Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cytokines, metalloproteinases, their inhibitors and cartilage oligomeric matrix protein: relationship to radiological progression and inflammation in early rheumatoid arthritis. A prospective 5-year study.

OBJECTIVE To assess how serum concentrations of some cytokines, proteases and their inhibitors and cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) relate to the evolution of clinical disease and joint damage in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS Annual assessment was performed in 24 RA patients subdivided into three groups according to disease severity as determined by the radiological progression rate. All patients were followed for 5 yr after inclusion. Functional status, Larsen's radiographic index in hands and feet (joint damage score, JDS) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were assessed annually and compared with interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), promatrix metalloproteinase 3 (proMMP-3), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1) and COMP, which were determined by specific immunological tests. RESULTS The median JDS was initially between 4.5 and 7. During the study time the progression of JDS was 1 (median) for patients with slow progression, 33 for patients with intermediate progression and 62 for patients with rapid progression. Changes in CRP and proMMP-3 concentrations over time differed significantly between the groups, but no significant difference was observed for IL-1Ra, TIMP-1 or COMP. ProMMP-3 was closely related to CRP at each time point. IL-6 correlated significantly with CRP at the last four annual follow-up examinations. CRP and proMMP-3 correlated with JDS at the last two or three examinations and the combined levels of these markers over 5 yr correlated significantly with joint damage progression (Spearman rank correlation 0.73 and 0.74 respectively). IL-1Ra showed a weak negative correlation with JDS, and COMP tended to correlate with JDS only at the start. The initial proMMP-3 concentration was the only significant variable predicting rapidly developing joint damage, but the predictive value was low. CONCLUSIONS ProMMP-3 correlated closely at all time points with CRP, but gave little or no additional clinical information regarding inflammation or radiographic progression. IL-1Ra and TIMP-1 showed weaker, acute-phase-like variation, which may reflect pathogenic agonist/inhibitor imbalance in the evolution of RA. COMP, in contrast, did not reflect the inflammatory CRP-related component of the disease or the destructive aspect in this study.
Pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma with exocrine differentiation in a young cat

A 35-mo-old spayed female mixed-breed cat with continuous vomiting, emaciation, and abdominal distention for 2 wk was presented to a private veterinary clinic for evaluation. At 71 d after the initial visit, the cat died with anemia, jaundice, and hypoalbuminemia, and was subjected to autopsy. Grossly, numerous firm masses, 0.5–2.5 cm diameter, were randomly located in the left lobe of the pancreas. Histologic examination revealed that the pancreatic mass consisted of 2 tumor cell types: mostly small round cells with a minority of epithelial cells. The small cells were arranged in nests of various sizes, which were separated by thin fibrous stroma, and had small, round, hyperchromatic nuclei, scant cytoplasm containing argyrophilic granules, and often formed rosettes. The epithelial cells formed luminal structures. Metastases were observed in the liver, greater omentum, and pancreatic, gastric, pulmonary, and mediastinal lymph nodes. Immunohistochemical examination revealed that the small cells were positive for vimentin, neuron-specific enolase, chromogranin A, cytokeratin (CK) AE1/AE3, and trypsin, whereas the epithelial cells were positive for AE1/AE3, trypsin, CK19, and nestin. Ultrastructurally, the small cells contained abundant electron-dense granules, ~200 nm diameter, whereas the epithelial cells had apical microvilli and numerous zymogen granules, ~300 nm diameter. These findings indicated that the tumor was a pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma with exocrine differentiation and systemic metastases.
Contributions of Speed and Accuracy to Translational Selection in Bacteria

Among bacteria, we have previously shown that species that are capable of rapid growth have stronger selection on codon usage than slow growing species, and possess higher numbers of rRNA and tRNA genes. This suggests that fast-growers are adapted for fast protein synthesis. There is also considerable evidence that codon usage is influenced by accuracy of translation, and some authors have argued that accuracy is more important than speed. Here we compare the strength of the two effects by studying the codon usages in high and low expression genes and on conserved and variable sites within high expression genes. We introduce a simple statistical method that can be used to assess the significance and the strength of the two types of bias in the same sets of sequences. We compare our statistical measure of codon bias to the common used codon adaptation index, and show that the new measure is preferable for three reasons for the purposes of this analysis. Across a large sample of bacterial genomes, both effects from speed and accuracy are clearly visible, although the speed effect appears to be much stronger than the accuracy effect and is found to be significant in a larger proportion of genomes. It is also difficult to explain the correlation of codon bias in the high expression genes with growth rates and numbers of copies of tRNA and rRNA genes on the basis of selection for accuracy. Hence we conclude that selection for translational speed is a dominant effect in driving codon usage bias in fast-growing bacteria, with selection for accuracy playing a small supplementary role.
Research on the mechanical quality of an underground cable connector

A reliable electricity transmission network has a vital role in modern society. The long service life and the capital intensity emphasize the importance of distribution network design and selecting good quality components. The thesis addresses quality related factors in underground cable connectors. The connections in underground cable connectors are widely established by screwing. The performance and reliability of a connector are important aspects of quality. The reliability of underground cable connectors is determined by standardized tests. All in all, quality consists of every characteristic that makes the product fulfil the set requirements or the expectations of clients. This thesis determines the structural elements that affect the quality of the screw coupling in an underground cable connector. Improving the feel of the screw coupling would enhance the quality perceived by the customer. In particular, the significance of thread tolerance of the screw is explored. A method is developed for measuring the dependency between the torque needed for tightening the screw and the force generated at the tip of the screw. Based on the results of the torque-force tests and the ISO 965-1 standard, it is worth looking into utilizing 4h screws in conjunction with a 6H thread instead of 4g screws. In the tests 4h screws produced slightly more force at any given tightening torque. A screw coupling having a 4h screw felt firmer than a 4g screw. This is a corollary of the smaller clearance. Testing is needed with an actual connector body that utilises screws manufactured to meet the 4h tolerance. Based on benchmarking, the feel of the screw couplings commonly have some free play. Small deformations or chips in the edges of the shearing point and tightening tool grooves affect the feel when turning the screws by hand. Disposing of these imperfections would enhance the quality perceived by a customer. Some phase of the tin coating process can apparently cause imperfections to the finished screw threads. The whole work process needs to be analysed to figure out and eliminate the exact cause or causes of the damages in the thread. The scrutiny of the split connectors under a microscope revealed, inter alia, that the threads in many connector bodies deform under tightening of the screws. Some manufacturers use an internal thread crest shape that yields under loading. The microscope revealed a thread on which the thread bore and tapping may not be entirely concentric. Additionally, a crack noticed under the microscope on a thread of a connector body should be investigated. The internal threads call for further attention.
Why and when organizational culture fosters affective commitment among knowledge workers: the mediating role of perceived psychological contract fulfilment and moderating role of organizational tenure

Abstract Drawing on Denison and Mishra (1995)’s framework of organizational culture, this study examines why and when organizational culture is related to knowledge workers’ affective commitment. Data were collected from 640 employees working in three high-technology companies in China. The findings indicate that the relationship between organizational culture and affective commitment is mediated by perceived psychological contract fulfilment. In addition, organizational tenure moderates the relationship between two external dimensions (i.e. adaptability and mission) of organizational culture and perceived psychological contract fulfilment. This study extends the current theoretical framework of organizational culture by demonstrating the underlying mechanism and the boundary condition of the relationship between organizational culture and affective commitment. The findings also provide practical implications for international managers to design appropriate human resource management policies and practices in China.
Urgent announcement from the editor-in-chief regarding duplicate publication.

Submission of a manuscript to the Circulation Journal implies that the article is original and that no portion (including figures or tables) is under consideration elsewhere or has been previously published in any form other than as an abstract. Previous publication includes publishing as a component of symposia, proceedings, transactions, books (or chapters), articles published by invitations or reports of any kind, as well as in electronic data bases of a public nature.
Cu migration and its impact on the metastable behavior of CdTe solar cells

In this work we report on development of a 1D reaction-diffusion simulator of Cu kinetics in CdTe solar cells to investigate its role in the observed device performance changes. Evolution of intrinsic and Cu-related defects in CdTe solar cell has been studied in time-space domain self-consistently with free carrier transport. The simulation successfully predicts decelerating reductions of device performance for open-circuit stress and steadier reductions for short-circuit stress under elevated temperature, in agreement with experimental findings. The simulation results indicate that the movement of Cu interstitials could be responsible for such changes. Although 1D simulation has intrinsic limitations when applied to polycrystalline films, the results presented here imply that the 1D approach is still suitable in better understanding of the performance and metastabilities of CdTe photovoltaic device.
Pancreatic β-Cell Failure Mediated by mTORC1 Hyperactivity and Autophagic Impairment

Hyperactivation of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) in β-cells is usually found as a consequence of increased metabolic load. Although it plays an essential role in β-cell compensatory mechanisms, mTORC1 negatively regulates autophagy. Using a mouse model with β-cell–specific deletion of Tsc2 (βTsc2−/−) and, consequently, mTORC1 hyperactivation, we focused on the role that chronic mTORC1 hyperactivation might have on β-cell failure. mTORC1 hyperactivation drove an early increase in β-cell mass that later declined, triggering hyperglycemia. Apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum stress markers were found in islets of older βTsc2−/− mice as well as accumulation of p62/SQSTM1 and an impaired autophagic response. Mitochondrial mass was increased in β-cells of βTsc2−/− mice, but mitophagy was also impaired under these circumstances. We provide evidence of β-cell autophagy impairment as a link between mTORC1 hyperactivation and mitochondrial dysfunction that probably contributes to β-cell failure.
Small but Different Effect of Fouling on the Uptake Rates of Semipermeable Membrane Devices and Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Samplers

Semipermeable membrane devices (SPMD) and polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS) were exposed to a cocktail of organic chemicals using a flow‐through system. Samplers were removed and analyzed every 7 d over a four‐week period in order to determine sampling rates (Rs) for individual compounds. Prior to laboratory exposure, half of the samplers were allowed to foul naturally for six weeks, in order to examine differences in uptake due to fouling. The amount of fouling ranged from 0.2 to 2.8 g dry weight/dm2 for POCIS and 0.1 to 1.4 g dry weight/dm2 for SPMDs, and the pattern of accumulation was also different between them. The Rs values were determined by fitting curves to time course uptake data and also by using performance reference compounds (PRCs) for SPMDs. Sampling rates ranged from 2.7 to 14.2 L/d for SPMDs and 0.01 to 0.27 L/d for POCIS. Fouled SPMDs showed a reduction in Rs (<20%) for all but one compound, and there was a similar reduction in the release of PRCs. However, PRC‐predicted Rs values were overall somewhat higher than those from fitted curves. Uptake of alkylated phenols in POCIS was generally higher (up to 55%) in fouled samplers. The reason for this is not known, but is possibly due to some reduction in interactions with the membrane in fouled samplers. There was no overall pattern in the relationship of sampling rate differences with log KOW or over time for either sampler. Release of compounds from POCIS after a drop in exposure water concentrations provides some encouragement for the application of a PRC approach to polar passive samplers.
Prediction table based management policy for STT-RAM and SRAM hybrid cache

STT-RAM has emerged as one of the most promising candidates for future on-chip cache due to STT-RAM's high density and low leakage. However, the STT-RAM has many disadvantages, such as: high write energy and long writing latency. To alleviate the problems, many STT-RAM and SRAM hybrid cache architectures have been proposed. In this paper, we propose a prediction table based hybrid L2 cache management policy named PTHCM. By adding a prediction table to the hybrid cache, the access information of each cache line can be recorded and we can predict the cache lines that have become dead in SRAM, lines that will be less-written and frequently-written in advance. Based on these information provided by prediction table, we propose a new cache replacement and management policy for hybrid cache architecture which replaces the dead cache lines in SRAM to improve the utilization ratio of SRAM, places frequently-written lines into SRAM and swaps out less-written lines from SRAM as early as possible. Compared with a baseline hybrid cache design, our design reduces 23.3% of the write operations to STT-RAM, and achieves 8.2% power reduction.
Fuzzy Control Solution for a Class of Tricycle Mobile Robots

The paper proposes an original fuzzy control solution to solve the tracking problem in case of a class of tricycle mobile robots with two degrees of freedom and steered front wheel. The control system structure contains two control loops to control the forward velocity and the angle between the heading direction and the x-axis. The reference trajectory is obtained on the basis of an obstacle avoidance strategy employing the artificial potential field method. The development in the linear case is done in terms of the extended symmetrical optimum method and of the iterative feedback tuning method resulting in two linear PI controllers. A new development method is proposed based on the transfer of results from the linear case to the fuzzy one employing Mamdani PI-fuzzy controllers. Simulation results validate the proposed fuzzy control solution
Life Cycle Environmental and Natural Resource Implications of Energy Efficiency Technologies

This special issue, Environmental Impacts of DemandSide Technologies and Strategies for Carbon Mitigation, was designed in collaboration with the IRP (International Resource Panel) to support the development of the second report on life cycle implications of energy efficiency technologies . In this issue, we gathered assessments of the environmental implications of energy efficiency improvements in buildings, transport, metal refining, and combined heat and power production. require a fundamental change in, among others, the way energy is transformed and utilized (IPCC 2014). However, our understanding of the environmental and natural resource implications of the changes needed in the energy system is still limited. In the effort to close this knowledge gap, the International Resource Panel (IRP)1 of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has been working on two reports: one on low-carbon electricity generation technologies, which was launched during the UNFCCC Conference of Parties in Paris (Hertwich et al. 2015), and the other on energy efficiency technologies to be launched later this year. This special issue, Environmental Impacts of Demand-Side Technologies and Strategies for Carbon Mitigation, was designed in collaboration with the IRP to support the development of the second report on life cycle implications of energy efficiency technologies. In particular, the knowledge and data supplied by many contributors of this special issue were instrumental for the development of the upcoming IRP report,2 for which some of the articles3 of this special issue serve as technical appendix.
Digital sliding mode based sensorless control of an electromechanical system

This paper is intended to explain the basic ideas related to designing digital algorithms using unmeasured mechanical variables (but observed without sensors), to control electromechanical systems digitally. The main idea is to simplify algorithms by using a linear discrete-time model without any variable limitations. Original references limiter based on the digital sliding mode for the exception of the variable limitations influences is proposed and designed. The simulation confirmed high dynamic accuracy, simplification of the digital control algorithm, and reduction of the computing capacity requirements of the controller.
Production of Myxoma Virus Gateway Entry and Expression Libraries and Validation of Viral Protein Expression

Invitrogen's Gateway technology is a recombination‐based cloning method that allows for rapid transfer of numerous open reading frames (ORFs) into multiple plasmid vectors, making it useful for diverse high‐throughput applications. Gateway technology has been utilized to create an ORF library for Myxoma virus (MYXV), a member of the Poxviridae family of DNA viruses. MYXV is the prototype virus for the genus Leporipoxvirus, and is pathogenic only in European rabbits. MYXV replicates exclusively in the host cell cytoplasm, and its genome encodes 171 ORFs. A number of these ORFs encode proteins that interfere with or modulate host defense mechanisms, particularly the inflammatory responses. Furthermore, MYXV is able to productively infect a variety of human cancer cell lines and is being developed as an oncolytic virus for treating human cancers. MYXV is therefore an excellent model for studying poxvirus biology, pathogenesis, and host tropism, and a good candidate for ORFeome development. Curr. Protoc. Microbiol. 21:14A.2. 1‐14A.2. 29. © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Modeling an IEC61850 based substation automation system

This paper describes the development of an IEC 61850 based substation automation system (SAS) architecture. IEC 61850 is a standard for the design of electrical SAS. It defines the communication between IEDs in the substation and the related system requirements. The GOOSE messaging, Substation Configuration description Language (SCL) makes IEC 61850 more reliable, and the bottlenecks faced like the one of interoperability have been addressed. In addition to lowering the installation and commissioning costs, a significant reduction in maintenance cost can also be achieved. It minimizes costs of technological obsolescence because of a global acceptance and adoption and future-proof concept of abstract services as well as independence of mapping to protocols. The above architecture is modeled using UML and XML. Lower equipment migration costs, reduced wiring, ease in integration and the ease in adding functionalities to the existing SAS makes IEC 61850 based SAS a widely accepted norm.
Low-intensity family therapy intervention is useful in a clinical setting to treat obese and extremely obese children.

AIMS To study the influence of low-intensity solution-focused family therapy with obese and extremely obese pediatric subjects on body mass index (BMI) z-scores and self-esteem. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fifty-four obese children, aged 6-17 years, were referred to an outpatient obesity clinic. The families received solution-focused family therapy provided by a multidisciplinary team. Height and weight were recorded; BMI and BMI z-scores were derived. Self-esteem was assessed with a validated questionnaire, "I Think I Am. " Parents completed "The Family Climate Scale" assessing family dynamics. RESULTS Eighty-one percent of the children (n =44, mean age 11.9 years, mean BMI z-score 3.67, range 2.46-5.48) and their parents participated in the follow-up. Eleven children were treated for 6-12 months, and 33 for more than 12 months. On average, the families received 3.8 family therapy sessions. Intervention resulted in a mean decrease in BMI z-score of 0.12 (p =0.0001). Self-esteem on the global scale improved after intervention (p =0.002), and also on sub-scales, depicting physical characteristics (p <0.001), psychological well-being (p =0.026), and relations with others (p =0.046). The Family Climate Scale showed improvement in the sub-scales for Expressiveness (p = 0.002) and Chaos (p =0.002). CONCLUSIONS Solution-focused family therapy provided by a multidisciplinary team to obese and extremely obese children may prove useful in the clinical setting, with a positive impact on obesity and self-esteem.
Using Peculiarities Of The Word “Greetings” In Kazakh, Russian And English Languages

The paper is discussed about the similarities and differences of forms of greetings in three languages, such as Kazakh, Russian and English languages. There are various forms of greetings in three languages, the form of greetings can have some dialectal characteristics that are probably related to the historical and geographical division of nations. Also it is about the connection between the history and culture of the Kazakh people and language forms, which were formed as a result of a long historical development of the Kazakh linguocultural community. However, recent decades are characterized as the rapid development of communication links, changes in living conditions, the expansion of the information boundaries, the destruction of the tribal way of life, which could not affect at the linguistic forms.