Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systemic dexmedetomidine augments inhibitory synaptic transmission in the superficial dorsal horn through activation of descending noradrenergic control: An in vivo patch-clamp analysis of analgesic mechanisms. (3),

α 2 -adrenoceptors are widely distributed throughout the central nervous system (CNS) and the systemic administration of α 2 -agonists such as dexmedetomidine produces clinically useful, centrally-mediated sedation and analgesia; however, these same actions also limit the utility of these agents (ie unwanted sedative actions). Despite a wealth of data on cellular and synaptic actions of α 2 -agonists in vitro , it is not known which neuronal circuits are modulated in vivo to produce the analgesic effect. To address this issue, we made in vivo recordings of membrane currents and synaptic activities in superficial spinal dorsal horn neurons and examined their responses to systemic dexmedetomidine. We found that dexmedetomidine at doses that produce analgesia (<10 μg/kg) enhanced inhibitory postsynaptic transmission within the superficial dorsal horn without altering excitatory synaptic transmission or evoking direct postsynaptic membrane currents. In contrast, higher doses of dexmedetomidine (>10 μg/kg) induced outward currents by a direct postsynaptic action. The dexmedetomidine-mediated inhibitory postsynaptic current (IPSC) facilitation was not mimicked by spinal application of dexmedetomidine and was absent in spinalized rats, suggesting it acts at a supraspinal site. Further it was inhibited by spinal application of the α 1 -antagonist prazosin. In the brain stem, low doses of systemic dexmedetomidine produced an excitation of locus coeruleus neurons. These results suggest that systemic α 2 -adrenoceptor stimulation may facilitate inhibitory synaptic responses in the superficial dorsal horn to produce analgesia mediated by activation of the pontospinal noradrenergic
Technology Alliances in Emerging Economies: Persistence and Interrelation in European Firms' Alliance Formation

We analyse the patterns and determinants of technology alliance formation with partner firms from emerging economies with a focus on European firms' alliance strategies. We examine to what extent European firms' alliance formation with partners based in emerging economies is persistent – that is, to what extent prior collaborative experience determines new alliance formation – and we compare this pattern with alliance formation with developed country partners. Second, we examine to what extent prior engagement in international alliances with partners from developed countries increases the propensity to form technology alliances with partners based in emerging economies, and vice versa (interrelation). We find that both persistence and interrelation effects are present, and that they are generally not weaker for emerging economy alliances. Alliance formation with Indian and Chinese firms is significantly more likely if firms have prior alliance experience with Japanese firms. The findings suggest that building on their prior international alliance experience firms extend their alliance portfolios across both developed and emerging economies, increasing the geographical diversity of their alliance portfolios.
Aggregate Nearest Keyword Search in Spatial Databases

Given a set of spatial points $D$ containing keywords information, a set of query objects Q and m query keywords, a top-k aggregate nearest keyword (ANK) query retrieves k objects from Q with the minimum sum of distances to its nearest points in D such that each nearest point matches at least one of query keywords. For example, consider there is a spatial database D which manages facilities (e.g., school, restaurants, hospital, etc.) represented by sets of keywords. A user may want to rank a set of locations with respect to the sum of distances to nearest interested facilities. For processing this query, several algorithms are proposed using IR2-Tree as index structure. Experiments on real data sets indicate that our approach is scalable and efficient in reducing query response time.
Medication for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and criminality.

BACKGROUND Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common disorder that has been associated with criminal behavior in some studies. Pharmacologic treatment is available for ADHD and may reduce the risk of criminality. METHODS Using Swedish national registers, we gathered information on 25,656 patients with a diagnosis of ADHD, their pharmacologic treatment, and subsequent criminal convictions in Sweden from 2006 through 2009. We used stratified Cox regression analyses to compare the rate of criminality while the patients were receiving ADHD medication, as compared with the rate for the same patients while not receiving medication. RESULTS As compared with nonmedication periods, among patients receiving ADHD medication, there was a significant reduction of 32% in the criminality rate for men (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.63 to 0.73) and 41% for women (hazard ratio, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.50 to 0.70). The rate reduction remained between 17% and 46% in sensitivity analyses among men, with factors that included different types of drugs (e.g., stimulant vs. nonstimulant) and outcomes (e.g., type of crime). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with ADHD, rates of criminality were lower during periods when they were receiving ADHD medication. These findings raise the possibility that the use of medication reduces the risk of criminality among patients with ADHD. (Funded by the Swedish Research Council and others.).
P. berghei Telomerase Subunit TERT is Essential for Parasite Survival

Telomeres define the ends of chromosomes protecting eukaryotic cells from chromosome instability and eventual cell death. The complex regulation of telomeres involves various proteins including telomerase, which is a specialized ribonucleoprotein responsible for telomere maintenance. Telomeres of chromosomes of malaria parasites are kept at a constant length during blood stage proliferation. The 7-bp telomere repeat sequence is universal across different Plasmodium species (GGGTTT/CA), though the average telomere length varies. The catalytic subunit of telomerase, telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), is present in all sequenced Plasmodium species and is approximately three times larger than other eukaryotic TERTs. The Plasmodium RNA component of TERT has recently been identified in silico. A strategy to delete the gene encoding TERT via double cross-over (DXO) homologous recombination was undertaken to study the telomerase function in P. berghei. Expression of both TERT and the RNA component (TR) in P. berghei blood stages was analysed by Western blotting and Northern analysis. Average telomere length was measured in several Plasmodium species using Telomere Restriction Fragment (TRF) analysis. TERT and TR were detected in blood stages and an average telomere length of ∼950 bp established. Deletion of the tert gene was performed using standard transfection methodologies and we show the presence of tert − mutants in the transfected parasite populations. Cloning of tert- mutants has been attempted multiple times without success. Thorough analysis of the transfected parasite populations and the parasite obtained from extensive parasite cloning from these populations provide evidence for a so called delayed death phenotype as observed in different organisms lacking TERT. The findings indicate that TERT is essential for P. berghei cell survival. The study extends our current knowledge on telomere biology in malaria parasites and validates further investigations to identify telomerase inhibitors to induce parasite cell death.
Efficient codes with class errors of SK Metric and polynomial power product composition for codes

In 1948, Claude E. Shannon published a paper entitled " The Mathematical Theory of Communication " in Bell System Technical Journal [27]. His paper gave birth to the twin disciplines of information theory and coding theory. This paper by Shannon is a seminal paper in the new-branch of " Information Theory ". In fact Shannon is considered to be the father of Information theory. The paper considers problems of communication and, as the title says, gives mathematical foundations of the subject. In this fundamental work he used tools of probability theory. In a communication system, information is sent from one point to another, very often in a noisy environment. In Shannon " s paper, the model of a communication system represented in following figure is considered. In this model, a message is generated at the source, encoded in the channel symbols and is transmitted over the channel. During the transmission, the channel having noise, the message sent may be corrupted, so that the received message may be different from the one transmitted. The receiver then, following the decoding scheme, tries to recover the message sent. Shannon characterised: 1. Source in terms of messages with their probabilities of occurrences; 2. Channel in terms of conditional probabilities of symbols received and sent; 3. Information in terms of a measure called " entropy. " Shannon introduced fundamental concepts about " information " from the communication point of view and digital transmission. With the key ideas of entropy and Source Encoder Channel Decoder Destination Noise Synopsis-2 capacity of the channel, Shannon proved several results. The fundamental theorem, which is at the philosophical foundation of coding theory states: Given an information source and a communication channel, there exists acoding technique such that:-by properly encoding, the information can be transmitted over a noisy channel at any rate less than the channel capacity-the transmission will have an arbitrarily small probability of error tending to zero. Shannon " s this famous theorem guaranties the existence of codes for reliable communication over unreliable channels. The transmission will have an arbitrarily small number of errors-even if the channel is noisy [1]. The theory of error correcting codes was developed to achieve what is promised by Shannon " s fundamental theorem. In initial stages, work progressed for developing efficient variable length codes over noiseless channels and " unique decodability " came up as the main concern that was ideally resolved by …
Parenting from the pocket: value tensions and technical directions for secure and private parent-teen mobile safety

An increasing number of high-tech devices, such as driver monitoring systems and Internet usage monitoring tools, are advertised as useful or even necessary for good parenting of teens. Simultaneously, there is a growing market for mobile "personal safety" devices. As these trends merge, there will be significant implications for parent-teen relationships, affecting domains such as privacy, trust, and maturation. Not only the teen and his or her parents are affected; other important stakeholders include the teen's friends who may be unwittingly monitored. This problem space, with less clear-cut assets, risks, and affected parties, thus lies well outside of more typical computer security applications. To help understand this problem domain and what, if anything, should be built, we turn to the theory and methods of Value Sensitive Design, a systematic approach to designing for human values in technology. We first develop value scenarios that highlight potential issues, benefits, harms, and challenges. We then conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 participants (9 teens and their parents). Results show significant differences with respect to information about: 1) internal state (e.g., mood) versus external environment (e.g., location) state; 2) situation (e.g., emergency vs. non-emergency); and 3) awareness (e.g., notification vs. non-notification). The value scenario and interview results positioned us to identify key technical challenges -- such as strongly protecting the privacy of a teen's contextual information during ordinary situations but immediately exposing that information to others as appropriate in an emergency -- and corresponding architectural levers for these technologies. In addition to laying a foundation for future work in this area, this research serves as a prototypical example of using Value Sensitive Design to explicate the underlying human values in complex security domains.
The role of sex hormones in the development of Th2 immunity in a gender-biased model of Trichuris muris infection

Trichuris muris infection is an ideal model for defining T‐cell‐driven immunity, and also provides essential insights that may impact on potential helminth therapies currently in development. Conflicting host variables determine the efficiency of such treatments and we have identified host‐derived sex steroid hormones as key factors in the development of immunity. The female‐associated hormone 17‐β estradiol (E2) significantly enhanced the generation of a Th2 response in vitro; however, this stimulatory effect was found to be dispensable for the generation of immunity to Trichuris in the gender‐biased IL‐4KO mouse model. In contrast, the male‐associated hormone dihydrotestosterone significantly inhibited the T‐cell stimulatory capacity of DC and directly suppressed the immune response of male IL‐4KO mice, with worm expulsion restored following castration. This finding was associated with dramatically reduced IL‐18 mRNA expression suggesting androgens may act via this cytokine to suppress Th2 immunity to Trichuris. This study has critical implications for the development and efficacy of potential helminth therapeutics and identifies host gender – specifically sex hormones – as important factors in the development of Th2 immunity in susceptible and immunocompromised mice.
Does bafilomycin A1 block the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes?

Bafilomycin A1 is a specific inhibitor of the vacuolar type H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) in cells, and inhibits the acidification of organelles containing this enzyme, such as lysosomes and endosomes. Recently, while editing and reviewing chapters on autophagy for Methods in Enzymology, we noticed repeated references to the effect of bafilomycin A1 in blocking the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes. Of course we have seen this in various research papers as well, but reading this routinely in chapters written by various people over a short period of time really caused this to stand out. Every one of these chapters referred to the paper by Yamamoto et al. In that paper, treatment with 100 nM bafilomycin A1 for 1 h blocks the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes in the rat hepatoma H-4-II-E cell line, based on data from electron microscopy. However, data from one of our labs noted an apparently different result in a relatively recent manuscript. Therefore, we decided to look into this more carefully.
Trop-2 is a novel target for solid cancer therapy with sacituzumab govitecan (IMMU-132), an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)

Trop-2 is a novel target for ADC therapy because of its high expression by many solid cancers. The rational development of IMMU-132 represents a paradigm shift as an ADC that binds a well-known moderately-cytotoxic drug, SN-38, to the anti-Trop-2 antibody. In vitro and in vivo studies show enhanced efficacy, while there is a gradual release of SN-38 that contributes to the overall effect. IMMU-132 is most efficacious at a high drug:antibody ratio (DAR) of 7.6:1, which does not affect binding and pharmacokinetics. It targets up to 136-fold more SN-38 to a human cancer xenograft than irinotecan, SN-38′s prodrug. IMMU-132 delivers SN-38 in its most active, non-glucuronidated form, which may explain the lower frequency of severe diarrhea than with irinotecan. Thus, this ADC, carrying a moderately-toxic drug targeting Trop-2 represents a novel cancer therapeutic that is showing promising activity in patients with several metastatic cancer types, including triple-negative breast cancer, non-small-cell and small-cell lung cancers.
ReStream - A Replication Algorithm for Reliable and Scalable Multimedia Streaming

Multimedia consumption over the Internet is emerging as one of the largest sink of network resources, making scalable and reliable streaming increasingly challenging. To address this challenge, we propose ReStream, an adaptive replication algorithm that relies on replication to achieve reliable and scalable streaming in resource-constrained environments. Our algorithm dynamically adapts replica placement to maximize the number of consumers under latency and bandwidth constraints, while minimizing the number of replicas. In addition, ReStream supports partitioning, i.e., replicas can be located anywhere in the network and do not necessarily form a connected graph. This allows ReStream to yield the same performance in consumption models where consumers tend to be geographically co-located, as well as in consumption models where consumers placement is totally random.
Entertainment driven collaboration

Location-based-entertainment (LBE) attractions are the most publicly visible applications of digital graphics, visualization and other disciplines. In the amusement industry, convincing sensory illusions and natural interactivity can translate directly into fascination for players and profit for owners.As with most technology-enabled opportunities today, the focus is often on the details: 70mm, simulation, full motion, HDTV, networking, cyberspace, virtual reality and so on. But these are (conceptually) "adjectives. " What will the "nouns" be? What will players do with the technology? Where is the true value? Are these entertainments useful for something besides improving hand-eye coordination and encouraging aggressive behavior? LBEs are pure human interfaces. Here, at the beginning of an era of awesomely capable technologies, there is a remarkable opportunity to create new frameworks, scenarios, situations and mythologies.Most schools have taught that collaboration is the equivalent of cheating; but now it is becoming obvious that, although some individuals may win by themselves, more certain wins for more people are likely through collaboration. LBEs can be networked simulations; thus they can help people learn cooperation through play. LBEs can be groupware, and may be uniquely supportive of collaboration.
Constraints on Manufacturing Growth in Kenya

Kenya experienced relatively high growth rates up until the first oil crisis in 1973. During the sixties and early 1970s there was an investment boom in Kenya. Between 1964 and 1971 gross fixed capital formation grew by 17.2% per year in constant prices, while the growth rate was only 0.1% per year between 1971 and 1993. From 1994, however, there has been some recovery. There was a rapid build-up of manufacturing capital in the 1960s, much in relatively recent machinery and equipment. Eventually excess capacity was built up, and since several of the industries were meant to serve the wider East African market they suffered when the community collapsed. Given the excess capacity there was less need for new investment. The investment boom of the 1960s was largely built on MNCs, but given that the wider East African market was no longer available from the Kenyan base and given that Kenya was not perceived as a location from which MNCs could penetrate the world market, MNC investment slowed down dramatically in the mid-1970s. The global recession in the early 1980s plus the coup attempt in 1982 further reduced incentives to invest. Several MNCs actually withdrew or sold off their investments in Kenya in the late 1980s. During the coup attempt there was looting of Asian property, which further increased their sense of insecurity. Structural adjustment efforts from the early 1980s have gradually changed the economic environment, but so far the response of the manufacturing sector has been rather poor. Manufacturing growth depends on investment and productivity change. This paper will use micro data to investigate their determinants and interaction. It is worth asking whether the reforms and inducements introduced are sufficient to make Kenya competitive outside of agro-processing, horticulture and tourism. Has an environment that is sufficiently efficient and attractive to investors been put in place? Kenya does need both higher levels of manufacturing investment and productivity improvements to achieve high growth in the sector. This paper presents some results on these issues from a comprehensive report on the Kenyan RPED study (Bigsten, Kimuyu, 1998). Section 2 briefly describes the data. Section 3 presents an analysis of the determinants of investment in Kenyan manufacturing, while Section 4 reports results on the determinants of productivity and efficiency. The conclusions from the analysis are summarised in Section 5.
Noise robust speaker identification by dividing MFCC

Until now, systems using speaker identification have not been widely used. The main reason is because the identification accuracy is low. Therefore, in this paper, we report the results of modulation frequency analysis and propose a novel method using effectively modulation frequency components of vocal tract characteristics. We investigated effective components of interframe variation of MFCC. The method that we propose extracts those components and uses them effectively by dividing MFCC. The bandwidth of the division, from 0 to 7.80 Hz and from 7.80 to 25.0 Hz, was determined by the view of the modulation frequency analysis and human speech perception. We divided MFCC into two parts, low-MFCC and middle-MFCC, by the bandwidth. Additionally, we made an identification experiments on those MFCCs. Using those MFCCs improved the identification accuracy by 2.1% on average. However, the effect of the proposed method fluctuated by uttered text.
Attitude stabilization of Quad-rotor (UAV) system using Fuzzy PID controller (an experimental test)

Generally Quad-rotor type Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are unstable in nature, so to stabilize it, attitude controller is used. This paper presents a Fuzzy Logic based PID control system (FPID) for attitude stabilization of Quad-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The Fuzzy logic controller updates the PID controller gains efficiently in such a way that it efficiently stabilizes the attitude of quad-rotor UAV. This method enhances the capabilities of conventional PID Controller to a dynamic PID Controller. The propose FPID control technique for attitude controlling of Quad-rotor UAV was tested on developed prototype of Quad rotor UAV for experimental purpose. Experimental results proved that proposed Fuzzy Logic based PID (FPID) controller quickly stabilized Quad-rotor UAV and its response time and settling time is reasonably good in attitude stabilization control application.
THE ROLE OF SPATIAL METRICS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF AN ARTIFICIAL NEURAL-NETWORK BASED MODEL FOR LAND USE CHANGE

The present study examines the role of spatial metrics in the performance of a previously developed ANN model for predicting land use/cover changes. The model outputs are validated against a land-use change map, which has been derived from ortho-rectified aerial photographs, Landsat TM and Quckbird data. The results from the application of the model before and after the use of spatial metrics are presented and evaluated and it is shown that the model can predict reasonably well the patterns of change in the island’s olive-groves when parameterised with spatial metrics. Additionally, further analysis has been undertaken for exploring the individual contribution of the input parameters on the model outputs. Finally, the advantages of the model, its applicability and contribution to the understanding of the dynamics of land cover/use changes are discussed. * Corresponding author.