Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alternative reconsideration of output growth differrential for the West African Monetary Zone

This paper examines the determinants of output growth differentials from set convergence criteria in a panel of West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) states. Drawing largely from micro-founded models, rooted in New Keynesian traditions, the study shows that widespread divergence of output growth rates of participating countries from ideal benchmarks calls to question the ability of independent monetary and exchange rates policy as instruments of national/regional macroeconomic stabilization, the preconditions for unionization. Using a stylized 5-country model of WAMZ area, the differences in national output growth/demand is analyzed in the light of country specific shocks or differences in the monetary transmission mechanisms. The main results show that business cycles (output shocks) stabilization around a desired target was not attained. Over the sample period, the un-weighted average regional GDP growth rates were very slow, vary widely among the countries and responded very poorly to independent monetary policy stance. The strong output growth rates divergence among these countries suggest a reconsideration of output convergence as pre-condition for unionization.
Out-of-Pocket health expenditure and sources of financing for delivery, postpartum, and neonatal health in urban slums of Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

Background: Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) is an obstacle in the path of getting universal health coverage in India. Objective: This study aimed to explore the OOPE, sources of funding, and experience of catastrophic expenditure (CE) for healthcare related to delivery, postpartum, and neonatal morbidity. Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted among a sample of 240 recently delivered women from the slums of Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Information on background, details of delivery, expenditure on delivery and on morbidities, and sources of funding was collected using a structured interview schedule. Results: Only 29.6% of the households incurred OOPE, and the others incurred either nil OOPE or had a net income because of benefits received from Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK), Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), and “Mamata” schemes of the government. The median total OOPE was found to be 2100 INR (100–38,620). Multivariate analysis found parity, place of delivery, type of delivery, and presence of morbidity to be significantly associated with incurring any OOPE. Nearly 15% of the households incurred OOPE exceeding 40% of the reported monthly household income including 9%, whose OOPE was 100% or more of the reported household monthly income. Conclusion: While mechanisms such as JSSK, JSY, and Mamata had benefitted the vast majority, around half of those who did incur OOPE experienced CE. Additional insurance facility for cesarean section delivery might reduce the excessive financial burden on households.
UCS protein Rng3p activates actin filament gliding by fission yeast myosin-II

We purified native Myo2p/Cdc4p/Rlc1p (Myo2), the myosin-II motor required for cytokinesis by Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The Myo2p heavy chain associates with two light chains, Cdc4p and Rlc1p. Although crude Myo2 supported gliding motility of actin filaments in vitro, purified Myo2 lacked this activity in spite of retaining full Ca-ATPase activity and partial actin-activated Mg-ATPase activity. Unc45-/Cro1p-/She4p-related (UCS) protein Rng3p restored the full motility and actin-activated Mg-ATPase activity of purified Myo2. The COOH-terminal UCS domain of Rng3p alone restored motility to pure Myo2. Thus, Rng3p contributes directly to the motility activity of native Myo2. Consistent with a role in Myo2 activation, Rng3p colocalizes with Myo2p in the cytokinetic contractile ring. The absence of Rlc1p or mutations in the Myo2p head or Rng3p compromise the in vitro motility of Myo2 and explain the defects in cytokinesis associated with some of these mutations. In contrast, Myo2 with certain temperature-sensitive forms of Cdc4p has normal motility, so these mutations compromise other functions of Cdc4p required for cytokinesis.
Environmental Burkholderia cenocepacia Strain Enhances Fitness by Serial Passages during Long-Term Chronic Airways Infection in Mice

Burkholderia cenocepacia is an important opportunistic pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, and has also been isolated from natural environments. In previous work, we explored the virulence and pathogenic potential of environmental B. cenocepacia strains and demonstrated that they do not differ from clinical strains in some pathogenic traits. Here, we investigated the ability of the environmental B. cenocepacia Mex1 strain, isolated from the maize rhizosphere, to persist and increase its virulence after serial passages in a mouse model of chronic infection. B. cenocepacia Mex1 strain, belonging to the recA lineage IIIA, was embedded in agar beads and challenged into the lung of C57Bl/6 mice. The mice were sacrificed after 28 days from infection and their lungs were tested for bacterial loads. Agar beads containing the pool of B. cenocepacia colonies from the four sequential passages were used to infect the mice. The environmental B. cenocepacia strain showed a low incidence of chronic infection after the first passage; after the second, third and fourth passages in mice, its ability to establish chronic infection increased significantly and progressively up to 100%. Colonial morphology analysis and genetic profiling of the Mex1-derived clones recovered after the fourth passage from infected mice revealed that they were indistinguishable from the challenged strain both at phenotypic and genetic level. By testing the virulence of single clones in the Galleria mellonella infection model, we found that two Mex1-derived clones significantly increased their pathogenicity compared to the parental Mex1 strain and behaved similarly to the clinical and epidemic B. cenocepacia LMG16656T. Our findings suggest that serial passages of the environmental B. cenocepacia Mex1 strain in mice resulted in an increased ability to determine chronic lung infection and the appearance of clonal variants with increased virulence in non-vertebrate hosts.
Functional Replacement of the Intracellular Region of the Notch1 Receptor by Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen 2

ABSTRACT The intracellular region (RAMIC) of the mouse Notch1 receptor interacts with RBP-J/CBF-1, which binds to the DNA sequence CGTGGGAA and suppresses differentiation by transcriptional activation of genes regulated by RBP-J. Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 2 (EBNA2) is essential for immortalization of human B cells by the virus. EBNA2 is a pleiotropic activator of viral and cellular genes and is targeted to DNA at least in part by interacting with RBP-J. We found that EBNA2 and the Notch1 RAMIC compete for binding to RBP-J, indicating that their interaction sites on RBP-J overlap at least partially. EBNA2 and Notch1 RAMIC transactivated the same set of viral and host promoters, i.e., the EBNA2 response element of the Epstein-Barr virus TP1 and the HES-1 promoter. Furthermore, EBNA2 functionally replaced the Notch1 RAMIC by suppressing differentiation of C2C12 myoblast progenitor cells.
Carpet Performance Evaluation

The Tetrapod Walker machine was evaluated as a device for the accelerated testing of carpets. Tufted carpets were prepared from wool, nylon, acrylic, and polypropylene yarns, in both cut-pile and loop-pile construction. Four levels of pile weight, obtained by varying the number of tufts per inch, were prepared for each carpet. The percentage loss in pile height resulting from exposure in the Tetrapod Walker was found to be a linear function of the logarithm of the number of revolutions of the Tetrapod Walker. This function was characteristic of each carpet. Specifications for a tentative test method were developed. The method involves measurement of the percentage decrease in pile height after exposure of the carpet sample to 50,000 revolutions (overnight operation) of the Tetrapod Walker. Studies on the compression and recovery properties of these carpets will be reported in a subsequent paper.
MISO Broadcast Channel with imperfect and (Un)matched CSIT in the frequency domain: DoF region and transmission strategies

In this contribution, we focus on a frequency domain two-user Multiple-Input-Single-Output Broadcast Channel (MISO BC) where the transmitter has imperfect and (un)matched Channel State Information (CSI) of the two users in two subbands. We provide an upper-bound to the Degrees-of-Freedom (DoF) region, which is tight compared to the state of the art. By decomposing the subbands into subchannels according to the CSI feedback qualities, we interpret the DoF region as the weighted-sum of that in each subchannel. Moreover, we study the sum DoF loss when employing sub-optimal schemes, namely Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Zero-Forcing Beamforming (ZFBF) and the S33/2 scheme proposed by Tandon et al. The results show that by switching among the sub-optimal strategies, we can obtain at least 80% and 66.7% of the optimal sum DoF performance for the unmatched and matched CSIT scenario respectively.
A Modular Mind? A Test Using Individual Data from Seven Primate Species

It has long been debated whether the mind consists of specialized and independently evolving modules, or whether and to what extent a general factor accounts for the variance in performance across different cognitive domains. In this study, we used a hierarchical Bayesian model to re-analyse individual level data collected on seven primate species (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, spider monkeys, brown capuchin monkeys and long-tailed macaques) across 17 tasks within four domains (inhibition, memory, transposition and support). Our modelling approach evidenced the existence of both a domain-specific factor and a species factor, each accounting for the same amount (17%) of the observed variance. In contrast, inter-individual differences played a minimal role. These results support the hypothesis that the mind of primates is (at least partially) modular, with domain-specific cognitive skills undergoing different evolutionary pressures in different species in response to specific ecological and social demands.
NC100150 injection, a preparation of optimized iron oxide nanoparticles for positive‐contrast MR angiography

A preparation of monocrystalline iron oxide nanoparticles with an oxidized starch coating, currently in clinical trials (NC100150 Injection; CLARISCAN™), was characterized by magnetization measurements, relaxometry, and photon correlation spectroscopy. By combining the results with a measure of iron content, one can obtain the size and magnetic attributes of the iron cores, including the relevant correlation times for outer sphere relaxation (τSO and τD), and information about the interaction of the organic coating with both core and solvent. The results are 6.43 nm for the iron oxide core diameter, a magnetic moment of 4.38 × 10−17 erg/G, and a water‐penetrable coating region of oxidized oligomeric starch fragments and entrained water molecules. The latter extends the hydrodynamic diameter to 11.9 nm and lowers the average diffusivity of solvent about 64% (which increases τD accordingly). The nanoparticles show little size‐polydispersity, evidenced by the lowest value of r2/r1 at 20 MHz reported to date, an asset for magnetic resonance angiography. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2000;11:488–494. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-13-1-0395 TITLE: Prevention of the Post-traumatic Fibrotic Response in Joints

The referenced project was funded through the Translational Research Partnership Award mechanism. This mechanism required research teams to conduct translational studies that would accelerate the movement of promising ideas in orthopaedic research into clinical applications to benefit soldiers with combat-relevant traumatic orthopaedic injuries. Moreover, this award mechanism required the formation of the multiinstitutional and multi-disciplinary research partnership among orthopaedic surgeons and basic researchers. Our group has fulfilled both of these requirements. Our group has been extremely successful in establishing a well-integrated partnership among orthopaedic surgeons and basic researchers focusing on research associated with post-traumatic joint stiffness. This team has grown from a group of three initial Principal Investigators into the Scientific Consortium for Arthrofibrotic Research (SCAR). At present, the scientists that form the SCAR focus on the scarring of elements of the musculoskeletal system, including tendons, joint capsules, peripheral nerves, and others. Our key accomplishment of this project is proving the efficacy of our technology to reduce posttraumatic joint stiffness in vivo. The results of our study were then published in peer-reviewed journals and at major orthopaedic conferences. In brief, posttraumatic joint contracture is a frequent orthopaedic complication that limits the movement of injured joints, thereby severely impairing affected patients. Non-surgical and surgical treatments often fail to improve the range of motion of stiff joints. The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesis that limiting the formation of collagen-rich tissue in the capsules of injured joints would reduce the consequences of the fibrotic response and improve joint mobility. To test this hypothesis, we targeted the formation of collagen fibrils, the main component of fibrotic deposits formed within the tissues of injured joints. We have employed a relevant rabbit model to test the utility of a custom-engineered antibody, delivered directly to the cavities of injured knees, to block the formation of collagen fibrils produced in response to injury. In comparison to the nontreated control, mechanical tests of the antibody-treated knees demonstrated a significant reduction of flexion contracture. Detailed microscopic and biochemical studies have verified that this reduction was a result of the antibody-mediated blocking of the assembly of collagen fibrils. The results of our study indicate that extracellular processes associated with excessive formation of fibrotic tissue represent a valid target for limiting model posttraumatic joint stiffness.
Infection and Drug Resistance Dovepress Genotypes and Phenotypes of Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia Coli (stec) in Abeokuta, Southwestern Nigeria

Purpose: To characterize the prevalence of hemolytic Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) with a multidrug-resistant pattern in different age groups in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Methods: Nonrepetitive E. coli isolates were collected from 202 subjects with or without evidence of diarrhea. Each isolate was biochemically identified and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the disk diffusion method. A sorbitol fermentation test of all the E. coli isolates was done and the minimum inhibitory concentration of suspected STEC was measured by the standard broth microdilution method to determine antibiotic resistance. The genotypes of stx1, stx2, and hlyA were determined by polymerase chain reaction assay. Results: The majority of subjects were aged $40 years (41.6%) and were female (61.9%). Of the 202 subjects, 86.1% had STEC isolates (P,0.05). A high rate of STEC isolates resistant to amoxicillin (90.6%), cefotaxime (77.7%), and cefuroxime (75.7%) was observed. Resistance to amoxicillin, gentamicin, and cefotaxime was demonstrated with a minimum inhibitory concentration . 16 µg/mL in 13.9%, 11.4%, and 10.4% of the isolates, respectively. The prevalence of stx1, stx2, and hlyA was 13.9%, 6.9%, and 2.0%, respectively; 5.5% of stx1 were in the 0–10-year-old age group, 3.5% of stx2 were aged $40 and above, and 1.0% of the hlyA isolates were in the 0–10-year-old age group. Conclusion: The prevalence of virulent STEC is a public health concern. The use of polymerase chain reaction assay should aid quick detection of this virulent serotype and help curb the severe epidemic of human diseases associated with STEC infections.
IL-8 in Human Neutrophils -Dependent Production and Release of 2+ Ca

IL-8, a potent neutrophil chemoattractant that is elevated about 200-fold in exudative neutrophils isolated from localized inﬂammatory sites in vivo, is thought to play a major role in recruitment of neutrophils to inﬂammatory sites. Incubation of peripheral blood neutrophils with thapsigargin, an inhibitor of the endoplasmic reticulum Ca 2 1 -sequestering-ATPase, causes a dose-depen-dent induction of IL-8 synthesis that continues for up to 8 h. Cycloheximide inhibits the thapsigargin-induced IL-8 production, suggesting the induction of protein synthesis de novo. In addition, Northern blot analysis of mRNA isolated from neutrophils indicates that thapsigargin treatment increases IL-8 mRNA in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Thapsigargin also induces a biphasic rise in the intracellular Ca 2 1 concentration, [Ca 2 1 ] i , which is composed of an initial (within 15 s) EGTA-insensitive elevation in [Ca 2 1 ] i , followed by a delayed (2-min) EGTA-sensitive component. Addition of EGTA before thapsigargin inhibited the induction of IL-8 production. Experiments in which EGTA was added at various times after thapsigargin treatment indicated that a sustained Ca 2 1 inﬂux was required for maximum IL-8 production. Ascomycin and cyclosporin A, inhibitors of the Ca 2 1 dependent phosphatase, calcineurin, also inhibited thapsigargin-induced IL-8 production. Thus, in neutrophils, a prolonged increase in [Ca 2 1 ] i stimulates IL-8 transcription and synthesis, possibly through a calcineurin-dependent pathway. The Journal of Immunology, 1998, 161: 4332–4339.
Dynamical inverse problem for two-velocity systems on finite trees

We consider the dynamical inverse problem for two-velocity systems on finite trees in a time-optimal setting: i. e. we assume that the dynamical Dirichlet-to-Neumann map, which we use as inverse data, is known on some finite interval (the length of this interval depends on the optical diameter of a tree). Using the controllability of a dynamical system and ideas of the Boundary Control method, we can extract the spectral data from the dynamical one, and then extend the dynamical inverse data by an explicit formula, provided we understand it in a suitable (generalized) sense. Then we can construct the Titchmarsh-Weyl function and solve the inverse problem using the leaf-peeling method.
Alibi: A novel approach for detecting insider-based jamming attacks in wireless networks

We consider the problem of detecting the insiderbased attacks in the form of jammers in a single-hop wireless LAN environment, where jammers have the inside knowledge of frequency hopping patterns and any protocols used in the wireless network. We propose a novel jammer model in which the jammers are modeled by the number of channels that they can jam simultaneously. We further propose the novel concept of an atomic jammer which is the basic component necessary to deal with stronger jammers. To deal with atomic jammers, we propose a class of novel protocols called alibi protocols. The basic idea of the alibi protocols is to exploit one major limitation of the atomic jammers: they cannot jam two channels at the same time. Therefore, honest nodes in the network can occasionally switch to another channel, called the alibi channel, to transmit proofs for their honesty witnessed by some other honest nodes. We specify a necessary condition and desired properties such as detection time, false alarms and miss detections of this class of protocols. We prove that with high probability the detection time of these protocols is O(n ln(n)). We also propose some more practical alibi-based protocols such as 1-propagation and 1-gossiping and prove their desired properties. We further extend our work to the lossy channel model. The simulation results in ns2 confirm our analysis. The overall results of these protocols show a promising research direction to deal with insider-based jamming attacks. 1
A Model Selection Approach for the Identification of Quantitative Trait Loci in Experimental Crosses, Allowing Epistasis

The identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) and their interactions is a crucial step toward the discovery of genes responsible for variation in experimental crosses. The problem is best viewed as one of model selection, and the most important aspect of the problem is the comparison of models of different sizes. We present a penalized likelihood approach, with penalties on QTL and pairwise interactions chosen to control false positive rates. This extends the work of Broman and Speed to allow for pairwise interactions among QTL. A conservative version of our penalized LOD score provides strict control over the rate of extraneous QTL and interactions; a more liberal criterion is more lenient on interactions but seeks to maintain control over the rate of inclusion of false loci. The key advance is that one needs only to specify a target false positive rate rather than a prior on the number of QTL and interactions. We illustrate the use of our model selection criteria as exploratory tools; simulation studies demonstrate reasonable power to detect QTL. Our liberal criterion is comparable in power to two Bayesian approaches.
Cerebellar-dependent motor learning is based on pruning a Purkinje cell population response

The improvement of motor behavior, based on experience, is a form of learning that is critically dependent on the cerebellum. A well studied example of cerebellar motor learning is short-term saccadic adaptation (STSA). In STSA, information on saccadic errors is used to improve future saccades. The information optimizing saccade metrics is conveyed by Purkinje cells simple spikes (PC-SS) because they are the critical input to the premotor circuits for saccades. We recorded PC-SS of monkeys undergoing STSA to reveal the code used for improving behavior. We found that the discharge of individual PC-SS was unable to account for the behavioral changes. The PC-SS population burst (PB), however, exhibited changes that closely paralleled the qualitatively different changes of saccade kinematics associated with gain-increase and gain-decrease STSA, respectively. Gain-increase STSA, characterized by an increase in saccade duration, replicates the relationship between saccade duration and the end of the PB valid for unadapted saccades. In contrast, gain-decrease STSA, which sports normal saccade duration but reduced saccadic velocity, is characterized by a PB that ends well before the adapted saccade. This suggests that the duration of normal as well as gain-increased saccades is determined by appropriately setting the end of PB end. However, the duration of gain-decreased saccades is apparently not modified by the cerebellum because the PB signals ends too early to determine saccade end. In summary, STSA, and most probably cerebellar-dependent learning in general, is based on optimizing the shape of a PC-SS population response.
A collaborative benchmark for region of interest detection algorithms

This paper presents a collaborative benchmark for region of interest (ROI) detection in images. ROI detection has many useful applications and many algorithms have been proposed to automatically detect ROIs. Unfortunately, due to the lack of benchmarks, these methods were often tested on small data sets that are not available to others, making fair comparisons of these methods difficult. Examples from many fields have shown that repeatable experiments using published benchmarks are crucial to the fast advancement of the fields. To fill the gap, this paper presents our design for a collaborative game, called Photoshoot, to collect human ROI annotations for constructing an ROI benchmark. Using this game, we have gathered a large number of annotations and fused them into aggregated ROI models. With these models, we are able to evaluate six ROI detection algorithms quantitatively.