Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inflammasome-Mediated IL-1β Production in Humans with Cystic Fibrosis

Background Inflammation and infection are major determinants of disease severity and consequently, the quality of life and outcome for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) is a key inflammatory mediator. Secretion of biologically active IL-1β involves inflammasome-mediated processing. Little is known about the contribution of IL-1β and the inflammasomes in CF inflammatory disease. This study examines inflammasome-mediated IL-1β production in CF bronchial epithelial cell lines and human patients with CF. Results Bronchial epithelial cell lines were found to produce negligible amounts of basal or stimulated IL-1β compared to hematopoeitic cells and they did not significantly upregulate caspase-1 activity upon inflammasome stimulation. In contrast, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from both CF and healthy control subjects produced large amounts of IL-1β and strongly upregulated caspase-1 activity upon inflammasome stimulation. PBMCs from CF patients and controls displayed similar levels of caspase-1 activation and IL-1β production when stimulated with inflammasome activators. This IL-1β production was dependent on NF-κB activity and could be enhanced by priming with LPS. Finally, chemical inhibition of CFTR activity in control PBMCs and THP-1 cells did not significantly alter IL-1β or IL-8 production in response to P. aeruginosa. Conclusion Hematopoeitic cells appear to be the predominant source of inflammasome-induced pro-inflammatory IL-1β in CF. PBMCs derived from CF subjects display preserved inflammasome activation and IL-1β secretion in response to the major CF pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, our data do not support the hypothesis that increased IL-1β production in CF subjects is due to an intrinsic increase in NF-κB activity through loss of CFTR function.
Contrast effects in judgmental forecasting when assessing the implications of worst and best case scenarios

Two experiments investigated whether individuals’ forecasts of the demand for products and a stock market index assuming a best or worst-case scenario depend on whether they have seen a single scenario in isolation or whether they have also seen a second scenario presenting an opposing view of the future. Normatively, scenarios should be regarded as belonging to different plausible future worlds so that the judged implications of one scenario should not be affected when other scenarios are available. However, the results provided evidence of contrast effects in that the presentation of a second ‘opposite’ scenario led to more extreme forecasts consistent with the polarity of the original scenario. In addition, people were more confident about their forecasts based on a given scenario when two opposing scenarios were available. We examine the implications of our findings for the elicitation of point forecasts and judgmental prediction intervals and the biases that are often associated with them.
Effects of Estate Tax Reform on Charitable Giving

This paper examines the effects of estate tax repeal on charitable giving. Using data from a variety of sources, we conclude that outright repeal would reduce giving at death by about $5 billion per year, and giving during life by a similar amount. The resulting decline in giving, $10 billion per year, represents about 5 percent of total giving and is roughly equivalent to annual grant-making by the 110 largest foundations.
Factores de Resiliencia y Afrontamiento como Predictores del Rendimiento Académico de los Estudiantes en Universidades Privadas

Predecir el rendimiento academico en estudiantes universitarios peruanos es una garantia para cumplir las exigencias de licenciamiento y acreditacion. Se realiza un diseno transversal, comparativo y explicativo para establecer los factores de resiliencia y afrontamiento que predicen el rendimiento academico, en dos muestras probabilisticas estratificadas de universidades privadas de Lima. El resi-, cae, Smilkstein, cp-ls y estimadores dwls, gls, demostraron que el modelo predictivo de resiliencia y promedio ponderado tienen efecto en la percepcion de rendimiento academico y un efecto minimo en el promedio ponderado. Ambos factores predicen de manera directa, indirecta y relacional el rendimiento academico. Destacan los factores confianza en si mismo, capacidad social, estrategias de autofocalizacion emocional abierta, exposicion emocional abierta y apoyo familiar social como predictores relevantes en expectativa de logro, aprendizaje percibido y satisfaccion global. El funcionamiento familiar, es un predictor indirecto a traves de la resiliencia del rendimiento academico. Factores de afrontamiento activo, predicen mejor la percepcion del rendimiento que factores de proteccion y riesgo. Muestras homogeneas grandes con valor psicometrico pueden mejorar los modelos predictivos, identificar perfiles, disenar estudios causales, desarrollar programas de aprendizaje de talento y estrategias activas que mejorarian la calidad del aprendizaje universitario.
Novel VLSI implementation for triplet-based spike-timing dependent plasticity

Spike Timing-Dependent Plasticity (STDP) is one of several plasticity rules that is believed to play an important role in learning and memory in the brain. In conventional pair-based STDP learning, synaptic weights are altered by utilizing the temporal difference between pairs of pre- and post-synaptic spikes. This learning rule, however, fails to reproduce reported experimental measurements when using stimuli either by patterns consisting of triplet or quadruplet of spikes or increasing the repetition frequency of pairs of spikes. Significantly, a previously described spike triplet-based STDP rule succeeds in reproducing all of these experimental observations. In this paper, we present a new spike triplet-based VLSI implementation, that is based on a previous pair-based STDP circuit [1]. This implementation can reproduce similar results to those observed in various physiological STDP experiments, in contrast to traditional pair-based VLSI implementation. Simulation results using standard 0.35 µm CMOS process of the new circuit are presented and compared to published experimental data [2].
Choosing the future horizon in closed-loop CCA-type Subspace Algorithms

The invention concerns a process for the manufacture of methyl t-butyl ether in which: a hydrocarbon feedstock is cracked to give an ethylene-rich stream; an isobutane-rich stream is separated from C4-hydrocarbon stream; the ethylene-rich stream and the isobutane-rich stream are contacted over a transhydrogenation catalyst to give a mixture comprising ethane and isobutene; the isobutene is reacted with methanol to give methyl t-butyl ether; and the residual C4-hydrocarbon stream is recycled either to the C4-hydrocarbon stream or to the cracker and the ethane is recycled to the cracker. It has been found that combining and interconnecting a hydrocarbon cracker, a transhydrogenation reactor and an etherification reactor results in an integrated, economic process for the production of methyl t-butyl ether.
Efficient Broadcasting in Wormhole-Routed Multicomputers: A Network-Partitioning Approach

In this paper, a network-partitioning approach for one-to-all broadcasting on wormhole-routed networks is proposed. To broadcast a message, the scheme works in three phases. First, a number of data-distributing networks (DDNs), which can work independently, are constructed. Then the message is evenly divided into submessages, each being sent to a representative node in one DDN. Second, the submessages are broadcast on the DDNs concurrently. Finally, a number of data-collecting networks (DCNs), which can work independently too, are constructed. Then, concurrently on each DCN, the submessages are collected and combined into the original message. Our approach, especially designed for wormhole-routed networks, is conceptually similar but fundamentally very different from the traditional approach of using multiple edge-disjoint spanning trees in parallel for broadcasting in store-and-forward networks. One interesting issue is on the definition of independent DDNs and DCNs, in the sense of wormhole routing. We show how to apply this approach to tori, meshes, and hypercubes. Thorough analyses and comparisons based on different system parameters and configurations are conducted. The results do confirm the advantage of our scheme, under various system parameters and conditions, over other existing broadcasting algorithms.
Connected speech assessment in the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment: a scoping review

ABSTRACT Background: Connected speech (CS) deterioration appears early in the progression to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). As such, CS assessment may prove a quick, clinical speech tool and contribute to the early detection of subtle, yet significant speech changes pointing to pathological cognitive ageing. Aims: We performed a scoping review to extensively map the methodology used to assess CS in AD and MCI populations in the literature. Methods & Procedures: Outcomes & Results: The scoping review revealed the majority of articles on CS in AD and MCI populations studied relatively small samples of English-speaking patients, most of which were in the early to moderate stages of AD and relied mostly on descriptive methods (namely, single-picture description tasks) and manual analysis to collect and analyse CS data. The review also highlighted the diversity of outcome measures of CS studied, with semantic and fluency outcome measures being most common across included articles, and a synthesis of the key findings revealed these outcomes measures to be most relevant in identifying early changes to CS in pathological ageing. Conclusions: This scoping review identifies a considerable heterogeneity across articles on the assessment of CS in AD and MCI, in terms of populations (sample size, disease severity, diagnosis criteria used, etc.) and methods (tasks used to assess CS, outcome measures of interest, etc.). It also provides recommendations for future research on CS and highlights the potential of interesting research avenues, such as unstructured tasks and automatic speech analysis to obtain and analyse CS data.
Systematic classification of vertebrate chemokines based on conserved synteny and evolutionary history

The genes involved in host defences are known to undergo rapid evolution. Therefore, it is often difficult to assign orthologs in multigene families among various vertebrate species. Chemokines are a large family of small cytokines that orchestrate cell migration in health and disease. Herein, we have surveyed the genomes of 18 representative vertebrate species for chemokine genes and identified a total of 553 genes. We have determined their orthologous relationships and classified them in accordance with the current systematic chemokine nomenclature system. Our study reveals an interesting evolutionary history that gave origin and diversification to the vertebrate chemokine superfamily.
Expectations of Infrequently Occurring Jumps in Returns: The Reclined 7-Curve Shape of Cumulative Abnormal Returns

Following Elton (1999), we argue that realized returns are often a poor proxy for expected returns. Rational expectations of infrequently occurring jumps in returns will cause expected and realized returns to differ systematically over long periods. We show both theoretically and, using a sample of 1892 takeover target firms, empirically that realized stock returns are a systematically biased proxy for expected returns prior to a partially anticipated jump return (probability between 0 and 1). Our results have important implications on event studies if market participants anticipate the event.
Exploring Implicit Partisanship: Enigmatic (But Genuine) Group Identification and Attraction

Briefly studying names of four members of a hypothetical group produces identification with and attraction to that group, a finding labeled implicit partisanship (IP; Greenwald, Pickrell, & Farnham, 2002). The original demonstration of IP used human groups in a competitive context. Experiments I and 2 varied these procedures by using, respectively, a cooperative intergroup context and non-human group members (fictitious car brands). Neither of these variations eliminated the IP effect, indicating unanticipated robustness. Experiment 3 revealed a substantial reduction of the IP effect's magnitude when the studied names represented a rival university. The reduction of IP through identity opposition supports the interpretation that spontaneous group identification effects carry psychological significance that is comparable to that of more ordinary group identifications.
Capital Expenditures and Firm Performance: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Analysis of Stock Returns

Using a simple twoâ€ period model of investment, we show that there should be a nonlinear relation between a firm's investmentâ€ toâ€ capital ratio and its subsequent stock returns. This prediction finds substantial empirical support. The evidence indicates that the slope of the investment function is negative at low investment levels, close to zero at intermediate investment levels and negative at high investment levels. Our results, which are robust to the use of narrowlyâ€ and broadlyâ€ defined measures of capital investment, pose a challenge to the hypothesis that the negative crossâ€ sectional correlation between investment and stock returns is attributable to some sort of overinvestment phenomenon.
Effect of dietary Enterolobium cyclocarpum on microbial protein flow and nutrient digestibility in sheep maintained fauna-free, with total mixed fauna or with Entodinium caudatum monofauna

Three groups of five wethers with ruminal and duodenal cannulas and maintained as either fauna-free (FF) or inoculated with total mixed fauna (TF) or Entodinium caudatum as a single-species monofauna (EN) were used in an experiment with two 28 d periods. In the first period, the sheep were fed a control barley-based diet (40:60 concentrate to silage DM) and in the second period the diet was supplemented with 187 g DM of Enterolobium cyclocarpum for the last 12 d of the period. The diets of period 1 and 2 were isonitrogenous. There was no effect of fauna on apparent ruminal and total tract organic matter and fibre digestion, but bacterial and microbial N flow and efficiency were improved in FF sheep compared to TF sheep. In period 2, protozoal numbers were reduced between 31 and 88 % 2 h after feeding E. cyclocarpum for the third to twelfth day of supplementation and by an average of 25 % in samples collected over the 24 h feeding cycle. Supplementation of the diet with E. cyclocarpum and the consequent protozoal reduction in TF and EN sheep improved the flow of non-ammonia N and bacterial N to the small intestine and the efficiency of microbial synthesis. However, E. cyclocarpum reduced ruminal organic matter digestion, especially in faunated sheep, and total tract organic matter, N and fibre digestion. Thus, a reduction in the protozoal cell numbers of 25 % was sufficient to achieve the beneficial effects of reduced fauna on the bacterial protein supply, but diet digestibility was reduced.
Euclidean analysis of the entropy functional formalism

The attractor mechanism implies that the supersymmetric black hole near-horizon solution is defined only in terms of the conserved charges and is therefore independent of asymptotic moduli. Starting only with the near-horizon geometry, Sen's entropy functional formalism computes the entropy of an extreme black hole by means of a Legendre transformation where the electric fields are defined as conjugated variables to the electric charges. However, traditional Euclidean methods require the knowledge of the full geometry to compute the black hole thermodynamic quantities. We establish the connection between the entropy functional formalism and the standard Euclidean formalism taken at zero-temperature. We find that Sen's entropy function f (on-shell) matches the zero-temperature limit of the Euclidean action. Moreover, Sen's near-horizon angular and electric fields agree with the chemical potentials that are defined from the zero-temperature limit of the Euclidean formalism.
Expression of tenascin-C splice variants in normal and bullous keratopathy human corneas.

PURPOSE To characterize the expression patterns of tenascin-C (TN-C) splice variants in normal corneas and in those affected by pseudophakic-aphakic bullous keratopathy (PBK-ABK). METHODS Alternatively spliced variants of TN-C mRNA from normal and age-matched human corneas with PBK-ABK were analyzed by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Southern blot hybridization, using beta2-microglobulin as a housekeeping gene to normalize the samples. Normal and PBK-ABK corneas were studied by immunofluorescence and western blot analysis with antibodies to specific fibronectin type III-like (FN-III) repeats of TN-C. RESULTS Tenascin-C mRNA expression was detected in epithelial, stromal, and endothelial cells of normal and PBK-ABK central corneas, although the protein was seen only in diseased corneas. Assessed by RT-PCR, PBK-ABK corneas expressed approximately three times more total TN-C mRNA than did normal corneas. Four major TN-C mRNA variants (with no FN-III insertional repeats or with retained insertional repeats D, A1, or A1+D) and three minor variants (with retained repeats A1+A2, A1+A2+D, or A1+A2+B+D) were much more abundant in PBK-ABK than in normal corneas. Repeat A1 was more abundant in PBK-ABK TN-C protein than repeats A2, A3, B, or D. Major TN-C variants in PBK-ABK corneas were in the range of 190 kDa to 240 kDa. CONCLUSIONS Expression of TN-C mRNA and protein is higher in PBK-ABK corneas than in normal corneas. This increase mainly concerns relatively small TN-C splice variants that may affect corneal cell adhesion and migration and contribute to the exacerbation of PBK-ABK.
UBLF: An Upper Bound Based Approach to Discover Influential Nodes in Social Networks

Influence maximization, defined as finding a small subset of nodes that maximizes spread of influence in social networks, is NP-hard under both Linear Threshold (LT) and Independent Cascade (IC) models, where a line of greedy/heuristic algorithms have been proposed. The simple greedy algorithm [14] achieves an approximation ratio of 1-1/e. The advanced CELF algorithm [16], by exploiting the sub modular property of the spread function, runs 700 times faster than the simple greedy algorithm on average. However, CELF is still inefficient [4], as the first iteration calls for N times of spread estimations (N is the number of nodes in networks), which is computationally expensive especially for large networks. To this end, in this paper we derive an upper bound function for the spread function. The bound can be used to reduce the number of Monte-Carlo simulation calls in greedy algorithms, especially in the first iteration of initialization. Based on the upper bound, we propose an efficient Upper Bound based Lazy Forward algorithm (UBLF in short), by incorporating the bound into the CELF algorithm. We test and compare our algorithm with prior algorithms on real-world data sets. Experimental results demonstrate that UBLF, compared with CELF, reduces more than 95% Monte-Carlo simulations and achieves at least 2-5 times speed-raising when the seed set is small.
The Bottleneck Hypothesis in L2 acquisition: L1 Norwegian learners’ knowledge of syntax and morphology in L2 English

The Bottleneck Hypothesis (Slabakova, 2008, 2013) proposes that acquiring properties of the functional morphology is the most challenging part of learning a second language. In the experiment presented here, the predictions of this hypothesis are tested in the second language (L2) English of Norwegian native speakers. Two constructions are investigated that do not match in English and Norwegian: One involving functional morphology, subject–verb (SV) agreement, which is obligatory in the L2 but non-existent in the first language (L1), and one involving syntax, verb-second (V2) word order, which is obligatory in the L1, but restricted to specific contexts in the L2. The results of an acceptability judgement task indicate that the participants struggled more with identifying ungrammatical SV agreement than ungrammatical word order. We conclude that the findings lend tentative support to the Bottleneck Hypothesis.
Policing Diversity with Diversity: Exploring Organizational Rhetoric, Myth, and Minority Police Officers' Perceptions and Experiences

Police services are responding to the current realities of diversity. Specifically, police services attempt to adopt diversity policies, initiatives, and practices as a way to reflect community representation. The present study examines how minority police officers’ perceive and experience organizational diversity. While diversity is a broad term encompassing such variables as race, sex and sexual orientation, the present study focuses primarily on racial diversity. Through in-depth interviews with 12 Canadian police officers and 1 diversity trainer, as well as descriptive statistical data pertaining to the last 15 years of recruitment trends, the perceptions held by participants suggest that police services attempt to provide an image of embracing diversity philosophies. Although the image of diversity is portrayed by the organization, intrinsic challenges, barriers, and tensions within the organization are concealed in a window dressing effect (Cashmore, 2002). This study uncovers how minority officers' perceptions of organizational diversity identify a rationalized institutional myth (Meyer & Rowan, 1977). That is, minority officers' perceive a discrepancy between the adoption of diversity philosophies and the realities with respect to their implementation within the organization. While external legitimacy and appearance is maintained, the myth remains untouched in the organization.