Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biphasic effect of apomorphine on rodent motility.

The dopaminergic (DA) system has been implicated in a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. In studying neurotransmitter systems such as the DA system in the laboratory animal, behavioural studies are commonly employed. Since behaviour is a sum total of a variety of internal and external excitations and inhibitions. in such studies it it necessary to use a chemical probe which specifically modulates one aspect of neurotransmission in order to understand the influence of that aspect of neurotransmission on behaviour. Apomorphine is one such probe, specific to the DA system.
MIMO antenna design challenges

This paper provides a brief introductions into the challenges involved when designing antenna for MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) systems on small terminals. The investigation is based on the fundamental parameter of cross-correlation of the antenna transfer functions. Some considerations on the correlation of antennas implemented on small terminals are undertaken. It is shown that the correlation of the elements of a multiple antenna system which is implemented on a small terminal is significantly affected by the integration impairments and the platform itself.
Student representation and the relationship between student leaders and political parties: the case of Makerere university

What are the characteristics and implications of the relationship between student leaders and national political parties in African universities? As the most prestigious university of Uganda, Makerere University represents a model case for investigating the involvement of political parties in student politics. Drawing on propositions adapted from Weinberg and Walker (1969), Schmitter and Streeck (1999), and others, this article uses data generated by means of in-depth interviews and an online survey to analyse the relationship between political parties and student leaders. It considers the reasons why student leaders and political parties establish a relationship; how it is maintained; and what its effects are on student leaders’ ability to represent student interests. It finds that various kinds of resource exchange are key to understanding the relationship and considers its implications. The article concludes by recommending institutional interventions to curb the extent of resources that a party can provide to student leaders so as to contain the negative effects of the relationship while maintaining the potential for universities to act as ‘training grounds’ of democracy.
Development of dissolution tests for the quality control of complementary/alternate and traditional medicines: application to African potato products.

PURPOSE Unlike orthodox medicines, specific guidelines for dissolution testing of complementary/alternate (CAMs) and traditional medicines (TMs) have not been developed nor is dissolution testing a requirement for the quality control of such products. In this report, the dissolution of African Potato (AP) products, an African traditional medicine (ATM) which has been ingested by man for a diversity of ailments, has been investigated. A norlignan glycoside namely hypoxoside and a sterol, beta-sitosterol (BSS) are purported to be the most important phytochemicals in marketed products of AP. Dissolution testing of AP products containing labelled content of sterols and those containing only hypoxoside is proposed whereby BSS and hypoxoside are monitored as markers for the release of the contents of the abovementioned products, respectively. METHODS The FDA dissolution guidance for industry was used to study the best dissolution condition for several formulations of AP. Buffers in the range of pH 1.2 to 7.5 were used to investigate the dissolution of AP products containing hypoxoside as a marker compound. Similarly, biorelevant dissolution media such as fasted state simulation fluid (FaSSIF) and fed state simulation fluid (FeSSIF) at different pH were used to investigate the release of BSS in AP formulations labelled to contain sterols which exhibited poor water solubility. RESULTS Dissolution testing of AP products containing hypoxoside, conducted at pH 1.2 using USP Apparatus 1 indicated that more than 75% of hypoxoside was released within 1 hr. Dissolution testing of products containing sterols, conducted in FeSSIF at a pH of 5.0 resulted in a release of at least 75% of BSS after 1 hr for all but one of the products tested. CONCLUSIONS Dissolution testing conditions have been developed for AP products containing two different marker compounds where one of the components, hypoxoside, is water soluble, whereas another component, BSS is poorly water soluble. This necessitated the use of different dissolution media and pHs in order to monitor the respective release of hypoxoside and BSS from AP products. The results of this study indicate the necessity and possibility of developing appropriate dissolution testing procedures for use in the quality control of CAMs/TMs.
Infrequent Delivery of a Long‐Acting PTH‐Fc Fusion Protein Has Potent Anabolic Effects on Cortical and Cancellous Bone

Skeletal anabolism with PTH is achieved through daily injections that result in brief exposure to the peptide. We hypothesized that similar anabolic effects could be achieved with less frequent but more sustained exposures to PTH. A PTH‐Fc fusion protein with a longer half‐life than PTH(1–34) increased cortical and cancellous BMD and bone strength with once‐ or twice‐weekly injections.
Dual Source CT Coronary Angiography in Severely Obese Patients: Trading Off Temporal Resolution and Image Noise

Objective:To assess in severely obese patients the subjective and objective image quality parameters and to estimate the radiation dose of dual-source computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA), using 3 different protocols. Materials and Methods:Dual-source CTCA was performed in 60 patients (30 women; mean age 58 ± 7 years) suffering from obesity class II or higher (body mass index [BMI] >35 kg/sq m). Twenty patients were examined with a standard CTCA protocol at 120 kV/350 mAs (protocol A), 20 patients with a CTCA protocol at 140 kV/350 mAs (protocol B), and 20 patients at 140 kV/350 mAs with a dedicated obesity protocol (protocol C), that allows the additional data sampling by expanding the data acquisition for each tube from a quarter to a half rotation, permitting to trade off temporal resolution and image noise. Two blinded observers independently assessed the image quality of each coronary segment, using a 4-point scale (1: excellent–4: nondiagnostic) and measured the different image parameters (image noise, signal-to-noise ratio [SNR], and contrast-to-noise ratio [CNR]). Radiation dose estimates were calculated. Results:The average BMI was 46.3 ± 8.3 kg/sq m (range, 36.8–69.6 kg/sq m). Subjective image quality (1.55 ± 0.73) was significantly better in protocol C when compared with protocol A (2.46 ± 0.76; P < 0.01) and protocol B (2.12 ± 0.87; P < 0.017). There was a significantly lower rate of coronary artery segments with nondiagnostic image quality when using the obesity protocol C (1.5%; 4/262) compared with that obtained when using protocol A (7.8%; 22/280; P < 0.01) and protocol B (4.4%; 12/275; P < 0.017). Image noise was significantly lower in protocol C (31.8 ± 5.0 HU) when compared with group A (43.5 ± 4.7 HU; P < 0.001) and B (36.8 ± 5.5 HU; P < 0.01). SNR and CNR were significantly higher in group C (13.8 ± 2.4 and 23.1 ± 2.8) compared with group A (10.6 ± 1.7 and 15.1 ± 3.2; each P < 0.001) and group B (12.0 ± 2.0 and 18.8 ± 3.1; each P < 0.01). The estimated effective radiation dose of the obesity protocol C (15.6 ± 0.9 mSv) was significantly higher when compared with that in protocol A (10.1 ± 0.8 mSv; P < 0.01), but not significantly different from that in protocol B (13.3 ± 0.8 mSv; P = 0.022). Conclusions:Use of an obesity protocol in dual-source CTCA in severely obese patients significantly improves image quality, but goes along with a higher radiation dose.
Empathy and humanitarianism predict preferential moral responsiveness to in-groups and out-groups

ABSTRACT The current research tests whether empathy—sharing others’ emotions—and humanitarianism—recognizing the moral worth of all people—each predict moral responsiveness toward others but in ways that favor in-groups and out-groups, respectively. In Studies 1 and 2, empathy and humanitarianism differentially predicted preferential moral concern for in-groups and out-groups. In Study 3, humanitarianism predicted lower in-group-targeted prosociality and greater out-group prosociality. In Study 4, empathy and humanitarianism predicted perceived moral obligation to in-groups and out-groups respectively. In Study 5, out-group obligation mediated between humanitarianism and allocations to out-group charities, and in-group obligation mediated between empathy and one of two in-group charities. In sum, empathy and humanitarianism are associated with preferential morality via group-based obligation, suggesting that morality could be extended by altering empathy, humanitarianism, or group processes.
Are there honest intentions in the fight against doping? The case of Cyprus

Abstract Doping and the use of prohibited substances is one of the major issues that sport is facing currently in Cyprus. The fact that an increasing number of athletes tested positive on the island over the last couple of years raised additional concerns and the issue became even more contentious. In this climate of controversy and concern regarding doping and the use of prohibited substances by athletes in Cyprus, the Cyprus Sport Organization took a radical decision in 2008 in which the Cyprus National Anti-Doping Agency, which had been operating for over 20 years as a branch of the Cyprus Sport Organization, would cease to operate by May 2009, giving its position over to the Cyprus National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO), as prescribed by the international anti-doping agencies. The aim of this paper is to examine one basic issue: Are there honest intentions or not in the fight against doping in the case of Cyprus? The cause for this research paper arose from the experiences gathered during the process of the transformation of the Cyprus National Anti-Doping Agency to a National Anti-Doping Organization, and especially from the resistance that evolved from the top sports administrators in the National Sports Federations in Cyprus. What are the true intentions of sports administrators, then? Do they honestly wish to fight doping or not?
Diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia by bacteriologic analysis of bronchoscopic and nonbronchoscopic "blind" bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.

Substantial efforts have been devoted to improving the means for early and accurate diagnosis of ventilator-associated (VA) pneumonia in intensive care unit (ICU) patients because of its high incidence and mortality. A good diagnostic yield has been reported from quantitative cultures of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid or a protected specimen brush, both obtained by fiberoptic bronchoscopy. As bronchoscopy requires specific skills and is costly, we evaluated a simpler method to obtain BAL fluid, that is, by a catheter introduced blindly into the bronchial tree. Quantitative cultures from bronchoscopically sampled BAL (B-BAL) and blindly nonbronchoscopically collected BAL (NB-BAL) were assessed for sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value for the diagnosis of VA pneumonia. A total of 40 pairs of samples were examined in 28 patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation and presenting a high risk of developing pneumonia. For comparison with bacteriologic data we defined a clinical score for pneumonia ranging from zero to 12 using the following variables: body temperature, leukocyte count, volume and character of tracheal secretions, arterial oxygenation, chest X-ray, Gram stain, and culture of tracheal aspirate. To quantify the bacteria in BAL the bacterial index (BI) was used, defined as the sum of the logarithm of the number of bacteria cultured per milliliter of BAL fluid. A good correlation between clinical score and quantitative bacteriology was observed (r = 0.84 for B-BAL and 0.76 for NB-BAL; p less than 0.0001). Similar to studies in baboons, patients with pulmonary infection could be distinguished by a BI greater than or equal to 5 with a sensitivity of 93% and a specificity of 100% (B-BAL). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
An inductive-coupling link for 3D integration of a 90nm CMOS processor and a 65nm CMOS SRAM

This paper presents a three-dimensional (3D) system integration of a commercial processor and a memory by using inductive coupling. A 90nm CMOS 8-core processor, back-grinded to a thickness of 50µm, is mounted face down on a package by C4 bump. A 65nm CMOS 1MB SRAM of the same thickness is glued on it face up, and the power is provided by conventional wire-bonding. The two chips under different supply voltages are AC-coupled by inductive coupling that provides a 19.2Gb/s data link. Measured power and area efficiency of the link is 1pJ/b and 0.15mm2/Gbps, which is 1/30 and 1/3 in comparison with the conventional DDR2 interface respectively [1]. The power efficiency is improved by narrowing a transmission data pulse to 180ps. Reduced timing margin for sampling the narrow pulse, on the other hand, is compensated against timing skews due to layout and PVT variations by a proposed 2-step timing adjustment using an SRAM through mode. All the bits of the SRAM is successfully accessed with no bit error under changes of supply voltages (±5%) and temperature (25°C, 55°C).
Perspectives: Business information review, December 2016

Over the last few years, I have become especially interested in information risk management. Much of the literature on information risk management focuses on information security and ensures that internal information stays inside the organization. This is of course an important consideration but since the processes are owned by IT departments, too little attention seems to be paid to the wider issues of the impact of inadequate information management and the lack of attention to information quality in reducing information risks to both the organization and the individual. The papers I have reviewed in this issue are predominately about information risk and information quality, together with a useful assessment of the benefits and challenges of using personas as an element in a user-centric design process. To conclude, there are two papers that address communications issues faced by clients and consultants when working together on projects, including an interesting perspective on the design of PowerPoint slides.
Successional colonization of perennial ryegrass by rumen bacteria

This study investigated successional colonization of perennial ryegrass (PRG) by the rumen microbiota. PRG grown for 6 weeks in a greenhouse was incubated in sacco in the rumens of three Holstein × Freisian cows over a period of 24 h. PRG incubated within the rumen was subsequently harvested at various time intervals postincubation to assess colonization over time. DGGE‐based dendograms revealed the presence of distinct primary (0–2 h) and secondary (4 h onwards) attached bacterial communities. Moving window analysis, band number and Shannon–Wiener diversity indices suggest that after 2 h a proportion of primary colonizing bacteria detach, to be replaced with a population of secondary colonizing bacteria between 2 and 4 h after entry of PRG into the rumen. Sequencing and classification of bands lost and gained between 2 and 4 h showed that the genus Prevotella spp. was potentially more prevalent following 4 h of incubation, and Prevotella spp. 16S rDNA‐based QPCR supported this finding somewhat, as 2‐ to 4‐h Prevotella QPCR data were greater but not significantly so. Low‐temperature scanning electron microscopy showed that attached bacteria were predominantly enveloped in extracellular polymeric substances. In conclusion, colonization of fresh PRG is biphasic with primary colonization completed within 2 h and secondary colonization commencing after 4 h of attachment in this study.
Strategic Estimation of Asset Fair Values

We examine whether fair value (FV) input levels and estimation sources are related to FV inflation, the difference between an insurer's FV estimate and the consensus FV estimate across the security's holders. FV inflation is higher, and self-estimation more likely, when insurers report using Level 3 inputs when the consensus level is 2. Regardless of the level, FV is greater when self-estimated. Public insurers that inflate FV through self-estimation potentially obfuscate detection by reporting the use of Level 2 inputs. Insurers with stronger incentives to appear financially healthy choose to self-estimate, resulting in greater aggregate portfolio FV inflation.
Metatranscriptomic Analyses of Plankton Communities Inhabiting Surface and Subpycnocline Waters of the Chesapeake Bay during Oxic-Anoxic-Oxic Transitions

ABSTRACT We used metatranscriptomics to study the gene transcription patterns of microbial plankton (0.2 to 64 μm) at a mesohaline station in the Chesapeake Bay under transitions from oxic to anoxic waters in spring and from anoxic to oxic waters in autumn. Samples were collected from surface (i.e., above pycnocline) waters (3 m) and from waters beneath the pycnocline (16 to 22 m) in both 2010 and 2011. Metatranscriptome profiles based on function and potential phylogeny were different between 2010 and 2011 and strongly variable in 2011. This difference in variability corresponded with a highly variable ratio of eukaryotic to bacterial sequences (0.3 to 5.5), reflecting transient algal blooms in 2011 that were absent in 2010. The similarity between metatranscriptomes changed at a lower rate during the transition from oxic to anoxic waters than after the return to oxic conditions. Transcripts related to photosynthesis and low-affinity cytochrome oxidases were significantly higher in shallow than in deep waters, while in deep water genes involved in anaerobic metabolism, particularly sulfate reduction, succinyl coenzyme A (succinyl-CoA)-to-propionyl-CoA conversion, and menaquinone synthesis, were enriched relative to in shallow waters. Expected transitions in metabolism between oxic and anoxic deep waters were reflected in elevated levels of anaerobic respiratory reductases and utilization of propenediol and acetoin. The percentage of archaeal transcripts increased in both years in late summer (from 0.1 to 4.4% of all transcripts in 2010 and from 0.1 to 6.2% in 2011). Denitrification-related genes were expressed in a predicted pattern during the oxic-anoxic transition. Overall, our data suggest that Chesapeake Bay microbial assemblages express gene suites differently in shallow and deep waters and that differences in deep waters reflect variable redox states.
“Smartizing” power quality assessment based on IEC smart substation automation

Power Quality is a multidisciplinary systemic challenge. It involves huge data collection, many utility areas, and many other players outside the utility. Because it must connect massive amount of measured current and voltage data from various process levels to almost all utility corporate areas, allowing power conformity, energy availability and high service quality (achieving national and international standards), power quality should be the most suitable area to gain benefits from the smart grid derived concepts. However, issues like substation automation, Common Information Model (CIM) and other attributes from the IEC Smart Grid conceptual landscape are not, by themselves, enough to perform a plug and play power quality (or other area) solution. This article will first discuss the conventional power quality assessment, and subsequently will propose a new approach to “smartize” the power quality assessment from the utility power quality data collection to both its corporate treatment and the external players. The referred utility provides energy to a highly dense urban area as well as to an industrial area. Altogether, both areas account for about seven million consumers, supplied by more than 400 substations scattered over 570 municipalities.
Functional Chromatography Reveals Three Natural Products that Target the Same Protein with Distinct Mechanisms of Action

Access to lead compounds with defined molecular targets continues to be a barrier to the translation of natural product resources. As a solution, we developed a system that uses discrete, recombinant proteins as the vehicles for natural product isolation. Here, we describe the use of this functional chromatographic method to identify natural products that bind to the AAA+ chaperone, p97, a promising cancer target. Application of this method to a panel of fungal and plant extracts identified rheoemodin, 1‐hydroxydehydroherbarin, and phomapyrrolidone A as distinct p97 modulators. Excitingly, each of these molecules displayed a unique mechanism of p97 modulation. This discovery provides strong support for the application of functional chromatography to the discovery of protein modulators that would likely escape traditional high‐throughput or phenotypic screening platforms.
THE VALUE OF KENTUCKY’S EQUINE INDUSTRY TO KENTUCKY STATE RESIDENTS: A CONTINGENT VALUATION STUDY

OF THESIS THE VALUE OF KENTUCKY’S EQUINE INDUSTRY TO KENTUCKY STATE RESIDENTS: A CONTINGENT VALUATION STUDY This thesis examines whether the presence of the equine industry improves the quality of life for Kentucky residents; the contingent valuation method (CV) is used to estimate the value Kentucky residents place on the presence of the equine industry in Kentucky. The data comes from Phase II of the 2012 Kentucky Equine Survey of Kentucky residents. Seven thousand seven hundred fiftyseven surveys were distributed throughout the one hundred twenty counties in Kentucky. Four versions of the survey were distributed; the versions varied by the percentage decline in the equine industry. Surveys distributed to Bluegrass counties were distinguished by the color of paper the survey was printed on; the paper color identified the housing quartile of the respondent. Each version of the survey included a dichotomous choice experiment predicting a percentage decline in the equine industry. A payment card willingness-to-pay experiment followed the dichotomous choice experiment. Attitude questions, demographic data, and a consequentiality question were included at the end of the survey. The goal of the study was to identify if and in what way Kentucky residents’ lifestyle, beliefs, and knowledge of the equine industry influence their willingness to avoid a loss of the equine industry.