Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activating Transcription Factor 4 Links Metabolic Stress to Interleukin-6 Expression in Macrophages

Chronic inflammation is a molecular element of the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) are considered to be an important proinflammatory factor. However, it is still incompletely understood how SFAs induce proinflammatory cytokine expression. Hereby we report that activating transcription factor (ATF) 4, a transcription factor that is induced downstream of metabolic stresses including endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, plays critical roles in SFA-induced interleukin-6 (Il6) expression. DNA microarray analysis using primary macrophages revealed that the ATF4 pathway is activated by SFAs. Haploinsufficiency and short hairpin RNA–based knockdown of ATF4 in macrophages markedly inhibited SFA- and metabolic stress–induced Il6 expression. Conversely, pharmacological activation of the ATF4 pathway and overexpression of ATF4 resulted in enhanced Il6 expression. Moreover, ATF4 acts in synergy with the Toll-like receptor-4 signaling pathway, which is known to be activated by SFAs. At a molecular level, we found that ATF4 exerts its proinflammatory effects through at least two different mechanisms: ATF4 is involved in SFA-induced nuclear factor-κB activation; and ATF4 directly activates the Il6 promoter. These findings provide evidence suggesting that ATF4 links metabolic stress and Il6 expression in macrophages.
Robust visual-servo control of robot manipulators in the presence of uncertainty

This paper considers the problem of position control of planar robot manipulators via visual servoing in the presence of uncertainty associated with the robot mechanical dynamics and the camera system for both fixed-camera and camera-in-hand configurations. Specifically, we first design a robust controller that compensates for uncertainty throughout the whole robot-camera system and ensures global uniformly ultimately bounded position tracking for the fixed-camera configuration. Under the same class of uncertainty, we then develop a setpoint controller for the camera-in-hand configuration that achieves global uniformly ultimately bounded regulation.
The Impact of Reward Management on Employee Performance in the Irish Construction Industry: A case study of a leading mechanical contractor

The aim of this research study was to investigate the impact of rewards management on employee performance in the Irish construction industry. The data was gathered from various staff members in multiple positions in one of Irelands leading mechanical installers in order to prove relativity and reliability. The author examined the theories of reward management and various rewards systems that are pertinent in the construction industry and the effects that they have on employee performance for the research. Research questions were developed from the literature review and these questions related to various types of rewards in the workplace, reward management and reward systems and the impact rewards have on performance. The research was carried out using a qualitative approach, with the researcher conducting six semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed the various reward systems that are currently in use in the Irish Construction Industry and the impact of rewards on employees’ performance.
Effects of ta’awun in sustaining ethical and socially responsible Managers for sustainable competitive advantage

In competitive market, having sustainable competitive advantage is necessary to remain competitive and survive. The process of creating and sustaining competitive advantage is integrative, interactive and comprehensive among stakeholders. Ta’awun or Tawhidic driven spiritual strategic cooperation from Islamic perspectives enables the process to produce ethical and socially responsible. Integration through scope of organisational operations through vertical and horizontal integration strengthens organisational strategies on sustainable manner. The integration theory allows for strategic cooperation or ta’awun to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Based on the literature review pertaining to strategic cooperation and ta’awun, there are some effects ta’awun in making managers to be ethical and responsible. Thus, this study aimed to explore the effects of ta’awun in sustaining ethical and socially responsible managers. Since this study is exploratory into the reality of managers, the study used qualitative method through personal interview with marketing and sales managers in Malaysia to solicit their views on the effects of being mutual co--operative or ta’awun with stakeholders in sustaining performance and competitive advantage. Validity, reliability and credibility of the study and the results have been conducted within qualitative research methodology. The results of the study showed that the effects of ta’awun are in a few factors, namely social integration with social contract, norms and belief; organisational structure and process; management policies, systems and resources; and continuous (fastaqim) training for ethical (tarbiyyah khuluq) and socially responsible practices (khuluq bil‘amal ijtima’ie). The implications for practice are to institutionalise standard operating procedure (SOP), code of conduct, and regular education for managerial ethics. The results of the study is not to generalise or confirming of any theory, but to understand the situation of the event from the real context of the situation. The implications of practice and policy of organisations are in the code of conduct and training programmes to include continuous education and job training. As for theory, this study contributed to the contemporary theory of normative ethics from Islamic perspective of ta’awun, spiritual or soul-based strategic cooperation and alliances. Future studies should use mixed methods or case study method to include more views and insights from many stakeholders. Keywords: Ta’awun, Business ethics, Social responsibility.
You are Such a Bad Child! Appraisals as Mechanisms of Parental Negative and Positive Affect

ABSTRACT Although parent cognitions are considered important predictors that determine specific emotional reactions and parental practices, models on the cognitive strategies for regulating parental distress or positive emotions are not well developed. Our aim was to investigate the nature of cognitions involved in parental distress and satisfaction, in terms of their specificity (parental or general) and their processing levels (inferential or evaluative cognitions). We hypothesized that parent's specific evaluative cognitions will mediate the impact of more general and inferential cognitive structures on their affective reactions. We used bootstrapping procedures in order to test the mediation models proposed. Results obtained show indeed that rather specific evaluative parental cognitions are mediating the relationship between general cognitions and parental distress. In terms of the cognitive processing levels, it seems that when parents hold both low self-efficacy and parental negative global evaluations for the self/child, this adds significantly to their distress.
Long-term exposure to air pollution and cardiorespiratory disease in the California teachers study cohort.

RATIONALE Several studies have linked long-term exposure to particulate air pollution with increased cardiopulmonary mortality; only two have also examined incident circulatory disease. OBJECTIVES To examine associations of individualized long-term exposures to particulate and gaseous air pollution with incident myocardial infarction and stroke, as well as all-cause and cause specific mortality. METHODS We estimated long-term residential air pollution exposure for more than 100,000 participants in the California Teachers Study, a prospective cohort of female public school professionals.We linked geocoded residential addresses with inverse distance-weighted monthly pollutant surfaces for two measures of particulate matter and for several gaseous pollutants. We examined associations between exposure to these pollutants and risks of incident myocardial infarction and stroke, and of all-cause and cause-specific mortality, using Cox proportional hazards models. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS We found elevated hazard ratios linking long-term exposure to particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5), scaled to an increment of 10 μg/m3 with mortality from ischemic heart disease (IHD) (1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.41) and, particularly among postmenopausal women, incident stroke (1.19; 95% CI, 1.02-1.38). Long-term exposure to particulate matter less than 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) was associated with elevated risks for IHD mortality (1.06; 95% CI, 0.99-1.14) and incident stroke (1.06; 95% CI, 1.00-1.13), while exposure to nitrogen oxides was associated with elevated risks for IHD and all cardiovascular mortality. CONCLUSIONS This study provides evidence linking long-term exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 with increased risks of incident stroke as well as IHD mortality; exposure to nitrogen oxides was also related to death from cardiovascular diseases.
Digital processing of dual-frequency servo burst in hard disk drives

The trend of increasing areal density, i.e., the number of bits recorded in unit area of the media, continues in the hard disk drive (HDD) industry. This growth is sustained by increasing both the track density and bit density. The track density that can be achieved in a drive depends on many factors such as the dimensions of read/write head and the performance of the head positioning servomechanism. The higher the servo bandwidth, the better the precision achieved in controlling the position of the head. Most of the drives use an embedded servo scheme, which puts a physical constraint on the frequency at which the position error is sampled, and hence, on the achievable bandwidth. The need for a better position error sensing (PES) scheme is the motivation behind exploring alternative methods of servo encoding. This paper addresses different aspects of decoding position error from the dual-frequency servo bursts. It is shown, using both simulation and experimental results, that the proposed scheme offers a feasible solution for generating the PES signal in high-performance HDD.
Adaptive Control for Optical Soliton Propagation

This paper presents the application of an L1 adaptive control architecture to the problem of active dispersion management for propagation of Gaussian-shaped solitons along uncertain optical fibers. The derivations in the paper are based on a reduced variational model for optical soliton propagation. Simulation results demonstrate the benefits of the proposed closed-loop adaptive approach over existing passive dispersion management techniques.
An empirical study on the user acceptance of hotel information systems

Information technology (IT) is an important strategic tool that allows hospitality organizations to improve their organizational performance and long-term strategic competitiveness. Th e present study investigates the relationship between antecedents including personal innovativeness, organizational innovativeness, and users’ acceptance of hotel information systems by adopting an extended technology acceptance model (TAM2). Perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and intention to use were investigated including personal innovativeness and organizational innovativeness. As a result, current study is able to fi nd out the acceptance of hotel information systems from the perspective of users through personal innovativeness and organizational innovativeness in order to enhance the model. In addition, the paper presents a progressive theory and a practical contribution to raise the acceptance in order to provide useful suggestions for hotel managers and hotel information system practitioners.
Opportunities for active DER management in deferral of distribution system reinforcements

Power systems worldwide have gone through a transition from vertically integrated into liberalized energy markets. At the same time, increased environmental concerns are promoting the use of renewable and efficient generation technologies. Consequently, a growing number of small-scale Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are being installed in distribution systems. Passive operation of DER can result in severe grid operation problems. In contrast, active DER management can bring mutual benefits for the DER owner as well as Distribution System Operators (DSO). In this article a flexible multi-objective optimization scheme is presented in which DER placement and optimal ancillary services are evaluated and compared with conventional grid reinforcements. This allows assessing the potential of optimal active DER management and evaluating different tariff schemes for DER connection at different levels of DER in the grid. The proposed method uses a hybrid Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm (SPEA2) with a distribution Optimal Power Flow (OPF). Results are analyzed using the UKGDS 355-bus system.
Use of Metaphors in Psychoeducation for Depression and Its Relationship With Autistic Traits

The impact of metaphors employed in psychoeducation for depression on people with a tendency for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was investigated. Japanese undergraduate students (N = 146, 41 males and 105 females, mean age = 19.45 ± 2.05) were randomly assigned to a metaphor, or a control group. They rated their perceived impressions of a psychoeducation experience using a questionnaire and also completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient instrument (AQ). Exploratory factor analysis of questionnaire responses identified three factors: Subscale 1: “Depth of understanding” (8 items), Subscale 2: “Positive feelings toward the contents” (6 items) and Subscale 3: “New perspective” (2 items). In order to examine how AQ level and metaphor presence affected impressions of psychoeducation, we conducted two-factor ANOVA with AQ (High/Low) and metaphor (With/Without) as independent variables. Results of multiple comparisons conducted on subscale scores indicated that the simple main effect of metaphor presencefor “Positive feelings toward the contents” remained significant in the high-AQ group. This suggests that when metaphors are used in psychoeducation for people with high autistic tendencies, they are more likely to have positive impressions about depression including the feeling of familiarity with depression, and feeling hopeful about psychoeducation. It was concluded that metaphors in psychoeducation might help people with autistic tendencies to build a positive perception of the depression at the state of treatment.
The effectiveness of graded activity in patients with non-specific low-back pain: a systematic review

Background: Non-specific low-back pain (LBP) is considered a major health and economic problem in Western society. Nowadays a common used intervention on non-specific LBP is graded activity (GA). Graded Activity developed by Lindström et al., consisted of four parts: (i) measurements of functional capacity; (ii) a work-place visit; (iii) back school education and (iv) an individual, sub-maximal, gradually increased exercise program with an operant-conditioning behavioural approach as described by Fordyce et al. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of GA in adults with non-specific LBP on pain, disabilities and return to work. Data sources: An extensive literature search of PubMed, Embase, CINAHL and The Cochrane Library was conducted in July 2011. Review Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect of GA in patients with non-specific LBP were eligible. Methodological quality of the studies was assessed according to the PEDro scale. A best-evidence synthesis was conducted according to van Peppen et al. to interpret the outcomes of the included studies. Results: Ten articles were included in this systematic review; these articles described five RCTs (680 patients). The best-evidence synthesis revealed that there was no or insufficient evidence for a positive effect of GA on pain, disabilities and return to work in patients with non-specific LBP. Conclusion: Currently there is no or insufficient evidence that GA results in better outcomes of patients with non-specific LBP. Implications for Rehabilitation Graded Activity in non-specific low-back pain Non-specific low-back pain is not only a physical problem but can be influenced by patient’s beliefs, psychological distress and illness behaviour. In clinical practise the use of Graded Activity (GA) can be recommend when a discrepancy between musculoskeletal functioning and disabilities are present in a patient, for instance the presence of kinesiophobia. There is no or insufficient evidence that GA results in better outcomes than usual care.
Experimental study of different aggregation functions for modeling craniofacial correspondence in craniofacial superimposition

Craniofacial superimposition is a forensic identification method involving the overlay of a skull over the available ante-mortem photographs of a candidate missing person face and the subsequent analysis of their anatomical correspondence. Within this process, the decision making stage focuses on determining the degree of support of being the same person or not based on the analysis of some criteria assessing the skull-face morphological correspondence. That decision is usually made in a non automatic and subjective way. We aim to automate the decision making process using computer vision and soft computing methods to assist the forensic anthropologist. In a previous study we have developed several methods to measure the matching of the correspondence between the face and the skull. The accuracy of each method was calculated as its capability to discriminate in a cross-comparison identification scenario. By the use of aggregation functions we can combine the results of the different methods taking into account the corresponding individual accuracy. This allows us to provide a single global output specifying the matching of each criterion while combining the capability of different methods. In this work, we present a study of the behavior of different aggregation functions for this aim. The performance of the aggregated methods has been tested on 172 skull-face overlay problem instances of positive and negative cases. The obtained results show that Sugeno integral ranks better than the counterparts although not significant conclusions can be delivered regarding the performance.
A FASTBUS Logic Analyzer Based on SLAC Snoop Diagnostic Modules

A FASTBUS based data acquisition system is being developed at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for the Collider Detector. Due to the complexity of this system, some form of diagnostic module had to be developed to help find, in real time, hardware and software problems on any segment of this system. One such module, the SNOOP module, was developed at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. It provides monitor and test capabilities to FASTBUS. To develop this FASTBUS Logic Analyzer, two SNOOP Modules will be interconnected to a host, and software is being written to use their monitoration capabilities. This system will have the capability of following, in real time, FASTBUS messages through the system. The hardware interconnection and various diagnostic features will be discussed, and performance will be given.
RNA interference technology with emphasis on delivery vehicles—prospects and limitations

Context: RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics rely upon safe and efficient delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules. Objective: This review explores various dimensions of RNAi with emphasis on the development of nanoparticle-based delivery vectors for safe and efficient siRNA delivery. Methods: An exhaustive database search has been done regarding studies done to investigate the potential of siRNA delivery employing nanoparticles has been cited in the present review. Results and conclusion: With the current challenges, there is a need for collaborative work allowing for the successful development of nanoparticle/siRNA complexes as health-promoting biotherapeutics.
Analytical And Quantitativecytology And Histology From The Volume 27, Number 6, December 2005

The clinical utility of immunohistochemistry in the diagnosis of tumors of the urinary bladder is well established. With recent advances in molecular biology and novel technologies, several biomarkers have emerged as important adjuncts in the diagnosis of lesions of the bladder. When used in conjunction with careful histologic examination, immunohistochemistry can be a valuable aid in classifying adenocarcinoma presenting in the bladder and mesenchymal lesions of the bladder and in establishing the urothelial origin of a metastatic tumor. In addition, a number of biomarkers may prove to be important indicators of prognosis or response to chemotherapy.
Immunoproteasomes are essential for survival and expansion of T cells in virus‐infected mice

Immunoproteasomes containing the IFN‐inducible subunits β1i (LMP2), β2i (MECL‐1) and β5i (LMP7) alter proteasomal cleavage preference and optimize the generation of peptide ligands of MHC class I molecules. Here, we report on an unexpected new function of immunoproteasome subunits for the survival and expansion of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells during viral infection of mice. The effect of immunoproteasome subunit deficiency on T‐cell survival upon adoptive transfer was most prominent for the lack of LMP7 followed by MECL‐1 and LMP2. The survival of T cells in uninfected mice or the homeostatic expansion after transfer into RAG‐2−/− mice was not affected by the lack of the immunosubunits. Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV)‐specific CD8+ T cells lacking LMP7 or MECL‐1 started to divide after transfer into LCMV‐infected mice but experienced a considerable cell loss within 2 days after transfer. We provide strong evidence that the loss of immunoproteasome‐deficient T cells after transfer is not a consequence of graft rejection by the host, but instead is based on the requirement for immunoproteasomes for the survival of T cells in LCMV‐infected mice. Therefore, the immunoproteasome may qualify as a potential new target for the suppression of undesired proinflammatory T‐cell responses.
Nonlinear Resonant Oscillations of Gas in Optimized Acoustical Resonators and the Effect of Central Blockage

Optimizing resonator shapes for maximizing the ratio of maximum to minimum gas pressure at an end of the resonator is investigated numerically. It is well known that the resonant frequencies and the nonlinear standing waveform in an acoustical resonator strongly depend on the resonator geometry. A quasi-Newton type scheme was used to find optimized axisymmetric resonator shapes achieving the maximum pressure compression ratio with an acceleration of constant amplitude. The acoustical field was solved using a one-dimensional model, and the resonance frequency shift and hysteresis effects were obtained through an automation scheme based on continuation method. Results are presented for optimizing three types of geometry: a cone, a horn-cone and a half cosine-shape. For each type, different optimized shapes were found when starting with different initial guesses. Further, the one-dimensional model was modified to study the effect of an axisymmetric central blockage on the nonlinear standing wave.