Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distinct Mechanisms Underlying Pronociceptive Effects of Opioids

In addition to analgesia, opioids may also produce paradoxical pain amplification [opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH)] either on abrupt withdrawal or during continuous long-term application. Here, we assessed antinociceptive and pronociceptive effects of three clinically used opioids at C-fiber synapses in the rat spinal dorsal horn in vivo. During 60 min of intravenous infusions of remifentanil (450 μg·kg−1·h−1), fentanyl (48 μg·kg−1·h−1), or morphine (14 mg·kg−1·h−1), C-fiber-evoked field potentials were depressed and paired-pulse ratios (PPR) were increased, indicating a presynaptic inhibition by all three opioids. After withdrawal, postsynaptic responses were enhanced substantially for the remaining of the recording periods of at least 3 h. Withdrawal from remifentanil led to long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic strength in C-fibers via activation of spinal μ-opioid receptors (MORs) and spinal NMDA receptors (NMDARs). Fentanyl and morphine caused an enhancement of synaptic transmission at C-fibers, which involved two distinct mechanisms: (1) an opioid withdrawal LTP that also required activation of spinal MORs and NMDARs and that was associated with a decrease in PPR suggestive of a presynaptic mechanism of its expression, and (2) an immediate-onset, descending facilitation of C-fiber-evoked field potentials during and after intravenous infusion of fentanyl and morphine. Immediate-onset, descending facilitation was mediated by the activation of extraspinal MORs, descending serotonergic pathways, and spinal 5-hydroxytryptamine-3 receptors (5-HT3Rs). Our study identified fundamentally different pronociceptive effects of clinically used opioids and suggests that OIH can be prevented by the combined use of NMDAR and 5-HT3R antagonists.
Körperliche Aktivität im Zusammenspiel mit anderen Gesundheitsverhaltensweisen

Es wird ein Uberblick uber die aktuelle Forschung zur Frage, ob Zusammenhange zwischen regelmasiger gesundheitsforderlicher korperlicher Aktivitat einerseits und den Verhaltensweisen Ernahrung, Rauchen und Alkoholkonsum andererseits bestehen, gegeben. Dabei soll vor allem geklart werden, ob sich korperlich aktive Personen hinsichtlich der drei genannten Verhaltensweisen tatsachlich gesundheitsbewusster verhalten als korperlich inaktive Personen. In die Darstellung der Befundlage gehen die Ergebnisse aus 46 Studien der letzten 15 Jahre ein; diese unterscheiden sich in methodischer Hinsicht stark voneinander, was den direkten Vergleich der einzelnen Ergebnisse erschwert. Insgesamt erweist sich die Befundlage als vielschichtig. Am eindeutigsten ist der Befund, dass der Anteil gesunder Nahrungsmittel mit zunehmender korperlicher Aktivitat ansteigt. Bei Erwachsenen finden sich zudem negative Zusammenhange zwischen korperlicher Aktivitat und Tabakkonsum. Alkoholkonsum und die Aufnahme ungesunder Nahrung weisen keine eindeutigen Zusammenhange zur korperlichen Aktivitat auf. Es wird betont, dass die vorgestellten Studien aus methodischer Hinsicht kritisch hinterfragt werden mussen.
Machine vision based smart parking system using Internet of Things

It is expected that in the next decade, majority of world population will be living in cities. Better public services and infrastructures in the city are needed to cope with the booming population. City vehicles that cruising for parking have indirectly causing traffic, making one harder to travel around the city. Thus, a smart parking system can certainly lays the foundation to build a smart city. This paper proposed a cost-effective IoT smart parking system to monitor city parking space and provide real-time parking information to drivers. Moreover, instead of the conventional approach that uses embedded sensors to detect vehicles in the parking area, camera image and machine vision technology are used to obtain the parking status. In the prototype, twenty outdoor parking lots are covered using a 5 megapixel camera connected to Raspberry Pi 3 installed at the 5th floor of the nearby building. Machine vision in this project that involved motion tracking and Canny edge detection are programmed in Python 2 using OpenCV technology. Corresponding data is uploaded to an IoT platform called Ubidots for possible monitoring activity. An Android mobile application is designed for user to download real-time data of parking information. This paper introduces a low cost smart parking system with the overall detection accuracy of 96.40%. Also, the mobile application allows users to alert other car owners for any emergency incidents and double parking blockage. The developed system can provide a platform for users to search for empty car parking with ease and reduce the traffic issues such as illegal double parking especially in the urban area.
Sestrin2, a Regulator of Thermogenesis and Mitohormesis in Brown Adipose Tissue

Sestrin2 is a stress-inducible protein that functions as an antioxidant and inhibitor of mTOR complex 1. In a recent study, we found that Sestrin2 overexpression in brown adipocytes interfered with normal metabolism by reducing mitochondrial respiration through the suppression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) expression. The metabolic effects of Sestrin2 in brown adipocytes were dependent on its antioxidant activity, and chemical antioxidants produced similar effects in inhibiting UCP1-dependent thermogenesis. These observations suggest that low levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in brown adipocytes can actually be beneficial and necessary for proper metabolic homeostasis. In addition, considering that Sestrins are ROS inducible and perform ROS detoxifying as well as other metabolism-controlling functions, they are potential regulators of mitohormesis. This is a concept in which overall beneficial effects result from low-level oxidative stress stimuli, such as the ones induced by caloric restriction or physical exercise. In this perspective, we incorporate our recent insight obtained from the Sestrin2 study toward a better understanding of the relationship between ROS, Sestrin2, and mitochondrial metabolism in the context of brown adipocyte physiology.
Online Discriminative Dictionary Learning for Image Classification Based on Block-Coordinate Descent Method

Previous researches have demonstrated that the framework of dictionary learning with sparse coding, in which signals are decomposed as linear combinations of a few atoms of a learned dictionary, is well adept to reconstruction issues. This framework has also been used for discrimination tasks such as image classification. To achieve better performances of classification, experts develop several methods to learn a discriminative dictionary in a supervised manner. However, another issue is that when the data become extremely large in scale, these methods will be no longer effective as they are all batch-oriented approaches. For this reason, we propose a novel online algorithm for discriminative dictionary learning, dubbed \textbf{ODDL} in this paper. First, we introduce a linear classifier into the conventional dictionary learning formulation and derive a discriminative dictionary learning problem. Then, we exploit an online algorithm to solve the derived problem. Unlike the most existing approaches which update dictionary and classifier alternately via iteratively solving sub-problems, our approach directly explores them jointly. Meanwhile, it can largely shorten the runtime for training and is also particularly suitable for large-scale classification issues. To evaluate the performance of the proposed ODDL approach in image recognition, we conduct some experiments on three well-known benchmarks, and the experimental results demonstrate ODDL is fairly promising for image classification tasks.
Web Service Composition Techniques in a Health Care Service Platform

The information technology has been recognized as one of the most important means to improve health care and curb its ever-increasing cost. However, existing efforts mainly focus on informatization of hospitals or medical institutions within organizations, and few are directly oriented to individuals. The strong demand for various health services from customers calls for the creation of powerful individual-oriented personalized health care service systems. Web service composition (WSC) and related technologies can greatly help one build such systems. This paper aims to present a newly developed platform called a Public oriented Health care Information Service Platform (PHISP) and several novel WSC techniques that are used to build it. Among them include WSC techniques that can well support branch and parallel structures.
Inertial mass and the quantum vacuum fields

Even when the Higgs particle is finally detected, it will continue to be a legitimate question to ask whether the inertia of matter as a reaction force opposing acceleration is an intrinsic or extrinsic property of matter. General relativity specifies which geodesic path a free particle will follow, but geometrodynamics has no mechanism for generating a reaction force for deviation from geodesic motion. We discuss a different approach involving the electromagnetic zero‐point field (ZPF) of the quantum vacuum. It has been found that certain asymmetries arise in the ZPF as perceived from an accelerating reference frame. In such a frame the Poynting vector and momentum flux of the ZPF become non‐zero. Scattering of this quantum radiation by the quarks and electrons in matter can result in an acceleration‐dependent reaction force. Both the ordinary and the relativistic forms of Newton's second law, the equation of motion, can be derived from the electrodynamics of such ZPF‐particle interactions. Conjectural arguments are given why this interaction should take place in a resonance at the Compton frequency, and how this could simultaneously provide a physical basis for the de Broglie wavelength of a moving particle. This affords a suggestive perspective on a deep connection between electrodynamics, the origin of inertia and the quantum wave nature of matter.
Hybrid Neuroprosthesis for the Upper Limb: Combining Brain-Controlled Neuromuscular Stimulation with a Multi-Joint Arm Exoskeleton

Brain-machine interface-controlled (BMI) neurofeedback training aims to modulate cortical physiology and is applied during neurorehabilitation to increase the responsiveness of the brain to subsequent physiotherapy. In a parallel line of research, robotic exoskeletons are used in goal-oriented rehabilitation exercises for patients with severe motor impairment to extend their range of motion (ROM) and the intensity of training. Furthermore, neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is applied in neurologically impaired patients to restore muscle strength by closing the sensorimotor loop. In this proof-of-principle study, we explored an integrated approach for providing assistance as needed to amplify the task-related ROM and the movement-related brain modulation during rehabilitation exercises of severely impaired patients. For this purpose, we combined these three approaches (BMI, NMES, and exoskeleton) in an integrated neuroprosthesis and studied the feasibility of this device in seven severely affected chronic stroke patients who performed wrist flexion and extension exercises while receiving feedback via a virtual environment. They were assisted by a gravity-compensating, seven degree-of-freedom exoskeleton which was attached to the paretic arm. NMES was applied to the wrist extensor and flexor muscles during the exercises and was controlled by a hybrid BMI based on both sensorimotor cortical desynchronization (ERD) and electromyography (EMG) activity. The stimulation intensity was individualized for each targeted muscle and remained subthreshold, i.e., induced no overt support. The hybrid BMI controlled the stimulation significantly better than the offline analyzed ERD (p = 0.028) or EMG (p = 0.021) modality alone. Neuromuscular stimulation could be well integrated into the exoskeleton-based training and amplified both the task-related ROM (p = 0.009) and the movement-related brain modulation (p = 0.019). Combining a hybrid BMI with neuromuscular stimulation and antigravity assistance augments upper limb function and brain activity during rehabilitation exercises and may thus provide a novel restorative framework for severely affected stroke patients.
Experimental analysis of network-aided interference-aware receiver for LTE MU-MIMO

Multiuser (MU) MIMO is a promising technique to significantly increase the cell capacity in LTE systems. However, users scheduled for MU-MIMO may still experience strong MU interference if the channel state information at the base station is outdated or in small cells with a limited number of users available. Interference-aware (IA) receivers exploit information about the interfering data stream, such as the modulation order, in the decoding process, resulting in a significant performance gain over interference un-aware (IU) receivers while maintaining a moderate complexity. In this paper we study a network-aided interference-aware (NA-IA) receiver that receives the interfering modulation order through network signaling and an IA receiver that uses heuristics to determine the interfering modulation order. We use the real-time OpenAirInterface LTE testbed to experimentally evaluate the performance of IA and IU receivers in terms of throughput under different levels of MU interference. The measurement results show that the NA-IA receiver achieves significantly higher data rates compared to the IA receiver, especially when MU interference is strong. The IU receiver on the other hand requires very low levels of MU-interference to achieve a performance comparable to the IA receivers.
The University of British Columbia at TAC 2008

In this paper we describe the University of British Columbia’s participation in the Text Analysis Conference 2008. This work represents our first submission to the DUC/TAC series of conferences, and we participated in both the summarization tasks: the main update task as well as the pilot task on summarizing blog opinions. We describe our systems in detail and describe our performance in the context of all submitted systems.
Prevention of Preharvest Sprouting through Hormone Engineering and Germination Recovery by Chemical Biology

Vivipary, germination of seeds on the maternal plant, is observed in nature and provides ecological advantages in certain wild species, such as mangroves. However, precocious seed germination in agricultural species, such as preharvest sprouting (PHS) in cereals, is a serious issue for food security. PHS reduces grain quality and causes economical losses to farmers. PHS can be prevented by translating the basic knowledge of hormone biology in seeds into technologies. Biosynthesis of abscisic acid (ABA), which is an essential hormone for seed dormancy, can be engineered to enhance dormancy and prevent PHS. Enhancing nine-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED), a rate-limiting enzyme of ABA biosynthesis, through a chemically induced gene expression system, has successfully been used to suppress germination of Arabidopsis seeds. The more advanced system NCED positive-feedback system, which amplifies ABA biosynthesis in a seed-specific manner without chemical induction, has also been developed. The proofs of concept established in the model species are now ready to be applied to crops. A potential problem is recovery of germination from hyperdormant crop grains. Hyperdormancy induced by the NCED systems can be reversed by inducing counteracting genes, such as NCED RNA interference or gibberellin (GA) biosynthesis genes. Alternatively, seed sensitivity to ABA can be modified to rescue germination using the knowledge of chemical biology. ABA antagonists, which were developed recently, have great potential to recover germination from the hyperdormant seeds. Combination of the dormancy-imposing and -releasing approaches will establish a comprehensive technology for PHS prevention and germination recovery.
ERIC: Economical & reconfigurable hybrid-band control for software-defined datacenter network

Datacenter networks (particularly, in clouds) nowadays support varieties of services from customers, and a novel paradigm, Software Defined Networking (SDN), is proposed to offer flexible application-aware management of these networks. However, as networks keep scaling up, many difficulties arise. Unlike prior studies on the data plane in SDN, this paper investigates the increasing complexity from deploying the control plane and proposes a novel economical and reconfigurable hybrid-band control mechanism (named ERIC) for large-scale SDN networks. Comparing to the state-of-the-art control mechanism (out-of-band), ERIC is much simpler and provides more reliability. Moreover, the number of switches used in the ERIC control plane is only 25% of that in the out-of-band control plane with 9% throughput differences. As a result, ERIC is proven suitable for datacenters due to low cost and high flexibility and can be applied to large-scale network deployments.
Multimodal information fusion and temporal integration for violence detection in movies

This paper presents a violent shots detection system that studies several methods for introducing temporal and multimodal information in the framework. It also investigates different kinds of Bayesian network structure learning algorithms for modelling these problems. The system is trained and tested using the MediaEval 2011 Affect Task corpus, which comprises of 15 Hollywood movies. It is experimentally shown that both multimodality and temporality add interesting information into the system. Moreover, the analysis of the links between the variables of the resulting graphs yields important observations about the quality of the structure learning algorithms. Overall, our best system achieved 50% false alarms and 3% missed detection, which is among the best submissions in the MediaEval campaign.
On the complexity of list scheduling algorithms for distributed-memory systems

This paper presents a novel heuristic, called Fast Critical Path (FCP), intended as a compile-time scheduling algorithm on a distributed-memory system. While similar to existing list scheduling algorithms, FCP has two important differences: (a) it does not sort all the tasks at the beginning but maintains only a limited number of tasks sorted at any given time, and (b) instead of considering all processor s as possible target for a given task, the choice is restricted to either the processor from which the last messages to the given task arrives or the processor which becomes idle the earliest. As a result, the time complexity is drastically re duced toO(V log (P ) +E), whereV andE are the number of tasks and edges in the task graph, respectively, and P is the number of processors. We demonstrate through theory and experiments that FCP performs equally to existing list scheduling algorithms of much higher complexity. 1 Introdu tion
Impact of obesity on long-term survival after aortic valve replacement with a small prosthesis.

OBJECTIVES Although many studies have evaluated the impact of obesity on various medical treatments, it is not known whether obesity is related to late mortality with implantation of small aortic prostheses. This study evaluated the effect of obesity on the late survival of patients after aortic valve replacement (AVR) with implantation of a small aortic prosthesis (size ≤ 21 mm). METHODS From January 1998 to December 2008, 307 patients in our institution who underwent primary AVR with smaller prostheses survived 30 days after surgery. Patients were categorized as normal weight if body mass index (BMI) was <24 kg/m(2), overweight if BMI 24-27.9 kg/m(2) and obese if BMI ≥ 28 kg/m(2). Data of the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), effective orifice area index (EOAI) and left ventricular mass index of the patients were collected at the third month, sixth month, first year, third year, fifth year and eighth year after operation. RESULTS By multivariable analysis, obesity was a significant independent factor of late mortality (hazard ratio: 1.62; P = 0.01). The obese and overweight groups of patients exhibited lower survival (P < 0.001) and a higher proportion in NYHA Class III/IV (P < 0.01) compared with the normal group. A lower EOAI and higher left ventricular mass index were found in the obese and overweight groups, but we saw no significant variance in LVEF among the three groups. CONCLUSIONS Obesity is associated with increased late mortality of patients after AVR with implantation of small aortic prosthesis. Obesity or/and overweight may also affect the NYHA classification, even in the longer term. EOAI should be improved where possible, as it may reduce late mortality and improve quality of life in obese or overweight patients.
Apoptosis Signal-Regulating Kinase 1 Is Involved in Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)-Enhanced Cell Motility and Matrix Metalloproteinase 1 Expression in Human Chondrosarcoma Cells

Chondrosarcoma is the primary malignancy of bone that is characterized by a potent capacity to invade locally and cause distant metastasis, and is therefore associated with poor prognoses. Chondrosarcoma further shows a predilection for metastasis to the lungs. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a small molecule in the neurotrophin family of growth factors that is associated with the disease status and outcome of cancers. However, the effect of BDNF on cell motility in human chondrosarcoma cells is mostly unknown. Here, we found that human chondrosarcoma cell lines had significantly higher cell motility and BDNF expression compared to normal chondrocytes. We also found that BDNF increased cell motility and expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) in human chondrosarcoma cells. BDNF-mediated cell motility and MMP-1 up-regulation were attenuated by Trk inhibitor (K252a), ASK1 inhibitor (thioredoxin), JNK inhibitor (SP600125), and p38 inhibitor (SB203580). Furthermore, BDNF also promoted Sp1 activation. Our results indicate that BDNF enhances the migration and invasion activity of chondrosarcoma cells by increasing MMP-1 expression through a signal transduction pathway that involves the TrkB receptor, ASK1, JNK/p38, and Sp1. BDNF thus represents a promising new target for treating chondrosarcoma metastasis.
Barriers to the adoption of software product line engineering

Software development costs and time to deploy a software-intensive system significantly decrease when Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) approach is applied. Numerous case stu-dies in industrial and military domains have shown that reliability, quality, productivity and user interface consistency improve drasti-cally in addition to the decrease of cost and time-to-market. Also, this system engineering approach is very effective in three market strategies known as cost leadership, differentiation, and focusing. Despite these measurable benefits, product line engineering adop-tion is slower than the other technological trends such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Model Driven Development (MDD), and Aspect Oriented Software Development (AOSD). In this pa-per, we investigate the barriers to the adoption of SPLE and ex-plore the root causes of them from three points of views: Project sponsor, organization, and SPLE community. We provide sugges-tions for how the industry and SPLE community can solve these multi-dimensional issues in a short term.
Haptic interaction in augmented reality

In an interactive augmented reality (AR) system, people are, most of the time, immersed in an environment rich of visual and audio feedback. The sense of touch is lacking in most of the AR environment. We present an augmented reality system where people can see life-size virtual human avatar in a real environment, and be able to have a physical haptic interaction with the avatar.