Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Daytime Effect of Monochromatic Blue Light on EEG Activity Depends on Duration and Timing of Exposure in Young Men

Growing evidence suggests an alerting effect of monochromatic blue light on brain activity. Little is known about the moderation of those effects by timing and duration of exposure. The present electroencephalography (EEG ) study examined such moderations on delta, theta, alpha1, alpha2, and beta EEG bands. A counterbalanced repeated-measures design was applied. The 16-hr daytime period was divided into three sessions: 07:00-12:20, 12:20-17:40, and 17:40-23:00 (timing of exposure). Two light conditions comparable in luminance but differing in wavelength were applied, namely polychromatic white light and monochromatic blue light (460 nm). There were two durations of exposure—the shorter one lasting 30 min and the longer one lasting 4 hrs. Thirty male students participated in the study. Four factors analyses of variance (ANOV As, for light conditions, timing of exposure, duration of exposure, and brain area) were performed on each EEG band. Results indicated an alerting effect of short exposure to monochromatic blue light at midday and in the evening, which was demonstrated by a decrease in lower frequency bands (alpha1, delta, and theta, respectively). Long exposure to blue light may have a reverse effect, especially in the morning and at midday, when increases in lower frequency bands (theta in the morning and theta and alpha1 at midday) were observed. It can be concluded that the daytime effect of monochromatic blue light on EEG activity depends on timing and duration of exposure.
Construction and characterization of an anti-CD20 mAb nanocomb with exceptionally excellent lymphoma-suppressing activity

The CD20-directed monoclonal antibody rituximab (RTX) established a new era in the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL); however, suboptimal response and/or resistance to RTX still limit its clinical merits. Although four effector mechanisms are validated to participate in CD20-based immunotherapy, including complement-dependent cytotoxicity, antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, caspase-dependent apoptosis, and lysosome-mediated programmed cell death (PCD), they could hardly be synchronously activated by any anti-CD20 mAb or mAb derivative until now. Herein, a novel mAb nanocomb (polyethylenimine polymer–RTX–tositumomab [PPRT nanocomb]) was firstly constructed through mass arming two different anti-CD20 mAbs (RTX and tositumomab) to one polymer by nanotechnology. Comparing with free mAbs, PPRT nanocomb possesses a comparable binding ability and reduced “off-rate” to surface CD20 of NHL cells. When treated by PPRT nanocomb, the caspase-dependent apoptosis was remarkably enhanced except for concurrently eliciting complement-dependent cytotoxicity, antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and lysosome-mediated PCD. Besides, “cross-cell link”-assisted homotypic adhesion by PPRT nanocomb further enhanced the susceptibility to PCD of lymphoma cells. Pharmacokinetic assays revealed that PPRT nanocomb experienced a relatively reduced clearance from peripheral blood compared with free antibodies. With the cooperation of all the abovementioned superiorities, PPRT nanocomb exhibits exceptionally excellent in vivo antitumor activities in both disseminated and localized human NHL xenotransplant models.
Association of Plasma Phospholipid n-3 and n-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids with Type 2 Diabetes: The EPIC-InterAct Case-Cohort Study

Background Whether and how n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are related to type 2 diabetes (T2D) is debated. Objectively measured plasma PUFAs can help to clarify these associations. Methods and Findings Plasma phospholipid PUFAs were measured by gas chromatography among 12,132 incident T2D cases and 15,919 subcohort participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-InterAct study across eight European countries. Country-specific hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using Prentice-weighted Cox regression and pooled by random-effects meta-analysis. We also systematically reviewed published prospective studies on circulating PUFAs and T2D risk and pooled the quantitative evidence for comparison with results from EPIC-InterAct. In EPIC-InterAct, among long-chain n-3 PUFAs, α-linolenic acid (ALA) was inversely associated with T2D (HR per standard deviation [SD] 0.93; 95% CI 0.88–0.98), but eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were not significantly associated. Among n-6 PUFAs, linoleic acid (LA) (0.80; 95% CI 0.77–0.83) and eicosadienoic acid (EDA) (0.89; 95% CI 0.85–0.94) were inversely related, and arachidonic acid (AA) was not significantly associated, while significant positive associations were observed with γ-linolenic acid (GLA), dihomo-GLA, docosatetraenoic acid (DTA), and docosapentaenoic acid (n6-DPA), with HRs between 1.13 to 1.46 per SD. These findings from EPIC-InterAct were broadly similar to comparative findings from summary estimates from up to nine studies including between 71 to 2,499 T2D cases. Limitations included potential residual confounding and the inability to distinguish between dietary and metabolic influences on plasma phospholipid PUFAs. Conclusions These large-scale findings suggest an important inverse association of circulating plant-origin n-3 PUFA (ALA) but no convincing association of marine-derived n3 PUFAs (EPA and DHA) with T2D. Moreover, they highlight that the most abundant n6-PUFA (LA) is inversely associated with T2D. The detection of associations with previously less well-investigated PUFAs points to the importance of considering individual fatty acids rather than focusing on fatty acid class.
Register Pointer Architecture for Efficient Embedded Processors

Conventional register file architectures cannot optimally exploit temporal locality in data references due to their limited capacity and static encoding of register addresses in instructions. In conventional embedded architectures, the register file capacity cannot be increased without resorting to longer instruction words. Similarly, loop unrolling is often required to exploit locality in the register file accesses across iterations because naming registers statically is inflexible. Both optimizations lead to significant code size increases, which is undesirable in embedded systems. In this paper, the authors introduce the register pointer architecture (RPA), which allows registers to be accessed indirectly through register pointers. Indirection allows a larger register file to be used without increasing the length of instruction words. Additional register file capacity allows many loads and stores, such as those introduced by spill code, to be eliminated, which improves performance and reduces energy consumption. Moreover, indirection affords additional flexibility in naming registers, which reduces the need to apply loop unrolling in order to maximize reuse of register allocated variables
Networked Control System - A Survey

Networked Control System (NCS) is a synthetic application wh ich co mbines control science, computer science and network technology. It is a kind of feedback control systems wherein the control loops are closed through real time control network. NCS technology is applied in industry control system because of its simple structure, easy maintenance and high reliability. Networked control systems (NCSs) have been gaining popularity with their high potential in widespread applications and becoming realizab le with the rapid developments in co mputer, co mmun ication and control technologies. This paper reviews the development history of the NCS, and point out the field of further researches.
A Rac switch regulates random versus directionally persistent cell migration

Directional migration moves cells rapidly between points, whereas random migration allows cells to explore their local environments. We describe a Rac1 mechanism for determining whether cell patterns of migration are intrinsically random or directionally persistent. Rac activity promoted the formation of peripheral lamellae that mediated random migration. Decreasing Rac activity suppressed peripheral lamellae and switched the cell migration patterns of fibroblasts and epithelial cells from random to directionally persistent. In three-dimensional rather than traditional two-dimensional cell culture, cells had a lower level of Rac activity that was associated with rapid, directional migration. In contrast to the directed migration of chemotaxis, this intrinsic directional persistence of migration was not mediated by phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase lipid signaling. Total Rac1 activity can therefore provide a regulatory switch between patterns of cell migration by a mechanism distinct from chemotaxis.
Thalamic Circuit Mechanisms Link Sensory Processing in Sleep and Attention

The correlation between sleep integrity and attentional performance is normally interpreted as poor sleep causing impaired attention. Here, we provide an alternative explanation for this correlation: common thalamic circuits regulate sensory processing across sleep and attention, and their disruption may lead to correlated dysfunction. Using multi-electrode recordings in mice, we find that rate and rhythmicity of thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) neurons are predictive of their functional organization in sleep and suggestive of their participation in sensory processing across states. Surprisingly, TRN neurons associated with spindles in sleep are also associated with alpha oscillations during attention. As such, we propose that common thalamic circuit principles regulate sensory processing in a state-invariant manner and that in certain disorders, targeting these circuits may be a more viable therapeutic strategy than considering individual states in isolation.
Joint User Selection and Feedback Bit Allocation Based on Sparsity Constraint in MIMO Virtual Cellular Networks

In this paper, we jointly consider the user selection and feedback design problems in a virtual cellular network (VCN), where multiple base stations (BSs) share a user set. In many practical systems, the uplink feedback channel is generally shared by multiple users. Thus, the feedback budget allocated to unselected users not only wastes the feedback resources, but harms the system throughput by decreasing the available feedback budget for the selected users. We optimize both the user selection and feedback bit allocation based on long-term average channel information of the users. We first analyze the effects of the quantization error on the average achievable rate of the VCN system. Next, we propose a user selection and feedback bit allocation protocol under each BS's sum feedback rate constraint as well as the sparsity constraint on all users' feedback sizes. We show that the joint optimization problem can be decoupled into several NP-hard subproblems, one for each BS. We describe the brute-force searching algorithm for the optimal solution, and propose an efficient algorithm with significantly reduced computational complexity by relaxing the sparsity constraint on the feedback sizes. As a result, only the selected users exploit the uplink feedback budget, and the system performance is improved.
Multiresolution Based Hybrid Filtering Technique for Despeckling Ultrasound Images

Ultrasound imaging is the most commonly used imaging system for disease diagnosis. Speckle noise is an inherent property of medical ultrasound imaging. Since speckle may hinder the detection of image details it is typically regarded as noise and there is a strong need to remove speckle effectively for good and fast interpretation. Multiresolution analysis is the important tool in eliminating noise from images effectively. In this paper an algorithm is proposed that uses multiresolution analysis through which it is possible to distinguish noise and image information better than at one resolution level. The proposed algorithm combines the features of filtering techniques in multiresolution framework to combine the benefits that each one can contribute. This algorithm maintains a balance between speckle suppression and feature preservation. The result is shown to be promising and outperforms other despeckling approaches. Performance evaluations are performed by using statistical parameters like Mean Square Error (MSE), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Speckle Index (SI) and Edge Preservation Index (EPI).
BLENDING SOFTWARE AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING IN STUDENT PROJECTS

In this paper we describe three student projects elaborated for the IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition (CSIDC). All three projects involved students of software engineering and computer engineering who demonstrated excellence in design of a system consisted both from computer hardware and software. Moreover, the students had to invent the system specification with some additional constraints on used hardware and software and the theme of the competition. The main requirement was general benefit to society. In CSIDC 2000 students designed under the health care information appliance theme the Asthma Monitor & Allergy Data Information Appliance called AMADIA. The result of next year competition was the EUNICA system (Extensible Universal Control of Appliances). In the CSIDC 2002 our students elaborated mobile sleeping laboratory project. Both CSIDC 2001 and 2002 were oriented towards wireless communications using Bluetooth.
Theory and practice in visual interfaces for semi-structured document discovery and selection

With the increase in electronic publications, and indeed the availability of existing publications in digital form, as well as the encouragement of open access publication, comes a challenge. That challenge is to create assistive software to aid in the discovery and selection of relevant documents to one’s information need. Visual interfaces have begun to address the need of information seekers in finding publications and wading through the large result sets that are returned from search engines. There is currently, little evidence to suggest that these interfaces are based on systematic research on requirements. In this article, we examine areas which contribute to the theory and practice of visual interfaces directly relating to the discovery and selection of publications. We bring together work from different fields in a targeted approach to assist the future creation of these interfaces.
Intelligent Wireless Communication for Future Autonomous and Cognitive Automobiles

Communication between vehicles based on ad-hoc networking principles has become a prominent research area. The main difficulties in designing such vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) networks arise from the lack of infrastructure, necessitating fully distributed functionalities and self-organizing capabilities, and from their highly dynamic nature due to the mobility of nodes. A new research goal is to use V2V networks to realize autonomous vehicles which can cooperate in terms of cognition and trajectory planning while participating in traffic. This specific scenario imposes additional and very strict requirements on the communication network design. In this paper we present the requirements for the communication system and its security. Additionally, we present the essential building blocks and mechanisms to tune existing technologies for use in the autonomous vehicles scenario.
Analysis of Trace Elements and Ions in Ambient Fine Particulate Matter at Three Elementary Schools in Ohio

Abstract The results from a chemical characterization study of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) measured at three elementary schools in Central and Southeast Ohio is presented here. PM2.5 aerosol samples were collected from outdoor monitors and indoor samplers at each monitoring location during the period of February 1, 1999, through August 31, 2000. The locations included a rural elementary school in Athens, OH, and two urban schools within Columbus, OH. The trace metal and ionic concentrations in the collected samples were analyzed using an X-ray fluorescence spectrophotometer and ion chromatography unit, respectively. Sulfate ion was found to be the largest component present in the samples at all three of the sites. Other abundant components included nitrate, chloride, ammonium, and sodium ions, as well as calcium, silicon, and iron. The average PM2.5 concentrations showed similar temporal variations among the three sites within the study region. PM2.5 and its major component, sulfate ion, showed strong seasonal variations with maximum concentrations observed during the summer at all three of the sites. The indoor environment was found to be more contaminated during the spring months (March through May) at New Albany (a suburb of Columbus, OH) and East Athens (rural Ohio area). Potential source contribution function analysis showed that particulate matter levels at the monitoring sites were affected by transport from adjoining urban areas and industrial complexes located along the Ohio River Valley. A preliminary outdoor source apportionment using the principal component analysis (PCA) technique was performed. The results from the PCA suggest that the study region was primarily impacted by industrial, fossil fuel combustion, and geological sources. The 2002 emissions inventory data for PM2.5 compiled by Ohio Environmental Protection Agency also showed impacts of similar source types, and this was used to validate the PCA analysis.
Effects of Emilia praetermissa leaf extract on the haematological and biochemical parameters of stress induced ulcerated Wistar rats

Effects of Emilia praetermissa leaf extract on the haematological and biochemical parameters of cold- water stress induced ulceration in albino rats were the focus of this study. Blood samples collected from stress induced ulcerated Wistar rats by cold water immersion were used to evaluate the haematological and biochemical parameters. This study was conducted using twenty rats randomly divided into four groups, Group A which was control group and three test Groups B, C and D. All three test groups were subjected to cold water induced stress ulceration. Groups B and C were treated with normal saline (10 ml/kg body weight) and E. praetermissa (500 mg/kg body weight) respectively, for seven days after stress induced ulceration while the Group D was pretreated with E. praetermissa (500 mg/kg) for fourteen days before cold water stress induced ulceration. The results showed that Stress reduced all blood parameters tested except total white blood cell and platelet counts when compared with control while E. praetermissa increased all the blood parameters tested above that of control despite the induced stress. However, the extract significantly (p < 0.05) reduced biochemical parameters such as alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransaminase (AST). The results therefore suggest that E. pratermissa has haemopoietic potential, it could stimulate blood cell formation and also powerful enough to suppress effects of stress on haematological parameters in stress-ulcerated Wistar rats.
Multicellular rosette formation during cell ingression in the avian primitive streak

Cell movements are a fundamental feature during the development of multi‐cellular organisms. In amniote gastrulation, cells ingress through the primitive streak, which identifies the anterior‐posterior axis of the embryo. We investigated the cytoskeletal architecture during these morphogenetic processes and characterized microtubule organisation in whole chick embryos. This revealed the distribution of cells with polarized and radial microtubule (MT) arrays across different regions of the embryo. Cells in the epiblast usually displayed radial MT‐arrays, while the majority of cells in the primitive streak had polarized MT‐arrays. Within the primitive streak, many cells organized into groups and were arranged in rosette‐like structures with a distinct centre characterized by an accumulation of actin. Extended confocal microscopy and three‐dimensional image reconstruction identified tips of polarized cells that were protruding from the plane of rosettes, usually from the centre. We propose that organization into higher order structures facilitates cell ingression during gastrulation. Developmental Dynamics 237:91–96, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A model and a tool for change propagation in software

The goal of this research is to make software changes easier, safer, and less expensive. Please note that software change-ability is one of the essential properties of software and involves all software technologies. It is the core of software evolution [7]. One of the proposed solutions is to anticipate changes and structure the software in such a way that the changes will be localized inside software components. However, more recent case studies reported that only about 70% of the requirements were predicted in advance and the remaining requirements were discovered during development. Massive changes triggered by company mergers, introduction of Euro, etc., could not be predicted even a few years ago. Therefore it is likely that all software will be exposed to many unanticipated changes during its lifetime, and the support for unanticipated changes is an important research goal. The process of change is divided into the following phases: • Change request • Change design, including program comprehension, feature location, and change impact analysis • Change implementation, including restructuring for change and change propagation • Change verification • Record knowledge gained during the change Under this NSF program, several phases have been addressed, see the rest of this report and also [5]. Models and tools of change propagation The change starts when the programmer changes a component of the software. After the change, the component may no longer fit with the rest of the software , because it no longer properly interacts with the other components. In order to reintroduce the consistency into the software, the programmer must keep track of inconsistencies and the locations of the secondary changes. The secondary changes, however, may introduce new inconsistencies, etc. The process of change propagation continues until all inconsistencies are removed. A formal model of change propagation was developed and published in [5]. It is based on static analysis of the program that produces evolving interaction graphs (eigs). It deals with scenarios and strategies used for change propagation. Examples are strict or random, and final or nonfinal strategies. A tool "Ripples" that supports change propagation was also implemented. The purpose of restructuring is to bring together parts of program affected by the change. It is well known that the delocalization of the change, i.e. the number of components that need to be visited during the change, increases the risk and difficulty of the change. We developed several tools and scenarios that allow …