Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Migration patterns of dendritic cells in the mouse. Homing to T cell- dependent areas of spleen, and binding within marginal zone

Using quantitative techniques we have shown elsewhere that dendritic cells (DC) migrate from blood into the spleen, under the control of T cells. Here we traced the localization of DC within the spleen and sought to explain the means by which they entered. DC were labeled with a fluorochrome, Hoescht 33342, and injected intravenously. Spleens were removed 3 or 24 h later and DC were visualized within particular areas that were defined by mAbs and FITC anti-Igs. At 3 h most DC were in the red pulp, whereas by 24 h the majority had homed to T-dependent areas of the white pulp and may have become interdigitating cells. Lymphoid DC, isolated from spleen and perhaps normally present in blood, may thus be a migratory stage distinct from the relatively fixed interdigitating cells. We also developed a frozen section assay to investigate the interaction of DC with various lymphoid elements. When DC were incubated on sections of spleen, at 37 degrees C but not at 4 degrees C they attached specifically within the marginal zone and did not bind to T areas; in contrast, macrophages attached only to red pulp and T cells did not bind specifically. However, DC did not bind to sections of mesenteric lymph node, whereas T cells localized in particular regions at 4 degrees C but not at 37 degrees C, probably the high endothelial venules. DC may thus express "homing receptors," similar to those of T cells, for certain endothelia. We propose that T cells can modify the vascular endothelium in certain areas to allow egress of DC from the bloodstream.
Distributed PageRank computation based on iterative aggregation-disaggregation methods

PageRank has been widely used as a major factor in search engine ranking systems. However, global link graph information is required when computing PageRank, which causes prohibitive communication cost to achieve accurate results in distributed solution. In this paper, we propose a distributed PageRank computation algorithm based on iterative aggregation-disaggregation (IAD) method with Block Jacobi smoothing. The basic idea is divide-and-conquer. We treat each web site as a node to explore the block structure of hyperlinks. Local PageRank is computed by each node itself and then updated with a low communication cost with a coordinator. We prove the global convergence of the Block Jacobi method and then analyze the communication overhead and major advantages of our algorithm. Experiments on three real web graphs show that our method converges 5-7 times faster than the traditional Power method. We believe our work provides an efficient and practical distributed solution for PageRank on large scale Web graphs.
Potts-model grain growth simulations: Parallel algorithms and applications

Microstructural morphology and grain boundary properties often control the service properties of engineered materials. This report uses the Potts-model to simulate the development of microstructures in realistic materials. Three areas of microstructural morphology simulations were studied. They include the development of massively parallel algorithms for Potts-model grain grow simulations, modeling of mass transport via diffusion in these simulated microstructures, and the development of a gradient-dependent Hamiltonian to simulate columnar grain growth. Potts grain growth models for massively parallel supercomputers were developed for the conventional Potts-model in both two and three dimensions. Simulations using these parallel codes showed self similar grain growth and no finite size effects for previously unapproachable large scale problems. In addition, new enhancements to the conventional Metropolis algorithm used in the Potts-model were developed to accelerate the calculations. These techniques enable both the sequential and parallel algorithms to run faster and use essentially an infinite number of grain orientation values to avoid non-physical grain coalescence events. Mass transport phenomena in polycrystalline materials were studied in two dimensions using numerical diffusion techniques on microstructures generated using the Potts-model. The results of the mass transport modeling showed excellent quantitative agreement with one dimensional diffusion problems, however the results also suggest that transient multi-dimension diffusion effects cannot be parameterized as the product of the grain boundary diffusion coefficient and the grain boundary width. Instead, both properties are required. Gradient-dependent grain growth mechanisms were included in the Potts-model by adding an extra term to the Hamiltonian. Under normal grain growth, the primary driving term is the curvature of the grain boundary, which is included in the standard Potts-model Hamiltonian.
Aldosteronism and a Proinflammatory Vascular Phenotype: Role of Mg2+, Ca2+, and H2O2 in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Background—Chronic, inappropriate (relative to dietary Na+) elevations in circulating aldosterone, such as occur in congestive heart failure, are accompanied by a proinflammatory vascular phenotype involving the coronary and systemic vasculature. An immunostimulatory state with activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) precedes this phenotype and is induced by a fall in cytosolic free [Mg2+]i and subsequent Ca2+ loading of these cells and transduced by oxidative/nitrosative stress. Methods and Results—We sought to further validate this hypothesis in rats with aldosterone/1%NaCl treatment (ALDOST) by using several interventions as cotreatment: a Mg2+-supplemented diet; amlodipine, a CCB; and N-acetylcysteine, an antioxidant. Blood samples were obtained at weeks 1 to 4 of ALDOST to monitor [Mg2+]i, [Ca2+]I, and H2O2 production in PBMCs. Coronal ventricular sections were examined for invading inflammatory cells and 3-nitrotyrosine labeling, a marker of oxidative/nitrosative stress. In response to ALDOST and compared with untreated controls, we found an early and persistent reduction in [Mg2+]i with a subsequent rise in [Ca2+]i and H2O2 production, each of which was either attenuated or abrogated by the Mg2+-supplemented diet and by N-acetylcysteine, whereas amlodipine prevented Ca2+ loading and an altered redox state. Cotreatment with these interventions either markedly attenuated or prevented the appearance of the proinflammatory coronary vascular phenotype and the presence of 3-nitrotyrosine in invading inflammatory cells. Conclusions—We suggest that the immunostimulatory state that appears during aldosteronism and leads to a proinflammatory coronary vascular phenotype is induced by a fall in [Mg2+]i with Ca2+ loading of PBMCs and is transduced by H2O2 production in these cells.
Representation in Theories of Embodied Cognition

This paper looks at a central issue with embodiment theories of cognition: the role, if any, they provide for mental representation. Thelen and Smith (1994) hold that the concept of representations is either vacuous or misapplied in such systems. Others maintain a place for representations (e.g. Clark 1996), but are imprecise about their nature and role. It is difficult to understand what those could be if representations are understood in the same sense as that used by computationalists: fixed or long-lasting neural structures that represent the sensory stimuli that caused them (e.g. neural response patterns in the visual cortex), or whose “meaning” is fixed innately or in early development for particular functions (e.g. the body schemas of Meltzoff and Gopnik 1993). The paper proposes a distinction between, on the one hand, neural patterns, traces of sensory activation that while not in themselves representations are available for representational activity, and on the other the act of representing, which is what gives representational content to neural patterns.
Single-photon cooling in a wedge billiard

Single-photon cooling (SPC), noted for its potential as a versatile method for cooling a variety of atomic species, has recently been demonstrated experimentally. In this paper, we study possible ways to improve the performance of SPC by applying it to atoms trapped inside a wedge billiard. The main feature of the wedge billiard for atoms, also experimentally realized recently, is that the nature of atomic trajectories within it changes from stable periodic orbit to random chaotic motion with the change in wedge angle. We find that a high cooling efficiency is possible in this system with a relatively weak dependence on the wedge angle and that chaotic dynamics, rather than a regular orbit, is more desirable for enhancing the performance of SPC.
Cache Replacement Techniques for Streaming Media in Wireless Home Networks

Wireless home networks are widely deployed due to their low cost, ease of installation, and plug-and-play capabilities with consumer electronic devices. Participating devices may cache continuous media (audio and video clips) in order to reduce the demand for outside-the-home network resources and improve the average delay incurred from when a user references a clip to the onset of its display (startup latency). In this paper, we focus on a home network consisting of a handful of devices. A device may manage its cache at the granularity of either a clip or individual blocks of a clip by employing either a clip-based or a block-based cache replacement technique. It may employ a technique in either stand-alone mode to enhance a local metric such as cache hit rate or make its state dependent on other devices in the home network to enhance a global metric such as average startup latency. These two variants are named greedy and cooperative, respectively. The primary contribution of this paper is to evaluate these alternatives using realistic specifications of a wireless home network. Our key finding is as follows. Our proposed cooperative block-based technique enhances startup latency when compared with clip-based alternatives. With multiple devices where each device acts greedy, clip-based caching is superior. In addition, we show our proposed block-based replacement policy materializes appropriate fraction of each clip across devices dynamically, eliminating the need to compute and place prefetch portions statically.
Genetic Algorithm for Self Occlusion Gait Recognition

Human identification has recently gained growing interest from computer vision researchers. Gait recognition domain has a wide range of applications in medicine (biomechanics), mathematics, psychology, rehabilitation and sports activity. It has the unique capability to recognize people at a distance when other biometrics is obscured. This paper aims to handle high levels of occlusion, which is of special importance in gait as the human body is self-occluding. Initially, the silhouettes segmented from video sequences are noisy and need further processing. Mathematical morphological operations are employed for holes remedy and noise elimination. To deal with the incomplete gait image, a new gait pattern representation method named frame difference energy image (FDEI) is used. After the foregoing preprocessing steps, then extract the self occluded feature from the silhouette image sequences. Then, warped template is updated by eliminating self-occluded part. Finally, the genetic algorithm is proposed for recognition of human walking.
Point to point sensor based path planning algorithm for autonomous mobile robots

The Bug algorithm is a local path planning methodology which detects the nearest obstacle as a mobile robot moves towards a target with limited information about the environment. It uses obstacle border as guidance toward the target. In Bug algorithm, the robot circumnavigates the obstacle till it finds certain condition to fulfill algorithm criteria to leave the obstacle toward target point. This paper introduces an approach utilizing a new algorithm called PointBug that attempts to minimize the use of outer perimeter of an obstacle (obstacle border) by looking for a few important points on the outer perimeter of obstacle area as a turning point to target and finally generates a complete path from source to target. The less use of outer perimeter of obstacle area produces shorter total path length taken by a mobile robot. This approach is then compared with other existing selected local path planning algorithm for total distance and a guarantee to reach the target.
Comparison of semantic and single term similarity measures for clustering turkish documents

With the rapid growth of the World Wide Web (www), it becomes a critical issue to design and organize the vast amounts of on-line documents on the web according to their topic. Even for the search engines it is very important to group similar documents in order to improve their performance when a query is submitted to the system. Clustering is useful for taxonomy design and similarity search of documents on such a domain. Similarity is fundamental to many clustering applications on hypertext. In this paper, we will study how measures of similarity are used to cluster a collection of documents on a web site. Most of the document clustering techniques rely on single term analysis of text, such as vector space model. To better group of related documents we propose a new semantic similarity measure. We compare our measure with Wu-Palmer similarity and cosine similarity. Experimental results show that cosine similarity perform better than the semantic similarities. We demonstrate our results on Turkish documents. This is a first study that considers the semantic similarities between Turkish documents.
A Mixed-Method Study of User Behavior and Usability on an Online Travel Agency

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) play a more and more important role in the tourism and hospitality industry by contributing to a large volume of transactions and revenue. Many studies have evaluated tourism websites through different research methods. Website usability in general has improved dramatically but problems remain. Very few studies focus on the user behavior and usability of a single OTA website. This research uses a mixed-methods approach, including eye tracking methodology to study information search strategy and the usability problems of a major OTA site with a pre-defined information search task. The results show that users' information search is mostly utilitarian in nature; the complex interface and advertising messages either confuse or were ignored by most users. The study calls for a simpler and more intuitive interface. A MIXED-METHOD STUDY OF USER BEHAVIOR AND USABILITY ON AN ONLINE TRAVEL AGENCY
Progress in the Simulation of Emergent Communication and Language

This article reviews recent progress made by computational studies investigating the emergence, via learning or evolutionary mechanisms, of communication among a collection of agents. This work spans issues related to animal communication and the origins and evolution of language. The studies reviewed show how population size, spatial constraints on agent interactions, and the tasks involved can all influence the nature of the communication systems and the ease with which they are learned and/or evolved. Although progress in this area has been substantial, we are able to identify some important areas for future research in the evolution of language, including the need for further computational investigation of key aspects of language such as open vocabulary and the more complex aspects of syntax.
Adaptive Technologies for Training and Education: Adaptive Educational Systems

This paper elaborates on the need for adaptive educational systems, describes an evidence-based, four-process framework for analyzing adaptive educational systems, and reviews several adaptive technologies and types of adaptive learning environments. In addition, interviews with experts in the field inform our discussion on what to adapt, how to adapt, and the future of adaptive educational systems.
MUTUAL FUND PORTFOLIO CHOICE IN THE PRESENCE OF DYNAMIC FLOWS

We analyze the implications of dynamic flows on a mutual fund's portfolio decisions. In our model, myopic investors dynamically allocate capital between a riskless asset and an actively managed fund which charges fraction‐of‐fund fees. The presence of dynamic flows induces “flow hedging” portfolio distortions on the part of the fund, even though investors are myopic. Our model predicts a positive relationship between a fund's proportional fee rate and its volatility. This is a consequence of higher‐fee funds holding more extreme equity positions. Although both the fund portfolio and investors' trading strategies depend on the proportional fee rate, the equilibrium value functions do not. Finally, we show that our results hold even if investors are allowed to directly trade some of the risky securities.
Activity Theory as a methodological and analytical framework for information practices in Emergency Management

Emergency situations are chaotic in nature. It is however, necessary to understand the context in which Emergency Responders work such that information practice issues can be highlighted and addressed by the system designers. In this paper, Activity Theory is proposed as a methodological and analytical framework to study information practices in the context of Emergency Management. Activity Theory aids in achieving a holistic approach to understanding the work activities context unlike some other analytical methodologies, as it focuses on use of artifacts for the interaction of humans with their environment. In this paper, an activity system model is used to investigate information practice issues of response phase of the emergency services in the UK. Using Activity Theory as an analytical framework, several tensions and contradictions emerged which keep the system unstable but which are also a source of innovation. It is also argued that Activity Theory can usefully be applied to the analysis of information practices over short period of time.
Density of dendritic cells in the human tracheal mucosa is age dependent and site specific

Background: The mucosal immune system undergoes extensive changes in early childhood in response to environmental stimuli. Dendritic cells (DC) play a major role in the development of the immune system. However, few data exist on the influence of continuous environmental stimulation on the distribution and phenotype of human airway DC. Methods: Human tissue samples are mostly paraffin embedded which limits the use of several antibodies, and respiratory tissue for cryopreservation is difficult to obtain. Human frozen post mortem tracheal tissue was therefore used for this study. Only samples with epithelial adherence to the basement membrane were included (n = 34). Immunohistochemical staining and sequential overlay immunofluorescence were performed with DC-SIGN and a panel of leucocyte markers co-expressed by DC. Results: DC detected in the human tracheal mucosa using DC-SIGN correlated with the expression of HLA-DR, co-stimulatory and adhesion molecules. Higher cell densities were found at the ventral tracheal site of patients older than 1 year than in infants in the first year of life. Conclusion: The increasing population of mucosal DC with age could reflect immunological maturation.
Spherical image-based visual servo and structure estimation

This paper presents a formulation of image-based visual servoing (IBVS) for a spherical camera where coordinates are parameterized in terms of colatitude and longitude: IBVS-Sph. The image Jacobian is derived and simulation results are presented for canonical rotational, translational as well as general motion. Problems with large rotations that affect the planar perspective form of IBVS are not present on the sphere, whereas the desirable robustness properties of IBVS are shown to be retained. We also describe a structure from motion (SfM) system based on camera-centric spherical coordinates and show how a recursive estimator can be used to recover structure. The spherical formulations for IBVS and SfM are particularly suitable for platforms, such as aerial and underwater robots, that move in SE(3).
Spectral-Spatial Hyperspectral Image Classification Using Subspace-Based Support Vector Machines and Adaptive Markov Random Fields

This paper introduces a new supervised classification method for hyperspectral images that combines spectral and spatial information. A support vector machine (SVM) classifier, integrated with a subspace projection method to address the problems of mixed pixels and noise, is first used to model the posterior distributions of the classes based on the spectral information. Then, the spatial information of the image pixels is modeled using an adaptive Markov random field (MRF) method. Finally, the maximum posterior probability classification is computed via the simulated annealing (SA) optimization algorithm. The combination of subspace-based SVMs and adaptive MRFs is the main contribution of this paper. The resulting methods, called SVMsub-eMRF and SVMsub-aMRF, were experimentally validated using two typical real hyperspectral data sets. The obtained results indicate that the proposed methods demonstrate superior performance compared with other classical hyperspectral image classification methods.
A Theory on the Singular Function of the Hippocampus: Facilitating the Binding of New Circuits of Cortical Columns

Despite the hippocampus being extensively studied, controversy remains as to its role in cognitive processing. The current paper presents a theoretical argument that the hippocampus has only one purpose: the binding of parallel cortical circuits. The paper begins with a discussion of cortical columns as the common binary digit (bit) for all neocortical processing. This is followed by details on the Dimensional Systems Model and its explanation of cortical circuitry. As opposed to any independent function in cognitive processing, the hippocampal cells are viewed as serving a slave function to cortical circuits since they are activated as part of a cortical-hippocampal-thalamic-cortical circuit. As part of that circuit, the hippocampus serves the role of reactivating the cortical circuits involved in complex memories (i.e., involving multiple cortical circuits) to facilitate the consolidation of the involved cortical columns’ interconnections. Next there is a brief discussion of prior theoretical views explaining hippocampal involvement in memory and spatial representations. To facilitate an appreciation of the unique aspects of the new model, it is contrasted against the extensively developed Component Process Model. Conclusions focus on how a complete model of cortical cognitive processing is necessary to adequately explain the purpose of the hippocampus, viewed as a complex structure with an elegantly simple function.
A Systematic Characterization of IM Threats using Honeypots

The popularity of instant messaging (IM) services has recently attracted the interest of attackers that try to send malicious URLs or files to the contact lists of compromised instant messaging accounts or clients. This work focuses on a systematic characterization of IM threats based on the information collected by HoneyBuddy, a honeypot-like infrastructure for detecting malicious activities in IM networks. HoneyBuddy finds and adds contacts to its honeypot messengers by querying popular search engines for IM contacts or by advertising its accounts on contact finder sites. Our deployment has shown that with over six thousand contacts we can gather between 50 and 110 malicious URLs per day as well as executables. Our experiments show that 21% of our collected executable samples were not gathered by other malware collection infrastructures, while 93% of the identified IM phishing domains were not recorded by popular blacklist mechanisms. Furthermore, our findings show that the malicious domains are hosted by a limited number of hosts that remain practically unchanged throughout time.