Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reducing CXCR 4-mediated nociceptor hyperexcitability reverses painful diabetic neuropathy

Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is an intractable complication of diabetes that affects 25% of patients. PDN is characterized by neuropathic pain and small-fiber degeneration, accompanied by dorsal root ganglion (DRG) nociceptor hyperexcitability and loss of their axons within the skin. The molecular mechanisms underlying DRG nociceptor hyperexcitability and small-fiber degeneration in PDN are unknown. We hypothesize that chemokine CXCL12/CXCR4 signaling is central to this mechanism, as we have shown that CXCL12/CXCR4 signaling is necessary for the development of mechanical allodynia, a pain hypersensitivity behavior common in PDN. Focusing on DRG neurons expressing the sodium channel Nav1.8, we applied transgenic, electrophysiological, imaging, and chemogenetic techniques to test this hypothesis. In the high-fat diet mouse model of PDN, we were able to prevent and reverse mechanical allodynia and small-fiber degeneration by limiting CXCR4 signaling or neuronal excitability. This study reveals that excitatory CXCR4/CXCL12 signaling in Nav1.8-positive DRG neurons plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of mechanical allodynia and small-fiber degeneration in a mouse model of PDN. Hence, we propose that targeting CXCR4-mediated DRG nociceptor hyperexcitability is a promising therapeutic approach for disease-modifying treatments for this currently intractable and widespread affliction. Research Article Neuroscience
Location and Mode Choice Decision Mechanism Analysis of Multi-Worker Household in Bangkok, Thailand

The first introduction of urban railway in Bangkok, Thailand, is believed to have a significant influence on residents’ spatial and travel behavior decisions. Whether or not it has become a major determinant of people to choose to live near the railway corridor as well as to commute to work by this mode should be examined. This paper aims to investigate the factors involved in household choices decisions of multi-worker households who are more constrained in selecting residential location, workplace location, and travel choice than one-worker households, with particular emphasis on the role of transport factors. The discrete choice modeling is used to explore to what extent the transport factors in terms of each worker’s commuter cost and time affect their choices decisions as compared to other factors. Model estimation reveals that, rather than transport factors, socio-demographic status is found to play a significant role in explaining their decision mechanism.
V2I applications in highways: How RSU dimensioning can improve service delivery

This paper investigates the performance of Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) services over Vehicular Networks (VANETs) that are assisted by Road Side Units (RSU). More specifically, an analytical study of RSU dimensioning and a respective module is designed and developed in a simulated VANET environment. Two V2I application scenarios (e.g. car crash, spot weather) are considered in order to evaluate the impact of RSUs, vehicles' size and speed and car crash start time and duration on applications' performance. It is shown that the VANET network metrics (Packet Loss and Packet Delivery Ratio) are affected by the available MAC Bit rates and application scenarios. Mobility model metrics (Total Busy Time and Total CO2 Emissions) are also affected by the different application scenarios, number and type of vehicles.
Credit Ratings and Taxes: The Effect of Book–Tax Differences on Ratings Changes

This paper examines whether credit analysts utilize the information contained in the difference between book and taxable income in analyzing a firm's credit risk. Increased book-tax differences may be informative for credit rating agencies as they may signal decreased earnings quality or changes in the firm's off-balance sheet financing. Results suggest a significant negative association between positive changes in book-tax differences and ratings changes. This evidence is consistent with large positive changes in book-tax differences signaling decreased earnings quality and/or increased off-balance sheet financing. We also find that large negative changes in book-tax differences result in less favorable rating changes, consistent with these changes signaling decreased earnings quality. In additional analyses, we find that the association between changes in book-tax differences and rating changes is attenuated for high tax planning firms (e.g., where book-tax differences more likely reflect tax planning than decreased earnings quality).
Multilevel Governance and Social Cohesion: Bringing Back Conflict in Citizenship Practices

This paper revisits the relevance of conflict in governance and citizenship practices in cities. Europe national urban policies were readjusted in terms of economic policies and state expenditures in the 1980s and then again and more severely after the 2008 financial and economic crisis. Policy discourses in urban policy have emphasised the beneficial consequences of social and political consensus in helping cities to restructure economically as part of ‘good governance’. At the same time, the paradigm of citizenship understood as a system of social and political inclusion based on economic redistribution and political participation has been substituted by one that has the objective to ensure social cohesion in societies. This substitution renounces the objectives concerning social justice, fails to face the tensions of increasing social inequalities and misses the contribution of social innovation and citizens’ practices that incorporate counter-hegemonic ideals as equally important to an effective multilevel governance. A bottom-link approach is suggested as a synthesis of the tension between top–down policies and bottom–up practices.
Environmental damage, abatement and sustainable economic growth

This paper investigates the impact of abatement policies on the environment and economic growth. Environmental damage is a by-product of industrial production. As pollution reduces the welfare of every individual, it constitutes a negative impact of production. We focus on abatement policies to regenerate the environment. In social optimum, we obtain a simple rule for abatement expenditures. However, this rule cannot be implemented easily in a competitive market equilibrium, where the amount of abatement activities has to be financed by distortionary taxation. Finally, we present empirical evidence based on factor shares, which indicates that the model is empirically reasonable.
Trust within Entrepreneur Bank Relationships: Insights from Italy

Previous research has focused on economic factors that influence relationships between entrepreneurs and banks. Trust is relevant because it can reduce agency problems. A conceptual framework is developed from previous literature and from a study of entrepreneurs and bank managers from two regions of Northeast Italy. Testable propositions are derived regarding determinants of trust and the process of development in the entrepreneur–bank relationship. Within close–knit communities, information from third parties and community involvement affect the build up of trust. The implications are that bestowing trust may increase trustworthy behavior leading to a spiral of trust. Heavy monitoring may lead to lower levels of trust in a bank and lower demand for finance and/or less trustworthy behavior.
Experimental evaluation of fog computing techniques to reduce latency in LTE networks

The changes in new mobile networks toward a full Internet protocol–based architecture have led to opportunities for service‐oriented optimizations based on emergent technologies like fog computing, software‐defined networking, or network function virtualization. This paper explores 2 ways of using these new technologies to reduce the latency in Long‐Term Evolution (LTE) networks. Both solutions reduce the path that the data packets should follow from the base station (evolved Node B [eNB]) to the network components that connect to the servers. The first solution, called Fog Gateway, is based on the interception of the packets in the tunnel at the eNB and their redirection to local servers running the fog services. This solution is fully compliant with the current LTE architecture and only requires new components. The second solution, called General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol Gateway (GTP), is based on splitting the eNB's functionality to avoid unnecessary GTP encapsulation of the packets geared toward the fog services. This paper includes an analysis of the latency split in LTE networks, the evaluation of both solutions with experiments in an end‐to‐end LTE network testbed, and a discussion around their applicability in future fifth‐generation networks. The results confirm that they are feasible to provide low‐latency services and that they are compatible with some of the emergent paradigms (software‐defined networking and network function virtualization) as well as with the studies on fifth‐generation networks from the standardization bodies.
Molecular characterization of stress-inducible PLATZ gene from soybean (Glycine max L.)

PLATZ (plant AT-rich sequence and zinc-binding protein) is a novel class of DNA-binding proteins; however, the function of the PLATZ gene has not yet been identified in plants. This study aims to isolate, sequence, and analyse the PLATZ gene responsive to abiotic stress in soybean. We isolated a stress-inducible gene encoding the PLATZ from soybean (Glycine max L.). This gene, designated as GmPLATZ1, was specifically induced by drought, high salinity, or abscisic acid (ABA) in soybean. GmPLATZ1 cDNA is composed of 711 bp nucleotide sequences encoding a PLATZ protein (236 amino acids) with 9.41 pI and 26.75 kDa. Multiple sequence alignment analysis showed that the N-terminal region of GmPLATZ1 shares the highly conserved zinc-finger motifs with other PLATZ proteins. The subcellular localization of the GmPLATZ1 protein was analysed via the green fluorescent protein (GFP)- GmPLATZ1 fusion protein in tobacco plant cell. The GFP-GmPLATZ1 protein was shown to be targeted to the nucleus. The function of the GmPLATZ1 gene was further investigated using the overexpression transgenic Arabidopsis. The germination rate in transgenic plants overexpressing GmPLATZ1 was significantly delayed in media supplemented with mannitol compared with that of wild-type (WT) plants. Moreover, cotyledon development in the GmPLATZ1-overexpression transgenic plants was remarkably retarded in the presence of ABA compared to WT. This shows that GmPLATZ1 is implicated in developmental processes such as germination under osmotic stress conditions in plants.
Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society: A Historical and Theoretical Reflection on Collectivist and Individualist Societies

Lacking an appropriate theoretical framework, economists and economic historians have paid little attention to the relations between culture and institutional structure. This limits the ability to address a question that seems to be at the heart of developmental failures: Why do societies fail to adopt the institutional structure of more economically successful ones? This paper integrates game-theoretical and sociological concepts to conduct a comparative historical analysis of the relations between culture and institutional structure. It examines cultural factors that have led two premodern societies--one from the Muslim world and the other from the Latin world--to evolve along distinct trajectories of institutional structure. It indicates the theoretical importance of culture in determining institutional structures, in leading to their path dependence, and in forestalling successful intersociety adoption of institutions. Since the distinct institutional structures found in the late medieval period resemble those differentiating contemporary developing and developed economies, the paper suggests the historical importance of distinct cultures in economic development.
Local thermal sensation and comfort study in a field environment chamber served by displacement ventilation system in the tropics

This paper presents a study of local thermal sensation (LTS) and comfort in a field environmental chamber (FEC) served by displacement ventilation (DV) system. The FEC, 11.12m (L) 7.53m (W) 2.60m (H), simulates a typical office layout. A total of 60 tropically acclimatized subjects, 30 male and 30 female, were engaged in sedentary office work for 3 h. Subjects were exposed to three vertical air temperature gradients, nominally 1, 3 and 5K/m, between 0.1 and 1.1m heights and three room air temperatures of 20, 23 and 26 1C at 0.6m height. The objective of this study is to investigate the mutual effect of local and overall thermal sensation (OTS) and comfort in DV environment. The results show that in a space served by DV system, at OTS close to neutral, local thermal discomfort decreased with the increase of room air temperature. The OTS of occupants was mainly affected by LTS at the arm, calf, foot, back and hand. Local thermal discomfort was affected by both LTS and OTS. At overall cold thermal sensation, all body segments prefer slightly warm sensation. At overall slightly warm thermal sensation, all body segments prefer slightly cool sensation. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Women and the high school principalship: metropolitan detroit principals' and superintendents' perceptions regarding barriers and facilitators for job attainment

WOMEN AND THE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALSHIP: METROPOLITAN DETROIT PRINCIPALS’ AND SUPERINTENDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS REGARDING BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS FOR JOB ATTAINMENT by HEIDI SCHNABEL KATTULA December 2011 Advisor: Dr. Michael Addonizio Major: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Degree: Doctor of Education Through multivariate analysis, this study determined if there was a significant difference between the perceptions of men and women high school principals and superintendents in Metropolitan Detroit regarding barriers and facilitators for women who aspire to gain a position as a public high school principal in Michigan. Gender and other variables that may influence perceptions of high schools principals within Michigan’s Oakland, Macomb and Wayne County public high schools were examined by administering an electronic survey to each group. Participants’ responses were analyzed through multiple and multivariate regression. Follow-up hypothesis testing for each predictor was conducted to determine if each of the predictors had an effect in all regression equations simultaneously. The dummy variable representing the “female” group was the only statistically significant predictor of the Barriers and Facilitators simultaneously for the principals and superintendents.
Retrieving Aerosol in a Cloudy Environment: Aerosol Availability as a Function of Spatial and Temporal Resolution

The challenge of using satellite observations to retrieve aerosol properties in a cloudy environment is to prevent contamination of the aerosol signal from clouds, while maintaining sufficient aerosol product yield to satisfy specific applications. We investigate aerosol retrieval availability at different instrument pixel resolutions, using the standard MODIS aerosol cloud mask applied to MODIS data and a new GOES-R cloud mask applied to GOES data for a domain covering North America and surrounding oceans. Aerosol availability is not the same as the cloud free fraction and takes into account the technqiues used in the MODIS algorithm to avoid clouds, reduce noise and maintain sufficient numbers of aerosol retrievals. The inherent spatial resolution of each instrument, 0.5x0.5 km for MODIS and 1x1 km for GOES, is systematically degraded to 1x1 km, 2x2 km, 4x4 km and 8x8 km resolutions and then analyzed as to how that degradation would affect the availability of an aerosol retrieval, assuming an aerosol product resolution at 8x8 km. The results show that as pixel size increases, availability decreases until at 8x8 km 70% to 85% of the retrievals available at 0.5 km have been lost. The diurnal pattern of aerosol retrieval availability examined for one day in the summer suggests that coarse resolution sensors (i.e., 4x4 km or 8x8 km) may be able to retrieve aerosol early in the morning that would otherwise be missed at the time of current polar orbiting satellites, but not the diurnal aerosol properties due to cloud cover developed during the day. In contrast finer resolution sensors (i.e., 1x1 km or 2x2 km) have much better opportunity to retrieve aerosols in the partly cloudy scenes and better chance of returning the diurnal aerosol properties. Large differences in the results of the two cloud masks designed for MODIS aerosol and GOES cloud products strongly reinforce that cloud masks must be developed with specific purposes in mind and that a generic cloud mask applied to an independent aerosol retrieval will likely fail.
FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI PENDUDUK LANJUT USIA MEMILIH UNTUK BEKERJA

This Â study analysis Â the determinant of Â the old generations workers (more Â than 60years old) to work or to enter teh labour market. Using Sakerti data, it can be seenthat they have low level of education, low level of family expenditure, are living inthe rural area and working in the informal sector. Generally, the condition of familyeconomy Â is Â the main Â determinant Â for Â old Â generation workers Â to work Â or Â join Â thelabour market. Therefore, there is a need to prepare the work conditions and activi-ties that fit for old generation workers due to the fact they are not productive any-more in term of employment.
A Comparison of Aquatic- vs. Land-Based Plyometrics on Various Performance Variables

International Journal of Exercise Science 8(2) : 134-144, 2015. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of an aquatic(W) and land-based (L) plyometric program on balance, vertical jump height, and isokinetic quadriceps and hamstring strength. Thirty-four participants were randomized into three groups, W (n = 12), L (n = 11), and control (n = 11). The W and L groups completed an eight-week plyometric program. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of condition (F = 346.95, p < 0.001) and interaction between condition by time (F = 1.88, p = 0.01). Paired samples t-tests revealed statistically significant improvements from preto post-testing in the L group for isokinetic quadriceps strength at 60 degrees per second (p = 0.02) and hamstring strength at 120 degrees per second (p = 0.02). Statistically significant improvements were observed from preto post-testing in the W group for balance (p = 0.003), vertical jump height (p = 0.008), isokinetic quadriceps strength at 60 and 120 degrees per second (p < 0.001), and hamstring strength at 120 degrees per second (p = 0.03). Results demonstrate that aquatic-based plyometric training can be a valid form of training by producing improvements in balance, force output, and isokinetic strength while concurrently decreasing ground impact forces.
Fierce stock market fluctuation disrupts scalefree distribution

Recently, in the finance discipline, cross correlations of stock price return time series have been increasingly used in the study of the internal structure of stock markets. The data obtained from calculating the cross correlations of stocks’ times series forms a correlation matrix which provides information about the interdependence of the stocks. From a network viewpoint, the stocks form a complex network that describes how the individual stocks are related. Some proposed models for studying stock networks include the Minimal Spanning Tree (MST) (Mantegna 1999), the Planar Maximally Filtered Graph (PMFG) (Tumminello et al. 2005) and the asset graph (Onnela et al. 2004). These structures have proved useful in the study of the static properties of stock markets. In this paper, we employ a network model similar to the asset graph to study the correlation between the time series of stock prices and the time series of stock price returns. Data used in this study are from the Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P50
Applying Kalman filter in EEG-Based Brain Computer Interface for Motor Imagery classification

Human imagination and intention can be read by using the Electroencephalography(EEG)-Based Brain Computer Interface(BCI) for Motor Imagery. The systems reads the human brain which consists of left or right imaginary movement and decide the actual movement. It is useful especially for the disable people to help their daily life. But the signals include the unwanted signals and other features together with the actual signal. The challenges are to remove the unwanted signals and extract the accurate feature and classify the signal accurately by using the best classification method. This paper applied the Kalman filter to the BCI's signal processing methods to improve the accuracy and the reliability of the systems. The Common Spatial Pattern (CSP) is used to extract the feature and the Radial Basis Function (RBF) as the classification method. We also compared other classification method which is Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis (FLDA) to show the RBF gives better result. The simulation result shows improvement by using the proposed method compared to the other method.
Angular Momentum Requirements of the Twisting and Nontwisting Forward 1 1/2 Somersault Dive

This study investigated the in-flight rotation of elite 3m springboard divers by determining the angular momentum requirement about the transverse axis through the divers center of gravity (somersault axis) required to perform a forward 1 1/2 somersault with and without twist. Three elite male divers competing in the 1982 Commonwealth Games were filmed using high-speed cinematography while performing the forward 1 1/2 somersault in the pike position and the forward 1 1/2 somersault with one twist in a free position. The film was digitized to provide a kinematic description of each dive. An inclined axis technique appeared to be the predominant means of producing twist after takeoff from the board. The angular momentum about the somersault axis after takeoff was greater for the forward 1 1/2 somersault with twist than the forward 1 1/2 somersault without twist for all three divers. The difference in angular momentum between the two dives of each diver ranged from 6% to 19%. The most observable difference b.