Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification and Immune Functional Characterization of Pigeon TLR7

Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) is activated by single-stranded RNA and synthetic imidazoquinoline components, and induces interferon production. In this study, we cloned the TLR7 gene from King pigeon (Columba livia). The TLR7 open reading frame is 3144 bp and encodes a 1047-amino acid protein, consisting of a canonical TLR composition with 15 leucine-rich repeats (LRRs). Amino acid-inserting modifications were found at position 15 of LRR2, LRR11, LRR13, and LRR14 and position 10 of LRR10. The tissue distribution of pigeon TLR7 suggests that immune-associated tissues, especially the spleen and liver, have high TLR7 expression. HEK293T cells transfected with pigeon TLR7 plasmid responded to the agonist R848, indicating a functional TLR7 homolog. Following R848 stimulation of pigeon peripheral blood mononuclear cells, the levels of IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-8, CCL5, and IL-10 mRNA, assessed using quantitative real-time PCR, were significantly up-regulated. After Newcastle disease virus vaccine strain LaSota inoculation and agonist R848 injection, the level of TLR7 mRNA in the spleen of pigeons increased significantly in the R848-injected group, but decreased in the LaSota-inoculated group at three day post-infection (d.p.i.). The mRNA levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines were significantly upregulated in both LaSota-inoculated and R848-injected groups. Triggering pigeon TLR7 leads to robust up-regulation of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, suggesting an important role in the innate immune response.
The Board Chair-Executive Director Relationship : Dynamics that Create Value for Nonprofit Organizations

Conventional wisdom emphasizes the importance to a nonprofit organization of its core leadership: a healthy board chair-executive director relationship (Eadie, 2001; Howe, 2004; Lechem, 2002; P. C. Light, 2002). Organizational effectiveness is at stake when this relationship is weak, or worse, dysfunctional. While such an assertion may seem intuitively correct, there is a lack of empirical work that explores the dynamics of this key relationship or its influence, if any, on the nonprofit organization (Brown, 2000; MillerMillesen, 2003).
Nutritional evaluation of kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris): the isolation and partial characterisation of toxic constituents.

Comprehensive fractionation studies on the contents of the seeds of two varieties of kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) were carried out. The extent of toxicity of the fractions obtained was assessed from the depression of the growth of rats fed on a mixed diet containing 5% casein protein and 5% unfractionated bean proteins or proportional amounts of fractionated materials. The low molecular weight diffusible materials and the structural water-insoluble carbohydrate-protein complexes (10 and 73% of the seeds, respectively) were found to have had little deleterious effects on rat growth performance. However, both protein fractions, the albumins (6.3% of the seeds) and the globulins (11% of the seeds), were found to be toxic. Further fractionation with continuous high-voltage electrophoresis indicated that most of the toxicity of the albumin fraction might be related to the presence of a range of isolectins. A similar, but not identical, isolectin might also be implicated in the toxicity of the globulin fraction. In addition, these results also demonstrated that the three major storage proteins, glycoprotein I and II and the trypsin inhibitors, which altogether made up about three quarters of the total protein content, could have made a small contribution only to the toxicity of kidney beans.
Plasma CD93 concentration is a potential novel biomarker for coronary artery disease

Abstract. Mälarstig A, Silveira A, Wågsäter D, Öhrvik J, Bäcklund A, Samnegård A, Khademi M, Hellenius M‐L, Leander K, Olsson T, Uhlén M, de Faire U, Eriksson P, Hamsten A (Karolinska University Hospital; Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm; KTH‐Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden). Plasma CD93 concentration is a potential novel biomarker for coronary artery disease. J Intern Med 2011; 270: 229–236.
Developing personas, considering gender: a case study

We present a case study of persona development, foregrounding gender as a primary axis of design. In a participatory design process, we developed personas to represent users of a learning and networking platform for female IT professionals. These personas are a means of ensuring that the female perspective is represented in the design process. We consider the phases of persona development in the light of existing concepts to confront the gendered status quo. We then show how these considerations regarding gender were implemented in our project IT&me.
Educational Robot for Children with ADHD / ADD , Architecture Design

In this paper, we presented an architecture design of assistive technology for kindergarten child care, called Kindergarten Assistive Robotics (KAR). KAR provides the kindergarten teams with a novel tool for achievement of educational aims through social interaction. Using Nao as a platform, we designed an assistive technology that employs a toy/game robotic approach. The proposed architecture is initially focused on research and training of children with ADHD/ADD. However, the final aim is to provide kindergarten teams with an assistive tool for all children, including typically developing children. We identified the benefic roles, missions and ethical principles of the robot. The kindergarten teams will have full control of robot: define daily task, stop/run behaviors, etc. The ADHD/ADD children benefit from the KAR for training their cognitive skills, like constructive learning, selective attention, etc. KAR has the ability of providing feedback to children on their performance and monitoring their progress over time. Keywords-component; social robotics; ADHD; architecture;
Employee Recognition and Performance: A Field Experiment

This paper reports the results from a controlled field experiment designed to investigate the causal effect of public recognition on employee performance. We hired more than 300 employees to work on a three-hour data-entry task. In a random sample of work groups, workers unexpectedly received recognition after two hours of work. We find that recognition increases subsequent performance substantially, and particularly so when recognition is exclusively provided to the best performers. Remarkably, workers who did not receive recognition are mainly responsible for this performance increase. This result is consistent with workers having a preference for conformity.
Public Deliberation: Pluralism, Complexity, and Democracy

How can we create a vital and inclusive pluralistic democracy? Public Deliberation offers answers to this question by showing how democratic theory and democratic practice can be remade to face new challenges. Arguing against the skepticism about democracy that flourishes today on both ends of the political spectrum, James Bohman proposes a new model of public deliberation that will allow a renewed expansion of democratic practice, even in the face of increasing pluralism, inequality, and social complexity.Bohman builds on early Critical Theory and on the recent work of Jurgen Habermas and John Rawls (while taking into consideration criticisms of their work) to create a picture of a richer democratic practice based on the public reasoning of citizens. Starting with a pragmatic account of how deliberation actually works to promote agreements and cooperation, he develops a realistic model of deliberation by gradually introducing and analyzing the major tests facing deliberative democracy: cultural pluralism, social inequalities, social complexity, and community-wide biases and ideologies. The result is a new understanding of the ways in which public deliberation can be extended to meet the needs of modern societies.
06 08 16 3 v 3 6 O ct 2 00 6 G 2 holonomy metrics and wrapped D 6-branes

We determine torsion class constraints for the supergravity background produced by D6-branes wrapping special Lagrangian cycles in a Calabi-Yau 3-fold. We employ a recently introduced method which involves probing the putative background by all possible supersymmetric brane configurations. We then lift this background to 11-dimensions to a product of 4-d Minkowski space and a 7-fold of G2-holonomy. The latter is a particular U(1) bundle over an almost complex manifold of SU(3) structure with specific torsion class constraints. We construct the closed 3and 4-forms which calibrate the 3and 4-cycles in the G2-holonomy manifold. HUTP-06/A0034 BCCUNY-HEP /06-04 hep-th/0608163 email: Ansar Fayyazuddin@baruch.cuny. edu email: tasneem@physics.harvard. edu
Building Secure Cryptographic Transforms, or How to Encrypt and MAC

We describe several notions of “cryptographic transforms,” symmetric schemes designed to meet a variety of privacy and authenticity goals. We consider goals, such as replay-avoidance and in-order packet delivery, that have not been fully addressed in previous works in this area. We then provide an analysis of possible ways to combine standard encryption and message authentication schemes in order to provably meet these goals. Our results further narrow the gap between the provable-security results from the theoretical community and the needs of developers who implement real systems.
The Role of Hippocampal Glutamate Receptor-A-Dependent Synaptic Plasticity in Conditional Learning: The Importance of Spatiotemporal Discontiguity

Gene-targeted mice lacking the AMPA receptor subunit glutamate receptor-A (GluR-A or GluR1) and mice with cytotoxic hippocampal lesions were compared with wild-type and sham-operated controls, respectively, on a conditional learning task using an elevated T-maze. Floor inserts (white perspex vs wire mesh) provided a conditional cue indicating in which goal arm a food reward was to be found. The relationship between the floor insert and the rewarded goal arm was constant throughout the experiment. Both lesioned and knock-out mice were able to acquire the task if the floor inserts extended throughout the entire maze, including the start arm and both goal arms. In contrast, both lesioned and knock-out mice were unable to acquire the task if the floor inserts were only present in the start arm of the maze. The absence of the conditional cue (the floor insert) at the time when the place-reward association was experienced thus critically determined whether or not the mice were impaired. We suggest that hippocampal GluR-A-dependent synaptic plasticity contributes to a memory system in rodents for encoding both the spatial and temporal contexts (the where and the when) associated with a particular event.
Dynamic fractional resource scheduling for HPC workloads

We propose a novel job scheduling approach for homogeneous cluster computing platforms. Its key feature is the use of virtual machine technology for sharing resources in a precise and controlled manner. We justify our approach and propose several job scheduling algorithms. We present results obtained in simulations for synthetic and real-world High Performance Computing (HPC) workloads, in which we compare our proposed algorithms with standard batch scheduling algorithms. We find that our approach widely outperforms batch scheduling. We also identify a few promising algorithms that perform well across most experimental scenarios. Our results demonstrate that virtualization technology coupled with lightweight scheduling strategies affords dramatic improvements in performance for HPC workloads.
On the evolution of the recoverable component of the SiON, HfSiON and HfO2 P-MOSFETs under dynamic NBTI

The evolution of the recoverable (R) component of negative-bias temperature instability (NBTI) is examined, as a function of the number of stress and relaxation cycles, for the SiON, HfSiON, and HfO2 p-MOSFETs. At typical NBTI oxide fields (∼7 MV/cm), a steady and substantial decrease of the R component in the case of the HfO2 p-MOSFET is observed, while the R component of the SiON and HfSiON p-MOSFETs are found to remain constant. A decrease in the R component of the SiON and HfSiON p-MOSFETs is observed only at much higher oxide fields (> 10 MV/cm). Evidence shows that the decrease in the R component is due to a greater tendency for the hole traps in the HfO2 to be transformed into a permanent form (P) under a given oxide field. The result therefore implies that, under typical NBTI oxide fields, the R and P components could share a common defect origin in the case of the HfO2 p-MOSFET. On the other hand, the R and P components are likely to have originated from different defect precursors in the case of the SiON and HfSiON p-MOSFETs. The existence of different oxide fields at which the transformation of the R component into a permanent form occurs for different gate dielectrics implies that the nature of the defect precursors responsible for the R component is intrinsic to the gate dielectric material.
Children Seen But Not Heard: When Parents Compromise Children's Online Privacy

Children's online privacy has garnered much attention in media, legislation, and industry. Adults are concerned that children may not adequately protect themselves online. However, relatively little discussion has focused on the privacy breaches that may occur to children at the hands of others, namely, their parents and relatives. When adults post information online, they may reveal personal information about their children to other people, online services, data brokers, or surveillant authorities. This information can be gathered in an automated fashion and then linked with other online and offline sources, creating detailed profiles which can be continually enhanced throughout the children's lives. In this paper, we conduct a study to see how widespread these behaviors are among adults on Facebook and Instagram. We use a number of methods. Firstly, we automate a process to examine 2,383 adult users on Facebook for evidence of children in their public photo albums. Using the associated comments in combination with publicly available voter registration records, we are able to infer children's names, faces, birth dates, and addresses. Secondly, in order to understand what additional information is available to Facebook and the users' friends, we survey 357 adult Facebook users about their behaviors and attitudes with regard to posting their children's information online. Thirdly, we analyze 1,089 users on Instagram to infer facts about their children. Finally, we make recommendations for privacy-conscious parents and suggest an interface change through which Facebook can nudge parents towards better stewardship of their children's privacy.
Aphicidal Activity of an Ageraphorone Extract From Eupatorium adenophorum Against Pseudoregma bambucicola (Homoptera: Aphididae, Takahashi)

The bamboo aphid, Pseudoregma bambucicola, is an important insect pest of bamboo that affects normal bamboo growth and induces sooty molds. The control of P. bambucicola involves the application of chemicals, such as imidacloprid, to which many species are resistant. In this study, we isolate a novel botanical pesticide (9-oxo-10,11-dehydro-ageraphorone) from an Eupatorium adenophorum(Asteraceae: Compositae) petroleum ether extract and test the aphicidal activity of this compound against P. bambucicola in laboratory bioassay and field-based experiments. This ageraphorone compound at a concentration of 2 mg/ml caused 73.33% mortality (corrected mortality [Subtracted the mortality of the negative control]: 70%) of P. bambucicola by laboratory bioassay within 6 h. Even at lower concentrations, this compound caused greater 33% mortality (corrected mortality: 30%) of aphids. Field experiments with naturally infested bamboo plants showed that two applications of 2 mg/ml ageraphorone to infested plants completely cleared infestations within 30 d. These effects were similar to those of the positive control (imidacloprid). These results reveal that 9-oxo-10,11-dehydro-ageraphorone exhibits significant aphicidal activity against bamboo aphids. We suggest that future research be directed at developing this ageraphorone compound from E. adenophorum as an aphicidal agent for biocontrol.
Replication Gives High Performance Query Processing in Relational Models Extended with Transaction Time

Our research project can be described as follows. We have defined a static rollback relational data model with tuple time-stamping [5, 6]. For each relation defined by the user, the system maintains a backlog that records all requests for changes to its user-defined relation. The backlogs contain all the data necessary for answering any query without replication. We have designed an extended query language that allows access to previous states of relations (including backlogs) and allows to ask queries about the change history of relations. We also have developed vacuuming facilities to control otherwise ever-growing amounts of data in a transaction time database [7]. To support queries efficiently, we maintain a cache of views stored as either actual data (true replication) or as pointer structures (pseudo replication). A special cache index is used for fast identification of cache entries potentially useful as outsets in differential (i.e. incremental or decremental) computations of queries. The cache index is augmented with statistics about the cache entries. We use state transition networks for enumerating query plans. The number of alternative query plans is reduced by pruning rules, and plan selection can be done using the statistics of the cache index in conjunction with either dynamic programming techniques or heuristic techniques (e.g. the A∗ algorithm). Our framework is the first to integrate pointer/data storage and incremental/decremental/recomputation.
Energy efficiency of media access protocols for mobile data networks

As mobile terminals are powered by a finite battery source, energy constraints play a major role in the design of wireless communications systems. In this letter, based on a general analytical framework, we study the energy efficiency of a class of multiple access schemes, using the average number of correctly transmitted packets for a given amount of allocated energy as an appropriate metric. We show that a good choice of the protocol rules can significantly improve the energy efficiency.
"I Might Be Ahead to Go to the Nursing Home": The Anticipated Relocation of an Older Rural Woman.

Although rates of residential relocation by older adults have declined slightly in the last decade (Wolf & Longino, 2005), relocation of residence in late life is nonetheless a prevalent event (Sergeant, Ekerdt, & Chapin, 2008). Researchers have typically studied relocation from the epidemiological perspective of population transitions in living arrangements, that is, from individual residence at home to co-residence with a family member (Wilmoth, 1998), or a move to an assisted living facility (Castle & Sonon, 2007) or a nursing home (Taylor, Osterman, Acuff, & Østbey, 2005). Another focus, which has received less attention than the epidemiological thrust, is that of “understanding the role of residential relocation as part of the aging experience” (Sergeant et al., p. S96). Using qualitative methods, some researchers have explored facets of relocation by interviewing older persons who have already relocated (Bekhet, Zauszniewski, & Nakhla, 2009). A few qualitative studies have involved older persons living at home who were on waiting lists for facilities (Nakashima, Chapin, Macmillan, & Zimmerman, 2004; Rutman & Freedman, 1988) -a factor that could influence perceptions about anticipatory relocation. Thus, the relocation event has been the fulcrum of interest in a process that often has a nebulous beginning. Little is known about what it is like for older adults to contemplate relocation, regardless of whether the final impetus for a move is voluntary or involuntary.
Prostaglandin E2 from Candida albicans Stimulates the Growth of Staphylococcus aureus in Mixed Biofilms

Background Previous studies showed that Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans interact synergistically in dual species biofilms resulting in enhanced mortality in animal models. Methodology/Principal Findings The aim of the current study was to test possible candidate molecules which might mediate this synergistic interaction in an in vitro model of mixed biofilms, such as farnesol, tyrosol and prostaglandin (PG) E2. In mono-microbial and dual biofilms of C.albicans wild type strains PGE2 levels between 25 and 250 pg/mL were measured. Similar concentrations of purified PGE2 significantly enhanced S.aureus biofilm formation in a mode comparable to that observed in dual species biofilms. Supernatants of the null mutant deficient in PGE2 production did not stimulate the proliferation of S.aureus and the addition of the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin blocked the S.aureus biofilm formation in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, S. aureus biofilm formation was boosted by low and inhibited by high farnesol concentrations. Supernatants of the farnesol-deficient C. albicans ATCC10231 strain significantly enhanced the biofilm formation of S. aureus but at a lower level than the farnesol producer SC5314. However, C. albicans ATCC10231 also produced PGE2 but amounts were significantly lower compared to SC5314. Conclusion/Significance In conclision, we identified C. albicans PGE2 as a key molecule stimulating the growth and biofilm formation of S. aureus in dual S. aureus/C. albicans biofilms, although C. albicans derived farnesol, but not tyrosol, may also contribute to this effect but to a lesser extent.
Career Paths in Educational Leadership: Examining Principals’ Narratives

This qualitative study analyzes the career path narratives of active principals. Structural narrative analysis was supplemented with sociolinguistic theory and thematic narrative analysis to discern the similarities and differences, as well as the patterns in the language used by participating principals. Thematic analysis found four major themes in the narratives: (1) passion for teaching and education; (2) external motivation to become a principal; (3) importance of the experience as an assistant principal; and (4) recent changes in the principalship. While all of the participants acknowledged difficulties associated with the principalship, the findings revealed differences between male and female leaders’ narratives in terms of structure, content, and style as well as certain similarities. Cette etude qualitative analyse les recits de directeurs d’ecole interimaires par rapport a leur cheminement professionnel. Nous avons eu recours a une analyse narrative structurale, completee par la theorie sociolinguistique et une analyse narrative thematique, pour examiner les patrons, les similarites et les differences linguistiques chez les directeurs et les directrices qui ont participe. L’analyse thematique a identifie quatre themes majeurs dans les recits : (1) une passion pour l’enseignement et l’education; (2) une motivation externe a devenir directeur d’ecole; (3) l’importance de l’experience de directeur adjoint; et (4) des changements recents dans le role de directeur. Tous les participants ont reconnu des difficultes liees au role de directeur d’ecole, mais la structure, le contenu et le style des recits des hommes etaient differents de ceux des femmes. Notons que tous les recits partagaient quand meme certaines similarites.