Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reorganization and Movement of Microtubules in Axonal Growth Cones and Developing Interstitial Branches

Local changes in microtubule organization and distribution are required for the axon to grow and navigate appropriately; however, little is known about how microtubules (MTs) reorganize during directed axon outgrowth. We have used time-lapse digital imaging of developing cortical neurons microinjected with fluorescently labeled tubulin to follow the movements of individual MTs in two regions of the axon where directed growth occurs: the terminal growth cone and the developing interstitial branch. In both regions, transitions from quiescent to growth states were accompanied by reorganization of MTs from looped or bundled arrays to dispersed arrays and fragmentation of long MTs into short MTs. We also found that long-term redistribution of MTs accompanied the withdrawal of some axonal processes and the growth and stabilization of others. Individual MTs moved independently in both anterograde and retrograde directions to explore developing processes. Their velocities were inversely proportional to their lengths. Our results demonstrate directly that MTs move within axonal growth cones and developing interstitial branches. Our findings also provide the first direct evidence that similar reorganization and movement of individual MTs occur in the two regions of the axon where directed outgrowth occurs. These results suggest a model whereby short exploratory MTs could direct axonal growth cones and interstitial branches toward appropriate locations.
Three Generations of East Texas Speech

NACOGDOCHES, one of the oldest towns in Texas, is in the extreme eastern part of the state about midway between the Red River and the Gulf of Mexico. At the turn of the century it was one of the largest and most flourishing of Texas towns. But it has not grown in proportion to other cities, such as Houston, Dallas, and Austin. The development of the oil industry, urbanization, and the shift in the sources of immigration have affected it less than other Texas cities.
Summary of track B: clinical science.

AIM To review Track B on clinical science. Major topics covered were quantitative HIV-1 plasma RNA measurement, combination antiretroviral therapy, protease inhibitors, treatment of primary HIV-1 infection, HIV-1 drug resistance, future use of antiretroviral drugs, paediatric HIV-1 infection, opportunistic infections and HIV/AIDS in developing countries. QUANTITATIVE HIV-1 PLASMA RNA MEASUREMENT: Quantification of HIV-1 RNA is a predictor of progression of immune deficiency and death in HIV-infected adults and children, and is useful in monitoring response to antiretroviral therapy. THERAPY Combination antiretroviral therapy is now the standard of care, although questions about optimal starting time and the best initial regimen remain unresolved. Protease inhibitors are a powerful new class of antiretroviral agents which in combination with other drugs can produce profound reductions in plasma HIV-1 RNA levels. Trials are in progress of combination antiretroviral therapy, including protease inhibitors, in persons recently infected with HIV-1 to assess the feasibility of permanent suppression or eradication of HIV-1. Adherence to therapy and drug resistance will become increasingly important subjects. CONCLUSIONS The genuine improvements in patient management are out of reach to the majority of the world's HIV-infected persons, a conclusion with implications which dampened the optimism generated by the conference.
Electrostatically Actuated Nonconductive Polymermicroresonators with Amplified Quality Factor in Gaseous and Aqueous Environment

We present nonconductive microresonators made of SU-8 actuated by the Kelvin polarization force. This technique allows the direct actuation of pure and nonconductive polymer microstructures in gaseous and aqueous environment. Instead of playing the role of the functional layer in a silicon based chemical or biosensor, the sensitive polymer acts as structural material. This method allows the separation of a complete sensing system into the driving circuit and a cheap and disposable, sensitive polymer microresonator array. The relative low quality factor of polymer micro actuators is enhanced by a feedback of the velocity signal. The quality factor was enhanced to an effective quality factor, in water from Q=1 to Qeff=33 and in air at atmospheric pressure from Q=22 to Qeff=506.
WAVELET SPECKLE REDUCTION FOR SAR IMAGERY BASED ON EDGE DETECTION

This paper introduces a wavelet transform speckle reduction algorithm for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery based on edge detection. Existing speckle algorithm can efficiently reduce the speckle effect but unfortunately also, to some degree, smear edges and blur images. In this paper, the original image is firstly logarithmic transformed and decomposed with multi-scale wavelet transform. For each pyramid level, edge cross points are detected by using the wavelet transform modulus maximum. The multi-scale and edge fusion strategy enables to detect only edge crossings and ignore the local oscillations. Then local wavelet soft-threshold filter is applied to the area that there is no edge crossing point. Repeat it through the image pyramid levels, and the despeckled image is reconstructed. The experiments have been carried out to verify the method proposed in this paper and the results is elaborately analyzed. The results have shown that our method can not only filter the speckle noise efficiently, but well preserve the image detail in the SAR imagery .
Quiet is the New Loud: Pausing and Focus in Child and Adult Dutch

In a number of languages, prosody is used to highlight new information (or focus). In Dutch, focus is marked by accentuation, whereby focal constituents are accented and post-focal constituents are de-accented. Even if pausing is not traditionally seen as a cue to focus in Dutch, several previous studies have pointed to a possible relationship between pausing and information structure. Considering that Dutch-speaking 4 to 5 year olds are not yet completely proficient in using accentuation for focus and that children generally pause more than adults, we asked whether pausing might be an available parameter for children to manipulate for focus. Sentences with varying focus structure were elicited from 10 Dutch-speaking 4 to 5 year olds and 9 Dutch-speaking adults by means of a picture-matching game. Comparing pause durations before focal and non-focal targets showed pre-target pauses to be significantly longer when the targets were focal than when they were not. Notably, the use of pausing was more robust in the children than in the adults, suggesting that children exploit pausing to mark focus more generally than adults do, at a stage where their mastery of the canonical cues to focus is still developing.
Agents That Reason and Negotiate by Arguing

The need for negotiation in multi-agent systems stems from the requirement for agents to solve the problems posed by their interdependence upon one another. Negotiation provides a solution to these problems by giving the agents the means to resolve their conflicting objectives, corect inconsistencies in their knowledge of other agents' world views, and coordinate a joint approach to domain tasks which benefits all the agents concerned. We propose a framework, based upon a system of argumentation, which permits agents to negotiate in order to establish acceptable ways of solving problems. The framework provides a formal model of argumentation-based reasoning and negotiation, details a design philosophy which ensures a clear link between the formal model and its practical instantiation, and describes a case study of this relationship for a particular class of architectures (namely those for belief-desire-intention agents).
RIIF - Reliability information interchange format

In this paper, a new standard language called RIIF (Reliability Information Interchange Format) is defined which enables designers to specify the failure characteristics and reliability requirements for simple and complex components. This language enables EDA tools to analyze reliability models and to compute the failure rates for complex systems. A formal language makes it possible for suppliers and consumers to exchange reliability information in a consistent fashion and to use this information to build accurate reliability models. The RIIF language is a general purpose reliability modeling language and is not tied to a specific application domain or implementation technology.
A recovery journey for people with personality disorder

Background: The study investigates the process of recovery for people diagnosed with personality disorder, a client group that suffers significant social exclusion known to impact on demand for health and other public services. It aims to examine efforts that attempt to reverse this social exclusion as an aspect of the recovery process. Aim and Method: The following study aims to (1) explore what recovery means to people with personality disorder; (2) develop a conceptual model of recovery in personality disorder; and (3) evaluate the contribution of the setting (The Haven) to recovery practice. The study uses a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design. Data was collected from 66 participants by focus groups and individual interviews. Findings: A map based on thematic analysis of data collected during the study is proposed of the recovery journey for people with this diagnosis, shown as a pyramid that represents a hierarchy of progress, from building trust through stages of recovery to social inclusion. Conclusion: The findings offer contributions to knowledge in terms of the service design and propose a new model of recovery in personality disorder. This is defined as a journey of small steps highlighting recovery as a process rather than a goal, leading to the emergence of the new concept of transitional recovery.
The elimination of Marius, the giraffe: humanitarian act or callous management decision?

ABSTRACT Zoos serve as recreation facilities and tourist attractions, but their primary roles also include education, research and conservation. Conservation in particular has emerged as a vital component of zoos, with the aim of diversifying the genetic base of many species that have been rendered threatened or endangered. However, conservation is often couched within a managerial structure that places individual animal interests against broader species specific interests and economic considerations. Zoos make trade-offs between these considerations according to issues of space, efficiency and profitability. This conflict has recently come to the fore in reference to the elimination of Marius, a healthy 18-month-old male giraffe, at the Copenhagen Zoo, which elicited a public uproar. We consider the reasons and alleged constraints which led the Zoo to its decision to eliminate Marius, examine the reactions of scientists and members of the public to the event, interpret it as a consequence of conflicts between the multiple roles of contemporary Western zoos, and discuss it in terms of competing approaches to animal ethics.
Effects of soil organic matter on the kinetics and mechanisms of Pb(II) sorption and desorption in soil

To improve predictions of the toxicity and threat from Pb contaminated soil, it is critical that time-dependent sorption and desorption behavior be understood. In this paper, the sorption and desorption behavior of Pb in a Matapeake silt loam soil (Typic Hapludult) were studied by stirred-flow and batch experiments. In addition, the authors studied the effects of soil organic matter (SOM) on sorption and desorption behavior by treating the soil with sodium hypochlorite to remove the SOM fraction, and using a soil with six times as much SOM (St. Johns loamy sand [Typic Haplaquods]) as the Matapeake soil. Lead sorption consisted of a fast initial reaction in which all of the Pb added to the stirred-flow chamber was sorbed. Following this initial fast reaction, sorption continued and appears to be rate limited. The total amount of Pb sorbed was 102, 44, and 27 mmol kg{sup {minus}1} for the St. Johns soil and the untreated and treated Matapeake soils, respectively. Desorption experiments were conducted on the soils with the background electrolyte as the eluent in the stirred-flow chamber. In the St. Johns soil only, 32% of the total sorbed Pb was desorbed, while 47 and 76% of the sorbed Pb was releasedmore » from the untreated and treated Matapeake soil, respectively. The correlation between SOM in the soils, and the percentage Pb desorbed from the soils suggests that SOM plays an important role in slow desorption reactions of Pb from soil materials. Aging experiments in which sorbed Pb was incubated for 1, 10, and 32 d showed that sorption incubation time had no effect on Pb desorption behavior. Analysis of the treated and untreated Matapeake soils by x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy revealed that the local atomic structure of sorbed Pb is distinctly different in the two samples. In the soil treated to remove SOM, the data were well represented by theoretical models using O, Si, and Pb backscattering atoms. In the untreated soil, the XAFS data were best described by O and C backscatterers. These XAFS results confirm that the sorption mechanisms in the two systems are different. « less
Mismatching design method for RFID tag antenna

This paper presents an original design method (mismatching design method) for RFID tag antenna application through the analysis of the Radar Cross Section (RCS) in RFID system. This design method can achieve the largest delta RCS than traditional way so that it optimizes the stability of the RFID system. The Thevenin equivalent circuit model of the tag antenna is discussed which displays the limit of the mismatching design method. Finally, a design example is given by using the method presented and the result verifies the validity of the analysis in this paper.
Stereo‐Psychopharmacology: The Case of Citalopram and Escitalopram

“Chiral switching” is generally defined as the marketing of a single-enantiomer (enantiopure) derivative of a racemic drug that has already been approved.1–3 For example, the proton pump inhibitor omeprazole, which received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 1989, gave rise to esomeprazole in 2001. A major commercial objective of chiral switching is to extend the effective patent life of a successful product, sometimes characterized as an aspect of “evergreening. ” Typically, single-enantiomer drugs are also proposed to have improved safety and/or efficacy profiles compared to the corresponding racemic drugs. For a given chiral molecule, pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties, as well as pathways of metabolism and clearance, may differ among component stereoisomers.4–6 However, the clinical importance of these differences has been disputed.7 Single-enantiomer drug patents have been targets of litigation and out-of-court settlements, even in cases in which the racemic precursor was not actually marketed.8 In psychopharmacology, enantiopure derivatives of milnacipran, zopiclone, and amphetamine, among others, have been marketed worldwide.4,9,10 Some enantiopure psychotropic drugs, such as armodafinil11 and esketamine,12 may have clinically important pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic differences from the corresponding racemic mixtures. Benefits of some enantiopure drugs (eg, eszopiclone) relative to racemic mixtures are uncertain.10,13,14 Regardless, newly patented enantiopure drugs are likely to have high dollar costs.
Automatic Generation Control of an interconnected multi-area reheat thermal power systems with conventional proportional-integral controller considering various performance indices

This paper presents the analysis of Automatic Generation Control (AGC)/Load Frequency Control (LFC) of conventional three area interconnected thermal power systems. The current study considered suitable Generation Rate Constraints (GRC), reheat and non-reheat turbine. Optimum gain settings of the conventional controllers are obtained, both in the constraints and non-constraints modes using with three different performance indices. Dynamic performance of the system is analyzed considering one percent of step load disturbance is in either area of the system. Furthermore, time domain specification analysis is used for the system performance evaluation. The analysis established that Integral Time Absolute Error (ITAE) based conventional controllers yield better controlled response and good dynamic performance compared to other indices.
Decoding Noncoding RNAs: Role of MicroRNAs and Long Noncoding RNAs in Ocular Neovascularization

Ocular neovascularization is a pathological sequel of multiple eye diseases. Based on the anatomical site into which the abnormal neovessels grow, ocular neovascularization can be categorized into corneal neovascularization, choroidal neovascularization, and retinal neovascularization. Each category is intractable, and may lead to blindness if not appropriately treated. However, the current therapeutic modalities, including laser photocoagulation, vitrectomy surgery, and anti-VEGF drugs, raise concerns due to limited efficacy, damage on retinal parenchyma and vasculature, and the patients' unresponsiveness to the treatments. Therefore, the in-depth study on pathogenesis of and the search for novel therapeutic targets to the ocular neovascularization are needed. During the last 10 years or so, a large number of literatures have emerged indicating a critical role of noncoding RNAs, particularly microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), in the pathogenesis and regulation of the ocular neovascularization. This review summarizes the current understanding of the biosynthesis and functions of the miRNAs and lncRNAs, the regulation of the miRNAs and lncRNAs in neovascular eye diseases, as well as the roles of these noncoding RNAs in the disease models of ocular neovascularization, in the hope that it could provide clues for the pathogenesis of and molecular targets to the ocular neovascularization.
Adherence of Salmonella typhimurium to Caco-2 cells: identification of a glycoconjugate receptor

The mechanism by which Salmonella species adhere to the epithelium of the intestine is not well understood. To identify components on intestinal epithelial cells that may be involved in the initial adherence of Salmonella typhimurium, we correlated patterns of adherence to well-differentiated Caco-2BBe cell monolayers with expression of brush border membrane components and lectin binding sites. This cloned cell line shows heterogeneous expression of sucrase-isomaltase and most lectin receptors. S. typhimurium adhered to a subpopulation of living or formaldehyde-fixed cells with a high multiplicity (up to 150 bacteria per cell). Bacterial binding to selected cells was not correlated with expression of the brush border hydrolases dipeptidyl-peptidase IV and sucrase-isomaltase or with binding of 10 of the 12 lectins tested. However, binding was correlated with the presence of binding sites for peanut agglutinin (PNA) [specific for Gal beta (1-3) GalNAc] and soybean agglutinin (specific for terminal GalNAc). Preincubation of live and fixed Caco-2BBe monolayers with PNA inhibited bacterial binding, while preincubation with soybean agglutinin did not. Electron microscopic analysis demonstrated that the initial adherence of S. typhimurium to Caco-2 cells in vitro involved peripheral components of the glycocalyx on apical microvilli. These results suggest that a Gal beta (1-3)GalNAc epitope recognized by PNA and located in the glycocalyx is involved in the early recognition events between S. typhimurium and Caco-2 cells and that differences in glycosylation patterns among individual epithelial cells may be a determinant in cell-selective adherence of S. typhimurium.
Determinants of HIV-1 Mutational Escape From Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes

CD8+ class I–restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) usually incompletely suppress HIV-1 in vivo, and while analogous partial suppression induces antiretroviral drug-resistance mutations, epitope escape mutations are inconsistently observed. However, escape mutation depends on the net balance of selective pressure and mutational fitness costs, which are poorly understood and difficult to study in vivo. Here we used a controlled in vitro system to evaluate the ability of HIV-1 to escape from CTL clones, finding that virus replicating under selective pressure rapidly can develop phenotypic resistance associated with genotypic changes. Escape varied between clones recognizing the same Gag epitope or different Gag and RT epitopes, indicating the influence of the T cell receptor on pressure and fitness costs. Gag and RT escape mutations were monoclonal intra-epitope substitutions, indicating limitation by fitness constraints in structural proteins. In contrast, escape from Nef-specific CTL was more rapid and consistent, marked by a polyclonal mixture of epitope point mutations and upstream frameshifts. We conclude that incomplete viral suppression by CTL can result in rapid emergence of immune escape, but the likelihood is strongly determined by factors influencing the fitness costs of the particular epitope targeted and the ability of responding CTL to recognize specific epitope variants.
Multidimensional Harmonic Retrieval via Coupled Canonical Polyadic Decomposition—Part I: Model and Identifiability

Multidimensional Harmonic Retrieval (MHR) is a fundamental problem in signal processing. We make a connection with coupled Canonical Polyadic Decomposition (CPD), which allows us to better exploit the rich MHR structure than existing approaches in the derivation of uniqueness results. We discuss both deterministic and generic conditions. We obtain a deterministic condition that is both necessary and sufficient but which may be difficult to check in practice. We derive mild deterministic relaxations that are easy to verify. We also discuss the variant in which the generators have unit norm. We narrow the transition zone between generic uniqueness and generic non-uniqueness to two values of the number of harmonics. We explain differences with one-dimensional HR.