Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The University of Birmingham ( Live System ) Analysis of axonal regeneration in the central and peripheral nervous systems of the NG 2-deficient mouse

Background: The chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan NG2 blocks neurite outgrowth in vitro and has been proposed as a major inhibitor of axonal regeneration in the CNS. Although a substantial body of evidence underpins this hypothesis, it is challenged by recent findings including strong expression of NG2 in regenerating peripheral nerve. Results: We studied axonal regeneration in the PNS and CNS of genetically engineered mice that do not express NG2, and in sex and age matched wild-type controls. In the CNS, we used anterograde tracing with BDA to study corticospinal tract (CST) axons after spinal cord injury and transganglionic labelling with CT-HRP to trace ascending sensory dorsal column (DC) axons after DC lesions and a conditioning lesion of the sciatic nerve. Injury to these fibre tracts resulted in no difference between knockout and wild-type mice in the ability of CST axons or DC axons to enter or cross the lesion site. Similarly, after dorsal root injury (with conditioning lesion), most regenerating dorsal root axons failed to grow across the dorsal root entry zone in both transgenic and wild-type mice. Following sciatic nerve injuries, functional recovery was assessed by analysis of the toe-spreading reflex and cutaneous sensitivity to Von Frey hairs. Anatomical correlates of regeneration were assessed by: retrograde labelling of regenerating dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells with DiAsp; immunostaining with PGP 9.5 to visualise sensory reinnervation of plantar hindpaws; electron microscopic analysis of regenerating axons in tibial and digital nerves; and by silver-cholinesterase histochemical study of motor end plate reinnervation. We also examined functional and anatomical correlates of regeneration after injury of the facial nerve by assessing the time taken for whisker movements and corneal reflexes to recover and by retrograde labelling of regenerated axons with Fluorogold and DiAsp. None of the anatomical or functional analyses revealed significant differences between wild-type and knockout mice. Conclusion: These findings show that NG2 is unlikely to be a major inhibitor of axonal regeneration after injury to the CNS, and, further, that NG2 is unlikely to be necessary for regeneration or functional recovery following peripheral nerve injury. Published: 27 September 2007 BMC Neuroscience 2007, 8:80 doi:10.1186/1471-2202-8-80 Received: 11 May 2007 Accepted: 27 September 2007 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral. com/1471-2202/8/80 © 2007 Hossain-Ibrahim et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. BMC Neuroscience 2007, 8:80 http://www.biomedcentral. com/1471-2202/8/80
Kinematic Analysis of the Upper Limb Motor Strategies in Stroke Patients as a Tool towards Advanced Neurorehabilitation Strategies: A Preliminary Study

Advanced rehabilitation strategies of the upper limb in stroke patients focus on the recovery of the most important daily activities. In this study we analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively the motor strategies employed by stroke patients when reaching and drinking from a glass. We enrolled 6 hemiparetic poststroke patients and 6 healthy subjects. Motion analysis of the task proposed (reaching for the glass, bringing it to the mouth, and putting it back on the table) with the affected limb was performed. Clinical assessment using the Fugl-Meyer Assessment for Upper Extremity was also included. During the reaching for the glass the patients showed a reduced arm elongation and trunk axial rotation due to motor deficit. For this reason, as observed, they carried out compensatory strategies which included trunk forward displacement and head movements. These preliminary data should be considered to address rehabilitation treatment. Moreover, the kinematic analysis protocol developed might represent an outcome measure of upper limb rehabilitation processes.
Building and evaluating nonobvious user profiles for visitors of Web sites

Building profiles of registered users of a Web site, as in case of a portal, is of importance if it goes beyond collecting the obvious information the user is willing to give at the time of registration. The starting point of this work is the assumption that a community of users is registered on a Web site and that for each user a profile is built. Such a profile contains two parts of data: one obvious, given directly by the user and one less obvious, inferred by the user's behavior during his visits on the site. This paper presents ideas on how to build a user profile based on nonobvious information and takes into account various factors influencing in its development. Special emphases are paid on feedback mechanism and several methods of measuring its results.
On Universality of Bulk Local Regime of the Deformed Gaussian Unitary Ensemble

We consider the deformed Gaussian Ensemble $H_n=M_n+H^{(0)}_n$ in which $H_n^{(0)}$ is a diagonal Hermitian matrix and $M_n$ is the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (GUE) random matrix. Assuming that the Normalized Counting Measure of $H_n^{(0)}$ (both non-random and random) converges weakly to a measure $N^{(0)}$ with a bounded support we prove universality of the local eigenvalue statistics in the bulk of the limiting spectrum of $H_n$.
2.4 GHz wireless sensor network for smart electronic shirts

This paper presents a wireless sensor network for smart electronic shirts. This allows the monitoring of individual biomedical data, such the cardio-respiratory function. The solution chosen to transmit the body's measured signals for further processing was the use of a wireless link, working at the 2.4 GHz ISM band. A radio-frequency transceiver chip was designed in a UMC RF 0.18 μm CMOS process. The power supply of the transceiver is 1.8 V. Simulations show a power consumption of 12.9 mW. Innovative topics concerning efficient power management was taken into account during the design of the transceiver.
Compartmentalized Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Originates from Long-Lived Cells in Some Subjects with HIV-1–Associated Dementia

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) invades the central nervous system (CNS) shortly after systemic infection and can result in the subsequent development of HIV-1–associated dementia (HAD) in a subset of infected individuals. Genetically compartmentalized virus in the CNS is associated with HAD, suggesting autonomous viral replication as a factor in the disease process. We examined the source of compartmentalized HIV-1 in the CNS of subjects with HIV-1–associated neurological disease and in asymptomatic subjects who were initiating antiretroviral therapy. The heteroduplex tracking assay (HTA), targeting the variable regions of env, was used to determine which HIV-1 genetic variants in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were compartmentalized and which variants were shared with the blood plasma. We then measured the viral decay kinetics of individual variants after the initiation of antiretroviral therapy. Compartmentalized HIV-1 variants in the CSF of asymptomatic subjects decayed rapidly after the initiation of antiretroviral therapy, with a mean half-life of 1.57 days. Rapid viral decay was also measured for CSF-compartmentalized variants in four HAD subjects (t1/2 mean = 2.27 days). However, slow viral decay was measured for CSF-compartmentalized variants from an additional four subjects with neurological disease (t1/2 range = 9.85 days to no initial decay). The slow decay detected for CSF-compartmentalized variants was not associated with poor CNS drug penetration, drug resistant virus in the CSF, or the presence of X4 virus genotypes. We found that the slow decay measured for CSF-compartmentalized variants in subjects with neurological disease was correlated with low peripheral CD4 cell count and reduced CSF pleocytosis. We propose a model in which infiltrating macrophages replace CD4+ T cells as the primary source of productive viral replication in the CNS to maintain high viral loads in the CSF in a substantial subset of subjects with HAD.
Captures of MFO-resistant Cydia pomonella adults as affected by lure, crop management system and flight

The main resistance mechanism of codling moth (Cydia pomonella) in the tree fruit area of Lleida (NE Spain) is multifunction oxidases (MFO). We studied the frequency of MFO-resistant adults captured by different lures, with and without pear ester, and flights in orchards under different crop management systems. The factor year affected codling moth MFO-resistance level, particularly in the untreated orchards, highlighting the great influence of codling moth migration on the spread of resistance in field populations. Chemical treatments and adult flight were also very important but mating disruption technique showed no influence. The second adult flight showed the highest frequency, followed by the first flight and the third flight. In untreated orchards, there were no significant differences in the frequency of MFO-resistant individuals attracted by Combo and BioLure. Red septa lures baited with pear ester (DA) captured sufficient insects only in the first generation of 2010, obtaining a significantly lower proportion of MFO-resistant adults than Combo and BioLure. In the chemically treated orchards, in 2009 BioLure caught a significantly lower proportion of MFO-resistant adults than Combo during the first and third flight, and also than DA during the first flight. No significant differences were found between the lures or flights in 2010. These results cannot support the idea of a higher attractiveness of the pear ester for MFO-resistant adults in the field but do suggest a high influence of the response to the attractant depending on the management of the orchard, particularly with regard to the use of chemical insecticides.
A framework for server side rendering using OGC's 3D portrayal service

Today various data formats and different browser based 3D globes and other viewer implementations are available. To enable interoperable visualizations between them and to integrate the distributed data, a standardized interface on the server side is necessary for the portrayal of 3D geospatial data. We therefore present a framework implementing the new 3D Portrayal Service standard (3DPS) of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The focus of the paper is on the View conformance class of the 3DPS that supports the delivery of server-side rendered high resolution images. An introduction to the main aspects and features of the 3DPS standard is given. The framework controls the workflow from the storage of geographical raw data to the creation of the visual end result. The framework is open for extensions giving the ability to utilize different technologies. On the other hand the framework encapsulates server technology and starts server instances, which scale to handle a massive amount of requests. The framework implementation also inherits the 3DPS specific implementation overhead, allowing the framework user to focus on implementing his technology. Building upon the framework, two prototypical applications are presented, which use different renderers, data formats and storage solutions. Based on these two prototype service implementations, a distributed data set is integrated in a web-based visualization. It shows that geospatial data can be served by different independent data providers without a data integration on the data model level. The results are a significant step forward to a 3D distributed geospatial data infrastructure based on open standard service interfaces. In addition, the use of different data formats produced interesting insights in their performance for server-side rendering. This work will be beneficial for researchers wanting to support 3DPS GetView without having to take care of the standard's overhead and the implicitly needed server implementation.
Graph Product Multilayer Networks: Spectral Properties and Applications

This paper aims to establish theoretical foundations of graph product multilayer networks (GPMNs), a family of multilayer networks that can be obtained as a graph product of two or more factor networks. Cartesian, direct (tensor), and strong product operators are considered, and then generalized. We first describe mathematical relationships between GPMNs and their factor networks regarding their degree/strength, adjacency, and Laplacian spectra, and then show that those relationships can still hold for nonsimple and generalized GPMNs. Applications of GPMNs are discussed in three areas: predicting epidemic thresholds, modeling propagation in nontrivial space and time, and analyzing higher-order properties of self-similar networks. Directions of future research are also discussed.
An Exploration into the Definition, Operationalization and Evaluation of Geographical Categories

Categories are essential to human reasoning, yet the tools we have at our disposal to discover, propose, apply and evaluate categories are still primitive. Current GIS often assume, a-priori, that the required categories for a specific exercise have been constructed by some external process. However, within the field sciences, it is often the case that categories must be proposed and refined in-situ, and through use. A further complication is the need to compromise between the needs of the analystwho wants to be able to study some phenomena using existing categories defined by existing taxonomic knowledge, and the capabilities of the data gathered and algorithms usedthat must be able to differentiate the required categories reliably. In this paper, we describe our latest progress towards developing an environment that supports the development and evaluation of categories. We show how a 'mixed initiative system', driven both by domain expertise (theory) and by data-oriented analysis tools (visualization and machine learning), can support the creation of categories that are both robust and useful. Theory is injected via a visual interface to the human expert, category separation is explored using visual and machine-based inductive analysis.
Reference values for residual volume, functional residual capacity and total lung capacity. ATS Workshop on Lung Volume Measurements. Official Statement of The European Respiratory Society.

Reference values play an important role in establishing whether, in an individual, measured volumes fall within a range to be expected for a healthy person of the same sex, similar stature, age, and other characteristics. Hence, reference values should be chosen that are appropriate to the person being investigated. Ideally, the reference values should be consistent; in the context of this paper, it implies that predictions for the various lung volumes have been derived from the same reference population, with the same techniques. Comparing measured with reference values is fraught with difficulties, as it may lead to disease going undetected. This is because the scatter in predicted values is sufficiently large to allow a sick person to lose, e.g. much of his total lung capacity (TLC), whilst still remaining in the range observed in comparable healthy persons. In addition, measurements in an "abnormal range" are not diagnostic of a specific disease, as many diagnostic entities may cause static lung volumes to be abnormal. Hence, in the follow-up of a patient, reliance should be placed much more on the effects of drugs or challenges with pharmacological, chemical or physical stimuli or allergens, and on the rate of change of lung volumes, than on the relationship of an isolated result to published "normative data". In fact, the best reference value is the value observed in a period when the disease is stable and minimal for that person. In studies such as the effects of drugs in patients with lung disease, or of adverse effects of environmental factors on the lungs, observed values should not be compared with reference values; instead, a comparison should be made with values obtained in an appropriately chosen control group.
Results from a nine-level general circulation model of the atmosphere

A system for automatically controlling flash illumination of a camera so as to achieve a proper exposure. The flash tube of the camera is energized from a capacitor which initially has a predetermined charge. Prior to energizing of the camera flash with this capacitor, a discharge circuit is connected to the capacitor for preliminarily discharging the capacitor to an extent determined by the photographing conditions. After this initial discharge, the charge remaining at the capacitor will also correspond to the photographing conditions, and it is this remaining charge which is then used for energizing the flash tube in connection with exposure of film in the camera.
A Re-Evaluation of the Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid Genus Chasmosaurus (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation of Western Canada

Background The chasmosaurine ceratopsid Chasmosaurus is known from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Two valid species, Chasmosaurus belli and C. russelli, have been diagnosed by differences in cranial ornamentation. Their validity has been supported, in part, by the reported stratigraphic segregation of chasmosaurines in the Dinosaur Park Formation, with C. belli and C. russelli occurring in discrete, successive zones within the formation. Results/Conclusions An analysis of every potentially taxonomically informative chasmosaurine specimen from the Dinosaur Park Formation indicates that C. belli and C. russelli have indistinguishable ontogenetic histories and overlapping stratigraphic intervals. Neither taxon exhibits autapomorphies, nor a unique set of apomorphies, but they can be separated and diagnosed by a single phylogenetically informative character—the embayment angle formed by the posterior parietal bars relative to the parietal midline. Although relatively deeply embayed specimens (C. russelli) generally have relatively longer postorbital horncores than specimens with more shallow embayments (C. belli), neither this horncore character nor epiparietal morphology can be used to consistently distinguish every specimen of C. belli from C. russelli. Status of Kosmoceratops in the Dinosaur Park Formation Kosmoceratops is purportedly represented in the Dinosaur Park Formation by a specimen previously referred to Chasmosaurus. The reassignment of this specimen to Kosmoceratops is unsupported here, as it is based on features that are either influenced by taphonomy or within the realm of individual variation for Chasmosaurus. Therefore, we conclude that Kosmoceratops is not present in the Dinosaur Park Formation, but is instead restricted to southern Laramidia, as originally posited.
Low-Capacitance and Charge-Shared Match Lines for Low-Energy High-Performance TCAMs

Emerging high-speed lookup-intensive applications are demanding ternary content addressable memories (TCAMs) with large word-sizes, which suffer from lower search speeds due to larger match line capacitance. Therefore, low-energy high-performance design techniques are needed, which improve the search speeds of TCAMs without increasing their power consumption. In this paper, we present a cell-level comparison logic and a charge-shared match line scheme. Both schemes reduce search time and energy in TCAMs. Measurement results of the above schemes, implemented in 0.18-mum CMOS technology, show a search time reduction of 42% and 11%, and a search-energy reduction of 25% and 9%, respectively.
Long‐Term Landscape Change and Bird Abundance in Amazonian Rainforest Fragments

Abstract: The rainforests of the Amazon basin are being cut by humans at a rate >20,000 km2/year, leading to smaller and more isolated patches of forest, with remaining fragments often in the range of 1–100 ha. We analyzed samples of understory birds collected over 20 years from a standardized mist‐netting program in 1– to 100‐ha rainforest fragments in a dynamic Amazonian landscape near Manaus, Brazil. Across bird guilds, the condition of second growth immediately surrounding fragments was often as important as fragment size or local forest cover in explaining variation in abundance. Some fragments surrounded by 100 m of open pasture showed reductions in insectivorous bird abundance of over 95%, even in landscapes dominated by continuous forest and old second growth. These extreme reductions may be typical throughout Amazonia in small (≤10 ha), isolated fragments of rainforest. Abundance for some guilds returned to preisolation levels in 10‐ and 100‐ha fragments connected to continuous forest by 20‐year‐old second growth. Our results show that the consequences of Amazonian forest loss cannot be accurately described without explicit consideration of vegetation dynamics in matrix habitat. Any dichotomous classification of the landscape into “forest” and “nonforest” misses essential information about the matrix.
TailGate: handling long-tail content with a little help from friends

Distributing long-tail content is an inherently difficult task due to the low amortization of bandwidth transfer costs as such content has limited number of views. Two recent trends are making this problem harder. First, the increasing popularity of user-generated content (UGC) and online social networks (OSNs) create and reinforce such popularity distributions. Second, the recent trend of geo-replicating content across multiple PoPs spread around the world, done for improving quality of experience (QoE) for users and for redundancy reasons, can lead to unnecessary bandwidth costs. We build TailGate, a system that exploits social relationships, regularities in read access patterns, and time-zone differences to efficiently and selectively distribute long-tail content across PoPs. We evaluate TailGate using large traces from an OSN and show that it can decrease WAN bandwidth costs by as much as 80% as well as reduce latency, improving QoE. We deploy TailGate on PlanetLab and show that even in the case when imprecise social information is available, TailGate can still decrease the latency for accessing long-tail YouTube videos by a factor of 2.
Automated detection of bright lesions from contrast normalized fundus images

Exudates are one of the abnormalities present in the eye which can lead to vision loss. Fundus images may consist of artifacts which occur during image acquisition and hamper the accuracy of detection of exudates. There is a need to develop an image processing based techniques for automated and correct segmentation of exudates from fundus images. This paper demonstrates an automatic computer vision algorithm for efficient identification of the exudates from fundus images by strategic fusion of techniques i.e. contrast normalization, top-hat transformation and average filtering. The proposed technique correctly detects exudates from the fundus images and rejects the artifacts and reflections. The average computation time for exudates segmentation from fundus images is 11 seconds. The proposed method is computationally efficient and robust and can be used for real time applications.