Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PARP-14 Functions as a Transcriptional Switch for Stat6-dependent Gene Activation*

A subset of poly ADP-ribose polymerases (PARP) that also contain macro domains regulate transcription. One such macro PARP, PARP-14 alters interleukin 4 (IL-4) and Stat6-dependent transcription. Stat6, activated by IL-4 plays an important role in T helper cell immunity and B cell responses. Here we define the mechanism by which PARP-14 regulates Stat6-activated transcription. Under non-stimulating conditions, PARP-14 recruits HDAC 2 and 3 to IL-4 responsive promoters. In the presence of IL-4, PARP-14 promotes efficient binding of Stat6 to its target genes. Moreover, HDAC 2 and 3 are released from the promoter with an IL-4 signal, this is aided by the ADP-ribosylation of the HDACs by PARP-14. The HDACs and PARP-14 get replaced by coactivators containing HAT activity. Based on these observations we put forth a mechanism in which PARP-14 functions as a transcriptional switch for Stat6-dependent gene induction. Thus, in the absence of a signal PARP-14 acts as a transcriptional repressor by recruiting HDACs. In contrast, in the presence of IL-4 the catalytic activity of PARP-14 facilitates Stat6 binding to the promoter, and release of HDACs so as to activate transcription.
Monitoring of chloride-induced corrosion in steel rebars

Chloride-induced corrosion is very serious for steel rebar, because chloride-induced corrosion causes local disruption in the passive layer of the steel, forming surface pits. This paper proposes a novel corrosion monitoring method for steel rebars on the basis of the stress concentration in the plane stress condition caused by chloride-induced corrosion. The fundamentals of corrosion monitoring and the design concept of the proposed sensor are illustrated. The influence factors for corrosion monitoring are simulated to improve the sensitivity. Potentiostatic accelerated corrosion tests are conducted to evaluate the efficacy. The studies indicate that this indirect method for monitoring changes of physical properties caused by corrosion is effective. Influence factors in chloride-induced corrosion can be neglected, as compared with electrochemical techniques. The proposed corrosion monitoring method can provide useful information to evaluate the risk of corrosion initiation and propagation for steel rebars.
Improved mechanical performance of bisphenol-A graphene-oxide nano-composites

Epoxy resins have been extensively utilized for mechanical strength applications in the field of aerospace, automobiles, marine, defence, etc. Improving the strength as well as fracture behaviour of the light weight materials is challenging. Present work is an attempt to enhance elastic modulus, hardness and fracture resistance simultaneously by reinforcing the epoxy (bisphenol-A) matrix with a new-age two-dimensional atomically thin graphene oxide filler. Wet chemical oxidation method was used to prepare graphene oxide sheets. Morphological study of the synthesized graphene oxide was carried out using scanning electron microscopy. Fourier-transformed infrared, ultraviolet–visible and Raman spectroscopic techniques were also employed to ascertain the synthesis of graphene oxide. The results confirmed the synthesis of well oxidized graphene oxide sheets. The prepared graphene oxide sheets were then sonicated in acetone solution to ensure better dispersion in the bisphenol-A graphene oxide nano-composite using 0.25, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 wt. % graphene oxide reinforcement. Solution mixing method was used to synthesize the polymer nano-composite. Scanning electron microscopy results revealed the smooth dispersion of graphene oxide in the bisphenol-A matrix. Nano-indentation of the bisphenol-A graphene oxide nano-composite showed a considerable jump in elastic modulus at 1 wt. % and hardness at 0.50 wt. % of graphene oxide reinforcement. Fracture resistance of bisphenol-A graphene oxide composite as represented by ratio of elastic modulus to hardness was enhanced by 24% as compared to the pristine bisphenol-A. Our results demonstrate a promising way to improve the mechanical characteristics of epoxy resins through graphene oxide reinforcement at low weight percentages.
Comparison of nurse practice environments in Denmark and the USA.

AIMS The aims were to translate, validate and test the reliability of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index in a Danish context; and to compare Danish nurses' ratings of their nurse work environments with the highest rated work environments, USA magnet hospitals. BACKGROUND Patient quality and safety are priorities for managers, administrators and policy makers worldwide. A supportive work environment is an important factor to improve quality and safety. The most used scale to measure the nurse work environment is Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. There is no Danish translation of the scale or a comparison of nurse work environment between Denmark and other countries. METHODS The translation and cultural adaption followed the steps recommended by the World Health Organization. Content validity was evaluated using cognitive interviewing in-person and through surveys. The reliability was tested using Cronbach's alpha. Finally, Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index ratings from 127 nurses were compared with results from Magnet and non-Magnet hospitals using t-tests. FINDINGS The Danish translation of Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index had a high validity and reliability. Danish nurses rated their nurse work environment more favourable than nurses in non-Magnet hospitals and at the same level as Magnet hospitals. Lowest Danish scores were found in the two hospital-level subscales in items related to staff nurses' involvement in discussions on daily problems, the visibility of the chief nursing officer and importance of up-to-date nursing documentation. CONCLUSION Danish nurses report a supportive nurse work environment with overall scores at the same level as Magnet hospitals. Opportunities for improvement were identified in the subscales. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY A first step to improve patient quality and safety is addressing factors that influence quality and safety. Using the Danish Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, interventions to improve specific areas can be planned, implemented and evaluated. Further, Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index is a nursing quality indicator that can be included in quality databases in Denmark.
An Automatic Software Requirement Analysis Approach based on Intelligent Planning Technology

With the development of information technology, the scale of current software is growing dramatically. This motivates the needs of techniques for intelligent software requirements engineering, which allows for modeling and analyzing requirements formally, rapidly and automatically, avoiding mistakes made by misunderstanding between engineers and users, and saving lots of time and manpower. In this paper, we propose an approach to acquiring requirements automatically, which adopts automated planning techniques and machine learning methods to convert software requirement into an incomplete planning domain. By this approach, we design an algorithm called Intelligent Planning based Requirement Analysis (IPRA), to learn action models with uncertain effects. Furthermore, we obtain a complete planning domain by applying this algorithm and convert it into software requirement specification.
Abstract Domains for Bit-Level Machine Integer and Floating-point Operations

We present a few lightweight numeric abstract domains to analyze C programs that exploit the binary representation of numbers in computers, for instance to perform "compute-through-overflow" on machine integers, or to directly manipulate the exponent and mantissa of floating-point numbers. On integers, we propose an extension of intervals with a modular component, as well as a bitfield domain. On floating-point numbers, we propose a predicate domain to match, infer, and propagate selected expression patterns. These domains are simple, efficient, and extensible. We have included them into the Astree and AstreeA static analyzers to supplement existing domains. Experimental results show that they can improve the analysis precision at a reasonable cost.
The exact MSSM spectrum from string theory

We show the existence of realistic vacua in string theory whose observable sector has exactly the matter content of the MSSM. This is achieved by compactifying the E_8 x E_8 heterotic superstring on a smooth Calabi-Yau threefold with an SU(4) gauge instanton and a Z_3 x Z_3 Wilson line. Specifically, the observable sector is N=1 supersymmetric with gauge group SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y x U(1)_{B-L}, three families of quarks and leptons, each family with a right-handed neutrino, and one Higgs-Higgs conjugate pair. Importantly, there are no extra vector-like pairs and no exotic matter in the zero mode spectrum. There are, in addition, 6 geometric moduli and 13 gauge instanton moduli in the observable sector. The holomorphic SU(4) vector bundle of the observable sector is slope-stable.
Distributed adaptive fault-tolerant control of nonlinear uncertain second-order multi-agent systems

This paper presents an adaptive fault-tolerant control (FTC) scheme for a class of nonlinear uncertain second-order multi-agent systems. A local FTC component is designed for each agent in the distributed system by using local measurements and suitable information exchanged between neighboring agents. Each local FTC component consists of a fault diagnosis module and a reconfigurable controller module comprised of a baseline controller and two adaptive fault-tolerant controllers activated after fault detection and after fault isolation, respectively. Under suitable assumptions, the closed-loop stability and leader-follower formation properties of the distributed system are rigorously established under different operating modes of the FTC system, including the time-period before possible fault detection, between fault detection and possible isolation, and after fault isolation.
A 'reluctant' critical review: 'Manual for evidence-based clinical practice (2015)'.

BACKGROUND The Users' Guides to the Medical Literature Manual has been a major influence on the teaching and practice of health care globally. METHODS The 3rd edition of the multi-authored Manual was reviewed using the principles outlined in Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) texts. One 'clinical scenario' was selected for critical appraisal, as were several chapters; objectivity was enhanced by citing references to support opinions. RESULTS (SUMMARY OF THE APPRAISAL): (1) Strengths: Clinical pearls, too numerous to list. EXAMPLES (i) evidence is never enough to drive clinical decision making; (ii) do not rush to adopt new interventions; and (iii) question efficacy data based only on surrogate markers. (2) Weaknesses: The Manual shares shortcomings of textbooks discussed by Straus et al.: (i) references may not be current, important ones may be excluded and citations may be selective; (ii) often, opinion-based; and (iii) delays between revisions. (3) Notable omissions: Little or no discussion of: (i) important segments of the population: those <18 years of age, >65 years of age and those with multimorbidity; (ii) surgical disciplines; (iii) Greenhalgh et al.'s essay on EBM; (iv) alternate views on the hierarchy of evidence; and (vi) critical thinking. (4) Additional issues: (i) Omission of important references on dabigatran (clinical scenario: chapter 13.1); (ii) authors' advice (Chapter 13.3) to 'bypass the discussion section of published research'; and (iii) the advocacy of pre-appraised sources of evidence and network meta-analysis without warnings about limitations, are critiqued. CONCLUSION The Manual has several clinical pearls but readers should also be aware of shortcomings.
Making maxillary barbels with a proximal‐distal gradient of Wnt signals in matrix‐bound mesenchymal cells

The evolution of specific appendages is made possible by the ontogenetic deployment of general cell signaling pathways. Many fishes, amphibians and reptiles have unique skin appendages known as barbels, which are poorly understood at the cellular and molecular level. In this study, we examine the cell arrangements, cell division patterns, and gene expression profiles associated with the zebrafish maxillary barbel, or ZMB. The earliest cellular organization of the ZMB is an internal whorl of mesenchymal cells in the dermis of the maxilla; there is no epithelial placode, nor any axially‐elongated epithelial cells as expected of an apical ectodermal ridge (AER). As the ZMB develops, cells in S‐phase are at first distributed randomly throughout the appendage, gradually transitioning to a proliferative population concentrated at the distal end. By observing ZMB ontogenetic stages in a Wnt‐responsive transgenic reporter line, TCFsiam, we identified a strongly fluorescent mesenchymal cell layer within these developing appendages. Using an in vitro explant culture technique on developing barbel tissues, we co‐localized the fluorescent label in these cells with the mitotic marker EdU. Surprisingly, the labeled cells showed little proliferation, indicating a slow‐cycling subpopulation. Transmission electron microscopy of the ZMB located these cells in a single, circumferential layer within the barbel's matrix core. Morphologically, these cells resemble fibroblasts or osteoblasts; in addition to their matrix‐bound location, they are identified by their pancake‐shaped nuclei, abundant rough endoplasmic reticulum, and cytoplasmic extensions into the surrounding extracellular matrix. Taken together, these features define a novel mesenchymal cell population in zebrafish, the “TCF+ core cells. ” A working model of barbel development is proposed, in which these minimally mitotic mesodermal cells produce collagenous matrix in response to ectodermally‐derived Wnt signals deployed in a proximal‐distal gradient along the appendage. This documents a novel mechanism of vertebrate appendage outgrowth. Similar genetic signals and cell behaviors may be responsible for the independent and repeated evolution of barbel structures in other fish species.
Multi-entity Models

In a seminal paper McCarthy and Hayes suggested rst or der logic as a basis for knowledge representation and reasoning about action They considered and rejected a model of interacting au tomata as being epistemologically inadequate This chapter suggests multi entity models a framework closely related to the interacting au tomata of McCarthy and Hayes as a tool for knowledge representation and reasoning Multi entity models are designed so as to overcome some of the main criticisms of interacting automata A number of basic issues in multi agent activity are investigated in the framework of these models illustrating both the expressiveness and the compu tational tractability of multi entity models
p53-independent DUX4 pathology in cell and animal models of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

ABSTRACT Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a genetically dominant myopathy caused by mutations that disrupt repression of the normally silent DUX4 gene, which encodes a transcription factor that has been shown to interfere with myogenesis when misexpressed at very low levels in myoblasts and to cause cell death when overexpressed at high levels. A previous report using adeno-associated virus to deliver high levels of DUX4 to mouse skeletal muscle demonstrated severe pathology that was suppressed on a p53-knockout background, implying that DUX4 acted through the p53 pathway. Here, we investigate the p53 dependence of DUX4 using various in vitro and in vivo models. We find that inhibiting p53 has no effect on the cytoxicity of DUX4 on C2C12 myoblasts, and that expression of DUX4 does not lead to activation of the p53 pathway. DUX4 does lead to expression of the classic p53 target gene Cdkn1a (p21) but in a p53-independent manner. Meta-analysis of 5 publicly available data sets of DUX4 transcriptional profiles in both human and mouse cells shows no evidence of p53 activation, and further reveals that Cdkn1a is a mouse-specific target of DUX4. When the inducible DUX4 mouse model is crossed onto the p53-null background, we find no suppression of the male-specific lethality or skin phenotypes that are characteristic of the DUX4 transgene, and find that primary myoblasts from this mouse are still killed by DUX4 expression. These data challenge the notion that the p53 pathway is central to the pathogenicity of DUX4. Summary: DUX4 is thought to mediate cytopathology through p53. Here, DUX4 is shown to kill primary myoblasts and promote pathological phenotypes in the iDUX4[2.7] mouse model on the p53-null background, calling into question this notion.
Energetics of domain wall in magnetic nanowire

Micromagnetic modeling is used to study the energetics of magnetic switching of single-layer permalloy nanowire. The energy landscape of the system is studied using Nudged Elastic Band method. It has been shown that presence of rectangular shape defects on long side and inside nanowire leads to the appearance of local maxima and minima on the energy profile. Thus artificially created imperfections can be used for effective DW pinning.
Synthesis and Characterization of the Microstructure and Functional Group Bond of Fe3o4 Nanoparticles from Natural Iron Sand in Tobelo North Halmahera

The Fe3O4 nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized from natural iron sand by using co-precipitation method at a temperature of 56oC. The elemental identification, structural characterization, and bonding analysis were carried out using XRF, XRD, and FTIR, respectively. The sample nanoparticles contain elements of Al, P, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Re, Bi, and Fe. The composition of Fe element is 87.37%. The sample of the nanoparticle exhibited as the Fe3O4 which was shown by the diffraction pattern that belongs to a cubic spinel structure of Fe3O4. The crystallite size of the nanoparticle is 42.25 ± 0.42 nm. The lattice parameter was found at 8.384 ± 0.049 Å. The crystallite density is 5.232 103 kg/m3 while the lattice strain is 1.413 10-3/line. The FTIR spectra confirm that the existence of Fe-O stretching vibration in the range frequency of 658 cm-1-506 cm-1
Geosocially Cognizant Mobile Advertising for Clicks-to- Mortar Commerce

Despite the rapid growth of e-commerce, the majority of consumer spending remains offline with a significant proportion expended on goods and services provided by local merchants. Consequently, an opportunity exists for mobile systems that can drive consumers to these nearby commerce locations. Existing approaches typically employ rudimentary interest models built with the consumer's explicit involvement, demanding higher cognitive cost and leading to relatively low accuracy. In this paper, we introduce an approach to location- based mobile advertising that establishes consumer's interests by applying be- havioral, semantic and social targeting to the user's geosocial context. Our working hypothesis is that this approach is more effective to match advertise- ments. We conduct field studies in-the-wild supported by a prototype imple- mentation of this system, considering a range of advertising situations. We find that participants perceive advertisements selected in this way as more relevant and observe a measurable uplift in their attitudes toward advertising in general.
A simplified level editor

The majority of game engines include their own level editing software (a level editor) which can take months or even years for a user to become proficient with. Level editors often contain tools that duplicate some of the features found in modeling software packages even though they are typically used in conjunction with modeling packages. In this paper, we present a level editor that simplifies the creation of three-dimensional models/scenes by concentrating only on the features specific to the arrangement of models and materials needed to create a three-dimensional environment/scene only. The level editor presented here is intuitive, simple to use, and allows a three-dimensional scene to be created with minimal experience and effort.
Elbow hemiarthroplasty for the management of distal humeral fractures: current technique, indications and results

There has been a growing recent interest in the use of elbow hemiarthroplasty for the treatment of distal humeral trauma in select patients. However, the current available evidence regarding outcome after elbow hemiarthroplasty is limited to case series and biomechanical data. Consequently, the procedure remains unfamiliar to many surgeons. The aim of the present review is to outline the evidence regarding elbow hemiarthroplasty and to use this, along with the author’s experience, to better describe the indications, surgical technique and outcomes after this procedure.
An Effective Address Mutation Approach for Disrupting Reconnaissance Attacks

Network reconnaissance of addresses and ports is prerequisite to a vast majority of cyber attacks. Meanwhile, the static address configuration of networks and hosts simplifies adversarial reconnaissance for target discovery. Although the randomization of host addresses has been suggested as a proactive disruption mechanism against such reconnaissance, the proposed approaches do not exploit the full potentials of address randomization in provision of unpredictability and attack adaptability. Moreover, these approaches do not provide thorough analysis on effectiveness and limitations of address randomization against relevant threat models, including stealthy scanning and worms. In this paper, we present an effective address randomization technique, called random host address mutation (RHM), that turns end-hosts into untraceable moving targets. This technique achieves maximum efficacy by allowing address randomization to be highly unpredictable and fast, and adaptive to adversarial behavior, while incurring low operational and reconfiguration overhead. Our approach achieves the following objectives: (1) it achieves high uncertainty in adversary scanning by modeling address mutation randomization as a multi-level satisfiability problem; (2) it adapts the mutation scheme by fast characterization of adversarial reconnaissance patterns; (3) it achieves high mutation rate by separating mutation from end-hosts and managing it via network appliances; and (4) it preserves network integrity, manageability and performance by bounding the size of routing tables, preserving end-to-end reachability, and efficient handling of reconfiguration updates. Our extensive analyses and simulation show that the RHM distorts adversarial reconnaissance, slows down (deters) the attack, and increases its detectability. Consequently, the RHM is effective in countering a significant number of sophisticated threat models, including reconnaissance, stealthy/evasive scanning methods, and targeted attacks. We also address limitations of our approach in terms of effectiveness and applicability.