Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Range-wide mtDNA phylogeography yields insights into the origins of Asian elephants

Recent phylogeographic studies of the endangered Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) reveal two highly divergent mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages, an elucidation of which is central to understanding the species's evolution. Previous explanations for the divergent clades include introgression of mtDNA haplotypes between ancestral species, allopatric divergence of the clades between Sri Lanka or the Sunda region and the mainland, historical trade of elephants, and retention of divergent lineages due to large population sizes. However, these studies lacked data from India and Myanmar, which host approximately 70 per cent of all extant Asian elephants. In this paper, we analyse mtDNA sequence data from 534 Asian elephants across the species's range to explain the current distribution of the two divergent clades. Based on phylogenetic reconstructions, estimates of times of origin of clades, probable ancestral areas of origin inferred from dispersal–vicariance analyses and the available fossil record, we believe both clades originated from Elephas hysudricus. This probably occurred allopatrically in different glacial refugia, the α clade in the Myanmar region and the β clade possibly in southern India–Sri Lanka, 1.6–2.1 Myr ago. Results from nested clade and dispersal–vicariance analyses indicate a subsequent isolation and independent diversification of the β clade in both Sri Lanka and the Sunda region, followed by northward expansion of the clade. We also find more recent population expansions in both clades based on mismatch distributions. We therefore suggest a contraction–expansion scenario during severe climatic oscillations of the Quaternary, with range expansions from different refugia during warmer interglacials leading to the varying geographical overlaps of the two mtDNA clades. We also demonstrate that trade in Asian elephants has not substantially altered the species's mtDNA population genetic structure.
Monoclonal antibodies to an interferon-induced Mr 68,000 protein and their use for the detection of double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase in human cells.

Extracts from interferon-treated human cells show an enhanced level of a double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase activity that is manifested by the phosphorylation of an endogenous Mr 69,000-72,000 protein in its phosphate-saturated state. By using a highly purified protein kinase fraction from interferon-treated human Daudi cells, we can now describe the preparation of murine monoclonal antibodies directed against this phosphoprotein, the Mr of which in its native state is found to be 68,000. These monoclonal antibodies (class IgG1) can identify the electrophoresed protein (p68) in polyacrylamide gels by the electrophoretic transfer blotting technique. Immunoprecipitates formed after incubation of extracts from interferon-treated human cells with the monoclonal antibodies can be conveniently recovered by protein A-Sepharose. Such immune complex preparations have associated protein kinase activity--i.e., addition of [gamma-32P]ATP results in the phosphorylation of p68 and added substrates, calf thymus histone, and eukaryotic initiation factor 2. Immune complex preparations from [35S]methionine-labeled extracts show the specific immunoprecipitation of p68. In addition, several other [35S]methionine-labeled proteins are bound unspecifically in these immune complexes prepared under similar experimental conditions as for the assay of protein kinase activity. These unspecifically bound proteins can be washed out by using a buffer containing detergents or high concentrations of KCl and magnesium acetate. Immune complex preparations washed similarly with these buffers still retain p68 but lose their capacity to phosphorylate p68 or exogenous substrates. These results indicate that p68 by itself has no protein kinase activity. The induction of [35S]methionine-labeled p68 in Daudi cells occurs with as little as 1 unit of human alpha interferon, with maximal synthesis between 6 to 9 hr after the addition of interferon. Actinomycin D blocks this induction.
On the Evolution of Multicellularity and Eusociality

In this article versions of the abstract NKC model are used to examine the conditions under which two significant evolutionary phenomenamulticellularity and eusocialityare likely to occur and why. First, comparisons in evolutionary performance are made between simulations of unicellular organisms and very simple multicellular-like organisms, under varying conditions. The results show that such multicellularity without differentiation appears selectively neutral, but that differentiation to soma (nonreproductives) proves beneficial as the amount of epistasis in the fitness landscape increases. This is explained by considering mutations in the generation of daughter cells and their subsequent effect on the propagule's fitness. This is interpreted as a simple example of the Baldwin effect. Second, the correspondences between multicellularity and eusociality are highlighted, particularly that both contain individuals who do not reproduce. The same process is then used to explain the emergence of eusocial colonies.
Do Information Security Policies Reduce the Incidence of Security Breaches: An Exploratory Analysis

Information is a critical corporate asset that has become increasingly vulnerable to attacks from viruses, hackers, criminals, and human error. Consequently, organizations are having to prioritize the security of their computer systems in order to ensure that their information assets retain their accuracy, confidentiality, and availability. While the importance of the information security policy InSPy in ensuring the security of information is acknowledged widely, to date there has been little empirical analysis of its impact or effectiveness in this role. To help fill this gap, an exploratory study was initiated that sought to investigate the relationship between the uptake and application of information security policies and the accompanying levels of security breaches. To this end, a questionnaire was designed, validated, and then targeted at IT managers within large organizations in the UK. The findings presented in this paper are somewhat surprising, as they show no statistically significant relationships between the adoption of information security policies and the incidence or severity of security breaches. The paper concludes by exploring the possible interpretations of this unexpected finding and its implications for the practice of information security management.
Information-Propogation-Enhanced Neural Machine Translation by Relation Model

Even though sequence-to-sequence neural machine translation (NMT) model have achieved state-of-art performance in the recent fewer years, but it is widely concerned that the recurrent neural network (RNN) units are very hard to capture the long-distance state information, which means RNN can hardly find the feature with long term dependency as the sequence becomes longer. Similarly, convolutional neural network (CNN) is introduced into NMT for speeding recently, however, CNN focus on capturing the local feature of the sequence; To relieve this issue, we incorporate a relation network into the standard encoder-decoder framework to enhance information-propogation in neural network, ensuring that the information of the source sentence can flow into the decoder adequately. Experiments show that proposed framework outperforms the statistical MT model and the state-of-art NMT model significantly on two data sets with different scales.
A pair of homoeolog ClpP5 genes underlies a virescent yellow-like mutant and its modifier in maize.

Gene-background interaction is a commonly observed phenomenon in many species, but the molecular mechanisms of such an interaction is less well understood. Here we report the cloning of a maize mutant gene and its modifier. A recessive mutant with a virescent yellow-like (vyl) phenotype was identified in an ethyl methanesulfonate-mutagenized population derived from the maize inbred line B73. Homozygous mutant maize plants exhibited a yellow leaf phenotype after emergence but gradually recovered and became indistinguishable from wild-type plants after approximately 2 weeks. Taking the positional cloning approach, the Chr. 9_ClpP5 gene, one of the proteolytic subunits of the chloroplast Clp protease complex, was identified and validated as the candidate gene for vyl. When introgressed by backcross into the maize inbred line PH09B, the mutant phenotype of vyl lasted much longer in the greenhouse and was lethal in the field, implying the presence of a modifier(s) for vyl. A major modifier locus was identified on chromosome 1, and a paralogous ClpP5 gene was isolated and confirmed as the candidate for the vyl-modifier. Expression of Chr. 1_ClpP5 is induced significantly in B73 by the vyl mutation, while the expression of Chr. 1_ClpP5 in PH09B is not responsive to the vyl mutation. Moreover, expression and sequence analysis suggests that the PH09B Chr. 1_ClpP5 allele is functionally weaker than the B73 allele. We propose that functional redundancy between duplicated paralogous genes is the molecular mechanism for the interaction between vyl and its modifier.
A Molecular Approach to Identification and Profiling of First-Line-Drug-Resistant Mycobacteria from Sputum of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

ABSTRACT Conventional and molecular techniques were applied to detect and characterize drug resistance of mycobacteria in the sputum samples of clinically confirmed tuberculosis. The sensitivities of mycobacterium detection by ZN staining, culture, multiplex PCR, and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) were 27.7%, 19.9%, 92.9%, and 95.7%, respectively, but all were 100% specific. The conventional and multiple-allele-specific PCR (MAS-PCR) methods enabled establishment of the drug resistance in 19.3% and 86.9% cases, respectively. We demonstrated that molecular techniques have potential in the accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis.
Shaping supramolecular nanofibers with nanoparticles forming complementary hydrogen bonds.

Functionalized gold nanoparticles with complementary H-bonding groups can control the secondary structure of xerogel fibers formed by a molecular conductor thanks to their incorporation into the nanowires, which show metal-like conductivity once doped without the need for annealing. The picture shows a photograph of the xerogel, TEM images of Au particles in the gel and a single fiber, and an AFM image revealing the texture of the gel.
Prevalence of information gaps in the emergency department and the effect on patient outcomes.

BACKGROUND Information gaps occur when previously collected information is unavailable to a physician who is currently treating a patient. In this study we measured the prevalence of physician-reported information gaps for patients presenting to an emergency department at a teaching hospital. METHODS For 1002 visits to the emergency department made by 983 patients, we recorded all information gaps identified by the emergency physician immediately after the patient was assessed. When an information gap was present, the physician was asked to identify the required information, why it was required and how important it was to the patient's care. We reviewed the patient charts to measure severity of illness and to determine whether the patient was referred to the emergency department by a community physician. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine whether information gaps were associated with length of stay in the emergency department. RESULTS At least 1 information gap was identified in 323 (32.2%) of the 1002 visits (95% confidence interval 29.4%-35.2%). Information gaps were associated with severity of illness, being significantly more common in patients who had serious chronic illnesses, those who arrived by ambulance, those who had visited the emergency department or had been in hospital recently, patients in monitored areas in the emergency department and older patients. Information gaps most commonly comprised medical history (58%) and laboratory test results (23.3%) and were felt to be essential to patient care in 47.8% of the cases. The presence of information gaps was not associated with admission to hospital. After adjusting for important confounders, including patient sex, previous hospital admissions, diagnosis and severity of illness, we found that stays in the emergency department were 1.2 hours longer on average for patients with an information gap than for those without one. INTERPRETATION Information gaps were present in almost one-third of the visits to our emergency department. They were more common in sicker patients and were independently associated with a prolonged stay in the emergency department.
NOVOS MODELOS DE NEGÓCIOS: UM ESTUDO EM CANAIS DE YOUTUBER GAMERS NO BRASIL

A divulgacao de videos na internet, dos mais variados temas e para diferentes faixas etarias, vem crescendo significativamente nos ultimos anos, sendo que em alguns casos cria-se um novo mercado bem como novos modelos de negocios. Nesse sentido a presente pesquisa visa analisar como se desenvolve o modelo de negocio nos canais dos youtubers gamers . Para tanto realizou-se um levantamento bibliografico sobre os temas inovacao, modelos de negocios na internet e jogos virtuais. Quanto aos procedimentos metodologicos esta pesquisa possui abordagem qualitativa, descritiva e multi casos, com o tipo de triangulacao. Coletou-se dados secundarios (sites, entrevistas, videos) e primarios, via entrevista semiestruturada com o proprietario de um canal e tambem comparativo com outro canal mais consolidado. Verifica-se o surgimento de um importante canal de comunicacao das organizacoes com o publico em geral, sendo que este canal esta em processo de profissionalizacao acelerado, apresentando como novo modelo de negocio, que em prazos menores que os modelos tradicionais, obteve-se uma evolucao estruturada e adaptada ao contexto do crescimento da comunicacao das organizacoes em plataformas online. Os achados do trabalho apresentaram um novo modelo de negocio para categoria de servicos, com facil inicializacao, uma estrutura flexivel, uma analise do ambiente externo para tomada de decisao do ambiente interno, com a criacao de valor sendo o fator chave para a vantagem competitiva entre os players do mercado.
SX/Tools ‐ An Open Design Environment for Adaptable Multimedia User Interfaces

In this paper a brief review of user interface management systems (UIMSs) and their advantages is given. Shortcomings of current UIMSs and open requirements imposed by industrial application areas are outlined. Among the most important requirements are uniform design mechanisms independent of interaction media, techniques, and styles as well as a straight forward end‐user adaptability of user interfaces.
Refining and Generalizing P-log - Preliminary Report

This paper is a preliminary report on the development of a new, improved version of the knowledge representation language P-log. This version clarifies syntax and semantics of the original language and brings informal reading of its main concepts closer to their formal semantics. It also expands P-log with a sophisticated type system and removes some unnecessary restrictions on the occurrences of atoms expressing observations, interventions, and randomness in P-log rules. The generalization simplifies the syntax and allows to formalize reasoning the authors were not able to formalize in the original P-log.
The role of temporal threshold criteria in psychophysical testing in glaucoma

The magnicellular system seems to be affected early and specifically by glaucomatous damage. It shows high temporal resolution and good motion perception. Psychophysical tests investigating the temporal transfer characteristics of the afferent visual system thus are of special interest for the detection of early glaucomatous damage. Flicker perimetry is largely independent from disturbances of the ocular media and provides a means to identify eyes with pressure-produced functional loss. Defects in temporal modulation perimetry may precede the onset or progression of defects in conventional light-sense perimetry. Motion sensitivity seems to be affected early by glaucomatous damage. The problem of noisefield campimetry is the lack of quantification and reliability control of the patients' responses. Large-field or Ganzfeld stimulators can separate glaucomatous from normal eyes with high sensitivity and specificity; their value for the identification of eyes at risk to develop progression of functional loss still must be demonstrated.
Aufbereitung von Bioabfall-Gärresten zur Nutzung als Bodenverbesserer

Mit der Implementierung des Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetzes (KrWG) im Jahr 2012 hat sich die Bundesregierung gesetzlich auf eine getrennte Erfassung von Bioabfallen in privaten Haushalten ab Januar 2015 festgelegt. Bioabfalle werden in Deutschland bereits in uber 100 Biogasanlagen eingesetzt und konnten in Zukunft verstarkt als Garsubstrat genutzt werden. Die nach der Vergarung verbleibenden organischen Ruckstande sollen im Sinne der Kreislaufwirtschaft als organischer Bodenverbesserer auf landwirtschaftliche Flachen ruckgefuhrt werden. Im Rahmen des VeNGA-Projektes (Grundlagenuntersuchungen zur Verwertung und Nahrstoffnutzung sowie der boden- und pflanzenbezogenen Wirkung von Garruckstanden aus der Abfallvergarung) am Lehrstuhl Geopedologie und Landschaftsentwicklung der Brandenburgischen Technischen Universitat Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) in Zusammenarbeit mit der Firma Grossmann Ingenieur Consult Dresden (GICON) und dem Institut fur Stadtokologische Projekte Berlin (IASP) sollen Aufbereitungsmoglichkeiten fur Ruckstande aus der Bioabfallvergarung untersucht werden. Im Fokus steht dabei der Einfluss der Substratbehandlung wahrend des Biogas- und Aufbereitungsprozesses auf die Eigenschaften der entstehenden Dungeprodukte. Die Untersuchungen werden sowohl im Labor als auch im Technikum durchgefuhrt. Die Charakterisierung der festen Garruckstande aus der Bioabfallvergarung hat gezeigt, dass diese ein ahnliches Nahrstoffpotential wie Grundunger oder Frischkompost besitzen. Durch den organischen Abbau wahrend der Vergarung kommt es zur Aufkonzentration von Nahrstoffen und Schwermetallen in der festen Phase. Der Stickstoff liegt zu durchschnittlich 25 % in Form von pflanzenverfugbarem Ammoni-um vor. Wahrend der Aufbereitung ist jedoch eine Teiltrocknung der Garruckstande unumganglich, was zunachst zum Stickstoffverlust fuhrt. Es ist also von einer geringen Stickstoffverfugbarkeit in den festen Garprodukten auszugehen. Der Einsatz der aufbereiteten Garprodukte in Topfexperimenten und im Feldversuch hat gezeigt, dass die Ausbringung in Kombination mit Mineraldungung zu einem erhohten Biomasseertrag fuhrt. Dies lasst eine positive Wirkung der Garprodukte auf die Bodeneigenschaften schlussfolgern. Feste Garruckstande konnen bei Erfullung der Kriterien nach BioAbfV als organischer Bodenverbesserer eingesetzt werden. Eine Aufbereitung ist hierfur in den meisten Fallen notwendig. Dies gilt insbesondere fur Substrate, die vor der Vergarung keiner Storstoffabscheidung unterzogen werden. Das zweistufige Fest-Flussig-Verfahren, welches fur die Untersuchungen angewendet wird, hat den Vorteil besonders unanfallig gegenuber Storstoffen zu sein. Der Storstoffgehalt im Garruckstand ist dadurch vergleichsweise hoher als bei anderen Verfahren, was einen groseren Aufbereitungsaufwand nach sich zieht.
A secure architecture for the design for testability structures

Scan based Design for Testability structures are highly vulnerable to unauthorized access to the internal signals of a chip. This paper proposes a secure scan based design which prevents this unauthorized access without any compromise in the testability. The proposed secure architecture employs unique keys for each test vector. These unique keys are generated by a linear feedback shift register and are then embedded into the don't care bits of the test vectors. The bit size of the LFSR is kept higher than the key size in order to add another layer of security to the key. Since the keys are embedded into the test vectors itself, the area overhead is less. The level of security is increased significantly as not only the key changes for every test vector, but also its position in the test vector. The experimental results on the ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits show the effectiveness of the approach.
Detection of phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C in NIH-3T3 fibroblasts and their H-ras transformants: NMR and immunochemical studies.

Although evidence supports constitutive activation of phosphatidylcholine specific phospholipase C (PC-plc) in rastransformed fibroblasts, no studies have been devoted to measure the basal activity levels of this enzyme, its molecular characteristics and subcellular localization. This paper reports for the first time measurements of the activity of different enzymes responsible for PC hydrolysis (PC-plc; phospholipases A2 (pla2) and A1 (pla1)) in homogenates of murine NIH-3T3 fibroblasts (3T3) and their transformants obtained by human H-ras transfection (3T3ras). To this end, 31P NMR analyses were carried out on total cell homogenates, incubated in the presence of mixed diheptanoylphosphatidylcholine: sphingomyelin (DHPC:SM) unilamellar vesicles (SLUV), in which DHPC acts as a suitable substrate for water-soluble lipolytic enzymes. The basal PC-plc activity levels (0.66 +/- 0.14 and 0.38 +/- 0.10 nmol/10(6) cells.hour in 3T3 and 3T3ras fibroblasts, respectively),were substantially higher (over 30-50x) than those reported in the literature for normal mammalian cells (dog heart myocytes). Moreover the PC-plc activity was about 15-30 times lower than the overall PC deacylation activity in both clones. The use of high titer polyclonal antibodies, raised in a rabbit against bacterial PC-plc, allowed identification of one cross-reactive mammalian PC-plc component (M(r) 66 kD) in cell lysates of both 3T3 and 3T3ras fibroblasts, and detection, by indirect immunofluorescence, of its subcellular localization. In control 3T3 fibroblasts (in the late log-phase of growth) the enzyme was exclusively located in the cytosol, while in H-ras transformed cells it was massively exposed on the external side of the membrane. This new finding strongly suggests that the oncogenic product p2Iras is able to induce (or mediate) translocation of PC-plc across the plasma membrane of ras transformed cells, with possible implications not only on cell biochemistry (enhancement of PC-plc activity, and consequent production of intra- and extracellular PCho and accumulation of neutral lipids) but also on cell-cell interaction mechanisms which facilitate tumour invasion and metastasis of oncogene-transformed cells.
Oxidative stress, serum homocysteine and serum nitric oxide in different stages of chronic renal failure

Chronic renal failure is accompanied by oxidative stress, which is caused by reactive oxygen species and impaired antioxidant defense. In this study we investigated oxidative stress in chronic renal failure patients. In the present study, 150 CRF patients and 50 healthy controls matching age and sex were included. We have estimated serum lipid peroxidation, serum superoxide dismutase, serum nitric oxide and serum homocysteine in different stages of CRF and healthy individuals. Af-ter 12 hours overnight fasting blood samples were collected taking aseptic precautions in plain bulbs. The statistical method used to compare the data was ‘Z’ test. The results show that the mean levels of serum lipid peroxidation and serum homocysteine was elevated (P 0.05) elevated in different stages of CRF as compared to that of controls. The activity of serum superoxide dismutase and nitric oxide were reduced (P 0.05) in CRF as compared to that of controls. These parameters may be impor-tant with respect to the high morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disorder found in patients with chronic renal failure.