Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of salinity on flowering, morphology, biomass accumulation and leaf metabolites in an edible halophyte

Cultivating crops under saline conditions is of high importance due to global fresh water shortage for irrigation. Crithmum maritimum is a halophytic plant that has a long history of human consumption and was suggested as a cash crop for biosaline agriculture. Our results highlight variations existing among Crithmum maritimum genotypes from different geographic origins regarding salt-induced changes in plant growth, flowering behavior and leaf metabolites with nutritional value. Our results indicate that genotypic characteristics should be taken into account when evaluating wild plant species for future crop cultivation.
Post-Ischemic Housing Conditions Influence On Gene Transcription And Translation After Permanent Focal Brain Ischemia In Rats

Enriched environment (EE) housing significantly ameliorates neurological deficits induced by cortical brain ischemia without changing infarction size, suggesting that EE-related functional benefits are associated with neuronal plasticity events in the remaining tissue. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor-induced gene A (NGFI-A) and corticosteroid receptors (mineralocorticoid receptor, MR; glucocorticoid receptor, GR) have been demonstrated to be involved in brain plasticity. The purpose of this thesis was to determine if post-ischemic housing conditions had a significant effect on transcription and/or translation of BDNF, NGFI-A and corticosteroid receptors. We found that BDNF gene was down regulated in EE-housed rats when compared to the rats housed in standard cages at 2~12 days after cortical brain ischemia in peri-infarct cortex, contralateral cortex and bilateral hippocampus. The protein level of BDNF in the ipsilateral frontal cortex was lower in the EE-housed rats than the standard environment (SE)-housed rats at 12d postischemia. The mRNA expression of NGFI-A showed a similar pattern of BDNF except for an increase at 30 d after induction of brain ischemia in EE-housed rats. Ischemia-induced reduction of GR was prevented in the rats housed in EE condition. There was no difference between EE- and SE-housed animals in MR gene expression. Gene expressions, however, are very complex in housing conditions and postischemia. Whether EE-related gene transcription and/or translation reported in this thesis are linked with EE-induced functional benefits to brain ischemia, further studies need be conducted. (Less)
An Empirical Study of the Roles of Affective Variables in User Adoption of Search Engines

The current study is built upon prior research and is an attempt to explore the roles of affective variables in user technology adoption. Two different affective variables, computer playfulness and perceived enjoyment, were examined and their relationships with each other and with cognitive and behavioral variables were hypothesized. An empirical study using survey method was conducted. Analyses with the PLS technique confirmed most of the hypotheses. Our findings suggest that perceived enjoyment has a significant impact on perceived ease of use, but no direct effect on behavioral intention. Perceived enjoyment mediates the impact of computer playfulness on PEOU, which has not been studied before.
Redundant Roles of Rpn10 and Rpn13 in Recognition of Ubiquitinated Proteins and Cellular Homeostasis

Intracellular proteins tagged with ubiquitin chains are targeted to the 26S proteasome for degradation. The two subunits, Rpn10 and Rpn13, function as ubiquitin receptors of the proteasome. However, differences in roles between Rpn10 and Rpn13 in mammals remains to be understood. We analyzed mice deficient for Rpn13 and Rpn10. Liver-specific deletion of either Rpn10 or Rpn13 showed only modest impairment, but simultaneous loss of both caused severe liver injury accompanied by massive accumulation of ubiquitin conjugates, which was recovered by re-expression of either Rpn10 or Rpn13. We also found that mHR23B and ubiquilin/Plic-1 and -4 failed to bind to the proteasome in the absence of both Rpn10 and Rpn13, suggesting that these two subunits are the main receptors for these UBL-UBA proteins that deliver ubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome. Our results indicate that Rpn13 mostly plays a redundant role with Rpn10 in recognition of ubiquitinated proteins and maintaining homeostasis in Mus musculus.
A Development Approach for Workflow-Based E-Commerce using Reusable Distributed Components

With the emergence of component-based technologies, there is a push toward software reuse. Reusable software components, such as Java Beans, ActiveX components, COM objects, registry services, etc., can be used to support a wide variety of distributed services. The reuse of such components has reduced the need for full lifecycle development and deployment, both in research and industry. Such “top-down” approaches are becoming impractical, while there is the increasing trend toward integrating reusable components from bottom up. Furthermore, the use of technologies like introspection and reflection has relinquished the design-time constraint of having source code in order to integrate such components. The implications of the aforementioned technologies suggest that future development processes will reside on the end-user’s workstation. Consequently, end-users will produce their own systems as a product of configuring multiple 3 party components (i.e. software “plug-and-play” (Bronsard, et al., 1997)). With this in mind, the remaining problem is how to automate this configuration to respect some user-determined policy of interaction. One such policy is the implementation of workflow. This paper describes a specification-driven approach, WARP, to configuring components according to workflow. This approach entails a process and an agent-based architecture and implementation that supports the “bottom-up” configuration and reconfiguration of reusable component-based distributed services.
Do It for the Viewers!: Audience Engagement Behaviors of Young YouTubers

Online user-generated video sharing communities, such as YouTube, are becoming more popular than conventional studio-produced content. These communities provide every user with the opportunity to create and promote their own video content---a compelling venue for children and teenagers to share their stories and voices. In this study, we investigate the practices of youth video creators on YouTube. To do so, we conducted a content analysis of the audience engagement practices of 100 youth author channels, comparing them to adult and professional YouTubers when appropriate. We found that most youth authors are aware of and actively engage with their imaginary or real audiences on YouTube. They emulate the conversational and audience engagement practices seen in professional quality YouTube channels, but may not have the video editing or other meta-content skills or experience to do so. Based on our findings, we point to a number of implications for future research and design in this space.
Chapter 1 Cognitive Radio Network for Smart Grid

Recently, Cognitive radio and Smart Grid are two areas which have received considerable research impetus. Cognitive radios are fully programmable wireless devices that can sense their environment, and dynamically adapt their transmission waveform, channel access method, spectrum use, and networking protocols. It is widely anticipated that cognitive radio technology will become a general-purpose programmable radio that will serve as a universal platform for wireless system development, much like microprocessors have served a similar role for computation. The salient features of the cognitive radio, namely, frequency agility, transmission speed, and range, are ideal for application to the smart grid. In this regard, a Cognitive Radio network can serve as a robust and efficient communications infrastructure that can address both the current and future energy management needs of the smart grid. The Cognitive radio network can be deployed as a large scale Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN) in a smart grid, to utilize the unused TV bands recently approved for use by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) In addition, a Cognitive Radio network testbed for the smart grid would serve as an ideal platform to not only address various issues related to the smart grid, such as security, information flow and power flow management, etc., but also reveal more practical problems for further research. In this chapter, the novel concept of incorporating a cognitive radio network as the communications backbone for the smart grid is outlined. A brief overview of the cognitive radio is provided, including the recently proposed IEEE 802.22 standard. In particular, an overview of Cognitive Radio Network testbed, existing and new hardware platforms for
Regionalism in World Politics: Regional Organization and International Order

The past five years have witnessed resurgence of regionalism in world politics. Old regionalist organizations have been revived, new organizations formed, and regionalism and the call for strengthened regionalist arrangements have been central to many of the debates about the nature of the post-Cold War international order. This book brings together the many different institutions and ideas to be found under the label of 'regionalism'; it places the revival of regionalism in a broader historical perspective; it asks whether there are common factors behind the revival of regionalism in so many different parts of the world; and it analyses the cumulative impact of different brands of regionalism on international order. Leading specialists examine recent developments in regional co-operation in different parts of the world. They take a critical look at recent trends towards the new regionalism and regionalization, assessing their origins, their present and future prospects, and their place in the evolving international order. As well as concentrating on specific regions, including Pacific-Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle-East, the book looks at theories of regionalism, the balance between regionalization and globalization in the world economy,the relationship between regional organizations and the United Nations, and the relationship between the revival of regionalism and questions of identity and nationalism.
The Local Galaxy 8 μm Luminosity Function

A Spitzer Space Telescope survey in the NOAO Deep Wide Field in Boötes provides a complete, 8 μm-selected sample of galaxies to a limiting (Vega) magnitude of 13.5. In the 6.88 deg2 field sampled, 79% of the 4867 galaxies have spectroscopic redshifts, allowing an accurate determination of the local (z < 0.3) galaxy luminosity function. Stellar and dust emission can be separated on the basis of observed galaxy colors. Dust emission (mostly PAH) accounts for 80% of the 8 μm luminosity, stellar photospheres account for 19%, and AGN emission accounts for roughly 1%. A subsample of the 8 μm-selected galaxies have blue, early-type colors, but even most of these have significant PAH emission. The luminosity functions for the total 8 μm luminosity and for the dust emission alone are both well fit by Schechter functions. For the 8 μm luminosity function, the characteristic luminosity is νL(8.0 μm) = 1.8 × 1010 L☉, while for the dust emission alone it is 1.6 × 1010 L☉. The average 8 μm luminosity density at z < 0.3 is 3.1 × 107 L☉ Mpc-3, and the average luminosity density from dust alone is 2.5 × 107 L☉ Mpc-3. This luminosity arises predominantly from galaxies with 8 μm luminosities (νLν) between 2 × 109 and 2 × 1010 L☉, i.e., normal galaxies, not luminous or ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs/ULIRGs).
Gender Dierences Among Analyst Recommendations

Using a large and unique real-life dataset we study gender dierences in the recommendation issuing process of security analysts. We observe gender heterogeneity in the probability to issue a particular type of recommen- dation. We document that the dierences are most pronounced when the dispersion in existing recommendations is low; male analyst have a larger probability to issue extreme positive recommendations and to deviate from the consensus recommendation, exactly at the time the market could in- terpret this behavior as being skilled. The dierences in opinion between Strong Buy recommendations of male analysts and conservative Hold rec- ommendations of female analysts are almost 30% before 2002, while they decrease to 9% after 2001.
Consumption Smoothing and the Structure of Labor and Credit Markets

Smoother labor incomes alleviate credit constraints by reducing workers' desire to borrow, and prospects of upward income mobility have smaller beneficial effects for currently poor workers when borrowing constraints are binding. These simple theoretical insights are consistent with the empirically more pronounced tendency of poor would-borrowers to favor government redistribution in countries where consumer credit is relatively scarce. They may also explain observed institutional patterns across countries and markets: policies that reduce the dispersion and volatility of labor income appear to be more prevalent in countries where inefficient legal systems restrict borrowing opportunities. Our theoretical perspective and empirical results offer more general insights as to ways in which historically determined features and politico-economic interactions may jointly shape institutional aspects of different markets, and as to appropriate design of reform processes.
Modeling of Fully Nonlinear Wave Interactions With Moving Submerged Structures

The purpose of this work is to develop advanced numerical tools for modeling two-way fully nonlinear interactions of ocean surface waves (irregular waves in the general situation) with a submerged structure undergoing large amplitude motion. The final aim is to apply these models to simulating the behavior of a point-absorber-type Wave Energy Converter (WEC). In our modeling approach, an existing twodimensional Numerical Wave Tank (NWT), based on potential flow theory, is extended to include a submerged horizontal cylinder of arbitrary cross-section. The mathematical problem and related numerical solution are first introduced. Then we present two applications, first for the prescribed motion of a submerged body in a wave field (including the case of a fixed cylinder, such as in Chaplin's (1984) experiments), and then for a freely-moving body in waves. In the first application, we consider the forced oscillations of a circular cylinder, either in the vertical direction or in a circular motion (with comparison to the theoretical results of Wu (1993)). In the second application, dynamical equations describing the body motion are solved simultaneously with the hydrodynamic problem, which requires correctly representing the coupling forces between both mechanical and hydrodynamic problems. This is illustrated by preliminary simulations for the free motion in periodic waves of an idealized WEC; these results are favorably compared to a linear model.
The Spirit of Innovation III International Conference :

The academic interest in innovation clusters and ne tworks has given rise to a vast stream of works in recent years. Besides defining the notions f clusters and innovation clusters or networks, a core topic within the literature relate s to the analysis of the logics underlying the emergence, the structuring and the evolution of inn ovative activities within various geographic areas. But despite the large amount of e fforts deployed, there are no consensual views amongst academics on various conceptual and a nalytical key issues, especially as regarding the spatial/geographical boundaries of an innovation cluster and the nature and intensity of the actors interaction that characteri ze it. The whole picture is also blurred as a persistent “disciplinary segregation” prevent from integrating the most valuable and converging insights that could be drawn from variou s yet complementary social sciences perspectives. The paper offers a critical survey of the most visible pieces of the literature and suggests some possible pathways for a better gr ounding for the analysis of clustering and networking phenomena within innovative or creat iv fields.
CO 2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in China: A panel data analysis

This paper examines the causal relationships between carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and real economic output using panel cointegration and panel vector error correction modeling techniques based on the panel data for 28 provinces in China over the period 1995–2007. Our empirical results show that CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth have appeared to be cointegrated. Moreover, there exists bidirectional causality between CO2 emissions and energy consumption, and also between energy consumption and economic growth. It has also been found that energy consumption and economic growth are the long-run causes for CO2 emissions and CO2 emissions and economic growth are the long-run causes for energy consumption. The results indicate that China’s CO2 emissions will not decrease in a long period of time and reducing CO2 emissions may handicap China’s economic growth to some degree. Some policy implications of the empirical results have finally been proposed. & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Disruption time scales of star clusters in different galaxies

The observed average lifetime of the population of star clusters in the Solar Neighbourhood, the Small Magellanic Cloud and in selected regions of M 51 and M 33 is compared with simple theoretical predictions and with the results of N-body simulations. The empirically derived lifetimes (or disruption times) of star clusters depend on their initial mass as tdis emp ∝ Mcl 0.60 in all four galaxies. N-body simulations have shown that the predicted disruption time of clusters in a tidal field scales as tdis pred ∝ t 0.75 rh t 0.25 cr ,w heretrh is the initial half-mass relaxation time and tcr is the crossing time for a cluster in equilibrium. We show that this can be approximated accurately by tdis pred ∝ M 0.62 cl for clusters in the mass range of about 10 3 to 10 6 M � ,i n excellent agreement with the observations. Observations of clusters in different extragalactic environments show that tdis also depends on the ambient density in the galaxies where the clusters reside. Linear analysis predicts that the disruption time will depend on the ambient density of the cluster environment as tdis ∝ ρ −1/2 amb . This relation is consistent with N-body simulations. The empirically derived disruption times of clusters in the Solar Neighbourhood, in the SMC and in M 33 agree with these predictions. The best fitting expression for the disruption time is tdis = Cenv(Mcl/10 4 M� ) 0.62 (ρamb/Mpc −3 ) −0.5 where Mcl is the initial mass of the cluster and Cenv � 300−800 Myr. The disruption times of star clusters in M 51 within 1−5 kpc from the nucleus, is shorter than predicted by about an order of magnitude. This discrepancy might be due to the strong tidal field variations in M 51, caused by the strong density contrast between the spiral arms and interarm regions, or to the disruptive forces from giant molecular clouds.
A plasma metabolomic signature discloses human breast cancer

Purpose Metabolomics is the comprehensive global study of metabolites in biological samples. In this retrospective pilot study we explored whether serum metabolomic profile can discriminate the presence of human breast cancer irrespective of the cancer subtype. Methods Plasma samples were analyzed from healthy women (n = 20) and patients with breast cancer after diagnosis (n = 91) using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry platform. Multivariate statistics and a Random Forest (RF) classifier were used to create a metabolomics panel for the diagnosis of human breast cancer. Results Metabolomics correctly distinguished between breast cancer patients and healthy control subjects. In the RF supervised class prediction analysis comparing breast cancer and healthy control groups, RF accurately classified 100% both samples of the breast cancer patients and healthy controls. So, the class error for both group in and the out-of-bag error were 0. We also found 1269 metabolites with different concentration in plasma from healthy controls and cancer patients; and basing on exact mass, retention time and isotopic distribution we identified 35 metabolites. These metabolites mostly support cell growth by providing energy and building stones for the synthesis of essential biomolecules, and function as signal transduction molecules. The collective results of RF, significance testing, and false discovery rate analysis identified several metabolites that were strongly associated with breast cancer. Conclusions In breast cancer a metabolomics signature of cancer exists and can be detected in patient plasma irrespectively of the breast cancer type.
Adverse Reactions Due to Directly Observed Treatment Strategy Therapy in Chinese Tuberculosis Patients: A Prospective Study

Background More than 1 million tuberculosis (TB) patients are receiving directly observed treatment strategy (DOTS) therapy in China every year. As to the profile of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) due to DOTS therapy, no consensus has been reached. There is no report regarding ADRs due to DOTS therapy with a large Chinese TB population. This study aimed to determine the incidence and prognosis of ADRs due to DOTS therapy, and to evaluate their impact on anti-TB treatment in China. Methods A prospective population-based cohort study was performed during 2007–2008. Sputum smear positive pulmonary TB patients who received DOTS therapy were included and followed up for six to nine months in 52 counties of four regions in China. The suspected ADRs were recorded and reviewed by Chinese State Food and Drug Administration. Results A total of 4304 TB patients were included in this study. 649 patients (15.08%) showed at least one ADR and 766 cases in total were detected. The incidence (count) of ADR based on affected organ was: liver dysfunction 6.34% (273), gastrointestinal disorders 3.74% (161), arthralgia 2.51% (108), allergic reactions 2.35% (101), neurological system disorders 2.04% (88), renal impairment 0.07% (3) and others 0.05% (2). Most cases of ADRs (95%) had a good clinical outcome, while two with hepatotoxicity and one with renal impairment died. Compared with patients without ADRs, patients with ADRs were more likely to have positive smear test results at the end of the intensive phase (adjusted OR, 2.00; 95%CI, 1.44–2.78) and unsuccessful anti-TB outcomes (adjusted OR, 2.58; 95%CI, 1.43–4.68). Conclusions The incidence of ADRs due to DOTS therapy was 15.08%. Those ADRs had a substantial impact on TB control in China. This highlighted the importance of developing strategies to ameliorate ADRs both to improve the quality of patient care and to control TB safely.