Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cadmium modulates proliferation and differentiation of human neuroblasts

Cadmium is an environmental pollutant inducing numerous pathological effects, including neurological disorders and brain diseases. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of cadmium in affecting neurons and in inducing neurotoxicity in the development of the human brain. We have recently established, cloned, and propagated in vitro a primary long‐term cell culture (FNC‐B4) obtained from the human fetal olfactory neuroepithelium. In the present study, we show that different concentrations of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) induced dose‐dependent biological effects in FNC‐B4 cells. A low concentration (10 μM) of CdCl2 stimulated neuroblast growth, whereas a high concentration (100 μM) inhibited the growth and the viability of neuroblasts inducing morphological and cytoskeletal alterations as well as apoptotic cell death. We also observed that CdCl2 affected, in a dose‐dependent manner, the differentiation of FNC‐B4 neuroblasts, with increased mRNA and protein levels of differentiation markers and decreased expression levels of neuronal stem markers. Furthermore, differentiated cells co‐expressed glial and neuronal markers. We suggest that CdCl2 in FNC‐B4 neuroblasts might represent a selective cue by which, in a heterogeneous primary culture, the more differentiated mature cells die, whereas the undifferentiated cells, at the same time glial and neuronal progenitors, are forced to access a state of differentiation. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
What Is a Terrorist Group? Conceptual Issues and Empirical Implications

Researchers increasingly conduct quantitative studies of terrorist groups, which is an important advance in the literature. However, there has been little discussion of what constitutes a “terrorist group,” regarding conceptualization or measurement. Many studies of terrorist groups do not define the term, and among those that do, definitions vary considerably. The lack of clarity leads to conceptual confusion as well as sample selection issues, which can affect inferences. To address these issues, this article offers an in-depth analysis of the term and its use. It explores definitions in the literature, and then discusses different samples used. Empirically, the article demonstrates how sample selection can affect variable values. It also shows that a non-representative sample, such as the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list, can lead to inaccurate generalizations. Ultimately, I present a straightforward “inclusive” definition, and argue for its practicality. Other suggestions are made for a more effective and cohesive research program.
Creating tutoring characters through a Web-based authoring tool for educational software

Web-based education is particularly good for remote teaching and learning at any time and place, away from classrooms and without necessarily the presence of a human teacher. However, this independence from real teachers and classrooms may cause emotional problems to students who may feel deprived of the benefits of human-human interaction. In this paper we address this problem by rendering Web-based human-computer interaction more human-like. This is achieved by an authoring tool that human teachers may use to create their own educational software for their remote students. Through this authoring tool, human teachers may also create their own tutoring characters for the user interface of the educational application. These characters may be parameterised in many aspects, the way they speak, the pitch, speed and volume of their voice, their body-language and the content of their messages. In this way they may reflect the human teachers' vision of teaching behaviour.
Subarachnoid injection of ifenprodil and ketamine association improves the anti-hyperalgesic action of ketamine in dogs

To test clinically whether a small dose of ifenprodil can enhance the anti-hyperalgesic effect of ketamine in dogs, a prospective randomized cross-over study was done with eight mongrel dogs (weighing 16.9 ± 3.7kg). Animals received two distinct treatments: ketamine (0.3mg kg-1; KT) and an ifenprodil plus ketamine combination (0.03mg kg and 0.3mg kg, respectively; IKT). Dogs were anesthetized with propofol (5mg kg intravenously) and a subarachnoid needle was placed between the 5 and 6 lumbar vertebrae. Five minutes after subarachnoid injection of KT or IKT, an incision including cutaneous and subcutaneous tissues was made on the common pad of one hind limb and was immediately closed with a simple interrupted suture pattern. The dogs were treated again 20 days later, using the contralateral pad and the opposite treatment. Sedation score (SS), lameness score (LS), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (fR), and mechanical nociceptive threshold using von Frey filaments, were evaluated before anesthesia and at 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours after subarachnoid injection. There were no differences in SS, LS, HR or fR between treatments. The intensity of hyperalgesia was higher in KT than in IKT for 24 hours. The anti-hyperalgesic effect of IKT remained without statistical significant difference between 1 and 24 h. Prior subarachnoid administration of ifenprodil enhances the anti-hyperalgesic effect of subarachnoid ketamine in dogs. Ifenprodil can be co-administrated with ketamine to enhance its antihyperalgesic effect and to reduce acute post-incisional hyperalgesia without motor impairment and sedation.
Do hands attract attention?

Social stimuli, like faces (Kanwisher, McDermott, & Chun, 1997) or bodies (Downing, Jiang, Shuman, & Kanwisher, 2001), engage specific areas within the visual cortex. Behavioural research reveals an attentional bias to these same stimuli (Ro, Friggel, & Lavie, 2007). The current study examined whether there is an attentional bias towards hands, and whether such a bias is distinct from any bias towards human bodies. In a two-alternative, forced-choice dot-probe task, participants saw two side-by-side pictures for 500 ms. A probe dot then appeared on either side and participants indicated where the dot appeared. Participants were significantly faster to respond when the probe location coincided with the location of pictures of bodies, hands, or feet, compared to dogs, starfish, hand tools, toaster ovens, inverted hands, or inverted bodies. Results suggest an attentional bias to bodies and body parts but found no evidence of a difference in attentional advantage of hands over bodies or feet.
RSFQ signed serial multiplier-accumulator

We have designed and successfully tested at low speed a rapid single flux quantum signed serial multiplier-accumulator with target clock frequency 20 GHz. Each bit slice of the device consists of 106 Josephson junctions and 90 resistors. It consumes 22 mA of current and occupies 0.3 mm/sup 2/. The accumulator of the developed multiplier makes two (rather than three) primitive operations per cycle without any additional overheads. This makes it fast and very robust. In particular, /spl plusmn/18% bias supply margins have been measured in a four-slice multiplier. This is our first device where superconductor microstrip lines (MSLs) have been routinely used. The MSL interfaces introduce some overhead but it is compensated by the simplicity of the design procedure.
A neural network facial expression recognition system using unsupervised local processing

A local unsupervised processing stage is inserted within a neural network constructed to recognize facial expressions. The stage is applied in order to reduce the dimensionality of the input data while preserving some topological structure. The receptive fields of the neurons in the first hidden layer self-organize according to a local energy function, taking into account the variance of the input pixels. There is just one synapse going out from every input pixel and these weights, connecting the first two layers, are trained with a Hebbian algorithm. The structure of the network is completed with specialised modules, trained with backpropagation, that classify the data into the different expression categories. Thus, the neural net architecture includes 4 layers of neurons, that we train and test with images from the Yale Faces Database. We obtain a generalization rate of 84.5% on unseen faces, similar to the 83.2% rate obtained when using a similar system but implementing PCA processing at the initial stage.
The influence of quark matter at high densities on binary neutron star mergers

We consider the influence of potential quark matter existing at high densities in neutron star interiors on gravitational waves (GW) emitted in a binary neutron star merger event. Two types of equations of state (EoS) at zero temperatures are used, one describing pure nuclear matter, the other nuclear matter with a phase transition to quark matter at very high densities. Binary equilibrium sequences close to the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) are calculated to determine the GW frequencies just before merger. It is found that EoS effects begin to play a role for gravitational masses larger than M∞ ≃ 1.5M⊙. The difference in the gravitational wave frequency at the ISCO grows to up to ≃ 10% for the maximal allowed mass given by the EoSs used. Then, we perform 3D hydrodynamic simulations for each EoS varying the initial mass and determine the characteristic GW frequencies of the merger remnants. The implications of quark matter show up mainly in a different collapse behaviour of the merger remnant. If the collapse does not take place immediately after merger, we find a phase difference between two EoS’s in the post-merger GW signal. We also compare the GW frequencies emitted by the merger remnant to values from simulations using a polytropic EoS and find an imprint of the non-constant adiabatic index of our EoSs. All calculations are based on the conformally flat (CF) approximation to general relativity and the GW signal from the merger simulation is extracted up to quadrupole order.
Recognizing speech from simultaneous speakers

In this paper we present and evaluate factored methods for recognition of simultaneous speech from multiple speakers in single-channel recordings. Factored methods decompose the problem of jointly recognizing the speech from each of the speakers by separately recognizing the speech from each speaker. In order to achieve this, the signal components of the target speaker in each case must be enhanced in some manner. We do this in two ways: using an NMF-based speaker separation algorithm that generates separated spectra for each speaker, and a mask estimation method that generates spectral masks for each speaker that must be used in conjunction with a missing-feature method that can recognize speech from partial spectral data. Experiments on synthetic mixtures of signals from the Wall Street Journal corpus show that both approaches can greatly improve the recognition of the individual signals in the mixture.
Evaluating deformable devices with emergent users

This research forms part of a wider body of work focused around involving emergent users---those just beginning to get access to mobile devices---in the development and refinement of far-future technologies. In this paper we present an evaluation of a new type of deformable slider with emergent users, designed to investigate whether shape-changing interfaces provide any benefit over touchscreens for this type of user. Our trials, which took place in two contexts and three disparate regions, revealed that while there was a clear correlation between performance and technology exposure, emergent users had similar ability with both touchscreen and deformable controls.
SONG SHARING IN A GROUP-LIVING SONGBIRD, THE AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE, GYMNORHINA TIBICEN. PART III. SEX SPECIFICITY AND INDIVIDUAL SPECIFICITY OF VOCAL PARTS IN COMMUNAL CHORUS AND DUET SONGS

In this paper we continue our study of the role of song in the social behavior of a cooperatively living songbird, the Australian magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen (Cracticidae). In this species, all members of a cooperative group sing and fight together in defense of their territory. Communal chorus songs consist of loud carol syllables; each individual sings a particular vocal role. We sampled the song repertoires of 24 magpies in 12 territorial groups in Queensland, Australia, and of 12 magpies in 4 territorial groups in the Manawatu region of New Zealand. Our results include: 1. Description of duet and chorus song. Carol portions of song are usually preceded by an introductory warble segment. Carol syllables are diverse in physical structure. We grouped 204 distinct carol syllables into 11 general classes. 2. Between-sex differences in syllable repertoires. Some syllable classes were sex-specific, and a few were sung by magpies of both sexes. Female-specific syllables were more complex structurally than those of males. Females had significantly (p 0.5) in the average percentage of the repertoire shared between same-sex birds who were vs were not territorial neighbors at our Queensland study site. 4. Carol song repertoires. The number of duet song types in each group's repertoire varied widely from group to group. Females had significantly (p<0.05) larger song repertoires than their mates. 5. Carol development in young birds. A young magpie seemed to sing variants of the carol syllables of only one parent, perhaps the same-sex parent, and echoed the parent's carol syllables during communal choruses. 6. Geographic variation in carol syllables. Carol syllables of individuals at our New Zealand study site were also sex-specific, and could be grouped into general classes. No syllables were the same as those recorded from the Australian study birds. 7. Song context. We compared the amount of time magpie groups spent warbling, warble-caroling, and not singing, during five commonly occurring types of contexts. Warbles were most frequent in nonaggressive intragroup contexts. Warble-carols were most frequent in aggressive intergroup contexts. We discuss the function of song in social cohesion, and group and individual recognition ; evolution of duet song; singing behavior of females; and mechanisms of vocal learning.
Query-page intention matching using clicked titles and snippets to boost search rankings

Users of text retrieval systems input only a few keywords or sometimes just one keyword to the systems even if they had complex information needs. Due to the lack of query keywords, it becomes hard to return relevant search results that satisfy the demands of each user. Because digital documents, in contrast to queries, are generally composed of many kinds of keywords, it is also difficult to estimate the main topic or grasp the inherent intentions of the documents. In this paper, we present techniques to represent users' search intentions and the intentions that digital documents can satisfy by making use of clicked titles and snippets acquired from a click log analysis. We then present a method to match these intentions to boost search result rankings. Through experiments that use click logs and indexes of a commercial search engine, we verified our method's capability of significantly improving search precision.
A Generational Approach to Using Emoticons as Nonverbal Communication

The purpose of this article is to help determine whether the use of emoticons in computer mediated communication (CMC) are truly nonverbal cues. A review of the literature revealed that the traditional nonverbal theorists failed to predict the future employment of nonverbal cues in electronic CMC. A variety of emoticons are then described including the traditional happy face ☺ and sad face ☺, numerous variations of faces employing keyboard keys, a number of abbreviations commonly in use, and FLAMING. Inasmuch as emoticons are presently in widespread though informal use, the problem of how and what business communication instructors should teach about emoticons is discussed. The conclusion reached is that of a generational recipient determinism. It is recommended that recipients who are Traditionalists (born before 1946) should not be sent e-mail with emoticons; those who are Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) probably should not be sent e-mail with emoticons; those who are Generation Xers (those born between 1964 and 1980) may be sent e-mail with some of the more commonemoticons; and those who are termed Millenials (bornafter 1980 and coming of age after 2000) may be sent e-mail with generous use of emoticons.
A practice based study of factors influencing intra‐ocular pressure

Many factors are claimed to influence the pressure measured by the tonometer. This study analyses Ultra‐ocular pressure data collected over 10 years on 500 ‘normal’ individuals using a non‐contact tonometer. It attempts to analyse which patient variables are relevant and considers the effects of age, sex, laterality and refractive status on intra‐ocular pressure, using various statistical techniques. No significant relationship was found for age, sex or refractive error, but axis of astigmatism and laterality were found to be significant factors.
A protocol for the subcellular fractionation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae using nitrogen cavitation and density gradient centrifugation

Most protocols for yeast subcellular fractionation involve the use of mechanical shear forces to lyse the spheroplasts produced by the enzymatic digestion of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall. These mechanical homogenization procedures often involve the manual use of devices such as the Dounce homogenizer, and so are very operator‐dependent and, in consequence, lack reproducibility. Here, we report a highly reproducible method of homogenizing yeast cells based on nitrogen cavitation. This has been optimized to allow efficient release of subcellular compartments that show a high degree of integrity. The protocol remains effective and reproducible across a range of sample volumes and buffer environments. The subsequent separation method, which employs both sucrose and iodixanol density gradients, has been developed to resolve the major membrane‐bound compartments of S. cerevisiae. We present an integrated protocol that is fast, facile, robust and efficient and that will enable ‘omics’ studies of the subcellular compartments of S. cerevisiae and other yeasts. © 2014 The Authors. Yeast published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Dialog in the RAILTEL telephone-based system

Dialog management is of particular importance in telephone-based services. In this paper we describe our recent activities in dialog management and natural language generation in the LIMSI RAILTEL system for access to rail travel information. The aim of LEMLAP project RAILTEL was to assess the capabilities of spoken language technology for interactive telephone information services. Because all interaction is over the telephone, oral dialog management and response generation are very important aspects of the overall system design and usability. Each dialog is analysed to determine the source of any errors (speech recognition, understanding, information retreival, processing or dialog management). An analysis is provided for 100 dialogs taken from the RAILTEL field trials with naive subjects accessing timetable information.
Hey, you darned counters!: get off my ASIC!

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) gains much of its value through the use of central controllers with global views of dynamic network state. To support a global view, SDN protocols, such as OpenFlow, expose several counters for each flow-table rule. These counters must be maintained by the data plane, which is typically implemented in hardware as an ASIC. ASIC-based counters are inflexible, and cannot easily be modified to compute novel metrics. These counters do not need to be on the ASIC. If the ASIC data plane has a fast connection to a general-purpose CPU with cost-effective memory, we can replace traditional counters with a stream of rule-match records, transmit this stream to the CPU, and then process the stream in the CPU. These software-defined counters allow far more flexible processing of counter-related information, and can reduce the ASIC area and complexity needed to support counters.
Lipopolysaccharide preconditioning attenuates neuroapoptosis and improves functional recovery through activation of Nrf2 in traumatic spinal cord injury rats

Abstract The previous studies suggested that low-dose lipopolysaccharide (LPS) provides neuroprotection against subsequent challenge with ischemic/reperfusion injury in the brain. But there were few reports about the neuroprotective effects of low-dose LPS against spinal cord injury (SCI). In this study, we evaluated the effect of low-dose LPS preconditioning on neuroapoptosis status after traumatic SCI (TSCI), using a standardized contusion model (NYU, New York University, impactor). SCI-induced rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham operation, control (receiving only normal saline) and LPS preconditioning (0.2 mg/kg, ip; 72 hours before injury). Neurologic function was assessed by the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) score at 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after TSCI. Rats were sacrificed at 72 hours postinjury. Histological changes were studied using Nissl staining. Apoptotic neural cells were assessed using the TdT-mediated dUTP Nick End Labeling (TUNEL) assay. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and caspase-3 were detected with immunohistochemistry and Western blot. LPS preconditioning reduced neuron apoptosis, improved neurologic outcome and actived Nrf2 expression. Moreover, Histological changes and the number of apoptotic cells were correlated with Nrf2 expression after the rats suffered the SCI. Our results suggest that LPS preconditioning exerted a neuroprotective effect against TSCI in rats, and activation of Nrf2 was believed to be one of the contributing mechanisms.
Background Animation Generator : Interactive Scene Design based on Motion Graph

In this paper, an interactive background scene generation and editing system is proposed based on improved motion graph. By analyzing the motion of an input animation with limited length, our system could synthesize large amount of various motions to yield a composting scene animation with unlimited length by connecting the input motion pieces through smooth transitions based on a motion graph layer, which is generated by using independent component analysis (ICA). The smooth connected motions are obtained by searching the best path according to specified circumstances. And finally, the result is optimized by repeatedly substituting animation subsequences. To construct an ideal scene, user can interactively specify some physical constraints of the environment on keyframes, such as wind direction or velocity of flow, even one simple path for a character to follow, and the system would automatically generate continuous and natural motion in accordance with them.
Space speaks: towards socially and personality aware visual surveillance

There is a complex unwritten code which regulates human interactions. In this paper we present a camera based monitoring system that explores the relationship between proxemics, visual attention and personality traits during interaction. People's relative positions an head poses are extracted with a multi-target tracking algorithm and used to (i) estimate, under the 'thin slices' hypothesis, the level of extroversion and neuroticism of a person, to (ii) learn a model of people interactive behavior that improves, once integrated in the algorithm, the accuracy of the tracking estimates, and to (iii) steer a set of active cameras to the subject found to exhibit the most peculiar interaction pattern. We report on experimental results in a natural scenario where people engage in a party