Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Oil Revolution and African Development

THE FORCES which govern and determine changes in the international flows of economic resources are complex and hazardous to predict. No less difficult is the precise evaluation of the impact which the 1973-4 five-fold rise in oil prices is likely to have over the years on Africa's share in economic growth and development. The purpose of this article is much more limited: it is to consider some of the implications for the group of African countries most seriously affected (MSA)* by the new energy situation. But of course in such a discussion one cannot ignore other factors influencing one way or another the development prospects of these countries. Not all the countries hardest hit by the oil revolution are in Africa. Of the 33 identified by the United Nations Emergency Operation in 1974, 21 are African; during 1975 eight more were added to the list of 33, four of which are in Africa. The most populous of the 41 MSA countries are in Asiat, but the African countries probably have the most precarious and vulnerable economies, with very limited income from minerals and limited scope for energy alternatives, at least in the medium term. It is quite likely that more African countries not on the MSA list (for example, Gambia, Malawi, Botswana, Zaire and Zambia), will prove to be equally seriously affected when the cumulative impact of the oil price situation shows up their financial and economic weaknesses. Thirteen African non-oil exporters were omitted from the Emergency Operation because for one reason or another they did not qualify according to the UNEO criteria, which include a per capita income of less than $400 per annum and a projected unavoidable balance of payments deficit equal to or exceeding 5 per cent of imports (assuming certain minimum import requirements for food, fertilizers, etc.).
Targeting Pannexin1 Improves Seizure Outcome

Imbalance of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate and of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA is one of several causes of seizures. ATP has also been implicated in epilepsy. However, little is known about the mechanisms involved in the release of ATP from cells and the consequences of the altered ATP signaling during seizures. Pannexin1 (Panx1) is found in astrocytes and in neurons at high levels in the embryonic and young postnatal brain, declining in adulthood. Panx1 forms large-conductance voltage sensitive plasma membrane channels permeable to ATP that are also activated by elevated extracellular K+ and following P2 receptor stimulation. Based on these properties, we hypothesized that Panx1 channels may contribute to seizures by increasing the levels of extracellular ATP. Using pharmacological tools and two transgenic mice deficient for Panx1 we show here that interference with Panx1 ameliorates the outcome and shortens the duration of kainic acid-induced status epilepticus. These data thus indicate that the activation of Panx1 in juvenile mouse hippocampi contributes to neuronal hyperactivity in seizures.
Double-stranded RNA-dependent Protein Kinase Phosphorylation of the α-Subunit of Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 2 Mediates Apoptosis*

As the molecular processes of complex cell stress signaling pathways are defined, the subsequent challenge is to elucidate how each individual event influences the final biological outcome. Phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2α)atSer51 is a molecular signal that inhibits translation in response to activation of any of four diverse eIF2α stress kinases. We used gene targeting to replace the wild-type Ser51 allele with an Ala in the eIF2α gene to test the hypothesis that translational control through eIF2α phosphorylation is a central death stimulus in eukaryotic cells. Homozygous eIF2α mutant mouse embryo fibroblasts were resistant to the apoptotic effects of dsRNA, tumor necrosis factor-α, and serum deprivation. TNFα treatment induced eIF2α phosphorylation and activation of caspase 3 primarily through the dsRNA-activated eIF2α kinase PKR. In addition, expression of a phospho-mimetic Ser51 to Asp mutant eIF2α-activated caspase 3, indicating that eIF2α phosphorylation is sufficient to induce apoptosis. The proapoptotic effects of PKR-mediated eIF2α phosphorylation contrast with the anti-apoptotic response upon activation of the PKR-related endoplasmic reticulum eIF2α kinase, PERK. Therefore, divergent fates of death and survival can be mediated through phosphorylation at the same site within eIF2α. We propose that eIF2α phosphorylation is fundamentally a death signal, yet it may promote either death or survival, depending upon coincident signaling events.
Social Event Radar: A Bilingual Context Mining and Sentiment Analysis Summarization System

Social Event Radar is a new social networking-based service platform, that aim to alert as well as monitor any merchandise flaws, food-safety related issues, unexpected eruption of diseases or campaign issues towards to the Government, enterprises of any kind or election parties, through keyword expansion detection module, using bilingual sentiment opinion analysis tool kit to conclude the specific event social dashboard and deliver the outcome helping authorities to plan "risk control" strategy. With the rapid development of social network, people can now easily publish their opinions on the Internet. On the other hand, people can also obtain various opinions from others in a few seconds even though they do not know each other. A typical approach to obtain required information is to use a search engine with some relevant keywords. We thus take the social media and forum as our major data source and aim at collecting specific issues efficiently and effectively in this work.
Towards a single trial detection of spatial covert visual attention for BCI

This paper discusses a time-dependent classiﬁcation approach for single trial recognition of spatial covert visual attention for Brain–Computer Interface (BCI). Covert visual attention is a natural and intuitive mental task that does not require any external stimulation. The possibility to recognize it from single trials is essential for a future online close-loop BCI. Experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed approach and its high performance on an oﬄine study.
Difficulties in selecting an appropriate neonatal thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) screening threshold

Background The UK Newborn Screening Programme Centre recommends that a blood spot thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) cut-off of 10 mU/l is used to detect congenital hypothyroidism (CHT). As the value used varies from 5 to 10 mU/l, we examined the implications of altering this threshold. Methods Our regional blood spot TSH cut-off is 6 mU/l. Positive or suspected cases were defined as a TSH >6 mU/l throughout the study period (1 April 2005 to 1 March 2007). All term infants (>35 weeks) whose first TSH was 6–20 mU/l had a second TSH measured. The biochemical details of infants with a TSH between 6.1 and 10.0 mU/l and then >6 mU/l on second sampling were sent to paediatric endocrinologists to determine approaches to management. Results 148 of 65 446 infants (0.23%) had a first blood spot TSH >6.0 mU/l. 120 were term infants with 67 of these (0.1% of all infants tested) having a TSH between 6.1 and 10.0 mU/l and 53 a TSH >10.0 mU/l. Of the 67 term infants with a TSH between 6.1 and 10.0 mU/l on initial testing, four continued to have a TSH >6 mU/l. One with a TSH >10 mU/l and one infant with a TSH <10 mU/l on the second blood spot have been diagnosed with CHT. The survey of endocrinologists highlighted significant differences in practice. Conclusions A reduced threshold of 6 mU/l will increase the number of false positive term infants by 126%, but abnormalities of thyroid function requiring treatment will be detected. We suspect that the additional expense involved in setting a lower threshold is justified.
RBE controls microRNA164 expression to effect floral organogenesis

The establishment and maintenance of organ boundaries are vital for animal and plant development. In the Arabidopsis flower, three microRNA164 genes (MIR164a, b and c) regulate the expression of CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON1 (CUC1) and CUC2, which encode key transcriptional regulators involved in organ boundary specification. These three miR164 genes are expressed in distinct spatial and temporal domains that are crucial for their function. Here, we show that the C2H2 zinc finger transcriptional repressor encoded by RABBIT EARS (RBE) regulates the expression of all three miR164 genes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that RBE directly interacts with the promoter of MIR164c and negatively regulates its expression. We also show that the role of RBE in sepal and petal development is mediated in part through the concomitant regulation of the CUC1 and CUC2 gene products. These results indicate that one role of RBE is to fine-tune miR164 expression to regulate the CUC1 and CUC2 effector genes, which, in turn, regulate developmental events required for sepal and petal organogenesis.
Phylogenetic Distribution and Evolutionary Dynamics of the Sex Determination Genes doublesex and transformer in Insects

Sex determination in insects is characterized by a gene cascade that is conserved at the bottom but contains diverse primary signals at the top. The bottom master switch gene doublesex is found in all insects. Its upstream regulator transformer is present in the orders Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera, but has thus far not been found in Lepidoptera and in the basal lineages of Diptera. transformer is presumed to be ancestral to the holometabolous insects based on its shared domains and conserved features of autoregulation and sex-specific splicing. We interpret that its absence in basal lineages of Diptera and its order-specific conserved domains indicate multiple independent losses or recruitments into the sex determination cascade. Duplications of transformer are found in derived families within the Hymenoptera, characterized by their complementary sex determination mechanism. As duplications are not found in any other insect order, they appear linked to the haplodiploid reproduction of the Hymenoptera. Further phylogenetic analyses combined with functional studies are needed to understand the evolutionary history of the transformer gene among insects.
The mechanisms of cyclophosphamide-induced testicular toxicity and the protective agents

ABSTRACT Introduction: Cyclophosphamide (CP) is an alkylating antineoplastic agent with known toxicity to the male reproductive system. Areas covered: This review summarizes the known mechanisms by which CP exerts its toxic effects on the male reproductive system and the methods utilized to prevent such effects so that it could be further investigated and applied in clinical use. Keywords including [‘Cyclophosphamide’ AND ’male reproductive’ OR’ sperm toxicity’ OR ’spermatotoxicity’ OR ’infertility] were searched through Google Scholar, PubMed and Scopus databases based on PRISMA guidelines. After removing duplicates and irrelevant data, 76 papers were reviewed concerning the outcomes of treatment of male mice, rats, and humans with CP and the effects of co-administration of various natural and synthetic compounds on male reproductive system. Expert opinion: CP exerts its effect mainly by inducing oxidative stress and changing gene expression in spermatocytes variably during different stages of development. These effects could be either restored or prevented by the administration of compounds with antioxidant properties and those which target the biochemical alterations induced by CP.
Vocal Premotor Activity in the Superior Colliculus

Chronic neural recordings were taken from the midbrain superior colliculus (SC) of echolocating bats while they were engaged in one of two distinct behavioral tasks: virtual target amplitude discrimination (VTAD) and real oscillating target tracking (ROTT). In the VTAD task, bats used a limited range of sonar call features to discriminate the amplitude category of echoes, whereas in the ROTT task, the bat produced dynamically modulated sonar calls to track a moving target. Newly developed methods for chronic recordings in unrestrained, behaving bats reveal two consistent bouts of SC neural activity preceding the onset of sonar vocalizations in both tasks. A short lead bout occurs tightly coupled to vocal onset (VTAD, −5.1 to −2.2 ms range, −3.6 ± 0.7 ms mean lead time; ROTT, −3.0 to + 0.4 ms range, −1.2 ± 1.3 ms mean lead time), and this activity may play a role in marking the time of each sonar emission. A long lead bout in SC activity occurs earlier and spreads over a longer interval (VTAD, −40.6 to −8.4 ms range, −22.2 ± 3.9 ms mean lead time; ROTT, −29.8 to −7.1 ms range, −17.5 ± 9.1 ms mean lead time) when compared with short lead events. In the goal-directed ROTT task, the timing of long lead event times vary with the bat's sonar call duration. This finding, along with behavioral studies demonstrating that bats adjust sonar call duration as they track targets at changing distance, suggests the bat SC contributes to range-dependent adjustments of sonar call duration.
Information fusion of GNSS sensor readings, field notes, and expert's a priori knowledge

Documenting machinery movements by using positioning technologies, such as global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), is essential to understand and further improve construction processes. However, before measurements can be meaningfully analysed the documented movements should be filtered to exclude outliers. Eliminating outliers manually is a time-demanding process, while automatic filtering can be inaccurate. In particular, path elements may get lost if machine-specific movements are misconceived as noisy data. As a trade-off, we propose an information fusion approach to filter paths of construction machines in a semi-automatic way. The approach allows an expert to relate “hard” sensor and “soft” field records with his or her expectations about how machines can move in real construction projects. Specially developed open-source software illustrates the proposed approach for filtering the documented paths of machines involved in road paving projects. The initial testing of the developed software showed its suitability to filter outliers in GNSS data and identified possibilities for further improvements.
RACIAL AND ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND THE DISBANDING OF NONPROFIT HUMAN SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract This paper draws insights from the sociological study of residential segregation and the institutional perspective on organizations to examine the influence of the racial and ethnic composition of the neighborhood on organizational disbanding. The analysis, which combines panel data on a probability sample of nonprofit human service organizations with census data, reveals systematic differences: The percentage of Blacks and Latinos in the census tract is positively associated with the odds that organizations surveyed in 2002 had disbanded by 2011 after controlling for a variety of organizational and environmental factors. By contrast, an increase in the percentage of Whites in the census tract decreased the odds of organizational disbanding. Results highlight the effects of the racial and spatial landscape on organizational life chances, with implications for the capacity of the nonprofit human services sector to reach the most isolated and disadvantaged populations.
Pathways to Achievement: Career and Educational Aspirations and Expectations of Latina/o Immigrant Parents and Early Adolescents

ABSTRACT Drawing on sociocultural and related theories, 4 questions examined career and educational aspirations and expectations among 24 immigrant Latina/o early adolescents and their parents as predictors of students’ grades. First, adolescents’ career aspirations and expectations were correlated, and both parents and adolescents held educational aspirations that exceeded their expectations. Second, most adolescents and parents held congruent educational aspirations. Third, congruence between students’ career and educational aspirations was uncommon. Fourth, parents’ educational aspirations and adolescents’ career–education congruence predicted students’ grades. Discussion highlights students’ ongoing reconciliation between aspirations and academic skills and multiple ways immigrant Latino parents contribute to their adolescents’ future.
Out on a limb: risk factors for arm fracture in playground equipment falls

Objectives: To investigate and quantify fall height, surface depth, and surface impact attenuation as risk factors for arm fracture in children who fall from playground equipment. Design: Unmatched case control study. Setting: Five case hospitals and 78 randomly selected control schools. Participants: Children aged less than 13 years in Victoria, Australia who fell from school playground equipment and landed on their arm. Cases sustained an upper limb fracture and controls had minor or no injury. A total of 402 cases and 283 controls were included. Interventions: Children were interviewed in the playground as soon as possible after their fall. Main outcome measures: Falls were recreated on site using two validated impact test devices: a headform (measuring peak G and HIC) and a novel anthropometric arm load dummy. Equipment and fall heights, as well as surface depth and substrate were measured. Results: Arm fracture risk was greatest for critical equipment heights above 1.5 m (OR 2.39, 95% CI 1.49 to 3.84, p<0.01), and critical fall heights above 1.0 m (OR 2.96, 95% CI 1.71 to 5.15, p<0.01). Peak headform deceleration below 100G was protective (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.99, p = 0.04). Compliance with 20 cm surface depth recommendation was poor for both cases and controls. Conclusions: Arm fracture-specific criteria should be considered for future standards. These include surface and height conditions where critical headform deceleration is less than 100G. Consideration should also be given to reducing maximum equipment height to 1.5 m. Improved surface depth compliance and, in particular, guidelines for surface maintenance are required.
Extracting Correlations

Motivated by applications in cryptography, we consider a generalization of randomness extraction and the related notion of privacy amplification to the case of two correlated sources. We introduce the notion of {\em correlation extractors}, which extract nearly perfect independent instances of a given joint distribution from imperfect, or "leaky,'' instances of the same distribution. More concretely, suppose that Alice holds $a$ and Bob holds $b$, where $(a, b)$ are obtained by taking $n$ independent samples from a joint distribution $(X, Y)$ and letting $a$ include all $X$ instances and $b$ include all $Y$ instances. An adversary Eve obtains partial information about $(a, b)$ by choosing a function $L$ with output length $t$ and learning $L(a, b)$. The goal is to design a protocol between Alice and Bob which may use additional fresh randomness, such that for every $L$ as above the following holds. In the end of the interaction, Alice outputs $a'$ and Bob outputs $b'$ such that $(a', b')$ are statistically indistinguishable from $m$ independent instances of $(X, Y)$ even when conditioned on Eve's view, and {\em even when conditioned on the joint view of Eve together with either Alice or Bob}. The standard questions of privacy amplification and randomness extraction correspond to the case where $X$ and $Y$ are identical random bits. In this work we address this question for other types of correlations. A central special case is that of {\em OT extractors}, which are correlation extractors for the correlation $(X, Y)$ corresponding to the cryptographic primitive of oblivious transfer. Our main result is that for any finite joint distribution $(X, Y)$ there is an explicit correlation extractor which extracts $m=\Omega(n)$ instances using $O(n)$ bits of communication, even when $t=\Omega(n)$ bits of information can be leaked to Eve. We present several applications which motivate the concept of correlation extractors and our main result. These include:\begin{itemize} \item Protecting certain cryptographic protocols against side-channel attacks. \item A protocol which realizes $m$ instances of oblivious transfer by communicating only $O(m)$ bits. The security of the protocol relies on a number-theoretic intractability assumption. \item A {\em constant-rate} unconditionally secure construction of oblivious transfer (for semi-honest parties) from {\em any nontrivial channel}. This establishes constant-rate equivalence of any two nontrivial finite channels. \end{itemize}
Effects of prone positioning on lung protection in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

RATIONALE Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) and prone positioning may induce lung recruitment and affect alveolar dynamics in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Whether there is interdependence between the effects of PEEP and prone positioning on these variables is unknown. OBJECTIVES To determine the effects of high PEEP and prone positioning on lung recruitment, cyclic recruitment/derecruitment, and tidal hyperinflation and how these effects are influenced by lung recruitability. METHODS Mechanically ventilated patients (Vt 6 ml/kg ideal body weight) underwent whole-lung computed tomography (CT) during breath-holding sessions at airway pressures of 5, 15, and 45 cm H2O and Cine-CTs on a fixed thoracic transverse slice at PEEP 5 and 15 cm H2O. CT images were repeated in supine and prone positioning. A recruitment maneuver at 45 cm H2O was performed before each PEEP change. Lung recruitability was defined as the difference in percentage of nonaerated tissue between 5 and 45 cm H2O. Cyclic recruitment/de-recruitment and tidal hyperinflation were determined as tidal changes in percentage of nonaerated and hyperinflated tissue, respectively. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Twenty-four patients with ARDS were included. Increasing PEEP from 5 to 15 cm H2O decreased nonaerated tissue (501 ± 201 to 322 ± 132 grams; P < 0.001) and increased tidal-hyperinflation (0.41 ± 0.26 to 0.57 ± 0.30%; P = 0.004) in supine. Prone positioning further decreased nonaerated tissue (322 ± 132 to 290 ± 141 grams; P = 0.028) and reduced tidal hyperinflation observed at PEEP 15 in supine patients (0.57 ± 0.30 to 0.41 ± 0.22%). Cyclic recruitment/de-recruitment only decreased when high PEEP and prone positioning were applied together (4.1 ± 1.9 to 2.9 ± 0.9%; P = 0.003), particularly in patients with high lung recruitability. CONCLUSIONS Prone positioning enhances lung recruitment and decreases alveolar instability and hyperinflation observed at high PEEP in patients with ARDS.
Effets médiateurs et modérateurs au sein de la relation satisfaction - fidélité : vers une meilleure compréhension du rôle de l'image

l'etude des variables mediatrices et moderatrices au sein de la relation satisfaction - fidelite constitue un sujet d'actualite, a la fois aux plans theorique et managerial. Dans ce cadre, l'objet de cette recherche consiste (i) a valider le role de mediateur partiel de l'image ; (ii) a verifier la stabilite de ce statut de l'image, en introduisant l'intensite concurrentielle en tant que variable moderatrice ; (iii) dans une phase plus exploratoire, a tester les roles combines de l'implication et du risque percu en tant que variables moderatrices de la chaine satisfaction - image - fidelite. Les resultats obtenus a partir d'une approche longitudinale (n1 = 2241 ; n2 = 1815) suggerent l'interet d'integrer l'image dans l'etude du lien satisfaction - fidelite, mais aussi la necessite de tenir compte des effets moderateurs testes ici. Ils permettent enfin de questionner des conclusions precedemment fondees sur des approches intersectorielles.