Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protective effect of a synapsin peptide genetically fused to the B subunit of Escherichia coli heat‐labile enterotoxin in rat autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease with similarities to multiple sclerosis that requires the activation of auto reactive T cells that infiltrate the central nervous system. In previous studies we have shown that intraperitoneal administration of synaptosomal antigens could suppress EAE. Herein we examined the effect in this animal model of a fusion protein comprising the C domain of synapsin Ia and the B subunit of Escherichia coli heat‐labile enterotoxin (LTBSC). Oral administration to rats of low amounts of LTBSC induced immunological systemic tolerance to the encephalitogenic myelin basic protein. Treatment with LTBSC prior to EAE induction diminished disease incidence, DTH reaction to myelin basic protein, and central nervous system inflammation. LTBSC treatment also reduced the specific T‐cell proliferative response to myelin basic protein, decreased nitric oxide production, and augmented arginase activity by peritoneal macrophages. All animals challenged for EAE developed antibody response specific for myelin basic protein, but rats treated with LTBSC showed a lower IgG2b/IgG1 ratio, indicating a shift to a Th2‐type milieu. The data presented here suggest that well‐conserved synapsin peptides conjugated to the B subunit of enterotoxins from the cholera toxin family have a protective role and provide a potential therapeutic tool for intervention in EAE as well as in multiple sclerosis. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
High-resolution manometry: reliability of automated analysis of upper esophageal sphincter relaxation parameters.

BACKGROUND/AIMS At present, automated analysis of high-resolution manometry (HRM) provides details of upper esophageal sphincter (UES) relaxation parameters. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of automatic analysis of UES relaxation parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred and fifty three subjects (78 males, mean age 68.6 years, range 26-97) underwent HRM. UES relaxation parameters were interpreted twice, once visually (V) by two experts and once automatically (AS) using the ManoView ESO analysis software. Agreement between the two analysis methods was assessed using Bland-Altman plots and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). RESULTS The agreement between V and AS analyses of basal UES pressure (CCC 0.996; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.994-0.997) and residual UES pressure (CCC 0.918; 95% CI 0.895-0.936) was good to excellent. Agreement for time to UES relaxation nadir (CCC 0.208; 95% CI 0.068-0.339) and UES relaxation duration (CCC 0.286; 95% CI 0.148-0.413) between V and AS analyses was poor. There was moderate agreement for recovery time of UES relaxation (CCC 0.522; 95% CI 0.397-0.627) and peak pharyngeal pressure (CCC 0.695; 95% CI 0.605-0.767) between V and AS analysis. CONCLUSION AS analysis was unreliable, especially regarding the time variables of UES relaxation. Due to the difference in the clinical interpretation of pharyngoesophageal dysfunction between V and AS analysis, the use of visual analysis is justified.
Measuring the effects of an instructional scaffolding intervention on reflective thinking in elementary preservice teacher developmental portfolios

This study was designed to determine whether teacher portfolios can be validly and reliably assessed, to investigate the effect of an instructional tool on increasing the level of reflective thinking in elementary preservice teachers’ portfolios, and to find whether electronic portfolios designed and assessed in optimal conditions re present sufficient quality to make them useful in practice. Presumably, teachers who can reflect deeply on their work and its impact on others can improve the quality of their teaching. This study sought to answer the following research questions: 1. Does the Rubric for Evaluating Portfolio Reflective Thinking (REPORT) demonstrate sufficient validity and reliability for use in measuring reflective thinking in preservice teacher portfolios? 2. Do levels of reflective thinking in preservice teacher portfolios, as measured by the REPORT, differ between students who have and have not received instruction using a Scaffolding Intervention Tool? 3. Do elementary preservice teachers’ portfolio rationale statements and reflective essays, as measured by the REPORT, show sufficient depth of reflective thinking to aid their growth as teachers? Data analysis indicated that the REPORT instrument used in this study revealed moderate levels of interrater reliability and demonstrated sufficient content validity to be used to measure reflective thinking in preservice teacher portfolios. Also, data indicated that members of the treatment group, who had received instruction in reflective writing, scored significantly higher on five of the six domains and on the total score than members of the control group, who had not received instruction. There was no significant difference between groups on the Planning domain. Analysis of the overall levels of reflection in the portfolios of both groups showed that a substantially higher percentage of preservice teachers in the treatment group (47%) wrote reflective statements that reached high levels of reflection than did the preservice teachers in the control group (6.7%). Mann-Whitney U comparisons supported the conclusion that preservice teachers with instructional intervention in reflective writing could demonstrate their own development in the areas of knowledge, instruction, and professional growth using more in-depth reflection than could preservice teachers who had not had this instruction. Implications for practice and further research are provided.
Privacy Regulation and Online Advertising

Advertisers use online customer data to target their marketing appeals. This has heightened consumers' privacy concerns, leading governments to pass laws designed to protect consumer privacy by restricting the use of data and by restricting online tracking techniques used by websites. We use the responses of 3.3 million survey-takers who had been randomly exposed to 9,596 online display (banner) advertising campaigns to explore how privacy regulation in the European Union has influenced advertising effectiveness. This privacy regulation restricted advertisers' ability to collect data on web users in order to target ad campaigns. We find that on average, display advertising became far less effective at changing stated purchase intent after the EU laws were enacted, relative to display advertising in other countries. The loss in effectiveness was more pronounced for websites that had general content (such as news sites), where non-data-driven targeting is particularly hard to do. The loss of effectiveness was also more pronounced for ads with a smaller presence on the webpage and for ads that did not have additional interactive, video, or audio features.
School attitude: The role of parents and peers for western and non-western adolescents

In this article, the influence of parents and friends in class on adolescents’ school attitude was compared. Additionally, a moderating effect of identification with a non-western culture in susceptibility to parental influence was examined. Data from the Dutch first wave of the nationally representative survey ‘Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study in Four European Countries’ CILS4EU (2010– 2011) were analyzed (N = 2898). Results of multilevel analyses show that, in line with theories of socialization, both parental support and school attitude of friends within class have an effect on school attitude of adolescents. Supporting the argument that peers become increasingly important in adolescence, friends within class are more influential than parents. No difference was found in susceptibility to parental influence between adolescents who identify with a non-western culture and those who do not. However, those who do identify with a non-western culture were found to have a more negative school attitude.
First-Order Definability of Trees and Sparse Random Graphs

Let D(G) be the smallest quantifier depth of a first-order formula which is true for a graph G but false for any other non-isomorphic graph. This can be viewed as a measure for the descriptive complexity of G in first-order logic. We show that almost surely $D(G)=\Theta(\frac{\ln n}{\ln\ln n})$, where G is a random tree of order n or the giant component of a random graph $\C G(n,\frac cn)$ with constant c<1. These results rely on computing the maximum of D(T) for a tree T of order n and maximum degree l, so we study this problem as well.
Offline maintenance of planar configurations

We achieve anO(logn) amortized time bound per operation for the off-line version of the dynamic convex hull problem in the plane. In this problem, a sequence ofninsert,delete, andqueryinstructions are to be processed, where each insert instruction adds a new point to the set, each delete instruction removes an existing point, and each query requests a standard convex hull search. We process the entire sequence in totalO(nlogn) time andO(n) space. Alternatively, we can preprocess a sequence ofninsertions and deletions inO(nlogn) time and space, then answer queries in history inO(logn) time apiece (a query in history means a query comes with a time parametert, and it must be answered with respect to the convex hull present at timet). The same bounds also hold for the off-line maintenance of several related structures, such as the maximal vectors, the intersection of half-planes, and the kernel of a polygon. Achieving anO(logn) per-operation time bound for theon-lineversions of these problems is a longstanding open problem in computational geometry.
Work Values and Career Adaptability of Chinese University Students

I conducted a survey to examine the relationship between work values and career adaptability in a sample of 407 Chinese university students. I validated an extrinsic–intrinsic work values structure through principal components analysis, based on self-determination theory. The results showed that extrinsic work values, such as the importance of high income and good working conditions, and intrinsic work values, such as emphasis on creativity and challenge, and a friendly workplace atmosphere, positively predicted the career adaptability of the participants. Thus, the driving force of both extrinsic and intrinsic work values meant that the students were likely to put effort into developing adaptive capabilities for their career development. The implications of these findings for career education and career counseling practice are discussed.
Region-Based Object Recognition by Color Segmentation Using a Simplified PCNN

In this paper, we propose a region-based object recognition (RBOR) method to identify objects from complex real-world scenes. First, the proposed method performs color image segmentation by a simplified pulse-coupled neural network (SPCNN) for the object model image and test image, and then conducts a region-based matching between them. Hence, we name it as RBOR with SPCNN (SPCNN-RBOR). Hereinto, the values of SPCNN parameters are automatically set by our previously proposed method in terms of each object model. In order to reduce various light intensity effects and take advantage of SPCNN high resolution on low intensities for achieving optimized color segmentation, a transformation integrating normalized Red Green Blue (RGB) with opponent color spaces is introduced. A novel image segmentation strategy is suggested to group the pixels firing synchronously throughout all the transformed channels of an image. Based on the segmentation results, a series of adaptive thresholds, which is adjustable according to the specific object model is employed to remove outlier region blobs, form potential clusters, and refine the clusters in test images. The proposed SPCNN-RBOR method overcomes the drawback of feature-based methods that inevitably includes background information into local invariant feature descriptors when keypoints locate near object boundaries. A large number of experiments have proved that the proposed SPCNN-RBOR method is robust for diverse complex variations, even under partial occlusion and highly cluttered environments. In addition, the SPCNN-RBOR method works well in not only identifying textured objects, but also in less-textured ones, which significantly outperforms the current feature-based methods.
Changes in QTc Interval in the Citalopram for Agitation in Alzheimer's Disease (CitAD) Randomized Trial

Background A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) safety communication in August 2011 warned that citalopram was associated with a dose dependent risk of QT prolongation and recommended dose restriction in patients over the age of 60 but did not provide data for this age group. Methods CitAD was a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled, multicenter clinical trial for agitation in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Participants were assigned to citalopram (target dose of 30 mg/day) or placebo in a 1∶1 ratio. 186 people, 181 of whom were over the age of 60, having probable AD with clinically significant agitation were recruited from September 2009 to January 2013. After the FDA safety communication about citalopram, ECG was added to the required study procedures before enrollment and repeated at week 3 to monitor change in QTc interval. Forty-eight participants were enrolled after enhanced monitoring began. Results Citalopram treatment was associated with a larger increase in QTc interval than placebo (difference in week 3 QTc adjusting for baseline QTc: 18.1 ms [95% CI: 6.1, 30.1]; p = 0.004). More participants in the citalopram group had an increase ≥30 ms from baseline to week 3 (7 in citalopram versus 1 in placebo; Fisher's exact p = 0.046), but only slightly more in the citalopram group met a gender-specific threshold for prolonged QTc (450 ms for males; 470 ms for females) at any point during follow-up (3 in citalopram versus 1 in placebo, Fisher's exact p = 0.611). One of the citalopram participants who developed prolonged QTc also displayed ventricular bigeminy. No participants in either group had a cardiovascular-related death. Conclusion Citalopram at 30 mg/day was associated with improvement in agitation in patients with AD but was also associated with QT prolongation. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00898807
Grapevine Yield and Leaf Area Estimation Using Supervised Classification Methodology on RGB Images Taken under Field Conditions

The aim of this research was to implement a methodology through the generation of a supervised classifier based on the Mahalanobis distance to characterize the grapevine canopy and assess leaf area and yield using RGB images. The method automatically processes sets of images, and calculates the areas (number of pixels) corresponding to seven different classes (Grapes, Wood, Background, and four classes of Leaf, of increasing leaf age). Each one is initialized by the user, who selects a set of representative pixels for every class in order to induce the clustering around them. The proposed methodology was evaluated with 70 grapevine (V. vinifera L. cv. Tempranillo) images, acquired in a commercial vineyard located in La Rioja (Spain), after several defoliation and de-fruiting events on 10 vines, with a conventional RGB camera and no artificial illumination. The segmentation results showed a performance of 92% for leaves and 98% for clusters, and allowed to assess the grapevine’s leaf area and yield with R2 values of 0.81 (p < 0.001) and 0.73 (p = 0.002), respectively. This methodology, which operates with a simple image acquisition setup and guarantees the right number and kind of pixel classes, has shown to be suitable and robust enough to provide valuable information for vineyard management.
Optical and electrical properties of preferentially anisotropic single-walled carbon-nanotube films in terahertz region

The absorption and dispersion of aligned single-walled carbon-nanotube films were measured from 0.2 to 2.0 THz using a source of freely propagating subpicosecond pulses of THz electromagnetic radiation. The real conductivity increased rapidly with increasing frequency up to 0.45 THz and decreased at a high-frequency range. The Maxwell–Garnett model, where the nanotubes were embedded in a dielectric host, fit the results of this study with the Drude–Lorentz model for nanotube network. We have observed the transverse phonon mode of 2.4 THz propagating along the c direction. This suggested that the carbon nanotube network is composed of metallic and semiconducting nanotubes embedded in an air dielectric host.
Fast TV Regularization for 2D Maximum Penalized Likelihood Estimation

Total Variation-based regularization, well established for image processing applications such as denoising, was recently introduced for Maximum Penalized Likelihood Estimation (MPLE) as an effective way to estimate nonsmooth probability densities. While the estimates show promise for a variety of applications, the nonlinearity of the regularization leads to computational challenges, especially in multidimensions. In this article we present a numerical methodology, based upon the Split Bregman L1 minimization technique, that overcomes these challenges, allowing for the fast and accurate computation of 2D TV-based MPLE. We test the methodology with several examples, including V-fold cross-validation with large 2D datasets, and highlight the application of TV-based MPLE to point process crime modeling. The proposed algorithm is implemented as the Matlab function TVMPLE. The Matlab (mex) code and datasets for examples and simulations are available as online supplements.
Dissociating N400 Effects of Prediction from Association in Single-word Contexts

When a word is preceded by a supportive context such as a semantically associated word or a strongly constraining sentence frame, the N400 component of the ERP is reduced in amplitude. An ongoing debate is the degree to which this reduction reflects a passive spread of activation across long-term semantic memory representations as opposed to specific predictions about upcoming input. We addressed this question by embedding semantically associated prime–target pairs within an experimental context that encouraged prediction to a greater or lesser degree. The proportion of related items was used to manipulate the predictive validity of the prime for the target while holding semantic association constant. A semantic category probe detection task was used to encourage semantic processing and to preclude the need for a motor response on the trials of interest. A larger N400 reduction to associated targets was observed in the high than the low relatedness proportion condition, consistent with the hypothesis that predictions about upcoming stimuli make a substantial contribution to the N400 effect. We also observed an earlier priming effect (205–240 msec) in the high-proportion condition, which may reflect facilitation because of form-based prediction. In summary, the results suggest that predictability modulates N400 amplitude to a greater degree than the semantic content of the context.
IS Use and Quality Of Life: A Conceptualization and Empirical Investigation

The nature of IS use and its impacts in everyday life settings are not yet well understood. Drawing on quality of life theory and evidence from the IS acceptance and IS impacts research, this study conceptualizes the relationship between IS use and quality of life as a process that involves vertical and horizontal spillover effects. We empirically investigate this relationship in the context of basic IT use among socio-economically disadvantaged individuals. The research participants received their initial basic IT skill training from community technology centers. The context of our study is the Thai community technology centers supported by Microsoft Unlimited Potential grants. The results strongly support that there are vertical spillover and horizontal spillover mechanisms that relate IS use to domain-specific quality of life and overall quality of life. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Representation and discovery of building patterns: a three-level relational approach

ABSTRACT Building patterns exhibited collectively by a group of buildings are fundamental to understanding urban forms, classifying urban scenes, analyzing urban landscapes, and generalizing maps. The existing studies have used geometric homogeneity or regularity to represent and discover limited patterns for map generalization, or used interval and rectangle algebra to represent relations between spatial objects. These approaches, however, cannot illustrate how patterns are produced by using syntax or grammar (i.e. relations between buildings) to link words (i.e. buildings) into sentences (i.e. building patterns), making it impossible to represent and discover building patterns with diverse structures. This study presents a relation-based approach to formalize and discover arbitrary building patterns at three abstract levels. At the bottom level, a relative and local frame of reference is defined, and 169 basic relations are derived to represent relative positions between buildings. At the middle level, the 169 relations, qualitative angle description, and qualitative size are combined to formalize important semantic relations between two buildings, which include collinear, perpendicular, and parallel relations. At the top level, the relations at the bottom and middle levels are used to formalize three types of building patterns, including collinear patterns, the structured patterns with acceptable names, and other patterns of interest. Algorithms implementing the three levels of relations are presented and applied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in discovering building patterns from databases and querying building patterns. The results indicate that the relational approach is generic to effectively represent and discover building patterns with arbitrary structures. In addition, it complements the existing geometric methods for recognizing building patterns, and the interval and rectangle algebra for representing building relations.