Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The angiotensin receptor type 1–Gq protein–phosphatidyl inositol phospholipase Cβ–protein kinase C pathway is involved in activation of proximal tubule Na+‐ATPase activity by angiotensin(1–7) in pig kidneys

In a previous study, we observed that angiotensin(1–7) (Ang(1–7)) stimulates proximal tubule Na+‐ATPase activity through the angiotensin receptor type 1 (AT1R). Here we aimed to study the signalling pathways involved. Our results show that the stimulatory effect of Ang(1–7) on Na+‐ATPase activity through AT1R involves a Gq protein–phosphatidyl inositol‐phospholipase Cβ(PI‐PLCβ) pathway because: (1) the effect was reversed by GDPβS, a non‐hydrolysable GDP analogue, and by a monoclonal Gq protein antibody; (2) the effect was similar and not additive to that of GTPγS, a non‐hydrolysable GTP analogue; (3) Ang(1–7) induced a rapid decrease (30 s) in phosphatidylinositol 4,5‐bisphosphate levels, a PI‐PLCβ substrate; and (4) U73122, a specific inhibitor of PI‐PLCβ, abolished Ang(1–7)‐induced stimulation of Na+‐ATPase activity. Angiotensin(1–7) increased the protein kinase C (PKC) activity similarly to phorbol‐12‐myristate‐13‐acetate (PMA), an activator of PKC. This effect was reversed by losartan, a specific antagonist of AT1R. The stimulatory effects of Ang(1–7) and PMA on Na+‐ATPase activity are similar, non‐additive and reversed by calphostin C, a specific inhibitor of PKC. A catalytic subunit of PKC (PKC‐M) increased the Na+‐ATPase activity. These data show that Ang(1–7) stimulates Na+‐ATPase activity through the AT1R–Gq protein–PI‐PLCβ–PKC pathway. This effect is similar to that described for angiotensin II, showing for the first time that these compounds could have similar effects in the renal system.
Meta-Analysis of Rehabilitation Programs for Juvenile Delinquents

A meta-analysis of 46 studies of intervention programs for juvenile delinquents revealed a significant difference between programs that included a cognitive component and those that did not. Cognitive programs were more than twice as effective as non-cognitive programs. These results are consistent with previous qualitative analyses and provide support for a cognitive model of offender rehabilitation.
Sig.ma: live views on the web of data

We demonstrate Sig.ma, both a service and an end user application to access the Web of Data as an integrated information space. Sig.ma uses an holistic approach in which large scale semantic web indexing, logic reasoning, data aggregation heuristics, ad hoc ontology consolidation, external services and responsive user interaction all play together to create rich entity descriptions. These consolidated entity descriptions then form the base for embeddable data mashups, machine oriented services as well as data browsing services. Finally, we discuss Sig.ma's peculiar characteristics and report on lessions learned and ideas it inspires.
The Implications of Shared Data Synchronization Techniques on Multi-Core Energy Efficiency

Shared data synchronization is at the heart of the multicore revolution since it is essential for writing concurrent programs. Ideally, a synchronization technique should be able to fully exploit the available cores, leading to improved performance. However, with the growing demand for energy-efficient systems, it also needs to work within the energy and power budget of the system. In this paper, we perform a detailed study of the performance as well as energy efficiency of popular shared-data synchronization techniques on a commodity multicore processor. We show that Software Transactional Memory (STM) systems can perform better than locks for workloads where a significant portion of the running time is spent in the critical sections. We also show how power-conserving techniques available on modern processors like C-states and clock frequency scaling impact energy consumption and performance. Finally, we compare the performance of STMs and locks under similar power budgets.
Towards Exascale: High Performance Visualization and Analytics -Project Status Report

Towards Exascale: High Performance Visualization and Analytics – Project Status Report E. Wes Bethel, David Camp, Hank Childs, Mark Howison, Hari Krishnan, Burlen Loring, J org Meyer, Prabhat, Oliver R ubel, Daniela Ushizima, Gunther Weber University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA, DOE 2012 Exascale Research Conference and Workshop April 16–18, 2012 Portland, Oregon
Translational considerations for CNS gene therapy

Gene transfer is being rigorously evaluated in the laboratory in the preparation for the development of clinical therapies. Many CNS diseases, which have proved more challenging to treat than peripheral disorders, are prime candidates for gene therapy. However, there are numerous considerations in the development of gene therapy, including delivery, maintenance of expression, transgene level regulation, toxicity of the viral vector system and safety of the gene product. The authors review these issues and discuss various approaches used in preclinical studies. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease are employed as models, in which much research has already been performed, to address disease-specific questions about gene therapy approaches.
Family and economic growth : A world-system approach and a cross-national analysis

Family research in sociology has concentrated on the national-level determinants of family structure and process. The approach we propose, in contrast, reverses the causal ordering to consider the effects of family characteristics on national outcomes, especially economic growth. This effort is further stimulated by neglect in the sociology of national development literature, where the plausible impact of the family on economic development has been ignored. The modified world-system perspective that we present links the institution of the family to modernization and the developmental profile of nations. We use cross-national data to test this perspective and demonstrate that the family is a vital, but differential contributor to national development around the world.
Preservice Science Teachers’ Informal Reasoning about Socioscientific Issues: The influence of issue context

The purpose of the current study is to explicitly test the extent to which issue contexts affect the informal reasoning processes engaged in by individuals. In order to address the research question framing this study, we engaged 39 Turkish preservice science teachers (PSTs) in interviews designed to elicit argumentation related to multiple socioscientific scenarios. Three scenarios related to gene therapy, another three related to human cloning, and the final scenario related to global warming. The data were analyzed using an interpretive qualitative research approach. Our work builds on a framework initially proposed by Toulmin in 1958. This study has provided new evidence related to informal reasoning in the context of socioscientific issues (SSI). At the sample level, there was strong consistency in informal reasoning quality among varying socioscientific scenarios. However, finer‐grained analyses indicated a greater level of variability in the informal reasoning practices of individual PSTs. These results support previous conclusions that suggest context dependence for informal reasoning related to SSI. This study provides an initial picture of the reasoning practices of preservice teachers as opposed to science learners. The results indicate that teachers, at least those in this Turkish setting, would benefit from learning experiences that support their own informal reasoning practices as well as their ability to foster development of these practices among their students. We encourage the field to continue the investigation of SSI as contexts for education particularly as it relates to the education of teachers.
Inside Risks An Integrated Approach to Safety and Security Based on Systems Theory

FEBRUARY 2014 | VOL. 57 | NO. 2 | COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM 31 D ESPITE AN ENORMOUS amount of effort and resources applied to security in recent years, significant progress seems to be lacking. Similarly, changes in engineering are making traditional safety analysis techniques increasingly less effective. Most of these techniques were created over 50 years ago when systems were primarily composed of electromechanical components and were orders of magnitude less complex than today’s software-intensive systems. New, more powerful safety analysis techniques, based on systems theory, are being developed and successfully used on a large variety of systems today, including aircraft, spacecraft, nuclear power plants, automobiles, medical devices, and so forth. Systems theory can, in the same way, provide a powerful foundation for security. An additional benefit is the potential for creating an integrated approach to both security and safety.
Phenomenological viability of neutralino dark matter in the NMSSM

The viability of the lightest neutralino as a dark matter candidate in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model is analysed. We carry out a thorough analysis of the parameter space, taking into account accelerator constraints as well as bounds on low-energy observables, such as the muon anomalous magnetic moment and rare $K$ and $B$ meson decays. The neutralino relic density is also evaluated and consistency with present bounds imposed. Finally, the neutralino direct detection cross section is calculated in the allowed regions of the parameter space and compared to the sensitivities of present and projected dark matter experiments. Regions of the parameter space are found where experimental constraints are fulfilled, the lightest neutralino has the correct relic abundance and its detection cross section is within the reach of dark matter detectors. This is possible in the presence of very light singlet-like Higgses and when the neutralino is either light enough so that some annihilation channels are kinematically forbidden, or has a large singlino component.
Real Convergence, Price Level Convergence and Inflation in Europe. Bruegel Working Papers, 2007/02, April 2007

Balazs Egert, a former Visiting Fellow of Bruegel, provides a comprehensive review of the factors that can cause price levels to diverge and which are at the root of different inflation rates in Europe including the EU-27. Among others, he discusses the structural and cyclical factors influencing market and nonmarket-based service, house and goods prices, and summarise some stylised facts emerging from descriptive statistics.
A small and inexpensive ultraviolet dose-rate meter useful in biological experiements.

Although ultraviolet radiations are used extensively in biological experiments, the nonphysicist often finds their measurement tedious and expensive. This article describes a dose-rate meter of good accuracy and precision that is less expensive and more versatile than currently available devices. Because its output depends on wavelength, it is normally useful only where the spectral composition of the radiation is constant, as, for example, with low-pressure mercury arc "germicidal" lamps (emission chiefly at 2537 A) and fluorescent "black light" lamps (emission chiefly at 3000 to 4000 A). 2 There are many ways of measuring ultraviolet radiations (1, 2). Some portable devices are described by Luckiesh (3) for use in various ultraviolet regions and fall into two categories, phototube types and photovoltaic-cell types. The phototube types are generally complex, requiring electronic circuits and batteries. A typical one is manufactured by General Electric (4) and is hereinafter referred to as the "GE meter. " It consists of a battery-operated phototube with associated circuit and a direct-reading meter, all enclosed in a metal box about 11 x 15 x 16 cm. Its advantages are that it (1) is very sensitive and consequently has a very wide range, (2) comes ready to use, so that calibration is not necessary for the first few years of operation, and (3) has no response to normal room light. Unfortunately, it is expensive and too bulky for many experimental uses. Its complexity and requirement of batteries are further disadvantages. The photovoltaic-cell types are simpler, smaller, less expensive, and require no batteries, but they lack the very high sensitivity of the phototube types. Probably the simplest such device is a small General Electric light meter (photovoltaic cell attached directly to a meter) with an attachment consisting of a layer of zinc
The coding sequences of mouse H2A and H3 histone genes contains a conserved seven nucleotide element that interacts with nuclear factors and is necessary for normal expression.

Expression of replication-dependent histone genes of all classes is up-regulated coordinately at the onset of DNA synthesis. The cellular signals involved in coordinate regulation of these genes are not known. Here we report identification of an alpha element, present within the mouse histone coding region activating sequence (CRAS). We show evidence that this element is present in histone genes from two classes, H2a and H3, in the mouse. This element has two biological functions in histone gene expression, i.e. the element interacts with nuclear proteins in regulation of gene expression, as well as encoding the amino acids of the histone proteins. We present both in vivo and in vitro evidence that interaction of nuclear proteins with this element is required for normal expression. The binding site for nuclear protein(s) has been precisely defined by means of synthetic oligonucleotides, as well as DNase I protection and methylation interference. It is interesting to note that the histone CRAS alpha element is mutated in a replication-independent H3.3 gene; 5 of 7 nt in the CRAS alpha box are changed in this gene.
Analyzing the Possibility of Parallel Resonance in Enterprise Microgrid with Frequency Scanning Method

Since capacities of microgrid in large-scale enterprises are small, as well as power electronic interfaces are used between micro sources and microgrid, microgrid operation is more easily affected by harmonics. An electroplate factory has been chosen as the research object in this paper to analyze the main sources of harmonics in microgrid, which includes non-linear loads of microgrid, power electronic interfaces of micro sources and harmonics penetration from distribution system. A microgrid model is constructed with PSCAD, and frequency scanning method is used to estimate the possibility of parallel resonance in the electroplate factory.
From grid cells and visual place cells to multimodal place cell: a new robotic architecture

In the present study, a new architecture for the generation of grid cells (GC) was implemented on a real robot. In order to test this model a simple place cell (PC) model merging visual PC activity and GC was developed. GC were first built from a simple “several to one” projection (similar to a modulo operation) performed on a neural field coding for path integration (PI). Robotics experiments raised several practical and theoretical issues. To limit the important angular drift of PI, head direction information was introduced in addition to the robot proprioceptive signal coming from the wheel rotation. Next, a simple associative learning between visual place cells and the neural field coding for the PI has been used to recalibrate the PI and to limit its drift. Finally, the parameters controlling the shape of the PC built from the GC have been studied. Increasing the number of GC obviously improves the shape of the resulting place field. Yet, other parameters such as the discretization factor of PI or the lateral interactions between GC can have an important impact on the place field quality and avoid the need of a very large number of GC. In conclusion, our results show our GC model based on the compression of PI is congruent with neurobiological studies made on rodent. GC firing patterns can be the result of a modulo transformation of PI information. We argue that such a transformation may be a general property of the connectivity from the cortex to the entorhinal cortex. Our model predicts that the effect of similar transformations on other kinds of sensory information (visual, tactile, auditory, etc…) in the entorhinal cortex should be observed. Consequently, a given EC cell should react to non-contiguous input configurations in non-spatial conditions according to the projection from its different inputs.
PQk-means: Billion-scale Clustering for Product-quantized Codes

Data clustering is a fundamental operation in data analysis. For handling large-scale data, the standard k-means clustering method is not only slow, but also memory-inefficient. We propose an efficient clustering method for billion-scale feature vectors, called PQk-means. By first compressing input vectors into short product-quantized (PQ) codes, PQk-means achieves fast and memory-efficient clustering, even for high-dimensional vectors. Similar to k-means, PQk-means repeats the assignment and update steps, both of which can be performed in the PQ-code domain. Experimental results show that even short-length (32 bit) PQ-codes can produce competitive results compared with k-means. This result is of practical importance for clustering in memory-restricted environments. Using the proposed PQk-means scheme, the clustering of one billion 128D SIFT features with K = 105 is achieved within 14 hours, using just 32 GB of memory consumption on a single computer.
Multi-Method Approaches to Digital Government Research: Value Lessons and Implementation Challenges

Digital government is a complex organizational and social phenomenon. It involves technical, organizational, and policy elements, as well as their complex and recursive interactions. Multi-method approaches have been shown as capable of presenting more comprehensive explanations of complex situations. This paper argues that multi-method approaches are valuable alternatives for egovernment research. Two case studies involving multi-method approaches to e-government research are presented to illustrate advantages and challenges in both large-scale and small-scale projects. ¹ The paper highlights some lessons learned from the two projects and suggests strategies to obtain the benefits and overcome some of the implementation challenges in doing multi-method digital government research.
P2P botnet detection using behavior clustering & statistical tests

Botnets are widely believed to be the most serious danger to the Internet. Most recent research on botnet detection focuses on centralized botnets and primarily relies on two assumptions: prior knowledge of potential C&C channels and capability of monitoring them. However, when botnets switch to a P2P (peer-to-peer) structure and utilize multiple protocols for C&C, the above assumptions no longer hold. Consequently, the detection of P2P botnets is more difficult. In this paper, we relax the above two assumptions and focus on C&C channel detection for P2P botnets that use multiple protocols (randomly chosen) for C&C. We first consider a clustering based node behavior profiling approach to capture the node behavior clusters in a network; we then propose two detection schemes using formal statistical tests on popular behavior clusters in this network. In brief, we detect C&C behavior by measuring its impact on one or more normal behavior clusters in a statistical way. In the initial evaluations, we validate the assumptions made in this paper under different real user traces from enterprise network environments. We then evaluate the proposed approaches to detect the C&C channel in both simple and realistic cases and achieve encouraging results in terms of high detection and low false positive rates.
1 Activity of tobramycin and polymyxin-E against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm 1 coated medical grade endotracheal tubes 2 3

Activity of tobramycin and polymyxin-E against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm 1 coated medical grade endotracheal tubes 2 3 Keiko Tarquinio, Kelsey Confreda, James Shurko, Kerry LaPlante # 4 5 Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital, 6 Providence, RI 7 Rhode Island Infectious Diseases (RIID) Research Program, Providence Veterans Affairs 8 Medical Center, Providence, RI 9 University of Rhode Island, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Kingston, RI 10 Department of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Warren Alpert Medical School of 11 Brown University, Providence, RI 12 13 Running Title: Tobramycin and polymyxin-E against P. aeruginosa 14 15 Corresponding Author: Kerry L. LaPlante, Pharm.D. Associate Professor of Pharmacy, 16 University of Rhode Island, Veterans Affairs Medical Center (151) ; Research Building 35 17 ; 830 Chalkstone Avenue; Providence, RI 02908, office: 401-273-7100 x2339; fax: 40118 457-3305; e-mail: KerryLaPlante@uri.edu 19 AAC Accepts, published online ahead of print on 30 December 2013 Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. doi:10.1128/AAC.01178-13 Copyright © 2013, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Robust lane marking detection using boundary-based inverse perspective mapping

Road detection, which brings a visual perceptive ability to vehicles, is essential to build driver assistance systems. To help detect lane markings in challenging scenarios, one-time calibration of inverse perspective mapping (IPM) parameters is employed to build a bird's eye view of the road image. We propose an automatic IPM method based on road boundaries called BIRD (Boundary-based IPM for Road Detection), avoiding common problems of fixed IPM. Furthermore, integrating top-down and bottom-up attention, an illumination-robust lane marking detection approach using BIRD is proposed.
Learning hurdles for sleeping experts

We study the online decision problem where the set of available actions varies over time, also called the sleeping experts problem. We consider the setting where the performance comparison is made with respect to the best ordering of actions in hindsight. In this paper, both the payoff function and the availability of actions is adversarial. Kleinberg et al. (2008) gave a computationally efficient no-regret algorithm in the setting where payoffs are stochastic. Kanade et al. (2009) gave an efficient no-regret algorithm in the setting where action availability is stochastic. However, the question of whether there exists a computationally efficient no-regret algorithm in the adversarial setting was posed as an open problem by Kleinberg et al. (2008). We show that such an algorithm would imply an algorithm for PAC learning DNF, a long standing important open problem. We also show that a related problem, the gambling problem, posed as an open problem by Abernethy (2010) is related to agnostically learning halfspaces, albeit under restricted distributions.
The Formation of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights: A Protracted Journey

The institutional gap of regional human rights mechanisms in Asia represents a notable inconsistency with the global trend of human rights protection. Recently, efforts to promote regional cooperation have finally begun to move forward. The first governmental human rights institution, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), began to operate in 2010. This article investigates this important development. Additionally, a historical review of various attempts for regional human rights protection in Asia is included. My examination shows a different path toward regime formation in Southeast Asia versus other regional counterparts. This article notes that the creation of AICHR has been deeply entangled with the development of ASEAN. Research suggests AICHR would not have emerged without the support of ASEAN, and that its capacity and future prospect is significantly constrained by the institutional framework of the association.