Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental Studies on the Differentiation of Fibroblasts into Myoblasts induced by MyoD Genes in vitro

To evaluate the biological functions of myogenic regulatory factors, we have examined the effects of ectopic expression of MyoD and Cx43 genes in the fibroblasts on the differentiation of myoblast in vitro. The expression of MyoD and Cx43 in the transfectants was confirmed by RT-PCR and Western blot. More than 50% of fibroblasts transfected with MyoD or both MyoD and Cx43 genes displayed typical morphological features of myoblast-like cells at 20 days following gene transfection, including cell elongation, cytoplasm enrichment and granule manifold. Moreover, these myoblast-like cells also expressed both desmin and α-actin. These results demonstrate that direct exogenous expression of the myogenic regulatory factors is sufficient to induce transdifferentiation of fibroblasts into a myoblast-like lineage and provide new insights into the trauma repair after myocardial infraction.
Physical Performance and School Physical Education in Overweight Spanish Children

Aims: To evaluate the effect of physical performance and extracurricular organized physical activities (EOPA) in normal- and overweight children. Methods: A random sample of 1,068 schoolchildren (7–12 years old) representative of the region of Aragon (Spain) was selected and divided into normal-, overweight and obese groups based on previously published body mass index reference standards. Physical performance was assessed by the European physical test battery. EOPA were estimated when children performed at least 3 h per week during the previous year in addition to school physical education. Results: Overweight and obese subjects had lower performances on all tests requiring propulsion or lifting of the body mass (standing-broad jump, sit-ups, bent-arm hangs, speed shuttle run and endurance shuttle run) when compared with normal-weight counterparts (p < 0.001). The overweight and obese children showed greater hand grip strength measures than the normal-weight ones (p < 0.001). Plate tapping and sit reach test scores were similar in both groups. The participation in EOPA was similar in normal- and overweight or obese groups; however, a significant increase with age was observed (p < 0.01). Conclusion: In this age group, overweight was not related to EOPA participation. Overweight children had poorer results on weight-bearing tasks. The good results in static strength, coordination and speed of limb movements in overweight children should be considered in the promotion of physical activity programs for overweight children.
An anthropometric shape model for estimating head orientation

An approach for estimating 3D head orientation in a monocular image sequence is presented. The approach employs recently developed image-based parameterized tracking for face and face features to locate the area in which an estimation of point feature locations is performed. This involves tracking of ve points (four at the eye corners and the fth is the tip of the nose). We describe an approach that relies on the coarse structure of the face to compute orientation relative to the camera plane. Our approach employs symmetry of the eyes and anthropometric statistics to estimate the head yaw, roll and pitch.
What is ‘access’ in the context of qualitative research?

In this article, I reflect upon access in the context of qualitative research, which I define as the process by which a researcher and the sites and/or individuals he or she studies relate to each other, through which the research in question is enabled. Access is a dynamic and multidirectional process, which depends on the researcher’s ability to access and to develop a ‘multiple vision’, and on the researcher’s and the research’s accessibility. Access influences the research process and results, and is shaped by power dynamics. Awareness of the complexity of access will help qualitative researchers to make more conscious and deliberate decisions, for example on which vantage points to include or exclude, or on how to protect participants and themselves. I illustrate my points of reflection with the help of vignettes from my research on the organizational dynamics behind the Greenpeace campaign against Norwegian whaling. I discuss implications for practice, and argue that perceiving of qualitative research as craftwork can help researchers to sustain complex notions of access.
Millennials and the adoption of new technologies in libraries through the diffusion of innovations process

Purpose – Literature on the features of new technology in libraries of every type and size is readily available, but looking at the factors playing a part in the process (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability) will bring an understanding of how Millennials integrate technology into libraries. This paper seeks to discuss some of the issues involved.Design/methodology/approach – This research focuses on Millennials and their adoption of new technologies in libraries through the process of diffusion and the stages of adoption as outlined by Everett Rogers: communication through certain channels; over time; and among members of a social system. Among these sections, Millennials as innovators and early adopters are explored, as well as the five stages of the innovation decision process.Findings – Libraries have increasingly seen technology become a quick candidate as a solution to nearly every problem existing in the field. Though rapidly suggested as an alternative, the.
Mitochondrial import of PKCε is mediated by HSP90: a role in cardioprotection from ischaemia and reperfusion injury

Aims Protein kinase C epsilon (PKCε) is critical for cardiac protection from ischaemia and reperfusion (IR) injury. PKCε substrates that mediate cytoprotection reside in the mitochondria. However, the mechanism enabling mitochondrial translocation and import of PKCε to enable phosphorylation of these substrates is not known. Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a cytoprotective protein chaperone that participates in mitochondrial import of a number of proteins. Here, we investigated the role of HSP90 in mitochondrial import of PKCε. Methods and results Using an ex vivo perfused rat heart model of IR, we found that PKCε translocates from the cytosol to the mitochondrial fraction following IR. Immunogold electron microscopy and mitochondrial fractionation demonstrated that following IR, mitochondrial PKCε is localized within the mitochondria, on the inner mitochondrial membrane. Pharmacological inhibition of HSP90 prevented IR-induced interaction between PKCε and the translocase of the outer membrane (Tom20), reduced mitochondrial import of PKCε, and increased necrotic cell death by ∼70%. Using a rational approach, we designed a 7-amino acid peptide activator of PKCε, derived from an HSP90 homologous sequence located in the C2 domain of PKCε (termed ψεHSP90). Treatment with this peptide (conjugated to the cell permeating TAT protein-derived peptide, TAT47–57) increased PKCε–HSP90 protein–protein interaction, enhanced mitochondrial translocation of PKCε, increased phosphorylation and activity of an intra-mitochondrial PKCε substrate, aldehyde dehydrogenase 2, and reduced cardiac injury in ex vivo and in vivo models of myocardial infarction. Conclusion Our results suggest that HSP90-mediated mitochondrial import of PKCε plays an important role in the protection of the myocardium from IR injury.
Correlated isocurvature perturbations from mixed inflaton-curvaton decay

We study cosmological perturbations in the case in which present-day matter consists of a mixture of inflaton and curvaton decay products. We calculate how the curvaton perturbations are transferred to its decay products in the general case when it does not behave like dust. Taking into account that the decay products of the inflaton can also have perturbations results in an interesting mixture of correlated adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations. In particular, negative correlation can improve the fit to the CMB data by lowering the angular power in the Sachs–Wolfe plateau without changing the peak structure. We do an 11-parameter fit to the WMAP data. We find that the best fit is not the 'concordance model', and that well-fitting models do not cluster around the best fit, so cosmological parameters cannot be reliably estimated. We also find that in our model the mean quadrupole (l = 2) power is l(l+1)Cl/2π = 1081 μK2, much lower than in the pure adiabatic ΛCDM model, which gives 1262 μK2.
Turning over DNA methylation in the mind

Cytosine DNA methylation is a stable epigenetic modification with established roles in regulating transcription, imprinting, female X-chromosome inactivation, and silencing of transposons. Dynamic gain or loss of DNA methylation reshapes the genomic landscape of cells during early differentiation, and in post-mitotic mammalian brain cells these changes continue to accumulate throughout the phases of cortical maturation in childhood and adolescence. There is also evidence for dynamic changes in the methylation status of specific genomic loci during the encoding of new memories, and these epigenome dynamics could play a causal role in memory formation. However, the mechanisms that may dynamically regulate DNA methylation in neurons during memory formation and expression, and the function of such epigenomic changes in this context, are unclear. Here we discuss the possible roles of DNA methylation in encoding and retrieval of memory.
Classification of emotions from speech signal

The article presents an analysis of the possibility of recognizing speaker's emotions from speech signal in Polish language. In order to perform experiments a database containing speech recordings with emotional content was created. On its basis, extraction of features from the speech signals was performed. The most important step was to determine which of the previously extracted features were the most suitable to distinguish emotions and with what accuracy the emotions could be classified. Two feature selection methods — Sequential Forward Search (SFS) and t-statistics were examined. Emotion classification was implemented using k — Nearest Neighbor (k-NN), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers. Classification was carried out for pairs of emotions. The best results were obtained for classifying neutral and fear (91.9%) and neutral and joy emotions (89.6%).
Spatial attention and feature-based attention are differentially sensitive to individual working memory capacity and perceptual load

ABSTRACT A central and long-standing topic of interest to both psychologists and neuroscientists has been the capacity limited nature of perception, cognition and action. Most often, attention is the term invoked to label the mechanism by which a limited cognitive system can prioritize and select a subset of task-relevant sensory inputs and actions amongst a seemingly unbounded set of possible representations and behaviour. This selective mechanism is often modelled as a unitary and domain-general capacity-limited resource that is dynamically shifted to meet the processing demands invoked by the context. The present work offers a test of the unitary attention hypothesis using a variant of a classic validity manipulation [(Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32, 3–25)] and the inferential logic of Sternberg (2001. Separate modifiability, mental modules, and the use of pure and composite measures to reveal them. Acta Psychologica, 106, 147–246). The results stand as evidence for at least two modular visual attention systems split according to a spatial and feature-based reference.
Interaction of lipophorin with Rhodnius prolixus oocytes: biochemical properties and the importance of blood feeding

Lipophorin (Lp) is the main haemolymphatic lipoprotein in insects and transports lipids between different organs. In adult females, lipophorin delivers lipids to growing oocytes. In this study, the interaction of this lipoprotein with the ovaries of Rhodnius prolixus was characterised using an oocyte membrane preparation and purified radiolabelled Lp (125I-Lp). Lp-specific binding to the oocyte membrane reached equilibrium after 40-60 min and when 125I-Lp was incubated with increasing amounts of membrane protein, corresponding increases in Lp binding were observed. The specific binding of Lp to the membrane preparation was a saturable process, with a Kdof 7.1 ± 0.9 x 10-8M and a maximal binding capacity of 430 ± 40 ng 125I-Lp/µg of membrane protein. The binding was calcium independent and pH sensitive, reaching its maximum at pH 5.2-5.7. Suramin inhibited the binding interaction between Lp and the oocyte membranes, which was completely abolished at 0.5 mM suramin. The oocyte membrane preparation from R. prolixus also showed binding to Lp from Manduca sexta. When Lp was fluorescently labelled and injected into vitellogenic females, the level of Lp-oocyte binding was much higher in females that were fed whole blood than in those fed blood plasma.
A Local View Management Protocol for network-wide view construction in wireless networks

Combining cross-layering and autonomic paradigms is considered, until now, the best alternative for better Quality of Service (QoS) support in wireless networks. We adopt this combination in the design of a new architecture called Cross- Layer Engine (XLEngine) having the ability to make optimizations based on local and network wide knowledge. The unique mode to acquire this network knowledge is that every node notifies other nodes about its local metrics (called local view). To achieve this goal, we propose a new protocol called the Local View Management Protocol (LVMP). LVMP implements a selective rebroadcast technique to reduce the number of nodes participating in the local view dissemination process while assuring that this local view attains all nodes. We give a performance evaluation of LVMP and we study the impact of the overhead on the overall XLEngine performance.
Bringing Virtualization to the x86 Architecture with the Original VMware Workstation

This article describes the historical context, technical challenges, and main implementation techniques used by VMware Workstation to bring virtualization to the x86 architecture in 1999. Although virtual machine monitors (VMMs) had been around for decades, they were traditionally designed as part of monolithic, single-vendor architectures with explicit support for virtualization. In contrast, the x86 architecture lacked virtualization support, and the industry around it had disaggregated into an ecosystem, with different vendors controlling the computers, CPUs, peripherals, operating systems, and applications, none of them asking for virtualization. We chose to build our solution independently of these vendors. As a result, VMware Workstation had to deal with new challenges associated with (i) the lack of virtualization support in the x86 architecture, (ii) the daunting complexity of the architecture itself, (iii) the need to support a broad combination of peripherals, and (iv) the need to offer a simple user experience within existing environments. These new challenges led us to a novel combination of well-known virtualization techniques, techniques from other domains, and new techniques. VMware Workstation combined a hosted architecture with a VMM. The hosted architecture enabled a simple user experience and offered broad hardware compatibility. Rather than exposing I/O diversity to the virtual machines, VMware Workstation also relied on software emulation of I/O devices. The VMM combined a trap-and-emulate direct execution engine with a system-level dynamic binary translator to efficiently virtualize the x86 architecture and support most commodity operating systems. By relying on x86 hardware segmentation as a protection mechanism, the binary translator could execute translated code at near hardware speeds. The binary translator also relied on partial evaluation and adaptive retranslation to reduce the overall overheads of virtualization. Written with the benefit of hindsight, this article shares the key lessons we learned from building the original system and from its later evolution.
Multi-race age estimation based on the combination of multiple classifiers

A considerable amount of research has been conducted on gender and age estimation from facial images over the last few years, and state-of-the-art technology has accomplished a practical accuracy level for a homogeneous race such as Japanese or Korean. However, achieving the same accuracy level across multiple races such as Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic is still highly challenging because of the strong diversity of the growth process of each race. Furthermore, difficulty of gathering training samples uniformly over various races and age brackets makes the problem even more challenging. In this paper, we propose a novel age estimation method that can overcome the above problems. Our method combines a recently proposed machine learning technique called Least-Squares Probabilistic Classifier (LSPC) with neural networks. Through large-scale real-world age estimation experiments, we demonstrate the usefulness of our proposed method.
Successive cohort selection (SCS) for text-independent speaker verification

A novel cohort selection method, namely, successive cohort selection (SCS) is presented in this paper for text-independent speaker verification. The proposed method computes distance between two models directly and it selects new cohort member based on both the claimed speaker model and the existing cohort members. In addition to this new cohort selection method, we also propose a new score measure to be used in verification stage. This new score measure makes use of the absolute score of an utterance to weigh its normalized score in order to further improve the accuracy of a verification. Experimental results on the YOHO speech corpus have revealed that the proposed cohort selection method together with the new score measure reduce the equal-error-rate (EER) of a text-independent system by four times. With only a cohort size of four, the EER of the system is reduced to 0.72%.
Combination of envelope spectra and generative topographic mapping to diagnose bearing fault and evaluate degradation of bearing

Functioning of rotary machines is based on the rolling element of bearings, as the rolling element of bearings is the crucial component of rotary machines. The entire operation of rotating machines may terminate after the failure of rolling element of bearings. Hence, the failure of rotating machine is mainly dependent on rolling element of bearings, as it may break down an entire process. Thus, to avoid the sudden breakdown of rotary machines, it is essential to develop the diagnostics and prognostics methodology of rolling element of bearings. In the rolling element of bearings, the assessment of bearing degradation and fault diagnostics is essential to establish the methodology. Therefore, this article proposes a methodology to diagnose the fault of bearing and to assess bearing degradation. Envelope spectra and generative topographic mapping are used together in the methodology proposed. Selection of frequency band based on encompasses one or more resonance of spectrum of signal. Envelope spectrum is determined to pick up the peak of the characteristic fault frequencies of the bearing. Extraction of features from time and frequency domains is used in the generative topographic mapping. Health degradation index, an index termed as evolution of bearing degradation, is obtained from the classifier of generative topographic mapping. Experiments were conducted on the bearings to verify the proposed methodology. On interpreting the obtained results, it was found that the proficiency of proposed methodology is most appropriate for detecting the fault in bearing and tracking the degradation evolution in bearings.
Clinical evaluation of antidiabetic activity of Trigonella seeds and Aegle marmelos leaves.

Diabetes mellitus is a heterogenous metabolic disease characterized by altered carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism. So many traditional herbs are being used by diabetic patients to control the disease. But very few studies are performed to investigate the efficacy of these herbs clinically. In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate clinically the antidiabetic activity of Fenugreek seeds (FG) (Trigonella foenum-graceum Linn.) and Bael leaves (BL) (Aegle marmelos,Corr.) individually and collectively in non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients. Literature survey reveals their antidiabetic activity in animals but no such studies were performed clinically. FG were powdered and used for the study. BL dried in shadow, were powdered and its decoction was used for the study. The study was performed in four different groups for a period of 16 weeks. Each group was having 20 NIDDM patients, whereas five patients were kept as control subjects. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were formed for the study. Written consent was taken from the patients. Initial postprandial blood glucose level (PPBGL) was estimated at the time of enrolment in the study and then after each week during the entire period of the study. At the end of the study, the initial and final readings were compared. There were significant changes in PPBGL of patients who were receiving these two herbs collectively as compared to the other patients who were receiving these herbs individually in comparison to patients who were on their standard oral hypoglycemic therapy. FG powder 20gm and decoction of 5gm BL powder individually once daily orally were found to have antidiabetic effect. It was more markedly observed when these drugs were given in combination.
Concurrent Cross-Technology Communication Among Heterogeneous IoT Devices

The exponentially increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and the data generated by these devices introduces the spectrum crisis at the already crowded ISM 2.4-GHz band. To address this issue and enable more flexible and concurrent communications among IoT devices, we propose <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B^{2}W^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, a novel communication framework that enables <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-way <italic>concurrent</italic> communication among Wi-Fi and Bluetooth low energy (BLE) devices. Specifically, we demonstrate that it is possible to enable the BLE to Wi-Fi cross-technology communication while supporting the concurrent BLE to BLE and Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi communications. We conducted extensive experiments under different real-world settings, and results show that its throughput is more than 85<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times$ </tex-math></inline-formula> times higher than that of the most recently reported cross-technology communication system, which only supports one-way communication (i.e., broadcasting) at any specific time.