Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microglia and inflammatory mechanisms in the clearance of amyloid beta peptide.

There is now abundant evidence that brain microglia, when activated, have the lineage, receptors, and synthetic capacity to participate in both potentially neurotoxic inflammatory responses and potentially beneficial phagocytic responses. Amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) forms highly insoluble, beta-pleated aggregates that are widely deposited in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) cortex and limbic system. Aggregated Abeta also activates the classical and alternative complement cascades. These properties make Abeta an excellent target for microglial phagocytosis, a view supported by multiple reports, through well established mechanisms of phagocyte clearance.
Performance analysis of a selection cooperation scheme in multi-source multi-relay networks

Cooperative diversity is a promising technique to form virtual antenna array without using collated multiple antennas. In this paper, we consider a joint selection scheme in multi-source multi-relay networks, in which the best source node and the best relay node are selected to access channel. The destination node uses this scheme to reduce the excessive burden of maximal ratio combining (MRC) with all source nodes and relay nodes. We derive the asymptotic expressions for the system with amplify-and-forward (AF) protocol and exact expressions for the system with decode-and-forward (DF) protocol. Numerical and simulation results show that the performance of the proposed scheme is proportional to the number of independent relay nodes or source nodes. Furthermore, one can see that the relay plays a more important role than the source on the performance of outage probability and symbol error probability (SER) in multi-source multi-relay networks.
UKIRT MICROLENSING SURVEYS AS A PATHFINDER FOR WFIRST: THE DETECTION OF FIVE HIGHLY EXTINGUISHED LOW- EVENTS

Optical microlensing surveys are restricted from detecting events near the Galactic plane and center, where the event rate is thought to be the highest due to the high optical extinction of these fields. In the near-infrared (NIR), however, the lower extinction leads to a corresponding increase in event detections and is a primary driver for the wavelength coverage of the WFIRST microlensing survey. During the 2015 and 2016 bulge observing seasons, we conducted NIR microlensing surveys with UKIRT in conjunction with and in support of the Spitzer and Kepler microlensing campaigns. Here, we report on five highly extinguished ( ), low-Galactic latitude ( ) microlensing events discovered from our 2016 survey. Four of them were monitored with an hourly cadence by optical surveys but were not reported as discoveries, likely due to the high extinction. Our UKIRT surveys and suggested future NIR surveys enable the first measurement of the microlensing event rate in the NIR. This wavelength regime overlaps with the bandpass of the filter in which the WFIRST microlensing survey will conduct its highest-cadence observations, making this event rate derivation critically important for optimizing its yield.
Neofunctionalization of Chromoplast Specific Lycopene Beta Cyclase Gene (CYC-B) in Tomato Clade

The ancestor of tomato underwent whole genome triplication ca. 71 Myr ago followed by widespread gene loss. However, few of the triplicated genes are retained in modern day tomato including lycopene beta cyclase that mediates conversion of lycopene to β-carotene. The fruit specific β-carotene formation is mediated by a chromoplast-specific paralog of lycopene beta cyclase (CYC-B) gene. Presently limited information is available about how the variations in CYC-B gene contributed to its neofunctionalization. CYC-B gene in tomato clade contained several SNPs and In-Dels in the coding sequence (33 haplotypes) and promoter region (44 haplotypes). The CYC-B gene coding sequence in tomato appeared to undergo purifying selection. The transit peptide sequence of CYC-B protein was predicted to have a stronger plastid targeting signal than its chloroplast specific paralog indicating a possible neofunctionalization. In promoter of two Bog (Beta old gold) mutants, a NUPT (nuclear plastid) DNA fragment of 256 bp, likely derived from a S. chilense accession, was present. In transient expression assay, this promoter was more efficient than the “Beta type” promoter. CARGATCONSENSUS box sequences are required for the binding of the MADS-box regulatory protein RIPENING INHIBITOR (RIN). The loss of CARGATCONSENSUS box sequence from CYC-B promoter in tomato may be related to attenuation of its efficiency to promote higher accumulation of β-carotene than lycopene during fruit ripening.
MapSentinel: Can the Knowledge of Space Use Improve Indoor Tracking Further?

Estimating an occupant’s location is arguably the most fundamental sensing task in smart buildings. The applications for fine-grained, responsive building operations require the location sensing systems to provide location estimates in real time, also known as indoor tracking. Existing indoor tracking systems require occupants to carry specialized devices or install programs on their smartphone to collect inertial sensing data. In this paper, we propose MapSentinel, which performs non-intrusive location sensing based on WiFi access points and ultrasonic sensors. MapSentinel combines the noisy sensor readings with the floormap information to estimate locations. One key observation supporting our work is that occupants exhibit distinctive motion characteristics at different locations on the floormap, e.g., constrained motion along the corridor or in the cubicle zones, and free movement in the open space. While extensive research has been performed on using a floormap as a tool to obtain correct walking trajectories without wall-crossings, there have been few attempts to incorporate the knowledge of space use available from the floormap into the location estimation. This paper argues that the knowledge of space use as an additional information source presents new opportunities for indoor tracking. The fusion of heterogeneous information is theoretically formulated within the Factor Graph framework, and the Context-Augmented Particle Filtering algorithm is developed to efficiently solve real-time walking trajectories. Our evaluation in a large office space shows that the MapSentinel can achieve accuracy improvement of 31.3% compared with the purely WiFi-based tracking system.
(Semi-)External Algorithms for Graph Partitioning and Clustering

In this paper, we develop semi-external and external memory algorithms for graph partitioning and clustering problems. Graph partitioning and clustering are key tools for processing and analyzing large complex networks. We address both problems in the (semi-)external model by adapting the size-constrained label propagation technique. Our (semi-)external size-constrained label propagation algorithm can be used to compute graph clusterings and is a prerequisite for the (semi-)external graph partitioning algorithm. The algorithm is then used for both the coarsening and the refinement phase of a multilevel algorithm to compute graph partitions. Our algorithm is able to partition and cluster huge complex networks with billions of edges on cheap commodity machines. Experiments demonstrate that the semi-external graph partitioning algorithm is scalable and can compute high quality partitions in time that is comparable to the running time of an efficient internal memory implementation. A parallelization of the algorithm in the semi-external model further reduces running time.
Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach

vertent data in her book that suggests how some movement principals use the message. In a candid account of her fieldwork process, Gavanas tells how several of the men she interviewed pestered her for sex. Gavanas interprets this behavior as linked to the movement’s homophobic politics, which may reinforce the men’s obsession with proving their heterosexual prowess. But such behavior can also be seen as revealing a subtext in the movement’s message: “Love me because I’m a man, and that makes me special; and forgive me when I act bad because, as a man, I can’t help myself. ” Gavanas does not imply that her interviewees were hypocrites. Yet it seems clear that for some men the movement’s appeal was that it let them claim “responsible father” as a moral identity, at no cost to their male privileges if they behaved like dogs.
Buber and Dialogical Therapy: Healing Through Meeting

All depth psychotherapies rely on the effectiveness of human conversation to bring about therapeutic change that benefits the patient. However, many approaches to therapeutic conversation focus on techniques of listening and interpretation. In this article, the author, an internationally known scholar on the life and work of Martin Buber, grounds his understanding of therapeutic dialogue in an ontological understanding of what he calls the interhuman, an understanding within which the essence and meaning of the self is interrelatedness. Beginning with this radically interhuman ontology, the author goes on to delineate 10 central elements of an approach to existential depth psychotherapy that he calls healing through meeting or dialogical psychotherapy. Following his elucidation of each of these 10 elements, he illustrates his approach to dialogical psychotherapy with a description and analysis of his work with a woman who suffered with a deep sense of inferiority, which stood in stark contrast to her outw.
An application-case for derivative learning: Optimization in colour image filtering

Related to the notion of derivative of a function, its application to function optimization is an interesting and illustrative problem for Engineering students. In the present work, we develop an application of the derivative concept to optimize the filtering of a colour image. This implies to optimize the value of the filter parameter to maximize performance. We propose to maximize the quality of the filtered image represented by the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), which is a function of the filter parameter. The optimal value for the parameter is obtained by means of an algorithm based on the approximation of the derivative of the PSNR function so that finally the optimum filtered image is obtained.
Interactive Learning in Continuous Multimodal Space: A Bayesian Approach to Action-Based Soft Partitioning and Learning

A probabilistic framework for interactive learning in continuous and multimodal perceptual spaces is proposed. In this framework, the agent learns the task along with adaptive partitioning of its multimodal perceptual space. The learning process is formulated in a Bayesian reinforcement learning setting to facilitate the adaptive partitioning. The partitioning is gradually and softly done using Gaussian distributions. The parameters of distributions are adapted based on the agent's estimate of its actions' expected values. The probabilistic nature of the method results in experience generalization in addition to robustness against uncertainty and noise. To benefit from experience generalization diversity in different perceptual subspaces, the learning is performed in multiple perceptual subspaces-including the original space-in parallel. In every learning step, the policies learned in the subspaces are fused to select the final action. This concurrent learning in multiple spaces and the decision fusion result in faster learning, possibility of adding and/or removing sensors-i.e., gradual expansion or contraction of the perceptual space-, and appropriate robustness against probable failure of or ambiguity in the data of sensors. Results of two sets of simulations in addition to some experiments are reported to demonstrate the key properties of the framework.
Modeling and analysis of timed Petri nets using heaps of pieces

We show that safe timed Petri nets can be represented by special automata over the (max,+) semiring, which compute the height of heaps of pieces. This extends to the timed case the classical representation à la Mazurkievicz of the behavior of safe Petri nets by trace monoids and trace languages. For a subclass including all safe Free Choice Petri nets, we obtain reduced heap realizations using structural properties of the net (covering by safe state machine components). We illustrate the heap-based modeling by the typical case of safe jobshops. For a periodic schedule, we obtain a heap-based throughput formula, which is simpler to compute than its traditional timed event graph version, particularly if one is interested in the successive evaluation of a large number of possible schedules.
A 1.3-mW, 1.6-GHz digital delay-locked loop with two-cycle locking time and dither-free tracking

An all-digital DLL with 2-cycle lock time and 47-mUIpp jitter without dithering is presented. Implemented in 65nm CMOS, the DLL consumes only 1.3-mW at 1.6-GHz and occupies 0.016-mm2, making it suitable for low-cost clock deskewing and data alignment circuits in large-scale 3D ICs. A set of custom-designed, serially-connected control registers whose propagation delay is matched to that of the delay stages acquires the initial lock setting by propagating a set signal for a duration equal to the delay error. Subsequently, an adaptive phase-interval detector (APID) that finds the delay interval enclosing the optimal delay value with a minimal number of samples keeps the DLL in lock without causing dithering or sacrificing bandwidth.
Can the Press Monitor Campaign Advertising?

In the wake of the 1988 election, journalists developed a new format for reporting campaign advertising: the ad watch. Today, stories that critique candidates' televised advertisements are standard fare for newspapers and television news programs. Little is known, however, about the effects of ad-watch reporting on viewers' attitudes about the candidates and about the political process. This article presents the results of three simple experiments involving ad watches aired by CNN in 1992. Surprisingly, participants expressed increased electoral support for the candidate whose ad was scrutinized by the press. We recommend further refinement of the genre, including two-sided ad watches that cover advertisements on a particular issue by competing candidates.
Yersinia pestis--etiologic agent of plague

Plague is a widespread zoonotic disease that is caused by Yersinia pestis and has had devastating effects on the human population throughout history. Disappearance of the disease is unlikely due to the wide range of mammalian hosts and their attendant fleas. The flea/rodent life cycle of Y. pestis, a gram-negative obligate pathogen, exposes it to very different environmental conditions and has resulted in some novel traits facilitating transmission and infection. Studies characterizing virulence determinants of Y. pestis have identified novel mechanisms for overcoming host defenses. Regulatory systems controlling the expression of some of these virulence factors have proven quite complex. These areas of research have provide new insights into the host-parasite relationship. This review will update our present understanding of the history, etiology, epidemiology, clinical aspects, and public health issues of plague.
The Culture of Poverty Reloaded

Although the student body in the United States is becoming more and more diverse, the teaching staff is strikingly homogenous… [W]hile many legislators may be unaware of the role of cultural competence, i.e., the ability to relate to diverse cultures, in teaching children in the United States, those who are on the ground in classrooms and schools everyday recognize its importance. … Education consultant Ruby Payne [—a self-proclaimed expert on the “mindset of poverty”—] represents one particular response to the culture clashes in the classroom. Her widespread success at once highlights the salience of race and class inequities, and speaks to the absence of practical educational strategies to confront them.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.
Consumption and Production: Sharing and the Social Construction of Use-Value

This paper addresses the social construction of use-value within the framework of evolutionary ecology and explores implications for an understanding of variation in foraging behaviour. That patterns of subsistence production and patterns of consumption are related has long been accepted. Most studies in evolutionary ecology take it for granted that consumption is the dependent variable-that, for example, the extent of sharing will reflect the outcome of production. This paper challenges that assumption, arguing that procurement decisions themselves are made within a social context ; an expectation of sharing in the produce of others or of others' seeking to share in one's own produce may exist prior to any procurement activity. Where the use that an individual can make of a resource is limited, then the benefit to be gained from a procurement decision will depend on the size and composition of the resource-sharing group. Patterns of production can be expected to vary accordingly. The argument is illustrated by analyses which show that, at the village of Gwaimasi in Papua New Guinea, individuals adjusted whether and where they went to spear fish according to the number of people staying at the village.
Communities of practice and professional development

The Internet has had a transformative effect on many aspects of contemporary living. While there may be a tendency to overstate the impacts of this technology, workplaces and work practices in many societies have been greatly affected by almost instant access to massive amounts of information, delivered through broadening bandwidth. This paper embeds a discussion of professional development in this technological context, and comments on the emergence of a range of Internet‐based tools designed to assist with the delivery of professional development programs for secondary teachers. We argue that the tools by themselves are not enough to guarantee effective professional development and that building ‘communities of practice’ will become significant in lifelong learning models. We discuss some work undertaken in a professional development project with secondary school teachers distributed at a distance from the host institution.
Early detection of independent motion from active control of normal image flow patterns

An important initial step in interpreting a dynamic scene is to detect moving objects in the environment. This paper presents a novel solution to the problem of early motion detection by a moving observer. The solution requires the observer to be active in the acquisition of images thereby controlling the optical flow pattern due to egomotion. A theoretical analysis is done based on geometric considerations to establish conditions that are necessary and sufficient to guarantee motion detection at a point. The detection problem is posed in terms of locally computable image quantities (the normal image flow) which this makes it implementable in real time. The performance of the technique can be improved by imposing any applicable constraint; this is demonstrated for the detection of the motions of "compact" objects satisfying a size bound. The goal is to design a flexible and efficient early motion detection strategy that can be tailored to the needs of a particular navigation system.
And That’s A Fact: Distinguishing Factual and Emotional Argumentation in Online Dialogue

We investigate the characteristics of factual and emotional argumentation styles observed in online debates. Using an annotated set of "factual" and "feeling" debate forum posts, we extract patterns that are highly correlated with factual and emotional arguments, and then apply a bootstrapping methodology to find new patterns in a larger pool of unannotated forum posts. This process automatically produces a large set of patterns representing linguistic expressions that are highly correlated with factual and emotional language. Finally, we analyze the most discriminating patterns to better understand the defining characteristics of factual and emotional arguments.
Gap Junctions at the Dendritic Cell-T Cell Interface Are Key Elements for Antigen-Dependent T Cell Activation1

The acquired immune response begins with Ag presentation by dendritic cells (DCs) to naive T cells in a heterocellular cell-cell contact-dependent process. Although both DCs and T cells are known to express connexin43, a gap junction protein subunit, the role of connexin43 on the initiation of T cell responses remains to be elucidated. In the present work, we report the formation of gap junctions between DCs and T cells and their role on T cell activation during Ag presentation by DCs. In cocultures of DCs and T cells, Lucifer yellow microinjected into DCs is transferred to adjacent transgenic CD4+ T cells, only if the specific antigenic peptide was present at least during the first 24 h of cocultures. This dye transfer was sensitive to gap junction blockers, such as oleamide, and small peptides containing the extracellular loop sequences of conexin. Furthermore, in this system, gap junction blockers drastically reduced T cell activation as reflected by lower proliferation, CD69 expression, and IL-2 secretion. This lower T cell activation produced by gap junction blockers was not due to a lower expression of CD80, CD86, CD40, and MHC-II on DCs. Furthermore, gap junction blocker did not affect polyclonal activation of T cell induced with anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 Abs in the absence of DCs. These results strongly suggest that functional gap junctions assemble at the interface between DCs and T cells during Ag presentation and that they play an essential role in T cell activation.
Paraxial Schematic Eye Models for 7- and 14-Year-Old Chinese Children.

PURPOSE To develop three-surface paraxial schematic eyes with different ages and sexes based on data for 7- and 14-year-old Chinese children from the Anyang Childhood Eye Study. METHODS Six sets of paraxial schematic eyes, including 7-year-old eyes, 7-year-old male eyes, 7-year-old female eyes, 14-year-old eyes, 14-year-old male eyes, and 14-year-old female eyes, were developed. Both refraction-dependent and emmetropic eye models were developed, with the former using linear dependence of ocular parameters on refraction. RESULTS A total of 2059 grade 1 children (boys 58%) and 1536 grade 8 children (boys 49%) were included, with mean age of 7.1 ± 0.4 and 13.7 ± 0.5 years, respectively. Changes in these schematic eyes with aging are increased anterior chamber depth, decreased lens thickness, increased vitreous chamber depth, increased axial length, and decreased lens equivalent power. Male schematic eyes have deeper anterior chamber depth, longer vitreous chamber depth, longer axial length, and lower lens equivalent power than female schematic eyes. Changes in the schematic eyes with positive increase in refraction are decreased anterior chamber depth, increased lens thickness, decreased vitreous chamber depth, decreased axial length, increased corneal radius of curvature, and increased lens power. In general, the emmetropic schematic eyes have biometric parameters similar to those arising from regression fits for the refraction-dependent schematic eyes. CONCLUSIONS The paraxial schematic eyes of Chinese children may be useful for myopia research and for facilitating comparison with other children with the same or different racial backgrounds and living in different places.