Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antioxidant enzyme activities and lipid peroxidation products in heart tissue of subacute and subchronic formaldehyde-exposed rats: a preliminary study

Objective: The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate the oxidant/antioxidant status and lipid peroxidation in the heart of rats exposed to formaldehyde (FA) inhalation for four weeks (subacute) or 13 weeks (subchronic) continuously. Methods and results: Sixty Wistar albino rats were divided into six groups randomly (ten in each group). The first and second groups were used as subacute and subchronic control groups. FA gas was generated from paraformaldehyde and pumped to a closed glass chamber. Rats were exposed to atmosphere containing 10 and 20 ppm FA (8 h/day, five days per week) during a four and 13 weeks period. After heart tissues were obtained and homogenized, thiobarbituric acid-reactant substances (TBARS) and nitric oxide (NO) levels, as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, were measured. There were statistically significant findings in SOD and CAT activities in the study groups compared to the control group. Heart tissue SOD level was increased in the group exposed to subacute 10 and 20 ppm FA inhalation compared to the control group (P≤0.011 and ≤0.0001). In addition, heart tissue SOD level was increased in the group exposed to subchronic 10 and 20 ppm FA inhalation compared to the corresponding control group (P≤0.001). On the other hand, there were statistically significant decreases in CAT activity in subacute 10 and 20 ppm groups compared to the corresponding control group (P≤0.012 and ≤0.039, respectively). Although not significant, TBARS levels were increased in both subacute 10 ppm (P=0.100) and subchronic 20 ppm (P=0.053) groups compared to their corresponding control groups. Tissue NO levels were unchanged upon FA inhalation. In the correlation analyses, a meaningful relationship between SOD and CAT activities in subchronic 10 ppm group (r=-0.685, P≤0.029); SOD activity and TBARS level in subchronic 20 ppm group (r=-0.675, P≤0.032); and CAT activity and NO level in subchronic 20 ppm group (r=-0.810, P≤0.005) were found. Conclusion: From the findings of our study, it can be interpreted that subacute and subchronic FA inhalation may stimulate oxidative stress and thus, some secondary toxic effects in cardiac cells and tissue. This increase in the oxidative stress could not induce lipid peroxidation in the membranous structure of cardiac cells. An increased SOD enzyme activity was thought to be secondary to decreased CAT activity, as a compensation mechanism, preventing heart tissue from destruction induced by FA.
Accountability and capacity in South African education

ABSTRACTThe aim of the study is to discuss the notion of accountability with respect to education in South Africa. Starting with an overview of the international literature on accountability, the article then turns to the South African context and focuses on one particular capacity constraint as an illustrative example: low mathematics teacher content knowledge. After explaining two important problems identified in the literature – accountability without capacity and capacity without accountability – the focus becomes what needs to be done in South Africa to improve accountability. In this vein, a useful analytic framework is proposed – that of Hausmann et al.’s (2008) ‘binding constraints approach’, as well as a discussion of the central importance of the Annual National Assessments (ANAs) and the need to balance the rights and concerns of children and teachers. The main thesis of the article is that the wholesale lack of accountability for student learning outcomes in South Africa is arguably one of the.
A Newspaper's Effect on the Strength of Automatic Associations in Memory

A test was done to see if reading a newspaper which consistently overrepresents foreigners as criminals strengthens the automatic association between foreign country and criminal in memory (i.e., implicit cultivation). Further, an investigation was done to find out if reading articles from the same newspaper produces a short-term effect on the same measure and if (1) emotionalization of the newspaper texts, (2) emotional reactions of the reader (indicated by arousal), and (3) attributed text credibility moderate the short-term treatment effect. Eighty-five participants were assigned to one of three experimental conditions. Participants in the control group received short factual crime texts, where the nationality of the offender was not mentioned. Participants in the factual treatment group received the same texts, but the foreign nationality was mentioned. Participants in the emotionalized treatment group received emotionalized articles (i.e., texts which are high in vividness and frequency) covering the.
Automatic Translation of Scientific Documents in the HAL Archive

This paper describes the development of a statistical machine translation system between French and English for scientific papers. This system will be closely integrated into the French HAL open archive, a collection of more than 100.000 scientific papers. We describe the creation of in-domain parallel and monolingual corpora, the development of a domain specific translation system with the created resources, and its adaptation using monolingual resources only. These techniques allowed us to improve a generic system by more than 10 BLEU points.
Predictors of Heterosexual Siblings’ Acceptance of Their Lesbian Sister or Gay Brother

Research has shown that lesbian and gay (LG) individuals are coming out not only to their parents, but also to their siblings. Eighty percent of individuals in the United States are raised with one or more siblings; however, researchers have frequently underestimated the importance of the sibling bond. This study examined potential correlates of heterosexual siblings’ acceptance of their LG sister or brother using an online survey format (N = 189). In addition, psychometric properties for the Acceptance of Sibling Sexual Orientation Scale are provided. Results revealed that greater sibling relationship quality in adulthood, more contact with LG individuals, greater knowledge of LG communities, more support for LG civil rights, and various demographics (being female, having higher educational levels, not having an orthodox/fundamentalist religious orientation, less church attendance, and more liberal political ideology) are related to heterosexual siblings’ acceptance of their LG sister or brother. However, when these variables were examined together in a regression model, only sibling relationship in adulthood, contact with LG individuals, support for LG civil rights, and religious attendance were significant unique predictors of acceptance.
Genome-Wide Analysis of the RNA Helicase Gene Family in Gossypium raimondii

The RNA helicases, which help to unwind stable RNA duplexes, and have important roles in RNA metabolism, belong to a class of motor proteins that play important roles in plant development and responses to stress. Although this family of genes has been the subject of systematic investigation in Arabidopsis, rice, and tomato, it has not yet been characterized in cotton. In this study, we identified 161 putative RNA helicase genes in the genome of the diploid cotton species Gossypium raimondii. We classified these genes into three subfamilies, based on the presence of either a DEAD-box (51 genes), DEAH-box (52 genes), or DExD/H-box (58 genes) in their coding regions. Chromosome location analysis showed that the genes that encode RNA helicases are distributed across all 13 chromosomes of G. raimondii. Syntenic analysis revealed that 62 of the 161 G. raimondii helicase genes (38.5%) are within the identified syntenic blocks. Sixty-six (40.99%) helicase genes from G. raimondii have one or several putative orthologs in tomato. Additionally, GrDEADs have more conserved gene structures and more simple domains than GrDEAHs and GrDExD/Hs. Transcriptome sequencing data demonstrated that many of these helicases, especially GrDEADs, are highly expressed at the fiber initiation stage and in mature leaves. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a genome-wide analysis of the RNA helicase gene family in cotton.
Work Rewards, Work Values, and Organizational Commitment in an Employee-Owned Firm: Evidence from the U.K.

This study examines the influence of employee work values, demographic characteristics, and organizational rewards on levels of organizational commitment, involvement, identification, and loyalty in a U.K. employee-owned firm. The idea that commitment can be understood as afunction of the 'fit" between employee values and organizational rewards was explored. Under multiple regression analysis, demographic variables made little impact on levels of commitment, but both organizational rewards and work values showed significant relationships to commitment. Employees who showed strong participatory values exhibited relatively high commitment; those with strongly instrumental values showed relatively lower commitment, providing some support for the 'fit" model. The implications of these findings for theory and practice in the area of employee ownership are discussed.
Understanding Chinese Users’ Preference for Domestic over Foreign Internet Services

ABSTRACT The recent phenomenal growth in the number of Internet users has made China the largest Internet population in the world. While the market size of the country is still comparatively small, its growth remains promising due to the very low penetration rate. However, most foreign Internet companies that have entered the Chinese market are struggling to compete with their domestic counterparts. Additionally, the gap between Chinese users’ preference for domestic over foreign Internet services is widening rapidly. What factors contribute to their preference for domestic Internet services? This study attempts to understand Chinese users’ perceptions of Internet services through a sociotechnical analysis. A large-scale survey was conducted in two major Chinese cities. The authors find that superior technical quality and word-of-mouth influence positively affect the preference for domestic service, while the perceived globalness of foreign Internet firms is negatively related to the preference for domestic services. The level of consumer ethnocentrism has no effect on preference. By employing the Importance-Performance Analysis approach, the authors offer further implications for theory and practice. The research findings can serve as a foundation for investigating similar Internet marketing phenomena in other emerging economies.
Constructive shell representations for freeform surfaces and solids

We usually model freeform surfaces (mathematically, 2D r-sets embedded in 3D Euclidean space E/sup 3/) as a finite union of patches represented in the traditional parametric or the recently developed algebraic forms. The article introduces a new representation scheme for freeform surfaces called constructive shell representation (CSR), that draws on recent research on algebraic patches. CSRs of surfaces that constitute boundaries of solids are very useful for solid modeling. They represent thick shells derived from freeform surfaces and provide a means to compute exact CSG representations of freeform solids. <<ETX>>
Dynamic Modeling of Scratch Drive Actuators

There has been much research in developing scratch drive actuators (SDAs), but because of their dynamic complexity, these microelectromechanical system-based actuators have not been dynamically analyzed up to now. In this paper, a comprehensive model is presented to describe the dynamic behavior of SDA and its components during stepwise motion. In this model, Hamilton's principle and Newton's method are used to extract dynamic equations of the SDA plate and dynamic equation for the linear motion of SDA. This model presents a good insight into the operating principles of SDA by predicting the variation of different variables, such as bushing angle, contact length, horizontal position, and friction forces, during the application of different voltage profiles. Comparison between the modeling results and the available experimental data shows that this model is very effective in predicting some design objectives, such as step size and output force, for these type of actuators.
sedOnto: A Web Enabled Ontology for Synthetic Environment Representation Based on the SEDRIS Specification.

The application of Ontologies for solving interoperability problems has been widely recognised across multiple domains. Ontologies, by virtue of the shared conceptualization that they provide, may be communicated between people and application systems thereby facilitating interchange, interoperability and common understanding. The Modeling & Simulation (MS However, for the purposes of this paper, we shall highlight Web based sharing of SE semantics both ’Structural’ and ’Thing Level’, and the application of existing OWL/DL based reasoning systems and agent frameworks for performing terminological reasoning over SE objects.
A Burst of miRNA Innovation in the Early Evolution of Butterflies and Moths

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. Because several miRNAs are known to affect the stability or translation of developmental regulatory genes, the origin of novel miRNAs may have contributed to the evolution of developmental processes and morphology. Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) is a species-rich clade with a well-established phylogeny and abundant genomic resources, thereby representing an ideal system in which to study miRNA evolution. We sequenced small RNA libraries from developmental stages of two divergent lepidopterans, Cameraria ohridella (Horse chestnut Leafminer) and Pararge aegeria (Speckled Wood butterfly), discovering 90 and 81 conserved miRNAs, respectively, and many species-specific miRNA sequences. Mapping miRNAs onto the lepidopteran phylogeny reveals rapid miRNA turnover and an episode of miRNA fixation early in lepidopteran evolution, implying that miRNA acquisition accompanied the early radiation of the Lepidoptera. One lepidopteran-specific miRNA gene, miR-2768, is located within an intron of the homeobox gene invected, involved in insect segmental and wing patterning. We identified cubitus interruptus (ci) as a likely direct target of miR-2768, and validated this suppression using a luciferase assay system. We propose a model by which miR-2768 modulates expression of ci in the segmentation pathway and in patterning of lepidopteran wing primordia.
Myosin-X: a MyTH-FERM myosin at the tips of filopodia

Myosin-X (Myo10) is an unconventional myosin with MyTH4-FERM domains that is best known for its striking localization to the tips of filopodia and its ability to induce filopodia. Although the head domain of Myo10 enables it to function as an actin-based motor, its tail contains binding sites for several molecules with central roles in cell biology, including phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate, microtubules and integrins. Myo10 also undergoes fascinating long-range movements within filopodia, which appear to represent a newly recognized system of transport. Myo10 is also unusual in that it is a myosin with important roles in the spindle, a microtubule-based structure. Exciting new studies have begun to reveal the structure and single-molecule properties of this intriguing myosin, as well as its mechanisms of regulation and induction of filopodia. At the cellular and organismal level, growing evidence demonstrates that Myo10 has crucial functions in numerous processes ranging from invadopodia formation to cell migration.
Immunoreceptor tyrosine‐based activation motif phosphorylation during engulfment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae by the neutrophil‐restricted CEACAM3 (CD66d) receptor

Gonorrhea is characterized by a purulent urethral or cervical discharge consisting primarily of neutrophils associated with Neisseria gonorrhoeae. These interactions are facilitated by gonococcal colony opacity‐associated (Opa) protein binding to host cellular CEACAM receptors. Of these, CEACAM3 is restricted to neutrophils and contains an immunoreceptor tyrosine‐based activation motif (ITAM) reminiscent of that found within certain phagocytic Fc receptors. CEACAM3 was tyrosine phosphorylated by a Src family kinase‐dependent process upon infection by gonococci expressing CEACAM‐specific Opa proteins. This phosphorylation was necessary for efficient bacterial uptake; however, a less efficient uptake process became evident when kinase inhibitors or mutagenesis of the ITAM were used to prevent phosphorylation. Ligated CEACAM3 was recruited to a cytoskeleton‐containing fraction, intense foci of polymerized actin were evident where bacteria attached to HeLa‐CEACAM3, and disruption of polymerized actin by cytochalasin D blocked all bacterial uptake by these cells. These data support a model whereby CEACAM3 can mediate the Opa‐dependent uptake of N. gonorrhoeae via either an efficient, ITAM phosphorylation‐dependent process that resembles phagocytosis or a less efficient, tyrosine phosphorylation‐independent mechanism.
Polarization and two-photon spectroscopy of xenon for optical magnetometry

This dissertation presents work in the hyperpolarization of 129Xe and in precision Xe spectroscopy using two-photon absorption. Both projects contribute to the development of optical magnetometry using 129Xe. Motivating this work is the proposal for a new 129Xe-based comagnetometer at TRIUMF for experiments searching for a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron. In these proposed experiments 129Xe will occupy the same experimental volume as ultracold neutrons and be used to measure drifts in an applied magnetic field. A scheme is described for optical magnetometry which involves the production of polarized 129Xe followed by measurements using two-photon laser induced fluorescence as a probe. Spin exchange optical pumping is used to produce polarized 129Xe, which is a necessary precursor for optical magnetometry. The first part of this dissertation presents the implementation and operation of a polarizer using a diode laser and a Xe-Rb-N2-He mixture. We have achieved hyperpolarization of 129Xe up to PXe ≈ 5%, which is many times greater than the thermal equilibrium polarization. We measure the nuclear magnetic resonance signal from polarized 129Xe using a low-field detection apparatus, and compare the signal with predictions based on a rate equation model. Efforts to optimize the degree of polarization in the present apparatus are described, as well as purification of Xe gas through freezeout. The second part of this dissertation presents precision spectroscopy on natural abundance Xe using a narrow linewidth laser. The two-photon transition studied here ( 5p(P3/2)6p [3/2]2 ← 5p6 (S0)) is suitable to probe the ground state 129Xe polarization for optical magnetometry. We present the implementation of a CW laser source with narrow linewidth followed by the excitation of Xe twophoton absorption in a resonant cavity. We measure and report hyperfine constants and isotope shifts from the observed laser induced fluorescence spectra. From the observed signal to noise ratio we estimate a magnetometric sensitivity based on this detection scheme over a range of Xe pressures. Results from this two-photon absorption measurement are essential in the determination of parameters for final implementation in the nEDM experiment.
Architecture as a coordination tool in multi-site software development

A widely held understanding of coordination in software development is that it focuses on coordinating development activities to achieve a common goal. Our study, a case study in an international ICT company, suggests that in multi-site environment, it is not enough to coordinate development activities to achieve a common goal. Rather, more emphasis should be put on coordinating interdependencies between activities. Shifting the interest from activities (and subsystems) toward system-level dependencies requires software architects and developers to have a common understanding of the software architecture. Our findings reflect coordination challenges in multi-site environment with geographically dispersed teams. On the basis of the findings, we claim that architecture could be used to coordinate distributed development. However, this requires that the chief architect is capable of maintaining the integrity of the architecture and of communicating it. Furthermore, we list some requirements for a development methodology that uses architecture to support the coordination. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Silent and Continuous Authentication in Mobile Environment

Due to the increasing pervasiveness of mobile technologies, sensitive user information is often stored on mobile devices. Nowadays, mobile devices do not continuously verify the identity of the user while sensitive activities are performed. This enables attackers full access to sensitive data and applications on the device, if they obtain the password or grab the device after login. In order to mitigate this risk, we propose a continuous and silent monitoring process based on a set of features: orientation, touch and cell tower. The underlying assumption is that the features are representative of smartphone owner behaviour and this is the reason why the features can be useful to discriminate the owner by an impostor. Results show that our system, modeling the user behavior of 21 volunteer participants, obtains encouraging results, since we measured a precision in distinguishing an impostor from the owner between 99% and 100%.
Crystal structure of an Fe-S cluster-containing fumarate hydratase enzyme from Leishmania major reveals a unique protein fold

Significance Leishmaniases, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness are parasitic diseases classified as neglected tropical diseases, affecting approximately one-sixth of the world’s population. Because of the absence of effective medicines to treat these diseases, there is a substantial interest in the identification of new targets for the development of therapeutic strategies to combat neglected tropical diseases. We have determined the crystal structure of a class I fumarate hydratase (FH) from Leishmania major, the parasite responsible for cutaneous leishmaniasis, and find that the structure is distinct from class II human FH. Thus, Leishmania class I FH, which is an essential metabolic enzyme, offers a new perspective for the development of antileishmaniases therapies. Fumarate hydratases (FHs) are essential metabolic enzymes grouped into two classes. Here, we present the crystal structure of a class I FH, the cytosolic FH from Leishmania major, which reveals a previously undiscovered protein fold that coordinates a catalytically essential [4Fe-4S] cluster. Our 2.05 Å resolution data further reveal a dimeric architecture for this FH that resembles a heart, with each lobe comprised of two domains that are arranged around the active site. Besides the active site, where the substrate S-malate is bound bidentate to the unique iron of the [4Fe-4S] cluster, other binding pockets are found near the dimeric enzyme interface, some of which are occupied by malonate, shown here to be a weak inhibitor of this enzyme. Taken together, these data provide a framework both for investigations of the class I FH catalytic mechanism and for drug design aimed at fighting neglected tropical diseases.