Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theory and Practice of Nicotinamide Trials in Pre-Type 1 Diabetes

Autoimmune processes are involved in pancreatic beta cell destruction in type 1 diabetes. Autoantibodies including islet cell antibodies (ICA), glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GADA), and antibodies directed against protein tyrosine phosphatase/IA2 (IA2-Ab) appear in the circulation years before clinical onset and permit increasingly precise disease prediction. Increasing knowledge of the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes in animal models and humans suggests that progression to disease is not inevitable in those with indications of autoimmune processes directed against islet beta cells, and that these processes may prove vulnerable to intervention. The conditions therefore exist for screening and attempted intervention in pre-type 1 diabetes. This review will discuss the theoretical and practical background to a major controlled trial using one of a number of interventions currently under consideration. Nicotinamide, a soluble B group vitamin, has for many years been known to protect beta cells against a variety of noxious stimuli. It is at high doses a free radical scavenger, a potent inhibitor of the enzyme poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), and prevents depletion of intracellular NAD. Although its benefits have been marginal or absent in recently diagnosed patients, promising pilot studies have been performed in ICA positive first degree relatives and schoolchildren. No serious side effects have been reported from its use at the doses proposed in man or other species. There is therefore a sound case for submitting this agent to a controlled clinical trial, which, in view of the numbers involved, has necessarily been launched on an international collaborative basis.
Cooperative bargaining resource allocation for cognitive small cell networks

Recently, many technological issues pertaining to cognitive small cell networks have been studied, including resource allocation and interference mitigation, but most studies assume non-cooperative schemes or perfect channel state information (CSI). Different from the existing works, in this paper, we investigate the joint uplink subchannel and power allocation problem in cognitive small cells using cooperative Nash bargaining game theory, where the cross-tier interference mitigation, minimum outage probability requirement, imperfect CSI and fairness in terms of minimum rate requirement are considered. A unified analytical framework is proposed for the optimization problem, where the near optimal cooperative bargaining resource allocation strategy is derived based on Lagrangian dual decomposition by introducing time-sharing variables and Lambert-W function. Moreover, we theoretically prove the existence, uniqueness, and fairness of the solution to this game model. Accordingly, a cooperative Nash bargaining resource allocation algorithm is developed, which is shown to converge to a Pareto-optimal equilibrium for the cooperative game. Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed cooperative game algorithms for efficient and fair resource allocation in cognitive small cell networks.
Students and National Socialism in Germany

This study explains the rise and evaluates the strength of the National Socialist Students' Association (NSDStB) during the whole period of its existence from 1926 to 1945. Originally published in 1985. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
A Reliable and Efficient MAC Layer Broadcast Protocol for Mobile Ad Hoc  Networks

Flexible multimedia broadcast/multicast services such as mobile auction and advertisements are vital services for future mobile ad hoc networks. A great number of applications rely on a reliable and efficient medium access control (MAC) layer broadcast. The current IEEE 802.11 broadcast protocol based on carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance does not offer any MAC layer recovery on broadcast frames. Consequently, unexpected lost frames may deteriorate the quality of broadcast/multicast services. Previous protocols extended request-to-send, clear-to-send, and acknowledgement to enhance the broadcast reliability. However, they still suffered from the hidden terminal problem and the excessive retransmission problem at the same time. In this paper, we first formulate the excessive retransmission problem as an optimization problem and show that it is NP-hard even if the upper layer service is periodical beacon exchange. An approximation algorithm with a guaranteed approximation ratio is also suggested. Then, a reliable and efficient MAC layer broadcast protocol, which is named broadcast protocol with busy tone (BPBT), is proposed. BPBT applies a busy tone to solve the hidden terminal problem and applies the proposed approximation algorithm to solve the excessive retransmission problem. Finally, BPBT is compared with previous protocols for performance evaluation by simulation.
Microwave excitation by a constrained large-orbit electron Beam-a unified dispersion relation for slow- and fast-wave devices

A unified linear dispersion relation that describes both slow- and fast-wave devices excited by a constrained large gyration orbit (LO) monoenergetic electron beam of infinitely small thickness has been derived and studied numerically. Beam electrons in a sufficiently long sinusoidally corrugated metal slow-wave structure are assumed completely neutralized by the background ions in equilibrium state. An exact dispersion relation of an LO backward-wave oscillator that can reasonably describe instabilities in the slow-wave device region has been obtained. A parameter a, defined as a ratio of the transverse to the longitudinal component of the electron velocity, is found to have a critical value above which the excitation of a nonaxisymmetric quasi-TE/sub 11/ mode caused by the fast cyclotron instability dominates the conventional Cherenkov instability. However, for an SWS having infinitely small amplitude of corrugation, radiation with w<W in the fast- wave device region is obtained. Here, w and W are, respectively, microwave angular frequency and relativistic electron cyclotron frequency. The conventional cyclotron resonance maser (CRM) instability with w>W is altogether suppressed; instead, an alternate mechanism, namely, Cherenkov instability in the azimuthal direction with w<W found first in the current paper leads to the excitation of microwaves. This suggests that the radiation from some previous CRM experiments with a high current density electron beam neutralized by ions might have been caused not by CRM instability but by the present Cherenkov instability in the azimuthal direction.
Price dispersion in the airline industry: the effect of industry elasticity and cross-price elasticity

Price Dispersion in the Airline Industry: The Effect of Industry Elasticity and Cross-Price Elasticity. (August 2006) Jong Ho Kim, B.A., Sogang University, Seoul, Korea; M.A., Sogang University, Seoul, Korea Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Steven Wiggins This dissertation analyzes the sources of price dispersion due to the price discrimination in the U.S. airline industry. Using the multi-stage budgeting approach with the almost ideal demand system (AIDS) specification, we estimate demand for air travel at the airline level, and empirically decompose an airline’s own price elasticity into cross-price elasticity vis-a-vis other airlines and an industry elasticity. Conceptually, cross-price elasticity measures the responsiveness of quantity demanded of airline service offered by an airline to a unilateral change in the firm’s own price with total expenditures given, whereas the industry elasticity measures the responsiveness of total quantity of airline travel demanded to a change in the overall price of air travel. Then, we investigate the determinants of price dispersion induced by discriminatory pricing across airline routes. Our results show that cross-price elasticity of demand for air travel, reflecting competitive-type discrimination, is the key factor affecting price dispersion in the airline industry. This result is consistent with the earlier findings of Borenstein and Rose (1994), but is based on a direct test of the underlying theory of Holmes (1989).
COLD-PCR-enhanced high-resolution melting enables rapid and selective identification of low-level unknown mutations.

BACKGROUND Analysis of clinical samples often necessitates identification of low-level somatic mutations within wild-type DNA; however, the selectivity and sensitivity of the methods are often limiting. COLD-PCR (coamplification at lower denaturation temperature-PCR) is a new form of PCR that enriches mutation-containing amplicons to concentrations sufficient for direct sequencing; nevertheless, sequencing itself remains an expensive mutation-screening approach. Conversely, high-resolution melting (HRM) is a rapid, inexpensive scanning method, but it cannot specifically identify the detected mutation. To enable enrichment, quick scanning, and identification of low-level unknown mutations, we combined COLD-PCR with HRM mutation scanning, followed by sequencing of positive samples. METHODS Mutation-containing cell-line DNA serially diluted into wild-type DNA and DNA samples from human lung adenocarcinomas containing low-level mutations were amplified via COLD-PCR and via conventional PCR for TP53 (tumor protein p53) exons 6-8, and the 2 approaches were compared. HRM analysis was used to screen amplicons for mutations; mutation-positive amplicons were sequenced. RESULTS Dilution experiments indicated an approximate 6- to 20-fold improvement in selectivity with COLD-PCR/HRM. Conventional PCR/HRM exhibited mutation-detection limits of approximately 2% to 10%, whereas COLD-PCR/HRM exhibited limits from approximately 0.1% to 1% mutant-to-wild-type ratio. After HRM analysis of lung adenocarcinoma samples, we detected 7 mutations by both PCR methods in exon 7; however, in exon 8 we detected 9 mutations in COLD-PCR amplicons, compared with only 6 mutations in conventional-PCR amplicons. Furthermore, 94% of the HRM-detected mutations were successfully sequenced with COLD-PCR amplicons, compared with 50% with conventional-PCR amplicons. CONCLUSIONS COLD-PCR/HRM improves the mutation-scanning capabilities of HRM and combines high selectivity, convenience, and low cost with the ability to sequence unknown low-level mutations in clinical samples.
Mucosal subepithelial binding sites for the bacterial chemotactic peptide, formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP)

Background—The bacterial chemotactic peptideN-formyl-methionine-leucine-phenylalanine (FMLP) is produced by enteric flora and is one of the factors implicated in contributing to inflammatory bowel disease. Expression of receptors for FMLP on human phagocytes (polymorphs and monocytes) is well established, but there is conflicting evidence regarding the potential expression of FMLP receptors on other cells within the mucosa, particularly the epithelial cells. Aims—To map FMLP receptors within intestinal mucosa using several different experimental approaches. Methods and results—Radioligand binding assays with 3H-FMLP revealed no specific binding to primary cultured colonic enterocytes or to the cell line HT29, whereas neutrophils, as expected, exhibited specific binding with a Kd of 19 nM and approximately 2 × 104 receptors per cell. FITC labelled FMLP exhibited specific, displaceable binding on flow cytometry to neutrophils and monocytes but not to 10 gastrointestinal epithelial cell lines. Isolated lamina propria lymphocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes exhibited no binding. To confirm the absence of receptors on epithelia, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for mRNA for the classic FMLP receptor was performed. While the presence of message was detected in activated peripheral blood phagocytes, it was not detected in epithelial cell lines. To exclude the possibility of FMLP binding to other receptors such as tachykinin receptors on epithelia, FITC labelled FMLP binding in tissue sections confirmed that the binding is subepithelial—that is, in the lamina propria. Conclusion—Receptors for FMLP are subepithelial and map to the lamina propria of the gastrointestinal mucosa.
Emerging role of SETDB1 as a therapeutic target

ABSTRACT Introduction: Epigenetic changes lead to aberrant gene expression in cancer. SETDB1, a histone lysine methyltransferase plays an important role in methylation and gene silencing. Aberrant histone methylation at H3K9 by SETDB1 promotes silencing of tumor suppressor genes and thus contributes to carcinogenesis. Recent studies indicate that SETDB1 is abnormally expressed in various human cancer conditions which contributed to enhanced tumor growth and metastasis. Hence, SETDB1 appears to be a promising epigenetic target for therapeutic intervention. Areas covered: In this article, the structural features, localization and functions of SETDB1 are reviewed. Also, an overview of the role of SETDB1 in cancer and other disease mechanisms, the currently studied inhibitors for SETDB1 are mentioned. Expert opinion: Silencing of tumor suppressor genes due to excessive trimethylation at H3K9 by amplified SETDB1 levels is found in various cancerous conditions. Since epigenetic changes are reversible, SETDB1 holds promise as an important therapeutic target for cancer. Therefore, a better understanding of the role of SETDB1 and its interaction with various proteins in cancer-related mechanisms along with therapeutic interventions specific for SETDB1 may improve targeted cancer therapy.
MR angiography with an ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide blood pool agent

The purpose of the study was to investigate the use of a dextran‐coated ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) as a blood pool contrast agent for thoracic and abdominal MR angiography. Abdominal and thoracic MR angiography was performed in six healthy volunteers using two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional spoiled gradient echo (SPGR) sequences before and after intravenous administration of USPIO. Doses ranged from 1.1 to 2.6 mg Fe/kg. Flip angle was varied from 20 to 60°. Subjective image quality, analysis of signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR), and blood T1 relaxation times were measured. USPIO significantly lowered the T1 of blood (from 1,210 ms precontrast to 159 ms postcontrast at a dose of 2.6 mg Fe/kg) (P < .01). Image quality on coronal fast three‐dimensional breath‐hold SPGR images of the abdomen increased with increasing dose and was maximum at the highest dose, producing an aortic SNR of 9.6 compared to 1.8 precontrast. Axial two‐dimensional time‐of‐flight (TOF) aortic SNR was reduced significantly from 13 on precontrast to 6 on the postcontrast images at the highest dose (P < .05) due to T2* shortening effects. There was little flip angle dependence on image quality. Due to the T1 shortening effect and long intravascular half‐life, USPIO improved visualization of vascular anatomy using three‐dimensional fast SPGR imaging. The echo time must be minimized to minimize signal loss from T2* shortening effects. The blood pool distribution of USPIO is useful for equilibriumphase MR angiography.
Supporting subscription oriented information commerce in a push-based environment

Push-based information delivery technology is commonly expressed as a broadcast solution where the information is pushed to a channel where all receivers can tap into. In this context, prior work has explored how to broadcast and what to broadcast. However, one problem not addressed so far is providing secure access control in broadcast schemes. Furthermore, existing broadcast work does not consider a subscription-based access scheme which is conceivable for most commodities. In this paper, we present existing secure access control schemes and adapt them to the broadcasting scenario, and outline their limitations in this environment. We propose a new protocol, single encoding multiple decoding (SEMD), to handle secure access and subscription services for broadcast. The superior performance of SEMD is demonstrated via a a simulation study of existing protocols and our protocol in a mobile computing environment.
Isolation and characterization of a Streptococcus pyogenes protein that binds to basal laminae of human cardiac muscle

A 9-kDa glycosaminoglycan-binding protein (GAG-BP) was isolated from Streptococcus pyogenes and purified to homogeneity by affinity chromatography on heparin-agarose. The protein selectively bound to the basal laminae of human cardiac muscle and had an apparent dissociation constant of 2.5 x 10(-7) M. Chemical analyses indicated that the GAG-BP was rich in alanine, lysine, and arginine (pI 9.5) and devoid of tyrosine, methionine, histidine, and half-cystine. There were no detectable carbohydrate or phosphate substituents. The amino acid sequence of the N terminus of GAG-BP showed homology with those of histone-like DNA-binding proteins of several other bacteria. Circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated that the protein was made up of 50% beta-sheet and 50% beta-turn and random coil in aqueous solution; however, when the protein complexed with heparin, it adopted a more ordered structure containing 25% alpha-helix, 50% beta-sheet, and 25% beta-turn and random coil. The GAG-BP cross-reacted serologically with a component of similar size in extracts of other group A streptococci and was present in the culture medium during late logarithmic growth.
Highly selective inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase enhances S-antigen-induced uveitis

Purpose. Investigated the effect of N-3-aminomethylbenzylacetamidine (1400W), a highly selective inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), on the effector phase of EAU. Methods. Sixteen Lewis rats were sensitized with bovine retinal S-antigen; ten of them injected subcutaneously with 1400W (20mg/kg) three times a day, from day 11 through day 13 following the injection of S-antigen. Five of the ten rats were also injected intraperitoneally with polyethyleneglycol- modified superoxide dismutase (SOD 1000 IU) twice a day from day 7 through day 13. Six rats received intraperitoneal and/or subcutaneous injections of normal saline from day 7 through day 13. The eyes were enucleated on day 14. The intensity of the inflammatory lesion was assessed by a histological score. The thickness of the choroidal and photoreceptor layers was measured. Results. The histological score was higher in the 1400W-treated rats (26 ± 2.1) than in the saline- (20.5 ± 8; p < 0.0001) or 1400 W/SOD-treated rats (20.5 ± 4.9; p < 0.005). The choroid was thicker in the 1400W-treated rats (60.7 ± 16.8µm) than in the saline- (19.2 ± 9.4µm, p < 0.0005) or the 1400 W/SOD-treated rats (29.6 ± 19.3µm, p < 0.05). The photoreceptor layer was thinner in the 1400W-treated rats (8.4 ± 32.1µm) than in the saline- (40 ± 26.7µm; p < 0.05) or 1400 W/SOD-treated rats (60.8 ± 38.1µm; p < 0.05). Conclusion. The data suggests that 1400W exacerbates choroidal inflammation and photoreceptor damage at the effector phase of S-antigen-induced uveitis. This implies that iNOS expressed in the outer retina may have a protective role in EAU.
VideoMCC: a New Benchmark for Video Comprehension

While there is overall agreement that future technology for organizing, browsing and searching videos hinges on the development of methods for high-level semantic understanding of video, so far no consensus has been reached on the best way to train and assess models for this task. Casting video understanding as a form of action or event categorization is problematic as it is not fully clear what the semantic classes or abstractions in this domain should be. Language has been exploited to sidestep the problem of defining video categories, by formulating video understanding as the task of captioning or description. However, language is highly complex, redundant and sometimes ambiguous. Many different captions may express the same semantic concept. To account for this ambiguity, quantitative evaluation of video description requires sophisticated metrics, whose performance scores are typically hard to interpret by humans. This paper provides four contributions to this problem. First, we formulate Video Multiple Choice Caption (VideoMCC) as a new well-defined task with an easy-to-interpret performance measure. Second, we describe a general semi-automatic procedure to create benchmarks for this task. Third, we publicly release a large-scale video benchmark created with an implementation of this procedure and we include a human study that assesses human performance on our dataset. Finally, we propose and test a varied collection of approaches on this benchmark for the purpose of gaining a better understanding of the new challenges posed by video comprehension.
Indoor localization and mapping using camera and inertial measurement unit (IMU)

This paper presents a monocular camera and inertial measurement unit (IMU) fusion technique using Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) with delay in landmark initialization to address the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem for single smartphone. The dynamic model of the EKF is chosen to be constant acceleration while the velocity of the system is constantly monitored in order to have enough overlap between consecutive camera frames. Moreover inconsistency in SLAM algorithm due to heading error is removed by utilizing magnetometer measurement model. The use of data association technique ensures that the final map solution is robust and consistent even in complex environment. For fast and robust features matching, the Speed-Up Robust Features (SURF) extraction algorithm followed by random sample consensus (RANSAC) method is applied on camera frames. The extracted features from SURF algorithm are related to ground plane, since the system moves parallel to the ground. The experimental results illustrate the performance of the monocular-IMU SLAM over long walked trajectories in indoor environment.
Examining The Perception of Learners on the Efficiency of National Open University of Nigeria, University E-Learning platform Jigawa State, Nigeria.

There is a need of door learning due to the too much expensive for traveling from one location to another is becoming a challenges, when you’re offering an online course you can continues your own schedules without hangings with too much stress around you. National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) was established to offer an online education to learner’s in an organizational setting.Whenever a new technology is deployed, it is necessary to evaluate its success, so as to understand if its’ embraced by the users. In this context, this study aimed at Examine the perception of e-learners on the efficiency and reliability of the NOUN e-learning platform from the ‘quality’ point of view. A descriptive correlation and cross sectional research designs were used in this study. Data were collected from 60 respondents using a survey questionnaire. Findings of the study revealed that there is a moderately significant relationship between System Quality on Continual Usage Intention which indicates that the quality of the platform can affect students to continue to using the system. Also, the findings also indicate that, the e-learners are satisfied with the quality of the Course Content provided on the platform.Therefore, it is necessary for the developers to improve on the System Quality of the NOUN e-learning platform because the more the e-learners perceived the system to be of quality, the more they are likely to use. KEYWORD: Noun, Examine,E-learning, E-learners, System Quality, Ease of Use,