Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gender Verifications in Sport: From an East/West Antagonism to a North/South Antagonism

This paper aims to analyze gender verifications in sport from a socio-historical approach. These medical controls intended to keep men from competing in women's international competitions. Some female athletes are put through a masculinization trial, because of morphologies and performances judged as too masculine. Facing these athletes who disrupt the representation of a binary construction between the male sex and the female sex, sports institutions attempt to maintain a sexual bi-categorization. More precisely, this paper will present the ‘symbolic’ suppression of tests since 2000. Thereafter, authorities only rely on an aesthetic and visual assessment of female bodies and no longer use tests in a systematic and obligatory fashion. This reveals the moving boundary subjectively plotted between the masculine and the feminine, which become all the more blurred when the ‘race and class markers’ interfere with the ‘sex markers’.
Effects of G-CSF on serum cholesterol and development of atherosclerotic plaque in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice.

UNLABELLED Macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) is known to have profound effects upon vascular pathologies, but potential roles of other colony stimulating factors (CSF) are not well understood. We treated apo E deficient (apo E-/-) mice with granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) or vehicle daily for 9 weeks, during which time they were fed a Western-style diet. G-CSF treatment resulted in increased proportions of circulating monocytes (6.9 ± 2.2% vs. 3.8 ± 0.3%; p < 0.05), a trend towards increased neutrophils (33.5 ± 19.1% vs. 22.2 ± 7.8%; p = 0.17), and decreased serum levels of total cholesterol (981 ± 594 vs. 1495 ± 1009 mg/dL; p < 0.005) compared to control mice. There was a trend towards less low density lipoprotein (LDL) in G-CSF treated mice (24.6 ± 2.4% vs. 37.4 ± 12.3%; p = 0.10). A greater proportion of bone marrow cells from G-CSF treated mice expressed membrane type 1 matrix metalloprotease (MT1-MMP) (G-CSF: 14.5 ± 5.5%; CONTROL 6.2 ± 5.0%; p < 0.05) compared to bone marrow cells from vehicle treated mice. G-CSF treatment was also associated with smaller atheromatous plaque, decreased Oil red O staining, and decreased infiltration of both Monocyte/Macrophage Marker Antibody (MOMA-2) and F4/80 dependent macrophage populations into aortic lesions. However, decreased plaque area appeared to be largely due to lower cholesterol levels in G-CSF-treated mice. Lesions in G-CSF treated mice appeared to be structurally distinct from control mice, containing relatively less lipid and macrophages. Our results suggest important roles for G-CSF in cholesterol metabolism, mobilization of bone marrow stem cells that might alter plaque development, and accumulation of lipids and macrophages into atherosclerotic lesions.
Specific roles of Target of rapamycin in the control of stem cells and their progeny in the Drosophila ovary

On p. 2119, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E is incorrectly defined as 4eIF4E, instead of eIF4E. The online issue and print versions are correct. We apologise to the authors and readers for this mistake. INTRODUCTION Stem cells self-renew and produce differentiating progeny for tissue integrity and function (Potten and Loeffler, 1990). Local and intrinsic factors maintain stem cell properties (Li and Xie, 2005) but external and circulating factors also affect stem cells. Drosophila intestinal and mammalian neural stem cells increase proliferation upon damage via insulin-like signals (Amcheslavsky et al. Dietary factors stimulate mouse embryonic and hematopoietic stem cell activity (Hinge et al., 2009; Kim et al., 2009). It remains largely unknown, however, whether stem cells and their progeny respond to systemic changes uniformly or more specifically. The Drosophila ovary houses stem cells in the germarium, the anterior-most portion of each ovariole (Fig. 1A) (Li and Xie, 2005). Two or three germline stem cells (GSCs) in a specialized niche self-renew and produce cystoblasts, which divide four times with incomplete cytokinesis to form germline cysts containing one oocyte and fifteen nurse cells. Follicle stem cells (FSCs) self-renew and produce follicle cells that envelop each cyst to form an egg chamber, or follicle. After leaving the germarium, each follicle develops through fourteen stages, forming a mature oocyte. As the cyst grows, follicle cells divide mitotically until stage 7, when they begin endoreplicating. Yolk uptake or vitellogenesis initiates at stage 8 (Spradling, 1993). The control of distinct stem cell populations and their differentiating progeny can thus be probed in this system.
Alteration of TLR3 pathways by glucocorticoids may be responsible for immunosusceptibility of human corneal epithelial cells to viral infections

Purpose: The toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) recognizes viral double-stranded RNA and its synthetic analog polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid (poly(I:C)), and the activation of TLR3 is known to induce the production of type I interferon (IFN) and inflammatory cytokines/chemokines. The purpose of this study was to determine the role played by innate responses to a herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection of the corneal epithelial cells. In addition, we determined the effects of immunosuppressive drugs on the innate responses. Methods: Cultured human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) were exposed to poly(I:C), and the expressions of the mRNAs of the cytokines/chemokines macrophage-inflammatory protein 1 alpha (MIP1-α), macrophage-inflammatory protein 1 beta (MIP1-β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), Interferon-beta (IFN-β), and TLR3 were determined using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The effects of dexamethasone (DEX, 10-6 or 10-5 M) and cyclosporine A (CsA, 10-6 or 10-5 M) on the expression of these cytokines and TLR3 were also determined using real-time RT-PCR. Levels of MIP1-α, MIP1-β, IL-6, IL-8, RANTES, and IFN-β were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) and interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) in HCECs was assessed by immunohistochemical staining. The effects of DEX and CsA on HCECs exposed to HSV-1 (McKrae strain) were also examined. Results: The expressions of MIP1-α, MIP1-β, IL-6, IL-8, RANTES, IFN-β, and TLR3 were up-regulated in HCECs exposed to poly(I:C). The poly(I:C)-induced expressions of IL-6 and IL-8 were down-regulated by both DEX and CsA, while the expressions of IFN-β and TLR3 were suppressed by DEX alone. Similarly, the poly(I:C)-induced activation of NFκB was decreased by both DEX and CsA, and the activation of IRF3 was reduced by DEX alone. When HCECs were inoculated with HSV-1, DEX led to a decrease in the expression of IL6, IFN-β, and TLR3, and an extension of plaque formation. Conclusion: These results indicate that DEX may increase the susceptibility of HCECs to viral infections by altering the TLR3 signaling pathways.
Elementary gates for quantum computation.

We show that a set of gates that consists of all one-bit quantum gates (U(2)) and the two-bit exclusive-or gate (that maps Boolean values (x,y) to (x,x ⊕y)) is universal in the sense that all unitary operations on arbitrarily many bits n (U(2 n )) can be expressed as compositions of these gates. We investigate the number of the above gates required to implement other gates, such as generalized Deutsch-Toffoli gates, that apply a specific U(2) transformation to one input bit if and only if the logical AND of all remaining input bits is satisfied. These gates play a central role in many proposed constructions of quantum computational networks. We derive upper and lower bounds on the exact number of elementary gates required to build up a variety of two- and three-bit quantum gates, the asymptotic number required for n-bit Deutsch-Toffoli gates, and make some observations about the number required for arbitrary n-bit unitary operations.
Weather and air pollution as triggers of severe headaches

Background: The roles of weather conditions and air pollution as triggers of headache have been inconsistent in previous, generally small studies. Methods: We performed a case-crossover study of 7,054 patients seen in a single emergency department between May 2000 and December 2007 with a primary discharge diagnosis of headache. We compared levels of temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, fine particulate matter, black carbon, and nitrogen and sulfur dioxides during the three 24-hour periods preceding presentation with corresponding levels on the remaining occurrences of that day of the week in a given month, using local meteorologic and pollutant monitors. Results: Higher mean ambient temperature in the 24 hours preceding hospital presentation positively and linearly increased the acute risk of headache (odds ratio [OR] for a 5°C increment 1.075; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.021–1.033; p = 0.006). Higher risk was observed for cases with and without a discharge diagnosis of migraine and for cases between October and March or between April and September. Lower barometric pressure also increased the risk of nonmigraine cases in the 48 to 72 hours before hospitalization (OR 0.939 per 5 mm Hg; 95% CI, 0.902–0.978; p = 0.002). Current levels of pollutants did not influence the risk of headache. Conclusions: Higher ambient temperature and, to a lesser degree, lower barometric pressure led to a transient increase in risk of headache requiring emergency department evaluation. We did not find clear association of air pollutants with risk, but cannot exclude effects of air pollution of the magnitude previously observed for stroke and other cardiovascular events. BC = black carbon; BIDMC = Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; CI = confidence interval; OR = odds ratio; PM2.5 = fine particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm.
A PRESENÇA DE FATORES GERADORES DE CAPITAL SOCIAL EM ORGANIZAÇÕES DE NATUREZA COOPERATIVA

Resumo: O capital social assume um papel chave, atraves das redes e das normas de confianca social, no desenvolvimento de organizacoes coletivas, cuja analise junto as organizacoes cooperativas passa a ser uma variavel importante para a busca de um desenvolvimento sustentavel. Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal analisar como os fatores geradores de capital social estao presentes em uma organizacao de natureza cooperativa. Ao nivel epistemologico, desenvolveu-se um estudo de caso baseado em uma abordagem qualitativa em uma cooperativa localizada na regiao central do estado do Rio grande do Sul. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com seis cooperados ativos da organizacao e analisados por meio de analise de conteudo. As analises do trabalho levaram a consideracoes de que os elementos formadores de capital social estao presentes nos membros da cooperativa em estudo, porem ha divergencias de percepcoes e elementos que inibem a producao de capital social. Palavras-chaves: Capital social. Organizacoes cooperativas. Organizacoes sociais.
Networking in the long emergency

We explore responses to a scenario in which the severity of a permanent energy crisis fundamentally limits our ability to maintain the current-day Internet architecture. In this paper, we review why this scenario---whose vague outline is known to many but whose consequences are generally understood only by the scientists who study it---is likely, and articulate the specific impacts that it would have on network infrastructure and networking research. In light of this, we propose a concrete research agenda to address the networking needs of an energy-deprived society.
DDR1 and MT1-MMP Expression Levels Are Determinant for Triggering BIK-Mediated Apoptosis by 3D Type I Collagen Matrix in Invasive Basal-Like Breast Carcinoma Cells

Type I collagen is the major adhesive component in breast interstitial stroma, which represents the first barrier against tumor cell invasion after basement-membrane degradation. Among cellular receptors, type I collagen is able to activate discoidin domain receptors DDR1 and DDR2. We have previously shown that in 3D collagen matrix, DDR1 plays a key role as it promotes cell growth suppression and apoptosis through the upregulation of the pro-apoptotic mediator BIK in noninvasive luminal-like breast carcinoma cells. We have also shown that MT1-MMP is able to rescue these cells and protect them against the effects induced by collagen/DDR1/BIK axis. Our data suggested that the protective effect of MT1-MMP might be mediated through the degradation of type I collagen and/or DDR1 cleavage. Decreased DDR1 expression has been associated with the epithelial to mesenchymal transition process in breast cancer, and its overexpression in aggressive basal-like breast cancer cells reduces their invasiveness in 3D cultures and in vivo. In the present work, we propose to study the role of MT1-MMP in the resistance against collagen-induced apoptosis in basal-like breast carcinoma MDA-MB-231 cells. We aimed to investigate whether MT1-MMP depletion is able to restore apoptosis mediated by collagen/DDR1/BIK axis and to verify if such depletion is able to restore full-length DDR1 expression and phosphorylation. ShRNA strategy against MT1-MMP mRNA was able to partially restore full length DDR1 expression and phosphorylation. This was accompanied by a decrease in cell growth and an upregulation of BIK expression. This suggested that MT1-MMP expression in basal-like breast carcinoma cells, in addition to a low basal level of DDR1 expression, protects these cells against collagen-induced apoptosis via DDR1 cleavage. Since DDR1 was moderately expressed in MDA-MB-231 cells, we then investigated whether overexpression of DDR1 could be able to increase its ability to suppress cell growth and to induce apoptosis. Data showed that overexpression of DDR1 induced a decrease in cell growth and an increase in BIK expression, suggesting that moderate expression level of full length DDR1 in basal-like breast carcinoma provides them with a capacity to resist to collagen-induced cell growth suppression and apoptosis. Finally, the combined overexpression of DDR1 and depletion of MT1-MMP in MDA-MB-231 cells synergistically increased collagen-induced cell growth suppression and apoptosis to a level similar to that observed in luminal breast carcinoma. Taken together, our data suggest that during the acquisition of mesenchymal features, the low level of DDR1 expression should be considered as an important biomarker in the prognosis of basal-like breast carcinoma, conferring them a high rate of cell growth and resistance to BIK-mediated apoptosis induced by the stromal collagen.
How to Make a Semantic Network Probabilistic

Words and phrases associate with each other to form a semantic network. Characterizing such associations is a first step toward understanding natural languages for machines. Psychologists and linguists have used concepts such as typicality and basic level conceptualization to characterize such associations. However, how to quantify such concepts is an open problem. Recently, much work has focused on constructing semantic networks from web scale text corpora, which makes it possible for the first time to analyze such networks using a data driven approach. In this paper, we introduce measures such as typicality, basic level conceptualization, vagueness, ambiguity, and similarity to systematically characterize the associations in a semantic network. We use such measures as the basis for probabilistic semantic inferencing, which enables a wide range of applications such as word sense disambiguation and short text understanding. We conduct extensive experiments to show the effectiveness of the models and the measures we introduce for the semantic network.
Extending SLAM to Multiple Robots

As robots become more prevalent and intelligent, we will want them to share their experiences with other robots. Also in time sensitive applications such as search and rescue, multiple robots collaborating to achieve the goal can be much faster and more efficient. Smaller less complicated robots can also be less expensive and more expendable while still achieving the same tasks as a more agile, larger robot. On a Mars mission, a number of mapping robots could be deployed to identify important science sites and communicate back to a robot with scientific instruments where it believes its relative position to be. Thus some of the mapping robots could fail and the mission goals would still be achieved. The list goes on but obviously robot-robot interaction can be as important as robot-human interaction. In our project we implemented the basic SLAM algorithm, enabled robots to share SLAM information, and got them to execute a basic task collaboratively. We created a simulated world with certain assumptions which with a little extra work could be translated to the real world. Much of our time during this project was spent deriving the entries in the SLAM covariance matrix which we could not find explicitly in the literature. Once two robots were able to see each other and initialize contact, they were able to communicate newly obtained information as long as they remained in radio contact. Our final robots were programmed to determine the areas of a space they and other robots had already mapped and to greedily seek out unmapped sections.
Organizational learning research profile

Presents the results of a keyword search of the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), ABI Inform and PyschLit databases using the terms “organizational learning” and “learning organization” to uncover patterns relating to: the amount of publishing activity by year; influential authors; journals publishing organizational learning research; and type of research published.
Optimal transmission policies for energy harvesting node with non-ideal circuit power

This paper develops a unified approach to obtain optimal transmission schedule for an energy-harvesting node with non-ideal circuit power consumption. For both time-invariant and time-varying fading channels, we show that the optimal transmission between any two consecutive channel or energy state changing time, termed epoch, can only take one of the three strategies: (i) no transmission, (ii) transmission with an energy-efficiency (EE) maximizing power over part of the epoch, or (iii) transmission with a power greater than the EE-maximizing power over the whole epoch. Taking into account this structure, we develop efficient algorithms capable of computing the optimal scheduling schemes with a low complexity. The proposed approach can provide the optimal benchmarks for practical schemes in energy-harvesting powered transmissions, and can be employed to develop efficient online scheduling schemes.
On the Robustness of the "Taylor Rule" in the EMU

Following a policy rule mechanically when operating monetary policy is neither realistic nor practical. Nevertheless, monetary policy rules have received a great deal of attention in recent macroeconomic research. The paper focuses on a famous interest rate rule, namely the Taylor Rule, to show that the rule parameters are robust to most of the output gap measures and the specifications considered, i.e. the inflation coefficient is above unity and the output gap coefficient is positive. The estimated rule is shown to track the actual policy performance during the EMU period remarkably well. In addition, the estimated rule is used as an indicator of macroeconomic convergence in the union and it is demonstrated that the optimal EMU rate has not been in accordance with domestic conditions in certain countries.
Association between NS3 and NS5 Proteins of Dengue Virus Type 2 in the Putative RNA Replicase Is Linked to Differential Phosphorylation of NS5 (*)

Dengue virus type 2, a member of the family Flaviviridae, encodes a single polyprotein precursor consisting of 3391 amino acid residues that is processed to at least 10 mature proteins by host and viral proteases. The NS3 protein contains a domain commonly found in cellular serine proteinases that in cooperation with NS2B is involved in polyprotein processing. In addition, NS3 and NS5 proteins contain conserved motifs found in several RNA helicases and RNA-dependent RNA polymerases, respectively. Both enzymatic activities have been suggested to be involved in viral RNA replication. In this report, we demonstrate that the NS3 and NS5 proteins interact in vivo in dengue virus type 2-infected monkey kidney (CV-1) cells and in HeLa cells coinfected with recombinant vaccinia viruses encoding these proteins as shown by coimmunoprecipitations and immunoblotting methods. We also show by immunofluorescence, metabolic labeling, and two-dimensional peptide mapping that NS5 is a nuclear phosphoprotein and that phosphorylation occurs on serine residues at multiple sites. Furthermore, NS5 exists in differentially phosphorylated states in the nuclear and the cytoplasmic fractions, and only the cytoplasmic form of NS5 is found to coimmunoprecipitate with NS3, suggesting that differential phosphorylation may control the interaction between these proteins and its function in the viral RNA replicase.
An Improved Square-Root Algorithm for V-BLAST Based on Efficient Inverse Cholesky Factorization

A fast algorithm for inverse Cholesky factorization is proposed, to compute a triangular square-root of the estimation error covariance matrix for Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time architecture (V-BLAST). It is then applied to propose an improved square-root algorithm for V-BLAST, which speedups several steps in the previous one, and can offer further computational savings in MIMO Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Compared to the conventional inverse Cholesky factorization, the proposed one avoids the back substitution (of the Cholesky factor), and then requires only half divisions. The proposed V-BLAST algorithm is faster than the existing efficient V-BLAST algorithms. The expected speedups of the proposed square-root V-BLAST algorithm over the previous one and the fastest known recursive V-BLAST algorithm are 3.9 ~ 5.2 and 1.05 ~ 1.4, respectively.