Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Production and Partial Purification of a Fluid‐Accumulating Factor of Non‐O1 Vibrio cholerae

A fluid‐accumulating factor (FAF in the ligated rabbit ileal loop test) from a strain of non‐O1 Vibrio cholerae not producing cholera toxin‐like enterotoxin (CTLT) was partially purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel filtration with Sephadex G‐100, and DEAE cellulose column chromatography. The preparation thus obtained showed collagenolytic, cytolytic, necrotic, and hemorrhagic activities, but was not lethal to mice nor hemolytic to sheep erythrocytes. Desquamation of epithelial cells, inflammatory edema, and hemorrhage were observed in sections of rabbit intestine after inoculation of partially purified FAF (PPFAF). Biological and enzymatic activities of FAF were completely neutralized with anti‐PPFAF rabbit serum. More than 70% of non‐O1 V. cholerae strains from human diarrheal feces produced FAF in the shake culture of heart infusion broth (Difco). A fluid‐accumulating factor immunologically similar to FAF of non‐O1 V. cholerae was also produced by V. mimicus strains isolated from human diarrheal feces. These results indicate that the FAF produced by CTLT‐negative non‐O1 V. cholerae strains is an entity closely related to a cytolytic and hemorrhagic substance or the like, and that this FAF may play a role in the enteropathogenicity of CTLT‐negative strains.
Learning and memory in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia

Synopsis Learning and memory were assessed in 24 monozygotic (MZ) pairs of individuals discordant for schizophrenia or delusional disorder and seven normal pairs of MZ twins. On declarative memory tasks, the affected group displayed a pattern that might best be characterized as dysmnesic in that they performed significantly worse than the discordant unaffected group on story recall, paired associated learning, and visual recall of designs, but they learned over time, had relatively preserved recognition memory, and did not show profoundly accelerated rates of forgetting. Effortful, volitional retrieval from the lexicon, measured by verbal fluency, was also compromised in the affected group. On the other hand, procedural learning of the motor skill in a pursuit rotor task was relatively intact in the affected group. Comparisons of the normal group and unaffected group indicated that the latter group had very mild impairments in some aspects of episodic memory, namely, immediate and delayed recall of stories and delayed recall of designs. It is highly unlikely that the impairments observed in the affected group can be attributed to differences in genome, family environment, socioeconomic circumstance, or educational opportunity, as all of these were controlled by the twin paradigm. Rather, the impairments appear to be related to the intercession of disease. The neuropsychological profile is consistent with frontal lobe and medial temporal lobe dysfunction, as noted in this sample as well as other samples of schizophrenic singletons. Significant correlations between many measures of memory and global level of social and vocational functioning within the discordant group were also found. Thus difficulties in rapidly acquiring new information and propitiously retrieving old information may burden patients with schizophrenia in many of the transactions of everyday life.
Pesquisa, Desenvolvimento e Avaliação de um Jogo para o Ensino de Matemática, Baseado no Processo de Virtualização de Jogos

Este artigo aborda um projeto de pesquisa e extensao mantido pelo CNPq e realizado por uma equipe multidisciplinar formada por estudantes de graduacao, mestrado e doutorado da Universidade de Pernambuco e da Universidade Federal de Alagoas, alem de profissionais das areas de Matematica, Pedagogia e Psicologia. Apresenta-se um jogo desenvolvido por meio do processo de Virtualizacao de Jogos, destacando seu processo de desenvolvimento, bem como sua aplicacao e avaliacao no cerne dos aspectos computacionais de interface, bem como de seus aspectos pedagogicos. A pesquisa constatou que o processo de virtualizacao se mostrou eficaz diante dos objetivos propostos, bem como o jogo virtualizado foi avaliado de forma positiva por estudantes e professores.
A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a rapidly growing technology-enabled process that has the potential to disrupt the capital market space. In order for this process to work efficiently, it is important to clarify the issues surrounding the phenomenon from the founders', the backers', and the technology providers' viewpoints. We begin with an ecosystem view to understand the stakeholders and their roles in the crowdfunding process. We review the literature with a focus on how current research fits into the overall crowdfunding phenomenon. Guided by typology and classification research approaches, we identify six distinct crowdfunding business models: private equity, royalty, microfinance, peer-to-peer lending, rewards, and donation. Based on identified roles and crowdfunding business models, we propose a conceptual research framework. We conclude by showing how current research fits into our proposed framework and offer suggestions for future research directions.
Analytical Assessment of the Suitability of Multicast Communications for the SpiNNaker Neuromimetic System

SpiNNaker is a custom-made architecture designed to model large-scale spiking neural nets. One of the most significant characteristics of neural nets is their extreme communication needs; each neuron propagates its activation to thousands of other neurons. This paper shows analytical proof that the novel multicast router in SpiNNaker is a better solution for simulating neural nets than more powerful point-to-point routers such as those found on datacentres or high performance computing systems, even when it has significantly lower requirements in terms of complexity, area and power. First, we characterised the utilization of resources required by both multicast and unicast networks. Then we derived the band-width needs of different communication architectures. Finally, we derived the amount of neurons the different networks can support. From these analyses we determined that the multicast communications adopted in SpiNNaker will be able to support the target application under the expected operation conditions.
Programming Robots using High-Level Task Descriptions

In order to be truly robust, deployed robot systems must be capable of adaptation. No matter how much we know about a particular task or environment, some amount of on-site tweaking is inevitable if we want the system to perform as well as it can. This tweaking causes the behavior of the robot to change, often by only a small amount, to better fit its environment. Machine learning can be used to “program” mobile robots, given some initial knowledge. We present a method of gathering this knowledge without the need for technical expertise in robotics or programming. The method relies on semanitic information from restricted natural language descriptions of the task to be performed. The behavior can then be modified interactively without knowledge of the underlying control mechanisms. This method allows us to tap into the experience of local experts who have done the task before, without having to train them first in computers or robotics.
Successful establishment of in vitro cultures of Prunus cerasifera hybrids by embryo culture of immature fruits

Rapid obtaining of clonal plants is desirable to shorten crossing programs in fruit tree breeding. In this work, seedling germination and multiplication in vitro allowed us to establish successful in vitro cultures of hybrid seedlings. As a part of a breeding program in apricot rootstocks, we have obtained interespecific hybrid seeds after cross-pollination: myrobalan x apricot (Prunus cerasifera x armeniaca). Immature fruits were harvested and embryos, isolated in aseptic conditions, were grown in culture medium. From a total of 419 seeds, we obtained a germination rate of 81.4%, succeeding in the rescue of 73% of aborting seeds. The successful micropropagation and acclimatization methods applied, yielded a high number of cloned plants from every cultured embryo, allowing us to obtain soil-established plants in a very short time. Advantages of in vitro germination and micropropagation versus conventional methods have been assessed from the point of view of the length of the process and the number of clonal plants obtained.
A downlink beamforming method for coherent detection in DS/CDMA systems

A downlink beamforming method, which has a common pilot channel for coherent detection and a traffic channel for the desired user, is proposed. To solve the phase mismatch between traffic and pilot signals at a desired mobile, the proposed downlink beamforming method considers a cost function of SIR criteria which is solved by a simplex downhill optimization method. The computer simulation showed that the proposed method gives seamless performance in time-varying channels.
Implications of the VerifyNow P2Y12 Assay on Patient Outcomes

Background: The platelet inhibitory response of clopidogrel is substantially variable among patients, and numerous studies have shown that post-percutaneous intervention, patients with high on-treatment platelet reactivity have an increase in risk of major adverse cardiovascular events. No published studies to date have utilized platelet function monitoring assays prior to coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, but determination of patients’ antiplatelet effects prior to surgery may decrease time to surgery and length of hospital stay. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of non-elective CABG patients analyzed by the VerifyNow P2Y12 platelet-function monitoring assay prior to surgery compared to a similar set of patients not analyzed by the VerifyNow P2Y12 assay. Methods: This was a retrospective, single center, cohort study. The primary endpoints of this study were time to surgery and length of hospital stay. Results: From March 2013 to July 2013, 60 patient charts were reviewed and included in this study. 49 patients were analyzed by the VerfiyNow P2Y12 assay, and 16 of these patients underwent non-elective CABG surgery. Eleven patients underwent non-elective CABG surgery and were not analyzed by the VerifyNow P2Y12 assay. There was no difference between groups regarding time to surgery (p = 0.75) or length of stay (p = 0.42). Based on the assay’s P2Y12 reaction unit results, 69% of VerifyNow P2Y12 patients went to surgery sooner than the institution’s recommendations which generated more bleeding events, half of which were considered major bleeds. Conclusions: Utilization of the VerifyNow P2Y12 assay prior to non-elective CABG surgery does not shorten time to surgery or overall length of hospital stay. However, insufficient P2Y12 reaction units prior to surgery may lead to more bleeding events, thus the application of platelet function monitoring assays prior to procedures may be beneficial as a bleeding risk-assessment tool.
Group versus individual dietary instruction in the treatment of obesity.

Rate of weight loss of obese men and women was not significantly different between subjects treated in groups and subjects treated on a one-to-one basis. Male subjects in general lost more weight than female subjects. Weight loss was more rapid when the subjects were moderately overweight than when only slightly overweight. Three personality traits orderliness, deference and achievement were somewhat associated with rate of weight loss. An abnormal glucose tolerance and elevated serum cholesterol were associated with high initial body weight.
Merging MODIS and Ground-Based Fine Mode Fraction of Aerosols Based on the Geostatistical Data Fusion Method

With the rapid development of the economy and society, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has not only caused severe environmental problems, but also posed a threat to public health. In order to improve the estimated accuracy of PM2.5, the input data fine mode fraction (FMF), a key parameter to the PM2.5 remote sensing method (PMRS), should be improved due to its significant errors. In this study, we merge the observations of the fine mode fraction (FMF) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and the Sun-sky radiometer Observation Network (SONET) using the universal kriging (UK) method to obtain accurate FMF distribution over eastern China. PM2.5 mass concentration is estimated by the fusion and MODIS FMF distributions using the PMRS model. The results show that the parameters in the variogram are relatively stable except for significant differences in correlation lengths in summer. The FMF in the Winter of 2015 shows that the mean error decreases from 0.38 to 0.13 compared with that from MODIS using leave-one-out cross-validation, with the maximum error decreasing from 0.75 to 0.34, indicating that the UK method can provide better estimates of FMF. We also find that PM2.5 estimated from FMF fusion results is closer to the in situ PM2.5 from the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) (87.2 vs. 88.9 μg/m3).
Left Ventricular Diastolic Filling and Cardiovascular Functional Capacity in Older Men

We investigated anaerobic threshold (thetaL) gas exchange kinetics and maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2,max) among older men with reduced left ventricular end‐diastolic filling (LVDF). Ten men (mean age, 73 years) with LVDF impairment and low fitness, but without other cardiovascular dysfunction were studied. Treatments compared to control included: 5 days, high intensity exercise training protocol; 5 days, calcium channel blockade (240 mg verapamil); 21 days, detraining/washout; and 5 days, combined treatments. Results indicated no changes in resting left ventricular systolic function with any treatment. Significant resting diastolic function changes included increased early:late flow velocity (control, 0.87; training, 1.28; verapamil, 1.32), and a decreased isovolumic relaxation time (control, 0.10 s; training, 0.08 s; verapamil, 0.08 s). The combined treatments were not additive. Sub‐threshold oxygen uptake kinetics (tauVO2, s) were significantly faster following either training or verapamil (tauVO2,control, 62 ± 12; tauVO2,training, 44 ± 9; tauVO2,verapamil, 48 ± 10) and combined treatments (tauVO2, 41 ± 8). V̇O2,max (ml kg‐1 min‐1) was significantly increased (control, 21.8 ± 2.2; training, 27.3 ± 2.2; verapamil, 25.2 ± 3.4; combined treatments, 26.9 ± 2.3). Increasing ventricular preload with either exercise training or calcium channel blockade was coincident with faster tauVO2 and increased V̇O2,max.
Identification of chemical compounds of Nardostachys Jatamansi essence available in Iran

Introduction: With regard to using drugs with plant origin and with the aim of suitable use of these types of drugs and preventing them to be abused, it is necessary to determine the standards of these plants. The aim of the present study was to identify and study chemical compounds of Nardostachys Jatamansi essence in Iran and define monograph of this plant for the Iranian plant pharmacopeia. Methods: In an experimental study the Nardostachys Jatamansi specimen was prepared from the market in Iran. The essence of the plant was prepared by the hydro-distillation in Clevenger apparatus. Essence was obtained as a greenish yellow oil layer with the 0.07 yield. The essence compounds were identified quantitatively by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS) method. Results: Totally, 29 compounds were identified in Nardostachys Jatamansi essence. The retention indexes (RI) were only similar with overall standard values in two compounds like mesitylene and P-cymene. In this line the RI values about three compounds of valerenic acid, palmitic acid, and valerenyl isovalerate were determined significantly higher than standard values of RI. Conclusion: The essence prepared from the Nardostachys Jatamansi plant in Iran was different in terms of some compounds and components including valerenic acid, palmitic acid, and valerenyl isovalerate and so it is necessary to identify and register quality and quantity characteristics of compounds available in this plat in the Iranian medicinal plants pharmacopeia.
Impact of the number of ISM-band ad hoc relay channels on the performance of iCAR systems

One of the common problems faced by the wireless service providers worldwide is coping with congestion or hot spots. To handle this hot spot problem, methods that combine the existing cellular networks with ad hoc networks have been proposed. Integrated Cellular and Ad Hoc Relay (iCAR) system employs ad hoc relay stations (ARSs) within the cellular network to balance traffic loads efficiently and to share channels between cells via primary and secondary relaying. These ARSs operate in the ISM band, and therefore, do not cause interference to the cellular band. When analyzing the performance of WAR systems, there are several factors that should be taken into account These factors include the coverage area of the ARSs, the number of ARS channels, the placement of ARSs, etc. In this paper, the impact of the number of ARS channels on the performance of WAR systems is studied. To this end, a multi-dimensional Markov-chain analysis is performed for a simplified two-cell system model. Results show that, with a proper amount of ARS coverage within each cell the call blocking probabilities can be decreased significantly with a small number of channels. Results also suggest that by increasing the number of ARS channels perfect load balancing can be achieved.
In vitro capping in Trypanosoma cruzi identifies and shows specificity for the spliced leader RNA and U-RNAs.

Messenger RNA maturation in trypanosomes requires a trans-splicing event in which a capped 39 nucleotide leader sequence, the spliced leader (SL), from the 5' terminus of a small RNA (SL-RNA) is joined to the 5' termini of protein coding gene transcripts. We have developed nuclear extracts from Trypanosoma cruzi that label three small endogenous RNAs in the presence of [alpha-32P]GTP. Herein, we have characterized this labelling as 5' capping and shown that the capping activity exhibits an unusual ATP dependence. Moreover, partial sequence analysis identified the three cap-labelled RNAs as the T. cruzi SL-RNA, and two U-RNAs previously uncharacterized in T. cruzi, U2 and Ux. Finally, the capping reaction in the T. cruzi extracts showed apparent specificity for these RNAs--other endogenous or exogenous transcripts were not capped. The apparent specificity of this in vitro capping activity closely reflects the in vivo requirements; i.e., only the SL- and U-RNAs need to be capped since mature mRNAs are capped via trans-splicing. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that one of the functions of trans-splicing is to supply 5' caps to mature trypanosome mRNAs.
Four‐kilobase sequence of the mouse CNP gene directs spatial and temporal expression of lacZ in transgenic mice

The gene encoding 2′,3′‐cyclic nucleotide 3′‐phosphodiesterase (CNP) is one of the earliest myelin genes to be expressed in the brain. It is expressed at basal levels in some non‐neural tissues but at much higher levels in the nervous system, and its relevance and mechanism are unknown. Using transgenic mice, we examined the expression pattern conferred by a 4‐kilobase (‐kb) 5′‐flanking sequence of the mouse CNP gene coupled to the bacterial lacZ reporter gene. Here we report that this 4‐kb fragment contains sufficient information to direct expression of the transgene to the tissue and/or cell type, in which CNP is normally expressed. In the central nervous system (CNS), CNP‐lacZ expression was regulated in a temporal manner, consistent with endogenous CNP expression. Transgene expression was detected in embryonic brain and spinal cord in immature oligodendrocytes, and it significantly increased with age. In adult mice, β‐galactosidase activity (which appeared to be oligodendrocyte specific) was found essentially in white matter areas of the CNS. Moreover, the transgene was expressed in peripheral nervous system, testis, and thymus—tissues that normally express CNP. Taken together, our results provide strong evidence that cis‐acting regulatory elements, necessary to direct spatial and temporal expression of the transgene in oligodendrocytes, are located within the 4‐kb 5′‐flanking sequence of the mouse CNP gene. This promoter could be a valuable tool to target specific expression of other transgenes to oligodendrocytes, and may provide important new insights into myelination or dysmyelination. J. Neurosci. Res. 53:393–404, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
KNOWLEDGE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT IN CUSTOMER–SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS

The purpose of the paper is to empirically study firms' practises of knowledge and intellectual property (IP) management in customer–supplier relationships. The work applies the qualitative methodology of multiple case studies, and the material was collected in semi-structured interviews with management personnel at 36 organisations in Finland and in the Netherlands. Almost every firm had innovation relationships with their customers and suppliers, but the forms these relationships took, and the kinds of practices they involved, varied greatly. As a result, the firms considered the management of knowledge and IP in these relationships very challenging. We argue that by distinguishing knowledge management in the exploration phase of new business from knowledge management in the exploitation phase of innovation outcome, the firms could manage the knowledge and IP better. Accordingly, the paper introduces three propositions to support the knowledge and IP management in customer–supplier relationships.
Numerical and symbolical comparison of resultant type, ERES and MP methods computing the Greatest Common Divisor of several polynomials

In this paper we compare different matrix-based numerical methods computing the Greatest Common Divisor (GCD) of several polynomials. More particularly we compare numerically and symbolically resultant type, ERES and MP methods in respect of their complexity and effectiveness. The combination of numerical and symbolic operations suggests a new approach in software mathematical computations denoted as hybrid computations. For some of the above methods their hybrid nature is presented. Finally the notion of approximate GCD is described and a useful criterion estimating the strength of approximation of a computed GCD is also developed.
ON CONTRACTION AND SEMI-CONTRACTION FACTORS OF GSOR METHOD FOR AUGMENTED LINEAR SYSTEMS *

The generalized successive overrelaxation (GSOR) method was presented and studied by Bai, Parlett and Wang [Numer. Math. 102(2005), pp.1-38] for solving the augmented system of linear equations, and the optimal iteration parameters and the corresponding optimal convergence factor were exactly obtained. In this paper, we further estimate the contraction and the semi-contraction factors of the GSOR method. The motivation of the study is that the convergence speed of an iteration method is actually decided by the contraction factor but not by the spectral radius in flnite-step iteration computations. For the nonsingular augmented linear system, under some restrictions we obtain the contraction domain of the parameters involved, which guarantees that the contraction factor of the GSOR method is less than one. For the singular but consistent augmented linear system, we also obtain the semi-contraction domain of the parameters in a similar fashion. Finally, we use two numerical examples to verify the theoretical results and the efiectiveness of the GSOR method.