Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nutrient modulation of polarized and sustained submembrane Ca2+ microgradients in mouse pancreatic islet cells

1 The intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) near the plasma membrane was measured in mouse pancreatic islet cells using confocal spot detection methods. 2 Whereas small cytosolic Ca2+ gradients were observed with 3 mM glucose, a steeper sustained gradient restricted to domains beneath the plasma membrane (space constant, 0.67 μm) appeared with 16.7 mM glucose. 3 When the membrane potential was clamped with increasing K+ concentrations (5, 20 and 40 mM), no [Ca2+]i gradients were observed in any case. 4 Increasing glucose concentration (0, 5 and 16.7 mM) in the presence of 100 μM diazoxide, a K+ channel opener, plus 40 mM K+ induced steeper [Ca2+]i gradients, confirming the role of membrane potential‐independent effects of glucose. 5 Prevention of Ca2+ store refilling with 30 μM cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) or blockade of uniporter‐mediated Ca2+ influx into the mitochondria with 1 μM carbonyl cyanide m‐chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP) or 1 μM Ru‐360 significantly reduced the steepness of the 16.7 mM glucose‐induced [Ca2+]i gradients. 6 Measured values of [Ca2+]i reached 6.74 ± 0.67 μM at a distance of 0.5 μm from the plasma membrane and decayed to 0.27 ± 0.03 μM at a distance of 2 μm. Mathematically processed values at 0.25 and 0 μm gave a higher [Ca2+]i, reaching 8.18 ± 0.86 and 10.05 ± 0.98 μM, respectively. 7 The results presented indicate that glucose metabolism generates [Ca2+]i microgradients, which reach values of around 10 μM, and whose regulation requires the involvement of both mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ stores.
Research on Acceleration Performance Indices for Serial Mechanism

Previous performance indices are generalized and analyzed briefly first of all, then on the basis of first-order and second-order kinematical influence coefficient matrices, including acceleration performance index, linear acceleration performance index, angular acceleration performance index and acceleration global condition performance index and so on, a set of acceleration performance indices for serial robot are proposed. Different from previous indices, these indices include not only the first-order kinematics influence coefficient matrix G, but also the second order kinematics influence coefficient matrix H. Finally, with these performance indices, PUMA 260 serial industrial robot's dynamic performance are analyzed. The results show that these new indices are feasible in mechanism's dynamic performance analysis. So these indices can be used to guide the dynamics design of serial mechanism.
Swimming Behaviour and Energetics of Free-ranging Sharks: New Directions in Movement Analysis

There is now a general agreement that sharks, and pelagic sharks in particular, are facing widespread declines in population level due to fishing activity (Pauly et al., 2003). Recent studies suggest dramatic reductions in relative abundance of up to 80% have occurred in as little as 15 years for some species (Baum et al., 2003; Myers et al., 2006), trends most likely linked to greater target catch and bycatch rates fuelled by increased demand for shark fins and meat for human consumption. Although some fisheries assessments indicate less pronounced declines for large pelagic (Sibert et al., 2006) and coastal sharks (Burgess et al., 2006), undoubtedly they are particularly susceptible to over-harvesting on account of slow growth rates, late age at maturity and relatively low fecundity. Many pelagic sharks are now red-listed by the World 13
Künstliche Intelligenz: Chancen und Risiken

Das Wachstum und der Wohlstand unseres Kontinents hängen zum Teil davon ab, wie Europa die Chancen für sich nutzen kann, die sich aus digitalen, vernetzten Technologien ergeben. Künstliche Intelligenz kann in unserem Leben einen großen Unterschied machen, bringt jedoch auch Risiken und Herausforderungen mit sich. Aus diesem Grund richtete das Europäische Parlament einen Sonderausschuss ein, der die Auswirkungen der Technologie untersucht und einen langfristigen EU-Fahrplan für KI vorgeschlagen hat. Zudem forderten die Abgeordneten zukunftsträchtige EU-Regeln, bei denen der Mensch im Mittelpunkt steht. Im Folgenden werden Möglichkeiten und Herausforderungen im Zusammenhang mit künftigen KI-Anwendungen vorgestellt.
Interactive Learning from Unlabeled Instructions

Interactive learning deals with the problem of learning and solving tasks using human instructions. It is common in human-robot interaction, tutoring systems, and in human-computer interfaces such as brain-computer ones. In most cases, learning these tasks is possible because the signals are predefined or an ad-hoc calibration procedure allows to map signals to specific meanings. In this paper, we address the problem of simultaneously solving a task under human feedback and learning the associated meanings of the feedback signals. This has important practical application since the user can start controlling a device from scratch, without the need of an expert to define the meaning of signals or carrying out a calibration phase. The paper proposes an algorithm that simultaneously assign meanings to signals while solving a sequential task under the assumption that both, human and machine, share the same a priori on the possible instruction meanings and the possible tasks. Furthermore, we show using synthetic and real EEG data from a brain-computer interface that taking into account the uncertainty of the task and the signal is necessary for the machine to actively plan how to solve the task efficiently.
Obesity, inactivity, and the prevalence of diabetes and diabetes-related cardiovascular comorbidities in the U.S., 2000-2002.

OBJECTIVE Obesity and physical inactivity are established risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular comorbidities. Whether adiposity or fitness level is more important to health is controversial. The objective of this research is to determine the relative associations of physical activity and BMI with the prevalence of diabetes and diabetes-related cardiovascular comorbidities in the U.S. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) is a nationally representative survey of the U.S. population. From 2000 to 2002, detailed information on sociodemographic characteristics and health conditions were collected for 68,500 adults. Normal weight was defined as BMI 18.5 to <25 kg/m(2), overweight 25 to < or =30 kg/m(2), obese (class I and II) 30 to <40 kg/m(2), and obese (class III) > or =40 kg/m(2). Physical activity was defined as moderate/vigorous activity > or =30 min > or =3 days per week. RESULTS The likelihood of having diabetes and diabetes-related cardiovascular comorbidities increased with BMI regardless of physical activity and increased with physical inactivity regardless of BMI. Compared with normal-weight active adults, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for diabetes was 1.52 (95% CI 1.25-1.86) for normal-weight inactive adults and 1.65 (1.40-1.96) for overweight inactive adults; the OR for diabetes and comorbid hypertension was 1.71 (1.32-2.19) for normal-weight inactive adults and 1.84 (1.47-2.32) for overweight inactive adults. CONCLUSIONS Both physical inactivity and obesity seem to be strongly and independently associated with diabetes and diabetes-related comorbidities. These results support continued research investigating the independent causal nature of these factors.
Decisions and elections : explaining the unexpected

1. Do we get what we expect 2. Arrow's theorem 3. Explanations and examples 4. What else can go wrong? 5. More perversities 6. A search for resolutions 7. From Sen to prisoners and prostitution 8. Glossary, notes, and technical talk.
Applying methodologies for information systems development

Many organizations develop their information systems without the use of any information systems development methodology. However, even when organizations identify the need for the use of such methodologies, it is not always obvious which to use, or whether a blended combination might be appropriate. Further, in using either stand-alone or blended information systems development methodologies in practice, a number of difficulties are encountered. This paper discusses the use of an information systems development methodology which consisted of a blend of other methodologies in a real-world situation (a large telecommunications company) where no formal methodology had been used previously. A number of difficulties arose in practice, some of which were not anticipated. Examples are given of the types of difficulty encountered, and these fell into three broad categories: those related to the deficiencies in the design techniques and tools themselves; those related to implementing the system from the design; and those related to the particular environment.
Geospatial semantics and linked spatiotemporal data - Past, present, and future

The Geosciences and Geography are not just yet another application area for semantic technologies. The vast heterogeneity of the involved disciplines ranging from the natural sciences to the social sciences introduces new challenges in terms of interoperability. Moreover, the inherent spatial and temporal information components also require distinct semantic approaches. For these reasons, geospatial semantics, geo-ontologies, and semantic interoperability have been active research areas over the last 20 years. The geospatial semantics community has been among the early adopters of the Semantic Web, contributing methods, ontologies, use cases, and datasets. Today, geographic information is a crucial part of many central hubs on the Linked Data Web. In this editorial, we outline the research field of geospatial semantics, highlight major research directions and trends, and glance at future challenges. We hope that this text will be valuable for geoscientists interested in semantics research as well as knowledge engineers interested in spatiotemporal data.
Beeping a Random Bit

We consider networks of processors which interact with beeps. In a single-hop network, nodes can communicate synchronously with each other by broadcasting one bit through a shared channel. In each time slot, all nodes receive feedback from the channel and in the Beeping Model, each node learns whether zero (Null) or at least one (Beep) node has transmitted. In such model, a procedure generating uniformly at random a common bit b ∈ {0, 1} can be used as a subroutine to generate random numbers according to various distributions. In this work, we design a randomized distributed random bit generator working with high probability in O(log log n) time slots and satisfying limn→+∞ P[bit = 0] = limn→+∞ P[bit = 1] = 1 2 .
Contrasting Theories of Interaction in Epidemiology and Toxicology

Background: Epidemiologists and toxicologists face similar problems when assessing interactions between exposures, yet they approach the question very differently. The epidemiologic definition of “interaction” leads to the additivity of risk differences (RDA) as the fundamental criterion for causal inference about biological interactions. Toxicologists define “interaction” as departure from a model based on mode of action: concentration addition (CA; for similarly acting compounds) or independent action (IA; for compounds that act differently). Objectives: We compared and contrasted theoretical frameworks for interaction in the two fields. Methods: The same simple thought experiment has been used in both both epidemiology and toxicology to develop the definition of “noninteraction,” with nearly opposite interpretations. In epidemiology, the “sham combination” leads to a requirement that noninteractive dose–response curves be linear, whereas in toxicology, it results in the model of CA. We applied epidemiologic tools to mathematical models of concentration-additive combinations to evaluate their utility. Results: RDA is equivalent to CA only for linear dose–response curves. Simple models demonstrate that concentration-additive combinations can result in strong synergy or antagonism in the epidemiologic framework at even the lowest exposure levels. For combinations acting through nonsimilar pathways, RDA approximates IA at low effect levels. Conclusions: Epidemiologists have argued for a single logically consistent definition of interaction, but the toxicologic perspective would consider this approach less biologically informative than a comparison with CA or IA. We suggest methods for analysis of concentration-additive epidemiologic data. The two fields can learn a great deal about interaction from each other.
Contrasting Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations: Insights from Distributional Semantic Models

This paper presents a large-scale evaluation of bag-of-words distributional models on two datasets from priming experiments involving syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations. We interpret the variation in performance achieved by different settings of the model parameters as an indication of which aspects of distributional patterns characterize these types of relations. Contrary to what has been argued in the literature (Rapp, 2002; Sahlgren, 2006) ‐ that bag-of-words models based on secondorder statistics mainly capture paradigmatic relations and that syntagmatic relations need to be gathered from first-order models ‐ we show that second-order models perform well on both paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations if their parameters are properly tuned. In particular, our results show that size of the context window and dimensionality reduction play a key role in differentiating DSM performance on paradigmatic vs. syntagmatic relations.
Assessing School Principals' Ethical Leadership Behaviours: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Turkish Teachers

Ethical leadership has become prominent in the leadership literature recently. The aim of the current study was to assess school principals' ethical leadership behaviours in the Turkish context. School principals' ethical leadership behaviours were measured by Ethical Leadership Scale, developed by Brown, Trevino and Harrison (2005), and adapted into Turkish by Tuna, Bircan and Yesiltas (2012). Internal consistency of the instrument was investigated by Cronbach's alpha value, and the construct validity of the scale was tested on LISREL by confirmatory factor analysis. Data was analysed by t- test and ANOVA. Findings revealed that participant teachers' opinions regarding school principals' ethical leadership behaviours did not differ in relation to gender, tenure and educational background. However, high school teachers were found to perceive that their school principals behaved more ethically than primary and secondary school principals.Resultshavebeendiscussed along with the limitations of the study.
Founders and Re-Founders : Struggles of Self-Authorized Representation

In this article my argument is twofold. First, I maintain that it is not possible to either understand or practically initiate democratic foundlings except through self-authorized claims of representation appealing to an extra-legal source of authority, that is, a prefigured people, constructed around a particular claim to what should be common. Second, I contend that self-authorized claims to a prefigured people that are performed to and retroactively validated by the existing people can open up opportunities for the people to self-constitute democratically.
Optimal Kullback-Leibler Aggregation in Mixture Estimation by Maximum Likelihood

We study the maximum likelihood estimator of density of n independent observations, under the assumption that it is well approximated by a mixture with a large number of components. The main focus is on statistical properties with respect to the Kullback-Leibler loss. We establish risk bounds taking the form of sharp oracle inequalities both in deviation and in expectation. A simple consequence of these bounds is that the maximum likelihood estimator attains the optimal rate ((logK)/n) 1, up to a possible logarithmic correction, in the problem of convex aggregation when the number K of components is larger than n1. More importantly, under the additional assumption that the Gram matrix of the components satisfies the compatibility condition, the obtained oracle inequalities yield the optimal rate in the sparsity scenario. That is, if the weight vector is (nearly) D-sparse, we get the rate (D logK)/n. As a natural complement to our oracle inequalities, we introduce the notion of nearly-Dsparse aggregation and establish matching lower bounds for this type of aggregation.
Characteristics of participating and nonparticipating men in a randomized, controlled diet and exercise intervention trial.

OBJECTIVE To study characteristics of importance for participation in a diet and physical exercise prevention programme. SETTING Primary Health Care, Sollentuna, and the Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. SUBJECTS A sample of 187 men, aged 35-60, with increased risk factors for CHD, were invited to a 6-month prevention programme. Participants (n = 158) were randomized into a diet group, a physical exercise group, a diet and physical exercise group, and a control group. Twenty-seven men, who declined participation, formed the group of nonparticipants. DESIGN Participants and nonparticipants were compared with respect to health beliefs, health knowledge, CHD risk factors, demographic and personality factors. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Characteristics of men participating and not participating in the intervention trial. RESULTS Nonparticipants, compared with participants, believed less in the benefits of dietary change and perceived the health threat of stroke and myocardial infarction as less serious. Nonparticipants had a better knowledge of a number of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. CONCLUSION Belief in treatment efficacy and perceived health threat, rather than health knowledge, predicted initial participation in a non-pharmacological intervention trial.
Evolution of low-mass star and brown dwarf eclipsing binaries

Context. We examine the evolution of low-mass star and brown dwarf eclipsing binaries. These objects are rapid rotators and are believed to shelter large magnetic fields. Aims. We suggest that reduced convective efficiency, due to fast rotation and large field strengths, and/or to magnetic spot coverage of the radiating surface significantly affect their evolution, leading to a reduced heat flux and thus larger radii and cooler effective temperatures than for regular objects. Methods. We have considered such processes in our evolutionary calculations, using a phenomenological approach. Results. This yields mass–radius and effective temperature–radius relationships in agreement with the observations. We also reproduce the effective temperature ratio and the radii of the two components of the recently discovered puzzling eclipsing brown dwarf system. Conclusions. These calculations show that fast rotation and/or magnetic activity may significantly affect the evolution of eclipsing binaries and that the mechanical and thermal properties of these objects depart from the ones of non-active low-mass objects. We find that, for internal field strengths compatible with the observed surface value of a few kiloGauss, convection can be severely inhibited.
Treatment and genetic analysis of craniofacial deficits associated with down syndrome

Tumbleson, Danika M. M.S., Purdue University, December 2014. Treatment and Genetic Analysis of Craniofacial Deficits Associated With Down Syndrome. Major Professor: Randall J. Roper. Down syndrome (DS) is caused by trisomy of human chromosome 21 (Hsa21) and occurs in ~1 of every 700 live births. Individuals with DS present craniofacial abnormalities, specifically an undersized, dysmorphic mandible which may lead to difficulty with eating, breathing, and speech. Using the Ts65Dn DS mouse model, which mirrors these phenotypes and contains three copies of ~50% Hsa21 homologues, our lab has traced the mandibular deficit to a neural crest cell (NCC) deficiency in the first pharyngeal arch (PA1 or mandibular precursor) at embryonic day 9.5 (E9.5). At E9.5, the PA1 is reduced in size and contains fewer cells due to fewer NCC populating the PA1 from the neural tube (NT) as well as reduced cellular proliferation in the PA1. We hypothesize that both the deficits in NCC migration and proliferation may cause the reduction in size of the PA1. To identify potential genetic mechanisms responsible for trisomic PA1 deficits, we generated RNA-sequence (RNA-seq) data from euploid and trisomic E9.25 NT and E9.5 PA1 (time points occurring before and after observed deficits) using a next-generation sequencing platform. Analysis of RNA-seq data revealed differential trisomic expression of 53 genes from E9.25 NT and 364 genes from E9.5 PA1, five of which are present in three copies in Ts65Dn. We also further analyzed
Primary Care, Quality Improvement, and Health Systems Change

In this article, we have examined evidence that supports inferences regarding the critical role of pri mary care in determining the ultimate quality and success of our health care system as a whole. It seems clear that this nation has a critical need to correct the rapidly eroding structure and impact of our primary care system. We have suggested several strategies necessary to improve the United States primary care system. We need to correct the numeric imbalance of generalists to specialists by enhancing motivation to enter this career field. To enhance primary care as a career choice, we must increase the status, contribu tion, and rewards of primary practitioners. Finally, to facilitate future growth and success, we must en hance the scholarly base of knowledge in this field, particularly as related to quality improvement tech nology and managed health care.