Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ENVIRONMENT-INDUCED COLOUR CHANGES IN THE MASSIVE CORALS DIPLOASTREA SPECIOSA AND DIPLOASTREA HELIOPORA

Environment-dependent variation in the morphological, physiological or behavioural expression of a genotype is termed phenotypic plasticity. Twelve colonies of both Diploastrea speciosa and Diploastrea heliopora, two common Indo-Pacific massive corals, were tested for plastic responses by transplanting palm-sized fragments (clone- mates) over six stations (three reefs  two depths) in Singapore's southern waters. After 15 weeks, there were no major changes in colour among the fragments transplanted to the shallow stations, with the typical grey of Diploastrea heliopora, and the bright green oral discs of the Diploastrea speciosa polyps, clearly represented. The fragments at the two deepest stations, however, changed dramatically. The oral discs of Diploastrea speciosa lost their bright green pigmentation and the surrounding tissue turned pale brown. The response from Diploastrea heliopora was even more pronounced, with yellow-pinks and pale greens replacing its usual grey pigmentation. Plasticity in colour was evident for both species, and probably light-induced, however, further work is required to determine whether such changes are adaptive.
α-Lipoic Acid Inhibits Inflammatory Bone Resorption by Suppressing Prostaglandin E2 Synthesis1

α-Lipoic acid (LA) has been intensely investigated as a therapeutic agent for several pathological conditions, including diabetic polyneuropathy. In the present study, we examined the effects of LA on osteoclastic bone loss associated with inflammation. LA significantly inhibited IL-1-induced osteoclast formation in cocultures of mouse osteoblasts and bone marrow cells, but LA had only a marginal effect on osteoclastogenesis from bone marrow macrophages induced by receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL). LA inhibited both the sustained up-regulation of RANKL expression and the production of PGE2 induced by IL-1 in osteoblasts. In addition, treatment with either prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) or RANKL rescued IL-1-induced osteoclast formation inhibited by LA or NS398, a specific cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, in cocultures. LA blocked IL-1-induced PGE2 production even in the presence of arachidonic acid, without affecting the expression of COX-2 and membrane-bound PGE2 synthase. Dihydrolipoic acid (the reduced form of LA), but not LA, attenuated recombinant COX-2 activity in vitro. LA also inhibited osteoclast formation and bone loss induced by IL-1 and LPS in mice. Our results suggest that the reduced form of LA inhibits COX-2 activity, PGE2 production, and sustained RANKL expression, thereby inhibiting osteoclast formation and bone loss in inflammatory conditions.
A 69-kD protein that associates reversibly with the Sm core domain of several spliceosomal snRNP species

The biogenesis of the spliceosomal small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) U1, U2, U4, and U5 involves: (a) migration of the snRNA molecules from the nucleus to the cytoplasm; (b) assembly of a group of common proteins (Sm proteins) and their binding to a region on the snRNAs called the Sm-binding site; and (c) translocation of the RNP back to the nucleus. A first prerequisite for understanding the assembly pathway and nuclear transport of the snRNPs in more detail is the knowledge of all the snRNP proteins that play essential roles in these processes. We have recently observed a previously undetected 69- kD protein in 12S U1 snRNPs isolated from HeLa nuclear extracts under non-denaturing conditions that is clearly distinct from the U1-70K protein. The following evidence indicates that the 69-kD protein is a common, rather than a U1-specific, protein, possibly associating with the snRNP core particles by protein-protein interaction. (a) Antibodies raised against the 69-kD protein, which did not cross-react with any of the Sm proteins B'-G, precipitated not only U1 snRNPs, but also the other spliceosomal snRNPs U2, U4/U6 and U5, albeit to a lower extent. (b) U1, U2, and U5 core RNP particles reconstituted in vitro contain the 69-kD protein. (c) Xenopus laevis oocytes contain an immunologically related homologue of the human 69-kD protein. When U1 snRNA as well as a mutant U1 snRNA, that can bind the Sm core proteins but lacks the capacity to bind the U1-specific proteins 70K, A, and C, were injected into Xenopus oocytes to allow assembly in vivo, they were recognized by antibodies specific against the 69-kD protein in the ooplasm and in the nucleus. The 69-kD protein is under-represented, if present at all, in purified 17S U2 and in 25S [U4/U6.U5] tri-snRNPs, isolated from HeLa nuclear extracts. Our results are consistent with the working hypothesis that this protein may either play a role in the cytoplasmic assembly of the core domain of the snRNPs and/or in the nuclear transport of the snRNPs. After transport of the snRNPs into the nucleus, it may dissociate from the particles as for example in the case of the 17S U2 or the 25S [U4/U6.U5] tri-snRNP, which bind more than 10 different snRNP specific proteins each in the nucleus.
A Novel Composite Kernel and Application to Question Retrieval: A Novel Composite Kernel and Application to Question Retrieval

: Question retrieval plays important role in question and answering systems. The main problem is how to measure the similarity between candidate questions and query question. This paper presents a tree kernel based method, named weighted tree kernel, to calculate the similarity of sentences’ structures and proposes improvements to the original tree kernel algorithm. In order to reduce the effect on tree kernel bringing by syntactic parsing, a composite kernel is proposed based on the weighted tree kernel and two other string kernels, which can capture syntax, part-of-speech and lexical level information of a sentence, to calculate the semantic similarity between question sentences. Experimental results on Yahoo! Answers dataset show that the proposed method outperforms traditional vector space model based methods by 24.02% in question retrieval accuacry
Inferring causality in life event research

In evaluating the validity of causal propositions, there are four considerations: statistical, internal, construct and external. The reliability of published instruments, in the sense of internal reliability, can be maximized by the principal component analysis of obtained responses. Once it has been demonstrated that two variables covary to a significant degree, the next step is to assess the internal validity of the relationship. Next, the investigator must attempt to determine which higher order constructs are involved in these relationships. Finally, the level of generality of the relationship should be determined. In the last two decades, a shift has occurred in that the hypothesis that life events cause illness is based less on faith and more on scientific evidence.
An Approximate Solution for Semi-Open Queueing Network Model of an Autonomous Vehicle Storage and Retrieval System

We present an analytical model for an autonomous vehicle storage and retrieval system (AVS/RS). The system is modeled as a semi-open queueing network (SOQN). An SOQN consists of customers, a secondary resource and servers. Each arriving customer is paired with the secondary resource. The two visit the set of servers required by the customer in the specified sequence. In the context of an AVS/RS, storage/retrieval (S/R) transactions are customers and the autonomous vehicles are the secondary resources. If an S/R transaction requires a vertical movement, it uses a lift. The lifts and horizontal travel times to and from a storage space are modeled as servers. First, we define all possible scenarios for storage and retrieval transactions and their occurrence probabilities. Second, we derive general travel times of vehicles and lifts by considering all possible locations of the two devices based on the predefined storage and retrieval scenarios, defined in step 1. Third, each scenario is modeled as a customer type and these customer classes are aggregated into a single class. Thus, we model the system as a single-class, multiple-server, SOQN. Finally , we solve the SOQN using an approximate method and obtain the performance measures. We apply the method to analyze a warehouse in France that utilizes AVS/RS.
Estimation of Arsenic Contamination in Reclaimed Agricultural Soils Using Reflectance Spectroscopy and ANFIS Model

Heavy metal contamination from anthropogenic sources is a threat to human health. To assess the feasibility of predicting surface soil arsenic (As) concentration from hyperspectral reflectance measurement, three different regression algorithms are compared in this paper, i.e., multiple linear regression (MLR), partial least squares regression (PLSR), and adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) modeling. Soil samples were taken from three study sites in mining/agricultural areas after reclamation. As concentration was determined by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS) analysis, and the reflectance was measured with an analytical spectral devices (ASD) field spectrometer covering the spectral region of 350-2500 nm. First, after preprocessing of the original reflectance spectroscopy, the correlation coefficients between the As concentration and spectral reflectance measurement were derived. Characteristic bands were then chosen for the quantitative retrieval model. Finally, all of the 30 samples were divided into a calibration set and a validation set of 18 and 12 samples, respectively. When compared with the MLR and PLSR algorithms, the ANFIS model was the best retrieval model, with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.94 and a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.88. ANFIS model and reflectance spectroscopy therefore have the potential to map the spatial distribution of As abundance, with the aim of improving public health.
Natural Killer Cell Tolerance in Mice with Mosaic Expression of Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I Transgene

We have studied natural killer (NK) cell tolerance in a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I transgenic line, DL6, in which the transgene product was expressed on only a fraction of blood cells. In contrast with transgenic mice expressing the same transgene in all cells, NK cells from mosaic mice failed to reject transgene-negative bone marrow or lymphoma grafts. However, they retained the capability to reject cells with a total missing-self phenotype, i.e., cells lacking also wild-type MHC class I molecules. Tolerance against transgene-negative cells was demonstrated also in vitro, and could be broken if transgene-positive spleen cells of mosaic mice were separated from negative cells before, or after 4 d of culture in interleukin-2. The results provide support for selective NK cell tolerance to one particular missing-self phenotype but not to another. We suggest that this tolerance is determined by NK cell interactions with multiple cells in the environment, and that it is dominantly controlled by the presence of cells lacking a specific MHC class I ligand. Furthermore, the tolerant NK cells could be reactivated in vitro, which suggests that the tolerance occurs without deletion of the potentially autoreactive NK cell subset(s), and that it may be dependent upon the continuous presence of tolerizing cells.
Predicting user rating for Yelp businesses leveraging user similarity

Users visit a Yelp business, such as a restaurant, based on its overall rating and often based on other factors like location, hours of location, type/cuisine or other attributes such as free Wifi. In addition to this, users gain useful insight for a Yelp business based on its top reviews and highlights. However, the average rating that a business has, or the top reviews/feedback as per certain users may not necessarily provide a user the right perspective that he/she seeks while selecting the most suitable Yelp business to visit. For example, in the case of restaurants, different people have different tastes and a high rating by person A might be due to a feature that person B does not appreciate (such as the spice content of food). Thus, even though a Chinese restaurant may have high ratings primarily because of several American raters, users with a different preference, say from the middle east may not find it palatable. A rating which takes into account the feedback of similar users is expected to help people in making the right selection and enhance their experience. With this as motivation, we have utilized an additive Collaborative Filtering model to predict the rating by a user for a business, and have combined that with estimated similarity between users. We show that as compared to only using average ratings by a user, or the average ratings for a business, our method provides more accurate predictions as evidenced by low Mean Squared Errors in predicted ratings on test data.
User-based AutoenCoder for QoS prediction

With the rapidly growing in number of service providers and service users, as a result, there are three important issues that we now have to deal: Firstly, we face challenges with increasing large data sets. Secondly, many Web service providers have similar functionality but differ in quality properties and services. Finally, there will have many number of missing QoS values in history records. Therefore, predicting the missing QoS values in the large data sets is becoming more attractive. In this paper, we proposed a new model to predict the missing QoS of Web service, it is called User-based AutoenCoder (U-AuCo). The backpropagation algorithm and Stochastic Gradient Descent are used to train the model. We have used both Response time and Throughput datasets in WS-DREAM for experiments. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed model has performance better than other approaches.
Molecular epigenetics, chromatin, and NeuroAIDS/HIV: Translational implications

We describe current research that applies epigenetics to a novel understanding of the immuno-neuropathogenesis of HIV-1 viral infection and NeuroAIDS. We propose the hypothesis that HIV-1 alters the structure-function relationship of chromatin, coding DNA and non-coding DNA, including RNA transcribed from these regions resulting in pathogenesis in AIDS, drug abuse, and NeuroAIDS. We discuss the general implications of molecular epigenetics with special emphasis on drug abuse, bar-codes, pyknons, and miRNAs for translational and clinical research. We discuss the application of the recent recursive algorithm of biology to this field and propose to synthesize the Genomic and Epigenomic views into a holistic approach of HoloGenomics.
The new HR practices in changing organizations: an empirical study in Turkey

Stresses the importance of a talented workforce due to the rapid changes in development in new technology. States that in order to deal with change organizations need to apply new management concepts and techniques. Examines the differences in human resources practices and the effects of new practices on organizational change during 1995‐1999 in ISO 9001‐9002 accredited companies in Turkey by means of a questionnaire distributed to 253 firms, of which 65 responded. Concludes with a list of results derived from the questionnaire.
Metagenomics: Application of Genomics to Uncultured Microorganisms

SUMMARY Metagenomics (also referred to as environmental and community genomics) is the genomic analysis of microorganisms by direct extraction and cloning of DNA from an assemblage of microorganisms. The development of metagenomics stemmed from the ineluctable evidence that as-yet-uncultured microorganisms represent the vast majority of organisms in most environments on earth. This evidence was derived from analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences amplified directly from the environment, an approach that avoided the bias imposed by culturing and led to the discovery of vast new lineages of microbial life. Although the portrait of the microbial world was revolutionized by analysis of 16S rRNA genes, such studies yielded only a phylogenetic description of community membership, providing little insight into the genetics, physiology, and biochemistry of the members. Metagenomics provides a second tier of technical innovation that facilitates study of the physiology and ecology of environmental microorganisms. Novel genes and gene products discovered through metagenomics include the first bacteriorhodopsin of bacterial origin; novel small molecules with antimicrobial activity; and new members of families of known proteins, such as an Na+(Li+)/H+ antiporter, RecA, DNA polymerase, and antibiotic resistance determinants. Reassembly of multiple genomes has provided insight into energy and nutrient cycling within the community, genome structure, gene function, population genetics and microheterogeneity, and lateral gene transfer among members of an uncultured community. The application of metagenomic sequence information will facilitate the design of better culturing strategies to link genomic analysis with pure culture studies.
Age related, structured educational programmes for the management of atopic dermatitis in children and adolescents: multicentre, randomised controlled trial

Abstract Objective To determine the effects of age related, structured educational programmes on the management of moderate to severe atopic dermatitis in childhood and adolescence. Design Multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Setting Seven hospitals in Germany. Participants Parents of children with atopic dermatitis aged 3 months to 7 years (n = 274) and 8-12 years (n = 102), adolescents with atopic dermatitis aged 13-18 years (n = 70), and controls (n = 244, n = 83, and n = 50, respectively). Interventions Group sessions of standardised intervention programmes for atopic dermatitis once weekly for six weeks or no education (control group). Main outcome measures Severity of eczema (scoring of atopic dermatitis scale), subjective severity (standardised questionnaires), and quality of life for parents of affected children aged less than 13 years, over 12 months. Results Significant improvements in severity of eczema and subjective severity were seen in all intervention groups compared with control groups (total score for severity: age 3 months to 7 years - 17.5, 95% confidence intervals - 19.6 to - 15.3 v - 12.2, - 14.3 to - 10.1; age 8-12 years - 16.0, - 20.0 to - 12.0 v - 7.8, - 11.4; - 4.3; and age 13-18 years - 19.7, - 23.7 to - 15.7 v - 5.2, - 10.5 to 0.1). Parents of affected children aged less than 7 years experienced significantly better improvement in all five quality of life subscales, whereas parents of affected children aged 8-12 years experienced significantly better improvement in three of five quality of life subscales. Conclusion Age related educational programmes for the control of atopic dermatitis in children and adolescents are effective in the long term management of the disease.
Fast Frequency Estimation With Prior Information

A fast gridless method for sparse frequency estimation in the presence of prior information is presented. It allows arbitrarily sampled data and has a significantly smaller complexity than the existing gridless sparse recovery methods. The proposed method achieves good frequency estimation accuracy and resolution performance in numerical simulations. It is also useful where no prior knowledge is available.
Making Sense of Fractured Identities: Male Professors’ Narratives of Sexual Harassment

The university has become a site of increased debate over policy and procedures as the experience of sexual harassment reaches all levels of the academic hierarchy. Although this topic has been researched thoroughly, few studies have explored sexual harassment through the voices of men in academe. In this study, sexual harassment is explored from the perspective of two men who are tenured, full professors at a southwestern university. This research employs narrative analysis to locate patterns of discourse that illuminate fractured identities. Through the examination of these fractures, this analysis exposes the ways gender, identity, and sexual harassment are intertwined within academe.
Case Report: Understanding Implementation: The Case of a Computerized Physician Order Entry System in a Large Dutch University Medical Center

Most studies of the impact of information systems in organizations tend to see the implementation process as a "rollout" of technology, as a technical matter removed from organizational dynamics. There is substantial agreement that the success of implementing information systems is determined by organizational factors. However, it is less clear what these factors are. The authors propose to characterize the introduction of an information system as a process of mutual shaping. As a result, both the technology and the practice supported by the technology are transformed, and specific technical and social outcomes gradually emerge. The authors suggest that insights from social studies of science and technology can help to understand an implementation process. Focusing on three theoretical aspects, the authors argue first that the implementation process should be understood as a thoroughly social process in which both technology and practice are transformed. Second, following Orlikowski's concept of "emergent change," they suggest that implementing a system is, by its very nature, unpredictable. Third, they argue that success and failure are not dichotomous and static categories, but socially negotiated judgments. Using these insights, the authors have analyzed the implementation of a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system in a large Dutch university medical center. During the course of this study, the full implementation of CPOE was halted, but the aborted implementation exposed issues on which the authors did not initially focus.
Quantitation of Aflatoxin Bi-DNA Adducts in Woodchuck Hepatocytes and Rat Liver Tissue by Indirect Immunofluorescence Analysis 1

A quantitative indirect immunofluorescence technique was developed utilizing a monoclonal antibody (6A10) recognizing the imidazole ringopened form of the major N-7 guanine adduct of aflatoxin H, ( \l It,). This method was used to investigate adduct formation in woodchuck hepatocytes treated in culture and in liver tissue of rats treated i.p. with All! ,. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled secondary antiserum was used for adduct localization in conjunction with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride staining to localize nuclei. Quantitation of AFB|-DNA adducts was carried out by densitometric analysis of photographic slides. Specific nuclear staining was observed in both woodchuck hepatocytes and rat liver tissue. I hero was a dose-response relationship between fluorescence intensity and AI U, dose in treated animals. Turnover of adducts could also be followed in animals over 48 h with this method. DNA was isolated from liver tissue of treated animals and adduct levels were quantitated by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with antibody 6A10 and by fluorescence spectroscopy. There was a significant correlation of the quantitative immunofluorescence intensity with levels of VII! , adducts detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (r = 0.61, P < 0.05) and spectrofluorescence (r = 0.78, P < 0.01). This immunohistochemical method should be applicable to the detection of adducts in liver tissues of humans exposed to high levels of dietary AFB,.