Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhancing critical thinking in language learning through computer-mediated collaborative learning: a preliminary investigation

This paper investigates a framework for computer-mediated collaborative learning and critical thinking in language learning. It is based mainly on the notions of awareness, autonomy, and achievement posited by Lian (1993). Central to its argument are two assertions. Firstly, computer-mediated collaborative learning requires a high level of autonomy in learners. Secondly, thinking critically in language learning can only occur in learners after they have become aware of the critical elements or "things that matter" in language learning. Hence, the more they are aware of such elements, the more they think critically in language learning. This framework argues against the idea of grouping learners so as to make them work together using a common means toward a common goal. This alternative model of computer-mediated collaborative learning is one in which learners have more control over their own learning. Their needs will arise when they engage in reality. In addition, the paper suggests positive roles that teachers should play in this context. An initial investigation of this framework is presented.
Tissue Specificity of Caenorhabditis elegans Enhanced RNA Interference Mutants

Gene knockdown by RNA interference (RNAi) in Caenorhabditis elegans is readily achieved by feeding bacteria expressing double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). Enhanced RNAi (Eri) mutants facilitate RNAi due to their hypersensitivity to dsRNA. Here, we compare eight Eri mutants for sensitivity to ingested dsRNA, targeting a variety of tissue-specific genes.
An improved map matching algorithm for intelligent transportation system

In the paper, an algorithm is put forward based on fuzzy logic for real-time matching of GPS positioning results, which is integrated with DR in intelligent transportation system. Besides, at junctions this algorithm makes use of road network topological structure and the continuity of vehicles' track to choose the continuing route with maximum possibility as a matched result from multiple candidates. The algorithm can be widely used as its computation is easy and the matching result is more accurate.
Regional differences in technetium-99m-ECD clearance on brain SPECT in healthy subjects.

UNLABELLED The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo stability of ECD brain SPECT. METHODS Twenty normal volunteers (35.4 +/- 9.1 yr) each had six ECD scans at 30, 60, 120, 240, 360 and 480 min postinjection. Each scan was acquired for 24 min using a triple-head SPECT system. Average counts per pixel were measured from frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital, cerebellum, basal ganglia, thalamus and white matter regions. ECD clearance rates were calculated by fitting regional time activity data to a monoexponential equation. Regional gray-to-white matter (G/W) and gray-to-cerebellum (G/C) ratios were calculated for each scan. Analysis of variance was used to compare regional ECD clearance and ratio measurements. RESULTS The average ECD clearance was 4.3%/hr. There was a significant regional variation in the ECD clearance, being higher for occipital (6.34%/hr) but lower for both white matter (2.39%/hr) and thalamus (2.45%/hr). Both G/W and G/C ratios showed a significant regional variation with time. The overall G/W ratio was 2.13 at 30 min and became progressively lower after 2 hr, reaching 1.78 at 8 hr. All regional G/W ratios declined with time except for thalamus where it remained constant at 2.15. The overall G/C ratio was 0.984 at 30 min but it declined after 4 hr, reaching 0.955 at 8 hr. All regional G/C ratios declined with time except for thalamus where it increased progressively from 0.955 to 1.120 at 8 hr. CONCLUSION ECD clears from normal brain slowly and shows a significant regional variation. As a result, G/W contrast begins to decrease after 2 hr and the gray-matter activity pattern becomes significantly different after 4 hr. Therefore, the optimal imaging time may be between 30-120 min. However, images obtained up to 4 hr still maintain the initial gray-matter activity pattern.
Expression of Varicella-Zoster Virus Immediate-Early Regulatory Protein IE63 in Neurons of Latently Infected Human Sensory Ganglia

ABSTRACT Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) causes varicella and establishes latency in sensory nerve ganglia, but the characteristics of VZV latency are not well defined. Immunohistochemical detection of the VZV immediate-early 63 (IE63) protein in ganglion neurons has been described, but there are significant discrepancies in estimates of the frequency of IE63-positive neurons, varying from a rare event to abundant expression. We examined IE63 expression in cadaver ganglia using a high-potency rabbit anti-IE63 antibody and corresponding preimmune serum. Using standard immunohistochemical techniques, we evaluated 10 ganglia that contained VZV DNA from seven individuals. These experiments showed that neuronal pigments were a confounding variable; however, by examining sections coded to prevent investigator bias and applying statistical analysis, we determined that IE63 protein, if present, is in a very small proportion of neurons (<2.8%). To refine estimates of IE63 protein abundance, we modified our protocol by incorporating a biological stain to exclude the pigment signal and evaluated 27 ganglia from 18 individuals. We identified IE63 protein in neurons within only one ganglion, in which VZV glycoprotein E and an immune cell infiltrate were also demonstrated. Antigen preservation was shown by detection of neuronal synaptophysin. These data provide evidence that the expression of IE63 protein, which has been referred to as a latency-associated protein, is rare. Refining estimates of VZV protein expression in neurons is important for developing a hypothesis about the mechanisms by which VZV latency may be maintained.
Endothelins Induce CCR 7 Expression by Breast Tumor Cells via Endothelin Receptor A and Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1

Endothelin expression is increased in breast tumors and is associated with invasion and metastasis, whereas CCR7 expression by breast tumor cells may have a role in the organ specificity of breast cancer spread. In this article, we have analyzed whether endothelins influence breast tumor cell expression of the chemokine receptor CCR7. Stimulation of human breast tumor cell lines with endothelins increased cell surface expression of CCR7 via endothelin receptor A. The iron chelators desferrioxamine and cobalt chloride, which induce hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-mediated transcription, also increased CCR7 expression; transfection of a dominantnegative version of the HIF regulatory subunit, HIF-1A, into MCF-7 cells abolished CCR7 induction by endothelins, indicating that increased expression is due to HIF-1 stabilization. Endothelin stimulation promoted invasion toward the CCR7 ligands CCL19 and CCL21. Endothelin-mediated chemokineindependent invasion itself is dependent on CCR7 activity and could be abolished using a CCR7-neutralizing monoclonal antibody. In human breast carcinomas, mRNA expression of endothelins correlated with the level of CCR7 expression, both of which were associated with the presence of lymph node metastases. Expression of the CCR7 ligands CCL19 and CCL21 was also higher in breast cancer patients with lymph node involvement compared with those without, but expression of these chemokines did not correlate with endothelin expression. These data show that CCR7 may be regulated by the breast tumor microenvironment and further support the use of endothelin receptor antagonists in the treatment of invasive and metastatic breast cancer. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(24): 11802-7)
Indexing the invisible web: a survey

Purpose – The existence and continued growth of the invisible web creates a major challenge for search engines that are attempting to organize all of the material on the web into a form that is easily retrieved by all users. The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges and problems underlying existing work in this area.Design/methodology/approach – A discussion based on a short survey of prior work, including automated discovery of invisible web site search interfaces, automated classification of invisible web sites, label assignment and form filling, information extraction from the resulting pages, learning the query language of the search interface, building content summary for an invisible web site, selecting proper databases, integrating invisible web‐search interfaces, and accessing the performance of an invisible web site.Findings – Existing technologies and tools for indexing the invisible web follow one of two strategies: indexing the web site interface or examining a portion of the con.
Perceptual organization and neural computation.

Our present understanding of perceptual organization has its roots in the observations and qualitative principles of the Gestalt psychologists. Gestaltists and their associates identified and classified phenomena that reflect how perceptual systems derive representations of the environment based on fragmentary information and stimulus context. A broad range of phenomena was explored in this early work. The perceptual organization of visual motion was a major focus, involving both simple (Korte, 1915; Ternus, 1926; von Schiller, 1933; Wertheimer, 1912) and complex (Duncker, 1929; Musatti, 1924; Rubin, 1927; Wallach, 1935) motion patterns. The perceptual organization of static form was explored in studies of part-whole relationships in simple planar figures (Rubin, 1915; Wertheimer, 1923), and later in studies of illusory contours and amodal completion (Kanizsa, 1955; Michotte, 1964). Additional topics included lightness and color phenomena (Benary, 1924; Gelb, 1929; Katz, 1935; Wallach, 1948), and the perception of events (Michotte, 1941). In brief, the research areas addressed by the first generations of Gestalt psychologists spanned much of what is now vision science. The broad impact of Gestalt ideas is reflected in the exceptional scope of this special issue. This early work provides a rich source of observations and intuitions about mechanisms underlying various aspects of perceptual organization. Building on this foundation, current work is revolutionizing our understanding of perceptual organization in two major respects. First, the qualitative observations and descriptions generated by early work are now replaced by rigorous computational theories. This advance can be traced through a
Astrocytic GAP43 Induced by the TLR4/NF-κB/STAT3 Axis Attenuates Astrogliosis-Mediated Microglial Activation and Neurotoxicity

Growth-associated protein 43 (GAP43), a protein kinase C (PKC)-activated phosphoprotein, is often implicated in axonal plasticity and regeneration. In this study, we found that GAP43 can be induced by the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in rat brain astrocytes both in vivo and in vitro. The LPS-induced astrocytic GAP43 expression was mediated by Toll-like receptor 4 and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)- and interleukin-6/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3)-dependent transcriptional activation. The overexpression of the PKC phosphorylation-mimicking GAP43S41D (constitutive active GAP43) in astrocytes mimicked LPS-induced process arborization and elongation, while application of a NF-κB inhibitory peptide TAT-NBD or GAP43S41A (dominant-negative GAP43) or knockdown of GAP43 all inhibited astrogliosis responses. Moreover, GAP43 knockdown aggravated astrogliosis-induced microglial activation and expression of proinflammatory cytokines. We also show that astrogliosis-conditioned medium from GAP43 knock-down astrocytes inhibited GAP43 phosphorylation and axonal growth, and increased neuronal damage in cultured rat cortical neurons. These proneurotoxic effects of astrocytic GAP43 knockdown were accompanied by attenuated glutamate uptake and expression of the glutamate transporter excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2) in LPS-treated astrocytes. The regulation of EAAT2 expression involves actin polymerization-dependent activation of the transcriptional coactivator megakaryoblastic leukemia 1 (MKL1), which targets the serum response elements in the promoter of rat Slc1a2 gene encoding EAAT2. In sum, the present study suggests that astrocytic GAP43 mediates glial plasticity during astrogliosis, and provides beneficial effects for neuronal plasticity and survival and attenuation of microglial activation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Astrogliosis is a complex state in which injury-stimulated astrocytes exert both protective and harmful effects on neuronal survival and plasticity. In this study, we demonstrated for the first time that growth-associated protein 43 (GAP43), a well known growth cone protein that promotes axonal regeneration, can be induced in rat brain astrocytes by the proinflammatory endotoxin lipopolysaccharide via both nuclear factor-κB and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3-mediated transcriptional activation. Importantly, LPS-induced GAP43 mediates plastic changes of astrocytes while attenuating astrogliosis-induced microglial activation and neurotoxicity. Hence, astrocytic GAP43 upregulation may serve to indicate beneficial astrogliosis after CNS injury.
Performance Analysis of iNET Using Forward Error Correction and OFDM

This paper shows the improvement in performance for OFDM modulation on aeronautical channels with the addition of convolution coding. OFDM is envisioned for use on the Integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (INET) on aeronautical channels that experience multipath fading which causes inter-symbol interference (ISI). Forward error correction coding, such as convolution coding (cc), significantly improves the bit error rate (BER) of OFDM with multipath fading. Theoretical and simulated results show a performance increase of up to 10dB with the introduction of coding gain and the cyclic prefix (cp). Such improvements can be applied to reduce errors or increase data rates for INET.
Impact of Financial Development on Inflation: Evidence from Pakistan (1974-2007)

The relationship between financial development, growth and inflation has been analyzed by a number of recent empirical studies in Pakistan. Sizeable research finds that money supply growth at beginning affects real GDP growth and further it affects inflation in Pakistan. These two step process doesn’t fulfill the specification of the consequences. Therefore, this study looks at the association and causality of Financial Development Indicators towards Inflationary trend in Pakistan expressly for the period of 1974-2007 for Pakistan. The study investigates whether inflation and financial development are cointegrated? Using the Johansen approach and F-bound cointegration test. Finally, a VAR is constructed and impulse response function (IRFs) are employed to investigate the effects of macroeconomic shocks. The result suggests that inflation and financial development indicators are cointegrated. There is unidirectional relationship, running from inflation to financial development indicators, both in the long-run and short-run.
An Observer of Tire–Road Forces and Friction for Active Security Vehicle Systems

The estimation of vehicle dynamic variables is essential for the enhancement of safety, in particular for braking and trajectory-control systems. This paper proposes a new estimation process to calculate lateral tire forces, vehicle sideslip angle, and road friction. The estimation process (an adaptive observer) is constructed by combining a vehicle model and a tire force model. More specifically, this study proposes an adaptive tire force model that takes variations in road friction into account. The adaptive observer is evaluated in comparison with two nonadaptive observers that use tire force models with fixed parameters. This study also proposes a road friction identification method operating in an online context. The observers and the road friction identification method are first evaluated using vehicle simulator software. Subsequently, observers are compared to real data acquired using an experimental vehicle. This paper also includes a description of the experimental platform. Results show the accuracy and potential of the estimation process.
Design and simulation of a turtle performing robot for robotic theater

According to the created robot theatre script, a turtle robotic system was developed for performance at digital stage. In this paper, we designed a turtle robot to play a key role of the theater. This robot is composed of four 3-DOF modularized lightweight legs, a flexible neck with continuous curvature, three telescopic spring brackets, an aluminum torso frame and a control system. The legs are driven by the synchronous belts. The motors and their drivers of all the three joints of each leg are mounted on the leg's front end, which is connected to the torso. Hence, the mass and moment of inertia of each leg are largely reduced, improving the efficiency of movement. Based on the design, we derived the kinematics equations and planned the coordinated gait. Finally, we created the dynamic model of the robot. Then, typical cases are simulated to analyze the function and performance of the robot. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the design.
Miniaturized planar branch-line coupler with asymmetrical π-shaped structure

This paper presents a new design methodology for microstrip branch-line couplers utilizing asymmetrical π-structures. Design equations of the coupler with sub-optimum performance are analytically derived. The branches of the original hybrid coupler are decomposed in to high and low impedance sections with the low impedance section being reduced to an equivalent π-network. The proposed approach features compact size, planar structure and low-loss. The developed planar branch-line coupler occupies 46.28% of circuit area compared to the conventional structure. Design method is illustrated with a microstrip branch-line coupler operating at 2.44 GHz. The isolation is 40dB at 2.44GHz. The impedance bandwidth of 38.6% is obtained centered about the design frequency.
Dense autotrophic cultures of Alcaligenes eutrophus

Alcaligenes eutrophus was grown autotrophically in 23-liter batch cultures in a controlled H2-O2-CO2 atmosphere. It was demonstrated that the need for periodic supplements of individual nutrients could be anticipated before cell growth depleted these nutrients to the point of becoming growth rate limiting. As a result, exponential growth was extended to optical densities of 44, with doubling times maintained at 2 h. Cultures having an initial optical density of 0.040 to 0.70 reached the final optical density of 60 in about 25 h. The final viable count was 1.2 X 10(11) cells per ml, and the dry weight was 25 g/liter.
Tis gene expression in cultured rat astrocytes: Multiple pathways of induction by mitogens

Accumulation of TIS1 and TIS11 (Lim et al.: Oncogene 1:263–270, 1987) mRNAs in secondary cultures of rat neocortical astrocytes was much greater in response to tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate (TPA) than in response to either epidermal growth factor (EGF) or fibroblast growth factor (FGF). In contrast, EGF, FGF, and TPA were equally effective in inducing accumulation of TIS8 and TIS28/c‐fos mRNAs. These data suggested that TPA and the polypeptide mitogens might induce TIS gene expression by distinct pathways. When maximally inducing concentrations of EGF and FGF were co‐administered to astrocyte cultures, TIS mRNA accumulations were no greater than those observed for the individual growth factors, suggesting that EGF and FGF saturate a common, limiting step in their induction pathways. In contrast, when either EGF or FGF was presented to astrocytes in combination with maximally inducing levels of TPA, the resulting levels of accumulation of TIS mRNAs were at least as great as the sum of the levels induced by the individual mitogens. Stimulation of [3H]‐thymidine incorporation demonstrated an identical pattern of interaction; EGF and FGF co‐administration was no more effective than either polypeptide mitogen alone, but, when presented to astrocyte cultures along with maximally inducing concentrations of TPA, either EGF or FGF was able to increase incorporation of [3H]‐thymidine.
Basal C-Peptide in the Discrimination of Type I from Type II Diabetes

Basal serum C-peptide concentrations in diabetic patients showed two groups. Diabetic patients with low C-peptide levels (≤ 0.16 nmol/L) have clinical characteristics of type I diabetes, and all were on insulin therapy. With long duration of diabetes, an increasing proportion had undetectable C-peptide. Diabetic patients with high C-peptide levels (< 0.16 nmol/L) resemble type II diabetes. In this group 30% were on insulin therapy but duration of known disease was not associated with any decline in the high basal C-peptide levels. The small proportion of diabetic patients with basal serum C-peptide in the range of 0.17–0.32 nmol/L have indeterminate status.
Application of Capillary Electrophoresis Mass Spectrometry and Liquid Chromatography Multiple-Step Tandem Electrospray Mass Spectrometry To Profile Glycoform Expression during Haemophilus influenzae Pathogenesis in the Chinchilla Model of Experimental Otitis Media

ABSTRACT Otitis media caused by nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a common and recurrent bacterial infection of childhood. The structural variability and diversity of H. influenzae lipopolysaccharide (LPS) glycoforms are known to play a significant role in the commensal and disease-causing behavior of this pathogen. In this study, we determined LPS glycoform populations from NTHi strain 1003 during the course of experimental otitis media in the chinchilla model of infection by mass spectrometric techniques. Building on an established structural model of the major LPS glycoforms expressed by this NTHi strain in vitro (M. Månsson, W. Hood, J. Li, J. C. Richards, E. R. Moxon, and E. K. Schweda, Eur. J. Biochem. 269:808-818, 2002), minor isomeric glycoform populations were determined by liquid chromatography multiple-step tandem electrospray mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MSn). Using capillary electrophoresis ESI-MS (CE-ESI-MS), we determined glycoform profiles for bacteria from direct middle ear fluid (MEF) samples. The LPS glycan profiles were essentially the same when the MEF samples of 7 of 10 animals were passaged on solid medium (chocolate agar). LC-ESI-MSn provided a sensitive method for determining the isomeric distribution of LPS glycoforms in MEF and passaged specimens. To investigate changes in LPS glycoform distribution during the course of infection, MEF samples were analyzed at 2, 5, and 9 days postinfection by CE-ESI-MS following minimal passage on chocolate agar. As previously observed, sialic acid-containing glycoforms were detected during the early stages of infection, but a trend toward more-truncated and less-complex LPS glycoforms that lacked sialic acid was found as disease progressed.