Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
IκBα‐independent downregulation of NF‐κB activity by glucocorticoid receptor

IκBα is an inhibitor protein that prevents nuclear transport and activation of the transcription factor NF‐κB. In acute inflammation, NF‐κB is activated and increases the expression of several pro‐inflammatory cytokine and chemokine genes. Glucocorticoids counteract this process. It has been proposed that the glucocorticoid‐dependent inhibition of NF‐κB activity is mediated by increased synthesis of IκBα which should then sequester NF‐κB in an inactive cytoplasmic form. Here, we show by the use of a mutant glucocorticoid receptor and steroidal ligands that hormone‐induced IκBα synthesis and inhibition of NF‐κB activity are separable biochemical processes. A dimerization‐defective glucocorticoid receptor mutant that does not enhance the IκBα level is still able to repress NF‐κB activity. Conversely, glucocorticoid analogues competent in enhancing IκBα synthesis do not repress NF‐κB activity. These results demonstrate that increased synthesis of IκBα is neither required nor sufficient for the hormone‐mediated downmodulation of NF‐κB activity.
Dynamics of the Orientational Tensor Order Parameter in Polymeric Systems

The hydrodynamic description of lowmolecular-weight nematic liquid crystals is well established. Nematic-like degrees of freedom are not only relevant for truly thermodynamic nematic phases, but also play a role for isotropic phases close to the transition temperature. To describe these nematic fluctuations a second rank tensor, the full nematic order parameter tensor is required, since there is no director in the isotropic phase and a scalar quantity by itself cannot describe the orientation of the transient patches. In polymeric systems, besides the orientational degrees of freedom, there are also elastic degrees of freedom, responsible for the viscoelastic effects. In side-chain polymers these two aspects are clearly separated, since the nematic-like behavior refers to the mesogenic side-chains, while (visco-)elasticity is related to the backbone chain. For main chain systems there is a much closer connection between orientational and elastic aspects, since both are connected with the polymeric chain. In the following we will concentrate on the orientational degrees of freedom and disregard the elastic aspects. Our goal is to derive nonlinear macroscopic dynamic equations for the nematic-like degrees of freedom using symmetry, thermodynamic and hydrodynamic arguments. We summarize the director hydrodynamics in a nematic phase and combine this with the relaxing dynamics of the scalar degree of order into an effective dynamic equation for the 2nd rank order parameter tensor. The nonlinear convective terms are definitely of the Jaumann type describing the coupling to rotational flow, but there are in addition phenomenological (linear and nonlinear) couplings to elongational flow, which can be of equal importance. The latter, however, have a very definite structure due to the underlying director hydrodynamics. In addition we discuss the form of the dynamic equations for orientational fluctuations in the isotropic phase of semi-flexible or stiff polymers. Again Jaumann-type convective nonlinearities are present, however the phenomenological part of the dynamics is rather different from that in the nematic phase and it is not possible to use the same set of equations for the orientational dynamics in the nematic and the isotropic phase. Furthermore we give the form of the appropriate orientational-elastic stresses in the stress tensor. They are completely fixed by the orientation dynamics and no choices are left. Thus, there are again different expressions for the isotropic and the nematic phase. In particular, a simple stress-optical law is valid for the isotropic phase only – and only in linear approximation. A more detailed exposition of these topics including comparison with the literature can be found in [1].
Understanding Patients’ Process to Use Medical Marijuana

Given the necessity to better understand the process patients need to go through in order to seek treatment via medical marijuana, this study investigates this process to better understand this phenomenon. Specifically, Compassion Care Foundation (CCF) and Stockton University worked together to identify a solution to this problem. Specifically, 240 new patients at CCF were asked to complete a 1-page survey regarding various aspects associated with their experience prior to their use of medicinal marijuana—diagnosis, what prompted them to seek treatment, level of satisfaction with specific stages in the process, total length of time the process took, and patient’s level of pain. Results reveal numerous patient diagnoses for which medical marijuana is being prescribed; the top 4 most common are intractable skeletal spasticity, chronic and severe pain, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Next, results indicate a little over half of the patients were first prompted to seek alternative treatment from their physicians, while the remaining patients indicated that other sources such as written information along with friends, relatives, media, and the Internet persuaded them to seek treatment. These data indicate that a variety of sources play a role in prompting patients to seek alternative treatment and is a critical first step in this process. Additional results posit that once patients began the process of qualifying to receive medical marijuana as treatment, the process seemed more positive even though it takes patients on average almost 6 months to obtain their first treatment after they started the process. Finally, results indicate that patients are reporting a moderately high level of pain prior to treatment. Implication of these results highlights several important elements in the patients’ initial steps toward seeking medical marijuana, along with the quality and quantity of the process patients must engage in prior to obtaining treatment. In addition, identifying patients’ level of pain and better understanding the possible therapeutic value of medical marijuana are essential to patients and health practitioners.
Randomization of genes by PCR mutagenesis.

A modified polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed to introduce random point mutations into cloned genes. The modifications were made to decrease the fidelity of Taq polymerase during DNA synthesis without significantly decreasing the level of amplification achieved in the PCR. The resulting PCR products can be cloned to produce random mutant libraries or transcribed directly if a T7 promoter is incorporated within the appropriate PCR primer. We used this method to mutagenize the gene that encodes the Tetrahymena ribozyme with a mutation rate of 0.66% +/- 0.13% (95% C.I.) per position per PCR, as determined by sequence analysis. There are no strong preferneces with respect to the type of base substituion. The number of mutations per DNA sequence follows a Poisson distribution and the mutations are randomly distributed throughout the amplified sequence.
A family of 3GPP-standard noise suppressors for the AMR codec and the evaluation results

The paper presents a family of 3GPP-standard noise suppressors and the evaluation results. The family consists of a high-quality version and a low-complexity version. These noise suppressors are based on the MMSE STSA (minimum mean square error short time spectral amplitude) algorithm originally proposed by Y. Ephraim and D. Malah (see IEEE Trans. Acoust., Speech, Sig. Processing, vol.ASSP-32, no.6, p.1109-21, 1984). To meet the 3GPP requirements with better speech quality, weighted noise estimation, synthesis windowing, and pseudo noise injection are incorporated. Weighted noise estimation enables continuous noise estimation even in the speech period by using weighted noisy speech. The weight is controlled such that a higher estimated SNR gives a smaller weight. A synthesis window function is applied between inverse transform and overlap-add processing for smooth transition at frame boundaries. Pseudo noise injection, which is not available in the low-complexity version, modifies the spectral gain based on its nonlinearity. The whole family satisfies all the 3GPP requirements. Results of a full set of evaluations specified by 3GPP are presented for the high-quality version.
Converting service encounters into cross-selling opportunities: Does faith in supervisor ability help or hinder service-sales ambidexterity?

– This paper aims to examine how the motivation and ability of individual employees to sell influences their units’ capability to align their service delivery with sales in a way that satisfies customers. It also addresses the potential influence of employees’ confidence in their supervisor’s ability to sell, such that they predict a joint influence of personal and proxy agency. , – This study uses hierarchical linear modeling to address the research issues. , – Employees’ learning orientation has a positive influence on service-sales ambidexterity, but the impact of a performance-avoidance goal orientation is negative, and a performance-prove orientation has no influence. Proxy efficacy enhances the positive impact of learning orientations due to the manager’s ability to lead by example, facilitate knowledge sharing and provide advice. However, it attenuates the impact of self-efficacy on service-sales ambidexterity, because skilled supervisors tend to take over and eliminate opportunities for employees to build their own skills. It also confirms the positive influence of service-sales ambidexterity on branch performance. , – To examine the emerging service-sales ambidexterity issues raised in frontline service units, this study adopts a motivation and capability paradigm. It is among the first studies to address service-sales ambidexterity issues by considering both individual and branch contextual factors.
Sexually abused women after multimodal group therapy: A long-term follow-up study

This study reports a long-term follow-up of 38 of 54 (70%) women who had participated in time-limited multimodal group treatment for the psychological sequelae of sexual abuse. The women had been highly symptomatic at the onset and were generally improved following treatment and at follow-up ( M = 4.7, SD = 2.0 years). Nonetheless, many remained moderately symptomatic. Previous therapy and pre-therapy level of symptoms predicted a higher level of post-treatment symptoms, while better post-treatment status and younger age predicted fewer symptoms at the time of follow-up. Interpersonal functioning at follow-up was predicted by post-treatment interpersonal functioning. On the whole, clients perceived their interpersonal functioning as better at follow-up than it had been after treatment. Their use of any mental health services was modest in the follow-up period. In general, the long-term follow-up status of these women was encouragingly positive.
Interleukin-15 dendritic cells as vaccine candidates for cancer immunotherapy

Owing to their professional antigen-presenting capacity and unique potential to induce tumor antigen-specific T cell immunity, dendritic cells (DCs) have attracted much interest over the past decades for therapeutic vaccination against cancer. Clinical trials have shown that the use of tumor antigen-loaded DCs in cancer patients is safe and that it has the potential to induce anti-tumor immunity which, in some cases, culminates in striking clinical responses. Unfortunately, in a considerable number of patients, DC vaccination is unable to mount effective anti-tumor immune responses and, if it does so, the resultant immunity is often insufficient to translate into tangible clinical benefit. This underscores the necessity to re-design and optimize the current procedures for DC vaccine manufacturing. A new generation of DC vaccines with improved potency has now become available for clinical use as a result of extensive pre-clinical research. One of the promising next-generation DC vaccine candidates are interleukin (IL)-15-differentiated DCs. In this commentary, we will compile the research data that have been obtained by our group and other groups with these so-called IL-15 DCs and summarize the evidence supporting the implementation of IL-15 DCs in DC-based cancer vaccination regimens.
Very low genetic variability in the Indian queenless ant Diacamma indicum

We developed microsatellite markers and combined them with mitochondrial markers to analyse the population genetic structure of the queenless ant Diacamma indicum. This species, lacking winged queens, is likely to have a restricted female dispersal but exhibits various life history traits suggesting higher dispersal abilities than the other Diacamma species. Only 4 of 11 microsatellites were polymorphic and only 1 had more than 4 alleles over 166 individuals originating from 7 populations from the south of India. Only one mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype was detected throughout India (including one population in the north) and Sri Lanka. Such a level of polymorphism is particularly low compared with other Diacamma species having much smaller ranges in the south of India. A strong genetic differentiation was observed between populations separated by more than a few kilometres. We also analysed the genetic differentiation between the Indian populations and two populations from the Japanese island of Okinawa, which are morphologically similar and might belong to the same species. The genetic differentiation was high for both markers, suggesting an absence of ongoing gene flow between these populations.
What Does the Camera Communicate? An Inquiry into the Politics and Possibilities of Video Research on Learning

This piece explores the politics and possibilities of video research on learning in educational settings. The authors (a research–practice team) argue that changing the stance of inquiry from surveillance to relationship is an ongoing and contingent practice that involves pedagogical, political, and ethical choices on the part of researchers and educators. This discussion is grounded in ethnographic data collected in an equity-oriented, after-school program organized around science, engineering, and arts education. [learning, video, ethnography, methodology, equity]
Effects of Welding on Health III

This literature review, with 194 citations, was prepared under contract to the American Welding Society for its Safety and Health Committee. The review deals with studies of the fumes, gases, radiation, and noise generated during various arc welding processes. Section 1 summarizes recent studies of the occupational exposures, while Section 2 contains information related to the human health effects of exposure to byproducts of welding operations. Section 3 discusses studies of the effects of welding emissions on laboratory animals and in vitro cell systems. Referenced materials are available from Biomedical Toxicology Associates. Prepared for Safety and Health Committee American Welding Society 550 N. W. LeJeune Road, P.O. Box 351040 Miami, Florida 33135
A Comparative Analysis of New Product Programmes

This empirical research based on a sample of 154 companies in Canada, USA, Germany and Denmark compares new product development practices in North America and Europe. A literature survey established a research model consisting of six blocks of criteria thought to influence the outcome of new product development efforts. The data collection tool, a mailed questionnaire, was established. It was hypothesized that new product development programmes and their outcomes were not different between Europe and North America. The findings indicate there are significant programme and outcome differences between those two areas. On average the European firms followed more practices that are considered “good new product development practices” and were more positive about their new product development results. The differences between North American and European firms′ approaches can be, at least to some degree, explained by cultural/national conditions.
Implementation of high nature value farmland in agri-environmental policies : what can be learned from other EU member states?

The term High Nature Value farmland (HNV) refers to types of farmland that are important for biodiversity. In the European agri-environmental policy arena HNV is gaining interest, especially in the ongoing debate about the greening of the Common Agricultural Policy. At present The Netherlands lags behind in terms of HNV policy adoption. This reports describes in what way three EU member states implement HNV farmland in their agri-environmental policy and discusses which lessons can be drawn from the cases. The report concludes with a roadmap on how The Netherlands could proceed in the further integration of HNV farmland in its agri-environmental policy.
Cost model for monolithic 3D integrated circuits

A cost model for monolithic 3D-ICs is presented that takes into account increased process complexity and associated yield impact as well as area reduction. The model enables more accurate PPC (Power, Performance and Cost) understanding and the range of applicability for monolithic 3D-IC technology. The model shows that depending on the die area and partitioning scheme, the cost benefit can be 50% or higher.
Identity and Access Management

Various Identity and Access Management (IAM) architectural challenges are emerging for the effective deployment of applications in digital entitlement context. Data Management solutions should incorporate efficient access control techniques and adopt an optimal setup among countless and complex approaches in providing access control services. Web Single Sign-on (SSO), federated identities, password synchronization and service granularity can be accomplished through the IAM capabilities, so that System can address and fulfill most of the contemporary access management challenges. Our work proposes an innovative model to manage the multilevel integration of identity, authentication and authorization modules based on formal policy-based methods and various access control mechanisms in order to provide secure access to the resources. In the proposed model, we analyze and integrate identity, authentication, user roles, authorization access control levels, and rule validation mechanisms. Finally, the model offers policy-based and integration capabilities enabling automated controls, improved efficiency and simplified management.
Visual potentials evoked by light-emitting diodes mounted in goggles.

Ronald P. Lesser, M.D. Hans Lüders, M.D. G. Klem, R. EEG T . Dudley S. Dinner, M.D. The authors compared, in 20 subjects, the occipital potentials following pattern reversal stimulation to those following stimulation by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted 5 mm apart in 4 X 4 arrays inside goggles. The resulting waveform resembled that evoked by flash and varied between subjects, with the most useful measurements being those of differences between leftand righteye stimulation. Not all peaks occurred in each control. Thus the method appears to have only limited advantages over those previously available, although it may have applications in young, uncooperative, comatose, or anesthetized patients. Awareness of the limitations of the method should stimulate the search for more reliable techniques for use when pattern stimulation cannot be employed.
Mechanism of thermal decomposition of carbamoyl phosphate and its stabilization by aspartate and ornithine transcarbamoylases

Carbamoyl phosphate (CP) has a half-life for thermal decomposition of <2 s at 100 °C, yet this critical metabolic intermediate is found even in organisms that grow at 95–100 °C. We show here that the binding of CP to the enzymes aspartate and ornithine transcarbamoylase reduces the rate of thermal decomposition of CP by a factor of >5,000. Both of these transcarbamoylases use an ordered-binding mechanism in which CP binds first, allowing the formation of an enzyme·CP complex. To understand how the enzyme·CP complex is able to stabilize CP we investigated the mechanism of the thermal decomposition of CP in aqueous solution in the absence and presence of enzyme. By quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations we show that the critical step in the thermal decomposition of CP in aqueous solution, in the absence of enzyme, involves the breaking of the CO bond facilitated by intramolecular proton transfer from the amine to the phosphate. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the binding of CP to the active sites of these enzymes significantly inhibits this process by restricting the accessible conformations of the bound ligand to those disfavoring the reactive geometry. These results not only provide insight into the reaction pathways for the thermal decomposition of free CP in an aqueous solution but also show why these reaction pathways are not accessible when the metabolite is bound to the active sites of these transcarbamoylases.
Evidence of hybridization between Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) and L. alatum (winged loosestrife) in North America.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Although Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) was introduced to North America from Europe in the early 1800s, it did not become invasive until the 1930s. Whether hybridization with L. alatum (winged loosestrife) could have played a role in its ultimate spread was tested. METHODS Six diagnostic morphological traits (flower number per axil, leaf placement, calyx pubescence, style type, plant height and leaf shape) were surveyed in 30 populations of Lythrum across eastern North America. Patterns of AFLP variation were also evaluated using five primer pairs in a 'global screen' of the same North American populations of L. salicaria and L. alatum described above, in L. salicaria from 11 European populations located in Germany, England, Ireland, Austria and Finland, and in six L. salicaria cultivars. KEY RESULTS All of the North American L. salicaria populations had individuals with alternate leaf placement and 1-2 flowers per leaf axil, which have not been described in Eurasian L. salicaria but predominate in North American L. alatum. In addition, two L. salicaria populations were intermediate in height and leaf ratio between the typical L. salicaria and L. alatum populations in their native fields and when grown in a common greenhouse. In screens of variation patterns using 279 AFLPs, only two fragments were found that clearly supported introgression from L. alatum to L. salicaria. CONCLUSIONS The evidence indicates that L. salicaria may have hybridized with L. alatum, but if so, only a small fraction of L. alatum genes have been retained in the genome of L. salicaria. This is unlikely to have led to a dramatic adaptive shift unless the introgression of a few key genes into L. salicaria stimulated a genomic reorganization. It is more likely that crossing among genotypes of L. salicaria from multiple introductions provided the necessary variability for new adaptations to arise.
A guide to international joint ventures : with sample clauses

Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Letter of Intent. 3. Joint Venture Agreement. 4. Choosing the Form of Joint Venture. 5. Basic Clauses (1-20). 6. Basic Clauses (21-30). 7. Basic Clauses (31-50). 8. Shareholders' Agreement. 9. Due Diligence Procedures. 10. European Competition Law/Joint Ventures. 11. Jurisdictional Questionnaire for International Joint Venture (77 questions). Glossary. Select Bibliography. Index.