Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CD31 expressed on distinctive T cell subsets is a preferential amplifier of beta 1 integrin-mediated adhesion

The CD31 (platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 [PECAM- 1]/endothelial cell adhesion molecule [endoCAM]) molecule expressed on leukocytes, platelets, and endothelial cells is postulated to mediate adhesion to endothelial cells and thereby function in immunity, inflammation, and wound healing. We report the following novel features of CD31 which suggests a role for it in adhesion amplification of unique T cell subsets: (a) engagement of CD31 induces the adhesive function of beta 1 and beta 2 integrins; (b) adhesion induction by CD31 immunoglobulin G (IgG) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is sensitive, requiring only bivalent mAb; (c) CD31 mAb induces adhesion rapidly, but it is transient; (d) unique subsets of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells express CD31, including all naive (CD45RA+) CD8 T cells; and (e) CD31 induction is selective, inducing adhesive function of beta 1 integrins, particularly very late antigen-4, more efficiently than the beta 2 integrin lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1. Conversely, CD3 is more effective in inducing beta 2-mediated adhesion. Taken together, these findings indicate that unique T cell subsets express CD31, and CD31 has the capacity to induce integrin-mediated adhesion of T cells in a sensitive and selective fashion. We propose that, in collaboration with other receptors/ligands, CD31 functions in an "adhesion cascade" by amplifying integrin-mediated adhesion of CD31+ T cells to other cells, particularly endothelial cells.
Arterial hypertension and renal allograft survival.

CONTEXT Several observational studies have investigated the significance of hypertension in renal allograft failure; however, these studies have been complicated by the lack of adjustment for baseline renal function, leaving the role of elevated blood pressure in allograft failure unclear. OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between blood pressure adjusted for renal function and survival after cadaveric allograft transplantation. DESIGN Nonconcurrent historical cohort study conducted from 1985 through 1997. SETTING University teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS A total of 277 patients aged 18 years or older who underwent cadaveric renal transplantation without another simultaneous organ transplantation and whose allograft was functioning for a minimum of 1 year. Follow-up continued through 1997 (mean follow-up, 5.7 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Time to allograft failure (defined as death, return to dialysis, or retransplantation) by systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressure measurements at 1 year after transplantation. RESULTS Multivariate Cox proportional hazards modeling demonstrated that nonwhite ethnicity, history of acute rejection, and nondiabetic kidney disease were significant predictors of failure (P = .01 for all). In addition, the calculated creatinine clearance at 1 year had an adjusted rate ratio (RR) for allograft failure per 10 mL/min (0.17 mL/s) of 0.74 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.62-0.88). The RR per 10-mm Hg increase in blood pressure measured at 1 year after transplantation, after adjustment for creatinine clearance, was 1.15 (95% CI, 1.02-1.30) for systolic pressure, 1.27 (95% CI, 1.01-1.60) for diastolic pressure, and 1.30 (95% CI, 1.05-1.61) for mean arterial pressure. Supplemental analyses that did not include death as a failure event or reduce the minimum allograft survival time for study subjects to 6 months yielded results consistent with the primary analysis. There was no evidence of modification of the blood pressure-allograft failure relationship by ethnicity or diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSIONS Systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressures at 1 year posttransplantation strongly predict allograft survival adjusted for baseline renal function. More aggressive control of blood pressure may prolong cadaveric allograft survival.
Fast intra-prediction mode decision algorithm for high efficieny video coding

In this paper, we propose a fast intra-prediction mode decision algorithm based on the probability statistics of the best prediction mode and the relevance of the neighboring blocks for high efficiency video coding (HEVC) to reduce its encoding complexity. The intra prediction candidates are reduced before Rate Distortion Optimization (RDO) procedure by two steps of rough mode decision. Sum of Absolute Difference (SAD) of the residuals is used in the first step and modes with smaller SAD values are retained. We execute the Hadamard transform on prediction residuals from the rough modes to derive the Sum of Absolute Hadamard Transformed Difference (SATD), and then the rate-distortion cost function based on SATD is used in the second rough mode decision. Finally the most probable mode (MPM) is considered for RDO process to select the best intra prediction mode. Experiments results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm is quite efficient for intra prediction speedup. Compared with HM 4.0, the proposed algorithm reduces the encoding time by 30.18% while the PSNR decrease is negligible, 0.06 dB on average. And the bitrate is only increased by 1.97% on average.
Multiple metric learning for large margin kNN classification of time series

Time series are complex data objects, they may present noise, varying delays or involve several temporal granularities. To classify time series, promising solutions refer to the combination of multiple basic metrics to compare time series according to several characteristics. This work proposes a new framework to learn a combination of multiple metrics for a robust kNN classifier. By introducing the concept of pairwise space, the combination function is learned in this new space through a "large margin" optimization process. We apply it to compare time series on both their values and behaviors. The efficiency of the learned metric is compared to the major alternative metrics on large public datasets.
Genetic Determinants for Body Iron Store and Type 2 Diabetes Risk in US Men and Women

Background High body iron store has been associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D); it remains unknown whether the genetic variants related to body iron status affect T2D risk. We aimed at comprehensively investigating the associations between the genetic variants related to body iron status and the T2D risk. Methodology/Principal Findings Six common SNPs related to body iron status from recent genome-wide association (GWA) studies were determined in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS; 1,467 diabetic cases and 1,754 controls) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS; 1,124, diabetic cases and 1,298 controls). Plasma levels of ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), and transferrin were measured in NHS. Significant associations were observed for loci in TPMRSS6 with sTfR (P = 3.47×10−6), TF with transferrin (P = 0.0002 to 1.72×10−10); and HFE with ferritin (P = 0.017 to 1.6×10−8), sTfR (P = 0.007 to 7.9×10−6), and transferrin (P = 0.006 to 0.0007). The six SNPs together explained 5.7%, 2.7%, and 13.3% of the variation in plasma levels of ferritin, sTfR, and transferrin. After adjustment for the conventional risk factors, the T allele of SNP rs855791 in the TPMRSS6 gene was significantly associated with a 19% decreased risk of T2D (OR = 0.81; 95% CI = 0.66–0.98; P = 0.03) in men. Multiple tests attenuated this significant association to null. No associations were observed in women. SNPs at HFE and TF were not associated with diabetes risk in either sex. Dietary iron intake did not modify the associations of the newly identified loci with diabetes risk. Conclusions/Significance The newly identified iron-related SNP rs855791 in TPMRSS6 was nominally associated with a decreased risk of T2D in men but not in women. The apparent differences by gender warrant further study.
Set-Valued Observers for attitude and rate gyro bias estimation

This paper addresses the problem of attitude and rate gyro bias estimation using Set-Valued Observers (SVOs). We propose a singularity-free solution that exploits rate gyro measurements and vector observations corrupted by bounded noise providing bounds on the attitude of the rigid body and on the bias of the rate gyros. The sensor readings are fused directly by the SVO, without intermediate attitude computation. By taking advantage of the powerful new multi-core processors it is possible to increase the estimator convergence rate without compromising the execution time. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated in simulation.
Serious leisure characteristics of older adult volunteers: the case of an international sporting event

ABSTRACT The current study commenced with a primary purpose of investigating the serious leisure characteristics of older adult volunteers in an international sporting event. The subjects were systematically divided into two distinct segments pertaining to the different levels of serious leisure characteristics via hierarchical and k-means clustering technique. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to discover the correlational relationship between each segment and serious leisure qualities in terms of volunteer experience and repeat volunteering intention. Research results revealed that durable benefit is significantly correlated with older adults with higher level of serious leisure characteristics. Older adults with lower level serious leisure characteristics are essentially casual leisure volunteers significantly correlated with perseverance, identity, and personal effort qualities.
Grid-Based Energy-Efficient Routing from Multiple Sources to Multiple Mobile Sinks in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we address the problem of packet transmission from multiple sources to multiple mobile sinks in the large-scale sensor network. Each mobile sink needs to periodically update its location information into the sensor network. Due to multiple mobile sinks, frequent location updates are needed and this causes enormous consumption of the limited battery power in the sensor node. Several routing protocols, such as TTDD and SEAD, suggest hierarchical approach for supporting mobile sinks. These approaches, however, build the grid structure or the tree per event which causes much power consumption as well, so they are not suitable for the sensor network where the event frequently happens. To effectively send the data to multiple mobile sinks and minimize the battery power consumption of sensors, we propose a Grid-Based Energy-Efficient Routing protocol(GBEER) which makes only one grid structure independent of the event. We adopt a Grid-Quorum solution to effectively advertise and request the data for mobile sinks. Simulation results show that GBEER outperforms TTDD in terms of total energy consumption with variation of the number of sinks and sources and mobile sinks' speeds.
Molecular genetics of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer afflicts one man in nine over the age of 65 and represents the most frequently diagnosed cancer in American men (Coffey 1993). Early detection through serum testing for prostate specific antigen (PSA) and improved procedures for surgical intervention and radiation therapy have significantly reduced the number of fatalities; however, there is still no effective cure for men with advanced disease. Therefore, much research has been dedicated to identifying prognostic markers that distinguish indolent versus aggressive forms of prostate cancer. In contrast, significantly less research has been devoted to understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie normal prostate growth and development or cancer initiation and progression. In this review, we address recent progress toward the central objectives of understanding parameters of normal versus abnormal prostatic development and of elucidating a molecular pathway for prostate cancer progression. We focus on key regulatory molecules that have been implicated by analysis of patterns of allelic loss in human prostate cancers and/or by reverse genetic approaches in the mouse.
Real P2P System Measurement under Mobile IP Environment

Mobile p2p is a more and more interested topic. In this paper, we discuss the factors that can cause uncertain problems for current p2p systems under mobile ip environment. A simulation mobile ip environment based on real network is proposed. After analyzing the p2p measurement requirements on mobile ip networks, we design and build a p2p system measurement platform under the simulation mobile ip environment, on which we get traces for some typical p2p systems. The p2p measurement platform can be use in many other research works.
Auditory Immersion with Stereo Sound in a Mobile Robotic Telepresence System

Auditory immersion plays a significant role in generating a good feeling of presence for users driving a telepresence robot. In this paper, one of the key characteristics of auditory immersion - sound source localization (SSL) - is studied from the perspective of those who operate telepresence robots from remote locations. A prototype which is capable of delivering soundscape to the user through Interaural Time Difference (ITD) and Interaural Level Difference (ILD) using the ORTF stereo recording technique was developed. The prototype was evaluated in an experiment and the results suggest that the developed method is sufficient for sound source localization tasks.
PSR B0656+14: Combined Optical, X-ray & EUV Studies

PSR B0656+14's high energy emission is consistent with that of combined magnetospheric and thermal (surface & polar cap) emission. Uncertainties with the radio-derived distance and X-ray instrumentation sensitivities complicate a definitive thermal characterisation however. A re-analysis of combined ROSAT/EUVE archival data in conjunction with integrated & phase-resolved optical photometry is shown to constrain this characterisation.
Mouse Zic1 Is Involved in Cerebellar Development

Zic genes encode zinc finger proteins, the expression of which is highly restricted to cerebellar granule cells and their precursors. These genes are homologs of theDrosophila pair-rule gene odd-paired. To clarify the role of the Zic1 gene, we have generated mice deficient in Zic1. Homozygous mice showed remarkable ataxia during postnatal development. Nearly all of the mice died within 1 month. Their cerebella were hypoplastic and missing a lobule in the anterior lobe. A bromodeoxyuridine labeling study indicated a reduction both in the proliferating cell fraction in the external germinal layer (EGL), from 14 d postcoitum, and in forward movement of the EGL. These findings suggest thatZic1 may determine the cerebellar folial pattern principally via regulation of cell proliferation in the EGL.
Proxies for Daily Volatility Proxies for Daily Volatility

High frequency data are often used to construct proxies for the daily volatility in discrete time volatility models. This paper introduces a calculus for such proxies, making it possible to compare and optimize them. The two distinguishing features of the approach are (1) a simple continuous time extension of discrete time volatility models and (2) an abstract definition of volatility proxy. The theory is applied to eighteen years worth of S&P 500 index data. It is used to construct a proxy that outperforms realized volatility.
On feasible numbers (Preliminary Version)

We study complexity problems associated with generation and manipulation of integers. We show that many such questions may be formulated as problems about random access machines (RAMs), and recent results about RAMs with special instructions sets can be used to give estimates about the complexity of the manipulations. Finally we settle an open problem about RAMs (which becomes more interesting in this setting), namely the power of unrestricted vector machines, studied in [5] [6] [2]. We prove that allowing arbitrary shifts (instead of bounded shifts) gives at most a polynomial reduction in the time necessary to recognize languages by vector machines, thus solving the main problem left unanswered by the papers of Pratt and Stockmeyer [5], [6] and Hartmanis and Simon [2], [3]. Equivalently, it is possible to compare two integers, each obtained by a sequence of at most n operations of shift, sum, and boolean vector operations, within tape polynomial in n.
Engineering design research : anno 2000

This paper presents a three-level taxonomical framework to systematize the research aspects and approaches of engineering design. As contextual categories of engineering design research the authors identify: (i) human assets, (ii) design knowledge, (iii) design philosophy, (iv) design theory, (v) design methodology, (vi) design technology, (vii) realm of artifacts, (viii) realm of processes, and (ix) design application. The categories are grouped into source, pipeline and sink types. In order to sort the various activity fields. The authors also identified research domains within each contextual category. In each domain they further decomposed design research to branches that they called operation trajectories. Actually the identified trajectories reflect the approaches and the actual treatment of the research issues. A concise review on the state-of-the-art of engineering design research is also presented based on the aforementioned scheme.
Structural basis for the sequence-specific RNA-recognition mechanism of human CUG-BP1 RRM3

The CUG-binding protein 1 (CUG-BP1) is a member of the CUG-BP1 and ETR-like factors (CELF) family or the Bruno-like family and is involved in the control of splicing, translation and mRNA degradation. Several target RNA sequences of CUG-BP1 have been predicted, such as the CUG triplet repeat, the GU-rich sequences and the AU-rich element of nuclear pre-mRNAs and/or cytoplasmic mRNA. CUG-BP1 has three RNA-recognition motifs (RRMs), among which the third RRM (RRM3) can bind to the target RNAs on its own. In this study, we solved the solution structure of the CUG-BP1 RRM3 by hetero-nuclear NMR spectroscopy. The CUG-BP1 RRM3 exhibited a noncanonical RRM fold, with the four-stranded β-sheet surface tightly associated with the N-terminal extension. Furthermore, we determined the solution structure of the CUG-BP1 RRM3 in the complex with (UG)3 RNA, and discovered that the UGU trinucleotide is specifically recognized through extensive stacking interactions and hydrogen bonds within the pocket formed by the β-sheet surface and the N-terminal extension. This study revealed the unique mechanism that enables the CUG-BP1 RRM3 to discriminate the short RNA segment from other sequences, thus providing the molecular basis for the comprehension of the role of the RRM3s in the CELF/Bruno-like family.
Brain Expressed and X-Linked (Bex) Proteins Are Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (IDPs) and Form New Signaling Hubs

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are abundant in complex organisms. Due to their promiscuous nature and their ability to adopt several conformations IDPs constitute important points of network regulation. The family of Brain Expressed and X-linked (Bex) proteins consists of 5 members in humans (Bex1-5). Recent reports have implicated Bex proteins in transcriptional regulation and signaling pathways involved in neurodegeneration, cancer, cell cycle and tumor growth. However, structural and biophysical data for this protein family is almost non-existent. We used bioinformatics analyses to show that Bex proteins contain long regions of intrinsic disorder which are conserved across all members. Moreover, we confirmed the intrinsic disorder by circular dichroism spectroscopy of Bex1 after expression and purification in E. coli. These observations strongly suggest that Bex proteins constitute a new group of IDPs. Based on these findings, together with the demonstrated promiscuity of Bex proteins and their involvement in different signaling pathways, we propose that Bex family members play important roles in the formation of protein network hubs.
Rethinking the coordination models of WS-coordination and WS-CF

WS-coordination and WS-CF provide support for distributed activities that require coordination in an environment of Web services. Both specifications are generic coordination frameworks, not specific for any application. Despite their generic character, up to now only transactional protocols have been defined, which leverage these coordination frameworks. In this work we map a distributed activity, that it is not related to transactions, onto the coordination model underlying WS-coordination and WS-CF. Consequently we identify the necessary characteristics of a distributed activity that leverages the coordination frameworks of WS-coordination and WS-CF. We also examine limits of these coordination frameworks and suggest additional mechanisms where support for coordination in particular use cases is not sufficient. In contrast to coordinating distributed transactions, additional problems could arise when other types of activities are subject to coordination. These problems are studied, classified and reviewed in conjunction with the architectural differences of WS-coordination and WS-CF.
Multi-axis model predictive contouring control

Contouring systems involve competing control objectives of maximising accuracy while minimising traversal time. A previously developed model predictive contouring controller for biaxial systems is extended to multi-axis systems subject to joint acceleration and jerk constraints. This requires consideration of manipulator forward kinematics and both position and orientation of the end effector. The control design is based on minimising a cost function which reflects the trade-off between the control objectives. A new architecture is proposed where the joint position controllers operate at a sample rate comparable to industrial machines, while the contouring control scheme operates at a slower rate. The proposed approach is applied to a simulation model of an industrial profile cutting machine. A number of implementations are presented requiring varying degrees of modification to the existing machine hardware and sensing capability. Results demonstrate the effect of the cost function weights on contouring accuracy and traversal time, as well as the trade-off between achieving the best contouring performance and minimising modification of the existing system.
Child labour as a response to shocks: evidence from Cambodian villages

The paper analyzes the effect of different shocks on household decisions concerning children's involvement in work and school in rural Cambodia. The authors assess the differential impact of three different types of shocks using propensity score matching and double difference estimates extended to the case of multiple treatments. The findings indicate that household responses to shocks depend considerably on the specific type of shock encounter red. Of the three shocks considered, crop failure is the most damaging in terms of school attendance and child labor in the Cambodian context. Droughts appear far less relevant, while flooding does not seem to have any significant impact on children's work and school attendance. The findings argue for the targeting of risk management policies to the specific types of shocks most damaging to children.