Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
UNDERSTANDING WHY VETERANS ARE RELUCTANT TO ACCESS HELP FOR ALCOHOL PROBLERMS : CONSIDERATIONS FOR NURSE EDUCATION Dr

Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. Single copies of full items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder. The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria. ac.uk/policies.html
A Probabilistic Framework for Multimodal Retrieval using Integrative Indian Buffet Process

We propose a multimodal retrieval procedure based on latent feature models. The procedure consists of a Bayesian nonparametric framework for learning underlying semantically meaningful abstract features in a multimodal dataset, a probabilistic retrieval model that allows cross-modal queries and an extension model for relevance feedback. Experiments on two multimodal datasets, PASCAL-Sentence and SUN-Attribute, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed retrieval procedure in comparison to the state-of-the-art algorithms for learning binary codes.
Design for hierarchical testability of RTL circuits obtained by behavioral synthesis

Most behavioral synthesis and design for testability techniques target subsequent gate-level sequential test generation, which is frequently incapable of handling complex controller/data path circuits with large data path bit-widths. Hierarchical testing attempts to counter the complexity of test generation by exploiting information from multiple levels of the design hierarchy. We present techniques that add minimal test hardware to the given register-transfer level (RTL) design obtained through behavioral synthesis in order to ensure that all the embedded modules in the circuit are hierarchically testable. An important by-product of our DFT procedure is a system-level test set that is guaranteed to deliver pre-computed module test sets to each module in the RTL circuit. This eliminates the need to apply gate-level sequential test generation to the controller/data path. We performed extensive experiments with several complex data path/controller circuits synthesized by two different high level synthesis systems which do not target testability.
Moderator effects of organizational tenure on the relationship between psychological climate and affective commitment

Purpose – Previous research is equivocal about: whether affective organizational commitment increases or decreases with increasing tenure; and which psychological climate variables correlated with affective commitment are important as tenure increases. The study's purpose is to examine whether the relationship between psychological climate and affective commitment is moderated by tenure.Design/methodology/approach – The total workforce of a public sector agency in Western Australia (n=1,117) was surveyed with a response rate of 53 per cent. The moderating role of tenure was examined for employees with less than one year's tenure (n=87), one to nine years (n=232) and more than nine years (n=258). Findings – Affective commitment was found to be stronger for employees with longer tenure; however, perceptions of psychological climate appear to be less positive for these employees. The finding of a moderation effect for tenure appeared to be attributable to the importance of supervisor involvement to affective .
Terpenoids from Zingiber officinale (Ginger) Induce Apoptosis in Endometrial Cancer Cells through the Activation of p53

Novel strategies are necessary to improve chemotherapy response in advanced and recurrent endometrial cancer. Here, we demonstrate that terpenoids present in the Steam Distilled Extract of Ginger (SDGE) are potent inhibitors of proliferation of endometrial cancer cells. SDGE, isolated from six different batches of ginger rhizomes, consistently inhibited proliferation of the endometrial cancer cell lines Ishikawa and ECC-1 at IC50 of 1.25 µg/ml. SDGE also enhanced the anti-proliferative effect of radiation and cisplatin. Decreased proliferation of Ishikawa and ECC-1 cells was a direct result of SDGE-induced apoptosis as demonstrated by FITC-Annexin V staining and expression of cleaved caspase 3. GC/MS analysis identified a total of 22 different terpenoid compounds in SDGE, with the isomers neral and geranial constituting 30–40%. Citral, a mixture of neral and geranial inhibited the proliferation of Ishikawa and ECC-1 cells at an IC50 10 µM (2.3 µg/ml). Phenolic compounds such as gingerol and shogaol were not detected in SDGE and 6-gingerol was a weaker inhibitor of the proliferation of the endometrial cancer cells. SDGE was more effective in inducing cancer cell death than citral, suggesting that other terpenes present in SDGE were also contributing to endometrial cancer cell death. SDGE treatment resulted in a rapid and strong increase in intracellular calcium and a 20–40% decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential. Ser-15 of p53 was phosphorylated after 15 min treatment of the cancer cells with SDGE. This increase in p53 was associated with 90% decrease in Bcl2 whereas no effect was observed on Bax. Inhibitor of p53, pifithrin-α, attenuated the anti-cancer effects of SDGE and apoptosis was also not observed in the p53neg SKOV-3 cells. Our studies demonstrate that terpenoids from SDGE mediate apoptosis by activating p53 and should be therefore be investigated as agents for the treatment of endometrial cancer.
Impact of Missing Value Imputation on Classification for DNA Microarray Gene Expression Data—A Model-Based Study

Many missing-value (MV) imputation methods have been developed for microarray data, but only a few studies have investigated the relationship between MV imputation and classification accuracy. Furthermore, these studies are problematic in fundamental steps such as MV generation and classifier error estimation. In this work, we carry out a model-based study that addresses some of the issues in previous studies. Six popular imputation algorithms, two feature selection methods, and three classification rules are considered. The results suggest that it is beneficial to apply MV imputation when the noise level is high, variance is small, or gene-cluster correlation is strong, under small to moderate MV rates. In these cases, if data quality metrics are available, then it may be helpful to consider the data point with poor quality as missing and apply one of the most robust imputation algorithms to estimate the true signal based on the available high-quality data points. However, at large MV rates, we conclude that imputation methods are not recommended. Regarding the MV rate, our results indicate the presence of a peaking phenomenon: performance of imputation methods actually improves initially as the MV rate increases, but after an optimum point, performance quickly deteriorates with increasing MV rates.
SINE RNA Induces Severe Developmental Defects in Arabidopsis thaliana and Interacts with HYL1 (DRB1), a Key Member of the DCL1 Complex

The proper temporal and spatial expression of genes during plant development is governed, in part, by the regulatory activities of various types of small RNAs produced by the different RNAi pathways. Here we report that transgenic Arabidopsis plants constitutively expressing the rapeseed SB1 SINE retroposon exhibit developmental defects resembling those observed in some RNAi mutants. We show that SB1 RNA interacts with HYL1 (DRB1), a double-stranded RNA-binding protein (dsRBP) that associates with the Dicer homologue DCL1 to produce microRNAs. RNase V1 protection assays mapped the binding site of HYL1 to a SB1 region that mimics the hairpin structure of microRNA precursors. We also show that HYL1, upon binding to RNA substrates, induces conformational changes that force single-stranded RNA regions to adopt a structured helix-like conformation. Xenopus laevis ADAR1, but not Arabidopsis DRB4, binds SB1 RNA in the same region as HYL1, suggesting that SINE RNAs bind only a subset of dsRBPs. Consistently, DCL4-DRB4-dependent miRNA accumulation was unchanged in SB1 transgenic Arabidopsis, whereas DCL1-HYL1-dependent miRNA and DCL1-HYL1-DCL4-DRB4-dependent tasiRNA accumulation was decreased. We propose that SINE RNA can modulate the activity of the RNAi pathways in plants and possibly in other eukaryotes.
Enhancing traffic analysis resistance for Tor hidden services with multipath routing

Hidden service is a very important feature of Tor, which supports server operators to provide a variety of Internet services without revealing their locations. A large number of users rely on Tor hidden services to protect their anonymity. Around 30,000 servers are running hidden services every day. However, hidden services are particularly vulnerable to traffic analysis attacks especially when an entry guard of a hidden server is compromised by an adversary. In this paper, we propose a multipath routing scheme for Tor hidden servers (mTorHS) to defend against traffic analysis attacks. By transferring data through multiple circuits between hidden server and a special server rendezvous point, mTorHS is able to exploit flow splitting and flow merging to eliminate inter-cell correlations of the original flow. Experiments on the Shadow simulator [1] show that our scheme can effectively mitigate the risk of traffic analysis even when the most robust watermarking technique is applied.
Dark tourism revisited: a supply/demand conceptualisation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advance the conceptualisation of dark tourism by evaluating both the supply‐side drivers for dark tourism development and the demand‐side motivations for visiting two dark heritage sites in Cyprus.Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory research approach was adopted whereby 12 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with supply‐side stakeholders and two focus groups were conducted with local and foreign visitors.Findings – Production and consumption of dark tourism is continuous and interrelated as demand appears to be supply‐driven and attraction‐based. Tourist interpretations of dark tourism are influenced by tourists' personal factors, the passage of “time” and the way the dark site is projected by the supply‐side. A refined marketing segmentation strategy is proposed taking into consideration the purpose of visit, the relevance of the dark heritage site to the tourist and the depth of the dark element.Originality/value – The study's focus is narrow but .
Fuzzy-valued and complex-valued time series analysis using multivariate and complex extensions to singular spectrum analysis

This paper provides evidence for the effectiveness of two extensions of Singular Spectrum Analysis, Complex SSA (CSSA) and Multivariate SSA (MSSA), when performing tasks such as smoothing, change point detection and forecasting of time series. CSSA is well suited for bivariate time series (usually displaying co-movements) and interval-valued time series. Functionally quasi-equivalent with CSSA in the bivariate case, MSSA comes, however, with its extra-potential for multivariate objects, such as fuzzy-valued time series (expressed in terms of α-levels). Our extension of the univariate SSA based change point detection algorithm to complex and multivariate cases is a novel approach. CSSA and MSSA are formally compared with each other and intensively tested in numerical experiments for smoothing, change point detection and forecasting with real-world data (a couple of foreign exchange rates with strong co-movements and a triangular-shaped fuzzy daily temperature time series).
Utilization of Interest Point Detectors in Content Based Image Retrieval

The paper deals with content based image retrieval in general and interest point detectors as one of p ossible methods used in object recognition. There are descr ibed current trends in narrowing down the so called “Semantic gap” and we propose a new solution how to achieve it. Furthermore, we evaluate three common interest point detectors with respect to the change of image brightness. Particularly, the impact of h istogram equalization, brightening and darkening of the imag e on the repeatability of the detectors is evaluate d.
Adaptive and Learning Skills in Juvenile Delinquents

The need for and the theoretical basis of a neuropsychological approach to juvenile delinquency are presented. In this investigation, 45 adjudicated delinquent boys and an equal number of controls were administered the complete Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Controls were carefully selected to eliminate the usual confounding due to socioeconomic factors. Results showed significant differences between delinquents and controls on nearly all Wechsler and Halstead-Reitan variables. Results are interpreted as evidence for a neuropsychological explanation of some delinquency. Further discussion postulates that delinquency can be the result of a life style adopted due to consistent failures caused by deficits in adaptive abilities which are basic to success in our environment.
Design and implementation of an enhanced security layer for Bluetooth

This paper proposes a new Enhanced Security Layer (ESL) for Bluetooth. The security level is increased by replacing the encryption with AES and adding in- tegrity protection. As ESL is placed on the top of the standard controller interface, it can be integrated into any Bluetooth implementation. A prototype implementation of ESL is presented. The security processing is implemented in hardware for high performance. The design consumes fewer resources and has higher throughput (214 Mb/s) than the standard design. The programming interface supports straightforward application development.
Glutamate Mediates Acute Glucose Transport Inhibition in Hippocampal Neurons

Although it is known that brain activity is fueled by glucose, the identity of the cell type that preferentially metabolizes the sugar remains elusive. To address this question, glucose uptake was studied simultaneously in cultured hippocampal neurons and neighboring astrocytes using a real-time assay based on confocal epifluorescence microscopy and fluorescent glucose analogs. Glutamate, although stimulating glucose transport in astrocytes, strongly inhibited glucose transport in neurons, producing in few seconds a 12-fold increase in the ratio of astrocytic-to-neuronal uptake rate. Neuronal transport inhibition was reversible on removal of the neurotransmitter and displayed an IC50 of 5 μm, suggesting its occurrence at physiological glutamate concentrations. The phenomenon was abolished by CNQX and mimicked by AMPA, demonstrating a role for the cognate subset of ionotropic glutamate receptors. Transport inhibition required extracellular sodium and calcium and was mimicked by veratridine but not by membrane depolarization with high K+ or by calcium overloading with ionomycin. Therefore, glutamate inhibits glucose transport via AMPA receptor-mediated sodium entry, whereas calcium entry plays a permissive role. This phenomenon suggests that glutamate redistributes glucose toward astrocytes and away from neurons and represents a novel molecular mechanism that may be important for functional imaging of the brain using positron emission tomography.
IBI Cancellation Based on Limited Channel Feedback for OFDM Systems over Channels with Large Delay Spreads

While cyclic prefix (CP) is no larger than the delay span of wireless channels in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system, inter-block interference (IBI) and inter-carrier interference (ICI) will occur and the performance of the system will be deteriorated. If OFDM is designed with long enough CP, the efficiency of OFDM modulation is significantly reduced. To effectively mitigate interference over channel with large delay spreads, pre-processing approaches at transmitters based on full channel state information (CSI) have been proposed. However, feeding full CSI back will occupy significant bandwidth and is impractical sometimes. Therefore, pre-processing optimization exploiting limited CSI feedback is investigated in this paper. An pre-processing optimization approaches for IBI and ICI mitigation has been developed and tested. Computer simulation result shows that the proposed optimization algorithm can effectively cancel IBI and ICI over channels with large delay spreads and significantly improve the performance for OFDM systems.
The Effectiveness of DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency for Predicting Reading Comprehension of High- and Low-Income Students

Correlations and sequential analyses between performance on Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills–Oral Reading Fluency (DORF) and reading achievement on the Stanford Achievement Test–Tenth Edition (SAT-10) during 2003–2004 were examined for high- and low-income children. Participants were 215 third graders, 112 above and 103 below proficiency benchmarks for DORF. For below benchmark students, DORF scores strongly predicted SAT-10 comprehension. For above benchmark students (a) DORF scores predicted comprehension for high- but not low-income students; (b) statistically significant differences in reading fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary existed between high- and low-income students; (c) reading vocabulary equally predicted comprehension for students of differing economic backgrounds; and (d) reading fluency did not predict comprehension for low-income students beyond what was accounted for by vocabulary.
Introduction of metadata-request queue with immediate response for I/O path optimizations on iSCSI-based storage subsystem

Software delays have become the bottleneck to the overall storage system. Particularly, in iSCSI-based storage system, more disks in the target-end system are configured to make up a target node, but requests initiated by the initiator-end system will go through the traditional single I/O path before they are re-requested by the target-end system, which cannot exploit the serviceability of the target multi-disks adequately. This paper introduces the metadata-request queue to handle metadata I/O requests and scheduling differs from the request queue that exists in the initiator-end system of iSCSI-based storage system, given the different characteristics of metadata and data I/O requests. Instead of dispatching all requests exclusively to the single queue and unified scheduling, a new metadata-request queue is introduced for every logical device and is implemented with immediate response mode to eliminate waiting delays, considering the characteristics of small size, high frequency and scattered accesses that require for real-time response. Data requests in the data-request queue are delivered to the scheduling queue in an I/O waiting state, which is known as plugged-unplugged mechanism. Evaluation of our system using Postmarks and IOMeter shows 9%-19% I/O performance improvement.
Systems Neuroscience

Whether experience through the non-deprived eye can facilitate effects of MD in infancy, before the CP, is not known. Our previous behavioral studies in rodents have found that MD on its own in infancy does not affect visual acuity (measured in a visual discrimination task; Prusky et al., 2000) or visuomotor function (measured with optokinetic tracking, OKT; unpublished results). However, we were motivated by two lines of experimental evidence in rodents to investigate whether visuomotor experience would drive interocu-lar plasticity of vision in infancy. First, we have reported (Prusky et al., 2008) that binocular visuomotor experience in rats from eye-opening can stimulate visual cortex-dependent enhancement of OKT responses and visual motion perception. This revealed that visual experience on its own could enable plasticity of spatial visual function before the effects of visual deprivation become evident in juvenile life. Second, mouse cortical imaging (Smith and Trachtenberg, 2007) and cellular activation (Tagawa et al., 2005) studies have reported atypical forms of binocular competition in the infant visual cortex, in which MD disrupts the refinement of retinotopy. Taken together, these results suggest that the quality of visual experience in infancy can affect the development of retin-otopic fidelity necessary for spatial visual function. In the present study, we thus investigated whether stimulating visuomotor experience through the non-deprived eye during MD in infancy would be capable of modifying spatial visual behavior. As previously, we utilized the quantification of spatial frequency (SF) and contrast thresholds for OKT in a virtual optokinetic system (Prusky et al., 2004; Douglas et al., 2005) as a means to expose rats to a transient, novel visuomotor experience that is tied to a
Inferring Functional Brain States Using Temporal Evolution of Regularized Classifiers

We present a framework for inferring functional brain state from electrophysiological (MEG or EEG) brain signals. Our approach is adapted to the needs of functional brain imaging rather than EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI). This choice leads to a different set of requirements, in particular to the demand for more robust inference methods and more sophisticated model validation techniques. We approach the problem from a machine learning perspective, by constructing a classifier from a set of labeled signal examples. We propose a framework that focuses on temporal evolution of regularized classifiers, with cross-validation for optimal regularization parameter at each time frame. We demonstrate the inference obtained by this method on MEG data recorded from 10 subjects in a simple visual classification experiment, and provide comparison to the classical nonregularized approach.
Plasmid CDS5 Influences Infectivity and Virulence in a Mouse Model of Chlamydia trachomatis Urogenital Infection

ABSTRACT The native plasmid of both Chlamydia muridarum and Chlamydia trachomatis has been shown to control virulence and infectivity in mice and in lower primates. We recently described the development of a plasmid-based genetic transformation protocol for Chlamydia trachomatis that for the first time provides a platform for the molecular dissection of the function of the chlamydial plasmid and its individual genes or coding sequences (CDS). In the present study, we transformed a plasmid-free lymphogranuloma venereum isolate of C. trachomatis, serovar L2, with either the original shuttle vector (pGFP::SW2) or a derivative of pGFP::SW2 carrying a deletion of the plasmid CDS5 gene (pCDS5KO). Female mice were inoculated with these strains either intravaginally or transcervically. We found that transformation of the plasmid-free isolate with the intact pGFP::SW2 vector significantly enhanced infectivity and induction of host inflammatory responses compared to the plasmid-free parental isolate. Transformation with pCDS5KO resulted in infection courses and inflammatory responses not significantly different from those observed in mice infected with the plasmid-free isolate. These results indicate a critical role of plasmid CDS5 in in vivo fitness and in induction of inflammatory responses. To our knowledge, these are the first in vivo observations ascribing infectivity and virulence to a specific plasmid gene.