Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aldose Reductase Is an Obligatory Mediator of the Late Phase of Ischemic Preconditioning

Abstract— Aldose reductase (AR), a member of the aldo-keto reductase superfamily, has been shown to metabolize toxic aldehydes generated by lipid peroxidation, suggesting that it may serve as an antioxidant defense. To investigate its role in the late phase of ischemic preconditioning (PC), conscious rabbits underwent 6 cycles of 4-minute coronary occlusion/4-minute reperfusion. Twenty-four hours later, there was a marked increase in AR protein and activity and in the myocardial content of sorbitol, a unique product of AR catalysis. Pretreatment with N&ohgr;-nitro-l-arginine, a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, or chelerythrine, a protein kinase C inhibitor (both given at doses that block late PC in this model), prevented the increase in AR protein 24 hours later, demonstrating that ischemic PC upregulates AR via nitric oxide- and protein kinase C-dependent signaling pathways. The AR-selective inhibitors tolrestat and sorbinil prevented AR-mediated accumulation of sorbitol and abrogated the infarct-sparing effect of late PC, demonstrating that enhanced AR activity is necessary for this cardioprotective phenomenon to occur. Inhibition of AR did not affect infarct size or the myocardial accumulation of the lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxy trans-2-nonenal (HNE) in nonpreconditioned rabbits. The accumulation of HNE was inhibited by late PC, and this effect was abrogated by sorbinil. Taken together, these results establish AR as an essential mediator of late PC. Furthermore, the data suggest that myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury is due in part to the generation of lipid peroxidation products and that late PC diminishes this source of injury by upregulating AR.
The origin and evolution of lignin biosynthesis.

SUMMARY Lignin, a phenolic polymer derived mainly from hydroxycinnamyl alcohols, is ubiquitously present in tracheophytes. The development of lignin biosynthesis has been considered to be one of the key factors that allowed land plants to flourish in terrestrial ecosystems. Lignin provides structural rigidity for tracheophytes to stand upright, and strengthens the cell wall of their water-conducting tracheary elements to withstand the negative pressure generated during transpiration. In this review, we discuss a number of aspects regarding the origin and evolution of lignin biosynthesis during land plant evolution, including the establishment of its monomer biosynthetic scaffold, potential precursors to the lignin polymer, as well as the emergence of the polymerization machinery and regulatory system. The accumulated knowledge on the topic, as summarized here, provides us with an evolutionary view on how this complex metabolic system emerged and developed.
The Great Inflation of the 1970s

Was the high inflation of the 1970s mostly due to incomplete information about the structure of the economy (an unavoidable mistake as suggested by Orphanides, 2000)? Or, to weak reaction to expected inflation and/or excessive policy activism that led to indeterminacies (a policy mistake, a scenario suggested by Clarida, Gali and Gertler, 2000)? We study this question within the NNS model with policy commitment and imperfect information, requiring that the model have satisfactory overall empirical performance. We find that both explanations do a good job in accounting for the great inflation. Even with the commonly used specification of the interest policy rule, high and persistent inflation can occur following a significant productivity slowdown if policymakers significantly and persistently underestimate "core" inflation.
Study of the 2013 Electronic Governance Practices: Controllership Instrument for Decision-Making in the Management of the Brazilian States

The general objective of this work is to identify a set of electronic governance practices for the executive power of the Brazilian States and Federal District, to measure and relate them to the economic and social development of the respective States and Federal District. In order to achieve this objective, the authors first used bibliographic research to build the theoretical platform about electronic governance and controllership in public management and the identification of electronic governance practices; next, a measurement and monitoring index of the development of electronic governance â€“ 2013 is proposed. The Pearson correlation test was performed in order to verify the correlation between electronic governance and economic and social development indexes â€“ GDP AND GDP per capita â€“ and HDI and Gini, respectively. Lastly, the 2009 electronic governance index was used for comparison purposes. By comparing the results of the correlation and the percentage of the implemented practices, it was then concluded that the States with the highest GDP, the highest HDI and the lowest Gini are those which have the highest number of implemented electronic governance practices.
Influences of Shared Decision Making on School and Classroom Activity: Conversations with Five Teachers

In this article I report 5 teachers' understandings of how teacher participation in school decision making has affected school and classroom activity. The primary effects of broadened decision making were found in school changes in student assessment, curriculum frameworks, use of technology, and working with students who do not conform to school norms. The teachers reported little knowledge of effects on classroom practices. The strong school-level consequences and weak classroom-level consequences are discussed in terms of teachers' beliefs about their own competence, the persistence of the culture of teacher isolation, prevailing forms of politesse in schools, professional educators' uncertainty about what makes up excellence in schools, and information and decision-making overload.
Umbilical Cord Wharton’s Jelly Repeated Culture System: A New Device and Method for Obtaining Abundant Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Bone Tissue Engineering

To date, various types of cells for seeding regenerative scaffolds have been used for bone tissue engineering. Among seed cells, the mesenchymal stem cells derived from human umbilical cord Wharton’s jelly (hUCMSCs) represent a promising candidate and hold potential for bone tissue engineering due to the the lack of ethical controversies, accessibility, sourced by non-invasive procedures for donors, a reduced risk of contamination, osteogenic differentiation capacities, and higher immunomodulatory capacity. However, the current culture methods are somewhat complicated and inefficient and often fail to make the best use of the umbilical cord (UC) tissues. Moreover, these culture processes cannot be performed on a large scale and under strict quality control. As a result, only a small quantity of cells can be harvested using the current culture methods. To solve these problems, we designed and evaluated an UC Wharton’s jelly repeated culture device. Using this device, hUCMSCs were obtained from the repeated cultures and their quantities and biological characteristics were compared. We found that using our culture device, which retained all tissue blocks on the bottom of the dish, the total number of obtained cells increased 15–20 times, and the time required for the primary passage was reduced. Moreover, cells harvested from the repeated cultures exhibited no significant difference in their immunophenotype, potential for multilineage differentiation, or proliferative, osteoinductive capacities, and final osteogenesis. The application of the repeated culture frame (RCF) not only made full use of the Wharton’s jelly but also simplified and specified the culture process, and thus, the culture efficiency was significantly improved. In summary, abundant hUCMSCs of dependable quality can be acquired using the RCF.
Negotiating Difference in Post-conflict Northern Ireland: An Analysis of Approaches to Integrated Education

In this article, the author critically examines a variety of approaches to multicultural education noted in integrated (mixed Catholic and Protestant) schools in Northern Ireland and considers their implications in the context of the wider debate around multiculturalism. She argues that educators should challenge sectarianism, but should also resist the essentialization of group identities.
On diversity measures for fuzzy one-class classifier ensembles

One-class classification became one of the most challenging research areas of the contemporary machine learning. Contrary to canonical task here we have only information about a single class at our disposal. Therefore more sophisticated methodologies, that are able to handle all the nuisances of the target distribution are required. Fuzzy logic seems an attractive solution to handle imprecision and to naturally grade the influence of the input data on the decision boundary. In this paper we propose to create a committee of fuzzy one-class support vector machines based on the random subspace method and diversity-based ensemble pruning technique. We investigate if there is a difference when using crisp or fuzzy diversity measures - and if so, then which of them are preferable for fuzzy one-class ensembles. The experimental investigations carried on a wide selection of benchmark datasets and backed-up with a statistical test of significance proves that selecting a proper diversity measure for fuzzy one-class ensemble has a crucial impact on its overall quality.
Agile Paging: Exceeding the Best of Nested and Shadow Paging

Virtualization provides benefits for many workloads, but the overheads of virtualizing memory are not universally low. The cost comes from managing two levels of address translation - one in the guest virtual machine (VM) and the other in the host virtual machine monitor (VMM) - with either nested or shadow paging. Nested paging directly performs a two-level page walk that makes TLB misses slower than unvirtualized native, but enables fast page tables changes. Alternatively, shadow paging restores native TLB miss speeds, but requires costly VMM intervention on page table updates. This paper proposes agile paging that combines both techniques and exceeds the best of both. A virtualized page walk starts with shadow paging and optionally switches in the same page walk to nested paging where frequent page table updates would cause costly VMM interventions. Agile paging enables most TLB misses to be handled as fast as native while most page table changes avoid VMM intervention. It requires modest changes to hardware (e.g., demark when to switch) and VMM policies (e.g., predict good switching opportunities). We emulate the proposed hardware and prototype the software in Linux with KVM on x86-64. Agile paging performs more than 12% better than the best of the two techniques and comes within 4% of native execution for all workloads.
Optimal Allocation of FACTS Devices in Power Systems: A Multi-Objective Optimization Approach with Consideration of Wind Generation Integration

The presence of FACTS devices in the modern power systems nowadays is obvious for its important contributions, however, it is essential to get the optimal allocation for the installed FACTS devices in a given system to acquire the best outcomes regarding the required objective of such installations. In this paper, the optimal allocation of various FACTS devices is investigated using a number of optimization algorithms in standard IEEE 30 bus system, taking in consideration the penetration of wind generators into the system. The objective function of the optimization is reducing the generation cost and power losses as a multi-objective function. Several optimization algorithms are involved in this optimization process, including traditional and recent optimization algorithms. The outcomes of these optimization algorithms are compared, deducting the most efficient algorithm for optimal allocation of FACTS devices regarding the other optimization algorithms.
STDP-based Growing Neural Gas for Hierarchical Data Representation and Neural Networks Fusion

Research in neurophysiology led to greater comprehension of the mechanisms involved in synaptic plasticity and a better understanding of the connections between neurons. That knowledge has been transposed to the field of ANNs (Artificial Neural Networks), leading to more incredible advancements in computational models, especially concerning the second generation of Neural Networks, which roughly coincides with “Deep Learning. ”. Our research focuses on third-generation, spiking Neural Networks, and the motivation behind this work is creating neural networks able to communicate with each other. This work presents a novel, unsupervised, bio-inspired, third-generation Machine Learning algorithm based on a growing network of sparsely connected Artificial Spiking Neurons. Key points of this model are his growing topology, his interpretability, and the integration of spiking neurons. Models generated with this algorithm can hierarchically represent temporal data and can be merged to create a super-model called a Neural Cloud.
Supporting teachers' professional development in a developing country through practice-based inquiry and distance learning: some key issues

Abstract This article highlights seven issues the authors encountered when they took on a very difficult task, namely of seeking, through ‘low tech’ print-based distance learning materials, to promote the professional development of experienced but untrained teachers in Namibia. The authors attempt to do this through the advocacy of an action research approach. There has been no tradition of action research in Namibia, indeed those within the country who promote this approach (the Minister of Higher Education) prefer the term Practice-based Inquiry. Moreover, the support systems that can normally be called into service in a developed country to support teachers in a distance learning initiative of this nature are virtually absent ‘on the ground’ in Namibia. The central question is can untrained teachers, themselves with a rudimentary formal education, be encouraged through a distance learning mode, to develop professionally by critically reflecting system strongly advocates ‘social reconstruction’?
On the development of a modular external-pipe crawling omni-directional mobile robot

In this paper, the development of a novel omni-directional inspection robot is presented, which is capable of delivering NDT sensors to surfaces on straight pipe, pipe bends and branch connections, overcoming the limitation that a test area over a pipe bend or past a branch or other obstruction raise. The lightweight crawler is attached on the outside of the pipe to the thin metal strip that holds the insulation in place without deforming the insulation through the application of a force controlled clamping mechanism while performing longitudinal, circumferential and arbitrary movements. In order to be able to cope with a range of pipe, materials and coverings, to allow for future modifications and to be able to incorporate a wide range of NDT inspection equipment, a modular approach was considered for the design of the mobile robot. Either two different inspection sensors may be mechanically incorporated into the chassis of the crawler and deployed at the same time or just a double-sided acting sensor (e.g. X-Ray).
Workaholism and Its Correlates: A Study of Academicians

This study examined the relationship of the personality factors (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) with each of the three workaholism components i.e. working compulsively, working excessively and combined workaholics. As the study is of exploratory in nature, a sample of 145 academicians was drawn from the two universities of Jammu region (India), namely, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra (India) and the University of Jammu, Jammu (India). The internal consistencies of each dimension of Dutch Work Addiction Scale (DUWAS) ranged from 0.883 to 0.837 and Cronbach's α reliability coefficient value of scale- measuring Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness to experience- ranged from 0.75 to 0.83, which is within the specified limit. Three dependent variables, namely, combined workaholics, working compulsively workaholics and working excessively workaholics were regressed with age, monthly salary, family type, family size, marital status; whereas extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience vary individually. The study has identified neuroticism and conscientiousness as the significant personality traits causing the negative impact on all the three dimensions of workaholics. Whereas, salary is negatively correlated and has a significant impact on the two dimensions of workaholism, namely, combined workaholics and working compulsively workaholics. However, the designation is significant variable and is positively affecting the working compulsively workaholics.
Molecular and cell-biological mechanisms of antigen cross-presentation

Cross-priming serves to activate cytotoxic T lymphocytes for immune defense against viruses and tumors and plays an important role in vaccinations. Only certain dendritic cell (DC) subsets can cross-present. Several cell surface markers have been described that more or less specifically and sensitively characterize these subsets. The cell-biological mechanism(s) why a DC subset can cross-present are less clear. Theoretically, the task of cross-presentation can be divided into several mechanistic steps: (1) Antigen uptake by various endocytosis mechanisms, (2) Intracellular antigen routing into distinct organelles including the crossing of organelle membranes, (3) Antigen processing into peptides, (4) Peptide loading onto MHC molecules, and (5) Transport of these complexes to the cell surfaces for presentation to T cells. Each of these steps is dependent on numerous parameters, not only the DC subtype, but also the nature of the antigen or the presence of further signals that impact DC function or signify the presence of danger or infection. This research topic contains 10 articles by leading experts in the field of antigen presentation that cover our current knowledge on the molecular mechanisms underlying cross-presentation (Chopin et al., 2012; Compeer et al., 2012; Harriff et al., 2012; Kreer et al., 2012; Kroczek and Henn, 2012; Murshid et al., 2012; Neefjes and Sadaka, 2012; Saveanu and van Endert, 2012; Thacker and Janssen, 2012; Wagner et al., 2012). The authors describe the influence of endocytosis receptors or heat shock proteins for antigen uptake, the intracellular logistics of antigen routing, membrane translocation mechanisms and proteases, the transcriptional DC regulation, the chemokine-mediated crosstalk between cross-presenting DCs and the cytotoxic T cells to be cross-primed and immune-escape mechanisms of pathogens.
How psychology as a discipline can profit from focusing psychological research on the individual

Comments on an article The Human Being in Society: Psychology as a Scientific Discipline by David Magnusson (2011). This article provides such a much needed rationale for a unifying psychological theory by defining the requirements of a holistic, dynamic, and systemic theory of human individuals to inform psychology as a field and psychological research. The current article debates the question is if and under which circumstances the between-person structure of changes can be identical to within-person changes. This debate highlights that what we believe to know about the relation between two variables such as age and intelligence most often stems from between-person data distributions and may or—more likely—may not describe the relation between two variables within the individual members of the population examined. Similarly, when psychological data of dyads are examined (e.g., Martin et al., 2009), most often between-person distributions of variables in groups of women and men are related, but not within-dyad relations between the same variables. In both cases, a focus on the individual or the individual dyad would necessarily lead to different research questions and research designs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
(Leveled) Fully Homomorphic Signatures from Lattices

In a homomorphic signature scheme, given a vector of signatures ~σ corresponding to a dataset of messages ~ μ, there is a public algorithm that allows to derive a signature σ′ for message μ′ = f(~ μ) for any function f . Given the tuple (σ′, μ′, f) anyone can publicly verify the result of the computation of function f . Along with the standard notion of unforgeability for signatures, the security of homomorphic signatures guarantees that no adversary is able to make a forgery σ∗ for μ∗ 6= f(~ μ). We construct the first homomorphic signature scheme for evaluating arbitrary functions. In our scheme, the public parameters and the size of the resulting signature grows polynomially with the depth of the circuit representation of f . Our scheme is secure in the standard model assuming hardness of finding Small Integer Solutions in hard lattices. Furthermore, our construction has asymptotically fast verification which immediately leads to a new solution for verifiable outsourcing with pre-processing phase. Previous state of the art constructions were limited to evaluating polynomials of constant degree, secure in random oracle model without asymptotically fast verification. ∗Email: sergeyg@mit.edu. Supported by Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (NSERC-CGSD3). †Email: vinodv@mit.edu.
Expression in Drosophila of Tandem Amyloid β Peptides Provides Insights into Links between Aggregation and Neurotoxicity*

Background: Investigating the kinetics of Aβ peptide aggregation in vivo is vital to understanding Alzheimer disease. Results: Linking two Aβ40 or Aβ42 peptides together increases their aggregation rates in Drosophila, but only increases the neurotoxicity of Aβ42. Conclusion: Increasing the rate of aggregation of Aβ increases amyloid deposition but not necessarily toxicity. Significance: The toxicity of Aβ depends on the mechanism and not just the rate of amyloid formation. The generation and subsequent aggregation of amyloid β (Aβ) peptides play a crucial initiating role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD). The two main isoforms of these peptides have 40 (Aβ40) or 42 residues (Aβ42), the latter having a higher propensity to aggregate in vitro and being the main component of the plaques observed in vivo in AD patients. We have designed a series of tandem dimeric constructs of these Aβ peptides to probe the manner in which changes in the aggregation kinetics of Aβ affect its deposition and toxicity in a Drosophila melanogaster model system. The levels of insoluble aggregates were found to be substantially elevated in flies expressing the tandem constructs of both Aβ40 and Aβ42 compared with the equivalent monomeric peptides, consistent with the higher effective concentration, and hence increased aggregation rate, of the peptides in the tandem repeat. A unique feature of the Aβ42 constructs, however, is the appearance of high levels of soluble oligomeric aggregates and a corresponding dramatic increase in their in vivo toxicity. The toxic nature of the Aβ42 peptide in vivo can therefore be attributed to the higher kinetic stability of the oligomeric intermediate states that it populates relative to those of Aβ40 rather than simply to its higher rate of aggregation.