Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of eukaryotic phospholipid metabolism 1

Phospholipids have diverse and critical roles in cellular metabolism and function. Questions about the mechanisms of regulation of phospholipid synthesis are being investigated with a variety of systems and approaches. For example, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an organism in which both biochemical and genetic analyses are used. Biochemical approaches have yielded considerable information on the regulatory properties of enzymes of phospholipid biosynthesis. Studies of the activity of purified phosphatidylserine synthase have suggested how that enzyme is influenced by membrane phospholipids in the cell. The enzyme that regulates mammalian phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis, CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase, is also influenced by phospholipids. In addition, the activity of this enzyme often correlates with its translocation to membranes. The location of such enzymes in the cell is of particular interest in light of the possibility that the enzymatic reactions may be efficiently coupled in vivo. Techniques to render cultured cells permeable to phosphorylated molecules indicate that the enzymes of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis may exist in an organized compartment so that the precursors of phosphatidylcholine are efficiently channeled through the pathway. To ask how phospholipids are transported in the cell, a combined biochemical and genetic approach has been used. These studies have revealed that the phosphatidylinositol/phosphatidylcholine transfer protein, considered to mediate intracellular phospholipid transfer, is a critical component of the secretory pathway for proteins. These results have allowed formulation of a number of new questions on the regulation of phospholipid metabolism and its relationship to general membrane processes. —Kent, C. ; Carman, G. M. ; Spence, M. W. ; Dowhan, W. Regulation of eukaryotic phospholipid metabolism. FASEB J. 5: 2258–2266; 1991.
How screen transitions influence touch and pointer interaction across angled display arrangements

Digital office environments often integrate multiple displays in a variety of arrangements. We investigated the combination of a horizontal and a directly connected vertical display, which together form a digital workspace. In particular, we were interested in the effect of the physical transition (bezel, edge or curve) on dragging. In a study participants performed dragging tasks across both display planes with direct touch as well as a pointing device. Contrary to our expectations, we found no significant effect on task completion time. Only regarding accuracy the curved transition performed better than edge and bezel. Interestingly, the subjective judgment did generally not match the objective results. These findings suggest that we need to rethink our understanding of display continuities in terms of usability as well as user satisfaction.
Factors Determine Islamic Banking Performance in Malaysia: A Multiple Regression Approach

Evidence has shown that Islamic banking is experiencing tremendous development since the last three decades, especially in Malaysia. This study is aimed at investigating factors that determine the Islamic banking performance in Malaysia, particularly in the period of 2006 to 2010. The predictors are loan loss provision to total assets, net loans to total assets, total overhead cost to total assets, shareholders equity ratio, and bank size which represent internal factors and GDP and inflation which represent external factors. Pooled OLS method shows that loan loss provision to total assets, total overhead cost to total assets, and inflation are the significant variables affecting the performance of Malaysia Islamic banking in the period analyzed.
The Importance of Being Expert: Efficient Max-Finding in Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is a computational paradigm whose distinctive feature is the involvement of human workers in key steps of the computation. It is used successfully to address problems that would be hard or impossible to solve for machines. As we highlight in this work, the exclusive use of nonexpert individuals may prove ineffective in some cases, especially when the task at hand or the need for accurate solutions demand some degree of specialization to avoid excessive uncertainty and inconsistency in the answers. We address this limitation by proposing an approach that combines the wisdom of the crowd with the educated opinion of experts. We present a computational model for crowdsourcing that envisions two classes of workers with different expertise levels. One of its distinctive features is the adoption of the threshold error model, whose roots are in psychometrics and which we extend from previous theoretical work. Our computational model allows to evaluate the performance of crowdsourcing algorithms with respect to accuracy and cost. We use our model to develop and analyze an algorithm for approximating the best, in a broad sense, of a set of elements. The algorithm uses naïve and expert workers to find an element that is a constant-factor approximation to the best. We prove upper and lower bounds on the number of comparisons needed to solve this problem, showing that our algorithm uses expert and naïve workers optimally up to a constant factor. Finally, we evaluate our algorithm on real and synthetic datasets using the CrowdFlower crowdsourcing platform, showing that our approach is also effective in practice.
Thrombus Permeability Is Associated With Improved Functional Outcome and Recanalization in Patients With Ischemic Stroke

Background and Purpose— Preclinical studies showed that thrombi can be permeable and may, therefore, allow for residual blood flow in occluded arteries of patients having acute ischemic stroke. This perviousness may increase tissue oxygenation, improve thrombus dissolution, and augment intra-arterial treatment success. We hypothesize that the combination of computed tomographic angiography and noncontrast computed tomography imaging allows measurement of contrast agent penetrating a permeable thrombus, and it is associated with improved outcome. Methods— Thrombus and contralateral artery attenuations in noncontrast computed tomography and computed tomographic angiography images were measured in 184 Multicenter Randomized Clinical trial of Endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke in the Netherlands (MR CLEAN) patients with thin-slice images. Two quantitative estimators of the thrombus permeability were introduced: computed tomographic angiography attenuation increase (&Dgr;) and thrombus void fraction (&egr;). Patients were dichotomized as having a pervious or impervious thrombus and associated with outcome, recanalization, and final infarct volume. Results— Patients with &Dgr;≥10.9 HU (n=81 [44%]) and &egr;≥6.5% (n=77 [42%]) were classified as having a pervious thrombus. These patients were 3.2 (95% confidence interval, 1.7–6.4) times more likely to have a favorable outcome, and 2.5 (95% confidence interval, 1.3–4.8) times more likely to recanalyze, for &Dgr; based classification, and similarly for &egr;. These odds ratios were independent from intravenous or intra-arterial treatment. Final infarct volume was negatively correlated with both perviousness estimates (correlation coefficient, −0.39 for &Dgr; and −0.40 for &egr;). Conclusions— This study shows that simultaneous measurement of thrombus attenuation in noncontrast computed tomography and computed tomographic angiography allows for quantification of thrombus perviousness. Thrombus perviousness is strongly associated with improved functional outcome, smaller final infarct volume, and higher recanalization rate.
CASTING: a formally based software test generation method

We present CASTING, a computer assisted software test engineering method. The method, supported by a prototype tool, generates realistic software test suites in a formal and semi-automatic way. Based on a two-layer modular architecture, CASTING is not tied to any particular style of input. Initially designed to engineer functional test suites from formal specifications, CASTING can easily be instantiated to accept other formal description levels, seamlessly supporting the main industrial testing techniques, ranging from functional testing to structural testing. A simple process scheduler specification is used in this paper to illustrate the interaction facilities of CASTING and to provide a sample of the resulting test suites.
Emotions as agents of social influence: insights from Emotions as Social Information (EASI) theory

Emotion is part and parcel of social influence. The emotions people feel shape the ways in which they respond to persuasion attempts, and the emotions people express influence other individuals who observe those expressions. This chapter is concerned with the latter type of emotional influence. Such interpersonal effects of emotional expressions are quite different from the traditionally studied intrapersonal effects of emotional experience. This calls for a new theoretical approach that is dedicated specifically to understanding the interpersonal effects of emotional expressions. I summarize emotions as social information (EASI) theory, which posits that emotional expressions shape social influence by triggering affective reactions and/or inferential processes in observers, depending on the observer’s information processing and the perceived appropriateness of the emotional expression. I review supportive evidence from various domains of social influence, including negotiation, leadership, attitude change, compliance, and conformity in groups. Differences and commonalities with traditional intrapersonal frameworks are discussed.
Hubungan antara Self Efficacy dalam Menghadapi Ujian dengan Kecenderungan Menyotek pada Mahasiswa Akhir

Dalam usaha untuk meraih keberhasilan mendapatkan nilai yang baik dalam ujian, ada mahasiswa yang belajar dengan tekun dan ada pula mahasiswa yang memilih berbuat curang, misalnya menyontek saat mengikuti ujian. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui ada tidaknya hubungan antara self efficacy dalam menghadapi ujian dengan kecenderungan menyontek pada mahasiswa semester akhir di Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Surabaya. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kuantitatif korelasional. Subjek penelitian adalah mahasiswa akhir Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Surabaya yang sedang mengambil mata kuliah prasyarat (N=28). Pengambilan data dilakukan dengan metode angket yang berisikan skala self efficacy dalam menghadapi ujian dan skala kecenderungan menyontek. Teknik analisis data yang akan digunakan adalah teknik korelasi Spearman. Uji hipotesis menggunakan teknik statistik non-parametrik mendapatkan nilai signifikansi Spearman sebesar 0,001 (p < 0,05) sehingga bisa dinyatakan bahwa terdapat hubungan antar variabel. Nilai koefisien korelasi adalah -0,571 yang menunjukkan arah negative hubungan. Hal ini berarti bahwa semakin tinggi self efficacy dalam menghadapi ujian maka kecenderungan menyontek akan semakin rendah, dan sebaliknya semakin rendah self efficacy dalam menghadapi ujian maka kecenderungan menyontek akan semakin tinggi. Tingginya kecenderungan menyontek dikarenakan rendahnya self efficacy dalam menghadapi ujian. Rendahnya self efficacy dalam menghadapi ujian dikarenakan adanya pengalaman performansi yaitu pengalaman akan kegagalan dalam berprestasi. Mahasiswa disarankan untuk meningkatkan self efficacy dengan cara selalu meningkatkan keyakinan akan kemampuan dengan berlatih mengatasi masalah dan rintangan yang sulit dari permasalahan yang sederhana kemudian meningkat sampai situasi yang sulit dengan harapan tidak mudah putus asa dalam menghadapi kesulitan saat ujian.
Elevated Levels of T-helper 17-associated Cytokines in Diabetes Type I Patients: Indicators for Following the Course of Disease

ABSTRACT Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is thought to involve chronic inflammation, which is manifested by the activation and expression of different inflammatory mediators. Th1- and Th17-associated cytokines are factors that have been shown to exert profound pro-inflammatory activities and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of T1D in mice and humans. Objectives: Therefore, the aim of this case control study was to determine the serum level of IL-17, IL-21, IL-27, transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), and IFN-γ and their reciprocal relationship in Iranian T1D patients. Patients and Methods: Blood samples were collected from 48 T1D patients and 49 healthy individuals with no history of malignancies or autoimmune disorders based on simple sampling. The serum levels of IL-17, IL-21, IL-27, TGF-β, and IFN-γ were measured by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: The serum levels of IL-17 and IL-21 were significantly higher in T1D patients compared to the healthy individuals (p = 0.005 and 0.01, respectively), but interestingly, the opposite was the case for IL-27 (p < 0.0001). However, there were no significant differences in TGF-β and IFN-γ between both groups. In addition, IL-17/IFN-γ and IL-17/IL-27 ratios were higher in patients compared to the control group. Conclusions: Our results indicated dominant Th17-associated IL-17, suggesting a shift from the Treg and Th1 phenotypes toward the Th17 phenotype. Therefore, it can promote inflammation in β cells in T1D. In addition, it suggests the role of Th17 and Th17/Th1 ratios as a potential contributor to β cells destruction and the Th17/Th1 response ratio may provide a novel biomarker for rapid T1D diagnosis before the destruction of β cells and progression of the disease to the clinical end stages.
Investigation of the transport and absorption of Angelica sinensis polysaccharide through gastrointestinal tract both in vitro and in vivo

Abstract To investigate the absorption and delivery of ASP in gastrointestinal (GI) tract, cASP was successfully synthesized by chemically modifying with succinic anhydride and then conjugating with a near infrared fluorescent dye Cy5.5. Then, the capacity of oral absorption of cASP was evaluated. The results demonstrated that cASP had low toxicity and no disruption on the integrity of cell membrane. The endocytosis of cASP into the epithelial cells was time- and energy-dependent, which was mediated by macropinocytosis pathway and clathrin- and caveolae (or lipid raft)-related routes. Otherwise, the actin filaments played a relatively weak role at the same time. The transport study illustrated that cASP could penetrate through the epithelial monolayer and mainly mediated by the same routes as that in the endocytosis experiment. Moreover, both in vitro Ussing chamber and in vivo ligated intestinal loops models indicated that cASP could be diffused through the mucus barriers and be absorbed in the whole small intestine. Finally, near-infrared fluorescence imaging presented that cASP could be absorbed and circulated into the blood, then distributed into various organs after oral administration. In conclusion, ASP could be absorbed after oral administration through endocytosis process mainly mediated by macropinocytosis pathway and clathrin- and caveolae (or lipid raft)-related routes, then be absorbed and circulated into blood. This study presents a comprehensive understanding of oral delivery of cASP, which will provide theoretical basis for the clinical application of ASP.
“Nogle vælger døden. Jeg vælger livet, drømmene og troen på en fremtid”– om kunst, billeder og unge i Paamiut

1. Indledning I november 2010 besøgte fotograf Tina Enghoff og journalist Anette Molbech Paamiut i Kalaallit Nunaat (Grønland) for at arbejde sammen med ti unge om at lave en workshop, der mundede ud i en fotobog. Bogen kom til at hedde Kærlig hilsen Paamiut og består af 20 fotos med tekst samt 35 fotos uden tekst. Endvidere er de første 20 fotos trykt som postkort bagest i bogen – således at de kan tages ud og sendes. De ti deltagere, der udførte projektet sammen med Tina og Anette, er: Ilannguaq Gabrielsen, Aage Jensen, Nikolaj Joelsen, Mogens Juliussen, Johanne Kleist, Nuka S. Knudsen, Jess Ludvigsen, Andrine Mikaelsen, Peter-Ole Olsen og Ronnie R. Olesen. Projektet Kærlig hilsen Paamiut udsprang af og var en del af det store Paamiut Asasara-projekt, der startede i 2008 og afsluttes med udgangen af 2012. Kærlig hilsen Paamiut var opbygget efter de principper og værdier, der danner sjælen i Paamiut Asasara, dvs. der er den grundlæggende filosofi i dette projekt. Paamiut Asasara er på den måde en filosofi i praksis, idet det er bygget op omkring bestemte værdier og principper – hvoraf det vigtigste er at respektere hinanden i ord og handling.
A Buchholz derivation system for the ordinal analysis of KP + Π3-reflection

Abstract In this paper we introduce a notation system for the infinitary derivations occurring in the ordinal analysis of KP + Π3-Reflection due to Michael Rathjen. This allows a finitary ordinal analysis of KP + Π3-Reflection. The method used is an extension of techniques developed by Wilfried Buchholz, namely operator controlled notation systems for RS∞-derivations. Similarly to Buchholz we obtain a characterisation of the provably recursive functions of KP + Π3-Reflection as <-recursive functions where < is the ordering on Rathjen's ordinal notation system . Further we show a conservation result for -sentences.
Designing Controllable Computer Systems

Adaptive control theory is emerging as a viable approach for the design of self-managed computer systems. This paper argues that the systems community should not be concerned with the design of adaptive controllers--there are off-the-shelf controllers that can be used to tune any system that abides by certain properties. Systems research should instead be focusing on the open problem of designing and configuring systems that are amenable to dynamic, feedback-based control. Currently, there is no systematic approach for doing this. To that aim, this paper introduces a set of properties derived from control theory that controllable computer systems should satisfy. We discuss the intuition behind these properties and the challenges to be addressed by system designers trying to enforce them. For the discussion, we use two examples of management problems: 1) a dynamically controlled scheduler that enforces performance goals in a 3-tier system; 2) a system where we control the number of blades assigned to a workload to meet performance goals within power budgets.
Victim Characteristics and Helping Behavior in a Rural Southern Setting

Summary Drawing upon previous research conducted in urban areas, it is hypothesized that the race, sex, and community identification of a victim influence the likelihood that he will receive help from rural white Southerners when it is requested. Assumptions concerning differential racial prejudice and diffusion of responsibility are combined to generate the predictions that the overall rate of helping is higher in a rural than in an urban setting, but that black victims receive help less frequently from rural white Southerners than from urban white non-Southerners. Data from a field experiment conducted in the rural mountain region of western North Carolina reveal the predicted race difference, but sex and community identification variation is insignificant. When data from the present study are compared with results previously reported by Gaertner and Bickman (6) from a study in a similar fashion in New York City, the predicted difference in overall helping rates is observed. However, the proportion of b.
Status Concerns and Firm Profitability : Can a firm profit from the competitive nature of its employees ?

If workers have concerns for local status, it seems plausible that firms can increase their profits by exploiting the competitive nature of their employees. This paper shows, contrary to expectations, that firms may not be able to do that; in fact, firm profits are reduced by the workers’ choices of relative concerns. In doing so, this paper also offers an explanation for why agents might exhibit concerns for relative position. Workers design their social preferences in a way that exploits the substitutability of status and explicit contracts in their favour. The firm is forced to offer higher wages or to require lower effort, thus lowering profits. By their choices of relative concerns, workers are able to effect a transfer of surplus from the firm to themselves and, thus, increase their “material utilities”. The firm’s profits are maximized when workers do not have relative concerns of any kind. The firm can achieve this by hiring workers who are identical in all respects. JEL Classifications: M52, M51, D86, L14
Cyclic Force Applied to FAs Induces Actin Recruitment Depending on the Dynamic Loading Pattern

Mechanical forces acting on focal adhesions (FAs) are believed to be an important determinant for cytoskeletal reorganization. However, the effect of the temporal pattern of forces on cellular responses has not been elucidated. In the present study, we examined the responses of FAs to locally-applied cyclic forces. Magnetic micro beads coated with fibronectin were attached to the apical surface of endothelial cells and continuous or cyclic forces at frequencies of 0.1-10 Hz with duty cycles of 0-100% were applied to the beads using a newly developed electromagnetic tweezer. A significant increase in actin recruitment around the beads was observed when cyclic forces at 1-2 Hz and 25-50% duty cycles were applied. This tendency disappeared upon modification of myosin activity. These results indicate that the sensitivity to temporal patterns of forces is detemined by the viscoelastic properes of FAs and depends on myosin activity.
Vitamin E, Its Beneficial Role in Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and Its Complications.

INTRODUCTION Studies have shown that diabetes is accompanied by an increased oxidative damage to all the bimolecular. Enhanced oxidative stress contributes to the development of the diabetic complications. The key lipid soluble chain breaking antioxidant,-tocopherol, is known to be deficient in diabetes. Human intervention studies have indicated the role of vitamin E in improving the endothelial function, the retinal blood flow and the renal dysfunction. The aim of the study was to find the role of vitamin E in preventing the development and the progression of the diabetic complications. METHODOLOGY Both type I and II DM patients with and without complications were included in this study. They were divided separately into the test (which received insulin/oral hypoglycemic and vitamin E) and the control groups (which received only insulin/oral hypoglycemic drugs). The Fasting Blood Sugar(FBS), Post-prandial Blood Sugar(PPBS) and the Total Cholesterol(TC) were estimated and the Blood Pressure (BP) was noted at 0(beginning),12,18 and 24 months. Cardiovascular disease, retinopathy, nephropathy and foot ulcer development and progression were monitored. The data was analyzed by the Z test for the means and for the proportions. RESULTS It was evident from the analysis of the data that the PPBS, TC and the Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) declined gradually and significantly in the test groups. This was a beneficial development for the diabetic patients. The patients who were on the vitamin E supplementation had a delayed development and a slow progression of the complications. CONCLUSION Vitamin E supplementation has an important role in delaying the onset of the diabetic complications as well as for slowing down the progression of the complications.