Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enzymatic Conversion of Odorants in Nasal Mucus Affects Olfactory Glomerular Activation Patterns and Odor Perception

Odor information is decoded by a combination of odorant receptors, and thus transformed into discrete spatial patterns of olfactory glomerular activity. It has been found, however, that for some odorants, there are differences between the ligand specificity of an odorant receptor in vitro and its corresponding glomerulus in vivo. These observations led us to hypothesize that there exist prereceptor events that affect the local concentration of a given odorant in the nasal mucus, thus causing the apparent specificity differences. Here we show that odorants with functional groups such as aldehydes and esters are targets of metabolic enzymes secreted in the mouse mucus, resulting in their conversion to the corresponding acids and alcohols. The glomerular activation patterns elicited by an enzyme-targeted odorant in the olfactory bulb was different in the presence of an enzyme inhibitor in the mucosa, suggesting that the enzymatic conversion occurs fast enough to affect recognition of the odorant at the levels of olfactory sensory neurons. Importantly, olfactory discrimination tests revealed that mice behaviorally trained to associate an enzyme-targeted odorant to sugar rewards could not discriminate the odorant after treatment with the enzyme inhibitor. These results reveal that the enzymatic conversion of odorants in the nasal mucus appears be fast enough to affect olfactory perception, which sheds light on the previously unappreciated role of nasal mucosal enzymes in odor sensation.
The Influences of Texture and Mastication Pattern on Flavor Perception Across the Lifespan

Texture is an often-overlooked food attribute and is known to influence other food characteristics. More specifically, texture has been repeatedly to influence how we perceive flavor. Several studies have linked this change in flavor perception to the altered mastication patterns that accompany texture changes. This dissertation is composed of four studies that were designed to address how American food consumers view texture and other food attributes as well as characterize how texture and mastication can influence temporal flavor dynamics. The first study was a survey that outlined consumer attitudes towards a variety of different foods. This study solidified that texture is indeed one of, if not the most important food attribute. Also, it was found that texture importance changes as consumers age. The second study started the exploration of how texture can influence flavor perception. Potato chips of different textures were given to participants and they were asked to rate their flavor perception over time. During the consumption of these chips the mastication of the participants was also recorded using electromyography. It was found that the temporal flavor dynamics were indeed different based upon the texture. Older adults don’t show the same influence of texture as displayed by younger adults. The number of chews was instrumental in helping to understand how texture influences flavor. Moving forward, the third and fourth experiments were fashioned to confirm that mastication was indeed a factor in flavor perception. The chewing rate and chewing duration was found to directly influence temporal flavor perception, as measured by Time-intensity methodology. Additionally, it was found that the effect of mastication on Temporal Dominance of Sensations was minimal, when compared to Time-intensity. This study characterizes how texture is viewed by the American food consumer and gives valuable information on the mechanisms behind texture’s influence of flavor perception. Additionally, specific mastication parameters were identified as being integral in changes in temporal flavor dynamics.
SDN Based Architecture to Improve Video Streaming in Home Networks

Nowadays, Internet video is the dominant internet traffic. DASH is an adaptive video streaming technique introduced to enable high quality video delivery over HTTP. In home networks, multiple video streams will compete for bandwidth, thus leading to poor performance and impacting the received quality of experience. In this paper we introduce a new technique to address this issue at the home network gateway without modifying neither the client player nor the video server. We design our framework NAVS (Network Assisted Video Streaming) relies on the deployment of Software Defined Networking (SDN). NAVS performs a dynamic traffic shaping based on the collected network traffic statistics and monitoring of video flows. NAVS dynamically allocates bandwidth for each video flow in real time. NAVS scheme has been evaluated over several metrics: bandwidth utilization, instability of players as well as the average video quality received by the clients. Our results demonstrate an improvement for all these parameters.
Inertia: the discrepancy between individual and common good in dispersal and prospecting behaviour

The group selection debate of the 1960s made it clear that evolution does not necessarily increase population performance. Individuals can be selected to have traits that diminish a common good and make population persistence difficult. At the extreme, the discrepancy between levels of selection is predicted to make traits evolve towards values at which a population can no longer persist (evolutionary suicide). Dispersal and prospecting are prime examples of traits that have a strong influence on population persistence under environmental and demographic stochasticity. Theory predicts that an ‘optimal’ dispersal strategy from a population point of view can differ considerably from that produced by individual‐level selection. Because dispersal is frequently risky or otherwise costly, individuals are often predicted to disperse less than would be ideal for population performance (persistence or size). We define this discrepancy as ‘inertia’ and examine current knowledge of its occurrence and effects on population dynamics in nature. We argue that inertia is potentially widespread but that a framework is currently lacking for predicting precisely the extent to which it has a real influence on population persistence. The opposite of inertia, ‘hypermobility’ (more dispersal by individuals than would maximize population performance) remains a possibility: it is known that highest dispersal rates do not lead to best expected population performance, and examples of such high dispersal evolving exist at least in the theoretical literature. We also show, by considering prospecting behaviour, that similar issues arise in species with advanced cognitive and learning abilities. Individual prospecting strategies and the information acquired during dispersal are known to influence the decisions and therefore the fate of individuals and, as a corollary, populations. Again, the willingness of individuals to sample environments might evolve to levels that are not optimal for populations. This conflict can take intriguing forms. For example, better cognitive abilities of individuals may not always lead to better population‐level performance. Simulation studies have found that ‘blind’ dispersal can lead to better connected metapopulations than cognitively more advanced habitat choice rules: the latter can lead to too many individuals sticking to nearby safe habitat. The study of the mismatch between individual and population fitness should not be a mere intellectual exercise. Population managers typically need to take a population‐level view of performance, which may necessitate human intervention if it differs from what is selected for. We conclude that our knowledge of inertia and hypermobility would advance faster if theoretical studies—without much additional effort—quantified the population consequences of the evolving traits and compared this with hypothetical (not selectively favoured) dispersal rules, and if empirical studies were similarly conducted with the differing levels of selection in mind.
The Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor (GEF) Asef2 Promotes Dendritic Spine Formation via Rac Activation and Spinophilin-dependent Targeting*

Background: The role of Rho family GEFs in dendritic spine formation is currently not well understood. Results: The Rho family GEF Asef2 promotes spine and synapse formation through activation of Rac and spinophilin-mediated localization to spines. Conclusion: Asef2 is a critical regulator of spines and synapses. Significance: Asef2-spinophilin signaling is an important, new mechanism for inducing spine and synapse development. Dendritic spines are actin-rich protrusions that establish excitatory synaptic contacts with surrounding neurons. Reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton is critical for the development and plasticity of dendritic spines, which is the basis for learning and memory. Rho family GTPases are emerging as important modulators of spines and synapses, predominantly through their ability to regulate actin dynamics. Much less is known, however, about the function of guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), which activate these GTPases, in spine and synapse development. In this study we show that the Rho family GEF Asef2 is found at synaptic sites, where it promotes dendritic spine and synapse formation. Knockdown of endogenous Asef2 with shRNAs impairs spine and synapse formation, whereas exogenous expression of Asef2 causes an increase in spine and synapse density. This effect of Asef2 on spines and synapses is abrogated by expression of GEF activity-deficient Asef2 mutants or by knockdown of Rac, suggesting that Asef2-Rac signaling mediates spine development. Because Asef2 interacts with the F-actin-binding protein spinophilin, which localizes to spines, we investigated the role of spinophilin in Asef2-promoted spine formation. Spinophilin recruits Asef2 to spines, and knockdown of spinophilin hinders spine and synapse formation in Asef2-expressing neurons. Furthermore, inhibition of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDA) activity blocks spinophilin-mediated localization of Asef2 to spines. These results collectively point to spinophilin-Asef2-Rac signaling as a novel mechanism for the development of dendritic spines and synapses.
Strategies to Decrease Movement Variability in the Ankle Joint in Cyclists

v LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Coordination Variability 1 Attentional Focused Instructions 4 Attentional Focused Feedback 5 Need for the Current Study 7 Purpose of the Study 8 Limitations and Delimitations 9 Significance of the Study 9 Operational Definitions 10 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 12 Cycling 12 Dynamic Systems Theory 14 Attentional Focused Instructions 16 Attentional Focused Feedback 20
An Illumination Processing Algorithm Based on Total Variation Model

A processing algorithm was presented for face recognition under variation illumination. It needs only one parameter to set and can remove the "halo" efficiently. Firstly, it estimated the illumination from image using total variation model. Secondly, it recovered the image reflectance, which is invariant of illumination. Experiment results show that this algorithm can improve the face recognition rate under varying lighting conditions
Reactive Oxygen Species Production in Energized Cardiac Mitochondria During Hypoxia/Reoxygenation: Modulation by Nitric Oxide

Mitochondria are an important source of reactive oxygen species (ROS), implicated in ischemia/reperfusion injury. When isolated from ischemic myocardium, mitochondria demonstrate increased ROS production as a result of damage to electron transport complexes. To investigate the mechanisms, we studied effects of hypoxia/reoxygenation on ROS production by isolated energized heart mitochondria. ROS production, tracked using Fe2+-catalyzed, H2O2-dependent H2DCF oxidation or Amplex Red, was similar during normoxia and hypoxia but markedly increased during reoxygenation, in proportion to the duration of hypoxia. In contrast, if mitochondria were rapidly converted from normoxia to near-anoxia ([O2], <1 &mgr;mol/L), the increase in H2DCF oxidation rate during reoxygenation was markedly blunted. To elicit the robust increase in H2DCF oxidation rate during reoxygenation, hypoxia had to be severe enough to cause partial, but not complete, respiratory chain inhibition (as shown by partial dissipation of membrane potential and increased NADH autofluorescence). Consistent with its cardioprotective actions, nitric oxide (&U1E44;O) abrogated increased H2DCF oxidation under these conditions, as well as attenuating ROS-induced increases in matrix [Fe2+] and aconitase inhibition caused by antimycin. Collectively, these results suggest that (1) hypoxia that is sufficient to cause partial respiratory inhibition is more damaging to mitochondria than near-anoxia; and (2) &U1E44;O suppresses ROS-induced damage to electron transport complexes, probably by forming &U1E44;O-Fe2+ complexes in the presence of glutathione, which inhibit hydroxyl radical formation.
A Holistic Approach to Developing a Progress Tracking System for Distributed Agile Teams

Managing development progress in agile projects is a co-ordination problem. Several technical factors (e.g. source code versioning, unit testing, acceptance testing, continuous integration and releasing) affect the progress status, hence, they need to be managed. In distributed agile projects, manual-based methods (such as communication via video-conferencing tools) are insufficient. Distributed agile teams find it difficult, with infrequent communications, to understand how the work of one team member at one site influences the work progress of another team member at a different site. Moreover, current technology-based methods (such as project management tools) are static and rely completely on team members to consider any impact of the technical factors on development progress. The lack of mechanisms to effectively manage progress change resulting from the technical factors may lead to the project being delayed or to low quality code. In this paper, we propose a holistic approach to developing a progress tracking system that supports identifying and co-ordinating the impact of the various technical factors on the development progress. The result will provide distributed agile teams with an improved awareness of the actual progress.
Grundsätzliches zur Konzeption einer evolutionären Psychiatrie

Phenomenological, biological and social aspects of psychiatric disorders lack an integrative metatheoretical framework. This paper reviews the foundations of evolutionary psychiatry. Many aspects of evolutionary psychiatry are largely based on the "inclusive fitness theory". Since many biologists argue that the unit of selection is the gene rather than the single organism or a group of organisms, the theory of inclusive fitness embraces the fitness of an individual plus the fitness of his or her close relatives with whom the individual on average shares a calculable proportion of genes, depending on how close the relationship actually is. Reciprocal altruism, parental investment in relation to sexual selection, and parent-offspring conflict constitute specific problems that guide the evolution of psychological mechanisms and strategies of an organism especially in terms of its social behaviour. Such problems have probably contributed to the evolution of the human "social brain" that developed in the "environment of evolutionary adaptedness" to solve problems of adaptive significance of ancestral social conditions. Despite this seemingly "gene-centred" view, evolutionary psychiatry may be understood as a metatheory to integrate genetic understanding and causal explanation of psychopathological processes, including neurobiological and psychological findings, because it takes both, the ultimate and the proximate level of evolved cognitive capacities, emotion and behaviour, into account. Many psychiatric disorders may therefore be considered as dysfunctions of the "social brain". This could be exemplified by disorders that are characterised by a compromised capacity for inferring the mental states of other individuals, referred to as "theory of mind". In real-life situations mental state attribution usually interferes with affective cues which is, for instance, crucial for experience and behaving empathetically. In many severe psychiatric disorders the lack of empathy may therefore at least in part explain why the social competence of patients suffering from schizophrenia, for example, is reduced. Although gender-specific differences in prevalence rates and symptomatology of psychiatric disorders are mentioned in the diagnostic manuals of psychiatric disorders to some extent, it is widely underrecognised that some of these differences emerged due to divergent problems of adaptation for men and women. Likewise, some concepts of psychoanalytic theory such as the "Oedipus complex" are inconsistent with evolutionary psychiatry. From an evolutionary point of view there is no such conflict between offspring and same-sex parent, however, parents and offspring disagree over the amount of parental investment, e.g. in terms of resource allocation and investment in potential other offspring. Many insights from evolutionary psychology and psychiatry are therefore also therapeutically neglected but may open new opportunities for empirical research.
A Heuristic for Winner Determination in Rule-Based Combinatorial Auctions

Combinatorial auctions address the sale of materials where there exist complementarities between items. A major stumbling block to the widespread use of combinatorial auctions is the complexity of the winner-determination problem, which is known to be NP-complete. We consider a rich version of combinatorial auctions, rule-based combinatorial auctions, where bids consist of rules that describe acceptable bundles rather than provide complete enumerations of acceptable bundles. This makes the winner-determination problem potentially harder because the problem must find bundles meeting bid criterion as well as finding an optimal selection of winning bids. This paper describes in detail a heuristic that achieves a satisfying solution to the winner-determination problem for large problems where exact solutions may not be attainable. Our contribution is threefold. First, we give a general approach to providing good approximations to the winner-determination problem for rule-based auctions. Although the approach requires adaptation for specific instances, it is conceptually tractable and implementable. Second, the approach is illustrated and tested on an auction format for selling prime-time television advertising time formed from data and interviews with industry sources. Third, while some researchers have used commercial solvers that appeared to obviate the need for specialized solution approaches to the winner-determination problem, we give evidence that, at least for the problem studied here, specialized approaches are necessary.
Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus-Related Solid Lymphoma Involving the Heart and Brain

Since its discovery in 1994, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) has been associated with lymphoproliferative disorders, particularly in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The disorders most strongly linked to KSHV are multicentric Castleman's Disease (MCD), primary effusion lymphoma, and diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. We report an unusual case of KSHV-associated lymphoma in an HIV-infected patient manifesting with myocardial and central nervous system involvement. We discuss this case in the context of increasing array of KSHV-associated lymphomas. In the HIV-infected patient with a mass lesion, a history of cutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma and prolonged immunosuppression should alert clinicians as to the possibility of KSHV-associated lymphoproliferative disorders, in order to establish a timely diagnosis.
Correlation between choline level and Gd‐DTPA enhancement in patients with brain metastases of mammary carcinoma

Single voxel 1HH double spin‐echo MR spectroscopy was used to examine 15 cases of brain metastasis of mammary carcinoma (18 lesions) in relation to Gd‐DTPA enhanced MR imaging. For lesions larger than 50% of MRS voxel size, there was significant correlation between Gd‐DTPA‐enhanced MRI signal and MRS‐detected signal of choline (Cho) containing compounds (r = 0.86, P < 0.01; n = 8). The observed loss of correlation when including the smaller lesions was overcome by correcting for partial volume effects (r = 0.69, P < 0.002; n = 18). Metastasis spectra showed increased Cho compared with control spectra, except for those lesions showing detectable lactate (Lact) signal. The detection of Lact in four of the larger lesions coincided with comparatively low levels of creatine (Cr) and Cho and heterogeneous Gd‐DTPA enhancement (ring‐enhancement). It was concluded that in brain metastases of mammary carcinoma Lact represents a product of ischemia preceding/during tissue decay resulting in central necrosis, rather than tumor specific metabolism resulting in increased glycolysis.
On De Giorgi's conjecture in dimensions 4 and 5

In this paper, we develop an approach for establishing in some important cases, a conjecture made by De Giorgi more than 20 years ago. The problem originates in the theory of phase transition and is so closely connected to the theory of minimal hypersurfaces that it is sometimes referred to as "the eversion of Bernstein's problem for minimal graphs". The conjecture has been completely settled in dimension 2 by the authors [15] and in dimension 3 in [2], yet the approach in this paper seems to be the first to use, in an essential way, the solution of the Bernstein problem stating that minimal graphs in Euclidean space are necessarily hyperplanes provided the dimension of the ambient space is not greater than 8. We note that the solution of Bernstein's problem was also used in [18] to simplify an argument in [9]. Here is the conjecture as stated by De Giorgi [12]. CONJECTURE 1.1. Suppose that u is an entire solution of the equation
Image-based classification of driving scenes by Hierarchical Principal Component Classification (HPCC)

State-of-the-art advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) typically focus on single tasks and therefore, have functionalities with clearly defined application areas. Although said ADAS functions (e.g. lane departure warning) show good performance, they lack general usability, as e.g. different modes of operation for highways and country roads. This paper presents a real-time capable approach, which classifies the driving scene by using the newly developed Hierarchical Principal Component Classification (HPCC). Based on that, an ADAS gets information about the current scene context and is able to activate different operation modes. Exemplarily, the algorithm was trained on three different categories (highways, country roads, and inner city), but can be applied to any number and type of categories. Evaluation results on 9000 images show the reliability of the approach and mark it as a crucial step towards more sophisticated high level applications.
Path Planning of Spatial Rigid Motion with Constrained Attitude

This paper presents a general quadratic optimization methodology for autonomous path planning of spatial rigid motion with constrained attitude. The motion to be planned has six degrees of freedom and is assumed under constant velocity in the body frame. The objective is to determine the motion orientation (or attitude), handled as control variables, along the planned paths. A procedure is discussed to transform the rotational constraints and attitude constraints as quadratic functions in terms of unit quaternions, and the path-planning problem is reformulated as a general, quadratically constrained, quadratic programming problem. A semidefinite relaxation method is then applied to obtain a bound on the global optimal value of the nonconvex, quadratically constrained, quadratic programming problem. Subsequently, an iterative rank minimization approach is proposed to find the optimal solution. Application examples of aircraft path-planning problems are presented using the proposed method and compared with .