Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Successful Development of Small Diameter Tissue-Engineering Vascular Vessels by Our Novel Integrally Designed Pulsatile Perfusion-Based Bioreactor

Small-diameter (<4 mm) vascular constructs are urgently needed for patients requiring replacement of their peripheral vessels. However, successful development of constructs remains a significant challenge. In this study, we successfully developed small-diameter vascular constructs with high patency using our integrally designed computer-controlled bioreactor system. This computer-controlled bioreactor system can confer physiological mechanical stimuli and fluid flow similar to physiological stimuli to the cultured grafts. The medium circulating system optimizes the culture conditions by maintaining fixed concentration of O2 and CO2 in the medium flow and constant delivery of nutrients and waste metabolites, as well as eliminates the complicated replacement of culture medium in traditional vascular tissue engineering. Biochemical and mechanical assay of newly developed grafts confirm the feasibility of the bioreactor system for small-diameter vascular engineering. Furthermore, the computer-controlled bioreactor is superior for cultured cell proliferation compared with the traditional non-computer-controlled bioreactor. Specifically, our novel bioreactor system may be a potential alternative for tissue engineering of large-scale small-diameter vascular vessels for clinical use.
CORRELATING THE MAGNITUDE AND SPATIAL GRADIENT OF AL TERNANS

OF THESIS CORRELATING THE MAGNITUDE AND SPATIAL GRADIENT OF ALTERNANS Electrical restitution has been shown to inaccurately predict the occurrence of alternans of action potential duration. A new method using the spatial gradient of alternans (SGA) is proposed to predict alternans and cardiac electrical stability. A simulated 1-D strand of tissue was used to compare indexes computed from restitution methods and the SGA method to changes in the amplitude of alternans using different electro-physiological alterations. The SGA method correlated better with changes in the amplitude of alternans than restitution methods for a decrease in the transient outward current (Ito) and conduction velocity. Restitution methods correlated better with changes in the amplitude of alternans than the SGA method when the inward rectifier potassium current (Ik1) and the delayed rectifier potassium current (Ikr) were decreased. Restitution methods and the SGA method correlated well with changes in the amplitude of alternans when the L-type calcium channel current (ICaL) was altered and when Ikr, Ik1, and the sodium/calcium exchange current (INaCa) were increased. The SGA method includes the effect of conduction in tissue and reveals other features that provide advantages in predicting stability over currently used restitution methods.
The Morality of Television Genres: Norm Violations and Their Narrative Context in Four Popular Genres of Serial Fiction

ABSTRACT In a quantitative content analysis, social norm violations and their narrative context are analyzed in 225 episodes of 15 television series of four popular television genres (crime drama, medical drama, sitcom, and daily soap). Extending previous studies, the authors’ results indicate that aggressive norm violations are only a fraction of all norm violations, which are dominated by lying/deception, swearing/use of vulgar language, and verbal attacks. The narrative context shows that norm violations are often motivated by egoism, receive low punishment, are rarely forgiven and seldom reflected by the characters; this, however, depends on the type of norm violation. Genre differences were observed and their potential for effects on audiences’ moral thinking is discussed.
The Relationship between Bilingualism and Identity in Expressing Emotions and Thoughts

This paper deals with the relationship between bilingualism and ways of expressing emotions and thoughts. The paper is divided into two main sections. The first section is the theoretical part and the second part is the analysis of the research conducted for the purposes of this paper. As far as the theoretical part is concerned, the first chapter offers the definitions of bilingualism and how bilingualism is connected to construction of identity. The second chapter explains the impact of bilingualism on emotions and the following chapter on cognitive processes. At the beginning of the second section the aim of the research and the methodology are presented. Results and the analysis of the undertaken research are discussed in the remainder of the paper. After placing the participants in their social environment, the focus is placed on the relationship between bilingualism and ways of expressing emotions, as this part examines different criteria which are taken into consideration to prove that a bilingual uses different languages in order to express emotions. The last part analyzes the results concerning cognitive process. Moreover, it analyzes different actions associated with thinking and examines for which processes and in which situations a bilingual uses a particular language.
A novel framework for molecular co-expression pattern analysis in multi-channel toponome fluorescence images

Bioimage computing is rapidly emerging as an important area in image based systems biology with an emphasis on spatiotemporal localization of subcellular bio-molecules, most importantly proteins. A key problem in this domain is analysis of protein co-localization or co expression of protein molecules. Imaging techniques, such as the Toponome Imaging System (TIS) [1], with the ability to localize several different proteins in the same tissue specimen are only becoming available recently. Traditional co-localization studies and some of the modern coexpression studies have serious limitations when analyzing this kind of data. Here we present a framework for the analysis of molecular co-expression patterns (MCEPs) in TIS image data
WDM Optical Packet Switches with Bufferless and Partially Shared Buffering Wavelength Converters 無緩衝和部份分擔緩衝之波長轉換器 在波分多工數據封包交換機上的應用

Abstract-In this paper we introduce two architectures for optical packet switches. One is a bufferless switch employing shared Tunable Wavelength Converters (TWCs), and the other is a packet switch with Partially Shared Buffering (PSB). They were proposed for solving problems of contention resolution. The bufferless optical packet switch employing shared TWCs allows a saving in terms of employed number of converters under constraints of prefixed packet loss probability. The optical packet switch with PSB, in addition to dedicating an individual prime buffer for each output, incorporates a separate buffer for all the outputs to share. A lower packet loss probability can be achieved without the need of either dramatically increasing the size of each prime output buffer or deploying a large number of wavelength converters.
Treadmill exercise exerts ameliorating effect on isolation-induced depression via neuronal activation

Maternal isolation has been used as a valid animal model of early life stress, and it induces depression to offspring. Exercise ameliorates the incidence and severity of stress-related mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Here in this study, we investigated the effects of treadmill exercise on brain neuronal excitation in the rat pups with maternal isolation-induced depression. Forced swimming test and immunohistochemistry for glucocorticoid receptor and c-Fos in the hippocampal dentate gyrus and hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus were conducted. Maternal isolation lasted for 6 hours per day and was continued from postnatal day 1 to postnatal day 30. The rat pups in the exercise group were forced to run on a treadmill for 30 min once a day for 10 consecutive days, starting from the postnatal day 21 until the postnatal day 30. In the present results, treadmill exercise alleviated depressive state in the maternal separated rat pups, as potently as fluoxetine treatment. Treadmill exercise also restored the expressions of glucocorticoid receptor and c-Fos in the hippocampal dentate gyrus and hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus of the maternal separated rat pups near to the control level, as fluoxetine treatment. The present study suggests the possibility that treadmill exercise can be used as the therapeutic strategy for the childhood depression induced by disturbed mother-child relationship.
The Snowden Files Made Public: A Material Politics of Contesting Surveillance

In the wake of the disclosures by Edward Snowden about NSA surveillance practices, a series of public hearings was held before the Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee of the European Parliament in 2013–2014. These hearings offer a wealth of information concerning the details of Snowden’s claims, their implications for privacy rights, and the way in which the transatlantic political dialogue on these issues is unfolding. However, they have yet to receive academic attention. This article suggests that the LIBE Hearings were an important platform that rendered the contested Snowden files into public evidence of contemporary surveillance practices. Drawing on the concept of “material publics” proposed by Noortje Marres and others, we examine how the material setting of LIBE was crucial to the ways in which the Snowden files were made public in Europe. Valid evidence was produced, legal issues were identified, technological solutions were fostered, and responsibilities were enacted and denied.
EUSUM: extracting easy-to-understand english summaries for non-native readers

In this paper we investigate a novel and important problem in multi-document summarization, i.e., how to extract an easy-to-understand English summary for non-native readers. Existing summarization systems extract the same kind of English summaries from English news documents for both native and non-native readers. However, the non-native readers have different English reading skills because they have different English education and learning backgrounds. An English summary which can be easily understood by native readers may be hardly understood by non-native readers. We propose to add the dimension of reading easiness or difficulty to multi-document summarization, and the proposed EUSUM system can produce easy-to-understand summaries according to the English reading skills of the readers. The sentence-level reading easiness (or difficulty) is predicted by using the SVM regression method. And the reading easiness score of each sentence is then incorporated into the summarization process. Empirical evaluation and user study have been performed and the results demonstrate that the EUSUM system can produce more easy-to-understand summaries for non-native readers than existing summarization systems, with very little sacrifice of the summary's informativeness.
Parallel Apriori Algorithm Based on the Thread Pool

Discovery of association rules has a significant meaning in data mining, in which the most influential algorithm is Apriori. Due to the huge size of database and increasing amount of computation, a number of parallel algorithms have already been proposed. In order to achieve high-performance parallel computing, it is necessary to reduce redundant computation and avoid too much communication between parallel tasks, and achieve load balancing. Parallel algorithms, based on multi-processor, are concerned about the distribution of parallel tasks to improve the utilization of computing resources. These methods often require a compromise in computation, communication, load balancing, etc. For the most effective control thread, we first introduce the thread pool into the Apriori parallel algorithms. This method does not require redundant communication or computation, but can achieve load balancing so as to fully utilize the computing resources.
Aflatoxin genotoxicity is associated with a defective DNA damage response bypassing p53 activation

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer deaths. Aflatoxins, which may play a causative role in 5–28% of HCCs worldwide, are activated in liver cells and induce principally G→T mutations, including the TP53 codon 249(G→T) hotspot mutation. The DNA damage checkpoint response acts as an antitumour mechanism against genotoxic agents, but its role in aflatoxin‐induced DNA damage is unknown.
Path planning for robot using Population-Based Incremental Learning

Recently, genetic algorithms (GAs) have attracted great interest owing to efficiency and flexibility against complex robot path planning problems. To accelerate the convergence speed, preceding researches adapted conventional GAs by using problem-specific techniques. However, such approaches increase computational burden and algorithmic complexity, resulting in subsequent additional problems. In this paper, we used Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) algorithm for robot path planning as a probabilistic evolutionary approach. In addition to PBIL, we also proposed the probabilistic model of nodes and the edge bank to generate promising paths. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method gave markedly better performance than its conventional counter-parts(GA,kGA,fGA) in terms of success rates and the quality of obtained paths.
Experience with heterogenous clock-skew based device fingerprinting

The goal of this research is to validate clock skew based device fingerprinting introduced in 2005 and explore the feasibility of its usage and/or modification to facilitate unique device identification across heterogenous target devices with improved accuracy and reduced errors. Our network consists of 212 devices that include desktops, laptops and handhelds. We conduct a systematic evaluation of the clock-skew fingerprint stability across 3 primary dimensions namely, change in target host environment, configuration and measurement methodology. We also investigate parameters that affect clock skew of a device. Our results indicate that a minimum of 70 packets are required to achieve a stable skew estimate. We also observe a significant difference between desktop and handheld clock-skew behavior with the factors affecting skew estimates being handheld power state and NTP updates. Thus, for a moderate-size network, clock skew based fingerprints provide a stable and conclusive means of identification for desktops and laptops but show jumps for the handhelds.
High Throughput Microplate Respiratory Measurements Using Minimal Quantities Of Isolated Mitochondria

Recently developed technologies have enabled multi-well measurement of O2 consumption, facilitating the rate of mitochondrial research, particularly regarding the mechanism of action of drugs and proteins that modulate metabolism. Among these technologies, the Seahorse XF24 Analyzer was designed for use with intact cells attached in a monolayer to a multi-well tissue culture plate. In order to have a high throughput assay system in which both energy demand and substrate availability can be tightly controlled, we have developed a protocol to expand the application of the XF24 Analyzer to include isolated mitochondria. Acquisition of optimal rates requires assay conditions that are unexpectedly distinct from those of conventional polarography. The optimized conditions, derived from experiments with isolated mouse liver mitochondria, allow multi-well assessment of rates of respiration and proton production by mitochondria attached to the bottom of the XF assay plate, and require extremely small quantities of material (1–10 µg of mitochondrial protein per well). Sequential measurement of basal, State 3, State 4, and uncoupler-stimulated respiration can be made in each well through additions of reagents from the injection ports. We describe optimization and validation of this technique using isolated mouse liver and rat heart mitochondria, and apply the approach to discover that inclusion of phosphatase inhibitors in the preparation of the heart mitochondria results in a specific decrease in rates of Complex I-dependent respiration. We believe this new technique will be particularly useful for drug screening and for generating previously unobtainable respiratory data on small mitochondrial samples.
Biochemical Characterization of Uracil Phosphoribosyltransferase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRT) catalyzes the conversion of uracil and 5-phosphoribosyl-α-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) to uridine 5′-monophosphate (UMP) and pyrophosphate (PPi). UPRT plays an important role in the pyrimidine salvage pathway since UMP is a common precursor of all pyrimidine nucleotides. Here we describe cloning, expression and purification to homogeneity of upp-encoded UPRT from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtUPRT). Mass spectrometry and N-terminal amino acid sequencing unambiguously identified the homogeneous protein as MtUPRT. Analytical ultracentrifugation showed that native MtUPRT follows a monomer-tetramer association model. MtUPRT is specific for uracil. GTP is not a modulator of MtUPRT ativity. MtUPRT was not significantly activated or inhibited by ATP, UTP, and CTP. Initial velocity and isothermal titration calorimetry studies suggest that catalysis follows a sequential ordered mechanism, in which PRPP binding is followed by uracil, and PPi product is released first followed by UMP. The pH-rate profiles indicated that groups with pK values of 5.7 and 8.1 are important for catalysis, and a group with a pK value of 9.5 is involved in PRPP binding. The results here described provide a solid foundation on which to base upp gene knockout aiming at the development of strategies to prevent tuberculosis.
FUNCTIONAL DESIGN OF THE FEEDING MECHANISM IN SALAMANDERS: CAUSAL BASES OF ONTOGENETIC CHANGES IN FUNCTION

SUMMARY Many correlated changes in the structure and function of the skull occur during metamorphosis in salamanders. To separate correlated from causal changes in form and function, we experimentally converted the unidirectional flow feeding system in axolotls (Ainbystonta mexicanum) to a bidirectional system by suturing closed the gill slits. This mimics one of the major structural changes in the feeding mechanism that occur at metamorphosis. Eleven variables were measured from the intra-oral pressure traces recorded during feeding. The major changes in buccal pressure produced by suturing the gill slits were in the duration and area of the negative pressure traces. In addition, the ratio of positive to negative pressure areas increased by four times following closure of the gill slits. In contrast to pressure changes during metamorphosis in tiger salamanders, increases in the positive portion of the pressure traces occur in axolotls. These data corroborate the hypothesis that the decreased feeding performance after metamorphosis is a direct consequence of the change from a unidirectional to a bidirectional feeding mechanism, and demonstrate the causes of ontogenetic changes in function.
Social phobia and personality disorders: Comorbidity and treatment issues

Dit proefschrift bevat twee literatuuroverzichten en zes empirische onderzoeken naar de comorbiditeit van sociale fobie en persoonlijkheidsstoornissen. De nadruk ligt hierbij op diagnostiek en behandeling. Het onderzoek begon in 1990 met het uitgangspunt dat exposure in vivo een effectieve behandelingsstrategie is voor mensen met een sociale fobie. Echter, gematigd enthousiasme bleek op zijn plaats vanwege de grote verschillen in effectiviteit tussen de onderzoeken en de, veelal aanzienlijke, percentages mensen die voortijdig met de behandeling stopten. Voor deze twee bevindingen werden verschillende verklaringen gepostuleerd: de heterogeniteit van de diagnose sociale fobie (sociale fobie is onder te verdelen in een drietal subtypes), de comorbiditeit met andere as I stoornissen (angst- en depressieve stoornissen) en de comorbiditeit met persoonlijkheidsstoornissen. Wat betreft het laatste punt, de comorbiditeit met persoonlijkheidsstoornissen, valt vooral de relatie tussen de sociale fobie en de vermijdende persoonlijkheidsstoornis op. Beide stoornissen kennen grote overeenkomsten tussen de criteria die de stoornissen definieren (DSM-III-R): het belangrijkste kenmerk betreft de angst om negatief beoordeeld te worden, met als gevolg vaak vermijding van situaties waarin deze beoordeling gevreesd wordt. Met name het beeld van een van de subtypes, de gegeneraliseerde sociale fobie, heeft grote overeenkomsten met de vermijdende persoonlijkheidsstoornis wat betreft cognities, gedrag, emoties en gevolgen van de stoornis. In de verschillende hoofdstukken keert regelmatig het punt van de validiteit van persoonlijkheidsstoornissen terug. We gingen in ons onderzoek uit van de definitie volgens de DSM-III-R waarbij een categoriale indeling van persoonlijkheidsstoornissen werd gebruikt. Dit houdt in dat de stoornis, afhankelijk van het aantal criteria waaraan voldaan wordt, aanwezig of afwezig is. Over deze visie wordt veel gediscussieerd, en in recent onderzoek worden steeds meer dimensionale persoonlijkheidstrekken naast de persoonlijkheidsstoornissen meegenomen.
Pericecal hernia manifesting as a small bowel obstruction successfully treated with laparoscopic surgery

A pericecal hernia is a type of internal hernia, which rarely causes small bowel obstruction (SBO). At our institution, a 92-year-old man presented with vomiting and abdominal pain. He was conservatively treated with a diagnosis of SBO. After 2 weeks of copious drainage output, he was taken to the operating room. Laparoscopy revealed a pericecal hernia that was successfully reduced. We conclude that laparoscopic surgery is an effective way to treat SBOs secondary to pericecal hernias.
Analyzing EEG signals using the probability estimating guarded neural classifier

This paper introduces a neural network architecture for classifying feature vectors symbolizing portions (or segments) of an electroencephalogram (EEG) trace of a human subject. This classification task is the one that is typically required when developing a so-called brain-computer interface (BCI), which analyzes the EEG signals of a subject in order to "understand" the subject's thoughts. However, instead of merely saying which "category of thoughts" (i.e., which class) the respective input feature vector belongs to, the network described here estimates the probabilities of an EEG segment being associated with each individual class. The network, which is called PeGNC (for probability estimating guarded neural classifier), is tested with two kinds of experiments. In the first experiment, the /spl alpha/-rhythm associated with a human subject closing the eyes is detected online with the help of a frequency-based representation. Since the EEG signal is, in general, always a mixture of numerous action potentials generated simultaneously and it is, thus, very likely that mental activities result in overlapping classes, it is reasonable to believe that the PeGNC network - which does not select any one single class, but determines probability values for each mental category - is particularly suitable for this kind of EEG analysis. The second experiment deals with this issue on the basis of an offline analysis of simulated data.
Improved Global Soft Decision Using Smoothed Global Likelihood Ratio for Speech Enhancement

In this letter, we propose an improved global soft decision for noisy speech enhancement. From an investigation of statistical model-based speech enhancement, it is discovered that a global soft decision has a fundamental drawback at the speech tail regions of speech signals. For that reason, we propose a new solution based on a smoothed likelihood ratio for the global soft decision. Performances of the proposed method are evaluated by subjective tests under various environments and show better results compared with the our previous work.
Stability analysis of swarms

We specify an "individual-based" continuous time model for swarm aggregation in n-dimensional space and study its stability properties. We show that the individuals (autonomous agents or biological creatures) will form a cohesive swarm in a finite time. Moreover, we obtain an explicit bound on the swarm size, which depends only on the parameters of the swarm model.