Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elimination of Colonic Patches with Lymphotoxin β Receptor-Ig Prevents Th2 Cell-Type Colitis1

Past studies have shown that colonic patches, which are the gut-associated lymphoreticular tissues (GALT) in the colon, become much more pronounced in hapten-induced murine colitis, and this was associated with Th2-type T cell responses. To address the role of GALT in colonic inflammation, experimental colitis was induced in mice either lacking organized GALT or with altered GALT structures. Trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid was used to induce colitis in mice given lymphotoxin-β receptor-Ig fusion protein (LTβR-Ig) in utero, a treatment that blocked the formation of both Peyer’s and colonic patches. Mice deficient in colonic patches developed focal acute ulcers with Th1-type responses, whereas lesions in normal mice were of a diffuse mucosal type with both Th1- and Th2-type cytokine production. We next determined whether LTβR-Ig could be used to treat colitis in normal or Th2-dominant, IFN-γ gene knockout (IFN-γ−/−) mice. Four weekly treatments with LTβR-Ig resulted in deletion of Peyer’s and colonic patches with significant decreases in numbers of dendritic cells. This pretreatment protected IFN-γ−/− mice from trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid-induced colitis; however, in normal mice this weekly treatment was less protective. In these mice hypertrophy of colonic patches was seen after induction of colitis. We conclude that Th2-type colitis is dependent upon the presence of colonic patches. The effect of LTβR-Ig was mediated through prevention of colonic patch hypertrophy in the absence of IFN-γ. Thus, LTβR-Ig may offer a possible treatment for the Th2-dominant form of colitis.
Mixer: software enabled wear leveling for morphable PCM in embedded systems

Phase change memory (PCM) is considered as a promising alternative of DRAM-based main memory in embedded systems. A PCM cell can be dynamically programmed to be in either multiple-level cell (MLC) mode or single-level cell (SLC) mode. With this morphable feature, we can utilize the high-density of MLC and low-latency of SLC, to satisfy various memory requirements of specific applications in embedded systems. However, compared to its SLC counterpart, the lifetime of MLC is limited. In particular, a program in embedded systems usually exhibits an extremely unbalanced write pattern, which may accelerate the wear-out of MLC cells in morphable PCM. To address this issue, this paper proposes a simple and effective wear-leveling technique, named Mixer, to enhance the lifetime of morphable PCM considering the program specific features. We first build an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) formulation to produce optimal SLC/MLC partition and data allocation, to achieve a balanced write distribution in morphable PCM with low memory access cost. The basic idea is to allocate fast SLC and MLC cells for write intensive variables and other ordinary variables, respectively. We then propose a polynomial time algorithm to achieve near-optimal results. The evaluation results show that the proposed technique can effectively extend the lifetime of morphable PCM in embedded systems compared with previous work.
The Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients in the Context of Singer Identification

The singing voice is the oldest and most complex musical instrument. A familiar singer’s voice is easily recognizable for humans, even when hearing a song for the first time. On the other hand, for automatic identification this is a difficult task among sound source identification applications. The signal processing techniques aim to extract features that are related to identity characteristics. The research presented in this paper considers 32 Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients in two subsets: the low order MFCCs characterizing the vocal tract resonances and the high order MFCCs related to the glottal wave shape. We explore possibilities to identify and discriminate singers using the two sets. Based on the results we can affirm that both subsets have their contribution in defining the identity of the voice, but the high order subset is more robust to changes in singing style.
The Psychosocial Outcomes of Adult Siblings of Adults with Autism and Down Syndrome

Belkin, Teri M. M.S., Purdue University, December 2013. The Psychosocial Outcomes of Adult Siblings of Adults with Autism and Down Syndrome. Major Professor: John H. McGrew. Little is known regarding the psychosocial outcomes of adult siblings of adults with autism. Accordingly, the current study sought to: (1) illuminate factors that predict health-related quality of life, caregiver burden, and reported benefits in adult siblings of adults with autism, using a stress and coping framework and (2) compare outcomes of siblings of adults with autism (n = 31) to siblings of adults with Down syndrome (DS) (n = 54). For the within subject hypotheses, analyses were repeated within the DS group and an overall Disability group (n = 97). The Disability group consisted of participants in the Autism and Down syndrome groups plus twelve individuals in a mixed group of adult siblings of adults with DS who presented with co-morbid symptoms of autism. Variables were organized using The Adult Sibling Caregiver Conceptual Model (ASCCM) into three categories: antecedents (e.g., sibling relationship quality, problem behaviors of the disabled sibling), mediators (e.g., coping strategies, cognitive appraisal types), and psychosocial outcome variables (i.e., mental and physical health-related quality of life, caregiver burden, and reported benefits). For the within subject primary hypotheses, I posited a series of relationships between the antecedents and outcomes based on prior literature on demographic and individual difference predictors (e.g., siblings of adults with autism with fewer problem behaviors would have increased
Strong Ties vs. Weak Ties: Studying the Clustering Paradox for Decentralized Search

We studied decentralized search in information networks and focused on the impact of network clustering on the findability of relevant information sources. We developed a multiagent system to simulate peer-to-peer networks, in which peers worked with one another to forward queries to targets containing relevant information, and evaluated the effectiveness, efficiency, and scalability of the decentralized search. Experiments on a network of 181 peers showed that the RefNet method based on topical similarity cues outperformed random walks and was able to reach relevant peers through short search paths. When the network was extended to a larger community of 5890 peers, however, the advantage of the RefNet model was constrained due to noise of many topically irrelevant connections or weak ties. By applying topical clustering and a clustering exponent � to guide network rewiring, we studied the role of strong ties vs. weak ties, particularly their influence on distributed search. Interestingly, an inflection point was discovered for �, below which performance suffered from many remote connections that disoriented searches and above which performance degraded due to lack of weak ties that could move queries quickly from one segment to another. The inflection threshold for the 5890-peer network was � ≈ 3.5. Further experiments on larger networks of up to 4 million peers demonstrated that clustering optimization is crucial for decentralized search. Although overclustering only moderately degraded search performance on small networks, it led to dramatic loss in search efficiency for large networks. We explain the implication on scalability of distributed systems that rely on clustering for search.
Signal recovery by minimizing the Moreau envelope over the fixed point set of nonexpansive mappings

Many inverse problems in signal processing have been reduced to a certain nonsmooth convex optimization problem of which the solution set is a closed convex set in a real Hilbert space. This fact indicates that each point in the solution set may differ too largely in some aspects to be ignored. However, almost all existing algorithms designed specially for such a convex optimization problem converge to only an unspecified point in the solution set and cannot pick up a best one, in some additional strategic criterion, among the set. In this paper, we present a flexible utilization of the hybrid steepest descent method for the strategic point selection among the solution set of nonsmooth convex optimization problems. The proposed method can minimize sum of the Moreau envelope of nonsmooth convex functions over the fixed point set of a variety of nonexpansive mappings (e.g., Proximal Forward-Backward splitting operator, Douglas-Rachford splitting operator and Primal-Dual splitting operator) that characterize precisely the solution sets of the nonsmooth convex optimization problems.
Efficient algorithms for processing preference queries

The widespread of applications like e-commerce and recommendation systems requires the use of efficient customization techniques and user preferences handling. In database community a lot of research on this topic has been focused on extending standard SQL with preference facilities in order to provide personalized query answering. More specifically, user preferences are an essential ingredient of personalized database applications. In this paper, we consider the conditional preference queries (cp-queries) of CPrefSQL query language where user preferences are specified by a set of conditional rules. We propose new algorithms based on a technique we called preference partition that outperform the state-of-the-art algorithms for CPrefSQL preference operators significantly decreasing the number of scans over database.
Emotion-Oriented Computing: Possible Uses and Resources

This article discusses the concepts of using Digital Television Affective Computing and Computer Vision. The proposal involves the union of some techniques such as capturing facial expressions through a video camera, use of accelerometers in ball and touch holograms to work a certain level of interactivity with the viewer. Some examples of uses of the proposal in question are described, such as control of the hearing, background content, among others.
Topotecan central nervous system penetration is altered by a tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

A potential strategy to increase the efficacy of topotecan to treat central nervous system (CNS) malignancies is modulation of the activity of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters at the blood-brain and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barriers to enhance topotecan CNS penetration. This study focused on topotecan penetration into the brain extracellular fluid (ECF) and ventricular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in a mouse model and the effect of modulation of ABC transporters at the blood-brain and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barriers by a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (gefitinib). After 4 and 8 mg/kg topotecan i.v. , the brain ECF to plasma AUC ratio of unbound topotecan lactone was 0.21 +/- 0.04 and 0.61 +/- 0.16, respectively; the ventricular CSF to plasma AUC ratio was 1.18 +/- 0.10 and 1.30 +/- 0.13, respectively. To study the effect of gefitinib on topotecan CNS penetration, 200 mg/kg gefitinib was administered orally 1 hour before 4 mg/kg topotecan i.v. The brain ECF to plasma AUC ratio of unbound topotecan lactone increased by 1.6-fold to 0.35 +/- 0.04, which was significantly different from the ratio without gefitinib (P < 0.05). The ventricular CSF to plasma AUC ratio significantly decreased to 0.98 +/- 0.05 (P < 0.05). Breast cancer resistance protein 1 (Bcrp1), an efficient topotecan transporter, was detected at the apical aspect of the choroid plexus in FVB mice. In conclusion, topotecan brain ECF penetration was lower compared with ventricular CSF penetration. Gefitinib increased topotecan brain ECF penetration but decreased the ventricular CSF penetration. These results are consistent with the possibility that expression of Bcrp1 and P-glycoprotein at the apical side of the choroid plexus facilitates an influx transport mechanism across the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, resulting in high topotecan CSF penetration.
Correlations between Problem Domain and Solution Domain Size Measures for Open Source Software

Predicting how much effort will be required to complete a software project as early as possible is a very important factor in the success of software development projects. Including function points and its variants, there are several size measures and corresponding measurement methods that can be used for effort estimation. However, in most of the projects, there is limited amount of information available in the early stages and significant effort is spent for size measurement and effort estimation with such methods. This paper analyzes the correlation between the size metrics of conceptual model of the problem domain and the resulting software. For this purpose, we consider open source project management and game software. We apply linear regression and cross validation techniques to investigate the relation between the sizes of problem domain (i.e., Conceptual) and solution domain (i.e., Design) models. The results reveal a high correlation between the number of conceptual classes in the problem domain model and the number of software classes constituting the corresponding software. The results suggest that it is possible to use problem domain descriptions in the early stages of software development projects to make plausible predictions for the size of the software.
Characterization of the Protective HIV-1 CTL Epitopes and the Corresponding HLA Class I Alleles: A Step towards Designing CTL Based HIV-1 Vaccine

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) possesses a major threat to the human life largely due to the unavailability of an efficacious vaccine and poor access to the antiretroviral drugs against this deadly virus. High mutation rate in the viral genome underlying the antigenic variability of the viral proteome is the major hindrance as far as the antibody based vaccine development is concerned. Although the exact mechanism by which CTL epitopes and the restricting HLA alleles mediate their action towards slow disease progression is still not clear, the important CTL restricted epitopes for controlling viral infections can be utilized in future vaccine design. This study was designed for the characterization the HIV-1 optimal CTL epitopes and their corresponding HLA alleles. CTL epitope cluster distribution analysis revealed only two HIV-1 proteins, namely, Nef and Gag, which have significant cluster forming capacity. We have found the role of specific HLA supertypes such as HLA B∗07, HLA B∗58, and HLA A∗03 in selecting the hydrophobic and conserved amino acid positions within Nef and Gag proteins, to be presented as epitopes. The analyses revealed that the clusters of optimal epitopes for Nef and p24 proteins of HIV-1 could potentially serve as a source of vaccine.
Foveation-based image quality assessment

Since human vision has much greater resolutions at the center of our visual field than elsewhere, different criteria of quality assessment should be applied on the image areas with different visual resolutions. This paper proposed a foveation-based image quality assessment method which adopted different sizes of windows in quality assessment for a single image. Visual salience models which estimate visual attention regions are used to determine the foveation center and foveation resolution models are used to guide the selection of window sizes for the areas over spatial extent of the image. Finally, the quality scores obtained from different window sizes are pooled together to get a single value for the image. The proposed method has been applied to IQA metrics, SSIM, PSNR, and UQI. The result shows that both Spearman and Kendall correlation coefficients can be improved significantly by our foveation-based method.
Radiation Hydrodynamics of SN 1987A. I. Global Analysis of the Light Curve for the First 4 Months

The optical/UV light curves of SN 1987A are analyzed with the multienergy group radiation hydrodynamics code STELLA. The calculated monochromatic and bolometric light curves are compared with observations shortly after shock breakout, during the early plateau, through the broad second maximum, and during the earliest phase of the radioactive tail. We have concentrated on a progenitor model calculated by Nomoto & Hashimoto and Saio, Nomoto, & Kato, which assumes that 14 M☉ of the stellar mass is ejected. Using this model, we have updated constraints on the explosion energy and the extent of mixing in the ejecta. In particular, we determine the most likely range of E/M (explosion energy over ejecta mass) and R0 (radius of the progenitor). In general, our best models have energies in the range E = (1.1 ± 0.3) × 1051 ergs, and the agreement is better than in earlier, flux-limited diffusion calculations for the same explosion energy. Our modeled B and V fluxes compare well with observations, while the flux in U undershoots after ~10 days by a factor of a few, presumably owing to NLTE and line transfer effects. We also compare our results with IUE observations, and a very good quantitative agreement is found for the first days, and for one IUE band (2500-3000 Å) as long as for 3 months. We point out that the V flux estimated by McNaught & Zoltowski should probably be revised to a lower value.
TST-Negative Individuals Do Not Lack Anti-Mycobacterial Responsiveness

Tuberculin-skin-test (TST) is widely used for the diagnosis of Tuberculosis. Negative TSTs are occasionally found in individuals vaccinated or infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We show that false negative results are due to a lack of the Tuberculin-specific immune response as replacing tuberculin by unselected M. tuberculosis antigens im- proved the efficiency of the assay.
Relative Accuracy Evaluation

The quality of data plays an important role in business analysis and decision making, and data accuracy is an important aspect in data quality. Thus one necessary task for data quality management is to evaluate the accuracy of the data. And in order to solve the problem that the accuracy of the whole data set is low while a useful part may be high, it is also necessary to evaluate the accuracy of the query results, called relative accuracy. However, as far as we know, neither measure nor effective methods for the accuracy evaluation methods are proposed. Motivated by this, for relative accuracy evaluation, we propose a systematic method. We design a relative accuracy evaluation framework for relational databases based on a new metric to measure the accuracy using statistics. We apply the methods to evaluate the precision and recall of basic queries, which show the result's relative accuracy. We also propose the method to handle data update and to improve accuracy evaluation using functional dependencies. Extensive experimental results show the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed framework and algorithms.
Molecular cloning, expression profiling, and yeast complementation of 19 β-tubulin cDNAs from developing cotton ovules

Microtubules are a major structural component of the cytoskeleton and participate in cell division, intracellular transport, and cell morphogenesis. In the present study, 795 cotton tubulin expressed sequence tags were analysed and 19 β-tubulin genes (TUB) cloned from a cotton cDNA library. Among the group, 12 cotton TUBs (GhTUBs) are reported for the first time here. Transcription profiling revealed that nine GhTUBs were highly expressed in elongating fibre cells as compared with fuzzless-lintless mutant ovules. Treating cultured wild-type cotton ovules with exogenous phytohormones showed that individual genes can be induced by different agents. Gibberellin induced expression of GhTUB1 and GhTUB3, ethylene induced expression of GhTUB5, GhTUB9, and GhTUB12, brassinosteroids induced expression of GhTUB1, GhTUB3, GhTUB9, and GhTUB12, and lignoceric acid induced expression of GhTUB1, GhTUB3, and GhTUB12. When GhTUBs were transformed into the Saccharomyces cerevisiae inviable mutant, tub2, which is deficient in β-tubulin, one ovule-specific and eight of nine fibre-preferential GhTUBs rescued this lethality. This study suggests that the proteins encoded by cotton GhTUBs are involved during cotton fibre development.
Rayleigh Instability in Liquid Crystalline Jet

The capillary instability of liquid crystalline (LC) jets is considered in the framework of linear hydrodynamics of uniaxial nematic LC. The free boundary conditions of the problem are formulated in terms of mean surface curvature ${\cal H}$ and Gaussian surface curvature ${\cal G}$. The static version of capillary instability is shown to depend on the elasticity modulus $K$, surface tension $\sigma_0$, and radius $r_0$ of the LC jet, as expressed by the characteristic parameter $\varkappa=K/\sigma_0 r_0$. The problem of capillary instability in LC jets is solved exactly and a dispersion relation, which reflects the effect of elasticity, is derived. It is shown that increase of the elasticity modulus results in a decrease of both the cut off wavenumber $k$ and the disturbance growth rate $s$. This implies enhanced stability of LC jets, compared to ordinary liquids. In the specific case, where the hydrodynamic and orientational LC modes can be decoupled, the dispersion equation is given in closed form.
Entraining gravity currents

Abstract Entrainment of ambient fluid into a gravity current, while often negligible in laboratory-scale flows, may become increasingly significant in large-scale natural flows. We present a theoretical study of the effect of this entrainment by augmenting a shallow water model for gravity currents under a deep ambient with a simple empirical model for entrainment, based on experimental measurements of the fluid entrainment rate as a function of the bulk Richardson number. By analysing long-time similarity solutions of the model, we find that the decrease in entrainment coefficient at large Richardson number, due to the suppression of turbulent mixing by stable stratification, qualitatively affects the structure and growth rate of the solutions, compared to currents in which the entrainment is taken to be constant or negligible. In particular, mixing is most significant close to the front of the currents, leading to flows that are more dilute, deeper and slower than their non-entraining counterparts. The long-time solution of an inviscid entraining gravity current generated by a lock-release of dense fluid is a similarity solution of the second kind, in which the current grows as a power of time that is dependent on the form of the entrainment law. With an entrainment law that fits the experimental measurements well, the length of currents in this entraining inviscid regime grows with time approximately as ${t}^{0. 447} $ . For currents instigated by a constant buoyancy flux, a different solution structure exists in which the current length grows as ${t}^{4/ 5} $ . In both cases, entrainment is most significant close to the current front.
ImERSE (Improving Experience through Regular Shadowing Events)

Abstract Systematic operational quality improvement strategies within the NHS are hard to find, although there are numerous published reports of sporadic departmental models and methods resulting in improvements in clinical care. We describe the experience of devising a tool to provide large data collection of patient care experiences by using medical students to shadow patient journeys. This combines patient and family centred care (PFCC) and quality improvement approaches to create a systematic organisational strategy for improving care. The ImERSE (improving experience through regular shadowing events) approach could be applied to any area of health care to generate population specific improvement priorities. It can be used to promote patient and family centred care and provide a unique medical education experience. We describe its evolution in its first year of use and suggest that using the ImERSE approach delivers beneficial characteristics to patients and their families, those undergoing a shadowing experience, and provider organisations.