Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Information exchange on an academic social networking site: A multidiscipline comparison on researchgate Q&A

The increasing popularity of academic social networking sites (ASNSs) requires studies on the usage of ASNSs among scholars and evaluations of the effectiveness of these ASNSs. However, it is unclear whether current ASNSs have fulfilled their design goal, as scholars' actual online interactions on these platforms remain unexplored. To fill the gap, this article presents a study based on data collected from ResearchGate. Adopting a mixed‐method design by conducting qualitative content analysis and statistical analysis on 1,128 posts collected from ResearchGate Q&A, we examine how scholars exchange information and resources, and how their practices vary across three distinct disciplines: library and information services, history of art, and astrophysics. Our results show that the effect of a questioner's intention (i.e., seeking information or discussion) is greater than disciplinary factors in some circumstances. Across the three disciplines, responses to questions provide various resources, including experts' contact details, citations, links to Wikipedia, images, and so on. We further discuss several implications of the understanding of scholarly information exchange and the design of better academic social networking interfaces, which should stimulate scholarly interactions by minimizing confusion, improving the clarity of questions, and promoting scholarly content management.
Prompt-based Content Scoring for Automated Spoken Language Assessment

This paper investigates the use of promptbased content features for the automated assessment of spontaneous speech in a spoken language proficiency assessment. The results show that single highest performing promptbased content feature measures the number of unique lexical types that overlap with the listening materials and are not contained in either the reading materials or a sample response, with a correlation of r = 0.450 with holistic proficiency scores provided by humans. Furthermore, linear regression scoring models that combine the proposed promptbased content features with additional spoken language proficiency features are shown to achieve competitive performance with scoring models using content features based on prescored responses.
Timings matter: standard compliant ieee 802.11 channel access for a fully software-based SDR architecture

We present a solution for enabling standard compliant channel access for a fully software-based Software Defined Radio (SDR) architecture. With the availability of a GNU Radio implementation of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) transceiver, there is substantial demand for standard compliant channel access. It has been shown that implementation of CSMA on a host PC is infeasible due to system-inherent delays. The common approach is to fully implement the protocol stack on the FPGA, which makes further updates or modifications to the protocols a complex and time consuming task. We take another approach and investigate the feasibility of a fully software-based solution and show that standard compliant broadcast transmissions are possible with marginal modifications of the FPGA. We envision the use of our system for example in the vehicular networking domain, where broadcast is the main communication paradigm. We show that our SDR solution exactly complies with the IEEE 802.11 Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) as well as Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) timings. We were even able to identify shortcomings of commercial systems and prototypes.
Dental caries and head and neck cancers.

IMPORTANCE Dental caries is the demineralization of tooth structures by lactic acid from fermentation of carbohydrates by commensal gram-positive bacteria. Cariogenic bacteria have been shown to elicit a potent Th1 cytokine polarization and a cell-mediated immune response. OBJECTIVE To test the association between dental caries and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Case-control study in a comprehensive cancer center including all patients with newly diagnosed primary HNSCC between 1999 and 2007 as cases and all patients without a cancer diagnosis as controls. Those with a history of cancer, dysplasia, or immunodeficiency or who were younger than 21 years were excluded. EXPOSURES Dental caries, fillings, crowns, and endodontic treatments, measured by the number of affected teeth; missing teeth. We also computed an index variable: decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Incident HNSCC. RESULTS We included 620 participants (399 cases and 221 controls). Cases had a significantly lower mean (SD) number of teeth with caries (1.58 [2.52] vs 2.04 [2.15]; P = .03), crowns (1.27 [2.65] vs 2.10 [3.57]; P = .01), endodontic treatments (0.56 [1.24] vs 1.01 [2.04]; P = .01), and fillings (5.39 [4.31] vs 6.17 [4.51]; P = .04) but more missing teeth (13.71 [10.27] vs 8.50 [8.32]; P < .001) than controls. There was no significant difference in mean DMFT. After adjustment for age at diagnosis, sex, marital status, smoking status, and alcohol use, those in the upper tertiles of caries (odds ratio [OR], 0.32 [95% CI, 0.19-0.55]; P for trend = .001), crowns (OR, 0.46 [95% CI, 0.26-0.84]; P for trend = .03), and endodontic treatments (OR, 0.55 [95% CI, 0.30-1.01]; P for trend = .15) were less likely to have HNSCC than those in the lower tertiles. Missing teeth was no longer associated with HNSCC after adjustment for confounding. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE There is an inverse association between HNSCC and dental caries. This study provides insights for future studies to assess potential beneficial effects of lactic acid bacteria and the associated immune response on HNSCC.
Structure-preserving stippling by priority-based error diffusion

This paper presents a new fast, automatic method for structure-aware stippling. The core idea is to concentrate on structure preservation by using a priority-based scheme that treats extremal stipples first and preferentially assigns positive error to lighter stipples and negative error to darker stipples, emphasizing contrast. We also use a nonlinear spatial function to shrink or exaggerate errors and thus implicitly provide global adjustment of density. Our adjustment respects contrast and hence allows us to preserve structure even with very low stipple budgets. We also explore a variety of stylization effects, including screening and scratchboard, all within the unifying framework of stippling.
Dielectric Studies of Segmental Dynamics in Epoxy Nanocomposites

Dielectric techniques were employed, along with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), to investigate segmental dynamics associated with the glass transition in epoxy nanocomposites. Two epoxy network matrices were used, the first based on diglycidyl ether of Bisphenol A (DGEBA) and diethylenetriamine, and the second on DGEBA and poly(oxypropylene)diamine (Jeffamine D2000). In the first matrix, the inclusions were organically modified clays, diamond particles with a diameter of about 6 nm, and conductive carbon nanoparticles with a diameter of about 10 nm, whereas in the second, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) were covalently attached to the chains as dangling blocks. In the nanocomposites of the first matrix, glassy at room temperature, segmental dynamics becomes slower and the glass transition temperature increases on addition of the filler. In the epoxy/POSS nanocomposites, rubbery at room temperature, dynamics is described by a two‐phase (layer) model: a fraction of the polymer is immobilized, obviously at interfaces with POSS, whereas the rest is slightly plasticized, compared to the pure matrix. In Commemoration of the Contributions of Professor Valery P. Privalko to Polymer Science.
Mammalian target of rapamycin and Rictor control neutrophil chemotaxis by regulating Rac/Cdc42 activity and the actin cytoskeleton

Rictor, a component of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2), controls neutrophil chemotaxis by regulating the dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton via Rac and Cdc42. This function of Rictor is independent of mTORC2 and the kinase activity of mTOR.
What a Transfer-Based System Brings to the Combination with PBMT

We present a thorough analysis of a combination of a statistical and a transferbased system for English→Czech translation, Moses and TectoMT. We describe several techniques for inspecting such a system combination which are based both on automatic and manual evaluation. While TectoMT often produces bad translations, Moses is still able to select the good parts of them. In many cases, TectoMT provides useful novel translations which are otherwise simply unavailable to the statistical component, despite the very large training data. Our analyses confirm the expected behaviour that TectoMT helps with preserving grammatical agreements and valency requirements, but that it also improves a very diverse set of other phenomena. Interestingly, including the outputs of the transfer-based system in the phrase-based search seems to have a positive effect on the search space. Overall, we find that the components of this combination are complementary and the final system produces significantly better translations than either component by itself.
Suspended microstrip patch antenna with dielectric resonator loading for enhanced bandwidth

This paper reports experimental investigations on suspended microstrip rectangular patch antennas at X-band with dielectric resonator loading. By placing the resonator at appropriate position on the patch, an impedance bandwidth of about to 12.3% and an improvement in gain over the unloaded case by about 1 to 2 dB have been achieved, without much change in the radiation pattern.
Millivolt-scale DC shifts in the human scalp EEG: evidence for a nonneuronal generator.

Slow shifts in the human scalp-recorded EEG, including those related to changes in brain CO(2) levels, have been generally assumed to result from changes in the level of tonic excitation of apical dendrites of cortical pyramidal neurons. We readdressed this issue using DC-EEG shifts elicited in healthy adult subjects by hypo- or hypercapnia. A 3-min period of hyperventilation resulted in a prompt negative shift with a rate of up to 10 microV/s at the vertex (Cz) and an extremely steep dependence (up to 100 microV/mmHg) on the end-tidal Pco(2). This shift had a maximum of up to -2 mV at Cz versus the temporal derivations (T3/T4). Hyperventilation-like breathing of 5% CO(2)-95% O(2), which does not lead to a significant hypocapnia, resulted in a near-complete block of the negative DC shift at Cz. Hypoventilation, or breathing 5% CO(2) in air at normal respiratory rate, induced a positive shift. The high amplitude of the voltage gradients on the scalp induced by hyperventilation is not consistent with a neuronal origin. Instead, the present data suggest that they are generated by extracortical volume currents driven by a Pco(2)-dependent potential difference across epithelia separating the cerebrospinal fluid and blood. Since changes in respiratory patterns and, hence, in the level of brain Pco(2), are likely to occur under a number of experimental conditions in which slow EEG responses have been reported (e.g., attention shifts, preparatory states, epileptic seizures, and hypoxic episodes), the present results call for a thorough reexamination of the mechanisms underlying scalp-recorded DC-EEG responses.
Structural health condition monitoring of carbon-fibre based composite materials using acoustic emission techniques

The general aim of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of the AE technique in monitoring the structural health of CFRP. To reliably establish the link between the AE responses with the evolution of structural damage tests were carried out initially on carbon fibre bundles alone before progressing with tests on plain carbon weave fabric composite specimens fabricated in the laboratory. In certain composite specimens artificial defects such as through-hole defect, deep scratch and notches were intentionally induced to study the effect of these defects on the mechanical properties and AE responses arising during testing. Tensile tests were carried out on carbon fibre bundle and composite specimens. Composite specimens were also tested in three-point bending. AE sensors were used to monitor the structural health condition of all specimens. Due to the complexity of the AE signals recorded from composite specimens, the AE results from the bundle specimens were initially evaluated, compared and then linked to the AE responses resulting from the composite specimen tests. The AE responses collected from tests of defect-free composite specimens were compared to those containing various types of artificially induced defects. From the results acquired it was established that the AE technique can monitor effectively the evolution of damage as load increases. Key parameter indicators based on the energy, counts and duration of the AE signals were determined to be more important than the amplitude of the hits recorded. From the results at hand it can be concluded that the AE technique can be a valuable tool in the evaluation of in-service critical structural CFRP components operating under cycling loading conditions.
Fast Simulation for the Performance Evaluation of LDPC Codes using Fast Flat Histogram Method

The quality of transmission in digital communication systems is usually measured by frame error rate (FER). The time taken by standard Monte Carlo (MC) simulation to estimate the FER increases exponentially with the increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this correspondence, we present an Adaptive Importance Sampling (AIS) technique inspired by statistical physics called fast flat histogram (FFH) method to evaluate the performance of LDPC codes with a reduced simulation time. The FFH method employs Wang Landau algorithm based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampler and we managed to decrease the simulation time by a factor of 13 to 173 for LDPC codes with block lengths up to 2640 bits.
Qualitatively Different Semantic Representations for Abstract and Concrete Words: Further Evidence from the Semantic Reading Errors of Deep Dyslexic Patients

This paper presents an investigation of the hypothesis that conceptual knowledge for abstract and concrete items is underpinned by qualitatively different representational frameworks (Crutch and Warrington, 2005a). A re-analysis of the semantic reading errors of four deep dyslexic patients is presented, examining the incidence of semantically associated and semantically similar errors in response to abstract and concrete target words. The results demonstrate that abstract target words elicit a greater proportion of associative than similar errors, while concrete words show the reverse pattern. These findings provide evidence which converges with that previously documented for a semantic refractory access dysphasic to suggest that abstract concepts are represented in an associative network while concrete concepts are represented in a categorical framework. The author would like to express his gratitude to Professor Elizabeth Warrington and Professor Max Coltheart for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. He is also indebted to Mr. Chris Frost for his advice on the statistical analysis of the data, and to Professor Martin Rossor for his support of this work. The author is an Alzheimer's Research Trust Fellow.
Forebrain-Specific Inactivation of Gq/G11 Family G Proteins Results in Age-Dependent Epilepsy and Impaired Endocannabinoid Formation

ABSTRACT Metabotropic receptors coupled to Gq/G11 family G proteins critically contribute to nervous system functions by modulating synaptic transmission, often facilitating excitation. We investigated the role of Gq/G11 family G proteins in the regulation of neuronal excitability in mice that selectively lack the α-subunits of Gq and G11, Gαq and Gα11, respectively, in forebrain principal neurons. Surprisingly, mutant mice exhibited increased seizure susceptibility, and the activation of neuroprotective mechanisms was impaired. We found that endocannabinoid levels were reduced under both basal and excitotoxic conditions and that increased susceptibility to kainic acid could be normalized by the enhancement of endocannabinoid levels with an endocannabinoid reuptake inhibitor, while the competitive cannabinoid type 1 receptor antagonist SR141716A did not cause further aggravation. These findings indicate that Gq/G11 family G proteins negatively regulate neuronal excitability in vivo and suggest that impaired endocannabinoid formation in the absence of Gq/G11 contributes to this phenotype.
Crystal Structure of Leishmania major Oligopeptidase B Gives Insight into the Enzymatic Properties of a Trypanosomatid Virulence Factor*

Oligopeptidase B (OPB) is a serine peptidase with dibasic substrate specificity. It is found in bacteria, plants, and trypanosomatid pathogens, where it has been identified as a virulence factor and potential drug target. In this study we expressed active recombinant Leishmania major OPB and provide the first structure of an oligopeptidase B at high resolution. The crystallographic study reveals that OPB comprises two domains, a catalytic and a propeller domain, linked together by a hinge region. The structure has been determined in complex with the oligopeptide, protease-inhibitor antipain, giving detailed information on the enzyme active site and extended substrate binding pockets. It shows that Glu-621 plays a critical role in the S1 binding pocket and, along with Phe-603, is largely responsible for the enzyme substrate specificity in P1. In the S2 binding pocket, Tyr-499 was shown to be important for substrate stability. The structure also allowed an investigation into the function of residues highlighted in other studies including Glu-623, which was predicted to be involved in the S1 binding pocket but is found forming an inter-domain hydrogen bond. Additional important salt bridges/hydrogen bonds between the two domains were observed, highlighting the significance of the domain interface in OPB. This work provides a foundation for the study of the role of OPBs as virulence factors in trypanosomatids. It could facilitate the development of specific OPB inhibitors with therapeutic potential by exploiting its unique substrate recognition properties as well as providing a model for OPBs in general.
Using SemRep to Label Semantic Relations Extracted from Clinical Text

In this paper we examined the relationship between semantic relatedness among medical concepts found in clinical reports and biomedical literature. Our objective is to determine whether relations between medical concepts identified from Medline abstracts may be used to inform us as to the nature of the association between medical concepts that appear to be closely related based on their distribution in clinical reports. We used a corpus of 800k inpatient clinical notes as a source of data for determining the strength of association between medical concepts and SemRep database as a source of labeled relations extracted from Medline abstracts. The same pair of medical concepts may be found with more than one predicate type in the SemRep database but often with different frequencies. Our analysis shows that predicate type frequency information obtained from the SemRep database appears to be helpful for labeling semantic relations obtained with measures of semantic relatedness and similarity.
Sum rates, rate allocation, and user scheduling for multi-user MIMO vector perturbation precoding

This paper considers the multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) broadcast channel. We consider the case where the multiple transmit antennas are used to deliver independent data streams to multiple users via vector perturbation. We derive expressions for the sum rate in terms of the average energy of the precoded vector, and use this to derive a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) closed-form upper bound, which we show to be tight via simulation. We also propose a modification to vector perturbation where different rates can be allocated to different users. We conclude that for vector perturbation precoding most of the sum rate gains can be achieved by reducing the rate allocation problem to the user selection problem. We then propose a low-complexity user selection algorithm that attempts to maximize the high-SNR sum rate upper bound. Simulations show that the algorithm outperforms other user selection algorithms of similar complexity.
Localized Multistreams for P2P Streaming

Streaming video over the Internet, including cellular networks, has now become a commonplace. Network operators typically use multicasting or variants of multiple unicasting to deliver streams to the user terminal in a controlled fashion. P2P streaming is an emerging alternative, which is theoretically more scalable but suffers from other issues arising from the dynamic nature of the system. Users' terminals become streaming nodes but they are not constantly connected. Another issue is that they are based on logical overlays, which are not optimized for the physical underlay infrastructure. An important proposition is to find effective ways to increase the resilience of the overlay whilst at the same time not conflicting with the network. In this article we look at the combination of two techniques, redundant streaming and locality awareness, in the context of both live and video-on-demand streaming. We introduce a new technique and assess it via a comparative, simulation-based study. We find that redundancy affects network utilization only marginally if traffic is kept at the edges via localization techniques.
Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Enhances Satellite Cell Activation in Dystrophic Muscles through a S1PR2/STAT3 Signaling Pathway

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) activates a widely expressed family of G protein-coupled receptors, serves as a muscle trophic factor and activates muscle stem cells called satellite cells (SCs) through unknown mechanisms. Here we show that muscle injury induces dynamic changes in S1P signaling and metabolism in vivo. These changes include early and profound induction of the gene encoding the S1P biosynthetic enzyme SphK1, followed by induction of the catabolic enzyme sphingosine phosphate lyase (SPL) 3 days later. These changes correlate with a transient increase in circulating S1P levels after muscle injury. We show a specific requirement for SphK1 to support efficient muscle regeneration and SC proliferation and differentiation. Mdx mice, which serve as a model for muscular dystrophy (MD), were found to be S1P-deficient and exhibited muscle SPL upregulation, suggesting that S1P catabolism is enhanced in dystrophic muscle. Pharmacological SPL inhibition increased muscle S1P levels, improved mdx muscle regeneration and enhanced SC proliferation via S1P receptor 2 (S1PR2)-dependent inhibition of Rac1, thereby activating Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3), a central player in inflammatory signaling. STAT3 activation resulted in p21 and p27 downregulation in a S1PR2-dependent fashion in myoblasts. Our findings suggest that S1P promotes SC progression through the cell cycle by repression of cell cycle inhibitors via S1PR2/STAT3-dependent signaling and that SPL inhibition may provide a therapeutic strategy for MD.