Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The multiligand receptor RAGE as a progression factor amplifying immune and inflammatory responses.

The multiligand receptors that form the focus of this Perspective series have expectedly diverse functions, often conforming to potential gaps in the host response to invading pathogens that are not effectively manned by adaptive immunity. For example, the macrophage scavenger receptor (type A) interacts with bacterial cell walls and enhances clearance of Gram-negative bacteria from the circulation (1). Similarly, the macrophage mannose receptor binds mannose-rich carbohydrates typical of many microorganisms, thereby promoting their cellular uptake and disposal (2). The present contribution to the series concerns a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily that differs from the above molecules in that all known ligands in its broad repertoire can be generated endogenously (3). This cell surface protein, called RAGE because it serves as a receptor for nonenzymatically glycated adducts termed “advanced glycation endproducts” (AGEs), also binds β-sheet fibrils characteristic of amyloid; proinflammatory cytokine–like mediators of the S100/calgranulin family; and amphoterin, a nuclear protein sometimes found in the ECM (Table ​(Table11). Table 1 RAGE ligands and associated pathophysiologic states Binding of these ligands to RAGE does not accelerate clearance or degradation but rather begins a sustained period of cellular activation mediated by receptor-dependent signaling. This is the first of several distinctive themes that have emerged from studies of RAGE. Other unusual features of the receptor include its ability to engage classes of molecules, rather than individual ligands, and its enhanced surface expression in environments rich in RAGE ligands. This last point is crucial, since it explains how upregulation of this receptor can contribute to an ascending spiral of RAGE-dependent cellular perturbation. Taken together, these features of RAGE allow the receptor to propagate cellular dysfunction in a number of pathophysiologically relevant situations, most often dictated by the formation and persistence of ligands in the tissues. As described below, these diverse situations range from the complications of diabetes and cellular perturbation in amyloidoses to immune and inflammatory responses and tumor cell behavior.
Cerebellar Contributions to Motor Timing: A PET Study of Auditory and Visual Rhythm Reproduction

The perception and production of temporal patterns, or rhythms, is important for both music and speech. However, the way in which the human brain achieves accurate timing of perceptual input and motor output is as yet little understood. Central control of both motor timing and perceptual timing across modalities has been linked to both the cerebellum and the basal ganglia (BG). The present study was designed to test the hypothesized central control of temporal processing and to examine the roles of the cerebellum, BG, and sensory association areas. In this positron emission tomography (PET) activation paradigm, subjects reproduced rhythms of increasing temporal complexity that were presented separately in the auditory and visual modalities. The results provide support for a supramodal contribution of the lateral cerebellar cortex and cerebellar vermis to the production of a timed motor response, particularly when it is complex and/or novel. The results also give partial support to the involvement of BG structures in motor timing, although this may be more directly related to implementation of the motor response than to timing per se. Finally, sensory association areas and the ventrolateral frontal cortex were found to be involved in modality-specific encoding and retrieval of the temporal stimuli. Taken together, these results point to the participation of a number of neural structures in the production of a timed motor response from an external stimulus. The role of the cerebellum in timing is conceptualized not as a clock or counter but simply as the structure that provides the necessary circuitry for the sensory system to extract temporal information and for the motor system to learn to produce a precisely timed response.
Probing the Uniqueness and Randomness of IrisCodes: Results From 200 Billion Iris Pair Comparisons

Recent large-scale deployments of iris recognition for border-crossing controls enable critical assessment of the robustness of this technology against making false matches, since vast numbers of cross comparisons become possible within large databases. This paper presents results from the 200 billion iris cross comparisons that could be performed within a database of 632 500 different iris images, spanning 152 nationalities. Each iris pattern was encoded into a phase sequence of 2048 bits using the Daugman algorithms. Empirically analyzing the tail of the resulting distribution of similarity scores enables specification of decision thresholds, and prediction of performance, of the iris recognition algorithms if deployed in identification mode on national scales
Improving Training Effectiveness in Work Organizations

Contents: E.A. Fleishman, Foreword. Preface. J.K. Ford, Advances in Training Research and Practice: An Historical Perspective. Part I:Integrating Advances in Cognitive Science With Training Assessment, Design, and Evaluation Constructs. W. Rogers, T. Maurer, E. Salas A. Fisk, Task Analysis and Cognitive Theory: Controlled and Automatic Processing Task Analytic Methodology. M. Coovert, J.P. Craiger, Performance Modeling for Training Effectiveness. T. Goldsmith, K. Kraiger, Structural Knowledge Assessment and Training Evaluation. Part II:Viewing Learning as a Continuous Process: Implications for Training, Socialization, and Employee Development. T. Baldwin, R.J. Magjuka, Organizational Context and Training Effectiveness. G.T. Chao, Unstructured Training and Development: The Role of Organizational Socialization. R.A. Noe, S.L. Wilk, E.J. Mullen, J.E. Wanek, Employee Development: Construct Validation Issues. Part III:Understanding How Context Affects Training Evaluation and Transfer. J.E. Mathieu, J.W. Martineau, Individual and Situational Influences in Training Motivation. G.M. Alliger, S. Katzman, Reconsidering Training Evaluation: Heterogeneity of Variance as a Training Effect. S.W. J. Kozlowski, E. Salas, An Organizational Systems Approach for the Implementation and Transfer of Training. Part IV:Applied Psychology and Training: Methods for Improving the Linkage Between Training Research and Practice. E. Salas, J.A. Cannon-Bowers, E.L. Blickensderfer, Enhancing Reciprocity Between Training Theory and Training Practice: Principles, Guidelines, and Specifications. K.J. Klein, R.S. Ralls, An Exploration of the Unintended Organizational Consequences of Technology Training: Implications of Practice for Training Theory and Research. Part V:Final Observations. E. Salas, J.A. Cannon-Bowers, S.W. J. Kozlowski, The Science and Practice of Training--Current Trends and Emerging Themes.
Identifying Generalizable Metric Classes to Evaluate Human-Robot Teams

In this paper, we describe an effort to identify generalizable metric classes to evaluate human-robot teams. We describe conceptual models for supervisory control of a single and multiple robots. Based on these models, we identify and discuss the main metric classes that must be taken into consideration to understand team performance. Finally, we discuss a case study of a search and rescue mission to illustrate the use of these metric classes to understand the different contributions of team performance
Virtual Pharmacist: A Platform for Pharmacogenomics

We present Virtual Pharmacist, a web-based platform that takes common types of high-throughput data, namely microarray SNP genotyping data, FASTQ and Variant Call Format (VCF) files as inputs, and reports potential drug responses in terms of efficacy, dosage and toxicity at one glance. Batch submission facilitates multivariate analysis or data mining of targeted groups. Individual analysis consists of a report that is readily comprehensible to patients and practioners who have basic knowledge in pharmacology, a table that summarizes variants and potential affected drug response according to the US Food and Drug Administration pharmacogenomic biomarker labeled drug list and PharmGKB, and visualization of a gene-drug-target network. Group analysis provides the distribution of the variants and potential affected drug response of a target group, a sample-gene variant count table, and a sample-drug count table. Our analysis of genomes from the 1000 Genome Project underlines the potentially differential drug responses among different human populations. Even within the same population, the findings from Watson’s genome highlight the importance of personalized medicine. Virtual Pharmacist can be accessed freely at http://www.sustc-genome.org. cn/vp or installed as a local web server. The codes and documentation are available at the GitHub repository (https://github.com/VirtualPharmacist/vp). Administrators can download the source codes to customize access settings for further development.
Deadline based Virtual Machine Provisioning to improve QoS in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing delivers IT resources as a Service over Internet. It is growing as the future for application deployment depending upon Quality of Service provided by the service provider. Virtualization provides the base for the same; it has certain pros like portability, efficient hardware utilization, ease in maintenance, cost benefit and cons like performance degradation if virtualized resources are not uniformly allocated. In this paper user requests are bifurcated on the bases of type of deadline (unlimited or tight). To meet Tight Deadline requirements we have created Heterogeneous Cloud Computing Environment (virtual machines with different configuration are dynamically created and destroyed). CloudSim toolkit is used to simulate the results of Heterogeneous Cloud Environment over a node based on deadline of incoming user request. We show that our approach improves request rejection ratio, deadline miss rate, response time to user and resource utilization. Ultimately Quality of Service (QoS) is improved.
Transformation of path information for WCET analysis during compilation

Performing worst-case execution time (WCET) analysis on machine code with program path annotation provided at high-level source code level requires the transformation of path annotations from the source-code level to assembly/object-code level. This path-information transformation can be done outside or integrated into the compiler during code compilation. The first approach is easier to implement but lacks for the support of strong code optimizations performed by the compiler because the external tool would have to make guesses about optimizations. In this paper we present an approach for the program code compilation that integrates the transformation of program path information into the compiler. Path information is transformed through all compiler stages to the adequate path information for the corresponding assembly code level. The WCET analysis tool processes the program at assembly code level with the correctly transformed program-path information to obtain accurate runtime bounds. Several experiments were performed to demonstrate the importance of supporting the transformation of path-information in aggressively optimizing compilers.
Lip animation of a personalized facial model from auditory speech

This paper proposes a new method for lip animation of personalized facial model from auditory speech. It is based on Bayesian estimation and person specific appearance models (PSFAM). Initially, a video of a speaking person is recorded from which the visual and acoustic features of the speaker and their relationship will be learnt. First, the visual information of the speaker is stored in a color PSFAM by means of a registration algorithm. Second, the auditory features are extracted from the waveform attached to the recorded video sequence. Third, the relationship between the learnt PSFAM and the auditory features of the speaker is represented by Bayesian estimators. Finally, subjective perceptual tests are reported in order to measure the intelligibility of the preliminary results synthesizing isolated words.
Exploring and Treating Acquisitive Desire: Living in the Material World

PART ONE: CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND Social Disease and Professional Unease Image and Identity The Meaning of Possessions Consequences of Consumerism PART TWO: DISORDERS OF EXCESS Greed Emptiness and Meaninglessness Compulsive Shopping and Hoarding The Privileged and Successful PART THREE: TREATMENT ISSUES Interventions - with Hal Stevens Ritual Acquisitions Alternative Lifestyles Reflective Activities Therapist Desires
Has the Malpractice Crisis in Florida Really Affected Access to Care ?

In this paper, we examine the effects of the recent malpractice “crisis” in Florida on access to care and physician activity levels at three intervals over a six year period, namely 1997, 2000 and 2003. We focus on two specialties particularly hard hit by malpractice insurance increases, neurosurgery and obstetrics and we compare access to care and activity levels before and after 2000 when the large premium increases begin. Within each specialty we define a high risk group that we compare to other procedures in the specialty as well as an unrelated set of lower risk diagnoses. We find that travel times for craniotomies have increased by approximately five minutes. This increase is statistically significant but economically small. Travel times for high risk deliveries increase by one minute, but the increase is not significant compared to changes for low risk treatments. The number of surgeons who perform only a handful of procedures has fallen during the crisis. Case studies show that markets respond to the exit of physicians in a variety of ways. *We are grateful to Leemore Dafny, Neil Doherty, Robert Kaestner, Joel Shalowitz, Joel Waldfogel and participants at the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Winter 2005 Insurance Project Workshop, and participants at the Wharton School for helpful suggestions. Subramaniam Ramanarayanan provided expert research assistance.
Wavelength requirements of all-optical networks

All-optical networks are emerging as a clear choice for wide area networks. With newer developments in optical switching technology, all-optical networks are becoming feasible. The authors discuss a wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) network with optical switches at each node. The number of wavelengths available for a WDMA is limited. The authors focus on the permutation routing problem and present a lower bound on the number of wavelengths as a function of the size of the network. They also construct network topologies to derive upper bounds on the number of wavelengths. <<ETX>>
Median Nerve Injury After Removal of Subdermal Implantable Contraceptive

Background: Subdermal implantable contraceptives are highly effective, approved in over 60 countries, and used by millions of women. Due to simple insertion and removal protocols, these procedures are often performed in the outpatient clinic setting, and procedural complications are rare. However, given the location of the implant in the medial antebrachial interval, there is a risk of neurovascular injury, especially with malpositioned or deeply placed implants. Methods: We present a case of proximal median nerve injury leading to severe neuropathy after attempted removal of a subdermal implantable contraceptive requiring neurolysis and tendon transfers. Results: At 6 months post surgery, the patient regained flexion of the index interphalangeal joints and protective sensation in the thumb and index fingers. Conclusions: Subdermal implant retrieval can lead to nerve injury, despite the relative simplicity of the procedure. If difficulty is encountered, imaging or open retrieval should be considered. Improvement in function can be gained through operative interventions including neurolysis and tendon transfers in the setting of severe neuropathy.
Early efficacy of budesonide/formoterol in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD

Background and objective Large clinical trials have confirmed the long-term efficacy of inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting β2-agonist combinations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It was hypothesized that significant treatment effects would already be present within 3 months after the initiation of treatment across a range of clinical outcomes, irrespective of COPD severity. Methods Post hoc analysis of 3-month post-randomization outcomes, including exacerbation rates, dropouts, symptoms, reliever use, and lung function, from three studies with similar inclusion criteria of moderate-to-very-severe COPD. Patients (n=1,571) were treated with budesonide/formoterol (B/F) 320/9 μg or placebo, twice daily; in one study, tiotropium 18 μg once daily was also given. Results Over the first 3 months of treatment, fewer patients randomized to B/F experienced exacerbations versus the placebo group (111 and 196 patients with ≥1 exacerbation, respectively). This was true in each COPD severity group. Compared with placebo, B/F treatment led to significantly lower 3-month exacerbation rates in the moderate and severe COPD severity groups (46% and 57% reduction, respectively), with a nonsignificant reduction (29%) in very severe COPD. Fewer dropouts occurred among patients treated with B/F versus placebo, this effect being greater with increasing COPD severity. B/F was associated with improved forced expiratory volume in 1 s, morning peak expiratory flow rate, total reliever use, and total symptom score versus placebo. Conclusion Treatment with B/F decreased exacerbations in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD within 3 months of commencing treatment. This effect was paralleled by improved lung function, less reliever medication use, and fewer symptoms, irrespective of disease severity.
Préferences psychologiques et nouvelle économie politique

First, we present what is called the Theory of Psychological Preferences (altruism, rational reciprocity.) through, on one side, the list of axioms proposed by Sandbu (2008) for pure individual decisions and, on the other side, that of Segal and Sobel (2007) for strategical ones. Second, we characterize the potential relevance of such a theory to define a new "politicial economy" approach and we search to define the precise scope of this field of investigation in combining the micro'demands of the psychological preference theory with the standard macro'ones. Finally, we show that polycentered models seem to be the only framework within which individual psychological preference is an appropriate tool to study the collective impact of altruism, social loyalty, intrinsic reciprocity and so forth .
Spectrum access system for the citizen broadband radio service

As a part of the global effort to address the overwhelming demand for wireless broadband capacity, the wireless communities in the United States have undertaken innovative initiatives such as tiered-access to shared spectrum. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a dynamic spectrum management framework for a Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) governed by a spectrum access system (SAS). The implementation of a SAS capable of dynamic frequency assignment and interference management is critical for the success of the proposed framework. In this paper we present the efforts toward a spectrum sharing system in the U.S. context by summarizing different interest groups' standpoint on the FCC proposed framework. We also present an example SAS architecture that accommodates the tiered access to shared spectrum and example approaches to achieve important SAS capabilities.
Genetic strategies to elucidate the roles of matrix metalloproteinases in atherosclerotic plaque growth and stability.

See related article on pages 1070–1076 Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of approximately 30 structurally related Zn2+ endopeptidases that each degrades several extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins as well as nonmatrix substrates.1 Although membrane-type MMPs are integral membrane proteins, most MMPs are secreted or confined to the pericellular environment by binding to surface receptors. Their activity is tightly controlled by regulating transcription and translation of genes and, in a few cases, by packaging and secretion from vesicles, by activation of proforms, and by binding to 4 tissue inhibitors of MMPs.1 As shown in the Figure, the role of MMPs includes degradation of ECM structural proteins; for example, MMP-1, MMP-8, MMP-13, and MMP-14 cleave type I and III collagens, and MMP-9 and MMP-12 actively degrade elastin. This is probably necessary for vessel wall remodeling and invasion of artery walls by immuno-inflammatory cells. Whereas MMP activity should reduce the amount of ECM and therefore limit atherosclerotic plaque growth, locally dysregulated MMP activity could weaken and cause mechanical failure of plaque caps, causing myocardial infarctions (MIs) or strokes, depending on the location.2,3 Consistent with this, MMP-1 and MMP-13 have been colocalized with epitopes of cleaved collagen in the vulnerable shoulder regions of atherosclerotic plaques.4 MMPs 2 and 9 also cleave matrix proteins (eg, basement membrane type IV collagen) and nonmatrix substrates (eg, CD-44, cadherins), which, with MMP-14, promote migration, proliferation, and viability of vascular smooth muscle cells, processes expected to favor plaque-cap stability (see Figure). 3 The same MMPs also influence endothelial loss, repair, and angiogenesis, which could have complex consequences for plaque-cap …
Social Comparison and Peer effects with Heterogeneous Ability

Whether and how the observability of a coworker’s effort influences an employer’s wage decisions and workers’ effort decisions is a central issue for labor organizations. We conduct an experiment using a three-person gift-exchange game to investigate this matter in the context of wage transparency and heterogeneous abilities. We find that showing a coworker’s effort increases both wages and the difference in wages between two heterogeneously skilled workers when the more able worker is observed. The knowledge of a coworker’s effort increases the level of reciprocity exhibited by observed workers (peer effects), whereas it reduces that exhibited by workers who are observers. Overall, displaying coworker’s effort has a beneficial effect on reciprocity. Regardless of their ability, workers exert levels of effort that are positively related to those of their coworkers. This strategic complementarity of efforts is partially explained by inequity aversion.
Kindergarten Impacts of a Preschool Language-Focused Intervention

Many preschool language-focused interventions attempt to boost language and literacy skills in young children at risk in these areas of development, though the long-term effects of such interventions are not well-established. This study investigated kindergarten language and reading skills, specifically the subcomponents of vocabulary, decoding, and reading comprehension, for children exposed to the language-focused intervention Learning Language and Loving It (LLLI; Weitzman & Greenberg, 2002) during preschool. End of kindergarten skills were examined, comparing children whose teachers implemented LLLI (n = 25) or business-as-usual (BAU) instruction (n = 24). Hierarchical linear modeling results showed the LLLI intervention to have significant effects on children's decoding and reading comprehension in kindergarten for children who had high levels of language skill at preschool, as compared to their counterparts in the BAU condition. Study findings therefore indicate that preschool language-focused interventions may primarily benefit children with higher skill levels. This suggests the need to explore avenues for addressing the needs of children with relatively low language skills during preschool and the eventual transition to reading.