Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
C. elegans epigenetic regulation in development and aging

The precise developmental map of the Caenorhabditis elegans cell lineage, as well as a complete genome sequence and feasibility of genetic manipulation make this nematode species highly attractive to study the role of epigenetics during development. Genetic dissection of phenotypical traits, such as formation of egg-laying organs or starvation-resistant dauer larvae, has illustrated how chromatin modifiers may regulate specific cell-fate decisions and behavioral programs. Moreover, the transparent body of C. elegans facilitates non-invasive microscopy to study tissue-specific accumulation of heterochromatin at the nuclear periphery. We also review here recent findings on how small RNA molecules contribute to epigenetic control of gene expression that can be propagated for several generations and eventually determine longevity.
Estimating ultrasonic time-of-flight through quadrature demodulation

A new digital signal-processing (DSP) method for ultrasonic time-of-flight (TOF) estimation is presented hereinafter. The method applies a traditional quadrature-demodulation scheme to the acquired ultrasonic signal in order to suitably extract the envelope of the main echo and locate its onset (i.e., the starting time of the echo). It is also possible to assure reduced bias and uncertainty in critical TOF measurements, such as those involving low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as well as severe distortion of echo shape. A number of numerical tests are conducted on simulated signals with the aim of highlighting the good performance of the method when operating in critical conditions; to reduce the computational burden without losing significance in the analysis, a statistical experimental design-based technique is enlisted. Results attained in TOF-based distance measurements finally assess the method's reliability and efficacy even in the presence of actual ultrasonic signals.
Effects of stratification in spherical shell convection

We report on simulations of mildly turbulent convection in spherical wedge geometry with varying density stratification. We vary the density contrast within the convection zone by a factor of 20 and study the influence of rotation on the solutions. We demonstrate that the size of convective cells decreases and the anisotropy of turbulence increases as the stratification is increased. Differential rotation is found to change from anti-solar (slow equator) to solar-like (fast equator) at roughly the same Coriolis number for all stratifications. The largest stratification runs, however, are sensitive to changes of the Reynolds number. Evidence for a near-surface shear layer is found in runs with strong stratification and large Reynolds numbers.
Genomic Analysis of Vulcanisaeta thermophila Type Strain CBA1501T Isolated from Solfataric Soil

Hyperthermophilic archaea have been isolated from high-temperature environments such as geothermally heated soils, sulfur-rich hot springs, and submarine volcanic habitats; optimal growth of these organisms occurs above 80°C (Stetter, 1999, 2006, 2013). The genus Vulcanisaeta belongs to the family Thermoproteaceae, order Thermoproteales, phylum Crenarchaeota, and was first proposed by Itoh et al. (2002). It currently includes 3 validly named species, that is, Vulcanisaeta distributa (Itoh et al., 2002), V. souniana (Itoh et al., 2002), and V. thermophila (Yim et al., 2015), as per the List of Prokaryotic Names with Standing in Nomenclature database (Parte, 2014). Members of the genus Vulcanisaeta are rod-shaped, anaerobic, hyperthermophilic, and acidophilic (Itoh et al., 2002). To date, 15 genomes, including two complete genomes, V. distributa and “Vulcanisaeta moutnovskia” (Mavromatis et al., 2010; Gumerov et al., 2011), have been reported for the genus Vulcanisaeta, as per the NCBI genome database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/). Hyperthermophilic enzymes are stable and active at high temperatures of >70°C (Vieille et al., 1996). These enzymes can be studied using model systems to elucidate enzyme mechanisms and evolution of proteins stable at high temperatures and to determine the higher temperature limit for enzyme stability (Vieille and Zeikus, 2001). In a previous study, V. thermophila CBA1501T (= ATCC BAA-2415T = JCM 17228T) was isolated from solfataric soil in the Republic of the Philippines (Yim et al., 2015). It was found to grow at 75–90°C, pH 4.0–6.0, and 0–1.0% (w/v) NaCl, with optimal growth at 85°C, pH 5.0, and 0% (w/v) NaCl. Here, a genome sequence of V. thermophila CBA1501T has been reported and information of hyperthermophilic enzymes of high biotechnological value has been provided.
EULAR randomised controlled trial of pulse cyclophosphamide and methylprednisolone versus continuous cyclophosphamide and prednisolone followed by azathioprine and prednisolone in lupus nephritis

Objective: To compare the efficacy and side effects of intermittent pulse cyclophosphamide plus methylprednisolone with continuous oral cyclophosphamide plus prednisolone, followed by azathioprine, in patients with proliferative glomerulonephritis caused by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: A multicentre randomised controlled trial was conducted between June 1992 and May 1996 involving eight European centres. All patients satisfied the American College of Rheumatology criteria for SLE and had biopsy proven proliferative lupus nephritis. All received corticosteroids in addition to cytotoxic drugs, as defined in the protocol, for two years. The trial was terminated after four years as recruitment was disappointing. Results: 32 SLE patients with lupus nephritis were recruited: 16 were randomised to intermittent pulse cyclophosphamide and 16 to continuous cyclophosphamide plus azathioprine. Mean duration of follow up was 3.7 years in the continuous group (range 0 to 5.6) and 3.3 years in the pulse group (range 0.25 to 6). Three patients were excluded from the pulse therapy group as they were later found to have pure mesangial glomerulonephritis. Two patients in the continuous therapy group developed end stage renal failure requiring dialysis, but none in the intermittent pulse therapy (p = 0.488; NS). There were similar numbers of side effects and withdrawals from treatment in both groups. There were three deaths: two in the intermittent pulse therapy group and one in the continuous therapy group. Conclusions: There was no statistically significant difference in efficacy and side effects between the two regimens. Infectious complications occurred commonly, so careful monitoring is required during treatment.
Application of subspace detection on a surface seismic network monitoring a deep silver mine

Seismic monitoring is an important tool for understanding and mitigating seismic risk in many mining operations, especially those with deep, burst-prone conditions. However, establishing and operating a seismic network that produces quality seismic data can be very expensive due to equipment and labour costs associated with installation and maintenance of seismic stations. Researchers with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are exploring data processing techniques that can improve the quality of a seismic event catalogue that do not require installing additional instrumentation. This paper presents the application of subspace methods to increase event detection capabilities of a surface seismic network monitoring a deep underground metal mine in the northwest of the United States of America. Events recorded on the network from late April to early July 2016 are used to identify similar, lower-magnitude events that occurred in a 15day study period in June of the same year. False detection rates were evaluated by comparing results with a catalogue generated by an in-mine seismic monitoring system, and by visually examining filtered continuous waveform data at the nearest stations to the underground workings. The number of successful event detections more than doubled, with no false detections. However, detected events included production blasts that required screening based on proximity to blasting time. Acceptable estimates of magnitudes and locations for newly detected events were obtained. The application of similar methodologies to other networks may substantially augment event catalogues and provide additional data that can be used in seismic risk analysis to improve mine safety. When continuous waveform data are stored, such processing may be undertaken long after data collection is complete — a particularly valuable capability for investigating emerging stability issues. Keywords: seismic, event detection, waveform similarity
Long-term immunogenicity of the influenza vaccine at reduced intradermal and full intramuscular doses among healthy young adults

Purpose To prepare for vaccine shortages under an influenza pandemic, several antigen-sparing strategies have been investigated. This study was aimed to evaluate the immunogenicity of influenza vaccine at reduced intradermal and full intramuscular dose. Materials and Methods We compared the effect of one-fifth and one-half intradermal doses to the full intramuscular dose on immunogenicity in healthy young adults, using a commercial influenza vaccine. A hemagglutination inhibition assay was used to compare the immunogenicity of the vaccination methods. Results The one-fifth intradermal dose (3 µg hemagglutinin antigen, HA) was given to 30 participants, the one-half intradermal dose (7.5 µg HA) was given to 30, and the full intramuscular dose (15 µg HA) was given to 32. No significant differences among injection routes and dosages were seen for seroprotection rate, seroconversion rate, or geometric mean titer (GMT) fold-increase for A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B at around 4 weeks from vaccination. Although GMT for influenza B was significantly lower at six months for the one-fifth intradermal vaccination compared to the full-dose intramuscular vaccination (32.8 vs. 63.2, p=0.048), all three groups met the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMA) immunogenicity criteria through 1 to 6 months. Conclusion Intradermal administration of a one-fifth dose of influenza vaccine elicited antibody responses comparable to the intradermal one-half dose and a conventional intramuscular vaccination at 1 month post-vaccination. The immunogenicity of the one-fifth intradermal dose was sufficient to meet the requirement for the EMA criteria at six months after influenza vaccination.
The Aesthetics of Research Methodologies in the Social Sciences

A strong parallel exists between current research methodologies in the social sciences and the two most central and popular approaches to aesthetics over the last four centuries. The point of this paper is to show this parallel, to demonstrate the importance and relevance of this parallel, and finally to examine ways of deciding, given this parallel between research methodologies and aesthetic approaches, which research methodology in a given context is the better.
Down-sampling Coupled to Elastic Kernel Machines for Efficient Recognition of Isolated Gestures

In the field of gestural action recognition, many studies have focused on dimensionality reduction along the spatial axis, to reduce both the variability of gestural sequences expressed in the reduced space, and the computational complexity of their processing. It is noticeable that very few of these methods have explicitly addressed the dimensionality reduction along the time axis. This is however a major issue with regard to the use of elastic distances characterized by a quadratic complexity. To partially fill this apparent gap, we present in this paper an approach based on temporal down-sampling associated to elastic kernel machine learning. We experimentally show, on two data sets that are widely referenced in the domain of human gesture recognition, and very different in terms of quality of motion capture, that it is possible to significantly reduce the number of skeleton frames while maintaining a good recognition rate. The method proves to give satisfactory results at a level currently reached by state-of-the-art methods on these data sets. The computational complexity reduction makes this approach eligible for real-time applications.
1.56 GHz On-chip Resonant Clocking in 130nm CMOS

This paper describes a successful experiment of 1.56-GHz on-chip LC-tank resonant clock oscillator, which directly drives 2times896 flip-flops, without intermediate buffers. Detailed power measurements of a test-chip in 130-nm CMOS technology show that the proposed resonant clocking technique results in 57 % lower clock power and 15-30 % lower total chip power compared to the conventional clocking strategy implemented on the same chip. Furthermore, clock jitter measurements show a worst-case peak-to-peak jitter of 28.4 ps (or 14.5 ps using injection locking) across 0-to-80 % data activity in flip-flops and the data-path logic
Proteomics in investigation of cancer metastasis: Functional and clinical consequences and methodological challenges

Metastases are responsible for most of the cases of death in patients with solid tumors. There is thus an urgent clinical need of better understanding the exact molecular mechanisms and finding novel therapeutics targets and biomarkers of metastatic disease of various tumors. Metastases are formed in a complicated biological process called metastatic cascade. Up to now, proteomics has enabled the identification of number of metastasis‐associated proteins and potential biomarkers in cancer tissues, microdissected cells, model systems, and secretomes. Expression profiles and biological role of key proteins were confirmed in verification and functional experiments. This communication reviews these observations and analyses the methodological aspects of the proteomics approaches used. Moreover, it reviews contribution of current proteomics in the field of functional characterization and interactome analysis of proteins involved in various events in metastatic cascade. It is evident that ongoing technical progress will further increase proteome coverage and sample capacity of proteomics technologies, giving complex answers to clinical and functional questions asked.
Perceptions of environmental change in Moorea, French Polynesia: the importance of temporal, spatial, and scalar contexts

Pacific Islands are considered among the most vulnerable geographies and societies to the effects of climate change and variability (CCV). This study addresses the mismatch between global climate change narratives and local perceptions of environ- mental change in Moorea, French Polynesia. This study builds on CCV risk perception and adaptation research by analyzing how temporal and historical socio-economic, cultural, political, and ecological contexts shape local perceptions of environmental change among a sample of environmental stakehold- ers in Moorea. The data were collected prior to the widespread global narrative and social amplification of climate change risk and its particular impact on islands. As such, they offer an important portrait of environmental perceptions in French Polynesia prior to the influence of a circumscribed climate change narrative, which has since come to shape government and NGO responses to environmental change in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories. The data presented in this paper illustrate that perceptions of drivers and effects of environmental change and risk in Moorea are embedded in larger social processes of political economy and ecology, particularly related to contemporary environmental politics, contextualized within the histories of colonialism and tourism-led economic development. Integrating the complexity of local environmental risk perceptions into CCV policy will help to avoid maladaptation, social movements against CCV planning, and may help maximize government and donor investments.
Susceptibility of Staphylococci to Minocycline In Vitro: Identification of Group III Bacteriophage Types by Characteristic Inhibition of Growth

Minocycline in concentrations of 1.0 μg per ml or less inhibited growth of 50 staphylococcal isolates which were tested by the broth dilution method. All strains were resistant to penicillin and tetracycline, and 34% were resistant to lincomycin. Minocycline discs identified two populations of minocycline-susceptible strains. The first group with small zones of inhibition surrounding the disc had multiple resistance and all were lysed by group III phage (84/85). The organisms with larger diameter of zones of inhibition were less frequently resistant to the antibiotics tested, and only 7.4% of these organisms were lysed by the 84/85 phage.
Power invariant vector sequence compaction

Simulation-based power estimation is commonly used for its high accuracy, despite excessive computation times. Techniques have been proposed to speed it up by transforming a given sequence into a shorter one while preserving the power consumption characteristics of the original sequence. This work proposes a novel method to compact a given input vector sequence to improve on the existing techniques. We propose a graph model to transform the problem to the problem of finding a heaviest weighted trail in a directed graph. We also propose a heuristic based on min-cost flow algorithms, using the graph model. Furthermore, we show that generating multiple input sequences yields better solutions in terms of both accuracy and simulation time. Experiments showed that significant reduction in simulation times can be achieved with extremely accurate results. Experiments also showed that the generation of multiple sequences improved the results further both in terms of accuracy and simulation time.
Music feature analysis for synchronization with dance animation

This paper presents an approach for music feature analysis with an application in dance animation, in which a dancing avatar dances according to the rhythm and energy of the music. Extracted music features, such as drum beats and meters, are used for synchronization with motion sequences from a database of dance animation files. In addition, music segmentation with music intensity labels are produced for the selection of motion sequences of proper intensity levels. Experiments on club dancing music, including hip-hop and R&B, were conducted, and the results validate the performance of the proposed techniques.
LABORATORY EVOLUTION OF POSTPONED SENESCENCE IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

A general corollary of population genetic theories of senescence is that the culture of outbred laboratory populations using females of later ages should lead to the evolution of postponed senescence. This has been tested before, but the predicted results have not been consistently reproducible. An experiment of this kind was both repeated and replicated, using a previously studied Drosophila melanogaster population. The results uniformly corroborated the evolutionary theory of senescence. Senescence was consistently postponed. Other, anomalous, results are explained in terms of experimental artifact. Reproduced by permission. Michael R. Rose, Laboratory Evolution of Postponed Senescence in Drosophila Melanogaster. Evolution 38 , 1004-1010 (1984).
Psychological adjustment and adaptive impairments in young adults with ADHD

The present study compared a group of 25 young adults with ADHD to 23 young adults drawn from the community equated for age (Mean = 25 yrs.) and educational level (Mean 13 yrs.) using a structured psychiatric interview (non-blinded), self-report ratings of psychological distress, and psychological tests of inattention, impulsive responding, working memory, verbal fluency, sense of time, and creativity. Most measures of prior educational and occupational adjustment did not differentiate the young adults with ADHD from the control group. However, those with ADHD reported having experienced more symptoms of both ADHD and opposition al defiant disorder on their jobs as well as in college than control subjects. ADHD adults also were found to have had shorter durations of employment in their full-time jobs than adults in the control group. The young adults with ADHD rated themselves as having greater psychological distress and maladjustment on all scales of the SCL-90-R and reported committing more antisocial acts, particularly involving thefts and disorderly conduct, than the control group. As a result they had been arrested more often than young adults in the control group. The groups did not differ, however, in other types of criminal activity nor in the types and frequency of legal and illegal substances they used. On psychological testing, the ADHD group had significantly poorer response inhibition and sustained attention on a continuous performance test. They were also poorer on tasks of verbal and nonverbal working memory. No significant group differences were found, however, in accuracy of time estimations or productions, verbal fluency, or creativity. It appears that the psychiatric and psychological difficulties found in young adults with ADHD are qualitatively similar to those seen in children with the disorder.
A Workshop for Integrating UML Modelling and Agile Development in the Classroom

Students have various difficulties with software modelling, the software development process and with positioning modelling as a means to support their software development. The Agile methodology Scrum has gained popularity in industry and also amongst students. Unfortunately agile projects often lack adequate documentation. Modelling and the agile process could complement each other. The combination of modelling and agile development is not often used in education. Based on our positive experience with the interactive LEGO4SCRUM workshop we use in our programs, we propose an approach based on this workshop that integrates UML modelling into the Scrum process. The workshop lets students experience a whole development cycle from a modelling perspective. Besides this new approach we also categorized comments students wrote down based on their discussions with their peers. We evaluated the workshop with a questionnaire. The students react positive on the approach and indicate they have gained new insights. This paper explains the workshop set-up, presents its evaluation and discusses the results.
Estimation of amounts of anti‐La(SS‐B) antibody directed against immunodominant epitopes of the La(SS‐B) autoantigen

The contribution of circulating anti‐La(SS‐B) antibody to the hypergammaglobulinaemia seen in primary Sjögren's syndrome is unknown. In this study levels of anti‐La(SS‐B) antibody directed against three immunodominant epitopes of the anti‐La(SS‐B) autoantigen were measured by ELISA in 84 anti‐La(SS‐B)+ sera using purified recombinant protein and antibody affinity‐purified against the three anti‐La(SS‐B) fusion proteins. There was marked variation in the amounts of IgG anti‐La(SS‐B) antibody detected, with levels ranging from 0.02 mg/ml to 11 mg/mt. The anti‐La(SS‐B) levels were > 1 mg/ml in 61% of patients; in 18% of sera the anti‐La(SS‐B) level constituted 10% or more of the total serum IgG. However, other patients were seen with marked hypergammaglobulinaemia and low anti‐La(SS‐B) concentrations. These results support an antigen‐driven mechanism for the anti‐La(SS‐B) response and suggest that anti‐La(SS‐B) antibody production is regulated independently of other immunoglobulins.
기업의 구조조정과 마케팅성과에 관한 모형연구

요 약 본 연구에서는 구조조정, 특히 다운스케일링 (downscaling) 이 마케팅성과에 미치는 영향 을 구체적 g로 설명할 수 있는 연구모형을 도출하는 것을 주요 목적으로 하였다. 이러한 연구주제는 1999년에 발표된 김경훈 등(1999) 의 구조조정과 마케팅성과간의 관계에 관한 연구에서 시도되어진 단편적인 가설검정수준을 한 차원 넘어서서 구조조정관련 변수들이 마케팅성과와 어떻게 유기적으로 상호작용 하는가를 파악하는데 그 의의가 있다 본 연구의 연구모형 및 가설검점을 위하여 Ll SREL분석이 사용되었다. 실증분석결과에 의 하면 인력감소, 사전구조조정 경험, 변화에 대한 저항정도가 구조초정전략 실행강도에 영향 을 미치며, 이는 다시 관리적 강도에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 관리적 강도 는 마케팅성과에 영향을 주는 요인으로 발견되었다. 그리고 연구결과툴 이용한 실무적 시 사점이 제안되었다.