Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Triterpene Saponins Isolated from Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides)

Blue cohosh has been used as a medicinal herb in eastern North America. It was commonly used as traditional medicines for the treatment of menopausal symptoms, rheumatic pain, and as anti-inflammatory remedy. Particularly, extract of blue cohosh roots has been used as anti-inflammatory antipyretic in traditional medicines. In the present study, we investigated the effects of blue cohosh components on the suppressive expression of iNOS or proinflammatory cytokines after the activation of microglia with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The expression of iNOS, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 was determined by western blotting or gene expression. Blue cohosh treatment suppressed the elevation of LPS-induced iNOS expression in a concentration-dependent manner in microglia cells. Blue cohosh constituents also suppressed the expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6. In addition, blue cohosh extract suppressed the expression of COX-2, iNOS, and proinflammatory cytokines in adrenal glands of mice. These results demonstrate that constituents of blue cohosh exert anti-inflammatory effects through the inhibition of expression of iNOS and proinflammatory cytokines. Therefore, blue cohosh may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of inflammation-related diseases.
Web annotation system based on Web services

Annotation tools allow users to complement existing documents with comments, suggestions or other information. Currently, desktop annotation tools are much more sophisticated than those available for annotating Web documents. EspiritUs is a Web services based system designed to allow users to create, share, and search annotations on the Web. In this article we analyze in detail existing Web annotation tools, present the adopted architecture based on XML technologies, describe the system implementation and present two possible annotation scenarios. Finally, we present some conclusions and guidelines for future work for this project.
Bridge the Gap: Measuring and Analyzing Technical Data for Social Trust between Smartphones

Mobiles are nowadays the most relevant communication devices in terms of quantity and flexibility. Like in most MANETs ad-hoc communication between two mobile phones requires mutual trust between the devices. A new way of establishing this trust conducts social trust from technically measurable data (e.g., interaction logs). To explore the relation between social and technical trust, we conduct a large-scale survey with more than 217 Android users and analyze their anonymized call and message logs. We show that a reliable a priori trust value for a mobile system can be derived from common social communication metrics.
Reducing Static and Dynamic Power of L1 Data  Caches in GPGPUs

With the widespread adoption of GPGPUs for general purpose computing domain, the size of GPGPUs has grown quickly, making power consumption a major bottleneck. L1 data caches boost performance of processors by hiding latency of memory but consume significant power as they need to serve many processing cores. We propose two optimization techniques to reduce static and dynamic power of L1 data caches in GPGPUs.The first optimization technique reduces static power of L1 data cache by placing cache blocks into drowsy mode immediately after each access. In GPGPUs, the cache blocks are idle for long intervals. Hence, moving a cache block into drowsy state immediately after each access reduces leakage power significantly with negligible performance impact. The second optimization technique targets dynamic power of L1 data cache. Due to branch divergence, threads within a warp may follow different paths of execution. This may result in inactive threads within a warp. Existing GPGPUs access the whole cache blocks, ignoring inactive threads within a warp. We use active mask of GPGPUs and access only the portion of cache blocks that are required by active threads. By dynamically disabling unnecessary sections of cache blocks, we are able to reduce dynamic power of caches.
Cell-type Specific Resonances Shape the Responses of Striatal Neurons to Synaptic Input Running Title: Frequency Tuning of Striatal Neurons

Cell-type Specific Resonances 1 Shape the Responses of Striatal Neurons to Synaptic Input 2 3 Joseph A. Beatty, Soomin C. Song and Charles J. Wilson 4 Department of Biology 5 University of Texas at San Antonio 6 San Antonio, TX 78249, USA 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Address Correspondence To: Charles J. Wilson 17 Department of Biology 18 University of Texas at San Antonio 19 San Antonio, TX 78249, USA 20 Charles.Wilson@utsa.edu 21 22 Running Title: Frequency Tuning of Striatal Neurons 23 Articles in PresS. J Neurophysiol (November 19, 2014). doi:10.1152/jn.00827. 2014
Soil Property Analysis using Principal Components Analysis, Soil Line, and Regression Models

Past research has attempted to relate surface characteristics of soils to reflectance from remotely sensed images to provide a means for quantifying spatial heterogeneity. Existing procedures have proven valuable, but no research has been performed to compare these techniques. The objective of this research was to compare existing methodologies, that is, principal components analysis (PCA), Chen et al.'s regression model, and the soil line Euclidean distance (SLED) technique, for quantifying spatial heterogeneity in soil surface organic matter (OM) and cation exchange capacity (CEC). The three existing techniques were compared using five bare soil images from three different silt loam to loam fields in the Midwest USA. At the same time as image acquisition, surface (upper 2.54 cm [1 in]) soil properties were measured in situ. Organic matter and CEC were highly correlated (R 2 > 0.70) to the first principal component (PC1) for three bare soil images, moderately correlated (R 2 > 0.40) for one image, and only slightly correlated (R 2 < 0.25) for the final image. The lower correlations were hypothesized to be because of the range in the soil OM and CEC and image exposure. Principal Component 1 accounted for approximately 95% of the total variance in all the fields; therefore, no correlation was observed between the upper 2.54 cm (1-in) surface soil properties and the second, third, or fourth principal components (PC2, PC3, and PC4, respectively). All three techniques equivalently predicted OM and CEC. However, PCA does not require field-specific regression or soil lines parameters. It is also suggested that PC1 can replace the soil line in a technique for identifying soil-sampling locations.
Ca2+ homeostasis and structural and functional remodelling of airway smooth muscle in asthma

Asthma is characterised by airway hyper-responsiveness and remodelling, and there is mounting evidence that alterations in the phenotype of airway smooth muscle (ASM) play a central role in these processes. Although the concept that dysregulation of ASM Ca2+ homeostasis may underlie at least part of these alterations has been around for many years, it is only relatively recently that the availability of ASM biopsies from subjects with mild and moderate asthma has allowed it to be properly investigated. In this article, critical components of the pathobiology of asthmatic ASM, including contractile function, proliferation, cell migration and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, are reviewed and related to associated changes in ASM Ca2+ homeostasis. Based on this evidence, it is proposed that a unifying mechanism for the abnormal asthmatic phenotype is dysregulation of Ca2+ homeostasis caused at least in part by a downregulation in expression and function of sarcoendoplasmic Ca2+ ATPases (SERCAs).
Introduction: Contributions of bird studies to behavioral and neurobiological research.

305 B irds have fascinated naturalists and amateur birdwatchers alike for thousands of years with their remarkable abilities and behaviors (Konishi et al. 1989). These include migrating thousands of kilometers using only the earth’s magnetic fi eld as their compass (Wiltschko and Wiltschko 2010); memorizing and performing complex songs after limited exposure (Hultsch and Todd 2008); and “caching” and, after many months, retrieving food from hundreds of different locations (Raby and Clayton 2010). Despite these impressive abilities, the popular impression is that birds are cognitively limited—the expression “birdbrain” has long been part of the colloquial vernacular to denote a lack of intellectual ability. Even a recent popular science book (Weiner 1999) translated the name of the fruit fl y learning mutant linotte (after the French expression tête de linotte) as “birdbrain. ”
An Explicit Solution for Target Localization in Noncoherent Distributed MIMO Radar Systems

This work focuses on the moving target localization problem in the noncoherent multiple-input multiple-output radar system with widely separated antennas. We assume that the time delay and Doppler shift between each transmit/receive element pair have already been measured by a preprocessing algorithm. Utilizing these measurements, an explicit method for jointly estimating the target position and velocity is proposed. It first divides the measurements into several groups based on the different transmitter elements or receive elements, and then employs two best linear unbiased estimators successively for each group to independently produce an estimate of target position and velocity. Finally, these results from different groups are combined to form a composite estimate. Simulation results show that the estimated accuracy of the proposed method achieves the Cramér-Rao lower bound at sufficiently small noise conditions.
Multi-modal presentation of medical histories

This paper describes a visualisation architecture that integrates graphical devices and natural language in a cooperative system for navigating through complex images of medical histories. We show how the addition of automatically generated natural language can be used to improve the usability of a graphical user interface and conversely how the graphical user interface can be used to specify the content of user customizable medical reports.
Processing and activation of latent heparanase occurs in lysosomes

Heparanase is a heparan sulfate degrading endoglycosidase participating in extracellular matrix degradation and remodeling. Heparanase is synthesized as a 65 kDa non-active precursor that subsequently undergoes proteolytic cleavage, yielding 8 kDa and 50 kDa protein subunits that heterodimerize to form an active enzyme. The protease responsible for heparanase processing is currently unknown, as is the sub-cellular processing site. In this study, we characterize an antibody (733) that preferentially recognizes the active 50 kDa heparanase form as compared to the non-active 65 kDa heparanase precursor. We have utilized this and other anti-heparanase antibodies to study the cellular localization of the latent 65 kDa and active 50 kDa heparanase forms during uptake and processing of exogenously added heparanase. Interestingly, not only the processed 50 kDa, but also the 65 kDa heparanase precursor was localized to perinuclear vesicles, suggesting that heparanase processing occurs in lysosomes. Indeed, heparanase processing was completely inhibited by chloroquine and bafilomycin A1, inhibitors of lysosome proteases. Similarly, processing of membrane-targeted heparanase was also chloroquine-sensitive, further ruling out the plasma membrane as the heparanase processing site. Finally, we provide evidence that antibody 733 partially neutralizes the enzymatic activity of heparanase, suggesting that the N-terminal region of the molecule is involved in assuming an active conformation. Monoclonal antibodies directed to this region are likely to provide specific heparanase inhibitors and hence assist in resolving heparanase functions under normal and pathological conditions.
Progress and Challenges Towards Terahertz CMOS Integrated Circuits

Key components of systems operating at high millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave/terahertz frequencies, a 140-GHz fundamental mode voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) in 90-nm CMOS, a 410-GHz push-push VCO with an on-chip patch antenna in 45-nm CMOS, and a 125-GHz Schottky diode frequency doubler, a 50-GHz phase-locked loop with a frequency doubled output at 100 GHz, a 180-GHz Schottky diode detector and a 700-GHz plasma wave detector in 130-nm CMOS are demonstrated. Based on these, and the performance trends of nMOS transistors and Schottky diodes fabricated in CMOS, paths to terahertz CMOS circuits and systems including key challenges that must be addressed are suggested. The terahertz CMOS is a new opportunity for the silicon integrated circuits community.
The Local Nature of Hypothesis Tests Involving Inequality Constraints in Nonlinear Models

This paper derives several properties unique to nonlinear model hypothesis testing problems involving linear or nonlinear inequality constraints in the null or alternative hypothesis. The paper is organized around a lemma that characterizes the set containing the least favorable parameter value for a nonlinear model inequality constraints hypothesis test. The author then presents two examples that illustrate several implications of this lemma. He also discusses the impact of these properties on the empirical implementation and interpretation of these test procedures. Copyright 1991 by The Econometric Society.
Can Technology Support the Development of Students ’ Epistemological Beliefs ?

There is growing evidence that epistemological beliefs play an important role in student learning (Hofer, 2001). Personal epistemology has been found to influence many aspects of learning such as comprehension, persistence, and engagement (Schommer, 1994). The development of students’ personal epistemology has been described in terms of multidimensional stages that correspond to progressively more sophisticated beliefs (e.g. Perry, 1970). Given the evidence of their importance in student learning, the development of epistemological beliefs has been recognised as an important goal of teaching (Laurillard, 2002). However, little research has been done to identify how the structure of learning environments actually influences their development. To what extent does engaging students in certain types of activity support their epistemological development? Moreover, given the integral part of technology in higher education, the question arises of what role technology plays and can play in supporting students’ epistemological development. More specifically, I am interested in exploring how the ways of conveying information through different forms of technology influences students’ conception of knowledge and learning.
Improved loop tiling based on the removal of spurious false dependences

To preserve the validity of loop nest transformations and parallelization, data dependences need to be analyzed. Memory dependences come in two varieties: true dependences or false dependences. While true dependences must be satisfied in order to preserve the correct order of computations, false dependences are induced by the reuse of a single memory location to store multiple values. False dependences reduce the degrees of freedom for loop transformations. In particular, loop tiling is severely limited in the presence of these dependences. While array expansion removes all false dependences, the overhead on memory and the detrimental impact on register-level reuse can be catastrophic. We propose and evaluate a compilation technique to safely ignore a large number of false dependences in order to enable loop nest tiling in the polyhedral model. It is based on the precise characterization of interferences between live range intervals, and it does not incur any scalar or array expansion. Our algorithms have been implemented in the Pluto polyhedral compiler, and evaluated on the PolyBench suite.
A Study on the Improvement of Software Effort Estimation

Software effort estimation is an importance task in software project management. This task is challenging. Accuracy of estimation is also essential for successful completion of any software project. This paper present a approach, it is to estimate the parameters of the linear model is ordinary least squares regression which has been extensively applied to various datasets. The least squares estimation takes into account only the error arising from the dependent variable (effort), while the measurement of independent variable (size) is considered free of errors.
Between Revolution and the Racial Ghetto: Harold Cruse and Harry Haywood Debate Class Struggle and the ‘Negro Question’, 1962–8

This article revisits an historic exchange between two black ex-communists, Harold Cruse and Harry Haywood, a debate that prefigured many of the central contradictions of the black-power era. Their exchange followed Cruse’s influential 1962 essay for Studies on the Left, ‘Revolutionary Nationalism and the Afro-American’, which declared that the American Negro was a ‘subject of domestic colonialism’. Written against the prevailing liberal integrationist commitments of the civil-rights movement, his essay called for black economic and political independence, and inspired many of the younger activists who would give birth to the black-power movement. In a series of essays for the Bay Area black radical journal Soulbook, Haywood criticised Cruse’s mishandling of class politics among blacks, and his retreat from anti-capitalism. This forgotten episode is important on its own terms, for what it says about the character and limitations of left-political thinking during the sixties, and equally for understanding and contesting those commonsensical notions of African-American public life in our times which too often remain rooted in the vanished social context and political realities of the twentieth-century racial ghetto.
A 900 MHz, 0.9 V low-power CMOS downconversion mixer

A low-voltage, low-power mixer operating at a supply voltage of 0.9 V while consuming 4.7 mW is presented. The circuit achieves the multiplication using current mode processing. Moreover, non-conventional differential pairs that do not require current tail generators are utilized. The circuit has been fabricated in a standard double-poly, triple-metal 0.35 /spl mu/m CMOS process having a threshold voltage of 0.6 V. Measurement results for 900 MHz and 800 MHz input signals indicate that the circuit has an IIP3 of 3.5 dBm, a 1 dB compression point of -8 dBm and a noise figure of 13.5 dB.
A circuit based behavioral modeling of Continuous-Time Sigma Delta modulators

In evaluating Continuous-Time Sigma Delta (ΣΔ) Modulators, the generation of highly accurate results requires long simulation time due to the nonlinear nature of the system. In most cases, a compromise has to be made to trade off precision for speed [2]. This paper presents a circuit-based high level model implemented in the MATLAB SIMULINK environment so as to achieve a faster speed of simulation. Designed in a differential manner, the model provides good visualization of the actual circuit at the early stage of design. To maintain simulation accuracy, circuit nonidealities such as system clock jitter, integrator noise, opamp finite gain, bandwidth and slew rate as well as the digital to analog converter (DAC) mismatches are included in the model. For demonstration purpose, a 4th order CT ΣΔ modulator with NRZ (Non-Return to Zero) architecture is implemented. With the proposed models, key design specifications for the functional building blocks are derived.
On the Improvement of Wiener Attack on RSA with Small Private Exponent

RSA system is based on the hardness of the integer factorization problem (IFP). Given an RSA modulus N = pq, it is difficult to determine the prime factors p and q efficiently. One of the most famous short exponent attacks on RSA is the Wiener attack. In 1997, Verheul and van Tilborg use an exhaustive search to extend the boundary of the Wiener attack. Their result shows that the cost of exhaustive search is 2r + 8 bits when extending the Weiner's boundary r bits. In this paper, we first reduce the cost of exhaustive search from 2r + 8 bits to 2r + 2 bits. Then, we propose a method named EPF. With EPF, the cost of exhaustive search is further reduced to 2r − 6 bits when we extend Weiner's boundary r bits. It means that our result is 214 times faster than Verheul and van Tilborg's result. Besides, the security boundary is extended 7 bits.
Natural Visualizations

This paper demonstrates the prevalence of a shared characteristic between visualizations and images of nature. We have analyzed visualization competitions and user studies of visualizations and found that the more preferred, better performing visualizations exhibit more natural characteristics. Due to our brain being wired to perceive natural images [SO01], testing a visualization for properties similar to those of natural images can help show how well our brain is capable of absorbing the data. In turn, a metric that finds a visualization's similarity to a natural image may help determine the effectiveness of that visualization. We have found that the results of comparing the sizes and distribution of the objects in a visualization with those of natural standards strongly correlate to one's preference of that visualization.
An integrated assessment model of economy-energy-climate - the model wiagem: a comment

Economic assessments of the impacts of climate change are rare. Even rarer are papers on the higher order economic impacts. The paper by Claudia Kemfert (2002) is therefore welcome. Most economic impact studies use direct costs as an approximation of welfare losses. According to the direct cost method, a welfare loss is approximated by price times quantity, where the quantity is the physical impact of climate change (see Pearce et al., 1996, and Smith et al., 2001, for an overview). The direct cost method ignores that the impact may change the price (the partial equilibrium effect), that changes in one market may have effects on other markets (the general equilibrium effect), and that climate change may alter investments (the growth effect). Using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model, Kemfert is able to look at all economic effects of climate change impacts on nature, human health, forestry, water resources, and energy consumption.