Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A study of the development of the ancient town tourism business from the perspective of stakeholders — An empirical study of Langzhong Ancient Town

Based on all the stakeholders' status and different interest demands, a study of the development of the ancient town tourism business has extremely real sense. The paper takes Langzhong Ancient Town as an example, to analyze all the stakeholders' expectation, perception and evaluation for the development of the ancient town tourism business within the framework of Stakeholder Theory and proposes the countermeasure for the development of the ancient town tourism business.
The human major histocompatibility complex class Ib molecule HLA‐E binds signal sequence‐derived peptides with primary anchor residues at positions 2 and 9

Human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen E (HLA‐E) and mouse major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class Ib antigen, Qa‐1, share the same substitutions at two normally conserved positions 143 and 147, which are likely to affect binding of the C terminus of peptides. Qa‐1 is able to bind a peptide derived from the leader sequence of H‐2 D and H‐2 L molecules. We developed a peptide binding assay in vitro to compare the binding specificity of HLA‐E with the mouse MHC class Ib molecule Qa‐1. We demonstrate that HLA‐E binds, although poorly, the peptide which binds to Qa‐1 and that it also binds nonamer signal sequence‐derived peptides from human MHC class I molecules. Using alanine and glycine substitutions, we could define primary anchor residues at positions 2 and 9 and secondary anchor residues at position 7 and possibly 3.
Paternal products and by–products in Drosophila development

Tails of fertilizing spermatozoa persist throughout embryogenesis in Drosophila species and can be observed within the midguts of larvae after hatching. Throughout development, sperm proteins slowly diffuse or are stripped from the giant sperm tail residing within the embryo's anterior end. The shape and position of the sperm within the embryo are regulated such that, during organ formation, the unused portion of the sperm is enveloped by the developing midgut. This persistent, paternally derived structure is composed of the sperm's mitochondrial derivatives and appears to be defaecated by the larva soon after hatching. These complex sperm–egg interactions may represent mechanisms to avoid intragenomic conflict by ensuring strictly maternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).
Heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations of egg quality traits in Iranian native fowl

1. The objective was to estimate heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations for egg quality traits of Iranian native fowl at the Yazd Breeding Centre. 2. External and internal egg quality traits were measured on 1200 eggs from 794 hens of the 6th generation. A multivariate animal model with restricted maximum likelihood procedure was applied to estimate heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations for egg quality traits using ASREML. 3. Heritability estimates for external egg quality traits ranged from 0·18 to 0·57 and for internal egg quality traits from 0·24 to 0·60. 4. For external egg quality traits, genetic correlation between egg weight and eggshell thickness (EST) was positive (0·36) and EST showed high genetic correlations with eggshell weight (0·84) and eggshell strength (0·55). This implies that heavier eggs tend to have thicker and stronger shells. 5. For internal egg quality traits, albumen height showed high positive genetic correlations with albumen weight (0·52), albumen index (0·98), yolk height (0·72) and yolk index (0·57). 6. Our results show that it is feasible to improve egg quality in Iranian fowl through selection for albumen height.
Plasmonic Structures, Materials and Lenses for Optical Lithography beyond the Diffraction Limit: A Review

The rapid development of nanotechnologies and sciences has led to the great demand for novel lithography methods allowing large area, low cost and high resolution nano fabrications. Characterized by unique sub-diffraction optical features like propagation with an ultra-short wavelength and great field enhancement in subwavelength regions, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), including surface plasmon waves, bulk plasmon polaritons (BPPs) and localized surface plasmons (LSPs), have become potentially promising candidates for nano lithography. In this paper, investigations into plasmonic lithography in the manner of point-to-point writing, interference and imaging were reviewed in detail. Theoretical simulations and experiments have demonstrated plasmonic lithography resolution far beyond the conventional diffraction limit, even with ultraviolet light sources and single exposure performances. Half-pitch resolution as high as 22 nm (~1/17 light wavelength) was observed in plasmonic lens imaging lithography. Moreover, not only the overview of state-of-the-art results, but also the physics behind them and future research suggestions are discussed as well.
Has mortality from acute respiratory distress syndrome decreased over time?: A systematic review.

RATIONALE It is commonly stated that mortality from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and acute lung injury (ALI) is decreasing. OBJECTIVES To systematically review the literature assessing ARDS mortality over time and to determine patient- and study-level factors independently associated with mortality. METHODS We searched multiple databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane CENTRAL) for prospective observational studies or randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published during the period 1984 to 2006 that enrolled 50 or more patients with ALI/ARDS and reported mortality. We pooled mortality estimates using random-effects meta-analysis and examined mortality trends before and after 1994 (when a consensus definition of ALI/ARDS was published) and factors associated with mortality using meta-regression models. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Of 4,966 studies, 89 met inclusion criteria (53 observational, 36 RCTs). There was a total of 18,900 patients (mean age 51.6 years; 39% female). Overall pooled weighted mortality was 44.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 41.8-46.9). Mortality decreased with time in observational studies conducted before 1994; no temporal associations with mortality were demonstrated in RCTs (any time) or observational studies (after 1994). Pooled mortality from 1994 to 2006 was 44.0% (95% CI, 40.1-47.5) for observational studies, and 36.2% (95% CI, 32.1-40.5) for RCTs. Meta-regression identified study type (observational versus RCT, odds ratio, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.08-1.73) and patient age (odds ratio per additional 10 yr, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.07-1.50) as the only factors associated with mortality. CONCLUSIONS A decrease in ARDS mortality was only seen in observational studies from 1984 to 1993. Mortality did not decrease between 1994 (when a consensus definition was published) and 2006, and is lower in RCTs than observational studies.
Application of facial electromyography in computer mouse access for people with disabilities

Purpose. This study develops a newly facial EMG human – computer interface for people with disabilities for controllng the movement of the cursor on a computer screen. Method. We access the computer cursor according to different facial muscle activity patterns. In order to exactly detect the muscle activity threshold, this study adopts continuous wavelet transformation to estimate the single motor unit action potentials dynamically. Result. The experiment indicates that the accuracy of using the facial mouse is greater than 80%, and this result indicates the feasibility of the proposed system. Moreover, the subject can improve performance of manipulation by repeated training. Conclusion. Compared with previous works, the proposed system achieves complete cursor function and provides an inexpensive solution. Although there are still some drawbacks in the facial EMG-based human – computer interface, the facial mouse can provide an alternative among other expensive and complicated assistive technologies.
Survey of Tick Infestation in Cattle in Zaria Abattoir , Nigeria

Nigeria has a high herd of cattle population, majority of which are in the hands of pastoralists. Apart from the direct effect of tick infestation on animal production and productivity, ticks are inevitably efficient vectors of many pathogens, like protozoa, viruses, bacteria, and rickettsiae to man and domestic animals. A survey on ticks (arthropods) was carried out in Zaria abattoir in December 2009. 120 animals were samples, out of which 66 (55 %) were males and 54 (45 %) females. Four species of ticks were collected from three breeds of cattle and their prevalence showed; Amblyomma variegatum 27 (22.5%) as the commonest, followed by Boophilus decoloratus, 21 (17. 5%), Hyalomma sp 8 (6.7 %) and Rhipicephalus sanguineus 4(3.3 %). We also noted that 19(15.8%) of the animals examined had skin lesions in addition to ticks infestation. We therefore recommend in strong term a control of ticks in our environment to prevent spread of diseases and improve animal production in this region.
Mitochondrial myopathy due to complex III deficiency with normal reducible cytochrome b concentration.

Defects of the respiratory chain of muscle mitochondria have been described in increasing number in recent years; such defects appear to comprise a large proportion of the biochemically defined "mitochondrial myopathies. " 1,2 Abnormalities of complexes 1, III, and IV have been identified by studies of oxidative phosphorylation, spectra of reduced-minus-oxidized cytochromes, and enzyme assays. The clinical picture may be confined to skeletal muscle or may involve other tissues, especially the central nervous system ("mitochondrial encephalomyopathy"). Of the eight described patients with complex III deficiency, five had only muscle symptoms 1,3-5 and three suffered from encephalomyopathy. 6,7 Biochemically, five patients showed a lack of reducible cytochrome b in the spectra, 3,5-7 one had an incomplete defect of cytochrome b and lack of cytochrome c 1 , 4 and two had normal cytochrome spectra 1 .
Evolution of the neural crest viewed from a gene regulatory perspective

Neural crest cells are a vertebrate innovation and form a wide variety of embryonic cell types as diverse as peripheral neurons and facial skeleton. They undergo complex migration and differentiation processes from their site of origin in the developing central nervous system to their final destinations in the periphery. In this review, we summarize recent data on the current formulation of a gene regulatory network underlying neural crest formation and its roots at the base of the vertebrate lineage. Analyzing neural crest formation from a gene regulatory viewpoint provides insights into both the developmental mechanisms and evolutionary origins of this vertebrate‐specific cell type. genesis 46:673–682, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Uso de greylists e controle de relays abertos como técnica de bloqueio de spam: transferindo a responsabilidade para o remetente

O recebimento de mensagens indesejadas, conhecido como spam, e um dos problemas mais serios enfrentados pelos administradores de rede atualmente. Em geral, as tecnicas tradicionais de filtragem consomem grande esforco computacional para separar mensagens legitimas do spam e, portanto, apresentam problemas de desempenho em maquinas mais modestas. O presente trabalho apresenta o caso de uso da tecnica de greylists aliada a verificacao de servidores com relay aberto para esse controle. Os resultados obtidos mostraram-se favoraveis a adocao da tecnica por sua simplicidade e baixo consumo de recursos.
Real time patient safety audits

Real time patient safety audits undertaken by Ursprung et al 1 are potentially a novel approach to quality in health care and an interesting application of safety adapted from industry. From an error detection perspective they offer similar advantages to other prospective studies which had greater detection accuracy than retrospective medical record reviews.2 The advantage of detecting errors before they occur, as opposed to mandatory or …
Pathogenesis of acute bacterial diarrheal disorders.

Acute bacterial diarrheal disease is a worldwide problem of enormous magnitude. In recent years a number of bacteria have been added to the list of recognized etiologic agents causing acute diarrheal disease. This was made possible by our increased understanding of the mechanisms by which such bacteria cause diarrhea and by the development of methods to detect these bacterial enteropathogens. We are now able to define an etiologic agent in 50-80% of cases of acute diarrhea, depending on the particular population. The bacterial agents recently incriminated as important causes of diarrhea include E coli Y. enterocolitica, B. cereus, C. fetus, V. parahemolyticus, and many other coliform organisms. Establishment of an enteric infection depends upon a complex interplay between host defense mechanisms and bacterial virulence factors adapted to overcome these defenses. Bacterial enteropathogens cause diarrhea primarily by elaborating enterotoxins (which also requires the organisms to adhere to the surface of the intestinal cell) and by invading the intestinal mucosa. The number of known bacterial enterotoxins has rapidly increased. Enterotoxins cause intestinal secretion and diarrhea by stimulating the adenyl cyclase system or the guanyl cyclase system and by other mechanisms yet to be defined. The ability of enterotoxigenic bacteria to adhere to the intestine involves a specific binding interaction between bacterial structures called pili or fimbriae and specific receptors on the surface of intestinal cells. Both bacterial pili and the intestinal receptors are under genetic control. A variety of other bacteria, Salmonellae, Shigellae, Y. enterocolitica etc, must invade the mucosa to cause diarrheal disease. The ability to invade is essential to the pathogenesis of disease and requires particular surface characteristics of the bacterium as well as the active participation of both the bacterium and the host cell. The bacteria probably elaborate substances that signal the host cell to initiate the invasive process, i.e. endocytosis. The mechanism by which invasive bacteria evoke intestinal secretion is uncertain but is probably a multifactorial process involving products elaborated by the mucosal acute inflammatory reaction and enterotoxins elaborated by the bacteria.
Design studies of stacked u-slot microstrip patch antenna for dual band operation

In this work, an extensive design study of a stacked u-slot microstrip patch antenna for dual band operation will be presented. This antenna consists of two stacked microstrip patches, both having u-slots embedded in them. Two feeding techniques namely probe-feeding and co-planar waveguide feeding have been used and the results compared. Particle swarm optimization has been used to optimize the antenna parameters. The simulated results indicate that using co-planar waveguide feeding results in a tremendous increase in bandwidth when compared with probe feeding, however a degradation in gain is observed.
Switch-linear hybrid envelope-tracking power supply with multilevel structure

Based on the research of parallel-switch-linear hybrid envelope tracking (ET) power supply, this paper proposes a new topology where a multilevel structure converter in parallel with a linear amplifier. Adopting discrete level modulation, the converter operates each switcher only once during every tracking period. So it can achieve higher tracking bandwidth with the same switching frequency, compared to other schemes. Due to the poor anti-jamming capability of the comparators used in control circuits, the bandwidth must be lowered to suppress the high frequency noise. However, the low bandwidth leads to the limited loop gain at the tracking frequency, which is unable to reduce the load admittances of linear amplifier, forcing it to output an extra fundamental wave current component. This decreases the system efficiency greatly. The full feed-forward of the output voltage scheme is adopted to eliminate the influences from the output voltage to the linear amplifier output current. A prototype is built aiming for 300kHz sine wave tracking, with 10V~26V output voltage and 50W peak output power. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of theoretical analysis.
Increased Cyclic AMP‐Dependent Protein Kinase Activity in Postmortem Brain from Patients with Bipolar Affective Disorder

Abstract : Previous observations of reduced [3H]cyclic AMP binding in postmortem brainregions frombipolar affective disorder subjects imply cyclic AMP‐dependent proteinkinase functionmay be altered in this illness. To test this hypothesis, basal and stimulated cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinase activity was determined in cytosolic and particulate fractions of postmortem brain from bipolar disorder patients and matched controls. Maximal enzyme activity was significantly higher (104%) in temporal cortex cytosolic fractions from bipolar disorder brain compared with matched controls. In temporal cortex particulate fractions and in the cytosolic and particulate fractions of other brain regions, smaller but statistically nonsignificant increments in maximal enzyme activity were detected. Basal cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinase activity was also significantly higher (40%) in temporal cortex cytosolic fractions of bipolar disorder brain compared with controls. Estimated EC50 values for cyclic AMP activation of this kinase were significantly lower (70 and 58%, respectively) in both cytosolic and particulate fractions of temporal cortex from bipolar disorder subjects compared with controls. These findings suggest that higher cyclic AMP‐dependent proteinkinase activity in bipolar disorder brain may be associated with a reduction of regulatory subunits of this enzyme, reflecting a possible adaptive response of this transducing enzyme to increased cyclic AMP signaling in this disorder.
AAV2-neurturin (CERE-120) for Parkinson's disease

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common and chronic movement disorder with no therapy yet proven to alter the underlying advancing pathology. Gene delivery of trophic factors, which have shown disease modifying potential in preclinical PD models, are now being evaluated in early clinical trials. Areas covered: This review discusses early experiences with glial-derived neurotrophic factor in PD, the initial studies using AAV2-neurturin in PD patients, the lessons learned from these studies and the future directions of this therapy. Expert opinion: Gene therapy has emerged as a potential breakthrough in the treatment of PD and early clinical trials using AAV2-neurturin, a trophic factor that has shown the ability to protect dopaminergic degeneration in preclinical PD models, are underway. While trophic protection of dopamine neurons would be a significant breakthrough, PD remains a widespread disorder that involves neurodegeneration across multiple cellular types. We believe that these initial studies with AAV2-neurturin are significant steps toward the realization of gene delivery of trophic factors as a viable therapy, though the ultimate goal must be that of comprehensive neurorestoration.
Analyse et modélisation des moteurs Flexfuel pour leur contrôle

L'interet pour les energies renouvelables et pour la reduction des emissions de gaz a effet de serre a conduit au developpement de l'ethanol comme carburant pour les moteurs a combustion interne. Les moteurs dits Flexfuel, en particulier, peuvent fonctionner avec un melange quelconque d'essence et d'ethanol. Ces deux carburants ont des proprietes physico-chimiques differentes, qui influent sur le fonctionnement du moteur et, partant, sur son controle. Les systemes de controle moteur habituels ne prennent pas en compte ces proprietes variables. Sur un moteur Flexfuel, les reglages doivent etre adaptes a chaque carburant, afin de maintenir le niveau des emissions polluantes et l'agrement. Cependant, ces adaptations ne doivent pas se faire au prix d'un accroissement excessif du travail de calibration. Cette these traite de ces questions. Les effets des differentes proprietes du carburant sur le moteur et son controle sont tout d'abord analyses afin de definir les besoins en termes de controle. Un modele moyen de moteur, adapte aux variations de proprietes du carburant, est alors developpe pour reproduire ces effets et permettre l'evaluation de strategies de controle. Dans ce travail, celles-ci incluent une methode d'estimation de la composition du carburant pendant le fonctionnement du moteur, et son utilisation dans le controle de la richesse.
Influence of polymorphisms in ERCC5, XPA and MTR DNA repair and synthesis genes in B-cell lymphoma risk. A case-control study in Spanish population.

PURPOSE Functions pertaining to DNA repair and synthesis are believed to play a critical role in cancer development and seem to be affected by genetic polymorphisms. Herein we performed a case-control study evaluating the influence of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in XPA, ERCC5 and MTR [rs1800975 (G-4A), rs17655 (Asp1104His) and rs1805087 (A2756G), respectively] in lymphoma risk. METHODS Genotype distributions were studied in 213 lymphoma Caucasian patients (193 non-Hodgkin/NHL and 20 Hodgkin lymphoma/HL) and 214 controls, residents in a region of Southeast Spain. RESULTS No significant differences were observed in the genotype distributions between cases and controls for the studied SNPs. This lack of association was also observed when stratifying for gender or lymphoma type. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that the rs1800975, rs17655 and rs1805087 SNPs in DNA repair and synthesis of genes do not seem to play a major role in lymphoma susceptibility.
BDgen: A Universal Big Data Generator

This paper introduces BDgen, a generator of Big Data targeting various types of users, implemented as a general and easily extensible framework. It is divided into a scalable backend designed to generate Big Data on clusters and a frontend for user-friendly definition of the structure of the required data, or its automatic inference from a sample data set. In the first release we have implemented generators of two commonly used formats (JSON and CSV) and the support for general grammars. We have also performed preliminary experimental comparisons confirming the advantages and competitiveness of the solution.