Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhalation Toxicity of Particulate Matters Doped with Arsenic Induced Genotoxicity and Altered Akt Signaling Pathway in Lungs of Mice

In the workplace, the arsenic is used in the semiconductor production and the manufacturing of pigments, glass, pesticides and fungicides. Therefore, workers may be exposed to airborne arsenic during its use in manufacturing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential toxicity of particulate matters (PMs) doped with arsenic (PMs-Arsenic) using a rodent model and to compare the genotoxicity in various concentrations and to examine the role of PMs-Arsenic in the induction of signaling pathway in the lung. Mice were exposed to PMs 124.4 ± 24.5 μg/m3 (low concentration), 220.2 ± 34.5 μg/m3 (middle concentration), 426.4 ± 40.3 μg/m3 (high concentration) doped with arsenic 1.4 μg/m3 (Low concentration), 2.5 μg/m3 (middle concentration), 5.7 μg/m3 (high concentration) for 4 wks (6 h/d, 5 d/wk), respectively in the whole-body inhalation exposure chambers. To determine the level of genotoxicity, Chromosomal aberration (CA) assay in splenic lymphocytes and Supravital micronucleus (SMN) assay were performed. Then, signal pathway in the lung was analyzed. In the genotoxicity experiments, the increases of aberrant cells were concentration-dependent. Also, PMs-arsenic caused peripheral blood micronucleus frequency at high concentration. The inhalation of PMs-Arsenic increased an expression of phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt: protein kinase B) and phpsphorylated mammalian target of rapamycin (p-mTOR) at high concentration group. Taken together, inhaled PMs-Arsenic caused genotoxicity and altered Akt signaling pathway in the lung. Therefore, the inhalation of PMs-Arsenic needs for a careful risk assessment in the workplace.
A Proinflammatory State Is Detectable in Obese Children and Is Accompanied by Functional and Morphological Vascular Changes

Background—Obesity is generally accepted as a risk factor for premature atherosclerosis. Subclinical inflammation as quantified by blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) contributes to the development and progression of atherosclerosis. We hypothesized that inflammation in obese children is related to functional and early morphological vascular changes. Methods and Results—Blood levels of high sensitivity (hs) CRP, hsIL-6, the soluble intercellular adhesion molecule1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1, and E-selectin were measured in 145 severely obese (body mass index [BMI], 32.2±5.8 kg/m2) and 54 lean (BMI, 18.9±3.2 kg/m2) children 12±4 years old. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) measured by high-resolution ultrasound as markers of early vascular changes were assessed in 92 (77 obese and 15 lean) and 59 (50 obese and 9 lean) children, respectively. Obese children had significantly higher levels of hsCRP, hsIL-6, and E-selectin than healthy controls (4.1±4.8 versus 0.9±1.5 mg/L, P<0.001 for hsCRP; 1.99±1.30 versus 1.42±1.01 pg/mL, P=0.05 for hsIL-6; and 78±38 versus 59±29 ng/mL, P=0.01 for E-selectin). There were no differences in the levels of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 between groups. Obese children had lower peak FMD response (7.70±6.14 versus 11.06±3.07%, P=0.006) and increased IMT (0.37±0.04 versus 0.34±0.03 mm, P=0.03) compared with controls. Morbidly obese children (n=14, BMI 44.1±3.9 kg/m2) had highest levels of hsCRP (8.7±0.7 mg/L), hsIL-6 (3.32±1.1 pg/mL), and E-selectin (83±40 ng/mL). Conclusions—A proinflammatory state is detectable in obese children, which is accompanied by impaired vascular endothelial function and early structural changes of arteries, even in young subjects at risk. It remains to be determined whether high hsCRP in obese children predicts cardiovascular events.
Src kinase activity and SH2 domain regulate the dynamics of Src association with lipid and protein targets

Src functions depend on its association with the plasma membrane and with specific membrane-associated assemblies. Many aspects of these interactions are unclear. We investigated the functions of kinase, SH2, and SH3 domains in Src membrane interactions. We used FRAP beam-size analysis in live cells expressing a series of c-Src–GFP proteins with targeted mutations in specific domains together with biochemical experiments to determine whether the mutants can generate and bind to phosphotyrosyl proteins. Wild-type Src displays lipid-like membrane association, whereas constitutively active Src-Y527F interacts transiently with slower-diffusing membrane-associated proteins. These interactions require Src kinase activity and SH2 binding, but not SH3 binding. Furthermore, overexpression of paxillin, an Src substrate with a high cytoplasmic population, competes with membrane phosphotyrosyl protein targets for binding to activated Src. Our observations indicate that the interactions of Src with lipid and protein targets are dynamic and that the kinase and SH2 domain cooperate in the membrane targeting of Src.
The distribution of consumption-expenditure budget shares: evidence from Italian households.

This paper explores the statistical properties of household consumption-expenditure budget shares distributions (HBSDs) ---defined as the share of household total expenditure spent for purchasing a specific category of commodities--- for a large sample of Italian households in the period 1989-2004. We find that HBSDs are fairly stable over time for each specific category, but profoundly heterogeneous across commodity categories. We then derive a parametric density that is able to satisfactorily characterize HBSDs and: (i) is consistent with the observed statistical properties of the underlying levels of household consumption-expenditure distributions; (ii) can accommodate the observed across-category heterogeneity in HBSDs. Finally, we taxonomize commodity categories according to the estimated parameters of the proposed density. We show that the resulting classification is consistent with the traditional economic scheme that labels commodities as necessary, luxury or inferior.
Dynamic Service Placement in Geographically Distributed Clouds

Large-scale online service providers have been increasingly relying on geographically distributed cloud infrastructures for service hosting and delivery. In this context, a key challenge faced by service providers is to determine the locations where service applications should be placed such that the hosting cost is minimized while key performance requirements (e.g. response time) are assured. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of both demand pattern and infrastructure cost favors a dynamic solution to this problem. Currently most of the existing solutions for service placement have either ignored dynamics, or provided inadequate solutions that achieve both objectives at the same time. In this paper, we present a framework for dynamic service placement problems based on control- and game-theoretic models. In particular, we present a solution that optimizes the desired objective dynamically over time according to both demand and resource price fluctuations. We further consider the case where multiple service providers compete for resource in a dynamic manner, and show that there is a Nash equilibrium solution which is socially optimal. Using simulations based on realistic topologies, demand and resource prices, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our solution in realistic settings.
Corruption and Economic Growth

Abstract This study introduces a new perspective on the role of corruption in economic growth and provides quantitative estimates of the impact of corruption on the growth and importance of the transmission channels. In our ordinary least squares estimations, we find that a 1% increase in the corruption level reduces the growth rate by about 0.72% or, expressed differently, a one-unit increase in the corruption index reduces the growth rate by 0.545 percentage points. The most important channel through which corruption affects economic growth is political instability, which accounts for about 53% of the total effect. We also find that corruption reduces the level of human capital and the share of private investment. J. Comp. Econ. , March 2001 29 (1), pp. 66–79. School of Business, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. Copyright 2001 Academic Press. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: O40, O50.
THE CHARACTER EDUCATION IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION VIEWPOINT

This paper intends to study the concept of character and moral education according to the terminology, approaches, and methods of learning from the point of view of Islamic education. The approach used in this paper is a discussion of the linguistic (al-lughah). The results showed that the conceptual basis of character education in the curriculum in Indonesia too much because it has a number of terminological problems. The concept of morals, values, and characters have a special meaning that may be different from one another. As a result, the concept of the character presented in the curriculum subject is far from the actual context of the moral and less with actually happening in the community. Character education is also too much use of the approach and methods indoctrinasi than critical, reflective and empirical and is not integrated with the system and school culture.
Housing policy and spatial control : Exploring national interests in periods of immigration

The control post-WWII welfare states wielded over their housing market was a meaningful method of achieving social justice while realizing “national” interests, such as regional development. All of this was done while getting the public to identify with the national agenda. Housing policy, however, also had a more sinister side, as it served to achieve national domination of disputed lands and stratified societies according to ethnic affiliation. It appears as if this reality has changed over the past three decades: The current discourse on the decline of national hegemonies and governmentability, the normalization of neoliberal reality and the growth of the global economy, would seem to be forcing the state to be concerned with cost-benefit issues. Furthermore, the human rights discourse prevents the state from favoring or discriminating against certain groups in the housing arena, based on their affinity to national or ethnic agendas. Alternatively, the function of the state and centralized policy has been replaced by neoliberal logic, which is meant to promise “neutrality. ”
Efficient equalizers for single and multi-carrier environments with known symbol padding

The use of a cyclic prefix (CP) to mitigate intersymbol interference is a technique commonly applied in both single and multi-carrier systems. Recently it has been suggested that the CP be replaced by a pre-defined sequence of known symbols. This technique, referred to as 'known symbol padding' (KSP) inserts a short training sequence (TS) at the beginning of each transmission block for equalizer adaption. This allows for fast tracking of changes in the channel and simple synchronization. We present purely deterministic equalizers for both single and multi-carrier environments with KSP. We show that, through better utilization of the CP overhead, these equalizers exhibit superior performance to those in a conventional CP system. Low-complexity implementations, particularly for the multi-carrier case are also given.
SHUSH: A MAC Protocol for Transmit Power Controlled Wireless Networks ; CU-CS-986-04

A large number of MAC protocols have been proposed that allow transmit power control on a per packet basis to reduce power consumption of the nodes in a wireless ad-hoc network. Power control leads to the undesirable effect of increasing the number of hidden terminals in the network as well as increasing the unfairness in channel access. A common solution proposed by power controlled MAC protocols to date is to transmit the RTS/CTS frames at maximum transmit power. This approach partially solves the problem of reducing the number of hidden terminals, but sacrifices spatial reuse of the network and also reduces the aggregate throughput of the network. In this paper we present a new power controlled MAC protocol, SHUSH, which as the name suggests SHUSHes the interferer of an ongoing conversation. We evaluate the performance of SHUSH in comparison to four other transmit power controlled MAC protocols and demonstrate that SHUSH achieves superior aggregate goodput, spatial reuse, fairness, and minimal energy consumption while overcoming the general hidden terminal effect.
A Comprehensive Survey of Graph Embedding: Problems, Techniques, and Applications

Graph is an important data representation which appears in a wide diversity of real-world scenarios. Effective graph analytics provides users a deeper understanding of what is behind the data, and thus can benefit a lot of useful applications such as node classification, node recommendation, link prediction, etc. However, most graph analytics methods suffer the high computation and space cost. Graph embedding is an effective yet efficient way to solve the graph analytics problem. It converts the graph data into a low dimensional space in which the graph structural information and graph properties are maximumly preserved. In this survey, we conduct a comprehensive review of the literature in graph embedding. We first introduce the formal definition of graph embedding as well as the related concepts. After that, we propose two taxonomies of graph embedding which correspond to what challenges exist in different graph embedding problem settings and how the existing work addresses these challenges in their solutions. Finally, we summarize the applications that graph embedding enables and suggest four promising future research directions in terms of computation efficiency, problem settings, techniques, and application scenarios.
Can an innovation oriented vision statement really trigger innovation in small and medium sized enterprises?: some evidences from Turkeyi

In literature, it is claimed by some studies that the content of a vision statement can be a tool to reach some desired individual and organizational level results. The importance of various types of innovation for organizations has been supported by many empirical studies. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of a vision statement’s content on the amount of innovation in Turkish small and medium sized enterprises. With this aim, first this chapter briefly reviews the literature on vision statements and innovation, followed by the methodology and findings. The chapter ends with future directions and conclusions, which include the originalities and limitations of this study.
Ethnic Diversity, a Desolation Row for Interpersonal Trust?

In this paper we will investigate whether the ethnic composition of a county affects their trust. More specifically we will answer the question: does the ethnic composition affect the level of trust in Sweden and are there any specific factors that increase this effect? In order to do this we use data on Swedish citizens from the year 2001 to the year 2012. As an approximation for ethnicity we use the individuals country of birth and to estimate trust we use two different measures: general trust and local trust. We also collected numerous of context variables to control for unwanted effects. Using a multiple regression analysis we isolate the impact of ethnic heterogeneity on trust. In addition to this we tested for several interaction effects to see if some factors are especially harmful on trust when combined with ethnic heterogeneity. Starting with a paper by Putnam (2007) there has been a debate in Europe regarding whether ethnic heterogeneity affect the level of trust and much research on the subject has been published. However, our paper contributes to this research in two ways: It looks at the relation between the change as well as the level of ethnic heterogeneity on trust and with the basis in the theories from Lipset and Rokkan (1967) we check for interaction effect that might increase the negative effect on trust. Our study shows that ethnic diversification has a significant negative effect on local trust while no significant conclusions can be made when it comes to general trust. No significant interaction effects are found.
In Search of the Emotional Design Effect in Programming

A small number of recent studies have suggested that learning is enhanced when the illustrations in instructional materials are designed to appeal to the learners' emotions through the use of color and the personification of key elements. We sought to replicate this emotional design effect in the context of introductory object-oriented programming (OOP). In this preliminary study, a group of freshmen studied a text on objects which was illustrated using anthropomorphic graphics while a control group had access to abstract graphics. We found no significant difference in the groups' scores on a comprehension post-test, but the experimental group spent substantially less time on the task than the control group. Among those participants who had no prior programming experience, the materials inspired by emotional design were perceived as less intelligible and appealing and led to lower self-reported concentration levels. Although this result does not match the pattern of results from earlier studies, it shows that the choice of illustrations in learning materials matters and calls for more research that addresses the limitations of this preliminary study.
Investigating developmental trends in metacognitive knowledge with school-aged children using pupil views templates

This thesis explores developmental trends in metacognitive knowledge with school-aged children using Pupil Views Templates (PVTs). PVTs were developed in the mid 2000s to explore pupil views of learning. Informed by the findings of previous research, the empirical data collection used a more systematic and stratified sampling technique. A systematic review of tools and methods to measure or assess metacognition was included as a way of codifying PVTs. The systematic review makes an original contribution to both this study and the field; in a field as vast as metacognition it provides a valuable summary. The exploration of metacognitive knowledge is based on, but does not completely replicate, the pre-existing approach to coding PVTs. A rigorous examination of relevant literature rationalised and grounded the focus on metacognitive knowledge. This underscored ambiguity around defining metacognition, sub-divisions of it and crossover between these. Thus, the clarity of defining metacognition for and within this study was key. The mixed method approach to PVT analysis was distinctive in its application of traditional statistical analysis and emergent interpretivist methods including word clouds. Analysis confirmed the utility of PVTs as a means to explore metacognition in school-aged children. It supported the assertion that PVTs are a tool that can be used with a wide range of ages to explore metacognitive knowledge, including children as young as four years old. There was evidence of developmental trends in metacognitive knowledge and indications to support inextricable links between underlying cognitive skills and metacognition. This study also showed the importance of considering how metacognition is explored; including the definition of metacognition applied, how it is operationalised and then analysed. If a study does not have clear links between the concept, its measurement and outcomes; it becomes difficult to determine validity and subsequent value both within and for the field.
A Survey among Network Operators on BGP Prefix Hijacking

BGP prefix hijacking is a threat to Internet operators and users. Several mechanisms or modifications to BGP that protect the Internet against it have been proposed. However, the reality is that most operators have not deployed them and are reluctant to do so in the near future. Instead, they rely on basic - and often inefficient - proactive defenses to reduce the impact of hijacking events, or on detection based on third party services and reactive approaches that might take up to several hours. In this work, we present the results of a survey we conducted among 75 network operators to study: (a) the operatorsâ awareness of BGP prefix hijacking attacks, (b) presently used defenses (if any) against BGP prefix hijacking, (c) the willingness to adopt new defense mechanisms, and (d) reasons that may hinder the deployment of BGP prefix hijacking defenses. We expect the findings of this survey to increase the understanding of existing BGP hijacking defenses and the needs of network operators, as well as contribute towards designing new defense mechanisms that satisfy the requirements of the operators.
Prediction of mechanical properties of human atherosclerotic tissue by high-frequency intravascular ultrasound imaging. An in vitro study.

Intravascular ultrasound may be useful for studying the natural history of atherosclerotic lesions of different morphologies and for guiding interventional strategies. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that tissue appearance by intravascular ultrasound is related to the biomechanical properties of atheroma components. Forty-three atheroma caps were obtained from the abdominal aortas of 22 patients at autopsy and studied with an ultrasensitive, servo-controlled spectrometer. By measuring the static strain caused by increasing levels of compressive stress from 30 to 90 mm Hg, the uniaxial unconfined compression stiffness (ratio of stress to strain) was determined. After mechanical testing, specimens were imaged with a 6F, 20-MHz intravascular ultrasound transducer, and images were interpreted by an investigator who was unaware of the mechanical measurements. Specimens were classified as nonfibrous (n = 14), fibrous (n = 18), or calcified (n = 11) based on intravascular ultrasound appearance. The static stiffnesses of the nonfibrous, fibrous, and calcified ultrasound classes were 41.2 +/- 18.8 kPa, 81.7 +/- 33.2 kPa, and 354.5 +/- 245.4 kPa, respectively (p = 0.0002 by analysis of variance). The times to reach static equilibrium (creep time) for the nonfibrous, fibrous, and calcified classes were 79.6 +/- 26.5 minutes, 50.2 +/- 20.0 minutes, and 19.4 +/- 8.1 minutes, respectively (p = 0.0007). Intravascular ultrasound appearance was most significantly related to biomechanical behavior when calcium deposits were noted; the differences in biomechanical behavior between nonfibrous and fibrous tissue appearances were less apparent. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)