Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Environment, Security, and Terrorism in the Trinational Frontier of the Southern Cone

This article analyzes the transformations of notions of governmentality, security, and sovereignty behind recent processes of securitization in the trinational frontier of the Southern Cone, which encompasses the cities of Puerto Iguazœ (Argentina), Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), and Foz do Igua? œ (Brazil). It examines how early concerns with security that were primarily focused on the territorial integrity of nation-states have been replaced with security concerns of a more global nature, which call into question established mechanisms of control, particularly those related to the defense of national borders. It examines how environmental concerns are increasingly becoming conflated with other current forms of securitization such as terrorism, popular unrest, and narcotraffic and it analyzes devastating effects of these processes on peoples of the South, particularly the poor.
A Novel Tumor-Promoting Function Residing in the 5′ Non-coding Region of vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA

Background Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF) is one of the key regulators of tumor development, hence it is considered to be an important therapeutic target for cancer treatment. However, clinical trials have suggested that anti-VEGF monotherapy was less effective than standard chemotherapy. On the basis of the evidence, we hypothesized that vegf mRNA may have unrecognized function(s) in cancer cells. Methods and Findings Knockdown of VEGF with vegf-targeting small-interfering (si) RNAs increased susceptibility of human colon cancer cell line (HCT116) to apoptosis caused with 5-fluorouracil, etoposide, or doxorubicin. Recombinant human VEGF165 did not completely inhibit this apoptosis. Conversely, overexpression of VEGF165 increased resistance to anti-cancer drug-induced apoptosis, while an anti-VEGF165-neutralizing antibody did not completely block the resistance. We prepared plasmids encoding full-length vegf mRNA with mutation of signal sequence, vegf mRNAs lacking untranslated regions (UTRs), or mutated 5′UTRs. Using these plasmids, we revealed that the 5′UTR of vegf mRNA possessed anti-apoptotic activity. The 5′UTR-mediated activity was not affected by a protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide. We established HCT116 clones stably expressing either the vegf 5′UTR or the mutated 5′UTR. The clones expressing the 5′UTR, but not the mutated one, showed increased anchorage-independent growth in vitro and formed progressive tumors when implanted in athymic nude mice. Microarray and quantitative real-time PCR analyses indicated that the vegf 5′UTR-expressing tumors had up-regulated anti-apoptotic genes, multidrug-resistant genes, and growth-promoting genes, while pro-apoptotic genes were down-regulated. Notably, expression of signal transducers and activators of transcription 1 (STAT1) was markedly repressed in the 5′UTR-expressing tumors, resulting in down-regulation of a STAT1-responsive cluster of genes (43 genes). As a result, the tumors did not respond to interferon (IFN)α therapy at all. We showed that stable silencing of endogenous vegf mRNA in HCT116 cells enhanced both STAT1 expression and IFNα responses. Conclusions These findings suggest that cancer cells have a survival system that is regulated by vegf mRNA and imply that both vegf mRNA and its protein may synergistically promote the malignancy of tumor cells. Therefore, combination of anti-vegf transcript strategies, such as siRNA-based gene silencing, with anti-VEGF antibody treatment may improve anti-cancer therapies that target VEGF.
Epidemiology of PTSD

This issue of City Health Information provides current information on PTSD, a post-disaster mental health problem. PTSD is defined as an anxiety disorder in individuals who have been exposed to an extreme stressor that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury. The threat does not have to be experienced directly; witnessing first-hand someone else experiencing such an event or learning about a loved one who experienced such an event qualifies as an extreme stressor. The severity of the stressor evokes feelings of intense fear, helplessness, or horror. In children, the response may manifest as disorganized or agitated behavior.
InP-based spotsize converter for integration with switching devices

We have designed and fabricated an InGaAsP-InP based spotsize converter (SSC), which is compatible with the waveguide structure used in monolithic integrated ADM's and OXC's. In a first experiment, a total coupling loss to a cleaved fiber of 4.2 dB for TE and 3.9 dB for TM was realized with a 1.5 mm-long SSC. The 1-dB alignment tolerances improved from 0.75 /spl mu/m to 2.4 and 2.2 /spl mu/m for the horizontal and vertical direction, respectively.
Unique DNA Methylation Loci Distinguish Anatomic Site and HPV Status in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Purpose: We have used a genome-wide approach to identify novel differentially methylated CpG dinucleotides that are seen in different anatomic sites of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), as well as those that might be related to HPV status in the oropharynx. Experimental Design: We conducted genome-wide DNA methylation profiling of primary tumor samples and corresponding adjacent mucosa from 118 HNSCC patients undergoing treatment at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, using the Illumina HumanMethylation27 beadchip. For each matched tissue set, we measured differentially methylated CpG loci using a change in methylation level (M-value). Results: When datasets were individually analyzed by anatomic site of the primary tumor, we identified 293 differentially methylated CpG loci in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 219 differentially methylated CpG loci in laryngeal SCC, and 460 differentially methylated in oropharyngeal SCC. A subset of these differentially methylated CpG loci was common across all anatomic sites of HNSCC. Stratification by HPV status revealed a significantly higher number of differentially methylated CpG loci in HPV+ patients. Conclusion: Novel epigenetic biomarkers derived from clinical HNSCC specimens can be used as molecular classifiers of this disease, revealing many new avenues of investigation for this disease. Clin Cancer Res; 19(19); 5444–55. ©2013 AACR.
The Mathematics of Obscurity: On the Trustworthiness of Open Source

It is more difficult to find errors when source code is secret. More people search for errors when source code is public. These counteracting effects are pivotal to the question whether openness fosters security. Errors in software are found by people with either constructive contribution or exploitation in mind. Focusing exclusively on this discovery aspect, we present a probabilistic model, which allows us to compare the open source and closed source situations. We start out with our assumptions explained using a simple introductory model. We then extend this to what we believe to be an adequate model of a bug-hunting process conducted by multiple competing parties. The model employs an asymmetric race paradigm. One of the surprising results is that even an arbitrarily large group with good intentions cannot safely dominate the evil attackers. Instead, they are limited by a significant upper bound in their winning chances.
SuperMatrix for the Factorization of Band Matrices FLAME Working Note # 27

We pursue the scalable parallel implementation of the factorization of band matrices with medium to large bandwidth targeting SMP and multi-core architectures. Our approach decomposes the computation into a large number of fine-grained operations exposing a higher degree of parallelism. The SuperMatrix run-time system allows an out-of-order scheduling of operations and a blocked packed storage for band matrices that are transparent to the programmer. Experimental results for the Cholesky factorization of band matrices on a CC-NUMA platform with sixteen processors demonstrate the scalability of the solution.
L-Tyrosine Contributes to (+)-3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine-Induced Serotonin Depletions

The specific mechanisms underlying (+)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-induced damage to 5-HT terminals are unknown. Despite the hypothesized role for dopamine (DA) and DA-derived free radicals in mediating this damage, it remains unclear why MDMA produces long-term depletions of 5-HT in brain regions that are sparsely innervated by DA neurons. We hypothesized that the precursor to DA biosynthesis, tyrosine, mediates MDMA-induced 5-HT depletions. Extracellular tyrosine concentrations increased fivefold in striatum and 2.5-fold in hippocampus during the administration of neurotoxic doses of MDMA. In vitro results show that l-tyrosine can be hydroxylated nonenzymatically to the DA precursor l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) under pro-oxidant conditions. The local infusion of l-tyrosine into the striatum or hippocampus during MDMA administration potentiated the acute increase in extracellular DA and the long-term depletion of 5-HT after MDMA. Coinfusion of the aromatic amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) inhibitor m-hydroxybenzylhydrazine attenuated these effects in hippocampus and decreased basal extracellular DA in the striatum. In contrast, the reverse dialysis of the tyrosine hydroxylase inhibitor α-methyl-p-tyrosine into the hippocampus did not affect MDMA-induced increases in extracellular DA or the long-term depletion in 5-HT. These results show that MDMA increases the concentration of tyrosine in the brain to cause a long-term depletion of 5-HT via the nonenzymatic, tyrosine hydroxylase-independent, hydroxylation of tyrosine to DOPA and subsequently to DA via AADC. Overall, the findings suggest that MDMA depletes 5-HT by increasing tyrosine and its eventual conversion to DA within 5-HT terminals.
Group Dynamic Assessment: An Inventory of Mediational Strategies for Teaching Listening

Group dynamic assessment (G-DA) grounded in Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory (SCT) is believed to have the potential to provide a context for capturing a group of learners’ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Poehner & Lantolf, 2010; Shabani, 2010). The present study aims at testing the applicability of G-DA in identifying the mediational strategies offered by a mediator during his G-DA interactions with a group of L2 learners in the context of listening. Moreover, it seeks to unravel the effects of G-DA-based instruction on the co-construction of knowledge among L2 listeners. A microgenetic, longitudinal and interactionist methodology formed the theoretical basis for the construction of the assessment procedures. The participants included a group of L2 learners ranging in age from 20 to 25.The materials used in the assessment sessions were authentic texts selected from the normal VOA broadcasts. The qualitative analysis of G-DA protocols led to the development of an inventory of mediational strategies consisting of different forms of implicit and explicit feedback. The analysis also showed how collective scaffolding (Donato, 1994) could pave the way for establishing distributed help among learners (Platt & Brooks, 1994) within the social space of the class in the course of which secondary and primary interactants mutually benefit from each other's contributions (Poehner, 2009). The inventory of mediational strategies helped track the learners’ microgenetic and developmental trajectories over time. Finally, on the basis of the findings language teachers are suggested to use mediational strategies developed in this study as a reference to provision of feedbacks during interactions with a group ZPD.
On sequential analog-to-digital conversion with low-precision components

It was shown in prior work that, with proper digital calibration, ADCs with high static resolution can in principle be built without precise analog components. The paper offers some afterthoughts on this topic and connects it with beta expansions. It is suggested that, with proper calibration (but not without), ADC architectures based on the beta expansion can indeed achieve an effective resolution of m bits with analog circuit complexity linear in m and without precise analog components.
Biclustering Methods: Biological Relevance and Application in Gene Expression Analysis

DNA microarray technologies are used extensively to profile the expression levels of thousands of genes under various conditions, yielding extremely large data-matrices. Thus, analyzing this information and extracting biologically relevant knowledge becomes a considerable challenge. A classical approach for tackling this challenge is to use clustering (also known as one-way clustering) methods where genes (or respectively samples) are grouped together based on the similarity of their expression profiles across the set of all samples (or respectively genes). An alternative approach is to develop biclustering methods to identify local patterns in the data. These methods extract subgroups of genes that are co-expressed across only a subset of samples and may feature important biological or medical implications. In this study we evaluate 13 biclustering and 2 clustering (k-means and hierarchical) methods. We use several approaches to compare their performance on two real gene expression data sets. For this purpose we apply four evaluation measures in our analysis: (1) we examine how well the considered (bi)clustering methods differentiate various sample types; (2) we evaluate how well the groups of genes discovered by the (bi)clustering methods are annotated with similar Gene Ontology categories; (3) we evaluate the capability of the methods to differentiate genes that are known to be specific to the particular sample types we study and (4) we compare the running time of the algorithms. In the end, we conclude that as long as the samples are well defined and annotated, the contamination of the samples is limited, and the samples are well replicated, biclustering methods such as Plaid and SAMBA are useful for discovering relevant subsets of genes and samples.
Improving Menu Placement Strategies for Pen Input

We investigate menu selection in circular and rectangular pop-up menus using stylus-driven direct input on horizontal and vertical display surfaces. An experiment measured performance in a target acquisition task in three different conditions: direct input on a horizontal display surface, direct input on a vertical display and indirect input to a vertical display. The third condition allows comparison of direct and indirect techniques commonly used for vertical displays. The results of the study show that both left-handed and right-handed users demonstrate a consistent, but mirrored pattern of selection times that is corroborated by qualitative measures of user preference. We describe a menu placement strategy for a tabletop display that detects the handedness of the user and displays rectangular pop-up menus. This placement is based on the results of our study.
Minority nationalism and immigrant integration in Canada

Immigrant integration is currently a prominent issue in virtually all contemporary democracies, but countries in which the historic population itself is deeply divided – particularly those with substate nations and multiple political identities – present some interesting questions where integration is concerned. The existence of multiple and potentially competing political identities may complicate the integration process, particularly if the central government and the substate nation promote different conceptions of citizenship and different nation-building projects. What, then, are the implications of minority nationalism for immigrant integration? Are the added complexities a barrier to integration? Or do overlapping identities generate more points of contact between immigrants and their new home? This article addresses this question by probing immigrant and non-immigrant ‘sense of belonging’ in Canada, both inside and outside Quebec. Data come from Statistics Canada's Ethnic Diversity Study. Our results suggest that competing nation-building projects make the integration of newcomers more, rather than less, challenging.
FPGA implementation of an efficient high-throughput sphere decoder for MIMO systems based on the smallest singular value threshold

In this paper, we present an efficient high-throughput threshold based sphere decoder (TSD) for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Depending on the instantaneous channel conditions, the proposed TSD compares the smallest singular value of the channel matrix with a predefined threshold on a frame-by-frame basis and switches between full expansion (FE) and partial expansion (PE) for the tree traversal to accelerate the detection procedure. The TSD has been implemented and validated on an FPGA platform and results indicate that the proposed decoder is very suitable for a highly-parallel and fully-pipelined hardware implementation. The proposed algorithm offers considerable throughput improvement over the original fixed-complexity sphere decoder (FSD) with only slightly increased resource use.
Information asymmetry in high potential programs: A potential risk for psychological contract breach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the implicit beliefs both high potentials and HR directors hold about the terms of the exchange relationship between high potential employees and their organizations. The paper positions the study within the framework of the psychological contract, exploring specifically whether strategic ambiguity and information asymmetries in high potential programs create a heightened risk of psychological contract breach. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 20 high potentials and 11 HR directors from nine different organizations were interviewed. Open and axial coding of the qualitative data was performed by three raters. Findings – Information asymmetry in high potential programs, indeed, poses a potential risk for psychological contract breach. Although strategic ambiguity can be an effective communication strategy in that it creates a power imbalance in favor of the organization, at all times a delicate balance must be maintained between leaving room for flexi.
Relaciones entre clima motivacional, la orientación de meta, la motivación intrínseca, la auto-confianza, la ansiedad y el estado de ánimo en jóvenes deportistas

Este estudio examino las relaciones entre el clima motivacional, generado en las sesiones de entrenamiento, la orientacion de meta, la motivacion intrinseca, la auto-confianza, la ansiedad y el estado de animo en jovenes deportistas antes y despues de una competicion. La muestra estuvo formada por 96 deportistas cadetes (48 mujeres y 48 varones), de catorce Clubes de Atletismo, con edades comprendidas entre los 14 y los 16 anos. Los resultados mostraron que el clima de maestria fue asociado positivamente a la orientacion a la tarea, la motivacion intrinseca en las sesiones preparatorias, la auto-confianza y el estado de animo pre-competitivo. El clima de ejecucion se asocio positivamente a la orientacion al ego y a la ansiedad somatica y cognitiva, y negativamente a la motivacion intrinseca, la auto-confianza y el estado de animo pre y post-competitivo.
Robust distributed speech recognition using speech enhancement

The issue of robustness in the presence of noise is regarded as a significant bottleneck in the commercialisation of speech recognition products, particularly in mobile environments. This paper examines the use of an auditory model combined with a speech enhancement algorithm as a robust front-end for a distributed speech recognition (DSR) system, whereby frontend functionality is implemented on a limited-resource consumer device like a mobile phone, while back-end classifier functionality is carried out by a remote server.
Adjective Metaphors Evoke Negative Meanings

Previous metaphor studies have paid much attention to nominal metaphors and predicative metaphors, but little attention has been given to adjective metaphors. Although some studies have focused on adjective metaphors, they only examined differences in the acceptability of various types of adjective metaphors. This paper explores the cognitive effects evoked by adjective metaphors. Three psychological experiments revealed that (1) adjective metaphors, especially those modified by color adjectives, tend to evoke negative effect; (2) although the meanings of metaphors are basically affected by the meanings of their vehicles, when a vehicle has a neutral meaning, negative meanings are evoked most frequently for adjective metaphors compared to nominal and predicative metaphors; (3) negative meanings evoked by adjective metaphors are related to poeticness, and poetic metaphors evoke negative meanings more easily than less poetic metaphors. Our research sheds new light on studies of the use of metaphor, which is one of the most basic human cognitive abilities.
4-Thioxo-3,5-dithia-1,7-heptanedioic acid

The complete molecule of the title compound, C5H6O4S3, is generated by crystallographic twofold symmetry with the C=S group lying on the rotation axis. The molecules are linked through weak hydrogen-bond contacts by glide-plane operations to form R 2 2(20) rings and ladder-like C(4) chains along the c axis.
Performance comparison of retransmission mechanisms for multi-hop relay networks

Relay networking is an appealing option for operators to solve coverage issues and to improve performance without a need to deploy more complex macro sites. In this paper we look at several options for re-transmission mechanisms that are already adopted in wireless standards, such as 3GPP LTE-Advanced and IEEE 802.16. In particular, we consider a hop-by-hop HARQ operation without any ARQ on top of it, and also with ARQ working in the end-to-end and hop-by-hop modes. We run extensive simulations for the aforementioned configurations and present our results indicating that HARQ should be ideally complemented by the ARQ mechanism. As for the exact ARQ mode, the hop-by-hop ARQ provides better performance that however comes at its own implementation cost.
Propagation Path Loss Models for 5G Urban Micro- and Macro-Cellular Scenarios

This paper presents and compares two candidate large-scale propagation path loss models, the alpha-beta-gamma (ABG) model and the close-in (CI) free space reference distance model, for the design of fifth generation (5G) wireless communication systems in urban micro- and macro-cellular scenarios. Comparisons are made using the data obtained from 20 propagation measurement campaigns or ray- tracing studies from 2 GHz to 73.5 GHz over distances ranging from 5 m to 1429 m. The results show that the one-parameter CI model has a very similar goodness of fit (i.e., the shadow fading standard deviation) in both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight environments, while offering substantial simplicity and more stable behavior across frequencies and distances, as compared to the three-parameter ABG model. Additionally, the CI model needs only one very subtle and simple modification to the existing 3GPP floating-intercept path loss model (replacing a constant with a close-in free space reference value) in order to provide greater simulation accuracy, more simplicity, better repeatability across experiments, and higher stability across a vast range of frequencies.