Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interleukin‐12 increases interleukin‐4 production by established human ThO and Th2‐like T cell clones

Interleukin (IL)‐12 is a potent inducer of cell‐mediated immunity: it favors the generation of interferon (IFN)‐γ‐producing T cells, increases IFN‐γ production by T cells and natural killer cells and prevents the generation of a Th2 response in murine in vivo models. Nevertheless, the effects of IL‐12 on an established Th2 response remain poorly documented. In the present paper, we analyzed the effect of IL‐12 on the profile of lymphokines produced by established IL‐4‐producing Th0 and Th2‐like human T cell clones (TCC) and by polyclonal T cells. We found that IL‐12 (i) enhances, as previously reported, IFN‐γ production by Th0 TCC and, to a smaller extent, by Th2‐like TCC, (ii) increases the proliferation of Th0 and Th2‐like TCC and (iii) unexpectedly, synergizes with T cell receptor‐associated or nonspecific stimuli in increasing IL‐4 production by these TCC. Thus, IL‐12 potentiates the production of IFN‐γ and also of IL‐4 by established IL‐4‐producing TCC. Although IL‐12 has been widely reported to induce a Th1 response and to prevent the development of a Th2 response in vivo, IL‐12 may on the contrary potentiate an established Th2 response in humans.
Accounting, FRQ, Emerging Countries Transition: How can a Country Implement an IFRS Standard Change Successfully?

This study examines the variables affecting the decision to adopt IFRS standard by seventy-eight emerging market economy (43 adopting IFRS and 35 non-adopting) over the period 2006-2014. The results of the study are primarily an exploratory process framework for the implementation of IFRS standard changes and secondarily a set of variables seen as affecting the IFRS standard change implementation process in emerging countries. Key variables include the following twelve variables:culture (Anglo-Saxon), political system, educational system, legal environment, economic growth,privatisation, foreign direct investment, firm size, liquidity, and cost of equity capital, audit quality (Big 4) and transparency. Finally the main limitations of this study are outlined and opportunities for future research are discussed, particularly in relation to this study’s findings about the requirement to reconsider the usefulness of the relationship between accounting practices and framework adoption of IFRS by emerging countries.
The farm animal welfare debate.

Why should you care about farm animal welfare? If the passage of Proposition 2 in the November 2008 California election is an indication of things to come, livestock producers and consumers would benefit from an improved understanding of the issue. The purpose of this article is to characterize the current state of the farm animal welfare debate and share some results from consumer studies we have conducted on the issue.
Basic values and objectives regarding money: Implications for the management of customer relationships

Purpose – The study seeks to identify basic values and objectives from different bank retailing customers by asking them about their views on topics that deal responsibly with money. Based on their experiences, perceptions and expectations, those values and objectives that are of utmost relevance for them regarding their money life are identified.Design/methodology/approach – The study is of a qualitative nature, using a total of 60 surveys with open‐ended questions to acquire data that are evaluated by the qualitative rule‐based method GABEK® (GAnzheitliche BEwaltigung von Komplexitat), a tool for analysing textual qualitative data.Findings – The results show a holistic picture of people's views concerning money and the role of retail banks. Three main topics are identified: banks' and customers' responsibilities; trustworthiness; and support service. These issues are discussed based on the basic values and objectives discovered in the context of customer relations.Research limitations/implications – The.
ON SERUM COPPER IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

In a monograph on serum copper and serum iron Hei lmeyer , Keider l ing & Sl i iwe (1941) (1) have presented a inaterial of serum copper values froin patients with schizophrenia. In 27 patients aged 16 to 44 they generally found enhanced seruni copper, one third of the values even exceeding 200 y %, which is twice the average value stated for normals (106 y % for both sexes). Only in a few fresh cases they observed values similar to those obtained in normal persons, but otherwise they were unable to demonstrate any relationship between degree of severity of the disease and the serum copper level. My own investigations on serum copper in patients with schizophrenia, which apart from mental suffering did not show anything abnormal with the exception of :I very slight anemia, do not verify the results which Heilmeyer et al. have presented. I have not found any difference between serum copper values in normals and in patients with schizophrenia.
Small Molecule Modifiers of the microRNA and RNA Interference Pathway

Recently, the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway has become the target of small molecule inhibitors and activators. RNAi has been well established as a research tool in the sequence-specific silencing of genes in eukaryotic cells and organisms by using exogenous, small, double-stranded RNA molecules of approximately 20 nucleotides. Moreover, a recently discovered post-transcriptional gene regulatory mechanism employs microRNAs (miRNAs), a class of endogenously expressed small RNA molecules, which are processed via the RNAi pathway. The chemical modulation of RNAi has important therapeutic relevance, because a wide range of miRNAs has been linked to a variety of human diseases, especially cancer. Thus, the activation of tumor-suppressive miRNAs and the inhibition of oncogenic miRNAs by small molecules have the potential to provide a fundamentally new approach for the development of cancer therapeutics.
Optimal position for external chest compression during cardiopulmonary resuscitation: an analysis based on chest CT in patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest

Objectives This study was conducted to determine the proper hand position on the sternum for external chest compression to generate a maximal haemodynamic effect during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Methods 114 patients with cardiac arrest who underwent chest CT after successful resuscitation from January 2006 to August 2009 were included in the study. To evaluate the area of the cardiac chambers subjected to external chest compression, the area of each cardiac chamber under the sternum was measured using cross-sectional CT at three different locations: the internipple line on the sternum (point A), halfway between point A and the sternoxiphoid junction (point B) and at the sternoxiphoid junction (point C). Results The widest total heart area, total ventricular area and left ventricular area (LVA) were observed most frequently at point C (58%, 85% and 78% of all cases, respectively). Few cases (six in total heart area, one in total ventricular area and one in LVA) were observed as the widest at point A. Predicted compressed areas of the right and left ventricle were wider at point C than at points A or B (right ventricular area: 366±536 mm2 at point A, 961±653 mm2 at point B and 1383±689 mm2 at point C, p<0.001; LVA: 65±236 mm2 at point A, 365±506 mm2 at point B and 1099±817 mm2 at point C, p<0.001). Conclusions Only a small proportion of the ventricle is subjected to external chest compression when CPR is performed according to the current guidelines. Compression of the sternum at the sternoxiphoid junction might be more effective to compress the ventricles.
How to Form Winning Coalitions in Mixed Human-Computer Settings

This paper proposes a new negotiation game, based on the weighted voting paradigm in cooperative game theory, where agents need to form coalitions and agree on how to share the gains. Despite the prevalence of weighted voting in the real world, there has been little work studying people’s behavior in such settings. We show that solution concepts from cooperative game theory (in particular, an extension of the Deegan-Packel Index) provide a good prediction of people’s decisions to join coalitions in an online version of a weighted voting game. We design an agent that combines supervised learning with decision theory to make offers to people in this game. We show that the agent was able to obtain higher shares from coalitions than did people playing other people, without reducing the acceptance rate of its offers. We also find that people display certain biases in weighted voting settings, like creating unnecessarily large coalitions, and not rewarding strong players. These results demonstrate the benefit of incorporating concepts from cooperative game theory in the design of agents that interact with other people in weighted voting systems.
The pathobiology of diabetic complications: a unifying mechanism.

It’s a great honor to join the exceptional club of Banting Award winners, many of whom were my role models and mentors. In addition, giving the Banting Lecture also has a very personal meaning to me, because without Frederick Banting, I would have died from type 1 diabetes when I was 8 years old. However, it was already apparent at the time I was diagnosed that for too many people like me, Banting’s discovery of insulin only allowed them to live just long enough to develop blindness, renal failure, and coronary disease. For example, when I started college, the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Textbook had this to say to my parents: “The person with type 1 diabetes can be reassured that it is highly likely that he will live at least into his 30s. ” Not surprisingly, my parents did not find this particularly reassuring. At the same time we were reading this in 1967, however, the first basic research discovery about the pathobiology of diabetic complications had just been published in Science the previous year. In my Banting Lecture today, I am thus going to tell you a scientific story that is also profoundly personal. I’ve divided my talk into three parts. The first part is called “pieces of the puzzle,” and in it I describe what was learned about the pathobiology of diabetic complications starting with that 1966 Science paper and continuing through the end of the 1990s. In the second part, I present a unified mechanism that links together all of the seemingly unconnected pieces of the puzzle. Finally, in the third part, I focus on three examples of novel therapeutic approaches for the prevention and treatment of diabetic complications, which are all based on the new paradigm of a unifying mechanism for the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. …
Prospects of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration: Implications for Nepal's Mountain Agriculture

Agricultural land is one of the major sources of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission, which results in an increase of the CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere. The conversion of biomass rich land like forests to agricultural land results in the release of carbon into the atmosphere. Once the CO 2 enters into the atmosphere, it remains as a potent greenhouse gas for decades unless it is absorbed by plants through photosynthesis. Therefore, there is a need for abating CO 2 emissions by enhancing carbon sequestration. Soils store twice as much carbon than vegetation and two thirds more than the atmosphere, and thus can store a significant quantity of CO 2 . Unsustainable farming leads to land degradation and the release of soil organic carbon (SOC). SOC may return directly to the atmosphere from the soil when organic material decays through decomposition or burning. SOC is important not only to maintain and enrich soil nutrients, but also in preventing the release of carbon in the forms of CO 2 and Methane (CH 4 ) into the atmosphere. Mountain agricultural land is sensitive to extreme weather events, such as heavy precipitation or long periods of drought. Such extreme events can trigger high soil erosion leading to losses of SOC. Hence, enhancing and conserving SOC is important for reducing soil erosion and the emission of greenhouse gases from lands, and to maintain a high moisture holding capacity of the soils. In many parts of Nepal, farmers have adopted various soil management practices in an effort to preserve fertile soils, which in many cases contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions.
Partially shared variables and hierarchical shared memory multiprocessor architectures

Latency and synchronization overheads have been identified as two fundamental problems in large-scale shared memory multiprocessors. The notion of partial sharing of variables is introduced, and architectures based on hierarchical memories which exploit this notion of partial sharing to reduce the latency and synchronization overheads significantly are suggested. A particular class of architectures, the tree structure, hierarchical memory multiprocessor architectures (THMMs), is examined by suggesting an implementation and considering the execution and the performance of several well-known applications such as matrix multiplication, solution of partial differential equations, solution of linear recurrence relations, barrier synchronization, and reduction operations. Speedup and cost figures for these examples are compared when executing on the THMM and on a conventional memory multiprocessor. <<ETX>>
BIOINFORMATICS APPLICATIONS

Motivation: The extension of mapped sequence tags is a common step in the analysis of single-end next-generation sequencing (NGS) data from protein localization and chromatin studies. The optimal extension can vary depending on experimental and technical conditions. Improper extension of sequence tags can obscure or mislead the interpretation of NGS results. We present an algorithm, ArchTEx (Architectural Tag Extender), which identiﬁes the optimal extension of sequence tags based on the maximum correlation between forward and reverse tags and extracts and visualizes sites of interest using the predicted extension. Availability and implementation: ArchTEx requires Java 1.6 or newer. Source code and the compiled program are freely available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/archtex/
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for OnLine Video

Michael C. Donaldson, Esq. , Los Angeles Anthony Falzone, Lecturer, Executive Director, Fair Use Project, Stanford Law School Lewis Hyde, Richard L. Thomas Professor of Creative Writing, Kenyon College; Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University Mizuko Ito, Research Scientist, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California Henry Jenkins, Professor, Program Head, Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Michael Madison, Associate Dean for Research, Associate Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Pamela Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law and Information, University of California, Berkeley Rebecca Tushnet, Professor, Georgetown University Law Center, Georgetown University Jennifer Urban, Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic, University of Southern California
Impact of College Recreation Centers on Enrollment

College recreation facilities have served a role of providing students an outlet for recreation and wellness activities. New facilities provide campuses state-of-the-art, modern equipment and venues for programming. Old and outdated facilities are sometimes seen as a detriment to a campus as it relates to recruitment of new students. Colleges and universities with newer facilities flaunt these buildings in an attempt to boost or sustain enrollment numbers. This study attempts to draw some parallel to the age of a college recreation center and enrollment numbers.
Criss-Cross Type Algorithms for Computing the Real Pseudospectral Abscissa

The real $\varepsilon$-pseudospectrum of a real matrix $A$ consists of the eigenvalues of all real matrices that are $\varepsilon$-close in spectral norm to $A$. The closeness is commonly measured in spectral or Frobenius norm. The real pseudospectral $\varepsilon$-pseudospectral abscissa, which is the largest real part of these eigenvalues for a prescribed value $\varepsilon$, measures the structured robust stability of $A$ w.r. t. real perturbations. In this paper, we introduce a criss-cross type algorithm to compute the real pseudospectral $\varepsilon$-pseudospectral abscissa for the spectral norm. Our algorithm is based on a superset characterization of the real pseudospectrum where each criss and cross search involves solving linear eigenvalue problems and singular value optimization problems. The new algorithm is proved to be globally convergent, and observed to be locally linearly convergent. Moreover, we propose a subspace projection framework in which we combine the criss-cross algorithm with sub.
Frequency regulation in non-synchronous ac system connected via MTDC network

In smart grid power system operation frequency regulation is one of the most critical tasks to maintain the power balance in a power grid. This paper presents the coordination of frequency regulation in non-synchronous AC system connected via multi-terminal direct-current (MTDC). The frequency regulation study is carried out by scheduling the reference power setting at the DC grid converters along with load disturbance on AC side. The study is investigated in a five terminal DC grid network. In addition, control strategy based on voltage droop with lead lag is also investigated to analyse the frequency deviation profile.
Cartel Stability with Time-Dependent Detection Probabilities

To account for the illegal nature of price-fixing agreements, detection probabilities are introduced in a dynamic oligopoly. It follows that for a trigger strategy to sustain a non-cooperative collusive equilibrium as a SPNE both the discount rate and all per-period detection probabilities have to be `low enough'. Also, the domain reduces for which strictest incentive compatibility constraint is binding of the concomitant non-stationary supergame if (i) any per-period detection probability increases, (ii) prospective fine payments are increased, (iii) the period of limitation is reduced for violating antitrust laws.
Tissue Culture and Quantification of Individual‐Level Resistance to Anther‐Smut Disease in Silene vulgaris

Resistance to systemic diseases is often difficult to measure quantitatively because individuals can be scored only as either diseased or healthy. A technique is described for cloning individuals of Silene vulgaris plants using the tissue culture of seedling meristems. Inoculation of such clonally replicated genotypes within two families shows that segregation of resistance to anther‐smut disease caused by the systemic plant pathogen Microbotryum violaceum is highly bimodal. This suggests that resistance to this disease in S. vulgaris may have a relatively simple genetic basis.
Francisella tularensis in Rodents, China

A total of 420 rodents in China were examined for Francisella tularensis by polymerase chain reaction. The infection rates were 4.76% in total, and 11.65%, 10.00%, 6.56%, 1.77%, and 0% in Jilin, Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Zhejiang, respectively. Sequence analysis showed that all the detected agents belonged to F. tularensis subsp. holarctica.
“Family-power, experience, culture” scale and a research about the relationship between family influence and top managersi view about managers who are family members in the family businesses

In this study, the “family-power, experience, culture (F-PEC)” scale that assesses family influence, was subjected. The first purpose of the study is to find out the extent to which the “F-PEC scale” that is observed to be used to measure family influence concept in international literature, is suitable for family businesses in Turkey. The second purpose of the study is to find out whether family influence facts affect the ideas of top managers about the managers who are “family members”. A research was conducted for these purposes at October 2009. In the research, the family businesses that are present in eight organized industrial zones of Istanbul were considered and questionnaires were applied to the family members, who are the top managers of these businesses. While family influence depends on the items of F-PEC; the view about the managers, who are family members, was formed by the items derived from the relevant literature. According to results obtained, the F-PEC scale isn't exactly suitable for family businesses in the sample. Also, some of the family influence facts can affect top managers' ideas about the managers who are family members.
The effect of vitamin C on the erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes in intoxicated-lead rat offsprings.

OBJECTIVE Lead exposure or lead poisoning is known to cause a large spectrum of physiological, biochemical, and behavioural disorders in animals. This study was aimed at assessing the effect of vitamin C on the erythrocyte superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and the glutathione reductase activities in intoxicated- lead rat offsprings. METHODS This study was performed on the pups from female Wistar albino rats. The rats were divided into 4 groups and the treatments were administered through drinking water. Group1 (control group) consumed distilled water. Group 2 (lead group) consumed a solution of lead acetate (300mg/L). Group3 (lead + vitamin C) consumed a solution of lead (300mg/L) which was supplemented with vitamin C (2g/L). Group4 (vitamin group) consumed a solution of vitamin C (2g/L). The enzyme activities were determined in all the 4 groups. RESULTS The administration of lead showed a decrease in the enzyme activities. The superoxide dismutase activity was increased after the administration of lead in combination with vitamin C. The lead treated rats showed significantly lower body weights at birth and at weaning. The vitamin C treatment showed a significant increase in the body weight. The haemoglobin levels were significantly decreased in the lead-treated rats. The addition of vitamin C to the lead treatment and vitamin C alone could elevate the haemoglobin levels significantly. CONCLUSION The results of this study showed that lead alterates the erythrocyte antioxidant enzyme activities. There was an increase in the superoxide dismutase activity following the treatment with vitamin C. This study suggests that the treatment with vitamin C during lactation has a therapeutic effect in the treatment of lead intoxication. The administration of vitamin C prevents haemoglobin reduction in the erythrocytes.
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for management of uncomplicated gall bladder mucocele in six dogs.

OBJECTIVES To describe a technique for, and outcome after, laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) for management of uncomplicated gall bladder mucocele (GBM) in dogs. STUDY DESIGN Case series. ANIMALS Dogs (n=6) with uncomplicated GBM. METHODS Dogs with ultrasonographic evidence of GBM but without imaging or laboratory signs of gall bladder rupture, peritonitis, or extra-hepatic biliary tract rupture that had LC were included. A 4 portal technique was used. A fan retractor was used to retract the gall bladder to allow dissection around the cystic duct with 5 or 10 mm right-angle dissecting forceps. The cystic duct was ligated using extracorporeally tied ligatures supplemented sometimes with hemostatic clips. A harmonic scalpel was used to dissect the gall bladder from its fossa. The gall bladder was placed into a specimen retrieval bag and after bile aspiration the bag was withdrawn through the 11 mm portal incision. RESULTS Five dogs had mild intermittent clinical signs including vomiting, inappetence, and lethargy. All dogs had successful LC without conversion to an open approach. All dogs with clinical signs had improvement or resolution of signs postoperatively. No important perioperative complications occurred and all dogs were alive at a median of 8 months postoperatively (range, 3-14 months). CONCLUSIONS LC can be accomplished safely and effectively in dogs with uncomplicated GBM. CLINICAL RELEVANCE A minimally invasive approach for cholecystectomy can be used for the treatment of GBM in dogs.