Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The insulator factor CTCF controls MHC class II gene expression and is required for the formation of long-distance chromatin interactions

Knockdown of the insulator factor CCCTC binding factor (CTCF), which binds XL9, an intergenic element located between HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQA1, was found to diminish expression of these genes. The mechanism involved interactions between CTCF and class II transactivator (CIITA), the master regulator of major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) gene expression, and the formation of long-distance chromatin loops between XL9 and the proximal promoter regions of these MHC-II genes. The interactions were inducible and dependent on the activity of CIITA, regulatory factor X, and CTCF. RNA fluorescence in situ hybridizations show that both genes can be expressed simultaneously from the same chromosome. Collectively, the results suggest a model whereby both HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQA1 loci can interact simultaneously with XL9, and describe a new regulatory mechanism for these MHC-II genes involving the alteration of the general chromatin conformation of the region and their regulation by CTCF.
Spatial working memory deficit correlates with disorganization symptoms and social functioning in schizophrenia

Abstract Both spatial working memory deficit and disorganization symptoms have been considered significant components of schizophrenic impairment involved with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships among spatial working memory, psychiatric symptoms including disorganization symptoms, and social functioning in schizophrenia. Fifty clinically stable patients with schizophrenia and 34 healthy controls participated in the study. Patients were rated with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and the Rehabilitation Evaluation Hall and Baker. The Advanced Trail Making Test was used to evaluate spatial working memory. Patients demonstrated significantly reduced spatial working memory compared to that of healthy controls. Spatial working memory in patients correlated significantly with social functioning such as self‐care skills, community skills and speech disturbance, and with disorganization symptoms. Disorganization symptoms also correlated with these aspects of social functioning. In conclusion it is suggested that both spatial working memory deficit and disorganization symptoms, which are impairments involved with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex dysfunction, can serve as effective predictors of social functioning.
Social Partnered Dance for People With Serious and Persistent Mental Illness: A Pilot Study

Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) often experience isolation and poor health, but normalized social opportunities aid recovery. This study aimed to determine social dance's feasibility and effects on mood, functional mobility, and balance confidence in 12 people with SMI. Participants danced once per week in 1-hour lessons for 10 weeks. Before and after lessons, participants were evaluated for gait velocity and with one-leg stance, Timed Up and Go, and 6-minute walk tests. Participants self-completed Beck Depression II and Beck Anxiety Inventories and the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale. Posttesting included an exit questionnaire assessing participant experiences. Participants significantly improved on the Timed Up and Go, (p = 0.012, effect size = 0.68), and demonstrated nonsignificant improvements in anxiety, depression, and balance confidence (effect sizes of 0.41, 0.54, and 0.64, respectively). Participants reported enjoying classes, and interest to continue. Social dance is feasible and may benefit mobility for those with SMI.
Threaded Software Dynamic Translation Master's Project

Software dynamic translation and multiprocessing hardware are both becoming prevalent in today’s computing environment. Unfortunately, many of the programs being run under software dynamic translation are single threaded, and are unable to take advantage of thread level parallelism. This work presents the groundwork for enabling the Strata software dynamic translation framework to run in multiple threads. This allows the system to ooad the work of translation into its own thread. Threaded Strata was tested by allowing the builder to speculatively build fragments that were not yet needed by the application. Using this technique threaded Strata able to speculatively build on average 69% of the fragments of the SPEC2000 CINT benchmark suite. Performance on these benchmarks gives us reason to believe that threaded software dynamic translation can be eectiv e method of ooading work of the software dynamic translator.
[The health of permanent workers and workers with precarious employment: a literature review].

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to review research articles about the health of workers with precarious employment (precarious workers). METHODS Articles that compared the health status between permanent and precarious workers were systematically searched. The collected articles are discussed with respect to their study design, data source, sample size, country, health outcome, definition of precarious employment, and primary findings. RESULTS Sixty-eight articles were identified by the inclusion criteria. Health outcomes were categorized into four types: occupational injuries, physical health, mental health, and alternative health measurements. Precarious employment was associated with a high prevalence of occupational injuries, higher mortality rate, and inferior degree of mental health. For alternative health measures, access to health services were limited among precarious workers. Sickness absence or leave was taken less often by precarious workers than permanent workers. CONCLUSIONS Unstable employment and the limited welfare of precarious workers might affect their health in relation to a variety of health-related characteristics while several studies concluded that permanent workers had an inferior health status. Therefore, the current social climate, which allows precarious employment with low benefits and diverse work contracts, might be detrimental for workers' health, in general.
Event-driven analog-to-digital converter with conversion-speed-centric architecture and activity-dependent power consumption

The paper presents a concept of an event-driven analog-to-digital converter accepting irregular conversion demands with conversion-speed-centric architecture and activity-dependent power consumption. The proposed converter architecture based on a binary-scaled capacitor array uses a technique of event-driven successive charge redistribution and allows overlapping of a conversion of the previous sample and a capture of the next sample. The general condition on proper converter operation is that the consecutive conversion demands have to be spaced at least by the interval equal to the maximum conversion time. In particular, the proposed converter can be used for time-to-digital conversion in the asynchronous Sigma-Delta ADCs. In the paper, the lower bound on charge redistribution rate for a given Sigma-Delta modulation depth is derived.
KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KREATIF DAN SELF-EFFICACY SISWA KELAS X SMK TEUKU UMAR SEMARANG DENGAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN OSBORN

Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui apakah kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas eksperimen lebih baik daripada kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas kontrol, untuk mengetahui apakah kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas eksperimen meningkat, untuk mengetahui apakah peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas eksperimen lebih baik daripada peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas kontrol, dan untuk mengetahui bagaimana self-efficacy siswa pilihan kelas eksperimen dan siswa pilihan kelas kontrol. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas X kelompok bisnis dan manajemen SMK Teuku Umar Semarang tahun pelajaran 2014/2015. Sampel diambil dengan teknik simple random sampling . Pengambilan data pada penelitian ini menggunakan metode tes, angket, dan wawancara. Analisis data menggunakan uji-t, uji gain, dan analisis kualitatif deskriptif. Dari hasil uji-t diperoleh rata-rata kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas eksperimen lebih dari rata-rata kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas kontrol, dan peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas eksperimen lebih baik daripada peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa kelas kontrol. Dari hasil uji gain diperoleh kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa pada kelas yang menggunakan pembelajaran Osborn meningkat dengan indeks gain sebesar 0,400, termasuk dalam kategori sedang. Self-efficacy ketiga siswa pilihan pada kelas eksperimen yaitu E-1, E-2, dan E-3 dalam kategori tinggi, sedangkan self-efficacy ketiga siswa pilihan pada kelas kontrol yaitu K-1, K-2, dan K-3 dalam kategori sedang.
A PRET microarchitecture implementation with repeatable timing and competitive performance

We contend that repeatability of execution times is crucial to the validity of testing of real-time systems. However, computer architecture designs fail to deliver repeatable timing, a consequence of aggressive techniques that improve average-case performance. This paper introduces the Precision-Timed ARM (PTARM), a precision-timed (PRET) microarchitecture implementation that exhibits repeatable execution times without sacrificing performance. The PTARM employs a repeatable thread-interleaved pipeline with an exposed memory hierarchy, including a repeatable DRAM controller. Our benchmarks show an improved throughput compared to a single-threaded in-order five-stage pipeline, given sufficient parallelism in the software.
Increased dosage of tumor suppressors limits the tumorigenicity of iPS cells without affecting their pluripotency

Embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells represent a promising therapeutic tool for many diseases, including aged tissues and organs at high risk of failure. However, the intrinsic self‐renewal and pluripotency of ES and iPS cells make them tumorigenic, and hence, the risk of tumor development hinders their clinical application. Here, we present a novel approach to limit their tumorigenicity and increase their safety through increased copy number of tumor suppressors. iPS containing an extra copy of the p53 or Ink4a/ARF locus show normal pluripotency, as determined by in vitro and in vivo differentiation assays. Yet, while retaining full pluripotency, they also possess an improved engagement of the p53 pathway during teratocarcinoma formation, which leads to a reduced tumorigenic potential in various in vitro and in vivo assays. Furthermore, they show an improved response to anticancer drugs, which could aid in their elimination in case tumors arise with no adverse effects on cell function or aging. Our system provides a model for studying tumor suppressor pathways during reprogramming, differentiation, and cell therapy applications. This offers an improved understanding of the pathways involved in tumor growth from engrafted pluripotent stem cells, which could facilitate the use of ES and iPS cells in regenerative medicine.
The pulmonary system during exercise in hypoxia and the cold

The demands for pulmonary O2 and CO2 transport in the exercising human are substantial. Fortunately, the regulatory and architectural limits of the pulmonary system meet the requirements of heavy exercise in most individuals. However, in some highly trained athletes the high metabolic demand of intense exercise is in excess of the capacity of the pulmonary system. Environmental considerations, in addition to those imposed by the demands of exercise, provide further physiological challenges that must be met. Winter athletes often encounter high‐altitude hypoxia and cold, either transiently during competition or repeatedly during training. In this brief review, we examine the pulmonary system during acute and chronic exercise in hypoxic and cold environmental conditions. Observations from studies conducted in humans are emphasized in order to ask questions about regulation, plasticity and the limits of human physiology. We also highlight new findings and controversial questions that would benefit from additional study.
Noncrossing Partitions, Toggles, and Homomesies

We introduce $n(n-1)/2$ natural involutions ("toggles") on the set $S$ of noncrossing partitions $\pi$ of size $n$, along with certain composite operations obtained by composing these involutions. We show that for many operations $T$ of this kind, a surprisingly large family of functions $f$ on $S$ (including the function that sends $\pi$ to the number of blocks of $\pi$) exhibits the homomesy phenomenon: the average of $f$ over the elements of a $T$-orbit is the same for all $T$-orbits. We can apply our method of proof more broadly to toggle operations back on the collection of independent sets of certain graphs. We utilize this generalization to prove a theorem about toggling on a family of graphs called "$2$-cliquish". More generally, the philosophy of this "toggle-action", proposed by Striker, is a popular topic of current and future research in dynamic algebraic combinatorics.
Study of Impacts of Two Types' Distributed Generation on Distribution Network Voltage Sags

Distributed generation (DG) has impacts on the performance of connected distribution network. DG is usually not requested to participate in voltage regulation of the distribution network and will be disconnected from the distribution network quickly enough when a fault occurs in it for eliminating DG's negative influence. But in this way it will also limit the capability of DG to suppress the voltage sag of distribution network in faulty condition. In this paper, two typical DG models, i.e. synchronous generator and VSC-type inverter based DG models, are established focusing on the different effect on voltage sag in different scenarios with different models, fault locations, control modes and reactive power reserves etc. It is concluded that synchronous generator based DG has low effect on suppressing the voltage sag, while VSC-type inverter based DG has certain capability of suppressing voltage sag, depending on factors such as control strategies, reactive power reserve and fault locations etc.
Activation of Protein Kinase C (PKC)α or PKCε as an Approach to Increase Morphine Tolerance in Respiratory Depression and Lethal Overdose

Long-term use of opioids is hindered by respiratory depression and the possibility for fatal overdose in drug abusers. This is attributed to higher levels of tolerance that develops against antinociception than to respiratory depression. Identifying important mechanisms that would increase morphine respiratory depression and overdose tolerance could lead to the safer use of opioids. Because protein kinase C (PKC) activity mediates the development and maintenance of morphine antinociceptive tolerance, we hypothesized that activating PKCα or PKCε at the pre-Bötzinger complex (preBötC) can increase morphine tolerance in respiration and overdose. Laser microdissection and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction were used to compare the relative mRNA abundances of PKCα, γ, and ε between ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) and preBötC. To test whether PKCα or ε could enhance morphine tolerance in respiratory depression and overdose, lentivirus carrying the wild type, constitutively activated mutants, and small interference RNA against PKCα or ε was stereotaxically injected into the preBötC. Expression of constitutively active PKC (CAPKC) α or ε, but not wild-type PKC (WTPKC) α or ε, at the preBötC allowed rats to develop tolerance to morphine respiratory depression. In terms of lethality, expression of WTPKCε, CAPKCα, or CAPKCε at preBötC increased morphine tolerance to lethal overdose. CAPKCε-expressing rats developed the highest level of respiratory depression tolerance. Furthermore, when CAPKCε lentivirus was injected into the vlPAG, rats were able to develop significant antinociceptive tolerance at low doses of morphine that normally do not cause tolerance. The approach of increasing morphine respiratory depression and lethality tolerance by increasing PKCα or ε activity at preBötC could be used to make opioids safer for long-term use.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of State-Switching Time Series Models for U.S. Real Output

Two types of state-switching models for U.S. real output have been proposed: models that switch randomly between states and models that switch states deterministically, as in the threshold autoregressive model of Potter. These models have been justified primarily on how well they fit the sample data, yielding statistically significant estimates of the model coefficients. Here we propose a new approach to the evaluation of an estimated nonlinear time series model that provides a complement to existing methods based on in-sample fit or on out-of-sample forecasting. In this new approach, a battery of distinct nonlinearity tests is applied to the sample data, resulting in a set of p-values for rejecting the null hypothesis of a linear generating mechanism. This set of p-values is taken to be a “stylized fact” characterizing the nonlinear serial dependence in the generating mechanism of the time series. The effectiveness of an estimated nonlinear model for this time series is then evaluated in terms of the congruence between this stylized fact and a set of nonlinearity test results obtained from data simulated using the estimated model. In particular, we derive a portmanteau statistic based on this set of nonlinearity test p-values that allows us to test the proposition that a given model adequately captures the nonlinear serial dependence in the sample data. We apply the method to several estimated state-switching models of U.S. real output.
Transductive Zero-Shot Recognition via Shared Model Space Learning

Zero-shot Recognition (ZSR) is to learn recognition models for novel classes without labeled data. It is a challenging task and has drawn considerable attention in recent years. The basic idea is to transfer knowledge from seen classes via the shared attributes. This paper focus on the transductive ZSR, i.e., we have unlabeled data for novel classes. Instead of learning models for seen and novel classes separately as in existing works, we put forward a novel joint learning approach which learns the shared model space (SMS) for models such that the knowledge can be effectively transferred between classes using the attributes. An effective algorithm is proposed for optimization. We conduct comprehensive experiments on three benchmark datasets for ZSR. The results demonstrates that the proposed SMS can significantly outperform the state-of-the-art related approaches which validates its efficacy for the ZSR task.
The Impact of Testimonials on Purchase Intentions in a Mock E-commerce Web Site

Purchasing through virtual market is different from the process that takes place in the traditional market. In this market, things are less tangible and more threatening. Therefore, trust becomes crucial and it is established in a different way. This study examined the effect of testimonials on the level of trust in e-commerce. It also examined the impact of product touch level and price on the effect of testimonials. Two mock e-commerce sites were used, one with testimonials and the other without. The experimental approach simulated a complete shopping process with students whose age was between 21 and 30, on a fully functional website, with subjective and objective behavioral measures. The subjective measures were based on two questions that participants were asked along the experiment. The objective measures consisted of metrics such as navigation patterns in the site, number of products in the shopping cart, and readiness to enter credit card number. The presence of testimonials had a greater impact on users with little internet-based shopping experience, was associated with increased trust, and was more significantly pronounced for price than for product touch level. In addition, the results showed that a decreased level of trust was associated with higher prices. The impact of testimonials is accounted for in terms of history sharing and building an online community.
Building innovation networks: the process of partner selection by young knowledge intensive firms

This paper addresses partner selection in innovation networks. It builds on the existing literature to develop an integrative framework that encompasses the main factors identified as influencing selection of innovation partners by young knowledge-intensive firms. It considers that both persistence and novelty are present in the network building process and that to fully understand the selection of innovation partners both aspects have to be considered. A framework is developed that integrates several arguments advanced in the literature to explain partner selection, namely social capital, imprinting and inertia for tie persistence, and network embeddedness and proximity for new tie selection. Using a rare event logit model, we estimate the likelihood of selecting a partner to access resources vital for innovation (both in aggregated terms and distinguishing between three resources - knowledge, complementary assets and credibility). The model is tested using data about the partnerships established by young Portuguese biotechnology firms, purposefully collected through questionnaire-based face-to-face interviews, complemented with documentary information. The results highlight the advantages of adopting an integrated framework that takes into account a variety of complementary explanations for both persistence and novelty, that tend to be addressed separately. They also uncover different network building strategies in terms of partner selection to access the different types of resources needed for innovation.
A Variable Damping module for Variable Impedance Actuation

Recent robotic research recognized the advantages that Variable Impedance Actuators would yield to a new generation of robots, rendering them adapt to many different tasks of everyday life. In this work we present the development of a Variable Damping mechanism, designed to integrate within a modular Variable Stiffness Actuator platform to realize a complete Variable Impedance Actuation unit. After a short discussion on the possible implementation strategies, the different operation principles and realization methods of damping systems are initially introduced, and a detailed description of the mechatronics and functionalities of a novel variable damping unit follows. In particular, the proposed implementation adopts an innovative aperture mechanism, similar to the light shutter of a camera, to engage a rotating chamber of high-viscosity silicon oil. Finally, some experiments are shown, to validate and characterize the system.
Principles of Surface-based Microwave and Millimeter wave Radiometric Remote Sensing of the Troposphere

Surface-based radiometric measurements of tropospheric parameters have long provided useful measurements of temperature, water vapor, and cloud liquid. In this paper, a general overview of physical fundamentals, measurement techniques, and retrieval methodology is given. Then several contemporary instruments are discussed and representative results are presented. Recent and promising developments include multifrequency radiometers, scanning observations of clouds, and combined activepassive remote sensing. The primary applications of these new technologies are weather forecasting and climate, communications, geodesy and long-baseline interferometry, satellite data validation, air-sea interaction, and fundamental molecular physics. The work presented here updates and extends the reviews published in [11] and [37].