Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Melatonin antiproliferative effects require active mitochondrial function in embryonal carcinoma cells

Although melatonin oncostatic and cytotoxic effects have been described in different types of cancer cells, the specific mechanisms leading to its antitumoral effects and their metabolic context specificity are still not completely understood. Here, we evaluated the effects of melatonin in P19 embryonal carcinoma stem cells (CSCs) and in their differentiated counterparts, cultured in either high glucose medium or in a galactose (glucose-free) medium which leads to glycolytic suppression and increased mitochondrial metabolism. We found that highly glycolytic P19 CSCs were less susceptible to melatonin antitumoral effects while cell populations relying on oxidative metabolism for ATP production were more affected. The observed antiproliferative action of melatonin was associated with an arrest at S-phase, decreased oxygen consumption, down-regulation of BCL-2 expression and an increase in oxidative stress culminating with caspase-3-independent cell death. Interestingly, the combined treatment of melatonin and dichloroacetate had a synergistic effect in cells grown in the galactose medium and resulted in an inhibitory effect in the highly resistant P19 CSCs. Melatonin appears to exert its antiproliferative activity in P19 carcinoma cells through a mitochondrially-mediated action which in turn allows the amplification of the effects of dichloroacetate, even in cells with a more glycolytic phenotype.
The complete mitochondrial genome of Indo-Pacific soft coral Sinularia acuta Manuputty and van Ofwegen, 2007 (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea)

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of the soft coral Sinularia acuta Manuputty and van Ofwegen, 2007 was sequenced and annotated using Illumina next-generation sequencing (NGS). The mitogenome of S. acuta was 18,730 bp in length and consisted of 14 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNA), and only one transfer RNA gene (tRNA-Met). The base composition was 30.18% A, 16.46% C, 19.35% G, and 34.00% T, with a total A + T content of 64.19%. The phylogenetic analysis demonstrated a close evolutionary relationship among Sinularia acuta, Sinularia penghuensis, and Sinularia maxima.
THE CRETACEOUS SYSTEM IN THE WILLISTON BASIN — A MODERN APPRAISAL

ABSTRACT Within the Williston Basin, the sedimentary record of the Cretaceous Period takes the form of a prism oidal block of terrigenous clastic rocks, about 1,500 m thick in eastern Alberta and western Montana, and about 600 m thick in the Manitoba Escarpment and its extension into North Dakota. The block is an integral part of a great wedge of the same kind of rocks that occupies the Western Interior Basin of North America and must be considered in that context. Derived mostly from displaced masses of pre-Cretaceous rocks in the fold-thrust belt of the Columbian Orogen, Cretaceous rocks display significant facies changes across the Williston Basin. Western sequences consist of non-marine to marginal-marine, coarse-grained clastics intertongued with finer-grained clastics of open-marine origin. Eastern sequences contain a higher proportion of marine, fine-grained elastics, some of them notably calcareous, because the eastern basin lay beyond the reach of most coarse-grained detritus. Five marine cycles, widely recognized throughout the Western Interior and held by many workers to be controlled by tectonoeustasy, are recorded in these Cretaceous sequences. The Greenhorn and Niobrara cycles are best defined within the Williston Basin, where the eastern sequences offer close comparison to those of the Western Interior mid-basin in which the cycles first were elucidated. Palaeomagnetic studies have shown that the Cretaceous Williston Basin lay between 45° and 55 N latitude. A temperate to tropical climate prevailed; oxygen isotope analyses of fossil shells suggest that water temperatures fluctuated between 15° and 27°C. Rich faunas, including both boreal and Tethyan derivatives, thrived in these waters. Dominated by foraminifers and molluscs,fossils have been used to establish highly refined zonal schemes. More than sixty molluscan range zones have been recognized in the Upper Cretaceous Series of the Western Interior Basin and more than twenty foraminiferal assemblage zones in the same series of the Williston Basin. Seams of altered volcanic ash (bentonite) in the Cretaceous sequences of the Williston Basin contain minerals that have yielded isotopic ages using the K/Ar and other radiometric methods of dating. These ages have been incorporated into an absolute time-scale for the entire Western Interior Basin. Reconciliation of absolute and relative time-scales has produced an unusually powerful stratigraphic instrument which has been, and is being, used to reconstruct the detailed geological history of the Williston Basin during the Cretaceous Period.
Geochemical and Microbiological Studies of Nitrous Oxide Variations within the New NEEM Greenland Ice Core during the Last Glacial Period

ABSTRACT Deep polar ice cores provide atmospheric records of nitrous oxide (N2O) and other trace gases reflecting climate history along with a parallel archive of microbial cells transported with mineral dust, marine and volcanic aerosols from around the globe. Our interdisciplinary study of 32 samples from different depths of the recently drilled NEEM Greenland ice core addressed the question whether the identified microorganisms were capable of post-depositional biological production of N2O in situ. We used high-resolution geochemical and microbiological approaches to examine the N2O concentrations, the quantitative distributions of dust, Ca+2, NH4+ and NO3− ions related to N cycle pathways, the microbial abundance and diversity at specific NEEM core depths from 1758 m to 1867.8 m. Results showed varying concentrations of N2O (220–271.5 ppb). Microbial abundance fluctuated between 3.3 × 104 and 3.3 × 106 cells mL−1 in direct correlation with dust and Ca2+ concentrations with higher cell numbers deposited during colder periods. The average values of NH4+ and NO3− indicated that substrates were available for the microorganisms capable of utilizing them. PCR amplification of selected functional genes involved in bacterial and archaeal nitrification and denitrification was not successful. Sanger and Illumina MiSeq sequence analyses of SSU rRNA genes showed variable representation of Alpha-, Beta- and Gammaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, chloroplasts and fungi. The metabolic potential of the dominant genera of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes as possible N2O producers suggested that denitrification activity may have led to in-situ production and accumulation of N2O.
Observational constraints on models for the interstellar magnetic field in the Galactic disk

Aims. Our purpose is to place firm observational constraints on the three most widely used theoretical models for the spatial configuration of the large-scale interstellar magnetic field in the Galactic disk, namely, the ring, the axisymmetric, and the bisymmetric field models. Methods: We used the rotation measures (RMs) of low-latitude Galactic pulsars and combined them with their dispersion measures and estimated distances to map out the line-of-sight component of the interstellar magnetic field in the near half of the Galactic disk. We then fit our map of the line-of-sight field to the three aforementioned theoretical field models and discuss the acceptability of each fit, in order to determine whether the considered field model is allowed by the pulsar data or not. Results: Strictly speaking, we find that all three field models are ruled out by the pulsar data. Furthermore, none of them appears to perform significantly better than the others. From this we conclude that the large-scale interstellar magnetic field in the Galactic disk has a more complex pattern than just circular, axisymmetric, or bisymmetric.
An Image Processing Approach for Marble Classification

This paper briefly reviews recent research in the area of texture classification with a focus on the problem of marble classification, and proposes a simple approach for this purpose. It aims at the automatic analysis and classification of marbles and granites. This is an important requirement for this field of industry in today's life and in the future, into groups according to quality: Class A excellent, Class B good, and Class C fair. The proposed approach consists of two phases: training and classification. In the training phase, we apply the k-means clusters unsupervised learning method to categorize large number of marble samples into three classes A, B, and C. The output of the first phase is a set of thresholds used as inputs for the second phase. For classification, we have used Sobel edge detector. Experimental results show that the proposed approach can achieve promising practical results. Keywords— k-Means clustering, marble classification, Sobel edge detector, texture analysis.
A Method for Improved Representation of Dense Water Spreading over Topography in Geopotential-Coordinate Models

Abstract A new technique for incorporating processes of near-bottom tracer transport over sloping topography in geopotential-coordinate ocean circulation models is presented. It is based on a “hybrid” approach, coupling a simple terrain-following bottom boundary layer model to the standard ocean general circulation model. Tests in simplified configurations show enhanced downslope spreading of passive and active (density) tracers. The method is helpful for both coarse-resolution global climate studies and biogeochemical coastal modeling studies.
Tomato Response to Trickle Irrigation and Black Polyethylene Mulch

A 2-year field study was conducted on a fine sandy loam soil near Vincennes, Ind. , to evaluate tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Sunny) response to trickle irrigation and black polyethylene mulch. Use of trickle irrigation resulted in higher petiole P and B and lower Zn concentrations than using no irrigation. Trickle-irrigated soils had lower soil NH4-N, NO3-N, and K and higher Mg concentrations than non-irrigated soils. Soil NH4-N, NO3-N, and Mg concentrations were higher in soils mulched with polyethylene than in soils without mulch. The use of trickle irrigation increased plant height, whereas polyethylene mulch increased plant spread and dry matter production. Early, late, and total yields were improved with all trickle irrigation and polyethylene mulch treatments. Total yields were 66%, 70%, and 123% greater for plants grown with polyethylene mulch, trickle irrigation, and polyethylene mulch plus trickle irrigation, respectively, than control plants.
Title Understanding and Designing Motion Gesture Inter faces for People with Visual Impairments

Although some interfaces have been developed for people with visual impairments, this demographic remains unable to fully access technology. This is because there is still very little understanding of user capabilities that would facilitate interactions with technology, appropriate design approaches, and guidelines for designing successful technology for this user group. Lack of these fundamental knowledge results in the existing technologies less efficient or unable to engage users. To increase the interaction bandwidth, and to address the aforementioned problems, this dissertation proposes motion gesture interfaces for visually impaired people. Motion gestures interfaces enable users to interact with a device, in three dimensional space by translating or rotating the device, or by moving the hands, or other body parts without holding any devices. We studied (1) user gestures and their rationale, (2) user capabilities to perform motion gestures, (3) participatory design approaches for gesture design, and (4) suitable vibration feedback for motion gestures. Based on understanding of user gestures and capabilities, we developed and evaluated two interaction techniques: (i) motion gesture interfaces and (ii) motion marking menus in smartphones. The outcomes of this dissertation are: 1. Understanding of user gestures, gesture rationale and taxonomies 2. New interaction techniques 3. A hybrid participatory design approach 4. Theoretical guidelines In summary, this dissertation contributes to the field of assistive technologies for visually impaired people, in gesture-based interactions. The conclusions drawn and methodologies proposed will benefit future research studies that explore gesture-based interaction techniques and scientific foundations of assistive technologies for people with visual impairments.
The Composite Characteristics of Cirrus Clouds: Bulk Properties Revealed by One Year of Continuous Cloud Radar Data

Abstract The properties of midlatitude cirrus clouds are examined using one year of continuous vertically pointing millimeter-wave cloud radar data collected at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Southern Great Plains site in Oklahoma. The goal of this analysis is to present the cloud characteristics in a manner that will aid in the evaluation and improvement of cirrus parameterizations in large-scale models. Using a temperature- and radar reflectivity–based definition of cirrus, the occurrence frequency of cirrus, the vertical location and thickness of cirrus layers, and other fundamental statistics are examined. Also the bulk microphysical properties of optically thin cirrus layers that occur in isolation from other cloud layers are examined. During 1997, it is found that cirrus were present 22% of the time, had a mean layer thickness of 2.0 km, and were most likely to occur in the 8.5–10-km height range. On average, the cirrus clouds tended to be found in layers in which the synoptic-scale v.
PredictProtein—an open resource for online prediction of protein structural and functional features

PredictProtein is a meta-service for sequence analysis that has been predicting structural and functional features of proteins since 1992. Queried with a protein sequence it returns: multiple sequence alignments, predicted aspects of structure (secondary structure, solvent accessibility, transmembrane helices (TMSEG) and strands, coiled-coil regions, disulfide bonds and disordered regions) and function. The service incorporates analysis methods for the identification of functional regions (ConSurf), homology-based inference of Gene Ontology terms (metastudent), comprehensive subcellular localization prediction (LocTree3), protein–protein binding sites (ISIS2), protein–polynucleotide binding sites (SomeNA) and predictions of the effect of point mutations (non-synonymous SNPs) on protein function (SNAP2). Our goal has always been to develop a system optimized to meet the demands of experimentalists not highly experienced in bioinformatics. To this end, the PredictProtein results are presented as both text and a series of intuitive, interactive and visually appealing figures. The web server and sources are available at http://ppopen.rostlab. org.
Earthquakes can be stress-forecast

In 1997, Geller et al. wrote 'Earthquakes Cannot Be Predicted' because scale invariance is ubiquitous in self-organized critical systems, and the Earth is in a state of self-organized criticality where small earthquakes have some probability of cascading into a large event. Physically however, large earthquakes can only occur if there is sufficient stress-energy available for release by the specific earthquake magnitude. This stress dependence can be exploited for stress-forecasting by using shear wave splitting to monitor stress-accumulation in the rock mass surrounding impending earthquakes. The technique is arguably successful but, because of the assumed unpredictability, requires explicit justification before it can be generally accepted. Avalanches are also phenomena with self-organized criticality. Recent experimental observations of avalanches in 2-D piles of spherical beads show that natural physical phenomena with self-organized criticality, such as avalanches, and earthquakes, can be predicted. The key to predicting both earthquakes and avalanches is monitoring the matrix material, not monitoring impending source zones.
Search for heavy particles decaying into a top-quark pair in the fully hadronic final state in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for new particles decaying into a pair of top quarks is performed using proton-proton collision data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of ﬃﬃﬃ s p ¼ 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 . 1 fb − 1 . Events consistent with top-quark pair production and the fully hadronic decay mode of the top quarks are selected by requiring multiple high transverse momentum jets including those containing b -hadrons. Two analysis techniques, exploiting dedicated top-quark pair reconstruction in different kinematic regimes, are used to optimize the search sensitivity to new hypothetical particles over a wide mass range. The invariant mass distribution of the two reconstructed top-quark candidates is examined for resonant production of new particles with various spins and decay widths. No significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed and limits are set on the production cross-section times branching fraction for new hypothetical Z 0 bosons, dark-matter mediators, Kaluza-Klein gravitons and Kaluza-Klein gluons. By comparing with the predicted production cross sections, the Z 0 boson in the topcolor-assisted-technicolor model is excluded for masses up to 3.1 – 3.6 TeV, the dark-matter mediators in a simplified framework are excluded in the mass ranges from 0.8 to 0.9 TeV and from 2.0 to 2.2 TeV, and the Kaluza-Klein gluon is excluded for masses up to 3.4 TeV, depending on the decay widths of the particles.
Multidimensional Modelling of Long-Offset Transient Electromagnetics Data Collected at the South Flank of Mount Merapi, Indonesia

LOTEM data from the south ank of Mount Merapi, Indonesia, are interpreted with one-dimensional inversions as well as two- and three-dimensional forward modelling. One-dimensional (1D) joint inversions of several components of the electromagnetic eld with Occam’s method reduce the number of equivalent models derived from inversions of single components. Our 1D results together with results from other geophysical measurements serve as the basic model for further multi-dimensional forward modelling . The nal model depicts a layering that follows the topography of the strato volcano. In a depth range of 500 m to 1000 m there is a transition to a good conductor with resistivities below 10 m. We developed the hypothesis of a fault-like structure below the southern ank at approximately 7 km distance from the summit. To the north of the fault the transition to the good conductor is lowered to a depth of 1000 m.
Insulin Resistance and Truncal Obesity as Important Determinants of the Greater Incidence of Diabetes in Indian Asians and African Caribbeans Compared With Europeans

Citation for published version: Tillin, T, Hughes, AD, Godsland, IF, Whincup, P, Forouhi, NG, Welsh, P, Sattar, N, McKeigue, PM & Chaturvedi, N 2013, 'Insulin Resistance and Truncal Obesity as Important Determinants of the Greater Incidence of Diabetes in Indian Asians and African Caribbeans Compared With Europeans: The Southall And Brent REvisited (SABRE) cohort' Diabetes Care, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 383-393. DOI: 10.2337/dc12-0544
Decimal Trading and Market Impact

Using high-frequency data and a carefully constructed 1-1 matched sample of control (non-decimal) stocks, we isolate the effects of decimalization for a sample of NYSE-listed common stocks trading in decimals. We find that both quoted and effective bid-ask spreads and depths have declined significantly following decimalization. Both trades and trading volume have declined significantly in all trade size, as well as in all stock size, categories. Stock return volatilities display an initial increase but a decline over the longer term – probably as traders become more comfortable in their new milieu. Finally, although there is some evidence of increased presence among regional stock exchanges in the wake of decimalization, the NYSE still appears to be very much in the lead in all categories. Our results have important research and policy implications.
Discrimination and Workers' Expectations: Experimental Evidence

This paper is an experimental analysis of the role played by workers' expectations in explaining the puzzling long-run persistence of observed discrimination against certain minorities in the labor market. The experiment provides some evidence supporting the theoretical prediction that unequal outcomes may emerge due to disadvantaged workers' wrong expectations of being discriminated against. However, this effect is not long-lasting, since players learn the true state of nature in later stages of the experiment, failing to generate a Self-Confirming Equilibrium driven by wrong beliefs. The strategy method provides additional evidence that expectations matter.
Physiological Bases of Plant Shrinkage and Its Demographic Implications

Perennial plants are plastic organisms and can vary greatly in size within and between years. While much attention has been paid to the factors that maximize plant growth, plant shrinkage has been bluntly overlooked. Here we study anatomy, physiology, demography and comparative biology to understand how often plants shrink, mechanisms by which plants may internally regulate their architecture to shrink, and shrinkage’s demographic implications. We explored belowground resource uptake, hydraulic transport and demographic contributions of shrinkage of individuals of Cryptantha flava (Boraginaceae) in the Great Basin desert. We used a database with >700 species to explore shrinkage’s frequency and ecological consequences by examining demographic parameters such as population growth rate, longevity and reproductive output for species with and without shrinkage. We show that C. flava can forage the heterogeneous desert space by uptaking via some roots but not others, and that individuals become sectored with age (i.e., individual roots transport resources only to specific canopy regions). The switch in hydraulic design with ontogeny may explain why large individuals are more likely to shrink after droughts than juveniles. Perturbation analyses demonstrated that large individuals contribute very little to the population growth rate (λ) and that growth to large classes can negatively affect λ in C. flava. The comparative analyses indicated that shrinkage correlates positively with lifespan, survival, fecundity and growth. Finally, we found a significant number of candidate herbaceous species where shrinkage might be under selection because in them shrinking increases λ. We have linked anatomical traits, physiological mechanisms and population dynamics to offer a mechanistic explanation of how and why plants shrink. We argue that sectoriality in Cryptantha flava may allow individuals to minimize respiratory demands during harsh conditions by shedding sectors. Thus shrinkage, being preferable over mortality, is a survival mechanism that helps individuals buffer stochasticity. The finding that large individuals of C. flava contribute very little to λ in comparison to medium-sized individuals and that positive shrinkage vital-rate sensitivities occur frequently in the plant kingdom, together with recent demographic analytical developments, make exploring plant shrinkage a very promising venue of ecological and evolutionary research. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Biology First Advisor Brenda B Casper This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/edissertations/1547