Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The cAMP Transduction Cascade Mediates the Prostaglandin E2 Enhancement of the Capsaicin-Elicited Current in Rat Sensory Neurons: Whole-Cell and Single-Channel Studies

Treatment with proinflammatory prostaglandin E2(PGE2) produced a transient sensitization of whole-cell currents elicited by the vanilloid capsaicin. The intracellular signaling pathways that mediate the initiation of this PGE2-induced sensitization of the capsaicin-elicited current in rat sensory neurons are not well established. Treatment with either forskolin (100 nm to 10 μm) or membrane-permeant analogs of cAMP, 8-bromo-cAMP (8-Br-cAMP) and chlorphenylthio-cAMP (10 μm to 1 mm), transiently sensitized neuronal responses elicited by capsaicin in a manner analogous to that produced by PGE2. The duration of sensitization was lengthened with increasing concentrations of forskolin; however, higher concentrations of 8-Br-cAMP or chlorphenylthio-cAMP led to a shortening of sensitization. The inactive analog of forskolin, dideoxy-forskolin, had no effect on capsaicin responses. Inclusion of the inhibitor of protein kinase A in the recording pipette completely suppressed the sensitization produced by PGE2 or forskolin. In recordings from membrane patches in the cell-attached configuration, the bath application of capsaicin evoked single-channel currents in which the level of channel activity was concentration-dependent and had an EC50 of 1.4 μm. These single-channel currents evoked by capsaicin exhibited an apparent reversal potential of +4 mV and were blocked by the capsaicin antagonist capsazepine. Exposure of the sensory neuron to either PGE2 or forskolin produced a large and transient increase in the mean channel activity (NPo) elicited by capsaicin, although the unitary conductance remained unaltered. Taken together, these observations suggest that modulation of the capsaicin-gated channel by the cAMP–protein kinase A signaling pathway enhanced the gating of these channels and consequently resulted in the sensitization of the whole-cell currents.
The Mouthparts Enriched Odorant Binding Protein 11 of the Alfalfa Plant Bug Adelphocoris lineolatus Displays a Preferential Binding Behavior to Host Plant Secondary Metabolites

Odorant binding proteins (OBPs) are proposed to be directly required for odorant discrimination and represent potential interesting targets for pest control. In the notoriously agricultural pest Adelphocoris lineolatus, our previous functional investigation of highly expressed antennal OBPs clearly supported this viewpoint, whereas the findings of the current study by characterizing of AlinOBP11 rather indicated that OBP in hemipterous plant bugs might fulfill a different and tantalizing physiological role. The phylogenetic analysis uncovered that AlinOBP11 together with several homologous bug OBP proteins are potential orthologs, implying they could exhibit a conserved function. Next, the results of expression profiles solidly showed that AlinOBP11 was predominantly expressed at adult mouthparts, the most important gustatory organ of Hemiptera mirid bug. Finally, a rigorously selective binding profile was observed in the fluorescence competitive binding assay, in which recombinant AlinOBP11 displayed much stronger binding abilities to non-volatile secondary metabolite compounds than the volatile odorants. These results reflect that AlinOBP11, even its orthologous proteins across bug species, could be associated with a distinctively conserved physiological role such as a crucial carrier for non-volatiles host secondary metabolites in gustatory system.
SSR180575 (7-chloro-N,N,5-trimethyl-4-oxo-3-phenyl-3,5-dihydro-4H-pyridazino[4,5-b]indole-1-acetamide), a peripheral benzodiazepine receptor ligand, promotes neuronal survival and repair.

In the present study, we have investigated the potential neuroprotective effects of a novel peripheral benzodiazepine binding site (PBR) ligand, 7-chloro-N,N,5-trimethyl-4-oxo-3-phenyl-3,5-dihydro-4H-pyridazino[4,5-b]indole-1-acetamide (SSR180575), in models of central and peripheral neurodegeneration in vivo and its effect on steroid concentrations in plasma and nervous tissue. SSR180575 shows high affinity (IC(50), 2.5-3.5 nM) and selectivity for the rat and human PBR and potently inhibits the in vivo binding of [(3)H]alpidem to PBR in the rat brain and spleen after oral or i.p. administration (ID(50), 0.1-0.3 mg/kg). In an experimental model of motoneuron degeneration induced by facial nerve axotomy in the immature rat, SSR180575 given i.p. or orally for 8 days rescued facial motoneurons, increasing their survival by 40 to 72% at 6 and 10 mg/kg p.o. b.i. d. Moreover, in this model, SSR180575 (10 mg/kg p.o. b.i.d.) increased by 87% the number of motoneurons immunoreactive to peripherin, a type III intermediate filament, whose expression is up-regulated during nerve regeneration. SSR180575 also improved functional recovery in acrylamide-induced neuropathy in the rat when given therapeutically at 2.5 to 10 mg/kg/day p.o. Furthermore, SSR180575 (3 mg/kg i.p. b.i.d.) accelerated functional recovery of the blink reflex after local injury of the facial nerve in the rat. SSR180575 increased pregnenolone accumulation in the brain and sciatic nerve (+100% at 3 mg/kg i.p.), suggesting that its neuroprotective effects are steroid-mediated. These results indicate that PBR ligands (e.g., SSR180575) promote neuronal survival and repair in axotomy and neuropathy models and have potential for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., peripheral neuropathies or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
On the Energy Efficiency of Last-Level Cache Partitioning

Computing systems frequently have a mix of interactive, real-time applications and background computation to execute. In order to guarantee responsiveness, the interactive and background applications are often run on completely disjoint sets of resources to ensure performance isolation. These practices are expensive in terms of battery life, power and capital expenditures. In this paper, we evaluate the potential of hardware cache partitioning mechanisms and policies to provide energy efficient operating environments by running foreground and background tasks simultaneously while mitigating performance degradation. We evaluate these tradeoffs using real multicore hardware that supports cache partitioning and energy measurement. We find that for modern, multi-threaded benchmarks there are only a limited number of application pairings where cache partitioning is more effective than naive cache sharing at reducing energy in a race-to-halt scenario. However, in contexts where a constant stream of background work is available, a dynamically adaptive cache partitioning policy is effective at increasing background application throughput while preserving foreground application performance.
Explicit coupled thermo-mechanical finite-element model of continuous casting of steel in funnel molds

A three-dimensional transient explicit finite-element method is applied to simulate the coupled and highly-nonlinear thermo-mechanical phenomena that occur during steel solidification in continuous casting of thin slabs in a funnel mold. Variable mass scaling is used to efficiently model the phenomena in their natural time scale using a Lagrangian formulation. The model features an efficient and robust local-global viscoplastic integration scheme to solve the elasticviscoplastic constitutive equations of solidifying steel [1], using a VUMAT subroutine in ABAQUS/Explicit [2], which varies greatly with temperature, strain rate, steel phase, and composition. The model is applied to simulate temperature and stress development in typical repeating segment of the solidifying shell in a continuous casting funnel mold using realistic temperature-dependent properties and including the effects of ferrostatic pressure, narrow face taper, and mechanical contact, and thermal-mechanical coupling through the size of the interfacial gap. Explicit temperature and stress results as well as computational efficiency are compared with the results of an implicit formulation. The explicit formulation shows significant advantages for these large contact-solidification problems on parallel computers.
Aerodynamic loads on cactus-shaped cylinders at low Reynolds numbers

Direct numerical simulations of flow past cactus-shaped cylinders are performed at Reynolds numbers of 20, 100, and 300. The results are contrasted to those from smooth cylinders at the same Reynolds numbers. The cavities in the cactus-shaped cylinders are seen to reduce the forces acting on them. At Reynolds number of 20, the drag is reduced by 22% due to reduction in the viscous forces. At Reynolds number of 100, the unsteady pressure forces increase, while the unsteady viscous forces acting on the cactus-shaped cylinder decrease. The overall reduction in drag force is about 18%. At Reynolds number of 300, onset of three dimensionality is observed together with significant decrease in pressure and viscous forces. Both the mean and fluctuating forces are found to decrease considerably. The Strouhal number is also found to decrease by about 10%. These reductions in force magnitudes and observed wake instabilities are attributed to the presence of large-scale, quiescent, recirculating flow within the cactus cavities.
Space-time block code design for communication in spread systems

The problem of designing space-time signal constellations for communication in spread multiple-antenna wireless systems over Rayleigh fading channel is examined. Using the asymptotic union bound on codeword error probability as design criterion, codes based on general complex-valued symbols are obtained with a gradient search optimization technique. New space-time constellations for some particular wireless scenarios are constructed and their performance is assessed. Computer simulations illustrate that significant improvement over state-of-art schemes can be obtained.
Preferências de Ações de Gestores de Fundos Mútuos Estrangeiros na América Latina

In this paper, we observe the preferential characteristics of Foreign Mutual Fund Managers when investing in Latin America. The main objective was checking the hypothesis that those managers prefer companies with characteristics that amplifies its visibility, in other words, that reduces information asymmetry, a possible explanation for the existence of home bias. For this purpose, we observe mutual funds positions based on shareholders lists of the companies listed at the stock exchanges of the countries of the sample in three different periods (June 2008, 2009 and 2010). The results show that this class of investors prefers companies’ attributes that amplify their contact with international markets, like international listing, bigger analyst coverage and being part of exporter sectors, reinforcing the idea that information asymmetry reduces the ability of asset selection and, therefore, justifying home bias theory. The study also compare preferences of foreign fund managers with domestic ones, located in Latin America, and shows evidence that home basis fund managers expand their portfolio towards a market portfolio, and has different preferences that those observed by foreign fund managers.
ON THE CONVERGENCE OF ASYNCHRONOUS BLOCK NEWTON METHODS FOR NONLINEAR SYSTEMS OF EQUATIONS

Convergence of asynchronous block Newton methods for solving nonlinear systems of equations of the form F (x) = 0 are studied. Sufficient conditions to guarantee their local convergence are given. Our analysis emphasizes the connection between the conditions on F involved in local convergence theorems for sequential and synchronous block Newton’s method, and our settings for asynchronous block Newton methods. Our results are similar to the results of Szyld and Xu, obtained in an asynchronous nonlinear multisplitting context.
agent for multi-agent web search model

Internet search in a multi-agent environment can most naturally be modeled as an interactive query reenment process where users can reene and modify their previous queries to satisfy their information need. In this paper, we present a NLI agent that supports kqml-based agent communication and the interactive query reenement using natural language discourse processing technique. The NLI agent supports natural language queries and commands along with a search history so that users can reene their queries based on the previous search results. Users communicate with the NLI agent using natural language and the web search agent receives user's requests through compiled kqml/kif messages. The web search agent automatically generates standard boolean queries that can interface with many currently available standard web search engines. The NLI agent employs natural language semantic and discourse processing techniques enabling users to use anaphoric terms and elided expressions freely. Currently, large amount of query and command corpus are being collected to tune the natural language and discourse processing in the NLI agent.
CIVILIZATION AT A DISCOUNT: THE PROBLEM OF TAX EVASION

The paper seeks to review research on tax evasion undertaken in a number of disciplines. The nature and extent of the tax evasion problem is examined and the factors underlying the tax evasion decision are discussed in light of theoretical and empirical research. It is argued that economic models of evasion fail to account for empirical findings which suggest the importance of non-maximizing behavior and social norms of compliance. A simple model of tax evasion which incorporates these concepts is discussed. Finally, implications for future research and for tax administration and policy are suggested.
The Behaviour of Mixtures of Streptomycin-sensitive and -resistant Tubercle Bacilli in Liquid Medium Sensitivity Tests

A method for testing the sensitivity to streptomycin of strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been recommended by the Streptomycin in Tuberculosis Trials Committee of the Medical Research Council (1948a). The tests are carried out in a modified Tween 80-albumen liquid medium (Dubos and Davis, 1946) containing various concentrations of streptomycin. It seems probable that strains derived from patients during or after treatment with streptomycin may consist of a mixture of organisms of different degrees of sensitivity (Pyle, 1947). An attempt has therefore been made to determine the proportion of resistant to sensitive organisms that could appear as resistant in the test. Since it has been shown that the presence of Tween 80 in the medium decreases the apparent concentration of streptomycin necessary to inhibit any particular strain (Fisher, 1948a and b; Williston and Youmans, 1949) media with and without Tween 80 have been used.
An Evaluation of Pregnancy-associated Morbidity among Georgia's USDA Designated Food Deserts, 2009-2010

YONTE BURNAM An Evaluation of Pregnancy-associated Morbidity among Georgia’s USDA Designated Food Deserts, 2009-2010 (Under the direction of Dr. Lisa Casanova, Faculty Member) Objective: To assess the affect of pregnant women residing in a USDA designated food desert on the development of pregnancy-associated morbidities Results: Living in a USDA food desert is not significantly associated with the development of pregnancy-associated morbidity [OR=0.973; CI: 0.835-1.134; pvalue=0.728]. Backward stepwise regression showed all proposed potential confounders were significantly associated with the development of pregnancyassociated morbidity. These potential confounders include maternal age, regular exercise routine or previous diagnosis of diabetes or hypertension (p-values < 0.02). Conclusion: Residing in a USDA designated food desert is not associated with the development of pregnancy-related morbidity. This analysis suggests other sociodemographic risk factors, such as maternal age or exercise routine, as indicators of morbidity rather than food accessibility. INDEX WORDS: Pregnancy associated morbidity, pregnancy complications, maternal health, women’s health, food availability, food access, food environment
The Impact of Supervisory Board Composition on CSR Reporting. Evidence from the German Two-Tier System

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting is becoming increasingly relevant in light of modern corporate governance. There is growing activity among empirical research in one-tier systems that considers the link between board composition and CSR reporting. This study is the first of its kind on the German two-tier system with special regard for the supervisory board. We analyze gender diversity, expertise, the presence of former managers, frequency of meetings, and the size of the supervisory board. Our multiple regressions indicate that gender diversity has a positive impact on CSR disclosure intensity, which is in line with prior studies on one-tier systems. Our findings have implications for both users and public policy and suggest that current European corporate governance regulations could help to increase the decision usefulness of CSR reporting.
New combining rules for rare gas van der waals parameters

New combining rules are proposed for the well depth, ϵ, and interaction distance, σ, describing nonbonded interatomic forces for rare gas pair interactions. Concepts underlying current combining rules applied in simulations of macromolecular and polymer systems are shown to be incompatible with experimental data on the rare gases. The current combining rules are compared with the new results using the experimental data. Mathematical properties of combining rules are considered, and it is shown how to reduce combining rule formulas from a two‐parameter to a single‐parameter problem. It is also shown how to graphically analyze combining rules against experimental data. We demonstrate using this analysis technique that the rare gas potentials do not obey a single combining rule for the ϵ parameter but do follow a single combining rule for the σ parameter. Finally, we demonstrate that a combining rule using both ϵ and ω can be used to predict the ϵ parameters for the mixed rare gas pairs. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Opportunistic strategies for lightweight signal processing for body sensor networks

We present a mobile platform for body sensor networking based on a smartphone for lightweight signal processing of sensor mote data. The platform allows for local processing of data at both the sensor mote and smartphone levels, reducing the overhead of data transmission to remote services. We discuss how the smartphone platform not only provides the ability for wearable signal processing, but it allows for opportunistic sensing strategies, in which many of the onboard sensors and capabilities of modern smartphones may be collected and fused with body sensor data to provide environmental and social context. We propose that this can help refine data reduction at the local level. We describe three examples related to health and wellness, to which our system has been applied.
Efficiency Bounds for Sequential Wireless Resource Allocation Auctions

A sequential auction mechanism is proposed for sharing a wireless resource (bandwidth or power) among competing transmitters. The resource is assumed to be managed by a spectrum broker (auctioneer), who collects bids and allocates sequentially discrete units of the resource via second-price auctions. It is known that such auctions can have inefficient equilibria. For two users with full information, this mechanism is shown to give a unique allocation. The worst-case efficiency of this allocation is characterized under the following cases: (i) both bidders have a concave valuation of the spectrum resource, and (ii) one bidder has a concave valuation and the other bidder has a convex valuation (e.g., for the other user’s power). Although the worst-case efficiency loss can be significant, numerical results are presented, which show that for randomly placed transmitterreceiver pairs with rate utility functions, the sequential secondprice auction typically achieves the efficient allocation. For more than two users it is shown that this mechanism has a pure strategy equilibrium, but in general there may be multiple equilibria. We give a constructive procedure for finding one equilibrium; numerical results show than when all users have concave valuation the efficiency loss decreases when the number of users increases.
Political conversations on Twitter in a disruptive scenario: The role of “party evangelists” during the 2015 Spanish general elections

ABSTRACT During election campaigns, candidates, parties, and media share their relevance on Twitter with a group of especially active users, aligned with a particular party. This paper introduces the profile of “party evangelists,” and explores the activity and effects these users had on the general political conversation during the 2015 Spanish general election. On that occasion, the electoral expectations were uncertain for the two major parties (PP and PSOE) because of the rise of two emerging parties that were disrupting the political status quo (Podemos and Ciudadanos). This was an ideal situation to assess the differences between the evangelists of established and emerging parties. The paper evaluates two aspects of the political conversation based on a corpus of 8.9 million tweets: the retweeting effectiveness, and the sentiment analysis of the overall conversation. We found that one of the emerging party’s evangelists dominated message dissemination to a much greater extent.
The Neural Correlates of Moral Sensitivity: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Basic and Moral Emotions

Humans are endowed with a natural sense of fairness that permeates social perceptions and interactions. This moral stance is so ubiquitous that we may not notice it as a fundamental component of daily decision making and in the workings of many legal, political, and social systems. Emotion plays a pivotal role in moral experience by assigning human values to events, objects, and actions. Although the brain correlates of basic emotions have been explored, the neural organization of “moral emotions” in the human brain remains poorly understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a passive visual task, we show that both basic and moral emotions activate the amygdala, thalamus, and upper midbrain. The orbital and medial prefrontal cortex and the superior temporal sulcus are also recruited by viewing scenes evocative of moral emotions. Our results indicate that the orbital and medial sectors of the prefrontal cortex and the superior temporal sulcus region, which are critical regions for social behavior and perception, play a central role in moral appraisals. We suggest that the automatic tagging of ordinary social events with moral values may be an important mechanism for implicit social behaviors in humans.
Seeking for Clues about Users' Information Needs in Their Navigation

Adaptive navigation systems are tools intended to assist users when they search the Web. Thus, they often have to know the users ' current information needs (IN). However, they suffer from the lack of information available about users' IN and the lack of user feedbacks. Accordingly, they have to seek for clues about users ' IN in their navigation behaviours. This paper puts forward a method that aims at discovering clues about users' IN in the content of the documents they access without requiring their feedbacks. The paper also presents an incremental method to detect the users ' shifts of focus . Eventually, details of an experimenta tion with real users are outlined and results show that the proposed approach has a good ability to detect the users ' shifts.