Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of the Effector-specifying Domain of Rac Involved in NADPH Oxidase Activation (*)

Production of microbicidal oxidants by phagocytic leukocytes requires activation of a latent NADPH oxidase by the coordinated assembly of a membrane-associated flavocytochrome b, with three cytosolic components, p47, p67, and the low molecular weight GTP-binding protein Rac. Rac1 and Rac2 have 92% sequence identity and are both active in supporting the oxidase, while CDC42Hs, the closest relative to Rac with 70% sequence identity, only weakly supports oxidase activation in vitro. We have used CDC42Hs as a foil to identify residues in Rac that are critical for oxidase activation. Most of the divergent sequences of CDC42Hs could be incorporated into Rac-CDC42Hs chimeric proteins without affecting cell-free NADPH oxidase activity. However, incorporation of the amino-terminal segment of CDC42Hs (residues 1-40), which differs from Rac1 by only four residues (positions 3, 27, 30, and 33), resulted in a marked loss of oxidase activation capacity. Point mutagenesis studies showed that this was due to changes at residues 27 and 30, but not residues 3 and 33. Conversely, incorporation of the amino terminus of Rac1 (residues 1-40) into CDC42Hs increased its activity to that of Rac1, indicating that this terminus contains the effector-specifying domain of Rac. Taken together, these studies show that the difference in the activity between CDC42Hs and Rac1 is due entirely to differences in amino acids at position 27 and 30.
Emotion behaviours in mothers with childhood histories of aggression and/or social withdrawal and their children : an intergenerational, high-risk study

Aspects of emotional competence, defined as "emotion behaviours," have a profound impact on children's social functioning, particularly on the development of prosocial behaviours. The mother-child relationship provides a significant context in which to understand how emotion behaviours are expressed and regulated. The present study examined the contribution of maternal childhood histories of aggression and/or social withdrawal to the prediction of child emotion behaviours, maternal expressions of emotion, and the development of children's prosocial skills. Mothers with childhood histories of aggression and/or social withdrawal from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, a longitudinal, intergenerational study, participated with their 9- to 13-year old children. Dyads (N = 49) discussed conflicts rated as problematic in their relationship. Emotion behaviours, measured as cues to emotion, and dimensions of emotion regulation, were coded using the Emotion Behaviour Coding Scheme. Results partially supported the hypotheses that maternal childhood histories of aggression and/or withdrawal contribute to the prediction of children's emotion behaviours, specifically dimensions of emotion regulation. Furthermore, results suggest that mothers may socialize children's dimensions of emotion regulation via their own emotion behaviours. Finally, children's emotion behaviours predicted specific prosocial skills (empathy, assertiveness, and self-control). Taken together, findings contribute to the current literature, highlighting the importance of examining emotion behaviours and their impact on children's prosocial skills. The influence of maternal risk status and socialization (via emotional expressions) on children's emotion behaviours is also underscored.
The Out-of-Body Experience: Disturbed Self-Processing at the Temporo-Parietal Junction

Folk psychology postulates a spatial unity of self and body, a “real me” that resides in one’s body and is the subject of experience. The spatial unity of self and body has been challenged by various philosophical considerations but also by several phenomena, perhaps most notoriously the “out-of-body experience” (OBE) during which one’s visuo-spatial perspective and one’s self are experienced to have departed from their habitual position within one’s body. Here the authors marshal evidence from neurology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuroimaging that suggests that OBEs are related to a failure to integrate multisensory information from one’s own body at the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). It is argued that this multisensory disintegration at the TPJ leads to the disruption of several phenomenological and cognitive aspects of self-processing, causing illusory reduplication, illusory self-location, illusory perspective, and illusory agency that are experienced as an OBE.
Parameter design principle of the arm inductor in modular multilevel converter based HVDC

This paper describes two distinctive functions of the arm inductor in the modular multilevel converters (MMC): suppressing the circulating current and limiting the fault current rise rate. Based on the equality of the instantaneous power, the characteristics of the circulating current are analyzed and demonstrated that it flows through the three phase of the converter in negative sequence at double-fundamental frequency. The relationship between the amplitude of the circulating current and the value of the arm inductor is discussed, and the first principle to design the parameters is proposed. The second principle to design the parameters is based on the calculation of the fault current rise rates, with different values of the arm inductors. A detailed PSCAD/EMTDC model of MMC is developed. Steady state simulation proves the existence of the circulating current at double fundamental frequency. Simulation results show a close agreement with the calculation of the circulating current, with different arm inductor parameters. The fault between the DC terminals of the converter is investigated; the results verify the above parameter design principles of the arm inductor.
Requestrodeo: Client Side Protection against Session Riding

The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is dedicated to finding and fighting the causes of insecure software. The OWASP AppSec conferences bring together application security experts, researchers and practitioners from all over the world. Industry and academia can meet to discuss open problems and new solutions in application security. This report bundles the papers accepted for presentation at the refereed papers track of the OWASP Europe 2006 conference.
Improved Algorithms for Point Placement

Signal Integrity plays a crucial role in high performance systems. Designers spend signiicant amounts of time in deciding correct circuit topologies which yield acceptable noise and delay margins. Our work on signal integrity driven placement focuses on algorithms which obey signal integrity toplogy constraints. Given a set of chips, the associated pin-to-pin delay requirements and a layout board, the principal concern is to achieve a placement of the chips on the board such that the delay constraints are satissed. In this paper we abstract this problem as that of of embedding a graph on a grid. The edges of the graph denote bounding distances between the vertices. The board is a rectangular matrix containing keep-outs, rooms and free estate. We present an algorithm based on Graph Sparsiication that is theoretically sound and easy to implement. The fundamental contribution of this paper is the concept of Binary Grid Splitting which exploits certain structures in the input to produce algorithms that are useful in practice. Our results quantify the running time of the algorithm in terms of an inherent property of the input graph called its placement radius.
Association of Physical Activity in Childhood and Early Adulthood With Carotid Artery Elasticity 21 Years Later: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

Background Decreased arterial elasticity is a risk factor for several cardiovascular outcomes. Longitudinal data on the effect of physical activity in youth on adult arterial elasticity are limited. The aim of this study was to determine the long‐term effects of physical activity in children and young adults on carotid artery elasticity after 21 years of follow‐up. Methods and Results Participants were 1417 children (aged 9 to 15 years) and 999 young adults (aged 18 to 24 years) from the prospective Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Participants had questionnaire measures of leisure‐time physical activity available from 1986 and ultrasound‐derived indices of carotid artery elasticity measured in 2007. Carotid artery elasticity indices were distensibility (%/10 mm Hg), Young's elastic modulus (kPa), and stiffness index (unitless). Physical activity at age 18 to 24 years was directly associated with distensibility (β=0.068, P=0.014) and inversely with Young's elastic modulus (β=−0.057, P=0.0037) and indirectly with stiffness index (β=−0.050, P=0.0028) 21 years later in males and females. The associations remained after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, systolic blood pressure, serum lipids and insulin, and 21‐year change in physical activity. At age 9 to 15 years, the favorable association, remaining after adjustment, was found in males (distensibility [β=0.097, P=0.010], Young's elastic modulus [β=−0.060, P=0.028], and stiffness index [β=−0.062, P=0.007]) but not in females (P=0.70, P=0.85, and P=0.91, respectively). Conclusions Leisure‐time physical activity in boys and young adults is associated with carotid artery elasticity later in life, suggesting that higher levels of physical activity in youth may benefit future cardiovascular health.
Timing and synchronization for audio/video applications in a converged residential ethernet network

Future residential networks will be converged, i.e., will carry multimedia, data, and voice applications in a single network infrastructure. These networks will have several features to ensure acceptable Quality of Service (QoS) and minimal administration by users. The features include bandwidth reservation, admission control, and network synchronization. The latter is needed mainly to ensure acceptable jitter, wander, and time synchronization performance for the multimedia applications (these are part of the QoS requirements). This paper describes the jitter, wander, and synchronization requirements for time-sensitive audio and video applications. A general scheme for providing network synchronization, which is being considered for Residential Ethernet, is then described, along with several specific approaches.
A population of nicotinic receptors is associated with thalamocortical afferents in the adult rat: Laminal and areal analysis

In the adult rat brain, a prominent population of nicotinic cholinoceptors binds 3H‐nicotine with nanomolar affinity. These receptors are abundant in most thalamic nuclei and in neocortical layers 3/4, which receive a major thalamic input. To test whether cortical nicotinic receptors are associated with thalamocortical afferents, unilateral excitotoxic (N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate) lesions were made in one of four thalamic nuclear groups (anterior, ventral, medial geniculate, or dorsal lateral geniculate) or in temporal cortex. After 1 or 4 weeks of survival, cortical 3H‐nicotine binding was quantified via autoradiography.
The Legacy of the Real Plan and an Alternative Agenda for the Brazilian Economy

Se considera el Plan Real el mas exitoso de los planes de estabilizacion economica que Brasil ha experimentado recientemente en relacion a su principal objetivo economico de reducir y controlar la tasa de inflacion del pais. Mientras el incontrovertible exito del Plan Real es evidenciado por la estabilizacion de precios, el Plan, como un todo, ha sido, en realidad, un fracaso cuando vemos el pobre desempeno economico brasileno durante el periodo del real. Este articulo tiene dos objetivos. Primero, procura analizar las razones del exito del Plan Real (una reduccion y control de la tasa de inflacion) y las razones del fracaso del Plan (bajo crecimiento economico, alto desempleo e inestabilidad macroeconomica en la forma de deficits en el presupuesto fiscal y en la balanza de pagos).
Synergistic activation of human platelets by lysophosphatidic acid and adrenaline.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Platelet reactivity is regulated by various important bioactive and physiologic substances. The objective of this study was to characterize lysophosphatidic acid (LPA)-triggered responses in human platelets. In addition, the effect of LPA was compared with that of other activators and possible synergistic interactions were evaluated. DESIGN AND METHODS LPA-triggered cytosolic Ca(2+) responses were measured using fura-2-loaded platelets in a spectrofluorometer. Furthermore, platelet aggregation and secretion were analyzed in a lumi-aggregometer and protein tyrosine phosphorylation was detected with the Western blot technique. RESULTS LPA dose-dependently increased cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) in platelets. This response involved both influx of extracellular Ca(2+) and release of Ca(2+) from intracellular stores. However, in comparison with other platelet agonists, i.e. thrombin and adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP), LPA was a very weak Ca(2+)-elevating agent. Furthermore, we observed that the LPA-induced rise in [Ca(2+)](i) was markedly suppressed by cyclic nucleotide-elevating agents. In functional studies, LPA failed to stimulate platelet aggregation and secretion. However, in combination with adrenaline, another weak platelet agonist, LPA could induce an irreversible and complete aggregatory response. There was an individual variation in aggregatory response and tyrosine phosphorylation when LPA and adrenaline were combined. These agents induced a powerful response on platelets from some individuals, but had a weak or no effect on others. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS The present study shows, for the first time, that isolated platelets from some healthy blood donors respond synergistically to a combination of LPA and adrenaline. Platelet activation is a key step in distinguishing normal hemostasis from pathologic hemostasis. Increased knowledge about this mechanism might help to predict individual responses and provide new insights into molecular mechanisms responsible for pathologic thrombosis.
Metatranscriptomic and functional metagenomic analysis of methylphosphonate utilization by marine bacteria

Aerobic degradation of methylphosphonate (MPn) by marine bacterioplankton has been hypothesized to contribute significantly to the ocean's methane supersaturation, yet little is known about MPn utilization by marine microbes. To identify the microbial taxa and metabolic functions associated with MPn-driven methane production we performed parallel metagenomic, metatranscriptomic, and functional screening of microcosm perturbation experiments using surface water collected in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. In nutrient amended microcosms containing MPn, a substrate-driven microbial succession occurred. Initially, the addition of glucose and nitrate resulted in a bloom of Vibrionales and a transcriptional profile dominated by glucose-specific PTS transport and polyhydroxyalkanoate biosynthesis. Transcripts associated with phosphorus (P) acquisition were also overrepresented and suggested that the addition of glucose and nitrate had driven the community to P depletion. At this point, a second community shift occurred characterized by the increase in C-P lyase containing microbes of the Vibrionales and Rhodobacterales orders. Transcripts associated with C-P lyase components were among the most highly expressed at the community level, and only C-P lyase clusters were recovered in a functional screen for MPn utilization, consistent with this pathway being responsible for the majority, if not all, of the methane accumulation we observed. Our results identify specific bacterioplankton taxa that can utilize MPn aerobically under conditions of P limitation using the C-P lyase pathway, and thereby elicit a significant increase in the dissolved methane concentration.
Multi-robot SLAM using condensed measurements

In this paper we describe a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) approach specifically designed to address the communication and computational issues that affect multi-robot systems. Our method utilizes condensed measurements to exchange map information between the robots. These measurements can effectively compress relevant portions of a map in a few data. This results in a substantial reduction of both the data to be transmitted and processed, that renders the system more robust and efficient. As documented by our simulated and real world experiments, these advantages come with a very little decrease in accuracy compared to ideal (but not realistic) methods that share the full data among all the robots.
Incremental Maintenance of Generalized Multi-supported Association Rules under Transaction Update and Taxonomy Evolution

Mining generalized association rules has been recognized as a very important topic in data mining. Earlier work on mining generalized association rules ignores the fact that the taxonomy of items would be changed while new transactions are continuously added into the database. In our previous paper, we have proposed a method to solve this problem with uniform minimum support; however, a uniform minimum support assumption would obstruct the discovery of associations on some high value or new items that are more interesting but much less supported than general trends. In this paper, we examine this problem and propose a novel algorithm, called MMAITTE, which can incrementally update the discovered generalized association rules with multiple minimum supports when the taxonomy of items is evolved with incremental transactions. Experimental results show that our algorithm can maintain its performance even in large amounts of incremental transactions and high degree of taxonomy evolution, and is faster than applying the contemporary generalized association mining algorithms to the whole updated database.
Alternative splicing in multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases

Alternative splicing is a general mechanism for regulating gene expression that affects the RNA products of more than 90% of human genes. Not surprisingly, alternative splicing is observed among gene products of metazoan immune systems, which have evolved to efficiently recognize pathogens and discriminate between “self” and “non-self”, and thus need to be both diverse and flexible. In this review we focus on the specific interface between alternative splicing and autoimmune diseases, which result from a malfunctioning of the immune system and are characterized by the inappropriate reaction to self-antigens. Despite the widespread recognition of alternative splicing as one of the major regulators of gene expression, the connections between alternative splicing and autoimmunity have not been apparent. We summarize recent findings connecting splicing and autoimmune disease, and attempt to find common patterns of splicing regulation that may advance our understanding of autoimmune diseases and open new avenues for therapy.
Celecoxib for the prevention of sporadic colorectal adenomas.

BACKGROUND Studies showing that drugs that inhibit cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) reduce the number of colorectal adenomas in animals and patients with familial adenomatous polyposis suggest that COX-2 inhibitors may also prevent sporadic colorectal neoplasia. METHODS We randomly assigned patients who had adenomas removed before study entry to receive placebo (679 patients) or 200 mg (685 patients) or 400 mg (671 patients) of celecoxib twice daily. Randomization was stratified for the use of low-dose aspirin. Follow-up colonoscopies were performed at one and three years after randomization. The occurrence of newly detected colorectal adenomas was compared among the groups with the life-table extension of the Mantel-Haenszel test. RESULTS Follow-up colonoscopies were completed at year 1 in 89.5 percent of randomized patients, and at year 3 in 75.7 percent. The estimated cumulative incidence of the detection of one or more adenomas by year 3 was 60.7 percent for patients receiving placebo, as compared with 43.2 percent for those receiving 200 mg of celecoxib twice a day (risk ratio, 0.67; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.59 to 0.77; P<0.001) and 37.5 percent for those receiving 400 mg of celecoxib twice a day (risk ratio, 0.55; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.48 to 0.64; P<0.001). Serious adverse events occurred in 18.8 percent of patients in the placebo group, as compared with 20.4 percent of those in the low-dose celecoxib group (risk ratio, 1.1; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.9 to 1.3; P=0.5) and 23.0 percent of those in the high-dose group (risk ratio, 1.2; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.0 to 1.5; P=0.06). As compared with placebo, celecoxib was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events (risk ratio for the low dose, 2.6; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 6.1; and risk ratio for the high dose, 3.4; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.5 to 7.9). CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that celecoxib is an effective agent for the prevention of colorectal adenomas but, because of potential cardiovascular events, cannot be routinely recommended for this indication. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00005094 [ClinicalTrials.gov].).
Handbook Of Brand Relationships

Brand relationships are critical because they can enhance company profitability by lowering customer acquisition and retention costs. This is the first serious academic book to offer a psychological perspective on the meaning of and basis for brand relationships, as well as their effects. "The Handbook of Brand Relationships" includes chapters by well-known marketing and psychology scholars on topics related to the meaning, significance, and measurement of brand relationships; the critical connections between consumers and the brand; how brand relationships are formed through both thoughtful and non-thoughtful processes; and how they are built, repaired, and leveraged through brand extensions. An integrative framework introduces the book and summarizes the chapters' key ideas. The handbook also identifies several novel metrics for measuring various aspects of brand relationships, and it includes recommendations for further research.
Sensitivity analysis of VLSI interconnect output signal

Interconnect parameters play an important role in signal propagation in VLSI systems. In the paper we present the sensitivity analysis to parameters of typical on-chip interconnects for the step and ramp response. In the paper we show also the sensitivity to parameters for the threshold crossing time. We compute the output response of the interconnect and the threshold crossing time formulas based on the multiple scales method.
A 3D map augmented photo gallery application on mobile device

This paper proposes a 3D map augmented photo gallery mobile application that allows user to virtually transit from 2D image space to the 3D map space, to expand the field of view to surrounding environments that are not visible in the original image, and to change viewing angles among different global registered images during the image browsing. The processing of images consists of two main steps: in the first step, the client application uploads an image to the GeoImage Engine which extracts the geo-metadata and returns them back to the client; in the second step, the client application requests augmented content from server, and then renders 3D view of images on the screen of mobile devices.