Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sex, Drugs, and Transgenerational Inheritance: Are the Kids Alright?

The occurrence of neuropsychiatric disorders and substance abuse is subject to familial inheritance (nature) as well influence from the environment (nurture). In addition, familial patterns of behavior and disease are also mediated by transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. The dynamic nature of the epigenome allows for exposures to stress, drugs of abuse, environmental toxins, and even changes in diet to produce changes in gene expression. In addition these changes can be inherited by offspring. Therefore, offspring behavior and quality of life are shaped by their own experiences as well as the experiences of their parents and more distant relatives. The studies in this dissertation had two objectives: first to identify the transgenerational inheritance of adolescent stress exposure and its effects on offspring behavior including response to nicotine and second, to determine the cross-generational interaction of nicotine and stress exposures on offspring behavior. To address the first objective, we exposed male and female mice to adolescent stress exposure, determined the long-term effects of exposure on their behavior, and identified changes in phenotype in their F1 and F2 offspring. We found that adolescent stress exposure produced changes in anxiety, startle response, and gene expression in adulthood that was not found when the same stress exposure occurred in adult mice. In addition, we found that transgenerational inheritance of adolescent stress exposure promoted sexand lineage-dependent changes in anxiety, depression, startle, and response to nicotine in F1 and F2 offspring. Furthermore, to determine if parental stress exposure influenced gene expression in the brains of offspring we analyzed the transcriptome of F1 males and found 240 differentially expressed genes in the amygdala of males whose fathers were exposed to stress. In our final study, we developed a novel multigenerational exposure paradigm and determined that F0 nicotine and F1 stress exposure interact across generations to produce unique phenotypes in F2 and F3 offspring. Together, research from this dissertation provides evidence of an adolescent chronic stress exposure that mediates anxiety in adulthood and is inherited in future generations by reprogramming the brain of offspring, and provides the first example of cross-generational interactions of two environmental exposures to influence offspring phenotype. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Neuroscience First Advisor Julie A. Blendy
A Hybrid Recommender Approach Based on Widrow-Hoff Learning

Recommender is a personalized service in the adaptive information system, and it can provide personalized information according to individual information needs. As one of the known technology in the field of the recommender systems, collaborative filtering has been widely used in E-Commerce for its advantages. But the rating prediction mechanism of pure collaborative filtering is merely based on the ratings for visited items, and this limits its precision improvement. In this paper, we propose a refined hybrid recommender approach based on Widrow-Hoff learning algorithm. The proposed approach employs Widrow-Hoff algorithm to learn each user¿s profile from the contents of rated items, to improve the granularity of the user profiling. With the refined user profiles, collaborative filtering is employed to compute more precise similarity of different users, and predicts the ratings for unrated items. The improvement of performance is demonstrated by the experimental evaluation.
Probabilistic anti-spam filtering with dimensionality reduction

One of the biggest problems of e-mail communication is the massive spam message delivery. Everyday, billion of unwanted messages are sent by spammers and this number does not stop growing. Helpfully, there are different approaches able to automatically detect and remove most of these messages, and a well-known ones are based on Bayesian decision theory. However, many machine learning techniques applied to text categorization have the same difficulty: the high dimensionality of the feature space. Many term selection methods have been proposed in the literature. Nevertheless, it is still unclear how the performance of naive Bayes anti-spam filters depends on the methods applied for reducing the dimensionality of the feature space. In this paper, we compare the performance of most popular methods used as term selection techniques with some variations of the original naive Bayes anti-spam filter.
Non-Linearity in the Inflation-Growth Relationship in Developing Economies: Evidence from a Semiparametric Panel Model

Using data on developing economies, we estimate a flexible semiparametric panel data model that incorporates potentially nonlinear effects of inflation on economic growth. We find that inflation is associated with significantly lower growth only after it reaches about 12 percent, which is notably lower than the comparable estimate obtained from a threshold model. Our results also suggest that models with restrictive functional form assumptions tend to underestimate marginal effects of inflation on economic growth. We also document significant variation in the effect of inflation on growth across countries and over time.
Trypsin-related markers in the severity assessment of acute pancreatitis : A clinical study

Acute pancreatitis is a common digestive disease of which the severity may vary from a mild, edematous to a severe, necrotizing disease. An improved outcome in the severe form of the disease is based on early identification of the disease severity. The pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis is still only partially understood. However, the premature activation of trypsinogen to trypsin in the acinar cell in the pancreas is considered a possible key event in the development of acute pancreatitis. The pivotal role of trypsinogen activation makes trypsinbased laboratory markers potentially useful as markers reflecting the severity of acute pancreatitis. The main purpose of the present clinical study was to evaluate the value of new prognostic markers (trypsinogen activation peptide, trypsinogen-2 and the urinary trypsinogen-2 dipstick test) in the severity assessment of acute pancreatitis as well as to gain insight into the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis. The study population consisted of 219 patients with mild acute pancreatitis, 57 patients with severe acute pancreatitis, 50 patients with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography-induced acute pancreatits, 61 controls (patients without endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography-induced acute pancreatitis) and 32 patients with abdominal pain similar to that of acute pancreatitis. The study shows that the measurement of urinary trypsinogen activation peptide as well as of trypsinogen-2 are useful in the prediction of a severe outcome in patients in the early phase of the disease. Also, patients with organ failure that resolves within 48 hours are unlikely to develop complications later in the course of the disease. The novel rapid urinary trypsinogen-2 test strip rapidly identifies patients needing further evaluation and therapeutic measures in the early phase of acute pancreatitis. The results further suggest that in the early phase of acute pancreatitis, trypsinogen1 seems to play a central role in the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis. However, trypsinogen-2 may play a more significant role in the later phase of the disease than earlier believed. In conclusion, the timely recognition of those patients who develop severe acute pancreatitis is still a challenge. At present, no single biochemical marker is ideal for this purpose. The best results will be achieved by using a combination of different tests. Future studies on various combinations are needed to show which combination will be most useful in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis.
Human Breast Milk Contamination with Phthalates and Alterations of Endogenous Reproductive Hormones in Infants Three Months of Age

Phthalates adversely affect the male reproductive system in animals. We investigated whether phthalate monoester contamination of human breast milk had any influence on the postnatal surge of reproductive hormones in newborn boys as a sign of testicular dysgenesis. Design We obtained biologic samples from a prospective Danish–Finnish cohort study on cryptorchidism from 1997 to 2001. We analyzed individual breast milk samples collected as additive aliquots 1–3 months postnatally (n = 130; 62 cryptorchid/68 healthy boys) for phthalate monoesters [mono-methyl phthalate (mMP), mono-ethyl phthalate (mEP), mono-n-butyl phthalate (mBP), mono-benzyl phthalate (mBzP), mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (mEHP), mono-isononyl phthalate (miNP)]. We analyzed serum samples (obtained in 74% of all boys) for gonadotropins, sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG), testosterone, and inhibin B. Results All phthalate monoesters were found in breast milk with large variations [medians (minimum–maximum)]: mMP 0.10 (< 0.01–5.53 μg/L), mEP 0.95 (0.07–41.4 μg/L), mBP 9.6 (0.6–10,900 μg/L), mBzP 1.2 (0.2–26 μg/L), mEHP 11 (1.5–1,410 μg/L), miNP 95 (27–469 μg/L). Finnish breast milk had higher concentrations of mBP, mBzP, mEHP, and Danish breast milk had higher values for miNP (p = 0.0001–0.056). No association was found between phthalate monoester levels and cryptorchidism. However, mEP and mBP showed positive correlations with SHBG (r = 0.323, p = 0.002 and r = 0.272, p = 0.01, respectively); mMP, mEP, and mBP with LH:free testosterone ratio (r = 0.21–0.323, p = 0.002–0.044) and miNP with luteinizing hormone (r = 0.243, p = 0.019). mBP was negatively correlated with free testosterone (r = −0.22, p = 0.033). Other phthalate monoesters showed similar but nonsignificant tendencies. Conclusions Our data on reproductive hormone profiles and phthalate exposures in newborn boys are in accordance with rodent data and suggest that human Leydig cell development and function may also be vulnerable to perinatal exposure to some phthalates. Our findings are also in line with other recent human data showing incomplete virilization in infant boys exposed to phthalates prenatally.
Vigilance or Tolerance?: Ambivalence and Attitude Accessibility in Response to Terrorist Threats

VIGILANCE OR TOLERANCE? : AMBIVALENCE AND ATTITUDE ACCESSIBILITY IN RESPONSE TO TERRORIST THREATS by Julie Tison Adviser: Professor Glen Hass This research explored the cognitive processes underlying the Response Amplification Effect (RAE). which is ambivalent people's tendency to judge the object of their ambivalence (typically, a stigmatized other) more extremely than a comparable control target. Being in a state o f ambivalence is known to be uncomfortable. This discomfort may be dealt with by implementing changes in the accessibility level of attitudinal elements. It is suggested that cognitions compatible with the side of the ambivalence made salient by the current situation will be super­ activated and that incompatible elements will be sub-activated, thus leading to amplified reactions congruent with the current context. In a first study, conducted soon after the September I Ith 2001 Al-Qaeda-led terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, attitudes toward people of Middle Eastern/Arab origin were assessed. Participants completed a personality survey followed by exposure to two vignettes in which men believed to be of Middle Eastern origin were described as behaving in an ambiguous manner (i.e. their behavior could be interpreted as threatening or not threatening). Participants' interpretation of the situation, along with the degree of conflict experienced, were assessed. Results revealed that many individuals in the sample felt Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Optimal Production Policies for Multi-Stage Systems with Setup Costs and Uncertain Capacities

The increased complexity of modern manufacturing has led to uncertainties in production processes. Factors such as unplanned machine maintenance, tool unavailability, and complex process adjustments make it difficult to maintain a predictable level of output. To be effective, an appropriate production model must incorporate these uncertainties into the representation of the production process. This paper considers a one-time production of an application-specific product which must follow a fixed routing through the manufacturing system. The flow of items can be modeled as a multi-stage serial production line. The productive capacity is uncertain at each stage and the decision to produce at any stage incurs a significant setup cost. Semifinished products have little value and inability to satisfy the demand incurs a penalty for each unit of unmet demand. We show that the optimal production policy for this system can be characterized by two critical numbers, which can be computed apriori based on the cost parameters and distributional information for all downstream stages. Sensitivity of the critical numbers is also explored.
Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics Multiple Dirichlet Series and Automorphic Forms

This article gives an introduction to the multiple Dirichlet series arising from sums of twisted automorphic L-functions. We begin by explaining how such series arise from Rankin-Selberg constructions. Then more recent work, using Hartogs’ continuation principle as extended by Bochner in place of such constructions, is described. Applications to the nonvanishing of Lfunctions and to other problems are also discussed, and a multiple Dirichlet series over a function field is computed in detail.
Behavioral testing in rodent models of orofacial neuropathic and inflammatory pain

Orofacial pain conditions are often very debilitating to the patient and difficult to treat. While clinical interest is high, the proportion of studies performed in the orofacial region in laboratory animals is relatively low, compared with other body regions. This is partly due to difficulties in testing freely moving animals and therefore lack of reliable testing methods. Here we present a comprehensive review of the currently used rodent models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain adapted to the orofacial areas, taking into account the difficulties and drawbacks of the existing approaches. We examine the available testing methods and procedures used for assessing the behavioral responses in the face in both mice and rats and provide a summary of some pharmacological agents used in these paradigms to date. The use of these agents in animal models is also compared with outcomes observed in the clinic.
Neural Activity Measures and Their Dynamics

We provide an asymptotically justified derivation of activity measure evolution equations (AMEEs) for a finite size neural network. The approach takes into account the dynamics for each isolated neuron in the network being modeled by a biophysical model, i.e., Hodgkin--Huxley equations or their reductions. By representing the interacting network as self- and pairwise-interactions, we propose a general definition of spatial projections of the network, called activity measures, that quantify the activity of a network. We show that the evolution equations that govern the dynamics of the activity measure shadow the activity measure of the network (i.e., the two quantities stay close to each other for all times) for general interactions and various asymptotic dynamics. The AMEEs effectively serve as a dimensionality reduction technique for the complex network when spatial synchrony and coherence are present and allow us to a priori predict network dynamics that would not be guessed from individual neuron behav.
Feature extraction based on ISIFT algorithm for image retrieval

In this paper, we proposed the ISIFT algorithm, in the normalized scale space, we generate 64-dimensional (4×4×4) feature vectors in order to reduce dimension, and improve matching accuracy by bidirectional matching, then based on these characteristic points we build index using BBF algorithm to find the nearest neighbour, and complete image retrieval finally. Image retrieval based on text, color, texture and other features often faced with the false retrieval caused by rotation, scaling and stretch changes, this study can not only avoid the false retrieval, but also applies in the image retrieval from observation target or scene in different perspectives.
Monitoring moving objects using uncertain web data

A number of applications deal with monitoring moving objects: cars, aircrafts, ships, persons, etc. Traditionally, this requires capturing data from sensor networks, image or video analysis, or using other application-specific resources. We show in this demonstration paper how Web content can be exploited instead to gather information (trajectories, metadata) about moving objects. As this content is marred with uncertainty and inconsistency, we develop a methodology for estimating uncertainty and filtering the resulting data. We present as an application a demonstration of a system that constructs trajectories of ships from social networking data, presenting to a user inferred trajectories, meta-information, as well as uncertainty levels on extracted information and trustworthiness of data providers.
Near-infrared spectroscopy of a young super-star cluster in NGC 6946: chemical abundances and abundance patterns

Using the NIRSPEC spectrograph at Keck II, we have obtained H- and K-band echelle spectra for a young (∼10–15 Myr), luminous (MV∼−13.2) super-star cluster in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 6946. From spectral synthesis and equivalent width measurements we obtain for the first time accurate abundances and abundance patterns in an extragalactic super-star cluster. We find [Fe/H]=−0.45 ± 0.08 dex, an average α-enhancement of ≈+0.22 ± 0.1 dex, and a relatively low 12 C/13 C ≈ 8 ± 2 isotopic ratio. We also measure a velocity dispersion of ≈9.1 km s−1, in agreement with previous estimates. We conclude that integrated high-dispersion spectroscopy of massive star clusters is a promising alternative to other methods for abundance analysis in extragalactic young stellar populations.
Economic Voting and Electoral Behavior: How Do Individual, Local, and National Factors Affect the Partisan Choice?

What impact do income and other demographic factors have on a voter's partisan choice? Using post-election surveys of 14,000 voters in 10 Australian elections between 1966 and 2001, I explore the impact that individual, local, and national factors have on voters' decisions. In these 10 elections, the poor, foreign-born, younger voters, voters born since 1950, men, and those who are unmarried are more likely to be left-wing. Over the past 35 years, the partisan gap between men and women has closed, but the partisan gap has widened on three dimensions: between young and old; between rich and poor; and between native-born and foreign-born. At a neighborhood level, I find that, controlling for a respondent's own characteristics, and instrumenting for neighborhood characteristics, voters who live in richer neighborhoods are more likely to be right-wing, while those in more ethnically diverse or unequal neighborhoods are more likely to be left-wing. Controlling for incumbency, macroeconomic factors do not seem to affect partisan preferences - Australian voters apparently regard both major parties as equally capable of governing in booms and busts. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.
Critical Evaluation of GUI Software Exception Testing

Demand on complex systems increased more rapidly. The size of complexity of computer systems has grown during the past decades in a very inspiring manner. Lots of work has been done on software exception testing and some of major critical evaluation have appeared in the literature are discussed in this paper. This paper also summaries the related developments of the same work. The main objective of this paper is to find the critical sections of software exception and evaluate those failure modes with effective analysis and level of evaluation. However, there is no single method that is handling to all the situations. So this paper also provides various ways to improve the evaluation to handle the critical sections with comparative study.
Poly(C) Binding Protein Family Is a Transcription Factor in μ-Opioid Receptor Gene Expression

The mouse μ-opioid receptor (MOR) gene has two promoters, referred to as distal and proximal promoter. Previously, our colleagues reported that a 26-base pair (bp) cis-acting element of the mouse MOR gene activates MOR gene expression. Here, we report the cloning of four members of the poly(C) binding protein (PCBP) family and show that the 26-bp polypyrimidine stretch in MOR proximal promoter interacts with these PCBPs and activates MOR transcription. The PCBPs bind not only to single-stranded but also to double-stranded DNA. The nuclear run-off assay and semiquantitative RT-PCR shows that PCBPs enhance the transcription rate of MOR gene. Furthermore, we performed refined mapping to elucidate the core region (-317/-304) involved in mediating the PCBP-induced MOR promoter activity. Decoy oligonucleotides against the polypyrimidine stretch inhibit the PCBP-induced MOR promoter activity, thereby reconfirming the role of this element in regulating MOR promoter activity. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay confirmed the interaction of PCBPs with MOR promoter in vivo. In conclusion, we demonstrate that PCBPs act as a transcription factor and positively regulate MOR gene expression in NMB cells.
A Mechanistic Approach for Modulation of Arsenic Toxicity in Human Lymphocytes by Curcumin, an Active Constituent of Medicinal Herb Curcuma longa Linn

Chronic exposure of humans to high concentrations of arsenic in drinking water is associated with skin lesions, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, blackfoot disease and a high risk of cancer. Arsenic induces single strand breaks, DNA-protein crosslinks and apurinic sites in DNA, which are prerequisites for induction of cancer. Amelioration of such damages with natural compounds could be an effective strategy to combat arsenic toxicity. Curcumin is the active ingredient of turmeric, a common household spice, which is a rich source of polyphenols and this compound has been extensively studied as a chemopreventive agent against many types of cancer. The present study investigates whether curcumin could counteract the DNA damage caused by arsenic as assessed by single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) using peripheral blood lymphocytes, from healthy donors. It was observed that DNA damage induced by arsenic could be efficiently reduced by curcumin and the effect was more pronounced when lymphocytes were pre-incubated with curcumin prior to arsenic insult. Arsenic caused DNA damage by generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enhancement of lipid peroxidation levels. Curcumin counteracted the damage by quenching ROS, decreasing the level of lipid peroxidation and increasing the level of phase II detoxification enzymes like catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. Curcumin also enhanced the DNA repair activity against arsenic induced damage. The expression of polymerase, a repair enzyme, was found to be highly elevated when arsenite induced damaged cells were allowed to repair in presence of curcumin. Results indicate that curcumin has significant role in confronting the deleterious effect caused by arsenic, which could be an economic mode of arsenic mitigation among rural population in West Bengal, India.