Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nutritional Supplementation With trans-10, cis-12–Conjugated Linoleic Acid Induces Inflammation of White Adipose Tissue

Conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) are conjugated dienoic isomers of linoleic acid. Many people supplement their diets with CLAs to attempt weight loss, and the trans-10,cis-12 isomer (t10,c12-CLA) of CLA reduces adiposity in animal models and humans. However, CLA treatment in mice causes insulin resistance that has been attributed to the lipoatrophic state, which is associated with hyperinsulinemia and hepatic steatosis. Here, we investigated the effect of t10,c12-CLA on adipose tissue inflammation, another factor promoting insulin resistance. We confirmed that t10,c12-CLA daily gavage performed in mice reduces white adipose tissue (WAT) mass and adiponectin and leptin serum levels and provokes hyperinsulinemia. In parallel, we demonstrated that this CLA isomer led to a rapid induction of inflammatory factors such as tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 gene expression in WAT without affecting their serum levels. In vitro, t10,c12-CLA directly induced IL-6 secretion in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by an nuclear factor-κB–dependent mechanism. In vivo, however, the lipoatrophic adipose tissue of CLA-treated mice was notable for a dramatic increase in macrophage infiltration and gene expression. Thus, CLA supplementation directly induces inflammatory gene expression in adipocytes and also promotes macrophage infiltration into adipose tissue to a local inflammatory state that contributes to insulin resistance.
Analysis and Classification of Feature Extraction Techniques : A Study

–A detailed study on feature extractors in spatial and transformed domain is carried out in this work. The survey in Spatial domain include most of the traditional detectors until recently the SIFT and its variants. In the transformed domain, the detectors developed using the Fourier transforms to wavelet transforms have been explored. The advantages and the limitations of each one of them is explained along with the results. Depending upon the application in hand together with time complexity and accuracy, an appropriate choice of the suitable detector has to be made. Keywords––Localization; Keypoints; Scale Invariant Feature Transform; Fourier transform; Dual-Tree Complex
Tear film osmolarity: determination of a referent for dry eye diagnosis.

PURPOSE To determine new referents, or cutoff levels for tear film hyperosmolarity in the diagnosis of keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) and to assess their effectiveness in independent patient groups. METHOD A meta-analysis was performed on published data for tear osmolarity in samples of normal eyes and various subtypes of dry eye, and pooled estimates of the mean and standard deviations for normal and (all) dry eye subjects were determined. Diagnostic referents were derived from the intercept between the distributions of osmolarity in the two samples and from receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves. This referent was tested for effectiveness of diagnosis in independent groups with normal and dry eyes. RESULTS An osmolarity referent of 315.6 mOsmol/L was derived from the intercept of the distribution curves, and 316 mOsmol/L from the ROC curve. When applied to independent groups of normal and dry eye subjects a value of 316 mOsmol/L was found to yield sensitivity of 59%, specificity of 94%, and an overall predictive accuracy of 89% for the diagnosis of dry eye syndrome. CONCLUSIONS Tear hyperosmolarity, defined by a referent of 316 mOsmol/L, was superior in overall accuracy to any other single test for dry eye diagnosis (Lactoplate, Schirmer test, and Rose Bengal staining), even when the other test measures were applied to a diagnosis within the sample groups from which they were derived. For overall accuracy in the diagnosis of dry eye, the osmolarity test was found to be comparable with the results of combined (in parallel or series) tests.
The Antecedents and Innovation Consequences of Organizational Knowledge Brokering Capability

We empirically examine the antecedents and innovation consequences of organizational knowledge brokering capability, the ability to effectively apply knowledge from one technical domain to innovate in another. We do so by tracking all the start-up biotechnology firms founded to commercialize the then-emergent recombinant DNA technology. Building on prior research in this area, we extend the knowledge brokering concept by examining how firms’ interaction with their external environment helps bolster their heterogeneous knowledge brokering capacity, which in turn is associated with uneven ex-post innovation performance. Our results suggest that (a) knowledge brokering capability is achieved by striking equity strategic alliances and by hiring technical personnel who had previously patented in areas different than the firm’s areas of expertise; (b) knowledge brokering has an inverted U-shaped relationship with innovative performance; and (c) there are important conceptual and empirical reasons to consider a variety of modes of knowledge brokering (rather than a monolithic conceptualization). Overall, the results suggest that knowledge brokering can be an important organizational capability.
An empirical investigation on factors affecting software developer acceptance and utilization of electronic process guides

Our objective is to perform an empirical investigation on factors affecting software developer acceptance and utilization of electronic process guides (EPGs) and to discuss the implications of the findings. The potential benefits of EPGs can only be realized when key capabilities are not only adopted, but also infused across the organization. We conducted a survey of 97 software developers in a medium-sized software company to test the importance of organizational support and four factors on the perceived attributes of using the EPG to its infusion. The results showed that perceived usefulness is the fundamental driver in explaining current system usage and future use intentions, and furthermore, that perceived compatibility, perceived ease of use, and organizational support were the key determinants of perceived usefulness. This study advances our understanding of software developers' acceptance and utilization of EPGs in a voluntary setting. This way, software organizations can learn more about the determinants of successfully adopting and infusing EPGs and, accordingly, to take more appropriate actions.
Food webs in river networks

Food webs and river drainages are both hierarchical networks and complex adaptive systems. How does living within the second affect the first? Longitudinal gradients in productivity, disturbance regimes and habitat structure down rivers have long interested ecologists, but their effects on food web structure and dynamics are just beginning to be explored. Even less is known about how network structure per se influences river and riparian food webs and their members. We offer some preliminary observations and hypotheses about these interactions, emphasizing observations on upstream–downstream changes in food web structure and controls, and introducing some ideas and predictions about the unexplored question of food web responses to some of the network properties of river drainages.
2 Circuit-breaking and Behavioral Analysis by Molecular Genetic Manipulation of Neural Activity in Drosophila

Many advances toward understanding neural circuits and the control of behavior have been achieved using invertebrate organisms (Marder 2002; Greenspan 2005). Although larger invertebrates are amenable to electrophysiological and behavioral investigation, many such organisms cannot be genetically manipulated or easily studied using forward genetics. Invertebrate neurobiology is enjoying a renaissance for integrative neural circuit analysis that spans molecular action to whole-animal behavior using the genetically tractable fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster . Systems neuroscience, behavioral analysis, molecular genetics, biophysics, and protein engineering have now converged to an exciting new set of tools for manipulating neural activity in behaving flies. Although these new tools have widely different molecular targets and mechanisms of action, they all share a common purpose for understanding neural circuits through effecting selective perturbation of neural activity: thus, we will refer to means of manipulating neural activity collectively as circuit-breaking effectors. One way to understand how something works is to break part of it and see what happens. Systems neuroscience has historically relied on the lesion approach. Emerging methods go beyond the lesion approach by inducing neural inactivation or increased neural activity in specific neurons, or altering synaptic transmission between neurons. Our growing ability to systematically alter and physiologically measure neural activity in Drosophila represents a tremendous advance for integrative neuroscience as a science of control and causality rather than a science of observation and correlation. MUTANTS VERSUS TARGETED MANIPULATION The first means for examining nerve and muscle excitability in Drosophila came through the study of ion channel mutants. Potassium.
Bats of Anguilla, Northern Lesser Antilles

Five species of bats are known in the literature from Anguilla—Monophyllus plethodon, Brachyphylla cavernarum, Artibeus jamaicensis, Natalus stramineus, and Molossus molossus. These records are scattered in the literature as parts of simple reports of the species from the island or included in revisions of taxonomic groups that occur on the island, but the first comprehensive study of bats of Anguilla is presented herein. In addition to providing morphometric and natural history information for the five species of bats previously known from the island, records of a species of bat new to the fauna of the island of Anguilla—Tadarida brasiliensis—are documented. Based on data from this study, the conclusion is drawn that the Anegada Passage has had only a limited impact as a zoogeographic barrier for the chiropteran faunas of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, if a perspective of the last 10,000 years is taken.
Strategic Asset Allocation in Stochastic Environment and Incomplete Markets: Evidence on Horizon and Hedging Effects

The paper analyzes optimal portfolio choice when the investment opportunity set is driven by multi-stochastic factors, namely; stochastic interest rates, stochastic volatility and stochastic inflation. The analysis is implemented in an incomplete market setting, where the number of risk sources is larger than the number of risky assets. The model segregates the effect of inflation from the other two state variables by deriving the dynamics in real wealth. The derived optimal portfolio shows that inflation plays a significant role in forming investors’ hedging demand through the correlation structure between inflation and assets held in the portfolio. The correlation structure among assets seems to determine the speculation demand rather than the hedging demand. Empirically, the paper calibrates the optimal portfolio choice for different classes of investors distinct by the degree of risk tolerance and investment horizon length in an attempt to mimic the popular financial planners’ advice. Calibration results show that the joint inclusion of stochastic interest rates, stochastic volatility and stochastic inflation introduces a plausible simultaneous resolution for both Samuelson puzzle and asset allocation puzzle of Canner, Mankiw, and Weil (1997).
Tight lower and upper bounds for some distributed algorithms for a complete network of processors

Distributed algorithms for complete asynchronous networks of processors (i.e., networks where each pair of processors is connected by a communication line) are discussed. The main result is <italic>O</italic>(<italic>nlogn</italic>) lower and upper bounds on the number of messages required by any algorithm in a given class of distributed algorithms for such networks. This class includes algorithms for problems like finding a leader or constructing a spanning tree (as far as we know, all known algorithms for those problems may require <italic>O</italic>(<italic>n</italic><supscrpt>2</supscrpt>) messages when applied to complete networks). <italic>O</italic>(<italic>n</italic><supscrpt>2</supscrpt>) bounds for other problems, like constructing a maximal matching or a Hamiltonian circuit are also given. In proving the lower bound we are counting the edges which carry messages during the executions of the algorithms (ignoring the actually number of messages carried by each edge). Interestingly, this number is shown to be of the same order of magnitude of the total number of messages needed by these algorithms. In the upper bounds, the length of any message is at most log<subscrpt>2</subscrpt>[4<italic>mlog</italic><subscrpt>2</subscrpt><italic>n</italic>] bits, where <italic>m</italic> is the maximum identity of a node in the network. One implication of our results is that finding a spanning tree in a complete network is easier than finding a minimum weight spanning tree in such a network, which may require <italic>O</italic>(<italic>n</italic><supscrpt>2</supscrpt>) messages.
Barriers and benefits in the adoption of e‐government

This article examines the reasons individuals would choose electronic self‐service delivery methods over more traditional methods of service delivery for government services. The study investigated the factors related to decision making when people consider and evaluate the usage of an online e‐government delivery mechanism. The approach taken was based on a combination of attitudinal technology adoption models and the service quality concept, with data gathered via a questionnaire. Trust, financial security, information quality (all adoption barriers), time and money (both adoption benefits) were found to predict potential usage. That is willingness to use the online delivery option will be present if organisations can develop trust relationships with individuals, assure them that their financial details are secure, provide information that is relevant, accurate and up‐to‐date, and save individuals time and money. The results are significant to the public service manager who needs to consider both the barriers to adoption and the benefits of adoption if they are to develop plans to increase the take‐up of their electronic services.
Do woody plants operate near the point of catastrophic xylem dysfunction caused by dynamic water stress? : answers from a model.

We discuss the relationship between the dynamically changing tension gradients required to move water rapidly through the xylem conduits of plants and the proportion of conduits lost through embolism as a result of water tension. We consider the implications of this relationship to the water relations of trees. We have compiled quantitative data on the water relations, hydraulic architecture and vulnerability of embolism of four widely different species: Rhizophora mangle, Cassipourea elliptica, Acer saccharum, and Thuja occidentalis. Using these data, we modeled the dynamics of water flow and xylem blockage for these species. The model is specifically focused on the conditions required to generate ;runaway embolism,' whereby the blockage of xylem conduits through embolism leads to reduced hydraulic conductance causing increased tension in the remaining vessels and generating more tension in a vicious circle. The model predicted that all species operate near the point of catastrophic xylem failure due to dynamic water stress. The model supports Zimmermann's plant segmentation hypothesis. Zimmermann suggested that plants are designed hydraulically to sacrifice highly vulnerable minor branches and thus improve the water balance of remaining parts. The model results are discussed in terms of the morphology, hydraulic architecture, eco-physiology, and evolution of woody plants.
Identification of an Antigen Localized to an Apparent Septum within Dividing Chlamydiae

ABSTRACT The process of chlamydial cell division has not been thoroughly investigated. The lack of detectable peptidoglycan and the absence of an FtsZ homolog within chlamydiae suggest an unusual mechanism for the division process. Our laboratory has identified an antigen (SEP antigen) localized to a ring-like structure at the apparent septum within dividing chlamydial reticulate bodies (RB). Antisera directed against SEP show similar patterns of antigen distribution inChlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia psittaciRB. In contrast to localization in RB, SEP in elementary bodies appears diffuse and irregular, suggesting that the distribution of the antigen is developmental-stage specific. Treatment of chlamydiae with inhibitors of peptidoglycan synthesis or culture of chlamydiae in medium lacking tryptophan leads to the formation of nondividing, aberrant RB. Staining of aberrant RB with anti-SEP reveals a marked redistribution of the antigen. Within C. trachomatis-infected cells, ampicillin treatment leads to high levels of SEP accumulation at the periphery of aberrant RB, while inC. psittaci, treatment causes SEP to localize to distinct punctate sites within the bacteria. Aberrancy produced via tryptophan depletion results in a different pattern of SEP distribution. In either case, the reversal of aberrant formation results in the production of normal RB and a redistribution of SEP to the apparent plane of bacterial division. Collectively these studies identify a unique chlamydial-genus-common and developmental-stage-specific antigen that may be associated with RB division.
Conserved and divergent functions of Drosophila atonal, amphibian, and mammalian Ath5 genes

Summary Insect and vertebrate eyes differ in their formation, cellular composition, neural connectivity, and visual function. Despite this diversity, Drosophila atonal and its vertebrate Ortholog in the eye, Ath5, each regulate determination of the first retinal neuron class—R8 photo‐receptors and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs)—in their respective organisms. We have performed a cross‐species functional comparison of these genes. In ato1 mutant Drosophila, ectopic Xenopus Ath5 (Xath5) rescues photoreceptor cell development comparably with atonal. In contrast, mouse Ath5 (Math5) induces formation of very few ommatidia, and most of these lack R8 cells. In the developing frog eye, ectopic atonal, like Xath5, promotes the differentiation RGCs. Despite strong conservation of atonal, Xath5, and Math5 structure and shared function, other factors must contribute to the species specificity of retinal neuron determination. These observations suggest that the atonal family may occupy a position in a gene hierarchy where differences in gene regulation or function can be correlated with evolutionary diversity of eye development.
Shukla cohomology and additive track theories

The approach of Quillen to the cohomology of general algebraic systems is based on simplicial methods, which are usually quite hard to deal with. The aim of this work is to give the foundation of Shukla cohomology (of algebras over a commutative ring) based on chain algebras. We also give an application to the problem of strengthening additive track theories, which is based on the comparison homomorphism between Shukla and Mac Lane cohomology theories.
Do differences in teacher contracts affect student performance : evidence from Togo

Many poor countries are initiating teacher contract reforms to meet a growing demand for primary education at a time of increasing government deficits. Key aspects of this reform include reduced salaries and benefits for new, contractual teachers. Using data from Togo, we find that students of regular teachers systematically outperform those of contractual teachers, even after controlling for prior achievement, household-, schooland classroom characteristics. Variation in teaching methods, absenteeism, and resentment over “unfair” pay across contract types do not explain the performance gap. Instead, our findings suggest the reforms triggered a reduction in supply of high quality teacher entrants. Do differences in teacher contracts affect student performance? Evidence from Togo, p. 1
Intestinal Nematodes from Small Mammals Captured near the Demilitarized Zone, Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea

A total of 1,708 small mammals (1,617 rodents and 91 soricomorphs), including Apodemus agrarius (n = 1,400), Microtus fortis (167), Crocidura lasiura (91), Mus musculus (32), Myodes (= Eothenomys) regulus (9), Micromys minutus (6), and Tscherskia (= Cricetulus) triton (3), were live-trapped at US/Republic of Korea (ROK) military training sites near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of Paju, Pocheon, and Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province from December 2004 to December 2009. Small mammals were examined for their intestinal nematodes by necropsy. A total of 1,617 rodents (100%) and 91 (100%) soricomorphs were infected with at least 1 nematode species, including Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, Heligmosomoides polygyrus, Syphacia obvelata, Heterakis spumosa, Protospirura muris, Capillaria spp. , Trichuris muris, Rictularia affinis, and an unidentified species. N. brasiliensis was the most common species infecting small mammals (1,060; 62.1%) followed by H. polygyrus (617; 36.1%), S. obvelata (370; 21.7%), H. spumosa (314; 18.4%), P. muris (123; 7.2%), and Capillaria spp. (59; 3.5%). Low infection rates (0.1-0.8%) were observed for T. muris, R. affinis, and an unidentified species. The number of recovered worms was highest for N. brasiliensis (21,623 worms; mean 20.4 worms/infected specimen) followed by S. obvelata (9,235; 25.0 worms), H. polygyrus (4,122; 6.7 worms), and H. spumosa (1,160; 3.7 worms). A. agrarius demonstrated the highest prevalence for N. brasiliensis (70.9%), followed by M. minutus (50.0%), T. triton (33.3%), M. fortis (28.1%), M. musculus (15.6%), C. lasiura (13.2%), and M. regulus (0%). This is the first report of nematode infections in small mammals captured near the DMZ in ROK.
Assessment of Autoimmune Responses Associated with Asbestos Exposure in Libby, Montana, USA

Systemic autoimmune responses are associated with certain environmental exposures, including crystalline particles such as silica. Positive antinuclear antibody (ANA) tests have been reported in small cohorts exposed to asbestos, but many questions remain regarding the prevalence, pattern, and significance of autoantibodies associated with asbestos exposures. The population in Libby, Montana, provides a unique opportunity for such a study because of both occupational and environmental exposures that have occurred as a result of the mining of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite near the community. As part of a multifaceted assessment of the impact of asbestos exposures on this population, this study explored the possibility of exacerbated autoimmune responses. Age- and sex-matched sets of 50 serum samples from Libby and Missoula, Montana (unexposed), were tested for ANA on HEp-2 cells using indirect immunofluorescence. Data included frequency of positive tests, ANA titers, staining patterns, and scored fluorescence intensity, all against known controls. Serum immunoglobulin A (IgA), rheumatoid factor, and antibodies to extractable nuclear antigen (ENA) were also tested. The Libby samples showed significantly higher frequency of positive ANA and ENA tests, increased mean fluorescence intensity and titers of the ANAs, and higher serum IgA, compared with Missoula samples. In the Libby samples, positive correlations were found between ANA titers and both lung disease severity and extent of exposure. The results support the hypothesis that asbestos exposure is associated with autoimmune responses and suggests that a relationship exists between those responses and asbestos-related disease processes.