Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Layer‐specific BOLD activation in human V1

The neocortex is known to have a distinct laminar structure which has previously been probed in animals using high‐resolution fMRI. Detection of layer‐specific activation in humans has however to date proven elusive. In this study we demonstrate for the first time such layer‐specific activation, specifically at a depth corresponding to layer IV of human primary visual cortex (V1). We used a gradient‐echo (GE) sequence at 3T with an isotropic resolution of 0.75 mm, in which a stria at the depth of layer IV was visible in the averaged time series, and could be used as an anatomical landmark. Upon visual stimulation (7.5 Hz flickering checkerboard) the signal increase of 3% in layer IV was significantly higher than in the neighboring laminae. The width of this activation peak was 0.8–1 mm. Based on this result and known laminar organization of the intracortical vasculature we conclude that in the direction perpendicular to the cortical surface the intrinsic spatial resolution of the GE‐BOLD fMRI signal is in the submillimetre range. Human laminar fMRI is a significant development which may improve our understanding of intracortical activation patterns and of the way in which different cortical regions interact. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Use of the beck depression inventory-II (BDI-II) with persons with traumatic brain injury: Analysis of factorial structure

Primary objective: To determine the factorial structure of the BDI-II in a TBI sample and possible predictor variables of depression following TBI. Research design: Principle components analysis with orthogonal rotation and linear regression analyses. Methods and procedures: Fifty-one individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) participated in this study. The factorial structure of the BDI-II, a 21-item self-report measure of depression, was examined with individuals in the early stages following TBI. Time since injury, severity of injury, location of lesion and previous substance abuse were examined as possible predictors of depression following TBI. Results: A three-factor structure of the BDI-II was found for the TBI sample, which included Negative Self-Evaluation, Symptoms of Depression and Vegetative Symptoms of Depression. Time since injury was the only significant predictor of depression following TBI. Conclusion: Using the BDI-II, symptoms of depression after TBI fall into three key categories. With time since injury being the only significant predictor of depression following TBI, it appears that the depression could be more of a result of psychosocial factors than neurobiological factors. It was concluded that BDI-II can be useful in identifying symptoms of depression in the early stages following TBI.
A small-signal analytical theory for GaAs field-effect transistors at large drain voltages

Small-signal microwave performance of GaAs field-effect transistors (FET's) at large drain voltages is investigated, using a new analytical model which takes into account the carrier drift-velocity reduction and saturation due to electron upper valley scattering, and the extension of the depletion layer towards a drain side. Both of these play important roles in FET operation at large drain voltages. Small-signal y-parameters are calculated and the transit time effect which occurs in high-frequency operations is shown explicitly. Equivalent FET circuit elements are derived from the obtained y-parameters. Their dependence on device physical parameters, as well as on dc bias conditions, is calculated. The theoretical results are compared with the measured small-signal characteristics of a practical power GaAs FET and a reasonable agreement between them is obtained.
Characterization and inhibition of photorefractive optical damage of swift heavy ion irradiation waveguides in LiNbO 3

The photorefractive effect and the corresponding optical damage thresholds of novel LiNbO3 waveguides fabricated by swift ion irradiation have been investigated. TE- and TM-mode operation have been characterized, and the influence of the beam propagation length analyzed. Optical damage levels similar to those of proton-exchanged waveguides have been found. In order to reduce optical damage, the influence of temperature has been investigated. An increase of more than a factor of 100 in the optical damage threshold has been obtained by moderate heating up to 90°C. The results are briefly discussed under the two-center model for the photorefractive effect in undoped LiNbO3, and compared with data from other types of LiNbO3 waveguides.
Defining Similarity Spaces for Large-Scale Image Retrieval Through Scientific Workflows

Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) employs visual features from images for searching and retrieving of data. Systems based on this concept depend on a similarity space instance definition, but achieving an ideal instance is a very complex process and is dependent on domain knowledge. At the same time, domain experts are often unable to interact fully with systems because of technicalities. In this paper, we propose an architecture, based on scientific workflows, which allows users with no prior programming experience to build processes on images, creating Similarity Spaces and evaluating them when running similarity queries. Through this architecture, they can use domain expertise to improve image retrieval in a coordinated, auditable and reproducible manner, while being able to process very large image collections. We describe a prototype system and carry out experiments evaluating its performance in various scenarios. The current implementation supports both similarity space definition and querying workflows, achieving suitable speedups with the increase in the number of machines.
Imperfect referees: Reducing the impact of multiple biases in peer review

Bias in peer review entails systematic prejudice that prevents accurate and objective assessment of scientific studies. The disparity between referees' opinions on the same paper typically makes it difficult to judge the paper's quality. This article presents a comprehensive study of peer review biases with regard to 2 aspects of referees: the static profiles (factual authority and self‐reported confidence) and the dynamic behavioral context (the temporal ordering of reviews by a single reviewer), exploiting anonymized, real‐world review reports of 2 different international conferences in information systems / computer science. Our work extends conventional bias research by considering multiple biases occurring simultaneously. Our findings show that the referees' static profiles are more dominant in peer review bias when compared to their dynamic behavioral context. Of the static profiles, self‐reported confidence improved both conference fitness and impact‐based bias reductions, while factual authority could only contribute to conference fitness‐based bias reduction. Our results also clearly show that the reliability of referees' judgments varies along their static profiles and is contingent on the temporal interval between 2 consecutive reviews.
Geranylgeranylacetone ameliorates ischemic acute renal failure via induction of Hsp70.

BACKGROUND Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are well known as cytoprotective proteins. Geranylgeranylacetone (GGA), an antiulcer agent, has recently been shown to induce Hsp70. This study was performed to investigate the renoprotective properties of GGA. METHODS The effect of GGA on the induction of the major HSPs (Hsp90, Hsp70, Hsc70, Hsp60, and Hsp32) was studied in the rat kidney or rat primary cultures of tubular epithelial cells (R-TECs) by Western blot. Localization of Hsp70 was determined by immunohistochemistry. The renoprotective effects of GGA were studied using a rat model of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. GGA (400 mg/kg), GGA with quercetin pretreatment (100 mg/kg), or a vehicle was given to rats 24 hours and again 1 hour prior to the induction of I/R injury. Rats were sacrificed at 24 hours after reperfusion. Histologic analyses and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate (dUTP) nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay were performed. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine was also measured. The cytoprotective properties of GGA were also studied in vitro by treating R-TECs with GGA (10 mumol/L) or a vehicle, followed by incubation in culture medium with oxidative stress condition (0.5 mmol/L hydrogen peroxide) or ischemic condition (2 nmol/L NaCN and 20 mmol/L 2-deoxyglucose in the absence of medium glucose). RESULTS Oral administration of GGA induced Hsp70 expression in the kidney (which peaked at 24 hours) but did not induce Hsp90, Hsc70, Hsp60, or Hsp32. The induction of Hsp70 was blocked by quercetin. Immunohistochemistry showed that Hsp70 was localized mainly in the tubular epithelial cells. Preconditioning rats with GGA significantly decreased BUN and serum creatinine levels after I/R injury. Histologic examination revealed that GGA significantly attenuated tubular damage and macrophage infiltration. The number of TUNEL-positive cells also decreased significantly in the GGA group. Quercetin, an inhibitor of Hsp70 induction, eliminated these renoprotective effects of GGA. In in vitro study, GGA-induced Hsp70 in R-TECs, which peaked at 2 to 4 hours. Both oxidative stress and ischemic stimuli induced apoptosis in R-TECs. GGA significantly suppressed the number of apoptotic cells in both conditions. CONCLUSION The results support the hypothesis that GGA induces Hsp70, protects tubular epithelial cells from apoptosis, and thus ameliorates tubular damage by I/R injury. The present study suggests that GGA would be a useful tool in treating acute renal failure or preventing transplanted kidney damage in the clinical setting.
A nanodosimetry-based linear-quadratic model of cell survival for mixed-LET radiations

A new nanodosimetry-based linear-quadratic (LQ) model of cell survival for mixed-LET radiations has been developed. The new model employs three physical quantities and three biological quantities. The three physical quantities are related to energy depositions at two nanometre scales, 5 nm and 25 nm. The three biological quantities are related to the lesion production and interaction probabilities and the lesion repair rate. The coefficients α and β of the LQ formula (αD + βD2) are explicitly expressed in terms of the three physical quantities and the three biological quantities. The new model is shown to be consistent with the previously published cell survival curves of V-79 cells. The advantage of this new model is that it can be conveniently adopted to estimate the iso-effect for radiotherapies that involve ionizing radiation of mixed LET. An example is given to estimate the cell survival fractions for a high-dose-rate mixed neutron and gamma-ray field from a 252Cf source.
Static strength and durability analysis of the gear-rack for an aircraft slat

Duo to the limitation of the gear-rack's structure profile for an aircraft slat, the maximum stress value got from test is not the value under actual load. In this paper, based on finite element model of gear-rack built by analysis software ABAQUS, the maximum stress value of gear-rack is determined by force analysis. Thus the strength of the gear-rack is checked, and finally the fatigue life is estimated. At the same time, strength test of gear-rack shows that calculation results and test are well consistent. This method can provide a foundation for the design optimization and reliability design of gear-rack for aircraft slat.
Personality Traits: Drug Choices Relationship of Personality Traits and Drug of Choice by Cocaine Addicts and Heroin Addicts

The link between specific personality profiles and a single psychotropic drug of choice is still unclear and only partially explored. The present study compares three groups of male subjects: 85 patients manifesting heroin dependence (age: 30.07 ± 2.78), 60 patients manifesting cocaine dependence (age: 31.96 ± 3.1), and 50 healthy subjects from a random population sample (age: 33.25 ± 1.45). The patients included in the study showed a long-lasting history of dependence on heroin or cocaine, respectively, 5.2 ± 2.5 years, 4.6 ± 2.9 years, and were stabilized in treatment, and abstinent, at least 4 weeks at the time of the diagnostic assessment. Heroin addicts (52.90%) were on methadone maintenance treatment. Cocaine addicts (11.60%) were treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Personality traits were measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) and Cloninger’s Three-dimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). Character and quantification of aggressiveness were measured by the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI). Heroin-dependent patients (group A) scored significantly higher on hysteria, masculine–feminine and social introversion subscales of the MMPI, and significantly lower on the harm avoidance (HA) subscale of the TPQ than cocaine addicts. In contrast, scores on the MMPI for hypochondria, psychopathic deviance, and paranoia dimensions were more elevated in cocaine addicts than in heroin-dependent patients. Cocaine addicts scored higher than heroin addicts on the “direct” aggressiveness subscale and on the BDHI total score. Cocaine addicts did not differ from healthy controls on harm avoidance (behavioral control). Although cocaine addicts showed more consistent psychopathic deviance and overt aggressiveness than heroin addicts, higher harm avoidance (behavioral control), hypochondria (or worry about their health), and social extroversion may reduce their proneness to overt antisocial behavior and allow relatively higher levels of social integration. The study’s limitations are noted.
Lentiviral Protein Transfer Vectors Are an Efficient Vaccine Platform and Induce a Strong Antigen-Specific Cytotoxic T Cell Response

ABSTRACT To induce and trigger innate and adaptive immune responses, antigen-presenting cells (APCs) take up and process antigens. Retroviral particles are capable of transferring not only genetic information but also foreign cargo proteins when they are genetically fused to viral structural proteins. Here, we demonstrate the capacity of lentiviral protein transfer vectors (PTVs) for targeted antigen transfer directly into APCs and thereby induction of cytotoxic T cell responses. Targeting of lentiviral PTVs to APCs can be achieved analogously to gene transfer vectors by pseudotyping the particles with truncated wild-type measles virus (MV) glycoproteins (GPs), which use human SLAM (signaling lymphocyte activation molecule) as a main entry receptor. SLAM is expressed on stimulated lymphocytes and APCs, including dendritic cells. SLAM-targeted PTVs transferred the reporter protein green fluorescent protein (GFP) or Cre recombinase with strict receptor specificity into SLAM-expressing CHO and B cell lines, in contrast to broadly transducing vesicular stomatitis virus G protein (VSV-G) pseudotyped PTVs. Primary myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) incubated with targeted or nontargeted ovalbumin (Ova)-transferring PTVs stimulated Ova-specific T lymphocytes, especially CD8+ T cells. Administration of Ova-PTVs into SLAM-transgenic and control mice confirmed the observed predominant induction of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells and demonstrated the capacity of protein transfer vectors as suitable vaccines for the induction of antigen-specific immune responses. IMPORTANCE This study demonstrates the specificity and efficacy of antigen transfer by SLAM-targeted and nontargeted lentiviral protein transfer vectors into antigen-presenting cells to trigger antigen-specific immune responses in vitro and in vivo. The observed predominant activation of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells indicates the suitability of SLAM-targeted and also nontargeted PTVs as a vaccine for the induction of cytotoxic immune responses. Since cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes are a mainstay of antitumoral immune responses, PTVs could be engineered for the transfer of specific tumor antigens provoking tailored antitumoral immunity. Therefore, PTVs can be used as safe and efficient alternatives to gene transfer vectors or live attenuated replicating vector platforms, avoiding genotoxicity or general toxicity in highly immunocompromised patients, respectively. Thereby, the potential for easy envelope exchange allows the circumventing of neutralizing antibodies, e.g., during repeated boost immunizations.
Student Involvement with Online Forum and Its Effects on Intention to Seek and Intention to Share: An Exploratory Study

Online forum is a popular approach for sharing of ideas and problem resolution. It is a very useful tool for education where students and lecturers can communicate with each other without time and space constraints. This paper presents an exploratory study to investigate students’ involvement with online forum, which in turn may affect their intention to seek answers and share ideas. The Social Exchange Theory is one of the theoretical backgrounds to explain online participation as a reciprocal exchange of information. Benefit and cost of online forum are two independent variables. Intention to seek answer and intention to share idea are two dependent variables. Involvement and attitude play as mediating variables. Eight hypotheses were proposed, and all of them were confirmed by the data. One finding reveals that the effects of involvement on intention to share ideas and on intention to seek answers are partially mediated by the respective attitudes. Empirical and practical contributions are discussed at the end of this paper
Introduction of randomness in deterministic descriptions of Reverberation Chambers

The main purpose of this work is to present some simple yet complete models that are able to describe the statistical behavior of reverberation chambers (RC) as well as the influence of their main factors and their overall functioning. We start by building a simplified two-dimensional model which is able to reproduce the statistical behavior of real RCs without renouncing the advantages of deterministic descriptions. The statistical properties of the fields inside the cavity are introduced either by varying the width or the relative dielectric constant of a perturbing lossless layer inside a 2D cavity. The field statistics derived with this process are shown to correspond to the statistics found in properly functioning RCs in the overmoded regime. With the use of a suitable coordinate transformation, we assume our non-homogeneous rectangular cavity to be a virtual mathematical domain, and find an analogous homogeneous non-rectangular cavity as our physical domain. With this simple process we are able to link our 2D ldquodielectricrdquo stirrer with actual geometrical discontinuities. By means of this procedure, a novel design for RCs appears as feasible.
Landsat Time Series and Lidar as Predictors of Live and Dead Basal Area Across Five Bark Beetle-Affected Forests

Bark beetle-caused tree mortality affects important forest ecosystem processes. Remote sensing methodologies that quantify live and dead basal area (BA) in bark beetle-affected forests can provide valuable information to forest managers and researchers. We compared the utility of light detection and ranging (lidar) and the Landsat-based detection of trends in disturbance and recovery (LandTrendr) algorithm to predict total, live, dead, and percent dead BA in five bark beetle-affected forests in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, and Oregon, USA. The BA response variables were predicted from lidar and LandTrendr predictor variables using the random forest (RF) algorithm. RF models explained 28%-61% of the variation in BA responses. Lidar variables were better predictors of total and live BA, whereas LandTrendr variables were better predictors of dead and percent dead BA. RF models predicting percent dead BA were applied to lidar and LandTrendr grids to produce maps, which were then compared to a gridded dataset of tree mortality area derived from aerial detection survey (ADS) data. Spearman correlations of beetle-caused tree mortality metrics between lidar, LandTrendr, and ADS were low to moderate; low correlations may be due to plot sampling characteristics, RF model error, ADS data subjectivity, and confusion caused by the detection of other types of forest disturbance by LandTrendr. Provided these sources of error are not too large, our results show that lidar and LandTrendr can be used to predict and map live and dead BA in bark beetle-affected forests with moderate levels of accuracy.
Remark on "Appropriateness and Impact of Platform - Based Product Development"

When platform-based manufacturing exhibits overdesign costs then platform adoption will lead to a decrease in product line differentiation. In contrast, Krishnan and Gupta (2001) argued that in the presence of overdesign costs and platform economies, platform production always leads to a more differentiated product family. While Krishnan and Gupta analyzed one particular parameterized cost function and define overdesign costs and platform economies narrowly in terms of their parameters, I propose a general definition of overdesign costs and show that platform adoption reduces product differentiation for all cost functions satisfying this definition, regardless of whether or not they exhibit platform economies.
A nonlinear complementary filter approach for MAV 3D-attitude estimation with low-cost MARG/ADS

Attitude is an important parameter for micro-unmanned aerial vehicles (MAVs) during its autonomous and stable flying. The MAVs with small size required low power usually use low-cost magnetometer, accelerometer and gyroscope (MARG) to calculate attitude information. But the attitude errors always increase with time due to the gyroscope output corrupted by additive high noise levels and uncertain bias drift. Therefore, a robust and novel nonlinear complementary filter (NCF) approach for MAVs attitude estimation based on low-cost MARG and embedded air data sensors (ADS) is proposed to correct the integrated error and compensate the gyroscope bias on-line. Based on the MAVs kinematic equations and derived coordinate transformation matrix together with different measurement properties, an attitude observer as input is derived for NCF. Finally, a series of experiments are executed on a MAV platform called BH-1 to demonstrate the improved performances of proposed nonlinear complementary filter compared to traditional complementary filter (CF).
Scaffolding in Mobile Science Enquiry-based Learning Using Ontologies

The use of ontologies has become increasingly widespread in many areas, particularly in technology enhanced learning. They appear promising in supporting knowledge representation and learning content creation for domains of interest. In this paper, we show how ontology-based scaffolding has helped mobile learners to perform scientific enquiry investigations. Enquiry-based learning aims to provide educational activities and tools to assists students to learn science by doing science. In this study, a design science research approach was taken to creating an ontology-driven application for a science content domain, which has been evaluated with high school science students. The results showed the significant value of ontologies in scaffolding learning content in such enquiry-based learning environments. With this application, students were found to learn science in more meaningful and engaged ways as well as developing positive attitudes towards mobile learning.