Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Laser injury promotes migration and integration of retinal progenitor cells into host retina

Purpose The migration and integration of grafted cells into diseased host tissue remains a critical challenge, particularly in the field of retinal progenitor cell (RPC) transplantation. It seems that natural physical barriers at the outer retina can impede the migration of grafted RPCs into the host retina. The purpose of this study was to investigate the integration and differentiation of murine RPCs transplanted into the subretinal space of mice with laser-induced damage to the outer retina. Methods RPCs were harvested from the neural retinas of postnatal day 1 enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) mice. Retinal photocoagulation was performed using a diode laser. Two µl containing ~6×105 expanded RPCs in suspension were injected into the subretinal space of the recipient animals following laser treatment. Cell morphometry was performed to assess the integration of donor cells. Immunohistochemistry and western blot were performed on recipient retinas. Results Three weeks after transplantation, 1,158±320 cells per eye had migrated into the recipient outer nuclear layer (ONL). Most of these cells resided in the ONL around the retinal laser lesion. A subpopulation of these cells developed morphological features reminiscent of mature photoreceptors, expressed photoreceptor specific proteins including synaptic protein, and appeared to form synaptic connections with bipolar neurons. Retinal photocoagulation resulted in a significantly increased expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), MMP-9, and cluster differentiation 44 (CD44s), and a decreased expression of neurocan. Conclusions Transplanted RPCs migrate and integrate into the laser-injured ONL where they differentiate into photoreceptors with morphological features reminiscent of mature photoreceptors, express synaptic protein, and appear to form synaptic connections with retinal bipolar neurons. Following retinal photocoagulation, the enhanced level of integration of grafted RPCs is partially associated with increased expression of MMP-2 and, to a lesser extent, MMP-9, together with decreased levels of inhibitory molecules.
Oncocytoma of an intraoral minor salivary gland: report of a case and review of literature.

Oncocytoma is a rare benign salivary gland tumor composed of oncocytes, which are large, epithelial cells with a granular eosinophilic cytoplasm and small, centrally located nuclei.1 The tumor is also known by the more descriptive and less confusing terms of oxyphilic adenoma2 and oxyphilic granular-cell adenoma.3 The following characteristics have been identified in salivary gland oncocytes: 1) appearance after salivary gland maturity, 2) high level of oxidative activity, 3) cells usually contain a large number of mitochondria, and 4) absence of specialized features of normal cells.4 Oncocytomas account for less than 3% of all salivary gland tumors, occurring primarily in the parotid gland (80% to 90%) of persons older than 50 years of age; only a small percentage are found in the minor salivary glands of the palate; tonsillar fossa; larynx; nasal cavity, including the maxillary sinuses; and the lacrimal gland.1,4-6 In this report, a case of oncocytoma arising in an intraoral minor salivary gland in the buccal mucosa is described, together with a review of the English and Japanese literature.
WSPS: A Workload Segmented Parallel Simulation Methodology to Accelerate Detailed Simulation

Software architecture simulators are indispensable tools in modern processor design. According to the granularity of simulation , they can be classified into the fast functional simulation and the slow detailed one. The detailed simulator takes far longer time than the functional simulator when simulating the same workload. Based on the duration difference of them, we propose a Workload Segmented Parallel Simulation (WSPS) methodology to accelerate the detailed simulation by simulating different segments of the workload concurrently. The results on SPEC2Kint benchmarks show that, when programs are divided into 64 segments, the speedup is about 11.5, with the relative error of CPI and L1 cache hit-rate remaining lower than 1.5% and 0.01%, respectively. Also, the analysis indicates that WSPS-based simulation can achieve even much higher speedup when using more complicated simulation models, and its duration can approach that of the functional simulation with the accuracy remaining acceptable if the workload size is large enough.
Fibrinolytic treatment for acute ischaemic stroke

Ischaemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the US. At present, intravenous administration of tissue plasminogen activator within 3 h of symptom onset is the only proven effective treatment for patients with acute ischaemic stroke. Unfortunately, most treated patients do not make a functional recovery and very few patients presenting with acute stroke qualify for intravenous tissue plasminogen activator therapy. The focus of current research is to extend the therapeutic window for intervention beyond 3 h, and to improve the outcome of treated patients. The purpose of the present paper is to describe the current state of affairs for intravenous plasminogen activators, and to review recently published research. Agents and strategies under investigation include the intra-arterial delivery of plasminogen activators or antiplatelet agents, as well as combined intravenous/intra-arterial protocols.
Are Virtual Machine Monitors Microkernels Done Right?

Rob Pike has irreverently suggested that “systems software research is irrelevant”, implying that academic systems research has negligible impact outside the university. In Section 4, we claim that VMMs provide a platform on which innovative systems research ideas can be developed and deployed. We believe that providing a common framework for hosting novel systems will increase the penetration and relevance of systems research.
New Methods to Improve Large-Scale Microscopy Image Analysis with Prior Knowledge and Uncertainty

Multidimensional imaging techniques provide powerful ways to examine various kinds of scientific questions. The routinely produced datasets in the terabyte-range, however, can hardly be analyzed manually and require an extensive use of automated image analysis. The present thesis introduces a new concept for the estimation and propagation of uncertainty involved in image analysis operators and new segmentation algorithms that are suitable for terabyte-scale analyses of 3D+t microscopy images.
Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Genomes Are Associated with ND10 Nuclear Substructures in Quiescently Infected Human Fibroblasts

ABSTRACT Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) genomes become associated with structures related to cellular nuclear substructures known as ND10 or promyelocytic leukemia nuclear bodies during the early stages of lytic infection. This paper describes the relationship between HSV-1 genomes and ND10 in human fibroblasts that maintain the viral genomes in a quiescent state. We report that quiescent HSV-1 genomes detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) are associated with enlarged ND10-like structures, frequently such that the FISH-defined viral foci are apparently enveloped within a sphere of PML and other ND10 proteins. The number of FISH viral foci in each quiescently infected cell is concordant with the input multiplicity of infection, with each structure containing no more than a small number of viral genomes. A proportion of the enlarged ND10-like foci in quiescently infected cells contain accumulations of the heterochromatin protein HP1 but not other common markers of heterochromatin such as histone H3 di- or trimethylated on lysine residue 9. Many of the virally induced enlarged ND10-like structures also contain concentrations of conjugated ubiquitin. Quiescent infections can be established in cells that are highly depleted for PML. However, during the initial stages of establishment of a quiescent infection in such cells, other ND10 proteins (Sp100, hDaxx, and ATRX) are recruited into virally induced foci that are likely to be associated with HSV-1 genomes. These observations illustrate that the intimate connections between HSV-1 genomes and ND10 that occur during lytic infection also extend to quiescent infections.
The Shigella T3SS needle transmits a signal for MxiC release, which controls secretion of effectors

Type III secretion systems (T3SSs) are key determinants of virulence in many Gram‐negative bacteria, including animal and plant pathogens. They inject ‘effector’ proteins through a ‘needle’ protruding from the bacterial surface directly into eukaryotic cells after assembly of a ‘translocator’ pore in the host plasma membrane. Secretion is a tightly regulated process, which is blocked until physical contact with a host cell takes place. Host cell sensing occurs through a distal needle ‘tip complex’ and translocators are secreted before effectors. MxiC, a Shigella T3SS substrate, prevents premature effector secretion. Here, we examine how the different parts of T3SSs work together to allow orderly secretion. We show that T3SS assembly and needle tip composition are not altered in an mxiC mutant. We find that MxiC not only represses effector secretion but that it is also required for translocator release. We provide genetic evidence that MxiC acts downstream of the tip complex and then the needle during secretion activation. Finally, we show that the needle controls MxiC release. Therefore, for the first time, our data allow us to propose a model of secretion activation that goes from the tip complex to cytoplasmic MxiC via the needle.
A Flocking-Based Paradigm for Hierarchical Cyber-Physical Smart Grid Modeling and Control

It is well known that information will play an important role in enhancing emerging smart grid system operation. Therefore, questions naturally arise as to when the increased data-dependence may be considered excessive. Two practical considerations emerge: 1) communications and computational overhead, in which redundant and irrelevant information acquisition and use results in heavy computational burden with limited performance return; and 2) increasing risks of power system disruption due to information delay from communication congestion or cyber attack. One strategy to improve smart grid resilience is to determine the appropriate degree of dependence on cyber information to balance performance with overhead and risk. In this paper, we present a hierarchical cyber-physical multiagent model of smart grid system operation based on flocking theory in the context of the transient stability problem. Through this model, we study strategies that harness a selective degree of cyber technology by leveraging physical couplings. Our formulation enables the identification of large-scale distributed control strategies for robust and resilient power grid operation. We demonstrate the potential performance improvements of our findings on the New England 39-bus power system for case studies involving a variety of system faults and communication delays.
Recognition of Hand-Drawn Graphs Using Digital-Geometric Techniques

A novel algorithm to recognize hand-drawn graphs is proposed. The algorithm uses properties of digital-geometric straightness combined with a new idea of Farey sequence, followed by geometric refinement, in order to speed up the recognition of graph edges. In the next phase, the nodes of the graph — which, being hand-drawn, are very grossly circular — are recognized using the annular regions containing the vertices of their corresponding isothetic covers. Results of the two phases are finally compiled using interval search to output the adjacency list of the graph. The problems of jaggedness, waviness, and similar unforeseen aberrations usually present in a hand-drawn graph are well-tackled by the adopted techniques, as verified by our experimentation on various hand-drawn graphs. Some results have been given in this paper to show the usability and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Automatic reconstruction of wall features under clutter and occlusion

: In this paper, a new method to extract wall openings (windows and doors) in interior scenes from point clouds under cluttered and occluded environments is presented. For each wall surface or a room represented by a bounding polyhedron and its 3D scan points, our method constructs a planar cell complex representation, which is used for the wall features segmentation using a graph-cut method. We evaluate our results of the proposed approach on real-world 3D scans of indoor environments and demonstrate its validity. Abstract In this paper, a new method to extract wall openings (windows and doors) in interior scenes from point clouds under cluttered and occluded environments is presented. For each wall surface or a room represented by a bounding polyhedron and its 3D scan points, our method constructs a planar cell complex representation, which is used for the wall features segmentation using a graph-cut method. We evaluate our results of the proposed approach on real-world 3D scans of indoor environments and demonstrate its validity.
Hierarchical surrogate modeling for illumination algorithms

Evolutionary illumination is a recent technique that allows producing many diverse, optimal solutions in a map of manually defined features. To support the large amount of objective function evaluations, surrogate model assistance was recently introduced. Illumination models need to represent many more, diverse optimal regions than classical surrogate models. In this PhD thesis, we propose to decompose the sample set, decreasing model complexity, by hierarchically segmenting the training set according to their coordinates in feature space. An ensemble of diverse models can then be trained to serve as a surrogate to illumination.
Software Piracy Forensics: Exploiting Nonautomated and Judiciary-Friendly Techniques

ABSTRACT Software piracy is widespread because it is simple and inexpensive to copy software programs. The arbitration of software piracy and the interpretation of copyright laws are often grey areas. When called upon to arbitrate in matters of piracy, the judicial system solicits the support of technical experts, who then are typically required to substantiate issues arising from patent and copyright infringements, trade secret misappropriation, and software piracy. Such experts have so far been largely relying on their own experiential and intuitive expertise. This article is an attempt to show how a dedicated expert can supplement such intuitive expertise with objective empirical evidence based on various elements that can be found in the “original” and the “pirated” source codes of the software, to a judicially convincing level. A few formats for presenting the source code comparison results are proposed here, which are convenient to technical experts as well as judicial officers. These formats would .
Optimal synthesis of QCA logic circuit eliminating wire-crossings

Wire-crossing plays a pivotal role toward the progress of non-complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology. Hefty amount of wire-crossings leads to many complications including cross-talk, colossal power dissipation and high cost function which in turn makes the fabrication difficult. In this regard, this work presents an efficient method for circuit implementation based on majority logic in quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) with optimum wire-crossing. The authors' proposed method is able to eliminate wire-crossing by the generation and routing of proper intermediate function in the circuit utilising the orientation of the input variable. An algorithm to minimise the number of wire-crossing is also reported. Experimental results establish the effectiveness of the proposed method in circuit level also. Finally, a concrete framework to design a cost-effective logic circuit in QCA ensuring the least/optimum wire-crossing is established.
Enhancing the performance of multi-modality ontology semantic image retrieval using object properties filter

Semantic technology such as ontology provides the possible approach to narrow down the semantic gap issue in image retrieval between low-level visual features and high-level human semantic.The semantic gap occurs when there is a disagreement between the information that is extracted from visual data and the text description.In this paper, we applied ontology to bridge the semantic gap by developing a prototype multi-modality ontology image retrieval with the enhancement of retrieval mechanism by using the object properties filter.The results demonstrated that, based on precision measurement, our proposed approach delivered better results compared to the approach without using object properties filter.
The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Generating questions from OpenLearn study units Conference Item

OpenLearn is a large online educational repository which can be used as a resource for developing and testing Question Generation (QG) systems. OpenLearn is described in detail and its advantages are discussed. To illustrate the use of OpenLearn for QG, a QG system, Ceist , is presented which generates questions from OpenLearn content. Ceist is also offered as a case study for how existing NLP tools can be used to build a QG system, and should provide useful information to those considering the development of their own QG system.
Evaluation of NoSQL and Array Databases for Scientific Applications

Scientific users are increasingly considering the use of NoSQL and array databases for storing metadata and data. These databases offer various advantages including support for realtime changing schema and performance optimizations for specific operations. However, there is a limited understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of these databases for scientific applications. In this paper, we present an evaluation using standard benchmarks (Yahoo! Cloud Serving Benchmark) and two scientific data sets. Our results indicate that careful understanding of the distribution of the workload as well as aspects such as client side tools and parameters need to be considered to get the optimal performance from these databases.
"We Can't Help if We Don't Know": School Psychologists' Awareness of and Support to Children with Parents Serving in the Military

Estimates suggest that up to two million children have had a parent deployed at least once over the past decade. Despite the length of the war, and multiple deployments, little is known about how school psychologists support military children before during and after deployment. This study investigated how school psychologists who are members of the New York Association of School Psychologists support children who have or have had a parent deployed in support of the Overseas Contingency Operation. Results suggest that they have limited awareness when children have a parent deployed yet 43% reported having provided counseling to, consultation and or referral for at least one child with a deployed parent. The most common reasons for working with these children were anxiety, academic concerns, and disruptive behaviors. School psychologists with an immediate family member who was serving or had served in the military participated in more workshops, used more methods to identify student needs, and identified more diverse reasons for working with children. They rely on other professionals and the professional associations to inform their work. These findings must be interpreted with caution in part due to the low response rate (12.7%). It is recommended that University programs and school psychology associations actively increase the awareness of the potential role of school psychologists in supporting military children. As mental health professionals they are in a position to offer support groups and counseling to facilitate effective problem solving, self-regulation and coping skills all of which promote resilience and ease the transitions related to military deployment. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Education (EdD) Department Executive Leadership First Supervisor Michael Wischnowski Second Supervisor Timothy Madigan Subject Categories Education This dissertation is available at Fisher Digital Publications: http://fisherpub.sjfc. edu/education_etd/20 "We Can't Help if We Don't Know": School Psychologists' Awareness of and Support to Children with Parents Serving in the Military By
Load Balancing Routing with Bounded Stretch

Routing in wireless networks has been heavily studied in the last decade. Many routing protocols are based on classic shortest path algorithms. However, shortest path-based routing protocols suffer from uneven load distribution in the network, such as crowed center effect where the center nodes have more load than the nodes in the periphery. Aiming to balance the load, we propose a novel routing method, called Circular Sailing Routing (CSR), which can distribute the traffic more evenly in the network. The proposed method first maps the network onto a sphere via a simple stereographic projection, and then the route decision is made by a newly defined "circular distance" on the sphere instead of the Euclidean distance in the plane. We theoretically prove that for a network, the distance traveled by the packets using CSR is no more than a small constant factor of the minimum (the distance of the shortest path). We also extend CSR to a localized version, Localized CSR, by modifying greedy routing without any additional communication overhead. In addition, we investigate how to design CSR routing for 3D networks. For all proposed methods, we conduct extensive simulations to study their performances and compare them with global shortest path routing or greedy routing in 2D and 3D wireless networks.
Intergenerational effects of early life nutrition: Maternal leg length predicts offspring placental weight and birth weight among women in rural Luzon, Philippines

Leg length is the component of stature most sensitive to early life nutrition; as such, it provides an opportunity to retrospectively evaluate the relationship between a woman's infancy and early childhood nutrition and offspring birth weight (BW). Here we explore the relationship between maternal leg length and offspring BW in a rural Philippine community, while also investigating the potential role of placental size as a pathway.
Aerobic Training Modulates the Effects of Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress on PON1 Activity: A Preliminary Study

The aim of the study was to compare the effect of maximal exercise (ME) on paraoxonase (PON) and arylesterase (ARE) activity depending on lifestyle in respect to physical activity. The study was performed on 46 young men divided into two groups: sedentary (S) and physically active (PA). All participants performed ME on a treadmill. PON1 activities, FRAP, uric acid, bilirubin, TBARS, and lipid profile were determined in their blood before, at the bout of, and after ME. No significant differences in PON1 activities were found between S and PA subjects at baseline. Nearly all biochemicals increased at ME in both groups. Both PON and ARE activity increased at the bout of ME in PA subjects and only ARE activity in S subjects. ARE/HDL-C ratio increased at the bout of ME in PA and S subjects. The difference in PON1 activity response to ME between study groups may be a result of adaptation of PA subjects to regular physical activity. We suggest that PON1 activity may be a marker of antioxidant protection at ME and an indicator of adaptation to exercise.