Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ethnic Minorities Rewarded: Ethnostratification on the Wage Market in Belgium

Several previous researches have confirmed the hypothesis of ethnostratification, which holds that the labour market is divided into different ethnic layers. While people of a European origin are over-represented in the top layers (the primary market), people with non-European roots and/or nationalities are more concentrated in bottom layers (the secondary market). Relative to the primary market, this secondary market is characterized by a higher chance of unemployment, lower wages, poorer working conditions and greater job insecurity. This paper deals with a very important condition of work: the wage. Does origin have an impact on the level of wage? We make a distinction between nine origin groups: Belgians, North en West Europeans, South Europeans (from Greece, Spain, Portugal), Italians, East Europeans, Moroccans, Turks, Sub Sahara Africans and Asians. The first part of this article briefly describes the database used for the analyses and presents a few general figures for the total Belgian population. In the second part we examine the impact of origin on wage levels. For each origin group we will give an overview of the average daily wages and the partition over the wage classes. For the “weaker” populations, gender and age are taken into account. Finally, by means of a regression analysis, we will examine the influence of origin while controlling a few other variables that may influence the wage level.
A Dataflow Object Detection System for FPGA-based Smart Camera

Embedded computer vision based smart systems raise challenging issues in many research ﬁelds, including real-time vision processing, communication protocols or distributed algorithms. The amount of data generated by cameras using high resolution image sensors requires powerful computing systems to be processed at digital video frame rates. Consequently, the design of efﬁcient and ﬂexible smart cameras , with on-board processing capabilities, has become a key issue for the expansion of smart vision systems relying on decentralized processing at the image sensor node level. In this context, FPGA-based platforms, supporting massive data parallelism, offer large opportunities to match real-time processing constraints compared to platforms based on general purpose processors. In this paper, we describe the implementation, on such a platform, of a conﬁgurable object detection application, reformulated according to the dataﬂow model of computation. The application relies on the computation of the histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) and a linear SVM-based classiﬁcation. It is described using the CAPH programming language, allowing efﬁcient hardware descriptions to be generated automatically from high level dataﬂow speciﬁcations without prior knowledge of hardware description languages such as VHDL or Verilog. Results show that the performance of the generated code does not suffer from a signiﬁcant overhead compared to handwritten HDL code.
Dissection and Culture of Embryonic Spinal Commissural Neurons

Studies of spinal commissural neurons have provided substantial insight into the mechanisms that regulate axon guidance. Explants of embryonic spinal cords and isolated spinal commissural neurons have been important experimental tools for the identification and characterization of several guidance cues, including netrins, semaphorins, slits, sonic hedgehog, BMPs, and wnts. In this unit, protocols are provided for establishing these explant assays to assess the outgrowth and turning capacity of commissural axons. In addition, methods are included for preparing cultures highly enriched with embryonic commissural neurons, which have been used to probe the biochemical signaling mechanisms regulating axon guidance. Curr. Protoc. Neurosci. 45:3.20. 1‐3.20. 17. © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Adaptive fuzzy tracking control for a class of nonaffine stochastic nonlinear systems

This paper considers the problem of the adaptive fuzzy tracking control for a class of nonaffine stochastic nonlinear system without lower triangular form. Based on fuzzy logic systems' universal approximation property, an adaptive fuzzy controller is proposed, which guarantees that all the signals in the closed-loop system are bounded in the sense of mean quartic value and the output tracking error eventually converges to a small neighborhood around the origin. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Preliminary Evaluation of Some Traditionally used Medicinal plants as antidiarrhoeal in Assam

The selected plant Alternenthera sessilis (L.), Houttuynia cordata (Thunb) Murraya koenigii (L.) and Ziziphus oenoplia (L) Miller has been used traditionally in Assam, India for the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery. However, the claims need to be validated by a suitable experimental model. Therefore, the present study was under taken to evaluate the effect of 50% methanol extracts of Alternenthera sessilis (L.) whole plant (ASM), Houttuynia cordata (Thunb) Aerial part (HCM), Murraya koenigii (L.) Leaves (MKM) and Ziziphus oenoplia (L) Miller Root Bark (ZOM) for its antidiarrhoeal potential against experimental models of diarrhoea in Albino Wister rats. The plant extracts showed significant (P < 0.05) inhibitor activity against castor oil induced & magnesium sulphate induced diarrhoea in rats. The results point out the possible antidiarrhoeal effect of the plants extract traditionally used in Assam, India.
Incidence of Breast Cancer in Piedmont: 1979–1981

A population-based survey of histologically diagnosed breast cancer was carried out among residents in Piedmont. A total of 5267 incident cases occurring in 1979–1981 was collected, corresponding to an age-standardized (on the world population) incidence rate of 49.5/100,000 per year. Rates (standardized on the population of Piedmont in 1981) were highest in the city of Torino (112.4/100,000 per year) and lowest in the province of Cuneo (67.5), whereas in the other provinces they ranged between 85.3 and 90.0. Estimation of rates in the 54 Local Health Authorities of Piedmont detected up to 2-fold differences between adjacent areas. A correlation was found between rates and size of the population of town of residence. Comparison with age-specific incidence rates from the Cancer Registry of the nearby province of Varese suggested a loss of nonhistologically confirmed cases selectively in older age groups. The distribution of cases diagnosed in 1979 by histologic type is presented. The proportion of diagnoses reported in terms which were consistent with the 1978 WHO Histological Typing of Breast Tumours was 61.3%. It was highest among cases identified in Pathology Services located in University Hospitals and/or diagnosing more than 50 breast cancers per year.
User certification of workplace software: assessing both artefact and usage

This article summarises activities and results from the quality assessment project ‘Quality Assurance of IT Support at Work’ (ITQ) which has been performed by Swedish researchers in close cooperation with trade unions 1999–2005. The ITQ project is part of a network, UsersAward, which works for the goal to develop and implement a strategy for good software products on the work floor. A main result of the ITQ project is the first version of a software certification programme, User Certified 2002, which is described in some detail. The underlying theoretical arguments for its design and the performed pilot projects which have informed its implementation are also presented. The outcome of performed certifications is discussed in terms of stakeholder response; in terms of whether to certify artefact, processes, or both; and in terms of the relationship between software certification, standardisation, and public procurement agreements. One conclusion from the project is that a viable software certification programme has to cover the software's built-in features, its deployment process, and its actual situated usage. A second conclusion is that the buying organisation has to implement integrative processes in which its organisational development and its implementation of IT systems are coordinated. Conclusions are also drawn with respect to the set of organisational patterns underlying the UsersAward initiative – certifications, user panels, user surveys, user conferences and a yearly IT Prize contest. Finally, implications and plans for the future, especially international research and union cooperation activities, and further development of the certification process are described.
The gait identification challenge problem: data sets and baseline algorithm

Recognition of people through gait analysis is an important research topic, with potential applications in video surveillance, tracking, and monitoring. Recognizing the importance of evaluating and comparing possible competing solutions to this problem, we previously introduced the HumanID challenge problem consisting of a set of experiments of increasing difficulty, a baseline algorithm, and a large set of video sequences (about 300 GB of data related to 452 sequences from 74 subjects) acquired to investigate important dimensions to this problem, such as variations due to viewpoint, footwear and walking surface. In this paper we present a detailed investigation of the baseline algorithm, quantify the dependence of the various covariates on gait-based identification, and update the previous baseline performance with optimized ones. We establish that the performance of the baseline algorithm is robust with respect to its various parameters. The overall identification performance is also stable with respect to the quality of the silhouettes. We find that the approximately lower 20% of the silhouette accounts for most of the recognition achieved. Viewpoint has barely statistically significant effect on identification rates, whereas footwear and surface-type does have significant effects with the effect due to surface-type being approximately 5 times that of shoe-type.
Expression, localization, and regulation of the neuregulin receptor ErbB3 in mouse heart

Neuregulins (NRG) belong to the EGF family of growth factors, which are ligands of the ErbB receptors. Their expression in the adult heart is essential, especially when the heart is submitted to cardiotoxic stress such as that produced by anthracyclines. It is considered that ErbB4 is the only NRG receptor expressed by the adult heart. Upon binding, ErbB4 may dimerize with ErbB2 to generate signals inside cells. However, here we show the presence of ErbB3 in the mouse heart from birth to adulthood by Western blotting and real‐time RT‐PCR. The expression level of ErbB3 mRNA was lower than that of ErbB2 or ErbB4, but was more stable throughout postnatal development. In isolated heart myocytes, ErbB3 localized to the Z‐lines similarly to ErbB1. Perfusion of isolated hearts with NRG‐1β induced phosphorylation of ErbB3, as well as ErbB2 and ErbB4. In adult mice, both ErbB2 and ErbB3, but not ErbB1 or ErbB4, were rapidly down‐regulated upon the induction of heart hypertrophy. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that ErbB3, in addition to ErbB4, is a receptor for neuregulin‐1β in the adult mouse heart. J. Cell. Physiol. 226: 450–455, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Inhibitory effects of calcium ionophore pretreatment of porcine oocytes on polyspermic fertilization

The present study examined the inhibitory effects of various pretreatment concentrations (0–100 μM) of the calcium ionophore A23187 on polyspermic fertilization and then examined the effect of the maturation period and the time between calcium ionophore treatment and fertilization on the inhibitory effect of calcium ionophore on polyspermic fertilization. In experiment 1, a high concentration of calcium ionophore (100 μM) increased the rate of activated oocytes, but the rate of fertilization declined. On the other hand, when oocytes were treated with a low concentration of calcium ionophore (10 μM), monospermic fertilization was significantly increased (10 μM; 31.3%) (p < 0.05). In experiment 2, oocytes were cultured for various times (0, 0.5, 3, 6 h) after calcium ionophore treatment (10 μM) before fertilization. The highest rate of monospermic fertilization was detected in the oocytes cultured for 6 h after calcium ionophore treatment before fertilization. In experiments 3 and 4, we examined the effect of the maturation period (40 h or 44 h) on the rate of fertilization and blastulation of oocytes pretreated with calcium ionophore. The treatment of oocytes with calcium ionophore significantly decreased the rate of polyspermic fertilization regardless of the maturation period (44 h: with calcium ionophore 26.25% vs without 78.8%; 40 h: with calcium ionophore 37.5% vs without 77.5%); however, calcium ionophore treatment increased the rates of monospermic fertilization and blastulation of the oocytes matured for 44 h, but not those matured for 40 h. In conclusion, activation with a low concentration of calcium ionophore (10 μM) and a further 6 h of culture before fertilization improved the rate of monospermic fertilization and blastulation.
The application of vignettes in social and nursing research.

AIM The aim of this paper is to review the potential for, and the limitations of, the use of vignettes in research that seeks an understanding of people's attitudes, perceptions and beliefs, particularly with regard to sensitive subjects such as health care. BACKGROUND Vignettes, in the form of text or pictures presented to research participants to prompt responses to interview questions, are widely used throughout the social sciences although their use in nursing research is less developed. REVIEW FOCUS: This review paper begins by addressing the differences between vignettes and real life processes. The following sections explore some of the practical advantages and pitfalls of using vignettes in social and nursing research. CONCLUSION The paper demonstrates how vignettes can be very useful research tools yielding valuable data when studying people's attitudes, perceptions and beliefs in social and nursing research.
Catalytic and non-catalytic domains of the Fujinami sarcoma virus P130gag-fps protein-tyrosine kinase distinguished by the expression of v-fps polypeptides in Escherichia coli.

While protein-tyrosine kinases share a region of sequence identity corresponding to their kinase domains, the specific elements essential for catalysis, substrate binding and substrate specificity are largely undefined. The P130gag-fps transforming protein of Fujinami avian sarcoma virus is a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase with a complex structure that includes a C-terminal kinase domain. To identify the precise N-terminal border of the v-fps catalytic region and to assess its interactions with non-catalytic domains, C-terminal v-fps polypeptide fragments of decreasing size were expressed in E. coli as trpE-v-fps hybrid proteins. All such polypeptides containing 263 or more residues derived from the C-terminus of P130gag-fps (i.e. residues 920-1182) were enzymatically active as tyrosine kinases. They autophosphorylated at physiological sites in vivo and phosphorylated exogenous substrates such as enolase and poly(glu,tyr) at tyrosine in vitro. Deletion of a further five amino acids from P130gag-fps residues 920-925 abolished all enzymatic activity. This deletion coincides with the predicted N-terminus of the v-fps ATP-binding site at residue 922. These data indicate that the N-terminal border of the ATP-binding site defines the start of the minimal v-fps tyrosine kinase catalytic domain, and show that this minimal domain is competent to bind substrates. More N-terminal non-catalytic sequences appear to functionally interact with the catalytic domain.
A REVIEW ON BUCCAL PATCHES

The aim of this article is to study the buccal patches. Buccal patch is a non dissolving thin matrix modified release dosage form composed of one or more polymer films or layers containing the drug and/or other excipients. Buccal patches have been become an interesting area of novel drug delivery system as the dosage forms designed for buccal administration should not cause irritation and should be small and flexible enough to be accepted by the patientThe study of buccal patches include its introduction, types of buccal patches, advantages, limitation, potential uses of buccal patches, polymer used, methods of preparation, evaluation.
Analysis of the CD8‐positive T cell response in Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis C using HLA‐A*2402 peptide tetramers

Hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) contribute to viral clearance in acute, self‐limited hepatitis C as well as to liver cell injury in the more frequent cases with chronic hepatitis C. Although HLA class I‐peptide tetramers have been used to detect circulating HCV epitope‐specific CTL with a high sensitivity and specificity, this technique has been targeted exclusively to the most frequent HLA haplotypes in the Caucasian population and the large number of HCV‐infected Asian patients, most of whom are HLA‐A24 positive, have not been studied. The current study determines the frequency, phenotype, and clinical significance of HCV‐specific CD8+ T lymphocytes with five different HLA‐A*2402 tetramers in 43 HCV infected Japanese patients and 32 controls. Overall, tetramer+ cells were detected in the blood of 33 of 43 patients at frequencies of 0.064–0.75% CD8+CD4−CD14−CD19− T lymphocytes. Interestingly, although the T cell response was always targeted multispecifically against epitopes in different HCV proteins, the relative frequency of cells stained with individual tetramers differed between patients. Furthermore, tetramer+CD8+ T lymphocytes were highly activated, but the phenotypes of different tetramer+ cells varied in each patient. In conclusion, HLA‐A24 restricted, HCV‐specific CD8+ T lymphocytes are found at similar frequencies in Asian patients as HLA‐A2 restricted, HCV‐specific CD8+ T lymphocytes in Caucasian patients. Differences in the frequency and activation status of individual tetramer+ cell populations suggest that CD8+ T lymphocytes with different HCV epitope specificity may mediate differential pathogenetic effects in chronic hepatitis C. J. Med. Virol. 70: 51–61, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Molecular Tracking, through Processing, of Campylobacter Strains Colonizing Broiler Flocks

ABSTRACT Many of the poultry flocks produced in the United Kingdom are colonized with Campylobacter, and the intensive nature of poultry processing usually results in contaminated carcasses. In this study, a previously reported molecular oligonucleotide probe method was used to track a specific flock-colonizing strain(s) on broiler carcasses during processing in two United Kingdom commercial poultry processing plants. Five Campylobacter-positive flocks were sampled at four points along the processing line, postbleed, postpluck, prechill, and postchill, and two Campylobacter-negative flocks processed immediately after positive flocks were sampled prechill. flaA was sequenced from Campylobacter strains isolated from these flocks, and strain-specific probes were synthesized. Skin and cecal samples were plated onto selective agar to give individual colonies, which were transferred onto membranes. These were then hybridized with the strain- and genus-specific probes. For all the 5 positive flocks, there was a significant reduction in campylobacters postbleed compared to postpluck but no subsequent fall on sampling pre- and postchill, and the strain(s) predominating on the carcasses throughout processing came from the flock being processed. This indicates that strains from the abattoir environment were not a significant cause of carcass contamination in flocks with well-established campylobacter colonization. However, negative flocks that were preceded by positive flocks were contaminated by strains that did not generally originate from the predominating strains recovered from the ceca of the previous positive flocks. This suggests that the abattoir environment has a significant role in the contamination of carcasses from negative but not fully colonized flocks.
Future-proofing weed management for the effects of climate change: is New Zealand underestimating the risk of increased plant invasions?

Climate change may exacerbate the impacts of plant invasions by providing opportunities for new naturalisations and for alien species to expand into regions where previously they could not survive and reproduce. Although climate change is not expected to favour invasive plants in every case, in Aotearoa-New Zealand a large pool of potential new weeds already exists and this country is predicted to be an ‘invasion hotspot’ under climate change. In particular, ornamental garden plants originating from warmer native ranges are likely to naturalise and become invasive when climatic constraints are lifted. This forum article synthesises research on potential synergistic effects of plant invasion and climate change and discusses the general implications for management of weeds under climate change in New Zealand. A comprehensive assessment of three recently naturalised subtropical species (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, Psidium guajava and Schefflera actinophylla) illustrates the potential risk of invasions by such species arising with climate change. Despite two recent Department of Conservation reports giving policy recommendations for conserving biodiversity under climate change, in which the potential of new weeds was highlighted as one of the most imminent threats, very little action has been taken. We argue that climate change needs to be accounted for in current weed management policies. Specifically, prediction of potential new weeds needs to be improved, considering up-to-date research and using best-practice modelling tools. Better surveillance for new infestations through spatial prioritisation by habitat suitability and use of well-managed citizen science projects is required. Education campaigns to raise awareness of climate change effects and new weed threats are essential. With an ever-increasing number of potential weeds but limited resources available, it is crucial that more preventative management is taken. Conservation managers, scientists and the general public need to combine their efforts to future-proof New Zealand weed management for the effects of climate change.
Reconfigurable processing in memory architecture based on spin orbit torque

Data intensive workloads increase significantly bandwidth and power pressures to the memory system. One possible solution is processing-in-memory (PIM) which moves several logic components into the main memory to accelerate the logic computation. Recently, the concept of processing-in-nonvolatile-memory (PINVM) was proposed to against the technology issue in which the DRAM and logic technology require different metal layer. In addition, PINVM has the potential to mitigates the thermal influence of 3D-technology based PIM. Spin-orbit-torque (SOT) Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) is one of promising NVMs with high energy-efficiency, fast switching, separate read/write paths etc. In this paper, we propose a concept of reconfigurable processing-in-SOT MRAM (PISOTM) architecture to integrate reconfigurable logic into non-volatile memory. We extend the existing main memory interface and modify the controller to obtained various arithmetic function. Several dataintensive workloads are selected to evaluate the performance of our proposed PISOTM architecture. The simulation results show that the proposed architecture can achieve high-speedup improvement.