Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Triggers Protective Pathways in Pancreatic Beta-Cells Exposed to Glycated Serum

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) might play a pathophysiological role in the development of diabetes and its complications. AGEs negatively affect pancreatic beta-cell function and the expression of transcriptional factors regulating insulin gene. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), an incretin hormone that regulates glucose homeostasis, might counteract the harmful effects of AGEs on the beta cells in culture. The aim of this study was to identify the intracellular mechanisms underlying GLP-1-mediated protection from AGE-induced detrimental activities in pancreatic beta cells. HIT-T15 cells were cultured for 5 days with glycated serum (GS, consisting in a pool of AGEs), in the presence or absence of 10 nmol/L GLP-1. After evaluation of oxidative stress, we determined the expression and subcellular localization of proteins involved in maintaining redox balance and insulin gene expression, such as nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2 (Nrf2), glutathione reductase, PDX-1, and MafA. Then, we investigated proinsulin production. The results showed that GS increased oxidative stress, reduced protein expression of all investigated factors through proteasome activation, and decreased proinsulin content. Furthermore, GS reduced ability of PDX-1 and MafA to bind DNA. Coincubation with GLP-1 reversed these GS-mediated detrimental effects. In conclusion, GLP-1, protecting cells against oxidants, triggers protective intercellular pathways in HIT-T15 cells exposed to GS.
The incidence and management of workplace violence among medical professionals in the United States: A methodological pilot study

This study aimed to investigate workplace violence (WPV) experienced by medical professionals in the United States as well as individual and managerial actions following violent episodes and further, predict estimators of WPV. A modified version of the Workplace Violence in the Health Sector: Country Case Studies Research Instruments Survey Questionnaire was used to assess the incidence and management of workplace violence experienced by healthcare workers. Medical personnel from two social aggregation websites were recruited to participate in an online survey. 226 valid questionnaires were received. 48.5\% and 76.1\% of respondents, respectively, experienced physical and psychological violence in the past year. Risk factors for violence included occupation, patient population, ethnicity, and higher levels of anxiety regarding violence in hospitals. Overall, 17.7\% of reported incidents were investigated, 52.4\% of cases saw no consequences meted out to perpetrators and 51.7\% of victims suffered from negative emotions or aftereffects following a violent episode. Only 30.1\% of victims formally reported their experience with violence. The prevalence of violence was high and medical professionals were negatively affected by violence; however, formal reporting of episodes was low and measures combating violence were inadequate. Harsher penalties for perpetrators of violence are needed and hospitals need to implement guidelines that track the management of violence.
Post-oligarchic Evolution of Protoplanetary Embryos and the Stability of Planetary Systems

In the sequential accretion model, planets form through the sedimentation of dust, cohesive collisions of planetesimals, and coagulation of protoplanetary embryos prior to the onset of efficient gas accretion. As progenitors of terrestrial planets and the cores of gas giant planets, embryos have comparable masses and are separated by the full width of their feeding zones after the oligarchic growth. Within this context, we investigate the orbit-crossing time (Tc) of protoplanetary systems with equal planetary masses and initial separation k0 scaled by their mutual Hill radii ("EMS systems"). In a gas-free environment, log [Tc/(1 yr)] ≃ A + B log (k0/2.3), where A and B are functions of the planetary masses and initial eccentricities. This power law is caused by a random-walk diffusion of velocity dispersion σ(t) in the EMS systems. The diffusion also leads to (1) a Rayleigh distribution of eccentricities with probability P(t) = (e/σ2) exp [-e2/(2σ2)] at time t and (2) an evolution of average eccentricity ∝t1/2. As evidence of this chaotic diffusion, the observed eccentricities of known extrasolar planets obey a Rayleigh distribution. In a gaseous environment, as embryos become well separated (with k0 ≃ 6-12), their orbit-crossing tendency is suppressed by tidal drag, and their growth is stalled as their orbits are circularized. We evaluate the isolation masses of the embryos, which determine the probability of gas giant formation, as a function of the dust and gas surface densities.
Racism and Racial Inequality: Implications for Teacher Education

This collection of papers examines issues related to the preparation of teachers to effectively educate all children, regardless of differences. After "Introduction" (Sabrina Hope King and Louis A. Castenell, Jr.), the six papers include: (1) "The Criticality of Racism in Education at the Dawn of the New Millennium" (Beverly M. Gordon); (2) "Untold Stories: Implications for Understanding Minority Preservice Teachers' Experiences" (Rosebud Elijah); (3) "Historical White Resistance to Equity in Public Education: A Challenge to White Teacher Educators" (Beatrice S. Fennimore); (4) "Professional Development: An Important Partner in Antiracist Teacher Education" (Beverly Daniel Tatum); (5) "Seven Principles Underlying . Socially Just and Ethically Inclusive Teacher Preparation" (Michael O'Loughlin); and (6) "Seeing With Different Eyes: Reexamining Teachers' Expectations Through Racial Lenses" (A. Lin Goodwin). The.final paper is a conclusion: "Tenets to Guide Antiracist Teacher Education Practice" (Sabrina Hope King and Louis A. Castenell, Jr.). (Papers contain references.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the orilinal document.
Old and Young X-Ray Point Source Populations in Nearby Galaxies

We have analyzed Chandra ACIS observations of 32 nearby spiral and elliptical galaxies and present the results of 1441 X-ray point sources that were detected in these galaxies. The total point-source X-ray (0.3-8.0 keV) luminosity LXP is well correlated with the B-band, K-band, and FIR+UV luminosities of spiral host galaxies and is well correlated with the B-band and K-band luminosities of elliptical galaxies. This suggests an intimate connection between LXP and both the old and young stellar populations, for which K and FIR+UV luminosities are reasonable proxies for the galaxy mass M and star formation rate SFR. We derive proportionality constants α = 1.3 × 1029 ergs s-1 M and β = 0.7 × 1039 ergs s-1 (M☉ yr-1)-1, which can be used to estimate the old and young components from M and SFR, respectively. The cumulative X-ray luminosity functions for the point sources have significantly different slopes. For the spiral and starburst galaxies, γ ≈ 0.6-0.8, and for the elliptical galaxies, γ ≈ 1.4. This implies that the most luminous point sources—those with LX ≳ 1038 ergs s-1—dominate LXP for the spiral and starburst galaxies. Most of the point sources have X-ray colors that are consistent with soft-spectrum (photon index Γ ~ 1-2) low-mass X-ray binaries, accretion-powered black hole high-mass X-ray binaries (BH HMXBs), or ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs, also known as IXOs). We rule out hard-spectrum neutron star HMXBs (e.g., accretion-powered X-ray pulsars) as contributing much to LXP. Thus, for spirals, LXP is dominated by ULXs and BH HMXBs. We find no discernible difference between the X-ray colors of ULXs (LX ≥ 1039 ergs s-1) in spiral galaxies and point sources with LX ≈ 1038-1039 ergs s-1. We estimate that ≳20% of all ULXs found in spirals originate from the older (Population II) stellar populations, indicating that many of the ULXs that have been found in spiral galaxies are in fact Population II ULXs, like those in elliptical galaxies. We find that LXP depends linearly (within uncertainties) on both M and SFR for our sample galaxies (M ≲ 1011 M☉ and SFR ≲ 10 M☉ yr-1).
Analysis of the Effective Factors on Online Purchase Intention through Theory of Planned Behavior

As the rapid growth of the World Wide Web, electronic commerce has become a new way for businesses on online markets. Du to its facilities, many people are willing to shop online. Although business-to-consumer e-commerce has created new businesses opportunities, questions about consumer shopping motivations toward online shopping versus conventional shopping continue to persist. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors which affect online purchase intention. In this regard, providing a conceptual framework, the effect of some factors including subjective norms, behavioral control, attitude, friends role (social influence) and perceived credibility on online purchase intention are investigated. This is a descriptive- survival study. Data collection is cross-field due to using questionnaire as well as library resources. Statistical population includes Isfahan University’s students. Using Cochran formula, sample volume is equal to 260 people. Descriptive and inferential statistics and structural equations are used to analyze data and test hypothesis. The results of the research suggest that all mentioned factors, i.e. subjective norms, behavioral control, attitude, social influence, and credibility affect online shopping directly. We hope that the findings of this research have potential benefits for online retailers, and all those looking to make more virtual sales, also it could reveal researchers in future research.
The Zero Duality Gap Property and Lower Semicontinuity of the Perturbation Function

We examine the validity of the zero duality gap properties for two important dual schemes: a generalized augmented Lagrangian dual scheme and a nonlinear Lagrange-type dual scheme. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the zero duality gap property to hold are established in terms of the lower semicontinuity of the perturbation functions.
Cyclical Variation in the Effect of Federal Funds Target Rate Surprises on Hospitality Index Returns

This paper examines the effect of US Federal Reserve monetary policy action announcements on hospitality index returns (HIRs) and provides evidence of cyclical variation in the impact of federal funds target rate surprises on US HIRs. To obtain a correct identification of monetary policy changes, the paper follows Kuttner in separating the surprise element from the expected element of the target rate changes. The surprise element is expected to have a strong influence on HIRs because the surprise component is not yet priced in the market. Test results show that funds target rate surprises can have a significant impact on airline, gambling, hotel and travel and leisure index returns, but actual funds target rate changes and the expected component have no strong impact on HIRs. Moreover, the significant influence of funds target rate surprises on HIRs depends on business conditions and is much greater in size and statistical significance in business contraction. In particular, the significant effects of federal funds target rate surprises on airline, hotel and restaurant index returns are found to exist only during periods of business cycle contraction.
An associational model of birdsong sensorimotor learning II. Temporal hierarchies and the learning of song sequence.

Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying serially ordered behavior is a fundamental problem in motor learning. We present a computational model of sensorimotor learning in songbirds that is constrained by the known functional anatomy of the song circuit. The model subsumes our companion model for learning individual song "syllables" and relies on the same underlying assumptions. The extended model addresses the problem of learning to produce syllables in the correct sequence. Central to our approach is the hypothesis that the Anterior Forebrain Pathway (AFP) produces signals related to the comparison of the bird's own vocalizations and a previously memorized "template. " This "AFP comparison hypothesis" is challenged by the lack of a direct projection from the AFP to the song nucleus HVc, a candidate site for the generator of song sequence. We propose that sequence generation in HVc results from an associative chain of motor and sensory representations (motor --> sensory --> next motor. ) encoded within the two known populations of HVc projection neurons. The sensory link in the chain is provided, not by auditory feedback, but by a centrally generated efference copy that serves as an internal prediction of this feedback. The use of efference copy as a substitute for the sensory signal explains the ability of adult birds to produce normal song immediately after deafening. We also predict that the AFP guides sequence learning by biasing motor activity in nucleus RA, the premotor nucleus downstream of HVc. Associative learning then remaps the output of the HVc sequence generator. By altering the motor pathway in RA, the AFP alters the correspondence between HVc motor commands and the resulting sensory feedback and triggers renewed efference copy learning in HVc. Thus, auditory feedback-mediated efference copy learning provides an indirect pathway by which the AFP can influence sequence generation in HVc. The model makes predictions concerning the role played by specific neural populations during the sensorimotor phase of song learning and demonstrates how simple rules of associational plasticity can contribute to the learning of a complex behavior on multiple time scales.
Christian Bayer , Christoph Hanck Is Double Trouble ? How to Combine

This paper suggests a combination procedure to exploit the imperfect correlation of cointegration tests to develop a more powerful meta test. To exemplify, we combine Engle and Granger (1987) and Johansen (1988) tests. Either of these underlying tests can be more powerful than the other one depending on the nature of the data-generating process. The new meta test is at least as powerful as the more powerful one of the underlying tests irrespective of the very nature of the data generating process. At the same time, our new meta test avoids the arbitrary decision which test to use if single test results conict. Moreover it avoids the size distortion inherent in separately applying multiple tests for cointegration to the same data set. We apply our test to 143 data sets from published cointegration studies. There, in one third of all cases single tests give conicting results whereas our meta tests provides an unambiguous test decision.
Thread-Level Parallelism & Shared-Memory Pool Techniques for Authorization of Credit Card System

Nowadays, credit card is a famous trend used by millions of people around the world as a form of payment. This paper presented an architectural framework and prototype of credit card authorization system using thread-level parallelism and shared memory pool techniques in order to support dynamic tuning of the size of the thread pool at runtime. Normally, single threaded were chosen by software developer in current credit card authorization whereby authentication process takes longer time to respond and its limitation of handling huge number of simultaneous transactions at the same time. As a result, the performance of the authorization system was affected during peak hours. Through thread-level parallelism technique or usually known as multi-threading, each worker thread will be assigned with several child threads to perform online fraud validation concurrently, depending on numbers of cryptographic elements presented in transaction message while the work thread itself performed card restriction validation based on the card information stored in card's shared memory pool.
RED-COCWED WOODPECmRS IN THE OUACWITA MOUNTAINS : IMPLICATIONS FOR OTHER TAXA

The more xeric southand west-facing slopes of the Ouachita Mountains of west-central Arkansas once supported fire-maintained shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) forests with a well-developed herbaceous understory. Fire suppression following the original harvest of these forests resulted in forests with increasingly abundant woody vegetation in the understory, midstory, and canopy, and a very suppressed herbaceous understory. Due largely to these habitat changes, redcockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) populations declined to extremely low levels by the 1990s. Ouachita National Forest managers increased the emphasis on prescribed burning and thinning in the late 1970s and initiated landscape-level restoration of shortleaf pinebluestem (Schizachyrium spp. and Andropogon spp.) communities in 1996, in part to support recovery of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. Restoration involves thinning the pine and hardwood overstory, mechanical removal of midstory pines and hardwoods, and prescribed burning on approximately a 3-year return interval. This management (which will eventually encompass over 48,000 ha) has been very successful in returning large areas to a condition similar to historical photographs of original shortleaf pine forests. Restoration results in a more open, pine-dominated overstory and an increase in herbaceous vegetation compared to untreated control areas. The abundance of nectar resources was significantly higher in treated areas compared to controls, peaking in the first growing season following burning and declining thereafter. Overall abundance and species richness of butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds were generally greater in restored areas compared to controls. Many species of conservation concern, including Diana fritillary (Speyeria diana), red-cockaded woodpecker, northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), prairie warbler (Dendroica discolor), brown-headed nuthatch (Sitta pusilla), and Bachman's sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis), also responded positively to restoration. Of the taxonomic groups studied, few maintained higher abundances in the control areas. Overall, regional abundance and natural patterns of diversity of the examined taxa will be enhanced with rrjswration of shortleaf pine-bluestem communities on appropriate sites in the Ouachita Mountains.
Towards a Better Lifetime for Non-volatile Caches in Chip Multiprocessors

To address the limitations imposed by the conventional SRAM cache, the emerging Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) technologies are widely used nowadays as they provide among other things high density and low leakage. However, the weak endurance of these memory technologies limits their use as a replacement of SRAM. Further, the large intra-set write variation introduced by the application and the existing cache management policies significantly reduces the lifetime of the NVM caches. This paper proposes a technique to reduce intra-set write variation to increase the effective lifetime of the NVM caches. This is achieved by partitioning the cache into equal size windows and using different windows during the execution in order to distribute the writes evenly across the set. Full system simulation results show that our policy reduces the write variation and improves the cache lifetime by 2.1 times and 1.8 times for a single and dual core system, respectively compared to an existing policy.
A Multi-view Approach for Detecting Non-Cooperative Users in Online Video Sharing Systems

Most online video sharing systems (OVSSs), such as YouTube and Yahoo! Video, have several mechanisms for supporting interactions among users. One such mechanism is the video response feature in YouTube, which allows a user to post a video in response to another video. While increasingly popular, the video response feature opens the opportunity for non-cooperative users to introduce "content pollution" into the system, thus causing loss of service effectiveness and credibility as well as waste of system resources. For instance, non-cooperative users, to whom we refer as spammers, may post unrelated videos in response to another video (the responded video), typically a very popular one, aiming at gaining visibility towards their own videos. In addition, users referred to as content promoters post several unrelated videos in response to a single responded one with the intent of increasing the visibility of the latter. Previous work on detecting spammers and content promoters on YouTube has relied mostly on supervised classication methods. The drawback of applying supervised solutions to this specific problem is that, besides extremely costly (in some cases thousands of videos have to be watched and labeled), the learning process has to be continuously performed to cope with changes in the strategies adopted by non-cooperative users. In this work, we explore the use of multi-view semi-supervised strategies, which allows us to reduce significantly the amount of training, to detect non-cooperative users on YouTube. Our proposed method explores the fact that, in this problem, there is a natural partition of the feature space in sub-groups or "views", each being able to classify a given user when enough training data is available. Moreover, we propose to deal with the problem of view combination as a rank aggregation problem, where rankings based on confidence in the classification are combined to decide whether an unlabeled example should be included in the training set. Our results demonstrate that we are able to reduce the amount of training in about 80% without significant losses in classification effectiveness.
An experience-based BDI logic: Motivating shared experiences and intentionality

This paper proposes the notion of experience to help situate agents in their environment, providing a link on how the continually evolving environment impacts the evolution of an agent's BDI model and vice versa. Then, using the notion of shared experience as a primitive construct, we develop a novel formal model of shared intention which we believe more adequately describes social behaviour than traditional BDI logics that focus on individual agents. Whilst many philosophers have argued that collective intentionality cannot always be equated to the collection of the individual agents' intentions, there has been no AI model that addresses this issue. We believe this is the first attempt to develop an explicit notion of shared experience from an AI perspective.
Hemopexin domains as multifunctional liganding modules in matrix metalloproteinases and other proteins

The heme‐binding hemopexin consists of two, four‐bladed propeller domains connected by a linker region. Hemopexin domains are found in different species on the phylogenetic tree and in the human species represented in hemopexin, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), vitronectin, and products of the proteoglycan 4 gene. Hemopexin and hemopexin domains of human proteins fulfill functions in activation of MMPs, inhibition of MMPs, dimerization, binding of substrates or ligands, cleavage of substrates, and endocytosis by low‐density lipoprotein receptor‐related protein‐1 (LRP‐1; CD91) and LRP‐2 (megalin, GP330). Insights into the structures and functions of hemopexin (domains) form the basis for positive or negative interference with the formation of molecular complexes and hence, might be exploited therapeutically in inflammation, cancer, and wound healing.
Optimum loudspeaker spacing for robust crosstalk cancellation

Crosstalk cancellation is a signal processing technique whereby two (or more) loudspeakers are used to deliver desired signals exactly at the listener's ears. Such a system is useful for 3D audio applications, and removes the requirement for the listener to wear headphones. However, crosstalk cancelers are notoriously non-robust to slight movements in head position, and there currently exists no clear method for determining the best loudspeaker placement in a given situation. We propose a robustness measure to evaluate the performance of crosstalk cancelers as a function of loudspeaker spacing. Based on this analysis we conclude that certain loudspeaker spacings give far better robustness performance, and provide a simple empirically-derived equation for determining the optimum loudspeaker spacing in a given situation.