Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Allergic Activities of Pentaherb Formula, Moutan Cortex (Danpi) and Gallic Acid

Pentaherb formula (PHF) has been proven to improve the quality of life of children with atopic dermatitis without side effects. The aim of this study was to elucidate the potential anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic activities of PHF, Moutan Cortex (Danpi/DP) and gallic acid (GA) using human basophils (KU812 cells), which are crucial effector cells in allergic inflammation. PHF, DP and GA could significantly suppress the expression of allergic inflammatory cytokine IL-33-upregulated intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, and the release of chemokines CCL2, CCL5, CXCL8 and inflammatory cytokine IL-6 from KU812 cells (all p < 0.05). With the combined use of dexamethasone (0.01 μg/mL) and GA (10 μg/mL), the suppression of ICAM-1 expression and CCL5 and IL-6 release of IL-33-activated KU812 cells were significantly greater than the use of GA alone (all p < 0.05). The suppression of the IL-33-induced activation of intracellular signalling molecules p38 mitogen activated protein kinase, nuclear factor-κB and c-Jun amino-terminal kinase in GA-treated KU812 cells could be the underlying mechanism for the suppression on ICAM-1, chemokines and cytokines. The combined use of dexamethasone with the natural products PHF or DP or GA might therefore enhance the development of a novel therapeutic modality for allergic inflammatory diseases with high potency and fewer side effects.
The Neo-Capitalist Firm in Emerging India

This article examines the “hybrid” discourses of neo-capitalism at play in the emerging economy context of India through the case study of a prominent Indian company, which launched an ambitious organizational project in 2006-2008: the cheapest car in the world. I critically analyze the company’s media releases with attention to the genre, social construction of actors, and macro relations between them. Findings address how the organization was crafted as a social actor, the organization-State relationship, and the organization’s engagement with opposing interests. The results contribute to global business communication studies by problematizing the “neocapitalist firm” in the emerging economy context and focusing on the peculiar socio-politico-economic organizational processes herein.
Chromatin Modification and Remodeling in Heart Development

In organogenesis, cell types are specified from determined precursors as morphogenetic patterning takes place. These events are largely controlled by tissue-specific transcription factors. These transcription factors must function within the context of chromatin to activate or repress target genes. Recent evidence suggests that chromatin-remodeling and -modifying factors may have tissue-specific function. Here we review the potential roles for chromatin-remodeling and -modifying proteins in the development of the mammalian heart.
Assessing Treatment Efficacy in Outcome Studies of Sex Offenders

Because of the enormous human and financial costs society incurs as a result of sexual crimes, any reduction in the recidivism of sex offenders caused by treatment is very worthwhile. Although treatment can be valuable if this reduction is small, the reduction must nevertheless be real. Real effects are statistically significant differences between treated and untreated subjects in controlled studies. In general, statistical significance is a necessary criterion for clinical and economic significance. In the field of sex offender treatment, it is likely to be a sufficient condition as well. In the view of the authors, the effectiveness of treatment in reducing sex offender recidivism has not yet been scientifically demonstrated. To demonstrate the effectiveness of sex offender treatment, more well-controlled outcome research is required that can be evaluated with meta-analytic techniques.
Male and Female Perceptions of Women as Managers: A- Constructive Replication

30 male and 36 female undergraduates completed the Attitude to Women Managers Scale, indicating their own views and how they felt members of the opposite sex would respond to the scale. Women had significantly more positive attitudes than men. Women's attitudes were significantly more positive than men felt they would be. However, men's attitudes were not as negative as women expected them to be. The results suggest that men and women misperceive each others' attitudes and that this is not improving women's efforts to enter managerial ranks.
Material Parameters for Electrostriction.

Electrostriction is often described by a phenomenological tensor relating a material’s deformation to an applied electric field. However, this tensor is not a material parameter; for deformable, weakly compressible materials (e.g., elastomers), the field‐induced deformations depend strongly upon boundary conditions. A different approach that relates the deformation to material properties as well as boundary conditions is required. In this article, we describe a linear theory which introduces five material parameters governing electrostriction: the relative dielectric constant, e0, two derivatives of the dielectric constant tensor, a1 and a2, Young’s modulus, Ey and Poisson’s ratio, ν. Knowledge of these parameters and appropriate boundary conditions allow one to predict field‐induced deformations for arbitrary configurations. We demonstrate an experimental procedure for measuring deformations and permittivity changes, from which the parameters a1 and a2 may be extracted (e0, ν, and Ey can be measured by a.
Near-Optimal Mosaic Selection for Rotating and Zooming Video Cameras

Applying graph-theoretic concepts to solve computer vision problems makes it not only trivial to analyze the complexity of the problem at hand, but also existing algorithms from the graph-theory literature can be used to find a solution. We consider the challenging tasks of frame selection for use in mosaicing, and feature selection from Computer Vision, and Machine Learning, respectively, and demonstrate that we can map these problems into the existing graph theory problem of finding the maximum independent set. For frame selection, we represent the temporal and spatial connectivity of the images in a video sequence by a graph, and demonstrate that the optimal subset of images to be used in mosaicing can be determined by finding the maximum independent set of the graph. This process of determining the maximum independent set, not only reduces the overhead of using all the images, which may not be significantly contributing in building the mosaic, but also implicitly solves the “camera loop-back” problem. For feature selection, we conclude that we can apply a similar mapping to the maximum independent set problem to obtain a solution. Finally, to demonstrate the efficacy of our frame selection method, we build a system for mosaicing, which uses our method of frame selection.
Identifying Locally Interesting Motifs for Exploration of Scatter Plot Matrices

Scatter plots are effective diagrams to visualize distributions, clusters and correlations in two-dimensional data space. For highdimensional data, scatter plot matrices can be formed to show all two-dimensional combinations of dimensions. Several previous approaches for exploration of large scatter plot spaces have focused on ranking and sorting scatter plot matrices based on global patterns. However, often local patterns are of interest for scatter plot exploration. We present a preliminary idea to explore the scatter plot space by identifying significant local patterns (also called motifs in this work). Based on certain clustering algorithms and image-based descriptors, we identify and group a set of similar local candidate motifs in a large scatter plot space.
Feature extraction for human activity recognition on streaming data

An online recognition system must analyze the changes in the sensing data and at any significant detection; it has to decide if there is a change in the activity performed by the person. Such a system can use the previous sensor readings for decision-making (decide which activity is performed), without the need to wait for future ones. This paper proposes an approach of human activity recognition on online sensor data. We present four methods used to extract features from the sequence of sensor events. Our experimental results on public smart home data show an improvement of effectiveness in classification accuracy.
Using Appearance-Based Hand Features for Dynamic RGB-D Gesture Recognition

Gesture recognition using RGB-D sensors has currently an important role in many fields such as human-computer interfaces, robotics control, and sign language recognition. However, the recognition of hand gestures under natural conditions with low spatial resolution and strong motion blur still remains an open research question. In this paper we propose an online gesture recognition method for multimodal RGB-D data. We extract multiple hand features with the assistance of body and hand masks from RGB and depth frames, and full-body features from the skeleton data. These features are classified by multiple Extreme Learning Machines on the frame level. The classifier outputs are then modeled on the sequence level and fused together to provide the final classification results for the gestures. We apply our method on the ChaLearn 2013 gesture dataset consisting of natural signs with the hand diameters in the images around 20-40 pixels. Our method achieves an 85% recognition accuracy with 20 gesture classes and can perform the recognition in real-time.
Early Life Exposure to Antibiotics and the Subsequent Development of Eczema, Wheeze, and Allergic Sensitization in the First 2 Years of Life: The KOALA Birth Cohort Study

OBJECTIVES. Antibiotic exposure in early life may be associated with atopic disease development either by interfering with bacterial commensal flora or by modifying the course of bacterial infections. We evaluated early life exposure to antibiotics and the subsequent development of eczema, wheeze, and allergic sensitization in infancy. METHODS. Information on antibiotic use in the first 6 months and eczema and wheeze until age 2 was collected by repeated questionnaires in 2764 families participating in the KOALA (Child, Parent and Health: Lifestyle and Genetic Constitution [in Dutch]) Birth Cohort Study in the Netherlands. Antibiotic intake was evaluated both as maternal antibiotic use during breastfeeding and infant oral medication. Venous blood samples taken from 815 infants at 2 years of age were analyzed for total and specific immunoglobulin E against common food and inhalant allergens using a radioallergosorbent test. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for confounding factors. RESULTS. During the first 2 years, eczema was present in 32% of all infants, recurrent wheeze in 11%, and prolonged wheezing in 5%. At 2 years old, 27% of children were sensitized against ≥1 allergen. At 6 months old, 11% had been exposed to antibiotics through breast milk and 20% directly through medication. The risk for recurrent wheeze, and prolonged wheeze was higher in infants directly exposed to antibiotics through medication, also after excluding from the analyses children who wheezed in the same period as an antibiotic had been used (avoiding reverse causation). Antibiotic use through breastfeeding was associated with recurrent wheeze, but prolonged wheeze was not. Eczema and sensitization were not associated with antibiotic exposure. CONCLUSIONS.We demonstrated that early antibiotic use preceded the manifestation of wheeze but not eczema or allergic sensitization during the first 2 years of life. Different biological mechanisms may underlie the etiology of wheeze compared with eczema or sensitization. Antibiotic exposure through breastfeeding enhanced the risk for recurrent wheeze, but this needs further confirmation.
NUP214-ABL1-mediated cell proliferation in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia is dependent on the LCK kinase and various interacting proteins

The NUP214-ABL1 fusion protein is a constitutively active protein tyrosine kinase that is found in 6% of patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and that promotes proliferation and survival of T-lymphoblasts. Although NUP214-ABL1 is sensitive to ABL1 kinase inhibitors, development of resistance to these compounds is a major clinical problem, underlining the need for additional drug targets in the sparsely studied NUP214-ABL1 signaling network. In this work, we identify and validate the SRC family kinase LCK as a protein whose activity is absolutely required for the proliferation and survival of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells that depend on NUP214-ABL1 activity. These findings underscore the potential of SRC kinase inhibitors and of the dual ABL1/SRC kinase inhibitors dasatinib and bosutinib for the treatment of NUP214-ABL1-positive T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In addition, we used mass spectrometry to identify protein interaction partners of NUP214-ABL1. Our results strongly support that the signaling network of NUP214-ABL1 is distinct from that previously reported for BCR-ABL1. Moreover, we found that three NUP214-ABL1-interacting proteins, MAD2L1, NUP155, and SMC4, are strictly required for the proliferation and survival of NUP214-ABL1-positive T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells. In conclusion, this work identifies LCK, MAD2L1, NUP155 and SMC4 as four new potential drug targets in NUP214-ABL1-positive T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Indoor air quality control for energy-efficient buildings using CO2 predictive model

In this paper, an intelligent control system for indoor air quality in energy-efficient buildings is proposed. The goal of intelligent air quality control for energy-efficient buildings is to maintain the indoor CO2 concentration in the comfort zone with a minimum amount of energy consumption. In this study, the CO2 concentration is used as the indicator of indoor air quality and a CO2 predictive model is utilized to forecast the indoor CO2 concentration. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is applied to derive the optimal ventilation rate. As compared with the traditional ON/OFF ventilation control system, the performance of the proposed intelligent control system has demonstrated its advantage in terms of energy savings. A case study and corresponding simulation results are detailed in the paper.
SHORT COMMUNICATION INTERNEURONES MEDIATING THE ESCAPE REACTION OF THE MARINE MOLLUSC CLIONE LIMACINA

Neural mechanisms underlying the escape reaction have been extensively studied for over 20 years in many species of animals belonging to several different phyla (for a review, see Eaton, 1984). Among molluscs, the escape reaction has been most thoroughly studied in Tritonia. In this animal a strong mechanical or chemical stimulus applied to the posterior part of the body evokes swimming (for a review, see Getting, 1983; Getting and Dekin, 1985). Electrophysiological experiments on the isolated nervous system revealed that neurones constituting the central pattern generator (CPG) for swimming were strongly depolarized in response to sensory stimulation and that this depolarization caused rhythmic activity in the CPG. However, attempts to identify command neurones mediating the escape reaction in Tritonia have failed (Getting, 1983). This paper deals with the escape reaction in another gastropod mollusc, Clione limacina (subclass Opistobranchia, order Pterapoda). We have been able to identify some of the interneurones involved in this animal's escape reaction. Clione swims using rhythmic movements of two wings, which are controlled by the locomotor CPG located in the pedal ganglia. The CPG can generate the locomotor rhythm (fictive swimming) in vitro, i.e. after isolation of the pedal ganglia from the rest of the nervous system, and the neuronal organization of the CPG has been analyzed (Arshavsky etal. 1985a-c; Satterlie, 1985, 1989). The CPG consists of two groups of interneurones (7 and 8) controlling various groups of wing motoneurones, including two large cells, 1A and 2A, which innervate the dorsal and ventral wing muscles, respectively (Arshavsky etal. 1985a,b). Locomotor activity is not continuous in freely swimming Clione: periods of locomotor activity (lasting 1-3 min) usually alternate with periods of inactivity during which the animal sinks passively; this results in 'vertical migrations' (Litvinova and Orlovsky, 1985). The effects of tactile stimulation depend on the phase of vertical migration in which the stimulus is applied. In a passive animal,
A Switching Frequency Optimized Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) Scheme for Cascaded Multilevel Inverters

This paper presents a novel switching frequency optimized space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) scheme for cascaded multilevel inverters. The proposed SVPWM is developed in a α′β′ coordinate system, in which the voltage vectors have only integer entries and the absolute increment of coordinate values between adjacent vectors is equal to dc-bus voltage of power cells (1 pu). The new SVPWM scheme is built with three categories of switching paths. During each switching path, the change of one phase voltage is limited in 1 pu. This contributes to decrease the number of commutations of switches. The proposed SVPWM scheme is validated on a 7-level cascaded inverter and the results show that it significantly outperforms traditional SVPWM schemes in terms of decreasing the number of switch commutations.
A methodology for implementing highly concurrent data objects

A concurrent object is a data structure shared by concurrent processes. Conventional techniques for implementing concurrent objects typically rely on critical sections; ensuring that only one process at a time can operate on the object. Nevertheless, critical sections are poorly suited for asynchronous systems: if one process is halted or delayed in a critical section, other, nonfaulty processes will be unable to progress. By contrast, a concurrent object implementation is lock free if it always guarantees that some process will complete an operation in a finite number of steps, and it is wait free if it guarantees that each process will complete an operation in a finite number of steps. This paper proposes a new methodology for constructing lock-free and wait-free implementations of concurrent objects. The object's representation and operations are written as stylized sequential programs, with no explicit synchronization. Each sequential operation is atutomatically transformed into a lock-free or wait-free operation using novel synchronization and memory management algorithms. These algorithms are presented for a multiple instruction/multiple data (MIMD) architecture in which n processes communicate by applying atomic read, write, load_linked, and store_conditional operations to a shared memory.
Clinical Significance of Lymph Node Dissection in Patients with Muscle-Invasive Upper Urinary Tract Transitional Cell Carcinoma Treated with Nephroureterectomy

We investigated the value of lymph node dissection in patients with cN0 muscle-invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract (UUT-TCC). Medical records of 152 patients with cN0 muscle-invasive UUT-TCC, who underwent nephroureterectomy between 1986 and 2005, were reviewed. Sixty-three patients (41.4%) underwent lymph node dissection. The median number of lymph nodes harvested was 6 (range, 1 to 35), and from these, lymph node involvement was confirmed in 9 patients (14.3%). Locoregional recurrence (LR) and disease-recurrence (DR) occurred in 29 patients and 63 patients, respectively. Fifty-five patients (36.2%) had died of cancer at the last follow-up. The number of lymph nodes harvested was associated with the reduction of LR (χ2trend=6.755, P=0.009), but was not associated with DR (χ2trend=1.558, P=0.212). In the survival analysis, N stage (P=0.0251) and lymph node dissection (P=0.0073) had significant influence on LR, but not on DR or disease-specific survival. However, the number of lymph nodes harvested did not affect LR-free, DR-free, or disease-specific survival. We conclude that lymph node dissection may improve the control of locoregional cancer, as well as staging accuracy, in cN0 muscle-invasive UUT-TCC, but that it does not clearly influence survival.
Children who do not respond to early literacy instruction: A longitudinal study across kindergarten and first grade

L'objectif de cet article est de resumer une etude traitant de la receptivite des enfants a une intervention pedagogique d'alphabetisation dans les classes de maternelle et de premiere annee du primaire. Les differentes strategies d'apprentissage sont enumerees et expliquees.
Les partenariats public-privé dans les infrastructures de télécommunications à haut et très haut débit : les enjeux concurrentiels

Le deploiement d’infrastructures de telecommunications a haut et a tres haut debit ne peut se faire dans de nombreuses situations sans une implication des collectivites publiques. Celle-ci prend la forme de contrats de partenariat public-prive induisant souvent un soutien financier public a l’entreprise contractante. Ce soutien, couple avec le monopole de fait confere tout au long de la duree du contrat, est susceptible d’induire des distorsions de concurrence. L’objectif de cet article est d’analyser de quelle facon la Commission europeenne controle les projets qui lui sont notifies au titre de l’encadrement des aides publiques et de quelle facon elle impose des conditions de nature a limiter les risques concurrentiels tant dans la decision de contracter dans le cadre d’un partenariat public-prive qu’en matiere d’acces des tiers a l’infrastructure ainsi edifiee et exploitee.
Eliciting Values Reflections by Engaging Privacy Futures Using Design Workbooks

Although "privacy by design" (PBD)? embedding privacy protections into products during design, rather than retroactively? uses the term "design" to recognize how technical design choices implement and settle policy, design approaches and methodologies are largely absent from PBD conversations. Critical, speculative, and value-centered design approaches can be used to elicit reflections on relevant social values early in product development, and are a natural fit for PBD and necessary to achieve PBD's goal. Bringing these together, we present a case study using a design workbook of speculative design fictions as a values elicitation tool. Originally used as a reflective tool among a research group, we transformed the workbook into artifacts to share as values elicitation tools in interviews with graduate students training as future technology professionals. We discuss how these design artifacts surface contextual, socially-oriented understandings of privacy, and their potential utility in relationship to other values levers.