Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Filipin-sensitive caveolae-mediated transport in endothelium: reduced transcytosis, scavenger endocytosis, and capillary permeability of select macromolecules

Caveolae or noncoated plasmalemmal vesicles found in a variety of cells have been implicated in a number of important cellular functions including endocytosis, transcytosis, and potocytosis. Their function in transport across endothelium has been especially controversial, at least in part because there has not been any way to selectively inhibit this putative pathway. We now show that the ability of sterol binding agents such as filipin to disassemble endothelial noncoated but not coated plasmalemmal vesicles selectively inhibits caveolae-mediated intracellular and transcellular transport of select macromolecules in endothelium. Filipin significantly reduces the transcellular transport of insulin and albumin across cultured endothelial cell monolayers. Rat lung microvascular permeability to albumin in situ is significantly decreased after filipin perfusion. Conversely, paracellular transport of the small solute inulin is not inhibited in vitro or in situ. In addition, we show that caveolae mediate the scavenger endocytosis of conformationally modified albumins for delivery to endosomes and lysosomes for degradation. This intracellular transport is inhibited by filipin both in vitro and in situ. Other sterol binding agents including nystatin and digitonin also inhibit this degradative process. Conversely, the endocytosis and degradation of activated alpha 2- macroglobulin, a known ligand of the clathrin-dependent pathway, is not affected. Interestingly, filipin appears to inhibit insulin uptake by endothelium for transcytosis, a caveolae-mediated process, but not endocytosis for degradation, apparently mediated by the clathrin-coated pathway. Such selective inhibition of caveolae not only provides critical evidence for the role of caveolae in the intracellular and transcellular transport of select macromolecules in endothelium but also may be useful for distinguishing transport mediated by coated versus noncoated vesicles.
PlantScan TM : a three-dimensional phenotyping platform for capturing the structural dynamic of plant development and growth

Xavier Sirault, Jurgen Fripp, Anthony Paproki,Peter Kuffner, Chuong Nguyen, Rongxin Li, Helen Daily, Jianming Guo, Robert Furbank High Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre, CSIRO Plant Industry, Cnr Clunies Ross St and Barry dr, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia, Australian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO ICT Centre, Brisbane, Australia, CSIRO CMIS, ANU, CSIRO ICT Centre, Sydney *correspondence: xavier.sirault@csiro.au
Extended Explanations as Student Models for Guiding Tutorial Dialogue

Th eW hy2-Atlas tutoring system (VanLehn et al. 2002) presents students with qualitative physics questions and encourages them via natural language dialogue to explain their answers. We describe changes we are making to the current version of Why2-Atlas to bette ru tilize a proof-based representation of student essays for motivating dialogue. The abductive proof of the student’s explanation for one physics problem serves as a very localized model of likely student beliefs. We will discuss how we can use such a localized student model to select dialogue topics (as the system currently does), to improve the accuracy of the model via clarification requests and to acknowledge and take advantage of the content of the student’s essay during the dialogue.
A Signal-Processing Framework for Reflection — Part 2 : Analytic Formulae for Common Lighting and BRDF Models

The first part of this paper presented a signal-processing framework for analyzing the reflected light field from a homogeneous convex curved surface under distant illumination. The notion of reflection as convolution was formalized, with a quantitative analysis of the reflected light field as obtained by a spherical convolution of the incident illumination and the BRDF. In this part of the paper, we derive analytic formulae for spherical harmonic coefficients of many common lighting and BRDF models. In this way, we explore the implications of the theoretical analysis for many special cases of interest, determining the well-posedness and conditioning of many forward and inverse rendering problems, and explaining previous empirical results.
Zaprinast and Rolipram Enhances Spatial and Emotional Memory in the Elevated Plus Maze and Passive Avoidance Tests and Diminishes Exploratory Activity in Naive Mice

Background Phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors in the central nervous system have been shown to stimulate neuronal functions and increase neurogenesis in Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. Material/Methods The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of zaprinast, a PDE5 inhibitor, and rolipram, a PDE4 inhibitor, on learning and memory in elevated plus maze (EPM) and passive avoidance (PA) tests in naive mice. Male Balb-c mice received short-term treatment with zaprinast (3 and 10 mg/kg) and rolipram (0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg) before the acquisition trial of the EPM and PA tests. The exploratory activity of the animals was also investigated in the Hughes box test. Results Both zaprinast (10 mg/kg) and rolipram (0.1 mg/kg) significantly decreased second-day latency compared to the control group in the EPM test, while only rolipram (0.1 mg/kg) significantly increased second-day latency in the PA test. Both zaprinast (10 mg/kg) and rolipram (0.1 mg/kg) significantly decreased the number of entries to new areas and time spent in new areas in the Hughes box test. Conclusions Our study revealed that both zaprinast and rolipram enhanced spatial memory in EPM, while rolipram seemed to have more emotional memory-enhancing effects in the PA test compared to zaprinast. Both zaprinast and rolipram diminished exploratory activity in the Hughes box test, which can be attributed to the drugs’ anxiogenic effects.
Analyzing passive Wi-Fi fingerprinting for privacy-preserving indoor-positioning

Wi-Fi fingerprinting is the most actively investigated indoor positioning technique, yielding adequate positioning accuracy on existing wireless infrastructures. However, the positioning process commonly requires active 802.11 scans where probe requests are sent out. These frames can easily be captured and used for tracking mobile devices without the users' consent or even awareness. In order to preserve the users' privacy, a fully passive positioning process for Wi-Fi fingerprinting is proposed in this paper. With the presented approach, a mobile device passively listens for beacon frames in monitor mode to determine a valid RSSI fingerprint while not sending out any information. Our passive method is evaluated against common active fingerprinting in a real-world environment. The obtained results yield the conclusion that the proposed approach performs even slightly better in terms of accuracy and precision. Furthermore, less time is needed for obtaining a position fix, while preserving the users' privacy during the acquisition of position updates.
Temporal Relations in Videos for Unsupervised Activity Analysis

Observing the different video sequences in Fig. 1, increments between frames are quite small compared to the changes throughout the whole sequence. For instance, the behavior of a tracked person (2nd row) is composed of a certain repertoire of activities with transitions in between that are typically short in comparison. This can also be observed at larger scales, like day-night changes or seasonal changes (3rd and 4th row) and already suggests a hierarchical structure.
Image-Guided Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Assistance System

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a recently developed surgical technique to treat symptomatic aortic valve stenosis in elderly and high-risk patients (Eltchaninoff et al., 2008; Ferrari & von Segesser, 2010). Compared to the standard aortic valve replacement surgery, the TAVI limits the surgical access to either a small minithoracotomy (transapical TAVI) or femoral approach (transfemoral TAVI) causing minimal tissue trauma. Independently of the TAVI approach it can be performed on the beating heart without cardiopulmonary bypass support (Walther et al., 2009). Recovery time may be reduced and the patient can eventually return to normal activity more quickly. More than 70,000 transcatheter valve implantations have been performed worldwide (Valle-Fernandez et al., 2010). The TAVI is done via a retrograde (transfemoral, transaxillary) or antegrade (transapical) approach (Singh et al., 2008). The main advantage of the transapical TAVI technique is the direct access to the aortic valve which eliminates the need for a large peripheral vascular access in patients with peripheral vascular disease, small tortuous vasculature, a history of major vascular complications, or previous vascular interventions (Singh et al., 2008). In transapical TAVI (Walther et al., 2009), a stented valve bioprosthesis that is temporarily crimped upon a balloon catheter, is inserted through the apex into the aortic root via a left anterolateral minithoracotomy. For that the apex of the left ventricle is punctured with a needle, and after balloon valvuloplasty the aortic valve prosthesis (AVP) is positioned within the stenotic aortic valve using guide wire techniques. After reaching the correct position, the stented AVP is deployed by an inflatable balloon to reach its final diameter, thus fixing the prosthesis to the aortic annulus (Fig. 1a). The Edwards SAPIENTM prosthesis (Edwards Lifesciences Inc, Irvine, CA, USA) is the most commonly used prosthesis for TAVI in several European countries and the only one approved for transapical approach so far (Thomas et al., 2010). Thus the Edwards SAPIENTM prosthesis has been used in this study. It consists of three bovine pericardial cusps mounted into a stainless-steel balloon-expandable stent (Fig. 1b).
Exposures of 129 Preschool Children to Organochlorines, Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, and Acid Herbicides at Their Homes and Daycares in North Carolina

Few data exist on the concurrent exposures of young children to past-use and current-use pesticides in their everyday environments. In this further analysis of study data, we quantified the potential exposures and intake doses of 129 preschool children, ages 20 to 66 months, to 16 pesticides (eight organochlorines, two organophosphates, three pyrethroids, and three acid herbicides). Environmental samples (soil, dust, outdoor air, and indoor air) and personal samples (hand wipes, solid food, and liquid food) were collected at 129 homes and 13 daycare centers in six counties in North Carolina between 2000 and 2001. α-Chlordane, γ-chlordane, heptachlor, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, cis-permethrin, trans-permethrin, and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) were detected ≥50% in two or more media in both settings. Of these pesticides, the children’s estimated median potential intake doses through dietary ingestion, nondietary ingestion, and inhalation routes were the highest for 2,4-D and cis/trans-permethrin (both 4.84 ng/kg/day), cis/trans-permethrin (2.39 ng/kg/day), and heptachlor (1.71 ng/kg/day), respectively. The children’s estimated median potential aggregate intake doses by all three routes were quantifiable for chlorpyrifos (4.6 ng/kg/day), cis/trans-permethrin (12.5 ng/kg/day), and 2,4-D (4.9 ng/kg/day). In conclusion, these children were likely exposed daily to several pesticides from several sources and routes at their homes and daycares.
Higher Order Structure of Personality and Mental Health: Does General Affectivity Matter?

The higher order personality model, namely the Big Two, was tested in 2 studies (Ns = 878 and 467, respectively) by controlling for the effects of both general affectivity and common method variance. Study 2 also examined the associations of the metatraits with different mental health indicators through regression analyses. The results consistently provided support for the validity of the Big Two model in the latent space, with and without the effects of general affectivity and the common method variance. Moreover, in both studies, the high correlation between stability and plasticity decreased when these 2 method effects were controlled statistically. The regression analyses also showed that the associations of plasticity and stability with the indicators of both subjective and psychological well-being, as well as psychopathology, were consistent with the theoretical arguments behind the Big Two.
Degradation of static behaviour of poly-Si CMOS inverters under high frequency operation

We studied the degradation of poly-Si CMOS inverters under high frequency operation. Increased low noise margin and logic threshold voltage, decreased high noise margin and gain were observed. Based on a previous drain current model of thin-film transistors (TFTs), voltage transfer characteristic of inverter is well described. Large degradation was observed in p-TFT instead of n-TFT after 10 ks operation. Dynamic negative bias temperature instability is considered to be the degradation mechanism leading to the inverter's degradation.
A novel equivalent circuit for on chip transmission lines modeling

Microstrip transmission line (MS), coplanar waveguide transmission line (CPW), grounded coplanar waveguide transmission line (GCPW), slow-wave transmission line with slotted grounded shields (GSCPW), slow-wave transmission line with slotted floating shields (FSCPW) are widely used in the silicon technology. Because the quasi-TEM assumption is still valid in these structures, an equivalent circuit is proposed to model all these structures. In this work, we notice that for some types of transmission lines, say GCPW and GSCPW, the per unit length capacitance increases with frequency. An LC series subcircuit is proposed to model this phenomenon. For CPW, GCPW, GSCPW and FSCPW, the model has very good accuracy and fits the measurement results very well up to the highest measurement frequency (40GHz). For MS, the results from the 3D EM simulation software are adopted and the model shows a great agreement with the simulation results up to the highest simulation frequency (100GHz).
Liver transplantation for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

The indication of liver transplantation for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is highly controversial. Initially, liver transplantation was embraced as a promising treatment for ICC, providing both a wider surgical margin and a potential cure for the underlying liver disease. However, the majority of transplant centers have abandoned liver transplantation for ICC due to poor long‐term survival and high recurrence rates. Interestingly, these decisions were based on studies with highly inconsistent outcomes due to a limited number of patients, various patient selection criteria, and the use of nonstandardized adjunctive therapy protocols. Indeed, recent studies have revealed that ICC patients with small solitary tumors have excellent long‐term survival after liver transplantation. Moreover, as seen in early‐stage hilar cholangiocarcinoma, neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy hold promise for improved long‐term survival in patients with locally advanced ICC. As we work to expand treatment options for ICC, further evidence of success in this area is needed in order to justify the use of limited organ resources to treat ICC. Continued efforts to improve diagnosis of ICC, hone patient selection criteria, and implement standardized treatment protocols could provide certain patients with ICC access to potentially life‐saving liver transplantation.
The role of social support on internet addiction

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of social support on Internet addiction. One hundred and ninety three students at National Taiwan University participated in this study. They completed the real life social support questionnaire, Internet social support questionnaire, and Chinese Internet Addiction Scale. Results revealed that real life social support had a negative relation with Internet addiction, Internet social support had a positive relation with Internet addiction, and real life and Internet social support had a significant interaction effect on Internet addiction, suggesting that the relationship between internet social support and Internet addiction was moderated by the amount of real life social support. Finally, the author adopted attachment theory to explain the role of social support on Internet addiction.
Performance et dynamiques des réseaux d'alliances stratégiques asymétriques

Our work aims to examine the relationship between the instability management of asymmetric strategic alliances by a multinational hub firm, and network performance and dynamics. An integrated framework is proposed to appreciate network performance. It includes issues determinants and process variables. Our model enhance global and dynamic analysis of networks' performance. French Abstract : Nous examinons dans cet article, les relations entre d'une part le management de l'instabilite des alliances strategiques asymetriques par une firme multinationale- pivot et d'autre part la performance et la dynamique du reseau en termes de creation et de repartition de la valeur. Nous avons ainsi propose un cadre d'analyse de la performance du reseau comprenant a la fois des variables " issues " (valeur creee et repartition) et des variables " processus " (dynamique d'evolution et management). Une telle construction renforce les analyses globales et dynamiques de la performance des organisations reticulaires.
The case for a rational genome-based vaccine against malaria

Historically, vaccines have been designed to mimic the immunity induced by natural exposure to the target pathogen, but this approach has not been effective for any parasitic pathogen of humans or complex pathogens that cause chronic disease in humans, such as Plasmodium. Despite intense efforts by many laboratories around the world on different aspects of Plasmodium spp. molecular and cell biology, epidemiology and immunology, progress towards the goal of an effective malaria vaccine has been disappointing. The premise of rational vaccine design is to induce the desired immune response against the key pathogen antigens or epitopes targeted by protective immune responses. We advocate that development of an optimally efficacious malaria vaccine will need to improve on nature, and that this can be accomplished by rational vaccine design facilitated by mining genomic, proteomic and transcriptomic datasets in the context of relevant biological function. In our opinion, modern genome-based rational vaccine design offers enormous potential above and beyond that of whole-organism vaccines approaches established over 200 years ago where immunity is likely suboptimal due to the many genetic and immunological host-parasite adaptations evolved to allow the Plasmodium parasite to coexist in the human host, and which are associated with logistic and regulatory hurdles for production and delivery.
An Improved Vehicular Ad Hoc Routing Protocol for City Environments

The fundamental component for the success of VANET (vehicular ad hoc networks) applications is routing since it must efficiently handle rapid topology changes and a fragmented network. Current MANET (mobile ad hoc networks) routing protocols fail to fully address these specific needs especially in a city environments (nodes distribution, constrained but high mobility patterns, signal transmissions blocked by obstacles, etc.). In our current work, we propose an inter-vehicle ad-hoc routing protocol called GyTAR (improved greedy traffic aware routing protocol) suitable for city environments. GyTAR consists of two modules: (i) dynamic selection of the junctions through which a packet must pass to reach its destination, and (ii) an improved greedy strategy used to forward packets between two junctions. In this paper, we give detailed description of our approach and present its added value compared to other existing vehicular routing protocols. Simulation results show significant performance improvement in terms of packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, and routing overhead.
Stability control of a 6 DOF biped in the dual-support phase using fuzzy control

This work investigates the feasibility of using a fuzzy controller to stabilize a biped robot in the dual-support phase. Taking as inputs the errors of the angular position and angular velocity for each joint, the controller uses a rule-base implemented with five membership functions to compute the joint torques of a 6 DOF biped robot. The input gains were computed at run-time using the Hip and Ankle Strategy (HAS), which sets a gain value for each joint based on the relative position of the center of gravity with respect to the support area. Although the Hip and Ankle Strategy was found to increase the computational load without enhancing the actuation response, the results have clearly showed the success of the fuzzy control scheme in making the non-linear system stable, as well as in placing the robot into the most stable posture without having to lift the feet of the ground.
Towards a New Gas Sensor Microsystem Using Electroactive Polymers Thin Films

Abstract This paper describes the development of a new gas sensor device using some electroactive polymers in thin layers. The poly(fluoro-aluminium phthalocyanine) powder, (AlPcF)n, has been synthesized, then deposited by vacuum evaporation on alumina or silicon substrates in the form of thin films with control of the deposition rate. (AlPcF)n thin layers are doped by NO2 or O2 diluted at various concentrations in N2 and their conductivity variations are studied as a function of time, temperature and doping gas concentration. The doping process is reversible, and the experimental results are interpreted in terms of adsorption and diffusion of the gas in the polymer, charge transfer, and transport of the injected carriers in the polymer chain. These experimental results and previous studies on other polymers and oxidizing gases demonstrate the potentiality of such materials to be used as sensitive part of gas sensors.
Functional Cerebral Distance and the Effect of Emotional Music on Spatial Rotation Scores in Undergraduate Women and Men

The influence of listening to music on subsequent spatial rotation scores has a controversial history. The effect is unreliable, seeming to depend on several as yet unexplored factors. Using a large sample (167 women, 160 men; M age = 18.9 yr.), two related variables were investigated: participants' sex and the emotion conveyed by the music. Participants listened to 90 sec. of music that portrayed emotions of approach (happiness), or withdrawal (anger), or heard no music at all. They then performed a two-dimensional spatial rotation task. No significant difference was found in spatial rotation scores between groups exposed to music and those who were not. However, a significant interaction was found based on the sex of the participants and the emotion portrayed in the music they heard. Women's scores increased (relative to a no-music condition) only after hearing withdrawal-based music, while men's scores increased only after listening to the approach-based music. These changes were explained using the theory of Functional Cerebral Distance.