Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A methodology for assessing the effect of correlations among muscle synergy activations on task-discriminating information

Muscle synergies have been hypothesized to be the building blocks used by the central nervous system to generate movement. According to this hypothesis, the accomplishment of various motor tasks relies on the ability of the motor system to recruit a small set of synergies on a single-trial basis and combine them in a task-dependent manner. It is conceivable that this requires a fine tuning of the trial-to-trial relationships between the synergy activations. Here we develop an analytical methodology to address the nature and functional role of trial-to-trial correlations between synergy activations, which is designed to help to better understand how these correlations may contribute to generating appropriate motor behavior. The algorithm we propose first divides correlations between muscle synergies into types (noise correlations, quantifying the trial-to-trial covariations of synergy activations at fixed task, and signal correlations, quantifying the similarity of task tuning of the trial-averaged activation coefficients of different synergies), and then uses single-trial methods (task-decoding and information theory) to quantify their overall effect on the task-discriminating information carried by muscle synergy activations. We apply the method to both synchronous and time-varying synergies and exemplify it on electromyographic data recorded during performance of reaching movements in different directions. Our method reveals the robust presence of information-enhancing patterns of signal and noise correlations among pairs of synchronous synergies, and shows that they enhance by 9–15% (depending on the set of tasks) the task-discriminating information provided by the synergy decompositions. We suggest that the proposed methodology could be useful for assessing whether single-trial activations of one synergy depend on activations of other synergies and quantifying the effect of such dependences on the task-to-task differences in muscle activation patterns.
Polysaccharides Isolated from Açaí Fruit Induce Innate Immune Responses

The Açaí (Acai) fruit is a popular nutritional supplement that purportedly enhances immune system function. These anecdotal claims are supported by limited studies describing immune responses to the Acai polyphenol fraction. Previously, we characterized γδ T cell responses to both polyphenol and polysaccharide fractions from several plant-derived nutritional supplements. Similar polyphenol and polysaccharide fractions are found in Acai fruit. Thus, we hypothesized that one or both of these fractions could activate γδ T cells. Contrary to previous reports, we did not identify agonist activity in the polyphenol fraction; however, the Acai polysaccharide fraction induced robust γδ T cell stimulatory activity in human, mouse, and bovine PBMC cultures. To characterize the immune response to Acai polysaccharides, we fractionated the crude polysaccharide preparation and tested these fractions for activity in human PBMC cultures. The largest Acai polysaccharides were the most active in vitro as indicated by activation of myeloid and γδ T cells. When delivered in vivo, Acai polysaccharide induced myeloid cell recruitment and IL-12 production. These results define innate immune responses induced by the polysaccharide component of Acai and have implications for the treatment of asthma and infectious disease.
The Black Hole Fundamental Plane from a Uniform Sample of Radio and X-Ray-emitting Broad-Line AGNs

We derived the black hole fundamental plane relationship between the 1.4 GHz radio luminosity (Lr), 0.1-2.4 keV X-ray luminosity (LX), and black hole mass (M) from a uniform broad-line SDSS AGN sample including both radio-loud and radio-quiet X-ray-emitting sources. We found in our sample that the fundamental plane relation has a very weak dependence on the black hole mass, and a tight correlation also exists between the Eddington-luminosity-scaled X-ray and radio luminosities for the radio-quiet subsample. In addition, we noticed that the radio-quiet and radio-loud AGNs have different power-law slopes in the radio-X-ray nonlinear relationship. The radio-loud sample displays a slope of 1.39, which seems consistent with the jet-dominated X-ray model. However, it may also be partly due to the relativistic beaming effect. For the radio-quiet sample the slope of the radio-X-ray relationship is about 0.85, which is possibly consistent with the theoretical prediction from the accretion-flow-dominated X-ray model. We briefly discuss the reason why our derived relationship is different from some previous works and expect the future spectral studies in radio and X-ray bands on individual sources in our sample to confirm our result.
Newsgames for the Greater Good: The Effects of Graphic Realism and Geographic Proximity on Knowledge Acquisition and Willingness to Help

This study examined the effects of graphic realism and geographic proximity in newsgames. In a 2 (realism: high vs. low) × 2 (proximity: high vs. low) experiment, 161 participants played a modded newsgame. Suspense fully mediated the interaction effects of realism and proximity on willingness to help (the intention of newsgame forwarding and the amount donated). Realism indirectly affected newsgame forwarding through appreciation and led to negative emotion and higher arousal. Realism and proximity did not affect players’ knowledge gained from game play, enjoyment, or subsequent reading of related news. Players underwent both hedonic and eudaimonic appraisals through the newsgames.
Homophily, networks, and critical mass: Solving the start-up problem in large group collective action

Formal theories of collective action face the problem that in large groups a single actor makes such a small impact on the collective good that cooperation is irrational. Critical mass theorists argue that this ‘large group problem’ can be solved by an initial critical mass of contributors, whose efforts can produce a ‘bandwagon’ effect, making cooperation rational for the remaining members of the population. However, critical mass theory requires an explanation of how a critical mass can form in the first place. I present a model of collective action that solves this problem by showing how aspects of social structure – including network topology, homophily, and local coalition formation – can allow rational actors to endogenously form a critical mass. The findings indicate that as the mobilization effort becomes more ‘complex’, clustered networks and homophily become increasingly important for critical mass collective action.
Could Ralph Nader's Entrance and Exit Have Helped Al Gore? The Impact of Decoy Dynamics on Consumer Choice

People are frequently faced with making a new choice decision after a preferred option becomes unavailable. Prior research on the attraction effect has demonstrated how the introduction of an option into a choice set increases the share of one of the original options. The authors examine the related but previously unaddressed issue of whether the unexpected exit of an option from a choice set returns the choice shares of the original options to the status quo. In a series of experiments, they observe that when an option turns out to be unselectable following a choice problem in which it was selectable, the choice shares of the remaining options are predictably different from those of a choice problem in which the option was unselectable from the start. They also observe that this attraction effect due to the disappearance of a decoy is likely a consequence of changes in the importance of decision criteria. They conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of the research.
Meritocracia y desigualdad económica: Percepciones, preferencias e implicancias

La idea de meritocracia está relacionada con la distribución de bienes y beneficios basada en el talento y esfuerzo individual, constituyendo un principio que legitima la distribución desigual de los recursos en sociedades modernas. Pese a las constantes referencias a la meritocracia en la investigación de desigualdad y estratificación social en sociología, existen pocos intentos conceptuales y empíricos que busquen entender hasta qué punto los individuos perciben y prefieren la meritocracia, así como también sus consecuencias. La presente investigación propone un marco conceptual y empírico para el estudio de las percepciones y preferencias meritocráticas que, posteriormente, es relacionado con una serie de variables relativas a la desigualdad social. Utilizando datos de la encuesta chilena “Justicia social y participación ciudadana” (N= 1.245), los resultados del análisis sugieren que las preferencias y percepciones de la meritocracia son constructos distintos y que quienes perciben un adecuado funcionamiento de la meritocracia también perciben menos desigualdad social.
Combining control measures for more effective management of fisheries under uncertainty: quotas, effort limitation and protected areas

We consider combinations of three types of control measures for the management of fisheries when the input information for policy decisions is uncertain. The methods considered include effort controls, catch quotas and area closures. We simulated a hypothetical fishery loosely based on the Icelandic cod fishery, using a simple spatially explicit dynamic model. We compared the performance with respect to conserving the resource and economic return for each type of control measure alone and in combination. In general, combining more than one type of primary direct control on fishing provides a greater buffer to uncertainty than any single form of fishery control alone. Combining catch quota control with a large closed area is a most effective system for reducing the risk of stock collapse and maintaining both short and long–term economic performance. Effort controls can also be improved by adding closed areas to the management scheme. We recommend that multiple control methods be used wherever possible and that closed areas should be used to buffer uncertainty. To be effective, these closed areas must be large and exclude all principal gears to provide real protection from fishing mortality.
DISCOVERY OF NEW GAMMA-RAY PULSARS WITH AGILE

Using gamma-ray data collected by the Astro-rivelatore Gamma ad Immagini LEggero (AGILE) satellite over a period of almost one year (from 2007 July to 2008 June), we searched for pulsed signals from 35 potentially interesting radio pulsars, ordered according to and for which contemporary or recent radio data were available. AGILE detected three new top-ranking nearby and Vela-like pulsars with good confidence both through timing and spatial analysis. Among the newcomers we find pulsars with very high rotational energy losses, such as the remarkable PSR B1509 − 58 with a magnetic field in excess of 1013 Gauss, and PSR J2229 + 6114 providing a reliable identification for the previously unidentified EGRET source 3EG 2227 + 6122. Moreover, the powerful millisecond pulsar B1821 − 24, in the globular cluster M28, is detected during a fraction of the observations. Four other promising gamma-ray pulsar candidates, among which is the notable J2043 + 2740 with an age in excess of 1 million years, show a possible detection in the timing analysis only and deserve confirmation.
The Causes of Political Integration: An Application to School Districts

This paper examines the forces behind political integration through the lens of school district consolidations, which reduced the number of school districts in the United States from around 130,000 in 1930 to under 15,000 at present. Despite this large observed decline, many districts resisted consolidation before ultimately merging and others never merged, choosing to remain at enrollment levels that nearly any education cost function would deem inefficiently small. Why do some districts voluntarily integrate while others remain small, and how do those districts that do merge choose with which of their neighbors to do so? In addressing these questions, we empirically examine the role of potential economies and diseconomies of scale, heterogeneity between merger partners, and the role of state governments. We first develop a simulation-based estimator that is rooted in the economics of matching and thus accounts for three important features of typical merger protocol: two-sided decision making, multiple potential partners, and spatial interdependence. We then apply this methodology to a wave of school district mergers in the state of Iowa during the 1990s. Our results highlight the importance of economies of scale, diseconomies of scale, state financial incentives for consolidation, and a variety of heterogeneity measures.
Nonrenewal spike trains generated by stochastic neuron models

Many of the stochastic neuron models employed in the neurobiological literature generate renewal point processes, i.e., successive intervals between spikes are statistically uncorrelated. Recently, however, much experimental evidence for positive and negative correlations in the interspike interval (ISI) sequence of real neurons has been accumulated. It has been shown that these correlations can have implications for neuronal functions. We study a leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) model with a dynamical threshold or an adaptation current both of which lead to negative correlations. Conditions are identified where these models are equivalent. The ISI statistics, the serial correlation coefficient, and the power spectrum of the spike train, are numerically investigated for various parameter sets.
The Head of the Chinese Adjectives and ABB Reduplication

This study investigates whether the head of the Chinese adjective compounds is on the left or right or on both sides. Sproat (1998), Starosta et al (1998), and Ceccagno, et al (2006, 2007) argue that the adjectives are right-headed, and Huang (1998) claims that Chinese adjectives are headless. Using the ABB type of adjectives as evidence, I argued that the head of the Chinese adjectives is more like on the left than on the right. This study supports the Headedness Principle and also calls into questions whether a suffix is the head of a word as traditionally assumed in morphology. On the other hand, it also provides evidence that reduplication is a compounding process as Haugen (2008) has claimed since most of the reduplicated constituents of ABB have a specific lexical meaning and many of them can be used as independent words.
Targeted Delivery of Doxorubicin by Folic Acid-Decorated Dual Functional Nanocarrier

Doxorubicin (DOX) is one of the most commonly used antineoplastic agents, but its clinical application is oftentimes coupled with severe side effects. Selective delivery of DOX to tumors via nanosized drug carrier represents an attractive approach to this problem. Previously, we developed a dual functional nanomicellar carrier, PEG5K-embelin2 (PEG5K-EB2), which was able to deliver paclitaxel (PTX) selectively to tumors and to achieve an enhanced therapeutic effect. In the present study, we examined the utility of PEG5K-EB2 to deliver DOX to tumors. In addition, folic acid (FA) was coupled to the surface of the PEG5K-EB2 micelles (FA-PEG5K-EB2) to further improve the selective targetability of the system. DOX-loaded PEG5K-EB2 micelles were uniformly spherical particles with a diameter of approximately 20 nm. Incorporation of FA had minimal effect on the size of the particles. The DOX loading efficiency was as high as 91.7% and 93.5% for PEG5K-EB2 and FA-PEG5K-EB2, respectively. DOX formulated in PEG5K-EB2 micelles (with or without FA decoration) demonstrated sustained kinetics of DOX release compared to free DOX. FA-PEG5K-EB2 significantly facilitated the intracellular uptake of DOX over free DOX and PEGylated liposomal DOX (Doxil) in breast cancer cells, 4T1.2, and drug resistant cells, NCI/ADR-RES. P-gp ATPase assay showed that PEG5K-EB2 significantly inhibited the function of the P-gp efflux pump. The maximum tolerated dose of DOX-loaded PEG5K-EB2 micelles was 15 mg/kg in mice, which was 1.5-fold greater than that for free DOX. Pharmacokinetics (PK) and biodistribution studies showed that both types of DOX-loaded micelles, especially FA-PEG5K-EB2, were able to significantly prolong the blood circulation time of DOX and facilitate its preferential accumulation at the tumor tissue. Finally, DOX/PEG5K-EB2 mixed micelles demonstrated significantly enhanced tumor growth inhibitory effect with minimal toxicity in comparison to free DOX and Doxil and the antitumor activity was further enhanced after the decoration by folic acid. Our data suggest that FA-PEG5K-EB2 micelles represent a promising DOX delivery system that warrants more study in the future.
Soft decision metrics for turbo-coded FH M-FSK ad hoc packet radio networks

This paper addresses turbo-coded non-coherent FH M-FSK ad hoc networks with a Poisson distribution of interferers where multiple access interference can be modeled as symmetric /spl alpha/-stable (SaS) noise and /spl alpha/ is inversely proportional to the path loss exponent. The Bayesian Gaussian metric does not perform well in non-Gaussian (/spl alpha//spl ne/2) noise environments and therefore an optimum metric for Cauchy (/spl alpha/=1) noise and a generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) Gaussian metric requiring less side information (amplitude, dispersion) are presented. The robustness of the metrics is evaluated in different SoS noise environments and for mismatched values of the interference dispersion and channel amplitude in an interference-dominated network with no fading or independent Rayleigh fading. Both the Cauchy and GLR Gaussian metric exhibit significant performance gain over the Bayesian Gaussian metric, while the GLR Gaussian metric does so without the knowledge of the dispersion or amplitude. The Cauchy metric is more sensitive to the knowledge of the amplitude than the dispersion, but generally maintains better performance than the GLR Gaussian metric for a wide range of mismatched values of these parameters. Additionally, in an environment consisting of non-negligible Gaussian thermal noise along with multiple access interference, increasing the thermal noise level degrades the performance of the GLR Gaussian and Cauchy metric while for the observed levels both maintain better performance than the Bayesian Gaussian metric.
A 0.4–6-GHz Frequency Synthesizer Using Dual-Mode VCO for Software-Defined Radio

This paper presents a dual-mode voltage-controlled oscillator (DMVCO) and a DMVCO-based wideband frequency synthesizer for software-defined radio applications. The DMVCO allows the synthesizer to leverage single-sideband (SSB) mixing, a power efficient approach, for high-frequency local oscillator (LO) signal generation, without the need of poly-phase filter or quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO). When compared to the QVCO approach, the DMVCO solution allows the synthesizer to provide continuous LO signals without frequency gaps. The synthesizer is implemented in a 0.13-μm CMOS technology, occupying an active area of 2.2 mm2 and consuming 34-77 mW of power. It provides in-phase and quadrature-phase LO signals over the frequency bands of 0.4-3- and 5-6 GHz and differential LO signals from 0.4 to 6 GHz, supporting major wireless standards including DVB-T, GSM, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, WLAN802.11 a/b/g, and Bluetooth. The measured phase noises are -135 and -124 dBc/Hz at 3-MHz offset under 1.8- and 5.15-GHz carriers, respectively. The measured spurious tones are less than - 42 dBc at the SSB mixer output.
Heating up the forest: open‐top chamber warming manipulation of arthropod communities at Harvard and Duke Forests

1. Recent observations indicate that climatic change is altering biodiversity, and models suggest that the consequences of climate change will differ across latitude. However, long‐term experimental field manipulations that directly test the predictions about organisms’ responses to climate change across latitude are lacking. Such experiments could provide a more mechanistic understanding of the consequences of climate change on ecological communities and subsequent changes in ecosystem processes, facilitating better predictions of the effects of future climate change.
Do we make decisions for other people based on our predictions of their preferences? evidence from financial and medical scenarios involving risk

Abstract The ways in which the decisions we make for others differ from the ones we make for ourselves has received much attention in the literature, although less is known about their relationship to our predictions of the recipient’s preferences. The latter question is of particular importance given real-world occurrences of surrogate decision-making which require surrogates to consider the recipient’s preferences. We conducted three experiments which explore this relationship in the medical and financial domains. Although there were mean discrepancies between surrogate predictions and choices, we identified a predictive relationship between the two. Moreover, when participants took high risks for themselves, it seems that they were not willing to do so for others, even when they believed that the recipient’s preferences were similar to their own. We discuss these findings relative to current theories and real-world instances of surrogate decision-making.
Spontaneous Healing of Mycobacterium ulcerans Lesions in the Guinea Pig Model

Buruli Ulcer (BU) is a necrotizing skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans infection. BU is characterized by a wide range of clinical forms, including non-ulcerative cutaneous lesions that can evolve into severe ulcers if left untreated. Nevertheless, spontaneous healing has been reported to occur, although knowledge on this process is scarce both in naturally infected humans and experimental models of infection. Animal models are useful since they mimic different spectrums of human BU disease and have the potential to elucidate the pathogenic/protective pathway(s) involved in disease/healing. In this time-lapsed study, we characterized the guinea pig, an animal model of resistance to M. ulcerans, focusing on the macroscopic, microbiological and histological evolution throughout the entire experimental infectious process. Subcutaneous infection of guinea pigs with a virulent strain of M. ulcerans led to early localized swelling, which evolved into small well defined ulcers. These macroscopic observations correlated with the presence of necrosis, acute inflammatory infiltrate and an abundant bacterial load. By the end of the infectious process when ulcerative lesions healed, M. ulcerans viability decreased and the subcutaneous tissue organization returned to its normal state after a process of continuous healing characterized by tissue granulation and reepethelialization. In conclusion, we show that the experimental M. ulcerans infection of the guinea pig mimics the process of spontaneous healing described in BU patients, displaying the potential to uncover correlates of protection against BU, which can ultimately contribute to the development of new prophylactic and therapeutic strategies.