Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The architectural colour design process: An evaluation of sequential media via semantic ratings

In recent studies, contextual situations of applied colours are compared to colours presented as samples or chips. Findings of such studies point out different results in terms of similarities or differences between the evaluations of isolated/abstract colours and contextualized situations. Architectural and spatial contexts have their own characteristics regarding colouring criteria, so it is of great importance to examine the architectural/spatial colouring process from this point of view. This study explores this process by investigating the consistency of semantic ratings of four sequential stages of the architectural colour design process, namely, colour chips/samples, abstract compositions, perspective drawings and 3D models. The architectural context for the study was a simple interior space. Fifteen different colour schemes were applied on the four media representing the stages. Subjects rated the 15 sets against seven bipolar, five-step semantic differential scales. The scales consisted of harmonious-discord, pleasant-unpleasant, comfortable-uncomfortable, spacious-confined, static-dynamic, exciting-calming and extroverted-introverted. Findings indicated that there are significant associations between the evaluations of the abstract compositions, the perspective drawings and the 3D models; however, the evaluations of colour chips are significantly different than the others. The medium effect observed mostly between abstract and contextualized media. Additionally, factor analysis showed that pleasantness, harmony, spaciousness and comfort are connected in the evaluations of contextual situations, while pleasantness and harmony differ from spaciousness and comfort in the evaluations of colour chips and abstract compositions. The factor of activity (arousal) (dynamism, excitement, and extroversion) stays the same for all four media. It is also found that different colour characteristics are determinative over different media. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2010
Organizational learning in non‐governmental organizations: What have we learned?

Learning is considered to be an essential component of organizational effectiveness in all sectors—private, public and non-governmental. All NGOs aspire to be ‘learning organizations’, yet few have reflected systematically on the success in this regard. This article summarizes the experience to date of international NGOs that have prioritized learning as an objective, drawing out areas of both success and failure, and reflecting on whether there are any features that distinguish learning in NGOs from learning in other types of organization. A simple typology and set of tests of NGO-learning are presented, along with a series of challenges for the future. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17: 235–250 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 48
Proteomic Analysis of Schistosoma mansoni Cercarial Secretions*S

Schistosomiasis is a global health problem caused by several species of schistosome blood flukes. The initial stage of infection is invasion of human skin by a multicellular larva, the cercaria. We identified proteins released by cercariae when they are experimentally induced to exhibit invasive behavior. Comparison of the proteome obtained from skin lipid-induced cercariae (the natural activator), a cleaner mechanical induction procedure, and an uninduced proteomic control allowed identification of protein groups contained in cercarial acetabular gland secretion versus other sources. These included a group of proteins involved in calcium binding, calcium regulation, and calcium-activated functions; two proteins (paramyosin and SPO-1) implicated in immune evasion; and protease isoforms implicated in degradation of host skin barriers. Several other protein families, traditionally found as cytosolic proteins, appeared concentrated in secretory cells. These included proteins with chaperone activity such as HSP70, -86, and -60. Comparison of the three experimental proteomes also allowed identification of protein contaminants from the environment that were identified because of the high sensitivity of the MS/MS system used. These included proteins from the intermediate host snail in which cercariae develop, the investigator, and the laboratory environment. Identification of proteins secreted by invasive larvae provides important new information for validation of models of skin invasion and immune evasion and aids in rational development of an anti-schistosome vaccine.
Minimal residual disease monitoring in childhood B lymphoblastic leukemia with t(12;21)(p13;q22); ETV6–RUNX1: concordant results using quantitation of fusion transcript and flow cytometry

The translocation t(12;21)(p13;q22) resulting in the fusion gene ETV6–RUNX1, is the most frequent gene fusion in childhood B lymphoblastic leukemia. In the Nordic Society of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology ALL‐2008 treatment protocol, treatment stratification in B‐lineage ALL is based on results of minimal residual disease (MRD) analysis with fluorescence‐activated cell sorting (FACS). In this study, we determined whether RT‐qPCR of the ETV6–RUNX1 fusion transcript can be a reliable alternative for MRD analysis.
Serum N-propeptide of collagen IIA (PIIANP) as a marker of radiographic osteoarthritis burden

Objective Cartilage homeostasis relies on a balance of catabolism and anabolism of cartilage matrix. Our goal was to evaluate the burden of radiographic osteoarthritis and serum levels of type IIA procollagen amino terminal propeptide (sPIIANP), a biomarker representing type II collagen synthesis, in osteoarthritis. Methods OA burden was quantified on the basis of radiographic features as total joint faces with an osteophyte, joint space narrowing, or in the spine, disc space narrowing. sPIIANP was measured in 1,235 participants from the Genetics of Generalized Osteoarthritis study using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Separate multivariable linear regression models, adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index and additionally for ipsilateral osteophytes or joint/disc space narrowing, were used to assess the independent association of sPIIANP with osteophytes and with joint/disc space narrowing burden in knees, hips, hands and spine, individually and together. Results After full adjustment, sPIIANP was significantly associated with a lesser burden of hip joint space narrowing and knee osteophytes. sPIIANP was associated with a lesser burden of hand joint space narrowing but a greater burden of hand osteophytes; these results were only evident upon adjustment for osteoarthritic features in all other joints. There were no associations of sPIIANP and features of spine osteoarthritis. Conclusions Higher cartilage collagen synthesis, as reflected in systemic PIIANP concentrations, was associated with lesser burden of osteoarthritic features in lower extremity joints (knees and hips), even accounting for osteoarthritis burden in hands and spine, age, sex and body mass index. These results suggest that pro-anabolic agents may be appropriate for early treatment to prevent severe lower extremity large joint osteoarthritis.
Discourse and Audience: Organizational Change as Multi-Story Process

This article is critical of monological research accounts that fail to accommodate polyvocal narratives of organizational change, calling for more fully informed case studies that combine elements of a narrative approach with processual/contextual analysis. We illustrate how contrasting versions of the same change event by different stakeholders and by the same stakeholder for different audiences, raise theoretical and methodological issues in the analysis and presentation of data on organizational change. Our argument is that research narratives (that seek to develop understanding of change processes) are necessarily selective and sieved through particular discourses that represent different ways of engaging in research. They are authored in a particular genre and written to influence target audiences who become active co-creators of meaning. Organizational change viewed from this perspective is a multi-story process, in which theoretical accounts and guides to practice are authored consistent with pre-selected narrative styles. These, in turn, are purposefully chosen to influence target audiences, but this subjective crafting is often hidden behind a cloak of putative objectivity in the written and oral presentations of academic research findings. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007.
Identification and Characterization of a Y-Like Primate Retinal Ganglion Cell Type

The primate retina communicates visual information to the brain via a set of parallel pathways that originate from at least 22 anatomically distinct types of retinal ganglion cells. Knowledge of the physiological properties of these ganglion cell types is of critical importance for understanding the functioning of the primate visual system. Nonetheless, the physiological properties of only a handful of retinal ganglion cell types have been studied in detail. Here we show, using a newly developed multielectrode array system for the large-scale recording of neural activity, the existence of a physiologically distinct population of ganglion cells in the primate retina with distinctive visual response properties. These cells, which we will refer to as upsilon cells, are characterized by large receptive fields, rapid and transient responses to light, and significant nonlinearities in their spatial summation. Based on the measured properties of these cells, we speculate that they correspond to the smooth/large radiate cells recently identified morphologically in the primate retina and may therefore provide visual input to both the lateral geniculate nucleus and the superior colliculus. We further speculate that the upsilon cells may be the primate retina's counterparts of the Y-cells observed in the cat and other mammalian species.
The Troubles with Harry: Freedom, America, and God in John Updike's Rabbit Novels

[I] had all of Shillington to say, Shillington and Pennsylvania and the whole mass of middling, hidden, troubled America to say. … In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea—this odd and uplifting line from among the many odd lines of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” seemed to me, as I set out, to summarize what I had to say about America, to offer itself as the title of a Continental magnum opus of which all my books, no matter how many, would be mere installments, mere Starts at the hymning of this great roughly rectangular country severed from Christ by the breadth of the sea. John Updike's corpus is punctuated forcefully by his own magnum opus, the Rabbit series, a tetralogy that is simultaneously literature, cultural critique, and theology.
Reduction of Serum Insulin-like Growth Factor-I by Dietary Protein Restriction Is Age Dependent

ABSTRACT: We have determined if dietary protein restriction for 1 wk has differential effects on growth, serum IGF-I, and liver growth hormone receptors at various stages of development. Female Wistar rats were fed a low (5%) protein diet for 7 d at 3, 4, 6, 8, and 12 wk of age, whereas controls were maintained on a normal (15%) protein diet. Body wt gain was impaired in the groups fed the low protein diet, despite normal energy intake, and the effect was attenuated with age. Liver cell number (DNA content) was reduced by low protein feeding in the 3-, 4-, and 6-wk age groups (p < 0.01), but not in the older animals. Protein restriction caused a dramatic decrease in serum IGF-I in the younger animals (90 and 82% reduction versus normal fed age-matched controls, at 3 and 4 wk, respectively; p < 0.001), and this effect was progressively attenuated with increasing age (49,40, and 25% reductions of serum IGF-I at 6, 8, and 12 wk, respectively). Changes in serum IGF-I correlated with those of liver cell number (r = 0.80; p < 0.001). Total and free liver growth hormone receptors were slightly decreased in the low protein diet groups at 4 (p < 0.05) and 6 wk (total: p < 0.001; free: p < 0.01) but not in the other age groups. The occurrence of profound diet induced reductions in IGF-I without proportional reductions in liver GH receptors suggest that the apparent GH resistance occurs at a postreceptor level. Because the degree of IGF-I reduction correlates with the severity of retardation of liver growth during dietary protein restriction at different ages, we conclude that the effect of protein restriction on liver growth could be mediated through IGF-I.
Social Organization, Spousal Resources, and Marital Power: A Cross-Cultural Study.

This study investigates the effects of selected features of family and kinship structures on wives' power in marriage. Ethnographic data on over one hundred nonindustrial societies are employed to test the hypotheses that wives have more power in marriage in societies with nuclear rather than extended family structures, and in societies with matrilateral rather than patrilateral customs of residence and descent. Both hypotheses are supported. Residence and descent practices are particularly important predictors of wives' power on the cross-cultural level. These findings, interpreted in the context of resource theory, highlight the fact that organizational resources may be at least as important as material resources in the determination of conjugal power structures.
On the structure of the inverse kinematics map of a fragment of protein backbone

Loop closure in proteins requires computing the values of the inverse kinematics (IK) map for a backbone fragment with 2n ≥ 6 torsional degrees of freedom (dofs). It occurs in a variety of contexts, e.g., structure determination from electron‐density maps, loop insertion in homology‐based structure prediction, backbone tweaking for protein energy minimization, and the study of protein mobility in folded states. The first part of this paper analyzes the global structure of the IK map for a fragment of protein backbone with 6 torsional dofs for a slightly idealized kinematic model, called the canonical model. This model, which assumes that every two consecutive torsional bonds CαC and NCα are exactly parallel, makes it possible to separately compute the inverse orientation map and the inverse position map. The singularities of both maps and their images, the critical sets, respectively, decompose SO(3) × ℝ3 into open regions where the number of IK solutions is constant. This decomposition leads to a constructive proof of the existence of a region in ℝ3 × SO(3) where the IK of the 6‐dof fragment attains its theoretical maximum of 16 solutions. The second part of this paper extends this analysis to study fragments with more than 6 torsional dofs. It describes an efficient recursive algorithm to sample IK solutions for such fragments, by identifying the feasible range of each successive torsional dof. A numerical homotopy algorithm is then used to deform the IK solutions for a canonical fragment into solutions for a noncanonical fragment. Computational results for fragments ranging from 8 to 30 dofs are presented. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2008
Nuclear Export in Plants: Use of Geminivirus Movement Proteins for a Cell-Based Export Assay

The nuclear export of proteins and RNAs has been studied in heterokaryons or by microinjecting test substrates into nuclei of HeLa cells or Xenopus oocytes. We have previously shown that the two movement proteins BR1 and BL1 encoded by the plant pathogenic squash leaf curl virus act in a coordinated manner to facilitate virus cell-to-cell movement and that one of these (BR1) is a nuclear shuttle protein. By using a novel in vivo cell-based assay for nuclear export in which nuclear-localized BR1 is trapped by BL1 and redirected to the cortical cytoplasm, we demonstrate that residues 177 to 198 of BR1 contain a leucine-rich nuclear export signal (NES) of the type found in the Rev protein encoded by the human immunodeficiency virus and in Xenopus TFIIIA. We further show that the TFIIIA NES can functionally replace the NES of BR1 in both nuclear export and viral infectivity. These findings suggest that this basic pathway for nuclear export is highly conserved among plant and animal cells and in yeast.
A Glucose Kinase from Mycobacterium smegmatis

Carbon metabolism and regulation is poorly understood in mycobacteria, a genus that includes some major pathogenic species like Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae. Here, we report the identification of a glucose kinase from Mycobacterium smegmatis. This enzyme serves in glucose metabolism and global carbon catabolite repression in the related actinomycete Streptomyces coelicolor. The gene, msmeg1356 (glkA), was found by means of in silico screening. It was shown that it occurs in the same genetic context in all so far sequenced mycobacterial species, where it is located in a putative tricistronic operon together with a glycosyl hydrolase and a putative malonyl-CoA transacylase. Heterologous expression of glkA in an Escherichia coli glucose kinase mutant led to the restoration of glucose growth, which provided in vivo evidence for glucose kinase function. GlkAMsm was subsequently overproduced in order to study its enzymatic features. We found that it can form a dimer and that it efficiently phosphorylates glucose at the expense of ATP. The affinity constant for glucose was with 9 mM about eight times higher and the velocity was about tenfold slower when compared to the parallel measured glucose kinase of S. coelicolor. Both enzymes showed similar substrate specificity, which consists in an ATP-dependent phosphorylation of glucose and no, or very inefficient, phosphorylation of the glucose analogues 2-deoxyglucose and methyl α-glucoside. Hence, our data provide a basis for studying the role of mycobacterial glucose kinase in vivo to unravel possible catalytic and regulatory functions.
Ascending versus randomised list lengths in working memory span tasks

There is no standard administration method for working memory tasks. Some researchers choose to administer set sizes in ascending order and others prefer a randomised order. The current study therefore compared the scores and predictive ability of ascending and randomised tasks. Sixty-six participants with a mean age of 20 years and six months completed counting span and reading span tasks in both ascending and randomised formats, along with the Raven's progressive matrices. Participants achieved marginally higher scores on the randomised tasks, this difference being significant for counting span but not for reading span. The ascending and randomised tasks did, however, differ in terms of their predictive ability. Only scores on the randomised tasks were significantly related to scores on the Raven's progressive matrices. The results are discussed in terms of both theoretical and practical implications.
Unsupervised change detection analysis to multi-channel scenario based on morphological contextual analysis

A novel unsupervised change detection approach for multi-spectral remote sensing data based on morphological transformation is presented. Profiles obtained by attribute filters can provide a rich multi-level analysis of the contextual information. The proposed method is based on the assumption that pixels belonging to changed areas exhibit profiles with significant differences due to a variation in their geometry, whereas pixels within unchanged areas result in similar profiles due to their similar spatial characteristics. The extension to the multi-spectral scenario is performed by applying the morphological analysis on the available bands that compose a given data set. In such scenario radiometric normalization results mandatory in order to minimize the effect due to different acquisition's conditions. To this purpose, IR-MAD is performed as pre-processing. In the paper, preliminary results obtained considering a multi-temporal Landsat ETM+ data set acquired over an agriculture area are shown.
Lean Mass and Not Fat Mass Is Associated With Male Proximal Femur Strength

Obesity is suspected to confer protection against fracture, but evidence is mixed. We examined proximal femur geometry and body composition measures in a diverse group of 1171 men (30–79 yr of age). Analyses showed that nonbone lean mass, but not fat mass, is independently associated with measures of proximal femur density, axial and bending strength, and resistance to buckling.
Peptide YY attenuates STAT1 and STAT3 activation induced by TNF-alpha in acinar cell line AR42J.

BACKGROUND STAT1 and STAT3, members of the cytoplasmic family of signal transducers and activators of transcription factors (STAT), have been associated with numerous inflammatory pathologies, including inflammatory bowel disease, hepatitis, and acute lung injury. But little is known about their role in the pancreas. Peptide YY (PYY), an inhibitory gastrointestinal hormone, ameliorates pancreatitis in vivo and in vitro. In addition, we have shown that PYY attenuates transcription factors, such as nuclear transcription factor (NF)-kappaB and Smad3/4, which mediate inflammation. We hypothesized that tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha would induce STAT1 and STAT3, and PYY would attenuate their transcription factor binding. STUDY DESIGN Rat pancreatic acinar cells were treated with recombinant TNF-alpha (200 ng/mL); PYY (3-36; 500 pM) was added 30 minutes post-TNF-alpha treatment. Cells were harvested at 2 hours, and nuclear protein and conditioned media were extracted. Levels of amylase secretion and cytokine production were measured using commercially available kits. STAT transcription factor binding was determined by protein/DNA array analysis and densitometry; results were verified again by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and ELISA-based assay. RESULTS Amylase production was considerably increased (p < 0.05) as early as 5 minutes after addition of exogenous TNF-alpha and remained elevated for 24 hours. PYY decreased amylase production to control levels. A notable increase (p < 0.05) in the production of cytokines interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-alpha was observed with TNF-alpha treatment; production was reduced with PYY. TNF-alpha substantially upregulated STAT1 and STAT3 (two-fold or greater); PYY downregulated their binding activity to control levels. Results from both the electrophoretic mobility shift assay- and the ELISA-based assays verified STAT1 and STAT3 responses to TNF-alpha and PYY. CONCLUSIONS In pancreatic acinar cells, TNF-alpha activated STAT1 and STAT3, known mediators of inflammatory cytokines. Interestingly, PYY attenuated their protein/DNA binding, which may have an impact on development of the disease. Additional investigation of STAT proteins and PYY could provide new therapeutic strategies for pancreatitis.