Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modulation of Rat Rotational Behavior by Direct Gene Transfer of Constitutively Active Protein Kinase C into Nigrostriatal Neurons

The modulation of motor behavior by protein kinase C (PKC) signaling pathways in nigrostriatal neurons was examined by using a genetic intervention approach. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) vectors that encode a catalytic domain of rat PKCβII (PkcΔ) were developed. PkcΔ exhibited a constitutively active protein kinase activity with a substrate specificity similar to that of rat brain PKC. As demonstrated in cultured sympathetic neurons, PkcΔ caused a long-lasting, activation-dependent increase in neurotransmitter release. In the rat brain, microinjection of HSV-1 vectors that contain the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter targeted expression to dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons. Expression of pkcΔ in a small percentage of nigrostriatal neurons (∼0.1–2%) was sufficient to produce a long-term (≥1 month) change in apomorphine-induced rotational behavior. Nigrostriatal neurons were the only catecholaminergic neurons that contained PkcΔ, and the amount of rotational behavior was correlated with the number of affected nigrostriatal neurons. The change in apomorphine-induced rotational behavior was blocked by a dopamine receptor antagonist (fluphenazine). D2-like dopamine receptor density was increased in those regions of the striatum innervated by the affected nigrostriatal neurons. Therefore, this strategy enabled the demonstration that a PKC pathway or PKC pathways in nigrostriatal neurons modulate apomorphine-induced rotational behavior, and altered dopaminergic transmission from nigrostriatal neurons appears to be the affected neuronal physiology responsible for the change in rotational behavior.
Phillips Curve Inflation Forecasts

This paper surveys the literature since 1993 on pseudo out-of-sample evaluation of inflation forecasts in the United States and conducts an extensive empirical analysis that recapitulates and clarifies this literature using a consistent data set and methodology. The literature review and empirical results are gloomy and indicate that Phillips curve forecasts (broadly interpreted as forecasts using an activity variable) are better than other multivariate forecasts, but their performance is episodic, sometimes better than and sometimes worse than a good (not naive) univariate benchmark. We provide some preliminary evidence characterizing successful forecasting episodes.
New PDE-based Methods for Surface and Image Reconstruction

ii Preface I want to thank all people who have been supportive during my master study. Especially I thank my supervisor Joachim Weickert, and the people in his research group at Saarland University in Germany, where I stayed as a guest for most of the time. It has been a great pleasure to stay in your group. The great scientific atmosphere has brought up many new ideas. I further want to thank my main supervisor Xue-Cheng Tai for convincing me that image processing is such an interesting application of mathematics. I also would like to thank Tom Kavli from sintef IKT. Although I did not pursue the topic we planned, the applications we discussed have been an inspiration for the material in Chapter 4 of this thesis.
Salient Representation of Volume Data

We introduce a novel method for identification of objects of interest in volume data. Our approach conveys the information contained in two essentially different concepts, the object's boundaries and the narrow solid structures, in an easy and uniform way. The second order derivative operators in directions reaching minimal response are employed for this task. To show the superior performance of our method, we provide a comparison with its main competitor – surface extraction from areas of maximal gradient magnitude. We show that our approach provides the possibility to represent volume data by a subset of a nominal size.
Establishment and Characterization of New Canine and Feline Osteosarcoma Primary Cell Lines

Osteosarcomas are the most abundant form of bone malignancies in multiple species. Canine osteosarcomas are considered a valuable model for human osteosarcomas because of their similar features. Feline osteosarcomas, on the other hand, are rarely studied but have interesting characteristics, such as a better survival prognosis than dogs or humans, and less likelihood of metastasis. To enable experimental approaches to study these differences we have established five new canine osteosarcoma cell lines out of three tumors, COS_1186h, COS_1186w, COS_1189, and COS_1220, one osteosarcoma-derived lung metastasis, COS_1033, and two new feline osteosarcoma cell lines, FOS_1077 and FOS_1140. Their osteogenic and neoplastic origin, as well as their potential to produce calcified structures, was determined by the markers osteocalcin, osteonectin, tissue unspecific alkaline phosphatase, p53, cytokeratin, vimentin, and alizarin red. The newly developed cell lines retained most of their markers in vitro but only spontaneously formed spheroids produced by COS_1189 showed calcification in vitro.
Agent Support for Policy-Driven Collaborative Mission Planning

In this paper, we describe how agents can support collaborative planning within international coalitions, formed in an ad hoc fashion as a response to military and humanitarian crises. As these coalitions are formed rapidly and without much lead time or co-training, human planners may be required to observe a plethora of policies that direct their planning effort. In a series of experiments, we show how agents can support human planners, ease their cognitive burden by giving advice on the correct use of policies and catch possible violations. The experiments show that agents can effectively prevent policy violations with no significant extra cost.
Automatic extraction of multi-objective aware pipeline parallelism using genetic algorithms

The development of automatic parallelization techniques has been fascinating researchers for decades. This has resulted in a significant amount of tools, which should relieve the designer from the burden of manually parallelizing an application. However, most of these tools only focus on minimizing execution time which drastically reduces their applicability to embedded devices. It is essential to find good trade-offs between different objectives like, e.g., execution time, energy consumption, or communication overhead, if applications should be parallelized for embedded multiprocessor system-on-chip (MPSoC) devices. Another important aspect which has to be taken into account is the streaming-based structure found in many embedded applications such as multimedia and network services. The best way to parallelize these applications is to extract pipeline parallelism. Therefore, this paper presents the first multi-objective aware approach exploiting pipeline parallelism automatically to make it most suitable for resource-restricted embedded devices. We have compared the new pipeline parallelization approach to an existing task-level extraction technique. The evaluation has shown that the new approach extracts very efficient multi-objective aware parallelism. In addition, the two approaches have been combined and it could be shown that both approaches perfectly complement each other.
Schwann cell-specific JAM-C-deficient mice reveal novel expression and functions for JAM-C in peripheral nerves

Junctional adhesion molecule‐C (JAM‐C) is an adhesion molecule expressed at junctions between adjacent endothelial and epithelial cells and implicated in multiple inflammatory and vascular responses. In addition, we recently reported on the expression of JAM‐C in Schwann cells (SCs) and its importance for the integrity and function of peripheral nerves. To investigate the role of JAM‐C in neuronal functions further, mice with a specific deletion of JAM‐C in SCs (JAM‐C SC KO) were generated. Compared to wild‐type (WT) controls, JAM‐C SC KO mice showed electrophysiological defects, muscular weakness, and hypersensitivity to mechanical stimuli. In addressing the underlying cause of these defects, nerves from JAM‐C SC KO mice were found to have morphological defects in the paranodal region, exhibiting increased nodal length as compared to WTs. The study also reports on previously undetected expressions of JAM‐C, namely on perineural cells, and in line with nociception defects of the JAM‐C SC KO animals, on finely myelinated sensory nerve fibers. Collectively, the generation and characterization of JAM‐C SC KO mice has provided unequivocal evidence for the involvement of SC JAM‐C in the fine organization of peripheral nerves and in modulating multiple neuronal responses. —Colom, B. , Poitelon, Y. , Huang, W. , Woodfin, A. , Averill, S. , Del Carro, U. , Zambroni, D. , Brain, S. D. , Perretti, M. , Ahluwalia, A. , Priestley, J. V. , Chavakis, T. , Imhof, B. A. , Feltri, M. L. , Nourshargh, S. Schwann cell‐specific JAM‐C‐deficient mice reveal novel expression and functions for JAM‐C in peripheral nerves. FASEB J. 26, 1064–1076 (2012). www.fasebj. org
Expanding protected areas and incorporating human resource use: a study of 15 forest parks in Ecuador and Peru

Abstract Data from legal records, management plans, and interviews with 63 local experts reveal the substantial expansion of 15 protected areas (PAs) of forest in Ecuador and Peru during the last two decades. Combining results for these PAs, the area under protection increased by over half, from 5,760,814 to 8,972,896 ha, with the Amazonian PAs adding the greatest expanse. Most of this expanded land was legally designated for strict protection; however, in practice, human resource use and settlement are widespread. Hunting is the most common resource use, followed by logging and livestock grazing. Mining and petroleum extraction also occur in four of the 15 PAs. Together these activities on average affect approximately 30% of the area within eight Peruvian PAs and approximately 45% of the area of seven Ecuadorian PAs, far exceeding previous deforestation estimates. By expanding these PAs, Ecuadorian and Peruvian conservationists have significantly improved the coverage of key ecosystems and endangered habitats. However, they now face the daunting task of managing larger, more complex protected areas that de facto include thousands of local people. Conservation agencies in both countries are turning toward land-use zoning within PAs to integrate resource use with biodiversity conservation.
User Intent in Multimedia Search

Today's multimedia search engines are expected to respond to queries reflecting a wide variety of information needs from users with different goals. The topical dimension (“what” the user is searching for) of these information needs is well studied; however, the intent dimension (“why” the user is searching) has received relatively less attention. Specifically, intent is the “immediate reason, purpose, or goal” that motivates a user to query a search engine. We present a thorough survey of multimedia information retrieval research directed at the problem of enabling search engines to respond to user intent. The survey begins by defining intent, including a differentiation from related, often-confused concepts. It then presents the key conceptual models of search intent. The core is an overview of intent-aware approaches that operate at each stage of the multimedia search engine pipeline (i.e., indexing, query processing, ranking). We discuss intent in conventional text-based search wherever it provides insight into multimedia search intent or intent-aware approaches. Finally, we identify and discuss the most important future challenges for intent-aware multimedia search engines. Facing these challenges will allow multimedia information retrieval to recognize and respond to user intent and, as a result, fully satisfy the information needs of users.
Growth and Volatility of Micropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S.

A micropolitan statistical area is defined by the U.S. Department of Commerce as A core based statistical area associated with at least one urban cluster that has a population of at least 10,000, but less than 50,000. Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau also identified the micropolitan area as an emerging metropolitan area. Despite its growing importance, the literature on the economic characteristics of micropolitan areas so far has been limited. The objectives of this study are: (1) to describe the geographic distribution, growth, and volatility of the U.S. micropolitan areas during the 1969-2012 period; and (2) to identify and measure the determinants of growth and volatility of micropolitan areas. Findings show that micropolitan area growth is dependent on sectoral composition, initial market size, and spatial/locational effects
Push-out tests and bond strength of rectangular CFST columns

Push-out tests have been conducted on 18 rectangular concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns with the aim of studying the bond behaviour between the steel tube and the concrete infill. The obtained load-slip response and the distribution of the interface bond stress along the member length and around the cross-section for various load levels, as derived from measured axial strain gradients in the steel tube, are reported. Concrete compressive strength, interface length, cross-sectional dimensions and different interface conditions were varied to assess their effect on the ultimate bond stress. The test results indicate that lubricating the steel-concrete interface always had a significant adverse effect on the interface bond strength. Among the other variables considered, concrete compressive strength and cross-section size were found to have a pronounced effect on the bond strength of non-lubricated specimens for the range of cross-section geometries considered, which is not reflected in the European structural design code for composite structures, EN 1994-1-1 (2004). Finally, based on nonlinear regression of the test data generated in the present study, supplemented by additional data obtained from the literature, an empirical equation has been proposed for predicting the average ultimate bond strength for SHS and RHS filled with normal strength concrete.
Touch key design for target selection on a mobile phone

Mobile phones with a touch screen replacing traditional keypads have been introduced to the market. Few studies, however, have been conducted on the touch interface design for a mobile phone. This study investigated the effects of touch key sizes and locations on the one-handed thumb input that is popular in mobile phone interactions. Three different touch key sizes (i.e. square shape with 4mm, 7mm, and 10mm wide) and twenty five locations were examined in an experiment. The results provided two groups of touch key locations (an appropriate and an inappropriate region) with respect to three usability measures including success rate, number of errors, and pressing convenience. In addition, a hits distributions based algorithm was applied to target selection tasks, which statistically improved the performance. The results of this study could be used to design touch keys so as to enhance the usability of mobile phones with a touch screen.
Automatic translation from parallel speech: Simultaneous interpretation as MT training data

State-of-the art statistical machine translation depends heavily on the availability of domain-specific bilingual parallel text. However, acquiring large amounts of bilingual parallel text is costly and, depending on the language pair, sometimes impossible. We propose an alternative to parallel text as machine translation (MT) training data; audio recordings of parallel speech (pSp) as it occurs in any scenario where interpreters are involved. Although interpretation (pSp) differs significantly from translation (parallel text), we achieve surprisingly strong translation results with our pSp-trained MT and speech translation systems.We argue that the presented approach is of special interest for developing speech translation in the context of resource-deficient languages where even monolingual resources are scarce.
Special populations: The referee and assistant referee

Abstract The referee has responsibility for control of players' behaviour during competitive football and implementing the rules of the game. To do this, the referee and the two assistant referees are obliged to keep up with play. Referees cover 10,000 m on average during a game, mean heart rate is about 160 – 165 beats · min−1 and oxygen uptake is close to 80% of maximum ([Vdot]O2max). Assistant referees cover approximately 7500 m, mean heart rate is about 140 beats · min−1 and the corresponding oxygen uptake is 65% [Vdot]O2max. Both groups display evidence of fatigue towards the end of the game, a phenomenon that has not been thoroughly examined for nutritional interventions. The estimated energy expenditure of referees during a game exceeds 5600 kJ. Both referees and assistant referees execute unorthodox patterns of movement during match-play that increase energy expenditure over normal locomotion. As high standards of fitness and decision making are expected of professional referees, there are nutritional consequences associated with the training regimes they adopt. The effects of nutritional interventions on cognitive performance during the later stages of a game are in need of further investigation.
Microleakage under orthodontic brackets bonded with different adhesive systems

Objective: This in vitro study aimed to compare the microleakage of orthodontic brackets between enamel-adhesive and adhesive-bracket interfaces at the occlusal and gingival margins bonded with different adhesive systems. Materials and Methods: A total of 144 human maxillary premolar teeth extracted for orthodontic reasons was randomly divided into four groups. Each group was then further divided into three sub-groups. Three total-etching bonding systems (Transbond XT, Greengloo and Kurasper F), three one-step self-etching bonding systems (Transbond Plus SEP, Bond Force and Clearfil S3), three two-step self-etching bonding systems (Clearfil SE Bond, Clearfil Protectbond and Clearfil Liner Bond), and three self-adhesive resin cements (Maxcem Elite, Relyx U 100 and Clearfil SA Cement) were used to bond the brackets to the teeth. After bonding, all teeth were sealed with nail varnish and stained with 0.5% basic fuchsine for 24 h. All samples were sectioned and examined under a stereomicroscope to score for microleakage at the adhesive-enamel and adhesive-bracket interfaces from both occlusal and gingival margins. Statistical Analysis Used: Statistical analyses were performed with Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Results: The results indicate no statistically significant differences between the microleakage scores of the adhesives; microleakage was detected in all groups. Comparison of the average values of the microleakage scores in the enamel-adhesive and adhesive-bracket interfaces indicated statistically significant differences (P < 0.05). The amount of the microleakage was higher at the enamel-adhesive interface than at the bracket-adhesive interface. Conclusions: All of the brackets exhibited some amount of microleakage. This result means that microleakage does not depend on the type of adhesive used.
Juvenile offenders, 'grave' crimes and the use of long-term detention : an examination of the law and issues of contemporary criminal justice

This thesis examines the use of long-term detention for juveniles convicted of certain grave and very serious crimes (excluding murder). The study incorporates a detailed exploration of the law together with other substantive issues of contemporary criminal and youth justice. Centrally, the research focuses on s.91 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 (formerly s. 53(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933). This law provides the higher courts with special powers to detain juveniles to longer periods of detention above the usual 24-month limit. This separate system of law and justice for the most serious juvenile offenders is subjected to rigorous theoretical and empirical scrutiny. At its heart, the study seeks to explain the mechanisms and ramifications of sentencing juveniles to long periods of detention. The cumulative research findings are based on a thorough review of the literature combined with an extensive fieldwork project undertaken at six selected young offender institutions. Interviews were conducted with 142 young prisoners (aged 1521) convicted of violent and other very serious crimes and sentenced to long periods of detention. From a detailed analysis of key index offence and offender characteristics, the study examines the experiences of the respondents from the preconviction stage of the legal process and following sentencing. The varying levels of offence-gravity are considered within the context of contemporary sentencing theory and the use of proportionate sentences. In addition, the experiences of a remand to prison custody, trial and sentencing at the crown court, and detention in a young offender institution are described and critically evaluated. The research findings juxtapose the nature and extent of youthful offender vulnerability with the commission of very serious crimes and a system of justice most usually reserved for adult offenders. The tension between these elements represents one of the most complex challenges for contemporary criminal justice and society.
Statistical transmit processing for enhanced MIMO channel estimation in presence of correlation

A novel pilot aided channel estimation scheme is considered for wireless MIMO systems in presence of fading correlation. Assuming a linear minimum mean squared error based channel estimator, it is demonstrated that adequate statistical shaping of the training sequence depending on the correlation properties of the channel can minimize the estimation of the mean squared error. The new scheme is a general concept that can readily be applied to smart antenna multiple-input single-output systems. With long-term update intervals of the correlation properties of the channel, the complexity of the concept is moderate and allows for an implementation in FDD systems. Simulation results for various MIMO transmission systems including realistic channel estimation demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme with a significant SNR gain.