Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Monoamines on Transmission from Group II Muscle Afferents in Sacral Segments in the Cat

The effects of one 5‐HT1A serotonin agonist (8‐OH‐DPAT) and of two α2 noradrenaline agonists (tizanidine and B‐HT 933) were tested on the transmission between group II muscle afferents and spinal neurons in the sacral segments of the spinal cord in the cat. These agonists have previously been found to depress transmission from group II muscle afferents either in the dorsal horn or in the intermediate zone of midlumbar segments, and this study addressed the question of whether their actions in the sacral segments are similarly selective. The drugs were applied ionophoretically and their effects were tested on field potentials evoked from group II muscle afferents. As judged by changes in the amplitude of the early components of these field potentials, the transmission is effectively depressed by the serotonin agonist (to 56 ± 26% after 2 min of ionophoresis of 8‐OH‐DPAT) but not by the noradrenaline agonists (to 97 ± 12% after 6 min of ionophoresis of B‐HT 933 and to 95 ± 17% after 6 min of ionophoresis of tizanidine). These data suggest that transmission from group II muscle spindle afferents in the sacral segments is under control of serotonin releasing neurons, as in the dorsal horn of midlumbar segments, but leave open the question of the similarities or differences in the mechanisms (pre‐and/or postsynaptic) of this control.
The Use of Coercion in Society: Insecure Property Rights, Conflict, and Economic Backwardness

This article o ers an equilibrium analysis of the in uence of insecure property rights on macroeconomic outcomes. The purpose of the analysis is to show how principles of economics without the ideal of the rule of law can deepen our understanding of economic backwardness and development. Department of Economics, University of Calgary. E-mail address: francisco.gonzalez@ucalgary.ca. I am grateful to Itziar Lazcano and Irving Rosales for research assistance. I have also bene ted from comments by Carles Boix, Ana Ferrer, Michelle Gar nkel, Mark Gradstein, Hugh Neary, Joanne Roberts and Jean Francois Wen.
IF-to-digital converter for FM/AM/IBOC radio

An IF-to-digital converter that can handle AM, FM, and IBOC (In Band On Channel) signals is presented. The highest radio quality is obtained by a front-end with a single tuner and two IF-to-digital converters for seamless blending between the AM/FM and the IBOC (digital radio) mode. The IF-to-digital converters incorporate mixers that are highly insensitive to parasitic double sampling. Besides the converters the chip includes digital IF post-processing circuitry, three radio DSPs (digital signal processors) and the audio part to fulfill the rest of the car radio functions. Radio functions like signal quality improvement, signal demodulation, weak signal handling, multipath, phase antenna diversity and customer specific features are implemented in software for high system flexibility. The IF-to-digital converter is processed in a 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS process and achieves 99dB in a 3kHz Am bandwidth, 79dB in the 200kHz FM band and 74dB in 575kHz for IBOC.
The social media life of climate change: Platforms, publics, and future imaginaries

Social media is a transformative digital technology, collapsing the “six degrees of separation” which have previously characterized many social networks, and breaking down many of the barriers to individuals communicating with each other. Some commentators suggest that this is having profound effects across society, that social media have opened up new channels for public debates and have revolutionized the communication of prominent public issues such as climate change. In this article we provide the first systematic and critical review of the literature on social media and climate change. We highlight three key findings from the literature: a substantial bias toward Twitter studies, the prevalent approaches to researching climate change on social media (publics, themes, and professional communication), and important empirical findings (the use of mainstream information sources, discussions of “settled science,” polarization, and responses to temperature anomalies). Following this, we identify gaps in the existing literature that should be addressed by future research: namely, researchers should consider qualitative studies, visual communication and alternative social media platforms to Twitter. We conclude by arguing for further research that goes beyond a focus on science communication to a deeper examination of how publics imagine climate change and its future role in social life.
Recent advances on structural modifications of benzothiazoles and their conjugate systems as potential chemotherapeutics

Introduction: Benzothiazole scaffold comprises a bicyclic ring system and is known to exhibit a wide range of biological properties including antimicrobial and anticancer activities. Benzothiazole derivatives have long been therapeutically used for the treatment of various diseases. However, in recent years, 2-arylbenzothiazoles have emerged as an important pharmacophore in the development of antitumor agents. The promising biological profile and synthetic accessibility have been attractive in the design and development of new benzothiazoles and their conjugate systems as potential chemotherapeutics. Areas covered: This review mainly focuses on the structural modifications of benzothiazole scaffold, development of various series of benzothiazoles and their conjugates as new antitumor agents. Furthermore, heterocyclic derivatives bearing benzothiazole moiety and their in vitro as well as in vivo screening, structure–activity relationships (SAR), mechanism, pharmacokinetics, clinical use and their future therapeutic applications are discussed here. Expert opinion: A large number of benzothiazole derivatives discussed here possess potent anticancer activity and can be further developed as drug candidates. Benzothiazole conjugates could also display synergistic effect and still there is a need to use the drug combinations permitting lower dose and development of new generation of drugs. Despite encouraging results that have been observed for their response to tumor in clinical studies, full characterization of their toxicity is further required for their clinical usage as safe drugs for the treatment of cancer. We believe that this review gives a better understanding and scope for future drug design and development of benzothiazole-based compounds to implicate their use in cancer chemotherapy.
On the first description of tetrapod footprints from Italy: re-analysis of the original specimen after 150 years

In Italy, vertebrate ichnology developed rather recently, especially starting from the 70's of the last century. However, fossil footprints from Italian continental successions were known since the 19thcentury. The first scientific note was published by Curioni (1870), after a short report on the same material by Geinitz (1869). Curioni described and drew a small slab with tetrapod tracks from the lower Permian strata of Lombardy (Collio Formation, upper Trompia Valley, Brescian Alps), found by the private collector Don Bruni, Priest of Collio. Subsequent publications always referred to that description, but the original specimen was never restudied, due also to the absence of information about the repository (Curioni, 1870). The original specimen belongs to the prestigious Curioni collection (donated by Curioni to the Regio Ufficio Geologico in 1877) and is nowadays located in the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) in Rome. Grounding on the most advanced ichnological methods, in this paper we provide a redescription of the specimen. The study ultimately confirmed the attribution of the three main tracks (a pes-manus couple and a single manual imprint) to the ichnogenus Amphisauropus, tracks probably produced by seymouriamorph reptiliomorphs. Smaller footprints on the same surface were instead assigned to Dromopus, tracks probably left by diapsid reptiles or bolosaurid parareptiles. The note by Curioni thus represents the first report of vertebrate footprints from Italy, the first description of material assignable to Amphisauropus in the world, and one of the earliest on material referable to Dromopus. The studied slabcould also represent the earliest finding of Amphisauropus, althoughuncertainties on timing of Don Bruni's discovery exist. We note that only a careful management of the ancient Italian palaeontological heritage allowed our re-analyses of Curioni's original specimen, almost 150 years after the last study. This study therefore highlights also the role of scientific collections for both preservation and valorisation of geo-palaeontologic heritage.
Fenofibrate reduces plasma cholesteryl ester transfer from HDL to VLDL and normalizes the atherogenic, dense LDL profile in combined hyperlipidemia.

The effect of fenofibrate on plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity in relation to the quantitative and qualitative features of apoB- and apoA-I-containing lipoprotein subspecies was investigated in nine patients presenting with combined hyperlipidemia. Fenofibrate (200 mg/d for 8 weeks) induced significant reductions in plasma cholesterol (-16%; P < .01), triglyceride (-44%; P < .007), VLDL cholesterol (-52%; P = .01), LDL cholesterol (-14%; P < .001), and apoB (-15%; P < .009) levels and increased HDL cholesterol (19%; P = .0001) and apoA-I (12%; P = .003) levels. An exogenous cholesteryl ester transfer (CET) assay revealed a marked decrease (-26%; P < .002) in total plasma CETP-dependent CET activity after fenofibrate treatment. Concomitant with the pronounced reduction in VLDL levels (37%; P < .005), the rate of CET from HDL to VLDL was significantly reduced by 38% (P = .0001), whereas no modification in the rate of cholesteryl ester exchange between HDL and LDL occurred after fenofibrate therapy. Combined hyperlipidemia is characterized by an asymmetrical LDL profile in which small, dense LDL subspecies (LDL-4 and LDL-5, d = 1.039 to 1.063 g/mL) predominate. Fenofibrate quantitatively normalized the atherogenic LDL profile by reducing levels of dense LDL subspecies (-21%) and by inducing an elevation (26%; P < .05) in LDL subspecies of intermediate density (LDL-3, d = 1.029 to 1.039 g/mL), which possess optimal binding affinity for the cellular LDL receptor. However, no marked qualitative modifications in the chemical composition or size of LDL particles were observed after drug treatment. Interestingly, the HDL cholesterol concentration was increased by fenofibrate therapy, whereas no significant change was detected in total plasma HDL mass. In contrast, the HDL subspecies pattern was modified as the result of an increase in the total mass (11.7%) of HDL2a, HDL3a, and HDL3b (d = 1.091 to 1.156 g/mL) at the expense of reductions in the total mass (-23%) of HDL2b (d = 1.063 to 1.091 g/mL) and HDL3c (d = 1.156 to 1.179 g/mL). Such changes are consistent with a drug-induced reduction in CETP activity. In conclusion, the overall mechanism involved in the fenofibrate-induced modulation of the atherogenic dense LDL profile in combined hyperlipidemia primarily involves reduction in CET from HDL to VLDL together with normalization of the intravascular transformation of VLDL precursors to receptor-active LDLs of intermediate density.
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy: a possible metabolic disorder

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is considered a transient nonischemic cardiomyopathy of possible meta- bolic etiology. Based on the morphology of the left ventricle and presumed etiology, this condition has been described using several different names including transient left ventricular apical ballooning, ampulla cardiomyopathy, stress-induced cardiomyopathy, neurogenic stunned myocardium, broken heart syndrome and acute catecholamine cardiomyopathy. The term "takotsubo" means octopus trap and is derived from the Japanese to describe the characteristic appearance of the left ventricle in this condition. In the typical or classic form of takotsubo cardiomyopathy the apical and mid-segment contractile function of the left ventricle is depressed with compensatory hyperkinesis of the basal part thus acquiring an octopus trap or balloon shape during systole. However, several other forms have also been described. The left ventricular dysfunction is not confined to any single area of the coronary artery and the coronary angiogram typically shows nonobstructive coronary arteries. The exact etio- logy is not known; however, abnormal catecholamine metabolism and response is believed to be the most likely explanation. Preceding emotional and physical stress is recognized in at least 30% of patients. The clinical presentation is acute and mimics ST-elevation myocardial infarction due to symp- toms of chest pain, electrocardiographic changes and raised troponin. The widespread availability of primary percutaneous coronary intervention and awareness of takotsubo cardiomyopathy has led to an increasing number of patients being diagnosed with this condition. The treatment is supportive, the prognosis is excellent, and the left ventricular dysfunction is transient, and most patients make a full recovery without myocardial fibrosis or any long-term sequelae. L Heart Metab; 2014;62:36-40
A Low-Complexity Robust Beamforming Using Diagonal Unloading for Acoustic Source Localization

In acoustic array processing, beamforming is a class of algorithms commonly used to estimate the position of a radiating sound source. This paper presents a diagonal unloading (DU) transformation method for the conventional response power beamforming to achieve robust localization with low computational complexity. The transformation is obtained by subtracting an opportune diagonal matrix from the covariance matrix of the array output vector. Specifically, the DU beamformer aims at subtracting the signal subspace from the noisy signal space. It is, hence, a data-dependent covariance matrix conditioning method. We show how to calculate precisely the unloading parameters, and we present a comparison of the proposed DU beamforming, the robust minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) filter, and the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) method, in terms of their respective eigenanalyses. Theoretical analysis and experiments conducted on both simulated and real acoustic data demonstrate that the DU beamformer localization performance is comparable to that of robust MVDR and MUSIC. Since its computational cost is equivalent to that of a conventional beamformer, the proposed DU beamformer method can, thus, be very attractive due to its effectiveness and computational efficiency.
Balance Prostheses for Postural Control Preventing Falls in the Balance Impaired By Displaying Body-Tilt Information to the Subject via an Array of Tactile Vibrators

here is a clear need for a prosthesis that improves pos-tural stability in the balance impaired. Such a device would be used as a temporary aid during recovery from ablative inner-ear surgery and as a permanent prosthe-sis for those elderly prone to falls. In the article we discuss a single-axis research device we have developed to provide balance impaired subjects with a noninvasive, vibrotactile display of body tilt, which helps them reduce their body sway during standardized tests. For those with normal balance function, the inner ear's vestib-ular system provides self-motion cues that help stabilize our vision while moving, that enable us to orient ourselves with respect to our surroundings, and that help us stand and walk. Each inner ear can sense, in three dimensions (3-D), angular motion and linear acceleration summed with gravity [41]. The central nervous system (CNS) can process these cues to estimate self motion in six degrees of freedom (dof), three angular and three linear. When either the inner ear, the 8th nerve that connects it to the CNS, or the CNS portion that processes self-motion information malfunctions due to injury, disease, or to prolonged exposure to altered gravity (such as a deep space voyage), this useful information is lost or distorted. This loss of information can force subjects to rely on other cues from vision or proprioception, which may not always be accurate. This reduction of motion cues produces dizziness, blurred vision, inability to orient correctly, and reduced ability to stand or walk. A serious consequence is an increase in the risk of falling in the elderly. Over 90 million Americans (more than 40% of the population) will seek medical attention for dizziness at least once in their lifetime. At least 2 million Americans suffer or experience chronic impairment due to dizziness or balance disorders , resulting in annual medical costs exceeding US$1 billion [26]. Depending on the disease, not all patients respond well to existing treatments. As discussed below, many could benefit from a vestibular prosthesis. Biomedical research is presently being conducted on both implantable and nonimplantable balance prostheses. Currently , no patients have had vestibular implants, and only limited laboratory-based experiments have been done using nonimplantable devices. Building upon Suzuki and Cohen [10], [9], [31], [32], Merfeld recently demonstrated responses in monkeys that are first steps toward an implantable prosthe-sis [19], [23]. An implantable prosthesis offers attractive features including: portability, intuitive operation, replacement …
Biomineralization in Diatoms: The Role of Silacidins

Diatoms are eukaryotic, unicellular algae encased within siliceous cell walls (frustules), which are precisely reproduced generation by generation. The production of this nanostructured silica is under genetic control and the isolation of specific gene products (the proteins silaffins, silacidins) guiding the biomineralization processes, and which are necessary to produce the frustules, has already been described. Under silicon starvation, the amount of silacidins present in the cell walls of Thalassiosira pseudonana increases relative to other proteins. Natsilacidins, the native and highly phosphorylated silacidins are enormously effective in silica precipitation whereas silacidin A′, the nonphosphorylated form, is not. This indicates an important role for natsilacidins in the survival of diatoms under silicic acid depleted conditions.
Economic Prediction using Heterogeneous Data Stremas from the World Wide Web

Learning to predict financial and economic variables of interest is a hard problem with a large body of literature devoted to it. Of late there has been a significant amount of work on using sources of text from the Web (such as Twitter or Google Trends) to predict financial and economic variables. Much of this work has relied on some form or other of superficial sentiment analysis to represent the text. In this work we present a novel approach to predicting economic variables using multiple heterogenous streams of Web data. We can incorporate different data types into our model – such as time series and text – by first treating each data stream as a separate source with its own features and predictive distribution. For the text data streams we use a novel approach to prediction using a sentiment composition model to generate features. We then use a Bayesian classifier combination model to combine the independent “weak” predictions into a single prediction of the Nonfarm Payroll index, a primary economic indicator. Our results show that using a classifier combination model over multiple streams can achieve very high predictive accuracy.
Efficient update of program dependence graphs

The program dependence graph (PDG) is a directed graph expressing dependencies between statements in a program. By tracing the PDG edges, it is possible to extract a set of statements relating to any statement (program slice, slice). The PDG and slices are used for debugging, maintenance, and similar applications. In general, PDG computing is time-consuming. However, previously, the entire PDG had to be recomputed each time the program was updated, even when the program was frequently updated, and the slices were obtained. Therefore, in the current study, the authors propose an update algorithm, which confines updating to the PDG section corresponding to the program section being updated. It is expected that recomputing time will be reduced, and that debugging will be more efficient. In addition, we have realized the proposed technique in an existing debugging aid system, and have confirmed its efficiency. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Syst Comp Jpn, 29(14): 5867, 1998
Protesting Smoke: A Social and Political History of Vancouver Air Pollution in the 1950s and 1960s

Growth-oriented local businesses and the city of Vancouver initiated efforts in the late 1940s and early 1950s to address the city’s air pollution problem. Despite generally improving dustfall measurements due to changing fuel use, industrial relocation, and steady city management of the issue, the coalition of air-quality reformers did not obtain broader regional or provincial government support until the late 1960s. Rather, public interventions prompted the provincial government to acknowledge air pollution as a formal political issue, and finally to take action. This article provides an account of air pollution in Vancouver and British Columbia in the 1950s and 1960s, highlighting the roles of social and economic groups and their interactions with political structures.
M/G/C/k Performance Models in Manufacturing and Service Systems

Multi-server, finite buffer, performance models of queueing systems are very useful tools for manufacturing, telecommunication, transportation and facility modelling applications. Exact computation of performance measures for general service multi-server queueing systems remains an intractable problem. Approximations of these performance measures are important to quickly and accurately reveal the performance of a system. This is desirable for both performance evaluation as well as optimization of these systems. Two-moment approximation formulas are presented for performance modelling of multi-server systems involving servers of 2,3,…,10 servers. Extensive computational results are provided to evaluate the approximation results against simulation, known tabular results, and other approximation formulas. Applications of the model to optimizing manufacturing and service systems using a marginal allocation algorithm are briefly illustrated. Extensions of the two-moment methodology to larger multi-server systems c = {25, 50, 100} round out the paper.
Query by document

We are experiencing an unprecedented increase of content contributed by users in forums such as blogs, social networking sites and microblogging services. Such abundance of content complements content on web sites and traditional media forums such as news papers, news and financial streams, and so on. Given such plethora of information there is a pressing need to cross reference information across textual services. For example, commonly we read a news item and we wonder if there are any blogs reporting related content or vice versa. In this paper, we present techniques to automate the process of cross referencing online information content. We introduce methodologies to extract phrases from a given "query document" to be used as queries to search interfaces with the goal to retrieve content related to the query document. In particular, we consider two techniques to extract and score key phrases. We also consider techniques to complement extracted phrases with information present in external sources such as Wikipedia and introduce an algorithm called RelevanceRank for this purpose. We discuss both these techniques in detail and provide an experimental study utilizing a large number of human judges from Amazons's Mechanical Turk service. Detailed experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed techniques for the task of automating retrieval of documents related to a query document.