Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression and regulation in rat brain and in transgenic mice

Ornithine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1. 17) is the first and the rate-controlling enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis. It decarboxylates L-ornithine to form diamine putrescine. ODC activity in cells is strictly regulated and one of the central elements of ODC regulation is an inhibitory protein called antizyme. Antizyme binds to ODC, inhibits its activity and targets ODC for the proteasomal degradation. Essentiality of polyamines for the normal cell growth and proliferation is well known. Recently their roles in the regulation of several classes of cation channels have been discovered. Some of these channels are expressed abundantly in the brain, which has increased interest in the polyamine metabolism in the central nervous system. In this study guanosine 5'-triphosphate activatable ODC was detected in the rat brain lysates. This activation was more significant after antizyme was separated from ODC. GTP-activatable ODC was more resistant to heat and displayed higher Vmax than kidney ODC. Previously GTP-activatable ODC had been found in mammalian tissues only in some tumors. ODC and antizyme expression in brain was localized by in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry. Both proteins displayed wide and largely overlapping expression patterns restricted to neurons. The proteins were localized predominantly to cytoplasm at the most brain regions, but antizyme had a main localization in nuclei in some regions of the brain. In addition, the role of one of the most highly conserved regions in eukaryotic ODCs was studied using site-directed mutagenesis. The aspartate-233 to valine mutation was made and detected to increase Km values for the cofactor PLP and the substrate L-ornithine as well as Ki value for the inhibitor DFMO. In another part of this study a transgenic mouse line expressing ODC under the control of viral promotor was generated. The most significant changes in ODC activity were detected in reproductive organs of male mice. The high number of infertile transgenic males supported earlier reports about the importance of balanced polyamine metabolism for spermatogenesis. Infertility of female mice was increased as well, but the involvement of polyamines remained unproven. Transgenic mice were prone to various pathological conditions such as inflammations and tumour formation, which may be due to deregulated polyamine metabolism.
Mobile Learning Perception and Competence of Teachers and Learners According to the Geographical Areas in North Cyprus

When the use of technology is discussed , the first step should be to find out if the teachers’ and students’ perception of technology is positive or negative. The next step of professional development is to determine the teacher’s technological qualifications and to develop the program in this respect. In order to integrate mobile learning technologies into the teaching learning process in TRNC successfully, first of all the teachers’ and student’s perceptions about these technologies, their existing opportunities and their competence should be determined. In this research , the general survey model that allows to reach a general conclusion about the universe is used to determine the teachers’ and students’ perceptions and competencies of the mobile learning based on the geographical areas. 467 teachers and 1556 students participated to this study. Results and Implications for teachers, learners and further research are also suggested.
Alcohol sales figures in 15 European countries: corrected for consumption abroad and tax-free purchases

Björn Trolldal: Alcohol sales figures in 15 European countries: corrected for consumption abroad and tax-free purchases The official sales statistics in a country do not, for various reasons, represent the actual consumption of alcoholic beverages among the inhabitants. In this study, the official sales statistics in 15 European countries are corrected for the inhabitants' consumption during journeys abroad, foreign tourists' consumption within each country, and for the purchases of tax-free alcohol. The consumption by inhabitants of the ECAS area during journeys abroad was equivalent to 1.2 per cent of the total official sales in this area in 1995. The correction for the net consumption during journeys abroad in 1995 varies between a decrease by 2.5 per cent and an increase by 3.6 per cent of the official sales in the study countries. The tax-free purchases corresponded to just over 1 per cent of the total sales of alcoholic beverages within the European Union in 1995, but they are concentrated in the “high-price” countries, that is, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland and the UK. The tax-free purchases vary between 0.3 per cent of the official sales, as in France, and 8 per cent in Finland. The changes in alcohol sales after the total correction vary between a decrease by 1.5 per cent and an increase by 11.4 per cent in the study countries. When consumption during journeys abroad and tax-free purchases are taken into account, the differences between consumption levels, in terms of alcohol sales figures, in the ECAS countries diminish.
Sensitivity analysis for the design of an energy management scheme of supercapacitor buffering in a regulated DC bus

This paper constitutes a solid connection between theory and practice for electrical quantities for the design of supercapacitor buffering in regulated DC-bus systems. Transparently validated theory is proposed to be used for decision making that bases on estimates of sensitivity indices, expanded uncertainty intervals, and the Monte-Carlo method. This approach can be used for engineering of various DC-power distribution systems that are increasingly applied in hybrid powertrains of electric vehicles and DC microgrids. Results conclude a clear connection between theory and practice, and a well established approach with examples of its usage can be easily adopted.
Interleukin-10 protects against aging-induced endothelial dysfunction

Carotid and cerebrovascular disease increase markedly with age contributing to stroke and cognitive impairment. Inflammation is a key element of vascular disease. In these studies, we tested the hypothesis that interleukin‐10 (IL‐10), a potent anti‐inflammatory cytokine, protects against aging‐induced endothelial dysfunction. Responses of carotid arteries from adult (5 ± 1 months) and old (22 ± 1 months) wild‐type and IL‐10‐deficient mice were examined in vitro. Acetylcholine (an endothelium‐dependent agonist) produced relaxation in arteries from adult wild‐type that was not altered in old mice. In contrast, relaxation to acetylcholine in arteries from old IL‐10‐deficient mice was reduced by ~50% (P < 0.05). Tempol, a scavenger of superoxide, did not affect responses in adult or old wild‐type mice, but restored vasodilation to acetylcholine to normal in old IL‐10‐deficient mice. Responses of the carotid artery to nitroprusside (an endothelium‐independent agonist) were not altered in any group. Vascular expression of IL‐6 (a proinflammatory mediator of vascular disease) and components of NADPH oxidase (a major source of superoxide) was increased in old IL‐10‐deficient mice compared with wild‐type (P < 0.05). These findings provide the first evidence that age‐related and superoxide‐mediated endothelial dysfunction occurs earlier with IL‐10 deficiency. Our findings suggest a novel role for IL‐10 to protect against age‐related increases in expression of IL‐6, oxidative stress, and endothelial dysfunction.
Ribosomal RNAs are tolerant toward genetic insertions: evolutionary origin of the expansion segments

Ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), assisted by ribosomal proteins, form the basic structure of the ribosome, and play critical roles in protein synthesis. Compared to prokaryotic ribosomes, eukaryotic ribosomes contain elongated rRNAs with several expansion segments and larger numbers of ribosomal proteins. To investigate architectural evolution and functional capability of rRNAs, we employed a Tn5 transposon system to develop a systematic genetic insertion of an RNA segment 31 nt in length into Escherichia coli rRNAs. From the plasmid library harboring a single rRNA operon containing random insertions, we isolated surviving clones bearing rRNAs with functional insertions that enabled rescue of the E. coli strain (Δ7rrn) in which all chromosomal rRNA operons were depleted. We identified 51 sites with functional insertions, 16 sites in 16S rRNA and 35 sites in 23S rRNA, revealing the architecture of E. coli rRNAs to be substantially flexible. Most of the insertion sites show clear tendency to coincide with the regions of the expansion segments found in eukaryotic rRNAs, implying that eukaryotic rRNAs evolved from prokaryotic rRNAs suffering genetic insertions and selections.
Strong wintertime ozone events in the Upper Green River basin, Wyoming

Abstract. During recent years, elevated ozone (O3) values have been observed repeatedly in the Upper Green River basin (UGRB), Wyoming, during wintertime. This paper presents an analysis of high ozone days in late winter 2011 (1 h average up to 166 ppbv – parts per billion by volume). Intensive operational periods (IOPs) of ambient monitoring were performed, which included comprehensive surface and boundary layer measurements. On IOP days, maximum O3 values are restricted to a very shallow surface layer. Low wind speeds in combination with low mixing layer heights (~ 50 m above ground level around noontime) are essential for accumulation of pollutants within the UGRB. Air masses contain substantial amounts of reactive nitrogen (NOx) and non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) emitted from fossil fuel exploration activities in the Pinedale Anticline. On IOP days particularly in the morning hours, reactive nitrogen (up to 69%), aromatics and alkanes (~ 10–15%; mostly ethane and propane) are major contributors to the hydroxyl (OH) reactivity. Measurements at the Boulder monitoring site during these time periods under SW wind flow conditions show the lowest NMHC / NOx ratios (~ 50), reflecting a relatively low reactive NMHC mixture, and a change from a NOx-limited regime towards a NMHC-limited regime as indicated by photochemical indicators, e.g., O3 /NOy, O3 /NOz, and O3 / HNO3 and the EOR (extent of reaction). OH production on IOP days is mainly due to nitrous acid (HONO). On a 24 h basis and as determined for a measurement height of 1.80 m above the surface HONO photolysis on IOP days can contribute ~ 83% to OH production on average, followed by alkene ozonolysis (~ 9%). Photolysis by ozone and HCHO photolysis contribute about 4% each to hydroxyl formation. High HONO levels (maximum hourly median on IOP days: 1096 pptv – parts per trillion by volume) are favored by a combination of shallow boundary layer conditions and enhanced photolysis rates due to the high albedo of the snow surface. HONO is most likely formed through (i) abundant nitric acid (HNO3) produced in atmospheric oxidation of NOx, deposited onto the snow surface and undergoing photo-enhanced heterogeneous conversion to HONO (estimated HONO production: 10.2 ± 40% ppbv h−1) and (ii) combustion-related emission of HONO (estimated HONO production: ~ 0.1 ± 30% ppbv h−1). HONO production is confined to the lowermost 10 m of the boundary layer. HONO, serves as the most important precursor for OH, strongly enhanced due to the high albedo of the snow cover (HONO photolysis rate 10.7 ± 30% ppbv h−1). OH radicals will oxidize NMHCs, mostly aromatics (toluene, xylenes) and alkanes (ethane, propane), eventually leading to an increase in ozone.
Representations and Algorithms for Force-Feedback Display

“Haptic rendering” or “haptic display” can be broadly defined as conveying information about virtual objects or data to a user through the sense of touch. Among all applications of haptic rendering, force-feedback display of contact interactions with rigid and deformable virtual models through the sense of touch has matured considerably over the last decade. In this paper, we present a general framework for force-feedback display of rigid and virtual environments, and we outline its major building blocks. We focus on computational aspects, and we classify algorithms and representations successfully used in the three major subproblems of force-feedback display: collision detection, dynamics simulation, and constrained optimization. In addition, force-feedback display is an integral part of a multimodal experience, often involving both visual and auditory display; therefore, we also discuss the choice of algorithms and representations for force feedback as a part of multimodal display.
Utility Indifference Pricing of Credit Instruments

While the market for credit instruments grew continuously in the decade before 2008, its liquidity has dried up significantly in the current crisis, and investors have become aware of the possible consequences of being exposed to credit risk. In this thesis we address these issues by pricing credit instruments using utility indifference pricing, a method that takes into account the investor's personal risk aversion and which is not affected by the lack of liquidity. Through stochastic optimal control methods, we use indifference pricing with exponential utility to determine corporate bond prices and CDS spreads. In the first part we examine how these quantities are affected by risk aversion under different models of default. The emphasis lies on a hybrid model, in which a regime switch of the reference entity is triggered by a creditworthiness index correlated to its stock price.The second part generalizes this setup by introducing uncertainty in the model parameters. Robust optimal control has been used independently in the literature to address model uncertainty for portfolio selection problems. Here, we incorporate this approach with utility indifference and derive some analytical and numerical results on how model uncertainty affects credit spreads.
Productivity Spillovers in Health Care: Evidence from the Treatment of Heart Attacks

A large literature in medicine documents variation across areas in the use of surgical treatments that is unrelated to outcomes. Observers of this phenomenon have invoked “flat of the curve medicine” to explain it and have advocated for reductions in spending in high‐use areas. In contrast, we develop a simple Roy model of patient treatment choice with productivity spillovers that can generate the empirical facts. Our model predicts that high‐use areas will have higher returns to surgery, better outcomes among patients most appropriate for surgery, and worse outcomes among patients least appropriate for surgery, while displaying no relationship between treatment intensity and overall outcomes. Using data on treatments for heart attacks, we find strong empirical support for these and other predictions of our model and reject alternative explanations such as “flat of the curve medicine” or supplier‐induced demand for geographic variation in medical care.
Supplementary Figure S4

Supplementary Figure S4. Domain structure and disorder predictions for GspD and PulD. The sequences of GspD from EPEC (YP_002330719.1) and PulD from K. oxytoca (EHT13409.1) were analysed by CDART to position the conserved domain boundaries and DISOPRED2 to calculate probability of intrinsic disorder (Ward et al. 2004). The dotted line represents the 5% probability cut-off and all values greater than this are plotted with red bars. The DISOPRED2 calculations are aligned to scale with the amino acid residue numbers in the domain representation of each protein. The intrinsic disorder in the S-domain of PulD has been experimentally verified (Nickerson et al 2011; Tosi et al 2011; Gu et al 2012) and the intrinsic disorder prediction for EPEC GspD is equivalent to that for PulD. Secondary structure predictions were calculated using JPred (Cole et al. 2008), red = -helix, yellow = strand.
Comparative security analysis of software defined wireless networking (SDWN)-BGP and NETCONF protocols

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is getting much attention for larger network implementation adding programmable feature in the network plane. Demand of wireless networking features is growing simultaneously. With increased network complexity and sizes, security has become an issue as vulnerabilities are still prominent for such complex network and needs to be monitored properly to provide early detection of security breaches and Denial of Service attack. Therefore, the communication protocols, an SDN architecture uses including OpenFlow, NETCONF, OpFlex and BGP etc. should be secure enough to manage such complex and large network. This paper analyzes mostly used protocols specifically for Software Defined Wireless Networking (SDWN): BGP, NETCONF, for underlying cloud or data center environment by applying Microsofts STRIDE security threat model. This work represents a comparative study among these most used protocols and holds appropriate network for their deployment.
Speech Recognition Using Matrix Comparison

Speech recognition is a fascinating application of digital signal processing (DSP) that has many real-world applications. Speech recognition can be used to automate many tasks that previously required hands-on human interaction, such as recognizing simple spoken commands to perform something like turning on lights or shutting a door. To increase recognition rate, techniques such as neural networks, dynamic time warping, and hidden Markov models have been used. Recent technological advances have made recognition of more complex speech patterns possible. [1] Speech /voice recognition is a very difficult task to be performed by a computer system. Many speech /voice processing tasks, like speech and word recognition ,reached satisfactory performance levels on specific applications, and although a variety of commercial products were launched in the last decade, many problems remain an open research area, and absolute solutions have not been found out yet[1].
Understanding the postwar decline in United States saving: a cohort analysis

An analysis of the postwar decline in U.S. national saving that decomposes changes in the net national saving rate into those due to changes in cohort-specific consumption propensities, the intergenerational distribution of resources, the rate of government spending, and demographics. ; A review and expansion of Calomiris, Kahn, and Longhofer's (1994) cultural affinity theory of discrimination in the residential mortgage market, which is based on the idea that lenders find it easier or less costly to evaluate the creditworthiness of applicants with whom they have a common experiential background.
Design and Analysis of Polarization Maintaining Ultrahigh Birefringent, Dispersion Flattened Photonic Crystal Fiber Having Low Confinement Loss

Design and analysis of ultrahigh birefringent photonic crystal fiber having low confinement loss and nearly zero dispersion characteristics has been presented. The suggested design has phosphate glass rectangular slab surrounded by rectangular array of four air holes in core region and circular air holes in the cladding region. Photonic crystal fiber structure is designed, simulated and analyzed by using opti FDTD simulation software. The proposed design shows ultrahigh birefringence (~0.023) and low confinement loss at 1. 55μm. Such high value of birefringence eliminates fluctuation in polarization state.
The World Economy

A financial crisis, rooted in US mortgage defaults, has been building for several years. Its effects have seriously damaged the prospects for the global economy, and have particularly serious consequences for the English speaking world. Unsound lending permitted by poor regulation and worsened by lax bankruptcy laws has led the US, and potentially the rest of the OECD, to the brink of a large-scale recession. The scale of the potential slowdown depends upon the scale of losses to the banking system and their impacts on the ability of the banking system to lend.
Integrated management systems in Indian manufacturing organizations

Purpose – The integration of management systems has become a popular subject for research and practice. However, there is a considerable lack of literature on integrated management systems (IMS) in developing countries. This study aims to examine the current status, motivation and perceived benefits of IMS in manufacturing organizations in India.Design/methodology/approach – To examine the status of IMS in the Indian manufacturing sector, a survey was sent to 270 manufacturing organizations in India using a questionnaire as the survey instrument. Only 60 organizations participated in the survey. Subsequently, one case study was undertaken.Findings – The research reflects the status of IMS in India. The majority of the responding organizations are implementing IMS. The findings suggest that the most important motivating factors are to promote synergies among different management systems (MS), to combine objectives of different MS, and to avoid duplication of procedures. The perceived benefits of IMS are re.
Conjectural variations in multi-agent reinforcement learning for energy-efficient cognitive wireless mesh networks

As energy saving and environmental protection become an inevitable trend, researchers need to shift their focus to “green” oriented architecture design. Recent advances in the area of cognitive radio (CR) have significant potential towards “green” communications. One of the critical challenges for operating CRs in a wireless mesh network is how to efficiently allocate transmission powers and frequency resource among the secondary users (SUs) while satisfying the quality-of-service constraints of primary users. Due to the SUs' intelligent and selfish properties, this paper focuses on the non-cooperative spectrum sharing in cognitive wireless mesh networks formed by a number of clusters. In order to study the competition behaviors of SUs in a dynamic environment, the problem is modeled as a stochastic learning process. We first extend the single-agent reinforcement learning (RL) to a multi-user context, based on which a conjecture based multi-agent RL algorithm is proposed. A rational SU learns the optimal transmission strategy from the conjecture over the other SUs' responses.
Parallel Best-First Search: The Role of Abstraction

To harness modern multicore processors, it is imperative to develop parallel versions of fundamental algorithms. In this paper, we present a general approach to best-first heuristic search in a shared-memory setting. Each thread attempts to expand the most promising nodes. By using abstraction to partition the state space, we detect duplicate states while avoiding lock contention. We allow speculative expansions when necessary to keep threads busy. We identify and fix potential livelock conditions. In an empirical comparison on STRIPS planning, grid pathfinding, and sliding tile puzzle problems using an 8-core machine, we show that A* implemented in our framework yields faster search performance than previous parallel search proposals. We also demonstrate that our approach extends easily to other best-first searches, such as weighted A* and anytime heuristic search.