Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Age differences in cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor expression and rb hyperphosphorylation in human corneal endothelial cells.

PURPOSE Human corneal endothelial cells (HCECs) are considered to be nonreplicative in vivo; however, isolated HCECs can be cultured and grown successfully, indicating that they retain proliferative capacity. This capacity to replicate tends to decrease with donor age. Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CKIs) are important negative regulators of the cell cycle. Of those CKIs, p16INK4a, p21WAF1/Cip1, and p27Kip1 are expressed in corneal endothelium. To help reveal the mechanism of this age-related difference, the relative expression of those CKIs and the kinetics of hyperphosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein, Rb, were analyzed in HCECs from various aged donors. METHODS Fresh-frozen sections of corneas from an 18-year-old and a 74-year-old donor were immunostained to reveal the expression and localization of the three CKIs in corneal endothelium in situ. HCECs from eight donors of various ages were isolated and cultured until they reached passage 4. After the cells reached confluence, total protein was extracted, and the relative expression of p16(INK4a), p21WAF1/Cip1, and p27Kip1 was determined by Western blot analysis. A parallel analysis was performed with primary cultures of HCECs obtained from eight different donors. Subconfluent passage 2 HCECs from eight donors were serum starved and, at different times after growth factor stimulation, protein was extracted, and Western blot analysis was used to compare the overall expression of Rb protein and the kinetics of Rb hyperphosphorylation. RESULTS Immunocytochemistry confirmed the expression and nuclear localization of p16(INK4a), p21WAF1/Cip1, and p27Kip1 in HCECs in situ. Western blot studies revealed an age-related increase in p16INK4a and p21WAF1/Cip1 protein expression in cultured HCECs. Expression of p27Kip1 tended to decrease with the donor's age in passage-4 cells; however, there was no significant difference in p27Kip1 expression level between young and older donors in primary cultured HCECs. No age-related difference in total Rb protein was observed in the Western blots; however, the rate of Rb hyperphosphorylation was significantly slower in HCECs from older donors. CONCLUSIONS p16(INK4a), p21WAF1/Cip1, p27Kip1, and Rb were all expressed in HCECs, regardless of donor age. Age-related differences in the relative expression of p16INK4a and p21WAF1/Cip1 and in the kinetics of Rb hyperphosphorylation led to the conclusion that, in addition to the normal inhibitory activity of p27Kip1, there is an age-dependent increase in negative regulation of the cell cycle by p16INK4a and p21WAF1/Cip1. This additional molecular mechanism may be responsible, at least in part, for the reduced proliferative response observed in HCECs from older donors.
Understanding the Role of Personal Best (PB) Goal Setting in Students’ Declining Engagement: A Latent Growth Model

There is a well-documented developmental decline in engagement among adolescents throughout secondary school. Given this pattern of engagement poses problems for both student well-being and their academic outcomes, it is important to examine potential strategies to address this decline. As a growth-oriented strategy, personal best (PB) goal setting may be one viable option to challenge this decline in engagement. Across 3 years of data collection among a sample of N = 368 Australian secondary school students and using latent growth modeling (LGM), we explored 4 ways that PB goal setting may impact engagement: (a) an “initiating effect” such that initial PB goal setting positively impacts initial engagement; (b) a “contemporaneous effect” such that PB goal setting at each time point positively predicts engagement at that same time point; (c) an “escalating effect” such that at each time point PB goal setting has an increasing impact on engagement; and (d) a “slope effect” such that initial PB goal setting improves the rate of change of engagement (reduces negative slope) over time. Findings confirmed an initiating effect, contemporaneous effect, and escalating effect of PB goal setting on engagement, but not a slope effect. These results suggest that although the developmental decline in engagement seems to be somewhat pervasive during adolescence (i.e., no slope effect), PB goal setting may be a viable strategy to positively impact early levels of engagement (initiating effect), positively impact engagement at any given point in time (contemporaneous effect), and increasingly impact engagement across time (escalating effect). Taken together, this investigation adds to the growth, goal setting, and engagement literatures while showcasing the various ways (and analytical approaches to them) that psychoeducational phenomena can interact and impact one another across time. The findings also provide applied direction for practitioners seeking to assist students through this challenging developmental stage of adolescence.
Evaluating DUC 2005 using Basic Elements

In this paper we introduce Basic Elements, a new way of automating the evaluation of text summaries. We show that this method correlates better with human judgments than any other automated procedure to date, and overcomes the subjectivity/variability problems of manual methods that require humans to preprocess summaries to be evaluated. This is demonstrated on DUC 2005 peer systems and peer-produced summaries.
Equilibrium Mispricing in a Capital Market with Portfolio Constraints

This article develops a general equilibrium, continuous time model where portfolio constraints generate mispricing between redundant securities. Constrained consumption-portfolio optimization techniques are adapted to incorporate redundant, possibly mispriced securities. Under logarithmic preferences, we provide explicit conditions for mispricing and closed-form expressions for all economic quantities. Existence of an equilibrium where mispricing occurs with positive probability is verified in a specific case. In a more general setting, we demonstrate the necessity of mispricing for equilibrium when agents are heterogeneous enough. The construction of a representative agent with stochastic weights allows us to characterize prices and allocations, given mispricing occurs. Article published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Financial Studies in its journal, The Review of Financial Studies.
Experimental investigation of adhesive-based self-healing of cementitious materials

This paper presents the results of a series of self-healing experiments conducted on reinforced mortar beams containing adhesive-filled glass reservoirs. An overview of the findings of the preliminary investigation stage of experiments is given in addition to the results of a parametric study which investigates the effect of the level of reinforcement and loading rate on the amount of self-healing. Results show that both primary and secondary healing occurs during the first and second loading cycles respectively. Qualitative results also show clear evidence of the occurrence of crack-healing following the first loading cycle and new crack formation during the second loading cycle. The long-term motivation for this work is to provide data suitable for the development of a numerical material model for the autonomic healing process in cementitious materials.
DOWN THE MEMORY LANE : REVISITING THE 1972 HWANGE COLLIARY KAMANDAMA DISASTER

On the morning of 6 June 1972, 427 coal miners perished in a suspected methane gas explosion in Hwange Colliery Kamandama Shaft. On that fateful day Miners from South Africa, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, and Costa Rica met their untimely death at the number two mine. This has been the worst mining disaster ever in Zimbabwe’s history, which hampered sustainable development. Through content analysis, questionnaires and interviews research findings suggest that the suspected causes of the accident were, blown out Shots, Welding and the Collapse of Panels, sabotage and diesel fuel fires. To ensure effective sustainable development the company embarked on a massive campaign to curb any occupational hazards mainly through observing contraband rules, ISO certification, and setting proto teams, sub-contracting rock specialists, maintaining a wellinformed safety department. The paper recommends, the use of person wearable methane control monitors, maximum stone dusting, methane drainage, and the elimination of igniting sources.
Analysis and evaluation of heat affected zones in electric discharge machining of EN-31 die steel

In this paper investigations are conducted on the machining of EN-31 die steel with different electrode materials (copper, brass and graphite) with electrical discharge machining (EDM) process. This study presents the analysis and evaluation of heat affected zones (HAZ) of the workpiece surfaces machined using different tool electrodes by EDM. The kerosene oil of commercial grade has been used as dielectric fluid. The effect of various important EDM parameters such as pulse duration, peak current and discharge gap voltage has been investigated to yield the responses in terms of material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR). Further the detailed analysis of heat affected regions has been carried out by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy (OM). Experimental results indicate that copper as a tool electrode shows a good response towards MRR, whereas brass gives superior surface finish as compared to other tool electrodes. From the microstructural analysis study it has been observed that heat affected zone is much deeper in the specimen machined by graphite electrode as compared to other tool electrodes.
ProbView: a flexible probabilistic database system

Probability theory is mathematically the best understood paradigm for modeling and manipulating uncertain information. Probabilities of complex events can be computed from those of basic events on which they depend, using any of a number of strategies. Which strategy is appropriate depends very much on the known interdependencies among the events involved. Previous work on probabilistic databases has assumed a fixed and restrictivecombination strategy (e.g., assuming all events are pairwise independent). In this article, we characterize, using postulates, whole classes of strategies for conjunction, disjunction, and negation, meaningful from the viewpoint of probability theory. (1) We propose a probabilistic relational data model and a genericprobabilistic relational algebra that neatly captures various strategiessatisfying the postulates, within a single unified framework. (2) We show that as long as the chosen strategies can be computed in polynomial time, queries in the positive fragment of the probabilistic relational algebra have essentially the same data complexity as classical relational algebra. (3) We establish various containments and equivalences between algebraic expressions, similar in spirit to those in classical algebra. (4) We develop algorithms for maintaining materialized probabilistic views. (5) Based on these ideas, we have developed a prototype probabilistic database system called ProbView on top of Dbase V.0. We validate our complexity results with experiments and show that rewriting certain types of queries to other equivalent forms often yields substantial savings.
Creating In-class Self-directed Learning through Can Do Objectives, Portfolio use, and Formative Assessment

This paper reports on the introduction of in-class self-directed learning in an intensive English program at a woman’s university in Japan. This self-directed learning was organized around can do descriptors, and supported by a portfolio and formative assessment. This new curriculum emerged from our use of the CEFR. A second reason for this change stemmed from an increased lack of student engagement during teacher-directed instruction. For self-directed learning, a student determined what can do’s she wanted to learn, and what activities she would study to learn these skills. This student control also involved deciding what can do’s to be individually tested on and when. At the end of the academic year, students (n = 37) completed a 12-item Likert scale survey to assess the curriculum changes. The results revealed that students had mixed support for self-directed planning. Specifically, students indicated a lack of confidence in making study plans. Students did like the use of can do’s, but wanted more language guidance for them. Students also strongly favored the use of the portfolio and formative assessment. An analysis of student can do test results for the year revealed that students made greater gains than were possible with the prior teacher-directed curriculum.
Characterization of positive air ions in boreal forest air at the Hyytiälä SMEAR station

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Characterization of positive air ions in boreal forest air at the Hyytiälä SMEAR station U. Hõrrak, P. P. Aalto, J. Salm, K. Komsaare, H. Tammet, J. M. Mäkelä, L. Laakso, M. Kulmala
Gene expression inhibition of N-Myc downregulated gene 1 (NDRG1) monitoring and facilitation via transfectional transfer of NDRG1-siRNA constructs into- in vitro-cultured human glioblastoma cells

siRNA is a potent tool for artificially modulating gene expression through the introduction of short interfering RNAs. NDRG1 is a member of the N-myc downregulated gene (NDRG) family and is induced via different physiological and pathological conditions (hypoxia, cellulardifferentiation, heavy metal, Nmyc, neoplasia) modulatin NDRG1 transcription, mRNA stability and translation. Hypoxia, among other diverse factors, induces NDRG1 expression and plays an important role in its regulation of expression. siRNA- and iodoacetate (IAA)-mediated downregulation of NDRG1 mRNA and protein expression in vitro in human glioblastoma cell lines showed a nearly complete inhibition of NDRG1 expression when compared to the results obtained due to the inhibitory role of glycolysis inhibitor IAA. Hypoxia responsive elements (HREs) bound by nuclear HIF-1· in human glioblastoma cells in vitro under different oxygenation conditions and the clearly enhanced binding of nuclear extracts from glioblastoma cell samples exposed to extreme hypoxic conditions confirmed the HIF-1 Western blotting results. Due to its clear regulatory behavior under hypoxic condition in human tumor cells, NDRG1 represents an additional diagnostic marker for brain tumor detection, due to the role of hypoxia in regulating this gene, and it can represent a potential target for tumor treatment in human glioblastoma. siRNA method can represent an elegant alternative to modulate the expression of the hypoxia induced NDRG1 gene and can help to monitor the development of the cancer disease treatment outcome through monitoring the experession of this gene in the patients undergoing the different therapeutic treatment alternatives available nowadays.
Face Recognition Using Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Features

We propose a novel facial representation based on the dual-tree complex wavelet transform for face recognition. It is effective and efficient to represent the geometrical structures in facial image with low redundancy. Moreover, we experimentally verify that the proposed method is more powerful to extract facial features robust against the variations of shift and illumination than the discrete wavelet transform and Gabor wavelet transform.
Exploring if/whether variation in subordinate interrogatives1

This paper investigates the variation between if and whether (e.g. I don’t know if / whether you are right ), since prior studies on complementation in English have not sufficiently addressed the variation between these two complementizers, and those examining if -clauses have centred the analysis around conditionality. Based on data extracted from the British component of the International Corpus of English , the results from the study show that although if and whether are mostly interchangeable complementizers, there are grammatical, semantic and stylistic constraints regarding the choice of conjunction. The results suggest that a number of factors can influence the choice of complementizer, such as the matrix verb or the presence of an explicit alternative in clause introduced by the conjunction or . In addition, extralinguistic factors such as age and gender are also revealed as playing a role in the choice of complementizer.
Feedback Stabilization Over a First Order Moving Average Gaussian Noise Channel

Recent developments in information theory by Y. -H. Kim have established the feedback capacity of a first order moving average additive Gaussian noise channel. Separate developments in control theory have examined linear time invariant feedback control stabilization under signal to noise ratio (SNR) constraints, including colored noise channels. This note considers the particular case of a minimum phase plant with relative degree one and a single unstable pole at z=phi (with |phi| > 1) over a first order moving average Gaussian channel. SNR constrained stabilization in this case is possible precisely when the feedback capacity of the channel satisfies CFB ges log2 |phi|. Furthermore, using the results of Kim we show that there exist linear encoding and decoding schemes that achieve stabilization within the SNR constraint precisely when CFB ges log2 |phi|.
The struggle for ‘our streets’: the digital and physical spatial politics of the Ferguson Movement

ABSTRACT The Ferguson Movement of 2014 and 2015 reached national salience immediately following the murder of Michael Brown, after residents took to social media platforms to report from what many activists called ‘ground zero. ’ Some popular and scholarly conversations have couched the movement largely through its online manifestations; this study, however, places the movement within the intersections of digital and physical space as well as the broader political context of St. Louis. Triangulating data from 21 unstructured interviews with local activists in St. Louis, Missouri with GIS and digital media analysis, we illustrate how activists in the Ferguson Movement organized within St. Louis’ physical space and challenged popular arguments about resistance in digital space. Consequently, we argue that social movements’ placeness remain important despite recent emphases on digital media.
Numerical solution of many-body wave scattering problem for small particles

A numerical approach to the problem of wave scattering by many small particles is developed under the assumptions ka « 1, d»a, where a is the size of the particles and d is the distance between the neighboring particles. On the wavelength one may have many small particles. An impedance boundary conditions are assumed on the boundaries of small particles. The results of numerical simulation show good agreement with the theory. They open a way to numerical simulation of the method for creating materials with a desired refraction coefficient.
Transgenic Mice Expressing Yeast CUP1 Exhibit Increased Copper Utilization from Feeds

Copper is required for structural and catalytic properties of a variety of enzymes participating in many vital biological processes for growth and development. Feeds provide most of the copper as an essential micronutrient consumed by animals, but inorganic copper could not be utilized effectively. In the present study, we aimed to develop transgenic mouse models to test if copper utilization will be increased by providing the animals with an exogenous gene for generation of copper chelatin in saliva. Considering that the S. cerevisiae CUP1 gene encodes a Cys-rich protein that can bind copper as specifically as copper chelatin in yeast, we therefore constructed a transgene plasmid containing the CUP1 gene regulated for specific expression in the salivary glands by a promoter of gene coding pig parotid secretory protein. Transgenic CUP1 was highly expressed in the parotid and submandibular salivary glands and secreted in saliva as a 9-kDa copper-chelating protein. Expression of salivary copper-chelating proteins reduced fecal copper contents by 21.61% and increased body-weight by 12.97%, suggesting that chelating proteins improve the utilization and absorbed efficacy of copper. No negative effects on the health of the transgenic mice were found by blood biochemistry and histology analysis. These results demonstrate that the introduction of the salivary CUP1 transgene into animals offers a possible approach to increase the utilization efficiency of copper and decrease the fecal copper contents.
Cognitive deficits associated with a recently reported familial neurodegenerative disease: familial encephalopathy with neuroserpin inclusion bodies.

BACKGROUND We recently discovered an autosomal dominant disease causing a progressive dementia. The disease is caused by a point mutation in the gene coding for the serine protease inhibitor (ie, serpin) neuroserpin. The mutation results in an unstable neuroserpin protein that readily aggregates into intraneuronal inclusions that we identify as Collins bodies. The bodies are distributed throughout the cerebral hemispheres but are significantly more numerous in the cortex and the substantia nigra. We have named the disease familial encephalopathy with neuroserpin inclusion bodies (FENIB). OBJECTIVES To describe the cognitive and neurophysiological changes exhibited by individuals with FENIB and to correlate the phenotypic expression of the disease with the neuropathological findings. DESIGN Multiple case studies using neuropsychological assessment, electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and single-photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) studies of family members were performed. Using these measures, we also compared family members in whom the mutation is present with family members in whom the mutation was absent to control for nonspecific familial factors. SUBJECTS Nine individuals (5 women, aged 31-64 years; 4 men, aged 43-67 years) from 2 generations of family members related to the first reliably identified individual with symptoms of this disease. Symptoms, by self-report and reports of other family members, ranged from asymptomatic to severe dementia. Six of the 9 individuals carried the disease mutation. RESULTS All subjects with the mutation demonstrated some cognitive changes, with the greatest demonstrated by subjects older than 40 years. The changes included restricted attention, concentration, and response regulation functions, reduced controlled oral fluency (word-list generation), and restricted visuospatial organization. In general, recall memory was not as affected as other cognitive domains. The most severely affected subject demonstrated global dementia with prominent frontal lobe features. Findings on SPECT showed anomalies limited to frontal areas in the less affected subjects and more global, patchy areas of hypoperfusion in the more severely affected subjects. The 3 oldest and most affected subjects demonstrated slowing on EEG findings. The MRI findings were noncontributory except in the 2 most severe cases, which showed global cortical atrophy. CONCLUSIONS Cognitive changes in mildly to moderately affected subjects were characterized by deficits in frontal and frontal-subcortical area-dependent processes. Continued progressive deterioration of cerebral functions with relative sparing of recall memory suggests a unique dementia associated with this disease.