Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immunization with Short Peptides from the 60-kDa Ro Antigen Recapitulates the Serological and Pathological Findings as well as the Salivary Gland Dysfunction of Sjögren’s Syndrome

Sjögren’s syndrome is a poorly understood autoimmune inflammatory illness that affects the salivary and lacrimal glands as well as other organ systems. We undertook the present study to determine whether mice immunized with short peptides from the 60-kDa Ro (or SSA) Ag, which is a common target of the autoimmunity of Sjögren’s syndrome, develop an illness similar to Sjögren’s syndrome. BALB/c mice were immunized with one of two short peptides from 60-kDa Ro that are know to induce epitope spreading. The animals were analyzed for the presence of anti-Ro and anti-La (or SSB) in the sera by immunoblot and ELISA. Salivary glands were collected and examined by histology after H&E staining. Salivary lymphocytes were purified and studied for cell surface makers by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Timed stimulated salivary flow was measured. As reported previously, BALB/c mice immunized with 60-kDa Ro peptides developed an immune response directed against the entire Ro/La ribonucleoprotein particle that was similar to that found in humans with lupus or Sjögren’s syndrome. Functional studies showed a statistical decrease in salivary flow in immunized mice compared with controls. Furthermore, there were lymphocytic infiltrates in the salivary glands of immunized animals that were not present in controls. The infiltrates consisted of both CD4− and CD8+ T lymphocytes as well as B lymphocytes. BALB/c mice immunized with 60-kDa Ro peptides develop anti-Ro, salivary gland lymphocyte infiltrates, and salivary dysfunction that is highly reminiscent of human Sjögren’s syndrome.
Adaptive Fault-Tolerant PI Tracking Control With Guaranteed Transient and Steady-State Performance

It is a long lasting open problem to synthesize a general PI control for nonlinear systems with its gains analytically determined, yet ensuring stability and transient performance. The problem is further complicated if modeling uncertainties and external disturbances as well as actuation failures are involved in the systems. In this note, a generalized PI control with adaptively adjusting gains is presented, which gracefully avoids the adhoc and time-consuming “trial and error” process for determining the gains as involved in traditional PI control; collectively accommodates modeling uncertainties, undetectable disturbances and undetectable actuation failures that might occur in the systems; and dynamically maintains pre-specified transient and steady-state performance.
A multiscale meshfree approach to modeling damage of Cor-Tuf without fibers using fracture energy experiments

Many continuum damage mechanics models for cementitious materials are typically phenomenological in design. Recent work has shown that a physics-based multiscale approach to modeling damage is efficient and effective. In order to use a multiscale approach, appropriate experimental data are necessary to model the microscale calculations that will then inform the continuum-scale calculations. This work uses the multiscale approach and experimentally determines the parameters necessary to model the microscale calculations. Notched three-point beam experiments were performed to determine the fracture energy of the ultra-high performance concrete known as Cor-Tuf. The fracture energy is then used by a simplified microscale calculation to determine a physics-based damage evolution equation that can be used in continuum-scale calculations. A meshfree method is used to show the usefulness of the newly determined damage evolution equation. Both a quasi-static application and a dynamic application are shown as examples. DISCLAIMER: The contents of this report are not to be used for advertising, publication, or promotional purposes. Citation of trade names does not constitute an official endorsement or approval of the use of such commercial products. All product names and trademarks cited are the property of their respective owners. The findings of this report are not to be construed as an official Department of the Army position unless so designated by other authorized documents. DESTROY THIS REPORT WHEN NO LONGER NEEDED. DO NOT RETURN IT TO THE ORIGINATOR. ERDC/GSL TR-19-12 iii
Social and Economic Returns to College Education in the United States

Education correlates strongly with most important social and economic outcomes such as economic success, health, family stability, and social connections. Theories of stratification and selection created doubts about whether education actually caused good things to happen. Because schools and colleges select who continues and who does not, it was easy to imagine that education added little of substance. Evidence now tips the balance away from bias and selection and in favor of substance. Investments in education pay off for individuals in many ways. The size of the direct effect of education varies among individuals and demographic groups. Education affects individuals and groups who are less likely to pursue a college education more than traditional college students. A smaller literature on social returns to education indicates that communities, states, and nations also benefit from increased education of their populations; some estimates imply that the social returns exceed the private returns.
Life Experiences, Development and Childhood Psychopathology . By I. M. Goodyer. (Pp. 292; £39.00.) John Wiley: Chichester. 1990.

ideals go with choices made between methods to follow in philosophy. Grice himself writes in his own contribution about a technique he has used in investigating the themes of purpose and value the consideration of what it would be rational to provide in the construction of entities that are to be able to survive and (a tantalizingly brief suggestion) what might be the unexpected consequences of that construction (the emergence of persons). These hypotheses Grice developed in his Carus Lectures of 1983, and gave more thought to still later. It is to be hoped that the lectures will see some form of publication, and it is proper to mention here the recent posthumous appearance of Studies in the Way of Words (Harvard University Press, 1989). I have not yet read it; I am sure it will be worth reading. The range of contributors gives us some idea of the power of the philosopher to whose memory their writing now forms a memorial. In the book, Grice's obiter dicta illuminate both that memory, and the discipline to which he devoted himself. There should be 'a unity of conviviality in philosophy'. 'Philosophy, like virtue, is entire. Or, one might almost dare to say, there is only one problem in philosophy, namely all of them. ' The difficulty of entering the idiom of a great philosopher of the past should be 'hailed with thanksgiving, since it is primarily this fact which keeps philosophy alive'. And one question he put in a seminar can stand for many: 'does helium behave as if it is a collection of molecules that interact only on collision; or is helium composed of molecules that behave as if they act only on collision? ' His varied talents included cricket, chess, bridge and music; he had served in Atlantic convoys and in naval intelligence; his companionship, his obituarist concedes, could be exhilarating rather than easy. But, that writer continues, 'his capacity for enjoyment was as seemingly unlimited as his energies, and his company could never be dull. He was a greatly gifted and most memorable person'. There are many worse epitaphs. Worse derangements of them too. In pace requiescatl P. J. FITZPATRICK Life Experiences, Development and Childhood Psychopathology. By I. M. Goodyer. (Pp. 292; £39.00.) John Wiley: Chichester. 1990.
Solidarność: Reluctant Vanguard or Makeshift Coalition?

We analyze the election data from the first “almost free” political contest in the Eastern bloc, the Polish election of June 1989. Voting data for state socialist societies provide a novel source of information on the political transitions in process in East Central Europe; the source of electoral support for opposition candidates in Poland affords a glimpse of the emerging political groups that must deal with continuing economic crises while attempting to reconstruct or consolidate democratic procedures. Data on turnout and on the ecological patterning of votes for Solidarność and for the government coalition are reviewed. Electoral victory has transformed Solidarność from an opposition movement with strong trade union roots to a political coalition with a rather different constituency: the strongest relative support for Solidarność candidates was found in rural areas, particularly in the southeast, rather than in the urban, industrial centers where the movement was born.
Turnover and metabolism of polychlorinated biphenyls in relation to their chemical structure and the movement of lipids in the pigeon.

Experiments with White Carneau pigeons have established that the ease of metabolism of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) composing Aroclor 1254® is determined principally by chlorine substitution patterns rather than degree of chlorination. Rapidly metabolized PCBs have 2,3, 3,4, or 2,3,6 chlorine substitution on at least one phenyl ring. Those PCBs which are not metabolized have a combination of 2,4,5, 2,3,4, and 2,3,4,5 chlorine substitutions on both rings. PCBs containing 2,5 substitutions were metabolized over a 31 day period, but much more slowly than PCBs with 2,3 or 3,4 chlorine substitutions.Chemical structure of PCBs does not affect their rate of mobilization from adipose tissue and subsequent movement through the circulation. The fractional turnover of all PCBs is approximately equivalent to the fractional turnover of the lipid pool under fully fed conditions as well as during periods of starvation induced depletion of lipid reserves. A net movement of PCBs from adipocytes to other lipid pools, p.
Dendritic Cells Indispensable?

Dendritic cells (DCs) control the initiation and differentiation of T cells. In the steady state, DCs mediate tolerance. To achieve immunization, the tolerogenic function of DCs must be switched off by inducing their maturation with appropriate ‘‘adjuvants. ’’ Dendritic cells form a system composed of distinct subsets that differ in their expression of endocytic and signaling receptors. These subsets have different capacities to differentiate and polarize T cells and to cross-present antigen to expand CD8+ T cells. Optimization of vaccines is possible by exploiting the unique biological properties of DCs.
A Dynamic Epistemic Framework for Conformant Planning

In this paper, we introduce a lightweight dynamic epistemic logical framework for automated planning under initial uncertainty. We reduce plan verification and conformant planning to model checking problems of our logic. We show that the model checking problem of the iteration-free fragment is PSPACE-complete. By using two non-standard (but equivalent) semantics, we give novel model checking algorithms to the full language and the iteration-free language.
Differences in evolutionary history translate into differences in invasion success of alien mammals in South Africa

Attempts to investigate the drivers of invasion success are generally limited to the biological and evolutionary traits distinguishing native from introduced species. Although alien species introduced to the same recipient environment differ in their invasion intensity – for example, some are “strong invaders”; others are “weak invaders” – the factors underlying the variation in invasion success within alien communities are little explored. In this study, we ask what drives the variation in invasion success of alien mammals in South Africa. First, we tested for taxonomic and phylogenetic signal in invasion intensity. Second, we reconstructed predictive models of the variation in invasion intensity among alien mammals using the generalized linear mixed-effects models. We found that the family Bovidae and the order Artiodactyla contained more “strong invaders” than expected by chance, and that such taxonomic signal did not translate into phylogenetic selectivity. In addition, our study indicates that latitude, gestation length, social group size, and human population density are only marginal determinant of the variation in invasion success. However, we found that evolutionary distinctiveness – a parameter characterising the uniqueness of each alien species – is the most important predictive variable. Our results indicate that the invasive behavior of alien mammals may have been “fingerprinted” in their evolutionary past, and that evolutionary history might capture beyond ecological, biological and life-history traits usually prioritized in predictive modeling of invasion success. These findings have applicability to the management of alien mammals in South Africa.
Looming detection by identified visual interneurons during larval development of the locust Locusta migratoria

SUMMARY Insect larvae clearly react to visual stimuli, but the ability of any visual neuron in a newly hatched insect to respond selectively to particular stimuli has not been directly tested. We characterised a pair of neurons in locust larvae that have been extensively studied in adults, where they are known to respond selectively to objects approaching on a collision course: the lobula giant motion detector (LGMD) and its postsynaptic partner, the descending contralateral motion detector (DCMD). Our physiological recordings of DCMD axon spikes reveal that at the time of hatching, the neurons already respond selectively to objects approaching the locust and they discriminate between stimulus approach speeds with differences in spike frequency. For a particular approaching stimulus, both the number and peak frequency of spikes increase with instar. In contrast, the number of spikes in responses to receding stimuli decreases with instar, so performance in discriminating approaching from receding stimuli improves as the locust goes through successive moults. In all instars, visual movement over one part of the visual field suppresses a response to movement over another part. Electron microscopy demonstrates that the anatomical substrate for the selective response to approaching stimuli is present in all larval instars: small neuronal processes carrying information from the eye make synapses both onto LGMD dendrites and with each other, providing pathways for lateral inhibition that shape selectivity for approaching objects.
Comparing System-Level Power Management Policies

Reducing power consumption is a challenge to system designers. Portable systems, such as laptop computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), draw power from batteries, so reducing power consumption extends their operating times. For desktop computers or servers, high power consumption raises temperature and deteriorates performance and reliability. Soaring energy prices and rising concern about the environmental impact of electronics systems further highlight the importance of low power consumption. Power reduction techniques can be classified as static and dynamic. Static techniques, such as synthesis and compilation for low power, are applied at design time. In contrast, dynamic techniques use runtime behavior to reduce power when systems are serving light workloads or are idle. These techniques are known as dynamic power management (DPM). DPM can be achieved in different ways; for example, dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) changes supply voltage at runtime as a method of power management. Here, we use DPM specifically for shutting down unused I/O devices. We built an experimental environment on a laptop computer running Microsoft Windows. We implemented existing power management policies and quantitatively compared their effects on power saving and performance degradation.
Novel Method for Loading Microporous Ceramics Bone Grafts by Using a Directional Flow

The aim of this study was the development of a process for filling the pores of a β-tricalcium phosphate ceramic with interconnected porosity with an alginate hydrogel. For filling of the ceramics, solutions of alginate hydrogel precursors with suitable viscosity were chosen as determined by rheometry. For loading of the porous ceramics with the gel the samples were placed at the flow chamber and sealed with silicone seals. By using a vacuum induced directional flow, the samples were loaded with alginate solutions. The loading success was controlled by ESEM and fluorescence imaging using a fluorescent dye (FITC) for staining of the gel. After loading of the pores, the alginate is transformed into a hydrogel through crosslinking with CaCl2 solution. The biocompatibility of the obtained composite material was tested with a live dead cell staining by using MG-63 Cells. The loading procedure via vacuum assisted directional flow allowed complete filling of the pores of the ceramics within a few minutes (10 ± 3 min) while loading through simple immersion into the polymer solution or through a conventional vacuum method only gave incomplete filling.
Fas-associated Protein with Death Domain (FADD)-independent Recruitment of c-FLIPL to Death Receptor 5*

Here we show a novel mechanism by which FLICE-like inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) regulates apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and one of its receptors, DR5. c-FLIP is a critical regulator of the TNF family of cytokine receptor signaling. c-FLIP has been postulated to prevent formation of the competent death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) in a ligand-dependent manner, through its interaction with FADD and/or caspase-8. In order to identify regulators of TRAIL function, we used the intracellular death domain (DD) of DR5 as a target to screen a phage-displayed combinatorial peptide library. The DD of DR5 selected from the library a peptide that showed sequence similarity to a stretch of amino acids in the C terminus of c-FLIPL. The phage-displayed peptide selectively interacted with the DD of DR5 in in vitro binding assays. Similarly, full-length c-FLIP (c-FLIPL) and the C-terminal p12 domain of c-FLIP interacted with DR5 both in in vitro pull-down assays and in mammalian cells. This interaction was independent of TRAIL. To the contrary, TRAIL treatment released c-FLIPL from DR5, permitting the recruitment of FADD to the active DR5 signaling complex. By employing FADD-deficient Jurkat cells, we demonstrate that DR5 and c-FLIPL interact in a FADD-independent manner. Moreover, we show that a cellular membrane permeable version of the peptide corresponding to the DR5 binding domain of c-FLIP induces apoptosis in mammalian cells. Taken together, these findings indicate that c-FLIP interacts with the DD of DR5, thus preventing death Lsignaling by DR5 prior to the formation of an active DISC. Because TRAIL and DR5 are ubiquitously expressed, the interaction of c-FLIPL and DR5 indicates a mechanism by which tumor selective apoptosis can be achieved through protecting normal cells from undergoing death receptor-induced apoptosis.
Quality of life in epileptic patients in southern Thailand.

OBJECTIVE To determine the risk factors for a low quality of life in Thai epileptic patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD A cross-sectional study was conducted at Songklanagarind Hospital, Thailand. Epileptic patients aged 15-50 years old, who had been treated with a stable dose of antiepileptic drug(s) for more than three months, were enrolled Those who had other chronic medical illnesses and pregnant women were excluded. All subjects completed a self-report questionnaire that included questions about the quality of life in epilepsy-31 (QOLIE-31), hospital anxiety, depression score (HADS), age, sex, occupation, marital status, education level, medical insurance, seizure frequency, trauma due to seizure activity, duration of epilepsy, and medication analysis. RESULTS In the univariate analysis, significant (p < 0.05) factors affecting the quality of life included seizure frequency, history of trauma due to seizures, depression, and anxiety. In the multivariate regression analysis, seizure frequency, anxiety, and depression were significant. Anxiety and depression were significant statistical factors in explaining a lower quality of life. Throughout the results, seizure frequency, depression, and anxiety had an inverse relation to scores. Age, sex, education, medical insurance, occupation, marital status, and medication were not significant for quality of life. In the subscale analysis of quality of life, seizure frequency was associated with seizure worry; occupation with energy/fatigue; anxiety with all subscale QOLIE; depression with emotional well-being, overall, energy/fatigue and cognitive and social functions; marital status with energy/fatigue; and medical insurance with medical effects. CONCLUSION These findings indicated that mood disorder and seizure frequency could be a powerful predictor for the quality of life.
A Flexible Simulator of Pipelined Processors

A flexible, parameterizable simulator of pipelined processors is presented. The simulator allows to configure several (micro-)architectural features such as the pipeline depth, the stage in which branch execution occurs, whether or not register file forwarding is performed, and the number of branch delay slots. We use the simulator to perform experiments with three synthetic benchmarks: vector addition, vector summation, and sum of absolute differences. These kernels are representative for data parallel loops, reduction operations, and benchmarks containing many hard to predict branches, respectively.
Conditional and future tense impairment in non-fluent aphasia

Background: Morphological errors of tense and agreement are salient in agrammatic aphasia. The PADILIH predicts impairments in discourse linking that translate to greater difficulties in referring to a past event time than to a future or a present event time. In Catalan, the Periphrastic conditional tense (e.g., “if the man had had time, he would have…”) refers to the past and the Simple conditional tense refers to the future (e.g., “if the man had time, he would…”). These two tenses refer to an event that may happen (irrealis). Aims: We fill in the gap of the conditional tense and provide further data to study contrasts in verb inflection for time reference. We predict that verb forms that refer to an irrealis past event (Periphrastic conditional) are more impaired than forms that refer to an irrealis future event (Simple conditional and Future). We also predict that there are no differences between verb forms that refer to an irrealis future event (Simple conditional and Future). We also assessed whether problems in time reference extend to individuals with non-fluent aphasia that are not typical agrammatic Broca aphasia. Methods & Procedures: A sentence completion task that included 60 sentences (20 per type) of equal length in a Conditional structure (if-sentences) was designed. We tested three sentence types: Periphrastic conditional, Simple conditional and Future. The task was administered to nine participants with non-fluent aphasia and nine age-matched non-brain-damaged participants. Outcomes & Results: The Control group scored at ceiling on the three sentence types. Participants with non-fluent aphasia were most impaired in the production of the Periphrastic conditional as compared with the Simple conditional and the Future. Conclusions: When irrealis event times are compared, past events are more impaired than future events. These results can be explained by a deficit in time reference as predicted by the PADILIH. Our data reveal that the predictions of the PADILIH also hold for non-fluent speakers who have been diagnosed with Transcortical motor aphasia.