Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling Local Monetary Flows in Poor Regions: A Research Setup to Simulate the Multiplier Effect in Local Economies

In poor regions, lack of local monetary circulation is one of the key elements causing underdevelopment. The more incoming money is passed from hand to hand, the more the local economy will be stimulated. However, in most poor areas money is spent outside the community before circulating locally, reducing the effectiveness of money inflow dramatically. Development programs would increase their effectiveness if knowledge was available on how spending money could lead to optimized and prolonged local circulation. To gain this knowledge a simulation tool will be created, which is able to analyze financial flows, to evaluate the potency of specific actions aimed on local development, and to monitor a development scheme during the execution phase. The basic model will be developed through a multi-agent approach, where each agent represents one (or more) family/households belonging to one of several socio-economic groups. A Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of the local economy will be used as a basis to set up a spendings matrix for each agent, defining its spending priorities. Artificial Intelligence techniques will be used to give the agent the possibility to make decisions on how to satisfy these spending priorities. Also, social dynamics, the simulation of strategic planning behavior, learning, and exchange in limited networks will be addressed. The simulation application will consist of a common user interface allowing the user to "play" the simulation. This user interface layer will be "pluggable" with the underlying programming layer responsible for the calculations on the simulation, so that different plug-ins may be used for different simulation techniques. Classification-ACM-1998: J.4
NH2-Terminal Targeting Motifs Direct Dual Specificity A-Kinase–anchoring Protein 1 (D-AKAP1) to Either Mitochondria or Endoplasmic Reticulum

Subcellular localization directed by specific targeting motifs is an emerging theme for regulating signal transduction pathways. For cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), this is achieved primarily by its association with A-kinase–anchoring proteins (AKAPs). Dual specificity AKAP1, (D-AKAP1) binds to both type I and type II regulatory subunits and has two NH2-terminal (N0 and N1) and two COOH-terminal (C1 and C2) splice variants (Huang et al., 1997. J. Biol. Chem. 272:8057). Here we report that the splice variants of D-AKAP1 are expressed in a tissue-specific manner with the NH2-terminal motifs serving as switches to localize D-AKAP1 at different sites. Northern blots showed that the N1 splice is expressed primarily in liver, while the C1 splice is predominant in testis. The C2 splice shows a general expression pattern. Microinjecting expression constructs of D-AKAP1(N0) epitope-tagged at either the NH2 or the COOH terminus showed their localization to the mitochondria based on immunocytochemistry. Deletion of N0(1-30) abolished mitochondrial targeting while N0(1-30)-GFP localized to mitochondria. Residues 1–30 of N0 are therefore necessary and sufficient for mitochondria targeting. Addition of the 33 residues of N1 targets D-AKAP1 to the ER and residues 1–63 fused to GFP are necessary and sufficient for ER targeting. Residues 14–33 of N1 are especially important for targeting to ER; however, residues 1–33 alone fused to GFP gave a diffuse distribution. N1(14-33) thus serves two functions: (a) it suppresses the mitochondrial-targeting motif located within residues 1–30 of N0 and (b) it exposes an ER-targeting motif that is at least partially contained within the N0(1-30) motif. This represents the first example of a differentially targeted AKAP and adds an additional level of complexity to the PKA signaling network.
The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) used in an Australian context

Abstract This study explored use of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) subtests in an Australian context, as part of a larger study of reading accuracy achievement. Subjects were 398 Queensland (Qld) students in Years 1, 2, and 3, who were tested on DIBELS reading accuracy subtests at mid‐year and end‐year test points in 2005. Alignment with DIBELS USA benchmark cutpoints was poor, probably due to schooling differences, as Qld starts formal reading instruction a year later than the USA. In discussion with the DIBELS authors, it was decided to develop interim local Qld benchmarks from the data, to be used by schools and researchers until longitudinal research establishes more valid benchmark cutpoints. The characteristics and advantages of DIBELS are discussed.
Can the Energy Gap in the Protein-Ligand Binding Energy Landscape Be Used as a Descriptor in Virtual Ligand Screening?

The ranking of scores of individual chemicals within a large screening library is a crucial step in virtual screening (VS) for drug discovery. Previous studies showed that the quality of protein-ligand recognition can be improved using spectrum properties and the shape of the binding energy landscape. Here, we investigate whether the energy gap, defined as the difference between the lowest energy pose generated by a docking experiment and the average energy of all other generated poses and inferred to be a measure of the binding energy landscape sharpness, can improve the separation power between true binders and decoys with respect to the use of the best docking score. We performed retrospective single- and multiple-receptor conformation VS experiments in a diverse benchmark of 40 domains from 38 therapeutically relevant protein targets. Also, we tested the performance of the energy gap on 36 protein targets from the Directory of Useful Decoys (DUD). The results indicate that the energy gap outperforms the best docking score in its ability to discriminate between true binders and decoys, and true binders tend to have larger energy gaps than decoys. Furthermore, we used the energy gap as a descriptor to measure the height of the native binding phase and obtained a significant increase in the success rate of near native binding pose identification when the ligand binding conformations within the boundaries of the native binding phase were considered. The performance of the energy gap was also evaluated on an independent test case of VS-identified PKR-like ER-localized eIF2α kinase (PERK) inhibitors. We found that the energy gap was superior to the best docking score in its ability to more highly rank active compounds from inactive ones. These results suggest that the energy gap of the protein-ligand binding energy landscape is a valuable descriptor for use in VS.
Inﬂ uence of frequency and duration of strength training for effective management of neck and shoulder pain: a randomised controlled trial

Background Speciﬁ c strength training can reduce neck and shoulder pain in ofﬁ ce workers, but the optimal combination of exercise frequency and duration remains unknown. This study investigates how one weekly hour of strength training for the neck and shoulder muscles is most effectively distributed. Methods A total of 447 ofﬁ ce workers with and without neck and/or shoulder pain were randomly allocated at the cluster-level to one of four groups; 1×60 (1WS), 3×20 (3WS) or 9×7 (9WS) min a week of supervised high-intensity strength training for 20 weeks, or to a reference group without training (REF). Primary outcome was self-reported neck and shoulder pain (scale 0–9) and secondary outcome work disability (Disability in Arms, Shoulders and Hands (DASH)). Results The intention-to-treat analysis showed reduced neck and right shoulder pain in the training groups after 20 weeks compared with REF. Among those with pain ≥ 3 at baseline (n=256), all three training groups achieved signiﬁ cant reduction in neck pain compared with REF (p<0.01). From a baseline pain rating of 3.2 (SD 2.3) in the neck among neck cases, 1WS experienced a reduction of 1.14 (95% CI 2.10), 3WS is clinically signiﬁ Conclusion One hour of speciﬁ c strength training effectively reduced neck and shoulder pain in ofﬁ ce workers. Although the three contrasting training groups showed no statistical differences in neck pain reduction, only 1WS and 3WS reduced DASH. This study suggests some ﬂ exibility regarding time-wise distribution when implementing speciﬁ c strength training at the workplace.
Phoneme-like units and speech perception

Decoene (1997) discusses two hypotheses concerning the relationship between stimulus properties and syllables in speech perception. The rst, Decoene calls the phonological hypothesis. It is a compositional account whereby phonemes link directly to stimulus-properties, but syllables link to stimuli only indirectly through their phoneme constituents. This will be referred to as perceptual phoneme factorability below. Decoene’s second hypothesis, the integrative routine hypothesis, is a more holistic account of syllable perception. Under it, basic stimulus-to-phoneme links can be supplemented by ‘‘. direct connections between syllabic units and certain stimulus features’’ (1997, p. 878). Other recent hypotheses about speech perception admit even more radical departures from phoneme factorability. For example, Goldinger’s (1998) episodic lexicon posits direct links between word-sized symbolic units and the memory traces of individual utterances. Such a framework, in principle at least, allows for arbitrary stimulus-to-word links. This paper reviews certain systematic results from listeners’ identication of monosyllabic words and nonwords in English. It is argued that these results arise naturally under the phoneme factorability hypothesis, but remain unexplained on more holistic ‘large unit’ accounts of word perception. Allen (1994) reviews early work by Fletcher (1953), on the correct identication of naturally spoken nonsense CVCs in noise. This work shows evidence for a type of perceptual phoneme factorability: syllable scores can be extremely well predicted from the marginal correct
Alginate-Graft-PEI as a Gene Delivery Vector with High Efficiency and Low Cytotoxicity

To overcome the efficiency–cytotoxicity dilemma of native PEI and incorporate the advantages of alginate, we designed a novel gene vector by grafting PEI 2000 onto alginate, an anionic polysaccharide with excellent biocompatibility. The alginate-graft-PEI (Alg-g-PEI) was successfully synthesized and then characterized by elemental analysis, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. The M w of Alg-g-PEI is ca. 17 000. Acid–base titration confirmed that Alg-g-PEI retained the buffering capacity of native PEI. The DNA binding ability of the polymer was confirmed by gel retardation assay. DSL analysis showed that Alg-g-PEI had a particle size and zeta-potential similar to PEI 25K. AFM detected a clear and well-shaped morphology of the complexes. Additionally, Alg-g-PEI exhibited lower cytotoxicity than PEI 25K in BEL7402, MSC and RVMSC cells. Compared with PEI 25K, Alg-g-PEI had comparable or even higher transfection efficiency. Similarly, Alg-g-PEI-mediated VEGF expression was significantly higher compared with PEI 25K-mediated VEGF expression. All together, our results suggest that Alg-g-PEI has a potential to be a safe and efficient agent for gene therapy.
Improved discriminative training using phone lattices

We present an efficient discriminative training procedure utilizing phone lattices. Different approaches to expediting lattice generation, statistics collection, and convergence were studied. We also propose a new discriminative training criterion, namely, minimum phone frame error (MPFE). When combined with the maximum mutual information (MMI) criterion using I -smoothing, replacing the standard minimum phone error (MPE) criterion with MPFE led to a small but consistent win in several applications. Phone-lattice-based discriminative training gave around 8% to 12% relative word error rate (WER) reduction in SRI’s latest English Conversational Telephone Speech and Broadcast News transcription systems developed for DARPA’s EARS project.
Transmuter: An Approach to Rule-based English to Marathi Machine Translation

This paper describes the architecture of a Machine Translation System with source language as English and target language as Marathi. The basic approach used for the development of this system is Rule Based Machine Translation. The basic algorithm for obtaining the correct word order in the target language was developed based on specific traversals of the parse tree. One of the special features of the system is a Word Sense Disambiguation model. Presently only prepositions will be disambiguated and work is going on for verbs and nouns. The model is a generalized approach based on the categories/domains a word belongs to. Another feature is the target language generation module. The focus is on the grammar structure of the target language that will produce better and smoother translations. The architecture though developed specifically for English – Marathi language pair, may be extended to other language pairs with similar structure. The architecture is partially implemented in the form of Machine Translation system. A lexicon is built for morphological and semantic properties. The results, even at partial implementation stage, are really encouraging.
The motorway to adulthood: music preference as the sex and relationships roadmap

Factors that contribute to sexual decision-making among young people are varied, and several determinants have been identified as contributing to the process. However, the influential role of music preference has been sidelined both in the literature and by sex and relationships educators. The research outlined in this paper explores the normative impact of music preference, and highlights the importance of influences drawn from teen culture. A preliminary study had indicated that representations of sex and relationships within lyrics were found to be genre specific. The main study comprised six single-sex focus group discussions on music and sex with young people aged between 14 and 19 years. Thematic analysis revealed that preferred genre and artists were found to be associated with all aspects of participants' lives and culture generally, with music functioning specifically as an educational tool for adult relationships. The findings from these studies indicate that the norms portrayed by young people's preferred genres reinforce (oftentimes inappropriate) beliefs about sex and adult relationships.
Preparation and characterization of plasma membrane-enriched fractions from rat pancreatic islets

Methods have been developed for the isolation on a semi-micro scale of a plasma membrane-enriched fraction from rat islets of Langerhans. An important feature of these experiments is the use of 125I-labeled wheat germ agglutinin as a specific probe for plasma membrane-containing fractions. The partly purified plasma membrane fraction had a density in sucrose of about 1.10 and was enriched in the activities of 5'- nucleotidase, alkaline phosphatase, sodium-potassium, and magnesium- dependent ATPase and adenylate cyclase. It contained only very low levels of acid phosphatase, cytochrome c oxidase, insulin, and RNA. Further purification was hampered by the relatively small amounts of fresh plasma membrane material that could be obtained from 16-24 rats in each experiment. When islets were prelabeled with radioactive fucose, the plasma membrane-enriched fraction contained radioactivity at a four- to fivefold higher specific acivity than the whole islet homogenate. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of plasma membrane-enriched fractions pooled from several experiments revealed a distinctive pattern of protein bands as compared with other less pure fractions. With respect to rapidity, apparent specificity, and easy reversibility of the labeling of the plasma membrane fraction, 125I-wheat germ agglutinin provides a highly useful tool for the detection of microgram quantities of plasma membrane components which should be applicable to many other systems as well.
Overview of 5G security in 3GPP

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is currently specifying the next (fifth) generation “5G” of the mobile network including a new radio interface. This work is performed in most of the 3GPP working groups on all layers and just passed the study phase with the beginning of documenting normative specifications. The new 5G system is designed to be the enabler platform for different services of new stakeholders like Mission Critical Communications (MCC), Internet of Things (IoT) Automotive and Railways as well as Energy Providers and Broadcast agencies etc. This paper is describing the basic new concepts in the 5G core network architecture and its security implications including an overview of the two services Vehicle to Everything (V2X) and Internet of Things (IoT) that are considered as important vertical services for the new 5G system.
A Robust Architectural Approach for Cryptographic Algorithms Using GALS Pipelines

This article presents the design of a cryptographic chip using a globally asynchronous, locally synchronous (GALS) design methodology. The design demonstrates the key advantage of using asynchrony in cryptography: the randomization of event timing internal to the chip leads to a dramatic increase in its robustness to side-channel attacks based on power and electromagnetic emission signatures.
Endothelin-converting enzyme 1 degrades neuropeptides in endosomes to control receptor recycling

Neuropeptide signaling requires the presence of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) at the cell surface. Activated GPCRs interact with β-arrestins, which mediate receptor desensitization, endocytosis, and mitogenic signaling, and the peptide–receptor–arrestin complex is sequestered into endosomes. Although dissociation of β-arrestins is required for receptor recycling and resensitization, the critical event that initiates this process is unknown. Here we report that the agonist availability in the endosomes, controlled by the membrane metalloendopeptidase endothelin-converting enzyme 1 (ECE-1), determines stability of the peptide–receptor–arrestin complex and regulates receptor recycling and resensitization. Substance P (SP) binding to the tachykinin neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1R) induced membrane translocation of β-arrestins followed by trafficking of the SP–NK1R–β-arrestin complex to early endosomes containing ECE-1a–d. ECE-1 degraded SP in acidified endosomes, disrupting the complex; β-arrestins returned to the cytosol, and the NK1R, freed from β-arrestins, recycled and resensitized. An ECE-1 inhibitor, by preventing NK1R recycling in endothelial cells, inhibited resensitization of SP-induced inflammation. This mechanism is a general one because ECE-1 similarly regulated NK3R resensitization. Thus, peptide availability in endosomes, here regulated by ECE-1, determines the stability of the peptide–receptor–arrestin complex. This mechanism regulates receptor recycling, which is necessary for sustained signaling, and it may also control β-arrestin-dependent mitogenic signaling of endocytosed receptors. We propose that other endosomal enzymes and transporters may similarly control the availability of transmitters in endosomes to regulate trafficking and signaling of GPCRs. Antagonism of these endosomal processes represents a strategy for inhibiting sustained signaling of receptors, and defects may explain the tachyphylaxis of drugs that are receptor agonists.
Glycoprotein L sets the neutralization profile of murid herpesvirus 4

Antibodies readily neutralize acute, epidemic viruses, but are less effective against more indolent pathogens such as herpesviruses. Murid herpesvirus 4 (MuHV-4) provides an accessible model for tracking the fate of antibody-exposed gammaherpesvirus virions. Glycoprotein L (gL) plays a central role in MuHV-4 entry: it allows gH to bind heparan sulfate and regulates fusion-associated conformation changes in gH and gB. However, gL is non-essential: heparan sulfate binding can also occur via gp70, and the gB–gH complex alone seems to be sufficient for membrane fusion. Here, we investigated how gL affects the susceptibility of MuHV-4 to neutralization. Immune sera neutralized gL− virions more readily than gL+ virions, chiefly because heparan sulfate binding now depended on gp70 and was therefore easier to block. However, there were also post-binding effects. First, the downstream, gL-independent conformation of gH became a neutralization target; gL normally prevents this by holding gH in an antigenically distinct heterodimer until after endocytosis. Second, gL− virions were more vulnerable to gB-directed neutralization. This covered multiple epitopes and thus seemed to reflect a general opening up of the gH–gB entry complex, which gL again normally restricts to late endosomes. gL therefore limits MuHV-4 neutralization by providing redundancy in cell binding and by keeping key elements of the virion fusion machinery hidden until after endocytosis.
Review Symposium On the 1968 Level of Living Survey in Sweden

What kind of information is needed to give public discussion on low income problems and social policy an acceptable base? In December 1965 the minister of labor and housing in Sweden set up a state committee of enquiry to consider this question. The Low Income Committee, chaired by Dr Rudolf Meidner with Per Holmberg as secretary, approached the problem in a very pragmatic manner. Advised by a group of expert representatives from the LOr , the T C02 and the SAF3 they started from what was known about the structure of income on a continuous basis through official statistics based on tax returns. The
Counselors as Advocates for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth: A Call for Equity and Action

Legal support for advocacy on behalf of gay male, lesbian, and bisexual male and female students was determined in a May 1999 Supreme Court ruling. This ruling, coupled with recent interpretations of the Title IX statute, strengthens the position for a more humanistic school environment. Recommendations for school counselors are included in this article. Apoyo legal para la abogacia en nombre de estudiantes homosexuales, lesbianas y bisexuales se determino en una decision de la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos en Mayo de 1999. Esta decision, en conjunto con interpretaciones recientes del estatuto “Title IX,” intensifica la postura que pide un ambiente mas humanistico en las escuelas. Recomendaciones para consejeros escolares se incluyen en este articulo.
Cytotoxic Aporphines from Artabotrys Crassifolius

Artabotrys crassifolius Hook. f. & Thomson is a medicinal plant used in Malaysia. The cytotoxic effects of the hexane, chloroform and ethanol extracts of the leaves and bark were examined in vitro against MCF-7, MDA-468 and HCT-116 cells. The chloroform extract of the bark inhibited the growth of all cell lines with GI50 values ranging from 4.2 μg/mL to 9.4 μg/mL. Silica gel column chromatography of this extract yielded artabotrine, liridine, atherospermidine and lysicamine. Artabotrine and lysicamine inhibited the growth of HCT-116 and MCF-7 cells with GI50 values ranging from 3.3 μM to 3.9 μM. These alkaloids were not toxic to human embryonic kidney cells (HEK297) up to a concentration of 50 μg/mL.