Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selective effects of partial striatal 6‐OHDA lesions on information processing in the rat

The present study was aimed at characterizing the cognitive deficits caused by the degeneration of nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) pathways by using the additive factor logic [Sternberg, S. (1969) Acta Psychol. , 30, 276–315], a powerful reaction time (RT) method developed in humans and recently introduced in the rat [Courtière, A. , Hardouin, J., Hasbroucq, T. , Possamaï, C. ‐A. & Vidal, F. (2000) Behav. Process. , 50, 113–121]. Long‐Evans rats were trained to respond to left or right (lateral) visual cues in a choice RT task. Two task factors, signal intensity and force requirement, were manipulated. Partial bilateral 6‐OHDA lesions of DA nerve terminals in the striatum were then performed and their effects tested for up to 7 weeks following surgery. Reaction time was lengthened from the 2nd to the 4th week postlesion. This alteration was independent of force requirement, thereby suggesting that the related motor processes were not influenced by the DA depletion. During the 2nd week postlesion, the RT increase was accompanied by a disappearance of the effect of signal intensity, showing that the lesion altered stimulus‐related processes. From the 3rd week the signal intensity effect was re‐established although RT was still increased, indicating that the stimulus‐related processes had recovered while other central processes were still impaired. From the 5th week after surgery, the lesioned animals had completely recovered from the RT deficits induced by the lesion. These results point at the involvement of striatal DA in sensory and central information processes.
Recognition and verification of English by Japanese students for computer-assisted language learning system

We address methods for recognizing English spoken by Japanese students as the basis for our Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) system. For automatic phonemic error detection, pronunciation error prediction is exe-cuted for a given orthographic text. To improve reliability, speaker adaptation and segment-input pair-wise veriﬁcation are applied as pre-processing and post-processing, respectively. We also address acoustic modeling as a means for coping with the large acoustic variation seen in non-native speech. First, English acoustic models are trained using a database of English spoken by Japanese students. Japanese phonemes that are regarded as allophones of English phonemes are then incorporated. We present the results of experimental comparison of these models and con-ﬁrm the effectiveness of speaker adaptation and pair-wise veriﬁcation.
MicroRNA-223-3p Inhibits the Angiogenesis of Ischemic Cardiac Microvascular Endothelial Cells via Affecting RPS6KB1/hif-1a Signal Pathway

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a recently discovered class of posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression with critical functions in the angiogenesis and cardiovascular diseases; however, the details of miRNAs regulating mechanism of angiogenesis of ischemic cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) are not yet reported. Methods and Results This study analyzes the changes of the dynamic expression of miRNAs during the process of angiogenesis of ischemic CMECs by applying miRNA chip and real-time PCR for the first time. Compared with normal CMECs, ischemic CMECs have a specific miRNAs expression profile, in which mir-223-3p has the most significant up-regulation, especially during the process of migration and proliferation, while the up-regulation is the most significant during migration, reaching 11.02 times. Rps6kb1 is identified as a potential direct and functional target of mir-223-3p by applying bioinformatic prediction, real-time PCR and Western blot. Pathway analysis report indicates Rps6kb1 regulates the angiogenesis by participating into hif-1a signal pathway. Further analysis reveals that both the gene and protein expression of the downstream molecules VEGF, MAPK, PI3K and Akt of Rps6kb1/hif-1a signal pathway decrease significantly during the process of migration and proliferation in the ischemic CMECs. Therefore, it is confirmed that mir-223-3p inhibits the angiogenesis of CMECs, at least partly, via intervening RPS6KB1/hif-1a signal pathway and affecting the process of migration and proliferation. Conclusion This study elucidates the miRNA regulating law in the angiogenesis of CMECs; mir-223-3p inhibits the process of migration and proliferation of ischemic CMECs probably via affecting RPS6KB1/hif-1a signal pathway, which in turn suppresses the angiogenesis. It is highly possible that mir-223-3p becomes a novel intervention core target in the treatment of angiogenesis of ischemic heart diseases.
Non-discretionary use of information system and the technology acceptance model

The purpose of this paper is to review literature used Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as their theoretical foundation in non-discretionary use (NDU) environment. NDU means system that user who worked in the organisation must used the system without exception as long as they continue working in order to complete their job tasks. Three limitations of TAM used in NDU environment were indentified. Firstly, though TAM can be extended with new variables, this becomes unwieldy and does not embrace all the diversity of everyday experience in NDU. Secondly, the ‘system usage' variable in TAM gave less meaning in NDU environment, and suggestions for its replacement are not able to fully capture the meaning of high quality in NDU. Thirdly, TAM can only measure the variables but not provide guidance how to achieve the variables. The paper ends with recommendations for future research into a very different type of framework for understanding and achieving high quality NDU
Gate-Level Simulation with GPU Computing

Functional verification of modern digital designs is a crucial, time-consuming task impacting not only the correctness of the final product, but also its time to market. At the heart of most of today’s verification efforts is logic simulation, used heavily to verify the functional correctness of a design for a broad range of abstraction levels. In mainstream industry verification methodologies, typical setups coordinate the validation effort of a complex digital system by distributing logic simulation tasks among vast server farms for months at a time. Yet, the performance of logic simulation is not sufficient to satisfy the demand, leading to incomplete validation processes, escaped functional bugs, and continuous pressure on the EDA industry to develop faster simulation solutions. In this work we propose GCS, a solution to boost the performance of logic simulation, gate-level simulation in particular, by more than a factor of 10 using recent hardware advances in Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) technology. Noting the vast available parallelism in the hardware of modern GPUs and the inherently parallel structures of gate-level netlists, we propose novel algorithms for the efficient mapping of complex designs to parallel hardware. Our novel simulation architecture maximizes the utilization of concurrent hardware resources while minimizing expensive communication overhead. The experimental results show that our GPU-based simulator is capable of handling the validation of industrial-size designs while delivering more than an order-of-magnitude performance improvements on average, over the fastest multithreaded simulators commercially available.
Epistatic connections between microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor and endothelin signaling in Waardenburg syndrome and other pigmentary disorders

Waardenburg syndrome (WS) is an inherited sensorineural deafness condition in humans caused by melanocyte deficiencies in the inner ear and forelock. Mutation of microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor (MITF) is known to produce WS type IIA whereas mutations of either endothelin (EDN) or its receptor endothelin receptor B (EDNRB) produce WS type IV. However, a link between MITF haploinsuf‐ficiency and EDN signaling has not yet been established. Here we demonstrate mechanistic connections between EDN and MITF and their functional importance in melanocytes. Addition of EDN to cultured human melanocytes stimulated the phosphorylation of MITF in an EDNRB‐dependent manner, which was completely abolished by mitogen‐activated protein kinase kinase inhibition. The expression of melanocyte‐specific MITF mRNA transcripts was markedly augmented after incubation with EDN1 and was followed by increased expression of MITF protein. Up‐regulated expression of MITF was found to be mediated via both the mitogen‐activated protein kinase‐p90 ribo‐somal S6 kinase‐cAMP response element‐binding protein (CREB) and cAMP‐protein kinase A‐CREB pathways. In addition, EDNRB expression itself was seen to be dependent on MITF. The functional importance of these connections is illustrated by the ability of EDN to stimulate expression of melanocytic pigmentation and proliferation markers in an MITF‐dependent fashion. Collectively these data provide mechanistic and epi‐static links between MITF and EDN/EDNRB, critical melanocytic survival factors and WS genes. Sato‐Jin, K. , Nishimura, E. K. , Akasaka, E. , Huber, W. , Nakano, H. , Miller, A. , Du, J., Wu, M. , Hanada, K. , Sawamura, D. , Fisher, D. E. , Imokawa, G. Epistatic connections between microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor and endothelin signaling in Waardenburg syndrome and other pigmentary disorders. FASEB J. 22, 1155–1168 (2008)
A note on a simple equivalence between round-based synchronous and asynchronous models

This short paper characterizes a round-based synchronous (timely) computing model that is equivalent to the popular crash prone round-based asynchronous (time-free) distributed computing model. Equivalence means here that any problem that can be solved by a protocol in one model can be solved by the same protocol in the other model. The style of this note is voluntarily informal. Its aim is mainly pedagogical. Its ambition is to help better understand relations linking synchronous and asynchronous distributed computing systems, and the nature of failures that make them difficult to master.
Export and Productivity Under Different Market Condition: Evidence from Japan

We use a large dataset of Japanese manufacturing firms to compare the effects of export entry on productivity under different export market conditions. Using the established econometric procedures of Propensity Score Matching and Difference-in-Differences, we explicitly estimate the effects of export entry during two periods with fairly different export market conditions: from 2002 to 2005, corresponding to the earlier period of global economic expansion that ended in 2007, and from 1998 to 2001, the period which witnessed the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. We find that export entry is associated with significantly higher ex-post productivity growth vis-a-vis non-entrants only during the period with favourable export market conditions. We also find that such advantage in productivity growth is long lasting and is found only for entrants exporting to high-income markets. Furthermore, export entry is associated with higher growth in R&D expenditure only during this period. These findings suggest that the effect of export entry in enhancing productivity growth, sometimes referred to as "learning-by-exporting," depends on good market conditions.
Oblique Angle Deposition of Germanium Film on Silicon Substrate

The effect of flux angle, substrate temperature and deposition rate on obliquely deposited germanium (Ge) films has been investigated. By carrying out deposition with the vapor flux inclined at 87 to the substrate normal at substrate temperatures of 250C or 300C, it may be possible to obtain isolated Ge nanowires. The Ge nanowires are crystalline as shown by Raman Spectroscopy.
The Two Cis-Acting Sites, parS1 and oriC1, Contribute to the Longitudinal Organisation of Vibrio cholerae Chromosome I

The segregation of bacterial chromosomes follows a precise choreography of spatial organisation. It is initiated by the bipolar migration of the sister copies of the replication origin (ori). Most bacterial chromosomes contain a partition system (Par) with parS sites in close proximity to ori that contribute to the active mobilisation of the ori region towards the old pole. This is thought to result in a longitudinal chromosomal arrangement within the cell. In this study, we followed the duplication frequency and the cellular position of 19 Vibrio cholerae genome loci as a function of cell length. The genome of V. cholerae is divided between two chromosomes, chromosome I and II, which both contain a Par system. The ori region of chromosome I (oriI) is tethered to the old pole, whereas the ori region of chromosome II is found at midcell. Nevertheless, we found that both chromosomes adopted a longitudinal organisation. Chromosome I extended over the entire cell while chromosome II extended over the younger cell half. We further demonstrate that displacing parS sites away from the oriI region rotates the bulk of chromosome I. The only exception was the region where replication terminates, which still localised to the septum. However, the longitudinal arrangement of chromosome I persisted in Par mutants and, as was reported earlier, the ori region still localised towards the old pole. Finally, we show that the Par-independent longitudinal organisation and oriI polarity were perturbed by the introduction of a second origin. Taken together, these results suggest that the Par system is the major contributor to the longitudinal organisation of chromosome I but that the replication program also influences the arrangement of bacterial chromosomes.
The Justy mutation identifies Gon4-like as a gene that is essential for B lymphopoiesis

A recessive mutation named Justy was found that abolishes B lymphopoiesis but does not impair other major aspects of hematopoiesis. Transplantation experiments showed that homozygosity for Justy prevented hematopoietic progenitors from generating B cells but did not affect the ability of bone marrow stroma to support B lymphopoiesis. In bone marrow from mutant mice, common lymphoid progenitors and pre-pro–B cells appeared normal, but cells at subsequent stages of B lymphopoiesis were dramatically reduced in number. Under culture conditions that promoted B lymphopoiesis, mutant pre-pro–B cells remained alive and began expressing the B cell marker CD19 but failed to proliferate. In contrast, these cells were able to generate myeloid or T/NK precursors. Genetic and molecular analysis demonstrated that Justy is a point mutation within the Gon4-like (Gon4l) gene, which encodes a protein with homology to transcriptional regulators. This mutation was found to disrupt Gon4l pre-mRNA splicing and dramatically reduce expression of wild-type Gon4l RNA and protein. Consistent with a role for Gon4l in transcriptional regulation, the levels of RNA encoding C/EBPα and PU.1 were abnormally high in mutant B cell progenitors. Our findings indicate that the Gon4l protein is required for B lymphopoiesis and may function to regulate gene expression during this process.
Increased Messenger RNA Level ofthe Inhibitory G Protein a Subunit Gia,2 inHumanEnd-Stage HeartFailure

In human heart failure the positive inotropic and cAMP-elevating effects of both j,-adrenoceptor agonists and phosphodiesterase inhibitors are diminished. This has been explained at least in part by an increase in the inhibitory signal-transducing G protein (G1) and unchanged stimulatory G protein (Gs). In the present study we determined the mRNA expression pattern of the ce subunits of Gp.l, Gi.2, Gi-3, and Gs in myocardial tissue samples of patients undergoing heart transplantation. Northern blot analysis of total RNA extracted from left ventricles with 32P-labeled cDNAs demonstrated expression of Gi.2, ,. 3, and G. mRNA. In contrast, Gi,,l mRNA was not detectable. To investigate whether the increased ratio of Gi/G, might be due to altered gene expression, we compared mRNA levels of Q,,. 2, Ga.3, and Gsa in left ventricular myocardium from failing hearts with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (n=8) and ischemic cardiomyopathy (n=6) and from nonfailing hearts from transplant donors (n=8). Compared with nonfailing control hearts, the Gia.2 mRNA was increased by 75+±26% (p<O.05) in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy hearts and 90±26% (p<0.05) in ischemic cardiomyopathy hearts. Gi. 3 and Gsa mRNA levels were similar in the three groups. The results suggest that as in other mammalian species, Gia2 and Gia3 mRNA are the predominant Gia mRNA subtypes in human ventricular myocardium. An upregulation of Gi. ,2 but not of Giar.3 mRNA probably underlies the increase in Gia protein and might thus be involved in the pathophysiological process leading (Circulation
A position-specific 3′UTR sequence that accelerates mRNA decay

ABSTRACT The 3′ untranslated regions (3′UTRs) of mammalian mRNAs direct an extensive range of alternative post-transcriptional outcomes, including regulation of mRNA decay and translation, contributing significantly to overall gene regulation. However, our knowledge of the underlying sequences and mechanisms is incomplete. We identified a novel 3′UTR sequence motif in mammals that targets mRNAs for transcript degradation. The motif is found in hundreds of mRNAs and is enriched in transcripts encoding regulatory proteins, such as transcription and signaling factors. Degradation of mRNAs containing the motif is mediated by the CCR4-NOT deadenylation complex. We identified hnRNPs A1 and A2/B1 as trans factors that directly bind to the motif, indicating a novel role for these proteins in deadenylation. Interestingly, a genome-wide analysis of the impact of this new regulatory pathway showed that the most active motifs are located within the 5′ and 3′-terminal portions of 3′UTRs, whereas elements in the center tend to be inactive. The highly position-specific function of the motif adds a new layer of regulation to gene expression mediated by 3′UTRs.
Interplay between Superoxide Dismutase, Glutathione Peroxidase, and Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor Gamma Polymorphisms on the Risk of End-Stage Renal Disease among Han Chinese Patients

Background. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of antioxidants, including superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1), play an important role in the risk for cancer and metabolic disorders. However, little is known regarding the effect of antioxidant SNPs on renal events. Methods. We prospectively enrolled multicenter patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and those without chronic kidney disease (CKD) of Han Chinese origin, with SOD2 (Val16Ala), GPX1 (Pro197Leu), and PPAR-γ (Pro12Ala, C161T) genotyped. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the significant risk determinants for ESRD. Results. Compared to ESRD patients, non-CKD subjects were more likely to have T allele at SOD2 Val16Ala (p = 0.036) and CC genotype at PPAR-γ Pro12Ala (p = 0.028). Regression analysis showed that TT genotype of SOD2 Val16Ala conferred significantly lower ESRD risk among patients without diabetes (odds ratio 0.699; p = 0.018). GPX1 SNP alone did not alter the risk. We detected significant interactions between SNPs including PPAR-γ Pro12Ala, C161T, and GPX1 regarding the risk of ESRD. Conclusion. This is the first and largest study on the association between adverse renal outcomes and antioxidant SNPs among Han Chinese population. Determination of SOD2 and PPAR-γ SNPs status might assist in ESRD risk estimation.
The male of Megacormus granosus (Gervais, 1844) with comments on its hemispermatophore (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae)

Abstract The male of Megacormus granosus is described for the first time and the female redescribed. A homology scheme proposed recently is applied to hemispermatophore structures. The specimens were collected in an oak forest from Pico de Orizaba Volcano at an average altitude of 2340 m. All adult males were collected by pitfall traps, whereas all adult females and both sex immatures were collected using Berlese funnels, suggesting that males are comparatively more mobile within the leaf litter layer, probably due to mating season.
Sameness and Segregation : The effects of communication and competition on political participation of African-Americans

Some previous research on the contextual causes of individual political participation has argued that increasing community heterogeneity increases political participation; while other researchers have claimed the opposite: that increasing community homogeneity (decreasing heterogeneity) increases participation. These theories use the different mechanisms of conflict and improved social networks. On the one hand, conflict which is theorized to increase in a heterogeneous environment is thought to increase participation and, on the other hand, more efficient social networks which are more likely in a homogenous context are thought to do the same. I argue that, in the case of race, these theories are not incompatible and, in fact, both mechanisms operate if the level of aggregation by which heterogeneity is measured is properly specified. In fact, it seems that that the seemingly contradictory evidence has been a result of the researcher's choice of the level of data aggregation. Using a model that combines contextual and individual level data and a measure of racial segregation rather than simply a measure of diversity, I demonstrate that both competition and communication increases turnout. Using data from the 1996 National Black Election Study, I demonstrate that, in the context of race, increasing homogeneity on a neighborhood level increases participation; while racially segregating these neighborhoods within a larger community, also increases participation.
Gender classification in speech recognition using fuzzy logic and neural network

Nowadays classification of gender is one of the most important processes in speech processing. Usually gender classification is based on considering pitch as feature. The pitch value of female is higher than the male. In most of the recent research works gender classification process is performed using the abovementioned condition. In some cases the pitch value of male is higher and also pitch of some female is low, in that case this classification does not produce the exact required result. By considering the aforementioned problem we have here proposed a new method for gender classification method which considers three features. The new method uses fuzzy logic and neural network to identify the gender of the speaker. To train fuzzy logic and neural network, training dataset is generated by using the above three features. Then mean value is calculated for the obtained result from fuzzy logic and neural network. By using this threshold value, the proposed method identifies the speaker belongs to which gender. The implementation result shows the performance of the proposed technique in gender classification .
Keep Calm and Go Abroad: The Effect of Learning Abroad on Student Mental Health.

In the spring of 2015, about 25% of US undergraduate students reported suffering from a mental health condition within the last 12 months (American College Health Association, 2015, p. 15). This number includes only students who were diagnosed or treated by a professional for such conditions. The percentage is undoubtedly higher when including those who did not seek assessment or treatment. In fact, almost 57% of students reported experiencing overwhelming anxiety within the last year, and 34% reported feeling so depressed it was difficult to function (p. 14). Suffice it to say that mental health is a significant concern on US college campuses. But what happens when those campuses go global?