Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of a Circadian Clock-Controlled Neural Pathway in the Rabbit Retina

Background Although the circadian clock in the mammalian retina regulates many physiological processes in the retina, it is not known whether and how the clock controls the neuronal pathways involved in visual processing. Methodology/Principal Findings By recording the light responses of rabbit axonless (A-type) horizontal cells under dark-adapted conditions in both the day and night, we found that rod input to these cells was substantially increased at night under control conditions and following selective blockade of dopamine D2, but not D1, receptors during the day, so that the horizontal cells responded to very dim light at night but not in the day. Using neurobiotin tracer labeling, we also found that the extent of tracer coupling between rabbit rods and cones was more extensive during the night, compared to the day, and more extensive in the day following D2 receptor blockade. Because A-type horizontal cells make synaptic contact exclusively with cones, these observations indicate that the circadian clock in the mammalian retina substantially increases rod input to A-type horizontal cells at night by enhancing rod-cone coupling. Moreover, the clock-induced increase in D2 receptor activation during the day decreases rod-cone coupling so that rod input to A-type horizontal cells is minimal. Conclusions/Significance Considered together, these results identify the rod-cone gap junction as a key site in mammals through which the retinal clock, using dopamine activation of D2 receptors, controls signal flow in the day and night from rods into the cone system.
Women and ARV-based HIV prevention – challenges and opportunities

ARV‐based HIV prevention methods available in pill, gel or ring formulations (broadly referred to as microbicides) offer the possibility of protection against HIV for women who find it difficult because they cannot ask their partners to use condoms or even refuse sex. Partial efficacy of ARV‐based medications has been demonstrated in a number of clinical trials around the world among various populations, building the evidence that ARV‐based technologies will contribute to reducing the AIDS epidemic worldwide. Disappointing results, however, from two trials in sub‐Saharan Africa, where poor adherence contributed to study closure due to futility, have raised questions about whether women at the centre of the epidemic are able to effectively use products that require routine use. Also, there are fears by some of risk compensation by decreased condom use because of the availability of microbicides when only partial efficacy has been demonstrated in microbicide trials to date. Of note, sub‐analyses of biologic measures of adherence in trials where this was possible have shown a strong correlation between good adherence and efficacy, reinforcing the necessity of good adherence. Research conducted in conjunction with clinical trials and post‐trials in advance of possible rollout of ARV‐based products have examined social and cultural factors, gender‐related and otherwise, influencing adherence and other aspects of women's use of products. These include HIV stigma, women's perception of risk, partner and community influences and the differing needs of women in various stages of life and in different circumstances. It is the purpose of this supplement to give voice to the needs of women who can benefit from woman‐initiated methods by presenting research results and commentary to contribute to the global conversation about optimizing women's experience with ARV‐based prevention.
Mechanical Work and Long-Distance Performance Prediction: the Influence of Allometric Scaling

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of allometric scaling on the relationship between mechanical work and long-distance running performance in recreational runners. Fourteen recreational long-distance runners (male, mean ± SD - age: 29 ± 7 years; body mass: 70.0 ± 10.2 kg; body height: 1.71 ± 0.07 m; maximal oxygen uptake: VO2max 52.0 ± 4.9 ml.kg-1.min-1) performed two tests: a continuous incremental test to volitional exhaustion in order to determine VO2max, and a 6-minute running submaximal test at 3.1 m.s-1, during which segments in the sagittal plane were recorded using a digital camera and the internal (Wint), external (Wext) and total (Wtot) mechanic work, in J.kg-1.m-1, was subsequently calculated. The results indicated a significant correlation between mechanical work and performance, however, the strongest correlations were observed when allometric exponents were used (respectively for Wint, Wext and Wtot; non allometric vs. allometric scaling defined by literature (0.75) or determined mathematically (0.49): r = 0.38 vs. r = 0.44 and r = 0.50; r = 0.80 vs. r = 0.83 and r = 0.82; r = 0.70 vs. r = 0.77 and r = 0.78). These results indicate that mechanical work could be used as a predictor of recreational long-distance performance and an allometric model may improve this prediction. Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of allometric scaling on the relationship between mechanical work and long-distance running performance in recreational runners. Fourteen recreational long-distance runners (male, mean ± SD - age: 29 ± 7 years; body mass: 70.0 ± 10.2 kg; body height: 1.71 ± 0.07 m; maximal oxygen uptake: VO2max 52.0 ± 4.9 ml·kg-1·min-1) performed two tests: a continuous incremental test to volitional exhaustion in order to determine VO2max, and a 6-minute running submaximal test at 3.1 m·s-1, during which segments in the sagittal plane were recorded using a digital camera and the internal (Wint), external (Wext) and total (Wtot) mechanic work, in J.kg-1·m-1, was subsequently calculated. The results indicated a significant correlation between mechanical work and performance, however, the strongest correlations were observed when allometric exponents were used (respectively for Wint, Wext and Wtot; non allometric vs. allometric scaling defined by literature (0.75) or determined mathematically (0.49): r = 0.38 vs. r = 0.44 and r = 0.50; r = 0.80 vs. r = 0.83 and r = 0.82; r = 0.70 vs. r = 0.77 and r = 0.78). These results indicate that mechanical work could be used as a predictor of recreational long-distance performance and an allometric model may improve this prediction.
Design of a sliding mode controller for a biochemical process by using an intermediate output variable

Sliding mode control of a chemical process is considered in this paper. The process is nonlinear and the dynamics is highly involved due to the strong interdependencies between the variables involved. The considered process has two state variables named dimensionless concentration and temperature. The goal is to maintain a desired concentration level by suitably altering the coolant temperature. The design is based on the control of an intermediate variable, which is defined as the fictitious output of the process. If the fictitious output tracks an appropriately scaled command signal, it is guaranteed to observe precise tracking in the time evolution of the concentration. The design is based on the nominal model and tests have been carried out on a highly demanding set of operating conditions. The results have shown that the proposed mechanism successfully drives the dimensionless concentration to its desired level and maintains the temperature bounded. Furthermore, certain degrees of robustness displayed against disturbances and uncertainties is another important merit of the presented control scheme.
Generated Function of Meme In Online Conversation

— Meme digital content has becomes widely copied, imitated, and deployed by a lot of people through the Internet. WhatsApp messenger group became one of the instruments to spread of the meme. This study aims to understand the form and function of meme in WhatsApp messenger group conversations. This study is a qualitative study, using a grounded strategy approach. The results showed that there are three types of memes that are being used, that is text, image, and video. All three are presented in variety different forms. Of the different forms there are two functions that generate memes in conversation, which is the decoy and instrumental function.
FunEuler: an Euler Diagram based Interface Enhanced with Region-based Functionalities

Euler Diagrams are an accessible means of representing non hierar- chical set-based relationships which have recently been used in resource man- agement interfaces to facilitate user categorisation. We develop a novel, e xten- sible Euler diagram based interface, called FunEuler, which integrates the con- cepts of visual classification, spatial arrangements and functional app lication, thereby greatly extending the power of such Euler diagram based interfaces by enabling fast application of a collection of predefined functions to collection s of categorised resources. To demonstrate the principle, we provide several function- alities such as file zipping or creating playlists within the application, whilst also providing a mechanism to extend the functionality to facilitate end user develop- ment. Preliminary user testing suggests that the Euler diagram concept is easily comprehensible for resource categorisation purposes, the concept and application of functions can be understood and applied successfully, and that users perceived the addition of functions increased the usefulness of the application for re petitive tasks.
The Economic Measurement of Psychological Risk Attitudes

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OF PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED NETWORKS AND SYSTEMS 1 Consistency Considerations in the InteractiveSteering of

| Interactive steering can be helpful in understanding and managing parallel and distributed systems. Multiple approaches to the implementation of steering systems are under investigation or in development. However, the notion of consistency in both the presentation of system state and the application of steering changes to the executing system varies considerably from system to system. We present these various approaches to steering and to consistency and discuss their costs and beneets. Also, we present PathFinder, a general architecture for monitoring and steering that permits users to conngure the steering system to provide varying levels of consistency and that supports highly dynamic and expressive speciication of steering actions. PAT(PathFinder: Agents/Transaction), our initial implementation of the PathFinder architecture, employs agent-based monitoring and steering coupled with transaction-based consistency calculations. The exibility of this agent-based approach is amenable to experimentation with a variety of consistency conditions.
Energy-aware partitioning for on-chip bus architecture using a multi-objective genetic algorithm

Incorporating power management during partitioning at the system level contributes considerably to energy efficient architecture. Designers commonly implement systems as a mix of partitioning blocks of various sizes, connected using bus interconnection architecture. Therefore, the use of a partitioning approach that partitions a system with the greatest possible idle time on a dedicated interconnection architecture has become unpractical for power management development. This work presents a novel energy-aware hardware clustering algorithm with a performance estimator for on-chip bus based architectures during high level synthesis, to enhance the quality of solutions for implementing power management systems. Experimental results obtained in four cases reveal that the proposed strategy generates a wide range of cost-effective solutions and is highly effective for today's hardware systems.
Spectral clustering for multiclass Erdös-Rényi graphs

In this article, we study the properties of the spectral analysis of multiclass Erdös-Rényi graphs. With a view towards using the embedding afforded by the decomposition of the graph Laplacian for subsequent processing, we analyze two basic geometric properties, namely interclass intersection and interclass distance. We will first study the dyadic two-class case in details and observe the existence of a phase transition for the interclass intersection. We then focus on the general multiclass case, where we introduce an appropriate notion of diagonal concentration and derive a statistical model that allows sampling graphs whose expected diagonal concentration is fixed. The simulations provided yield useful guidelines for practitioners to choose appropriately parameters in the context of spectral clustering.
The Paradox of Inter-Organizational Learning between Culturally Diverse Partners : A Research Proposal

There has been an explosion of interest in both popular and academic literature on the topic of organizational learning over the past 15 years. Comparatively there has been a dearth of literature focusing on the specific realm of inter-organizational learning. An area of study of inter-organizational learning that seems to have little consensus in its discourse or theory is the study of the impact of cultural diversity on learning within international strategic alliances. This research proposal attempts to situate and contrast two streams of theory on this issue as well as outlining a research proposal that may assist in building an integrated theory. The Importance of Inter-organizational Learning Over the past few decades the world economy has experienced an unprecedented transformation. The convergence of several trends, including global proliferation of technology, reorganization of economic boundaries, and intensified global competition have profoundly altered managers’ notions about the firm, markets, and competition. Product and process life cycles have become significantly shorter, eroding productbased advantages and forcing firms to develop continuous streams of innovation. In addition to the diffusion of technology at an increasingly rapid pace, consumers and organizational buyers have become more sophisticated, demanding differentiated and better-quality products.
AB Toxins: A Paradigm Switch from Deadly to Desirable

To ensure their survival, a number of bacterial and plant species have evolved a common strategy to capture energy from other biological systems. Being imperfect pathogens, organisms synthesizing multi-subunit AB toxins are responsible for the mortality of millions of people and animals annually. Vaccination against these organisms and their toxins has proved rather ineffective in providing long-term protection from disease. In response to the debilitating effects of AB toxins on epithelial cells of the digestive mucosa, mechanisms underlying toxin immunomodulation of immune responses have become the focus of increasing experimentation. The results of these studies reveal that AB toxins may have a beneficial application as adjuvants for the enhancement of immune protection against infection and autoimmunity. Here, we examine similarities and differences in the structure and function of bacterial and plant AB toxins that underlie their toxicity and their exceptional properties as immunomodulators for stimulating immune responses against infectious disease and for immune suppression of organ-specific autoimmunity.
Parametric built-in self-test of VLSI systems

Conventionally, Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) has been used for parametric tests of VLSI systems to determine the influence of clock speed, supply voltage, and temperature on the specified functionality of the circuit under test. This method is likely to become infeasible in the near future due to an aggressive drive to increased Overall Timing Accuracy (OTA), as predicted in the SIA Roadmap. In this paper, a method for Parametric Built-in Self-Test using on-chip Phase-Locked Loops (PLLs) is presented which is capable of overcoming the timing accuracy problem. A PLL-based test circuitry to determine the maximum frequency is described. Design constraints of the PLL control system, such as stability and resolution, are discussed for a specific design using 0.35 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. The functionality of the self-test circuitry is demonstrated to be competitive with parametric ATE tests such as Global Search Track without the need for expensive test equipment.
Prescribed burning in the South: trends, purpose, and barriers

The results of a survey of fire management officials concerning historical and projected prescribed burning act ivi ty in the South is reported. Prescribed burning programs on USDA Forest Service and private and s tate-owned lands are described in terms of area burned by ownership and s tate , intended resource benefi ts , barriers to expanded burning, and optimum burning area needed to achieve resource management goals . More than 4.1 mil l ion aclyr ofpine-type forest were burned between 1985 and 1994, about 6.5% of the area in pine-type forest per year. South. J. Appl. For. 2.5(4):149-153.
California Center for Population Research On-line Working Paper Series Causal Effect Heterogeneity Causal Effect Heterogeneity Author Biography Page Causal Effect Heterogeneity

conducted with restricted access to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the BLS. We thank Yu Xie and Ben Jann for their contributions to related work, and Stephen Morgan and Judea Pearl for comments and suggestions. The ideas expressed herein are those of the authors. focuses on the relationship between social background, educational attainment, job conditions, and socioeconomic attainment and well-being over the life course. This substantive focus accompanies a methodological focus on causal inference and the application and innovation of statistical models for panel data. Current research projects include evaluation of heterogeneity in the effects of education on socioeconomic outcomes and the socioeconomic and social-psychological consequences of job displacement. Education Sciences' Advanced Quantitative Methods program. Her research centers on the ways in which stratification and the structure of educational systems in the U.S. and Western Europe affect the ways societies – and groups within societies – view and alter education. Methodologically, she focuses on causal inference. Abstract Individuals differ not only in background characteristics, often called " pre-treatment heterogeneity, " but also in how they respond to a particular treatment, event, or intervention. For causal inference in the social sciences, a principal interaction for understanding selection bias is between the treatment of interest and the propensity of treatment. Although the importance of " treatment effect heterogeneity, " so defined, has also been widely recognized in the causal inference literature, empirical quantitative social science research has not fully absorbed these lessons. In this chapter, we describe key estimation strategies for the study of heterogeneous treatment effects; discuss recent research in education that attends to causal effect heterogeneity, and what we gain from such attention; and demonstrate the methods we discuss with an example of the effects of college on civic participation. The primary goal of this chapter is to encourage researchers to routinely examine treatment effect heterogeneity with the same rigor that they devote to pre-treatment heterogeneity.
The reproductive toxicity of boric acid.

Previous studies on the reproductive toxicity of boric acid have indicated that male rodents suffer testicular atrophy after treatment. There were, however, no studies of the potential effects on female fertility or on the neonate. In addition, no study described the development of the testicular lesion, thought to be related to the mechanism of toxicity. A Reproductive Assessment by Continuous Breeding (RACB) study using mice exposed to boric acid at 1000, 4500, and 9000 ppm in the diet indicated that there are probably multiple sites of action, although male fertility appears very sensitive. Possible effects on female fertility cannot be separated from potential developmental toxicity and need additional investigation. Decrements in sperm motility were observed at all exposure levels, and testicular atrophy was confirmed in high- and middle-dose-group males. This was investigated further by timed serial-sacrifice studies using 9000 ppm in the diet of rats, which found that the first lesion seen in the testis was an inhibition of spermiation (release of mature spermatids). With continued dosing, this was followed by a disorganization of the normal ordered layering of the seminiferous epithelium, germ cell sloughing and death, and finally, atrophy. Subsequent studies using additional doses (2000, 3000, 4500, 6000, and 9000 ppm) found that it was possible to observe inhibited spermiation that did not progress to atrophy (4500 ppm and below) within the 9-week exposure period. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) ImagesFigure 1. AFigure 1. BFigure 1. CFigure 1. D
T cell‐mediated signaling to vascular endothelium: induction of cytokines, chemokines, and tissue factor

Adhesion of leukocytes to the vascular endothelium is an early event in inflammation. Since cell‐cell signaling may be an important stimulus for endothelial activation, we focused in this study on the role of contact‐mediated activation by T lymphocytes of endothelial cells (EC). T lymphocytes were cultured with anti‐CD3 monoclonal antibody or in the presence of a combination of TNF‐α, interleukin (IL)‐6, and IL‐2, prior to fixation and coculture with human umbilical vein EC. Fixed, activated (anti‐CD3‐ or cytokine‐stimulated), but not unstimulated T cells, induced release of monocyte chemotactic protein‐1, IL‐8, and IL‐6 by EC in a contact‐dependent manner. Moreover, expression of tissue‐factor antigen and activity was also significantly increased. Addition of anti‐CD40 ligand antibody abolished T cell‐induced activation of EC. Our data suggest that contact‐mediated activation of EC by T cells, involving ligand:counter ligand interactions such as CD40:CD40 ligand, may represent a novel pathogenic mechanism of progression in inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis.
Attention and visual feedback: the bimanual frame of reference

We investigate the synergy of the two hands for virtual object manipulation. We report results from an experiment which suggest that the two hands together provide sufﬁcient perceptual cues to form a frame of reference which is independent of visual feedback. The same is not true for one hand moving in empty space. Our interpretation is that users may not have to constantly maintain visual attention when both hands can be involved in a manipulation. Our results suggest that using two hands can provide more than just a time savings over one-handed manipulation. Two hands together provide the user with information which one hand alone cannot. Our results also suggest that using two hands can potentially impact performance at the cognitive level by changing how users think about a task. Since the user can potentially integrate subtasks controlled by each hand without an explicit cost to switch between subtasks, this encourages exploration of the task solution space. Finally, to illustrate why one might expect this to be true, we present a task analysis which helps to reason about the differences between one and two-handed interfaces.