Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kanizsa illusory contours appearing in the plasmodium pattern of Physarum polycephalum

The plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum is often used in the implementation of non-linear computation to solve optimization problems, and this organismal feature was not used in this analysis to compute perception and/or sensation in humans. In this paper, we focused on the Kanizsa illusion, which is a well-known visual illusion resulting from the differentiation-integration of the visual field, and compared the illusion with the adaptive network in the plasmodium of P. polycephalum. We demonstrated that the network pattern mimicking the Kanizsa illusion can be produced by an asynchronous automata-fashioned model of the foraging slime mold and by the real plasmodia of P. polycephalum. Because the protoplasm of the plasmodium is transported depending on both local and global computation, it may contain differentiation-integration processes. In this sense, we can extend the idea of perception and computation.
Analysis of the Molecular Mechanisms of Reepithelialization in Drosophila Embryos

Significance: The epidermis provides the main barrier function of skin, and therefore its repair following wounding is an essential component of wound healing. Repair of the epidermis, also known as reepithelialization, occurs by collective migration of epithelial cells from around the wound edge across the wound until the advancing edges meet and fuse. Therapeutic manipulation of this process could potentially be used to accelerate wound healing. Recent Advances: It is difficult to analyze the cellular and molecular mechanisms of reepithelialization in human tissue, so a variety of model organisms have been used to improve our understanding of the process. One model system that has been especially useful is the embryo of the fruit fly Drosophila, which provides a simple, accessible model of the epidermis and can be manipulated genetically, allowing detailed analysis of reepithelialization at the molecular level. This review will highlight the key insights that have been gained from studying reepithelialization in Drosophila embryos. Critical Issues: Slow reepithelialization increases the risk of wounds becoming infected and ulcerous; therefore, the development of therapies to accelerate or enhance the process would be a great clinical advance. Improving our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie reepithelialization will help in the development of such therapies. Future Directions: Research in Drosophila embryos has identified a variety of genes and proteins involved in triggering and driving reepithelialization, many of which are conserved in humans. These novel reepithelialization proteins are potential therapeutic targets and therefore findings obtained in Drosophila may ultimately lead to significant clinical advances.
Choosing a forum for peaceful dispute settlement

States engage in forum shopping when choosing a method for peaceful dispute settlement. As rational actors they weigh their options selecting either bilateral negotiations, a political third party or judicial means. The overarching concern of a government in combination with a forum's characteristics accounts for the specific choice in a given dispute. This paper develops an analytical framework identifying three distinct rationales guiding forum choice (1) achieving a favorable decision, (2) domestic leeway, and (3) gaining international visibility. This framework is applied to the Caribbean Sea boundary dispute between Nicaragua and Honduras. The case study clearly support the most central assumption of forum shopping that disputants choose the forum which they expect to award them a favorable decision.
TEL, a Putative Tumor Suppressor, Modulates Cell Growth and Cell Morphology of Ras-Transformed Cells While Repressing the Transcription of stromelysin-1

ABSTRACT TEL is a member of the ETS family of transcription factors that interacts with the mSin3 and SMRT corepressors to regulate transcription. TEL is biallelically disrupted in acute leukemia, and loss of heterozygosity at the TEL locus has been observed in various cancers. Here we show that expression of TEL in Ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells inhibits cell growth in soft agar and in normal cultures. Unexpectedly, cells expressing both Ras and TEL grew as aggregates. To begin to explain the morphology of Ras-plus TEL-expressing cells, we demonstrated that the endogenous matrix metalloproteinase stromelysin-1 was repressed by TEL. TEL bound sequences in the stromelysin-1 promoter and repressed the promoter in transient-expression assays, suggesting that it is a direct target for TEL-mediated regulation. Mutants of TEL that removed a binding site for the mSin3A corepressor but retained the ETS domain failed to repress stromelysin-1. When BB-94, a matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor, was added to the culture medium of Ras-expressing cells, it caused a cell aggregation phenotype similar to that caused by TEL expression. In addition, TEL inhibited the invasiveness of Ras-transformed cells in vitro and in vivo. Our results suggest that TEL acts as a tumor suppressor, in part, by transcriptional repression of stromelysin-1.
A Logical Description of Metaphor Analysis

This paper aims to use logical techniques to describe how metaphors are analyzed. Metaphor analysis process functions as one of the most important strategies to uncover implied information in discourse understanding. A metaphor analysis logic system is developed and presented in terms of its definitions, axiomatic system, inference rules, properties, semantic interpretations and applications. The merits of the logic are that possible worlds are substituted with possible feature spaces compared with Local Frame Theory, and an understanding modal operator Up, a relational symbol < and a Gestalt rule are embodied. The most notable feature of the logic is that it takes into account subjective factors in the process of metaphor analysis.
Is No News Good News?: The Streaming News Effect on Investor Behavior Surrounding Analyst Stock Revision Announcement

We investigate media influence on stock returns that are revised by sell‐side analysts. Our main findings are twofold. First, post‐announcement returns depend on whether the stock is covered by the media. Media‐covered stocks demonstrate weaker post‐announcement returns than their non‐media‐covered counterparts. Second, for media‐covered event samples, we create a sentiment proxy using a unique news word count method and investigate whether pre‐event sentiment affects post‐event returns. Our results indicate that pre‐event sentiment dictates short‐run investor behavior and affects the post‐announcement return in a significant manner.
Elections A-Z

Elections A-Z makes the vital and complex process of elections in the United States interesting and accessible to those for whom they have long seemed both arcane and mysterious. This essential reference tool provides a comprehensive guide to understanding the current issues, history, and concepts behind attaining high political office in the United States. Subjects covered in some 200 entries include running for the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the presidency; debates and stages in the campaign and general election processes; the roles of political consultants, the media, and the American political parties; issues such as term limits and campaign finance; court cases that have shaped the electoral process; important terms (often misunderstood outside the United States): "absolute majority"; "dark horse"; "initiatives and referendums"; historic milestones; scandals in American elections, etc.
Using Indoor Location to Assess the State of Dementia Patients: Results and Experience Report from a Long Term, Real World Study

The paper describes a year-long experiment dedicated to the development, deployment and evaluation of a system for coarse assessment of the state of dementia patients in a real world nursing home. The system is based on the analysis of users' motion patterns between broadly defined, semantically meaningful areas of the living space. On a data set recorded from six inhabitants in different stages of dementia during a year (a total of about 900 individual daily traces organized in groups of 14 days) a recognition accuracy of 92% is demonstrated for a two state problem (positive, negative)with 3 subjects having perfect (100%) recognition. For the 3 state problem (positive, normal, negative) we get 80% with one case of perfect recognition. We present an elaborate evaluation of the methods' performance and describe relevant practical issues involved in the design and deployment in the nursing home.
THE LYSIS OF GROUP A HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI BY EXTRACELLULAR ENZYMES OF STREPTOMYCES ALBUS

Cell wall preparations of uniform chemical constitution have been obtained from several strains of group A streptococci. The isolated cell walls are dissolved by the same fractions of the Streptomyces albus enzymes that are effective in the lysis of intact cells, and it is likely that enzymatic lysis of group A streptococci is effected by an attack on the cell wall. The streptococcal cell wall, as prepared in this study, consists of approximately two-thirds carbohydrate and one-third protein. Small amounts of other components may be present. The carbohydrate component, which is composed primarily of N-acetyl-glucosamine and rhamnose, is the group-specific C carbohydrate. The evidence indicates that one of the streptomyces enzymes is directed toward the carbohydrate component of the cell wall.
Vulnerability of hippocampal GABA‐ergic interneurons to kainate‐induced excitotoxic injury during old age

Hippocampal inhibitory interneurons expressing glutamate decarboxylase‐67 (GAD‐67) considerably decline in number during old age. Studies in young adult animals further suggest that hippocampal GAD‐67+ interneuron population is highly vulnerable to excitotoxic injury. However, the relative susceptibility of residual GAD‐67+ interneurons in the aged hippocampus to excitotoxic injury is unknown. To elucidate this, using both adult and aged F344 rats, we performed stereological counting of GAD‐67+ interneurons in different layers of the dentate gyrus and CA1 & CA3 sub‐fields, at 3 months post‐excitotoxic hippocampal injury inflicted through an intracerebroventricular administration of kainic acid (KA). Substantial reductions of GAD‐67+ interneurons were found in all hippocampal layers and sub‐fields after KA‐induced injury in adult animals. Contrastingly, there was no significant change in GAD‐67+ interneuron population in any of the hippocampal layers and sub‐fields following similar injury in aged animals. Furthermore, the stability of GAD‐67+ interneurons in aged rats after KA was not attributable to milder injury, as the overall extent of KA‐induced hippocampal principal neuron loss was comparable between adult and aged rats. Interestingly, because of the age‐related disparity in vulnerability of interneurons to injury, the surviving GAD‐67+ interneuron population in the injured aged hippocampus remained comparable to that observed in the injured adult hippocampus despite enduring significant reductions in interneuron number with aging. Thus, unlike in the adult hippocampus, an excitotoxic injury to the aged hippocampus does not result in significantly decreased numbers of GAD‐67+ interneurons. Persistence of GAD‐67+ interneuron population in the injured aged hippocampus likely reflects an age‐related change in the response of GAD‐67+ interneurons to excitotoxic hippocampal injury. These results have implications towards understanding mechanisms underlying the evolution of initial precipitating injury into temporal lobe epilepsy in the elderly population.
APLASTIC ANEMIA : ACQUIRED AND INHERITED

Acquired aplastic anemia is a clinical syndrome in which there is a deficiency of red cells, neutrophils, monocytes, and platelets in the blood, and fatty replacement of the marrow with a near absence of hematopoietic precursor cells. Reticulocytopenia, neutropenia, monocytopenia, and thrombocytopenia, when severe, are life-threatening because of the risk of infection and bleeding, complicated by severe anemia. Most cases occur without an evident precipitating cause and are the result of the expression of autoreactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes that suppress or destroy primitive CD34+ multipotential hematopoietic cells. The disorder also can occur after (1) prolonged high-dose exposure to certain toxic chemicals (e.g., benzene), (2) after specific viral infections (e.g., Epstein-Barr virus), (3) as an idiosyncratic response to certain pharmaceuticals (e.g., ticlopidine, chloramphenicol), (4) as a feature of a connective tissue or autoimmune disorder (e.g., lupus erythematosus), or, (5) rarely, in association with pregnancy. The final common pathway may be through cytotoxic T-cell autoreactivity, whether idiopathic or associated with an inciting agent since they all respond in a similar fashion to immunosuppressive therapy. The differential diagnosis of acquired aplastic anemia includes the hypoplastic marrow that can accompany paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria or hypoplastic oligoblastic (myelodysplastic syndrome) or polyblastic myelogenous leukemia. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is curative in approximately 80 percent of younger patients with high-resolution human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched sibling donors although the posttransplant period may be severely complicated by graft-versus-host disease. The disease may be significantly ameliorated or occasionally cured by immunotherapy, especially a regimen coupling antithymocyte globulin with cyclosporine. However, after successful treatment with immunosuppressive agents, the disease may relapse or evolve into a clonal myeloid disorder, such as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a clonal cytopenia, or oligoblastic or polyblastic myelogenous leukemia. Several uncommon inherited disorders, including Fanconi anemia, Shwachman-Diamond syndrome, dyskeratosis congenita and others have as a primary manifestation aplastic hematopoiesis. ACQUIRED APLASTIC ANEMIA
On Asymptotic Notation with Multiple Variables

We show that it is impossible to define big-O notation for functions on more than one variable in a way that implies the properties commonly used in algorithm analysis. We also demonstrate that common definitions do not imply these properties even if the functions within the big-O notation are restricted to being strictly nondecreasing. We then propose an alternative definition that does imply these properties whenever the function within the big-O notation is strictly nondecreasing.
Human Leptin Protein Induces Proliferation of A549 Cells via Inhibition of PKR-Like ER Kinase and Activating Transcription Factor-6 Mediated Apoptosis

Purpose To investigate the anti-apoptotic mechanism of leptin in non-small cell lung cancer. Materials and Methods The influences of leptin on apoptosis were investigated, analyzing the mechanism that triggers growth of A549 cells. The effects of leptin on cell proliferation were examined by XTT analysis. Leptin, C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), phosphorylated-PKR-like ER kinase (p-Perk), inositol requiring proteins-1, spliced X-box transcription factor-1 (XBP1), cleaved activating transcription factor-6 (ATF6), eukaryotic translation initiation factor-2α, caspase-12 and CHOP protein were detected in four groups by western blot, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress related mRNA were detected by reverse transcription PCR. Results The expression of leptin in A549 and leptin transfected cells inhibited cisplatin activated ER stress-associated mRNA transcription and protein activation. Two ER stress unfolded protein response pathways, PERK and ATF6, were involved, and XBP1 and tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2) were increased significantly when treated with cisplatin in A549-siRNA against leptin cells. Furthermore, CHOP expression was inhibited upon leptin expression in A549, LPT-PeP and LPT-EX cells. Conclusion Leptin serves as an important factor that promotes the growth of A549 cells through blocking ER stress-mediated pathways. This blocking is triggered by p-Perk and ATF6 via inhibition of CHOP expression.
Physical activity patterns in a nationally representative sample of adults in Ireland

Abstract Objective To evaluate habitual levels of physical activity in a nationally representative sample of adults in Ireland. Design Cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire. Usual levels of work, recreational and household activities were evaluated in relation to anthropometric, demographic and socio-economic characteristics. The amount and intensity of all activities were quantified by assigning metabolic equivalents (METS) to each activity. Setting Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, 1997–1999. Subjects Random sample of 1379 adults aged 18–64 years. Results Men were approximately twice as active in work and recreational activity (139.7 ± 83.9 METS) as women (68.5 ± 49.8 METS; P < 0.001), but women were three times more active in household tasks (65.9 ± 58.7 METS vs. 22.6 ± 24.6 METS; P < 0.001). Overall levels of physical activity declined with increasing age, particularly leisure activity in men. In women the decline in work activity was offset by spending more time in household pursuits. Twenty-five per cent of the subjects were extremely overweight (body mass index (BMI) > 28kg m−2) or obese (BMI > 30kg m−2). Fewer obese subjects reported higher levels of work and leisure activities. However, a higher percentage of obese women reported participation in the higher levels of household activities. Participation rates in recreational activities were low. Walking was the most important leisure activity of both men (41%) and women (60%). In terms of hours per week spent in vigorous physical activity, men were more active than women, professional and skilled non-manual women were more active than women in other social classes, and younger subjects (aged 18–35 years) were more active than older subjects. Conclusions The holistic approach used in the assessment of physical activity in this study has revealed important and subtle differences in the activity patterns of men and women. Failure to fully characterise the respective activity patterns of men and women could lead to ill-informed public health policy aimed at promoting and sustaining lifetime habits of physical activity. The results suggest that simple population-focused programmes to promote physical activity are unlikely to offer the same chance of long-term success as more sensitive and individualised strategies.
Case for Design-Specific Machine Learning in Timing Closure of FPGA Designs

We can achieve reliable timing closure of FPGA designs using machine learning heuristics to generate input parameter settings for FPGA CAD tools. This is enabled by running multiple instances of CAD tool with different sets of these input parameters and logging of resulting timing slack values into a database. We incrementally build this database and run learning routines to develop suitable classifier models that correlate input parameter combinations to resulting slack. As each CAD run in independent, we can trivially parallelize our exploration. The classifier model developed using this approach can help predict whether a given combination of tool parameters will improve the timing score of that particular FPGA design. Through repeated trials and use of cheap cloud computing resources, we are able to reliably improve timing scores for a variety of industrial and academic FPGA designs. We show how to build design-specific classifier models that easily outperform generic models that are trained by combining results across all circuits in a benchmark.
Money Demand in Latvia

The econometric analysis of the demand for broad money in Latvia suggests a stable relationship of money demand. The analysis of parameter exogeneity indicates that the equilibrium adjustment is driven solely by the changes in the amount of money. The demand for money in Latvia is characterised by relatively high income elasticity typical for the economy in a monetary expansion phase. Due to stability, close fit of the money demand function and rapid equilibrium adjustment, broad money aggregates can be used as indicators of the economic activity.
Set-oriented personalized ranking for diversified top-n recommendation

In this paper, we propose a set-oriented personalized ranking model for diversified top-N recommendation. Users may have various individual ranges of interests. For personalized top-N recommendation task, the combination of relevance and diversity in recommendation results would be desirable. For this purpose, we integrate the concept of diversity into traditional matrix factorization model to construct a set-oriented collaborative filtering model. By optimizing this model with a set-oriented pairwise ranking method, we directly achieve personalized top-N recommendation results which are both relevant and diversified. We also utilize category information explicitly for learning personalized diversity. Experimental results show that our model outperforms traditional models in terms of personalized diversity and maintains good performance on relevance prediction.
Nanoexposure, Unusual Diseases, and New Health and Safety Concerns

Accumulating studies in animals have shown that nanoparticles could cause unusual rapid lung injury and extrapulmonary toxicity. Whether exposure of workers to nanoparticles may result in some unexpected damage as seen in animals is still a big concern. We previously reported findings regarding a group of patients exposed to nanoparticles and presenting with an unusual disease. The reported disease was characterized by bilateral chest fluid, pulmonary fibrosis, pleural granuloma, and multiorgan damage and was highly associated with the nanoparticle exposure. To strengthen this association, further information on exposure and the disease was collected and discussed. Our studies show that some kinds of nanomaterials, such as silica nanoparticles and nanosilicates, may be very toxic and even fatal to occupational workers exposed to them without any effective personal protective equipment. More research and collaborative efforts on nanosafety are required in order to prevent and minimize the potential hazards of nanomaterials to humans and the environment.
Title Variational structure – texture image decomposition onmanifolds

This paper considers the problem of decomposing an image defined on a manifold into a structural component and a textural component. We formulate such decomposition as a variational problem, in which the total variation energy is used for extracting the structural part and based on the properties of texture one of three norms, L, L and G, is used in the fidelity term for the textural part. While L andG norms are used for texture of no a-prior knowledge or oscillating pattern, L norm is used for structural or sparse texture. We develop efficient numerical methods to solve the proposed variational problems using augmented Lagrangian methods (ALM) when the manifold is represented by a triangular mesh. The contributions of the paper are twofold: (1) We adapt the variational structure-texture image decomposition to manifolds, which takes the intrinsic property of manifolds into account. The non-quadratic fidelity terms with L and G norms are extended to 3D triangular meshes for the first time. (2) We show how to efficiently tackle the variational problems with non-linearity/non-differentiability terms by iteratively solving some sub-problems that either have closed form solutions or are to solve linear equations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proPreprint submitted to Signal Processing October 25, 2013 posed methods with examples and applications in detail enhancement and impulsive noise removal.