Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Theory of Commodity Price Stabilisation Rules: Welfare Impacts and Supply Responses

Commodity price stabilisation schemes are again topical, this time as a result of pressure from UNCTAD for an integrated programme on commodities as part of the 'New International Order'. Despite the long history of interest in the subject and its evident importance for developing countries the conventional analysis of the impact of price stabilisation is remarkably simplistic. ^ The theory was developed by Waugh (1944), Oi (1961), and Massell (1969) and provides the basis for most subsequent theoretical investigations (of which some are presented in the references and surveyed in Turnovsky, 1978^) and empirical estimates (e.g. MacAvoy and McNicol, 1976; World Bank, 1977). The WaughOi-Massell approach assumes 'linear demand and supply schedules, instantaneous reaction of supply and demand to changes in market prices, additive stochastic disturbances and price stabilisation at the mean of the prices which would have prevailed in an unstabilised market' (World Bank, 1977), as shown in Fig. I.
The inhibitory anti-beta1 integrin monoclonal antibody 13 recognizes an epitope that is attenuated by ligand occupancy. Evidence for allosteric inhibition of integrin function.

Integrin-ligand binding causes conformational changes in the integrin, as evidenced by the increased expression of epitopes known as ligand-induced binding sites. Some monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that recognize ligand-induced binding sites stimulate ligand binding, possibly by stabilizing the ligand-occupied conformation of the integrin. Here we have investigated the effect of ligand recognition by alpha5beta1 on the binding of a mAb that inhibits beta1 integrin function (mAb 13). Ligand (fibronectin fragment or GRGDS peptide) decreased the binding of mAb 13 to alpha5beta1. Analysis of this inhibition showed that at high ligand concentrations, approximately 50% of the total integrin bound mAb 13 with >50-fold lower affinity than in the absence of ligand. The concentration of ligand required for half-maximal inhibition of antibody binding was independent of antibody concentration, suggesting that ligand acts as an allosteric inhibitor of mAb 13 binding. Hence, ligand and mAb 13 did not appear to compete directly for binding to alpha5beta1. The stimulatory anti-beta1 mAb 9EG7 was found to increase the maximum level of ligand binding approximately 2-fold, indicating that up to 50% of the total integrin could not bind ligand without 9EG7 stimulation. Analysis of mAb 13 binding in the presence of 9EG7 and ligand (i.e. maximal ligand occupancy) demonstrated that essentially all of the integrin bound mAb 13 with very low or zero affinity. Our results demonstrate that mAb 13 recognizes an epitope that is dramatically attenuated in the ligand-occupied form of alpha5beta1. Hence, since mAb 13 preferentially recognizes the unoccupied conformation of the integrin, the antibody may inhibit ligand binding by stabilizing the unoccupied state of alpha5beta1. In addition, we present evidence that the binding of mAb 13 to ligand-occupied alpha5beta1 may also induce a conformational change in the integrin, resulting in the displacement of ligand.
LANDFIRE: a nationally consistent vegetation, wildland fire, and fuel assessment

LANDFIRE is a 5-year, multipartner project producing consistent and comprehensive maps and data describing vegetation, wildland fuel, fire regimes and ecological departure from historical conditions across the United States. It is a shared project between the wildland fire management and research and development programs of the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service and US Department of the Interior. LANDFIRE meets agency and partner needs for comprehensive, integrated data to support landscape-level fire management planning and prioritization, community and firefighter protection, effective resource allocation, and collaboration between agencies and the public. The LANDFIRE data production framework is interdisciplinary, science-based and fully repeatable, and integrates many geospatial technologies including biophysical gradient analyses, remote sensing, vegetation modelling, ecological simulation, and landscape disturbance and successional modelling. LANDFIRE data products are created as 30-m raster grids and are available over the internet at www.landfire. gov, accessed 22 April 2009. The data products are produced at scales that may be useful for prioritizing and planning individual hazardous fuel reduction and ecosystem restoration projects; however, the applicability of data products varies by location and specific use, and products may need to be adjusted by local users.
Mining Local Specialties for Travelers by Leveraging Structured and Unstructured Data

Recently, many local review websites such as Yelp are emerging, which have greatly facilitated people's daily life such as cuisine hunting. However they failed to meet travelers' demands because travelers are more concerned about a city's local specialties instead of the city's high ranked restaurants. To solve this problem, this paper presents a local specialty mining algorithm, which utilizes both the structured data from local review websites and the unstructured user-generated content (UGC) from community Q&A websites, and travelogues. The proposed algorithm extracts dish names from local review data to build a document for each city, and applies tfidf weighting algorithm on these documents to rank dishes. Dish-city correlations are calculated from unstructured UGC, and combined with the tfidf ranking score to discover local specialties. Finally, duplicates in the local specialty mining results are merged. A recommendation service is built to present local specialties to travelers, along with specialties' associated restaurants, Q&A threads, and travelogues. Experiments on a large data set show that the proposed algorithm can achieve a good performance, and compared to using local review data alone, leveraging unstructured UGC can boost the mining performance a lot, especially in large cities.
Immediate and delayed transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells improve muscle force after skeletal muscle injury in rats

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy is a promising approach for regaining muscle function after trauma. Prior to clinical application, the ideal time of transplantation has to be determined. We investigated the effects of immediate and delayed transplantation. Sprague–Dawley rats received a crush trauma to the left soleus muscle. Treatment groups were transplanted locally with 2 × 106 autologous MSCs, either immediately or 7 days after trauma. Saline was used as sham therapy. Contraction force tests and histological analyses were performed 4 weeks after injury. GFP‐labelled MSCs were followed after transplantation. The traumatized soleus muscles of the sham group displayed a reduction of twitch forces to 36 ± 17% and of tetanic forces to 29 ± 11% of the non‐injured right control side, respectively. Delayed MSC transplantation resulted in a significant improvement of contraction maxima in both stimulation modes (twitch, p = 0.011; tetany, p = 0.014). Immediate transplantation showed a significant increase in twitch forces to 59 ± 17% (p = 0.043). There was no significant difference in contraction forces between muscles treated by immediate and delayed cell transplantation. We were able to identify MSCs in the interstitium of the injured muscles up to 4 weeks after transplantation. Despite the fundamental differences of the local environment, which MSCs encounter after transplantation, similar results could be obtained with respect to functional muscle regeneration. We believe that transplanted MSCs residing in the interstitial compartment evolve their regenerative capabilities through paracrine pathways. Our data suggest a large time window of the therapeutical measures. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Comparative Analysis of H.264 and Motion-JPEG2000 Compression for Video Telemetry

The H.264/AVC standard, popular in commercial video recording and distribution, has also been widely adopted for high-definition video compression in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and for Flight Test applications. H.264/AVC is the most modern and bandwidth-efficient compression algorithm specified for video recording in the Digital Recording IRIG Standard 106-11, Chapter 10. This bandwidth efficiency is largely derived from the inter-frame compression component of the standard. Motion JPEG-2000 compression is often considered for cockpit display recording, due to the concern that details in the symbols and graphics suffer excessively from artifacts of inter-frame compression and that critical information might be lost. In this paper, we report on a quantitative comparison of H.264/AVC and Motion JPEG-2000 encoding for HD video telemetry. Actual encoder implementations in video recorder products are used for the comparison.
An investigation of statistical software testing

Software validation embodies two notions: fault removal and fault forecasting. Statistical testing involves exercising a piece of software by supplying it with input values that are randomly selected according to a defined probability distribution on its input domain. It can be used as a practical tool for revealing faults in a fault removal phase, and for assessing software dependability in a fault forecasting phase. In both of these, its efficiency is linked to the adequacy of the input probability distribution with respect to the test experiment goal. In this paper a mixed validation strategy combining deterministic and random test data is defined, and the theoretical and experimental work performed to support the strategy is reported. The quoted results relate to the unit testing of four real programs from the nuclear field. They confirm the high fault revealing power of statistical structural testing. Two main directions for further investigation of statistical testing are indicated by the reported work. These are described and solutions to the associated problems are outlined.
Altered synaptic plasticity and memory formation in nitric oxide synthase inhibitor-treated rats.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a messenger molecule that is produced in the brain from the metabolism of L-arginine to L-citrulline. Growing evidence suggests a physiological role for NO in long-term potentiation (LTP). Since LTP is a form of synaptic plasticity thought to be involved in learning and memory, we have tested whether inhibition of endogenous NO production affects memory capacities of rats. We found that the NO synthase [L-arginine, NADPH:oxygen oxidoreductase (nitric oxide-forming), EC 1.14. 13.39] inhibitor N omega-nitro-L-arginine, at doses blocking LTP in hippocampal slices, impairs spatial learning in a radial arm maze and olfactory memory in a social recognition test. In contrast, N omega-nitro-L-arginine left shock-avoidance learning unaffected. These results indicate that NO is involved in some but not all forms of memory and further support the existence of a causal link between LTP and spatial learning.
Motivated Thinking

At one time or another, every one of us has engaged in “wishful thinking,” or “let our hearts influence our heads. ” That is, every one of us has felt the effects of our motivations on our thought processes. Given this common everyday experience, it is not surprising that an essential part of early psychological research was the idea that drives, needs, desires, motives, and goals can profoundly influence judgment and reasoning. More surprising is that motivational variables play only a small role in current theories of reasoning. Why might this be? One possible explanation is that since the cognitive revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, researchers studying motivational and cognitive processes have been speaking somewhat different languages. That is, there has been a general failure to connect traditional motivational concepts, such as drives or motives, to information processing concepts, such as expectancies or spreading activation, which form the foundation for nearly all contemporary research on thinking and reasoning. For a period of time, this led not only to misunderstanding, but also to conflict between motivational and cognitive perspectives on judgment. More recently however, there has been a sharp increase in attempts to achieve a marriage between these two viewpoints in a wide variety of research areas. The primary objective of this chapter is to review these attempts and to demonstrate how it is not only possible, but also desirable, to reintroduce motivational approaches to the study of basic thought processes. We begin by providing some historical background on such approaches.
Coplanar ac discharges between cylindrical electrodes with a nanoporous alumina dielectric: Modular dielectric barrier plasma devices

Dielectric barrier discharges between coplanar Al rods having an /spl sim/2-/spl mu/m-thick layer of nanoporous alumina dielectric at the surface have been investigated. Rods 3 mm in diameter, 7 cm in length, and spaced by 5 mm produce stable and intense glow discharges in 50 torr of Ne when pairs of rods are driven by an alternating current (bipolar) waveform for which the peak voltage is /spl sim/460-510 V.
Detection of Human Bocavirus in Children with Acute Respiratory Tract Infections in Lanzhou and Nanjing, China

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to explore the prevalent characteristics of HBoV1 and its co-infection. Methods PCR was used to detect HBoV1-DNA (HBoV1) and other viruses. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to explore possibility of co-detected for related viruses. Results The positivity rates in Nanjing and Lanzhou were 9.38% (74/789) and 11.62% (161/1386), respectively (P<0.05). The HBoV1 positive group was younger than negative group (P<0.05). Seasonal differences were noted, with a higher frequency of infection in December and July. HBoV1-positive children [72.34% (169/235)] were co-infected with other respiratory viruses. Multifactorial analysis showed no correlations between HBoV1 and the clinical classification, region, gender, age, or treatment as an outpatient or in a hospital. Correlations were identified between HBoV1 infections with ADV (OR=1.53, 95% CI 1.03-2.28), RSV (OR=0.71, 95% CI 0.52-0.98), and IFVA (OR=1.77, 95% CI 1.00-3.13). Conclusions Presence of HBoV1 in nasopharyngeal aspirates did not correlate with region or gender, although the prevalence of HBoV1 was higher in younger children. There were no correlations between HBoV1 and other variables, except for the season and ADV, RSV, or IFVA infections.
Help-Seeking Patterns in HIV/AIDS Outpatients

ABSTRACT This study investigates factors associated with requests for professional services, made by newly registered HIV/AIDS Clinic outpatients, referred by general practice physicians to a large urban hospital serving a broad metropolitan/rural area in Canada. Professional service requests were divided into two primary help-seeking categories: practical support (assistance with financial aid, housing, medication costs, etc.) and emotional support (i.e., psychological counselling). Slightly more than half of the sample (51%) of people living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) requested professional services. Service requesters are indistinguishable from non-requesters on a large number of variables, including age, gender, family awareness of HIV/AIDS diagnosis, time elapsed since diagnosis, employment status, spousal status, overall support network size, physical health indicators (Karnofsky Performance Status, CD4 count, symptoms, opportunistic infections) and receipt of community support services elsewhere. Similarly, requesters and non-requesters report comparable levels of overall perceived social support and quality of life. However, requesters of practical support services report significantly fewer friends, lower emotional-informational social support and poorer quality of life due to body pain than non-requesters. Requesters of emotional support services report experiencing significantly lower positive social interaction compared to non-requesters. Implications for the provision of practical and emotional support services for PHA are discussed.
An Alternative Foundation for the Planning and Evaluation of Linkage Analysis

The ‘multiple testing problem’ currently bedevils the field of genetic epidemiology. Briefly stated, this problem arises with the performance of more than one statistical test and results in an increased probability of committing at least one Type I error. The accepted/conventional way of dealing with this problem is based on the classical Neyman-Pearson statistical paradigm and involves adjusting one’s error probabilities. This adjustment is, however, problematic because in the process of doing that, one is also adjusting one’s measure of evidence. Investigators have actually become wary of looking at their data, for fear of having to adjust the strength of the evidence they observed at a given locus on the genome every time they conduct an additional test. In a companion paper in this issue (Strug & Hodge I), we presented an alternative statistical paradigm, the ‘evidential paradigm’, to be used when planning and evaluating linkage studies. The evidential paradigm uses the lod score as the measure of evidence (as opposed to a p value), and provides new, alternatively defined error probabilities (alternative to Type I and Type II error rates). We showed how this paradigm separates or decouples the two concepts of error probabilities and strength of the evidence. In the current paper we apply the evidential paradigm to the multiple testing problem – specifically, multiple testing in the context of linkage analysis. We advocate using the lod score as the sole measure of the strength of evidence; we then derive the corresponding probabilities of being misled by the data under different multiple testing scenarios. We distinguish two situations: performing multiple tests of a single hypothesis, vs. performing a single test of multiple hypotheses. For the first situation the probability of being misled remains small regardless of the number of times one tests the single hypothesis, as we show. For the second situation, we provide a rigorous argument outlining how replication samples themselves (analyzed in conjunction with the original sample) constitute appropriate adjustments for conducting multiple hypothesis tests on a data set.
Tail-anchored and Signal-anchored Proteins Utilize Overlapping Pathways during Membrane Insertion*

Tail-anchored proteins are a distinct class of membrane proteins that are characterized by a C-terminal membrane insertion sequence and a capacity for post-translational integration. Although it is now clear that tail-anchored proteins are inserted into the membrane at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the molecular basis for their integration is poorly understood. We have used a cross-linking approach to identify ER components that may be involved in the membrane insertion of tail-anchored proteins. We find that several newly synthesized tail-anchored proteins are transiently associated with a defined subset of cellular components. Among these, we identify several ER proteins, including subunits of the Sec61 translocon, Sec62p, Sec63p, and the 25-kDa subunit of the signal peptidase complex. When we analyze the cotranslational membrane insertion of a comparable signal-anchored protein we find the nascent polypeptide associated with a similar set of ER components. We conclude that the pathways for the integration of tail-anchored and signal-anchored membrane proteins at the ER exhibit a substantial degree of overlap, and we propose that this reflects similarities between co- and post-translational membrane insertion.
X chromosome inactivation, differentiation, and DNA methylation revisited, with a tribute to Susumu Ohno

X chromosome inactivation and DNA methylation are reviewed, with emphasis on the contributions of Susumu Ohno and the predictions made in my 1975 paper (Riggs, 1975), in which I proposed the “maintenance methylase” model for somatic inheritance of methylation patterns and suggested that DNA methylation would be involved in mammalian X chromosome inactivation and development. The maintenance methylase model is discussed and updated to consider methylation patterns in cell populations that have occasional, stochastic methylation changes by de novo methylation or demethylation, either active or passive. The “way station” model for the spread of X inactivation by LINE-1 elements is also considered, and some recent results from my laboratory are briefly reviewed.
Human cytomegalovirus gB genotype 1 is dominant in congenital infections in South Hungary *

On the basis of the sequence variation of the glycoprotein B (gB) gene, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can be classified into four gB genotypes. Genotyping of HCMV from congenital infections was carried out on the assumption that the envelope gB may influence the outcome of prenatal infection. Sixty‐three pregnant women were included in the study: 40 pregnant women whose fetuses were strongly suspected of having viral infection, and 23 women with normal pregnancies, from whom amniotic fluid was taken for fetal karyotype assessment. The amniotic fluid, fetal blood, blood, and urine of the newborns were examined for HCMV DNA by a nested polymerase chain reaction, and the gB genotype was determined by restriction fragment length polymorphism. HCMV DNA was detected in 12 cases in which the fetuses were suspected of having a viral infection and in 3 of the normal pregnancies. All the HCMV DNA had identical genotype, gB1. These data clearly indicate the dominance of the gB1 genotype in congenital HCMV infections. The clinical outcome of these pregnancies, however, cannot be predicted on the basis of the involvement of this genotype. J. Med. Virol. 65:537–542, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
PSYCHO-VISUALLY MOTIVATED CANNY EDGE DETECTOR

This paper proposes a distributed Canny edge detection algorithm which can be mapped onto multi-core architectures for high throughput applications. In contrast to the conventional Canny edge detection algorithm which makes use of the global image gradient histogram to determine the threshold for edge detection, the proposed algorithm adaptively computes the edge detection threshold based on the local distribution of the gradients in the considered image block. The efficacy of the distributed Canny in detecting psycho-visually important edges is validated using a visual sharpness metric. The proposed distributed Canny edge detection algorithm has the capacity to scale up the throughput adaptively, based on the number of computing engines. The algorithm achieves about 72 times speed up for a 16-core architecture, without any change in performance. Furthermore, the internal memory requirements are significantly reduced especially for smaller block sizes. For instance, if a 512 512 image is processed in 64 64 blocks using the proposed scheme, the memory is reduced by a factor of 70 as compared to the original Canny edge detector. Index Terms — Canny Edge detector, Distributed Processing, Internal Memory, Sharpness Metric
An integrated approach for weather forecasting over Internet of Things: A brief review

Weather forecasting has been major challenge due to uncertain nature of climatic conditions. Due to advancement in domain of Internet of Things (IoT), weather monitoring has been done with help of low powered sensor devices. Need has come to make central node or server efficient in terms of memory and power. Efforts are being put to on those algorithms which are less prone to prediction errors. Neural networks algorithms are not affordable to work on IoT devices. This paper focuses on Structural as well as Time Series based weather forecasting algorithms which are Linear Regression, Multiple Linear regression (MLR), Support Vector Regression (SVR) as well as Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA). The predictive ability of each of these algorithms is computed using Root Mean Square Error which indicates ARIMA as the best prediction model.