Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cellular Location of HNF4α is Linked With Terminal Liver Failure in Humans

Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4α) is a transcription factor that plays a critical role in hepatocyte function, and HNF4α‐based reprogramming corrects terminal liver failure in rats with chronic liver disease. In the livers of patients with advanced cirrhosis, HNF4α RNA expression levels decrease as hepatic function deteriorates, and protein expression is found in the cytoplasm. These findings could explain impaired hepatic function in patients with degenerative liver disease. In this study, we analyzed HNF4α localization and the pathways involved in post‐translational modification of HNF4α in human hepatocytes from patients with decompensated liver function. RNA‐sequencing analysis revealed that AKT‐related pathways, specifically phospho‐AKT, is down‐regulated in cirrhotic hepatocytes from patients with terminal failure, in whom nuclear levels of HNF4α were significantly reduced, and cytoplasmic expression of HNF4α was increased. cMET was also significantly reduced in failing hepatocytes. Moreover, metabolic profiling showed a glycolytic phenotype in failing human hepatocytes. The contribution of cMET and phospho‐AKT to nuclear localization of HNF4α was confirmed using Spearman's rank correlation test and pathway analysis, and further correlated with hepatic dysfunction by principal component analysis. HNF4α acetylation, a posttranslational modification important for nuclear retention, was also significantly reduced in failing human hepatocytes when compared with normal controls. Conclusion: These results suggest that the alterations in the cMET‐AKT pathway directly correlate with HNF4α localization and level of hepatocyte dysfunction. This study suggests that manipulation of HNF4α and pathways involved in HNF4α posttranslational modification may restore hepatocyte function in patients with terminal liver failure.
Sexual and asexual reproduction in a freshwater population of Bangia atropurpurea (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) from eastern Sicily (Italy)

Abstract The life history of Bangia atropurpurea (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) from the Alcantara River (Sicily, Italy) was studied in the field and laboratory. An alternation between a macroscopic phase and a microscopic filamentous conchocelis phase was found, and spermatia and carpogonia are described for the first time in a freshwater population of the species. Endosporangia have also been discovered on gametophytic plants in culture. In addition, the conchocelis phase produced either conchosporangia or monosporangia, and reproduction by fragmentation was common. Sexuality was indicated by chromosome counts of n = 3 and 2n =6 in gametophytes and sporophytes, respectively; resting cells were observed in both.
Joint beam selection and user association strategy for beam space millimetre wave downlink systems

Beam space multiple‐input multiple‐output (B‐MIMO) systems operating at mmWave frequency in downlink uses different beam selection techniques for reducing the required number of radio frequency chains without apparent performance loss. In this paper, a joint beam selection and user association scheme with the objective of sum rate maximization is proposed. The proposed work on beam selection is based on a norm and uncorrrelation based approach, which considers channel correlation among the users so as to avoid inter‐user interference. Two different methods for beam user association with one modelled as a balanced assignment problem based on average sum assignment method and the other method that associates an optimal beam to every user by considering their channel gain values are also proposed along with beam selection. The proposed beam assignment methods are less complex and efficient in finding a suitable beam to every user within the cell. Simulation results show that the proposed method accomplish comparable performance in terms of sum rate and energy efficiency with appreciably low computational complexity relative to the existing methods in a correlated environment.
Effect of Dehydrated Pig Faeces in the Diet on Microbial Protein Synthesis and Fermentation Balance in the Rumen of Holstein Steers

Abstract Salcedo-Meza, J.R. , Castellanos-Molina, R. , Garza-Flores, J.D. , Tejada-Castañeda, Z.I. , Velázquez-Madrazo, P.A. , Segura-Correa, J.C. , Rodríguez-Vázquez, R. and Ku-Vera, J.C. 2003. Effect of dehydrated pig faeces in the diet on microbial protein synthesis and fermentation balance in the rumen of Holstein steers. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 25: 17–25. The effect of incorporation of four levels (20, 25, 30 and 35% dry matter basis) of dehydrated pig faeces (DPF) on fermentation balance and microbial protein synthesis in the rumen was investigated. DPF were fed in complete rations consisting of sorghum grain, sorghum straw and cane molasses. Four Holstein steers (273±31 kg) and cannulated in the rumen and proximal duodenum were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square design and fed 8478g DM/day. Rumen pH was not affected, but the concentration of NH3-N (3.7, 6.2, 12.5 and 18.4 mg/100 ml) in rumen fluid was increased with graded levels of DPF in the ration. True rumen degradability of organic matter was linearly reduced (P<0.01) and microbial nitrogen synthesis (66.7 to 89.8g/d) and true efficiency of bacterial growth (14.8 to 22. Og N/kg OMAFR) were linearly increased (P<0.01) with graded levels of DPF. Relative molar proportion of VFA's in the rumen was basically acetic (63.2 to 66.0 mol/100 mol). Energy loss as CH4, energy retained in VFAs and the amount of ATPs produced per mol of glucose fermented was unaltered. Results suggest that incorporation of DPF in the ration improves rumen environment and efficiency of microbial growth in the rumen and consequently the availability of microbial nitrogen in the small intestine is also increased.
Can proboscis monkeys be successfully maintained in captivity? A case of swings and roundabouts

Although most western zoos have experienced difficulties in maintaining proboscis monkeys, the Singapore Zoo has managed to sustain a social group of proboscis monkeys housed in a large naturalistic exhibit since 1998. Within 3 years after the monkeys were brought to the zoo, five offspring were produced, all of which survived. Natural forest vegetation from 20 plant species was provided along with a staple diet of about seven different species on a daily basis. The calcium and sodium contents of the plant items consumed by monkeys in the Singapore Zoo were similar to those in the diet of wild proboscis monkeys in Borneo. However, the levels of other minerals, such as iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, zinc, and phosphorus, were significantly lower in the natural vegetation consumed by the monkeys compared to the wild diet. Food supplements such as primate biscuits, cod liver oil, boiled egg, multivitamins, and mineral syrup further ensured a more balanced diet for the captive monkeys. The data presented here show that zoos can maintain these rare Colobine monkeys successfully by provide them with a natural diet, along with appropriate husbandry and hygiene practices, minimal human interference, and applied nutritional science. The husbandry and nutritional management model presented in this paper could be of use to other institutions around the world. Zoo Biol 23:533–544, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
A hybrid lipid membrane coating “shape-locks” silver nanoparticles to prevent surface oxidation and silver ion dissolution

The controlled synthesis of stable silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), that do not undergo surface oxidation and Ag+ ion dissolution, continues to be a major challenge. Here the synthesis of robust hybrid lipid-coated AgNPs, comprised of l-α-phosphatidylcholine (PC) membranes anchored by a stoichiometric amount of long-chained hydrophobic thiols and sodium oleate (SOA) as hydrophobic binding partners, that do not undergo surface oxidation and Ag+ ion dissolution, is described. UV-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) demonstrate that in the presence of strong oxidants, such as potassium cyanide (KCN), the hybrid lipid-coated AgNPs are stable and do not undergo surface oxidation even in the presence of membrane destabilizing surfactants. UV-Vis studies show that the stability of hybrid lipid-coated AgNPs of various sizes and shapes is dependent on the length of the thiol hydrocarbon chain and can be ranked in the order of increasing stability as follows: propanethiol (PT) < hexanethiol (HT) ≤ decanethiol (DT). UV-Vis and ICP-MS studies show that the hybrid lipid-coated AgNPs do not change in size or shape confirming that the AgNPs do not undergo surface oxidation and Ag+ ion dissolution when placed in the presence of strong oxidants, chlorides, thiols, and low pH. Long-term stability studies, over 21 days, show that the hybrid lipid-coated AgNPs do not release Ag+ ions and are more stable. Overall, these studies demonstrate hybrid membrane encapsulation of nanomaterials is a viable method for stabilizing AgNPs in a “shape-locked” form that is unable to undergo surface oxidation, Ag+ ion release, aging, or shape conversion. More importantly, this design strategy is a simple approach to the synthesis and stabilization of AgNPs for a variety of biomedical and commercial applications where Ag+ ion release and toxicity is a concern. With robust and shielded AgNPs, investigators can now evaluate and correlate how the physical features of AgNPs influence toxicity without the confounding factor of Ag+ ions present in samples. This design strategy also provides an opportunity where the membrane composition can be tuned to control the release rate of Ag+ ions for optimizing antimicrobial activity.
Noise, predation risk compensation and vigilance in the chaffinch Fringilla coelebs

Background noise should in theory hinder detection of auditory cues associated with approaching danger. We tested whether foraging chaffinches Fringilla coelebs responded to background noise by increasing vigilance, and examined whether this was explained by predation risk compensation or by a novel stimulus hypothesis. The former predicts that only inter-scan interval should be modified in the presence of background noise, not vigilance levels generally. This is because noise hampers auditory cue detection and increases perceived predation risk primarily when in the head-down position, and also because previous tests have shown that only interscan interval is correlated with predator detection ability in this system. Chaffinches only modified interscan interval supporting this hypothesis. At the same time they made significantly fewer pecks when feeding during the background noise treatment and so the increased vigilance led to a reduction in intake rate, suggesting that compensating for the increased predation risk could indirectly lead to a fitness cost. Finally, the novel stimulus hypothesis predicts that chaffinches should habituate to the noise, which did not occur within a trial or over 5 subsequent trials. We conclude that auditory cues may be an important component of the trade-off between vigilance and feeding, and discuss possible implications for anti-predation theory and ecological processes.
Effect of Winding Layer and Segmented Rotor on Performance of Surface-mounted PMSM

This paper investigates the effect of an increase in winding layer of fractional slot surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). For this, two different winding layer in surface-mounted motor that have similar performance are examined. With the increase in winding layers, there is slight variation in torque, but losses in rotor core and permanent magnets decrease. Further, a segmented rotor design in a four-layer winding is chosen to see its influence on rotor losses. The results obtained through a simulation study based on two-dimensional finite element analysis show a reduction in rotor eddy current loss in comparison with the conventional rotor core in the four-layer winding configuration.
Analysis of Low Voltage Ride Through Techniques for Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems

This paper presents a comparative analysis of different low voltage ride though strategies proposed for operation of a grid connected two stage photovoltaic system under low voltages. The existing grid codes mandate that, under the presence of low voltages, a distributed energy resource (DER) must stay connected to the grid for a minimum amount of time. This results in abnormally high currents though the inverter of a PV system, which can potentially damage the semiconductor switches. To avoid this, low voltage ride through techniques are proposed in the literature to ensure that the DER stays connected to the grid. Traditionally, the performance of LVRT techniques is evaluated by assuming an ideal voltage dip at the point of common coupling. In this work, comparative evaluation of different LVRT techniques is carried out on the CERTS test bed with an objective to highlight the impact of network transients on their performance.
Dynamic Analysis of Series-Connected and Mechanically-Coupled Twin Synchronous Motor Drive

Series-connection of the stator windings of electric motors could serve a number of purposes, including load balancing between two synchronous motors. This paper modeled and analyzed a drive system of two separate three-phase synchronous motors whose stator windings are series- connected by a unique stator winding scheme, and whose shafts are mechanically coupled to a common load shaft through a speed reduction gear driven through the pinions of the respective motors. The mathematical model is developed in detail, and the system is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK. It is observed that for the case of a balanced load on the respective shafts of the two motors, the dynamic behavior of the two motors are identical. It is further observed that with the particular stator winding arrangement giving rise to six-windings per motor unit, each motor is essentially a three-phase motor and may be operated direct on line (DOL). Keywords: Common load shaft; DOL; series-connected stator windings; synchronous motors, six-winding machine
β-Catenin, a novel prognostic marker for breast cancer: Its roles in cyclin D1 expression and cancer progression

β-Catenin can function as an oncogene when it is translocated to the nucleus, binds to T cell factor or lymphoid enhancer factor family members, and transactivates its target genes. In this study, we demonstrate that cyclin D1 is one of the targets of β-catenin in breast cancer cells. Transactivation of β-catenin correlated significantly with cyclin D1 expression both in eight breast cell lines in vitro and in 123 patient samples. More importantly, we found that high β-catenin activity significantly correlated with poor prognosis of the patients and was a strong and independent prognostic factor in breast cancer. Our studies, therefore, indicated that β-catenin can be involved in breast cancer formation and/or progression and may serve as a target for breast cancer therapy.
DCNN-IDS : Deep Convolutional Neural Network based Intrusion Detection System

In the present era, cyberspace is growing tremendously and the intrusion detection system (IDS) plays a key role in it to ensure information security. The IDS, which works in network and host level, should be capable of identifying various malicious attacks. The job of network-based IDS is to differentiate between normal and malicious traffic data and raise an alert in case of an attack. Apart from the traditional signature and anomaly-based approaches, many researchers have employed various deep learning (DL) techniques for detecting intrusion as DL models are capable of extracting salient features automatically from the input data. The application of deep convolutional neural network (DCNN), which is utilized quite often for solving research problems in image processing and vision fields, is not explored much for IDS. In this paper, a DCNN architecture for IDS which is trained on KDDCUP 99 data set is proposed. This work also shows that the DCNN-IDS model performs superior when compared with other existing works.
EVOLUTION OF A FLOWER DIMORPHISM: HOW EFFECTIVE IS POLLEN DISPERSAL BY "MALE" FLOWERS?

Many plants produce more flowers than will set fruit. In some species, a subset of flowers are actually female-sterile and morphologically distinct; these flowers are presumed to enhance fitness primarily through pollen donation. Individual plants of the hummingbird-pollinated shrub Besleria triflora produce both long-styled and short-styled flower morphs, characteristic of these "andromonoecious" sexual systems. Short-styled flowers set fruit rarely when hand-pollinated and are therefore functionally staminate. To test the hypothesis that selection for increased male function maintains flower dimorphism, I measured relative pollen dispersal per unit investment by staminate vs. perfect (long- styled) flowers. In the field, anthers of perfect flowers dispersed pollen for a significantly longer time than did those of staminate flowers. In laboratory experiments, hummingbirds transferred more pollen per visit from perfect flowers than from staminate flowers, in part due to differences in flower-morph pollen production. As a result, perfect flowers dispersed substantially more pollen than staminate flowers over an average flower lifetime. The two flower morphs did not differ in the amount of biomass invested through the time of corolla abscission, suggesting that staminate flowers do not conserve resources substantially. These results fail to support the "male-function" hypothesis for the evolution of andromonoecy. Staminate flowers contribute relatively little to plant reproductive success directly through male function, suggesting they are maintained for reproductive functions other than pollen donation.
Doxorobicin as cargo in a redox-responsive drug delivery system capped with water dispersible ZnS nanoparticles

In this work, we have prepared and investigated a redox-responsive drug delivery system (DDS) based on a porous carrier. Doxorubicin (DOX), a chemotherapy medication for treatment of different kinds of cancer, was used as a model drug in the study. DOX was loaded in ordered hexagonal mesoporous silica SBA-15, a nanoporous material with good biocompatibility, stability, large pore size and specific surface area (SBET = 908 m2 g−1, VP = 0.79 cm3 g−1, d = 5.9 nm) and easy surface modification. To prepare the redox-responsive system, cystamine derivative ligands, with redox active disulphide linkers were grafted onto the surface of SBA-15. To ensure no significant premature release of DOX from the porous system, thioglycolic acid modified ZnS nanoparticles (ZnS–COOH NPs) were used as pore capping agents. The grafted redox-responsive cystamine derivative ligand containing disulphide linkers was bonded by a peptide bond to the thioglycolic acid groups of ZnS–COOH NPs, capping the pores. Once the disulphide bond was cleaved, the ZnS–COOH NPs caps were released and pores were opened to deliver the DOX cargo. The dithiol bond was cleavable by redox active molecules such as dithiothreitol (DTT) or glutathione, the concentration of which in cancer cells is 4 times higher than in healthy cells. The redox release of DOX was studied in two different media, physiological saline solution with DTT and saline without DTT. The prepared DDS proved the concept of redox responsive release. All samples were characterised by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transition electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption/desorption at 77 K, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal analysis and zeta potential measurements. The presence of semiconducting ZnS nanoparticle caps on the pore openings was detected by magnetic measurements using SQUID magnetometry showing that such cargo systems could be monitored using magnetic measurements which opens up the possibilities of using such drug delivery systems as theranostic agents.
Comparison of a Canadian and a Dutch strain of the parasitoid Aphelinus mali (Hald) (Hym., Aphelinidae) for control of woolly apple aphid Eriosoma lanigerum (Haussmann) (Hom., Aphididae) in the Netherlands: a simulation approach

Woolly apple aphid, Eriosoma lanigerum is one of the important apple pests in the Netherlands. Weather conditions and natural enemies determine whether woolly apple aphid (WAA) will reach pest status. WAA may escape control by natural enemies and therefore it must be controlled using chemical insecticides. To prevent unnecessary applications of insecticides and to promote biological and natural control of WAA more knowledge is needed about the role of natural enemies, weather and their effects on the development of WAA populations. The monophagous parasitoid Aphelinus mali (Hald.) has been introduced into most of apple growing areas to control WAA, but success is variable and depends on climatological conditions. In the Netherlands the level of parasitization is often too low, especially after warm winters. The biological control potential of a strain of A. mali from Nova Scotia (Canada) was compared with a Dutch strain by simulating population growth of both WAA and the Dutch and Canadian strain of the parasitoid for three different years The results indicate that the Canadian strain would perform in general better than the Dutch strain under Dutch weather conditions.
Modernizing Dairy Farm: A Production Mode Analysis

Appearing livestock modernity due to a greater dependency on the market and actions follows the capitalistic logic of production. This study focuses on the mode of production in developing dairy cattle in the modernity era. Data collection was carried out through observations, recordings, and deep interviews for key informants using the snowball technique. The data were compiled in forms of field notes and audio records transferring into written transcription. Those data were then analyzed using thematic analysis. This study found out that the forces of production in dairy farms are based on simple technology, and subsistence needs orientation. Also, this study becomes aware of the social relations of production in dairy farms are based on a low division of labor and combine morality and rationality based on production organizations. Thus, the mode of production of dairy farming is a non-capitalistic. This research contributes to the modernization theory that the modernization process is not always displayed by changes from non-capitalistic to capitalistic modes of production. It is expected that dairy farming is no longer considered a side job, but is a promising and attractive job for the younger generation. Thus, this condition encourages the emergence of young breeders who certainly have better abilities than the current breeders. The increasing entrepreneurial spirit of farmers, it is expected to have an impact on increasing income and employment. Production mode also plays an essential function to assist in increasing output per labor unit. Labor productivity is projected to rise through innovation and technology.