Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modulation of excitatory amino acid receptors by group IIB metal cations in cultured mouse hippocampal neurones.

1. Responses to the excitatory amino acids kainate, quisqualate, N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA), L‐glutamate and L‐aspartate were recorded in mouse hippocampal neurones in cell culture, using the whole‐cell configuration of the patch clamp technique. Agonists were applied rapidly from an array of flow pipes each of 250 microns diameter, positioned within 100 microns of the nerve cell body. 2. Responses to NMDA, L‐aspartate and to low concentrations of L‐glutamate, recorded with glycine in the extracellular fluid, were strongly antagonized by 50 microM‐zinc. Responses to kainate, quisqualate, and in glycine‐free solution, responses to L‐glutamate, were potentiated by 50 microM‐zinc, but partially antagonized by 1 mM‐zinc. On average, with 50 microM‐zinc, responses to NMDA were reduced to 0.19 times control, while responses to kainate and quisqualate were increased to 1.09 and 1.14 times control. With 1 mM‐zinc responses to kainate and quisqualate were reduced to 0.54 and 0.42 times control. 3. Cadmium had a similar, though less potent action, and at 50 microM antagonized responses to NMDA but potentiated responses to kainate and quisqualate. On average, with 50 microM‐cadmium, responses to NMDA were reduced to 0.39 times control, while responses to kainate and quisqualate were increased to 1.08 and 1.15 times control. With 1 mM‐cadmium responses to NMDA were reduced to 0.04 times control while responses to kainate and quisqualate were reduced to 0.79 and 0.60 times control. Mercury was neurotoxic and increased the leakage current; however, no reduction of the response to NMDA was produced by 5 microM‐mercury. 4. The equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd) for zinc antagonism of responses to NMDA, estimated from fit of a single binding site adsorption isotherm, was 13 microM; cadmium was about 4 times less potent than zinc. These effects of zinc and cadmium were nearly voltage independent. In contrast the antagonism of responses to NMDA by 150 microM‐magnesium was highly voltage dependent, such that the Kd for magnesium increased e‐fold per 17.6 mV depolarization. 5. The potency of zinc as an NMDA antagonist did not vary with the concentration of NMDA, and was not greatly influenced by a 1000‐fold variation in the concentration of the NMDA‐modulator glycine. This suggests that zinc acts as a non‐competitive antagonist, and does not directly interfere with the binding of NMDA to the agonist recognition site nor with the binding of glycine to an allosteric site on the NMDA receptor complex. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The Use of Grounded Theory in Change Management Research

Abstract This paper describes the use of Grounded Theory (GT) for the analysis of collated data on organizational change within a large UK manufacturing company. The paper illustrates how analysis was carried out on the large volume of data gathered during the research. The data was collected through triangulation of observation, interviews and company documentation over a four year period. The description of ‘how’ this data was approached, assembled and then condensed is the contribution this paper makes. The paper describes in detail the steps taken and specifically how the thousands of words were transformed into focused conclusions and recommendations, ultimately generating a grounded model. It emerged that, amongst other benefits tied to the use of ‘partial’ GT, the overlap of data analysis with data collection allowed a head start with the interpretation process. GT was ideally suited to dealing with the qualitative data collected (thousands of pages of field notes, interview transcripts, company documentation). The overall intent of this paper is to add a level of detail to the data analysis stage, specifically when employing GT within a change management research project.
Socially induced semantic networks and applications

Social bookmarking systems allow Web users to actively annotate online resources. These annotations incorporate meta-information with Web pages in addition to the actual document contents. From a collection of socially annotated resources, we present various methods for quantifying the relationship between objects, i.e., tags or resources. These relationships can then be represented in a semantic similarity network where the nodes represent objects and the undirected weighted edges represent their relations. These relations are quantified through similarity measures. There are two challenges associated with assembling and maintaining such a similarity network. The first challenge is updating the relations efficiently, i.e., the time and space complexity associated with graph algorithms. The complexity of these algorithms is typically quadratic. We present an incremental process answering both space and time limitations. The second challenge is the quality of the similarity measure. We evaluate various measures through the approximation of reference similarities. We then present a number of applications leveraging socially induced semantic similarity networks. A tag recommendation system, a page recommendation engine, and a query result interface are evaluated through user studies. Finally, we design spam detection algorithms to enhance the functionality of social bookmarking systems.
The joint impact of perceived influence and supervisor supportiveness on employee innovative behaviour

A questionnaire survey among 170 employees of a Dutch company showed that supervisor supportiveness moderated the relationship between employees' perceived influence in the workplace and their levels of innovative behaviour. As hypothesized, the results suggest that when supervisors are perceived as being supportive of employee innovation, employees feel encouraged to use their influence to carry out innovative activities at work, whereas supervisors perceived as not being supportive inhibit them from doing so.
A Non-Parametric Trainable Object-Detection Model Using A Concept Of Retinotopic Sampling

A retina has a space-variant sampling mechanism and an orientation-sensitive mechanism. The space-variant sampling mechanism of the retina is called retinotopic sampling (RS). Withthese mechanisms of the retina, the object-detection isformulated as finding appropriatecoordinate transformation from a coordinate system on an input image, to a coordinate system on the retina. However, when the object size is inferred by thismechanism, the result tends to gravitate towards zero. To cancel this gravity, the space-variant sampling mechanism is modified to uniform sampling mechanism, but a concept of RS is equivalently introduced by using space-variant weights. This object-detection mechanism is modeled as a non-parametric method. By using the model based on RS, we formulate a kernel function as an analytical function of information of an object, a position and a size of the object in an image. Then the object-detection is realized as a gradient decent method for a discriminant function trained by Support Vector Machine (SVM) using this kernel function. This detection mechanism realizes faster detection than exploring a visual scene in raster-like fashion. The discriminant function outperforms results of SVMs using a kernel function using intensities of all pixels (based on independently published results), in face detection experiments over the 24,045 test images in the MIT-CBCL database.
Children and adolescents with velocardiofacial syndrome: a volumetric MRI study.

OBJECTIVE Velocardiofacial syndrome is a common genetic condition often accompanied by mild cognitive impairment. Children and adolescents with velocardiofacial syndrome also are at greater risk for developing serious neuropsychiatric disorders in adulthood, particularly schizophrenia-like disorders. The purpose of this preliminary study was to 1) elucidate through brain imaging the neurobiological basis of cognitive and neuropsychiatric problems in velocardiofacial syndrome, and 2) consider the association between variations in neuroanatomy in velocardiofacial syndrome subjects and the associated neurobehavioral phenotype. METHOD Fifteen children and adolescents with velocardiofacial syndrome were matched by age and gender with 15 comparison subjects. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging scans were analyzed to provide quantitative measures of specified brain tissues and regions. Rater-blind morphometric analyses were conducted to examine tissue volumes of the four lobes and the cerebellum. RESULTS Total brain volume was approximately 11% smaller in the children with velocardiofacial syndrome. Gray matter volume was reduced to a lesser extent (7.5%) than white matter volume (16.3%). Multivariate analyses of variance indicated a distinct pattern of regional morphological variation among the children with velocardiofacial syndrome. Specifically, frontal lobe tissue tended to be enlarged relative to the overall reduction in brain volume. Normal symmetry of parietal lobe tissue observed in the comparison group was not evident in the velocardiofacial syndrome group. This loss of symmetry was attributable to a significant reduction of gray matter in the left parietal lobe. CONCLUSIONS Aberrant brain morphology is associated with velocardiofacial syndrome. These changes are potentially related to the language and learning deficits associated with the syndrome and may provide clues about neurodevelopmental pathways associated with schizophrenia.
The Changing Concept of Epigenetics

Abstract: We discuss the changing use of epigenetics, a term coined by Conrad Waddington in the 1940s, and how the epigenetic approach to development differs from the genetic approach. Originally, epigenetics referred to the study of the way genes and their products bring the phenotype into being. Today, it is primarily concerned with the mechanisms through which cells become committed to a particular form or function and through which that functional or structural state is then transmitted in cell lineages. We argue that modern epigenetics is important not only because it has practical significance for medicine, agriculture, and species conservation, but also because it has implications for the way in which we should view heredity and evolution. In particular, recognizing that there are epigenetic inheritance systems through which non‐DNA variations can be transmitted in cell and organismal lineages broadens the concept of heredity and challenges the widely accepted gene‐centered neo‐Darwinian version of Darwinism.
Graph weighted subspace learning models in bankruptcy

MANY dimensionality reduction algorithms have been proposed easing both tasks of visualization and classification in high dimension problems. Despite the different motivations they can be cast in a graph embedding framework. In this paper we address weighted graph subspace learning methods for bankruptcy analysis. The rationale behind re-embedding the data in a lower dimensional space that would be better filled is twofold: to get the most compact representation (visualization) and to make subsequent processing of data more easy (classification). The approaches used, Graph regularized Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (GNMF) and Spatially Smooth Subspace Learning (SSSL), construct an affinity weight graph matrix to encode geometrical information and to learn in the training set the subspace models that enhance visualization and are able to ease the task of bankruptcy prediction. The experimental results on a real problem of French companies show that from the perspective of financial problem analysis the methodology is quite effective.
Hospitals and Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Managing Responsibilities, Risk, and Potential Liability

Patients and families increasingly press hospitals to facilitate provision of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies and products. At the same time, a growing number of hospitals and health care facilities have taken steps to integrate CAM and conventional care. In this article we consider institutional responsibilities when patients/parents use or are considering CAM. We (1) review hospitals' responsibilities to patients and parents, (2) explain how these principles apply in the case of CAM practitioners and products, (3) address institutional responsibilities for different models of service delivery, and (4) highlight issues that should be addressed when developing institutional policies to govern CAM use and propose ways to do so.
Concentration Quenching of the 1.5 µm Emission of Er3+-Doped Bismuth Borate Glasses

Concentration quenching of Er<sup>3+</sup> fluorescence has been quantitatively investigated in bismuth borate glasses with a serial of Er<sup>3+</sup> concentrations. The analysis of the total decay rate of the <sup>4</sup>I<sub>13/2</sub> state of Er<sup>3+</sup> has been used to determine the dominant cause of quenching. On the basis of the electric dipole-dipole interaction mechanism, the quenching parameters were determined and compared with other Er<sup>3+</sup>-doped glasses.
Ontology Services between Agents and OWL Based Web Services

Agents and grid services are distinct technologies which arose independent of each other, having their own standards and specifications. Introduction of semantics in grid services play a pivotal role in making them programmable by software agents. Different ontology languages have been proposed for semantic description of these technologies i.e. Ontology Web Language (OWL) is a W3C standard for emerging semantic web, while FIPA SL is FIPA standard for Multiagent systems. These semantic description languages have different underlying support for the terms, syntax, semantics and implementation constraints, which hinder semantic interoperability among these technologies. Therefore, our research focus has been on integrating agent technology with grid services without changing their standards and specifications. We have proposed a middleware known as middleware ontology service, which provide semantic interoperability between agents and grid services by providing translation of ontologies i.e. translation of OWL ontology to FIPA SL ontology for agents and translation of FIPA SL ontology to OWL for grid services. We describe how the proposed architecture registers the translated ontology on middleware and exposes it to grid and agent communities for further querying of concepts, properties and actions. We also describe the test bed configuration through which a software agent will invoke and use a grid service published in OWL and vice versa.
Two C3H Type Zinc Finger Protein Genes, CpCZF1 and CpCZF2, from Chimonanthus praecox Affect Stamen Development in Arabidopsis

Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) is a popular garden plant because of its flowering time, sweet fragrance, and ornamental value. However, research into the molecular mechanism that regulates flower development in wintersweet is still limited. In this study, we sought to investigate the molecular characteristics, expression patterns, and potential functions of two C3H-type zinc finger (CZF) protein genes, CpCZF1 and CpCZF2, which were isolated from the wintersweet flowers based on the flower developmental transcriptome database. CpCZF1 and CpCZF2 were more highly expressed in flower organs than in vegetative tissues, and during the flower development, their expression profiles were associated with flower primordial differentiation, especially that of petal and stamen primordial differentiation. Overexpression of either CpCZF1 or CpCZF2 caused alterations on stamens in transgenic Arabidopsis. The expression levels of the stamen identity-related genes, such as AGAMOUS (AG), PISTILLATA (PI), SEPALLATA1 (SEP1), SEPALLATA2 (SEP2), SEPALLATA3 (SEP3), APETALA1 (AP1), APETALA2 (AP2), and boundary gene RABBIT EAR (RBE) were significantly up-regulated in CpCZF1 overexpression lines. Additionally, the transcripts of AG, PI, APETALA3 SEP1-3, AP1, and RBE were markedly increased in CpCZF2 overexpressed plant inflorescences. Moreover, CpCZF1 and CpCZF2 could interact with each other by using yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays. Our results suggest that CpCZF1 and CpCZF2 may be involved in the regulation of stamen development and cause the formation of abnormal flowers in transgenic Arabidopsis plants.
A new monolithic micro biosensor for blood analysis

A new micro biosensor has been proposed and fabricated for the measurement of glucose concentration in whole blood. The proposed micro biosensor has been monolithically integrated with enzymatic metal microelectrode array in a micromachined chamber attached to a microsyringe. The fabricated micro biosensor has a high sensitivity of 470 nA/cm/sup 2/. mM for detecting glucose levels in a wide linear range of 0/spl sim/50 mM in potassium phosphate buffer solution (pH7.0).
Competing discourses in Sri Lankan English poetry

ABSTRACT: The realization that language is ideological has created a debate among postcolonial English writers on what language to use for their creative expression and how. While Ngugi wa Thiong'o has argued for the abandonment of English and the sole use of native languages, Gabriel Okara has argued for the fusion of the native and English discourses, thus constructing an alternate discourse that is ideologically satisfying for native aspirations while being internationally accessible for a wide readership. A reading of contemporary Sri Lankan poetry, to see how poets negotiate the competing discourses of the native and English languages, reveals at least four strategies. Patrick Fernando uses standard English with a Western ‘modernist’ idiom, failing to address the clash of discourses. Yasmine Gooneratne consciously negotiates the conflict through the technique of irony in order to use the same Anglo-American discourse. Jean Arasanayagam attempts to fuse the discourses; but the mere inclusion of Tamil lexical items into Standard English syntax and cosmopolitan ethos lacks successful integration. It was perhaps the prematurely deceased Lakdasa Wikkramasinha who managed to fuse Sinhala and English into a genuinely creative alternate discourse, as he was more firmly grounded in the native literary and cultural traditions.
Effectiveness of criminal justice liaison and diversion services for offenders with mental disorders: a review.

OBJECTIVE The authors reviewed studies of the effectiveness of criminal justice liaison and diversion (CJLD) services in which outcomes of participants in these services were compared with those of offenders with mental illness who received no intervention or a standard intervention. The authors synthesized existing evidence with respect to changes in mental health status or criminal recidivism. METHODS A comprehensive search (1980-2012) of more than 30 generic and specialist databases identified 6,571 published and unpublished studies. The studies, which varied considerably in methodological approach and overall quality, were systematically appraised according to Campbell-Cochrane guidelines. Ten studies met inclusion criteria. Key outcomes included a reduction in offending and postintervention changes in mental health. RESULTS Synthesized findings indicated that CJLD services appeared to be effective in identifying offenders with mental disorders and that participation in CJLD services had a positive impact on criminal justice and mental health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Although the methodologies of existing studies are only moderately rigorous, the overall findings suggest that CJLD services can be beneficial. Their effectiveness depends on the model of service delivery, the availability of community services, and the engagement of offenders with mental disorders in treatment. The successful implementation of CJLD services requires a clearer recognition of the importance of systems-of-care principles.
Progressive virtual topology embedding in OpenFlow networks

Future internet would provide a flexible and simpler architectural design by combining novel low level clean-slate techniques such as OpenFlow with high level design principles such as network virtualization. However, previous research outlined that at the core of network virtualization stands a new set of challenges for network resources allocation. In this work we focus on one such challenge, namely the problem of virtual topology embedding. In this context users need to leverage the infrastructure substrate by accomodating logical topologies with high degree of flexibility. The network provider, on the other hand, aims at maximizing its revenue in term of size and number of topologies accepted while minimizing costs accounting for the substrate network resources used. To this aim, we present VT-Planner a novel virtual network embedding technique with reduced computational cost and very efficient over substrate topologies encountered in practice. Extensive numerical simulations are provided comparing this technique with state- of-the-art solutions: our results show that VT-Planner is able to achieve a good balance in terms of complexity and performance.
Diffusion-weighted imaging in the setting of diffuse cortical laminar necrosis and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE As is the case for CT scans, MR images may occasionally appear deceptively normal unless proper windowing is used. We sought to illustrate the necessity for proper windowing and for assessing the gray-white matter differentiation on diffusion-weighted (DW) images in the setting of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. METHODS Six comatose patients (age range, 34-56 years) underwent MR imaging in the early phase (range, 1-5 days) after severe anoxic insult. T2-weighted, turbo fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery, and DW images were obtained in all six patients, with contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images obtained in four and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps in five of the six patients. RESULTS At presentation, each of the six patients had symmetric, uniform hyperintensity in the cortex (mean ADC, 0.35 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s) relative to the white matter (mean ADC, 0.91 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s) on DW images. Each also had a poor outcome: brain death in four patients and a permanent vegetative state in two patients. CONCLUSION The appearance of the MR images in the setting of diffuse cortical laminar necrosis can be deceptive to the unwary radiologist. The key to correct interpretation is proper windowing and the marked gray-white matter differentiation on spin-echo images but best seen on properly windowed DW images in the early subacute phase. This appearance also implies an extremely poor outcome, either a permanent vegetative state or brain death.
Induction of cytochrome P450 CYP6B7 and cytochrome b5 mRNAs from Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) by pyrethroid insecticides in organ culture

An organ culture system derived from Helicoverpa armigera has been used to study the expression of cytochrome P450 and cytochrome b5 mRNAs. Northern analysis showed that levels of the mRNAs for cytochrome P450s, CYP6B2, CYP6B6 and CYP6B7, and cytochrome b5 in control tissue were commensurate with those in the tissue of whole larvae. Substantial induction of cytochrome P450, CYP6B7 and cytochrome b5 mRNAs by α‐pinene, and the pyrethroids, fenvalerate, cypermethrin and permethrin were observed in fat body culture. Neither mRNA was induced, either in midgut or integument organ cultures. In contrast, the relatively water‐soluble compound phenobarbital, could induce CYP6B7 mRNA but not cytochrome b5 mRNA in fat body cultures. As for pyrethroids, phenobarbital had no effect on the other tissues in culture. These results confirm a previous conclusion that pyrethroids could induce CYP6B7 mRNA, which was based upon a very slight induction observed in living insects. Because many cytochrome P450 substrates can act as their inducers, these results support a previous conclusion that CYP6B7 could be the enzyme that is involved in pyrethroid resistance in H. armigera.