Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maturation of the Olfactory Bulbs: MR Imaging Findings

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The detection of time-related maturational changes of the olfactory bulb (OB) on MR imaging may help early identification of patients with abnormal OB development and anatomic-based odor-cueing anomalies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two separate reviewers retrospectively analyzed coronal T2-weighted spin-echo MR images of the frontobasal region in 121 patients. There were 22 patients who underwent MR imaging examinations several times, accounting for a total of 156 studies. Age range was 1 day to 19.6 years. OBs were bilaterally identified in all cases and categorized according to their shape and signal intensity. RESULTS: Three different anatomic patterns were identified. In pattern 1 (median age, 15 days; age range, 1–168 days), the OBs were round to oval with a continuous external T2-hypointense rim and a prominent T2-hyperintense central area. In pattern 2 (median age, 287 days; age range, 4 days–22 months), the OBs were U shaped, with thinning and concave deformation of the superior layer. A hyperintense central area on T2-weighted images was still visible. In pattern 3 (median age, 5.2 years; age range, 107 days–19.6 years), the OBs were small, round, or J shaped with a more prominent lateral part. No difference in signal intensity between the central area and the peripheral layer was identified anymore. CONCLUSIONS: The OBs show time-related maturational changes on MR imaging. There is a progressive reorganization of the peripheral neuronal layers and signal intensity changes of the central area, which are completed at the end of the second year, paralleling cerebral maturational changes.
Haplotypes histories as pathways of recombinations

MOTIVATION The diversity of a haplotype, represented as a string of polymorphic sites along a DNA sequence, increases exponentially with the number of sites if recombinations are taking place. Reconstructing the history of recombinations compared with that of the polymorphic sites is thus extremely difficult. However, in the human genome, because of the relatively simple pattern of haplotype diversity dominated by a few ancestral haplotypes, the complexity of the recombinational network can be reduced, thus making its reconstruction feasible. We focus on the problem of inferring the recombination pathways starting with putative ancestral haplotypes and leading to new rare recombinant haplotypes. RESULTS We describe classes of recombinations that represent the whole set of minimal recombination pathways leading to a new haplotype. We present an O(n(2)) algorithm that outputs such representative recombination pathways. We apply it to haplotypes of the 8 kb dystrophin gene segment dys44. AVAILABILITY A software implementing the algorithm and some other extentions has been developed on a Java platform (JDK 1.3.1). It is freely available at http://www.iro. umontreal.ca/~mabrouk/
A Formal Study of Shot Boundary Detection

This paper conducts a formal study of the shot boundary detection problem. First, a general formal framework of shot boundary detection techniques is proposed. Three critical techniques, i.e., the representation of visual content, the construction of continuity signal and the classification of continuity values, are identified and formulated in the perspective of pattern recognition. Meanwhile, the major challenges to the framework are identified. Second, a comprehensive review of the existing approaches is conducted. The representative approaches are categorized and compared according to their roles in the formal framework. Based on the comparison of the existing approaches, optimal criteria for each module of the framework are discussed, which will provide practical guide for developing novel methods. Third, with all the above issues considered, we present a unified shot boundary detection system based on graph partition model. Extensive experiments are carried out on the platform of TRECVID. The experiments not only verify the optimal criteria discussed above, but also show that the proposed approach is among the best in the evaluation of TRECVID 2005. Finally, we conclude the paper and present some further discussions on what shot boundary detection can learn from other related fields
Biofilm formation induces C3a release and protects Staphylococcus epidermidis from IgG and complement deposition and from neutrophil-dependent killing.

BACKGROUND Biofilm formation is considered to be an important virulence factor of the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus epidermidis. We hypothesized that biofilm formation could interfere with the deposition of immunoglobulins and complement on the bacterial surface, leading to diminished activation of the complement system and protection from killing by human phagocytes. METHODS The killing of biofilm-encased and planktonically grown wild-type (wt) S. epidermidis and the killing of an isogenic biofilm-negative ica mutant (ica(-)) by human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) were compared. C3a induction and deposition of C3b and immunoglobulin G (IgG) on the bacteria after opsonization with human serum were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, flow cytometry, and electron microscopy. The virulence of the bacterial strains was compared in a mouse model of catheter-associated infection. RESULTS Biofilm-embedded wt S. epidermidis was killed less well by human PMNs and induced more C3a than planktonically grown wt and ica(-) S. epidermidis. However, the deposition of C3b and IgG on the bacterial surface was diminished in biofilm-encased staphylococci. wt S. epidermidis was more virulent in implant-associated infections and was killed more slowly than ica(-) in ex vivo assays of killing by PMNs. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that prevention of C3b and IgG deposition on the bacterial surface contributes to the biofilm-mediated protection of S. epidermidis from killing by PMNs.
Resource allocation for downlink coordinated multipoint (CoMP) in LTE-advanced

Coordinated multipoint (CoMP) in LTE-Advanced is considered as a promising way to enhance spectrum efficiency in interference-limited wireless network through base station (BS) cooperation. However, resource allocation is one of the key challenges faced by CoMP network because resource allocation strategy of one cell affects the other cells’ performance. Moreover, due to the scarcity of wireless network resources such as bandwidth and power, efficient resource allocation strategy is always desirable. In this paper, a low-complexity resource allocation strategy in CoMP that aims to achieve high network throughput is presented. The resource allocation strategy consists of three modules which are performed sequentially; user allocation module, subcarrier allocation module and power allocation module. Our simulation study shows that the proposed strategy gives significant performance gain in CoMP LTE-Advanced network.
Direct Simulations of Helical Hall-MHD Turbulence and Dynamo Action

Direct numerical simulations of turbulent Hall dynamos are presented. The evolution of an initially weak and small-scale magnetic field in a system maintained in a stationary turbulent regime by a stirring force at a macroscopic scale is studied to explore the conditions for exponential growth of the magnetic energy. Scaling of the dynamo efficiency with Reynolds numbers is studied, and the resulting total energy spectra are found to be compatible with a Kolmogorov-type law. A faster growth of large-scale magnetic fields is observed at intermediate intensities of the Hall effect.
Characteristics and Gel Properties of Gelatin from Goat Skin as Influenced by Alkaline-pretreatment Conditions

Characteristics and properties of gelatin from goat skin pretreated with NaOH solutions (0.50 and 0.75 M) for various times (1 to 4 days) were investigated. All gelatins contained α-chains as the predominant component, followed by β-chain. Gelling and melting temperatures of those gelatins were 23.02°C to 24.16°C and 33.07°C to 34.51°C, respectively. Gel strength of gelatins increased as NaOH concentration and pretreatment time increased (p<0.05). Pretreatment for a longer time yielded gelatin with a decrease in L*-value but an increase in b*-value. Pretreatment of goat skin using 0.75 M NaOH for 2 days rendered the highest yield (15.95%, wet weight basis) as well as high gel strength (222.42 g), which was higher than bovine gelatin (199.15 g). Gelatin obtained had the imino acid content of 226 residues/1,000 residues and the gelatin gel had a fine and ordered structure. Therefore, goat skin gelatin could be used as a potential replacer of commercial gelatin.
Adenosine Triphosphate Activates a Noninactivating K+ Current in Adrenal Cortical Cells through Nonhydrolytic Binding

Bovine adrenal zona fasciculata (AZF) cells express a noninactivating K+ current (IAC) that is inhibited by adrenocorticotropic hormone and angiotensin II at subnanomolar concentrations. Since IAC appears to set the membrane potential of AZF cells, these channels may function critically in coupling peptide receptors to membrane depolarization, Ca2+ entry, and cortisol secretion. IAC channel activity may be tightly linked to the metabolic state of the cell. In whole cell patch clamp recordings, MgATP applied intracellularly through the patch electrode at concentrations above 1 mM dramatically enhanced the expression of IAC K+ current. The maximum IAC current density varied from a low of 8.45 ± 2.74 pA/pF (n = 17) to a high of 109.2 ± 26.3 pA/pF (n = 6) at pipette MgATP concentrations of 0.1 and 10 mM, respectively. In the presence of 5 mM MgATP, IAC K+ channels were tonically active over a wide range of membrane potentials, and voltage-dependent open probability increased by only ∼30% between −40 and +40 mV. ATP (5 mM) in the absence of Mg2+ and the nonhydrolyzable ATP analog AMP-PNP (5 mM) were also effective at enhancing the expression of IAC, from a control value of 3.7 ± 0.1 pA/pF (n = 3) to maximum values of 48.5 ± 9.8 pA/pF (n = 11) and 67.3 ± 23.2 pA/pF (n = 6), respectively. At the single channel level, the unitary IAC current amplitude did not vary with the ATP concentration or substitution with AMP-PNP. In addition to ATP and AMP-PNP, a number of other nucleotides including GTP, UTP, GDP, and UDP all increased the outwardly rectifying IAC current with an apparent order of effectiveness: MgATP > ATP = AMP-PNP > GTP = UTP > ADP >> GDP > AMP and ATP-γ-S. Although ATP, GTP, and UTP all enhanced IAC amplitude with similar effectiveness, inhibition of IAC by ACTH (200 pM) occurred only in the presence of ATP. As little as 50 μM MgATP restored complete inhibition of IAC, which had been activated by 5 mM UTP. Although the opening of IAC channels may require only ATP binding, its inhibition by ACTH appears to involve a mechanism other than hydrolysis of this nucleotide. These findings describe a novel form of K+ channel modulation by which IAC channels are activated through the nonhydrolytic binding of ATP. Because they are activated rather than inhibited by ATP binding, IAC K+ channels may represent a distinctive new variety of K+ channel. The combined features of IAC channels that allow it to sense and respond to changing ATP levels and to set the resting potential of AZF cells, suggest a mechanism where membrane potential, Ca2+ entry, and cortisol secretion could be tightly coupled to the metabolic state of the cell through the activity of IAC K+ channels.
Expression profile of PIN, AUX/LAX and PGP auxin transporter gene families in Sorghum bicolor under phytohormone and abiotic stress

Auxin is transported by the influx carriers auxin resistant 1/like aux1 (AUX/LAX), and the efflux carriers pin‐formed (PIN) and P‐glycoprotein (PGP), which play a major role in polar auxin transport. Several auxin transporter genes have been characterized in dicotyledonous Arabidopsis, but most are unknown in monocotyledons, especially in sorghum. Here, we analyze the chromosome distribution, gene duplication and intron/exon of SbPIN, SbLAX and SbPGP gene families, and examine their phylogenic relationships in Arabidopsis, rice and sorghum. Real‐time PCR analysis demonstrated that most of these genes were differently expressed in the organs of sorghum. SbPIN3 and SbPIN9 were highly expressed in flowers, SbLAX2 and SbPGP17 were mainly expressed in stems, and SbPGP7 was strongly expressed in roots. This suggests that individual genes might participate in specific organ development. The expression profiles of these gene families were analyzed after treatment with: (a) the phytohormones indole‐3‐acetic acid and brassinosteroid; (b) the polar auxin transport inhibitors 1‐naphthoxyacetic acids, 1‐naphthylphthalamic acid and 2,3,5‐triiodobenzoic acid; and (c) abscissic acid and the abiotic stresses of high salinity and drought. Most of the auxin transporter genes were strongly induced by indole‐3‐acetic acid and brassinosteroid, providing new evidence for the synergism of these phytohormones. Interestingly, most genes showed similar trends in expression under polar auxin transport inhibitors and each also responded to abscissic acid, salt and drought. This study provides new insights into the auxin transporters of sorghum.
On the geographic location of internet resources

One relatively unexplored question about the Internet's physical structure concerns the geographical location of its components: routers, links, and autonomous systems (ASes). We study this question using two large inventories of Internet routers and links, collected by different methods and about two years apart. We first map each router to its geographical location using two different state-of-the-art tools. We then study the relationship between router location and population density; between geographic distance and link density; and between the size and geographic extent of ASes. Our findings are consistent across the two datasets and both mapping methods. First, as expected, router density per person varies widely over different economic regions; however, in economically homogeneous regions, router density shows a strong superlinear relationship to population density. Second, the probability that two routers are directly connected is strongly dependent on distance; our data is consistent with a model in which a majority (up to 75%-95%) of link formation is based on geographical distance (as in the Waxman (1988) topology generation method). Finally, we find that ASes show high variability in geographic size, which is correlated with other measures of AS size (degree and number of interfaces). Among small to medium ASes, ASes show wide variability in their geographic dispersal; however, all ASes exceeding a certain threshold in size are maximally dispersed geographically. These findings have many implications for the next generation of topology generators, which we envisage as producing router-level graphs annotated with attributes such as link latencies, AS identifiers, and geographical locations.
Graph cuts optimization for multi-limb human segmentation in depth maps

We present a generic framework for object segmentation using depth maps based on Random Forest and Graph-cuts theory, and apply it to the segmentation of human limbs in depth maps. First, from a set of random depth features, Random Forest is used to infer a set of label probabilities for each data sample. This vector of probabilities is used as unary term in α-β swap Graph-cuts algorithm. Moreover, depth of spatio-temporal neighboring data points are used as boundary potentials. Results on a new multi-label human depth data set show high performance in terms of segmentation overlapping of the novel methodology compared to classical approaches.
Challenges in sub-surface fluorescence diffuse optical imaging

A fully non-contact CCD-based approach to sub-surface fluorescence diffuse optical imaging is presented. An overview of CCD-noise sources are described and a possible solution for obtaining an adequate SNR in CCD-based diffuse optical imaging is implemented. To examine the impact of excitation and remission light attenuation in this geometry, the linearity of response in recovering object position was examined in simulations, with respect to changes in target size, target-to-background contrast, and depth. To provide insight regarding the technological complications of sub-surface imaging, liquid phantom experiments were performed for targets of size 4mm, 8mm and 14mm having 10:1 target-to-background contrast. Overall, the results indicate that steps must be taken to eliminate blooming artifacts, perhaps by physically blocking the active source as it is projected onto the CCD chip. In general, response linearity in the recovered target centroid position, size, and fluorophore concentration as well as complications arising due to partial volume sampling effects are expected to improve if prior structural images obtained from another modality are incorporated into the DOT reconstruction algorithm.
Delay-Dependent Synchronization Criterion for Lur'e Systems with Delay Feedback Control

A master-slave synchronization scheme for Lur'e systems is studied for a known delay existing between master and slave systems. Based on the latest development of stability studies for time-delay systems, a new delay-dependent synchronization criterion is derived by the free-weighting matrix approach. The criterion shown by example is less conservative than the existing synchronization criteria.
Reaching the Global Community During Disasters: Findings From a Content Analysis of the Organizational Use of Twitter After the 2010 Haiti Earthquake

Social networking sites provide virtual environments in which individuals and organizations exchange real-time information on a multitude of topics, including health promotion and disease prevention. The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti has been posited as a turning point in the way in which organizations use social media, such as Twitter, for crisis communication. The purpose of this content analysis was to explore whether organizations’ use of Twitter changed after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. A team of 13 coders analyzed all English-language tweets (N = 2,616) during the 3 months before and post earthquake from 6 leading organizations in the Haiti disaster relief efforts. Study findings indicate that the ways in which organizations used Twitter changed over time. Chi-square analyses demonstrated that organizations decreased in their use of certain strategies to disseminate information through Twitter, such as the use of links. Organizations did not change in their use of techniques to involve users (e.g., retweet, call to action), with the exception of using tweets as a fundraising mechanism. Study findings highlight missed opportunities among organizations to maximize Twitter in order to encourage more interactive and immediate communication with the global community.
Tyro3, Axl, and Mertk Receptor Signaling in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Colitis-associated Cancer

Abstract:Three receptor tyrosine kinases, Tyro3, Axl, and Mertk (TAM) and their ligands Gas6 and Protein S, have emerged as potent negative regulators of innate immune responses. A number of studies using genetic ablation of TAM loci in mice have elucidated the mechanism of TAM engagement and function during the immune response and removal of apoptotic cells. Following phagocytosis of apoptotic cells or the induction of T-cell dependent adaptive immune responses, ligand-induced TAM signaling dampens proinflammatory cytokine production and thus prevents exaggerated or prolonged inflammation. It is believed that the TAM pathway may play an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. Suppression of inflammation and removal of apoptotic cells followed by tissue repair are essential processes for disease remission and the successful management of inflammatory bowel disease. In light of the key role of TAMs in controlling inflammatory responses, here, we review the recent advances on TAM research vis-à-vis the resolution of intestinal inflammation. Targeted activation of TAM receptor tyrosine kinases may represent a potent therapeutic opportunity in inflammatory bowel disease.
Lack of evidence for cross-frequency phase-phase coupling between theta and gamma oscillations in the hippocampus

Phase-amplitude coupling between theta and multiple gamma sub-bands hallmarks hippocampal activity and is believed to take part in information routing. More recently, theta and gamma oscillations were also reported to exhibit reliable phase-phase coupling, or n:m phase-locking. The existence of n:m phase-locking suggests an important mechanism of neuronal coding that has long received theoretical support. However, here we show that n:m phase-locking (1) is much lower than previously reported, (2) highly depends on epoch length, (3) does not statistically differ from chance (when employing proper surrogate methods), and that (4) filtered white noise has similar n:m scores as actual data. Moreover, (5) the diagonal stripes in theta-gamma phase-phase histograms of actual data can be explained by theta harmonics. These results point to lack of theta-gamma phase-phase coupling in the hippocampus, and suggest that studies investigating n:m phase-locking should rely on appropriate statistical controls, otherwise they could easily fall into analysis pitfalls.
The effect of Duffing-type non-linearities and Coulomb damping on the response of an energy harvester to random excitations

Linear energy harvesters can only produce useful amounts of power when excited close to their natural frequency. Due to the uncertain nature of ambient vibrations, it has been hypothesised that such devices will perform poorly in real-world applications. To improve performance, it has been suggested that the introduction of non-linearities into such devices may extend the bandwidth over which they perform effectively. In this study, a magnetic levitation device with non-linearities similar to the Duffing oscillator is considered. The governing equations of the device are formed in which the effects of friction are considered. Analytical solutions are used to explore the effect that friction can have on the system when it is under harmonic excitations. Following this, a numerical model is formed. A differential evolution algorithm is used alongside experimental data to identify the relevant parameters of the device. The model is then validated using experimental data. Monte Carlo simulations are then used to analyse the effect of coulomb damping and Duffing-type non-linearities when the device is subjected to broadband white noise and coloured noise excitations.