Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Postmodern Geopolitics? The European Union Eyes Russia

Abstract The discourse on EU–Russia relations amongst practitioners, think-tank experts, journalists and academics has congealed around a postmodern–modern binary. It is frequently argued that whereas Russia is caught up in a ‘modern’ framework of fixed territory, national identity and traditional geopolitics, the European Union is driven by a ‘postmodern’ spatial mindset that transcends these ‘backward’ values. This article argues that the EU's supposed postmodern geopolitics remains enmeshed in a very modern temporality—a consciousness of time that valorises the present over the past. It also detects a problematic disillusion with the postmodern and questions its implicit normativity.
Multiple Roles of Toll-Like Receptor 4 in Colorectal Cancer

Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling has been implicated in the inflammatory responses in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). Such inflammatory signals mediate complex interactions between commensal bacteria and TLRs and are required for IEC proliferation, immune response, repair, and homeostasis. The upregulation of certain TLRs in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues suggests that TLRs may play an essential role in the prognosis of chronic and inflammatory diseases that ultimately culminate in CRC. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the literature on the involvement of the TLR pathway in the initiation, progression, and metastasis of CRC, as well as inherited genetic variation and epigenetic regulation. The differential expression of TLRs in epithelial cells has also been discussed. In particular, we emphasize the physiological role of TLR4 in CRC development and pathogenesis, and propose novel and promising approaches for CRC therapeutics with the aid of TLR ligands.
Anatamopathological spectrum of tauopathies

The presence of tau‐positive intraneuronal filamentous inclusions with or without additional inclusions in glial cells has been recognised as a major neuropathological feature in a significant group of neurodegenerative diseases, which are described as tauopathies. In one category of such diseases, the neuronal inclusions occur in association with extracellular deposition of a second aggregated protein (secondary tauopathies), whereas in another, the filamentous inclusions composed of tau are the sole neuropathological abnormality (primary tauopathies). Genetic studies of tauopathies in general, and in frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 in particular, have significantly contributed to our knowledge about the pathogenesis not only of rare hereditary conditions but also of other more common diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy. © 2003 Movement Disorder Society
In Defense of Sincerity Detection

In many countries, tipping is customary following restaurant meals. The practice is sometimes described as a way to promote prompt and courteous service. This makes sense when diners patronize the same restaurants repeatedly, since a server could provide poor service on future visits to those who failed to tip in the past. But when people dine at restaurants they never expect to visit again, this tit-for-tat logic breaks down. Yet even under these circumstances, people tip at about the usual rate (Bodvarsson and Gibson 1994). If asked why, they sometimes explain that they would feel bad at the thought of the server’s disappointment about not receiving a tip. Sympathy and other moral emotions described by David Hume (1978/1740) and Adam Smith (1966/1759) motivate people not only to leave tips in out-of-town restaurants but also to incur a host of other costs they could easily avoid. Such emotions pose a challenge to evolutionary biologists, who have long stressed the primacy of narrow self-interest in Darwinian selection. In a 1987 article, I argued that natural selection might have favored moral sentiments because of their capacity to facilitate solutions to one-shot prisoner’s dilemmas and other commitment problems. Jack Hirshleifer offered a similar argument in his 1987 essay, ‘The Emotions as Guarantors of Threats and Promises’. I developed the argument more extensively in my 1988 book, Passions Within Reason, and revised it further in my 2004 book, What Price the Moral High Ground? In their article in this issue, Don Ross and Paul Dumouchel call this argument the HFT, which they characterize as ‘logically incoherent’ but empirically salvageable. They focus specifically on
360 x 360 Mosaic with Partially Calibrated 1D Omnidirectional Camera

We focus on composition of mosaic images using a 360 x 360 mosaic camera. Such a camera is obtained by moving a 1D omnidirectional camera on a circular path. This 1D camera captures a set of light rays in one plane, which should be tangent to the circular path of the camera center and perpendicular to the plane in which this circle lies. However, in practical realizations, this condition does not need to be fulfilled exactly. There are three possible rotations of the 1D omnidirectional camera in space. In this paper we investigate one of them, the in-plane rotation. We show that this rotation breaks the epipolar rectification of the mosaic images and we show that only one point correspondence is required to rectify the images. We also examine the effect of non-square pixels of the CCD cameras used for a practical realization of the 360 x 360 mosaic camera.
Culture and globalisation: a Latin American challenge

Based on our research, observations and experience mainly in the Latin American region, this article will address four questions. First, what is the importance of globalisation as a pressure for change for different countries and regions? Second, why is organisational culture an increasingly strategic issue with a direct impact on the success or failure of global enterprises, alliances, privatisations, mergers and acquisitions? Third, is there a way to analyse cultural differences to reach cultural integration as a competitive advantage? Finally, what are the roles and competencies HRM professionals should concentrate on in order to manage cultural change and integration in their organisations?
Bioactive compounds from the leaves of Eugenia uniflora

From the MeOH extract of the leaves of Eugenia uniflora eight compounds were isolated, including one sterol, β-sitosterol ( 1); two triterpenes, betulinic acid ( 2) and centelloside C ( 8); three flavonoids, myricetrin ( 3), myricetin 3-O-(4’’-O-galloyl)-αL-rhamnopyranoside ( 4), and myricetin 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside ( 5); and two megastigmanes, actinidioionoside (6), and (6 S,9 R)-roseoside ( 7). All the isolated compounds were obtained for the first time from thi s plant. The structures of isolated compounds were determined through a combination of spectroscopic and chemical analyses. All of the isolated compounds were evalua ted for their antifungal, antibacterial, anti-leishmania, DPPH radical-scaven ging and cytotoxic activities by means of MTT assay. Compounds 3 and 4 had antibacterial activity against S. aureus. Compounds 3‒5 showed potent IC 50 in the DPPH radical scavenging activity. Compounds 4 and 5 exhibited moderate growth inhibitory activity towa rd A549.
Asking about trauma: the experiences of psychological therapists in early intervention services

Research has indicated that child abuse and childhood trauma has a causal role in the development of psychotic symptoms. Early Intervention (EI) services have been developed to work with individuals during their first experience of psychosis. This study aimed to explore whether EI psychological therapists were asking about abuse and their experiences with regard to this, as it has been demonstrated that in general professionals are reluctant to ask. Seven in-depth interviews were carried out with EI therapists. The data were analysed using Grounded Theory. The emerging categories were (the core category) “personal model of psychosis”, “commitment”, “service culture” and “process of asking”. The issue of “why ask” about abuse was more pertinent than “how to ask” about abuse, to these EI psychological therapists. The professionals in this research had a psychological, formulation-driven, trauma-based model of psychosis. A theory was developed from the data that indicates that having the skills to ask about abuse is not enough without consistent and developed personal beliefs about psychosis, and a service culture which is also consistent and supportive.
Illumination chromaticity estimation using inverse-intensity chromaticity space

Existing color constancy methods cannot handle both uniform colored surfaces and highly textured surfaces in a single integrated framework. Statistics-based methods require many surface colors, and become error prone when there are only few surface colors. In contrast, dichromatic-based methods can successfully handle uniformly colored surfaces, but cannot be applied to highly textured surfaces since they require precise color segmentation. In this paper, we present a single integrated method to estimate illumination chromaticity from single/multi-colored surfaces. Unlike the existing dichromatic-based methods, the proposed method requires only rough highlight regions, without segmenting the colors inside them. We show that, by analyzing highlights, a direct correlation between illumination chromaticity and image chromaticity can be obtained. This correlation is clearly described in "inverse-intensity chromaticity space", a new two-dimensional space we introduce. In addition, by utilizing the Hough transform and histogram analysis in this space, illumination chromaticity can be estimated robustly, even for a highly textured surface. Experimental results on real images show the effectiveness of the method.
Changing the Model: Working with Underprepared Students.

When Louise talks about her problems learning basic skills, she is, without knowing it, also saying something important about the programs offered students like her. Researchers have proposed theories; politicians have funded new programs; teachers at all levels have tried to help. Yet in America today, the number of functionally illiterate adults is still growing—23 million according to the Department of Education (1983) or as many as 60 million according to Jonathan Kozol (1984). Like their students, teachers across the land find themselves “getting more and more less motivated. ”
CUMULATIVE EFFECTS OF COMMUNAL AND INDUSTRIAL NOISE ON CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM

The aim of the present study was to assess the cumulative effects of communal and industrial noise on blood pressure, blood lipid fractions and coronary artery disease in workers exposed to noise in working and living environment. The studied group included 180 workers employed in metal industry exposed to industrial noise levels exceeding 80dB and to communal noise levels exceeding 70dB. The control group consisted od 90 workers that have never worked or lived in a noisy environment. The studied and control group are similar with regard to factors other than noise exposure that can affect the cardiovascular system (sex, age, obesity, smoking habits, positive family history) These results indicate that communal and industrial noise could be possible contributing factors in the development of arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, coronary risk factors (hypercholesterolaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia), vasospastic and atherosclerotic changes on arterial blood vessels of low extremitas.
MOS Prediction of SPIHT Medical Images Using Objective Quality Parameters

Correlating objective and subjective quality assessment parameters of compressed digital medical images has been an open challenging problem in tele-radiology. Establishing this correlation is crucial in determining the upper limit of image compression threshold for preserving diagnostically relevant information based on mean opinion score (MOS). This paper presents a suitable method for finding correlation between PSNR and Structural Similarity (SSIM) index objective image quality parameters with subjective MOS for SPIHT [4] compressed medical images based on six independent observers. The suggested method can be potentially used for deciding upper compression thresholds for medical images. It is found that correlation coefficient (CC) between the PSNR and MOS for CT scan and MRI images are 0.979 and 0.960 respectively whereas their corresponding values are 0.868 and 0.955 considering SSIM. Further, MOS prediction models have been proposed considering PSNR and SSIM which closely match with the subjective MOS
ToxEdit Improving Synthetic XML Data Generation through Document Analysis

Database schemas are very helpful in many settings, such as query optimization, data integration, synthetic data generation, etc. Particularly on the Web, where there is an abundance of data, schemas are invaluable for allowing the query and integration of disparate sources. Moreover, several Web data sources come with no schema at all. In this work, we explore efﬁcient extraction of probabilistic XML schemas and propose a generic, customizable implementation of schema extraction and modiﬁcation that is usable across application areas. This would make it easier to build application-speciﬁc tools that include automatic schema creation. Such a generic implementation can also be a key component within a more comprehensive model management approach, where the mapping returned by a such tool may be used as input to operations to merge schemas and compose mappings[10].
Analyzing Market-Based Resource Allocation Strategies for the Computational Grid

In this paper, the authors investigate G-commerce—computational economies for controlling resource allocation in computational Grid settings. They define hypothetical resource consumers (representing users and Grid-aware applications) and resource producers (representing resource owners who “sell” their resources to the Grid). The authors then measure the efficiency of resource allocation under two different market conditions—commodities markets and auctions—and compare both market strategies in terms of price stability, market equilibrium, consumer efficiency, and producer efficiency. The results indicate that commodities markets are a better choice for controlling Grid resources than previously defined auction strategies.
Loss of functionally unique species may gradually undermine ecosystems

Functionally unique species contribute to the functional diversity of natural systems, often enhancing ecosystem functioning. An abundance of weakly interacting species increases stability in natural systems, suggesting that loss of weakly linked species may reduce stability. Any link between the functional uniqueness of a species and the strength of its interactions in a food web could therefore have simultaneous effects on ecosystem functioning and stability. Here, we analyse patterns in 213 real food webs and show that highly unique species consistently tend to have the weakest mean interaction strength per unit biomass in the system. This relationship is not a simple consequence of the interdependence of both measures on body size and appears to be driven by the empirical pattern of size structuring in aquatic systems and the trophic position of each species in the web. Food web resolution also has an important effect, with aggregation of species into higher taxonomic groups producing a much weaker relationship. Food webs with fewer unique and less weakly interacting species also show significantly greater variability in their levels of primary production. Thus, the loss of highly unique, weakly interacting species may eventually lead to dramatic state changes and unpredictable levels of ecosystem functioning.
Carriage of Rickettsia spp., Coxiella burnetii and Anaplasma spp. by endemic and migratory wild birds and their ectoparasites in Cyprus.

Three hundred and sixty-eight (368) species of birds (local, endemic and migratory) have been recorded in Cyprus. According to a rough estimate, nearly a quarter of a billion migratory birds fly through the island during the two periods of migration, thus supporting the role of the island as a stopover of great importance. Despite the fact that the role of migratory birds in the transmission of pathogens from the endemic source to Europe has been recognized, the connection between birds, dispersal of ticks infected with medically important pathogens and outbreaks of certain zoonoses remains a hypothesis [1].
Creating markets for eco‐labelling: are consumers insignificant?

The proliferation of voluntary certification and labelling schemes for environmentally and socially responsible production is often seen as driven by companies and consumer demand. Through a careful examination of the initiation and spread of such initiatives in the fishery and forestry sectors, this paper challenges a rational–economic perspective that sees the spread of nonstate governance schemes primarily as a market-driven phenomenon. Drawing on a political consumerism perspective, the paper argues that transnational environmental group networks and their targeting of firms were key to the emergence of nonstate eco-labelling schemes, and that most firms decided to support or participate in such schemes only after intensive environmental group pressure. The paper opposes the view that nonstate governance challenges traditional state authority, by showing that states, through public procurement policies and support, contributed to create markets for forestry and fishery labelling in many countries. Although some states have been more sceptical of fishery labelling, largely because of the way fishery resources are managed, they have come to accept it as a helpful supplement to public rules and regulations.
Identification and Biotechnological Application of Novel Regulatory Genes Involved in Streptomyces Polyketide Overproduction through Reverse Engineering Strategy

Polyketide belongs to a family of abundant natural products typically produced by the filamentous soil bacteria Streptomyces. Similar to the biosynthesis of most secondary metabolites produced in the Streptomyces species, polyketide compounds are synthesized through tight regulatory networks in the cell, and thus extremely low levels of polyketides are typically observed in wild-type strains. Although many Streptomyces polyketides and their derivatives have potential to be used as clinically important pharmaceutical drugs, traditional strain improvement strategies such as random recursive mutagenesis have long been practiced with little understanding of the molecular basis underlying enhanced polyketide production. Recently, identifying, understanding, and applying a novel polyketide regulatory system identified from various Omics approaches, has become an important tool for rational Streptomyces strain improvement. In this paper, DNA microarray-driven reverse engineering efforts for improving titers of polyketides are briefly summarized, primarily focusing on our recent results of identification and application of novel global regulatory genes such as wblA, SCO1712, and SCO5426 in Streptomyces species. Sequential targeted gene manipulation involved in polyketide biosynthetic reguation synergistically provided an efficient and rational strategy for Streptomyces strain improvement. Moreover, the engineered regulation-optimized Streptomyces mutant strain was further used as a surrogate host for heterologous expression of polyketide pathway.
Contemporary Mathematics Polynomial evaluation and message authentication

The cryptographic literature contains many provably secure highspeed authenticators. Some authenticators use n multiplications for length-n messages; some authenticators have the advantage of using only about n/2 multiplications. Some authenticators use n variables for length-n messages; some authenticators have the advantage of using only 1 variable. This paper, after reviewing relevant polynomial-evaluation algorithms, introduces the first authenticator that combines these advantages.
Characteristics and outcome of patients in whom reperfusion with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator fails: results of the Thrombolysis and Angioplasty in Myocardial Infarction (TAMI) I trial.

To examine the outcome of patients with persistent coronary artery occlusion despite treatment with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), the clinical course of 96 patients with persistent occlusion after 90 min of therapy was evaluated. All patients underwent cardiac catheterization 90 min after initiation of intravenous t-PA. Immediate coronary angioplasty (PTCA) was attempted when the infarct-related artery failed to reperfuse unless the vessel was technically unsuitable or the infarct was thought to be small. No baseline differences could be found between these 96 patients and 288 patients who achieved perfusion with the same protocol. Although patients with and without successful perfusion after t-PA had similar clinical courses before cardiac catheterization, those without perfusion had more complications (ventricular fibrillation, severe bradycardia, hypotension) during catheterization. PTCA achieved reperfusion with less than 50% residual stenosis in 73% of the 86 patients in whom it was attempted, while 16% were left with a high-grade (greater than 50%) residual stenosis and PTCA failed in 11%. Mortality was highest in the nine patients with complete PTCA failure (44%), compared with a 6% mortality in the 63 patients with an insignificant residual stenosis after PTCA and a 14% mortality in the 14 patients with reperfusion, but a greater than 50% residual stenosis after PTCA. In 10 patients with small infarcts (six), unsuitable anatomy (two), or "spontaneous" drug induced (but later) opening before contemplated PTCA (two), PTCA was not attempted and no mortality occurred. The in-hospital reocclusion rate after successful PTCA was 29%, despite the use of heparin and antiplatelet agents. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Oral antioxidant treatment partly improves integrity of human sperm DNA in infertile grade I varicocele patients

Abstract Infertile males with varicocele have the highest percentage of sperm cells with damaged DNA, compared to other infertile groups. Antioxidant treatment is known to enhance the integrity of sperm DNA; however, there are no data on the effects in varicocele patients. We thus investigated the potential benefits of antioxidant treatment specifically in grade I varicocele males. Twenty infertile patients with grade I varicocele were given multivitamins (1500 mg L-Carnitine, 60 mg vitamin C, 20 mg coenzyme Q10, 10 mg vitamin E, 200 μg vitamin B9, 1 μg vitamin B12, 10 mg zinc, 50 μg selenium) daily for three months. Semen parameters including total sperm count, concentration, progressive motility, vitality, and morphology were determined before and after treatment. In addition, sperm DNA fragmentation and the amount of highly degraded sperm cells were analyzed by Sperm Chromatin Dispersion. After treatment, patients showed an average relative reduction of 22.1% in sperm DNA fragmentation (p = 0.02) and had 31.3% fewer highly degraded sperm cells (p = 0.07). Total numbers of sperm cells were increased (p = 0.04), but other semen parameters were unaffected. These data suggest that sperm DNA integrity in grade I varicocele patients may be improved by oral antioxidant treatment.