Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Active mechanistic target of rapamycin plays an ancillary rather than essential role in zebrafish CNS axon regeneration

The developmental decrease of the intrinsic regenerative ability of the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) is associated with reduced activity of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) in mature neurons such as retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). While mTOR activity is further decreased upon axonal injury, maintenance of its pre-injury level, for instance by genetic deletion of the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), markedly promotes axon regeneration in mammals. The current study now addressed the question whether active mTOR might generally play a central role in axon regeneration by analyzing its requirement in regeneration-competent zebrafish. Remarkably, regulation of mTOR activity after optic nerve injury in zebrafish is fundamentally different compared to mammals. Hardly any activity was detected in naïve RGCs, whereas it was markedly increased upon axotomy in vivo as well as in dissociated cell cultures. After a short burst, mTOR activity was quickly attenuated, which is contrary to the requirements for axon regeneration in mammals. Surprisingly, mTOR activity was not essential for axonal growth per se, but correlated with cytokine- and PTEN inhibitor-induced neurite extension in vitro. Moreover, inhibition of mTOR using rapamycin significantly reduced axon regeneration in vivo and compromised functional recovery after optic nerve injury. Therefore, axotomy-induced mTOR activity is involved in CNS axon regeneration in zebrafish similar to mammals, although it plays an ancillary rather than essential role in this regeneration-competent species.
How Accurate Are the Fusion of Cone-Beam CT and 3-D Stereophotographic Images?

Background Cone-beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) and stereophotography are two of the latest imaging modalities available for three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of craniofacial structures. However, CBCT provides only limited information on surface texture. This can be overcome by combining the bone images derived from CBCT with 3-D photographs. The objectives of this study were 1) to evaluate the feasibility of integrating 3-D Photos and CBCT images 2) to assess degree of error that may occur during the above processes and 3) to identify facial regions that would be most appropriate for 3-D image registration. Methodology CBCT scans and stereophotographic images from 29 patients were used for this study. Two 3-D images corresponding to the skin and bone were extracted from the CBCT data. The 3-D photo was superimposed on the CBCT skin image using relatively immobile areas of the face as a reference. 3-D colour maps were used to assess the accuracy of superimposition were distance differences between the CBCT and 3-D photo were recorded as the signed average and the Root Mean Square (RMS) error. Principal Findings: The signed average and RMS of the distance differences between the registered surfaces were −0.018 (±0.129) mm and 0.739 (±0.239) mm respectively. The most errors were found in areas surrounding the lips and the eyes, while minimal errors were noted in the forehead, root of the nose and zygoma. Conclusions CBCT and 3-D photographic data can be successfully fused with minimal errors. When compared to RMS, the signed average was found to under-represent the registration error. The virtual 3-D composite craniofacial models permit concurrent assessment of bone and soft tissues during diagnosis and treatment planning.
Automatic Analysis of Geotagged Photos for Intelligent Tourist Services

Web communities are making available an increasing volume of free, fresh, detailed and powerful information about living people. Among them, the Flickr photo-sharing service offers to researchers a database of several millions of geotagged pictures from users all around the world. Working on that opens the door to the study of meaningful mobility data, where title and description of a geotagged picture represent a mine from which extract labels to detect places and events, and useful information about user trends, behaviors and tastes. Our approach goes in the direction of developing an intelligence and unattended system able to extract and take advantage of up-to-date and spontaneous information embedded with pictures, making cities intelligent and able to reach user expectations. Such system, learning from past touristic user experiences, could make customized recommendations on “where to go”, and “what to see”, to people going to visit touristic places for the first time.
Genetic analysis reveals polygenic influences on iron, copper, and zinc in mouse hippocampus with neurobiological implications

Fe, Cu, and Zn are of widespread neurobiological importance, but must be regulated closely as too much or too little of these metals can have adverse effects on brain function. Recent evidence from nutritional models notes that the hippocampus is particularly vulnerable to Fe and Zn deficiencies. We recently performed a quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis as a preliminary step in identifying genes that contribute to natural variation in hippocampal Fe, Cu, and Zn content. We used ICP‐MS to measure the concentrations of these metals in 120‐day‐old mice from 30 strains of the BXD/TY panel. The BXD/Ty recombinant inbred strain panel is well‐suited for complex trait analysis, as all strains are genotyped with a dense marker set and have been phenotyped extensively for neurobehavioral traits and hippocampal gene expression. We observed a wide‐range of hippocampal Fe, Cu, and Zn concentrations across the BXD strains. These concentrations were related to systemic Fe status, but not to Fe, Cu, and Zn elsewhere in the brain. The three metals also showed strong covariance, suggestive of overlap in their regulatory pathways. We identified two QTL, on chromosomes 14 and 9, most strongly associated with Cu but also suggestively associated with Fe (chr. 14) and Zn (chr. 9). We also performed genetic correlational analyses with existing data on these strains and revealed associations with cognitive, anxiety‐related, and alcohol‐related phenotypes. Covariance of these metals with gene expression is also discussed. This work shows that hippocampal Fe, Cu, and Zn are under polygenic influence and that trace metal regulation is associated with hippocampus‐related behaviors. Future work will elucidate the genes underlying the two QTL identified, to aid in identifying homologous genetic variants in human populations, which may underlie altered trace metal homeostasis and related neurological disease. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Nuclear-Cytoplasmic Shuttling of Chibby Controls β-Catenin Signaling

Chibby (Cby) acts with 14-3-3 to regulate β-catenin localization in the canonical Wnt pathway. We show that Cby harbors functional NLS and NES motifs, and shuttles between the nucleus and cytoplasm. Cby distribution at steady state is controlled by an intricate cooperation between 14-3-3, CRM1 and importin-α, which impacts on β-catenin signaling.
Characterizing Implicit Communal Components as Technical Debt in Automotive Software Systems

Automotive software systems are often characterized by a set of features that are implemented through a network of communicating components. It is common practice to implement or adapt features by an ad hoc (re) use of signals that originate from components of another feature. Thereby, over time some components become so-called implicit communal components. These components increase the necessary efforts for several development activities because they introduce feature dependencies. Refactoring implicit communal components reduces these efforts but also costs refactoring effort. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence that implicit communal components exist in industrial automotive systems. For two cases, we show that less than 10% of the components are responsible for more than 90% of the feature dependencies. Secondly, we propose a refactoring approach for implicit communal components, which makes them explicit by moving them to a dedicated platform component layer. Finally, we characterize implicit communal components as technical debt, which is a metaphor for suboptimal solutions having short-term benefits but causing a long-term negative impact. With this metaphor, we describe the trade-off between accepting the negative effects of implicit communal components and spending the necessary refactoring costs.
Efficient Changing Pattern Detection on High Bandwidth Network Measurements

Since the distributed scientific collaborations and data volume grow, it has become more challenging to discover network usage patterns on a high-bandwidth, high-speed networks. It is computationally challenging due to the high frequency, large volume in the network measurements. To detect the patterns in the network measurements, we have selected and applied change point detection methods. These methods are computationally efficient and have adjustable parameters to decide the frequencies of resulted pattern changes. The detected changes can provide insights about the network usage patterns about many large data transfers or hardware/software failures.
An evaluation of near-field spatial feeds for phased array antennas

Microwave distribution systems for phased array antennas are always being optimized for compactness and higher performance. Hard wired corporate feeds are usually the implementation of choice because design information is well understood. However, compromises in system size, weight and performance are usually made as a trade for ease of design. Spatial near-field feed networks on the other hand have the potential of higher compactness and performance but are much harder to implement because their design information is not as well understood. This paper presents an example near-field spatial feed using a horn antenna feeding a three horn array. The demonstration is used to validate a near-field antenna array sampling technique developed for the purpose of designing near-field spatial feeds. The work includes the full 3D electromagnetic modeling of the feed, the optimization of the feed and finally the experimental testing of the feed. The modeled versus measured data presented will show that compact high performance spatial near-field feeds can be accurately modeled and implemented for specific feed requirements.
Precast Lightweight Foamed Concrete Sandwich Panel (PLFP) Tested under Axial Load: Preliminary Results

A study is carried out to develop a Precast Lightweight Foamed Concrete Sandwich Panel, PLFP, as a new and affordable building system. Experimental investigation to study the behaviour of the panel under axial load is undertaken. The panel consists of two lightweight foamed concrete wythes and a polystyrene insulation layer in between the wythes. The concrete panels are reinforced with 9mm diameter high tensile steel bars. The rebars are tied to each other through the insulation layer by shear connectors which are made of 6mm mild steel bars bent to 45º angle. Total number of four specimens was tested with one specimen; PA1 was cast without capping at both ends. It was used as a pilot test. The other three specimens are capped with normal concrete at both ends to avoid end crushing during axial loading. Axial load test was conducted and the results are presented here, which include the ultimate load capacity, crack pattern and failure mode, strain distribution and load-deflection curve of the panels. The experimental ultimate strength achieved recorded lesser percentage difference with the formulae by Pillai and Parthasarathy when compared to formulae in BS8110. It is also observed that the strength of the panels are affected by the compressive strength of the foamed concrete forming the wythes, the presence of concrete capping at panel’s ends and the slenderness ratio, H/t. Specimens with capping at both ends recorded higher ultimate loads with no premature crushing. Failure of panels with slenderness ratio, H/t < 18 were by premature buckling near the supports whereas for panels with higher H/t ratio, slight bending was observed in the middle zone. The results also indicate that a certain degree of compositeness is achieved between the wythes.
Stunned Myocardium Following Prolonged Cardiopulmonary Bypass: Effect of Warm versus Cold Cardioplegia in the Canine Model

“Stunned myocardium” is defined as the prolonged but transient postischemic contractile dysfunction of viable myocardium that has been salvaged by reperfusion. This phenomenon, although first characterized in the experimental canine model of coronary artery occlusion/reperfusion, also occurs following transient global ischemia. Moreover, despite the superb cardioprotection conferred by administration of cold cardioplegia during aortic cross‐clamping, stunned myocardium is a well‐recognized sequela of prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass. Using the anesthetized open chest dog, we tested the concept that continuous retrograde infusion of warm blood cardioplegia would effectively prevent ischemia during prolonged aortic cross‐clamping and thereby preclude the development of stunned myocardium following bypass. Thirteen dogs were placed on cardiopulmonary bypass and randomized to receive: (1) continuous retrograde administration of warm blood cardioplegia (n = 8); or (2) intermittent retrograde cold blood cardioplegia (n = 5) during a 3‐hour cross‐clamp period. Left ventricular (LV) systolic function (i.e., area LV ejection fraction and posterior LV free wall thickening assessed by two‐dimensional echocardiography) and hemodynamic parameters were monitored at baseline and at 1 and 2 hours postbypass and, at the end of the protocol, transmural myocardial biopsies were obtained for electron microscopic analysis. All dogs in both treatment groups showed electron microscopic evidence of mild and reversible morphological injury indicative of stunned myocardium, with no difference between dogs that received warm versus cold cardioplegia. Direct comparison of LV function between the two groups was confounded by a profound decrease in afterload in dogs that received cold cardioplegia. However, incorporation of systemic vascular resistance as a covariate revealed that LV function following bypass was modestly depressed at approximately 85% of baseline values, and that continuous administration of warm cardioplegia did not prevent this hypokinesis. Thus, in our canine model: (1) morphological injury and LV dysfunction induced by 3 hours of aortic cross‐clamping is subtle; and (2) continuous retrograde infusion of warm blood cardioplegia during the cross‐clamp period failed to preclude myocardial stunning following prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass.
Numerical Modeling of Chemical and Thermal Coupling in a Silicon Carbide Based Heat Exchanger Reactor

The objective of this paper is to present the solution developed to model the chem- ical and thermal coupling occurring in an intensied heat exchanger reactor. The results of this modeling are all the properties of the chemical uid along the conduit, and the temperature distribution in the structure. This will be used to manage a thermal and mechanical reliability study of the heat exchanger reactor.
Combining Shallow and Linguistically Motivated Features in Native Language Identification

We explore a range of features and ensembles for the task of Native Language Identification as part of the NLI Shared Task (Tetreault et al., 2013). Starting with recurring word-based ngrams (Bykh and Meurers, 2012), we tested different linguistic abstractions such as partof-speech, dependencies, and syntactic trees as features for NLI. We also experimented with features encoding morphological properties, the nature of the realizations of particular lemmas, and several measures of complexity developed for proficiency and readability classification (Vajjala and Meurers, 2012). Employing an ensemble classifier incorporating all of our features we achieved an accuracy of 82.2% (rank 5) in the closed task and 83.5% (rank 1) in the open-2 task. In the open-1 task, the word-based recurring ngrams outperformed the ensemble, yielding 38.5% (rank 2). Overall, across all three tasks, our best accuracy of 83.5% for the standard TOEFL11 test set came in second place.
The Response of Wives ’ Labor Supply to Husbands ’ Job Loss April 11 , 2008

This paper examines how Japanese wives react to their husbands' involuntary job loss, and tests the existence of complementarity of a wife's labor supply to her husband's. Utilizing panel data on Japanese households from 1993 to 2004, we found that wives' labor supply is stimulated when husbands suffer involuntary job loss. The detailed statistics show that not only do working wives raise their labor hours but also nonworking wives begin to participate in the labor market. The added worker effect is evident during the period of job insecurity in Japan following the mid-1990s.
Tagged Grid Matching Based Object Detection in Wavelet Neural Network

— Object detection using Wavelet Neural Network (WNN) plays a major contribution in the analysis of image processing. Existing cluster-based algorithm for co-saliency object detection performs the work on the multiple images. The co-saliency detection results are not desirable to handle the multi scale image objects in WNN. Existing Super Resolution (SR) scheme for landmark images identifies the corresponding regions in the images and reduces the mismatching rate. But the Structure-aware matching criterion is not paying attention to detect multiple regions in SR images and fail to enhance the result percentage of object detection. To detect the objects in the high-resolution remote sensing images, Tagged Grid Matching (TGM) technique is proposed in this paper. TGM technique consists of the three main components such as object determination, object searching and object verification in WNN. Initially, object determination in TGM technique specifies the position and size of objects in the current image. The specification of the position and size using the hierarchical grid easily determines the multiple objects. Second component, object searching in TGM technique is carried out using the cross-point searching. The cross out searching point of the objects is selected to faster the searching process and reduces the detection time. Final component performs the object verification process in TGM technique for identifying (i.e.,) detecting the dissimilarity of objects in the current frame. The verification process matches the search result grid points with the stored grid points to easily detect the objects using the Gabor wavelet Transform. The implementation of TGM technique offers a significant improvement on the multi-object detection rate, processing time, precision factor and detection accuracy level.
SMO Inhibition Modulates Cellular Plasticity and Invasiveness in Colorectal Cancer

HIGHLIGHTS Preliminary results of this work were presented at the 2016 Academic Surgical Congress, Jacksonville (FL), February 2–4 2016 (Original title: Selective Smo-Inhibition Interferes With Cellular Energetic Metabolism In Colorectal Cancer) This study was funded by “Sapienza—University of Rome” (Funds for young researchers) and “AIRC” (Italian Association for Cancer Research) Hedgehog inhibitor was kindly provided by Genentech, Inc.®. Colon Cancer (CC) is the fourth most frequently diagnosed tumor and the second leading cause of death in the USA. Abnormalities of Hedgehog pathway have been demonstrated in several types of human cancers, however the role of Hedgehog (Hh) in CC remain controversial. In this study, we analyzed the association between increased mRNA expression of GLI1 and GLI2, two Hh target genes, and CC survival and recurrence by gene expression microarray from a cohort of 382 CC patients. We found that patients with increased expression of GLI1 showed a statistically significant reduction in survival. In order to demonstrate a causal role of Hh pathway activation in the pathogenesis of CC, we treated HCT 116, SW480 and SW620 CC cells lines with GDC-0449, a pharmacological inhibitor of Smoothened (SMO). Treatment with GDC-0449 markedly reduced expression of Hh target genes GLI1, PTCH1, HIP1, MUC5AC, thus indicating that this pathway is constitutively active in CC cell lines. Moreover, GDC-0449 partially reduced cell proliferation, which was associated with upregulation of p21 and downregulation of CycD1. Finally, treatment with the same drug reduced migration and three-dimensional invasion, which were associated with downregulation of Snail1, the EMT master gene, and with induction of the epithelial markers Cytokeratin-18 and E-cadherin. These results were confirmed by SMO genetic silencing. Notably, treatment with 5E1, a Sonic Hedgehog-specific mAb, markedly reduced the expression of Hedgehog target genes, as well as inhibited cell proliferation and mediated reversion toward an epithelial phenotype. This suggests the existence of a Hedgehog autocrine signaling loop affecting cell plasticity and fostering cell proliferation and migration/invasion in CC cell lines. These discoveries encourage future investigations to better characterize the role of Hedgehog in cellular plasticity and invasion during the different steps of CC pathogenesis.
Still More on the  $1/f^{2}$ Phase Noise Performance of Harmonic Oscillators

Modeling tank losses in a harmonic oscillator by means of an equivalent parallel resistance may lead to an optimistic estimate of phase noise, as recently experienced in a class-D CMOS oscillator. The discrepancy is significant if two conditions are fulfilled: The single-ended portion of the tank capacitance displays a non-negligible loss, and the loop gain of the oscillator is very large; in the latter case, a phase noise boost is likely to occur. In this brief, we derive phase noise equations that capture such behavior in a class-B oscillator, which is easier to approach than a class-D oscillator. The results, however, are (qualitatively) valid in general. Furthermore, the phase noise caused by the oscillator active core is always proportional to the phase noise caused by the tank losses independently of the amount of phase noise boost. The agreement between theoretical and simulation results is excellent.
Thermographic characterization of impact damage in SiC/SiC composite materials

SiC/SiC composite materials targeted as turbine components for next generation aero-engines are being investigated at NASA Glenn Research Center. In order to examine damage mechanisms in these materials, SiC/SiC coupons were impacted with 1.59 mm diameter steel spheres at increasing velocities from 115 m/s to 400 m/s. Pulsed thermography, a nondestructive evaluation technique that monitors the thermal response of a sample over time, was utilized to characterize the impact damage. A thermal standard of similar material was fabricated to aid in the interpretation of the thermographic data and to provide information regarding thermography system detection capabilities in 2.4 mm thick SiC/SiC composite materials. Flat bottom holes at various depths with aspect ratios greater than 2.5 were detectable in the thermal images. In addition, the edges of holes at depths of 1.93 mm into the sample were not as resolvable as flat bottom holes closer to the surface. Finally, cooling behavior was characterized in SiC/SiC materials and used to determine impact damage depth within an 8.5% error of a known depth.