Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis and modeling of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radio channel based on outdoor measurements conducted at 2.5 GHz for fixed BWA applications

This paper summarizes our 2/spl times/2 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fixed wireless outdoor propagation measurements at 2.48 GHz conducted in the suburban residential areas of San Jose, California. We report on various channel characteristics such as path loss, Ricean K-factor, cross-polarization-discrimination (XPD) and channel capacity. We present simple models for these characteristics, focusing on excess loss dependency and, derived from that, the variation with distance. Also, we introduce an idea for a generalized MIMO channel model based on these modeled channel characteristics and the correlation properties between them. Path loss results show that blockage due to buildings or foliage causes an excess loss of 35.45 dB compared to free space propagation at a distance of 1 km. The narrowband K-factor distribution matches previously reported results. The XPD of the total received signal varies from -10 to 15 dB at various locations. The K-factor and XPD were found to be very much dependent on excess loss due to blockage conditions at various distances.
Intrathecal fentanyl decreases the optimal effect site concentration of propofol during spinal anaesthesia

The aim of this study was to assess the possible difference in the optimal effect site concentration of propofol for conscious sedation during spinal anaesthesia with or without intrathecal fentanyl in patients undergoing urologic surgery. The hypothesis was that intrathecal fentanyl would decrease the effect site concentration of propofol needed for conscious sedation.
Systemic Inhibition of NF-κB Activation Protects from Silicosis

Background Silicosis is a complex lung disease for which no successful treatment is available and therefore lung transplantation is a potential alternative. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) plays a central role in the pathogenesis of silicosis. TNFα signaling is mediated by the transcription factor, Nuclear Factor (NF)-κB, which regulates genes controlling several physiological processes including the innate immune responses, cell death, and inflammation. Therefore, inhibition of NF-κB activation represents a potential therapeutic strategy for silicosis. Methods/Findings In the present work we evaluated the lung transplant database (May 1986–July 2007) at the University of Pittsburgh to study the efficacy of lung transplantation in patients with silicosis (n = 11). We contrasted the overall survival and rate of graft rejection in these patients to that of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF, n = 79) that was selected as a control group because survival benefit of lung transplantation has been identified for these patients. At the time of lung transplantation, we found the lungs of silica-exposed subjects to contain multiple foci of inflammatory cells and silicotic nodules with proximal TNFα expressing macrophage and NF-κB activation in epithelial cells. Patients with silicosis had poor survival (median survival 2.4 yr; confidence interval (CI): 0.16–7.88 yr) compared to IPF patients (5.3 yr; CI: 2.8–15 yr; p = 0.07), and experienced early rejection of their lung grafts (0.9 yr; CI: 0.22–0.9 yr) following lung transplantation (2.4 yr; CI:1.5–3.6 yr; p<0.05). Using a mouse experimental model in which the endotracheal instillation of silica reproduces the silica-induced lung injury observed in humans we found that systemic inhibition of NF-κB activation with a pharmacologic inhibitor (BAY 11-7085) of IκBα phosphorylation decreased silica-induced inflammation and collagen deposition. In contrast, transgenic mice expressing a dominant negative IκBα mutant protein under the control of epithelial cell specific promoters demonstrate enhanced apoptosis and collagen deposition in their lungs in response to silica. Conclusions Although limited by its size, our data support that patients with silicosis appear to have poor outcome following lung transplantation. Experimental data indicate that while the systemic inhibition of NF-κB protects from silica-induced lung injury, epithelial cell specific NF-κB inhibition appears to aggravate the outcome of experimental silicosis.
Effects of light on secondary metabolism and fungal development of Fusarium graminearum

The objectives of this study were (i) to characterize white‐collar (WC) orthologues of the filamentous fungus Fusarium graminearum, (ii) to investigate light‐responsive phenotypes by the deletion of Fgwc‐1 and Fgwc‐2 genes and (iii) to examine the roles of those genes in constant light and darkness in relation to secondary metabolite synthesis and development.
What Is a “Level” of Personality?

We find much to admire in Sheldon, Cheng, and Hilpert’s (this issue) ambitious effort to capture the full gamut of personality within a broad integrative framework. The Multilevel Personality in Context (MPIC) model brings together many important concepts and findings from diverse research programs and traditions to underscore the multifaceted nature of personality and the complex ways in which it is contextualized in biology, social relations, and culture. Sympathetic with much of the effort put forth by Sheldon and colleagues and appreciative of their desire to build on previous work of others (e.g., McAdams, 1995; McAdams & Pals, 2006), we nonetheless question the extent to which personality itself can be adequately characterized in terms of a strict hierarchy of nested levels. The target article raises the question of just what a level is—and in particular, what is a level of personality?
Adaptive path-following control for bio-inspired steerable needles

Needle steering systems have shown potential advantages in minimally invasive surgery in soft-tissue due to their ability to reach deep-seated targets while avoiding obstacles. In general, the control strategies employed to drive the insertion use simplified kinematic models, providing limited control of the trajectory between an entry site and a deep seated target in cases of unmodelled tissue-needle dynamics. In this work, we present the first Adaptive Path-Following (APF) controller for a bio-inspired multi-part needle, able to steer along three-dimensional (3D) paths within a compliant medium by means of the cyclical motion of interlocked segments and without the need for duty-cycle spinning along the insertion axis. The control strategy is outlined in two parts: a high-level controller, which provides driving commands to follow a predefined 3D path smoothly; and a low-level controller, able to counteract unmodelled tissue-needle nonlinearities and kinematic model uncertainties. A simulation that mimics the needle's mechanical behavior during insertion is achieved by using an Experimental Fitting Model (EFM), obtained from previous experimental trials. The Simulation results demonstrate the robustness and adaptability of the proposed control strategy.
Expression and modulation of connexin30.2, a novel gap junction protein in the mouse retina

Abstract Mammalian retinae express multiple connexins that mediate the metabolic and electrical coupling of various cell types. In retinal neurons, only connexin36, connexin45, connexin50, and connexin57 have been described so far. Here, we present an analysis of a novel retinal connexin, connexin30.2 (Cx30.2), and its regulation in the mouse retina. To analyze the expression of Cx30.2, we used a transgenic mouse line in which the coding region of Cx30.2 was replaced by lacZ reporter DNA. We detected the lacZ signal in the nuclei of neurons located in the inner nuclear layer and the ganglion cell layer (GCL). In this study, we focused on the GCL and characterized the morphology of the Cx30.2-expressing cells. Using immunocytochemistry and intracellular dye injections, we found six different types of Cx30.2-expressing ganglion cells: one type of ON-OFF, three types of OFF, and two types of ON ganglion cells; among the latter was the RGA1 type. We show that RGA1 cells were heterologously coupled to numerous displaced amacrine cells. Our results suggest that these gap junction channels may be heterotypic, involving Cx30.2 and a connexin yet unidentified in the mouse retina. Gap junction coupling can be modulated by protein kinases, a process that plays a major role in retinal adaptation. Therefore, we studied the protein kinase–induced modulation of coupling between RGA1 and displaced amacrine cells. Our data provide evidence that coupling of RGA1 cells to displaced amacrine cells is mediated by Cx30.2 and that the extent of this coupling is modulated by protein kinase C.
CRAMM: virtual memory support for garbage-collected applications

Existing virtual memory systems usually work well with applications written in C and C++, but they do not provide adequate support for garbage-collected applications. The performance of garbage-collected applications is sensitive to heap size. Larger heaps reduce the frequency of garbage collections, making them run several times faster. However, if the heap is too large to fit in the available RAM, garbage collection can trigger thrashing. Existing Java virtual machines attempt to adapt their application heap sizes to fit in RAM, but suffer performance degradations of up to 94% when subjected to bursts of memory pressure. We present CRAMM (Cooperative Robust Automatic Memory Management), a system that solves these problems. CRAMM consists of two parts: (1) a new virtual memory system that collects detailed reference information for (2) an analytical model tailored to the underlying garbage collection algorithm. The CRAMM virtual memory system tracks recent reference behavior with low overhead. The CRAMM heap sizing model uses this information to compute a heap size that maximizes throughput while minimizing paging. We present extensive empirical results demonstrating CRAMM's ability to maintain high performance in the face of changing application and system load.
Systematic probing of the environment of a translocating secretory protein during translocation through the ER membrane.

We have extended a previously developed photo‐crosslinking approach to systematically probe the protein environment of the secretory protein preprolactin, trapped during its transfer through the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Single photoreactive groups were placed at various positions of nascent polypeptide chains of various length, corresponding to different stages of the transport process, and photo‐crosslinks to membrane proteins were analyzed. In all cases, the polypeptide segment extending from the ribosome was found to be located in a membrane environment that is formed almost exclusively from Sec61 alpha, the multi‐spanning subunit of the Sec61p complex that is essential for translocation. At early stages of the translocation process, before cleavage of the signal sequence, almost the entire nascent chain emerged from the ribosome contacts Sec61 alpha. The ‘translocating chain‐associating membrane’ protein interacts mainly with the region of the signal sequence preceding its hydrophobic core. Our results suggest that the nascent chain is transferred directly from the ribosome into a protein‐conducting channel, the major constituent of which is Sec61 alpha.
‘Change for a Better Ghana’: Party Competition, Institutionalization and Alternation in Ghana’S 2008 Elections

This article analyses the process and outcomes of Ghana's 2008 elections, which saw the National Democratic Congress replace the New Patriotic Party and thus an alternation of ruling party for the second time since (re)democratization in the early 1990s. It argues that Ghana's democratic political system survived the closeness and intensity of the 2008 elections because it has developed stabilizing characteristics: an independent Electoral Commission and transparent electoral processes, integration of the political elite alongside the creation of norms and institutions structuring elite behaviour, and the institutionalization of political parties. The closely competitive elections are the result of a two-party system where voters and political elites are mobilized around two political traditions. These political traditions provide ideological images, founding mythologies and political styles for the parties. Thus, Ghana is different from several African countries where parties split or form around leaders, who bring their popular support base with them. It is also different in that elections are not dominated by ethnic politicization, because the two main parties in Ghana have a strong political support base in most regions and party identification is based on cross-cutting social cleavages of which ethnicity forms only one part.
Detecting abnormal behavior.

The presentation of a test for detecting abnormal behavior, developed from Woodworth's "Psychoneurotic Inventory," in an attempt to find persons in need of mental hygiene and to provide an instrument which would give a fairly precise quantitative measure of the degree and kind of deviation from the normal. The use of the test thus far has been very gratifying. "Whether it has found all in need of this attention or not is, of course, undeterminable; but it has found a large number for whom there has been a distinct need for orthosis and who would otherwise probably never have been noticed until something serious had occurred. " (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)
The Evolutionary Enigma of Sex

Sexual reproduction entails a number of costs, and yet the majority of eukaryotes engage in sex, at least occasionally. In this article, I review early models to explain the evolution of sex and why they failed to do so. More recent efforts have attempted to account for the complexities of evolution in the real world, with selection that varies over time and space, with differences among individuals in the tendency to reproduce sexually, and with populations that are limited in size. These recent efforts have clarified the conditions that are most likely to explain why sex is so common, as exemplified by the articles in this symposium issue of the American Naturalist.
Family purchase decision making: exploring child influence behaviour

Children have long been acknowledged as playing an important role within family purchase decisions, with their ability to directly and indirectly influence decisions. The research discussed in this paper arose from an identified opportunity to develop knowledge surrounding the important role that children play within family purchasing by including them as direct research respondents. The methods adopted included an in-depth interview with parents and children separately, and the completion of a decision mapping tool followed by a family interview. The findings address a specific and important aspect of the data, namely the influence behaviour adopted by children during high-involvement family purchase decisions. The children in all of the respondent families were found to have direct influence over the purchases discussed. They demonstrated a range of sophisticated influence behaviours that included justifying and highlighting the benefits of purchases, forming coalitions, compromising and remaining persistent. These behaviours were underpinned and enhanced by the use of product-related knowledge and information, which was viewed positively and encouraged by parents.
Regulation of Expression of EDG Family Receptors in Human Prostate Cancer Cell Lines

EDG family isoforms are G-protein-coupled receptors that bind to lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P),1 mediating effects of these lipid mediators on numerous cellular functions. LPA enhances proliferation, migration, and survival of a number of cell types.2–4 Previous work in our laboratory has shown that LPA is mitogenic for PC-3, a human prostate cancer cell line.5 The doses of LPA required to support proliferation and to activate phospholipase D (PLD) in PC-3 cells are in the micromolar range. These findings prompted us to examine the expression of EDG isoforms in PC-3 and other prostate cancer cell lines. Northern blotting was used to assess the levels of mRNA for EDG-1, EDG-2, and EDG-3 in several human prostate cancer cell lines. The first cells tested were PC-3, Du145, and LNCaP (FIG. 1A). PC-3 and Du145, which are androgen-independent, are models for more advanced prostate carcinomas. LNCaP retains androgen responsiveness, making it more similar to an early-stage carcinoma. The levels of mRNA for the three EDG isoforms tested varied considerably between the three cell lines. PC-3 expressed message for all three isoforms. Du145 expressed predominantly mNRA for EDG-2, with little for EDG-1 or EDG-3. LNCaP expressed message for EDG-3, with little for EDG-1 or EDG-2. The EDG-2 probe used here detected a doublet, potentially representing alternatively spliced or related forms of the receptor. Interestingly, only the lower band was detected in LNCaP cells. The phenotypes of prostate cancer cell lines can vary with continuous culture and in response to different cell culture conditions. We therefore examined mRNA levels for EDG-2 in several stocks of PC-3 and Du145, as well as in another advanced prostate cancer cell line, PPC-1 (FIG. 1B). Again, we observed that LNCaP expressed little EDG-2. PPC-1 expressed moderate levels of EDG-2 message. However, EDG-2 expression varied between different stocks of PC-3 cells. Equal amounts of total RNA were loaded in each lane; subsequent reprobing for other unrelated mRNAs confirmed that the differences in EDG-2 mRNA levels were not due to unequal loading (data not shown). Stock 1, which had been maintained continuously in culture for several years and showed poor LPA responsiveness (data not shown), expressed low levels of EDG-2 message. Stocks 2, 3, and 4 (see figure legend) all expressed rather high levels of EDG-2 mRNA. Similar variation was seen between sublines of Du145. Stock 1 expressed low levels of EDG-2 transcript, while stocks 2 and 3 ex-
Household networks and the security of mutual indebtedness in rural Kazakstan

In theory, the Soviet system was supposed to provide a relatively equitable means for distributing material goods and services. In practice, however, the state failed to provide an adequate supply of consumer goods or an impartial rendering of services. In response to these shortcomings, Soviet citizens were forced to rely on extensive social networks to gain access to certain goods and services. They frequently used personal connections to obtain consumer goods, to find housing, to get a job, to advance in one's career, to receive quality health care, and to get children into the university. In post-Soviet Kazakstan, the scope and practice of social networking is changing, as the state makes the 'transition' from a command-administrative economy to a market-oriented economy. On the one hand, social networks are no longer crucial for obtaining certain goods and services. The development of transnational commerce and the privatization of certain sectors have increased the availability of various consumer goods (including clothing, electronics, and automobiles) and the access to some services (housing, in particular). On the other hand, social networks are still vital for daily survival and social mobility in the post-Soviet economy. The disposable income of the average household has decreased dramatically with the liberalization of prices, the growth of unemployment and the deflation of state salaries and pensions. The majority of households simply cannot afford to buy the goods and services which are now available. Meanwhile, certain goods (such as benzine and gas) and services (such as day care) are becoming less accessible, while other services (such as higher
Choices, Challenges, and Career Consequences of Global Work Experiences

Over the past 20 years, there has been increased interest in global forms of employment. Researchers have identified and investigated a number of global work experiences, including corporate and self-initiated expatriates as well as more novel forms of corporate global employees (flexpatriates, short-term assignees, and international business travelers). In this article, the authors review the empirical research that has investigated individual choices, challenges, and career consequences associated with the various types of global work. They summarize and synthesize this growing body of literature and then develop a taxonomy of global work experiences. Based on their review of this literature and their taxonomy, the authors outline an agenda for future research on global work experiences.
Ontology-based Database Access

One of the most interesting usages of shared conceptualizations is ontology-based data access. That is, to the usual data layer of an information system we superimpose a conceptual layer to be exported to the client. Such a layer allows the client to have a conceptual view of the information in the system, which abstracts away from how such information is maintained in the data layer of the system itself. While ontologies are the best candidates for realizing the conceptual layer, relational DBMSs are natural candidates for the management of the data layer. The need of efficiently processing large amounts of data requires ontologies to be expressed in a suitable fragment of OWL: the fragment should allow, on the one hand, for modeling the kind of intensional knowledge needed in real-world applications, and, on the other hand, for delegating to a relational DBMS the part of reasoning (in particular query answering) that deals with the data. In this paper, we propose one such a fragment, in fact the largest fragment currently known to satisfy the above requirements. Furthermore, we provide means to access databases that are independent from the ontology, by proposing a novel mapping language that solves the so-called “impedance mismatch” between values in the databases and objects represented in the ontology.
Quantification of Uncultured Ruminococcus obeum-Like Bacteria in Human Fecal Samples by Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization and Flow Cytometry Using 16S rRNA-Targeted Probes

ABSTRACT A 16S rRNA-targeted probe was designed and validated in order to quantify the number of uncultured Ruminococcus obeum-like bacteria by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). These bacteria have frequently been found in 16S ribosomal DNA clone libraries prepared from bacterial communities in the human intestine. Thirty-two reference strains from the human intestine, including a phylogenetically related strain and strains of some other Ruminococcus species, were used as negative controls and did not hybridize with the new probe. Microscopic and flow cytometric analyses revealed that a group of morphologically similar bacteria in feces did hybridize with this probe. Moreover, it was found that all hybridizing cells also hybridized with a probe specific for the Clostridium coccoides-Eubacterium rectale group, a group that includes the uncultured R. obeum-like bacteria. Quantification of the uncultured R. obeum-like bacteria and the C. coccoides-E. rectale group by flow cytometry and microscopy revealed that these groups comprised approximately 2.5 and 16% of the total community in fecal samples, respectively. The uncultured R. obeum-like bacteria comprise about 16% of the C. coccoides-E. rectale group. These results indicate that the uncultured R. obeum-like bacteria are numerically important in human feces. Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference between the microscopic and flow cytometric counts and the different feces sampling times, while a significant host-specific effect on the counts was observed. Our data demonstrate that the combination of FISH and flow cytometry is a useful approach for studying the ecology of uncultured bacteria in the human gastrointestinal tract.