Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Attenuation of proliferation in oligodendrocyte precursor cells by activated microglia

Activated microglia can influence the survival of neural cells through the release of cytotoxic factors. Here, we investigated the interaction between Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4)‐activated microglia and oligodendrocytes or their precursor cells (OPC). Primary rat or N9 microglial cells were activated by exposure to TLR4‐specifc lipopolysaccharide (LPS), resulting in mitogen‐activated protein kinase activation, increased CD68 and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression, and release of the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6). Microglial conditioned medium (MGCM) from LPS‐activated microglia attenuated primary OPC proliferation without inducing cell death. The microglial‐induced inhibition of OPC proliferation was reversed by stimulating group III metabotropic glutamate receptors in microglia with the agonist L‐AP4. In contrast to OPC, LPS‐activated MGCM enhanced the survival of mature oligodendrocytes. Further investigation suggested that TNF and IL‐6 released from TLR4‐activated microglia might contribute to the effect of MGCM on OPC proliferation, insofar as TNF depletion of LPS‐activated MGCM reduced the inhibition of OPC proliferation, and direct addition of TNF or IL‐6 attenuated or increased proliferation, respectively. OPC themselves were also found to express proteins involved in TLR4 signalling, including TLR4, MyD88, and MAL. Although LPS stimulation of OPC did not induce proinflammatory cytokine release or affect their survival, it did trigger JNK phosphorylation, suggesting that TLR4 signalling in these cells is active. These findings suggest that OPC survival may be influenced not only by factors released from endotoxin‐activated microglia but also through a direct response to endotoxins. This may have consequences for myelination under conditions in which microglial activation and cerebral infection are both implicated. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
SmartBody: behavior realization for embodied conversational agents

Researchers demand much from their embodied conversational agents (ECAs), requiring them to be both life-like, as well as responsive to events in an interactive setting. We find that a flexible combination of animation approaches may be needed to satisfy these needs. In this paper we present SmartBody, an open source modular framework for animating ECAs in real time, based on the notion of hierarchically connected animation controllers. Controllers in SmartBody can employ arbitrary animation algorithms such as keyframe interpolation, motion capture or procedural animation. Controllers can also schedule or combine other controllers. We discuss our architecture in detail, including how we incorporate traditional approaches, and develop the notion of a controller as a reactive module within a generic framework, for realizing modular animation control. To illustrate the versatility of the architecture, we also discuss a range of applications that have used SmartBody successfully.
Visualizing the underwater behavior of humpback whales

A new collaboration between visualization experts, engineers, and marine biologists has changed. For the first time, we can see and study the foraging behavior of humpback whales. Our study's primary objective was furthering the science of marine mammal ethology. We also had a second objective: field testing GeoZui4D, an innovative test-bench for investigate effective ways of navigating through time-varying geospatial data
Household Segmentation by Load Shape and Daily Consumption

e widespread global deployment of smart meters oers a unique opportunity for utilities to understand the energy use lifestyles and needs of their consumers. It also presents a new challenge: mining these massive datasets and translating ne-grained consumption data into meaningful insights for purposes of eciency and interpretability. In this paper, we focus on the segmentation of consumer lifestyles based on energy consumption data and propose a structured methodology that considers both the shape of the daily consumer load prole as well as its total energy consumption. We show that this distinction is critical to target recommendations of solar photo-voltaics (PV) and baeries for each consumer segment.
Temporal and Spatial OBDA with Many-Dimensional Halpern-Shoham Logic

We design an extension datalogHSn□ of datalog with hyperrectangle generalisations of Halpern-Shoham's modal operators on intervals and a corresponding query language. We prove that, over n-dimensional spaces comprised of Z and R, finding certain answers to datalogHSn□ queries can be reduced to standard datalog query answering. We present experimental results showing the expressivity and efficiency of datalogHSn□ on historical data.
A framework for investigating the impact of IT capability and organisational capability on firm performance in the late industrialising context

From the viewpoint of the whole organisation, the capabilities of a firm can be classified into technological capability and organisational capability. Nowadays, how to accelerate the rate of building up and accumulating technological capabilities is of vital importance to the latecomer companies in order to catch up with technological frontier companies. Technological capability encompasses the Information Technology (IT) capability and other technical but non-IT capabilities. In this paper we focus on the IT capability and its effect on a firm's performance and propose an integrated framework that provides the latecomer firms with a roadmap to build up their capabilities and improve their performance. The purpose is to advance an understanding of the relationship among IT capability, organisational capability, and firm performance.
The power of habits: unhealthy snacking behaviour is primarily predicted by habit strength.

OBJECTIVE Although increasing evidence shows the importance of habits in explaining health behaviour, many studies still rely solely on predictors that emphasize the role of conscious intentions. The present study was designed to test the importance of habit strength in explaining unhealthy snacking behaviour in a large representative community sample (N= 1,103). To test our hypothesis that habits are crucial when explaining unhealthy snacking behaviour, their role was compared to the 'Power of Food', a related construct that addresses sensitivity to food cues in the environment. Moreover, the relation between Power of Food and unhealthy snacking habits was assessed. DESIGN AND METHODS A prospective design was used to determine the impact of habits in relation to intention, Power of Food and a number of demographic variables. One month after filling out the questionnaire, including measures of habit strength and Power of Food, participants reported their unhealthy snacking behaviour by means of a 7-day snack diary. RESULTS Results showed that habit strength was the most important predictor, outperforming all other variables in explaining unhealthy snack intake. CONCLUSIONS The findings demonstrate that snacking habits provide a unique contribution in explaining unhealthy snacking behaviour, stressing the importance of addressing habit strength in further research and interventions concerning unhealthy snacking behaviour.
Cyber attacks targeting Android cellphones

Mobile attack approaches can be categorized as Application Based Attacks and Frequency Based Attacks. Application based attacks are reviewed extensively in the literature. However, frequency based attacks to mobile phones are not experimented in detail. In this work, we have experimentally succeeded to attack an Android smartphone using a simple software based radio circuit. We have developed a software “Primary Mobile Hack Builder” to control Android operated cellphone as a distance. The SMS information and pictures in the cellphone can be obtained using this device. On the other hand, after launching a software into targeting cellphone, the camera of the cellphone can be controlled for taking pictures and downloading them into our computers. It was also possible to eavesdropping the conversation.
Fastest association rule mining algorithm predictor (FARM-AP)

Association rule mining is a particularly well studied field in data mining given its importance as a building block in many data analytics tasks. Many studies have focused on efficiency because the data to be mined is typically very large. However, while there are many approaches in literature, each approach claims to be the fastest for some given dataset. In other words, there is no clear winner. On the other hand, there is panoply of algorithms and implementations specifically designed for parallel computing. These solutions are typically implementations of sequential algorithms in a multi-processor configuration focusing on load balancing and data partitioning, each processor running the same implementation on it is own partition. The question we ask in this paper is whether there is a means to select the appropriate frequent itemset mining algorithm given a dataset and if each processor in a parallel implementation could select its own algorithm provided a given partition of the data.
Immunohistochemical and pharmacokinetic characterization of site-specific immunoconjugate 15A8-glycyl-tyrosyl-(N-epsilon-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid)-lysine derived from anti-breast carcinoma monoclonal antibody 15A8.

In this study, the breast carcinoma-reactive monoclonal antibody 15A8 and a site-specific immunoconjugate of the antibody, 15A8-glycyl-tyrosyl-(N-epsilon-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid)-lysine (15A8-GYK-DTPA), were characterized by immunohistological methods for reactivity with normal and neoplastic human tissues and normal cynomolgus monkey tissues. In addition, 15A8-GYK-DTPA labeled with 111In was assessed by in vivo imaging and pharmacokinetic studies for localization to human tumor xenografts in nude mice. The native antibody and the site-specific immunoconjugate exhibited similar limited reactivity with normal human tissues. Specifically, epithelial structures, including normal breast epithelium, lung alveoli, bronchial epithelium and glands, liver bile ducts, pancreatic ducts, kidney distal and collecting tubules, epidermal and esophageal epithelium, endometrial glands, and thymic Hassall's corpuscles, were reactive. Normal monkey tissues stained with 15A8 exhibited a similar pattern of reactivities. Antibody 15A8 reacted broadly with epithelium-derived tumors; more than 60% of the cells in all of the breast, colon, non-small cell lung, ovarian, prostate, bladder, and renal carcinomas tested expressed the antigen. In contrast, a variety of nonepithelial neoplasms, including lymphomas, melanomas, sarcomas, and small cell lung carcinomas, were nonreactive. 15A8-GYK-DTPA-111In administered i.v. rapidly localized to and imaged both MX-1 and MCF-7 human breast carcinoma xenografts in nude mice, reaching maximal levels of about 20% of injected dose/g of tumor within 4 days. No unusual localization to any nontumor tissue or organ was seen; the level of radioactivity in the normal tissues and organs was at or below that seen in the blood. Furthermore, the immunoconjugate did not accumulate in xenografts of the antigen-negative breast carcinoma ZR-75-1, which indicates that tumor localization was antigen specific. Pharmacokinetic studies in cynomolgus monkeys suggested that significant amounts of 15A8-GYK-DTPA-111In did not localize to normal epithelia and demonstrated that the immunoconjugate was not toxic. These findings suggest that antibody 15A8 may be useful in the diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer and possibly other carcinomas.
The Global Burden of Snakebite: A Literature Analysis and Modelling Based on Regional Estimates of Envenoming and Deaths

Background Envenoming resulting from snakebites is an important public health problem in many tropical and subtropical countries. Few attempts have been made to quantify the burden, and recent estimates all suffer from the lack of an objective and reproducible methodology. In an attempt to provide an accurate, up-to-date estimate of the scale of the global problem, we developed a new method to estimate the disease burden due to snakebites. Methods and Findings The global estimates were based on regional estimates that were, in turn, derived from data available for countries within a defined region. Three main strategies were used to obtain primary data: electronic searching for publications on snakebite, extraction of relevant country-specific mortality data from databases maintained by United Nations organizations, and identification of grey literature by discussion with key informants. Countries were grouped into 21 distinct geographic regions that are as epidemiologically homogenous as possible, in line with the Global Burden of Disease 2005 study (Global Burden Project of the World Bank). Incidence rates for envenoming were extracted from publications and used to estimate the number of envenomings for individual countries; if no data were available for a particular country, the lowest incidence rate within a neighbouring country was used. Where death registration data were reliable, reported deaths from snakebite were used; in other countries, deaths were estimated on the basis of observed mortality rates and the at-risk population. We estimate that, globally, at least 421,000 envenomings and 20,000 deaths occur each year due to snakebite. These figures may be as high as 1,841,000 envenomings and 94,000 deaths. Based on the fact that envenoming occurs in about one in every four snakebites, between 1.2 million and 5.5 million snakebites could occur annually. Conclusions Snakebites cause considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. The highest burden exists in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.
Iranian Journal of Neurology © 2014 Original Paper Comparison of the Health-related Quality of Life between Epileptic Patients with Partial and Generalized Seizure

Background: Epilepsy is defined as recurrent unprovoked febrile seizures, which cause disability in patients. This study aims to assess the health-related quality-of-life (QOL) in epileptic patients in Fars Province, southern Iran. Methods: One-hundred epileptic patients, above 18 years, referred to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences affiliated clinics, were included. The QOL of patients with generalized and partial seizure were assessed using the Iranian valid and reliable Sf-36 questionnaire. Patients' socio-demographic and their disease features were also compared with each other using a questionnaire. Results: In partial epilepsy group (n = 24), the married patients in social functioning (SF) aspect of QOL and those with high income in mental health aspect of QOL (P = 0.036 and correlation coecient = 0.413) got better scores compared with the partial epileptic patients who were single, on polytherapy, unemployed and had low to moderate income. In generalized epilepsy group (n = 76), patients on AEDs monotherapy in PF aspect of QOL (P = 0.025) (78.33 ± 24.36) and employed patients in vitality aspect (P = 0.023) (57.00 ± 28.25) had better scores. Data were analyzed using SPSS for windows. Conclusion: Epilepsy can affect patient's life in a number of ways such as their lives, marriage, occupation, and education. We can encourage patients to find a partner, continue higher education and try to find a job.
Drying of Rough Rice: A Numerical Investigation

Drying can be defined as a simultaneous heat and mass transfer process between product and air drying. These phenomena have occurred due to thermal and moisture gradients and they are affected by different parameters. The inadequate management of this process can cause severe damage to the product such as cracking, loss of nutritional properties and even loss of the product quality. Thus, this paper proposes a numerical study of heat and mass transfer that occurs during the rough rice drying process, using the commercial software ANSYS CFX®. Herein the grain was considered as ellipsoid of revolution.
Repeated social-defeat stress, cocaine or morphine. Effects on behavioral sensitization and intravenous cocaine self-administration "binges".

RATIONALE Repeated social stress experiences engender "behavioral sensitization" and may also increase the potential for abuse of psychomotor stimulants, particularly cocaine use during "binges. " OBJECTIVE Experimental protocols were designed to induce behavioral sensitization through exposures to social-defeat stress or injections of cocaine or morphine. The impact of stress, cocaine or morphine sensitization on cocaine self-administration was assessed using several protocols. METHODS Behavioral sensitization was induced in male Long-Evans rats by four social-defeat stress episodes, each separated by 72 h. Expression was assessed following a challenge of D-amphetamine (1.0 mg/kg) or cocaine (7.5 mg/kg or 10.0 mg/kg), 10-15 days after the last defeat. Sensitization to cocaine (15.0 mg/kg) or morphine (10.0 mg/kg) was induced via daily administrations for 10 days and later assessed by challenges with cocaine or morphine. Subsequently, i.v. self-administration of cocaine was analyzed for (i) rates of acquisition, (ii) sensitivity to various doses, (iii) "breaking points" during a progressive ratio schedule of cocaine reinforcement, and (iv) patterns of intake during a 24-h binge, in sensitized and control rats. RESULTS Social-defeat stress, cocaine or morphine administrations increased the locomotor response to stimulant challenges. During 24-h cocaine self-administration binges, sensitization to social-defeat stress or to cocaine prolonged responding, resulting in more cocaine intake. In addition, cocaine sensitization increased the rate of acquisition to cocaine self-administration and the breaking point during a progressive ratio schedule. CONCLUSION The process of sensitization to social-defeat stress or cocaine intensifies cocaine intake during a binge, supporting the hypothesis that sensitization may facilitate the transition to compulsive drug taking.
nlp.cs.aueb.gr: Two Stage Sentiment Analysis

This paper describes the systems with which we participated in the task Sentiment Analysis in Twitter of SEMEVAL 2013 and specifically the Message Polarity Classification. We used a 2-stage pipeline approach employing a linear SVM classifier at each stage and several features including BOW features, POS based features and lexicon based features. We have also experimented with Naive Bayes classifiers trained with BOW features.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ECONOMY VIA VENTURE CAPITAL AND INITIAL PUBLIC EFFERINGS IN TURKEY

Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) have an important impact on the development of new economy but SMEs have a need for venture capital (VC) and initial public offerings (IPOs) in order to grow. Therefore, It is very important to know how owners, managers and employees in the SMEs perceive the VC and IPOs in Turkey. A questionnaire is developed to understand these types of perceptions via focus groups. The questionnaire is distributed to the owners, managers and employees of SMEs that operate in Istanbul Technical University KOSGEB, Bogazici University KOSGEB and Yıldız Technical University KOSGEB.
Selective Release of Proteins from Spirillum itersonii by Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane and Ethylenediaminetetraacetate

Treatment of Spirillum itersonii with tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris)-ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) results in the quantitative release of alkaline phosphatase and ribonuclease into the surrounding medium. At the same time, about 90% of the total cellular soluble cytochrome c is liberated. This process occurs within 1 min of treatment at both 24 and 4 C. Release of these proteins by Tris-EDTA treatment is highly selective, since only 9% of the total cell protein is liberated, concomitantly with less than 5% ribonucleic acid, deoxyribonucleic acid, and malate dehydrogenase. Different sigmoidal curves are obtained for release of proteins as a function of EDTA concentration. The order of liberation with increasing EDTA is as follows: alkaline phosphatase, protein, soluble cytochrome c, and ribonuclease. Treatment of cells with Tris-EDTA under conditions which cause extensive loss of alkaline phosphatase, soluble cytochrome c, and ribonuclease results in cell death, with cessation of protein and ribonucleic acid synthesis. Cells treated with EDTA in phosphate buffer (in the absence of Tris) liberate a large portion of their soluble cytochrome c, but negligible amounts of alkaline phosphatase and ribonuclease. Addition of Tris to cells pretreated with phosphate-buffered EDTA releases high levels of alkaline phosphatase, but not ribonuclease. These results suggest that a common surface alteration is not solely responsible for release of periplasmic proteins. More likely, each protein of the periplasm is bound in an independent and specific manner.
Evaluation of Glass Dissolution Vessel Dimensions and Irregularities

Introduction Used in the private or public USP Performance test, dissolution testing plays an important role in both product development and quality assurance for nonsolution oral dosage forms. The dissolution procedure itself,as described in USP General Chapter Dissolution , is sensitive and specific but requires special care in execution. Results of a recent USP collaborative study of new Lot P Prednisone Reference Standard Tablets indicate much higher reproducibility (interlaboratory variance) than repeatability (intralaboratory variance) (1,2). To improve reproducibility,the USP Biopharmaceutics Expert Committee recommends careful IQ,OQ,and PQ (mechanical calibration),as well as a Performance Verification Test (PVT); the latter two typically are performed at six-month intervals. Several variables such as shaft rotation speed,shaft and vessel alignment,basket/paddle height,and bath levelness have been cited as factors that contribute to high variability of the dissolution procedure. Missing from this list are factors relating to vessel dimension and irregularities,which are the subject of this report.
VersaPower: Power estimation for diverse FPGA architectures

This paper presents VersaPower, a tool capable of modelling the power usage of many different field programmable gate array (FPGA) architectures.The latest release of the academic FPGA CAD tool, Versatile Place and Route 6.0 (VPR), supports new architecture features such as fracturable look-up tables and complex logic blocks. Past FPGA power models do not support these new features. VersaPower is designed to work closely with VPR to provide power estimation for any architecture supported by this new CAD flow. This allows researchers to investigate the effects on power usage of both new FPGA architectures, as well as new CAD algorithms. VersaPower is designed to operate with modern CMOS technologies, and is validated against SPICE using 22 nm, 45 nm and 130 nm technologies. Results show that for common architectures, roughly 60% HDL of power consumption is due to the routing fabric, 30% from logic blocks and 10% from the clock network. Architectures ODN supporting fracturable LUTs require 5-10% more power, as each CLB has additional I/O pins, increasing the sizes of local interconnect crossbars and connection boxes.
Semi-Parametric Approach for Software Reliability Evaluation Using Mixed Gamma Distributions

This paper proposes a semi-parametric software reliability model (SRM) based on a mixed gamma distribution, so-called the mixed gamma SRM. In addition, we develop the parameter estimation method for the mixed gamma SRM. Concretely, the estimation method is based on the Bayesian estimation and the parameter estimation algorithm is described by MCMC (Markov chain Monte Carlo) method with grouped data. In numerical experiment, we compare the mixed gamma SRM with several parametric SRMs, and examine the performance on the fitting ability of proposed model.