Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immunomodulatory Activities of Small Host Defense Peptides

ABSTRACT Recent studies have demonstrated that in addition to their antimicrobial activity, cationic host defense peptides, like the human cathelicidin LL-37, perform many activities relating to innate immunity, including the induction or modulation of chemokine and cytokine production, alteration of gene expression in host cells, and inhibition of proinflammatory responses of host cells to bacterial components such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro and in vivo. To investigate if these properties are shared by smaller peptides, two cathelicidin peptides derived from bovine neutrophils, the 13-mer indolicidin and Bac2A, a linear 12-amino-acid derivative of bactenecin, were compared to the 37-amino-acid peptide LL-37. Indolicidin, like LL-37, inhibited LPS-induced tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) secretion, even when added up to an hour after the addition of Escherichia coli O111:B4 LPS to the human macrophage/monocyte-like THP-1 cell line. In contrast, Bac2A demonstrated no significant antiendotoxin activity. At low concentrations, indolicidin and LL-37 acted synergistically to suppress LPS-induced production of TNF-α. Indolicidin was analogous to LL-37 in its ability to induce the production of the chemokine interleukin-8 (IL-8) in a human bronchial cell line, 16HBE14o−, but it was unable to induce production of IL-8 in THP-1 cells. In contrast, Bac2A was unable to induce IL-8 in either cell type. Conversely, Bac2A was chemotactic for THP-1 cells at concentrations between 10 and 100 μg/ml, while indolicidin and LL-37 were not chemotactic at these concentrations for THP-1 cells. This indicates that in addition to the potential for direct microbicidal activity, cationic host defense peptides may have diverse and complementary abilities to modulate the innate immune response.
Biologically Motivated Audio-Visual Cue Integration for Object

Auditory and visual cues are important sensor inputs for biological and artificial systems. They provide crucial information for navigating environments, recognizing categories, animals and people. How to combine effectively these two sensory channels is still an open issue. As a step towards this goal, this paper presents a comparison between three different multi-modal integration strategies, for audiovisual object category detection. We consider a high-level and a low-level cue integration approach, both biologically motivated, and we compare them with a mid-level cue integration scheme. All the three integration methods are based on the least square support vector machine algorithm, and state of the art audio and visual feature representations. We conducted experiments on two audio-visual object categories, dogs and guitars, presenting different visual and auditory characteristics. Results show that the high-level integration scheme consistently performs better than single cue methods, and of the other two integration schemes. These findings confirm results from the neuroscience. This suggests that the high-level integration scheme is the most suitable approach for multi-modal cue integration for artificial cognitive systems.
Degradation of the Photosystem I Complex During Photoinhibition ¶

Exposure of isolated photosystem I (PSI) complexes to illumination (2300 μE m−2 s−1) for various periods of time resulted in striking changes in their absorption spectra. A 6 nm blueshift of the absorption maximum in the red was detected after 100 min illumination. The fourth derivative of the absorption spectra verifies that the main change of the red peak was attributed to the 682 nm absorption band. Further, it was also shown that a shoulder in the absorption spectra located around 470 nm decreased after the first 5 min of illumination and almost disappeared after 40 min illumination, suggesting that chlorophyll b bound to light‐harvesting complex I (LHCI) is also sensitive to excess light. A maximum inhibitory effect on the oxygen uptake rates and a strong stimulation were observed when the PSI complexes were exposed to illumination for about 20 and 40 min, respectively. Sodium dodecyl sulfate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis shows that LHCI‐680 started to degrade during the first 5 min of illumination and almost completely disappeared after 40 min of illumination. These observations demonstrated that LHCI was more sensitive to illumination than the PsaA/B subunits which also presented some degradation signs after 40 min illumination. In addition, insoluble–cohesive‐denatured proteins also appeared between the stacking and resolving gel after prolonged illumination (100 min). A photoprotective function of LHCI for the PSI reaction center is proposed.
MetricMiner: Supporting researchers in mining software repositories

Researchers use mining software repository (MSR) techniques for studying software engineering empirically, by means of analysis of artifacts, such as source code, version control systems metadata, etc. However, to conduct a study using these techniques, researchers usually spend time collecting data and developing a complex infrastructure, which demands disk space and processing time. In this paper, we present MetricMiner, a web application aimed to support researchers in some steps of mining software repositories, such as metrics calculation, data extraction, and statistical inference. The tool also contains data ready to be analyzed, saving time and computational resources.
Orbital complications of sinusitis.

BACKGROUND Despite the modern antibiotherapies applied in the practice of otorhinolaryngology, the orbital complications of sinusitis are still considered a serious threat to essential functions of the eye, including loss of vision, and at worst, life threatening symptoms. AIMS The goal of this study is to consider and analyse patients who were treated for these complications in the last decade in our hospital, which is the only tertiary hospital in our country. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective analysis of cases. METHODS In our practice, cases treated in the hospital are rhinosinusitis cases where surgical intervention is necessary, or those with a suspicion of complications. Between the years 1999 and 2009 there were 177 cases, the clinical charts of which were reviewed. The cases that are omitted from this study are those involving soft tissues, bone, and intracranial complications. The diagnoses were determined based on anamnesis, anterior rhinoscopy, x-rays of the sinuses with the Water's projection or where there was a suspicion of a complication, and CT scans with coronal and axial projections. In all cases, intensive treatment was initiated with a combination of cefalosporines, aminoglycosides and Proetz manoeuvre. When an improvement in the conditions did not occur within 24-48 hours, we intervened with a surgical procedure, preferably the Lynch-Patterson external frontoethmoidectomy. RESULTS In our study, we encountered 35 cases (19.8%) of orbital complications with an average age of 25 (range: 3-75); Palpebral inflammatory oedema (15), orbital cellulitis (10), subperiosteal abscess (6), orbital abscess (3), and cavernous sinus thrombosis (1 patient). The average time that patients remained in hospital was 4.6 days; for those with orbital complications this was 7 days. CONCLUSION Orbital complications of sinusitis are considered to be severe pathologies. The appearance of oedema in the corner of the eye should be evaluated immediately and the means to exclude acute sinusitis should be taken under serious consideration. Early diagnosis and aggressive treatment are key to the reduction of these unwanted manifestations.
A Neurophysiologically Plausible Population Code Model for Feature Integration Explains Visual Crowding

An object in the peripheral visual field is more difficult to recognize when surrounded by other objects. This phenomenon is called “crowding”. Crowding places a fundamental constraint on human vision that limits performance on numerous tasks. It has been suggested that crowding results from spatial feature integration necessary for object recognition. However, in the absence of convincing models, this theory has remained controversial. Here, we present a quantitative and physiologically plausible model for spatial integration of orientation signals, based on the principles of population coding. Using simulations, we demonstrate that this model coherently accounts for fundamental properties of crowding, including critical spacing, “compulsory averaging”, and a foveal-peripheral anisotropy. Moreover, we show that the model predicts increased responses to correlated visual stimuli. Altogether, these results suggest that crowding has little immediate bearing on object recognition but is a by-product of a general, elementary integration mechanism in early vision aimed at improving signal quality.
An Evaluation of Specification Based Test Generation Techniques Using Model Checkers

Test case generation can be represented as a model checking problem, such that model checking tools automatically generate test cases. This has previously been applied to testing techniques such as coverage criteria, combinatorial testing, mutation testing, or requirements testing, and further criteria can be used similarly. However, little comparison between the existing techniques has been done to date, making it difficult to choose a technique. In this paper we define existing and new criteria in a common framework, and evaluate and compare them on a set of realistic specifications. Part of our findings is that because testing with model checkers represents the test case generation problem in a very flexible way best results can be achieved by combining several techniques from different categories. A best effort approach where test cases are only created for uncovered test requirements can create relatively small test suites that cover many or all different test techniques.
DTN routing for quasi‐deterministic networks with application to LEO constellations

We propose a novel DTN routing algorithm, called DQN, specifically designed for quasi‐deterministic networks with an application to satellite constellations. We demonstrate that our proposal efficiently forwards the information over a satellite network derived from the Orbcomm topology while keeping a low replication overhead. We compare our algorithm against other well‐known DTN routing schemes and show that we obtain the lowest replication ratio with a delivery ratio of the same order of magnitude than a reference theoretical optimal routing. We also analyze the impact of terrestrial gateways density and analyze DQN performances in heterogeneous cases. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The glucuronyltransferase B4GAT1 is required for initiation of LARGE-mediated α-dystroglycan functional glycosylation

Dystroglycan is a cell membrane receptor that organizes the basement membrane by binding ligands in the extracellular matrix. Proper glycosylation of the α-dystroglycan (α-DG) subunit is essential for these activities, and lack thereof results in neuromuscular disease. Currently, neither the glycan synthesis pathway nor the roles of many known or putative glycosyltransferases that are essential for this process are well understood. Here we show that FKRP, FKTN, TMEM5 and B4GAT1 (formerly known as B3GNT1) localize to the Golgi and contribute to the O-mannosyl post-phosphorylation modification of α-DG. Moreover, we assigned B4GAT1 a function as a xylose β1,4-glucuronyltransferase. Nuclear magnetic resonance studies confirmed that a glucuronic acid β1,4-xylose disaccharide synthesized by B4GAT1 acts as an acceptor primer that can be elongated by LARGE with the ligand-binding heteropolysaccharide. Our findings greatly broaden the understanding of α-DG glycosylation and provide mechanistic insight into why mutations in B4GAT1 disrupt dystroglycan function and cause disease. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.03941. 001
Moved to Move: Socially Contextualizing Women's Exercise Motivations

Moved to Move: Socially Contextualizing Women’s Exercise Choices Dusti Werner Master of Arts in Sociology Minnesota State University, Mankato 2014 Using qualitative data from 11 interviews with women who exercise regularly, this research explores women’s motivations to exercise, how they make social comparisons and how they self-evaluate their bodies through the social context of gender, socio-economic status and race. Women with intrinsic motivations to exercise find more positive, long term outcomes than those with extrinsic motivations. Women compare themselves to similar others, such as their peers to form self-evaluations more readily than they do media images. Respondents also indicated the importance of relationships in beginning and maintaining exercise regimes.
Antimicrobial Isoflavonoids from Erythrina crista galli Infected with Phomopsis sp.

Abstract The isoflavonoids coumestrol, genistein and daidzein have been isolated and identified by bioassay-guided fractionation from the acetone extract of Erythrina crista galli young twigs infected with Phomopsis sp. These compounds showed antimicrobial activity against Bacillus brevis (MIC values 16.3, 64.8 and 137.8 μm, respectively). This is the first time that coumestrol, besides lutein and n-nonacosane, are reported in this species.
Synergistic Growth of Stem Cell Factor and Granulocyte Macrophage Colony-stimulating Factor Involves Kinase-dependent and -independent Contributions from c-Kit*

Stem cell factor (SCF) binds and activates the receptor tyrosine kinase c-Kit, and this interaction is critical for normal hematopoiesis. SCF also synergizes with a variety of growth factors, including those binding members of the cytokine receptor superfamily. The mechanisms mediating this synergy remain to be defined. The present study investigates both structural and biochemical cross-talk between c-Kit and the receptor for granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). We have found that c-Kit forms a complex with the β-chain of the GM-CSF receptor, and this interaction involves the first part of the c-Kit kinase domain. Although inhibition of c-Kit kinase activity completely blocked SCF-induced proliferation, there was still greater than additive growth induced by SCF in combination with GM-CSF. In contrast, an inhibitory antibody against the extracellular domain of c-Kit (K-27) completely inhibited growth in response to SCF alone or in combination with GM-CSF. These results support a kinase-independent component of the synergistic growth induced by SCF and GM-CSF that may relate to interaction of these receptors. It is also clear that a significant part of the synergistic growth is dependent of c-Kit kinase activity. Although synergistic increases in phosphorylation of c-Kit and the β-chain of the GM-CSF receptor were not observed, SCF and GM-CSF in combination prolonged the duration of Erk1/2 phosphorylation in a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent manner. Consistent with these findings, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase is synergistically activated by SCF and GM-CSF together. Hence, c-Kit makes both kinase-independent and -dependent contributions to the proliferative synergy induced by SCF in combination with GM-CSF.
Grounding of word meanings in multimodal concepts using LDA

In this paper we propose LDA-based framework for multimodal categorization and words grounding for robots. The robot uses its physical embodiment to grasp and observe an object from various view points as well as listen to the sound during the observing period. This multimodal information is used for categorizing and forming multimodal concepts. At the same time, the words acquired during the observing period are connected to the related concepts using multimodal LDA. We also provide a relevance measure that encodes the degree of connection between words and modalities. The proposed algorithm is implemented on a robot platform and some experiments are carried out to evaluate the algorithm. We also demonstrate a simple conversation between a user and the robot based on the learned model.
MEDEA-a model for the event-based data exchange architecture

Traditional data interchange mechanisms are based on the client-server model, which has been confronted with a plethora of problems. For example, bilateral partners must exchange data sets through recognized protocols. Whenever the data set is updated, data interchange participants have to rebuild their protocols as well as applications. It is really a considerable problem for system maintenance or scalability. We propose an event-based data exchange model, called MEDEA, to solve the problems encountered by traditional data exchange systems. The designed MEDEA data exchange framework and the learned experiences are also detailed.
Development of Sound Localization

Perceptual sound localization is determined from differences in time and loudness of signals arriving separately at bilateral ears, with the time difference being the more important one. The author examined the development of sound lateralization using a self‐recording device developed by Sato. It measures the sensitivity of sound lateralization on the basis of time and loudness differences separately. Subjects were 59 children aged 2 to 18 years and 12 adults who were audiologically and neurologically normal. Sound stimulus was 500Hz continuous band noise. (1) The testable rate was increased in children older than the age of 4, and all children over 7 years of age could be tested. (2) Children over 4 years of age could lateralize sound on the basis of time difference. Sensitivity to time differences improved rapidly, showing a steep curve, in children from the ages of 4 to 6, and then increased slowly until adulthood. (3) Sensitivity to loudness differences increased and standard deviation decreased with age. There is a possibility that children aged 4 can discriminate loudness difference almost as well as adults.
High resolution channel quantization rules for multiuser spatial multiplexing systems

This paper addresses the optimal channel quantization codebook design for limited feedback multiple-antenna multiuser channels. The base station is equipped with M antennas and serves M single-antenna users, which share a total feedback rate B. We assume real space channels for convenience; the extension of the analysis to complex space is straightforward. The codebook optimization problem is cast in form of minimizing the average downlink transmission power subject to the users' outage probability constraints. This paper adopts a product codebook structure for channel quantization comprising a uniform (in dB) channel magnitude quantization codebook and a spatially uniform channel direction quantization codebook. We first formulate a robust power control problem that minimizes the sum power subject to the worst-case SINR constraints over the channel quantization regions. By using an upper bound solution to this problem, we then optimize the quantization codebooks given the target outage probabilities and the target SINR's. In the asymptotic regime of B → ∞, the optimal number of channel direction quantization bits is shown to be M-1 times the number of channel magnitude quantization bits. It is further shown that the users with higher requested QoS (lower target outage probabilities) and higher requested downlink rates (higher target SINR's) should receive larger shares of the feedback rate. The paper also shows that, for the target parameters to be feasible, the total feedback bandwidth should scale logarithmically with γ̄, the geometric mean of the target SINR values, and 1/q̄, the geometric mean of the inverse target outage probabilities. Moreover, the minimum required feedback rate increases if the users' target parameters deviate from the average parameters γ̄ and q̄. Finally, we show that, as B increases, the multiuser system performance approaches the performance of the perfect channel state information system as 1 over q̄ times 2 raise to minus B over M raise to 2.
Adaptive Regulator for Hammerstein and Wiener Systems With Noisy Observations

For Hammerstein and Wiener systems observed with additive noises the adaptive regulation control is produced by a truncated stochastic approximation (SA) algorithm with truncation regions expanding with a prescribed rate. It is proved that the stochastic adaptive control given in this note is optimal in the sense that it minimizes the long run average of regulation errors a.s
PM(10) exposure, gaseous pollutants, and daily mortality in Inchon, South Korea.

To evaluate the relative importance of various measures of particulate and gaseous air pollution as predictors of daily mortality in Inchon, South Korea, the association between total daily mortality and air pollution was investigated for a 20-month period (January 1995 through August 1996). Poisson regression was used to regress daily death counts on each air pollutant, controlling for time trends, season, and meteorologic influences such as temperature and relative humidity. Regression coefficients of a 5-day moving average of particulate matter less than or = to 10 microm in aerodynamic diameter (PM(10)) on total mortality were positively significant when considered separately and simultaneously with other pollutants in the model. PM(10) remained significant when the models were confined to cardiovascular or respiratory mortality. Sulfur dioxide (SO(2)) and carbon monoxide (CO) were significantly related to respiratory mortality in the single-pollutant model. Ozone exposure was not statistically significant with regard to mortality in the above models, and graphic analysis showed that the relationship was nonlinear. A combined index of PM(10), nitrogen dioxide, SO(2), and CO seemed to better explain the exposure-response relationship with total mortality than an individual air pollutant. Pollutants should be considered together in the risk assessment of air pollution, as opposed to measuring the risk of individual pollutants. ImagesFigure 1Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4
Blending the repertory grid technique with focus groups to reveal rich design relevant insight

In the context of better understanding and describing the role of modality in data representations, this paper proposes the blending of the Repertory Grid Technique, a proven and tested elicitation method, with focus group methods, thereby offering researchers an efficient method of obtaining subjective perceptions on a defined area of interest. We demonstrate the potential of this blended approach by conducting two empirical studies that investigate the same artifacts, using two different approaches. The first study follows the classic Repertory Grid approach, while the second adapts this by utilizing the RepGrid in a focus group session. In comparing these, we will illustrate how using a blended approach can validate and reveal further meaning about the data collected. Furthermore, we will demonstrate that this can be achieved in a more natural manner than that of a typical RepGrid study, which can be extremely demanding for both the participant and the researcher while the study is being conducted.
Sars and Security: Health in the “New Normal”

In "SARS and Security: Health in the "New Normal,"" Claire Hooker and Harris Ali illustrate how the boundaries between public health and national security are being blurred in the present age. The authors show how the "new normal" is an ideology that constructs the world as inherently insecure. Their paper demonstrates how this ideology converges along a number of tangents with neoliberalism that has repercussions for how matters of public health and national security are being reimagined in North America. The new normal, as the authors argue, is a discursive frame that shapes how governments interpret and respond to crises in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the worldwide outbreak of SARS.