Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The ratio between tetrahydrobiopterin and oxidized tetrahydrobiopterin analogues controls superoxide release from endothelial nitric oxide synthase: an EPR spin trapping study.

Augmentation of superoxide levels has been linked to impaired relaxation in hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolaemia. Purified endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) generates superoxide under limited availability of 5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobiopterin (BH(4)). Thus alterations in endothelial BH(4) levels have been postulated to stimulate superoxide production from eNOS. This possibility was examined by determining the concentration-dependent effects of BH(4), and its analogues, on superoxide formation by eNOS. Superoxide was quantified by EPR spin trapping, which is the only available technique to quantify superoxide from eNOS. Using 5-ethoxycarbonyl-5-methyl-pyrroline N-oxide, we show that only fully reduced BH(4) diminished superoxide release from eNOS, with efficiency BH(4)>6-methyl-BH(4)>5-methyl-BH(4). In contrast, partially oxidized BH(4) analogues, 7,8-dihydrobiopterin (7,8-BH(2)) and sepiapterin had no effect. Neither l-arginine nor N(G)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) abolished superoxide formation. Together, BH(4) and l-arginine stimulated . NO production at maximal rates of 148 nmol/min per mg of protein. These results indicate that BH(4) acts as a "redox switch", decreasing superoxide release and enhancing . NO formation. This role was verified by adding 7,8-BH(2) or sepiapterin to fully active eNOS. Both 7,8-BH(2) and sepiapterin enhanced superoxide release while inhibiting (.)NO formation. Collectively, these results indicate that the ratio between oxidized and reduced BH(4) metabolites tightly regulates superoxide formation from eNOS. The pathological significance of this scenario is discussed.
Using the SafeTSA Representation to Boost the Performance of an Existing Java Virtual Machine

High-performance just-in-time compilers for Java need to invest a considerable effort before actual code generation can commence, both to verify each incoming JVM class file, and to translate the them into an internal representation for optimization. To ease this burden, we have designed, safeTSA, an intermediate representation based on a typed SSA form, that drastically simplifies both of these steps, without sacrificing safety or code quality. We report on our experience integrating support for loading and compiling safeTSA files into the Jalapeno Java Virtual Machine. The net result of this integration is a Java runtime which is capable of executing classes from Java class files, safeTSA, or a heterogeneous mixture of the two. Our prototype safeTSA compiler is patterned after the Jalapeno optimizing compiler and currently shares its lowlevel code generator. Preliminary performance results are very encouraging and show simultaneous improvements in both compilation time and code quality relative to the Jalapeno optimizing compiler. This supports our hypothesis that SSA-based intermediate representations, such as safeTSA, offer unique advantages in the context of just-in-time compilation.
Is the Minimum Wage an Effective Tool to Promote Decent Work and Reduce Poverty? The Experience of Selected Developing Countries

Reviews studies on the effects of minimum wage legislation on the level of employment and poverty and analyses developments in minimum wages in developing countries during the 1980s and 1990s. Tests the response of employment and poverty to changes in the minimum wage using ILO time series data for more than 20 countries during the early 1990s.
Tailor to Fit It

This paper is a result of research activities within wearable communications carried out at the Ericsson Norway Applied research center in collaboration with the University of Oslo. The research activities are based on the conviction that the user and usability should be in focus. The research is grounded on a field study conducted to investigate a highly mobile activity, namely bike messenger services in Oslo and New York City. Findings from this field study are the motivation behind the component-based terminal presented in this paper. Instead of building a terminal by integrating several terminals into "one", our approach suggests, first, a dissolution of the current terminals into pieces called "basic components", and then reassemble the selected "basic components" to form a customized terminal.
Efficient vehicle detection with adaptive scan based on perspective geometry

Vehicle detection is an important research problem for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems to improve driving safety. Most existing methods are based on the sliding window search framework to locate vehicles in an image. However, such methods usually produce large numbers of false positives and are computationally intensive. In this paper, we propose an efficient vehicle detection algorithm that dramatically reduces the search space based on the perspective geometry of the road. In the training phase, we search a few images to locate all possible vehicle regions by using the standard HOG-based vehicle detector. Pairs of vehicle candidates that satisfy the projective geometry constraints are used to estimate the linear vehicle width model with respect to y coordinates in the image. Then an adaptive scan strategy based on the estimated vehicle width model is proposed to efficiently detect vehicles in an image. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm provides improved performance in terms of both speed and accuracy compared to standard sliding-windows search strategy.
The Value of Vengeance and the Demand for Deterrence

Humans will incur costs to punish others who violate social norms. Theories of justice highlight 2 motives for punishment: a forward-looking deterrence of future norm violations and a backward-looking retributive desire to harm. Previous studies of costly punishment have not isolated how much people are willing to pay for retribution alone, because typically punishment both inflicts damage (satisfying the retributive motive) and communicates a norm violation (satisfying the deterrence motive). Here, we isolated retributive motives by examining how much people will invest in punishment when the punished individual will never learn about the punishment. Such “hidden” punishment cannot deter future norm violations but was nevertheless frequently used by both 2nd-party victims and 3rd-party observers of norm violations, indicating that retributive motives drive punishment decisions independently from deterrence goals. While self-reports of deterrence motives correlated with deterrence-related punishment behavior, self-reports of retributive motives did not correlate with retributive punishment behavior. Our findings reveal a preference for pure retribution that can lead to punishment without any social benefits.
Large-scale asymmetric introgression of cytoplasmic DNA reveals Holocene range displacement in a North American boreal pine complex

Jack pine (Pinus banksiana) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) are two North American boreal hard pines that hybridize in their zone of contact in western Canada. The main objective of this study was to characterize their patterns of introgression resulting from past and recent gene flow, using cytoplasmic markers having maternal or paternal inheritance. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) diversity was assessed in allopatric populations of each species and in stands from the current zone of contact containing morphological hybrids. Cluster analyses were used to identify genetic discontinuities among groups of populations. A canonical analysis was also conducted to detect putative associations among cytoplasmic DNA variation, tree morphology, and site ecological features. MtDNA introgression was extensive and asymmetric: it was detected in P. banksiana populations from the hybrid zone and from allopatric areas, but not in P. contorta populations. Very weak cpDNA introgression was observed, and only in P. banksiana populations. The mtDNA introgression pattern indicated that central Canada was first colonized by migrants from a P. contorta glacial population located west of the Rocky Mountains, before being replaced by P. banksiana migrating westward during the Holocene. In contrast, extensive pollen gene flow would have erased the cpDNA traces of this ancient presence of P. contorta. Additional evidence for this process was provided by the results of canonical analysis, which indicated that the current cpDNA background of trees reflected recent pollen gene flow from the surrounding dominant species rather than historical events that took place during the postglacial colonization.
SWING-UP AND STABILIZATION OF FLEXIBLE UNDERACTUATED MANIPULATOR WITHOUT FEEDBACK

Abstract A control method without state feedback of the free link is proposed for swing-up and stabilization at the upright position of a flexible free link in a two-link underactuated flexible manipulator (the active first and free second links are rigid and flexible, respectively). The proposed method is based on the actuation of bifurcations produced in the second link under high-frequency excitation of the first link. Experimental results show the validity of the proposed method of control for the flexible underactuated manipulator.
Delineation of Diverse Macrophage Activation Programs in Response to Intracellular Parasites and Cytokines

Background The ability to reside and proliferate in macrophages is characteristic of several infectious agents that are of major importance to public health, including the intracellular parasites Trypanosoma cruzi (the etiological agent of Chagas disease) and Leishmania species (etiological agents of Kala-Azar and cutaneous leishmaniasis). Although recent studies have elucidated some of the ways macrophages respond to these pathogens, the relationships between activation programs elicited by these pathogens and the macrophage activation programs elicited by bacterial pathogens and cytokines have not been delineated. Methodology/Principal Findings To provide a global perspective on the relationships between macrophage activation programs and to understand how certain pathogens circumvent them, we used transcriptional profiling by genome-wide microarray analysis to compare the responses of mouse macrophages following exposure to the intracellular parasites T. cruzi and Leishmania mexicana, the bacterial product lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and the cytokines IFNG, TNF, IFNB, IL-4, IL-10, and IL-17. We found that LPS induced a classical activation state that resembled macrophage stimulation by the Th1 cytokines IFNG and TNF. However, infection by the protozoan pathogen L. mexicana produced so few transcriptional changes that the infected macrophages were almost indistinguishable from uninfected cells. T. cruzi activated macrophages produced a transcriptional signature characterized by the induction of interferon-stimulated genes by 24 h post-infection. Despite this delayed IFN response by T. cruzi, the transcriptional response of macrophages infected by the kinetoplastid pathogens more closely resembled the transcriptional response of macrophages stimulated by the cytokines IL-4, IL-10, and IL-17 than macrophages stimulated by Th1 cytokines. Conclusions/Significance This study provides global gene expression data for a diverse set of biologically significant pathogens and cytokines and identifies the relationships between macrophage activation states induced by these stimuli. By comparing macrophage activation programs to pathogens and cytokines under identical experimental conditions, we provide new insights into how macrophage responses to kinetoplastids correlate with the overall range of macrophage activation states.
Accurate Modeling of Nonideal Low-Power PWM DC-DC Converters Operating in CCM and DCM using Enhanced Circuit-Averaging Techniques

The development of enhanced modeling techniques for the simulation of switched-mode Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) DC-DC power converters using circuit averaging is the main focus of this article. The circuit-averaging technique has traditionally been used to model the behavior of PWM DC-DC converters without considering important nonideal characteristics of the switching devices. As a result, most of these existing approaches present simplified models that are ideal or linearized, and do not accurately account for the performance characteristics of the converter. This is especially problematic for low-power applications. In this article, we present an enhanced nonideal behavioral circuit-averaged model that makes the simulation of DC-DC converters both computationally efficient and accurate, thereby presenting an important tool for circuit designers. Experimentally, we show that our Verilog-A-based new model allows for accurate simulation of both Buck- and Boost-type PWM converters operating in either CCM or DCM modes while providing more than one order of magnitude speedup over the transistor-level simulation.
Analytical Performance Comparison of Different Routing Protocols in Mobile Ad hoc Wireless Networks

Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks (MANETs) are becoming increasingly popular as more and more mobile device s find their way to the public, besides “traditional” uses such as military battlefields and disaster situations they are being used more and more in every-day situations. With this in creased usage comes the need for making the networks secure as well as efficient, something that is not easily done as m ny of the demands of network security conflicts with the dema nds on mobile networks due to the nature of the mobile dev ices (e.g. low power consumption, low processing load). In MANE Ts If two mobile nodes are within each other’s transmissi on range, they can communicate with each other directly . Othe rwise the nodes in between have to forward the packets for th em. In such a case, every mobile node has to function as a router to forward the packets for others. Thus, routing is a basic operation for the MANET. Because traditional routin g protocols cannot be directly applied in the MANET, a lot of routing protocols for unicast, multicast, and broad cast transmission have been proposed since the advent of the MANETs. This paper gives a complete analysis of rou ting protocols in the MANETs.
Automatic $P$-Phase Picking Based on Local-Maxima Distribution

In this paper, we propose a method for the automatic identification of P-phase arrival based on the distribution of local maxima (LM) in earthquake seismograms. The method efficiently combines energy and frequency characteristics of the LM distribution (LMD). The detection is mainly based on the energy of a seismic event in the case the earthquake has higher amplitude than seismic background noise. Otherwise, it is based on the frequency of LM. Thus, the method provides robust detection of P-phase arrival in any quality type of seismic data. Moreover, it uses two sequential sliding signal windows yielding very high accuracy on the P-phase estimation. A hierarchical P-phase detection algorithm dramatically reduces the computational cost, making possible a real-time implementation. Experimental results from a large database of more than 80 low, medium, and high signal-to-noise ratio seismic events and comparison with existing methods in the literature indicate the reliable performance of the proposed scheme.
A framework for accessing data resources on the internet exposed as restful web services

Over the last decade, Internet users have been using web search intensively. However, the ever-increasing number of web search providers makes it difficult to search for data in different data sources. More than that, developers face the problem of accessing different resources exposed as Web services by having to support various sets of constraints and rules. Our framework aims at identifying a common way to accessing these different data sources. We also provide a common and simple data model for some of these various sources, thus helping the developer and ultimately the end-user finding and combining results from more than one web search provider. Thus, applications that search for a resource simultaneously at different web search providers will be developed more easily.
Flip angle–optimized fast dynamic T1 mapping with a 3D gradient echo sequence

To analyze the flip angle dependence and to optimize the statistical precision of a fast three‐dimensional (3D) T1 mapping technique based on the variable flip angle (VFA) method. The proposed single flip angle (1FA) approach acquires only a single 3D spoiled gradient echo data set for each time point of the dynamical series in combination with a longer baseline measurement.
Polyglutamine Expansion Accelerates the Dynamics of Ataxin-1 and Does Not Result in Aggregate Formation

Background Polyglutamine expansion disorders are caused by an expansion of the polyglutamine (polyQ) tract in the disease related protein, leading to severe neurodegeneration. All polyQ disorders are hallmarked by the presence of intracellular aggregates containing the expanded protein in affected neurons. The polyQ disorder SpinoCerebellar Ataxia 1 (SCA1) is caused by a polyQ-expansion in the ataxin-1 protein, which is thought to lead to nuclear aggregates. Methodology/Principal Findings Using advanced live cell fluorescence microscopy and a filter retardation assay we show that nuclear accumulations formed by polyQ-expanded ataxin-1 do not resemble aggregates of other polyQ-expanded proteins. Instead of being static, insoluble aggregates, nuclear accumulations formed by the polyQ-expanded ataxin-1 showed enhanced intracellular kinetics as compared to wild-type ataxin-1. During mitosis, ataxin-1 accumulations redistributed equally among daughter cells, in contrast to polyQ aggregates. Interestingly, polyQ expansion did not affect the nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling of ataxin-1 as proposed before. Conclusions/Significance These results indicate that polyQ expansion does not necessarily lead to aggregate formation, and that the enhanced kinetics may affect the nuclear function of ataxin-1. The unexpected findings for a polyQ-expanded protein and their consequences for ongoing SCA1 research are discussed.
Continuous approximation of PEPA models and Petri nets

Modelling very large systems that consist of many similar components can lead to a state space explosion. A continuous approximation of the system can be used to avoid this problem. In the stochastic process algebra, PEPA, models with large numbers of identical components can be approximated in a continuous fashion by a set of coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Similarly, timed continuous Petri nets can be used to approximate behaviour via ODEs where there are many servers. These two approaches are compared and infinite and finite server semantics are considered.
Electromyogram Bandwidth Requirements When the Signal is Whitened

Whitening the surface electromyogram (EMG) improves EMG amplitude (EMGσ) and EMG-torque estimation. Laboratory studies utilizing contraction levels up to maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) show that whitening is useful over a frequency band extending to 1000-2000 Hz. However, EMG electrode systems with such wide bandwidth are uncommon, particularly in real-time applications; and these contraction levels are also not common. Thus, we studied the influence of the frequency band over which whitening was performed versus the resulting performance. Low-level, torque-varying contractions (average torque level of 18.5% flexion MVC) of the elbow were contrasted with medium-level 50% MVC constant-torque contractions. For each, the maximum whitening bandwidth was varied between 30-2000 Hz. The low-level contractions (which incorporate the contraction range of most daily tasks) showed that performance utilizing frequencies out to 400-500 Hz was not statistically different than results out to the full available frequency (2000 Hz). For the medium-level (50% MVC) contractions, frequencies out to 800-900 Hz were statistically equivalent to the full bandwidth. These results suggest that conventional electrodes with a typical passband of ~ 500 Hz are appropriate when whitening data from contraction levels typically experienced in many applications. Wider bandwidths may be advantageous for strenuous activities.
The effects of scheduling modes on high school student achievement in Iowa

ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the Problem 4 The Comprehensive School Improvement Plan 4 Iowa Tests of Educational Development 5 Need for the Study 8 Purpose of the Study 9 Research Questions 10 Assumptions of the Study 12 Limitations of the Study 12 Definition of Terms 12 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 15 Historical Background 15 Modular scheduling 16 Middle school concept 19 Eight-period day 20 Call for restructuring 21 Block Scheduling 22 Benefits of block scheduling 25 Construct! vist classrooms 28 Disadvantages of block scheduling 32 Elements needed for implementing a block schedule 35 Standardized testing 37 Related research involving standardized testing 40 AZB versus 4x4 block 45 Lack of convincing evidence 45 Summary 47 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 50 Introduction 50 Research Design 50 Human Subjects Release 51
Correlation between Gene Variants, Signaling Pathways, and Efficacy of Chemotherapy Drugs against Colon Cancers

Efficacies, toxicities, and resistance mechanisms of chemotherapy drugs, such as oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), vary widely among various categories and subcategories of colon cancers. By understanding the differences in the drug efficacy and resistance at the level of protein–protein networks, we identified the correlation between the drug activity of oxaliplatin/5-FU and gene variations from the US National Cancer Institute-60 human cancer cell lines. The activity of either of these drugs is correlated with specific amino acid variant(s) of KRAS and other genes from the signaling pathways of colon cancer progression. We also discovered that the activity of a non-DNA-binding novel platinum drug, phosphaplatin, is comparable with oxaliplatin and 5-FU when it was tested against colon cancer cell lines. Our strategy that combines the knowledge from pharmacogenomics across cell lines with the molecular information from specific cancer cells is beneficial for predicting the outcome of a possible combination therapy for personalized treatment.
A Single Locus Is Responsible for Salinity Tolerance in a Chinese Landrace Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Introduction Salinity and waterlogging are two major abiotic stresses severely limiting barley production. The lack of a reliable screening method makes it very hard to improve the tolerance through breeding programs. Methods This work used 188 DH lines from a cross between a Chinese landrace variety, TX9425 (waterlogging and salinity tolerant), and a Japanese malting barley, Naso Nijo (waterlogging and salinity sensitive), to identify QTLs associated with the tolerance. Results Four QTLs were found for waterlogging tolerance. The salinity tolerance was evaluated with both a hydroponic system and in potting mixture. In the trial with potting mixture, only one major QTL was identified to associate with salinity tolerance. This QTL explained nearly 50% of the phenotypic variation, which makes it possible for further fine mapping and cloning of the gene. This QTL was also identified in the hydroponic experiment for different salt-related traits. The position of this QTL was located at a similar position to one of the major QTLs for waterlogging tolerance, indicating the possibility of similar mechanisms controlling both waterlogging and salinity tolerance. Conclusion The markers associated with the QTL provided a unique opportunity in breeding programs for selection of salinity and waterlogging tolerance.