Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic Conditions and Incumbent Support in Africa's New Democracies

In this article, the authors investigate the effects of economic conditions on support for an incumbent regime in a new African democracy. Drawing on two unique data sources from Zambia—the results of a 1,200-respondent postelection survey and a pair of 10,000-household poverty surveys conducted in the same years as that country's first two posttransition general elections—the authors find evidence that declining economic conditions coincide with the withdrawal of support for the incumbent president, although the effects of changing economic conditions are relatively small compared to noneconomic determinants of the vote such as ethnic affiliation and urban/rural location. The authors also find that, to the extent that voters respond to declining economic conditions, they do so via withdrawal from the electoral process rather than via support for the opposition. The findings suggest that African electorates are at least modestly responsive to economic trends but that noneconomic motivations still predominate in any given election.
Privacy-Preserving Updates to Confidential and Anonymous Databases

A b s t r a c t Suppose that Alice, owner of a k-anonymous database, needs to determine whether her database, when inserted with a tuple owned by Bob, is still k-anonymous. Suppose moreover that access t o the database is strictly controlled, because for example data are used for experiments that need to be maintained confidential. Clearly, allowing Alice to directly read the contents of the tuple breaks the privacy of Bob; on the other hand, the confidentiality of the database managed by Alice is violated once Bob has access to the contents of the database. Thus the problem is t o check whether the database inserted with the tuple is still k-anonymous, without letting Alice and Bob know the contents of the tuple and the database respectively. In this paper, we propose two protocols solving this problem on suppression-based and generalization-based k-anonymous databases. The protocols rely on well-known cryptographic assumptions, and we provide experimental results illustrating their efficiency. It is today well understood that databases represent an important asset for many applications and thus their security is crucial. Data confidentiality is particularly relevant because of the value, often not only monetary, that data have. For example, medical data collected by following the history of patients over several years may represent an invaluable asset that needs to be adequately protected. Such a requirement has motivated a large variety of approaches aiming at better protecting data confidentiality and data ownership. Relevant approaches include query processing techniques for encrypted data and data watermarking techniques. Data confidentiality is not however the only requirement that needs to be addressed. Today there is an increased concern for privacy. The availability of huge numbers of databases recording a large variety of information about individuals makes it possible to discover information about specific individuals by simply correlating all the available databases. Although confidentiality and privacy are often used as synonyms, they are different concepts: data confidentiality is about the difficulty (or impossibility) by an unauthorized user to learn anything about data stored in the database. Usually, confidentiality is achieved by enforcing an access policy, and possibly by using cryptographic tools. Privacy relates to what data can be safely disclosed without leaking sensitive information regarding the legitimate owner [5]. Thus, zf one asks whether conjidentialzty i s still required once data have been anonymized, the reply is yes zf the anonymous data have a Abstract Suppose …
Wireless and Multimedia Networking ( WiMuNet ) Laboratory

This paper reviews the research group Wireless and Multimedia Networking Lab, which is formed by faculty and researchers of the Department of Signal Theory, Telematics and Communications of the University of Granada. Its research lines include broadband wireless networks, video streaming and multimedia traffic analysis, Software Defined Networking, Quality of Experience, Wireless Local Area Networks and Data Distribution Service. Our latest research projects are focused in 5G mobile communication architectures based on Software Defined Networking and Quality of Experience for multimedia services. Teaching activities of the group members as well as a short bios are also included. Palabras ClaveWiMuNet, 5G, wireless, multimedia, SDN, DDS.
Ultrafast Imaging of Materials: Exploring the Gap of Space and Time

The materials science community is poised to take advantage of new technologies that add unprecedented time resolution to already existing spatial-resolution capabilities. In the same way that chemists and biologists are using ultrafast optical, photon, and particle techniques to reveal transition pathways, materials scientists can expect to use variations of these methods to probe the most fundamental aspects of complex transient phenomena in materials. The combination of high-spatial-resolution imaging with high time resolution is critical because it enables the observation of specific phenomena that are important to developing fundamental understanding. Such a capability is also important because it enables experiments that are on the same time and length scales as recent high-performance computer simulations. This article describes several new techniques that have great potential for broader application in materials science, including electron, x-ray, and γ-ray imaging.
Downregulation of long non‐coding RNA MEG3 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

In our previous whole‐transcriptome sequencing analysis, downregulation of a long non‐coding RNA, maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3), was identified in NPC samples. This finding suggests the possible role of MEG3 as a tumor suppressor in this distinctive disease. In the present study, two MEG3 variants, AF119863 (MEG3‐AF) and BX247998 (MEG3‐BX), were found abundantly expressed in a normal nasopharyngeal epithelial cell line, NP69. Significant downregulation of MEG3‐AF was further verified in a panel of NPC samples including xenografts and primary biopsies. MEG3 is an imprinted gene located within chromosome 14q32, a common deleted region in NPC. Both DNA copy number loss and aberrant promoter methylation contributed to MEG3 inactivation. Interestingly, MEG3 expression could successfully be rescued by the treatment of a demethylation agent. Besides, ectopic expression of MEG3 in NPC cell lines resulted in considerable repression of in vitro anchorage‐independent growth and in vivo tumorigenicity, in addition to significant inhibition in cell proliferation, colony formation, and induction of cell cycle arrest. Finally, we revealed the association between MEG3 activity and the p53 signaling cascade. Our findings characterize MEG3 as a tumor suppressive long non‐coding RNA in NPC and encourage the development of precise long non‐coding RNA‐targeted epigenetic therapy against this malignancy. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Influence of genetic obesity, food intake and adrenalectomy in mice on selected trace element-dependent protective enzymes.

Experiments were conducted to determine if food intake and adrenalectomy influenced abnormal antioxidant defense mechanisms observed in obese mice. Paired male C57BL/6J mice of two genotypes, obese (ob/ob) and lean (+/? ), were fed a nonpurified diet ad libitum or restricted (2.5 g/d) until 3 mo old. Obese mice had larger livers and kidneys but smaller brains than lean mice. Plasma ceruloplasmin activity of obese mice was 240% of that of lean mice. Restricting food intake but not adrenalectomy reduced this difference, but ceruloplasmin activity of obese mice was still 150% of that of restricted-fed lean mice. Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in liver of obese mice was 70% of that in control lean mice; however, in kidney GSH-Px activity was 135% of that in obese mice. Both liver and kidney GSH-Px differences were eliminated by food restriction but not by adrenalectomy. Blood and brain GSH-Px activity was not influenced by the mutation. Liver and kidney copper-zinc superoxide dismutase activity was lower in obese mice than in lean littermates, 30 and 20%, respectively. Food restriction eliminated this difference in liver but not in kidney. Glutathione S-transferase activity using 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene as substrate was 55% lower in liver (not kidney) of obese mice than in lean mice and this difference was not markedly influenced by food restriction. Obese mice have marked changes in the steady-state activities of a number of protective enzymes that are organ dependent and, in part, due to the hyperphagia associated with this mutation.
Anthropogenic emissions of highly reactive volatile organic compounds in eastern Texas inferred from oversampling of satellite (OMI) measurements of HCHO columns

Satellite observations of formaldehyde (HCHO) columns provide top-down constraints on emissions of highly reactive volatile organic compounds (HRVOCs). This approach has been used previously in the US to estimate isoprene emissions from vegetation, but application to anthropogenic emissions has been stymied by lack of a discernable HCHO signal. Here we show that temporal oversampling of HCHO data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) for 2005–2008 enables detection of urban and industrial plumes in eastern Texas including Houston, Port Arthur, and Dallas/Fort Worth. By spatially integrating the HCHO enhancement in the Houston plume observed by OMI we estimate an anthropogenic HCHO source of 250 ± 140 kmol h−1. This implies that anthropogenic HRVOC emissions in Houston are 4.8 ± 2.7 times higher than reported by the US Environmental Protection Agency inventory, and is consistent with field studies identifying large ethene and propene emissions from petrochemical industrial sources.
Can Humans Being Clerks make Clerks be Human? – Exploring the Fundamental Difference between UbiComp and WearComp (Können Menschen, die sich wie Angestellte benehmen, Angestellte zu menschlichem Verhalten bewegen? Zum fundamentalen Unterschied zwischen UbiComp und WearComp)

In this paper it is argued that pervasive ubiquitous computing and surveillance tends to give rise to a dehumanizing society of automatons, whereas wearable devices owned, operated, and controlled by individuals have the potential to counteract this trend. Within the context of reversing the dehumanizing aspects of ubicomp, through the use of wearable technology, two fundamental axes are defined and described: – Incidentalism (Nonselectivity), which is the degree to which the wearer´s action appears to not be intentionally directed at a specific individual; and – Freewill (Existentiality), which is the degree to which an action appears to originate from the wearer´s own mind, without outside influence or duty. The primary action explored is that of picture taking in establishments where taking pictures is prohibited. The hypothesis is that an otherwise unacceptable picture taking activity is acceptable in direct proportion to the Incidentalist axis and in inverse proportion to Freewill axis. An extensive lifelong series of experiments conducted in several different countries around the world, in which the author was wearing photographic computers for more than twenty years, is reported.
Inference of Causal Information Flow in Collective Animal Behavior

Understanding and even defining what constitutes animal interactions remains a challenging problem. Correlational tools may be inappropriate for detecting communication between a set of many agents exhibiting nonlinear behavior. A different approach is to define coordinated motions in terms of an information theoretic channel of direct causal information flow. In this work, we consider time series data obtained by an experimental protocol of optical tracking of the insect species Chironomus riparius. The data constitute reconstructed 3-D spatial trajectories of the insects’ flight trajectories and kinematics. We present an application of the optimal causation entropy (oCSE) principle to identify direct causal relationships or information channels among the insects. The collection of channels inferred by oCSE describes a network of information flow within the swarm. We find that information channels with a long spatial range are more common than expected under the assumption that causal information flows should be spatially localized. The tools developed herein are general and applicable to the inference and study of intercommunication networks in a wide variety of natural settings.
Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D and its determinants in an elderly population sample.

This study describes the distribution and determinants of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations and risk factors for low 25(OH)D (< or = 37.5 nmol/L) in 290 men and 469 women aged 67-95 y who were in the Framingham Heart Study cohort. Mean (+/-SD) 25(OH)D concentrations were 82 +/- 29 nmol/L in men and 71 +/- 29 nmol/L in women. 25(OH)D was low in 6.2% of men and 14.5% of women. 25(OH)D concentrations were strongly associated with season of examination, inversely associated with time spent indoors and body mass index, and positively associated with dietary vitamin D intake. In women, concentrations were also inversely associated with age and positively associated with supplemental vitamin D intake and residence for > or = 3 mo/y in Florida, California, or Arizona, and in men were positively associated with serum creatinine concentrations. Similar amounts of variance in 25(OH)D concentrations were explained by vitamin D intake and sunlight exposure, the former being more important in women and the latter in men. None of the known or suspected determinants of vitamin D status could explain the lower 25(OH)D concentrations in women, but the sex difference was not seen for individuals examined during the winter. Results from this population-based sample of elderly individuals suggest that inadequate vitamin D status is an important public health problem, which could be readily addressed by adequate vitamin D intake or sunlight exposure.
Discrete dislocation simulations of precipitation hardening in inverse superalloys

The low-temperature yield stress of a γ′ (Ni3Al) matrix–γ (Ni) precipitate ‘inverse’ superalloy, containing 40% Ni precipitates (γ), is calculated by discrete-dislocation simulations. Two different precipitate sizes and two anti-phase boundary energies are considered. The results of these simulations are compared with corresponding results from γ–γ′ superalloys (S. Rao, T.A. Parthasarathy, D. Dimiduk, et al., Phil. Mag. 84 3195 (2004)). In general, the results show that precipitation hardening in inverse superalloys is weaker than for regular superalloys. Similar to studies of superalloys, many of these results can be rationalized from the results of simulations on simple homogenized precipitate structures. The Hirsch, Kelly and Ardell precipitation-strengthening model (Metall. Trans. A 16 2131 (1985); Phil. Mag. 12 881 (1965); Trans. Jpn. Inst. Metals 9 1403 (1968). ), developed for low-stacking-fault-energy spherical precipitates in a high-stacking-fault-energy matrix, adapted for inverse superalloys, shows qualitative agreement with the simulation results for spherical γ precipitates.
Effect of Strain Rate on Tensile Testing of Geogrid Reinforcements Using Single‐Rib and Wide‐Rib Specimen

A geogrid is geosynthetic high-density polyethylene material used to reinforce soils and similar materials. It is valuable tool in transportation and civil construction. Geogrids allow engineers to build where it otherwise would not be possible or would be cost prohibitive using traditional methods. The tensile test of the geogrid is the most important test of this product. ISO 10319 “Geosynthetics-Wide-Width tensile test” uses wide-width specimen 20 mm wide; the gripping of this wide sample is difficult and need special gripping. This study aims to develop and validate a method for testing single-rib specimen, instead of wide specimen using 150 samples of geogrids, and six different speeds. The statistical analysis of the results showed that testing of single rib at the speed of 100 mm/min (method under validation) gave matched and compatible results of wide-rib specimen testing at the speed of 25 mm/min (reference method), where the variance value of these two methods is not significant.
Relation of nutrients and hormones in polycystic ovary syndrome.

BACKGROUND Insulin resistance, infertility, and hirsutism, common characteristics of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), improve with even modest weight loss. Optimal dietary treatment for PCOS is not known. OBJECTIVE We compared the effects of acute protein administration with those of glucose challenges on hormones related to obesity and insulin resistance (ie, cortisol and insulin), hirsutism [ie, dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione], and hunger (ie, ghrelin). DESIGN Patients with PCOS (n = 28; aged 26 +/- 2 y) were tested with a 5-h oral-glucose-tolerance test (OGTT) and a euvolemic, euenergetic protein challenge. RESULTS Glucose ingestion caused larger fluctuations in blood glucose and more hyperinsulinemia than did protein (P < 0.01, overall treatment-by-time interaction). During the protein challenge, cortisol and DHEA declined over 5 h. During OGTT, cortisol and DHEA increased after the third hour and began to show significant divergence from protein from the fourth hour (P <or= 0.01). During OGTT, 18 patients who had a blood glucose nadir of <69 mg/dL had elevated cortisol (baseline: 10.4 +/- 0.4; nadir: 5.9 +/- 0.1; peak: 12.7 +/- 0.9 microg/dL) and DHEA (baseline: 15.6 +/- 1.3; nadir: 11.2 +/- 1.0; peak: 24.6 +/- 1.6 ng/mL) (P < 0.01), whereas the remaining 10 patients with a glucose nadir of 76 +/- 2 mg/dL had no increase in adrenal steroids. Both glucose and protein suppressed ghrelin (from 935 +/- 57 to 777 +/- 51 pg/mL and from 948 +/- 60 to 816 +/- 61 pg/mL, respectively). After glucose ingestion, ghrelin returned to baseline by 4 h and increased to 1094 +/- 135 pg/mL at 5 h. After the protein challenge, ghrelin remained below the baseline (872 +/- 60 pg/mL) even at 5 h. The overall treatment effect was highly significant (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Glucose ingestion caused significantly more hyperinsulinemia than did protein, and it stimulated cortisol and DHEA. Protein intake suppressed ghrelin significantly longer than did glucose, which suggested a prolonged satietogenic effect. These findings provide mechanistic support for increasing protein intake and restricting the simple sugar intake in a PCOS diet.
Noonan syndrome gain-of-function mutations in NRAS cause zebrafish gastrulation defects

SUMMARY Noonan syndrome is a relatively common developmental disorder that is characterized by reduced growth, wide-set eyes and congenital heart defects. Noonan syndrome is associated with dysregulation of the Ras–mitogen-activated-protein-kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. Recently, two mutations in NRAS were reported to be associated with Noonan syndrome, T50I and G60E. Here, we report a mutation in NRAS, resulting in an I24N amino acid substitution, that we identified in an individual bearing typical Noonan syndrome features. The I24N mutation activates N-Ras, resulting in enhanced downstream signaling. Expression of N-Ras-I24N, N-Ras-G60E or the strongly activating mutant N-Ras-G12V, which we included as a positive control, results in developmental defects in zebrafish embryos, demonstrating that these activating N-Ras mutants are sufficient to induce developmental disorders. The defects in zebrafish embryos are reminiscent of symptoms in individuals with Noonan syndrome and phenocopy the defects that other Noonan-syndrome-associated genes induce in zebrafish embryos. MEK inhibition completely rescued the activated N-Ras-induced phenotypes, demonstrating that these defects are mediated exclusively by Ras-MAPK signaling. In conclusion, mutations in NRAS from individuals with Noonan syndrome activated N-Ras signaling and induced developmental defects in zebrafish embryos, indicating that activating mutations in NRAS cause Noonan syndrome.
Aerial SLAM with a single camera using visual expectation

Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) are a rapidly growing area of research and development in robotics. For autonomous robot operations, localization has typically been calculated using GPS, external camera arrays, or onboard range or vision sensing. In cluttered indoor or outdoor environments, onboard sensing is the only viable option. In this paper we present an appearance-based approach to visual SLAM on a flying MAV using only low quality vision. Our approach consists of a visual place recognition algorithm that operates on 1000 pixel images, a lightweight visual odometry algorithm, and a visual expectation algorithm that improves the recall of place sequences and the precision with which they are recalled as the robot flies along a similar path. Using data gathered from outdoor datasets, we show that the system is able to perform visual recognition with low quality, intermittent visual sensory data. By combining the visual algorithms with the RatSLAM system, we also demonstrate how the algorithms enable successful SLAM.
Characterisation of proteins differentially present in the plasma of Biomphalaria glabrata susceptible or resistant to Echinostoma caproni

Snail immune responses towards a trematode infection are known to rely on both plasmatic and cellular host factors. As an approach to further investigate the suspected involvement of plasmatic factors in Biomphalaria glabrata resistance/susceptibility to Echinostoma caproni, we compared protein patterns of plasma collected from susceptible and resistant snails. This proteomic approach revealed that 13 plasmatic proteins exhibited significant differences in their apparent representativity. The genes corresponding to five of them were characterised by a combination of mass spectrometry and molecular cloning. They encode two isoforms of a glycolytic enzyme, two isoforms of a calcium binding protein and an inhibitor of cysteine protease. Furthermore, we investigated gene expression in parasite-exposed or -unexposed snails as well as in various tissues by quantitative PCR. This study showed that: (i) differential representation of plasma proteins between the snail strains was correlated with a differential level of transcripts; (ii) expression of these genes after parasite exposure was differentially regulated in the two strains; and (iii) these genes were expressed predominantly in the albumen gland. q 2004 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Nora Virus Transmission in "Drosophila Melanogaster": An Investigation to Teach Viral Infection and Prophylaxis to Biology Students.

Proper hand hygiene accompanied with environmental surface disinfection provides a comprehensive approach to control and prevent respiratory and gastrointestinal illness in schools, hospitals, work environments, and the home. The persistent non-pathogenic Nora virus common in Drosophila melanogaster provides a horizontally transmitted virus that students can research and design an experiment testing prophylaxis techniques for viral infection and pathogenic diseases. Students use inquiry-based methods to perform an experiment, analyze data, and draw conclusions on viral inactivation from disinfectant use on Nora virus in D. melanogaster.