Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Allen's Islamophobia and the British news media : a critical evaluation of Islamophobia as a concept and its application to the written news media in Britain between 2001 and 2008.

This Dissertation firstly regards the definition of Islamophobia by Christopher Allen and its development out of Orientalism. Secondly it regards the written news media between 2001 and 2008 which includes the events of 9/11 and 7/7. Then the levels of representation Islam and Muslims receive the kinds of news hooks and discourses as well as types of language used are aspects covered that are then compared to Allen’s definition of Islamophobia. Thirdly specific stories from immediately after the 9/11 attacks are analysed and again compared to Allen’s definition. It is the aim of this dissertation to firstly assess to what extent the news media can be classified as Islamophobic, or have created trends in the papers where Islamophobic sentiments are standard and that negative stances have either gone unnoticed or have been deemed acceptable. Secondly this dissertation aims to establish how applicable and useful Allen’s definition is, especially in regards to the news media. This dissertation uses a Phenomenological approach and critical analysis on two research papers. Firstly: Images of Islam in the UK: The Representation of British Muslims in the National Press, 2000-8 – found in Pointing the Finger: Islam and Muslims in the British Media – which is an analysis on how written reporting of Islam and Muslims has changed over an eight year period. Secondly: Islam in the British Broadsheets: The Impact of Orientalism on Representations on Islam in the British Press which covers specific instances of representation of Muslims and Islam in the written media. It is the findings of this paper that the levels of representation Islam and Muslims received dramatically raised at the time of 9/11 and as such was the primary lens through which Islam and Muslims were viewed. It is also established that the types of News Hooks, Discourses and Language used during this time period were primarily negative in nature, either focusing on Terrorism or Extremism. Also feelings that are deemed to be Islamophobic are clearly more prevalent, or at least more conspicuous, in modern times as well being quite explicit directly after 9/11. However it is the argument of this paper that it is unclear as to whether this negative trend of representation and Islamophobia is due to the Media portraying a view on Islam and Muslims or if the Media is merely reflecting the already established prevalent view. It is established that Allen’s description of Islamophobia and its comprehensive nature demonstrate a model that can be easily utilised. As a definition it is similar in theme and form to that of racism and anti-Semitism. However it is the argument of this dissertation that Allen’s definition is too vague and open to vast application that can limit academic or critical evaluation of Islam and therefore needs to become more concise.
Protein Trafficking Rates Assessed by Quantum Dot Quenching with Bromocresol Green

Quantum dots are bright, photostable fluorophores used extensively to investigate biological processes. In this study, we report that bromocresol green (BCG) at low micromolar concentrations rapidly, efficiently and reversibly quenches the fluorescence of commercial quantum dots having a wide range of functionalities. The broad utility of BCG quenching of quantum dots in cell biology is showed in quantitative assays of trafficking of the β2‐adrenergic receptor (β2AR) and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR).
Munich Personal RePEc Archive Timing of Earnings and Capital Structure

This paper shows that asymmetric information about the timing of earnings can a¤ect corporate capital structure. It sheds some new light on two following questions: why may pro table rms be interested in issuing equity, and why does debt not necessarily signal a rm quality. These issues seem to be puzzling from the classical pecking-order theory or signalling theory point of view. The paper also contributes to the analysis of the link between debt-equity choice and subsequent performance after issue (short-term versus long-term) which has been widely discussed in empirical literature but did not get enough attention in theoretical research.
Non-GPS Data Dissemination for VANET

Fast, reliable, and efficient data dissemination in VANET is a key of success for intelligent transportation system. This requires a broadcasting protocol which has efficient forwarder nodes and an efficient broadcasting mechanism. In this paper, we propose a self-decision algorithm that allows a node to know that it belongs to a member of connected dominating set or not. The algorithm is a combination of density based algorithm and topology based algorithm, called “DTA. ” The algorithm does not require any geographical knowledge. Therefore, it can avoid violating a privacy issue. Moreover, the algorithm can resist inaccurate data than position-base algorithms that need high frequent beaconing for accurate data. The simulation results show that our algorithm provides the highest coverage results compared to existing solutions. We also propose a new broadcasting protocol, called “NoG. ” NoG consists of a broadcasting mechanism, a waiting timeout mechanism, and a beaconing mechanism. The proposed protocol operates without any geographical knowledge and provides reliable and efficient data dissemination. The performance is evaluated with a realistic network simulator (NS-3). Simulation results show that NoG with DTA outperforms other existing protocols in terms of reliability and data dissemination speed.
Anti-interleukin-17 antibodies attenuate airway inflammation in tobacco-smoke-exposed mice

Context: Our previous study showed that the interleukin-17 (IL-17) concentration in lung tissue and in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of rats with tobacco-smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was higher than that of control group. However, whether IL-17 inhibitor could decrease the effect of tobacco smoking is not known yet. Objectives: To investigate the significance of IL-17 antibodies (Ab) in tobacco-smoke-exposed (TSE) mice. Materials and methods: Male C57/BL6 mice were randomly divided into three groups: TSE group, TSE + anti-IL-17 Ab group, and control group. The number of cells in BALF and the concentrations of IL-17, IL-6, IL-8 and MUC5AC in BALF and lung tissue homogenate were measured. Pulmonary function was measured by pressure sensors, and histologic analysis of the lungs was done in each group. Results: Lung function tests in TSE + anti-IL-17 Ab group were the same compared with TSE group (P > 0.05). The total cell count and the number of neutrophil cells in BALF were significantly higher in TSE group than the normal control group (P < 0.01). Compared with the TSE group, the total cell count in TSE + anti-IL-17 Ab group was decreased, and the percentage of neutrophils in BALF was highly decreased (P < 0.01). Airway inflammation was alleviated in TSE + anti-IL-17 Ab group by histologic analysis. The concentrations of IL-17 in lung tissue were significantly lower in TSE + anti-IL-17 Ab group than in TSE group (P < 0.01). IL-17 was mainly expressed in the epithelial cells in the airways of TSE mice. The concentration of IL-6, IL-8 and MUC5AC in BALF was decreased in TSE + anti-IL-17 Ab group compared with TSE group. Discussion and conclusions: These data support a potential role for IL-17 in airway neutrophilic inflammation in TSE mice. Anti-IL-17 decreased the number of neutrophils as well as the concentration of MUC5AC in the BALF and attenuated neutrophilic airway inflammation.
A low cost miniature UHF RFID tag antenna using paper substrate

This paper presents a new design of a low cost passive UHF RFID tag antenna using paper substrate. The design is based on a short dipole loaded at both ends with a pair of triangles and four arms in order to reduce the size of the design. By choosing a proper dimension of the short dipole and the T-matching network, a good and broadband impedance matching can be achieved. The simulation results carried out by ADS from Agilent technologies and CST Microwave Studio electromagnetic solvers, demonstrate that we have good performances in term of return loss, gain, radiation pattern and read range for the desired frequency bands. This antenna has a total area of 80×34 mm2 and mounted on a paper substrate. With a constant dielectric permittivity, equal to 3.3, a thickness of 0.5 mm and a loss tangent of 0.04. The simulated bandwidth at the UHF RFID band is about 56 MHz, which covers the North and South American UHF RFID band (894–950 MHz). The gain obtained into simulation of this antenna is 1.88 dB at 915 MHz and the simulated read range is 5.78 m.
Morphogens and hepatic stellate cell fate regulation in chronic liver disease

Hepatic stellate cells (HSC) are the liver mesenchymal cell type which responds to hepatocellular damage and participates in wound healing. Although HSC myofibroblastic trans‐differentiation (activation) is implicated in excessive extracellular matrix deposition, molecular understanding of this phenotypic switch from the viewpoint of cell fate regulation is limited. Recent studies demonstrate the roles of anti‐adipogenic morphogens (Wnt, Necdin, Shh) in epigenetic repression of the HSC differentiation gene Pparγ as a causal event in HSC activation. These morphogens have positive cross‐interactions which converge to epigenetic repression of Pparγ involving the methyl‐CpG binding protein MeCP2. However, these morphogens expressed by activated HSC may also participate in cross‐talk between HSC and hepatoblasts/hepatocytes to support liver regeneration, and their aberrant regulation may contribute to liver tumorigenesis. Implications of HSC‐derived morphogens in these possibilities are discussed.
Passive Smoking in Children: Effect of Avoidance Strategies at Home as Measured by Hair Nicotine Levels

Abstract Hair nicotine levels were studied among children, relative to their caregivers' reported exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. A total of 117 children, aged 3 months to 10 years, were recruited consecutively from hospital inpatients, and their respective parents or caregivers were interviewed. Degree of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke was assessed via questionnaire. Scalp hair samples were collected from children and were assayed for nicotine. Levels of nicotine in hair among children reportedly exposed to smokers were higher than levels among unexposed children (χ2 = 26.46, p < .0001). In addition, hair nicotine levels were higher among children with mothers who smoked, compared with those whose mothers did not smoke. Whether household members smoked outside or inside the house had no significant effect on hair nicotine levels of children. Hair nicotine levels differed between children who were reportedly unexposed to environmental tobacco smoke at home and those who were exposed. Smoking outside the home, as reported by parents, did not cause a reduction in nicotine levels in the hair of children.
Interferometric observations for oxygen-containing organic molecules toward Orion-KL.

High spatial resolution observations (approximately 5") were made for the 3 mm transitions of methanol (CH3OH), methyl formate (HCOOCH3), and dimethyl ether [(CH3)2O] toward Orion-KL using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array. The 15(3)-14(4) A- CH3OH emission appears to be elongated along the line connecting IRc2 and "the southern condensation (SC)", which may suggest a relation between methanol and the outflow from IRc2. The HCOOCH3 (7(1,6)-6(1,5)) and (CH3)2O (15(2,13)-15(1,14)) emissions appear to be well concentrated toward SC with an angular size of approximately 6". 5 (at the 2 sigma level). There also exists another oxygen-rich condensation to the west of IRc2 (angular size approximately 4".5) having column densities of HCOOCH3 and (CH3)2O comparable to those of SC. We derive the total column densities 6.8 x 10(16) cm-2, 1.4 x 10(16) cm-2 and 2.7 x 10(16) cm-2 for CH3OH, HCOOCH3, and (CH3)2O, respectively, at the core of SC.
Verifications around the Linux Kernel

In this paper, we will present the current state of the art around the topic of verifying the Linux Kernel. However, we do not limit ourselves to only the Linux Kernel, but we also studied what has been done around other kernel, such as some work around OpenBSD, work from Microsoft, or work around the L4 Micro Kernel. We will talk about model checking techniques, bug-finding techniques, bug life tracking tools, and present some classification of the current state of the art to be able to have a clear view of what has been done, why, what has not been done, why, and what could be done and how. We will also study a specfic case of hand-done model checking of a small part of the Linux Kernel.
Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence Genes in Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis from Humans and Retail Red Meat

The emergence of antimicrobial-resistant and virulent enterococci is a major public health concern. While enterococci are commonly found in food of animal origin, the knowledge on their zoonotic potential is limited. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the antimicrobial susceptibility and virulence traits of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium isolates from human clinical specimens and retail red meat in Slovenia. A total of 242 isolates were investigated: 101 from humans (71 E. faecalis, 30 E. faecium) and 141 from fresh beef and pork (120 E. faecalis, 21 E. faecium). The susceptibility to 12 antimicrobials was tested using a broth microdilution method, and the presence of seven common virulence genes was investigated using PCR. In both species, the distribution of several resistance phenotypes and virulence genes was disparate for isolates of different origin. All isolates were susceptible to daptomycin, linezolid, teicoplanin, and vancomycin. In both species, the susceptibility to antimicrobials was strongly associated with a food origin and the multidrug resistance, observed in 29.6% of E. faecalis and 73.3% E. faecium clinical isolates, with a clinical origin (Fisher's exact test). Among meat isolates, in total 66.0% of E. faecalis and E. faecium isolates were susceptible to all antimicrobials tested and 32.6% were resistant to either one or two antimicrobials. In E. faecalis, several virulence genes were significantly associated with a clinical origin; the most common (31.0%) gene pattern included all the tested genes except hyl. In meat isolates, the virulence genes were detected in E. faecalis only and the most common pattern included ace, efaA, and gelE (32.5%), of which gelE showed a statistically significant association with a clinical origin. These results emphasize the importance of E. faecalis in red meat as a reservoir of virulence genes involved in its persistence and human infections with reported severe outcomes.
Classifier and feature set ensembles for web page classification

Web page classification is an important research direction on web mining. The abundant amount of data available on the web makes it essential to develop efficient and robust models for web mining tasks. Web page classification is the process of assigning a web page to a particular predefined category based on labelled data. It serves for several other web mining tasks, such as focused web crawling, web link analysis and contextual advertising. Machine learning and data mining methods have been successfully applied for several web mining tasks, including web page classification. Multiple classifier systems are a promising research direction in machine learning, which aims to combine several classifiers by differentiating base classifiers and/or dataset distributions so that more robust classification models can be built. This paper presents a comparative analysis of four different feature selections (correlation, consistency, information gain and chi-square-based feature selection) and four different ensemble learning methods (Boosting, Bagging, Dagging and Random Subspace) based on four different base learners (naive Bayes, K-nearest neighbour algorithm, C4.5 algorithm and FURIA algorithm). The article examines the predictive performance of ensemble methods for web page classification. The experimental results indicate that feature selection and ensemble learning can enhance the predictive performance of classifiers in web page classification. For the DMOZ-50 dataset, the highest average predictive performance (88.1%) is obtained with the combination of consistency-based feature selection with AdaBoost and naive Bayes algorithms, which is a promising result for web page classification. Experimental results indicate that Bagging and Random Subspace ensemble methods and correlation-based and consistency-based feature selection methods obtain better results in terms of accuracy rates.
Role of phosphorylated p50-NF-kappaB in the ultraviolet response of mouse skin.

The skin constitutes a primary target for stimuli such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation and tumor promoters, leading to both inflammatory and altered proliferative responses. Since the nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) family of transcription factors plays a major role in these biological processes, we sought to elucidate its expression in newborn mouse skin upon UV and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) exposures. We have identified the nuclear NF-kappaB binding activity in mouse skin as composed of p50/p65 heterodimers and p50 homodimers by supershift assays using different NF-kappaB-containing sequences. After UV exposure, but not TPA treatment, we detected increased NF-kappaB binding activity that correlated with a decrease of IkappaBalpha protein levels, although it was not accompanied by p50 or p65 translocation. Immunostaining of newborn mouse sections confirmed that p50 was predominantly localized in the cytoplasm of epidermal basal cells before and after UV treatment. By immunoblotting, we found distinct phosphorylated forms of p50 in cytoplasmic extracts, while only a hyperphosphorylated form was detected in nuclear extracts. In vitro dephosphorylation of skin extracts dramatically reduced the affinity of p50-containing dimers for DNA. Our data suggest that the NF-kappaB response of mouse skin to UV exposure, contrary to most stimuli in other tissues, implies additional mechanisms other than translocation, such as p50 phosphorylation.
IMPACTOS NA VIDA SOCIAL E FAMILIAR DO TRABALHO POR TURNOS NA PERSPECTIVA DOS FAMILIARES

RESUMO A investigação tem privilegiado o estudo dos impactos do trabalho por turnos na saúde dos trabalhadores considerando a perspectiva dos próprios. Em contraste, o presente estudo avaliou os impactos dessa modalidade horária na vida familiar e social dos trabalhadores, segundo a perspetiva dos cônjuges/companheiros(as). Compararam-se também os impactos de dois horários de trabalho diferentes (trabalho por turnos vs. horário normal) na vida familiar e social. Participaram no estudo 515 cônjuges de policiais portugueses. Verificou-se que o trabalho por turnos tem impacto de moderado a elevado em todas as áreas avaliadas da vida familiar e social, tendo os cônjuges de trabalhadores por turnos relatado maiores impactos na reorganização familiar e na vida social conjunta. Quanto aos dois horários, foram encontradas diferenças estatisticamente significativas em todas as áreas avaliadas, tendo os familiares de trabalhadores por turnos relatado maiores impactos do horário de trabalho do cônjuge do que os familiares de trabalhadores diurnos.
Importance of Spin–Orbit Coupling in Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Perovskites for Photovoltaic Applications

Three-dimensional (3D) hybrid perovskites CH3NH3PbX3 (X = Br, I) have recently been suggested as new key materials for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) leading to a new class of hybrid semiconductor photovoltaic cells (HSPC). Thanks to density functional theory calculations, we show that the band gap of these compounds is dominated by a giant spin–orbit coupling (SOC) in the conduction-band (CB). At room temperature, direct and isotropic optical transitions are associated to a spin–orbit split-off band related to the triply degenerated CB of the cubic lattice without SOC. Due to the strong SOC, the electronic states involved in the optical absorption are only slightly perturbed by local distortions of the lattice. In addition, band offset calculations confirm that CH3NH3PbX3/TiO2 is a reference material for driving electrons toward the electrode in HSPC. Two-dimensional (2D) hybrids are also suggested to reach further flexibility for light conversion efficiency. Our study affords the basic concepts to re.
Asynchronous therapy targeting Nogo-A enhances neurobehavioral recovery by reducing neuronal loss and promoting neurite outgrowth after cerebral ischemia in mice

Abstract Therapeutics targeting the Nogo-A signal pathway hold promise to promote recovery following brain injury. Based on the temporal characteristics of Nogo-A expression in the process of cerebral ischemia and reperfusion, we tested a novel asynchronous treatment, in which TAT-M9 was used in the early stage to decrease neuronal loss, and TAT-NEP1-40 was used in the delayed stage to promote neurite outgrowth after bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) in mice. Both TAT-M9 and TAT-NEP1-40 were efficiently delivered into the brains of mice by intraperitoneal injection. TAT-M9 treatment promoted neuron survival and inhibited neuronal apoptosis. Asynchronous therapy with TAT-M9 and TAT-NEP1-40 increased the expression of Tau, GAP43 and MAP-2 proteins, and enhanced short-term and long-term cognitive functions. In conclusion, the asynchronous treatment had a long-term neuroprotective effect, which reduced neurologic injury and apoptosis, promoted neurite outgrowth and enhanced functional recovery after ischemia. It suggests that this asynchronous treatment could be a promising therapy for cerebral ischemia in humans.
Evolving data classification programs using genetic parallel programming

A novel linear genetic programming (LGP) paradigm called genetic parallel programming (GPP) has been proposed to evolve parallel programs based on a multi-ALU processor. It is found that GPP can evolve parallel programs for data classification problems. In this paper, five binary-class UCI machine learning repository databases are used to test the effectiveness of the proposed GPP-classifier. The main advantages of employing GPP for data classification are: 1) speeding up evolutionary process by parallel hardware fitness evaluation; and 2) discovering parallel algorithms automatically. Experimental results show that the GPP-classifier evolves simple classification programs with good generalization performance. The accuracies of these evolved classifiers are comparable to other existing classification algorithms.
Analytical Modeling of Traffic Flow in the Substation Communication Network

A custom-designed and well-monitored substation communication network (SCN) can maintain fast and reliable information transmission and lead to improved operation and management of a substation automation system (SAS). In order to achieve this goal, a traffic-flow model, including a port connection model, a traffic-flow source model, and a traffic-flow service model of an SCN is developed in this paper. Based on the traffic-flow model, a traffic-flow calculation algorithm is designed to obtain the distribution of traffic load and maximum message delay. In order to verify the accuracy of the proposed method, the SCN of a simplified substation is established in the laboratory. And the distribution of traffic load and maximum message delay calculated using the proposed method are compared to that measured by a network analyzer. Furthermore, possible applications, such as network device selection, network performance analysis, and sensitivity analysis of the proposed method are demonstrated based on a typical 220-kV substation.