Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Connexin 50 Expression in Ependymal Stem Progenitor Cells after Spinal Cord Injury Activation

Ion channels included in the family of Connexins (Cx) help to control cell proliferation and differentiation of neuronal progenitors. Here we explored the role of Connexin 50 (Cx50) in cell fate modulation of adult spinal cord derived neural precursors located in the ependymal canal (epSPC). epSPC from non-injured animals showed high expression levels of Cx50 compared to epSPC from animals with spinal cord injury (SCI) (epSPCi). When epSPC or epSPCi were induced to spontaneously differentiate in vitro we found that Cx50 favors glial cell fate, since higher expression levels, endogenous or by over-expression of Cx50, augmented the expression of the astrocyte marker GFAP and impaired the neuronal marker Tuj1. Cx50 was found in both the cytoplasm and nucleus of glial cells, astrocytes and oligodendrocyte-derived cells. Similar expression patterns were found in primary cultures of mature astrocytes. In addition, opposite expression profile for nuclear Cx50 was observed when epSPC and activated epSPCi were conducted to differentiate into mature oligodendrocytes, suggesting a different role for this ion channel in spinal cord beyond cell-to-cell communication. In vivo detection of Cx50 by immunohistochemistry showed a defined location in gray matter in non-injured tissues and at the epicenter of the injury after SCI. epSPCi transplantation, which accelerates locomotion regeneration by a neuroprotective effect after acute SCI is associated with a lower signal of Cx50 within the injured area, suggesting a minor or detrimental contribution of this ion channel in spinal cord regeneration by activated epSPCi.
Optimization of Energy-Saving Operation Strategy for Virtual Coupling based on DDPG

Virtual coupling has emerged as a prominent research focus in the railway industry in recent years. At present, the existing research on synchronous operation of virtually coupled trains focuses on synchronization but neglects energy-saving. In pursuit of minimizing energy consumption, while ensuring synchronous operation, a virtual coupling speed curve optimization method based on deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) is proposed. Firstly, the virtually coupled trains are considered to build an optimization model aiming at energy-saving, synchronous parking, synchronous departure and on-time operation. Secondly, considering the characteristics of high state dimension and difficult solution of optimization model, a speed curve solving algorithm based on DDPG is designed. The optimal speed curve is considered a benchmark or reference for virtually coupled trains. Finally, the results of numerical experimental using the data of Beijing Metro Line demonstrate that the proposed method can reduce the traction energy consumption by 5.8% and the arrival time difference by 50%. In comparison to with genetic algorithms (GA), the optimization results are more energy-efficient and synchronous.
P6 acupressure reduces symptoms of vection-induced motion sickness.

PURPOSE The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of P6 acupressure on nausea associated with visually-induced motion sickness. METHOD There were 64 subjects randomly divided into 4 groups: P6 acupressure, dummy-point acupressure, sham P6 acupressure, and control. Each subject sat in an optokinetic drum for a 12-min baseline and 12-min drum rotation period. Subjects' electrogastrograms (EGG's) and subjective symptoms of motion sickness were obtained. RESULTS The results indicated that the subjects in the P6 acupressure group reported significantly less nausea [F(3,60) = 8.16, p < 0.0001] during drum rotation period than those in the dummy-point acupressure, sham acupressure, and control groups. The scores for symptoms of motion sickness of the P6 acupressure group were significantly lower than those in the sham acupressure and control groups [F(3,60) = 3.49, p < 0.02]. Also, the subjects in the P6 acupressure group showed significantly less abnormal gastric myoelectric activity, tachyarrhythmia, than those in the sham acupressure and control groups [F(3,60) = 2.78, p < 0.04]. However, the subjects in the dummy-point acupressure group did not report significantly fewer symptoms and show less tachyarrhythmia than those in the sham acupressure and control groups. CONCLUSION We conclude that P6 acupressure reduces the severity of symptoms of visually-induced motion sickness and gastric tachyarrhythmia.
Association of increased expression of macrophage elastase (matrix metalloproteinase 12) with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE Increased enzymatic activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) may promote the progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We undertook this study to investigate the expression and localization of human macrophage elastase (MMP-12) in synovial tissue from RA patients and to compare MMP-12 levels in the synovial tissue and synovial fluid of RA patients with the corresponding levels in patients with osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS We obtained synovial tissues from 23 RA patients and 29 OA patients and analyzed MMP-12 expression using immunohistochemistry, Western and Northern blotting analyses, and zymography. Furthermore, we quantified MMP-12 levels in synovial fluid by Western blotting and zymography. RESULTS Northern blotting analysis demonstrated that RA synovial tissue contained higher levels of MMP-12 messenger RNA than did OA synovial tissue. Western blotting revealed that MMP-12 proteins were consistently and markedly increased in RA synovial tissue compared with OA synovial tissue. A greater amount of immunoreactive proteins corresponding to catalytic forms of MMP-12 was present in RA synovial tissue and synovial fluid, and the MMP-12 proteins exhibited caseinolytic activity in vitro. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the major cells expressing MMP-12 were synovial lining cells, many of which were inflammatory macrophages. CONCLUSION These results establish a possible mechanism by which macrophage-derived MMP-12 may play an important role in the destructive process in RA. Inhibition of MMP-12 may be a potential modality for the treatment of RA.
Multi-device Visualisation Design for Climbing Self-Assessment

While quantified-self applications and wearable sensors for running, cycling or strength training are receiving broad interest from science and industry, little attention has been paid to the increasingly popular climbing sport, so far. To fill this gap, specialized wrist-worn sensor devices for tracking climbers have been developed recently. To support climbers and make the best of the available sensor data use possible, we designed a set of interactive visual interfaces which provide detailed insights into training data and support self-assessments of various aspects of the climbing technique. Our approach consists of a mobile web application to be used during the training and a desktop tool for presentation and analysis. In our design study we conducted semi-structured interviews with climbers, developed a scenario-based prototype in D3.js and evaluated our prototype. The initial interviews, a formative expert review and a summative usability study indicate the importance of providing manual input possibilities in addition to the automatically detected data and visualization techniques showing an overview of their training data. The findings of this design study provide an understanding of how climbers will interact with quantified-self applications and what the individual requirements for such a system are.
Development and validation of a revised measure of codependency

Abstract This study assessed the factor structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of a revised instrument, the Composite Codependency Scale (CCS), a 19‐item measure designed to assess codependent traits. Exploratory factor analysis of the CCS, using data from 301 adults from the general population and 49 attending members of Codependents Anonymous (CoDA), yielded three factors: self‐sacrifice, interpersonal control, and emotional suppression. The scale and its subscales exhibited good internal consistency. Consistent with the tenets of the codependency model, higher codependency scores were significantly associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and familial dysfunction and lower levels of narcissistic tendencies, self‐esteem, and emotional expressivity. Furthermore, the revised measure effectively discriminated members of CoDA from those in the general population.
Regulation of purE transcription in a purE::lac fusion strain of Escherichia coli

A purE::lac fusion strain was isolated by using a special Mu phage developed by M. Casadaban. In the presence of adenine (100 micrograms/ml), beta-galactosidase synthesis was repressed by greater than 90%. beta-Galactosidase activity could be detected 6 to 8 min after the removal of adenine and increased linearly for at least 20 min. purR- mutants were isolated and synthesized 1.7- to 1.8-fold-higher levels of beta-galactosidase compared with purR+ cells. Azaserine derepressed purE transcription approximately 1.7-fold by lowering purine nucleotide pools. Glutamine and pyrimidine supplementation or starvation had no effect on purE transcription. A comparison of the rate of de novo purine biosynthesis and purE transcription indicated that the in vivo rate of de novo purine biosynthesis was more sensitive to the inhibitory effects of adenine than was transcription at the purE locus.
Immunopathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease and mechanisms of biological therapies

Abstract Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract with a multifactorial pathophysiology. Full comprehension of IBD pathology is still out of reach and, therefore, treatment is far from ideal. Nevertheless, components involved in IBD pathogenesis including environmental, genetic, microbial, and immunological factors are continuously being investigated and the improved knowledge contributes to the development of new therapies. In this article we review the aspects of the immunopathogenesis of IBD, with focus on mucosal immunity, and discuss mechanisms of action for current and emerging biological therapies.
Improved Hardware-Accelerated Visual Hull Rendering

The visual hull is an efficient shape approximation for the purpose of reconstructing and visualizing dynamic objects. Recently, rapid progress in graphics hardware development has made it possible to render visual hulls from a set of silhouette images in real-time. In this paper we present several new algorithms to improve the generality and quality of hardwareaccelerated visual hull rendering. First, a multipass approach employs texture objects and the stencil buffer to enable the visual hull rendering algorithm to deal with arbitrary numbers of input images. Secondly, flexible programmability of stateof-the-art graphics hardware is exploited to achieve smooth transitions between textures from different reference views projected onto visual hulls. In addition, visibility problems with projective texture mapping are solved by using the shadow mapping technique. We test our rendering algorithms on various off-the-shelf graphics cards and achieve realtime frame rates.
An investigation of the reliability of the Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration (P-F) Study, Children's Form.

Presents data on the retest and split-half reliability of the Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration (P-F) Study, Children's Form, for two groups of subjects (aged 10-11 and 12-13 years, respectively), each group tested twice at an interval of three months. It was found that the retest reliability for all scoring categories (except O-D) were statistically significant (.01 or .05 level). GCR proved stable for the younger group (r = .53) but not for the older group. The difference here may be due to the less comfortable retest conditions prevailing for the older subjects. Reliability by retest was consistently higher than by the less appropriate split-half method, but the latter proved, nevertheless, to be in the main favorable.
Fault Diagnosis of Indium Tin Oxide Electrodes by Multi-channel S-parameter Patterns

Indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes are integral components in a wide array of applications, from displays and sensors to solar cells. Ensuring the optimal performance and reliability of these devices necessitates effective fault diagnosis of ITO electrodes. Traditional visual inspection is challenging due to their transparency, and existing fault diagnosis methods often necessitate destructive evaluations and secondary material characterization techniques, limiting their root cause determination capabilities. In this study, we introduce a fault diagnosis approach utilizing scattering parameter (S-parameter) patterns, which provides early detection, remarkable diagnostic accuracy, and noise robustness. The proposed method incorporates Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for the concurrent analysis of defect causes and severity. Experimental results demonstrate that combining different S-parameter channels significantly enhances diagnostic performance under additive noise conditions. This work not only provides an advanced fault diagnosis method for ITO electrodes but also demonstrates the importance of combining S-parameter channels to enhance fault detection.
Medium Access Control Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks with Energy Harvesting

The design of Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has been conventionally tackled by assuming battery-powered devices and by adopting the network lifetime as the main performance criterion. While WSNs operated by energy-harvesting (EH) devices are not limited by network lifetime, they pose new design challenges due to the uncertain amount of energy that can be harvested from the environment. Novel design criteria are thus required to capture the trade-offs between the potentially infinite network lifetime and the uncertain energy availability. This paper addresses the analysis and design of WSNs with EH devices by focusing on conventional MAC protocols, namely TDMA, framed-ALOHA (FA) and dynamic-FA (DFA), and by accounting for the performance trade-offs and design issues arising due to EH. A novel metric, referred to as delivery probability, is introduced to measure the capability of a MAC protocol to deliver the measurement of any sensor in the network to the intended destination (or fusion center, FC). The interplay between delivery efficiency and time efficiency (i.e., the data collection rate at the FC), is investigated analytically using Markov models. Numerical results validate the analysis and emphasize the critical importance of accounting for both delivery probability and time efficiency in the design of EH-WSNs.
Police intervention in domestic violence incidents where children are present: police and children's perspectives

The police represent the front line in the service response to children experiencing domestic violence. This paper examines police intervention in domestic violence incidents involving children, drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from police records and interviews with young people and police officers. The quality of police communication with children and young people emerged as key, and police officers evinced reluctance to engage with children at domestic violence incidents. Providing the police with training and information designed to improve their skills and confidence might promote communication with children in this context. Policy that conceptualised children as victims of domestic violence in policy could focus police attention on the needs of children and young people at such incidents.
Oral Transmissibility of Prion Disease Is Enhanced by Binding to Soil Particles

Soil may serve as an environmental reservoir for prion infectivity and contribute to the horizontal transmission of prion diseases (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies [TSEs]) of sheep, deer, and elk. TSE infectivity can persist in soil for years, and we previously demonstrated that the disease-associated form of the prion protein binds to soil particles and prions adsorbed to the common soil mineral montmorillonite (Mte) retain infectivity following intracerebral inoculation. Here, we assess the oral infectivity of Mte- and soil-bound prions. We establish that prions bound to Mte are orally bioavailable, and that, unexpectedly, binding to Mte significantly enhances disease penetrance and reduces the incubation period relative to unbound agent. Cox proportional hazards modeling revealed that across the doses of TSE agent tested, Mte increased the effective infectious titer by a factor of 680 relative to unbound agent. Oral exposure to Mte-associated prions led to TSE development in experimental animals even at doses too low to produce clinical symptoms in the absence of the mineral. We tested the oral infectivity of prions bound to three whole soils differing in texture, mineralogy, and organic carbon content and found soil-bound prions to be orally infectious. Two of the three soils increased oral transmission of disease, and the infectivity of agent bound to the third organic carbon-rich soil was equivalent to that of unbound agent. Enhanced transmissibility of soil-bound prions may explain the environmental spread of some TSEs despite the presumably low levels shed into the environment. Association of prions with inorganic microparticles represents a novel means by which their oral transmission is enhanced relative to unbound agent.
Emergence of emotional management: changing manager ideals in Finnish job advertisements from 1949 to 2009

This article analyses the increasing emphasis on emotions in management ideals by examining the changing qualities of the ideal manager in Finland in the post-Second World War era. We examined 1425 manager position job advertisements in the major Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat between 1949 and 2009. Our results show that emotional requirements were rather uncommon during the post-war era but that they became key characteristics in job advertisements towards the end of the century. Feminine management ideals emerged from the 1960s onwards in line with the changing nature of work, organizational developments and increasing equality of social relations. However, the economic slowdown of the 1970s was followed by a new emphasis on masculine qualities. We argue that the emergence of emotional management reflects the changes in the cultural, social and economic order, in which social codes stressing equality became a rule, and emotional qualities were recognized as tools for increasing productivity.
Rapid Detection of Anomalies in Battery Energy Storage System Data For Data Cleaning

Data analytics is pivotal in assessing the techni-cal characteristics and performance of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), underpinning BESS modeling, optimization, and control. PNNL has collected diverse and comprehensive real-world BESS operational datasets in collaboration with the Electric Power Research Institute and multiple Washington State utilities, allowing for BESS analytics and modeling. However, raw datasets frequently harbor anomalies from measurement errors and equipment malfunctions, impacting BESS reliability and analysis accuracy. To address the challenge, this paper presents a methodology for the rapid detection of anomalous charge or discharge cycles within BESS operational data, expediting the cleaning process while ensuring data integrity. Using case studies from real BESS operational datasets, we demonstrate that the proposed method detects anomalies and aids in their resolution, improving system performance characterization. It also reveals recurring data anomaly sources, offering insights for data cleaning. Practitioners can gain valuable insights from the identified anomalous cycles in the real-world datasets along with the investigative process for root cause analyses and essential data cleaning steps.
Vous avez dit « relationnel » ? Comparer des métiers de service peu qualifiés féminins et masculins

Cet article propose une comparaison entre metiers de service feminins et masculins peu qualifies, a partir d’une enquete en cours sur les salariees de la petite enfance en France et d’une relecture d’enquetes anterieures sur les metiers de controleur des trains, surveillant de prison et facteur. Il souligne l’occultation des dimensions materielles du travail dans les metiers feminins et l’occultation des dimensions relationnelles du travail dans les metiers masculins. Puis il s’interroge sur les raisons de cette dissimulation croisee, operee tant par les salarie·e·s que par les chercheur·e·s, et sur la definition meme du relationnel. Cette notion, qui convoque implicitement l’idee de devouement et d’humanisme, nous empeche de decrire dans toute leur diversite les interactions et les pratiques de travail qui caracterisent tant les metiers de service feminins que les metiers de service masculins.
Green Business

: Today there is increasing global awareness of the threat posed by climate change. Also, global warming is a challenging problem the international community must resolve collectively. Environmental concerns have become a top issue in the business agenda. Green business (or sustainable business) refers to meeting customer’s needs without causing environmental and social problems. There are strong reasons to build greener businesses for tomorrow. This paper provides a brief introduction to green business.
Residents’ changed perceptions of sport event impacts: the case of the 2012 Tour de Taiwan

The study explores subgroups within host residents based on perceptions of the impacts of the 2012 Tour de Taiwan before and after the event. Theoretical perspectives of event impact studies considering Confucian traditions, social exchange theory and a sense of ‘feel-good’ or ‘communitas’ help to provide fresh insights. Data were collected from host residents in three competition stages, before and after the event. Twenty-two impact items divided into four factors generated subgroups of ‘neutral’ and ‘moderately positive’ (pre-event), and ‘neutral’ and ‘positive’ (post-event). The results show significant differences among the subgroups at the pre- and post-event stages in terms of gender, income, engagement in cycling exercises, levels of support and interest in the event, television watching, and event attendance. General benefits, negative impacts, the level of interest in the event and attendance were significant predictors of event support. The findings suggest that event feel-good can help the intangible characteristics of sporting events (do not entail construction and maintenance of permanent structures) to lever tangible and direct benefits for host communities.