Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Temporal Social Network Analysis for Historians - A Case Study

Social network analysis has received much attention across disciplines. Recently, historians have begun to complicate their understanding of networks and are increasingly using visualisation to elucidate tangible and intangible information in their data sets. Current approaches make use of static social network analysis and whilst they provide a number of tools to explore a social network, they are unable to provide temporal analysis. This paper presents Matrixify, a practical visual application for the exploratory temporal analysis of social networks for historians and others not familiar with visual representations of data. This approach aims to deconstruct the complexity of social networks to provide a temporal analysis to answer a key problem in historical studies, that of ‘analysis of change over time’. In this way, historians are able to identify real relationships in their data sets; actors in contact at a particular point in time and shown over time. The case study presented in this paper demonstrates the applicability of the approach in interdisciplinary studies.
Relaxation of human bronchial smooth muscle by S-nitrosothiols in vitro.

S-Nitrosothiols (RS-NO) relax tracheal smooth muscle from a variety of animal species, and may have physiological relevance. We therefore studied their effects on human bronchial smooth muscle. S-Nitroso adducts of glutathione, cysteine, N-acetylcysteine and bovine serum albumin relaxed tissues contracted with methacholine with mean IC50 +/- S.E. M. of 3.3 (+/- 14), 22 (+/- 45), 25 (+/- 22) and 36 (+/- 7.1) microM, respectively; they were more potent as inhibitory agonists than the corresponding reduced thiol, NaNO2, or theophylline, but less potent than isoproterenol (P < .001). Despite large differences in their molecular weights and dissociation kinetics, the IC50 of these RS-NO did not differ significantly from one another, from nitric oxide (NO.) or from sodium nitroprusside. Consistent with the role of cyclic GMP (cGMP) in mediating relaxation responses, S-nitroso-N-acetyl cysteine (S-NO-AC) (100 microM) increased tissue cGMP levels 4-fold, and 8-bromo-cGMP caused modest tissue relaxation which was potentiated by the phosphodiesterase inhibitor, dipyridamole (1 microM). However, the guanylyl cyclase inhibitors, methylene blue (100 microM) and LY 83583 (50 microM), failed to modify the relaxation response to S-NO-AC (sodium nitroprusside and NO.), while altering the accumulation of cGMP. Further, hemoglobin (100 microM) failed to inhibit relaxation by S-NO-AC. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Oxygen tension modifies the 'stemness' of human cord blood-derived stem cells.

BACKGROUND AIMS Amongst different stem cell populations derived from human cord blood (CB), unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSC) are distinguished from CB mesenchymal stromal cells (CB MSC) by expression patterns of homeobox (HOX) genes, delta-like1 homolog (DLK1) expression and adipogenic differentiation potential. In this study we investigated the effects of oxygen tension on the generation, proliferation and expression of stem cell marker genes, which could be critical during large-scale cell culture for clinical applications. METHODS We cultured CB-derived stem cells at 5% and 20% O(2). Telomere length shortening was analyzed and we investigated gene expression using reverse-transcription (RT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR. Additionally we performed adipogenic and osteogenic in vitro differentiation. Results. Altering the cultivation conditions of USSC or CB MSC from 20% to 5% O(2) had no significant impact. In contrast, cell populations derived from primary cultures prepared at 5% O(2) qualified as neither USSC nor as CB MSC. When converted to 20%, their proliferation was diminished, telomere shortening was accelerated, and two of six cell lines ceased expression of HOX genes. The HOX code of the other cell populations was not been affected by culture conditions. CONCLUSIONS Altering culture conditions during generation can impact cell characteristics such as the HOX code. These effects need to be considered when dealing with cell cultures for clinical applications.
Detection and Parameter Extraction of Low Probability of Intercept Radar Signals using the Hough Transform

Digital intercept receivers are currently moving away from Fourier-based analysis and towards classical time-frequency analysis techniques, such as the Wigner-Ville distribution, Choi- Williams distribution, spectrogram, and scalogram, for the purpose of analyzing low probability of intercept radar signals (e.g. triangular modulated frequency modulated continuous wave and frequency shift keying). Although these classical time-frequency techniques are an improvement over the Fourier-based analysis, they still suffer from a lack of readability, due to cross-term interference, and a mediocre performance in low SNR environments. This lack of readability may lead to inaccurate detection and parameter extraction of these radar signals. In this paper, the use of the Hough transform, because of its ability to suppress cross-term interference, separate signals from cross-terms, and perform well in the presence of noise, is proposed as an improved signal analysis technique. With these qualities, the Hough transform has the potential to produce better readability and consequently, more accurate signal detection and parameter extraction metrics.
Column purification of E . coli isolate pe 93

__ E. coli isolate pe93 that confirmed postive to Stx2and Stx2f toxin by PCR analysis was subjected to protein purification. The first step involved the removal of salt, followed by overnight dialysis and ion-exchange chromatography purification carried out in column packed with stationary phase Sephrose 6B as fast-flow weak anion and Carboxymethyl Cellulose as fast-flow weak cation. Elution buffer was used as mobile phase. Different concentrations of Tris HCl and Sodium Chloride solution i.e., 1M of NaCl solution and 1M Tris HCl buffer with pH 7 was used as elution buffer. Protein estimation by Lowry’s method was carried from the different fractions of elution collected. SDS-PAGE was carried out for the purified proteins. Molecular weights of protein were confirmed using low-protein molecular weight markers. The protein samples showed prominent bands at 33 kDa and 7 kDa respectively.
Study on attacking and defending techniques in IPv6 networks

Although widely deployed in recent years, the IPv6 protocols still have many security problems, especially the Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) Attack in IPv6 Local Area Network. This paper presents an IPv6 MITM Attack test system to help users aware the security risks, and then design a defending tool using DNSSEC to avoid session hijack attack in IPv6 Networks.
Reproducible sonification for virtual navigation

The use of sonification for navigation, localization and obstacle avoidance is considered to be one of the most important tasks in auditory display research for its potential application to navigation systems in vehicles and smartphones, assistive technology and other eyes-free applications. The aim of this technology is to deliver location-based information to support navigation through sound. In this paper a comparison of two sonification methods for navigation and obstacle avoidance is presented. These methods were initially developed during a sonification hack day that was ran during the Interactive Sonification (ISon) workshop 2013. In order to allow the formal comparison of methods, we followed a reproducible sonification approach using a set of guidelines provided by SonEX (Sonification Evaluation eXchange). SonEX is a community-based environment that enables the definition and evaluation of standardized tasks, supporting open science standards and reproducible research. In order to allow for reproducible research, the system has been made publicly available.
Alkaline phosphatase in the cytoplasmic droplet of rabbit spermatozoa.

position on the flagellum. Alkaline phosphatase not only occurs in spermatozoa from intact epididy¬ mides but also in those from a ligated epididymis. After 14 days of epididymal ligation, many spermatozoa in the ductuli efferentes possess cytoplasmic drop¬ lets that have already migrated to the end of the mid-piece, even though they are often distorted when conventionally stained (Gaddum & Glover, 1965). The present work has shown that these droplets also have considerable alkaline phosphatase activity. It is of interest that in rabbit spermatozoa, alkaline phosphatase is concen¬ trated exclusively in the cytoplasmic droplet, since it detracts from any cate¬ gorical assertion that the droplet is entirely inert. Combine with this the membranous nature of cytoplasmic droplets, and the possibility of some local transport mechanism emerges (Morgan, Post & Park, 1960; Coleman & Finean, 1968). * Present address: Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.
17.3 A 0.9V 6.3μW multistage amplifier driving 500pF capacitive load with 1.34MHz GBW

As process scales down, low-voltage, low-power, multistage amplifiers capable of driving a large capacitive load with wide bandwidth are becoming more important for various applications. The conventional frequency compensation methods, however, are based on cumbersome transfer function derivations or complicated local loop analysis, inhibiting intuitive understanding. An approach is presented in this paper, which generates insight for the poles and zeros through distinctive compensation analysis, and is applicable to large-number-stage amplifiers. The approach applies feedback theory and simplifies high-frequency Miller amplifiers, thereby reducing orders of circuits and improving insight.
A DC-DC buck converter chip with integrated PWM/PFM hybrid-mode control circuit

This paper proposes a DC-DC buck power converter chip with a novel integrated PWM/PFM hybrid-mode control. The DC-DC converter chip with synchronous rectifier not only uses current-mode feedback control but also possesses constant-frequency-mode control and hybrid-mode control functions at the same time. Furthermore, the operational modes of the converter can be selected by an external voltage signal. In the part of constant-frequency-mode control, as the inductor current is below zero, the synchronous rectifier switch of the converter will be automatically turned off in order to reduce the loss of the reverse inductor current. About the hybrid-mode control, the operational modes of the converter can be judged by the proposed PWM/PFM hybrid-mode control circuit. When the converter is operated in CCM, the constant-frequency-mode control is applied and when the inductor current is in DCM, the converter is operated under the variable-frequency-mode control. At this moment, the switching frequency of the converter is designed to decrease proportionally with the load to reduce the high switching loss at light load. The synchronous rectifier switch will also be turned off in order to reduce the reverse conduction loss. All the above functions are integrated in one chip. Simulation and experimental results verify that the converter chip works functionally. The power converter chip with PWM/PFM hybrid-mode control proposed here is very suitable for the portable electronic products with the requirements of low voltage, low power, high efficiency, and wide load range.
All-in-One Mobile Outdoor Augmented Reality Framework for Cultural Heritage Sites

In this paper, we propose an all-in-one mobile outdoor augmented reality (AR) framework for a cultural heritage site. The framework was designed to incorporate computer vision-based augmented reality technology and ontology-based data-authoring technology. Through this framework, we clearly explain how to create 3D visual data for camera pose estimation and how to connect AR content with a cultural heritage site. In addition, we suggest a multi-threading camera tracking and offer an estimation model for mobile AR application. Finally, we have confirmed the efficiency and reliability of our framework. Through this vision-based AR framework, seamless AR application for a cultural heritage site can be made.
HIV dementia

AIDS-dementia complex (ADC) is a neurological disorder caused by HIV-1 infection of microglia and macrophages and subsequent activation and degeneration of glial and neuronal components. Currently, HAART is unable to eradicate HIV-1 infection. Therefore, additional drugs with anti-viral and anti-in ammatory activity are needed. In this report, we demonstrate that minocycline (MC), a second generation tetracycline with proven safety and CNS penetration, potently inhibited HIV-1 replication in microglia and macrophages. Inhibition of infection by MC was observed dose-dependently with IC50 at 20 micrograms per milliliter. Reduction in p24 release by MC was sustained through the entire course of infection (up to 4 weeks), even when MC exposure was limited to the rst 24 h of infection. MC was effective even at low viral MOI, and against R5and X4R5HIV, as well as HIVand VSV-G-env pseudotyped reporter viruses. Astrocyte infection was also inhibited. These results are consistent with MC inhibiting entry as well as post-entry mechanisms of infection. Further studies indicated that MC inhibited HIV binding to microglia and subsequent activation of NF-kappaB and reactive oxygen species. Additionally, viral expression in chronically-infected U1 cells and the LTR-promoter activity in U38 cells were inhibited by MC. Together, our results demonstrate anti-viral and anti-in ammatory properties of MC in a broad range of target cells and have implications for the therapy of HIV infection.
Voltage-Controlled Capacitor—Feasibility Demonstration in DC–DC Converters

This letter presents a voltage-controlled capacitor that varies from 20% to 100% of the rated capacitance (1 μF) with a control voltage from half of the voltage rating to 0 V. Capacitance, self-resonant frequency, and equivalent series resistance were measured with respect to the control voltage. An equivalent circuit and a nonlinear model derived from relationship between permittivity and electric field were created and implemented in SPICE. A buck converter with input of 12 V, output of 5 V, and switching frequency of 500 kHz was built to demonstrate the change from 85% to 40% of the rated capacitance of the voltage-controlled capacitor. The error between the simulation and experiment was limited within 10%, which verifies the model.
THE USE OF SHORT TERM IN VITRO AND SUBMAMMALIAN TESTS AS ALTERNATIVES TO LARGE SCALE ANIMAL BIOASSAYS

Safety testing and related toxicology research represent one of the largest uses of laboratory research animals. From the point of view of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries there is clearly an interest in and a recognized need for molecular toxicology studies, which serve as alternatives to the dependency on large scale animal studies. This need appears to be based more upon the ability to predict toxic hazards in a short time and the favorable economics associated with safety testing programs employing in vitro testing and not to a great extent on moral or ethical issues of using animals as test organisms. Summarized below are some of the factors that are at work in the field of safety testing that are moving much, but not all, of the testing from intact mammals to mammalian in vitro and submammalian model systems. The most widespread application involves the use of in vitro tests to identify presumptive carcinogens. In vivo life-time studies in rodents or other animal species are presently the only methods for carcinogen assessment that are recognized in making regulatory decisions. However, the cost (presently $600,OOO-$l ,OOO,OOO per chemical) and performance time (two to three years) for the rodent bioassay are of sufficient magnitude to warrant preliminary testing with in vitro predictive tests in order to assist in the decision to invest corporate resources in these more expensive toxicology analyses. Using in vitro systems, which are highly reliable and can be quite predictive, tests on candidate compounds can be performed within three months for approximately 1 / 10 or 1 / 20 the cost of a single rodent cancer study. Many industrial chemicals that do not require carcinogen testing are nevertheless involved in significant human exposures, which would justify having some information that estimates the carcinogenic potential of these materials in order to protect production workers and endproduct consumers. Short-term in vitro tests are often the only source of this safety information. Cancer is fundamentally a cellular process that arises from specific alterations in the control mechanisms of individual cells. It is often difficult to establish a mechanism of action for agents that increases the tumor incidence in a rodent species under animal bioassay conditions. One of the advantages of short-term and in vitro techniques is their intrinsic potential to study the mechanisms of neoplasia at the cellular and molecular levels. Occasionally, unexpected sex, species, or strain-specific responses are encountered that might be resolved if the tumorigenic mechanism of the material were understood. In vitro techniques have been used to resolve problems involving differential responses in target strains, species, and organs. Short-term tests
Odor Identification and Decline in Different Cognitive Domains in Old Age

The authors examined the association of odor identification with rate of decline in different cognitive systems. Participants are 481 older persons from the Rush Memory and Aging Project. At baseline, the Brief Smell Identification Test was administered. At annual intervals for up to 3 years, a battery of 19 cognitive tests was administered from which previously established composite measures of 5 cognitive domains were derived. In mixed-effects models adjusted for age, sex, and education, lower odor identification score was associated with lower function at baseline in each cognitive domain. Lower score was also associated with more rapid decline in perceptual speed (estimate = 0.015, SE = 0.006, p = 0.013) and episodic memory (estimate = 0.012, SE = 0.006, p = 0.030) but not with rate of decline in semantic memory, working memory, or visuospatial ability. Thus, on average, a person with a low odor identification score (6, 10th percentile) declined more than twice as rapidly in perceptual speed and episodic memory as a person with a high score (11, 90th percentile). Results were unchanged in subsequent analyses that controlled for cigarette smoking or clinically diagnosed stroke. The results indicate that impaired odor identification in old age is associated with impaired global cognition and more rapid decline in perceptual processing speed and episodic memory.
Efficient WiFi fingerprint training using semi-supervised learning

Fingerfrinting based WiFi positioning approach needs an off-line training phase to build a radio map with received signal strength indication vector of each reference point. In existing systems, this training phase may cost a tremendous amount of workload to achieve satisfying location result. To cut down on the workload notably and guarantee the location result in the meantime, we will introduce an efficient WiFi fingerprint training method: Fa-Fi namely fast fingerprint generation, which uses semi-supervised learning in this article. This proposed method can reduce the training phase time cost to about 1/5, and guarantee the localization accuracy at the same time.
Genetic Damage Induced by Accidental Environmental Pollutants

Petroleum is one of the main energy sources worldwide. Its transport is performed by big tankers following some established marine routes. In the last 50 years a total amount of 37 oil tankers have given rise to great spills in different parts of the world, Prestige being the last one. After the accident, a big human mobilisation took place in order to clean beaches, rocks and fauna, trying to reduce the environmental consequences of this serious catastrophe. These people were exposed to the complex mixture of compounds contained in the oil. This study aimed at determine the level of environmental exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOC), and the possible damage induced on the population involved in the different cleaning tasks by applying the genotoxicity tests sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), micronucleus (MN) test, and comet assay. Four groups of individuals were included: volunteers (V), hired manual workers (MW), hired high-pressure cleaner workers (HPW) and controls. The higher VOC levels were associated with V environment, followed by MW and lastly by HPW, probably due to the use of high-pressure cleaners. Oil exposure during the cleaning tasks has caused an increase in the genotoxic damage in individuals, the comet assay being the most sensitive biomarker to detect it. Sex, age and tobacco consumption have shown to influence the level of genetic damage, while the effect of using protective devices was less noticeable than expected, perhaps because the kind used was not the most adequate.
Isolation and characterization of Salmonella enterica in day-old ducklings in Egypt

Abstract Importing day-old ducklings (DOD) unknowingly infected with non-typhoid Salmonella (NTS) may be associated with disease risk. Domestic and international trade may enhance this risk. Salmonella enterica serovars, their virulence genes combinations and antibiotic resistance, garner attention for their potentiality to contribute to the adverse health effects on populations throughout the world. The aim of this study was to estimate the risk of imported versus domestic DOD as potential carriers of NTS. The results confirm the prevalence of salmonellosis in imported ducklings was 18·5% (25/135), whereas only 12% (9/75) of cases were determined in the domestic ducklings. Fourteen serovars (Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella kisii, Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella gaillac, Salmonella uno, Salmonella eingedi, Salmonella shubra, Salmonella bardo, Salmonella inganda, Salmonella kentucky, Salmonella stanley, Salmonella virchow, Salmonella haifa, and Salmonella anatum) were isolated from the imported ducklings, whereas only S. enteritidis, S. typhimurium, S. virchow, and S. shubra were isolated from the domestic ducklings. The isolated Salmonella serovars were 100% susceptible to only colistin sulphate and 100% resistant to lincomycin. The 14 Salmonella serovars were screened for 11 virulence genes (invA, avrA, ssaQ, mgtC, siiD, sopB, gipA, sodC1, sopE1, spvC, and bcfC) by PCR. The invA, sopB, and bcfC genes were detected in 100% of the Salmonella serovars; alternatively, the gipA gene was absent in all of the isolated Salmonella serovars. The 11 virulent genes were not detected in either of S. stanley or S. haifa serovars. The results confirm an association between antibiotic resistance and virulence of Salmonella in the DOD. This study confirms the need for a country adherence to strict public health and food safety regimes.
[Colorectal carcinogenesis. 1. Hereditary predisposition and colorectal cancer].

Tumors arising sporadically represent 70-80% of colorectal cancer (CRC). The two best defined forms of inherited CRC-familial multiple polyposis (FMP) and Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colon Cancer (HNPCC) account respectively for<1% and 2-3% of CRC. These rare genetic syndromes (FMP, HNPCC, Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome) are caused by major predisposing gene mutations (APC gene, MMR gene, BMPR1A. SMAD4,.) and local environmental factors play only a minor role. In the sporadic forms of CRC, 25% have significant genetic predisposition probably related to alleles with weak penetration (APC*I1307K, TGFbR1*6Ala.) and are more strongly affected by environmental factors.