Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Loss of Tsc 1 or Tsc 2 Induces Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Production through Mammalian Target of Rapamycin 1

Mutation in either TSC1 or TSC2 causes the autosomal dominant disorder tuberous sclerosis, in which widespread hamartomas are seen, some of which have a high level of vascularization. Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) gene products negatively regulate mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activity. We found that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is secreted by Tsc1or Tsc2-null fibroblasts at high levels compared with wild-type cells. In Tsc1 / mice, serum levels of VEGF were increased and appeared to be associated with the extent of tumor development. Rapamycin, a mTOR inhibitor, reduced the production of VEGF by Tsc1and Tsc2-null fibroblasts to normal levels. Moreover, short-term treatment of Tsc1 / mice with rapamycin at 20 mg/kg led to some changes in tumor morphology and a reduction in serum VEGF levels. These observations have three implications. First, TSC gene products regulate VEGF production through a mTOR signaling pathway. Second, serum VEGF levels may be a useful clinical biomarker to monitor the progression of TSC-associated lesions. Last, rapamycin or related inhibitors of mTOR may have therapeutic benefit in TSC both by direct tumor cell killing and by inhibiting the development of TSC lesions through impairment of VEGF production.
Omnidirectional Camera with Unified RGBD Sensor for Mapping Remote Environments

This paper proposes the use of unified RGBD sensors in omni directional camera for constructing 3D maps of remote environments. The use of the unified sensor simplifies and accelerates the construction process. These advantages enable teleoperation systems to achieve faster refresh rate in visualizing 3D maps in operator's displays. Since the unified RGBD sensor technology is still unavailable for production, we validate the camera design on a simulation system. This work shows an alternative approach for the near future on constructing 3D maps, which is currently performed using sophisticated and extensive methods. We further experimented the camera design on a simulated teleoperation system, in which a user may control a mobile robot to navigate and to explore remote environments. The results showed that this camera is effective in providing spatial and color information for modeling remote environment into 3D maps.
International Human Resource Management: Review and Critique

The research agenda for the field of international human resource management (IHRM) is clear. For a better understanding and to benefit substantially, management scholars must study IHRM in context (Jackson, S.E. and Schuler, R.S. 1995. Understanding human resource management in the context of organizations and their environment. Annual Review of Psychology, 46:237-264; Geringer, J.M., Frayne, C.A. and Milliman, J.F. 2002. In search of 'best practices' in international human resource management: research design and methodology. Human Resource Management, forthcoming). IHRM should be studied within the context of changing economic and business conditions. The dynamics of both the local/regional and international/global business context in which the firm operates should be given serious consideration. Further, it could be beneficial to study IHRM within the context of the industry and the firm's strategy and its other functional areas and operations. In taking these perspectives, one needs to use multiple levels of analysis when studying IHRM: the external social, political, cultural and economic environment; the industry, the firm, the sub-unit, the group, and the individual. Research in contextual isolation is misleading: it fails to advance understanding in any significant way (Adler, N.J. and Ghadar, E. 1990. Strategic human resource management: a global perspective. Human Resource Management in International Comparison. Berlin: de Gruyter; Locke, R. and Thelen, K. 1995. Apples and oranges revisited: contextualized comparisons and the study of comparative labor politics. Politics & Society, 23, 337-367). In this paper, we attempt to review the existing state of academic work in IHRM and illustrate how it incorporates the content and how it might be expanded to do so.
The regulation of the calcium conductance of cardiac muscle by adrenaline.

1. The effect of adrenaline on the Ca‐dependent slow inward current, Is, of mammalian cardiac muscle has been investigated by the voltage‐clamp method. The mechanism of the increase in the conductance, gs, was analysed on the basis of a kinetic scheme (Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952) applicable to this system. 2. The rate constants alphad and betad, of activation of gs were not influenced by adrenaline, although the limiting conductance, gs, was greatly increased. 3. Reduction of [Ca]o from 1‐8 to 0‐2 mM decreased the amplitude of inward tail currents when gs was fully activated; however, the relative decrease of the current amplitude was the same with and without adrenaline. The reversal potential, ER, of Is was not changed by the drug. This indicates that the catecholamine has no influence on the selectivity of these conductance channels. 4. An increase in the number of functional conductance channels by adrenaline is discussed as a possible mechanism for the increase in Gs.
Effects of Status Epilepticus Early in Life on Susceptibility to Ischemic Injury in Adulthood

Summary: Purpose: Status epilepticus (SE) commonly occurs in children, whereas ischemic stroke is the most frequent neurologic insult in adults. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of SE induced in immature (15 days old; PN15) male rats, on susceptibility to subsequent transient focal cerebral ischemia induced in adulthood.
Phase I dose-escalation study of afatinib, an ErbB family blocker, plus docetaxel in patients with advanced cancer.

AIMS To determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), safety and anti-tumor activity of afatinib combined with docetaxel in advanced cancer. PATIENTS & METHODS The MTD was determined from dose-limiting toxicities in the first cycle. RESULTS Thirty-one patients received 10, 20 and 30 mg oral afatinib, plus 60 and 75 mg/m(2) intravenous docetaxel (six cohorts; 3-week cycles). The MTD of afatinib was 20 mg/day (days 2-21) with 75 mg/m(2) docetaxel (day 1). Dose-limiting toxicities were grade 3/4 diarrhea (n = 3) and febrile neutropenia (n = 6). Most frequently occurring adverse events were diarrhea, neutropenia and rash. Disease stabilization occurred in 14 patients. CONCLUSION Afatinib 20 mg/day plus docetaxel was suboptimal and the study could not yield Phase II dose recommendations. The combination resulted in a manageable safety profile.
Saturation and voltage quenching of porous-silicon luminescence and the importance of the Auger effect.

Two important observations for porous silicon, the saturation and the voltage selective quenching of the photoluminescence, are presented. Their similarities are pointed out and discussed in two phenomenological models, the saturation of the absorption and an Auger effect. The consequences of carrier accumulation in quantum crystallites are emphasized in both cases.
Retinoid signaling controls spermatogonial differentiation by regulating expression of replication-dependent core histone genes

ABSTRACT Retinoic acid (RA) signaling is crucial for spermatogonial differentiation, which is a key step for spermatogenesis. We explored the mechanisms underlying spermatogonial differentiation by targeting expression of a dominant-negative mutant of retinoic acid receptor α (RARα) specifically to the germ cells of transgenic mice to subvert the activity of endogenous receptors. Here we show that: (1) inhibition of retinoid signaling in germ cells completely blocked spermatogonial differentiation identical to vitamin A-deficient (VAD) mice; (2) the blockage of spermatogonial differentiation by impaired retinoid signaling resulted from an arrest of entry of the undifferentiated spermatogonia into S phase; and (3) retinoid signaling regulated spermatogonial differentiation through controlling expression of its direct target genes, including replication-dependent core histone genes. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the action of retinoid signaling on spermatogonial differentiation in vivo is direct through the spermatogonia itself, and provide the first evidence that this is mediated by regulation of expression of replication-dependent core histone genes. Highlighted article: Upregulation of replication-dependent core histone genes by retinoic acid signaling contributes to spermatogonial differentiation in mice.
An Endorsement-Based Mobile Payment System for a Disaster Area

A payment system in a disaster area is essential for people to buy necessities such as groceries, clothing, and medical supplies. However, existing payment systems require the needed communication infrastructures (like wired networks and cellular networks) to enable transactions, so that these systems cannot be relied on in disaster areas, where these communication infrastructures may be destroyed. In this paper, we propose a mobile payment system, adopting infrastructure less mobile adhoc networks (MANETs), which allow users to shop in disaster areas while providing secure transactions. Specifically, we propose an endorsement-based scheme to guarantee each transaction and a scheme to provide monitoring based on location information, and thus achieve transaction validity and reliability. Our mobile payment system can also prevent collusion between two parties and reset and recover attacks by any user. Security is ensured by using location-based mutual monitoring by nearby users, avoiding thereby double spending in the system.
Language, Emotions, and Cultures: Emotional Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

An emotional version of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that differences in language emotionalities influence differences among cultures no less than conceptual differences. Conceptual contents of languages and cultures to significant extent are determined by words and their semantic differences; these could be borrowed among languages and exchanged among cultures. Emotional differences, as suggested in the paper, are related to grammar and mostly cannot be borrowed. Conceptual and emotional mechanisms of languages are considered here along with their functions in the mind and cultural evolution. A fundamental contradiction in human mind is considered: language evolution requires reduced emotionality, but "too low" emotionality makes language "irrelevant to life," disconnected from sensory-motor experience. Neural mechanisms of these processes are suggested as well as their mathematical models: the knowledge instinct, the language instinct, the dual model connecting language and cognition, dynamic logic, neural modeling fields. Mathematical results are related to cognitive science, linguistics, and psychology. Experimental evidence and theoretical arguments are discussed. Approximate equations for evolution of human minds and cultures are obtained. Their solutions identify three types of cultures: "conceptual"-pragmatic cultures, in which emotionality of language is reduced and differentiation overtakes synthesis resulting in fast evolution at the price of uncertainty of values, self doubts, and internal crises; "traditional-emotional" cultures where differentiation lags behind synthesis, resulting in cultural stability at the price of stagnation; and "multi-cultural" societies combining fast cultural evolution and stability. Unsolved problems and future theoretical and experimental directions are discussed.
Effects of Peer Coaching on Teacher and Student Outcomes.

ABSTRACT The effects of a peer coaching procedure were analyzed in this study. A multiple-baseline design was used to compare three conditions. Four teachers planned and conducted an instructional innovation independently during an initial baseline phase. Conversely, these tasks were completed with a peer coach during a second phase and then alone again in a final maintenance condition. Outcome measures included the focus of teachers' collaboration with a peer coach, each teacher's procedural practices and refinements, a variety of teacher and student processes, and teachers' ongoing concerns and satisfaction with the innovation. A multiple-baseline single-case design was used to analyze the effects of the three experimental conditions on these various teacher and student outcomes. Four results are reported: (1) The 4 teachers made few changes or modifications in their instructional approach during the initial baseline condition. However, they focused on different aspects of their approach during peer coa.
ARTHISTORIAN : AN INTEGRATED INDEXING AND PERSONALIZED BROWSING SYSTEM FOR ART PAINTINGS

This paper introduces ArtHistorian, an art painting indexing system designed for automatic generation of dynamic painting presentations. The developed system aims personalized content browsing with a classification based indexing and query method implemented from the art historians’ perspective. ArtHistorian represents the visual content of paintings by a 6-D feature vector that is robust to scale changes and can handle variations in lighting conditions. A nonlinear SVM classifier included in the system learns the characteristics of fundamental art movements, painters and painting styles. Automatically generating indexes based on the classification results, the system creates an efficient storage environment that enables the user to run content-based queries and to retrieve materials from extensive painting records. Thus, it is very suitable for Internet art collections and active Web museums.
Measuring physical activity in field studies: Comparison of a questionnaire, 24-hour recall and an accelerometer

Abstract In a field setting, we compared a physical activity questionnaire (SQUASH), a 24-hour recall measure (Physical Activity Scale; PAS), and an accelerometer to: (1) quantify the amount of time spent in light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity; (2) calculate activity scores; and (3) categorize participants by physical activity tertiles. For 7 consecutive days, 103 participants (61% males, 39% females; mean age 36.8 years, mean body mass index 26.6 kg·m−2) wore an accelerometer and completed the PAS. Immediately before these 7 days, the participants completed the SQUASH and underwent anthropometric measurements (weight and height). Time spent in light (<3 METs), moderate (3–6 METs), and vigorous (≥6 METs) activity was calculated. Significant correlations were observed between the PAS and accelerometer in the population as a whole (r=0.66, P<0.001), the males (r=0.76, P<0.001), participants of normal weight (r=0.62, P<0.05), and those who were overweight (r=0.53, P<0.01). Correlations between the SQUASH and accelerometer were only significant for males (r=0.62, P<0.05) and overweight individuals (r=0.40, P<0.05). Moderate agreement was observed between tertiles for the accelerometer and PAS activity scores in the overall population (weighted kappa =0.47; 95% confidence interval =0.27–0.67) but not between the accelerometer and SQUASH. In conclusion, a 7-day administration of the PAS is a useful measure for classification of physical activity in the population studied. The SQUASH has practical advantages in terms of convenience of administration, but its usefulness in estimating physical activity is limited.
An Efficient Matrix Factorization Method for Tensor Completion

Most recent low-rank tensor completion algorithms are based on tensor nuclear norm minimization problems. The convex relaxation problem of tensor n-rank minimization has to be solved iteratively and involves multiple singular value decompositions (SVDs) at each iteration, and thus such algorithms suffer from high computation cost. In this letter, we propose an efficient low-rank tensor completion approach. First, we introduce a matrix factorization idea into the tensor nuclear norm model, and then can achieve a much smaller scale matrix nuclear norm minimization problem. Moreover, we develop an efficient iterative scheme for solving the proposed model with orthogonality constraint. Our extensive evaluation results validate both the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach.
Stimulation of neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells by EGF and KCl depolarization: a Ca(2+)-independent phenomenon

MAP kinase activity is necessary for growth factor induction of neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells. Although NGF and EGF both stimulate MAP kinase activity, EGF does not stimulate neurite extension. We report that EGF, in combination with KCl, stimulates neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells. This phenomenon was independent of intracellular Ca2+ increases and not due to enhancement of MAP kinase activity over that seen with EGF alone. However, EGF plus KCl increased intracellular cAMP, and other cAMP elevating agents acted synergistically with EGF to promote neurite outgrowth. Stimulation of neurite outgrowth by cAMP and EGF was blocked by inhibitors of transcription suggesting that synergistic regulation of transcription by the cAMP and MAP kinase pathways may stimulate neurite growth.
Energy management for MapReduce clusters

The area of cluster-level energy management has attracted significant research attention over the past few years. One class of techniques to reduce the energy consumption of clusters is to selectively power down nodes during periods of low utilization to increase energy efficiency. One can think of a number of ways of selectively powering down nodes, each with varying impact on the workload response time and overall energy consumption. Since the MapReduce framework is becoming "ubiquitous", the focus of this paper is on developing a framework for systematically considering various MapReduce node power down strategies, and their impact on the overall energy consumption and workload response time. We closely examine two extreme techniques that can be accommodated in this framework. The first is based on a recently proposed technique called "Covering Set" (CS) that keeps only a small fraction of the nodes powered up during periods of low utilization. At the other extreme is a technique that we propose in this paper, called the All-In Strategy (AIS). AIS uses all the nodes in the cluster to run a workload and then powers down the entire cluster. Using both actual evaluation and analytical modeling we bring out the differences between these two extreme techniques and show that AIS is often the right energy saving strategy.
Obesity and Cecal Intubation Time

Background/Aims: Obesity is a much-debated factor with conflicting evidence regarding its association with cecum intubation rates during colonoscopy. We aimed to identify the association between cecal intubation (CI) time and obesity by eliminating confounding factors. Methods: A retrospective chart review of subjects undergoing outpatient colonoscopy was conducted. The population was categorized by sex and obesity (body mass index [BMI, kg/m2]: I, <24.9; II, 25 to 29.9; III, ≥30). CI time was used as a marker for a difficult colonoscopy. Mean CI times (MCT) were compared for statistical significance using analysis of variance tests. Results: A total of 926 subjects were included. Overall MCT was 15.7±7.9 minutes, and it was 15.9±7.9 and 15.5±7.9 minutes for men and women, respectively. MCT among women for BMI category I, II, and III was 14.4±6.5, 15.5±8.3, and 16.2±8.1 minutes (p=0.55), whereas for men, it was 16.3±8.9, 15.9±8.0, and 15.6±7.2 minutes (p=0.95), respectively. Conclusions: BMI had a positive association with CI time for women, but had a negative association with CI for men.
High-performance iridium oxide/platinum nano-leaf composite coatings on microelectrodes for neural stimulation/recording

A novel platinum (Pt) nano-leaf interfacial layer between the Pt substrate and iridium oxide (IrOx) coating, significantly reduced impedance and increased cathodic charge storage capacity (CSCc) for neural microelectrodes. Combining the advantages of both materials, herein a lower impedance and higher CSCc of IrOx/Pt nano-leaf composite coatings than each simple coating was fabricated with nanoscale roughness. Furthermore, it demonstrated excellent mechanical and electrochemical stability, which was beneficial for effective neural stimulation/recording in various applications.
Comparison of two modulation techniques using frequency domain processing for in-house networks

The industry has shown a growing interest in the field of in-house wireless communication. The two major technical challenges are the interference and the signal distortion by the communication channel. We propose three different interference mitigation and distortion compensation strategies. These strategies are based on frequency domain processing, which is best supported by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and single-carrier modulation with cyclic prefix (SCCP). Both modulation techniques are compared with respect to their performance in an in-house environment. Both techniques are promising for in-house communication in an environment corrupted by interference and frequency selective channels.
Disciplinary representation on institutional websites: changing knowledge, changing power?

This paper analyses shifts in the representation of history and physics as named organisational units on Australian university websites over the last 15 years in the context of broader questions about the production of knowledge in contemporary times. It derives from a broader project concerned with disciplinarity, changing university contexts and emerging conceptions of teaching and research. The paper points to a significant reduction in the number of departments and departmental webpages dedicated solely to those disciplines and the greater obscurity of disciplinary knowledge on the websites as a result. It suggests these findings are one symbolic sign of some changes in progress in universities, including a reduced strength of disciplinary voice in broader university management, some shift away from disciplines as the key reference points for knowledge production and some de-centring of their traditional strength in the academic labour market. The study also points to the methodological challenges of working with online sources of evidence.