Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nerve Growth Factor-Induced Formation of Axonal Filopodia and Collateral Branches Involves the Intra-Axonal Synthesis of Regulators of the Actin-Nucleating Arp2/3 Complex

Nerve growth factor (NGF) induces collateral branching along sensory axons by promoting the formation of axonal filopodia dependent on the actin-nucleating Arp2/3 complex. This study shows that chicken embryonic sensory axons contain mRNAs for the actin-nucleating Arp2/3 complex activator WAVE1 and the complex stabilizer cortactin. NGF increases the axonal levels of WAVE1 and cortactin through localized protein synthesis even in axons isolated from the cell body. Inhibition of protein synthesis in severed axons impairs NGF-induced branching, the formation of axonal filopodia, and the initiation of Arp2/3-dependent axonal actin patches, which serve as precursors to the emergence of filopodia. Overexpression of WAVE1 or cortactin in axons not treated with NGF increased the rate of actin patch formation and the frequency of the emergence of filopodia from actin patches, respectively. Antisense inhibition of cortactin mRNA translation in isolated axons blocked NGF-induced filopodia. NGF also activated the Rac1 GTPase, which drives WAVE1 activity, in a protein synthesis-independent manner. Similarly, inhibition of protein synthesis did not impair the effects of NGF on the axonal microtubule cytoskeleton during branching. The effects of NGF on Rac1 activity and increases in axonal levels of WAVE1 and cortactin were both dependent on phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling. Collectively, the data indicate that NGF promotes sensory axon branching through regulation of the actin cytoskeleton using both canonical signaling mechanisms and intra-axonal protein synthesis downstream of PI3K signaling. Finally, we present experimental evidence of axonal mRNA translation in sensory axons in the living embryonic spinal cord.
COMPONENT RECONFIGURATION STRATEGIES IN A MULTI-PROJECT ENVIRONMENT: THE CASE OF MADE-TO-ORDER MARKETS

Component reconfiguration is the process through which project-specific knowledge and technological platforms are transferred and reused within organizations. Thus far the literature failed to distinguish between two possible scenarios for component reconfiguration and reuse. One is for companies operating under the mass-production paradigm and the second is for companies operating under the made-to-order paradigm. Exploring the literature reveals that very little attention was given to reusability strategies under the made-to-order paradigm. To highlight the differences in the organization of the innovation system for component reconfiguration, four propositions are offered that examine the strategy, organizational form, management style, knowledge transfer mechanisms, and technology management practices associated with the made-to-order paradigm. The empirical core of this study is the evidence from an in-depth study of three aerospace companies operating under the made-to-order paradigm. The findings of this study suggest that indeed the made-to-order paradigm offers new insight into the mode of organization for component reconfiguration. Furthermore, two generic component reconfiguration strategies; design to reuse and exploit product success, were observed. The paper closes by assessing the implications for R & D managers and highlighting future research directions.
Emotion and aggression : the role of anger in predicting direct and indirect aggression

Many psychologists have theorized that negative emotions lead to aggression but remain vague on what contexts trigger these emotions and how these emotions predict aggression. According to the recalibrational theory of anger, signals that an interaction partner places low relational evaluations on oneself trigger anger, which motivates aggression (Sell, Tooby, & Cosmides, 2009). In the present study, we test the theory that anger mediates aggression and examine how other negative emotions relate to aggression. In an online study, we found that anger partially mediated the relationship between relative mate value and direct aggression as well as between relative mate value and indirect aggression. Further, anger fully mediated the relationship between self-perceived strength and direct aggression. For men, anger fully mediated the relationship between self-perceived mate value and indirect aggression. However, fear, embarrassment, and
Blobulous: Computers As Social Actors

Public interaction experiences are becoming ubiquitous recently, however, interaction is usually limited to broadcasting and the actual experience not very rich. Especially social connectedness and bonding are important aspects of public interaction that are often overlooked. This paper reports on research investigating how a publicly displayed application can improve social connectedness by acting in a socially accepted way. Blobulous is a novel interactive installation that interacts with participants through projected avatars, which react to the participants’ movement and body signals. A functional prototype was implemented and evaluated. Author
First in , First Out ? The Surprising Effects of Network Externalities on Pioneer Survival ”

Christophe Van den Bulte, for providing inputs on a previous version of the manuscript. Abstract As the economy becomes more interconnected, more products in the computing, telecommunications and consumer electronics industries (e.g., video-cassette recorders, personal computers) exhibit network externalities. Consequently, an extensive literature, largely in economics, has investigated the policy and welfare implications of network externalities. A consistent theme from this research is that network externalities alter the dynamics of market evolution, with important implications for marketing strategy formulation. In this study, we examine the role of network externalities in market entry strategy, specifically pioneering. We investigate whether and how network externalities influence the survival duration of pioneers. Using the Accelerated Failure Time model on data from the office products and consumer durables industries, we study the effects of network externalities (in conjunction with other firm and product characteristics) on the survival duration of pioneers. A surprising conclusion from our analyses is that network externalities are associated with reduced survival duration of pioneers. We also find significant interaction effects of product and firm characteristics with network externalities in influencing the survival of pioneers. We discuss the implications of our results for both theory and practice.
Hepatitis B Virus Large Surface Antigen Promotes Tumorigenesis of Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells through Activating Src / PI 3 K / Akt Pathway

There are three hepatitis B virus (HBV) envelope glycoproteins collectively known as hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg), including the large (LHBs), middle (MHBs), and small (SHBs) surface proteins. Among them, LHBs has been retained in a large proportion of liver tissues in HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and shown oncogenic function in transgenic mice. However, the concrete functions of LHBs in carcinogenesis of HBV-associated HCC remain elusive. In this study, we investigated the molecular and functional roles of LHBs in HBV-associated hepatocarcinogenesis. Tumor xenograft experimental data in nude mice indicated that LHBS increased tumor formation of hepatoma cells. Moreover, LHBs expression, but neither MHBs nor SHBs expression could promote colony formation and cellular proliferation of hepatoma and hepatic cells in vitro. These effects of LHBs on hepatoma cells were due to Src/PI3K/Akt signal instigation mediated by PKC /Raf1 activation. Furthermore, stable LHBs expression could promote cellular proliferation, elevate colony formation, induce G1-S cell cycle progression, and confer apoptosis resistance via Src tyrosine kinase activation in hepatoma cells. Specific Src inhibitor Saracatinib administration could reverse cellular proliferation instigation and tumor formation promotion conferred by LHBs expression in vitro and in vivo. Finally, the positive correlations between increased staining of pSrc(Y416), pAkt(S473), and proliferative marker Ki67 with LHBs expression were observed in hepatoma tissues from HCC patients. In conclusion, our results propose that LHBs could promote tumorigenesis of hepatoma cells dependent on PKC /Raf1/Src/PI3K/Akt signal activation, which reveals a novel insight into the underlying mechanisms for HBV-associated hepatocarcinogenesis. on April 11, 2017. © 2011 American Association for Cancer Research. cancerres.aacrjournals. org Downloaded from Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on October 12, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-11-2260
Study of the surface properties of ZnO nanocolumns used for thin-film solar cells

Densely packed ZnO nanocolumns (NCs), perpendicularly oriented to the fused-silica substrates were directly grown under hydrothermal conditions at 90 °C, with a growth rate of around 0.2 μm/h. The morphology of the nanostructures was visualized and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The surface properties of ZnO NCs and the binding state of present elements were investigated before and after different plasma treatments, typically used in plasma-enhanced CVD solar cell deposition processes, by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS) was used to investigate the optical and photoelectrical characteristics of the ZnO NCs, and the changes induced to the absorptance by the plasma treatments. A strong impact of hydrogen plasma treatment on the free-carrier and defect absorption of ZnO NCs has been directly detected in the PDS spectra. Although oxygen plasma treatment was proven to be more efficient in the surface activation of the ZnO NC, the PDS analysis showed that the plasma treatment left the optical and photoelectrical features of the ZnO NCs intact. Thus, it was proven that the selected oxygen plasma treatment can be of great benefit for the development of thin film solar cells based on ZnO NCs.
Supersampling and Network Reconstruction of Urban Mobility

Understanding human mobility is of vital importance for urban planning, epidemiology, and many other fields that draw policies from the activities of humans in space. Despite the recent availability of large-scale data sets of GPS traces or mobile phone records capturing human mobility, typically only a subsample of the population of interest is represented, giving a possibly incomplete picture of the entire system under study. Methods to reliably extract mobility information from such reduced data and to assess their sampling biases are lacking. To that end, we analyzed a data set of millions of taxi movements in New York City. We first show that, once they are appropriately transformed, mobility patterns are highly stable over long time scales. Based on this observation, we develop a supersampling methodology to reliably extrapolate mobility records from a reduced sample based on an entropy maximization procedure, and we propose a number of network-based metrics to assess the accuracy of the predicted vehicle flows. Our approach provides a well founded way to exploit temporal patterns to save effort in recording mobility data, and opens the possibility to scale up data from limited records when information on the full system is required.
Transactions vs. Relationships: What Should the Company Emphasize?

The relevance of transactional and relational marketing variables in relational exchanges is now well established in the marketing literature. However, the knowledge about their relative effectiveness and their optimal mix over time remains very sparse. An analytical model is proposed to help determine optimal decision rules for transactional and relational marketing efforts. Some of the main results are as follows: (a) If the seller benefits from the interaction between the transactional marketing effort and buyer’s commitment, then the seller’s optimal decision rules change over time and depend on the level of the partners’commitment. (b) Otherwise, the seller’s optimal decision rules for the two types of marketing are constant over time. (c) The seller should allocate more resources to relational marketing at the beginning of a relational exchange and, later on, should allocate more resources to transactional marketing.
Noise Level Estimation for Model Selection in Kernel PCA Denoising

One of the main challenges in unsupervised learning is to find suitable values for the model parameters. In kernel principal component analysis (kPCA), for example, these are the number of components, the kernel, and its parameters. This paper presents a model selection criterion based on distance distributions (MDDs). This criterion can be used to find the number of components and the σ2 parameter of radial basis function kernels by means of spectral comparison between information and noise. The noise content is estimated from the statistical moments of the distribution of distances in the original dataset. This allows for a type of randomization of the dataset, without actually having to permute the data points or generate artificial datasets. After comparing the eigenvalues computed from the estimated noise with the ones from the input dataset, information is retained and maximized by a set of model parameters. In addition to the model selection criterion, this paper proposes a modification to the fixed-size method and uses the incomplete Cholesky factorization, both of which are used to solve kPCA in large-scale applications. These two approaches, together with the model selection MDD, were tested in toy examples and real life applications, and it is shown that they outperform other known algorithms.
Demo Abstract : On preventing GTS-based Denial of Service in IEEE 802 . 15 . 4

The IEEE 802.15. 4 standard features some optional services, including the Guaranteed Time Slot (GTS) mechanism. It provides network devices with collision-free access to the medium to assure Quality of Service. GTS suffers from a severe security vulnerability: an adversary can easily perform a Denial of Service attack by selectively jamming collision-free communications. We present Secure GTS, our solution to the GTS-based Denial of Service attack, and our implementation for the TinyOS platform on Tmote Sky motes. Our test application shows that Secure GTS manages to prevent Denial of Service attacks.
An expectation-maximization algorithm for multichannel adaptive speech dereverberation in the frequency-domain

This paper presents an online dereverberation algorithm that is derived within the maximum-likelihood expectation-maximization (ML-EM) framework. We formulate an overlap-save observation model for the multichannel blind problem in the DFT-domain. The modeling of acoustic channel impulse responses as random variables with a first-order Markov property facilitates the ensuing algorithm to cope with time-varying conditions. We then show that the ML-EM learning rules for the multichannel state-space model at hand take the form of a recursive posterior estimator for the channels, followed by an equalization stage for recovering the speech signal subject to an expectation with respect to the estimated channel posterior. Our derivation thus results in an iterative ML algorithm for blind equalization and channel identification (ML-BENCH) which comprises two distinct and coupled subsystems. The dereverberation performance of the proposed system is evaluated by considering spectrograms and instrumental quality measures.
Clustering analysis of default mode network in fMRI data

Two clustering combined method was proposed to deal with functional magnetic resonance imaging. This method can discover different network in a single run. We applied the method to resting-state data, and the default mode network was discovered, which was consistent with the independent component analysis result. The problem on the detection of brain functional connectivity network was discussed. The validity of the presented method was elucidated by experiments on a human dataset. On the dataset, the presented approach discovered default mode network which was in line with the discoveries of former studies.
A method for atlas-based volumetric registration with surface constraints for optical bioluminescence tomography in small animal imaging

Atlases are normalized representations of anatomy that can provide a standard coordinate system for in vivo imaging studies. For Optical Bioluminescence Tomography (OBT) in small animals, the animal's surface topography can be reconstructed from structured light measurements, but internal anatomy is unavailable unless additional CT or MR images are acquired. We present a novel method for estimating the internal organ structure of a mouse by warping a labeled 3D volumetric mouse atlas with the constraint that the surfaces of the two should match. Surface-constrained harmonic maps used for this bijective warping are computed by minimizing the covariant harmonic energy. We demonstrate the application of this warping scheme in OBT, where scattering and absorption coefficients of tissue are functions of the internal anatomy and hence, better estimates of the organ structures can lead to a more accurate forward model resulting in improved source localization. We first estimated the subject's internal geometry using the atlas-based warping scheme. Then the mouse was tessellated and optical properties were assigned based on the estimated organ structure. Bioluminescent sources were simulated, an optical forward model was computed using a finite-element solver, and multispectral data were simulated. We evaluate the accuracy of the forward model computed using the warped atlas against that assuming a homogeneous mouse model. This is done by comparing each model against a 'true' optical forward model where the anatomy of the mouse is assumed known. We also evaluate the impact of anatomical alignment on bioluminescence source localization.
The Role of the E3 Ligase Cbl-B in Murine Dendritic Cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells with a promising potential in cancer immunotherapy. Cbl proteins are E3 ubiquitin ligases and have been implicated in regulating the functional activity of various immune cells. As an example, c-Cbl negatively affects DC activation. We here describe that another member of the Cbl-protein family (i.e. Cbl-b) is highly expressed in murine bone-marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs). Differentiation of cblb−/− bone marrow mononuclear cells into classical BMDCs is unaltered, except enhanced induction of DEC-205 (CD205) expression. When tested in mixed-lymphocyte reaction (MLR), cblb−/− BMDCs exhibit increased allo-stimulatory capacity in vitro. BMDCs were next in vitro stimulated by various toll like receptor (TLR)-agonists (LPS, Poly(I:C), CpG) and exposed to FITC-labeled dextran. Upon TLR-stimulation, cblb−/− BMDCs produce higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1α, IL-6 and TNF-α) and exhibit a slightly higher level of FITC-dextran uptake. To further characterize the functional significance of cblb−/− BMDCs we tested them in antigen-specific T cell responses against ovalbumin (OVA) protein and peptides, activating either CD8+ OT-I or CD4+ OT-II transgenic T cells. However, cblb−/− BMDCs are equally effective in inducing antigen-specific T cell responses when compared to wildtype BMDCs both in vitro and in vivo. The migratory capacity into lymph nodes during inflammation was similarly not affected by the absence of Cbl-b. In line with these observations, cblb−/− peptide-pulsed BMDCs are equally effective vaccines against OVA-expressing B16 tumors in vivo when compared to wildtype BMDCs. We conclude that in contrast to c-Cbl, Cbl-b plays only a limited role in the induction of Ag-specific T cell responses by murine BMDCs in vitro and in vivo.
IRWR: incremental random walk with restart

Random Walk with Restart (RWR) has become an appealing measure of node proximities in emerging applications \eg recommender systems and automatic image captioning. In practice, a real graph is typically large, and is frequently updated with small changes. It is often cost-inhibitive to recompute proximities from scratch via \emph{batch} algorithms when the graph is updated. This paper focuses on the incremental computations of RWR in a dynamic graph, whose edges often change over time. The prior attempt of RWR [1] deploys \kdash to find top-$k$ highest proximity nodes for a given query, which involves a strategy to incrementally \emph{estimate} upper proximity bounds. However, due to its aim to prune needless calculation, such an incremental strategy is \emph{approximate}: in $O(1)$ time for each node. The main contribution of this paper is to devise an \emph{exact} and fast incremental algorithm of RWR for edge updates. Our solution, \IRWR\! , can incrementally compute any node proximity in $O(1)$ time for each edge update without loss of exactness. The empirical evaluations show the high efficiency and exactness of \IRWR for computing proximities on dynamic networks against its batch counterparts.
Relational Database to RDF Translation in the Cultural Heritage Domain

A key goal of the Semantic Web is to expose the vast quantities of data currently held in relational databases so as to create a “Giant Global Graph”, expressed as RDF. However, simple algorithms for automatically mapping relational data to RDF are wasteful and inefficient. I argue that the mapping can be significantly improved by using a schema design tailored to RDF, and the smaller graph that results will promote powerful query mechanisms like faceted search. The research reported builds a substantial RDF graph from a real data archive in the cultural heritage domain. I will discuss specific characteristics of this domain, and propose a generic RDB2RDF mapping for such data, based on the simple “People, Places, Things and Events” approach frequently used in heritage data management. This mapping results in a graph of 20 million triples, which represents a ten-fold reduction in size over the standard approach.
The Effects of Phonological Awareness Training on the Reading Performance by Child EFL Learners in China

Abstract The present study explores the effects of phonological awareness training of child EFL learners in China on their reading performances. Eighty grade one Chinese children from two intact primary school classes participated in the study. The treatment class received a 10-week English phonological awareness training, while the contrast class did not receive any training. Both pre-test and post-test were administered to all participants, including English assessment, phonological awareness measures and English reading measures. The results show that the treatment class outperformed the contrast class in the post-test in reading measures and phonological awareness measures; phonological awareness positively correlated with children’s early reading performance; phoneme tasks were strong predictors of Child EFL learners’ early reading performance.