Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of a phosphoinositide binding motif that mediates activation of mammalian and yeast phospholipase D isoenzymes

Phosphoinositides are both substrates for second messenger‐generating enzymes and spatially localized membrane signals that mediate vital steps in signal transduction, cytoskeletal regulation and membrane trafficking. Phosphatidylcholine‐specific phospholipase D (PLD) activity is stimulated by phosphoinositides, but the mechanism and physiological requirement for such stimulation to promote PLD‐dependent cellular processes is not known. To address these issues, we have identified a site at which phosphoinositides interact with PLD and have assessed the role of this region in PLD function. This interacting motif contains critical basic amino acid residues that are required for stimulation of PLD activity by phosphoinositides. Although PLD alleles mutated at this site fail to bind to phosphoinositides in vitro, they are membrane‐associated and properly localized within the cell but are inactive against cellular lipid substrates. Analogous mutations of this site in yeast PLD, Spo14p, result in enzymes that localize normally, but with catalytic activity that has dramatically reduced responsiveness to phosphoinositides. The level of responsiveness to phosphoinositides in vitro correlated with the ability of PLD to function in vivo. Taken together, these results provide the first evidence that phosphoinositide regulation of PLD activity observed in vitro is physiologically important in cellular processes in vivo including membrane trafficking and secretion.
Estetización del self en redes sociales: contradicciones humanas y producción subjetiva contemporánea

This paper analyzes the meanings attributed by social network users to the aestheticization of the self-phenomenon, product of the identities negotiation process among its participants. The objective is to join efforts to overcome the dichotomy established between disparate identity conceptions in the social network environment, and provide a concept that favors the operationalization of this category of studies. The study employed a qualitative methodology, conducting 16 semi-structured interviews with male and female Facebook users of diverse ages, ethnicities and socioeconomic levels; all residents in Brasilia-DF. A dialectical subjective production process among social network users was verified.
Statistical analysis of the seasonal variation in the twinning rate

Abstract There have been few secular analyses of the seasonal variation in human twinning and the results are conflicting. One reason for this is that the seasonal pattern of twinning varies in different populations and at different periods. Another reason is that the statistical methods used are different. The changing pattern of seasonal variation in twinning rates and total maternities in Denmark was traced for three periods (1855–69, 1870–94, and 1937–84). Two alternative methods of analysis are considered. The method of Walter and Elwood and a trigonometric regression model give closely similar results. The seasonal distribution of twin maternities for the periods in the 19th century showed highly significant departures. For both twin and general maternities, the main peaks can be seen from March to June and a local peak in September. During the spring– summer season the twinning rates were higher than the total birth rates, indicating a stronger seasonal variation for the twin maternities than for the general maternities. For 1937–84, there was a similar, but less accentuated, pattern. Studies of other populations are compared with the Danish results. The more accentuated seasonal variation of twinning in the past indicate that some factors in the past affected women during summer–autumn and around Christmas time, making them more fecund and particularly to be more prone to polyovulation and/or more able to complete a gestation with multiple embryos.
Divergent strategies for adaptations to stress resistance in two tropical Drosophila species: effects of developmental acclimation in D. bipectinata and the invasive species D. malerkotliana

Previous studies on two tropical Drosophila species (D. malerkotliana and D. bipectinata) have shown lower resistance to stress-related traits but the rapid colonization of D. malerkotliana in the past few decades is not consistent with its sensitivity to desiccation and cold stress. We tested the hypothesis that developmental acclimation at two growth temperatures (17 and 25°C) can confer adaptations to desiccation and thermal stresses. We found divergence in developmental plastic effects on cuticular traits, i.e. a significant increase of body melanisation (~2-fold) and of cuticular lipid mass (~3-fold) in D. malerkotliana but only 1.5-fold higher cuticular lipid mass in D. bipectinata when grown at 17°C compared with 25°C. A comparison of the water budget of these two species showed significantly higher effects of developmental acclimation on body water content, rate of water loss and dehydration tolerance resulting in higher desiccation resistance in D. malerkotliana than in D. bipectinata. When grown in cooler conditions (17°C), D. malerkotliana had greater resistance to cold as well as desiccation stress. In contrast, heat resistance of D. bipectinata was higher when grown at 25°C. These laboratory observations are supported by data on seasonally varying populations. Furthermore, adult D. malerkotliana acclimated to different stresses showed greater resistance to those stresses than D. bipectinata adults. Thus, significant increase in stress resistance of D. malerkotliana through developmental acclimation may be responsible for its invasion and ecological success on different continents compared with D. bipectinata.
CHAPTER 20:The Possibilities and Limitations of Animal Models for Psychiatric Disorders

In the search for novel treatments for psychiatric disorders, many compounds that have shown promising pharmacological properties in disease models have failed to induce benefit in patients. There is good reason to believe that the preclinical approaches routinely used in drug discovery often provide an overly optimistic picture of clinical potential. Here we discuss some of the factors that we believe lead to erroneous decision-making, including: false interpretations of the behavioural significance of drug effects in the model species; fundamental flaws in aspects of experimental design and analysis; and misconceptions about the criteria that need to be applied before a model can be said to be validated. Only by focusing on well-constructed biological hypotheses of drug action in conjunction with reliable neurochemical, electrophysiological and behavioural assays that can be demonstrated to engage clinically relevant brain circuits will the chances of clinical success be improved. As psychiatric disorders come to be viewed less descriptively and more mechanistically as developmental disorders in brain circuits, incorporating biomarkers – measured biological variables that can indicate a normal or abnormal biological etiological process – will become the essential key to improving model development and validation, and target assessment and refinement.
A research on Beacon code architecture extension using category and code Beacon structure

In this paper, we propose extended code architecture to express more information in existing iBeacon. Information that is available to the user is limited to 4byte because user can only use Major and Minor of iBeacon. Proposed scheme can use more information by transmitting consecutively Beacon signal containing classification and detailed information. When it comes to using more information of iBeacon, utilization range is widened further.
Integrative Physiology: Defined Novel Metabolic Roles of Osteocalcin

The prevailing model of osteology is that bones constantly undergo a remodeling process, and that the differentiation and functions of osteoblasts are partially regulated by leptin through different central hypothalamic pathways. The finding that bone remodeling is regulated by leptin suggested possible endocrinal effects of bones on energy metabolism. Recently, a reciprocal relationship between bones and energy metabolism was determined whereby leptin influences osteoblast functions and, in turn, the osteoblast-derived protein osteocalcin influences energy metabolism. The metabolic effects of bones are caused by the release of osteocalcin into the circulation in an uncarboxylated form due to incomplete γ-carboxylation. In this regard, the Esp gene encoding osteotesticular protein tyrosine phosphatase is particularly interesting because it may regulate γ-carboxylation of osteocalcin. Novel metabolic roles of osteocalcin have been identified, including increased insulin secretion and sensitivity, increased energy expenditure, fat mass reduction, and mitochondrial proliferation and functional enhancement. To date, only a positive correlation between osteocalcin and energy metabolism in humans has been detected, leaving causal effects unresolved. Further research topics include: identification of the osteocalcin receptor; the nature of osteocalcin regulation in other pathways regulating metabolism; crosstalk between nutrition, osteocalcin, and energy metabolism; and potential applications in the treatment of metabolic diseases.
NMF-Based Speech Enhancement Using Bases Update

This letter presents a speech enhancement technique combining statistical models and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) with on-line update of speech and noise bases. The statistical model-based enhancement methods have been known to be less effective to non-stationary noises while the template-based enhancement techniques can deal with them quite well. However, the template-based enhancement techniques usually rely on a priori information. To overcome the shortcomings of both approaches, we propose a novel speech enhancement method that combines the statistical model-based enhancement scheme with the NMF-based gain function. For a better performance in time-varying noise environments, both the speech and noise bases of NMF are adapted simultaneously with the help of the estimated speech presence probability. Experimental results showed that the proposed method outperformed not only the statistical model-based and NMF approaches, but also their combination in various noise environments.
XML Data Management in Compressed Relational Database

(cid:3) Abstract — XML is an important standard of data exchange and representation. As a mature database system, using relational database to support XML data may bring some advantages. But storing XML in relational database has obvious redundancy that wastes disk space, bandwidth and disk I/O when querying XML data. For the efficiency of storage and query XML, it is necessary to use compressed XML data in relational database. In this paper, a compressed relational database technology supporting XML data is presented. Original relational storage structure is adaptive to XPath query process. The compression method keeps this feature. Besides traditional relational database techniques, additional query process technologies on compressed relations and for special structure for XML are presented. In this paper, technologies for XQuery process in compressed relational database are presented.
Acoustic Signature Based Intelligent Health Monitoring of Air Compressors with Selected Features

Dimensionality reduction and identification of relevant features are important for the classification accuracy. Selecting large number of features increases computational complexity whereas selection of too few features may not contain sufficient information required for the classification. This paper presents the comparative performance of different feature selection techniques namely Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Independent Component Analysis (ICA), Mutual Information (MI) methods: MIFS, mRMR, NMIFS, MIFS-U, and Bhattacharyya Distance (BD) in order to select optimal feature set for attaining better classification accuracy. With the results of comparative performance analysis one can get valuable insight about the effectiveness of different feature selection techniques, which in turn allows us to use the most suitable feature selection technique for enhanced fault diagnosis using CBM of air compressor.
Maximizing visibility in nonconvex polygons: nonsmooth analysis and gradient algorithm design

This paper presents a motion control algorithm for a planar mobile observer such as, e.g., a mobile robot equipped with an omni-directional camera. We propose a nonsmooth gradient algorithm for the problem of maximizing the area of the region visible to the observer in a simple nonconvex polygon. First, we show that the visible area is almost everywhere a locally Lipschitz function of the observer location. Second, we provide a novel version of LaSaIIe invariance principle for discontinuous vector fields and Lyapunov functions with a finite number of discontinuities. Finally, we establish the asymptotic convergence properties of the nonsmooth gradient algorithm and we illustrate numerically its performance.
Gametophytic Selection in Arabidopsis thaliana Supports the Selective Model of Intron Length Reduction

Why do highly expressed genes have small introns? This is an important issue, not least because it provides a testing ground to compare selectionist and neutralist models of genome evolution. Some argue that small introns are selectively favoured to reduce the costs of transcription. Alternatively, large introns might permit complex regulation, not needed for highly expressed genes. This “genome design” hypothesis evokes a regionalized model of control of expression and hence can explain why intron size covaries with intergene distance, a feature also consistent with the hypothesis that highly expressed genes cluster in genomic regions with high deletion rates. As some genes are expressed in the haploid stage and hence subject to especially strong purifying selection, the evolution of genes in Arabidopsis provides a novel testing ground to discriminate between these possibilities. Importantly, controlling for expression level, genes that are expressed in pollen have shorter introns than genes that are expressed in the sporophyte. That genes flanking pollen-expressed genes have average-sized introns and intergene distances argues against regional mutational biases and genomic design. These observations thus support the view that selection for efficiency contributes to the reduction in intron length and provide the first report of a molecular signature of strong gametophytic selection.
Proving correctness of compiler optimizations by temporal logic

Many classical compiler optimizations can be elegantly expressed using rewrite rules of form: <i>I</i> ⇒ <i>I</i>′ if <i>&phis;</i>, where <i>I</i>, <i>I</i>′ are intermediate language instructions and <i>&phis;</i> is a property expressed in a temporal logic suitable for describing program data flow. Its reading: If the current program π contains an instruction of form <i>I</i> at some control point <i>p</i>, and if flow condition <i>&phis;</i> is satisfied at <i>p</i>, then replace <i>I</i> by <i>I</i>′. The purpose of this paper is to show how such transformations may be proven correct. Our methodology is illustrated by three familiar optimizations, dead code elimination, constant folding and code motion. The meaning of correctness is that for any program π, if <i>Rewrite</i>(π, π′, <i>p</i>,<i>I</i> ⇒ <i>I</i>′ if &phis;) then [[π]] = [[π′]], i.e. π and π′ have exactly the same semantics.
Introgression and dispersal among spotted owl (Strix occidentalis) subspecies

Population genetics plays an increasingly important role in the conservation and management of declining species, particularly for defining taxonomic units. Subspecies are recognized by several conservation organizations and countries and receive legal protection under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA). Two subspecies of spotted owls, northern (Strix occidentalis caurina) and Mexican (S. o. lucida) spotted owls, are ESA‐listed as threatened, but the California (S. o. occidentalis) spotted owl is not listed. Thus, determining the boundaries of these subspecies is critical for effective enforcement of the ESA. We tested the validity of previously recognized spotted owl subspecies by analysing 394 spotted owls at 10 microsatellite loci. We also tested whether northern and California spotted owls hybridize as suggested by previous mitochondrial DNA studies. Our results supported current recognition of three subspecies. We also found bi‐directional hybridization and dispersal between northern and California spotted owls centered in southern Oregon and northern California. Surprisingly, we also detected introgression of Mexican spotted owls into the range of northern spotted owls, primarily in the northern part of the subspecies’ range in Washington, indicating long‐distance dispersal of Mexican spotted owls. We conclude with a discussion of the conservation implications of our study.
Fixation Data Analysis for High Resolution Satellite Images

The presented study is an eye tracking experiment for high-resolution satellite (HRS) images. The reported experiment explores the Area Of Interest (AOI) based analysis of eye fixation data for complex HRS images. The study reflects the requisite of reference data for bottom-up saliency-based segmentation and the struggle of eye tracking data analysis for complex satellite images. The intended fixation data analysis aims towards the reference data creation for bottom-up saliency-based segmentation of high-resolution satellite images. The analytical outcome of this experimental study provides a solution for AOI-based analysis for fixation data in the complex environment of satellite images and recommendations for reference data construction which is already an ongoing effort.
Semi-Explicit Construction of Linear Size Concentrators and Superconcentrators ( Full Version ) ∗

Concentration and superconcentration operations play a central role in the constructions of nonblocking switching networks. This was established in a seminal effort by Bassalygo and Pinsker who showed that an n-input nonblocking switching network can be constructed with O(n log n) crosspoints if concentrators can be constructed with O(n) crosspoints. Starting with the pioneering work of Margulis, concentrators and superconcentrators with O(n) crosspoints were reported in the literature, but the constants in the crosspoint complexities of these concentrators are considerably large. In this paper, we extend the probabilistic constructions of Pinsker, Bassalygo and Pippenger to obtain semi-explicit constructions of concentrators and superconcentrators with fewer crosspoints. More specifically, we give a semi-explicit version of Pinsker’s bounded capacity concentrator to show that there exists a concentrator with at most 25n crosspoints. This improves Pinsker’s original bound of 29n crosspoints. Next we optimize Bassalygo’s concentrator construction to prove that there exists a concentrator with 19n crosspoints, improving his bound of 20n crosspoints. We then give a semi-explicit (n, 3n/4, n/2)-concentrator cosntruction with 4.5n crosspoints, and use this bounded capacity concentrator to obtain an n-superconcentrator with 40n crosspoints. Finally, we show that Bassalygo’s superconcentrator construction can be optimized to obtain a superconcentrator with 33n crosspoints.
Automata-based modeling and control of a truck and trailer vehicle equipped with a kingpin sliding mechanism

Trailer systems consist of a steering tractor and a passive trailer linked together with rigid free joint. In this paper, we consider an active kingpin joint which is sliding on the rear axle of the tractor to compensate the off-tracking and jackknife phenomena. The backward and forward motion of the articulated vehicle is modeled in various distinct kinematic phases according to the kind of the path and braking or no condition. The scheme of a switching controller is formalized as a global automaton. The simulation results show an acceptable kinematic behavior of the vehicle and effectiveness in avoiding unstable maneuvers.
Adjusting for Nonignorable Drop-Out Using Semiparametric Nonresponse Models

Abstract Consider a study whose design calls for the study subjects to be followed from enrollment (time t = 0) to time t = T, at which point a primary endpoint of interest Y is to be measured. The design of the study also calls for measurements on a vector V t) of covariates to be made at one or more times t during the interval [0, T). We are interested in making inferences about the marginal mean μ0 of Y when some subjects drop out of the study at random times Q prior to the common fixed end of follow-up time T. The purpose of this article is to show how to make inferences about μ0 when the continuous drop-out time Q is modeled semiparametrically and no restrictions are placed on the joint distribution of the outcome and other measured variables. In particular, we consider two models for the conditional hazard of drop-out given (V(T), Y), where V(t) denotes the history of the process V t) through time t, t ∈ [0, T). In the first model, we assume that λQ(t|V(T), Y) exp(α0 Y), where α0 is a scalar paramet.
Effect of Common CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 Variants on the Pharmacokinetics of the Cytochrome P450 3A Phenotyping Probe Midazolam in Cancer Patients

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of naturally occurring variants in genes encoding the cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoforms CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 in patients with cancer receiving midazolam as a phenotyping probe. Experimental Design: Five variants in CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 were evaluated in 58 patients (21 women and 37 men) receiving a short i.v. bolus of midazolam (dose, 0.0145 or 0.025 mg/kg). Midazolam concentrations in plasma were determined using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and pharmacokinetic variables were calculated using noncompartmental analysis. Genomic DNA was characterized for the variants by PCR-RFLP, and all genotypes were confirmed by direct nucleotide sequencing. Results: The mean clearance of midazolam was 24.4 ± 9.12 L/h, and phenotypic CYP3A activity varied about 4-fold in this population (range, 10.8-44.3 L/h). There were six carriers of the CYP3A4*1B allele (allele frequency, 0.061). No variant alleles for CYP3A4*17, CYP3A4*18A, or CYP3A5*6 were identified. Forty-eight of the 58 patients were homozygous variant for CYP3A5*3C, eight were heterozygous, and two were homozygous wild type (allele frequency, 0.897). No associations were noted between any of the studied genotypes and the phenotypic measures (P ≥ 0.16). Likewise, a common variant in exon 26 in the gene encoding P-glycoprotein [i.e., ABCB1 (MDR1) 3435C>T] that was previously reported to be linked to CYP3A4 mRNA levels was unrelated to any of the studied phenotypic measures (P ≥ 0.49). Conclusions. The studied genetic variants in CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 are unlikely to have an important functional significance to phenotypic CYP3A activity in patients with cancer.
Proposing a Wavelet Based Meshless Method for Simulation of Conducting Materials

This work focuses on the development of multiscale meshless technique in area of scattered flelds from paramagnetic scatterers. The radial point interpolation method (RPIM), as the most common meshless technique, is employed for above purpose. Due to high frequency analysis, some special considerations must be applied, particularly in subdomains near the incident face. So, to ensure the accuracy, a multiscale meshless technique in wavelet frames sounds necessary. Simulating the scatterers using above method, speciflcally an elliptic paramagnetic scatterer, shows some e-cient aspects such as less computational time and more precision compared with some other numerical methods.