Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maturation of Lymphocyte Immunophenotypes and Memory T Helper Cell Differentiation During Development in Mice

The goal of this study was to systematically investigate the ontogeny of lymphoid populations throughout postnatal development. In CD-1 mice, peak lymphocyte numbers occurred in blood on postnatal day 10 (dl0) including those for natural killers (NK1.1), B cells (CD19), T helper (CD3CD4), naïve T helper (CD4CD62LposCD44low), memory T helper (CD4CD62LnegCD44high), and T cytotoxic (CD3CD8) cells. As percent of total lymphocytes, peaks were achieved by d10 for all T helper subtypes but not B cells which declined to a nadir. In spleen, lymphocyte numbers increased exponentially after d10. Proportionately, NK and T cells peaked on d10, declined by d20, and increased 2–3-fold by d45. Naive T cells constituted the majority of lymphocytes during development while memory cells gained to 2.2% (blood) and 12 % (spleen) by d20. C57BL/6 mice had similar profiles except that the B cell nadir and T cell subset peaks were at d5. Peripheralization of critical numbers of lymphocytes by d10, and importantly, development of a repertoire of memory cells by d20, may define immune response capabilities that close the period of immaturity for the neonate.
Introduction to the Special Issue on Place Cells

In 1971, John O’Keefe and Jonathan Dostrovsky discovered place cells, and the hippocampal world has not been the same since. In the nearly 30 years since that discovery, hundreds of studies have been published, and thousands of words have been written, yet full understanding of the function of these cells and the role they collectively play in the hippocampus, remains somewhat elusive. The collection of papers in this special issue of Hippocampus provides a sense of current thinking about place cells, and amply demonstrates the absence of complete consensus. This is not surprising, given there is no generally accepted view of the function of the hippocampus containing these cells. However, much progress has been made over the years, and there is broad agreement on a framework for understanding the hippocampus and its collaborating neighbors. Within this broadly agreed-upon framework, differences of opinion remain. As usual, the devil is in the details. Perhaps the most important detail concerns the essential ‘‘spatial’’ nature of these cells. Are they always and only about space? If so, why do they sometimes appear to fire in non-spatial situations? Are they about space in all species, or is there something specially spatial about rats that distinguishes them from primates, especially humans? What do collections of these cells do? Form maps, generate routes, integrate paths, establish relations that could be non-spatial as well as spatial, store episodes? In this Introduction, we seek, in separate comments, to address some of these concerns in the context of the articles comprising this issue. While we have rather different views, we are in complete agreement on the virtues of bringing a range of disparate approaches together in Hippocampus. We trust that our readership will find the ensuing ideas enlightening.
Mitochondrial Genomic Analysis of Late Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Reveals Protective Haplogroups H6A1A/H6A1B: The Cache County Study on Memory in Aging

Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia and AD risk clusters within families. Part of the familial aggregation of AD is accounted for by excess maternal vs. paternal inheritance, a pattern consistent with mitochondrial inheritance. The role of specific mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants and haplogroups in AD risk is uncertain. Methodology/Principal Findings We determined the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of 1007 participants in the Cache County Study on Memory in Aging, a population-based prospective cohort study of dementia in northern Utah. AD diagnoses were made with a multi-stage protocol that included clinical examination and review by a panel of clinical experts. We used TreeScanning, a statistically robust approach based on haplotype networks, to analyze the mtDNA sequence data. Participants with major mitochondrial haplotypes H6A1A and H6A1B showed a reduced risk of AD (p = 0.017, corrected for multiple comparisons). The protective haplotypes were defined by three variants: m.3915G>A, m.4727A>G, and m.9380G>A. These three variants characterize two different major haplogroups. Together m.4727A>G and m.9380G>A define H6A1, and it has been suggested m.3915G>A defines H6A. Additional variants differentiate H6A1A and H6A1B; however, none of these variants had a significant relationship with AD case-control status. Conclusions/Significance Our findings provide evidence of a reduced risk of AD for individuals with mtDNA haplotypes H6A1A and H6A1B. These findings are the results of the largest study to date with complete mtDNA genome sequence data, yet the functional significance of the associated haplotypes remains unknown and replication in others studies is necessary.
Empirical Study of Zero Time Sales Logistics in Pingyu Coal Company

This paper first analyses the problems of Pingyu Coal Company in the sales logistics system and process, such as low informatization and laggard customer management notion. Then zero time theory is introduced to develop the new concept of zero time sales logistics (ZTSL) and three strategies are proposed to support the ZTSL objective, including instant management, instant response and instant value alignment strategy. The contribution of this paper is the development of concept ZTSL and the implement strategies for Coal Company in the perspective of customer oriented.
Parenting and independent problem-solving in preschool children with food allergy.

OBJECTIVE To examine autonomy-promoting parenting and independent problem-solving in children with food allergy. METHODS 66 children with food allergy, aged 3-6 years, and 67 age-matched healthy peers and their mothers were videotaped while completing easy and difficult puzzles. Coders recorded time to puzzle completion, children's direct and indirect requests for help, and maternal help-giving behaviors. RESULTS Compared with healthy peers, younger (3- to 4-year-old) children with food allergy made more indirect requests for help during the easy puzzle, and their mothers were more likely to provide unnecessary help (i.e., explain where to place a puzzle piece). Differences were not found for older children. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that highly involved parenting practices that are medically necessary to manage food allergy may spill over into settings where high levels of involvement are not needed, and that young children with food allergy may be at increased risk for difficulties in autonomy development.
Alice's worlds of wonder: exploiting tags to understand images in terms of size and scale

The 'Wonderlands of Size and Scale' system extends Flickr search functionality with a mechanism that exploits information implicit in image tag sets to filter images on the basis of characteristics related to size and scale. The innovative contribution of the 'Wonderlands' system is threefold: first, its use of an understanding of real-world physical entities depicted in images in terms of size and scale to filter images for display to the user; second, its application of our recently proposed 'Reading between the Tags' approach, which infers the real-world size of physical objects depicted in images by combining user-assigned image tags and natural language statistics mined from the Web; and, third, its trim realization of an engaging application that is implemented in a light-weight manner such that it can be executed as a live extension to the Flickr search engine. Results of a simple system-oriented evaluation support the conclusion that 'Wonderlands' reaches its aim of presenting users with images sorted with respect to the size- and scale-characteristics of their visually depicted content.
Conditional Random Fields with High-Order Features for Sequence Labeling

Dependencies among neighbouring labels in a sequence is an important source of information for sequence labeling problems. However, only dependencies between adjacent labels are commonly exploited in practice because of the high computational complexity of typical inference algorithms when longer distance dependencies are taken into account. In this paper, we show that it is possible to design efficient inference algorithms for a conditional random field using features that depend on long consecutive label sequences (high-order features), as long as the number of distinct label sequences used in the features is small. This leads to efficient learning algorithms for these conditional random fields. We show experimentally that exploiting dependencies using high-order features can lead to substantial performance improvements for some problems and discuss conditions under which high-order features can be effective.
Does CSR Improve Organization Financial Performance? Evidence from Nigeria Using Triangulation Analysis

The study examines the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on organizational financial performance of some selected banks in Nigeria using time series of annual data of ten banks over the period of 1990 to 2010. Pearson Correlation coefficient was used to analyse the correlation that exist between CSR and organization performance while collected data were regressed using Ordinary Least Square technique. Findings indicate a positive relationship between CSR cost and Profit after Tax (PAT). The study therefore recommends that top management in an organization must ensure prudence in its spending and get committed to any social activity it wants to embark upon and allow the members of the public to associate such an activity or activities.
Flying-capacitor multilevel converter voltage balance dynamics for pure resistive load

Multilevel converters need voltage balancing to be able to generate an output voltage with high quality. Flying capacitor converter topology has a natural voltage balancing property. Voltage balance dynamics analytical research methods reported to date are essentially based on a frequency domain analysis using double fourier transform. These complicated methods are not truly analytical, which makes an understanding of parameter influence on time constants difficult. In this paper, a straightforward time domain approach based on stitching of switch intervals piece-wise analytical solutions to a DC modulated H-bridge flying capacitor converter is discussed. This method allows to obtain time-averaged discrete and continuous voltage balance dynamics models. Using small-parameter approximation for pure resistive loads, simple and accurate expressions for voltage balance time constants are deduced, revealing their dependence on load parameters, carrier frequency and duty ratio.
A review of treatment of Pompe disease in infants

The glycogen storage disease type II (GSD-II), or Pompe disease, is due to the deficit of lysosomal glycogen degradation enzyme acid α-glucosidase (GAA). In infants, Pompe disease is characterized by prominent hypotonia, muscle weakness, motor delay, feeding problems, and respiratory and cardiac insufficiency. In a retrospective study, the median age at death was 8.7 months. Enzyme replacement therapy with recombinant human GAA is recently used to treat patients with Pompe disease, and has been shown to prolong survival, reverse cardiomyopathy, and improve motor function. This article briefly reviews the history and manifestations of Pompe disease, and then focuses on the development of the drug for Pompe disease, alglucosidase alfa. Current status of treatment and future developments are also discussed.
A Review of Evolutionary Artiicial Neural Networks 1 2

Research on potential interactions between connectionist learning systems, i.e., articial neural networks (ANNs), and evolutionary search procedures, like genetic algorithms (GAs), has attracted a lot of attention recently. Evolutionary ANNs (EANNs) can be considered as the combination of ANNs and evolutionary search procedures. This paper rst distinguishes among three kinds of evolution in EANNs, i.e., the evolution of connection weights, of architectures and of learning rules. Then it reviews each kind of evolution in detail and analyses critical issues related to di erent evolutions. The review shows that although a lot of work has been done on the evolution of connection weights and of architectures, few attempts have been made to understand the evolution of learning rules. Interactions among di erent evolutions are seldom mentioned in current research. However, the evolution of learning rules and its interactions with other kinds of evolution play a vital role in EANNs. As the nal part, this paper brie y describes a general framework for EANNs, which not only includes the aforementioned three kinds of evolution, but also considers interactions among them.
Innovations and Progress in Seafood Demand and Market Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to review several economic studies which present a spectrum of interesting and creative approaches to analyzing the market for fish and seafood. These studies form a basis from which to offer recommendations for further improving analysis offish demand and markets. We do so in an effort to advocate the potential of this area of research in the decisions which promote efficient use of the world's fisheries resources. Each of the reviewed approaches has its merits and limitations, depending on the issue at hand, quality of the data and skills of the researcher. The approaches are categorized as either demand studies following more traditional commodity market analysis methods or as market research studies.
The asymmetric best-effort service

We present the asymmetric best-effort (ABE), a novel service to provide a "throughput versus delay jitter" service for IP packets. With this service, every best effort packet is marked as either green or blue. Green packets, typically sent by real-time applications such as interactive audio, receive more losses during bouts of congestion than blue ones. In return, they-receive a smaller bounded queueing delay. Both green and blue services are best-effort. The incentive to choose one or other is based on the nature of one's traffic and on the traffic conditions. If applications are TCP-friendly, an application sending blue packets will receive more throughput but also more delay jitter, than it would if it sent green packets for a given network state and path. Service provision at each co-operating router can be achieved by packet admission control (PAC) and scheduling. We develop and simulate an initial algorithm that supports this service whose first results show the feasibility of the service.
Inflammatory Mediators and Angiogenic Factors in Choroidal Neovascularization: Pathogenetic Interactions and Therapeutic Implications

Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is a common and severe complication in heterogeneous diseases affecting the posterior segment of the eye, the most frequent being represented by age-related macular degeneration. Although the term may suggest just a vascular pathological condition, CNV is more properly definable as an aberrant tissue invasion of endothelial and inflammatory cells, in which both angiogenesis and inflammation are involved. Experimental and clinical evidences show that vascular endothelial growth factor is a key signal in promoting angiogenesis. However, many other molecules, distinctive of the inflammatory response, act as neovascular activators in CNV. These include fibroblast growth factor, transforming growth factor, tumor necrosis factor, interleukins, and complement. This paper reviews the role of inflammatory mediators and angiogenic factors in the development of CNV, proposing pathogenetic assumptions of mutual interaction. As an extension of this concept, new therapeutic approaches geared to have an effect on both the vascular and the extravascular components of CNV are discussed.
Variability in Vulnerability Assessment of Older People by Individual General Practitioners: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background In clinical practice, GPs appeared to have an internalized concept of “vulnerability. ” This study investigates the variability between general practitioners (GPs) in their vulnerability-assessment of older persons. Methods Seventy-seven GPs categorized their 75-plus patients (n = 11392) into non-vulnerable, possibly vulnerable, and vulnerable patients. GPs personal and practice characteristics were collected. From a sample of 2828 patients the following domains were recorded: sociodemographic, functional [instrumental activities in daily living (IADL), basic activities in daily living (BADL)], somatic (number of diseases, polypharmacy), psychological (Mini-Mental State Examination, 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale; GDS-15) and social (De Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale; DJG). Variability in GPs' assessment of vulnerability was tested with mixed effects logistic regression. P-values for variability (pvar) were calculated by the log-likelihood ratio test. Results Participating GPs assessed the vulnerability of 10,361 patients. The median percentage of vulnerable patients was 32.0% (IQR 19.5 to 40.1%). From the somatic and psychological domains, GPs uniformly took into account the patient characteristics ‘total number of diseases’ (OR 1.7, 90% range = 0, pvar = 1), ‘polypharmacy’ (OR 2.3, 90% range = 0, pvar = 1) and ‘GDS-15’ (OR 1.6, 90% range = 0, pvar = 1). GPs vary in the way they assessed their patients' vulnerability in the functional domain (IADL: median OR 2.8, 90% range 1.6, pvar<0.001, BADL: median OR 2.4, 90% range 2.9, pvar<0.001) and the social domain (DJG: median OR 1.2, 90% range = 1.2, pvar<0.001). Conclusions GPs seem to share a medical concept of vulnerability, since they take somatic and psychological characteristics uniformly into account in the vulnerability-assessment of older persons. In the functional and social domains, however, variability was found. Vulnerability assessment by GPs might be a promising instrument to select older people for geriatric care if more uniformity could be achieved. Trial Registration Netherlands Trial Register NTR1946
Goal Orientation and Consumer Preference for the Status Quo

Consumers often must choose between a course of action that preserves the status quo and a course of action that is a departure from the status quo. This research demonstrates that preference for the status quo is a function of goal orientation and, in particular, that it tends to be more pronounced for prevention-focused than for promotion-focused consumers. The preference for the status quo was examined on two dimensions: preference for the status quo alternative and preference for inaction over action. In this context, it is shown that the impact of goal orientation on the preference for the status quo can occur independently of loss aversion—a finding consistent with the notion that goal orientation might impact choice by virtue of motivational factors such as self-regulation of anticipated regret.
Ca2+ signals mediated by bradykinin type 2 receptors in normal pancreatic stellate cells can be inhibited by specific Ca2+ channel blockade

Bradykinin may play a role in the autodigestive disease acute pancreatitis, but little is known about its pancreatic actions. In this study, we have investigated bradykinin‐elicited Ca2+ signal generation in normal mouse pancreatic lobules. We found complete separation of Ca2+ signalling between pancreatic acinar (PACs) and stellate cells (PSCs). Pathophysiologically relevant bradykinin concentrations consistently evoked Ca2+ signals, via B2 receptors, in PSCs but never in neighbouring PACs, whereas cholecystokinin, consistently evoking Ca2+ signals in PACs, never elicited Ca2+ signals in PSCs. The bradykinin‐elicited Ca2+ signals were due to initial Ca2+ release from inositol trisphosphate‐sensitive stores followed by Ca2+ entry through Ca2+ release‐activated channels (CRACs). The Ca2+ entry phase was effectively inhibited by a CRAC blocker. B2 receptor blockade reduced the extent of PAC necrosis evoked by pancreatitis‐promoting agents and we therefore conclude that bradykinin plays a role in acute pancreatitis via specific actions on PSCs.
Estimating the breadth of search queries

This paper proposes a novel method to estimate the breadth of a search query. Using the spatial distribution of relevant categories in a taxonomy, together with an 'importance' score obtained using a ranked list of search results, we derive a metric that represents the breadth of a query. Several experiments have been performed on the DMOZ hierarchy with two different sets of queries and benchmarked with state-of-the-art results. Evaluation of the method based on metrics such as F-measure and accuracy indicate better agreement with human judgements.
Real-time embedded wireless networks: Algorithms and experiences

Embedded systems are everywhere. Over the past decade, we have come to rely on realtime embedded systems in time-critical, safety-critical and mission-critical applications such as electronic stability control for automotive safety, fly-by-wire in avionics and infusion pumps in medical instrumentation. We are currently observing two radical transformations in the integration of embedded computing with physical processes. First, they are becoming networked. Secondly, there is a need for tighter interaction with physical systems. There are several fundamental barriers in delivering robust real-time services across multiple wireless links. The barriers include the large dynamic range of time-varying channel capacity and application demand, uncoordinated interference across the shared wireless channel which makes communication unreliable, facilitation of global time synchronization across large node populations and the devices’ energy constraints. This thesis aims to provide both a theoretical framework and practical system designs for resource allocation in multi-hop wireless networks with real-time properties. We explore the limits of node and network energy-efficiency, maximum transmission concurrency and bounded end-to-end communication delay. Our work spans three types of wireless networks: single-hop broadband networks, multi-hop sensor networks and mobile vehicleto-vehicle networks. We consider optimizations across the physical layer, radio frequency components, communication-theoretic tradeoffs, to energy-efficient link layers and network scheduling algorithms for real-time applications such as voice and MPEG-4 streaming. For each network type, we have built systems and deployed wireless networks to verify the feasibility and performance of our research. For single-hop broadband networks, we show that by cross-layer adaptation, we achieve bounded-optimal performance across the energy, timeliness and quality of service dimensions at runtime. With our approach, the wireless transceiver’s lifetime is increased by a factor of 3-to-9 compared to the gains of conventional energy management techniques. For multi-hop broadband mesh networks, our network scheduling algorithms provide maximal collision-free transmission concurrency. They outperform CSMA-based random access protocols by a factor of 5-to-8 and provide an upper bound for multi-hop throughput. With economical global time-synchronization, we are able to provide predictable and near-ideal network lifetime for battery-operated multi-hop sensor networks. Our time synchronized protocol achieves a practical node lifetime of over 2 years on 2 AA batteries. Finally, for mobile vehicular networks, our spatio-temporal synchronized broadcast protocols deliver delay-bounded service and have been deployed across a fleet of vehicles.