NFTs to MARS: Multi-Attention Recommender System for NFTs

Recommender systems have become essential tools for enhancing user experiences across various domains. While extensive research has been conducted on recommender systems for movies, music, and e-commerce, the rapidly growing and economically significant Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market remains underexplored. The unique characteristics and increasing prominence of the NFT market highlight the importance of developing tailored recommender systems to cater to its specific needs and unlock its full potential. In this paper, we examine the distinctive characteristics of NFTs and propose the first recommender system specifically designed to address NFT market challenges. In specific, we develop a Multi-Attention Recommender System for NFTs (NFT-MARS) with three key characteristics: (1) graph attention to handle sparse user-item interactions, (2) multi-modal attention to incorporate feature preference of users, and (3) multi-task learning to consider the dual nature of NFTs as both artwork and financial assets. We demonstrate the effectiveness of NFT-MARS compared to various baseline models using the actual transaction data of NFTs collected directly from blockchain for four of the most popular NFT collections. The source code and data are available at https://anonymous.4open.science/r/RecSys2023-93ED

Modification of argon impurity transport by electron cyclotron heating in KSTAR H-mode plasmas

Experiments with a small amount of Ar gas injection as a trace impurity were conducted in the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) H-mode plasma (BT  = 2.8 T, IP = 0.6 MA, and PNBI = 4.0 MW). 170 GHz electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECH) at 600 and 800 kW was focused along the mid-plane with a fixed major radial position of R  =  1.66 m. The emissivity of the Ar16+ (3.949 Å) and Ar15+ (353.860 Å) spectral lines were measured by x-ray imaging crystal spectroscopy (XICS) and a vacuum UV (VUV) spectrometer, respectively. ECH reduces the peak Ar15+ emission and increases the Ar16+ emission, an effect largest with 800 kW. The ADAS-SANCO impurity transport code was used to evaluate the Ar transport coefficients. It was found that the inward convective velocity found in the plasma core without ECH was decreased with ECH, while diffusion remained approximately constant resulting in a less-peaked Ar density profile. Theoretical results from the NEO code suggest that neoclassical transport is not responsible for the change in transport, while the microstability analysis using GKW predicts a dominant ITG mode during both ECH and non-ECH plasmas

MAPK13 stabilization via m6A mRNA modification limits anticancer efficacy of rapamycin.

N6-adenosine methylation (m6A) is the most abundant mRNA modification that controls gene expression through diverse mechanisms. Accordingly, m6A-dependent regulation of oncogenes and tumor suppressors contributes to tumor development. However, the role of m6A-mediated gene regulation upon drug treatment or resistance is poorly understood. Here, we report that m6A modification of mitogen-activated protein kinase 13 (MAPK13) mRNA determines the sensitivity of cancer cells to the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1)-targeting agent rapamycin. mTORC1 induces m6A modification of MAPK13 mRNA at its 3 untranslated region through the methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3)-METTL14-Wilms tumor 1-associating protein(WTAP) methyltransferase complex, facilitating its mRNA degradation via an m6A reader protein YTH domain family protein 2. Rapamycin blunts this process and stabilizes MAPK13. On the other hand, genetic or pharmacological inhibition of MAPK13 enhances rapamycins anticancer effects, which suggests that MAPK13 confers a progrowth signal upon rapamycin treatment, thereby limiting rapamycin efficacy. Together, our data indicate that rapamycin-mediated MAPK13 mRNA stabilization underlies drug resistance, and it should be considered as a promising therapeutic target to sensitize cancer cells to rapamycin

Phosphate-Responsive Promoter of a Pichia pastoris Sodium Phosphate Symporter▿ †

To develop a functional phosphate-regulated promoter in Pichia pastoris, a phosphate-responsive gene, PHO89, which encodes a putative sodium (Na+)-coupled phosphate symporter, was isolated. Sequencing analyses revealed a 1,731-bp open reading frame encoding a 576-amino-acid polypeptide with 12 putative transmembrane domains. The properties of the PHO89 promoter (PPHO89) were investigated using a bacterial lipase gene as a reporter in 5-liter jar fermentation experiments. PPHO89 was tightly regulated by phosphate and was highly activated when the cells were grown in a phosphate-limited external environment. Compared to translation elongation factor 1α and the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase promoter, PPHO89 exhibited strong transcriptional activity with higher specific productivity (amount of lipase produced/cell/h). Furthermore, a cost-effective and simple PPHO89-based fermentation process was developed for industrial application. These results demonstrate the potential for efficient use of PPHO89 for controlled production of recombinant proteins in P. pastoris

Design of ITER divertor VUV spectrometer and prototype test at KSTAR tokamak

Design and development of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer have been performed from the year 1998, and it is planned to be installed in the year 2027. Currently, the design of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer is in the phase of detail design. It is optimized for monitoring of chord-integrated VUV signals from divertor plasmas, chosen to contain representative lines emission from the tungsten as the divertor material, and other impurities. Impurity emission from overall divertor plasmas is collimated through the relay optics onto the entrance slit of a VUV spectrometer with working wavelength range of 14.6–32 nm. To validate the design of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer, two sets of VUV spectrometers have been developed and tested at KSTAR tokamak. One set of spectrometer without the field mirror employs a survey spectrometer with the wavelength ranging from 14.6 nm to 32 nm, and it provides the same optical specification as the spectrometer part of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer system. The other spectrometer with the wavelength range of 5–25 nm consists of a commercial spectrometer with a concave grating, and the relay mirrors with the same geometry as the relay mirrors of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer. From test of these prototypes, alignment method using backward laser illumination could be verified. To validate the feasibility of tungsten emission measurement, furthermore, the tungsten powder was injected in KSTAR plasmas, and the preliminary result could be obtained successfully with regard to the evaluation of photon throughpu

Design of ITER divertor VUV spectrometer and prototype test at KSTAR tokamak

Design and development of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer have been performed from the year 1998, and it is planned to be installed in the year 2027. Currently, the design of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer is in the phase of detail design. It is optimized for monitoring of chord-integrated VUV signals from divertor plasmas, chosen to contain representative lines emission from the tungsten as the divertor material, and other impurities. Impurity emission from overall divertor plasmas is collimated through the relay optics onto the entrance slit of a VUV spectrometer with working wavelength range of 14.6–32 nm. To validate the design of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer, two sets of VUV spectrometers have been developed and tested at KSTAR tokamak. One set of spectrometer without the field mirror employs a survey spectrometer with the wavelength ranging from 14.6 nm to 32 nm, and it provides the same optical specification as the spectrometer part of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer system. The other spectrometer with the wavelength range of 5–25 nm consists of a commercial spectrometer with a concave grating, and the relay mirrors with the same geometry as the relay mirrors of the ITER divertor VUV spectrometer. From test of these prototypes, alignment method using backward laser illumination could be verified. To validate the feasibility of tungsten emission measurement, furthermore, the tungsten powder was injected in KSTAR plasmas, and the preliminary result could be obtained successfully with regard to the evaluation of photon throughpu