Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rat hippocampal GABAergic molecular markers are differentially affected by ageing

We previously reported that the pharmacological properties of the hippocampal GABAA receptor and the expression of several subunits are modified during normal ageing. However, correlation between these post‐synaptic modifications and pre‐synaptic deficits were not determined. To address this issue, we have analysed the mRNA levels of several GABAergic molecular markers in young and old rat hippocampus, including glutamic acid decarboxylase enzymes, parvalbumin, calretinin, somatostatin, neuropeptide Y and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). There was a differential age‐related decrease in these interneuronal mRNAs that was inversely correlated with up‐regulation of the α1 GABA receptor subunit. Somatostatin and neuropeptide Y mRNAs were most frequently affected (75% of the animals), then calretinin and VIP mRNAs (50% of the animals), and parvalbumin mRNA (25% of the animals) in the aged hippocampus. This selective vulnerability was well correlated at the protein/cellular level as analysed by immunocytochemistry. Somatostatin interneurones, which mostly innervate principal cell distal dendrites, were more vulnerable than calretinin interneurones, which target other interneurones. Parvalbumin interneurones, which mostly innervate perisomatic domains of principal cells, were preserved. This age‐dependent differential reduction of specific hippocampal inteneuronal subpopulations might produce functional alterations in the GABAergic tone which might be compensated, at the post‐synaptic level, by up‐regulation of the expression of the α1 GABAA receptor subunit.
The impact of perceived discrimination and social support on gay male couples

MALE COUPLES by CHARLES KAMEN (Under the Direction of Steven R. H. Beach) ABSTRACT The minority stress model (Meyer, 2003) has been proposed to explain higher rates of psychopathology in lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. With a few exceptions (e.g., Otis et al., 2007), however, studies of minority stress processes have not taken into account the impact of discrimination on same-sex relationship satisfaction and processes. In the current study, 208 gay men in a romantic relationship with another man completed an online survey assessing experiences of discrimination, minority stress processes, depression, and relationship satisfaction. Men who experienced more incidents of discrimination also reported higher depression scores, and this effect was moderated by perception of the importance of these incidents. While discrimination did not have a direct effect on relationship satisfaction, indirect effects were visible through depression, which has been shown to impact relationship functioning, and gay identity. Men at a lower level of gay identity were both less likely to report being in a relationship overall and more likely to report experiences of discrimination. Results are discussed in the context of future research on same-sex relationships, perceptions of discrimination, and gay identity.
A NEW DISTANCE TO M33 USING BLUE SUPERGIANTS AND THE FGLR METHOD

The quantitative spectral analysis of medium resolution optical spectra of A and B supergiants obtained with DEIMOS and ESI at the Keck Telescopes is used to determine a distance modulus of 24.93 ± 0.11 mag (968 ± 50 kpc) for the Triangulum Galaxy M33. The analysis yields stellar effective temperatures, gravities, interstellar reddening, and extinction, the combination of which provides a distance estimate via the flux-weighted gravity–luminosity relationship (FGLR). This result is based on an FGLR calibration that is continually being polished. An average reddening of 〈E(B − V)〉 ∼ 0.08 mag is found, with a large variation ranging from 0.01 to 0.16 mag, however, demonstrating the importance of accurate individual reddening measurements for stellar distance indicators in galaxies with evident signatures of interstellar absorption. The large-distance modulus found is in good agreement with recent work on eclipsing binaries, planetary nebulae, long-period variables, RR Lyrae stars, and also with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of Cepheids, if reasonable reddening assumptions are made for the Cepheids. Since distances based on the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method found in the literature give conflicting results, we have used HST Advanced Camera for Surveys V- and I-band images of outer regions of M33 to determine a TRGB distance of 24.84 ± 0.10 mag, in basic agreement with the FGLR result. We have also determined stellar metallicities and discussed the metallicity gradient in the disk of M33. We find metallicity of Z☉ at the center and 0.3 Z☉ in the outskirts at a distance of one isophotal radius. The average logarithmic metallicity gradient is −0.07 ± 0.01 dex kpc−1. However, there is a large scatter around this average value, very similar to what has been found for the H ii regions in M33.
An Alternative Infinite Mixture Of Gaussian Process Experts

We present an infinite mixture model in which each component comprises a multivariate Gaussian distribution over an input space, and a Gaussian Process model over an output space. Our model is neatly able to deal with non-stationary covariance functions, discontinuities, multi-modality and overlapping output signals. The work is similar to that by Rasmussen and Ghahramani [1]; however, we use a full generative model over input and output space rather than just a conditional model. This allows us to deal with incomplete data, to perform inference over inverse functional mappings as well as for regression, and also leads to a more powerful and consistent Bayesian specification of the effective 'gating network' for the different experts.
An Efficient Tableau Prover using Global Caching for the Description Logic ALC

We report on our implementation of a tableau prover for the description logic ALC, which is based on the EXPTIME tableau algorithm using global caching for ALC that was developed jointly by us and Gore [9]. The prover, called TGC for "Tableaux with Global Caching", checks satisfiability of a set of concepts w.r. t. a set of global assumptions by constructing an and-or graph, using tableau rules for expanding nodes. We have implemented for TGC a special set of optimizations which co-operates very well with global caching and various search strategies. The test results on the test set T98-sat of DL'98 Systems Comparison indicate that TGC is an efficient prover for ALC. This suggests that global caching together with the set of optimizations used for TGC is worth implementing and experimenting also for other modal/description logics.
EFFECT OF LONGITUDE-DEPENDENT CLOUD COVERAGE ON EXOPLANET VISIBLE WAVELENGTH REFLECTED-LIGHT PHASE CURVES

We use a planetary albedo model to investigate variations in visible wavelength phase curves of exoplanets. Thermal and cloud properties for these exoplanets are derived using one-dimensional radiative-convective and cloud simulations. The presence of clouds on these exoplanets significantly alters their planetary albedo spectra. We confirm that non-uniform cloud coverage on the dayside of tidally locked exoplanets will manifest as changes to the magnitude and shift of the phase curve. In this work, we first investigate a test case of our model using a Jupiter-like planet, at temperatures consistent to 2.0 AU insolation from a solar type star, to consider the effect of H2O clouds. We then extend our application of the model to the exoplanet Kepler-7b and consider the effect of varying cloud species, sedimentation efficiency, particle size, and cloud altitude. We show that, depending on the observational filter, the largest possible shift of the phase curve maximum will be ∼2°–10° for a Jupiter-like planet, and up to ∼30° (∼0.08 in fractional orbital phase) for hot-Jupiter exoplanets at visible wavelengths as a function of dayside cloud distribution with a uniformly averaged thermal profile. The models presented in this work can be adapted for a variety of planetary cases at visible wavelengths to include variations in planet–star separation, gravity, metallicity, and source-observer geometry. Finally, we tailor our model for comparison with, and confirmation of, the recent optical phase-curve observations of Kepler-7b with the Kepler space telescope. The average planetary albedo can vary between 0.1 and 0.6 for the 1300 cloud scenarios that were compared to the observations. Many of these cases cannot produce a high enough albedo to match the observations. We observe that smaller particle size and increasing cloud altitude have a strong effect on increasing albedo. In particular, we show that a set of models where Kepler-7b has roughly half of its dayside covered in small-particle clouds high in the atmosphere, made of bright minerals like MgSiO3 and Mg2SiO4, provide the best fits to the observed offset and magnitude of the phase-curve, whereas Fe clouds are found to be too dark to fit the observations.
Role of vimA in cell surface biogenesis in Porphyromonas gingivalis

The Porphyromonas gingivalis vimA gene has been previously shown to play a significant role in the biogenesis of gingipains. Further, in P. gingivalis FLL92, a vimA-defective mutant, there was increased auto-aggregation, suggesting alteration in membrane surface proteins. In order to determine the role of the VimA protein in cell surface biogenesis, the surface morphology of P. gingivalis FLL92 was further characterized. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated abundant fimbrial appendages and a less well defined and irregular capsule in FLL92 compared with the wild-type. In addition, atomic force microscopy showed that the wild-type had a smoother surface compared with FLL92. Western blot analysis using anti-FimA antibodies showed a 41 kDa immunoreactive protein band in P. gingivalis FLL92 which was missing in the wild-type P. gingivalis W83 strain. There was increased sensitivity to globomycin and vancomycin in FLL92 compared with the wild-type. Outer membrane fractions from FLL92 had a modified lectin-binding profile. Furthermore, in contrast with the wild-type strain, nine proteins were missing from the outer membrane fraction of FLL92, while 20 proteins present in that fraction from FLL92 were missing in the wild-type strain. Taken together, these results suggest that the VimA protein affects capsular synthesis and fimbrial phenotypic expression, and plays a role in the glycosylation and anchorage of several surface proteins.
PARENT-OFFSPRING CONFLICT IN MATING: HOW MUCH CONFLICT IS DUE TO GENES?

In the article “Parent-offspring conflict over mating: a replication and extension study” (see this present issue of JISS) Apostolou (2011) posits that children and parents will disagree about the mate choice of the child. Specifically that parents will value family background in a potential mate for their child while the child will value beauty in their potential mate. The underlying assumption, using and evolutionary framework, is that although children share all of their genes with the parents, not all of the parents‟ genes are passed on to children. Therefore, a parent should prefer that his/her children mate with people who have genes that will benefit the portion of the genes the parent has contributed to his/her offspring, while the children should prefer mates that will benefit their own genetic contributions to future offspring. The results of this study seem to support Apostolou‟s hypothesis, that children prefer beauty over family and parents prefer family background over beauty for potential mates for their children. However, we believe there are some methodological flaws to the research that could affect the interpretation of the results, as well as some alternative explanations for the results than those offered by the author.
Multimedia edges: finding hierarchy in all dimensions

This paper describes a new unified representation for the informa¿tion in a video. We reduce the dimensionality of the signal with either a singular-value decomposition (on the semantic and image data) or mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (on the audio data) and then concatenate the vectors to form a multi-dimensional represen¿tation of the video. Using scale-space techniques we find large jumps in the video's path, which we call edges. We use these tech¿niques to analyze the temporal properties of the audio and image data in a video. This analysis creates a hierarchical segmentation of the video, or a table-of-contents, from the audio, semantic and image data.
Performance Outcome of Leadership Succession at Foreign Subsidiaries in Japan. Does Nationality Matter

Leadership succession has been an important topic for research and management practice because of its effect on firm performance. This study integrates leadership succession and expatriate staffing literatures by investigating performance outcomes of leadership succession at foreign subsidiaries in Japan. We distinguished four types of CEO successors: expatriate followers (expatriate succeeds another expatriate), localizers (local manager succeeds an expatriate), local followers (local manager succeeds another local manager), and ambassadors (expatriate succeeds a local manager). Our theory and evidence from 2,113 firm-year observations, including 521 successions, suggests that successor types have direct and moderating effects with contextual firm-level factors on subsidiary performance. We extend agency theory by showing that both local and foreign subsidiary CEOs pursue their own, unique interests affecting firm performance in different ways.
Oncoplastic surgery in the treatment of breast cancer

Advances in reconstructive breast surgery with new materials and techniques now allow us to offer our patients the best possible cosmetic results without the risks associated with oncological control of the disease. These advances, in both oncological and plastic surgery, have led to a new specialisation, namely oncoplastic breast surgery, which enables us to undertake large resections and, with advance planning, to prevent subsequent deformities. This is particularly important when more than 30% of the breast volume is removed, as it allows us to obtain precise information for conservative surgery according to the site of the lesion, and also allows us to set the boundary between conservative surgery and mastectomy. Given the existence of new alloplastic materials and new reconstructive techniques, it is essential for our patients that surgeons involved in breast cancer treatment are trained in both the oncological as well as the reconstructive and aesthetic fields, to enable them to provide the best loco-regional treatment with the best cosmetic results.
A case study of software process improvement with CMMI‐DEV and Scrum in Spanish companies

One of the most commonly used agile methods is Scrum. Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development (CMMI‐DEV) is currently the de facto framework for process improvement and for determining the organizational maturity of software development companies. CMMI‐DEV and Scrum share certain characteristics, and even though they were developed for different purposes, they can be complementary to each other; and as such, they are not in competition. This paper presents a case study of the relationship between level 2 of CMMI‐DEV 1.3 and Scrum. This research has focused on the relationships between Scrum and level 2 of CMMI‐DEV 1.3. The objective of this research paper is to evaluate how Scrum helps implement a process model such as CMMI‐DEV.
Periodic image effects in dislocation modelling

The use of periodic boundary conditions for modelling crystal dislocations is predicated on one's ability to handle the inevitable image effects. This communication deals with an often overlooked mathematical subtlety involved in dealing with the periodic dislocation arrays, that is conditional convergence of the lattice sums of image fields. By analysing the origin of conditional convergence and the numerical artefacts associated with it, we establish a mathematically consistent and numerically efficient procedure for regularization of the lattice sums and the corresponding image fields. The regularized solutions are free from the artefacts caused by conditional convergence and regain periodicity and translational invariance of the periodic supercells. Unlike the other existing methods, our approach is applicable to general anisotropic elasticity and arbitrary dislocation arrangements. The capabilities of this general methodology are demonstrated by application to a variety of situations encountered in atomistic and continuum modelling of crystal dislocations. The applications include introduction of dislocations in the periodic supercell for subsequent atomistic simulations, atomistic calculations of the core energies and the Peierls stress and continuum dislocation dynamics simulations in three dimensions.
Effectiveness of Gotu Kola Extract 750 mg and 1000 mg Compared with Folic Acid 3 mg in Improving Vascular Cognitive Impairment after Stroke

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of gotu kola (Centella asiatica) in improving cognitive function in patients with vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). This study uses a quasi-experimental design. Subjects in this study were patients with poststroke cognitive impairment who were treated at two hospitals in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The number of subjects was 48: 17 subjects were treated with 1000 mg/day of gotu kola extract, 17 subjects treated with 750 mg/day of gotu kola extract, and 14 subjects treated with 3 mg/day of folic acid for 6 weeks. A Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Indonesian version (MoCA-Ina) was conducted at the beginning of treatment and after 6 weeks of therapy. It was found that all trials effectively improved poststroke VCI based on MoCA-Ina scores over the course of the study. There is no significant difference in ΔMoCA-Ina (score at the 6th week of treatment − score at the beginning) mean score among the three groups, indicating that gotu kola is as effective as folic acid in improving poststroke VCI. Gotu kola was shown to be more effective than folic acid in improving memory domain. This study suggested that gotu kola extract is effective in improving cognitive function after stroke.
Measuring Semantic Similarity in the Taxonomy of WordNet

This paper presents a new model to measure semantic similarity in the taxonomy of WordNet, using edge-counting techniques. We weigh up our model against a benchmark set by human similarity judgment, and achieve a much improved result compared with other methods: the correlation with average human judgment on a standard 28 word pair dataset is 0.921, which is better than anything reported in the literature and also significantly better than average individual human judgments. As this set has been effectively used for algorithm selection and tuning, we also cross-validate an independent 37 word pair test set (0.876) and present results for the full 65 word pair superset (0.897).
Implementation of Hurst parameter on DSP processor TMS320C6713 platform using wavelet analysis

Over the last 20 years, analysis, modeling and simulation of network traffic in different networks adopted techniques based on statistics and probability theory. We bring out the limitations of these approaches and implement alternative approach using the long range dependence and self-similarity in the network traffic focused around wavelet analysis method. Hurst (H) parameter estimates amount of self similarity is evaluated using this proposed method. The algorithm is implemented in C programming language. The synthetic self similar traffic with predefined H parameter is used as an input. Real-time implementation of the proposed algorithm using C programming language is implemented in TMS320C6713 processor.
De-Colonizing the Boundary-Object

What role does language play in disciplining subjects in the international development sector? Previous critiques of international development organizations have focused on the role of knowledge tools, such as reports, in reproducing dichotomies between developed and under-developed subjects. In this paper, I de-colonize NGO reporting through a reappraisal of the boundary-object concept. I utilize Ngugi’s (1986) problematization of language and translation to demonstrate how the boundary-object is experienced differentially across stakeholder groups and caste/class structures. Using findings garnered from a multi-sited ethnography of an international NGO in India, I examine the prominence of English language in NGO reports over indigenous languages. This paper therefore contributes to contemporary understandings of neo-colonial power relations as sustained by the English language within India.
Exploring Confidence-based Self-training for Multilingual Dependency Parsing in an Under-Resourced Language Scenario

This paper presents a novel self-training approach that we use to explore a scenario which is typical for under-resourced languages. We apply self-training on small multilingual dependency corpora of nine languages. Our approach employs a confidence-based method to gain additional training data from large unlabeled datasets. The method has been shown effective for five languages out of the nine languages of the SPMRL Shared Task 2014 datasets. We obtained the largest absolute improvement of two percentage points on Korean data. Our selftraining experiments show improvements upon the best state-of-the-art systems of the SPMRL shared task that employs one parser only.
On Feeling Warm and Being Warm

Previous investigations have linked laboratory manipulations of physical warmth to momentary increases in interpersonal warmth. However, replication concerns have occurred in this area, and it is not known whether similar dynamics characterize daily functioning. Two daily diary studies (total N = 235) suggest an affirmative answer. On days in which participants felt physically warmer, they perceived themselves to be interpersonally warmer and more agreeable, irrespective of the outdoor temperature. These findings are consistent with frameworks proposing that people draw on concepts of physical warmth to represent feelings of interpersonal warmth and they highlight the value of using daily diary and within-subject designs to investigate embodied cognition as well as other priming effects.
Cross-reactions in IgM ELISA tests to Legionella pneumophila sg1 and Bordetella pertussis among children suspected of legionellosis; potential impact of vaccination against pertussis?

The objective of this study was preliminary evaluation of IgM cross-reaction in sera collected from children hospitalized because of suspected legionellosis. Sera with positive IgM results to L. pneumophila sgs1-7, B. pertussis or with simultaneous detection of IgM antibodies to L. pneumophila sgs1-7 and B. pertussis, or IgM to L. pneumophila sgs1-7 and M. pneumoniae in routine tests, were selected. In total, an adapted pre-absorption test was used for the serological confirmation of legionellosis in the sera of 19 children suspected of legionellosis, and also in 3 adult persons with confirmed Legionnaires’ disease. Sera were pre-absorbed with antigens of L. pneumophila sg1, B. pertussis or both, and tested by ELISA tests. The reduction of IgM antibody level by pre-absorption with antigen/antigens was determined. Reduction of anti-Lpsgs1-7 IgM by pre-absorption with L.pneumophila sg1 antigen ranged from 1.5 to 80, and reduction of anti-Bp IgM by pre-absorption with B. pertussis ranged from 2.0 to 23.8. Reduction by both antigens varied depending on the age of the patients: among children <4 yrs.old, the reduction of anti-B. pertussis IgM by both antigens was higher than for B. pertussis antigen alone. Based on the high difference (≥ 2 times) between reduction by L.pneumophila sg1 and by B. pertussis antigen, legionellosis was confirmed in 8/19 children. The majority of them also indicated IgM positive/borderline results for B. pertussis or M.pneumoniae in routine ELISA tests. As a preliminary, we posed a hypothesis of a potential impact of an anti-pertussis vaccination on the results obtained in anti-L. pneumophila ELISA IgM tests among young children.