Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reactive Oxygen Species-mediated TRPC6 Protein Activation in Vascular Myocytes, a Mechanism for Vasoconstrictor-regulated Vascular Tone*

Both TRPC6 and reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in regulating vascular function. However, their interplay has not been explored. The present study examined whether activation of TRPC6 in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) by ROS was a physiological mechanism for regulating vascular tone by vasoconstrictors. In A7r5 cells, arginine vasopressin (AVP) evoked a striking Ca2+ entry response that was significantly attenuated by either knocking down TRPC6 using siRNA or inhibition of NADPH oxidases with apocynin or diphenyleneiodonium. Inhibition of TRPC6 or ROS production also decreased AVP-stimulated membrane currents. In primary cultured aortic VSMCs, catalase and diphenyleneiodonium significantly suppressed AVP- and angiotensin II-induced whole cell currents and Ca2+ entry, respectively. In freshly isolated and endothelium-denuded thoracic aortas, hyperforin (an activator of TRPC6), but not its vehicle, induced dose- and time-dependent constriction in TRPC6 wide type (WT) mice. This response was not observed in TRPC6 knock-out (KO) mice. Consistent with the ex vivo study, hyperforin stimulated a robust Ca2+ entry in the aortic VSMCs from WT mice but not from KO mice. Phenylephrine induced a dose-dependent contraction of WT aortic segments, and this response was inhibited by catalase. Moreover, H2O2 itself evoked Ca2+ influx and inward currents in A7r5 cells, and these responses were significantly attenuated by either inhibition of TRPC6 or blocking vesicle trafficking. H2O2 also induced inward currents in primary VSMCs from WT but not from TRPC6 KO mice. Additionally, H2O2 stimulated a dose-dependent constriction of the aortas from WT mice but not from the vessels of KO mice. Furthermore, TIRFM showed that H2O2 triggered membrane trafficking of TRPC6 in A7r5 cells. These results suggest a new signaling pathway of ROS-TRPC6 in controlling vessel contraction by vasoconstrictors.
OPTIMIZATION OF THE CUTTING EDGE GEOMETRY OF COATED CARBIDE TOOLS IN DRY TURNING OF STEELS USING A FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

This paper investigates the effects of edge radius of a round-edge coated carbide tool on chip formation, cutting forces, and tool stresses in orthogonal cutting of an alloy steel 42CrMo4 (AISI 4142H). A comprehensive experimental study by end turning of thin-walled tubes is conducted, using advanced coated tools with well-defined cutting edge radii ranging from 5 to 68 microns. In parallel, 2-D finite element cutting simulations based on Lagrangian thermo-viscoplastic formulation are used to predict the cutting temperatures and tool-stress distributions within the tool coating and substrate. The results obtained from this study provide a fundamental understanding of the cutting mechanics for the coated carbide tool used, and can assist in the optimization of tool edge design for more complex geometries, such as chamfered edge. Specifically, the results obtained from the experiments and simulations of this study demonstrated that finite element analysis can significantly help in optimizing the design of coated cutting tools through the prediction of tool stresses and temperatures, especially within the coating layer.
Analysis of the Fe-Ti and Mg-Ti-Fe Alloys Prepared by High Energy Ball Milling and their Hydrogen Capacity

The synthesis and characterizations of Fe-Ti and Mg-Ti-Fe alloys with the atomic ratio of Fe:Ti = 2:1 and Mg:Ti:Fe = 2:5:6 prepared by mechanical alloying technique in toluene solution and measurement the hydrogen absorption properties of the yields have been performed. The Fe-Ti and Mg-Ti-Fe elemental powders are milled with the milling time of 30 h, in a Mixer Mill, type PW 700i high energy ball mill. The milled specimens are analyzed with an X-ray diffractometer, Philip, type PW 1710, using Cu as the anode tube and l = 1.5406 Å. Qualitative and quantitative analyses are determined using Rietveld method developed by Fuji Izumi. The microstructure of the specimens after milling and hydriding are identified with a scanning electron microscope, Philip type 550. The refinement analysis of the x-ray diffractions results for Fe-Ti alloy shows that before milling the specimen consists of Ti and Fe phases, and after 30 h of milling new phases identified as FeTi and Fe2Ti are formed. In case of Mg-Ti-Fe alloy after 30 h of milling new phases identified as Fe2Ti and FeTi compounds are formed with the absence of Mg-Ti and Mg-Fe. Quantitative analysis of the milled powders shows that the mass fractions of FeTi and Fe2Ti phases are correspondingly 22.5 wt% and is 21.1 wt%, and the rest is Fe. The disappearance of Mg peaks after milling is suggested from the transformation of the crystallite into amorphous state. On hydriding at room temperature, the milled Fe-Ti and Mg-Fe-Ti powders are transformed into b-Ti4FeH8.5, Fe and TiH2. Considering the high hydrogen capacity and the low hydriding temperature of the Mg-Ti-Fe alloy compared to those of Fe-Ti alloy, the Mg-Ti-Fe alloy could be promoted as a new hydrogen storage material.
Reframing Narratives of Aboriginal Health Inequity

A large body of literature explores historical trauma or intergenerational trauma among Aboriginal communities around the globe. This literature connects contemporary forms of social suffering and health inequity to broader historical processes of colonization and the residential school systems in Canada. There are tendencies within this literature, however, to focus on individual pathology and victimization while minimizing notions of resilience or well-being. Through a social constructionist lens, this research examined how interpersonal responses to historical traumas can be intertwined with moments of and strategies for resilience. Detailed narrative interviews occurred with four Aboriginal Cree elders living in central Saskatchewan, Canada, who all experienced historical trauma to some extent. From this analysis, we argue that health research among Aboriginal populations must be sensitive to the complex individual and social realities that necessarily involve both processes of historical and contemporary traumas as well as resilience, strength, and well-being.
Prediction of the properties of annealed InAs/GaAs quantum dot samples assuming conservation of Indium atoms

Annealing is known to induce In/Ga interdiffusion and intermixing in InAs/GaAs quantum dots. It results in a blueshift of the emission energy and a decrease in the intersublevel spacing. We claim that the conservation of Indium within each dot leads to a very tight link between these two effects. To illustrate this, we use a simple 3D harmonic oscillator model to describe the energy levels in the dots. We can then derive analytical expressions linking the optical properties, the structural parameters and the Indium content of each dot. Indium conservation then leads to an almost linear dependence between the emission energy and the intersublevel spacing. These predictions fit very well with published results. We furthermore show that the same arguments can be used to understand changes in the inhomogeneous broadening upon annealing. Annealing is often cited as a method of tuning the energy emission or the intersublevel spacing in quantum dot devices. By linking theoretically the properties of annealed samples to the as-grown sample, annealing a sample can also be a useful probe to determine its structural properties.
Automatic multi-parametric MR registration method using mutual information based on adaptive asymmetric k-means binning

Multi-parametric MR image registration combines different imaging sequences to enhance visualisation and analysis. However, alignment of the different acquisitions is challenging, due to contrast-dependent anatomical information and abundant artefacts. For two decades, voxel-based registration has been dominated by methods based on mutual information, calculated from the joint image histogram. In this paper, we propose a modified framework - based on an asymmetric cluster-to-image mutual information metric - that increases registration speed and robustness. A new parameter, the homogeneous dynamic intensity range, is used to determine to which image clustering is applied. The framework also includes a semi-automatic 3D region of interest, multi-resolution wavelet decomposition, and particle swarm optimization. Performance of the framework, and its individual components, were evaluated on two diverse datasets, comprising cardiac and neonatal brain datasets. The results demonstrated the method was more robust and accurate than mutual information alone.
Engaging Children About Online Privacy Through Storytelling in an Interactive Comic

Children's privacy is put at risk through online sharing of location-based information. We study the effectiveness of an educational interactive comic on improving 11- to 13-year-old children's privacy knowledge and behaviour immediately and one week after reading. Children's privacy knowledge increased after reading either the comic or the text-only control, but the comic promoted superior knowledge retention a week later and was more successful at influencing children's reported privacy behaviour than the control. Our 22 child-parent pairs found the comic facilitated learning for children, engaging, and easy to use. We discuss the implication on children's short and long-term knowledge retention and behaviour, and the educational potential of comics at addressing the challenges of privacy and security education for children.
Contaminant removal for Android malware detection systems

A recent report indicates that there is a new malicious app introduced every 4 seconds. This rapid malware distribution rate causes existing malware detection systems to fall far behind, allowing malicious apps to escape vetting efforts and be distributed by even legitimate app stores. When trusted downloading sites distribute malware, several negative consequences ensue. First, the popularity of these sites would allow such malicious apps to quickly and widely infect devices. Second, analysts and researchers who rely on machine learning based detection techniques may also download these apps and mistakenly label them as benign since they have not been disclosed as malware. These apps are then used as part of their benign dataset during model training and testing. The presence of contaminants in benign dataset can compromise the effectiveness and accuracy of their detection and classification techniques. To address this issue, we introduce PUDROID (Positive and Unlabeled learning-based malware detection for Android) to automatically and effectively remove contaminants from training datasets, allowing machine learning based malware classifiers and detectors to be more effective and accurate. To further improve the performance of such detectors, we apply a feature selection strategy to select pertinent features from a variety of features. We then compare the detection rates and accuracy of detection systems using two datasets; one using PUDROID to remove contaminants and the other without removing contaminants. The results indicate that once we remove contaminants from the datasets, we can significantly improve both malware detection rate and detection accuracy.
Egocentric versus Allocentric Spatial Memory in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

BACKGROUND Diagnosis of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can be challenging, in particular when patients present with significant memory problems, which can increase the chance of a misdiagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Growing evidence suggests spatial orientation is a reliable cognitive marker able to differentiate these two clinical syndromes. OBJECTIVE Assess the integrity of egocentric and allocentric heading orientation and memory in bvFTD and AD, and their clinical implications. METHOD A cohort of 22 patients with dementia (11 bvFTD; 11 AD) and 14 healthy controls were assessed on the virtual supermarket task of spatial orientation and a battery of standardized neuropsychological measures of visual and verbal memory performance. RESULTS Judgements of egocentric and allocentric heading direction were differentially impaired in bvFTD and AD, with AD performing significantly worse on egocentric heading judgements than bvFTD. Both patient cohorts, however, showed similar degree of impaired allocentric spatial representation, and associated hippocampal pathology. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest egocentric heading judgements offer a more sensitive discriminant of bvFTD and AD than allocentric map-based measures of spatial memory.
A Distributed Infrastructure for Democratic Cloud Federations

Cloud federation is a novel concept that has been drawing attention from research and industry. However, there is a lack of solid proposal that can be widely adopted in practice to guarantee adequate governance of federations, especially in the Public Sector contexts due to legal requirements. In this paper, we propose an innovative governance approach that ensures distributed and democratic control in cloud federations. Starting from FaaS, a recent cloud federation proposal, we propose a blockchain infrastructure for the federation registry that implements the proposed governance approach.
Bean pod mottle virus: a new powerful tool for functional genomics studies in Pisum sativum

Summary Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important legume worldwide. The importance of pea in arable rotations and nutritional value for both human and animal consumption have fostered sustained production and different studies to improve agronomic traits of interest. Moreover, complete sequencing of the pea genome is currently underway and will lead to the identification of a large number of genes potentially associated with important agronomic traits. Because stable genetic transformation is laborious for pea, virus‐induced gene silencing (VIGS) appears as a powerful alternative technology for determining the function of unknown genes. In this work, we present a rapid and efficient viral inoculation method using DNA infectious plasmids of Bean pod mottle virus (BPMV)‐derived VIGS vector. Six pea genotypes with important genes controlling biotic and/or abiotic stresses were found susceptible to BPMV carrying a GFP reporter gene and showed fluorescence in both shoots and roots. In a second step, we investigated 37 additional pea genotypes and found that 30 were susceptible to BPMV and only 7 were resistant. The capacity of BPMV to induce silencing of endogenes was investigated in the most susceptible genotype using two visual reporter genes: PsPDS and PsKORRIGAN1 (PsKOR1) encoding PHYTOENE DESATURASE and a 1,4‐β‐D‐glucanase, respectively. The features of the ‘one‐step’ BPMV‐derived VIGS vector include (i) the ease of rub‐inoculation, without any need for biolistic or agro‐inoculation procedures, (ii) simple cost‐effective procedure and (iii) noninterference of viral symptoms with silencing. These features make BPMV the most adapted VIGS vector in pea to make low‐ to high‐throughput VIGS studies.
Dynamics of Chikungunya Virus Cell Entry Unraveled by Single-Virus Tracking in Living Cells

ABSTRACT Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a rapidly emerging mosquito-borne human pathogen causing major outbreaks in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The cell entry pathway hijacked by CHIKV to infect a cell has been studied previously using inhibitory compounds. There has been some debate on the mechanism by which CHIKV enters the cell: several studies suggest that CHIKV enters via clathrin-mediated endocytosis, while others show that it enters independently of clathrin. Here we applied live-cell microscopy and monitored the cell entry behavior of single CHIKV particles in living cells transfected with fluorescent marker proteins. This approach allowed us to obtain detailed insight into the dynamic events that occur during CHIKV entry. We observed that almost all particles fused within 20 min after addition to the cells. Of the particles that fused, the vast majority first colocalized with clathrin. The average time from initial colocalization with clathrin to the moment of membrane fusion was 1.7 min, highlighting the rapidity of the cell entry process of CHIKV. Furthermore, these results show that the virus spends a relatively long time searching for a receptor. Membrane fusion was observed predominantly from within Rab5-positive endosomes and often occurred within 40 s after delivery to endosomes. Furthermore, we confirmed that a valine at position 226 of the E1 protein enhances the cholesterol-dependent membrane fusion properties of CHIKV. To conclude, our work confirms that CHIKV enters cells via clathrin-mediated endocytosis and shows that fusion occurs from within acidic early endosomes. IMPORTANCE Since its reemergence in 2004, chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has spread rapidly around the world, leading to millions of infections. CHIKV often causes chikungunya fever, a self-limiting febrile illness with severe arthralgia. Currently, no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment against CHIKV is available. A potential antiviral strategy is to interfere with the cell entry process of the virus. However, conflicting results with regard to the cell entry pathway used by CHIKV have been published. Here we applied a novel technology to visualize the entry behavior of single CHIKV particles in living cells. Our results show that CHIKV cell entry is extremely rapid and occurs via clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Membrane fusion from within acidic early endosomes is observed. Furthermore, the membrane fusion capacity of CHIKV is strongly promoted by cholesterol in the target membrane. Taking these findings together, this study provides detailed insight into the cell entry process of CHIKV.
Constitutively Bound EGFR–Mediated Tyrosine Phosphorylation of TLR9 Is Required for Its Ability To Signal

Mammalian TLRs recognize microbial infection or cell death–associated danger signals and trigger the appropriate cellular response. These responses determine the strength and the outcome of the host–microbe interaction. TLRs are transmembrane proteins located on the plasma or the endosomal membrane. Their ectodomains recognize specific microbial or endogenous ligands, and the cytoplasmic domains interact with specific proteins to activate intracellular signaling pathways. TLR9, an endosomal TLR, is activated by endocytosed DNA. Activated TLR9 recruits the cytoplasmic adapter MyD88 and other signaling proteins to induce the synthesis of inflammatory cytokines and IFN. Uncontrolled activation of TLR9 leads to the undesired overproduction of inflammatory cytokines and consequent pathogenesis. Therefore, appropriate activation and the regulation of TLR9 signaling are critical. Tyrosine (Tyr) phosphorylation of TLR9 is essential for its activation; however, the role of specific Tyr kinases is not clear. In this article, we report that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a membrane-bound protein Tyr kinase, is essential for TLR9 signaling. Genetic ablation of EGFR or pharmacological inhibition of its kinase activity attenuates TLR9-mediated induction of genes in myeloid and nonmyeloid cell types. EGFR is constitutively bound to TLR9; upon ligand stimulation, it mediates TLR9 Tyr phosphorylation, which leads to the recruitment of MyD88, activation of the signaling kinases and transcription factors, and gene induction. In mice, TLR9-mediated liver injury and death are blocked by an EGFR inhibitor or deletion of the EGFR gene from myeloid cells, which are the major producers of inflammatory cytokines.
High-Accuracy Compressed Sensing Decoder Based on Adaptive $(\ell_{0},\ell_{1})$ Complex Approximate Message Passing: Cross-layer Design

Compressed sensing (CS) allows a signal that is sparse in certain domain to be acquired and reconstructed accurately with only a small number of samples. In this paper, we propose an adaptive (ℓ0, ℓ1) complex approximate message passing (CAMP) algorithm and its hardware implementation for complex-valued sparse signal recovery. Compared with the existing CAMP algorithm which solves ℓ1-regularized least squares problems, our proposed algorithm adaptively switches between ℓ0 and ℓ1-regularized least squares and therefore significantly outperforms the original CAMP. We implement the architecture in a medium-sized field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip. For a sparse stepped frequency waveform radar application, we perform experiments on the simulated data and the data collected by a real radar system. According to the result, the decoder design achieves 7.2 dB improvement over the conventional CAMP architecture with less than 27.4% extra hardware cost.
Estimated probability of becoming a case of drug dependence in relation to duration of drug‐taking experience: a functional analysis approach

Measured as elapsed time from first use to dependence syndrome onset, the estimated “induction interval” for cocaine is thought to be short relative to the cannabis interval, but little is known about risk of becoming dependent during first months after onset of use. Virtually all published estimates for this facet of drug dependence epidemiology are from life histories elicited years after first use. To improve estimation, we turn to new month‐wise data from nationally representative samples of newly incident drug users identified via probability sampling and confidential computer‐assisted self‐interviews for the United States National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, 2004–2013. Standardized modules assessed first and most recent use, and dependence syndromes, for each drug subtype. A four‐parameter Hill function depicts the drug dependence transition for subgroups defined by units of elapsed time from first to most recent use, with an expectation of greater cocaine dependence transitions for cocaine versus cannabis. This study's novel estimates for cocaine users one month after first use show 2–4% with cocaine dependence; 12–17% are dependent when use has persisted. Corresponding cannabis estimates are 0–1% after one month, but 10–23% when use persists. Duration or persistence of cannabis smoking beyond an initial interval of a few months of use seems to be a signal of noteworthy risk for, or co‐occurrence of, rapid‐onset cannabis dependence, not too distant from cocaine estimates, when we sort newly incident users into subgroups defined by elapsed time from first to most recent use. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Microstructure and Dielectric Properties of Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 Ceramics Co-Doped Al2O3-MgO

The Ba0.6Sr0. 4TiO3 (BSTO) ceramics were prepared by a traditional electrical ceramic method. Effects of co-doping low dielectric constant oxides Al2O3 and MgO on microstructure and dielectric properties of Ba0.6Sr0. 4TiO3 ceramics were investigated. The results show that BSTO/MgO/Al2O3 (BMA) ceramics can be sintered at 1300°C. The main crystal phases are cubic perovskite structure Ba0.6Sr0. 4TiO3 and face-centered-cubic spinel structure MgAl2O4. Al3+ is easier to enter Ba0.6Sr0. 4TiO3 lattice in the replacement of Ti4+ than Mg2+. When Al2O3 content exceeds 20wt%, Al2O3 would react with BaAl2O4 to generate a new phase of BaAl12O19. Proper amount of Al2O3-MgO can reduce the dielectric constant of BSTO ceramics and result in the higher tunability. There is obvious frequency dispersion characteristic in BMA ceramics and the curie temperature of ceramics decreases with the increase of Al2O3. The BMA ceramics with 20 wt% Al2O3 exhibit good dielectric properties, with εr of 1314, tanδ of 0.003 at 10 kHz, and the dielectric constant tunability of 35.2% under a dc electric field of 1.0 kV/mm, which are useful for potential tunable device applications.