Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution of an endogenous lectin in the developing chick optic tectum

We determined the cellular localization of an endogenous lectin at various times during the development of a well-characterized region of chick brain, the optic tectum. This lectin is a carbohydrate-binding protein that interacts with lactose and other saccharides, undergoes striking changes in specific activity with development, and has previously been purified by affinity chromatography from extracts of embryonic chick brain and muscle. Cellular localization in the tectum was done by indirect immunofluoresecent staining, using immunoglobulin G derived from an antiserum raised against pure lectin. No lectin was detectable in the optic tectum examined at 5 days of embryonic development. From approximately 7 days of development, neuronal cell bodies and fibers were labeled by the antibody; and extracts of tectum contained hemagglutination activity that could be inhibited by lactose or by the antiserum. Lectin remained present in many tectal neuronal layers after hatching; but in 2-month-old chicks it was sparse or absent in most of the tectum except for prominent labeling of fibers in the stratum album centrale. The initial appearance of lectin in the optic tectum was not dependent on innervation by optic nerve fibers since bilateral enucleation during embryogenesis did not affect it. Lectin was detectable on the surface of embryonic optic tectal neurons dissociated with a buffer containing EDTA.
The Effect of Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibition on Acute Platelet Accumulation and Hemodynamic Depression in a Rat Model of Thromboembolic Stroke

The relative importance of hemodynamic factors in the pathogenesis of thrombotic or embolic stroke is unclear. Of particular therapeutic interest are those substances that facilitate vasodilation and the clearance of platelet aggregates in the compromised microvasculature. A likely contributor to these functions is nitric oxide because it is known to inhibit platelet aggregability and promote vascular relaxation. To investigate the involvement of nitric oxide in the hemodynamic changes after experimental ischemia, photochemically induced nonocclusive common carotid artery thrombosis (CCAT) was studied. CCAT is a rat model of unilateral carotid artery stenosis and platelet embolization to the brain. This study characterized the acute hemodynamic consequences of CCAT and the resultant pattern of platelet deposits with and without nitric oxide synthase inhibition by nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME). In addition, the subacute local cerebral blood flow changes were studied at 24 hours. Right CCAT was produced in 30 male Wistar rats injected with 111In-labeled platelets. Between 5 and 15 minutes after thrombosis, rats were treated with either 15 mg/kg of l-NAME (intravenously) or saline vehicle. Hemodynamic changes were studied 30 to 45 minutes after thrombosis using [14C]iodoantipyrine autoradiography. Eight coronal levels were analyzed, and cortical and subcortical regions of interest were defined. Significant increases were observed in total platelets in the ipsilateral hemisphere after l-NAME treatment, and in the distribution of platelets in the anterior frontal and occipital cortices with nitric oxide synthase inhibition, encompassing the anterior and posterior border zone areas of the ipsilateral cortex. Otherwise, foci of labeled platelets were detected throughout the ipsilateral and contralateral hemispheres. Mean local cerebral blood flow images (n = 5) revealed a moderate bilateral global reduction in flow acutely, which normalized in the untreated thrombosed group by 24 hours. In contrast, the l-NAME–treated groups (sham and experimental) had lasting, widespread reductions in flow of approximately 25%. Pairwise comparisons between groups showed that CCAT/l-NAME was significantly different from shams in the corpus callosum and different from L-NAME shams in the internal capsule (P < 0.05) These hemodynamic and platelet accumulation changes may partially account for the aggravation of cognitive and sensorimotor deficits previously reported in this model of thromboembolic stroke.
Visual segment tree creation for MPEG-7 description schemes

The paper deals with the creation of visual segment trees involved in MPEG-7 description schemes. After a brief overview of MPEG-7 description schemes in general and of the Segment Description Scheme in particular, tools allowing the creation of segment trees are discussed. It is proposed to create a binary partition tree in a first step and to restructure the tree in a second step. Several examples involving spatial and temporal partition trees are presented.
Online optimizations driven by hardware performance monitoring

Hardware performance monitors provide detailed direct feedback about application behavior and are an additional source of infor-mation that a compiler may use for optimization. A JIT compiler is in a good position to make use of such information because it is running on the same platform as the user applications. As hardware platforms become more and more complex, it becomes more and more difficult to model their behavior. Profile information that captures general program properties (like execution frequency of methods or basic blocks) may be useful, but does not capture sufficient information about the execution platform. Machine-level performance data obtained from a hardware performance monitor can not only direct the compiler to those parts of the program that deserve its attention but also determine if an optimization step actually improved the performance of the application. This paper presents an infrastructure based on a dynamic compiler+runtime environment for Java that incorporates machine-level information as an additional kind of feedback for the compiler and runtime environment. The low-overhead monitoring system provides fine-grained performance data that can be tracked back to individual Java bytecode instructions. As an example, the paper presents results for object co-allocation in a generational garbage collector that optimizes spatial locality of objects on-line using measurements about cache misses. In the best case, the execution time is reduced by 14% and L1 cache misses by 28%.
Occupational Exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA): A Reality That Still Needs to Be Unveiled

Bisphenol A (BPA), 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane, is one of the most utilized industrial chemicals worldwide, with the ability to interfere with/or mimic estrogenic hormones with associated biological responses. Environmental human exposure to this endocrine disruptor, mostly through oral intake, is considered a generalized phenomenon, particularly in developed countries. However, in the context of occupational exposure, non-dietary exposure sources (e.g., air and contact) cannot be underestimated. Here, we performed a review of the literature on BPA occupational exposure and associated health effects. Relevantly, the authors only identified 19 studies from 2009 to 2017 that demonstrate that occupationally exposed individuals have significantly higher detected BPA levels than environmentally exposed populations and that the detection rate of serum BPA increases in relation to the time of exposure. However, only 12 studies performed in China have correlated potential health effects with detected BPA levels, and shown that BPA-exposed male workers are at greater risk of male sexual dysfunction across all domains of sexual function; also, endocrine disruption, alterations to epigenetic marks (DNA methylation) and epidemiological evidence have shown significant effects on the offspring of parents exposed to BPA during pregnancy. This overview raises awareness of the dramatic and consistent increase in the production and exposure of BPA and creates urgency to assess the actual exposure of workers to this xenoestrogen and to evaluate potential associated adverse health effects.
Ju n 20 05 Square root relaxation : two possible mechanisms

Magnetic relaxation in large spin molecular paramagnets is often found to behave as δM(t) ∼ √ t at short times t. This behaviour was explained by Prokofiev & Stamp as arising from dipole interactions between molecular spins. However, as observed by Miyashita & Saito, the same behaviour can arise from a different mechanism which, in the present work, is related to hyperfine interactions. The Miyashita-Saito scheme is found to be possible at short times if the nuclear longitudinal spin relaxation is very slow. In the case of moderately slow nuclear spin relaxation, the electronic magnetization variation δM(t) is initially proportional to t, then to √ t and finally to exp(−t/τ ). This behaviour may be mostly expected in dilute systems. pacs 05.30. -d, 05.40. Fb, 75.50. Xx Synthetic molecular nanomagnets[1] provide reproducible microscopic systems with a large magnetic moment which may have macroscopic properties. The most widely studied materials are, in the usual terminology, Mn12ac (with a relaxation time of 2 months for the magnetization at 2 K) and Fe8, whose faster relaxation allows easier experiments. Magnetic relaxation of these materials at low temperature is a challenging problem. The material is initially magnetized by a strong magnetic field H in the easy magnetization direction z. At t = 0, the external field is suddenly given the value Hext, also in the z direction. One measures the magnetization Mz(t) = Mz(0) + δMz(t). At low enough temperature, the following behaviour is observed for short times in Fe8 [2, 3] and Mn12 [4, 5]. δMz(t) = δMz(∞)A √ t (1) where A is a positive constant. This square root behaviour is in contrast with usual relaxation which is exponential, and therefore linear for short times, δMz(t) = δMz(0)A t. The square root behaviour (1) was predicted theoretically by Prokofiev & Stamp [6] for the demagnetization of a saturated sample. The molecule of
Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease by Electrophysiological Methods

Effective differential diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) needs in informative indices that objectively reflect the functional state of the extrapyramidal system. And also, when evaluating an efficacy of antiparkinsonian therapy, it is essential to have both, qualitative and quantitative characteristics, permitting to correct treatment and predict a disease course. One of informative diagnostic method in PD is surface (interference) electromyography. As know, a nigrostriatal dopamine deficit results in disturbances of the central supraspinal control over the muscle tonic activity and voluntary movements (Valls-Sole & Valldeoriola, 2002). Electromyographically, the extrapyradimal insufficiency shows itself by a high level of bioelectrical activity of muscles at rest, changes of motor unit conduction velocity and synchronization (Farina et al., 2004; Semmler & Nordstrom, 1999). The traditional methods to evaluate surface electromyograms (EMGs) are based on amplitude and spectral analysis. However, myoelectric signals are nonlinear by its nature (Nieminen & Takala, 1996). A surface EMG is formed by the summation of a number of single muscle fiber action potentials. Therefore different world clinics have been searching for new relevant methods based on nonlinear time-series analyses of EMG to quantify the motor features of the disorder in PD (Del Santo et al., 2007; Meigal et al., 2009). Some other novel EMG characteristics, such as dimensionality based on fractal analysis or higher order statistics of EMG distribution have also proved to be sensitive to neuromuscular status (Swie et al., 2005). Although the cardinal symptoms of the disease are movement disorders the manifestations of PD also comprise a variety of diverse abnormalities including disturbance of sensory gating and cognitive decline (Lewis & Byblow, 2002). Several authors suggested that movement disorders in PD might be also developed because of dysregulation of sensory processing that affects sensorimotor integration (Abbruzzese & Berardelli, 2003). This is an important issue because one of the proposed key functions of basal ganglia is the gating of sensory input for motor control (Kaji, 2001). Numerous studies have demonstrated marked changes in the somatosensory (Rossini et al., 1998), acoustic (Teo et al., 1997;) and visual (Sadekov, 1997) evoked potentials in PD patients. Evaluation of brain evoked potentials may have potential in the assessment of the severity of PD. In contemporary neurophysiology,
Comparison of a Commercial Accelerometer with Polysomnography and Actigraphy in Children and Adolescents.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To evaluate the reliability and validity of the commercially available Fitbit Ultra (2012) accelerometer compared to polysomnography (PSG) and two different actigraphs in a pediatric sample. DESIGN AND SETTING All subjects wore the Fitbit Ultra while undergoing overnight clinical polysomnography in a sleep laboratory; a randomly selected subset of participants also wore either the Ambulatory Monitoring Inc. Motionlogger Sleep Watch (AMI) or Phillips-Respironics Mini-Mitter Spectrum (PRMM). PARTICIPANTS 63 youth (32 females, 31 males), ages 3-17 years (mean 9.7 years, SD 4.6 years). MEASUREMENTS Both "Normal" and "Sensitive" sleep-recording Fitbit Ultra modes were examined. Outcome variables included total sleep time (TST), wake after sleep onset (WASO), and sleep efficiency (SE). Primary analyses examined the differences between Fitbit Ultra and PSG using repeated-measures ANCOVA, with epoch-by-epoch comparisons between Fitbit Ultra and PSG used to determine sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. Intra-device reliability, differences between Fitbit Ultra and actigraphy, and differences by both developmental age group and sleep disordered breathing (SDB) status were also examined. RESULTS Compared to PSG, the Normal Fitbit Ultra mode demonstrated good sensitivity (0.86) and accuracy (0.84), but poor specificity (0.52); conversely, the Sensitive Fitbit Ultra mode demonstrated adequate specificity (0.79), but inadequate sensitivity (0.70) and accuracy (0.71). Compared to PSG, the Fitbit Ultra significantly overestimated TST (41 min) and SE (8%) in Normal mode, and underestimated TST (105 min) and SE (21%) in Sensitive mode. Similar differences were found between Fitbit Ultra (both modes) and both brands of actigraphs. CONCLUSIONS Despite its low cost and ease of use for consumers, neither sleep-recording mode of the Fitbit Ultra accelerometer provided clinically comparable results to PSG. Further, pediatric sleep researchers and clinicians should be cautious about substituting these devices for validated actigraphs, with a significant risk of either overestimating or underestimating outcome data including total sleep time and sleep efficiency.
Calcium Influx from the Extracellular Space Promotes NADH Hyperoxidation and Electrical Dysfunction after Anoxia in Hippocampal Slices

A characteristic event during reperfusion after cerebral ischemia in vivo, and reoxygenation after anoxia in vitro, is hyperoxidation of the electron carriers of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Current studies have tested the hypothesis that there is a relation among calcium molecules derived from extracellular sources, mitochondrial hyperoxidation, and electrical recovery after anoxia in hippocampal slices. Rat hippocampal slices were superfused with artificial cerebrospinal fluids (ACSF) containing calcium chloride (CaCl2) in concentrations of: 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 mmol/L. Slices were made anoxic and then allowed to recover for 60 minutes. Reduction–oxidation shifts of NADH were measured by rapid-scanning spectrofluorometry. Synaptic activity was indicated by population spike amplitudes in the CA1 pyramidal cell subfield of the hippocampus in response to stimulation of the Schaffer collaterals. Low calcium ACSF concentrations ameliorated NADH hyperoxidation and improved synaptic transmission recovery after anoxia. High calcium ACSF concentrations had opposite effects. These data suggest a link between mitochondrial hyperoxidation and electrical recovery after postanoxia reoxygenation and support the hypothesis that cytosolic calcium overload promotes mitochondrial hyperoxidation and limits electrical recovery.
Subband temporal modulation spectrum normalization for automatic speech recognition in reverberant environments

Speech recognition in reverberant environments is still a chal-lenge problem. In this paper, we ﬁrst investigated the reverberation effect on subband temporal envelopes by using the modulation transfer function (MTF). Based on the investigation, we proposed an algorithm which normalizes the subband temporal modulation spectrum (TMS) to reduce the diffusion effect of the reverberation. During the normalization, both the subband TMS of the clean and reverberated speech are normalized to a reference TMS calculated from a clean speech data set for each frequency subband. Based on the normalized subband TMS, the inverse Fourier transform was done to restore the subband temporal envelopes by keeping their original phase information. We tested our algorithm on reverberated speech recognition tasks (in a reverberant room). For comparison, the traditional Mel-frequency cepstral coefﬁcient (MFCC) and relative spectral ﬁltering (RASTA) were used. Experimental results showed that the recognition rate using the feature extracted based on the proposed normalization method has totally a 80.64% relative improvement.
D.H. Robertson’s Study of Industrial Fluctuation: a Centenary Evaluation

1915 is the centenary year of D.H. Robertson’s A Study of Industrial Fluctuation. This paper provides a centenary evaluation of this book, dealing respectively with biographical background especially related to economic studies in section 2; a summary of the book’s argument in section 3; and consideration of its major sources and its reception by way of book reviews in section 4. The book is one of the early modern British studies of economic fluctuations, which largely avoids monetary explanations of the subject.
CpLEA5, the Late Embryogenesis Abundant Protein Gene from Chimonanthus praecox, Possesses Low Temperature and Osmotic Resistances in Prokaryote and Eukaryotes

Plants synthesize and accumulate a series of stress-resistance proteins to protect normal physiological activities under adverse conditions. Chimonanthus praecox which blooms in freezing weather accumulates late embryogenesis abundant proteins (LEAs) in flowers, but C. praecox LEAs are little reported. Here, we report a group of five LEA genes of C. praecox (CpLEA5, KT727031). Prokaryotic-expressed CpLEA5 was employed in Escherichia coli to investigate bioactivities and membrane permeability at low-temperature. In comparison with the vacant strains, CpLEA5-containing strains survived in a 20% higher rate; and the degree of cell membrane damage in CpLEA5-containing strains was 55% of that of the vacant strains according to a conductivity test, revealing the low-temperature resistance of CpLEA5 in bacteria. CpLEA5 was also expressed in Pichia pastoris. Interestingly, besides low-temperature resistance, CpLEA5 conferred high resistance to salt and alkali in CpLEA5 overexpressing yeast. The CpLEA5 gene was transferred into Arabidopsis thaliana to also demonstrate CpLEA5 actions in plants. As expected, the transgenic lines were more resistant against low-temperature and drought while compared with the wild type. Taken together, CpLEA5-conferred resistances to several conditions in prokaryote and eukaryotes could have great value as a genetic technology to enhance osmotic stress and low-temperature tolerance.
Integrating Observing Systems to benefit stakeholders: A case study in the Gulf of Mexico

The U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System is being designed to be an end-to Dend, integrated, sustained, operational System of Systems that provides data, information and products to benefit a broad range of stakeholders in their decision-making. These design concepts form the basis of pilot projects being undertaken by the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System Regional Association (GCOOS-RA). This paper presents a case study of the GCOOS-RA Harmful Algal Bloom Integrated Observing System (HABIOS) Project. A set of research activities related to harmful algal blooms is examined for eventual transition from pilot project to an integrated operational system. The end-to-end nature of the system is explored from the perspectives of design and operation, data management and communication, modeling and analysis, decision-support tools and outreach, and benefits to stakeholders at national, regional, state, and local levels. The case study of the HABs pilot projects will demonstrate that HAB-related observations need to be both sustained and operational, and that progress is being may through the integration of the efforts of many entities concerned with detecting and monitoring HAB events and mitigating HAB impacts.
Clustering Based Loop Closure Technique for 2D Robot Mapping Based on EKF-SLAM

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping(SLAM) is an important technique to realize autonomous navigation of a mobile robot in an unknown environment. The SLAM problem involves a mobile robot to continuously take measurements using sensors, localize its position in the environment and simultaneously built a map of the environment it has visited. For any previously visited environment the system must be able to calculate the relative transformation between the measured and predicted states also called as Loop Closure. In this paper, we propose clustering based techniques for realizing fast loop closure for indoor robot mapping. While utilizing the standard Extended Kalman Filter(EKF) based SLAM algorithm, we propose clustering techniques for finding landmarks for realizing Loop Closure. Through experimental results the proposed algorithm is found to be simple and robust enough for faster loop convergence for SLAM problem.
Si microchannel cooler integrated with high power amplifiers for base station of mobile communication systems

This study demonstrated the first application of a Si microchannel cooler integrated with bump structures to apply as a new thermal management device for the high power amplifiers (HPAs). The structure consists of an HPA chip, Si bumps, and a Si microchannel cooler. The fine pitch Si bumps with metal coating are directly connected to the electrodes close to the active areas of AlGaN/GaN HEMT HPAs. The bump functions not only as a source electrode for small ground inductance, but also as the heat transfer path from HPAs. The heat from bumps is successfully transferred by the microchannel cooler. This first prototype of a Si microchannel cooler bonded to HPAs achieved a decrease of 0.3 °C/W in total thermal resistance compared to conventional face-up mounted HPAs.
Impact of virtual bridging on virtual machine placement in data center networking

The increasing adoption of virtualization techniques has recently favored the emergence of useful switching functions at the hypervisor level, commonly referred to as virtual bridging. In the context of data center network (DCN) consolidations, for VMs colocated in the same virtualization server, virtual bridging becomes very useful to offload inter-VM traffic from access and aggregation switches, at the expense of an additional computing load. DCN consolidations typically chase traffic engineering (TE) and energy efficiency (EE) objectives, and both should be affected by virtual bridging, but it is not intuitive to assert whether virtual bridging acts positively or negatively with respect to TE and EE that should also depend on the DCN topology and forwarding techniques. In this paper, we bring additional understanding about the impact of virtual bridging on DCN consolidations. First, we present a repeated matching heuristic for the generic multi-objective DCN optimization problem, with possible multipath and virtual bridging capabilities, accounting for both TE and EE objectives. Second, we assess the impact of virtual bridging on TE and EE in DeN consolidations. Extensive simulations show us that enabling virtual bridging has a negative impact when EE is the goal and multipath forwarding is adopted, while it leads to important gains, halving the maximum link utilization, when TE is the DeN consolidation goal.