Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alkyl gallates inhibit serine O-acetyltransferase in bacteria and enhance susceptibility of drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria to antibiotics

A principal concept in developing antibacterial agents with selective toxicity is blocking metabolic pathways that are critical for bacterial growth but that mammalian cells lack. Serine O-acetyltransferase (CysE) is an enzyme in many bacteria that catalyzes the first step in l-cysteine biosynthesis by transferring an acetyl group from acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) to l-serine to form O-acetylserine. Because mammalian cells lack this l-cysteine biosynthesis pathway, developing an inhibitor of CysE has been thought to be a way to establish a new class of antibacterial agents. Here, we demonstrated that alkyl gallates such as octyl gallate (OGA) could act as potent CysE inhibitors in vitro and in bacteria. Mass spectrometry analyses indicated that OGA treatment markedly reduced intrabacterial levels of l-cysteine and its metabolites including glutathione and glutathione persulfide in Escherichia coli to a level similar to that found in E. coli lacking the cysE gene. Consistent with the reduction of those antioxidant molecules in bacteria, E. coli became vulnerable to hydrogen peroxide-mediated bacterial killing in the presence of OGA. More important, OGA treatment intensified susceptibilities of metallo-β-lactamase-expressing Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae) to carbapenem. Structural analyses showed that alkyl gallate bound to the binding site for acetyl-CoA that limits access of acetyl-CoA to the active site. Our data thus suggest that CysE inhibitors may be used to treat infectious diseases caused by drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria not only via direct antibacterial activity but also by enhancing therapeutic potentials of existing antibiotics.
Cross-Chain Interoperability and Collaboration for Keyword-Based Embedded Smart Contracts in Internet of Things

In recent years, blockchain technology has been widely applied in the Internet of Things (IoT) field, where devices located in different blockchains need to interact with each other cross-chain. Existing cross-chain models have high-implementation complexity, long response times, and are difficult to apply in IoT scenarios. In this article, we propose keyword-based embedded smart contract cross-chain interoperability and collaboration model. This model identifies the status of smart contracts through the keywords of smart contracts, completes cross-chain operations, and achieves smart contract collaboration and asset exchange among devices in different blockchains. To find matching collaborative contracts, contract-specific keywords will be set, including asset amounts and types. In the cross-chain asset exchange scenario of the model, the assets sent by the sender are frozen in the contract. When the contract is successfully executed, the assets will be sent to the receiver, otherwise returned to the sender. In the cross-chain contract collaboration scenario, we identify the number of contract interactions, and when the contract collaboration is completed, the data will be retained, otherwise it will be invalidated. We also use an embedded smart contract method to further optimize IoT application scenarios. This method embeds the steps of deploying smart contracts into the invoked transaction, enabling the deployment and invocation of smart contracts through a single transaction. The experiments show that the keyword-based embedded contract method is 47% faster and 49% less costly compared to notary schemes solutions in cross-chain scenarios.
The role of expectations and visions of the future in the development of target-based environmental policies: the case of the UK Air Quality Strategy

Increasingly, policy-makers rely on forecasts to set targets for environmental and health protection. I examine the UK Air Quality Strategies (AQS) for particulate matter (1997-2007). Here policy-makers select and articulate visions for technological and policy developments in order to set targets and policies to achieve them. Despite growing evidence for adverse health effects of particulates, challenging targets in 1997 were followed by two revisions of Objectives without introducing measures for reducing pollution. In 2007 more challenging targets were resumed. This thesis is a study of the formation and evolution of a policy framework: of the interactions and contrasting roles of scientific expertise, wider political discourse, and the ‘futures’ presented by actors involved in the policy process. Sociology of Expectations has previously examined the roles of visions in innovation processes. I extended this framework to examine dynamics of visions in the policy-making process. My findings were based on analysis of visions and discourses identified in texts, model data, and interviews. Whilst none of the explanatory factors alone accounted the developments in the AQS, together they provide an explanation of change which highlights the role of learning by policy-makers . Visions for technological development articulated in each version of the AQS were in line with the dominant visions articulated in central government, but over time policy-makers responsible for the Strategy used them to present options for taking action on pollution. Co-construction of the AQS and modelled forecasts enabled policy-makers responsible for the Strategy to articulate visions for technologies and policies to promote taking action to reduce pollutants, and this led to the more action-oriented Strategy in 2007. This thesis proposes that visions can change more quickly than wider political discourses, and as such can provide opportunities for the introduction of new discourses.
Money Laundering With Financial Technology

The current pattern of city development is influenced by various aspects, one of which greatly influences the development is the development of the economic sector. The financial services sector, which is one of the pillars of people's lives, has given rise to very rapid development and of course this is what also ends up causing many problems in the financial sector, especially fundamental problems. This research was conducted with a qualitative approach and was descriptive with data collection tools, namely in-depth and gradual interviews. Without synergy between the government, law enforcement agencies, and the community, the potential for money laundering will continue to occur and even massive. Therefore, a short-term solution that can be presented to overcome money laundering in financial technology is the need to optimize regulations governing obligations and prohibitions related to financial Technology systems.
The Lilliput effect in crinoids at the end of the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2: a Case study from Poland

Abstract. The Cretaceous Period (145–66 Ma) consisted of several oceanic anoxic events (120–80 Ma), stimulated by global greenhouse effects. The Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) occurred worldwide from the late Cenomanian to the early-middle Turonian, causing a significant faunal turnover, mostly in marine biota, pushing some species to the brink of extinction. Some organisms also underwent morphological changes, including reduction in size. This anoxic event drove other changes—e.g., in habitats or strategy of life. We show that stalkless crinoids (comatulids) from the Turonian of Poland adapted to unfavorable environmental conditions by reducing their body size. Furthermore, at the moment when environmental factors became favorable again, these crinoids regained their regular (pre-event) size. This phenomenon likely illustrates the so-called dwarfing mode of the Lilliput effect.
The Importance of Analytical Techniques in the Characterization of Archaeological and Historical Textile Art Objects

Analytical techniques and scientific methodologies were used for the characterization of archeological and historical art objects for a long time. These techniques and methodologies have helped to date and characterization of the artifacts. Analysis of artifacts, including trace element analysis, can provide information regarding provenance as well as the technology employed in the preparation of the materials and the manufacture of the objects. A very sensitive analysis may thus provide a chemical “fingerprint” of an object, a society, or a cultural group. On the other hand, detailed and precise chemical analysis can also provide insight into the processes involved in the deterioration of the materials of historical and archeological objects [1]. Archeological and historical textiles give huge important knowledge for the social, technological, and economic factors of past societies.
Persistence associated with extractive foraging explains variation in innovation in Darwin’s finches

Abstract The capacity to create new behaviors is influenced by environmental factors such as foraging ecology, which can lead to phylogenetic variation in innovativeness. Alternatively, these differences may arise due to the selection of the underlying mechanisms, collaterally affecting innovativeness. To understand the evolutionary pathways that might enhance innovativeness, we examined the role of diet breadth and degree of extractive foraging, as well as a range of intervening cognitive and behavioral mechanisms (neophilia, neophobia, flexibility, motivation, and persistence). Darwin’s finches are very suitable to this purpose: the clade is composed of closely related species that vary in their feeding habits and capacity to develop food innovations. Using a multi-access box, we conducted an interspecies comparison on innovative problem-solving between two diet specialists, extractive foragers (woodpecker and cactus finch), and two diet generalists, non-extractive foragers (small and medium ground finch). We predicted that if extractive foraging was associated with high innovativeness, variation would be best explained by species differences in persistence and motivation, whereas if diet generalism was the main driver, then variation would be due to differences in flexibility and responses to novelty. We found a faster capacity to innovate and a higher persistence for extractive foragers, suggesting that persistence might be adaptive to extractive foraging and only secondarily to innovation. Our findings also show that diet generalism and some variables linking it to innovation were unrelated to innovativeness and call for the development of joint experimental approaches that capture the diversity of factors giving rise to novel behaviors.
Detection of Employees’ Carelessness Leading to Cause Insider Threats through Analyzing Email RDF Data

In recent years, many businesses have been put in a great deal of effort to develop ways to fightagainst threats posed by insiders of them. Insider threats can be perpetrated for the purpose of doingharm to a business, but in some cases, they are done by mistake. And those mistakes also can bemade by carelessness of employees who do not have any malicious purpose to harm their company.In this paper, we suggest the need to watch those employees’ actions that might be a clue about theircarelessness. Email messages are one of the useful resources to watch because it is the media employeesuse on a daily basis at work and each message can reflect the writer’s feeling or what theyare doing at work by words. In this paper, with an experiment, we suggest closely waching some ofemail behaviors can tell us about clues to which employee is carelessness now and has the potentialdanger to make mistakes that might lead to a serious damage to the business.
Recent Changes in Cloud-Type Frequency and Inferred Increases in Convection over the United States and the Former USSR

Abstract Significant changes and a general redistribution in the frequencies of various cloud types have been observed during the past 40–50 years over the midlatitude land areas of the Northern Hemisphere. This is evident for North America and northern Eurasia in the daytime synoptic data of the United States and the former Soviet Union (FUSSR). An abrupt increase prior to the 1960s largely contributed to the upward trend in the frequency of convective clouds over both regions, particularly in the warm season. However, over both regions during the intermediate seasons and during the winter season over the FUSSR, the frequencies of convective clouds still showed gradual increase after the 1960s. The increase in the frequency of convective clouds has been accompanied by increases in the frequency of observation of high-level cloudiness (at elevations above 6 km) and heavy precipitation. Low cloudiness (stratiform types) has decreased over the FUSSR but increased over the contiguous United States. The latte.
Application of compressive sensing to radar altimeter design

We propose to apply the compressive sensing technique to the design of satellite radar altimeter for increasing the sampling time window (STW) while keeping the same data rate so as to enhance the tracking robustness of an altimeter. A satellite radar altimeter can measure the range between the satellite platform where it is aboard and the averaged sea surface with centimeter level accuracy. The rising slope of the received waveform by altimeter contains important information about the sea surface, e.g. the larger the slope of the waveform, means the smoother the sea surface. Besides, the half-power point of the slope refers to the range information. For satellite altimeter, due to the rising slope just occupies fewer range bins compared with the whole range bins illuminated by the long pulse signal, i.e. the signal is sparse in this sense, thus compressive sensing technique is applicable. Altimeter echoes are simulated and the waveforms are constructed by using the traditional method as well as by compressive sensing (CS) method, they are very well agreed with each other. The advantage of using CS is that we can increase the sampling time window without increasing the data, thus the tracking capability can be enhanced without sacrificing the resolution.
Diurnal variations of land surface wind speed probability distributions under clear‐sky and low‐cloud conditions

Long‐term 10 min wind tower data and ceilometer backscatter data at Cabauw in the Netherlands provide quantitative information on the influence of low clouds on the diurnal evolution of the near‐surface wind speed (NSWS) probability distribution (probability density function), the wind power density (WPD), and their vertical structure in the bottom 200 m of the atmosphere. Under clear‐sky conditions, pronounced diurnal cycles are identified in the leading three moments of NSWS as well as WPD and the boundary layer thermal structure in all seasons. When low clouds are present, weaker diurnal cycles with a different vertical structure are observed. Under clear skies, skewness at night is positive within the stable air near the surface but negative above 100 m. In the presence of low clouds, wind speeds are positively skewed and the probability of strong winds is higher associated with a larger geostrophic wind speed.
A Feature Selection Approach for Segmentation of Very High-Resolution Satellite Images

Abstract Most of the feature selection ( fs ) methods in the literature determine features that are appropriate only for a given dataset. In contrast, in this paper a FS method that is not dependent to a specific dataset is proposed. In this regard, the effective feature types based on reasonable facts are predefined and appropriate candidate features for each feature type are selected. In proposed method, the features selected from a single labeled image can be used in segmentation of images captured by different satellites with similar spatial resolution. The selected feature types contain spatial and spectral features. The selected features are applied for segmentation of the images captured by QuickBird and GeoEye satellites and obtained results of proposed method are compared with well-known FS methods. Using different evaluation measures, our comparison shows the efficiency of the proposed method in providing better segmentation compared to other FS methods that are presented in this paper.
Application of attentional bias modification to reduce attentional bias and emotional reactivity to stress in mildly depressed individuals

This study aims to verify the effectiveness of attentional bias modification (ABM) in reducing attentional bias related to depression, particularly in the later stages of attention as a pattern of difficulty in disengagement from depression-relevant stimuli, and to assess its effects on emotional reactivity to stress. A total of 78 participants were separated into four groups based on their levels of depression (minimal and mild) and the types of ABM. The positive ABM (pABM) trained participants to disengage their attention from depression-relevant stimuli and directed their attention toward more positive stimuli, whereas the neutral ABM (nABM) was designed to have no effect. The participants underwent a free-viewing task by eye tracker both before and after ABM to observe changes in attentional bias. Subsequently, they reported their emotional response after a stress-inducing task. The group of mildly depressed participants receiving pABM showed significantly less attention to depression-relevant negative affective stimuli and reported significantly decreased negative emotional reactivity to stress compared to the other groups. pABM had an effect on decreasing difficulty in disengaging from depression-relevant negative affective words (DW). However, it did not increase the dwell time on positive affective words (PW) in the current study. This might be due to the short duration of the application of ABM. The current study conducted ABM twice in 1 day, and this might not be enough to increase the dwell time on PA. This study verified that the ABM effectively decreased the attentional bias of depression and its relevant symptom, emotional reactivity to stress.
Exhumation of Greater Himalayan rock along the Main Central Thrust in Nepal: implications for channel flow

Abstract South-vergent channel flow from beneath the Tibetan Plateau may have played an important role in forming the Himalaya. The possibility that Greater Himalayan rocks currently exposed in the Himalayan Fold-Thrust Belt flowed at mid-crustal depths before being exhumed is intriguing, and may suggest a natural link between orogenic processes operating under the Tibetan Plateau and in the fold-thrust belt. Conceptual and numeric models for the Himalayan-Tibetan Orogen currently reported in the literature do an admirable job of replicating many of the observable primary geological features and relationships. However, detailed observations from Greater Himalayan rocks exposed in the fold-thrust belt’s external klippen, and from Lesser Himalayan rocks in the proximal footwall of the Main Central Thrust, suggest that since Early Miocene time, it may be more appropriate to model the evolution of the fold-thrust belt using the critical taper paradigm. This does not exclude the possibility that channel flow and linked extrusion of Greater Himalayan rocks may have occurred, but it places important boundaries on a permissible time frame during which these processes may have operated.
Groundwater in Urban Development: Assessing Management Needs and Formulating Policy Strategies

People have clustered at the water's edge throughout civilization for the most fundamental of reasons: without water there is no life. Every major city in the world has a body of water or aquifer nearby, since rivers and lakes predetermined where people would gather and dwell, groundwater constitutes about 98 percent of the fresh water on our planet (excepting that captured in the polar ice caps). This makes it fundamentally important to human life and to all economic activity. Groundwater resources in and around the urban centers of the developing world are exceptionally important as a source of relatively low-cost and generally high-quality municipal and domestic water supply. At the same time, the subsurface has come to serve as the receptor for much urban and industrial wastewater and for solid waste disposal. There are increasingly widespread indications of degradation in the quality and quantity of groundwater, serious or incipient, caused by excessive exploitation and/or inadequate pollution control. The scale and degree of degradation varies significantly with the susceptibility of local aquifers to exploitation-related deterioration and their vulnerability to pollution. Management strategies need to recognize and to address the complex linkages that exist between groundwater supplies, urban land use, and effluent disposal. Groundwater tables have become the focus of keen interest in recent years, as the supplies of water underlying urban areas have dwindled and deteriorated, threatening the millions of people who live above. When conditions are right, aquifers refill regularly from infiltrating rainfall and runoff, although sometimes with a substantial time lag. But those favorable conditions are severely altered when the ground above is overbuilt.
Validation of candidate gene-based EST-SSR markers for sugar yield in sugarcane

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is a widely cultivated crop that fulfils approximately 75% of the sucrose demand worldwide. Owing to its polyploidy and complex genetic nature, it is difficult to identify and map genes related to complex traits, such as sucrose content. However, association mapping is one of the alternatives for identifying genes or markers for marker-assisted selection. In the present study, EST-SSR primers were obtained from in silico studies. The functionality of each primer was tested using Blast2Go software, and 30 EST-SSR primers related to sugar content were selected. These markers were validated using association analysis. A total of 70 F1 diverse genotypes for sugar content were phenotypes with two check lines. All parameters related to sugar content were recorded. The results showed a significant variation between the genotypes for sugar yield traits such as Brix value, purity, and sucrose content, etc. Correlation studies revealed that the Brix%, sucrose content, and sucrose recovery were significantly correlated. An association analysis was performed using mixed linear model to avoid false positive associations. The association analysis revealed that the SEM 407 marker was significantly associated with Brix% and sucrose content. The SEM 407 primers are putatively related to diphosphate-fructose-6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase which is associated with Brix% and sucrose content. This functional marker can be used for marker-assisted selection for sugar yield traits in sugarcane that could accelerate the sugarcane breeding program.