Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Calcineurin inhibitor tacrolimus does not interfere with the suppression of hepatitis C virus infection by interferon‐α

Immunosuppression considerably affects hepatitis C virus (HCV) recurrence and the outcome of antiviral treatment after liver transplantation. Recent findings have suggested that the calcineurin inhibitor tacrolimus (Tac), unlike cyclosporine A (CsA), interferes with the antiviral activity of interferon‐α (IFN‐α) in vitro. The aim of this study was to more extensively investigate the effects of calcineurin inhibitors on IFN‐α signaling and antiviral activity in subgenomic and infectious HCV models. Treatment with Tac and CsA did not affect Huh7 cell proliferation at doses of 10 to 500 ng/mL; however, it completely inhibited T cell proliferation. In contrast to previous reports, Tac had no effect on IFN‐α–stimulated reporter gene expression, even at the dose of 5 μg/mL. Furthermore, in Huh7 subgenomic HCV replicon cells, treatment with Tac had no significant effect on the suppression of viral replication by IFN‐α. In the infectious HCV model, treatment with IFN‐α effectively inhibited both viral RNA replication and de novo production of virus particles, and neither was attenuated at any concentration of Tac. CsA had no significant effect on IFN‐α–stimulated reporter gene expression; however, as shown previously, a combination of CsA (at 500 ng/mL and higher) and IFN‐α resulted in enhanced inhibition of viral replication in both the subgenomic and infectious HCV models. In conclusion, our study shows no evidence that Tac or CsA interferes with IFN‐α–mediated inhibition of HCV replication and virion production in vitro. Therefore, no further mechanistic arguments have been found to break the clinical controversy about the choice of calcineurin inhibitors during posttransplantation antiviral therapy. Liver Transpl , 2010. © 2010 AASLD.
Multi-document abstractive summarization based on predicate argument structure

The proposed work is based on abstractive summarization which is the division of text summarization. It developed a summary of the multi-document using the semantic relationship between the input documents rather than what we get exactly from the input document. It is very necessary because of the difficulty of generating abstract manually and also a challenging task. In our system, summary is generated based on the predicate argument structure of the sentences. Semantic role labeling is utilized to obtain the predicate argument structure. Main steps involved in the proposed system: Predicate argument structure of the sentences is extracted to represent text semantically as the first step. Next, it group semantically similar predicate argument structure using hybrid approach of K-mean and agglomerative hierarchical clustering by utilizing semantic similarity measures. K-mean is selected due to its run time efficiency and agglomerative hierarchical clustering is selected due to its quality. We extract twelve features of the predicate argument and feature selection is made randomly in the optimization stage. Then top ranked predicate argument structures taken from the optimization phase. Sentences for summary is selected from top ranked predicate argument structure by utilizing language generation. The Proposed study is evaluated by Document Understanding Conference 2002 (DUC 2002). We observed that the proposed work saved the computation time and provides better result than existing systems.
Quadratic Prosperity Growth Instead of Stagnation

Today’s world economy is threatened by stagnation. The conventional fiscal instruments to counter this are exhausted. High national debts and sustained low interest rates will no longer suffice to encourage economic growth. With this, and a growing world population we face the following threats:• increased unemployment, • the collapse of the many overindepted national economies, • an increasing gap between rich and poor within nations and between nations. This article presents a new superstructure for economic theories. It shows how market economies can avoid economic stagnation.In 1936 economist Friedrich Hayek in his presidential address to the London Economic Club held a speech titled “Economics and Knowledge”. In his address he introduced the term “bit of knowledge” and urged his guild to search for said “bit of knowledge” as otherwise the science of economics could not be developed further. The objective of this article is to present the quantification of the bit of knowledge.
Adaptive Immune Responses During Pregnancy

It has long been believed that there is no immune interaction between mother and conceptus during pregnancy. This concept changed after evidence was provided that the maternal immune system is aware of the semiallogeneic conceptus and develops strategies to tolerate it. Since then, finely regulated mechanisms of active tolerance toward the fetus have been described. This Special Issue of the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology deals with these mechanisms. It begins with the description of minor histocompatibility antigens in the placenta; it further goes through adaptive immune responses toward paternal fetal antigens, mostly concentrating on regulatory T cells and molecules modulating the Th1/Th2 balance. The participation of antibody‐producing B cells in normal and pathological pregnancies is also discussed. This introductory chapter resumes the concepts presented throughout the Issue and discusses the clinical applications raised from these concepts.
Arbitration in Business Conflicts: A Fuzzy Decision Model for Arbitrated Price Agreements

In the global economy, companies increasingly demand arbitration services for business-related conflicts and agreements, since arbitration (often implemented electronically) avoids costly lengthy negotiations and lawsuits. This paper proposes a fuzzy decision support model to help determine the arbitrator's final award in terms of price under uncertainty. Potential users are: (i) arbitration companies and consultants; and (ii) managers who want to reach agreements via arbitration instead of negotiation. The arbitrator's imprecise hypotheses on the parties' claims (stated in ordinary language) are evaluated in the fuzzy context. This easily permits the theoretical solution to be applied in practice. Our proposal is new since an interface between fuzzy decision models and business arbitration hardly exists nowadays. Because the arbitrator should decide on price as rationally and methodically as possible, the proposal appears also significant. Practical handling through tables is shown and applicability highlighted.
Crystal structures of 2-amino-4,4,7,7-tetramethyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1,3-benzothiazol-3-ium benzoate and 2-amino-4,4,7,7-tetramethyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1,3-benzothiazol-3-ium picrate

In each of the title compounds, the cation is conformationally chiral, exhibiting conformational disorder, while two of the nitro groups in the picrate anion also exhibit disorder. In the benzoate salt, the ions are linked into a chain of rings by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, whole in the picrate salt, the hydrogen-bonded four-ion aggregate contains four different types of ring.
C-reactive protein and microalbuminuria in a multi-ethnic Asian population.

BACKGROUND C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker for inflammation, has been recently associated with early kidney damage. We examined the association between CRP and micro/macroalbuminuria in a multi-ethnic Asian population using data from two population-based studies in Singapore. Methods. We studied 5127 individuals, who participated in two separate, cross-sectional studies, the Singapore Prospective Study Program [SP2]/Singapore Cardiovascular Cohort Study 2 (SCCS2), involving 4233 participants of Chinese, Malay and Indian ethnicity, aged 24-95 years in Singapore, and the Singapore Malay Eye Study (SiMES), involving 894 participants of Malay ethnicity, aged 40-80 years. Micro/macroalbuminuria was defined as urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio of > or =17 mg/g for men and > or =25 g/g for women. CRP was analyzed as a continuous variable and as categories (<1, 1-3, >3 mg/L). Results. The prevalence of micro/macroalbuminuria in the whole population was 21.1%. The prevalence increased with increasing categories of CRP. Compared with persons with CRP concentrations <1 mg/L, the multivariable odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) was 1.33 (1.11-1.60) in persons with CRP concentrations 1-3 mg/L and 1.60 (1.30-1.96) in persons with CRP concentrations >3 mg/L; P trend <0.0001. In continuous analysis, each unit increase in log CRP was associated with an OR (95% CI) of 1.20 (1.11-1.28) of having micro/macroalbuminuria (P < 0.0001). This association was independent of potential confounders and was consistent across the two study cohorts with similar effect estimates (OR = 1.6) for micro/macroalbuminuria. Conclusions. Elevated CRP levels are associated with micro/macroalbuminuria independent of diabetes, hypertension and other potential confounders. This suggests that inflammation may play a role in early kidney damage.
Current status of smart systems and case studies of privacy protection platform for smart city in Japan

This paper is to clarify the current status of smart systems and discuss the progressive formation of the privacy protection ecosystem for smart cities in Japan. The authors surveyed representative smart city projects, promotion groups, and several privacy protection platforms as case studies. As a result, the authors obtained the following three findings. First, Smart Grids and Smart Intelligent Transport Systems have been progressing steadily. Second, several proof of concept in privacy protection platforms have started recently. Third, these privacy protection platforms are classified into two types: a centralized model and a distributed model. Therefore, it is important for the progressive formation of privacy protection platforms in smart cities not only to integrate the centralized model and the distributed model with a hybrid model based on the structure of Multi-sided Markets and Freemium business model, but also to examine a trust framework of privacy property to formulate its secured services at a low price, before full-scale smart systems come into use.
Staphylococcal alpha-toxin kills human keratinocytes by permeabilizing the plasma membrane for monovalent ions

Incubation of human keratinocytes with nanomolar concentrations of Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin leads to irreversible depletion of cellular ATP. The toxin forms hexamers in the target cell membranes, and rapid transmembrane flux of K+, Na+, and 86Rb+ is observed. Unexpectedly, pores formed in keratinocytes through application of low but lethal doses of alpha-toxin appeared to be considerably smaller than those formed in erythrocyte membranes. They permitted neither rapid influx of Ca2+ or propidium iodide, nor efflux of carboxyfluorescein. Larger pores allowing flux of all three markers did form when the toxin was applied at high concentrations. Flux of monovalent ions and reduction in cellular ATP levels evoked by low toxin doses correlated temporally with a fall in oxygen consumption, which was interpreted to reflect breakdown of mitochondrial respiration. The lethal event could not be thwarted by manipulating the extracellular K+ or Ca2+ concentrations. Realization that alpha-toxin may form very small pores in nucleated cells is important for future research on cellular toxin effects and membrane repair processes.
Design and Implementation of Learning Analytics System for Teachers and Learners Based on the Specified LMS

Learning analytics can give powers to teachers and learners to optimize their teaching and learning. This paper presents the design and implementation of learning analytics system for teachers and students based on a special LMS -- THEOL LMS, which is commonly used in blended learning in universities and colleges. The technical architecture of learning analytics system for teachers and students is different from for managers and researchers because of the difference of the requirements. For helping teachers and learners improve their teaching and learning, the primary aim of the THEOL learning analytics system includes: can collect data from THEOL LMS and show analysis results in THEOL LMS, supports all the teachers and learners in the THEOL LMS system, has the flexibility to do individual data analysis for expert users, can give the analysis result online and on time.
Design and Implementation of a Fully Autonomous Flight Control System for a UAV Helicopter

An autonomous flight control law applicable to full-envelope was designed in this manuscript for a small-scale unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) helicopter to fly autonomously. The UAV helicopter was constructed based on a radio-controlled hobby helicopter by assembling an avionic system. The autonomous flight control law applicable to full-envelope was designed using a decentralized design methodology incorporating a newly developed nonlinear control techniques as well as dynamic inversion. The designed autonomous flight control law was implemented and verified in flight tests with the UAV helicopter. The flight test results demonstrate that the designed autonomous flight control law successfully drives the small-scale UAV helicopter to fly autonomously. The scheme of the autonomous flight control is applicable to flight control design of other UAVs.
Experiences of persons with multiple chemical sensitivity with mental health providers

In this paper, we summarize the results of an online survey of persons in the United States with chemical intolerance/multiple chemical sensitivity who sought help from mental health providers, including counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and others. Respondents reported on their most recent contact with a provider, describing reasons for the contact, accommodations requested and received, and suggestions for how the experience could be more helpful. Overall, though clients were accommodated in small ways, some received no accommodation, and many felt that the providers needed to be more knowledgeable regarding chemical intolerance. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of providers becoming more aware of multiple chemical sensitivity and more willing to make their services accessible to these clients.
Nonspecific Low Back Pain During Childhood: A Retrospective Epidemiological Study of Risk Factors

Objectives:In contrast to what was believed in the past, nonspecific low back pain is a fairly frequent condition in children, whose pathophysiology remains unclear as yet. Although many factors have been implicated in its development, results are often contradictory. Methods:Our study aims to examine most of the reasons investigated in the international literature, as well as the previously unexamined impact of passive smoking in its clinical appearance. It is a retrospective study that investigates the symptom of nonspecific low back pain during a 12-month period before the visit of children to our department. The research included 692 children aged 7.5 to 14 years. The data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire, which included a mix of open and closed questions, followed by physical examination during their visit. Results:A total of 153 children were considered to present nonspecific low back pain during the previous year. The determinant factors appear to be greater age, the male sex, larger height, increased weight, dissatisfaction with school chairs, the clinical presentation of back pain in at least 1 parent, and coexisting anatomic orthopedic conditions. On the contrary, the weight of the school bag, the way in which it was carried and participation in sports, as well as the time spent by children in front of the TV or PC playing video or play station games, did not appear to have a statistically significant correlation with its appearance. In general, passive smoking does not appear to be a risk factor (P[r] = 0.341), and does not seem to play a leading role in the etiology of the condition. Furthermore, even the heaviness of parental smoking (over 20 cigarettes a day) does not seem to alter the appearance of the disease. The effect of nonspecific low back pain in children's activities was measured using Hannover Functional Ability and Rolland Morris questionnaires, appropriately modified to childhood, where he found a moderate or severe restriction of activity in 23.52% (score >5) and 19.61% (score >6), respectively. Conclusions:The data analysis shows that nonspecific low back pain in children is a benign disorder with an unknown pathophysiological mechanism. Many anthropometric characteristics and environmental factors are implicated, but to a different degree each time. Passive smoking as well as the heaviness thereof does not appeal to play in important role in its clinical presentation. Further investigation is deemed necessary to determine the existence of other risk factors, as well as the level of their participation in the condition's pathophysiology.
Radiation Damage and Racemic Protein Crystallography Reveal the Unique Structure of the GASA/Snakin Protein Superfamily.

Proteins from the GASA/snakin superfamily are common in plant proteomes and have diverse functions, including hormonal crosstalk, development, and defense. One 63-residue member of this family, snakin-1, an antimicrobial protein from potatoes, has previously been chemically synthesized in a fully active form. Herein the 1.5 Å structure of snakin-1, determined by a novel combination of racemic protein crystallization and radiation-damage-induced phasing (RIP), is reported. Racemic crystals of snakin-1 and quasi-racemic crystals incorporating an unnatural 4-iodophenylalanine residue were prepared from chemically synthesized d- and l-proteins. Breakage of the C-I bonds in the quasi-racemic crystals facilitated structure determination by RIP. The crystal structure reveals a unique protein fold with six disulfide crosslinks, presenting a distinct electrostatic surface that may target the protein to microbial cell surfaces.
Game Analysis between Governments and Corporations with Prosecution in Green Supply Chain Management

Study the game between governments and corporations in which exist impeaching and implementation green supply chain,so that,we can advance a model and a quantitative methodology for the superintending department of our country,and then,they can make supervising policy and measures.Putting the game theory in the study of green supply chain between governments and corporations provides many illutinations for us.We propose the basic hypotheses,and take the prosecution of the consumers into account.According to different situations,we reach the Nash equilibrium solution and the mixed strategies solution.Further we analysis the best strategy solution and judge whether there are impeaching in the game.Also,we illustrate the effect of impeaching to strategy selection. At last,we summarize the best strategy of the model,and illustrate how to apply it by the government superintending department.
Indoor air quality and sick buildings

Ambient air pollution has been the subject of community concern for many years; a recent leading article in this Journal' has reviewed the recommendations of a report to the Victorian Environment Protection Authority. " However, as most people spend more of their day indoors than outdoors and indoor air levels of contaminants often exceed outdoor levels, concern has been raised about the effect of poor quality indoor air on health. '
Soft-errors resilient logic optimization for low power

This paper is about a single event upset resilient logic design optimization technique for sub-100nm technology nodes. The proposed technique can be used for both combinational as well as sequential circuits. In order to make a logic circuit robust for a transient error, the well known gate sizing technique is used. A 65nm inverters based master slave flip flop is considered for the case study. The result shows a trade off between the robustness and the performance (power consumption and operational speed) while performing design optimization for a single event upset. Furthermore, it shows that the width of devices cannot be increased arbitrarily in order to make a flip flop resilient since it can result in timing violation. The proposed design optimization technique incorporates the timing aspects and finds the optimal widths that make a gate robust against a single event upset.
Optimal Training Design for MIMO-OFDM Two-Way Relay Networks

In this paper, we study a training design problem for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) amplify-and-forward (AF) two-way relay networks. Unlike the existing studies, we assume the spatially correlated fading and consider the nonreciprocal channel condition, which is a more practical assumption but makes the training problem more challenging. The equivalent channels of bidirectional relaying links, which consist of self-interfering channels and information-bearing channels, are estimated at each source node based on a linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) approach. The total mean square error (MSE) of the channel estimation is minimized under the transmit power constraints at the source nodes and at the relay. To solve this problem, we first derive an optimal structure of the training signals, and then, convert the optimization problem into a tractable convex form, from which the optimal training scheme is designed efficiently. Furthermore, for a practical special case, the optimal training design is derived in semi-closed form, which provides useful insights. To reduce the required complexity, a low-complexity training scheme is also derived in closed-form. This scheme is shown to be asymptotically optimal in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime and gives further insights into the optimal training. The performance of the proposed schemes is demonstrated through numerical simulations.
Least-Squares SARSA(Lambda) Algorithms for Reinforcement Learning

The problem of slow convergence speed and low efficiency of experience exploitation in SARSA(lambda) learning is analyzed. And then the least-squares approximation model of the state-action pair's value function is constructed according to current and previous experiences. A set of linear equations is derived, which is satisfied by the weight vector of function approximator on a set of basis. Thus the fast and practical least-squares SARSA(lambda) algorithm and improved recursive algorithm are proposed. The experiment of inverted pendulum demonstrates that these algorithms can effectively improve convergence speed and the efficiency of experience exploitation.
Dual-Frequency Printed Dipole Loaded With Split Ring Resonators

A novel approach to design dual-frequency printed dipoles is presented. This approach is based on an antipodal printed dipole loaded with split ring resonators (SRRs). This technique allows the choice of any pair of working frequencies. Two prototypes, the first one working at 1.32 and 2.83 GHz and the second one working at 1.2 and 2.05 GHz, have been manufactured and measured. The experimental results show reasonable values for the efficiency at both working frequencies. Moreover, the obtained radiation pattern is dipolar at both frequencies with low cross polarization levels.