Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Angiogenesis Inhibitor, TNP-470, Prevents Diet-Induced and Genetic Obesity in Mice

Adipose tissue growth has been proposed to involve recruitment of new blood vessels. Here, we test the hypothesis that delivery of an angiogenesis inhibitor in mice may prevent diet-induced obesity, the most common type of obesity in humans. We show that systemic administration of a selective angiogenesis inhibitor, TNP-470 (AGM-1470), prevents obesity in high caloric diet-fed wt mice as well as in genetically leptin-deficient ob/ob mice. Inhibition of obesity in mice by TNP-470 involves a reduction of vascularity in the adipose tissue. This therapeutic strategy appears to selectively affect the growth of adipose tissue as measured by the ratio between total fat and lean body mass. Interestingly, the treatment with TNP-470 results in decreased serum levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Furthermore, insulin levels are reduced, which indicates increased insulin sensitivity, suggesting that angiogenesis inhibitors may prevent the development of type II diabetes. Our findings suggest that similarly to growth and organogenesis in other tissues, adipose tissue growth is dependent on angiogenesis. Our observations may have conceptual implications for the prevention of obesity and related disorders.
Bayesian Analysis of Sample Selection and Endogenous Switching Regression Models with Random Coefficients Via MCMC Methods

This paper develops a Bayesian method for estimating and testing the parameters of the endogenous switching regression model and sample selection models. Random coefficients are incorporated in both the decision and regime regression models to reflect heterogeneity across individual units or clusters and correlation of observations within clusters. The case of tobit type regime regression equations are also considered. A combination of Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, data augmentation and Gibbs sampling is used to facilitate computation of Bayes posterior statistics. A simulation study is conducted to compare estimates from full and reduced blocking schemes and to investigate sensitivity to prior information. The Bayesian methodology is applied to data sets on currency hedging and goods trade, cross-country privatisation, and adoption of soil conservation technology. Estimation and inference results on marginal effects, average decision or selection effect as well as model comparison are presented. The expected decision effect is broken down into average effect of individual's decision on the response variable, decision effect due to random components, and differential effect due to latent correlated random components. Application of the proposed Bayesian MCMC algorithm to real data sets reveal that the normality assumption still holds for most commonly encountered economic data.
Appropriation de l’innovation et coopération des firmes françaises : une étude empirique sur les données de CIS3

Dans le cadre des cooperations pour innover, le brevet a toujours eu plus d’importance pour les entreprises que les autres moyens d’appropriation, car il permet de clarifier les droits de propriete de chacun des partenaires (Cassiman, Veugelers, 2002). Cependant, les travaux effectues ont rarement analyse l’ensemble des moyens d’appropriation dont disposent les entreprises dans les accords de cooperation, preferant en general se limiter a une opposition entre le secret et le brevet. Hertzfeld et alii (2006) ont analyse le management de l’output d’innovation et montre que le brevet et le secret etaient les deux premiers moyens d’appropriation de l’innovation utilises par les firmes. Toutefois, leur etude ne distingue pas les differents types d’accords de cooperation. Nous avons donc cherche a tester dans cet article les liens existant entre un type de partenaire de cooperation et un moyen specifique d’appropriation de l’innovation. Nous avons utilise un modele logit sur les donnees de l’enquete CIS 3 sur les entreprises francaises. Les resultats montrent premierement que les firmes utilisent relativement moins le brevet que la marque. Deuxiemement, les moyens legaux d’appropriation sont utilises dans un plus grand nombre d’accords avec des partenaires plus diversifies que les moyens strategiques, qui sont plus souvent specifiques d’un type de cooperation. D’autre part, les marques sont particulierement utilisees avec les universites et les organismes publics de recherche, alors que la litterature predit un usage plus important des brevets.
SIV Infection Facilitates Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection of Rhesus Macaques

Tuberculosis (TB) is a common opportunistic infection and the leading cause of death for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Thus, it is necessary to understand the pathogenetic interactions between M.tb and HIV infection. In this study, we examined M.tb and/or simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of Chinese rhesus macaques. While there was little evidence that M.tb enhanced SIV infection of macaques, SIV could facilitate M.tb infection as demonstrated by X-rays, pathological and microbiological findings. Chest X-rays showed that co-infected animals had disseminated lesions in both left and right lungs, while M.tb mono-infected animals displayed the lesions only in right lungs. Necropsy of co-infected animals revealed a disseminated M.tb infection not only in the lungs but also in the extrapulmonary organs including spleen, pancreas, liver, kidney, and heart. The bacterial counts in the lungs, the bronchial lymph nodes, and the extrapulmonary organs of co-infected animals were significantly higher than those of M.tb mono-infected animals. The mechanistic studies demonstrated that two of three co-infected animals had lower levels of M.tb specific IFN-γ and IL-22 in PBMCs than M.tb mono-infected animals. These findings suggest that Chinese rhesus macaque is a suitable and alternative non-human primate model for SIV/M.tb coinfection studies. The impairment of the specific anti-TB immunity is likely to be a contributor of SIV-mediated enhancement M.tb infection.
Effects of haemodialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis on abnormalities of ion transport in vivo in patients with chronic renal failure.

1. We have studied Na+/K+ pump activity in vivo in three groups of subjects: patients with chronic renal failure not receiving maintenance dialysis, patients being treated by either haemodialysis or continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, and matched control subjects. 2. To do this we have measured the changes in plasma and intraerythrocytic rubidium concentrations after an oral load of rubidium chloride, having previously shown that changes in the disposition of rubidium measured in this way reflect changes in the activity of the Na+/K+ pump in vivo. 3. Erythrocyte rubidium uptake was significantly reduced both in ten patients with chronic renal failure not receiving maintenance dialysis and in 12 patients being treated by haemodialysis, when compared with 31 healthy control subjects. In contrast, erythrocyte rubidium uptake was not altered in 13 patients treated by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. There was also a significantly reduced rate constant for erythrocyte rubidium uptake in patients with undialysed chronic renal failure (0.66 h-1) and in those treated by haemodialysis (0.78 h-1), whereas in patients treated by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis the rate constant for erythrocyte rubidium uptake was not significantly different from control values (1.36 h-1 and 1.41 h-1, respectively). 4. These findings are consistent with a reversal of the inhibition of erythrocyte Na+/K+ pump activity in vivo found in chronic renal failure by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, but not by haemodialysis. This difference may be due to the failure of haemodialysis to clear a circulating inhibitor of Na+, K(+)-ATPase or to the rapid re-accumulation of such an inhibitor after haemodialysis. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Dynamic traffic provisioning in Mixed-Line-Rate networks with launch power determination

Launch power of optical signal is one of the major factors that affect the transmission quality in transparent optical Mixed-Line-Rate (MLR) networks due to physical-layer impairments (PLIs). It must be large enough to provide an acceptable optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) at the receiver, but it must be below the limit where fiber nonlinearities distort the signal. Moreover, high launch power is disruptive not only for the actual lightpath itself but also for neighboring lightpaths and this effect is particularly critical in MLR. In this study, we investigate the problem of determining the appropriate launch power for provisioning of dynamic connection requests in MLR networks. By setting the appropriate launch power for each connection, we aim to maximize the number of established connections.
Distinct Functions of the Primate Putamen Direct and Indirect Pathways in Adaptive Outcome-Based Action Selection

Cortico-basal ganglia circuits are critical regulators of reward-based decision making. Reinforcement learning models posit that action reward value is encoded by the firing activity of striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs) and updated upon changing reinforcement contingencies by dopamine (DA) signaling to these neurons. However, it remains unclear how the anatomically distinct direct and indirect pathways through the basal ganglia are involved in updating action reward value under changing contingencies. MSNs of the direct pathway predominantly express DA D1 receptors and those of the indirect pathway predominantly D2 receptors, so we tested for distinct functions in behavioral adaptation by injecting D1 and D2 receptor antagonists into the putamen of two macaque monkeys performing a free choice task for probabilistic reward. In this task, monkeys turned a handle toward either a left or right target depending on an asymmetrically assigned probability of large reward. Reward probabilities of left and right targets changed after 30–150 trials, so the monkeys were required to learn the higher-value target choice based on action–outcome history. In the control condition, the monkeys showed stable selection of the higher-value target (that more likely to yield large reward) and kept choosing the higher-value target regardless of less frequent small reward outcomes. The monkeys also made flexible changes of selection away from the high-value target when two or three small reward outcomes occurred randomly in succession. DA D1 antagonist injection significantly increased the probability of the monkey switching to the alternate target in response to successive small reward outcomes. Conversely, D2 antagonist injection significantly decreased the switching probability. These results suggest distinct functions of D1 and D2 receptor-mediated signaling processes in action selection based on action–outcome history, with D1 receptor-mediated signaling promoting the stable choice of higher-value targets and D2 receptor-mediated signaling promoting a switch in action away from small reward outcomes. Therefore, direct and indirect pathways appear to have complementary functions in maintaining optimal goal-directed action selection and updating action value, which are dependent on D1 and D2 DA receptor signaling.
Optimal-Complexity Optical Router

In the past years, electronic routers have had trouble keeping up with the increase in optical fiber capacity. As their power consumption has grown exponentially and already exceeds standards, it seems that an alternative solution is mandatory. Many have suggested all-optical routers as an alternative. However, these are deemed too complex, especially given the need to implement both switching and buffering, even though their fundamental complexity has apparently never been analyzed. In this paper, we study the number of fundamental optical components (2 times 2 switches and fiber delay lines) needed to emulate ideal routers. We first demonstrate that an N times N router with a buffer size of B per port needs at least thetas(N log(N B)) components, and then build a construction that achieves this lower bound. On the way, we also present an optical buffer construction of size B that works with thetas(log(B)) components, which is also shown to be a lower bound. Finally, we generalize this result to different router architectures and scheduling disciplines.
Wear and Corrosion Behavior in Different Materials

This chapter presents three articles with results, about our research, relationships with the behavior corrosion resistant in different materials of engineer. The first research is about TiC monolayers and Ti/TiN/TiC/TiCN multilayers were deposited onto AISI 4340 steel substrates at 300o C and 4.0x10-2 mbar nitrogen/methane pressures by using a Pulsed-Laser Deposition technique. A Nd: YAG laser (1064 nm, 500 mJ and 7 ns), with a repetition rate of 10 Hz was used. Here we analyzed the difference in structure and mor‐ phology for single layers and multilayers structures deposited on stainless steel sub‐ strates. AFM analysis presented different morphologies; showing, that the single layer had an average grain size of 0.087 μm; while the multilayers exhibited grain sizes of 0.045 μm. Coating thicknesses were 1 μm, approximately, and monolayer average rough‐ ness was 0.21 μm; while a value of 0.15 μm was measured for multilayers. Under a 60 Kg maximum load applied in tension to evaluate the adhesion to the substrate, no de‐ tachment of the films was presented. Multilayers evidenced better impact resistance as compared with TiC single layer; this result is considered, bearing in mind that in multi‐ layers propagation of fissures is slower, because the presence of layer inter-phases, lead to fissures strays in other directions. Slight corrosion specks are present; but mass loss was around 16 mg. in multilayers a value was lower than for the TiC single layer that was near 43 mg. Homogeneity, grain size, fracture resistance, corrosion resistance, and adhesion of the multilayers are suitable for mechanical applications of these types of coatings as shown in mechanical measurements. These results indicate that for engineer‐ ing applications under corrosive environments, the use of this type of multilayers coat‐ ings on AISI 4340 steel, are highly recommended.
Issues of Attrition in a Population Study of Tramatic Brain Injury (TBI) Followed to 3 years Post-Trauma

Objective: The Tasmanian Neurotrauma Register (TNTR) began prospective data collection in December 2003 as part of a population based study of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Southern Tasmania. The overall research aim of the TNTR is to provide comprehensive assessment data on outcomes across a number of domains, including cognitive, psychological and medical. The aim of the present paper is to discuss the issues involved in following a population cohort of TBI patients over multiple time points – one month, three months, six months, twelve months, two years and three years post trauma. Method: A population sample of 947 individuals presenting with TBI at the Department of Emergency Medicine, Royal Hobart Hospital, participated. Data was collected on a range of demographic, clinical, cognitive and psychosocial variables up to three years post-injury. Attendance and attrition data were examined using a number of methods. Results: Participants with more severe TBI’s (measured using length of Post Traumatic Amnesia) showed higher retention rates in the study. Attendance was also examined looking at demographic variables including age and gender. Educational history and socioeconomic status are still under analysis. Discussion: The issue of attrition from large sample studies warrants further investigation to allow such studies to take into account the risk of biased findings from differential drop-out. Different methods of calculating attrition need to be addressed when investigating outcome after TBI, particularly given the characteristics of those at risk of sustaining brain injury. A growing body of research has identified TBI as a global and silent epidemic due to the prevalence of TBI appearing to be greater than the reported incidence (Langlois et al 2005). This problem is exacerbated as the majority of TBI studies report a loss to follow up or attrition rate of one third to one half of their original participants (Corrigan et al 2003). The maintenance of participants within longitudinal TBI studies is costly and time consuming however, it is important this is maximised to reduce the risk of decreased generalisation and the introduction of bias into the final results (Risbel et al 1996). Identification of the characteristics of those whose survival in studies at risk is helpful in the planning of new studies and may be beneficial in clinical area as attrition rates from clinical programs may draw from the same population.
An ensemble Kalman filtering approach to highway traffic estimation using GPS enabled mobile devices

Traffic state estimation is a challenging problem for the transportation community due to the limited deployment of sensing infrastructure. However, recent trends in the mobile phone industry suggest that GPS equipped devices will become standard in the next few years. Leveraging these GPS equipped devices as traffic sensors will fundamentally change the type and the quality of traffic data collected on large scales in the near future. New traffic models and data assimilation algorithms must be developed to efficiently transform this data into usable traffic information. In this work, we introduce a new partial differential equation (PDE) based on the Lighthill-Whitham-Richards PDE, which serves as a flow model for velocity. We formulate a Godunov discretization scheme to cast the PDE into a Velocity Cell Transmission Model (CTM-v), which is a nonlinear dynamical system with a time varying observation matrix. The Ensemble Kalman Filtering (EnKF) technique is applied to the CTM- v to estimate the velocity field on the highway using data obtained from GPS devices, and the method is illustrated in microsimulation on a fully calibrated model of I880 in California. Experimental validation is performed through the unprecedented 100-vehicle Mobile Century experiment, which used a novel privacy-preserving traffic monitoring system to collect GPS cell phone data specifically for this research.
Detection of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy-Specific PrPSc by Treatment with Heat and Guanidine Thiocyanate

ABSTRACT The conversion of a ubiquitous cellular protein (PrPC), an isoform of the prion protein (PrP), to the pathology-associated isoform PrPSc is one of the hallmarks of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Accumulation of PrPSc has been used to diagnose BSE. Here we describe a quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that involves antibodies against epitopes within the protease-resistant core of the PrP molecule to measure the amount of PrP in brain tissues from animals with BSE and normal controls. In native tissue preparations, little difference was found between the two groups. However, following treatment of the tissue with heat and guanidine thiocyanate (Gh treatment), the ELISA discriminated BSE-specific PrPSc from PrPC in bovine brain homogenates. PrPSc was identified by Western blot, centrifugation, and protease digestion experiments. It was thought that folding or complexing of PrPSc is most probably reversed by the Gh treatment, making hidden antigenic sites accessible. The digestion experiments also showed that protease-resistant PrP in BSE is more difficult to detect than that in hamster scrapie. While the concentration of PrPC in cattle is similar to that in hamsters, PrPSc sparse in comparison. The detection of PrPSc by a simple physicochemical treatment without the need for protease digestion, as described in this study, could be applied to develop a diagnostic assay to screen large numbers of samples.
GPC based on operating point dependent parameters linear model for thermal process

This paper presents the application of generalized predictive control strategy (GPC) based on an OPDPLM (Operating Point Dependent Parameters Linear Model) structure to a heating and ventilation nonlinearsubsystem of a complex passive air-conditioning unit. For this purpose, several discrete-time models were identified with respect to measurable exogenous events. The parameters of the identified models change according operating conditions (sliding opening window). The objective of the studied subsystem was to guarantee a microclimate with controlled temperature set-points. The on line adaptive strategy was implemented to compute the controller parameters in order to adapt to the operating conditions variations. Efficiency of the resulting algorithm is illustrated by a real experiment.
The English-Slovene language contact: borrowing of personal names

The article aims to shed some light on the growing tendency of Slovene native speakers towards borrowing English personal names when naming new-born children. Some historical overview of the borrowing of English personal names into Slovene is given, starting with lists compiled from 1931 onwards, established from the data supplied by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS). The phenomenon of borrowing personal names is discussed from the point of view of pragmatic borrowing as advocated by G. Andersen (2014), taking into account the traditional distinction between necessary loans on the one hand and luxury loans on the other. The article illustrates how in the case of personal names, ‘exoticisms’ (e.g. Alex, Liam, Kevin, Kim, Ian, Vanessa, Adrian, Ella, Emma, Patrick, Nick, Alan, Lucas , listed among the most popular 200 first names in the 2001–2013 period) compete with name forms that have been adapted and nativised long ago (e.g. Patrik ), or are currently being introduced for the first time into Slovene. In these recent borrowings, the foreign forms undergo some adaptation, but at the same time, unlike other anglicisms, show the tendency to resist complete adaptation, particularly in terms of spelling and pronunciation. Such pragmatically borrowed items carry significant sociolinguistic signals about the borrowers’ attitudes, and these are briefly commented on.
An Improved WiFi Indoor Positioning Algorithm by Weighted Fusion

The rapid development of mobile Internet has offered the opportunity for WiFi indoor positioning to come under the spotlight due to its low cost. However, nowadays the accuracy of WiFi indoor positioning cannot meet the demands of practical applications. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an improved WiFi indoor positioning algorithm by weighted fusion. The proposed algorithm is based on traditional location fingerprinting algorithms and consists of two stages: the offline acquisition and the online positioning. The offline acquisition process selects optimal parameters to complete the signal acquisition, and it forms a database of fingerprints by error classification and handling. To further improve the accuracy of positioning, the online positioning process first uses a pre-match method to select the candidate fingerprints to shorten the positioning time. After that, it uses the improved Euclidean distance and the improved joint probability to calculate two intermediate results, and further calculates the final result from these two intermediate results by weighted fusion. The improved Euclidean distance introduces the standard deviation of WiFi signal strength to smooth the WiFi signal fluctuation and the improved joint probability introduces the logarithmic calculation to reduce the difference between probability values. Comparing the proposed algorithm, the Euclidean distance based WKNN algorithm and the joint probability algorithm, the experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm has higher positioning accuracy.