Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RecipeScape: Mining and Analyzing Diverse Processes in Cooking Recipes

In culture analytics, it is important to ask fundamental questions that address salient characteristics of collective human behavior. This paper explores how analyzing cooking recipes in aggregate and at scale identifies these characteristics in the cooking culture, and answer fundamental questions like 'what makes a chocolate chip cookie a chocolate chip cookie? '. Aspiring cooks, professional chefs and cooking hobbyists share their recipes online resulting in thousands of different procedural instructions towards a shared goal. However, existing approaches focus merely on analysis at the ingredient level, for example, extracting ingredient information from individual recipes. We introduce RecipeScape, a prototype interface which supports visually querying, browsing and comparing cooking recipes at scale. We also present the underlying computational pipeline of RecipeScape that scrapes recipes online, extracts their ingredient and instruction information, constructs a graphical representation, and computes similarity between pairs of recipes.
Matrix algorithms for dynamic gain-spectrum adjustment of backward-pumped distributed fiber Raman amplifier

Two matrix algorithms aiming at a dynamic gain-spectrum adjustment in a backward-pumped distributed fiber Raman amplifier (B-DFRA) are developed based on the relation between changes in the pump power and the gain spectrum. Characteristic channels are chosen to reduce the dimension of matrices in the algorithm, which can be implemented by built-in microprocessors or DSP chips inside the B-DFRA module. Furthermore, as shown by the theoretical analysis and the numerical simulation, elements in the matrices can be directly and easily measured in deployed fiber plants without information on fiber parameters. These matrix algorithms are capable of adjusting the gain spectrum to fit the arbitrary profile desired in reality, while a wide dynamic range can be achieved by a multistage adjustment using matrices measured under several gain levels
The Effects of Steroid Hormones on the Transcription of Genes Encoding Enzymes of Oxidative Phosphorylation

Regulation of energy metabolism is one of the major functions of steroid hormones. In this process, mitochondria, by way of oxidative phosphorylation, play a central role. Depending on the energy needs of the cell, on the tissue, on the developmental stage and on the intensity of the hormonal stimulus, the response can be an activation of pre‐existing respiratory chain components, an increased transcription of nuclear‐encoded and/or mitochondrial‐encoded respiratory chain enzyme (OXPHOS) genes and of biosynthesis of the respective enzyme subunits or, in extreme cases of high energy needs, an increase in the number of mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA content per cell. Some of the hormonally regulated systems involving effects on nuclear and mitochondrial OXPHOS genes are reviewed in this paper. The possible molecular mechanisms of steroid hormone action on nuclear and mitochondrial gene transcription and possible ways of coordination of transcription in these two separate cell compartments involving direct interaction of steroid receptors with hormone response elements in nuclear OXPHOS genes and in mitochondria and induction/activation of nuclear‐encoded regulatory factors affecting mitochondrial gene transcription are presented.
High glucose suppresses expression of equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (ENT1) in rat cardiac fibroblasts through a mechanism dependent on PKC‐ζ and MAP kinases

Recently it was demonstrated that the elevated concentration of glucose but not lack of insulin is responsible for suppression of equilibrative nucleoside transporter (ENT1) in diabetic rat cardiac fibroblasts (CFs). The present study was undertaken to determine the signaling pathway utilized by glucose to regulate the expression of ENT1 in the primary culture of rat CFs. Pretreatment of CFs with Go 6983, an isozyme non‐selective PKC inhibitor, prevented the high glucose (25 mM) effect on ENT1 mRNA level and nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBTI)‐sensitive adenosine uptake. Similar effect was observed with a cell‐permeable PKC‐ζ pseudosubstrate, whereas Go 6976 a selective inhibitor of Ca2+‐dependent PKC‐α and PKC‐β isozymes had little effect on high glucose‐induced suppression of ENT1 mRNA level. Incubation of CFs with nitric oxide (NO) donors (SNAPE, SNP) or NO synthase inhibitors (L‐NAME, L‐NMMA) prior to exposition of CFs to high glucose did not change the glucose effect on ENT1 mRNA level. The high glucose‐induced suppression of ENT1 expression was blocked by PD9859 (an inhibitor of MEK), whereas neither wortmannin (an inhibitor of PI3K) nor rapamycin (an inhibitor of mTOR) affected the glucose action on ENT1 transcript level. Highly effective in preventing the high glucose effect on ENT1 mRNA level were GW 5074 (an inhibitor of Raf kinase) and SB 203580 (selective p38 MAPK inhibitor). These findings indicate that high glucose suppresses the expression of ENT1 in CFs by NO independent manner involving the signaling through PKC‐ζ, Raf‐1, MEK, and p38 MAPK pathways. J. Cell. Physiol. 215: 151–160, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Does managed care mean more hassle for physicians?

Using the results of a 1995 nationally representative survey of physicians, this paper examines the relationship between exposure to managed care and resources expended by physicians on administrative and insurance matters. Our measures of managed care exposure are the degree to which a physician experiences a variety of managed care techniques (i.e., utilization review, capitation payment, restricted panels, gatekeepers, discounted fees, compensation links to utilization measures, profiling, protocols, and salary payment). Physicians report expending, on average, three hours per week on insurance-related matters and 4.8 hours per week on administration. Although managed care techniques affect administrative and insurance-related burdens, the direction of that effect varies according to the form that managed care exposure takes. With the exception of being salaried, none of our variables has an economically significant effect on physicians' administrative/insurance burdens, even at the outer-most edge of the 95% confidence interval. Overall, our findings contradict the widely held notion that managed care dramatically raises the administrative and insurance burden of physicians.
A histochemical study of acid phosphatases in medullary bone matrix and osteoclasts in laying Japanese quail

Acid phosphatase activity in medullary bone matrix and osteoclasts of laying Japanese quail was examined histochemically. To avoid nonspecific staining, the reactivity of the enzyme was evaluated using both the azo dye method and the lead salt method and nonembedded thick sections and resin‐embedded thin sections. The pH of the incubation medium was also varied from the acid range (pH 5.0 and 6.5) to the alkaline range (pH 8.5). Medullary bone osteoclasts contain both tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity and fluoride‐resistant acid phosphatase (FRAP) activity, and no significant difference in intensity was detected between active and inactive osteoclasts. The entire matrix of medullary bone was positive for tartrate‐resistant, fluoride‐sensitive acid phosphatase activity. No reaction product was observed in sections incubated in substrate‐free and pH 8.5 media. The results demonstrate the existence of FRAP in medullary bone osteoclasts and suggest that medullary bone matrix includes TRAP throughout the matrix.
Dual Poverty Trap: Intra- and Intergenerational Linkages in Frictional Labor Markets

This paper constructs an overlapping generations model with a frictional labor market to explain persistent low education in developing countries. When parents are uneducated, their children often face difficulties in finishing school and therefore are likely to remain uneducated. Moreover, if children expect that other children of the same generation will not receive an education, they expect that firms will not create enough jobs for educated workers, and thus are further discouraged from schooling. These intergenerational and intragenerational mechanisms reinforce each other, creating a serious poverty trap. Escape from the trap requires the well-organized and combined implementation of a subsidy for schooling, the provision of free education, support for disadvantaged children, and public awareness programs.
Sound lateralization during passive whole‐body rotation

The effect of passive whole‐body rotation about the earth‐vertical axis on the lateralization of dichotic sound was investigated in human subjects. Pure‐tone pulses (1 kHz; 0.1 s duration) with various interaural time differences were presented via headphones during brief, low‐amplitude rotation (angular acceleration 400°/s2; maximum velocity 90°/s; maximum displacement 194°). Subjects made two‐alternative forced‐choice (left/right) judgements on the acoustic stimuli. The auditory median plane of the head was shifted opposite to the direction of rotation, indicating a shift of the intracranial auditory percept in the direction of rotation. The mean magnitude of the shift was 10.7 µs. This result demonstrates a slight, but significant, influence of rotation on sound lateralization, suggesting that vestibular information is taken into account by the brain for accurate localization of stationary sound sources during natural head and body motion.
Antimycobacterial hsp65 and rheumatoid factor titres in a population of normal twins: evidence of genetic control of rheumatoid factor

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease and rheumatoid factor (RF), anti‐IgG, has been implicated in the pathogenesis, but the exact etiology remains unclear. There are data to suggest an infectious trigger to the autoimmune process, and mycobacteria are considered a candidate. Immunization of various animals with mycobacterial heat shock protein 65 (mhsp65) protects against subsequent autoimmune arthritis in a number of experimental models. Elevated anli‐mhsp65 titres have been demonstrated in RA patients, together with specific T cells isolated from inflamed synovium. Mycobacterial hsp65 has also been implicated in other autoimmune disease and in atherosclerosis. The anti‐mhsp65 and RF (IgG, IgM and IgA isotypes) titres were assayed by ELISA in 123 pairs of normal twins (61 monozygotic and 62 dizygotic, age 14–79 years), to examine the population distribution and inter‐relationship of these antibodies. In addition, we studied the effects of age, sex, genetics and environment on antibody titres, IgG‐RF and IgM‐RF were detectable in all subjects and IgA‐RF in 41 subjects. None of the RF isotypes showed any significant dependence on age or sex. There was a statistically significant correlation between twins for the IgG‐RF and IgM‐RF, and a positive but not significant correlation for the IgA‐RF. All three correlations were stronger for monozygotic than dizygotic twins, reaching statistical significance for IgM‐RF (P < 0.001), and this indicates that there is a genetic influence on RF titres. Anti‐mhsp65 titres were detectable in 90.5% of the study group with a range of 0.15–19.7 AU/ml. There were weak correlations between twins, stronger for dizygotic than monozygotic twins. This suggests that familial influences on anti‐mhsp65 titres are very small, with no evidence of any genetic influence at all. There was no significant relationship of anti‐mhsp65 titre with age, sex or RF titres.
Authors' reply to "Comment on 'Further enhancement on robust H∞ control design for discrete-time singular systems'"

The original authors thank Drs. X. Ji, M. Ren, and H. Su for their comment on Section B of the paper [ibid., vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 494–499, Feb. 2014]. Indeed, the original authors' results for systems without uncertainties or without uncertainties in the measurement are necessary and sufficient and the proofs are correct. However, when in addition the uncertainties appear in the output, the results are only sufficient. The necessity in the latter case still an open problem even in the quadratic stability, as can be seen in references [2]–[4] provided herein.
Giftedness and Genetics: The Emergenic-Epigenetic Model and Its Implications

The genetic endowment underlying giftedness may operate in a far more complex manner than often expressed in most theoretical accounts of the phenomenon. First, an endowment may be emergenic. That is, a gift may consist of multiple traits (multidimensional) that are inherited in a multiplicative (configurational), rather than an additive (simple) fashion. Second, the endowment may not appear all at once but, rather, will more likely unfold via an epigenetic process. These 2 complications have consequences regarding such aspects of giftedness as the likelihood of early signs, the appearance of early versus late bloomers, the distribution of giftedness in the general population, and the stability and continuity of gifts over the course of childhood and adolescence. These complexities lead to a 4-fold typology of giftedness that has important practical implications.
Delayed and Separate Costimulation In Vitro Supports the Evidence of a Transient “Excited” State of CD8+ T Cells During Activation

Although the two-signal model for T cell activation states that a signal-1 through the TCR and a costimulatory signal-2 are required for optimal stimulation, it is now clear that the requirement for costimulation can be bypassed under certain conditions. We previously reported that this is the case for naive CD8+ T cells in vitro. In the present study we tested the effect of signal-2 when delivered after signal-1 has been disrupted. Naive CD8+ T cells from TCR transgenic mice were stimulated in vitro by using immobilized recombinant single-chain MHC molecules alone as signal-1. This signal was then stopped after different lengths of time, and anti-CD28 mAb as signal-2 was given either immediately or after a time lag. We found that signal-2 can potentiate a short signal-1 when added sequentially. Moreover, a time lag between the two signals does not abolish this potentiation. If the strength of signal-1, but not its duration, is increased, then the time lag between the delivery of signals 1 and 2 can be lengthen without loss of potentiation. Together, our results indicate that the two signals do not need to be delivered concomitantly to get optimal T cell activation. We suggest that the CD8+ T cells can reach a transient “excited” state after being stimulated with signal-1 alone, characterized by the cell’s ability to respond to separate and delayed signal-2.
Evaluation of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score to predict type 2 diabetes mellitus in a Colombian population: A longitudinal observational study.

AIM To assess the performance of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) questionnaire for detecting and predicting type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) in a Colombian population. METHODS This is a longitudinal observational study conducted in Floridablanca, Colombia. Adult subjects (age ≥ 35 years) without known diabetes, were included. A modified version of FINDRISC was completed, and the glycemia values from all the subjects were collected from the hospital's database. Firstly, a cross-sectional analysis was performed and then, the subsample of prediabetic participants was followed for diabetes incidence. RESULTS A total of 772 subjects were suitable for the study. The overall prevalence of undiagnosed DM2 was 2.59%, and the incidence of DM2 among the prediabetic participants was 7.5 per 100 person-years after a total of 265257 person-years follow-up. The FINDRISC at baseline was significantly associated with undiagnosed and incident DM2. The area under receiver operating characteristics curve of the FINDRISC score for detecting undiagnosed DM2 in both men and women was 0.7477 and 0.7175, respectively; and for predicting the incidence of DM2 among prediabetics was 71.99% in men and 67.74% in women. CONCLUSION The FINDRISC questionnaire is a useful screening tool to identify cross-sectionally unknown DM2 and to predict the incidence of DM2 among prediabetics in the Colombian population.
Protection conferred by heterologous vaccination against tuberculosis is dependent on the ratio of CD4+/CD4+ Foxp3+ cells

CD4+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells inhibit the production of interferon‐γ, which is the major mediator of protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. In this study, we evaluated whether the protection conferred by three different vaccines against tuberculosis was associated with the number of spleen and lung regulatory T cells. We observed that after homologous immunization with the 65 000 molecular weight heat‐shock protein (hsp 65) DNA vaccine, there was a significantly higher number of spleen CD4+ Foxp3+ cells compared with non‐immunized mice. Heterologous immunization using bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) to prime and DNA‐hsp 65 to boost (BCG/DNA‐hsp 65) or BCG to prime and culture filtrate proteins (CFP)‐CpG to boost (BCG/CFP‐CpG) induced a significantly higher ratio of spleen CD4+/CD4+ Foxp3+ cells compared with non‐immunized mice. In addition, the protection conferred by either the BCG/DNA‐hsp 65 or the BCG/CFP‐CpG vaccines was significant compared with the DNA‐hsp 65 vaccine. Despite the higher ratio of spleen CD4+/CD4+ Foxp3+ cells found in BCG/DNA‐hsp 65‐immunized or BCG/CFP‐CpG‐immunized mice, the lungs of both groups of mice were better preserved than those of DNA‐hsp 65‐immunized mice. These results confirm the protective efficacy of BCG/DNA‐hsp 65 and BCG/CFP‐CpG heterologous prime‐boost vaccines and the DNA‐hsp 65 homologous vaccine. Additionally, the prime‐boost regimens assayed here represent a promising strategy for the development of new vaccines to protect against tuberculosis because they probably induce a proper ratio of CD4+ and regulatory (CD4+ Foxp3+) cells during the immunization regimen. In this study, this ratio was associated with a reduced number of regulatory cells and no injury to the lungs.
An Overview of Cloud Services Adoption Challenges in Higher Education Institutions

Information Technology (IT) plays an important role in enabling education services be delivered to users. Most education online services in universities have been run on the cloud to provide services to support students, lecturers, researchers and administration staff. These are enabled with the emergence of cloud computing in the world of IT. Cloud computing offers on demand Internet-based computing services. This paper presents an overview of cloud computing adoption in higher education, mainly tertiary institutions and universities. The focus of the paper is the challenges of cloud computing in higher education. It introduces the background to cloud computing and reviews research on adoption challenges in higher education institutions. These challenges are important as they provide an overview of the adoption of cloud in higher education. The authors proposed an integrated reference model based on the challenges in the literature integrated with TAM model to investigate the factors influence the users’ attitudes and behaviors toward using cloud education services in universities ICT provision.
The prevalence of smoking among the population in the city of Mashhad (north east of Iran) and pulmonary function tests among smokers.

INTRODUCTION Smoking is known as a major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this study the prevalence of smoking in the population of Mashhad city was evaluated as well as pulmonary function tests (PFTs) of smokers. MATERIAL AND METHODS The prevalence of smoking was studied using a standard questionnaire. Pulmonary function tests, including forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), maximal mid-expiratory flow (MMEF), peak expiratory flow (PEF), and maximal expiratory flow at 75%, 50%, and 25% of the FVC (MEF75,50,25), were measured in all smokers. RESULTS In total, 1435 individuals were interviewed including 999 males and 436 females. The number of smokers among the interviewed individuals was 183 (12.7%) including 172 male (17.2%) and 11 female (2.5%). The results showed that all values of PFTs in smokers were reduced. There were significant negative correlations between smoking duration and rate as pack/year and values of PFT (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS In this study the prevalence of smoking in the population of Mashhad city was shown for the first time. The effect of smoking on PFTs showed that smoking leads to constriction of large and medium airways, which is due to duration and rate of smoking.
hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a Chinese population

Oxidative DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species can produce 8‐oxoguanine (8‐oxoG) in DNA, which is misread and leads to G:C→T:A transversions. This can be carcinogenic. Repair of 8‐oxoG by the base excision repair pathway involves the activity of human 8‐oxoG DNA glycosylase 1 (hOGG1). Accumulating evidence suggests that the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism affects the activity of hOGG1 and might serve as a genetic marker for susceptibility to several cancers. To determine whether this polymorphism is associated with risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in Chinese children, we genotyped the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism (rs1052133) in a case–control study including 415 cases and 511 controls. We found that there was a significant difference in the genotype distributions of the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism between cases and controls (P = 0.046), and the combined genotypes Ser/Ser and Ser/Cys were associated with a statistically significantly decreased risk of ALL (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.49–0.88, P = 0.005). Furthermore, we found a decreased risk for high risk ALL (adjusted OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.40–0.88, P = 0.005), low risk ALL (adjusted OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.47–0.99, P = 0.042), and B‐phenotype ALL (adjusted OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.46–0.86, P = 0.003) among children with the Ser/Ser and Ser/Cys genotypes. Our results suggest that the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to childhood ALL in a Chinese population. (Cancer Sci 2011; 102: 1123–1127)