Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social agency versus global determinism in Latin American urban development.

This paper focuses on liberalization and globalization as contributing factors to the process of urban restructuring in Latin America, and explores five propositions that argue against the determinism of technology and global forces and favor the possibility of influential local action. The five propositions are as follows: 1) the inequalities apparent in Latin American cities are not the inevitable result of globalization; 2) the factors that make a city sustainable economically and environmentally are different for the various sections of its population; 3) the destiny of cities is not determined but subject to the influence of social agents; 4) among the decisive social agents are local politicians and managers; and 5) effective urban policy requires sustained management.
Automatic Defect Classification of TFT-LCD Panels with Shape, Histogram and Color Features

In this paper, an automatic defect classification algorithm for thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) manufacturing is proposed. Each sample of defect data contains three images: the original image, the defect shape image and the circuit zone image. A set of features including shape, histogram and color is extracted. Some common classifiers were tested in the experiments and Linear-SVM (Linear Surport Vector Machine) was chosen in practical manufacturing. A novel LBP-E feature considering intensity equality proposed in this paper is compared to other original rotation invariant LBP (Local Binary Pattern) features. The experimental results show that our method can generate a better result with a relatively low dimension number.
FORMAL SPECIFICATION AND VERIFICATION OF CONCURRENT AND REACTIVE SYSTEMS

An information display system which comprises a plurality of sets of terminal equipment, each set including a CRT for indicating a menu having a plurality of selection branches, monitoring picture tubes for displaying a motion picture, and/or a still picture, and input terminals for inputting data to start the operation of selection of a menu. The motion picture or the still picture is displayed on the monitoring picture tubes according to the selected menu for presenting desired information desired by the user of the system.
Association of Variation at the ABO Locus With Circulating Levels of Soluble Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1, Soluble P-selectin, and Soluble E-selectin: A Meta-Analysis

Background— Circulating levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, soluble P-selectin, and soluble E-selectin have been associated with variation at the ABO locus. To evaluate these associations and the effect sizes, we performed a meta-analysis with new and previous reported data for polymorphism rs579459. Methods and Results— Compared with major allele homozygotes, heterozygotes and minor allele homozygotes had 4.6% (95% CI, 3.4%–5.8%, P=7.3×10−14) and 7.2% (95% CI, 4.7%–9.7%, P=1.5×10−8), respectively, lower soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 levels (n=33 671). An allele dose-dependent association also was observed for soluble P-selectin (n=4921) with heterozygotes and minor allele homozygotes having 11.5% (95% CI, 7.2%–15.8%, P=1.7×10−7) and 18.6% (95% CI, 9.1%–28.1%, P=1.2×10−4), respectively, lower levels than in major allele homozygotes. A larger effect size, again consistent with an additive genetic model, was seen for soluble E-selectin (n=2860) whose level was 25.6% (95% CI, 19.0%–32.2%, P=2.1×10−14) lower in heterozygotes and 43.3% (95% CI, 36.9%–49.3%, P=4.3×10−42) lower in minor allele homozygotes than in major allele homozygotes. Conclusions— The data support the association of variation at the ABO locus with soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, soluble P-selectin, and soluble E-selectin levels.
S-Layer Homology Domain Proteins Csac_0678 and Csac_2722 Are Implicated in Plant Polysaccharide Deconstruction by the Extremely Thermophilic Bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus

ABSTRACT The genus Caldicellulosiruptor contains extremely thermophilic bacteria that grow on plant polysaccharides. The genomes of Caldicellulosiruptor species reveal certain surface layer homology (SLH) domain proteins that have distinguishing features, pointing to a role in lignocellulose deconstruction. Two of these proteins in Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus (Csac_0678 and Csac_2722) were examined from this perspective. In addition to three contiguous SLH domains, the Csac_0678 gene encodes a glycoside hydrolase family 5 (GH5) catalytic domain and a family 28 carbohydrate-binding module (CBM); orthologs to Csac_0678 could be identified in all genome-sequenced Caldicellulosiruptor species. Recombinant Csac_0678 was optimally active at 75°C and pH 5.0, exhibiting both endoglucanase and xylanase activities. SLH domain removal did not impact Csac_0678 GH activity, but deletion of the CBM28 domain eliminated binding to crystalline cellulose and rendered the enzyme inactive on this substrate. Csac_2722 is the largest open reading frame (ORF) in the C. saccharolyticus genome (predicted molecular mass of 286,516 kDa) and contains two putative sugar-binding domains, two Big4 domains (bacterial domains with an immunoglobulin [Ig]-like fold), and a cadherin-like (Cd) domain. Recombinant Csac_2722, lacking the SLH and Cd domains, bound to cellulose and had detectable carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) hydrolytic activity. Antibodies directed against Csac_0678 and Csac_2722 confirmed that these proteins bound to the C. saccharolyticus S-layer. Their cellular localization and functional biochemical properties indicate roles for Csac_0678 and Csac_2722 in recruitment and hydrolysis of complex polysaccharides and the deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass. Furthermore, these results suggest that related SLH domain proteins in other Caldicellulosiruptor genomes may also be important contributors to plant biomass utilization.
RF Characterization of Multi-walled carbon nanotube and ZnO film

Growing interests on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and ZnO film let us consider radio frequency characteristics for future employment in electronic devices. Prior to the deployment and development for RF devices, the fundamentals about two materials are investigated. Multi-walled CNTs are characterized up to 50 GHz. Using the measured S-parameters Telegrapher's equivalent circuit models are extracted. And, for the ZnO film the equivalent circuit parameters are obtained as well. The circuit parameters provide the useful criterion to evaluate RF performance.
The effect of growth hormone replacement therapy on cortisol–cortisone interconversion in hypopituitary adults: evidence for growth hormone modulation of extrarenal 11β‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity

Growth hormone (GH) replacement therapy in hypopituitary adults has been associated with a decreased urinary ratio of 11‐hydroxy/11‐oxo‐cortisol metabolites (CoM). This could result from GH regulation of the activity of hepatic or renal 11β‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β‐HSD1 and 2), the enzymes responsible for cortisol–cortisone interconversion, or alternatively it might reflect decreased cortisol availability. To elucidate this, we examined the effect of GH on urinary cortisol, cortisone and cortisol metabolites in hypopituitary adults at increasing doses of hydrocortisone replacement.
Standard, and novel cytotoxic and molecular-targeted, therapies for HNSCC: an evidence-based review

(1) Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the sixth most frequently occurring cancer worldwide. (2) Chemotherapy has shown some success as part of multimodal treatment schedules for locally advanced, nonmetastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and too a much lesser extent for metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. (3) A recent meta-analysis of 32 studies involving >10 000 patients concluded that chemotherapy added to radiotherapy produces a large survival advantage relative to radiotherapy alone. (4) Concurrent or alternate chemoradiotherapy, with a schedule based on cisplatin, has an established place in the management of locally advanced nonmetastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Quorum Sensing Regulates the Osmotic Stress Response in Vibrio harveyi

ABSTRACT Bacteria use a chemical communication process called quorum sensing to monitor cell density and to alter behavior in response to fluctuations in population numbers. Previous studies with Vibrio harveyi have shown that LuxR, the master quorum-sensing regulator, activates and represses >600 genes. These include six genes that encode homologs of the Escherichia coli Bet and ProU systems for synthesis and transport, respectively, of glycine betaine, an osmoprotectant used during osmotic stress. Here we show that LuxR activates expression of the glycine betaine operon betIBA-proXWV, which enhances growth recovery under osmotic stress conditions. BetI, an autorepressor of the V. harveyi betIBA-proXWV operon, activates the expression of genes encoding regulatory small RNAs that control quorum-sensing transitions. Connecting quorum-sensing and glycine betaine pathways presumably enables V. harveyi to tune its execution of collective behaviors to its tolerance to stress.
Possible Interactions between the Biosynthetic Pathways of Indole Glucosinolate and Auxin

Glucosinolates (GLS) are a group of plant secondary metabolites mainly found in Cruciferous plants, share a core structure consisting of a β-thioglucose moiety and a sulfonated oxime, but differ by a variable side chain derived from one of the several amino acids. These compounds are hydrolyzed upon cell damage by thioglucosidase (myrosinase), and the resulting degradation products are toxic to many pathogens and herbivores. Human beings use these compounds as flavor compounds, anti-carcinogens, and bio-pesticides. GLS metabolism is complexly linked to auxin homeostasis. Indole GLS contributes to auxin biosynthesis via metabolic intermediates indole-3-acetaldoxime (IAOx) and indole-3-acetonitrile (IAN). IAOx is proposed to be a metabolic branch point for biosynthesis of indole GLS, IAA, and camalexin. Interruption of metabolic channeling of IAOx into indole GLS leads to high-auxin production in GLS mutants. IAN is also produced as a hydrolyzed product of indole GLS and metabolized to IAA by nitrilases. In this review, we will discuss current knowledge on involvement of GLS in auxin homeostasis.
The prevalence of helicobacter pylori infection in the Netherlands

Abstract Backgrounds. The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori has been declining in the developed countries, as it has the incidence of distal gastric carcinoma. Monitoring this decline and identifying populations not benefiting from this decline is a fit task for public health authorities, with blood donors an obvious source of sera. Materials and methods. We tested 1550 randomly selected blood donors, spread over 5–10 year age cohorts, from four regions in the southern half of The Netherlands, for the presence of antibodies against H. pylori and the CagA antigen. These donors were drawn from an area comprising 46% of the native Dutch population, but did not include non-European immigrants. Results. We observed an age specific decline in the mean seroprevalence of H. pylori from 48% for donors born between 1946 and 1935 to 16% for those born between 1987 and 1977. In H. pylori positive donors, the CagA seroprevalence declined from 38% to 14% in the same age cohorts. There were no significant differences between regions in either prevalence. Conclusions. Our results are compatible with a persistent age-cohort phenomenon for H. pylori prevalence, with the most pronounced decline of CagA+ strains. Nevertheless, almost one in six of the young native Dutch population remains H. pylori positive, implying that, without specific intervention, this bacterium will remain common over the coming decades.
Effects of Dietary Protein of Korean Foxtail Millet on Plasma Adiponectin, HDL-Cholesterol, and Insulin Levels in Genetically Type 2 Diabetic Mice

We examined the effects of intake of Korean foxtail millet protein (FMP) on plasma levels of lipid, glucose, insulin, and adiponectin in genetically type 2 diabetic KK-Ay mice. When mice were fed a normal FMP diet or a high-fat-high-sucrose diet containing FMP for 3 weeks, in both experiments plasma concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol) and adiponectin increased remarkably in comparison with a casein diet group, whereas concentrations of insulin decreased greatly and that of plasma glucose was comparable to that in the casein diet group. Considering the role of adiponectin, insulin, and HDL-cholesterol in diabetes, atherosclerosis, and obesity, it appears likely that FMP may improve insulin sensitivity and cholesterol metabolism through an increase in adiponectin concentration. Therefore, FMP would serve as another beneficial food component in obesity-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
FUtUrE Earth : advanCing CiviC UndErstanding oF thE anthropoCEnE

Although cities cover only 2 percent of the Earth’s surface, more than 50 percent of the world’s people live in urban environments, collectively consuming 75 percent of the Earth’s resources. Because of their population densities, reliance on infrastructure, and role as centers of industry, cities will be greatly impacted by, and will play a large role in, the reduction or exacerbation of climate change. However, although urban dwellers are becoming more aware of the need to reduce their carbon usage and to implement adaptation strategies, education efforts on these strategies have not been comprehensive. To meet the needs of an informed and engaged urban population, a more systemic, multiplatform and coordinated approach is necessary. The Climate and Urban Systems Partnership (CUSP) is designed to explore and address this challenge. Spanning four cities—Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC—the project is a partnership between the Franklin Institute, the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research, the University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, New York Hall of Science, and the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences. The partnership is developing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary network to educate urban residents about climate science and the urban impacts of climate change.
Cytoprotective effects of anthocyanins and other phenolic fractions of Boysenberry and blackcurrant on dopamine and amyloid β-induced oxidative stress in transfected COS-7 cells †

There is growing interest both from consumers and researchers in the role that berries play in human health. In the experiments reported here, we assessed the ability of anthocyanins and phenolic fractions of Boysenberry and blackcurrant to ameliorate the deleterious effect of the amyloid β25 - 35 (100 µmol L −1 ,2 4 h) and dopamine (1 mmol L −1 , 4 h) on calcium buffering (recovery) of M1 muscarinic receptor-transfected COS-7 cells. Cell viability was also studied. Our results demonstrate that extracts of Boysenberry and blackcurrant showed significant protective effect and restored the calcium buffering ability of cells that had been subjected to oxidative stress induced by dopamine and the amyloid β25 - 35. Blackcurrant polyphenolics showed slightly higher protective effect against dopamine, whereas Boysenberry polyphenolics had a higher effect against the amyloid β25 - 35 . I n viability studies, all extracts showed significant protective effects against dopamine and amyloid β25 - 35-induced cytotoxicity. Our results provide further evidence for the protective effects of berries against the neurotoxic effect of dopamine and amyloid β25 - 35 in brain cells.  2007 Society of Chemical Industry
The Workspace Model: Dynamic Distribution of Interactive Systems

This thesis presents an architectural model for synchronous groupware called the Workspace Model, which provides a clean separation of conceptual structure from distributed implementation. The model includes a formally-defined, distribution transparent, conceptual level architectural model with appropriate abstractions for the development of groupware; a formally-defined implementation level architectural model that exposes the distributed system issues abstracted at the conceptual level; a formal relation between the two levels that allows a range of implementations to be automatically computed for any conceptual level architecture; and an explicit representation of runtime change. We argue that this combination of properties allows the model to satisfy needs arising from three communities: end-users, application programmers, and toolkit developers. End users require that their groupware systems support fluid collaboration, perform efficiently, and behave in a predictable manner. Application programmers need an environment that is appropriately expressive and that doesn’t require them to commit prematurely to a distributed implementation. Toolkit implementors need a model that is formally represented, that provides a range of distributed implementations, that supports efficient incremental refinement of conceptual architectures to distributed implementations. The Model has been designed such that all syntactically correct conceputal level archictures can be refined to fully refined architectures by a finite computation. A proof sketch of this key property is offered. The Workspace Model has been implemented in a toolkit and runtime system called fiia, which demonstrates that the model is both practically implementable and usable for the creation of groupware programs. The fiia programming model and the implementation of fiia itself are presented.
Visual cues and listening effort: individual variability.

PURPOSE To investigate the effect of visual cues on listening effort as well as whether predictive variables such as working memory capacity (WMC) and lipreading ability affect the magnitude of listening effort. METHOD Twenty participants with normal hearing were tested using a paired-associates recall task in 2 conditions (quiet and noise) and 2 presentation modalities (audio only [AO] and auditory-visual [AV]). Signal-to-noise ratios were adjusted to provide matched speech recognition across audio-only and AV noise conditions. Also measured were subjective perceptions of listening effort and 2 predictive variables: (a) lipreading ability and (b) WMC. RESULTS Objective and subjective results indicated that listening effort increased in the presence of noise, but on average the addition of visual cues did not significantly affect the magnitude of listening effort. Although there was substantial individual variability, on average participants who were better lipreaders or had larger WMCs demonstrated reduced listening effort in noise in AV conditions. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the results support the hypothesis that integrating auditory and visual cues requires cognitive resources in some participants. The data indicate that low lipreading ability or low WMC is associated with relatively effortful integration of auditory and visual information in noise.
Dissipation of sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim antibiotics from manure-amended soils

In this study, the dissipation of two antibiotics, sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and trimethoprim (TRM), in three soils under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions are evaluated. Under aerobic conditions, SMX dissipated rapidly through biodegradation but TRM was more persistent. Within the first 20 days in biologically active soils, >50% of the SMX was lost from the clay loam and loamy sand soils, and >80% loss was noted in the loam soil. Anaerobic dissipation of both compounds was more rapid than aerobic dissipation. The addition of manure to the soil only slightly increased the initial dissipation rate of the two compounds. Little effect was found on glucose mineralisation in soil following the addition of SMX and TRM, even as mixtures at high concentrations.
Introducción: Treinta años de democracia: transiciones y transformaciones

El 10 de diciembre de 1983 Raul R. Alfonsin asumia como presidente de la Republica luego de ocho anos de brutal dictadura. Argentina se convertia en el miembro mas joven de un colectivo que, en aquel momento, incluia tan solo a un pequeno grupo de 40 democracias. En los siguientes 30 anos, el numero de democracias se triplicaria, pasando a ser la categoria de regimenes politicos mas numerosa del mundo. La tercera ola democratizadora, que empezo a mediados de los anos ‘70 en el sur de Europa, se extenderia por America Latina en los anos ‘80, Europa del Este y el noroeste asiatico en los tempranos ‘90 y el sudeste Asiatico, Africa y Medio Oriente en los ultimos quince anos. Con esta ola democratizadora, la agenda de investigacion de la politica comparada cambiaria radicalmente, concentrando esfuerzos en los recientemente creados estudios sobre las transiciones democraticas (O’Donnell, Schmitter y Whitehead, 1986) y relegando el analisis de las rupturas democraticas y los regimenes autoritarios a un segundo plano (Linz, 1978; Stepan, 1976). En treinta anos, la Argentina veria el contexto mundial transformarse con la caida del muro y el colapso de los socialismos reales, el fin de la Guerra Fria, la unificacion europea, el surgimiento de China e India como potencias economicas mundiales y el fin de la Pax Americana. Las transformaciones sociales, economicas y politicas en la Argentina serian igualmente dramaticas. La transicion politica y la consolidacion de la democracia estarian signadas por la casi desaparicion de los militares como actor politico, el debilitamiento de la representacion corporativa, asi como la fragmentacion y territorializacion del sistema de partidos. El peronismo perderia por primera vez en elecciones limpias y competitivas en 1983 y nuevamente en 1999. Tres movimientos internos jubilarian a la vieja guardia del partido en 1984-1987 (la renovacion), en los anos ‘90 (el menemato) y en la ultima decada (el kirchnerismo). La desaparicion del pleno empleo y