Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
B‐cell antigen‐receptor signalling in lymphocyte development

Signalling through the B‐cell antigen receptor (BCR) is required throughout B‐cell development and peripheral maturation. Targeted disruption of BCR components or downstream effectors indicates that specific signalling mechanisms are preferentially required for central B‐cell development, peripheral maturation and repertoire selection. Additionally, the avidity and the context in which antigen is encountered determine both cell fate and differentiation in the periphery. Although the signalling and receptor components required at each stage have been largely elucidated, the molecular mechanisms through which specific signalling are evoked at each stage are still obscure. In particular, it is not known how the pre‐BCR initiates the signals required for normal development or how immature B cells regulate the signalling pathways that determine cell fate. In this review, we will summarize the recent studies that have defined the molecules required for B‐cell development and maturation as well as the theories on how signals may be regulated at each stage.
Who's the boss? Contending with competing expectations from customers and management

Executive Summary Customer-contact workers routinely face competing expectations from management and customers. While management expects customer-contact workers to follow their rules in order to provide efficient and consistent high-quality service, customers often have needs and requests that require customer-contact workers to bend the rules in order to fulfill them. When customers, through commissions, tips, or other means, directly reward these customer-contact workers, the dilemma becomes even more intense. While this problem is well-established, we know little about how and why customer-contact workers choose between satisfying customer or management expectations. Our study examines the process that customer-contact workers go through to make this choice. By developing psychological contracts with both customers and management, customer-contact workers balance the costs and benefits associated with meeting/not meeting their competing expectations. In order to mitigate the problem of customer-contac.
Leakage and charge injection optimization in a-Si AMOLED displays

In this paper, we examine the effect of switch thin-film transistor (TFT) leakage and charge injection on the operation and driving of amorphous silicon (a-Si) active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays. Charge injection causes an undesirable and immediate drop in the data voltage stored on the storage capacitor CS when the switch TFT is turned off, and the leakage of the switch TFT causes the charge on CS to gradually leak out over the frame time. While making the row line negative helps reduce the leakage, it increases the voltage swing on the row line and causes more charge injection. We have demonstrated that for a given VDD, there is an optimal negative gate drive voltage on the switch TFT that minimizes the overall drop in data voltage on CS over the frame time. In addition, we have also shown that even though this optimal driving point changes with aging of the display since both leakage and VT increase over time, it is possible to keep the voltage drop on CS constant irrespective of aging. The analysis provides the designer with a means to improve the long term grey-scale performance of the AMOLED display
Inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases by lung TIMP-1 gene transfer limits monocrotaline-induced pulmonary vascular remodeling in rats.

Extracellular matrix dysregulation is key to the development of pulmonary hypertension (PH), suggesting a pivotal role for the proteases that control matrix remodeling. Both hypoxia- and monocrotaline-induced PH are associated with increased protease activity in the distal and proximal pulmonary arteries. However, the role of proteases is not completely understood. In hypoxic PH, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibition increased pulmonary vascular remodeling, whereas in monocrotaline PH, serine elastase inhibition reversed pulmonary vascular remodeling. These conflicting effects of protease inhibition may be ascribable to differences across experimental models in either the mechanisms underlying PH or the methods used to inhibit protease activity. In the present study, we investigated the effects of specific MMP inhibition on monocrotaline PH development. To inhibit lung MMP in rats exposed to monocrotaline (60 mg/kg as a single subcutaneous injection), we used intratracheal instillation of the adenovirus-mediated human TIMP-1 gene (Ad.hTIMP-1, 10(8) plaque-forming units) as in our previous study on hypoxic PH. MMP inhibition in lungs was evaluated by in situ zymography. Rats treated with Ad.hTIMP-1 had less severe pulmonary vascular remodeling evidenced by a decreased right ventricular hypertrophy, with decreased muscularization of peripheral pulmonary arteries and increased lung-cell apoptosis compared to controls. No periadventitial collagen accumulation was observed in distal pulmonary arteries, whereas elastin content was significantly increased in Ad.hTIMP-1-treated rats. These data support a deleterious role for proteases in toxic and inflammatory PH and indicate that MMPs may have opposite effects in different PH models.
Some features of barbiturate interaction and inhibition of NADH-cytochrome C oxidoreductase in respiring systems.

The inhibitory effects of barbiturates on the NADH-cytochrome c oxidoreductase enzyme have been studied in respiring mitochondrial and submitochondrial preparations. These included a particulate enzyme derived from sucrose mitochondria and a 0.2% deoxycholate extractable enzyme derived from a Keilin-Hartree particle. Inhibition by the barbiturates has been localized between the enzyme flavoprotein and coenzyme Q-1. Blockade at this site probably involves interaction between the barbiturate, the enzyme and a coenzyme Q-ferrous complex. Other features of the barbiturate inhibition which have been studied are the correlations of lipid solubility and of ability to lower surface tension of water with inhibition of the enzyme. The correlation of inhibition by barbiturates with lipid solubility was high ( r = 0.95), whereas the correlation with lowering surface tension was moderate ( r = 0.66). Interaction reversibility by amobarbital with respiring particles was shown to be reversible and without effect on subsequent sensitivity to added barbiturate.
Effect of adding unconventional raw materials on the technological properties of rice fresh pasta

The aim of this study was to develop fettuccini type rice fresh pasta by cold extrusion. To produce the pasta, a 22 Central Composite Rotational Design was used, in which the effects of the addition of pre-gelatinized rice flour - PGRF (0-60%) and modified egg albumin - MEA (0-10%) were studied. The dependent variables were the results of the cooking test and of the instrumental texture. The optimum cooking time for all of the formulations of rice fresh pasta was 3 minutes. MEA had a greater effect on increasing the weight of the pasta when compared to that of PGRF. It was found that with the addition of PGRF increase in loss of solids in cooking water, whereas MEA exerted the opposite effect on this parameter. Moreover, the maximum value of MEA (10%) had an optimum effect on pasta firmness, while PGRF had a negative effect on this parameter. The maximum values of PGRF and MEA reduced the stickiness of the pasta. Based on these results and on the parameters considered as most important, the rice pasta with the best technological characteristics was that with the maximum levels of MEA (10%) and no addition of PGRF (0%). This product was submitted to sensory and microbiological analyses, with good results.
The Potential for Small Scale Hydropower Development in the U.S.

In an earlier paper (Kosnik, 2008), the potential for small scale hydropower to contribute to US renewable energy supplies, as well as reduce current carbon emissions, was investigated. It was discovered that thousands of viable sites capable of producing significant amounts of hydroelectric power were available throughout the United States. The primary objective of this paper is to determine the cost-effectiveness of developing these small scale hydropower sites. Just because a site has the necessary topographical features to allow small scale hydropower development, does not mean that it should be pursued from a cost-benefit perspective, even if it is a renewable energy resource with minimal effects on the environment. This analysis finds that while the average cost of developing small scale hydropower is relatively high, there still remain hundreds of sites on the low end of the cost scale that are cost-effective to develop right now.
A New Perspective to Graphical Characterization of Multiagent Controllability

Recently, graphical characterization of multiagent controllability has been studied extensively. A major effort in the study is to determine controllability directly from topology structures of communication graphs. In this paper, we proposed the concept of controllability destructive nodes, which indicates that the difficulty in graphical characterization turns out to be the identification of topology structures of controllability destructive nodes. It is shown that each kind of double and triple controllability destructive nodes happens to have a uniform topology structure which can be defined similarly. The definition, however, is verified not to be applicable to the topology structures of quadruple controllability destructive (QCD) nodes. Even so, a design method is proposed to uncover topology structures of QCD nodes for graphs with any size, and a complete graphical characterization is presented for the graphs consisting of five vertices. One advantage of the established complete graphical characterization is that the controllability of any graph with any selection of leaders can be determined directly from the identified/defined destructive topology structures. The results generate several necessary and sufficient graphical conditions for controllability. A key step of arriving at these results is the discovery of a relationship between the topology structure of the controllability destructive nodes and a corresponding eigenvector of the Laplacian matrix.
HETEROGENEITY OF ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE IN NEUROBLASTOMA

Abstract– Multiple forms of acetylcholine hydrolyzing activity have been observed in Triton X‐100 treated homogenates of mouse neuroblastoma cells. All these forms appear to be the true acetylcholinesterase, AChE (EC 3.1.17): they are substrate‐inhibited; hydrolyze acetylcholine > acetyl‐β‐methylcholine ≫ butrylcholine and are preferentially inhibited by specific AChE inhibitors. Almost all of the cell AChE activity is membrane associated, but readily ‘solubilized’ by Triton X‐100 and as such appears free of membrane contamination. With the aid of affinity chromatography the ‘solubilized’ neuroblastoma AChE has been partially purified (490‐fold) to a specific activity of 34,300 nmol/min/mg protein.
Nitrate dynamics in riparian forests : microbial studies

While riparian forest have a demonstrated ability to remove nitrate (NO 3 - ) moving from uplands before it enters streams, there is considerable uncertainty as the the mechanisms of NO 3 - removal in these areas. We characterized spatial and temporal variation in denitrification enzyme activity (DEA), microbial biomass C and N content, soil respiration and potential net N mineralization and nitrification in three riparian forest sites consisting of soil catenas containing moderately well, somewhat poorly, poorly, and very poorly drained soils (inceptisols and entisols) []
A Fast Approximation Algorithm for Computing the Frequencies of Subgraphs in a Given Graph

In this paper we give an algorithm which, given a labeled graph on $n$ vertices and a list of all labeled graphs on $k$ vertices, provides for each graph $H$ of this list an approximation to the number of induced copies of $H$ in $G$ with total error small. This algorithm has running time $O(n^{{1 \over \log \log n}} \cdot M(n))$, where $M(n)$ is the time needed to square a $n$ by $n$ matrix with 0, 1-entries over the integers. The main tool in designing this algorithm is a variant of the regularity lemma of Szemeredi.
Inhibitory effects of sodium quercetin monosulfate on pig platelet aggregation induced by thrombin.

AIM To study the inhibitory effects of sodium quercetin monosulfate (SQMS) on pig platelet aggregation induced by thrombin. METHODS Platelet aggregation was analyzed by turbidimetry. Cytosolic free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) was determined by Fura-2 fluorescence. Activity of protein kinase C (PKC) was assayed by incubating PKC with histone III S and [gamma-32 P] ATP. The cytoskeletal proteins were precipitated by Triton X-100 and separated by SDS-PAGE. RESULTS SQMS inhibited the platelet aggregation induced by thrombin 500 U.L-1 with IC50 132 (50-347) mumol.L-1. SQMS inhibited Ca2+ influx in blood platelets induced by thrombin 500 U.L-1 in the presence of extracellular Ca2+ 1 mmol.L-1 with IC50 20 (9-46) mumol.L-1; SQMS inhibited the internal Ca2+ release in the absence of extracellular Ca2+. SQMS also decreased [Ca2+]i level in quiescent blood platelets. SQMS (10-160 mumol.L-1) inhibited the activity of cytosolic PKC from blood platelets in a concentration-dependent manner, but had no effect on membrane PKC. SQMS (20-80 mumol.L-1) inhibited the actin polymerization induced by thrombin 500 U.L-1 inblood platelets in a concentration-dependent manner. CONCLUSION SQMS inhibited pig platelet aggregation induced by thrombin and its mechanism might be due to its inhibitions of Ca2+ influx, internal Ca2- release, PKC activity, and actin polymerization.
A secure true edge based 4 least significant bits steganography

In this paper true edge based data hiding technique is proposed to take advantage of less sensitivity of human visual system to changes in complex regions of the image. This method utilizes edge detection and Steganography techniques. The Canny edge detection technique is used to identify true edge pixels and 4LSB Steganography technique is used to hide a secret message in the 4 least significant bits of edge pixels in the cover image. By hiding data in edges improve the quality of stego-image significantly. The results obtained show that the proposed technique hides large amount secret information in the cover image with better visual image quality than other techniques. The experimental results demonstrate the average hiding capacity of 4%, and the PSNR and MSE are 45dB and 1.60 respectively.
Suggestibility and signal detection performance in hallucination-prone students

ABSTRACT Introduction: Auditory hallucinations are associated with signal detection biases. We examine the extent to which suggestions influence performance on a signal detection task (SDT) in highly hallucination-prone and low hallucination-prone students. We also explore the relationship between trait suggestibility, dissociation and hallucination proneness. Method: In two experiments, students completed on-line measures of hallucination proneness (the revised Launay–Slade Hallucination Scale; LSHS-R), trait suggestibility (Inventory of Suggestibility) and dissociation (Dissociative Experiences Scale-II). Students in the upper and lower tertiles of the LSHS-R performed an auditory SDT. Prior to the task, suggestions were made pertaining to the number of expected targets (Experiment 1, N = 60: high vs. low suggestions; Experiment 2, N = 62, no suggestion vs. high suggestion vs. no voice suggestion). Results: Correlational and regression analyses indicated that trait suggestibility and dissociation predicted hallucination proneness. Highly hallucination-prone students showed a higher SDT bias in both studies. In Experiment 1, both bias scores were significantly affected by suggestions to the same degree. In Experiment 2, highly hallucination-prone students were more reactive to the high suggestion condition than the controls. Conclusion: Suggestions may affect source-monitoring judgments, and this effect may be greater in those who have a predisposition towards hallucinatory experiences.
Poster Abstract: E-Loc: Indoor Localization through Building Electric Wiring

E-loc is an indoor localization system, which, through using existing indoor electric wiring, detects occupants' location. While many indoor localization technologies require intensive infrastructural supports, E-loc obtain locations by injecting a signal into the protected earth line of existing residential power network. Caused by human body inside a room, the electromagnetic character changes can be detected to deduce a resident's location. We evaluate our system through experiments inside multiple rooms and our system is able to reach meter-level accuracy.
Proactive-Reactive Prediction for Data Streams

Prediction in streaming data is an important activity in various branches of science such as sociology, economics and politics. Two major challenges offered by data streams are (1) the underlying concept of the data may change over time; and (2) the data may grow without limit so that it is difficult to retain a long history of raw data. Previous research has mainly focused on manipulating relatively recent data. The distinctive contribution of this paper is in three folds. First, it uses a measure of conceptual equivalence to organize the data history into a history of concepts. Transition patterns among concepts can be learned from this history to help prediction. Second, it carries out prediction at two levels, a general level of predicting each oncoming concept and a specific level of predicting each instance’s class. Third, it proposes a system RePro that incorporates reactive and proactive mechanisms to predict in streaming data with efficacy and efficiency. Experiments are conducted to compare RePro with representative existing prediction methods on various benchmark data sets that represent diversified scenarios of concept change. Empirical evidence offers inspiring insights and suggests the proposed methodology is an advisable solution to prediction for data streams.
Forskolin, a New Positive Inotropic Agent, and Its Influence on Myocardial Electrogenic Cation Movements

Forskolin exerts concentration-dependent positive inotropic effects in guinea pig isolated papillary muscles; resting potential, overshoot, and upstroke velocity remain unchanged. It markedly potentiates Ca2+ -mediated action potentials elicited in partially depolarized myocardial fibers (increases in upstroke velocity, height, and action potential duration) and restores slow-channel-mediated transmembrane Ca2+ influx and contractile force under conditions of external Ca2+ withdrawal or in the presence of the specific Ca2+ antagonist D 600. In partially depolarized ventricular muscle, the potentiation of transmembrane inward Ca2+ current by forskolin is correlated with a reciprocal inhibition of Mg2+-induced electrogenic membrane effects. In this respect, forskolin resembles other Ca2+ influx promoters such as β-adrenoceptor agonists, histamine, and dibutyryl-cyclic AMP (cAMP). All these agents favor sarcolemmal Ca2+ accumulation through increases in intracellular cAMP and the subsequent formation of Ca2+-binding phosphorylated membrane proteins; Mg2+ ions seem to be displaced by Ca2+. These findings support the concept that the effects of forskolin result from an increase in intracellular cAMP.
Influence of epiphytic algal coverage on fish predation rates in simulated eelgrass habitats.

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The amblr: A mobile spatial audio music browser

Music collections are often visualized in a two-dimensional space to show relationships between songs. Some user interfaces interacting with these two-dimensional maps of songs use spatial auditory display to allow easier access to the audio content. A common auditory display is to have multiple songs playing simultaneously from differing spatial locations around the user. However, when using this style of interface the sonification of the collection needs to be limited to a local subset of the collection, usually three to six songs. This paper presents the amblr, a spatial audio music browser that allows a user to auralize the collection. It combines effective design from previous work with new approaches to create a novel interface. This allows for a more intuitive navigation of a virtual space populated by a large collection songs without relying on textual metadata.
Results of the first phase I clinical trial of the novel II-key hybrid preventive HER-2/neu peptide (AE37) vaccine.

PURPOSE HER-2/neu is overexpressed in breast cancer and is the source of immunogenic peptides. CD4(+) T-helper peptides for HER-2/neu are being evaluated in vaccine trials. The addition of Ii-Key, a four-amino-acid LRMK modification, increases vaccine potency when compared with unmodified class II epitopes. We present the results of the first human phase I trial of the Ii-Key hybrid HER-2/neu peptide (AE37) vaccine in disease-free, node-negative breast cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS The dose escalation trial included five dose groups, to determine safety and optimal dose of the hybrid peptide (100 microg, 500 microg, 1,000 microg) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF; range, 0 to 250 microg). In the event of significant local toxicity, GM-CSF (or peptide in absence of GM-CSF) was reduced by 50%. Immunologic response was monitored by delayed-type hypersensitivity and [(3)H]thymidine proliferative assays for both the hybrid AE37 (LRMK-positive HER-2/neu:776-790) and AE36 (unmodified HER-2/neu:776-790). RESULTS All 15 patients completed the trial with no grade 3 to 5 toxicities. Dose reductions occurred in 47% of patients. In the second group (peptide, 500 microg; GM-CSF, 250 microg), all patients required dose reductions, prompting peptide-only inoculations in the third group. The vaccine induced dose-dependent immunologic responses in vitro and in vivo to AE37, as well as AE36. CONCLUSION The hybrid AE37 vaccine seems safe and well tolerated with minimal toxicity if properly dosed. AE37 is capable of eliciting HER-2/neu-specific immune responses, even without the use of an adjuvant. This trial represents the first human experience with the Ii-Key modification, and to our knowledge, AE37 is the first peptide vaccine to show potency in the absence of an immunoadjuvant.