Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
STROOP TESTA REFERENCE STIMULUS FOR PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS ?

Numerous experiments dealing with measuring of changes in human physiology due to mental stress are reported. In these researches, a stimulus is commonly employed to mentally, emotionally or cognitively affect the human subject and hers/his perception, resulting in changes in physiology. When evaluating such experiments from the metrology perspective, there is a clear lack of consistence and knowledge in assessing such psychological stimuli. In this paper we are presenting an attempt to evaluate a commonly used colour word conflict test the Stroop colour test, in several versions. The physiological results indicate that different versions of the Stroop test induce different levels of psychophysiological answer.
Reliability of a Fly Motion-Sensitive Neuron Depends on Stimulus Parameters

The variability of responses of sensory neurons constrains how reliably animals can respond to stimuli in the outside world. We show for a motion-sensitive visual interneuron of the fly that the variability of spike trains depends on the properties of the motion stimulus, although differently for different stimulus parameters. (1) The spike count variances of responses to constant and to dynamic stimuli lie in the same range. (2) With increasing stimulus size, the variance may slightly decrease. (3) Increasing pattern contrast reduces the variance considerably. For all stimulus conditions, the spike count variance is much smaller than the mean spike count and does not depend much on the mean activity apart from very low activities. Using a model of spike generation, we analyzed how the spike count variance depends on the membrane potential noise and the deterministic membrane potential fluctuations at the spike initiation zone of the neuron. In a physiologically plausible range, the variance is affected only weakly by changes in the dynamics or the amplitude of the deterministic membrane potential fluctuations. In contrast, the amplitude and dynamics of the membrane potential noise strongly influence the spike count variance. The membrane potential noise underlying the variability of the spike responses in the motion-sensitive neuron is concluded to be affected considerably by the contrast of the stimulus but by neither its dynamics nor its size.
The Role of Metacognition and Motivation in Developing the Writing Skill: the Case of Second Year Students of English at University “des Frères Mentouri” Constantine 1

Writing has an effective role in learning any language. It is a basic skill that endorses language acquisition, fosters critical thinking and permits students to communicate. Moreover, it becomes an essential competence for the learner to communicate in the globalized world and to achieve academicsuccess. This study is a fulfillment of the urgent need to make students aware of some metacognitive strategies that facilitate the writing task. It seeks to explore the efficiency of implementing metacognitive strategies via the use of the Process Approach in English Foreign Language writing classes to develop the students’ written production. Two main tools are used which are the teachers and the students questionnaires, and a quasi- experimental research (pre test and post test). During the experimental study, the researcher used metacognitive strategies and taught the participants in the experimental group how to use them in their writing skill. Through this study, the researcher has attempted to create a motivating environment and aid the learners to write essays following the different recursive stages of the Process Approach as a metacognitive strategy. However, the participants in the control group did not receive any treatment during their writing practice. The results show that the written compositions of the experimental group are highly improved compared to the control group.
Attachment, Affective Responsiveness, and Cohesion in Adoptive Families: Child and Parent Perspectives

ABSTRACT Some adoptive families are at risk for problems in family functioning. This study investigated the extent to which attachment to parents and affective responsiveness of the family predicted family cohesion and satisfaction with the adoptive family from both the child's and the parent's perspectives. Using a sample of 50 adopted children and their parents, our findings indicated that attachment to mother was salient in predicting children's perceptions of family cohesion and satisfaction with their adoptive family. Parental ratings of affective responsiveness of the family predicted parents' evaluation of family cohesion and their satisfaction with the adoption. As hypothesized, children and parents differed in their ratings of the cohesion and affective responsiveness of their family, with children reporting lower levels of these constructs than parents. Implications for practitioners and directions for future research are discussed.
Acute effect of a long-distance road competition on foot strike patterns, inversion and kinematics parameters in endurance runners

The purpose of this study was to determine the foot strike patterns, inversion and kinematics variables in recreational runners during a long-distance road competition, determining an association between foot strike pattern’s classification, inversion and kinematics variables with athletic performance and sex. Five hundred and forty-two athletes who participated in a half marathon passed through the 15 km data collection point. Photogrammetric techniques (2D) were used to measure contact time and flight time. A high prevalence of rearfoot and high rearfoot strikes was found among the most recreational distance runners. No significant differences between sexes in foot strike pattern were found, whilst significant differences between level groups in the asymmetry (first level = 96.5%, second level = 10.6% and third level = 0.4%) were found. Additionally, forefoot and high forefoot strike exhibit greater percentage for inversion. Moreover, athletes with high rearfoot and rearfoot strike showed a greater contact time and lower flight time. Foot strike patterns were influenced by running speed; thus, athletes with higher performance exhibit lower frequency of rearfoot and high rearfoot strikes. Further research could clarify the causes and consequences (performance and injury) of the current findings.
PROBABILISTIC QUEUING SCHEME FOR SERVICING E-MAILS USING MARKOV CHAINS

Recently, huge number of e-mails is sent and received. These e-mails are classified into spam and non spam ones which are processed with the same priority. To guarantee a higher priority service to non-spam e-mails than that is provided to spam e-mails, a two-priority queue scheme was proposed. There are some drawbacks in the two-priority queue scheme such as it fails to provide a Quality of Service (QoS) in case of network bottlenecks. In this paper, an algorithm for servicing non-spam e-mails with high probability is proposed. Markov chain is used to analyze the servicing probability of e-mails in case of two and three priority queue schemes. Results proved that the three-queue scheme provides a higher probability service to the most important non spam e-mails than that is provided to the same class in case of the two-queue scheme.
On multi-view texture mapping of indoor environments using Kinect depth sensors

At present, research on reconstruction and coloring of 3D models is growing rapidly due to increasing availability of low-cost 3D sensing systems. In this paper, we explore coloring of triangular mesh models with multiple color images by employing a multi-view texture mapping approach. The fusion of depth and color vision data is complicated by 3D modeling and multi-viewpoint registration inaccuracies. In addition, the large amount of camera viewpoints in our scenes requires techniques that process the depth and color vision data efficiently. Considering these difficulties, our primary objective is to generate high-quality textels that can also be rendered on a standard hardware setup using texture mapping. For this work, we have made three contributions. Our first contribution involves the application of a visibility map to efficiently identify visible faces. The second contribution is a technique to reduce ghosting artifacts based on a confidence map. The third contribution yields high-detail textels by adding the mean color and color histogram information to the sigma-outlier detector. The experimental results show that our multi-view texture mapping approach efficiently generates high-quality textels for colored 3D models, while being robust to registration errors.
Antitumour and Antioxidant Activity of Some Red Sea Seaweeds in Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma in vivo

1 The antitumour activities of extracts from the Red Sea seaweeds Jania rubens, Sargassum subrepandum, and Ulva lactuca were investigated in an in vivo mice model based on intramuscular injection of Ehrlich ascites tumour cells. In parallel, antioxidant activities were measured. Tumour marker levels, liver biochemical parameters, and hepatic oxidant/antioxidant status were measured to prove the anticancer and antioxidant nature of the algal extracts. Significant decreases in carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels, activities of liver enzymes, levels of nitric oxide (NO) and malondialdehyde (MDA), and an increase in total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were recorded in groups treated with the algal extracts. Jania rubens was selected for phytochemical screening of its phytoconstituents. In addition, carotenoids, halides, minerals, lipoidal matters, proteins, and carbohydrates were studied. Furthermore, 7-oxo-cholest-5(6)-en-3-ol () and cholesterol (2) were isolated from the dichloromethane fraction.
Activated Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase and Akt Kinase Promote Survival of Superior Cervical Neurons

The signaling pathways that mediate the ability of NGF to support survival of dependent neurons are not yet completely clear. However previous work has shown that the c-Jun pathway is activated after NGF withdrawal, and blocking this pathway blocks neuronal cell death. In this paper we show that over-expression in sympathetic neurons of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase or its downstream effector Akt kinase blocks cell death after NGF withdrawal, in spite of the fact that the c-Jun pathway is activated. Yet, neither the PI 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 nor a dominant negative PI 3-kinase cause sympathetic neurons to die if they are maintained in NGF. Thus, although NGF may regulate multiple pathways involved in neuronal survival, stimulation of the PI 3-kinase pathway is sufficient to allow cells to survive in the absence of this factor.
Preclinical Activity of the Rational Combination of Selumetinib (AZD6244) in Combination with Vorinostat in KRAS-Mutant Colorectal Cancer Models

Purpose: Despite the availability of several active combination regimens for advanced colorectal cancer (CRC), the 5-year survival rate remains poor at less than 10%, supporting the development of novel therapeutic approaches. In this study, we focused on the preclinical assessment of a rationally based combination against KRAS-mutated CRC by testing the combination of the MEK inhibitor, selumetinib, and vorinostat, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor. Experimental Design: Transcriptional profiling and gene set enrichment analysis (baseline and posttreatment) of CRC cell lines provided the rationale for the combination. The activity of selumetinib and vorinostat against the KRAS-mutant SW620 and SW480 CRC cell lines was studied in vitro and in vivo. The effects of this combination on tumor phenotype were assessed using monolayer and 3-dimensional cultures, flow cytometry, apoptosis, and cell migration. In vivo, tumor growth inhibition, 18F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), and proton nuclear magnetic resonance were carried out to evaluate the growth inhibitory and metabolic responses, respectively, in CRC xenografts. Results: In vitro, treatment with selumetinib and vorinostat resulted in a synergistic inhibition of proliferation and spheroid formation in both CRC cell lines. This inhibition was associated with an increase in apoptosis, cell-cycle arrest in G1, and reduced cellular migration and VEGF-A secretion. In vivo, the combination resulted in additive tumor growth inhibition. The metabolic response to selumetinib and vorinostat consisted of significant inhibition of membrane phospholipids; no significant changes in glucose uptake or metabolism were observed in any of the treatment groups. Conclusion: These data indicate that the rationally based combination of the mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase inhibitor, selumetinib, with the HDAC inhibitor vorinostat results in synergistic antiproliferative activity against KRAS-mutant CRC cell lines in vitro. In vivo, the combination showed additive effects that were associated with metabolic changes in phospholipid turnover, but not on FDG-PET, indicating that the former is a more sensitive endpoint of the combination effects. Clin Cancer Res; 18(4); 1051–62. ©2011 AACR.
Transcriptional termination signals for RNA polymerase II in fission yeast

Transcription ‘run‐on’ (TRO) analysis using permeabilized yeast cells indicates that transcription terminates between 180 and 380 bp downstream of the poly(A) site of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe ura4 gene. Two signals direct RNA polymerase II (pol II) to stop transcription: the previously identified 3′ end formation signals located close to the poly(A) site and an additional downstream element (DSE) located at the region of termination. The downstream signal (135 bp) appears to act by pausing the elongating polymerase. TRO analysis indicates that elevated levels of transcribing polymerases accumulate over the DSE and that removal of this signal leads to transcription proceeding beyond the normal termination region. Furthermore, when inserted between two competing polyadenylation signals, this DSE increases the utilization of upstream poly(A) sites in vivo. We show that polymerase pausing over an extended region of template ensures termination of pol II transcription close to the poly(A) site.
Astrocyte Senescence as a Component of Alzheimer’s Disease

Aging is the main risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD); however, the aspects of the aging process that predispose the brain to the development of AD are largely unknown. Astrocytes perform a myriad of functions in the central nervous system to maintain homeostasis and support neuronal function. In vitro, human astrocytes are highly sensitive to oxidative stress and trigger a senescence program when faced with multiple types of stress. In order to determine whether senescent astrocytes appear in vivo, brain tissue from aged individuals and patients with AD was examined for the presence of senescent astrocytes using p16INK4a and matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) expression as markers of senescence. Compared with fetal tissue samples (n = 4), a significant increase in p16INK4a-positive astrocytes was observed in subjects aged 35 to 50 years (n = 6; P = 0.02) and 78 to 90 years (n = 11; P<10−6). In addition, the frontal cortex of AD patients (n = 15) harbored a significantly greater burden of p16INK4a-positive astrocytes compared with non-AD adult control subjects of similar ages (n = 25; P = 0.02) and fetal controls (n = 4; P<10−7). Consistent with the senescent nature of the p16INK4a-positive astrocytes, increased metalloproteinase MMP-1 correlated with p16INK4a. In vitro, beta-amyloid 1–42 (Aβ1–42) triggered senescence, driving the expression of p16INK4a and senescence-associated beta-galactosidase. In addition, we found that senescent astrocytes produce a number of inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-6 (IL-6), which seems to be regulated by p38MAPK. We propose that an accumulation of p16INK4a-positive senescent astrocytes may link increased age and increased risk for sporadic AD.
De-regulation of gene expression and alternative splicing affects distinct cellular pathways in the aging hippocampus

Aging is accompanied by gradually increasing impairment of cognitive abilities and constitutes the main risk factor of neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's disease (AD). The underlying mechanisms are however not well understood. Here we analyze the hippocampal transcriptome of young adult mice and two groups of mice at advanced age using RNA sequencing. This approach enabled us to test differential expression of coding and non-coding transcripts, as well as differential splicing and RNA editing. We report a specific age-associated gene expression signature that is associated with major genetic risk factors for late-onset AD (LOAD). This signature is dominated by neuroinflammatory processes, specifically activation of the complement system at the level of increased gene expression, while de-regulation of neuronal plasticity appears to be mediated by compromised RNA splicing.
UniFrac: a New Phylogenetic Method for Comparing Microbial Communities

ABSTRACT We introduce here a new method for computing differences between microbial communities based on phylogenetic information. This method, UniFrac, measures the phylogenetic distance between sets of taxa in a phylogenetic tree as the fraction of the branch length of the tree that leads to descendants from either one environment or the other, but not both. UniFrac can be used to determine whether communities are significantly different, to compare many communities simultaneously using clustering and ordination techniques, and to measure the relative contributions of different factors, such as chemistry and geography, to similarities between samples. We demonstrate the utility of UniFrac by applying it to published 16S rRNA gene libraries from cultured isolates and environmental clones of bacteria in marine sediment, water, and ice. Our results reveal that (i) cultured isolates from ice, water, and sediment resemble each other and environmental clone sequences from sea ice, but not environmental clone sequences from sediment and water; (ii) the geographical location does not correlate strongly with bacterial community differences in ice and sediment from the Arctic and Antarctic; and (iii) bacterial communities differ between terrestrially impacted seawater (whether polar or temperate) and warm oligotrophic seawater, whereas those in individual seawater samples are not more similar to each other than to those in sediment or ice samples. These results illustrate that UniFrac provides a new way of characterizing microbial communities, using the wealth of environmental rRNA sequences, and allows quantitative insight into the factors that underlie the distribution of lineages among environments.
Possibility of Mental Health Self-Checks using Divergence Properties of Pulse Waves

We conducted a nonlinear analysis of fingertip pulse waves and found that the Lyapunov exponent having the “divergence” property of attractor trajectory was an effective index for estimating human mental health. We showed that this method is effective for an early detection of dementia and depression, as well as in the detection of changes in mental status. In addition, based on these results obtained from time series analysis of the recorded pulse waves, we developed an application device allowing easily installed and convenient measurement for daily check and monitoring mental/physical status. It was an easy-to-use and cost-less device installed in a PC mouse. Also, we studied a representation method of constellation graphs to disclose the fluctuation details of the Lyapunov exponents. In the representation, changes in mental status were assessed and graphically visible by using of the fluctuation factor of the Lyapunov exponents.
INVISTEGATING THE CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR ONLINE C 2 C AUCTIONS IN EGYPT

Online shopping has become the third most popular Internet activity after using e-mails, web browsing and entertainment. An important type of online shopping is online consumer to consumer auction (C2C) where consumers are able to sell and buy directly online. Although C2C online auctions could be an opportunities to enhance e-commerce in developing countries, many internet users are not willing to use it. This research investigates the critical success factors for C2C online auctions in Egypt as an example of a developing country. A conceptual model is introduced considering both technical and non-technical factors and tested via a survey method. Results indicate that website contents, product information, security and trust factors have a significant impact on increasing citizens’ intention to use C2C online auction website in Egypt.
Learning from MIS-ventures : MIS Research as a Narrative Web

It is acknowledged that MIS knowledge has always resided in conceptualizing and developing applications in the context of ‘explicit’ and well defined knowledge. In this paper, however, we contend that the less tangible aspect of knowledge, ‘tacit’ knowledge, is now the area that demands more attention from MIS researchers and academics. Tacit knowledge provides the organizational context for MIS implementation. MIS researchers need to recognize practitioners’ skills in utilizing tacit knowledge in their organizational workplace if they are to successfully contextualize the explicit and tacit knowledge that is inherent in practitioner technical know-how. The historical narrative of the MIS discipline, as told by our published academic papers, lacks the tacit knowledge that intensive research could reveal. It particularly lacks the tacit knowledge that stories of mis-takes and mis-adventures could provide. In order to support our claim, we inspected three influential, highly ranked journals over a 5-year period. The results of our analysis reveal a lack of balance in the worldview of MIS academics. Most articles are premised on positive outcomes and utopian stories of success. Introduction The aim of this paper is to explore whether the management information systems (MIS) academic literature adequately analyses and reports upon the complex nature of knowledge acquisition and learning. Our particular epistemological perspective is based in narratology, for we posit that many tacit aspects of knowledge are best represented in the capture, re-telling and interpretation of narratives. Furthermore, when we read the extant body of our own MIS theory as a complex web of narrative, then we discover that it is an incomplete narrative: as we read it our theory is the construct of positivists who promote ever newer and better ways of operationalizing the explicit knowledge that emerges from positivist explorations, while discarding the
Research about intake and exhaust mulffer: A review

This paper provides an overview of research on intake and exhaust muffler in the past 3 years. First, a detailed introduction to the basic noise theory of intake and exhaust muffler is given. And then, the status quo of research on inlet and exhaust muffler is in focus in the past 3 years. Finally, a summary on the research status and prospect of research focus in the future is discussed.