Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emerging Role for Autophagy in the Removal of Aggresomes in Schwann Cells

The presence of protein aggregates in the nervous system is associated with various pathological conditions, yet their contribution to disease mechanisms is poorly understood. One type of aggregate, the aggresome, accumulates misfolded proteins destined for degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) is a short-lived Schwann cell (SC) protein that forms aggresomes when the proteasome is inhibited or the protein is overexpressed. Duplication, deletion, or point mutations in PMP22 are associated with a host of demyelinating peripheral neuropathies, suggesting that, for normal SC cell function, the levels of PMP22 must be tightly regulated. Therefore, we speculate that mutant, misfolded PMP22 might overload the proteasome and promote aggresome formation. To test this, sciatic nerves of Trembler J (TrJ) neuropathy mice carrying a leucine-to-proline mutation in PMP22 were studied. In TrJ neuropathy nerves, PMP22 has an extended half-life and forms aggresome-like structures that are surrounded by molecular chaperones and lysosomes. On the basis of these characteristics, we hypothesized that PMP22 aggresomes are transitory, linking the proteasomal and lysosomal protein degradation pathways. Here we show that Schwann cells have the ability to eliminate aggresomes by a mechanism that is enhanced when autophagy is activated and is primarily prevented when autophagy is inhibited. This mechanism of aggresome clearance is not unique to peripheral glia, because L fibroblasts were also capable of removing aggresomes. Our results provide evidence for the involvement of the proteasome pathway in TrJ neuropathy and for the role of autophagy in the clearance of aggresomes.
Primary Mediastinal Synovial Sarcoma Presenting as Superior Vena Cava Syndrome: A Rare Case Report and Review of the Literature

Primary mediastinal sarcomas are aggressive tumors with a very rare incidence. This report describes the case of a 35-year-old male patient who presented with acute symptoms of dyspnoea, facial puffiness, voice-hoarseness, and engorged neck veins. With the clinical picture consistent with the superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome, the patient was investigated with computed tomography of the chest. This revealed a large soft tissue density mass lesion compressing the SVC along with other critical superior mediastinal structures. Histopathological evaluation of the mass revealed features consistent with a soft tissue sarcoma and positive staining was observed for vimentin and S-100. Cytogenetic analysis by fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) demonstrated the t(X:18) translocation. Thus diagnosis was established as primary mediastinal synovial sarcoma. Patient was treated with three cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, to which there was a partial response as per the RECIST criteria. Surgical excision of the mediastinal mass was performed, and further postoperative treatment with adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was provided. Patient currently is free of disease. This is to the best of our knowledge the first report in the world literature of a successfully treated case of “primary mediastinal sarcomas presenting as SVC syndrome. ” Patient is under regular surveillance at our clinic and remains free of recurrence one year after treatment completion.
A Hierarchical Architecture for Real-Time Search in Peer-to-Peer Networks

In this paper, we propose a hierarchical architecture to realize a real-time file search in P2P systems. The proposed architecture consists of three layers. Index of files held by the peers in the bottom layer is stored at the peers in the middle layer, and the correlation of peers in the two bottom layers is controlled by the peers in the top layer using the notion of tags. With such notion of tags, we can realize a quick upload of the file indexes and a quick forwarding of a given query requesting a shared file to a relevant peer. We implemented a prototype of the proposed system. The result of preliminary experiments conducted using the prototype system indicates that an upload of a file index and a query forwarding to a relevant peer take few second and 100 ms, respectively.
On Subjective Measures of Interestingness in Knowledge Discovery

One of the central problems in the field of knowledge discovery is the development of good measures of interestingness of discovered patterns. Such measures of interestingness are divided into objective measures - those that depend only on the structure of a pattern and the underlying data used in the discovery process, and the subjective measures - those that also depend on the class of users who examine the pattern. The purpose of this paper is to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive study of subjective measures of interestingness. In the paper, we classify these measures into actionable and unexpected, and examine the relationship between them. The unexpected measure of interestingness is defined in terms of the belief system that the user has. Interestingness of a pattern is expressed in terms of how it affects the belief system.
Temporal Social Network: Storage, Indexing and Query Processing

With the increasing of requirements from many aspects, various queries and analyses arise focusing on social network. Queries like finding users, friends or social activities satisfying a certain period gives temporal insights into retrieval or statistics, hence augmenting temporal query capability in such context, temporal social network (TSN), is meaningful. We propose three kinds temporal queries in social network, aiming to explore temporal dimension in users, relationships and social activities. A storage model is designed to logically and physically represent TSN, and then we propose two index structures, TUR-tree and TUA-tree for accelerating query process. Query processing algorithms are designed for the three queries, and we evaluate our idea on a dataset which is synthetically generated from real dataset, and experimental results show that our indexes and query processing are effective and scalable.
Web Based UNL Ontology Visualization

Universal Networking Language (UNL) is an artificial language for computers that represents human languages using graphs. The UNL system consists of UNL Ontology, which provides the semantic background for all Universal Words (UWs) or concepts. UNL Ontology includes all possible relations between UWs, definition of UWs, and the UW system. In addition, it stores such information in a lattice structure, where the UWs are interconnected through several relations including hierarchical relations such as icl (a-kind-of) and iof (an-instance-of). However, it is difficult for users to visualize UNL Ontology. Therefore, we have developed a web system that helps them with such a visualization process.
Protective effects of ulinastatin and methylprednisolone against radiation-induced lung injury in mice

The effectiveness of ulinastatin and methylprednisolone in treating pathological changes in mice with radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) was evaluated. Forty C57BL/6 female mice received whole-chest radiation (1.5 Gy/min for 12 min) and were randomly allocated into Group R (single radiation, n = 10), Group U (ulinastatin treatment, n = 10), Group M (methylprednisolone treatment, n = 10), or Group UM (ulinastatin and methylprednisolone treatment, n = 10). Another 10 untreated mice served as controls (Group C). Pathological changes in lung tissue, pulmonary interstitial area density (PIAD) and expression levels of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in lung tissue, serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were determined. Alleviation of pathological changes in lung tissue was observed in Groups U, M and UM. Treatment with ulinastatin, methylprednisolone or both effectively delayed the development of fibrosis at 12 weeks after radiation. Ulinastatin, methylprednisolone or both could alleviate the radiation-induced increase in the PIAD (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Treatment with ulinastatin, methylprednisolone or both significantly reduced the expression of TNF-α, but not TGF-β1, at 9 weeks after radiation compared with Group R (P < 0.01). Ulinastatin and/or methylprednisolone effectively decreased the level of TNF-α in lung tissue after RILI and inhibited both the inflammatory response and the development of fibrosis.
Knowledge Transfer in System Development Offshore Outsourcing Projects

Offshore outsourcing has become an alternative for companies to leverage labor resources worldwide and lower cost. Software development is a major activity in offshore outsourcing. To achieve success in software development offshore outsourcing, it is critical to effectively share knowledge between clients and vendors. In this study, based on social capital and intellectual capital theory, we investigate how vendors and clients can effectively share knowledge in software development offshore outsourcing.
Factors Affecting Social Science Teachersâ€™ Burnout in Selected State Universities in the Philippines

This study aimed to find out the factors affecting Social Science teachersâ€™ burnout in selected State Universities in the Philippines in terms of job assignment, organizational, human relations, physical environment and out-of-school related factors. This study was also conducted to know the three distinct dimensions of burnout as experienced by the Social Science teachers with regard to reduced self-efficacy, exhaustion and pessimism and negativity towards others and work. There were 54 full-time Social Science teachers in selected State Universities in the Philippines who participated in this descriptive research. The Teacher Burnout Instrument (TBI) and the survey questionnaire determined the factors affecting Social Science teachersâ€™ burnout. Result revealed that the level of Social Science teacher burnout on the three components: Component 1-Reduced Self-Efficacy (M=45.25), Component 2-Exhaustion (M=26.39) and Component 3-Pessimism and Negativity Towards Others and Work (M=17.12) is within the average. Findings also show that while average burnout level appears to be tolerable, it may indicate a tendency for burnout to escalate to a more serious level and therefore need to addressed by the institutions (SUCs). And based on the identified factors affecting Social Science teachers, the Teacher Burnout Intervention Program (TBIP) is designed individualÂ directed and organizational directed.
Pidgin as Rhetorical Sovereignty: Articulating Indigenous and Minority Rhetorical Practices with the Language Politics of Place

Pidgin, the Creole identified with “Local” culture in Hawaii, is seldom discussed in terms of its connection to the Hawaiian language and the ways it affirms Native identity. —Using Indigenous rhetorics and language politics as frames, I articulate Native Hawaiians’ adoption of Pidgin as acts of Ellen Cushman’s cultural perseverance and Scott Richard—Lyons’s rhetorical sovereignty. Using the poem “The Question,” written in Pidgin by Hawaiian poet Noelle Kahanu as an example of Indigenous rhetoric, I discuss how teaching—it through this lens, compared to a minority rhetoric lens, captures different histories and experiences and engenders critical awareness of the identities students perform.
Holomorphic submersions from Stein manifolds

Nous etablissons la classification homotopique des submersions holomorphes d'une variete de Stein sur une variete complexe satisfaisant une propriete analytique introduite dans l'article. Le resultat est analogue au theoreme de Gromov-Phillips sur les submersions lisses.
The Value of a Panel of Autoantibodies for Predicting the Activity of Lupus Nephritis at Time of Renal Biopsy

Few studies have correlated serum biomarkers with renal histology, the gold standard for renal activity, in lupus nephritis (LN). We tested a panel of autoantibodies and complement at the time of kidney biopsy and after treatment. Anti-dsDNA, anti-nucleosome, anti-ribosome P, and anti-C1q antibodies and C3/C4 were measured in 107 patients with LN at the time of renal biopsy and after 6–12 months and were correlated with clinical/histological parameters. At multivariate analysis, high titers of anti-C1q antibodies or of anti-dsDNA antibodies (P = 0.005, OR = 8.67, CI: 2.03–37.3) were the independent predictors that discriminate proliferative from nonproliferative LN. All the immunological parameters, except anti-ribosome, showed a significant correlation with activity index but not with chronicity index. Only anti-C1q showed a significant correlation with the amount of proteinuria (R = 0.2, P = 0.03). None of the immunological parameters were predictive of remission at 6 and 12 months. We found that anti-C1q alone or in combination with anti-dsDNA emerged as the most reliable test in differentiating proliferative and nonproliferative LN. Anti-C1q was the only test correlated with the clinical presentation of LN. After treatment, the titre of the autoantibodies was significantly reduced, but none was predictive of remission.
New governance of labour rights: the perspective of Cambodian garment workers’ struggles

ABSTRACT Globalization has implied the transfer of industrial work to countries of the Global South, where labour rights are seldom effectively protected by legal frameworks. New forms of governance that go beyond state-centred legal regulation are presented as an alternative to fill in ‘governance gaps’. This paper analyses ‘new governance’ from the perspective of Cambodian garment workers and labour movements’ struggles. Drawing on the literature on governance and private regulation and research data from Cambodia, it argues that a technocratic approach makes governance initiatives ignore the economic conflict between labour and capital but also the possible political conflict between labour and government. By ignoring trade union rights, power-blind initiatives might end up weakening both the labour movement and democratic accountability, instead of complementing state’s regulatory roles. This might serve the overlapping interests of the powerful actors both in Cambodia and internationally.
EASE: an energy-efficient in-network storage scheme for object tracking in sensor networks

Energy efficiency is one of the most critical issues in the design of wireless sensor networks. Observing that many sensor applications for object tracking can tolerate a certain degree of imprecision in location data of tracked objects, this paper studies precision-constrained approximate queries that trade answer precision for energy efficiency. We develop an Energy-conserving Approximate StoragE (EASE) scheme to ef- ficiently answer approximate location queries by keeping error- bounded imprecise location data at some designated storage node. The data impreciseness is captured by a system parameter, i.e., approximation radius. We analyze the performance of EASE in terms of message complexity and derive the optimal setting of approximation radius. We show via extensive simulation experiments that, as compared to a conventional approach, the EASE scheme cuts down the network traffic by up to 96% and, in most cases, prolongs the network lifetime by a factor of 2�5. I. INTRODUCTION
Formations ouvertes et à distance : le point de vue des usagers

Est-il si facile d'apprendre avec les technologies de l'information et de la communication, "nouvelles" ou non ? Qui sont ceux qui s'en emparent et a quelles conditions ? Comment "negocie-t-on" avec ces moyens, souvent moins evidents a apprehender qu'il ne l'est parfois affirme ? Telles sont quelques-unes des questions, liees a l'organisation des savoirs, aux outils, aux institutions, aux problemes de la mediation, de l'autonomie, du lien social, etc. dont traitent les textes rassembles ici. Cet ouvrage s'adresse a tous ceux qui s'interessent aux usages educatifs des technologies, universitaires et chercheurs, decideurs, operateurs et formateurs.
A tolerant algorithm for cardiac pulses characterization in ballistocardiography signals in a non-invasive system

A variety of signal processing methods have been developed for detecting the heartbeat from signals obtained by non-invasive devices. In this paper, an algorithm developed for the accurate detection of heartbeats from a ballistocardiography signal is presented. The signal is obtained using a regular chair adapted with Electro-Mechanical Film (EMFi) sensors and an acquisition system, so a ballistocardiogram is generated. The presence of important disturbances in this type of signal is unavoidable due to several natural causes; therefore, its processing involves significant difficulties to be tackled in order to obtain reliable lectures of the heartbeat. The algorithm presented here performs consistently well, showing a very low error rate, even if the signal contains significant noise.
Towards a Formal Analysis of Control SystemsBabak

Electronic commerce became a buzzword when electronic networks gained popularity, in particular of course due to the in-ternet. The security problem increases rapidly now that computer systems become more open. Most research on electronic commerce, and electronic data interchange in general, has focussed on technical instead of organizational problems, such as value added networks, trusted third parties, chip cards, electronic signatures, etc. Computer science has been pushing technology. However, these technical issues are not the bottleneck for acceptance of these new technologies. Success factors of introducing electronic commerce are solutions of the organizational problems, and the closely related legal issues. Formal models of electronic commerce represent and reason about security policies 4], for example for fraud detection and prevention. Computer security can be based on cryptography , architectures or regulations. For example, to protect a le in a database from unauthorized access it can be encoded , or access can be restricted by special architectures or by regulations. Recent interest in security logics 2] shows how computer science can also contribute to the third category. In this paper we discuss a formal representation of control systems involving a number of independent agents, as they occur in e.g. business and trade procedures. The formal model is based on a division of the information into factual, epistemic and deontic knowledge, and the organisation of control systems into a hierarchy. The classiication of these routines in diierent levels helps the user to audit procedures (for inter-organizational 3] and intra-organizational 1] procedures), analyze scenarios and design secure procedures 7]. We also give an example from international trade, and we discuss the use of the formal model. 1 Towards a formal model We claim that a formal model of control systems should distinguish between three diierent types of knowledge in information systems, and that it should be based on a decomposition of the information system. The formal model can check whether a control system covers all potential fraud situations and thus can be used to design and verify such a system. In Deenition 1 a devision is made between what is factually the case (as observed by the agents), what agents believe to be the case (due to messages the agents receive), and what ought to be the case (as speciied in a contractual agreement between agents). The agents can lie to each other, and as a result they can believe what is factually false. …
Age-for-grade heterogeneity and primary school dropout in Karonga district, northern Malawi: Causes and consequences

Age-for-grade, a marker for school progression, is defined as the extent to which pupils are underage or overage for their grade. This thesis explores the causes and consequences of age-for-grade heterogeneity and its influences on school dropout and life transitions. Data for the analyses originate from a demographic surveillance site in a population of about 36,000 in Karonga district, northern Malawi. Linked surveys include data on socio-economic status, schooling, sexual behaviour, pregnancy and marriage. The first paper examines the effects of growth faltering (low height-for-age or stunting) in early (11-17 months) and late childhood (4-8years) on school outcomes (age at enrolment, age-for-grade at age 11 and grade repetition) to explore early causes of delayed enrolment and poor school progression. The main reason for being overage-for-grade is grade repetition. The second paper uses cross-sectional data on 8174 children in 2010, to examine the prevalence and risk factors (individual, household and school-level) for grade repetition in the following year. Using longitudinal data from 2007-2015, the third paper examines the relationship between age-for-grade and primary school dropout, with school completion as a competing event. The median age of dropout for girls is 19, with almost 90% still enrolled at age 15. Those overage were more likely to drop out of school than those on track, with girls having a higher rate of dropout than boys. The fourth paper shows that girls who were sexually active, as early as age 14, were five times more likely to drop out, while sexually active boys were twice as likely to drop out of school, compared to their sexually inactive peers. This was not explained by underlying poor school performance: the association with sexual debut and dropout was as strong among those on track in school as among those 3 or more years behind. In a companion paper, the opposite relationship is examined. Being out of school was strongly associated with increased rates of pregnancy, of sexual debut for girls not boys, and of marriage for girls and boys. Age-for-grade as early as age 10 predicted age of pregnancy and marriage.
Reconsidering the role of orthographic redundancy in visual word recognition

Humans are known to continuously extract regularities from the flow of stimulation. This occurs in many facets of behavior, including reading. In spite of the ubiquitous evidence that readers become sensitive to orthographic regularities after very little exposure to print, the role of orthographic regularities receives at best a peripheral status in current theories of orthographic processing. In the present article, after the presentation of previous evidence on orthographic redundancy, the hypothesis that orthographic regularities may play a prominent role in word perception is developed.