Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Spatial Order of Horizontal Cells Is Not Affected by Massive Alterations in the Organization of Other Retinal Cells

To test whether retinal mosaics develop through interactions that are restricted primarily to the mosaic cells, we studied the horizontal cell mosaic in mutant mice (rd/rd and rd/bcl2) displaying severe retinal abnormalities. These mutants show that the horizontal cell mosaic develops normally even if these cells lack part of their synaptic input, have anomalous morphologies, eventually decrease in number, and reside in an abnormally packed retinal layer. These data strongly support a developmental design in which the final position of each cell in a retinal mosaic is controlled by interactions between homotypic cells and is independent of other cell types. The present analysis is also an investigation of the effects of photoreceptor degeneration on the horizontal cells in an established animal model of retinitis pigmentosa, the rd/rd mouse. We find that the organization of the horizontal cell mosaic resists photoreceptor degeneration and, furthermore, that bcl2 overexpression prevents the partial loss of horizontal cells secondary to photoreceptor loss. Secondary degeneration hampers attempts to restore retinal function by transplanting photoreceptors or promoting their survival. The anti-apoptotic gene bcl2 appears to be a promising tool to rescue inner retinal neurons, increasing the probability that photoreceptor rescue or substitution may be beneficial to subjects suffering from retinal degenerative diseases.
1 Mobility , Skills , and the Michigan Noncompete Experiment

While prior research has considered the desirability and implications of employee mobility, less research has considered factors affecting the ease of mobility. This paper explores a legal constraint on mobility —employee noncompete agreements—by exploiting Michigan's apparently-inadvertent 1985 reversal of its enforcement policy as a natural experiment. Using a differences-indifferences approach, and controlling for changes in the auto industry central to Michigan's economy, we find that the enforcement of noncompetes indeed attenuates mobility. Moreover, noncompete enforcement decreases mobility most sharply for inventors with firm-specific skills, and for those who specialize in narrow technical fields. The results speak to the literature on mobility constraints while offering a credibly exogenous source of variation that can extend previous research.
Collisional broadening of alkali doublets by helium perturbers

We report results for the Lorentzian profiles of the Li I, Na I and K I doublets and the Na I subordinate doublet broadened by helium perturbers for temperatures up to 3000 K. They have been obtained from a fully quantum-mechanical close-coupling description of the colliding atoms, the Baranger theory of line shapes and new ab initio potentials for the alkali–helium interaction. For all lines except the 769.9 nm K I line, the temperature dependence of the widths over the range 70 ⩽ T ⩽ 3000 K is accurately represented by the power law form w = aTbb with 0.38 < b < 0.43. The 769.9 nm K I line has this form for 500 ⩽ T ⩽ 3000 K with b having the higher value of 0.49. Although the shifts have a more complex temperature dependence, they all have the general feature of increasing with temperature above T ∼ 500 K apart from the 769.9 K I line whose shift decreases with temperature.
Advanced Utilization of Microwave Resonant Fields and Its Applications to Push-Push Oscillators and Reconfigurable Antennas

This paper presents an advanced and extensive utilization approach of microwave resonant fields, and the applications to push-push oscillators and reconfigurable planar antennas. The excellent coherency, synchronous harmonics and the degenerative orthogonal modes of electromagnetic field built up on microwave resonators are noticeable features in this approach. Another crucial point is the resonant field controllability that is especially essential feature for reconfigurable antennas in this paper. All the features can be realized by embedding semiconductor devices and/or IC's on a microwave resonator. Push-push oscillators and reconfigurable planar antennas are described as good examples of this approach. The push-push oscillators can generate very higher frequency signals due to the selective use of the 4th harmonic up to the 8th harmonic resonant fields, suppressing undesired harmonic signals. As a result, very high frequency band oscillators up to millimeter-wave bands with good suppression of undesired harmonic signals can be easily realized at very low cost by use of commercially available active devices for low frequency bands. The reconfigurable planar antennas are also demonstrated, where the boundary condition of the resonant field on planar antennas can be purposefully controlled to realize reconfigurable antenna performances by the semiconductor devices embedded on the patch as well. The orthogonal linear polarization controllable patch, the dual-band switching patch and the continuously frequency controllable patch have been demonstrated as the successful applications of this approach.
The Effects of Environmental Regulation on Innovation

In this day of increasing public concern with high inflation rates, low productivity gains, and a growing maze of environmental, health, and safety regulation, policymakers are beginning to examine the effects of this "social" regulation on technological advance. The Executive Branch has completed its Domestic Policy Review on Industrial Innovation and Congress, through its Office of Technology Assessment, is pursuing a similar study of the effect of regulation on technology. These studies confirm the conclusion of an earlier National Science Foundation sponsored literature search on the same subject that
Malignant cells are not found in ovarian cortex from breast cancer patients undergoing ovarian cortex cryopreservation.

BACKGROUND Breast cancer is a frequent indication for ovarian cortex cryopreservation due to its high incidence. The main concern of this procedure is the possibility of reintroducing metastatic cells within the implant, an issue that has not been addressed systematically. Thus, a study was designed to analyse the presence of ovarian metastases in breast cancer patients undergoing ovarian tissue cryopreservation. METHODS Morphological and immunohistochemical studies following the concept of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) were performed on 100 cortical ovarian biopsies obtained from 63 patients and on six frozen-thawed entire cortex from patients with the diagnosis of infiltrating ductal breast carcinoma undergoing ovarian cortex extraction and cryopreservation. The antibody panel included Cytokeratin CAM 5.2, Gross Cystic Disease Fluid Protein-15 (GCDFP15), Wilms' tumour antigen-1 (WT1) and Mammaglobin 1. RESULTS Employing only morphologic criteria, suspicious neoplastic cells were detected in five biopsies, but in none of the six entire cortex analysed. These five cases were reclassified as hyperplasic surface epithelium-inclusion cysts (CAM 5.2+, WT1+) or apoptotic granulosa cells (CAM 5.2-, GCDFP15+, WT1-). CONCLUSIONS Using the methodology of the SLN our data suggest the absence of tumour cells in biopsies obtained from patients undergoing ovarian cortex cryopreservation to preserve their fertility potential, although future methods of cancer screening may change our perception of this procedure.
The mass function of the Las Campanas loose groups of galaxies

We have determined the mass function of loose groups of galaxies in the Las Campanas Redshift Survey. Loose groups of galaxies in the LCRS range in mass from $M \sim 10^{12}~M_{\odot}$ to $10^{15}~{M}_{\odot}$. We find that the sample is almost complete for masses in the interval $5\times 10^{13}{-}8\times 10^{14}~{M}_{\odot}$. Comparison of the observed mass function with theoretical mass functions obtained from N -body simulations shows good agreement with a CDM model with the parameters $\Omega_{\rm m} = 0.3$, $\Omega_{\Lambda} = 0.7$ and the amplitude of perturbations about $\sigma_8=0.78{-}0.87$. For smaller masses the mass function of LCRS loose groups flattens out, differing considerably from the group mass function found by Girardi & Giuricin (2000) and from mass functions obtained by numerical simulations.
Activation of phagocytic cell NADPH oxidase by norfloxacin: a potential mechanism to explain its bactericidal action

The mechanisms underlying the bactericidal power of fluoroquinolones against intracellular parasites in host macrophages remain poorly understood. We have analyzed the effect of norfloxacin, a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, on the production of reactive oxygen intermediates (O2•− and H2O2) and NADPH oxidase activity in mouse macrophages. The generation of anion superoxide (O2•−) was found to be significantly greater in macrophages incubated with norfloxacin than in untreated controls. This enhancing effect of norfloxacin was dose‐dependent and reached maximal values within 10 min after its addition. The O2•− generated was mainly intracellular, as determined by the use of specific dyes, such as lucigenin and luminol, and able to diffuse freely through the cell membrane. Also, the production of H2O2 was increased in macrophages in response to norfloxacin. The positive effect of norfloxacin was associated to an enhanced mobilization of NADPH oxidase subunits p47phox and p67phox from the cytosol to the plasma membrane in phagocytic cells. The effect of the antibiotic persisted in vivo for several hours. These data support the notion that norfloxacin inhibits mycobacterial growth within phagocytic cells by enhancing intracellular production of O2•− and other reactive oxygen species.
Generative 3D models: a key to more information within less bandwidth at higher quality

This paper proposes a novel, yet extremely compact shape representation method. Its main feature is that 3D shapes are represented in terms of functions instead of geometric primitives. Given a set of - typically only a few - specific parameters, the evaluation of such a function results in a model that is one instance of a general shape. Particularly important for the web context with client systems of widely varying rendering performance is the support of a semantic level-of-detail superior to any low-level polygon reduction scheme.The shape description language has the power of a full programming language, but it has an extremely simple syntax. It serves as a ***mesh creation/manipulation language'. It is designed to facilitate the composition of more complex modeling operations out of simpler ones. Thus, it allows to create high-level operators which evaluate to arbitrarily complex, parameterized shapes. The underlying low-level shape representation is a boundary representation mesh in combination with Catmull/Clark subdivision surfaces.
CPV: Delay-Based Location Verification for the Internet

The number of location-aware services over the Internet continues growing. Some of these require the client’s geographic location for security-sensitive applications. Examples include location-aware authentication, location-aware access policies, fraud prevention, complying with media licensing, and regulating online gambling/voting. An adversary can evade existing geolocation techniques, e.g., by faking GPS coordinates or employing a non-local IP address through proxy and virtual private networks. We devise Client Presence Verification (CPV), a delay-based verification technique designed to verify an assertion about a device’s presence inside a prescribed geographic region. CPV does not identify devices by their IP addresses. Rather, the device’s location is corroborated in a novel way by leveraging geometric properties of triangles, which prevents an adversary from manipulating measured delays. To achieve high accuracy, CPV mitigates Internet path asymmetry using a novel method to deduce one-way application-layer delays to/from the client’s participating device, and mines these delays for evidence supporting/refuting the asserted location. We evaluate CPV through detailed experiments on PlanetLab, exploring various factors that affect its efficacy, including the granularity of the verified location, and the verification time. Results highlight the potential of CPV for practical adoption.
Power Frequency Magnetic Fields Affect the p38 MAPK-Mediated Regulation of NB69 Cell Proliferation Implication of Free Radicals

The proliferative response of the neuroblastoma line NB69 to a 100 µT, 50 Hz magnetic field (MF) has been shown mediated by activation of the MAPK-ERK1/2 pathway. This work investigates the MF effect on the cell cycle of NB69, the participation of p38 and c-Jun N-terminal (JNK) kinases in the field-induced proliferative response and the potential involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the activation of the MAPK-ERK1/2 and -p38 signaling pathways. NB69 cultures were exposed to the 100 µT MF, either intermittently for 24, 42 or 63 h, or continuously for periods of 15 to 120 min, in the presence or absence of p38 or JNK inhibitors: SB203580 and SP600125, respectively. Antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) was used as ROS scavenger. Field exposure induced transient activation of p38, JNK and ERK1/2. The MF proliferative effect, which was mediated by changes in the cell cycle, was blocked by the p38 inhibitor, but not by the JNK inhibitor. NAC blocked the field effects on cell proliferation and p38 activation, but not those on ERK1/2 activation. The MF-induced proliferative effects are exerted through sequential upregulation of MAPK-p38 and -ERK1/2 activation, and they are likely mediated by a ROS-dependent activation of p38.
Perceived duration of Visual and Tactile Stimuli Depends on Perceived Speed

It is known that the perceived duration of visual stimuli is strongly influenced by speed: faster moving stimuli appear to last longer. To test whether this is a general property of sensory systems we asked participants to reproduce the duration of visual and tactile gratings, and visuo-tactile gratings moving at a variable speed (3.5–15 cm/s) for three different durations (400, 600, and 800 ms). For both modalities, the apparent duration of the stimulus increased strongly with stimulus speed, more so for tactile than for visual stimuli. In addition, visual stimuli were perceived to last approximately 200 ms longer than tactile stimuli. The apparent duration of visuo-tactile stimuli lay between the unimodal estimates, as the Bayesian account predicts, but the bimodal precision of the reproduction did not show the theoretical improvement. A cross-modal speed-matching task revealed that visual stimuli were perceived to move faster than tactile stimuli. To test whether the large difference in the perceived duration of visual and tactile stimuli resulted from the difference in their perceived speed, we repeated the time reproduction task with visual and tactile stimuli matched in apparent speed. This reduced, but did not completely eliminate the difference in apparent duration. These results show that for both vision and touch, perceived duration depends on speed, pointing to common strategies of time perception.
Mechanisms of intermittent hypoxia induced hypertension

• Introduction • Mechanisms of IH‐induced systemic hypertension ‐ Contribution of the nervous system ‐ Contribution of circulating and vascular factors ‐ Role of transcription factors in the inflammatory and cardiovascular consequences of IH • NF‐κB • NFAT • HIF‐1 • Intermittent hypoxia induced pulmonary hypertension • Conclusions
Online anomaly detection in videos by clustering dynamic exemplars

We propose a non-parametric hierarchical event model to perform online anomaly detection in videos. A dynamic exemplar set is first used to represent observed event samples which updates itself every time when a new sample comes in. Upon this set, clusters are extracted to summarize the exemplars, offering a compact yet informative data structure for past event samples. Abnormal events are detected by both considering their dissimilarity with the model and low frequency. Experiments on real world crowd surveillance videos demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm which shows reliable detection rates and low false alarms.
A Closer Look at the Relation between GARCH and Stochastic Autoregressive Volatility

We show that, for three common SARV models, fitting a minimum mean square linear filter is equivalent to fitting a GARCH model. This suggests that GARCH models may be useful for filtering, forecasting, and parameter estimation in stochastic volatility settings. To investigate, we use simulations to evaluate how the three SARV models and their associated GARCH filters perform under controlled conditions and then we use daily currency and equity index returns to evaluate how the models perform in a risk management application. Although the GARCH models produce less precise forecasts than the SARV models in the simulations, it is not clear that the performance differences are large enough to be economically meaningful. Consistent with this view, we find that the GARCH and SARV models perform comparably in tests of conditional value-at-risk estimates using the actual data. , .
Zero Lower Bounds in New Keynesian Models and a Constrained Ramsey Problem

There exist difficulties in escaping from stagnation and/or deflation if the economy hits zero lower bounds on short-term nominal interest rates because the central bank cannot stimulate the economy further using rate cuts. How can it escape from them? Answering the question, we extend a closed-looped solution of a Ramsey problem (also known as a Stackelberg problem) by introducing zero lower bounds. Herein, we formulate a constrained Ramsey problem and derive a solution for it. In our extension, we found that the discounted Lyapunov equation is necessary to obtain the shadow price of the economy that hits the zero lower bounds. Herein we apply our method to new Keynesian models with zero lower bounds. Our simulation shows that committing to mild inflation engenders positive effects on the economy and that managing inflation expectations is necessary to escape from the bounds.
Proactivity towards workplace safety improvement: an investigation of its motivational drivers and organizational outcomes

ABSTRACT Initiating a safety oriented change—or safety initiative—is conceptually distinct from other forms of safety participation and safety citizenship behaviour, yet little attention has been given to its performance outcomes or its motivational antecedents. An initial study with a sample composed of middle managers (N = 86) showed that safety initiative predicted objective improvement actions 6 months later, whereas, showing differential validity, safety compliance predicted the implementation of monitoring actions. Two subsequent studies focused on motivational antecedents. First, using a sample of team leaders (N = 295), we tested a higher-order structure of proactive motivation that incorporates three domains: “can do”, “reason to” and future orientation. Second, in a longitudinal study of chemical work operators (N = 188), after checking for the influence of potential confounders (past behaviours; accidents experience; perceived risk), we showed that safety initiative was predicted only by proactive motivation. Instead, safety compliance was found to be associated with affective commitment and scrupulousness, whereas safety helping was found to be associated with affective commitment. Self-reported behaviours were validated against rater assessments. This study supports the importance of distinguishing safety initiative from other safety behaviours, indicating how to create an organizational context supporting a proactive management of workplace safety.
Squelched Galaxies and Dark Halos

There is accumulating evidence that the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function might be very different in different locations. The luminosity function might be rising in rich clusters and flat in regions of low density. If galaxies form according to the model of hierarchical clustering, then there should be many small halos compared to the number of big halos. If this theory is valid, then there must be a mechanism that eliminates at least the visible component of galaxies in low-density regions. A plausible mechanism is photoionization of the intergalactic medium at a time before the epoch that most dwarf galaxies form in low-density regions but after the epoch of formation for similar systems that ultimately end up in rich clusters. The dynamical timescales are found to accommodate this hypothesis in a flat universe with Ωm ≲ 0.4. If small halos exist but simply cannot be located because they have never become the sites of significant star formation, they still might have dynamical manifestations. These manifestations are hard to identify in normal groups of galaxies because small halos do not make a significant contribution to the global mass budget. It could be entertained, however, that there are clusters of halos where there are only small systems, clusters that are at the low-mass end of the hierarchical tree. There may be places where only a few small galaxies managed to form, enough for us to identify and use as test probes of the potential. It turns out that such environments might be common. Four probable groups of dwarfs are identified within 5 Mpc, and the assumption that they are gravitationally bound suggests M/LB ~ 300-1200 M☉/L☉, a factor of 6 ± 2 times higher than typical values for groups with luminous galaxies.
A case for merging the ILP and DLP paradigms

The goal of this paper is to show that instruction level parallelism (ILP) and data-level parallelism (DLP) can be merged in a single architecture to execute vectorizable code at a performance level that can not be achieved using either paradigm on its own. We will show that the combination of the two techniques yields very high performance at a low cost and a low complexity. We will show that this architecture can reach a performance equivalent to a superscalar processor that sustained 10 instructions per cycle. We will see that the machine exploiting both types of parallelism improves upon the ILP-only machine by factors of 1.5-1.8. We also present a study on the scalability of both paradigms and show that, when we increase resources to reach a 16-issue machine, the advantage of the ILP+DLP machine over the ILP-only machine increases up to 2.0-3.45. While the peak achieved IPC for the ILP machine is 4, the ILP+DLP machine exceeds 10 instructions per cycle.
Analysis of cortical thickness in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder due to mining disaster

MRI studies in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have focused primarily on manually-based hippocampal volumetry. However, the variation in cortical thickness and the relationship between the cortical volume and thickness alteration has not been well investigated in PTSD. In this paper, Laplacian method was first utilized to estimate cortical thickness after automatic segmentation of grey matter from MR images. Then the thickness maps were analyzed by SPM5, as well as volumetric analysis. Comparison between 15 survivors of mining disaster with PTSD and 10 survivors without PTSD, from the same accident, indicates that in the superior frontal gyrus and cuneus, the cortical thickness of survivors with PTSD is significantly larger than those without PTSD. However, local reduction in cortical volume is observed in hippocampus, which suggests indirect relationship between the two kinds of structural alterations.