Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Predictive Power of Mass Media Channels for Health-Related Risk Perception of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

The media play an important role in risk communication, providing information about accidents, both nearby and far away. Each media channel has its own presentation style, which could influence how the audience perceives the presented risk. This study investigates the predictive power of twelve media channels (traditional media, new media and social media) for the perceived risk posed by radiation released from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant on respondents’ own health and that of the population in general. The analysis controlled for attitude towards nuclear energy, gender, education, satisfaction with the media coverage and duration of attention paid to the coverage. The study uses empirical data from a public opinion survey ( N > 1,000), which are representative for the Belgian population with respect to six socio-demographic variables. Results show that some media channels do influence risk perception. Television, interpersonal communication and the category of miscellaneous online sources are significant predictors of the perceived health-related risk of the nuclear accident. More favourable attitudes towards nuclear power, longer attention to the coverage, and higher satisfaction with the provided information predict lower risk perception. Interpersonal communication is significantly related to satisfaction with the coverage: those unsatisfied with the information were more likely to engage in interpersonal communication. Taken together, the results suggest that the media can indeed have an influence on how the audience perceives a risk.
Using Social Learning Networks (SLNs) in Higher Education: Edmodo Through the Lenses of Academics

With its total number of users (around 62 million) throughout the world, it is important to determine the views of academics who use Edmodo (the leading SLN. In this respect in the first part of this two-part research, the purpose was to examine academics’ (n=50) use of technology and social networks. As for the purpose of the second part, it was to determine the views of 12 academics—selected from the academics participating in the first part—who had experience in Edmodo about the basic features of Edmodo and about its use in education. In the study carried out with the mixed method, the qualitative and quantitative data were collected with an online questionnaire. The findings obtained were interpreted within the framework of cooperative learning and the theories of “Diffusion of Innovations” and “Uses and Gratifications,” and the related themes were formed. As a result, the academics with experience in Edmodo reported their views about the benefits of use of the Edmodo in education. Regarding the differences between Edmodo and social networks, the results suggested that the former was used completely for educational purposes and that it did not involve any unnecessary components.
Native structure and arrangement of inositol‐1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptor molecules in bovine cerebellar Purkinje cells as studied by quick‐freeze deep‐etch electron microscopy.

We used quick‐freeze deep‐etch replica electron microscopy to visualize the native structure of inositol‐1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptor (IP3R) in the cell. In the dendrites of Purkinje neurons of bovine cerebellum there were many vesicular organelles whose surfaces were covered with a two‐dimensional crystalline array of molecules. Detailed examination of the cytoplasmic true surface of such vesicles in replica revealed that the structural unit, identified as IP3R by immunocytochemistry and subsequent Fourier analysis, is a square‐shaped assembly and is aligned so that the side of the square is inclined by approximately 20 degrees from the row‐line of the lattice. Comparison with the ryanodine receptor (RyaR), another intracellular Ca2+ channel on the endoplasmic reticulum, suggested that IP3R, unlike RyaR, has a very compact structure, potentially reflecting the crucial difference in the function of the cytoplasmic portion of the molecule.
An Ultrawideband Radar Based Pulse Sensor for Arterial Stiffness Measurement

A novel pulse sensor based on ultrawideband (UWB) radar to detect the arterial vessel movements on various sites on human body without applying external pressure on the arterial vessel was designed and evaluated for aortic stiffness measurement. The UWB pulse sensor was evaluated for its functional performance and human study was carried out to validate the UWB sensor as a tool for clinical screening of subjects with cardiovascular risks. Good agreement in measurement of pulse wave velocity, an index of arterial distensibility, was achieved between the UWB pulse sensor and the applanation tonometer.
EXPLORING USABILITY OF VARIOUS TOUCH GESTURE IN TOUCH SCREEN IVIS USING PAPER PROTOTYPE

Most modern vehicles are equipped with touch screen IVIS due to the growth of technology. The application of touch screen in IVIS is found to increase user satisfaction and initial acceptance due to the ability of users to make direct manipulation onto the screen. Currently, tapping touch gesture is the main control used to navigate around a touch screen IVIS, however, a combination of touch gestures have the potential to be applied in IVIS to replace hard-knobs and buttons, and touch screen that applies tapping touch gesture. The objective of this study is to explore the usability of various touch gesture application in IVIS using paper prototype method. The taxonomy of gestural interaction was developed through literature review of existing researches and applications. A paper prototype was constructed and tested with test participants based on the sketched user interface and gestural interface developed. The result of the usability test showed that the system applying various touch gesture is easy to use, will be easy to learn for most people, is not cumbersome, and not much learning is needed to be able to use this system. The visual attention the road was also found to be less distracted while using this system as reported by the participants.
Laser exposure of gold nanorods can increase neuronal cell outgrowth

The usage of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) in biological applications has risen significantly over the last 10 years. With the wide variety of chemical and biological functionalization available and their distinctive optical properties, Au NPs are currently used in a range of biological applications including sensing, labeling, drug delivery, and imaging applications. Among the available particles, gold nanorods (Au NRs) are particularly useful because their optical absorption can be tuned across the visible to near infrared region. Here, we present a novel application of Au NRs associated with low power laser exposure of NG108‐15 neuronal cells. When cells were irradiated with a 780 nm laser, the average number of neurons with neurites increased. A similar stimulatory effect was observed for cells that were cultured with poly‐(4‐styrenesulfonic acid)‐coated and silica‐coated Au NRs. Furthermore, when the NG108‐15 cells were cultured with both bare and coated Au NRs and then irradiated with 1.2–7.5 W/cm2 at 780 nm, they showed a neurite length increase of up to 25 µm versus control. To the best of our knowledge, this effect has never been reported before. While the pathways of the stimulation is not yet clear, the data presented here demonstrates that it is linked to the absorption of light by the Au NRs. These initial results open up new opportunities for peripheral nerve regeneration treatments and for novel approaches to addressing central nervous system axons following spinal cord injury. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 2277–2291. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Hispanic Residential Isolation, ADHD Diagnosis and Stimulant Treatment among Medicaid-Insured Youth.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate a conceptual framework that assessed the effect of Hispanic residential isolation on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) health service utilization among 2.2 million publicly insured youth. DESIGN Cross-sectional. SETTING Medicaid administrative claims data for ambulatory care services from a US Pacific state linked with US census data. PARTICIPANTS Youth, aged 2-17 years, continuously enrolled in 2009. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The percent annual prevalence and odds of ADHD diagnosis and stimulant use according to two measures of racial/ethnic residential isolation: 1) the county-level Hispanic isolation index (HI) defined as the population density of Hispanic residents in relation to other racial/ethnic groups in a county (<.5; .5-.64; ≥.65); and 2) the proportion of Hispanic residents in a ZIP code tabulation area (<25%; 25%-50%; >50%). RESULTS Among the 47,364 youth with a clinician-reported ADHD diagnosis, 60% received a stimulant treatment (N = 28,334). As the county level HI increased, Hispanic residents of ethnically isolated locales were significantly less likely to receive an ADHD diagnosis (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=.92 [95% CI=.88-.96]) and stimulant use (AOR=.61 [95% CI=.59-.64]) compared with Hispanic youth in less isolated areas. At the ZIP code level, a similar pattern of reduced ADHD diagnosis (AOR=.81 [95% CI=.77-.86]) and reduced stimulant use (AOR=.65 [95% CI=.61-.69]) was observed as Hispanic residential isolation increased from the least isolated to the most isolated ZIP code areas. CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight the opportunity for Big Data to advance mental health research on strategies to reduce racial/ethnic health disparities, particularly for poor and vulnerable youth. Further exploration of racial/ethnic residential isolation in other large data sources is needed to guide future policy development and to target culturally sensitive interventions.
Identification of a new lipase family in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest soil metagenome.

Lipases are the most investigated class of enzymes in metagenomics. Phylogenetic classification of bacterial lipases comprises eight families. Here we describe the construction and screening of three metagenomic libraries from Brazilian Atlantic Forest soil and identification of a new lipase family. The metagenomic libraries, MAF1, MAF2 and MAF3, contained 34 560, 29 280 and 36 288 clones respectively. Lipase screening on triolein-rhodamine B plates resulted in one positive clone, Lip018. The DNA insert of Lip018 was fully sequenced and 20 ORFs were identified by comparison against the GenBank. Transposon mutagenesis revealed that ORF15, similar to serine peptidases, and ORF16, a hypothetical protein, were both required for lipase activity. ORF16 has a typical lipase conserved pentapeptide G-X-S-X-G and the comparison against the Pfam database showed that ORF16 belongs to family 5 of αβ-hydrolase. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that ORF16, together with other related proteins, may be a member of a new lipase family, named LipAP, activated by a putative serine protease. Partial characterization of ORF16 lipase showed that the enzyme has activity against a broad range of p-nitrophenyl esters, but only after activation by the predicted peptidase ORF15.
Targeted Inactivation of the Isoprenylcysteine Carboxyl Methyltransferase Gene Causes Mislocalization of K-Ras in Mammalian Cells*

After isoprenylation and endoproteolytic processing, the Ras proteins are methylated at the carboxyl-terminal isoprenylcysteine. The importance of isoprenylation for targeting of Ras proteins to the plasma membrane is well established, but the importance of carboxyl methylation, which is carried out by isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferase (Icmt), is less certain. We used gene targeting to produce homozygous Icmt knockout embryonic stem cells (Icmt−/−). Lysates fromIcmt−/− cells lacked the ability to methylate farnesyl-K-Ras4B or small-molecule Icmt substrates such asN-acetyl-S-geranylgeranyl-l-cysteine. To assess the impact of absent Icmt activity on the localization of K-Ras within cells, wild-type and Icmt−/− cells were transfected with a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-K-Ras fusion construct. As expected, virtually all of the GFP-K-Ras fusion in wild-type cells was localized along the plasma membrane. In contrast, a large fraction of the fusion in Icmt−/− cells was trapped within the cytoplasm, and fluorescence at the plasma membrane was reduced. Also, cell fractionation/Western blot studies revealed that a smaller fraction of the K-Ras in Icmt−/− cells was associated with the membranes. We conclude that carboxyl methylation of the isoprenylcysteine is important for proper K-Ras localization in mammalian cells.
Pomalidomide (CC4047) plus low-dose dexamethasone as therapy for relapsed multiple myeloma.

PURPOSE Thalidomide and lenalidomide are immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) that produce high remission rates in the treatment of multiple myeloma. Pomalidomide is a new IMiD with high in vitro potency. We report, to our knowledge, the first phase II trial of pomalidomide administered in combination with low-dose dexamethasone for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. PATIENTS AND METHODS Pomalidomide was administered orally at a dose of 2 mg daily on days 1 through 28 of a 28-day cycle. Dexamethasone 40 mg daily was administered orally on days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of each cycle. Responses were recorded using the criteria of the International Myeloma Working Group. RESULTS Sixty patients were enrolled. Thirty-eight patients (63%) achieved confirmed response including complete response in three patients (5%), very good partial response in 17 patients (28%), and partial response in 18 patients (30%). Responses were seen in 40% of lenalidomide-refractory patients, 37% of thalidomide-refractory patients, and 60% of bortezomib-refractory patients. Responses were seen in 74% of patients with high-risk cytogenetic or molecular markers. Toxicity consisted primarily of myelosuppression. Grade 3 or 4 hematologic toxicity consisted of anemia (5%), thrombocytopenia (3%), and neutropenia (32%). One patient (1.6%) had a thromboembolic event. The median progression-free survival time was 11.6 months and was not significantly different in patients with high-risk disease compared with patients with standard-risk disease. CONCLUSION The combination of pomalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone is extremely active in the treatment of relapsed multiple myeloma, including high response rates in patients refractory to other novel agents.
ESIoT: enabling secure management of the internet of things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging paradigm, where the ubiquitous devices can form the networks and connect to Internet. Security and management of devices remain open challenges for the IoT. We adopt the management framework of industry consortium THREAD, where a group of devices cooperating to accomplish the same task (called policy) are administrated by a designated device called commissioner and together they form a policy group. All these policy groups are further managed by a centralized server. In this hierarchical network structure, the secure distribution of the policy information, access control, and group key from the centralized server to commissioner and its peers become challenging given the pervasive, complex and heterogeneous properties of devices. To solve this, we propose protocols/mechanisms along with a variant of Broadcast Encryption called Secure Identity-Based Broadcast Encryption (SIBBE) and demonstrate the feasibility for secure distribution of information to the IoT devices from centralized server. Most of the related work is based on the Attribute-based Encryption (ABE) for IoT devices, which has scalability issues with the number of attributes. Our experimental and simulation evaluations show that our scheme outperforms the existing schemes in terms of scalability, latency, and communication overhead.
Spider Peripheral Mechanosensory Neurons Are Directly Innervated and Modulated by Octopaminergic Efferents

Octopamine is a chemical relative of noradrenaline providing analogous neurohumoral control of diverse invertebrate physiological processes. There is also evidence for direct octopaminergic innervation of some insect peripheral tissues. Here, we show that spider peripheral mechanoreceptors are innervated by octopamine-containing efferents. The mechanosensory neurons have octopamine receptors colocalized with synapsin labeling in the efferent fibers. In addition, octopamine enhances the electrical response of the sensory neurons to mechanical stimulation. Spider peripheral mechanosensilla receive extensive efferent innervation. Many efferent fibers in the legs of Cupiennius salei are GABAergic, providing inhibitory control of sensory neurons, but there is also evidence for other neurotransmitters. We used antibody labeling to show that some efferents contain octopamine and that octopamine receptors are concentrated on the axon hillocks and proximal soma regions of all mechanosensory neurons in the spider leg. Synaptic vesicles in efferent neurons were concentrated in similar areas. Octopamine, or its precursor tyramine, increased responses of mechanically stimulated filiform (trichobothria) leg hairs. This effect was blocked by the octopamine antagonist phentolamine. The octopamine-induced modulation was mimicked by 8-Br-cAMP, a cAMP analog, and blocked by Rp-cAMPS, a protein kinase A inhibitor, indicating that spider octopamine receptors activate adenylate cyclase and increase cAMP concentration. Frequency response analysis showed that octopamine increased the sensitivity of the trichobothria neurons over a broad frequency range. Thus, the major effect of octopamine is to increase its overall sensitivity to wind-borne signals from sources such as flying insect prey or predators.
The soluble glycoprotein of vesicular stomatitis virus is formed during or shortly after the translation process

Gs protein is a shorter, soluble form of the viral G protein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) lacking the membrane-anchoring domain. Production of Gs protein appears to be a general property of VSV because infection of BHK-21 cells by five different isolates of the VSV serotype Indiana led in all cases to the synthesis of Gs protein. Moreover, it is formed in a variety of eucaryotic cell lines after VSV infection. In pulse-chase experiments, we observed a time-dependent change in the ratio of G to Gs protein released into the growth medium, suggesting that Gs is formed intracellularly rather than on the cell surface. Further experiments revealed that Gs protein can be synthesized in vitro in the reticulocyte lysate system after addition of a viral mRNA fraction and in a coupled transcription-translation system with VSV core particles. In the presence of microsomal membranes both G and Gs protein were glycosylated in the reticulocyte lysate, confirming that the authentic Gs protein is synthesized in vitro. The addition of various protease inhibitors to the cell-free system and variation of the incubation conditions did not alter the ratio of G to Gs formation. Taken together, these experiments suggest strongly that Gs protein is not a product of a membrane-associated proteolytic activity but is formed during or shortly after the translation process. Our attempts to detect a specific, shorter mRNA coding for the Gs protein by molecular hybridization procedures did not reveal the existence of such a mRNA species.
High prevalence of Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale in malaria patients along the Thai‐Myanmar border, as revealed by acridine orange staining and PCR‐based diagnoses

The prevalence of the four human malaria parasites was investigated among malaria patients at northern, central and southern towns in Thailand along the border with Myanmar between September 1995 and May 1996. Thin smears obtained from 548 Thai and Burmese patients were reviewed by an acridine orange staining method, and many mixed infections with two to four species, including P. malariae and P. ovale, were detected. These diagnostic results were compared with those by two PCR‐based diagnoses, microtitre plate hybridization (MPH) and a nested PCR method, both of which targets the same, species‐specific regions in the 18S rRNA genes. In both PCR diagnoses, many P. malariae and P. ovale infections were also detected. Detection sensitivity of P. malariae infection was higher in nested PCR than MPH, and a total prevalence of P. malariae infection estimated by nested PCR reached 24.3% (133/548). In 16 of them, the size of PCR products amplified by the P. malariae‐specific primer was about 20‐bp shorter than the expected size of 115‐bp. Four of 16 possessed two different bands with normal and shorter sizes, suggesting that P. malariae isolates may be separated into two types, and that those with shorter products may be new variant form (s) with a nucleotide deletion in the target region. On the other hand, 21 P. ovale infections (3.8%) were detected by nested PCR, but four of them were MPH‐negative because of the sequence variation at the probe region. These results indicated that the prevalence of P. malariae and P. ovale along the Thai‐Myanmar border may be substantially higher than previously reported.
Analysis and design of non-time based motion controller for mobile robots

A design method for non-time based tracking controller of mobile robots is presented. The new design method converts a controller designed by traditional time-based approaches to a non-time based controller using any given action reference. The stability condition of the non-time based tracking controller is developed and theoretically proved. The analysis and design methods are exemplified by a mobile robot tracking control problem. The controller has been implemented and tested in a Nomadic XR4000 mobile robot. The experimental results demonstrate the advantages of proposed method.