Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of temperature on bone growth in the chick.

It is generally suspected that the physical characters of the osseous circulation are of major importance in the control of bone growth. Normal bones enjoy a blood supply as rich as that of active muscle, and differences in rates of bone formation are correlated with changes in the red cell space and blood flow rate (Brookes, 1971). Heat is a physical factor second only to oxygen availability in its influence on growth processes in general (Needham, 1964). With regard to bone growth, heat promotes calcification (Fabry, 1954) and bone mineral nucleation (Glimcher, 1960) in vitro. Because of a speeding up of intracellular kinetics, a rise in temperature might also be expected to increase matrix production by bone cells in vivo. The temperature within bones is inconstant. Fractures feel hot and thermocouple recordings in man (Brodin, 1955; Golenhofen, Hensel & Hildebrandt, 1963) suggest that intra-bone temperature, bone production and blood flow rate are linked together. Nevertheless, the evidence for a positive heat effect on bone growth in the intact organism is equivocal and almost wholly confined to measurements of tail length in mice reared at high temperatures (Chevillard, Portet & Cadot, 1963; Harrison, Morton & Weiner, 1959), and to the limb length of chick embryos under different conditions of incubation (Romanoff, 1960). Accounts of the efficacy of local applications of heat to lengthen limbs in mammals and children are contradictory (Doyle & Smart, 1963; Granberry & Janes, 1963). The aim of this investigation was therefore to subject growing bones to temperature change, and to examine its effects on bone production.
A new method and instrument for measurement of plant leaf area

A algorithm with minimum memory consumption for labeling connected components in a binary image is presented in this paper. Based on embedded system technology, the algorithm is used in calculating the area of leaves, the high resolution images for this feature is provided by cheap scanner. Using the algorithm, a corresponding image processing program is developed, and it is ported successfully in embedded Linux & QT platform. With higher precision and lower cost, a new portable measuring instrument is developed for leaf area measurement.
Visual system plasticity in mammals: the story of monocular enucleation-induced vision loss

The groundbreaking work of Hubel and Wiesel in the 1960’s on ocular dominance plasticity instigated many studies of the visual system of mammals, enriching our understanding of how the development of its structure and function depends on high quality visual input through both eyes. These studies have mainly employed lid suturing, dark rearing and eye patching applied to different species to reduce or impair visual input, and have created extensive knowledge on binocular vision. However, not all aspects and types of plasticity in the visual cortex have been covered in full detail. In that regard, a more drastic deprivation method like enucleation, leading to complete vision loss appears useful as it has more widespread effects on the afferent visual pathway and even on non-visual brain regions. One-eyed vision due to monocular enucleation (ME) profoundly affects the contralateral retinorecipient subcortical and cortical structures thereby creating a powerful means to investigate cortical plasticity phenomena in which binocular competition has no vote.In this review, we will present current knowledge about the specific application of ME as an experimental tool to study visual and cross-modal brain plasticity and compare early postnatal stages up into adulthood. The structural and physiological consequences of this type of extensive sensory loss as documented and studied in several animal species and human patients will be discussed. We will summarize how ME studies have been instrumental to our current understanding of the differentiation of sensory systems and how the structure and function of cortical circuits in mammals are shaped in response to such an extensive alteration in experience. In conclusion, we will highlight future perspectives and the clinical relevance of adding ME to the list of more longstanding deprivation models in visual system research.
Cartilage protection by nitric oxide synthase inhibitors after intraarticular injection of interleukin-1beta in rats.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors on proteoglycan synthesis following intraarticular administration of interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) in rats. METHODS Recombinant human IL-1beta and NOS inhibitors with different selectivity for inducible NOS (N-monomethyl-L-arginine [L-NMA], N-iminoethyl-L-ornithine [L-NIO], and S-methylisothiourea [SMT]) were simultaneously administered in rats by a single intraarticular injection in each knee. L-NMA was also infused for 72 hours using an Alzet mini osmotic pump implanted into the peritoneal cavity 24 hours before IL-1beta challenge. NO production was determined as nitrate and nitrite, either in synovial fluid or ex vivo in supernatants of synovium and patellae. Proteoglycan synthesis was measured by ex vivo incorporation of 35SO4(2-) into patellar cartilage. RESULTS IL-1beta induced a time-dependent increase in NO production in synovial fluid. Synovium and patellae released large amounts of nitrate and nitrite under ex vivo conditions, indicating that both tissues are effective sources of NO within the joint. This production of NO was accompanied by a delayed inhibition of proteoglycan synthesis. The intraarticular administration of L-NMA and L-NIO reduced NO release in synovial fluid and resulted in a partial recovery of proteoglycan synthesis. Under our experimental conditions, SMT failed to reduce NO synthesis and to restore proteoglycan synthesis. The protection of cartilage was improved by the systemic and sustained delivery of L-NMA. However, the complete inhibition of NO production in synovial fluid was not sufficient to fully restore cartilage anabolism. CONCLUSION Our findings show that in rats: 1) NO may be an early mediator of the effect of IL-1beta on cartilage, 2) NO inhibition may have therapeutic relevance, although it is not sufficient to fully reverse the deleterious effects of IL-1beta, 3) among NOS inhibitors tested, only amino acid derivatives are effective, 4) protection can be achieved by local administration of NOS inhibitors, and 5) systemic and sustained delivery of the NOS inhibitor with the highest efficacy after intraarticular injection provides the most benefit.
GPU Performance Enhancement via Communication Cost Reduction: Case Studies of Radix Sort and WSN Relay Node Placement Problem

As the computational power of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) increases, data transmission becomes the major performance bottleneck. In this study, we investigate two techniques, data streaming and data compression, to reduce the communication cost on GPU. Data streaming enables overlap of communication and computation, whereas data compression reduces the data size transferred among different memory spaces. Although both techniques increase computation cost, overall performance can still be enhanced by reducing communication cost. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the two techniques via two case studies: radix sort and 3-star, a deployment algorithm in wireless sensor networks. For radix sort, a new algorithm, which mixes MSD and LSD algorithms and employs data streaming, is presented. Its performance is 25% faster than the fastest GPU radix sort implementation currently available in the public domain. For the 3-star algorithm, the speed increases several hundreds of times faster than that obtained by the CPU code. The data streaming and data compression, which is a hybrid CPU-GPU algorithm, provide an additional 54% performance improvement to the GPU implementation. Data compression not only reduces communication cost, but also improves the computation time, by which further performance enhancement can be achieved.
Macrophage-Derived Dendritic Cells Have Strong Th1-Polarizing Potential Mediated by β-Chemokines Rather Than IL-121

Monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDCs) activate naive T lymphocytes to induce adaptive immunity, effecting Th1 polarization through IL-12. However, little is known about other potential DC Th1 polarizing mechanisms, or how T cell polarization may be affected by DCs differentiating in, or exposed to, a proinflammatory environment. Macrophages (MΦs) are DC precursors abundant in inflamed tissues, lymph nodes, and tumors. Thus we studied the T cell-activating and -polarizing properties of MΦ-derived DCs (ΦDCs). Monocytes were cultured in MΦ-CSF (M-CSF) to produce MΦs, which were then differentiated into DCs following culture with GM-CSF plus IL-4. ΦDCs activated a significant allogeneic MLR and were significantly better than MDDCs in activating T cells with superantigen. Most strikingly, ΦDCs elicited up to 9-fold more IFN-γ from naive or Ag-specific T cells compared with MDDCs (with equivalent IL-4 secretion), despite producing up to 9-fold less IL-12. Neutralization of MDDC, but not ΦDC IL-12 significantly inhibited T cell IFN-γ induction. ΦDCs produced up to 12-fold more β-chemokines (macrophage-inflammatory protein-1α, -1β, and RANTES) than MDDCs. Ab blockade of CCR5, but not CXC chemokine receptor 4, inhibited T cell IFN-γ induction by ΦDCs significantly greater than by MDDCs. Thus DCs differentiating from MΦs induce T cell IFN-γ through β-chemokines with little or no requirement for IL-12. Myeloid DCs arising from distinct precursor cells may have differing properties, including different mechanisms of Th1 polarization. These data are the first reports of IFN-γ induction through chemokines by DCs.
A general technique for non-blocking trees

We describe a general technique for obtaining provably correct, non-blocking implementations of a large class of tree data structures where pointers are directed from parents to children. Updates are permitted to modify any contiguous portion of the tree atomically. Our non-blocking algorithms make use of the LLX, SCX and VLX primitives, which are multi-word generalizations of the standard LL, SC and VL primitives and have been implemented from single-word CAS. To illustrate our technique, we describe how it can be used in a fairly straightforward way to obtain a non-blocking implementation of a chromatic tree, which is a relaxed variant of a red-black tree. The height of the tree at any time is O(c + log n), where n is the number of keys and c is the number of updates in progress. We provide an experimental performance analysis which demonstrates that our Java implementation of a chromatic tree rivals, and often significantly outperforms, other leading concurrent dictionaries.
Depression among gynecologic cancer patients at Siriraj Hospital: prevalence and associated factors.

OBJECTIVE The purposes of this study were to determine the prevalence of depression and associated risk factors among women with gynecologic cancer at Siriraj Hospital. DESIGN Descriptive cross-sectional study. SETTING Gynecologic Oncology Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital. SUBJECTS A total of 149 women with gynecologic cancer were enrolled. METHOD Women's demographic data and medical information were obtained by interview and abstracted from the medical record. The health-related self-report (HRSR) questionnaire was used to determine the prevalence of depression. Certain characteristics regarding demographic and medical data were evaluated in order to find any correlation with depression. RESULTS The diagnoses in this study population included 77 cases (51.7%) of ovarian cancer, 34 cases (22.8%) of cervical cancer, 20 cases (13.4%) of uterine cancer and 18 cases (12.1%) of gestational trophoblastic tumor. The mean age was 46.6 years. Depression was detected in 20 out of 149 patients, which yielded a prevalence of 13.4% (95% CI 7.9-18.9%). Low income (less than 5,000 baht per month), cervical cancer radiation treatment regimen, and poor performance status were associated with increased risk of depression. CONCLUSION Depression is one of the most common psychological distresses experienced by cancer patients. The prevalence of depression among gynecologic cancer patients at Siriraj Hospital was as high as 13.4%. Risk factors included low income, diagnosis of cervical cancer, radiation treatment regimen, and poor performance status. These patients should receive adequate medical attention and careful evaluation for depression especially those with such associated risk factors.
Google play is not a long tail market: an empirical analysis of app adoption on the Google play app market

Distributions of popularity of many online markets have long tails. However, the profitability of the long tail remains in dispute among researchers. With an analysis of an extensive dataset of Google Play transactions, this work first examine the long tail of the mobile application market. Our results suggest that Google Play is more of a "Superstar" market strongly dominated by popular hit products than a "Long-tail" market where unpopular niche products aggregately contribute to a substantial portion of popularity. Blockbuster apps have more downloads, higher ratings and satisfaction ratio. Additionally, we investigate the impact of price on sales of paid apps and find that certain expensive professional apps constitute disproportional large sales. Our findings reveal the unique market structure of the mobile app market, under which the discovery of niche apps is still an intractable task.
Deciphering the Cryptic Genome: Genome-wide Analyses of the Rice Pathogen Fusarium fujikuroi Reveal Complex Regulation of Secondary Metabolism and Novel Metabolites

The fungus Fusarium fujikuroi causes “bakanae” disease of rice due to its ability to produce gibberellins (GAs), but it is also known for producing harmful mycotoxins. However, the genetic capacity for the whole arsenal of natural compounds and their role in the fungus' interaction with rice remained unknown. Here, we present a high-quality genome sequence of F. fujikuroi that was assembled into 12 scaffolds corresponding to the 12 chromosomes described for the fungus. We used the genome sequence along with ChIP-seq, transcriptome, proteome, and HPLC-FTMS-based metabolome analyses to identify the potential secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters and to examine their regulation in response to nitrogen availability and plant signals. The results indicate that expression of most but not all gene clusters correlate with proteome and ChIP-seq data. Comparison of the F. fujikuroi genome to those of six other fusaria revealed that only a small number of gene clusters are conserved among these species, thus providing new insights into the divergence of secondary metabolism in the genus Fusarium. Noteworthy, GA biosynthetic genes are present in some related species, but GA biosynthesis is limited to F. fujikuroi, suggesting that this provides a selective advantage during infection of the preferred host plant rice. Among the genome sequences analyzed, one cluster that includes a polyketide synthase gene (PKS19) and another that includes a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase gene (NRPS31) are unique to F. fujikuroi. The metabolites derived from these clusters were identified by HPLC-FTMS-based analyses of engineered F. fujikuroi strains overexpressing cluster genes. In planta expression studies suggest a specific role for the PKS19-derived product during rice infection. Thus, our results indicate that combined comparative genomics and genome-wide experimental analyses identified novel genes and secondary metabolites that contribute to the evolutionary success of F. fujikuroi as a rice pathogen.
Cyber Attack Detection and Classification Using Parallel Support Vector Machine

Cyber attack is becoming a critical issue of organizational information systems. A number of cyber attack detection and classification methods have been introduced with different levels of success that is used as a countermeasure to preserve data integrity and system availability from attacks. The classification of attacks against computer network is becoming a harder problem to solve in the field of network security. This paper describes a Subset Selection Decision Fusion method to choose features (attributes) of KDDCUP 1999 intrusion detection dataset. Selection algorithm for distributed cyber attack detection and classification is proposed. Different types of attacks together with the normal condition of the network are modeled as different classes of the network data. We proposed Parallel Support Vector Machine (pSVM) algorithm for detection and classification of cyber attack dataset. Support Vector Machines (SVM) are the classifiers which were originally designed for binary c1assification. The c1assificatioin applications can solve multi-class problems. Result shows that pSVM gives more detection accuracy for classes and comparable to false alarm rate.
Relationships between Personal Measurements of 'Total' Dust, Respirable, Thoracic, and Inhalable Aerosol Fractions in the Cement Production Industry.

AIMS The aims of this study were to examine the relationships and establish conversion factors between 'total' dust, respirable, thoracic, and inhalable aerosol fractions measured by parallel personal sampling on workers from the production departments of cement plants. 'Total' dust in this study refers to aerosol sampled by the closed face 37-mm Millipore filter cassette. METHODS Side-by-side personal measurements of 'total' dust and respirable, thoracic, and inhalable aerosol fractions were performed on workers in 17 European and Turkish cement plants. Simple linear and mixed model regressions were used to model the associations between the samplers. RESULTS The total number of personal samples collected on 141 workers was 512. Of these 8.4% were excluded leaving 469 for statistical analysis. The different aerosol fractions contained from 90 to 130 measurements and-side-by side measurements of all four aerosol fractions were collected on 72 workers.The median ratios between observed results of the respirable, 'total' dust, and inhalable fractions relative to the thoracic aerosol fractions were 0.51, 2.4, and 5.9 respectively. The ratios between the samplers were not constant over the measured concentration range and were best described by regression models. Job type, position of samplers on left or right shoulder and plant had no substantial effect on the ratios. CONCLUSIONS The ratios between aerosol fractions changed with different air concentrations. Conversion models for estimation of the fractions were established. These models explained a high proportion of the variance (74-91%) indicating that they are useful for the estimation of concentrations based on measurements of a different aerosol fraction. The calculated uncertainties at most observed concentrations were below 30% which is acceptable for comparison with limit values (EN 482, 2012). The cement industry will therefore be able to predict the health related aerosol fractions from their former or future measurements of one of the fractions.
Identification of the ssDNA-binding protein of bacteriophage T5

In a recent study, we identified and characterized the long-elusive replicative single-stranded DNA-binding protein of bacteriophage T5, which we showed is related to the eukaryotic transcription coactivator PC4. Here, we provide an extended discussion of these data, report several additional observations and consider implications for the recombination-dependent replication mechanism of the T5 genus, which is still poorly understood.
Multiple paternity and postcopulatory sexual selection in a hermaphrodite: what influences sperm precedence in the garden snail Helix aspersa?

Sperm competition has been studied in many gonochoric animals but little is known about its occurrence in simultaneous hermaphrodites, especially in land snails. The reproductive behaviour of the land snail Helix aspersa involves several features, like multiple mating, long‐term sperm storage and dart‐shooting behaviour, which may promote sperm competition. Cryptic female choice may also occur through a spermatheca subdivided into tubules, which potentially allows compartmentalized sperm storage of successive mates. In order to determine the outcome of postcopulatory sexual selection in this species, we designed a cross‐breeding experiment where a recipient (‘female’) mated with two sperm donors (‘males’). Mates came from either the same population as the recipient or from a distinct one. To test for the influence a recipient can have on the paternity of its offspring, we excluded the effects of dart shooting by using only virgin snails as sperm donors because they do not shoot any dart before their first copulation. We measured the effects of size of mates as well as time to first and second mating on second mate sperm precedence (P2; established using microsatellite markers). Multiple paternity was detected in 62.5% of clutches and overall there was first‐mate sperm precedence with a mean P2 of 0.24. Generalized linear modelling revealed that the best predictors of paternity were the time between matings and the time before first mating. Overall, both first and second mates that copulated quickly got greater parentage, which may suggest that postcopulatory events influence patterns of sperm precedence in the garden snail.
Strange Allies: Multicultural Conservatism in America

This is both a good and bad time in the world of educational policy. On one hand, there have been very few periods when education has taken such a central place in public debates about our present and future. Thus, it is almost as if we have finally realized that discussions about education are not the logical equivalent of conversations about the weather. On the other hand, an increasingly limited range of ideological and discursive resources dominates the conceptual and political forms in which this debate is carried out. The concepts we use to try to understand and act on the world in which we live do not by themselves determine the answers we may find. Answers are not determined by words but by the power relations that impose their interpretations of these concepts. Yet there are key words that continually surface in the debates over education. These key words have complicated histories—histories that are connected to the social movements out of which they arose and in which they are struggled over today. These words have their own histories, but they are increasingly interrelated. The concepts are simple to list: markets, standards, accountability, tradition, God, and a number of others. Behind each of these topics is an assemblage of other words that have an emotional valence and that provide the support for the ways in which
Listening Technologies for Individuals and the Classroom

Assistive technology has always been an important component of individualized education programs. The individualized education program process can be used to supply hearing assistive technology to students. One goal of audiologists and educators is to improve the acoustic environment of classrooms for all students by constructing school buildings with better classroom acoustics and by using classroom amplification systems. This article reviews how technology is acquired for individual students, lists problems that impede acquiring appropriate technology, describes the use of classroom amplification for all students, and recommends ways to increase the probability that appropriate listening technology is available for individual students and classrooms.