Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Public Intellectuals on Time's Covers

Richard A. Posner, Russell Jacoby, and many other authors have charted what they view as the decline of the public intellectual, and this article assesses whether such a decline is reflected on the cover of Time magazine. Examining the covers between the magazine's launch in 1923 and 2010, this study finds that public intellectuals have indeed appeared with less frequency, especially since the 1960s, and as of the end of 2010, no living public intellectual had appeared on the cover for more than a decade. The paucity of public intellectuals in recent years may reflect their loss of prominence and influence in American society, as Posner and others have posited. But alternative explanations also are plausible, including changes in the magazine's editorial leadership, the rise of covers featuring celebrities and other soft news, and the increase in covers that focus on an issue or topic rather than an individual.
Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty a Review Acknowledgements

This paper reviews recent research dealing with the relationships between economic growth, income distribution, and poverty. This generally fails to find any systematic pattern of change in income distribution during recent decades. Neither does it find any systematic link from fast growth to increasing inequality. The level of initial income inequality is not a robust explanatory factor of growth, but some recent empirical studies have found a negative impact of asset inequality on growth. Possible channels are credit rationing, reduced possibilities for participation in the political process, and social conflicts. Among the strategic elements that have contributed to reduced poverty are: an outward-oriented strategy of export-led growth, based on labour-intensive manufacturing; agricultural and rural development, with encouragement of new technologies; investment in physical infrastructure and human capital; efficient institutions that provide the right set of incentives to farmers and entrepreneurs; and social policies to promote health, education, and social capital, as well as safety nets to protect the poor. Countries that have been successful in terms of economic growth are also very likely to have been successful in reducing poverty. Growth can be substantial if the policy and institutional environment is right.
Trend and variability of China precipitation in spring and summer: linkage to sea‐surface temperatures

Observational records in the past 50 years show an upward trend of boreal‐summer precipitation over central eastern China and a downward trend over northern China. During boreal spring, the trend is upward over southeastern China and downward over central eastern China. This study explores the forcing mechanism of these trends in association with the global sea‐surface temperature (SST) variations on the interannual and interdecadal time scales.
Brain-Computer Interface in Stroke Rehabilitation

Recent advances in computer science enabled people with severe motor disabilities to use brain-computer interfaces (BCI) for communication, control, and even to restore their motor disabilities. This paper reviews the most recent works of BCI in stroke rehabilitation with a focus on methodology that reported on data collected from stroke patients and clinical studies that reported on the motor improvements of stroke patients. Both types of studies are important as the former advances the technology of BCI for stroke, and the latter demonstrates the clinical efficacy of BCI in stroke. Finally some challenges are discussed. Category: Human computing
Hox11 genes regulate postnatal longitudinal bone growth and growth plate proliferation

ABSTRACT Hox genes are critical regulators of skeletal development and Hox9-13 paralogs, specifically, are necessary for appendicular development along the proximal to distal axis. Loss of function of both Hoxa11 and Hoxd11 results in severe malformation of the forelimb zeugopod. In the radius and ulna of these mutants, chondrocyte development is perturbed, growth plates are not established, and skeletal growth and maturation fails. In compound mutants in which one of the four Hox11 alleles remains wild-type, establishment of a growth plate is preserved and embryos develop normally through newborn stages, however, skeletal phenotypes become evident postnatally. During postnatal development, the radial and ulnar growth rate slows compared to wild-type controls and terminal bone length is reduced. Growth plate height is decreased in mutants and premature growth plate senescence occurs along with abnormally high levels of chondrocyte proliferation in the reserve and proliferative zones. Compound mutants additionally develop an abnormal curvature of the radius, which causes significant distortion of the carpal elements. The progressive bowing of the radius appears to result from physical constraint caused by the disproportionately slower growth of the ulna than the radius. Collectively, these data are consistent with premature depletion of forelimb zeugopod progenitor cells in the growth plate of Hox11 compound mutants, and demonstrate a continued function for Hox genes in postnatal bone growth and patterning. Summary: Hox genes are required for postnatal skeletal growth. Hox11 genes function in the zeugopod skeletal elements and regulate longitudinal growth through controlling chondrocyte maturation within the growth plate.
Does a Monopoly Need to Exclude?

We examine the optimal selling strategy of a monopolist facing consumers who have privately known demands, and some of whom have limited abilities to misrepresent their preferences. We derive the optimal mechanism in this environment and characterize its properties. In particular, we show that communication with consumers plays a significant role in the process of screening. Consumers who have better abilities to misrepresent information benefit from the presence of consumers who lack such abilities. Whenever the fraction of the latter group of consumers is positive, there is no exclusion: It is optimal for the firm to supply a positive quantity of the good to all consumers whose valuations exceeds the marginal cost of production. Our analysis reflects the view that the environments where individuals can costlessly and effortlessly manipulate and misrepresent their private information, although standard in economics, represent an extreme point in the spectrum of various possibilities. In fact, available evidence suggests that at least some individuals have limited abilities to misrepresent their true types and imitate others' behavior.
A PEDIGREE OF MENTAL DEFECT SHOWING SEX-LINKAGE

THE following history of imbecility in eleven males of two generations was brought to our notice some years ago when a child aged.eighteen months, now indicated as V 54 on the adjoining pedigree chart, was brought to the outpatient department at the National Hospital by his mother who suspected that he was showing the signs of mental deficiency which she had already seen develop in some of the sons of her sisters; she was further aware of the condition in her cousins IV 13 and 14. The mother of the patient, IV 22, was intelligent and was much concerned about the family history; she provided at that time complete information regarding her own branch of the family and obtained the collaboration of her aunt, III 1, in working out the extended pedigree, including the three defective brothers V 16, 18, and 19. At this time one of us (J.P.M.) visited many of the descendants of III 4; he noted the undoubted intelligence of the seven daughters of III 4 and examined their defective sons in institutions or in their homes. More recently we have been able to get in touch with some of the descendants of III 2 and to see the three imbecile sons of IV 3. This side of the pedigree has been much extended since the original history was given by III 1, and to some extent modified. Our information was provided by IV 3 and 4, but they did not welcome inquiry and discouraged our attempt to see the only other living member of the sibship IV 1-11, or to call upon V 13. IV 3 was uncertain about some details regarding the sex and number of her nieces and nephews and we did not feel assured that she would know if, for example, IV 2, or IV 9 had had defective sons or grandsons. Two of the twins of IV 2 had died in infancy, but IV 3 did not know whether they had been boys or girls. It is illustrative of the secretive-ness of this branch of the family that at the time of the earlier pedigree III 1 was unaware that she had any grandchildren through her daughter IV 2, or that her son IV 1 had more than one child. IV 3 was fiercely protective in her attitude to her imbecile sons and resentful that, when found as small boys wandering in …
Exercise Immunology: Practical Applications

During the last 95 years, 629 papers (60% in the 1990s) dealing specifically with exercise and immunology have been published. Major findings of practical importance in terms of public health and athletic endeavor include: (a) In response to acute exercise (the most frequently studied area of exercise immunology), a rapid interchange of immune cells between peripheral lymphoid tissues and the circulation occurs. The response depends on many factors, including the intensity, duration, and mode of exercise, concentrations of hormones and cytokines, change in body temperature, blood flow, hydration status, and body position. Of all immune cells, natural killer (NK) cells, neutrophils, and macrophages (of the innate immune system) appear to be most responsive to the effects of acute exercise, both in terms of numbers and function. In general, acute exercise bouts of moderate duration (< 60 min) and intensity (< 60% VO2max) are associated with fewer perturbations and less stress to the immune system than are prolonged, high-intensity sessions. (b) In response to long-term exercise training, the only finding to date reported with some congruity between investigators is a significant elevation in NK cell activity. Changes in the function of neutrophils, macrophages, and T and B cells in response to training have been reported inconsistently, but there is some indication that neutrophil function is suppressed during periods of heavy training. (c) Limited data suggest that unusually heavy acute or chronic exercise may increase the risk of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), while regular moderate physical activity may reduce URTI symptomatology. (d) Work performance tends to diminish with most systemic infectious, and clinical case studies and animal data suggest that infection severity, relapse, and myocarditis may result when patients exercise vigorously. (e) Although regular exercise has many benefits for HIV-infected individuals, helper T cell counts and other immune measures are not enhanced significantly. (f) Data suggest that the incidence and mortality rates for certain types of cancer are lower among active subjects. The role of the immune system may be limited, however, depending on the sensitivity of the specific tumor to cytolysis, the stage of cancer, the type of exercise program, and many other complex factors. (g) As individuals age, they experience a decline in most cell- mediated and humoral immune responses. Two human studies suggest that immune function is superior in highly conditioned versus sedentary elderly subjects. (h) Mental stress, undernourishment, quick weight loss, and improper hygiene have each been associated with impaired immunity. Athletes who are undergoing heavy training regimens should realize that each of these factors has the potential to compound the effect that exercise stress is having on their immune systems.
Depolarization of lidar returns by small ice crystals: An application to contrails

Measurements of the lidar linear depolarization ratio δ can be a powerful remote sensing technique for characterizing the microphysics of contrail particles. Since young contrails often consist of relatively small ice crystals, the quantitative interpretation of lidar measurements requires accurate theoretical computations of δ for polydisperse, randomly oriented nonspherical particles with size parameters ranging from zero to at least several tens, thus ruling out most of the currently available numerical techniques. In this paper we use the recently improved T‐matrix method and compute δ for polydispersions of randomly oriented ice spheroids, circular cylinders, and Chebyshev particles with sizes typical of young contrails. We show that ice crystals with effective radii as small as several tenths of a micron can already produce δ exceeding 0.5 at visible wavelengths. This may explain the frequent occurrence of large δ values for very young contrails. We also show that observed increases of δ with the contrail's age can be explained either by a rapid increase of the particle size parameter from essentially zero to about 5 or by assuming that the contrail particles originate as perfect spheres and then acquire a certain degree of asphericity.
Architectural Design Drives the Biogeography of Indoor Bacterial Communities

Background Architectural design has the potential to influence the microbiology of the built environment, with implications for human health and well-being, but the impact of design on the microbial biogeography of buildings remains poorly understood. In this study we combined microbiological data with information on the function, form, and organization of spaces from a classroom and office building to understand how design choices influence the biogeography of the built environment microbiome. Results Sequencing of the bacterial 16S gene from dust samples revealed that indoor bacterial communities were extremely diverse, containing more than 32,750 OTUs (operational taxonomic units, 97% sequence similarity cutoff), but most communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deinococci. Architectural design characteristics related to space type, building arrangement, human use and movement, and ventilation source had a large influence on the structure of bacterial communities. Restrooms contained bacterial communities that were highly distinct from all other rooms, and spaces with high human occupant diversity and a high degree of connectedness to other spaces via ventilation or human movement contained a distinct set of bacterial taxa when compared to spaces with low occupant diversity and low connectedness. Within offices, the source of ventilation air had the greatest effect on bacterial community structure. Conclusions Our study indicates that humans have a guiding impact on the microbial biodiversity in buildings, both indirectly through the effects of architectural design on microbial community structure, and more directly through the effects of human occupancy and use patterns on the microbes found in different spaces and space types. The impact of design decisions in structuring the indoor microbiome offers the possibility to use ecological knowledge to shape our buildings in a way that will select for an indoor microbiome that promotes our health and well-being.
Many random walks are faster than one

We pose a new and intriguing question motivated by distributed computing regarding random walks on graphs: How long does it take for several independent random walks, starting from the same vertex, to cover an entire graph? We study the cover time - the expected time required to visit every node in a graph at least once - and we show that for a large collection of interesting graphs, running many random walks in parallel yields a speed-up in the cover time that is linear in the number of parallel walks. We demonstrate that an exponential speed-up is sometimes possible, but that some natural graphs allow only a logarithmic speed-up. A problem related to ours (in which the walks start from some probablistic distribution on vertices) was previously studied in the context of space efficient algorithms for undirected s-t-connectivity and our results yield, in certain cases, an improvement upon some of the earlier bounds.
Adult Learning in Australia: Predictors and Outcomes

As industrial societies increasingly evolve into knowledge-based economies, the importance of education as a lifelong process is greater than ever. This comprehensive book provides a state-of-the-art analysis of adult learning across the world and within varying institutional contexts. The expert contributors examine the structures of formal and non-formal adult learning in different countries, and investigate the levels of success those countries have experienced in encouraging participation and skill formation
POINT : Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing : Is Psychiatry Missing the Point ?

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common and disabling condition. Recent estimates of the lifetime prevalence range between 6% and 15%, making this condition possibly more common than major depressive disorder (Breslau et al., 1998; Kessler et al., 1995). In addition, many patients who have been the victims of directed violence, such as rape or assault, continue to meet PTSD criteria 10 years after the incident (Breslau et al., 1998).
Force visualization mechanism using a Moiré fringe applied to endoscopic surgical instruments

This paper presents a force visualization mechanism for endoscopic surgical instruments using a Moirée fringe. This mechanism can display fringes or characters that correspond to the magnitude of a force between the surgical instruments and internal organs without the use of electronic elements, such as amplifiers and strain gauges. As this mechanism is simply attached to the surgical instruments, there is no need for additional devices in the operating room or wires to connect these devices. The structure is simple, and its fabrication is inexpensive. An example is shown with the mechanism mounted on a 10-mm forceps. We experimentally verified in vivo, using a pig, that it can display characters corresponding to the magnitude of the force, thus visually displaying the force even in endoscopic image.
Role of Plasma Membrane Lipid Microdomains in Respiratory Syncytial Virus Filament Formation

ABSTRACT The fusion protein (F) of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the envelope glycoprotein responsible for the characteristic cytopathology of syncytium formation. RSV has been shown to bud from selective areas of the plasma membrane as pleomorphic virions, including both filamentous and round particles. With immunofluorescent microscopy, we demonstrated evidence of RSV filaments incorporating the fusion protein F and colocalizing with a lipid microdomain-specific fluorescent dye, 1,1-dihexadecyl-3,3,3,3-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate. Western blot analysis of Triton X-100 cold-extracted membrane fractions confirmed the presence of RSV proteins within the lipid microdomains. RSV proteins also colocalized with cellular proteins associated with lipid microdomains, caveolin-1, and CD44, as well as with RhoA, a small GTPase. ADP-ribosylation of RhoA by Clostridium botulinum exotoxin inactivated RhoA signaling and resulted in the absence of RSV-induced syncytia despite no significant change in viral titer. We demonstrated an overall decrease in both the number and length of the viral filaments and a shift in the localization of F to nonlipid microdomain regions of the membrane in the presence of C3 toxin. This suggests that the selective incorporation of RSV proteins into lipid microdomains during virus assembly may lead to critical interactions of F with cellular proteins, resulting in microvillus projections necessary for the formation of filamentous virus particles and syncytium formation. Thus, manipulation of membrane lipid microdomains may lead to alterations in the production of viral filaments and RSV pathogenesis and provide a new pharmacologic target for RSV therapy.
In silico identification of oncogenic potential of fyn-related kinase in hepatocellular carcinoma

MOTIVATION Cancer development is a complex and heterogeneous process. It is estimated that 5-10% of human genes probably contribute to oncogenesis, whereas current experimentally validated cancer genes only cover 1% of the human genome. Thus hundreds of cancer genes may still remain to be identified. To search for new genes that play roles in carcinogenesis and facilitate cancer research, we developed a systematic workflow to use information saved in a previously established tumor-associated gene (TAG) database. RESULTS By exploiting the information of conserved protein domains from the TAG, we identified 183 potential new TAGs. As a proof-of-concept, one predicted oncogene, fyn-related kinase (FRK), which shows an aberrant digital expression pattern in liver cancer cells, was selected for further investigation. Using 68 paired hepatocellular carcinoma samples, we found that FRK was up-regulated in 52% of cases (P < 0.001). Tumorigenic assays performed in Hep3B and HepG2 cell lines revealed a significant correlation between the level of FRK expression and invasiveness, suggesting that FRK is a positive regulator of invasiveness in liver cancer cells. CONCLUSION These findings implied that FRK is a multitalented signal transduction molecule that produces diverse biological responses in different cell types in various microenvironments. In addition, our data demonstrated the accuracy of computational prediction and suggested that other predicted TAGs can be potential targets for future cancer research. AVAILABILITY The TAG database is available online at the Bioinformatics Center website: http://www.binfo. ncku.edu. tw/TAG/.
Analysis of FinFET technology on memories

Summary form only given. Due to increased leakage currents and variability, classical bulk technology is reaching its scaling limits and some alternatives must be found. FinFETs are one of those alternatives. Through their 3D structure, they achieve better channel control which is the key to scalability. However, some sources of variability still remain. The impact of this technology shift on SRAM and DRAM memories is analyzed in this work.
Social Cognitive and Emotional Mediators Link Violence Exposure and Parental Nurturance to Adolescent Aggression

This study examined aggressive fantasies, violence-approving attitudes, and empathy as mediators of the effects of violence exposure and parental nurturance on aggression. A total of 603 early adolescents (M age = 11.8 years; SD = 0.8) participated in a two-wave study, reporting on violence exposure and parental nurturance at Wave 1 and the three mediators and aggression at Wave 2. Violence-approving attitudes mediated the effects of both violence exposure and low parental nurturance on aggression. Aggressive fantasies also mediated the effects of violence exposure and empathy mediated the effects of parental nurturance. The mediation pathways through which parental nurturance were linked to aggression differed across levels of violence exposure. In the context of high violence exposure, parental nurturance was related to lower aggression through higher social emotional empathy, but under low violence exposure, the effect was mediated by greater disapproval of violence.
Vaccines Combined with Immune Checkpoint Antibodies Promote Cytotoxic T-cell Activity and Tumor Eradication

Despite dramatic clinical successes for cancer vaccines and immune checkpoint blockade, disease usually progresses. In a mouse model that combined vaccines with checkpoint blockade, significant CTL activation, tumor eradication, and long-term survival was achieved. We demonstrate that a poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG) cancer vaccine can be used in combination with immune checkpoint antibodies, anti–CTLA-4 or anti–PD-1, to enhance cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) activity and induce the regression of solid B16 tumors in mice. Combination therapy obviated the need for vaccine boosting and significantly skewed intratumoral reactions toward CTL activity, resulting in the regression of B16 tumors up to 50 mm2 in size and 75% survival rates. These data suggest that combining material-based cancer vaccines with checkpoint antibodies has the potential to mediate tumor regression in humans. Cancer Immunol Res; 4(2); 95–100. ©2015 AACR.