Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of Low Abundance RNA Molecules in Individual Cells by Flow Cytometry

A variety of RNA analysis technologies are available for the detection of RNA transcripts from bulk cell populations. However, the techniques for RNA detection from individual cells have been limited. Here we adapt a novel in situ signal amplification method (the RNAScope® detection platform) for the analysis of intracellular RNAs in individual cells by flow cytometry. Using novel target-specific probes that were designed to suppress background signals, we demonstrate the specific detection of HIV gag RNAs in HIV-infected cellular samples, in addition to bcr and abl mRNAs in the K562 cell line. This method was capable of distinguishing cells expressing low abundance RNA transcripts and correlated well with quantitative imaging analysis. Furthermore, multiple distinct RNA targets were simultaneously detected with a high specificity without interference. Overall, the sensitivity and specificity of this method will be useful for the analysis of functionally important RNA species from individual cells, even at very low copy numbers.
Profile-Based Focused Crawling for Social Media-Sharing Websites

We present a novel profile-based focused crawling system for dealing with the increasingly popular social media-sharing websites. In this system, we treat the user profiles as ranking criteria for guiding the crawling process. Furthermore, we divide a user's profile into two parts, an internal part, which comes from the user's own contribution, and an external part, which comes from the user's social contacts. In order to expand the crawling topic, a cotagging topic-discovery scheme was adopted for social media-sharing websites. In order to efficiently and effectively extract data for the focused crawling, a path string-based page classification method is first developed for identifying list pages, detail pages, and profile pages. The identification of the correct type of page is essential for our crawling, since we want to distinguish between list, profile, and detail pages in order to extract the correct information from each type of page, and subsequently estimate a reasonable ranking for each link that is encountered while crawling. Our experiments prove the robustness of our profile-based focused crawler, as well as a significant improvement in harvest ratio, compared to breadth-first and online page importance computation (OPIC) crawlers, when crawling the Flickr website for two different topics.
A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Online Learning of Decision Trees

Online decision tree learning algorithms typically examine all features of a new data point to update model parameters. We propose a novel alternative, Reinforcement Learning- based Decision Trees (RLDT), that uses Reinforcement Learning (RL) to actively examine a minimal number of features of a data point to classify it with high accuracy. Furthermore, RLDT optimizes a long term return, providing a better alternative to the traditional myopic greedy approach to growing decision trees. We demonstrate that this approach performs as well as batch learning algorithms and other online decision tree learning algorithms, while making significantly fewer queries about the features of the data points. We also show that RLDT can effectively handle concept drift.
Formant and F 0 Features for Speaker Verification

In this paper, the feature set of fundamental frequency, formant center frequencies, and formant bandwidths were used in speaker verification experiments using the database distributed by the Speaker Odyssey Workshop. The features were extracted using the Entropic Signal Processing System. The main classifier was a Gaussian Mixture Model system built by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, but tests were also run using a Vector Quantization classifer for comparison. Different normalization methods were utilized to try to improve results including Hnorm and spectral subtraction. Test results on the Speaker Odyssey database and also on the database used in the NIST 1998 Speaker Recognition Evaluation, are presented on Decision Error Trade-off (DET) curves. Speaker verification accuracy did not improve using these frequency based features, but the Equal Error Rate was within 10% between tests run with the small feature set of frequency based features compared to the standard large set of mel-frequency cepstral coefficients.
The Many Facets of SDF-1α, CXCR4 Agonists and Antagonists on Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells

Stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1α) has pleiotropic effects on hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). We have monitored podia formation, migration, proliferation, and cell-cell adhesion of human HPC under the influence of SDF-1α, a peptide agonist of CXCR4 (CTCE-0214), a peptide antagonist (CTCE-9908), and a nonpeptide antagonist (AMD3100). Whereas SDF-1α induced migration of CD34+ cells in a dose-dependent manner, CTCE-0214, CTCE-9908, and AMD3100 did not induce chemotaxis in this concentration range albeit the peptides CTCE-0214 and CTCE-9908 increased podia formation. Cell-cell adhesion of HPC to human mesenchymal stromal cells was impaired by the addition of SDF-1α, CTCE-0214, and AMD3100. Proliferation was not affected by SDF-1α or its analogs. Surface antigen detection of CXCR4 was reduced upon treatment with SDF-1α or AMD3100 and it was enhanced by CTCE-9908. Despite the fact that all these molecules target the same CXCR4 receptor, CXCR4 agonists and antagonists have selective effects on different functions of the natural molecule.
Oversampling-based algorithm for efficient RF interference excision in SIMO systems

For intentional or unintentional interferens, radio frequency interference (RFI) is being prevalent in both satellite and terrestrial communications. In this regard, efficient RFI excision algorithms would have a paramount importance. Having relied on recent advances in tensor-based signal processing, the paper proposes oversampled multi-linear subspace estimation and projection (o-MLSEP) algorithm for efficient multi-interferer RFI (MI-RFI) excision in single-input multiple-output (SIMO) systems. Simulations corroborate that o-MLSEP significantly improves MLSEP as the oversampling factor gets larger.
Darwin's Lake: sketch-based creature creation system enables users to collaborate with contents designers

In this study, we propose a novel system to create vivid animated 3d creature model from user's freeform 2d stroke. The most famous technique that construct 3d model from user's 2d sketch is Teddy system[Igarashi et al. 1999]. Past teddy like system create 3D mesh from user sketched 2d-shape, only what is needed is the stroke. These approaches allow a lot of freedom of creativity to us. However, there are also the cases we need to build the identification or determine the character of contents such like most games. In these cases, although it proper to design or control the contents in advance by the developers, the past methods are too much freely to control their contents. To address this, our approach enables end-users to collaborate with product developer's design without decreasing the freedom of creativity. It creates 3d animated creature from the combination of user's freeform stroke and the primitive models that are created by contents' designer beforehand. The generated creature depend on the user's inspiration, so obtained variations are infinte, but don't lack of the identification of the contents which is designed by the creators. Furthermore, our approach makes us to animate the generated model as if it is alive much easier than past methods.
Store-Operated Calcium Entry Is Required for mGluR-Dependent Long Term Depression in Cortical Neurons

Store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) is a Calcium (Ca2+) influx pathway activated by depletion of intracellular stores that occurs in eukaryotic cells. In neurons, the presence and functions of SOCE are still in question. Here, we show evidences for the existence of SOCE in primary mouse cortical neurons. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Ca2+ depletion using thapsigargin (Tg) triggered a maintained cytosolic Ca2+ increase, which rapidly returned to basal level in the presence of the SOCE blockers 2-Aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB) and YM-58483. Neural SOCE is also engaged by activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) with (S)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) (agonist of group I mGluRs), being an essential mechanism to maintain the mGluR-driven Ca2+ signal. Activation of group I of mGluRs triggers long-term depression (LTD) in many brain regions, but the underlying mechanism and, specifically, the necessity of Ca2+ increase in the postsynaptic neuron is controversial. In primary cortical neurons, we now show that the inhibition of Ca2+ influx through SOCE impaired DHPG-LTD, pointing out a key function of calcium and SOCE in synaptic plasticity.
Permissible emission limit estimation via iterative back‐calculation: Case of Assaluyeh energy zone, southern Iran

In the present research work, an environmental policy procedure for setting a cap on emissions, as a crucial step in any total emission control system, has been provided and evaluated. It is shown that general regulations on emission intensities and rates do not guarantee that ambient air quality standards are met in intense industrial zones. Local emission limits are necessary to meet ambient air quality standards in these zones. To that end, we used dispersion simulators to back‐calculate pollutant concentration thresholds for a large and intense energy system in the Assaluyeh region of southern Iran. Verified modeling results indicate 218 d of pollutant concentration threshold exceedance in Assaluyeh in a simulated year. Back‐calculation to assess the total permissible emission level indicates the need for 68% reduction in total emission to meet ambient air quality standards. We then used the model to help identify effective control strategies, including emission reductions and appropriate timing of specific operations. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:130–138. © 2017 SETAC
Transformational and transactional leadership conceptualization: empirical validation in the Nigerian applied settings

The study to revalidated and re-examined the factor structure and the conceptualization of the transformational and transactional leadership for a possible application to the study of leadership in Nigerian applied settings. Data were collected from 212 employees (160 males and 52 females) who rated eight CEOs (4 males and 4 females) of diverse organizations. Results showed that the various conceptualizations of leadership of the MLQ – 1 are useful and relevant in measuring leadership in Nigeria. Principal factor rotation revealed supports for a 5-factor representation on the MLQ-1 in which three factors namely charismatic leadership, individualised consideration and intellectual stimulation were found on the transformational leadership and two factors on the transactional leadership namely contingent reward and management-by-exception. There was a stronger evidence in support of a 2-factor Active-Passive Structure on the MLQ. Needs for further validation and correlation of the conceptualizations with varieties of organizational outcomes as well as executive selection, training and development were suggested. IFE PsychologIA Vol. 13(2) 2005: 73-92
Influence of Novel Norovirus GII.4 Variants on Gastroenteritis Outbreak Dynamics in Alberta and the Northern Territories, Canada between 2000 and 2008

Background Norovirus GII.4 is the predominant genotype circulating worldwide over the last decade causing 80% of all norovirus outbreaks with new GII.4 variants reported in parallel with periodic epidemic waves of norovirus outbreaks. The circulating new GII.4 variants and the epidemiology of norovirus outbreaks in Alberta, Canada have not been described. Our hypothesis is that the periodic epidemic norovirus outbreak activity in Alberta was driven by new GII.4 variants evolving by genetic drift. Methodology/Principal Findings The Alberta Provincial Public Health Laboratory performed norovirus testing using RT-PCR for suspected norovirus outbreaks in the province and the northern Territories between 2000 and 2008. At least one norovirus strain from 707 out of 1,057 (66.9%) confirmed norovirus outbreaks were successfully sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using BioNumerics and 617 (91.1%) outbreaks were characterized as caused by GII.4 with 598 assigned as novel variants including: GII.4-1996, GII.4-2002, GII.4-2004, GII.4-2006a, GII.4-2006b, GII.4-2008a and GII.4-2008b. Defining July to June of the following year as the yearly observation period, there was clear biannual pattern of low and high outbreak activity in Alberta. Within this biannual pattern, high outbreak activity followed the emergence of novel GII.4 variants. The two variants that emerged in 2006 had wider geographic distribution and resulted in higher outbreak activity compared to other variants. The outbreak settings were analyzed. Community-based group residence was the most common for both GII.4 variants and non-GII.4 variants. GII.4 variants were more commonly associated with outbreaks in acute care hospitals while outbreaks associated non-GII.4 variants were more commonly seen in school and community social events settings (p<0.01). Conclusions/Significance The emergence of new norovirus GII.4 variants resulted in an increased norovirus outbreak activity in the following season in a unique biannual pattern in Alberta over an eight year period. The association between antigenic drift of GII.4 strains and epidemic norovirus outbreak activity could be due to changes in host immunity, viral receptor binding efficiency or virulence factors in the new variants. Early detection of novel GII.4 variants provides vital information that could be used to forecast the norovirus outbreak burden, enhance public health preparedness and allocate appropriate resources for outbreak management.
Comparative electromyography of the lower extremity in jogging, running, and sprinting

An electromyographic study of the lower extremity muscles was undertaken in order to compare jogging, running, and sprinting. The study demonstrated that as the speed of gait increased, the support phase de creased, from 620 msec for walking to 260 msec for jogging to 220 msec for running to 140 msec for sprinting. The electromyographic data demonstrated that all muscle groups except the hip flexor and adduc tor longus were active during foot descent, floor con tact, and midsupport. There was absence of muscle function during the late toe-off phase except that dem onstrated by the adductor longus and the abdominal muscles during sprinting. The main muscle group that appears to increase the speed of gait is that of the hip flexors, which is closely linked to the knee extensors in order to propel the body forward in the line of progres sion. There was little or no activity in the gastrocnemius or in the intrinsic muscles of the foot about the time of toe-off, leading the authors to conclude that push-off per se does not appear to occur.
In Vivo and in Vitro Phosphorylation of Two Isoforms of Yeast Pyruvate Kinase by Protein Kinase A*

Saccharomyces cerevisiaepyruvate kinase 1 (Pyk1) was demonstrated to be associated to an immunoprecipitate of yeast protein kinase A holoenzyme (HA-Tpk1·Bcy1) and to be phosphorylated in a cAMP-dependent process. Both glutathioneS-transferase (GST)-Pyk1 and GST-Pyk2 were phosphorylatedin vitro by the bovine heart protein kinase A (PKA) catalytic subunit and by immobilized yeast HA-Tpk1. The specificity constant for the phosphorylation of GST-Pyk1 and GST-Pyk2 by bovine catalytic subunit was in the range of the value for Leu-Arg-Arg-Ala-Ser-Leu-Gly (Kemptide). Both fusion proteins were phosphorylated in vivo, in intact cells overexpressing the protein, or in vitro using crude extracts, as source of protein kinase A, when a wild type strain was used but were not phosphorylated when using a strain with only one TPK gene with an attenuated mutation (tpk1 w1 ). The effect of phosphorylation on Pyk activity was assayed in partially purified preparations from three strains, containing different endogenous protein kinase A activity levels. Pyk1 activity was measured at different phosphoenolpyruvate concentrations in the absence or in the presence of the activator fructose 1,6-bisphosphate at 1.5 mm. Preliminary kinetic results derived from the comparison of Pyk1 obtained from extracts with the highest versusthose from the lowest protein kinase A activity indicate that the enzyme is more active upon phosphorylation conditions; in the absence of the activator it shows a shift in the titration curve for phosphoenolpyruvate to the left and an increase in the Hill coefficient, whereas in the presence of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate it shows an n H value of 1.4, as compared with ann H of 2 for the Pyk1 obtained from extracts with almost null protein kinase A activity.
Networks of Opportunity: Gender, Race, and Job Leads

Researchers have commonly invoked isolation from job opportunities as an explanation for persistence of gender and race inequality in the labor market, but few have examined whether access to information about job opportunities varies by race and gender. Findings from nationally representative survey data reveal significant white male advantage in the number of job leads received through routine conversations when compared to white women and Hispanics. Differences in social network resources (social capital) partly explain the deficit among Hispanics, but fail to account for the job lead gap between white women and men. Further analyses show that inequality in the receipt of job information is greatest at the highest levels of supervisory authority, where white males receive substantially more job leads than women and minorities.
BrowserFlow: Imprecise Data Flow Tracking to Prevent Accidental Data Disclosure

With the use of external cloud services such as Google Docs or Evernote in an enterprise setting, the loss of control over sensitive data becomes a major concern for organisations. It is typical for regular users to violate data disclosure policies accidentally, e.g. when sharing text between documents in browser tabs. Our goal is to help such users comply with data disclosure policies: we want to alert them about potentially unauthorised data disclosure from trusted to untrusted cloud services. This is particularly challenging when users can modify data in arbitrary ways, they employ multiple cloud services, and cloud services cannot be changed. To track the propagation of text data robustly across cloud services, we introduce imprecise data flow tracking, which identifies data flows implicitly by detecting and quantifying the similarity between text fragments. To reason about violations of data disclosure policies, we describe a new text disclosure model that, based on similarity, associates text fragments in web browsers with security tags and identifies unauthorised data flows to untrusted services. We demonstrate the applicability of imprecise data tracking through BrowserFlow, a browser-based middleware that alerts users when they expose potentially sensitive text to an untrusted cloud service. Our experiments show that BrowserFlow can robustly track data flows and manage security tags for documents with no noticeable performance impact.
Shortest Paths with Curvature and Torsion

This paper describes a method of finding thin, elongated structures in images and volumes. We use shortest paths to minimize very general functionals of higher-order curve properties, such as curvature and torsion. Our globally optimal method uses line graphs and its runtime is polynomial in the size of the discretization, often in the order of seconds on a single computer. To our knowledge, we are the first to perform experiments in three dimensions with curvature and torsion regularization. The largest graphs we process have almost one hundred billion arcs. Experiments on medical images and in multi-view reconstruction show the significance and practical usefulness of regularization based on curvature while torsion is still only tractable for small-scale problems.
Background subtraction with moving cameras via Bayesian low-rank estimation

Background subtraction is a typical topic in the domain of video processing. In this paper, we propose to cope with background subtraction for separating moving objects from background even cameras are not fixed via modified Bayesian low-rank analysis. Particularly, the hierarchical Bayesian model is proposed for low-rank estimation where the perspective projection is exploited to compensate the camera moving. Extensive experiments show that the proposed method is comparable and outperforms the state-of-the-art.
Suppression Benefits Boys in Taiwan: The Relation between Gender, Emotional Regulation Strategy, and Mental Health

Emotion regulation (ER) strategies have a clear impact on mental health outcomes. In 2 studies (N = 695, N = 433) we investigated gender differences in the use of 2 ER strategies (reappraisal and suppression) to handle parent-child conflict in Taiwanese adolescents. We also identified the implications of these differences for some negative emotions (self-blame and resentment) and internalizing problems (psychosomatic symptoms and social withdrawal). Results of the correlation analyses in both studies indicated that reappraisal and suppression ER strategies are positively correlated only in male Taiwanese adolescents. Hierarchical regression analyses in the second study confirmed that reappraisal buffers male but not female adolescents against the negative effects of suppression on the arousal of negative affect and internalizing problems.
A Comprehensive and Modular Stochastic Modeling Framework for the Variability-Aware Assessment of Signal Integrity in High-Speed Links

This paper presents a comprehensive and modular modeling framework for stochastic signal integrity analysis of complex high-speed links. Such systems are typically composed of passive linear networks and nonlinear, usually active, devices. The key idea of the proposed contribution is to express the signals at the ports of each of such system elements or subnetworks as a polynomial chaos expansion. This allows one to compute, for each block, equivalent deterministic models describing the stochastic variations of the network voltages and currents. Such models are synthesized into SPICE-compatible circuit equivalents, which are readily connected together and simulated in standard circuit simulators. Only a single circuit simulation of such an equivalent network is required to compute the pertinent statistical information of the entire system, without the need of running a large number of time-consuming electromagnetic circuit cosimulations. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach, which is applicable to a large class of complex circuits, are verified by performing signal integrity investigations of two interconnect examples.
Young people's experiences of personal advisors and the Connexions service

Purpose – The paper aims to explore young people's experiences of having access to personal advisors (PAs), from Connexions, a support and guidance service.Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews were conducted, in two phases, with young people in a large new town. Thematic analysis highlighted significant issues and suggested factors that might differentiate between those in employment, education and training and those not in this position.Findings – Young people's relationship with their Connexions PA emerged as a significant factor in mediating the extent to which they used the service as a “portal” to opportunities and resources. For some young people faced with complex and challenging circumstances, the relationship with their PA provided a uniquely stable and valued source of support.Research limitations/implications – Although drawn from a small and focused sample, the results suggests that the large‐scale cuts to the service, currently underway, could have a significant impact on .