Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Advances in Environmental Biology

With the genesis of the internet and the world wide web, we have seen an unprecedented growth of data and information on the web as well as a huge growth in digital or textual opinions, sentiments and attitudes as remarked upon in reviews. Special attention needs to be given to the processing and understating information used by information retrieval methods and natural language processing methods. One of the main problems in this scope is sentiment analysis whereby a review is classified into two classes, i.e. positive (thumbs up or favorable) or negative (thumbs down or unfavorable) opinions. This paper discusses related issues such as feature selection methods and different sentiment classifications as well as the main approaches currently being taken to solve this problem.
Chronic Inflammation and Neutrophil Activation as Possible Causes of Joint Diseases in Ballet Dancers

Herein, we investigated the effects of a ballet class on the kinetic profiles of creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities, cytokines, complement component 3 (C3), and the concentrations of immunoglobulin (Ig), IgA and IgM, in ballerinas. We also verified neutrophil death and ROS release. Blood samples were taken from 13 dancers before, immediately after, and 18 hours after a ballet class. The ballet class increased the plasma activities of CK-total (2.0-fold) immediately after class, while the activities of CK-cardiac muscle (1.0-fold) and LDH (3.0-fold) were observed to increase 18 hours after the class. Levels of the TNF-α, IL-1β, IgG, and IgA were not affected under the study conditions. The exercise was found to induce neutrophil apoptosis (6.0-fold) 18 hours after the ballet class. Additionally, immediately after the ballet class, the neutrophils from the ballerinas were found to be less responsive to PMA stimulus. Conclusion. Ballet class was found to result in inflammation in dancers. The inflammation caused by the ballet class remained for 18 hours after the exercise. These findings are important in preventing the development of chronic lesions that are commonly observed in dancers, such as those with arthritis and synovitis.
Connichiwa: A Framework for Cross-Device Web Applications

While Mark Weiser's vision of ubiquitous computing is getting closer to reality, a fundamental part of it - the interconnection of devices into a "ubiquitous network" - is not achieved yet. Differences in hardware, architecture, and missing standardizations are just some reasons for this. We think that existing research is not versatile enough and too tailored to either single applications, hardware, or location. We contribute Connichiwa -- a versatile framework for creating web applications across multiple devices. We base Connichiwa on four key goals: integration of existing devices, independence of network infrastructure, versatility of application scenario, and usability of its API. Connichiwa runs web applications on off-the-shelf consumer devices. With no external dependencies, such as a server, it enables a great variety of possible scenarios. We tested the technical feasibility of Connichiwa in seven example applications and plan to evaluate the framework and the usability of its API in a one-week Hackathon.
Tailored chemokine receptor modification improves homing of adoptive therapy T cells in a spontaneous tumor model

In recent years, tumor Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT), using administration of ex vivo-enhanced T cells from the cancer patient, has become a promising therapeutic strategy. However, efficient homing of the anti-tumoral T cells to the tumor or metastatic site still remains a substantial hurdle. Yet the tumor site itself attracts both tumor-promoting and anti-tumoral immune cell populations through the secretion of chemokines. We attempted to identify these chemokines in a model of spontaneous metastasis, in order to “hijack” their function by expressing matching chemokine receptors on the cytotoxic T cells used in ACT, thus allowing us to enhance the recruitment of these therapeutic cells. Here we show that this enabled the modified T cells to preferentially home into spontaneous lymph node metastases in the TRAMP model, as well as in an inducible tumor model, E.G7-OVA. Due to the improved homing, the modified CD8+ T cells displayed an enhanced in vivo protective effect, as seen by a significant delay in E.G7-OVA tumor growth. These results offer a proof of principle for the tailored application of chemokine receptor modification as a means of improving T cell homing to the target tumor, thus enhancing ACT efficacy. Surprisingly, we also uncover that the formation of the peri-tumoral fibrotic capsule, which has been shown to impede T cell access to tumor, is partially dependent on host T cell presence. This finding, which would be impossible to observe in immunodeficient model studies, highlights possible conflicting roles that T cells may play in a therapeutic context.
Probing equilibrium glass flow up to exapoise viscosities

Significance “Does the glass cease to flow at some finite temperature? ” Answering this question––of pivotal importance for glass formation theories––would require ridiculously long observation times. We circumvent this infeasibility relating the (directly inaccessible) ultraviscous flow of a liquid to the elastic properties of the corresponding glass, which we measure as a function of its age. The older the glass, the lower the temperature at which viscosity can be determined. Taking advantage of physical vapor deposition, we rapidly obtain a wide spectrum of ages rivaling those of millenary ambers, enabling viscosity determinations at values as large as those pertaining to the asthenosphere. Our result ultimately rules out the finite-temperature divergence of the molecular diffusion timescale in a glass. Glasses are out-of-equilibrium systems aging under the crystallization threat. During ordinary glass formation, the atomic diffusion slows down, rendering its experimental investigation impractically long, to the extent that a timescale divergence is taken for granted by many. We circumvent these limitations here, taking advantage of a wide family of glasses rapidly obtained by physical vapor deposition directly into the solid state, endowed with different “ages” rivaling those reached by standard cooling and waiting for millennia. Isothermally probing the mechanical response of each of these glasses, we infer a correspondence with viscosity along the equilibrium line, up to exapoise values. We find a dependence of the elastic modulus on the glass age, which, traced back to the temperature steepness index of the viscosity, tears down one of the cornerstones of several glass transition theories: the dynamical divergence. Critically, our results suggest that the conventional wisdom picture of a glass ceasing to flow at finite temperature could be wrong.
Novel opioid binding sites associated with nuclei of NG108-15 neurohybrid cells

Nuclear opioid binding sites have been discovered in NG108-15 neurohybrid cells. Marker enzyme analyses as well as electron and fluorescence microscopy studies attested to the high degree of purity of the nuclear preparations. Immunohistochemical studies on cryostat sections of NG108-15 cells with an antibody to the opioid receptor corroborated a nuclear localization. 3H-[D-Pen2,D-Pen5]enkephalin (3H- DPDPE), 3H-[D-Ala2,D-Leu5]enkephalin (3H-DADLE), and 3H-diprenorphine binding parameters, Kd and Bmax values, and heterologous competition binding and stereospecificity data satisfied criteria for the presence of delta-opioid sites in purified nuclear preparations. Neither mu-([D- Ala2,mephe4,gly-ol5] enkephalin), dihydromorphine, nor kappa-(U69593) specific binding was detectable in purified nuclear preparations. Rates of association and dissociation of 3H-[D-Ser2,L-Leu5]enkephalyl-Thr were comparable to values obtained previously for opioid receptors. Opioid binding was also shown in subnuclear preparations from NG108-15 cell cultures. Agonists, 3H-DADLE and 3H-DPDPE, bind with high affinity to nuclear membranes and with lower affinity to chromatin. In contrast, partial agonist 3H-diprenorphine high-affinity binding sites were predominant in chromatin, while low-affinity binding was found in the nuclear membrane. Accordingly, 5′-guanylylimidodiphosphate sensitivity of 3H-DADLE binding was detected in nuclear membranes but not in chromatin. Both agonist and partial agonist opioid binding to nuclear membrane and chromatin were abolished upon cycloheximide treatment of NG108-15 cells. Taken together, the results suggest that NG108-15 cells contain newly synthesized GTP binding regulatory protein (G-protein)- coupled delta-opioid receptors in nuclear membranes and uncoupled opioid binding sites in chromatin.
Granular computing ranking method based multi-objective genetic algorithm

The key problem is the objective function sorting and fitness assignment in the Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms(MOEAs). This paper regards the data generated in the process of the MOEAs as information system and introduces the method of the Granular Computing(GrC) to disposal the information system. Based on the dominate relationship in the information system, we get the dominance granule of the objective function, and adopt the granularity of dominance granule as the criteria of individual superiority, handle the incomparable characteristic of the Pareto solution set to form a quick sorting algorithm. Based on it, a multi-objective genetic algorithm is proposed. The result of the experiment shows that this method improves the efficiency of the MOEAs significantly and satisfies the requirements of the convergence.
Is the Internet Bubble Consistent with Rationality?

Possibly. We empirically examine the plausibility of rational models designed to explain stock price bubbles associated with technological revolutions such as the internet. Our innovation is to examine the volatility patterns of old economy (brick and mortar) firms that adopted the internet as a medium of commerce (e-Commerce). During the bubble, there is an increase in idiosyncratic risk for firms adopting the technology while post-crash, there is an increase in systematic risk for the same technology adoption by firms both in the stock and options markets. We find some quantitative evidence that the weight of the e-Commerce business to justify the median firm's volatility increase in the bubble period, is borne out five years later with the actual sales data. Overall we conclude that our evidence is consistent with rationality and that both rational and behavioral approaches must provide quantitative predictions in order to have a sharper face off and to better understand asset price bubbles.
Factors influencing customer loyalty to educational tour buses and measurement invariance across urban and rural zones

The study analyses factors that influence the loyalty behaviour of educational tour bus users in Thailand. Factors that are examined include consumer service expectations, service quality perceptions, satisfaction, trust, perceived value, commitment, past experience, and competitor attractiveness; these variables are studied via application of structural equation modelling. According to the study results, user satisfaction and perceived value of bus services imposed significant and direct influences on loyalty levels (p < .001), whereas service expectations, service quality perceptions, and past experiences indirectly affected loyalty levels. However, as the hypothesis that the model parameters show invariance between urban and rural areas was not proven, separate models for the two zones must be developed to determine appropriate policies for both areas. The intention of this study is to provide guidelines that assist educational tour bus owners in developing services that are suitable and safe according to user needs.
Understanding the Radio Emission Geometry of PSR B0329+54

We have analyzed high-quality single-pulse data of PSR B0329+54 at 325 and 606 MHz to study the structure of the emission beam. Using the "window-threshold technique," which is suitable for detecting weak emission components, we have detected four additional emission components in the pulse window. Three of these are new components, and the fourth is a confirmation of a recently proposed component. Hence, PSR B0329+54 is now known to have nine emission components—the highest among all known pulsars. The distribution of the pulse components around the central core component indicates that the emission beam consists of four nested cones. The asymmetry in the location of the conal components in the leading versus trailing parts of the profile is interpreted as being due to aberration and retardation in the pulsar magnetosphere. These measurements allow us to determine the precise location of the four conal rings of emission. We find that the successive outer cones are emitted at higher altitudes in the magnetosphere. Furthermore, for any given cone, the emission height at the lower frequency is found to be more than that at the higher frequency. The inferred heights range from ~160 to ~1150 km. The set of "active" field lines, from which most of the conal radiation appears to originate, is found to be confined to a region located within ~0.5-~0.6 of the polar cap radius. We discuss the implications of our new findings to our understanding of the pulsar emission geometry and its impact on the emission mechanisms.
Stim1 and Orai1 Mediate CRAC Currents and Store-Operated Calcium Entry Important for Endothelial Cell Proliferation

Recent breakthroughs in the store-operated calcium (Ca2+) entry (SOCE) pathway have identified Stim1 as the endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ sensor and Orai1 as the pore forming subunit of the highly Ca2+-selective CRAC channel expressed in hematopoietic cells. Previous studies, however, have suggested that endothelial cell (EC) SOCE is mediated by the nonselective canonical transient receptor potential channel (TRPC) family, TRPC1 or TRPC4. Here, we show that passive store depletion by thapsigargin or receptor activation by either thrombin or the vascular endothelial growth factor activates the same pathway in primary ECs with classical SOCE pharmacological features. ECs possess the archetypical Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ current (ICRAC), albeit of a very small amplitude. Using a maneuver that amplifies currents in divalent-free bath solutions, we show that EC CRAC has similar characteristics to that recorded from rat basophilic leukemia cells, namely a similar time course of activation, sensitivity to 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate, and low concentrations of lanthanides, and large Na+ currents displaying the typical depotentiation. RNA silencing of either Stim1 or Orai1 essentially abolished SOCE and ICRAC in ECs, which were rescued by ectopic expression of either Stim1 or Orai1, respectively. Surprisingly, knockdown of either TRPC1 or TRPC4 proteins had no effect on SOCE and ICRAC. Ectopic expression of Stim1 in ECs increased their ICRAC to a size comparable to that in rat basophilic leukemia cells. Knockdown of Stim1, Stim2, or Orai1 inhibited EC proliferation and caused cell cycle arrest at S and G2/M phase, although Orai1 knockdown was more efficient than that of Stim proteins. These results are first to our knowledge to establish the requirement of Stim1/Orai1 in the endothelial SOCE pathway.
Distributed coexistence-aware channel allocation for future unlicensed high-rate WPAN

We study in this paper the resource allocation matter for unlicensed multiband ultra-wideband (UWB) users in the context of high-rate wireless personal area network (WPAN). The problem is viewed as a coexistence problem with existing licensed systems. The QoS support and the interference mitigation are jointly considered in this study to derive a novel interference power control mechanism that differentiates between the unlicensed users. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, a constrained multiuser optimization problem is studied and optimal sub-band and power allocation functions are derived. Second, in the scope of a joint QoS-aware channel allocation and interference control mechanism, we propose two solutions for the optimization problem. The first one is based on a high-complexity iterative process for the search of the optimal solution, and another low-complexity suboptimal solution based on a distributed cross-layer approach. Simulation results demonstrate that the optimal and suboptimal solutions perform close and that the allocation scheme makes a good tradeoff between the QoS satisfaction of high-priority UWB users and the limitation of the interference affecting the licensed users.
Effects of piperacillin/tazobactam on Clostridium difficile growth and toxin production in a human gut model.

OBJECTIVES Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a major cause of morbidity in the nosocomial environment. Antimicrobial agents such as the third-generation cephalosporins, lincosamides and aminopenicillins are well known for their propensity to induce CDI, but the definitive reasons why remain to be elucidated. Despite their broad spectrum of activity against both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, the ureidopenicillins remain a class of antimicrobials infrequently associated with the development of CDI. METHODS We used a triple-stage chemostat model that simulates the human gut to study the effects of the ureidopenicillin/beta-lactamase inhibitor combination piperacillin/tazobactam on gut bacterial populations and C. difficile. RESULTS Piperacillin/tazobactam rapidly reduced all enumerated gut bacterial populations (including bacteroides, bifidobacteria and lactobacilli) below the limits of detection by the end of the piperacillin/tazobactam instillation period. Despite such widespread disruption of gut bacterial populations, C. difficile populations remained principally as spores, with no sustained proliferation or high-level cytotoxin production observed. CONCLUSIONS Factors other than reduced colonization resistance must be responsible for determining whether CDI develops following antimicrobial administration. We believe the gut model is a promising approach for the study of C. difficile pathogenesis reflecting in vivo events likely to occur in CDI.
Conversion Theory Through the Cognitive Science of Religion Lense in a Christian-Muslim Context

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First I would like to thank my advisor Michael Spezio for his support and helpful guidance throughout the process of doing my research. His knowledge and advice have helped me to keep on track with my work. My gratitude goes out as well to Professor Kassam for her advice, patience, and encouragement throughout this process. These two professors have helped shape and hone my research and organizational skills to make my writing more purposeful. I am indebted to my school colleagues who have helped make my learning an enjoyable and stimulating experience. Lastly I wish to thank my family and my many close friends, whose enthusiasm, interest, and support in this project have given me the motivation to realize this achievement. 3 PREFACE This project would have never been partaken in had I not been honored to attend a seasonal meeting for the Southern California Working Group on Culture, As I began to search for a topic within the field to write about for my senior thesis project, I found myself reflecting on the meeting of the SCWGCCR that I had attended. Many projects were discussed at the meeting. I remember feeling a bit overwhelmed and excited to be in the presence of some interesting minds. As introductions were being made around the table, I remember one of the members mentioning his fascination with conversion experiences. What he said in his introduction resonated with me, especially since I myself had undergone a similar
The Effect of Children on Early Retirement Behavior in Europe

Using individual data drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, this paper analyzes how having fewer children affects early retirement of the elderly in eleven European countries. To examine the endogeneity of the number of children, I use information on the number of siblings of the respondent as instruments. The estimates indicate that having fewer children increases the probability of early retirement among older workers in Europe. The reasons vary by sex. For men, it is because having fewer children reduces the likelihood of having young children who need financial support from them in later life. For women, it is because women with fewer children are less likely to have employment interruptions during their reproductive phase and thus become vested in pensions earlier than women with more children.
Ieee Pes/ias Conference on Sustainable Alternative Energy

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Portfolio Optimization with Target-Shortfall-Probability Vector

Traditional portfolio optimization uses the standard deviation of the returns as a measure of risk. In recent years, the Target-Shortfall-Probability (TSP) was discussed as an alternative measure. From the utility-theoretical point of view, the TSP is not perfect. Furthermore it is criticized due to the insufficient description of the risk. The advantages of the TSP are the usage independent of the distribution and the intuitive understanding by the investor. The use of a TSP-vector reduces an utility-theoretical disadvantage of a single TSP and offers an sufficient description of risk. The developed Mean-TSP-vector model is a mixed-integer linear program. The CPU-Time of the program to get a solution demonstrates that the model is suitable for practical applications. A test of the performance shows, that the average return of the model when used in bear markets is equal to the results of the traditional portfolio optimization but - due to skewness - in bullish markets can achieve better returns.
A Usage Profile and Evaluation of a Wide-Area Distributed File System

The evolution of the Andrew File System (AFS) into a wide-area distributed file system has encouraged collaboration and information dissemination on a much broader scale than ever before. In this paper, we examine AFS as a provider of wide-area file services to over 80 organizations around the world. We discuss usage characteristics of AFS derived from empirical measurements of the system, and from user responses to a questionnaire. Our observations indicate that AFS provides robust and efficient data access in its current configuration, thus confirming its viability as a design point for wide-area distributed file systems.
D-iteration: evaluation of the update algorithm

The aim of this paper is to analyse the gain of the update algorithm associated to the recently proposed D-iteration: the D-iteration is a fluid diffusion based new iterative method. It exploits a simple intuitive decomposition of the product matrix-vector as elementary operations of fluid diffusion (forward scheme) associated to a new algebraic representation. We show through experimentations on real datasets how much this approach can improve the computation efficiency in presence of the graph evolution.