Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of Virus-Specific CD8+ T Cells With Cross-Reactivity Against Alloantigens: Potency and Flaws of Present Experimental Methods

Background Virus-specific T cells have the intrinsic capacity to cross-react against allogeneic HLA antigens, a phenomenon known as heterologous immunity. In transplantation, these cells may contribute to the alloimmune response and negatively impact graft outcome. This study describes the various techniques that can be used to detect heterologous immune responses of virus-specific CD8+ T cells against allogeneic HLA antigens. The strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches are discussed and illustrated by experimental data. Methods Mixed-lymphocyte reactions (MLRs) were performed to detect allo-HLA cross-reactivity of virus-specific CD8+ T cells in total peripheral blood mononuclear cells. T-cell lines and clones were generated to confirm allo-HLA cross-reactivity by IFN&ggr; production and cytotoxicity. In addition, the conventional MLR protocol was adjusted by introducing a 3-day resting phase and subsequent short restimulation with alloantigen or viral peptide, whereupon the expression of IFN&ggr;, IL-2, CD107a, and CD137 was determined. Results The accuracy of conventional MLR is challenged by potential bystander activation. T-cell lines and clones can circumvent this issue, yet their generation is laborious and time-consuming. Using the adjusted MLR and restimulation protocol, we found that only truly cross-reactive T cells responded to re-encounter of alloantigen and viral peptide, whereas bystander-activated cells did not. Conclusions The introduction of a restimulation phase improved the accuracy of the MLR as a screening tool for the detection of allo-HLA cross-reactivity by virus-specific CD8+ T cells at bulk level. For detailed characterization of cross-reactive cells, T-cell lines and clones remain the golden standard.
Lower Bound Theory of Nonzero Entries in Solutions of ℓ2-ℓp Minimization

Recently, variable selection and sparse reconstruction are solved by finding an optimal solution of a minimization model, where the objective function is the sum of a data-fitting term in $\ell_2$ norm and a regularization term in $\ell_p$ norm $(0<p<1)$. Since it is a nonconvex model, most algorithms for solving the problem can provide only an approximate local optimal solution, where nonzero entries in the solution cannot be identified theoretically. In this paper, we establish lower bounds for the absolute value of nonzero entries in every local optimal solution of the model, which can be used to indentify zero entries precisely in any numerical solution. Therefore, we have developed a lower bound theorem to classify zero and nonzero entries in every local solution. These lower bounds clearly show the relationship between the sparsity of the solution and the choice of the regularization parameter and norm so that our theorem can be used for selecting desired model parameters and norms. Furthermore, we .
Big Data Small Footprint: The Design of A Low-Power Classifier for Detecting Transportation Modes

Sensors on mobile phones and wearables, and in general sensors on IoT (Internet of Things), bring forth a couple of new challenges to big data research. First, the power consumption for analyzing sensor data must be low, since most wearables and portable devices are power-strapped. Second, the velocity of analyzing big data on these devices must be high, otherwise the limited local storage may overflow. This paper presents our hardware-software co-design of a classifier for wearables to detect a person's transportation mode (i.e., still, walking, running, biking, and on a vehicle). We particularly focus on addressing the big-data small-footprint requirement by designing a classifier that is low in both computational complexity and memory requirement. Together with a sensor-hub configuration, we are able to drastically reduce power consumption by 99%, while maintaining competitive mode-detection accuracy. The data used in the paper is made publicly available for conducting research.
Riesgos psicosociales asociados con el síndrome de burnout en profesores universitarios

Burnout syndrome is a phenomenon that emerges as a chronic response to psychosocial stressors in the work environment. It has four dimensions: enthusiasm for the job, psychological exhaustion, lassitude, and guilt. The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychosocial stressors related to work as possible predictors of dimensions of burnout syndrome among a sample of 250 university professors. The Spanish Burnout Inventory - Educational Version (sbi-Ed) and the Battery of Psychosocial Risk Assessment were used as research instruments. Results obtained through linear regression analysis point to the variables of autonomy, social support, role ambiguity, and interpersonal conflicts as predictors of burnout. The study suggests possibilities for intervention and further research
Seeing through the eyes of the perpetrator: A goal-directed function of introjection

This paper proposes that introjection experienced as a traumatic presence has a goal-directed function, subcortically mediated with essential cortical participation. Anticipation of further relational trauma activates this post-traumatic process in which the victim remains watchfully engaged, monitoring from the dominant other’s perspective. In consequence, the victim endures a persistent objectifying perspective, a seeing and experiencing from out-there and in consequence, a loss of seeing and experiencing from within. This objectifying perspective emerges from the ontogenetic origins of shame designed to shape compliance with the wishes and needs of more dominant others for the child’s protection, social learning, and guidance. However, this ontogenetic process becomes disintegrating and maladaptive in the context of sustained interpersonal trauma. With sufficient reinforcement, it evolves into an attractor state experienced as a traumatic presence. Emerging information on the role of the cingulate in directing attention and mentalizing is consistent with this conceptualization. A sequence of clinical vignettes is used, not as a case study, but rather as a means to access experiential phenomena that illustrate the origins and evolution of this introjective process.
A systematic review of sound-based intervention programs to improve participation in education for children with sensory processing and integration challenges

ABSTRACT This systematic review evaluates current evidence for using sound-based interventions (SBIs) to improve educational participation for children with challenges in sensory processing and integration. Databases searched included CINAHL, MEDLINE Complete, PsychINFO, ERIC, Web of Science, and Cochrane. No studies explicitly measured participation-level outcomes in education. Ten studies provided limited evidence supporting the use of SBIs based on preliminary positive effects on occupations, client factors, and performance skills related to participation in education. Stronger experimental designs are needed measuring educational participation. Therapists should use caution using SBIs for this population and outcome until further research clearly substantiates or refutes this intervention.
Distributor Sharing of Strategic Information with Suppliers

Distributor sharing of strategic information with suppliers is an important but underresearched issue within the marketing discipline. The authors develop and test a conceptual framework based on exchange theory that focuses on the degree to which distributors share external and internal strategic information with associated suppliers. Relying on survey data collected from 479 distributors across three industries, the authors find that distributors share strategic information with suppliers according to factors that affect the perceived benefits, costs, and risks of such behavior. The sharing of internal strategic information has distinct determinants compared with those of external strategic information. The interrelationships between environmental uncertainty and the sharing of internal strategic information, including both main and interactive effects, are especially notable.
Cell Blebbing in Confined Microfluidic Environments

Migrating cells can extend their leading edge by forming myosin-driven blebs and F-actin-driven pseudopods. When coerced to migrate in resistive environments, Dictyostelium cells switch from using predominately pseudopods to blebs. Bleb formation has been shown to be chemotactic and can be influenced by the direction of the chemotactic gradient. In this study, we determine the blebbing responses of developed cells of Dictyostelium discoideum to cAMP gradients of varying steepness produced in microfluidic channels with different confining heights, ranging between 1.7 μm and 3.8 μm. We show that microfluidic confinement height, gradient steepness, buffer osmolarity and Myosin II activity are important factors in determining whether cells migrate with blebs or with pseudopods. Dictyostelium cells were observed migrating within the confines of microfluidic gradient channels. When the cAMP gradient steepness is increased from 0.7 nM/μm to 20 nM/μm, cells switch from moving with a mixture of blebs and pseudopods to moving only using blebs when chemotaxing in channels with confinement heights less than 2.4 μm. Furthermore, the size of the blebs increases with gradient steepness and correlates with increases in myosin-II localization at the cell cortex. Reduction of intracellular pressure by high osmolarity buffer or inhibition of myosin-II by blebbistatin leads to a decrease in bleb formation and bleb size. Together, our data reveal that the protrusion type formed by migrating cells can be influenced by the channel height and the steepness of the cAMP gradient, and suggests that a combination of confinement-induced myosin-II localization and cAMP-regulated cortical contraction leads to increased intracellular fluid pressure and bleb formation.
Two Different Accretion Classes in Seyfert 1 Galaxies and QSOs

The mass of the central black holes in Seyfert galaxies and QSOs can be determined from the broad emission lines and the reverberation method. Using the measured black hole mass and the bolometric or ionizing luminosity, the accretion rate can be estimated. Compiling a sample of Seyfert 1 galaxies and QSOs with reliable central masses, estimated ionizing luminosities, and X-ray spectral slopes, we find that the X-ray spectral slope strongly correlates with the accretion rate. The objects in the sample are found to be distributed in two distinct classes in the spectral index versus log(Lion/LEdd)-plane. We argue that these two classes may correspond to advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) and thin disk accretion. The observations of a "two-state" Seyfert 1 galaxy, 1H 0419-577, confirm our results. Detailed fitting of the spectra of individual Seyfert 1 galaxies and QSOs using ADAF and/or thin disk models should further clarify the two-class classification.
Effective quotation: relating approaches to language-integrated query

Language-integrated query techniques have been explored in a number of different language designs. We consider two different, type-safe approaches employed by Links and F#. Both approaches provide rich dynamic query generation capabilities, and thus amount to a form of heterogeneous staged computation, but to date there has been no formal investigation of their relative expressiveness. We present two core calculi Eff and Quot, respectively capturing the essential aspects of language-integrated querying using effects in Links and quotation in LINQ. We show via translations from Eff to Quot and back that the two approaches are equivalent in expressiveness. Based on the translation from Eff to Quot, we extend a simple Links compiler to handle queries.
Description of the Californian leech Helobdella robusta sp.nov., and comparison with Helobdella triserialis on the basis of morphology, embryology, and experimental breeding

This paper describes the leech Helobdella robusta, which was collected from the Sacramento delta of California. This new species is generally similar to another species found in California, Helobdella triserialis, and the two were compared in detail. In the adult, we observed reliable differences in the relative dimensions of the body, the size of the dorsal papillae, the pattern of cutaneous pigmentation, and the structure of the gut. In the embryo, we observed differences in the appearance of the yolk platelets and the size of the adhesive gland. We also observed differences in the rate of embryonic development. All of these differences persist in breeding populations that have been maintained in the laboratory over many generations. Experimental studies indicate that H. robusta and H. triserialis have little or no proclivity for interbreeding, supporting their distinction as separate species.
The Customer Citizenship Behaviors of Food Blog Users

Compared with previous studies that have focused on customers’ behavioral intentions or the factors that influence purchase behaviors on blogs or discussion boards, in this study, we examine the factors of independent food blogs or discussion boards that influence users’ customer citizenship behaviors. Six food blogs were selected based on the flow rate and food diaries. 323 Subjects were chosen from the blog user population and then interviewed to develop the data needed for this study. The results indicate that psychological needs, customer satisfaction, and customer-company identification positively affect customer citizenship behaviors. High satisfaction of customer-orientation is a critical management strategy on food blogs. This study adapts physically existing organizational behavior theory through appropriate inference and modification for virtual community. Unlike past studies that focused on customer purchase intention, this study emphasizes customer value and social media of the virtual community.
Themed Issue Article: Stress in Vertebrates Stress and reproductive hormones reflect inter-specific social and nutritional conditions mediated by resource availability in a bear-salmon system

Food availability can influence the nutritional and social dynamics within and among species. Our investigation focused on grizzly and black bears in coastal British Columbia, Canada, where recent and dramatic declines in their primary prey (salmon) raise concerns about potentially negative effects on bear physiology. We examined how salmon availability relates to stress and reproductive hormones in coastal grizzly (n = 69) and black bears (n = 68) using cortisol and testosterone. In hair samples from genotyped individuals, we quantified salmon consumption using stable isotope analysis and hormone levels by enzyme immu noassay. To estimate the salmon biomass available to each bear, we developed a spatially explicit approach based on typical bear home-range sizes. Next, we compared the relative importance of salmon consumption and salmon availability on hormone levels in male bears using an information theoretical approach. Cortisol in grizzly bears was higher in individuals that consumed less salmon, possibly reflecting nutritional stress. In black bears, cortisol was better predicted by salmon availability than salmon consumption; specifically, individuals in areas and years with low salmon availability showed higher cortisol levels. This indicates that cortisol in black bears is more strongly influenced by the socially competitive environment mediated by salmon availability than by nutritional requirements. In both species, testosterone generally decreased with increasing salmon availability, possibly reflecting a less competitive environment when salmon were abundant. Differences between species could relate to different nutritional requirements, social densities and competitive behaviour and/or habitat use. We present a conceptual model to inform further investigations in this and other systems. Our approach, which combines data on multiple hormones with dietary and spatial information corresponding to the year of hair growth, provides a promising tool for evaluating the responses of a broad spectrum of wildlife to changes in food availability or other environmental conditions.
Graph minors and graphs on surfaces 1

Graph minors and the theory of graphs embedded in surfaces are fundamentally interconnected. Robertson and Seymour used graph minors to prove a generalization of the Kuratowski Theorem to arbitrary surfaces [37], while they also need surface embeddings in their Excluded Minor Theorem [45]. Various recent results related to graph minors and graphs on surfaces are presented.
Finite-element simulations of light propagation through circular subwavelength apertures

Light transmission through circular subwavelength apertures in metallic films with surrounding nanostructures is investigated numerically. Numerical results are obtained with a frequency-domain finite-element method. Convergence of the obtained observables to very low levels of numerical error is demonstrated. Very good agreement to experimental results from the literature is reached, and the utility of the method is demonstrated in the investigation of the influence of geometrical parameters on enhanced transmission through the apertures.
Overexpression of a Harpin-encoding gene hrf1 in rice enhances drought tolerance

Harpin proteins are well known as eliciters that induce multiple responses in plants, such as systemic acquired resistance, hypersensitive response, enhancement of growth, resistance to the green peach aphid, and tolerance to drought. Overexpression of Harpin-encoding genes enhances plant resistance to diseases in tobacco, rice, rape, and cotton; however, it is not yet known whether the expression of Harpin-encoding genes in vivo improves plant tolerance to abiotic stresses. The results of this study showed that overexpression of a Harpin-encoding gene hrf1 in rice increased drought tolerance through abscisic acid (ABA) signalling. hrf1- overexpression induces an increase in ABA content and promotes stomatal closure in rice. The hrf1 transgenic rice lines exhibited a significant increase in water retention ability, levels of free proline and soluble sugars, tolerance to oxidative stress, reactive oxygen species-scavenging ability, and expression levels of four stress-related genes, OsLEA3-1, OsP5CS, Mn-SOD, and NM_001074345, under drought stress. The study confirmed that hrf1 conferred enhanced tolerance to drought stress on transgenic crops. These results suggest that Harpins may offer new opportunities for generating drought resistance in other crops.
The association of increased levels of intermediate-density lipoproteins with smoking and with coronary artery disease.

Studies were undertaken to determine whether there is an association between elevated levels of intermediate-density lipoproteins (IDL) (Sf 12-60 lipoproteins) and coronary artery disease. Forty-five to sixty-five-year-old men with objectively documented coronary artery disease (n = 58) who were free of known risk factors (diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hyperuricemia, and hypercholesterolemia) were compared with similar men who were free of coronary artery disease (n = 52). Smokers could not be excluded. The coronary artery disease group had a higher rate of cigarette smoking (NS, due to large variations); higher concentrations of triglycerides in their plasma (p = .003) and higher levels of very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) (p = .007), IDL (p = .016), and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) (p = .04); as well as somewhat lower levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (p = .04). Chi-squared analysis demonstrated a strong association between coronary artery disease and IDL apolipoprotein (apo) B (p = .006), coronary artery disease and IDL triglyceride (p = .032), and coronary artery disease and IDL apo B times IDL triglyceride (p = .006) when the top quintile of the population was compared with the bottom quintile for each of these variables. Stepwise logistic regression analysis resulted in rejection of an association between coronary artery disease and HDL cholesterol, plasma triglyceride, VLDL triglyceride, or LDL triglyceride. However, it did show that coronary artery disease was most strongly associated with smoking and that the second strongest association was with IDL. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Mechanics of forming and estimating dynamic linear economies

This paper catalogues formulas that are useful for estimating dynamic linear economic models. We describe algorithms for computing equilibria of an economic model and for recursively computing a Gaussian likelihood function and its gradient with respect to parameters. We display an application to Rosen, Murphy, and Scheinkman's (1994) model of cattle cycles.
Efficacy of BIBF 1120 or BIBF 1120 plus chemotherapy on nasopharyngeal carcinoma in vitro and in vivo

Purpose BIBF 1120 is a potent triple angiokinase inhibitor now being evaluated in many types of tumors. We examine the antitumor effects of BIBF 1120 on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in vitro and in vivo. Materials and methods The effect of BIBF 1120 on NPC cell proliferation was evaluated using the Cell Counting Kit 8 assay. The activities of BIBF 1120 as a single agent and in combination with cisplatin (DDP) in NPC tumor xenografts were evaluated by measuring microvessel density and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor signaling. Results BIBF 1120 exhibited limited inhibition of the growth of three NPC cell lines. Concurrent administration of BIBF 1120 and DDP provided greater antitumor effects compared to that observed with the use of either inhibitor as a single agent in the NPC xenograft model. Microvessel density and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor signaling were significantly reduced. Conclusion BIBF 1120, either as a single agent or in combination with DDP, demonstrates significant antitumor and antiangiogenic effects in the NPC xenograft model. Our results indicate that BIBF 1120 administered in conjunction with chemotherapy might provide an effective treatment method for NPC.
Delay-Dependent Robust Stabilizability for Uncertain Discrete Time-Delay Systems

The problem of robust control for discrete time-delay systems with norm-bounded uncertainties was studied. A new sufficient condition of delay-dependent robust stabilizability was derived by introducing a zero formula and free weighting matrices. An explicit expression of the desired controller was also developed based on the solution of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Without any system transformation or inequalities to estimate the upper bound of the cross terms in the forward difference of Lyapunov functional, the corresponding conservatism on the stability condition is reduced. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of design procedure
Researching Critical Reflection: Multidisciplinary Perspectives

and adults who cycle in and out of criminal justice systems (Cunneen et al., 2013). The majority of offenders who move through youth detention and prisons on remand or under 6 month sentences share similar experiences. These would be good discussion topics for students and although I think they could be included, their absence does not detract from my recommending this as a text. Australia needs to focus on this neglected area and Brian Stout has done this in a practical way by challenging those managing social work and criminology degrees and those in justice departments employing probation and parole officers and other justice workers to develop a community justice approach.