Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
STIM1-Independent T Cell Development and Effector Function In Vivo1

Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) is believed to be of pivotal importance in T cell physiology. To test this hypothesis, we generated mice constitutively lacking the SOCE-regulating Ca2+ sensor stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1). In vitro analyses showed that SOCE and Ag receptor complex-triggered Ca2+ flux into STIM1-deficient T cells is virtually abolished. In vivo, STIM1-deficient mice developed a lymphoproliferative disease despite normal thymic T cell maturation and normal frequencies of CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. Unexpectedly, STIM1-deficient bone marrow chimeric mice mounted humoral immune responses after vaccination and STIM1-deficient T cells were capable of inducing acute graft-versus-host disease following adoptive transfer into allogeneic hosts. These results demonstrate that STIM1-dependent SOCE is crucial for homeostatic T cell proliferation, but of much lesser importance for thymic T cell differentiation or T cell effector functions.
A Energy Prediction Based Spectrum Sensing Approach for Cognitive Radio Networks

The spectrum scarcity is a serious problem for future development of wireless communication. The current researches on Cognitive Radio (CR) technologies and secondary usage of the spectrum have received a lot of attention. However, in CR networks, secondary users (SUs) should spend a large number of times for spectrum sensing. In this paper, we propose a Exponential Moving Average (EMA) based energy prediction method to enhance the energy detection for spectrum sensing. In our algorithm, the energy prediction can predict the energy level in the frequency bands. Based on these predicted information, SUs can skip the sensing duty when the predicted energy level is larger than the preset threshold (the existence of primary user(PU)). The simulation results indicate that our method can reduce the whole sensing time of SUs effectively, as compared with the traditional energy detection method.
A Distributed Platform for Sanskrit Processing

Sanskrit, the classical language of India, presents specific challenges for computational linguistics: exact phonetic transcription in writing that obscures word boundaries, rich morphology and an enormous corpus, among others. Recent international cooperation has developed innovative solutions to these problems and significant resources for linguistic research. Solutions include efficient segmenting and tagging algorithms and dependency parsers based on constraint programming. The integration of lexical resources, text archives and linguistic software is achieved by distributed interoperable Web services. Resources include a morphological tagger and tagged corpus.
Markers improve clustering of CGH data

MOTIVATION We consider the problem of clustering a population of Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH) data samples using similarity based clustering methods. A key requirement for clustering is to avoid using the noisy aberrations in the CGH samples. RESULTS We develop a dynamic programming algorithm to identify a small set of important genomic intervals called markers. The advantage of using these markers is that the potentially noisy genomic intervals are excluded during the clustering process. We also develop two clustering strategies using these markers. The first one, prototype-based approach, maximizes the support for the markers. The second one, similarity-based approach, develops a new similarity measure called RSim and refines clusters with the aim of maximizing the RSim measure between the samples in the same cluster. Our results demonstrate that the markers we found represent the aberration patterns of cancer types well and they improve the quality of clustering significantly. AVAILABILITY All software developed in this paper and all the datasets used are available from the authors upon request.
CHOICES-TEEN: Reducing Substance-Exposed Pregnancy and HIV Among Juvenile Justice Adolescent Females

Objective: The feasibility and acceptability of CHOICES-TEEN—a three-session intervention to reduce overlapping risks of alcohol-exposed pregnancy (AEP), tobacco-exposed pregnancy (TEP), and HIV—was assessed among females in the juvenile justice system. Method: Females aged 14–17 years on community probation in Houston, TX, were eligible if presenting with aforementioned health risks. Outcome measures—obtained at 1- and 3-months postbaseline—included the Timeline Followback, Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8, session completion/checklists, Working Alliance Inventory–Short, and open-ended questions. Twenty-two participants enrolled (82% Hispanic/Latina; mean age = 16). Results: The results suggest strong acceptability and feasibility with high client satisfaction and client/therapist ratings, 91% session completion, and positive open-ended responses. All youth were at risk at baseline, with the following proportions at reduced risk at follow-up: AEP (90% at 1 month, 71.4% at 3 months), TEP (77% of smokers [n = 17] at reduced risk at 1 month, 50% at 3 months), and HIV (52.4% at 1 month, 28.6% at 3 months).
A metric analysis of critical Hamilton--Jacobi equations in the stationary ergodic setting

We adapt the metric approach to the study of stationary ergodic Hamilton-Jacobi equations, for which a notion of admissible random (sub)solution is defined. For any level of the Hamiltonian greater than or equal to a distinguished critical value, we define an intrinsic random semidistance and prove that an asymptotic norm does exist. Taking as source region a suitable class of closed random sets, we show that the Lax formula provides admissible subsolutions. This enables us to relate the degeneracies of the critical stable norm to the existence/nonexistence of exact or approximate critical admissible solutions.
Validation of non-rigid point-set registration methods using a porcine bladder pelvic phantom

The problem of accurate dose accumulation in fractionated radiotherapy treatment for highly deformable organs, such as bladder, has garnered increasing interest over the past few years. However, more research is required in order to find a robust and efficient solution and to increase the accuracy over the current methods. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of utilizing non-rigid (affine or deformable) point-set registration in accumulating dose in bladder of different sizes and shapes. A pelvic phantom was built to house an ex vivo porcine bladder with fiducial landmarks adhered onto its surface. Four different volume fillings of the bladder were used (90, 180, 360 and 480 cc). The performance of MATLAB implementations of five different methods were compared, in aligning the bladder contour point-sets. The approaches evaluated were coherent point drift (CPD), gaussian mixture model, shape context, thin-plate spline robust point matching (TPS-RPM) and finite iterative closest point (ICP-finite). The evaluation metrics included registration runtime, target registration error (TRE), root-mean-square error (RMS) and Hausdorff distance (HD). The reference (source) dataset was alternated through all four points-sets, in order to study the effect of reference volume on the registration outcomes. While all deformable algorithms provided reasonable registration results, CPD provided the best TRE values (6.4 mm), and TPS-RPM yielded the best mean RMS and HD values (1.4 and 6.8 mm, respectively). ICP-finite was the fastest technique and TPS-RPM, the slowest.
Business Process Modeling with URN

This article demonstrates how the User Requirements Notation (URN) can be used to model business processes. URN combines goals and scenarios in order to help capture and reason about user requirements prior to detailed design. In terms of application areas, this emerging standard targets reactive systems in general, with a particular focus on telecommunications systems and services. This article argues that the URN also can be applied to business process modeling. To this end, it illustrates the notation, its use, and its benefits with a supply chain management case study. It then briefly compares this approach to related modeling approaches; namely, use case-driven design, service-oriented architecture analysis, and conceptual value modeling. The authors hope that a URN-based approach will provide usable and useful tools to assist researchers and practitioners with the modeling, analysis, integration, and evolution of existing and emerging business processes.
DATA-SURVEY: Migrant Acceptance Index: A Global Examination of the Relationship Between Interpersonal Contact and Attitudes toward Migrants

Using independently sampled Gallup World Poll survey data from 140 countries, we explored the relationship between interpersonal contact and attitudes toward migrants from a perspective not typically found in the social psychological literature. We hypothesized that respondents who report personally knowing a migrant living in their home country would be more accepting of migrants generally (using a three-item Migrant Acceptance Index (MAI) score) than respondents who do not know a migrant. Results supported our hypothesis in 134 of the 140 countries suggesting that the strong relationship between interpersonal contact and attitudes toward migrants is near-universal. We also quantified migrant acceptance at the country level, finding a wide spectrum of attitudes toward migrants. Low acceptance countries were located primarily in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and high acceptance countries were located in Northern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. We discuss these results in the context of interpersonal contact theory (Allport, 1954) and the larger context of global migration.
A Novel Role- and Certificate-Based Single Sign-On System for Emergency Rescue Operations

In large scale disaster management operations with hundreds and thousands of victims, fast access to distributed heterogeneous information of different organizations is required for efficient and reliable dispensation of rescue operations. The development of such emergency systems poses a big challenge, if requirements such as performance, security and reliability have to be fulfilled simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a novel Role integrated Certificate-based Single Sign-On (RC-SSO) solution for fast mobile access between first responders at the incident scene and their distributed organizations. Beside the illustration of operational details of the RC-SSO solution, we validate our concept by implementing an experimental prototype as proof-of-concept for a limited number of users. Furthermore, we design a simulation model to determine the performance boundary of our solution under high user density. In contrast to other related emergency system solutions, our approach does not employ a so-called Identity Provider (IDP) for authentication and authorization process and thus reduces additional communication cost as well. A comparison of our proposed solution to an IDP based classical single sign-on counterparts i.e. Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) shows that our RC-SSO outperforms these by up to 80%. In addition RC-SSO ensures high data security level with negligible overhead compared to the standard security protocol SSL/TLS.
Modulation of TRESK Background K+ Channel by Membrane Stretch

The two-pore domain K+ channel TRESK is expressed in dorsal root ganglion and trigeminal sensory neurons where it is a major contributor to background K+ current. TRESK acts as a break to prevent excessive sensory neuron activation and decreases in its expression or function have been involved in neuronal hyperexcitability after injury/inflammation, migraine or altered sensory perception (tingling, cooling and pungent burning sensations). All these effects have implicated this channel in nociception and mechanotransduction. To determine the role of TRESK in sensory transduction, we studied its sensitivity to changes in membrane tension (stretch) in heterologous systems, F-11 cells and trigeminal neurons. Laminar shear stress increased TRESK currents by 22–30%. An increase in membrane tension induced by cell swelling (hypotonic medium) produced a reversible elevation of TRESK currents (39.9%). In contrast, cell shrinkage (hypertonic solution) produced the opposite effect. Membrane crenators or cup-formers produced equivalent effects. In trigeminal sensory neurons, TRESK channels were mechanically stimulated by negative pressure, which led to a 1.51-fold increase in channel open probability. TRESK-like currents in trigeminal neurons were additively inhibited by arachidonic acid, acidic pH and hypertonic stimulation, conditions usually found after tissue inflammation. Our results show that TRESK is modulated by changes in cell membrane tension and/or cell volume. Several key players released during inflammation or tissue injury could modulate sensory neuron activation through small changes in membrane tension.
Protein migration into nuclei. I. Frog oocyte nuclei in vivo accumulate microinjected histones, allow entry to small proteins, and exclude large proteins

A technique is presented which enables one to measure the extent to which a protein enters and accumulates in the nucleus of the frog oocyte. In this method, the protein, labeled with 125-I, is microinjected into the oocyte. After incubation, the oocyte is manually enucleated and the radioactivity in the nucleus and cytoplasm is determined. Using this technique, proteins lighter than 20,000 daltons were found to enter the nucleus and completely equilibrate between the nucleus and cytoplasm within 24 h. The entry of proteins heavier than 69,000 daltons was severely hindered. Histones and histone fractions entered as quickly as other small proteins, but, in contrast to these proteins, they accumulated in the nucleus to different extents, depending on the total amount of histone injected into the oocyte and the identity of the histone. Evidence is presented that histone fractions compete with each other for accumulation in the nucleus.
Lactic Acid Bacteria Strains Exert Immunostimulatory Effect on H. pylori-Induced Dendritic Cells

The aim of this study was to find out if selected lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains (antagonistic or nonantagonistic against H. pylori in vitro) would differ in their abilities to modulate the DCs maturation profiles reflected by their phenotype and cytokine expression patterns. Methods. Monocyte-derived DCs maturation was elicited by their direct exposure to the LAB strains of L. rhamnosus 900 or L. paracasei 915 (antagonistic and nonantagonistic to H. pylori, resp.), in the presence or absence of H. pylori strain cagA+. The DCs maturation profile was assessed on the basis of surface markers expression and cytokines production. Results. We observed that the LAB strains and the mixtures of LAB with H. pylori are able to induce mature DCs. At the same time, the L. paracasei 915 leads to high IL-10/IL-12p70 cytokine ratio, in contrast to L. rhamnosus 900. Conclusions. This study showed that the analyzed lactobacilli strains are more potent stimulators of DC maturation than H. pylori. Interestingly from the two chosen LAB strains the antagonistic to H. pylori-L. rhamnosus strain 900 has more proinflammatory and probably antibactericidal properties.
Adaptive Cache Decay using Formal Feedback Control

This paper argues that adaptive techniques in processor architecture should be designed using formal feedback-control theory. We use the derivation of a controller for cache decay—a technique for leakage-energy savings—to illustrate the process of formal feedback-control design and to show the benefits of feedback control. Control theory provides a powerful framework that simplifies the task of designing an adaptive system. It provides well-known control designs that are easy to tune for performance and stability. Open-loop adaptation, on the other hand, is vulnerable to unacceptable behaviors when presented with workloads or conditions that were not anticipated at design time. In contrast, feedback control responds to unanticipated behaviors and provides robust operation in cases where open-loop designs fail. Since interest in adaptivity only continues to grow, the need for feedback control techniques and formal design techniques can only grow accordingly. Although our work so far leaves several open questions—especially the question of how best to choose the control setpoint—we hope that this paper will demonstrate the value of formal feedback control and provide guidelines for its general application in architecture research.
Toward an Understanding of the Connections in Creating Lasting Family Connections

Abstract The Creating Lasting Family Connections® (CLFC) program is designed to help improve relationship skills and reduce antisocial behaviors. Strader and colleagues propose that prosocial connectedness is responsible for program outcomes. We propose that the intersection of high agreeableness and low impulsivity represent an operational definition. We examined this definition in the context of a RCT with 246 men in prison reentry. CLFCFP increased the number of connected individuals. Being connected and the program independently impacted relationship skills, but no evidence was found to support the hypothesis that the program impacts would be more pronounced among those who were connected.
Title BMS-708163 and Nilotinib restore synaptic dysfunction in human embryonic stem cell-derived Alzheimer ' s disease models

Right © The Author(s) 2016. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
A Generalized Proportionate Subband Adaptive Second-Order Volterra Filter for Acoustic Echo Cancellation in Changing Environments

The performance of a typical linear echo canceller is limited by changes that occur in the acoustic echo path along with nonlinear echoes arising from electrodynamic loudspeaker distortion. This paper presents a subband structure based on proportionately adapted second-order Volterra filters for acoustic echo cancellation under these adverse conditions. The proposed structure allows the time and frequency domain nature of echo path changes to be exploited, resulting in faster convergence and tracking compared to an equivalent fullband structure while requiring significantly less computational complexity. Experimental results, based on measured data from a practical hands-free environment under changing conditions, demonstrate the improved echo cancellation performance of the proposed structure.
Slc26a6 functions as an electrogenic Cl 2 /HCO 3 2 exchanger in cardiac myocytes

Alterations in cardiac acid–base balance can produce profound impact on excitation–contraction coupling and precipi-tate cardiac dysfunction and arrhythmias. A member of the solute carrier (SLC) family, Slc26a6, has been shown to be a chloride-hydroxyl exchanger and the predominant chloride-bicarbonate exchanger in the mouse heart. However, the exact isoforms and functional characteristics of cardiac Slc26a6 remain unknown. The objective of the present study is to determine the molecular identity of cardiac Slc26a6 isoforms, to examine their cellular expressions in the heart, and to test the function of Slc26a6 in cardiomyocytes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Keywords
BGPInspector : A Real-time Extensible Border Gateway Protocol Monitoring Framework

The Internet often experiences disruptions that affect its overall performance. Disruptive events include globalscale incidents such as large-scale power outages, undersea cable cuts, or Internet worms. They also include IP-prefix level anomalies such as prefix hijacking or route leak events. All such events could cause the Internet to deviate from its normal state of operation. It is therefore important to monitor and detect the abnormal events, and do so from both granularities. Current solutions mostly focus on detecting certain types of events or anomalies and ignoring the others. There is not yet a generic framework that can perform different monitoring tasks under one system. In this report, we present our work on improving the two monitors, I-seismograph and Buddyguard, and introduce our new extensible Internet monitoring framework that ties them together. Each component of the framework works independently, allowing our system to perform multiple monitoring tasks at the same time and to integrate new components without disrupting the currently active ones.
Dependence of the Stability of the Least Mean Fourth Algorithm on Target Weights Non-Stationarity

The paper investigates a new stability problem of the least mean fourth (LMF) algorithm, which is the dependence of the algorithm stability on the time-variation of the target weights of the adaptive filter. The analysis is done in the context of tracking a Markov plant with a stationary white Gaussian input. It is found that the algorithm diverges if the mean square increment of the plant parameter vector exceeds a threshold value that depends on the step-size, input variance, and noise moments. The paper also derives a closed form of the steady-state mean square deviation without the usual assumption of a strong noise. Comparison of the tracking capabilities of the LMF and LMS algorithms is provided. The comparison is done in terms of the minimum mean square deviation attained by each algorithm over the stability range of its step-size. Gaussian, uniform, and binary distributions of the noise are considered. Conditions that make one algorithm outperform the other are determined. Analytical results are supported by simulations.
Telemanipulation with a humanoid robot hand/arm between USA and Japan

This paper presents a tele-control system comprised of a robot hand/arm and an operator. In our system, the angle of the finger of the robot hand is controlled according to the angle of the operator's finger, and the position of the robot arm is controlled according to the position of the operator's arm. Simultaneously, the operator feels the environmental force as detected by the touch sensor attached to the robot hand, resulting in so-called bilateral master/slave control. To date, there have been a few studies of bilateral master/slave systems that use a multi-fingered humanoid robot hand in communication networks with delay caused by physical distance. The purpose of our study was to achieve tele-operation with bilateral master/slave control between the operator's hand/arm and the multi-fingered humanoid robot hand/arm using the Internet with delay caused by distance. For our experiment, the operator was in the USA, and the multi-fingered humanoid robot hand/arm and object were in Japan. Using our system, the operator could successfully grasp and move an object while he felt the reaction force from the object. This technology can applicable to tele-operation such as feeling the hardness and weight of the stone which exist in the moon, on the ground etc.