsequent downregulation of HIF-1α and p53 target proteins, including HDM2 and p21. Through the identification of a new mechanism of action for RITA, our study uncovers a novel link between the DNA damage response-p53 pathway and the protein translational machinery.
Assessment of the Collection 6 Terra and Aqua MODIS bands 1 and 2 calibration performance

MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) is a key sensor aboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites. MODIS collects data in 36 spectral bands and generates over 40 data products for land, atmosphere, cryosphere and oceans. MODIS bands 1 and 2 have nadir spatial resolution of 250 m, compared with 500 m for bands 3 to 7 and 1000 m for all the remaining bands, and their measurements are crucial to derive key land surface products. This study evaluates the calibration performance of the Collection-6 L1B for both Terra and Aqua MODIS bands 1 and 2 using three vicarious approaches. The first and second approaches focus on stability assessment using data collected from two pseudo-invariant sites, Libya 4 desert and Antarctic Dome C snow surface. The third approach examines the relative stability between Terra and Aqua in reference to a third sensor from a series of NOAA 15-19 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). The comparison is based on measurements from MODIS and AVHRR Simultaneous Nadir Overpasses (SNO) over a thirteen-year period from 2002 to 2015. Results from this study provide a quantitative assessment of Terra and Aqua MODIS bands 1 and 2 calibration stability and the relative calibration differences between the two sensors.
modified particle swarm optimization for correlated phenomena

The wide applicability of correlation analysis inspired the development of this paper. In this paper, a new correlated modified particle swarm optimization (COM-PSO) is developed. The Correlation Adjustment algorithm is proposed to recover the correlation between the considered variables of all particles at each of iterations. It is shown that the best solution, the mean and standard deviation of the solutions over the multiple runs as well as the convergence speed were improved when the correlation between eywords: article swarm optimization orrelation coefficient utation econdary PSO the variables was increased. However, for some rotated benchmark function, the contrary results are obtained. Moreover, the best solution, the mean and standard deviation of the solutions are improved when the number of correlated variables of the benchmark functions is increased. The results of simulations and convergence performance are compared with the original PSO. The improvement of results, the convergence speed, and the ability to simulate the correlated phenomena by the proposed COM-PSO are discussed by the experimental results.
Target epitope in the Tax protein of human T-cell leukemia virus type I recognized by class I major histocompatibility complex-restricted cytotoxic T cells

A trans-acting regulatory gene product p40tax (Tax) of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is one of the main target antigens recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for HTLV-I. A CTL epitope within the Tax protein was identified in this report. HTLV-I-specific CD8+ CTL lines established from two HTLV-I carriers with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy or Sjögren syndrome were previously demonstrated to kill predominantly the target cells expressing HTLV-I Tax. The CTL from two patients showed significant levels of cytotoxicity to autologous target cells pulsed with a synthetic peptide of 24 amino acids corresponding to the amino-terminal sequences of the Tax protein. Allogeneic target cells were also sensitized for CTL by this peptide when the target cells have HLA-A2. Tax-specific cytotoxicity, detected as cytolysis of the target cells infected with vaccinia virus-HTLV-I recombinant expressing Tax protein, was almost completely inhibited by competitor cells pulsed with the synthetic peptide. This indicates that a major CTL epitope is present in this peptide. Further analysis using shorter peptides revealed that the core sequence of the CTL epitope was LLFGYPVYV at positions 11 through 19. This sequence can be aligned with the HLA-A2-specific motifs reported recently.
Epidemiology, prevention, and early detection of breast cancer

Advances in the past year in understanding the etiology, early detection, and prevention of breast cancer are reviewed. Reports suggest that exogenous hormone therapy is associated with only moderate or no excess risk of breast cancer. Studies examining the association between exposure to organochlorine compounds and the risk of breast cancer are inconsistent and further investigations are required. The report by the International Workshop of Screening for Breast Cancer emphasizes the benefit in reducing breast cancer mortality to be gained by regular screening among women aged 50 years and older. Age is the strongest predictor of breast cancer risk, yet screening rates tend to diminish with age. Chemoprevention trials for the primary prevention of breast cancer are underway in North America and Europe. Agents under investigation include tamoxifen and fenretinide. The risks and benefits of tamoxifen therapy continue to be clarified with reports from a pilot prevention trial and follow-up of participants of prior adjuvant treatment trials. A beneficial effect in reducing cardiac morbidity has been observed among women taking 40 mg/d of tamoxifen for at least 2 years. Several studies demonstrated the increased risk of endometrial pathologic changes, including endometrial cancer associated with tamoxifen therapy. Because of the uncertainty of net risks and benefits, close monitoring for adverse side effects should be incorporated into ongoing prevention trials.
Divergent Regulatory Pathways Control A and S Motility in Myxococcus xanthus through FrzE, a CheA-CheY Fusion Protein

ABSTRACT Myxococcus xanthus moves on solid surfaces by using two gliding motility systems, A motility for individual-cell movement and S motility for coordinated group movements. The frz genes encode chemotaxis homologues that control the cellular reversal frequency of both motility systems. One of the components of the core Frz signal transduction pathway, FrzE, is homologous to both CheA and CheY from the enteric bacteria and is therefore a novel CheA-CheY fusion protein. In this study, we investigated the role of this fusion protein, in particular, the CheY domain (FrzECheY). FrzECheY retains all of the highly conserved residues of the CheY superfamily of response regulators, including Asp709, analogous to phosphoaccepting Asp57 of Escherichia coli CheY. While in-frame deletion of the entire frzE gene caused both motility systems to show a hyporeversal phenotype, in-frame deletion of the FrzECheY domain resulted in divergent phenotypes for the two motility systems: hyperreversals of the A-motility system and hyporeversals of the S-motility system. To further investigate the role of FrzECheY in A and S motility, point mutations were constructed such that the putative phosphoaccepting residue, Asp709, was changed from D to A (and was therefore never subject to phosphorylation) or E (possibly mimicking constitutive phosphorylation). The D709A mutant showed hyperreversals for both motilities, while the D709E mutant showed hyperreversals for A motility and hyporeversal for S motility. These results show that the FrzECheY domain plays a critical signaling role in coordinating A and S motility. On the basis of the phenotypic analyses of the frzE mutants generated in this study, a model is proposed for the divergent signal transduction through FrzE in controlling and coordinating A and S motility in M. xanthus.
Cryptanalysis And Enhancement Of Password Authentication Scheme For Smart Card

ABSTRACT Password authentication with smart card is one of the simplest and efficient authentication mechanisms to ensure secure communication over insecure network environments. Recently, Tsai et al. proposed an improved password authentication scheme for smart card. Their scheme is more secure than the other previous schemes. In this paper, we show Tsai et al.’s scheme is vulnerable to password guessing attack and has computational overhead. Furthermore, we propose an enhanced password authentication scheme to eliminate the security vulnerability and enhance the overhead. By presenting concrete analysis of security and performance, we show that the proposed scheme cannot only resist various well known attacks, but also is more efficient than the other related works, and thus is feasible for practical applications.
Neuropsychological Functioning after Surgery in Children Treated for Brain Tumor

OBJECTIVETo describe the neuropsychological functioning of children treated with surgery only for localized brain tumors in Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Protocol 92-077. Subsequent reports will describe the neuropsychological functioning of children treated with surgery and stereotactic radiation therapy on Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 92-077. METHODSThe intellectual functioning of 106 patients was evaluated within 3 months after surgery. An in-depth assessment of the neuropsychological functioning, including an impairment index, was conducted for a subset of 77 school-age children (6–16 yr old) across six functional domains. Descriptive statistics were generated; binomial distribution analyses were performed to assess whether the proportion of individuals with impaired performance on each measure exceeded normative expectations. The impairment index assessed whether poor performance was attributable to a few children or reflected the performance of the cohort as a whole. RESULTSAlthough the Full Scale IQ was within normative expectations, the Verbal IQ was higher than the Performance IQ with 45% of individuals showing a significant discrepancy (P < 0.01) between these scales. There was an increased prevalence of poor performance for measures of motor output, verbal memory, and visuospatial organization. The distribution of the impairment index indicated moderate impairment across the school-age cohort rather than severe impairment in a few patients. CONCLUSIONThe results document a moderate level of neuropsychological morbidity among children with brain tumors before stereotactic radiation therapy, presumably referable to the tumor itself and the surgery. The extent to which stereotactic radiation therapy may increase this burden will be assessed in follow-up studies evaluating the longitudinal neuropsychological data.
Transcription Factor-Mediated Abiotic Stress Signaling in Rice

Abiotic stresses are the major cause that limits productivity of crop plants worldwide. Plants respond to these stress conditions at physiological and molecular levels. At the molecular level, the expression of thousands of genes is altered in response to various abiotic stress conditions. Several studies have been performed to find out the role of these genes in abiotic stress signaling. However, among these, transcription factor encoding genes are most important because many of them act as ‘key or master regulators’ of gene expression. Transcription factors appear to be attractive targets to unravel the molecular mechanisms of abiotic stress responses and engineering abiotic stress tolerance in plants. However, the role of only a few transcription factors in abiotic stress responses have been elucidated in rice until now and require a detailed investigation for several such candidate genes. In this review, our endeavour is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the intricate regulatory network of transcription factors operative during abiotic stress responses with greater emphasis on rice. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Research on the Impact of E-commerce to Logistics Economy: An Empirical Analysis based on Zhengzhou Airport Logistics

With the rapid development of e-commerce, customer demand for diversity and timeliness has also increased, in fact, B2C e-commerce business lead higher requirement for logistics service. At the same time, the aviation logistics has become a new growth point of China's logistics transportation development, airport logistics construction and development has become an important force to promote regional economy . In this paper, we make empirical analysis about the logistics performance evaluation of Zhengzhou airport, China. The result shows that reliability, economy, time, service flexibility and information are five key factors that will influence the logistics performance. On this basis, we put forward relevant policy suggestions.
Multilevel Cascaded-Type Dynamic Voltage Restorer With Fault Current-Limiting Function

This paper presents a new multilevel cascaded-type dynamic voltage restorer (MCDVR) with a fault current-limiting function. This topology can operate in two operational modes: 1) a compensation mode for voltage fluctuations and unbalances and 2) short-circuit current-limiting mode. The current-limiting function of the MCDVR is performed by activating antiparallel thyristors during the short-circuit fault, and deactivating them during normal operation. The mathematical model of the MCDVR system is also established in this paper. The control scheme design and optimal parameter selection are outlined based on the detailed theoretical analysis of the converter. The transient states of the MCDVR in the compensation mode and current-limiting mode are also analyzed. Simulation results based on the PSCAD/EMTDC software, and experimental results on a laboratory setup help to validate the proposed topology and the theoretical analysis.
Kinetic Analysis of [11C]MP4A Using a High-Radioactivity Brain Region That Represents an Integrated Input Function for Measurement of Cerebral Acetylcholinesterase Activity without Arterial Blood Sampling

N-[11C]methylpiperidin-4-yl acetate ([11C]MP4A) is an acetylcholine analog. It has been used successfully for the quantitative measurement of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the human brain with positron emission tomography (PET). [11C]MP4A is specifically hydrolyzed by AChE in the brain to a hydrophilic metabolite, which is irreversibly trapped locally in the brain. The authors propose a new method of kinetic analysis of brain AChE activity by PET without arterial blood sampling, that is, reference tissue-based linear least squares (RLS) analysis. In this method, cerebellum or striatum is used as a reference tissue. These regions, because of their high AChE activity, act as a biologic integrator of plasma input function during PET scanning, when regional metabolic rates of [11C]MP4A through AChE (k3; an AChE index) are calculated by using Blomqvist's linear least squares analysis. Computer simulation studies showed that RLS analysis yielded k3 with almost the same accuracy as the standard nonlinear least squares (NLS) analysis in brain regions with low (such as neocortex and hippocampus) and moderately high (thalamus) k3 values. The authors then applied these methods to [11C]MP4A PET data in 12 healthy subjects and 26 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) using the cerebellum as the reference region. There was a highly significant linear correlation in regional k3 estimates between RLS and NLS analyses (456 cerebral regions, [RLS k3] = 0.98 × [NLS k3], r = 0.92, P < 0.001). Significant reductions were observed in k3 estimates of frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital, and sensorimotor cerebral neocortices (P < 0.001, single-tailed t-test), and hippocampus (P = 0.012) in patients with AD as compared with controls when using RLS analysis. Mean reductions (19.6%) Fin these 6 regions by RLS were almost the same as those by NLS analysis (20.5%). The sensitivity of RLS analysis for detecting cortical regions with abnormally low k3 in the 26 patients with AD (138 of 312 regions, 44%) was somewhat less than NLS analysis (52%), but was greater than shape analysis (33%), another method of [11C]MP4A kinetic analysis without blood sampling. The authors conclude that RLS analysis is practical and useful for routine analysis of clinical [11C]MP4A studies.
Comparison of delayed female mating on reproductive biology of codling moth and obliquebanded leafroller.

Delay of mating was examined as a possible mechanism for population decreases associated with mating disruption for codling moth, Cydia pomonella L. , and obliquebanded leafroller, Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). We examined the effect of delaying female mating 0, 2, 4, or 6 d while holding male age constant on life table parameters of both species. We found that increasing delays in mating were accompanied by two responses: (1) an increase in the percentage of sterile pairs and (2) a reduction in net reproductive rate and population growth unrelated to sterility. On a percentage basis, obliquebanded leafroller population growth was more strongly affected than codling moth. However, the net fertility rate of obliquebanded leafroller was nearly eight-fold higher than that of codling moth, so that obliquebanded leafroller females that experienced a 4-d delay in mating had nearly the same reproductive rate as codling moth females that experienced no delay. Leslie matrix simulations using life tables with field-based adult longevity estimates showed that codling moth females experiencing >2-d delay in mating resulted in decreases in population density or extinction within two generations. In contrast, obliquebanded leafroller females delayed <6 d showed rapid population growth that decreased as female age at mating increased; only the 6-d delay treatment resulted in decreased population levels. Our results indicate that obliquebanded leafroller females must on average experience a much longer delay in mating to significantly reduce population growth compared with codling moth females, suggesting that delay of mating likely plays a greater role in codling moth mating disruption than for obliquebanded leafroller.