Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional organization in nucleus gracilis of the cat

The dorsal column nuclei (nucleus cuneatus and nucleus gracilis), receiving many primary afferent fibres from the dorsal columns and sending many secondary fibres into the medial lemniscus, might be expected to be interesting in that they could contribute to the central analysis of sensory information. These nuclei appear to have a high factor of safety in transmission, as judged by the work of Therman (1941), who studied their function as 'relays'. More recently, it has been suggested that they contain paths that are not purely monosynaptic and that their organization is therefore more complex than that of simple relays; and limited spatial facilitation and inhibition of single neurones have been described (Amassian & de Vito, 1957). We have approached this problem from the point of view of the way or ways inwhich impulses set up by combinations of tactile stimuli are handled by these nuclei, bearing in mind that such phenomena as mutual spatial inhibition have been seen in other primary sensory nuclei-in the visual and auditory pathways, for instance-and are likely to be relevant in sensory discrimination. We have therefore been concerned particularly with the cutaneous receptive areas of the cells and with spatial interactions, whether facilitatory or inhibitory, upon these cells. We have largely confined ourselves to those cells in nucleus gracilis which responded to tactile stimulation of the hind foot. A preliminary communication on this subject has already been made (Gordon & Paine, 1959).
Enhanced Hemeoxygenase Activity in the Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla Mediates Exaggerated Hemin-Evoked Hypotension in the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat

In anesthetized normotensive rats, activation of brainstem hemeoxygenase (HO) elicits sympathoinhibition and hypotension. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that attenuated basal or induced HO activity in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) contributes to hypertension in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). We measured basal RVLM HO expression and catalytic activity and investigated the effects of intra-RVLM HO activation (hemin) or selective HO isoform 1 (HO-1) inhibition [zinc protoporphyrin IX (ZnPPIX)] on mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate, and RVLM neuronal norepinephrine (NE) level (index of sympathetic activity) in conscious SHRs and Wistar Kyoto rats. Basal RVLM HO catalytic activity (bilirubin level) and HO-1 expression were significantly higher in the SHR. These neurochemical findings were corroborated by the significantly greater decreases (hemin) and increases (ZnPPIX) in RVLM NE and MAP in the SHR. By contrast, HO-independent CO release in the RVLM (CO-releasing molecule 3) elicited similar MAP reductions in both rat strains. Furthermore, pretreatment with ZnPPIX or the selective neuronal nitric-oxide synthase (nNOS) inhibitor N-propyl-l-arginine abrogated the neurochemical (RVLM cGMP) and hypotensive responses caused by hemin. In addition to demonstrating, for the first time, higher basal RVLM HO catalytic activity and HO-1 expression in the SHR, the findings suggest: 1) the exaggerated hypotension elicited by intra-RVLM HO activation in the SHR is nNOS-dependent, and 2) in the SHR, the enhanced RVLM HO-nNOS signaling compensates for the reduced expression/activity of the downstream target, soluble guanylyl cyclase. Together, the findings suggest a protective role for the RVLM HO-nNOS pathway against further increases in MAP in the SHR.
Towards a Novel Method for Architectural Design through μ-Concepts and Computational Intelligence

Architects typically tell stories about their design intentions and then translate the verbal descriptions into action-based commands in Computer Aided Design tools. In other words, during the creative process the designer works in a “concepts space” that is different than the “properties space” available in the software virtual world of CAD tools. In this paper we propose to study the vocabulary of concepts used in architectural design by employing machine learning methods over large data-sets of architectural drawings and their storytelling descriptions. The intention is to computationally characterize the meaning of a set of high-level concepts in architectural design, which we call them as μ-concepts, in terms of a set of low-level properties of drawings. With such a correlation, new opportunities can be explored for radically different design tools that allow architects to design by operating over such high-level architectural concepts. Eventually, this will can also provide a novel way of understanding the mental process of architectural design through verbal concepts.
Re‐examining factor structure of the attitudinal items from TIMSS 2003 in cross‐cultural study of mathematics self‐concept

The aims of this study were to examine the factor structure of the attitudinal questionnaire items from Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 and to investigate low‐ and high‐performing students’ mathematics self‐concept in East Asian societies and in the USA. The participants were 24,119 eighth‐graders, 4856 from Japan, 4972 from Hong Kong, 5379 from Taiwan and 8912 from the USA. Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were conducted revealing a same factor structure across the four societies. The MANOVA results showed that (1) the US students reported a statistically significant higher mathematics self‐concept than students in Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Japan; (2) across the four societies, high‐performing students had statistically significant higher self‐concept than low‐performing students; and (3) the US low‐performing students’ self‐concept was higher than Japanese high‐performing students’ self‐concept. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Dynamic Strain Measurements on Automotive and Aeronautic Composite Components by Means of Embedded Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors

The measurement of the internal deformations occurring in real-life composite components is a very challenging task, especially for those components that are rather difficult to access. Optical fiber sensors can overcome such a problem, since they can be embedded in the composite materials and serve as in situ sensors. In this article, embedded optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are used to analyze the vibration characteristics of two real-life composite components. The first component is a carbon fiber-reinforced polymer automotive control arm; the second is a glass fiber-reinforced polymer aeronautic hinge arm. The modal parameters of both components were estimated by processing the FBG signals with two interrogation techniques: the maximum detection and fast phase correlation algorithms were employed for the demodulation of the FBG signals; the Peak-Picking and PolyMax techniques were instead used for the parameter estimation. To validate the FBG outcomes, reference measurements were performed by means of a laser Doppler vibrometer. The analysis of the results showed that the FBG sensing capabilities were enhanced when the recently-introduced fast phase correlation algorithm was combined with the state-of-the-art PolyMax estimator curve fitting method. In this case, the FBGs provided the most accurate results, i.e., it was possible to fully characterize the vibration behavior of both composite components. When using more traditional interrogation algorithms (maximum detection) and modal parameter estimation techniques (Peak-Picking), some of the modes were not successfully identified.
SecIoT: a security framework for the Internet of Things

The 5th generation wireless system 5G will support Internet of Things IoT by increasing the interconnectivity of electronic devices to support a variety of new and promising networked applications such as the home of the future, environmental monitoring networks, and infrastructure management systems. The potential benefits of the IoT are as profound as they are diverse. However, the benefits of the IoT come with some significant challenges. Not the least of these is that the increased interconnectivity integral to an IoT network increases its vulnerability to malevolent attacks. There is still no proven methodology for the design of security frameworks with device authentication and access control. This paper attempts to address this problem through the development of a prototype security framework with robust and transparent security protection. This includes an investigation into the security requirements of three different characteristic IoT scenarios concretely, body IoT, home IoT, and hotel IoT, a design of new authentication mechanisms, and an access control subsystem with fine-grained roles and risk indicators. Our prototype security framework gives us an insight into some of the major difficulties of IoT security as well as providing some feasible solutions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Compressive Sensing-Based Pilot Design for Sparse Channel Estimation in OFDM Systems

We consider the deterministic pilot design problem for sparse channel estimation in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system. Our design is based on minimizing the coherence measure of the Fourier submatrix associated with the pilot subcarriers. This is done by optimizing over both pilot locations and pilot powers. As finding such global minimizer is a combinatorial problem, we resort to a greedy pilot allocation method. The resulting method achieves a suboptimal solution in a sequential manner and with reasonable computational complexity. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme performs similar to the existing methods with significantly lower computational complexity.
Travel motives of participants in the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour

The Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour is the largest cycling events in South Africa. The event attracts approximately 32 000 cyclists from around the world and is hosted in the city of Cape Town. The question underlying this research is, what are the motives for cyclists participating in this event. Therefore the purpose of this article is to determine the reasons (the travel/participation motives) that cyclists participate. The literature review recorded that little research has been done on travel motives of participants in sport events and this was the first of its kind in South Africa. The research was conducted by means of a questionnaire survey and 583 questionnaires were administered. A factor analysis was conducted to determine the travel motives. Five factors were identified socialisation, event attractiveness, personal motivation, escape & relaxation and event attributes. The motives for cyclists are primarily intrinsic. Some of these motives were confirmed by similar research in the field of leisure travel, but new motives were also noted.
Ethical Issues in the Involvement of Young Service Users in Research

This paper focuses attention on the ethical issues concerning the involvement of young service users as co-researchers. In particular the article offers an examination of the limitations of the term ‘service user’, comments on degrees of participation and explores the ethical issues prior to the start of the research, during the research and after the research has been completed. Particular emphasis is focused on the topics of: the funders of research, ethics committees, valuing contributions, informed consent, confidentiality, authorship and ending the research. The article also suggests that this is a complex area worthy of further exploration and that many of the ethical challenges identified for working with young service users also need to be considered for young service user co-researchers.
Immigran t Men tal an d Ph ysical Health

Berry's model of acculturation can be considered as very useful to classify different strategies to cope with or to adjust to a new culture. In the model four relevant modes of acculturation are described: integration, assimilation, segregation and marginalisation. Research illustrates that these modes are differently related to health and psychosocial adjustment. Irrespective of the mode mostly preferred by a social group, we find marked inter-individual differences in the preference of an acculturation style Research findings show that these individual differences are very closely related to a series of personality variables, such as cognitive styles, coping styles, and reactions to stressful life events in general. Understanding the complex relationships between personality and acculturation modes can help the social scientist to develop and apply adequate intervention strategies and to give some suggestions for the development of adequate socio-political acculturation programmes.
Learning to Identify Sentence Parallelism in Student Essays

Parallelism is an important rhetorical device. We propose a machine learning approach for automated sentence parallelism identification in student essays. We build an essay dataset with sentence level parallelism annotated. We derive features by combining generalized word alignment strategies and the alignment measures between word sequences. The experimental results show that sentence parallelism can be effectively identified with a F1 score of 82% at pair-wise level and 72% at parallelism chunk level.Based on this approach, we automatically identify sentence parallelism in more than 2000 student essays and study the correlation between the use of sentence parallelism and the types and quality of essays.
The Indexing and Retrieval of Document Images: A Survey

The economic feasibility of maintaining large data bases of document images has created a tremendous demand for robust ways to access and manipulate the information these images contain. In an attempt to move toward a paperless office, large quantities of printed documents are often scanned and archived as images, without adequate index information. One way to provide traditional data-base indexing and retrieval capabilities is to fully convert the document to an electronic representation which can be indexed automatically. Unfortunately, there are many factors which prohibit complete conversion including high cost, low document quality, and the fact that many nontext components cannot be adequately represented in a converted form. In such cases, it can be advantageous to maintain a copy of and use the document in image form. In this paper, we provide a survey of methods developed by researchers to access and manipulate document images without the need for complete and accurate conversion. We briefly discuss traditional text indexing techniques on imperfect data and the retrieval of partially converted documents. This is followed by a more comprehensive review of techniques for the direct characterization, manipulation, and retrieval, of images of documents containing text, graphics, and scene images.
Adaptive covariance matrix for object region representation

Region covariance descriptor has been employed in many computer vision applications such as texture classification, object detection and object tracking. It provides a natural way of fusing multiple features based on a set of pixels of a given region. However, the discriminative capacity of covariance descriptor can vary dramatically regarding different combination of feature sets that are fused and thus gives rise to the problem of discriminative feature selection when given a specific application. In this work, we propose a PCA-based feature selection approach in the construction procedure of the covariance descriptor. We show that covariance descriptor computed in a minutely-learned subspace can be adaptive to a specific target and thus results in a more compact and potentially more discriminative descriptor. Comparing experiments on real world video sequences demonstrate superior representational ability of the proposed method with respect to the conventional region covariance descriptor.
Towards an Integrated Learning Framework for Behavior Modeling of Adaptive CGFs

Computer generated forces (CGFs) are autonomous or semi-autonomous actors within military, simulation based, training and analyzing applications. Rapid, realistic and adaptive behavior modeling for CGFs is imperative and challenging. Traditional modeling approaches like rule-based script usually need time-consuming, repetitive endeavor and result in rigid, predictable behavior performance. Recent developments introducing Machine Learning (ML) techniques, such as dynamic script or neural network models, always present as black box systems, which are difficult to understand and revise for subject matter experts (SMEs). To overcome these limitations, we propose an integrated learning framework to facilitate adaptive CGF behavior modeling. The framework represents domain knowledge explicitly as Behavior Trees (BTs), and integrates learning BTs automatically from demonstration and Reinforcement Learning (RL) node into BTs. Besides, a CBR-style planner is adopted to retrieve executable behavior for diverse situations encountered at runtime. Through aforementioned components, the framework can make full use of the advantages of various learning approaches and knowledge sources to generate realistic and adaptive behaviors for CGFs easily.
Predicting Job Performance Across Organizations: The Interaction of Work Orientation and Psychological Climate

We investigated whether perceived psychological climate interacted with an individual personality dimension in predicting the job performance of a national sample (n = 483) of accounting professionals. Work orientation (Wo; Gough, 1985)-a specialty index developed from the California Psychological Inventory-was used to predict job performance as a function of climate. Results from a series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that overall climate, a composite offactors derivedfrom the Litwin-Stringer (1968) Organizational Climate Questionnaire, significantly interacted with Wo such that more positive climates were associated with better performance for high Wo individuals regardless of organizational tenure. Subsequent analyses indicated that three specific climate dimensions (viz., Warmth-Support, Reward, and Accommodation) significantly interacted with Wo in predicting job performance. Consistent with an interactional perspective, these results suggest a need to consider both personality and situational characteristics to better understand the job performance of accounting professionals across organizations.
Mesenchymal Stromal Cells and Viral Infection

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) are a subset of nonhematopoietic adult stem cells, readily isolated from various tissues and easily culture-expanded ex vivo. Intensive studies of the immune modulation and tissue regeneration over the past few years have demonstrated the great potential of MSCs for the prevention and treatment of steroid-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), immune-related disorders, and viral diseases. In immunocompromised individuals, the immunomodulatory activities of MSCs have raised safety concerns regarding the greater risk of primary viral infection and viral reactivation, which is a major cause of mortality after allogeneic transplantation. Moreover, high susceptibilities of MSCs to viral infections in vitro could reflect the destructive outcomes that might impair the clinical efficacy of MSCs infusion. However, the interplay between MSCs and virus is like a double-edge sword, and it also provides beneficial effects such as allowing the proliferation and function of antiviral specific effector cells instead of suppressing them, serving as an ideal tool for study of viral pathogenesis, and protecting hosts against viral challenge by using the antimicrobial activity. Here, we therefore review favorable and unfavorable consequences of MSCs and virus interaction with the highlight of safety and efficacy for applying MSCs as cell therapy.
Rapid peroxisomal responses to ROS suggest an alternative mechanistic model for post-biogenesis peroxisomal life cycle in plants

Plants adapt to and survive in some of the harshest environments. Their success can be ascribed to an ability to maintain an optimal subcellular redox environment. Peroxisomes, ubiquitous ROS producing and scavenging organelles in eukaryotes play an important role in cellular homeostasis. Recently the formation of thin membrane extensions called peroxules has provided further evidence for peroxisomal role in rapidly sensing and responding to alterations in subcellular ROS. Within a cell the transient extension and retraction of peroxules is asynchronous but takes place within seconds. Peroxules follow tracks defined by tubules of the endoplasmic reticulum and their formation does not appear to involve an elaborate transcriptional-translational machinery. Rather the rapidity of peroxisomal responses suggests ROS instigated membrane modifications aimed at local ROS scavenging or leading to peroxisome elongation prior to their fission for increasing peroxisome numbers within a cell. A model on post-biogenesis peroxisomal life-cycle taking cognizance of rapid peroxisomal responses is presented.
Periaqueductal gray and the region of the paralemniscal area have different functions in the control of vocalization in the neotropical bat, Phyllostomus discolor

The periaqueductal gray matter and the region of the paralemniscal area were neuroanatomically delineated in the brain of the neotropical bat Phyllostomus discolor[ Wagner (1843 ) Arch. Naturgesch. , 9, 365–368] and were probed with electrical microstimulation for eliciting vocalizations. In a well‐delimited rostral portion of the periaqueductal gray exclusively, communication calls could be triggered at low stimulation currents. Communication calls as well as echolocation calls could be elicited at the dorsal and ventral edges of this area. Pharmacological stimulation with microdialysed kainic acid in this particular periaqueductal gray area demonstrated that neurons and not fibres of passage are activated for triggering vocalization. Solely echolocation calls were emitted upon electrical microstimulation or with microdialysed kainic acid in the region of the paralemniscal area. The periaqueductal gray appears to be involved in vocal pathways that control both communication calls and echolocation calls, while the region of the paralemniscal area seems to be specialized for control of echolocation calls only. Respiration is similarly influenced by stimulation in the periaqueductal gray and the region of the paralemniscal area. Periaqueductal gray and paralemniscal area interact differently with the final common pathway for vocalization, and may represent different functional organization in the vocal controlling pathways for communication calls and echolocation calls.
Goal commitment and alignment of personal goals predict group identification only when the goals are shared

Selfish pursuits of personal goals in group contexts may conflict with the group goal. Drawing on the shared reality theory and the intersubjective consensus approach to cultural dynamics, however, we propose that commitment to personal goals would be accompanied by greater group identification when individual group members realize that their personal goals are widely shared in the group. In one experiment (Study 1), we manipulated perceived sharedness of personal goals and found that commitment to personal goals correlated positively with group identification only when participants learned that their goals were shared. Subsequent surveys that incorporated a 3-month longitudinal design (Studies 2 and 3) further confirmed that goal commitment and alignment with personal goals predicted group identification only when the goals were shared in the group.