Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3‐Nitropropionic acid toxicity in hippocampus: Protection through N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor antagonism

The over‐activation of glutamate receptors can lead to excitotoxic cell death and is believed to be involved in the progression of neurodegenerative events in the vulnerable hippocampus. Here, we used an in vitro slice model to study toxicity produced in the hippocampus by the mitochondrial toxin 3‐nitropropionic acid (3‐NP). The organotypic slice cultures exhibit native cellular organization as well as dense arborization of neuronal processes and synaptic contacts. The hippocampal slices were exposed to 3‐NP for 2–20 days, causing calpain‐mediated breakdown of the spectrin cytoskeleton, a loss of pre‐ and postsynaptic markers, and neuronal atrophy. The N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist memantine reduced both the cytoskeletal damage and synaptic decline in a dose‐dependent manner. 3‐NP‐induced cytotoxicity, as determined by the release of lactate dehydrogenase, was also reduced by memantine with EC50 values from 1.7 to 2.3 μM. Propidium iodide fluorescence and phase contrast microscopy confirmed memantine neuroprotection against the chronic toxin exposure. In addition, the protected tissue exhibited normal neuronal morphology in the major hippocampal subfields. These results indicate that antagonists of NMDA‐type glutamate receptors are protective during the toxic outcome associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. They also provide further evidence of memantine's therapeutic potential against neurodegenerative diseases. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Relational Mentoring of Doctoral Social Work Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

ABSTRACT This article explores the distinctive mentoring experiences of social work doctoral students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). With a philosophical emphasis on social justice, self-determination, racial identity and pride, and social integration, social work faculty at HBCUs mentor African American and other students in PhD programs for academic achievement and successful leadership in the professoriate. The mentoring experiences at HBCUs are underpinned by tenets from relational/cultural theory and the Black feminist theory of “other mothering. ” Using Howard University as a case study, this article examines relational mentoring experiences of PhD students in preparation for the academy and for leadership in social work education and practice.
Action recognition using weighted integration of co-occurrence patterns with discriminant weights

Extending popular histogram representations of local motion patterns, we present a novel weighted integration method based on an assumption that a motion importance should be changed by its appearance to obtain better recognition accuracies. The proposed integration method of motion and appearance patterns can weight information involving “what is moving” by discriminant way. The discriminant weights can be learned efficiently and naturally using two-dimensional fisher discriminant analysis (or, fisher weight maps) of co-occurrence matrices. Original fisher weight maps lose shift invariance of histogram features, while the proposed method preserves it. Experimental results on KTH human action dataset and UT-interaction dataset revealed the effectiveness of the proposed integration compared to naive integration methods of independent motion and appearance features and also other state-of-the-art methods.
Robot Mapping with a Topological Map of Local Space Representations

In this paper we show how a cognitive mapping theory [1,2] can be used to implement a navigational map for a robot. At the core of this theory is the notion that a representation is computed for each local space the robot visits. These representations are connected in the way they are experienced to form a topological network of local space descriptions. We show how the local space representation is computed using a laser scanner which gives a limited 180o view of the robot’s environment. We describe how the topological map grows as the robot moves through different local spaces. One of the most studied problems in robot mapping is that of tracking the robot’s location when sensory and odometric errors are accumulating in the robot’s map. We argue that the structure of the robot’s map should simplify the process of localising the robot and improving the map as the robot becomes more familiar with its environment. Thus we show how our representation facilitates both updating the map and tracking the robot’s location. Key-words: Robot mapping, topological map, localisation, local map, metric map
Astrocyte Stellation, a Process Dependent on Rac1 Is Sustained by the Regulated Exocytosis of Enlargeosomes

Cultured astrocytes exhibit a flat/epitelioid phenotype much different from the star‐like phenotype of tissue astrocytes. Upon exposure to treatments that affect the small GTPase Rho and/or its effector ROCK, however, flat astrocytes undergo stellation, with restructuring of cytoskeleton and outgrowth of processes with lamellipodia, assuming a phenotype closer to that exhibited in situ. The mechanisms of this change are known only in part. Using the ROCK blocker drug Y27632, which induces rapid (tens of min), dose‐dependent and reversible stellations, we focused on two specific aspects of the process: its dependence on small GTPases and the large surface expansion of the cells. Contrary to previous reports, we found stellation to be governed by the small G protein Rac1, up to disappearance of the process when Rac1 was downregulated or blocked by a specific drug. In contrast cdc42, the other G‐protein often involved in phenotype changes, appeared not involved. The surface expansion concomitant to cytoskeleton restructuring, also dependent on Rac1, was found to be at least partially sustained by the exocytosis of enlargeosomes, small vesicles distinct from classical cell organelles, which are abundant in astrocytes. Exhaustion of stellation induced by repeated administrations of Y27632 correlated with the decrease of the enlargeosome pool. A whole‐cell process like stellation of cultured astrocytes might be irrelevant in the brain tissue. However, local restructuring of the cytoskeleton coordinate with surface expansion, occurring at critical cell sites and sustained by mechanisms analogous to those of stellation, might be of importance in both astrocyte physiology and pathology. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Retrieval of Personal Web Documents by Extracting Subjective Expressions

This paper presents a method for gathering Japanese Web documents which contain personal opinions. Our method is available as a pre-processing of applications for mining various opinions. In order to find personal documents on the Web, we focus on four kinds of subjective expressions: (1) negative meaning expressions, (2) final particles, (3) interjections, and (4) specific symbols such as face marks. Measuring the frequencies of these subjective expressions in a document, our method classifies Web documents into personal and non-personal ones. Besides, our method gives the documents scores which show the accuracy of the classification results. We experimentally confirmed the effectiveness of the proposal using 1200 Web documents. The experimental results have shown the precision and recall of the proposed classification are 0.70 and 0.87, respectively. In addition, we have confirmed that personal documents can be easily obtained by gathering documents which are given high scores.
AuCRB: An Efficient Mechanism to Provide Availability, Reliability and Authentication for Multihop Broadcasting in Wireless Networks

This paper proposes a reliable and secure broadcast protocol for ad hoc wireless networks. Since coding and security compete for the same resources, we jointly solve for reliability, availability and integrity for a broadcast scenario. Packets sent by the source node would travel in a hop-by-hop fashion to the other nodes. Hence, it is critical to reduce the number of transmissions and latency. We assume Byzantine attacks in which the adversary can drop (or modify) legitimate packets and inject its own packets via several insider nodes. We require that the source data is reached to all legitimate nodes in the presence of any number of colluding Byzantine attackers as long as the legitimate nodes are connected. We also require that each receiver node in the network to be equipped with a mechanism to verify the source node and the integrity of the received packets using limited cryptographic primitives. It is essential that every node receiving a malicious packet immediately filters it out and uses only the legitimate ones for forwarding to the next hop and decoding. Designing a broadcasting mechanism that satisfies all the above requirements is a very challenging problem. We develop an authentication scheme, using a reliable and energy-efficient broadcasting protocol called Collaborative Rateless Broadcast (CRBcast) and limited cryptographic primitives. On contrary to the previous schemes, our scheme is resilient with respect to Byzantine failures as well as routing and flooding attacks and protocol exploits. Moreover, we compared our scheme with the previously proposed broadcast authentication schemes and showed that our scheme outperforms them in terms of efficiency. This is a crucial improvement over the previous schemes that ensure availability by flooding, but with very large communication overhead and latency.
Happy mapping: linkage mapping using a physical analogue of meiosis

We have devised a simple method for ordering markers on a chromosome and determining the distances between them. It uses haploid equivalents of DNA and the polymerase chain reaction, hence 'happy mapping'. Our approach is analogous to classical linkage mapping; we replace its two essential elements, chromosome breakage and segregation, by in vitro analogues. DNA from any source is broken randomly by gamma-irradiation or shearing. Markers are then segregated by diluting the resulting fragments to give aliquots containing approximately 1 haploid genome equivalent. Linked markers tend to be found together in an aliquot. After detecting markers using the polymerase chain reaction, map order and distance can be deduced from the frequency with which markers 'co-segregate'. We have mapped 7 markers scattered over 1.24 Mbp using only 140 aliquots. Using the 'whole-genome' chain reaction, we also show how the approach might be used to map thousands of markers scattered throughout the genome. The method is powerful because the frequency of chromosome breakage can be optimized to suit the resolution required.
Campus Memories: Learning with contextualised blogging

De Jong, T. , Al Takrouri, B. , Specht, M. , Koper, R. (2007). Campus Memories: Learning with Contextualised Blogging. In D. Griffiths, R. Koper & O. Liber (Eds). Proceedings of The 2nd TenCompetence Workshop (pp. 59-67), January 11-12, 2007, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Effects of quantum noise in 4D-CT on deformable image registration and derived ventilation data

Quantum noise is common in CT images and is a persistent problem in accurate ventilation imaging using 4D-CT and deformable image registration (DIR). This study focuses on the effects of noise in 4D-CT on DIR and thereby derived ventilation data. A total of six sets of 4D-CT data with landmarks delineated in different phases, called point-validated pixel-based breathing thorax models (POPI), were used in this study. The DIR algorithms, including diffeomorphic morphons (DM), diffeomorphic demons (DD), optical flow and B-spline, were used to register the inspiration phase to the expiration phase. The DIR deformation matrices (DIRDM) were used to map the landmarks. Target registration errors (TRE) were calculated as the distance errors between the delineated and the mapped landmarks. Noise of Gaussian distribution with different standard deviations (SD), from 0 to 200 Hounsfield Units (HU) in amplitude, was added to the POPI models to simulate different levels of quantum noise. Ventilation data were calculated using the ΔV algorithm which calculates the volume change geometrically based on the DIRDM. The ventilation images with different added noise levels were compared using Dice similarity coefficient (DSC). The root mean square (RMS) values of the landmark TRE over the six POPI models for the four DIR algorithms were stable when the noise level was low (SD <150 HU) and increased with added noise when the level is higher. The most accurate DIR was DD with a mean RMS of 1.5 ± 0.5 mm with no added noise and 1.8 ± 0.5 mm with noise (SD = 200 HU). The DSC values between the ventilation images with and without added noise decreased with the noise level, even when the noise level was relatively low. The DIR algorithm most robust with respect to noise was DM, with mean DSC = 0.89 ± 0.01 and 0.66 ± 0.02 for the top 50% ventilation volumes, as compared between 0 added noise and SD = 30 and 200 HU, respectively. Although the landmark TRE were stable with low noise, the differences between ventilation images increased with noise level, even when the noise was low, indicating ventilation imaging from 4D-CT was sensitive to image noise. Therefore, high quality 4D-CT is essential for accurate ventilation images.
A Multi Residue GC-MS Method for Determination of 12 Pesticides in Cucumber

Cucumber is one of the main vegetables in Iranian food basket. A wide range of pesticides are used for crops protection during the cultivation of vegetables such as cucumber due to heavy pest infestation. Analysis of pesticide residues in food and other environmental commodities have become essential requirement for consumers, producers, and food quality control authorities. This study was aimed at determination of pesticides residues in cucumber as a main vegetable in Iranian food basket. A reliable, rapid and accurate method based on spiked calibration curves and modified QuEChERS sample preparation was developed for determination of 12 pesticide residues in cucumber by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The use of spiked calibration standards for constructing the calibration curve substantially reduced adverse matrix-related effects. The recovery of pesticides at 5 concentration levels (n = 3) was in the range of 80.6-112.3. The method was proved to be repeatable with RSD lower than 20%. The limits of detection and quantification for all pesticides were <10 ng/g and <25 ng/g, respectively. The developed method was used for simultaneous determination of the selected pesticides in 60 greenhouse and garden cucumber samples. Among the 60 analyzed samples, 41.7% of them were contaminated with pesticide residues which 31.7% of samples had pesticide residues lower than maximum residue limit and 10% of samples had residue higher than maximum residue limit.
Pattern identification as a function of stimulation on a fingertip-scanned electrotactile display

Two studies were conducted to determine the effect of stimulation current on pattern perception on a 49-point fingertip-scanned electrotactile (electrocutaneous) display. Performance increased monotonically from near chance levels at the lowest subthreshold current levels tested to approximately 90% at the highest comfortable current levels. This suggests the existence of a tradeoff between spatial performance and usable "gray scale" range in electrotactile presentation of graphical information.
The status of intercellular junctions in established lens epithelial cell lines

Purpose Cataract is the major cause of vision-related disability worldwide. Mutations in the crystallin genes are the most common known cause of inherited congenital cataract. Mutations in the genes associated with intercellular contacts, such as Nance-Horan Syndrome (NHS) and Ephrin type A receptor-2 (EPHA2), are other recognized causes of congenital cataract. The EPHA2 gene has been also associated with age-related cataract, suggesting that intercellular junctions are important in not only lens development, but also in maintaining lens transparency. The purpose of this study was to analyze the expression and localization of the key cell junction and cytoskeletal proteins, and of NHS and EPHA2, in established lens epithelial cell lines to determine their suitability as model epithelial systems for the functional investigation of genes involved in intercellular contacts and implicated in cataract. Methods The expression and subcellular localization of occludin and zona occludens protein-1 (ZO-1), which are associated with tight junctions; E-cadherin, which is associated with adherence junctions; and the cytoskeletal actin were analyzed in monolayers of a human lens epithelial cell line (SRA 01/04) and a mouse lens epithelial cell line (αTN4). In addition, the expression and subcellular localization of the NHS and EPHA2 proteins were analyzed in these cell lines. Protein or mRNA expression was respectively determined by western blotting or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR), and localization was determined by immunofluorescence labeling. Results Human SRA 01/04 and mouse αTN4 lens epithelial cells expressed either the proteins of interest or their encoding mRNA. Occludin, ZO-1, and NHS proteins localized to the cellular periphery, whereas E-cadherin, actin, and EPHA2 localized in the cytoplasm in these cell lines. Conclusions The human SRA 01/04 and mouse αTN4 lens epithelial cells express the key junctional proteins. The localization patterns of these proteins suggest that these cell lines form tight junctions but do not form E-cadherin-based adherence junctions. These data further indicate that the regulatory role of NHS in actin remodeling, suggested in another study, is cell type dependent. In conclusion, the SRA 01/04 and αTN4 lens epithelial cell lines model some characteristics of an epithelium.
Detecting Contradiction in Text by Using Lexical Mismatch and Structural Similarity

Detecting contradicting statements is a crucial sub-problem for ltering textual entailment pairs. Given two text pairs T1 and T2 that are topically related, the task is to nd whether the two statements are in contrast to each other, or not. In many situations a mismatch in named entities or numerical expressions is a strong clue for a contradiction between T1 and T2. However, if the dependency parse trees are quite di erent, and the words of T1 and T2 cannot be aligned well, then this indicates that a lexical mismatch is not su cient to conclude contradiction of T1 and T2. We present a new method that assumes the higher the structural similarity of two sentences, the higher the chance that a contradiction on the word level indicates contradiction on the sentence level. We participated in two subtasks of RITE2 at NTCIR-10 which contain many contradicting statements in a real world setting. Our system became second place in the ExamBC subtask (formal run, o cial result), and rst place in the ExamSearch subtask (formal run, uno cial result). We show that our proposed method contributed to the improvement in both tasks.
Optimal User Loading in Massive MIMO Systems With Regularized Zero Forcing Precoding

We consider a downlink massive multiple-input multiple output system employing regularized zero-forcing precoding. We derive the asymptotic signal-to-leakage-plus-noise ratio (SLNR) as both the number of antennas and the number of users go to infinity at a fixed ratio. Focusing on spatially uncorrelated channels with homogeneous large scale fading gains, we show that the SLNR is asymptotically equal to signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio, which allows us to optimize the user loading for spectral efficiency. The results show that the optimal user loading varies depending on the channel signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). As the SNR increases, the optimal user loading decreases at low SNR, but increases at high SNR.
Nerve Growth Factor Involves Mutual Interaction between Neurons and Satellite Glial Cells in the Rat Trigeminal Ganglion

Nerve growth factor (NGF) plays a critical role in the trigeminal ganglion (TG) following peripheral nerve damage in the oral region. Although neurons in the TG are surrounded by satellite glial cells (SGCs) that passively support neural function, little is known regarding NGF expression and its interactions with TG neurons and SGCs. This study was performed to examine the expression of NGF in TG neurons and SGCs with nerve damage by experimental tooth movement. An elastic band was inserted between the first and second upper molars of rats. The TG was removed at 0–7 days after tooth movement. Using in situ hybridization, NGF mRNA was expressed in both neurons and SGCs. Immunostaining for NGF demonstrated that during tooth movement the number of NGF-immunoreactive SGCs increased significantly as compared with baseline and reached maximum levels at day 3. Furthermore, the administration of the gap junction inhibitor carbenoxolone at the TG during tooth movement significantly decreased the number of NGF-immunoreactive SGCs. These results suggested that peripheral nerve damage may induce signal transduction from neurons to SGCs via gap junctions, inducing NGF expression in SGCs around neurons, and released NGF may be involved in the restoration of damaged neurons.
Privacy-Preserving Profiling

With the rise of social networking, and other sites which collect vast amounts of user data, the issue of user privacy has never been more important. When creating user profiles care must be taken to avoid collecting sensitive information, while ensuring that these profiles are fit for purpose. In this paper we present a specific instance of the privacy-preserving profiling problem in an expert-finding application. We present a dataset of profiles, as well as several datasets for contaminating these profiles, and provide experiments to test data quality and privacy-preserving performance. We present a simple solution based on training an LSA model on a clean profile corpus, which maintains performance and provides a moderate level of privacy.