Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mannitol facilitates neurotrophic factor up-regulation and behavioural recovery in neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic rats with human umbilical cord blood grafts

We recently demonstrated that blood–brain barrier permeabilization using mannitol enhances the therapeutic efficacy of systemically administered human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) by facilitating the entry of neurotrophic factors from the periphery into the adult stroke brain. Here, we examined whether the same blood–brain barrier manipulation approach increases the therapeutic effects of intravenously delivered HUCB in a neonatal hypoxic‐ischaemic (HI) injury model. Seven‐day‐old Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to unilateral HI injury and then at day 7 after the insult, animals intravenously received vehicle alone, mannitol alone, HUCB cells (15k mononuclear fraction) alone or a combination of mannitol and HUCB cells. Behavioural tests at post‐transplantation days 7 and 14 showed that HI animals that received HUCB cells alone or when combined with mannitol were significantly less impaired in motor asymmetry and motor coordination compared with those that received vehicle alone or mannitol alone. Brain tissues from a separate animal cohort from the four treatment conditions were processed for enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay at day 3 post‐transplantation, and revealed elevated levels of GDNF, NGF and BDNF in those that received HUCB cells alone or when combined with mannitol compared with those that received vehicle or mannitol alone, with the combined HUCB cells and mannitol exhibiting the most robust neurotropic factor up‐regulation. Histological assays revealed only sporadic detection of HUCB cells, suggesting that the trophic factor–mediated mechanism, rather than cell replacement per se, principally contributed to the behavioural improvement. These findings extend the utility of blood–brain barrier permeabilization in facilitating cell therapy for treating neonatal HI injury.
Online experimenter : an evaluation of experiments conducted under local and remote conditions

When conducting experiments, researchers traditionally work in a lab setting where they have access to specialized equipment and can meet their subjects faceto-face. This is definitely the way that traditional experiments in behavioral research are carried out. However, with the growing need for recruiting experiment participants from different social and cultural backgrounds, it may be difficult to design a traditional lab experiment for the research. Moreover, highly specialized lab equipment cannot always be easily accessed, and the costs of commuting present financial constraints. We explored the necessity of copresence in experimentation by evaluating a facility to determine whether experiments conducted in a non co-present context would achieve the same scientific outcomes as the ones conducted in a traditional lab context. The facility that we used was designed to allow researchers’ access to a sophisticated lab for the purpose of experimentation in educational research. There are two research goals explored in this thesis: (1) to evaluate the relative efficacies of running an experiment under co-present and non co-present conditions, and (2) to assess whether the participants’ experience differs in the experimental process between the co-present and non co-present condition.
Influence of imaging parameters on high-intensity cerebrospinal fluid artifacts in fast-FLAIR MR imaging.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE High-intensity CSF artifacts at the basal cisterns on MR images are often seen when a fast fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) technique is used. We investigated the influences of four optional fast-FLAIR sequence parameters on the high-intensity CSF artifacts. METHODS A total of 377 patients (age range, 1 week to 91 years; mean 40.6 years; 186 female, 191 male) were examined with axial fast-FLAIR images obtained (TR/TE(eff)/TI, 8800/133/2200) with a 1.5-T system during 6 months. The effects of the optional addition of inferior inflow saturation (thickness, 80 mm), section flow compensation, and tailored radiofrequency (TRF) pulses, plus the choice of interleaving acquisition factors of 2 or 3, were evaluated for the presence of high-intensity CSF artifacts on the fast-FLAIR images. Two radiologists independently reviewed the fast-FLAIR images in 76 patients; afterward, a single observer reviewed the remainder of the images. RESULTS The interobserver agreement rate in 76 cases was more than 90%. The use of TRF and/or three interleaving acquisitions resulted in a substantial reduction in the incidence of high-intensity CSF artifacts from about 80% to 40% (P <.05, two-sample two-sided Z test). Inferior inflow saturation and section flow compensation did not significantly improve image quality (P >.05). The results were consistent with the image quality ranking obtained in five healthy volunteers. CONCLUSION The appropriate choice of sequence parameters in fast-FLAIR imaging reduces the incidence of high-intensity CSF artifacts that are frequently encountered in the presence of rapid CSF flow.
A dynamic code placement technique for scratchpad memory using postpass optimization

In this paper, we propose a fully automatic dynamic scratch-pad memory (SPM) management technique for instructions. Our technique loads required code segments into the SPM on demand at runtime. Our approach is based on postpass analysis and optimization techniques, and it handles the whole program, including libraries. The code mapping is determined by solving mixed integer linear programming formulation that approximates our demand paging technique. We increase the effectiveness of demand paging by extracting from functions natural loops that are smaller in size and have a higher instruction fetch count. The postpass optimizer analyzes the object files of an application and transforms them into an application binary image that enables demand paging to the SPM. We evaluate our technique on eleven embedded applications and compare it to a processor core with an instruction cache in terms of its performance and energy consumption. The cache size is about 20% of the executed code size, and the SPM size is chosen such that its die area is equal to that of the cache. The experimental results show that, on average, the processor core and memory subsystem's energy consumption can be reduced by 21.6% and the performance improved by 20.2%. Moreover, in comparison with the optimal static placement strategy, our technique reduces energy consumption by 23.7% and improves performance by 22.9%,on average.
Neutrophil myeloperoxidase diminishes the toxic effects and mortality induced by lipopolysaccharide

Neutrophils have crucial antimicrobial functions but are also thought to contribute to tissue injury upon exposure to bacterial products, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS). To study the role of neutrophils in LPS-induced endotoxemia, we developed a new mouse model, PMNDTR mice, in which injection of diphtheria toxin induces selective neutrophil ablation. Using this model, we found, surprisingly, that neutrophils serve to protect the host from LPS-induced lethal inflammation. This protective role was observed in conventional and germ-free animal facilities, indicating that it does not depend on a particular microbiological environment. Blockade or genetic deletion of myeloperoxidase (MPO), a key neutrophil enzyme, significantly increased mortality after LPS challenge, and adoptive transfer experiments confirmed that neutrophil-derived MPO contributes importantly to protection from endotoxemia. Our findings imply that, in addition to their well-established antimicrobial properties, neutrophils can contribute to optimal host protection by limiting the extent of endotoxin-induced inflammation in an MPO-dependent manner.
A configurable sampling rate converter for all-digital 4G transmitters

This paper presents a digital interpolation chain for non-integer variable-ratio sampling rate conversion, targeted to 4G mobile applications. Such a system is needed in all-digital transmitters, where the sampling rate of the digital input to the RF front-end must be an integer fraction of the carrier frequency. A highly configurable architecture is proposed to cope with the flexibility needed in 4G applications. The system achieves excellent ACLR of 75 dB, EVM degradation of 0.05%, and RX-band noise below -160 dBc/Hz. Digital synthesis of the circuit in a 40nm low-power CMOS process results in a core area of only 0.073 mm2. The estimated power consumption is between 6 and 29 mW, depending on channel bandwidth and transmission band.
THE EFFECT OF LANGUAGE GAMES ON LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING-SPEAKING SKILLS OF IRANIAN PRE-SCHOOL STUDENTS

This study investigated the effects of language games on English listening-speaking skills of Iranian preschool EFL learners through applying communicative language teaching according to Morrow and Freeman as the best method and the activities are due to Functional communicative ones. A class of 38 male and female homogeneous learners at the Maryam Language Institute in Tonekabon, Mazandaran were chosen randomly from among 6-7 range of age. The learners took MC Connell's IGDI (individual growth and development indicator) listening-speaking test as a pre-test, then after 24 sessions, 3 hours each week, were taught according to the determined syllabus and activities, a post-test was taken. The results of a t-test showed that language games had a significant effect on the listening-speaking skills of the learners.
Identification of Negative Comments on Internet Forums

If we can acquire the reviews and comments from social networks or Internet forums about a certain enterprise's products, services or activities, these reviews and comments can be valuable to the enterprise because it can use the information to improve products and services or fix problems in a timely manner. The traditional sources of collecting clients' opinions include surveys with questionnaires, records from call center, and clients' questions on Web forums. However, the information collected from these sources is of high-cost and not efficient because it is usually done by human. In this research, we use a machine learning technique - the Support Vector Machine (SVM) for sentiment classification. First, we use Web crawlers to obtain the reviews and comments of a specific brand, product or service. After obtaining the text data, we use the sentiment classifier to identify negative comments and then report the results to the enterprise. The information not only makes the enterprise handle the complaints in time, but also improves their products or services. In the experimental results, we can see that the results of identifying negative comments are quite good and this automated approach is promising.
Intrinsic Energy Landscapes of Amino Acid Side-Chains

Amino acid side-chain conformational properties influence the overall structural and dynamic properties of proteins and, therefore, their biological functions. In this study, quantum mechanical (QM) potential energy surfaces for the rotation of side-chain χ(1) and χ(2) torsions in dipeptides in the alphaR, beta, and alphaL backbone conformations were calculated. The QM energy surfaces provide a broad view of the intrinsic conformational properties of each amino acid side-chain. The extent to which intrinsic energetics dictates side-chain orientation was studied through comparisons of the QM energy surfaces with χ(1) and χ(2) free energy surfaces from probability distributions obtained from a survey of high resolution crystal structures. In general, the survey probability maxima are centered in minima of the QM surfaces as expected for sp(3) (or sp(2) for χ(2) of Asn, Phe, Trp, and Tyr) atom centers with strong variations between amino acids occurring in the energies of the minima indicating intrinsic differences in rotamer preferences. High correlations between the QM and survey data were found for hydrophobic side-chains except Met, suggesting minimal influence of the protein and solution environments on their conformational distributions. Conversely, low correlations for polar or charged side-chains indicate a dominant role of the environment in stabilizing conformations that are not intrinsically favored. Data also link the presence of off-rotamers in His and Trp to favorable interactions with the backbone. Results also suggest that the intrinsic energetics of the side-chains of Phe and Tyr may play important roles in protein folding and stability. Analyses on whether intrinsic side-chain energetics can influence backbone preference identified a strong correlation for residues in the alphaL backbone conformation. It is suggested that this correlation reflects the intrinsic instability of the alphaL backbone such that assumption of this backbone conformation is facilitated by intrinsically favorable side-chain conformations. Together our results offer a broad overview of the conformational properties of amino acid side-chains and the QM data may be used as target data for force field optimization.
Accessibility: a Web engineering approach

Currently, the vast majority of web sites do not support accessibility for visually impaired users. Usually, these users have to rely on screen readers: applications that sequentially read the content of a web page in audio. Unfortunately, screen readers are not able to detect the meaning of the different page objects, and thus the implicit semantic knowledge conveyed in the presentation of the page is lost. One approach described in literature to tackle this problem, is the Dante approach, which allows semantic annotation of web pages to provide screen readers with extra (semantic) knowledge to better facilitate the audio presentation of a web page. Until now, such annotations were done manually, and failed for dynamic pages. In this paper, we combine the Dante approach with a web design method, WSDM, to fully automate the generation of the semantic annotation for visually impaired users. To do so, the semantic knowledge gathered during the design process is exploited, and the annotations are generated as a by-product of the design process, requiring no extra effort from the designer.
A General Theory for the Evolutionary Dynamics of Virulence

Most theory on the evolution of virulence is based on a game‐theoretic approach. One potential shortcoming of this approach is that it does not allow the prediction of the evolutionary dynamics of virulence. Such dynamics are of interest for several reasons: for experimental tests of theory, for the development of useful virulence management protocols, and for understanding virulence evolution in situations where the epidemiological dynamics never reach equilibrium and/or when evolutionary change occurs on a timescale comparable to that of the epidemiological dynamics. Here we present a general theory similar to that of quantitative genetics in evolutionary biology that allows for the easy construction of models that include both within‐host mutation as well as superinfection and that is capable of predicting both the short‐ and long‐term evolution of virulence. We illustrate the generality and intuitive appeal of the theory through a series of examples showing how it can lead to transparent interpretations of the selective forces governing virulence evolution. It also leads to novel predictions that are not possible using the game‐theoretic approach. The general theory can be used to model the evolution of other pathogen traits as well.
Query-URL Bipartite Based Approach to Personalized Query Recommendation

Query recommendation is considered an effective assistant in enhancing keyword based queries in search engines and Web search software. Conventional approach to query recommendation has been focused on query-term based analysis over the user access logs. In this paper, we argue that utilizing the connectivity of a query-URL bipartite graph to recommend relevant queries can significantly improve the accuracy and effectiveness of the conventional query-term based query recommendation systems. We refer to the Query-URL Bipartite based query reCommendation approach as QUBIC. The QUBIC approach has two unique characteristics. First, instead of operating on the original bipartite graph directly using biclique based approach or graph clustering, we extract an affinity graph of queries from the initial query-URL bipartite graph. The affinity graph consists of only queries as its vertices and its edges are weighted according to a query-URL vector based similarity (distance) measure. By utilizing the query affinity graph, we are able to capture the propagation of similarity from query to query by inducing an implicit topical relatedness between queries. We devise a novel rank mechanism for ordering the related queries based on the merging distances of a hierarchical agglomerative clustering. We compare our proposed ranking algorithm with both naive ranking that uses the query-URL similarity measure directly, and the single-linkage based ranking method. In addition, we make it possible for users to interactively participate in the query recommendation process, to bridge the gap between the determinacy of actual similarity values and the indeterminacy of users' information needs, allowing the lists of related queries to be changed from user to user and query to query, thus personalizing the query recommendation on demand. The experimental results from two query collections demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of our approach.
Improved Interleaving Technique for PAPR Reduction in OFDM-MIMO System

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is of great interest for researchers and research laboratories all over the world. OFDM is widely used in contemporary communication systems for its good robustness in multipath environment, and its high spectral efficiency. The capacity of wireless system can be increased dramatically by employing multiple input multiple output, (MIMO) antennas. The combination of MIMO and OFDM system is found to be very beneficial. A major drawback of OFDM-MIMO system is its high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) Reduction. The peak power of a signal is a critical design factor for band limited communication systems, and it is necessary to reduce it as much as possible. Here a modified Interleaving PAPR reduction technique is proposed. The proposed technique for PAPR reduction gives an improvement over the existing technique at a cost of negligible decrease in the data rate.
Emotional Display Rules For Clerical Workers, Teachers, Custodians, And Cafeteria Workers In Pennsylvania K-12 Public School Organizations

Over the last century, the service industry became the greatest provider of jobs in the United States. A key part of service professions are the interactions between employees and customers. During these interactions, employees are likely to express emotions (Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987). In 1983, Hochschild (1983/2012) researched these interactions and developed the theory of emotional labor. Understanding the importance of employee and customer interactions, research of the theory in the retail and hospitality industries developed. The same is beginning to occur in the field of K-12 education. Schools now compete for students making customer service an important aspect of daily operations (Cucchiara, Gold, & Simon, 2011). Interactions between school employees, students, and parents affect retention and recruitment causing the need to provide employees with guidance to ensure positive interactions. Display rules are an operational part of emotional labor, which guide emotional expressions by employees. While emotional display rules offer employees guidelines to do their jobs successfully (Diefendorff & Gosserand, 2003), existing research of K-12 teachers and administrators shows display rules are implied not explicit. The creation of display rules is the responsibility of the organization (Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987), but as of this time, there is no known research of emotional display rules from the perspective of the K-12 organization. This research began to address this by conducting a survey of the Pennsylvania Association of School Personnel Administrators membership, which explored the extent to which K-12 public school organizations in Pennsylvania provide and communicate emotional display rules to secretaries (administrative assistants), teachers, custodians, and cafeteria workers. The overall findings indicate Pennsylvania K-12 public school organizations provide emotional display rules rarely to often depending upon employee group. The display rules were more likely to exist for expressions of concern and calmness than for anger and frustration. In addition, the personnel administrators identified individual conversations as the most commonly used method to communicate display rules across employee groups. The findings provide implications for practice and future research for the employee groups individually and collectively.
High dose glucocorticoid hampers bone formation and resorption after bone marrow ablation in rat

We analyzed the effect of glucocorticoid on bone regeneration after bone marrow ablation in tibiae of 8‐week‐old rats. Methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MPSS) was injected intramuscularly at a dose of 100 mg/kg/day for 3 days. Tibiae on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, and 14 after ablation were subjected to tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase staining, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and measurement of the volume of newly‐formed bone and the osteoclast number. MPSS significantly decreased the newly‐formed bone volume on day 7, and immature bone still remained on day 10 in the MPSS‐treated group. The volume of this bone was significantly higher than that in the control group. However, there were no differences between the groups in the osteoclast number, the expression of mRNAs for osteoblast differentiation markers, and alkaline phosphatase and cathepsin K judged by immunohistochemistry. TEM findings showed no difference in the form of osteoblasts, whereas osteoclasts in the MPSS‐treated group had less developed ruffled borders, compared to those in the control group. These results suggest that MPSS treatment affects neither the differentiation nor the shape of osteoblasts, and does not change the osteoclast number or the cathepsin K level. However, high dose MPSS inhibits both bone formation and resorption during bone regeneration after rat tibial bone marrow ablation, and inhibits ruffled border formation in osteoclasts. These data will be useful to develop bone regenerative therapies for bone diseases due to high dose steroid administration. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Reconceptualizing Elementary Preservice Teacher Education: Examining an Integrated-Curriculum Approach

The majority of teacher education programs in North America require elementary-teacher candidates to complete separate courses in curriculum subject areas. This model to teacher education limits candidates’ readiness to engage in interdisciplinary teaching and focuses preservice curriculum on content-specific pedagogies rather than on general, developmentally appropriate pedagogical practices. The purpose of this study was to explore an alternative approach to the preparation of elementary teachers. Specifically, this article examines the benefits and challenges of an integrated curriculum approach. Qualitative data were collected through a survey and focus group with 56 teacher candidates and interviews with 3 course instructors. Findings suggest that an integrated approach contributes to stronger relationships, broader conceptions of integration, greater emphasis on pedagogy, and enhanced efficiency in teaching. Challenges related to perceptions of content coverage and instruction expertise were also identified. Findings from this research provide a basis for reconceptualizing elementary-teacher education toward an integrated approach.