Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Marked increase in rat red blood cell membrane protein glycosylation by one-month treatment with a cafeteria diet

Background and Objectives. Glucose, an aldose, spontaneously reacts with protein amino acids yielding glycosylated proteins. The compounds may reorganize to produce advanced glycosylation products, which regulatory importance is increasingly being recognized. Protein glycosylation is produced without the direct intervention of enzymes and results in the loss of function. Glycosylated plasma albumin, and glycosylated haemoglobin are currently used as index of mean plasma glucose levels, since higher glucose availability results in higher glycosylation rates. In this study we intended to detect the early changes in blood protein glycosylation elicited by an obesogenic diet. Experimental Design. Since albumin is in constant direct contact with plasma glucose, as are the red blood cell (RBC) membranes, we analyzed their degree or glycosylation in female and male rats, either fed a standard diet or subjected to a hyper-energetic self-selected cafeteria diet for 30 days. This model produces a small increase in basal glycaemia and a significant increase in body fat, leaving the animals in the initial stages of development of metabolic syndrome. We also measured the degree of glycosylation of hemoglobin, and the concentration of glucose in contact with this protein, that within the RBC. Glycosylation was measured by colorimetric estimation of the hydroxymethylfurfural liberated from glycosyl residues by incubation with oxalate. Results. Plasma glucose was higher in cafeteria diet and in male rats, both independent effects. However, there were no significant differences induced by sex or diet in either hemoglobin or plasma proteins. Purified RBC membranes showed a marked effect of diet: higher glycosylation in cafeteria rats, which was more marked in females (not in controls). In any case, the number of glycosyl residues per molecule were higher in hemoglobin than in plasma proteins (after correction for molecular weight). The detected levels of glucose in RBC were lower than those of plasma, even when expressed in molal units, and were practically nil in cafeteria-diet fed rats compared with controls; there was no effect of sex. Conclusions. RBC membrane glycosylation is a sensitive indicator of developing metabolic syndrome-related hyperglycemia, more sensitive than the general measurement of plasma or RBC protein glycosylation. The extensive glycosylation of blood proteins does not seem to be markedly affected by sex; and could be hardly justified from an assumedly sustained plasma hyperglycemia. The low levels of glucose found within RBC, especially in rats under the cafeteria diet, could hardly justify the extensive glycosylation of hemoglobin and the lack of differences with controls, which contained sizeable levels of intracellular glucose. Additional studies are needed to study the dynamics of glucose in vivo in the RBC to understand how such extensive protein glycosylation could take place.
Late careers and career exits in Norway

We used matched employer-employee data for the period 1992-1997 to analyse the transition from work to early retirement in Norway. We focus on the effect of a new early retirement scheme ("AFP") of which some 60 percent of the population is eligible. We thus observe individuals in two different incentive systems and estimate the reallocation effect between employment and different early retirement, notably AFP and disability pension. There is a substantial drop in employment for the group entitled to AFP. However, while AFP has an increasingly negative effect on the labour supply, there seem to be almost no corresponding reduction in the incidence of disability pension during the period of investigation. Our data includes a broad range of individual, workplace and industry characteristics. We report a relatively high degree of heterogeneity in the retirement behaviour, notably between genders, but also between industries and sectors. Push as well as pull factors are identified. The former appears to be more relevant for the disability pathway, while the latter turns out to be significant when retiring to AFP.
A Model of Synaptic Vesicle-Pool Depletion and Replenishment Can Account for the Interspike Interval Distributions and Nonrenewal Properties of Spontaneous Spike Trains of Auditory-Nerve Fibers

In mammalian auditory systems, the spiking characteristics of each primary afferent (type I auditory-nerve fiber; ANF) are mainly determined by a single ribbon synapse in a single receptor cell (inner hair cell; IHC). ANF spike trains therefore provide a window into the operation of these synapses and cells. It was demonstrated previously (Heil et al., 2007) that the distribution of interspike intervals (ISIs) of cat ANFs during spontaneous activity can be modeled as resulting from refractoriness operating on a non-Poisson stochastic point process of excitation (transmitter release events from the IHC). Here, we investigate nonrenewal properties of these cat-ANF spontaneous spike trains, manifest as negative serial ISI correlations and reduced spike-count variability over short timescales. A previously discussed excitatory process, the constrained failure of events from a homogeneous Poisson point process, can account for these properties, but does not offer a parsimonious explanation for certain trends in the data. We then investigate a three-parameter model of vesicle-pool depletion and replenishment and find that it accounts for all experimental observations, including the ISI distributions, with only the release probability varying between spike trains. The maximum number of units (single vesicles or groups of simultaneously released vesicles) in the readily releasable pool and their replenishment time constant can be assumed to be constant (∼4 and 13.5 ms, respectively). We suggest that the organization of the IHC ribbon synapses not only enables sustained release of neurotransmitter but also imposes temporal regularity on the release process, particularly when operating at high rates.
Application of SMES to Enhance the Dynamic Performance of DFIG during Voltage Sag and Swell

The integration of wind turbines into modern power grids has significantly increased during the last decade. Wind turbines equipped with doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) have been dominating wind power installation worldwide since 2002. In this paper, superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) unit is proposed to improve the dynamic performance of a wind energy conversion system equipped with DFIG during voltage sag and voltage swell events. The converter and the chopper of the SMES unit are controlled using a hysteresis current controller and artificial neural network based controller respectively. Detailed simulation is carried out using MATLAB/SIMULINK software to highlight the impact of the SMES unit in improving the overall system performance under voltage sag and voltage swell conditions.
Convex Feasibility Methods for Compressed Sensing

We present a computationally-efficient method for recovering sparse signals from a series of noisy observations, known as the problem of compressed sensing (CS). CS theory requires solving a convex constrained minimization problem. We propose to transform this optimization problem into a convex feasibility problem (CFP), and solve it using subgradient projection methods, which are iterative, fast, robust and convergent schemes for solving CFPs. As opposed to some of the recently-introduced CS algorithms, such as Bayesian CS and gradient projections for sparse reconstruction, which become inefficient as the problem dimension and sparseness degree increase, the newly-proposed methods exhibit a marked robustness with respect to these factors. This renders the subgradient projection methods highly viable for large-scale compressible scenarios.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health Conventional Intramuscular Sedatives versus Ziprasidone for Severe Agitation in Adolescents: Case-control Study

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare intramuscular (IM) ziprasidone to conventional IM medications (haloperidol combined with lorazepam) for the treatment of severe agitation in adolescents (age 12–17). Methods: We retrospectively identified consecutive severe agitation episodes (defined as requiring physical restraint) in adolescents treated with either IM ziprasidone or conventional IM agents in a psychiatric emergency room. For ziprasidone, the dosage was 20 mg for 23 episodes and 10 mg for 5 episodes. For 24 episodes treated with combined haloperidol and lorazepam, the dosages were 4.8 ± 0.3 SEM mg and 1.9 ± 0.4 mg respectively. Outcomes were the duration of restraint and need for adjunctive "rescue" medications within 60 minutes. These outcomes were decided prior to reviewing any records. Results: No difference was found in restraint duration (ziprasidone, N = 28, 55 ± 5 minutes; haloperidol with lorazepam N = 24, 65 ± 7 minutes, P = NS). Use of "rescue" medications did not differ between the two groups. No changes in blood pressure were found, but pulse decreased 8.3 ± 2.4 for haloperidol with lorazepam and 8.9 ± 4.24 for ziprasidone (P = NS). No instances of excessive sedation or extra-pyramidal symptoms were documented. Conclusion: In this study, IM ziprasidone appeared effective, well tolerated, and similar in clinical profile to combined conventional IM medications for treating severe agitation in adolescents. Given the reportedly favorable acute side effect profile of parenteral atypical agents, they may provide an alternative to conventional antipsychotics for treating acute agitation in both adult and adolescent populations. Future randomized, controlled studies are needed.
Toward Natual Gesture/Speech HCI: A Case Study of Weather Narration

In order to incorporate naturalness in the design of Human Computer Interfaces (HCI), it is desirable to develop recognition techniques capable of handling continuous natural gesture and speech inputs. Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) provide a good framework for continuous gesture recognition and also for multimodal fusion [11]. Many different researchers [13, 12, 2], have reported high recognition rates for gesture recognition using HMMs [9]. However the gestures which were used for recognition by them were defined precisely and were bound with syntactical and grammatical constraints. But natural gestures do not string together in syntactical bindings [3]. Moreover strict classification of natural gesture is not feasible. In this paper we have examined hand gestures made in a very natural domain, that of a weather person narrating in front of a weather map. The gestures made by the weather person are embedded in a narration. This provides us with abundant data from an uncontrolled environment to study the interaction between speech and gesture in the context of a display. We hypothesize that this domain is very similar to that of a natural HCI interface. We have implemented a continuous HMM based gesture recognition framework. In order to understand the interaction between the gesture and speech, we have done a co-occurrence analysis of different gestures with some spoken keywords. We have also shown the possibility of improving continuous gesture recognition results based on the co-occurrence analysis. Fast feature extraction and tracking is accomplished by the use of a predictive Kalman filtering on color segmented stream of video images. The results in the weather domain should be a step toward natural gesture/speech HCI.
The Galactic WN stars. Spectral analyses with line-blanketed model atmospheres versus stellar evolut

An infrared light-receiving device includes an optical absorption layer disposed on a principal surface of a substrate and an optical filter disposed on the optical absorption layer, the optical filter including first, second, and third semiconductor regions that are arranged in that order in a direction from the optical absorption layer to the optical filter, each of the first, second, and third semiconductor regions including an n-type InGaAs layer. The optical absorption layer includes a type-II superlattice structure. The first semiconductor region contains an n-type impurity with a concentration of 2.0×1019 cm−3 or more. The third semiconductor region contains an n-type impurity with a concentration of 3.0×1018 cm−3 or less and 8.0×1017 cm−3 or more. The second semiconductor region contains an n-type impurity with a concentration between the impurity concentration of the first semiconductor region and the impurity concentration of the third semiconductor region.
Gamma-interferon-like immunoreactivity in axotomized rat motor neurons

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) encoded antigens, absent or present at only low levels in normal brain tissue, are induced locally around axotomized motor neurons. We here report that immunoreactivity for the potent MHC-inducing factor, gamma-interferon (IFN-gamma), appears in the cytoplasm of such neurons. Rat facial nerves were interrupted (crushed or cut), and later, at various intervals, cryosections from the facial nuclei were subjected to immunohistochemistry with monoclonal antibodies reacting with IFN-gamma and MHC antigens. IFN-gamma-like immunoreactivity appeared briskly in the cytoplasm of the axotomized motor neurons. The immunoreactivity subsided after a nerve crush as the target muscles were reinnervated, but persisted when nerve regeneration was prevented after a nerve cut. These results point to a role for nerve cell-derived IFN-gamma-like molecules in eliciting the neural cell responses to axotomy.
A DETAILED GRAVITATIONAL LENS MODEL BASED ON SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY AND KECK ADAPTIVE OPTICS IMAGING OF A HERSCHEL-ATLAS SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY AT z = 4.243,,

We present high-spatial resolution imaging obtained with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) at 880 μm and the Keck adaptive optics (AO) system at the KS-band of a gravitationally lensed submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z = 4.243 discovered in the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey. The SMA data (angular resolution ≈0.″6) resolve the dust emission into multiple lensed images, while the Keck AO KS-band data (angular resolution ≈0.″1) resolve the lens into a pair of galaxies separated by 0. ″3. We present an optical spectrum of the foreground lens obtained with the Gemini-South telescope that provides a lens redshift of zlens = 0.595 ± 0.005. We develop and apply a new lens modeling technique in the visibility plane that shows that the SMG is magnified by a factor of μ = 4.1 ± 0.2 and has an intrinsic infrared (IR) luminosity of LIR = (2.1 ± 0.2) × 1013 L☉. We measure a half-light radius of the background source of rs = 4.4 ± 0.5 kpc which implies an IR luminosity surface density of ΣIR = (3.4 ± 0.9) × 1011 L☉ kpc−2, a value that is typical of z > 2 SMGs but significantly lower than IR luminous galaxies at z ∼ 0. The two lens galaxies are compact (rlens ≈ 0.9 kpc) early-types with Einstein radii of θE1 = 0.57 ± 0.01 and θE2 = 0.40 ± 0.01 that imply masses of Mlens1 = (7.4 ± 0.5) × 1010 M☉ and Mlens2 = (3.7 ± 0.3) × 1010 M☉. The two lensing galaxies are likely about to undergo a dissipationless merger, and the mass and size of the resultant system should be similar to other early-type galaxies at z ∼ 0.6. This work highlights the importance of high spatial resolution imaging in developing models of strongly lensed galaxies discovered by Herschel.
Lawyers of the Right: Professionalizing the Conservative Coalition

A timely and multifaceted portrait of the lawyers who serve the diverse constituencies of the conservative movement, "Lawyers of the Right" explains what unites and divides lawyers for the three major groups - social conservatives, libertarians, and business advocates - that have coalesced in recent decades behind the Republican Party.Drawing on in-depth interviews with more than seventy lawyers who represent conservative and libertarian nonprofit organizations, Ann Southworth explores their values and identities and traces the implications of their shared interest in promoting political strategies that give lawyers leading roles. She goes on to illuminate the function of mediator organizations - such as the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy - that have succeeded in promoting cooperation among different factions of conservative lawyers. Such cooperation, she finds, has aided efforts to drive law and the legal profession politically rightward and to give lawyers greater prominence in the conservative movement. Southworth concludes, though, that tensions between the conservative law movement's elite and populist elements may ultimately lead to its undoing.
CCA : "Curvilinear component analysis"

R esum e : L'ACC est un r eseau de neurones auto-organis e qui donne une carte de la sous-vari et e d'un nuage de donn ees en grandes dimensions non lin eairement d ependantes. Le principe est de construire une relation entre un espace d'entr ee (les don-n ees) et un espace de sortie (la carte) au moyen d'un ensemble de neurones ayant chacun deux vecteurs-poids : un pour l'entr ee et l'autre pour la sortie. Apr es avoir quantii e la distribution par les vecteurs d'entr ee, les distances entre ces vecteurs sont copi ees dans l'espace de sortie, tout en favorisant les petites distances de sortie. On obtient alors le d epliage de la vari et e des donn ees avec r eduction de dimension. Apr es apprentissage, le m^ eme algo-rithme peut ^ etre utilis e pour projeter contin^ ument n'importe quel point de la distribution, avec d'excellentes caract eristiques en interpolation et en extrapolation. L'ACC peut ^ etre employ ee dans plusieurs domaines comme la fusion de donn ees, l'appariement de graphes, l'analyse et la surveillance de proc ed es industriels, la d e-tection de pannes dans des machines, la cartographie de concepts et le routage adaptatif en t el ecommunications. Abstract : CCA is a self-organizing neural network which gives a revealing low-dimensional mapping of the submanifold of a high-dimensional and non linearly related data set. The principle is to build a relation between an input space (data) and an output space (the expected mapping) through a set of neurons, each having two weight vectors: one for the input and the other one for the output. After driving the input vectors to a vector quanti-zation of the input data set, the distances between input vectors are copied in the output space, while favouring short-range output distances. Then, one obtains the unfolding of the data subman-ifold together with a dimension reduction. After learning, the same projection algorithm can be used to map continuously any point of the distribution, leading to excellent interpolation and extrapolation properties, which is an original result. CCA can be used in several domains such as data fusion, graph matching, industrial process monitoring or analysis, faults detection in devices, concept mapping and adaptive routing in telecommunications.
Interdependence of Production and Income in Asia-Pacific Economies: An International Input-Output Approach

In this paper, we investigate interdependencies between Asia-Pacific economies by using the Asian International Input-Output Table. The results of production inducement analysis show that the production inducement coefficients of many Asia-Pacific countries have recently increased, and in particular production inducements to East Asian countries, especially China, have increased. Thus, interdependencies between Asia-Pacific economies in terms of global production networks deepened further from 2000 onwards through increases in trade in intermediate products. In particular, China plays a more important role than ever as the main production center in the Asia-Pacific region. Moreover, the degrees of income dependence between these countries are examined. It is found that East Asian economies have not necessarily become more autonomous than before in terms of their income dependence. Rather, their economic structure still tends to be affected by economic developments outside the region.
Repetition Priming in Speeded Word Reading: Contributions of Perceptual and Conceptual Processing Episodes

Five experiments investigated repetition priming on an indirect speeded word reading (naming) test, a task intended to circumvent conscious recollection. Reading a word or generating it from a semantic cue (either a phrase or an antonym) produced reliable priming of similar magnitude on this indirect test of memory. Efforts to encourage conscious recollection elevated response latencies in speeded reading and improved performance on a direct test of recognition memory, without creating a difference in the amount of priming observed in the Read and Generate conditions. We also found more priming for visually than for auditorily studied words, consistent with the standard pattern for indirect tests assumed to be data-driven. Speeded word reading provides a good measure of repetition priming because the fully exposed target word recruits both perceptual and conceptual aspects of the initial interpretive encoding episode.
The eclipsing massive X-ray binary M 33 X-7: New X-ray observations and optical identification

The eclipsing X-ray binary M 33 X 7 was in the field of view during several observations of our XMM-Newton M 33 survey and in the archival Chandra observation 1730 which cover a large part of the 3.45 d orbital period. We detect emission of M 33 X 7 during eclipse and a soft X-ray spectrum of the source out of eclipse that can best be described by bremsstrahlung or disk blackbody models. No significant regular pulsations of the source in the range 0.25-1000 s were found. The average source luminosity out of eclipse is 5 10 37 erg s 1 (0.5-4.5 keV). In a special analysis of DIRECT observations we identify as optical counterpart a B0I to O7I star of 18.89 mag in V which shows the ellipsoidal heating light curve of a high mass X-ray binary with the M 33 X 7 binary period. The location of the X-ray eclipse and the optical minima allow us to determine an improved binary period and ephemeris of mid-eclipse as HJD (2 451 760:61 0:09) N (3:45376 0:00021). The mass of the compact object derived from orbital parameters and the optical companion mass, the lack of pulsations, and the X-ray spectrum of M 33 X 7 may indicate that the compact object in the system is a black hole. M 33 X 7 would be the first detected eclipsing high mass black hole X-ray binary.
Dance partner robot cooperative motion generation with adjustable length of dance step stride based on physical interaction

As an example of platforms for realizing the effective human-robot coordination with physical interactions, a dance partner robot has been developed, which could dance together with a human by estimating the next dance step intended by the human. Generating robot's active motion so as to be adapted to its user could be one of essential functions in the next generation robotic technology. This paper proposes the cooperative motion generation method for the robot, which is implemented by adjusting length of dance step stride based on physical interaction between the human and the robot. Experimental results illustrate the validity of the proposed method.