Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Kenyan Judiciary’s Open Government Initiative: prospects and challenges

Purpose This paper is based on an empirical study undertaken between April 2014 to December 2014 that aims to investigate the Open Government Initiative in the Kenyan Judiciary and its contribution to Judiciary transformation for enhanced justice delivery. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws from both literature and data collected from representative professionals in the Kenyan Judiciary through interviews and questionnaires. Findings The findings indicated that the Kenyan Judiciary was at its initial stages of implementing its Open Government Initiative, and several strategies for the implementation were identified. Further, the findings revealed the benefits of opening up the Judiciary for public participation which pointed toward an improved justice delivery. Originality/value This paper presents findings of the investigation of Open Government Initiative in the Kenyan Judiciary as a contributory factor to the then on-going Judiciary transformation aimed at enhanced justice delivery. The paper provides a nexus between open government and records management and demonstrates the importance of sound records management for successful Open Government Initiative.
Evaluation of T-cell Clonality in Archival Skin Biopsy Samples of Cutaneous T-cell Lymphomas Using the Biomed-2 PCR Protocol

Recently, several European centers of lymphoma diagnosis and research developed various polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods for clonality analysis in suspect T-cell and B-cell proliferations (Biomed-2 Concerted Action). They have mainly been applied to frozen material of systemic B-cell and T-cell malignancies. Thus far, only limited data exist with regard to cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and paraffin-embedded material. Thus, we applied the Biomed-2 T-cell receptor (TCR) γ and TCRβ PCR as well as an in-house TCRγ PCR to a collection of 107 archival skin samples (84 CTCL, 3 systemic TCL and 20 controls). As a result, the Biomed-2 TCRγ PCR revealed 81% clonality, the in-house TCRγ method revealed 86% clonality, and the Biomed-2 TCRβ revealed 78% clonality in CTCL samples generating at least the 300 bp fragment in the Biomed-2 control PCR. We found clonal TCRβ rearrangements in 5 of 17 CTCL samples that were polyclonal in the Biomed-2 TCRγ PCR. By combining all Biomed-2 assays, one or more clonal rearrangements were detected in 87% of CTCL and in all 3 systemic TCLs. By combining all TCR PCR assays applied here, clonality was shown in 90% of the CTCL cases. In conclusion, we showed that the Biomed-2 TCR PCR worked well with DNA from paraffin-embedded tissue, revealing a high-clonality detection rate in CTCL, and thus should be highly recommended for routine molecular analysis. In addition, the performance of our in-house TCRγ assay verifies our previously published findings on clonally expanded T-cells in CTCL.
Genetic analysis reveals demographic fragmentation of grizzly bears yielding vulnerably small populations

Ecosystem conservation requires the presence of native carnivores, yet in North America, the distributions of many larger carnivores have contracted. Large carnivores live at low densities and require large areas to thrive at the population level. Therefore, if human-dominated landscapes fragment remaining carnivore populations, small and demographically vulnerable populations may result. Grizzly bear range contraction in the conterminous USA has left four fragmented populations, three of which remain along the Canada–USA border. A tenet of grizzly bear conservation is that the viability of these populations requires demographic linkage (i.e. inter-population movement of both sexes) to Canadian bears. Using individual-based genetic analysis, our results suggest this demographic connection has been severed across their entire range in southern Canada by a highway and associated settlements, limiting female and reducing male movement. Two resulting populations are vulnerably small (≤100 animals) and one of these is completely isolated. Our results suggest that these trans-border bear populations may be more threatened than previously thought and that conservation efforts must expand to include international connectivity management. They also demonstrate the ability of genetic analysis to detect gender-specific demographic population fragmentation in recently disturbed systems, a traditionally intractable yet increasingly important ecological measurement worldwide.
Towards a project community approach to academic scientific software development

Academic scientific software development projects aim to provide valuable research tools to aid the scientific community in the process of discovery. The need for those tools to meet wider expectations of usability and good user experience design is critical to success; however the nature of academic e-science software development projects means they are often constrained by too narrow an understanding of the potential user base, and a focus on development at the expense of broad user research. We introduce the concept of the Project Community as a way of addressing these limitations in capacity to support effective “user research” that informs and influences longer-term marketing and outreach strategy as well as supporting the development of usable and useful scientific software.
Imaging Intratumor Heterogeneity: Role in Therapy Response, Resistance, and Clinical Outcome

Tumors exhibit genomic and phenotypic heterogeneity, which has prognostic significance and may influence response to therapy. Imaging can quantify the spatial variation in architecture and function of individual tumors through quantifying basic biophysical parameters such as CT density or MRI signal relaxation rate; through measurements of blood flow, hypoxia, metabolism, cell death, and other phenotypic features; and through mapping the spatial distribution of biochemical pathways and cell signaling networks using PET, MRI, and other emerging molecular imaging techniques. These methods can establish whether one tumor is more or less heterogeneous than another and can identify subregions with differing biology. In this article, we review the image analysis methods currently used to quantify spatial heterogeneity within tumors. We discuss how analysis of intratumor heterogeneity can provide benefit over more simple biomarkers such as tumor size and average function. We consider how imaging methods can be integrated with genomic and pathology data, instead of being developed in isolation. Finally, we identify the challenges that must be overcome before measurements of intratumoral heterogeneity can be used routinely to guide patient care. Clin Cancer Res; 21(2); 249–57. ©2014 AACR.
miRNA‐4317 suppresses human gastric cancer cell proliferation by targeting ZNF322

Studies have shown that miR‐4317 is dysregulated in tumor, but the biologic role of miR‐4317 in tumor development and progression remains unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the role of miR‐4317 in human gastric cancer. Quantitative real‐time PCR was used to quantify miR‐4317 expression levels in clinical gastric cancer specimens and cell lines. MTT, colony formation and cell cycle assays were performed to identify the contributions of miR‐4317 to cell proliferation in gastric cancer cell lines. The results showed that miR‐4317 was significantly decreased in 17 clinical gastric cancer specimens compared with adjacent non‐tumor stomach tissues. Forced expression of miR‐4317 suppressed gastric cancer cell proliferation and blocked S‐G2/M transition. Bioinformatics and dual‐luciferase reporter assays confirmed that ZNF322 is a direct target of miR‐4317. Silencing ZNF322 recapitulated the cellular and molecular effects seen upon miR‐4317 overexpression. These findings indicate that miR‐4317 represses the proliferation of gastric cancer cell, at least in part, by targeting and suppressing ZNF322 and that it may serve as a therapeutic target for gastric cancer treatment.
Phosphorylation Regulates the Subcellular Location and Activity of the Snail Transcriptional Repressor

ABSTRACT The Snail gene product is a transcriptional repressor of E-cadherin expression and an inducer of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in several epithelial tumor cell lines. This report presents data indicating that Snail function is controlled by its intracellular location. The cytosolic distribution of Snail depended on export from the nucleus by a CRM1-dependent mechanism, and a nuclear export sequence (NES) was located in the regulatory domain of this protein. Export of Snail was controlled by phosphorylation of a Ser-rich sequence adjacent to this NES. Modification of this sequence released the restriction created by the zinc finger domain and allowed nuclear export of the protein. The phosphorylation and subcellular distribution of Snail are controlled by cell attachment to the extracellular matrix. Suspended cells presented higher levels of phosphorylated Snail and an augmented extranuclear localization with respect to cells attached to the plate. These findings show the existence in tumor cells of an effective and fine-tuning nontranscriptional mechanism of regulation of Snail activity dependent on the extracellular environment.
Multilingual machine translation : An analytical study

Multilingual Machine Translation is a computerized system that is designed to translate source text from various natural languages into target text of another natural languages. Due to increased need of global communication, multilingual machine translation is the propel for researchers. With the advancement in technology, now we have computerized systems that can replace the human experts in particular domains. One such popularly adopted domain by researchers is artificial intelligence (AI). AI gives birth to several applications where system can be used to work like a human expert. Natural language processing (NLP) is the application that is being studied from decades back to overcome the communication barriers that are mainly there due to the diversity in the regional languages. Machine translation (MT) system is available mostly for a specific language pair. Recently many MT systems are being designed for bilingual pairs. And the research is heading towards developing MT systems that are capable of handling more than two language pairs i.e. multilingual. MT systems still has so many issues to deal with. Recently developed multilingual systems are laden with the enormous size corpus. In this paper we present the analytical survey of multilingual machine translation system.
902 MHz mobile phone does not affect short term memory in humans

We studied the effects of an electromagnetic field (EMF) as emitted by a 902 MHz mobile phone on human short term memory. This study was a replication with methodological improvements to our previous study. The improvements included multi‐centre testing and a double blind design. A total of 64 subjects (32 men) in two independent laboratories performed a short term memory task (n‐back) which poses a varying memory load (0–3 items) on the subjects' memory. They performed the task twice, once each under EMF and sham exposure. Reaction times (RTs) and accuracy of the responses were recorded. The order of exposure and memory load conditions were counterbalanced across subjects and gender. There were no statistically significant differences in performance between the two laboratories. We could not replicate our previous results: the EMF had no effect on RTs or on the accuracy of the subjects' answers. The inability to replicate previous findings could have been caused by lack of actual EMF effects or the magnitude of effects being at the sensitivity threshold of the test used. Bioelectromagnetics 25:452–456, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Contrast-Enhanced Dixon Fat-Water Separation Imaging of the Spine: Added Value of Fat, In-Phase and Opposed-Phase Imaging in Marrow Lesion Detection

Objective Beyond fat suppression (FS), the efficacy of (fat-water separation or Dixon [FWD]) Dixon imaging in gadolinium-enhanced spine imaging has yet to be validated. This study evaluated enhanced opposed-phase (OP) and fat-only (FO) images along with water-only (WO; FS) images against traditional unenhanced techniques and rated the incremental value of in-phase imaging in patients with presumed neoplastic focal spine lesions. Methods A retrospective cohort study of 36 subjects with focal spine lesions imaged with FWD was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. Results Enhanced OP, WO, and FO images were of significant value in detection of osseous lesions, surpassing the lesion conspicuity with conventional techniques both qualitatively and quantitatively, although the impact of in-phase imaging was limited. Water-only imaging performed well for FS. Conclusions Contrast-enhanced FO, WO, and OP outperform traditional techniques, providing reliable lesion characterization and highest conspicuity. In-phase imaging offered limited impact on the subjective assessment of enhancement. The added value and robustness of FWD, particularly the unique contrast provided by FO imaging, suggests consideration for routine use for postgadolinium spine imaging.
Energy-Efficient Spectrum Sensing Strategy in Cognitive Radio Networks

In this letter, a novel metric is proposed to evaluate the average sensing energy-efficiency of cognitive radio (CR) networks. A theorem as well as the related closed-form expression for determining the optimum number of cooperative sensing cognitive terminals is provided to optimize the proposed metric. According to the theorem, we propose an efficient terminal-assignment strategy for coordinated spectrum sensing. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy can significantly improve the overall average sensing energy efficiency of the CR system.
Resistance to inhibition by alpha-1-anti-trypsin and species specificity of a chimeric human/bovine protein C.

Human activated protein C (APC) has been shown to be physiologically susceptible to inhibition by the abundant serpin inhibitor alpha-1-anti-trypsin (AAT). Studies on the inactivation by AAT [Heeb, M. J., & Griffin, J. H. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 11613-11616] have shown that the calculated rate of this inactivation matches that of the observed half-life of APC in vivo [Wydro, R. , Oppenheimer, C. , Rodger, R. , & Miemi, S. (1988) Clin. Res. 36, 329A] and complex formation therefore probably represents a physiologic regulation process for APC. In this study we observed that bovine APC, in contrast to human APC, is nearly completely resistant to inactivation by human AAT. An additional difference between human and bovine APC is that human APC is a potent anticoagulant in human plasma, whereas bovine APC is only minimally active in human plasma. These functional differences exist despite considerable structural similarity between the human and bovine molecules. In order to identify specific molecular regions responsible for function, a chimeric molecule consisting of the light chain of human protein C (PC) and the heavy chain of bovine PC was constructed, expressed, and characterized. The activated chimeric PC is similar to human APC in having potent anticoagulant activity in human plasma, but displays nearly identical resistance to AAT inhibition with the bovine molecule. The similarity between the chimeric and bovine molecules in resistance to AAT inhibition indicates that the structural determinants for inhibitor interactions reside within the heavy chain (serine protease) domain. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Reliability of the Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool (HOME FAST) for identifying older people at increased risk of falls

Purpose : The Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool (HOME FAST) was designed as part of a comprehensive health assessment instrument to measure falls risk for older people within their home environment. This paper describes the evaluation of the inter-rater reliability of the HOME FAST. Method : Forty home visits were undertaken, in urban and rural settings of the UK, by pairs of raters, one of whom was an expert rater. Occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and a social worker rated each home using the HOME FAST concurrently with an expert rater. The kappa statistic was used to determine the degree of agreement between pairs of raters. Results : The overall kappa value for the checklist was 0.62, indicating a fair to good level of agreement between raters. 'Hazardous outside paths' was the only item that demonstrated poor agreement (kappa=0.30). The expert rater consistently identified more hazards than the other raters, and the level of agreement was stable between raters irrespective of the number of hazards present in the homes visited. Conclusions : Definitions of non-applicable household features and improving the objectivity of the operational definitions for recognizing hazards that demand more qualitative judgements will enhance the reliability of the HOME FAST.
More CLEC16A gene variants associated with multiple sclerosis

Nischwitz S, Cepok S, Kroner A, Wolf C, Knop M, Müller‐Sarnowski F, Pfister H, Rieckmann P, Hemmer B, Ising M, Uhr M, Bettecken T, Holsboer F, Müller‐Myhsok B, Weber F. More CLEC16A gene variants associated with multiple sclerosis. Acta Neurol Scand: 2011: 123: 400–406. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
Hölder Stable Minimizers, Tilt Stability, and Hölder metric Regularity of Subdifferentials

Using techniques of variational analysis and dual techniques for smooth conjugate functions, for a local minimizer of a proper lower semicontinuous function $f$ on a Banach space, $p\in (0,\;+\infty)$ and $q=\frac{1+p}{p}$, we prove that the following two properties are always equivalent: (i) $\bar x$ is a stable $q$-order minimizer of $f$ and (ii) $\bar x$ is a tilt-stable $p$-order minimizer of $f$. We also consider their relationships in conjunction with the $p$-order strong metric regularity of the subdifferential mapping $\partial f$.
Interleukin‐10 overexpression in macrophages suppresses atherosclerosis in hyperlipidemic mice

In atherogenesis, macrophage foam cell formation is modulated by pathways involving both the uptake and efflux of cholesterol. We recently showed that interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) modulates lipid metabolism by enhancing both uptake and efflux of cholesterol in macrophages. However, the mechanistic details of these properties in vivo have been unclear. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine whether expression of IL‐10 in macrophages would alter susceptibility to atherosclerosis and whether IL‐10 exerts its antiatherosclerotic properties by modulating lipid metabolism in macrophages. We utilized a macrophage‐specific retroviral vector that allows long‐term in vivo expression of IL‐10 in macrophages through transplantation of retrovirally transduced bone marrow cells (BMCs). IL‐10 expressed by macrophages derived from transduced BMCs inhibited atherosclerosis in LDLR−/− mice by reducing cholesteryl ester accumulation in atherosclerotic sites. Experiments with primary macrophages indicated that macrophage source of IL‐10 stimulated both the uptake (by up‐regulating scavenger receptors) and efflux of cholesterol (by activating the PPARγ‐LXR‐ABCA1/ABCG1 pathway), thereby reducing inflammation and apoptosis in atherosclerosis. These findings indicate that BMC‐transduced macrophage IL‐10 production can act as a strong antiatherogenic agent, and they highlight a novel antiatherosclerotic therapy using a simple, yet effective, stem cell transduction system that facilitates long‐term expression of IL‐10 in macrophages. —Han, X. , Kitamoto, S. , Wang, H. , Boisvert, W. A. Interleukin‐10 overexpression in macrophages suppresses atherosclerosis in hyperlipidemic mice. FASEB J. 24, 2869–2880 (2010). www.fasebj. org
Prioritizing Conservation Effort through the Use of Biological Soil Crusts as Ecosystem Function Indicators in an Arid Region

Abstract: Conservation prioritization usually focuses on conservation of rare species or biodiversity, rather than ecological processes. This is partially due to a lack of informative indicators of ecosystem function. Biological soil crusts (BSCs) trap and retain soil and water resources in arid ecosystems and function as major carbon and nitrogen fixers; thus, they may be informative indicators of ecosystem function. We created spatial models of multiple indicators of the diversity and function of BSCs (species richness, evenness, functional diversity, functional redundancy, number of rare species, number of habitat specialists, nitrogen and carbon fixation indices, soil stabilization, and surface roughening) for the 800,000‐ha Grand Staircase‐Escalante National Monument (Utah, U.S.A.). We then combined the indicators into a single BSC function map and a single BSC biodiversity map (2 alternative types of conservation value) with an unweighted averaging procedure and a weighted procedure derived from validations performance. We also modeled potential degradation with data from a rangeland assessment survey. To determine which areas on the landscape were the highest conservation priorities, we overlaid the function‐ and diversity‐based conservation‐value layers on the potential degradation layer. Different methods for ascribing conservation‐value and conservation‐priority layers all yielded strikingly similar results (r= 0.89–0.99), which suggests that in this case biodiversity and function can be conserved simultaneously. We believe BSCs can be used as indicators of ecosystem function in concert with other indicators (such as plant‐community properties) and that such information can be used to prioritize conservation effort in drylands.
Machine Learning Trend Anticipation by Text Mining Methodology Based on SSCI Database

This paper is providing an introduction to the text mining methodology. There are many different researches which applying machine learning to improve its management application efficiency in various domains. This research is utilizing text mining technology, including "two step auto-clustering", "glossaries aggregation", "TF-IDF" and so on, which collecting the homogeneous glossaries from articles, guiding to the literature cluster analysis based on the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) database. The result discovered that the research domains of artificial intelligence, document pattern and financial related are the most prosperous fields on machine learning application, It is leading by information technology development progressing, web 2.0 is also a boost to research morale. All of these will become a power for important developing direction on machine learning in near future.