Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global English infiltrates Bulgaria

Following his article ‘Global English invades Poland’ (ET50, Apr 97, Vol 13.2), the author explores the comparable impact of English on advertising in a second Eastern European nation. Global English continues its unchecked spread, not only as the second language of choice for more people than any other, but also as an infiltrator whose words creep into the fabric of other languages through such avenues as film, television, popular music, the World Wide Web, advertising and youth culture.
Steroids from the Soft Coral Sinularia crassa

One new sterol, crassarosterol A (1), and four new steroidal glycosides, crassarosterosides A–D (2–5) were isolated from the Formosan soft coral Sinularia crassa. The absolute configuration of 1 was determined using the Mosher’s method. The absolute configurations for the sugar moieties of 2–5 were determined by HPLC analysis on the o-tolylthiocarbamates derived from the liberated sugar after acid hydrolysis. Compounds 2 and 4 could significantly inhibit the expression of pro-inflammatory iNOS protein at 10 µM. In contrast, 1–3 were found to stimulate the expression of COX-2 protein at this concentration. Steroids 1 and 4 also showed cytotoxicity toward the selected human liver cancer cells.
A Semantic Query Transformation Approach Based on Ontology for Search Engine

These days we are using some popular web search engines for information retrieval in all areas, such engine are as Google, Yahoo! , and Live Search, etc. to obtain initial helpful information. Which information we retrieved via search engine may not be relevant to the search target in the search engine user's mind. When user not found relevant information he has to shortlist the results. These search engines use traditional search service based on "static keywords", which require the users to type in the exact keywords. This approach clearly puts the users in a critical situation of guessing the exact keyword. The users may want to define their search by using attributes of the search target. But the relevancy of results in most cases may not be satisfactory and the users may not be patient enough to browse through complete list of pages to get a relevant result. The reason behind this is the search engines performs search based on the syntax not on semantics. But they seemed to be less efficient to understand the relationship between the keywords which had an adverse effect on the results it produced. Semantic search engines - only solution to this; which returns concepts not documents according to user query matching. In This paper we proposed a semantic query interface which creates a semantic query according the user input query and study of current semantic search engine techniques for semantic search.
Extrinsic Motivation and User Performance

Among daily computer users who are proficient, some are flexible at accomplishing unfamiliar tasks on their own and others have difficulty. We hypothesize that extrinsically motivated users have difficulty with unfamiliar computer tasks and skill transfers, whereas intrinsically motivated daily users accomplish unfamiliar tasks readily. Nine extrinsically motivated users and seven intrinsic users were directed and observed with qualitative ethnographic methods using a think-aloud-type verbal protocol. The observations were coded based on a rubric. The coding was checked with two additional raters, and inter-rater reliability was greater than 90%. The data were then statistically analyzed. Findings show that extrinsically motivated users in all age groups and competence levels have weak productivity when faced with unfamiliar tasks or software, while intrinsically motivated users have few difficulties. This work draws attention to an underrepresented group of competent but extrinsically motivated computer users who become unproductive when operating in unfamiliar conditions. The data suggest that researchers should control for motivation style when evaluating user interface designs.
Effects of Nardostachys chinensis on Spontaneous Ventricular Arrhythmias in Rats With Acute Myocardial Infarction

Objectives: To investigate the effects and mechanisms of Nardostachys chinensis (NC) on spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias in rats with hyper-acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods: Seventy-two rats were randomly divided into the control group (n = 24), metoprolol group (n = 24), and the NC group (n = 24). Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs), ventricular tachycardias (VTs), ventricular fibrillations (VFs), and blood pressure were monitored for 4 hours after coronary artery ligation. The connexin 43 (Cx43) expression in ventricular myocardium was measured by immunohistochemistry, Western blot, and real-time RT-PCR. Results: Compared with the control, metoprolol and NC decreased the VF incidence (50% vs. 4.2%, P < 0.001, and 50% vs. 12.5%, P = 0.005, respectively). There was a steady decrease in the cumulative number of PVCs and VTs within 4 hours from ligating in 3 groups. Compared with the control, metoprolol and NC reduced the cumulative number of VTs and PVCs. Compared with control, metoprolol and NC decreased the infarct size of the left ventricular tissue (55.98% ± 6.20% vs. 39.13% ± 4.53%, P < 0.001, and 55.98% ± 6.20% vs. 42.39% ± 3.44%, P < 0.001, respectively). The results from immunohistochemistry, Western blot, and real-time RT-PCR showed that the protein expression of Cx43 in the control group was significantly lower than that in the metoprolol and NC groups in the infarcted zone. Conclusions: NC decreased the incidence of spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias (especially VF), reduced Cx43 degradation, and improved Cx43 redistribution in myocardial infarcted zone in rats with hyper-AMI. The data of the present study indicated that NC may be a promising drug in the future to prevent patients with AMI from lethal ventricular arrhythmias in prehospital setting.
A Fast VLSI Algorithm for Multiplication on Elliptic Curves

Large integer modular multiplication are arithmetic primitives required by the public-key cryptosystems including Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). In this paper a fast new algorithm for multiplication of a point on the elliptic curve with a large integer based on non-adjacent form(NAF) Frobenius expansion is proposed. It speeds up 50% and is much simpler compared with previous works. We also show that the proposal algorithm is very suitable for high speed VLSI implementation. Keywords— Elliptic curves, multiplication, Frobenius expansion, Frobenius endomorphism, encryption.
Differential systemic gene expression profile in patients with diabetic macular edema: Responders versus nonresponders to standard treatment

Introduction: Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a vision-threatening complication of diabetic retinopathy. The current practice of management is a trial and error method of using intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)” or steroids to treat the patient and watch the response. However, if the patient's genetic profile helps us choose appropriate medicine, it would help customize treatment option for each patient. This forms the basis of our study. Materials and Methods: A case-control, prospective, observational series, where DME patients were treated with bevacizumab and subclassified as treatment naοve, treatment responders, and treatment nonresponders. Blood samples of 20 subjects were studied, with five patients in each of the groups (nondiabetic- group 1, treatment naοve- group 2, treatment responder- group 3, and treatment nonresponder-group 4). Whole blood RNA extraction followed by labeling, amplification and hybridization was done, and microarray data analyzed. Genes were classified based on functional category and pathways. Results: The total number of genes upregulated among all three experimental groups was 5, whereas 105 genes were downregulated. There were no common genes upregulated between the responders and nonresponders. There was only one gene upregulated between the diabetic and diabetic responders posttreatment. There were 19 genes upregulated and 8 genes downregulated in the inflammatory pathway in group 2 versus group 1. There were no downregulated genes detected in vascular angiogenesis and transcription group. There were identical numbers of genes up- and downregulated in the inflammatory pathway. Seventeen genes were upreguated and 11 genes downregulated in receptor activity, which remained the predominant group in the group classification. Discussion: In summary, this study would provide an insight into the probable signaling mechanisms for disease pathogenesis as well as progression. This type of study eventually would aid in developing or improvising existing treatment modules with a rational approach towards personalized medicine, in future addressing the differential responses to treatment.
Application of the “Codon-shuffling” Method

Library-based methods of non-rational and part-rational designed de novo peptides are worthy beacons in the search for bioactive peptides and proteins of medicinal importance. In this report, we have used a recently developed directed evolution method called “codon shuffling” for the synthesis and selection of bioactive proteins. The selection of such proteins was based on the creation of an inducible library of “codon-shuffled” genes that are constructed from the ligation-based assembly of judiciously designed hexamer DNA duplexes called dicodons. Upon induction with isopropyl 1-thio-β-d-galactopyranoside, some library members were found to express dicodon-incorporated proteins. Because of this, the host cells, in our case Escherichia coli, were unable to grow any further. The bactereostatic/lytic nature of the dicodon proteins was monitored by growth curves as well as by zone clearance studies. Transmission electron microscopy of the affected cells illustrated the extent of cell damage. The proteins themselves were overexpressed as fusion partners and subsequently purified to homogeneity. One such purified protein was found to strongly bind heparin, an indication that the interaction of the de novo proteins may be with the nucleic acids of the host cell, much like many of the naturally occurring antibacterial peptides, e.g. Buforin. Therefore, our approach may help in generating a multitude of finely tuned antibacterial proteins that can potentially be regarded as lead compounds once the method is extended to pathogenic hosts, such as Mycobacteria, for example.
Towards a clearer understanding of student disadvantage in higher education: problematising deficit thinking

The increased diversity in the student body resulting from massification poses particular challenges to higher education. This article engages the uncritical use of the ‘disadvantage’ discourse and its effect on pedagogy. It explores some of the challenges of coping with student diversity, with particular reference to the South African context. Students enter higher education institutions with a variety of educational backgrounds, not all of which are considered to be sufficient preparation for the demands of higher education. The dominant thinking in higher education attempts to understand student difficulty by framing students and their families of origin as lacking some of the academic and cultural resources necessary to succeed in what is presumed to be a fair and open society. This constitutes a deficit thinking model: it focuses on inadequacies of students and aims to ‘fix’ this problem. In the process the impact of structural issues is often ignored or minimised. Employing a deficit mindset to frame student difficulties perpetuates stereotypes, alienates students from higher education and disregards the role of higher education in perpetuating the barriers to student success. In the process, universities replicate the educational stratification of societies. This article suggests that we need to find more suitable responses to diversity in the student body. These require a change in our way of thinking: we need thoughtfully to consider the readiness of higher education institutions to respond to students and to cultivate the will to learn in students. We need to find ways to research the full texture of the student experience and to value the pre-higher education contexts from which students come. In addition, the notion of ‘at risk’ students could be helpful and the original sense of the concept needs to be reclaimed.
Optimal Sentence Processing -- CLP97 Abstract

The relation of competence grammars to models of human sentence processing remains quite unclear (e.g., Bresnan, 1978; Berwick & Weinberg, 1984). One general c l as s o f approaches s ees sentence interpretation as a process of constraint satisfaction, where the process ing constraints are motivated in various ways by the comp etence grammar (Gibson, 1991; Pritchett, 1992; Stevenson, 1995; Jurafsky, 1996). Since sentenc e fragments typically fail to satisfy many grammatical constraints, an incremental parsing mechanism must determine the preferred partial interpretation of an input by deciding which of its potential parses least violates the constraints. For most competenc e theories, this leads to a qualitative difference between the tasks of grammaticality judgement and sentence processing: the former involves a c ategorical distinction between grammatical struc tures (w hich satisfy the constraints of the competence grammar) and ill-form ed struc tures (which do not), and the latter involves deciding between alternative partial parses which differentially violate the constraints. The potential relation between competence grammar and proc e s s ing theory is however cons iderably closer in Optimality Theory (‘ OT’, Prince & Smolensky, 1993). For in OT, a competence gr ammar is itself a sys tem for deciding between s truc tures that v iolate various constr aints. Gram matical struc tures optimally satisfy a ranked system of violable cons traints in which higher-ranked cons traints have absolute priority over all lower-r anked constraints. In a uniform fashion, every input string is ass igned an optimal parse by the competence grammar—w hether the string is a com plete sentence or an initial sentence fragment. Within OT, it appears poss ible to form ulate the task o f sentenc e proc essing in suc h a way that it is ess entially indistinguishable from the job of t h e c o m petence gr ammar, since both involve optimization over potentially violated constraints. In t h is abstract we outline an initial formulation of this type, and describe preliminary results on accounting for the relative difficulty in processing certain well-known s tructural ambiguities in English. The approac h is guided by an existing constraint-based model of sentence process ing which correctly acc ounts for a range of s uch phenomena, the com petitive attachment model (Stevenson, 1995). Like an OT system, the model evaluates com peting struct u r es to determine w hich is “optimal”—that is, the prefer red str uctu ral analysis of a (partial) input. Our s tarting point can be viewed, very roughly, as a reform ulation of this model within OT, wher e OT optimization is used to make attac hment dec isions in lieu of the model’s activation-based mechanism. The app roach is similar to that of Gibson (1995), but our results are positive.
ANDROGEN‐INDUCE SOCIAL DOMINANCE IN INFANT FEMALE RHESUS MONKEYS

SUMMARY Androgen injected into infant female rhesus monkeys between 6·5 and 14·5 months of age increased their aggressive behavior so that they replaced males in the top positions of the social hierarchy. Since this behavior has persisted for a year after the last hormone injection, the male hormone may have directly induced a permanent change in. the nervous system; a more plausible explanation, however, is that socially dominant behavior was so well learned during hormone treatment that it became independent of hormonal support. Despite the increased aggressiveness of the females, their playful and sexual behavior has remained feminine.
Z-Monitor: Monitoring and analyzing IEEE 802.15.4-based Wireless Sensor Networks

Monitoring of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is a fundamental task to track the network behavior and measure its performance in real-world deployments. In this paper, we present Z-Monitor, a monitoring and a protocol analyzer solution to control and debug IEEE 802.15. 4-compliant Low Power Wireless Personal Area Networks (LoWPANs). Z-Monitor does not only support the analysis of well-known ZigBee, 6LoWPAN and RPL protocols, but is also designed to be modular and easily extensible for adding new protocols. The motivation behind the design and implementation of Z-Monitor is the fact that commercially-available products for monitoring and testing IEEE 802.15. 4-compliant LoWPANs are mainly too expensive, and typically require special sniffing hardware. Z-Monitor represents a free and extensible solution, does not require special sniffing hardware, and provides comparable services to proprietary and commercial products. We also share our experimental study results that demonstrate the effectiveness of Z-Monitor in meeting its objectives.
Interventions To Prevent Retinopathy of Prematurity: A Meta-analysis

CONTEXT: The effectiveness of many interventions aimed at reducing the risk of retinopathy has not been well established. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the effectiveness of nutritional interventions, oxygen saturation targeting, blood transfusion management, and infection prevention on the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). DATA SOURCES: A comprehensive search of several databases was conducted, including Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus through March 2014. STUDY SELECTION: We included studies that evaluated nutritional interventions, management of supplemental oxygen, blood transfusions, or infection reduction and reported the incidence of ROP and mortality in neonates born at <32 weeks. DATA EXTRACTION: We extracted patient characteristics, interventions, and risk of bias indicators. Outcomes of interest were any stage ROP, severe ROP or ROP requiring treatment, and mortality. RESULTS: We identified 67 studies enrolling 21 819 infants. Lower oxygen saturation targets reduced the risk of developing any stage ROP (relative risk [RR] 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.77–0.97) and severe ROP or ROP requiring intervention (RR 0.58, 95% CI, 0.45–0.74) but increased mortality (RR 1.15, 95% CI, 1.04–1.29). Aggressive parenteral nutrition reduced the risk of any stage ROP but not severe ROP. Supplementation of vitamin A, E, or inositol and breast milk feeding were beneficial but only in observational studies. Use of transfusion guidelines, erythropoietin, and antifungal agents were not beneficial. LIMITATIONS: Results of observational studies were not replicated in randomized trials. Interventions were heterogeneous across studies. CONCLUSIONS: At the present time, there are no safe interventions supported with high quality evidence to prevent severe ROP.
Global Properties of a Model of Immune Effector Responses to viral Infections

This article proposes a mathematical model which has been used to investigate the importance of lytic and non-lytic immune responses for the control of viral infections. By means of Lyapunov functions, the global properties of the model are obtained. The virus is cleared if the basic reproduction number R0 ≤ 1 and the virus persists in the host if R0 > 1. Furthermore, if R0 > 1 and other conditions hold, the immune-free equilibrium E0 is globally asymptotically stable. The equilibrium E1 exists and is globally asymptotically stale if the CTL immune response reproductive number R1 1. The equilibrium E2 exists and is globally asymptotically stable if R1 > 1 and R2 1 and R2 > 1.
Efficient implementation of a portable parallel programming model for image processing

This paper describes a domain specific programming model for execution on parallel and distributed architectures. The model has initially been targeted at the application area of image processing, though the techniques developed may be more generally applicable to other domains where an algebraic or library-based approach is common. Efficiency is achieved by the concept of a self-optimising class library of primitive image processing operations, which allows programs to be written in a high level, algebraic notation and which is automatically parallelised (using an application-specific data parallel approach). The class library is extended automatically with optimised operations, generated by a transformation system, giving improved execution performance. The parallel implementation of the model described here is based on MPI and has been tested on a C40 processor network, a quad-processor Unix workstation, and a network of PCs running Linux. Timings are included to indicate the impact of the automatic optimisation facility (rather than the effect of parallelisation). Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Allelic loss of chromosome 18q and prognosis in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer occurs in approximately 150,000 people each year in the United States. Prognostic assessment influences the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer, including decisions about adjuvant therapy. We evaluated chromosome 18q allelic loss, a genetic event associated with tumor progression, as a prognostic marker for this disease. METHODS We developed procedures to examine the status of chromosome 18q with microsatellite markers and DNA from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumors. Allelic loss of chromosome 18q was assessed in 145 consecutively resected stage II or III colorectal carcinomas. RESULTS Among patients with stage II disease, the five-year survival rate was 93 percent in those whose tumor had no evidence of allelic loss of chromosome 18q and 54 percent in those with allelic loss; among patients with stage III disease, survival was 52 and 38 percent, respectively. The overall estimated hazard ratio for death in patients whose tumor had chromosome 18q allelic loss was 2.83 (P = 0.008) according to univariate analysis. Furthermore, chromosome 18q allelic loss remained a strong predictive factor (hazard ratio for death, 2.46; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.06 to 5.71; P = 0.036) after adjustment for all other evaluated factors, including tumor differentiation, vein invasion, and TNM stage. CONCLUSIONS The status of chromosome 18q has strong prognostic value in patients with stage II colorectal cancer. The prognosis in patients with stage II cancer and chromosome 18q allelic loss is similar to that in patients with stage III cancer, who are thought to benefit from adjuvant therapy. In contrast, patients with stage II disease who do not have chromosome 18q allelic loss in their tumor have a survival rate similar to that of patients with stage I disease and may not require additional therapy.