Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Herpesvirus 6 Glycoprotein Complex Formation Is Required for Folding and Trafficking of the gH/gL/gQ1/gQ2 Complex and Its Cellular Receptor Binding

ABSTRACT Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is a T-cell-tropic betaherpesvirus. A glycoprotein (g) complex that is unique to HHV-6, gH/gL/gQ1/gQ2, is a viral ligand for its cellular receptor, human CD46. However, whether complex formation or one component of the complex is required for CD46 binding and how the complex is transported in cells are open questions. Furthermore, in HHV-6-infected cells the gQ1 protein modified with N-linked glycans is expressed in two forms with different molecular masses: an 80-kDa form (gQ1-80K) and a 74-kDa form (gQ1-74K). Only gQ1-80K, but not gQ1-74K, forms the complex with gQ2, gH, and gL, and this four-component complex is incorporated into mature virions. Here, we characterized the molecular context leading to the maturation of gQ1 by expressing combinations of the individual gH/gL/gQ1/gQ2 components in 293T cells. Surprisingly, only when all four molecules were expressed was a substantial amount of gQ1-80K detected, indicating that all three of the other molecules (gQ2, gH, and gL) were necessary and sufficient for gQ1 maturation. We also found that only the tetrameric complex, and not its subsets, binds to CD46. Finally, a gQ2-null virus constructed in the BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) system could not be reconstituted, indicating that gQ2 is essential for virus growth. These results show that gH, gL, gQ1, and gQ2 are all essential for the trafficking and proper folding of the gH/gL/gQ1/gQ2 complex and, thus, for HHV-6 infection.
Videometric Measurement of Individual Characteristics in Difficult to Access Subject Pools: Demonstrating with Ceos

This work describes and demonstrates a novel measurement system refered to as videometrics. Videometrics uses third-party ratings of video samples to assess individuals’ characteristics with psychometrically validated instruments of the measures of interest. Videometrics is argued to help ensure valid measurement in difficult to access subject pools, offering substantial promise for future research. This work explains the methodology and demonstrates the applicability and validity of videometrics in multiple studies in the context of a difficult to access subject pool – chief executive officers (CEOs). Finally, the applicability of the method to samples for which lack of access to individuals of interest has limited empirical investigation is discussed.
Working Paper Series Fiscal multipliers and foreign holdings of public debt

This paper explores a natural connection between fiscal multipliers and foreign holdings of public debt. Although fiscal expansions can raise domestic economic activity through various channels, they can also have crowding-out effects if the resources used to acquire public debt reduce domestic consumption and investment. These crowding-out effects are likely to be weaker when governments have access to foreign markets to place their debt, increasing the size of multipliers. We test this hypothesis on (i) post-war US data and (ii) data for a panel of 17 advanced economies from the 1980’s to the present. To do so, we assemble a novel database of public debt holdings by domestic and foreign creditors for a large set of advanced economies. We combine this data with standard measures of fiscal policy shocks and show that, indeed, the size of fiscal multipliers is increasing in the share of public debt held by foreigners. In particular, the fiscal multiplier is smaller than one when the foreign share is low, such as in the U.S. in the 1950’s and 1960’s and Japan today, and larger than one when the foreign share is high, such as in the U.S. and Ireland today.
Conception et réalisation de structures IGBTs bidirectionnelles en courant et en tension

Dans ce memoire, nous proposons une structure IGBT symetrique en courant et en tension. Cet interrupteur monolithique et commande par MOS devrait pouvoir remplacer la structure triac, actuellement le seul dispositif bidirectionnel monolithique commercialise, dans des applications sur le reseau alternatif. En effet, le triac est un composant commande en courant et necessite une energie de commande elevee par rapport aux structures commandees en tension. Nous avons dans un premier temps analyse les principales structures bidirectionnelles commandees en tension proposees dans la litterature afin de determiner leurs avantages et leurs limitations. Nous avons ensuite etudie, concu et realise la structure IGBT bidirectionnelle en courant et en tension. L'etude menee utilise des simulations 2D afin d'evaluer l'influence des parametres technologiques et geometriques sur les performances en conduction et en commutation de l'IGBT bidirectionnel. Deux voies technologiques pour la realisation du composant ont ete proposees et integrees dans la filiere IGBT du LAAS. La premiere voie est basee sur l'utilisation de la technique de photolithographie double face et la deuxieme est basee sur la technique de soudure directe Si/Si. Une analyse approfondie des deux techniques nous a permis de mettre en evidence les atouts et les limites de chaque technique. Enfin, nous avons propose une autre structure bidirectionnelle en courant et en tension, commandee par MOS et a electrodes coplanaires. En effet, cette structure originale a toutes ses electrodes de puissance et de commande sur une seule face du substrat ce qui permet de remedier a la difficulte d'encapsulation rencontree avec la plupart des structures bidirectionnelles proposees dans la litterature. Cette architecture originale devrait en outre faciliter, en utilisant des techniques d'interconnexion 3D, l'integration in package du dispositif de puissance avec sa commande. Une analyse du fonctionnement de cette structure est effectu ee a l'aide de simulations 2D et des elements de conception et de realisation ont ete donnes.
Perinatal Outcome and Later Implications of Intrauterine Growth Restriction

This chapter reviews outcomes for children who have intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) or small-for-gestation-age (SGA) status at birth. Such infants are at risk for increased perinatal mortality, birth adaptation complications, including perinatal acidosis, hypoglycemia, hypothermia, coagulation abnormalities, and selected immunologic deficiencies. IUGR infants also appear to be at great risk for complications of prematurity, including chronic lung disease and necrotizing enterocolitis. Childhood implications for IUGR include an increased risk for short stature, cognitive delays with decreased academic achievement, and a small but significant increased risk of neurologic disorders, including cerebral palsy. Low socioeconomic status is correlated with the occurrence of IUGR and is significantly related to long-term disabilities. Morbidities associated with preterm delivery appear to be additive to those associated with fetal growth restriction so IUGR, preterm infants may be at great risk for poor neurodevelopmental outcome.
Vers des Agents Conversationnels Animés Socio-Affectifs

Dans cet article, nous proposons une architecture d'un Agent Conversationnel Animé (ACA) socio-affectif. Les différents modèles computationnels sous-jacents à cette architecture, permettant de donner la capacité à un ACA d'exprimer des émotions et des attitudes sociales durant son interaction avec l'utilisateur, sont présentés.
Habitat use patterns of franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei) off southern Brazil in relation to water depth

The patterns of habitat use by the franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei) along its distribution are poorly known. This study investigates the patterns of habitat use with respect to depth for 181 individuals of different age, size, gender and reproductive condition off Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. The results reveal that franciscanas are very homogeneously distributed according to depth. Individuals from all lengths utilize nearly the entire range of depths of the surveyed area. Larger or older animals do not use deeper waters than younger animals, indicating that body size and age are not limiting factors for franciscanas that occupy deeper or offshore waters. Gestation seems to not cause a change in the distribution of females. Although the sex-ratio of the overall data did not vary from 1:1 in different depth intervals, a small-scale comparison between the northern and southern coast demonstrated the existence of some kind of sexual segregation. Franciscana by-catch in Rio Grande do Sul is not sustainable and it is agreed that management procedures are needed. Nevertheless, the available data on species distribution do not allow the designing of a protected area in order to minimize the by-catches of a particular sex/reproductive class.
A Domain Decomposition Finite-Difference Method Utilizing Characteristic Basis Functions for Solving Electrostatic Problems

This paper presents an efficient approach for solving a linear system of equations arising in the domain decomposition finite-difference (DDFD) method, employed for electrostatic problems. This novel approach is based on utilizing characteristic basis functions (CBFs)-special functions defined on macrodomains, or blocks in which the computational domain is discretized by using the DDFD method. The use of the CBFs leads to a significant reduction in the number of unknowns, and results in a substantial size reduction of the DDFD system; this, in turn, enables us to handle the reduced matrix by using an iteration-free direct solver. The reduced sparse matrix system is solved via the Schur complement approach, which reduces the system into many independent smaller subsystems. Two electrostatic problems are used as examples to illustrate the application of the proposed approach. Numerical results that demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method are included.
Basal and morphine‐evoked dopaminergic neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens of MOR‐ and DOR‐knockout mice

Conventional and no net flux microdialysis were used to quantify basal and morphine‐induced extracellular dopamine (DA) levels and the basal extraction fraction, which provides an estimate of the rate of DA uptake, in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) of wild‐type mice and those with a constitutive deletion of mu (MOR)‐ or delta (DOR)‐opioid receptors. Locomotor activity was assessed in these same animals. No difference between genotypes in basal dialysate DA levels was seen. No net flux studies revealed significant decreases in the DA extraction fraction in both MOR‐ and DOR‐knockout mice, indicating decreased basal DA uptake in both genotypes. Extracellular DA, however, was unchanged. Because extracellular neurotransmitter levels are determined by the dynamics of both release and uptake, these findings provide suggestive evidence that basal DA release is decreased in mutant mice. Systemic administration of morphine significantly increased locomotor activity and dialysate DA levels in wild‐type mice. MOR‐knockout mice failed to exhibit a behavioural response to morphine. The ability of morphine to increase DA levels, however, was reduced but not prevented. No alteration in the effects of morphine was observed in DOR‐knockout mice. These data provide genetic evidence for the existence of tonically active MOR and DOR systems that modulate basal DA neurotransmission in the NAc. Furthermore, they demonstrate that in contrast to the locomotor‐activating effects of morphine, a small component of morphine‐evoked DA release occurs independently of MOR activation.
Automatic landform clasification of uplands based on Haralick's texture

This paper presents the results of applying Haralik's textures in the upland landform classification process. In environmental and landuse projects is important to know what kind of landforms are present in a geographic area. The objective of this work is to improve the performance of such classifications, adding information to the commonly used data features in such problems. The texture information was extracted using the method of Haralick, parameterized with moving windows of geo-referenced maps in raster format. Those maps contains information of the terrain morphology such as elevation, slopes, etc. Several tests were performed using different classifiers and cross-validation over a dataset with a total of 203401 samples. It was shown that Haralick's textures features are useful for the problem, because its performance is higher (about 97 %) in comparison with the achieved when using only morphological information of the terrain.
Novel colossal magnetoresistive thin film nonvolatile resistance random access memory (RRAM)

A novel nonvolatile memory Colossal Magnetoresistive (CMR) thin film resistor for Resistance RAM (RRAM) application has been characterized. A 1RIT RRAM test circuit based on 0.5 /spl mu/m CMOS has been fabricated. RRAM is a low power high-speed memory technology. The memory cell programming pulse is less than 5 V and pulse width as narrow as 10 ns. The high/low resistance ratio may be larger than 1,000. The results of a test array indicated that RRAM could be programmed by bit or by word.
Signalisation moléculaire par le système de réparation des mésappariements de l'ADN et l'agent anticancéreux cisplatine : étude des interactions protéine MutS-composé de lésion du cisplatine

Le systeme de reparation des mesappariements de l'ADN (MMR) est implique dans la cytotoxicite de l'agent anticancereux cisplatine en activant une voie apoptotique. La deficience de ce systeme de reparation est reliee in vivo a une chimioresistance des cellules cancereuses au cisplatine. Afin de definir le lien entre la cytotoxicite du cisplatine et le fonctionnement du systeme MMR, nous avons etudie l'interaction de la proteine MutS du systeme MMR bacterien avec un compose de lesion du cisplatine (forme lorsqu'une base non complementaire est incorporee en face de l'une des deux guanines platinees appartenant a l'adduit intrabrin d(GpG)). Mon travail a porte essentiellement sur i) une etude des proprietes biochimiques ATP-dependantes de MutS en presence d'un compose de lesion du cisplatineii) une etude d'interaction entre plusieurs composes de lesion du cisplatine et la proteine HMGB1 qui est bien connue comme pouvant inhiber l'accessibilite des lesions majoritaires du cisplatine a des proteines de reparation. Notre etude a ete realisee par des techniques de biologie moleculaire, de biochimie et de spectroscopie (resonance plasmonique de surface). Nous montrons qu'un compose de lesion du cisplatine module les proprietes ATP-dependantes de MutS, un resultat inattendu etant qu'il inhibe le relargage de MutS de l'ADN. Un compose de lesion pourrait donc jouer un role dans la signalisation MMR-dependante en modulant les stades precoces de l'initiation de la reparation ce qui est en accord avec le modele dit « de signalisation directe MMRdependante».
Performance analysis of an N/spl times/N ATM switch with Markov modulated Poisson process under back-pressure mechanism

In this paper we present a performance study of an input/output buffered type ATM switch with backpressure mechanism with an MMPP process as input. The backpressure is exerted at the Head of Line (HOL) level to prevent output buffer cell loss. MMPP process is chosen due to its bursty nature able to capture multimedia source characteristics such as data and voice. We propose an approximate method to calculate the total waiting time in the switch. Numerical examples will be given for two states MMPP to quantitatively show the effects of output buffer size b on performance switch. The analysis is done by using structured stochastic matrices of M/G/I type and the obtained results extend those related to scalar case (Poisson process).
Postnatal development of the Sertoli cell barrier, tubular lumen, and cytoskeleton of Sertoli and myoid cells in the rat, and their relationship to tubular fluid secretion and flow.

The postnatal development of the Sertoli cell barrier, tubular lumen, fluid flow, and cytoskeletal elements in Sertoli and myoid cells was investigated in the Sprague-Dawley rat. With the aid of hypertonic fixatives, a barrier to the rapid entry of fluid was noted in the majority of tubules on the 15th and 16th postnatal (p.n.) days and was completely formed in all tubules prior to p.n. day 18. The actin forming the ectoplasmic specialization (ES), a cytoskeletal complex related to the occluding junctions composing the barrier, began its development during the period of initial barrier formation (16 p.n. day) and progressively attained its adult prominence. The ES developed its characteristic adult pattern and adult fluorescent intensity at about p.n. day 22. Some seminiferous tubules showed very small lumina as early as p.n. day 10. All tubules were not open until p.n. day 30. The size (diameter) of the lumen increased slowly from p.n. day 10 until p.n. day 30 when it started to increase rapidly until about p.n. day 50. Fluid flow in seminiferous tubules was detected as early as p.n. day 20 and increased in amount thereafter. Myoid cell actin filament bundles, running in parallel, were present at p.n. day 10. Actin formed a meshwork pattern characteristic of the adult on, or slightly prior to, p.n. day 22. These data indicate that there is a temporal relationship between the development of the actin cytoskeleton within the Sertoli cell and initial formation of the Sertoli cell barrier. Similarly, there is a temporal relationship between the development of the actin cytoskeleton of myoid cells and tubular fluid flow. The rapid increase in tubular lumen diameter, however, does not correlate with the initial development of Sertoli and myoid cytoskeletal elements.
Anatomical abnormalities in mandibulofacial dysostosis.

A detailed dissection of the head and neck of a 7-month-old boy with mandibulofacial dysostosis is described and compared with other reported cases. A general growth retardation was found in the bones of the basicranium and calvaria as well as the face. The base of the skull was kyphotic, and the elements derived from the branchial arches articulated with the basicranium more anteriorly than usual. Certain middle ear structures were found to be extracranial. The facial muscles were generally normal except for the absence of elevators of the upper lip. The laryngeal cartilages were shortened anteroposteriorly, resulting in drastic reduction of the rima glottidis. The attachments of the masticatory muscles to the mandible suggested that the area of the temporomandibular joint had not completed normal differentiation, and that that part of the mandible which functioned as a condyle was actually an ossification around Meckel's cartilage. There was no infraorbital foramen, and the infraorbital neurovascular bundle was distributed instead to the palate. Clinical and functional correlations of the various defects are considered. Theories of pathogenesis are discussed on the basis of these findings. It is argued that these observations could be accounted for by an altered intercellular matrix with separate effects on skeletal growth and neural crest cell migration.
The Food Safety Performance of Ground Beef Suppliers to the National School Lunch Program

This report examines the food safety performance of suppliers of ground beef to the USDA National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Model results show that establishments that bid on contracts to supply NSLP displayed better food safety performance—in terms of fewer numbers of meat samples testing positive for Salmonella spp —than other establishments supplying ground beef to the commercial market. Results also show that the difference in food safety performance between the types of establishments may have narrowed after 2009. The report provides evidence that some establishments use information about their past food safety performance to decide whether to bid on contracts to supply NSLP.
DISTANCE, DURATION AND BLUR EFFECTS ON THE PERCEPTION OF PSEUDOISOCHROMATIC STIMULI

Abstract— Two experiments are reported that examine the effects of viewing distance, viewing duration, and stimulus clarity on performance with three popular versions of the pseudoisochromatic tests of colour deficiency. With a large sample of colour‐normal observers, highly significant effects of these viewing conditions are found. In addition, large differences in sensitivity to these conditions are obtained among the three tests employed (The American Optical Corporation test, the Dvorine test, and the Ishihara test). Results are discussed in terms of practical implications for test administration and in terms of likely processes, in addition to colour discrimination, assessed by these tests.
Nutrient intakes of women who are breastfeeding.

OBJECTIVE A study was carried out in Dunedin, New Zealand, to assess the adequacy of dietary intakes of a group of healthy women who had been exclusively breast feeding for approximately 3 months. DESIGN Demographic data and nutrient intakes as determined by two quantitative 24 h recalls within 2 weeks were collected from each woman. Dietary intakes were compared to Australian recommended nutrient intakes (RNIs) for lactating women. SUBJECTS From 93 eligible women who were recruited, 73 completed the study, giving a 78% response rate. RESULTS The mean (SD) energy intake of 8411 (2575) kJ (2007 kcal) was much lower than the recommended intake of 10,500 kJ. The majority of the women had intakes below two-thirds of the RNI for zinc, calcium, folate and vitamin A. Maternal age was significantly positively related to energy intakes (R2 = 14.2%), with women over thirty years having significantly higher energy intake (P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that lactation may be maintained on lower levels of energy intake than currently recommended, although there is concern that zinc and calcium may not be consumed in adequate amounts. Recommended intakes need to be reassessed to determine if they are too high for some nutrients. Maternal age appears to be a significant factor determining energy and nutrient intakes in this population.
Myostatin Directly Regulates Skeletal Muscle Fibrosis*

Skeletal muscle fibrosis is a major pathological hallmark of chronic myopathies in which myofibers are replaced by progressive deposition of collagen and other extracellular matrix proteins produced by muscle fibroblasts. Recent studies have shown that in the absence of the endogenous muscle growth regulator myostatin, regeneration of muscle is enhanced, and muscle fibrosis is correspondingly reduced. We now demonstrate that myostatin not only regulates the growth of myocytes but also directly regulates muscle fibroblasts. Our results show that myostatin stimulates the proliferation of muscle fibroblasts and the production of extracellular matrix proteins both in vitro and in vivo. Further, muscle fibroblasts express myostatin and its putative receptor activin receptor IIB. Proliferation of muscle fibroblasts, induced by myostatin, involves the activation of Smad, p38 MAPK and Akt pathways. These results expand our understanding of the function of myostatin in muscle tissue and provide a potential target for anti-fibrotic therapies.