Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-oriented Diffusion Basis Functions for white matter structure estimation

We present an extension to the Diffusion Basis Function Model for fitting the in vivo brain axonal orientations from Diffusion Weighted Magnetic Resonance Images. The standard Diffusion Basis Functions method assumes that the observed Magnetic Resonance signal at each voxel is a linear combination of a static set of basis functions with equally distributed orientations into the 3D unitary sphere. Our proposal, overcomes the limited angular resolution of the original model by adapting the basis orientations using a sophisticated non-linear optimization procedure. The improvements over the standard Diffusion Basis Functions model estimation by our proposal are demonstrated on the synthetic data-sets used on the 2012 HARDI Reconstruction Challenge.
GATA-1 Dominantly Activates a Program of Erythroid Gene Expression in Factor-Dependent Myeloid FDCW2 Cells

ABSTRACT Erythrocyte development has previously been shown to depend upon the expression of the lineage-restricted trans-acting factor GATA-1. Despite predicted roles for this factor during early development, GATA-1-deficient cells in chimeric mice and embryonic stem cell cultures mature to a late proerythroblast stage and express at least certain genes that normally are thought to be regulated by GATA-1 (including erythroid Krüppel-like factor [EKLF] and the erythropoietin [Epo] receptor). Opportunities to test roles for GATA-1 in erythroid gene activation in these systems therefore are limited. In the present study, in an alternate approach to test the function of GATA-1, GATA-1 has been expressed together with the Epo receptor in myeloid FDCW2 cells and the resulting effects on cytokine-dependent proliferation and erythroid gene expression have been assessed. GATA-1 expression at low levels delayed FDCW2ER cell cycle progression at the G1 phase specifically during Epo-induced mitogenesis. Upon expression of GATA-1 at increased levels, proliferation in response to Epo, interleukin-3 (IL-3), and stem cell factor was attenuated and endogenous GATA-1, EKLF and βmaj-globin gene expression was activated. Friend of GATA-1 (FOG) transcript levels also were enhanced, andets-1 and c-mpl but not Epo receptor gene expression was induced. Finally, in FDCW2 cells expressing increased levels of GATA-1 and a carboxyl-terminally truncated Epo receptor, Epo (with respect to IL-3 as a control) was shown to markedly promote globin transcript expression. Thus, novel evidence for select hierarchical roles for GATA-1 and Epo in erythroid lineage specification is provided.
Involvement of TNF Receptor-Associated Factor 6 in IL-25 Receptor Signaling1

IL-25 (IL-17E) induces IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 production from an unidentified non-T/non-B cell population and subsequently induces Th2-type immune responses such as IgE production and eosinophilic airway inflammation. IL-25R is a single transmembrane protein with homology to IL-17R, but the IL-25R signaling pathways have not been fully understood. In this study, we investigated the signaling pathway under IL-25R, especially the possible involvement of TNFR-associated factor (TRAF)6 in this pathway. We found that IL-25R cross-linking induced NF-κB activation as well as ERK, JNK, and p38 activation. We also found that IL-25R-mediated NF-κB activation was inhibited by the expression of dominant negative TRAF6 but not of dominant negative TRAF2. Furthermore, IL-25R-mediated NF-κB activation, but not MAPK activation, was diminished in TRAF6-deficient murine embryonic fibroblast. In addition, coimmunoprecipitation assay revealed that TRAF6, but not TRAF2, associated with IL-25R even in the absence of ligand binding. Finally, we found that IL-25R-mediated gene expression of IL-6, TGF-β, G-CSF, and thymus and activation-regulated chemokine was diminished in TRAF6-deficient murine embryonic fibroblast. Taken together, these results indicate that TRAF6 plays a critical role in IL-25R-mediated NF-κB activation and gene expression.
Dendritic Cells Support Homeostatic Expansion of Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells in Foxp3.LuciDTR Mice

Foxp3+CD4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) are crucial in maintaining self-tolerance and limiting immune responses to pathogens. Shifting the sensitive balance between Tregs and effector T cells requires extensive knowledge of the homeostatic properties of the different T cell populations. For the investigation of Treg homeostatic expansion, we introduce in this study novel BAC transgenic mice, designated Foxp3.LuciDTR, coexpressing enhanced GFP, luciferase for bioluminescence imaging of Tregs, and the diphtheria toxin receptor (DTR) for specific ablation of Tregs. Of several founder lines, Foxp3.LuciDTR-4 mice displayed ∼95% Treg depletion following injection of DT, resulting in activation of conventional CD4+ T cells, probably due to lack of control by Tregs. In contrast, Foxp3.LuciDTR-3 mice displayed only ∼70% Treg depletion without concomitant activation of CD4+ T cells and represented, therefore, a suitable model to study Treg homeostasis in an environment where other T cell populations were not altered. After depletion, the Treg compartment recovered to its original size in ∼2 wk. This recovery was mediated in a thymus-independent fashion by homeostatic proliferation of the surviving, nondepleted Tregs. The proliferating Tregs acquired an activated phenotype and maintained their suppressive capacity. Studies involving DT-mediated depletion of dendritic cells in CD11c.DOG mice showed that dendritic cells were required for optimal Treg homeostasis. In addition, IL-2 was identified as an essential factor for homeostatic recovery of the Treg compartment. These results show that Treg homeostasis is specifically regulated by the size of the Treg compartment and is independent of proliferation of conventional T cells.
The Academic Motivation Profile for Undergraduate Student Use in Evaluating College Courses

Abstract Even though student ratings of instructors are widely used across college campuses, few instruments have the necessary psychometric properties of reliability and validity to permit the decisions for which they are often used. Further, these instruments are rarely based on theory. This research describes a new instrument, the Academic Motivation Profile, that is derived from theories of motivation. The instrument's development, psychometric properties, and its potential uses for improving instruction are discussed.
An uplink-downlink duality for cloud radio access network

Uplink-downlink duality refers to the fact that the Gaussian broadcast channel has the same capacity region as the dual Gaussian multiple-access channel under the same sum-power constraint. This paper investigates a similar duality relationship between the uplink and downlink of a cloud radio access network (C-RAN), where a central processor (CP) cooperatively serves multiple mobile users through multiple remote radio heads (RRHs) connected to the CP with finite-capacity fronthaul links. The uplink of such a C-RAN model corresponds to a multiple-access relay channel; the downlink corresponds to a broadcast relay channel. This paper considers compression-based relay strategies in both uplink and downlink C-RAN, where the quantization noise levels are functions of the fronthaul link capacities. If the fronthaul capacities are infinite, the conventional uplink-downlink duality applies. The main result of this paper is that even when the fronthaul capacities are finite, duality continues to hold for the case where independent compression is applied across each RRH in the sense that when the transmission and compression designs are jointly optimized, the achievable rate regions of the uplink and downlink remain identical under the same sum-power and individual fronthaul capacity constraints. As an application of the duality result, the power minimization problem in downlink C-RAN can be efficiently solved based on its uplink counterpart.
A Murine Model for Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Group A β-Hemolytic Streptococcal Infection

A syndrome of motoric and neuropsychiatric symptoms comprising various elements, including chorea, hyperactivity, tics, emotional lability, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, can occur in association with group A β-hemolytic streptococcal (GABHS) infection. We tested the hypothesis that an immune response to GABHS can result in behavioral abnormalities. Female SJL/J mice were immunized and boosted with a GABHS homogenate in Freund's adjuvant, whereas controls received Freund's adjuvant alone. When sera from GABHS-immunized mice were tested for immunoreactivity to mouse brain, a subset was found to be immunoreactive to several brain regions, including deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN), globus pallidus, and thalamus. GABHS-immunized mice having serum immunoreactivity to DCN also had increased IgG deposits in DCN and exhibited increased rearing behavior in open-field and hole-board tests compared with controls and with GABHS-immunized mice lacking serum anti-DCN antibodies. Rearing and ambulatory behavior were correlated with IgG deposits in the DCN and with serum immunoreactivity to GABHS proteins in Western blot. In addition, serum from a GABHS mouse reacted with normal mouse cerebellum in nondenaturing Western blots and immunoprecipitated C4 complement protein and α-2-macroglobulin. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that immune response to GABHS can result in motoric and behavioral disturbances and suggest that anti-GABHS antibodies cross-reactive with brain components may play a role in their pathophysiology.
What is Racism? Racial Discourse and Racial Politics

One central area of dispute in current racial politics is whether an act, policy, or event constitutes racism. I contend that the core of these debates involves competing conceptions of racism. Using text from a variety of media sources, I examine the different ways in which racism is defined and how claims and counterclaims are contextualized. I also explore how the dynamic nature of racial discourse leads to the emergence of new ways of defining racism as advocates seek advantages in political debate. Finally, I connect the struggle involving racism as a contested concept to two larger racial ideologies: color-blindness and systemic racism.
Journal of Graph Algorithms and Applications Finding Shortest Paths with Computational Geometry

We present a heuristic search algorithm for the R d Manhattan shortest path problem that achieves front-to-front bidirectionality in subquadratic time. In the study of bidirectional search algorithms, front-to-front heuris-tic computations were thought to be prohibitively expensive (at least quadratic time complexity); our algorithm runs in O(n log d n) time and O(n log d−1 n) space, where n is the number of visited vertices. We achieve this result by embedding the problem in R d+1 and identifying heuristic calculations as instances of a dynamic closest-point problem, to which we then apply methods from computational geometry.
A Real-Time Adaptive Thresholding for Video Change Detection

A real-time adaptive non-parametric thresholding algorithm for change detection is proposed in this paper. Based on the estimation of the scatter of regions of change in a difference image, a threshold of each image block is computed discriminatively, then the global threshold is obtained by averaging all the thresholds for image blocks. The block threshold is calculated differently for regions of change and background. Experimental results show the proposed thresholding algorithm performs well for change detection with high efficiency.
Nlodelling of Hierarchically Exchangeable Data

Hierarchically exchangeable data are characterized by the exchangeability of a population of units and the exchangeability of observations from each individual unit. A flexible model for such data is the hierarchical logistic-normal model, which provides unconstrained sampling distributions at the within-unit level and an unconstrained covariance structure at the betweenunit level. Also, the sampling distribution at the between-unit level is unimodal in a weak sense. Parameter estimation and inference for the hierarchical logistic-normal model is relatively straightforward via Markov chain Monte Carlo or an approximate EM algorithm. These and other features of the hierarchical logistic normal model are explored, and the model is applied to the analysis of tumor locations in a mammalian population. A comparison is made to a similar data analysis based on Dirichlet distributions. Some key words: nonparametric Bayes, logistic normal, multivariate normal, multinomial, Dirichlet distribution, repeated measures.
A Multilevel Approach to the Travelling Salesman Problem

We motivate, derive, and implement a multilevel approach to the travelling salesman problem. The resulting algorithm progressively coarsens the problem, initialises a tour, and then employs either the Lin-Kernighan (LK) or the Chained Lin-Kernighan (CLK) algorithm to refine the solution on each of the coarsened problems in reverse order. In experiments on a well-established test suite of 80 problem instances we found multilevel configurations that either improved the tour quality by over 25% as compared to the standard CLK algorithm using the same amount of execution time, or that achieved approximately the same tour quality over seven times more rapidly. Moreover, the multilevel variants seem to optimise far better the more clustered instances with which the LK and CLK algorithms have the most difficulties.
Use of Atomic Force Microscopy to Study the Multi-Modular Interaction of Bacterial Adhesins to Mucins

The mucus layer covering the gastrointestinal (GI) epithelium is critical in selecting and maintaining homeostatic interactions with our gut bacteria. However, the molecular details of these interactions are not well understood. Here, we provide mechanistic insights into the adhesion properties of the canonical mucus-binding protein (MUB), a large multi-repeat cell–surface adhesin found in Lactobacillus inhabiting the GI tract. We used atomic force microscopy to unravel the mechanism driving MUB-mediated adhesion to mucins. Using single-molecule force spectroscopy we showed that MUB displayed remarkable adhesive properties favouring a nanospring-like adhesion model between MUB and mucin mediated by unfolding of the multiple repeats constituting the adhesin. We obtained direct evidence for MUB self-interaction; MUB–MUB followed a similar binding pattern, confirming that MUB modular structure mediated such mechanism. This was in marked contrast with the mucin adhesion behaviour presented by Galectin-3 (Gal-3), a mammalian lectin characterised by a single carbohydrate binding domain (CRD). The binding mechanisms reported here perfectly match the particular structural organization of MUB, which maximizes interactions with the mucin glycan receptors through its long and linear multi-repeat structure, potentiating the retention of bacteria within the outer mucus layer.
A rapid micropreparation technique for extraction of DNA-binding proteins from limiting numbers of mammalian cells.

We have developed a simple and rapid method for preparing DNA-binding protein extracts from mammalian cells. The protocol is derived from the large scale procedure of Dignam et al. (1) and utilizes hypotonic lysis followed by high salt extraction of nuclei. The technique described by Dignam has several drawbacks, including the need for large numbers of cells and lengthy incubation and dialysis steps. It is labor-intensive and precludes preparation of multiple samples simultaneously. Our aim in developing this micropreparation procedure was to easily and rapidly extract DNA-binding proteins from small numbers of cells. Frequently, the quantity of cells available for extraction of DNA-binding proteins is limiting, as in analysis of clinical samples, of multiple clones of transfected cells, or of COS cell pools transiently transfected with a cDNA expression library. Ideally, such a technique would allow processing of many samples simultaneously and quickly on the benchtop. The method described in this report accomplishes these goals. In addition, it gives an excellent yield of DNA-binding proteins, comparable to that of the large scale Dignam protocol with minimal proteolysis. We typically start with between 5X10 and 10 cells. All centrifugations of less than 30 seconds are carried out in a room temperature microfuge; between steps, the samples are placed on ice. Adherent cells are scraped into 1.5 ml of cold phosphatebuffered saline (PBS); non-adherent cells are pelleted and resuspended in 1.5 ml cold PBS. The cell suspension is then transferred to a microfuge tube. Cells are pelleted for 10 seconds and resuspended in 400 yX cold Buffer A (10 mM HEPES-KOH pH 7.9 at 4°C, 1.5 mm MgCl2, 10 mM KC1, 0.5 mM dithiothreitol, 0.2 mM PMSF) by flicking the tube. The cells are allowed to swell on ice for 10 minutes, and then vortexed for 10 seconds. Samples are centrifuged for 10 seconds, and the supernatant fraction is discarded. The pellet is resuspended in 20—100 y\ (according to starting number of cells) of cold Buffer C (20 mM HEPES-KOH pH 7.9, 25% glycerol, 420 mM NaCl, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 0.2 mM EDTA, 0.5 mM dithiothreitol, 0.2 mM PMSF) and incubated on ice for 20 min for high-salt extraction. Cellular debris is removed by centrifugation for 2 minutes at 4C and the supernatant fraction (containing DNA binding proteins) is stored at -70°C. The yield is 50 to 75 /tg protein per 10 cells.
Criticality and Collegiality

The growing crisis of confidence in the integrity of managerial decision making is partly attributed to the prescriptive character of educational programs favored by Western business schools. This character includes an overly instrumental preoccupation, preventing practitioner students from developing skill sets to address the varied issues that organizations face. We argue for more challenging pedagogical programs to help managers increase their understanding of contemporary managerial requirements. We document a teaching scenario that drew on critical management studies research material (coined as “troublesome knowledge”) designed to engage students. The “situated learning” focus adopted enabled students to collectively interrogate managerialist and troublesome knowledge perspectives. The integration of theory and practice that emerged through the combination of analytical sources, classroom dialogue, and novel assignments developed the students’ “relational” understandings and skills of “reflexivity,” a combination we characterize as advancing “practical wisdom. ” The R&R (relational and reflexive) “threshold concepts” were used as a learning framework to chart student progress. We modeled a parallel facilitative mode of critical reflection- and relationship-centered management style. Feedback from the students indicates that the coupling of critically oriented conceptual material with the applied principles proffered empowering options for them regarding their own managerial practice.
Development of Multimedia Application for Smartphones

security and verify the user's identity has become one of the biggest concerns of institutions and individuals; this interest emerged many types of authentication. Security field uses three different ways; in the oldest documentation of these methods depending on the specific information such as a password or name. The second type depends on something you have his key, such as a smart cards. The last of these species depends on the dynamic qualities for biometry, which measures the properties of natural or behavioral uniqueness in people to document or rooting their identification and verification including famous biometrics (e.g. fingerprint; retina; iris, as well as some facial characteristics and features), also includes personal behaviors (e.g. signature; voice, and walk). All of this biometrics has its advantages that are compatible with the requirements of the different security systems. The proposed implementation model has come as an idea, since today's mobile phones are computers in medium. They are used in running e-mails; agendas; storing data; markets; etc., providing some approaches of security model based on face recognition and/or fingerprint as biometrics approaches for authentication on mobile phones. A new level of mobile phone user's security approach is presented this has been tested with the database. The algorithms have been first profiled in MATLAB and then implemented on android based smart-phones. The balance between accuracy and computation complexity on the application is an important mission to achieve it. In this paper the face recognition security for mobile phones has been represented and applied for face by using principle Component Analysis (PCA) technique.
Selective factors in memory. Part 2: affective disorder

Synopsis The relationship between the affective connotations of material and the ease of its recall two weeks later has been examined in a group of psychiatric inpatients suffering from affective disorder. The tendency to recall more pleasant than unpleasant material has been less marked in patients showing overt depression than in patients who were hypomanic or recovered from depression at the time of the experiment. This has been chiefly because of the higher negative tone of recalled material in the depressed patients. Other attributes of the material, relative to its impact on the subject, have also appeared to be less influential in recall in the presence of depression.
The Sharvard Corpus: A phonemically-balanced Spanish sentence resource for audiology

Abstract Objective: The current study describes the collection of a new phonemically-balanced Spanish sentence resource, known as the Sharvard Corpus. Design: The resource contains 700 sentences inspired by the original English Harvard sentences along with speech recordings from a male and female native peninsular Spanish talker. Sentences each contain five keywords for scoring and are grouped into 70 lists of 10 sentences using an automatic phoneme-balancing procedure. Study sample: Twenty-three native Spanish listeners identified keywords in the Sharvard sentences in speech-shaped noise. Results: Psychometric functions for the Sharvard sentences indicate mean speech reception thresholds of − 6.07 and − 6.24 dB, and slopes of 10.53 and 11.03 percentage points per dB at the 50% keywords correct point for male and female talkers respectively. Conclusions: The resulting open source collection of Spanish sentence material for speech perception testing is available online.