Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Creatine kinase transcript accumulation: Effect of nerve during muscle development

To determine the role of the nerve in regulating the accumulation of cytoplasmic creatine kinase (CK) mRNAs in hindleg muscles of the developing mouse, the lumbosacral spinal cords of 14‐day gestation mice (E14) were laser ablated, and the accumulation of muscle CK (MCK) and brain CK (BCK) mRNAs was evaluated just prior to birth with in situ hybridization. Numbers of molecules of each of these transcripts/ng total RNA in the soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles were determined with competitive PCR and compared to transcripts found in innervated crural muscles. Data suggest that: 1) the level of BCK mRNA accumulation in innervated hindlimb muscles peaks at E16.5 and remains at fetal levels until the second month postnatal, when it falls to the level found in the adult. Given that MCK transcripts meet or exceed adult levels by day 28 postnatal, the “down‐regulation” of the BCK gene and the “up‐regulation” of the MCK gene are not tightly coupled; 2) the developmental switch from BCK to MCK, as the dominant cytoplasmic CK mRNA, occurs in innervated and aneural leg muscles between E14 and E16.5, indicating this switch is not nerve dependent; 3) the absence of innervation has no effect on BCK mRNA accumulation. MCK transcripts/ng total RNA continue to increase in aneural muscle throughout the late fetal period, but from E16.5–E19.5 the MCK transcript levels in aneural muscles become progressively lower than in age‐matched innervated muscles. Thus, the accumulation of the muscle specific cytoplasmic CK, but not BCK, transcripts is affected by the absence of innervation during the fetal period. Dev Dyn 1999;215:285–296. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Tamper detection for active surveillance systems

If surveillance data are corrupted they are of no use to neither manually post-investigation nor automatic video analysis. It is therefore critical to automatically be able to detect tampering events such as defocusing, occlusion and displacement. In this work we for the first time address this important problem for an active camera. We detect these events by first comparing the incoming frames to a background model using features relevant for the three different tampering types. Individual detectors are then developed capable of monitoring long video sequences and indicating the occurrence of different tampering events. In order to assess the developed methods we have collected a large data set, which contains sequences from different active cameras at different scenarios. We evaluate our system on these data and the results are encouraging with a very high detecting rate and relatively few false positives.
Survival analysis of culling reasons and economic examination of production period in sow culling

The culling of the sows is an important task of the breeders and farmers, besides it is a determining factor of profitable pork production. During our research we have surveyed the data of 1969 sows in a Hungarian large-scale pig farm. For the calculation of our results we used one of the non-parametric forms of survival analysis, the Kaplan-Meier analysis. For the quantification of death intensity we applied another survival analysis model, the log-rate exponential model. We have found out the risk values of various culling reasons form the point of view of culling. Besides, we tried to quantify by an economic model how the production period of sows influences the average costs of piglets and the average costs of piglets per kilo at 2006 prices. We calculated that the 5th farrowing is the minimum cost place.
A modified FASP protocol for high-throughput preparation of protein samples for mass spectrometry

To facilitate high-throughput proteomic analyses we have developed a modified FASP protocol which improves the rate at which protein samples can be processed prior to mass spectrometry. Adapting the original FASP protocol to a 96-well format necessitates extended spin times for buffer exchange due to the low centrifugation speeds tolerated by these devices. However, by using 96-well plates with a more robust polyethersulfone molecular weight cutoff membrane, instead of the cellulose membranes typically used in these devices, we could use isopropanol as a wetting agent, decreasing spin times required for buffer exchange from an hour to 30 minutes. In a typical work flow used in our laboratory this equates to a reduction of 3 hours per plate. To test whether our modified protocol produced similar results to FASP and other FASP-like protocols we compared the performance of our modified protocol to the original FASP and the more recently described eFASP and MStern-blot. We show that all FASP-like methods, including our modified protocol, display similar performance in terms of proteins identified and reproducibility. Our results show that our modified FASP protocol is an efficient method for the high-throughput processing of protein samples for mass spectral analysis. Abbreviations ABC Ammonium bicarbonate ACN Acetonitrile TFA Trifluoro acetic acid FA Formic acid TEAB Triethylammonium bicarbonate DCA Deoxycholic acid DTT Dithiothreitol IAA Iodoacetamide
Hospitality Exchange Services as a Source of Spatial and Social Data?

This paper presents an extensive data-based analysis of the non-profit democratic hospitality exchange service bewelcome.org. We hereby pursuit the goal of determining the factors influencing its growth. It also provides general insights on internet-based hospitality exchange services. The other investigated services are hospitalityclub.org and couchsurfing.org. Communities using the three services are interconnected -- comparing their data provides additional information.
Embracing Complexity: Strategic Perspectives for an Age of Turbulence

The book describes what it means to say the world is complex and explores what that means for managers, policy makers and individuals. The first part of the book is about the theory and ideas of complexity. This is explained in a way that is thorough but not mathematical. It compares differing approaches, and also provides a historical perspective, showing how such thinking has been around since the beginning of civilisation. It emphasises the difference between a complexity worldview and the dominant mechanical worldview that underpins much of current management practice. It defines the complexity worldview as recognising the world is interconnected, shaped by history and the particularities of context. The comparison of the differing approaches to modelling complexity is unique in its depth and accessibility. The second part of the book uses this lens of complexity to explore issues in the fields of management, strategy, economics, and international development. It also explores how to facilitate others to recognise the implications of adopting a complex rather than a mechanical worldview and suggests methods of research to explore systemic, path-dependent emergent aspects of situations. The authors of this book span both science and management, academia and practice, thus the explanations of science are authoritative and yet the examples of changing how you live and work in the world are real and accessible. The aim of the book is to bring alive what complexity is all about and to illustrate the importance of loosening the grip of a modernist worldview with its hope for prediction, certainty and control.
In-vitro Evaluation of Rat Small Intestine as a Gluconeogenic Organ During Fasting

The liver and kidneys maintain the blood glucose levels in periods of fasting, starvation, low-carbohydrate diets, or intense exercise by gluconeogenesis. The present study was designed to evaluate whether small intestine provides substrates for hepatic gluconeogenesis during fasting in an in-vitro model using rat everted sac technique. Healthy adult male albino Swiss rats were chosen for this study and divided into three groups consisting of control as well as 4 and 6 days of fasting animals respectively. The parameters studied were animal body weight, jejunal intestinal weight, and protein content of the jejunum, estimation of glucose, pyurvate and lactate dehydrogenase levels. Data were analyzed by one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey's multiple comparison. The significant level was fixed at p<0.05. There was significant increase in glucose, pyurvate and lactate dehydrogenase levels in the fluid medium with a significant decrease in body weight, jejunal intestinal weight and protein levels after 4 and 6 days of fasting when compared with their control animals. It has become clear that as a result of fasting i.e. in phase III fasting state there is a strong increase in protein utilization as a substitute fuel for lipids and a rise in plasma corticosterone level which favors gluconeogenesis. This suggests that the conversion of glucose to lactic acid may play an important part in the absorption of glucose by rat intestine. These results establish that small intestine could serve as a gluconeogenic organ by providing substrates needed for hepatic gluconeogenesis.
Gene Conversion Shapes Linear Mitochondrial Genome Architecture

Recently, it was shown that gene conversion between the ends of linear mitochondrial chromosomes can cause telomere expansion and the duplication of subtelomeric loci. However, it is not yet known how widespread this phenomenon is and how significantly it has impacted organelle genome architecture. Using linear mitochondrial DNAs and mitochondrial plasmids from diverse eukaryotes, we argue that telomeric recombination has played a major role in fashioning linear organelle chromosomes. We find that mitochondrial telomeres frequently expand into subtelomeric regions, resulting in gene duplications, homogenizations, and/or fragmentations. We suggest that these features are a product of subtelomeric gene conversion, provide a hypothetical model for this process, and employ genetic diversity data to support the idea that the greater the effective population size the greater the potential for gene conversion between subtelomeric loci.
Life Stories of Nikkeijin Seeking Better Opportunities: The Motivation of Brazilian Immigrants in Japan

LIFE STORIES OF NIKKEIJIN SEEKING BETTER OPPORTUNITIES: THE MOTIVATION OF BRAZILIAN IMMIGRANTS IN JAPAN FOR LEARNING JAPANESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE Marisa U. Bellini Department of Language Acquisition and Teaching Master of Arts The immigration of Brazilian-Japanese to Japan has started as recently as the early 1980s as a result of an economic downturn in Brazil and labor shortages in Japan. In a recent study published by the Ministry of Justice in Japan, there are about 250,000 Brazilians currently working throughout Japan. Even though most of the Brazilians are second or third generation of Japanese descent, they are not fluent in Japanese, thus resulting in many cultural problems and misunderstandings. Some research has examined about the immigration of Brazilians (nikkeijin) to Japan, but none has investigated their acquisition of Japanese as a second language. The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that motivate or unmotivate the nikkeijin in Japan to learn Japanese as a second language (JSL). This qualitative study shows the life experiences of four nikkeijin who arrived in Japan at different ages (8, 18, 25 and 42 years old). It is a very richly descriptive study about the experiences of nikkeijin learning JSL. Through interviews conducted over the Internet using Online Messenger and phone conversations, the researcher gathered information and data about their real life experiences learning the language and adapting to Japanese culture. The results of this study show how positive and negative life experiences of nikkeijin in Japan can affect their motivation to learn or improve their Japanese language skills. The age of arrival and the place of residence in Japan are also important factors that influence their experiences in Japan.
Datalog±: a unified approach to ontologies and integrity constraints

We report on a recently introduced family of expressive extensions of Datalog, called Datalog±, which is a new framework for representing ontological axioms in form of integrity constraints, and for query answering under such constraints. Datalog± is derived from Datalog by allowing existentially quantified variables in rule heads, and by enforcing suitable properties in rule bodies, to ensure decidable and efficient query answering. We first present different languages in the Datalog± family, providing tight complexity bounds for all cases but one (where we have a low complexity AC0 upper bound). We then show that such languages are general enough to capture the most common tractable ontology languages. In particular, we show that the DL-Lite family of description logics and F-Logic Lite are expressible in Datalog±. We finally show how stratified negation can be added to Datalog± while keeping ontology querying tractable in the data complexity. Datalog± is a natural and very general framework that can be successfully employed in different contexts such as data integration and exchange. This survey mainly summarizes two recent papers.
Economic man and disciplinary boundaries

This paper is an empirical response to two of Quattrone’s claims: first, that research in accounting is fragmented; and then that this follows from the blocking of communication by intra‐ and inter‐disciplinary boundaries. Although we agree with much of Quattrone’s argument, and in particular with his problematising of “economic man”, we draw an opposite conclusion. Rather than looking to a trans‐disciplinary removal of boundaries, we use a survey of 30 years of research in corporate annual reports to defend narrowly disciplinary work. We make our case through discussing problems of intra‐ and inter‐disciplinary unity in research, the puzzle of the role of “economic man” in the study of annual reports, and the alternative to him in science and technology studies (STS). Our approach yields a better fit than Quattrone’s own solution with his aims of an evolutionary perspective that allows for historical shifts, and for a reflexivity that includes the inevitable entanglement of researchers in what they study. We conclude by noting that our approach is applicable to the study of corporate communication more generally.
Merging Ontologies for Object Oriented Software Engineering

Ontologies mentioned in this paper appear in the part of serving the objects identification of object oriented software engineering in initial phase. More ontologies are becoming available on the web, and are increasing in number and demand. Semantic and ontologies search engines have also started to appear, to assist search and recovery of online ontologies which it is the first start to find the ontologies for particular domain of interest. Considering object oriented software engineering, the difficulty of searching the appropriate objects for the system is the one major problem. The main objective of this research is to integrate the different eXtensible Markup Language based (XML-based) formats offered online by using produced Java-based application program to merge and modify ontologies into complete object model. The program will allow the developer to choose objects (extracted from ontologies classes) and their components which are attributes, operations, and relationships. The final result of the program will be used as the sketch object diagrams of the system. in this paper we represent travel domain of interest as the example for the approach.
Towards efficient GPU sharing on multicore processors

Scalable systems employing a mix of GPUs with CPUs are becoming increasingly prevalent in high-performance computing (HPC). The presence of such accelerators introduces significant challenges and complexities to both language developers and end users. This paper provides a close study of efficient coordination mechanisms to handle parallel requests from multiple hosts of control to a GPU under hybrid programming. Using a set of microbenchmarks and applications on a GPU cluster, we show that thread- and process-based context hosting have different tradeoffs. Experimental results on application benchmarks suggest that both thread-based context funneling and process-based context switching natively perform similarly on the latest Fermi GPU, while manually guided context funneling is currently the best way to achieve optimal performance.
Product selection problem: improve market share by learning consumer behavior

It is often crucial for manufacturers to decide what products to produce so that they can increase their market share in an increasingly fierce market. To decide which products to produce, manufacturers need to analyze the consumers' requirements and how consumers make their purchase decisions so that the new products will be competitive in the market. In this paper, we first present a general distance-based product adoption model to capture consumers' purchase behavior. Using this model, various distance metrics can be used to describe different real life purchase behavior. We then provide a learning algorithm to decide which set of distance metrics one should use when we are given some historical purchase data. Based on the product adoption model, we formalize the k most marketable products (or k-MMP) selection problem and formally prove that the problem is NP-hard. To tackle this problem, we propose an efficient greedy-based approximation algorithm with a provable solution guarantee. Using submodularity analysis, we prove that our approximation algorithm can achieve at least 63% of the optimal solution. We apply our algorithm on both synthetic datasets and real-world datasets (TripAdvisor.com), and show that our algorithm can easily achieve five or more orders of speedup over the exhaustive search and achieve about 96% of the optimal solution on average. Our experiments also show the significant impact of different distance metrics on the results, and how proper distance metrics can improve the accuracy of product selection.
Role of increased sphingomyelinase activity in apoptosis and organ failure of patients with severe sepsis

Numerous studies support the notion that an activation of sphingomyelinases and a subsequent increase of the concentration of the bioactive lipid mediator ceramide are critical in the concert of inflammatory stimuli and to the induction of apoptosis during inflammation. Here we show that patients with severe sepsis exhibit an enhanced sphingolytic activity in comparison with controls [262 pmol/(mlxh) vs. 123.6 pmol/(mlxh), P<0.005]. During the clinical course, a further increase was paralleled by the severity of illness and by fatal outcome. Moreover, we show that oxidative stress may partially account for the increased activity through posttranslational modification of the enzyme. In a murine endotoxic shock model, administration of a low molecular weight inhibitor diminished the rise in enzymatic activity and improved the survival rate. In liver specimen, inhibition of activity correlated with a reduced rate of hepato‐cellular apoptosis. Our data support the concept that activation of the plasmatic isoform of sphingomyelinase may play a critical role in the development of apoptosis and organ failure in sepsis. An inhibition of the secreted isoform of sphingomyelinase should be explored further as a potential target in the complicated puzzle of sepsis.
The Power of a Handshake: Neural Correlates of Evaluative Judgments in Observed Social Interactions

Effective social interactions require the ability to evaluate other people's actions and intentions, sometimes only on the basis of such subtle factors as body language, and these evaluative judgments may lead to powerful impressions. However, little is known about the impact of affective body language on evaluative responses in social settings and the associated neural correlates. This study investigated the neural correlates of observing social interactions in a business setting, in which whole-body dynamic stimuli displayed approach and avoidance behaviors that were preceded or not by a handshake and were followed by participants' ratings of these behaviors. First, approach was associated with more positive evaluations than avoidance behaviors, and a handshake preceding social interaction enhanced the positive impact of approach and diminished the negative impact of avoidance behavior on the evaluation of social interaction. Second, increased sensitivity to approach than to avoidance behavior in the amygdala and STS was linked to a positive evaluation of approach behavior and a positive impact of handshake. Third, linked to the positive effect of handshake on social evaluation, nucleus accumbens showed greater activity for Handshake than for No-handshake conditions. These findings shed light on the neural correlates of observing and evaluating nonverbal social interactions and on the role of handshake as a way of formal greeting.
NFIX as a Master Regulator for Lung Cancer Progression

About 40% of lung cancer cases globally are diagnosed at the advanced stage. Lung cancer has a high mortality and overall survival in stage I disease is only 70%. This study was aimed at finding a candidate of transcription regulator that initiates the mechanism for metastasis by integrating computational and functional studies. The genes involved in lung cancer were retrieved using in silico software. 10 kb promoter sequences upstream were scanned for the master regulator. Transient transfection of shRNA NFIXs were conducted against A549 and NCI-H1299 cell lines. qRT-PCR and functional assays for cell proliferation, migration and invasion were carried out to validate the involvement of NFIX in metastasis. Genome-wide gene expression microarray using a HumanHT-12v4.0 Expression BeadChip Kit was performed to identify differentially expressed genes and construct a new regulatory network. The in silico analysis identified NFIX as a master regulator and is strongly associated with 17 genes involved in the migration and invasion pathways including IL6ST, TIMP1 and ITGB1. Silencing of NFIX showed reduced expression of IL6ST, TIMP1 and ITGB1 as well as the cellular proliferation, migration and invasion processes. The data was integrated with the in silico analyses to find the differentially expressed genes. Microarray analysis showed that 18 genes were expressed differentially in both cell lines after statistical analyses integration between t-test, LIMMA and ANOVA with Benjamini-Hochberg adjustment at p-value < 0.05. A transcriptional regulatory network was created using all 18 genes, the existing regulated genes including the new genes PTCH1, NFAT5 and GGCX that were found highly associated with NFIX, the master regulator of metastasis. This study suggests that NFIX is a promising target for therapeutic intervention that is expected to inhibit metastatic recurrence and improve survival rate.
Fairness of the IEEE 802.11n aggregation scheme for real time application in unsaturated condition

One of the challenges in today's wireless networks is to provide appropriate throughput and delay for data and multimedia application. Although IEEE802.11e (EDCA) standard is concerned to support QoS in wireless networks, it cannot provide strict QoS required by real-time and multimedia services without proper network control mechanisms. The recent standard 802.11n introduced new MAC access mechanism based on aggregation scheme. In this paper, we aim to develop an analytical model for throughput and end-to-end delay under unsaturated 802.11n network taking in consideration the different Access Categories (AC) priorities. Based on simulation results, we demonstrate that even with aggregation mechanism, 802.11n is not able to guarantee QoS for high priority traffics.