Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression of IL-12 Transgenic Mice With Astrocyte-Targeted Central Nervous System Autoantigen in Brain Following Immunization Without Induction of Type 1 Immune Pathology in the

IL-12, a cytokine produced by microglia, may regulate cellular immunity at a localized level in the CNS. To investigate this further, we examined the consequences of peripheral immune stimulation without speciﬁc autoantigen in wild-type or transgenic (termed GF-IL12) mice with astrocyte production of the bioactive IL-12 p75 heterodimer. Active immunization with CFA and pertussis toxin, a procedure known to stimulate a robust type 1-biased immune response, produced CNS immune pathology from which GF-IL12 but not wild-type mice developed signs of clinical disease consisting of loss of activity, piloerection, mild tremor, and motor change. All immunized mice had some degree of mononuclear cell inﬁltration into the brain; however, the severity of this was markedly increased in GF-IL12 mice where leukocytes accumulated in perivascular and parenchymal locations. Accumulating cells consisted of CD4 (cid:1) and CD8 (cid:1) T cells and macrophage/microglia. Moreover, expression of cytokines (IFN- (cid:2) and TNF), chemokines (IFN-inducible protein-10 and RANTES), the immune accessory molecules, MHC class II, B7.2, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1, and NO synthase-2 was induced in the CNS of the GF-IL12 mice. Therefore, peripheral immunization of GF-IL12 but not wild-type mice can provoke active type 1 immunity in the brain—a process that does not require CNS-speciﬁc immunizing autoantigen. These ﬁndings indicate that the cytokine milieu of a tissue can dramatically inﬂuence the development of intrinsic immune responses and associated pathology. The Journal of Immunology, 2001, 167: 5485–5493.
P300 based brain-computer interface using Hidden Markov Models

This paper reports on preliminary work on the use of hidden Markov models (HMMs) approach for tasks classification in P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI) system. Every HMM is trained on a set of electroencephalogram (EEG) records issued from different sessions corresponding to the same task. The HMMs that has been built take into account the variability of EEGs during different sessions. Based on Bayesian inference criterion (BIC), the proposed HMM training algorithm is able to select the optimal number of states corresponding to each set of EEG training records. For every state number, each iteration is initialized by the most appropriate model using data clustering, and by the rejection of the least probable state of the previous iteration. Consequently, every training iteration begin by a more precise model. We report training procedures and validation results of the models. The obtained results give a correct and promising classification rates for all subjects which is the objective of this work.
Process Correlation Analysis Model for Process Improvement Identification

Software process improvement aims at improving the development process of software systems. It is initiated by process assessment identifying strengths and weaknesses and based on the findings, improvement plans are developed. In general, a process reference model (e.g., CMMI) is used throughout the process of software process improvement as the base. CMMI defines a set of process areas involved in software development and what to be carried out in process areas in terms of goals and practices. Process areas and their elements (goals and practices) are often correlated due to the iterative nature of software development process. However, in the current practice, correlations of process elements are often overlooked in the development of an improvement plan, which diminishes the efficiency of the plan. This is mainly attributed to significant efforts and the lack of required expertise. In this paper, we present a process correlation analysis model that helps identify correlations of process elements from the results of process assessment. This model is defined based on CMMI and empirical data of improvement practices. We evaluate the model using industrial data.
Churnalism on the Rise?

Scholars conceptualize journalism’s transformation and explain the changes occurring at different levels under the rubric of convergence. Contrary to optimistic views of convergence, claiming for its potential to satisfy both good journalism and good business practices, the paper argues that at times of economic uncertainty, hyper-competition and diminishing accountability levels, convergence is used as a cost-effective strategy fostering low-cost and spreadable news production. Engaging in quantitative analysis, the article provides empirical evidence showing that the recycling of news content from established elite sources and across popular news sites has increased between 2013 and 2016, posing serious threats for content plurality and independent reporting. Despite online journalism’s development as a field, and the appearance of social networks and user-generated content as alternative and easyily accessible sources, a pervasive survival and monetization culture has turned churning into a mainstream journalistic practice.
The costs of compliance? Views of Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers in times of global economic crisis

Complementing the rise of ethical trading initiatives there has been a parallel growth in the number of academic studies tracking their origins and evolution, and assessing the implementation and success of social auditing practices. Despite this, the consequences and responses to the implementation of codes of conduct relating to labour standards at sites of production remains an understudied topic. This article focuses on those issues in the context of the global apparel industry using evidence from interviews with managers in the Sri Lankan garment manufacturing sector. In particular, it focuses on the contradictions and tensions inherent in compliance, and the anxieties management face during a period of global economic crisis, in a country which is generally considered to be in the vanguard of promoting and protecting ethical labour standards
REGISTRATION OF AGIA SANMARINA LIDAR DATA USING SURFACE ELEMENTS

Several approaches for automatic registration of terrestrial LIDAR data exist. However, they normally can not be compared to each other because of a lack of reference data. This is especially true for applications in urban areas. One dataset available for this purpose is a set of eight LIDAR scans from Agia Sanmarina, a Byzantine church in Greece, which has been made available by the ISPRS working group V/3 on terrestrial laser scanning. We have tested our plane based approach for automatic registration on this particular dataset: The point clouds are first split into a regular raster, then for each raster cell, the dominant plane is robustly estimated and denoted as surface element. Coarse registration is carried out via grouping the surface elements to large planes and a generate-and-test strategy to find transformation parameters that maximize the inlier count. Pairwise fine registration is accomplished using a variant of the ICP (iterative closest point) algorithm that is based on matching surface elements instead of 3D points. In addition to this, the theoretical framework for a simultaneous fine registration of multiple datasets is presented in this paper.
Descriptive Gender Representation and Legitimacy in U.S. Trial Courts

ABSTRACT Do individuals ascribe greater legitimacy to decisions made by judges from their same demographic group? It is well established that the judiciary in the U.S. political system enjoys a much higher degree of institutional legitimacy than the other branches of government. However, far less attention has been paid to the intersection of descriptive representation and legitimacy in the courts. This article contributes to the extant literature by examining the direct influence of gender on legitimacy at the trial court level. I address the research question by conducting an experiment that allows me to isolate the effect that gender has on legitimacy. By varying the gender of the judge in a gender-neutral case, I can examine the direct effect of descriptive representation on male and female respondents. Adding a treatment with a case involving a woman's issue allows me to examine how descriptive representation effects might be moderated by case details. Surprisingly, I find that descriptive representation does not affect judicial legitimacy. Rather, I find that the direction in which a judge of any gender decides a case has a greater impact on judicial legitimacy. Implications for the theory of descriptive representation in the judiciary are discussed.
Outage Minimum of Cooperative Transmission with Sleep Mechanism

A power connector is configured to float on a computer backplane allowing bulk power supplies to be physically located adjacent to the backplane. This allows use of an EMI gasket between the bulk power supply and the backplane preventing high frequency noise from radiating out of the computer case. Standard electrical plugs may be used on one or both sides of the power connector allowing standard bulk power supplies and line cords to be used on one or both sides of the power connector.
Dynamic Multipriority Patient Scheduling for a Diagnostic Resource

We present a method to dynamically schedule patients with different priorities to a diagnostic facility in a public health-care setting. Rather than maximizing revenue, the challenge facing the resource manager is to dynamically allocate available capacity to incoming demand to achieve wait-time targets in a cost-effective manner. We model the scheduling process as a Markov decision process. Because the state space is too large for a direct solution, we solve the equivalent linear program through approximate dynamic programming. For a broad range of cost parameter values, we present analytical results that give the form of the optimal linear value function approximation and the resulting policy. We investigate the practical implications and the quality of the policy through simulation.
The Nature of the Public-Owned Enterprise and Its Reform in China: Missing Owners?

This paper proposes a theory that explains the nature of human capital ownership in the POEs, and argues that the institutional separation of de facto and de jure ownership of human capital from their owners is at the heart of the POE inefficiency. This institutional incompatibility has led to widespread phenomena of individuals using their de facto owned human capital to “capture” the benefits generated by the physical capital nominally owned by the state or the collective. Moreover, partial reforms that only introduce an efficient goods market and/or give managers more decision-making power will inevitably exacerbate this problem, since the newly-established market now provides * Qiren Zhou is a professor of economics at the Center of Chinese Economic Research (CCER), Peking University; Hong Liang is an economist at the International Monetary Fund.
A Faceted Classification Based Approach to Search and Rank Web APIs

Web application hybrids, popularly known as mashups, are created by integrating services on the Web using their APIs. Support for finding an API is currently provided by generic search engines or domain specific solutions such as Google and ProgrammableWeb. Shortcomings of both these solutions in terms of and reliance on user tags make the task of identifying an API challenging. Since these APIs are described in HTML documents, it is essential to look beyond the boundaries of current approaches to Web service discovery that rely on formal descriptions. In this work, we present a faceted approach to searching and ranking Web APIs that takes into consideration attributes or facets of the APIs as found in their HTML descriptions. Our method adopts current research in document classification and faceted search and introduces the serviut score to rank APIs based on their utilization and popularity. We evaluate classification, search accuracy and ranking effectiveness using available APIs while contrasting our solution with existing ones.
Elevated serum CA72-4 levels predict poor prognosis in pancreatic adenocarcinoma after intensity-modulated radiation therapy

Carbohydrate antigen 72-4 (CA72-4) is a human tumor-associated glycoprotein, commonly used as a tumor marker for diagnosing and predicting outcome in gastric and ovarian cancers. However, the relationship between serum CA72-4 levels and prognosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma has not been fully elucidated. A total of 113 consecutive locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients who underwent intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with or without chemotherapy were enrolled in this study. Serum CA72-4 levels were analyzed using immunoenzymometric assays. The association between serum CA72-4 levels and prognosis was evaluated. Serum CA72-4 levels was related with lymph node metastasis (P<0.001). The median overall survival time was 14.0 months for patients with serum CA72-4 normal levels and 10.0 months for the elevated levels (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis identified that Serum CA72-4 concentration was a significant prognostic factor (P<0.001). The hazard ratio (HR) of elevated serum CA72-4 levels compared with normal serum CA72-4 levels was 2.34 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.46-3.73), after adjusted for gender and age. Based on this finding, Serum CA72-4 is a potential marker to predict lymph node metastasis and prognosis in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
Performance Evaluation of an Optimistic Concurrency Control Algorithm Ensuring Strong Consistency for Transaction Time Relations

Compounds of the formulae: and wherein, Z and Y are each alkylene containing one to about five carbon atoms in the principal chain or said alkylene substituted with OH, alkanoyloxy, alkoxy, mercapto or alkylmercapto; each of R1, R2 and R3 is independently H, alkyl, aryl, halo, alkoxy, alkenyloxy, alkylsulfinyl, alkylsulfonyl, alkylmercapto, cyano, carboxy, carbalkoxy, carboxamido, sulfamoyl, trifluoromethyl, hydroxy, hydroxyalkyl, acyloxy, alkylamino, sulfonylamino, or acylamino; and R1 and R2, when taken together, form a methylenedioxy or -O-CO-O-; Ar is heteroaryl, cycloalkyl or wherein, R1, R2 and R3 are as hereindescribed; and R is H, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, aralkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, carboalkoxy, or CONR4R5 wherein each of R4 and R5 is H or alkyl; wherein the total number of carbon atoms in each hydrocarbyl group is up to 10; and and wherein, each of R1 and R2 is independently H, alkyl, aryl, halo, alkoxy, alkenyloxy, alkylsulfinyl, alkylsulfonyl, alkylmercapto, cyano, carboxy, carbalkoxy, carboxamido, sulfamoyl, trifluoromethyl, hydroxy, hydroxyalkyl, acyloxy, alkylamino, sulfonylamino, or acylamino; and R1 and R2, when taken together, form a methylenedioxy, or -O-CO-O-; R6 is H, alkyl, aryl, halo, alkoxy, alkenyloxy, alkylsulfonyl, alkylmercapto, cyano, carboxy, carbalkoxy, carboxamido, sulfamoyl, trifluoromethyl, hydroxy, hydroxyalkyl, acyloxy, alkylamino, sulfonylamino or acylamino; wherein the total number of carbon atoms in each hydrocarbyl group is up to 10; and acid addition salts thereof have selective cardiotonic, antihypertensive and antiallergic activity.
Polymorphic Alu Insertion/Deletion in Different Caste and Tribal Populations from South India

Seven human-specific Alu markers were studied in 574 unrelated individuals from 10 endogamous groups and 2 hill tribes of Tamil Nadu and Kerala states. DNA was isolated, amplified by PCR-SSP, and subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis, and genotypes were assigned for various Alu loci. Average heterozygosity among caste populations was in the range of 0.292–0.468. Among tribes, the average heterozygosity was higher for Paliyan (0.3759) than for Kani (0.2915). Frequency differences were prominent in all loci studied except Alu CD4. For Alu CD4, the frequency was 0.0363 in Yadavas, a traditional pastoral and herd maintaining population, and 0.2439 in Narikuravars, a nomadic gypsy population. The overall genetic difference (Gst) of 12 populations (castes and tribes) studied was 3.6%, which corresponds to the Gst values of 3.6% recorded earlier for Western Asian populations. Thus, our study confirms the genetic similarities between West Asian populations and South Indian castes and tribes and supported the large scale coastal migrations from Africa into India through West Asia. However, the average genetic difference (Gst) of Kani and Paliyan tribes with other South Indian tribes studied earlier was 8.3%. The average Gst of combined South and North Indian Tribes (CSNIT) was 9.5%. Neighbor joining tree constructed showed close proximity of Kani and Paliyan tribal groups to the other two South Indian tribes, Toda and Irula of Nilgiri hills studied earlier. Further, the analysis revealed the affinities among populations and confirmed the presence of North and South India specific lineages. Our findings have documented the highly diverse (micro differentiated) nature of South Indian tribes, predominantly due to isolation, than the endogamous population groups of South India. Thus, our study firmly established the genetic relationship of South Indian castes and tribes and supported the proposed large scale ancestral migrations from Africa, particularly into South India through West Asian corridor.
Light scattering studies of the recA protein of Escherichia coli: relationship between free recA filaments and the recA X ssDNA complex.

Light scattering has been used to monitor and distinguish between two types of aggregation reactions observed with the recA protein of Escherichia coli. These are (1) the cooperative binding of recA protein to ssDNA in a pathway leading to DNA strand exchange and (2) the formation of free filaments by recA protein in the absence of DNA. Free filament formation requires Mg2+, is very sensitive to ionic strength, and occurs in the absence of single-stranded DNA and RNA. Turbidity measurements indicate that free recA filaments exhibit properties consistent with rigid rods which are 1 micron or more in length. A kinetically distinct nucleation step in free filament formation is observed under some conditions and becomes rate limiting at high pH. Ninety-degree light scattering was employed to measure binding of recA protein to ssDNA under conditions that either favor or block free filament formation. recA protein saturates ssDNA at a stoichiometric ratio of approximately four nucleotide residues per recA monomer. When free filament formation is blocked by various means, the apparent dissociation constant of the recA X ssDNA complex is approximately 10 nM. Under conditions in which free recA filaments form readily, however, the apparent dissociation constant increases to approximately 1 microM. This dramatic decrease in the observed affinity of recA protein for ssDNA under conditions that permit free filament formation does not reflect a change in the intrinsic affinity of recA protein for ssDNA. Instead, it provides evidence that free filament formation and ssDNA binding by recA protein are competing reactions. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Gamma-ray bursts from the early Universe : predictions for present-day and future instruments

ABSTRACT Long Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) constitute an important tool to study the Universenear and beyond the epoch of reionization. We delineate here the characteristics of an’ideal’ instrument for the search of GRBs at z ≥ 6 − 10. We ﬁnd that the detectionof these objects requires soft band detectors with a high sensitivity and moderatelylarge FOV. In the light of these results, we compare available and planned GRBmissions, deriving conservative predictions on the number of high-z GRBs detectableby these instruments along with the maximum accessible redshift. We show that theSwift satellite will be able to detect various GRBs at z ≥ 6, and likely at z ≥ 10if the trigger threshold is decreased by a factor of ∼ 2. Furthermore, we ﬁnd thatINTEGRAL and GLAST are not the best tool to detect bursts at z ≥ 6: the formerbeing limited by the small FOV, and the latter by its hard energy band and relativelylow sensitivity. Finally, future missions (SVOM, EDGE, but in particular EXIST) willprovide a good sample of GRBs at z ≥ 6 in a few years of operation.Key words: gamma–ray: burst – stars: formation – cosmology: observations.
Capacity Analysis of Two-Hop Non-Regenerative Coded Cooperation System

In wireless networks, node cooperation has been proposed as a strategy to improve communication reliability and system capacity. This paper investigates employing linear dispersion codes (LDC) over non-regenerative MIMO relay system with gain matrix. Gain matrix at the relay is found that increases the capacity between the source and the destination. The relay stations exploit the knowledge of the first hop and second hop channel to adaptively assign power among the relays. We deduce the capacity of the proposed system and compare the capacity with that of employing LDC over conventional amplify and forward (AF) system through simulation. Improvement of capacity can be achieved.
Preschoolers' Memory for Threatening Information Depends on Trauma History and Attentional Context: Implications for the Development of Dissociation

ABSTRACT Although the roots of dissociative ability are thought to lie in early childhood, little is understood about how or why children dissociate or how dissociative abilities develop over time. Previous cognitive studies of adults suggest that some dissociative adults use divided attention to keep threatening information out of awareness (DePrince & Freyd, 1999, 2001). This study utilized a divided attention memory task similar to those used by DePrince and Freyd (DePrince & Freyd, 1999), but modified for four-and five-year-olds. Contrary to prediction, children with relatively high dissociation scores did not differ in their memory for charged and neutral pictures under divided attention when compared to children with low dissociation scores. Consistent with predictions, under divided attention, abused children remembered fewer charged pictures relative to non-abused children. The same pattern was found when comparing abused children with high dissociation scores to non-abused children with low dissociation scores. These results are consistent with the idea that some traumatized people use divided attention to keep threatening information out of awareness. Results are discussed in terms of a developmental theory of dissociation.