Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Airway Inflammation with Eosinophilia Monocyte-Chemotactic Protein-4 in Human Expression for Eotaxin, Eotaxin-2, and Glucocorticosteroids Inhibit mRNA

How eosinophils are preferentially recruited to inﬂammatory sites remains elusive, but increasing evidence suggests that chemokines that bind to the CCR3 participate in this process. In this study, we investigated the transcript levels and chemotactic activity of CCR3-binding chemokines in nasal polyps, a disorder often showing prominent eosinophilia. We found that mRNA expression for eotaxin, eotaxin-2, and monocyte-chemotactic protein-4 was signiﬁcantly increased in nasal polyps compared with turbinate mucosa from the same patients, or histologically normal nasal mucosa from control subjects. Interestingly, the novel CCR3-speciﬁc chemokine, eotaxin-2, showed the highest transcript levels. Consistent with these mRNA data, polyp tissue ﬂuid exhibited strong chemotactic activity for eosinophils that was signiﬁcantly inhibited by a blocking Ab against CCR3. When patients were treated systemically with glucocorticosteroids, the mRNA levels in the polyps were reduced to that found in turbinate mucosa for all chemokines. Together, these ﬁndings suggested an important role for CCR3-binding chemokines in eosinophil recruitment to nasal polyps. Such chemokines, therefore, most likely contribute signiﬁcantly in the pathogenesis of eosinophil-related disorders; and the reduced chemokine expression observed after steroid treatment might reﬂect, at least in part, how steroids inhibit tissue accumulation of eosinophils. The Journal of Immunology, 1999, 163: 1545–1551.
On Board Planning for Autonomous Spacecraft

The Deep Space One (DS 1) mission, scheduled to fly in 1998, will be the first spacecraft to feature an on-board planner. The planner is part of an artificial intelligence based control architecture that comprises a planner/scheduler, a plan execution engine, and a modelbased fault diagnosis and reconfiguration engine. This autonomy architecture reduces mission costs and increases mission quality by enabling high-level commanding, robust fault responses, and opportunistic responses to serendipitous events. This paper describes the on-board pirumrr1g md scheduling component of the DS l autonomy architecture.
A Coarse-Grained Approach to Protein Design: Learning from Design to Understand Folding

Computational studies have given a great contribution in building our current understanding of the complex behavior of protein molecules; nevertheless, a complete characterization of their free energy landscape still represents a major challenge. Here, we introduce a new coarse-grained approach that allows for an extensive sampling of the conformational space of a large number of sequences. We explicitly discuss its application in protein design, and by studying four representative proteins, we show that the method generates sequences with a relatively smooth free energy surface directed towards the target structures.
Sociolinguistic and pragmatic aspects of public speaking discourse

The paper presents some results obtained in the research which was carried out in my PhD dissertation. I looked at different strategies used by speakers on the panel to persuade the audience about their value judgements and opinions. First, I introduce some basic concepts, describe the corpus I worked with and give comments on the research methods and approaches I used. Then, I discuss some oF the results and finally, I give a few suggestions for further research in this area.
A Development on Asset Management System for Distribution Power Transformers

Transformers are the most important equipment in the electrical system. Their lifetime is scoped in this study. It normally depends on load capacity and can be approximately predicted. A Development Distribution Power On Asset Management System Transformers uses statistic For evaluation and lifetime assessment on each spare part composed in a transformer. The statistic evaluation such as Normal distribution, Weibull distribution, log-normal and Gumbel distribution were applied. An appropriated statistic evaluation was selected to determine the suitable failure time on each spare part. Normal distribution was used for self-restoring insulation such as liquid & gas breakdown. Weibull distribution was used for solid insulation breakdown. The advantage from this work can reduce maintenance cost and precisely determine the lifetime. The results present the next maintenance with the specified part.
Social State Recognition and Knowledge-Level Planning for Human-Robot Interaction in a Bartender Domain

We discuss preliminary work focusing on the problem of combining social interaction with task-based action in a dynamic, multiagent bartending domain, using an embodied robot. We show how the users’ spoken input is interpreted, discuss how social states are inferred from the parsed speech together with low-level information from the vision system, and present a planning approach that models task, dialogue, and social actions in a simple bartending scenario. This approach allows us to build interesting plans, which have been evaluated in a real-world study, using a general purpose, offthe-shelf planner, as an alternative to more mainstream methods of interaction management.
Multi-stage Programming for Mainstream Languages

Multi-stage programming (MSP) provides a disciplined approach to run-time code generation. In the purely functional setting, it has been shown how MSP can be used to reduce the overhead of abstractions, allowing clean, maintainable code without paying performance penalties. Unfortunately, MSP is difficult to combine with imperative features, which are prevalent in mainstream languages. The central difficulty is scope extrusion, wherein free variables can inadvertently be moved outside the scopes of their binders. This paper proposes a new approach to combining MSP with imperative features that occupies a “sweet spot” in the design space in terms of expressiveness of useful MSP programs and being intuitive and easy for programmers to understand. The key insight is that escapes must be weakly separablefrom the rest of the code, meaning that the only computational effects occuring inside an escape that are visible outside the escape are those that are guaranteed to not contain code. To demonstrate the feasability of this approach, we formalize a type system based on Lightweight Java which we prove sound, and we also provide an implementation, called Mint, to validate both the expressivity of the system and the performance gains attainable by using MSP in this setting.
A novel fingerprint matching method using a curvature-based minutia specifier

A new fingerprint matching algorithm using the elaborate combination of minutiae and curvature maps from fingerprint images is proposed in this paper. First of all, we propose a simple method for curvature calculation based on fingerprint orientation fields from fingerprint images. Secondly, a curvature-based minutia specifier, which appears to be a circular pattern, is introduced by taking sampling steps on curvature map around a minutia serving as a sampling center. Thirdly, a measurement on similarity degree between two minutia specifiers is presented and a reference corresponding minutia pair validation algorithm is also described based on the reliable and maximum curvature points to increase the accuracy of our system. Finally, a fingerprint matching algorithm, based on our proposed minutia specifiers, is developed and tested on a public domain collection of fingerprint images, DB1 set A, FVC2002. The results demonstrate the good performance of our method proposed here.
A random finite set model for data clustering

The goal of data clustering is to partition data points into groups to optimize a given objective function. While most existing clustering algorithms treat each data point as vector, in many applications each datum is not a vector but a point pattern or a set of points. Moreover, many existing clustering methods require the user to specify the number of clusters, which is not available in advance. This paper proposes a new class of models for data clustering that addresses set-valued data as well as unknown number of clusters, using a Dirichlet Process mixture of Poisson random finite sets. We also develop an efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo posterior inference technique that can learn the number of clusters and mixture parameters automatically from the data. Numerical studies are presented to demonstrate the salient features of this new model, in particular its capacity to discover extremely unbalanced clusters in data.
MPJ Express: Towards Thread Safe Java HPC

MPJ Express is a thread-safe Java messaging library that provides a full implementation of the mpiJava 1.2 API specification. This specification defines a MPI-like bindings for the Java language. We have implemented two communication devices as part of our library, the first, called niodev is based on the Java new I/O package and the second, called mxdev is based on the Myrinet eXpress library. MPJ Express comes with an experimental runtime, which allows portable bootstrapping of Java Virtual Machines across a cluster or network of computers. In this paper we describe the implementation of MPJ Express. Also, we present a performance comparison against various other C and Java messaging systems. A beta version of MPJ Express was released in September 2005
Students' Attitudes toward a Group Coursework Protocol and Peer Assessment System

This paper addresses a knowledge gap by presenting an empirical investigation of a group coursework protocol and peer assessment system (GCP&PAS) used in a UK university to support postgraduate marketing students in their assessed group activities. The aim of the research was to examine students' understanding of the GCP&PAS and their attitudes towards assessed group coursework and peer assessments generally. The study also sought to identify any differences in such attitudes as a result of group conflict. It was found that students are supportive of the principles of assessed group work and peer evaluation, but that there are differences in attitudes towards the GCP&PAS between those who experience group conflict and those who do not. The paper contributes to the literature in that it highlights the meaning of the research findings with regard to students' preparedness for work. It also recommends further examination of conflict and other factors such as culture and gender in the investigation of alternative peer evaluation systems.
Design and Implementation of Novel Wavelet Approach for Improving Quality of Medical Images

In Image Processing Quality and Quantity of the any images are basic parameters, in medical science it is too much difficult to evaluate soft tissues and hard tissues simultaneously. Multimodal image fusion is the solution for merging complimentary information. Wavelet based approach in this paper describes an algorithm to improve the quality of medical images. Hybridization of SWT and PCA method gives best result.
Compression of Probabilistic Graphs using Tree Decompositions

Probabilistic graphs are a natural model for uncertainty in networks, such as biological, social, road, and communication networks. There has been much recent research in query processing on such graphs, mainly via sampling-based algorithms, yet proposed techniques still have significant costs in terms of execution time. In this paper, we present an alternative approach to the processing of probabilistic source-totarget graph queries, relying on the compression of probabilistic worlds. Compression approaches can be seen as orthogonal to query processing in probabilistic graphs, and can act as a preprocessing step with the resulting compressions being applied to standard sampling-based algorithms. We present a very efficient compression algorithm based on the tree decomposition of a graph, and show via extensive experiments that such compression achieves significant savings of time, without incurring high costs in terms of space.
Tolerizing DNA vaccines for autoimmune arthritis

Current therapies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune diseases non-specifically suppress immune function, and there is great need for fundamental approaches such as antigen-specific tolerizing therapy. In this paper we describe development of antigen-specific tolerizing DNA vaccines to treat collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice, and use of protein microarrays to monitor response to therapy and to identify potential additional autoimmune targets for next generation vaccines. We demonstrate that tolerizing DNA vaccines encoding type II collagen (CII) reduced the incidence and severity of CIA. Atorvastatin, a statin drug found to reduce the severity of autoimmunity, potentiated the effect of DNA vaccines encoding CII. Analysis of cytokines produced by collagen-reactive T cells derived from mice receiving tolerizing DNA encoding CII, as compared to control vaccines, revealed reduced production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ and TNF-α. Arthritis microarray analysis demonstrated reduced spreading of autoantibody responses in mice treated with DNA encoding CII. The development of tolerizing DNA vaccines, and the use of antibody profiling to guide design of and to monitor therapeutic responses to such vaccines, represents a promising approach for the treatment of RA and other autoimmune diseases.
A Cause of Failure in Addressing Workplace Bullying: Trauma and the Employee

Employees traumatized by workplace bullying may respond with post traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Organizational workplace bully policies are not well adapted to recognize or adequately deal with this aspect of workplace bullying. Most workplace bully policies are focused on the legality rather than the complexity of the issue or the needs of the victim. If an employee does not feel they can speak up the bullying can become traumatizing. This paper includes a case study of an employee who has experienced workplace bullying and shown signs of trauma. Based on this case, recommendations are made for organizations to address workplace bullying more adequately.
Impact of Shear Rate Modulation on Vascular Function in Humans

Shear stress is an important stimulus to arterial adaptation in response to exercise and training in humans. We recently observed significant reverse arterial flow and shear during exercise and different antegrade/retrograde patterns of shear and flow in response to different types of exercise. The purpose of this study was to simultaneously examine flow-mediated dilation, a largely NO-mediated vasodilator response, in both brachial arteries of healthy young men before and after 30-minute interventions consisting of bilateral forearm heating, recumbent leg cycling, and bilateral handgrip exercise. During each intervention, a cuff inflated to 60 mm Hg was placed on 1 arm to unilaterally manipulate the shear rate stimulus. In the noncuffed arm, antegrade flow and shear increased similarly in response to each intervention (ANOVA; P<0.001, no interaction between interventions; P=0.71). Baseline flow-mediated dilation (4.6%, 6.9%, and 6.7%) increased similarly in response to heating, handgrip, and cycling (8.1%, 10.4%, and 8.9%, ANOVA; P<0.001, no interaction; P=0.89). In contrast, cuffed arm antegrade shear rate was lower than in the noncuffed arm for all of the conditions (P<0.05), and the increase in flow-mediated dilation was abolished in this arm (4.7%, 6.7%, and 6.1%; 2-way ANOVA: all conditions interacted P<0.05). These results suggest that differences in the magnitude of antegrade shear rate transduce differences in endothelial vasodilator function in humans, a finding that may have relevance for the impact of different exercise interventions on vascular adaptation in humans.
Methotrexate as a preferential cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitor in whole blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the regulation of whole-blood cyclooxygenase-1 and -2 (COX-2 and COX-1) activities by methotrexate (MTX) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. METHODS Whole blood was withdrawn from nine healthy volunteers, 12 RA patients treated with MTX (RA/MTX) and six RA patients treated with chloroquine (RA/CQ). COX-1 activity was quantified as platelet thromboxane B(2) production in unstimulated blood and COX-2 activity was measured as prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) production in whole blood stimulated with LPS. Thromboxane B(2) and PGE(2) were measured by radioimmunoassay. We studied the drug effect in vitro by direct incubation of MTX with blood obtained from normal donors. Ex vivo assays were performed with blood collected from RA/MTX and RA/CQ patients. The influence of serum factors on enzyme activities was analysed in blood collected from normal donors and incubated with RA/MTX, autologous or heterologous serum. RESULTS In vitro assays showed no direct action of MTX on the activity of either enzyme. Assays performed with blood from RA/MTX patients showed preferential inhibition of COX-2 activity (PGE(2) = 10.11 +/- 2.42 ng/ml) when compared with blood of normal donors (PGE(2) = 37.7 +/- 4.36 ng/ml; P = 0.001). Inhibition of COX-2 activity was also observed when blood of normal donors was co-incubated with RA/MTX serum. CONCLUSION Our results clearly show that the anti-inflammatory action of low-dose MTX is partly mediated by a serum factor induced by MTX or a MTX metabolite that preferentially inhibits the activity of COX-2.
Interleukin 12–mediated Prevention of Spontaneous Mammary Adenocarcinomas in Two Lines of Her-2/neu Transgenic Mice

The ability of interleukin (IL)-12 to prevent tumors when administered to individuals with a genetic risk of cancer was studied in two lines of transgenic mice expressing rat HER-2/neu oncogene in the mammary gland. Female BALB/c (H-2d) mice carrying the activated HER-2/ neu oncogene show no morphological abnormalities of the mammary gland until 3 wk of age. They then progress through atypical hyperplasia to in situ lobular carcinoma and at 33 wk of age all 10 mammary glands display invasive carcinomas. Adult FVB mice (H-2q) carrying the HER-2/neu protooncogene develop mammary carcinomas with a longer latency (38-49 wk) and a lower multiplicity (mean of 2.6 tumors/mice). Treatment with IL-12 (5 daily intraperitoneal injections, 1 wk on, 3 wk off; the first course with 50 ng IL-12/day, the second with 100 ng IL-12/day) begun at 2 wk of age in BALB/c mice and at 21 wk of age in FVB mice markedly delayed tumor onset and reduced tumor multiplicity. Analogous results were obtained in immunocompetent and permanently CD8+ T lymphocyte–depleted mice. In both transgenic lines, tumor inhibition was associated with mammary infiltration of reactive cells, production of cytokines and inducible nitric oxide synthase, and reduction in microvessel number, in combination with a high degree of hemorrhagic necrosis.
Generating Effective Instructions: Knowing When to Stop

One aspect of Natural Language generation is describing entities so that they are distinguished from all other entities. Entities include objects, events, actions, and states. Much attention has been paid to objects and the generation of their referring expressions (descriptions meant to pick out or refer to an entity). However, a growing area of research is the automated generation of instruction manuals and an important part of generating instructions is distinguishing the actions that are to be carried out from other possible actions. One distinguishing feature is an action's termination, or when the performance of the action is to stop. My dissertation work focuses on generating action descriptions from action information using the SPUD generation algorithm developed here at Penn by Matthew Stone. In my work, I concentrate on the generation of expressions of termination information as part of action descriptions. The problems I address include how termination information is represented in action information and expressed in Natural Language, how to determine when an action description allows the reader to understand how to perform the action correctly, and how to generate the appropriate description of action information. Comments University of Pennsylvania Department of Computer and Information Science Technical Report No. MSCIS-98-35. This technical report is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn. edu/cis_reports/166 GENERATING EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONS: KNOWING WHEN TO STOP
Investigation of Hydrogen Sulfide Gas as a Treatment against P. falciparum, Murine Cerebral Malaria, and the Importance of Thiolation State in the Development of Cerebral Malaria

Introduction Cerebral malaria (CM) is a potentially fatal cerebrovascular disease of complex pathogenesis caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Hydrogen sulfide (HS) is a physiological gas, similar to nitric oxide and carbon monoxide, involved in cellular metabolism, vascular tension, inflammation, and cell death. HS treatment has shown promising results as a therapy for cardio- and neuro- pathology. This study investigates the effects of fast (NaHS) and slow (GYY4137) HS-releasing drugs on the growth and metabolism of P. falciparum and the development of P. berghei ANKA CM. Moreover, we investigate the role of free plasma thiols and cell surface thiols in the pathogenesis of CM. Methods P. falciparum was cultured in vitro with varying doses of HS releasing drugs compared with artesunate. Growth and metabolism were quantified. C57Bl/6 mice were infected with P. berghei ANKA and were treated with varying doses and regimes of HS-releasing drugs. Free plasma thiols and cell surface thiols were quantified in CM mice and age-matched healthy controls. Results HS-releasing drugs significantly and dose-dependently inhibited P. falciparum growth and metabolism. Treatment of CM did not affect P. berghei growth, or development of CM. Interestingly, CM was associated with lower free plasma thiols, reduced leukocyte+erythrocyte cell surface thiols (infection day 3), and markedly (5-fold) increased platelet cell surface thiols (infection day 7). Conclusions HS inhibits P. falciparum growth and metabolism in vitro. Reduction in free plasma thiols, cell surface thiols and a marked increase in platelet cell surface thiols are associated with development of CM. HS drugs were not effective in vivo against murine CM.
Gender Influences on Parent-Child Science Problem-Solving Behaviors

ABSTRACT Gender is a critical social factor influencing how children view the world from very early childhood. Additionally, during the early elementary years, parents can have a significant influence on their child’s behaviors and dispositions in fields such as science. This study examined the influence of parent gender and child gender on 2nd- and 4th-grade children’s strategies for solving science problems with their parents, as well as their attitudes about science. The behaviors of 13 parent-child dyads as they solved hands-on science problems together in an informal setting were examined. A child interview and a parent questionnaire were used to elicit information about their attitudes toward life science compared to physical science. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the parent-child interactions revealed differences in the amount of encouragement offered to boys versus girls. Additionally, there were differences in questioning behaviors by parents as a function of parent gender and child gender. Furthermore, parental interest in various science topics differed along traditional gender roles, whereas boys and girls were interested in topics from both disciplines.