Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sp1-Mediated Transcriptional Control of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 4 in Sarcomas of Skeletal Muscle Lineage

Fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) have been implicated in a multitude of differentiating and proliferative actions. FGFR4 is expressed mainly in lung, kidney, pancreas, spleen, and developing muscle. FGFR4 was found to be overexpressed in some human malignancies, where it has been implicated in their pathogenesis. Recently, FGFR4 was found to be overexpressed in pediatric rhabdomyosarcomas, based on cDNA microarray analysis. Using Northern blotting, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and Western blotting, we classified four human rhabdomyosarcoma-derived cell lines based on their relative expression of FGFR4. We defined a 214 bp (−115/+99) promoter that functioned as a minimal promoter and examined cis-DNA elements implicated in the control of expression of the FGFR4 gene in these cells. Overlapping 40- to 50-bp fragments of the minimal promoter were examined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay using nuclear extracts from cell lines with high (HS729-1015) or low (HS729-1016) FGFR4 expression. Fragment C (−65/−26) formed specific complexes with nuclear extracts from both cell lines. Fragment B (−95/−56), however, formed distinct complexes mainly with the high FGFR4-expressing HS729-1015 cells. Both fragments yielded complexes that were competed by an Sp oligonucleotide and supershifted by Sp1 and by Sp3 antibodies. Transfection of Sp1 but not Sp3 efficiently activated FGFR4 promoter activity, an effect that was significantly more pronounced in the HS729-1015 cell line than in the low FGFR4-expressing HS729-1016 cell line. Deletion of each of the two Sp-binding sites in fragments B and C resulted in loss of promoter activity. In particular, deletion of the 5′ Sp-binding site in fragment B was associated with the greatest loss of activity. Sp1 protein expression correlated with FGFR4 expression in cell lines and primary human rhabdomyosarcomas. Furthermore, transfection of Sp1 and methylation inhibition was effective in inducing the endogenous FGFR4 gene in HS729-1015 cells. Our findings point to Sp1 as an important contributor to FGFR4 transcriptional control and elucidate a potential mechanism for the heterogenous expression of FGFR4 in neoplasms derived from the same cell lineage.
Misdiagnosed Food Allergy Resulting in Severe Malnutrition in an Infant

As food allergies become increasingly prevalent and testing methods to identify “food allergy” increase in number, the importance of careful diagnosis has become even more critical. Misdiagnosis of food allergy and inappropriate use of unproven testing modalities may lead to a harmful food-elimination diet. This case is an example of an infant who was placed on an overly restrictive elimination diet at the recommendation of her health care providers, resulting in kwashiorkor and acquired acrodermatitis enteropathica.
A weakly-supervised approach for discovering new user intents from search query logs

State-of-the art spoken language understanding models that automatically capture user intents in human to machine dialogs are trained with manually annotated data, which is cumbersome and time-consuming to prepare. For bootstrapping the learning algorithm that detects relations in natural language queries to a conversational system, one can rely on publicly available knowledge graphs, such as Freebase, and mine corresponding data from the web. In this paper, we present an unsupervised approach to discover new user intents using a novel Bayesian hierarchical graphical model. Our model employs search query click logs to enrich the information extracted from bootstrapped models. We use the clicked URLs as implicit supervision and extend the knowledge graph based on the relational information discovered from this model. The posteriors from the graphical model relate the newly discovered intents with the search queries. These queries are then used as additional training examples to complement the bootstrapped relation detection models. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, showing extended coverage to new intents without impacting the known intents. Index Terms: spoken language understanding, graphical models, search query click logs, intent discovery.
Learning the graph of epidemic cascades

We consider the problem of finding the graph on which an epidemic spreads, given only the times when each node gets infected. While this is a problem of central importance in several contexts -- offline and online social networks, e-commerce, epidemiology -- there has been very little work, analytical or empirical, on finding the graph. Clearly, it is impossible to do so from just one epidemic; our interest is in learning the graph from a small number of independent epidemics. For the classic and popular "independent cascade" epidemics, we analytically establish sufficient conditions on the number of epidemics for both the global maximum-likelihood (ML) estimator, and a natural greedy algorithm to succeed with high probability. Both results are based on a key observation: the global graph learning problem decouples into n local problems -- one for each node. For a node of degree d, we show that its neighborhood can be reliably found once it has been infected O(d2 log n) times (for ML on general graphs) or O(d log n) times (for greedy on trees). We also provide a corresponding information-theoretic lower bound of Ω(d log n); thus our bounds are essentially tight. Furthermore, if we are given side-information in the form of a super-graph of the actual graph (as is often the case), then the number of epidemic samples required -- in all cases -- becomes independent of the network size n.
The influence of ozone precursor emissions from four world regions on tropospheric composition and radiative climate forcing

0.4 2.6 to 1.9 1.3 Gg for NOx reductions, 0.1 1.2 to 0.9 0.8 Gg for NMVOC reductions, and 0.09 0.5 to 0.9 0.8 Gg for CO reductions, suggesting additional research is needed. The 100-year global warming potentials (GWP100) are calculated for the global CH4 reduction (20.9 3.7 without stratospheric O3 or water vapor, 24.2 4.2 including those components), and for the regional NOx, NMVOC, and CO reductions (18.7 25.9 to 1.9 8.7 for NOx, 4.8 1.7 to 8.3 1.9 for NMVOC, and 1.5 0.4 to 1.7 0.5 for CO). Variation in GWP100 for NOx, NMVOC, and CO suggests that regionally specific GWPs may be necessary and could support the inclusion
Reconﬁgurable and Evolvable Hardware Fabric

In this work, we are developing a novel re-conﬁgurable multiprocessor architecture, environment and tools for autonomous onboard processing in space platforms. Among the important features of our method are: reconﬁgurability and processor adaptability for high rate wireless functions; usage of system-on-chip (SOC) technology to embed hardware modules and reconﬁgurable blocks; integration of real-time Operating system kernels on the SOC, low-power, quality of service, and performance. Our approach employs a multiprocessor architecture of two basic layers, the adaptation software manager and the reconﬁgurable hardware fabric. The adaptation manager captures real time inputs from sensors and decides what reconﬁguration, if any, needs to be performed and then sends this information to the hardware fabric which performs dynamic reconﬁguration. The adaptation manager also involves a software learning process to correct adaptation and reconﬁguration decisions. We employ middle level conﬁguration granularity for rapid or dynamic recon-ﬁguration implementing mission critical functions such as signal and imaging functions. Some preliminary results are discussed.
Becoming "Librarian 2.0": The Skills, Knowledge, and Attributes Required by Library and Information Science Professionals in a Web 2.0 World (and Beyond)

In 2005, Stephen Abram, vice president of Innovation at SirsiDynix, challenged library and information science (LIS) professionals to start becoming "librarian 2.0. " In the last few years, discussion and debate about the "core competencies" needed by librarian 2.0 have appeared in the "biblioblogosphere" (blogs written by LIS professionals). However, beyond these informal blog discussions few systematic and empirically based studies have taken place. This article will discuss a research project that fills this gap. Funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, the project identifies the key skills, knowledge, and attributes required by "librarian 2.0. " Eighty-one members of the Australian LIS profession participated in a series of focus groups. Eight themes emerged as being critical to "librarian 2.0": technology, communication, teamwork, user focus, business savvy, evidence based practice, learning and education, and personal traits. This article will provide a detailed discussion on each of these themes. The study's findings also suggest that "librarian 2.0" is a state of mind, and that the Australian LIS profession is undergoing a significant shift in "attitude. "
Cytoplasmic ATP-sensing Domains Regulate Gating of Skeletal Muscle ClC-1 Chloride Channels*

ClC proteins are a family of chloride channels and transporters that are found in a wide variety of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell types. The mammalian voltage-gated chloride channel ClC-1 is important for controlling the electrical excitability of skeletal muscle. Reduced excitability of muscle cells during metabolic stress can protect cells from metabolic exhaustion and is thought to be a major factor in fatigue. Here we identify a novel mechanism linking excitability to metabolic state by showing that ClC-1 channels are modulated by ATP. The high concentration of ATP in resting muscle effectively inhibits ClC-1 activity by shifting the voltage gating to more positive potentials. ADP and AMP had similar effects to ATP, but IMP had no effect, indicating that the inhibition of ClC-1 would only be relieved under anaerobic conditions such as intense muscle activity or ischemia, when depleted ATP accumulates as IMP. The resulting increase in ClC-1 activity under these conditions would reduce muscle excitability, thus contributing to fatigue. We show further that the modulation by ATP is mediated by cystathionine β-synthase-related domains in the cytoplasmic C terminus of ClC-1. This defines a function for these domains as gating-modulatory domains sensitive to intracellular ligands, such as nucleotides, a function that is likely to be conserved in other ClC proteins.
STORE LOYALTY AS A CATEGORY SPECIFIC TRAIT – WHAT DRIVES IT?

The literature on store loyalty views a consumer as possessing tore loyalty towards a particular store for her/his overall grocery shopping needs. In this s udy, we show that store loyalty is a category-specific trait of a consumer. In other wo ds, while a given customer may be loyal to Store A in category 1, the same customer may be loyal t Store B in category 2. We call this store-category loyalty . We estimate household-, category-, and store-specific drivers of store-category loyalty using scanner panel data of 1321 households in 284 grocery categories across 16 stores over a 53-week period. We find that different stores in the same market have different category-independent baseline loyalties. Further, we f ind a household’s store-category loyalty towards a store in a category to be positively influenc ed by (1) the household’s category budget share, (2) the household’s store visit frequency, (3) the b readth of the SKU assortment in the category at the store, (4) the uniqueness of the SKU assortme nt in the category at the store, (5) relevance of the SKU assortment to the household in the categ ory at the store, (6) perceived price advantage to the household in the category at the store, and ne gatively influenced by (1) frequency of purchases in the category, and (2) price variability in the category at the store. Two household variables – family size and household income – are found to have interesting moderating effects on the estimated effects of various driver s on store-category loyalty. These findings will be invaluable to retailers in terms of enabling th em to better manage household patronage in categories where their current loyalty positions are weak.
Low-Complexity Encoding of Quasi-Cyclic Codes Based on Galois Fourier Transform

This paper presents two novel low-complexity encoding algorithms for quasi-cyclic (QC) codes based on Galois Fourier transform. The key idea behind them is making use of the block diagonal structure of the transformed generator matrix. The first one, named encoding by Galois Fourier transform, is equivalent to the fast implementations of the traditional encoding by Galois Fourier transform. The second one, named encoding in the transform domain (ETD), requires much less computational complexity for encoding binary QC codes. It skips the first step of the first algorithm and applies post-processing to save a large number of Galois field multiplications. Its application to QC-LDPC codes is also studied in this paper. Particularly, the hardware cost of the ETD for RS-based LDPC codes can be greatly reduced by short linear-feedback shift registers.
Money, policy regimes and economic fluctuations

Part I deals with the estimation of money demand functions. Several non-structural interpretations of the conventionally estimated functions are surveyed and discussed (Chapter 1). An application to Italian data is then presented, focusing on two such interpretations. First (Chapter 2), the role of expectations in determining money demand behaviour is assessed. Since monetary policy regimes have a direct effect on the time-series properties of interest rates, the identification of clear regime changes may provide a powerful test of forward-looking models of money demand. An expectations model is constructed, which is stable in the face of the Italian monetary policy regime change in 1970, when traditional backward-looking money demand functions show remarkable instability. Second (Chapter 3), the existence of multiple long-run relations among the variables relevant to money demand is shown to create problems for the interpretation of single-equation estimates. To obtain a satisfactory specification of the long-run relations and the short-run dynamics of the system around equilibrium, a sequential procedure is devised and applied. In Part II, the controversy between "real" and "monetary" theories of fluctuations is examined (Chapter 4). A "monetary" equilibrium model of the cycle is constructed, extending the original Lucas "island" framework to allow for a powerful role for stabilization policy. The implications of alternative monetary policy regimes are derived and tested on U.S. data, comparing two periods (1922-1940 and 1952-1968) with a different policy stance. Chapter 5 investigates the relative importance of the "money" and "credit" channels of monetary transmission for Italy in the 1982-1994 period, using a structural VAR methodology. Monetary policy is effective, though not through a "credit channel", and independent disturbances to credit supply have sizeable real effects. In Chapter 6 the focus is shifted to anticipated fiscal policy actions and their effect on consumption. A long series of pre-announced income tax changes is examined for the U.K. Consumption reacts to such fiscally-induced disposable income changes only at the implementation dates.
Neural induction of taste buds

Bilateral innervation allows more than 80% of the 610 vallate taste buds to survive removal of one IXth nerve in adult rats. Removal of both IXth nerves in neonatal or adult rats results in the absence of taste buds. In studying development, we found that removing or crushing one IXth nerve in three‐day‐old neonates profoundly decreased the number of vallate taste buds that subsequently developed. Specifically, after removal of one IXth nerve at 3 days, only 228 taste buds formed, compared with 496 taste buds that one nerve would maintain in adults. Thus, during normal development, the right and left IXth nerves interact synergistically, as at least 150 more taste buds develop than predicted by the sum of the independent action of each IXth nerve. This suggests that vallate taste buds are induced by the IXth nerve. A second example of synergism, representing evidence for the neural induction of taste buds, came from experiments in which we crushed the left IXth nerve 3 days after birth and found that these regenerated IXth nerve axons induced 4 times as many taste buds in the presence of the normal right IXth nerve (118 taste buds) as in its early absence (30 taste buds).
Trade openness and economic growth: the case of tunisia

The contribution of trade openness in economic growth has been the subject of several theoretical and empirical studies in the economic literature. This paper analyzes the impact of trade openness on economic growth in the case of Tunisia using OLS method over the period 1975-2009. The results show that trade openness, foreign direct investment, and human capital represented by the enrollment of the school, as well as the ratio of the money taken as a proxy for financial development exert long-term positive and significant effects on economic growth.
Adaptive Subsampling and Motion Feature Based Fast H.264 Motion Estimation

The latest video coding standard H.264/AVC can provide excellent performance compared with previous standards. However, the introduction of new techniques in motion estimation also brings about heavy burden of computation complexity on the video coding system. In hardware field, the subsampling technique is widely used to reduce hardware cost and release computation burden of ME engine. However, direct subsampling on video sequences will cause serious quality degradation. This paper proposes a hardware friendly fast ME algorithm which combines two complexity reduction schemes. Firstly, the pixel difference based adaptive subsampling scheme select different subsampling patterns according to the feature of current MB. Secondly, in order to fasten the ME procedure, a search position based 3-layer search range adjustment scheme is proposed to remove redundant search points. Experimental results show that about 74.17% to 90.26% ME Time can be reduced while the video quality loss is trivial. Moreover, since the two schemes are both friendly to hardware implementation, the proposed fast ME algorithm can be implanted into realtime hardwired video coding system.
Seroepidemiological survey of hepatitis C virus among commercial sex workers and pregnant women in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

BACKGROUND Studies conducted mainly in industrialized countries have shown that the transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is mainly parenteral, and have emphasized the role of nosocomial transmission. In Equatorial Africa, the respective contributions of parenteral and non-parenteral routes of transmission are unknown. The potential role of sexual transmission in this area of high HCV endemicity, where sexually transmitted infections (STI) are frequent, is suggested by the fact that HCV infection is rare in infants and young adolescents, but increases thereafter with age. The present study, conducted in Democratic Republic of Congo, was designed to determine the prevalence of HCV infection and associated sexual risk factors in two female populations with different sexual behaviour. METHODS Cross-sectional studies conducted among commercial sex workers (CSW; n = 1144) and pregnant women (n = 1092) in the late 1980s in Kinshasa showed a high frequency of at-risk sexual behaviour, STI and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, particularly among CSW. We screened samples collected during these epidemiological studies for antibodies to HCV using a second-generation ELISA with confirmation by a third-generation LIA. We also assessed sociodemographic variables, medical history, STI markers and sexual behaviour, and their potential association with HCV infection. RESULTS The overall prevalence of anti-HCV was 6.6% (95% CI : 5.2-8.2) among CSW and 4.3% (95% CI : 3.2-5.7) among pregnant women (age-adjusted OR = 1.5, 95% CI : 1.0-2.1, P = 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that the presence of anti-HCV among CSW was independently associated with a previous history of blood transfusion (P < 0.001), age >30 years (P < 0.001) and the presence of at least one biological marker of STI (P < 0.03). No such links were found among pregnant women (although the history of blood transfusions was not investigated in this group). Anti-HCV was not associated with sociodemographic variables or sexual behaviour in either group, or with individual markers of STI. Despite the high-risk sexual behaviour and the higher prevalence of STI in CSW, the difference in HCV seroprevalence between CSW and pregnant women (6.6% versus 4.3%) was small, particularly when compared with the difference in the seroprevalence of HIV (34.1% versus 2.8%). CONCLUSION The role of sexual transmission in the spread of HCV seems to be limited. Parenteral transmission (including blood transfusion and injections), possibly related to the treatment of STI, probably plays a major role.
Manipulative voting dynamics

In AI, multi-agent decision problems are of central importance, in which independent agents aggregate their heterogeneous preference orders among all alternatives and the result of this aggregation can be a single alternative, corresponding to the groups collective decision, or a complete aggregate ranking of all the alternatives. Voting is a general method for aggregating the preferences of multiple agents. An important technical issue that arises is manipulation of voting schemes: a voter may be to make the outcome most favorable to itself (with respect to his own preferences) by reporting his preferences incorrectly. Unfortunately, the Gibbard-Satterthwaites theorem shows that no reasonable voting rule is completely immune to manipulation, recent literature focussed on making the voting schemes computationally hard to manipulate. In contrast to most prior work Meir et al. [40] have studied this phenomenon as a dynamic process in which voters may repeatedly alter their reported preferences until either no further manipulations are available, or else the system goes into a cycle. We develop this line of enquiry further, showing how potential functions are useful for showing convergence in a more general setting. We focus on dynamics of weighted plurality voting under sequences made up various types of manipulation by the voters. Cases where we have exponential bounds on the length of sequences, we identify conditions under which upper bounds can be improved. In convergence to Nash equilibrium for plurality voting rule, we use lexicographic tie-breaking rule that selects the winner according to a fixed priority ordering on the candidates. We study convergence to pure Nash equilibria in plurality voting games under unweighted setting too. We mainly concerned with polynomial bounds on the length of manipulation sequences, that depends on which types of manipulation are allowed. We also consider other positional scoring rules like Borda, Veto, k-approval voting and non positional scoring rules like Copeland and Bucklin voting system. This thesis is dedicated to my family specially my parents, my grandfather and my uncle who have always stood by me and supported me throughout my life. They have been a constant source of love, concern, support and strength all these years. I warmly appreciate their generosity and understanding.