Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MICROWAVE SCATTERING IN DRY LAYERED SNOW

The problem of the applicability of the two-stream Kubelka-Munk theory to the description of the radiative characteristics of snow cover is discussed. It is shown that since the microwave thermal radiation of snow is received by radiometers with a spatially coherent input, this is equivalent to the irradiation of scattering media by a spatially coherent and, as a rule, narrowly directed source, and the scattered radiation is received by an infinitely long areal receiver. The problem of the applicability of the known formulas for calculating the reflection and transmission coefficients of multilayer snow cover is considered, since the conditions for the applicability of these formulas and the Kubelka-Munk theory coincide. Moreover, the considered formulas do not take into account the reflection of flows at the boundaries between the layers. In the snow cover, the reflecting boundaries are caused by a jump in the refractive index due to the difference in the values of the bulk density of snow in adjacent layers. Measured at frequencies of 22.2, 31, 37.5 and 94 GHz, the values of the reflection and transmission coefficients of single-layer and multi-layer snow were compared with their calculated values. It is shown that, firstly, the measured dependences of the reflection and transmission coefficients on the thickness of single-layer snow are satisfactorily approximated by the corresponding formulas of the Kubelka-Munk theory. Secondly, the discrepancies between the calculated and measured values of the above factors for two-, threeand four-layer snow practically do not go beyond the limits of coarse measurement error. The experimentally observed negligibly small effect of the boundaries is interpreted by the fact that the calculations use the values of the reflection and transmission coefficients measured for each of the folded layers. These values already contain contributions from the reflections of scattered fluxes on the interlayer boundaries, of which the outer boundaries of the first and last layer are most important in the snow stack. The feasibility of creating a database of microwave radiation characteristics of a uniform (single-layer) dry snow cover with a wide set of parameters of its structure based on experimental data and a two-stream Kubelka-Munk model is shown. In this case, it becomes possible to simply and accurately predict the brightness characteristics of the layered snow cover.
A 4.9 mΩ-Sensitivity Mobile Electrical Impedance Tomography IC for Early Breast-Cancer Detection System

A mobile electrical impedance tomography (EIT) IC is proposed for early breast cancer detection personally at home. To assemble the entire system into a simple brassiere shape, EIT IC is integrated via a multi-layered fabric circuit board which includes 90 EIT electrodes and two reference electrodes for current stimulation and voltage sensing. The IC supports three operating modes; gain scanning, contact impedance monitoring, and EIT modes for the clear EIT image. A differential sinusoidal current stimulator (DSCS) is proposed for injection of low-distortion programmable current which has harmonics less than -59 dBc at a load impedance of 2 kΩ. To get high sensitivity, a 6-channel voltage sensing amplifier can adaptively control the gain up to a maximum of 60 dB, and has low input referred noise, 36 nV/ √Hz. The 2.5 × 5 mm chip is fabricated in a 0.18 μm 1P6M CMOS process and consumes 53.4 mW on average. As a result, a sensitivity of 4.9 mΩ is achieved which enables the detection of a 5 mm cancer mass within an agar test phantom.
INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CYP2C9 AND CYP2C19 IN RECONSTITUTED BINARY SYSTEMS INFLUENCE THEIR CATALYTIC ACTIVITY: POSSIBLE RATIONALE FOR THE INABILITY OF CYP2C19 TO CATALYZE METHOXYCHLOR DEMETHYLATION IN HUMAN LIVER MICROSOMES

Previous studies in our laboratory showed that among cDNA-expressed human cytochrome P450 (P450) supersomes, CYP2C19 was the most active in methoxychlor-O-demethylation (Hu et al., 2004). However, based on the lack of inhibition of methoxychlor-O-demethylation by monoclonal anti-CYP2C19 antibodies in human liver microsomes (HLM), CYP2C19 did not seem to catalyze that reaction in HLM. By contrast, CYP2C9, much less active than CYP2C19 in supersomes, was the most active in HLM. The current study examines whether the lack of methoxychlor-O-demethylation by CYP2C19 in HLM was due to CYP2C19 exhibiting inferior competition for the NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) versus CYP2C9 and explores the interactions between CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 in a singular and binary complex of a reconstituted system. When reconstituted with CPR, cytochrome b5, and lipid, purified CYP2C19 and CYP2C9 catalyzed methoxychlor-O-demethylation. However, whereas equimolar CPR to CYP2C9 supported maximal rates of methoxychlor demethylation and diclofenac hydroxylation, the rate of methoxychlor demethylation by CYP2C19 was not fully saturated, even with a 9-fold molar excess of CPR over CYP2C19. This behavior of CYP2C19 was also observed with S-mephenytoin as the substrate. When a binary reconstitution system was prepared by mixing CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 enzymes, methoxychlor-O-demethylation and S-mephenytoin hydroxylation by CYP2C19 were dramatically inhibited. Inhibition depended on the amount of CPR and substrate used. By contrast, in the incubation containing CYP2C9, diclofenac hydroxylation was activated by the presence of CYP2C19. These results show that interactions among P450 enzymes can modulate their catalytic rates, which depend on the substrate undergoing metabolism.
Enhancing Wikipedia search results using Text Mining

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia which contains millions of articles related to different subject domains. Wikipedia also has a search page itself to display the links corresponding to Wikipedia articles for a given user query input. This search result page displays the search results according to the relevance order, without any content based grouping. This paper presents an experimental deduction of a search result clustering methodology to group the links, returned by the search result page for a particular keyword, based on the contents of the HTML documents, represented by the links and label these resulted groups meaningfully. The proposed methodology is based on the concepts and theories of Text Mining. Grouping of search results makes easy and efficient for the user in finding the desired Wikipedia document. It is also possible to view the different applications and usages of a given keyword very quickly. This work identifies the best clustering algorithm for document clustering and investigates the ways to determine optimum number of clusters to have a better grouping and label the groups. We evaluate our proposed method by conducting several experiments and the results indicate that our method has a higher precision and recall.
Capital cost and control in small-cap companies: size matters

Small companies have important economic significance as the most dynamic, innovative and risk-taking sector of the economy. So why do small-cap companies offer only limited corporate governance provisions? Christina Atanasova, Evan Gatev, and Daniel Shapiro find that small companies are incentivised to improve governance by being offered the carrot of easier access to equity financing.
Myxoma Virus: Propagation, Purification, Quantification, and Storage

Myxoma virus (MYXV) is a member of the Poxviridae family and prototype for the genus Leporipoxvirus. It is pathogenic only for European rabbits, in which it causes the lethal disease myxomatosis, and two North American species, in which it causes a less severe disease. MYXV replicates exclusively in the cytoplasm of the host cell. Although not infectious in humans, its genome encodes proteins that can interfere with or modulate host defense mechanisms; it is able to productively infect a number of human cancer cell lines, but not normal human cells, and has also been shown to increase survival time in mouse models of human glioma. These characteristics suggest that MYXV could be a viable therapeutic agent, e.g., in anti‐inflammatory or anti‐immune therapy, or as an oncolytic agent. MYXV is also an excellent model for poxvirus biology, pathogenesis, and host tropism studies. It is easily propagated in a number of cell lines, including adherent cells and suspension cultures, and minimal purification is required to provide a stock for in vivo and in vitro studies. Curr. Protoc. Microbiol. 17:14A.1. 1‐14A.1. 20. © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Proton‐dependent zinc release from intracellular ligands

In cultured cortical and hippocampal neurons when intracellular pH drops from 6.6 to 6.1, yet unclear intracellular stores release micromolar amounts of Zn2+ into the cytosol. Mitochondria, acidic organelles, and/or intracellular ligands could release this Zn2+. Although exposure to the protonophore FCCP precludes reloading of the mitochondria and acidic organelles with Zn2+, FCCP failed to compromise the ability of the intracellular stores to repeatedly release Zn2+. Therefore, Zn2+‐releasing stores were not mitochondria or acidic organelles but rather intracellular Zn2+ ligands. To test which ligands might be involved, the rate of acid‐induced Zn2+ release from complexes with cysteine, glutathione, histidine, aspartate, glutamate, glycine, and carnosine was investigated; [Zn2+] was monitored in vitro using the ratiometric Zn2+‐sensitive fluorescent probe FuraZin‐1. Carnosine failed to chelate Zn2+ but did chelate Cu2+; the remaining ligands chelated Zn2+ and upon acidification were releasing it into the medium. However, when pH was decreasing from 6.6 to 6.1, only zinc–cysteine complexes rapidly accelerated the rate of Zn2+ release. The zinc–cysteine complexes also released Zn2+ when a histidine‐modifying agent, diethylpyrocarbonate, was applied at pH 7.2. Since the cytosolic zinc–cysteine complexes can contain micromolar amounts of Zn2+, these complexes may represent the stores responsible for an acid‐induced intracellular Zn2+ release.
The random connection model: Connectivity, edge lengths, and degree distributions

Consider the random graph G(Pn,r) whose vertex set Pn is a Poisson point process of intensity n on (−12,12]d, d ≥ 2 . Any two vertices Xi,Xj∈Pn are connected by an edge with probability g(d(Xi,Xj)r) , independently of all other edges, and independent of the other points of Pn . d is the toroidal metric, r > 0 and g:[0,∞)→[0,1] is non‐increasing and α=∫ℝdg(|x|)dx<∞ . Under suitable conditions on g, almost surely, the critical parameter Mn for which G(Pn,·) does not have any isolated nodes satisfies lim⁡n→∞αnMndlog⁡n=1 . Let β=inf⁡{x>0:xg(αxθ)>1} , and θ be the volume of the unit ball in ℝd . Then for all γ>β , G(Pn,(γlog⁡nαn)1d) is connected with probability approaching one as n→∞ . The bound can be seen to be tight for the usual random geometric graph obtained by setting g=1[0,1] . We also prove some useful results on the asymptotic behavior of the length of the edges and the degree distribution in the connectivity regime. The results in this paper work for connection functions g that are not necessarily compactly supported but satisfy g(r)=o(r−c) .
LO41: Evaluating paramedic comfort, confidence, and cultural competency in providing care to trans populations in a provincial ambulance system

Introduction: Close to 2 million transgender (trans) individuals live in the United States and Canada. Trans communities frequently report emergency care avoidance and negative health care experiences. Of note, there is currently no research on the paramedic perspective of caring for trans populations. Our objective was to explore paramedic comfort, confidence, and cultural competency in providing emergency care to trans individuals. Methods: A cross-sectional, semi-structured electronic survey was administered by email to paramedics registered with the College of Paramedics of Nova Scotia (n = 1225) from April 9th to May 7th, 2018. The survey included previously validated questions from other medical settings. Three survey reminders were sent at weekly intervals following survey initiation. A 4-point Likert scale and qualitative open-ended questions were included to evaluate paramedic comfort, confidence, and cultural competency. Descriptive statistics were used to describe respondent characteristics. Open ended questions pertaining to paramedic needs were evaluated using constant comparative analyses consisting of open coding to identify themes. Results: Of the 387 paramedics who participated (response rate = 32%), 77.8% (n = 301) worked ground ambulance in a mixed rural/urban location (32.6%, n = 126) within Nova Scotia (94.5%; n = 365). Most respondents were between the ages of 41-50 (29.5%; n = 114), with > 20 years’ experience (25.1%; n = 97), and male sex assigned at birth (56.1%; n = 217). Over half (54.8%; n = 212) identified as cisgender men. The majority (66.1%; n = 256) reported caring for a patient who identified as trans. 74.7% (n = 289) have never had formal education on trans health. Only 4.1% (n = 16) felt very knowledgeable about providing optimal care to trans communities and 26.6% (n = 103) felt very comfortable in providing optimal care. Most (70%; n = 271) were interested in obtaining formal education. 41.9% (n = 162) reported observing transphobia in the work place. Conclusion: The frequency of trans patient contact by paramedics is perceived to be high. Although comfort and knowledge are relatively low and transphobia witnessed in the work place relatively high, there was strong interest and expressed need for education on trans related health.
Rkr1/Ltn1 Ubiquitin Ligase-mediated Degradation of Translationally Stalled Endoplasmic Reticulum Proteins*

Background: Translationally stalled proteins (including those aberrantly translated beyond their stop codons) pose dangers for eukaryotic cells. Results: The ubiquitin ligase Rkr1/Ltn1 targets translationally stalled ER-associated proteins for degradation. Conclusion: Cytosolic and ER-associated translationally stalled proteins are targeted for destruction by related mechanisms. Significance: Mechanisms regulating the degradation of translationally stalled ER-associated proteins may represent therapeutic targets for human disease. Aberrant nonstop proteins arise from translation of mRNA molecules beyond the coding sequence into the 3′-untranslated region. If a stop codon is not encountered, translation continues into the poly(A) tail, resulting in C-terminal appendage of a polylysine tract and a terminally stalled ribosome. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the ubiquitin ligase Rkr1/Ltn1 has been implicated in the proteasomal degradation of soluble cytosolic nonstop and translationally stalled proteins. Rkr1 is essential for cellular fitness under conditions associated with increased prevalence of nonstop proteins. Mutation of the mammalian homolog causes significant neurological pathology, suggesting broad physiological significance of ribosome-associated quality control. It is not known whether and how soluble or transmembrane nonstop and translationally stalled proteins targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are detected and degraded. We generated and characterized model soluble and transmembrane ER-targeted nonstop and translationally stalled proteins. We found that these proteins are indeed subject to proteasomal degradation. We tested three candidate ubiquitin ligases (Rkr1 and ER-associated Doa10 and Hrd1) for roles in regulating abundance of these proteins. Our results indicate that Rkr1 plays the primary role in targeting the tested model ER-targeted nonstop and translationally stalled proteins for degradation. These data expand the catalog of Rkr1 substrates and highlight a previously unappreciated role for this ubiquitin ligase at the ER membrane.
High incidence of extra-intestinal infections in a Salmonella Havana outbreak associated with alfalfa sprouts.

OBJECTIVE To determine a vehicle and point source for an outbreak of Salmonella Havana. METHODS The authors conducted a case-control study and traceback investigation of 14 residents of California and four from Arizona with onsets of illness from Apr 15, 1998, to June 15, 1998, and Salmonella Havana infections with identical PFGE patterns. RESULTS Seventeen of 18 patients were women. Seventeen were adults 20-89 years of age. Nine (50%) had diarrheal illness, 6 (33%) had urinary tract infections, 2 (11%) had sepsis, and one had an infected surgical wound after appendectomy. Four patients were hospitalized, and one died. Eating alfalfa sprouts was associated with S. Havana infection (OR = 10.0; 95% confidence interval 1.2, 83.1; P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS This outbreak resulted in a high incidence of extra-intestinal infections, especially urinary tract infections, and high morbidity. Raw alfalfa sprouts, often considered a safe "heath food," can be a source of serious foodborne disease outbreaks.
Mutual Dependence of MDM2 and MDMX in Their Functional Inactivation of p53*

MDMX, an MDM2-related protein, has emerged as yet another essential negative regulator of p53 tumor suppressor, since loss of MDMX expression results in p53-dependent embryonic lethality in mice. However, it remains unknown why neither homologue can compensate for the loss of the other. In addition, results of biochemical studies have suggested that MDMX inhibits MDM2-mediated p53 degradation, thus contradicting its role as defined in gene knockout experiments. Using cells deficient in either MDM2 or MDMX, we demonstrated that these two p53 inhibitors are in fact functionally dependent on each other. In the absence of MDMX, MDM2 is largely ineffective in down-regulating p53 because of its extremely short half-life. MDMX renders MDM2 protein sufficiently stable to function at its full potential for p53 degradation. On the other hand, MDMX, which is a cytoplasmic protein, depends on MDM2 to redistribute into the nucleus and be able to inactivate p53. We also showed that MDMX, when exceedingly overexpressed, inhibits MDM2-mediated p53 degradation by competing with MDM2 for p53 binding. Our findings therefore provide a molecular basis for the nonoverlapping activities of these two p53 inhibitors previously revealed in genetic studies.
The impact of inclusive and fragmented operations strategy processes on operational performance

The links between strategy and performance remains an elusive ‘holy grail’ for researchers and practitioners alike. We do not seek to provide a prescriptive panacea in this paper but we find links between particular types of strategic formulation and operations performance in a range of key parameters. Our research focuses on the personal computer industry where there are high demands placed on the capabilities of the operations function. We suggest that such capabilities do not happen by accident but are developed by specific strategies whereby in-house operations and business mainstream strategies, including supply, become closely linked in both planning and implementation.
Experiments in Integrating Autonomous Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles(UAVs) and Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper is concerned with the integration and control of UAVs and wireless sensor networks, an approach that is useful in isolated areas where communication between ground nodes might be difficult. We present the preliminary design for a fixed-wing aircraft carrying a wireless sensor node which acts as a mobile gateway for information gathering. Experiments were conducted using a low cost UAV platform to measure the range and amount of data that can be exchanged between ground-based and airborne nodes. Field test results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach and the viability of a combined UAV air and ground wireless sensor network.
Optimal order quantity of retailer with quadratic ramp-type demand under supplier trade credit financing

This paper discusses the optimal ordering decision of the retailer influenced by the credit policy of the supplier under quadratic ramp-type demand. Based on the demand transfer point, four different models are proposed and their respective conditions for the existence and uniqueness of optimal solutions are verified. It is analytically established that the ordering decision of the retailer is greatly influenced by the trade credit period offered by the supplier under quadratic ramp-type demand. By comparing unit profit functions obtained under four different models, it is found that the preferable replenishment policy is always strictly determinable. The results are illustrated by numerical examples, and sensitivity analysis is also carried out.
Glycogen synthase kinase-3beta inhibition attenuates asthma in mice.

RATIONALE Persistent activation of nuclear factor-kappaB has been associated with the development of asthma. Glycogen synthase kinase-3beta is known to regulate the activity of nuclear factor-kappaB. OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta may have anti-inflammatory effects in allergic asthma. METHODS BALB/c mice sensitized and challenged with ovalbumin developed airway inflammation. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was assessed for total and differential cell counts, and for cytokine and chemokine levels. Lung tissues were examined for cell infiltration and mucus hypersecretion, and for the expression of inflammatory biomarkers. Serum immunoglobulin E levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. Airway hyperresponsiveness was monitored by direct airway resistance analysis. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Intravenous administration of 4-benzyl-2-methyl-1,2,4-thiadiazolidine-3,5-dione (TDZD-8), a selective glycogen synthase kinase-3beta inhibitor, significantly inhibited ovalbumin-induced increases in total cell counts, eosinophil counts, and IL-5, IL-13, and eotaxin levels recovered in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in a dose-dependent manner. TDZD-8 substantially reduced the serum levels of ovalbumin-specific IgE. Histologic studies showed that TDZD-8 dramatically inhibited ovalbumin-induced lung tissue eosinophilia and airway mucus production. TDZD-8 also markedly suppressed ovalbumin-induced mRNA expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, Muc5ac, and three members of the chitinase family (acidic mammalian chitinase, Ym1, and Ym2). In addition, TDZD-8 significantly reduced ovalbumin-induced airway hyperresponsiveness to inhaled methacholine. Western blot analysis of whole lung lysates revealed that TDZD-8 markedly attenuated the phosphorylation of the nuclear factor-kappaB subunit p65 from ovalbumin-challenged mice. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta may provide a novel means for the treatment of allergic airway inflammation.
STATIC ALLOMETRY AND ANIMAL GENITALIA

A survey of 117 species of arthropods and 17 species of vertebrates showed a strong trend for male genitalia to have relatively low static allometric values. This trend contrasts with the allometry of other structures under sexual selection, which usually show steep allometric slopes. The trend to low allometric genital values is less consistent in mammals than in arthropods. Data not in accord with the previous the “one-size-fits-all” explanation for low allometric slopes in genitalia, which was based on sexual selection by female choice, suggest a more general version that includes both natural selection and sexual selection, and involves both mechanical fit and stimulation. Less-complete data on the female genitalia of arthropods suggest a trend to similar low allometric slopes, and may also be explained by mechanical fit and stimulatory one-size-fits-all arguments.