Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor in late-phase preconditioning with xenon, isoflurane and levosimendan in rat cardiomyocytes.

OBJECTIVES The protective effects of late-phase preconditioning can be triggered by several stimuli. Unfortunately, the transfer from bench to bedside still represents a challenge, as concomitant medication or diseases influence the complex signalling pathways involved. In an established model of primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, we analysed the cardioprotective effects of three different stimulating pharmaceuticals of clinical relevance. The effect of additional β-blocker treatment was studied as these were previously shown to negatively influence preconditioning. METHODS Twenty-four hours prior to hypoxia, cells pre-treated with or without metoprolol (0.55 µg/ml) were preconditioned with isoflurane, levosimendan or xenon. The influences of these stimuli on hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as well as inducible and endothelial nitric synthase (iNOS/eNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) were analysed by polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. The preconditioning was proved by trypan blue cell counts following 5 h of hypoxia and confirmed by fluorescence staining. RESULTS Five hours of hypoxia reduced cell survival in unpreconditioned control cells to 44 ± 4%. Surviving cell count was significantly higher in cells preconditioned either by 2 × 15 min isoflurane (70 ± 16%; P = 0.005) or by xenon (59 ± 8%; P = 0.049). Xenon-preconditioned cells showed a significantly elevated content of VEGF (0.025 ± 0.010 IDV [integrated density values when compared with GAPDH] vs 0.003 ± 0.006 IDV in controls; P = 0.0003). The protein expression of HIF-1α was increased both by levosimendan (0.563 ± 0.175 IDV vs 0.142 ± 0.042 IDV in controls; P = 0.0289) and by xenon (0.868 ± 0.222 IDV; P < 0.0001) pretreatment. A significant elevation of mRNA expression of iNOS was measureable following preconditioning by xenon but not by the other chosen stimuli. eNOS mRNA expression was found to be suppressed by β-blocker treatment for all stimuli. In our model, independently of the chosen stimulus, β-blocker treatment had no significant effect on cell survival. CONCLUSIONS We found that the stimulation of late-phase preconditioning involves several distinct pathways that are variably addressed by the different stimuli. In contrast to isoflurane treatment, xenon-induced preconditioning does not lead to an increase in COX-2 gene transcription but to a significant increase in HIF-1α and subsequently VEGF.
The Charpy Notch Impact Test of X70 Pipeline Steel with Delamination Cracks

The effects of thickness, notch orientation and delamination cracks on the impact toughness of X70 pipeline steel are investigated experimentally by use of the instrumented Charpy impact tests at different temperatures. The couple effect of delamination cracks, thickness, notch orientation and temperature is discovered. The delamination cracks have certain direction, and their amount and size are related to the temperature and the specimen thickness. Though the delaminating orientations of T-S and T-L specimen are not same, the reasons for both T-S and T-L specimen delaminating are that the weak interfaces in the specimens are pulled apart by the stress perpendicular to them. The delamination cracks can improve the actual impact toughness of X70 pipeline steel both T-L and T-S specimens. The effect of delamination cracks on the actual impact toughness changes with the thickness and the temperature. The couple effect of wall thickness, defect orientation and working temperature of pipeline must be taken into account in safe assessment of pipeline.
In-Line Fiber Optic Interferometric Sensors in Single-Mode Fibers

In-line fiber optic interferometers have attracted intensive attention for their potential sensing applications in refractive index, temperature, pressure and strain measurement, etc. Typical in-line fiber-optic interferometers are of two types: Fabry-Perot interferometers and core-cladding-mode interferometers. It's known that the in-line fiber optic interferometers based on single-mode fibers can exhibit compact structures, easy fabrication and low cost. In this paper, we review two kinds of typical in-line fiber optic interferometers formed in single-mode fibers fabricated with different post-processing techniques. Also, some recently reported specific technologies for fabricating such fiber optic interferometers are presented.
An iterative thresholding algorithm for linear inverse problems with a sparsity constraint

We consider linear inverse problems where the solution is assumed to have a sparse expansion on an arbitrary preassigned orthonormal basis. We prove that replacing the usual quadratic regularizing penalties by weighted 𝓁p‐penalties on the coefficients of such expansions, with 1 ≤ p ≤ 2, still regularizes the problem. Use of such 𝓁p‐penalized problems with p < 2 is often advocated when one expects the underlying ideal noiseless solution to have a sparse expansion with respect to the basis under consideration. To compute the corresponding regularized solutions, we analyze an iterative algorithm that amounts to a Landweber iteration with thresholding (or nonlinear shrinkage) applied at each iteration step. We prove that this algorithm converges in norm. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Three-Dimensional Motion and Structure Estimation Using Inertial Sensors and Computer Vision for Augmented Reality

A new method for registration in augmented reality (AR) was developed that simultaneously tracks the position, orientation, and motion of the user's head, as well as estimating the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the scene. The method fuses data from head-mounted cameras and head-mounted inertial sensors. Two extended Kalman filters (EKFs) are used: one estimates the motion of the user's head and the other estimates the 3D locations of points in the scene. A recursive loop is used between the two EKFs. The algorithm was tested using a combination of synthetic and real data, and in general was found to perform well. A further test showed that a system using two cameras performed much better than a system using a single camera, although improving the accuracy of the inertial sensors can partially compensate for the loss of one camera. The method is suitable for use in completely unstructured and unprepared environments. Unlike previous work in this area, this method requires no a priori knowledge about the scene, and can work in environments in which the objects of interest are close to the user.
Selective activation of Fas/Fas ligand-mediated cytotoxicity by a self peptide

To study how MHC-associated self antigens may regulate the function of T cells in the periphery, we generated CD8+ T cell lines specific for a single residue variant of a self peptide. The self peptide (GAYEFTTL) was isolated from H-2-Kb class I MHC molecules immunopurified from tumor cells. CD8+ CTL lines from H-2b mice were generated against a variant peptide, pE4R, (arginine for glutamic acid at the TCR contact position 4). In short-term 51Cr-release assays, these CTL lysed H-2Kb targets that were pulsed with picomolar levels of pE4R but did not lyse target cells coated with the self peptide at micromolar levels. However, in overnight assays the CTL lysed Fas-positive target cells in the presence of nanomolar levels of the self peptide. This killing was shown to be entirely Fas/Fas ligand mediated by blocking with anti-Fas antibody and Fas-Fc chimeric molecules. While the self peptide was unable to induce serine esterase release from the CTL, it did induce secretion of IFN-gamma. By these criteria then, the unmodified self ligand served as a partial agonist for the CTL raised against a single- residue variant. CD8+ T cell lines raised by in vitro stimulation with the self peptide were likewise unable to kill self peptide-coated targets via the perforin pathway but did lyse targets via Fas. These and similar data from other groups show that self antigens (i.e., MHC/peptide complexes) may be recognized by mature peripheral T cells. The T cell population is tolerant of the self antigen in the sense that they do not respond to physiological levels of the MHC/peptide complex. However, when the level of self antigen is increased (by using synthetic peptide loading) CD8+ T cells may respond by proliferation, IFN-gamma secretion, Fas ligand upregulation, and Fas-mediated cytolysis but are still unable to respond by perforin-mediated cytolysis or granzyme release. The physiological significance of such partial activation in regulation of the immune system remains to be demonstrated.
Contextual Privacy: The Interplay of Sensitivity and Context ; Contextgebonden privacy: de wisselwerking tussen gevoeligheid en context

Privacy management is becoming a fundamental task of everyday use of the Web. People often disclose sheer amounts of data on the Web. In different web services, and in particular social software, people communicate through data disclosure. By selecting what data to disclose and to whom, people build and manage their online identities. The disclosed data can vary in its sensitivity. Handling sensitive data inappropriately or disseminating it in inappropriate contexts can drastically affect users’ identities, privacy and lives. To avoid data misappropriation, a high degree of control over data and context is required. Through contextual privacy, users could have such control. Contextual privacy management can be a complicated process. It requires reasoning about data and context changes. It also requires assessing the sensitivity of a data item and how it might change when context changes. Due to its complexity, most technological approaches offer a simplistic and limited degree of contextual privacy management. A fundamental step towards addressing this complexity without limiting the degree of contextual privacy is investigating the relationship between data, context and privacy. The approach of this thesis is a multidimensional investigation of contextual privacy. Firstly, the investigation is performed from an empirical point of view. Through big data analyses and machine learning, we investigate the effect of context on data sensitivity and users’ behaviour. The analyses show that sensitivity cannot be defined by what is commonly considered as sensitive topics, e.g., sex and health. The modelling of sensitivity management behaviour demonstrates that sensitivity is affected by context as well. The modelling demonstrates also the effect of time and subjectivity on data sensitivity. Moreover, our analysis demonstrates the effect of context on data disclosure patterns. Secondly, the investigation involves a conceptual examination of the role of context in communication. This investigation highlights the role of
NLTK: The Natural Language Toolkit

The Natural Language Toolkit is a suite of program modules, data sets and tutorials supporting research and teaching in computational linguistics and natural language processing. NLTK is written in Python and distributed under the GPL open source license. Over the past year the toolkit has been rewritten, simplifying many linguistic data structures and taking advantage of recent enhancements in the Python language. This paper reports on the simpli-ﬁed toolkit and explains how it is used in teaching NLP.
Importin 8 mediates m7G cap-sensitive nuclear import of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF4E

Significance Dysregulated nuclear trafficking of oncoproteins contributes to cancer. Here, we study the trafficking of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), where eIF4E is highly elevated and accumulates in the nucleus. Nuclear eIF4E promotes export of networks of transcripts encoding oncoproteins. During clinical responses to eIF4E-targeted therapy in patients who have AML, the distribution of eIF4E becomes almost entirely cytoplasmic. At relapse, eIF4E is again mainly nuclear. Our studies provide a molecular understanding for eIF4E trafficking, through association with importin 8. We provide a molecular basis for importin 8 selectivity for certain forms of eIF4E and demonstrate the relevance of its nuclear localization to its oncogenic potential, thereby positioning the importin 8–eIF4E interaction as a novel therapeutic target. Regulation of nuclear-cytoplasmic trafficking of oncoproteins is critical for growth homeostasis. Dysregulated trafficking contributes to malignancy, whereas understanding the process can reveal unique therapeutic opportunities. Here, we focus on eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E), a prooncogenic protein highly elevated in many cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Typically, eIF4E is localized to both the nucleus and cytoplasm, where it acts in export and translation of specific methyl 7-guanosine (m7G)–capped mRNAs, respectively. Nuclear accumulation of eIF4E in patients who have AML is correlated with increased eIF4E-dependent export of transcripts encoding oncoproteins. The subcellular localization of eIF4E closely correlates with patients’ responses. During clinical responses to the m7G-cap competitor ribavirin, eIF4E is mainly cytoplasmic. At relapse, eIF4E reaccumulates in the nucleus, leading to elevated eIF4E-dependent mRNA export. We have identified importin 8 as a factor that directly imports eIF4E into the nucleus. We found that importin 8 is highly elevated in untreated patients with AML, leading to eIF4E nuclear accumulation. Importin 8 only imports cap-free eIF4E. Cap-dependent changes to the structure of eIF4E underpin this selectivity. Indeed, m7G cap analogs or ribavirin prevents nuclear entry of eIF4E, which mirrors the trafficking phenotypes observed in patients with AML. Our studies also suggest that nuclear entry is important for the prooncogenic activity of eIF4E, at least in this context. These findings position nuclear trafficking of eIF4E as a critical step in its regulation and position the importin 8–eIF4E complex as a novel therapeutic target.
Online Discriminative Spam Filter Training

We describe a very simple technique for discriminatively training a spam filter. Our results on the TREC Enron spam corpus would have been the best for the Ham at . 1% measure, and second best by the 1-ROCA measure. For the Mr. X corpus, our 1-ROCA measure was a close second best, and third best by the Ham at . 1% measure. We use a very simple feature extractor (all words in the subject and headers). Our learning algorithm is also very simple: gradient descent of a logistic regression model.
A Highly Accurate Blind Frequency-Offset Synchronization for OFDM Communications

We address the problem of carrier frequency offset (CFO) synchronization in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communications systems in the context of frequency-selective fading channels. We consider the case where the transmitted symbols have constant modulus, i.e., Phase-Shift-Keying (PSK) constellations. A novel blind CFO synchronization algorithm is developed. The new algorithm is shown to greatly outperform a recently published blind technique that exploits the fact that practical OFDM systems are not fully loaded, i.e., the number of modulated sub-carriers is smaller than the size of the FFT block. Further, the proposed algorithm is consistent even when the system is fully loaded. Finally, the proposed CFO estimator is obtained via a one-dimensional search, the same as with the existing VSC-based estimator, but achieves a substantial gains in performance (10 dB SNR or one order of magnitude in CFO MSE).
Video-supported Interactive Learning for Movement Awareness – a learning model for the individual development of movement performance among nursing students

Backåberg, Sofia (2016). Video-supported Interactive Learning for Movement Awareness – a learning model for the individual development of movement performance among nursing students, Linnaeus University Dissertation No 249/2016, ISBN: 978-91-88357-15-1. Written in English. Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the development of a videosupported interactive learning model for movement awareness among nursing students. Methods: Study I was a cross-sectional survey regarding prevalence and impact of musculoskeletal symptoms (MSS) among nursing students. In the remaining three studies a learning model was developed and explored; II the inter-personal interaction (qualitative content analysis), III the students’ experiences of using the learning model (phenomenological hermeneutics), IV the students’ learning processes (hermeneutic approach). Results: 143 of the 224 respondents in study I reported MSS during the previous 12 months and of those 91 reported impact on physical daily life activities. The odds ratio for reporting MSS study year 3 was 4.7 (95% CI: 2.1 – 10.7). Study II shows that the students’ movement awareness and self-analysis developed when encountering their own movement through video feedback. Studies III and IV show that the facilitator’s reflective and responsive approach appears to be essential in creating interaction and a permitting learning atmosphere. The students became emotionally and cognitively challenged and personally engaged, were motivated to change by discovering details in their movements and gained a greater understanding of the relationship between their own movements and current or risk for future MSS. They also experienced emotional, cognitive and bodily confusion, which was interpreted as a necessary step in the changing process. Conclusion: MSS among nursing students appears to be a problem and education regarding ergonomic movements and principles is suggested to be emphasized in the nursing curriculum. The video-supported learning model enabled encountering and discovering one’s own body and movement in different ways, which facilitated reflection and motivation for change, which was supported by the facilitator’s reflective approach. The learning model, which could contribute to multifactorial ergonomic interventions, could also support movement awareness and learning in practical learning situations within education and rehabilitation. Further research needs to study the model in different contexts and in relation to MSS prevention.
The "...system of constraints"

This paper proposes that the mathematical relationship between an entropy distribution and its limit offers some new insight into system performance. This relationship is used to quantify variation among the entities of a system, where variation is defined as tolerance, option, specification or implementation variation among the entities of a system. Variation has a significnt and increasing impact on communications system performance. This paper introduces means to identify, quantify and reduce such performance variations.
Infrastructure Network Design with a Multi-Model Approach: Comparing Geometric Graph Theory with an Agent-Based Implementation of an Ant Colony Optimization

Network infrastructures, such as roads, pipelines or the power grid face a multitude of challenges, from organizational and use changes, to climate change and resource scarcity. These challenges require the adaptation of existing infrastructures or their complete new development. Traditionally, infrastructure planning and routing issues are solved through top-down optimization strategies such as mixed integer non linear programming or graph approaches, or through bottom up approaches such as particle swarm optimizations or ant colony optimizations. While some integrated approaches have been proposed int he literature, no direct comparison of the two approaches as applied to the same problem have been reported. Therefore, we implement two routing algorithms to connect a single source node to multiple consuming nodes in a topology with hard boundaries and no-go areas. We compare a geometric graph algorithm finding an (sub)optimum edge-weighted Steiner minimal tree with a Ant Colony Optimization algorithm implemented as an Agent Based Model. Experimenting with 100 randomly generated routing problems, we find that both algorithms perform surprisingly similar in terms of topology, cost and computational performance. We also discovered that by approaching the problem from both top-down and bottom-up perspective, we were able to enrich both algorithms in a co-evolutionary fashion. Our main findings are that the two algorithms, as currently implemented in our test environment hardly differ in the quality of solution and computational performance. There are however significant differences in ease of problem encoding and future extensibility.
Impaired holistic processing of left-right composite faces in congenital prosopagnosia

Congenital prosopagnosia (CP) refers to a lifelong impairment in face processing despite normal visual and intellectual skills. Many studies have suggested that the key underlying deficit in CP is one of a failure to engage holistic processing. Moreover, there has been some suggestion that, in normal observers, there may be greater involvement of the right than left hemisphere in holistic processing. To examine the proposed deficit in holistic processing and its potential hemispheric atypicality in CP, we compared the performance of 8 CP individuals with both matched controls and a large group of non-matched controls on a novel, vertical composite task. In this task, participants judged whether a cued half of a face (either left or right half) was the same or different at study and test, and the two face halves could be either aligned or misaligned. The standard index of holistic processing is one in which the unattended face half influences performance on the cued half and this influence is greater in the aligned than in the misaligned condition. Relative to controls, the CP participants, both at a group and at an individual level, did not show holistic processing in the vertical composite task. There was also no difference in performance as a function of hemifield of the cued face half in the CP individuals, and this was true in the control participants, as well. The findings clearly confirm the deficit in holistic processing in CP and reveal the useful application of this novel experimental paradigm to this population and potentially to others as well.
Two Leucine-Rich Repeat Receptor Kinases Mediate Signaling, Linking Cell Wall Biosynthesis and ACC Synthase in Arabidopsis[W]

The plant cell wall is a dynamic structure that changes in response to developmental and environmental cues through poorly understood signaling pathways. We identified two Leu-rich repeat receptor-like kinases in Arabidopsis thaliana that play a role in regulating cell wall function. Mutations in these FEI1 and FEI2 genes (named for the Chinese word for fat) disrupt anisotropic expansion and the synthesis of cell wall polymers and act additively with inhibitors or mutations disrupting cellulose biosynthesis. While FEI1 is an active protein kinase, a kinase-inactive version of FEI1 was able to fully complement the fei1 fei2 mutant. The expansion defect in fei1 fei2 roots was suppressed by inhibition of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) synthase, an enzyme that converts Ado-Met to ACC in ethylene biosynthesis, but not by disruption of the ethylene response pathway. Furthermore, the FEI proteins interact directly with ACC synthase. These results suggest that the FEI proteins define a novel signaling pathway that regulates cell wall function, likely via an ACC-mediated signal.
Subjective sleep problems in patients with early Parkinson's disease

Sleep problems are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and increasingly so with disease progression. The frequency of these problems and the influence of dopaminergic treatment on sleep in early stages of PD remain unclear. We have therefore in this study examined the subjective experience of sleep problems in drug‐naïve patients with early PD and how these problems developed after 1 year on dopaminergic treatment using the Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale (PDSS).