Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone inhibits renal injury in the absence of neutrophils.

BACKGROUND We previously showed that alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) decreases ischemia/reperfusion injury even when started six hours after ischemia. Alpha-MSH inhibits both neutrophil accumulation and nitric oxide production. To determine the relative importance of alpha-MSH on the neutrophil pathway, we examined the effects of alpha-MSH in injury models where neutrophil effects are minimal or absent. METHODS We studied the effects of alpha-MSH in (1) intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) knock-out and background mice that were subjected to 40 minutes of ischemia and 24 hours reperfusion, and (2) isolated kidneys that were subjected to in vivo ischemia for 20 minutes and then perfused ex vivo for one hour without neutrophils. To begin to search for direct tubule effects of alpha-MSH, we studied the effect of alpha-MSH on nitric oxide (NO) in endotoxin/interferon-gamma-treated mouse cortical tubule cells. RESULTS ICAM-1 knock-out mice had 75% less neutrophil infiltration than background mice after ischemia. Despite the relative lack of neutrophils, alpha-MSH inhibited renal injury in ICAM-1 knock-out mice. Alpha-MSH also significantly preserved GFR and tubular sodium reabsorption in the isolated perfused ischemic kidney model. Alpha-MSH and a nitric oxide inhibitor did not exhibit synergy. Finally, alpha-MSH inhibited nitrite production by 20% in the mouse cortical tubule cells (MCT), similar to parallel observations in a cultured mouse macrophage line (RAW cells). CONCLUSIONS We conclude that alpha-MSH decreases renal injury when neutrophil effects are minimal or absent, indicating that alpha-MSH inhibits neutrophil-independent pathways of renal injury. The preservation of sodium absorption ex vivo and inhibition of nitrite production in cultured MCT cells suggests that alpha-MSH inhibits tubular injury by direct tubular effects.
Virtual Organizational Development and the History of the Internet: A Case Study of Parallel Evolution

Online support communities and grass roots organizations have met since the 1990s via a milieu often advantageous to both. While the numbers of such virtual organizations appear to be growing, there is little published research on the historical encounter of a population in need with the internet driven development of a non-profit which addresses those needs. This article examines the organizational development of the International Paruresis Association as parallel to key advances in the technology of the internet.
Macroautophagy—a novel (cid:1) -amyloid peptide-generating pathway activated in Alzheimer’s disease

acroautophagy, which is a lysosomal pathway for the turnover of organelles and long-lived proteins, is a key determinant of cell survival and longevity. In this study, we show that neuronal macroautophagy is induced early in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and before (cid:1) -amyloid (A (cid:1) ) deposits extracellularly in the presenilin (PS) 1/A (cid:1) precursor protein (APP) mouse model of (cid:1) -amyloidosis. Subsequently, autophagosomes and late autophagic vacuoles (AVs) accumulate markedly in dystrophic dendrites, implying an impaired maturation of AVs to lysosomes. Immunolabeling identiﬁes AVs in the brain as a major reservoir of intracellular A (cid:1) . Puriﬁed AVs contain APP and (cid:1) -cleaved APP and are highly enriched in PS1, nicastrin, and PS-dependent (cid:2) -secretase activity. Inducing or inhibiting macroautophagy in neuronal and nonneuronal cells by modulating mammalian target of rapamycin kinase elicits parallel changes in AV proliferation and A (cid:1) production. Our results, therefore, link (cid:1) -amyloidogenic and cell survival pathways through macroautophagy, which is activated and is abnormal in AD.
A New Resource Management Scheme for Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks Admission Control Aims to Provide a Path, from Source to Destination, Containing Enough Free

— Ad hoc and sensor networks have received tremendous attention in the recent literature due to its unpredictable nature and its many applications. Imposing any kind of reliability in such networks represents a real challenge. In this paper, we propose a new resource management scheme which virtually reserves and releases resources at the network layer when necessary. Results show that our scheme distributes resources efficiently between Best Effort and Quality of Service traffics even when congestion arises. Ad hoc network nodes operate in a very volatile environment where any connection could be dropped at any moment. A strategy is required to ensure predetermined service performance constraints. This strategy consists of avoiding the wastage of resources and interference with other ongoing communications. Resource management in ad hoc networks has two main functionalities which are, admission control and resource reservation. The source node investigates available resources on the path towards the destination node before admitting the flow (admission control). If there are enough resources to carry the flow without interfering with any ongoing communication, corresponding resources are reserved (resource reservation) and transmission begins. In this paper, we investigate the node's available band-width as a resource. Contrary to related works where the resource reservation is done at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer [1][2][3][4][5], our proposed scheme works at the network layer and is therefore independent of the lower layers. Moreover, most proposals do not take into account mobility in the resource management process which could result in degradation of performances [6]. Resource management performed at the network layer solves these issues since mobility information is provided by the routing protocol. The resource reservation scheme proposed here is virtual. Resources are controlled using routing information along with resource monitoring. Consequently, Quality of Service provided may vary but is ensured to remain within required guarantees at a maximum of 10% error. Furthermore, our proposed scheme provide fairness between different traffic classes in congestion cases. Robustness, simplicity and scalability of our proposed resource management model make it a good candidate for ad hoc networks as well as sensor networks. The remainder of this paper is organised as follows: in Section II we discuss admission control within our scheme. In Section III we describe the proposed resource reservation technique. Next in Section IV, we present a performance analysis of our scheme incorporated in the AODV protocol. Finally, conclusions and proposed ideas for future works are presented …
Human observers impact habituated samango monkeys’ perceived landscape of fear.

Humans and human infrastructure are known to alter the relationship between predators and prey, typically by directly or indirectly shielding one of the species from the other. In addition to these overt changes to animals’ behavior, observers may have more subtle impacts on animals’ foraging decisions. However, the anthropogenic alteration of risk-taking behavior has rarely been acknowledged or quantified, particularly in behavioral ecological studies reliant on habituated animals. We tested the magnitude of the "human shield effect" experimentally on 2 groups of samango monkeys, Cercopithecus mitis erythrarcus, at a site with high natural predator density and no human hunting pressure. In general, giving-up densities—the density of food remaining in a patch when a forager leaves—were greatest at ground level (0.1 m) relative to 3 tree canopy levels (2.5, 5, and 7.5 m), highlighting a strong vertical axis of fear. When human followers were present, however, giving-up densities were reduced at all 4 heights; furthermore, for 1 group, the vertical axis disappeared in the presence of observers. Our results suggest that human observers lower monkeys’ perceived risk of terrestrial predators and, thereby, affect their foraging decisions at or near ground level. These results have significant implications for future studies of responses to predation risk based on habituation and observational methods.
The 'Portuguese Range' as the Westernmost Maritime Region of Europe

Ports located in the Portuguese west coast have been collectively defined as the ? Portuguese Range? , constituting a multi-port gateway system integrated within the broader context of an already well-established traditional maritime region. The aim of this paper is to identify how the Portuguese ports have been developing and how they can establish themselves as a gateway to the Iberian Peninsula and Western Europe. In fact, Portuguese range ports, located at the extreme of rail freight corridor nr. 4, could greatly benefit from ? port regionalization? into bordering regions of Spain, the Madrid Community and Northern Europe, forming in this way a competitive gateway to foreland regions along the Atlantic Ocean, such as Latin America, North America, West Africa and Southern Africa. The paper first describes the current situation of Portuguese ports regarding infrastructure, superstructure and throughput, aiming at establishing its capabilities, level of activity and potential problems. Regional transport infrastructures current status, such as rail lines, inland terminals and dry ports are also reviewed, including projects currently foreseen by authorities. Main problems and bottlenecks in regional connections are identified. Main shipping lines calling in Portuguese ports, terminal operators, railway operators and 3P logistics service providers operating in Portugal are also identified. The strategies for promoting ? port regionalization? adopted by these different players in the supply chain are reviewed and analyzed, with focus on shipping lines, terminal operators, freight forwarders, port administrations and Governments. Conclusions are drawn and policy suggestions are made for further improvements in the regionalization of Portuguese ports, taken as an enhancer of economic growth.
Generalized Union Bound for Space-time Codes

⎯Gallager's second bounding technique, also known as the generalized union bound, is employed to derive a new upper bound on the error probability of space-time codes with maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding on quasi-static Rayleigh fading channels. The new bound is distinguished by two characteristics: unlike the classical union bound, the new bound is rapidly convergent and is only a few decibels away from simulation results; compared to Gallager's first bound, it has better computational efficiency and numerical stability. Hence, the new bound is a useful tool for performance analysis and computer search of good space-time codes. Moreover, the correlation between fading coefficients is easily accommodated by the new bound. The application of the new bound to convolutional coding on block fading channels is also demonstrated, and an improved version is derived for the bit error probability of maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) decoding.
Investigating Wi-Fi Radiation Levels at Residences

Due to the increase in the number of radiation sources, the high frequency radiation has become a major health and environmental concern in the world. Many studies have linked high frequency radiation to various types of illnesses, while low frequency fields from power lines have been linked to leukemia. Therefore, we have initiated a set of studies to measure and document the levels at various outdoor areas in Kuwait, to confirm their safety and to document the current levels for further studies by scientists. One growing source of radiation is the wireless LAN at houses, private and public locations. The technology has become very common in the majority of residences resulting in an accumulation of several networks in each house. This increases the amount of radiation and supports the possibly of increased hazard. In this study we aim at documenting the state of radiation due to WLAN sources at 2.4GHz at various residences in Kuwait.
The Resolution of Depth Ambiguity in the Kinetic Depth Effect

The projected two-dimensional motions of a rotating object are sufficient to enable us to perceive its three-dimensional structure—a phenomenon called the kinetic depth effect (KDE). Although the object’s local, three-dimensional (3D) shape tends to be seen correctly, its global depth organisation, along with its perceived direction of rotation, often spontaneous reverses. My thesis is that these aspects of the KDE can be resolved, disambiguated, by adding temporal or spatial context. In Experiments 2 to 4, I showed that the KDE could be disambiguated by adding temporal context. When I added the depth cues of contrast and superimposition they cooperated or competed in different ways in different individuals to disambiguate the KDE. I also discovered that the frequency of reversals and their time courses were best predicted from temporal context: the length of observation and an observer’s previous viewing history. In Experiments 5 to 10, I showed that the KDE could be affected by, and could affect, unambiguous spatial contextual stimuli. When I added unambiguous surround stimuli to an ambiguous KDE object, I observed rotational linkage and rotational contrast. Linkage occurs Abstract ii
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging of the Thalamus in Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy

Experimental work in animal models of generalized epilepsy and clinical data in humans with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) indicate that the thalamo-cortical circuitry is involved in the generation of epileptic activity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vivo the chemical and structural integrity of the thalamus in patients with IGE. Thalamic proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (1H-MRSI), measuring N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline-containing compounds and creatine (Cr) was performed in 20 IGE patients and in a group of age-matched healthy subjects. Additionally, 1H-MRSI measurements were taken in the insular cortex, the posterior temporal lobe white matter and the splenium of the corpus callosum. MRI volumetric analysis of the thalamus was performed in all patients. At the time of the examination, seizures were well controlled in 10 IGE patients and poorly controlled in nine. One patient was newly diagnosed and had the MRI and MRSI examination prior to starting the antiepileptic medication. In IGE patients, 1H-MRSI showed a reduction of mean thalamic NAA/Cr compared with normal controls; no difference was found in NAA/Cr in the other examined areas. There was no difference in NAA/Cr between patients whose seizures were well controlled and those in whom seizures were not controlled. There was no correlation between thala-mic NAA/Cr and mean number of spike and wave complexes. We found a signi®cant negative correlation between thalamic NAA/Cr and duration of epilepsy. The mean thalamic volume in patients with IGE was not different from normal controls. These results show evidence of progressive thalamic neuronal dysfunction in patients with IGE supporting the notion of abnormal thalamo-cortical circuitry as a substrate of seizure generation in this form of epilepsy. The thalamic dysfunc-tion may occur regardless of amount of spike and wave activity.
A Set Theoretical Approach to Maturity Models: Guidelines and Demonstration

Maturity Model research in IS has been criticized for the lack of theoretical grounding, methodological rigor, empirical validations, and ignorance of multiple and non-linear paths to maturity. To address these criticisms, this paper proposes a novel set-theoretical approach to maturity models characterized by equifinality, multiple conjunctural causation, and case diversity. We prescribe methodological guidelines consisting of a six-step procedure to systematically apply set theoretic methods to conceptualize, develop, and empirically derive maturity models and provide a demonstration of it application on a social media maturity data-set. Specifically, we employ Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) to identify maturity stage boundaries as necessary conditions and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to arrive at multiple configurations that can be equally effective in progressing to higher maturity
REGAP: A Tool for Unicode-Based Web Identity Fraud Detection

ABSTRACT We anticipate the widespread usage of an internationalized resource identifier (IRI) 1 or internationalized domain name (IDN) 2 on the web as complement to universal resource identifier (URI). IRI/IDN is composed of characters in a subset of Unicode, such that a Unicode attack 3 to IRI/IDN could happen. Hence, visually or semantically, certain phishing IRI/IDNs may show high similarity to the real ones. The potential phishing attacks based on this strategy are very likely to happen in the near future with the boosting utilization of IRI/IDN. We invented a method to detect such phishing attack. We constructed a unicode character similarity list (UC-SimList) based on char-char visual and semantic similarities and use a nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) 4 to identify the potential IRI/IDN-based phishing patterns. We implemented a phishing IRI/IDN pattern generation tool, REGAP, by which phishing IRI/IDN patterns can be generated into regular expressions (RE) for phishing IRI/IDN detection. We .
The Proceedings of the International Plant Nutrition Colloquium XVI Characterization of Cd uptake in roots and translocation from roots to shoots in Solanum and

: Cadmium (Cd) concentration in eggplant (Solanum melongena) fruits can be drastically reduced by grafting them with Solanum torvum rootstock. However, mechanisms of Cd uptake in roots and translocation from roots to shoots in both plants are not understood well. We thus characterized symplastic Cd uptake in roots and translocation from roots to shoots via xylem loading process of both plants. Additionally, we also examined effect of other elements in roots uptake and translocation process with the increase of Cd concentration in the medium. Cd concentration in roots of S. torvum was almost similar to that of S. melongena for 7 days. On the other hand, Cd concentrations in the shoots and xylem sap were higher in S. melongena than in S. torvum. A concentration dependent experiment in roots indicated that Km values were almost the same for species, but the Vmax values were 1.5-fold higher in S. melongena than in S. torvum. A concentration dependent experiment in xylem loading process indicated that Km values were approximately 7-fold higher in S. torvum than in S. melongena. These results suggest that xylem loading process is a critical factor for determining Cd accumulation in the shoots of both plants. Several elements concentration in roots and xylem sap of both plants decreased with the increase of Cd concentration in the medium, suggesting that Cd uptake and translocation process are partly mediated by similar transporters involving these elements transport.
Global multiple tropopause features derived from COSMIC radio occultation data during 2007 to 2012

The spatiotemporal structure of the climatology of multiple tropopauses (MTs) is presented in this paper by using the temperature profiles from the Global Positioning System radio occultation measurements from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) mission between January 2007 and December 2012. Various climatological characteristics about MTs are studied, including the relationship between the occurrence of double tropopauses (DTs) and jet streams, the interannual variation and the trends of the occurrence of DTs, the seasonal and geographical variations of the occurrence of MTs, and the meridional distributions of the features of MTs in different seasons. Our results agree well with those of earlier studies based on other data sets. In addition, we find some new MT features. A global increase of the occurrence of DTs of about 0.15% ± 0.09% yr−1 (0.13% ± 0.09% yr−1) is found between 2007 and 2012 including (excluding) the sampling errors, respectively. There is an increasing trend of the occurrence of DTs in the extratropics, especially in the subtropics in both hemispheres, and a decreasing trend in the tropics. We also find that the maximum seasonal variation of the occurrence of DTs is located between 30°N and 40°N, which is much stronger than that in the Southern Hemisphere. The occurrence of DTs is much lower from the winter of 2009 to the spring of 2010 than during the same time period of other years.
COMPARING PREDATOR ABUNDANCE AND FISH DIVERSITY IN MPA SITES (KORNATI NP, CROATIA) AND ADJACENT SITES EXPLOITED BY FISHERIES

Fishing activities and other anthropogenic influenc es have direct and indirect effects on fish community structure. One expectatio n may be that with increasing fishing pressure and decreasing size selectivity of fisheri es all predator populations decline and consequently fish assemblages change. Comparisons of MPAs with unprotected areas are considered valid natural experiments to test hypoth eses on how predation structures communities. Here we report on the use of a lure-as sisted visual census in the Central Croatian Adriatic to assess and compare fish assemb lages in MPA sites (Kornati NP) with adjacent unprotected sites. We detected a sign ificant protection effect on mesopredator abundance and overall fish diversity/r ichness and that protection status explained a significant portion of the fish assembl age variability, all independent of additional predictor variables, like habitat and de pth. As we continue to expand the spatiotemporal scale and magnitude of the approach, we hope that it will eventually provide us with a long-term data series needed for testing many hypotheses in coastal ecology, including the effects of MPAs, coastal dev elopment, fishing and global climate change on the species interactions, abundance, dive rsity and assembly of animal species across multiple spatial scales.