Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extrasynaptic NR2D-Containing NMDARs Are Recruited to the Synapse during LTP of NMDAR-EPSCs

Long-term potentiation of NMDA-receptor-mediated synaptic transmission (NMDAR-LTP) is a little-understood form of plasticity. In the present study, we investigated whether NMDAR-LTP in the dentate gyrus involves recruitment of extrasynaptic NMDARs, because NMDARs are expressed both synaptically and extrasynaptically with evidence for subtype differences at different locations. We show that before induction of NMDAR-LTP, pharmacological inhibition of glutamate transporters resulted in glutamate spillover from the synapse and activation of extrasynaptic NMDARs. After the induction of NMDAR-LTP, such activation of extrasynaptic NMDARs was absent. Activation of extrasynaptic NMDARs after glutamate uptake inhibition also occurred when synaptic NMDARs were inhibited with MK801 [(+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo [a,d] cyclohepten-5,10-imine maleate], and this extrasynaptically mediated NMDAR-EPSC was strongly reduced by prior induction of NMDAR-LTP. The extrasynaptic NMDARs were shown to be NR2D-containing, because the activation of extrasynaptic NMDARs by glutamate spillover was prevented by the NR2D-selective antagonists PPDA [(2R*,3S*)-1-(phenanthrenyl-2-carbonyl)piperazine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid] and UBP141. Further studies using selective antagonists for NR2A- and NR2B-containing NMDARs demonstrated that synaptic NMDARs are predominantly NR2A-containing and NR2B-containing receptors, whereas the extrasynaptic NMDARs are complex multimeric receptors with NR2A, NR2B, or NR2D subunits. Our results show that LTP of NMDAR-EPSCs involves movement of NMDARs from an extrasynaptic to a synaptic location and suggest a novel physiological role for extrasynaptic NMDARs.
An Efficient Phase-Locked Loop for Distorted Three-Phase Systems

This paper proposed an efficient phase-locked loop (PLL) that features zero steady-state error of phase and frequency under voltage sag, phase jump, harmonics, DC offsets and step-and ramp-changed frequency. The PLL includes the sliding Goertzel discrete Fourier transform (SGDFT) filter-based fundamental positive sequence component separator (FPSCS), the synchronousreference-frame PLL (SRF-PLL) and the secondary control path (SCP). In order to obtain an accurate fundamental positive sequence component, SGDFT filter is introduced as it features better filtering ability at the frequencies that are integer times of fundamental frequency. Meanwhile, the second order Lagrange-interpolation method is employed to approximate the actual sampling number including both integer and fractional parts as grid frequency may deviate from the rated value. Moreover, an improved SCP with single-step comparison filtering algorithm is employed as it updates reference angular frequency according to the FPSC, which promises a zero steady-state error of phase and improves the frequency tracking speed. In this paper, the mathematical model of the proposed PLL is constructed, its stability is analyzed. Also, design procedure of the control parameters is presented. The effectiveness of the proposed PLL is confirmed by experimental results and comparison with advanced pre-filtering PLLs.
Trypanosoma cruzi Coaxes Cardiac Fibroblasts into Preventing Cardiomyocyte Death by Activating Nerve Growth Factor Receptor TrkA

Rationale Cardiomyocytes express neurotrophin receptor TrkA that promotes survival following nerve growth factor (NGF) ligation. Whether TrkA also resides in cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) and underlies cardioprotection is unknown. Objective To test whether CFs express TrkA that conveys paracrine signals to neighbor cardiomyocytes using, as probe, the Chagas disease parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which expresses a TrkA-binding neurotrophin mimetic, named PDNF. T cruzi targets the heart, causing chronic debilitating cardiomyopathy in ∼30% patients. Methods and Results Basal levels of TrkA and TrkC in primary CFs are comparable to those in cardiomyocytes. However, in the myocardium, TrkA expression is significantly lower in fibroblasts than myocytes, and vice versa for TrkC. Yet T cruzi recognition of TrkA on fibroblasts, preferentially over cardiomyocytes, triggers a sharp and sustained increase in NGF, including in the heart of infected mice or of mice administered PDNF intravenously, as early as 3-h post-administration. Further, NGF-containing T cruzi- or PDNF-induced fibroblast-conditioned medium averts cardiomyocyte damage by H2O2, in agreement with the previously recognized cardioprotective role of NGF. Conclusions TrkA residing in CFs induces an exuberant NGF production in response to T cruzi infection, enabling, in a paracrine fashion, myocytes to resist oxidative stress, a leading Chagas cardiomyopathy trigger. Thus, PDNF-TrkA interaction on CFs may be a mechanism orchestrated by T cruzi to protect its heart habitat, in concert with the long-term (decades) asymptomatic heart parasitism that characterizes Chagas disease. Moreover, as a potent booster of cardioprotective NGF in vivo, PDNF may offer a novel therapeutic opportunity against cardiomyopathies.
Remarks on Language Acquisition and Literacy: Language Acquisition and Teaching, Free Reading, "Test-prep" and Its Consequences, the Use of the First Language, Writing, and the Great Native Speaker Teacher Debate

This paper reviews the arguments for comprehensible input (the "comprehension hypothesis" and discusses some of its applications to beginning and intermediate language teaching, including free voluntary reading as a bridge from conversational to academic language. The comprehension hypothesis provides some guidance on the proper use of the first language in second language teaching and helps explain what writing can and cannot do. Finally, the comprehension hypothesis contributes to the Great Native Speaker Teacher debate: We want teachers (1) to understand language acquisition, (2) to understand language pedagogy, and (3) to speak the language well. My point is that number (3) alone is not enough, even if the teacher is a native speaker. Keywords: comprehensible input, language acquisition, TPR, Natural Approach, TPRS, sheltered subject matter teaching, free voluntary reading, writing
Predictors of legislators' ICT acceptance and use in the performance of legislative functions at the Nigerian National Assembly.

This study was conducted to determine the predictors of legislators’ acceptance and use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the performance of legislative functions in the Nigerian National Assembly (NASS), Abuja, Nigeria. A dominantly positivist paradigm using quantitative and qualitative approaches was used. The survey methodology was used and the questionnaire was distributed to all the 469 federal legislators of NASS. An in-depth interview was conducted on five principal officers of the NASS, namely the Chairs of House Committees on ICT and Education; the Chair of Senate Committee on Communication; Director of ICT; and the Clerk of NASS. The data collected through a survey questionnaire was analyzed using the statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to generate summary and descriptive statistics, Pearson Multiple Correlation, Analysis of Variance, Stepwise Multiple Regression and Path Regression Analysis; while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis and thematic analyses. The theoretical framework used for the study was an extension of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by Venkatesh, Morris, Davis and Davis (2003). A test-retest reliability method of two weeks interval using Cronbach Alpha was conducted on 24 state legislators. The expected reliability stood at r=0.92, which was adequate for the study. Ethical considerations were taken into account with informed consent forms, approval seeking, permission and confidentiality. The findings showed that culture, academic qualification, attitude, behavioural intention, age and organizational impact were the most important predictors of ICT acceptance and use among legislators in NASS. The findings affirmed the ease of use of ICT of the legislators and suggested that legislators have a positive attitude towards ICT use. The findings showed that the legislators perceived ICT as useful and relevant to legislative work. The ICT usage level by legislators was generally low. The inhibitors of ICT acceptance and use that were found in the present study include: lack of exposure to e-parliament systems and fear of technology manipulation and political alienation. The findings on the relationships between independent and dependent variables (culture, ICT availability, facilitating conditions, effort expectancy, social influence, and performance expectancy) and the dependent variable (ICT acceptance and use) by legislators revealed that culture, facilitating conditions, effort expectancy, social influence and performance expectancy were positively correlated with ICT acceptance and use. ICT availability and performance of legislative functions, behavioural intention and gender were found to be negatively correlated with ICT acceptance and use. The findings of the tested hypothesis showed that independent variables (ICT skills, gender, age and level of education) were positively related. Findings revealed that independent variables (culture, ICT availability, facilitating conditions, effort expectancy, social…
Yeast Protein Kinases and the RHO1 Exchange Factor TUS1 Are Novel Components of the Cell Integrity Pathway in Yeast

ABSTRACT The PKC1-associated mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway of Saccharomyces cerevisiae regulates cell integrity by controlling the actin cytoskeleton and cell wall synthesis. Activation of PKC1 occurs via the GTPase RHO1 and the kinase pair PKH1 and PKH2. Here we report that YPK1 and YPK2, an essential pair of homologous kinases and proposed downstream effectors of PKH and sphingolipids, are also regulators of the PKC1-controlled MAP kinase cascade. ypk mutants display random distribution of the actin cytoskeleton and severely reduced activation of the MAP kinase MPK1. Upregulation of the RHO1 GTPase switch or the PKC1 effector MAP kinase pathway suppresses the growth and actin defects of ypk cells. ypk lethality is also suppressed by overexpression of an uncharacterized gene termed TUS1. TUS1 is a novel RHO1 exchange factor that contributes to cell wall integrity-mediated modulation of RHO1 activity. Thus, TUS1 and the YPKs add to the growing complexity of RHO1 and PKC1 regulation in the cell integrity signaling pathway. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the YPKs are a missing link between sphingolipid signaling and the cell integrity pathway.
Mitotic centromeric targeting of HP1 and its binding to Sgo1 are dispensable for sister-chromatid cohesion in human cells

Human Shugoshin 1 (Sgo1) protects centromeric sister-chromatid cohesion during mitosis. Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) has been proposed to recruit Sgo1 to mitotic centromeres. We show that the molecular interaction targeting HP1 to mitotic centromeres is incompatible with HP1 further recruiting Sgo1. Our results clarify the role of centromeric HP1 in chromosome segregation.
Cysteine3 of Src family protein tyrosine kinase determines palmitoylation and localization in caveolae

Recent work has demonstrated that p56lck, a member of the Src family of protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs), is modified by palmitoylation of a cysteine residue(s) within the first 10 amino acids of the protein (in addition to amino-terminal myristoylation that is a common modification of the Src family of PTKs). This is now extended to three other members of this family by showing incorporation of [3H]palmitate into p59fyn, p55fgr, and p56hck, but not into p60src. The [3H]palmitate was released by treatment with neutral hydroxylamine, indicating a thioester linkage to the protein. Individual replacement of the two cysteine residues within the first 10 amino acids of p59fyn and p56lck with serine indicated that Cys3 was the major determinant of palmitoylation, as well as association of the PTK with glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol- anchored proteins. Introduction of Cys3 into p60src led to its palmitoylation. p59fyn but not p60src partitioned into Triton-insoluble complexes that contain caveolae, microinvaginations of the plasma membrane. Mapping of the requirement for partitioning into caveolae demonstrated that the amino-terminal sequence Met-Gly-Cys is both necessary and sufficient within the context of a Src family PTK to confer localization into caveolae. Palmitoylation of this motif in p59fyn also modestly increased its overall avidity for membranes. These results highlight the role of the amino-terminal motif Met-Gly-Cys in determining the structure and properties of members of the Src family of PTKs.
Matrix Sampling for Global Illumination

Global illumination is the problem of rendering images by simulating the light transport in a scene, also considering the inter-reflection of light between surfaces. One general approach to global illumination that gained popularity during the last decade is the many-light formulation, whose idea is to approximate global illumination by many automatically generated virtual point lights. In this thesis, we address two fundamental issues that arise with the many-light formulation: scalability and generality. We present a new view of the many-light approach, by treating it as a large matrix of light-surface contributions. Our insight is that there is usually a significant amount of structure and redundancy in the matrix; this suggests that only a tiny subset of the elements might be needed for accurate reconstruction. First, we present a scalable rendering algorithm that exploits this insight by sampling a small subset of matrix rows and columns to reconstruct the image. This algorithm is very flexible in terms of the material and light types it can handle, and achieves high-quality rendering of complex scenes in several seconds on consumer-level graphics hardware. Furthermore, we extend this approach to render whole animations, by considering a 3D tensor of light-surface contributions over time. This allows us to further decrease the necessary number of samples by exploiting temporal coherence. We also address a long-standing limitation of all previous many-light approaches that leads to fundamentally incorrect results in scenes with glossy materials, by introducing a new virtual light type that does not have this limitation. Finally, we describe an algorithm that computes a wavelet-compressed approximation to the lighting matrix, which allows for interactive light placement in a scene with global illumination.
Comparison between LSA-LDA-Lexical Chains

This paper presents an analysis of three techniques used for similar tasks, especially related to semantics, in Natural Language Processing (NLP): Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA), Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and lexical chains. These techniques were evaluated and compared on two different corpora in order to highlight the similarities and differences between them from a semantic analysis viewpoint. The first corpus consisted of four Wikipedia articles on different topics, while the second one consisted of 35 online chat conversations between 4-12 participants debating four imposed topics (forum, chat, blog and wikis). The study focuses on finding similarities and differences between the outcomes of the three methods from a semantic analysis point of view, by computing quantitative factors such as correlations, degree of coverage of the resulting topics, etc. Using corpora from different types of discourse and quantitative factors that are task-independent allows us to prove that although LSA and LDA provide similar results, the results of lexical chaining are not very correlated with neither the ones of LSA or LDA, therefore lexical chains might be used complementary to LSA or LDA when performing semantic analysis for various NLP applications.
The Relative Effectiveness of Human Tutoring, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, and Other Tutoring Systems

This article is a review of experiments comparing the effectiveness of human tutoring, computer tutoring, and no tutoring. “No tutoring” refers to instruction that teaches the same content without tutoring. The computer tutoring systems were divided by their granularity of the user interface interaction into answer-based, step-based, and substep-based tutoring systems. Most intelligent tutoring systems have step-based or substep-based granularities of interaction, whereas most other tutoring systems (often called CAI, CBT, or CAL systems) have answer-based user interfaces. It is widely believed as the granularity of tutoring decreases, the effectiveness increases. In particular, when compared to No tutoring, the effect sizes of answer-based tutoring systems, intelligent tutoring systems, and adult human tutors are believed to be d = 0.3, 1.0, and 2.0 respectively. This review did not confirm these beliefs. Instead, it found that the effect size of human tutoring was much lower: d = 0.79. Moreover, the effect size of intelligent tutoring systems was 0.76, so they are nearly as effective as human tutoring.
Convolutional Neural Networks for P300 Detection with Application to Brain-Computer Interfaces

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a specific type of human-computer interface that enables the direct communication between human and computers by analyzing brain measurements. Oddball paradigms are used in BCI to generate event-related potentials (ERPs), like the P300 wave, on targets selected by the user. A P300 speller is based on this principle, where the detection of P300 waves allows the user to write characters. The P300 speller is composed of two classification problems. The first classification is to detect the presence of a P300 in the electroencephalogram (EEG). The second one corresponds to the combination of different P300 responses for determining the right character to spell. A new method for the detection of P300 waves is presented. This model is based on a convolutional neural network (CNN). The topology of the network is adapted to the detection of P300 waves in the time domain. Seven classifiers based on the CNN are proposed: four single classifiers with different features set and three multiclassifiers. These models are tested and compared on the Data set II of the third BCI competition. The best result is obtained with a multiclassifier solution with a recognition rate of 95.5 percent, without channel selection before the classification. The proposed approach provides also a new way for analyzing brain activities due to the receptive field of the CNN models.
Recovering Color and Details of Clipped Image Regions

In a picture of a bright scene, camera sensor readings may be saturated to a maximal value. This results in loss of variation and color distortion of bright regions in the image. We present an algorithm that exploits data from uncorrupted channels to recover image details and color information. The correction is based on the Color Lines model for image representation in RGB color space. Given an image we identify regions of color clipping, and expand each of them to a color cluster called a Color Line. Then we restore the clipped pixel values of each Color Line according to its unique properties. Our method is suitable for both raw and processed color images, including those with large clipped regions. We also present results of correcting color clipping in video sequences.
Chemoprevention of Cancer

Cancer chemoprevention is defined as the use of natural, synthetic, or biologic chemical agents to reverse, suppress, or prevent carcinogenic progression to invasive cancer. The success of several recent clinical trials in preventing cancer in high‐risk populations suggests that chemoprevention is a rational and appealing strategy. This review will highlight current clinical research in chemoprevention, the biologic effects of chemopreventive agents on epithelial carcinogenesis, and the usefulness of intermediate biomarkers as markers of premalignancy. Selected chemoprevention trials are discussed with a focus on strategies of trial design and clinical outcome. Future directions in the field of chemoprevention will be proposed that are based on recently acquired mechanistic insight into carcinogenesis.
General risk constraints

The risk evaluation process is integrated with procedures for handling vague and numerically imprecise probabilities and utilities. A body of empirical evidence has shown that many managers would welcome new ways of highlighting catastrophic consequences, as well as means to evaluate decision situations involving high risks. When events occur frequently and their consequences are not severe, it is relatively simple to calculate the risk exposure of an organization, as well as a reasonable premium when an insurance transaction is made, relying on variations of the principle of maximizing the expected utility. When, on the other hand, the frequency of damages is low, the situation is considerably more difficult, especially if catastrophic events may occur. When the quality of estimates is poor, e.g. when evaluating low-probability/highconsequence risks, the customary use of quantitative rules together with unrealistically precise data could be harmful as well as misleading. We point out some problematic features of evaluations performed using utility theory and criticize the demand for precise data in situations where none is available. As an alternative to traditional models, we suggest a method that allows for interval statements and comparisons, which does not require the use of numerically precise statements of probability, cost, or utility in a general sense. In order to attain a reasonable level of security, and because it has been shown that managers tend to focus on large negative losses, it is argued that a risk constraint should be imposed on the analysis. The strategies are evaluated relative to a set of such constraints considering how risky the strategies are. The shortcomings of utility theory can in part be compensated for by the introduction of risk constraints.
Measuring the academic success of students with ASICS using polytomous item response theory

Fully Residential School (FRS) under the Ministry of Education in Malaysia is a type of school, which produces high performance human capital. Important factors in the academic success of high performing students should be focused on to produce more high-performing students to fulfill the needs of the nation. This study aims to apply the Academic Success Inventory for College Students (ASICS) in the context of FRS in Malaysia and measure the instrument quality as well as identify the most important factor in the academic success. The sample comprised 305 students from three FRS. The data was collected using the ASICS instrument, which contained 49 items. Later, the data was analyzed based on the Polytomous Item Response Theory using the Xcalibre software. Based on the Chi-square, p-value, and the -2 LogLikelihood, Samejima's Graded Rating Model was found to be the fit model with the data. Unidimensionality assumption and local independence were tested using the exploratory factor analysis and were fulfilled. The instrument’s reliability was overall very satisfactory (α=0.89) and the construct validity was also fulfilled with the value of 0.86. It was found that most items (91.8%) showed good discrimination. The findings also showed that (i) ASICS is a good instrument to measure academic success among the students as previous studies and (ii) high performing students found to prioritize in aspects such ‘ Perceiving Instructor Efficacy ’ and ‘ Personal Adjustment ’ to achieve their academic success. It means, to develop an excellent future generation, we require an efficient education sector, especially one which focuses on efficient teachers for the 4.0 Industrial Age.