Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of a Common Lupus Disease-Associated microRNA Expression Pattern in Three Different Murine Models of Lupus

Background Recent reports have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate vital immunological processes and have emerged as key regulators of immune system development and function. Therefore, it is important to determine miRNA dysregulation and its pathogenic contribution in autoimmune diseases, an aspect not adequately addressed thus far. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we profiled miRNA expressions in splenic lymphocytes from three murine lupus models (MRL-lpr, B6-lpr and NZB/WF1) with different genetic background by miRNA microarray assays and Real-time RT-PCR. Despite the genetic differences among these three lupus stains, a common set of dysregulated miRNAs (miR-182-96-183 cluster, miR-31, and miR-155) was identified in splenocytes when compared with age-matched control mice. The association of these miRNAs with the disease was highlighted by our observation that this miRNA expression pattern was evident in NZB/W mice only at an age when lupus disease is manifested. Further, we have shown that the miRNA dysregulation in MRL-lpr mice was not simply due to the activation of splenocytes. By Real-time RT-PCR, we confirmed that these miRNAs were upregulated in both purified splenic B and T cells from MRL-lpr mice. miR-127 and miR-379, which were greatly upregulated in splenocytes from lpr mice, were moderately increased in diseased NZB/W mice. In addition, Real-time RT-PCR revealed that miR-146a, miR-101a, and miR-17-92 were also markedly upregulated in splenic T, but not B cells from MRL-lpr mice. Conclusions/Significance The identification of common lupus disease-associated miRNAs now forms the basis for the further investigation of the pathogenic contribution of these miRNAs in autoimmune lupus, which will advance our knowledge of the role of miRNAs in autoimmunity. Given that miRNAs are conserved, with regard to both evolution and function, our observation of a common lupus disease-associated miRNA expression pattern in murine lupus models is likely to have significant pathogenic, diagnostic, and/or therapeutic implications in human lupus.
The Relationship Between Genotype and Positive Psychological Development in National-Level Swimmers

We report a preliminary study of the relationship between genotype (using a functional polymorphism of the serotonin transporter 5-HTT gene) and positive psychological development in high-achieving adolescent swimmers. Thirty-one volunteers of both genders, aged 10-24 years, completed a battery of positive psychological questionnaires measuring hardiness, mental toughness, self-esteem, self-efficacy, dispositional optimism, and positive affectivity. DNA samples were obtained via buccal swabs. The sample was initially split into three groups on the basis of 5-HTT genotype: SS, SL, and LL. Multivariate statistics revealed a discernible trend of a relationship between LL genotype and higher levels of positive psychological development. The nonsignificant overall effect is interpreted in terms of sample size and age of participants. The implications of these results are discussed relative to previous findings and in terms of psychological theory.
Operator Differential-Algebraic Equations Arising in Fluid Dynamics

Abstract. Existence and uniqueness of generalized solutions to initial value problems for a class of abstract differential-algebraic equations (DAEs) is shown. The class of equations covers, in particular, the Stokes and Oseen problem describing the motion of an incompressible or nearly incompressible Newtonian fluid but also their spatial semi-discretization. The equations are governed by a block operator matrix with entries that fulfill suitable inf-sup conditions. The problem data are required to satisfy appropriate consistency conditions. The results in infinite dimensions are compared in detail with those known for the DAEs that arise after semi-discretization in space. Explicit solution formulas are derived in both cases.
Development of Anatomically Realistic Whole-Body Models of Children and their Use in Electromagnetic Dosimetry

Recently, there has been an increased concern regarding the effects of electromagnetic radiation emanating from wireless communication devices on the health of children. In order to determine safe levels of exposure, we intend to use computer simulations and numerical human models to estimate the specific absorption rate (SAR) in young children. However, only a few of the existing numerical models of young children are of the same quality and resolution as anatomically realistic adult models. Therefore, for accurate dosimetry in young children, we have developed anatomically realistic whole-body models using MRI data obtained from healthy three- and seven-year-old volunteers. Our model has a resolution of approximately 2 mm and is segmented into approximately 50 tissues and organs. First, we performed semiautomatic approximate segmentation using an image segmentation tool. Then, detailed segmentation was manually performed by health professionals. Finally, the positions and shapes of the segmented tissues were verified by a pediatric radiologist. The quality of our models is equal to or higher than that of adult models. Our models can be used to perform highly precise numerical simulations for studies on children. In this paper, we also present the basic SAR characteristics of our models at VHF/UHF frequencies.
Molecular cloning of a novel form (two-repeat) protein related to voltage-gated sodium and calcium channels.

Voltage-gated Ca and Na channels share similar structure: four homologous domains (I-IV), each with six transmembrane segments (S1-S6). They may be formed by two rounds of duplication of a single channel domain similar to voltage-activated potassium channels. However, the channels with the intermediate structure, namely, two-domain channels have not yet been identified. We report here the cloning of a novel protein from rat kidney that contains two domains (I-II), each with S1-S6 segments that are found in voltage-gated Ca and Na channels. Because of unusual structure, the protein was named two-pore channel 1 (TPC1). TPC1 encodes 819 amino acids with two conserved positively charged voltage sensor segments (S4) but the pore segments are not conserved. Northern blot analysis showed that TPC1 mRNA (5 kb) was expressed widely. It was expressed at relatively high level in kidney, liver, and lung. Immunohistochemistry of kidney revealed that TPC1 was expressed at inner medullary collecting ducts. In expression studies, no functional currents could be detected in CHO cells and Xenopus oocytes. Based on its primary structure, we propose that TPC1 might be a predecessor of the conventional four repeat voltage-gated Ca and Na channels and will give insights into the evolution of ion channels.
Text‐based video content classification for online video‐sharing sites

With the emergence of Web 2.0, sharing personal content, communicating ideas, and interacting with other online users in Web 2.0 communities have become daily routines for online users. User‐generated data from Web 2.0 sites provide rich personal information (e.g., personal preferences and interests) and can be utilized to obtain insight about cyber communities and their social networks. Many studies have focused on leveraging user‐generated information to analyze blogs and forums, but few studies have applied this approach to video‐sharing Web sites. In this study, we propose a text‐based framework for video content classification of online‐video sharing Web sites. Different types of user‐generated data (e.g., titles, descriptions, and comments) were used as proxies for online videos, and three types of text features (lexical, syntactic, and content‐specific features) were extracted. Three feature‐based classification techniques (C4.5, Naïve Bayes, and Support Vector Machine) were used to classify videos. To evaluate the proposed framework, user‐generated data from candidate videos, which were identified by searching user‐given keywords on YouTube, were first collected. Then, a subset of the collected data was randomly selected and manually tagged by users as our experiment data. The experimental results showed that the proposed approach was able to classify online videos based on users' interests with accuracy rates up to 87.2%, and all three types of text features contributed to discriminating videos. Support Vector Machine outperformed C4.5 and Naïve Bayes techniques in our experiments. In addition, our case study further demonstrated that accurate video‐classification results are very useful for identifying implicit cyber communities on video‐sharing Web sites.
Beauty and the Beast: Gendered and Raced Discourse in the News

This article explores the implications of the extent to which the mythic intrudes on the everyday in newspaper reporting, taking as a case study the drive-by shooting of two young, black women in Birmingham in 2003. An analysis of news headlines and texts demonstrates the use of mythical language and imagery in this case (as in other high-profile cases) as compared with the usual reporting of homicides in the press. Notions of innocence and guilt are explored through the construction of gendered and raced bodies in the case study. The article finds that this media discourse relies for its impact on the simultaneous and mutually dependent construction of fabular gendered and raced ideas; of exceptional innocence and purity (unusually) attached to black femininity (beauty) and of exceptional and volatile violence (usually) attached to black masculinity (the beast). Moreover, the discourse is constructed such that guilt for the gun crime extends beyond the individual perpetrators to the black community as a whole. While media coverage reflects a realistic fear of gun crime, the article concludes that media discourse in this case directs fear towards the black community/male as the dangerous 'other', and that this is crucially underpinned by polarized gendered discourse.
E-Commerce Software: From Analysis to Design

Early information systems were mainly built around secondary, administrative processes of the value chain (e.g. accounting). But since the internet came into use, more and more primary processes have become accessible to automation: customer acquisition, ordering, billing and, in the case of intangible goods such as software, even delivery. To facilitate this complex task, we suggest that the relevant parts of the enterprise be modeled according to the MEMO method (Multi-perspective Enterprise MOdeling). It allows for the description of an enterprise on three levels strategy, organization and information system and from four angles process, structure, resources and goals. All partial models for the views are integrated via a common object-oriented core. In this framework we suggest a modeling language for the IS layer, the Event-driven Method Chain (EMC), a process-oriented language based on Eventdriven Process Chains (EPCs), which we adapt to fit both the MEMO framework and the object-oriented paradigm thus making it suitable for the development of web-based applications in an object-oriented programming language. To illustrate this we use the example of a software trading company.
Accelerating Persistent Scatterer Pixel Selection for InSAR Processing

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is a remote sensing technology used for estimating the displacement of an object on the ground or the earth's surface itself. Persistent Scatterer-InSAR (PS-InSAR) is a category of time series algorithms enabling high resolution monitoring. PS-InSAR relies on successful selection of points that appear stable across a set of satellite images taken over time. This paper presents PtSel, a new algorithm for selecting these points, a problem known as Persistent Scatterer Selection. The key advantage of PtSel over the key existing techniques is that it does not require model assumptions, yet preserves solution accuracy. Motivated by the abundance of parallelism the algorithm exposes, we have implemented it for GPUs. Our evaluation using real-world data shows that the GPU implementation not only offers superior performance but also scales linearly with GPU count and workload size. We compare the GPU implementation and a parallel CPU implementation: a consumer grade GPU offers 18x speedup over a 16-core Ivy Bridge Xeon System, while four GPUs offer 65x speedup. The GPU solution consumes 28x less energy than the CPU-only solution. Additionally, we present a comparison with the most widely used PS-interferometry software package StaMPS, in terms of point selection coverage and precision.
Attributions for academic failure and subsequent performance

Abstract Using a prospective design, this study sought first to investigate the role of attributional style in the development of depressive affect following a negative life event, and then to extend the inquiry by investigating whether depressive attributions produced poorer subsequent performance. At the beginning of the academic year, university students taking a course in behavioural statistics completed the Academic Attributional Style Questionnaire. Five months later they were asked their particular causal attributions for their grades on an examination and completed measures of self-esteem and depressive affect Some time after the initial examination, some students took a reexamination. Depressive affect following receipt of the examination grade was determined by a stable and global attributional style and by the interaction of attributional, style with a satisfactory grade, thereby supporting the hopelessness model of depression. However, this relationship was not mediated by actual attribution.
ISTI-CNR at SemEval-2016 Task 4: Quantification on an Ordinal Scale

This paper details on the participation of ISTI-CNR to task 4 of Semeval 2016. Among the ﬁve subtasks, special attention has been paid to the ﬁve-point scale quantiﬁcation sub-task. The quantiﬁcation method we pro-pose is based on the observation that a standard document-by-document regression method usually has a bias towards assigning high prevalence labels. Our method models such bias with a linear model, in order to compensate it and to produce the quantiﬁcation estimates.
Inducible neuronal expression of transgenic TGF‐β1 in vivo: dissection of short‐term and long‐term effects

Various chronic neurological diseases are associated with increased expression of transforming growth factor‐beta1 (TGF‐β1) in the brain. TGF‐β1 has both neuroprotective and neurodegenerative functions, depending on conditions such as duration and the local and temporal pattern of its expression. Previous transgenic approaches did not enable control for these dynamic aspects. To overcome these limitations, we established a transgenic mouse model with inducible neuron‐specific expression of TGF‐β1 based on the tetracycline‐regulated gene expression system. TGF‐β1 expression was restricted to the brain where it was particularly pronounced in the neocortex, hippocampus and striatum. Transgene expression was highly sensitive to the presence of doxycycline and completely silenced within 6 days after doxycycline application. After long‐term expression, perivascular thioflavin‐positive depositions, formed by amyloid fibrils, developed. These depositions persisted even after prolonged silencing of the transgene, indicating an irreversible process. Similarly, strong perivascular apolipoprotein E (ApoE) depositions were found after TGF‐β1 expression and these remained despite TGF‐β1 removal. These in vivo observations suggests that the continuous presence of TGF‐β1 as intitial trigger is not necessary for the persistence and development of chronic lesions. Neuroprotective effects were observed after short‐term expression of TGF‐β1. Death of striatal neurons induced by 3‐nitropropionic acid was markedly reduced after induced TGF‐β1 expression.
Kunjin Virus Replicon Vaccine Vectors Induce Protective CD8+ T-Cell Immunity

ABSTRACT The ability of self-replicating RNA (replicon) vaccine vectors derived from the Australian flavivirus Kunjin (KUN) to induce protective αβ CD8+ T-cell responses was examined. KUN replicons encoding a model immunogen were delivered by three different vaccine modalities: (i) as naked RNA transcribed in vitro, (ii) as plasmid DNA constructed to allow in vivo transcription of replicon RNA by cellular RNA polymerase II (DNA based), and (iii) as replicon RNA encapsidated into virus-like particles. A single immunization with any of these KUN replicon vaccines induced CD8+ T-cell responses at levels comparable to those induced by recombinant vaccinia virus encoding the same immunogen. Immunization with only 0.1 μg of DNA-based KUN replicons elicited CD8+ T-cell responses similar to those seen after immunization with 100 μg of a conventional DNA vaccine. Naked RNA immunization with KUN replicons also protected mice against challenges with recombinant vaccinia virus and B16 tumor cells. These results demonstrate the value of KUN replicon vectors for inducing protective antiviral and anticancer CD8+ T-cell responses.
Learning about democracy in Africa: Awareness, performance, and experience

Conventional views of African politics imply that Africans’ political opinions are based either on enduring cultural values or their positions in the social structure. In contrast, we argue that Africans form attitudes to democracy based upon what they learn about what it is and does. This learning hypothesis is tested against competing cultural, institutional, and structural theories to explain citizens’ demand for democracy (legitimation) and their perceived supply of democracy (institutionalization) with data from 12 Afrobarometer attitude surveys conducted between 1999 and 2001. A multilevel model that specifies and estimates the impacts of both individual- and national-level factors provides evidence of learning from three different sources. First, people learn about the content of democracy through cognitive awareness of public affairs. Second, people learn about the consequences of democracy through direct experience of the performance of governments and (to a lesser extent) the economy. Finally, people draw lessons about democracy from national political legacies. O n what basis do Africans form attitudes toward democracy? Conventional interpretations of African politics assume that people form their political opinions based on either enduring cultural values or fixed social circumstances. Analysts rarely consider that people may choose whether or not to support political regimes on the basis of what they learn about their content and consequences. By probing the origins of mass attitudes to democracy in sub-Saharan Africa, we extend the analysis of public opinion into understudied contexts and also contribute to an understanding of regime consolidation. Public attitudes toward democracy shape the prospects for regime consolidation through the process of political legitimation. Democracies become consolidated only when, in Linz and Stepan’s incisive turn of phrase, all significant elites and an overwhelming proportion of citizens see democracy as “the only game in town” (1996a, 15). In other words, a sustainable democracy requires citizens who demand democracy, a feature that can be measured in public attitude surveys.
Current Synchronous Detection based control of grid interfaced Solar Photovoltaic power generating system

In this paper, a CSD (Current Synchronous Detection) based control of a grid interfaced SPV (Solar Photovoltaic) power generating system is proposed with an improved power quality at ac mains. A two-stage SPV based grid interfaced three-phase four-leg VSC (Voltage Source Converter) based system is designed and modeled in order to achieve the compensation of reactive power for ZVR (Zero Voltage Regulation) or for PFC (Power Factor Correction) along with load balancing, elimination of load harmonics currents and mitigation of neutral current at the PCC in a four-wire distribution system. The performance of SPV generating system is simulated using MATLAB/simulink and sim-power system.
How to form bulges/ellipticals in dark halos as fast as central black holes?

Abstract Gravity is nearly a universal constant in the cusp of an NFW galaxy halo. Inside this external field an isothermal gas sphere will collapse and trigger a starburst if above a critical central pressure. Thus formed spheroidal stellar systems have Sersic-profile and satisfy the Faber-Jackson relation. The process is consistent with observed starbursts. We also recover the MBH − σ* relation, if the gas collapse is regulated or resisted by the feedback from radiation from the central BH.
A Geometric Approach to Perturbation Theory of Matrices and Matrix Pencils. Part II: A Stratification-Enhanced Staircase Algorithm

Computing the Jordan form of a matrix or the Kronecker structure of a pencil is a well-known ill-posed problem. We propose that knowledge of the closure relations, i.e., the stratification, of the orbits and bundles of the various forms may be applied in the staircase algorithm. Here we discuss and complete the mathematical theory of these relationships and show how they may be applied to the staircase algorithm. This paper is a continuation of our Part I paper on versal deformations, but it may also be read independently.
Female Work Participation-A Reply

﻿August 9, 1975 Female Work Participation A Reply Leela Gulati IN his comment1 on my paper,2 J N Sinha has made a number of critical observations. Before summing up his criticism I shall briefly summarise what I attempted to do in my paper. It was largely an attempt to explore to what extent, if any, some of the major economic and demographic factors explained inter-state disparities in work participation by Indian women. The major conclusion of my paper was that inter-state differences in female participation rates, as revealed by the 1971 Census, are not possible to explain in terms of (i) disparities in per capita income; (ii) the cropping pattern; (iii) disparate levels of literacy; (iv) dissimilarities in rates of male participation (again for 1971); (v) varying proportion of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population, or (vi) differing sex ratio. I must emphasise that this conclusion related to inter-state disparities in female work participation; the only disaggregation I had allowed myself to make was that between rural and urban rates, I shall now attempt first to sum up Sinha's criticisms and then to answer them one by one.