Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impaired Coronary Endothelial Vasorelaxation in a Preclinical Model of Peripheral Arterial Insufficiency

The present study was designed to determine whether adult swine with peripheral artery insufficiency (PAI) would exhibit vascular dysfunction in vessels distinct from the affected distal limbs, the coronary conduit arteries. Moreover, we sought to evaluate the effect of exercise training on coronary vasomotor function in PAI. Eighteen female healthy young Yucatan miniature swine were randomly assigned to either occluded exercise trained (Occl-Ex, n=7), or occluded-sedentary (Occl-Sed, n=5), or non-occluded, non-exercised control (Non-Occl-Con, n=6) groups. Occl-Ex pigs were progressively trained by running on a treadmill (5days/week, 12 weeks). The left descending artery (LAD) and left circumflex (LCX) coronary arteries were harvested. Vasorelaxation to adenosine diphosphate (ADP), bradykinin (BK), and sodium nitro-prusside (SNP) were assessed in LAD’s; while constrictor responses to phenylephrine (PE), angiotensin II (Ang II), and endothelin-1 (ET-1) were assessed in LCX’s. Vasorelaxation to ADP was reduced in LADs from Occl-Sed and Occl-Ex pigs (P<0.001) as compared to Non-Occl-Con pigs; however, Occl-Ex pigs exhibited partial recovery (P<0.001) intermediate to the other two groups. BK induced relaxation was reduced in LADs from Occl-Ex and Occl-Sed pigs (P<0.001), compared to Non-Occl-Con, and exercise modestly increased responses to BK (P<0.05). In addition, SNP, PE, Ang II, and ET-1 responses were not significantly different among the groups. Our results indicate that ‘simple’ occlusion of the femoral arteries induces vascular dysfunction in conduit vessels distinct from the affected hindlimbs, as evident in blunted coronary vasorelaxation responses to ADP and BK. These findings imply that PAI, even in the absence of frank atherogenic vascular disease, contributes to vascular dysfunction in the coronary arteries that could exacerbate disease outcome in patients with peripheral artery disease. Further, regular daily physical activity partially recovered the deficit observed in the coronary arteries.
Involvement of NFAT 1 in B Cell Self-Tolerance 1

B cells from anti-lysozyme Ig/soluble lysozyme double-transgenic mice are chronically exposed to self-Ag in the periphery, resulting in an anergic phenotype. Chronic exposure to self-Ag leads to nuclear translocation of NFAT1 and NFAT2, suggesting that they are involved in anergy. To directly test a role for NFAT1 in B cell anergy, NFAT1-deficient mice were crossed with antilysozyme Ig transgenic mice. As expected, B cell anergy was evident in the presence of self-Ag based on reduced serum antilysozyme levels, percentage and number of mature B cells, and reduced B cell responsiveness. By contrast, B cell anergy was relieved in NFAT1 mice expressing soluble self-Ag. Bone marrow development was equivalent in NFAT1-sufficient and -deficient mice, suggesting that loss of anergy in the latter is due to selection later in development. Taken together, these studies provide direct evidence that the transcription factor NFAT1 is involved in B cell anergy. The Journal of Immunology, 2006, 177: 1510–1515.
PARKINSONIAN SENSORY INTEGRATION F O R BALANCE CONTROL: T I M E BASED POSTURAL E F F E C T S OF ALTERATIONS IN SENSORY INFORMATION

Changes in postural stability following sensory manipulation were investigated among Parkinson's disease patients and healthy older adults. Sixteen Parkinson's disease patients (PD; mean age 68.2 ± 2.7 years) and sixteen older adults (control; mean age 67.6 + 2.6 years) performed quiet standing trials that progressed through baseline, sensory manipulation, and reintegration. Postural control following visual deprivation was assessed following alternate removal and reinsertion of visual information. Postural recovery following sensory incongruence was assessed following the termination of visual, somatosensory, and visuosomatosensory incongruence. PD patients' balance was disrupted following visual deprivation, and was initially disrupted when visual information was returned. PD patients' postural recovery was comparable to control subjects when sensory incongruence ended. These findings indicate that situations of visual deprivation in particular are initially disruptive for PD patients, and imply initial difficulty for sensory reorgani2ation in these patients. Our results provide insight into environmental situations imposing greater fall risk among the parkinsonian population.
fMRI Applications in Schizophrenia Research

fMRI has unique potential in the study of psychiatric patients, particularly in characterizing individual variations and changes over time. We have performed four studies of patients with schizophrenia, using three different fMRI acquisition protocols: (1) 3-D echo-shifted FLASH, a multishot volumetric approach; (2) 3-D PRESTO, a hybid of multishot and echo-planar imaging (EPI) methods that also acquires true volumetric data; and (3) a whole-brain isotropic, multislice EPI technique. Patients were studied during sensorimotor activation and during a novel "N back" working memory paradigm. In general, patients show normal sensorimotor activation responses, although motor cortical activation tends to be less completely lateralized. Prefrontal activation during working memory tends to be reduced in patients with schizophrenia even when performance is normal. A major potential confound in studying this patient population with fMRI is the effect of motion. We propose several methodological standards to address this problem, including comparisons of motion corrections parameters, voxel variances, and the use of an "internal activation standard. "
Hefted: reconfiguring work, value and mobility in the UK Lake district

ABSTRACT The production of financial value by organisations through highly mobile products and services is increasingly contested by recognition of the more-than-financial aspects of valuation practices, particularly regarding the quality or moral value of work experiences and the dignity of workers. The role of nonhuman animals is frequently overlooked despite the significance of animal contributions to labour and manufacture, yet contributes to this debate. We generate new insights to valuation by reflecting on the mobility of nonhumans. Discussing the Herdwick sheep breed of Cumbria, we illustrate how the image and narrative of these sheep is mobilised to add value not only to Herdwick products but to human work. We highlight how hefting, the concept of establishing a deep-rooted connection between sheep and place, stands in contrast to dominant logics of speed and efficiency and is employed to overcome devaluation of the worker in this mountainous and isolated region.
A heuristic to generate initial feasible solutions for the Unit Commitment problem

This paper presents a heuristic approach to generate initial feasible solutions for the Unit Commitment (UC) problem in electric power generation. The Chemical Reaction Optimization (CRO) algorithm is implemented to solve this problem. Multiple generator constraints and system constraints are considered. We also program the binary PSO and the Elite PSO (EPSO) for comparison. The proposed heuristic approach is combined with the three optimization algorithms to form H-CRO, H-PSO and H-EPSO. We test the performance of all algorithms on the standard 10-unit system. Simulation results show that the heuristic can improve the performance and CRO provides better convergence than the two PSO algorithms. H-CRO is also tested on a 20-unit and 100-unit system to show its capability. The results provided in this paper suggest that the proposed heuristic approach is a better alternative for solving the UC problem. CRO also has its advantage in optimizing UC problems.
NetworkCube: Bringing Dynamic Network Visualizations to Domain Scientists

Network visualizations support research in a range of scientific do- mains from biology to humanities. This paper presents our effort to create a platform to bridge the gap between domain scientists and visualisation researchers; NetworkCube aims in being a fast way to deploy experimental visualizations from research to domain experts analyzing dynamic networks. In turn, InfoVis researchers benefit from studying how their visualizations are used in the wild.
Auditory perception in vestibular neurectomy subjects C

The auditory efferent nerve is a feedback pathway that originates in the brainstem and projects to the inner ear. Although the anatomy and physiology of efferents have been rather thoroughly described, their functional roles in auditory perception are still not clear. Here, we report data in six human subjects who had undergone vestibular neurectomy, during which their efferent nerves were also presumably severed. The surgery had alleviated these subjects' vertigo but also resulted in mild to moderate hearing loss. We designed our experiments with a focus on the possible role of efferents in anti-masking. Consistent with previous studies, we found little effects of vestibular neurectomy on pure-tone detection and discrimination in quiet. However, we noted several new findings in all subjects tested. Efferent section increased loudness sensation (one subject), reduced overshoot effect (five subjects), accentuated `the midlevel hump' in forward masking (two subjects), and worsened intensity discrimination in noise (four subjects). Poorer speech in noise recognition was also observed in the surgery ear than the non-surgery ear in three out of four subjects tested, but this finding was confounded by hearing loss. The present results suggest an active role of efferents in auditory perception in noise. ß 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Raciolinguistic ideology of antiblackness: bilingual education, tracking, and the multiracial imaginary in urban schools

Abstract Based on a qualitative study of an urban middle school, this article examines student perceptions of shifting tracking structures following the dismantling of a school’s bilingual education program. The article demonstrates that students understood the school changes based on supposed language needs through an explicitly racialized lens, thereby illuminating both the permeability and entrenchment of raciolinguistic ideologies in the predominantly nonwhite school. In particular, a raciolinguistic ideology of antiblackness that positioned Black students as lacking when compared to other non-White students was ultimately reproduced in student discourse despite the change from bilingual education to English-only class tracks. This finding is significant because it questions how education reform is often structured without regard to broader social contexts and histories. The article concludes by exploring strategies policymakers and educators can draw from to challenge underlying relational racializations of antiblackness that are so pervasive in our current language education programs.
An improved fast watershed algorithm for segmentation of echocardiographic images

Echocardiography with delineated ventricle borders is a principal technique for quantitative assessment of cardiac function. As it is, most of the prevailing segmentation methods suffer in detecting edges at equivocal regions. This paper presents an effective method for tracking Left Ventricle borders with a lower time complexity. We propose an improved fast watershed algorithm (IFWSA), which scans the image only twice, one for generating connected components and other for labeling the catchment basins. Experiments over 200 echocardiographic images show that the proposed method ascertains 98% of acceptance level for tracked left ventricle when compared with expert drawn curve, twice faster than existing algorithm.
High Dimensional Problem Optimization Using Distributed Multi-agent PSO

Curse of dimensionality is a major difficulty with the classic optimization methods for high dimensional applications in which the problem size grows rapidly and mostly exponential with the number of space. In this work we present a simple yet effective multi-agent approach to apply distributed particle swarm optimization to meet such demand. Lip detection in color images, as a high-dimensional problem, has been investigated and a novel approach for obtaining an optimized lip-map was proposed. Experimental results show 92% correction rate which is 11% increase in comparison to the simple approach. A computational complexity analysis also shows the superiority of the proposed architecture to be used in other large scale application.
Identifying top-k Vital Patterns from multi-class medical data

With the development of modern science, the goal of medical research is not limit to explore a type of disease but more accurate multi-subtypes of this disease. For example breast cancer can be divided into three different subtypes: BRCA1, BRCA2 and Sporadic. Previous work only focuses on distinguishing several pairs of tumors. However, the simultaneous distinguish across multiple disease types has not been well studied yet, which is important for medical researcher. In this paper, we define VP (an acronym for “Vital Pattern”) and PP (an acronym for “Protect Pattern”) by a statistical metric, and propose a new algorithm to make use of the property discovery VP and PP from multiple disease types. The algorithm can generate some useful rules for medical researchers. The results demonstrate the feasibility of performing the clinically useful classification from patients of multiple pneumonia types.
Towards an Analytical Approach to Measure Modularity in Software Architecture Design

Modularization is one of the important subjects in the software design area which leads to increasing the level of quality attributes such as maintainability, portability, reusability, interoperability and flexibility. Therefore, measuring the modularity of a designed architecture is a vital issue to obtain software with a high quality level. Moreover, low coupling between modules, high cohesion of a fine-grained module is two major criteria that could lead to more advanced standard design. In this paper, we introduce an analytical method to calculate modularity considering coupling, granularity and cohesion. To assess the comprehensiveness of the proposed method, the degree of modularity is calculated in a case study using two different architectural designs which shows the architecture's desired quality characteristics in designing the software. The assessment implies that our approach offers a holistic, flexible method considering the type of software application .
Psychometric Evaluation of Newly Developed Self-Assessment of Entrepreneurial Competencies

Entering the ASEAN economic community today, Indonesia activelyencourages the number of entrepreneurs. One of the primary resourcesis from the graduates of the vocational high school. The school needsa strategic way to evaluate the improvement of its entrepreneurship curriculum. Therefore, we designed a self-assessment of entrepreneurial competencies. The authors developed an assessment consists of various soft skill and hard skill competencies. Participants were asked to assess own abilities, according to the statements provided. The participants were 258 graduated vocational students from Yogyakarta and Jakarta. From 137 preliminary items, we took 24 best items. Results showed that three-factor model provided an adequate fit for the data. Business management capabilities, strategic thinking skills in managing the business, and the ability to see the opportunities emerged as first-order factors. The reliability estimation with the internal consistency method involved the Cronbach’s alpha for all subtests showed excellent results. Future studies are still needed to test the predictive power of the test tool to the success of graduateswho becomean entrepreneur.
Implementation of Novel Approach for Credit Card Fraud Detection

In this research work, it is tried to develop a technique for `Credit Card Fraud Detection'. Credit Card can be accepted for each online and offline in today's world. There are combinations of methods used. Firstly, Shopping Behavior is based on which type of products customer buys. Secondly, Spending Behavior in this the fraud is detected based on the maximum amount spent. Thirdly, Hidden Markov Model in this technique profiles are maintained and statistics of a particular user and statistics of different fraud scenarios are clustered. Genetic Algorithm is used for calculation of threshold and accurate frauds. Finally average is taken out by summing the result. The main task of this research work is to explore different views of the same problem and see what can be learned from the application of each different technique.
Effects of the Hawaiian Islands on the vertical structure of low‐level clouds from CALIPSO lidar

The steady northeast trade winds impinge on the Hawaiian Islands, producing prominent island wakes of multispatial scales from tens to thousands of kilometers. Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) reveal rich three‐dimensional structures of low‐level clouds that are induced by the islands, distinct from the background environment. The cloud frequency peaks between 1.5 and 2.0 km in cloud top elevation over the windward slopes of the islands of Kauai and Oahu due to orographic lifting and daytime island heating. In the nighttime near‐island wake of Kauai, CALIPSO captures a striking cloud hole below 1.6 km as the cold advection from the island suppresses low‐level clouds. The cyclonic eddy of the mechanical wake behind the island of Hawaii favors the formation of low‐level clouds (below 2.5 km), and the anticyclonic eddy suppresses the low‐level cloud formation, indicative of the dynamical effect on the vertical structure of low‐level clouds. In the long Hawaiian wake due to air‐sea interaction, low‐level clouds form over both the warmer and colder waters, but the cloud tops are 400–600 m higher over the warm than the cold waters. In addition, the day‐night differences and the sensitivity of low‐level clouds to the background trade wind inversion height are also studied.
Data-efficient learning of robotic clothing assistance using Bayesian Gaussian process latent variable model

ABSTRACT Motor-skill learning for complex robotic tasks is a challenging problem due to the high task variability. Robotic clothing assistance is one such challenging problem that can greatly improve the quality-of-life for the elderly and disabled. In this study, we propose a data-efficient representation to encode task-specific motor-skills of the robot using Bayesian nonparametric latent variable models. The effectivity of the proposed motor-skill representation is demonstrated in two ways: (1) through a real-time controller that can be used as a tool for learning from demonstration to impart novel skills to the robot and (2) by demonstrating that policy search reinforcement learning in such a task-specific latent space outperforms learning in the high-dimensional joint configuration space of the robot. We implement our proposed framework in a practical setting with a dual-arm robot performing clothing assistance tasks. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Role of CD3 gamma in T cell receptor assembly

The T cell receptor (TCR) consists of the Ti alpha beta heterodimer and the associated CD3 gamma delta epsilon and zeta 2 chains. The structural relationships between the subunits of the TCR complex are still not fully known. In this study we examined the role of the extracellular (EC), transmembrane (TM), and cytoplasmic (CY) domain of CD3 gamma in assembly and cell surface expression of the complete TCR in human T cells. A computer model indicated that the EC domain of CD3 gamma folds as an Ig domain. Based on this model and on alignment studies, two potential interaction sites were predicted in the EC domain of CD3 gamma. Site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that these sites play a crucial role in TCR assembly probably by binding to CD3 epsilon. Mutagenesis of N-linked glycosylation sites showed that glycosylation of CD3 gamma is not required for TCR assembly and expression. In contrast, treatment of T cells with tunicamycin suggested that N-linked glycosylation of CD3 delta is required for TCR assembly. Site-directed mutagenesis of the acidic amino acid in the TM domain of CD3 gamma demonstrated that this residue is involved in TCR assembly probably by binding to Ti beta. Deletion of the entire CY domain of CD3 gamma did not prevent assembly and expression of the TCR. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that specific TCR interaction sites exist in both the EC and TM domain of CD3 gamma. Furthermore, the study indicated that, in contrast to CD3 gamma, glycosylation of CD3 delta is required for TCR assembly and expression.
Perceived Risk, Product Returns, and Optimal Resource Allocation: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Relatively few retailers include metrics such as product returns in their customer selection and optimal resource allocation algorithms when measuring and maximizing customer value. Even when they do include this metric, increases in product return behavior are usually considered merely an economic cost that must be managed by decreasing the marketing resource allocations toward the customers making the returns. However, recent research has suggested that satisfactory product return experiences can actually benefit firms by lowering the customer's perceived risk of current and future purchases. To better understand the role of this perceived risk in the firm–customer exchange process, the authors conduct a large-scale customer selection and optimal resource allocation field experiment with 26,000 customers from an online retailer over six months. They find that the firm is able to increase both its short-and long-term profits when accounting for the perceived risk related to product returns in addition to managing product return costs. Furthermore, the authors find that by including this risk, rather than simply implementing traditional customer lifetime value–based models generically, the firm can target more profitable customers.
GENOME WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES AND GENOMIC SELECTION : PROMISES AND PREMISES

Introduction Molecular markers have been used for screening of breeding individuals with desirable (economic trait loci) or deleterious (disease carriers) alleles in order to select the best individuals to propagate their genome to the next generation. High throughput sequencing technologies has revolutionized the marker assisted selection process from using a handful of markers to whole genome wide distributed markers for molecular breeding. Now, the whole genome of the individual is screened for the loci contributing to the trait of interest. In contrast to methods which specifically test one or a few genomic regions, the GWAS investigates the entire genome. The approach is, therefore, said to be genome-wide, non-candidate-specific in contrast to candidate-gene approach. GWAS can identify SNPs and other variants in DNA which are associated with a trait; however, it cannot specify the causal genes on their own. GWA studies have been able to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting many common complex diseases, demonstrating the utility of this approach for dissecting the genetic basis of polygenic traits (McCarthy et al., 2008). The first GWA study was conducted on patients with age-related macular degeneration, which was published in 2005 and reported two SNPs between case and control individuals (Klein et al., 2005).