Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identifying and Intervening on Neural Markers of Attention to Threat in Children with Anxiety Disorders

Late-stage attentional processing of threatening stimuli, quantified through event-related potentials (ERPs), differentiates youth with and without anxiety disorders. It is unknown whether early-stage attentional processing of threatening stimuli differentiates these groups. Examining both early and late stage attentional processes in youth may advance knowledge and enhance efforts to identify biomarkers for translational prevention and treatment research. Twenty-one youth with primary DSM-IV-TR anxiety disorders (10 males, ages 8-15 years) and 21 typically developing Controls (15 males, ages 8-16 years) completed a dot probe task while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded, and ERPs were examined. Youth with anxiety disorders showed significantly larger (more positive) P1 amplitudes for threatening stimuli than for neutral stimuli, and Controls showed the opposite pattern. Youth with anxiety showed larger (more negative) N170 amplitudes compared with Controls. Controls showed significantly larger (more positive) P2 and P3 amplitudes, regardless of stimuli valence, compared with youth with anxiety disorders. Event-related potentials observed during the dot probe task indicate youth with anxiety disorders display distinct neural processing during early stage attentional orienting and processing of faces; this was not the case for Controls. Such results suggest these ERP components may have potential as biomarkers of anxiety disorders in youth.
On the Synergy of Airborne GNSS-R and Landsat 8 for Soil Moisture Estimation

While the synergy between thermal, optical, and passive microwave observations is well known for the estimation of soil moisture and vegetation parameters, the use of remote sensing sources based on the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) remains unexplored. During an airborne campaign performed in August 2014, over an agricultural area in the Duero basin (Spain), an innovative sensor developed by the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya-Barcelona Tech based on GNSS Reflectometry (GNSS-R) was tested for soil moisture estimation. The objective was to evaluate the combined use of GNSS-R observations with a time-collocated Landsat 8 image for soil moisture retrieval under semi-arid climate conditions. As a ground reference dataset, an intensive field campaign was carried out. The Light Airborne Reflectometer for GNSS-R Observations (LARGO) observations, together with optical, infrared, and thermal bands from Landsat 8, were linked through a semi-empirical model to field soil moisture. Different combinations of vegetation and water indices with LARGO subsets were tested and compared to the in situ measurements. Results showed that the joint use of GNSS-R reflectivity, water/vegetation indices and thermal maps from Landsat 8 not only allows capturing soil moisture spatial gradients under very dry soil conditions, but also holds great promise for accurate soil moisture estimation (correlation coefficients greater than 0.5 were obtained from comparison with in situ data).
Massive black hole remnants of the first stars in galactic haloes

We investigate the possibility that present-day galactic haloes contain a population of massive black holes (MBHs) that form by hierarchical merging of the BH remnants of the first stars. Some of the MBHs may be large enough or close enough to the centre of the galactic host that they merge within a Hubble time. We estimate to what extent this process could contribute to the mass of the supermassive black holes observed in galactic centres today. Many MBHs will not reach the centre of the main halo, however, but continue to orbit within satellite subhaloes. Using a semi-analytical approach that explicitly accounts for dynamical friction, tidal disruption and encounters with the galactic disc, we follow the dynamics of the satellites and their MBHs and determine the abundance and distribution of MBHs in present-day haloes of various masses. Considering two different accretion scenarios, we also compute the bolometric luminosity function for the MBHs.
EVER Proteins, Key Elements of the Natural Anti-Human Papillomavirus Barrier, Are Regulated upon T-Cell Activation

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) cause a variety of mucosal and skin lesions ranging from benign proliferations to invasive carcinomas. The clinical manifestations of infection are determined by host-related factors that define the natural anti-HPV barrier. Key elements of this barrier are the EVER1 and EVER2 proteins, as deficiency in either one of the EVER proteins leads to Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis (EV), a genodermatosis associated with HPV-induced skin carcinoma. Although EVERs have been shown to regulate zinc homeostasis in keratinocytes, their expression and function in other cell types that may participate to the anti-HPV barrier remain to be investigated. In this work, we demonstrate that EVER genes are expressed in different tissues, and most notably in lymphocytes. Interestingly, in contrast to the skin, where EVER2 transcripts are hardly detectable, EVER genes are both abundantly expressed in murine and human T cells. Activation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells via the TCR triggers a rapid and profound decrease in EVER expression, accompanied by an accumulation of free Zn2+ ions. Thus, EVER proteins may be involved in the regulation of cellular zinc homeostasis in lymphocytes. Consistent with this hypothesis, we show that the concentration of Zn2+ ions is elevated in lymphoblastoid cells or primary T cells from EVER2-deficient patients. Interestingly, we also show that Zn2+ excess blocks T-cell activation and proliferation. Therefore, EVER proteins appear as key components of the activation-dependent regulation of Zn2+ concentration in T cells. However, the impact of EVER-deficiency in T cells on EV pathogenesis remains to be elucidated.
Co-evolution of capabilities and preferences in the adoption of new technologies

The objective of this paper is to propose a multidisciplinary approach for the analysis of demand and innovation. It combines insights from studies on technology diffusion, evolutionary economics and cognitive psychology to argue that consumption and demand are learning processes driven by trial-and-error, rather than by ex-ante maximisation. The paper presents a heuristic synthesis to incorporate learning processes in the determination of consumption preferences and capabilities. The case of banking service innovation in the UK is presented as an illustrative example of the outlined dynamics.
The impact of gratitude on adolescent materialism and generosity

ABSTRACT Despite decades of research on materialism, there are few viable strategies for reducing materialism in younger consumers. In this paper, we present two studies conducted among over 900 adolescents that reveal a promising strategy for decreasing materialism: fostering gratitude. In Study 1, results from a nationally representative survey showed that children and adolescents with a grateful disposition were less materialistic. In Study 2, experimental evidence showed that an intervention designed to increase gratitude (i.e. keeping a gratitude journal) significantly reduced materialism among adolescents and also attenuated materialism’s negative effect on generosity. Using real money and donation as a behavioral measure, we found that adolescents who kept a gratitude journal donated 60% more of their earnings to charity compared to those in the control condition. We discuss the implications of our findings, offer some suggestions for putting our results into action, and provide an agenda for future research in this domain.
IronFleet: proving practical distributed systems correct

Distributed systems are notorious for harboring subtle bugs. Verification can, in principle, eliminate these bugs a priori, but verification has historically been difficult to apply at full-program scale, much less distributed-system scale. We describe a methodology for building practical and provably correct distributed systems based on a unique blend of TLA-style state-machine refinement and Hoare-logic verification. We demonstrate the methodology on a complex implementation of a Paxos-based replicated state machine library and a lease-based sharded key-value store. We prove that each obeys a concise safety specification, as well as desirable liveness requirements. Each implementation achieves performance competitive with a reference system. With our methodology and lessons learned, we aim to raise the standard for distributed systems from "tested" to "correct. "
Critical jamming of frictional grains in the generalized isostaticity picture

While frictionless spheres at jamming are isostatic, frictional spheres at jamming are not. As a result, frictional spheres near jamming do not necessarily exhibit an excess of soft modes. However, a generalized form of isostaticity can be introduced if fully mobilized contacts at the Coulomb friction threshold are considered as slipping contacts. We show here that, in this framework, the vibrational density of states (DOS) of frictional discs exhibits a plateau when the generalized isostaticity line is approached. The crossover frequency ω* scales linearly with the distance from this line. Moreover, we show that the frictionless limit, which appears singular when fully mobilized contacts are treated elastically, becomes smooth when fully mobilized contacts are allowed to slip. Finally, we elucidate the nature of the vibrational modes, both for slipping and for non-slipping fully mobilized contacts.
Combinatorial and algebro-geometric cohomology classes on the moduli spaces of curves

Based on the combinatorial description of the moduli spaces of curves provided by Strebel differentials, Witten and Kontsevich have introduced combinatorial cohomology classes $W_{(m_0,m_1,m_2,\dots),n}$, and conjectured that these can be expressed in terms of Mumford-Morita-Miller classes. It is argued that this link should be provided by a theorem of Di Francesco, Itzykson and Zuber which relates the derivatives of the Witten-Kontsevich partition function with respect to one set of variables to the derivatives with respect to the other set of variables. Two things are shown. First of all that this works in complex codimension 1. Secondly that in all the cases when it has been possible to make the Di Francesco, Itzykson and Zuber correpondence explicit this translates into identities of the type $$ \int_{W_{(m_0,m_1,m_2,\dots),n}}\prod\psi_i^{d_i} =\int_{\overline{\cal{M}}_{g,n}} X_{(m_0,m_1,m_2,\dots),n}\prod\psi_i^{d_i} $$ where the $X_{(m_0,m_1,m_2,\dots),n}$ are explicit polynomials in the algebro-geometric classes and the $\psi_i$ are the Chern classes of the point bundles, for any choice of $d_1,\dots,d_n$.
Altered placental expression of kisspeptin and its receptor in pre-eclampsia

Kisspeptin, originally identified as metastatin, important in preventing cancer metastasis, has more recently been shown to be important in pregnancy. Roles indicated for kisspeptin in pregnancy include regulating trophoblast invasion and migration during placentation. The pregnancy-specific disorder pre-eclampsia (PE) is now accepted to begin with inadequate trophoblast invasion and the current study therefore sets out to characterise placental expression of both kisspeptin (KISS1) and its receptor (KISS1R) throughout pregnancy and in PE. Placental tissue was obtained from women undergoing elective surgical termination of early pregnancy (n=10) and from women following Caesarean section at term in normal pregnancy (n=10) and with PE (n=10). Immunohistochemistry of paraffin embedded sections and western immunoblotting were performed to assess protein localisation and expression. Quantitative real-time PCR was carried out to evaluate mRNA expression of both KISS1 and KISS1R. Protein and mRNA expression was found to mirror each other with KISS1 expression found to be reduced in PE compared with that in normal term pregnancy. Interestingly, KISS1R expression at both the mRNA and protein levels was found to be increased in PE compared with that in normal term pregnancy. The current findings of increased KISS1R expression may represent a mechanism by which functional activity of KISS1 is higher in PE than in normal pregnancy. Higher levels of activity of KISS1R may be involved in inhibition of trophoblast invasion and angiogenesis, which are associated with PE.
Real-time component labeling and boundary tracing system based on FPGA

In order to analyze and recognize objects in binary images, two primary operations are required. First, component labeling is performed to identify objects with unique labels and to produce a labeled image. And boundary tracing is performed to form the ordered list of boundary position of object; which is a contour. These procedures are fundamental factors for image analysis. However, component labeling cannot be easily implemented in real-time because of the large size of image data and the high speed of image transition. In order to trace the object boundary every object's location are required, so boundary tracing is dependent on the component labeling which can determine the location of all objects. Therefore, we combine these two procedures in one dedicated hardware system. This system comprises the labeling component and tracing component. The labeling component identifies objects and produces the labeled image. By using this labeled image, the tracing component traces the boundary of identified object. Thus, the performance and efficiency of the binary image application can be increased. The system is implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) by using the VHSIC hardware description language (VHDL). Experimental results and device utilization summary are given for the evaluation.
Emotional prosody - does culture make a difference?

We report on a multilingual comparison study on the effects of prosodic changes on emotional speech. The study was conducted in France, Germany, Greece and Turkey. Semantically identical sentences expressing emotional relevant content were translated into the target languages and were manipulated systematically with respect to pitch range, duration model, and jitter simulation. Perception experiments in the participating countries showed relevant effects irrespective of language. Nonetheless, some effects of language are also reported.
Grounding the Foundations of Ontology Mapping on Neglected Ambitions

The problem of ontology mapping has attracted considerable attention over the last few years, as the usage of ontologies is increasing. In this paper, we revisit the fundamental assumptions that drive the mapping process, put the current research in context, and propose new research directions. Based on real-world use cases, we identify two distinct goals for mapping, which are: (i) ontology development and (ii) facilitating interoperability. Most of current research on ontology mapping has been focused on ontology development and is rooted in the seminal work of [McG00, Noy00]. For example, the well studied problem of ontology merging is an ontology development task. Note that, today, with the increase in the number of information systems that utilize ontologies, facilitating interoperability between these systems is becoming more critical. However, mapping has seldom been studied, from this perspective. We show the consequences of focusing on interoperability, with illustrative examples, and provide an in-depth comparison to the information integration problem in databases. As a result, class matching is emphasized, as opposed to the matching of other entities in an ontology. Various class similarity metrics are proposed and their complexity is analyzed. Then, an algorithm, which utilizes these metrics, is designed and evaluated experimentally. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that focuses on the neglected goal of facilitating interoperability, in
Measuring Ocean Surface Wind from Space

This chapter summarizes the measurement of ocean surface wind vectors by scatterometers and wind speed by radar altimeters, synthetic aperture radars (SAR), and microwave radiometers. Secondary factors, other than winds, that affect radar backscatter are reviewed. Potential methods to improve wind retrieval are also discussed. Examples of recent applications using improved coverage and resolution are provided. Anticipated future technology and satellite missions are introduced.
Incremental Active Learning in Consideration of Bias

The problem of designing input signals for optimal generalization in supervised learning is called active learning. In many active learning methods devised so far, the sampling location minimizing the variance of the learning results is selected. This implies that the bias of the learning results is assumed to be zero or small enough to be neglected. In this paper, we propose an active learning method with the bias reduction. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through computer simulations.
HVDC Circuit Breakers: A Review Identifying Future Research Needs

The continuously increasing demand for electric power and the economic access to remote renewable energy sources such as off-shore wind power or solar thermal generation in deserts have revived the interest in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) multiterminal systems (networks). A lot of work was done in this area, especially in the 1980s, but only two three-terminal systems were realized. Since then, HVDC technology has advanced considerably and, despite numerous technical challenges, the realization of large-scale HVDC networks is now seriously discussed and considered. For the acceptance and reliability of these networks, the availability of HVDC circuit breakers (CBs) will be critical, making them one of the key enabling technologies. Numerous ideas for HVDC breaker schemes have been published and patented, but no acceptable solution has been found to interrupt HVDC short-circuit currents. This paper aims to summarize the literature, especially that of the last two decades, on technology areas that are relevant to HVDC breakers. By comparing the mainly 20+ years old, state-of-the art HVDC CBs to the new HVDC technology, existing discrepancies become evident. Areas where additional research and development are needed are identified and proposed.
Percepción del alumnado universitario respecto al modelo pedagógico de clase invertida

Este artículo recoge una investigación enfocada a descubrir la percepción del alumnado universitario sobre determinadas ventajas atribuidas al modelo pedagógico de aula invertida. La recogida de datos se realizó a través de un cuestionario aplicado a dos grupos formados por alumnado matriculado en una misma asignatura. El análisis de datos partió del estudio de los estadísticos descriptivos. Para la comparativa entre los grupos se aplicó la prueba t de Student sobre sus puntuaciones medias. Los resultados apuntan a que el alumnado percibe ventajas en el plano didáctico asociadas al modelo pedagógico de aula invertida.
The role of attitudinal factors in mathematical on-line assessments: a study of undergraduate STEM students

Abstract This study explores student attitudes to the use of substantive on-line assessments that require mathematical answers. Since there is limited guidance available for their use in a university setting, our goal is to learn what are the important aspects in student acceptance of e-assessments that support learning of mathematical subjects in higher education. To that end we analyse the effects of a variety of attitudinal factors towards such assessments amongst a cross-section of first year students in an English university, using a detailed questionnaire. These students were all previously exposed to on-line assessments containing substantial mathematical work, including testing of and feedback on the algebraic structure of their answers, based on identifiable misconceptions underlying these answers. Since students received highly tailored feedback, the expectation was that the usefulness of this feedback would be the key driver in their usage of educational technology. The results indeed suggest that students find on-line feedback more enjoyable and useful than conventional feedback, but enjoyment and attitude are the two most important factors.
Successive Coding Strategy in the m-helper Problem

We evaluate the performance of the successive coding strategy for the problem of multiterminal lossy coding of correlated Gaussian sources. We consider the m-helper problem for the special case of m = 1 where one source provides partial side information to the decoder to help reconstruction of the main source signal. Our results reconfirm the fact that the successive coding strategy is an optimal strategy in sense of achieving the rate-distortion function of the 1-helper problem. Comparing the performance of the sequential coding with the performance of the successive coding, we show that there is no sum rate loss when the side information is not available at the encoder. Finally, based on the successive coding strategy, we provide an achievable rate-distortion region for the m-helper problem
NFAT2 Regulates Generation of Innate-Like CD8+ T Lymphocytes and CD8+ T Lymphocytes Responses

Nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) 2 null mutant mice die in utero of cardiac failure, precluding analysis of the role of NFAT2 in lymphocyte responses. Only the NFAT2−/−/Rag-1−/− chimeric mice model gave insight into the role of NFAT2 transcription factor in T lymphocyte development, activation, and differentiation. As reports are mainly focused on the role of NFAT2 in CD4+ T lymphocytes activation and differentiation, we decided to investigate NFAT2’s impact on CD8+ T lymphocyte responses. We report that NFAT2 is phosphorylated and inactive in the cytoplasm of naive CD8+ T cells, and upon TCR stimulation, it is dephosphorylated and translocated into the nucleus. To study the role of NFAT2 in CD8+ T responses, we employed NFAT2fl/flCD4-Cre mice with NFAT2 deletion specifically in T cells. Interestingly, the absence of NFAT2 in T cells resulted in increased percentage of non-conventional innate-like CD8+ T cells. These cells were CD122+, rapid producer of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and had characteristics of conventional memory CD8+ T cells. We also observed an expansion of PLZF+ expressing CD3+ thymocyte population in the absence of NFAT2 and increased IL-4 production. Furthermore, we found that CD8+ T lymphocytes deficient in NFAT2 had reduced activation, proliferation, and IFN-γ and IL-2 production at suboptimal TCR strength. NFAT2 absence did not significantly influence differentiation of CD8+ T cells into cytotoxic effector cells but reduced their IFN-γ production. This work documents NFAT2 as a negative regulator of innate-like CD8+ T cells development. NFAT2 is required for complete CD8+ T cell responses at suboptimal TCR stimulation and regulates IFN-γ production by cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in vitro.