Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Laser exposure of gold nanorods can induce intracellular calcium transients

Uncoated and poly(styrene sulphonate) (PSS)‐coated gold nanorods were taken up by NG108‐15 neuronal cells. Exposure to 780 nm laser light at the plasmon resonance wavelength of the gold nanorods was found to induce intracellular Ca2+ transients. The higher Ca2+ peaks were observed at lower laser doses, with the highest levels obtained at a radiant exposure of 0.33 J/cm2. In contrast, the cells without nanoparticles showed a consistently small response, independent of the laser dose. These initial results open up new opportunities for peripheral nerve regeneration treatments and for more efficient optical stimulation techniques. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Teacher and Peer Participation in Functional Analysis and Intervention for a First Grade Student with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

This study evaluated the current trend in functional analysis literature toward conducting the analysis in the classroom with teachers and peers. Procedures included a functional behavioral interview with the teacher, a descriptive observation, teacher training on the functional analysis procedures, a functional analysis, and implementing a socially valid and function-based classroom intervention. Functional analysis measures included the percentage of partial intervals in which the target behaviors (inappropriate vocalizations and disruptions) occurred as well as condition integrity for both the teacher and the peers. Classroom intervention measures included the rate of target behaviors and three descriptive variables: teacher and peer contingent attention to target behaviors and teacher praise. The results showed the function-based intervention effectively reduced the rate of target behaviors from baseline. The results also suggested general education teachers and peers are capable of participating in the functional analysis within the natural schedule of the classroom.
Type I phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase isoforms are specifically stimulated by phosphatidic acid.

A phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PIP) kinase was isolated and purified to near homogeneity from bovine erythrocyte membranes. The PIP kinase was extracted from bovine erythrocyte membranes with a high salt wash, followed by phosphocellulose and phenyl-Sepharose chromatography. The predominant protein after phenyl-Sepharose purification had a molecular size of 68 kDa. Renaturation of PIP kinase activity after SDS-PAGE showed that a 68-kDa protein was able to phosphorylate PIP. An antibody developed against the 68-kDa protein Western blots the 68-kDa protein and is able to immunoprecipitate the 68-kDa protein and PIP kinase activity from membrane extracts. Based on functional studies, the 68-kDa protein is indistinguishable from the type I PIP kinase previously characterized from human erythrocyte membranes (Bazenet, C. E., Ruano, A.R., Brockman, J.L., and Anderson, R.A. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 18012-18022). These studies also show that the type I PIP kinases, but not the type II PIP kinase, are stimulated by phosphatidic acid, suggesting alternative roles for these enzymes. Two immunoreactive isoforms of the type I PIP kinase, of 68 and 90 kDa, were identified in rat brain and partially purified. Both of these isoforms are also stimulated by phosphatidic acid.
Rank based fingerprinting algorithm for indoor positioning

A novel Received Signal Strength (RSS) rank based fingerprinting algorithm for indoor positioning is presented. Because RSS rank is invariant to bias and scaling, the algorithm provides the same accuracy for any receiver device, without the need for RSS calibration. Similarity measures to compare ranked vectors are introduced and their impact on positioning accuracy is investigated in experiments. Experimental results shown that proposed algorithm can achieve better accuracy than commonly used NN and WKNN fingerprinting algorithms.
Einsatz von Simulationspatienten als Lehr-, Lern- und Prüfungsform

The new German requirements for Licensure to practice medicine focus on teaching clinical skills. It will become difficult for Medical Schools to fulfil these new requirements in the training of medical students with the increasing cost effectiveness in patient care. Standardized patients can be a very useful tool in teaching clinical skills. Implementation of a standardized patients program provides a quasi-real but safe learning environment in which students can acquire skills in physical examination, history taking, interpersonal and communication skills. These skills can also be assessed in this environment.
A Practical Approach to Exploiting Coarse-Grained Pipeline Parallelism in C Programs

The emergence of multicore processors has heightened the need for effective parallel programming practices. In addition to writing new parallel programs, the next generation of programmers will be faced with the overwhelming task of migrating decades' worth of legacy C code into a parallel representation. Addressing this problem requires a toolset of parallel programming primitives that can broadly apply to both new and existing programs. While tools such as threads and OpenMP allow programmers to express task and data parallelism, support for pipeline parallelism is distinctly lacking. In this paper, we offer a new and pragmatic approach to leveraging coarse-grained pipeline parallelism in C programs. We target the domain of streaming applications, such as audio, video, and digital signal processing, which exhibit regular flows of data. To exploit pipeline parallelism, we equip the programmer with a simple set of annotations (indicating pipeline boundaries) and a dynamic analysis that tracks all communication across those boundaries. Our analysis outputs a stream graph of the application as well as a set of macros for parallelizing the program and communicating the data needed. We apply our methodology to six case studies, including MPEG-2 decoding, MP3 decoding, GMTI radar processing, and three SPEC benchmarks. Our analysis extracts a useful block diagram for each application, and the parallelized versions offer a 2.78x mean speedup on a 4-core machine.
Decoding EEG and LFP signals using deep learning: heading TrueNorth

Deep learning technology is uniquely suited to analyse neurophysiological signals such as the electroencephalogram (EEG) and local field potentials (LFP) and promises to outperform traditional machine-learning based classification and feature extraction algorithms. Furthermore, novel cognitive computing platforms such as IBM's recently introduced neuromorphic TrueNorth chip allow for deploying deep learning techniques in an ultra-low power environment with a minimum device footprint. Merging deep learning and TrueNorth technologies for real-time analysis of brain-activity data at the point of sensing will create the next generation of wearables at the intersection of neurobionics and artificial intelligence.
Spherical Image Processing for Immersive Visualisation and View Generation

This research presents the study of processing panoramic spherical images for immersive visualisation of real environments and generation of in-between views based on two views acquired. For visualisation based on one spherical image, the surrounding environment is modelled by a unit sphere mapped with the spherical image and the user is then allowed to navigate within the modelled scene. For visualisation based on two spherical images, a view generation algorithm is developed for modelling an indoor manmade environment and new views can be generated at an arbitrary position with respect to the existing two. This allows the scene to be modelled using multiple spherical images and the user to move smoothly from one sphere mapped image to another one by going through in-between sphere mapped images generated.
Analysis of a very large web search engine query log

In this paper we present an analysis of an AltaVista Search Engine query log consisting of approximately 1 billion entries for search requests over a period of six weeks. This represents almost 285 million user sessions, each an attempt to fill a single information need. We present an analysis of individual queries, query duplication, and query sessions. We also present results of a correlation analysis of the log entries, studying the interaction of terms within queries. Our data supports the conjecture that web users differ significantly from the user assumed in the standard information retrieval literature. Specifically, we show that web users type in short queries, mostly look at the first 10 results only, and seldom modify the query. This suggests that traditional information retrieval techniques may not work well for answering web search requests. The correlation analysis showed that the most highly correlated items are constituents of phrases. This result indicates it may be useful for search engines to consider search terms as parts of phrases even if the user did not explicitly specify them as such.
Tree-to-String Alignment Template for Statistical Machine Translation

We present a novel translation model based on tree-to-string alignment template (TAT) which describes the alignment between a source parse tree and a target string. A TAT is capable of generating both terminals and non-terminals and performing reordering at both low and high levels. The model is linguistically syntax-based because TATs are extracted automatically from word-aligned, source side parsed parallel texts. To translate a source sentence, we first employ a parser to produce a source parse tree and then apply TATs to transform the tree into a target string. Our experiments show that the TAT-based model significantly outperforms Pharaoh, a state-of-the-art decoder for phrase-based models.
Case research on knowledge acquisition: observations and lessons

Abstract Expert systems are being built despite the widely acknowledged problem of acquiring knowledge from experts. This study attempts to understand how knowledge acquisition is conducted in practice by investigating three expert system development projects. A CASE research methodology is adopted, and data is collected through unobtrusive observation, from taped protocols of knowledge acquisition sessions, retrospective interviews with the participants involved, and deliverables produced. The variables examined include the problem domain, the domain expert, the knowledge engineer, the knowledge acquisition process, the expert system construction process, potential users, organizational setting, and the expert system itself. The knowledge acquisition processes for three expert systems in the domains of law of negligence, telephone line fault diagnosis, and wastewater treatment have been examined. By juxtaposing the observations drawn with findings from the relevant literature, the study makes prescriptive suggestions on considerations and techniques for future acquisition efforts, and provides data for hypothesis generation in further research.
The twin-cycle experiential learning model: reconceptualising Kolb's theory

Experiential learning styles remain popular despite criticisms about their validity, usefulness, fragmentation and poor definitions and categorisation. After examining four prominent models and building on Bergsteiner, Avery, and Neumann's suggestion of a dual cycle, this paper proposes a twin-cycle experiential learning model to overcome identified problems and integrate the experiential learning field. In the model, an initial response to a learning stimulus or intent occurs at the intersection of a concrete/active/primary learning cycle and an abstract/passive/secondary cycle. The model accommodates four classes of variables that describe six broad learning activity types (engage in, write about, observe, hear/see, read, hear), the three senses these activities predominantly engage (kinaesthetic, visual, aural), six learning modes (concrete, active, primary, abstract, passive, secondary) and four learning stages. Importantly, instead of assigning learning modes to stages of learning as Kolb does, the model assigns them to the two cycles as a whole.
Decoding the future from past experience: learning shapes predictions in early visual cortex

Learning the structure of the environment is critical for interpreting the current scene and predicting upcoming events. However, the brain mechanisms that support our ability to translate knowledge about scene statistics to sensory predictions remain largely unknown. Here we provide evidence that learning of temporal regularities shapes representations in early visual cortex that relate to our ability to predict sensory events. We tested the participants' ability to predict the orientation of a test stimulus after exposure to sequences of leftward- or rightward-oriented gratings. Using fMRI decoding, we identified brain patterns related to the observers' visual predictions rather than stimulus-driven activity. Decoding of predicted orientations following structured sequences was enhanced after training, while decoding of cued orientations following exposure to random sequences did not change. These predictive representations appear to be driven by the same large-scale neural populations that encode actual stimulus orientation and to be specific to the learned sequence structure. Thus our findings provide evidence that learning temporal structures supports our ability to predict future events by reactivating selective sensory representations as early as in primary visual cortex.
Transport of Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide to the Golgi Apparatus

Addition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to cells in the form of LPS–soluble (s)CD14 complexes induces strong cellular responses. During this process, LPS is delivered from sCD14 to the plasma membrane, and the cell-associated LPS is then rapidly transported to an intracellular site. This transport appears to be important for certain cellular responses to LPS, as drugs that block transport also inhibit signaling and cells from LPS-hyporesponsive C3H/HeJ mice fail to exhibit this transport. To identify the intracellular destination of fluorescently labeled LPS after its delivery from sCD14 into cells, we have made simultaneous observations of different organelles using fluorescent vital dyes or probes. Endosomes, lysosomes, the endoplasmic reticulum, and the Golgi apparatus were labeled using Texas red (TR)–dextran, LysoTracker™ Red DND-99, DiOC6(3), and boron dipyrromethane (BODIPY)–ceramide, respectively. After 30 min, LPS did not colocalize with endosomes, lysosomes, or endoplasmic reticulum in polymorphonuclear leukocytes, although some LPS-positive vesicles overlapped with the endosomal marker, fluorescent dextran. On the other hand, LPS did appear to colocalize with two markers of the Golgi apparatus, BODIPY–ceramide and TRITC (tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate)–labeled cholera toxin B subunit. We further confirmed the localization of LPS in the Golgi apparatus using an epithelial cell line, HeLa, which responds to LPS–sCD14 complexes in a CD14-dependent fashion: BODIPY–LPS was internalized and colocalized with fluorescently labeled Golgi apparatus probes in live HeLa cells. Morphological disruption of the Golgi apparatus in brefeldin A–treated HeLa cells caused intracellular redistribution of fluorescent LPS. These results are consistent with the Golgi apparatus being the primary delivery site of monomeric LPS.
Role of Human DNA Glycosylase Nei-like 2 (NEIL2) and Single Strand Break Repair Protein Polynucleotide Kinase 3′-Phosphatase in Maintenance of Mitochondrial Genome*

The repair of reactive oxygen species-induced base lesions and single strand breaks (SSBs) in the nuclear genome via the base excision (BER) and SSB repair (SSBR) pathways, respectively, is well characterize, and important for maintaining genomic integrity. However, the role of mitochondrial (mt) BER and SSBR proteins in mt genome maintenance is not completely clear. Here we show the presence of the oxidized base-specific DNA glycosylase Nei-like 2 (NEIL2) and the DNA end-processing enzyme polynucleotide kinase 3′-phosphatase (PNKP) in purified human mitochondrial extracts (MEs). Confocal microscopy revealed co-localization of PNKP and NEIL2 with the mitochondrion-specific protein cytochrome c oxidase subunit 2 (MT-CO2). Further, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed association of NEIL2 and PNKP with the mitochondrial genes MT-CO2 and MT-CO3 (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 3); importantly, both enzymes also associated with the mitochondrion-specific DNA polymerase γ. In cell association of NEIL2 and PNKP with polymerase γ was further confirmed by proximity ligation assays. PNKP-depleted ME showed a significant decrease in both BER and SSBR activities, and PNKP was found to be the major 3′-phosphatase in human ME. Furthermore, individual depletion of NEIL2 and PNKP in human HEK293 cells caused increased levels of oxidized bases and SSBs in the mt genome, respectively. Taken together, these studies demonstrate the critical role of NEIL2 and PNKP in maintenance of the mammalian mitochondrial genome.
Pharmacokinetics of propylthiouracil in man after a single oral dose.

A specific method for the analysis ofpropylthiouracil by high pressureion. exchange chromatography is presented. Preliminary pharmacokinetic data in 6 normal subjects following the administration of 200 mg per os of propylthiouracil indicated a half-life of 1.1 hr.
Geographies of production I: An evolutionary revolution?

This report profiles the recent upsurge of interest in evolutionary approaches within economic geography. It seeks to do four things: (1) provide evidence of the growing interest in evolutionary economic geography; (2) explore the roots and theoretical underpinnings of the approach; (3) review the main strands of evolutionary economic geography research currently being undertaken; and (4) offer a preliminary evaluation of the strengths and limitations of this increasingly significant body of work.
Potential Use of BEST® Sediment Trap in Splash - Saltation Transport Process by Simultaneous Wind and Rain Tests

The research on wind-driven rain (WDR) transport process of the splash-saltation has increased over the last twenty years as wind tunnel experimental studies provide new insights into the mechanisms of simultaneous wind and rain (WDR) transport. The present study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of the BEST® sediment traps in catching the sand particles transported through the splash-saltation process under WDR conditions. Experiments were conducted in a wind tunnel rainfall simulator facility with water sprayed through sprinkler nozzles and free-flowing wind at different velocities to simulate the WDR conditions. Not only for vertical sediment distribution, but a series of experimental tests for horizontal distribution of sediments was also performed using BEST® collectors to obtain the actual total sediment mass flow by the splash-saltation in the center of the wind tunnel test section. Total mass transport (kg m-2) were estimated by analytically integrating the exponential functional relationship using the measured sediment amounts at the set trap heights for every run. Results revealed the integrated efficiency of the BEST® traps at 6, 9, 12 and 15 m s-1 wind velocities under 55.8, 50.5, 55.0 and 50.5 mm h-1 rain intensities were, respectively, 83, 106, 105, and 102%. Results as well showed that the efficiencies of BEST® did not change much as compared with those under rainless wind condition.
Validity of the Fear of Progression Questionnaire‐Short Form in patients with systemic sclerosis

To validate the Dutch translation of the Fear of Progression Questionnaire‐Short Form (FoP‐Q‐SF) for patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Although concerns about the future are often expressed by patients with SSc, there is no valid quantitative measure available to assess the extent to which patients with SSc are troubled by those concerns.
Re-Creation of Rituals in Humanistic Buddhism: A Case Study of FoGuangShan

The rise of humanistic Buddhism in the early twentieth century was a direct reaction against the practice of rituals for the dead by highlighting the importance of serving and benefiting the livings in this world here and now. Nevertheless, almost one hundred years later today, rituals for the dead continue to play very important role in Humanistic Buddhism. This paper analyses the ritual theory of Master Xing Yun (星雲), one of the leading figures in contemporary Humanistic Buddhism, and examines how Fo Guang Shan—founded by Xing Yu—has recreated rituals not only for the sake of the dead but also for the spiritual advancement of living human beings. I argue that (1) Humanistic Buddhism does not entirely reject rituals; (2) ritual practice in Humanistic Buddhism has maintained the idea of transcendence of Buddhism, thus actually sanctifying the secular life of Buddhists and extending the sacred space to the public arena beyond the temple walls.
Construction of Identity in Michael Jackson's Jam

This paper presents a partial account of a systemic - functional semiotics of action and applies it to an analysis of a Michael Jackson video clip, Jam . Two action patterns are identified in Jam : phases and foregrounding. The phases chart the development of the action in the video, and foregrounding forms the basis of an interpretation in terms of themes having to do with construction of identity. An effort is made to make explicit the interpretive process in the manner of reader - oriented theories.
Relationship between Anxiety and Burnout among Chinese Physicians: A Moderated Mediation Model

Objective The main goal of this research was to investigate the complex relationships among coping styles, personality, burnout, and anxiety using a moderated mediation analysis. Methods A random cluster sampling procedure was used to select a total of 1274 physicians from two tertiary grade A hospitals in Heilongjiang Province, which is located in northeast China. The Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Chinese Maslach Burnout Inventory (CMBI), Chinese version of the EPQ-revised Short Scale, and the Trait Coping Style Questionnaire (TCSQ) were used to gather data. Moderated mediation analysis was used in this study; it was executed using the PROCESS macro so that the mediators and moderator could function together in the same model. Results The prevalence of anxiety symptoms among the physicians was 31%, and there were no differences between the sexes. The results showed that positive and negative coping styles partially mediated the association between burnout and anxiety symptoms in physicians. The mediated effect of positive coping styles was moderated by Eysenck’s Psychoticism traits. Conclusions Personality traits moderate the strength of the relationships between burnout and anxiety mediated by positive coping styles; however, personality traits do not moderate the strength of the relationships between burnout and anxiety mediated by negative coping styles.