Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Lipids of Pneumocystis carinii

SUMMARY Information about a number of Pneumocystis carinii lipids obtained by the analyses of organisms isolated and purified from infected lungs of corticosteroid-immunosuppressed rats has been reported in recent years. Of the common opportunistic protists associated with AIDS (Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasma, and the microsporidia), more is currently known about the lipids of P. carinii than the others. Lipids that are synthesized by the organism but not by humans are attractive targets for drug development. Thus, the elucidation of Δ7C-24-alykylated sterol and cis-9,10-epoxystearic acid biosyntheses in P. carinii is currently being examined in detail, since these have been identified as P. carinii-specific lipids. The development of low-toxicity drugs that prevent sterol C-24 alkylation and the specific inhibition of the lipoxygenase that forms cis-9,10-epoxystearic acid might prove fruitful. Although humans can synthesize coenzyme Q10, the anti-P. carinii activity and low toxicity of ubiquinone analogs such as atovaquone suggest that the electron transport chain in the pathogen may differ importantly from that in the host. Although resistance to atovaquone has been observed, development of other naphthoquinone drugs would provide a broader armamentarium of drugs to treat patients with P. carinii pneumonia. Studies of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and of infected lungs have demonstrated that the infection causes a number of chemical abnormalities. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid obtained after the removal of lung cellular material and the organisms has been shown to contain larger amounts of surfactant proteins and smaller amounts of phospholipids than do comparable samples from P. carinii-free lungs. Increased phospholipase activity, inhibition of surfactant secretion by type II cells, and uptake and catabolism of lipids by the pathogen may explain this phenomenon related to P. carinii pneumonia. Although not yet thoroughly examined, initial studies on the uptake and metabolism of lipids by P. carinii suggest that the organism relies heavily on exogenous lipid nutrients.
Active-matrix nanocrystalline Si electron emitter array with a function of electronic aberration correction for massively parallel electron beam direct-write lithography: Electron emission and pattern transfer characteristics

A planar nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) electron emitter array compatible with an active-matrix large-scale integrated (LSI) driving circuit has been developed for massively parallel electron beam direct-write lithography. The electron-emitting part of the device consists of a 50-μm-pitch and 200 × 200 arrays of nc-Si dots fabricated on a Si substrate, and via-first-processed through-silicon-via (TSV) plugs of poly-Si connected with the dots from behind the substrate. Tapered emitter-array etching and electrochemical-oxidation with subsequent annealing and super-critical rinsing and drying processes significantly enhanced the electron emission current by improving and stabilizing uniformity and reducing the process temperature. When the emitter array was driven, electrons were effectively injected into the nc-Si layer through the TSV plugs and quasiballistically emitted through the gold surface electrode. The nc-Si emitter responded to the input signal within times of 0.1 μs or less. A 1:1 pattern transf.
Cerebral Infarction and Survival : Final Report Of The Veterans Administration Estrogenic Therapy in Men With Ischemic Cerebrovascular Disease : Effect on Recurrent

Estrogenic Therapy in Men With Ischemic Cerebrovascular Disease: Effect on Recurrent Cerebral Infarction and Survival • A cooperative clinical investigation was undertaken in 15 Veterans Administration Hospitals to determine whether long-term therapy with conjugated equine estrogens prevented recurrent cerebral infarction or death due to atherosclerotic vascular disease. Follow-up observations were made for periods up to five years in 572 men with cerebral infarction who were assigned on a random basis to placebo or to treatment with 1.25 to 2.5 mg of Premarin daily. Estrogen administration failed to reduce the incidence of cerebral infarction, transient cerebral ischemia or death due to vascular disease. Although use of hormones was associated with an overall higher death rate, this excess mortality was due largely to cancer and various other diseases and could not be attributed directly to the medication. Occurrences of and deaths from myocardial infarction were less in treated than control patients, but vascular disorders, such as pulmonary embolism, mesenteric thrombosis and heart failure were more frequent in the former group. This study failed to demonstrate any beneficial effect in men with cerebral infarction from estrogens given in moderate amounts for as long as five years. There was, on the other hand, no evidence to support current reports that prolonged estrogen use in these dosages produced an increased mortality from thromboembolism. Additional
Military Spending and Economic Growth in Sub Saharan Africa

The economic effects of military spending is an important issue for developing countries, particularly for regions such as Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), has been through considerable turmoil, with high levels of conflict in the region and generally poor economic performance. There has, however, been a limited amount of empirical work on the area, particularly work that takes into account the years following the Cold War. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the effect that military spending has had on the economies in the region. It provide a brief review of the empirical literature for developing countries, which suggests that there is little or no evidence for a positive effect on economic growth and that it is more likely to have a negative effect, or at best no significant impact at all. A growth model based on Dunne et al (2006), which includes military sending and overcomes some of the limitations of earlier models, is then estimated on a panel of countries using SIPRI, IFS and World Bank data for 1988-2006.s model. This finds unequivocal negative impacts of military spending on growth for SSA, consistent with the results for all countries and all non developed countries. Breaking down the sample into those involved in conflict and those not provides some further intriguing findings.
Case management for people with long-term conditions: impact upon emergency admissions and associated length of stay

Aim This paper describes findings from a study that evaluated the implementation and impact of case management for long-term conditions (CMLTC) in 10 primary care trusts (PCTs). Background Patients who have long-term conditions and complex health and social needs may require case management to deliver and coordinate their care from a range of agencies. Methods A cross-sectional postal survey of managers with lead responsibility for CMLTC in each PCT is adopted to describe the implementation of services. A retrospective cohort analysis of longitudinal routinely collected admission data for patients enrolled within the CMLTC service (nine months before and nine months after the entry; n = 867) is used to measure their impact. Findings The organisation of case management varied between PCTs in some aspects despite a high level of coordination across the geographical area. Mean emergency admissions and associated length of stay (LOS) for patients reduced significantly in the nine months after the service entry. There were a number of fairly robust positive and negative influences on these outcome measures in the regression analysis. Most patients with a history of emergency admissions experienced a marked improvement over time. However, most of those without any or with few admissions experienced an increase in admissions and corresponding LOS. Furthermore, a proportion of frequent service users with particular diagnoses also experienced an increase or remained at a high level. A very modest effect was shown with regard to the features of case management arrangements. For each day spent in hospital before service entry, patients are predicted to experience a reduction of nearly one day after. The main contributor explaining increases in LOS for emergency admissions was the number of primary and secondary diagnoses. Each added diagnosis is associated with a 2.4-day increase in LOS, everything else being equal.
Locus of control, interpersonal trust, and assertive behavior among newlyweds.

This study related two cognitive personality characteristics—locus of control and interpersonal trust—to assertive behavior in a sample of recently married couples. Assertive behavior was measured by the Inventory of Marital Conflicts, an observational procedure in which couples resolve disagreements about hypothetical marital problems. Hypotheses were formulated in terms of individual locus of control as well as two combinations of locus of control and interpersonal trust—internal low trust and external high trust. Results showed that internal husbands were more assertive than external husbands in the marital conflict situation, that external high trust husbands were least assertive, and that internal-low trust wives were highly assertive. These findings are interpreted in light of previous locus-of-control and trust research, as well as in terms of unconventional marital role behavior.
Functional reorganization in the developing lexicon: separable and changing influences of lexical and phonological variables on children's fast-mapping*

Neighbourhood Density (ND) and Phonotactic Probability (PP) influence word learning in children. This influence appears to change over development but the separate developmental trajectories of influence of PP and ND on word learning have not previously been mapped. This study examined the cross-sectional developmental trajectories of influence of PP and ND on fast-mapping in thirty-eight English-speaking children aged 3 ; 01–5 ; 02, in a task varying PP and ND orthogonally. PP and ND exerted separable influences on fast-mapping. Overall, low ND supported better fast-mapping. The influence of PP changed across the developmental trajectory, ‘switching’ from a high to a low PP advantage. A potential explanation for this ‘switch’ is advanced, suggesting that it represents functional reorganization in the developing lexicon, which emerges from changes in the developing lexicon, as phonological knowledge is abstracted from lexical knowledge, over development.
Single Miller compensation using inverting current buffer for multi-stage amplifiers

A novel single Miller frequency compensation topology utilizing a current mirror as an inverting current buffer (SMCICB) for multi-stage amplifiers is proposed. An effective method for accurate placement of the Left-Half-Plane (LHP) zero, introduced by the current buffer is detailed. The SMCICB network effectively cancels the pole at output node, resulting in a single-pole system. This topology does not introduce additional transistors and static power dissipation. As a design example, we simulated a four-stage amplifier driving a 25kΩ//125-pF load, achieving 8.2MHz gain-bandwidth product, with 80μA of quiescent current and ±1.5Vpower supplies in a 0. 5μm ON Semi 2P3M process CMOS. Simulation results, in good agreement with theoretical analysis, validate the proposed SMCICB scheme.
Investigation of Typical Bonding Faults of Plated Al Sheets Developed during Rolling

In this study the typical bonding faults of three layer-plated aluminum sheets are investigated. The bonding was performed between AlMn1Si0.8 and AlSi10 alloys using hot rolling (a VON ROLL experimental duo mill). The experimental temperatures were 460, 480 and 500 °C. T-peel test provided a good description about the quality of bonding. Structure analysis was also performed by light microscopy to detect typical bonding faults. The aim of this investigation is to produce some typical bonding faults and find the cause of formation. The influence of the rolling temperature and surface roughness on the bonding was also analyzed. Rolling schedule and the role of first pass on the development of perfect bonding were experimentally determined.
Extended eTVRA vs. security checklist: Experiences in a value-web

Security evaluation according to ISO 15408 (Common Criteria) is a resource and time demanding activity, as well as being costly. For this reason, only few companies take their products through a Common Criteria evaluation. To support security evaluation, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has developed a threat, vulnerability, risk analysis (eTVRA) method for the Telecommunication (Telco) domain. eTVRA builds on the security risk management methodology CORAS and is structured in such a way that it provides output that can be directly fed into a Common Criteria security evaluation. In this paper, we evaluate the time and resource efficiency of parts of eTVRA and the quality of the result produced by following eTVRA compared to a more pragmatic approach (Protection Profile-based checklists). We use both approaches to identify and analyze risks of a new SIM card currently under joint development by a small hardware company and a large Telco provider.
On-line cursive handwriting recognition using speech recognition methods

A hidden Markov model (HMM) based continuous speech recognition system is applied to on-line cursive handwriting recognition. The base system is unmodified except for using handwriting feature vectors instead of speech. Due to inherent properties of HMMs, segmentation of the handwritten script sentences is unnecessary. A 1.1% word error rate is achieved for a 3050 word lexicon, 52 character, writer-dependent task and 3%-5% word error rates are obtained for six different writers in a 25,595 word lexicon, 86 character, writer-dependent task. Similarities and differences between the continuous speech and on-line cursive handwriting recognition tasks are explored; the handwriting database collected over the past year is described; and specific implementation details of the handwriting system are discussed. <<ETX>>
Evolving metro transport and switching infrastructures: path to efficient Ethernet services for carrier networks

This white paper explores enhancements to existing metro architectures that can serve as a catalyst for a broader modernization and optimization of incumbent carriers' service infrastructures. Included in this white paper are strategies for the optimal use of existing capital resources, and pragmatic migration steps to ease and facilitate network evolution. With the gradual adoption of new and more intelligent networking technologies, incumbent carriers can accelerate migration toward the more dynamic and data-centric service architectures that will fuel future network growth and increase competitive differentiation. These service architectures must support the cost-effective deployment of new service offerings such as gigabit Ethernet over SDH. Key technology enablers for these agile network architectures, including optical routing and signaling, virtual concatenation (VC: G.707), link capacity adjustment scheme (LCAS: G.7042) and generic framing procedure (GFP: G.7041), are also discussed.
Learning Hybrid Concept Descriptions

Most symbolic learning methods are concerned with learning concept descriptions in the form of a decision tree or a set of rules expressed in terms of the originally given attributes. For some practical problems, these methods are inadequate because they cannot learn conditions that require counting of some object properties. Such problems occur, for example, in engineering, economy, medicine and software engineering. This paper describes a method for learning hybrid descriptions that combine logic-type and arithmetic-type properties. The presented method builds hybrid descriptions in the form of conditional counting rules, which are logic-type (DNF) expressions with counting conditions (expressing a relationship involving a count of some object properties). The method employs a constructive induction approach in which the learning system performs two intertwined searches: one—for the most appropriate knowledge representation space, and second—for the "best" hypothesis in the space. The first search is done by determining maximum symmetry classes of binary attributes in the initial DNFtype hypotheses, and extending the initial representation space by counting attributes that correspond to these symmetry classes. The search for the "best" hypothesis in so extended representation space is done by a standard AQ inductive rule learning program. It our experiments, the proposed method learned simple and accurate concept descriptions when conventional learning methods failed.
An Introduction to Multiple Description Coding

In this report, we formulate the Multiple Description (MD) coding problem, which was created couple of decades ago. Significant research effort has been devoted to completely characterizing the rate-distortion region of the MD coding problem. Various Information-Theoretical approaches to this problem have been taken, which generate beautiful results. We summarize part of the research effort in this report.
Evaluation of trench backfills at highway cross-drains

A highway cross-drain is an important element in a highway drainage system. This structure, however, has been related to the ride quality deterioration caused by pavement surface dips above this structure. In-situ probing techniques, such as the cone penetration test (CPT), miniature cone penetration test (Mini-cone) and dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP), were used to diagnose the causes of the dip problem. The field evaluations indicated that when a pavement surface dip occurred, the trench backfill underneath was softer than the adjacent subgrade soil. Because of its simplicity and potential as a quality control tool during the backfill process, the DCP test was given special attention. The field case histories and full-scale laboratory tests confirmed that DCP results can provide a reasonable estimation of the stiffness (modulus) of different trench backfills and subgrade soils. A possible way to prevent a pavement dip from occurring at a cross drain is to make a backfill stiffer than adjacent subgrade soils. The compaction results from the full-scale laboratory tests indicated that sand is not always successfully used for highway cross-drains due to its poor gradation and difficulty in compaction. Other materials, such as crushed limestone and recycled asphalt pavement (RAP), are good alternates because of their good workability and high stiffness when compacted.
Estimating interleaved comparison outcomes from historical click data

Interleaved comparison methods, which compare rankers using click data, are a promising alternative to traditional information retrieval evaluation methods that require expensive explicit judgments. A major limitation of these methods is that they assume access to live data, meaning that new data must be collected for every pair of rankers compared. We investigate the use of previously collected click data (i.e., historical data) for interleaved comparisons. We start by analyzing to what degree existing interleaved comparison methods can be applied and find that a recent probabilistic method allows such data reuse, even though it is biased when applied to historical data. We then propose an interleaved comparison method that is based on the probabilistic approach but uses importance sampling to compensate for bias. We experimentally confirm that probabilistic methods make the use of historical data for interleaved comparisons possible and effective.
The Productive Entry Pathway of HIV-1 in Macrophages Is Dependent on Endocytosis through Lipid Rafts Containing CD4

Macrophages constitute an important reservoir of HIV-1 infection, yet HIV-1 entry into these cells is poorly understood due to the difficulty in genetically manipulating primary macrophages. We developed an effective genetic approach to manipulate the sub-cellular distribution of CD4 in macrophages, and investigated how this affects the HIV-1 entry pathway. Pluripotent Stem Cells (PSC) were transduced with lentiviral vectors designed to manipulate CD4 location and were then differentiated into genetically modified macrophages. HIV-1 infection of these cells was assessed by performing assays that measure critical steps of the HIV-1 lifecycle (fusion, reverse transcription, and expression from HIV-1 integrants). Expression of LCK (which tethers CD4 to the surface of T cells, but is not normally expressed in macrophages) in PSC-macrophages effectively tethered CD4 at the cell surface, reducing its normal endocytic recycling route, and increasing surface CD4 expression 3-fold. This led to a significant increase in HIV-1 fusion and reverse transcription, but productive HIV-1 infection efficiency (as determined by reporter expression from DNA integrants) was unaffected. This implies that surface-tethering of CD4 sequesters HIV-1 into a pathway that is unproductive in macrophages. Secondly, to investigate the importance of lipid rafts (as detergent resistant membranes - DRM) in HIV-1 infection, we generated genetically modified PSC-macrophages that express CD4 mutants known to be excluded from DRM. These macrophages were significantly less able to support HIV-1 fusion, reverse-transcription and integration than engineered controls. Overall, these results support a model in which productive infection by HIV-1 in macrophages occurs via a CD4-raft-dependent endocytic uptake pathway.
Search for Genes Essential for Pneumococcal Transformation: the RadA DNA Repair Protein Plays a Role in Genomic Recombination of Donor DNA

ABSTRACT We applied a novel negative selection strategy called genomic array footprinting (GAF) to identify genes required for genetic transformation of the gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae. Genome-wide mariner transposon mutant libraries in S. pneumoniae strain R6 were challenged by transformation with an antibiotic resistance cassette and growth in the presence of the corresponding antibiotic. The GAF screen identified the enrichment of mutants in two genes, i.e., hexA and hexB, and the counterselection of mutants in 21 different genes during the challenge. Eight of the counterselected genes were known to be essential for pneumococcal transformation. Four other genes, i.e., radA, comGF, parB, and spr2011, have previously been linked to the competence regulon, and one, spr2014, was located adjacent to the essential competence gene comFA. Directed mutants of seven of the eight remaining genes, i.e., spr0459-spr0460, spr0777, spr0838, spr1259-spr1260, and spr1357, resulted in reduced, albeit modest, transformation rates. No connection to pneumococcal transformation could be made for the eighth gene, which encodes the response regulator RR03. We further demonstrated that the gene encoding the putative DNA repair protein RadA is required for efficient transformation with chromosomal markers, whereas transformation with replicating plasmid DNA was not significantly affected. The radA mutant also displayed an increased sensitivity to treatment with the DNA-damaging agent methyl methanesulfonate. Hence, RadA is considered to have a role in recombination of donor DNA and in DNA damage repair in S. pneumoniae.