Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A training system for the MyoBock hand in a virtual reality environment

This paper proposes a novel EMG-based MyoBock training system that consistently provides a variety of functions ranging from EMG signal control training to task training. Using the proposed training sytem, a trainee controls a virtual hand (VH) in a 3D virtual reality (VR) environment using EMG signals and position/posture information recorded from the trainee. The trainee can also perform tasks such as holding and moving virtual objects using the system. In the experiments of this study, virtual task training developed with reference to the Box and Block Test (BBT) used to evaluate myoelectric prostheses was conducted with two healthy subjects, who repeatedly performed 10 one-minute tasks involving grasping a ball in one box and transporting it to another. The BBT experiments were also conducted in a real environment before and after the virtual training, with results showing an improvement in the number of tasks successfully completed. It was therefore confirmed that the proposed system could be used for myoelectric prosthesis control training.
Detection of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity by Imaging 5‐Aminolevulinic Acid‐Induced Protoporphyrin IX Fluorescence

Objectives: Early cancer detection is the best way to improve the prognosis of patients with oral cancer. Therefore this study presents quantitative fluorescence measurements and results in the visualization of cancerous oral mucosa with 5‐aminolevulinic acid (5‐ALA)‐induced protoporphyrin IX (PPIX).
Efficient statistical tests to compare Youden index: accounting for contingency correlation

Youden index is widely utilized in studies evaluating accuracy of diagnostic tests and performance of predictive, prognostic, or risk models. However, both one and two independent sample tests on Youden index have been derived ignoring the dependence (association) between sensitivity and specificity, resulting in potentially misleading findings. Besides, paired sample test on Youden index is currently unavailable. This article develops efficient statistical inference procedures for one sample, independent, and paired sample tests on Youden index by accounting for contingency correlation, namely associations between sensitivity and specificity and paired samples typically represented in contingency tables. For one and two independent sample tests, the variances are estimated by Delta method, and the statistical inference is based on the central limit theory, which are then verified by bootstrap estimates. For paired samples test, we show that the estimated covariance of the two sensitivities and specificities can be represented as a function of kappa statistic so the test can be readily carried out. We then show the remarkable accuracy of the estimated variance using a constrained optimization approach. Simulation is performed to evaluate the statistical properties of the derived tests. The proposed approaches yield more stable type I errors at the nominal level and substantially higher power (efficiency) than does the original Youden's approach. Therefore, the simple explicit large sample solution performs very well. Because we can readily implement the asymptotic and exact bootstrap computation with common software like R, the method is broadly applicable to the evaluation of diagnostic tests and model performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Elucidation of the c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase Pathway Mediated by Epstein-Barr Virus-Encoded Latent Membrane Protein 1

ABSTRACT Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with several human diseases including infectious mononucleosis and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. EBV-encoded latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) is oncogenic and indispensable for cellular transformation caused by EBV. Expression of LMP1 in host cells constitutively activates both the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and NF-κB pathways, which contributes to the oncogenic effect of LMP1. However, the underlying signaling mechanisms are not very well understood. Based mainly on overexpression studies with various dominant-negative constructs, LMP1 was generally thought to functionally mimic members of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily in signaling. In contrast to the prevailing paradigm, using embryonic fibroblasts from different knockout mice and the small interfering RNA technique, we find that the LMP1-mediated JNK pathway is distinct from those mediated by either TNF-α or interleukin-1. Moreover, we have further elucidated the LMP1-mediated JNK pathway by demonstrating that LMP1 selectively utilizes TNF receptor-associated factor 6, TAK1/TAB1, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase kinases 1 and 2 to activate JNK.
Understanding Continuous Use of Virtual Communities: A Comparison of Four Theoretical Perspectives

The value of virtual communities can be attained only when the members are willing to stay and actively exchange their knowledge or information with other members. Therefore, the aim of this study was to find the model that best explains members' continued use intention in virtual communities. Eight major variables were identified and four alternative models were formulated: 1) Information Systems (IS) continuance model as a base model, 2) IS continuance model with Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the first competing model, 3) IS continuance model with social capital theory as the second competing model, and 4) IS continuance model with TAM and social capital theory as the third competing model. The four models were compared with LISREL 8.7 using survey data collected from virtual community users in Korea. The findings indicated that the second competing model built on the IS continuance model with social capital theory best explained the members' continued use intention in virtual communities.
Role of Caspase‐3 Cleaved IP3R1 on Ca2+ Homeostasis and Developmental Competence of Mouse Oocytes and Eggs

Apoptosis in most cell types is accompanied by altered Ca2+ homeostasis. During apoptosis, caspase‐3 mediated cleavage of the type 1 inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptor (IP3R1) generates a 95‐kDa C‐terminal fragment (C‐IP3R1), which represents the channel domain of the receptor. Aged mouse eggs display abnormal Ca2+ homeostasis and express C‐IP3R1, although whether or not C‐IP3R1 expression contributes to Ca2+ misregulation or a decrease in developmental competency is unknown. We sought to answer these questions by injecting in mouse oocytes and eggs cRNAs encoding C‐IP3R1. We found that: (1) expression of C‐IP3R1 in eggs lowered the Ca2+ content of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), although, as C‐IP3R1 is quickly degraded at this stage, its expression did not impair pre‐implantation embryo development; (2) expression of C‐IP3R1 in eggs enhanced fragmentation associated with aging; (3) endogenous IP3R1 is required for aging associated apoptosis, as its down‐regulation prevented fragmentation, and expression of C‐IP3R1 in eggs with downregulated IP3R1 partly restored fragmentation; (4) C‐IP3R1 expression in GV oocytes resulted in persistent levels of protein, which abolished the increase in the ER releasable Ca2+ pool that occurs during maturation, undermined the Ca2+ oscillatory ability of matured eggs and their activation potential. Collectively, this study supports a role for IP3R1 and C‐IP3R1 in regulating Ca2+ homeostasis and the ER Ca2+ content during oocyte maturation. Nevertheless, the role of C‐IP3R1 on Ca2+ homeostasis in aged eggs seems minor, as in MII eggs the majority of endogenous IP3R1 remains intact and C‐IP3R1 undergoes rapid turnover. J. Cell. Physiol. 229: 1842–1854, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Vanadium (V)-Induced Neurotoxicity in the Rat Central Nervous System: A Histo-Immunohistochemical Study

As vanadium was found to induce oxidative stress in the central nervous system, the morphological alterations of neurons and astroglial cells in adult rat central nervous system after vanadium exposure was studied, using histological markers of cellular injury. Animals were intraperitoneally injected with 3 mg/kg body weight of sodium metavanadate for 5 consecutive days. NADPH diaphorase histochemistry and heat shock protein (hsp) 70, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and S-100 immunohistochemistry were performed in floating sections of several brain areas. NADPHd staining was higher in the molecular and granular layers of the cerebellar cortex, and small NADPHd-stained interneurons were observed in hippocampal sections in V(+5)-exposed animals. hsp 70 immunostaining showed the presence of reactive neurons in cerebellum of treated animals. GFAP and S-100 immunohistochemistry showed enlarged astrocytes in cerebellum and hippocampus in the V(+5)-exposed animals. The histological markers used showed that the main areas affected by vanadium-mediated free-radical generation were the hippocampus and the cerebellum.
Countering inequality in Nepali music education

Music Technology (MT) has been an effective tool in music education by providing helpful means that can guide students to develop a better understanding of music. MT is mostly used in notating, arranging and composing music which in turn lets students understand how music is created. The new high school music course in Technical and Vocational Stream of Education implemented in 2016 in Nepal, has put MT as a compulsory subject and this study was carried out in Nepal’s first music school of this kind. The overall aim of this study was to investigate how music teachers can promote equality in their classrooms. This was investigated through two research questions: 1. How have these two girls experienced inequality in the music technology class? 2. How can the teacher work to enhance equality in the music technology classroom? The findings of this study indicated that the access to technology is the most important factor which influences how students learn and use technology in their music studies.
Pose Overcomplete Automatic Registration Method for Video Based Robust Face Recognition

In ideal conditions with good illumination, posevariation, resolution, and registration, the performance ofrecognition system has reached a relatively high level. However,the impact of pose variation and registration factors hasntbeen well solved. In practical system, single face with manuallyregistration is often adopted in the registration process. Butthere are some limitations in the single registered face image,and manually way of registration is not convenient for theusers. Also the recognition performance based on the singleface image matching is inevitably disturbed and restricted. Inpractical situation, more than one face images can be collected.Multiple image of the same person than a single image featurecan capture more intra variation information in the same class.Feature information of multiple images are introduced in therecognition matching, which will benefit to improve theaccuracy of face recognition. In this paper, a poseovercomplete automatic registration method is proposed tosolve this problem in the registration process. In the proposedmethod, we estimate the pose automatically in real-time byutilizing the detected landmarks information, with posevariation face images stored for matching templates.Experimental results show that the proposed method can notonly overcome the influence of the pose variation inrecognition, but also can solve the problem of non-ideal poseregistration, thus improve the recognition accuracy in practicalface recognition system.
Characterization of Escherichia coli Null Mutants for Glutaredoxin 2*

Three Escherichia coli glutaredoxins catalyze GSH-disulfide oxidoreductions, but the atypical 24-kDa glutaredoxin 2 (Grx2, grxB gene), in contrast to the 9-kDa glutaredoxin 1 (Grx1, grxA gene) and glutaredoxin 3 (Grx3,grxC gene), is not a hydrogen donor for ribonucleotide reductase. To improve the understanding of glutaredoxin function, a null mutant for grxB (grxB− ) was constructed and combined with other mutations. Null mutants forgrxB or all three glutaredoxin genes were viable in rich and minimal media with little changes in their growth properties. Expression of leaderless alkaline phosphatase showed that Grx1 and Grx2 (but not Grx3) contributed in the reduction of cytosolic protein disulfides. Moreover, Grx1 could catalyze disulfide formation in the oxidizing cytosol of combined null mutants for glutathione reductase and thioredoxin 1. grxB− cells were more sensitive to hydrogen peroxide and other oxidants and showed increased carbonylation of intracellular proteins, particularly in the stationary phase. Significant up-regulation of catalase activity was observed in null mutants for thioredoxin 1 and the three glutaredoxins, whereas up-regulation of glutaredoxin activity was observed in catalase-deficient strains with additional defects in the thioredoxin pathway. The expression of catalases is thus interconnected with the thioredoxin/glutaredoxin pathways in the antioxidant response.
Adaptive morphological shifts to novel habitats in marine sculpin fishes

Sculpin fishes of the North American Pacific Coast provide an ideal opportunity to examine whether adaptive morphological character shifts have facilitated occupation of novel habitat types because of their well‐described phylogeny and ecology. In this group, the basal‐rooted species primarily occupy the subtidal habitat, whereas the species in the most distal clades are found in the intertidal. We tested multiple evolutionary models to determine whether changes in body size and changes in number of scales are adaptive for habitat use in sculpins. Based on a statistically robust, highly resolved molecular phylogeny of 26 species of sculpins, in combination with morphometric and habitat affinity data, our analyses show that an adaptive model based on habitat use best explains changes in body size and number of scales. The habitat model was statistically supported over models of neutral evolution, stabilizing selection across all habitats, and three clade‐based models. We suggest that loss of scales and reduction of body size in the intertidal may facilitate cutaneous breathing in air when tidepools become hypoxic during low tides. This study demonstrates how the combined use of phylogenetic, ecological and statistical approaches helps to identify traits that are likely adaptive to novel habitats.
Robust Partial Feedback Linearizing Excitation Controller Design for Multimachine Power Systems

This paper presents a new robust nonlinear excitation controller design for synchronous generators in multimachine power systems to enhance the transient stability. The mismatches between the original power system model and formulated mathematical model are considered as uncertainties, which are modeled through the satisfaction of matching conditions. The exogenous noises appearing from measurements are incorporated with the power system model including the two-axis model of synchronous generators. The partial feedback linearization technique is used to design the controller which transforms the original nonlinear multimachine power system model into several reduced-order linear and autonomous subsystems. The desired control law is obtained for each subsystem and implemented in a decentralized manner provided that the dynamics of the autonomous subsystems have no effects on the overall stability of the system. The analysis related to the dynamics of noisy autonomous subsystems is also included and the proposed controller has the excellent capability to decouple these noises. Finally, the performance of the proposed control scheme is evaluated on an IEEE 39-bus benchmark power system following different types of large disturbances. The performance of the proposed controller is compared to that of a partial feedback linearizing controller, which is designed without robustness properties, to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Insights into HLA-Restricted T Cell Responses in a Novel Mouse Model of Dengue Virus Infection Point toward New Implications for Vaccine Design

The frequency of dengue virus (DENV) infection has increased dramatically in the last few decades, and the lack of a vaccine has led to significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. To date, a convenient murine system to study human T cell responses to DENV has not been available. Mice transgenic for HLA are widely used to model human immune responses, and it has been shown that mouse-passaged DENV is able to replicate to significant levels in IFN-α/βR−/− mice. To cover a wide range of HLA phenotypes, we backcrossed IFN-α/βR−/− mice with HLA A*0201, A*0101, A*1101, B*0702, and DRB1*0101-transgenic mice. A DENV proteome-wide screen identified a total of 42 epitopes across all HLA-transgenic IFN-α/βR−/− strains tested. In contrast, only eight of these elicited responses in the corresponding IFN-α/βR+/+ mice. We were able to identify T cell epitopes from 9 out of the 10 DENV proteins. However, the majority of responses were derived from the highly conserved nonstructural proteins NS3 and NS5. The relevance of this model is further demonstrated by the fact that most of the epitopes identified in our murine system are also recognized by PBMC from DENV-exposed human donors, and a dominance of HLA B*0702-restricted responses has been detected in both systems. Our results provide new insights into HLA-restricted T cell responses against DENV, and we describe in this study a novel murine model that allows the investigation of T cell-mediated immune mechanisms relevant to vaccine design.
Fluorescence lifetime imaging – techniques and applications

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) uses the fact that the fluorescence lifetime of a fluorophore depends on its molecular environment but not on its concentration. Molecular effects in a sample can therefore be investigated independently of the variable, and usually unknown concentration of the fluorophore. There is a variety of technical solutions of lifetime imaging in microscopy. The technical part of this paper focuses on time‐domain FLIM by multidimensional time‐correlated single photon counting, time‐domain FLIM by gated image intensifiers, frequency‐domain FLIM by gain‐modulated image intensifiers, and frequency‐domain FLIM by gain‐modulated photomultipliers. The application part describes the most frequent FLIM applications: Measurement of molecular environment parameters, protein‐interaction measurements by Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), and measurements of the metabolic state of cells and tissue via their autofluorescence. Measurements of local environment parameters are based on lifetime changes induced by fluorescence quenching or conformation changes of the fluorophores. The advantage over intensity‐based measurements is that no special ratiometric fluorophores are needed. Therefore, a much wider selection of fluorescence markers can be used, and a wider range of cell parameters is accessible. FLIM‐FRET measures the change in the decay function of the FRET donor on interaction with an acceptor. FLIM‐based FRET measurement does not have to cope with problems like donor bleedthrough or directly excited acceptor fluorescence. This relaxes the requirements to the absorption and emission spectra of the donors and acceptors used. Moreover, FLIM‐FRET measurements are able to distinguish interacting and noninteracting fractions of the donor, and thus obtain independent information about distances and interacting and noninteracting protein fractions. This is information not accessible by steady‐state FRET techniques. Autofluorescence FLIM exploits changes in the decay parameters of endogenous fluorophores with the metabolic state of the cells or the tissue. By resolving changes in the binding, conformation, and composition of biologically relevant compounds FLIM delivers information not accessible by steady‐state fluorescence techniques.
Enzymatic Properties of Purified Murine Fatty Acid Transport Protein 4 and Analysis of Acyl-CoA Synthetase Activities in Tissues from FATP4 Null Mice*

Fatty acid transport protein 4 (FATP4) is an integral membrane protein expressed in the plasma and internal membranes of the small intestine and adipocyte as well as in the brain, kidney, liver, skin, and heart. FATP4 has been hypothesized to be bifunctional, exhibiting both fatty acid transport and acyl-CoA synthetase activities that work in concert to mediate fatty acid influx across biological membranes. To determine whether FATP4 is an acyl-CoA synthetase, the murine protein was engineered to contain a C-terminal FLAG epitope tag, expressed in COS1 cells via adenovirus-mediated infection and purified to near homogeneity using α-FLAG affinity chromatography. Kinetic analysis of the enzyme was carried out for long chain (palmitic acid, C16:0) and very long chain (lignoceric acid, C24:0) fatty acids as well as for ATP and CoA. FATP4 exhibited substrate specificity for C16:0 and C24:0 fatty acids with a Vmax/Km (C16:0)/Vmax/Km (C24:0) of 1.5. Like purified FATP1, FATP4 was insensitive to inhibition by triacsin C but was sensitive to feedback inhibition by acyl-CoA. Although purified FATP4 exhibited high levels of palmitoyl-CoA and lignoceroyl-CoA synthetase activity, extracts from the skin and intestine of FATP4 null mice exhibited reduced esterification for C24:0, but not C16:0 or C18:1, suggesting that in vivo, defects in very long chain fatty acid uptake may underlie the skin disorder phenotype of null mice.
Patterns of behaviour problems among pre-school children

Background. Previous research has suggested that behavioural problems displayed during the pre-school years are best understood as undifferentiated difficulties in manageability. The present study explored this issue, by examining the structure of British parents' ratings of their pre-school children's behavioural problems. Method. The 19-item Behavioural Checklist (BCL; Richman, 1977) was completed by 1047 parents of 3-year-old children taking part in an epidemiological survey of child development. Results. Factor analysis revealed six factors representing poor social adjustment, poor emotional adjustment, sleep problems, over-activity/inattention, eating problems and soiling. When these scores were used as a basis for cluster analysis, problem types clustered around six centres. The first, and largest, grouping was of children with no problems. Three further large groupings displayed specific but moderate problems (over-active, timid, and naughty children). The final two groupings displayed more extreme problems including anti-social behaviour. In one group these were accompanied by severe emotional problems and in the other by signs of hyperactivity. The reliability and validity of these clusters was supported. Parental ratings of behaviour problems taken when the children were 8-years-old suggested that the children in the hyperactive/conduct group were likely to have continued difficulties. Conclusion. This paper argues against the homogeneity of pre-school behaviour problems but supports the idea that problems of a clinically significant level are likely to be co-morbid, with either problems of emotional regulation (neurotic) or those of behavioural regulation (hyperactive) accompanied by problems of conduct.
Stochastic autoregressive volatility model for exchange rates

A discrete time model for asset price changes is considered. The volatility process underlying these changes is modeled as a first-order Gaussian autoregressive series. Inversion of the marginal characteristic function of the return process simplifies the assessment of the tail behaviour of the probability density function of returns. The Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) is used to calibrate the model and implement an overidentification test. Daily Euro/USD, Pound/USD, AUD/USD, and Yen/USD exchange rates over the period January 1999 to October 2006 are used to illustrate the methods.