Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Substance P Depolarizes Lamprey Spinal Cord Neurons by Inhibiting Background Potassium Channels

Substance P is endogenously released in the adult lamprey spinal cord and accelerates the burst frequency of fictive locomotion. This is achieved by multiple effects on interneurons and motoneurons, including an attenuation of calcium currents, potentiation of NMDA currents and reduction of the reciprocal inhibition. While substance P also depolarizes spinal cord neurons, the underlying mechanism has not been resolved. Here we show that effects of substance P on background K+ channels are the main source for this depolarization. Hyperpolarizing steps induced inward currents during whole-cell voltage clamp that were reduced by substance P. These background K+ channels are pH sensitive and are selectively blocked by anandamide and AVE1231. These blockers counteracted the effect of substance P on these channels and the resting membrane potential depolarization in spinal cord neurons. Thus, we have shown now that substance P inhibits background K+ channels that in turn induce depolarization, which is likely to contribute to the frequency increase observed with substance P during fictive locomotion.
Anisotropic compressive response of Stone–Thrower–Wales defects in graphene: A molecular dynamics study

The mechanical properties of graphene sheet can be tailored with the help of topological defects. In this research article, the effects of Stone–Thrower–Wales (STW) defects on the mechanical properties of graphene sheet was investigated with the help of molecular dynamics based simulations. Authors has made an attempt to analyse the stress field developed in and around the vicinity of defect due to bond reorientation and further systematic evaluation has been carried out to study the effect of these stress fields against the applied axial compressive load. The results obtained with the pristine graphene were made to compare with the available open literature and the results were reported to be in good agreement with theoretical and experimental data. It was predicted that graphene with STW defect cannot able to bear compressive strength in zigzag direction, whereas on the other hand it was predicted that graphene sheet containing STW defect can bear higher compressive load in armchair direction, which shows an anisotropic response of STW defects in graphene. From the obtained results it can be observed that orientation of STW defects and the loading direction plays an important role to alter the strength of graphene under axial compression.
Resveratrol improves myocardial ischemia and ischemic heart failure in mice by antagonizing the detrimental effects of fractalkine*

Objectives:To test the hypothesis that resveratrol would improve cardiac remodeling by inhibiting the detrimental effects of fractalkine. We previously reported that fractalkine exacerbates heart failure. Furthermore, this study sought to determine whether resveratrol targets fractalkine to improve myocardial ischemia and cardiac remodeling. Design:Randomized and controlled laboratory investigation. Setting:Research laboratory. Subjects:Neonatal rat cardiac cells and C57BL/6 mice. Interventions:Cardiac cells were treated with recombinant mouse soluble fractalkine for 24 hrs or pretreated with 25 µM resveratrol. Cardiomyocytes were exposed to anoxia/reoxygenation, H2O2, or pretreatment with resveratrol. Ex vivo murine hearts were perfusioned with soluble fractalkine or pretreated with resveratrol after global ischemia. Mice were subjected to the left coronary artery ligation to induce myocardial infarction and randomized to treatment with resveratrol or vehicle alone for 42 days. Measurements and Main Results:In a murine myocardial infarction model, we found that resveratrol increased survival and delayed the progression of cardiac remodeling evaluated by serial echocardiography. At 6 wks, the heart weight/body weight ratio, lung weight/body weight ratio, and old infarct size were significantly smaller in resveratrol-treated mice than in untreated myocardial infarction mice. In cultures of neonatal rat cells, exposure to soluble fractalkine increased the atrial natriuretic peptide expression by cardiomyocytes, matrix metalloproteinase-9 and procollagen expression by fibroblasts, and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression by microvascular endothelial cells, while it decreased autophagy in cardiomyocytes. All these effects were blocked by coculture with resveratrol. The methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay showed that soluble fractalkine reduced the viability of cultured cardiomyocytes during exposure to anoxia/reoxygenation or H2O2, while pretreatment with resveratrol blocked this effect. Perfusion of ex vivo murine hearts with soluble fractalkine after global ischemia led to an increase of infarct size, which was prevented by pretreatment with resveratrol. Conclusion:Resveratrol alleviates the deleterious effects of fractalkine on myocardial ischemia and thus reduces subsequent cardiac remodeling.
Deep Feed-Forward Sequential Memory Networks for Speech Synthesis

The Bidirectional LSTM (BLSTM) RNN based speech synthesis system is among the best parametric Text-to-Speech (TTS) systems in terms of the naturalness of generated speech, especially the naturalness in prosody. However, the model complexity and inference cost of BLSTM prevents its usage in many runtime applications. Meanwhile, Deep Feed-forward Sequential Memory Networks (DFSMN) has shown its consistent out-performance over BLSTM in both word error rate (WER) and the runtime computation cost in speech recognition tasks. Since speech synthesis also requires to model long-term dependencies compared to speech recognition, in this paper, we investigate the Deep-FSMN (DFSMN) in speech synthesis. Both objective and subjective experiments show that, compared with BLSTM TTS method, the DFSMN system can generate synthesized speech with comparable speech quality while drastically reduce model complexity and speech generation time.
Otolith chemistry indicates population structuring by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

Large-scale transport of seawater in ocean currents may generate spatially complex population structure through the advection of life stages of marine fish species. To test this, we compared the chemistry of otolith nuclei from Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), presently managed as spatially discrete populations corresponding to fishing management areas along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which transports water eastward around the Southern Ocean. The chemistry of otolith nuclei, laid down during early life, differed significantly between fishing areas off South America and the Antarctic and between some Antarctic areas. However, we found significant discrepan- cies from expectation for a population structure corresponding to fishing areas. We also found evidence of four groups of fish with different early life chemistry: one associated with South America and three Antarctic groups showing mix- ing consistent with advective transport along the ACC. These results suggest that toothfish populations are structured by their physical environment; population abundance and persistence may rely on a restricted number of breeding members with access to spawning grounds, whereas fisheries may rely substantially on nonbreeding vagrants trans- ported from fishing areas upstream. Resume : Le transport a grande echelle de l'eau de mer par les courants oceaniques peut produire des structures de population complexes par advection des differents stades vitaux des especes de poissons marins. Pour tester cet enonce, nous avons compare la chimie des noyaux des otolithes chez la legine australe (Dissostichus eleginoides), une espece qui est actuellement geree comme etant formee de populations discontinues dans l'espace et correspondant aux unites de gestion de la peche le long du courant circumpolaire antarctique (ACC) qui transporte l'eau vers l'est dans l'Ocean austral. La chimie des noyaux des otolithes, determinee tot dans le cycle biologique, differe significativement dans les zones de peche au large de l'Amerique du Sud et dans celles de l'Antarctique, ainsi que dans certaines zones de l'Antarctique. Nous trouvons cependant d'importantes discordances par rapport a la structure de population a laquelle on pourrait s'attendre si celle-ci etait reliee aux zones de peche; il y a des indications de l'existence de quatre groupes de poissons avec une chimie differente au cours des premiers stades, un associe a l'Amerique du Sud et trois groupes antarctiques qui presentent des melanges compatibles avec le transport advectif le long de ACC. Ces resultats indiquent que les populations de legines sont structurees par leur environnement physique; l'abondance et la persistance des po- pulations doit peut-etre alors dependre d'un petit nombre de reproducteurs qui ont acces aux lieux de reproduction, alors que la peche depend de maniere importante de poissons errants non reproducteurs qui sont transportes dans le courant a partir des zones de peche.
The Shed-Shape Characteristic

Movements of the front shed boundary impose constraints on filling-insertion tim ings. These movements, which entail changes in shed shape, are determined by sley drive and shedding mechanism characteristics and by the shed-change timing. Shed shape can be specified by two angles whose variations with timing define a characteristic that depicts the form of the whole sequence of shed shapes occurring during the loom cycle. Differences between such sequences of shed shapes are shown particularly clearly by this characteristic. The main forms of the shed-shape sequence, showing the effects of both sley and shedding dwells and of shed-change timings, are illustrated. Examples of shed-shape-dependent constraints on timings are considered in conjunction with relevant shed-shape characteristics, and their implications are discussed.
Latent Vector Weighting for Word Meaning in Context

This paper presents a novel method for the computation of word meaning in context. We make use of a factorization model in which words, together with their window-based context words and their dependency relations, are linked to latent dimensions. The factorization model allows us to determine which dimensions are important for a particular context, and adapt the dependency-based feature vector of the word accordingly. The evaluation on a lexical substitution task -- carried out for both English and French -- indicates that our approach is able to reach better results than state-of-the-art methods in lexical substitution, while at the same time providing more accurate meaning representations.
Earthmover Resilience and Testing in Ordered Structures

One of the main challenges in property testing is to characterize those properties that are testable with a constant number of queries. For unordered structures such as graphs and hypergraphs this task has been mostly settled. However, for ordered structures such as strings, images, and ordered graphs, the characterization problem seems very difficult in general. In this paper, we identify a wide class of properties of ordered structures - the earthmover resilient (ER) properties - and show that the "good behavior" of such properties allows us to obtain general testability results that are similar to (and more general than) those of unordered graphs. A property P is ER if, roughly speaking, slight changes in the order of the elements in an object satisfying P cannot make this object far from P. The class of ER properties includes, e.g., all unordered graph properties, many natural visual properties of images, such as convexity, and all hereditary properties of ordered graphs and images. A special case of our results implies, building on a recent result of Alon and the authors, that the distance of a given image or ordered graph from any hereditary property can be estimated (with good probability) up to a constant additive error, using a constant number of queries.
Toward Process Modeling in Creative Domains

Process modeling has emerged as a widely accepted approach in order to reduce organizational complexity in organizations. Process models are used for different purposes, including process analysis and redesign, risk management, and the implementation of software systems. However, the majority of existent approaches is restricted to processes that are wellstructured and predictable. Highly creative environments, such as the film industry or RD the discussion is grounded in a theory that explains the nature of processes that rely on creativity.
Mediating the Maltreatment–Delinquency Relationship: The Role of Triad Gang Membership

The primary aim of this article is to examine the role of triad affiliation in mediating the relationship between child maltreatment (neglect, punishment, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse) and delinquency among active young gang members in Hong Kong. A sample of 177 gang members aged 12 to 24 was recruited to complete a questionnaire with the assistance of a youth outreach social work team. Neglect was identified as the most common form of maltreatment, followed by emotional abuse, punishment, and sexual abuse. Mediation analyses confirmed that triad affiliation acts as a mediating variable in the child maltreatment–delinquency relationship, except in cases of sexual abuse. Only the relationship between punishment and delinquency was found to be fully mediated by triad affiliation; partial mediation effects were found for neglect and emotional abuse. Recommendations for child protection and youth workers are provided.
Circulation and Behavior Controls on Dispersal of Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Larvae in Delaware Bay

The relative contributions of the spring-neap tides, river discharge and vertical behavior to the dispersal of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) larvae in Delaware Bay is investigated with a coupled circulation-individual-based larvae model. The coupled model simulates larval growth and behavior along particle trajectories using temperature and salinity conditions obtained from an implementation of the Regional Ocean Model System (ROMS) for Delaware Bay. Particles, representing oyster larvae, are released at five-day intervals during the spawning seasons (mid-June to mid-September) of 1984, 1985, 1986, 2000 and 2001 from areas that correspond to natural oyster reefs in Delaware Bay. Successful larvae are those that reach a settlement size of 330 μm within the planktonic larval duration of 30 days, as calculated from the growth model. The fortnightly variability of the along-estuary flow associated with the spring-neap tides is the primary factor affecting larval dispersion. Larvae released during neap tides are transported mostly up-estuary into areas with reduced salinity, which decreases growth rates and reduces the chance of reaching settlement size within 30 days. Fewer than 20% of the larvae released from upper bay reefs reach settlement size. However, connectivity to mid-bay oyster reefs by the up-estuary transport provides a potential source of larvae to maintain the upper bay oyster reefs. Larvae released during spring tides are often transported down-estuary into regions of higher salinity, which provide the majority of the potential recruits for down-estuary oyster reefs. Low salinity caused by periods of high river discharge overwhelms the up-down estuary transport associated with the spring-neap tides and reduces the ability of the oyster larvae to reach settlement size. Simulated larval trajectories show that vertical behavior makes a small contribution to larval dispersion and that turbulent mixing can overwhelm this process. Thus, for average river discharge conditions, the intra-seasonal dispersion of eastern oyster larvae in Delaware Bay is mostly controlled by the spring-neap tides and the timing of spawning relative to the occurrence of these tides may determine patterns of transport and movement eastern oyster larvae among oyster reefs in Delaware Bay. 1. Old Dominion University, Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, Department of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Norfolk, Virginia, 23508, U.S.A. 2. Corresponding author. email: diego@ccpo.odu. edu 3. Rutgers University, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and The New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, Port Norris, New Jersey, 08349, U.S.A. 4. Rutgers University, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901, U.S.A.
Learning of local predictable representations in partially learnable environments

PROPRE is a generic and cortically inspired framework that provides online input/output relationship learning. The input data flow is projected on a self-organizing map that provides an internal representation of the current stimulus. From this representation, the system predicts the value of the output target. A predictability measure, based on the monitoring of the prediction quality, modulates the projection learning so that to favor learning of representations that are helpful to predict the output. In this article, we study PROPRE when the input/output relationship is only defined in a small subspace of the input space, that we define as a partially learnable environment. This problem, which is not typical of the machine learning field, is however crucial for the robotic developmental field. Indeed, robots face high dimensional sensory-motor environments where large areas of these sensory-motor spaces are not learnable since a motor action cannot have a consequence on every perception each time. We show that the use of the predictability measure in PROPRE leads to an autonomous gathering of local representations where the input data are related to the output value, thus providing good classification performance as the system will learn the input/output function only where it is defined.
Characterization of estrous cycles and pregnancy in Somali wild asses (Equus africanus somaliensis) through fecal hormone analyses.

Although reproduction in the domestic horse has been well described, less is known about reproduction in wild equids. This study describes endocrine patterns associated with estrous cycles and pregnancy for Somali wild asses (Equus africanus somaliensis), an endangered African equid. Fecal samples were collected three times per week for more than 2 years from five female Somali wild asses at the Saint Louis Zoo; progestagen and estrogen metabolites were quantified using commercially available immunoassays. Progestagen analysis indicated that cycle lengths were 27.2 ± 1.2 days and females cycled throughout the year. Progestagen levels during early pregnancy were low and not sustained above baseline until approximately 40 weeks prior to partition. Concentrations increased markedly around 16 weeks prior to delivery and peaked 2-3 weeks before birth. Fecal estrogen levels also increased significantly starting 40-45 weeks before parturition and reached their maximal value approximately 20 weeks prior to birth. Neither foal heat nor lactational suppression of estrus was observed, and females cycled within 45 days after delivery. These data are the first to describe the reproductive physiology of Somali wild asses. As the species faces increasing threats in the wild, this information may support conservation efforts by assisting with ex situ breeding programs.
How Does Creativity Impact Business Processes?

Business processes that involve creativity differ from conventional business processes in many respects: they have a low level of repeatability, typically are high value-add processes, are knowledge-intensive, involve creative persons, have a high demand for flexibility and are characterized by particular (creative) risks. Consequently, for the IS discipline there arise a couple of research questions in this context. The goal of this interpretive research is to develop a theory of creativity-intensive processes that can inform organizational design and the design of information systems. The central theme of this research is the awareness that creativity must be perceived as a part of business processes – that is, part of goal-oriented acting within an organization that comprises of both creative and non-creative activities. In this paper, we introduce an initial model of the creativity-intensive process based on a qualitative exploratory study. To do so, we introduce research method and concepts as well as relationships and interactions between concepts. With this paper we aim to motivate further research on the impact of creativity on business processes and business process management within the IS discipline.
Experimental validation of a combined global and local LPV system identification approach with ℓ2,1-norm regularization

This paper explores a combined global and local identification approach for linear parameter-varying systems. Ideally, the combined approach retains advantages of its two extremes - global and local - with the possibility to emphasize one or the other. Practically, it is prone to overfitting. This paper proposes a remedy based on the ℓ2,1-norm regularization, describes its implementation within the nonlinear least squares framework, and gives an experimental validation. The results show a substantial decrease in the Euclidean norm of the model parameters, which resulted in a significantly smoother frequency response function surface and in overall, less-deviating model behavior.
The association of glycemic load and carbohydrate intake with colorectal cancer risk in the Multiethnic Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND High-glycemic-load diets may increase colorectal cancer risk through hyperinsulinemic effects. OBJECTIVE We analyzed data for 191,004 participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study to determine the risk of colorectal cancer associated with glycemic load (GL), carbohydrate, and sucrose and to ascertain whether this risk was modified by sex and ethnicity. DESIGN During 8 y of follow-up, 2379 incident cases of colorectal adenocarcinoma occurred. We used baseline quantitative food-frequency questionnaire data to assess usual dietary intake over the preceding year. Using Cox regression, we calculated adjusted relative risks (RRs) and 95% CIs for colorectal cancer associated with quintiles of GL, carbohydrate, and sucrose. RESULTS For both men and women in this cohort, white rice was the major contributor to GL. In multivariate models, RRs for colorectal cancer decreased significantly with increasing GL in women (RR for the highest quintile versus the lowest: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.97; P for trend = 0.02) but not in men (RR: 1.15; 95% CI: 0.89, 1.48; P for trend = 0.19). Results for carbohydrate and sucrose were similar. The inverse association with GL was found in women of all ethnic groups (P for interaction = 0.58). In men, an interaction was found between ethnicity and GL (P < 0.01): white men had a positive association with increasing GL (RR: 1.69; 95% CI: 0.98, 2.92; P for trend < 0.01), but men of other ethnic groups did not. CONCLUSION GL and carbohydrate intake appear to protect against colorectal cancer in women in the Multiethnic Cohort, perhaps because a major source of GL is white rice.