Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immortalized human neural progenitor cells from the ventral telencephalon with the potential to differentiate into GABAergic neurons

Human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) are believed to have important potential in clinical applications and basic neuroscience research. In the present study, we created a new immortalized human neural cell line, hSN12W‐TERT, derived from human fetal ventral telencephalon, using IRES‐based retroviral overexpression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase. We showed that after more than 40 passages, hSN12W‐TERT cells possess high telomerase activity, maintain a normal diploid karyotype, and retain the characteristics of hNPCs. Under proliferative conditions, these cells remained undifferentiated, expressing the neural progenitor cell markers nestin, vimentin, and Sox2. The cells were able to differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes after a significant decrease in the level of telomerase following withdrawal of growth factors. The neurons were postmitotic and achieved electrophysiologic competence. Furthermore, we showed that most neurons were GABAergic, especially on differentiation induced by bone morphogenetic protein–2 (BMP2). RT‐PCR analysis also confirmed that hSN12W‐TERT cells expressed mammalian achaete‐scute homolog 1 (Mash1) and Dlx2, genes associated with the development of GABAergic cortical interneurons. BMP2 exposuremay activate a positive‐feedback loop of BMP signaling in hSN12W‐TERT cells. Our data indicated that this hSN12W‐TERT cell line could be a valuable experimental tool with which to study the regulatory roles of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in human neural stem cell biology and that it would be useful in basic research and in research seeking to discover novel drug targets for clinical candidates. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A New Range Finder Based on a Four-Port Junction

The design and performance of a prototype range finder based on a four-port junction are presented. The four-port junction is used as a precision phase detector. The system proposed presents advantages such as compact size, low cost, low consumption, and low computational time. The principle of operation, the sensor and the results are described in this paper.
Dynamic Energy Management System for a Smart Microgrid

This paper presents the development of an intelligent dynamic energy management system (I-DEMS) for a smart microgrid. An evolutionary adaptive dynamic programming and reinforcement learning framework is introduced for evolving the I-DEMS online. The I-DEMS is an optimal or near-optimal DEMS capable of performing grid-connected and islanded microgrid operations. The primary sources of energy are sustainable, green, and environmentally friendly renewable energy systems (RESs), e.g., wind and solar; however, these forms of energy are uncertain and nondispatchable. Backup battery energy storage and thermal generation were used to overcome these challenges. Using the I-DEMS to schedule dispatches allowed the RESs and energy storage devices to be utilized to their maximum in order to supply the critical load at all times. Based on the microgrid's system states, the I-DEMS generates energy dispatch control signals, while a forward-looking network evaluates the dispatched control signals over time. Typical results are presented for varying generation and load profiles, and the performance of I-DEMS is compared with that of a decision tree approach-based DEMS (D-DEMS). The robust performance of the I-DEMS was illustrated by examining microgrid operations under different battery energy storage conditions.
Verilog-A implementation of energy-efficient SAR ADCs for biomedical application

This paper presents a Verilog-A implementation of three different energy efficient architectures of Successive Approximation Register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) namely SAR ADC with monotonic capacitor switching DAC, SAR ADC with split-monotonic capacitor switching DAC and SAR ADC with bypass window technique. These architectures were constructed for a resolution of 4 bits. Simulation results of all the three were compared to analyze the convergence of output nodal voltage and the reduction in switching activity. SAR ADC with bypass window technique was observed to be efficient with a switching activity of 3 for a switching activity of 4 in other two architectures. The limitations of this architecture were studied and a new architecture was proposed overcoming the limitations. Verilog-A implementation was carried out for the proposed architecture. From the simulation results it was observed that the proposed architecture retained the functionality of existing architecture except for a specific input combination where the existing architecture was less accurate. Result from the proposed architecture was 90.9% more accurate than the existing architecture.
TangramTheatre: presenting children's creation on multimodal tabletops

The tangram is a jigsaw-like traditional Chinese art form rich in wittiness and expressiveness. However, there is an absence of efficient support to create animations for children and novice users after designing tangram characters. Thus, we present TangramTheatre, a performance-driven animation tool that combines both creation and animation of physical and virtual characters. TangramTheatre allows users to create characters using seven physical tangram pieces as what they do in real tangram games and then edit animations of these characters. In this paper we present our proof of concept prototype. A preliminary study was conducted to direct a future empirical study with children. The results show that all of the participants express great interests in TangramTheatre.
Quality of experience-aware enhanced inter-cell interference coordination for self organized HetNet

Fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks are geared to support future services such as enhanced Mobile BroadBand. They already face dramatic data traffic increase mainly due to the generalized demand by mobile consumers for Full High Definition/High Definition (Full HD/HD) video services. The most viable solution to solve this problem is to deploy heterogeneous cellular networks, which involve a massive deployment of densified low power cells. However, in heterogeneous cellular networks, coordination of cell scheduling is required to efficiently distribute the resources and mitigate inter-cell interference. To puzzle out this issue, a novel approach based on game theory that optimizes cell time transmission muting and user attachment is proposed. Its novelty consists in directly involving user Quality of Experience (QoE) in the maximization of an overall video utility instead of a global network utility, aiming at driving inter-cell interference coordination algorithms with user satisfaction. The proposed solution is compared with a state-of-the-art strategy. The numerical results show how QoE awareness significantly improves the efficiency of inter-cell interference management in heterogeneous cellular networks and increases the density of users requesting higher quality videos.
Area performance of multi-cell massive MIMO system under Ricean fading

Wireless network design is characterized by multiple performance objectives. In this work, we consider the performance of downlink transmit beamforming in multi-cell massive MIMO systems under Ricean propagation. Deliberations are made on variation of Ricean factor in controlling the transmit beamforming for mitigating multi-cell contamination. We propose downlink Zero Forcing (ZF) beamforming scheme, that is user location-dependent especially at cell edge. The crux is to adjust the base station power for users close to cell edges. Exploiting random matrix theory, mathematical conclusions for the per cell area rate, Ricean factor and transmit power are established in closed form expressions. Simulation results show accuracy of the bounds and performance of the ZF beamforming with massive MIMO channels. The results demonstrate the proposed ZF beamforming outperforms the conventional ZF beamforming, hence resolves the impact of contaminations from neighboring cells. The rate gain is dependent on Ricean factor and user location, but independent of cell size.
Does Current Demographic Policy in Russia Impact on Fertility of Different Educational Groups? Results from Quantitative and Qualitative Studies

This article is devoted to investigation current demographic policy in Russia impact on fertility of different educational groups. Authors use qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data for this analysis come from the Gender and Generation Survey in Russia (2004, 2007, 2011 waves). Semi-structured interview method (Moscow, 2010) was used to assess the cognitive and emotional aspects of fertility behaviour (to give birth the next child). One of the important results of this study that Russian population could not be satisfated with current demographic policy. Moreover, higher educated people have stronger demand for family-work measures to reach desired family size. People with higher education estimate influence of existing measures lower as a whole, but influence of potential measures (directed on combination of career and parenthood) the estimated higher.
No . 157 Date Rape : A Hidden Crime

ISSN 0817-8542 ISBN 0 642 24155 4 Despite an increasing awareness of the problem of sexual violence, there is still reluctance in some quarters for date rape to be considered criminal or even unacceptable behaviour. This is due partly to the hidden nature of the crime and the complicated issue of sexual consent. Numerous Australian women have experienced date rape. This paper outlines the main issues underlying date rape. Because of low-reporting, it is difficult to establish an accurate measure of the extent of the problem, thus reducing the possibility of identifying appropriate responses for prevention and for treatment of victims and perpetrators. Victims who do not recognise forced sex as unacceptable are unlikely to seek help, despite the potential impact of date rape being just as severe and traumatic as other types of rape. This paper discusses prevention measures that range from a change in the formulation of Rohypnol, which has been misused as a “date rape drug”, through to a description of school and community activities concerned with the prevention of violence.
Population Dynamics of Aphthona whitfieldi (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Pest of Jatropha curcas, and Environmental Factors Favoring Its Abundance in Burkina Faso

The flea beetle Aphthona whitfieldi Bryant (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is the main pest of the bioenergy crop Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae) in Burkina Faso and several other West African countries. Adults severely defoliate plants, resulting in seedling mortality, poor growth, and low yields. To study the population dynamics of the pest in the Sissili Province of Burkina Faso, 12 sites were monitored weekly during a year and 31 sites were inspected for damage at the peak period of insect abundance. The effect of cropping systems (hedge, intercropping, and monoculture) and surrounding vegetation on population densities of A. whitfieldi was assessed. Beetles were rarely found in the dry season and peaked in the second half of the rainy season. The cropping system did not significantly influence the abundance and attack level. In contrast, the close vicinity of fallow lands seems to increase damage levels. Many aspects of the biology and ecology of A. whitfieldi remain to be investigated before sustainable control methods can be developed. However, this study already allows us to propose recommendations for further research on management.
Mapping behavioural evolution onto brain evolution: the strategic roles of conserved organization in individuals and species

The pattern of individual variation in brain component structure in pigs, minks and laboratory mice is very similar to variation across species in the same components, at a reduced scale. This conserved pattern of allometric scaling resembles robotic architectures designed to be robust to changes in computing power and task demands, and may reflect the mechanism by which both growing and evolving brains defend basic sensory, motor and homeostatic functions at multiple scales. Conserved scaling rules also have implications for species-specific sensory and social communication systems, motor competencies and cognitive abilities. The role of relative changes in neuron number in the central nervous system in producing species-specific behaviour is thus highly constrained, while changes in the sensory and motor periphery, and in motivational and attentional systems increase in probability as the principal loci producing important changes in functional neuroanatomy between species. By their nature, these loci require renewed attention to development and life history in the initial organization and production of species-specific behavioural abilities.
Short Bowel Patients Treated for Two Years with Glucagon-Like Peptide 2: Effects on Intestinal Morphology and Absorption, Renal Function, Bone and Body Composition, and Muscle Function

Background and aims. In a short-term study, Glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2) has been shown to improve intestinal absorption in short bowel syndrome (SBS) patients. This study describes longitudinal changes in relation to GLP-2 treatment for two years. Methods. GLP-2, 400 micrograms, s.c. ,TID, were offered, to eleven SBS patients keeping parenteral support constant. 72-hour nutritional balance studies were performed at baseline, weeks 13, 26, 52 during two years intermitted by an 8-week washout period. In addition, mucosal morphometrics, renal function (by creatinine clearance), body composition and bone mineral density (by DEXA), biochemical markers of bone turnover (by s-CTX and osteocalcin, PTH and vitamin D), and muscle function (NMR, lungfunction, exercise test) were measured. Results. GLP-2 compliance was >93%. Three of eleven patients did not complete the study. In the remaining 8 patients, GLP-2 significantly reduced the fecal wet weight from approximately 3.0 to approximately 2.0 kg/day. This was accompanied by a decline in the oral wet weight intake, maintaining intestinal wet weight absorption and urinary weight constant. Renal function improved. No significant changes were demonstrated in energy intake or absorption, and GLP-2 did not significantly affect mucosal morphology, body composition, bone mineral density or muscle function. Conclusions. GLP-2 treatment reduces fecal weight by approximately 1000 g/d and enables SBS patients to maintain their intestinal fluid and electrolyte absorption at lower oral intakes. This was accompanied by a 28% improvement in creatinine clearance.
Organizational knowledge leadership

Purpose – Knowledge management as a key top executive function has not been sufficiently explored in the leadership literature. This study seeks to examine the role of top executives in knowledge management by first building theoretical hypotheses and subsequently testing them. Hypotheses are developed through the integration of the knowledge management and leadership literatures and tested using CEO interviews published in Harvard Business Review.Design/methodology/approach – Using the method of structured content analysis developed by Jauch et al., this study uses these HBR interviews and develops questionnaire instruments through which data are collected from respondents in a structured fashion. This innovative method involves the distribution of these published interviews with top executives of organizations (such as CEOs) to multiple groups of respondents, who then carefully read the interviews and responded to the structured questions developed for the purpose of assessing the relevant constructs in.
Ligand-Dependent Coactivation of the Human Bile Acid Receptor FXR by the Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Coactivator-1α

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) has been shown to play an important role in energy metabolism by coordinating transcriptional programs involved in mitochondrial biogenesis, adaptive thermogenesis, gluconeogenesis, and fatty acid oxidation. PGC-1α also plays a crucial role in cholesterol metabolism by serving as a coactivator of the liver X receptor-α and inducing the expression of cholesterol 7-α-hydroxylase. Here, we demonstrate that PGC-1α also functions as an effective coactivator of farnesoid X receptor (FXR), the bile acid receptor. Transient cotransfection assays demonstrate that PGC-1α enhances ligand-mediated FXR transcription when either full-length FXR or Gal4 DNA binding domain-FXR-ligand binding domain chimeras were analyzed. Mammalian two-hybrid analyses, glutathione S-transferase affinity chromatography and biochemical coactivator recruitment assays demonstrate ligand-dependent interaction between the two proteins both in vivo and in vitro. PGC-1α-mediated coactivation of FXR was highly ligand-dependent and absolutely required an intact activation function-2 (AF-2) domain of FXR and the LXXLL motif in PGC-1α. The integrity of the charge clamp was required, further illustrating the role of the ligand binding domain of FXR in PGC-1α recognition. Together, these results indicate that PGC-1α functions as a potent coactivator for FXR and further implicates its role in the regulation of genes that are involved in bile acid and lipid metabolism.
Mining fuzzy rules for time series classification

Time series classification is concerned about discovering classification models in a database of pre-classified time series and using them to classify unseen time series. To better handle the noises and fuzziness in time series data, we propose a new data mining technique to mine fuzzy rules in the data. The fuzzy rules discovered employ fuzzy sets to represent the revealed regularities and exceptions. The resilience of fuzzy sets to noises allows the proposed approach to better handle the noises embedded in the data. Furthermore, it uses the adjusted residual as an objective measure to evaluate the interestingness of association relationships hidden in the data. The adjusted residual analysis allows the differentiation of interesting relationships from uninteresting ones without any user-specified thresholds. To evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, we applied it to several well-known time series datasets. The experimental results showed that our approach is very promising.
Phytoplankton Response to Saharan Dust Depositions in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: A Mesocosm Study

The response of phytoplankton populations from surface ultra-oligotrophic waters of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to Saharan dust additions was studied during a 10-day mesocosm experiment in May 2014. A set of triplicate mesocosms entitled ‘Single Addition’ treatment (SA) was amended with Saharan dust once, while another triplicate set entitled ‘Repetitive Addition’ treatment (RA) received the same amount of dust divided into three consecutive daily doses administered within the first three experimental days, both simulating patterns of dust deposition events taking place in the field. In both treatments, dust particles released small amounts of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus which stimulated by two-fold both chlorophyll-a concentration and primary production for a time period of six days, as compared to a set of control mesocosms carried out without dust addition. Phytoplankton response was similar in both treatments, regardless of the dust addition pattern, and it evolved through two distinct phases in both cases. The first phase (i.e. 1 to 2 days after initial addition) was characterized by enhancement of picoplankton chlorophyll-normalized production rates as a result of elevated orthophosphate concentrations while the second phase (i.e. 3 to 4 days after initial dust addition), was characterized by elevated chlorophyll-normalized production rates corresponding to larger cells (> 5 μm) as a result of increased mineral nitrogen concentrations. The stimulated primary production of larger cells was not accompanied by a respective increase in carbon biomass suggesting important top-down control. The major phytoplankton taxa detected during the experiment were Synechococcus, Pelagophytes and Prymnesiophytes. Estimations of cellular pigment concentrations and carbon-to-chlorophyll ratios of identified groups and differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells are discussed.
Strategic Decision-Making Process Characteristics, Confucian Values and their Effects on International Entry Mode Decisions: A Study of Chinese Private Firms

Based on the literature of SDM (strategic decision-making), cultural studies, and international entry mode, this study examines the effects of managerial cultural values and characteristics of SDMP (strategic decision-making process) on the Chinese private firms’ international entry mode decisions. Although the international entry mode decision is one of most frequently studied strategic decisions in the domain of international business, prior studies tend to neglect the effects of the decision-maker and decision-making process by assuming a rational decision model employed in the entry mode decision-making. However, SDM literature indicates that the decision-maker and decision process also play important roles in making a strategic decision. In order to address two aforementioned less explored elements, this study develops an integrative framework by introducing managerial cultural values - Confucian dynamism - and characteristics of SDMP into the extant rational framework to explain Chinese firms’ international entry mode decisions. This study adopts a mixed-method research approach by employing the survey method as the main design, supplemented by a follow-up case study method. Following a pilot paired questionnaire mailing, a large-scale mail survey was carried out in China, which generated 233 usable replies. CFA (confirmatory factor analysis) and binary logistical regression techniques were used to conduct construct validation and hypothesis testing respectively. In order to further understand the phenomenon in the real setting, a case study approach was conducted in four Chinese firms, which used different entry modes in their most important international entries. The findings of this study largely confirm the theoretical arguments of SDM literature and cultural studies that managerial value and decision process affect the outcome of strategic decision. Confucian dynamism was found to have both direct and moderating effects on the international entry mode decision. Characteristics of SDMP were also found to exert a moderating role in adjusting the effect of managerial value on the perceived situation. The evidence of case study also reflects that managers with varying degrees of Confucian dynamism tend to evaluate situational conditions differently, and different decision process dimensions are likely to limit or increase the chance of the subjective treatment of situational information. The major contribution of this study is that seemingly for the first time, Confucian dynamism, a traditional Chinese cultural trait, was found to have a directly negative influence and a moderating effect on international entry mode decision. In addition, characteristics of SDMP also were found to play an important role in adjusting the cultural preferential treatment of situational information. In short, besides the impacts from environmental and firm conditions, this study found that the decision-maker and the SDMP can also explain entry modes.