Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of Ryanodine Receptors by 4-(2-Aminopropyl)-3,5-dichloro-N,N-dimethylaniline (FLA 365) in Canine Pulmonary Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells

Ryanodine is a selective ryanodine receptor (RyR) blocker, with binding dependent on RyR opening. In whole-cell studies, ryanodine binding can lock the RyR in an open-conductance state, short-circuiting the sarcoplasmic reticulum, which restricts studies of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (InsP3R) activity. Other RyR blockers have nonselective effects that also limit their utility. 4-(2-Aminopropyl)-3,5-dichloro-N,N-dimethylaniline (FLA 365) blocks RyR-elicited Ca2+ increases in skeletal and cardiac muscle; yet, its actions on smooth muscle are unknown. Canine pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) express both RyRs and InsP3Rs; thus, we tested the ability of FLA 365 to block RyR- and serotonin-mediated InsP3 R-elicited Ca2+ release by imaging fura-2-loaded PASMCs. Acute exposure to 10 mM caffeine, a selective RyR activator, induced Ca2+ increases that were reversibly reduced by FLA 365, with an estimated IC50 of ∼1 to 1.5 μM, and inhibited by 10 μM ryanodine or 10 μM cyclopiazonic acid. FLA 365 also blocked L-type Ca2+ channel activity, with 10 μM reducing Ba2+ current amplitude in patch voltage-clamp studies to 54 ± 6% of control and 100 μM FLA 365 reducing membrane current to 21 ± 6%. InsP3R-mediated Ca2+ responses elicited by 10 μM 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) in canine PASMCs and 100 μM carbachol in human embryonic kidney (HEK)-293 cells were not reduced by 2 μM FLA 365, but they were reduced by 20 μM FLA 365 to 76 ± 9% of control in canine PASMCs and 52 ± 1% in HEK-293 cells. Thus, FLA 365 preferentially blocks RyRs with limited inhibition of L-type Ca2+ channels or InsP3R in canine PASMCs.
Accessing CUDA Features in the OpenGL Rendering Pipeline: A Case Study Using N-Body Simulation

The advances of the graphics programing unit (GPU) architecture and its rapidly evolving towards general purpose GPU make a series of applications adopt a general purpose (GPGPU) and a graphics computing interoperability approach in which the first is used for heavy calculations and the second for 3D graphics rendering. Because GPGPU exposes several hardware features, such as shared memory and thread synchronization mechanism, it allows a developer to write more efficient code. Nevertheless, we conjecture that such hardware features are also available in the graphics computing interface OpenGL 4.5 or later through the graphics concepts: blending, transform feedback, tessellation and instancing. In this paper we assess our conjecture by implementing an N-body simulation with both approaches. We indeed devise a novel non-graphics application to the tessellation hardware and the instanced rendering circuit. Instead of refining a mesh, we use the abstract patch for gaining direct accesses to shared memory. In the place of drawing multiple objects, we apply the instanced rendering technology for improving sequential data accesses. Comparative timing analysis is provided. We believe that these results provide better understanding of the graphics features that are useful for closing the performance gap between OpenGL and a GPGPU architecture, and open a new perspective on implementing solely with the OpenGL graphics applications that require both intense, but pre-specified, memory accesses and 3D graphics rendering.
A novel measure for the evaluation of autobiographical memory and mentalization in different social contexts

Background: The theories used to explain autobiographical memory and mentalization cite complementary mechanisms, and positive associations have been demonstrated between these functions. These cognitive operations may vary in different social contexts, dependent upon the prevailing social mentality (Gilbert, 1989, 2005). Aim: This study evaluated a new method for assessing autobiographical memory retrieval, and reflective-functioning, in response to cues consistent with different social mentalities. Methods: A sample consisting of participants with either schizophrenia-spectrum disorders or complex trauma was recruited. These populations were selected as both exhibit impairments in autobiographical memory and mentalization, and because trauma and psychosis are reciprocally and causally linked. The participants were asked to recall specific memories in response to cues reflecting compassion, threat and drive-focused social contexts, and to reflect upon the retrieval process. The specificity and latency of retrieval were measured, and the narrative coded for level of reflective functioning. Results: Retrieval was less specific in response to drive cues compared to threat cues. Drive cues were associated with longer retrieval latencies compared to threat and compassion cues. Reflective functioning was consistently poor, and did not differ following the different cues. However, consistent with previous research, reflective functioning was positively associated with retrieval specificity. Conclusions: This new method detected differential retrieval patterns in response to the three cue types. Poor retrieval of drive-cued events may reflect a paucity of competitive and motivation-based experiences to draw from, or the abstract nature of the cues. Spontaneous self-reflectivity appears to be poor in these patients, who may require greater support with this process. Specific task developments are recommended to disentangle these hypotheses, including controlling cue familiarity and imageability, and providing more instruction and encouragement for the elaboration of metacognitive responses.
A structured model reduction method for large scale networks

Mathematical models of networked systems often take the form of a set of complex large-scale differential equations. Model reduction is a commonly used technique of producing a simplified, yet accurate, description of these systems. Most available model reduction techniques require state transformations, which can cause the structural information of the system to be lost. In this paper, a systematic methodology is proposed for reducing linear network system models without employing state transformations. The proposed method is based on minimising the Hankel error norm between the original system and the reduced order model while ensuring that the state vector in the reduced model is a subset of the original state vector, which preserves the model structure. An error bound between the original and reduced models is ensured and the steady-state behaviour of the system is also preserved. The methodology can be automated so that it be applied to large scale networks. The proposed method can be extended to uncertain systems described by linear parameter varying models. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is demonstrated through simulation examples.
What Shapes Attitudes Toward Paying Taxes? Evidence from Multicultural European Countries

Considerable evidence suggests that enforcement efforts cannot fully explain the high degree of tax compliance. To resolve this puzzle of tax compliance several researchers have argued that citizens’ attitudes toward paying taxes defined as tax morale helps to explain the high degree of tax compliance. However, most studies have treated tax morale as a black box without discussing which factors shape it. Additionally, the tax compliance literature provides little empirical research that investigates attitudes toward paying taxes in Europe. Thus, this paper is unique in its examination of citizen tax morale within three multicultural European countries, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain, a choice that allows far more detailed examination of the impact of culture and institutions using datasets from the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey.
Simulation Supplements Field Studies to Determine No-Till Dryland Corn Population Recommendations for Semiarid Western Nebraska

In a 2-yr multiple-site field study conducted in western Nebraska during 1999 and 2000, optimum dryland corn (Zea mays L.) population varied from less than 1.7 to more than 5.6 plants m(-2), depending largely on available water resources. The objective of this study was to use a modeling approach to investigate corn population recommendations for a wide range of seasonal variation. A corn growth simulation model (APSIM-maize) was coupled to long-term sequences of historical climatic data from western Nebraska to provide probabilistic estimates of dryland yield for a range of corn populations. Simulated populations ranged from 2 to 5 plants m(-2). Simulations began with one of three levels of available soil water at planting, either 80, 160, or 240 mm in the surface 1.5 m of a loam soil. Gross margins were maximized at 3 plants m(-2) when starting available water was 160 or 240 mm, and the expected probability of a financial loss at this population was reduced from about 10% at 160 mm to 0% at 240 mm. When starting available water was 80 mm, average gross margins were less than $15 ha(-1), and risk of financial loss exceeded 40%. Median yields were greatest when starting available soil water was 240 mm. However, perhaps the greater benefit of additional soil water at planting was reduction in the risk of making a financial loss. Dryland corn growers in western Nebraska are advised to use a population of 3 plants m(-2) as a base recommendation.
Classifying Mediterranean Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Rim Countries and in Southwestern U.S.A.1

Université d'Aix-Marseille III, Centre de Saint-Jérôme, Laboratoire de Botanique et d'Ecologie Méditerranéenne, 13397 MARSEILLE/CEDEX 4. Abstract: Methods of classifying ecosystems have developed differently in Europe and America. Individualization of bioclimatic zones and of altitudinal levels proved most valuable, particularly the role of edaphic factors. This methodology can be associated with the vegetation series concept, that is, a succession of community types which, within a given altitudinal level and bioclimatic zone, and for specific edaphic conditions, leads to establishment of the climax community. Man's impact in these theoretical schemas can be directly considered. The methodology is open to numerous applications. Methods of classifying ecosystems, in particular forest ecosystems, which represent the most evident vegetation structures, have developed in a very different manner in European and Anglosaxon countries. It is of interest to compare the methods used in the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea and in Mediterranean California. We shall not discuss again the physiognomic and climatic analogies existing between both regions (cf. Di Castri and H. Mooney 1973), and shall only try to retrace the development of the methods of classifying ecosystems in both regions.
Intergenerational Transmission of Abilities and Self Selection of Mexican Immigrants

Building on Borjas (1993) I develop an intergenerational model of self-selection of migration and education that allows for a more complex selection mechanism. In particular, it allows for the possibility that immigrants are selected differently depending on the schooling level they choose. As in Mayer (2005) I assume that agents are endowed with two abilities and use the intergenerational structure of the model to infer potential earnings of a person for different levels of education and in different countries. This makes it possible to quantify the ability or self selection bias of estimates of the return to education and migration. The model is estimated using data on Mexicans in the US from the CPS and on Mexicans residents in Mexico from the Mexican census. The findings are that there is a significant loss of human capital faced by immigrants that is not transmitted to their children. While immigrants are observed to earn less because they find it difficult to adapt their skills to the host country, their children earn more because they can inherit all the abilities of their parents, including that part that could not be used for producing earnings. Moreover, Mayer (2005) proves that the positive correlation between the two abilities creates a positive correlation between parentsÕ earnings and the probability that children attend college. In this paper, I find that this result is reinforced for migrants when they care about their children. In the case of immigrants, parents with larger amounts of intellectual ability tend to migrate more and tend to choose to remain high school educated. However, they migrate with the expectation of their children becoming college educated. Therefore, measures that rely on the earnings performance and educational attainment of immigrants underestimate the amount of human capital they bring into the host country.
Accelerometers for measuring physical activity behavior in children.

Assessment of physical activity in children was, until recently, somewhat of a challenge, with research relying on subjective questionnaires and diaries. For the past 10 years or so, small electronic motion sensors (i.e. pedometers and accelerometers) have provided an objective means of measuring this lifestyle behaviour. Accelerometers are fast becoming the objective method of choice as they are capable of measuring the intensity and duration of the child’s activity as well as the overall amount. Whilst there are several different accelerometers available, the most common is the Actigraph (formerly MTI and CSA) accelerometer. The Actigraph is small, unobtrusive, robust, and does not have external buttons or a display screen, making it ideal for use in often inquisitive and competitive children.
On Ranking in Survival Analysis: Bounds on the Concordance Index

In this paper, we show that classical survival analysis involving censored data can naturally be cast as a ranking problem. The concordance index (CI), which quantifies the quality of rankings, is the standard performance measure for model assessment in survival analysis. In contrast, the standard approach to learning the popular proportional hazard (PH) model is based on Cox's partial likelihood. We devise two bounds on CI-one of which emerges directly from the properties of PH models-and optimize them directly. Our experimental results suggest that all three methods perform about equally well, with our new approach giving slightly better results. We also explain why a method designed to maximize the Cox's partial likelihood also ends up (approximately) maximizing the CI.
Calcium currents in the A7r5 smooth muscle-derived cell line. Calcium- dependent and voltage-dependent inactivation

Inactivation of a dihydropyridine-sensitive calcium current was studied in a cell line (A7r5) derived from smooth muscle of the rat thoracic aorta. Inactivation is faster with extracellular Ca2+ than with Ba2+. In Ba2+, inactivation increases monotonically with depolarization. In Ca2+, inactivation is related to the amount of inward current, so that little inactivation is seen in Ca2+ for brief depolarizations approaching the reversal potential. Longer depolarizations in Ca2+ reveal two components of inactivation, the slower component behaving like that observed in Ba2+. Furthermore, lowering extracellular Ca2+ slows inactivation. These results are consistent with the coexistence of two inactivation processes, a slow voltage-dependent inactivation, and a more rapid current-dependent inactivation which is observable only with Ca2+. Ca(2+)-dependent inactivation is decreased but not eliminated when intracellular Ca2+ is buffered by 10 mM BAPTA, suggesting that Ca2+ acts at a site on or near the channel. We also studied recovery from inactivation after either a short pulse (able to produce significant inactivation only in Ca2+) or a long pulse (giving similar inactivation with either cation). Surprisingly, recovery from Ca(2+)-dependent inactivation was voltage dependent. This suggests that the pathways for recovery from inactivation are similar regardless of how inactivation is generated. We propose a model where Ca(2+)- and voltage-dependent inactivation occur independently.
Sex differences in investigation results and treatment in subjects referred for investigation of chest pain

OBJECTIVE To evaluate differences in investigation results and treatment between men and women referred for diagnostic treadmill exercise testing and coronary arteriography. DESIGN Cohort study. SETTING Tertiary cardiology centre. SUBJECTS 1522 subjects referred by primary care physicians to an open access chest pain clinic for initial investigation of chest pain, of whom 485 were subsequently referred for coronary arteriography; and a similar cohort of 107 subjects referred directly by secondary care physicians for diagnostic coronary arteriography. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Rates of positive exercise tests and rates for referral for arteriography and revascularisation according to sex. RESULTS Overall, women were less likely to be referred for arteriography and revascularisation than men. However, men were more likely to have positive exercise tests, and for various exercise test diagnostic end points men were also more likely to have significant coronary artery disease. After taking this into account, there was no sex difference in referral rates for arteriography or revascularisation. CONCLUSIONS There was no evidence of a sex bias resulting in inappropriate underinvestigation or undertreatment of women. However, the positive predictive value of treadmill exercise testing is low for women and further research is needed into how best to investigate women with chest pain.
Comparing Pixel and Object-Based Approaches to Map an Understorey Invasive Shrub in Tropical Mixed Forests

The establishment of invasive alien species in varied habitats across the world is now recognized as a genuine threat to the preservation of biodiversity. Specifically, plant invasions in understory tropical forests are detrimental to the persistence of healthy ecosystems. Monitoring such invasions using Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite remote sensing has been shown to be valuable in designing management interventions for conservation of native habitats. Object-based classification methods are very helpful in identifying invasive plants in various habitats, by their inherent nature of imitating the ability of the human brain in pattern recognition. However, these methods have not been tested adequately in dense tropical mixed forests where invasion occurs in the understorey. This study compares a pixel-based and object-based classification method for mapping the understorey invasive shrub Lantana camara (Lantana) in a tropical mixed forest habitat in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in India. Overall, a hierarchical approach of mapping top canopy at first, and then further processing for the understorey shrub, using measures such as texture and vegetation indices proved effective in separating out Lantana from other cover types. In the first method, we implement a simple parametric supervised classification for mapping cover types, and then process within these types for Lantana delineation. In the second method, we use an object-based segmentation algorithm to map cover types, and then perform further processing for separating Lantana. The improved ability of the object-based approach to delineate structurally distinct objects with characteristic spectral and spatial characteristics of their own, as well as with reference to their surroundings, allows for much flexibility in identifying invasive understorey shrubs among the complex vegetation of the tropical forest than that provided by the parametric classifier. Conservation practices in tropical mixed forests can benefit greatly by adopting methods which use high resolution remotely sensed data and advanced techniques to monitor the patterns and effective functioning of native ecosystems by periodically mapping disturbances such as invasion.
Modelling relationship quality across organizational cultures : an empirical investigation within the logistics outsourcing industry

Relationship quality is the cornerstone of relationship marketing. However, conceptualizations of relationship quality vary across studies indicating the absence of a general consensus. Consistent with the definition of Hennig-Thurau et al. (2002, p. 234), relationship quality most often refers to ―a metaconstruct composed of several key components reflecting the overall nature of relationships between companies and consumers‖. However, ―the only area of convergence is three major dimensions of RQ [relationship quality] (trust, commitment and satisfaction)‖ (Athanasopoulou, 2009, p. 603). This assumption is at odds with a growing body of research which calls to ―expand the constructs and determine which aspects or dimensions should be included to obtain a multifaceted view of relational exchanges‖ (Palmatier et al., 2006, p. 152). Moreover, there is a consensus that culture affects business relationships. Yet, to date, both the phenomena are under-researched. Owing to the fragmented insights into relationship quality and its links with organizational culture, calls for future research gather momentum each day. This thesis forwards a study of relationship quality across organizational cultures. Consequently, the objective of the current study is to conceptualize rival models by amalgamating extant literature stemming from diverse theories in order to empirically corroborate (1) the dimensions of relationship quality, (2) the structural relationships between them and (3) the effects of organizational culture on relationship quality. In doing so, the current study constitutes the first attempt to evaluate the direct and moderating effects of organizational culture on relationship quality in a holistic manner. Extensive synthesis of extant literature stemming from different theories reveals six dimensions of relationship quality: loyalty, reciprocity, co-operation, communication, trust and opportunism. Further synthesis of the literature identifies five dimensions or organizational culture relevant to relationship quality: individualism and collectivism, human orientation, power distance, assertiveness and uncertainty avoidance. Owing to the absence of a general consensus, two competing models of relationship quality are conceptualized. A web-based survey was employed to collect data within the logistics outsourcing industry in the United Kingdom. This process resulted in two hundred and sixty six usable responses. Subsequently, structural equation modelling was employed to test the hypotheses of interest. The findings demonstrate that the construct of relationship quality comprises five dimensions: action loyalty, reciprocity, co-operation, trust and opportunism. Moreover, four dimensions of organizational culture appear to have effects on relationship quality: individualism and collectivism, human orientation, power distance and assertiveness. The findings result in numerous theoretical contributions and practical implications.
Appropriating Online Social Networking (OSN) Activities for Higher Education: Two Malaysian Cases

Online social networking (OSN) activities are becoming more prevalent in higher education. The phenomenon can be observed in many higher learning institutions around the world. There are many ways of appropriating OSN for teaching and learning. OSN enables lecturers and students to publish and share knowledge quickly and easily. However there are also several challenges which include the limited skills in using social technologies among lecturers and students. This paper discusses the findings from two case studies conducted using an exploratory approach employing semi-structured interviews to gather lecturers’ perspectives on their appropriation and use of OSN. The findings demonstrate a range of approaches used as well as the benefits and challenges faced by the lecturers in appropriating social technologies for teaching and learning. The finding can be used as a guide for other lecturers and educational designers to improve the use of OSN activities in higher education.