Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for defective mesolimbic dopamine exocytosis in obesity‐prone rats

The association between dietary obesity and mesolimbic systems that regulate hedonic aspects of feeding is currently unresolved. In the present study, we examined differences in baseline and stimulated central dopamine levels in obesity‐prone (OP) and obesity‐resistant (OR) rats. OP rats were hyperphagic and showed a 20% weight gain over OR rats at wk 15 of age, when fed a standard chow diet. This phenotype was associated with a 50% reduction in basal extracellular dopamine, as measured by a microdialysis probe in the nucleus accumbens, a projection site of the mesolimbic dopamine system that has been implicated in food reward. Similar defects were also observed in younger animals (4 wk old). In electrophysiology studies, electrically evoked dopamine release in slice preparations was significantly attenuated in OP rats, not only in the nucleus accumbens but also in additional terminal sites of dopamine neurons such as the accumbens shell, dorsal striatum, and medial prefrontal cortex, suggesting that there may be a widespread dysfunction in mechanisms regulating dopamine release in this obesity model. Moreover, dopamine impairment in OP rats was apparent at birth and associated with changes in expression of several factors regulating dopamine synthesis and release: vesicular monoamine transporter‐2, tyrosine hydroxylase, dopamine transporter, and dopamine receptor‐2 short‐form. Taken together, these results suggest that an attenuated central dopamine system would reduce the hedonic response associated with feeding and induce compensatory hyperphagia, leading to obesity. —Geiger, B. M. , Behr, G. G. , Frank, L. E. , Caldera‐Siu, A. D. , Beinfeld, M. C. , Kokkotou, E. G. , Pothos, E. N. Evidence for defective mesolimbic dopamine exocytosis in obesity‐prone rats. FASEB J. 22, 2740–2746 (2008)
Automated ontology evolution in a multi-agent system

This research addresses the formation of new concepts and their corresponding ontology in a multi-agent system where individual autonomous agents try to learn new concepts by consulting several other agents. In this research individual agents create and learn their distinct conceptualization and rather than a commitment to a common ontology they use their own ontologies. In this paper multi-agent supervised learning of concepts among individual agents with diverse conceptualization and different ontologies is introduced and demonstrated through an intuitive example in which supervisors are other agents rather than a human.
Interleukin-17 is a negative regulator of established allergic asthma

T helper (Th)17 cells producing interleukin (IL)-17 play a role in autoimmune and allergic inflammation. Here, we show that IL-23 induces IL-17 in the lung and IL-17 is required during antigen sensitization to develop allergic asthma, as shown in IL-17R–deficient mice. Since IL-17 expression increased further upon antigen challenge, we addressed its function in the effector phase. Most strikingly, neutralization of IL-17 augmented the allergic response in sensitized mice. Conversely, exogenous IL-17 reduced pulmonary eosinophil recruitment and bronchial hyperreactivity, demonstrating a novel regulatory role of IL-17. Mechanistically, IL-17 down modulated eosinophil-chemokine eotaxin (CCL11) and thymus- and activation-regulated chemokine/CCL17 (TARC) in lungs in vivo and ex vivo upon antigen restimulation. In vitro, IL-17 reduced TARC production in dendritic cells (DCs)—the major source of TARC—and antigen uptake by DCs and IL-5 and IL-13 production in regional lymph nodes. Furthermore, IL-17 is regulated in an IL-4–dependent manner since mice deficient for IL-4Rα signaling showed a marked increase in IL-17 concentration with inhibited eosinophil recruitment. Therefore, endogenous IL-17 is controlled by IL-4 and has a dual role. Although it is essential during antigen sensitization to establish allergic asthma, in sensitized mice IL-17 attenuates the allergic response by inhibiting DCs and chemokine synthesis.
Software Engineering for Adaptive Hypermedia Systems: Reference Model, Modeling Techniques and Development Process

This PhD thesis focuses on the development of “personalised” hypermedia applications. Personalisation, also called customisation or adaptation, is the process, which – when applied to software – consists of a change in the behaviour of the software system based on the knowledge the system has of the user. This knowledge can be supplied by the users themselves or by the software system, which is prepared to observe and register the user’s behaviour. Software systems with the capability to acquire information about the user, to build a user model with it, and to utilise the user model to dynamically adapt themselves are called adaptive systems. Adaptive hypermedia systems (AHS) are both adaptive and hypermedia systems. They combine hypermedia with Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) guidance, through the adaptation of the information presented to the user, the layout of the presentation or the way in which the information units are visited, i.e. how navigation is performed.
Confocal Neurolasermicroscopy - Modern Perspectives for Glioma Resection on a Cellular Level

Confocal neurolasermicroscopy (NLM)(Schlosser et al., 2009 (Epub)) is the current front end of the innovative process in neurosurgery for optimizing the operative results. Hence NLM is the continuance of a protracted development. Microscopic imaging technologies in neurosurgery invented 50 years ago revealed new strategies and possibilities for surgeons. These techniques were first used with magnifying lenses in research for introducing blood into the subarachnoid space in the region of circle of Willis in dog (Lougheed and Tom, 1961). It was further used in cerebrovascular diseases (Jacobson et al., 1962) (Chou, 1963), graft interposition (Woringer and Kunlin, 1963) (Lougheed et al., 1971) and aneurysm surgery (Pool and Colton, 1966) (Rand and Jannetta, 1967). From studies assessing radical surgery in the excision of fluorescence labelled tumours (Stummer et al., 2006) (Stummer et al., 1998) the necessity for a high-resolution imaging technique was clearly evident. Intravital fluorescence microscopy was used in animal studies to investigate tumorangiogenesis and microcirculation (Read et al., 2001) (Vajkoczy et al., 2000). In the following section our pilot study using NLM in the neurosurgical operating condition is introduced (Schlosser et al., 2009 (Epub)). We aimed to demonstrate a technique with the potential to be adapted intraoperatively to define cellular and subcellular structures during ongoing neurosurgery. Here we show our results of miniaturized confocal lasermicroscopy in normal brain and brain tumor tissue which we termed NLM. Our pilot study was initiated to test the feasibility of this new technique and to open the door for high resolution imaging during ongoing neurosurgery.
Review of Electromagnetic-Based Crack Sensors for Metallic Materials (Recent Research and Future Perspectives)

Evaluation and non-destructive identification of stress-induced cracks or failures in metals is a vital problem in many sensitive environments, including transportation (steel railway tracks, bridges, car wheels, etc.), power plants (steam generator tubing, etc.) and aerospace transportation (landing gear, aircraft fuselages, etc.). There are many traditional non-destructive detection and evaluation techniques; recently, near-field millimeter waves and microwave methods have shown incredible promise for augmenting currently available non-destructive techniques. This article serves as a review of developments made until now on this topic; it provides an overview of microwave scanning techniques for crack detection. This article summarizes the abilities of these methods to identify and evaluate cracks (including describing their different physical properties). These methods include applying filters based on dual-behavior resonators (DBRs), using complementary split-ring resonators (CSRRs) for the perturbation of electric fields, using waveguide probe-loaded CSRRs and using a substrate-integrated-waveguide (SIW) cavity for the detection of sub-millimeter surface and subsurface cracks.
Differentiation and Selection of Hepatocyte Precursors in Suspension Spheroid Culture of Transgenic Murine Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem cell-derived hepatocyte precursor cells represent a promising model for clinical transplantations to diseased livers, as well as for establishment of in vitro systems for drug metabolism and toxicology investigations. This study aimed to establish an in vitro culture system for scalable generation of hepatic progenitor cells. We used stable transgenic clones of murine embryonic stem cells possessing a reporter/selection vector, in which the enhanced green fluorescent protein- and puromycin N-acetyltransferase-coding genes are driven by a common alpha-fetoprotein gene promoter. This allowed for “live” monitoring and puromycin selection of the desired differentiating cell type possessing the activated alpha-fetoprotein gene. A rotary culture system was established, sequentially yielding initially partially selected hepatocyte lineage-committed cells, and finally, a highly purified cell population maintained as a dynamic suspension spheroid culture, which progressively developed the hepatic gene expression phenotype. The latter was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR analysis, which showed a progressive up-regulation of hepatic genes during spheroid culture, indicating development of a mixed hepatocyte precursor-/fetal hepatocyte-like cell population. Adherent spheroids gave rise to advanced differentiated hepatocyte-like cells expressing hepatic proteins such as albumin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, cytokeratin 18, E-cadherin, and liver-specific organic anion transporter 1, as demonstrated by fluorescent immunostaining. A fraction of adherent cells was capable of glycogen storage and of reversible up-take of indocyanine green, demonstrating their hepatocyte-like functionality. Moreover, after transplantation of spheroids into the mouse liver, the spheroid-derived cells integrated into recipient. These results demonstrate that large-scale hepatocyte precursor-/hepatocyte-like cultures can be established for use in clinical trials, as well as in in vitro screening assays.
Kinematic Model-Based Pedestrian Dead Reckoning for Heading Correction and Lower Body Motion Tracking

In this paper, we present a method for finding the enhanced heading and position of pedestrians by fusing the Zero velocity UPdaTe (ZUPT)-based pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) and the kinematic constraints of the lower human body. ZUPT is a well known algorithm for PDR, and provides a sufficiently accurate position solution for short term periods, but it cannot guarantee a stable and reliable heading because it suffers from magnetic disturbance in determining heading angles, which degrades the overall position accuracy as time passes. The basic idea of the proposed algorithm is integrating the left and right foot positions obtained by ZUPTs with the heading and position information from an IMU mounted on the waist. To integrate this information, a kinematic model of the lower human body, which is calculated by using orientation sensors mounted on both thighs and calves, is adopted. We note that the position of the left and right feet cannot be apart because of the kinematic constraints of the body, so the kinematic model generates new measurements for the waist position. The Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) on the waist data that estimates and corrects error states uses these measurements and magnetic heading measurements, which enhances the heading accuracy. The updated position information is fed into the foot mounted sensors, and reupdate processes are performed to correct the position error of each foot. The proposed update-reupdate technique consequently ensures improved observability of error states and position accuracy. Moreover, the proposed method provides all the information about the lower human body, so that it can be applied more effectively to motion tracking. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified via experimental results, which show that a 1.25% Return Position Error (RPE) with respect to walking distance is achieved.
Effects of Edge Directions on the Structural Controllability of Complex Networks

Recent advances indicate that assigning or reversing edge direction can significantly improve the structural controllability of complex networks. For directed networks, approaching the optimal structural controllability can be achieved by detecting and reversing certain “inappropriate” edge directions. However, the existence of multiple sets of “inappropriate” edge directions suggests that different edges have different effects on optimal controllability—that is, different combinations of edges can be reversed to achieve the same structural controllability. Therefore, we classify edges into three categories based on their direction: critical, redundant and intermittent. We then investigate the effects of changing these edge directions on network controllability, and demonstrate that the existence of more critical edge directions implies not only a lower cost of modifying inappropriate edges but also better controllability. Motivated by this finding, we present a simple edge orientation method aimed at producing more critical edge directions—utilizing only local information—which achieves near optimal controllability. Furthermore, we explore the effects of edge direction on the controllability of several real networks.
A Collaborative Environment for Customizable Complex Event Processing in Financial Information Systems

We present a framework to enable financial sector customers (such as banks, credit card companies, etc.) to build collaborative protection systems to guard against coordinated Internet-based attacks. The essential element of this framework is a new programming abstraction, called Semantic Room (SR), through which interested parties can process data and share information and computing resources in a trusted and controlled fashion. To this end, each SR is associated with a contract which, among other things, specifies its functionality (e.g., botnet and stealthy scan detection), QoS, and a set of rules governing its membership. We present the design of two event processing systems that we implemented to support the SR functionality in large distributed settings, and show how they can be used for detecting stealthy scans and man-in-the-middle attacks.
RNA Profiles of Porcine Embryos during Genome Activation Reveal Complex Metabolic Switch Sensitive to In Vitro Conditions

Fertilization is followed by complex changes in cytoplasmic composition and extensive chromatin reprogramming which results in the abundant activation of totipotent embryonic genome at embryonic genome activation (EGA). While chromatin reprogramming has been widely studied in several species, only a handful of reports characterize changing transcriptome profiles and resulting metabolic changes in cleavage stage embryos. The aims of the current study were to investigate RNA profiles of in vivo developed (ivv) and in vitro produced (ivt) porcine embryos before (2-cell stage) and after (late 4-cell stage) EGA and determine major metabolic changes that regulate totipotency. The period before EGA was dominated by transcripts responsible for cell cycle regulation, mitosis, RNA translation and processing (including ribosomal machinery), protein catabolism, and chromatin remodelling. Following EGA an increase in the abundance of transcripts involved in transcription, translation, DNA metabolism, histone and chromatin modification, as well as protein catabolism was detected. The further analysis of members of overlapping GO terms revealed that despite that comparable cellular processes are taking place before and after EGA (RNA splicing, protein catabolism), different metabolic pathways are involved. This strongly suggests that a complex metabolic switch accompanies EGA. In vitro conditions significantly altered RNA profiles before EGA, and the character of these changes indicates that they originate from oocyte and are imposed either before oocyte aspiration or during in vitro maturation. IVT embryos have altered content of apoptotic factors, cell cycle regulation factors and spindle components, and transcription factors, which all may contribute to reduced developmental competence of embryos produced in vitro. Overall, our data are in good accordance with previously published, genome-wide profiling data in other species. Moreover, comparison with mouse and human embryos showed striking overlap in functional annotation of transcripts during the EGA, suggesting conserved basic mechanisms regulating establishment of totipotency in mammalian development.
Use of 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyl Tetrazolium Bromide for Rapid Detection of Rifampin-ResistantMycobacterium tuberculosis

ABSTRACT We describe a test which uses the ability of viable cells to reduce 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) to detect resistance to a bactericidal drug, rifampin, in in vitro-cultured Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The assay shows a linear relationship between the number of viable bacteria and the ability to reduce MTT. Dead mycobacteria were unable to reduce MTT. Rifampin-sensitive M. bovis (BCG) and M. tuberculosis exposed to rifampin showed a rifampin concentration-dependent inhibition of the ability to reduce MTT, while the resistant strains were unaffected. The inhibition of MTT reduction after treatment with rifampin paralleled the reduction in the number of CFU. By using mixing experiments in which the population percentages of rifampin-sensitive and -resistant strains were varied, the assay could detect the presence of rifampin resistance in the mixture when at least 1% of the bacterial population was composed of drug-resistant strains. The assay is cheap, can be visually read, and requires less than 3 days to obtain susceptibility results. The total time required to obtain results, from the time sputum is received in the laboratory, is, in most cases, less than 4 to 5 weeks, which is the time required for primary culture of the bacteria. The MTT assay could, in combination with a test to detect resistance to isoniazid, be a cheap and rapid screening method for multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosisthat is affordable even by low-income countries where tuberculosis is a major public health problem.
THE ARIZONA RADIO OBSERVATORY 1 mm SPECTRAL SURVEY OF IRC +10216 AND VY CANIS MAJORIS (215–285 GHz)

A low noise (1σ rms ∼ 3 mK) 1 mm spectral survey (214.5–285.5 GHz) of the oxygen-rich supergiant VY Canis Majoris and the carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch star IRC +10216 has been conducted using the Arizona Radio Observatory's 10 m Submillimeter Telescope. Here the complete data set is presented. This study, carried out with a new ALMA-type receiver, marks the first continuous band scan of an O-rich circumstellar envelope, and the most sensitive survey to date of IRC +10216. In VY CMa, 130 distinct molecular lines were detected, 14 of which cannot be identified; in IRC +10216, 717 lines were observed, with 126 features remaining unidentified. In the 1 mm bands of VY CMa and IRC +10216, emission is present from 18 and 32 different chemical compounds, respectively, with 10 species common to both sources. Many narrow emission lines were observed in both circumstellar shells, arising from vibrationally excited molecules and from refractory-containing species. Line profiles in VY CMa also exhibit a variety of different shapes, caused by the complex, asymmetric outflow of this object. The survey highlights the fact that C-rich and O-rich circumstellar envelopes are chemically interesting, and both are sources of new interstellar molecules. The high number of unidentified lines and the unreliable rest frequencies for known species such as NaCN indicate the need for additional laboratory spectroscopy studies.
Junction detection based on line segments

We present a novel method for junction detection. A junction is defined as the point where several lines intersect. Given the line segments in the image, our junction detector consists of three steps. First, potential junctions are located from a small neighborhood around the intersection of each pair of lines. Second, our detector searches the branches connecting to each potential junction in a circular neighborhood according to its scale. Finally, the actual junctions are selected using a two-step method according to their connecting branches and their distance. We test our algorithm on a variety of images. The experiment results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can robustly detect junctions in different scenes.
Value‐at‐risk adjusted to the specificities of emerging markets

Purpose – The specific criteria to the microstructure of emerging markets such as low liquidity, very pronounced asymmetric information, and high volatility affect the risk market. Previous researchers have concluded that the calculation methods of the Value‐at‐Risk (VaR) adopted in developed markets are poorly adapted to the specific structure of emerging markets. The purpose of this paper is to see what these specific criteria of emerging markets are and whether these criteria have any impact on market risk and hedging capital. A second purpose it to see if practitioners should adjust the tools of risk measurement to the specifications of emerging markets and how the Value‐at‐Risk (VaR) should be adjusted.Design/methodology/approach – The paper asks what are the specific criteria to the microstructure of emerging markets? Should we adjust the tools of risk measurement to these specifications? How do we adjust the Value‐at‐Risk (VaR)? Findings – The paper demonstrated a market improvement in the performan.
Fusion of triangulated sonar plus infrared sensing for localization and mapping

We present a novel approach that incorporates information from sonar and infrared sensors mounted on a rotating platform to obtain feature-based stochastic maps of the environment. The purpose is to reliably determine the position of a robot and the features in its environment using low cost sensors. Line and corner features are extracted from the sonar sensors by means of triangulation from multiple vantage points, while line features are extracted from the infrared sensors in separate processes. RANSAC-based approaches are used to extract the features from sonar data and from infrared data. An extended Kalman filter is used to update the position of the robot and the features. The addition of infrared data to sonar data provides more accurate and compact maps.
Under Review as a Conference Paper at Iclr 2017 Using the Output Embedding to Improve Lan- Guage Models

We study the topmost weight matrix of neural network language models. We show that this matrix constitutes a valid word embedding. When training language models, we recommend tying the input embedding and this output embedding. We analyze the resulting update rules and show that the tied embedding evolves in a more similar way to the output embedding than to the input embedding in the untied model. We also offer a new method of regularizing the output embedding. Our methods lead to a significant reduction in perplexity, as we are able to show on a variety of neural network language models.