Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Scopolamine Injection during Cs-Us Interval on Conditioning

Taste aversions were conditioned in a single trial despite taste (CS)-illness (US) intervals of several hours (Garcia & Ervin, 1968). Interpolation of electroconvulsive shock (ECS) during the CS-US interval impeded avoidance learning (Kral, 1970), but the mechanism of ECS action remained obscure. Scopolamine was reported to lower acetycholine (ACh) levels in the brain and im air memory (Squire, 1969). Since ECS also lowers brain ACh (Takahashi, el d., 19:1), cholinergic mediation of the CS-US interval was hypothesized (Carlton, 1963). Here, scopolamine was interpolated during the taste-illness interval to determine whether effects on conditioning were similar ro ECS. Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats (30-00 gm.) were randomly assigned to four groups ( N = 5 each) and habituated to a 1 0 min./day water drinking schedule. On the eighth day of the schedule animals in Group CS-US were allowed to drink novel sweet water (0.1% saccharin) for 1 0 min. Thirty min. later (CS-US interval) they were made ill w ~ t h 0 4 M LiCl (20 ml/kg, ip) . This conditioning control was considered an appropriate comparison with which to assess scopolamine-induced impairment of avoidance learning in the experimental group. Group CS-Sco. -US (experimental) received identical treatment except that scopolamine hydrobromide ( 1 mg/kg, ip) was injected 5 min. post-CS. Control Group CS-Only received just the sweet water to demonstrate normal consumption of that solution. Control group CS-Sco. received only the CS-scopolamine pairing to determine if that drug would influence consumption of sweet water independent of the US. On Days 9 and 10 of the schedule all Ss drank tap water as usual. When consumption of sweet water was remeasured on Day 11, all but the CS-Only group evidenced significant (related r taste, p < .01) avoidance, observed as reduced intake, compared to the initial exposure. These same three groups did not, however, differ among themselves (unrelated t tests, p > .05). Since both CS-Sco. and CS-US animals avoided sweet water nondifferentially it must be concluded that scopolamine itself acted as an adversive US confounding any effect of ACh depression in the experimental group. As a possible circumvention of this methodological problem prolonged noncontingent-pretreatment with scopolamine to habituate the animal to the physiological consequences of its presence may be undertaken. With the associative contamination of this drug obviated, subsequent taste-illness pairings under the influence of scopolamine might more accurately reflect ACh involvement in interstimulus-interval medication.
Adhesion Protein ApfA of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae Is Required for Pathogenesis and Is a Potential Target for Vaccine Development

ABSTRACT Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the etiologic agent of porcine pleuropneumonia, which causes serious economic losses in the pig farming industry worldwide. Due to a lack of knowledge of its virulence factors and a lack of effective vaccines able to confer cross-serotype protection, it is difficult to place this disease under control. By analyzing its genome sequences, we found that type IV fimbrial subunit protein ApfA is highly conserved among different serotypes of A. pleuropneumoniae. Our study shows that ApfA is an adhesin since its expression was greatly upregulated (135-fold) upon contact with host cells, while its deletion mutant attenuated its capability of adhesion. The inactivation of apfA dramatically reduced the ability of A. pleuropneumoniae to colonize mouse lung, suggesting that apfA is a virulence factor. Purified recombinant ApfA elicited an elevated humoral immune response and conferred robust protection against challenges with A. pleuropneumoniae serovar 1 strain 4074 and serovar 7 strain WF83 in mice. Importantly, the anti-ApfA serum conferred significant protection against both serovar 1 and serovar 7 in mice. These studies indicate that ApfA promotes virulence through attachment to host cells, and its immunogenicity renders it a promising novel subunit vaccine candidate against infection with A. pleuropneumoniae.
Effects of Corporate Governance Control Measures on Islamic Banks’ Financial Soundness : Evidence from the International Financial Crisis

This study aims to analyze the roles of corporate governance control variables on Islamic bank’s soundness before, during and after the recent financial crisis. Moreover, it investigates the impacts of some specific Islamic bank corporate governance factors, namely ownership structure, CEO duality and Shariah-Board Size on the distress of Islamic banks. Using cross-country bank data in 6 countries from the Gulf Countries Council(GCC) region where the largest Islamic banks exist, we calculate the Z-score for a sample of 51banks over the period 2004-2013. Based on the empirical research, we show that the financial Crisis does not significantly affect the soundness of the banks during this event. Moreover, we mention that these banks were capable to reduce the negative impact and remain their soundness after this financial trouble with regard to the global corporate governance index. Concerning the corporate governance variables, results notice a positive and significant impact of CEO duality and Shariah-Board Size on the soundness of Islamic banks. More, this paper assesses the soundness of GCC non-conventional banks under three types of bank ownership (Private-owned, Institutional-owned and Foreign-owned banks). The result shows a positive association between Private ownership, Foreign ownership and soundness. Contrarily, we find a negative association between the percentage of Institutional ownership and soundness. The results confirm the importance of the governance mechanisms to act as immunity system of the Islamic Banking.
Crowdfunding and Internet Non-public Equity Financing??q??qBased on the Development Perspective of Combining Technology-Based SMEs

In order to promote supply and demand balance and enhance economic vitality and resilience, equity crowdfunding is of great significance to supporting the financing of SMEs, promoting economic restructuring and the development of power conversion. However, at present, China's credit base and institutional environment are difficult to meet the needs of large-scale development of equity crowdfunding. In view of the inconsistency of imbalance, we must proceed from many aspects to achieve high-quality development. This paper proposes the development ideas and related regulatory proposal for equity crowdfunding.
Very large scale integration architecture for integer wavelet transform

The design of a new real-time integer-to-integer lifting-based wavelet transform (IWT) architecture is described. An efficient design method is proposed to construct an integrated programmable VLSI architecture that can operate as a forward or backward IWT in a pipelined fashion. The layout of the integrated VLSI structure is simple, modular, and cascadable for computing a wavelet transform based on 5/3 biorthogonal filters. The architecture is optimal with respect to both area and time and independent of the size of the input signal without requiring additional memory. The lifting steps are adapted to be causal and the proposed architecture is suitable for use in real-time processing applications. The critical path of the architecture is equal to the critical path of one lifting step. The numerical precision has been established using a Simulink model. Experimental tests have been made with 8-bit signed two's complement integer numbers. Based on the experimental results, the datapath width of the proposed architecture is fixed at 10 bits.
The method of moments and degree distributions for network models

Probability models on graphs are becoming increasingly important in many applications, but statistical tools for fitting such models are not yet well developed. Here we propose a general method of moments approach that can be used to fit a large class of probability models through empirical counts of certain patterns in a graph. We establish some general asymptotic properties of empirical graph moments and prove consistency of the estimates as the graph size grows for all ranges of the average degree including $\Omega(1)$. Additional results are obtained for the important special case of degree distributions.
IGBT Behavioral PSPICE Model

Behavioral IGBT macromodel for OrCad PSPICE simulator is presented. The model is parameterized and it is implemented as a subcircuit in the simulator. The nonlinear DC equations and voltage-controlled capacitors are precisely represented using ABM method, which is resulting in good accuracy. The static I-V characteristics offered by the behavioral model are shown. The tailing of the anode currents simulated by the behavioral model at a constant anode voltage-switching test are given. The good agreement between the simulation and experimental results can be observed in the paper
HLA Sequence Polymorphism and the Origin of Humans

1. A. H. Knoll, R. K. Bambach, D. E. Canfield, J. P. Grotzinger, Science 273, 452 (1996). 2. L. Kump, Geology 19, 299 (1991). 3. D. -Y. Xu and Z. Yan, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 104,171 (1993). 4. Y. -G. Jin, 30th Intemat. Geol. Congr. (abstr.) 2, 4 (1996). 5. J. P. Grotzinger, S. A. Bowring, B. Z. Saylor, A. J. Kaufman, Science 270, 598 (1995). 6. G. MacDonald, Clim. Change 16, 247 (1990). 7. Y. Kakuwa, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 121, 35 (1996). 8. Y. Kajiwara, S. Yamakita, K. Ishida, H. Ishiga, A. Imai, ibid. 111, 367 (1994).
Control of Integrated Task Sequences Shapes Components of Reaching

ABSTRACT Reaching toward an object usually consists of a sequence of elemental actions. Using a reaching task sequence, the authors investigated how task elements of that sequence affected feedforward and feedback components of the reaching phase of the movement. Nine right-handed adults performed, with their dominant and nondominant hands, 4 tasks of different complexities: a simple reaching task; a reach-to-grasp task; a reach-to-grasp and lift object task; and a reach-to-grasp, lift, and place object task. Results showed that in the reach-to-grasp and lift object task more time was allocated to the feedforward component of the reach phase, while latency between the task elements decreased. We also found between-hand differences, supporting previous findings of increased efficiency of processing planning-related information in the preferred hand. The presence of task-related modifications supports the concept of contextual effects when planning a movement.
Novel molecular targets for risk identification: DNA repair enzyme activities.

DNA is continuously damaged by environmental agents and by intracellular byproducts of metabolism [1,2]. If left unrepaired, this DNA damage will cause mutations due to miscoding during replication, thereby increasing cancer risk [1,3]. Therefore, DNA repair is expected to be a major mechanism that protects organisms against cancer. Indeed, in several hereditary diseases that cause high predisposition to cancer, the mutated genes associated with the disorder encode defective DNA repair proteins [3].
ELECTRICAL ACTIVITIES IN THIN SECTIONS FROM THE MAMMALIAN BRAIN MAINTAINED IN CHEMICALLY‐DEFINED MEDIA IN VITRO

SINCE electrical stimulation was demonstrated to produce biochemical responses in mammalian brain slices in vitro, it has been postulated that applied pulses, in the first place, activated neurons in the tissue and this excitation in turn brought about the observed biochemical reaction (MCILWAIN, 1951 ; 1963). Although depolarization of tissue elements was observed to follow a train of pulses, there has been no direct evidence that mammalian brain slices in artificial media can respond to individual stimuli by changes in membrane potential. On the contrary no discernible potential could be recorded from the surface of slices of cerebral cortex in response to a single shock or to a burst of electrical pulses (HILLMAN, CAMPBELL and MCILWAIN, 1963). Response was also found lacking when electrical currents were passed intracellularly in the cells maintaining resting potentials in such slices (HILLMAN et ul., 1963). This has been attempted also with the double-barrelled electrodes of COOMSS, ECCLES and FATT (19557) but has not yet been successful (YAMAMOTO and MCILWAIN, unpublished). In the present experiments, instead of taking slices from the dorsal surface of the cerebrum samples obtained from the cortex of the piriform lobe, especially from the pre-piriform area, were used and were incubated in buffered, glucose-containing saline media. On the surface of the pre-piriform area, the lateral olfactory tract which originates in the olfactory bulb runs rostro-caudally, and sends a number of axon terminals extensively to the pyramidal cells in the pre-piriform area (CAJAL, 1955; VALWRDE, 1965). As a consequence of this powerful input from the lateral olfactory tract, it was expected that in this slice the cortical neurons could be more effectively activated and might exhibit some detectable electrical activities. In fact, it was found during the present experiments that in this slice post-synaptic potentials could indeed be produced by electrical stimulation of the lateral olfactory tract. In addition, data were obtained suggesting that the neurons in the tissue were able to generate spike potentials. The method of BOLLARD and MCILWAIN (1959) gave metabolic evidence also for spread of stimulation from the lateral olfactory tract to an appreciable proportion of tissue beyond the tract. M E T H O D S Preparation of the tissue. Guinea pigs were used. After stunning the animal by a blow on the back of the neck, the carotid arteries were cut and the skin covering the skull was removed. With scissors the occipital and frontal bones were prised away. The removal of the frontal bones was
A WLAN SoC for video applications including beamforming and maximum ratio combining

A WLAN SoC for video applications handles IEEE 802.11a/b/g and supports PHY data rates to 108 Mbit/s. The SoC implements two chain maximum ratio combining and beamforming. Video features include a jitter removal system and MPEG-TS packet aggregation. Measured results on the 7.2mm/spl times/7.2mm IC using a 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS process demonstrate throughput improvements in both RX and TX.
Crustal-scale cross-sections across the NW Zagros belt: implications for the Arabian margin reconstruction

Abstract Quantified balanced and restored crustal cross-sections across the NW Zagros Mountains are presented in this work integrating geological and geophysical local and global datasets. The balanced crustal cross-section reproduces the surficial folding and thrusting of the thick cover succession, including the near top of the Sarvak Formation (~90 Ma) that forms the top of the restored crustal cross-section. The base of the Arabian crust in the balanced cross-section is constrained by recently published seismic receiver function results showing a deepening of the Moho from 42 ± 2 km in the undeformed foreland basin to 56 ± 2 km beneath the High Zagros. The internal parts of the deformed crustal cross-section are constrained by new seismic tomographic sections imaging a ~50° NE-dipping sharp contact between the Arabian and Iranian crusts. These surfaces bound an area of 10800 km2 that should be kept constant during the Zagros orogeny. The Arabian crustal cross-section is restored using six different tectonosedimentary domains according to their sedimentary facies and palaeobathymetries, and assuming Airy isostasy and area conservation. While the two southwestern domains were directly determined from well-constrained surface data, the reconstruction of the distal domains to the NE was made using the recent margin model of Wrobel-Daveau et al. (2010) and fitting the total area calculated in the balanced cross-section. The Arabian continental–oceanic boundary, at the time corresponding to the near top of the Sarvak Formation, is located 169 km to the NE of the trace of the Main Recent Fault. Shortening is estimated at ~180 km for the cover rocks and ~149 km for the Arabian basement, including all compressional events from Late Cretaceous to Recent time, with an average shortening rate of ~2 mm yr−1 for the last 90 Ma.
Vascular restoration therapy and bioresorbable vascular scaffold

This article describes the evolution of minimally invasive intervention technologies for vascular restoration therapy from early-stage balloon angioplasty in 1970s, metallic bare metal stent and metallic drug-eluting stent technologies in 1990s and 2000s, to bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) technology in large-scale development in recent years. The history, the current stage, the challenges and the future of BVS development are discussed in detail as the best available approach for vascular restoration therapy. The criteria of materials selection, design and processing principles of BVS, and the corresponding clinical trial results are also summarized in this article.
Apports de la microscopie biphotonique intravitale pulmonaire à l'étude de la physiopathologie de la maladie du charbon

Bacillus anthracis, l'agent infectieux responsable de la maladie du charbon, est un agent pathogene majeur du risque biologique provoque, notamment en raison de la severite de la forme respiratoire de la maladie. Celle-ci resulte de l'inhalation de spores dont les mecanismes de penetration au niveau pulmonaire sont mal connus a l'heure actuelle. Cette these presente les apports des microscopies confocale et biphotonique a l'etude de ces mecanismes de penetration des spores inhalees. Le modele murin CX3CR1+/gfp, dont la sous-population CD11b+ de cellules dendritiques (DCs) exprime constitutivement la proteine de fluorescence verte (GFP), a ete utilise dans ces travaux. Une premiere partie presente le developpement d'une methode automatisee de discrimination des DCs parmi d'autres populations cellulaires exprimant le meme fluorophore, en se basant sur le calcul d'un coefficient morphologique. Cette methode a permis d'etudier dans un deuxieme temps le comportement specifique de la sous-population de DCs CD11b, apres infection par des spores de B. anthracis. L'etude microscopique a ete d'abord effectuee in situ, c'est-a-dire sur des explants pulmonaires maintenus dans des conditions favorables a la preservation de l'activite cellulaire, puis in vivo, sur des souris anesthesiees et ventilees. Le protocole d'imagerie tire profit d'une strategie d'acquisition et de traitement a posteriori des donnees permettant de surmonter, sans contrainte mecanique appliquee a l'organe, les problemes de focalisation lies aux mouvements thoraciques durant la ventilation de l'animal. Cette strategie originale utilise un sur-echantillonnage de l'acquisition et profite du signal de seconde harmonique genere par le collagene comme reference spatiale ; elle a permis l'observation in vivo d'interactions entre DCs et macrophages au niveau pulmonaire. Ces interactions, de type synapse immunologique, sont favorisees par l'infection et presentent donc un role fonctionnel qui reste a definir. La formation de synapses immunologiques entre macrophages et DCs pourrait non seulement representer un chainon manquant a l'explication de la penetration des spores de B. anthracis au niveau pulmonaire, mais pourrait aussi constituer un enjeu crucial dans la comprehension de la reponse immunitaire associee aux infections pulmonaires.
Regulation of phagocyte NADPH oxidase activity: identification of two cytochrome b558 activation states

Activation of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase (phox) requires the association of cytosolic proteins (p67‐phox, p47‐phox, p40‐phox, and Rac1/2) with the membrane cytochrome b558, leading to a hemopro‐tein conformation change. To clarify this mechanism, the phagocyte NADPH oxidase complex was isolated through cytochrome b558 purification after three chromatographic steps. The purified neutrophil complex was constitutively active in the absence of an amphi‐phile agent with a maximum turnover (125 mol O2−•s−1τnol heme b−1), indicating that cytochrome b558 has been activated by cytosolic proteins and is in an “open conformation,” able to transfer a maximum rate of electrons. In contrast, the phox complex prepared with B lymphocyte cytosol shows a lower constitutive turnover (~50 mol O2− •s−1 Triol heme b−1). Analysis of phox complex components by Western blot and mass spectrometry showed the presence of cytosolic factors (especially p67‐phox) and structural proteins (moesin, ezrin). To investigate the difference in activity of phox complexes, we evaluated the effect of MRP8 and MRP14, specifically expressed in neutrophils, on the activity of the B lymphocyte complex. MRPs induce the switch between the partially and the fully “open” cyto‐chrome b558 conformation. Moreover, their effect was independent of p67‐phox. Data point out two potential cytochrome b558 activation states. —Paclet, M‐H. , Berthier, S. , Kuhn, L. , Garin, J., Morel, F. Regulation of phagocyte NADPH oxidase activity: identification of two cytochrome b558 activation states. FASEB J. 21, 1244–1255 (2007)
Building Parallel LTAG for French and Italian

In this paper we view Lexicalized Tree Adjoining Grammars as the compilation of a more abstract and modular layer of linguistic description: the metagrammar (MG). MG provides a hierarchical representation of lexico-syntactic descriptions and principles that capture the well-formedness of lexicalized structures, expressed using syntactic functions. This makes it possible for a tool to compile an instance of MG into an LTAG, automatically performing the relevant combinations of linguistic phenomena. We then describe the instantiation of an MG for Italian and French. The work for French was performed starting with an existing LTAG, which has been augmented as a result. The work for Italian was performed by systematic contrast with the French MG. The automatic compilation gives two parallel LTAG, compatible for multilingual NLP applications.
Network considerations for open source based clouds

Cloud-based services are being consumed and developed at an unprecedented rate and cloud architects are looking for open-source options to architect and deploy next generation clouds. There are several use cases that can be explored for the aerospace industry. This paper will focus on the networking aspects of cloud architecture, which can be built via select open source technologies. This paper reviews, the three open source technologies, namely OpenStack, OpenDaylight and Open vSwitch and their corresponding networking sub components for cloud architectures. The benefits of adopting open source technologies vary from the standpoints of cost, flexibility, customizability, and auditability factors. OpenStack is an open source software that consists of interrelated projects for cloud processing, storage, and networking resources in a cloud data center. OpenDaylight is an open platform for network programmability to enable Software Defined Network (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). OpenDaylight (ODL) software is a combination of components including a network controller, interfaces, protocol plug-ins and Application Programmable Interfaces (APIs). Open vSwitch (OVS), is an open source implementation of a distributed virtual multilayer switch. The main purpose of Open vSwitch is to provide a switching stack for hardware virtualization environments. This paper will review the networking considerations of OpenStack design and implementation, the cloud-related functions and applicability for OpenDayLight in cloud designs, and the details of Open vSwitch and its consideration for a virtualized cloud architecture. The paper will also explore aerospace industry cloud use cases and intersection of these open source technologies with a portrayal of a potential cloud architecture with these components.