Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Postretinal Structure and Function in Severe Congenital Photoreceptor Blindness Caused by Mutations in the GUCY2D Gene

Purpose To examine how severe congenital blindness resulting from mutations of the GUCY2D gene alters brain structure and function, and to relate these findings to the notable preservation of retinal architecture in this form of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). Methods Six GUCY2D-LCA patients (ages 20–46) were studied with optical coherence tomography of the retina and multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. Measurements from this group were compared to those obtained from populations of normally sighted controls and people with congenital blindness of a variety of causes. Results Patients with GUCY2D-LCA had preservation of the photoreceptors, ganglion cells, and nerve fiber layer. Despite this, visual function in these patients ranged from 20/160 acuity to no light perception, and functional MRI responses to light stimulation were attenuated and restricted. This severe visual impairment was reflected in substantial thickening of the gray matter layer of area V1, accompanied by an alteration of resting-state correlations within the occipital lobe, similar to a comparison group of congenitally blind people with structural damage to the retina. In contrast to the comparison blind population, however, the GUCY2D-LCA group had preservation of the size of the optic chiasm, and the fractional anisotropy of the optic radiations as measured with diffusion tensor imaging was also normal. Conclusions These results identify dissociable effects of blindness upon the visual pathway. Further, the relatively intact postgeniculate white matter pathway in GUCY2D-LCA is encouraging for the prospect of recovery of visual function with gene augmentation therapy.
Unfolding speaker clustering potential: a biomimetic approach

Speaker clustering is the task of grouping a set of speech utterances into speaker-specific classes. The basic techniques for solving this task are similar to those used for speaker verification and identification. The hypothesis of this paper is that the techniques originally developed for speaker verification and identification are not sufficiently discriminative for speaker clustering. However, the processing chain for speaker clustering is quite large - there are many potential areas for improvement. The question is: where should improvements be made to improve the final result? To answer this question, this paper takes a biomimetic approach based on a study with human participants acting as an automatic speaker clustering system. Our findings are twofold: it is the stage of modeling that has the highest potential, and information with respect to the temporal succession of frames is crucially missing. Experimental results with our implementation of a speaker clustering system incorporating our findings and applying it on TIMIT data show the validity of our approach.
Environmental Research and Public Health Bacterial Biotransformation of Pentachlorophenol and Micropollutants Formed during Its Production Process

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is a toxic and persistent wood and cellulose preservative extensively used in the past decades. The production process of PCP generates polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) as micropollutants. PCDD/Fs are also known to be very persistent and dangerous for human health and ecosystem functioning. Several physico-chemical and biological technologies have been used to remove PCP and PCDD/Fs from the environment. Bacterial degradation appears to be a cost-effective way of removing these contaminants from soil while causing little impact on the environment. Several bacteria that cometabolize or use these pollutants as their sole source of carbon have been isolated and characterized. This review summarizes current knowledge on the metabolic pathways of bacterial degradation of PCP and PCDD/Fs. PCP can be successfully degraded aerobically or anaerobically by bacteria. Highly chlorinated PCDD/Fs are more likely to be reductively dechlorinated, while less chlorinated PCDD/Fs are more prone to aerobic degradation. The biochemical and genetic basis of these pollutants' degradation is also described. There are several documented studies of effective applications of bioremediation techniques for the removal of PCP and PCDD/Fs from soil and sediments. These findings suggest that biodegradation can occur and be applied to treat these contaminants.
PENGARUH KONSELING BEHAVIORAL DENGAN TEKNIK MODELING SOSOK BIMA UNTUK MENINGKATKAN SELF ENDURANCE MELALUI LESSON STUDY PADA SISWA KELAS XI BOGA 5SMK NEGERI 2 SINGARAJA

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh konseling behavioral dengan teknik modeling sosok bima terhadap peningkatan self endurance melalui lesson study. Jenis penelitian ini adalah eksperimen semu dengan rancangan pretest-postest control group design. Populasi penelitian ini adalah seluruh siswa kelas XI Boga SMKN 2 Singaraja Tahun Pelajaran 2016/2017 sebanyak 203 orang. Penentuan sampel menggunakan teknik purposive sampling. Sampel yang digunakan penelitian ini sebanyak 41 orang. Jenis data yang dikumpulkan adalah data kuantitatif berupa peningkatan self endurance. Metode pengumpulan data menggunakan kuesioner. Data penelitian dianalisis dengan teknik statistik uji t. Berdasarkan hasil analisis data, ditemukan bahwa terdapat pengaruh konseling behavioral dengan teknik modeling sosok bima terhadap peningkatan self endurance melalui lesson study pada siswa kelas XI Boga 5 SMK Negeri 2 Singaraja, yang ditunjukkan dengan nilai thitung sebesar 5,047 (p Kata Kunci : konseling behavioral, modeling sosok bima, self endurance, lesson study This research aimed to determine the effect of behavioral counseling with bima figure modeling techniques on the improvement of self endurance through the lesson study. This type of research was a quasi experiment with pretest-postest control group design. The research population were all students of class XI Boga SMKN 2 Singaraja Lesson Year 2016/2017 as many as 203 people. The determination of sample using purposive sampling technique. The sample used by this research were 41 people. The type of data collected was quantitative data in the form of self endurance improvement. Method of collecting data using questionnaire. Research data were analyzed by t test statistic technique. Based on the results of data analysis, found that there was effect of behavioral counseling with bima figure modeling techniques on the improvement of self endurance through the lesson study in the students of class XI Boga SMKN 2 Singaraja, which was shown by ttest value 5.047 (p keyword : behavioral counseling, bima figure modeling techniques, self endurance, lesson study.
Calf Intestinal Alkaline Phosphatase, a Novel Therapeutic Drug for Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-Mediated Diseases, Attenuates LPS Toxicity in Mice and Piglets

It has been demonstrated that human placental alkaline phosphatase (HPLAP) attenuates the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated inflammatory response, likely through dephosphorylation of the lipid A moiety of LPS. In this study, it is demonstrated that also alkaline phosphatase derived from calf intestine (CIAP) is able to detoxify LPS. In mice administered CIAP, 80% of the animals survived a lethal Escherichia coli infection. In piglets, previous to LPS detoxification, the pharmacokinetic behavior of CIAP was studied. CIAP clearance was shown to be dose-independent and showed a biphasic pattern with an initial t1/2 of 3 to 5 min and a second phase t1/2 of 2 to 3 h. Although CIAP is cleared much faster than HPLAP, it attenuates LPS-mediated effects on hematology and tumor necrosis factor-α responses at doses up to 10 μg/kg in piglets. LPS-induced hematological changes were antagonized, and the tumor necrosis factor-α response was reduced up to 98%. Daily i.v. bolus administration of 4000 units CIAP, the highest dose used in the LPS intervention studies, in piglets for 28 days was tolerated without any sign of toxicity. Therefore, CIAP potentially encompasses a novel therapeutic agent in the treatment of LPS-mediated diseases. Based on the data mentioned above, human clinical trials have been initiated.
Pitfalls in case-control studies of vaccine effectiveness.

1. Barricarte A, Castilla J, Gil-Setas A, et al. Effectiveness of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine: a population-based case-control study. Clin Infect Dis 2007; 44:1436–41. 2. Grimes DA, Schutlz KF. Bias and causal associations in observational research. Lancet 2002; 359:248–52. 3. Bland JM, Altman DG. Matching. BMJ 1994; 309:1128. 4. Barricarte A, Gil-Setas A, Torroba A, et al. Invasive pneumococcal disease in children younger than 5 years in Navarra, Spain (2000–2005): impact of the conjugate vaccine [in Spanish]. Med Clin (Barc) 2007; 129:41–5. 5. Flannery B, Heffernan RT, Harrison LH, et al. Changes in invasive disease pneumococcal disease among HIV-infected adults living in the era of childhood pneumococcal immunization. Ann Intern Med 2006; 144:1–9. 6. Singleton RJ, Hennessy TW, Bulkow LR, et al. Invasive pneumococcal disease caused by nonvaccine serotypes among Alaska native children with high levels of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine coverage. JAMA 2007; 297:1784–92. 7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Direct and indirect effects of routine vaccination of children with 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease—United States, 1998– 2003. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2005; 54:893–7. 8. Kellner JD, Church DL, MacDonald J, et al. Progress in prevention of pneumococcal disease. CMAJ 2005; 173:1149–51. 9. Roche P, Krause V, Cook H, et al. Invasive pneumococcal disease in Australia, 2005. Commun Dis Intell 2007; 31:86–100. 10. Aristegui J, Bernaola E, Pcheville I, et al. Reduction in pediatric invasive pneumococcal disease in the Basque Country and Navarre, Spain, after introduction of the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2007; 26:303–10. Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Enrique Bernaola, Pediatrics Dept., Virgen del Camino Hospital, C/Irunlarrea 8, 31008– Pamplona, Spain (bernaola@teleline.es). Clinical Infectious Diseases 2007; 45:1240–1 2007 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. 1058-4838/2007/4509-0020$15.00 DOI: 10.1086/523978
A Dynamic Tiebout Theory of Voluntary versus Involuntary Provision of Public Goods

This paper considers a dynamic model of Tiebout-like migration between communities that utilize distinct allocation procedures for public goods. At issue is whether voluntary or compulsory procedures are more likely to prevail over time. We model infinitely lived individuals who make repeated, sequential location decisions over one of two communities. Each community uses a distinct mechanism for allocating public goods. The first is one in which contributions are given voluntarily by the citizenry of the community. The second is a compulsory scheme by which individuals are taxed proportionately to wealth with the tax determined by a majority vote. Opportunities to accumulate wealth exist via accumulation of public capital. The Markov Perfect equilibria of the dynamic game are studied. Our main result shows that when accumulated wealth converges to a steady state, individuals' locational choices eventually ``select" the involuntary provision mechanism. This holds despite the fact that unanimous location in the voluntary provision community may in many cases remain as a Nash equilibrium of the static game each period. We also describe conditions under which voluntary provision survives. These conditions require that accumulation of capital fails to decrease wealth dispersion over time. The results are shown to be consistent with findings relating inequality to school choice.
Online Bayesian Nonparametrics for Group Detection

Group detection represents an emerging Computer Vision research topic motivated by the increasing interest in modelling the social behaviour of people. This paper presents an unsupervised method for group detection which is based on an online inference process over Dirichlet Process Mixture Models. Formally, groups are modelled as components of an infinite mixture and individuals are seen as observations generated from them. The proposed sequential variational framework allows to perform inference in real-time, while social constraints based on proxemics rules ensure the production of proper group hypotheses consistent with human perception. The results obtained on several datasets compare favourably with state-of-the-art approaches, setting the best performance in some of them.
A viscous heating mechanism for the hot plasma in the Galactic center region

In addition to lines originating in a soft phase at ~0.8 keV and to cold molecular clouds, the X-ray spectra from the Galactic center region also exhibit properties similar to those of a diffuse, thin, very hot plasma at 8 keV on a scale of hundreds of parsecs. This phase is surprising for more than one reason. First, such a hot plasma should not be bound to the Galactic plane and the power needed to sustain the escaping matter would be higher then any known source. Second, there is no known mechanism able to heat the plasma to more than a few keV. Recently we have suggested that, hydrogen having escaped, the hot plasma could be a helium plasma, heavy enough to be gravitationally confined. In this case, the required power is much more reasonable. We present here a possible heating mechanism which taps the gravitational energy of the molecular clouds. We note that the 8 keV plasma is highly viscous and we show how viscous friction of molecular clouds flowing within the hot phase can dissipate energy in the gas and heat it. We detail the MHD wake of a spherical cloud by considering the different MHD waves the cloud can excite. We find that most of the energy is dissipated by the damping of Alfvenic perturbations in two possible manners, namely by non-linear effects and by a large scale curvature of the field lines. We find that the total dissipation rate depends on the field strength. For fields $B\lesssim 200~\mu$G both mechanisms produce power comparable to or higher than the radiative losses; for strong fields $B\gtrsim1$ mG, only the curvature damping can balance the X-ray emission and requires a radius of curvature $R_\mathrm{c}\lesssim 100$ pc; whereas for intermediate fields, the total dissipation is more than one order of magnitude smaller, requiring a higher accretion rate. We note that the plasma parameters may be optimal to make the dissipation most efficient, suggesting a self-regulation mechanism. The loss of kinetic and gravitational energy also causes accretion of the clouds and may have significant action on the gas dynamics in this region between the large scale, bar dominated flow and the central accretion to the massive black hole.
WHOI-Plankton- A Large Scale Fine Grained Visual Recognition Benchmark Dataset for Plankton Classification

Planktonic organisms are of fundamental importance to marine ecosystems: they form the basis of the food web, provide the link between the atmosphere and the deep ocean, and influence global-scale biogeochemical cycles. Scientists are increasingly using imaging-based technologies to study these creatures in their natural habit. Images from such systems provide an unique opportunity to model and understand plankton ecosystems, but the collected datasets can be enormous. The Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, for example, is an \emph{in situ} system that has been continuously imaging plankton since 2006. To date, it has generated more than 700 million samples. Manual classification of such a vast image collection is impractical due to the size of the data set. In addition, the annotation task is challenging due to the large space of relevant classes, intra-class variability, and inter-class similarity. Methods for automated classification exist, but the accuracy is often below that of human experts. Here we introduce WHOI-Plankton: a large scale, fine-grained visual recognition dataset for plankton classification, which comprises over 3.4 million expert-labeled images across 70 classes. The labeled image set is complied from over 8 years of near continuous data collection with the IFCB at the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO). We discuss relevant metrics for evaluation of classification performance and provide results for a traditional method based on hand-engineered features and two methods based on convolutional neural networks.
Star Formation in Cluster Galaxies at 0.2 < z < 0.55

The rest-frame equivalent width of the [OII] λ3727 emission line, W0(O II), has been measured for cluster and field galaxies in the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology redshift survey of rich clusters at 0.2<z<0.55. Emission lines of any strength in cluster galaxies at all distances from the cluster center, out to 2R200, are less common than in field galaxies. The mean W0(O II) in cluster galaxies more luminous than Mkr < -18.5 + 5 log h (q0=0.1) is 3.8±0.3 Å (where the uncertainty is the 1 σ error in the mean), which is significantly less than the field galaxy mean of 11.2±0.3 Å. For the innermost cluster members (R<0.3R200), the mean W0(O II) is only 0.3±0.4 Å. Thus, it appears that neither the infall process nor internal tides in the cluster induce detectable excess star formation in cluster galaxies relative to the field. The color-radius relation of the sample is unable to fully account for the lack of cluster galaxies with W0(O II) > 10 Å, as expected in a model of cluster formation in which star formation is truncated on infall. Evidence of suppressed star formation relative to the field is present in the whole cluster sample, out to 2R200, so the mechanism responsible for the differential evolution must be acting at a large distance from the cluster center and not just in the core. The mean star formation rate in the cluster galaxies with the strongest emission corresponds to an increase in the total stellar mass of less than about 4% if the star formation is due to a secondary burst lasting 0.1 Gyr.
Aberrant Sensorimotor Integration in Musicians' Cramp Patients

AbstractSimple tapping and complex movements (Luria finger apposition task) were performed unimanually and bimanually by two groups of professional guitarists while EEG was recorded from electrodes over the sensorimotor cortex. One group had a task-specific movement disorder (focal dystonia or musicians' cramp), while the other group did not (controls). There were no significant group interactions in the task-related power (TRPow) within the alpha range of 8-10Hz (mu1). In contrast, there was a significant group interaction within the alpha range of 10-12Hz (mu2); these latter frequencies are associated with task-specific sensorimotor integration. The significant group interaction included task (simple and complex) by hand (left, right, and both) by electrodes (10 electrodes over the sensorimotor areas). In the rest conditions, the alpha power (10-12Hz) was comparable between the groups; during movement, however, compared to the controls, patients demonstrated the greatest TRPow (10-12Hz) over all conditi.
A new Cry toxin with a unique two‐component dependency from Bacillus sphaericus

Highly pathogenic strains of Bacillus sphaericus produce the mosquitocidal Bin proteins, but resistance to this toxin can be produced under laboratory and field conditions. Analysis of strains able to overcome this resistance revealed the presence of a previously undescribed type of two‐component toxin. One subunit, Cry48Aa1, is related to the 3‐domain crystal toxins of Bacillus thuringiensis. Uniquely for this type of protein, insect toxicity is only achieved in the presence of a second, accessory protein, Cry49Aa1. This protein is itself related to both the binary toxin of B. sphaericus and to Cry35 and Cry36 of B. thuringiensis, none of which require interaction with Cry48Aa1‐like proteins for their activity. The necessity for both Cry48Aa1 and Cry49Aa1 components for pathogenicity, therefore, indicates an unprecedented interaction to generate toxicity. Despite high potency for purified Cry48Aa1/Cry49Aa1 proteins (LC50 for third instar Culex quinquefasciatus larvae: 15.9 ng/ml and 6.3 ng/ml respectively), bacteria producing them show suboptimal mosquitocidal activity due to low‐level Cry48Aa1 production. This new toxin combination may indicate a fortuitous combination of members of the gene families that encode 3‐domain Cry toxins and Binary‐like toxins, permitting the “mix‐and‐match” evolution of a new component in the mosquitocidal armoury. — Jones G. W. , Nielsen‐Leroux, C. , Yang, Y. , Yuan, Z. , Dumas, V. F. , Monnerat, R. G. , Colin Berry C. A new Cry toxin with a unique two‐component dependency from Bacillus sphaericus. FASEB J. 21, 4112–4120 (2007)
Ligation of CM1 enhances apoptosis of lung cancer cells through different mechanisms in conformity with EGFR mutation

Although remarkable developments in lung cancer treatments have been made, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is occasionally mutated in non-small cell lung cancer and heterogeneity in treatment response results from different EGFR mutations. In the present study, we found that centrocyte/centroblast marker 1 (CM1), previously reported as a possible apoptosis inducer of B lymphoma cells, is expressed on both A549 with wild-type EGFR and HCC827 with mutant EGFR lung cancer cells. Ligation of CM1 with anti-CM1 mAb enhanced apoptosis in both lung cancer cell lines through generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, however, the signaling mechanisms differed from each other. Further studies to investigate the signaling mechanisms identified that ligation of CM1-induced apoptosis in A549 cell involved FasL expression, caspase-8, ERK1/2 and Akt kinase, whereas apoptosis of HCC827 cells was induced through caspase-9, JNK and c-jun-dependent pathways. Taken together, we suggest that CM1 could be developed as a therapeutic target of lung cancer regardless of EGFR mutation status.
A neural network based method for part demands prediction in auto aftermarket

In the supply chain management of auto aftermarket, companies strive to manage inventory with low cost while maintaining a reasonable order fulfillment rate. To achieve this objective, a critical issue is to predict the demand for auto parts with high accuracy. Based on the factors relevant to auto aftermarket, this paper proposed an artificial neural network based method to forecast the demands of auto parts. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated with a case study of an auto 4s shop in Shanghai.
The Interest Issues of Gifted Children

Gifted and talented children show differences in many respects compared to normal developing children. It is expected that these differences may also arise in daily life of all these children. In this research, it is aimed to investigate that whether the responses of three wishes questions of the gifted and talented and normal developing children differ or not. The sample of the study consisted of 54 gifted, 28 talented, and 46 normal developing children. Quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used together in the research. The main research question was as follows: "What would you wish if you had three wishes". Received responses were coded and analyzed by chi-square test according to the response types of children with gifted, talented, and normal developing children. As a result of the research, it was determined that the answers given by the gifted, talented, and normal developing children to the three right wishes differed.