Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preservation of Embryonic Stem Cells

With recent advances in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, cell transplantation, stem cell therapy, and assisted reproduction, the living cell is becoming increasingly important as a tool for drug screening and therapy in modern medicine (Gearhart 1998; Langer and Vacanti 1993). As a result of their capability of differentiating into any type of cells, the pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells are of particular importance to the modern cell-based medicine (Gearhart 1998). However, ES cells may differentiate gradually during passaging when cultured at 37 oC. Therefore, for the eventual success of using ES cells in the emerging cell-based medicine, it is of great importance to maintain their pluripotency in the long term without passaging and in a cost effective way so that the cells can be widely distributed and readily available to end users in both research and clinical settings. This can be done by cell preservation to put the cells in a state of suspended animation, which can be achieved by either cooling the cells to preserve (cryopreservation) at a cryogenic temperature and/or drying the cells to preserve (lyopreservation) at ambient temperature (Acker 2004; Blow 2009; Coger and Toner 2000; Toner and Kocsis 2002). In either case, the cells must enter (before being damaged) an amorphous (or glassy) phase, a thermodynamically metastable state with an extremely high viscosity and low molecular mobility and activity to arrest any biophysical and biochemical activities within the cells. Although contemporary methods for cell prservation still rely on the use of cryogenic tempertaure (cryopreservation), cell lyopreservation at ambient temperature is gaining more and more attention, due to the relatively high cost of maintaining and difficulty of transporting cryopreserved cells in cryogenic fluids such as liquid nitrogen (Acker 2004; Blow 2009; Deb 2009; Kanias and Acker 2006; Meyers 2006). In this chapter, the fundamentals and recent advancement of both cryo and lyopreservation are first summarized, followed by a critical review of the progress and challenges in applying the various cell preservation strategies to maintain the pluripotent properties of embryonic stem cells in the long term. This chapter is concluded with an outlook of the future directions of embryonic stem cell preservation.
Prospective Relationship Between Social Cognitive Variables and Leisure Time Physical Activity

ABSTRACT Background: Evidence suggests that health promotion interventions that are based on behavioral theories are more effective than those lacking a theoretical base. Recent studies have begun to look at the relationship between social cognitive variables and physical activity in varied populations. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the association of the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs in predicting 4 weeks of discretionary leisure time physical activity among Appalachian high school students. Methods: A prospective design was used to measure physical activity over 4 weeks following the measurement of the social cognitive theory variables. Linear regression was used to describe the association between the variables and 4 weeks of physical activity. Results: Together the SCT constructs accounted for 24% of the variance in moderate physical activity and 38.6% of the variance in vigorous physical activity. Discussion: The results of this study demonstrate that SCT variables are determinants of physical activity for this sample. The regression models for moderate and vigorous activity accounted for significant portions of variance and retained all 4 SCT variables in each model. Translation to Health Education Practice: This study contributes to the identification of targets for intervention for practitioners who work with Appalachian high school students.
Resolution effects on polarimetric high resolution X band data

The resolution degradation impact on the polarimetric information has not been extensively studied as the other system parameters. This work proposes a preliminary study of the resolution decrease effects on bare surfaces and complex media, as cities. A pure surface component is filtered on bare surfaces and Scattering mechanism ranging from surface scattering to double bounce scattering are removed when resolution is degraded.
Looking at the World from a Distance: Construal Level in Time Predictions and Counterfactual Thinking

versus concrete processing modes, and ask people to predict the consequences of positive and negative events. Such a study could also include measures of emotional impact in order to directly test whether shifts in construal level yield opposite effects on evaluations of consequences versus affective reactions (Terum & Svartdal, submitted). Final Remarks By the advent of CLT, scholars gained a powerful analytic tool for understanding a variety of phenomena. It enables students of human behaviour to draw conceptual links between phenomena that, until now, have been studied within separate research traditions.
The effect of culture on attitude towards online advertising and online brands: applying Hofstede's cultural factors to internet marketing

In formulating advertising and marketing strategies, marketers usually ignore cultural values at their peril. Little is known about the effects of national culture on individuals' attitude towards online advertising and brands. The purpose of this study is to examine Hofstede's cultural factors including individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity and femininity, and long-term orientation on Attitude towards Online Advertisements (ATOA) and Attitude towards Online Brands (ATOB). Structural equation modelling was employed using partial least squares path modelling analysis to empirically test the proposed research model using 258 valid online questionnaires for evaluation of measurement and structural model for reflective constructs. The results indicate that individualism and long-term orientation are predictors of ATOA and ATOB. In addition, uncertainty avoidance does not have a positive relationship with ATOA and ATOB. The hypothesis on masculinity and ATOA is rejected, while there is no association between power distance and ATOB. Contribution of the study, limitations and further directions are proposed for future studies.
Do fine motor skills contribute to early reading development

Background Little is known about how fine motor skills (FMS) relate to early literacy skills, especially over and above cognitive variables. Moreover, a lack of distinction between FMS, grapho-motor and writing skills may have hampered previous work. Method In Germany, kindergartners (n = 144, aged 6;1) were recruited before beginning formal reading instruction and were administered a host of FMS, early reading skills and cognitive measures. Results Analyses indicate that FMS related less strongly than grapho-motor skills to emergent literacy skills. Controlling for grapho-motor and cognitive skills, FMS did not generally explain unique variance in emergent literacy skills. Conclusions The link between reading and motor skills is highly differential. Findings did not suggest that pure FMS played a significant role in early reading development, however, its close cousin grapho-motor skills – even when devoid of the cognitive knowledge of letters – did. Implications for practice What is already known about this topic Fine motor skills (FMS) are considered an important school readiness indicator FMS play a role in cognition and language development Some research suggests that FMS might be important for reading What this paper adds First study to look differentially at FMS and emergent literacy FMS was considered separately from grapho-motor and handwriting skill Links between these motor skills and a broad range of emergent literacy and cognitive skills were investigated Implications for practice and/or policy FMS may be important in the development of grapho-motor skills Grapho-motor skills appear, in turn, linked to reading Fostering children's grapho-motor skills may be important in kindergarten
A Corpus of Preposition Supersenses

We present the first corpus annotated with preposition supersenses, unlexicalized categories for semantic functions that can be marked by English prepositions (Schneider et al., 2015). The preposition supersenses are organized hierarchically and designed to facilitate comprehensive manual annotation. Our dataset is publicly released on the web. 1
Repeated chair stands as a measure of lower limb strength in sexagenarian women.

BACKGROUND Despite inadequate empirical validation, sit-to-stand (STS) performance is often used as a proxy measure of lower limb strength among older adults. Furthermore, the relationships between bilateral isokinetic hip, knee, and ankle joint strength and their contributions to STS performances among older adults have not been established. The authors evaluated these relationships on 2 STS tests (5-chair STS test and 30-second chair STS test) in sexagenarian women. METHODS 47 women (mean age, 64.50 years) performed both STS tests on the same day and bilateral isokinetic (60 degrees/second) hip extensor, hip flexor, knee extensor, knee flexor, ankle plantar flexor, and ankle dorsiflexor strength testing within 7 days after STS testing. Regression analyses were performed using the average weight-adjusted isokinetic hip, knee, and ankle joint strength scores as the independent variables and both STS test scores as the dependent variables. RESULTS Regression analyses including all 6 leg strength variables explained 48% (p = .0001) and 35% (p = .007) of the variance in 5-chair STS test scores and 30-second chair STS scores, respectively. Ankle plantar flexor, hip flexor, and knee extensor strength were the strongest predictors for both STS tests. CONCLUSIONS Although ankle plantar flexor, hip flexor, and knee extensor strength play essential roles in performing the STS movement, most STS variance was unexplained, suggesting that important additional variables are also involved in completing the movement.
A Neuroeducation Description of a Paradigm Shift in Identification, Assessment, and Treatment of Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech with Supporting Evidence Through Interview and Artifact Analysis Provided by Speech Language Pathologists and Educators

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the study explored the pertinent cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and language literature that surrounds the diagnosis and treatment of children with Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech (sCAS) with the intent of finding a translational neuroeducation approach to the treatment of sCAS. The results of this literature suggest that the surface problemsphonology, morphology, syntaxare mapped onto a semantic basis. This semantic basis is feature based and people with speech sound disorders are likely to use a visual semantic feature basis. So, the literature supports a shift to a new lens that aligns with the Neurosemantic Language Learning Theory (NLLT) and that could be the basis for intervention in sCAS. Second, while traditional treatment is aimed at the acoustic motor patterns of phonological processes, this study sought to uncover what professionals who have some neuroeducation training say they do when they treat children with sCAS. Interviews were conducted with sixteen Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) and Educators currently using principles of neuroeducation to treat children with sCAS in order to uncover the methods that they report having used in interventions with this population. It was found that both SLPs and educators who use methods of assessment and intervention based on the NLLT reported positive outcomes for intelligibility and language function. The respondents also reported using intervention methods that align with the NLLT to a high degree. The interviews, along iv with artifacts provided by interview participants, served as confirmatory evidence to the findings from the literature review by demonstrating the reported change in children over time as a result of the intervention. Additional themes were found around definitions of sCAS, intervention methods and alignment of diagnostic criterion, philosophy and intervention methods among interviewees.
"Just Another Tool for Online Studies” (JATOS): An Easy Solution for Setup and Management of Web Servers Supporting Online Studies

We present here “Just Another Tool for Online Studies” (JATOS): an open source, cross-platform web application with a graphical user interface (GUI) that greatly simplifies setting up and communicating with a web server to host online studies that are written in JavaScript. JATOS is easy to install in all three major platforms (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux), and seamlessly pairs with a database for secure data storage. It can be installed on a server or locally, allowing researchers to try the application and feasibility of their studies within a browser environment, before engaging in setting up a server. All communication with the JATOS server takes place via a GUI (with no need to use a command line interface), making JATOS an especially accessible tool for researchers without a strong IT background. We describe JATOS’ main features and implementation and provide a detailed tutorial along with example studies to help interested researchers to set up their online studies. JATOS can be found under the Internet address: www.jatos. org.
Cancers Methylation and Loss of Heterozygosity in Human Gastric Is a Tumor Suppressor Gene Inactivated by Lysyl Oxidase

Lysyl oxidase (LOX) and HRAS-like suppressor (HRASLS) are silenced in human gastric cancers and are reported to have growth-suppressive activities in ras-transformed mouse/rat fibroblasts. Here, we analyzed whether or not LOX and HRASLS are tumor suppressor genes in human gastric cancers. Loss of heterozygosity and promoter methylation of LOX were detected in 33% (9 of 27) and 27% (26 of 96) of gastric cancers, respectively. Biallelic methylation and loss of heterozygosity with promoter methylation were also demonstrated in gastric cancers. Silencing of LOX was also observed in colon, lung, and ovarian cancer cell lines. As for mutations, only one possible somatic mutation was found by analysis of 96 gastric cancer samples and 58 gastric and other cancer cell lines. When LOX was introduced into a gastric cancer cell line, MKN28, in which LOX and HRASLS were silenced, it reduced the number of anchorage-dependent colonies to 57 to 61%, and the number of anchorage-independent colonies to 11 to 23%. Sizes of tumors formed in nude mice were reduced to 19 to 26%. Growth suppression in soft agar assay was also observed in another gastric cancer cell line, KATOIII. On the other hand, neither loss of heterozygosity nor a somatic mutation was detected in HRASLS, and its introduction into MKN28 did not suppress the growth in vitro or in vivo. These data showed that LOX is a tumor suppressor gene inactivated by methylation and loss of heterozygosity in gastric cancers, and possibly also in other cancers.
Cholesterol sensor ORP1L contacts the ER protein VAP to control Rab7–RILP–p150Glued and late endosome positioning

Late endosomes (LEs) have characteristic intracellular distributions determined by their interactions with various motor proteins. Motor proteins associated to the dynactin subunit p150Glued bind to LEs via the Rab7 effector Rab7-interacting lysosomal protein (RILP) in association with the oxysterol-binding protein ORP1L. We found that cholesterol levels in LEs are sensed by ORP1L and are lower in peripheral vesicles. Under low cholesterol conditions, ORP1L conformation induces the formation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)–LE membrane contact sites. At these sites, the ER protein VAP (VAMP [vesicle-associated membrane protein]-associated ER protein) can interact in trans with the Rab7–RILP complex to remove p150Glued and associated motors. LEs then move to the microtubule plus end. Under high cholesterol conditions, as in Niemann-Pick type C disease, this process is prevented, and LEs accumulate at the microtubule minus end as the result of dynein motor activity. These data explain how the ER and cholesterol control the association of LEs with motor proteins and their positioning in cells.
Sensory flexibility in hawkmoth foraging behavior: lessons from Manduca sexta and other species.

Introduction Neuroethologists wish to understand how animals detect, integrate and perceive sensory stimuli relevant to complex behaviors, and how such processes are modified by physiological state and experience. The tobacco hornworm moth (Manduca sexta) is an excellent model organism for these purposes, due to its large size, rapid generation time and well-defined adult behaviors. Upwind-flight to sex phero-mone (males), oviposition on appropriate hostplants (females) and feeding on floral nectar (both sexes) all require both olfaction and vision (Willis and Arbas, 1991). Although these behaviors feature sequences of stereotyped events, recent studies indicate plasticity in responses to critical sensory stimuli, depending upon the context in which they are perceived. Here we outline three themes of sensory flexibility or variation in hawkmoth behavior: (i) phyloge-netic shifts in feeding niche, (ii) spatial and temporal scale of signal presentation and (iii) task specificity and signal redundancy. The diversity of feeding niches and diel activity patterns observed among the >1000 species of hawkmoths suggests that the relative importance of vision and olfaction should vary widely between species. Kitching and Cadiou (2000) suggest that long proboscides and adult feeding are derived conditions in the family Sphingidae. Crepuscular nectar-feeders like M. sexta use olfaction and vision to feed from flowers (Brantjes, 1978; Kawano et al., 1995), whereas diurnal nectar-feeders like Macroglossum stellatarum find flowers using vision alone (Kelber, 1997). Hawkmoths that feed from fermenting sap (Darapsa pholus; Fleming, 1970) or bee honey (Acherontia atropos; Kitching, 2003) must rely heavily on olfactory cues to find food. Finally, species that are active day and night (Hyles lineata) or feed from flowers and rotting fruit (Amphion floridensis) (Raguso and Willis (2003) probably modify their behavior based on light intensity, food availability and prior experience. Thus, inter-specific variation in sensory modality utilization should be expected in the Sphingidae. However, comparing behavior across species requires experimental parameters to be standardized (e.g. Chittka et al., 2001). Daly and Smith (2000) classically conditioned M. sexta to single odorants with sucrose and measured conditioned responses as cibarial pump muscle activity. When released, these moths flew up wind tunnels and extended their probosces to the conditioned stimulus (K.C. Daly et al., unpublished data). Conversely, Kelber et al. (2003) showed with operant conditioning that Deilephila elpenor and Hyles lineata learn to probe at scentless colored targets associated with sugar rewards. Differences in experimental conditions and learning paradigms limit the extent to which the relative importance of olfactory …
Cross-Border Collaboration in Economic Development: Institutional Change on the Anglo-Scottish Border

ABSTRACT This article considers how changes in institutional structures affect the motivations of policymakers towards collaboration across borders. The Anglo-Scottish Border is used to illustrate the varied motivations for cross-border collaboration using models of partnership working. Adapting recent frameworks of analysis based on the concept of cross-border regional innovation systems, the Anglo-Scottish border is used to show how institutional changes can alter the balance between symmetries and asymmetries that tend to characterize cross-border relationships. Due to progressive devolution of functions to the Scottish Parliament since the 1990s, there are increasing contrasts in institutional settings and policy frameworks across this sub-state border. The nature of cross-border collaboration in two time periods is compared and contrasted. The first took place during 2000–2004 under the banner of “Border Visions. ” This is contrasted with the more recent attempts to stimulate cross-border collaboration in the context of the Referendum on Scottish Independence in 2014. It is shown that the motivations for cross-border working can shift in response to changes in the economy and also in response to interactions between policy debates that occur simultaneously at different spatial scales.
Image Registration for Placenta Reconstruction

In this paper we introduce a method to handle the challenges posed by image registration for placenta reconstruction from fetoscopic video as used in the treatment of Twinto-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). Panorama reconstruction of the placenta greatly supports the surgeon in obtaining a complete view of the placenta to localize vascular anastomoses. The found shunts can subsequently be blocked by coagulation in the correct order. By using similarity learning in training a Convolutional Neural Network we created a novel feature extraction method, allowing robust matching of keypoints for image registration and therefore taking the most critical step in placenta reconstruction from fetoscopic video. The fetoscopic video we used for our experiments was acquired from a training simulator for TTTS surgery. We compared our method with state-of-the-art methods. The matching performance of our method is up to three times better while the mean projection error is reduced with 64% for the registered images. Our image registration method provides the ground work for a complete panorama reconstruction of the placenta.
A Rapid and Precise On-Response in Posterior Parietal Cortex

The activity of neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) of the monkey predicts the monkey's allocation of spatial attention. We show here that despite being relatively high within the visual hierarchy, neurons in LIP have extremely short and precise visual latencies. Mean latency was 45.2 msec; the timing precision of the onset response was usually better than 4 msec. The majority of neurons had a pause in response after an initial burst, followed by more sustained visual activity. Previous attention allocation had no effect on either the latency or magnitude of the initial burst, but produced clear effects on the magnitude of the later sustained activity. Together, these data indicate that the initial burst in LIP visual response reflects an uncontaminated sensory signal. Information about stimulus onset is transmitted rapidly through the visual system to LIP; the on-response has a higher speed and temporal precision than realized previously. This information could be used to orient attention to novel objects in the visual environment rapidly and reliably.
Quantization Error Correction Scheme for Lattice-Reduction Aided Linear Detection in MIMO Systems

Recently, lattice reduction aided (LRA) detector has been introduced into conventional detectors for MIMO systems, to improve the performance. In LRA detectors, the first quantization step is simply a rounding operation, regardless to the original constellation. Sometimes, it causes quantization error that makes the obtained point to lie outside of the original constellation. In this paper, we propose a method to reduce the effect of quantization error. We investigated and found out that almost every time detection errors occur there are also quantization errors. Sphere detector (SD) is combined to get the optimal solution in case of quantization error. Simulation shows that the combined SD-LRA- detectors gives significant improvement with slightly additional complexity.