Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Facebook Provide Educational Value?: An Overview of Theoretical and Empirical Advancements of Affordances and Critical Issues

Facebook has received considerable attention in a number of research areas. However, its educational value has not been fully confirmed and results from the mainstream educational paradigms are contra-dictory. A number of experiences related to the educational use of Facebook as a technology-enhanced learning environment are also flourishing. In these, Facebook has been used as a unique, or at least as one, learning management system tool, or as a platform for educational purposes. This chapter focuses on these issues, providing a wide overview of the current literature on the educational value of Facebook considering both theoretical positions and empirical findings. Furthermore, a few preliminary guidelines about Facebook usage are provided, pertaining to pedagogical, institutional, technological, and ethical issues. The chapter finally provides some hints about emerging trends and areas that deserve further research, such as professional development, academic practice, and location-based learning
Prenatal Exposure to Cocaine Disrupts D1A Dopamine Receptor Function Via Selective Inhibition of Protein Phosphatase 1 Pathway in Rabbit Frontal Cortex

Previous work has demonstrated that in utero cocaine exposure induces an uncoupling of brain D1A dopamine receptors (D1ADARs) from Gs-protein. The present work is an attempt to define the mechanism underlying the uncoupling. We detected a significant elevation of phosphoserine in frontal cortical D1ADARs of rabbits that were exposed prenatally to cocaine compared with saline controls. This increase in phosphorylation is observed at gestational day 22 and persists to postnatal day 20. The hyperphosphorylation of the D1ADAR is accompanied by a 45% inhibition in frontal cortex (FCX) protein phsphatase-1 (PP1) activity that appears to be mediated via DARPP-32 (dopamine and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein) as indicated by elevated FCX phospho-DARPP-32 (Thr34). Furthermore, we demonstrated in both FCX and in PC2 cells that express D1ADARs that PP1 is physically associated with D1ADARs. We also observed a dramatic decrease in D1ADAR-associated PP1 activity in FCX of prenatal cocaine-exposed rabbits, indicating that the reduction in PP1 activity may be responsible for the hyperphosphorylation of the receptor. Furthermore, pretreatment of cortical membranes obtained from cocaine-exposed animals with exogenous PP1 dephosphorylated the phosphorylated D1ADAR and significantly reversed the impaired receptor–Gαs coupling. This work indicates (1) that D1ADAR dephosphorylation via PP1 is essential for receptor resensitization or reactivation and (2) an alteration in the DARPP-32/PP1 cascade appears to be a primary event responsible for D1ADAR dysfunction in in uterococaine-exposed rabbit progeny. The present finding of an altered DARPP-32/PP1 cascade in association with a dysfunction in D1ADAR signal transmission in the prenatal cocaine-exposed rabbit brain may implicate novel strategies for the prevention and treatment for in utero cocaine-induced developmental and behavioral abnormalities.
Reversal of Two‐Kidney One Clip Renovascular Hypertension in the Rat

SUMMARY Attempted correction of two-kidney, one clip Goldblatt hypertension in the rat was carried out by three techniques: removal of the constricting dip, removal of the Iscberaic kidney, and converting enzyme blockade by oral captopril. Since duration of hypertension is said to be a critical factor, groups of rats were studied after short term (< 6 weeks from clipping) and chronic (> 4 months) hypertension. Blood pressure, sodium balance, and plasma renin concentration (PRC) were followed before and after these correcting procedures. In a control group of animals, removal of a loose renal artery clip did not Influence blood pressure and only caused trivial postoperative retention of sodium. Undipptng, however, normalized blood pressure in both short-term and chronic hypertension. After a major postoperative fall, blood pressure returned to somewhat elevated levels after nephrectomy in animals with chronic (but not short-term) hypertension. Sodium balance became markedly positive with the fall in blood pressure of operated hypertensive anlmpu and was significantly correlated with the fall in blood pressure in these four groups at 7 days (r = 0.43). Captopril also produced a fall in blood pressure at 24 hours, with a positive sodium balance, although the relationship between blood pressure fall and sodium balance did not reach statistical significance (r = 0 JO). The PRC was elevated in all hypertensive groups, although individual values overlapped with values from normal rats and nonhypertensive rats with a loose renal artery dip. The PRC fell to normal or subnormal values after either operative procedure and stabilized for at least 2 months Independently of whether blood pressure fell or not. It is concluded that neither sodium retention nor renin hypersecretion maintains blood pressure In this model. Also, the rapidity of the blood pressure fall is not consistent with a role for vascular hypertrophy. Tbe greater efficacy of unclipping suggests that the revascularized kidney after this procedure exerts a vasodepressor function independent of sodium excretion or the renin-angiotensin system.
fMRI of the Responses to Vibratory Stimulation of Digit Tips

Three studies were carried out to assess the applicability of fMRI at 3.0 T to analysis of vibrotaction in humans. A novel piezoelectric device provided clean sinusoidal stimulation at 80 Hz, which was initially applied in separate runs within a scanning session to digits 2 and 5 of the left hand in eight subjects, using a birdcage RF (volume) coil. Significant clusters of activation were found in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI), the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII), subcentral gyrus, the precentral gyrus, posterior insula, posterior parietal regions (area 5), and the posterior cingulate. Digit separation in SI was possible in all subjects and the activation sites reflected the known lateral position of the representation of digit 2 relative to that of digit 5. A second study carried out in six additional subjects using a surface coil, replicated the main contralateral activation patterns detected in study one and further improved the discrimination of the digits in SI. Significant digit separation was also found in SII and in the posterior insula. A third study to investigate the frequency dependence of the response focused on the effect of an increase in vibrotactile frequency from 30 to 80 Hz, with both frequencies applied to digit 2 during the same scanning session in four new subjects. A significant increase in the number of pixels activated within both SII and the posterior insula was found, while the number of pixels activated in SI declined. No significant change in signal intensity with frequencies was found in any of the activated areas.
Experiences of Sexual Harassment and Abuse among Norwegian Elite Female Athletes and Nonathletes

Abstract This paper compares the prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse among 660 Norwegian elite female athletes and an age-matched control sample of non athletes. It also explores differences in the prevalence of harassment and abuse in sport and work or school settings and compares harassment and abuse perpetrated by male authority figures and peers in these different contexts. No differences were found between the athletes and controls in overall prevalence of sexual harassment or abuse. However, the athletes experienced significantly more harassment from male authority figures than did the controls. Based on these results, the article considers whether or not sport offers women any particular immunity from sexual harassment and abuse. The implications of the findings for structural and cultural change in sport are discussed.
Making the Political Pedagogical in Early Childhood

This article explores ‘disposition as a concept for developing an early childhood pedagogy of equity, and suggests why it is problematic. Two readings of an episode of children's play called Workers in the construction site bring to life competing possibilities of how equity operates for children. The writer suggests the contradictions which emerge from traditional and critical readings open spaces in which it may be possible to begin to reconceptualise an early childhood pedagogy of equity.
The Evolution of the R Software Ecosystem

Software ecosystems form the heart of modern companies' collaboration strategies with end users, open source developers and other companies. An ecosystem consists of a core platform and a halo of user contributions that provide value to a company or project. In order to sustain the level and number of high-quality contributions, it is crucial for companies and contributors to understand how ecosystems tend to evolve and can be maintained successfully over time. As a first step, this paper explores the evolution characteristics of the statistical computing project GNU R, which is a successful, end-user programming ecosystem. We find that the ecosystem of user-contributed R packages has been growing steadily since R's conception, at a significantly faster rate than core packages, yet each individual package remains stable in size. We also identified differences in the way user-contributed and core packages are able to attract an active community of users.
Discriminative Hessian Eigenmaps for face recognition

Dimension reduction algorithms have attracted a lot of attentions in face recognition because they can select a subset of effective and efficient discriminative features in the face images. Most of dimension reduction algorithms can not well model both the intra-class geometry and interclass discrimination simultaneously. In this paper, we introduce the Discriminative Hessian Eigenmaps (DHE), a novel dimension reduction algorithm to address this problem. DHE will consider encoding the geometric and discriminative information in a local patch by improved Hessian Eigenmaps and margin maximization respectively. Empirical studies on public face database thoroughly demonstrate that DHE is superior to popular algorithms for dimension reduction, e.g., FLDA, LPP, MFA and DLA.
Diffusion- and perfusion-weighted MRI. The DWI/PWI mismatch region in acute stroke.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) are relatively new MR techniques increasingly used in acute stroke. During the first hours of stroke evolution, the regions with abnormal perfusion are typically larger than the DWI lesions, and this mismatch region has been suggested to be "tissue at risk. " The aim of this study was to evaluate the PWI/DWI mismatch region in acute stroke patients and find parameters indicative of both infarct progression and functional impairment. METHODS Twenty patients with nonlacunar ischemic stroke were imaged with DWI, PWI, and conventional MRI within 24 hours of symptom onset and after 1 week; in addition, the European Stroke Scale (ESS) score was recorded. With PWI, the volumes of regions with "time-to-peak" (TTP) delays of >/=2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 seconds were measured; these volumes were compared with the acute DWI lesion volumes, final infarct size, and ESS score. RESULTS In 80% of patients the acute DWI lesion was surrounded by regions with abnormal TTP delays (PWI>DWI lesion). A TTP delay of >/=6 s in the mismatch region was found to be associated with lesion enlargement between the initial and follow-up MRI scans. Lesions increased in 9 of 12 patients (75%) in whom the area with TTP delay >/=6 s was larger than the DWI lesion, but they increased in only 1 of 8 (12.5%) of the remaining patients, in whom the area with a TTP delay >/=6 s was smaller than the DWI lesion. The volume of the regions with TTP delays of >/=4 s correlated better with ESS (r=-0.88, P<0.001) than other PWI (or DWI) volumes, which indicated that a TTP delay of approximately 4 s might be the threshold for functional impairment of brain tissue. CONCLUSIONS Only patients with severe perfusion deficits in the PWI/DWI mismatch (TTP delays of >/=6 s) are at high risk of lesion enlargement. Functionally, more moderate perfusion deficits (TTP delays >/=4 and <6 s) appear to also contribute to the acute clinical deficit.
Current Trends in Remote Laboratories

Remote laboratories have been introduced during the last few decades into engineering education processes as well as integrated within e-learning frameworks offered to engineering and science students. Remote laboratories are also being used to support life-long learning and student's autonomous learning activities. In this paper, after a brief overview of state-of-the-art technologies in the development of remote laboratories and presentation of recent and interesting examples of remote laboratories in several areas related with industrial electronics education, some current trends and challenges are also identified and discussed.
Similarity Search in 3D Protein Databases

1 IntroductionWe introduce a new approach for similarity search in 3-D protein databases. By using histograms,we define adaptable similarity models that address the 3-D shape as well as chemical properties of pro-teins. Quadratic forms are employed as similarity distance functions for which efficient query process-ing algorithms are available [Sei 97]. Experimental examples illustrate the applicability of the method.2 Shape Histograms of 3-D ObjectsFor a histogram-based similarity model, we have to decompose the 3-D space into appropriate cells.These cells were used as bins of the histograms. In our primary approach, we distinguish three tech-niques for the decomposition of the 3-D space. Figure 1 illustrates these models in a 2-D projection:• Shell Model: Decomposition into concentric shells around the center point. • Sector Model: Decomposition into sectors that emerge from the center point of the model. • Net-Shaped Model: Decomposition obtained from a combination of shell and sector model. We assume our 3-D objects to be given as sets of points [SK 95]. The histograms are determinedby counting the number of points within each cell. In figure 2, we illustrate various shape histogramsfor the example protein, 1SER-B. In the middle, the space decomposition is indicated schematically,and on the right hand side, the corresponding shape histograms are depicted. The top histogram is
In vivo Bioluminescence Imaging of Ca2+ Signalling in the Brain of Drosophila

Many different cells' signalling pathways are universally regulated by Ca2+ concentration [Ca2+] rises that have highly variable amplitudes and kinetic properties. Optical imaging can provide the means to characterise both the temporal and spatial aspects of Ca2+ signals involved in neurophysiological functions. New methods for in vivo imaging of Ca2+ signalling in the brain of Drosophila are required for probing the different dynamic aspects of this system. In studies here, whole brain Ca2+ imaging was performed on transgenic flies with targeted expression of the bioluminescent Ca2+ reporter GFP-aequorin (GA) in different neural structures. A photon counting based technique was used to undertake continuous recordings of cytosolic [Ca2+] over hours. Time integrals for reconstructing images and analysis of the data were selected offline according to the signal intensity. This approach allowed a unique Ca2+ response associated with cholinergic transmission to be identified by whole brain imaging of specific neural structures. Notably, [Ca2+] transients in the Mushroom Bodies (MBs) following nicotine stimulation were accompanied by a delayed secondary [Ca2+] rise (up to 15 min. later) in the MB lobes. The delayed response was sensitive to thapsigargin, suggesting a role for intra-cellular Ca2+ stores. Moreover, it was reduced in dunce mutant flies, which are impaired in learning and memory. Bioluminescence imaging is therefore useful for studying Ca2+ signalling pathways and for functional mapping of neurophysiological processes in the fly brain.
Duplex Scanning Diagnosis of Internal Carotid Artery Dissections

Background: The reliability of duplex scanning (DS) for the diagnosis of internal carotid artery dissections (ICAD) is not clear. Methods: Nine DS signs known to be suggestive for the diagnosis of ICAD were compared between 70 patients with ICAD and 70 matched patients without dissection. Results: Visible internal tapering occlusion, regular eccentric narrowing channel, ectasia beyond the carotid bulb, resistive index asymmetry, blood flow slowdown, ophthalmic artery blood flow inversion, and biphasic flow are more frequent in cases than in controls (p < 0.001). Atheroma plaques were absent in 80% of ICAD. When DS direct signs and hemodynamic signs were studied, sensitivity was 90% and specificity 60%. Conclusion: Diagnosis of ICAD by DS could be improved if direct signs were combined with hemodynamic signs, giving a high sensitivity and a rather good specificity.
Computational manga and anime

Traditional manga (comic) and anime (cartoon) creation are painstaking processes. Even computers are utilized for the content creation, computers are mainly utilized as a naive digital canvas. With the increasing computing power and decreasing cost of CPU & GPU, more computing resource can be exploited cost-effectively for intelligent and semi-automatic creation of aesthetics content. In this course, we gather speeches from both artist and scientists. We shall discuss what kind of computer technologies an artist would prefer to use in their creation (i.e. user point of view), and recent technologies developed in graphics that facilitates or even inspires the content creation.
Increased Diagnostic Accuracy of Digital vs. Conventional Clock Drawing Test for Discrimination of Patients in the Early Course of Alzheimer’s Disease from Cognitively Healthy Individuals

The conventional Clock Drawing Test (cCDT) is a rapid and inexpensive screening tool for detection of moderate and severe dementia. However, its usage is limited due to poor diagnostic accuracy especially in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The diagnostic value of a newly developed digital Clock Drawing Test (dCDT) was evaluated and compared with the cCDT in 20 patients with early dementia due to AD (eDAT), 30 patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI) and 20 cognitively healthy controls (HCs). Parameters assessed by dCDT were time while transitioning the stylus from one stroke to the next above the surface (i.e., time-in-air), time the stylus produced a visible stroke (i.e., time-on-surface) and total-time during clock drawing. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated and logistic regression analyses have been conducted for statistical analysis. Using dCDT, time-in-air was significantly increased in eDAT (70965.8 ms) compared to aMCI (54073.7 ms; p = 0.027) and HC (32315.6 ms; p < 0.001). In addition, time-in-air was significantly longer in patients with aMCI compared to HC (p = 0.003), even in the aMCI group with normal cCDT score (54141.8 ms; p < 0.001). Time-in-air using dCDT allowed discrimination of patients with aMCI from HCs with a sensitivity of 81.3% and a specificity of 72.2% while cCDT scoring revealed a sensitivity of 62.5% and a specificity of 83.3%. Most interestingly, time-in-air allowed even discrimination of aMCI patients with normal cCDT scores (80% from all aMCI patients) from HCs with a clinically relevant sensitivity of 80.8% and a specificity of 77.8%. A combination of dCDT variables and cCDT scores did not improve the discrimination of patients with aMCI from HC. In conclusion, assessment of time-in-air using dCDT yielded a higher diagnostic accuracy for discrimination of aMCI patients from HCs than the use of cCDT even in those aMCI patients with normal cCDT scores. Modern digitizing devices offer the opportunity to measure subtle changes of visuo-constructive demands and executive functions that may be used as a fast and easy to perform screening instrument for the early detection of cognitive impairment in primary care.
Reinforcement Learning vs. Backstepping Control of Stop-and-Go Traffic

This article develops a Reinforcement Learning (RL) boundary controller of stop-and-go traffic congestion on a freeway segment. The traffic dynamics are governed by a macroscopic Aw-Rascle-Zhang (ARZ) model, consisting of $2\times 2$ nonlinear Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) for traffic density and velocity. The boundary actuation of traffic flow is implemented with ramp-metering, which is a common approach to freeway congestion management. We use a discretized ARZ PDE model to describe the macroscopic freeway traffic environment for a stretch of freeway, and apply deep RL to develop continuous control on the outlet boundary. The control objective is to achieve $L^2$ norm regulation of the traffic state to a spatially uniform density and velocity. A recently developed neural network based policy gradient algorithm is employed, called proximal policy optimization. For comparison, we also consider an open-loop controller and a PDE backstepping approach. The backstepping controller is a model-based approach recently developed by the co-authors. Ultimately, we demonstrate that the RL approach nearly recovers the control performance of the model-based PDE backstepping approach, despite no \textit{a priori} knowledge of the traffic flow dynamics.
Clonal variation in cell surface display of an H-2 protein lacking a cytoplasmic tail

Truncated variants of the gene encoding H-2Ld, an integral membrane protein encoded by the major histocompatibility complex, were constructed by in vitro mutagenesis to elucidate the function of charged amino acids found on the cytoplasmic side of the transmembrane (TM) region. Analysis of cloned L cells transfected with these genes shows that the seven amino acids following the TM segment, four of which are basic, enhance the cell surface expression of H-2Ld protein but are not required for it. However, some clones do not express a tailless H-2Ld protein on the cell surface but express it intracellularly where it has a long half-life. Turnover measurements on cell surface H-2Ld proteins suggest that the basic residues following the TM segment are not a "stop transfer" sequence (Blobel, G., 1980, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 77:1496-1500) which anchors the H-2Ld protein in the membrane. Pulse-chase and endoglycosidase H sensitivity studies show that H-2Ld proteins lacking some or all of the basic residues and H-2Ld proteins which have a full-length cytoplasmic tail are processed with different kinetics. These results suggest an involvement of the membrane-proximal region of the cytoplasmic tail in the intracellular transport of H-2Ld. We further suggest that the L cell clones which do and do not express a tailless H-2Ld protein on the cell surface differ in the ability to transport a tailless integral membrane protein to the cell surface.
Process for preparing aged garlic

The invention without the use of any additives, a number of fresh garlic, by magnetic fermentation at a temperature and humidity constant, garlic without damaging the inherent efficacy, also significantly elevated compared to fresh garlic the antioxidant used as a raw material, as well as fresh garlic has S- aryl cysteine ​​and materials are generated does not exist, a method of manufacturing a ripened garlic is higher polyphenol contents. Production method of the above-mentioned aged garlic, fresh garlic to about 300 hours, and aged in hot air at 40~90 ℃, approximately 40 hours after this, the natural drying, characterized in that for producing re-aged for 30-50 hours in a hot air 20~30 ℃ It shall be. Further, in the step of aging in the hot air 40~90 ℃ to 280-320 hours after the fresh garlic into a plurality of the steel container may be aged for a plurality of steel vessel in the container.