Yeast ATF2 Gene Expression and Wine Aroma: Wine Production and Agent-Based Modeling Approach

Ester compounds yield enjoyable fruity aromas in wine. The ATF2 gene in yeast encodes the AAT enzyme, which catalyzes the ester production reaction in wine fermentation. We varied fermentation conditions and measured ATF2 expression levels and ester production. Although no specific condition increased ester production, we found conditions that created notable wine aroma profiles. Furthermore, we investigated how ATF2 gene is structurally related across various yeast strains, and developed an agent-based simulation that demonstrates the molecular interactions in wine fermentation

MegDet: A Large Mini-Batch Object Detector

The improvements in recent CNN-based object detection works, from R-CNN [11], Fast/Faster R-CNN [10, 31] to recent Mask R-CNN [14] and RetinaNet [24], mainly come from new network, new framework, or novel loss design. But mini-batch size, a key factor in the training, has not been well studied. In this paper, we propose a Large MiniBatch Object Detector (MegDet) to enable the training with much larger mini-batch size than before (e.g. from 16 to 256), so that we can effectively utilize multiple GPUs (up to 128 in our experiments) to significantly shorten the training time. Technically, we suggest a learning rate policy and Cross-GPU Batch Normalization, which together allow us to successfully train a large mini-batch detector in much less time (e.g., from 33 hours to 4 hours), and achieve even better accuracy. The MegDet is the backbone of our submission (mmAP 52.5%) to COCO 2017 Challenge, where we won the 1st place of Detection task

The Mercury Project

The Medina of Fes is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is historically important to the culture of Morocco. ADER-Fes is a rehabilitation agency tasked with the restoration and upkeep of this historic city. This WPI project team analyzed the problems with the application process for rehabilitating buildings and then designed a computer program that allows the Social Team of ADER-Fes to enter digitized forms into a database that is organized, easily searchable, and can store large amounts of data

Barriers of knowledge transfer and mitigating strategies in collaborative management system implementations

Purpose: As the dynamics of the external environment of the enterprise continue to increase, the support of information systems for organizational agility becomes increasingly important. Collaborative Management System (CMS) is a new type of information system that can cope with the dynamic changes of the organization. Effective knowledge transfer is the core of the system implementation. The purpose of this study is to explore the knowledge transfer barriers faced by CMS in its implementation process. Design/methodology/approach: Through field interviews with a representative CMS provider, this paper summarizes the barriers of knowledge transfer during CMS implementation into three aspects. Findings: Based on the innovative measures taken by the company and relevant literature, the corresponding mitigating strategies are proposed. Originality/value: The findings enrich the implementation methodology of agile information systems by exploring the knowledge transfer problem from a novel context. The study also provides a reference for practical implementation to overcome the dilemma of knowledge transfer

Choline Deficiency Attenuates Body Weight Gain and Improves Glucose Tolerance in ob/ob Mice

Previous studies demonstrated that choline supply is directly linked to high-fat-diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance in mice. The aim of this study was to evaluate if choline supply could also modulate obesity and insulin resistance caused by a genetic defect. Eight-week-old male ob/ob mice were fed for two months with either choline-deficient or choline-supplemented diet. Tissue weight including fat mass and lean mass was assessed. Intracellular signaling, plasma glucagon and insulin, and glucose and insulin tolerance tests were also investigated. The choline-deficient diet slowed body weight gain and decreased fat mass. Choline deficiency also decreased plasma glucose level and improved glucose and insulin tolerance although fatty liver was exacerbated. Increased adipose lipolytic activity, decreased plasma glucagon and reduced expression of hepatic glucagon receptor were also observed with the choline-deficient diet. Our results demonstrate that a choline-deficient diet can decrease fat mass and improve glucose tolerance in obese and diabetic mice caused by a genetic defect

pDC Activation by TLR7/8 Ligand CL097 Compared to TLR7 Ligand IMQ or TLR9 Ligand CpG

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) express high levels of the toll-like receptors (TLRs) TLR7 and TLR9. In response to TLR7 and TLR9 ligands, pDCs are primary producers of type I interferons. Our previous study demonstrated that pDCs activated by the TLR7 ligand imiquimod (IMQ) and the TLR9 ligand CpG A can kill breast cancer cells in vitro and inhibit tumor growth in vivo. Moreover, we observed a distinctive morphological, phenotypic change in pDCs after activation by IMQ and CpG A. However, the effect of other TLR7 and TLR9 ligands on pDCs remains less understood. In this study, we treat pDCs with the TLR7 ligand IMQ, TLR7/8 ligands (CL097 and CL075), and three TLR9 ligands (different types of CpGs). The size of pDCs increased significantly after activation by TLR7, or TLR7/8 ligands. TLR7, TLR7/8, and TLR9 ligands similarly modulated cytokine release, as well as protein expression of pDC markers, costimulatory molecules, and cytotoxic molecules. Interestingly, TLR7/8 ligands, especially CL097, induced stronger responses. These results are relevant to the further study of the role and mechanism of pDC-induced antitumor effects and may aid in the development of a new strategy for future tumor immunotherapy