Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Model of Social Security Disability Insurance Using Matched SIPP/Administrative Data

We study Disability Insurance (DI) application behavior in the U.S. using a matched SIPP and administrative data over 1989-1995. Certain state-contingent earnings projections and eligibility probabilities are central to the analysis. We find evidence for a small work disincentive effect of DI that seems to be restricted to a subset of the DI beneficiaries, including low earning groups such as blue collar workers and those subject to economic dislocation. Processing time, Medicare value, unemployment, private health insurance, and health shocks are some of the major factors that affect application propensity. The behavioral response of female workers to various parameters of the DI program is found to be quite different from that of males.
Measles Virus C Protein Interferes with Beta Interferon Transcription in the Nucleus

ABSTRACT Transcriptional induction of beta interferon (IFN-β) through pattern recognition receptors is a key event in the host defense against invading viruses. Infection of cells by paramyxoviruses, like measles virus (MV) (genus Morbillivirus), is sensed predominantly by the ubiquitous cytoplasmic helicase RIG-I, recognizing viral 5′-triphosphate RNAs, and to some degree by MDA5. While MDA5 activation is effectively prevented by the MV V protein, the viral mechanisms for inhibition of MDA5-independent induction of IFN-β remained obscure. Here, we identify the 186-amino-acid MV C protein, which shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm, as a major viral inhibitor of IFN-β transcription in human cells. Activation of the transcription factor IRF3 by upstream kinases and nuclear import of activated IRF3 were not affected in the presence of C protein, suggesting a nuclear target. Notably, C proteins of wild-type MV isolates, which are poor IFN-β inducers, were found to comprise a canonical nuclear localization signal (NLS), whereas the NLSs of all vaccine strains, irrespective of their origins, were mutated. Site-directed mutagenesis of the C proteins from an MV wild-type isolate and from the vaccine virus strain Schwarz confirmed a correlation of nuclear localization and inhibition of IFN-β transcription. A functional NLS and efficient nuclear accumulation are therefore critical for MV C to retain its potential to downregulate IFN-β induction. We suggest that a defect in efficient nuclear import of C protein contributes to attenuation of MV vaccine strains.
IMPACT OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA ON THE OUTCOMES OF A PERINATAL DEPRESSION TRIAL

Childhood abuse and neglect have been linked with increased risks of adverse mental health outcomes in adulthood and may moderate or predict response to depression treatment. In a small randomized controlled trial treating depression in a diverse sample of nontreatment‐seeking, pregnant, low‐income women, we hypothesized that childhood trauma exposure would moderate changes in symptoms and functioning over time for women assigned to usual care (UC), but not to brief interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT‐B) followed by maintenance IPT. Second, we predicted that trauma exposure would be negatively associated with treatment response over time and at the two follow‐up time points for women within UC, but not for those within IPT‐B who were expected to show remission in depression severity and other outcomes, regardless of trauma exposure.
A comparison of perimetric results with the Medmont and Humphrey perimeters

Background: The Humphrey field analyser (HFA), Humphrey-Zeiss frequency doubling perimeter, and the Medmont automated perimeter (MAP) are three commonly used automated perimeters with threshold achromatic methodologies. Visual field loss may be detected earlier with strategies that target cell lines with reduced redundancy or which suffer selective damage. Method: To compare these three perimeters, 63 subjects who were glaucoma suspects, ocular hypertensives, glaucoma patients, or normal controls were recruited selectively. All subjects underwent testing using MAP central threshold, MAP flicker perimetry, HFA full threshold, HFA SITA perimetry, HFA short wavelength perimetry (SWAP), and frequency doubling perimetry (FDP). After visual field testing, equivalent tests were compared: MAP central threshold with HFA full threshold and HFA SITA perimetry; Medmont flicker perimetry with HFA SWAP and FDP. Results: On analysis of the MAP central threshold a kappa statistic and an area under the receiver operator curve (AUC) of 0.90 and 0.94, respectively, were found compared with HFA full threshold strategies, and 0.87 and 0.92 respectively, compared with HFA SITA. For MAP flicker a kappa statistic and an AUC of 0.65 and 0.81, respectively, were found compared with HFA SWAP and 0.87 and 0.96, respectively, compared with FDP. A quadrant analysis and comparison of mean defect between tests was also highly significant. Conclusion: Medmont and Humphrey perimeters correlated well; both may be used for clinical and research purposes with similar confidence.
Isometric strength assessment, Part II: Static testing does not accurately classify validity of effort.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine if these two commonly-administered isometric tests are accurate indices of effort. PARTICIPANTS 34 healthy subjects were tested once giving a maximum voluntary effort and once attempting to feign weakness of 50% of maximum. RESULTS During feigned weakness sessions, 20 of 34 subjects (58.5%), produced CVs of 15% or less during the Leg Lift. At the 95% CI, the expected frequency of false negatives for feigned weakness is 42.3 to 75.3% for the Leg Lift. At the 95% CI, the expected frequency of false negatives for feigned weakness is 51.9% to 83.3% for the Arm Lift. CONCLUSIONS Neither isometric lift is appropriate for classifying validity of effort. Use of these isometric lifts should be discontinued for the assessment of effort.
Development of robotic hands: The UB hand evolution

This video presents the evolution of the robotic hands, called UB Hands (University of Bologna Hands), developed at the Laboratory of Automation and Robotics of the University of Bologna during more than 25 years of research in this field. Starting from the UB Hand I, the first robot hand prototype developed in our labs, the different design solutions and philosophies that have been followed toward the innovative UB Hand IV, also called DEXMART Hand, recently developed within the DEXMART project are presented. Remarkable characteristics of the UB Hands are also the whole hand manipulation capabilities, the ability of reconstructing the contact forces over the whole hand surface as in the case of the UB Hand II, and the presence of force/tactile sensors as in the UB Hand IV. Moreover, the use of soft covers for the emulation of the human tissue characteristics has been studied, and the adoption of innovative design concepts based on compliant structures has been introduced in the UB Hand III and IV.
Curcumin Induces Apoptosis in EJ Bladder Cancer Cells via Modulating C-Myc and PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway

Background Cancer chemopreventive agent curcumin has been shown to possess cell growth inhibition and apoptosis induction properties in several types of cancer. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms of the compound remain far from clear in EJ bladder cancer cells. Methods The effect of curcumin on EJ cell growth and apoptosis was detected by MTT assays and flow cytometry. The phosphorylation levels of PTEN, PDK1, Akt, GSK-3β, c-Raf, and Bad and the expression levels of c-myc, Bax, Bcl-2, caspase-9, caspase-7, caspase-3, and PARP following curcumin administration were examined by immunoblots. Results Curcumin suppressed the growth of EJ cells in a time and concentration dependent manner. Immunoblot showed that curcumin increased expression levels of c-myc and inhibited the activation of PI3K/Akt pathway in a time-dependent manner in EJ cells. Activation of PTEN, GSK-3β, c-Raf, caspase-9, caspase-7, and caspase-3, cleavage of PARP, upregulation of Bad and Bax, and downregulation of Akt and Bcl-2 were also found in curcumin-treated EJ cells. Conclusions These findings establish a mechanistic linkup or interaction between c-myc, Bax, Bad, Bcl-2, caspase cascades, PI3K/Akt pathway and curcumin- induced apoptosis of EJ cells, suggesting that c-myc and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway play important roles in curcumin-induced apoptosis of EJ bladder cancer cells.
The Role of Disfluencies in Topic Classification of Human-Human Conversations

We investigate the impact of disfluencies on the task of classifying natural human-human conversations into topics. Disfluencies are distinctive to spoken language, and their effect on a number of spoken language understanding tasks, including spoken language classification, remains largely unknown. We use a subset of Switchboard-I annotated for disfluencies and topics, and investigate the effect of different disfluency categories with both true and automatically generated transcripts. We show that under the popular bag-of-words representation, even perfect disfluency filtering has a minimal impact on topic classification performance on hand-transcribed data. However, difference are larger with more complex representations (e.g. bigrams) and for some classifiers operating on recognizer transcripts.
THE EFFECT OF COFFEE CONSUMPTION ON LIVER ENZYMES AND BILIRUBIN IN HEALTHY SUBJECTS

This study was carried out to determine the effect of coffee consumption on liver enzymes and bilirubin in healthy subjects. Analysis of serum AST, ALT and ALP levels with those of serum bilirubin were carried out. Random blood samples (prior to and after coffee consumption for 2 months) were collected from 58 healthy subjects and the serum liver enzymes (ALP, AST and ALT) and Bilirubin (Total and conjugated) values estimated. Decreased levels of liver enzymes (ALP) and bilirubin are associated with prolonged consumption of filtered coffee by 26 subjects. The initial mean serum values are thus: ALP: 54.08 + 10.63 W/L, AST : 14.04 + 2.75 W/L, ALT: 13: 00 + 2.15 will, Total bilirubin : 0. 54 + 0.17 mgldl and conjugated bilirubin: +0.28 + 0.08 mgldl, while the final values are as follows: ALP : 32.04+ 10.69 will, AST : 13.77+2.75 will, ALT: 12.77+ 2.12 W/L, Total bilirubin : 0.07+0.05 mgldl and conjugated bilirubin 0.07 + 0.05 mg/dl. Also, in 32 subjects placed on unfiltered coffee, elevated levels of ALT and decreased levels of ALP and bilirubin are associated with unfiltered coffee intake. The initial serum liver enzymes and bilirubin levels include: ALP _ 52.91 + 10.82 iu/L, AST _ 12.75 + 2.03 iu/L, ALT _ 13.00 + 2.31 iu/L, Total bilirubin 0.63 + 0.16 and conjugated bilirubin_ 0.31 + 0.08 mgldl when compared with the final values_ of 30.22 + 10.01 for ALP, 14.75 + 2.03 for AST, 29.84 + 2.16 for ALT, 0.12 + 0.05 Total bilirubin and 0.03 + 0.05 mgldl for conjugated bilirubin respectively. These observations suggest that prolonged intake of filtered coffee decreases serum concentrations of ALP and bilirubin and has negligible effect on AST and ALT while unfiltered coffee also decreases ALP and bilirubin levels but raises ALT and has no effect on AST levels.
Whether and When? Probability and Timing of Incumbents' Entry into Emerging Industrial Subfields

Many people have helped with this paper. The author would like to acknowledge explicitly the assistance of Glenn Carroll, David Teece, and the ASQ editor and reviewers. Part of this research was conducted with financial assistance from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of California at Berkeley. This paper examines the probability and timing of entry by industry incumbents into emerging technical subfields. When a new technical subfield of an industry emerges, an industry incumbent faces opposing entry incentives, either to wait until technical and market uncertainties subside or to stake out a strong position early. This paper argues that an incumbent is likely to enter a new subfield if the firm's core products are threatened or if it possesses industry-specialized supporting assets. The greater the competitive threat, the less likely an incumbent is to enter but the earlier it will do so. The predictions are supported with analysis of 30 years of entry data from five subfields of the American medical diagnostic imaging industry. '
Toward a methodology for manufacturability-driven design rule exploration

Resolution enhancement techniques (RET) such as optical proximity correction (OPC) and phase-shift mask (PSM) technology are deployed in modern processes to increase the fidelity of printed features, especially critical dimensions (CD) in polysilicon. Even given these exotic technologies, there has been momentum towards less flexibility in layout, in order to ensure printability. However, there has not been a systematic study of the performance and manufacturability impact of such a move towards restrictive design rules. In this paper we present a design flow that evaluates the application of various restricted design rule (RDR) sets in deep submicron ASIC designs in terms of circuit performance and parametric yield. Using such a framework, process and design engineers can identify potential solutions to maximize manufacturability by selectively applying RDRs while maintaining chip performance. In this work we focus attention on the device layer which is the most difficult design layer to manufacture. We quantify the performance, manufacturability and mask cost impact of several common design rules. For instance, we find that small increal3es in the minimum allowable poly line end extension beyond active provide high levels of immunity to lithographic defocus conditions. Also, modification of the minimum field poly to diffusion spacing can provide good manufacturability, while a single pitch single orientation design rule can reduce gate 30σ uncertainty. Both of these improve in data volume as well, with little to no performance penalties. Reductions in data volume and worst-case edge placement error are on the order of 20-30% and 30-50% respectively compared to a standard baseline design rule set.
Unsupervised Clustering In Streaming Data

Tools for automatically clustering streaming data are becoming increasingly important as data acquisition technology continues to advance. In this paper we present an extension of conventional kernel density clustering to a spatio-temporal setting, and also develop a novel algorithmic scheme for clustering data streams. Experimental results demonstrate both the high efficiency and other benefits of this new approach
Dynamics-based virtual holonomic constraint for PDAC running

Our research goal is to unify walking and running by using Passive Dynamic Autonomous Control (PDAC), which has been proposed in our previous research. The PDAC is classified into a limit-cycle-based gait, and its dynamics is freely designed by a virtual holonomic constraint (VHC) for a contact angle with the ground. Hence, we expect to unify walking and running by a design theory of this VHC such that characteristics of walking and running are reflected. In this paper, we control running by the PDAC because it has not been achieved to date. The VHC design is based on a damping and spring loaded inverted pendulum model (D-SLIP model). Time-varying dynamics of D-SLIP model is converted to a differential equation for the contact angle. We solve this equation and obtain a dynamics-based VHC. As a result, we controlled running by the PDAC with the dynamics-based VHC. The PDAC running made the limit cycle converge on a certain cycle; i.e., the PDAC running achieved asymptotic stability.
Perception of lightness of glossy surfaces

How do we perceive the lightness of a region of an achromatic curved surface containing a glossy highlight . We manipulated diffuse and specular reflectance components of computer-generated displays of ellipsoid surfaces. Each contained a pattern of patches on a background of uniform reflectance Observers indicated whether the diffuse components of a test patch's reflectance appeared higher or lower than that of other patches, which had identical reflectances. factors affecting performance included the position of the highlight relative to the test patch, and degree of similarity of the reflectance of the patch pattern to that of the background. Results demonstrate that observers can discriminate the diffuse component of reflectance even when luminance in a region is perturbed by a highlight. Performance improves if the background's diffuse reflectance is close to that the standard patches, and also if it is higher, rather than lower, than that of the standard patches. Results suggest that visual mechanisms that are sensitive to iso-photes compare intensities in neighboring regions, to assess degree of gloss. We conclude with a demonstration of included glossiness, whereby a given block of image intensities can appear shiny or dull, depending on manipulations of intensity values in other parts of the image.
RasteyRishtey: A social incentive system to crowdsource road traffic information in developing regions

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), used for efficient road traffic management, largely benefits from probe sensing data like GPS traces. But gathering large scale GPS traces is a bottleneck, especially in developing regions, limiting researchers and government organizations from fully exploiting this potentially rich information base. In this paper; we present RasteyRishtey1, a social networking system, to incentivize smartphone users to gather and share their GPS traces. Our social networking application in the simplest case, aids relatives like parents and spouses to track people, given the latter's consent. In the more complex case, groups of users can organize meet-ups collaboratively, starting from choice of venue to track everyone else until they reach the venue, using the application. Both versions produce crowd-sourced GPS traces, that can potentially be a rich source of traffic information. We present the design and implementation of the applications, along with a deployment based user study of the same. We also present some preliminary analysis of the collected GPS traces, that shows certain interesting and intuitive characteristics of road traffic, in the Indian city of Bengaluru.
The career paths of primary school principals in Ireland

The key purpose of this paper is to offer an exploration of the career paths of a number of Irish school principals. The information presented is part of a comparative study in the area, involving three island states: Cyprus, Malta and Ireland. The study provides an insight into how individuals become principals and how they perceive themselves in the role. The information is sourced through personal narrative. Qualitative in-depth interviewing is employed as the primary method of data gathering. Participants are posed a range of open-ended questions about their personal lives and about their initiation into their professional responsibilities. The results show that participants offer a variety of reasons for becoming teachers initially and a variety of reasons for seeking and achieving promotion to the post of school principal after a time. Family members and family experiences have an important function in influencing the lives of prospective leaders. With no formal training to prepare newly appointed principals for their roles, most report significant difficulties initially, particularly with managerial tasks and bureaucracy. In spite of these difficulties nonetheless, all participating principals report that they enjoy their roles. The results of the study demonstrate that the Irish principals interviewed in this research, experience similar challenges and rewards to those interviewed in earlier and concurrent studies internationally.
Protein Binding and Functional Characterization of Plakophilin 2

Plakophilins are a subfamily of p120-related arm-repeat proteins that can be found in both desmosomes and the nucleus. Among the three known plakophilin members, plakophilin 1 has been linked to a genetic skin disorder and shown to play important roles in desmosome assembly and organization. However, little is known about the binding partners and functions of the most widely expressed member, plakophilin 2. To better understand the cellular functions of plakophilin 2, we have examined its protein interactions with other junctional molecules using co-immunoprecipitation and yeast two-hybrid assays. Here we show that plakophilin 2 can interact directly with several desmosomal components, including desmoplakin, plakoglobin, desmoglein 1 and 2, and desmocollin 1a and 2a. The head domain of plakophilin 2 is critical for most of these interactions and is sufficient to direct plakophilin 2 to cell borders. In addition, plakophilin 2 is less efficient than plakophilin 1 in localizing to the nucleus and enhancing the recruitment of excess desmoplakin to cell borders in transiently transfected COS cells. Furthermore, plakophilin 2 is able to associate with β-catenin through its head domain, and the expression of plakophilin 2 in SW480 cells up-regulates the endogenous β-catenin/T cell factor-signaling activity. This up-regulation by plakophilin 2 is abolished by ectopic expression of E-cadherin, suggesting that these proteins compete for the same pool of signaling active β-catenin. Our results demonstrate that plakophilin 2 interacts with a broader repertoire of desmosomal components than plakophilin 1 and provide new insight into the possible roles of plakophilin 2 in regulating the signaling activity of β-catenin.
Integrated analysis of microRNAs, transcription factors and target genes expression discloses a specific molecular architecture of hyperdiploid multiple myeloma

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a malignancy characterized by the hyperdiploid (HD-MM) and the non-hyperdiploid (nHD-MM) subtypes. To shed light within the molecular architecture of these subtypes, we used a novel integromics approach. By annotated MM patient mRNA/microRNA (miRNA) datasets, we investigated mRNAs and miRNAs profiles with relation to changes in transcriptional regulators expression. We found that HD-MM displays specific gene and miRNA expression profiles, involving the Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT)3 pathway as well as the Transforming Growth Factor–beta (TGFβ) and the transcription regulator Nuclear Protein-1 (NUPR1). Our data define specific molecular features of HD-MM that may translate in the identification of novel relevant druggable targets.