Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The structure of the dynactin complex and its interaction with dynein

Making a molecular motor fit for purpose Dynactin is an essential cofactor of the microtubule motor, cytoplasmic dynein. Dynactin contains 23 subunits built around a short filament of an actin-related protein (Arp1). How dynactin is assembled, how it functions with dynein, and why it is built around an actin-like filament is unclear. Urnavicius et al. combined cryo–electron microscopy structural studies and a crystal structure to determine the three-dimensional architecture of dynactin and how it interacts with dynein. Science, this issue p. 1441 Cryo–electron microscopy structures reveal how the 23-subunit dynactin complex is assembled and binds to the motor protein cytoplasmic dynein-1. Dynactin is an essential cofactor for the microtubule motor cytoplasmic dynein-1. We report the structure of the 23-subunit dynactin complex by cryo-electron microscopy to 4.0 angstroms. Our reconstruction reveals how dynactin is built around a filament containing eight copies of the actin-related protein Arp1 and one of β-actin. The filament is capped at each end by distinct protein complexes, and its length is defined by elongated peptides that emerge from the α-helical shoulder domain. A further 8.2 angstrom structure of the complex between dynein, dynactin, and the motility-inducing cargo adaptor Bicaudal-D2 shows how the translational symmetry of the dynein tail matches that of the dynactin filament. The Bicaudal-D2 coiled coil runs between dynein and dynactin to stabilize the mutually dependent interactions between all three components.
Nonequilibrium clumped isotope signals in microbial methane

What controls clumped isotopes? Stable isotopes of a molecule can clump together in several combinations, depending on their mass. Even for simple molecules such as O2, which can contain 16O, 17O, and 18O in various combinations, clumped isotopes can potentially reveal the temperatures at which molecules form. Away from equilibrium, however, the pattern of clumped isotopes may reflect a complex array of processes. Using high-resolution gas-phase mass spectrometry, Yeung et al. found that biological factors influence the clumped isotope signature of oxygen produced during photosynthesis (see the Perspective by Passey). Similarly, Wang et al. showed that away from equilibrium, kinetic effects causing isotope clumping can lead to overestimation of the temperature at which microbially produced methane forms. Science, this issue p. 431; p. 428; see also p. 394 Methanogenesis renders clumped isotopes useful for constraining how methane forms deep underground. [Also see Perspective by Passey] Methane is a key component in the global carbon cycle, with a wide range of anthropogenic and natural sources. Although isotopic compositions of methane have traditionally aided source identification, the abundance of its multiply substituted “clumped” isotopologues (for example, 13CH3D) has recently emerged as a proxy for determining methane-formation temperatures. However, the effect of biological processes on methane’s clumped isotopologue signature is poorly constrained. We show that methanogenesis proceeding at relatively high rates in cattle, surface environments, and laboratory cultures exerts kinetic control on 13CH3D abundances and results in anomalously elevated formation-temperature estimates. We demonstrate quantitatively that H2 availability accounts for this effect. Clumped methane thermometry can therefore provide constraints on the generation of methane in diverse settings, including continental serpentinization sites and ancient, deep groundwaters.
Quadrants dynamic histogram equalization for contrast enhancement

In this paper, we introduce a histogram equalization (HE)-based technique, called quadrant dynamic histogram equalization (QDHE), for digital images captured from consumer electronic devices. Initially, the proposed QDHE algorithm separates the histogram into four (quadrant) sub-histograms based on the median of the input image. Then, the resultant sub-histograms are clipped according to the mean of intensity occurrence of input image before new dynamic range is assigned to each sub-histogram. Finally, each sub-histogram is equalized. Based on extensive simulation results, the QDHE method outperforms some methods existing in literature, which can be considered as state-of-the-arts, by producing clearer enhanced images without any intensity saturation, noise amplification, and over-enhancement. Furthermore, image details of the processed image are well preserved and highlighted. For this reason, the proposed QDHE algorithm is suitable for images captured in low-light environments - an unavoidable situation by many consumer electronics products such as camera devices in cell phone.
Lightweight multimedia packet prioritization model for unequal error protection

In this paper, we analyze the effect of packet losses in multimedia sequences and propose a priority model for the packets, where the highest priorities are given to the packets whose loss has stronger effect in the perceived Quality of Experience (QoE). The proposed model assigns priorities to each of the media packets based on the audiovisual coding structure: type of frame, position of the packet within the frame and position of the frame within the GOP. This model can be used as a basis for Unequal Error Protection (UEP) strategies where, from a window of consecutive packets, only a fraction of them are protected and the others may potentially get lost. The experiments conducted show that this strategy strongly reduces the Mean Square Error (MSE) of the received sequence compared to the situation where the same ratio of packet losses is produced randomly. The strategy provides a good MSE gain even when the bit budget assigned to encode the priority of each packet is small. The prioritization model and the priority label signalization are fully compatible with current standards for multimedia distribution, and therefore they can be immediately applied to existing multimedia delivery services, such as IPTV platforms.
Recent hiatus caused by decadal shift in Indo-Pacific heating

Looking for the missing heat Global warming apparently slowed, or even stopped, during the first decade of the 21st century. This pause is commonly called the “hiatus. ” We know, however, that Earth's climate system is accumulating excess solar energy owing to the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Where, then, has this energy gone if not into the air? Nieves et al. find that over this period, the surface Pacific Ocean has cooled but the upper Indian and Southern Oceans have warmed. Thus, the decade-long hiatus that began in 2003 would appear to be the result of a redistribution of heat within the ocean, rather than a change in the whole-Earth warming rate. Science, this issue p. 532 Shifting ocean heat distributions slowed global warming. Recent modeling studies have proposed different scenarios to explain the slowdown in surface temperature warming in the most recent decade. Some of these studies seem to support the idea of internal variability and/or rearrangement of heat between the surface and the ocean interior. Others suggest that radiative forcing might also play a role. Our examination of observational data over the past two decades shows some significant differences when compared to model results from reanalyses and provides the most definitive explanation of how the heat was redistributed. We find that cooling in the top 100-meter layer of the Pacific Ocean was mainly compensated for by warming in the 100- to 300-meter layer of the Indian and Pacific Oceans in the past decade since 2003.
Design and characterization of a torque-controllable actuator for knee assistance during sit-to-stand

Individuals with post-stroke hemiparesis often have difficulty standing out of a chair. One way to potentially improve sit-to-stand is to provide knee extension assistance using a powered knee exoskeleton. An exoskeleton providing unilateral, partial assistance during sit-to-stand would need to be torque-controllable. There are no knee exoskeletons on the market suitable for conducting experiments assisting stroke patients with sit-to-stand, so to enable such experiments a research device was developed. The purpose of this report is to present the design of a novel knee exoskeleton actuator that uses a fiberglass leaf spring in series to improve torque-controllability, and present a characterization of the actuator performance. The actuator is capable of the required torque and speed for sit-to-stand, has high bandwidth (25 Hz), low output impedance at low frequencies (<;0.5 Nm), and excellent torque tracking. An orthotic brace built upon this actuator will enable an in-depth study on the biomechanical effects of providing stroke subjects with knee extension assistance during sit-to-stand.
Secure access to patient's health records using SpeechXRays a mutli-channel biometrics platform for user authentication

The most commonly used method for user authentication in ICT services or systems is the application of identification tools such as passwords or personal identification numbers (PINs). The rapid development in ICT technology regarding smart devices (laptops, tablets and smartphones) has allowed also the advance of hardware components that capture several biometric traits such as fingerprints and voice. These components are aiming among others to overcome weaknesses and flaws of password usage under the prism of improved user authentication with higher level of security, privacy and usability. To this respect, the potential application of biometrics for secure user authentication regarding access in systems with sensitive data (i.e. patient's data from electronic health records) shows great potentials. SpeechXRays aims to provide a user recognition platform based on biometrics of voice acoustics analysis and audio-visual identity verification. Among others, the platform aims to be applied as an authentication tool for medical personnel in order to gain specific access to patient's electronic health records. In this work a short description of SpeechXrays implementation tool regarding eHealth is provided and analyzed. This study explores security and privacy issues, and offers a comprehensive overview of biometrics technology applications in addressing the e-Health security challenges. We present and describe the necessary requirement for an eHealth platform concerning biometric security.
Position-based diversity transmission scheme employing optical wireless communication

We propose a position-based diversity transmission scheme for indoor optical wireless communication. In our scheme, the I (in-phase) and Q (Quadrature) signal of QPSK (quaternary phase-shift keying) modulation are transmitted separately to obtain a secure position-based transmission. We analyze probability of error with different mode numbers of the radiation lobe of Lambertian source, and position of the transmitters to attain single or multiple secure area(s). To obtain different secured areas, TDMA (time-division multiple access) with adaptive transmitted power for each time slot is applied. According to analytical results, the signal can be demodulated correctly only in the specific area and high-level security for optical wireless communication systems can then be achieved. In our scheme, the probability that the intruders can get the correct signal is decreased 90%, compared to conventional QPSK.
Impacto dos nutrientes na saúde óssea: novas tendências

Nutrition is an important factor in bone mass development/maintenance and in osteoporosis prevention. This disease is characterized by decreased skeletal mass and increased susceptibility to fractures. The greatest determinant of this condition is the peak bone mass (PBM). Hence, alterations over time indicate the importance of maintaining adequate nutrition during the development of this peak. In adult age, individuals who reached a high PBM will have a low risk of developing bone metabolic diseases when aging. Nutrients exert intense and wide-ranging effects on skeletal structures. Some of them have been consistently related with bone health, such as calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D. However, it has been suggested that other nutrients are essential for normal bone metabolism: proteins, lipids, potassium, vitamins K and A, and sodium chloride. The influence of interactions between these nutritional factors, environment, lifestyle, and heredity will help understand the complex development of osteoporosis and subsequent fractures. In addition, energy deficits can lead to reduced bone mass, in view of endocrine-metabolic disorders caused by food deprivation. This review aims at clarifying the impact of nutrients and of calories intake on the bones during different stages in life, describing possible interactions among nutrients and how these could affect bone and mineral homeostasis.
How to bolster the antifungal pipeline

Few drugs are coming to market, but opportunities for drug development exist About 1.2 billion people worldwide are estimated to suffer from a fungal disease (1, 2). Most are infections of the skin or mucosa, which respond readily to therapy, but a substantial minority is invasive or chronic and difficult to diagnose and treat. An estimated 1.5 to 2 million people die of a fungal infection each year, surpassing those killed by either malaria or tuberculosis (3). Most of this mortality is caused by species belonging to four genera of fungi: Aspergillus, Candida, Cryptococcus, and Pneumocystis. Although great strides were made in the 1990s, drug development has largely stalled since then. Opportunities exist for accelerating development, particularly in fungal asthma, and to treat chronic and invasive aspergillosis.
PT-LRU: a probabilistic page replacement algorithm for NAND flash-based consumer electronics

The flash memory is being used to an everincreasing extent in consumer electronics for the purpose of the dominant secondary storage device. Aiming at the buffer replacement policy for flash-based storage devices in efficiency, a new efficient flash-aware buffer replacement algorithm based on probability is proposed, where three LRU linked lists are used to manage the buffer. The proposed algorithm delays the eviction of hot clean pages by evicting the cold clean pages preferentially. When the cold clean linked list is empty, the pages in the cold dirty linked list will be expelled from the buffer with a higher probability, whereas the probability of evicting the hot clean pages is lower. In that way, hot clean pages cannot reside in the buffer for a long time. Moreover, an interpretation model for describing the proposed algorithm is developed from FSM. Highlights of the experiments include an evaluation with the dynamic write/read ratio traces. Experimental results and detailed comparisons with other similar best-known competitor algorithms on the static write/read ratio traces and the dynamic write/read ratio traces show that not only does the proposed algorithm reduce the write counts, but also it offers a trade-off between the hit ratio and the overall runtime in most cases. The adaptability of the proposed method is also verified by the experiments on various kinds of traces including random, read-most, write-most and Zipf.
Motivations, Death Anxiety, and Empathy in Hospice Volunteers in France

This study examined the motivations for volunteering of hospice volunteers in France. In addition, their levels of death anxiety and empathy were measured and compared with those of French non-hospice volunteers and non-volunteers. Three questionnaires—the Inventory of Motivations for Hospice Palliative Care Volunteerism (IMHPCV),1 the Templer/McMordie Death Anxiety Scale2, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index3—were sent via an Internet link to 2 hospice volunteer associations and to non-hospice volunteers and non-volunteers (only the hospice volunteers received the IMHPCV). Altruistic motives had the most influence on the respondents’ decision to become a hospice volunteer. French hospice volunteers scored significantly lower on 3 categories of motives on the IMHPCV compared to a sample of Canadian hospice palliative care volunteers (study 2),1 suggesting that cultural differences may be involved. No significant differences were found in levels of death anxiety or empathy between the 3 groups of respondents of the study.
Implantable gastric electric stimulator with automatic daily activity compliance reporting

In order for any obesity therapy to be successful real behavior change by the individual is required. We present an implantable obesity therapy that combines gastric electrical stimulation for satiety with onboard sensors that provide self-monitoring for the patient and compliance reporting to the clinician. An algorithm for processing data from the onboard three axis accelerometer for use in physical activity monitoring was developed and validated. Four obese patients participated in a study where self-reported sleep and exercise was compared with the events detected by the implanted system, and two commercially available, wearable activity monitors.
Circuit-specific signaling in astrocyte-neuron networks in basal ganglia pathways

Cell type–specific glial networks Glial cells respond to neurotransmitters when nerve cells communicate with each other. Glial cells themselves release gliotransmitters that regulate neural synaptic transmission. Martín et al. studied this reciprocal relationship in a brain region called the dorsal striatum, which has two types of experimentally identifiable neurons and two types of synapses (see the Perspective by Gittis and Brasier). Subpopulations of glial cells selectively responded to the activity of one specific type of neuron. In turn, these specifically activated glial cells signaled only to the same type of neurons but not the other, indicating that glial-nerve signaling is largely cell-type specific. Science, this issue p. 730; see also p. 690 Astrocytes are selective when they signal neurons and vice versa. [Also see Perspective by Gittis and Brasier] Astrocytes are important regulatory elements in brain function. They respond to neurotransmitters and release gliotransmitters that modulate synaptic transmission. However, the cell- and synapse-specificity of the functional relationship between astrocytes and neurons in certain brain circuits remains unknown. In the dorsal striatum, which mainly comprises two intermingled subtypes (striatonigral and striatopallidal) of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) and synapses belonging to two neural circuits (the direct and indirect pathways of the basal ganglia), subpopulations of astrocytes selectively responded to specific MSN subtype activity. These subpopulations of astrocytes released glutamate that selectively activated N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors in homotypic, but not heterotypic, MSNs. Likewise, astrocyte subpopulations selectively regulated homotypic synapses through metabotropic glutamate receptor activation. Therefore, bidirectional astrocyte-neuron signaling selectively occurs between specific subpopulations of astrocytes, neurons, and synapses.
A user-space storage I/O framework for NVMe SSDs in mobile smart devices

As the application of smart devices becomes more complex, the number of file I/Os has been increased on mobile devices, making the storage performance plays an important role in ensuring better user experience. According to this trend, various researches have been performed to reduce the storage I/O or to improve the performance of the storage device itself. However, existing schemes are not a fundamental solution for improving the storage performance and limited to specific parts of the entire storage layers. In this study, a new storage I/O framework, called NVMeDirect, is proposed to improve the storage performance. The proposed framework improves the performance by allowing applications to access storage directly without any hardware modification. Also, a lightweight filesystem, operated on top of the proposed framework is provided to enable existing applications to be ported on the NVMeDirect framework easily. To evaluate the proposed I/O framework, we have conducted extensive experiments with micro-benchmark and real-world workloads. The experiment results show that, compared to the existing kernel I/O scheme, the proposed framework improves the small file I/O performance by 12.5% and the real-world mobile workload performance by up to 20%.
Virtual-Blind-Road Following-Based Wearable Navigation Device for Blind People

To help the blind people walk to the destination efficiently and safely in indoor environment, a novel wearable navigation device is presented in this paper. The locating, way-finding, route following, and obstacle avoiding modules are the essential components in a navigation system, while it remains a challenging task to consider obstacle avoiding during route following, as the indoor environment is complex, changeable, and possibly with dynamic objects. To address this issue, we propose a novel scheme which utilizes a dynamic subgoal selecting strategy to guide the users to the destination and help them bypass obstacles at the same time. This scheme serves as the key component of a complete navigation system deployed on a pair of wearable optical see-through glasses for the ease of use of blind people’s daily walks. The proposed navigation device has been tested on a collection of individuals and proved to be effective on indoor navigation tasks. The sensors embedded are of low cost, small volume, and easy integration, making it possible for the glasses to be widely used as a wearable consumer device.
Does capsaicin affect the thermal sensation of males during immersion in 18°C and 22°C?

Animals respond to acute local or systemic administration of capsaicin with strong nociceptive reactions. The present investigation examined the thermal sensation in males who were given capsaicin (CAP, 2 mg · kg−1 body weight) vs a placebo (PL, a maltodextrin capsule) before immersion in cold water. Seven Caucasian males ages 20–28 years were immersed in 18°C and 22°C twice (PL vs CAP) for 120 minutes. The following were examined: metabolism (Vo2; L · min−1), rectal temperature (Tre; °C), and thermal sensation (TS). For Vo2 there were no significant differences between treatments (PL vs CAP) when the variables were pooled jointly over the two immersion temperatures (18°C and 22°C) and across time. However, for Tre there were significant differences detected across time (p = 0.01) when Tre was pooled jointly across two treatments and two immersion temperatures. Postanalysis of variance revealed specific significant differences between 5 minutes (mean ± SE; 37.2 ± 0.07) and 120 minutes (36.0 ± 0.09). For TS, there was a trend (p = 0.0699) which demonstrated differences between immersion temperatures only when TS was pooled jointly over the two treatments and across time, whereby TS was lower in 18°C (6.2 ± 0.5) than in 22°C (3.7 ± 0.6). From these data it appears that although Tre differed across time and temperature, respectively, a CAP feeding did not affect differentially the TS and metabolic response of males during acute cold water immersion.