Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Allelic Exclusion of the TCR α-Chain Is an Active Process Requiring TCR-Mediated Signaling and c-Cbl1

Phenotypic allelic exclusion at the TCRα locus is developmentally regulated in thymocytes. Many immature thymocytes express two cell surface α-chain species. Following positive selection, the vast majority of mature thymocytes and peripheral T cells display a single cell surface α-chain. A posttranslational mechanism occurring at the same time as positive selection and TCR up-regulation leads to this phenotypic allelic exclusion. Different models have been proposed to explain the posttranslational regulation of the α-chain allelic exclusion. In this study, we report that allelic exclusion is not regulated by competition between distinct α-chains for a single β-chain, as proposed by the dueling α-chain model, nor by limiting CD3 ζ-chain in mature TCRhigh thymocytes. Our data instead favor the selective retention model where the positive selection signal through the TCR leads to phenotypic allelic exclusion by specifically maintaining cell surface expression of the selected α-chain while the nonselected α-chain is internalized. The use of inhibitors specific for Lck and/or other Src kinases indicates a role for these protein tyrosine kinases in the signaling events leading to the down-regulation of the nonselectable α-chain. Loss of the ubiquitin ligase/TCR signaling adapter molecule c-Cbl, which is important in TCR down-modulation and is a negative regulator of T cell signaling, leads to increased dual α-chain expression on the cell surface of double-positive thymocytes. Thus, not only is there an important role for TCR signaling in causing α-chain allelic exclusion, but differential ubiquitination by c-Cbl may be an important factor in causing only the nonselected α-chain to be down-modulated.
The Development of a Management Training Program Using Adlerian Theoretical Principles

This study was designed to determine whether participation in an eight hour training program based on Adlerian theoretical principles would influence managerial attitudes. The effects of the training curriculum on three attitudinal dimensions were investigated: leadership style, acceptance of self and others and level of dogmatism. It was hypothesized that Adlerian training would increase the development of managerial human relations competence. Eighty-one managers participated in the study. The experimental group, comprised of 40 line managers, received eight hours of Adlerian training conducted in two one-half day sessions. The training was both didactic and experiential in content and contained modules on lifestyles/management styles, conflict resolution, effective communication strategies and understanding personality dynamics. The control group, comprised of 41 managers, did not receive training but participated in the pre-testing and post-testing process. Managers completed The Leadership Opinion Questionnaire, The Acceptance of Self and Others Questionnaire, and The Rokeach Dogmatism Scale, prior to the first training session and again two weeks after the final training session. A one-way analysis of covariance revealed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups on both the Consideration and Structure dimensions of the Leadership Opinion Questionnaire. This suggests that managers in the experimental group demonstrated a more participative and less authoritarian management style two weeks after training was completed. No significant differences were found between the two groups on managers' level of dogmatism or acceptance of self and others.
Dealing with three uncorrelated criteria by many-objective genetic fuzzy systems

Multi-objective genetic learning of Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems (FRBSs) is a very prolific investigation trend. The use of more optimization objectives to cover more aspects of the fuzzy model is very convenient, but also leads to a many-objective problem that is intractable with classical algorithms. This paper proposes three distinct categories of interpretability measures that can be used for optimization. Moreover, it introduces a new interpretability measure for fuzzy tuning. The proposed metric is implemented into a state-of-the-art algorithm that includes many-objectives techniques which allow the use of more objectives without substantial degradation. The new algorithm is tested in a set of real-world regression problems with successful results.
A Multiple-Criteria Approach for Forecasting Stock Price Direction : Nonlinear Probability Models with Application in S & P 500 Index

This paper presents a forecasting approach, in which stock price direction in the next day can be predicted based on nonlinear probability models and technical indicators. The proposed method incorporates various indicators into Logit, Probit, and Extreme Value models permitting a decision maker to forecast the direction of stock movements more efficiently. The utilized indicators include Moving Average, Momentum, Relative Strength Index, Price Channel Index, Moving Average Convergence Divergence and Random Fluctuation. The application of the proposed approach is investigated in a cease problem where real-word data of Standard & Poor's 500 is utilized to forecast the stock market. The results reveal that Extreme Value model has a better performance in comparison with the other models.
On the Configuration of Non-Functional Properties in Operating System Product Lines

Reaching a good separation, maintainability and configurability of non-functional concerns like performance, timeliness or dependability is a frequently expressed but still unrealisable hope of using AOP technology. Non-functional properties have the tendency to be emergent, that is, they have no concrete representation in the code, but appear through the complex interactions between software components in the whole. This makes it very hard, if not impossible at all, to express them in a configurable manner by objects or even aspects. The architecture of a software system, however, is known to have a high impact on some non-functional properties. Thus, it may be possible to reach configurability of nonfunctional software properties by the means of reconfigurable software architectures. This paper discusses the connection between non-functional and architectural properties in the domain of operating system product lines.
Ground Deformation Detection Using China's ZY-3 Stereo Imagery in an Opencast Mining Area

Detection and extraction of mining-induced ground deformation can be used to understand the deformation process and space distribution and to estimate the deformation laws and trends. This study focuses on the application of ground deformation detection and extraction combined with digital surface model (DSM), derived from China’s ZiYuan-3 (ZY-3) satellite stereo imagery and the advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer global digital elevation model (ASTER GDEM) data. A district covering 200 km2 around the west open-pit mine in Fushun of Liaoning Province, a city located in Northeast China, is chosen as the study area. Regional overall deformation, typical region deformation, and topographical profile deformation are extracted to analyze the distribution and the link between the regional ground deformations. The results show that the mean elevation has already increased by 3.12 m from 2010 to 2015; 71.18% of this area is deformed, and 22.72% of this area has an elevation variation of more than 10 m. Four districts of rising elevation and three districts of descending elevation are extracted. They are deformed with distinct elevation and volume changes. The total area with distinct rising elevation (>15 m) is about 8.44 km2, and the change in volume is 2.47 × 108 m3. However, the total area with distinct descending elevation (<−10 m) is about 6.12 km2, and the change in volume is 2.01 × 108 m3. Moreover, the deformation in the local mining area has expanded to the surrounding areas. Experiments in the mining area demonstrate that ground deformation, especially acute deformation such as large fractures or landslides, can be monitored using DSMs derived from ZY-3 satellite stereo images.
Residual petroleum in sediments reduces the bioavailability and rate of reductive dechlorination of Aroclor 1242

Residual petroleum hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are frequently found together at contamination sites. Intrinsic reductive dechlorination of PCBs at these sites is highly variable. Sediments of Silver Lake (MA), which contain ∼6.2% petroleum hydrocarbons, did not support PCB dechlorination in laboratory assays. Removal of petroleum components from Silver Lake sediments by solvent extraction did not alter their inability to support dechlorination. When other sediments known to support PCB dechlorination were inoculated with PCB-dechlorinating organisms and amended with incremental increases of pure petroleum hydrocarbons (0−4 wt %/wt) or 6.2% petroleum hydrocarbons extracted from Silver Lake sediments, a reduction in both the rate and extent of PCB dechlorination occurred. The maximal rate of dechlorination observed in these assays appears to depend singularly on the aqueous-phase PCB concentrations. A single-regression equation relating maximal PCB dechlorination rates to the PCB conce.
Efficient design of optimal transmitter for MIMO systems using decision feedback receivers

The design of optimum transmission precoder for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communication systems equipped with zero-forcing decision feedback (ZF-DF) receivers usually requires perfect knowledge of the channel state information (CSI) at both the transmitter and the receiver. In wireless communication systems, however, it is often difficult to provide sufficiently timely and accurate CSI feedback from the receiver to the transmitter for such designs to be practically viable. In this paper, we consider the transmission precoder design for a MIMO communication system having M transmitter antennas and N receiver antennas (M < N) in a wireless link in which the channels are assumed to be flat fading and possibly correlated. We assume that full CSI is known at the receiver, but only the first- and second-order statistics of the channels are available at the transmitter. The goal in this paper is to seek an efficient design of the optimal precoder for such a MIMO system by minimizing the total transmitting power of the ZF-DF receiver subject to a constraint on the average arithmetic mean square error (MSE). Utilizing majorization theory, we transform this non-convex optimization problem into a convex geometrical programming problem, which can then be efficiently solved using an interior point method. In the case of the MIMO random channel being uncorrelated, a closed-form solution to the optimization problem has also been obtained.
Robust focus ranging

Depth maps obtained from focus ranging can have numerous errors and distortions due to edge bleeding, feature shifts, image noise, and field curvature. An improved algorithm that examines an initial high depth-of-field image of the scene to identify regions susceptible to edge bleeding and image noise is given. Focus evaluation windows are adapted to local image content and optimize the tradeoff between spatial resolution and noise sensitivity. An elliptical paraboloid field curvature model is used to reduce range distortion in peripheral image areas. Spatio-temporal tracking compensates for image feature shifts. The result is a sparse but reliable depth map. <<ETX>>
Customized Cloud Service Quality: Approaching Pareto-Efficient Outcomes in Concurrent Multiple-Issue Negotiations

To date, cloud service consumers usually cannot obtain customized quality guarantees according to their specific business constraints. However, on-demand service provisioning, a large number of services with multiple quality parameters, and a plethora of consumers prevent manual negotiations that are typically conducted in face-to-face meetings. Therefore, the design and realization of appropriate mechanisms for an automated negotiation of service level agreements plays a major role for cloud service markets to emerge. Moreover, from a business point of view, the negotiating parties also have specific demands on the performance of such mechanisms and want to obtain the best result that is achievable while not revealing their private information. In this paper, we propose a negotiation mechanism for the envisioned scenario, that allows to approach efficient results despite private information, and evaluate its performance.
Stress tolerance and adjustment among working and non-working women: A comparative study

Employment has a positive influence on the well-being of women. Meanwhile, many women find themselves doing double duty ’in the workplace and at home, which contribute to their experiencing role conflict ’and role overload ’The work stress, lack of social support and stressful work environments often lead to physical and psychological hazards or even contribute to worsening of existing health problems. The present study is an attempt to find out whether employment has any influence on the well-being of woman by the way she encounters stressful situations and how she adjust to it. The level of stress tolerance and adjustment of working and non-working women were compared for this purpose. The sample of the study constituted of 30 working and 30 non-working women selected randomly from Ernakulam district, Kerala. The tools used for the study were stress tolerance scale and Adjustment inventory. The scores obtained were analysed using t-test. The results showed that working and non-working women differed significantly in their level of stress tolerance and adjustment. Non-working women were found to be more stress tolerant than working women while working women showed better adjustment than non-working women. The study revealed that, employment has a great impact on stress tolerance and adjustment among women. Women will have to be trained to be financially independent and self sufficient. But this opportunity to work must be with dignity, which is reflected in equal opportunities.
From fruit fly to bedside: translating lessons from Drosophila models of neurodegenerative disease

Purpose of review Fly models have been developed for a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, and the field is beginning to harness the power of Drosophila genetics to dissect pathways of disease pathogenesis and identify targets for therapeutic intervention. In this review, we emphasize the most recent accomplishments and chart the potential rewards in translating lessons from Drosophila models to clinical therapeutics. Recent findings The conservation of human disease genes in the Drosophila genome forms the basis for several recent investigations of the normal biological functions of genes implicated in neurodegenerative disease. In addition, transgenic approaches continue to expand the list of diseases modeled in Drosophila that now includes Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and several spinocerebellar ataxias. Studies based on these models suggest that protein folding and degradation pathways play an important role in Parkinson's disease and the polyglutamine repeat disorders, and that kinases and apoptotic pathways may modulate neurodegeneration in tauopathies. Summary Ongoing genetic studies with Drosophila neurodegenerative disease models promise to enhance our understanding of disease pathogenesis and generate target lists for future investigational research and drug development. The next challenge will be distilling a growing number of possible targets into a shortlist for fast‐track drug design and clinical trials. With the advent of neurodegenerative disease models, the fruit fly is rapidly assuming a unique niche in bench to bedside research.
Selection of Reference Genes for Gene Expression Studies Related to Intramuscular Fat Deposition in Capra hircus Skeletal Muscle

The identification of suitable reference genes is critical for obtaining reliable results from gene expression studies using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) because the expression of reference genes may vary considerably under different experimental conditions. In most cases, however, commonly used reference genes are employed in data normalization without proper validation, which may lead to incorrect data interpretation. Here, we aim to select a set of optimal reference genes for the accurate normalization of gene expression associated with intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition during development. In the present study, eight reference genes (PPIB, HMBS, RPLP0, B2M, YWHAZ, 18S, GAPDH and ACTB) were evaluated by three different algorithms (geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper) in two types of muscle tissues (longissimus dorsi muscle and biceps femoris muscle) across different developmental stages. All three algorithms gave similar results. PPIB and HMBS were identified as the most stable reference genes, while the commonly used reference genes 18S and GAPDH were the most variably expressed, with expression varying dramatically across different developmental stages. Furthermore, to reveal the crucial role of appropriate reference genes in obtaining a reliable result, analysis of PPARG expression was performed by normalization to the most and the least stable reference genes. The relative expression levels of PPARG normalized to the most stable reference genes greatly differed from those normalized to the least stable one. Therefore, evaluation of reference genes must be performed for a given experimental condition before the reference genes are used. PPIB and HMBS are the optimal reference genes for analysis of gene expression associated with IMF deposition in skeletal muscle during development.
Selecting the best valid scopes for wireless dissemination of location-dependent data

Mobility of user poses new challenges to research on spatial data access. Spatial data cached in the mobile client may become invalid because of the movement of the client. To increase the reusability of the cached data, we can identify the valid scope of the spatial data (i.e., the spatial area within which the data is known to be valid) and save the valid scope as well as the data in the cache. In this paper, we study issues on the dissemination of spatial data and valid scopes in a wireless environment. We investigate methods for representing valid scopes and their impacts on system performance. A generic representation method, called the invalidation-efficiency-based (IEB) method, is proposed. Simulation experiments are conducted to compare the performance of IEB with other representation methods. Result shows that IEB is superior to the other methods because it tries to balance the precision and overhead of valid scopes.
A novel combination algorithm based on chip equalizer and multipath interference cancellation

High-speed packet transmission is an important characteristic in the 3/sup rd/ generation mobile communication system. In order to enhance the performance of the high-speed packet transmission in low spreading factor, a new structure of chip equalizer (LMMSE-MPIC) is presented in this paper, which combines the linear chip equalizer with nonlinear multipath interference cancellation together. The algorithm (PC-LMMSE) is proposed based on pilot cancellation. Theoretic analysis and computer simulations show that LMMSE-MPIC is superior to conventional Rake and chip equalizer and effectively improves the performance of the WCDMA system in low spreading factor.
¡No cierren nuestra escuela! farm worker mothers as cultural citizens in an educational community mobilization effort

ABSTRACT Mexican immigrant farm-worker mothers’ class, race, citizenship status, and jurisdictional status of their town in a Northern California community rendered them invisible. However, when the school board decided to close the elementary school the mothers mobilized. Drawing on these mothers’ fototestimonios we examine how they, as cultural citizens, resisted local practices of educational inequity. They wanted to ensure an education for their children. The fototestimonios reveal how farm-worker mothers: (1) negotiated as a collective with the school board; (2) sought negotiation and schooling alternatives; and (3) expressed cultural citizenship through collective efforts to be included within the US polity.
ViPEr-HiSS : A Case for Storage Design ToolsLeana Golubchik

The viability of large-scale multimedia applications, depends on the performance of storage systems. Providing cost-eeective access to vast amounts of video, image, audio, and text data, requires (a) proper connguration of storage hierarchies as well as (b) eecient resource management techniques at all levels of the storage hierarchy. The resulting complexities of the hardware/software co-design in turn contribute to diiculties in making accurate predictions about performance, scalability, and cost-eeectiveness of a storage system. Moreover, poor decisions at design time can be costly and problematic to correct in later stages of development. Hence, measurement of systems after they have been developed is not a desirable approach to predicting their performance. What is needed is the ability to evaluate the system's design while there are still opportunities to make corrections to fundamental design aws. In this paper we describe the framework of ViPEr-HiSS, a tool which facilitates design, development, and subsequent performance evaluation of designs of multimedia storage hierarchies by providing mechanisms for relatively easy experimentation with (a) system conngurations as well as (b) application-and media-aware resource management techniques.
Seasonal variation in suicide and homicide: a question of consistency

Summary Seasonal or monthly fluctuations in suicides and homicides were analysed using US mortality data for the years 1969–78, using periodic regression analysis. The results were generally consistent (year-to-year) over the 10-year period. The pattern for suicide was distinctly seasonal: it was above average all spring and below average all winter. For homicides, the pattern was more monthly, with July–September and December being above average times and January–June being below average.
Written on the body: biometrics and identity

This chapter explores that the type of questions that can be raised in relation to biometrics as a new type of technology affecting how analysts perceive of identity. It seeks to articulate the significance of the fact that biometrics puts the body center stage in matters of identification and information technology. In december 1997, a New Jersey company demonstrated a new client identification system for automated teller machine”s to an audience at the Banking Administration Institute”s Conference in New Orleans. “Sentri has provided biometrics with one of the most difficult scenarios to date " it requires acquisition in an outdoors environment. Biometrics appears not so different from older and existing forms of establishing and verifying personal identity in the deliverance of all kinds of social services and securing economic exchanges. In view of comments and distinctions like the, the question must be raised in what sense, then, biometrics is about identity.